Base Class: Rogue
Some Rogues traverse the veil between life and death, shepherding opponents to the grave and slipping through the world as undetectable as a spirit. In these pursuits, a Rogue might discover a mystical connection to death itself. Such an individual becomes immersed in negative energy, infusing their strikes with deathly energy and stealing knowledge from souls who have passed on. Thieves’ guilds value Rogues of this persuasion as highly effective information gatherers and spies.
Level 3: Wails from the Grave
Immediately after you deal 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 damage 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 it.
Level 3: Whispers of the Dead
Whenever you finish a Short or Long Rest, you can choose one skill that you have proficiency in and gain expertise in it. You lose this expertise when you use this benefit again to choose a different expertise in a skill you have proficiency in.
Level 3: Tokens of the Departed
The spirits of the dead are drawn to you, and echoes of their past lives magically manifest as strange curios with resonant power.
You gain two soul trinkets. A soul trinket is a Tiny object (the DM determines the trinket’s form or has you roll on the Trinkets table in the Player’s Handbook to generate it). If you move more than 30 feet from a trinket, the trinket immediately teleports to you, appearing somewhere on your person.
Using Soul Trinkets. You can use soul trinkets in the following ways:
Vanish. You can take a bonus action to destroy one soul trinket and become invisible for one minute.
Life Essence. While you have at least one soul trinket, you have Advantage on Death Saving Throws and Constitution saving throws.
Spirit Query. You can take a Magic action to destroy one soul trinket and immediately cast the Augury spell, requiring no spell components and using Constitution as the spellcasting modifier. If you know the creature with which the trinket is associated, you can ask the creature’s spirit one question instead of casting the spell. In this case, the spirit appears to you and answers as concisely as possible in a language it knew in life.
Gaining Additional Soul Trinkets. When a creature you can see within 30 feet of you dies, you can take a Reaction to gain another soul trinket, claiming a sliver of that creature’s departing spirit. The new trinket appears somewhere on your person.
You can have a maximum of two soul trinkets at a time. If you try to gain a soul trinket while at your maximum, one of your existing trinkets is immediately destroyed and replaced by the new trinket. The maximum number of soul trinkets you can have increases when you reach Rogue levels 9 (three trinkets), 13 (four trinkets), and 17 (five trinkets).
Whenever you finish a Long Rest with fewer than two soul trinkets, you gain soul trinkets until you have two.
Life Essence
While you have at least one soul trinket, you have Advantage on Death Saving Throws and Constitution saving throws.
Level 9: Voice of Death
You can cast Speak with Dead once without a spell slot, requiring no spell components and using Dexterity as the spellcasting modifier. You regain the ability to cast it this way when you finish a Short or Long Rest.
When you cast the spell, you can target one of your soul trinkets from Tokens of the Departed instead of a corpse, allowing the spirit of the creature associated with the trinket to answer.
When targeting your own trinket or a corpse, you can choose to destroy a trinket to give the spirit the Charmed condition towards you and your allies for the duration of the spell.
Level 9: Partial to the Grave
You have familiarized yourself with the spirits you surround yourself with, causing your form to adapt to its ghostly companions and allowing you to utilize the spirits in new ways.
Ghostly Resilience. You gain resistance to necrotic damage.
Soul Shriek. The necrotic damage you deal when using Wails from the Grave ignores resistance.
Screams from the Grave. You can destroy one soul trinket whenever you use Wails from the grave to use it on a second target that isn't the target of the sneak attack or the first Wails from the Grave.
Unsettling Whispers. As a bonus action you can destroy one soul trinket and cause a spirit to whisper in the ear of up to two enemies within 60ft of you, OR every enemy within a 10ft emanation of you. Enemies affected by these whispers must make a wisdom saving throw or have the frightened condition. Your spell save DC is equal to 8 + Your PB + Your Dex modifier.
Mind Scramble. As a Magic action you can destroy two soul trinkets and cause an enemy to have Disadvantage on all D20 Tests until the end of your next turn.
Ghost Walk
As a Bonus Action, you assume a spectral form, gaining the benefits below for 10 minutes or until you end them (no action required). Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a Long Rest unless you destroy one of your soul trinkets from Tokens of the Departed (no action required) to restore your use of it.
Flight. You gain a Fly Speed of 10 feet and can hover.
Hazy Form. Attack rolls have Disadvantage against you.
Incorporeal Movement. You can 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.
Soul Absorption. When you take a reaction to create a soul trinket after a creature dies, you absorb part of its soul into your own, allowing you to regain 3d6 hit points.
Select Activate Ghost Walk below to apply the effects from Ghost Walk. Deselect it to end the effects.
Level 13: Ghost Walk
As a Bonus Action, you assume a spectral form, gaining the benefits below for 10 minutes or until you end them (no action required). Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a Long Rest unless you destroy one of your soul trinkets from Tokens of the Departed (no action required) to restore your use of it.
Flight. You gain a Fly Speed of 10 feet and can hover.
Hazy Form. Attack rolls have Disadvantage against you.
Incorporeal Movement. You can 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.
Soul Absorption. When you take a reaction to create a soul trinket after a creature dies, you absorb part of its soul into your own, allowing you to regain 3d6 hit points.
Level 17: Death's Friend
Your association with death has become so close that you gain the following benefits.
On Death's Door. When you are at 0 hit points you can choose to destroy three soul trinkets and change your hit points to a number equal to double your Rogue level.
Death’s Lament. When you use Wails from the Grave, you can deal the feature’s Necrotic damage to the target of the sneak attack.
Draw of Death. When you roll Initiative with fewer than three soul trinkets, you gain soul trinkets until you have three, and on a long rest you now regain the maximum number of trinkets you can hold at once.
Forced Possession. You can take a Magic action to destroy two soul trinkets and command the spirits to possess a humanoid within 60ft of you. The enemy must make a charisma saving throw or become possessed by the spirits for one minute. On your turn, you can issue commands to the target (no action required), such as “Attack that creature,” “Move over there,” or “Fetch that object.” The target does its best to obey on its turn. If it completes an order and doesn’t receive further direction from you, it acts and moves as it likes, focusing on protecting itself. You can command the target to take a Reaction but must take your own Reaction to do so. The possession ends if you try to possess another humanoid and if the humanoid succeeds the saving throw the spirits withdraw and reassemble the trinkets, restoring them. Your spell save DC is equal to 8 + Your PB + Your Dex modifier.
Howls from the Hells. When you destroy a soul trinket to use Screams from the Grave you can destroy an additional trinket in order to target a third creature who isn't a part of any of the previous chain of attacks.