Dia Bhi’ast

In the ancient days of the realms, when the mortal races first emerged they faced many hardships. The land, beasts and even the very elements themselves are able to end the life of the wayward. While they possessed great wisdom and were able to build civilization, mortals were physically weaker than the wild beasts and impulsive in spirit. Many times did the mortal races come close to dying out forever.

Concerned about their survival, many great minds devised myriad ways to aid the realm.

 

One such plan was a symbiotic construct. The Bhi’ast

 

For centuries after their creation, mortals lived together with the Bhi’ast. The Bhi’ast always obeying and making their wearers many times stronger than before.

When not worn by a human, a Bhi’ast becomes inert and takes on a stone form. Upon touching a mortal, a Bhi’ast changes form and gives that wearer great abilities.

With a Bhi’ast, a creature can lift objects heavier than itself, breath fire, cast arcane magics or even fly in the air at will.

 

However, that era came to an end.

 

Seeking ever greater power, Some sought to obtain more and more Bhi’ast, using their powers to subjugate anyone they pleased, conquer any land that took their eye and even oppose nations with their borrowed strength. 

After generations of war, a young wizard devised two ways to counter such godlike power offered by Bhi’ast. First, they created a spell that could disable all Bhi’ast. Second he created Bhi’ast with the ability to take the power from others of its kind and capable of independent thought so that they could reject symbiosis with a mortal they do not trust.

 

These were called Dia Bhi’ast

 

Bound to warriors of virtue, the Dia Bhi’ast sought out and destroyed Bhi’ast wearers, taking their powers and ending the symbiosis in order to stop the endless conflicts. At the end of this purge, only one Bhi’ast wearer remained and despite their greater numbers and the abilities they had acquired in their mission, the Dia Bhi’ast chosen were beaten back and some even destroyed. With no other hope left, the wizard cast his final spell and spread a great mist across the land, bringing to an end the symbiosis between mortals and Bhi’ast.

 

In the thick Mist, the Bhi’ast who once obeyed humans, seperated, But instead of returning to their stone forms for good, became feral and turned against their former wearers. The Bhi’ast began attacking all they encountered at will. In time some Bhi’ast were even able to attach themselves to mortals again, controlling their minds and turning them into vicious beasts.

 

In the centuries since these tragic events, the Dia Bhi’ast have continued their quest to protect the realms from their now feral kin, selecting warriors of great courage and strength to hunt down and destroy any Bhi’ast they find, absorbing their abilities to further their fight and when their host inevitably falls to age or battle, entering a stone slumber until another is found to carry them.

(please note that this subclass is a direct reference to the Seru and Ra Seru from the game Legend of Legaia and I have done my best to recreate that in a fair and lore friendly way within D&D)

 

Symbiote Weapon

Each Dia Bhi'ast is different in nature from its kin though all share some simelarities. Once bound to a champion they take the form of a bracelet, armband or other such accessory and grant the wearer strength and vitality, as they adapt to their partner the Dia Bhi'ast will grow in size and begin to change shape to suit they bearer, growing dagger like protrusions, bladed spines or even becoming a full armored gauntlet to better wound their pray.

When you choose this sub class you will need to decide which arm the symbiote bonds to, what damage type it inflicts (Slashing, Bludgeoning or Piercing) and which element it has an affinity for which will show in the colour of its chitinous carapace (Red/Fire, Blue/Lightning, White/Ice, Green/Wind, Brown/Earth, Gold/Devine, Black/Necrotic) .

You can use your Ra-Seru as a melee weapon. It counts as a magical weapon with a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls. It deals 1d8 damage (of the chosen type) and has the finesse and light properties. You are proficient with your Dia Bhi'ast. It can only be used to attack if no weapon or object is held in the hand it is bonded to and can not be enchanted or permanently enhanced by any means and cannot be removed while you are alive.

 

Absorption

Starting at 3rd level, whenever you deal damage with your Ra-Seru weapon, you can choose to absorb one of the targets abilities. You can only absorb abilities from creatures that have a challenge rating equal to or greater than half your level (rounded up). To absorb an ability, you must spend a bonus action and make a Wisdom (Insight) check with a DC equal to 10 + the creature's challenge rating. If you succeed, you gain access to one ability that the creature possesses. You can only absorb one ability at a time, and the ability lasts for 1 minute or until you use it, whichever comes first. The number of times you can use this feature per long rest is equal to your proficiency bonus.

If you absorb the ability from an Abberation, Construct or Monstrosity, you can add the ability to your known spells. You can store a number of abilities equal to half of your proficiency bonus (minimum 1)
You can use an ability you have learned in this way as an action and it shares uses with your absoption ability.

Release

Once you have absorbed an ability from a creature, you can spend an action to use that ability yourself.

You cast the ability exactly as written on the creatures stat block with the following adjustments:

• If the ability causes requires you to roll more than one (1) damage dice, you instead only roll half as many as listed of the same type (minimum one).
• If the damage type of the ability matches the element of your Dia-Bhi'ast, you can spend a bonus action to double number of damage die rolled (after the above adjustment).
• If the ability has a range of "Touch", it is made at advantage when striking with your Dia Bhi-ast.

 

Dia Bhi-ast Channeling

Starting at 7th level, you gain the ability to channel the power of your Ra-Seru. Once per long rest, you can enter a state of Dia Bhi-ast Channeling that lasts for 1 minute or until you lose concentration. While in this state, you gain the following benefits:

• You gain temporary hit points equal to your fighter level + your Constitution modifier at the start of each of your turns.
• You have advantage on all Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks.
• You can use your Absorption feature without expending uses.
• You can add your proficiency bonus to damage rolls of attacks you make using abilities you have absorbed.

Absorption Mastery

At 10th level, you have become a master at absorbing enemy abilities. A critical success on a d20 when you absorb an ability does not cost a use of your Absorption feature. Additionally, you can choose to absorb an ability as a reaction when you take damage from an enemy. If you do so, you gain resistance to the damage type that caused the damage for 1 minute or until you use it, whichever comes first.

Absorption Empowerment

At 15th level, your absorbed abilities become even more potent. Whenever you use an ability that you have absorbed, you can choose to expend two uses of the ability as a bonus action to enhance it in one of the following ways:

• The Damage from the ability counts resistance to the damage as normal, and immune as resistance.
• If the ability targets multiple creatures, increase the number of targets by half of your proficiency modifier.
• If the target of an ability is within half of the maximum range, you can automatically hit the target for the average damage of the normal dice roll (this cannot crit)
• Remove the Concentration requirment from an ability

Dia Bhi-ast Echo

Starting at 18th level, you have learned to channel the power of your Ra-Seru to summon forth an echo of a creature that dies within 30 feet of you. Once per long rest, when a creature within 30 feet of you dies, you can use your reaction to expend one use of your Absorption ability andsummon an echo of that creature. The echo appears in an unoccupied space within 30 feet of you.

The echo has the following characteristics:

• Its hit point maximum is equal to your fighter level x 5.
• It has an AC of 18 and resistance to all damage types except force damage.
• It has the same abilities and actions as the original creature, except that its attacks deal force damage instead of their normal damage types.
• It is friendly to you and your allies, and it follows your verbal commands.

The echo remains for 1 hour or until it is reduced to 0 hit points. You can only have one echo active at a time; if you summon another echo, the previous one immediately disappears.

Note that the DM has final say on which creatures are eligible for Dia Bhi-ast Echo, and the player must be within 30 feet of the creature when it dies in order to summon its echo.