Animal Lords

While humanoids have vast pantheons and divine figures of every stripe, the animals of the world have much simpler forms of faith. Among each species there is always one paragon that embodies the animal spirit in a humanoid form, the better to speak to others and represent the animals in the fey courts and the Upper Planes. These timeless entities are connected to every animal of the kind they represent, and their primary concerns are for the well-being of these animals and the natural world as a whole.
Your patron is one such animal lord. Animal lords are varied in their motivations and often come into conflict with each other. They each command legions of animal followers and gather information from all of them. Unlike many other patrons, animal lords often have close relationships with those they bind with pacts, some to control, others to guide and advise. You are your animal lord’s hand in the affairs of humanoids, and your allies are as numerous as the spiders in the corner or the birds in the sky.
You choose a specific animal lord to be your patron using the Animal Lord table. Each type of animal in the world can potentially have an animal lord. If you want to follow a specific type of animal lord, work with your GM to determine the animal lord’s affinity and beast type and where that animal lord fits in the world. For a deeper dive on specific animal lords and for their game statistics, see Creature Codex and Tome of Beasts 2. These books aren’t required to choose an animal lord as your patron or to play this class option. Animal Lords

Animal Lord
Affinity
Beast Type

Bat King

Air

Bats

Brother Ox

Earth

Hooved mammals

Lord of Vultures

Air

Vultures, birds of prey

Mouse King

Earth

Rodents

Queen of Birds

Air

Birds

Queen of Cats

Earth

Felines

Queen of Serpents

Earth

Reptiles

Queen of Scorpions

Earth

Arachnids

Toad King

Water

Amphibians

Expanded Spell List

Animal Lords let you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The Animal Lord Expanded Spells table shows the animal lord spells that are added to the warlock spell list for you, along with the spells associated with your patron’s affinity: air, earth, or water.

Spell Level
Animal Lord Spells
Air Spells
Earth Spells
Water Spells

1st

speak with animals

thunderwave

longstrider

fog cloud

2nd

mark prey *

gust of wind

pass without trace

misty step

3rd

conjure animals

fly

phantom steed

water breathing

4th

polymorph

storm of wings *

sudden stampede *

control water

5th

commune with nature

insect plague

hold monster

cloudkill

*indicates a spell found in this book

Animal lords expanded spells

Natural Blessing

Starting at 1st level, you learn the druidcraft

cantrip, and you gain proficiency in the Animal Handling skill.

Animalistic Insight

At 1st level, your patron bestows upon you the ability to discern your foe’s flaws to aid in its downfall. You can use an action to analyze one creature you can see within 30 feet of you and impart this information to your companions. You and a number of creatures within 30 feet of you equal to your proficiency bonus each gain one of the following benefits (your choice). This benefit lasts for 1 minute or until the analyzed creature dies.

• You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls against the analyzed creature.
• You gain a +1 bonus to the damage roll when you hit the analyzed creature with an attack.
• You have advantage on saving throws against the spells and effects of the analyzed creature.
• When the analyzed creature attacks you, you gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest. When you reach 10th level in this class, each +1 bonus increases to +2.
Patron Companion

At 6th level, your patron sends you a beast companion that accompanies you on your adventures and is trained to fight alongside you. The companion acts as the animal lord’s eyes and ears, allowing your patron to watch over you, and, at times, advise, warn, or otherwise communicate with you.
Choose a beast that relates to your patron (as shown in the Beast Type column in the Animal Lords table) that has a challenge rating of 1/4 or lower. If you have the Pact of the Chain Pact Boon, this beast becomes your familiar.
Your patron companion is friendly to you and your companions, and you can speak with it as if you shared a language. It obeys your commands and, in combat, it shares your initiative and takes its turn immediately after yours. Your patron companion can move and use its reaction on its own, but, if you don’t issue any commands to it, the only action it takes is the Dodge action. You can use a bonus action to direct it to take the Attack, Dash, Disengage, Help, Hide, or Search action or an action listed in its statistics. If you are incapacitated, the companion can take any action of its choice, not just Dodge.
If your companion dies, your patron sends a new one to you after 24 hours. If your patron companions die too often, your patron might be reluctant to send a new one or might reprimand you in other ways.
Primal Mastery

At 10th level, you can use your bond to your patron to tap into the innate connection between all animals. At the end of each short or long rest, choose one of the following benefits. The benefit lasts until you finish a short or long rest.

•
Cat Eyes. You have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. If you already have darkvision, its range increases by 30 feet.

•
Chameleonic. You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.

•
Fangs. You grow fangs. The fangs are a natural melee weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with your fangs, you can use Charisma instead of Strength for the attack, and your fangs deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Charisma modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

•
Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for 10 minutes.

•
Keen Senses. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.

•
Leap. Your jump distance is doubled.

•
Spry. You have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks.

•
Swift. Your speed increases by 10 feet.

•
Thick Hide. You gain a +1 bonus to your Armor Class.

•
Webbed Limbs. You have a swimming speed of 20 feet.

Call the Legions

At 14th level, you can summon a horde of beasts to come to your aid. As an action, you call upon your animal lord, and several beasts of your patron’s type appear in unoccupied spaces that you can see within 60 feet of you. This works like a 7th-level conjure animals spell, except you don’t need to maintain concentration. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Animal Lord Warlocks in Midgard

Khandiria boasts the most followers of the animal lords. Every king in the so-called “Land of a Thousand Kingdoms” boasts an animal lord avatar as an advisor, and many warlocks in that far-off land forge pacts with the animal lords. But they are not the only ones. The Queen of Scorpions carefully cultivates warlocks in hidden enclaves in Nuria. Warlocks pledged to the Mouse King trade information for power in Zobeck. An aerie in the Arbonesse acts as a school for the pact-followers of the Queen of Birds. The centaurs of the Rothenian Plains have seen
eldritch blast
wielding nomads who follow the Lord of Vultures, and reports from the Underworld speak of Bat King warlocks among the ghouls of the Imperium. Travelers who survive the Plateau of Leng long enough to reach the hidden sanctum of the yakfolk can learn at the feet of Brother Ox himself. While they don’t claim widespread fame, animal lord warlocks can be found across all of Midgard.