Black Magic

A cackling female witch, her white hair in a single waist-length braid, brandishes a gnarled wooden staff bedecked in leaves. Her patched purple and brown coat holds vials of potions and a beaded belt. A glowing ribbon of purple energy spills from her hand and surrounds her.

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Wield the Dark Arts

Black magic is associated with hexes that cause suffering and spells that give rise to undeath. Harnessing such a Witch craft can lend you great power, but inevitably carries a cost. Darkness cannot be contained, after all; it merely seeps forth from wherever it is kept.

Level 3: Black Magic Spells

When you reach a Witch level specified in the White Magic Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed. New spells are marked with an asterisk.

Witch Level	Spells
3	Exhume, Gentle Repose, Hex: Decay, Inflict Wounds, Ray of Enfeeblement
5	Animate Dead, Vampiric Touch
7	Blight, Death Ward
9	Cloudkill, Contagion

Level 3: Decay

You gain the Hex: Decay cantrip, as follows. This cantrip is exclusive to this subclass.

Hex: Decay

Necromancy Cantrip (Witch, Black Magic subclass)

Casting Time: Action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 round

One creature you can see within range makes a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 1d4 Necrotic damage at the start of its next turn, and its Hit Point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the Necrotic damage taken. This reduction lasts until the spell ends at the end of your next turn. The target dies if this effect reduces its Hit Point maximum to 0.

Cantrip Upgrade. The damage and reduction increases by 1d4 when you reach levels 5 (2d4), 11 (3d4), and 17 (4d4).

Level 6: Undeath Command

When you take a Bonus Action to command your familiar, you can use the same Bonus Action to issue a command to any Undead you control via the Animate Dead spell or similar magic.

Level 10: Life Tether

When you take damage from a creature you can see within 60 feet, you can take a Reaction to transfer some of that damage to a creature that is the sole target of your Hex. You take half the damage (round down) and the hexed creature takes the remaining damage.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a Short or Long Rest. You can also restore your use of it by expending a level 2+ spell slot (no action required).

Level 14: Grim Sacrifice

If your familiar is within 60 feet of yourself, you can use a Magic action to command it to dissolve its magical bond to this plane, unleashing a torrent of necromantic energy. Each creature you choose within 20 feet of your familiar makes a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC. A creature takes 8d10 Necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one, and its Hit Point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the Necrotic damage taken. A target dies if this effect reduces its Hit Point maximum to 0.

Once you use this feature, you can’t summon your familiar again until you finish a Long Rest.

*This subclass is for the 2024 ruleset. You’ll find the 2014 version of this subclass here.