Soul Reaver (3.5e Class)

Author: Eiji-kun (talk) Date Created: 6-4-19 Status: Complete Editing: Mechanical changes on Talk

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Chosen by Death to harvest souls for the afterlife, the soul reaver is a gish who uses souls as a source of strength. 20 0 Moderate Poor Poor Good Prepared Divine Spellcasting Partial

Soul Reaver

"You who have seen death, you art chosen. You who will bring balance. You who will bring death."

Perhaps it was that near death experience, pulled back from the brink at the last moment by a well timed spell. Perhaps it was that time you were nearly scared to death in that graveyard. Or perhaps it was always within you. After the incident, you began to see things that weren't there, people that were no longer living, shadows moving along the walls and the feeling of being watched. You have seen Death in the non-flesh, and he has offered you a deal. Become his agent within the material world, and find the comfort in death you sought.

A soul reaver is an agent of Death, though the exact details of what that means vary greatly from person to person. Sometimes they are blood spilling slaughtering monsters that eat the souls of those they fell, and other times they are the gentle hand that leads the dying to a peaceful end. Death, it seems, is either playing both sides or there is more than one patron for those that would claim this title. Whoever you might be you shall gain the powers of a grim reaper, harvesting souls from those slain.

Making a Soul Reaver

Abilities: As a gish class your melee capabilities likely run off of Strength, while your magical effects run of Wisdom. If you are living, and you may very well be, Constitution is important for all creatures. Dexterity increases AC for the lightly armored, with Intelligence and Charisma largely used for skills.

Races: Any.

Alignment: Any.

Starting Gold: 5d4×10 gp (125 gp).

Starting Age: As rogue.

Table: The Soul Reaver

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day
		Fort	Ref	Will		0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Death Sight, Orisons, Reap Soul, Ritual of Passage, Soul Storage	3	0	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+10	+0	+3	Bane of Life and Death, Ghost Touched, Turn or Rebuke Undead	4	1	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Frightful Appearance	4	2	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Phantom Step	5	2	0	—	—	—	—
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Last Words	5	3	1	—	—	—	—
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5	Death's Blessing 1	5	3	2	—	—	—	—
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5	Imprison Soul	5	3	2	0	—	—	—
8th	+6	+2	+2	+6	Phantom Flight	5	4	3	1	—	—	—
9th	+6	+3	+3	+6	Soul Contract	5	4	3	2	—	—	—
10th	+7	+3	+3	+7	Death Touch (4 HD)	5	4	3	2	0	—	—
11th	+8	+3	+3	+7	Revenant	5	4	4	3	1	—	—
12th	+9	+4	+4	+8	Death's Blessing 2, Phantom Slip	5	5	4	3	2	—	—
13th	+9	+4	+4	+8	Improved Soul Contract	5	5	4	3	2	0	—
14th	+10	+4	+4	+9	Declare Fate	5	5	4	4	3	1	—
15th	+11	+5	+5	+9	Destroy Soul	5	5	5	4	3	2	—
16th	+12	+5	+5	+10	Phantom Phaze	5	5	5	4	3	2	0
17th	+12	+5	+5	+10	Greater Soul Contract	5	5	5	4	4	3	1
18th	+13	+6	+6	+11	Death's Blessing 3	5	5	5	5	4	3	2
19th	+14	+6	+6	+11	Gate the Fallen	5	5	5	5	4	3	2
20th	+15	+6	+6	+12	Death Touch (8 HD), Phantom Respawn	5	5	5	5	4	4	3
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (history) (religion) (the planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Speak Language (None), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Tumble (Dex), Use Rope (Dex). Class Features All of the following are class features of the Soul Reaver. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A soul reaver is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with light, medium armor, and heavy armor but no shields. Spells: A soul reaver casts divine spells, which are drawn from the soul reaver spell list. A soul reaver must choose and prepare their spells in advance, but they do not require a divine focus. To prepare or cast a spell, the soul reaver must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a soul reaver’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the soul reaver’s Wisdom modifier. A soul reaver prepares and casts spells the way a cleric does, though they cannot lose a prepared spell to cast a cure spell in its place. A soul reaver may prepare and cast any spell on the soul reaver spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but they must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation. Soul Reavers choose their spells from the following list: 0—arcane mark, belladone's curse of inconvenience, curse fruit tree, dancing lights, daze, detect magic, detect poison, discern birthdays, disrupt undead, light, ghost sound, guidance, mage hand, message, open/close, ray of frost, read magic, resistance, spook, touch of fatigue. 1st—agony pin, bane, call minion, cause fear, chill of the graveSpC, chill touch, cloak of dark powerSpC, comprehend languages, corpse puppet, cure light wounds, death's door, death knell, detect chaos/evil/good/law, detect lifeforce, detect secret doors, detect undead, |disguise self, dust to dust, ectoplasmic armorSpC, erzebet's skull bomb, expeditious retreat, hide from undead, hold portal, hypnotism, inflict light wounds, kiden's curse of calling, lesser animate dead, mage armor, magic weapon, moral guidance, mount, obscuring mist, paranoia haunt, phantom palm, protection from chaos/evil/good/law, ray of enfeeblement, silent image, sleep, spirit wormSpC, stabilizeSpC, summon undead ISpC, true strike, unseen servant, ventriloquism. 2nd—animate dead, arcane lock, aura of doom, blindness/deafness, blur, bone spurs, consecrate, continual flame, corpse bomb, creeping darkness, cure moderate wounds, curse of ill fortuneSpC, darkness, darkvision, daze monster, death armorSpC, decompositionSpC, desecrate, detect thoughts, dire wound, discern ancestry, ectoplasmic feedbackSpC, expeditious invisibility, false life, fog cloud, gentle repose, ghost touch armorSpC, ghost touch weaponSpC, ghoul lightSpC, greater disrupt undeadSpC, guilt, hypnotic pattern, inflict moderate wounds, invisibility, judge naughty or nice, karmic justice, knock, levitate, life eater, life boltSpC, living undeathSpC, malbolt, malevolent touch, minor image, mirror image, protection from negative energySpC, protection from positive energySpC, punish the kind, purify damage, ray of weaknessSpC, reveilleSpC, scare, see invisibility, shared sacrifice, shroud of undeathSpC, skeletal restoration, spawn screenSpC, speak with dead, spectral hand, spider climb, status, sterilize, still invisibility, stone bonesSpC, sudden weakness, summon elysian thrushSpC, summon undead IISpC, tongues, vile strike, voluntary coma, voodoo doll, whispering wind. 3rd—arcane sight, belladone's fiendish defender, bestow curse, binding contract, blink, bolt of bones, burden of sin, bury the dead, clairaudience/clairvoyance, clutch of orcusSpC, condition, contagion, contagious fogSpC, continual shade, corpse candleSpC, corpse reanimation, crushing despair, cure serious wounds, dark seeker, death ward, deep slumber, deeper darkness, dimensional anchor, dimension door, dispel magic, displacement, disruption sphere, exsanguinate, fear, flying deathscythes, gaseous form, gnawing maggots, greater invisibility, greater mage armorSpC, greater magic weapon, halt undead, hold person, incorporeal enhancementSpC, infestation of maggotsSpC, inflict serious wounds, junglerazerSpC, keen edge, lethal to nonlethal, life wardSpC, life support, locate creature, magic circle against chaos/evil/good/law, major image, mass mage armorSpC, miasma of entropySpC, negative energy auraSpC, nondetection, object haunt, phantasmal killer, phantom steed, positive energy auraSpC, ray of exhaustion, reincarnate, rejuvenative corpseSpC, reveal doom, reveal greatest sin, ring of bladesSpC, scrying, séance, servant hordeSpC, shadow nemesis, skeleton self, skull watchSpC, solar bolt, spark of lifeSpC, spectral weaponSpC, summon hound archonSpC, summon undead IIISpC, undead lieutenantSpC, undead torchSpC, vampiric touch. 4th—absorb undead, arcane eye, armor of darknessSpC, assassin's escape, black blood chains, blight, bone shape, brand of the dark sigil, call from afar, chain solar bolt, commune, consumptive fieldSpC, contagious touchSpC, cure critical wounds, cursed bladeSpC, dead king's dance, death throesSpC, delay deathSpC, dismissal, dispel chaos/evil/good/law, disrupting weapon, dream, enervation, ethereal mountSpC, gravehorde, graymantleSpC, hallow, heartripperSpC, hold monster, inflict critical wounds, inner darkness, iron bonesSpC, legally dead, lesser planar ally, life's graceSpC, mass contagionSpC, mass curse of ill fortuneSpC, nightmare, possess object, prying eyes, raise dead, raise soul mask, ray of dark sacrifice, revenanceSpC, revive undeadSpC, revivifySpC, sending, sheltered vitalitySpC, skeletal overgrowth, spiritwallSpC, suicidal command, summon bearded devilSpC, summon bralani eladrinSpC, summon undead IVSpC, telekinesis, telepathic bond, teleport, unhallow, vampire skin, wither limbSpC, wood rotSpC. 5th—analyze dweomer, antilife shell, aura of terrorSpC, barghest's feastSpC, blade barrier, bloodied chains of pyrrhos, circle of death, countdown, create undead, deathball, dyfen's oneiric daemon, dyfen's self erasure, eyebite, eyes of the kingSpC, ghoul gauntletSpC, greater dispel magic, harm, heal, incorporeal novaSpC, legend lore, lesser crown of vermin, lich's touch, magic jar, mass cure light wounds, mass inflict light wounds, mind fog, mislead, night's caressSpC, planar ally, ray of entropySpC, resurrection, revive outsiderSpC, sarcophagus of stoneSpC, shadow walk, slay living, spectral touchSpC, summon babau demonSpC, summon undead VSpC, symbol of fear, symbol of sleep, switch health, true seeing, undeath to death, waves of fatigue, white flare. 6th—abolishing flames, an eternal curse upon thee, awaken undeadSpC, black chains of durance, blood jorum, bonetitan frame, brand of sacrifice, came back wrong, create greater undead, death dragonSpC, death pactSpC, degenerate, detonation of blood, energy ebbSpC, evil glareSpC, ethereal jaunt, finger of death, force mortality, general of undeathSpC, ghost trapSpC, ghostformSpC, greater arcane sight, greater scrying, haunting death curse, mass cure moderate wounds, mass death wardSpC, mass hold person, mass inflict moderate wounds, plague of undeadSpC, plane shift, regenerate, rejuvenate, reraise, restore ancient soul, skeletal guardSpC, soul restoration, spectral vanish, steal life, sword of darknessSpC, symbol of death, trap the soul, true resurrection, veil of undeathSpC, vile deathSpC, vital source, vision, waves of exhaustion, zone of invulnerability. Death Sight (Su): A soul reaver can use deathwatch at will as a supernatural ability. In addition by touching a creature, they divine a creature's current hp total and any status effects they are under for as long as they remain touching. When used on a dead body, this instead reveals the cause of death, although it doesn't reveal the time of death or who is responsible. Effects which prevent or dissuade divinations affect Death Sight. Orisons: Soul reavers can prepare a number of orisons, or 0-level spells, each day, as noted on Table: Soul Reaver under “Spells per day.” These spells are treated like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again. Reap Soul (Su): Whenever a soul reaver makes a finishing blow that kills a creature, or on touch of a creature who has been dead for no longer than 1 minute, the soul reaver can choose to reap the creatures soul and store it within their soul storage class ability. Stored souls can be used for ritual of passage abilities, or released as a free action. Ritual of Passage (Su): Storing souls is all well and fine, but souls have a use beyond the occationally ill defined currancy of the outer planes. Beyond uses in abilities such as Bane of Life and Death, souls can be consumed in any of the following ways. A consumed soul is not destroyed, merely released, and thus returns to its chosen afterlife unless otherwise stated. Ritual of Passage Name Action Cost Effect Divine Future 1 Round Tap into knowledge beyond the grave to duplicate the effect of augury, with a caster level equal to your class level. Forge Item 1 Round You can create any single mundane object of 350 gp value or less composed of ghostly transparent soulstuff. The object interacts as if it were ghost touched, and may require a Craft check for particularly complex objects. Objects last for 1 hour before vanishing. Resist Possession Immediate Action If subject to possession or a compulsion attempt, you can expend a soul as an immediate action to reroll the saving throw. You must accept the results of the second save, even if lower. Seek Life Standard Action You release a soul which appears as a ball of light and flies towards the nearest source of life (you can choose to exclude any number of creatures) or towards a specific creature specified. It only shows direction and not distance as it flies off and vanishes. This can be defeated by effects that defeat divinations. Shed Life Standard Action You can consume a soul and obtain a small burst of healing, restoring 2d8 points of damage to yourself or a creature touched. Speak with Soul Standard Action If the soul came from a creature with Int 3 or higher you can summon it as a ghostly major image before you. You may attempt to speak with it, but it is not obligated to co-operate, and will vanish 1 minute after it has been summoned. The soul is aware it is dead but has no information beyond its point of death. Soul Storage: A soul reaver is capable of storing souls within themselves as if they were a thinaunCW weapon. They can store up to 1 soul per level they possess of any strength, and release them as a free action. Initially storing a soul does not prevent revival attempts, and revived creatures have their souls removed from your soul storage when returned to life. If you die, your soul storage is emptied. However see Imprison Soul. Bane of Life and Death (Ex): A soul reaver is particularly effective against mortal beings. Any living creature with a maximum lifespan is capable of being targeted by the Bane of Life and Death ability. This can also target undead creatures who were formerly living, but not creatures that were never mortal such as most constructs, many outsiders, and certain undead. The 2nd level soul reaver can deal an additional +1 of damage per level as part of an attack. This consumes a soul from their soul storage. Ghost Touched (Su): The 2nd level soul reaver treats all weapons and armor donned as having the ghost touch armor and weapon enhancements. Turn or Rebuke Undead (Su): A 2nd level soul reaver can turn or rebuke undead as a cleric of their level. The choice is made upon gaining this ability and is not reliant on your alignment, but otherwise cannot be changed afterward. Frightful Appearance (Su): As a free action, the 3rd level soul reaver can enter a state where they take on a ghostly, decayed, or otherwise phantasmal appearance as their body becomes translucent, their eyes glow, their clothes tatter and their armor rusts. This form can obscure one's appearance if you choose, and grants a +4 circumstance bonus to intimidate checks as well as extending the range of intimidate to line of sight. If you obtain a Frightful Presence ability, it increases the DC of Frightful Presence by +2. Phantom Step (Su): As the soul reaver becomes detacted from the mortal world, its laws begin to loosen their hold over them. At 4th level the soul reaver gains a hover speed (perfect) equal to their land speed. Last Words (Sp): At 5th level a soul reaver can peak into the dying memories of corpses not yet rotten. This functions like speak with dead, but only functions once per corpse and only answers a single question. However, you can use this in conjuntion with an actual speak with dead spell. This is considered a 3rd level necromancy spell and the save DC is Wisdom based. This consumes a soul from their soul storage. Death's Blessing: The power of death subsumes into your body, granting you increasingly more death-like traits. At 5th level you obtain light fortification for free, and resistance 10 to positive and negative energy damage. This doesn't block or prevent healing from aforementioned energy types, and stacks with magical protection. If you are undead, you also gain +2 turn resistance. At 12th your strength improves, increasing to moderate fortification, immunity to positive and negative energy damage, and +6 turn resistance. Once again you may be healed by positive or negative energy as normal. Finally at 18th level you gain heavy fortification, absorb both positive and negative energy as healing, and become immune to turning. Imprison Soul: (Su) At 7th level the soul reaver can prevent any creature whose soul they have placed into soul storage to be unable to be revived as long as the soul is in your grasp. Those attempting to revive realize the spell or attempt has failed, expend no resources, and are informed who has the soul but not any other information. In addition you may now embed souls from your storage into mundane objects up between Diminutive and Large size in a ritual which takes 10 minutes. The object continues to store the soul and prevent revival as needed, but is no longer considered to be in your storage and cannot be used by you directly. You can draw the soul out from the object and return it to your soul storage with another 10 minute ritual. If the object is broken, the soul is freed and is able to be revived as normal. Objects containing a soul cannot be enchanted, and radiate an aura of necromancy with a caster level equal to the HD of the stored creature. Failed revival attempts direct the soul's owner to an object and general location of said object such as "within a goblet inside Doom Castle". Phantom Flight (Su): At 8th level, a soul reaver can drift through the air like a ghost. They gain a fly speed (perfect) equal to half their land speed. Soul Contract (Su): The 9th level soul reaver is capable of not merely storing souls, but also bargaining for them. They may produce a magical contract over the course of 1 minute with the exchange of a soul for either one favor you must perform or the casting of a spell. As a result of the contract you become capable of casting any spell from any list up to 5th level as a spell-like ability for the purposes of completing the objective of the contract. The contract can specify if the soul is exchanged immediately (an act which is fatal), at a time limit, or upon the death of the user. Whenever the event happens, the soul is transferred to your soul storage as if you collected it as normal. You must abide to your own contract. Failure to abide places you under the effect of fatal geas with death occurring 7 days after breach of contract and canceled if the contract is fulfilled. As a result, contracts are typically designed to be fulfilled immediately for the soul reaver's sake. At any time both parties can agree to cancel a contract. A miracle or wish can also cancel a contract with only one party, but it informs the other party that the contract has been canceled. Regardless of the nature of the contract, a single creature can only barter their soul to you once ever. Death Touch (Sp): The 10th level soul reaver has the hand of death itself. With a touch as a standard action it can immediately kill a creature with 4 HD or less as a [Death] effect. Creatures with 5 or more HD instead take 5d6 damage as their body ages, twists, and rots. You can choose to make this part of a normal attack as a standard action, but must succeed on a normal attack roll. At 20th level, this rises to 8 HD to instantly kill, and creatures 9 HD and higher take 10d6 damage. This is considered a 5th level spell effect. Revenant (Ex): If the 11th level soul reaver dies, they can choose to return within 1d4 rounds with the ghost template. Their hp is restored to full (use their normal hp, do not recalculate HP, HD, BAB, or saves) and they can continue to fight. However after 10 minutes their soul loses their connection to the world and they fade off to their afterlife. This functions even if they are a corporeal undead. If they are already a ghost they respawn without fail after 1d4 rounds, and after 10 minutes they fade and must respawn as normal. This process is taxing, and they cannot use this ability for 1 month after it is used. Phantom Slip (Su): The 12th level soul reaver can easily travel between the world of the living and the dead. Over the course of 1 round they can duplicate the effect of plane shift (self only) between the Ethereal, Outer Planes, and the Material Plane. They may do this at will, but with a 1 minute cooldown between attempts. Improved Soul Contract (Su): At 13th level you gain greater knowledge about those who you have active soul contracts with. As long as they owe you their soul, you may use scrying on them as a spell-like ability. If they call your name you can hear it and choose to react as appropriate. This ability is never distracting, and you know no other information other than you were called. You can now also grant the effect of up to 7th level spells with your contract. Declare Fate (Sp): At level 14 the soul reaver can make a proclamation over the course of 1 minute. Creatures can make a Spellcraft check to realize what you are doing, otherwise at the end you can proclaim to a creature within Close range that they are fated to perish when a condition is met or at an appointed time. It must be a condition that is not already present and must be avoidable, such as "After your 16th birthday, you shall be hit by a truck!" or "If you ever eat a nut, thou shall surely die." The effect of Declare Fate does not go into effect until at least 24 hours have past from casting. At this point whenever the victim encounters this event they will certainly die. This is considered a powerful curse and otherwise functions as fatal geas. You may use this at will, but only once per creature regardless if they have removed the curse or not. This is considered a 7th level spell. Destroy Soul (Su): At 15 level, you can choose to destroy souls rather than store them or release them as a free action. This is often considered an [Evil] act, but prevents revival attempts and requires spells such as miracle, wish, or soul restoration to correct. Phantom Phaze (Su): Once per day, a 16th level soul reaver can choose to have an otherwise fatal blow transport them to the ethereal plane at 1 hp remaining as an immediate action. This works even in the event of [Death] effects (reducing them to 1 hp instead of killing them). Greater Soul Contract (Su): At 17th level, a soul contract becomes even stronger. At will you can teleport yourself to the location of one who has an active soul contract with you or teleport back to whence you came from, and can use greater scrying. You can choose to manifest when you scry as a major image allowing yourself to communicate with the creature. You can also grant the effect of up to 9th level spells with your contract. Gate the Fallen (Sp): Once per day the 19th level soul reaver can call creatures from the afterlife to aid them in their quest. This duplicates the summoning effect of gate, but only applies to creatures native to the outer planes and the souls of known creatures who have died, who appear as ghosts. As the spell, no control is granted over unique creatures called from the gate, and agreements may need to be made with the conjured being. You can only have a single creature summoned at any one time from this ability. Phantom Respawn (Su): The 20th level soul reaver is difficult to put down. They may bind themselves to an object with the same restrictions as the Imprison Soul ability. If they die they will automatically inhabit that object and return to life after 1d10 days. If the object is destroyed they will perish as normal. Imbuing this personal object takes 24 hours to create, and the object radiates Faint Necromancy even when unoccupied (and radiates Necromancy as normal when occupied). Human Soul Reaver Starting Package Weapons: Scythe. Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 5 + Int modifier. Skill Ranks Ability Armor Check Penalty Concentration 4 Con — Listen 4 Wis — Knowledge Religion 4 Int — Spellcraft 4 Int — Spot 4 Wis — Feat: Weapon Focus (scythe). Bonus Feats: Improved Initiative. Gear: Chain Shirt. Gold: 7 gp. Campaign Information Playing a Soul Reaver Religion: Given how tightly associated death is with religion, it is not uncommon for a soul reaver to not only be religious but to actively be working for a specific god, often a god of death. Other Classes: They're creepy not-always necromancers who might be acting as the party cleric. However their natures often spook people out. Combat: You are a gish, capable of using melee weapons supplemented by magic, or magical spells augmented by a backup weapon. Advancement: There are several gish-friendly prestige classes for divine spellcasters, and some may be appropriate for the soul reaver. Soul Reavers in the World “ Mortanius believed he could cheat his patron through lichdom and escape his wrath. I will show him the error of his ways, for I have come to collect. ” —Moebius, Drow Soul Reaver Daily Life: Tasked by the gods, you often have a grim duty to perform for death never sleeps, and souls must be harvested. Organizations: A gathering of those seeped in necromancy is often a poor idea due to stigma. Alliances as such are made in secret and under whispered tones. NPC Reactions: Your presence is terrifying to most, and few understand what you do. It is best to keep them in the dark. Soul Reaver Lore Characters with ranks in Knowledge Religion can research Soul Reavers to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs. Knowledge Religion DC Result 10 Soul reavers can steal souls and put them to their own use, as well as wield the powers of necromancy and other magic. 15 Soul reavers begin to take on the appearance of vengeful wraiths which fly in the air and hunt for their prey. Some can even kill with a touch. 20 Powerful soul reavers are difficult to kill, slipping away into the ethereal or returning from the dead as a ghostly form of themselves. The strongest will never die of unnatural causes if they are careful. 30 Those that obtain this level of success can research specific soul reavers, their whereabouts, motives, history, and other trivia. 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