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Grey Watcher
2014-10-23, 12:44 AM
I think I've been playing too much Final Fantasy, but I decided to try my hand at building a Dark Knight archetype for the Fighter. This is based on Cecil from Final Fantasy IV, rounding out some of the higher level powers with stuff from The After Years.

Dark Knight
You walk a path that few dare even contemplate. You have learned forbidden techniques to infuse your blade with your very life-force. Some say this wears away the soul as well as the body, but it is a price you are willing to pay. Perhaps you do this out of some selfless duty or perhaps you simply crave power. In any event, these abilities come at a price that you must continually pay.

Blade of Darkness
Starting at 3rd level, you can wreathe your weapon in necrotic power. As a bonus action, you can activate this ability, which lasts for 1 minute. During that time, you can deal 1d4 extra necrotic damage with each melee weapon attack you make. Each such attack deals 1 point of damage to you, which cannot be reduced, resisted, or negated in any way. Only one weapon can be enhanced this way at a time.

As you gain levels, both the power and the price of this ability increase. Exact mechanics TBD.

Once you have used this ability, you must either spend a hit die or complete a short or long rest to use it again.

Dark Wave
Starting at 7th level, you can, as an action, unleash a wave of necrotic energy. Choose a number ranging from 1 to your current level. You take this number as damage that cannot be reduced, resisted, or negated in any way. All creatures in a 60 foot cone, originating from you must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, each takes necrotic damage equal to 1d8, plus an additional 1d8 (?) for every point of damage you took when using this power. On a successful save, a target takes half damage. The DC equals 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Charisma bonus.

Once you have used this ability, you must either spend a hit die or complete a short or long rest to use it again.

Dark Resilience
Starting at 10th level, you become inured to the forces of death. You have resistance to necrotic damage and advantage on saving throws against effects that deal necrotic damage, any spell from the necromancy school, abilities that duplicate the effects of such spells, and special abilities of undead creatures.

Black Fang
Starting at 15th level, you can sap the vitality from a single foe. As an action, spend and roll a 4 (?) hit dice, dealing the result as damage to yourself that cannot be reduced, resisted, or negated in any way; in the same action, you cast Harm. The saving throw DC is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma (?) modifier.

Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again until you complete a short rest.

Doom
Starting at 18th level, you can mark a single creature for death. Spend and roll 5 of your hit dice, dealing the result as damage to yourself that cannot be reduced, resisted, or negated in any way. For the next minute, you become aware of the target’s susceptibility to Power Word Kill, as a yes-or-no question. During this time, you can, as an action, cast Power Word Kill on the target, which ends the effect. Once used, you cannot use this ability again until you complete a long rest.

It's probably overpowered, but I did want to stick to the general theme of "hurt yourself to gain overwhelming attacks" theme that Final Fantasy 4 sets up with the Dark Knight class. The lower two abilities are based on the abilities you get in the DS remake and the original versions of Final Fantasy 4, respectively. The latter two are based on the boss fight in The After Years, since I needed something to round out the higher levels. Dark Resilience was just something I threw in to help out with survivability, since the DK is gonna be hemorrhaging HP all over the place.

Edit Round 1: I nerfed Black Fang and Doom, making them deal the usual damage in addition to spending HD as well as halving the effect and adding a rest requirement. Doom also has a more stringent concentration requirement, to keep the Dark Knight in the thick of things, rather than just running off to hide for 10 rounds and then popping out and saying "Boo!"
Likewise tried to clarify that yes, you are spending your HD to do these things.
Renamed Aura of Darkness to Blade of Darkness, since it's confusing with Paladin Auras (the name came from an early draft in which the DK's allies could also get the additional damage di(c)e, but I decided that giving other players control over your spending HP powers was a bit much).
Nerfed Dark Wave so that it's basically the same as Blade of Darkness, except you sacrifice one die of damage for the ability to spray it everywhere.
Not sure what to do about the "you've only got one resource that you're constantly spending" critique. I feel it's valid, I just dunno how to fix it and keep with the theme.

Edit Round 2: Almost a complete rewrite.

Blade of Darkness
Starting at 3rd level, when you take this archetype, you can surround yourself with dark energy. Spend and roll a single hit die and record the result. For the next minute, each time you make a melee weapon attack, you can add the same type of die used to activate this ability to the attack as necrotic damage. Each time you do so, you take the initially recorded number as damage that cannot be resisted, reduced, or negated in any way.

At 7th level, you may use up to two hit dice when activating this ability, at 10th level, you may use up to three, at 15th, up to four, and at 18th, up to five. These additional dice are also reflected in the bonus damage.

Dark Wave
Starting at 7th level, you can blast your enemies with a wave of necrotic energy. Spend and roll a single hit die. All enemies within a 30-foot cone take necrotic damage equal to the amount rolled. You take the roll as damage that cannot be resisted, reduced, or negated in any way.

At 10th level, you may use up to two hit dice when activating this ability, at 15th level, you may use up to three, and at 18th, up to four.

Dark Resilience
Starting at 10th level, you are inured to the forces of death. You have resistance to necrotic damage, and advantage on saving throws against effects that deal necrotic damage or any spell from the necromancy school, as well as abilities that duplicate the effects of such spells.

Black Fang
Starting at 15th level, The Dark Knight can sap the vitality from a single foe. Spend and roll up to 5 hit dice to cast Harm. The DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier + half the amount rolled on the dice, rounded down. You take the base roll as damage that cannot be resisted, reduced, or negated in any way. Once used, you cannot use this ability again until you have completed a short or long rest.

Doom
Starting at 18th level, you can mark a creature for death. Spend and roll up to 5 hit dice and designate a target. You must concentrate, as if on a spell for 1 minute. At the end of this time, the target is subject to the spell Power Word Kill, except that the HP threshold is increased by 5 times the amount rolled. If you end your turn more than 5 feet away from the target, you must immediately make a Concentration check as if damaged by the amount you rolled on the dice, or waste the use of the ability. Regardless of success, you take the base roll as damage that cannot be resisted, reduced, or negated in any way once you cease concentrating. Once you have attempted this attack, you cannot do so again until you have completed a long rest.

Aura of Darkness
Starting at 3rd level, when you take this archetype, you can surround yourself with dark energy. Roll a single hit die and record the result. For the next minute, each time you make a melee weapon attack, you can add the same type of die used to activate this ability to the attack as necrotic damage. Each time you do so, you take the initially recorded number as damage that cannot be resisted, reduced, or negated in any way.

At 7th level, you may use up to two hit dice when activating this ability, at 10th level, you may use up to three, at 15th, up to four, and at 18th, up to 5. These additional dice are also reflected in the bonus damage. Finally, at 18th level, the radius becomes 30 feet.

Dark Wave
Starting at 7th level, you can blast your enemies with a wave of necrotic energy. Roll a single hit die. All enemies within a 30-foot cone take necrotic damage equal to the amount rolled multiplied by your level. You take the base roll as damage that cannot be resisted, reduced, or negated in any way.

Dark Resilience
Starting at 10th level, you are inured to the forces of death. You have resistance to necrotic damage, and advantage on saving throws against effects that deal necrotic damage or any spell from the necromancy school, as well as abilities that duplicate the effects of such spells.

Black Fang
Starting at 15th level, The Dark Knight can sap the vitality from a single foe. Roll up to 5 hit dice to cast Harm. The DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier + the amount rolled on the dice.

Doom
Starting at 18th level, The Dark Knight can roll 5 hit dice to mark a creature for death. The Dark Knight must concentrate, as if on a spell for 1 minute. At the end of this time, the target is subject to the spell Power Word Kill, except that the HP threshold is increased by 10 times the amount rolled.

Strill
2014-10-23, 02:57 AM
So you lose the hit dice you use to activate these abilities? If so then it doesn't seem that OP, especially since it has no way to gain any more hit dice than anyone else.

Personally my biggest problem with it is all the abilities seem redundant. You spend hit dice to do damage. Since they all spend the same resource, they all compete against one another. You end up with fewer options in the end because you just end up using the most efficient ability every time.

Shadow
2014-10-23, 03:00 AM
Dark Wave is way too powerful.
It's OP at any level, but we'll use level 20 for this example.
You roll a hit die (1d10 as a fighter). An average roll is 5.5, multiplied by 20 for your level. That's about 110 necrotic damage to everything in a 30' cone, while you take 5 or 6 damage.
That's enough to drop anything of equivalent level with lower hit dice, such as a wizard, unconscious.
If you roll well, let's say max, then it's 200 hp necro damage to everything in a 30' cone. That would be enough to kill you, and all it cost you was 10hp.
There is no limit listed on how often this can be done, either.

It needs to do half as much damage (level/2), drop the cone to 15', be the 15th level ability (at the lowest), and usable a number of times per day equal to your Cha mod (since that seems to be the secondary stat you're using).

Black Fang should have usage limit. And the DC is amazingly broken. If your Cha is only 16, an average roll is 8 + 6 prof + 3 Cha + 27.5 dice = 44.5 DC.
Compare that to a caster's DC at 19. That's what you want to shoot for.
I'd say that he should be able to spend 6 hit dice, and each hit die he spends he gets to roll a d6. The result of those d6's combine to decide the DC. 5d6 is an average of 17.5, while 6d6 is an average of 21.
Does he take that as damage? It isn't clear like the earlier ones.

Doom has a couple issues. An average roll on the dice (average, mind you) makes this 250% better than the spell itself. It should be once per long rest. And it needs some sort of limiting factor other than the one minute thing to keep players from just chilling out with the head down and then literally killing almost anything or anyone with zero effort.

But I like the flavor. It just needs to be tweaked down a bit and limited more.

edit: Wait, are you spending your hit dice on these abilities instead of on healing? If so, that one got past me.

Grey Watcher
2014-10-23, 09:49 AM
So you lose the hit dice you use to activate these abilities? If so then it doesn't seem that OP, especially since it has no way to gain any more hit dice than anyone else.

Personally my biggest problem with it is all the abilities seem redundant. You spend hit dice to do damage. Since they all spend the same resource, they all compete against one another. You end up with fewer options in the end because you just end up using the most efficient ability every time.


Dark Wave is way too powerful.
It's OP at any level, but we'll use level 20 for this example.
You roll a hit die (1d10 as a fighter). An average roll is 5.5, multiplied by 20 for your level. That's about 110 necrotic damage to everything in a 30' cone, while you take 5 or 6 damage.
That's enough to drop anything of equivalent level with lower hit dice, such as a wizard, unconscious.
If you roll well, let's say max, then it's 200 hp necro damage to everything in a 30' cone. That would be enough to kill you, and all it cost you was 10hp.
There is no limit listed on how often this can be done, either.

It needs to do half as much damage (level/2), drop the cone to 15', be the 15th level ability (at the lowest), and usable a number of times per day equal to your Cha mod (since that seems to be the secondary stat you're using).

Black Fang should have usage limit. And the DC is amazingly broken. If your Cha is only 16, an average roll is 8 + 6 prof + 3 Cha + 27.5 dice = 44.5 DC.
Compare that to a caster's DC at 19. That's what you want to shoot for.
I'd say that he should be able to spend 6 hit dice, and each hit die he spends he gets to roll a d6. The result of those d6's combine to decide the DC. 5d6 is an average of 17.5, while 6d6 is an average of 21.
Does he take that as damage? It isn't clear like the earlier ones.

Doom has a couple issues. An average roll on the dice (average, mind you) makes this 250% better than the spell itself. It should be once per long rest. And it needs some sort of limiting factor other than the one minute thing to keep players from just chilling out with the head down and then literally killing almost anything or anyone with zero effort.

But I like the flavor. It just needs to be tweaked down a bit and limited more.

These are all very good points. Admittedly it was late when I wrote this up so I can't say I thought through the math all that much (part of the reason I posted it here was to get a better sense of how far off I was).


Does he take that as damage? It isn't clear like the earlier ones.

And yes, Shadow, the intention as of when I posted this was that Black Fang and Doom, being higher level abilities, don't actually inflict damage. That said, I'd been going back and forth on the subject in my head anyway, so perhaps they SHOULD do damage to the Knight, like the lower level abilities.


edit: Wait, are you spending your hit dice on these abilities instead of on healing? If so, that one got past me.

Yes, you actually spend the hit dice, so they are unavailable for healing or other purposes until you recover them through normal means (eg resting). I'll clarify that language sometime later today.

Ziegander
2014-10-23, 11:50 AM
I think I've been playing too much Final Fantasy, but I decided to try my hand at building a Dark Knight archetype for the Fighter. This is based on Cecil from Final Fantasy IV, rounding out some of the higher level powers with stuff from The After Years.

Dark Knight
You walk a path that few dare even contemplate. You have learned forbidden techniques to infuse your blade with your very life-force. Some say this wears away the soul as well as the body, but it is a price you are willing to pay. Perhaps you do this out of some selfless duty or perhaps you simply crave power. In any event, these abilities come at a price that you must continually pay.

Blade of Darkness
Starting at 3rd level, when you take this archetype, you can surround yourself with dark energy. Spend and roll a single hit die and record the result. For the next minute, each time you make a melee weapon attack, you can add the same type of die used to activate this ability to the attack as necrotic damage. Each time you do so, you take the initially recorded number as damage that cannot be resisted, reduced, or negated in any way.

At 7th level, you may use up to two hit dice when activating this ability, at 10th level, you may use up to three, at 15th, up to four, and at 18th, up to five. These additional dice are also reflected in the bonus damage.

Let's math this. At 3rd level you've got something like (starting Con 14) 28 hit points (12 at 1st level, +8 at 2nd, +8 at 3rd). You activate this ability, giving you 10 rounds of death magic attacks and consuming one of your three hit dice to roll a 4. Let's say a typical encounter is 5 rounds, and, oh, I don't know what sort of action this is, but I'll be generous and call it a bonus action. So that means on each of your attacks for the next 5 rounds you're swinging for 1d8+3+4 damage (maybe +2 from dueling), but you're also hurting yourself for 4 on each swing. That's pretty decent damage, if you've dealt yourself 20 points of damage the first time you use it, how likely are you to use it ever again that day? How likely are you even to survive the encounter you decided to activate this in?

As you gain levels it becomes slightly more feasible to use, but the extra damage becomes less and less impressive. I'm not sure what to recommend here, because it could be a cool ability, but right now it just doesn't feel worth it. I would probably try to go with a variant on the Paladin's Divine Smite ability where, whenever you hit with a melee attack you can expend and roll one hit die, suffering the damage, to add double the result to your damage. The cost is a bit higher than Divine Smite and so is the damage (2d10 compared to 2d8). I don't know, this ability is hard to write.


Dark Wave
Starting at 7th level, you can blast your enemies with a wave of necrotic energy. Spend and roll a single hit die. All enemies within a 30-foot cone take necrotic damage equal to the amount rolled. You take the roll as damage that cannot be resisted, reduced, or negated in any way.

At 10th level, you may use up to two hit dice when activating this ability, at 15th level, you may use up to three, and at 18th, up to four.

What I'm seeing here is a sort of 30ft cone effect Eldritch Blast that costs you hit dice and deals you damage. Again, this seems way too costly. It was hilariously overpowered before, but I feel like now it's underpowered. Let's take a look at Cone of Cold, and scale back from there. If expending a hit die and dealing yourself that damage is a bit more costly than expending a spell slot equal to the number of hit dice spent this way, then 5 hit dice worth of self-molestation should be worth a bit more than a 5th level spell. Cone of Cold is a 60ft cone that deals 8d8 cold damage and freezes killed creatures into ice statues. Okay... so my guess is that on one spent hit dice this should deal 2d10 (con save halves) in a 15ft cone, two hit dice should deal 4d10 in a 30ft cone, three hit dice should deal 6d10 in a 40ft cone, four hit dice 8d10 in a 50ft cone, and five hit dice 10d10 in a 60ft cone. Basically, Dark Wave deals the same damage as your Blade of Darkness would, but in an area, without your weapon damage or strength modifier, and with a chance to be halved by a successful save. You might also want to put this on a short or long rest recharge timer.


Dark Resilience
Starting at 10th level, you are inured to the forces of death. You have resistance to necrotic damage, and advantage on saving throws against effects that deal necrotic damage or any spell from the necromancy school, as well as abilities that duplicate the effects of such spells.

This ability is fine. I might even go so far as to give you advantage against the special attacks of Undead creatures too.


Black Fang
Starting at 15th level, The Dark Knight can sap the vitality from a single foe. Spend and roll up to 5 hit dice to cast Harm. The DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier + half the amount rolled on the dice, rounded down. You take the base roll as damage that cannot be resisted, reduced, or negated in any way. Once used, you cannot use this ability again until you have completed a short or long rest.

No, no, no, no, no. Let's say you rolled 4 hit dice. You deal yourself, roughly 20 damage, and increase the save DC against your Harm spell by 10. That virtually guarantees even the sturdiest of monsters will fail (without Legendary Resistance). Your original wording was hilariously overpowered, your new wording is still hilariously overpowered. Boosting save DCs should be done only with extreme care, and certainly adding more than +1 to the save DC of any effect will be very noticeable. Basically, you probably shouldn't do it at all, and you certainly should never boost a save DC like this. Just make it a flat 3 hit dice cost to cast Harm and forget the dealing yourself damage part and definitely forget bumping the save DC by any amount. If you do that, I would still keep the short or long rest recharge.


Doom
Starting at 18th level, you can mark a creature for death. Spend and roll up to 5 hit dice and designate a target. You must concentrate, as if on a spell for 1 minute. At the end of this time, the target is subject to the spell Power Word Kill, except that the HP threshold is increased by 5 times the amount rolled. If you end your turn more than 5 feet away from the target, you must immediately make a Concentration check as if damaged by the amount you rolled on the dice, or waste the use of the ability. Regardless of success, you take the base roll as damage that cannot be resisted, reduced, or negated in any way once you cease concentrating. Once you have attempted this attack, you cannot do so again until you have completed a long rest.

This just seems either pointless or unbalanced, collectively 110% of the time. If you're spending 10 rounds in melee combat with a foe that you can possibly kill, then it will be killed before those 10 rounds are up, and you wasted 5 hit dice and dealt yourself unnecessary damage. If you're spending 10 rounds in melee combat with a foe that you can't possibly kill, either you will be killed by that creature before 10 rounds are up, OR you've given the 18th level Fighter the means and motive to go out and kill things it has no business killing. Either way, this ability is borked. I mean, I've played Final Fantasy, I know why you wrote this ability the way you did, but combat in D&D, thankfully, doesn't last dozens and dozens of rounds, even against "boss monsters."

Now, this would be a lot more powerful, probably, but what if you allowed them to "mark a target for death," spending the hit dice, dealing themselves the damage, as a bonus action, and then, over the course of the next 10 rounds, the Fighter is aware of the target's number of hit points, and can cast the Power Word Kill spell once as an action. So, this basically gives the Fighter 10 rounds to reduce the target to 100 hit points and then gives him an instant-kill button against the creature. It's useful in actual combat, but it also comes with a time restriction and a built in range restriction (because casting the spell requires being at least within 60ft).

Grey Watcher
2014-10-23, 12:44 PM
Let's math this. At 3rd level you've got something like (starting Con 14) 28 hit points (12 at 1st level, +8 at 2nd, +8 at 3rd). You activate this ability, giving you 10 rounds of death magic attacks and consuming one of your three hit dice to roll a 4. Let's say a typical encounter is 5 rounds, and, oh, I don't know what sort of action this is, but I'll be generous and call it a bonus action. So that means on each of your attacks for the next 5 rounds you're swinging for 1d8+3+4 damage (maybe +2 from dueling), but you're also hurting yourself for 4 on each swing. That's pretty decent damage, if you've dealt yourself 20 points of damage the first time you use it, how likely are you to use it ever again that day? How likely are you even to survive the encounter you decided to activate this in?

Maybe just a flat 1 HP damage per hit die spent and you roll the die for the extra damage (which was the original intent, actually)? That cuts the hypothetical self-damage in this case down to 5, which is just shy of 20% of your HP, but for each of those 5 rounds you were dealing a whole extra d10 of damage, an average of 27.5 over the course of the encounter. At that exchange rate, odds are, you were dropping creatures fast enough to prevent at least 5 HP worth of damage, and you controlled where that damage went (to you, rather than it going where the enemy wanted, like your squishy Wizard friend). Now, the risk is that you'll roll poorly and you'll only end up dealing an extra 5 damage (if your necro-die keeps coming up 1) or maybe you'll get really lucky and end up dealing 50. Which is... quite a lot, especially at 3rd level.

Hrrmmm.... Maybe this needs to be scaled back to a 1d6 per HD spent, to bring it closer in line with things like Burning Hands or Sneak Attack? Making the damage die equal to the HD used was intended to allow for some extra strategy for multi-class characters, so a Barbarian/Fighter could risk more to get more by spending one of his d12s or a Fighter/Wizard could play it safer by using a d6, but I think those are edge cases, and if I'm gonna flatten the penalty, then there's no change in risk for spending different kinds of HD anyway....

So, the same Fighter at level 20 should have 164 HP (assuming he never raised his Con for some reason). If he maxes out this ability, then he's taking 5 damage a swing, which, for a 5 round encounter means 25 damage to himself in exchange for anywhere from 25 to 250. :smalleek: Yeah, we're definitely scaling back the die size for the bonus damage.

Let's see, at 1d6, the 3rd level Fighter is looking at minimum 5, maximum 30, average 17.5. Still reads high-ish, but definitely more in line with what should be happening. And his 20th level self spending the full 5 dice deals a minimum of 25, maximum of 150, average 87.5. Again, might be a little on the high side, but this is also hurting the Fighter himself to the tune of a little less than 20% of his own max HP, so it... maybe balances out? :smallconfused:


As you gain levels it becomes slightly more feasible to use, but the extra damage becomes less and less impressive. I'm not sure what to recommend here, because it could be a cool ability, but right now it just doesn't feel worth it. I would probably try to go with a variant on the Paladin's Divine Smite ability where, whenever you hit with a melee attack you can expend and roll one hit die, suffering the damage, to add double the result to your damage. The cost is a bit higher than Divine Smite and so is the damage (2d10 compared to 2d8). I don't know, this ability is hard to write.

That might be a simpler way to go. Perhaps I was sticking to closely to the way it it works in the game anyway. I'll have to think on which fix I prefer.


What I'm seeing here is a sort of 30ft cone effect Eldritch Blast that costs you hit dice and deals you damage. Again, this seems way too costly. It was hilariously overpowered before, but I feel like now it's underpowered. Let's take a look at Cone of Cold, and scale back from there. If expending a hit die and dealing yourself that damage is a bit more costly than expending a spell slot equal to the number of hit dice spent this way, then 5 hit dice worth of self-molestation should be worth a bit more than a 5th level spell. Cone of Cold is a 60ft cone that deals 8d8 cold damage and freezes killed creatures into ice statues. Okay... so my guess is that on one spent hit dice this should deal 2d10 (con save halves) in a 15ft cone, two hit dice should deal 4d10 in a 30ft cone, three hit dice should deal 6d10 in a 40ft cone, four hit dice 8d10 in a 50ft cone, and five hit dice 10d10 in a 60ft cone. Basically, Dark Wave deals the same damage as your Blade of Darkness would, but in an area, without your weapon damage or strength modifier, and with a chance to be halved by a successful save. You might also want to put this on a short or long rest recharge timer.

Hrrrmm... I'm gonna have to pore over the spell list a bit more to come up with a better balance, but I feel like you're on the right track.


This ability is fine. I might even go so far as to give you advantage against the special attacks of Undead creatures too.

Thanks!


No, no, no, no, no. Let's say you rolled 4 hit dice. You deal yourself, roughly 20 damage, and increase the save DC against your Harm spell by 10. That virtually guarantees even the sturdiest of monsters will fail (without Legendary Resistance). Your original wording was hilariously overpowered, your new wording is still hilariously overpowered. Boosting save DCs should be done only with extreme care, and certainly adding more than +1 to the save DC of any effect will be very noticeable. Basically, you probably shouldn't do it at all, and you certainly should never boost a save DC like this. Just make it a flat 3 hit dice cost to cast Harm and forget the dealing yourself damage part and definitely forget bumping the save DC by any amount. If you do that, I would still keep the short or long rest recharge.

Yeah, you're very, very right. Even in the last edit, I could see the DCs were climbing way out of control (I mean, a potential +40 DC?), I just wasn't really thinking about alternatives. I think your solution works best: just Harm as written with an HD and damage cost.


This just seems either pointless or unbalanced, collectively 110% of the time. If you're spending 10 rounds in melee combat with a foe that you can possibly kill, then it will be killed before those 10 rounds are up, and you wasted 5 hit dice and dealt yourself unnecessary damage. If you're spending 10 rounds in melee combat with a foe that you can't possibly kill, either you will be killed by that creature before 10 rounds are up, OR you've given the 18th level Fighter the means and motive to go out and kill things it has no business killing. Either way, this ability is borked. I mean, I've played Final Fantasy, I know why you wrote this ability the way you did, but combat in D&D, thankfully, doesn't last dozens and dozens of rounds, even against "boss monsters."

Now, this would be a lot more powerful, probably, but what if you allowed them to "mark a target for death," spending the hit dice, dealing themselves the damage, as a bonus action, and then, over the course of the next 10 rounds, the Fighter is aware of the target's number of hit points, and can cast the Power Word Kill spell once as an action. So, this basically gives the Fighter 10 rounds to reduce the target to 100 hit points and then gives him an instant-kill button against the creature. It's useful in actual combat, but it also comes with a time restriction and a built in range restriction (because casting the spell requires being at least within 60ft).

Ooooh, I like that. It's a much more elegant solution to give the Dark Knight a potential finishing blow sort of power while incentivizing keeping him fighting and not just hiding until he's ready to spring the trap (since he wants to make sure the target gets below the threshold in time). Still, maybe not the exact HP, but a continuous awareness of whether he's currently vulnerable to Power Word Kill, as a yes-no question; because I don't think there's any way to get a monster's exact HP value, short of meta-gaming (ie memorizing the MM entry beforehand and keeping a tally). To compare, the Know Your Enemy ability of the Battle Master, for instance, just tells you whether the target has more, equal, or less HP than you (assuming you ask that question). Granted that's out of combat and much lower-level, but it's the best precedent I can find.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

Strill
2014-10-23, 03:48 PM
Compare Blade of Darkness to Hunter's Mark or Divine Favor or Elemental Weapon. IMO if you spend 1 hit die, take 1 damage per attack, and add your hit die to damage it's a well-balanced ability. Adding 5x your hit die is crazy, but getting 2x your hit die to damage is fine, considering the costs. Also consider increasing the duration, and making it require concentration. Elemental Weapon, for example, lasts for up to an hour.

I'm curious though - Most of these abilities are incredibly expensive. Your hit dice capacity is 1 per level, and you only restore half of that per long rest. Without some alternative way to restore hit dice, this character is going to be extremely short on resources to use their abilities.

To get an idea how scarce hit dice are, compare the Dark Knight's hit dice per day to an Eldritch Knight's spell slots per day. If you take a level 20 Eldritch Knight and add up all their spell slot levels, they've got 23 levels of spell slots per day. A Dark Knight at level 20 gets 10 hit dice per day. That means that in order for the two to match up, each hit die needs to be worth at LEAST as much as a second-level spell slot, assuming that they never spend them on HP. That's a big assumption. If the Dark Knight DOES need to heal themselves, then that means their hit dice are worth EVEN MORE.

So in other words, you should either give them some more hit dice, or consider how incredibly rare and scarce these things are, and perhaps make the abilities a bit cheaper or more efficient. You could also throw in a few support or utility abilities that maybe don't directly affect offense or defense, and don't cost hit dice. Again, you can look to the Eldritch Knight for inspiration. Eldritch Knights have spell slots, but they also have cantrips, Weapon Bond, War Magic, Eldritch Strike, Arcane Charge, and Improved War Magic. All in all, these abilities aren't particularly powerful. They probably won't improve the Eldritch Knight's damage, and the meat of the class is still in their spells. However, these abilities really help to round out the class and open up new roleplay and tactical options.


No, no, no, no, no. Let's say you rolled 4 hit dice. You deal yourself, roughly 20 damage, and increase the save DC against your Harm spell by 10. That virtually guarantees even the sturdiest of monsters will fail (without Legendary Resistance). Your original wording was hilariously overpowered, your new wording is still hilariously overpowered. Boosting save DCs should be done only with extreme care, and certainly adding more than +1 to the save DC of any effect will be very noticeable. Basically, you probably shouldn't do it at all, and you certainly should never boost a save DC like this. Just make it a flat 3 hit dice cost to cast Harm and forget the dealing yourself damage part and definitely forget bumping the save DC by any amount. If you do that, I would still keep the short or long rest recharge.
I don't see the problem. They just spent four hit dice. That's a pretty steep resource cost just to guarantee that the Harm spell works.

Shadow
2014-10-23, 04:17 PM
With the knowledge (now, anyway... like I said, I misunderstood it before) that you're spending HD to power these, their uses become extremely limited. I'm worried that you're basically building a fighter with no subclass except for one-to-three abilities per day.
Think about it.
If you're actually using your abilities, you aren't going to have many HD to spend. At 4rd level you have 4HD to use Blade of Darkness four times per day. Okay.
But now you have zero HD to use for healing and the next day you only have 2HD to use these abilities.
Continue to use them, and by the time you reach 15th you will have no HD to spend on healing and you only have 7HD to use abilities all day.
That's Blade of Darkness twice and Black Fang once. That's all you get all day, and you have no out of combat healing. Most of the time you'll just be a fighter with no subclass and no OoC healing available.

Instead of spending HD, maybe try to break each ability down into what its comparative spell level would be. Then attempt a "spell point" system, where instead of spending spells points you sacrifice hit points.

Maybe something like this:
Blade of Darkness
At third level you gain the ability use your own life energy to shroud your weapon with the essence of death. As an action you may sacrifice 2 hit points to add an additional 1d4 necrotic damage to any melee weapon you hold. This effect has a duration of Concentation, up to one minute, and the HP cost must be paid each round that you concentrate.
At 7th level the cost becomes 4 HP and your blade of darkness deals an additional 2d4 necrotic damage. At 10th level the cost becomes 7 HP and your blade of darkness deals an additional 3d4 necrotic damage. At 15th level the cost becomes 9 HP and your blade of darkness deals an additional 4d4 necrotic damage. At 18th level the cost becomes 12 HP and your blade of darkness deals an additional 5d4 necrotic damage.
You may use this ability a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier. These uses are regained upon taking a long rest.

As the rest of the effects are basically just spell effects, find a comparable "spell point cost" and power them with hit points sacrificed instead.
The higher level abilites (Black Fang and Doom) should each have a single HD-spent cost in addition to the sacrificial HP cost.

This will allow you to use your abilites, but they have an opportunity cost flavored to the subclass. The fact that this subclass potentially deals a TON more damage than a typical fighter is offset by the fact that he doesn't have nearly as much staying power due to the HP sacrificed to gain that extra damage.

How do you feel about something like that?

Strill
2014-10-23, 04:28 PM
How do you feel about something like that?
Is 12 HP per turn really necessary? 12 damage is equivalent to a little over 2 hit dice. If anything, your suggestion seems MORE expensive than the current version. That's on top of the fact that it costs an action to activate.

Shadow
2014-10-23, 04:51 PM
Is 12 HP per turn really necessary? 12 damage is equivalent to a little over 2 hit dice. If anything, your suggestion seems MORE expensive than the current version.

It's an extremely powerful ability at higher levels. It should be used sparingly, and this opportunity cost makes it so that it probably will be.
A normal 20th level fighter (or a fighter at any level, really) already deals incredible at-will damage. Adding 5d4 to every single attack he makes would be amazingly OP if he could do it regularly. Now he has to be more selective in when he wants to use it.

Strill
2014-10-23, 04:54 PM
It's an extremely powerful ability at higher levels. It should be used sparingly, and this opportunity cost makes it so that it probably will be.
A normal 20th level fighter already deals incredible at-will damage. Adding 5d4 to every single attack he makes would be amazingly OP if he could do it all day. Now he has to be more selective in when he wants to use it.
It costs 12 HP AND a turn to activate, plus another 12 HP on the following turn when you actually get to use it. But that's not going to make up for the turn you spent activating it, so it's going to cost ANOTHER 12 HP on the turn after that before it finally turns a profit. Either the HP cost should be toned down, or you should be able to activate it as a bonus action.

Shadow
2014-10-23, 04:55 PM
2, 3, 4, 5, 6 instead of 2, 4, 7, 9, 12?
That's what I had originally anyway. :smallsmile:

And a bonus action?

Strill
2014-10-23, 05:09 PM
2, 3, 4, 5, 6 instead of 2, 4, 7, 9, 12?
That's what I had originally anyway. :smallsmile:

And a bonus action?

Yeah that sounds about right.

Shadow
2014-10-23, 05:12 PM
Yeah that sounds about right.

I generally prefer to err on the side of caution where power is concerned regarding subclasses.
If you're designing a new subclass it's probably because you want the proper flavor, and if it's a tiny bit uderpowered that's fine as long as the flavor is right.
Making it OP is a big concern for me as the classes are fairly well balanced in 5e at the moment.

Strill
2014-10-23, 05:17 PM
I generally prefer to err on the side of caution where power is concerned regarding subclasses.
If you're designing a new subclass it's probably because you want the proper flavor, and if it's a tiny bit uderpowered that's fine as long as the flavor is right.
Making it OP is a big concern for me as the classes are fairly well balanced in 5e at the moment.

So then let's compare this to existing abilities and see how powerful it is. Elemental Weapon is a 3rd-level spell that gives +1 Hit, and +3.5 average damage, but lasts an hour. It gives double those bonuses if cast at 6th level. Blade of Darkness adds up to +12 average damage, and lasts an extremely short amount of time. I'd value Elemental Weapon's overall contribution as equivalent to about +5 damage. I'd therefore say that your rendition of Blade of Darkness at max level, gives damage comparable to a 6th-level Elemental Weapon spell. Honestly that sounds about right considering how long Elemental Weapon lasts compared to Blade of Darkness. So I think it's pretty well balanced.

Shadow
2014-10-23, 05:29 PM
So then let's compare this to existing abilities and see how powerful it is. Elemental Weapon is a 3rd-level spell that gives +1 Hit, and +3.5 average damage, but lasts an hour. It gives double those bonuses if cast at 6th level. Blade of Darkness adds up to +12 average damage, and lasts an extremely short amount of time. I'd value Elemental Weapon's overall contribution as equivalent to about +5 damage. I'd therefore say that your rendition of Blade of Darkness at max level, gives damage comparable to a 6th-level Elemental Weapon spell. Honestly that sounds about right considering how long Elemental Weapon lasts compared to Blade of Darkness. So I think it's pretty well balanced.

Actually it's a lot more than that, which is ahy I had it at double the cost.
Magic weapon is +3 attack and damage. That's 12 damage per round.
Blade of Darkness is at +0 attack, +5d4 damage. That's 12 damage per attack, on average, or 48 avg per round.
Like I said, it's extremely powerful at higher levels, and the cost should reflect that, which is why I had it at 12/round.
That's also why I had it as an action, because being able to turn that much extra damage (above what a fighter is already capable of) on and off at will is pretty OP.
12/rd and action to activate means you need to be really sure you want to use it before you activate, but when you do things die.

Strill
2014-10-23, 05:41 PM
Actually it's a lot more than that, which is ahy I had it at double the cost.
Magic weapon is +3 attack and damage. That's 12 damage per round.You're ignoring the +3 hit bonus though. That's worth at LEAST 3 damage, if not twice that. Remember that Great Weapon Master lets you trade 5 hit for 10 damage. Hit is worth more than damage.

Shadow
2014-10-23, 05:45 PM
You're ignoring the +3 hit bonus though. That's worth at LEAST 3 damage, if not twice that. Remember that Great Weapon Master lets you trade 5 hit for 10 damage. Hit is worth more than damage.

And you're ignoring that he's almost certainly going to have that +3 to hit (and damage) already in his hand.
Magic Weapon is a spell used on a regular nomagical weapon. A high level fighter is going to have a magical weapon already.
This is purely extra damage.

edit:
Maybe 1hp per [(the number of d4's rolled -1), minimum 1] per attack, but you choose how many d4's to roll each round.
+1d4=1hp/attack, +2d4=1hp/attack, +3d4=2hp/attack, +4d4=3hp/attack, +5d4=4hp/attack

At maximum usage, that's:
1hp per round at 3rd (1 attack, 1d4 extra)
2hp per round at 5th (2 attacks, 1d4 extra each, 1hp each)
2hp per round at 7th (2 attacks, 2d4 extra each, 1hp each)
4hp per round at 10th (2 attacks, 3d4 extra each, 2hp each)
6hp per round at 11th (3 attacks, 3d4 extra each, 2hp each)
9hp per round at 15th (3 attacks, 4d4 extra each, 3hp each)
12hp per round at 18th (3 attacks, 5d4 extra each, 4hp each)
16hp per round at 20th (4 attacks, 5d4 extra each, 4hp each)

Actually, I kind of like that. It starts out as less harmful to you, making it usable more often, while it's not very powerful.
It ends being extremely harmful to you, making it usable less often, while it decimates enemies.
You could add less d4's at higher levels, maing it usable more often or longer, with less cost to you, but less additional damage.

Yeah, I like that best I think. It's potentially very powerful and very harmful to you, but also flexible enough that it doesn't have to be.
Adding 2d4 to each attack at a cost of 1hp per attack is the optimal usage (which comes online at level 7), but nova is still an option if you want to put the hurt on a big baddie (and yourself in the process).
You can only apply this effect to a single weapon (TWFing would be WAY overpowered with this when used at the optimal 2d4 per).

The concentration check for damage taken is made at the end of your turn, and all damage from this ability is totaled for the purposes of the check (it's always DC10 unless the damage somehow raises above 20.... I'm not sure how that would happen, but you never know, so I thought it prudent to add it just in case).
But that's almost auto-success at high levels.
Or maybe, for the purposes of the concentration check, the damage of this ability is added to the damage of the first attack you take this round, DC10 check at the start of your next turn if you take no damage that round.

Then again, all of this discussion might be moot if GW doesn't like the concept of sacrificing HP for these abilities instead of HD.

Grey Watcher
2014-10-23, 11:54 PM
...

Then again, all of this discussion might be moot if GW doesn't like the concept of sacrificing HP for these abilities instead of HD.

Well, actually, just losing HP alone is certainly simpler. I was worried that it wasn't steep enough, what with Clerics and Druids and the like being around. But I was misremembering the rules about resting and regaining HD, so I think it actually worked out being a bit harsher than I intended. There's a lot of suggestions and discussion here, which is good, but I want to read through it properly, since you were all nice enough to contribute, so I'll have something interesting to say sometime tomorrow.

Sindeloke
2014-10-23, 11:56 PM
Damage calculations aside, I think Shadow had a really solid point a few posts up - you haven't given these guys much to do besides bleed for bonus damage. Trading HP instead of HD lets you carry on Dark Knighting more consistently, but it's still pretty much a class that does nothing but moar damage, with a nice immunity midway. You could trade out some stabbin' for utility; iirc Black Knights in X-2 can cause status effects or give the party immunities, and in Tactics they can drain MP instead of HP, either of which could give you some variety without deviating from the theme.

Strill
2014-10-24, 02:04 AM
Hmm... Apparently Rings of Regeneration are a thing that exists in the playtest documents. That would be crazy OP on this class if we go with spending HP as the only limitation.

illyahr
2014-10-24, 12:37 PM
How about triggering Blade of Darkness gives your weapon an enhanced Vicious quality? +2d6 damage but 1d6 feedback /HD sacrificed to activate? You would constantly have to balance how much you wanted to deal out with how much dealing it out could be soaked by your reduced HD.

Also, pain gives them power. You could say they add their Con modifier to AC and as a bonus to their Will saves.

Also, Toughness/Improved Toughness. They have always had the highest HP of the martial classes in FF.

Grey Watcher
2014-10-24, 07:10 PM
And you're ignoring that he's almost certainly going to have that +3 to hit (and damage) already in his hand.
Magic Weapon is a spell used on a regular nomagical weapon. A high level fighter is going to have a magical weapon already.
This is purely extra damage.

edit:
Maybe 1hp per [(the number of d4's rolled -1), minimum 1] per attack, but you choose how many d4's to roll each round.
+1d4=1hp/attack, +2d4=1hp/attack, +3d4=2hp/attack, +4d4=3hp/attack, +5d4=4hp/attack

At maximum usage, that's:
1hp per round at 3rd (1 attack, 1d4 extra)
2hp per round at 5th (2 attacks, 1d4 extra each, 1hp each)
2hp per round at 7th (2 attacks, 2d4 extra each, 1hp each)
4hp per round at 10th (2 attacks, 3d4 extra each, 2hp each)
6hp per round at 11th (3 attacks, 3d4 extra each, 2hp each)
9hp per round at 15th (3 attacks, 4d4 extra each, 3hp each)
12hp per round at 18th (3 attacks, 5d4 extra each, 4hp each)
16hp per round at 20th (4 attacks, 5d4 extra each, 4hp each)

Actually, I kind of like that. It starts out as less harmful to you, making it usable more often, while it's not very powerful.
It ends being extremely harmful to you, making it usable less often, while it decimates enemies.
You could add less d4's at higher levels, maing it usable more often or longer, with less cost to you, but less additional damage.

Yeah, I like that best I think. It's potentially very powerful and very harmful to you, but also flexible enough that it doesn't have to be.
Adding 2d4 to each attack at a cost of 1hp per attack is the optimal usage (which comes online at level 7), but nova is still an option if you want to put the hurt on a big baddie (and yourself in the process).
You can only apply this effect to a single weapon (TWFing would be WAY overpowered with this when used at the optimal 2d4 per).

The concentration check for damage taken is made at the end of your turn, and all damage from this ability is totaled for the purposes of the check (it's always DC10 unless the damage somehow raises above 20.... I'm not sure how that would happen, but you never know, so I thought it prudent to add it just in case).
But that's almost auto-success at high levels.
Or maybe, for the purposes of the concentration check, the damage of this ability is added to the damage of the first attack you take this round, DC10 check at the start of your next turn if you take no damage that round.

Then again, all of this discussion might be moot if GW doesn't like the concept of sacrificing HP for these abilities instead of HD.

Man, you guys are a lot better at design than me. I really like this version. I'll add a line that a Dark Knight can only have one weapon wreathed in Darkness at a time to avoid TWF cheese. A TWFighter can still use it, but only one of his weapons is so enchanted. Or once he's entitled to multiple dice, he can spread the total across his two weapons (I'll have to reread the TWF rules before I commit to that, though).


Damage calculations aside, I think Shadow had a really solid point a few posts up - you haven't given these guys much to do besides bleed for bonus damage. Trading HP instead of HD lets you carry on Dark Knighting more consistently, but it's still pretty much a class that does nothing but moar damage, with a nice immunity midway. You could trade out some stabbin' for utility; iirc Black Knights in X-2 can cause status effects or give the party immunities, and in Tactics they can drain MP instead of HP, either of which could give you some variety without deviating from the theme.

Well, I'm ambivalent. I feel like adding buffs and debuffs starts to get too much into the Eldritch Knight's or the Battle Master's territory. Yes it's a one trick pony, but I think I prefer it that way. He does one thing, put on the hurt, but he does it exceedingly well at the cost of his own health. Plus, I'm kinda attached to some version of the abilities I put up (Blade of Darkness, Dark Wave, Black Fang, and Doom), and that's already crowding out much of anything else, unless I drop Dark Resilience, which, as I said, I put in specifically to help out with survivability.


Hmm... Apparently Rings of Regeneration are a thing that exists in the playtest documents. That would be crazy OP on this class if we go with spending HP as the only limitation.

That is going to be an issue. Perhaps the Darkness suppresses regenerative effects (ie a one shot Cure Wounds spell would work normally, but regain-HP-over-time spells would cease to function). I'll have to look up the regeneration spell and see if I can get my hands on the wording for the Ring. Are the playtest documents public now that the books are coming out?


How about triggering Blade of Darkness gives your weapon an enhanced Vicious quality? +2d6 damage but 1d6 feedback /HD sacrificed to activate? You would constantly have to balance how much you wanted to deal out with how much dealing it out could be soaked by your reduced HD.

Well, we're basically dancing around variants on that very idea. I think I like Shadow's solution best so far.


Also, pain gives them power. You could say they add their Con modifier to AC and as a bonus to their Will saves.

Might fold that into Dark Resilience or some such, though I don't want to overweight it.


Also, Toughness/Improved Toughness. They have always had the highest HP of the martial classes in FF.

Well, FF HP numbers are so overblown it's hard to draw a comparison. I mean, your characters are still relatively low level when they start hitting 1000 HP in Final Fantasy, but in D&D 1000 HP would be absurdly high even for a god, much less a mortal. The most I'd consider doing would be letting them upgrade their HD from d10s to d12s, but even that seems like a lot.

And anyway, having to manage a scarce resource like HP is pretty much the point of the archetype, so it somewhat defeats the purpose to start heaping on HP expressly for them to burn.

-----------------------------

I just had an idea. What if Blade of Darkness and Dark Wave were once per short rest, but you could burn an HD to use it again, if you're feeling desperate?

Black Fang and Doom should definitely be once per long rest, and probably cost an HD to use period.

Anyway, there will be much math tonight!

Shadow
2014-10-24, 07:47 PM
I just had an idea. What if Blade of Darkness and Dark Wave were once per short rest, but you could burn an HD to use it again, if you're feeling desperate?

I like that a lot.
If you get clobbered as soon as you activate it and lose concentration, or you don't have time for a short rest, or if you fall unconscious and get revived/healed, you need to spend a HD to get it going again. Yeah, I like that a lot. Flavorful as heck.

edit:
In hindsight, I think the 7th level optimum usage is too much. Maybe make it 2hp for the first attack and 1hp for the second attack (or: 3hp per 2 attacks, rounded up), so at 7th level it costs 3hp per round.
7th level: 2 attacks, 2d4 extra, 3hp (2, 1)
If you continue to use 2d4 at later levels -
11th level: 3 attacks, 2d4 each, 5hp (2, 1, 2)
20th level: 4 attacks, 2d4 each, 6hp (2, 1, 2, 1)

That's still the optimal usage, but it's not quite so lopsided anymore.

Grey Watcher
2014-10-26, 05:01 PM
I like that a lot.
If you get clobbered as soon as you activate it and lose concentration, or you don't have time for a short rest, or if you fall unconscious and get revived/healed, you need to spend a HD to get it going again. Yeah, I like that a lot. Flavorful as heck.

edit:
In hindsight, I think the 7th level optimum usage is too much. Maybe make it 2hp for the first attack and 1hp for the second attack (or: 3hp per 2 attacks, rounded up), so at 7th level it costs 3hp per round.
7th level: 2 attacks, 2d4 extra, 3hp (2, 1)
If you continue to use 2d4 at later levels -
11th level: 3 attacks, 2d4 each, 5hp (2, 1, 2)
20th level: 4 attacks, 2d4 each, 6hp (2, 1, 2, 1)

That's still the optimal usage, but it's not quite so lopsided anymore.

So, wait, a 20th level Attack action you'd only be taking 6 HP damage to deal a net +10d4 necrotic? That seems awfully generous.

Shadow
2014-10-26, 05:07 PM
So, wait, a 20th level Attack action you'd only be taking 6 HP damage to deal a net +10d4 necrotic? That seems awfully generous.

6hp for +8d4, assuming that all four attacks hit
That's opposed to the 4hp you'd take in the earlier example. That's why I raised it. It still needs tweaking a bit I think.

Grey Watcher
2014-10-26, 05:21 PM
6hp for +8d4, assuming that all four attacks hit
That's opposed to the 4hp you'd take in the earlier example. That's why I raised it. It still needs tweaking a bit I think.

Oh, OK. I was misreading it. You were just modifying the formula for the 2d4/hit level of damage, not the overall scale. Makes more sense that way. Working on the full rewrite now, actually.

DualShadow
2014-11-07, 01:23 PM
Just checking in to see how the full rewrite was going. I'm really interested in this class and am curious to see how the next version will end up.

Arracor
2015-02-18, 12:26 AM
Looking at the current version of this class, I very much approve. The flavor is excellent. I would very much like it if there were an actual scale for Blade of Darkness' damage/cost as the player levels; without that it's a bit hard to actually use the class. As an aside/addition, what if at each level you gain a new subclass ability, you also gain a new effect for Blade of Darkness? Ability scores are a personal resource yet untapped, and those could be used to apply interesting abilities to your Blade attacks. Perhaps the Dark Wave could benefit from some variations as well..?

These things aside, the rest of it seems decently balanced, and pretty cool too. If the class is finished as described above (with or without the additional effects) I can definitely see myself using it in my games.

Samhaim
2015-04-26, 06:03 AM
Found this Archetype and I loved the flavour (being a big fan of the source material myself :smallbiggrin:) and its mechanics. I have made quite a few modifications, trying to make it more close to my taste, but I think I managed to keep the original idea intact. Hope someone will like it and won't find me arrogant in having done so :smallredface:.

Weapons of Darkness
Starting at 3rd level, you can cloth any weapon you are wielding in a shroud necrotic energy using an action. For 1 minute, you add 1d4 extra necrotic damage each time you hit a creature with a weapon attack. For each time you deal this extra damage, you lose hit points equal to half the damage this ability has inflicted (rounded up). The extra damage you deal increase by 1d4 at 7th, 10th, 15th and 18th level.

Dark Pulse
Starting at 7th level, you can, as an action, unleash a wave of necrotic energy. You deal yourself an amount of damage up to twice you fighter level, which cannot be reduced or prevented in any way. All creatures in a 30 feet cone, originating from you must make a Constitution saving throw. A target takes 1d12 + the amount of sacrificed hit points necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. The DC for the saving throw equals 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Constitution bonus.

Grim Resilience
Beginning at 10th level, the powers you channel begin to help you sustain your body. When you use Second Wind ability, you gain temporary hit points equal to the hit points you regain.

Abate Shadows
At 15th level, you become inured to the forces of death. You have resistance to necrotic damage and advantage on saving throws against effects that deal necrotic damage, any spell from the necromancy school, abilities that duplicate the effects of such spells, and the special abilities of undead creatures.

Void Strike
Beginning at 18th level, you channel your missing vitality into one of your blows. When you hit a target with a weapon attack, you may forgo you normal damage to instead deal necrotic damage equal to your missing hit points. You then suffer necrotic damage equal to half the amount you have inflicted with this ability, which cannot be reduced or prevented in any way.