Executioner

The Hunter of Final Judgment

Gravehunter Subclass

Executioners are the instruments of divine law, charged with the absolute destruction of Thrallborn undead and the mortal architects of their enslavement. They wield Kieron’s decree as both a weapon and an authority, ensuring that necromancers, dark priests, and other masters of undeath cannot maintain their grip over the condemned. Where Thrallborn serve as puppets bound in servitude, Executioners see only corruption, a defilement of the natural cycle that must be eradicated at its source.

Their presence is not merely anathema to the undead, but to those who command them. Executioners sever the connection between servant and master, breaking necrotic control through sacred disruption. When they enter battle, they do not stop at the Thrallborn—they hunt the ones who create them, ensuring no mortal agent escapes judgment. Whether by force, divine sanction, or spectral unraveling, an Executioner’s intervention guarantees that Thrallborn legions will not rise again under their master’s influence.

For necromancers and those who wield forbidden magic, an Executioner’s arrival signals the end. Their decree does not allow negotiation, redemption, or restraint—only finality. If a master of Thrallborn seeks to maintain their army, they must first survive the executioner who will see that none remain.

Marked Unquiet: The Thrallborn Undead – Ogre Zombie, Skeleton, Swarm of Crawling Claws, Zombie

The Hunter of Final Judgment ensures mindless or controlled undead cannot rise again under necromantic influence.

Executioner Subclass Features

Executioner Level	Feature
3rd	Ashen Cleave, Writ of Severance, Judgment Strike
6th	Executioner’s Edict, Awakening Ritual
10th	Law of Severance
14th	Kieron’s Final Judgment

Ashen Cleave

Executioner Weapon

3rd-Level Executioner Feature

Upon choosing the Executioner subclass at 3rd level, you receive a weapon emblematic of your path. This finely crafted armament reflects your specialization and is designed for the hunt ahead. Though mundane at first, its latent power will awaken as you prove your worth.

Weapon (battleaxe), uncommon (requires attunement by a Gravehunter Executioner)

A battleaxe forged in solemn rite, its edge darkened by ritual ash and sanctified with iron judgment. Ashen Cleave is a symbol of the Executioner’s grim duty—to sever the ties that bind the undead to the mortal world.

Severing Edge. When you hit an undead creature with this weapon, its speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of your next turn.
Judgment Steel. The weapon counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
Graveweight. If you strike an undead creature that is grappled or restrained, it has disadvantage on its next Strength or Dexterity saving throw made before the start of your next turn.

Writ of Severance

3rd-Level Executioner Feature

You call upon Kieron’s unyielding decree, unraveling the necrotic bindings that animate the dead.

As an action, you target up to 1d3 Thrallborn creatures (such as skeletons, zombies, or other mindless undead) that you can see within 30 feet. Each target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier) or immediately fall inert, their undeath forcibly ended as their animating force is severed.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Judgment Strike

3rd-Level Executioner Feature

Your blows carry the weight of Kieron’s law, ensuring the undead do not rise again.

When you reduce an undead creature to 0 hit points with a weapon attack, it cannot be resurrected or reanimated by any means short of divine intervention. Its essence is severed, and no spectral remnant remains.

Additionally, when you hit a Thrallborn creature (such as a skeleton, zombie, or similarly mindless undead) with a weapon attack, the target takes an extra 1d4 weapon damage. This bonus damage increases to 1d6 at 11th level and 1d8 at 17th level.

Awakening Ritual

Ashen Cleave Enhancement

6th-Level Executioner Feature

The Trial of Judication

The Trial of Judication is the final measure of an Executioner’s resolve—a solemn rite in which deliberation ceases and certainty begins. Justice is not requested, debated, or weighed. It is delivered, shaped by hands that recognize some transgressions demand erasure.

To awaken your weapon and embody the full authority of Kieron’s decree, you must complete the Trial of Judication, which consists of three sacred acts:

Seal the Battlefield with Judgment Sigils. Carve divine edicts into the earth, sanctifying the ground and forbidding undeath within its bounds. While these sigils remain intact, no Thrallborn may rise, and no necromancer or fell force can reclaim the fallen.

Sever the Chain of Reanimation. Identify and destroy the source of undeath that binds the Thrallborn to existence—be it a cursed relic, lingering necrotic energy, or the will of a master. This act does not merely defeat the undead; it erases the conditions of their creation, ensuring both servant and master fall together.

Bind the Weapon to Law. Temper your chosen weapon in the ashes of the broken sigils. Etch into it the final decree of judgment. From this moment on, it becomes an instrument of permanent execution, carrying Kieron’s will with every strike.

Upon completion, the battlefield falls silent. No spirits linger. No Thrallborn endure. Your weapon awakens—bound to divine justice and forged in finality. From this moment forward, your presence denies the return of undeath. You are the end of their cycle.

Awakened Weapon

Upon completing the Trial of Judication, your chosen weapon becomes more than a tool—it is now an extension of your will, bound by blood, spirit, and purpose.

Your awakened weapon counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks.
While wielding this weapon, you gain access to one Weapon Mastery property that it qualifies for. You are considered to have weapon mastery only with this weapon.
You may change the selected mastery property whenever you complete a long rest, reflecting your ongoing refinement of technique and intent.

Ashen Cleave, Awakened – Executioner’s Weapon

Weapon (battleaxe), rare (requires attunement by a Gravehunter Executioner)

This broad-bladed axe bears the marks of sacred scorings—ritual etchings honed through generations of undead judgment. Wielded by Executioners, it brings finality to those who would rise again, its edge guided by unwavering resolve and grim purpose.

Properties:

Severing Edge. When you hit an undead with this weapon, its speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of your next turn.
Cleaver’s Might. When you reduce an undead creature to 0 hit points with this weapon, you may choose to cleave through its form. As a bonus action, you can make another weapon attack against a different undead creature within 5 feet of the original target.
Dread Disjunction. The weapon disrupts necrotic cohesion. Undead that regenerate hit points do not do so on the start of their next turn if you hit them with Ashen Cleave during your previous turn.
Final Judgment. If a creature reduced to 0 hit points by Ashen Cleave would rise again through undeath (such as via a Death Burst, Rejuvenation, or similar effect), that effect is delayed by 1 minute unless the creature succeeds on a Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier).

Executioner’s Edict

6th-Level Executioner Feature

You are an agent of unbreakable law, empowered to ensure that Thrallborn and their masters cannot flee judgment. Your strikes carry a binding authority, and your presence disrupts their unnatural resilience.

Sentence of Finality. When a Thrallborn creature within 60 feet attempts to resist effects that turn, banish, or sever its connection to undeath, you may use your reaction to impose disadvantage on its saving throw. This represents the crushing weight of your condemnation. You can use this reaction once per short or long rest.

Lawbound Mark. When you hit a Thrallborn creature with a weapon attack, you can brand it with a Lawbound Mark. For 1 minute, the creature cannot teleport, shift planes, or become incorporeal. It is anchored to the mortal world by your sentence. The effect ends early if you are incapacitated or the creature is destroyed. Once you use this feature, you must complete a short or long rest before you can use it again.

Law of Severance

10th-Level Executioner Feature

Your presence imposes a supernatural prohibition against undeath. The moment you enter a battlefield, necrotic forces begin to unravel—denying the reanimation, restoration, or command of the Thrallborn and those who create them.
Forsaken Restoration. Thrallborn undead within 30 feet of you cannot regain hit points by any means. This suppression of necrotic cohesion ensures that decay overtakes them, and once damaged, their end is inevitable.
Unraveling the Unnatural. If a spell or effect would animate a corpse as a Thrallborn within 30 feet of you, it immediately fails. Whether cast by mortal, artifact, or ambient curse, undeath cannot be born within your reach.
Sever the Caster’s Will. When a creature within this radius casts a spell that would create or control undead, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier) or suffer magical backlash: the spell fails, and all necromancy spells they know or have prepared that create or sustain undead are suppressed until the end of their next long rest. They may prepare them again—if they survive the encounter.

Mandated Ultimatum

14th-Level Executioner Feature

At 14th level, you embody the culmination of the Executioner’s purpose: to impose a sentence that cannot be evaded, undone, or resisted. When the Final Decree is enacted, Thrallborn are left to crumble beneath an authority greater than undeath itself.

Sudden Judgment. When you activate this feature, all Thrallborn within 30 feet take 2d8 radiant or force damage (your choice), as their animating energies recoil under your presence.

Zone of Condemnation. As an action, you create a 30-foot-radius zone centered on yourself that lasts for up to 1 minute (concentration). While within this zone:

Thrallborn have disadvantage on saving throws against being turned, against radiant damage, and against effects that suppress or disrupt undeath.
Thrallborn cannot regain hit points or benefit from necrotic healing.
Corpses within the area cannot be animated or reanimated.

Sever the Will. When a necromantic spell is cast within the zone, its caster must make a Charisma saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier). On a

failure, the spell fails, and the caster takes 2d8 radiant or psychic damage, as their control shatters under your authority.

The zone persists for its duration or until all Thrallborn within it are destroyed. Once invoked, you cannot use this feature again until you finish a long rest.