Character idea that can assume long-dead heroes abilities?

I can never create a character that I can stick with. I get so influenced by what I am currently watching / playing / seeing.

I devised a knowledge cleric after walking around a cathedral with a lovely library.
Made a Bard after watching a ballet performance. Just thought about making a ranger after playing Horizon Zero Dawn computer game - watch this:
https://youtu.be/pDteFLNDmZE
Who wouldn't want to be a ranger?

Maybe you guys can help with my impossible concept! I would love a character that takes on an aspect of a dead 'hero'. Depending which environment you find yourself in the character can assume some diluted aspects of a dead person.
You find yourself in the woods, you call out to the spirits of the forest. You feel the need to hunt, to experience the thrill of it.
You are investigating a long forgotten temple and feel the divine presence of an entombed saint. As dark forces gather around the temple you become one with a powerful cleric. Both your thoughts merge as you stride out to battle.

Just asking in case you may have come across a homebrew class somewhere or maybe you can think of something that fits.

I would also be happy with a summoner of some description where I could flavour the summoned spirits.

Sorry about the odd idea. It just came to me and thought I would test the waters.

Edit:
Maybe a Bard who can put on different performances using lore knowledge. The portrayals are so convincing that he magically assumes the role?

I think it was Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed which had an Akashic class, which accessed the ancestral memory to take on skills and abilities from other classes in a limited form.

Third edition also had a prestige class in Complete Scoundrel, called the Master of Masks, which could access other class features by putting on stylized masks (one at a time, of course).

There was also a ridiculously broken core class in 3.5 Dungeonscape, literally called the Factotum, which could access all abilities from all other classes. That might be your best bet for finding a 5E update, since it was a fairly popular class on account of it being so overpowered, though it isn't quite on theme with what you're looking for.

That's just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more.

I did something vaguely similar once. We had a group that played weekly, but a couple in the family had a baby and were about t drop out when I suggested that they alternate weeks and share a character. They didn't want to play the same character, so we instead created a character that was possessed at times by a spirit of a long dead hero. When the wife was there, it was the spirit in control. When the husband was there, the spirit was not in control. Eventually, one of them dropped, but the remaining spouse continued playing both the fighter and the mage spirit that possessed the fighter. They'd roll a die at the start of each session and would play that version of the PC for the session, whether that was an hour in game timeor a year.

Saelorn said:

I think it was Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed which had an Akashic class, which accessed the ancestral memory to take on skills and abilities from other classes in a limited form.

Third edition also had a prestige class in Complete Scoundrel, called the Master of Masks, which could access other class features by putting on stylized masks (one at a time, of course).

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I took a look at This:
http://errantd20designer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/unearthed-errata-akashic.html?m=1
Seems a bit fiddly but could be what I'm looking for.

Also this:
http://mfov.magehandpress.com/2015/05/master-of-masks.html?m=1
which is similar to the idea I added as an edit to my original post.
I quite like this.

A simpler idea, and one I imagine is more likely to be acceptable to a real DM running a real game, is to look at the Indefinite Madness table on page 260 of the DMG and run with that. Your character could be convinced that they are members of another class and even act like one, without the complicated structure of converting classes from older editions and hoping somebody would let you play it. The Indefinite Madness just acts like a flaw; that is, it has no distinct game effect but is a role-playing tool.

Just a thought.

There is also something similar in Pathfinder: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/occult-adventures/occult-classes/medium

Paul Farquhar said:

There is also something similar in Pathfinder: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/occult-adventures/occult-classes/medium

Click to expand...

Wow that is a cool class. So much fun.

I would take it a step further. Create a number of complete characters (with the exact same stats), and flip between them.

The dm may want to decide when the switch occurs to prevent gaming things, but that way you are truly playing the many classes you want.