Hexblade's Specter and Questions of the Soul

[Nagog]

Quick Question: Hexblade's Accursed Specter, acquired at 6th level, allows you to enslave the soul of a creature you've killed. It also gains bonuses to a few things, yadda yadda yadda, but it doesn't have stats of it's own. So the question is: Is it a Specter as in the CR 1 creature in the MM (I assume in MM, I found it on Roll20)(If this is the case, could I convert a CR 0 Commoner into this Specter?)? Or is it essentially a ghostly version of the creature (Therefore higher rewards for more difficult kills)? In either sense, can you speak with it, similar to the Speak With Dead spell, without the question limit or truth enforcement? It sticks around until your next long rest, so if it survives the combat (should it continue), it sticks around and serves you. This also begs the question, if the Necromancer in the party casts Soul Cage on this humanoid (which steals it's soul), can I still raise a specter from the kill? How do either of these interact with the Magic Jar spell? If I kill the body possessed by a Magic Jar caster, can I summon the caster's soul as a Specter or the original host's soul? Would Soul Cage interact in that situation differently?

[DarknessEternal]

XGE covers the bulk of your questions very specifically.

[Nagog]

XGE covers the bulk of your questions very specifically.

Do you have a page number or anything else to add? I don't own the book so this answer doesn't help me any.

[Millstone85]

Do you have a page number or anything else to add? I don't own the book so this answer doesn't help me any.Then your source must be rather poor, because it is right at the beginning of the feature.
Starting at 6th level, you can curse the soul of a person you slay, temporarily binding it to your service. When you slay a humanoid, you can cause its spirit to rise from its corpse as a specter, the statistics for which are in the Monster Manual.

[Nagog]

Then your source must be rather poor, because it is right at the beginning of the feature.

The D&D Wiki did not include that clause. I've reported it now. Do you have any insights or thoughts on any of the other questions?

[DarknessEternal]

{Scrubbed}

[HappyDaze]

The only other thought I have is largely non-mechanical.

This ability is Evil. You rip out the soul of someone and force it into becoming a Specter. Then you force it into your service (however briefly) where it exists only to harm the living. There is no reasonable way to use this ability without being Evil, although I'm sure some unscrupulous individuals will try to say otherwise.

[Millstone85]

In either sense, can you speak with it, similar to the Speak With Dead spell, without the question limit or truth enforcement?I think not, because the MM says that "specters no longer possess connections to who or what they were", which I take as meaning they don't remember much about their lives. Also, a specter "understands all languages it knew in life but can't speak", which further complicates matters.


This also begs the question, if the Necromancer in the party casts Soul Cage on this humanoid (which steals it's soul), can I still raise a specter from the kill?DM call, but it would make sense if you couldn't.


How do either of these interact with the Magic Jar spell? If I kill the body possessed by a Magic Jar caster, can I summon the caster's soul as a Specter or the original host's soul?DM call again, but I would say the caster's soul.

[Hytheter]

The only other thought I have is largely non-mechanical.

This ability is Evil. You rip out the soul of someone and force it into becoming a Specter. Then you force it into your service (however briefly) where it exists only to harm the living. There is no reasonable way to use this ability without being Evil, although I'm sure some unscrupulous individuals will try to say otherwise.

Yeah, I don't like the ability much and this is part of the reason. The Hexblade dip is appealing as it is but Accursed Specter actively makes me not want to go any further than level 5.


The D&D Wiki did not include that clause.

Most online resources won't have all the rules because they aren't legally allowed to. At least one D&D Wiki I know of is also outright bad, with mistakes and terrible homebrew.

[Nagog]

{Scrubbed post, scrubbed quote}

So you're saying I can't ask for clarification on using things like Booming Blade unless I own SCAG? And that I can't ask for people's opinions on Rising from the Last War because I haven't purchased it yet? If that's the case, half the people on this forum wouldn't be posting. {Scrubbed}


The only other thought I have is largely non-mechanical.

This ability is Evil. You rip out the soul of someone and force it into becoming a Specter. Then you force it into your service (however briefly) where it exists only to harm the living. There is no reasonable way to use this ability without being Evil, although I'm sure some unscrupulous individuals will try to say otherwise.

This is true, as well as clashes with the flavor text that implies many Hexblades are servants of the Raven Queen. Necromancy and such is rather against her MO, is it not? Which is why I'd much prefer the Shadow Hound from the UA version of Hexblade. It isn't as powerful and isn't specifically combat-focused, but it adds a fun mechanic for out of combat usage.

[Millstone85]

This is true, as well as clashes with the flavor text that implies many Hexblades are servants of the Raven Queen.There is only one Hexblade, who may or may not be an alias of the Raven Queen. Thus, either all warlocks of the Hexblade made a pact with the Raven Queen, or none of them did.


Necromancy and such is rather against her MO, is it not?Unclear.

In 4e's default setting of Nentir Vale, the Raven Queen was described as a mighty sorceress who, upon her death, became a ghost that "glowed with her fierce will and ambition". Seeing this, Nerull, god of the dead, made her his consort. She would later destroy him and claim his throne. (Divine Power p43)

But in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, the Raven Queen is instead said to have been an elven queen in the time of Corellon and Lolth's first conflict. She tried to ascend to godhood, fancying herself a mediator. After her ritual went hayware, she ended up a powerful but fractured entity in the Shadowfell, quite possibly insane.

So, is her 4e MO still relevant in 5e? Are these at all the same character?

[Phhase]

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Even if that is RAW, it's impossible highly improbable to actually know whether or not each individual user actually owns any book. As such, your assertion is at best, academic.

[Mr Adventurer]

Even if that is RAW, it's impossible highly improbable to actually know whether or not each individual user actually owns any book. As such, your assertion is at best, academic.

Your objection is, at best, academic:


Do you have a page number or anything else to add? I don't own the book so this answer doesn't help me any.

[Nagog]

Your objection is, at best, academic:

Oh dear, I guess I can't ask questions about books I don't own, how sad. You know, maybe I should get one of my DMs, who does own the book, to get on and ask this question for me.
It's truly a shame that human beings are incapable of teaching each other information unless the student has access to the source material themselves. You could really make a solid profession of teaching stuff if that weren't the case. Or, you know what else we could do? We could set up a building in pretty much every city everywhere and fill it up with books people don't own, and allow them to borrow them for their own purposes! That would be great!

{Scrubbed}

[Ventruenox]

Mödley Crüe: Since none of us will be posting an entire stat block for a monster or an entire character class, let's keep the focus of the discussion on explaining how the level 6 Hexblade mechanic functions.