I was thinking about how cool Azathoth, and the whole “power beyond comprehension” bit is, and how the great old one doesn’t quite fit what I’d want a worshiper of an old one to do. I don’t really want to be creepy and have tentacles. Tentacles are cool and all, but they don’t automatically make something incomprehensible to mortals. They just make it look like Davey Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean. Sweet design, but not really what I’m going for. So, I started thinking, how would I want a disciple of one of these great old ones to really behave. And what I want, is someone who caught a glimpse of the beyond, and can show you… If you’re up for it. And since Great Old Ones, and the Mythos exist in 5e already, I took a step sideways, and came up with Externals. Which are the same, but different.

Also, I realized after I wrote this, I’m obsessed with “Big” being cool, and 5e really dropped the ball with this.

External Patron

Harness power from beyond time and space.

When you choose this subclass, you make a bargain with an External, one of the immense beings that exist beyond the planes and outside the ordered structure of reality itself. Your patron could be a Void Sovereign adrift in the spaces between worlds, one of the Uncreated who predates the gods, a member of the enigmatic Architects Beyond, or another ancient entity whose existence transcends mortal understanding.

Some warlocks form pacts with a single External, while others draw power from a distant conclave of such beings. Whoever they are, your patron perceives reality from a perspective that few mortals can imagine. Their goals can seem incomprehensible, and their influence often manifests through strange insights, impossible geometries, and glimpses of truths hidden beyond the veil of existence.

The powers granted by an External rarely originate from the warlock. Instead, each invocation of magic briefly tears open a portal to the realm beyond reality. Through these breaches, your patron emerges: colossal limbs strike at your foes, impossible energies spill into the world, and alien powers reshape the battlefield. With every use of your gifts, the boundary between worlds grows thinner.

The magic of your patron allows you to open temporary breaches into the realm beyond reality, letting fragments of the External’s power enter the world. When you reach a Warlock level specified in the External Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed spells prepared.

External Spells

Level 3: Pact Spells

Level	Spells
3rd	Arms of Hadar, Thunderwave
5th	Misty Step, Shatter
7th	Dimension Door, Clairvoyance
9th	Arcane Eye, Evard’s Black Tentacles
11th	Arcane Hand, Teleportation Circle

Breach Strike

Level 3 External Feature

As a Bonus Action, you create a fleeting portal at a point you can see within 60 feet. Through it, a fragment of your patron manifests to strike at a creature within 5 feet of the portal.

The target makes a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, it takes 1d10+Cha Force damage and is pushed up to 10 feet in the direction of your choice. On a successful save, it takes half damage and isn’t pushed.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

The damage increases to 2d10+Cha at 10th level and 3d10+Cha at 18th level.

Manifestation

When you use this feature, choose or describe how your patron manifests through the breach:

• A colossal fist crashes through the opening.
• A titanic eye opens and unleashes a beam of force.
• Geometric appendages emerge and sweep the target aside.
• Reality fractures as invisible power lashes outward.
• An impossible limb reaches through and hurls the creature away.

Follow the Folded Path

Level 6 External Feature

As a Bonus Action, you tear a temporary passage through time and space, creating two linked portals in unoccupied spaces you can see within 120 feet of yourself. Each portal is an impossibly thin disc, occupying a 5-foot space and remains for up to 1 minute, until you create another pair of portals, or until a creature travels through them.

A creature that enters either portal immediately emerges from the other in the nearest unoccupied space. When a creature travels through either portal, both portals collapse. Creatures of any size can pass through the portals; they need only touch them before they are pulled through. A creature cannot pass through a portal with no room for them to exit. Instead, the portal remains open, and they take 1d6 force damage.

At the start of each of your turns, each creature within 10 feet of either portal must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC or be pulled up to 10 feet toward the nearest portal.

Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a Short or Long Rest. Alternatively, you can use it again by expending a Pact Magic spell slot.

To Have Seen The Infinite

Level 10 External Feature

The openings you create no longer serve merely as pathways. Through them, your patron peers directly into reality.

You gain the effects of the See Invisability spell at all times, out to a range of 60ft. In addition, while a creature is within 30 feet of you, you always know its location (you know which space it’s in, but don’t automatically see it), unless it is protected by a spell of 6th level or higher or similar powerful magic.

Creatures revealed by this feature often experience the sensation of being watched by a vast and distant intelligence, even when no portal is visible.

Manifestation of the External

Level 14 External Feature

You have become a sufficient conduit for your patron to partially enter reality.

As an Action, you open a colossal portal at a point you can see within 180 feet. Through it, a fragment of your patron manifests. The manifestation occupies a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on that point and lasts for 1 minute. The manifestation might appear as a titanic eye peering through the heavens, a vast hand emerging from a crack in existence, an impossible geometric structure stretching beyond sight, or another form appropriate to your patron. The manifestation follows normal summoning rules, and cannot occupy an already occupied space.

When the manifestation appears, each creature of your choice within 60 feet of it must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, a creature is Frightened of the manifestation for 1 minute. A frightened creature can repeat the save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.

While the manifestation exists:

• You can cast Warlock spells as though you occupied any point within the manifestation.
• The area within 60 feet of the manifestation is Difficult Terrain for your enemies due to the gravitational pull of the External.
• A creature that starts its turn adjacent to the manifestation takes 1d10 Force damage. If the creature is Large or smaller, its Speed becomes 0 until the start of its next turn.
• At the start of each of your turns, choose one of the following effects:
  • Grasp. Each enemy of your choice within 60 feet of the manifestation must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 20 feet toward the manifestation.
  • Gaze. One creature you can see within 120 feet of the manifestation must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be Stunned until the start of your next turn.
  • Annihilation. A beam of impossible energy erupts from the manifestation toward a creature you can see within 120 feet. The target takes 6d10 Force damage on a failed Dexterity saving throw, or half as much on a success.

In addition, while the manifestation exists, creatures cannot become Invisible within 60 feet of it, and magical effects that create portals, teleportation, or extradimensional spaces are suppressed within that area unless you permit them.

Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a Long Rest.