Reaper of Souls (3.5e Class)
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Reaper of Souls
Italic text A reaper of souls can be any alignment and is a servant of their god who has had a vision of the afterlife. A good reaper would wish this afterlife upon those they deem worthy, but an evil reaper would like to keep the afterlife he wants for himself and so sends the people they kill to what they see as a lesser afterlife. As they progress in strength, more afterlives are shown to them, and as they slay an opponent, they can decide which afterlife the soul is sent to, or they can capture the souls of those they reap to gain power or because they feel the evil soul they have captured is unworthy of the afterlife. Each reaper finds a signature weapon that defines them, and as they gain in power, their weapon becomes a part of them, becoming more powerful and part of their own soul.
Making a Reaper of Souls
The strengths of the Reapers are their speed and damage, which they focus on a single target to eliminate them, and continue doing this one by one along the battlefield until all souls have been reaped. However, they are not the most durable class, and use their speed and magic to avoid attacks and damage. They usually work alone or in small groups, and a good reaper, one who sends worthy mortals to a glorious afterlife, will work hard to keep their team together and not let any allies pass to the greater land.
Abilities: This class uses Strength and Dexterity for its skills and abilities.
Races: Although any race can be a Reaper, those with long lives tend to stay away from this profession, while those with shorter lifespans are drawn to its power.
Alignment: Any alignment is acceptable for the Reaper of Souls.
Starting Gold: 5d4 x10 gp (125 average starting gold).
Class Features
The reapers use their strength, speed and magical abilities to eliminate armies one at a time. All of the following are class features of the Reaper of Souls.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: They are proficient with all simple weapons, martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields. In addition, a reaper is proficient with their Soulbound Weapon.
Target Enemy (Ex): At 1st level, you can select a single enemy in your current battle, gaining a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls against this target. Only one enemy may be targeted at a time and you can only switch the targeted enemy when your current one is either dead or flees battle. At 4th level, the bonuses increase to +2 and you may select up to 2 targets at a time.
Soulbound Weapon (Su): At 2nd level, the reaper must choose a single weapon for their god to bind them to. This bonding turns the selected selected weapon into a +1 magical weapon. This weapon now has part of the reaper's soul inside, fighting with any other weapon imparts a -2 penalty with any weapon other than the Soulbound Weapon, and anyone else attempting to use this weapon other than the reaper uses it with a -10 penalty to attack and damage. This weapon cannot be detected or scryed. If this weapon leaves the grip of the Reaper of Souls, it can be called back to his hand instantaneously as a free action(This is done through the bond that is formed between the wielder and the weapon and as such no gesture or spoken word is required to recall your weapon back to your hand. Only the will for it to happen is all that is required.) . Sundering is impossible. At 7th level, the weapon and the reaper are more in tune with one another, and the weapon is now a +2 magical weapon, and also serves another purpose: The reaper may now take a soul gem and merge it with the weapon, giving it an additional +1 to attack and damage rolls for this combat encounter to a maximum of +3. At 11th level, the weapon becomes a +3 magical weapon and has an insatiable thirst for souls. Every time the weapon deals damage, the reaper heals a number if hit points equal to 25% of the damage dealt. Also at this point, the reaper is so in tune with their god that they may travel to the afterlife and speak with their god and change their selected Soulbound Weapon if they so choose. This process takes one week and a 1,000 gp tribute, and the Reaper must stay with their god during this time. At 15th level, the weapon becomes a +4 magical weapon and causes the souls it attacks to "bleed", dealing an additional 1d8 damage every round for 1d10 rounds. The weapon cannot bleed multiple souls at once, and must wait until the first effect is over before it can be applied again. At 19th level, the weapon unlocks its true potential, and not only becomes a +6 magical weapon, but it also doubles the effect that soul gems provide (now +2 each). The weapon is now the bane of life and deals +3 damage to living creatures and, on a confirmed critical hit, has a 75% chance to instantly kill any living being it hits. Now anyone other than the reaper that attempts to wield this weapon must make a Fortitude save (DC 5 + reaper's level+ charisma) or die instantly.
Glide (Su): At 3rd level, the Reaper gains the Glide ability, allowing to fly 1 foot above the ground, with (10 ft x (Dex mod + 1/2 Str mod )) rounded down as their move speed. At 7th level, the multiplier is increased from 10x to 20x. At 12th level, the Reaper is always floating 1 foot above the ground and may still move (20 ft x (Dex mod + 1/2 Str mod) rounded down) per round.
Death Vision (Su): At 5th level, the reaper sees as death itself, gaining Darkvision out to 90 feet and permanent Detect Life and Detect Undead out to 90 feet.
Deft Cut (Su): A Reaper of Souls of 3rd level has honed her skill and accuracy with scythe so much that she adds her dexterity modifier x2 when attacking.
Designate Destiny (Su): The Reaper now chooses where his kill goes after they are slain. There are 5 afterlives to choose from:
- Arcadia: The ultimate afterlife, Arcadia is literally where the gods live, and also where the reapers stay after their work of reaping is done.
- Rapture: Secondary only to Arcadia itself, Rapture is as nice an afterlife as most can hope to achieve, but compared to Arcadia, you tend to be left wanting more.
- Utopia: Utopia is neither particularly good or bad, but essential the continuation of life in the mortal realm.
- Crick: The underground below the afterlife is always dark and painful, and the souls here are in constant torment.
- Vexation: This is quite literally the Hell of the afterlife. The souls here are left in eternal torment, always seeking for a way out, but never finding peace in the racking pain of their eternal existence.
Capture Soul (Su): At 9th level, the reaper is finally able to capture an enemy's soul as it kills them, turning it into a physical gem about 3 inches long and 2 inches around. The gem itself is used for other abilities, and the color of the gem is based upon the alignment of the soul, as follows:
- Lawful Good: Teal
- Neutral Good: Green
- Chaotic Good: Purple
- Lawful Neutral: Blue
- True Neutral: Yellow
- Chaotic Neutral: Brown
- Chaotic Evil: Crimson
- Lawful Evil: Pink
- Neutral Evil: Orange
Afterlife Delving (Su): At 8th level, the reaper gains the ability to go into any one of the 5 afterlives (summarized above) and speak to anyone there. He is able to transport people between afterlives, and he can instantly find anyone he has sent to an afterlife. Anyone else he is searching for takes 1d20 minus the reaper's number of ranks in Knowledge (Religion) days to find (minimum 1). It takes 1 hour to transport to and from the afterlife. At 13th level, the Reaper may take people with him to visit the afterlife, up to his level as a reaper in people with him.
Eternal Healing (Su): While in the afterlife, the reaper heals HP at a rate of his level per minute, and may bestow this healing upon another if he wishes.
Harvest Souls (Su): While in the afterlife, the reaper can take the souls of those who are there and make them into soul gems. However, the souls must be willing. Most souls gathered by Soul Harvest will be from Vexation or Crick, because of the eternal pain they are feeling makes them willing to go with you, and even be destroyed, just to escape the pain.
Soul Collection (Su): At level 15, the Reaper can capture a soul that agrees to accompany him, or loses a Deathmatch. The Reaper stores the soul in his Death Scythe until he can deliver it to the correct dimension. This functions similar to a Trap the Soul spell, but without save. The caster level is equal to your character level.
- The Death Scythe can only hold a number of HD worth of souls equal to your character level x 2.
- If you have the soul of a spellcaster within your Death Scythe, you may cast one of it's spells 1/day. You must supply the material components and experience.
- Once per day you may choose the feat of a soul within your Death Scythe, you are treated as having that feat for 24 hours even if you do not fulfill the requirements.
- Each soul you have collected and transferred to its appropriate destination grants you a +1 bonus on all knowledge checks. (maximum +10)
Consume Soul (Su): The reaper may consume a soul gem to increase his power, giving him +1 AC and a +5 bonus to all skill checks for the remainder of the combat encounter, to a maximum of 3 soul gems per encounter.
Soul Enfeeblement (Su): The reaper may cast this spell up to 6 times per day.
Speed of Death (Su): The reaper takes the essence of the enemy he is fighting and uses it against him. By destroying 2 soul gems, the reaper is able to make attacks against his targeted enemy with a bonus equal to the enemy's hit die plus his regular attack bonus.
Analyse Vision (Su):A Reaper of Souls's knowledge of life is great, using his intelligence he can find his enemy weakspot and strike against that spot. At 16th level a Reaper of Souls may add her Intelligence Modifier X2 as an Insight bonus to any damage dealt with a scythe. This bonus does not take effect against creatures that are immune to Critical hits and can only be performed when wearing light or no armor and carrying a light load.
Soul Incineration (Su):The Reaper, mastering the energy around souls and the living, is able to show them the pain of Vexation, forcing the soul of the target to be split between the mortal world and the bottom form of the afterlife. The target must make a Fortitude check (DC 10 + reaper's level) or fall unconscious for 1d4 rounds. Even if they succeed, they are at a -2 for anything they try to do (including attack and damage rolls). If they fail, they feel the pain of Vexation, forcing them to make Will save (DC 15 + reaper's level) or they take 6d6 damage per round for 2 rounds.
Reincarnation (Su): The reaper may take a soul gem and merge it into a dead body, reviving the body at the strength of the body before death (using the same stats as before their death). The person is then under a Charm Person spell and will serve the reaper as a servant until released back into the afterlife. The reaper can have a maximum of one servant at a time.
Reawakening (Su): Whenever any damage would reduce you to -10 hit points or lower, you may instead discorporate. Your body vaporizes into ephemeral dark flames that waft away, though your gear is left behind. It takes 1d10 days to regain enough power to transport back to the mortal world. In order to stop a reaper from coming back into the world, a god other than the god of the reaper must sacrifice one of their reapers to lock them both in the afterlife.
Immortal (Su): At level 20, a Reaper of Souls transforms into an everlasting and undying being. A Reaper of Souls is immortal and cannot die from natural causes.
- He no longer takes ability score penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any penalties she may have already incurred, however, remain in place. Aging bonuses still accrue.
- He no longer needs to breath or eat or drink.
- Reaper of Souls gains immunity to diseases, poisons of all kinds, stunning, sleep, paralysis, and death effects, energy drain, ability drain, and ability damage.
- He is forever more treated as an native outsider rather than as a humanoid for the purpose of spells and magical effects.
Ex-Reapers of souls
When a Reaper has done all he would like to do in the mortal world, he stays in the afterlife and no longer affects the living world.
Epic Reaper of souls
| Level | Special | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21st | Reincarnation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 22nd | Bonus Feat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23rd | Eternal Healing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 24th | Bonus Feat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 25th | Consume Soul | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 26th | Bonus Feat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 27th | Glide | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 28th | Bonus Feat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 29th | Harvest Souls | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30th | Bonus Feat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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10 + Int modifier skill points per level. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reincarnation (Epic) (Su): The maximum number of servants is increased to 3.
Eternal Healing (Epic) (Su): The healing rate is doubled and the time is halved.
Consume Soul (Epic) (Su): Can now use a maximum of 6 shards and the effect is doubled.
Glide (Epic) (Su): Now acts as Fly with same speed.
Harvest Souls (Epic) (Ex): You can now take unwilling souls if you were the one to have killed them.
Bonus Feats (Epic): The epic Reaper of Souls gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic Reaper of souls bonus feats) every 2 levels after 20th.
Epic Reaper of souls Bonus Feat List: Epic feats count as double regular feats.
Human Reaper of Souls Starting Package
Weapons: Scythe.
Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 4 + Int modifier.
| Skill | Ranks | Ability | Armor Check Penalty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disguise | 4 | Cha | - |
| Knowledge (religion) | 4 | Int | - |
| Move Silently | 4 | Dex | Yes |
| Search | 4 | Wis | - |
| Sense Motive | 4 | Wis | - |
| Spot | 4 | Wis | - |
| Use Magic Device | 4 | Cha | - |
Feat: Dodge.
Bonus Feats: Weapon Focus (Scythe).
Gear: Studded leather, Rope (50 Feet), Backpack, 2 torches, Water Flask, Bedroll and a Tent.
Gold: 1d6x2 gp.
Playing a Reaper of Souls
Religion: A reaper always worships a god and has been religious most of their life. Without a god, they have no afterlife to strive for.
Other Classes: Paladins and Clerics, who are usually associated with saving and valuing lives, do not work well with reapers because of their opposite outlook on life.
Combat: In combat, the reaper selects one target (usually the most worthy to die), and goes after them. Once that target dies, they find the next worthy one and go after them and so on.
Advancement: Most reapers choose to follow this path to the end, becoming more and more powerful in the skill of killing. However, anyone can become a reaper and fight for their god and the afterlife.
Reapers of Souls in the World
| “ | Death is merely the gateway to life... and I hold the key. | ” |
| —Jarek of Nerull, Reaper of Souls | ||
Daily Life: The usual day entails getting up, killing things, and basking in the glory of death.
Notables: Jarek of Nerull, the most famous and evil reaper, now kills for pure joy. Candrin is the Reaper of Pelor and the most famous good reaper.
Organizations: As the reapers work better alone, they do not congregate. However, as they are essentially religious fanatics, they may attend places where their religion is worshiped and find those they see fit for immortality.
NPC Reactions: Most reapers tend to not show their power unless they need to, so on the street, they do not appear special. However, when they have shown their true power, NPCs normally dislike and will attack reapers.
Reaper of souls Lore
Characters with ranks in Knowledge (religion) can research Reapers of Souls to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.
| DC | Result |
|---|---|
| 7 | A Reaper of Souls may kill for no reason. |
| 12 | A Reaper of Souls lives partially in the afterlife. |
| 19 | Even after death, a strong reaper may come back to finish his job. |
| 25 | To truly kill a reaper, you must lock him in the afterlife. |
Reapers of Souls in the Game
Reapers serve as the gate to the afterlife, bringing judgment upon the world.
Sample Encounter: The DM may use reapers as travelers the party meets, or perhaps one deems the party is worthy of the afterlife, and attacks the party, forcing them to fight for their lives.
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