Symbiotic Bond

A entity has bound itself within your blood. The process was excruciatingly painful, and you are now filled with a constant burning, a low fire that pushes you towards the desires of the entity. The relationship isn't all bad though, for as the creature gains strength, its power can become your own. Just make sure you don't lose control.

Hybrid Form

Upon choosing this archetype at 3rd level, the powers that have been growing within your blood gain a level of sentience and you begin to be able to manifest the powers physically.

As an action, you can transform into your Hybrid form. This form last for 10 minutes. You can revert to your normal form earlier by using an action on your turn. You automatically revert to your normal form if you fall unconscious, drop to 0 hit points, or die.

You can use this feature once. You regain expended uses when you finish a short or long rest.

The appearance and abilities of this form increase as you gain levels and the symbiote grows in power.

At 3rd level, the symbiote spills forth and encases itself around your hands and forearms. You can speak and wear armor, but you lose the ability to use equipment in this form. If you are holding anything, you drop it immediately. While you are transformed, you gain the following features:

Sanguine Might. You gain a bonus to melee damage rolls equal to half your proficiency bonus (rounded down). You also have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.

Adaptive Strikes. Your unarmed strikes are considered a single weapon in regards to your crimson rite feature. You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes. When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike, you can make another unarmed strike as a bonus action. The symbiote can morph its shape, allowing you to choose between bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage whenever you make an unarmed strike.

Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing damage. This die increases to 1d8 at 11th level, and 1d10 at 18th level.

Bloodlust. At the start of your turn, if you've taken any damage since the beginning of your last turn, you must make a Wisdom saving throw to maintain control. The DC equals 10, or half of the total damage you've taken from attacks since your last turn, whichever is higher. On a failed save, you must move directly towards the nearest creature to you and use the Attack action against that creature. If there is more than one possible target, you may choose the target. You then regain control for the remainder of your turn.

If you fail 3 saves during a single use of your hybrid form, you lose control to the symbiote. The DM assumes control of your character. At the start of your turn, you may make a Wisdom saving throw to reassume control. The DC equals 10, or half of the total damage you've taken from attacks since your last turn, whichever is higher. On a successful save, you regain control for the remainder of the turn.

You regain control of your character after 3 successful saves, or when you revert back to your normal form.

Symbiotic Prowess

At 7th level, your speed increases by 10 feet. You also can add 10 feet your your long jump distance and 3 feet to your high jump distance. In addition, your hybrid form gains the Improved Adaptive Strikes feature.

Improved Adaptive Strikes. When you have an active rite while in your hybrid form, your unarmed strikes are considered magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

In addition, you may now make ranged attacks with your unarmed strikes (range 30/120).

Advanced Hybrid Form

Starting at 11th level, you learn to unleash and control more of the symbiote within, and its physical manifestation spreads to cover more of your body . You can now transform into your hybrid form as a bonus action, and your hybrid transformation now lasts for up to 30 minutes. You may use your Hybrid Form feature two times between rests.

In addition your hybrid form gains the following feature:

Sanguine Armor. You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons. While you are not wearing heavy armor, you gain a +1 bonus to your AC.

Symbiotic Weakness. You have a vulnerability to necrotic damage.

Symbiotic Regeneration. At the start of each of your turns, you regain hit points equal to 1 + your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1) if you have no more than half of your hit points left. You don't gain this benefit if you have 0 hit points.

Deadly Precision. You gain a bonus to melee attack rolls made with your unarmed strikes equal to half of your proficiency bonus (rounded down).

Iron Volition

Beginning at 15th level, you've honed your willpower to better resist the urges of the symbiote. Whenever you make a Wisdom saving throw to maintain control of your hybrid form, you do so with advantage.

In addition, your hybrid form gains the Bloodthirst feature.

Bloodthirst. You have advantage on attack rolls against creatures whose hit points are less than half of their hit point maximum.

 

Hybrid Form Mastery

At 18th level, you have wrestled with the symbiotic bond and mastered it. You can now use your Hybrid Form feature three times between rests.

In addition, you may also choose to enter into Symbiote Form, as a free action. While in this form, you lose the ability to speak.

In Symbiote Form, you gain the following features:

Improved Sanguine Armor. You gain an additional +2 bonus to your AC.

Frightful Presence. Each creature of your choice that is within 120 feet of you and aware must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency + your Wisdom modifier) or become frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to your Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours.