Vice of Cruelty

Vice of Cruelty

The Vice of Cruelty is the path followed by blackguards who enjoy inflicting as much pain on their enemies as possible, or who care only for their own power and survival. Commonly known as death knights, these profane warriors are faithful only to themselves. Anyone desperate enough to follow one of these blackguards does so because, while unpredictable and vicious, these blackguards command great power. Those who follow them without falling prey to their sadistic natures hope to indulge in wanton violence and accumulate great treasure. Many of these blackguards pay homage to demon lords, especially Grazz’t and Orcus. Even the Lordsof Hell are loath to ally with these champions of chaos, but sometimes Baalzebul and Glasya find a kindred spirit in a blackguard’s penchant for cruelty and torture.

Tenets of Cruelty

A blackguard who takes this vice has the tenets of cruelty carved across the chest. A death knight’s vice appears in blood runes, a brutal reminder of vows to the demons of the Abyss.

All Shall Suffer. You enjoy tormenting and brutalizing your foes. You must inflict as much damage on them as possible.

Pain to Survive. You cannot survive without inflicting pain on others. You will go mad if you don't wreak havoc on those who oppose you. Dealing death eases the eternal hunger.

Tolerate No Weakness. You must hone yourself to become immune to all forms of torture and pain. Your strength of mind is just as important as your strength of body. You will be the one dishing out the hurt, not receiving it.

Vice of Cruelty Spells

You gain vice spells at the blackguard levels listed in the Vice of Hate Spells table.

Vice of Cruelty Spells

Blackguard Level	Spells
3rd	false life, ray of sickness
5th	blindness/deafness, ray of enfeeblement
9th	animate dead, vampiric touch
13th	blight, confusion
17th	contagion, cloudkill

Spirit of Vice

When you take this vice at 3rd level, you gain the following two Spirit of Vice options.

Poison Strike. You can use your Spirit of Vice to make a weapon deadlier. As a bonus action, you touch one weapon and conjure a special poison on it. The poison lasts for 1 minute. The next time you hit a target with an attack using that weapon, the target takes poison damage immediately after the attack. The poison damage equals 2d10 + your blackguard level, or 20 + your blackguard level if you had advantage on the attack roll.

Ravenous Shadows. A wall of darkness rises from the ground at a point you choose within range. You can make the wall up to 20 feet long, 20 feet high, and 1 foot thick. You can shape the wall in any way you choose so long as it makes one continuous path along the ground. The wall lasts until the end of your next turn. The wall deals 1d10 necrotic damage to each creature when it enters the wall for the first time on a turn or ends its turn there. While the wall lasts, the blackguard can use a bonus action on his or her turn to cause the shadows in the wall to attack one creature. The blackguard makes a melee spell attack against the target. If the attack hits, the target takes necrotic damage equal to 1d10 + the Blackguard’s Charisma modifier.

Aura of Agony

Starting at 7th level, as a bonus action, you emanate an aura of agony which lasts for 1 minute. Any enemy within 10 feet of you takes damage equal to your Charisma modifier after they are hit by an attack (with a minimum bonus of +1). You must be conscious to grant this bonus. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Shadow Healing

At 15th level, you have the ability to heal when you deal damage. Immediately after you hit an enemy with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to regain hit points equal to your charisma modifier + half your blackguard levels rounded up.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

Avatar of Cruelty

Beginning at 20th level, you can manifest the vice of cruelty within your heart and soul, personifying it perfectly now. When you do, you experience a sudden transformation, leaving your mortal form behind and becoming the embodiment of shadow magic. As an action, you can magically become an avatar of cruelty, gaining the following benefits for 1 minute:

• Your attacks deal extra cold damage equal to your charisma modifier
• Once per turn when you hit an enemy with an attack you regain hit points equal to your charisma modifier.
• You regain all spell slots of 5th level but can only use them for Dread Smite.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.