Some warriors break. Others bend. You do neither. Whether out of spite, raw determination, or something darker, you refuse to fall. You fight through pain, exhaustion, and even death, surviving long past the point any sane person would stop. Where others fall, you rise again—and again—held together by nothing but grit. You’re not here to win pretty. You’re here to be the last one standing.

Level 3: True Grit

You treat your level of exhaustion as one lower, to a minimum of 0. This has no effect if you have no levels of exhaustion. You still die upon reaching six levels of exhaustion.

Level 3: Retaliation

When you take a critical hit from a creature you can see, you may use your reaction to expend a use of Second Wind and make one melee weapon attack against that creature.
You may instead choose to gain 1 level of exhaustion to use this feature. If you do, your retaliatory attack is automatically a critical hit.

Level 7: Relentless Resolve

 Your drive pushes you past the limits of others, turning pain into power and fatigue into fury. You gain the following benefits:

Blood in the Water. While at or below one-quarter of your maximum hit points, your melee weapon attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19–20. If you have 3 or more levels of exhaustion, this expands to 18–20.

Improved Second Wind. You can use Second Wind a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of once). Additionally, as a bonus action, you can expend one use of Second Wind to temporarily reduce your exhaustion level by 1 for 1 minute.
This feature replaces the standard Second Wind feature.

Level 10: Dread Resilience

Once per long rest, when you would be reduced to 0 hit points, you instead remain at 1 hit point. The triggering creature and all hostile creatures within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier) or become frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

Level 15: Fight For Your Life

While at or below one-quarter of your maximum hit points, you can choose to deal extra damage once per turn when you hit with a melee weapon attack. You deal an additional 1d4 damage for each level of exhaustion you currently have.
When you score a critical hit, you may reduce your exhaustion level by 1 after dealing damage.

Level 18: Last Man Standing

Your will is indomitable, a spiteful force that defies death itself—driving your shattered body to rise again and drag your foes screaming into the grave beside you. You gain the following benefits:

Spiteful Persistence. You can no longer die from exhaustion. You still suffer all exhaustion effects, but reaching 6 levels of exhaustion no longer results in death.

Living Revenant. Once per long rest, when you are reduced to 0 hit points, you do not fall unconscious. Instead, you continue to act normally until the beginning of your next turn. During this time:

- You do not make death saving throws, and do not suffer the normal effects of taking damage while at 0 hit points.
- Each time you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, that creature gains 2 levels of exhaustion.
- At the end of the duration, if you have not been healed above 0 HP, you fall unconscious and begin making death saving throws as normal.

If you are healed above 0 hit points, this effect ends immediately.