Ashes to Ashes - DnD5e Subclasses - Fighter

 

Here's some more, I suppose. It's actually pretty fun to wrestle a bad system into something interesting, like painting with your feet. Half of this was stolen from somewhere else (I mean even beyond the fact this is a conversion) but its the GLOG (allegedly), you should expect that by now. Think of it as a little treasure hunt to find the pieces I've shamelessly ripped off.

FIGHTER
Primary: STR or DEX
HD: d10 per level
Save Prof: STR+CON
Skills: Choose 2 of Intimidation, Athletics, Acrobatics, Endurance, Insight, Myth, Art, Tactics
Weapon Prof: Simple+Martial
Armor Training: Light, Med, Heavy, Shields

ROTLESS
3- Rotless
    There is only one kind of life- the one that begins and ends in blood. You can only die by the sword (if you would die by any other means, instead become comatose for a week.)  Old Age is a sword. When you die, your corpse will never rot or decay (as gentle repose.) 
3- Constant Companions
    There is only one way to become a master of Sword Law- this is to become absolutely soaked in Death. In your hands, the death within a blade sings a toneless tune, and your bones hum the harmony. One sword you own is your Constant Companion- you can speak with it in a voice of resonant and subaudible hums, it floats weightlessly by your side, and you may flex your hand for it to appear in your palm instantly (it can be drawn as a free action from anywhere.) To make a sword your Constant Companion, you must either give it the first name it has ever known, defeat a worthy opponent with it, or reforge it into a more powerful form. You may take an additional Constant Companion at levels 7, 10, and 15.
7- Blade Breaking
    A fire is death and life in one motion. Within each sword is a waiting fire. You may shatter a sword you are wielding when an attack hits (or ritually in a minute outside of combat) to create a magical effect based on the material of the sword. Broken swords are slurred and wandering in their speech, and require smith’s tools to repair. Particularly powerful swords may have unique effects when broken.
10- Feats of Wind and Flame
    A swordsman is at their most natural state when they think of nothing at all. Allow control of your body to be governed only by the hard and old nerves of survival- become a completely naturalistic and comfortable animal, whose only motivation is the killing impulse. At any time, roll damage for your Constant Companion as if you had made a successful attack and add the result to any d20 roll involving primal might or inhuman agility. Immediately after, take 1d4 STR or DEX damage as your tendons snap and your bones fracture (whichever is more appropriate. Ability damage recovers 1 point/Long Rest.)
15- Ultimate Technique
    While others rejoiced, you studied the blade. Invent a Technique (with DM cooperation) or choose one from the following list. You may learn the Techniques of other Rotless by losing to them in combat, or by speaking with their swords.
18- Scouring Inferno
    Then spake Tsadhi of the Red Mane -YOUR BODY IS A SWORD- THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HAND AND A WEAPON. KILL EVERYTHING YOU MEET. While wielding a sword and no other weapon or armor you have the following benefits - You can balance atop anything, including arrows in flight and falling leaves. You can run at full speed while prone or crouching. You take no fall damage. You can set wounds you have made in the last minute alight with a glare (dealing d6 fire damage) and extinguish them with a snap. When you make an attack, you may forgo rolling and treat the result of the d20 roll as a 15. 

SHEPHERD
3- Shepherd of Men
    There are tricks of the voice, ways of standing, that make free-willed-folk stampede like cattle, flee like rats. Shepherd, of people, you make animals. Horses, livestock, peasants, and ordinary soldiers will obey your two-word orders without question until another authority figure commands them. Whenever a creature attacks you or an ally within 30ft., you can use your Reaction to give a -2 penalty to the roll with an arresting voice and an icy glare. Whenever a creature rolls a natural 1 on an attack, you can use your Reaction to command an Underling or an ally within 30ft. of the enemy to make an attack against it (if an ally, they must use their Reaction as well.)
3- Competent Underlings
    You have a loyal praetorian, utterly unshakeable and unswervingly loyal. They do not have personal stats, but grant you proficiency in any one skill, any one set of artisan’s tools, and any one language. Outside of combat they may take individual action as an independent character under your command (and using your stats.) In combat they share your space, actions, initiative, and HP- however, they grant you an additional Reaction each turn, and if you fall unconscious you may continue to take Move, Disengage, and Dash actions as they attempt to evacuate you from the battlefield. You gain an additional Competent Underling at levels 7, 10, and 15.
7- Feared and Respected
     Your banner carries an extra weight- a heaviness of honor, a gravitas and a dignity. As long as you hold your war-banner aloft with one hand, those who fight under it have the effects of a bless spell. Those who see it instantly know your name and the most notable deed you have accomplished,  even if they do not share a language.
10- Battlefield Control
    Your eyes see numbers, movements, vectors and trajectories. The lines of men killing lines of men fall gently through your fingers like strands to be woven. You may use Shepherd of Men whenever a creature rolls a 1 on any die, including saves, damage, or skill checks. Whenever you use your Action Surge, up to XHA other creatures immediately regain 1d10+level HP.
15- Mentor of Champions
    Your Competent Underlings show promise. For each, choose a Kenning. Should you die, they bury your corpse with honors and leave as level 3 characters of their related class. You may use the Reactions from your Underling’s Kennings XHA/Short Rest in total.
18- The Voice
    You can use the spell command at will. When you do so, your commands may be up to four words and target every creature that can hear your voice (DC 8+Prof+XHA WIS save negates and grants immunity to this feature for 8 hours.)

RAIDER
3- Fires of War
    If you desire something, take it. They will fight to protect it but you will kill them and claim the spoils anyways. There is no law greater than this, for if there were you would simply kill those who enforce it. Why do others find this hard to understand? The Hero-Ancestor Tet was the first to discover this, and he taught it to the many peoples of the world until they learned his lessons and killed him. You can whistle to call a mount to you from the environment- in the plains this is a horse or gazelle, in the forests it is an okapi or deer, underground it might be a giant mole or monitor lizard. Called mounts are not automatically friendly or obedient. You can start a fire by flicking blood off your fingers, and fires you start can’t be extinguished except by rain or blood. While atop a mount or silhouetted by fire, you have advantage on Intimidation checks and your enemies have disadvantage on morale checks.
3- Traditions of Violence
    The tribes of Magarru have made war against nearly as many people as the Tsadhites, and have learned many things from their enemies. This is the nature of war, to instruct each other in the cultures, arts, and legacies that you are eradicating. You learn one Way of War from the following list. You learn an additional Way of War at levels 7, 10, and 15, and can learn more by razing a town or village defended by a wielder of the Way. For the purposes of Ways of War, you can only be in one Stance at a time, and may enter any Stance you know when you roll initiative or take a Bonus Action to change Stance. You can use one Technique per turn. If you use a Technique as a Reaction, you can’t use one until after the end of your next turn. 
7- Jealously Guarded
    Property is theft- all that you have and are were won for yourself at the edge of a blade. You will not surrender it easily. Whenever an attack hits you for the first time each round, parry it with your blade to reduce the damage by your PROF+STR. This does not take a Reaction. Whenever someone steals from you, you may make a free attack against them, drawing a weapon as part of the attack. This happens before you know what is being stolen or who is taking it. If the attack hits, you may scar their face. Most civilized people recognize scars of this nature to mark thieves and scoundrels.
10- Thirst of the Desert
    The sand roils and shifts, seeking always to devour those who ride atop its dunes. The Sun cavorts and dances, drinking forever and ever from all that is left beneath Her gaze. From this you learned one of Tet’s many untaught lessons- BE NEVER SATISFIED. You have advantage on Sleight of Hand and may roll it in place of Initiative. Whenever you attack or are attacked, immediately before or after you may move 5’ towards an enemy or an object you covet (this does not cause the attack to miss.) Your appetite is endless- you can eat any number of extra Rations during a Short Rest to heal that many d6 additional HP. You could eat an alefant or drink a cistern and still ask for more.
15- Ignite the Spirit
    Your blood sublimates within your veins, rushing like smoke, weightless and ready for the spark. With a roar of flame it reaches out from you, a thousand grasping hands. Whenever you roll initiative, you may set yourself on fire with a piercing exaltation. While alight, you take CONd6 (minimum 1d6) fire damage at the beginning of your turn, increase the critical range of all rolls you make by 1 (this usually makes you crit on a 19-20), and infuse every object you touch with animating essence. Armor you touch grants +2AC to allies, bristling defensively, and grants enemies the Slowed condition, binding their joints and growling. Weapons you touch dance around your crown- once per turn you can attack an enemy within 15’  with one as a free action, and touching an enemy’s weapon (attack vs AC 15+DEX dealing no damage) causes it to writhe from their grasp to join you. Other objects you touch generally animate themselves to perform their designed functions with manic energy- doors open and slam shut, paints sketch renditions of the battle, etc. You may quench your soul at the beginning of your turn, immediately ending all effects.
18- Conflagration Armory
    An all-consuming command, a divine decree, an undeniable desire- CONQUER. CLAIM. FOR SHE SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT SHE SET IT ALIGHT. While Ignite the Spirit is active, you may command the armory animated by your blood to create a War-Beast. Choose a creature within 15’ of you, or yourself- brass plates solidify from your vital essence, metal twists and shivers, and crimson fires wreath its form. It gains Temp HP equal to your HP and your choice of the following effects, one per 3 slots of metal, armor, or weapons you feed into its creation. The effect ends when you end Ignite the Spirit or the War-Beast is more than 15’ from you. When the effect ends for any reason, the creature immediately drops to 0HP and begins dying.

• Size Large. If chosen again, Huge. If chosen again, Gargantuan
• +2 to AC, to-hit, damage. Can be chosen any number of times
• Resistance to piercing, slashing, bludgeoning, and fire damage
• Flame breath (10d6 fire damage, DC 8+PROF+XHA DEX save halves, recharge 5-6, 15’ cone or 30’ line)
• Natural weapons (melee 2d10+STR graze slashing, 30’ ranged 2d6+STR piercing)
• Space within or atop for 5 passengers per size category (Small, Med, Large, Huge, Garg.)
• Self destruct sequences- as an action, activate the mechanism. At the beginning of its next turn, explode for 20d6 in a 20’ sphere, or 10d6 within 40’ sphere, or 5d6 within 60’ sphere (DC 8+PROF+XHA DEX save halves.) The War-Beast is destroyed utterly.

 

 

  

Ashes to Ashes - DnD 5e Subclasses - Ranger

    I did it anyways, of course. Here are three subclasses for the Ranger class of DnD24, for use in my potential upcoming game set in the time of the Twenty a decade or so after the demise of Resh, the last to fall.  

 VENGEANT 
3- Winds of Hatred 
    They cannot deny you, far-hunter, chain-breaker. Ranged attacks you make can pull ammunition from the winds, solidifying into whisper-thin throwing knives, crossbow bolts of coiling fog, and arrows fletched with storm-gales (they lose the Ammunition property.) You have advantage on ranged attack rolls against targets below you. You are, technically, immune to the law, but most soldiers and judges don’t believe you.
3- Speak with the Wind
    Hawks know a song of fierce joy- thunder knows a song of undeniable hate. You know the language Feather, spoken by all winged things. You’ll have to bribe birds to care about anything but preening, eating bugs, and fucking. You’ll have to richly bribe storms to care about anything but wars, geographical features, and fucking. It’s pretty hard to get a storm’s attention without demolition-grade instruments. Additionally, you gain the attention of the minor wind-sprites of breezes and zephyrs- while they are below full sentience, they curl around your fingers like cats and follow whispered commands in Feather (you may cast Mage Hand at will.)
7- Voice of Thunder
    The gale, the lightning, and the driving rain dwell in your chest. When you wish, your voice can be heard for up to a mile in any direction and is carried by the howling wind and pealing thunder. You are immune to the deafened condition. WIS/long rest, unleash a shout that stirs the storm around you. For ten rounds, in a 30’ emanation centered on you, creatures other than those you designate cannot take the Disengage action and treat movement towards you as difficult terrain.
11- Winds of Freedom
    The South Wind no longer blows, but in the heart of all storms is a forever yearning. You may Dash or Disengage as a bonus action. When you do, you may treat your movement as flying until the end of the turn, though you still fall if you do not end your movement on solid ground. You take half damage from falling, and it can never bring you below 1HP.
15- Eternal Retribution
    There is no enmity as enduring as the scouring wind, who will circle the world and return tenfold. Whenever you roll initiative, you may designate a Nemesis. Your weapons are treated as if they had the Push and Slow mastery properties, and deal an additional d6 of bludgeoning damage to your Nemesis. You cannot designate a new Nemesis until the old one is dead. When you die, you may make one ranged attack against your Nemesis wherever in the world they are (ignoring range and line of sight.) You get +20 to the attack roll, and any hit is a critical hit. The winds will carry your final spite.

 

WITCH-HUNTER
3- Lessons of Shamqa Netmaker
    Around the campfires is often heard the joke that children of Nun are born as seals, and must learn to walk on land rather than swim in the waves. It is true that Nun taught her people well the arts of the ocean and the winds, but you had another teacher of the secret ways of Gishum, spoken of less often by the foreigners. You have proficiency with net weapons, and attacking with a net does not prevent you from making multiple attacks in a round. Knots you tie cannot be untied except by you, and you can untie them with a whistle. You have a 20’ swim speed and can hold your breath for CON hours. You have a particular taste for fish.
3- Charms and Gestures
    Magic is a current, a wind, a braided rope. It is the causeless effect, and its mysteries and dangers are well known to you. Magi dabble recklessly and borrow from the uncertain future, and there will come a time that their recklessness will crash back like the tides. You have learned the ways to flow with the waves, to weave strong knots. You learn two spells from the Magi Ritual spell list, and can cast them using Ritual Casting (but not with spell slots.) You discover an additional spell at levels 7 and 15, and may learn more through play.
7- Tangle the Skeins
    Their weavings are fragile when rushed so, condensing hours of study into quick motions and whispered words. Just one thread pulled loose and the pattern is lost- what happens when you cut the whole ravel? When a creature within 5 feet of you casts a spell, you may use your Reaction to make a melee attack against that creature. When you damage a creature concentrating on a spell, they have disadvantage on the check to maintain concentration. If a creature loses their concentration in this way, they take psychic damage equal to twice the spell’s level as the strands snap and lash. Additionally, you may become distracting in more mundane ways. As a reaction, you can force a creature who can see or hear you to roll a skill check with disadvantage. It isn’t obvious you’re doing it on purpose if you don’t wish.
11- Sealskin Cloak
    You wear a second skin- one of delicate threads and heart-mutterings, of bell-charms and the smell of salt. With such a warding, you cut through magic like a cormorant through the waves, like a needle through skin. When you succeed on a saving throw against a spell, you are immune to any damage and effects it would have caused. When something bad is about to happen, you get an instant warning to do Something- you can take one action before the DM tells you what happens. 
15- Pull Taught the Weft and Warp
    You are the shark who pulls the fisherman beneath the waves. You are the shuttle of the loom, and the knot closes by your will. Let the magus who thinks he knows no fear look well upon your face. You may cause creatures you restrain to be affected by Silence and Slow effects for as long as they remain restrained. You may ignore bonuses to AC granted by Abjuration spells. WIS/long rest, when you succeed on a save against a spell, you may use your Reaction to yank on the threads of magic to pull yourself on their currents. The spell fails, and you instantaneously appear 5’ behind the caster. 

 

SURVIVOR
3- Hound and Hare
    The mouse that hides from the keen nose of Death’s dogs is found and dug out. The clever rabbit knows when to watch and when to run, run far, and run fast. You have learned the ways of Ayin, fleeing for the land beyond where Death can not catch you- but it is a far, far journey, and you are ever listening for pursuit. By using a potent blend of herbs, breathing techniques, and mental fortitude, you no longer need to sleep (but still require Rests to eat, maintain equipment, and refresh abilities). When everyone else is Surprised, you can declare that you simply weren’t there until your first turn in initiative (at which point you appear at a point of your choice within 15ft of an ally.) You and any group you guide can traverse hexes of rough terrain, Scout, and Track while traveling at normal speed (instead of half speed.) Each Long Rest you can ask one of the following questions about the environment as you survey the area.
    Where is the closest drinkable water?
    How do I avoid the most dangerous predator in the area?
    What is the most fortifiable defensive location around?
    Is something hidden from me here?
    Am I being tracked, followed, or watched

3- Ways of Necessity
    You must travel light to avoid Death’s detection. You cannot leave a heavy footprint in the world for it to track- take only what you can carry and improvise the rest. If you are careful, you can find all you require under the inattentive guard of the Earth’s many daughters. You can Forage for supplies in any environment, and can retrieve useful materials and tools beyond simple Rations. You can Forage while traveling instead of Scouting, or during downtime or Long Rests - for each 8 hour shift spent foraging, test Navigation, Nature, or Medicine. On a success you retrieve PROFd3 Rations worth of food (each Ration feeds one person for one day.) You may instead spend a Dungeon Turn (10 minutes) to make the same check and find one Ration. 

    Whenever you would find Rations, you may instead scavenge any Improvisation from the following list instead, replacing Rations 1:1. The Improvisations you produce are cobbled together from natural materials - work with the DM to describe what they actually are. You can’t carry more than PROF+WIS  Improvisations at a time, or the oldest breaks down into mulch and stone. Remember- you must travel light. At level 11, you may Forage for Advanced Improvisations.
7- Song of Seeking
    You are not the first to seek freedom from the gaze of the Gods. In the long and roving travels of your brethren, the paths they have trod are recorded in song, detailing searches in places foreign and alien for clues on how to escape the world. You know one song from the following list, and can learn others by visiting the associated location and writing it yourself, or singing with a fellow Survivor who already has (though finding those who hide from Death is no easy feat.)
11- Chase the Dawn
    It is told over cookfires amongst the nomads of Ishdara, when gathered around the Cairn of Ayin, of the time the honored Hero-Ancestor raced the Night. It was forbidden to seek beyond the edges of the world, but storm-lunged Ayin, Ayin of the stone-crushing step, outran the Law, chasing the Sun into the West faster than Night’s agents could follow. Only when she stopped to drink did the ice-death find her, and froze her bones far beyond the furthest maps. Around her empty Cairn, one can learn how she did it.

     You can run as fast as a stallion, moving at quadruple your speed. You blur at the edges when you run, giving attacks of opportunity against you disadvantage and making you immune to the effects of difficult terrain. While using this feature, you can move only in straight lines and must stop and take an additional move action to change directions. At the end of each Dungeon Turn that you used this feature, take a level of Exhaustion.
    Additionally, you treat every fall as if it was 10ft shorter, have perfect balance as long as you’re moving, and can hear a soft and defiant song from due West when you close your eyes and concentrate.
15- Pack Survival
    You have spent long as the hare, bounding quickly between brambles and hiding in burrows. Now you are the hound, a beast of many eyes, unseen as the predator is unseen. Even as Death hunts you, you have Him caged within your teeth. You can speak with dogs and wolves in the primal language of Howl, which cannot utter lies and which sounds as sweet as wine and incense to spirits and ghosts. You can designate others as part of your Pack if they have shed blood for you, and you them. You have the following benefits with your Packmates- you always know which direction they are from you; you can communicate with them using only facial expressions; you can smell if someone has ever harmed one of your Pack; you cannot die or be knocked unconscious while they live and fight (though as soon as combat ends or they all die, you begin dying if your HP is 0.) You have advantage on attacks against enemies adjacent to one of your Packmates.

 

 

Songs of Seeking

Threefold Mantra- Pranaghataka, the Lethal Fen

A repeated chant connecting one to the body and its ailments. Visiting the Fen subjects the singer to the most miserable experiences one could sustain and still live- all others are trivial compared to the memory. You are immune to the negative effects of pain (though not immune to pain.) You can identify poisonous plants and animals by sight, and given a cookfire and ten minutes can render them safe to eat.

The Romance of He- Girsalam, the veiled city

A syncopated poem detailing the love between the Hero-Ancestors He and Zayin and its tragedies. Girsalam is famous for its silk and its dyes, as well as the great stone dome He petitioned the Gods to erect around it. Shadow and color are well known to the singer of the Romance. You can see through smoke, silk, and fog as though it were rippling water. You can spend an hour with dyes and paints to create camouflaging patterns that grant advantage on the next Stealth check rolled.

Khakhassia Dies Alone- Ura-Hu, city of singing ice

Sung most often by a duet, each singing on the exhale while the other creates gruff overtones on the inhale. Haunting and empty when sung alone. A dirge for a young man freezing atop the falls overlooking his home as his love dances her wedding dance to another. Ura-Hu is the furthest north that man has yet ventured, and is a land buried in miles of spired ice and stalked by many-legged Dooms protecting borders and boundaries long lost to the winds. You can stuff a coat with dried grasses to grant its wearer immunity to the effects of cold weather. If you clap into the wind, it changes direction to point towards the nearest human settlement. You can walk atop snow without leaving tracks.

Hymn to the Weeping Goddess - Reshdaga, city of slaves

A polyrhythmic work song shared surreptitiously by the collared of the new Arikan Empire, pleading for a great figure from the sea to grant them respite either through a magical spell, or by devouring them below the waves. Reshdaga grows rapidly through conquest under its new king, son of the last living Hero-Ancestor Resh Thousand-Faces, having allegedly deposed her rule. You can hold your breath underwater for an hour as long as you stay in sunlight. Fish will swim into your outstretched palm and rest peacefully there. If you step into a group of ten or more people, no-one notices there’s one more than there should be. 

Gimel Goes Drinking Thrice - the Brass Isle of Yiki

It’s a drinking song obviously, a loud and repetitive recounting of the Hero-Ancestor Gimel of the Tower performing ad-libbed feats of drunken might. Known by everyone everywhere, but the only version of use to your quest comes from the Brass Isle, where the long-cooled slag of some antediluvian cataclysm left a bowl of brass in the middle of an otherwise unbroken ocean. Pirates and traders from every port between Reshdaga and Gishum meet here to swap booze-laden tales of adventure. You can take a swig of something alcoholic as a Bonus Action to restore 1d4+XHA HP and increase your critical fumble range by 1 (until you sober up during the next Long Rest.) Pour a drink into a brass cup and you can instantly tell if it's poisoned or unsafe by the discoloration of the metal. Your hands are immune to heat (but not fire damage) and can grasp burning metal without pain.

Silver-and-Black Katajja- the Forests of Artos, where stars die

When sung properly, requires mastery of the resonant throat-singing of the local peoples and makes the ribs of listeners shiver in their chests. In the rain-darkened forests in the far western world, decommissioned stars are gently landed amongst the sky-raking redwoods and ancient grottos. Only here are their shimmering spires dwarfed by the tree canopy and hidden from outside eyes. Bears treat you with respect while singing, and will leave you alone if you do not antagonize them. You can see as well in starlight as in broad daylight, and in total blackness, a single tiny pinprick illuminates the south-western sky for only you. If you are beneath tree cover and even momentarily unobserved, you can vanish into the canopy and re-emerge anywhere else within shouting distance and under the forest’s shade.