Phantom Thief

The Phantom Thieves are a group of special rogues that have gained access to the metaverse. A mysterious world created from the cognition of all living things. Using their spirits of rebellion, they enter the Metaverse to change hearts and rid the world of all its corruption.

Weapons of a Phantom Thief

At 3rd level: Your rebellious spirit has gifted you with the means to protect yourself when your persona can’t. If you don’t have one yet, add a pistol to your inventory. You now have proficiency in firearms.

Persona

At 3rd level: Your spirit of rebellion awakens within you. Granting you the powers of your persona. You can now call upon your persona to manifest within you as a bonus action. (Your persona stands next to you in this state whenever you attack with it, but it is completely incorporeal, and is just for show. The attacks aren’t just for show though obviously.) When this happens, you copy all of the stats of your persona except for charisma, you copy its walking, flying, and swim speeds (if it has them. If it cannot move, then you can’t move either), you gain its immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities, you don’t copy its HP or AC stats, but you can add the modifiers that you gain from your new constitution and dexterity scores as you normally would. Also, you gain all of the persona’s attacks, spells, and special abilities/traits (good and bad) as well. Your persona can stay active for as long as you like in the Metaverse, but in the real world it only lasts for 30 minutes before you go back to being a normal person and have to take a long rest to use it again. As a normal person, all of your stats, except for Charisma, are 10 (it doesn’t matter what racial bonuses you get, your stats must always be 10. Also, by stats, I mean strength, dexterity, etc. just so you don’t get confused.) This doesn’t mean that when you create your character you’re only allowed to roll for your charisma score however (you just don’t get to use them until level 3). Your starter persona’s stats will be determined by the rolls you made when you were creating your character. Speaking of your starter persona, see the Arsene homebrew monster character sheet thingy to see what attacks, abilities, etc you gain from it. Also, whenever you summon your persona to attack, you must yell out PERSONA! Which will most likely announce your presence to anything nearby that didn’t already notice you. You don’t have to yell that if you aren’t attacking though.

Downing an Enemy

At 3rd level: Whenever you hit one or more enemies with an attack that they are vulnerable to, or you hit an enemy with a critical hit, the enemy/enemies are knocked prone until it’s their turn. If you manage to do this, and there are still some enemies on the battlefield that haven’t been knocked prone, then you get to attack again. If you knock more enemies down AGAIN, then you get ANOTHER attack, unless all of the enemies on the battlefield have already been knocked prone (if they haven’t, the process continues). If all enemies on the battlefield with you have been knocked prone, and you and at least one other party member are not incapacitated or under a status condition, then you (and any party members that fit that criteria) surround the enemy and go into something called a “Hold Up.” During a hold up, you can do one of three things; you can demand money from the enemies, in which they will be forced to give you some gold, you can ask for an item, in which the specific enemy that you ask will be forced to give you a useful item (for those two, once the enemy/enemies have given what you asked for, you will “spare” them, and give them the opportunity to retreat, but if they choose to continue fighting, the battle will continue, your turn will end, and all of the enemies that were knocked prone will no longer be prone), or you can ask for one of the enemies to lend you their power. You can only do this option to creatures that have a CR equal to or less than your level. When you do this, both you and the specific creature that you are targeting must both make charisma rolls. If your roll is higher, the creature is absorbed into your mask, becomes one of your personas, and disappears from the real world if you absorbed them in the Metaverse. The remaining enemies are then given the choice to flee or continue the fight like in the other two Hold Up options. If your roll is lower, the targeted creature becomes offended by you and forces the battle to continue. The enemy you targeted also gets an opportunity of attack on you. (Anyone can choose to provide the help action if they want to during this time. Also, enemies that choose to flee from a Hold Up are safe from you in the Metaverse, but they become frightened of you and your party members in the real world. This gives them the incentive to flee in the real world as well, but they don’t have to.)

Wild Card

At 3rd level: You have gained the special ability to manifest the powers of multiple personas within your rebellious heart, and you know how to harness each of their powers. You can have up to 12 personas at a time. If you ever gain a persona, but already have 12 personas, then you must pick a persona to release and possibly meet again one day. As a bonus action, you can switch your active persona to another persona. Your stats and abilities change accordingly. If you come across creatures that you have a persona of, those creatures are slightly friendlier towards you than they normally would be. (For example, if you have a goblin persona, then all other goblins that are the same monster as your goblin persona in the monster manual become friendlier to you. A goblin king is not the same monster as a regular goblin in the monster manual, so they would not become friendlier towards you.)

The Metaverse, Mementos, and the Metanav

The Metaverse is sort of like another world that was created by the cognitions of every living thing in the real world. There are lots of things in the Metaverse that you can do at later levels, but currently, all you can do enter a specific part of the Metaverse called "Mementos" and hunt creatures’ “Shadows.” A creature’s shadow is that creature’s cognitive self that has become corrupted with negative and sinful thoughts and asperations. It's basically a manifestation of their distorted desires. Everyone in the world has a cognitive self in the Metaverse, except for persona users because when they harnessed the power of personas, they essentially fused with their cognitive self. (In other words, a persona user's starter persona IS their cognitive self.) If a cognitive self becomes a shadow, it means that the person that’s the owner of that cognitive self has become a corrupt and unjust person at heart. It’s more common for creatures with the evil and chaotic alignments to have shadows, but technically any alignment could have a shadow as long as they have some sort of distorted desires. People that have desires that are exceptionally distorted will form "Palaces" in the Metaverse that their shadow rules over. A palace is the ultimate manifestation of distortion. They are formed from strong negative or corrupt thoughts that warp the perceptions of people into a hazard for themselves and/or others. (For example, if a loan shark had a palace, they would see all other people as walking ATM's. Palaces are very symbolic for how their owners see the world. So, if a loan shark had a palace, it would probably look like a massive bank with tons of shadows that are dressed like security guards. Palaces will also sometimes add fake people, like those ATM's, as decoration in the palaces just to show how the palace owners see other people. They aren't real people, they are just part of the Palace.) "Mementos" is a special palace that has been formed by the distortions of everyone. While normal Palaces are owned by one person, Mementos is the Palace of the general public. Since Mementos is supposed to be the manifestation of the way the general public sees the world, it's incredibly diverse when it comes to what it looks like. It's always changing, so it can look like almost anything, as long as it looks corrupted. At 3rd level: You can teleport yourself, along with anyone within 5 feet of you into Mementos with a magical device that was given to you called the Metaverse Navigator, or, Metanav for short. You can choose to just aimlessly explore Mementos for loot and XP, or you can use your Metanav to hunt down and battle the shadows of people from the real world that aren't as distorted as someone with their own Palace. (For example, a goblin that steals crops from farmers would have a shadow, but they aren't distorted enough to own their own Palace. However, a goblin that's created a massive crop theft organization might have a Palace of his own. Obviously, Palace owners' distortions are much more subtle seeming in the real world than that example, and they are also most likely much deeper than just being a cabbage stealer, but you get what I'm trying to say.) Any shadows that you bring down to 0 HP don’t die outright. Instead, you can make a choice; you can either steal the shadow’s treasure, or you can kill the shadow. A shadow’s treasure represents that creature’s corrupted and distorted heart. Taking the shadow’s treasure causes the creature to have a change of heart in the real world, making it confess to all of its horrible sins, and do whatever it can to reform itself and repent. (This can include doing good deeds, turning itself into the police, and more. It may even attempt to kill itself if it believes that its sins were that unforgivable, but that's usually a last case scenario.) They understand that what they did was wrong, and they genuinely want to make up for what they had done. When you return to the real world, the treasures that you took from shadows turn into actual valuable items that you can either sell for gold, or you can use as a useful item (The DM decides what the item is.) You can also choose to just finish the shadow off, and kill it. If you do this, you would be destroying the real world creature’s cognitive self, causing the creature in the real world to experience a “Mental Shutdown.” Basically what happens is that the creature in the real world's eyes roll backwards inside their head(s), they begin coughing up blood, and then immediately die. This cannot be reversed, it can't be stopped once it starts, and no revival spell will bring them back. Exiting the Metaverse places you in the exact same place that you were at when you entered the Metaverse. You, and anyone who went into the Metaverse with you can’t go back into the Metaverse until they finish a long rest, because being in the Metaverse is extremely mentally exhausting. Also, you can’t take long rests in the Metaverse. When you’re in the Metaverse, your clothes change from normal clothes into your “Phantom Thief Outfit” which is basically your cognition of a rebel, and your clothes change back when you go back to the real world.

Palaces of Individuals

At 9th level: you can use your Metanav to enter specific people's Palaces. In order to do this, you will need to give the full name (first and last) of the person that you want to enter the Palace of. Once you say the name, the Metanav will confirm whether the person actually has a Palace of their own or not. If they don't have one, nothing happens. If they do, you, along with anyone within 5 feet of you are teleported to the Palace in the Metaverse. Unlike Mementos, which has the appearance of how the general public sees the world, these types of Palaces have the appearance of how their owner sees the world. In addition to the way the Palace is decorated, the "people" that live in the Palace also have specific appearances and personalities based on how the Palace owner sees other people. These specific people that inhabit Palaces are not real people, they were just created by the Palace owner's cognition to symbolize how they see other people. For an example of a Palace, a CEO of a big business corporation or franchise might see his world as a factory, and he'd see his employees as robots that are meant to slave away and work nonstop for his company. His Palace would probably be a massive factory with a bunch of depressed and exhausted robots that will randomly collapse from overworking, which causes them to immediately be replaced.

When it comes to gameplay, Palaces are like big dungeon crawls. They are filled with puzzles, monsters (a.k.a. shadows. Yes, there can be other shadows in someone's Palace, but they don't have any ownership over it. Their primary purpose is just to act as guards.), traps, loot, and much more. At the end of the Palace, there will be a massive treasure. When you first come across it, it will look like a blurry blob of light. You won't be able to steal the treasure in this state. This is because the owner of the Palace is most likely unaware that you are in their Palace trying to steal their treasure. In order to make the actual treasure appear, you must go back to the real world and send some sort of calling card to the owner of the Palace. In the calling card, you must threaten the Palace owner by saying that you are going to steal their treasure and change their heart. It doesn't matter if the Palace owner understands what this means or not, as most people don't know what the Metaverse is, but having the calling card say that their treasure is going to be stolen makes the Palace owner's cognition slightly change, causing the treasure to appear in the Palace. Once you have sent the calling card, you will have 24 hours to steal the treasure, if you don't steal the treasure within that time, the Palace owner will no longer be on guard, and the treasure will go back to being a blob of light. If this happens, you won't be able to steal the Palace's treasure. In order to change the Palace owner's heart, you must steal their treasure, so if you don't steal the treasure after sending the calling card, you will be unable to change the Palace owner's heart. In order to steal the treasure once it has appeared, you will most likely have to face off against the Palace owner's shadow. The Palace owner’s shadow is like the dungeon boss. It’s usually very strong, and it cannot be brought into a “Hold Up.” (Hold ups are explained in a different class feature) When you defeat the Palace owner’s shadow, you can interact with it like you can with normal shadows. Either kill it, or take its treasure. If you take the shadow’s treasure, you make the shadow promise to atone for its sins, and then the Palace will begin to collapse because since you changed the Palace owner’s heart, they no longer have a Palace. You will need to escape the Palace and exit the Metaverse before the Palace crushes you. If you kill the Palace owner’s shadow, the Palace collapses twice as fast. When you return to the real world, the treasure will turn into an incredibly valuable item. It will usually be something that goes for a lot of money. More money than the treasures of regular shadows. A lot of times, the item will usually stick to the theme of the Palace. 

Since Palaces are a part of the Metaverse, you can’t take a long rest in Palaces. You will need to exit the Metaverse in order to take a long rest. Luckily, you can teleport out of the Palace any time you are in a room that doesn’t have any Shadows in it. And, you can teleport back into any rooms that you have fully explored whenever you decide to return to the Palace. 

Palaces are somewhat connected to the real world. You have the ability to change specific structuring aspects in the Palace by moving something in the real world. For example, if there is a massive locked door in the Palace, but there isn’t a key/lock to unlock it, then there is a possibility that the door is representing a real door in the real world in the Palace owner’s house or something. You can go to the real world and open the door in the real world, and it will then be opened in the Palace as well.

Finally, if the Palace owner, for whatever reason, dies in the real world while you are in the Palace, the Palace will collapse.

Persona Fusion and Creation

At 9th level: Whenever you fall asleep, you can have a "dream" that you awaken in the "Velvet Room." The owner of the Velvet Room, Igor, will offer you his services of persona creation. You can offer up two personas, and Igor will fuse them to create a new random persona. In order to determine the CR of the new persona, take the average of both of the persona's CR's and your level. The DM will then pick a random creature of that challenge rating from the monster manual. The DM's methods of making it random is entirely up to them (however, I recommend filtering the monster manual so all you see are monsters of the challenge rating you are looking for, then rolling a d100. Let's say you roll a 16, the 16th monster on the list will be the new persona. If the DM has a better way of determining this, then they can use that method, this is just a suggestion.

Igor can also return previously used personas to you. If you used to own a specific persona that you had to release to make room for other personas, or you lost a persona because you used it in a persona fusion, then you can spend a certain amount of gold, determined by the DM, to regain that persona. The amount of gold each persona costs is determined by its challenge rating, in addition to its rarity in the world.

Persona in the Real World Improvement

At 9th level: The duration of time that you can have your persona activated in the real world increases from 30 minutes to 1 hour.

All Out Attack

At 13th level: You gain the ability to team up with your party members to form one massive "all out attack." During a "Hold Up," you now have the option to make an "All Out Attack." When you make an all out attack, you, along with everyone else who chooses to participate in the attack that isn't incapacitated or under a status condition rolls 2d12. Everyone adds their totals together, and the total number altogether is dealt as slashing damage to each enemy on the battlefield. If an enemy is resistant or immune to nonmagical slashing damage, then the attack becomes magical against them. Once this attack is completed, all of the enemies that survived the attack are no longer prone and your turn ends.

Spirit Bullets

At 13th level: Your Persona not only manifests within you, but it manifests within your gun as well. When you have a persona manifested, you can choose to make you gun's attacks magical.

Down Shot

At 13th level: When you hit and enemy with your gun, you can choose to shoot them in a flashy and skillful way that causes the enemy to fall over. The enemy must make a dexterity saving throw of 10 plus your proficiency bonus and your dexterity modifier or be knocked prone. You cannot use this skill again until you finish a long rest. 

Itemizing Personas

At 17th level: Igor will transform your personas into magical items. You can sacrifice a persona in exchange for powerful random magic items of the DM's choice. The power/usefulness of the item is determined by the sacrificed persona's CR and rarity.

Persona in the Real World Improvement

At 13th level: The duration that you can use personas in the real world extends to 2 hours.

Persona in the Real World Improvement

At 17th level: You can now manifest your persona indefinitely. You can also don your Phantom Thief uniform in the real world whenever you want now as well.

The Ultimate Persona

At 17th level: With the help of Igor, you can now create powerful personas that exceed your level. In order to do this, choose 8 personas to sacrifice, and then roll a d10. You then gain one random persona that has a CR equal to your level + the number rolled from the d10. 

Bullet Hail

At 13th level: At the start of a battle, you can fire off a bunch of bullets towards your enemies. Make an attack roll with your gun. All enemies with AC's that the roll would hit each take 1d10 piercing damage. No modifiers are added to the damage. This happens before anyone takes their turn in the initiative.