Martial Archetype
Ghostblade
A lone warrior walks along a lonely night path when suddenly she hears a worried whisper in her ear. She spins around, just in time to see a a group of brigands jump out behind her.
Ghostblades are fighters who have a special affinity with the dead. When wandering a forgotten battlefield or graveyard, the cries of those long past are constantly at the back of their minds. As ghostblades grow stronger, they become able to call upon the dead for aid in combat.
Ghostblade Features
| Ghostblade Level | Feature |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Old Haunts, Ghost Commander |
| 7th | Warnings of the Dead |
| 10th | Undead Visage |
| 15th | Ghost Step |
| 18th | Catharsis |
Old Haunts
There is nowhere that the souls of the deceased do not drift. When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you learn how to call upon souls that you are familiar with to haunt an area.
Preparing Ghosts
You prepare a list of ghosts that are available for you to call upon to haunt the field. When you do so, choose a number of ghost types as specified on the ghost haunts table (minimum of one ghost).
You can change your list of prepared ghosts when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of ghosts requires time spent communing with the dead, meditation, or prayer: at least 1 minute per prerequisite level or empowerment level for each ghost on your list.
Deploying Ghosts
Haunting Grounds. Once a round, you can send a ghost to haunt an area with a radius specified on the class table centered on a point you choose within 30 feet as a bonus action.
A creature that enters the haunt's area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must make a saving throw. On a failed save, a creature is under the effects of the ghost while in the radius.
Maintaining the ghost takes your concentration, but you can have any number of ghosts active at the same time. A ghost returns when you choose on your turn, or when you are more than 60 from it.
Once you use this feature twice, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. Starting at 18th level, you can use it three times before a rest.
Saving Throws. Some of your haunts require your targets to make a saving throw to resist the ghosts' effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:
Haunt save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus +
Ghost Haunts
| Ghostblade Level | Haunt Radius | Ghosts Prepared |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd | 10 ft | 2 |
| 7th | 10 ft | 3 |
| 10th | 20 ft | 3 |
| 15th | 20 ft | 4 |
| 18th | 30 ft | 5 |
Ghost Commander
Also when you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you can choose whether to be affected or not by your ghosts.
At 18th level, you can choose to include or exclude creatures you are aware of from the effects of your haunts at the start of your turn.
Warnings of the Dead
At 7th level, the ghosts that constantly linger around you warn you of danger. While you are conscious, you can't be surprised. You also know the locations of any creatures within 30 feet of you.
Inspiration: The King's Avatar
Art Credit: AnatoFinnstark
Undead Aid
At 10th level, you gain the ability to consult your ghosts of different professions. At the end of a short or long rest, choose a skill that you are not proficient in. When you make a check with that skill, you can add half your proficiency bonus (round up). When you are in a haunt, graveyard, or other locations where ghosts likely lurk, you gain proficiency in the skill instead.
Additionally, you can cast Speak with Dead as a ritual without expending a spell slot or material components. Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.
Ghost Step
At 15th level, you are familiar enough with the dead to entrust your body to them. If you are standing in a haunt, you can as a bonus action instantly travel through the Ethereal Plane to an unoccupied point within a haunt that you can see.
Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. Starting at 18th level, you can use it twice before a rest.
Catharsis
At 18th level, you learn how to bring out the buried resentment of death in your ghosts before letting them pass on to the afterlife, free of regrets. As an action, you can unleash the rage of the ghosts that linger in your haunts on your enemies. Each creature of your choice in your haunts must make a Constitution saving throw. A target takes 5d10 necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
When you roll initiative and have no haunts remaining, you regain 1 haunt.
Ghosts of Power
Some ghosts are harder to control or are more stubborn than others. Their haunts have prerequisites and you must meet them to learn it. You can learn the haunt at the same time that you meet its prerequisites.
Haunts are automatically empowered when you reach the specified Empowerment level.
A creature that enters the haunt's area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must make a saving throw. On a failed save, a creature is under the effects of the ghost while in the radius.
Ghosts of Strength.
Prerequisite: 7th Ghostblade level
While in the haunt, creatures are granted the power that the ghosts had in life. Once per turn, a creature can add your Charisma modifier to their damage roll for attacks and spells.
Ghosts of Flame.
Prerequisite: 7th Ghostblade level
Empowerment: 15th Ghostblade level
While in the haunt, creatures are harassed by flaming ghosts of those that died in fire. The creature must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d10 fire damage.
As your affinity with ghosts grow, this damage becomes more intense and deals 2d10 fire damage.
Ghosts of Grasping.
Prerequisite: 3th Ghostblade level
Empowerment: 10th Ghostblade level
While in the haunt, creatures are pushed away from or pulled toward the center of the haunt by playful ghosts. You choose whether to push or pull when you first deploy the haunt. On their turn, a creature must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be moved 15 feet in the direction of the force.
As your affinity with ghosts grow, you can use your bonus action to reverse the effect of the haunt.
Ghosts of Frost.
Prerequisite: 3rd Ghostblade level
Empowerment: 15th Ghostblade level
While in the haunt, creatures are embraced by the freezing ghosts of those that died in ice. The area within your field is considered difficult terrain to creatures within your field. A creature immune to cold damage is not affected.
As your affinity with ghosts grow, you can convince your ghosts to put in more effort and freeze your enemies. As a bonus action, each creature must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, its movement speed becomes zero until the start of your next turn. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the freezing effect for the next minute.
Ghosts of Mercy.
Prerequisite: 3rd Ghostblade level
Empowerment: 10th Ghostblade level
The kind ghosts within the haunt do not wish to see another join their ranks. While in the haunt, creatures that are reduced to 0 hit points and don't die outright are stabilized. A creature can't benefit from this effect again until they have finished a short rest.
As your affinity with ghosts grow, the ghosts become willing to sacrifice a bit of their existence in your aid, and the creature is instead reduced to 1 hit point.
Ghosts of Silence.
Prerequisite: 3rd Ghostblade level
The ghosts muffles within the haunt the sound, gathering especially close to creatures. While in the haunt, creatures can not speak and are deafened. Casting a spell that includes a verbal component is impossible within the field.