So here is an idea I had for a new subclass. The concept is that the kingdom they were from was destroyed by a great darkness. Some of the knights from the kingdom learned to harness just a sliver of that energy to empower themselves to fight back. Thus, the Knights of Sacrifice were born.
Generally, the class is about empowering itself through taking damage. It's primary abilities, Adversity and Bloodletting, grant you a stacking damage bonus (adversity) when taking damage, and a smite (bloodletting) that deals damage to the fighter to deal extra damage.
For lore purposes, consider broadening the concept of sacrifice. "The kingdom they were from was destroyed" and "War of 10 Heavens" are great plot details for what spurs a fighter toward taking this archetype, but the subclass lore always works better speaking in philosophical and ideological tones. Leave the details to the player so they don't feel that they have to be shoehorned into a specific backstory that may or may not fit their character.
For clarification purposes, Bloodletting and Black Bane need to state which level you gain them at. Don't assume they will be lumped in with the feature above.
Adversity needs another reset besides dropping to zero hit points and possibly a clarification that the attack comes from a hostile creature. Mechanically, adversity allows the Fighter to be "attacked" by an ally, sleep, and wake up the next day with full health and X bonus to damage. If they heal between attacks they gain bonuses much faster.
I would add that if the Fighter regained hit points from any source, the bonus resets to 0. This helps to clarify RAI and I think ties into the theme of maintaining sacrifice and a "willingness to suffer."
The wording for Bloodletting's self-inflicted damage should be changed to "cannot be reduced in any way." This puts it more in line with other similar effects and clarifies between "resistance" and "reduced damage." You should also remove " If the damage would reduce you to less than 1 hit point, the ability fails." There are similarities here to the Bloodhunter, and in any case, requires the Fighter to be more attentive in the use of this feature as well as following the theme of "sacrificing themselves to deal land a more devastating blow to the enemy."
The last sentence of Black Bane needs a similar wording to Bloodletting as well as allowing the Fighter to die due to their own personal sacrifice.
For presentation purposes, you don't necessarily need Improved Bloodletting Strike. A Forge or Life Domain Cleric with Divine Strike doesn't have a separate feature for their increased damage, but a Paladin does have a separate feature for their improved Auras. Not a big deal, though I would also just change the name to Improved Bloodletting since the first one doesn't say strike.
Bloodletting and Black Bane possibly causing you to kill yourself also allow the Fighter to trigger Blaze of Glory on their own. This once again ties in with sacrificing yourself to deal a much more devastating blow.
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https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/237793-knight-of-sacrifice
So here is an idea I had for a new subclass. The concept is that the kingdom they were from was destroyed by a great darkness. Some of the knights from the kingdom learned to harness just a sliver of that energy to empower themselves to fight back. Thus, the Knights of Sacrifice were born.
Generally, the class is about empowering itself through taking damage. It's primary abilities, Adversity and Bloodletting, grant you a stacking damage bonus (adversity) when taking damage, and a smite (bloodletting) that deals damage to the fighter to deal extra damage.
Lemme know what you think?
For lore purposes, consider broadening the concept of sacrifice. "The kingdom they were from was destroyed" and "War of 10 Heavens" are great plot details for what spurs a fighter toward taking this archetype, but the subclass lore always works better speaking in philosophical and ideological tones. Leave the details to the player so they don't feel that they have to be shoehorned into a specific backstory that may or may not fit their character.
For clarification purposes, Bloodletting and Black Bane need to state which level you gain them at. Don't assume they will be lumped in with the feature above.
Adversity needs another reset besides dropping to zero hit points and possibly a clarification that the attack comes from a hostile creature. Mechanically, adversity allows the Fighter to be "attacked" by an ally, sleep, and wake up the next day with full health and X bonus to damage. If they heal between attacks they gain bonuses much faster.
I would add that if the Fighter regained hit points from any source, the bonus resets to 0. This helps to clarify RAI and I think ties into the theme of maintaining sacrifice and a "willingness to suffer."
The wording for Bloodletting's self-inflicted damage should be changed to "cannot be reduced in any way." This puts it more in line with other similar effects and clarifies between "resistance" and "reduced damage." You should also remove " If the damage would reduce you to less than 1 hit point, the ability fails." There are similarities here to the Bloodhunter, and in any case, requires the Fighter to be more attentive in the use of this feature as well as following the theme of "sacrificing themselves to deal land a more devastating blow to the enemy."
The last sentence of Black Bane needs a similar wording to Bloodletting as well as allowing the Fighter to die due to their own personal sacrifice.
For presentation purposes, you don't necessarily need Improved Bloodletting Strike. A Forge or Life Domain Cleric with Divine Strike doesn't have a separate feature for their increased damage, but a Paladin does have a separate feature for their improved Auras. Not a big deal, though I would also just change the name to Improved Bloodletting since the first one doesn't say strike.
Bloodletting and Black Bane possibly causing you to kill yourself also allow the Fighter to trigger Blaze of Glory on their own. This once again ties in with sacrificing yourself to deal a much more devastating blow.