Soul Reaver

The eyes are windows unto the soul. But what is in a soul? The answer, power to bend the reality of the world around you to your desire. Waves of drones wasting time bickering over the trade of useless items. Working all hours of the day in order to just drink themselves to sleep every night. It would be a great act of mercy to remove their corporeal form and finally use their life force for a purpose. Soul reavers are hidden throughout the landscape, usually posing as other religious figures. A mighty paladin that uses their holy edict to spread war and death throughout the land. A cleric in a small town that just didn't have the right spell to save the old man’s life. A soldier brandishing a standard and playing his drum, consuming the byproduct of war. Soul reavers are hard to find and once they are, it usually doesn't work out too well for the search party.

Soul reavers stride the path between annihilation and mercy. Whether a curse by a spiteful god, a contract signed in blood and desperation before a trickster devil, or an innate calling to ferry the grateful dead, a soul reaver’s burden bears the weight of two worlds. The entrusted or perhaps entrapped souls fuel their vessel, recasting a desperate wanderer into a renewed channeler of life and death itself.

Class Features

As a soul reaver, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d10 per soul reaver level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per soul reaver level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields
Weapons: Simple weapons, flails, glaives, halberds, morningstars, pikes, tridents, whips Tools: Poisoner’s kit
Saving Throws: Strength, Constitution
Skills: Choose two from Arcana, Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Religion, and Survival

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a flail and shield or (b) a glaive
• (a) any two thrown weapons or (b) two sickles
• A priest pack and a poisoner’s kit
• Chain shirt and a soul reaver focus

Tools

• Poisoners Kit

Multiclassing

Prerequisites: You must have a Constitution score of 13 or higher in order to multiclass in or out of this class.
Multiclassing Proficiencies: Light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, glaives

Scent of the Living

Beginning at 1st level, you are unusually adept at fixing onto creatures and their very souls. As an action, you can discern the signs of lingering essences and learn from them. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any living creature within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You also know if a creature has recently been in the area in the last hour. You know the type and if it is missing any of its hit points. If the creature is missing half its maximum hit points or lower, you also have advantage on all Wisdom checks regarding it. This feature has no effect on undead or constructs.

You can use this feature once per short rest.

Soul Siphon

When a life ends in your presence, you’re able to steal parts of their departing spirit. As a reaction when a creature dies within 60 feet of you, you can brandish your reaver focus and cause the spirit to be absorbed there, a soul fragment. Roll one of the creature’s hit dice. You gain a number of soul fragments equal to the roll. The Soul Reaver table shows the maximum number of soul fragments you can have absorbed, and you can't absorb more while at your maximum.

You can use soul fragments in the following ways:

• Mortal Echo. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend any number of soul fragments to deal necrotic damage to the target at the start of their next turn, in addition to the weapon’s damage. As a reaction, which you take when this target ends its turn with less than half its hit point maximum, you can expend additional soul fragments to deal an equal amount of necrotic damage.
• Blessings of the Fallen. As an action, you can expend 1d8 soul fragments and invigorate yourself with the experiences of the fallen. When you do so, you temporarily gain proficiency in one skill of your choice for one minute.

If an ability costs soul fragments requiring a dice roll and your roll exceeds the number of souls you have absorbed, the ability fails and you do not spend those soul fragments.

Spellcasting

By 2nd level, you have learned to twist occult chaos by manipulating souls in order to cast spells.

Spellcasting Focus

You can use a reaver focus as a spellcasting focus for your soul reaver spells. A reaper focus might be the ashes of a priest held by an hourglass, an ancestral relic, a lich’s jawbone, or a profane object imbued with occult magic.

Undying Fortitude

By 3rd level, otherworldly powers bolster your resolve. You gain the following benefits:

• You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid gaining levels of exhaustion.
• When you roll hit dice to regain hit points and have no soul fragments absorbed, you gain soul fragments equal to your Constitution modifier.
• You gain resistance to poison or necrotic damage, you choose when you gain this feature.

Profane Burden

When you reach 3rd level, you are contractually obligated to fulfill your duties as a soul reaver forever. Up to this time, you have been primed as an initiate, learning the responsibilities but not yet tethered to it. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level. Those features include burden spells and the Channel Souls feature.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Impugnment Burst

Starting at 6th level, as a reaction which you take when a hostile creature within 10 feet of you makes a saving throw, you can expend a number of soul fragments up to your proficiency bonus. You must decide how many fragments you will use before the GM determines whether the saving throw succeeds or fails. The creature must subtract this number from its roll.
At 18th level, the range of this feature increases to 30 feet.

Force of Will

Starting at 6th level, when you score a critical hit on a creature, the target and each creature within 10 feet of you that can see you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of you for 1 minute.

Dominate Undead. An undead creature that fails this saving throw is under your dominance.

On each of your turns, you can use a bonus action to mentally comma⁠nd any undead creature under your dominance if the creature is within 60 feet of you (if you control multiple creatures, you can comm⁠and any or all of them at the same time, issuing the same comm⁠and to each one). You decide what action the creature will take and where it will move during its next turn, or you can issue a general com⁠mand, such as to guard a particular chamber or corridor. If you issue no comm⁠ands, the creature only defends itself against hostile creatures. Once given an order, the creature continues to follow it until its task is complete.

The creature is under your dominance for 1 minute after which it stops obeying any com⁠mand you’ve given it.

The Legion

Starting at 9th level, you may bond souls with the undead. As a bonus action, you can spend 5 soul fragments to bolster the undead creatures under your dominance.

• The undead creatures have additional benefits when bolstered:
• The creature's hit point maximum is increased by an amount equal to your soul reaver level
• The creature's attacks count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Soul Draft

Starting at 9th level, as a bonus action, you can roll a number of d4s equal to your proficiency bonus and gain a number of soul fragments equal to the roll.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Cursed Touch

Beginning at 14th level, you can expend 3d8 soul fragments and use your action to touch a creature, and that creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become cursed for 1 minute. When you use this feature, choose the nature of the curse from the following options:

• Choose one ability score. While cursed, the target has disadvantage on ability checks and saving throws made with that ability score.
• While cursed, the target has disadvantage on attack rolls against you.
• While cursed, the target must make a Wisdom saving throw at the start of each of its turns. If it fails, it wastes its action that turn doing nothing.
• While the target is cursed, your attacks and spells deal an extra 1d8 necrotic damage to the target.

A remove curse spell ends this effect. If you spend 4d8 soul fragments, the duration is 10 minutes. If you use 5d8 soul fragments, the duration is 8 hours.

Consume

Starting at lvl 20 you gain the ability to control the souls of still living creatures. Creatures within 60ft make a constitution saving throw. On a failed saving throw creatures take 8d6 necrotic damage half as much on a failed saving throw. Undead creatures under cr 5 are considered dominated for the next minute. You gain a soul fragment for each creature targeted. As a bonus action on your turn you may give a single command that all creatures under your control will follow until a new command is given. If no command is issued the creatures take no action. creatures not dominated by consume are stunned for 1 turn

Black Templar

Black Templars are reavers burdened with the task of protecting and possibly crusading for the departed. On the battlefield, they turn the dark ambitions of slain enemies against any forces that stand between the reaver’s campaign.

Death Dealer

Death dealers, also known as Necrons, are reapers burdened with unspeakable powers that rip the seams of life and death. A death dealer’s crackling spells are horrific last images of many unfortunate souls. Some of these reapers rejoice in the agony they bring, capitalizing on the souls they wrought, others shrewdly calculate the magnitude of their collected souls' power to compound swift and merciful endings.

Sacramental Interest

At 15th level, you can, as a bonus action, expend 4d8 soul fragments. For the next minute, when you cast a reaver spell of 1st through 5th level that deals damage, you can cast it as if using a spell slot of one level higher.

The first time you do so, you regain 4d4 hit points. Thereafter, when you cast a reaver cantrip you regain 2d4 hit points.

After you use this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Hell Commander

Hell Commanders are reavers burdened with leading a damned battalion toward promises of everlasting peace. The undead rise in search of an overseer of vicious tactical prowess and these reapers rise to the warmongering occasion.

Burden of the Hell Commander Spells

Soul Channeling

When you take this burden at 3rd level, you gain the following two Soul Channeling options:

• Reanimate Thrall (4 Soul Fragments). You learn the find familiar spell and can cast it as a ritual. When you cast it using this feature, you can use a corpse as a material component instead of the listed spell components. The familiar is undead instead of a celestial, fey, or fiend. The spell doesn't count against your number of spells known. When you cast the spell or the flock of familiar spell, you can choose one of the normal forms for your familiar or one of the following special forms: crawling claw, mastiff, skeleton, or zombie. Additionally, when you take the Attack action, you can forgo one of your own attacks to allow your familiar to make one attack with its reaction. At the start of the familiar’s turn, if you have fewer than 4 soul fragments, it explodes. Each creature within 5 feet of the familiar must succeed a Dexterity saving throw or take necrotic damage equal to half your reaver level.
• Unearthly Understanding (6 Soul Fragments). Your reaver spells that normally have no effect on undead can now affect them. Undead under your control are immune against effects that turn undead.

Legion of Doom

At 15th level you can, as a bonus action, expend 5d8 soul fragments. Each friendly undead creature within 30 feet of you increases their hit point maximum by the roll and gains the same number of hit points. They immediately move up to their speed and take one action. That action can be used only to take the Attack (one weapon attac⁠k only), Dash, Disengage, Hide, or Use an Object action.

If total of the roll is greater than 24, each hostile undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it becomes friendly to you and obeys your commands until you use this feature again.

Intelligent undead are harder to control in this way. If the target has an Intelligence of 8 or higher, it has advantage on the saving throw. If it fails the saving throw and has an Intelligence of 12 or higher, it can repeat the saving throw at the end of every hour until it succeeds and breaks free.

After you use this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Credits

• All images created in Microsoft copilot AI
• created in collaboration with Noblegun