New Arcane Tradition: Defilers (D&D 5e)

Best known for its origins on a distant and desolate world, this dark practice has metastasized across the prime material through the work of various dark powers and the even stronger force of human avarice. To say that there are those who consider the practice of this arcane tradition is an evil act is to understate the level with which they revile it. While defiling magic is rooted in necromantic practices, the manipulation of life and death, many necromancers consider the level of wanton destruction practice of this path represents a stain of so deep it undercuts the value of achieving that power. They recognize that, unchecked, these abilities would swiftly turn even the most verdant of world into a gods-forsaken, magic hating wasteland like the world from which this tradition hails. The reaction of druids, rangers, green knights, and most sane creatures is nearly beyond words. They condemn this path with a passion that would dim the sun, carving paths of blood and holy wrath through nearly any obstacle to annihilate so much as suspected practitioners of it.

Yet still it re-emerges; taught by demonic tutors, dark texts, and mentors twisted by hate, greed, and raw power that they consider the potential damnation of entire worlds a petty concern, far beneath them. The single purpose of this practice is to use the life force of others, and of the verdant worlds on which it takes root, to empower its practitioners. This fundamental violation builds the adherents’ personal power while destroying their ability to form meaningful relationships with others. It intrinsically separates them from other life, and makes the most natural settings feel like little more than a battery to tap.

A wizard trained in this tradition who seeks to turn away from its desolation and evil has little recourse. They can simply ignore the features of this architype, cutting themselves of from its dark power. However, relearning the fundamental understanding of magic inherent in a tradition is no simple task. So, often, this dark power remains; dormant, but always tempting. Waiting for a reformed student to need that extra ability in a moment of desperation.

Defiler Summary
Wizard Level; Feature
2nd; Dread Knowledge, Grim Harvest
6th; Bed of Ash
10th; Throne of Bone
14th; Eyes of the Abyss
18th; Dark Demand
20th; Path Sinister


Dread Knowledge
When you choose this tradition at 2nd level you immerse yourself so deeply in your dark magic it consumes you. You are proficient with the Intimidate and Arcana skills and you may double your proficiency bonus with those skills.

Grim Harvest
At 2nd level, you gain the ability to reap life energy from creatures you kill with necromantic energy. Once per turn when you kill one or more creatures with a spell of 1st level or higher you regain hit points equal to twice the spell’s level, or three times its level if it deals necrotic damage. You don’t gain this benefit for killing constructs or undead.

Bed of Ash
At 6th level, you gain the ability to drink deeply of the life of the land about you in order to refresh your magical energy. If you do this you gather the power of the living things in your area and convert it to raw power, causing animals to flee and plants to die. The area effected is determined by the amount of natural life in the area and the amount of power recovered.

When you use your Arcane Recovery class ability you may choose to use this ability. If you do so, multiply the number of spell slot levels you recover times the appropriate Desolation value from the table below. All living things in that radius, in feet, begin to feel an aura of discomfort and dread when you begin the short rest where you will use your Arcane Recovery. Any creature which is inside this radius, or enters it, make a Wisdom save against your spellcasting DC minus 8 or be Frightened for the duration. If they remain in the area at the end of your short rest they make a Constitution save against your spellcasting DC or take a point of necrotic damage. For most healthy plant life and some small animals this is sufficient to instantly turn it to ash. The effect goes beyond the visible death of plants and injury to animals, however, rendering the soil itself sterile for generations to come.

Once this is done, you may make an Intelligence (Arcana) check against the Foraging DC for the area (DMG 111, and reproduced in the table below). If you are successful you may use your Arcane Recovery an additional time that day. If you use the Arcane Recovery ability a second time in a day you must make an Intelligence (Arcana) check when you begin the short rest. The DC is the Foraging DC for the new area, and if you fail you create a second area of desolation.

Type	Examples	Foraging	Desolation
Verdant	Jungle, Swamp,	10	2
Healthy	Grassland, meadowland, farmland, hills, mountainsides	15	5
Barren	Mountain tops, arctic, desert, tundra, urban	20	10
Desolate	Area effected by a Defiler or desecrated ground.	--	*

* Desolate areas already are added to the radius of new desolation.

Throne of Bone
At 10th level you learn how to use your dark practices more swiftly, refreshing your spells even as you use them. You may choose to use this ability any time you cast a first level spell, making an Intelligence (Arcana) check with a DC equal to the areas Foraging value when you do so. If you are successful, you retain the spell slot used.

Regardless of your success, multiply the terrain’s desolation value by the level of the spell and all creatures and plant life in that area must make a Constitution save or suffer a point of Necrotic damage and be Poisoned for a round. Just as with the Bed of Ash ability, this instantly turns healthy plants and small animals it to ash and scours the soil of the ability to sustain life.

At 12th level you may use this ability with 1st and 2nd level spells and at 18th level you may use it with 1st through 3rd level spells.

Eyes of the Abyss
Starting at 14th the taint from the blackness of your magic is a barely hidden thing which you must work to keep from rolling off of you like tainted air from an open mausoleum. You may cast the Fear spell at will without requiring it to be memorized or costing you a spell slot.

Dark Demand
At 18th level you expand your ability to syphon off life energy at the expense of the typical Spell Mastery ability. You always have the Blight spell prepared, it does not count against the number of spells you have prepared, and you can cast it once at 3rd level without expending a spell slot. When you do so, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest. If you want to cast it at a higher level, you must expend a spell slot as normal.

Path Sinister
At 20th level you always have the Finger of Death spell prepared and it does not count against the number of spells you have prepared. When you do so, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest. If you want to cast it at a higher level, you must expend a spell slot as normal.

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I've loved the concept of defilers since I first stumbled across them in AD&D, and tried to port them out of Athas into every edition since. However, the life-destroying magic is so spectacularly Athasian, and has such dramatic changes to function on any world that isn't effectively dead, that it had to change just about everything even before the shift in editions piled on.