Tzimisce

Flesh Is Clay, and the World Is Yours to Own

The Tzimisce are the oldest and most alien of the great clans — territorial lords, transcendence-obsessed scholars, and the inventors of Vicissitude, the art of sculpting flesh and bone. A Fiend rejects the limits of any single shape and builds a better monster from the raw material of the body: their own, their enemies', and their servants'.

Level 3: Tzimisce Bane

You are bound to the earth of what you own. Choose a charge: a specific place you hold as your own (such as an estate, a village, or a stretch of woodland). It can't be a type of place. Its soil travels only in bulk, in a coffin hauled by cart, mount, or ship. On each day you finish a Long Rest not surrounded by it, your daily sustenance costs 2 Blood Points instead of 1.

You gain a coffin of your charge's soil when you gain this feature. Replacing it requires soil brought from your charge. You can claim a new charge only during downtime, after a month's residence.

Level 3: Vicissitude

You sculpt your own flesh at will. You gain the following benefits.

Malleable Visage. You can expend 1 Blood Point and spend 10 minutes reshaping your own face, build, and voice — or that of a willing or Incapacitated creature you touch — into any Humanoid appearance of your size. The change is physical, not magical, and lasts until you reshape it again; it can't be detected or ended as magic.

Bone Blades. As a Bonus Action, you can expend 1 Blood Point to grow blades of bone for 1 minute. Your Unarmed Strikes deal 1d10 Slashing or Piercing damage, and you can use your Charisma modifier instead of your Strength modifier for the attack and damage rolls of your Unarmed Strikes.

At Kindred level 9, the duration increases to 1 hour and your Unarmed Strikes ignore Resistance to Slashing and Piercing damage.

Level 6: The Sculptor's Eye

You know bodies as a sculptor knows stone. You gain the following benefits.

Sense the Beast. You have Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks, and you know whether a creature you can see within 30 feet is Undead or a shapechanger.

Flesh Crafter. You can spend 10 minutes fleshcrafting willing creatures you touch, expending 2 Blood Points for each. A fleshcrafted creature gains one benefit of your choice until the end of its next Long Rest. A creature can have only one benefit at a time.

• Predator's Muscles. Its Speed increases by 10 feet.
• Hardened Hide. It gains a +1 bonus to Armor Class.
• Night Hunter's Eyes. It gains Darkvision out to 120 feet.
• Monstrous Claws. Its Unarmed Strikes deal 1d8 Slashing damage.

Sculpt the Flesh. As a Magic action, you can expend 1 Blood Point to force a creature within 15 feet of yourself to make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, choose one: the target has the Blinded condition, its Speed becomes 0, or it can't speak. At the end of each of its turns, the target repeats the save, ending the effect on a success.

Level 9: Szlachta

You can rebuild a body into a servant that knows only your will.

As a Magic action, you can expend 2 Blood Points while touching a corpse, a willing ghoul, or an Incapacitated creature to fleshcraft it into a szlachta, a bone-plated war-ghoul bound to your will.

Statistics. The szlachta has AC 15, a Speed of 30 feet, and Hit Points equal to 20 plus three times your Kindred level (maximum 60). Its ability scores are Strength 16, Dexterity 12, Constitution 16, Intelligence 4, Wisdom 10, and Charisma 4. It adds your Proficiency Bonus to its attack rolls and to its Strength and Constitution saving throws.

The Szlachta's Turns. It shares your Initiative and acts immediately after you. It obeys your commands, requiring no action from you, and takes the Dodge action if given none.

Bone Rend. Melee Attack Roll: your spell attack modifier, reach 5 feet. One attack, or two attacks at Kindred level 15. Hit: 1d10 plus your Charisma modifier Slashing damage.

Design. When you create it, choose one. 

• Guardian: it can take a Reaction to impose Disadvantage on an attack roll against a creature within 5 feet of it. 
• Stalker: it has Advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks and can track creatures by scent.

Duration. The szlachta lasts until it drops to 0 Hit Points, until you dismiss it (no action required), or until you finish a Long Rest. You can have only one at a time.

Level 11: Horrid Form

You cast off the shape you wear among mortals, taking a form built for slaughter.

Zulo Shape. As a Bonus Action, you can expend 3 Blood Points to erupt into the war-form zulo for 1 hour. You can end it early (no action required), and you retain all your class features while transformed. You gain the following benefits.

• You become Large, if you were smaller, and you gain Temporary Hit Points equal to your Kindred level.
• Your Unarmed Strikes deal 2d6, have a reach of 10 feet, and gain the benefits of your Bone Blades.
• You have Resistance to Piercing and Slashing damage.
• You have Disadvantage on Charisma checks other than Intimidation.

Adaptations. Each time you transform, choose one:

• Armored Hide. You gain a +2 bonus to Armor Class.
• Flesh Wings. You gain a Fly Speed equal to your Speed.
• Predator's Bulk. You have Advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• Unnatural Vigor. At the start of each of your turns, you regain Hit Points equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum 1).

Level 15: Grotesque Dominion

Flesh obeys you whether or not its owner consents, and even the Beast bows to your will. You gain the following benefits.

Control Flesh. As a Magic action, you can expend 3 Blood Points and touch a creature that has the Grappled or Incapacitated condition. It makes a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, its body obeys you rather than its owner for 1 minute. While it is controlled, you can take a Bonus Action to force it to move up to its Speed and make one attack against a target you choose, using its own attack bonus and damage. The effect ends early if you are more than 60 feet from it.

Drawing Out the Beast. When you would become bloodlusted, you can instead drive the rage into a creature you can see within 30 feet that isn't already affected by this feature. It makes a Wisdom saving throw; on a success, you become bloodlusted as normal. On a failure, for 1 minute it must use its action each turn to make one melee attack against the nearest creature, chosen at random among equally near targets, repeating the save at the end of each of its turns to end the effect.

Level 18: All That Is Mine, I Am

Your body is a work of centuries, and it no longer ends at your skin. You gain the following benefits.

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 4, to a maximum of 25.

Perfected Zulo. In Horrid Form, you can instead become Huge, your Unarmed Strikes deal 3d6, and your Resistance also covers Bludgeoning damage.

Unfettered Heart. Your organs sit where you put them. You are immune to the Wooden Stake Through the Heart feature and to Critical Hits, and no effect can change your shape or size against your will. Once per turn when you fail a Constitution or Strength saving throw, you can expend 1 Blood Point to succeed instead.

One With the Land. While within your charge, you can merge with its earth or end the merge, requiring no action. While merged, you move through natural surfaces as if they weren't present, can't be detected by nonmagical means unless you choose to be, are aware of everything that happens within your charge, and can manifest any part of your body from any surface within it. As a Magic action, you can teleport to any point within your charge or expend 1 Blood Point to reshape it in minor ways. The merge ends in sunlight.