Defiant Soul (Class)

Defiant
A Knight removes his great-helm and raises his eyes to view the field. The army of fiends fills the valley like a forest of dark steel, but he feels no fear, for he has born for this. Behind him his loyal mount gives him a shining look, sharing one mind they stand as a beacon of faith for all of those who are about to face the forces of hell

A dwarf spots the demon from high up in the air, mounted atop his companion he channels his soul into his spear and awaits the perfect opening. Down on the ground the large fiend direct his army to press forward assured that under his command all those who oppose it will be crushed. A look of surprise crosses its face and stays as with unbelievable speed a spear falls from the sky and pierces through its heart, its life ended.

A mother cries, as a general takes her child away. The first signs of their destiny having manifested, they will now go through rigorous training and trials in order to prepare them for their life of war against fiendish forces. They will have a hard life, but their mission is of the utmost importance, such is the destiny of the Defiant.

Destinies Entwined
Whatever the holy origin of their mission, Defiants are united by their destiny and commitment to stand against all fiendish forces that would claim the world. Through rites and trials, Defiants share their soul with a loyal companion, whether a wyvern, griffon, or dragon, their bond and shared inner faith is the source of power that turns a warrior into a bastion of faith against all fiends.

A Higher Purpose
A defiant swears to be a beacon of hope, to stand as protectors of the world against the the forces of evil, and protect all of those who would join this battle. Defiants choose on how to specialize in the use of their powers, but all share a destiny by undertaking the rites and trials that give them their power. Although a well-kept secret, the Defiants’ rites are known to take a toll on the individual, and all know that those who survive them are forces to be reckoned with.

Defiants train until they are ready to undertake their Rite of Assay, specializing on an aspect of their power. Later on, they undergo the trial of summoning where they call upon a creature that is the mirror to their soul, sharing their faith in each other and moving as one in the battlefield.

By the nature of their power, defiants do not belong to any specific city’s watch, village’s militia, or queen’s army. They travel across the land to where they are needed, searching for the forces of evil and bringing hope to all of those who would otherwise be lost without them.

Defiants take their destiny seriously, searching for any trace of the forces of evil even at times of relative peace. Delving into a desecrated ruins, or investigating reports of creatures in the night terrorizing small villages, are examples of missions that are driven by the defiants’ higher purpose.

Class Features
As a defiant, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d10 per defiant level

Hit Points at 1st level: 10 + your Constitution modifier

Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per paladin level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: All armor, shields

Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons

Tools: None

Saving Throws: Wisdom, Constitution

Skills: Choose two from Athletics, Insight, Religion, Medicine, Acrobatics, History, and Survival

Equipment

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

- (a) chain mail or (b) leather armor, longbow, and 20 arrows

- (a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons

- (a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) two handaxes

-  (a) a priest’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack

Tested Faith
The presence of fiendish evil haunts your dreams since childhood, marking your destiny to stand against them. During a long rest, you are able to determine the location of any creatures of fiendish nature within a 100ft radius. Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been desecrated, as with the hallow spell.

Defiant Soul
You also have the innate the ability to stand against the fear and other effects imposed by fiends. When a fiend forces you to make a saving throw, you can use your reaction to stand firm and gain advantage on the throw.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to 1 + your Wisdom modifier. When you finish a long rest, you regain all expended uses.

Fighting Style
At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

Archery: You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.

Defense: While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.

Dueling: When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

Protection: When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.

Spellcasting
By 2nd level your defiant soul and inner faith have awakened an ability to channel your power into spells. See Spells Rules for the general rules of spellcasting and the spells listing for the defiant spell list.

Spell Slots

The Defiant 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 slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. For example, if you know the 1st-level spell cure wounds and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast cure wounds using either slot.

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

You know two 1st-level spells of your choice from the defiant spell list. The Spells Known column of the defiant table shows when you learn more defiant spells of your choice. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 5th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level. Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the defiant spells you know and replace it with another spell from the defiant spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

Spellcasting Ability

Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your defiant spells, since your magic draws on your inner mental fortitude. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a defiant spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier

Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier

Energy Molding
Your mental fortitude training begins to allow you to begin molding the energy around you and combine it with your martial training. When you use this feature, as a bonus action, you can choose between infusing your armor or your weapon with energy.

Infusing your weapon makes its next attack magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances, and allowing you to use your spellcasting modifier for bonuses of the attack and damage rolls with it.

Infusing your armor makes it magical until the end of your next turn, giving you a +1 bonus to your AC. You also gain resistance to damage from non-magical weapons for the duration.

You can use this feature once per long rest. When you finish a long rest, you regain its use.

Rite of Assay
At 3rd level you undergo a Rite of Assay, choosing whether your powers will be an impenetrable shield or an unstoppable spearhead when faced against the forces of evil: The Bouclier Rite and the Pointe Rite, detailed at the end of the class description. Your Choice grants you features at 3rd level, and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level.

Ability Score Improvement
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.

Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Cloak of Faith
By 6th level, your defiant soul has grown in power enough to protect those fighting with you against the forces of evil. You can use your defiant soul reaction when an ally within 30 ft. of you is forced to make a saving throw against an effect by a fiend in order to give them advantage on the throw.

Trial of Summoning
As part of your training as a defiant you learn that fate has mirrored your soul onto a creature who will stand against the forces of evil with you.

At 6th level, you learn to use your magic to create a powerful bond with a creature from across the planes. With 8 hours of intense concentration, you call forth a flying mount to join you as your faithful companion. You normally select you companion by rolling on the defiant summoning table. However, your DM might pick one of these souls for you, based on the surrounding terrain and on what types of creatures would logically be present in the area.

At the end of the 8 hours, your companion appears and gains all the benefits of your Souls’ Bond ability. You can have only one companion at a time. Souls’ Bond

Your soul companion gains a variety of benefits while it is linked to you.

The soul companion loses its Multiattack action, if it has one.

The companion obeys your commands as best it can. It rolls for initiative like any other creature, but you determine its actions, decisions, attitudes, and so on. If you are incapacitated or absent, your companion acts on its own.

When you gain your soul companion at 6th level, its proficiency bonus matches yours at +2. As you gain levels and increase your proficiency bonus, remember that your companion’s proficiency bonus improves as well, and is applied to the following areas: Armor Class, skills, saving throws, attack bonus, and damage rolls.

Your soul companion has abilities and game statistics determined in part by your level. Your soul companion uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own. In addition to the areas where it normally uses its proficiency bonus, a companion also adds its proficiency bonus to its AC and to its damage rolls. Your soul companion gains proficiency in two skills of your choice. It also becomes proficient with all saving throws.

For each level you gain after 6th, your soul companion gains an additional hit die and increases its hit points accordingly. Whenever you gain the Ability Score Improvement class feature, your companion’s abilities also improve. Your companion can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or it can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, your companion cannot increase an ability score above 20 using this feature unless its description specifies otherwise. Your companion shares your alignment, and through your bond, its intelligence either increases or decreases to match yours. Mounting and dismounting your Soul companion only takes 5 ft. of movement instead of the regular half of your movement.

Shared Memory
By 10th level, your connection to your soul companion and other defiants has reached such strength that you can access memories of times and battles long past. You gain advantage on all history checks and can communicate telepathically with your soul companion up to 500 ft.

Cloak of Faith Improvement
By 14th level, your cloak of Faith behaves as an aura that protects your allies by giving them hope. When you use your Defiant Soul reaction, you grant its protection to all creatures of your choice within 30ft. of you, this protection lasts until the end of your next turn.

Shared Senses
By 18th level, your bond to your soul companion has grown to the point where you can perceive the world through each other’s senses. You and your soul companion gains the Keen Senses trait if you do not already have it. In addition, you can see and hear through your soul companion’s senses while it is within 500ft. of you.

Bastion of Hope
At 20th level, your defiant soul is unmoving against even the most evil of fiends. You are immune to effects that would force you to throw a saving throw from fiends. You may also extend this immunity to all creatures of your choice within 30ft. of you, granting them automatic success on saving throws against Fiend creatures. This protection lasts until the end of your next turn.

Rite of Assay
The rite of Assay is a tradition as old as the defiants themselves, and is considered by some to be the true beginning of a defiant's destiny. In order to undergo this rite, a defiant must face the deepest, darkest parts of their soul and return from it by using their inner faith and power. Traditionally, the rite of assay is performed in a special room located in a training crucible, and is monitored by powerful wizards.

Bouclier Rite
The Bouclier rite is for those defiants who wish to become an unmovable shield and protect those who fight against the forces of evil alongside them. These warriors can be seen taking a central position when fighting with a team and use their superior defensive capabilities to protect their allies.

Defensive Energy Molding
At 3rd level, you have honed your instinctive energy molding to form a better defense. When you use your Energy Molding feature to infuse your armor, the bonus to your AC is +2 and you any damage you take for the duration is halved. Your uses of this feature also increase to 2 per long rest.

Soul Defense
At 7th level you are able to extend your defense to protect your soul companion. While your soul companion can see you, it has advantage on saving throws. Additionally when you use your Defensive Energy Molding feature, your companion gains all the same bonuses.

Defying Defense
At 11th level, your shielding against fiends lashes out against the enemy. Whenever you use your defiant soul reaction, you can make your shield lash out at the attacking fiend, causing them to take radiant damage equal to your defiant level.

Superior Soul Defense
At 15th level, whenever a fiend that your companion can see hits it with an attack, it can use its reaction to halve the attack’s damage against it.

Pointe Rite
The Pointe rite is for those defiants who wish to become an unstoppable spearhead and believe that the best defense is a strong offense. These warriors can be seen fighting in the front lines, often carving a line through hordes by themselves and use their superior offensive capabilities to boost themselves.

Offensive Energy Molding
At 3rd level, you have honed your instinctive energy molding to boost your attacks against fiends. When you use your Energy Molding feature to infuse your weapon, you gain advantage on your next attack. You also deal additional radiant damage to fiends when this attack hits; this damage is equal to your defiant level. Your uses of this feature also increase to 2 per long rest.

Soul Spear
At 7th level you are able to extend your energy to your soul companion. While your soul companion can see you, it gains a 10ft. bonus to its speed. Additionally, when you use your Offensive Energy Molding feature, your companion’s next attack receives the same bonuses as yours.

Defying Swing
At 11th Level, your defiant soul inspires those around you to fight harder against fiends. When you use your defiant soul reaction, the creature targeted by the fiend gains advantage on their next attack. This benefit lasts until the end of your next turn.

Superior Soul Spear
At 15th level, whenever your companion targets a fiend with an attack, it gains advantage.