Hoodoo Hexer
A Warlock patronage of folk terms, with hex-tokens bound to creatures the warlock has met, hexes at any distance, a crossroads bargain, and a hex on every token at once.
Identity
The Hoodoo Hexer is the Warlock patronage that was never signed. The pact was agreed at a crossroads, a threshold, or a grave, in the language people actually speak, and the counterparty was not asked for a name. Hoodoo passes between practitioners instead of through institutions, so no registry has an entry for it and most courts decline to recognize it as channeling at all. A Hexer keeps a working bag of nail parings, a coin off a dead man's berth, and a bottle stopped with wax over a length of somebody's hair, and losing the bag is the same as losing the contract.
Features
- L3 Working Bag
During a short rest, you can spend 10 minutes and a personal effect of a creature you have met to bind a hex-token for it. While you hold a creature's token, you have advantage on Insight and Deception checks made against that creature, and you know its direction and rough distance while it is on the same world as you. You can maintain a number of tokens equal to your proficiency bonus. Binding a new token above that limit releases the oldest.
- L7 Lay a Hex
As a bonus action, you can spend 1 Pact Slot to hex a creature you can see within Medium range, or any creature you hold a token for at any distance on the same world. The target makes a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, for 1 minute it has disadvantage on the first attack roll it makes each turn, and the first time it takes damage on each of its turns it takes an extra 1d6 necrotic damage. You can use this feature once per short rest without spending a Pact Slot.
- L11 Crossroads Bargain
Once per long rest, you can spend 10 minutes at a crossroads (any place where two paths meet, including a corridor junction or a docking spur) and ask for one of the following. Protection. You have advantage on all saving throws for the next hour. Location. You learn the current location of one creature you hold a token for. Truth. You receive a truthful answer to one question about an event of the last seven days. Cure. You end one curse, disease, or condition of your choice on one willing creature you can touch. The counterparty takes a payment in return, chosen by the GM: a memory, a possession, or a name you will be unable to speak for a month.
- L15 Bottle the Spirit
Once per long rest, as an action, you can offer a stoppered bottle to one creature within Close range that has a Power Rating of 5 or lower and is Frightened, Charmed, or below half its hit points. It makes a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, it is drawn into the bottle for 1 minute. It is Incapacitated, it cannot be targeted or damaged, and it takes no actions. Breaking the bottle ends the effect early and returns the creature to the nearest unoccupied space, Prone.
- L18 Mass Hex Capstone
Once per long rest, as an action, you spend every token you hold at once. Each creature you hold a token for, at any distance on the same world, makes a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, a creature takes 8d8 necrotic damage and is Frightened of you for 1 minute. On a success, it takes half damage and is not Frightened. Each token spent this way is destroyed, and the creatures they were bound to know who did it.