Axe of the Fell Beast

Forged from dark steel and tempered in blood, this greataxe fuels the beast within its wielder. It’s haft is inlaid with tribal carvings, while the blade itself is etched with gold and silver. 

Sentient

The Axe of the Fell Beast is an anchor for the spirit of the Hanged Man arcana. It has an Intelligence of 10, a Wisdom of 18, and a Charisma of 19. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet. 

The weapon communicates telepathically with its wielder and can speak, read and understand Sylvan and Common. It can project an ethereal echo of itself into the world for up to 10 minutes at a time, but it is completely incorporeal.

Dormant

The greataxe grants the following properties while in its dormant state. 

• Beasts can understand the meaning of your words, and you gain advantage on Charisma (persuasion) checks to influence them. 
• You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. When you score a critical hit with this weapon, choose one of the damage dice you roll. That dice is treated as if you rolled the highest number possible. 

Awakened

When the greataxe reaches an awakened state, it gains the following properties. 

• The weapon’s bonus to attack and damage rolls increases to +2.
• You gain a swim speed equal to your walking speed. Additionally, naturally occurring difficult terrain does not affect you. 
• When a creature you can see within 30 feet hits you with an attack while you are wielding the greataxe, you can use your reaction to move up to your movement speed towards that creature and make an attack using the greataxe. If the attack hits, it deals an extra 10 acid damage. This property can’t be used again until the next dawn. 
  
  

Exalted

When the greataxe reaches an exalted state, it gains the following benefits. 

• The weapon’s bonus to attack and damage rolls increases to +3. 
• When you have fewer than half your maximum hit points, you can make one extra attack as part of the attack action. 
• You gain a burrowing speed equal to your walking speed. You can use your burrowing speed to move through sand, loose earth, mud, or ice, not solid rock. 
• As an action you can unleash the beast within you. You transform into the Fell Beast (using the Werebear stat block) for one minute or until you drop to 0 hit points. While in the Fell Beast form, you retain your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores, skill and saving throw proficiencies, alignment, and personality. Once you have returned to your normal form, you cannot transform again until the next dawn. 

Proficiency with a Greataxe allows you to add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll for any attack you make with it.

Notes: Bonus: Magic, Advantage: Persuasion, Set: Innate Speed (Swimming), Set: Innate Speed (Burrowing), Barbarian, Damage, Communication, Combat, Shapechanging, Heavy, Two-Handed, Cleave