The Sorcery Stop: Lábak of Baba Yaga



Baba Yaga is one of the great mysteries and a most fearsome wanderer. Though many know her name and many more recognize her legendary dancing hut, few can honestly claim to have met her, and fewer still enjoyed the experience. Almost none can claim kinship with the Grandmother, and no one known can claim her friendship or support.

There are a few, however, that claim to use her power. Found mostly among expatriates from the Rothenian Plain, a handful of strange and seemingly unrelated individuals have begun calling themselves the Lábak—literally, the Legs—of Baba Yaga. Whether the Grandmother truly sponsors or is even aware of these individuals is open to question; Baba Yaga keeps her own counsel. But regardless of any direct involvement, many of the Lábak have undeniable magic power and use it to further what they believe (or at least claim) are her goals. The most powerful of the Lábak seem to channel the power of Baba Yaga directly.

The goals of the Lábak are as challenging to parse as the goals of Baba Yaga herself. No overriding strategy seems to guide their actions (despite claims the Lábak themselves make), but this apparent lack of cohesion may simply be part of a long and complex strategy yet unrevealed. Like the Grandmother, Lábak work in mysterious ways: they might ally with some characters and organizations and may well remain loyal to those groups for their entire lives, but few trust them completely. A Lábak character has access to great knowledge and may choose to share it with others, but the knowledge always comes at a price—a price as often paid by the Lábak’s companions as the Lábak themself.

Below, we present a warlock subclass for players who wish to create Lábak characters. Characters who take this option gain powers similar to those wielded by the Grandmother in many respects, but whether or not Baba Yaga is truly the character’s patron is left for individual GMs to decide with their groups. Note that unlike most warlock patrons, this one specifies a distinct individual, not a class of creatures; GMs may, of course, rename or adapt the information here as they see fit.

New Warlock Patron: Baba Yaga

Your patron is Baba Yaga (or at least you believe this to be the case). The Grandmother may or may not communicate with you directly, but you see signs and portents everywhere that you attribute to her guidance. Even when you are uncertain of your patron’s intentions or motivations, you seek to follow her path and act in her inscrutable image.

Expanded Spell List

Your patron lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

Baba Yaga Expanded Spells

Spell Level Spells 1st dissonant whispers, longstrider 2nd augury, zone of truth 3rd bestow curse, conjure animals 4th divination, freedom of movement 5th insect plague, tree stride

Mad Knowledge

Starting at 1st leveI, your patron bestows upon you a massive amount of esoteric knowledge, but you are limited in how much you can willingly recall and how much your mind can handle. You can make one Intelligence check with advantage. If you fail the check by 5 or more, you take 5 (1d10) points of psychic damage and are stunned until the beginning of your next turn.

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

Fearsome Rebuke

Starting at 6th level, you can use your intuition and power to turn an attacker’s intentions against itself. When a creature makes an attack roll against you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on that roll. If the attack misses you, the creature becomes frightened by you for 1 minute. While frightened in this way, a creature must take the Dash action and move away from you by the safest available route on each of its turns.

At the end of each of its turns, the creature may make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC, ending the effect upon itself on a success.

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

Shrouded Mind

Starting at 10th level, any creature that attempts to pry into your thoughts learns to regret it. You can make a saving throw against any effect that would reveal your thoughts, personality, alignment, or similar information even if the effect does not normally allow one, and if you succeed on the save by 5 or more, the creature that initiated the effect takes psychic damage equal to 2× your warlock level.

Vicious Rebuke

At 14th level, you can use your Fearsome Rebuke ability to cause physical harm to the attacker. In addition to being frightened, a creature affected by your Fearsome Rebuke takes 55 (10d10) force and psychic damage unless it is Baba Yaga or one of her Horsemen.

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

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