Deathbringer

The Deathbringers are rare and feared warriors who have stared into the abyss of death and emerged as its willing instrument. Some are born with an innate connection to murderous gods or primal forces of fear and slaughter. Others are forged through ritual, tragedy, or sheer unrelenting will — survivors who refuse to die and learn to weaponize terror itself.

These fighters do not merely kill. They break the spirit before the body falls. Their presence alone sows panic. Their blade turns fear into a lethal force that paralyzes the brave and shatters the strong. Legends speak of Deathbringers as harbingers of inevitable doom — warriors who feed on dread, grow stronger the more their enemies despair, and rise again and again from the brink of death with renewed fury.

The most infamous Deathbringer in recent history is Sarevok Anchev, the towering Bhaalspawn who nearly plunged the Sword Coast into war. A child of the dead god Bhaal, Lord of Murder, Sarevok mastered the arts of intimidation and brutal combat to become a true Deathbringer. Clad in black armor and a horned helm resembling a fiend’s maw, he could fell powerful foes with a single devastating strike and paralyze lesser warriors through fear alone. His very name became synonymous with unstoppable slaughter and divine ambition. Though his plans for apotheosis were thwarted, Sarevok remains the gold standard for what a Deathbringer can achieve — a living embodiment of murderous perfection.

Those who follow the Deathbringer path walk in the shadow of such legends. Whether they serve dark gods, seek personal vengeance, or simply revel in becoming the monster others fear, they all share one truth: Death comes for all — but for you, it hesitates.

Restriction: Evil Alignment Only

Only characters of Evil alignment can access this subclass. A Deathbringer’s very soul is steeped in darkness and an unrelenting desire to spread fear and death. If your alignment ever shifts away from Evil, you lose all features of this subclass until your alignment returns to Evil.

Bringer of Death

Deathbringer – 3rd Level

Your transformation into a vessel of dread and unyielding death begins. Fear radiates from you, and your strikes grow deadlier against those who tremble. You gain the following benefits:

• Deathless Resolve. You are immune to being charmed, frightened, stunned, and paralyzed. These immunities cannot be bypassed or suppressed by any means. You have advantage on death saving throws and only need 3 successful death saving throws to regain consciousness. When you do, you regain hit points equal to 3 × your fighter level. While any creature is frightened of you, you automatically succeed on all death saving throws.
• Menacing Presence. You gain expertise in the Intimidation skill. You add your Constitution modifier to all Intimidation checks and have advantage on them.
• Fearmonger.
  • When you score a critical hit with a weapon attack, you can choose to frighten the target for 1 minute.
  • You can make an [Tooltip Not Found] check as a bonus action. If the result is 13 or higher on a d20, you can frighten the target for 1 minute.
  • Any frightened effect you create bypasses immunity to being frightened. Creatures frightened of you have disadvantage on all saving throws.
• Relentless Strikes. If you roll half or less of your weapon’s damage die on a weapon attack (before modifiers), reroll the die and use the new result. 
• Hunter’s Momentum. Your speed increases by 10 feet.
• Aura of Terror. You constantly emanate a terrifying aura in a 5-foot radius. Creatures of your choice that enter the aura or start their turn within it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier) or become frightened of you for 1 minute or until they leave the aura.
• Fearful Improved Critical. Your weapon attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19–20 against any creature that is frightened of you.
• Relentless Assault. You have advantage on attack rolls and saving throws against creatures frightened of you, and you cannot gain disadvantage on these rolls against them. You are resistant to all damage from creatures frightened of you. This resistance cannot be bypassed.
• Deathbringer’s Fury. If you score a critical hit with a weapon attack against a creature that is frightened of you, the damage dealt is treated as if the creature is vulnerable to that damage type. Additionally, your weapon attacks bypass immunity to critical hits — creatures cannot prevent you from scoring critical hits against them.

Inescapable Dread

Deathbringer – 7th Level

Your aura of terror expands, death struggles to claim you, and your weapons become instruments of absolute destruction.

• Aura of Terror radius increases to 10 feet.
• Deathless Resolve improves: You now only need 2 successful death saving throws to regain consciousness.
• Unyielding Vitality. You are immune to any effect that would reduce your maximum hit points, instantly kill you, or instantly reduce you to 0 hit points.
• Death’s Pursuit. Your speed increases by an additional 10 feet (total +20 feet). When you move directly toward a creature frightened of you, your speed is doubled for that movement.
• Blood Frenzy. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points, you can immediately move up to your full movement speed toward another creature and make one additional weapon attack against a target in range (this does not count against your Extra Attack limit).
• Fearful Improved Critical. Critical hit range against frightened creatures improves to 18–20.
• Deathpiercing Strikes. Your weapon attacks bypass resistance and immunity to damage. You treat any resistance or immunity a creature has against your weapon damage as if it did not exist.
• Opportunity Mastery. Creatures always provoke opportunity attacks when they move out of your reach. When a creature provokes an opportunity attack from you, you can use your reaction to make a number of attacks against it equal to the number of Extra Attacks you can make as part of the Attack action.
• Reactive Terror. When a creature you can see approaches you or attempts to target you with an attack roll or harmful effect, you can force that creature to make a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + proficiency bonus + Constitution modifier). On a failure, the creature becomes frightened of you for 1 minute.

Reaper’s Dominion

Deathbringer – 10th Level

Your mastery over fear and death deepens. Few can stand against your overwhelming presence.

• Aura of Terror radius increases to 30 feet.
• Deathless Resolve improves: You now only need 1 successful death saving throw to regain consciousness.
• Sanctuary of the Grave. You are always under the effects of the sanctuary spell (save DC uses your Aura of Terror DC).
• Unerring Assault. If you roll below a 10 on the d20 for an attack roll against a creature frightened of you, reroll the d20 and use the new result.
• You Cannot Escape. Creatures of your choice within your Aura of Terror cannot teleport away from you, cannot use magic to move away from you, and cannot take the Disengage or Dash actions. You always know the exact location of creatures frightened of you and creatures that are within your aura.
• Creatures frightened of you cannot score critical hits against any target.
• Fearful Improved Critical. Critical hit range against frightened creatures improves to 17–20.

Avatar of the End

Deathbringer – 15th Level

You have become a force of apocalyptic finality. Even the greatest heroes falter before your approach.

• Aura of Terror radius increases to 45 feet.
• Tireless Slaughter. You add your Constitution modifier as a bonus to all weapon attack rolls.
• No Escape from Death. No magical effect can prevent you from making attacks against creatures of your choice.
• Paralyzing Terror. When a creature becomes frightened of you, you can also choose to paralyze it until the end of your next turn. This paralysis cannot be prevented by immunity to being paralyzed.
• Resurrection’s Price. When you regain consciousness from death saving throws, you regain half your maximum hit points.
• Fearful Improved Critical. Critical hit range against frightened creatures improves to 16–20.

True Deathbringer

Deathbringer – 18th Level

You stand among legends like Sarevok Anchev — a near-divine engine of fear and slaughter that even gods regard with caution.

• Aura of Terror radius increases to 60 feet.
• Dominion of Fear. Creatures of your choice within your Aura of Terror have disadvantage on all saving throws and cannot gain advantage on any rolls.
• Maximum Carnage. You always deal the maximum possible damage with weapon attacks against creatures frightened of you (roll damage dice normally for critical hits, then maximize the result).
• Finality. When you score a critical hit with a weapon attack against a frightened creature that has 100 or fewer current hit points, you can choose for that creature to instantly die (reduced to 0 hit points).
• Fearful Improved Critical. Critical hit range against frightened creatures improves to 15–20.
• Absolute Dominion. Creatures frightened of you cannot target you with attacks or harmful effects.
• Timeless Reaper. You no longer age, cannot be magically aged, and cannot die from old age.
• Resurrection’s Price improves: When you regain consciousness from death saving throws, you regain all your hit points.