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## Fighter Archetype ### {subclass-name} While the necrobarons have many tools for building new servants, sometimes a constructed fascimile won't do; in such a case, a clever necromancer can choose to instead reinforce the original. Death Guard are warriors whose souls have been bound to their bodies, often forcibly, in an attempt to create deathless knights. With twisted resilience and an infusion of necromantic power, these soldiers have little fear of death and provide excellent return on a necromancer's investment. Death Guard tend to come from one of two paths. The first group are impoverished and desperate, sellswords or bandits who offered themselves up for experimentation to escape an even worse fate. The second are peerless warriors, combatants who have already reached the peak of their craft and who consequently can't be permitted to die. Whether an individual Death Guard swears fealty to its necromantic master is a separate question; free will, after all, is the downside of the approach. #### {subclass-name} Features | Fighter Level | Features | |:---:|:-----------| | 3rd | Eternal Unrest, Mortality Bound, Fueled by Death | | 7th | Grave Wind | | 10th | Death's Summons | | 15th | Specter Knight | | 18th | Mortal Blows | \columnbreak
#### Eternal Unrest When you adopt this archetype at 3rd level, necromantic energy surges through your body, transforming you into something not-quite alive. You no longer need to eat, drink or breathe. When you take a long rest, you do not need to sleep but can instead spend 6 hours performing no more than light activity. #### Mortality Bound Also at 3rd level, the rites that anchor your soul to your body make you extremely difficult to kill. You gain the following effects: * When you are dying, the number of death saving throws you have to fail in order to die is increased by 1 (to 4). This number goes up as you gain fighter levels, increasing by 1 at levels 5 (5), 11 (6), and 20 (7). * You do not reset your failed death saving throws when you regain hit points or become stable. You instead reset the number of failed death saving throws when you finish a short or long rest. * When you roll a death saving throw, you can treat any result of 15-20 as if you rolled a 20. * If you are stabilized, you wake up at 1 hit point. #### Fueled by Death Also at 3rd level, you can infuse your strikes with necromantic power. Once per turn when you hit a creature with an attack, you can choose to give yourself a failed death saving throw. If you do, your attack deals 2d8 additional necrotic damage. \pagebreakNum #### Grave Wind Also at 7th level, your Second Wind ability gains supernatural power. When you use it, you can select one other creature you touch to regain the same amount of hit points as you. That creature makes all its attacks with advantage until the end of its next turn. #### Death's Summons At 10th level, an aura of deathly energy follows you at all times. If a hostile creature within 15 feet of you takes damage that would reduce it to fewer hit points than your fighter level, it drops to 0 hit points. #### Specter Knight At 15th level, you gain even more power from your proximity to the grave. When you or an ally within 60 feet have 0 hit points, a ghostly apparition of you appears to aid in the defense. When a downed creature within 60 feet of you is hit with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to have its apparition make one melee attack against its attacker. This attack uses your statistics, but all its damage is changed to necrotic damage. If you are the target, this retaliatory attack is automatic and does not require your reaction. #### Mortal Blows At 18th level, your necromantic strikes increase in power. When you use your Fueled by Death feature, the damage is increased to 3d8, and you can choose to deal half as much necrotic damage to a second creature within 5 feet of the target. \columnbreak ### Death Guard quirks The following are some optional quirks for a player of this Domain to choose from. | d6 | Quirk | |:---:|:-----------| | 1 | You paint your face in a skull pattern, obviously. | | 2 | You gave up trying to hide your scars long ago. | | 3 | When another creature touches you, they hear the wailing of lost souls. | | 4 | You choose to wear the most intimidating armor you can find. | | 5 | You permanently have grave dirt under your fingernails. | | 6 | You have a firm commitment to ensuring respectful burials for others. | \pagebreakNum ## Change Log #### v{current-version} * Initial Draft! \columnbreak > ##### Credits & References: > {subclass-name} created by [somanyrobots](https://www.somanyrobots.com "somanyrobots.com") > [Discord](https://discord.gg/6p6DqCxTTw "Discord") | [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/somanyrobots "patreon.com/somanyrobots") > ___ > ##### Art > {art-name}, by {artist} © Wizards of the Coast LLC > ___ > ##### Background Image Stains > [Jared Ondricek](https://watercolors.giantsoup.com/) > ___ > ##### License > © 2026 somanyrobots, [CC BY-NC 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/) > ___ > ##### Fan Content Policy > > This work is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC. > ___ > ##### 5E SRD Content > * This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, [available here](https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document "SRD 5.1"). > > * The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License [available here](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode "CC-BY").