Swarmstopper (5e Subclass)

Swarmstopper

Swarmstopper Goblin “Stew” by Josh Sneddon

Fighter Subclass

As elementally charged hunters, Swarmstoppers are extremely skilled hunters and carvers of insectoid creatures and the like. Typically learnt from living in bug-infested territories like swamps or caves, they learn to overcome a variety of abstract defenses and attacks, including those of monstrosities, ooze, and other invertebrate creatures.

This archetype is best matched with the outlander background.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in two of the following skills of your choice: Nature, Animal Handling, Perception, Survival, Investigation, or Stealth. You can gain proficiency with tinker’s tools, smith’s tools, or alchemist’s supplies in place of one skill choice.

You can also begin crafting your conduit: a swarmstopper’s weapon that can be charged by monster parts.

Elemental Harvesting

When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain the ability to harvest elemental energy from parts of certain monsters.

Elemental Damage: When applied to a weapon, these parts can add or switch elemental damage to your attacks. These damage types can consist of acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, and thunder, depending on which monster the part was taken from. You can discuss the appropriate damage type with your DM. You can prepare up to 2 elements every short or long rest, that require an action to switch between parts in battle. At 5th level this amount increases to 3, and increases to 4 at 8th level, and increases again to 5 at 13th level.

Enhancement Dice: Additionally, you can occasionally extract extra energy from these parts and gain four enhancement dice, which are d8s. An enhancement die is expended when you use it. You regain all of your expended enhancement dice when you finish a short or long rest.

You later gain the ability to extract more energy from parts, granting you another enhancement die at 7th level and one more at 15th level.

Using Enhancement Dice: You can expend enhancement dice to gain a number of different benefits:

Swarmstopper Conduit Line-up by Josh Sneddon

Pinpoint Accuracy: When you make a weapon attack against a creature, you can expend one enhancement die to add it to the attack roll. You can use this ability before or after making the attack roll, but before any of the effects of the attack are applied.

Overcharge: When you damage a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one enhancement die to overcharge your weapon and add it to the damage roll. You can use this ability rolling damage. If the attack causes the target to make a Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration, it has disadvantage on that save.

Heightened Senses: Channeling the creature’s energy in your mind, when making a Wisdom (Perception) check to detect a hidden creature or object, or a Wisdom (Survival) check to a creature, you can expend one enhancement die to add it to the roll. You can use this feature after seeing the total but before learning if you succeeded or failed.

Insect Reflexes: When you make a Strength, a Dexterity, or a Constitution saving throw, you can expend one enhancement die to add it to the roll. You can use this feature only before you learn if the save succeeded or failed.

Exterminator

At 7th level, whenever you expend enhancement dice to add to a damage roll, you can expend up to two dice instead of just one, adding both to the roll. Both dice are expended as normal. If the target of your attack is a monstrosity, an ooze, or an invertebrate, you deal maximum damage with both dice, instead of rolling them.

Improved Elemental Harvesting

At 10th level, your enhancement dice turn into d10s. At 18th level, they turn into d12s.

Armor Infusing

At 15th level, you gain the ability to infuse your armor with elemental resistances from monster parts. Infusing armor consumes the part, and cannot be regained when removing the resistance.

You can change armor infusions after a short or long rest.

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