Arcane Tradition: Soulbinding
The Soulbound are a cadre of wizards specializing in imbuing an object, as a focus for directing and empowering their spells. Soulbound wizards literally bind a portion of their life force into the object, making this discipline dangerous for the wizard – for should the object be lost, destroyed, or even just fall into a foe's grasp, the consequences could be disastrous. For all the risk, Soulbound gain significant arcane might from their focus object.
Soulbinding is tradition that seems limited mostly to magi trained by other (individual) magi within Zhi (and, to a lesser degree, Yithi); no mage school around soulbinding exists. Some mage schools have accepted Soulbinders into their ranks, but Soulbinders only take single apprentices, and never institutionalize their teachings.
name = 'Soulbinding'
description = "***Arcane Tradition: Soulbinding.*** The Soulbound are a cadre of wizards specializing in imbuing an object, as a focus for directing and empowering their spells. Soulbound wizards literally bind a portion of their life force into the object, making this discipline dangerous for the wizard – for should the object be lost, destroyed, or even just fall into a foe's grasp, the consequences could be disastrous. For all the risk, Soulbound gain significant arcane might from their focus object."
Soulbond
2nd-level Soulbinding feature
You undertake a ritual to bond with a single, nonmagical, inanimate object of your choice. The ritual takes 24 hours, during which you cannot move or undertake any activity other than the ritual, and if interrupted, the ritual must be restarted.
Once the object is chosen it cannot be changed unless the object is destroyed. The object becomes your arcane focus (or Soul Object), and all your archetype powers require you to be in contact with your bonded object for them to work. If separated from the object, you always know its exact location; both direction and distance, but not its specific surroundings.
The object has an armor class equal to 10 + your Intelligence modifier, a damage threshold equal to your proficiency bonus, and a number of hit points equal to half your hit point maximum. The object can only be damaged if it is targeted by an attack, damaging abilities, or spells. If damaged, you can spend Hit Dice to restore its hit points in the same way you can restore your own. You must be touching the object, and it cannot be repaired by any other means.
If the object reaches zero hit points it is destroyed. The destruction of your Soul Object is traumatic and causes you to incur two levels of exhaustion. If these exhaustion levels would contribute to your subsequent death, you die.
You can generate a new Soul Object by undertaking the ritual again.
def level2(npc):
npc.defer(lambda npc: npc.traits.append("***Soulbond.*** You undertake a ritual to bond with a single, nonmagical, inanimate object of your choice. The ritual takes 24 hours, during which you cannot move or undertake any activity other than the ritual, and if interrupted, the ritual must be restarted. Once the object is chosen it cannot be changed unless the object is destroyed. The object becomes your arcane focus (or Soul Object), and all your archetype powers require you to be in contact with your bonded object for them to work. If separated from the object, you always know its exact location; both direction and distance, but not its specific surroundings. The object has an armor class of {10 + npc.INTbonus()}, a damage threshold of {npc.proficiencybonus()}, and a number of hit points equal to half your hit point maximum. The object can only be damaged if it is targeted by an attack, damaging abilities, or spells. If damaged, you can spend Hit Dice to restore its hit points in the same way you can restore your own. You must be touching the object, and it cannot be repaired by any other means. If the object reaches zero hit points it is destroyed. The destruction of your Soul Object is traumatic and causes you to incur two levels of exhaustion. If these exhaustion levels would contribute to your subsequent death, you die. You can generate a new Soul Object by undertaking the ritual again.") )
Damage Dispersion
2nd-level Soulbinding feature
As a reaction, when you take damage from any source, you can choose to spread the damage between your hit points and those of your Soul Object. You regain the use of this ability after finishing a short rest.
npc.reactions.append("***Damage Disperson (Recharges on short rest).*** When you take damage from any source, you can choose to spread the damage between your hit points and those of your Soul Object.")
Arcane Power Pool
6th-level Soulbinding feature
When you cast a spell, you can draw from your bonded object to empower your castings. By expending a number of hit points equal to the spell's level, you can impose disadvantage on the saving throw for one affected creature. You can expend multiple allotments of hit points (all equal to the spell's level), allowing you to affect multiple creatures.
def level6(npc):
npc.actions.append("***Arcane Power Pool.*** When you cast a spell, you can draw from your bonded object to empower your castings. By expending a number of hit points equal to the spell's level, you can impose disadvantage on the saving throw for one affected creature. You can expend multiple allotments of hit points (all equal to the spell's level), allowing you to affect multiple creatures.")
Vitality Infusion
10th-level Soulbinding feature
As an action, you can draw upon the life force within your focus object to heal yourself of wounds, or even of some conditions. You can heal hit points equal to the number of hit points withdrawn from your Soul Object. Withdrawing 5 hit points from your Soul Object will remove the poisoned condition from you, or any cure you of any disease you may be suffering.
def level10(npc):
npc.actions.append("***Vitality Infusion.*** You can draw upon the life force within your focus object to heal yourself of wounds, or even of some conditions. You can heal hit points equal to the number of hit points withdrawn from your Soul Object. Withdrawing 5 hit points from your Soul Object will remove the poisoned condition from you, or any cure you of any disease you may be suffering.")
Life Surge
14th-level Soulbinding feature
If you would die due to being reduced to zero hit points, and fail three subsequent death saving throws, your Soul Object shatters, releasing any remaining hit points, restoring you with an equal number of hit points; returning you from the brink of death. This will not restore lost limbs or other missing parts, nor does it restore characters that die by other means. The destruction of your Soul Object in this way is the same as depletion, incurring two levels of exhaustion. If these exhaustion levels would contribute to your subsequent death, you die. You can generate a new bonded object by undertaking the ritual again.
def level14(npc):
npc.traits.append("***Life Surge.*** If you would die due to being reduced to zero hit points, and fail three subsequent death saving throws, your Soul Object shatters, releasing any remaining hit points, restoring you with an equal number of hit points; returning you from the brink of death. This will not restore lost limbs or other missing parts, nor does it restore characters that die by other means. The destruction of your Soul Object in this way is the same as depletion, incurring two levels of exhaustion. If these exhaustion levels would contribute to your subsequent death, you die. You can generate a new bonded object by undertaking the ritual again.")