Martial Archetype: Accursed Warrior

# Martial Archetype

## Accursed Warrior

A warrior cursed by ancient magic, or wrathful entities, these fighters wander the realms searching for either a cure to their blight or embrace the horrid powers of undeath entwined with their being.

These warriors can call forth the spirits of undeath that follow by their side, tainting their touch. As the curse seeps into their being many of these warriors find that death's powers empower them beyond their imagining, but the cost of such strength is the loss of their own life — as the warmth in their heart fades, the blood in their veins chill, and their body becomes pale.

##### **Accursed Warrior Features**
| Fighter Level | Feature |
|:----:|:-------------|
| **3rd**  | Accursed Touch, Dread Presence |
| **7th**  | Profane Communion |
| **10th** | Soultaker |
| **15th** | Cursed Fortitude |
| **18th** | To Death |

Some of your features require targets to make saving throws to avoid or resist effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as followed:
<div style='margin-top:10px'></div>
 
 <font face='' size='2'>
 
 <center> 
 
 **Accursed Warrior Feature DC** </font> = <font face='' size='2'> 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier (your choice)
 
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### Accursed Touch
Starting at 3rd, your curse takes hold of you, corrupting your touch. Armor, shields, and weapons you wield become accursed. These items gain the following:

- Armor you wear becomes wreathed in shadow, when you take the Hide action while wearing armor you have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks. If the armor gives disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks, this effect nullifies it. The armor loses this effect when you doff it.
- Shields you wear crave your suffering, while wielding a shield you can react to damage dealt to you. As a reaction to taking damage, you can gain temporary hit points equal to half the damage dealt + half your Fighter level. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
- Weapons you hold are chilled by the grave. When you deal damage with a weapon attack, you can deal an extra 1d10 cold or necrotic damage (your choice) and the target’s speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of your next turn. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
___
Any other items you touch are chilled to the touch.

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### Dread Presence
At 3rd level, your presence becomes chillingly and unsettling to most; and you gain the ability to drain the vital energies around you. As an action, you can call forth fog of undeath around you for a minute. The fog has a 10-foot radius centered on you and while the fog is swirling around you, you are considered lightly obscured. Whenever a creature starts or enters the fog on their turn, they take necrotic damage equal to half your proficiency bonus and you restore 1 hit point, if you are missing any hit points. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

### Profane Communion
At 7th level, you have become intimate with the curse bonded to your soul, so much so that you can commune with powers of undeath. As an action, you enter a dark and distant realm. While you are there, you are safe, nobody can find you, and you alone may ask the DM one question about the situation at hand that has a yes, no, or unclear answer and receive a truthful answer. You return to reality where you left it at the end of your next turn, or after a minute, whichever comes first.

The DM decides the identity of whatever entity you contacted, and its relationship to death, undeath, and your curse.

> ##### **Enigmatic Entities**
> The strange entities and beings usually contacted in this communion are pyschopomps such as Anubis, Charon, Hermes, Kelemvor, the Kindred, the Raven Queen, the Valkyries, or Wee Jas. These deities, however major or minor, often will cross your soul at the crossroads of some part of the afterlife as they go about their duties and entertain such simple questions without much thought.
>
> Other entities however, lurk in the veil between death and life, such as demons, devils, and evil gods or tyrants of death that take particular interest in wandering and lost souls. These entities include Vecna, Levistus, or the Ruined King. Especially ones that find their "help" useful and continue to seek it out.

### Soultaker
Starting at 10th level, your curse offers you the chance to inflict your agony on others. As a reaction to a creature taking damage from your Dread Presence feature, you may force a creature within 10 feet that has been damaged by your Dread Presence within the last minute to succeed a Charisma saving throw or become possessed by you.

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While possessing a creature, you disappear and the target becomes incapacitated and loses control of its body. You now control the creature’s body, but this doesn't deprive the target of awareness. Your creature type is considered undead until this possession ends. You can't be targeted by any attack, spell, or other effect, except ones that turn undead, and you retain your alignment, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and your Dread Presence effect is still active except it is now centered on the target of your possession. The body still takes damage from the effect. You otherwise use the possessed target's statistics, but don't gain access to the target's knowledge, features, or proficiencies.

The possession lasts until the body drops to 0 hit points, you end it as a bonus action, until your Dread Presence effect ends, or are turned or forced out by an effect like the *dispel evil and good* spell. When the possession ends, you reappear in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the body. The target is immune to this possession for 24 hours after succeeding on the saving throw or after the possession ends.

### Cursed Fortitude
At 15th level, you always have advantage on Death, Constitution, and Charisma saving throws. In addition, you are immune to disease and poison.

### To Death
At 18th level, you hurl yourself and another creature into a pocket dimension of negative energy. Choose a creature within 30 feet of you to succeed a Charisma saving throw, if they are possessed by you, they automatically fail.  On failure, you and the creature are transported to an empty room made of eerie shadows, that is 30 feet in all dimensions; if you were possessing the creature, the possession ends.

You and the creature remain in this demiplane until a creature within drops to 0 hit points, or until a minute has passed. Once a minute has passed, you and the target return to the space it previously occupied, or the nearest unoccupied space. While in this demiplane, the following effects apply:

* The target you forced into it loses any damage resistances and immunities.
* You gain any damage resistances and immunities it possessed.
Whenever you restore hit points or gain temporary hit points, the amount is doubled.
* The entire demiplane is in dim-light.
___
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish 1d4 long rests.

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#### Credits
This subclass was created by Chilroy. I can be found as /u/Jagganoth on /r/UnearthedArcana, or on twitter @True_Byrdman. If the contents of this document <br> or any other of mine is used in your creations, please <br> give credit duly.