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.

  1-19
  20-39
  40-59
  60-80
  80-94
  95-98
  100

**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.