Path of the Spirit Guide

As a Barbarian, you have seen and been around death your whole life. You were taught that it is not a thing to be feared, but rather a part of life itself. You a born, you fight, you live, you die. Such is our existence. Many before you have died, and many will die after your bones are long turned to dust. You know you must embrace death when it comes, but until then, you fight!

However, when some they depart this life, they choose to persist. They wish to see more of what life could have offered, to travel and fight.

Your experiences and the things you have been taught have shown you how to seek out these spirits. To give them this last wish, to travel and battle, and finally to guide them into the ether beyond this mortal veil. 

 

Soul Binding

Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, when you are within 10ft of an abberation, beast, monster or plant when it dies, you may attempt to bind it to your weapon. It must make a Wisdom saving throw of 8+Your WIS modifier + Proficiency. If it succeeds, it disappears into the ether. If it fails, it is bound to the weapon you were holding at the time. If you were the one who killed it, it has disadvantage on the save. 

You may have a number of souls equal to your Wisdom modifier, and their combined CR must not exceed your barbarian level. 

When you enter a rage, you may summon a soul. It appears in an unoccupied place within 30ft of you, and remains for as long as you are raging. It retains all of its attributes and stats. The only change is that it will not willingly harm you and your companions.

As a bonus action on each of your turns, you can make the creature do an action. It shares your initiative, but takes its turn right after you.

You may spend an additional rage to summon another soul, but if done while still raging, it does not increase the duration of your current rage.

After your rage has ended, or if the soul falls to 0HP, it must make another wisdom saving throw. If it succeeds, it disappears, if it fails, it stays with you. If it falls to 0hp, it has advantage on this save, and on all saves to be freed from you from this point on.

You may willingly release any number of spirits back to the ether at any time for no action. Gain temp hp equal to all creatures cr rounded up. 

 

Spellcasting

When casting any of your spells, choose a soul you have bound. That soul is transformed into the energy needed to cast that spell. Once the spell is complete, the soul has advantage on its wisdom save to be released back to the ether. 

Spells: Bane, Detect Evil and Good, Enhance Ability, Resistance, Shield of Faith, Spare the Dying, Speak with Dead, Toll the Dead, Unseen Servant

Spiritual Familiar

Beginning at 6th level, the spirits you have in your weapon can be sent out to scout. As an action, you can coax a spirit to manifest most of itself in the world. It appears half as bright as it usually would and gains advantage on stealth checks, but has disadvantage on attacks and does half damage while in this state. 

You share the senses of the creature, while also keeping your own senses intact. 

This requires concentration, and lasts up to 5 minutes.

You can enter a rage at anytime, and fully manifest the creature in the real world, while still sharing its senses. However, if you summon another creature, the sense sharing stops, though the creature may remain.

If you do not fully manifest the creature, you can draw it back into your weapon. Roll a d20, on a 1 the creature disappears into the ether. If the time expires while the creature is manifest, regular rules apply. 

Dominant Soul

At 10th level, you can attempt to bind a wider variety of souls, including Elementals, Fey, Fiends, and Oozes. Each creatures CR must be lower than your barbarian level, as opposed to being cumulative between all stored souls.

Over the course of a short rest, you may choose one soul to have present with you at all times, and may swap out this soul over another short rest. 

If you would be reduced to 0hp while raging, you may use your reaction to summon a soul to take this damage instead. If it dies as a result of this, it automatically fails its save to remain bound to you. If it does not, it may join the battle or you may send it back into your weapon. You cannot use this feature again until you finish a short rest.

The range at which you can bind a soul increases to 40ft, and if the creature is a beast, monstrosity, or plant of CR 2 or lower, you automatically succeed in binding them.

One with the Spirits

At 14th level, you can commune with the spirits more completely, inviting one of them to share your body. When you rage, you may choose a spirit in your weapon to bond with you and gain the following benefits:
- You gain temp HP equal to half the creatures max hp rounded up.

- Your AC increases by up to 3 if the creatures AC is higher than yours.

- You gain all attack options provided by that creature on top of your own. 

When your rage is over, the soul must make a DC18 Wisdom save, or be released back to the ether.

You may attempt to bind all creature types, except undead and constructs, and you gain advantage when attempting to bind creatures of INT 8 and below. 

You may also summon a spirit in place of one of your attacks.

As an action, you can choose to release all souls bound to your weapon by smashing it on the ground, breaking the weapon regardless of its attributes. All creatures within 30ft must make a DC 17 DEX save, or take 1d12 + WIS psychic damage per soul released this way, and have disadvantage on all attack rolls for one round. On a success they take half damage and roll for attack normally.