It's well known that magic users can become some of the most powerful individuals of all time. Many spells and magical abilities are able to manipulate the fabric of the weave and should this power go to the wrong hands, major issues can occur. Mage slayers exist to counter that very possibility.
Mage slayers are fighters that have honed their techniques to be effective fighting those that originally would've had an advantage over them. A mage slayer employs special techniques and even a little bit of magic themselves to fight off magical dangers.
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Mage Slayer
Upon choosing this subclass at level 3, you gain the ability to tailor your fighting abilities to effectively fight off those with arcane power. You gain the following abilities:
- You can perform an hour-long ritual with one weapon of your choice. Once the ritual is complete, the weapon becomes your Mage Slayer weapon and deals magical damage for the sake of overcoming resistances and immunities. Only one weapon can become a Mage Slayer weapon at a time.
- You can use a bonus action to gain advantage for the next saving throw against any sort of harmful effect that can occur within the next 1 minute (does not stack with consecutive uses). This can be done a number of times equaling your proficiency bonus and all uses are recharged after a short or long rest.
- If you don't have proficiency already, you gain proficiency with the Arcana skill.
- You gain the Mage Slayer feat if your DM allows feats.
Accelerate-Stagnate
Also at 3rd level, you gain a special ability that allows you to change the speed at which your body functions, using it to your advantage. Both abilities are activated with a bonus action and last one minute or until you cancel it with a BA. Only one ability can be used at any time. Switching to another will automatically cancel the current effect. You gain the following abilities:
- Double Accelerate: You can magically increase the rate at which your body works. For the duration, your base speed doubles, you can make a single attack as a bonus action, and you gain a +1 to AC.
- Double Stagnate: You can magically decrease the rate at which your body works. For the duration your base movement speed is halved and you gain a +5 to all stealth rolls. Additionally, using Double-Stagnate automatically conceals you from creatures that have either not seen you yet, or who lack direct line-of-sight (creatures who rely on non-vision based senses also can't detect you). Finally, you can roll to hide as a bonus action within the duration.
Using any of these abilities more than once can be very taxing on one's body. You can use either of these abilities once per long rest without penalties. If you choose to use either of these abilities more than once a day, you must make a DC-12 constitution save after an effect has ended or suffer a point of exhaustion. This DC increases by 2 points every consecutive use.
At 10th level, you can use Accelerate-Stagnate twice per long rest without penalties.
Anti-Magic Attacks
At 7th level, your efficacy at attacking mages and magical threats begin to increase dramatically. You gain the following abilities:
- At the end of a long rest, you can briefly enchant your Mage Slayer weapon to become even more dangerous to casters. If you use this weapon to land an attack against a creature that is currently holding concentration, that creature takes a penalty to the concentration equaling your Strength or Dexterity score.
- If you land an attack with the weapon against a creature that: has spellcasting and/or is an aberration, celestial, construct, fiend, or undead, you can release this enchantment in a burst of powerful energy. The creature takes an extra 4D8 of force damage and if they have spellcasting, they instantly lose concentration (if applicable) and cannot cast any leveled spells for the next minute. During this minute, you must also maintain concentration and breaking concentration will return spellcasting back to the target. The enchantment goes away upon using this.
Bane of Mages
At 10th level, your attacks become even more lethal against casters and magical creatures. Whenever you land an attack with your enchanted Mage Slayer weapon, you can force the creature to make a constitution save (DC=8+Prof Bonus + Constitution). If they fail, their internal energy is badly disrupted. They lose 1/2 their movement speed until the start of your next turn. If the creature has spellcasting or is one of the aforementioned creature types, they are instead stunned for a turn. This effect can only be applied to one creature at a time.
Soul of Anti-Magic
At 15th level, your very body is dedicated to stopping magic in its tracks. You gain the following abilities:
- If you take any amount of damage from any sort of magical source, you can use a reaction to try to reduce the damage by 4D10.
- You can make unarmed strikes that deal 1D6 magical bludgeoning damage. If you land an unarmed strike against a creature with some sort of magical effect on (Mage Armor, Shield of Faith, etc.), they instantly lose the effect and take an additional 1D8 damage.
Scourge of the Arcane
At 18th level, your entire body, mind, and soul has been powered to fight off magical evil. You gain the following abilities:
- Your enchanted Mage Slayer weapon gains a +2 to hit and to damage if it doesn't have it already.
- Attacking a spellcaster or any of the aforementioned creature types heals you by 1/2 the amount of damage you take.
- If a spellcaster casts an abjuration spell for any purpose, your next attack against them is rolled with advantage and if the attack is a critical hit, the casted spell immediately deactivates.
- If you release your enchanted Mage Slayer weapon energy against a creature, they instead take 4D10 force damage and must make a constitution save. On a fail, they are paralyzed for 1D4 rounds.
- You can use an action to roll an intimidation check against a creature. They must contest your roll with a wisdom save. On a fail, they are frightened for 1 minute. The creature can repeat the save at the end of each of their turns once they break line of sight.