Soul Reaver (3.5e Class)

Soul Reaver

The soul reaver's own soul is said to be born out of a planar rift, when two opposites of nature collide, giving him a very innate ability to manipulate the essence of life. Souls appear to him as a vibrant blue substance, and from some sources can be called 'heavy magic'. Through it's destruction releases the very basic and primal magic of emotions and thought. The soul.

Making a Soul Reaver

Their strong points is fighting in front, or at least close to it. They also make good healers, and damage dealers.

Abilities: The soul reaver needs to have a lot of soul himself, so Charisma is the most important ability score. Wisdom and strength are the second two most important ability scores.

Races: Any race whatsoever is just as likely to be a soul reaver as the next one. Even though it's an innate ability, heritage has little to do with it.

Alignment: Soul reavers are hardly ever good, and it's difficult to be good when you rip the life from your enemies with your will.

Starting Gold: 6d8×10 gp (270 gp).

Starting Age: Simple

Table: The Soul Reaver

Hit Die: d6

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Unnatural Aura, Absorb Soul, Spells, Soul Align
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5	Soothstone
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5
8th	+6/+1	+2	+2	+6
9th	+6/+1	+3	+3	+6	Harvest
10th	+7/+2	+3	+3	+7
11th	+8/+3	+3	+3	+7
12th	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8
13th	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8
14th	+10/+5	+4	+4	+9
15th	+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+9
16th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10
17th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10
18th	+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+11
19th	+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+11
20th	+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+12
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (the planes), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Cha), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis)

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Soul Reaver.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The soul reaver is proficient with all simple weapons, as well as any type of sword. They are only proficient with light armor, and no shields.

Unnatural Aura (Su): No matter what, there will be something inherently wrong with the Soul Reaver. Every five levels, the effects of the aura double.

Absorb Soul (Su): The soul reaver can absorb the leaving soul of an enemy that he has slain within 2 rounds/level. It appears as a strange marking somewhere on the soul reaver's body. The soul reaver can absorb any amount of souls in one day, but can only retain a number equal to his caster level each day. Any excess souls are released at midnight automatically.

The soul reaver can attempt to absorb souls from opponents that aren't dead with a touch attack. The creature must make a DC (10 + soul reaver's HD) fortitude save. If they fail, they become undead. If they succeed, the soul reaver can not attempt to take it again for the rest of the day. The soul reaver can still take its soul if they die.

Creatures who have no souls aren't affected by this ability.

Spells: This is neither arcane nor divine magic. To cast a spell, the soul reaver needs to have accumulated a number of souls equal to the level the spell is, as well as a caster level of 2 levels/spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a soul reaver’s spell is 10 + the spell level + Cha modifier.

To cast spells, the Soul Reaver has to burn them. They last for 1 round/level. The number of souls burned is equal to the max level of spells the soul reaver able to cast. The soul reaver can always burn more, and will either be able to extend the burn by 1 round/charisma mod/soul, or increase the max spell level he is able to cast, without extending the duration.

The soul reaver can initiate a number of burns equal to their constitution modifier per day.

Soul Reavers choose their spells from the following list:

1st—cause fear, chill touch, ray of enfeeblement, burning hands, shocking grasp, unseen servant, mage armor, obscuring mist, deathwatch, doom, inflict light wounds, identify, lesser vampiric touch, summon undead I, soul cull, soul brand, cure light wounds

2nd—ghoul touch, fear, spectral hand, detect thoughts, darkness, darkvision, false life, see invisibility, inflict moderate wounds, death knell, desecrate, spider climb, summon undead II, false life, bolster soul, mirror image, cure moderate wounds

3rd—gentle repose, halt undead, vampiric touch, gaseous form, haste, displacement, animate dead, contagion, deeper darkness, inflict serious wounds, speak with dead, blindness/deafness, suggestion, summon undead III, soul purge, soul lance, rainbow blast, cure serious wounds

4th—bestow curse, greater invisibility, enervation, inflict critical wounds, poison, tongues, scrying, detect scrying, ice storm, wall of ice, summon undead IV, corrupt soul, dispel soul, dimension door, cure critical wounds

5th—magic jar, permanency, dominate person, cone of cold, nightmare, teleport, telekinesis, circle of doom, unhallow, true seeing, slay living, raise undead, summon undead V, soul storm, memory rot, cone of cold, righteous might

6th—create undead, blade barrier, harm, antilife shell, undead to death, chain lightning, mass haste, acid fog, mass suggestion, stone to flesh, flesh to stone, antimagic field, harm, permanent image

7th—destruction, greater scrying, regenerate, word of chaos, blasphemy, control weather, finger of death, control undead, limited wish, greater teleport, insanity, greater vampiric touch, Awaken Undead^{Spell Compendium}, simulacrum, disintegrate, power word blind

8th—create greater undead, unholy aura, cloak of chaos, clone, horrid wilting, mass charm monster, maze, polymorph any object, temporal stasis, earthquake, power word stun, Finger of death

9th—implosion, gate, soul bind, storm of vengeance, imprisonment, wail of the banshee, wish, time stop, soul nova, assimilation, time stop, power word kill

All material, XP costs, and anything else are eschewed by use of the souls to cast the spell.

If there are no souls available, the soul reaver can use his own to cast spells, using 5 hp/spell level. The damage is subdual.

Soul Align: If the soul reaver absorbs a soul that is different from his own alignment, he temporarily takes one step towards that alignment until it's expended. His normal alignment can't be changed permanently in this manner. The soul reaver can also imbue their own weapon with one soul of his choice per day. Good and evil souls grant +2 to attack when imbued.

Good Aligned: Good aligned souls deal extra 1d6/2 levels damage to undead when imbued. While absorbed, the soul reaver's unnatural aura is temporarily halved. Caster cannot cast inflict spells.

Neutral Aligned: Neutral aligned souls imbue the weapon with a bonus to attack and damage equal to +1/2 soul reaver levels. Caster can neither cast inflict, or cure spells.

Evil Aligned: Evil aligned souls can heal undead when used to cast spells. They deal an extra 1d4/2 levels damage to good aligned people when imbued. While absorbed, the soul reaver's unnatural aura is temporarily doubled. Caster cannot cast cure spells.

The effect is doubled if the soul is the exact same alignment of the soul reaver. (Including lawful, neutral, and chaotic)

Soothstone (Sp): At 6th level, the soul reaver can store extra souls in a gem stone that he has on his person. The gem stone can store 1 soul per 100 gp it's worth. These souls do not go away at the end of the day.

Harvest (Su): The soul reaver can use the Absorb Soul ability, but in a burst equal to 5 ft / 4 lvls. The soul reaver must select a race, or alignment, and make a will save with a DC 10 + the HD of the strongest creature in range. If he succeeds, all souls of the same race/alignment are absorbed.

Epic Soul Reaver

Table: The Epic Soul Reaver

Hit Die: d6

Level	Special
21st
22nd	Bonus Feat
23rd
24th	Bonus Feat
25th
26th	Bonus Feat
27th
28th	Bonus Feat
29th
30th	Bonus Feat
4 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Bonus Feats: The epic soul reaver gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic soul reaver bonus feats) every 2 levels after 20th.

Epic Soul Reaver Bonus Feat List: Armor Skin, Blinding Speed, Damage Reduction, Energy Resistance, Epic Fortitude, Epic Reflexes, Epic Speed, Epic Skill Focus, Epic Prowess, Fast Healing, Great Charisma, Great Constitution, Great Dexterity, Great Intelligence, Great Strength, Great Wisdom, Improved Combat Reflexes, Legendary Climber, Legendary Leaper, Penetrate Damage Reduction.

Dwarven Soul Reaver Starting Package

Weapons: Dwarven waraxe (1d10, crit ×3, 8 lb., one-handed, slashing).

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 4 + Int modifier.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty
Diplomacy	2	Cha	—
Gather Information	4	Cha	—
Intimidate	6	Cha	—
Knowledge (the planes)	4	Int	—
Listen	4	Wis	—
Spot	4	Wis	—

Feat: Weapon Focus (dwarven waraxe).

Bonus Feats: Improved Initiative.

Gear: Adventurer's Starting Kit.

Gold: 270 gp.

Campaign Information

Playing a Soul Reaver

Religion: The soul reaver could be closely associated with domains of death and the spirit.

Other Classes: Due to his unnatural aura, the soul reaver is inherently untrustworthy, regardless of their actual character. The soul reaver might have to prove to their party that he won't try to absorb them.

Combat: Soul reavers have to be offensive. Their enemies is where they draw the power, so they have to be up close to take it and deal it back at them.

Advancement: The soul reaver might be good multiclassing with a more melee based class to supplement his ability to slay his enemies.

Soul Reavers in the World

“	You must put your heart and soul into every action you do, because you never know when someone might come along and....take it away.	”
—Norman, Human Soul Reaver

Some soul reavers take it upon themselves to judge the souls in this world, for better or for worse. Sometimes even the good inside of a person isn't good enough.

Daily Life: Norman sighed as he walked from the town behind him, leaving behind his past. From it, he heard the moans of an uncontrolled hoarde of undead. He wasn't evil enough to use them, but he certainly knew he wasn't any better than them.

Notables: Norman was always ridiculed because of his measly stature and pitiful appearance. When he realized he could reach out and touch other peoples souls, he single-handedly ripped the soul from every person in his village and obliterated them with the evil that resided in their own hearts.

Organizations: Soul reavers might hang around necromancy communities, and affiliate themselves with evil guilds, but every so often a soul reaver is aligned with the forces of good in using a necromancer's abilities against them.

NPC Reactions: If the soul reaver is stronger than the NPC, they will either be afraid, or untrusting of them. If the NPC is stronger, they might be threatened, or even insulted by a soul reaver's presence.

Soul Reaver Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (the planes) can research soul reavers to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Knowledge (the planes)

DC	Result
5	Soul reavers can touch the very essence of people.
10	The very soul of a soul reaver is a planar rift.
15	Soul reavers can't control the undead, but they are a result of their magic.
20	The character learns all of the previous information, as well as the identity or location of specific soul reavers.

Soul Reavers in the Game

The soul reaver is a normal person when faced with the undead, so unless there is a large supply of weak enemies to kill, he won't surpass the other players in power.

Adaptation: Instead of the soul, it could be auras, or essences that are used. Or even mana.

Sample Encounter: Soul reavers are largely misunderstood, but are also very easily subjected to be the bad guy.

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