Editing Blackstaff's Tome of Wizardry (section)

==School of Soulbinding==
Arguably a specialist form of [[necromancer]], the Soulbinder uses ritual magic to bind a portion of their own life force into chosen items, creating powerful arcane focuses that can also be used as separate wellsprings of vital energies - just the thing to make the Soulbinder a little bit harder to kill than the average wizard! Any resemblance to [[lich]]es is, of course, 100% intentional, although the basic concept is pretty old.

Naturally, their foundation feature is 2nd level's '''Soulbond''', which lets them create a Soulbound Object (Soul Object, for short). This has to be a non-magical inanimate object, and because the Soulbinder's various features generally require them to be in contact with it, it's probably best to choose something practical to carry or wield, like a ring, a bracelet or a necklace. A Soulbinder can only have one Soul Object at a time, and it requires a 24 hour long ritual to attune themselves to it; regardless of what the base object was, once it becomes Soulbound, it has an AC of 10 + the Soulbinder's Int modifier, a damage threshold equal to their Proficiency Bonus, and hit points equal to 1/2 the Soulbinder's HP maximum. It can only be damaged if targeted by an attack, damaging abilities, or spells... but if it ''does'' get damaged, the only way to fix it is for the Soulbinder to touch it and spend Hit Dice, just as if they were trying to heal up themselves, and if it's destroyed, the Soulbinder immediately gains 2 levels of Exhaustion... yes, this '''can''' kill them! If they survive its destruction, the Soulbinder can create a new Soul Object by performing the ritual again, and this is the only way to change what counts as their Soul Object. A Soulbinder treats their Soul Object as an Arcane Focus, and if somehow separated from it, can intuitively sense which direction it lies in and how far away it is, though nothing more specific than that.

Their other 2nd level feature is '''Damage Dispersion''', which lets them push some or all of the damage from an attack to their Soul Object once per short rest.

'''Arcane Power Pool''', gained at 6th level, lets the Soulbinder drain the hit points from their Soul Object to empower their spellcasting; spending Soul Object HP equal to the spell's level lets them impose Disadvantage on the save against that spell for 1 creature. The Soulbinder can extend this effect to penalize multiple creatures, if the spell targets multiple creatures, but the HP cost must be paid in full for each creature - so, if you want to use this feature on a 3rd level spell targeting 3 creatures, you need to spend 9 of the Soul Object's precious hit points to give Disadvantage on the save to all three of them.

'''Vitality Infusion''', the 10th level feature, lets the Soulbinder drain HP from their Soul Object to heal themselves. In addition to restoring the Soulbinder's own hit points on a one-for-one basis, draining and spending 5 hit points from the Soul Object in one hit can be used to cure the Soulbinder of the Poisoned condition or any disease.

Finally, '''Life Surge''' causes the Soulbinder's Soul Object to shatter and pour its stockpiled life energy into the Soulbinder should the [[wizard]] die as a result of being reduced below 0 hit points and failing 3 death saving throws. Assuming that the Soulbinder survives the 2 levels of Exhaustion they gain from the Soul Object breaking, they are restored to life with hit points equal to those possessed by the Soul Object before it shattered.