Homebrew Sorcerer Subclass: Necromantic Sorcerer

by DragoonKnight

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Necromantic Sorcerer


Sorcerers who gain their powers in places heavily influenced by necromantic energies, such as the Shadowfell, or desecrated graveyards, and those who are affected by power necromantic spells, become Necromantic Sorcerers, beings slightly removed from the flow of life and death.

Unyielding Life

You are trapped between life and undeath. You can go twice as long as usual without food, water, or even air. You require only half the normal amount of sleep during a long rest (although you still need to rest the full 8 hours). Furthermore, you only age one year for every two years you live.

Necromantic Magic

You learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown on the Necromantic Spells Table. Each of these spells counts as a sorcerer spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of sorcerer spells you know.

Necromantic Spells
Sorcer Levels Spells
1st Bane, Inflict Wounds
3rd Ray of Enfeeblement, Pass Without Trace
5th Animate Dead, Bestow Curse
7th Shadow of Moil, Death Ward
9th Danse Macabre, Negative Energy Flood

Undead Soul

You are remarkably hard to kill, and have a tendency to spring right back up soon after you go down.

You gain a bonus to your death saves equal to you Constitution modifier (minimum of 1), and when you succeed on three death saves, and become stable, you can expend a number of hit dice, up to a number equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining that many hit points. You can heal yourself this way once per short or long rest.

Puppet Corpse

Starting 6th level, you can separate a part of your soul, and place it into a corpse. As an action, you spend 2 sorcery points and target one medium or smaller corpse, that can be turned into an undead, within 30 feet of you. Roll a number of d6s up to your proficiency bonus and add your Constitution modifier.

The corpse returns to life under your control, with a number of hit points equal to the amount rolled, and your hit point maximum is reduced by that amount until the puppeted creature is reduced to 0 hit points.

The animated corpse takes its turn immediately after you, and you can use your bonus action to cause it to move up to its speed to a space within range that you can see. As an action on your turn, you can command the corpse to take any action open to it. The corpse retains all its statistics, other than hit points, and it Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores, which are half of your scores. It does not, however, maintain any class levels or features it had, aside from weapon or armor proficiency. It is immune to the charmed frightened conditions, and is considered an undead creature. The corpse lasts until it reaches 0 hit points, or you use this feature again.

As an action, you can cast a sorcerer spell you know, as if you were in the corpse's space, using your spellcasting modifier. When you do this, the corpse takes damage equal to 6 * the level of the spell. This damage cannot be reduced by any means. If the corpse is reduced to 0 hit points through casting a spell, it disintegrates into a pile of ash.

At 14th level, the maximum size of a corpse you can target is increased to large, although it will require 5 sorcery points to animate. Regardless of the corpse's size, you cannot animate the corpse of a creature with a challenge rating greater than half of your level (rounded down).

Steal Life

You know how to grasp and tug on the life force of others, and can steal vitality from those who are passing on.

From 14th level on, whenever a hostile creature within 60 feet of you or your puppeted corpse dies, you can use a reaction to regain hit points equal to your level + your Charisma modifier. You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier. Expended uses of this feature are restored at the end of a long rest.

Unyielding Soul

Having been attuned to necromantic energies for so long, your soul has begun to change, with a death-grip on your body, and the ability to let out powerful bursts of dark energy.

At 18th level, you can enter a death defying state for up to 1 minute (as if concentrating on a spell). When you enter this state, creature of your choice within 15 feet of you must make a Constitution save against your spell save DC or take 2d10 necrotic damage. While in this state:

  • You reduce all damage you take by an amount equal to your Charisma modifier.
  • You regain 5 hit points at the start of your turn, if you start that turn with less than half of your maximum hit points.
  • You gain a bonus to all of your saves equal to your Charisma modifier.
  • If you make a death saving throw and roll an 18 - 20, you are restored to 1 hit point.
  • Rolling a 1 on a death save counts as only 1 failure.

Once you enter this state, you cannot do again until you finish a long rest, unless you spend 5 sorcery points to do so.

Author Notes

I've been trying to keep my subclasses balanced, but as I'm sure you've noticed, this isn't a typical sorcerer. This sorcerer is focused on utility and longevity, rather than pure power output.

I can't really be sure that this subclass is balanced. The fact that they are hard to kill, basically requiring enemies to waste their time attacking the downed Player to finish them off, certainly opens up a few gameplay options that I can't predict. Furthermore, the health regeneration options help keep this subclass in the game for much longer. The Puppet Corpse feature is also interesting, giving the sorcerer a more flexible arcane familiar, up to large size.

On the other hand, the feature's reduction to the sorcerer's max hit points, which is meant as a balancing feature, can be pretty rough.

Overall, this has been one of the harder subclasses to balance, and I have no idea if I managed to pull it off. So, remember, the DM has the final say about Homebrew, and if they want to make any changes, let them.

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