Nightbringer (5e Class)

The Nightbringer

Some slavers are forcing a large group of people to dig a quarry out in the hot desert when suddenly, the sky turns dark. It is only noon. A figure with crimson wings and blazing eyes descends from the darkened sky. A cloud of darkness falls over the quarry from him. When it clears, all that remains is the figure surrounded by blood and corpses of the slavers. The slaves look on in awe at the seeming dark angel of retribution. As the figure vanishes in ascension, light returns once more.

Dark Chaos

The dark angels, or angels of death even, who fly the world delivering a crude sense of divine justice, are the models for nightbringers. They are not evil nor good. It is simply the night of darkness, as the light of life is snuffed out, that trails them, which gives them a bad name. But do not mistaken them for grim reapers. While they bring darkness and often the end of lives, they are far from the ordained ferry men. They use the powers of darkness like a shroud to send off those who passed and will pass. Nightbringers are indeed an enigmatic form of warriors, as the darkness poured forth is like smoke from an internal engine within them, manifested of their own internal fears, rage, and who knows what else. But it is palpable and strong enough to force others to fall into blindness and even insanity.

Creating a Nightbringer

Nightbringer Yasuo by Alex Flores

Nightbringers are usually chaotic but not entirely prone to ill will. They can function fine as protectors but they often lose their tempers. To them, the end will always justify the means. Is your night bringer character a person looking to rectify a wrong upon them or someone else? What is this smothering, blinding rage your character wishes to deflect at? Did they live a life stolen or one never even had?

They are not always concerned with battle, often caught up in other things regarding existentialism and the nature of light and dark. Their skill set is broad, allowing them flexibility on the field, rather than being a simple attacker. With their enhanced senses, they often feel above battles that seem like an earthly squabble. To nightbringers that have literally soared above others, fighting is sometimes beneath them entirely.

Quick Build

You can make a nightbringer quickly by following these suggestions. First, Dexterity should be your highest ability score, followed by Charisma. Second, choose the Unknown or soldier backgrounds.

Class Features

As a Nightbringer you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d10 per Nightbringer level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + Constitution modifier per Nightbringer level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: None
Weapons: flails, glaives, greatswords, halberds, longswords, morningstars, pikes, war picks, warhammers, and greataxes
Tools: Playing cards, one musical instrument of your choice
Saving Throws: Dexterity, Charisma
Skills: Choose three from Athletics, deception, persuasion, acrobatics, intimidation, religion, stealth and religion

Equipment

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

• (a) a longsword or (b) a greatsword or (c) a greataxe
• one musical instrument
• If you are using starting wealth, you have 5d6 gp in funds.

Table: The Nightbringer

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Chaos Energy	Features	—Spell Slots per Spell Level—
				1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
1st	+2	5	Dark Senses, Nox Chao, Night Arts	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+2	5	Spellcasting	2	—	—	—	—
3rd	+2	5	Chaos Engine	3	—	—	—	—
4th	+2	10	Ability Score Improvement	3	—	—	—	—
5th	+3	10	—	4	2	—	—	—
6th	+3	15	Night Wings, Dark Senses improvement	4	2	—	—	—
7th	+3	15	Chaos Engine feature	4	3	—	—	—
8th	+3	20	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	—	—	—
9th	+4	20	—	4	3	2	—	—
10th	+4	25	Shadow Dance	4	3	2	—	—
11th	+4	25	Noctis Omnia	4	3	3	—	—
12th	+4	30	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	—	—
13th	+5	30	—	4	3	3	1	—
14th	+5	35	Chaos Slash, Extra Attack	4	3	3	1	—
15th	+5	35	Chaos Engine feature	4	3	3	2	—
16th	+5	40	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	2	—
17th	+6	40	Noctis Omnia improvement	4	3	3	3	1
18th	+6	45	Chaos Incarnate	4	3	3	3	1
19th	+6	45	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	3	2
20th	+6	50	Chaos Engine feature	4	3	3	3	2

Night Arts

Your practice of striking with the night gives you mastery of combat styles that use certain arms known as night weapons. These weapons are flails, glaives, greatswords, halberds, longswords, morningstars, pikes, war picks, warhammers, and greataxes.

While you are wielding only night weapons and you aren't wearing armor, you can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and night weapons.

Dark Senses

You feel and move with the chaos in the world around you. Armor is a nuisance that hampers that purity. starting 1st level, while unarmored, you cannot be surprised. Your senses are also sharpened to better protect yourself through reflex rather than armor. While unarmored, your Armor Class is equal to 10 + your Dexterity and Charisma modifiers.

Starting 6th level, your senses sharpen beyond battle and allow you to better sense other beings and see beyond darkness. While unarmored, you have advantage in all Wisdom (Insight) and (Perception) checks. You also gain 120 feet of darkvision, and you can see in both magical and nonmagical darkness.

Nox Chao

You embody the chaos of the night and all the darkness of the world that shaped matter alongside the light. This manifests in you as chaos energy. Your nightbringer level determines the number of energy you have, as shown in the Chaos Energy column of the Nightbringer table.
You can spend this energy to power up several features. You start knowing two such feature: Dark Synchronicity and Shadow Step. You learn more chaos energy features as you gain levels in this class. When you spend a chaos energy, it is unavailable until you finish a short or long rest, at the end of which you draw all chaos energy back into yourself. Some of your chaos energy features require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature's effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows: Chaos Save DC = 8 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus

Dark Synchronicity

You can spend one chaos energy to make your next Dexterity ability check with advantage. If you are in darkness, you can make the check with a bonus action.

Shadow Step

You can spend one chaos energy to take the Dodge action as a bonus action.

Spellcasting

Starting at 2nd level, with all the roiling energies you embody, you come to bear in turn the awesome powers of magic.

Casting Spells

The nightbringer 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 a spell slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. You can cast each spell as many times as your spell slots will allow.

Learning Spells of 1st Level and Higher

Each time you gain access to a new level of spell, you learn two spells chosen from the Nightbringer Spell List, detailed at the bottom of the page, of the appropriate level.

Spellcasting Ability

You use Charisma as your spellcasting ability for your spells, as you utilize an unpredictable font as your source of magic with chaotic will. 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 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 instrument as a spellcasting focus (See PH page 150) for your spells.

Chaos Engine

At 3rd level, you choose the engine you embody that generates the endless waves of unknown, chaotic energy. Choose between Rage Engine or Shadow Engine, both detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd and again at 7th, 15th and 20th level.

Ability Score Increase

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

Night Wings

Starting 6th level, you can shape the darkness around you to give yourself height and lift, making the terrifying image of a dark angel. You can spend 5 chaos energy to make wings of darkness appear on yourself as a bonus action, giving you a flying speed of 60 feet. You can dispel these wings without any action.

Shadow Dance

Starting 10th level, your whimsy with fighting makes it look like you dance with the shadows. This makes you much harder to hit. You can add your Charisma modifier to your Armor Class, and any Dexterity (Performance) check you make.

Noctis Omnia

Starting 11th level, you gain knowledge like the night and darkness, all encompassing. You gain proficiency in the Celestial, Primordial and Infernal languages. Additionally, you become immune to being charmed.
Starting 17th level you gain 60 feet of truesight.

Chaos Slash

Starting 14th level, you can gather an incredible amount of chaos within and strike with it to cleave reality. When you successfully hit another creature with a melee attack, you can spend 20 chaos points to deal an additional 8d8 radiant damage, and 8d8 Necrotic damage on top of your weapon's normal damage. This additional damage ignores resistance and immunity.

Extra Attack

The shadows empower you to strike faster, letting your blade make more attacks than usual. Beginning at 14th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. This extra attack is added on to the number of attacks you can make as part of the Rage Engine subclass listed below.

Chaos Incarnate

Starting 18th level, your powers over the chaos shape you into an amorphous being of the ever-changing darkness, the last visual your victims have. Shadowy chaos emanates from you and wreaths your whole body in an obscuring, billowing mass. You gain advantage in all Dexterity and Constitution saving throws. Additionally, while in darkness, you are considered invisible.

Rage Engine

As an embodiment of chaos, you are temperamental to the highest degree. The coursing of chaos in one makes for rage and explosive fighting. The nightbringers of rage are often more battle-oriented.

Chaotic Frenzy

Your mind is clouded in ways that prevent easy harm of your mental state, and allow you to rage like a madman. As a bonus action, you can expend 5 chaos energy to enter a frenzy for 1 minute. While in a frenzy, you are resistant to psychic damage and immune to being stunned, paralyzed and frightened. You also gain an additional 10 feet of movement speed while frenzied.

Extra Attack

The rage pumping in you helps you move faster to attack more. Beginning at 7th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Worldly Chaos

Your body comes to embody the chaos, retaliating at all who dare strike. Starting at 15th level, whenever a creature within 30 feet of you hits you with an attack, that creature takes force damage equal to your Charisma modifier.

Relentless Fury

Starting 20th level, the unrelenting force of thrill and chaotic savagery makes you unable to be stopped. When you roll for initiative and have no chaos energy remaining, you regain 5 energy. Additionally, your power, abhorred by the lawful alignments, smashes through their rigid ideas and selves. Your attacks deal double their damage die against creatures of lawful alignment.

Shadow Engine

You are an emanating figure of chaos whose power seeps through unknown and feared. Enemies find their strength and weapon failing before you. The shadows allow nightbringers of this subclass to overpower enemies through means other than brute force.

Shadow Meld

You can temporarily enter a form and state which keeps you protected from attacks of the physical world. You can spend 5 chaos energy as a bonus action to gain resistance to slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing damage for 1 minute.

Fearful Dark

Starting 7th level, when you spread your Night Wings, you may expend 5 additional chaos energy to use a bonus action and have them expand out to a make a dome of darkness with a radius of 30 feet, centered on yourself. Only you or any other creature with truesight or devil's sight can see in this area. A creature in the area when you use this feature must succeed on a Charisma saving throw of a DC equal to 8 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus or become frightened. On a success, they become immune to this effect for the next 24 hours. The frightened creature can attempt the saving throw again at the end of each of its turns, shaking off the fright upon success. While remaining in your dome of darkness, they attempt the throw with disadvantage. Once they leave the area, the effect ends. You can dispel this dome with a bonus action.

Noir Reverie

Like a shadow, you weave through and vanish like a daydream. Those who die by you see only a wisping figure of death. Starting 15th level, when you reduce a creature to 0 hit points, you can use 1 chaos energy to teleport to any unoccupied space you see within 120 feet of you with no further action.

Dark Fief

The night is your abode, and you are safe within it. Shadows are your servants to do your bidding. Starting 20th level, as an action, you may expend 10 chaos energy to summon a shadow to an unoccupied space within 60 feet of you. It is entirely loyal to you, friendly to those friendly to you, and obeys your commands. You can expend additional chaos energy, summoning an extra shadow for every 10 energy you spend. You can only have a number of shadows equal to your Charisma modifier at a time, and you can dispel one or all of your summoned shadows with a bonus action. All the shadows act on the same turn.

Nightbringer Spell List

You can learn from the following spells at the appropriate level.

1st Level

arms of hadar, cause fear, chaos bolt, hellish rebuke, searing smite, wrathful smite, witch bolt

2nd Level

blur, blindness/deafness, branding smite, continual flame, darkness, crown of madness, dragons breath, dust devil, flame blade, invisibility, misty step, pass without trace, phantasmal force, shadow blade

3rd Level

bestow curse, blinding smite, conjure barrage, enemies abound, fear, gaseous form, hunger of hadar, nondetection, phantom steed, protection from energy, summon lesser demon

4th Level

banishment, black tentacles, blight, confusion, faithful hound, phantasmal killer, shadow of moil, staggering smite

5th Level

banishing smite, cloudkill, destructive wave, enervation, dominate person, hallow, infernal calling, steel wind strike

Multiclassing

Prerequisites. To qualify for multiclassing into the nightbringer class, you must meet these prerequisites: 13 Dexterity, 15 Charisma

Proficiencies. When you multiclass into the nightbringer class, you gain the following proficiencies: one musical instrument, Acrobatics. longsword, greatsword, and greataxe

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