Spiritus (5e Equipment)

Design Note: A near-death experience can include an event that happened in a characters backstory, an event that occurred over the course of an adventure, or a more mechanical situation such as getting a critical failure on a death saving throw.

Spiritus by 湯たあも on pivix

Weapon (quarterstaff/greatscythe), artifact (requires attunement by a creature of neutral alignment that must have had a near-death experience in the past)

May the balance be maintained.—Spiritus

Spiritus is said to have been created by a god of death from a righteous soul. Who in life sought none but to preserve the fundamental cycle of death for which the god saw over. Since they had begun their work the death god had watched over them observing their vigilance, their tenacity, their dedication to the cause despite the lure of evil, the praise of good and the cruel words of those around them. The righteous, honest man did not falter from the path he had set down. Seeing himself in the soul that refused to yield the god of death lead the soul to the afterlife himself, conversing with them as he did. However, it was at end of the journey that the soul ask him if there was anything more he could do. Taken aback the god of death thought about the world he was left behind and thought about all those who still disrupted and defiled the balance that was. It was then the god of death called forward the souls of the greatest craftsmen who had ever lived and had them forge the ever righteous soul into an ever righteous blade and thus Spiritus came to be.
Random Properties. The Spiritus has the following random properties:

• 1 minor beneficial property
• 1 major beneficial property
• 1 minor detrimental property
• 1 major detrimental property

Magic Weapon. Spiritus. is a magic sentient scythe that grants a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. As a bonus action, you can swap between the weapons two forms. The first being a long metallic quarterstaff and the other being a great scythe. As a quarterstaff, it functions as a staff of withering if you are neutral evil or chaotic neutral and a staff of healing if you are neutral good or lawful neutral. A true neutral creature can use both of these properties interchangeably. When you switch to its scythe form the quarterstaff lengthens and a large scythe blade extends from the top. This scythe also functions as a sword of wounding, a vorpal sword, and its strikes extend into the Ethereal Plane. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by Spiritus cannot be raised as undead and it deals an extra 2d10 slashing damage to undead. When in this form it can't use its additional quarterstaff properties and vice versa. Spiritus is a mat white if its user is neutral good, mat black if they are true neutral or mat crimson if they are neutral evil and while in staff form it is indistinguishable from a normal quarterstaff.

Soulsight. While you hold Spiritus you can see the souls of creatures that are within 120 feet. You can see this glow to varying degrees even if they are obscured by thick walls or large objects as long as they are within 120 feet. This allows you to see invisible creatures, as well as see into the Ethereal Plane. Creatures like undead register on your sight despite not having a soul, as a silver mark in the likeness of the holy symbol of the god of death, this mark is in place of their soul. Spiritus will urge its user to slay any undead its user comes across.

Deaths Blessing. While attuned to the scythe, you gain the following benefits:

• You have resistance to necrotic and radiant damage, the energies of life and death are seemingly absorbed into the blade.
• You have advantage on your death saving throws, the blade helps to maintain your body when you fall.
• You cannot be charmed, the blade ensures your neutrality.
• You cannot be exhausted, like the restless soul that the blade was forged from you too will not rest.
• You cannot be fightened, for you have the instrument of death on your side.

Conduit. When you are the target of a spell that targets a single creature and you are holding Spiritus, you can use your reaction to cleave the Weave in two, disrupting the delicate balance that allows spells to manifest and absorbing the magical energy used to create that spell. The absorbed spell's effect is canceled, and the spell's energy - not the spell itself - is stored in Spiritus. The energy has the same level as the spell when it was cast. You can do this a number of times each day equal to your proficiency bonus, however, you can block cantrips without expanding a use. Spiritus can absorb and store up to 30 levels of magical energy over the course of a day before it is harmlessly discharged back into the Weave at dawn. If you are targeted by a spell that Spiritus can't store, Spiritus has no effect on that spell.

When you hit a melee weapon attack while holding Spiritus in its scythe form, you can expand the spell slots stored to deal radiant damage if you are good aligned or necrotic damage if you are evil aligned. If you are true neutral then you can choose between the two damage types when you make the attack roll. The extra damage is 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st. Using Spiritus this way reduces the amount of stored magical energy. Alternatively, if you are a caster, you can use your own spell slot to create the same effect. The damage die for this extra damage cannot be greater then 10d8.

Curse. More of a side effect of its attunement rather than a curse. Spiritus, like the god of death it was born from, seeks balance and as such is at its strongest in the hands of a true neutral wielder that can align itself with that balance. The weapon bears a curse that affects any non-true neutral creature that becomes attuned to it. Even if the attunement ends, the curse remains. With the completion of each long rest, Spiritus attempts to correct the imbalance between it and its wielder forcing them to make a Charisma saving throw, DC10 or their alignment shifts towards true neutral. On a successful save they retain their alignment, however, this DC increases by 2 on each successful save. The changes wrought by the weapon aren't considered magical in nature (and therefore can't be dispelled), but they can be undone by any effect that removes a curse, such as a greater restoration or remove curse spell provided you are not attuned to Spiritus.
Sentience. Spiritus is a sentient neutral weapon with an Intelligence of 15, a Wisdom of 18, and a Charisma of 16. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet. The weapon communicates telepathically with its wielder and can speak, read, and understand all language.
Personality. The scythe's purpose is to bring balance to the world, this sense of balance comes from a deep respect for life and death, and the idea that death is a natural part of life and should not be feared as long as it was understood. As a result of this Spiritus holds those who would disrupt that balance, particularly undead and necromancers in the uttermost contempt. While killing undead creatures like zombies, vampires, and even liches are one thing, it is ultimately its aims to even slay gods such as that of Vecna, Velsharoon, and even Talona, for the unnatural deaths caused by her diseases, as well as foiling any schemes that further their disruptive goals.
If the scythe discovers its wielder to be incapable of performing its goals or acting oppose to them, it can force its wielder to make a DC 20 Charisma saving throw. On a successful save, the wielder takes 3d6 psychic damage. On a failed save, the wielder is dominated by the scythe, as if by the dominate monster spell, and the scythe demands that it seeks another more capable user. The spell effect ends when the scythe's demand is met.
While Spiritus sense of balance is not of a traditional sense of justice and rather one that views a grander scale at work, this can lead to situations where what is commonly considered the "right" thing to is ignored for a course of action that better serves the balance.
Destroying the Spiritus. Spiritus may appear like it could be easily shattered by heavier weapons, but is impervious to damage, its blade forever sharp. However, a successful divine intervention from a follower of the god of death that created it that has high standing is able to banish the weapon to the afterlife for 1d100 years before it returns to the Material Plane in a place where it is needed. As long as the balance the blade seeks to correct is defiled in the multiverse the blade will continue to return.

---

Back to Main Page → 5e Homebrew → Equipment → Artifacts