Subclasses: The Artistic Currents
At level 3, a pictomancer gains the ability Artistic Currents. Here are the options for currents:
- Current of the Color Guardians
- Current of the Blades of Light
- Current of Living Blood
- Current of Chiaroscuro
Current of the Color Guardians
Pictomancers who follow the Current of the Color Guardians dedicate themselves to the art of protection and support. By using their artistic talents, they can inspire and shield their allies on the battlefield. The Color Guardians see their creations as means to preserve life and beauty, employing magical shields and healing auras to ensure the survival of their comrades-in-arms.
Spells of the Current
You learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as indicated in the table below. These spells count as Pictomancer spells for you, but do not count against the number of spells you know.
| Pictomancer Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Cure Wounds, Shield of Faith |
| 5th | Healing Spirit, Lesser Restoration |
| 7th | Aura of Vitality, Revivify |
| 9th | Circle of Power, Mass Healing Word |
Creative Orbs
3rd-level feature
You have learned to condense the pure essence of your magic into small spheres of energy called Creative Orbs, which float gently around you. You have a maximum number of Creative Orbs equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended orbs after completing a long rest. Additionally, during a short rest, you can sketch new concepts to recover one Creative Orb. You can use these orbs to fuel your Guardian abilities or for personal Consumption: as a bonus action on your turn, you can absorb one of your orbs to regain a number of hit points equal to 1d8 + your Intelligence modifier, and end one of the following conditions affecting you: blinded, deafened, or poisoned.
Artistic Aura
3rd-level feature
You can channel your art to paint a magical aura that inspires your allies. As a bonus action, you can expend 1 Creative Orb to activate a luminous aura in a radius of 20 feet around you. This aura lasts for 1 minute.
While the aura is active, you and your allies benefit from the following effects as long as you remain within the area:
- Pictorial Protection: When an ally ends their turn in the aura, they gain temporary hit points equal to 1d4 + your Intelligence modifier.
- Colorful Inspiration: Once per turn, when an ally within the aura makes an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, they can roll a d4 and add it to the result of their roll.
Sketch in Extremis
6th-level feature
Your painter's reflexes allow you to save lives at the last moment. When a friendly creature you can see within 60 feet of you drops to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction and expend 1 Creative Orb to paint a shower of revitalizing ink around them. The creature instead drops to 1 hit point. Additionally, it immediately receives an ink shield that grants temporary hit points equal to your Pictomancer level + your Intelligence modifier.
Magical Shields
10th-level feature
You integrate your Creative Orbs directly onto the skin of your companions. Using an action, you can expend 1 Creative Orb to paint a Prismatic Shield on yourself or an ally within 60 feet. The shield grants temporary hit points equal to 2d8 + your Intelligence modifier. This shield is unstable. If these temporary hit points are depleted by an attack, the shield bursts into a soothing mist: the target and all allies within a 10-foot radius regain hit points equal to your Pictomancer level.
Additionally, your mastery grows. The temporary hit points granted passively by your Pictorial Protection (Artistic Aura) now increase to 1d6 + your Intelligence modifier.
Vital Diversion
14th-level feature
You have reached such mastery over the colors of life that you can siphon enemy healing or command costly miracles.
- Healing Theft: When a hostile creature you can see within 60 feet regains hit points, you can use your reaction and expend 1 Creative Orb to completely negate that healing. You redirect this energy to heal an ally of your choice within 60 feet by an equivalent amount.
- Chromatic Siphon: As an action, you can expend 2 Creative Orbs to paint a light leech on a hostile creature within 60 feet. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. It takes 8d8 radiant damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. You can then distribute a number of hit points equal to the damage dealt to heal your allies (including yourself) within 60 feet.
Additionally, the die for your Colorful Inspiration (Artistic Aura) now increases to a d6.
Current of the Blades of Light
Pictomancers of the Current of the Blades of Light embrace close combat with a unique blend of magical arts and martial mastery. They use their artistic talents to enhance their attacks and protect their allies, creating dynamic and dangerous works of art in the heat of battle.
Spells of the Current
You learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as indicated in the table below. These spells count as Pictomancer spells for you, but do not count against the number of spells you know.
| Pictomancer Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Shield, Wrathful Smite |
| 5th | Magic Weapon, Barkskin |
| 7th | Haste, Guardian Spirits |
| 9th | Stoneskin, Fire Shield |
| 11th | Wall of Force, Destructive Wave |
Note: Unlike other subclasses, the Blades of Light unlock spells of the Current up to level 11, due to their martial nature requiring high-level spells.
Chromatic Arsenal
3rd-level feature
Your martial training allows you to transform your magic into deadly weapons. You gain proficiency with simple weapons, medium armor, and shields. Additionally, you can use your Intelligence modifier instead of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for attack and damage rolls you make with melee weapons.
Artistic Stances
3rd-level feature
You have developed two distinct combat styles, painting your weaponry on the fly. At the end of a short or long rest, you can manifest your light ink equipment and adopt one of the following stances:
- Radiant Defender: You paint a magnificent magical shield on your free arm. As long as you benefit from the AC bonus of this shield, you can use your reaction when an ally within 5 feet of you is targeted by an attack. You interpose your shield, granting that ally a +2 bonus to their AC against that attack.
- Luminous Attacker: You paint a weapon of light in your off-hand (which has the properties of a light weapon dealing 1d6 force damage). Once per turn, when you take the Attack action with your main weapon, you can make an additional attack with this painted weapon as part of the same action.
You remain in the chosen stance until you change it at the end of a short or long rest.
Extra Attack
6th-level feature
You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. Additionally, you can cast one of your Pictomancer cantrips in place of one of these attacks.
Master’s Canvas
10th-level feature
Your mastery of combat stances reaches a higher level, significantly enhancing your effectiveness on the battlefield based on the style adopted:
- Shield Aura (Radiant Defender): The shield you paint now emits a permanent aura in a radius of 10 feet around you. You and allies within this aura gain resistance to damage from spells.
- Shadow Dance (Luminous Attacker): Your movement speed increases by 10 feet. Additionally, when a creature makes a melee attack against you and misses, you can use your reaction to make an immediate opportunity attack against it with your weapon.
Prismatic Trance
14th-level feature
You have reached the pinnacle of your magical martial art. You gain the ability to enter a trance where paint and blood intertwine. As a bonus action, you can activate your Prismatic Trance for 1 minute. You gain the following benefits:
You immediately gain temporary hit points equal to 2d8 + your Intelligence modifier. You have advantage on all your melee attack rolls. When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can cast a Pictomancer spell (with a casting time of 1 action and a maximum spell slot level of 2) as a bonus action, expending your Creation Points normally. You can use this ability once. You must finish a long rest to use it again unless you expend 5 Creation Points to reactivate it.
Current of Living Blood
The Current of Living Blood is a forbidden path of pictomancy, where the artist forsakes the use of external pigments to draw directly from the most intimate matter of the living: blood, flesh, bone, and the very pulse of life. This practice is not noble, and few masters speak of it as anything but a burden. One does not take this current out of a thirst for power, but because one day, painting with ordinary colors is no longer enough.
Spells of the Current
You learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as indicated in the table below. These spells count as Pictomancer spells for you, but do not count against the number of spells you know.
| Pictomancer Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Ray of Enfeeblement, Simulacrum |
| 5th | Blindness/Deafness, Life Transference |
| 7th | Vampiric Touch, Animate Dead |
| 9th | Blight, Vitriol Sphere |
Bloody Sap (Living Wound)
3rd-level feature
A wound in the shape of a tiny opening appears in the center of one of your palms. This "Living Wound" allows you to produce Bloody Sap, an organic substance akin to sap but tinted with your own blood, which fuels the dark techniques of this current. You can generate and use Bloody Sap a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum 1). You regain all expended uses after completing a long rest.
Blood Magic: If you have no uses of Bloody Sap available, you can choose to sacrifice one of your own Hit Dice. Roll that Hit Die; you take necrotic damage equal to the result of the die (this damage cannot be reduced in any way). You can then use an ability that requires Bloody Sap.
Hemorrhagic Analysis
3rd-level feature
You learn to read the pulses, internal tensions, and flaws of a living being through its wounds. Once per turn, when you deal damage to a creature with a spell or Pictomancer cantrip, you can use a bonus action and expend 1 Bloody Sap to corrupt its vital flow. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, you learn one of its Resistances, Immunities, or Vulnerabilities (at the DM's choice). Additionally, until the end of your next turn, the creature loses one Resistance to damage of your choice that it possesses. If the target has no Resistance, its blood begins to boil, and it takes additional necrotic damage equal to your Pictomancer level.
Note: This ability does not affect artificial creatures or entities that do not have blood.
Blood Link
6th-level feature
You can unite the vital flow of two beings in a bloody and painful composition. As a bonus action and by expending 1 Bloody Sap, choose two creatures you can see within 60 feet of you. If one of the targets is unwilling, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw to resist the effect. If the effect succeeds, the essences of both creatures remain linked for 1 minute, as long as you maintain your Concentration (as with a spell). The link immediately breaks if the two creatures move more than 60 feet apart, or if one of them drops to 0 hit points. While the link persists, when one of the two creatures takes damage, it only takes half; the other half is transferred to the other linked creature as necrotic damage (this transferred half ignores immunities and resistances). Area damage that affects both creatures simultaneously is not affected by this link.
Macabre Resilience
10th-level feature
The repeated use of your own blood has immunized you against impurities and allows you to listen to the residual memory of flesh.
Toxin Mastery: You gain permanent immunity to poison damage and the poisoned condition.
Reading the Dead: By placing your hands on the body of a creature that has died within the last 24 hours, you can expend 1 Bloody Sap to perceive the traces left in its bones. You learn the primary cause of its death and the dominant emotion it felt at the moment of dying. Additionally, you gain advantage on all Wisdom (Insight) checks for the next hour.
Scarlet Split
14th-level feature
You can fracture your vital identity to paint a double of yourself made of fresh blood. As a bonus action and by expending 1 Bloody Sap, you split your current hit point total in half (if the total is odd, you keep the remaining point). Half of these hit points are invested in a "Blood Double" that appears in an unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. The double has your appearance, AC, and visible equipment, and lasts for 1 minute.
During this time, you share the same mind. You and your double use the same combat turn and share your actions, bonus actions, reactions, and concentration. When you cast a spell, make an attack, or interact with an object, you choose which of your two bodies (you or the double) is the source. When a creature you can see targets you with an attack, you can use your reaction to instantly swap places with your double, making it the new target of the attack. If the double drops to 0 hit points, it is destroyed (the hit points it had are lost). At the end of the minute, if the double is still active, it dissolves, and its current hit point amount is added to yours, up to your normal maximum.
Current of Chiaroscuro
Adherents of the Current of Chiaroscuro have understood that painting is not merely a surface art, but a play of contrasts capable of binding shadow and light. Drawing inspiration from ancient canvases and dreamlike worlds, these Pictomancers bring to life ink puppets suspended by threads of light. Floating above the battlefield in their own sphere of creation, they pull the strings of their effigies to dictate the rhythm of combat, like directors of a deadly play.
Spells of the Current
You learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class. These spells count as Pictomancer spells for you, but do not count against the number of spells you know.
| Pictomancer Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Faerie Fire, Darkness |
| 5th | Blindness/Deafness, Shadow of Moil |
| 7th | Hypnotic Pattern, Guardian Spirits |
| 9th | Greater Invisibility, Evard's Black Tentacles |
Canvas Puppets
3rd-level feature
You learn to materialize ink creatures connected to your fingers by threads of luminous paint. As an action and by expending 1 Creation Point, you can summon a Canvas Puppet in an unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. You can only have one puppet active at a time; if you use this ability again, the first one dissolves into a puddle of paint. In combat, the puppet shares your initiative and takes its turn immediately after yours. It cannot act on its own; unless you use your bonus action to pull its strings and command it to attack or take an action, it will use the Dodge action. The puppet disappears if it drops to 0 hit points, if you finish a long rest, or if you cut its strings (no action required).
When you summon it, you must sculpt its role by choosing one of the three patterns below:
Light Pattern (Support): Its attacks shine with a soothing glow. When it hits a creature with its base attack, an ally of your choice within 10 feet of the target regains 1d4 + your Intelligence modifier hit points.
Dark Pattern (Attacker): Its black ink blades are sharp. Its base attacks deal an additional 1d6 necrotic damage.
Twilight Pattern (Protector): It is large and intimidating. When an ally within 5 feet of this puppet is attacked, it can use its Reaction to impose disadvantage on the enemy's attack roll.
Armor Class 11 + your proficiency bonus (natural armor)
Hit Points 5 + (3 x your Pictomancer level)
Speed 25 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover)
14 (+2) DEX
14 (+2) CON
13 (+1) INT
4 (-3) WIS
10 (+0) CHA
3 (-4)
Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, poisoned, exhaustion
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages understands the languages you speak but cannot speak
Immutable Form. The puppet is immune to any spell or effect that would alter its form.
Link of the Soul. The puppet's proficiency bonus equals yours. It uses your spell attack modifier for its attack rolls.
Ink Strike. Melee spell attack: your spell attack modifier to hit, reach 5 ft., one target you can see. Hit: 1d6 + your Intelligence modifier force damage. (See the Canvas Puppets feature for additional effects based on the Pattern).
Sphere of Exposure
6th-level feature
As long as you control at least one Canvas Puppet, the energy of the luminous threads connecting you to your creation elevates you above the ground in a translucent protective sphere. You hover up to 3 feet off the ground. You can move a maximum of 10 feet per turn in this manner while staying close to the ground, ignoring difficult terrain and the surface of liquids, but you cannot fly higher. Additionally, the complex threads dancing around your sphere deflect attacks, granting you a +2 bonus to Armor Class. If your last puppet is destroyed, you gently descend to the ground, and the sphere dissipates.
Additionally, your Canvas Puppet strengthens. Ink Strike increases its damage to 1d8 force damage (instead of 1d6).
The Four-Handed Work
10th-level feature
Your concentration ability expands. When you use your action to summon a Canvas Puppet, you can spend a total of 3 Creation Points instead of just one to simultaneously summon two puppets. They must each adopt a different pattern (Light, Dark, or Twilight). You cannot have more than two puppets active at this level.
The economy of your movements becomes perfect: when you use your bonus action to command your puppets, you send an impulse through your threads that allows all your active puppets to take their action simultaneously (they can target different enemies).
Additionally, the patterns of your Canvas Puppet strengthen.
Light Pattern (Support): An ally of your choice within 10 feet of the target now regains 1d6 + your Intelligence modifier hit points (instead of 1d4).
Dark Pattern (Attacker): Its base attacks deal an additional 1d8 necrotic damage (instead of 1d6).
Twilight Pattern (Protector): In addition to imposing disadvantage on the enemy's attack roll, the ally receives +1 to AC to resist the attack. The AC gained this way disappears after the attack.
The Grand Theater of the Expedition
14th-level feature
You have become the absolute master of the stage. You can now simultaneously summon all three patterns of your Canvas Puppets by spending a total of 5 Creation Points. You cannot have more than three puppets active at once. Additionally, you unlock the ultimate technique of Chiaroscuro. As an action, you can sharply pull all the paint threads in the area. All hostile creatures within a 30-foot radius must make a Strength saving throw. On a failure, they take 6d10 force damage and are forcibly pulled toward the center of the area, restrained by ink ropes until the end of your next turn. On a success, they take half damage and are not restrained. Once you use this pulling threads ability, you must finish a long rest to use it again unless you expend 5 Creation Points to reactivate it.