Spirit Bound

Having been subjected to either a dark ritual or by pure happenstance, your soul is now fused with that of another long dead spirit. Forevermore you have a toe in both the world of the living and the dead and others like you have developed spectacular abilities that have been utilized in various ways by numerous factions. These abilities are varied and no two Soul Fused are alike in this regard.

You are Spirit Bound. You have harnessed your spirit to become wicked blades that cut away at the very fabric of a creature's soul and have learned to step between the veil of the spirit world so as to conceal your form or move about freely.

Either as an effective killer, a spy, or a vigilante, these new gifts will serve you well. However this union comes at a cost. Will you lose yourself to the screams of the grave, or will you lose your soul and become a vessel to the harbinger of death?

(Reskin of Soulknife with added tweaks from Phantom for Taiban Sun Campaign. Ask your DM before use.)

Screams of the Damned

3rd-level Spirit Bound feature

Control of the bound spirit is a difficult task by itself that requires a great amount of concentration and practice. Any substantial break in that focus can have dire consequences for any and all nearby as the spirit momentarily takes control and unleashes an explosion of it's rage made manifest. When you take damage from a single source equal to or greater than half of your hit point maximum, you must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or succumb to the vengeful spirit within.

On a failed save, Songs of the Damned is triggered, except it affects all creatures within range. All conditions are applied until the end of the affected creatures next turn. Additionally you are incapacitated until the end of your next turn.

Spirit Energy

3rd-level Spirit Bound feature

You harbor a wellspring of spirit energy within yourself. This energy is represented by your Spirit Energy dice, which are each a 1d6. You have a number of these die equal to twice your proficiency bonus, and they fuel various soul powers you have, which are detailed below.

Some of your powers expend the Spirit Energy die they use, as specified in a power's description, and you can't use a power if it requires you to use a die if they are all expended. You regain all your expended Spirit Energy dice when you finish a long rest. In addition, as a bonus action, you can regain one expended Spirit Energy die, but you can't do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

When you reach certain levels in this class, the size of your Spirit Energy dice increases: at 5th level (d8), 11th level (d10), and 17th level (d12). The powers below use your Spirit Energy dice.

Soul-Bolstered Knack. When your training fails you, your soul infused power can help: if you or another ally you can see fails an ability check using a skill or tool with which you have proficiency, you can roll one Spirit Energy die and add the number rolled to the check, potentially turning failure into success. You expend the die only if the roll succeeds.

Spirit Whispers. You can establish telepathic communication between yourself and others—perfect for quiet infiltration. As an action, choose one or more creatures you can see, up to a number of creatures equal to your proficiency bonus, and then roll one Spirit Energy die. For a number of hours equal to the number rolled, the chosen creatures can speak telepathically with you, and you can speak telepathically with them. To send or receive a message (no action required), you and the other creature must be within 1 mile of each other. A creature can’t use this telepathy if it can’t speak any languages, and a creature can end the telepathic connection at any time (no action required). You and the creature don’t need to speak a common language to understand each other.

The first time you use this power after each long rest, you don’t expend the Spirit Energy die. All other times you use the power, you expend the die.

Soul Blades

3rd-level Spirit Bound feature

You can manifest your spiritual power as wicked blades of spirit energy. Whenever you take the Attack action, you can manifest a soul blade from your free hand and make the attack with that blade. This magic blade is a simple melee weapon with the finesse and thrown properties. It has a normal range of 60 feet and no long range, and on a hit, it deals psychic damage equal to 1d6 plus the ability modifier you used for the attack roll. The blade vanishes immediately after it hits or misses its target, and it leaves no mark on its target if it deals damage.

After you attack with the blade, you can make a melee or ranged weapon attack with a second soul blade as a bonus action on the same turn, provided your other hand is free to create it. The damage die of this bonus attack is 1d4, instead of 1d6.

Songs of the Damned

3rd-level Spirit Bound feature

As you nudge someone closer to the grave, you can channel the power of death to harm someone else as well. Immediately after you deal your Sneak Attack damage to a creature on your turn, you can target a second creature that you can see within 60 feet of the first creature. Roll half the number of Sneak Attack dice for your level (round up), and the second creature takes psychic damage equal to the roll’s total, as sorrowful wails of the dead sound around them for a moment. Then the initial target suffers one of the below afflictions that you choose until the end of their next turn.

• The affected creature can not escape its fate and can not be healed.
• The victim is forced to face it’s own end whenever it looks upon you and suffers the frightened condition.
• The creature is paralyzed with dread, suffering from the restrained condition.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Empowered Soul Blades

9th-level Spirit Bound feature

Your Soul Blades are now an expression of your spirit-suffused soul, giving you these powers that use your Spirit Energy dice:

Homing Strikes. If you make an attack roll with your Soul Blades and miss the target, you can roll one Spirit Energy die and add the number rolled to the attack roll. If this causes the attack to hit, you expend the Spirit Energy die.

Spirit Teleportation. As a bonus action, you manifest one of your Soul Blades, expend one Spirit Energy die and roll it, and throw the blade at an unoccupied space you can see, up to a number of feet away equal to 10 times the number rolled. You then teleport to that space, and the blade vanishes.

Dirge of the Damned

9th-level Spirit Bound feature

The wails heard as you nudge someone closer to death become a dreadful symphony, further enhancing the effect. When using Songs of the Damned, you can roll one Spirit Energy die to extend the afflictions by a number of rounds equal to 1+half the rolled result rounded up.

Use of this feature on a target already afflicted overrides the previous condition.

Death's Herald

9th-level Spirit Bound feature

Being intimately close with death, you know when someone is one foot through it’s door. More importantly you know exactly how to nudge someone the rest of the way through the threshold. When a creature is close to death you may expend a Spirit Energy Die to mark it for death for 1 minute. When a creature is marked in this way you may as part of an attack action teleport up to 60 ft to get within melee of the creature before attacking. Furthermore, the creature is considered to be vulnerable to all sources of damage done by you until the creature is either dead or the mark expires. The mark can only be successfully placed so long as the creature is at a quarter of it’s maximum hp or less. You expend the die only if the mark succeeds.

Memento Mori

9th-level Spirit Bound feature

When a life ends in your presence, you’re able to snatch a token from the departing soul, a sliver of its life essence that takes physical form: as a reaction when a creature you can see dies within 30 feet of you, you can open your free hand and cause a Tiny trinket to appear there, a memento mori. The DM determines the trinket’s form or has you roll on the Trinkets table in the Player’s Handbook to generate it.

You can have a maximum number of memento mori equal to your proficiency bonus, and you can’t create one while at your maximum. You can use memento mori in the following ways:

• While a memento mori is on your person, you have advantage on death saving throws, for your vitality is enhanced by the life essence within the object.
• When you deal Sneak Attack damage on your turn, you can destroy one of your memento mori that’s on your person and then immediately use Songs from the Damned, without expending a use of that feature.
• As an action, you can destroy one of your memento mori, no matter where it’s located. When you do so, you can ask the spirit associated with the trinket one question. The spirit appears to you and answers in a language it knew in life. It’s under no obligation to be truthful, and it answers as concisely as possible, eager to be free. The spirit knows only what it knew in life, as determined by the DM.

Spirit Veil

13th-level Spirit Bound feature

You can weave a veil of spiritual static to mask yourself. As an action, you can magically become invisible, along with anything you are wearing or carrying, for 1 hour or until you dismiss this effect (no action required). This invisibility ends early immediately after you deal damage to a creature or you force a creature to make a saving throw.

Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a Spirit Energy die to use this feature again.

Rend the Soul

17th-level Spirit Bound feature

You can sweep your Soul Blades directly through a creature’s spirit. When you use your Soul Blades to deal Sneak Attack damage to a creature, you can force that target to make a Wisdom saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier). If the save fails, the target is stunned for 1 minute. The stunned target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend three Spirit Energy dice to use it again.