Judge

Curse Sorcerer Subclass

A Judge turns cursed energy into verdict, procedure, and punishment. Your power does not merely strike. It accuses, weighs, sentences, and executes. Through your gavel, your cursed energy takes the form of a portable courtroom, allowing you to enforce your judgment with overwhelming physical force.

Judge Features

3rd-Level Feature: Gavel

At 3rd level, your cursed energy manifests as a court gavel with a symbol of your choice engraved or marked on it. The gavel is a manifestation of your cursed energy and functions as your primary instrument of judgment.

You are proficient with the gavel. Attacks you make with it use your Charisma modifier for the attack and damage rolls.

If the gavel leaves your hand, it returns to you immediately after it hits or misses a creature, strikes an object, or otherwise comes into contact with a surface.

All Shapes and Sizes

You can alter the size and proportions of your gavel using cursed energy. Although you can freely change its dimensions, the gavel must remain a gavel. You can enlarge its head, extend its handle, or adjust its proportions, but you cannot reshape it into another object, such as a bat, spear, shield, or tool.

Once on each of your turns, you can alter the gavel’s size without using an action. This alteration lasts until the end of that turn, after which the gavel reverts to its original size. You can also return the gavel to its original size at any time without using an action.

At 3rd level, the gavel can become up to 7 feet tall and occupy a space no larger than a 5-foot cube, provided it weighs no more than 265 lb. (120 kg).

At 5th level, the gavel can become up to 8 feet tall and occupy a space no larger than a 5-foot cube, provided it weighs no more than 330 lb. (150 kg).

At 7th level, the gavel can become up to 9 feet tall and occupy a space no larger than a 10-foot cube, provided it weighs no more than 375 lb. (170 kg).

At 13th level, the gavel can become up to 10 feet tall and occupy a space no larger than a 10-foot cube, provided it weighs no more than 440 lb. (200 kg).

At 18th level, the gavel can become up to 14 feet tall and occupy a space no larger than a 15-foot cube, provided it weighs no more than 660 lb. (300 kg).

Melee Option

You can use the gavel to make melee weapon attacks.

Melee Weapon Attack: your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.

Hit: 2d6 + your Charisma modifier bludgeoning damage.

This damage increases as you gain levels in this class, becoming 2d8 at 5th level, 2d10 at 7th level, 3d6 at 13th level, and 4d6 at 18th level.

Ranged Option

You can throw the gavel at immense speed by propelling it with cursed energy.

Ranged Weapon Attack: your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier to hit, range 90 ft., one target.

Hit: 1d12 + your Charisma modifier bludgeoning damage.

This damage increases as you gain levels in this class, becoming 2d8 at 5th level, 2d10 at 7th level, 2d12 at 13th level, and 3d12 at 18th level.

This attack counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Crush

You can use the gavel to deliver a devastating crushing blow.

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

When you hit a creature with a melee attack using the gavel, you can expend one use of this feature to increase the damage to 3d12 + your Charisma modifier bludgeoning damage.

This damage increases as you gain levels in this class, becoming 4d10 at 5th level, 4d12 at 7th level, 5d12 at 13th level, and 6d12 at 18th level.

Crush requires the gavel to weigh at least 132 lb. (60 kg) and have a head broad enough to cover a 5-foot square.

Pogo

You can use your gavel as a violent makeshift pogo stick.

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

As a bonus action on your turn, or as a reaction when you are targeted by an attack or forced to make a Dexterity saving throw, you extend the gavel against a solid surface within 5 feet of you and propel yourself up to 15 feet in a direction of your choice, except directly downward.

This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks, and you ignore difficult terrain during the movement.

The distance you can propel yourself increases as you gain levels in this class, becoming 20 feet at 5th level, 25 feet at 7th level, 30 feet at 13th level, and 40 feet at 18th level.

The gavel reverts to its former shape after this movement ends.

3rd-Level Feature: Goody Two-Shoes

Your moral code is not decorative. It is binding.

You cannot willingly break or bend your moral code or alignment. Even when an action or outcome is completely opposed to your desires, you must abide by what your moral code deems right.

For example, a lawful good Judge might still allow a blatant serial killer to speak and defend themselves if fairness, procedure, or the right to be heard is part of that Judge’s moral code.

You gain proficiency in Investigation, Insight, and Persuasion.

3rd-Level Feature: Extreme Prejudice

You manipulate your cursed energy into countless gavels and spray your opponent with them.

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

As an action, make a ranged curse attack against one creature within 60 feet of you, using your Charisma modifier and proficiency bonus.

On a hit, the target takes 8d6 + your Charisma modifier bludgeoning damage and is pushed 10 feet directly away from you.

The manifested gavels immediately disappear after dealing their damage.

7th-Level Feature: Swirl

You expand the reach of your gavel and swing it with enough force to create a violent vortex in the air.

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

As an action, you double the gavel’s reach to create a vortex centered on a point you can see within that reach. Each creature within 30 feet of the vortex’s center must make a Dexterity saving throw against your Curse Sorcerer save DC. Creatures you consider allies have advantage on this saving throw.

On a failed save, a creature is pulled to the center of the vortex and is incapacitated until the start of your next turn.

As part of the same action, you can swing the gavel into the eye of the vortex to crush one creature pulled to the center. Make a melee weapon attack with the gavel against that creature. You have advantage on this attack roll.

On a hit, the target takes 4d8 + your Charisma modifier bludgeoning damage.

This damage increases as you gain levels in this class, becoming 6d8 at 13th level and 8d8 at 18th level.

The gavel reverts to its former shape after this feature resolves.

13th-Level Feature: Divine Justice

You let nothing prevent true justice from happening.

Once per long rest, if you are under the open sky and there is no solid obstruction between you and the sky, you can launch your gavel upward by imbuing it with a massive amount of cursed energy. The gavel disappears into the sky at frightening speed.

At the start of your next turn, you enact divine punishment and deliver the final verdict. Choose one creature you can see within 120 feet of you. Your gavel becomes Huge and falls from the sky onto the chosen target.

Each creature within 15 feet of the target must make a Dexterity saving throw against your Curse Sorcerer save DC. The main target makes this saving throw with disadvantage.

On a failed save, a creature takes 15d20 + your Charisma modifier bludgeoning damage. On a successful save, a creature takes no damage.

The main target takes half as much damage on a successful save instead of no damage.

You cannot use this feature while you are in a confined space or in any location that prevents direct access to the open sky.

15th-Level Feature: Executioner’s Sword

You no longer have patience for waiting for procedure to arrive at the just conclusion. You know what is right, and you will enforce justice.

Once per long rest, you can force a mighty shikigami called Judgeman to enact the Death Penalty as punishment. When you do so, your gavel transforms into a cross-hilted sword made of golden light.

As an action while holding the Executioner’s Sword, make a melee curse attack against one creature within 5 feet of you, using your Charisma modifier and proficiency bonus.

On a hit, if the target is a living creature with a soul in the traditional sense, the sword irreversibly severs the connection between the target’s soul and body, causing the target to die instantly.

This feature has no effect on creatures that are not living in the traditional sense, creatures without souls, constructs, most undead, or any creature the DM determines cannot be affected by soul-body separation.

The Executioner’s Sword disappears after the attack hits or misses.

HBB Note: If you prefer a stricter numerical limit, you can rule that this feature affects only creatures with 100 hit points or fewer, similar to the threshold used by Power Word Kill.

HBB Note: It is both thematically and mechanically advised that you obtain this weapon, or a similar weapon, as part of your Mise-en-Scène Domain Expansion.

18th-Level Feature: Double-Dyed Lawyer

You reach the peak of your profession. You read people as if they were an open book and catch their lies before even they think of them.

You gain expertise in Investigation, Insight, and Persuasion.

If you already have expertise in one or more of these skills, you can choose another skill proficiency you have and gain expertise in that skill instead.

In addition, you have advantage on Intelligence (Investigation), Wisdom (Insight), and Charisma (Persuasion) checks.