Soul Warden (5e Class)

Soul Warden

One human fights six kobolds. As he draws his sword, ordering a charge, three spirits appear. One takes the form of a wolf, another, a bear, and the last is a warhorse. The materialized ghosts trample and tear up the smaller reptilian creatures at the human's command. With a flick of his blade, ethereal chains lash out from the human's body at the forms he had called forth, dragging them back into his body. A bit exhausted by the effort, he sags a bit before continuing on his treacherous path.

An elf nearing the end at the bite of a dragon is replaced by a hound. The dog is ethereal, appearing not of this world. Upon the jaws closing on it, it explodes with a burst of soul energy, blasting the dragon back, while the elf safely teleported away from danger. The force was enough to have knocked a few of the dragon's teeth loose. Its scaled face shows the slightest of wariness now as the elf's shape seems to bolster and project an image behind him: that of a fallen dragon slayer.

Jailer of Spirits

You are more than just one soul; you have become a prison for those who fell at your power and skill. They are forced to obey you after death as you both the prison and the warden. Your body is their new eternal home, and you may use your prisoners as you wish, be it slaves or shields. Your powers are seen as heresy and many will try to stop you.

Creating a Soul Warden

By Catherine O'Connor

When making a soul warden, consider the following questions: Why and how did you come to gain this power allowing you to imprison the souls of others, preventing them from eternal rest? For what do you require their strength? Are you too weak to accomplish your goals on your own? Do you recognize a merit to using ghosts? Have you belief in the power of the fury of the ethereal? How has this power affected your mind? Perhaps you seem to talk to yourself a lot, when you are in fact conversing with spirits. Maybe you don't get a lot of sleep since you have to keep a good watch on these you house in yourself, lest they take over your body.

Quick Build

You can make a soul warden quickly by following these suggestions. First, Constitution should be your highest ability score, followed by Charisma. Second, choose the haunted one background.

Class Features

As a Soul Warden you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d8 per Soul Warden level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + Constitution modifier per Soul Warden level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: Any nonmetal armor
Weapons: Martial melee, simple range
Tools: Pick one from Calligrapher's supplies, Alchemist’s supplies, Woodcarver’s tools, Poisoner’s kit, Herbalism kit
Saving Throws: Charisma and Constitution
Skills: Pick two from Arcana, Athletics, Insight, Perception, Persuasion, Stealth, and Deception

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) Leather armor or (b) Hide armor
• (a) Light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) Martial melee weapon
• (a) Calligrapher's kit or (b) Woodcarver's tools
• Two daggers

Table: The Soul Warden

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Cantrips Known	Souls Bound	Features	—Spell Slots per Spell Level—
					1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
1st	+2	0	3	Binding Imprisonment, Channel Soul	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+2	2	4	Spellcasting	2	—	—	—	—
3rd	+2	2	4	Warden Path	3	—	—	—	—
4th	+2	2	5	Ability Score Improvement	3	—	—	—	—
5th	+3	3	5	—	4	2	—	—	—
6th	+3	3	6	Warden Path Feature	4	2	—	—	—
7th	+3	3	6	Soul Armor	4	3	—	—	—
8th	+3	3	7	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	—	—	—
9th	+4	3	7	—	4	3	2	—	—
10th	+4	3	8	Warden Path Feature	4	3	2	—	—
11th	+4	4	8	Death Billow	4	3	3	—	—
12th	+4	4	9	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	—	—
13th	+5	4	9	—	4	3	3	1	—
14th	+5	4	10	Warden Path Feature	4	3	3	1	—
15th	+5	4	10	One With Souls	4	3	3	2	—
16th	+5	4	11	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	2	—
17th	+6	4	11	—	4	3	3	3	1
18th	+6	4	12	Warden Path Feature	4	3	3	3	1
19th	+6	4	12	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	3	2
20th	+6	4	13	Wave Of Death	4	3	3	3	2

Binding Imprisonment

Starting 1st level, you know the ritual chant which binds a soul to your body. As an action, you may absorb the life essence of an unconscious creature at 0 hit points within 5 feet of you. That creature then dies and cannot be revived in any way other than the wish spell, unless you willingly unbind the soul from yourself or release it with a bonus action. This trait cannot take the life essence of undead or living constructs. At 1st level, you can store 3 souls in yourself. The amount of souls you can bind and imprison increases as you gain levels in the soul warden class, as written under the Souls Bound column on the soul warden table. For each soul bound to you, you may make a soul rune by etching a rune onto a piece of wood or drawing it onto a stone or paper.

Soul Escape

These souls do not belong to you and they do not like being tethered to you either all the time. They will make many attempts to escape from your body while your guard is down. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, incapacitated, or unconscious, you must make a Constitution saving throw equal with a DC equal to 8 + the amount of souls you have bound to you currently. On a failed save, one soul escapes its binding and leaves your prison. On success, you manage to retain all your bound souls. You must make this saving throw for every turn you are incapacitated, or unconscious, until you have no more souls bound to you.

Channel Soul

Starting 1st level, you can make use of the souls you collected, utilizing them as fuel to augment your power. You can utilize the souls you have bound for various channel features. You start knowing three such features: Soul Wisp, Soul Burst, and Soul Enhance. You learn more channel features as you gain levels in this class.
When you expend a soul to channel, it is consumed and the creature it came from can no longer be bought back to life save for means by the wish spell. Some of your channel features require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature's effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:
Channel Save DC = 8 + Charisma modifier + Proficiency Bonus
·Soul Wisp: You can spend 1 bound soul to take the Disengage action as a bonus action on your turn, and your movement is doubled for the turn.
·Soul Burst: You can spend 1 bound soul to make a little grenade-like projectile out of its energy. Choose a point within 30 feet of you, which you throw the little bomb to. All creatures within 10 feet of the point of impact take 1d4 force damage.
·Soul Enhance: You can spend 1 bound soul to bolster your own body, giving yourself a +1 bonus to AC until the end of your next turn.

Spellcasting

Starting 2nd level, the power of souls gets you access to magic. As this is an impromptu method of accessing magic and shaping it, however, your unorthodox way of casting has added price.

Cantrips

At 1st level, you know three cantrips which you may choose from the Soul Warden Spell List. You learn additional cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the soul warden table.

Casting Spells

The soul warden table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend abound soul to open up your magical channels. Then you must expend a spell slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. You prepare the list of soul warden spells that are available for you to cast, detailed at the bottom of the page. To do so, choose a number of spells from the Soul Warden Spell List equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. You spend one minute preparing each spell, binding it to the runes which control the soul energy you expend.

Learning Spells of 1st Level and Higher

Each time you gain access to a new level of spellcasting, you know all the available spells from the Soul Warden Spell List of the appropriate level.

Spellcasting Ability

You use Charisma as your spellcasting ability for your soul warden spells, since the power of your spells relies on your ability to keep the souls within you compliant and submissive. You use your Charisma whenever a spell calls for your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a soul warden spell cast and for setting an attack roll for one.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier

Spellcasting Focus

You can use your soul runes as foci for your soul warden spells. These runes are destroyed upon conclusion of the spell, as the soul it bound is gone.

Warden Path

At 3rd level, you select one of the three paths a soul warden must follow, Soul Puppeteer, The Good Warden, or One Man Army . You gain additional class features at 6th, 10th, 14th and 18th levels.

Ability Score Increase

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of you choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Soul Armor

Bearing so many souls on your person is not without its eccentric developments. Your body slowly emits seepage of soul energy from what you have amassed, creating a sort of buffer for you from certain effects of the dead, as well as a fearsome amalgamated appearance in spirits eyes. You gain resistance to necrotic damage. Any creature that can see into the Ethereal Plane sees you as one size larger than you really are.

Death Billow

Using the power of souls and breaking them, you can send a powerful rush of energy at enemies and attack their spirit. Beginning 11th level, you can use your action to spend 5 bound souls and channel the life essence into destructive energy, directing it in a 60 by 15 feet thick line from yourself in a direction of your choice. Creatures within range must attempt a Wisdom saving throw of DC 8 + your Charisma modifier + your Constitution modifier. On a failed save, they take 4d6 force damage and are unable to regain hit points until the beginning of your next turn. On success, they take half the damage and are unaffected further.

One With Souls

Starting 15th level, your body slowly changes from all the spiritual matter you have consumed and kept locked up in yourself. You no longer age, nor die of old age. In addition, you no longer need food or water.

Wave Of Death

When up against a wall, you're sure as hell not going to go alone. All those you retained your captives will go with you. Starting 20th level, if you are going to be reduced to 0 hit points, you may expend a reaction, just before you start death saving throws, to spend all your bound souls to create a large shock wave out from you for up to 10 feet, dealing 4d4 force damage to all creatures within range. You must have at least one bound soul to use this feature. For every additional soul you spend, the range and damage of the shockwave increases, as shown on the table below.

Table: Wave of Death

Bound Souls	Radius	Damage
1	10 ft	4d4
2	15 ft	5d4
3	20 ft	6d4
4	25 ft	7d4
5	30 ft	8d4
6	35 ft	9d4
7	40 ft	10d4
8	45 ft	11d4
9	50 ft	12d4
10	55 ft	13d4
11	60 ft	14d4
12	75 ft	15d4
13	80 ft	16d4

Soul Puppeteer

You conjure souls up for your own use, materializing their original forms to be utilized.

Manifest Minor Form

Starting 3rd level, you can shape souls into small forms which you can utilize like a master. You can summon a bound soul in your possession to an unoccupied space within 10 feet of you, and have it take the form of a wolf, goat, raven, sea horse or frog. Using the soul rune to which it is tethered, you can control it and it must do its best to follow your commands. It is considered friendly to you and other creatures friendly to you. In combat, the soul shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. The only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take one of the actions in its stat block or to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action. When its hit points are reduced to 0, it is destroyed and the bound soul is destroyed. While the soul is summoned, you cannot use it for Channel Soul and it becomes locked until you either dispel it with a bonus action or it is destroyed. At 3rd level, you can only summon one soul. You can summon 2 at 9th level, and 3 at 17th level.

Manipulator

Starting 6th level, you are very good at utilizing others, having experience from using these souls. Once per turn, you can use the Help action by using your bonus action. You also gain proficiency in the Persuasion and Intimidation skills. If you are already proficient in these skills, you can instead double your proficiency bonus.

Projection

Starting 10th level, you can manifest an illusion using a soul. Due to the harsh energies made by this projection, minds will be bent by your trickery. You may spend one bound soul and summon forth its form to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you. It retains all its game statistics from when it was alive, but its type is changed to undead. Its body now is ephemeral and wispy, like a specter. It cannot wear or carry anything and can move through creatures and objects as difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it spends its turn inside an object. It cannot attack or speak. As an action, you can see and hear what it is hearing in an instance, as though it told you through telepathy. As a bonus action, you can move the projection up to 30 feet. Any creature that ends their turn within 10 feet of the projection takes 4d6 psychic damage. You may only control an amount of projections at a time equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier.

Extend Control

Starting 14th level, your control over spirits results in some odd phenomena around you, allowing you to influence the material world with your spirit powers. You learn the mage hand cantrip and can cast it without verbal or somatic components. Additionally, when you cast a spell that can charm a creature, you can have the creature roll with disadvantage on the saving throw.

Diversion

Starting 18th level, your puppets can take the hits for you no problem, even when they haven't taken to the stage. You may spend 1 bound soul. Until the beginning of your next turn, your hit points cannot go below 1.

One Man Army

The souls come to your aid and empower you with their essence, making you more than one entity.

Embody

Starting 3rd level, you can manifest properties of souls you have taken captive and use their powers for your own. You may expend one bound soul and have your DM choose one random skill, sense or feature from the soul's original stat block. You gain that property and it lasts until the end of your next long rest. As it is taxing to channel the souls this way and add their parts to your own, you may only use this feature an amount of times equal to your Constitution modifier before you must finish a long rest.

Infusion

Starting 6th level, you may channel souls into your weapons to make them more powerful. By spending 1 bound soul as a bonus action, you may infuse the essence of life into one set of armor or a weapon of your choice. If you choose armor, you gain a +1 bonus to your Armor Class. If you choose a weapon, you get a +2 bonus to attack rolls using the weapon, and its attacks are considered magical. These effects last until the end of your next long rest.

Soul Armiger

Starting 10th level, you have your arsenal with you at all times, and they're souls. As an action, you may expend an amount of bound souls equal to half your soul warden level. You create an equal amount of floating, spectral weapons from the sacrificed soul energy within 60 feet of you. When you use this feature, you can make a melee spell attack against a creature within 5 feet of each of the weapons. On a hit, the weapons deal their normal damage + your Charisma modifier, and the attacks count as magical. As a bonus action on your turn, you can move up an amount of weapons equal to your Charisma modifier up to 20 feet each and repeat the attack against a creature within 5 feet of it. You may dispel any amount of weapons you choose as an action. These soul weapons have a duration of 1 minute.

Soul Shape

Starting 14th level, your own soul shape is augmented by the soul energy you have absorbed using this power, making your body more ethereal. You gain resistance to non-magical bludgeoning, slashing and piercing damage.

Soul Regeneration

You can stand alone by devouring the souls of those you capture, for you are the one man army. Starting 18th level, when you take damage, as a reaction, you may expend one bound soul and regain hit points equal to your soul warden level.

The Good Warden

You are a warden first and foremost. While the ones you've caught languish, you draw great pride and pleasure in keeping them locked up as well as catching new inmates.

The Yard

When you stop a riot or escape, that is when you get a brief high off your superiority and the anguish of those poor souls trapped in you. Starting 3rd level, every time you succeed the saving throw to prevent Soul Escape, you gain advantage on your next saving throw, attack roll, or ability check.

Soul Prison

Your soul is a prison, a world within itself. Starting 6th level, can shape the world within yourself to fit a certain theme, with differing effects on your prisoners, as well as yourself. Choose one theme from the list. You may change this theme as part of a long rest when you take at least an hour meditating and rearranging your soul prison.

Themes:

• Dungeon: The inside of your soul prison is a dismal place, meant to drain the fighting spirit of those trying to escape you. You get a +2 bonus to your rolls when forced to prevent Soul Escape.
• Asphodel: Your soul prison is an endless plain, simply made for expediency to keep your mind on other things. You get advantage on saving throws to maintain spell concentration.
• Palace: You create a marvelous mansion in which to house your souls, making them more cooperative. When you use a Channel Soul feature that does damage, you may increase the damage die by 1 (1d4=>1d6, etc.).

Thrill Hunting

Starting 10th level, you get the thrill a hunter does pursuing and ensnaring your prey. When you capture a soul in your Binding Imprisonment, you gain an amount of temporary hit points equal to your soul warden level. These hit points last until the end of your next short or long rest.

Forced Labor

Starting 14th level, you can abuse your power over the souls you control by making them work overtime being your shield. You may expend 1 bound soul to create a spectral shield with a 10 foot diameter and 1d10 hit points. It has an Armor Class of 14 and it moves with you. It is resistant to nonmagical slashing, bludgeoning and piercing damage. On each of your turns, you must expend at least 1 bound soul to maintain this shield. For every soul you spend above the first, the diameter of the shield increases by 5 feet and it gains an additional 1d10 hit points.

Joyous Capture

The adrenaline as a warden is enough to give you a jolt and prevent further escape immediately. Starting 18th level, if you succeed the saving throw to prevent Soul Escape and you have 0 hit points, you instantly regain 1 hit point.

Soul Warden Spell List

Cantrips

chill touch, eldritch blast, glyph trap, shocking grasp , sword burst, poison spray, true strike, toll the dead, magic stone, mending

1st Level

disguise self, entangle, sleep, absorb elements, cause fear, hex, inflict wounds, sanctuary, zephyr strike

2nd Level

hold person, shadow blade, phantasmal force, misty step, heat metal, arcane lock, enhance ability

3rd Level

magic circle, counterspell, vampiric touch, hunger of hadar, bestow curse

4th Level

blight, shadow of moil, hallucinatory terrain, greater invisibility, freedom of movement, fabricate, confusion

5th Level

awaken, bigby's hand, contact other plane, reincarnate, destructive wave, hold monster, synaptic static, insect plague, geas

Multiclassing

Prerequisites. To qualify for multiclassing into the Soul Warden class, you must meet these prerequisites: 15 Charisma and Constitution

Proficiencies. When you multiclasss into the Soul Warden class, you gain the following proficiencies: Strength or Charisma saving throws, choose one.

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