This one is a bit of a lovechild for me, in concept at least... For some reason I have always liked characters able to create energy weapons A LOT. This Rogue Archetype does that, plus a couple more things I hope you'll find interesting.
Soulthief
The power of the mind is impressive, but the power of the soul within every creature, that's even more powerful if one learns how to harness and use it.
Soulsteal
Starting at 3rd level, each time you successfully deal sneak attack damage with an attack on a creature that is not a construct, you steal a portion of the target's soul, gaining a number of Soul Shards equal to the number of sneak attack dice you rolled. You can have a maximum number of Soul Shards equal to half your WIS score. After each long rest, you retain half the amount of Soul Shards you had before the long rest, should you had only 1 Shard at the beginning of the long rest, you finish your rest with 0.
Soul Knife
Starting at 3rd level, as a bonus action in your turn, you can spend between 1 and 3 Soul Shards and create a blade of energy the length of a short sword. The Soul Knife has the Finesse, Light and Thrown (40/80) qualities and you are automatically proficient with it. The Knife has no weight and deals 1d6 psychic damage per shard spent for its creation. Should you use the Soul Knife to perform a ranged attack, the blade will disappear after the attack is resolved. The Soul Knife lasts a number of turns equal to double your WIS modifier, until you lose contact with it, you fall unconscious or die, and during this time you can decide to reduce its size so as to hide it inside your fist without it disappearing. As long as it is active, you can extend the duration of your Soul Knife in subsequent turns by spending 1 additional Soul Shard as a reaction on your turn, making the blade last one additional round per Shard spent.
Soul Restoration
Starting at 3rd level, as an action on your turn, you can spend 1 Soul Shard to make a dying creature within 10 feet of you that you can see stabilize and regain 1 Hit Point.
Vanishing Soul
Starting at 9th level, as an action in your turn, you can spend a number of Soul Shards up to your WIS modifier to create on you the effects of the Invisibility spell. The effect lasts a number of turns equal to the amount of Soul Shards spent.
Soul Render
Starting at 13th level, you improve your Soul Knife. When creating the blade you can decide to invest up to 5 Soul Shards, making the maximum damage the blade can deal up to 5d6. Additionally, when you use your Soul Knife to perform a ranged attack, the blade reappears in your hand instead of disappearing after the attack.
Soul Savior
Starting at 13th level, you Soul Restoration feature can now be used on creatures you can see within 30 feet of you. Additionally, the maximum number of Soul Shards you can have becomes equal to your full WIS score.
Soul Reaver
Starting at 17th level, you learn how to use your own reserves of Soul Shards to rip the soul of your enemies to shreds. As a bonus action on your turn, when you successfully perform a sneak attack on a non-construct target using your Soul Knife, you can decide to spend Soul Shards up to half your WIS score. The target has to make a CON saving throw against DC of 8+your WIS modifier+your proficiency bonus. On a failed save, the target suffers 3 levels of Exhaustion, while on a successful save it takes psychic damage equal to 1d8 per Soul Shards spent. You can use this feature once every long rest.
As always, comments, suggestions and feedback are appreciated :)
Lucubrating some more on this, I am now tempted to make the Soul Shards vary based on the creature they come from, something along the lines of:
- Humanoids and anything not specified -> Psychic Soul Knife damage - Elementals -> Element-appropriate Soul Knife damage (Fire, Ice, Lightning, Poison) - Undeads (I count them as still having/being souls, in the end) -> Necrotic Soul Knife damage - Celestials -> Radiant Soul Knife damage - Fiends -> Fire/Force (unsure on this one) Soul Knife damage - Aberrations -> Force Soul Knife damage - Fey -> Random (on a 1d8 or the like roll) Soul Knife damage
This would mean, though, splitting the Shard counters, and increase the bookkeeping of the subclass. I am still not sure if the Homebrew Subclass tool will allow to add new resources to a class (I certainly hope so), but something like this might still stretch it to its limits and be more bulky than fun...
I'd REALLY appreciate some feedback here ^^"
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I would not recommend changing the damage type, because remember that some damage types (like Poison) are much worse than some others (like radiant).
Also, have you considered making the class Int-based instead of Wis? The Psyonic power generally is rapresented by Int (think about the Mind Flayers).
Soul Reaver
Starting at 17th level, you learn how to use your own reserves of Soul Shards to rip the soul of your enemies to shreds. As a bonus action on your turn, when you successfully perform a sneak attack on a non-construct target using your Soul Knife, you can decide to spend Soul Shards up to half your WIS score. The target has to make a CON saving throw against DC of 8+your WIS modifier+the amount of Soul Shard spent. On a failed save, the target suffers 3 levels of Exhaustion. On a successful save, he takes additional psychic damage equal to the amount of Soul Shards spent. You can use this feature once every long rest.
For this, I think the whole "DC=8+WIS+soul shards" is a little bit weird, because if you come in full strength, you can make the save be DC=8+5+10=23, which is honestly quite high. I would recommend a fixed cost in soul shards, and a standard DC=8+WIS(or INT if u decide to go that route)+Proficiency, but I would much empower the damage on a successful save. Something around 10d10 (think of Shivering Palm for the monk, it works quite similarly).
Also, I think that 1d6 finesse/light/thrown 40/80 for WIS rounds is pretty weak for the main ability of the subclass... Look at this spell shadow blade. It's a 2nd level concentration, but it lasts a minute, does 2d8 psychic, you can throw it and get it to teleport in your hand as bonus action (so it does not dissipate at the end of the turn as it would have), gives you advantage when attacking in dim light/darkness. Also, if you use higher level spell slots it increases in damage (3-4 3d8, 5-6 4d8 etc). I mean, an Arcane Trickster with this spell would make short work of your Soul Knife. So yeah, the Soul Knife thing needs a little buff
Hi Sovelis_Holimion thank you very much for your feedback :) Seems for fear of making this OP I erred in the other direction :P
I would not recommend changing the damage type, because remember that some damage types (like Poison) are much worse than some others (like radiant).
Going in order: thank you for the opinion on the varying damage type. I agree it might create some unbalance, on top of the already mentioned excessive bookkeeping.
Also, have you considered making the class Int-based instead of Wis? The Psyonic power generally is rapresented by Int (think about the Mind Flayers).
I see your point. The reasoning behind using WIS instead of INT would be because I tend to consider WIS a representation of the willpower of the character (as might be pointed at in the system as well due to WIS being the save of choice against most mind-altering effects), and I would like to give this subclass a sense of extreme force of will, rather than great intelligence or knowledge, so I am bit reticent on making the change ^^" (further argumentation to try and change my mind are extremely welcome).
Soul Reaver
...
For this, I think the whole "DC=8+WIS+soul shards" is a little bit weird, because if you come in full strength, you can make the save be DC=8+5+10=23, which is honestly quite high. I would recommend a fixed cost in soul shards, and a standard DC=8+WIS(or INT if u decide to go that route)+Proficiency, but I would much empower the damage on a successful save. Something around 10d10 (think of Shivering Palm for the monk, it works quite similarly).
Good points. Being a lvl 17 feature, and one you can only use once each long rest, I wanted the DC to be high, but as you point out 23 is pretty steep, so I'll probably make it the usual 8+mod+prof as you suggest. The damage as well makes sense to be higher, especially lowering the possible maximum DC of the save. Thank you :)
Also, I think that 1d6 finesse/light/thrown 40/80 for WIS rounds is pretty weak for the main ability of the subclass... Look at this spell shadow blade. It's a 2nd level concentration, but it lasts a minute, does 2d8 psychic, you can throw it and get it to teleport in your hand as bonus action (so it does not dissipate at the end of the turn as it would have), gives you advantage when attacking in dim light/darkness. Also, if you use higher level spell slots it increases in damage (3-4 3d8, 5-6 4d8 etc). I mean, an Arcane Trickster with this spell would make short work of your Soul Knife. So yeah, the Soul Knife thing needs a little buff
And here we come back at the beginning of this reply XD Given how much I like this concept, I didn't want to risk making it OP from the get-go, but I see I indeed made the Soul Knife a tad too weak. I think I will make the cost in shards variable from 1 to 3 at 3rd level, and based on how many shards are used the damage will change (1d6 for 1, 2d6 for 2, 3d6 for 3) and increase the duration to double WIS (or INT, if you convince me ;P) modifier, as with max WIS the duration would be basically 1 min, but without concentration needed. I'll still leave in the thrown drawback at this point though. The at this point I'll also change the lvl 13 feature Soul Render, and make it so that the number of shards that can be spent increase to 5 (with consequent increase in damage) and take out the throw drawback. I am also considering maybe giving Advantage to the attacks against creatures with INT higher than 13 (the smarter you are, the easier/more psychic damage hurts you) What do you think?
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I see your point. The reasoning behind using WIS instead of INT would be because I tend to consider WIS a representation of the willpower of the character (as might be pointed at in the system as well due to WIS being the save of choice against most mind-altering effects), and I would like to give this subclass a sense of extreme force of will, rather than great intelligence or knowledge, so I am bit reticent on making the change ^^" (further argumentation to try and change my mind are extremely welcome).
The INT thing was more of a proposal, for maybe a different feel, more about the sharpness of though and an acute mind, represented by the INT score. But basing the class off WIS is just as good, where it's more about your sheer willpower. The thing is i tend to see WIS more like the CON for the mind, and INT as the DEX for the mind, thus it would make sense for a rogue in this case.
And here we come back at the beginning of this reply XD Given how much I like this concept, I didn't want to risk making it OP from the get-go, but I see I indeed made the Soul Knife a tad too weak. I think I will make the cost in shards variable from 1 to 3 at 3rd level, and based on how many shards are used the damage will change (1d6 for 1, 2d6 for 2, 3d6 for 3) and increase the duration to double WIS (or INT, if you convince me ;P) modifier, as with max WIS the duration would be basically 1 min, but without concentration needed. I'll still leave in the thrown drawback at this point though. The at this point I'll also change the lvl 13 feature Soul Render, and make it so that the number of shards that can be spent increase to 5 (with consequent increase in damage) and take out the throw drawback. I am also considering maybe giving Advantage to the attacks against creatures with INT higher than 13 (the smarter you are, the easier/more psychic damage hurts you) What do you think?
The changes to Soul Render seem like a good idea (I especially like the fact that you become able to throw it without problems at that point). For the first part, I'd say make it 1d8, 2d8, 3d8 (starts off like a rapier). But I'd say the rest looks good to go.
The INT thing was more of a proposal, for maybe a different feel, more about the sharpness of though and an acute mind, represented by the INT score. But basing the class off WIS is just as good, where it's more about your sheer willpower. The thing is i tend to see WIS more like the CON for the mind, and INT as the DEX for the mind, thus it would make sense for a rogue in this case.
Your argument makes a lot of sense, I have to admit. I still think WIS would be more appropriate, if anything for the fact that I feel that one need a lot of mental fortitude to manage and use pieces of other souls within themselves. But I like your comparison, so I'll definitely keep it in mind for the future :)
The changes to Soul Render seem like a good idea (I especially like the fact that you become able to throw it without problems at that point). For the first part, I'd say make it 1d8, 2d8, 3d8 (starts off like a rapier). But I'd say the rest looks good to go.
:)
Thank you :D I thought about increasing the damage dice, but I am still not convinced, as I am concerned at level 3 it would make for a more powerful version of the shadow blade spell, and idI hate to make a potential spell for the Arcane Trickster feel less viable when compared to this. The two subclasses definitely have different concept, but still :p
I'll keep thinking about it, but for now I feel better leaving it at d6.
Thank you again for your help, it means a lot :)
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Just wanted to say that this is a really cool subclass. Have you published this (or your other subclasses) in the homebrew section or is this just a write up?
I do agree that separating souls by type would be too much and tedious. If you did make this as a homebrew class in the DNDBeyond homebrew section (to be used in the builder) then I would suggest a work around for your soul count (or for any other of your subclasses with additional counts) would be to create a Feat similar that has a charge count to how Lucky works. This could also be done with a magic weapon but personally I rather add a feat than clutter up my inventory with an item (even if it's a small one). I don't know if there is a way for it to automatically recalculate based off level or stat modifier but it's something to look into.
(I was looking into ways to use a subclass that added Sorcery points to a sorcerer but a DndB Mod specifically said that there are no ways to modify/edit a base class (even in a way like adding more sorcery points), I never really tried it since, at best it would be a different counter then the base sorcery points and that would bother me, so I never tried to find a workaround for auto-recalculations on level ups... but I'm sure you can add some sort of code or trigger like how something would auto-recalculate based off prof).
A lot of your subclasses say to add the new resource based off of your X score.. most official things are added based off your modifier, this is fine but I just wanted to clarify that by score you mean the actual stat (that has a max of 20 without magic boosters) so a 20 int (with a 5 point modifier) would grant you the 20 souls.. and using the magic item Circlet of Intelligence (I forgot what it's really called) would give 29 souls... which also means that if you have a stat under 10, you wouldn't have a negative modifier (or a minimum of 1)... Is that what you mean? That's cool.
(PS, I'm really sorry to point this out and I see that you're from Italy/Spain so I don't want to insult you if English isn't your first language, but it bothered my OCD when you kept saying 'in' your turn-- even for other subclasses-- proper grammar is 'on' your turn.. Again I'm SORRY!! but honestly other than that your English is actually quite impeccable
EDIT: If you do go the Feat route for the extra resources.. in this build or any other.. You can manually add a Feat by going to FEATURES & TRAITS > FEATS > Manage Feats to manually add a feat without using your ASI or variant human feat.. if you need to point this out to your DM that this was the only way to add the features in the builder they should understand.
Thank you very much for the interest and the feedback :)
I have published a few of my subclasses as homebrew here on DDB (HERE is a handy list), in a more polished version.
This is one that I modified quite a bit after creating it and trying it out.
To keep track of the Soul Shards I created THIS item (which I should probably review considering the changes the subclass went through).
I will reply more extensively to your feedback soon, but I can confirm the mention of the "score" for the maximum amount of Soul Shards is indeed intended.
Also, no worries on the language comment, I know I have the tendency of being too wordy and/or leave mistakes here and there when "speed writing", no offence taken :)
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Just wanted to say that this is a really cool subclass. Have you published this (or your other subclasses) in the homebrew section or is this just a write up?
As posted in my previous reply, yup, I indeed published this on DDB, specifically you can find it HERE
I do agree that separating souls by type would be too much and tedious. If you did make this as a homebrew class in the DNDBeyond homebrew section (to be used in the builder) then I would suggest a work around for your soul count (or for any other of your subclasses with additional counts) would be to create a Feat similar that has a charge count to how Lucky works. This could also be done with a magic weapon but personally I rather add a feat than clutter up my inventory with an item (even if it's a small one). I don't know if there is a way for it to automatically recalculate based off level or stat modifier but it's something to look into.
Yeah, the separation of soul shards per-kind was a bad idea from a design point of view, so I scrapped that pretty quickly. As previously replied, I had created a magic item to keep track of Soul Shards, but I see how a Feat might be better, as it could even appear in the main Action tab of the character sheet, if coded properly... I'll look into it, thank you for the idea!
A lot of your subclasses say to add the new resource based off of your X score.. most official things are added based off your modifier, this is fine but I just wanted to clarify that by score you mean the actual stat (that has a max of 20 without magic boosters) so a 20 int (with a 5 point modifier) would grant you the 20 souls.. and using the magic item Circlet of Intelligence (I forgot what it's really called) would give 29 souls... which also means that if you have a stat under 10, you wouldn't have a negative modifier (or a minimum of 1)... Is that what you mean? That's cool.
In the case of the Soulthief, the use of "score" instead of "modifier" is most definitely intended :) I will have to double check my other subclasses (most of which I haven't looked at in a LONG time) and see if I accidentally used the term incorrectly somewhere.
(PS, I'm really sorry to point this out and I see that you're from Italy/Spain so I don't want to insult you if English isn't your first language, but it bothered my OCD when you kept saying 'in' your turn-- even for other subclasses-- proper grammar is 'on' your turn.. Again I'm SORRY!! but honestly other than that your English is actually quite impeccable
No worries, I always appreciate constructive and well-worded corrections, so thank you for the correction and kind words ;)
This subclass underwent a few changes after I had the chance to actually test it a bit in-game, and I think it's now a tiny bit more balanced, although there are still a few refuse of horrible explanation and poor grammar/incomprehensible sentences. I'll look into maybe making a new version to polish up the language a bit more and possibly address a couple of issues I might spot here and there (mainly in the coding of things, since stuff has changed here in DDB quite a bit since last I updated it).
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
How does having part of their soul stolen affect the target? Seems like it should, right? Thief 1 sneak attacks Fred for 10 damage. SoulThief Fred sneak attacks Fred for 10 damage...but also steals part of Fred's soul.
That should do something to Fred, shouldn't it? More than just the regular damage. Otherwise, you're getting a bonus to your stuff, but there's nothing that really seems to be coming from Fred. Shouldn't it hurt you if someone steals part of your soul?
How does having part of their soul stolen affect the target? Seems like it should, right? Thief 1 sneak attacks Fred for 10 damage. SoulThief Fred sneak attacks Fred for 10 damage...but also steals part of Fred's soul.
That should do something to Fred, shouldn't it? More than just the regular damage. Otherwise, you're getting a bonus to your stuff, but there's nothing that really seems to be coming from Fred. Shouldn't it hurt you if someone steals part of your soul?
Interesting idea, thank you!
I guess one way to go about it could be to permanently lower the Target's max HP by the same amount of Soul Shards stolen, or a penalty to healing received by the same amount, like there's less of the target remaining or it's harder to "put them back together".
I'll think about it!
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
That's the sort of stuff I'd look at, too. Maybe not permanent pemanent reduction. Allow healing or restoration spells, maybe a long rest to restore them--depending on how serious you want the power to be. A 3rd level character being able to permanently (nothing short of a wish spell) take away HP is a bit powerful.
If you think of their 'soul' being stolen as more of their 'life force', then it could be rejuvenated over time. That's actually one thing to think about--what do you really mean by 'soul' here? If I'm attacked by this rogue and lost a 'shard of my soul'--forever--is my eternal afterlife negatively affected by that? If so, that's a huge ability. :) So maybe more 'life force', and then magic and just a lot of rest, maybe eating some chocolate, can make up for it.
Restorations spells could definitely restore lost soul Shards, I'd say.
In terms of how powerful this would be, it is worth remembering that the amount of Soul Shards taken is dependent on the amount of Sneak Attack dice rolled (so max 10 in one go at level 19), technically not an enormous amount for an appropriately matched enemy. It would be more of a nuisance than anything, but flavor-wise it could indeed bring something to the table, I think.
If the Rogue and/or party is so good (or the enemy so dumb) that every other hit is a Sneak Attack, well... The loss of max HP would be the poor sod's least problem XD
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
In terms of how powerful this would be, it is worth remembering that the amount of Soul Shards taken is dependent on the amount of Sneak Attack dice rolled (so max 10 in one go at level 19), technically not an enormous amount for an appropriately matched enemy. It would be more of a nuisance than anything, but flavor-wise it could indeed bring something to the table, I think.
Agreed about power level. I was talking more about actual flavor. Think of a novel you're reading, and a thief has the power to steal bits of someone's soul when he attacks. So he attacks some guy, just one time. The guy lives, runs away, and never sees the thief again. But for the rest of his life, he suffers because a part of his soul is gone. His kids don't bring him quite the same happiness, he drifts away from his friends, etc. And then he dies, and he goes to his god's version of Valhalla. And the god says "Well, for the afterlife, you're going to be missing a leg" or "you're actually heading for purgatory" or "I'm sorry, we can only let in whole souls".
So it's more about whether the flavor would make it a super powerful ability. Is the thief stealing just some 'life force', or is the thief really stealing part of someone's immortal (judeo-christian-type) soul? As a player, I'd want to know that. The second version sounds really pretty dark (not as in bad as a game mechanic, just dark as in Fiend-pact Warlock dark), and would really affect how I saw the character.
In terms of how powerful this would be, it is worth remembering that the amount of Soul Shards taken is dependent on the amount of Sneak Attack dice rolled (so max 10 in one go at level 19), technically not an enormous amount for an appropriately matched enemy. It would be more of a nuisance than anything, but flavor-wise it could indeed bring something to the table, I think.
Agreed about power level. I was talking more about actual flavor. Think of a novel you're reading, and a thief has the power to steal bits of someone's soul when he attacks. So he attacks some guy, just one time. The guy lives, runs away, and never sees the thief again. But for the rest of his life, he suffers because a part of his soul is gone. His kids don't bring him quite the same happiness, he drifts away from his friends, etc. And then he dies, and he goes to his god's version of Valhalla. And the god says "Well, for the afterlife, you're going to be missing a leg" or "you're actually heading for purgatory" or "I'm sorry, we can only let in whole souls".
So it's more about whether the flavor would make it a super powerful ability. Is the thief stealing just some 'life force', or is the thief really stealing part of someone's immortal (judeo-christian-type) soul? As a player, I'd want to know that. The second version sounds really pretty dark (not as in bad as a game mechanic, just dark as in Fiend-pact Warlock dark), and would really affect how I saw the character.
The implication of effectively stealing the immortal soul of the target would be enormous, going to affect how Resurrection spells would work, or even how Fiends would be affected by it, so I think I will go for "just" stealing life force, and calling them Soul Shards for dramatic effect ;)
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
The implication of effectively stealing the immortal soul of the target would be enormous, going to affect how Resurrection spells would work, or even how Fiends would be affected by it, so I think I will go for "just" stealing life force, and calling them Soul Shards for dramatic effect ;)
That seems an easier method to fit into a game. Alternatively, you could just declare that these soul shards are actual pieces of a soul, but once stolen and used, they eventually just make their way back to the owner. You steal a shard from me, I'm weakened in some way for a while, but after you use the shard--or after a time limit you have to use it in--the bit of my soul finds its way back to me. It's a bit more powerful that way (in flavor and out-of-game function), but kind of a cool effect. Might place a 'waiting period' on the dead entering their afterlives--the thief hasn't use the soul shard energy yet! :) That could cause certain gods and their clerics to really opposed these Soul Thieves. Imagine the Death God that has to wait to harvest a soul because someone has 'borrowed' a bit of it. :)
But if the pieces always find their way back, the 'eternal' harm is overall temporary. And...the DM could decide to use that as a plot point. Maybe the thief has to be careful who he steals soul shards from. Maybe stealing from a Fiend leaves a mark on the thief--he was carrying around a bit of Fiend Soul, after all. Maybe that attracts other Fiends for retribution--or they think he's an ally. Or he detects as Evil for a while! Holy water burns him while he's carrying the Fiend Soul. Very powerful beings could be able to track their soul shards and find you again. Maybe they can keep tracking you even after you use their shard. There's a lot you could do there.
You could use any of those effects whether you went with life force or eternal soul, actually. It's really about out-of-game description, and you can make the in-game effects fit whatever you want.
the number of soul shards you can have is a bit low.
Thank you for the interest in the class :)
Keep in mind is WIS SCORE not WIS mod, in case there was confusion, that means you can have an minimum of 5 at level 3 (considering a 10 in WIS, which would not really be ideal for this subclass).
5 shards allow you to create up to 5 1d6 Soul Knives, but that is considering you do not kill anything or do not land any other Sneak Attack with them, as both these things would give you further Shards.
It is also worth noting that at level 13 the amount of Soul Shards that can be stored becomes the full WIS score, so up to a maximum of 20 shards.
If you are interested, this sublcass (as other I created in the past) is available in the Homebrew Subclass DDB tool HERE
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
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This one is a bit of a lovechild for me, in concept at least...
For some reason I have always liked characters able to create energy weapons A LOT. This Rogue Archetype does that, plus a couple more things I hope you'll find interesting.
Soulthief
The power of the mind is impressive, but the power of the soul within every creature, that's even more powerful if one learns how to harness and use it.
Soulsteal
Starting at 3rd level, each time you successfully deal sneak attack damage with an attack on a creature that is not a construct, you steal a portion of the target's soul, gaining a number of Soul Shards equal to the number of sneak attack dice you rolled.
You can have a maximum number of Soul Shards equal to half your WIS score. After each long rest, you retain half the amount of Soul Shards you had before the long rest, should you had only 1 Shard at the beginning of the long rest, you finish your rest with 0.
Soul Knife
Starting at 3rd level, as a bonus action in your turn, you can spend between 1 and 3 Soul Shards and create a blade of energy the length of a short sword. The Soul Knife has the Finesse, Light and Thrown (40/80) qualities and you are automatically proficient with it. The Knife has no weight and deals 1d6 psychic damage per shard spent for its creation. Should you use the Soul Knife to perform a ranged attack, the blade will disappear after the attack is resolved.
The Soul Knife lasts a number of turns equal to double your WIS modifier, until you lose contact with it, you fall unconscious or die, and during this time you can decide to reduce its size so as to hide it inside your fist without it disappearing.
As long as it is active, you can extend the duration of your Soul Knife in subsequent turns by spending 1 additional Soul Shard as a reaction on your turn, making the blade last one additional round per Shard spent.
Soul Restoration
Starting at 3rd level, as an action on your turn, you can spend 1 Soul Shard to make a dying creature within 10 feet of you that you can see stabilize and regain 1 Hit Point.
Vanishing Soul
Starting at 9th level, as an action in your turn, you can spend a number of Soul Shards up to your WIS modifier to create on you the effects of the Invisibility spell. The effect lasts a number of turns equal to the amount of Soul Shards spent.
Soul Render
Starting at 13th level, you improve your Soul Knife. When creating the blade you can decide to invest up to 5 Soul Shards, making the maximum damage the blade can deal up to 5d6.
Additionally, when you use your Soul Knife to perform a ranged attack, the blade reappears in your hand instead of disappearing after the attack.
Soul Savior
Starting at 13th level, you Soul Restoration feature can now be used on creatures you can see within 30 feet of you. Additionally, the maximum number of Soul Shards you can have becomes equal to your full WIS score.
Soul Reaver
Starting at 17th level, you learn how to use your own reserves of Soul Shards to rip the soul of your enemies to shreds.
As a bonus action on your turn, when you successfully perform a sneak attack on a non-construct target using your Soul Knife, you can decide to spend Soul Shards up to half your WIS score. The target has to make a CON saving throw against DC of 8+your WIS modifier+your proficiency bonus. On a failed save, the target suffers 3 levels of Exhaustion, while on a successful save it takes psychic damage equal to 1d8 per Soul Shards spent.
You can use this feature once every long rest.
As always, comments, suggestions and feedback are appreciated :)
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Lucubrating some more on this, I am now tempted to make the Soul Shards vary based on the creature they come from, something along the lines of:
- Humanoids and anything not specified -> Psychic Soul Knife damage
- Elementals -> Element-appropriate Soul Knife damage (Fire, Ice, Lightning, Poison)
- Undeads (I count them as still having/being souls, in the end) -> Necrotic Soul Knife damage
- Celestials -> Radiant Soul Knife damage
- Fiends -> Fire/Force (unsure on this one) Soul Knife damage
- Aberrations -> Force Soul Knife damage
- Fey -> Random (on a 1d8 or the like roll) Soul Knife damage
This would mean, though, splitting the Shard counters, and increase the bookkeeping of the subclass.
I am still not sure if the Homebrew Subclass tool will allow to add new resources to a class (I certainly hope so), but something like this might still stretch it to its limits and be more bulky than fun...
I'd REALLY appreciate some feedback here ^^"
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I would not recommend changing the damage type, because remember that some damage types (like Poison) are much worse than some others (like radiant).
Also, have you considered making the class Int-based instead of Wis? The Psyonic power generally is rapresented by Int (think about the Mind Flayers).
Soul Reaver
Starting at 17th level, you learn how to use your own reserves of Soul Shards to rip the soul of your enemies to shreds.
As a bonus action on your turn, when you successfully perform a sneak attack on a non-construct target using your Soul Knife, you can decide to spend Soul Shards up to half your WIS score. The target has to make a CON saving throw against DC of 8+your WIS modifier+the amount of Soul Shard spent. On a failed save, the target suffers 3 levels of Exhaustion. On a successful save, he takes additional psychic damage equal to the amount of Soul Shards spent.
You can use this feature once every long rest.
For this, I think the whole "DC=8+WIS+soul shards" is a little bit weird, because if you come in full strength, you can make the save be DC=8+5+10=23, which is honestly quite high. I would recommend a fixed cost in soul shards, and a standard DC=8+WIS(or INT if u decide to go that route)+Proficiency, but I would much empower the damage on a successful save. Something around 10d10 (think of Shivering Palm for the monk, it works quite similarly).
Also, I think that 1d6 finesse/light/thrown 40/80 for WIS rounds is pretty weak for the main ability of the subclass... Look at this spell shadow blade. It's a 2nd level concentration, but it lasts a minute, does 2d8 psychic, you can throw it and get it to teleport in your hand as bonus action (so it does not dissipate at the end of the turn as it would have), gives you advantage when attacking in dim light/darkness. Also, if you use higher level spell slots it increases in damage (3-4 3d8, 5-6 4d8 etc). I mean, an Arcane Trickster with this spell would make short work of your Soul Knife. So yeah, the Soul Knife thing needs a little buff
Seems for fear of making this OP I erred in the other direction :P
The damage as well makes sense to be higher, especially lowering the possible maximum DC of the save. Thank you :)
Given how much I like this concept, I didn't want to risk making it OP from the get-go, but I see I indeed made the Soul Knife a tad too weak.
I think I will make the cost in shards variable from 1 to 3 at 3rd level, and based on how many shards are used the damage will change (1d6 for 1, 2d6 for 2, 3d6 for 3) and increase the duration to double WIS (or INT, if you convince me ;P) modifier, as with max WIS the duration would be basically 1 min, but without concentration needed. I'll still leave in the thrown drawback at this point though.
The at this point I'll also change the lvl 13 feature Soul Render, and make it so that the number of shards that can be spent increase to 5 (with consequent increase in damage) and take out the throw drawback.
I am also considering maybe giving Advantage to the attacks against creatures with INT higher than 13 (the smarter you are, the easier/more psychic damage hurts you)
What do you think?
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Just wanted to say that this is a really cool subclass. Have you published this (or your other subclasses) in the homebrew section or is this just a write up?
I do agree that separating souls by type would be too much and tedious. If you did make this as a homebrew class in the DNDBeyond homebrew section (to be used in the builder) then I would suggest a work around for your soul count (or for any other of your subclasses with additional counts) would be to create a Feat similar that has a charge count to how Lucky works. This could also be done with a magic weapon but personally I rather add a feat than clutter up my inventory with an item (even if it's a small one). I don't know if there is a way for it to automatically recalculate based off level or stat modifier but it's something to look into.
(I was looking into ways to use a subclass that added Sorcery points to a sorcerer but a DndB Mod specifically said that there are no ways to modify/edit a base class (even in a way like adding more sorcery points), I never really tried it since, at best it would be a different counter then the base sorcery points and that would bother me, so I never tried to find a workaround for auto-recalculations on level ups... but I'm sure you can add some sort of code or trigger like how something would auto-recalculate based off prof).
A lot of your subclasses say to add the new resource based off of your X score.. most official things are added based off your modifier, this is fine but I just wanted to clarify that by score you mean the actual stat (that has a max of 20 without magic boosters) so a 20 int (with a 5 point modifier) would grant you the 20 souls.. and using the magic item Circlet of Intelligence (I forgot what it's really called) would give 29 souls... which also means that if you have a stat under 10, you wouldn't have a negative modifier (or a minimum of 1)... Is that what you mean? That's cool.
(PS, I'm really sorry to point this out and I see that you're from Italy/Spain so I don't want to insult you if English isn't your first language, but it bothered my OCD when you kept saying 'in' your turn-- even for other subclasses-- proper grammar is 'on' your turn.. Again I'm SORRY!! but honestly other than that your English is actually quite impeccable
EDIT: If you do go the Feat route for the extra resources.. in this build or any other.. You can manually add a Feat by going to FEATURES & TRAITS > FEATS > Manage Feats to manually add a feat without using your ASI or variant human feat.. if you need to point this out to your DM that this was the only way to add the features in the builder they should understand.
Hi Noxx89 o/
Thank you very much for the interest and the feedback :)
I have published a few of my subclasses as homebrew here on DDB (HERE is a handy list), in a more polished version.
This is one that I modified quite a bit after creating it and trying it out.
To keep track of the Soul Shards I created THIS item (which I should probably review considering the changes the subclass went through).
I will reply more extensively to your feedback soon, but I can confirm the mention of the "score" for the maximum amount of Soul Shards is indeed intended.
Also, no worries on the language comment, I know I have the tendency of being too wordy and/or leave mistakes here and there when "speed writing", no offence taken :)
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Ok, let's get into a more point-by-point reply, shall we?
As posted in my previous reply, yup, I indeed published this on DDB, specifically you can find it HERE
Yeah, the separation of soul shards per-kind was a bad idea from a design point of view, so I scrapped that pretty quickly.
As previously replied, I had created a magic item to keep track of Soul Shards, but I see how a Feat might be better, as it could even appear in the main Action tab of the character sheet, if coded properly... I'll look into it, thank you for the idea!
In the case of the Soulthief, the use of "score" instead of "modifier" is most definitely intended :)
I will have to double check my other subclasses (most of which I haven't looked at in a LONG time) and see if I accidentally used the term incorrectly somewhere.
No worries, I always appreciate constructive and well-worded corrections, so thank you for the correction and kind words ;)
This subclass underwent a few changes after I had the chance to actually test it a bit in-game, and I think it's now a tiny bit more balanced, although there are still a few refuse of horrible explanation and poor grammar/incomprehensible sentences.
I'll look into maybe making a new version to polish up the language a bit more and possibly address a couple of issues I might spot here and there (mainly in the coding of things, since stuff has changed here in DDB quite a bit since last I updated it).
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Interesting stuff.
How does having part of their soul stolen affect the target? Seems like it should, right? Thief 1 sneak attacks Fred for 10 damage. SoulThief Fred sneak attacks Fred for 10 damage...but also steals part of Fred's soul.
That should do something to Fred, shouldn't it? More than just the regular damage. Otherwise, you're getting a bonus to your stuff, but there's nothing that really seems to be coming from Fred. Shouldn't it hurt you if someone steals part of your soul?
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
Interesting idea, thank you!
I guess one way to go about it could be to permanently lower the Target's max HP by the same amount of Soul Shards stolen, or a penalty to healing received by the same amount, like there's less of the target remaining or it's harder to "put them back together".
I'll think about it!
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
That's the sort of stuff I'd look at, too. Maybe not permanent pemanent reduction. Allow healing or restoration spells, maybe a long rest to restore them--depending on how serious you want the power to be. A 3rd level character being able to permanently (nothing short of a wish spell) take away HP is a bit powerful.
If you think of their 'soul' being stolen as more of their 'life force', then it could be rejuvenated over time. That's actually one thing to think about--what do you really mean by 'soul' here? If I'm attacked by this rogue and lost a 'shard of my soul'--forever--is my eternal afterlife negatively affected by that? If so, that's a huge ability. :) So maybe more 'life force', and then magic and just a lot of rest, maybe eating some chocolate, can make up for it.
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
Restorations spells could definitely restore lost soul Shards, I'd say.
In terms of how powerful this would be, it is worth remembering that the amount of Soul Shards taken is dependent on the amount of Sneak Attack dice rolled (so max 10 in one go at level 19), technically not an enormous amount for an appropriately matched enemy. It would be more of a nuisance than anything, but flavor-wise it could indeed bring something to the table, I think.
If the Rogue and/or party is so good (or the enemy so dumb) that every other hit is a Sneak Attack, well... The loss of max HP would be the poor sod's least problem XD
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Agreed about power level. I was talking more about actual flavor. Think of a novel you're reading, and a thief has the power to steal bits of someone's soul when he attacks. So he attacks some guy, just one time. The guy lives, runs away, and never sees the thief again. But for the rest of his life, he suffers because a part of his soul is gone. His kids don't bring him quite the same happiness, he drifts away from his friends, etc. And then he dies, and he goes to his god's version of Valhalla. And the god says "Well, for the afterlife, you're going to be missing a leg" or "you're actually heading for purgatory" or "I'm sorry, we can only let in whole souls".
So it's more about whether the flavor would make it a super powerful ability. Is the thief stealing just some 'life force', or is the thief really stealing part of someone's immortal (judeo-christian-type) soul? As a player, I'd want to know that. The second version sounds really pretty dark (not as in bad as a game mechanic, just dark as in Fiend-pact Warlock dark), and would really affect how I saw the character.
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
The implication of effectively stealing the immortal soul of the target would be enormous, going to affect how Resurrection spells would work, or even how Fiends would be affected by it, so I think I will go for "just" stealing life force, and calling them Soul Shards for dramatic effect ;)
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
That seems an easier method to fit into a game. Alternatively, you could just declare that these soul shards are actual pieces of a soul, but once stolen and used, they eventually just make their way back to the owner. You steal a shard from me, I'm weakened in some way for a while, but after you use the shard--or after a time limit you have to use it in--the bit of my soul finds its way back to me. It's a bit more powerful that way (in flavor and out-of-game function), but kind of a cool effect. Might place a 'waiting period' on the dead entering their afterlives--the thief hasn't use the soul shard energy yet! :) That could cause certain gods and their clerics to really opposed these Soul Thieves. Imagine the Death God that has to wait to harvest a soul because someone has 'borrowed' a bit of it. :)
But if the pieces always find their way back, the 'eternal' harm is overall temporary. And...the DM could decide to use that as a plot point. Maybe the thief has to be careful who he steals soul shards from. Maybe stealing from a Fiend leaves a mark on the thief--he was carrying around a bit of Fiend Soul, after all. Maybe that attracts other Fiends for retribution--or they think he's an ally. Or he detects as Evil for a while! Holy water burns him while he's carrying the Fiend Soul. Very powerful beings could be able to track their soul shards and find you again. Maybe they can keep tracking you even after you use their shard. There's a lot you could do there.
You could use any of those effects whether you went with life force or eternal soul, actually. It's really about out-of-game description, and you can make the in-game effects fit whatever you want.
I really like the concept.
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
the number of soul shards you can have is a bit low.
Thank you for the interest in the class :)
Keep in mind is WIS SCORE not WIS mod, in case there was confusion, that means you can have an minimum of 5 at level 3 (considering a 10 in WIS, which would not really be ideal for this subclass).
5 shards allow you to create up to 5 1d6 Soul Knives, but that is considering you do not kill anything or do not land any other Sneak Attack with them, as both these things would give you further Shards.
It is also worth noting that at level 13 the amount of Soul Shards that can be stored becomes the full WIS score, so up to a maximum of 20 shards.
If you are interested, this sublcass (as other I created in the past) is available in the Homebrew Subclass DDB tool HERE
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games