The Ripper

A Ripper is a term given to a creature who has no regard for life, whether it be their own or their victims, of which there are many. To be earn the infamous title of Ripper one must kill again and again and again and again. 

The blade in your hands, your hands around their throat, your foot on their neck; it matters not. All that matters is the kill. The taking of a life and the power it brings is something that can only be dreamed of for some. For Rippers however, this is their forte. Some even get so famous that they have fans who want to be murdered by them, lustful victims. 

A Ripper is not wanted by the many and this is why they are masters at hiding in plain sight. You could be stood right next to a cold blooded killer and you wouldn’t even know it. This is what Rippers call, ‘The Game’. 

The Game (sometimes called a Hunt), is played by three parties: 
The Hunter- The Ripper

The Hunted - Their Victim(s)

The Authoritarian - The Law 

Some Ripper crimes go unseen, just as they like it. However, some murders and victims are displayed, again just how they like it. 

You, are a Ripper. Your purpose and goal are self-serving. You have no means to an end, only the sweet embrace of death, where you can join your victims. 

Reward Reaper

3rd-level The Ripper feature

Biding your time and learning your trade pays off, taking your victims life is not enough. Whenever you finish a short or long rest, you can choose one skill or tool proficiency that you lack and gain it. Taking the knowledge from your victims brings you great joy and after careful studying of their every move, learning their trade or just being able to talk them into submission, why shouldn’t you reap the rewards? You lose this proficiency when you use this feature to choose a different proficiency that you lack.

The Ripper Hath Cometh

3rd-level The Ripper feature

As your victim gets closer and closer to their demise, you can smell their fear. It fills your lungs and begins to soothe your senses. Your calmness instils a presence of mind that enables you act swiftly. Immediately after you deal your Sneak Attack damage to a creature on your turn, you can target a second creature that you can see within 30 feet of the first creature. Roll half the number of Sneak Attack dice for your level (round up), and the second creature takes necrotic damage equal to the roll’s total, as wails of the dead sound around them for a moment.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Taking a Trophy

9th-level The Ripper feature

When another victim is claimed by you, you’re able to snap a Finger Token from the worthless victim, a sliver of its life essence, that is entrapped within a single finger: As a reaction when a creature you can see dies within 30 feet of you, you can use your free hand snap a Finger Token off your victim (if possible).The finger tokens are meaningful to you and as such, grant you... powers.
You can have a maximum of {{proficiency}} finger tokens, and you can’t take one while at your maximum. You can use finger tokens in the following ways:
- While a finger token is on your person, you have advantage on death saving throws and Constitution saving throws, for your vitality is enhanced by the life essence within the victim’s finger.
- When you deal Sneak Attack damage on your turn, you can destroy one of your finger tokens that’s on your person and then immediately use The Ripper Hath Cometh, without expending a use of that feature.
- As an action, you can destroy one of your finger tokens, no matter where it’s located. When you do so, you can ask the spirit associated with the victim’s finger token one question. The spirit appears to you and answers in a language it knew in life. It’s under no obligation to be truthful, and it answers as concisely as possible, eager to be free. The spirit knows only what it knew in life, as determined by the DM.

Spectral Stalker

13th-level The Ripper feature

Having taken so many lives, death is no stranger more like a business partner. It seems, as though Death has rewarding you for bringing them so many souls, by giving you the ability to walk unseen and unaffected as they do. However, the Matron of Ravens is not as pleased, but Death is not one to care for such matters, neither should you. As a bonus action, you assume a spectral form. While in this form, you have a flying speed of 10 feet, you can hover, and attack rolls have disadvantage against you. You can also move through creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain, but you take 1d10 force damage if you end your turn inside a creature or an object.

You stay in this form for 10 minutes or until you end it as a bonus action. To use this feature again, you must finish a long rest or destroy one of your finger tokens as part of the bonus action you use to activate Spectral Stalker. 

Lust for Death

17th-level The Ripper feature

Your obsession with Death has become so engrossed that you gain the following benefits:

• When you use your The Ripper Hath Cometh, you can deal the necrotic damage to both the first and the second creature.
• At the end of a long rest, a finger token appears in your hand if you don’t have any finger tokens, as the spirits of your dead victims are calling to you, waiting to embrace you.