Executioner

In a world full of behemoths, where the gargantuan is commonplace, most mortals seem small by comparison. Not so executioners.

Executioners are monster hunters and avengers of the mortal world. Either born with a natural knack for slaying titans, or drafted into service out of grim necessity, executioners were seen as the last resort of a dwindling mortal world, when there is no recourse left aside from total resignation to an eternity of violent reprisal.

The Already Dead

Established long ago as the judgment arm of the Inquest, executioners have learned and refined the arts of spirit and god slaying. They live at the fringe of civilization, establishing bulwarks and pushing back the monstrous tides. Executioners expend their lives with no hesitation, and indeed their path is so dangerous, few to none embark upon it unless already resigned to their demise.

So grim is the day by day practice of execution, that executioners are commonly known as the Already Dead. They make no effort to envision life past their careers, and it is through this penultimate resignation of self that they become truly, breathtakingly deadly.

A Kingdom of Slaughter

Merciless and unrelenting, the executioners of the old Inquest remember no hope in their constant struggle with the Megalithic legions. In the extensive records of the Inquest, there are litanies of names, each a fallen executioner surrounded by shocking legends of brutal, efficient killing.

It is nothing to an executioner to face a titan the size of a small mountain, just as it is nothing to an executioner to die. Just as it is that every titan before amounted to nothing more than the next step the executioner sought to climb in their determined assault on the monstrous divine, for the mere sake of survival.

The Blade Swung Down

What’s most impressive about the executioners is not their perseverance, or their hollow joy in endless conflict, or even their body count itself. No, the most impressive thing about executioners is that they are, by and large, extremely effective in the hunting of monsters. So effective, in fact, that the monstrous gods themselves have redesigned their attacks on the twilight world to anticipate for the thinning of the flock which executioners deliver.

Because executioners are so shockingly effective at single combat with terrifying gargantua, the solemn traditions of monster slaying have been widely adopted and spread across the monstrous world. Today, the Inquest represents only one faction amongst many of the deadly profession, which now span all of the known sky and surface world.

Creating an Executioner

When creating an executioner, you should determine what it was that set you on your current path. Did you lose loved ones to a roaming behemoth? Were you brought up from a young age as a judge of the Inquest? Did you learn to hunt for specific monsters in order to supply your home with a strange and rare spell reagent?

Quick Build

You can make an executioner quickly by following these suggestions. First, put your highest ability score in Strength, followed by Constitution. Second, choose the periphery scout background.

Multiclassing Notes

If your group uses the optional rule on multi classing in the Player’s Handbook, here’s what you need to know if you choose executioner as one of your classes.

• Ability Score Minimum. As a multi class character, you must have at least a Strength score of 13 to take a level in this class, or to take a level of another class if you are already an executioner.
• Proficiencies Gained. If executioner isn’t your initial class, here are the proficiencies you gain when you take your first level as an executioner: light armor, medium armor, simple weapons, and two two-handed martial weapons of your choice.

Class Features

As an executioner, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

• Hit Dice: 1d12 per executioner level
• Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + your Constitution modifier
• Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d12 (or 7) + your Constitution modifier per executioner level after 1st

Proficiencies

• Armor: Light armor, medium armor
• Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
• Tools: None
• Saving Throws: Strength, Constitution
• Skills: Choose two from Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Intimidation, Perception, Religion, and Survival

Equipment

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

• (a) a greataxe or (b) any two-handed martial melee weapon
• (a) two hand-axes or (b) any simple weapon
• An explorer’s pack and four javelins

Unlock Lethal Action

At 1st level, you unlock a new kind of action type called a lethal action. This feature adds a new option to the menu of actions you may take each turn: in addition to reactions, actions, bonus actions, move actions and free actions, you may now also choose to take lethal actions.

Using a Lethal Action

In order to take a lethal action, you sacrifice access to your action and your move action until the start of your next round. Likewise, if you take your action or move action, you lose access to your lethal actions until the start of your next round.

Lethal actions represent the zen state of total devastation which you've become attuned to as an executioner. You may only activate a lethal action while holding a two-handed weapon. Taking a lethal action is a preternatural capability, wherein you grow detached from reality and instead experience your surroundings through a lens of hyper-focus, fixated on your targets.

Magnitude Dice

The power of your lethal action grows as you gain executioner levels, and is represented by your magnitude dice. You start with 1d6 magnitude dice at 1st level, and add more as you gain levels: you add another 1d6 magnitude dice at 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 17th, and 19th level.

Lethal Action Techniques

You automatically know the Cascade, Demolish, Execute, Fracture, and Vault lethal action techniques. In addition, you may learn other techniques from your Solemn Tradition.

Great Weapon Fighting Style

At 1st level, when you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can re-roll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.

This is equivalent to the Great Weapon Fighting feature available under the Fighting Style class feature. Once you have it, you cannot pick Great Weapon Fighting as a Fighting Style from another class. Additionally, if you already have Great Weapon Fighting, you do not benefit from this feature.

Soul-bound Weapon

Starting at 2nd level, you establish a supernatural proficiency with your preferred two-handed weapon. Attacks you make with this weapon count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Solemn Tradition

At 3rd level, you swear yourself to one of the solemn traditions of your choice. Choose either Colossus Knight, Hand of Eru, Hellish Weapon, Harmonious Blade, or Monster Hunter, all detailed at the end of the class description. The solemn tradition you choose grants you features at 3rd level, and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th 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.

Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.

Onslaught

Beginning at 5th level, when you successfully deal damage with a lethal action, you may immediately replenish your magnitude dice and take a second lethal action as a reaction.

Improved Vault

At 9th level, whenever you take the vault lethal action, you vanish entirely. Double your movement speed until the start of your next turn. You do not reappear until the start of your next turn, at which point you roll your vault attack as normal, except you add your magnitude dice for the purposes of determining damage.

Overwhelm

Starting at 12th level, pick one type of damage: piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning. When inflicting damage of this type with a lethal action, you ignore resistance or immunity for the purposes of determining damage.

Unshakeable

At 18th level, you may not be involuntarily moved until the end of your next turn, after using your vault action.

Destroyer

At 20th level, double your magnitude dice. You may make two lethal attacks per turn and spend your magnitude dice as you see fit.

Lethal Action Techniques

Cascade

Make an attack with a two-handed weapon. You may spend your magnitude dice, allocating them as you wish to deal damage to any target within weapon range which your attack could have successfully hit.

Demolish

Make an attack with a two-handed weapon, spending all of your magnitude dice. If you hit, your target makes a Constitution saving throw, DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier. If they fail, reduce their physical damage by an amount equal to 1 per two executioner levels, or 1 (whichever is greater) for a number of rounds equal to your proficiency bonus.

Execute

Make an attack with a two-handed weapon, adding your magnitude dice as damage on a successful hit.

Fracture

Make an attack with a two-handed weapon, spending all of your magnitude dice. If you deal damage with this attack, your target becomes restrained until they succeed on a Constitution saving throw, DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier. If they fail this saving throw, they instead suffer your magnitude dice in damage.

Vault

Make an attack with a two-handed weapon. You may move up to your movement speed in any direction as a part of this attack, ignoring difficult terrain.

Solemn Traditions

The history of the executioners is one filled with stories of resolve and endless conflict. To take up the weaponry of execution is to assume one's role in this eternal struggle against the monstrous gods and the behemoths which continuously spill from their megalithic periphery. It isn't necessarily a thankless task, but it is a solemn one.

The solemn traditions are the individual strains of executioner which have emerged and been passed down from master to student over the untold years of the passing age. Some are sprawling and strictly codified, such as the Hand of Eru, while others are new or obscure, with only a few members here and there who know their occult ways. Regardless of their nature, though, they all share one thing in common: the merciless lethality that comes with walking the path laid out so long ago by the originators of the Inquest.

Colossus Knight

Long ago, atop Ebonglaive, the first of the Hanging Towers and the prison of Ceremanthus, the Blasting Void, there served a sect of Eruvenian executioners called the Ebonclad. They were one of the earlier offshoots of the Inquest executioners itself, except they had adopted a strict ascetic and secular nature as part of their journey to the distant north.

Their leader, an Eruvenian named War Hero Marantagnus, had led the small sect as the tip of the spear in the assault on Ceremanthus, eventually subduing one of his Key Emanations and paving the way for his imprisonment beneath the glittering cobalt-limned obsidian tower. This had for a time afforded Marantagnus a certain amount of political power and influence, and this cascaded to his order.

No one knows, strictly speaking, why the Ebonclad betrayed the first tower, but what is known is this: Marantagnus himself led the betrayal. One day, centuries after the Spinning Cage had been fully realized, in an otherwise normal assault of wintry behemoths, Marantagnus simply commanded his Ebonclad to stand down.

The result was felt around the twilight world, for it precipitated the collapse of the first tower and the awakening of the dread universal Ceremanthus. Today, after long conflict, Ceremanthus lies imprisoned in the far north behind the Stormwall, with any unfortunate souls who may have survived the First Collapse. Virtually nothing remains of the Ebonclad, though - at least, nothing popularly known.

As a colossus knight, you are part of a secret order of executioners descended from the Ebonclad. You are a hidden prince of the grotesque, a grand paragon of unholy slaughter. You clutch the strange blighted power of the great Ceremanthus in your hands, and you employ it easily to exact truly horrific amounts of devastation on the world which would so boldly seek to imprison your annihilating lord.

Slaughter

At 3rd level, you gain access to the Slaughter lethal action technique.

Make a melee attack as part of your lethal action, dealing your magnitude dice in extra damage. In addition, if your attack hits, your target begins to bleed profusely, becoming blood marked unless they succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Strength modifier).

You may stack a number of blood marks on a target equal to your proficiency bonus.

Whenever using a lethal action on a blood marked target, you roll with advantage.

Blood Marked

This condition lasts a number of turns equal to your magnitude dice. While blood marked, a target suffers an additional damage from lethal actions dealt by any colossus knight, equal to 1d6 per blood mark.

Maim

Beginning at 6th level, after dealing damage to a target with a lethal action, if that target has blood marks, you may choose to consume those marks as a reaction. For each mark consumed, you may reduce one of your target's movement speeds by 10ft. This lasts for a number of rounds equal to your proficiency bonus.

Gut Wrench

At 10th level, whenever attacking a target who is blood marked, you lower your critical strike target number by 1 for every 2 blood marks, rounded up.

For example, if you would normally deal a critical hit on a roll of 19-20, whenever attacking a target with 3 blood marks, you would reduce your critical hit target by 2 (3 divided by 2, rounded up), meaning you would critically hit on a roll of 17-20 instead.

Lay Ruin

Starting at 14th level, each time you successfully use slaughter on an already blood marked target, all creatures within 5ft of your target also suffer any damage resulting from your magnitude dice on that attack. This range expands to 10ft at 17th level.