Crucifix (5e Class)

Crucifix

Frail looking human absorbs another hit aimed at his ally, who is about to bleed out. Standing on last leg and Seeing no other options, humans kneels, then places his hand on the cruciform he bears on his chest. As his cruciform starts to glow, he puts his hand on the wounded ally, quickly running out of his own vital energy as he pushes it into his elf friend. As human's concentration snaps and he temporarily succumbs to death, his companion opens her eyes, her wounds closed up to safe margins.

Bloodied dwarf, barely standing on his legs, impales simmilarly wounded orc in front of him, finally finishing him off. As he does so, dwarf's cruciform shines crimson red and starts to leach vitality from now deceaced orc, regenerating dwarf's wounds.

Cruciform and enchanted blade falls to the ground as their bearer is desintegrated by a powerful spell cast from the villaneous mage, who steps towards bearer's now terrified allies. As they grieve death of their friend, cruciform blows up in near radiant green light, and in a second the deceased dragonborn reforms where her body was turned to ash, her blade in her hands. Before wizard can react, She swings her blade, decapitating the evil wizard in a single blow.

Cursed to protect

Immortal guardians against evil, crucifixes have been condemned to a ritual that made them semi-immortal in order to combat never-ending hordes of devils and demons. Trading ability to feel strong emotions and their health, crucifixes become able to fight off demonic menace as when a normal hero would fall and die, crucifix would simply reanimate themselves to continue fighting- or on failure, will get another chance to fight. Due to this, crucifixes are extremily dangerous enemies to be against, being exceptionally hard to fully kill the crucifix but not that hard to contain it once they have been fully taken down.

Life of a crucifix consists of fighting, dying, reviving and fighting on repeat, without stopping. This loop easily puts its toll on the cruciform bearers, slowly driving them insane as time passes by. It is extremily rare for a crucifix to keep a keen mind for three centuries and there are only few extremily rare cases when someone has retained (at least, partially retained) their sanity for over four centuries.

Despite this, Crucifixes are only line of defence for normal population in worlds where demons and devils are as common as wild predators, As non-cruciform heroes will sooner or later perish, while crucifixes can continue fighting and defending their people for much longer periods than normal heroes are allowed to.

Creating a Crucifix

When you start creating a crucifix character, you have to think about a reason as to why they decided to become affiliated with cruciform. Where they driven to do so in order to protect their family from demons, or maybe as a retribution for their deaths. Maybe you were compelled to do so for greater good, or you decided to stand up and fight against supernatural threats that daily harrassed commoners. In addition, you have to consider how did you get possession of a cruciform- was it awarded to you for your heroism in defending your village or town, so you could become eternal defender of your home location? Or were you given it as an innitiation, when you were forced to involuntarily join crucifixes? or maybe you found it yourself, abandoned by a demon once they fully killed previous recipient of the cruciform.

Quick Build

You can make a Crucifix quickly by following these suggestions. First, Strength or Dexterity should be your highest ability score, followed by Constitution. Second, choose the Haunted one background. Third, choose either a scale mail if you have at least 14 dexterity or you chose dexterity as your highest ability score and chain mail if you chose strength as your highest ability score, choose either martial weapon and shield if you want to enchance your defense so you are able to frontline better, longbow and shortsword if you plan to be a marksman and support or two martial weapons if you plan to maximize your attacks and damage to act as a shock attacker or skirmisher.

Class Features

As a Crucifix you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d4 per Crucifix level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 4 + Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d4 (or 3) + Constitution modifier per Crucifix level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: All armor, Shields
Weapons: Martial weapons, Simple weapons
Tools: none
Saving Throws: Dexterity, Wisdom
Skills: Choose two from Athletics, Acrobatics, Arcana, Religion, Survival, Medicine

Equipment

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

• (a) Scale mail or (b) Chain mail
• (a) One martial melee weapon and a Shield or (b) Longbow, Shortsword and Quiver with 20 Arrows or (c) Two martial or simple melee weapons
• (a) Explorer's pack or (b) Dungeoneer's pack
• Cruciform
• If you are using starting wealth, you have 4d4x10gp in funds.

Table: The Crucifix

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features	Revival Sturdiness
1st	+2	Reanimating Fortitude, Rejuvenetion, Accelerated Revival, Crucified	1	1
2nd	+2	Fighting Style, Vitality Storage	1	2
3rd	+2	Crucial Pax	1	3
4th	+2	Ability Score Improvement, Skill Acqusition, Mighty Resistance (1 use, turns roll into 15)	2	4
5th	+3	—	2	5
6th	+3	Energy Leach	2	6
7th	+3	Crucial Pax Feature	3	7
8th	+3	Ability Score Improvement	3	8
9th	+4	Mighty Resistance (2 uses, turns roll into 15), Concentrated Animation (1 round)	3	9
10th	+4	Imbuement, Crucial Pax Feature	4	10
11th	+4	—	4	11
12th	+4	Ability Score Improvement	4	11
13th	+5	Concentrated Animation (2 rounds)	5	12
14th	+5	Physical Hardening	5	12
15th	+5	Crucial Pax Feature	5	13
16th	+5	Ability Score Improvement	6	13
17th	+6	Raging Revival, Concentrated Animation (3 rounds)	6	14
18th	+6	Mighty Resistance (2 uses, turns roll into 20)	6	14
19th	+6	Ability Score Improvement, Crucial Pax Feature	7	15
20th	+6	Legendary Action (1/turn)	8	15

Crucified

You have undergone a sinister ritual, simultaniously blessing and cursing you with undeath. When you gain 1st level in this class, a magical cruciform gets attuned and attached to your heart. Nothing can disconnect you from your cruciform as long as your heart is still intact, if it is not then cruciform deattaches from your body and can be picked up and carried by others. Cruciform takes your soul and stores it inside it when you die, taking priority from any other feature, ability, or magical spell.

Cruciform is purely magical device, so it can't function while inside zero magic zone. While you are in zero magic zone, you can't use any features granted to you by crucifix class. Simmilarly, if your cruciform is removed from you with a key (how to do so is explaned at the end of class description), you lose all features gained from crucifix class untill you reattach new crusiform to yourself, which is done by simply pressing one at your chest where your heart resides.

Reanimating Fortitude

As cruciform was attached to your body, you lost your ability to fully die while it is active. You become humanoid-undead creature, meaning that most healing spells do not work on you. Spell that lets you regain hit points can stabilize you if you are currently on 0 hit points and bleeding out.

Beginning from 1st level, When you drop to 0 hit points, you do not lose conciousness- instead, you simply become incapacited as your soul is transfered into your crucifix, unable to communicate or act but still aware of your surroundings and able to think and plan. You make death saving throws as normal, and after you stabilize, die, or your body gets seperated from your cruciform, you either: you are revived at the start of your next turn, regaining hit points equal to your Revival Sturdiness (As shown in Revival Sturdiness column in crucifix table) and gaining 2 levels of exhaustion if you are stable at the end of this turn, you are revived after 2 turns pass (at the start of your turn after 2 turns pass), regaining hit points equal to your Revival Sturdiness and gaining 2 levels of exhaustion if you are dead at the end of this turn, or you are revived after 2 turns pass (at the start of your turn after 2 turns pass), regaining one hit point and gaining 3 levels of exhaustion if your cruciform is no longer connected to your body (body is reformed on cruciform). If revival would instantly kill you again (such as gainin 6th level of exhaustion, having your ability score reduced to 0, etc.), Then you are not revived until you are rid of those conditions.

While you are unable to reanimate, You can still gain benefit of short rest after 8 hours pass and benefit of long rest after 24 hours pass if you are constantly exposed to air and low heat source (such as bright sunlight or small campfire)). You can Finish multiple short rests before you get to finish your long rest. In addition, whenever you finish a short rest, you reduce your exhaustion by 1 level and when you finish a long rest you reduce your exhaustion by 5 levels. You also don't need to eat or drink as long as you get 1 hour exposure to sunlight or low heat source (small campfire or better).

Rejuvenetion

Your cruciform is capable of storing up your vitality inside of it to further boost you when it reanimates you. Your Rejuvenetion feature can hold amount of d4's equal to number shown in Rejuvenetion column in Crucifix table. Starting from 1st level, whenever your Reanimating Fortitude restores you to life, you can expend any amount of d4's from Rejuvenetion feature, roll them and regain extra hit points equal to numbers rolled. You can also expend one d4 to reduce exhaustion levels gained by using Reanimating Fortitude Feature by 1.

You restore 1 rejuvenetion die when you finish a short rest and you restore half (rounded up) when you finish a long rest.

Accelerated Revival

Because your cruciform needs you dead or stable to reanimate you, it has increased your metabolism so you stabilize or die quicker than normal folk. Starting from 1st level, Whenever you start your turn on 0 hit points and are neither dead or stabilized, You make two Death Saving Throws instead of one. You make three Death Saving Throws when you reach 7th level, you make four Death Saving Throws when you reach 13th level and you make Death Saving Throws with advantage when you reach 19th level.

Fighting Style

You adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can't take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

Archery: You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.

Defense: While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.

Dueling: When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

Great Weapon Fighting: When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.

Protection: When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.

Two-Weapon Fighting: When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.

Vitality Storage

Starting from 2nd level, you learn how to allow cruciform to manipulate your body's internal energy reserves, allowing it to actively revitalize you in the middle of a combat. When you finish a long rest, you can transfer your d4 hit dice equal to Rejuvenetion number (as shown in Rejuvenetion column in Crucifix table) under Vitality Storage. While your Vitality Storage has at least one die inside it, you can use your bonus action to expend and roll any amount of dice from your Vitality Storage, regaining that much hit points.

Crucial Pax

At 3rd level level, you chose a Crucial Pax, a special alterrations to your cruciform to better suit your capabilities. Choose between Pax of the Bond, Pax of the Ravager, or Pax of the Sentinel, All detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd leve; and again at 7th, 10th, 15th, and 19th levels.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your 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.

Skill Acqusition

As your body requires minimal effort to sustain itself, and because your cruciform is capable of enchancing your mind, you are capable of learning new skills arther quickly. Whenever you gain Ability Score Improvement Feature, You can choose one skill you don't have proficiency in to gain proficiency in. After you reach 10th level, you can use this feature to gain expertise in skills you don't have expertise in but are proficient in.

Mighty Resistance

You learned how to collect your resolve into your cruciform, allowing it to give you a boost to push yourself to your maximum limit. Beginning from 4th level, whenever you fail a saving throw, you can use this feature to treat number you rolled on your saving throw as 15. You can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest.

You gain additional use of this feature between long rests when you reach 9th level, after which finishing a long rest restores all expended uses of this feature. When you reach 14th level, when you use this feature you treat number you rolled on a saving throw as 20 instead of 15.

Energy Leach

As you grow more accustomed to bearing a cruciform, your ability to manipulate and channel it also becomes stronger. Starting from 6th level, whenever you score a critical hit or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a melee weapon attack, you regain 2d4+Constitution Modifier hit points. This feature does not work on Constructs.

You can also trigger this feature without scoring a critical hit or reducing a creature to 0 hit points with a melee weapon attack. To do so, you must hit a creature with a melee weapon attack. This feature also doesn ot work on Constructs.

Once you use this feature to do so, You can't do it again until you finish a long rest. You can use this feature twice between long rests when you reach 12th level and thrice between long rests when you reach 18th level.

Concentrated Animation

Starting from 9th level, you become capable of concentrating your now dying body's energies back into its musles, allowing you to control it while your soul transfers into cruciform. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, you can choose to activate this feature, not subjecting you to incapacitation from your Reanimating Fortitude Feature. Until end of your next turn, as long as your body is not dead, you can remain active and capable of using actions, bonus actions and reactions. Taking damage gives you failed death saving throw (as usual), taking a critical hit gives you two failed death saving throws and taking damage that exceeds your hit point maximum instantly kills you. Once this feature ends or your body dies, you become incapacited again. You can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest.

You can sustain yourself for two turns when you reach 13th level and for three rounds when you reach 17th level.

This feature instantly deactivates when you enter zero magic zone.

Imbuement

Starting from 10th level, your cruciform becomes able to imbue your weapons with bit of your vitality so they become able to overcome physical resistances. All weapon attacks that you make are considered magical to overcome resistance or immunity against nonmagical bludgeoning, slashing or piercing damage.

Physical Hardening

As your cruciform gets better hold on your body, you become stronger, stiffer and more hardened, giving you ability to resist physical damage better and to dish it out better. When you reach 14th level, whenever you are hit with an attack you can use a reaction to fully negate nonmagical bludgeoning, slashing or piercing damage on triggering attack. whenever you make a weapon attack you can add your proficiency modifier to the damage roll of that attack.

Raging Revival

You have learned how to concentrate so much energy into your cruciform that it becomes capable of reanimating you in a blink of an eye, temporarily empowering you to push beyond normal mortal limits. Starting from 17th level, On start of your turn, You can choose to activate this feature, instantly reanimating with double your Revival Hardness hit points using your Reanimating Fortitude feature, even if you would normally instantly die when revived. Until end of your next turn or until your hit points are reduced to 0, All your ability scores are reset to their normal values, You ignore exhaustion, All ongoing diseases and conditions are temporarily removed, you gain advantage on all ability checks and saving throws and once a turn, whenever you score a hit with a weapon attack, yau can turn that hit into a critical hit. You can combine Concentrated Animation with this feature to extend its duration even when your hit points are reduced to 0.

All ongoing conditions and diceases, if their duration have not ended, are reactivated, your ability scores revert back to what they were before activating this feature, exhastuion becomes active again once this feature ends, possibly instantly killing you.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest. If you enter a zero magic zone while this feature is active, This feature instantly ends.

Legendary Action

Empowered by your cruciform, you have nearly reached a point of magical legendariness, allowing you to perform feats little bit simmilar to real legendary creatures. At 20th level, whenver another creature ends their turn, you can use your legendary action to either move up to your walking speed and make one weapon attack against any creature of your choice (following normal attacking rules), you can use your legendary action to use your Vitality Storage Feature's bonus action, or you can use your legendary action to activate your Reanimating Fortitude feature as if you were stable (if cruciform is connected to your heart) or body is destroyed (if cruciform is not connected to your heart) OR Raging Revival Feature (if you still have use of it left), stand up, move up to half your walking speed and make one weapon attack against any creature of your choice (following normal attacking rules).

Once you use your Legendary action, you can't use it again until end of your next turn.

Pax of the Sentinel

Sentinel Crucifixes focus on protecting their allies in combat, taking advantage of their ability to soak up damage and interupt enemy advance due to their increased vitality and improved opportunity attacks.

Healthy

Beginning from 3rd level, as you embark on this pax you learn how to retain more vitality, both in your body and in cruciform. You increase your hit point maximum by 3 and every time you gain a level in Crucifix class you increase your hit point maximum by 1. In addition, your Vitality Storage Feature and Rejuvenetion feature both use d6 instead of d4.

Damage Interception

Starting from 7th level, whenver your ally is within 5 ft of you takes damage, you can use your reaction to take all damage that your ally would take while ally takes no damage. When you reach 14th level, you gain extra reaction which you can only use to activate this feature.

Head On

As you progress through your pax, you learn how to interupt enemy from retreating once they engage in melee combat with you. Beginning from 10th level, you can make opportunity attacks against creatures who took disengage action. In addition, when you hit an enemy with your opportunity attack, that creature's walking speed drops to 0 until end of their turn.

Zone Control

Starting from 15th level, you know how to control much wider area around you than your weapon reach allows you so no enemies can get past your line. Your opportunity attacks can now also be triggered when any creature goes further than 15 ft from you when they were closer than 15 ft initially. When you use this feature, you can move up your full walking speed towards triggering creature and make a weapon attack against that creature. You use your reaction before triggering creature continues its movement away from you and it continues its movement once you miss or hit your attack.

High Guard

You fully maximize your reflexes to better help your comrades in battle. As you reach 19th level, you gain extra reaction to use on each of your turns.

Pax of the ravager

Ravager Crucifixes specialize in dealing damage to enemy combatants or debilitating them by expending their vitality. They are also more capable of regaining lost hit points with attacks.

Push The Blade

Starting from 3rd level, you learn how to give exceptional boost to your muscles in order to deliver stronger than usual blows. When you hit an enemy with melee weapon attack, you can expend any amount of dice from Vitality Storage Feature, adding that many d4's to damage roll of the attack.

Extra damage die becomes d6 when you reach 7th level, d8 when you reach 10th level, d10 when you reach 15th level and d12 when you reach 19th level.

Passive Leaching

Beginning from 7th level, you learn how to leach tiny amounts of energy with each strike of your blade. When you land a hit using a melee weapon attack, you regain two hit points, four if hit is a critical hit.

When you reach 15th level, amount of hit points regained on normal hits is increased to three and amount of hit points regained on critical hits is increased to six.

Ruinous Wound

You learn how to strike even stronger with your own vitality, allowing you to tire your enemies to open up new opportunities to attack. Starting from 10th level, whenever you use Push The Blade feature, you can expend one die from Vitality Storage Feature to impose -2 penalty on struck creature's AC for one minute. This feature can't affect same creature twice, using it second time on same creature will only renew the duration of this feature.

Major Leaching

Beginning from 15th level, whenever you reduce a creature to 0 hit points, you can activate this feature to deal extra damage and regain hit points, extra damage and hit points regained equal to your Revival Sturdiness number.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Total Ruin

When you reach 19th level, you fully weaponize your vitality, allowing you to make superhumanly brutal strikes. When you land a hit with a melee weapon attack, you can expend two dice from Vitality Storage Feature to turn this hit into a critical hit.

Pax of the Bond

Bond crucifixes focus on sharing their vitality from others and reanimating much faster than other Crucial Paxes allow. Bond crucifixes can easily fulfill battle medic roles, which they usually do as unlike other paxes, this pax does not strengthen their melee attacks.

Share The Life

When you start pursuing this pax, your cruciform becomes able to share your vitality with other creatures. Starting from 3rd level, As an action on your turn, you can target one willing or incapacited creature within 5 ft of you. You can expend any amount of dice from your Vitality Storage Feature or Rejuvenetion Feature. You roll amount of d4's equal to amound of expended dice with this feature and give creature you targeted by you hit points equal to sum of d4 rolls. You roll d6 instead of d4 when determining how many hit points you restore to target creature when you reach 7th level, d8 when you reach 10th level, d10 when you reach 15th level and d12 when you reach 19th level.

Accelerated Death

When you reach 7th level, you only require two sucessful death saving throws to stabilize and two failed death saving throws to die, allowing you to use your Reanimating Fortitude feature faster.

Positivity

Beginning from 10th level, you are no longer considered as undead from your Reanimating Fortitude feature.

In addition, You learn Cure Wounds spell and you can cast them as a 2nd level spell using a bonus action and without expending a spell slot or requiring material components once. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for this feature. Once you use this feature you can't cast this spell again until you finish a long rest.

Cobmat Curator

Starting from 15th level, you can use bonus action instead of action to activate your Share The Life feature. In addition, Share The Life feature's range increases from 5ft to 15ft.

Pure Positivity

Once you reach 19th level, your vitality healing becomes extremily potent due to your cruciform. Whenever you roll any dice to restore hit points to any given creature, you can treat all dice rolls as if they have rolled maximum number possible.

Appendix A: Cruciform, how to remove and destroy it, How to multiclass into Crucifix.

Cruciforms can't be destroyed by any means short of wish spell while it is linked to a creature. In order to sever that link, a spellcaster must manifacture a special key that is capable of doing so. To create that key, spellcaster must experiment at least 8 hours with the Cruciform, then expend a spellslot to form a Cruciform Key. After creating a Cruciform Key, spellcaster can expend a spell slot to empower the key. once key is empowered to 20 levels worth of spell slots, it can be inserted in Cruciform to disable it, sending the soul to afterlife it body is currently dead or nonexistent or back to its body if body is alive. Cruciform Key can only deactivate Cruciform from which it was created from, no others.

Unlinked Cruciform can be destroyed by any normal means as Unlinked Cruciform is not magical, just a piece of metal. It can be smashed, melted, etc.

Creating a Cruciform is simmilar to Creating a key, but in this case spellcaster must have a instructions memorized or in written form somewhere handy and they must have access to 6th level spell slots. Once spellcaster accuires the instructions, they can use 1 hour to expend 6th level spell slot or higher to form a Cruciform, then expend 6th level or higher spell slots to fill it to 30 levels worth of spell slots. Once Cruciform is filled, it can now be bonded back to Crucifix who lost it or other Characters who have not yet taken a level in Crucifix class.

Cruciform bearer that has lost its Cruciform Can't use any of its features granted by Crucifix class. Cruciform bearer can regain those features by finding a spare Cruciform and reattaching it to his heart, creating a new link.

When multiclassing into a Crucifix, Character must keep the Cruciform on their body at all times. When they level up, Character may choose to attach Cruciform to their heart, gaining a level in Crucifix class. After that, they can gain levels in crucifix as normal.

Multiclassing

To multiclass into Crucifix, you must have cruciform in possession.

Prerequisites. To qualify for multiclassing into the Crucifix class, you must meet these prerequisites: Constitution 15, Dexterity Or Strength 15

Proficiencies. When you multiclass into the Crucifix class, you gain the following proficiencies: All armor, Shields, Martial weapons, Melee weapons

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