Soulbound Weapon
"My life is long over, but my edge is keen, and my enemies will know my relentless fury"
—The Cold Blade Hayden.
Appearance
A Soulbound Weapon, by all appearances, is simply a weapon. By force of spirit it can fly and possess the corpses of others to appear to be--mostly--a living humanoid.
Soulbound Weapon Traits
Your Soulbound Weapon character has the following racial traits.
Ability Score Increase. You do not receive any ability score increases as a weapon.
While possessing a corpse, you benefit from that corpse’s modifiers as determined by the DM.
Age. You were an adult when your soul was bound to the weapon. Soulbound weapons have shown no signs of deterioration due to age, and your spirit persists as long as the weapon does. You are immune to magical aging effects.
Size. Variable.
Your size is determined based on the size of the weapon chosen: Weapons with heavy, two-handed or reach are small, all other weapons are tiny
While posessing a corpse, your size is determined by the size of that creature.
Speed. Your base flying speed is 20*.
Soulbound Blade You are proficient with your soulbound weapon regardless of what melee weapon it is.
Darkvision 30ft.
Practiced Subterfuge You gain proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Deception, Insight, or Perception.
Languages. Understands but cannot speak common and one other language. Any languages known by other sources are understood, but cannot be spoken as a weapon*.
Puppet Corpse
Once per short or long rest, by plunging yourself into a mostly-intact corpse of a creature with hands or the means to wield the weapon. You can infuse part of your soul into the body to assume direct control of it. While the corpse holds the weapon, it is possessed by the Soulbound Weapon and the following traits apply:
Borrowed traits Your size, speed, AC bonus, and racial ability score modifiers are replaced by those of the body. This is determined by the DM according to the original creature's abilities and its state of bodily decay.
Lent life Upon possessing a creature, the soulbound weapon may use any number of hit dice to restore that many HP to the body and half that many to the soulbound weapon itself. Additionally, the corpse starts with a number of hitpoints determined by the DM based on the body's mechanical integrity. When the corpse takes damage, both the corpse's HP and the Soulbound Weapon's HP are reduced.
If for any reason the Soulbound Weapon is not held by the corpse it is possessing, the Soulbound Weapon acts normally as an Animated Weapon and the lent life lingers in the corpse unless: The Soulbound Weapon does not return to its hand within 1 minute; the Soulbound Weapon possesses another corpse; or the corpse’s HP is reduced to 0. If any of these things occur, the possession is broken and the corpse is shredded as in failing body.
Failing body A possessed corpse maintains a separate HP pool and cannot receive normal healing. Instead, during a short or long rest, any number of characters may choose to stitch and bind the damage of the corpse to restore one Hit Die of HP to the corpse. Each time this is performed, the corpse becomes more ghastly and obviously cobbled-together. When the possessed corpse's HP is reduced to 0, the possession is broken and the loosed magic shreds the corpse to irreparable tatters, but any items it was wearing or holding are left amidst the pile of shredded corpse.
Failing appearance While possessing a corpse, if that corpse was capable of speech, the Soulbound Weapon can speak any language it understands using the voice of the corpse. If the corpse was possessed while fresh, it is preserved as if affected by the Gentle Repose spell. Therefore, if its wounds can be concealed or passed off as non-fatal, while possessed it can pass for a living creature unless direct manual investigation is performed. The corpse may be disguised to appear more alive, if desired.
Animated Weapon
While not possessing a corpse, the Soulbound Weapon is able to hover independently and the following traits apply:
Difficult target The hovering Soulbound Weapon receives an AC bonus of +3.
Eerie silence While sneaking as an animate weapon, the weapon can move at full speed without making any sound or taking disadvantage.
False Appearance While the soulbound weapon remains motionless and isn't flying, it is indistinguishable from a normal weapon.
Piece of equipment The Soulbound Weapon cannot wield, hold, or equip any other items while it is not possessing a corpse.
Contested Wielding If an enemy successfully grapples or picks up the weapon, the Soulbound Weapon may force a 10 + charisma mod + proficiency mod (based on the Soulbound Weapon) DC charisma check. If the enemy succeeds, they wield this weapon as if it were a non-soulbound version of the weapon (moving does not halve their speed). While wielding the Soulbound Weapon, the Soulbound Weapon may force this check at the start of the enemy's turn.
If the enemy fails this check, the Soulbound Weapon may immediately disengage from that one enemy and immediately move up to its movement speed before the enemy may continue its turn.
Developing artifact
At level 1, the player may choose any non-magical basic weapon to be its bound weapon. This form persists throughout its existence, but its nature can be altered by skilled practitioners.
Infuse essence A magical practitioner can bind the power of another weapon into the Soulbound Weapon. The magic user must use a spell slot of three times the modifier of the weapon to do so (e.g.: a +1 Rapier would require a level 3 spell slot. Minimum of level 1 for a weapon without a modifier). Once performed, the targeted weapon is twisted into worthless uselessness by the magic, and the Soulbound Weapon takes on the traits and statistics of the consumed weapon.