Soulbinder

 The soulbinder artificer uses the souls of their enemies to their advantage, granting them power after their defeat. 

 

Tool Proficiency

You gain proficiency in glassblowers’ tool. If you already have this proficiency, you gain proficiency in with one other type of artisan’s tools of your choice.

Soulbinder Spells

Starting at 3rd level, you always have certain spells prepared after you reach particular levels in this class, as shown in the Soulbinder Spells table. These spells count as artificer spells for you, but they don’t count against the number of artificer spells you prepare.

Soulbinder Spells
Artificer Level	Soulbinder Spells
3rd	false life, inflict wound
5th	blindness/deafness, gentle repose
9th	fear, animate dead
13th	blight, phantasmal killer
17th	danse macabre, raise dead

 

Trap Essence

Starting at 3rd level, you gain the ability to trap the soul of a dead creature. As an action, you may bind a soul of a creature that was killed no longer than 10 minutes ago to an inanimate object. The creature to which the soul belonged must have had a Challenge Rating no greater than your Artificer level divided by 2 (rounded down, to a minimum of one), and cannot be a celestial, construct, demon, devil, or undead. 

You can only bind a soul of a dead creature if you have first created a vessel to seal the soul. You may create one of these vessels over the period of an hour with a set of artisans’ tools you are proficient in. During this time you must remain focused and undisturbed, and be holding your artisans tools. The vessel takes the form of a tiny handheld object, with a form affiliated with the tools used to create it. A vessel has 10 hit points and an armor class equal to your spell save DC. You may have a maximum number of vessels equal to your intelligence modifier at a time (minimum of one). Any time you try to make more vessels than your intelligence modifier, it automatically fails. 

You may use a soul-infused vessel as your arcane focus, and every time you bind a soul to a vessel it also gains a number of spirit charges equal to the creature's challenge rating (minimum of 1). If the soul is resurrected by any means while bound, the soul leaves the vessel, and it loses all charges. You may dismiss a vessel as a bonus action, losing any charges in it as a result, and reducing the vessel to ash. If you are on a different plane of existence from the vessel, it is automatically dismissed.

You can have a number of bound souls equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of one), and you can attempt to bind a new soul only if you have an available receptacle. You can release a soul from within the vessel at any time as a bonus action, releasing the spirit and removing any charges from the vessel.

Soul Empower

You can use your trapped souls to empower you and your allies. While holding a vessel containing a soul, you may use an action to grant yourself or a creature within 30 feet of you one of the following boons, at the expense of the number of charges listed:

Appropriated Skills (1 charge). You take insight from the dead. You gain proficiency in up to three skills that the bound soul had when it was alive for the next hour.

Soul Barrier (1+ charges). You gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the number of charges consumed multiplied by 5, as spirits form a layer of protection around your body. You can only have a number of temporary hit points from this boon equal to your level times two. These temporary hit points last until the end of your next long rest.

 Weapon of Life Essence (3 charges). You gain the ability to summon a weapon made of souls. The weapon's form is yours to choose, but it must be a melee weapon, will always weigh nothing, have the light and finesse traits, and cannot be taller than the creature from which it was made. The weapon grants a +1 bonus to hit, and deals (your proficiency bonus)d6 necrotic damage. After you hit with a number of attacks equal to your proficiency bonus with this weapon, it dissipates into nothing.

At higher levels: When you hit higher levels, you gain more options when you use your spirit charges:

5th level:

Blurring Dash (4 charges). You envelope yourself in spectral energy, enhancing your movement. Any time over the next hour, when you take the dash action, you may move an extra number of feet equal to your movement speed, and attacks against you have disadvantage until the end of of your next turn. You may use this ability a number of times equal to your  proficiency bonus.

Soul Juice (3 charges). You absorb the power of the spirit. You gain advantage on any checks, saving throws, or attack rolls with one stat of your choice for the next ten minutes.

9th level:

Soul's Wrath (3 or 5 charges). Every turn you take the attack action, you may make one extra attack if you expended three charges and two extra attacks if you expended 5. This lasts until you do not take the attack action on your turn or you miss all your attack on one turn. 

15th level:

Aura of Death (8-10 charges). For the next minute, you gain an aura of death as the spirit within the vessel is released and circles around you. Any creature that enters a space within 10 feet of you or starts their turn in that area must make a wisdom save contested by your spell save DC. On a failed save, they take necrotic damage equal to (number of charges consumed)d4 and are afraid. On a successful save, they take half damage, are not afraid, and are immune to your aura until the end of its duration.

 

Ghostly Illusion

At 5th level, you may use all of a vessel's charges to form an illusion of the soul contained within. You may only use this ability if you have not used any soul charges from the vessel since you bound the soul within it. If the creature was larger than you, an illusion of that creature appears around you under your control. You cannot be seen through or under the illusion. If the creature was the same size as you, your appearance changes to that of the killed creature. If it was smaller than you, an illusory version of that creature appears in front of you under your control. All of these illusions last a number of minutes equal to twice your intelligence modifier (min 1), and can be identified as illusions after a successful intelligence saving throw contested by your spell save DC. If the illusion is larger or smaller than you, physical contact with the illusion reveals it to be an illusion.

Earthbind Soul

At 9th level, you gain the ability to release a spirit from its vessel and bind it to an area. Over the course of one hour, you may place a vessel and commence a ritual to release the spirit contained within. This ritual can be performed as a part of a short or long rest, and costs an amount of gp equal to 100 times the challenge rating of the creature. When you use an ability, you choose the radius in which the soul is able to operate, with a minimum of 30 feet and a maximum of a 2 mile radius. Within this area, the soul of the creature contained within the vessel appears. This creature holds the same stat block as when it was alive, but with a flying speed of 30 feet, and the incorporeal movement and etherealness traits. The creature is easily identifiable as an undead soul, and is friendly towards you and your allies. This soul follows your direct commands when prompted, but will act independently of you if not given orders. 

The vessel used is still active when calculating the number of vessels you can create. You may end the soul's binding from anywhere within its area, requiring no action. It is also freed if the vessel is destroyed (10 Hit Points, Armor Class 18), or if you use any charges from the vessel. If the creature is freed, it leaves the vessel, and the vessel loses its charges. 

Soulbond Ascendance

At 15th level, your constant interactions with the spirits of the dead has given you spectral powers. You gain the following boons:

• Once per long rest, when you fail three death saving throws, you can bind your soul back to your body,  returning to 1 hit point.
• You gain a +1 bonus to your armor class while holding a vessel containing a spirit.
• When you are hit by an enemy within 5 feet of you, you may dismiss a bound soul, drawing on a it to force the enemy to re-roll their attack and use the new roll. Once this feature has caused an attack to miss, you cannot use this feature again until you’ve completed a long rest.