In this series, I’ll be slowly tackling a rework of one of our favorite classes, the Binder. The class was originally a straight update of the class of the same name from D&D 3.5’s Tome of Magic, including most of the original vestiges, but as we revisit this class, we’d like to examine its mechanics and its concepts with fresh eyes, improve upon them, and write a whole new list of vestiges.
Carthin, the Runebreaker
8th-level vestige
In life, Carthin was a mage who forsook all arcana, except that which might be used to strike down the archmagi who betrayed him. He offers his binders a rebuke of magic along with his unsettling eyes.
Legend. Carthin descended into the lair of, Vortirrackt, the dimensional monster, alongside a band of a hundred other warriors. It was a deathtrap. The creature was as ferocious as it was cunning, and it had converted its accommodations — the tower of the arcane university — into an insidious dungeon. One by one, Carthin’s comrades fell to the tower’s perilous traps, bloodthirsty summoned monsters, and occasionally to Vortirrackt itself.
At last, Carthin and his remaining allies uncovered the artifacts they required and did the deed: expanding the dimensional rift from which the creature originated, until it swallowed Vortirrackt and the whole of the tower with it. Only Carthin emerged before the tower was destroyed, returning with a seething resentment in his chest.
From Vortirrackt in the dungeon, Carthin learned that he and his allies had been sent on a suicide mission; none were meant to survive. All of the death within the university was the fault of the reckless archmagi and their futile experiments; it would stand no longer.
Taking up the mantle of “Runebreaker”, Carthin swore off all magic, save that which might kill the archmagi, and embarked on a journey of vengeance. The Runebreaker left a trail of spellcaster corpses in his wake as he hunted down the former headmasters of the university. Some histories paint this as a folk tale about the common man standing up to authority, others remember it as a horror story. In the end, his vestige cares that he continues his endless inquisition, evidenced by his unflinching red stare that unravels magic itself.
Flaw. While bound to this vestige, you gain the following flaw: “I believe that those who wield magic are innately corrupted, and I will trust nothing they say or do.”
Eldritch Resistance
You have resistance to damage you take from spells.
Arcanomach
When you use your action to cast a spell, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action.
Mage-Killer
While bound to Carthin, you can cast the following spells without using spell slots or spell components: counterspell three times, dispel magic three times, and antimagic field once. Antimagic field cast in this way does not disable any of your vestige features, except for spellcasting and magic items. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Trait: Dead Magic Eyes
While bound to Carthin, your eyes become vacant pits with two bright coals burning within them, granting you vision that can pierce arcana. You are constantly under the effects of the spell detect magic, which does not require your concentration. Additionally, you can use your action to focus on a creature you can see within 30 feet. You can determine if that creature has cast a spell within the last 24 hours, and the spell’s school of magic, if any.
Sariel, The Fell Angel
7th-level vestige
The first fallen angel, Sariel tried and failed to destroy the multiverse as a mercy to its inhabitants. As penance, he offers his binders his wings and his once-holy blade.
Legend. When the primeval gods spoke the Words of Creation, the world sputtered, cracked, and bled into existence. It wrenched itself and edged close to utter disaster, for it was built on a deeply imperfect plan.
Seeing the havoc of the multiverse firsthand, the archangel Sariel descended from the upper planes to Erebus and beseeched that she might unmake the world, that it could be made again. Sariel struck the Stygian Seal with his blade, and the quirreling gods took notice. But before Sariel could break the seal with a final blow, the gods halted his blade. In judgement for his betrayal, for attempting to destroy the multiverse itself, the gods cast Sariel down into Erebus, from which he might never escape.
Binders know the story of Sariel’s betrayal well, for it illustrates their deepest secret: the world’s flaws were crafted at the onset, and Erebus represents a destructive, merciful remedy, paving the way a new, perfect multiverse. The sign is nearly broken, which is why vestiges draw so near to the Material Plane. For his part, Sariel’s vestige only regrets his actions, and offers his wings that he might go flightness as penance for his sin.
Personality Trait. While bound to this vestige, you gain the following personality trait: “I feel a melancholy regret for my mistakes; such sadness follows me everywhere I go.”
Broken Halo
Whenever you fail a saving throw, roll a d6. On a 6, you succeed the saving throw instead.
Flyby Attack
When you make a melee attack against a creature, while flying you don’t provoke opportunity attacks from that creature for the rest of the turn, whether you hit or not.
Judgement
When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can deal an additional 6d8 necrotic or radiant damage (your choice) to the target. Once you use this ability, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Trait: Angelic Wings
While bound to Sariel, you sprout broad, feathered wings from your back, granting you a flying speed of 60 feet.
Vortirrackt, the Outsider
5th-level vestige
A creature from beyond our multiverse, Vortirrackt warps his binders into a reflection of his bizarre anatomy.
Legend. When the brilliant scientist Korine cast the fateful spell that thrust her to the Void, an eldritch, horrific thing crept through behind her in the dimensional hole to our world. This creature, Vortirrackt, was unlike anything seen in the multiverse: it had pale, slimy skin, impervious to weapons, a long head which terminated in a circular mouth of razor-sharp teeth, and six sickeningly long limbs, each with one joint more than a terrestrial creature and a clawlike barb at the end. Worse yet, this creature was no mere beast, as its frightful intellect would demonstrate.
Vortirrackt stalked out of the dimensional pit in front of a gathering of wizards, researchers, and arcanists. It exchanged a long glance with those in attendance, then pounced, butchering any it caught in its elongated grasp. Dozens of innocents perished, and the mages of the arcane university retreated from their great tower to regroup. Bands of knights were sent to slay the beast and reclaim the tower, to no avail; their heads were seen to be arranged at the tower’s windows mere hours later.
Thankfully, a powerful warding spell managed to seal Vortirrackt within, but it did not contain its telepathy. The creature mocked the wizards of the tower and their petty attempts to slay it. Gradually, it learned their names, their specialties, and what best to say to torment them.
With no other options, the archmagi concluded that they would widen the rift, swallowing the whole of the tower and the monster, before sealing it the rift beneath a great mountain. A hundred adventures entered the warded tower, which Vortirrackt had rigged into a fiendish dungeon, but only one, Carthin the Runebreaker, escaped the monster’s deathtrap.
Today, Vortirrackt’s foul name is synonymous with spells gone awry, the folly of mages, and the hideous things that lie beyond the stars. Moreover, its legend drew forth a vestige: a spitting image of the beast itself, whose figure appears distorted as if seen though a warped mirror.
Flaw. While bound to this vestige, you gain the following flaw: “I enjoy tormenting my enemies, sowing hate and doubt in their minds.”
Snap Reflexes
You can make an opportunity attack without using a reaction. You have advantage on this attack roll. Once you use this ability, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Trait: Spider-Climber
When you bind Vortirrackt, your skin becomes pale and strangely adhesive. You can move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings, while leaving your hands free. You also gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.
Trait: Abominable Claws
When you bind Vortirrackt, your hands sprout sickening claws, which you can use the make unarmed strikes. The claws deal 1d4 slashing damage, and you can use Charisma, instead of Strength, for their attack and damage rolls. The claws count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity.
When you take the Attack action, you can make one unarmed strike with the claws as a bonus action. Additionally, when use your claws to hit a creature that has already been hit with them during that turn, you deal an additional 2d6 slashing damage.
Trait: Extraneous Joint
When you bind Vortirrackt, your arms and legs deform, lengthening and cracking until they each contain an additional joint. The reach of all of your melee attacks, as well as your reach for opportunity attacks, extends out to 10 feet. Additionally, you can make an opportunity attack against any creature that moves while within your reach.
– – –
Changelog: 3/16/19: Sariel: Judgement: Damage bumped up to 6d8
Carthin: Increased to 8th level
Carthin: Mage-Killer: Antimagic Field does not affect vestiges, except for spellcasting and magic items
3/20/19: Vortirrackt: Abominable Claws: Count as magic
