Sorrow's Vassal: A Fighter Archetype

There is no man among us who does not bear the burden of guilt. Who has not spent hours thinking about what he could have been, about what he could have done, about everything that has gone wrong. These men reject their sorrow and suffer for it. A Vassal of Sorrow has no such interest, he embraces misery, regret, guilt, and uses them as his tools. He shapes the world with his sorrows.

The Weight of Sorrow

There is no man with a conscious that does not bear the weight of his actions. Beginning at 3rd level any weapon you wield is treated as though it had the Heavy property, if it has the Finesse or Light property it will lose both. In addition to that you may treat any one handed weapon as though it had the Versatile property. Doing so will increase the damage die by 1 level when wielding it with two hands. For instance if the weapon normally does 1d6 then it will change to 1d8.

The Burden of Our Deeds

Guilt is like a stone in your shoe, one stone is irritating, two stones is painful, and three will make you want to stop entirely. Beginning at 3rd level each time a Sorrow’s Vassal may use an action against an enemy and gain sorrow points up to a cap of 1 + Proficiency bonus. You will cleanse yourself of 1 sorrow point each round, not counting the round it was accumulated, if you have the maximum amount of sorrow points you may not use any of the following effects. For each sorrow point he has he gains he gains a -1 penalty to hit and damage.

Saves against Sorrow’s Vassal abilities are DC 8 + Proficiency Bonus + Wisdom Modifier

1 Stone:

As an action you you may target one creature and attempt to rack it with guilt. The target must succeed on a Wisdom save or it will become racked with guilt. The target will gain disadvantage on Wisdom checks and lose its reaction until the beginning of your next turn. This accumulates 1 sorrow point.

2 Stones:

As an action you may target one creature and attempt to rack it with serious guilt. The target must succeed on a Wisdom save or their guilt will physically pain them. Until the beginning of your next turn each time the target makes an attack they will suffer 1d4 psychic damage. This accumulates 2 sorrow points.

3 Stones:

As an action you may target one creature and attempt to rack it with debilitating guilt. The target must succeed on a Wisdom save of their guilt will make it difficult for them to move forward. You may gain any number of sorrow points to reduce a target’s movement speed by 10ft for each sorrow point accumulated. This effect will last a number of rounds equal to proficiency bonus.

Misery Loves Company

Beginning at 7th level, you gain proficiency in Insight, and you can apply double your proficiency bonus to Insight checks to determine the mood of a creature. In addition to that when you use your Indomitable feature on a failed saving throw you may choose a target to share in your misery instead of rerolling the saving throw. That target must succeed on a Wisdom save or suffer the same penalty that you will because of the effect.

No Man Is Free

Beginning at 10th level, as an action you may cleanse yourself of 1 sorrow point and transfer the burden onto another target. The target must succeed on a Wisdom save or they will become incapacitated until the beginning of your next turn. You may use this feature once between short or long rests.

A Clear Conscience

Sorrow may still burden you, but you understand that this is natural and liberating. Beginning at 15th level you become immune to all mind altering effects.

An Old Friend

Sorrow has engulfed you for so long it has become like a comforting old friend. Beginning at 18th level sorrow points no longer give you a -1 penalty to hit and damage and when you are the target of an attack or spell attack you may choose to use your reaction to gain resistance to 1 damage type of your choice until the beginning of your next turn.

Credit Morgan Yon