Supernatural archaeologists, connaisseurs of forbidden lore, and stubborn adherents to lost belief systems. Vestigialists are the harvesters of lost and forgotten supernatural power. At a certain level of potency, even the death of an entity doesn’t stop it entirely, and vestigialists tap into the fallen—but not completely annihilated—power for their own ends, or perhaps the ends of the very entity whose remains they siphon their abilities from.
When you take this archetype at level 1, your studies and interaction with forbidden lore and fallen divinity grants you power of your own. You gain proficiency in Arcana with a skill specialization in Forbidden Lore and gain one of the following:
You can use a bonus action to place a curse on a creature you can see within 30 feet. The curse lasts for 1 minute, and ends early if the target dies, you die, or you become incapacitated. The curse has the following effects:
You gain proficiency with the Religion skill and gain the skill specialty of your choice of cults or prophecy. You also gain proficiency with the History skill and gain the skill specialty of either legends or genealogy. You also learn the following spells at the following levels, and they do not count against your spells known:
Table: Lost Knowledge Additional Spells
| Warlock Level |
Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | faerie fire |
| 3rd | moonbeam |
| 5th | venomous succor |
| 7th | banishment |
| 9th | hallow |
At 6th level, constant exposure to forbidden lore and strange supernatural effects has both warped and hardened your mind. You have advantage on saving throws to resist spells and effects that would impose the Charmed, Confused, Frightened, or Rattled conditions on you. In addition, a creature attempting to contact you via telepathy, read your mind, or control your actions with a spell or effect (such as dominate person) must make a Wisdom save against your spell save DC or suffer 4d4 psychic damage and a condition determined by the table below. The condition persists for one minute, but the creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. A creature that succeeds on its save takes half damage and does not suffer a condition.
Table: Ancient Mind Conditions
| d6 | Condition |
|---|---|
| 1 - 2 | Rattled |
| 3 | Confused |
| 4 | Charmed |
| 5 - 6 | Frightened |
At 10th level, your knowledge of secrets becomes such that most communication is laid bare to you. You are permanently under a comprehend languages effect.
You also can cast spells from scrolls regardless of whether the spell is on your spell list or not.
At 14th level, as a bonus action, you gain the ability to call on the essence of a powerful bygone entity to enhance your own form. For 10 minutes, you gain three of the following traits:
Wings of Light: You gain a fly speed of 60 feet and you shed bright light in a 50-foot radius and dim light a further 50 feet beyond that.
Mesmerizing Scales: Your skin hardens into durable scales. Your AC cannot be lower than 17. In addition, the first time a creature that can see you makes an attack roll against you each turn, it must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be charmed by you until the end of its next turn. A creature that becomes charmed cancels its attack. A creature that succeeds on this saving throw is immune to the charming effect of your scales for 24 hours.
Viscous Humors: You gain immunity to ongoing damage and creatures that hit you with a melee weapon attack must make a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC or have their weapon become stuck to you, requiring an action to free it.
Divine Essence: Your Eldritch Blast deals your choice of radiant, necrotic, or psychic damage and the damage die increases by one step. The first time each round that you successfully deal damage with Eldritch Blast, a creature other than you that you can see within 30 feet is healed for 2d8 hit points.
Scuttling Passage: Your walking speed doubles and you gain a climb speed equal to your walking speed. The sound of your passage is unnerving, requiring creatures within 30 feet that can hear you to make a Wisdom save against your spell save DC or become frightened of you until the end of their next turn. A creature that successfully saves becomes immune to the frightening effect of Scuttling Passage for 24 hours.
Eyes of Doom: You gain Truesight with a range of 30 feet. In addition, any creature within this range that does not avert its eyes (making attacks against you at disadvantage) meets your gaze and must make a Charisma saving throw or gain a level of strife.
Voice of the Messenger: You cannot be silenced and your voice booms to a range of 300 feet. Whenever you speak or cast a spell with vocalized spell components, creatures within 30 feet of you must make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or be deafened for 1 minute. The creature can repeat the save at the end of each of its turns, regaining its hearing and becoming immune to the deafening effect for 24 hours on a success.
You may choose different traits each time you use this ability. Once you have used it, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.