Soul Lord
Summoners often deal with creatures brought forth from the celestial plane or the devildom, or those created by their own imagination. A Soul Lord, unlike those easy options, gains their summons in a bit more of a....round about manner. Their powers only work on the recently departed and as such they usually roam the battlefield looking for new subjects
A class based on the shadow monarch from solo leveling, with some inspiration takes from works of fiction such as "player who returned 10.000 years later" and "Shadow and Bone".
Creating a Soul Lord
When creating your Soul Lord, take into account how they got their powers. Like the Shadow Monarch, from an existence looking for someone next in line. Perhaps you were born with it. The power could come from a family heirloom. Does this power drive them to the adventuring life, or does something else?
Quick Build
You can make a Soul Lord quickly by making your highest ability score wisdom, followed by Dexterity. Secondly, choose the Ruined background.
Soul Lord
| Level | Proficiency Bonus | Features |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | +2 | Fighting Style, Wanderer of Mist |
| 2nd | +2 | Soul Master, Soul Storage, Soul Power |
| 3rd | +2 | Ruler's Path |
| 4th | +2 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 5th | +3 | Extra Attack |
| 6th | +3 | Black Armaments, Exchange |
| 7th | +3 | Ruler's Path Feature |
| 8th | +3 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 9th | +4 | A Foot in the Grave |
| 10th | +4 | Ruler's Path Feature |
| 11th | +4 | Favorite Toy |
| 12th | +4 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 13th | +5 | Evasion |
| 14th | +5 | Ruler's Path Feature |
| 15th | +5 | Immortal Army |
| 16th | +5 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 17th | +6 | For Our Lord |
| 18th | +6 | Favorite Toy (2) |
| 19th | +6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 20th | +6 | Ruler's Path Feature |
Class Features
As an Soul Lord you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d8 per Soul Lord level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per Soul Lord level after 1st
Proficiencies
Armor: Light and Medium Armor, Shields
Weapons: Simple and Martial Weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Wisdom, Dexterity
Skills: Choose 2 from arcana, stealth, insight, perception, and acrobatics
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
- (a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons
- (a) five javelins or (b) any simple weapon
- (a) a dungeoneer's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
- a Chain Shirt
Fighting Style
You adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can't take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.
- Archery You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.
- Acursed Warrior You learn two cantrips of your choice from the warlock spell list, and Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for them. Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of these cantrips with another cantrip from the warlock spell list.
- Blind Fighting You have blindsight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn't behind total cover, even if you're blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see an invisible creature within that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you.
- Defense While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
- Dueling When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.
- Great Weapon Fighting When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
- Protection When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.
- Interception When a creature you can see hits a target, other than you, within 5 feet of you with an attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage the target takes by 1d10 + your proficiency bonus (to a minimum of 0 damage). You must be wielding a shield or a simple or martial weapon to use this reaction.
- Thrown Weapon Fighting You can draw a weapon that has the thrown property as part of the attack you make with the weapon. In addition, when you hit with a ranged attack using a thrown weapon, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll.
- Two-Weapon Fighting When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.
- Unarmed Fighting Your unarmed strikes can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier on a hit. If you aren't wielding any weapons or a shield when you make the attack roll, the d6 becomes a d8. At the start of each of your turns, you can deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage to one creature grappled by you.
Wanderer of Mist
From 1st level, you have darkvision with a range of 120ft.
Additionally, once you reach 5th level in this class, your gaze pierces any magical darkness.
Soul Master
In combat, one rule goes, everything goes to the victor. From 2nd level onwards, you have the ability to take ownership of the souls of those who fell in battle, converting them to a Soul Soldier. As long as no more than 7 days have passed since their death, and their CR was at least 1/4th, you can use your action to attempt to win them over to your side. For this, you need to make a wisdom saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + the target's CR (rounded up). If you fail the check 3 times, you are no longer able to use this ability on that entity.
Creatures without souls, or who's souls return to a different place such as Celestials, Fiends, Constructs and most undead are not viable targets for this ability, save for when an entity with a soul chooses to come under your wing out of their own free will, allowing you to forgo the check.
Once a Soul Soldier is under your command, it changes in the following ways:
- it has the same AC as when it was alive
- its hit points are calculated as follows: 1/2 your proficiency bonus x their level or CR (minimum of 1), which are regained on a long rest
- if summoned, it moves on your turn. You can mentally command it without the use of an action, but if no command is given, it will take the dodge action
- they can understand you, in whatever language you speak, as well as the ones they knew when they were alive, but cannot speak themselves
- its type changes to include undead
At any given time, you can only have a limited amount of souls under your control be active on the battlefield, which need to be maintained using Soul Power. This number equals half your proficiency bonus, rounded down. Once a soldier's hit points reach 0, they are destroyed and can't be summoned again.
Soul Storage
Your vessel is not unlimited. After all, a mortal body was designed to house just 1 soul. At 2nd level you gain the ability to store additional souls within your body. These souls are limited to the ones you've extracted using Soul Master. The storage works as follows:
- Each time a new Soul Soldier is stored, detract their CR or level from the available space. The available space is calculated by multiplying your Soul Lord level with your wisdom modifier. Your Soul soldiers can remain stored indefinitely until they are either destroyed in battle or dispelled by you.
- As a bonus action, you can summon 1 soldier from your storage in an unoccupied space within 15ft of you, which you can see. Soul Soldiers can be returned to the storage at point during your turn, no action required
Additionally, you gain an extradimensional space for you to store your belongings. Its size equals, same as your Soul Soldier Space, your Soul Lord level multiplied by your wisdom modifier in cubic feet. You cannot store living things within the space, nor can you enter it.
Soul Power
It takes energy to give the souls of the departed a physical manifestation and have them fight for you. From 2nd level onward, you gain a resource known as soul power.
You have Soul Power (SP) equal to your wisdom modifier x your proficiency bonus. The cost of maintaining a Soldier is 1 SP per soldier per round. You regain all spent Soul Power on a short or long rest.
Ruler's Path
At 3rd level, you choose a path that shapes the the type of ruler you seek to become. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 10th, 14th and 20th levels.
| Path | Flavor |
|---|---|
| Gluttonous Emperor | Ability Absorption |
| Mist Lord | Can't Touch This |
| Monarch of War | Battle maniac |
| Seraphim | Holy Undead? |
The details of these subclasses can be found further down after the main class features.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4ht level and again at 8th, 12th, 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.
If your DM allows the use of feats, you may instead take a feat.
Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Black armaments
You are your own arsenal. From 6th level onwards, you can mold darkness into tools for combat. You have 2 options when using this feature as an action: creation or augmentation. Armaments can be dispelled as a free action, or when you create more than 2, removing the effect of the oldest one(s).
Creation
You summon forth a weapon with which you are proficient, functioning the same as the original type but dealing necrotic damage instead of its regular type. When thrown, you can use a bonus action to return the weapon to your hand.
Augmentation
You improve the function of an item at your disposal. If used on a weapon, it will deal 1d6 extra necrotic damage. If used on a shield or piece of armor, the person wielding it gains a +1 to their AC.
Exchange
beginning at 6th level, as a bonus action, you can teleport, magically swapping places with a soldier your choice at a cost of 15 feet of your movement, regardless of the distance between the two of you.
A Foot in the Grave
You deal with death a lot, so much so that it has become a part of you. From 9th level onward you gain resistance to necrotic damage, Immunity to disease and your hit point maximum can't be reduced.
Favorite Toy
From 11th level onward, you gain the ability to strengthen 1 soul within your arsenal. Your favorite soul will not break nor bend, and will be stronger still.
Over the course of a long rest you can pour all your SP into one soldier, granting the following effects:
- the soul will not be destroyed unless you sacrifice or release it, and once it hits 0 hit points it will return to the inventory where it can be summoned from again after a long rest
- the soul gains a +2 to any one ability score, or a +1 to two, as well as a +1 to AC
- It can speak any languages it knew when it was alive, and regains its memories
- it no longer costs SP to maintain the soul outside of the storage
Only one soul can be granted this effect at a time. Once applied to a new one, the old soul loses this effect.
After you finish the a long rest using this ability, you awaken with 0 SP.
Evasion
Onwards from 13th level, you gain the ability to dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a blue dragon's lightning breath or a fireball spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.
Immortal Army
At 15th level, you learn how to safely retain the souls of your soldiers that would be lost in battle. When attack you can see reduces a Soul Soldier's hit points to 0, you can use your reaction to call back that soldier to your inventory, saving them from permanent destruction. The saved soldier becomes unusable until you finish a long rest.
For Our Lord
Your soldiers always prioritize your life above theirs, and at 17th level, they gain a way to prove that. Once per long rest, when you would normally die, you can choose to sacrifice Soul Soldiers from your storage as to not cross the rives Styx. When you choose to do this, you must sacrifice a number of soldiers so that their combined CR is equal to or higher than your level.
Instead of dying you instantly get up with hit points equal to the cr of the soldiers you sacrificed.
Favorite Toy (2)
Truly a bond to cherish, from 18th level onward your favorite toy gains a new ability. Once you reach this level, choose 1 epic boon to imprint on your favorite toy. Whenever you change your favorite toy, you can choose to change the epic boon as well.
Alternatively, you can have the DM choose an ability to bestow onto the soldier, if they agree to do so.
Made By
BabaYagaKingOfCurses
Subclasses
Gluttonous Emperor
The souls own the abilities, and you own the souls. So in the end, you own it all. The Gluttonous Emperor uses the abilities of their subjects as their own, always wanting more power.
Your Strength is Mine
From 3rd level onwards you can temporarily strengthen yourself using a soul in your storage. By spending 5 SP, you can temporarily replace one of your stats with the stat of a Soul Soldier in your Soul Storage. The stats must be of the same type. The effect lasts for 1 minute, or until the Soul owning the stat is either summoned from the inventory or released.
Hungry Hungry Reaper
From 7th level onwards, whenever you or a Soul Soldier within 15ft of you kills an enemy, you regain hit points equal to 1d8+ your wisdom modifier
Strength and status
From 10th level onward, when you use the feature "Your Strength Is Mine", you can choose to half the duration. In exchange for this, you may also copy a feature from the Soul Soldier who's stat you use to replace your own for as the ability lasts.
Wiping the Board Clean
You reap what you sow, and in your case, you reap a lot. Starting at 14th level, whenever you or a Soul Soldier within 15ft of you kills an enemy, you gain a +1 to attack, damage and saving throws, upto a maximum of +3. This effect lasts until you are out of combat.
Soul Devourer
At 20th level, you gain a somewhat off putting ability. If you so choose, you can devour a soul within your storage to gain one of their abilities semi-permanently. You can only store 1 feature gained like this, and devouring a new soul will replace the old one.
In case of absorbing a spell casting ability, you do not gain the ability to refill spell slots over a short or long rest. Once all spell slots gained from the absorption have been expended, the ability deletes itself. Irrelevant of what ability it is, you can always choose to release it, no matter the time.
Mist Lord
You have wandered within the mist for so long that it has become a part of you. Wherever you go you will feel the darkness pull on you, as if to drag you back to the mist so eerily familiar.
Fog Walking
You are the mist. Starting at 3rd level you can turn part of your body to mist as a bonus action, gaining resistance to either bludgeoning, piercing or slashing damage. It costs 1 SP per round to maintain this ability, and can be disabled at any time
From 10th level onwards, while in this state, you gain resistance to all three damage types instead
Miasmic presence
There is something uncanny about the air you exude. Breathing becomes painful in your presence. From 7th level, any hostile creature that starts its turn within 10ft of you must make a wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the start of their next turn. The save DC equals 8 + your wisdom modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature that makes the save is immune to the effect unless you spend 3 SP.
Gone Like Morning Dew
At 10th level you gain the ability to disappear in plain sight. As an action, you can spend 5 SP to go invisible. This effect lasts 1 minute, until you attack or cast a spell, or until you end it at will.
Must Have Been the Wind
Starting at 14th level, while "Gone Like Morning Dew" is in active, your Soul Soldiers gain part of the effect. Attacks against your soldiers have disadvantage until they are hit, after which the effect becomes dormant until the start of your next turn.
This Calls For Expansion
At 20th level you gain the ability to create a dome of magical mist which traps your enemies. Once per long rest, as an action, you can deploy this 15ft radius dome centered on an area you can see within 30ft. Within this area, you are at your peak, like a hunter in their natural habitat. You and your soldiers gain the following effects while within its range:
- your attacks crit on a 19 and a 20
- you have a +2 to AC
- if fog walking is activated, the resistance is temporarily upgraded to immunity
The mist lasts for 1 minute, after which it disappears.
Monarch of War
No battleground is cleaner than one the Monarch of War has swept through. An army that never falters and never tires, and a master that knows no stopping.
Battle Fuel
Starting at 3rd level, whenever something dies at the hands of you or one of your summons, you regain your proficiency modifier in Soul Power.
Aura of Death
Souls are no longer the only way for you to wreak havoc on the battlefield. From 7th level onwards, when a creature that you can see within 10ft of you dies, it remains active for 1 more round. They attain a zombified state, have 1 hit point and attack the nearest target you deem an enemy. A zombie created by this feature counts as a summon for the purpose of activating the "battle Fuel" feature, but do not count towards your maximum Soul Soldiers active.
Dead Man Switch
At 10th level, you gain the ability to make soldiers that die on the battlefield explode. When one of your summons you can see reaches 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to have them violently combust. Any creature within 10ft of the Soldier must make a dexterity saving throw, taking the Soldier's CR in necrotic damage on a failed save and half as much on a successful one.
The DC for the saving throw equals (8 + your wisdom modifier + your proficiency bonus).
This action destroys the Soul Soldier, even if it were a Favorite Toy.
Rally the Troops
Camaraderie strengthens armies, and yours is no different. From 14th level onwards, all your Soul Soldiers have pack tactics.
Additionally, when one of you Soul Soldiers is destroyed while others are still summoned, you can spend 10 SP to send them into a berserk state, granting the following effects:
- they have advantage on strength and dexterity saving throws
- they gain a +2 to attack and damage rolls
- they have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage
This effect lasts your proficiency bonus in rounds and once used can't be activated again until after a short or long rest.
Why Pick Just One?
From 20th level onwards you gain an additional Favorite Toy. You cannot create or exchange both Favorite Toys in one long rest.
Seraphim
Holy and undead are attributes that normally don't coincide. The Seraphim, however, is different. Darkness compressed to light, divinity born from death.
Divine Necromancy
Your Soul Soldiers are filled with your divine powers, and gain some resistance to its effects. From 3rd level onwards, Soul Soldiers you summon have immunity to effects such as a cleric's turn undead feature. At 7th level, they gain resistance to radiant damage.
Additionally, you are able to bind the souls of celestials before they reach the safety of their home plane, should you fell one in battle.
Divine Ordainment
Starting at 7th level you exude an aura akin to those of the celestial realm. Your Soul Power now has similar functionality to a paladin's lay on hands pool. As an action, you can touch a creature and draw power from your Soul Power to restore a number of hit points to that creature, up to the maximum amount of your remaining Soul Power.
Alternatively, you can expend 5 SP from your pool of Soul Power to cure the target of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it. You can cure multiple diseases and neutralize multiple poisons with a single use of Divine Ordainment, expending SP separately for each one.
Lastly, you gain the ability to expend a use of your hit die, taking the number rolled as damage and regaining half of it in SP (minimum of 1). This damage can not be reduced in any way.
Bonded Through Faith
From 10th level onwards, the divinity within you connects you even more to your blessed soldiers. Whenever you receive healing from any source, your soldiers regain half as many hit points as you do.
Death's Templars
Your death is divine. All should fall and come under your rule. From 14th level onwards, on the first attack a Soul Soldier successfully makes that turn, they deal an additional 1d8 radiant damage.
Additionally, you gain the ability to transmute any necrotic damage you deal into radiant damage.
The Lord's Angels
As radiant as the morning sun, steadfast flowing through the heavens. At 20th level, all of your Soul Soldiers gain a flying speed of 30ft, where you and your Favorite toy gains one of 60ft. Whenever one of your Soul Soldiers hits another creature with the effect of Death's Templars, you gain half of that d8's damage as healing (minimum of 1).