Soul Reaver (3.5e Prestige Class)
Soul Reaver
| “ | I, am both the redeemer and destroyer. The pawn and messiah. I am the time-spanned soul. I, am the Soul Reaver. | ” |
| —Razael, Human Fighter/Soul Reaver | ||
Whether a paladin or simple fighter in life, whatever faith they held they have forsaken. Upon death at the hands of those who betrayed them, the Soul Reaver accepts a god of death or something akin to, and is reborn as their champion, harnessing the greater power beyond undeath, taking the very souls of those beyond their welcomed stay to fuel themselves. Boasting a strong and fierce will to survive and achieve revenge, very little can stop a Soul Reaver once they have you set in their sights for whatever wrong you committed against them.
Becoming a Soul Reaver
A character may choose to pursue this class, even if they are not religious or accept the idea of undeath, rather, they cling to revenge as their motivator to accept the dark gifts offered by it. However, this class is rarely known about or seen as they can commonly be mistaken for vampires or other dangerous undead.
| Level: | 10 |
|---|---|
| Alignment: | Any |
| Base Attack Bonus: | +10 or higher. |
| Race: | Human, "Half Humans", or Human-like races. |
| Skills: | Knowledge (Religion) 10, Survival 10 |
| Feats: | Power Attack, Combat Expertise |
| Special: | This class can only be accepted upon death resulting from the betrayal of someone your character might have trusted, due to an emotion such as jealousy. When you die, the character must make a deal with a god of death or revenge, or something similar there to, to be brought back to serve them so long as your character is also able to seek revenge. |
| Level | Base Attack Bonus |
Saving Throws | Special | Wraith Blade | Dark Movement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Ref | Will | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | Dark Transformation, Dark Movement, Darkflight, Wraith Blade, Weakness to Water, Absorb Soul | 1d6 | +10ft | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | 1d8 | +10ft | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | Unhallowed Ascent | 1d8 | +10ft | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4th | +4 | +4 | +4 | +4 | Flesh is for the Living | 1d8 | +20ft | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5th | +5 | +4 | +4 | +4 | Shed Weakness | 1d10 | +20ft | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6th | +6 | +5 | +5 | +5 | Material Phasing | 1d10 | +20ft | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7th | +7 | +5 | +5 | +5 | 1d10 | +30ft | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8th | +8 | +6 | +6 | +6 | Glyph Magic | 2d6 | +30ft | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9th | +9 | +6 | +6 | +6 | 2d6 | +30ft | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10th | +10 | +7 | +7 | +7 | 2d6 | +40ft | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Soul Reaver.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Soul Reaver is proficient in all simple and martial weapons, however, they lose proficiency with medium armor, heavy armor, and shields if they proficiency with them.
Dark Transformation (Ex): Upon being brought back from the dead to serve, your new master warps your body to suit his needs, tearing away much of your flesh and replacing it with an unholy and powerful energy, your previous form becoming a husk compared to what it once was, at least in image anyways. You gain the subtype undead, do not change any ability scores, features, or traits to match this. You instead make the following adjustments:
- -You still retain your constitution score.
- -You gain Darkvision 60ft, immunity to mind-affecting effects.
- -You become immune to poison, sleep, disease, and death effects. You are still subject to critical hits, but you are now immune to nonlethal damage, ability drain, energy draining, damage to your physical ability scores, fatigue, and exhaustion.
- -Like undead, positive energy now harms you and negative heals you. Because you retain a constitution score, you must still make fortitude checks where appropriate, and you still use your Constitution modifier for Concentration checks.
- -You are still subject to massive damage, but when you reach 0 hit points or less, you automatically stabilize, but are unable to act for 1d2 minutes.
- -You are not affected by Raise Dead and Reincarnate spells or abilities. Unlike undead creatures you are immune to Resurrection and True Resurrection unless cast by two simultaneous wish spells (at which point you lose all class features and benefits of this class).
- - You do not eat, breathe, or sleep.
- - You gain a +4 to your Strength and Dexterity scores. You also now add your Charisma modifier to your AC in addition to your Dexterity modifier.
Wraith Blade (Su): At first level, the Soul Reaver gains a Wraith Blade, a magical blade fueled by the power of their vengeful soul. This blade deals damage as indicated on Table: The Soul Reaver, marked under Wraith Blade, plus your Charisma Modifier. The attack roll is resolved as a normal melee attack, but your charisma modifier is used in place of your strength modifier. Note that the damage shown is for a medium Soul Reaver. If you are a different size, adjust accordingly as you would for a Monk's unarmed damage. The damage dealt by this Wraith Blade is a mix of all the different energies in the world, including positive and negative, and is a extension of their being, and because of this it is considered magical for purposes of bypassing damage reduction. It cannot be physically touched, preventing it from being sundered or disarmed. It is only visibly present if the Soul Reaver wills it to be, if they are unconscious it disappears until they reactivate it. This is considered a natural weapon.
Dark Movement (Ex): At first level, a Soul Reaver is unnaturally quick, fueled by their dark gifts, even in areas where it normally wouldn't. They gain an enhancement bonus to speed based on their level as indicated on Table: The Soul Reaver. This speed bonus applies to land speed only, but stacks with speed bonuses granted by other classes if any.
Darkflight (Ex): At first level, as you undergo your Dark Transformation, you gain wings that are tattered and torn, representing your fallen status. That is not to say however, that they are useless. You no longer take damage from falling because of these wings (as if subject to a constant non-magical feather fall spell). While in midair, you may move up to 5 feet in any horizontal direction for every 1 foot they fall, at a speed of 60 feet per round. You cannot with these wings truly fly, and thus gain height, you merely coast in the directions you fall. If subject to a strong wind or other effect that causes a gliding creature to rise, you can take advantage of the updraft to increase the distance you can glide.
Weakness to Water: At first level for sometime you are similar to other notable undead, in that you have a large weakness to water. While you can freely cross running water, even so much as standing in it, if the water is at knee high or higher results in you losing one third of your total hit points per round. At the end of losing your hit points this way, you are immediately turned into your unconscious stabilized state until removed from the water by someone else and allowed 1d2 minutes to reclaim your lost energy.
Absorb Soul (Su): At first level, you instinctively know from the gifts of your Dark Transformation you can as the spell Death Knell, draw forth the remaining life in creatures slain or dying, granting you a increase in strength. You gain 1d8 hit points restored, any extra that would normally be wasted are instead converted into temporary hit points, to a maximum of your Charisma modifier. You also gain +2 bonus to Strength. The living creature you draw this life from is subject to a fortitude saving throw (DC = 10 + Soul Reaver's Class levels + Charisma modifier); if it fails it dies and you gain the above mentioned benefits. If it succeeds, it is immune to the effects of this ability for 24 hours (if it should somehow survive that long). The bonus to strength and any temporary hit points gained last 10 minutes per Soul Reaver level you possess.
Unhallowed Ascent (Su): At 3rd level, you gain a climb speed equal to your Dark Movement bonus. If you have an already existing climb speed, add the Dark Movement bonus as an enhancement bonus to that speed.
Flesh is for the Living (Ex): At 4th level you gain Fast Healing equal to half your Soul Reaver levels.
Shed Weakness (Ex): At 5th level, as you have further proven yourself to your new master, he has allowed you to for a time forgo your weakness to water. For a number of hours per day equal to your Constitution modifier, you may ignore the health damage from Weakness to Water. However, should you be knocked unconscious from submersion in water, you are outright destroyed instead of just sealed in an unconscious state.
Material Phasing (Su): At 6th level, a number of times per day equal to your Charisma modifier, you may enter an ethereal state as the spell Ethereal Jaunt. Use your Soul Reaver levels to calculate the duration of its effects. This can be ended as a standard action.
Glyph Magic (Sp): At 8th level, your dark gifts from your master have reached their peak, and he has granted you a portion of his power so long as you continue to serve him and seek revenge. You may a number of times per day equal to 3 plus half your Soul Reaver levels plus your charisma modifier, cast any one of the following Glyphs. Casting a Glyph is a standard action unless indicated otherwise. When calculating any parts of Glyphs that act as spells, use your Soul Reaver levels as your caster level plus 10.
- Force Glyph (Su): As a immediate action, you can launch bolts of energy form your Wraith Blade that are resolved as ranged touch attacks and you instead add double your Charisma modifier to your damage. Even if multiple bolts are shot, this only uses up one use of Glyph Magic per round.
- Glyph of the Flaming Sun: You deal 1d6 points of fire damage per level of Soul Reaver you possess in a 20ft radius. You also duplicate the spell Daylight. Creatures weak to daylight for the purposes of being damage or destroyed are stunned for 1d4 rounds as well as taking full damage if their Reflex saving throw is failed (DC = 10 + Soul Reaver's class levels + Charisma modifier). Successful Reflex saving throw deals only half damage.
- Glyph of Shifting (Su): You shift from one space to another as the spell Dimension Door. This is a swift action, and may make a single attack after it is used if it is used to get within range of an enemy.
- Glyph of Sound (Su): You deal 1d6 points of sonic damage per level of Soul Reaver you possess to targets in a 30ft cone. Fortitude save for half (DC = 10 + Soul Reaver's class levels + Charisma modifier).
- Glyph of Water (Su): You deal 1d6 points of cold damage per level of Soul Reaver you possess, to targets in a 60ft line. If you are a creature that is subject to damage from running water (Such as other weaker Soul Reavers or vampires) you take 1/3 of your total hit points worth of damage. Reflex save for half (DC = 10 + Soul Reaver's class levels + Charisma modifier).
- Stone Glyph (Su): You strike the ground with unparalleled power, sending a shock wave in all directions. Everyone with 30 feet of you, plus 10 feet per point of Strength modifier, must make a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + Soul Reaver's class levels + Strength modifier). If they fail, they are stunned for 1d4 rounds.
Ex-Soul Reaver
Should the Soul Reaver violate the terms of agreement to serve their new master, their life is automatically brought to a close, as it was purely by that god(s) influence you remained. If you become an Ex-Soul Reaver, then you can be resurrected as normal, but will not retain any levels, features, ect, that you gained from this class.
Playing a Soul Reaver
Combat: Typically they behave as they did prior to being a Soul Reaver, and usually with great success, If they were a fighter or Barbarian, they are still equally equipped and well off to be in the front lines, or as melee support the way a rogue or ranger may have been.
Advancement: There is no typical multiclass options, though that doesn't mean they are prohibited. Normally, after their task is achieved they go to rest, their revenge having been satisfied or their contract fulfilled. Most desirable multiclass options may lean towards those that favor melee or necromancy.
Soul Reavers in the World
| “ | And now you will see -- the true enemy -- | ” |
Soul Reavers often fit best in campaigns where heavy treachery is afoot or necromancy, as these are the dead brought back to life for purposes of revenge.
NPC Reactions: Most NPCs, as with other undead, will treat them with fear or hate if they are found out to be the walking dead.
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.
| DC | Result |
|---|---|
| 21 | Soul Reavers are rumored to be the dead brought back to life for revenge. |
| 26 | Soul Reavers possess unholy strength and powers, granted to them by the dark forces that birthed their new dark forms. |
| 31 | Above information available by choice. |
| 36 | Above information available by choice, and a list of possible gods that may have given the Soul Reaver their power. |
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