Blade Binder

Blade Binders are fighters who have poured their soul into their craft; literally. These warriors bind their very essence to a weapon, and in doing so tap into an ancient and unique fighting style. However, It's a double edged sword, as the cost is never truly being whole again.

The most accomplished can become unparalleled in combat, but many more are doomed to spend eternity straddling the physical and astral planes as their fragmented self stays tethered to their weapon. Often these lost artifacts become the subject of or ingredient for taboo spells, get subjugated to those seeking their power at lower personal risk, or simply lost to the sands of time.

What risk are you willing to take in pursuit of becoming a martial paragon?

Blade Binding

3rd Level Blade Binder Feature

Beginning at 3rd level, when you choose this path, you gain the ability to bind a blade to yourself, and transitively yourself to that blade.

Over an 8 hour period, you carefully and methodically split your soul, and bind the fragmented portion to a weapon of your choice with ancient and powerful runes. If you are interrupted during the process your soul violently rubber bands back together and you must make a DC 15 Constitution Saving Throw, taking X damage on a failure where X is the result of rolling dice equal to your total hit die.  You must start the process again from beginning either way.

At the end of the window, the ritual is complete and the weapon that was the subject of the ritual stabilizes. Now a complete extension of your being, the weapon will exhibit new physical and transcendental properties in your hands.

You may perform the ritual again to transfer your soul into a new weapon, provided you have the current weapon. 

If the current weapon is lost, you may spend 8 hours a day for a week reclaiming your soul fragment through intense meditation and ritual. After which you can perform the rite again.

If your bound weapon is broken or destroyed, you immediately take 5 * your character level necrotic damage, as the trauma of having a piece of your soul shattered wracks your being. You may perform the week long recovery to recollect your dispersed soul, beginning after your next long rest.

Your bound weapon has been reinforced with your soul, and has a max HP equal to 2 * your character level,an AC of 20, and a hardness of 5. It does not take damage from being used, or from enemy attacks and spells that don't explicitly target it. The weapon will naturally reform to full health during your long rests. However, it can also be healed directly to full by either an hour of care with Smith's tools, or a cast of the mending cantrip. 

While you are wielding your bound weapon, you are considered proficient with it. Also while wielding your bound weapon, it gains the Finesse and Thrown properties if it didn't already have them. If it gained the Thrown property this way, it has a base range of 15/30.

Soul Magnetism

3rd Level Class Feature

You and your bound blade are one and the same, despite appearances. While apart, both pull at their physical form to return to the other, and you simply have to let it happen. You may have either the blade or your body act as an anchor, while the other warps into the astral plane, closes the gap, and emerges, ready to fight. This "soul magnetism" is the crux of the Blade Binder's combat style.

As a bonus action, chose one of the following;

• Summon your bound weapon to your hand, if it is on the same plane of existence as you
• Teleport your body to either the space your bound weapon is in, or a space adjacent to the weapon. The chosen space must be unoccupied and either visible or within 30ft. You may draw or pick up your weapon as part of this action.
• Throw your weapon to an unoccupied space within its range and then teleport to it as it arrives there. If the targeted space is beyond the weapon's normal range, make a DC 5+X Athletics or Acrobatics check, where X is the number of feet over the normal range. On a failure, you arrive successfully in the target space, but the weapon continues on until the end of its long range.

If the warp fails for any reason, you take 1d6 force damage for every 10ft between your body and your blade.

Kinetic Strikes

 3rd Level Class Feature

"A Binder in motion, stays in motion, until they're ready to act with unbalanced force" - Izac Newtson, Blade Binder

As you move beyond your normal limits, you build up Momentum. You gain 1 Momentum die, which is a d4, every time you use Soul Magnetism, and another Momentum die for every 30 feet beyond your base movement speed you move in a turn. You lose all of your Momentum dice if you end your turn without using Soul Magnetism or Moving, or if you have not used a Momentum die in the past minute.

When you make an Attack, you may choose to spend a number of Momentum dice up to your proficiency bonus. If you do, roll them and add the result to either the Attack Roll, or the Damage Roll.

You can use the Momentum die multiple times per turn, but only once per Attack.

 

Soul Resonance

7th Level Class Feature

"I'm just saying; it's not much different from a tuning fork, if you think about it...and ignore the blood" - Master Newtson on the non-combat applications of Bound Blades

Through either your continued immersion in the metaphysical, your soul bound weapon’s continued immersion into sentient beings, or both, you've become much aware of the souls of others. To the degree that you can almost see into a person's very being if they are close enough.

You gain advantage on Insight and Perception checks against targets within 10ft of both you and your Bound weapon.

Additionally, once per long rest, as a Bonus Action you may activate your Soul-nar and gain a deeper understand of all souls within 30 + 5*your class level feet. You learn their location, creature type, alignment, and current HP.

This feature does not work against Automations, Undead, or any other "soulless" entity.

Blade Binding: Specialization

10th Level Class Feature

You have grown in strength both body and mind. Your resolve is such that you are ready to take the next step in Blade Binding; Specialized Binds. Which path will you walk?

Unbearable Weight

You have splintered an even larger fraction of your soul off, and reinforced your weapon and your strikes. It's hard to say if you're more a person or a weapon at this stage, but one thing is certain; you cut with unparalleled confidence and power.

When you take this option, your Kinetic Strikes uses a d6 as the Momentum Die instead

Unstoppable Force

You and your weapon are soul mates, but they say there is company. You have chosen to splinter another piece of your soul, and bind it to a second weapon.

When you use the "Soul Magnetism" feature, you may choose an option for each Bound weapon. The options don’t have to be the same. This does not increase the Momentum Dice you earn for activating Soul Magnetism.

Flow State

15th Level Class Feature

"In battle, motion is Life. If you stop moving, you'll soon stop breathing" - Newtson's 4th Law

Warping is almost as second nature as breathing now. The feeling of space folding around you is a comforting sign that you're still alive and still fighting. 

When you take the Attack Action, you may also activate Soul Magnetism for free

Form Follows Function

18th Level Class Feature

You have come to realize the true end goal of Blade Binding. Not to extend the body with a blade, but to free the soul from the body. You recognize now that your Soul is what defines you, and the physical form it inhabits. Your only true death comes when your body and all your bound weapons are broken. Otherwise you can always find something else to bind to.

As an Action, you may choose to perceive through your bound weapon(s), which gain blindsight to 10ft and may also communicate telepathically with whoever is holding one of your bound weapons. You don't need to share a language, but they do need to understand at least one language.

Your increased understanding of your Soul has also reduced the time it takes to complete the binding rite. You can now transfer or create a new bind in 1 hour instead of 8, and can recover a lost Soul fragment with just a day of meditation instead of a week.

 As long as a fragment of your soul is bound to an object or a body, then you may perform both the reclamation and binding rites from that object or body. If the target of a binding rite is a body ( organic or otherwise ), it must be soulless. If you bind to a new body, you keep your max HP, set your current HP to 1, and gain 4 levels of Exhaustion as you have to adjust to being in a new body.

You are considered to still be alive as long as your Soul is still bound to at least one object. If your main body dies, you may immediately pick one of your bound blades to be considered your new main body.

You can also perform an abbreviated version of the rite on demand. As an Action you may place your hand on a non-magical, inanimate object and bind a sliver of your soul to it. This object counts as a target for your Soul Magnetism and this feature, but can only summon it to you if you could carry it. The mark lasts for an hour, and you may only have one active at a time. You may use this Action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all uses on a Long Rest.