Heart of the Void

The Heart is a dense, subtly asymmetrical amulet forged from dusk-steel that drinks the surrounding light and returns it as a muted silver-blue shimmer. Its surface is traced with fine spirals of lacquered charcoal that resemble veins, warm to the touch as though holding the memory of every chest it has ever rested against. When worn, it emits a low, resonant hum; neither quite a heartbeat nor a voice, but something steady and patient, pressing gently at the edge of perception.

Those who carry it for too long often notice the world growing quieter around them. Sounds dull, breath deepens, and time seems to move with a slower pulse. Few can say when the sensation truly begins. But at some point, the bearer realizes the amulet is not merely resting upon them.

If you are attuned to The Heart of the Void, you gain the following benefits:

Desecrated Form: Your body is no longer harmed by decay; it is sustained by it. You are immune to necrotic damage. Whenever a hostile creature or harmful effect would deal necrotic damage to you, the damage is negated and its corrupt energy seeps into your body. Each time this occurs, you gain one Desecration stack (maximum of 10). Each stack lasts for 1 minute. When you roll initiative, you lose all Desecration stacks.

You can expend these stacks in the following ways:

Ruinous Discharge. When you hit a creature with an attack or spell, you may expend any number of Desecration stacks. The target takes an additional 2d8 necrotic damage per stack spent.

Profane Persistence. When you fail a Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution saving throw, you may expend 3 Desecration stacks to reroll the save with advantage.

Form of Carrion. As a bonus action, you may expend 5 Desecration stacks to awaken the decay within you for 1 minute. While in this state:

• Your attacks deal an additional 1d10 necrotic damage.
• A creature damaged by your necrotic damage cannot regain hit points until the start of your next turn.
• Whenever you reduce a creature to 0 hit points, you gain one Desecration stack.

Vision of the Void: You gain truesight out to a range of 30 feet. 

Whispers of the Void: The Heart does not speak in words. It presses gently against the edges of your mind, offering fragments of something vast and distant. Each time you listen, the pressure deepens. At the start of your turn, you may choose to invoke the Whispers of the Void, gaining one stack of Whispers, to a maximum of four stacks. You suffer the effects of your current Whispers stack and all lower stacks. While you have one or more stacks of Whispers, your Armor Class and all saving throws are reduced by an amount equal to your number of Whispers stacks.

Whenever you attack a creature, you immediately take psychic damage equal to 5 × your current Whispers stack. This psychic damage bypasses resistance and immunity. In addition, whenever you deal damage to a creature, your maximum hit points are reduced until the end of your next long rest; by 5 hit points while you have one or two stacks of Whispers, or by 10 hit points while you have three or four stacks. The Heart also demands violence to sustain its voice; if you do not attack or deal damage to at least one creature during your turn, you cannot gain additional Whispers stacks on your next turn.

If you have zero Whispers stacks, you are unaffected by this feature.

At one stack of Whispers, faint murmurs brush against your thoughts, subtly guiding your hand. While at this stack, you gain a +1 bonus to your spell save DC, attack rolls, and damage rolls, and whenever you hit a creature, the attack deals an additional 2d6 psychic damage.

At two stacks of Whispers, the world narrows to the immediate space around you as everything beyond fades into irrelevance. While at this stack, you are blinded and deafened beyond a range of 30 feet. Your bonus increases to +2 to your spell save DC, attack rolls, and damage rolls, and whenever you hit a creature, the attack instead deals an additional 4d6 psychic damage.

At three stacks of Whispers, you stand at the threshold of something immense pressing back through the Heart. While at this stack, you gain vulnerability to Cold, Psychic, and Force damage, and this vulnerability applies even if you would otherwise have resistance or immunity to those damage types. Your bonus instead becomes +3 to your spell save DC, attack rolls, and damage rolls, and whenever you hit a creature, the attack instead deals an additional 6d6 psychic damage.

At four stacks of Whispers, the Heart ceases to whisper and begins to decide. You immediately enter a state of total abandonment as its will moves through you. While at this stack, you are under the effects of the haste spell (requiring no concentration), and whenever you hit a creature, the attack instead deals an additional 8d6 psychic damage. This state lasts until the end of your turn. When it ends, you are stunned until the start of your next turn, gain two levels of exhaustion, and your Whispers stacks immediately drop to 0.

Random Properties. This heart has the following random properties:

• 2 minor beneficial properties
• 1 major beneficial property
• 2 minor detrimental properties
• 1 major detrimental properties

Notes: Damage, Combat