A few days ago on Twitter, I got to talking about the warlock class of 3.5e’s Complete Arcane, with some remarks that I’ll repeat here as a prelude to offering some new Eldritch Invocations that center on eldritch blast.

“Narratively, the warlock has grown so much that one can hardly recognize it – gone are the fiendish-theme-only days. The warlock isn’t nearly the edgelord outlier that it was. But that narrowness of story also made it honest about what it was—there was no getting around eldritch blast as your core function, but you also had more versatility within eldritch blast – reshaping, changing damage type and secondary effects, that kind of thing.

“My suggestion is, as usual, to make Eldritch Blast a class feature (to make life easy and obvious for new players). Cut Ag Blast and add a new class feature somewhere between 2nd and 5th level that grants +Cha to EB shots and +whatever to your other damage cantrips… OR cut the crap with the non-EB attack cantrips, and instead introduce a slate of new Invocations that make your EB borrow damage flavor and secondary effects from those other cantrips.”

One last thing, I guess? Anytime I go with “PB uses per long rest,” let’s assume that “1/short rest” would also be cool. The Heroes Union should be in favor of short rests.

Damage Flavors

Abyssal Wrath
Prerequisite: able to cast eldritch blast

When you cast eldritch blast, you deal acid damage rather than force damage. One creature of your choice that you hit with your spell must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, it gains Abyssal corruption for 1 minute. When a creature with Abyssal corruption falls to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to cast eldritch blast, using the triggering creature’s body as the spell’s point of origin.

Once you inflict Abyssal corruption a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, you can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.

Eldritch Starfire
Prerequisite: able to cast eldritch blast

When you cast eldritch blast, you deal radiant damage rather than force damage. Immediately after you resolve the spell’s damage, one creature of your choice that you hit with your spell must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, it is blinded until the start of your next turn. You can cast eldritch blast this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Hellfire Blast
Prerequisite: able to cast eldritch blast

When you cast eldritch blast, you can deal fire damage rather than force damage. A creature that you hit with your spell that isn’t already on fire catches fire, taking 1d6 fire damage at the start of each of its turns and making Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration with disadvantage. A creature that is on fire or a creature adjacent to it can extinguish this fire by using its action and succeeding DC 10 Dexterity check. You can cast eldritch blast this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Moongleam
Prerequisite: able to cast eldritch blast

When you cast eldritch blast, you deal radiant damage rather than force damage. If you hit with at least one beam, you can choose one willing creature within 10 feet of your target to deal an additional 1d10 radiant damage with its next successful weapon attack before the start of your next turn. The creature is bathed in moonlight, granting dim lighting to a distance of 10 feet, until the end of this duration. You can cast eldritch blast this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Primordial Slime
Prerequisite: able to cast eldritch blast

When you cast eldritch blast, you deal poison damage rather than force damage. One creature of your choice that you hit with your spell must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 1d10 poison damage at the start of its turn, and it is restrained until the start of your next turn. You can cast eldritch blast this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Ruinous Echo
Prerequisite: able to cast eldritch blast, 5^th level or higher

When you cast eldritch blast, you deal thunder damage rather than force damage. Once per round when you hit a creature with two beams in the same casting, you can deal 1d10 thunder damage to a different creature within 10 feet of your target. If any of your spell attacks is a critical hit, the secondary target takes 1d10 + 10 thunder damage instead. You can cast eldritch blast this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Shadow Ravens
Prerequisite: able to cast eldritch blast

When you cast eldritch blast, you deal necrotic damage rather than force damage. Your beams take the form of shadowy, spectral ravens. When you hit a creature with your spell attack, the first weapon attack that it makes before the beginning of your next turn has disadvantage. Multiple hits against the same creature only impose disadvantage on its first attack. If it makes an attack with disadvantage and misses before the beginning of your next turn, it takes necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier. You can cast eldritch blast this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Thought Worm
Prerequisite: able to cast eldritch blast

When you cast eldritch blast, you deal psychic damage rather than force damage. One creature of your choice that you hit with your spell must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it is frightened by one creature of your choice that it can see until the end of its next turn. If it can see that creature at the end of its next turn, it takes 2d8 psychic damage. You can cast eldritch blast this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Shaping Invocations

Eldritch Rift
Prerequisites: able to cast eldritch blast, 5^th level or higher

When you cast eldritch blast, instead of making spell attacks, you open a rift within the spell’s range. The rift is 15 feet long, 10 feet high, and 1 inch thick, and lasts until you cast eldritch blast again or dismiss the rift as a bonus action. Creatures other than you have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made through the rift. You can sense when a creature passes through the rift, and you can choose for it to take 1d10 + your Charisma modifier force damage. You can cast eldritch blast this way once, and regain the use of it when you finish a long rest. This feature’s damage increases by 1d10 at 11^th level (2d10 + your Charisma modifier) and 17^th level (3d10 + your Charisma modifier).

Eldritch Veil
Prerequisite: able to cast eldritch blast

When you cast eldritch blast, instead of making spell attacks, you gain an eldritch veil that gives you +2 AC and +2 to your saving throws against magic. This effect lasts until you cast eldritch blast again, or until you disperse this veil as a bonus action. When you disperse the veil, you can make a melee spell attack against a creature within 5 feet of you; on a hit, the creature takes 1d10 + your Charisma modifier force damage. You can make a melee spell attack against an additional creature within 5 feet of you at 5^th level (two creatures), 11^th level (three creatures), and 17^th level (four creatures).

Infernal Lash
Prerequisites: able to cast eldritch blast, 5^th level or higher

When you cast eldritch blast, instead of making spell attacks, creatures of your choice in a 20-foot cone must make a Dexterity saving throw against your spellcasting DC. A creature that fails this save takes 2d10 + your Charisma modifier force damage. You can cast eldritch blast this way once, and regain the use of it when you finish a long rest. This feature’s damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 11^th level (3d10 + your Charisma modifier) and 17^th level (4d10 + your Charisma modifier).

Design Notes

The intent is that you can’t activate more than one of these Eldritch Invocations in a single Cast a Spell action. I haven’t found just the right formal rules language to express that yet.

It’s so tempting to just go through, pairing energy types with conditions or standard effect areas, and call it a day. I feel like that lacks a certain je ne sais quoi, creatively, but if that’s what you wish I’d made, I don’t blame you.

I also stayed away from using specific patrons as prereqs, though I don’t think you’d be wrong to do so. Moongleam would go to the Archfey (and maybe Thought Worm or Eldritch Starfire); Abyssal Wrath and Hellfire Blast the Fiend (and probably Ruinous Echo and/or Primordial Slime); and to the Great Old One goes Thought Worm, Eldritch Starfire, and probably Ruinous Echo. It’s left as an exercise to the reader, is what I’m saying.

I played it pretty safe with the usage limit on Eldritch Rift and Infernal Lash, setting them at 1/long rest. I don’t have a super clear idea in my mind for benchmarking Eldritch Invocations, to be honest, so this is guesswork. The thing about Eldritch Rift is that against low-end enemies with a chokepoint, its damage rapidly multiplies and can’t miss. Fairly few warlock patrons grant walls, and this not-quite-a-wall doesn’t require concentration, though it does “tie up” one of your at-will effects.

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