A Martial Archetype to "Die! Die! Die!" For: Death Knight
Today's archetype is based on my Overwatch main, the resident high-functioning psychopath edgelord of the cast, Gabriel Reyes, better known as Reaper. I maiecy wanted to accurately capture Reaper's play style and design as well as I could when I created this archetype. Some abilities you will directly recognize as to why they were my go to choice taken right from the video game design, others were to patch in the flavor of how the character works in Overwatch media like official videos from Blizzard, and in the lore of the game. For instance, did you know that Reapers cells are constantly regenerating and decaying at an insanely fast rate making him much harder to kill? Well if McCree, Zarya, and Soldier 76 are shooting you at the same time in game, that's not very apparent, but it's a lore thing.
I've also included a new magic item, or rather a twin pair of magic items to complement your new death blossoming murder-ghost. Without further ado, the Death Knight:
Martial Archetype: Death Knight Some individuals succumb to the forces of death. Others rebel, or at times embrace the powers of death and find themselves living a new existence that falls in the gray areas between life and death. Some find themselves naturally attuned to nature of death. Regardless of the origin, a fighter who finds themselves embodying death is referred to in whispered and trembling utterance as Death Knights.
The Reaping Your connection to the powers of death allows you to draw on the life force of your fallen and wounded enemies. Starting at 3rd level, when you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with an attack or score a critical hit on a creature, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier + half of your fighter level (rounded down). While you have these temporary hit points, you have resistance to necrotic damage and nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage.
Visage of Death When you reach 7th level, your very nature becomes like that of an angel of death, unwavering, silent and fearsome to behold. You become proficient in Intimidation and Stealth. If you are already proficient in either of these, double your proficiency modifier for checks made with that skill.
In addition, you have advantage on death saving throws.
Creeping Death Beginning at 10th level you can teleport yourself to a position where you are at a perfect vantage point to claim the lives of your foes. You can cast dimension door twice without expending a spell slot. You can only teleport yourself when you cast dimension door this way. You gain all expended uses of this ability when you finish a short or long rest. Wraith Form Beginning at 15th level, you can temporarily skirt through Ethereal Plane to avoid harm. While you have temporary hit points that you were granted from The Reaping, as a bonus action, you may expend your temporary hit points to briefly cast the etherealness spell on yourself with the following changes: Creatures on the material plane still perceive a ghostly image of you as you move, and the spell ends at the start of your next turn.
Killing Spree At 18th level, you become the ultimate instrument of death, and launch yourself into a vicious frenzy. When you use an Action Surge on your turn, each attack you make after it has advantage on the attack roll and does an extra 2d6 necrotic damage on a successful hit.
New Magic Item Hellfire Cannons (Legendary Weapon-Unique, requires attunement by a creature proficient with handcrossbows or firearms ) This pair of strange obsidian-black miniature cannons can easily be held with one in each hand as one would hold a hand crossbow, or flintlock pistol. Together they count as being attuned to as one weapon but they must be attuned to at the same time by the same creature. When you take the Attack action, you may make a ranged weapon attack with a range of 30/90, firing a clustered spray of smoldering infernal energy. On a hit, these weapons deal 2d6 fire damage and 2d6 necrotic damage. You regain hit points equal to half the necrotic damage dealt this way. Each weapon may be fired four times before you must take a bonus action to refocus the weapon’s energy with a brief moment of concentration.
Prototype PDF:
Let me know what you guys think in the comments or on Twitter @Archmage_Derek Happy reaping, everyone! (Art: Blizzard Entertainment)