OSR: Class: Sword Exorcist

Based on the series Mononoke, which is probably the weirdest, most beautiful series I've seen in the last few years. If you're into slow-burn horror and cool art, check it out.

Base Exorcist class.

Starting Equipment: The Sword of Exorcism

The Church has chosen you to fight Disembodied Undead. You are most effective against ghosts, revenants, and other spirits, visible or invisible. More importantly, you seek the truth. Powerful disembodied undead are born of violent acts, dishonorable deeds, and terrible crimes. To banish them, you must know the truth, and you can use the truth against them.

Your calling is dangerous and, in many ways, disreputable. You are constantly visiting scenes of violence and disorder. You sit outside society's laws and codes, judging, condemning, and assisting people in ways the Church cannot officially sanction. You may need to disguise yourself as a peddler, a beggar, or a madman to complete your task.

Cannot locate source at this time.

Templates

A: The Art of the Sword of Exorcism
B: The Warding Marks
C: Zone of Truth, +1 Attack stat
D: Master of the Art

You gain +2 to Save vs Fear for every Sword Exorcist template you possess.

The Art of the Sword of Exorcism
A short sword in a jeweled wooden scabbard, lacquered and bound with silver. A remarkable weapon, but even more remarkable in the hands of a priest. It feels remarkably heavy and seems to draw the eye. The sword cannot be destroyed or damaged by any mundane effects (fire, acid, impact). Spells cast with 4 or more MD can potentially destroy it.

In its scabbard, the sword counts is a magic weapon that deals 1d4+Strength bonus damage. It is wielded as a club.

The sword can only be drawn against a single disembodied undead target. You must name or designate the target, and also meet the following 3 conditions.
1. You must know the target's Form. What does it look like? How does it manifest?
2.You must know the target's Truth. How did it come to be? What were the circumstances of its death? Who was involved?
3. You must know the target's Reason. Why does it remain here, among the living? What does it desire?

These are difficult things to determine. A Sword Exorcist must often act as a detective, searching out the truth, interrogating the guilty, or searching for ancient crimes. Minor ghosts, poltergeists, and spirits can be banished just by brandishing the Sword of Unmaking (and smacking them around a few times). Powerful spirits are not so easily dismissed.

The drawn sword does 4d10 magic damage per round and has a range of 30'. It looks like a roaring flame made from fragments of unreality, an aurora of impossible light and texture. It only affects the targeted disembodied undead, but all undead, even ones normally immune to Fear effects, must Save or flee.

The Warding Marks
You use special coins, pieces of parchment, or ribbons to ward an area. The marks can be used in 2 different ways. You an only safely use the marks once per day. If you use them a second time, you automatically drop to 0 HP.

1. Detection. Any disembodied undead passing within 1' of a mark will cause it to change colour, flicker, or glow. An area up to 20'x[Sword Exorcist Templates] in radius can be warded in this way. Invisibility, intangibility, etc. provide no protection. The Marks cannot be fooled.

2. Barrier. An area up to 10'x[Sword Exorcist Templates] in radius is covered in marks. There must be solid surfaces on all sides; this ability will not work outdoors. All doors and windows are warded. Undead on the outside of the marks cannot enter; undead on the inside of the marks cannot leave. If the Sword Exorcist crosses the boundary for any reason the effect ends. This ability also affects spells, scrying, enchanted items, etc. To any spell, spirit, or angel, the barrier is solid. Each hour the barrier is active, you lose 1 HP.

Zone of Truth
Your soul is clad in ice. You are unsettling and extremely odd. No one can lie to you about murder. They can evade, they can remain silent, but if they go to speak, they cannot lie... and they feel the weight of their guilt on them. Every minute spent in conversation with a Sword Exorcist imposes a -1 penalty to Morale.

Master of the Art
You have practiced using the Sword of Exorcism. While wielding it, you gain a +2 bonus to Defense. Once per day you can deflect an incoming spell that targets you or the area you are standing in. You can make an Attack roll to swat it back at the caster.

Message is the Bottle, Marguerite Sauvage

Mechanical Notes on the Sword Exorcist

A semi-martial class, but with very specific detective bent. You need to figure out why the ancient spirit is haunting the dungeon in order to be most effective. Failing that,  you can club spirits (and other things) to death, and protect your party extremely well, but your main goal is to banish spirits and ghosts by discovering the reason for their existence, drawing your sword, and doing staggering damage.

You are also equipped to fight one of the deadlier types of enemies in traditional games. Ghosts, spirits, shadows, and spectres are terrifying for very good reasons.

A Lonesome Queen, Felipe Escobar