The Vessel of Souls (5e Subclass)
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Vessel of Souls[edit]
Warlock Subclass
While Fey, Fiends and Otherworldly minds can reach out and grant the Warlock great powers, the spirits of the dead also can grant those who they possess powers.
The Vessel of Souls allows (or is open to) dead spirits possessing their bodies, granting them abilities. By opening your body to them these spirits gladly offer their knowledge and power.
This is a build which pulls a few powers from The Fiend and The Great Old One along with adding some more Spirit/Shaman feel to it. PDF Version
Expanded Spells List[edit]
The Vessel of Souls adds the following to expanded your list of spells when you learn a warlock spell.
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | healing word, dissonant whispers |
| 2nd | enhance ability, spiritual weapon |
| 3rd | bestow curse, speak with dead |
| 4th | confusion, divination |
| 5th | legend lore, raise dead |
Spirit Mind[edit]
Starting at 1st level, you can see dead spirits(note: Seeing spirits is not the same as seeing ghosts - open to GM). These spirits sense that you are open to possession and enter you granting their knowledge and power. This takes a toll on the minor spirits which often have to move on after such a possession, but the more powerful spirits may linger about. Thus after each long rest you could be possessed by new or different spirits.
A Vessel of Souls can hold 1 spirit per warlock level, thus a 10th level Vessel of Souls can have up to 10 spirits trying to possess him or her. These spirits may also influence the warlocks attitude/alignment. During each long rest new spirits will inhabit a Vessel of Souls up to the maximum it can contain.
Also at 1st level, your spirits grant you the knowledge and ability to touch the minds of other creatures. You can communicate telepathically with any creature you can see within 30 feet of you. You don't need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic utterances, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language.
Spirit Life Force[edit]
When a creature dies its life force leaves its body, while a Vessel of Souls can temporarily leach some of this life force.
Starting at 6th level, when you reduce a hostile creature to 0 hit points, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier + your warlock level (minimum of 1).
Spirit Shield[edit]
The spirits possessing the warlock have a life force of their own which the Vessel of Souls can tap into for protection.
Starting at 10th level, you can choose one damage type when you finish a short or long rest. You gain resistance to that damage type until you choose a different one with this feature. Damage from magical weapons or silver weapons ignores this resistance.
Sacrifice[edit]
At 14th level, once per long rest the Vessel of Souls can choose to use their action to drain the life force of their spirits possessing them, restoring a number of hit points equal to 5x the number of spirits possessing the warlock to any willing creatures within 60 feet of the Warlock. The healing amount can be distributed and split as the Vessel of Souls wishes. A spirit which is drained in this way is cleansed from the Vessel of Souls body, which during their next long rest will be replenished.
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