Though some people practice no religion, virtually everyone has an attitude about religion. For more than two millennia, all authentic spiritual miracles have been bestowed by the Fivesquare Pantheon. Theologists and other sages know the proper invocations for each of this era's twenty-five deities. Divine magic is a well-established reality only a lunatic would deny. Skeptical attitudes instead take the form of theories contending that gods are powerful parasites draining the essence of their worshippers. These unbelievers may avoid spiritual assistance rather than accept benedictions and healing.
It is normal to seek guidance from wise spellcasters incorporating extensive prayers into their daily routines. Most people show reverence in the presence of divine magic and holy persons. This tends to be conditional as a matter of affiliation. Devotion to a specific patron deity carries with it the potential to be inspired through revelations about that god's core values. Such devotion also conveys hostility toward beings and teachings of diametrically opposed alignments, with particular emnity between worshippers of divine rivals. Personal faiths span the full spectrum from the budding curiosity of open-minded initiates to the hardened convictions of fanatical zealouts.
Even a character who does not venerate any deity should have a meaningful perspective on religion. Unlike alignments and magical bloodlines, these outlooks do not produce indicators evident during close scrutiny of personal auras. All the same, insightful observers watching individuals encounter clergy or sacred sites still sometimes notice religious attitudes. Related emotions tend to be particularly intense, be it the reaction to the blissful reassurance of a familiar sanctuary or a wary regard of some hostile shrine. Even the disinterest of the faithless can be remarkable in the context of an extraordinary religious spectacle or the threat of divine wrath.
Some paladins and most clerics are formally ordained as priests. This status conveys obligations and privileges that vary by faith. Other worshippers of the same religion tend to trust priests as advisors if not also leaders. Druids, paladins, rangers, and spellcasting philosophers can work healing magic without calling upon any deity. Yet those paladins and philosophers must remain true to a coherent body of beliefs and its associated alignment. Their techniques still rely heavily on the channeling of holy energies. The Old Faith is not bound by modern morality. The magic of druids and rangers carries on uninterrupted when a spellcaster changes alignment.
Most people can identify several deities. Ordinary folks can be quick to profane known gods in moments of great excitement and to plead with them in moments of personal crisis. More than half of all humans participate in organized religion, either by attending regular gatherings or consulting often with ordained priests. Many societies routinely employ clergy at events related to fertility, nativity, coming of age, marriage, and death. Officiants from select holy orders are highly sought after for this work. Some holy orders impart greater quality and value to otherwise common goods by way of a sacred purpose. Secretive holy orders can be extremely selective about initiating new worshippers and sharing the particulars of ritual activity.
Every deity maintains a polytheism influential in the history of a specific ethnic group. Each Regal Deity supports an additional polytheism rewarding the veneration of various Dead Gods along with a quartet of close associates in the present day. Every polytheism that empowers spiritual spellcasting is anchored by five principal deities. Each also legitimizes prayer to its own array of lesser or altogether absent entities. Polytheisms often feature enormous bodies of doctrine and lore with no shortage of internal contradictions and no official leadership to make decisive rulings. Many polytheisms have reputations as archaic and inferior faiths. Yet this can make them quick to accept new followers and train aspiring priests.
Every deity also gives power to a spellcasting philosophy or two. These belief systems make spiritual magic possible without directly invoking any deity or deities. Because these philosophies are shaped by the wills of their heavenly sponsors, only true and passionate dedication gives rise to channels strong enough to convey prayers. Some spellcasting philosophers freely invoke and openly worship the deity associated with their spiritual practices. Yet philosophers who do neither of those things can still work miracles through genuinue passion for ideals those gods strive to promote. While most spellcasting philosophies only illuminate a single domain of clerical magic, each alignment is closely associated with one philosophy that can unlock the secrets of any domain.
Surprise Your DM will determine if an action sequence follows from a surprising event or if general readiness allows all participants to take up arms before any clash is underway. The mechanical particulars of surprise vary by circumstances. Successful infiltration of a camp might allow a small group to engage in a spree of hushed violence against victims both prone and unconscious. More typically, a successful ambush allows a party to deliver a single coordinated outburst before initiative is determined. Your DM may rule some or all of these attacks are made with advantage and/or that targets can perform reactions as if an action sequence was already underway.
Likewise your DM will determine if the action sequence is preceded by an instant in which a single attack might take place, an interval enough to support the activities of a single turn in an action sequence, or freeform play continuing until an alarm is raised. Various maneuvers and spells are naturally loud, effectively acting as such an alarm. Of course, surprise is not the normal way to begin an action sequence. It often requires a cunning plan.
Approaching with Stealth forces many parties to choose between splitting off a covert team or sneaking with slim odds of success. Clever use of magic can facilitate surprise encounters or turn the tables, revealing or even injuring intruders before they are able to perpetrate their own ambush attack. Monster lairs are fraught with surprising foes, from chameleons hiding in plain sight to spirits literally lunging through the walls. Both achieving and avoiding surprise are important considerations in any violent campaign. |
Combat Though there are many reasons to enter turn-by-turn play, combat is the mainstay of action sequences. Extraordinary opportunities for glory can be found battling monsters and/or people. An excellent fight scene infuses an adventure with both danger and excitement. Some players find the challenges of combat especially satisfying. Nearly all great adventurers can boast of victories over foes no untrained civilian could stand against. Legendary heroes are associated with tales of salvation stemming from acts that provided security to entire realms. Legendary villains are associated with so much death and destruction as to undermine the security of entire realms. Progress as an adventurer often depends heavily on success in combat.
Action sequences often begin when a creature becomes violent or otherwise provokes an extreme response. If your DM rules this provocation to be a surprise, some participants in an encounter might be able to complete limited movement and/or other activity before the action sequence begins. These surprising events might be the result of a successful ambush or a failed disguise. Poor visibility can promote these outcomes, and crowded public spaces do likewise. Stealth and magic make it possible to achieve surprise even while invading a lair, yet this approach is always risky, and some creatures can never be surprised.
Initiative After any surprise is resolved and all participants are aware of the action taking place around them, the moment has arrived for iniative checks. Each initiative check is a special sort of Dexterity check to determine the place of each participant in the sequence of turns taken in the round. While it is possible to perform an iniaitive check for each and every combatant, many DMs prefer a more consolidated approach. They might roll a single iniative check for all NPCs and hostile monsters, taking their turns as a coherent block. Animal companions, conjurations, familiar spirits, and steeds associated with PCs typically share initiative with those PCs. Ties between PCs can be resolved by mutual agreement. Ties between the DM and a PC should be resolved by rerolling the tied initiative checks only for purposes of breaking that tie.
Once participants have been ranked by initiative, play can begin with a full turn for the first among them. When that turn ends, the second participant's turn may begin, and so forth until everyone has taken a turn. This amounts to one round of an action sequence. The last participant's turn is followed by the first participant's turn in a new round of play. Taking turns in the round is an ancient yet equitable gameplay mechanic. Though each round of play represents roughly six seconds of action underway, individual turns do not correlate to any fixed span of time. Each turn represents what can be accomplished during a round, but each is staggered in time, overlapping and flowing together smoothly. Game mechanics do not normally interact with rounds, but many cover spans of time like “until the start of your next turn” or “until the end of the target's next turn.”
| Taking a Turn As soon as you conculde your turn you can begin to plan your next. While it is also fine to relax in this moment, gameplay benefits from thoughtful planning before all other participants have completed their turns. Normally a character can perform one action as the main event in a turn that might also feature an adjustment, a bonus action, movement, and/or a reaction. Enhanced speed or tactical awareness can support even more activitiy in a single turn. It is possible to end your turn without utiilzing all of these possibilities, though only reactions and the activity specified by a readied action remain available between the end of your turn and the start of your next. Often it is wise to indicate aloud when your turn is over so that play can proceed promptly. |
Actions It should be no surprise that taking actions is the primary purpose of action sequences. Making an attack and casting a spell are the archetypical actions of an embattled adventurer, though there are other ways to use actions. Each unimpaired character is normally able to perform one action during an ordinary turn. Action Surge allows accomplished fighters to perform two actions in a single turn. Various special abilities enable actions beyond the following available to all characters.
ACTIVATE
Many gadgets and magic items have powers that require some effort to utilize. Complex installations may likewise demand attention to be controlled properly. If you are capable of using such a particular item or fixture, you can use your action on your turn to take the Activate action, provided that item is being held or that fixture is within your reach.
ASSIST
If you ancitipate a creature within your reach will perform a specific skill check before the start of your next turn, you can use your action on your turn to take the Assist action, giving that creature advantage on that particular skill check. This benefit applies even after that creature moves beyond your reach, but it does not apply after the start of your next turn.
Alternative Attacks The Attack action normally allows a creature to perform one unarmed attack or weapon attack. The Extra Attack feature allows characters to perform one or more additional attacks. The Multiattack feature allows monsters to perform a set of attacks with one action. An Attack action can be followed by a bonus action Offhand Attack to allow for one more attack. If you have at least one free hand, when you perform an attack that is not an attack of opportunity you can replace that attack with one of the following three maneuvers.
Grab: Select a target within reach and make an Athletics check modified by Strength. If that check overcomes a DC equal to the higher of the target's passive Acrobatics and passive Athletics, you have a firm hold on the target. The results of that check indicating the DC of efforts to escape from that hold. When you are grabbing a creature your size or smaller, that creature is immobilized, your movement costs are doubled, and that creature is forced to move with you. When you are grabbing a creature larger than you, you undergo forced movement as needed to maintain the grab. A grab can be released at any time, even when it is not the grabber's turn. Any teleportation automatically escapes a grab.
Shove: Any creature able to move need not use any movement to attempt to forcefully push an adjacent creature of the same size or smaller. Make an Athletics check modified by Strength that must overcome a DC equal to the higher of the target's passive Acrobatics and passive Athletics. If this effort is successful you force the target to move up to 10 feet away from you.
Tackle: Select a target within reach of the same size or smaller and make an Athletics check modified by Strength. If that check overcomes a DC equal to the higher of the target's passive Acrobatics and passive Athletics, you fall prone and your target does as well. If the attacker has a free hand, the target can also be grabbed in a hold with an escape DC equal to the result of the tackling check.
Tickle: Select a target of the same size or smaller within reach and make an Sleight-of-Hand check modified by Dexterity. If that check is at least as high as the AC of your target, you have touched that creature in a disturbing way. If that target is maintaining concentration, they must attempt a concentration saving throw against a DC equal to the result of your check or that concentration ends. |
ATTACK
You can use your action on your turn to make one attack on a creature within the relevant range or reach. The Extra Attack feature allows skilled warriors to perform more than one attack with the Attack action. Combat Cadence and Warcasting make it possible to make attack(s) and cast a cantrip with the Attack action.
CAST A SPELL
Casting time varies from one spell to the next. Yet most of the standard spellcasting techniques useful in battle have a casting time of one action. Thus, if you are able to cast one of these spells, you can do so by using your action on your turn while providing the requisite components and expending an appropriate spell slot. Even if the spell you cast is countered or otherwise fizzles, your action was used in the attempt. If you are not proficient with every item of armor you are wearing, you cannot cast any spells. You cannot use your action to cast a spell if you have already used your bonus action to cast a spell during your turn.
CONSUME
Some items, such as a mug of mead or a large apple, require real effort to consume. If you are holding such an item, you can do so by using your action on your turn.
DASH
You can use your action on your turn to double your current movement speed. Once you have taken this Dash action, additions and reductions applied to your movement speed are doubled until the start of your next turn, and your passive Perception is reduced by 5 until the start of your next turn.
DODGE
If you are able to walk, you can use your action on your turn to focus on avoiding danger. If you take this Dodge action, your Armor Class increases by 2 and you can add 2 to your Dexterity saving throws until the start of your next turn or you become immobilized, paralyzed, or otherwise unable to move.
DOFF
You can use your action on your turn to remove armor or clothing. This is sufficient to remove any or all visible pieces of garb you are presently wearing. It is also enough to entirely remove one item of armor with the quick property. For other types of armor, each doff action reduces the base Armor Bonus of that suit by 1, with the last pieces of the suit being removed as that base Armor Bonus is reduced to 0.
DON
You can use your action on your turn to wear armor or clothing already in hand. This is sufficient to add a single piece of garb requiring no elaborate method to whatever clothing you are already wearing. It is also enough wear one item of armor with the quick property. Other types of armor cannot be worn without minutes of effort to effectively secure the full suit.
ESCAPE
If you are bound by a restraint like ropes or chains, you can use your action on your turn to perform a Sleight-of-Hand check modified by Dexterity in an attempt to escape that restraint. While you are being grabbed, you can use your action on your turn to perform an Acrobatics check modified by Dexterity or an Athletics check modified by Strength to free yourself from that hold.
| Wielding Equipment Unbound adventurers normally have two hands available for purposes of interaction and manipulation. A shield, a spellcasting implement, a weapon, or another piece of equipment ready for use must occupy one of these hands unless it has the hands free property. It is not possible to ready another piece of equipment while both hands are occupied. Spellcasting while both hands are full is also impossible unless one of those hands is holding an appropriate spellcasting implement. Dropping an item on the ground nearby normally requires no effort. Yet stowing an item in a backpack, harness, sheath, or other container requires an adjustment. It is also normally an adjustment to draw a weapon or other handheld item. |
EXTRA ADJUSTMENT
You can use your action on your turn to perform another adjustment if you have already completed one adjustment during your turn.
HIDE
You can use your action to try and disappear from the vantage of hostile creatures. This Hide action allows a character behind total cover or otherwise unseen to perform a Stealth check modified by Dexterity. Any observers with a passive Perception less than the result of that check are no longer aware of your position, though they may remember where you were last seen.
READY AN ACTION
You can declare an action you intend to take during another creature's turn. To do this, you must not only use your action on your turn, but you must also conserve your reaction to use in conjunction with the trigger you designate. Your readied action can include any movement you did not expend during your own turn. Having used your action to prepare, you must also declare a single clear condition that will trigger this readied action. "I shoot at the first gangster to draw a weapon," "I cast
Wall of Ice along the far wall after the last troglodyte I can see enters the chamber," or "I throw this lit flask of oil at the precious bookshelf if anyone else gets within 15 feet of a party member," are all valid readied actions.
| Acting Outside Your Turn You continue to participate in action sequences in the time between your turns. If you have not used your reaction during your turn, you can use it in conjunction with any appropriate trigger before the start of your next turn. Even without any special abilities, a creature capable of a melee attack can perform one as an attack of opportunity when another creature no more than five feet away moves to a position more than five feet away. Doing so uses that reaction. While most reactions are triggered by specific events, it is also possible to use your action on your turn to define your own trigger, allowing you to act outside your own turn if that trigger is satisfied. Your DM may also allow you to declare a readied action outside of any action sequence, surch as preparing to make good on a threat to attack any foe to draw a weapon. These readied actions sometimes serve as transitions between freeform play and action sequences. |
After its declaration yet before the start of your next turn, if the conditions of the trigger you set are satisfied, then you can use your reaction to perform your readied action. This makes it possible to effectively perform an action when it is not your turn. Yet it is also a gamble. If you use your reaction in another way, you are no longer poised to follow through on your plan. Also, if your readied action involved casting a spell, you must spend that spell slot even if the trigger is never satisfied and the prepared casting fizzles. If your readied action involved a ranged weapon attack, ammunition usage or weapon throwing only takes place when you actually perform attack(s).
Bonus Actions Adventurers tend to act decisively and quickly. Each has the ability to take one bonus action during an ordinary turn. Bonus actions normally represent fleeting efforts – the flick of a wrist or the utterance of an arcane phrase. Experienced warriors may be able to take a second bonus action during their turn by way of the Tactical Action feature. Assorted classes and subclasses offer unique ways to use a bonus action, including some that allow a specific type of standard action to be performed as a bonus action. There are even plenty of spells with a casting time of one bonus action.
CAST A SPELL
Casting time varies from one spell to the next. Those with a casting time of one bonus action tend to be less effective than other spells of the same level. If you are able to cast one of these spells, you can do so by using your bonus action on your turn while providing the requisite components and expending an appropriate spell slot. Even if the spell you cast is countered or otherwise fizzles, your bonus action was used in the attempt. If you are not proficient with every item of armor you are wearing, you cannot cast any spells. You cannot use your bonus action to cast a spell if you have already used your action to cast a spell other than a cantrip during your turn.
CONSUME
Some items, such as a sip of medicine or a single berry, require minimal effort to consume. If you are holding such an item, you can do so by using your bonus action on your turn.
EXTRA ADJUSTMENT
You can use your bonus action on your turn to perform another adjustment if you have already completed one adjustment during your turn.
OFFHAND ATTACK
If you are wielding two weapons and you have already used the Attack action normally with one of those weapons, you can use your bonus action to perform an melee weapon attack with the other. That weapon must have the light property. If it also has the thrown or throwing properties, your Offhand Attack can be a ranged weapon attack. Alternatively, if you have one hand free and you have already used the attack action normally with the other, you can use your bonus action to perform an unared melee attack with the other. Only negative ability modifiers apply to Offhand Attacks. The Fighting Style feature removes some of these limitations for fighters and rangers actively employing a Dual Wielding style.
Tracking Hit Points Serious combat involves dramatic hit point fluctuations. While Hit Dice and spell slots tend to follow daily rhythms, hit points have an ebb and flow shaped by individual attacks or effects. Be prepared to record every change in this number as a function of the battering and bolstering your character experiences in combat. Experienced adventurers are gifted at avoiding tragic outcomes. Enormous monsters are nearly indifferent to ordinary slings and arrows. Yet any creature suffers severe injury upon losing their final few hit points.
Normal healing is expressed as a quantity of hit points regained. This language is crucial. A creature cannot regain hit points beyond their maximum hit point value. Healing restores lost hit points rather than adding to the total. Regaining hit points has no effect on a creature already at maximum hit points. This is even in the results produced by regeneration. All abilities and effects that allow hit points to be regained only increase hit points up to the limit of a creature's maximum hit points.
Temporary hit points are a seperate value bestowed by effects that allow uninjured combatants even greater resistance to bodily harm. Temporary hit points should be tracked separately from conventional hit points. Any effect that grants temporary hit points can only raise the current number of temporary hit points to the result of that effect. When an effect bestows fewer temporary hit points than a creature already has, it is possible to retain the greater value, but it is not possible to add one to the other. Temporary hit points are not cumulative. |
Reactions Most adventurers are also capable of one reaction per round. Experienced warriors may be able to take a second reaction in a single round by way of the Tactical Action feature. Though it is possible to use your reaction during your own turn, it is also possible to use it while other participants are taking their turns. Every reaction is declared in response to a trigger. Reaction-based spells and abilities should include clear language defining a trigger condition. When an applicable condition has been satisfied, you can use your reaction to cast the related spell or activate the related feature. When you use the Ready action, you must subsequently use your reaction when the trigger for that readied action has been satisfied.
ATTACK OF OPPORTUNITY
When a creature uses its own movement, other than teleportation, to leave the reach of a melee weapon you are wielding; you can use your reaction to attack that creature with that weapon. If you have special training in unarmed combat and/or you have a natural weapon attack, you can perform an Attack of Opportunity with those methods. Attacks of opportunity cannot be alternative attacks, such as a grab or a shove.
CAST A SPELL
Casting time varies from one spell to the next. Those with a casting time of one reaction are designed to take effect in direct response to another action or event. If you are able to cast one of these spells, you can do so by using your reaction after an appropriate triggger while providing the requisite components and expending an appropriate spell slot. Even if the spell you cast is countered or otherwise fizzles, your reaction was used in the attempt. If you are not proficient with every item of armor you are wearing, you cannot cast any spells.
SPELL IDENTIFICATION
If you hear and/or see a spell being cast and you do not recognize it with passive Arcana, you can use your reaction to study this effort in progress. Roll an Arcana check modified by Intelligence. If this exceeds the spellcasting DC of the caster plus the level of the spell, you know the name of the spell and the class list(s) associated with it. If you can speak, you can call out this information quickly enough for allies to react to the same spell in progress.
SURVEY THE SCENE
At any time you can use your reaction to shift your focus for purposes scrutinizing the background, behavior of bystanders, horizon, and/or other areas of interest lacking any apparent threat. If you do this, roll a Peception check, then use that result as your passive Perception until the start of your next turn.
Adjustments During your own turn, you can drop any item(s) held in your hand(s). These abandoned items fall haphazardly, normally landing at your feet. Normally, dropped items are not hurled with the force or precision required for an effective attack. Allowing an item to fall from your grasp is effectively free – you can drop as many items as you can grab hold of in a single turn without using an adjustment. The same is true for ending a grab on a creature or even ending the effect of an ongoing spell. No adjustment is required to end a spell that can be ended at any time, even if this also involves ending concentration. Adjustments typically involve reconfiguring or repositioning something.
| Subdual Adventurers often fight to the death. Many beasts and monsters never surrender once wounded. Sentries and soldiers sometimes favor quick clean kills to eliminate threats in battle. Mortal combat is the normal result of violence between strangers. Yet it is possible to fight with merciful intent. When a combatant strikes to subdue, a spell attack or weapon attack can be made with non-lethal intent. If your DM agrees the attack and damage type are suitable, you can perform a subdual attack. If that attack reduces a creature to 0 hit points, that creature does not gain a level of exhaustion and that creature has advantage on death saving throws until regaining at least one hit point. |
If you voluntarily drop prone during your turn, you perform an adjustment while spending no movement. Instead during your turn; you can wield one shield, spellcasting implement, weapon, or other item as an adjustment. This gear must be readily available, such as a blade seated in a scabbard presently worn, a missile weapon already shouldered, or an abandoned item within your reach. Retrieving an item from inside a non-magical backpack, bag, or sack requires more than an adjustment. Various special abilities allow some adventurers to draw multiple weapons in the same turn or otherwise surpass this ordinary equipment handling limitation.
Instead you might safely stow one item in hand. This might involve securing a weapon to a harness or slipping a potion into your own backpack. External placement is also possible, like planting a battleflag in soft ground or returning a gem to a socket meant to hold it. If you neither wield nor stow any objects on your turn, you might instead adjust something in the room. Dimming a lantern, flipping a switch, igniting a torch from a fire source already in hand, opening a book, turning a key, wearing your garb differently – any of these things is an appropriate adjustment. Closing or opening a door that offers no special resistance is also an acceptable adjustment. You can spend your action and/or your bonus action to perform a additional adjustment(s) during your turn.
“Osiris may show mercy to our enemies. I will not.”
— Turan Namdar, Serpian Soul Assessor |
Conversation Action sequences are mostly dedicated to declaring and resolving the use of adventurers' abilities while the DM does likewise for any monsters and NPCs on hand. Yet characters are able to comment on events as they unfold. At any time, a character who is not muzzled or otherwise silenced can call out a brief phrase to inform nearby allies. Gesticulation is also an option for individuals neither bound nor paralyzed. Lengthy in-character speeches are seldom appropriate during action sequences. Humorous quips that display confidence, requests to target a specific foe, spontaneous exclamatory reactions, tactical suggestions, and warnings about emergent dangers – characters can usually give voice to those messages with just a few words even if their players are not nearly so succinct at the table.
| Jumping Able-bodied characters can normally leap while moving. Traveling 10 feet during the same turn allows for a running start, allowing a creature to leap over a horizontal distance spanning a number of feet equal to 6 plus double that creature's choice of Strength modifier or Dexterity modifier. A vertical leap preceded by at least 10 feet of movement during the saem turn can reach a height in feet equal to 3 plus that creature's choice of Strength modifier or Dexterity modifier. Leaps without adequate prior movement are reduced to half those distances. |
Movement Movement can be used freely throughout a turn of action, including while a particular effort is underway. For example, an adventurer with the Extra Attack feature can move between attacks while performing the Attack action. Reactions and traps can interrupt movement in progress or inflict harm triggered by movement. Yet, generally speaking, creatures are free to move as they choose within the limits of their speed and their method of movement. Normal movement can transit solid surfaces while also supporting both climbing and swimming as efforts that might fail. Other forms of movement operate according to different rules.
⨁ BURROWING Burrowing creatures can move through solid material that would otherwise be impassible. This movement is limited by the hardness of the surrounding medium. Though always effective in ordinary soil, some creatures are also capable of burrowing through wooden structures or even solid stone. Burrowing creatures leave may tunnels in their wake, though some do not disturb the materials they move through. That sort excel at skirmishing by withdrawing into solid material to thwart pursuit.
| Going Prone Creatures sometimes fall down or choose to deliberately lower their bodies, keeping as close to the floor or ground as possible. Prone characters are more difficult to target with ranged attacks, though they can be easier to strike with melee attacks. Attacks from a prone position are normally made with disadvantage. While prone, normal movement becomes crawling, with double the movement cost of walking upright. Rising from prone status requires performing an adjustment and using half of all available movement rates. Dropping prone requires performing an adjustment, though it has no movement cost. |
⨁ CLIMBING This form of movement allowed a creature to cling to a tree, pillar, wall, or even a ceiling while only touching that surface with a single limb. No ability checks are required to move full speed along any sufficiently solid surface. Climbing does not require extra movement while travelling up a steep or vertical surface. The use of a climbing movement speed does not impose disadvantage on attacks the way fighting while climbing with normal movement typically does. Creatures with a climbing movement rate can jump onto surfaces like walls and ceilings.
⨁ FLYING Soaring through the air can allow swift travel while bypassing ground encounters. Some flying creatures can hover, while others must move at least half their flying speed every turn they spend aloft. Flying movement does not always impose disadvantage on attacks, though some methods of attaining flight feature this drawback. Flying creatures cannot be knocked prone while aloft. Yet becoming dead, immobilized, paralyzed, petrified, or unconscious causes them to fall from their present positions.
| Falling Falling prone does not normally injure adventurers, even if a small plunge was also involved. Falling onto a solid surface from a significant height can cause significant injury. Falls greater than 10 feet cause a creature to land in the prone position. They also inflict 1d6 bludgeoning damage per 10 feet fallen, up to a maximum of 30d6. Falls onto especially soft surfaces might inflict reduced damage. Falls into deep water inflict no damage while sending the diver below the surface one third the distance fallen toward that surface. |
⨁ SWIMMING Creatures with this form of movement can travel their full speed in any direction while immersed in water. Most creatures with an innate swimming speed can both breathe underwater, though there are exceptions, such as crocodiles and lizardfolk. When a creature with an innate swimming speed moves at least 10 feet upward before breaking the surface, that creature can soar into the air as if performing a vertical leap from solid ground. Many magical effects and some weapons function differently underwater.
⨁ TELEPORTATION This magical form of movement creates exceptions to many rules. Solid objects are not barriers to teleportation, though some forms require the destination to be seen by the traveller. Teleportation does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Teleportation automatically escapes a grab. A traveller cannot maintain a grab trough teleportation unless a carried weight limit or the option to teleport with another creature allows both beings to move in unison.
Attacks The basic mechanic of attacking involves rolling 1d20, applying modifiers, and comparing the result to the Armor Class of the target. If that result is equal to or higher than the relevant Armor Class, the attack hits its target and damage should be determined. An unarmed attack from an untrained person inflicts bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + the Strength modifier of the attacker. Weapon attacks, spell attacks, and unarmed attacks employing Martial Arts inflict ranges of damage of various types with amounts determined by applying modifiers to dice.
Attacks can be categorized in multiple ways. Every attack is either melee or ranged. There are spell attacks, unarmed attacks, and weapon attacks. Natural weapon attacks are a sort of weapon attack made with a body part despite not qualifying as unarmed attacks. Melee attacks of all sorts cannot target cretures beyond their reach. If that reach is not specified, a melee attack can only strike targets no more than 5 feet away. Ranged attacks easily span longer distances, but they are made with disadvantage against targets no more than 5 feet away. Ranged weapons typically have both normal and long ranges, attacking with disadvantage against targets outside normal range yet within long range.
Modifications to attack rolls and damage rolls are myriad. Attackers typically apply their proficiency bonus to attack rolls of all varieties in which they have applicable training. Most attacks made by adventurers will apply an ability score modifier to both attack rolls and damage rolls. Unarmed attacks and melee weapon attacks are modified by the Strength modifier except for attackers using Martial Arts or a weapon with the finesse property who choose to use their Dexterity modifier instead. Ranged weapon attacks are modified by the Dexterity modifier except when an attacker using a thrown weapon chooses to use their Strength modifier instead. Spell attacks normally apply a spellcasting ability modifier to attack rolls, and some do likewise with damage rolls.
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Attacking Combat is typically focused on dealing damage to enemies until they are no longer able or willing to continue the fight. Consider the common street brawl. Typically two foes trade punches until one has been hit so frequently or severely as to be in need of medical attention. A decisive outcome rarely requires more than a few effective attacks. Adventurers exercise and train to become much more capable at dishing out damage as well as surviving it. Seasoned cammpaigners blend magic, martial arts, and/or weaponry into an arsenal of deadly strikes.
Attacks are categorized in two different ways ways &ndash melee or ranged as well as spell, weapon or unarmed.
Melee attacks can only strike targets within reach, which is 5 feet unless modified in some way.
Ranged attacks can strike targets within specified distances, yet they are normally made at disadvantage against targets within 5 feet. Some ranged attacks feature both a normal and a long range, with attacks outside normal range incurring disadvantage.
Spell attacks are magical effects that may feature all manner of unique rules.
Weapon attacks inflict damage by way of a handheld object or physical projectile.
Unarmed attacks require neither magic nor materials to inflict injuries.
Save for unarmed ranged attacks, every combination exists in a great number of variations. Yet they all involve making an attack roll with the aim of equalling or surpassing the Armor Class of a target. All characters can add their proficiency bonus to unarmed attacks. It is likewise with weapon attacks if that character is proficient in the weapon being used. Spellcasters can add their proficiency bonus to spell attacks when attacking with spells named in a class feature, in a subclass feature, on a class spell list, or on subclass bonus spell list. The use of unfamiliar> spells and weapons remains possible, but related attacks do not benefit from any proficiency bonus.
Melee attacks normally allow a Strength bonus to be added to both the attack roll and the damage roll. Weapons with the finesse property and the unarmed attacks of trained martial artists allow the option of using a Dexterity bonus in place of Strength when making melee attack.
Ranged attacks normally allow a Dexterity bonus to be added to both the attack roll and the damage roll. Thrown weapons allow the option of using a Strength bonus in place of Dexterity when making a ranged attack.
Spell attacks normally allow an ability score bonus to be added to the attack role, though which score will be a function of spellcasting ability. Some spell attacks grant an ability score bonus as additional damage while others do not.
A wide variety of other particulars can modify attack rolls.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Combat ↑ → Pursuit ← ↓ Looting ↓
Archery Policy Community attitudes about archery are varied in the extreme. Some authorities outlaw any civilian use of missile weapons, confining all legal shooting to the aristocracy and military. Others actively sponsor public archery competitions, both to promote a more defensible homeland and to support trades enriched by hunting. The availability of bows, crossbows, and munitions from local vendors also varies in this way. Upstanding merchants are unlikely to defy bans or regulations requiring official license.
Simply loosing an arrow or bolt in a crowded place may be a serious crime, regardless of intention. Yet harrowing displays of precision shooting sometimes serve as popular entertainment. Proven heroes are often welcome to seek licenses for the carry and use of otherwise restricted weapons. Popular heroes may generate pressure to be granted such privileges without any fees or tests. While wilderness exploration and dungeon delving often occur outside any legal oversight, adventurers in modern towns or cities do well to learn local laws and customs, respecting them when possible. |
MILITARY WEAPONS
Several thousand years of feudal and imperial warfare drove a global proliferation of weaponry too diverse to fully catalog. In addition to twenty types of basic weapons, there are thirty-six functional categories of military weapons available in the modern world. Though some laborers' tools might qualify as one of these weapons, all of these items are widely considered dangerous in the hands of a confused or hostile individual. City guards may demand visitors leave military weapons at a gatehouse on entry, and most merchants will not welcome unfamiliar visitors so heavily armed.
arbalest: Favored by assassins and snipers, this powerful crossbow is more than many people can manage. Only a truly strong person standing on part of the weapon while pulling upward can manually draw the string for another shot. Some arbalests feature a winch and crank to assist with this task, though that method requires an action from the wielder merely to prepare for the next attack. With unsurpassed range and power, the arbalest is ideal for defending fortifications or engaging distant targets. A limited rate of fire is the primary shortcoming associated with this weapon.
atlatl: A long wooden paddle with a notched block or curl at one end, the atlatl is used in conjunction with javelins to attack at greater range. Using one weapon to throw the other creates leverage for a more powerful launch. A slender cord or strap spiralled around each javelin sets it spinning in transit. This stabilizes the missile, contributing to the atlatl's extended range. Though superior to simply throwing a javelin, the atlatl is technologically primitive. Even tribal warriors with shortbows consider themselves ready to overpower rivals wielding atlatls.
bagh nakh: Known by many Mainlanders as “tiger claws,” this weapon fits securely around the hand. It allows wielders to make savage raking attacks with a row of metal talons. Bagh nakh are typically worn in pairs with the damaging surfaces situated over the palms just above the wrist. This makes it possible to grab other items or even wield other weapons without removing the bagh nakh. Straps or bracers can be affixed to keep bagh nakh secure during use. Alternatively, these weapons can be integrated into protective gloves or mitts.
Buying Weapons Each of the most lucrative trades in some cities is dominated by a single guild. Even in towns and villages, artisans in the same line of work tend to be well-acquainted. After all, they share a common set of needs and challenges if not also customers. In jurisdictions where governments encourage independent leatherworkers, smiths, and woodworkers to sell weapons without restriction; local authorities may investigate new customers or anyone stockpiling arms. In many realms it is a serious crime to provide armor or weapons to outlaws.
Adventurers should be mindful of this as they outfit themselves. A political patron might be able to provide quality supplies at little or no expense. No such support is available to newcomers suspected of working for a hostile or renegade cause. Area vendors may be unwilling to accept such customers. Trade in weapons and armor is uniquely sensitive to these concerns. Suppliers anywhere near an ongoing military conflict might be forced into exclusivity agreements with one faction or another. Without military or aristocratic connections, it is sometimes difficult to buy most weapons.
In addition to the criminal underworld, there are well-known workarounds. Wood elf tribes are often willing to sell arrows, bows, and swords to visitors able to show consistent respect for the forest itself. Their traders rarely traffic in bulk goods, but high prices are paired with excellent quality. Many dwarven outposts also offer excellent wares while doing business with any visitors willing to honor the local protocols of fair trade. Some even offer incentives for customers to pay with shipments of fresh food and drink rather than conventional currency. |
battleaxe: A popular military weapon since the Age of Heroes began, the battleaxe is second only to the longsword in prominence across the content of epic sagas. Typically sporting a large wedge-shaped blade at the end of a long stout shaft, these are the most imposing weapons that can be wielded with one hand. Yet they can also be wielded with two, becoming all the more deadly for that additional application of muscle. Some woodcutting axes function as battleaxes, though most of these weapons are forged for battle and richly embellished by proud owners.
bec de corbin: Referred to as a "raven's beak" outside Galloria, this elegant polearm was devised to counter heavily armored foes. A slender curved spike gives this weapon its name. That feature is adapted to penetrate tiny gaps between protective plates. It may be accompanied by a straight spike running parallel to the shaft of the weapon. Yet the bec de corbin can also deliver effective crushing attacks with a hammer-like feature on the reverse of the beak-like protrusion. This makes it possible to expoit the absence of padding should the weapon be thwarted by silk.
broadsword: The largest of the cut-and-thrust blades, broadswords are equally capable of impaling or slicing opponents. This makes them popular with modern soldiers as well as a common sidearm in communities where ordinary people wear swords at their hips. Though as heavy as a battleaxe, broadswords tend to be well-balanced with straight flat blades that end in a fine point. The quality of steel required for such a weapon to endure the rigors of combat meant that broadswords were incredibly rare prior to the Great Consolidation.
catch pole: This weapon is ideal for restraining persons meant to be captured alive. This equipment can also be used to restrain dangerous beasts. It can be used to perform grabs with additional reach, but it cannot inflict damage when used in a combat maneuver or normal attack. Catch pole designs are widely varied. Most are produced in small numbers by smiths supplying constables or monster hunters. Some feature a hinged hoop of metal closed by pushing a lever or triggering the release of powerful springs. Some designs instead rely on a loop of chain or reinforced cord pulled tight after being properly positioned.
chakram: Though the size of a dinner plate, this metal weapon typically weighs much less because it is nothing more than a flattened ring with a continuous razor-sharp edge running along its exterior. Some warriors wear chakrams on their limbs or stack several on a tall helmet. They are not easily handled nor stored in conventional containers. Yet these weapons sail smoothly through the air for great distances when thrown properly. A skillful chakram attack might sever a limb or even a head. The weapon remains deadly until it comes to rest. Lacking any suitable grips, chakrams cannot deliver effective melee attacks.
flail: In its simplest form, a flail is two identical pieces of wood connected by a short chain. Most flails are the product of more ambitious designs featuring a brutal-looking mass of metal dangling from a purpose-made handle. That chain makes it possible to build up momentum by whirling part of the weapon in circles. These efforts allow for more powerful attacks and more effective misdirections. Yet flails also have the ability to trap the weapons or limbs of opponents by wrapping around them. Thus they are well-suited to warriors intent on disarming or restraining opponents.
Carrying Weapons Equipment bundled up inside a pack or case is not evident to onlookers, but it is also not available until extracted from that container. Weapons normally must be carried or worn in a plainly visible manner to be ready for access in time of need. Some adventuring parties rig for urban adventures by stowing their most fearsome weapons as cargo and adopting the personae of travelling merchants or scholars. Though this allows the group to do business without spreading fear among civilians, it also leaves adventurers less prepared to deal with any sudden outbreak of violence.
Becoming deputized by local constables or licensed by their aristocratic superiors solves this problem. The sight of authorized weaponry tends to support, rather than undermine, a sense of security among the general populace. Powerful magic provides an alternative, allowing weapons to instantly teleport from a secure container to a position ready in hand. Mechanical options exist as well, such as an undergarment harness capable of extending and retracting light weapons from places of concealment. Skilled individuals can attempt this trick purely by Sleight-of-Hand. |
gauntlet: At least one pound of metal affixed to each hand can weaponize fists without any training in unarmed martial arts. Often this involves adding a little weight and cost to a suit of armor, allowing every punch hit like cudgel. One popular variation resembles four rings fused to each other and a larger lump of metal. These knuckledusters also enable powerful punches. Another method uses leather straps to secure metal plates for use as striking surfaces. Some forms of this bludgeoning weapon can be worn in pairs without impeding the use of hands for other purposes.
glaive: Both the glaive and the scythe are polearms ending in long blades capable of delivering wicked lacerations. Glaives are distinguished by one or more hooks useful for disarming or dismounting foes. Weapons or limbs can become caught on these hooks, then wrenched with an aggressive twist of the shaft. Armies trained and equipped with glaives present a serious threat from two front ranks. Even where this is not standard equipment for a large force, polearms like the glaive may be issued to elite guards protecting aristocrats and senior officers in the field.
greataxe: The largest axe a person of human stature can employ effectively, this weapon makes a statement just by appearing on the battlefield. Though deadly in that context, perhaps even more lives have been ended by greataxes beheading condemned criminals. Some warriors think these weapons too unwieldy for warfare. Yet executioners' axes inspire profound fear for reasons that go beyond their role in law enforcement. As deadly as any polearm while not so lengthy, the greataxe is an excellent choice for warriors intent on directing their full power into attacking a single target.
greatbow: The earliest of these towering bows were designed for cavalry archers seated well above the ground. Modern greatbows can be wielded standing on level ground, though only by individuals strong enough to flex the mighty limbs of these imposing weapons. Surpassing the longbow in both range and power, the greatbow is associated with the most elite archers. It also makes an ideal alternative for warriors focused on hand-to-hand fighting with heavy weapons. Despite its physical demands, this weapon does not slow the rate of fire for persons strong enough to operate it.
Fillagree and Inlay Wealthy individuals often flaunt what they have by adorning weapons and armor with precious metals. Many of these techniques preserve the original shape of functional gear. Either tiny pieces of new metal are fused into crafted carveouts, or alchemical pastes are applied through stencils to dissolve steel and deposit another metal in its place. These embellishments often feature elaborate shapes incorporating natural, personal, political, or religious iconography.
Of course, none of this is cheap or easy. A jeweller must collaborate with an alchemist or smith to perform this work. Painstaking precision allows these changes to have no negative impact on the damage-dealing, handling, and protective performance of items. Some even function as enhancements, mostly by boosting receptivity to enchantment. Yet one popular procedure, silvering, substiantially improves the damage weapons inflict on certain sorts of shapeshifters.
100gp is the standard fee urban guilds charge for applying silver to a heavy bludgeon or long blade. Most weapons with the light property can be silvered for half that price, while a dart or a single piece of ammunition is normally silvered for 10gp. Even wooden bludgeons can be silvered through the addition of metal bands, studs, and/or tips. Unlike the gilding of weapons, added silver is applied directly to striking surfaces. Its upkeep only requires proficiency with the silvered item.
By contrast, gilt gear features thinner deposits of precious metal spread across more area. This eyecatching adornment can be accomplished with only a little greater expense than silvering, but it conveys no benefit when fighting shapeshifters. The routine wear and tear of adventuring quickly degrades the quality of this feature. Travelling with mutiple artisans and their costly supplies is essential to maintain gilding on arms or armor actively used throughout a violent campaign.
Some leaders believe these displays of riches inspire onlookers. Yet many warriors see gilt equipment as fit only for parades – unsuitable for serious soldiers. When well-kept, the shimmer of these items certainly adds an element of pageantry to an arrival. Simultaneously arms and jewelry, gleaming golden gear may pass for decorative fashion rather than functional fighting equipment. Scoundrels sometimes bear gilded items to claim higher status along with privileges they are not entitled to by law.
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greatsword: The greatsword evolved from the answer of countless bladesmiths to the question, "can you make it any bigger?" Modern greatswords tend to be balanced for practical use. Even so, some brawn is required to manage the heft of a blade like this. No non-magical weapon fit for human hands inflicts more severe injuries than a greatsword. Seasoned wielders are no strangers to battlefield dismemberments and decapitations. Condemned criminals sometimes request execution with this weapon in the belief it is more dignified and reliable than any axe.
halberd: These ferocious polearms feature heads with both axe-like chopping edges and spear-like stabbing points. Precise configurations vary, but any proper halberd allows its wielder to choose between slashing or piercing targets. A weapon popular with elite sentries, this polearm provides plenty of options in the hands of well-trained wielders. Halberdiers tend to be elite troops with advanced abilities. As impressive as they might be on parade, a coherent unit of these specialists can be all the more devastating in battle.
hand crossbow: Long associated with assassins and the criminal underworld, these miniature crossbows are small enough to be operated by wee folk or utilized with a single hand by people of greater stature. Folding versions allow for easy concealment, though even standard hand crossbows can be hidden up a cowled sleeve or inside a large pouch. The hand crossbow is also a vicious alternative to the blowgun, as deadly as a shortbow when expertly wielded. Paired with poison, venemous bolts easily compensate for the weapon's relatively low damage and rate of fire.
hatchet: Often confused with a handaxe, a proper hatchet is distinguished by equally prominent cutting and hammering surfaces. Handy as both weapons and tools, hatchets can perform all the functions of handaxes and hammers. Yet in combat hatchets can confound wielders with no training in the particulars of their use as a weapon. Individuals proficient with a handaxe can apply their proficiency bonus to slashing damage melee attacks made with hatchets, and individuals proficient with a hammer can apply their proficiency bonus to bludgeoning damage melee attacks made with hatchets. Proficiency with hatchets is required to apply that bonus to any sort of throwing attack made with these weapons.
lance: Heavy cavalry favor this weapon for good reason. It is difficult to survive, never mind deflect, the pure power of a modern military lance paired with the momentum of a charging warrior on horseback. Unlike the easily-shattered lances of sporting competitions, these implements of violence are optimized for lethal effect. While a lance requires two hands to stab effectively while on foot, a rider can couch a lance with one arm, freeing up the other hand for a shield or a second weapon. No other weapon of such length can be wielded in a single hand by mounted warriors. Ideally, a lance charge inflicts impalement before the hostile target is close enough to lash out with any axe or sword.
longbow: The signature weapon of ancient elven warriors, the longbow delivers respectable power across an impressive range. Each is carved from extraordinary wood subjected to precise reshaping and curing methods. Some muscle is required to make effective use of a longbow, but that power allows for an uninhibited rate of fire paired with fierce strikes from any arrows that find their mark. Longbows remain the weapon of choice for defending fortifications. Some nations foster strong traditions of civilian archery so as to swiftly recruit effective armies of competent archers at any outbreak of war.
longsword: No weapon has been reported in the hands of more legendary warriors than the longsword. Almost every major cultural group during the Age of Heroes developed its own variation of this heavily idealized steel blade. Not counting arrows and bolts, more than half of the magical weapons created during that era were longswords. Though affordable in plain forms, many modern longswords are embellished with gilt inlays or precious stones if not also enchantments. Aristocratic warriors often favor longswords when circumstances compel them to fight on foot.
Weapon Accessories Merchants often give basic yet serviceable harnesses, scabbards, sheaths, and quivers to weapon buyers in need. Some adventurers prefer to purchase and wear bespoke goods of this sort. Each of these items keeps weaponry at the ready while minimizing the clattering sounds of motion. Many also cover sharp edges and points to prevent incidental injuries during rough and tumble action amidst allies and bystanders. Even in communities where their ownership is unregulated, drawing and wielding any weapon is a menacing act.
Between battles, adventurers must take good care of this crucial equipment. Not only do used blades require sharpening, but many metal items benefit from thorough cleaning and a little mineral oil after any use. Corrosion can occur quickly from ordinary handling. The rigors of a challenging campaign do even more to bloody, dent, and otherwise damage crucial gear. Proficiency with any sort of equipment conveys the ability to effectively maintain and repair those items, preserving function despite heavy use. |
maul: The God-King Silvanus personally flattened his foes with a weapon that took this shape. Divine power is not a normal feature of these huge hammers, but their crushing strikes can still pulverize enemies. Large hammers used in construction and mining trades may require no modification to function as combat mauls. Farmers and freeholders may keep such implements handy for installing fenceposts or splitting firewood (in conjunction with the placement of a hatchet or metal wedge.) All this practical utility makes it difficult to enforce effective residential weapon restrictions in the case of mauls.
morningstar: There is no mistaking these for anything other than weapons of war, except perhaps implements of torture. The signature feature of the morningstar is a small weighted end with more than a few metal spikes radiating outward. This sits atop a sturdy shaft with a reliable grip. Attacks are meant to drive one or more of those spikes deep into foes. While this weapon is a little less deadly than a battleaxe or a longsword, it tends to inspire at least as much fear. Most popular with villains for that reason, it is also favored by followers of Ra for its resemblence to a rising sun.
net: Like the catch pole, the net is a true weapon designed to inflict no damage, instead restricting the movements of others. Weights around the perimeter of most nets allow them to spread quickly when cast. Yet each throw is crucial, as gathering and preparing an unfurled net requires 1 full minute of effort. Attacking with an already unfurled net in hand limits the range of the weapon to your reach. In either case, an attack roll that equals or surpasses the passive Acrobatics of a target is both a thrown weapon attack and a sort of grab. Yet it does neither, instead applying physical restraints that hobble and restrain one creature of large size or smaller.
If the net has an attached rope, a creature restrained by that net becomes tethered to the wielder holding the rope. Escaping a standard net requires an action as well as a successful Strength ability check of DC 15 or a successful Sleight-of-Hand skill check modified by Dexterity of DC 20. This action can be taken repeatedly to escape a net applied during combat (as opposed to nets reinforced with bindings applied outside an action sequence.) Alternatively, a standard net can be destroyed by striking Armor Class 10 with at least 5 points of acid, fire, necrotic, or slashing damage. Also, like all non-magical restraints, teleportation automatically escapes a net.
Equipment Combinations Some forms of non-magical equipment can be fused, incorporating the functions of multiple items into a single possession. Though armors, shields, and weapons are often involved in these combinations; these items can only be combined with each other through the installation of one lining and/or one type of hands free item in a suit of armor. Enchantment or tinkering is required to combine the properties of multiple weapons in a single item, merge the functions of a shield with a weapon, or incorporate a weapon without the hands free property into a suit of armor.
Holy symbols can be painted on or carved into a wide variety of equipment. Shields and armor, including items with the partial property; join books and clothing as items prosperous worshippers often adorn in this way. Shields may also double as mirrors, though it can be arduous to maintain large non-magical silver surfaces. Items like a chain or a rope might be usefully incorporated into a backpack or bag. Affixed ropes also allow for the retrieval of thrown fishing weapons such as nets, spears, and tridents.
Items that do not function primarily as containers cannot hold much, but incorporating a secret compartment can be as affordable as adding a small pouch to the combination. In cities where skilled artisans of all sorts are easily commissioned, adding 5gp to the sum of the costs of the items involved can be enough to create whatever fusions your DM approves. This work also requires at least a day or two of labor, as ready-made equipment combinations are rarely available at public markets. These blends do not create any capabilities beyond those their constituent items originally possessed unless specified in the description(s) of either or both items. |
pike: In some languages the term for this weapon is synonymous with any extremely long thin object. Combat pikes fit that description, featuring elongated spearpoints on the business end of proper polearms. When a military formation readies pikes at the front two ranks, the result is no deadlier than any other polearm formation, yet the sight of all those slender steel thorns is especially threatening. Primarily used in battle, pikes are also involved in executions both as a means of displaying severed heads and (in a few draconian regimes) a tool for execution by impalement.
poleaxe: With a head suggestive of an oversized hatchet, the poleaxe presents wielders with a choice of striking surfaces. A wicked axe blade backed by a hefty pounding surface together deliver chopping and crushing attacks. A lengthy shaft makes it impractical to use this weapon as either a woodcutting axe or a crafting hammmer. Yet that additional reach allows small groups so equipped to lash out in unison at a single target. Though among the first polearms to see widespread use, a modern resurgance sees this weapon popular with elite infantry units practicing sophisticated fighting styles.
rapier: Popularized when Truscan culture dominated Mainland from coast to coast, the rapier has long been considered an elegant sidearm suitable for aristocrats. Each of these slender blades is forged from fine steel and remarkably well-balanced. Though much less venerable than the battleaxe or the longsword, the rapier has inspired a comparably vast body of lore dealing with fighting styles and techniques specific to that weapon. It is not unusual for an accomplished military officer to bear scars inflicted during youthful rapier duels to the first blood.
sabre: Favored as both a primary weapon among mariners and a secondary weapon among mounted warriors, sabres are designed to deliver forceful attacks with equal effect whether slicing or impaling an enemy. By appearance and effect, sabre-wielders often seem wild and unpredictable. Their techniques vary from moment to moment, yet all attacks benefit from powerful motions rather than the subtle precision normally associated with light blades. Sabres still make an excellent sidearm for professional soldiers because they cannot be effectively thwarted without metal plates layered over costly silks.
scimitar: Early weaponsmiths often lacked the combination of materials and skills required to produce blades that could endure long campaigns of both slashing and piercing strikes. Designs that favored slashing became popular in many societies despite requiring more metal and labor. Scimitars were the most popular form of sword in realms where weaponry was more likely to be bronze than steel. Modern scimitars feature razor-sharp cutting surfaces of quality steel along the leading edges of curved blades especially suited to cleaving through dense materials without becoming lodged in them.
scythe: Even human tribes with no written language may personify death as a tall person wielding one of these grain harvesting tools. Agricultural scythes typically feature heavy curved blades mounted perpendicular to the end of lengthy wooden poles. Trained hands can utilize them in combat as well as military scythes sporting long curved blades roughly parallel to their reinforced shafts. Rows of wheat or columns of infantry can be cut low through persistent and skillful use of a scythe. A complete ban on these items invariably makes farmers less efficient and more rebellious.
Alloyed Arms Nearly all modern purchases involving metal items intended for combat feature steel of respectable quality. Dwarves and humans alike make heavy use of coal-fired furnaces to process raw iron into metal that balances durability with flexibility. Steelmaking processes are as diverse as the shapes of polearm heads. Reliable results are the norm because succinct guides blending both ancient and modern smithing lore have become popular literature.
Simply reading an excellent specimen of these books does not make a blacksmith. This knowledge provides a foundation atop which trained practitioners adapt and innovate. From the prevailing climate to the qualities of available ore, many small adjustments allow competent artisans to make fine steel from local precursors. Of course, imported metal is also an option, especially in regions with few productive mines. Some smiths focus exclusively on finishing blanks – prefabricated pieces started by colleagues or die cast at foundries.
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shortsword: Whether cataloged as their smallest sword or their largest knife, every significant military power stockpiles these weapons in their armories. This is also the weapon of choice for martial arts styles with an emphasis on stabbing maneuvers. Truscan Legionaires conquered Mainland largely by fighting with these little swords in the gaps between towering shields. Though a common secondary weapon with professional infantry, the shortsword is also a popular primary weapon among gnomes, goblins, halflings, and kobolds equipped for personal defense.
shuriken: Typically a pinwheel-shaped piece of dark flat iron featuring at least four sharpened edges, shuriken are blades that can only deliver effective attacks when thrown. Originally developed to equip the operatives of an intelligence bureau in the Orient, these weapons were designed to allow a single person to carry many concealed with different places and methods. They soon became popular with a wide variety of warriors intent on varying their own tactics through unexpected thrown attacks. Mainlanders often refer to shuriken as “throwing stars.”
spetum: These polearms are distinguished from pikes by a pair of large prongs or hooks flanking an elongated spearhead. These protrusions are designed to snag the limbs and weapons of opponents A spetum may resemble an extremely long trident, though they have no noteworthy history of serving as fishing implements. A spetum is certainly not suited to be thrown as a weapon. Yet they are quite capable keeping enemies at range or even unseating warriors on horseback. Garrisons stationed in flat lands where hostile cavalry operate sometimes train units with this weapon to mitigate the mounted threat.
trident: This distinctive weapon evolved out of fishing tools featuring additional points mounted on a single spear. Such a design reduces the degree of accuracy required to impale a slippery target visualized only through rippling waters. The Imperium Maris was originally carved out by trident-wielding armies, and many tritons continue to favor this weapon. A trident performs much like a simple spear, but in combat its additional features can assist with disarming or pinning maneuvers. Tridents can be thrown, though few combatants would choose to haul around a copious supply.
| Cultural Variations These fifty-six weapon categories are functional in nature. Other names and styles can be applied to weapons in these categories. For example, a sort of knife known as a stiletto performs the same role as a dirk. It is not necessary to answer a complicated cultural question like, "is a stiletto a type of dirk (or vice versa)?" to record the appropriate information for a weapon in that category. Thus a stiletto is treated like a dirk for gameplay purposes. As always, defer to the rulings your DM makes about the damage, handling, and other properties of weaponry in play. |
war pick: Both miners and mountaineers are familiar with tools that could serve as these weapons. The definitive characteristic of a war pick is a weighted end sporting a point hard enough to chip away at rock opposite a flat surface ideal for hammering chisels and pitons. While the look and feel of these items varies, a proper war pick still presents both of those options with each deadly swing. Some heavy cavalry units favor these weapons as sidearms to be drawn after abandoning their lances. Though dwarves often lavish greater glories on axes and hammers, practical war picks are also an important part of their underground arsenals.
warhammer: There are many legends of dwarven heroes wielding warhammers to flatten enemies who dared to make light of their statures. The lore of orcs also extends high praise to warriors known to slay many foes with these powerful weapons. Artisans and laborers use smaller metal hammers
and/or mauls in many trades, but warhammers tend to be distinctively military items. Mallets of similar size and shape typically feature wooden heads designed to do less damage to the supplies being knocked into place. By contrast, the head of a warhammer is solid metal clearly intended to crush whatever it strikes.
whip: The wrangling of large beasts is sometimes supported by a method of deterring behaviors without inflicting any lasting damage. Whips were first developed to serve this purpose. Driving a wave of motion along the length of these braided leather items delivers a loud cracking sound along with a striking motion so fierce as to inflict proper lacerations. Alternatively, a whip can be used as a lash to wrap around a limb, effectively grabbing another creature from a short distance away. Slavers and the most cruel overseers of free laborers sometimes employ whips as tools for disciplining people.
| ARMOR & ACCESSORIES |
| Armor | Cost | Weight | Armor
Bonus | Armor
Type | Properties & Requirements |
| battle dress | 3,200 gp | 75 lbs. | +9 | heavy | noisy, reduce (slashing 2), Strength 15 |
| breastplate | 400 gp | 20 lbs. | +4 | medium | partial, quick |
| brigandine armor | 200 gp | 60 lbs. | +7 | heavy | bulky, Strength 15 |
| buckler | 8 gp | 3 lbs. | +1 | shield | hands free, nonmetallic*, quick |
| chain armor | 75 gp | 55 lbs. | +6 | heavy | noisy, Strength 13 |
| chain shirt | 50 gp | 20 lbs. | +3 | medium | noisy, partial, quick |
| feymesh armor | 4,400 gp | 9 lbs. | +5 | light | nonmetallic |
| feymesh lining | 4,500 gp | 9 lbs. | +1 | insert | nonmetallic |
| field dress | 2,000 gp | 40 lbs. | +6 | medium | noisy, reduce (slashing 1), Strength 13 |
| helm | 10 gp | 5 lbs. | +1** | medium | nonmetallic*, partial, quick |
| hide armor | 5 gp | 15 lbs. | +2 | medium | nonmetallic |
| lamellar armor | 600 gp | 35 lbs. | +5 | medium | bulky, nonmetallic* |
| laminar armor | 900 gp | 45 lbs. | +7 | heavy | bulky, noisy, reduce (slashing 1), Strength 13 |
| leather armor | 10 gp | 10 lbs. | +2 | light | nonmetalic |
| leather coat | 10 gp | 7 lbs. | +1 | light | nonmetallic, partial, quick |
| padded armor | 5 gp | 8 lbs. | +1 | light | bulky, nonmetallic, reduce (bludgeoning 2) |
| padded lining | 10 gp | 8 lbs. | — | insert | bulky, nonmetallic, reduce (bludgeoning 2) |
| pavise | 30 gp | 15 lbs. | +2 | shield | bulky, nonmetallic*, quick |
| plate armor | 1,500 gp | 65 lbs. | +8 | heavy | noisy, reduce (slashing 2), Strength 15 |
| ring armor | 30 gp | 40 lbs. | +4 | heavy | noisy |
| scale armor | 50 gp | 45 lbs. | +4 | medium | noisy, nonmetallic* |
| shield | 10 gp | 6 lbs. | +2 | shield | nonmetallic*, quick |
| silk armor | 500 gp | 4 lbs. | +1 | light | nonmetallic, reduce (piercing 2) |
| silk lining | 550 gp | 4 lbs. | — | insert | nonmetallic, reduce (piercing 2) |
| studded armor | 45 gp | 13 lbs. | +3 | light | nonmetallic* |
*This item is normally fashioned with metal, but nonmetallic versions can be obtained.
**This bonus only applies while wearing other armor with the partial property, light armor, or no body armor at all. |
Types of Armor Anyone is capable of wearing any type of armor. Most adventurers limit themselves because using protective gear without the appropriate proficiency makes all spellcasting impossible while preventing players from applying their proficiency bonus to attacks of any kind. Thus many travellers cultivate personal comfort with leathers rugged enough to have some defensive value even against blades and tusks. Like other forms of light armor, these suits of leather do little to weigh down wearers or restrict movements. Some forms of light armor are acceptable attire even at the most peaceful gatherings.
Medium armor is considered combat equipment. It tends to feature compromises balancing protection with mobility. Wearers enjoy limited benefit from their own agility paired with solid coverage over vital areas. Rank and file soldiers are often equipped with this gear, while heavy armor is reserved for specialized troops. Veterans of those forces often go on to become fighters or paladins – proficient with all widely-used arms and armors. Heavily armored combatants rely much more on blocking aggression than evading it, being clad with some sort of metal from head to toe.
While it is not possile to wear more than one suit of light, medium, or heavy armor; an insert is designed to be installed inside an item of medium or heavy armor that does not have the partial property. Each suit can only feature one insert at a time. Though it is possible to wield more than one shield at once, only one contributes to the Armor Class of that wielder. Each shield occupies one hand as if it were a weapon. Some warriors learn to deal damage with these primarily defensive items. It is not possible to wear more than one helm at once, though this armored headgear can offer coverage of a vital area otherwise exposed by light or partial suits of armor. |
ARMOR & ACCESSORIES
Wearing garb of hide, leather, silk, or other textiles rarely raises alarm among authorities. Weightier counterparts imply an expectation of imminent violence. Dutiful merchants and peacekeepers will not welcome the arrival of unfamiliar visitors clad in potent personal protection. The proliferation of defensive items worn by warriors through the ages is too diverse for comprehensive documentation. Modern military planners favor a scheme categorizating protective gear into twenty-five types, setting style and decorative details aside to focus purely on defensive capabilities.
battle dress: Valued at the equivalent of eight fully trained warhorses, a personal suit of battle dress is typically produced by a team of top-tier armorers. Their elaborate creations build on the protection offered by plate armor through countless small improvements. From armpit rondels to visor clasps, every feature is designed for the most effective possible personal defense. That mindset also means preserving as much range of motion as possible. Exceptionally strong individuals wearing battle dress without a bulky inner lining can run and even swim well despite the weight of it all.
breastplate: This happy medium balances the security of plate armor with the freedom of no armor. Solid metal covering the torso protects many vital areas while imposing a burden that does not slow the stride of most adult humans. Individuals not normally known to wear armor may be hastily equipped with a breastplate just prior to an anticipated attack. Many aristocratic patrons issue these items to loyal guards as both a display of personal wealth and one part of a comfortable uniform. Most breastplates can be worn or removed by performing a single action with two free hands.
brigandine armor: Whereas plate armor relies on fine alloys and superb crafting to create a suit of excellent steel, brigandine armor utilizes cheap metal components to reinforce an extremely rugged suit of cloth, hide,
and/or leather. Crude plates and rods may be riveted to the armor or stitched into individual pouches. This design prevents clanging sounds from being generated by motion, yet it also tends to feature many gaps and weak points. Because this approach does not require rare materials or specialized artisans, brigandine is an affordable way to be (mostly) protected by metal.
buckler: Well-trained warriors know how to make active use of shields. From brutal punches to forceful parries, these maneuvers rely much more on the durability of a shield than its size. The buckler provides a lightweight alternative to traditional shields while still facilitating most of the same combat techniques. These bucklers can be affixed to a forearm, leaving the associated hand free to wield another item. Even when secured in a hands free manner, a buckler does not provide its armor bonus or facilitate shield maneuvers when the associated hand is otherwise occupied.
| Armor Properties |
bulky: This armor is cumbersome well beyond the burden of its weight. While wearing it your speed is reduced by 5 to a minimum of 10. The wearer also has disadvantage on all Acrobatics and Athletics checks.
noisy: This armor features many solid pieces that clatter or jingle during normal movements. While wearing it you have disadvantage on all Stealth checks related to sneaking.
nonmetallic: If this armor does not normally feature negligible metal content, then some variants made without metal deliver standard performance. Crucial druid abilities are not compatible with any attire featuring more than a small amount of metal.
partial: This armor does not cover the entire body. Other garb, if any, should be visible to observers.
quick: This armor is extremely easy to wear and remove. A single action with two free hands is sufficient to go from holding this armor to wearing it or vice versa.
reduce: This armor provides excellent protection against a specific damage type. Each time you suffer damage of that type while wearing this armor, reduce that hit point loss by the listed number.
Strength: These weighty suits can be especially cumbersome. Even if proficient with heavy armor, wearers with a Strength below the indicated value are considered non-proficient while wearing it. |
chain armor: Widely available during the Age of Heroes, chain armor is now particularly affordable in realms where steel wire is manufactured in both abundant quantity and excellent quality. Smiths laboriously turn thousands of small lengths of wire into a mesh of interlocked loops. Some designs see each link closed with a tiny rivet while others rely entirely on the strength of those loops. Though the jingle of this mail in motion is not as loud as the clattering of plate armor, chain armor also complicates any attempt at sneaky movement.
chain shirt: These hefty garments provide decent protection while being relatively easy to wear and remove. A chain shirt might be the main component of a full suit of armor, or it might be worn with no additional protection. It is possible to conceal one of these items under heavy clothing, but even then the sound of tinkling chain links may betray its presence as its wearer moves about. Constabularies and militias often maintain stockpiles of chain shirts for equipping members newly deputized to deal with an emergency.
feymesh armor: These exotic suits are not necessarily magic items, yet powerful rituals are required to produce feymesh. It features delicate rings of mithral adorned with spirals of phase spider silk. Scattered in mystically significant constellations atop a backing of supple leather or fine silk, these rings project panels of pure force spreading outward from those clusters. This defensive barrier is neither impenetrable nor airtight, but it offers protection equivalent to chain in the form of a sleek light bodysuit comfortably worn by most adventurers.
feymesh lining: Feymesh material is so flexible and thin that it can be used to enhance the protection offered by full suits of heavy or medium armor. This process essentially secures an entire suit of feymesh armor inside the heavier equipment. Though the two forms of protection are somewhat redundant, feymesh force barriers enhance the ability of that outer layer to deflect all sorts of attacks. Typically valued at more than double its own weight in pure platinum, feymesh lining is rarely installed in armor that was not intended for a notable aristocrat.
field dress: These incomplete versions of battle dress feature gaps in coverage to increase mobility and reduce weight. Each suit still features an impressive array of plates forged from high grade alloys. Reinforced bracers and greaves can be confidently used to block deadly weapons. Yet these suits weigh no more than ring armor. Their excellent fit pairs with well-articulated joints to make these suits significantly more comfortable. Thus this armor is often favored by elite military officers reluctant to clad themselves in anything more cumbersome.
Sizing Armor Armor feels and looks best when fitted to the form of a specific individual. Armor designed for creatures of the same general size will function normally when worn by others. Heavier suits typically feature adjustable segments and straps to accommodate afflictions and injuries. Appropriated armor might be seem a poor fit in the eyes of astute observers, but anyone of the same general size proficient with that type of armor will know how to rig it for effective personal protection.
Aside from shields, armors designed for small combatants weigh half as much as the standard for that type. Cost remains the same, as superior materials and reinforcement techniques must be used to achieve the same level of personal protection. These suits cannot be adjusted to cover combatants of either medium or tiny size. Armor meant to be worn by wee folk is one-fifth the standard weight while offering standard protection at standard cost. It cannot be adjusted to fit creatures of small or larger size. |
helm: Full suits of heavy or medium armor feature protective headgear. For medium armor this may be no more than a steel skullcap or conical helmet, while heavy armor normally features an elaborate helm with some degree of facial coverage. Helms of all sorts are largely interchangeable, though suits of medium or heavy armor lacking any protective head covering reduce their Armor Bonus by 1. Magic crowns and helms pair effectively with any suit of armor this way, though magic caps and hats leave armored suits incomplete. Military helms provide an Armor Bonus of +1 to individuals wearing a breastplate, chain shirt, light armor, or no armor at all. They also impose the non-proficiency penalty on characters without proficiency in medium armor.
hide armor: These suits of toughened animal skins often serve as garb for young warriors in tribal societies. Less flexible than properly cured leathers, hide armor offers the same level of protection in a less elegant form. Though this is far from an ideal piece of military equipment, it does possess the virtue of quick and easy production. Where game or livestock are abundant, fresh kills give leatherworkers everything needed prepare full suits of hide armor overnight. Villages under threat often must choose between preserving their herds or preparing to defend their homes with the skins of precious beasts.
Wearing Colors Most modern armies moderate the chaos of battle with vivid armbands, cloaks, headbands, tabards, and/or tunics. Imperial forces and other well-funded organizations tend to sport uniform armor and garb. Other armies are often composed of recruits bearing their own armor and weapons in battle. Equipping every loyalist with a colorful accessory reduces the frequency with which friends are mistaken for foes.
This practice is also evident in unconventional conflict zones, like urban gangs strugging for territory. Outsiders sporting the wrong color could be mistaken for enemy combatants. Trouble sometimes follows from wearing a friendly color while lacking any affiliation with the associated faction. Powerful enforcers will be sent against individuals known for infiltrating a group or simply defying the will of a wartime leader.
Civilians often regard a number of colors as meaningful identifiers. Some urban guilds reserve a specific hue for the garb of their personnel, and aristocratic houses may do likewise. Like crests and emblems, signature colors provide a visual way to indicate belonging. Local governments may enforce exclusivity as a way to protect the integrity of elite institutions. Adventuring equipment often features bare steel, undyed textiles, and/or unpainted wood to minimize misunderstandings related to color.
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lamellar armor: Typically fashioned from many small metal sheets interconnected with durable cords or wires, this ancient form of body armor can also be produced using bone, ceramic, shell, or wood. Even the metallic versions often feature backings of hide, tile, or wood to support each small slab of bronze or steel facing outward. Taut linkages between adjoining elements stabilize each layer while also limiting flexibility. This makes it especially difficult to fit lamellar armor without leaving signficant gaps in coverage. Despite those gaps, a full suit in this category slightly reduces the foot speed of most warriors.
laminar armor: Though each contains more metal than druids can comfortably wear, suits of laminar armor make the best defensive use of limited iron resources. These elaborate items are typically built outward from tailored harnesses. Fashioned from the most durable sorts of leather, these suits are mostly covered with thin metal plates designed to overlap while minimizing the inevitable restrictions imposed by such cumbersome protection. These pieces are reinforced with many layers of heavy laquer, pairing remarkable durability with a vivid glossy finish.
leather armor: Most cultures consider leather garb fashionable, so this armor does not raise suspicion among strangers in the way strolling down a boulevard wearing chain armor or trying to get some shopping done sporting brigandine normally would. Rogues are particularly fond of leather armor precisely because it allows them some protection without generating unwanted attention at venues where business takes place. Though considered an acceptable clothing choice in most circumstances, it is also possible to conceal a full suit of leather under ordinary attire.
leather coat: This popular garment delivers some of the protection provided by leather armor in a form that can be swiftly worn or removed. Anywhere save the hottest climates, these items seem like a reasonable selection. Many non-combatants wear leather coats as protection against bad weather rather than some sort of anticipated violence. As with greatcloaks and robes, some leather coats are voluminous enough to conceal any weapon without the two-handed property. Street merchants both illicit and legal sometimes convert the interiors of their leather coats into organized displays of inventory.
Wearing Armor Most protective garb is not donned as simply as ordinary clothing. A proficient user entirely dedicated to gearing up as quickly as possible requires 1 minute per point of Armor Bonus to secure a suit of armor properly. An assistant also proficient in that type of armor can reduce this time by half. Individuals lacking proficiency or proceeding at a relaxed pace typically take around 20 minutes to secure any suit of armor effectively.
Frantic removal of armor requires much less time regardless of proficiency. Each doffing action taken with two free hands reduces the Armor Bonus of a suit by 1. It is entirely removed when that bonus diminishes to 0. Armors with the quick property are exceptions to these rules. Such items can be entirely donned or doffed by taking a single action with two free hands. |
padded armor: The cheapest available suit of full armor may be little more than layers of rugged clothing stuffed with straw or feathers. Despite their simplicity, these suits can be particularly effective against bludgeoning strikes. Yet they also make climbing, jumping, and running awkward. Swimming suffers as well, with thick soft layers quick to absorb great amounts of water. Padded armor is another of those items that turns up often when a small community hastily prepares for violence. Farmers with high quality scarecrows may have all the constituents of these suits already gathered.
padded lining: The ability to minimize crushing injuries is a defense desired even by warriors able to afford much better protection than padded armor. If a full suit of medium or heavy armor is appropriately oversized, effective padding can be incorporated as an inner layer. This does nothing to change the Armor Class of the wearer, and it will convert a suit fit for running and jumping into something significanty bulkier. Even so, plate armors are often paired with padded linings in order to attain special protection against unarmed strikes and a broader variety of weapons.
pavise: These large shields are notable because their designs allow freestanding deployment. A planted pavise can provide total cover to one creature of medium size or smaller crouching behind it. Such hefty shields also serve well for sharing defense with a nearby ally. Elite constabularies train groups of enforcers to use lines of pavises for crowd control. Savvy archers may take shelter behind a pavise even if the enemy originally hauled it into battle. The only major drawback of these shields is the fact that they weigh even more than the heaviest personal weapons.
Substandard Equipment Adventurers know when an item they are able to use proficiently functions as well as normal versions of that equipment. This does not rid the world of all inferior goods. Buyers seeking such wares often need not look far to find them. Tiny communities tend to employ primitive technology covering gaps in the specialties among local artisans. Internal corruption or a resource shortage can drive some workshops to utilize cheaper materials.
Deficiencies might include decreased accuracy, increased weight, reduced damage, and reduced protection. Some inferior goods require constant upkeep. Items that are badly crafted or fashioned from substitute materials might even break outright during ordinary use. Characters are aware of these inadequacies in items they can use proficiently. Even after handling merchandise, assessing the reliability of less familiar equipment is often about the integrity of the vendor more than the capabilities of the gear.
There are rare instances where substandard equipment is desireable. Wooden swords naturally inflict reduced damage, making them ideal for training inexperienced students. Surplus weight can make weapons less desirable to thieves as well foes low in strength. Inferior weapons might lack the entrap, finesse, hands free, light, reach, substitute, thrown, and versatile properties. Inferior armor might lack the quick and reduce properties. Substandard gear retains all properties that provide no explicit benefit.
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plate armor: First developed early in the Age of Heroes, plate armor was once largely reserved for artistocratic warriors and their annointed champions. Though it remains a costly and elaborate form of personal protection, modern plate armor says more about wealth than rank. At half the price of battle dress with nearly as much effectiveness, these massive suits offer few gaps in coverage provided by resilient steel. Properly forged and fitted, all that metal does little to impede the motions of sufficiently strong wearers, though it will generate quite a clangor during a sprint.
ring armor: Though technically a metallic item, ring armor is essentially a suit of leather reinforced with a large number of non-interlinked brass, bronze, or iron loops. In some cases these designs are a shaped by the availability of scrap materials, while other suits of ring armor feature flawless shining circlets of die cast metal. Either way, those protective additions add a great deal of weight to the suit and make a little noise in motion. The ensemble is typically completed by a padded helmet or coif sporting metal rings similar to coverage elsewhere.
scale armor: Seasoned veterans know this to be the loudest of all armors. With hundreds or thousands of thin protective plates only secured along their upper edges, these suits practically sing while their wearers engage in athletic movements. Those jingling scales are typically tiny sheets of fine steel, but scale armor can also be produced using bones, ceramics, or shells. The scales of armored beasts also serve this purpose well. Dragon scales are especially prized because the suits they make are easily infused with enchantments granting exotic forms of damage resistance.
shield: Like the quarterstaff, the basic shield is such an ancient implement of warfare that its origins remain undetermined. Typically some combination of metal and wood, a standard shield provides a sturdy barrier for blocking all sorts of weaponry. Some warriors will also learn special techniques like using a shield as a bludgeon or pressing forward with a shield to pin an adversary's weapon. Though shields are not normally expensive, many exceptions serve as platforms to present heraldic or religious symbols. The best silversmiths can even modify a shield so that it doubles as a large mirror.
silk armor: Most silk clothing offers no protective value, being purely a fashion statemment. Yet layers of the right sorts of rare silks, worn loose save for a small number of cords or sashes, combine a little bit of general protection with the ability to minimize injury from piercing attacks. Even when an attack penetrates flesh, the innermost layers of silk may continue to surround a weapon, keeping the wound relatively clean and small. The same excesses of material supporting this protective function also flow in ways that sometimes help mesmerize or misdirect opponents. This is the only sort of armor that does not interfere with the distinctively fluid fighting styles of monks.
| Concealing Armor If it is not bulky, light armor can be worn underneath conventional clothing. Provided those clothes are not particularly revealing and their fit is adjusted properly, the armor within is not at all apparent to observers. Medium armor that is not bulky can also be concealed, though this requires outerwear like a greatcloak or a full robe. Some helms can be covered by hoods. Heavy armor features even greater coverage and massive reinforcing components. Whether or not it is bulky, the wearing of heavy armor cannot be hidden by nonmagical means. |
silk lining: More prized by some cavalry archers than the armor into which it is fitted, having a silk lining installed costs well above the price of a trained warhorse. This effort has no effect on Armor Class, but it does make piercing attacks less effective against the wearer. Effective use of range can prevent a combatant from facing much risk from other types of weapons. This sort of lining is particularly popular with aristocrats not only because silk is widely considered an elegant fabric, but in a properly fitted suit of heavy armor it does not inhibit running at top speed.
studded armor: Social acceptance of this attire varies by culture. Suits of leather reinforced with a great many solid studs or spikes may seem aggressive in ways that simple leather armor does not. Attitudes about such garb vary from one neighborhood to the next as well as one realm to the next. Sometimes associated with robbers and other ruffians, studded leather can prompt authorities to persecute strangers clad in this way. Uniform suits of this type are rare, but they have been produced for notable forces of irregulars featuring special skills
and/or some spellcasting ability.
| Tactical Refreshments When a beverage, pill, potion, or morsel of food is already in hand; anyone who is not muzzled can consume this item by performing the Activate action. It is likewise possible to serve such an item to a willing creature within reach by way of the Activate action. This is a decisive and swift approach to ingestion. Various alchemical, magical, and medical items have immediate effect when consumed in this way. Many adventurers wear pouches or even bandoliers to keep such supplies conveniently arrayed. |
Poisons & Potions
The first poisons were harvested directly from venemous animals. Soon toxic plants were also being gathered as resources, while the most learned persons of some tribes concentrated poisons to deliver more deadly effects. Modern alchemy even allows for the synthesis of effective venoms without any extracts from living creatures. Apothecaries are well-studied in all forms of poison both to provide it as licensed and to avoid poisoning their customers with strong medicines. From simple herbalists to famed physicians, all effective healers understand that the line between medicine and poison is often a matter of the dose administered.
Poisons typically both smell and taste awful. Variants both odorless and tasteless can be especially expensive. Be they products of alchemy, nature, or magic; trace exposure to ordinary poisons easily nauseates or inflicts rashes. A proper dose can do severe damage while inhibiting the fighting ability of a creature. Some poisons also leave their victims slower or weaker if not downright unable to move at all. Though magical poisons can work in all sorts of ways and produce all sorts of effects, a normal poison requires a Constitution saving throw to mitigate its damage and avoid harmful secondary effects.
WEAPON COATINGS
Many poisons must make contact with the blood of a victim to inflict severe harm. They must be delivered by doing damage with a piercing or slashing attack. Thus these poisons are often known as venoms, meant to act as the bite of a snake or the sting of a scorpion. Pouring or smearing such a sustance onto the damaging surfaces of an appropriate weapon adds the effects of that poison to conventional attack damage.
Yet not all weapon coatings are poisonous. Some alchemical or magical preparations temporarily enhance the damage of any weapon, even bludgeons. There are even dusts and oils that temporarily enable weapons to function as if they were magical or silvered. The following is not a comprehensive list of these substances. Some are extremely rare – not to be found in markets or shops open to the general public. The following weapon coatings are produced by well-known formulae. They can be commissioned or purchased from inventories in more large cities.
drowdust: This glittering white powder is produced in massive quantities in the Empire of Shadows. It is costly above ground both because the fungal precursors do not grow on the surface and drowdust itself is destroyed by as little as one minute of direct sunlight. When delivered through piercing damage or slashing damage, it requires a DC 13 Constitution saving throw to avoid falling unconscious. Unconscious victims awaken after 1d10 minutes or immediately after taking damage.
gelfire: This gray or black goo must be applied with care, since it will begin to burn when exposed to ordinary air. .
holy oil: Though it also has use in religious rituals, oil consecrated by powerful priests can apply traces of spiritual power to a weapon. Buyers should take care to deal only with reliable vendors, as many peddlers offer counterfeit holy oil. The genuine article is likely to outlast its container. Applied to a weapon of any sort, this oil temporarily allows that weapon to hit as if it were a magic weapon.
toadsap: A sticky amber resin made either from the secretions of toads or the leaves of vines, this deadly extract pairs well with the primitive weapons of tribes with no metalworkers of their own. It is costly at most urban markets, but remote experts in its preperation may keep ample reserves. In sealed containers it can remain potent for a month or more, but if toadsap becomes too dry it ceases to be potent. When delivered through piercing damage or slashing damage, this weapon venom requires a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. Failure inflicts 2d12 poison damage and the poisoned condition for 1d10 minutes. Success avoids the poisoned condition and halves that damage.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Poisons & Potions ↑ → Services & Supplies ← ↓ Tools & Traps ↓
| Toolkits Most manufactured goods are produced by residential artisans or laborers in dedicated workshops. Yet some crafting jobs are situated far from these facilities. Toolkits function as coherent bundles of tools and supplies suffciency for accomplishing a particular range of tasks. Most toolkits are packed into a purpose-made handbag, toolbelt, or carrying case. They tend to contain at least one razor and at least one needle. The value of a toolkit is diminished by the value of expended supplies until those supplies are replenished. This usage can continue until a kit has been reduced to one-fifth of its original value. Appropriate spending at a vendor of such toolkits is usually sufficient to resupply a depleted kit.
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Tools & Traps While weapons and spells can be extremely impressive, the wealth of the world is primarily produced by people using tools. Proper use of specialized tools is the basis for hundreds of working trades. Most cities see dozens of their most important and prominent trades effectively governed by guilds. These influential and resourceful organizations regulate related activities, either absorbing or outlawing the business ventures of independent rivals. Adventurers are often familiar with a range of tools as a result of their previous activities and/or their entry into an adventuring class. Many continue to improve on their skill with tools right alongside other avenues of growth as an adventurer.
Traps are a special sort of tool originally used to capture or kill wild creatures. Modern variants also serve to protect valuables and/or harm intruders. Though there are traps that consist of multiple rooms, most traps take the form of portable gear that must be rigged and set to constitute an active hazard. A trap is typically triggered by entry into a particular space or movement across a particular line. The trap then produces an effect, such as an attack, directed at the creature responsible for activating that trigger. Traps employing poisons or incendiary compounds can prove especially deadly. Yet portable traps are typically easy to disarm, especially for any skilled user of thieves' tools.
⩺ alchemists' supplies: (includes 6 glass vials, metal pan, and tinder box) Modern times benefit from thousands of years of accumulated lore about the mixing substances to cause reactions. These processes are not as well-studied as techniques of weaving magical phenomena together, but alchemical studies are available at select guilds and all universities. An array of reagents along with specialized mixing vessels make it possible to prepare a wide variety of useful substances. Inks, paints, and cleansers often perform best when formulated for a specific use. Great skill makes it possible to dissolve some substances while doing no worse than spreading dampness over surrounding material. The pinnacle of this craft allows for the production of deadly corrosives as well as durable adhesives.
⩺ brewers' supplies: (includes cauldron, tinder box, yeast collection) Alehouses played a crucial role in many societies throughout the Age of Heroes. As communities outgrew their own sources of clean drinking water, the danger of contamination could be addressed through fermentation and fire. This process can produce foul smells, yet its end result converts grain and questionable water into a brew with enough alcohol that it will not harbor any sickness other than the potential for drunkenness. Skilled brewers carefully regulate the temperature and ventilation of each batch to determine both palatability and potency. Modern ales and beers tend to be made in large vats at urban breweries. Individuals preparing small batches preserve countless variations of this ancient craft.
⩺ calligraphers' tools: (includes vial of ink, 2 quills, and 6 parchment sheets) Most adventurers can read and write multiple languages. Basic literacy makes it possible to inscribe words in dust using only a finger, place chalk messages on stone surfaces, and ink legible notes on paper. Calligraphers do more than write words that others can read. Their elaborate techniques satisfy the protocols of high society. Much business and personal correspondence outside the aristocracy also follows these protocols, as a well-penned missive is a sign of respect. Some professional calligraphers busk, transcribing dictation or copying an existing document on demand. Others peform longer projects in institutional settings, duplicating or embellishing entire books.
⩺ cartographers' tools: (includes vial of ink, drawing compass with quill, and 2 parchment sheets) Modern mapmakers are held to high standards. Fortunately, their craft benefits from sophisticated lore honed through many centuries of applying divination magic to study the fidelity of older maps. Yet tere are many forms of useful maps. Cartographers sometimes chart out highways and roads with less emphasis on accurate scale than accurate intersections, offering correct guidance at every turn. Other maps typically have respect for scale. Many adventurers travel with a cartographer to map dungeons and wildlands presently uncharted. When possible, cartographers use precise measuring tools to render shapes informed by the data from systematic surveys, though even hasty sketches can be informative.
⩺ cooks' utensils: (includes dagger, ladle, pan, and pot) Most adventurers have hearty appetites. This makes a skilled cook a valued companion on long expeditions. In the worst of times, a skilled cook can add water to miscellaneous ingredients and produce an edible gruel or soup weightier than those ingredients. In the best of times, this craft makes it possible to present robust nourishment as a series of delightful dishes. Institutional settings see professional cooks improving efficiency by working in small teams to serve up hot meals to large dining halls. Wealthy households are also likely to employ dedicated cooks, shopping for food as well as preparing it. Skilled cooks also have the knowledge to thrive as butchers and farmers, especially when equipped with a handaxe or scythe respectively.
⩺ disguise kit: (includes mask and wig) Successful impersonations often rely on extensive modifications of facial features. These kits contain arrays of cosmetics suitable for simulating a wide range of skin tones. They likewise provide the tools and materials to produce convincing wigs. An hour of effort per recipient is enough for a skilled disguise artist to change the apparent identity of a character even when that individual's face is clearly visible. These changes are limited by the anatomy of each recipient. It is not possible to effectively impersonate an individual of much different height or weight. Scaled people cannot impersonate members of other adventuring races and
vice versa. Tieflings and minotaurs require unusual hairstyles or headgear to conceal their horns. If a disguise is meant to resemble a specific individual, it must be applied by someone who has spent at least one hour in the close company of that individual and/or has a high quality likeness of that individual available for reference.
⩺ forgery kit: (includes vial of ink, 2 quills, wax, and 6 signets) Armies, churches, financiers, governments, and many other institutions go to great lengths to produce official documents that cannot be easily reproduced. In addition to a variety of inks and stationery, one of these kits also features a variety of foils, ribbons, and seals useful for simulating the distinctive appearance of official paperwork. Further tinctures and tools make it possible to turn new documents into old and weathered things. While no forgery can stand up to magical scrutiny, skilled practitioners often produce works that seem legitimate under casual inspection. The most gifted forgers are so precise that even expert assessments made with ample time might not differentiate a fake from its authentic counterpart.
⩺ healers' kit: (includes bandages, salves, and stimulants totalling 5gp in value) Magic is not the only way to hasten recovery from ailments and injuries. Understanding the nature of a health problem is a task for the Medicine skill. Yet non-magical remedies involve skilled use of this equipment. In addition to plenty of clean bandages, these kits offer cleansers, expectorants, painkillers, sedatives, and stimulants along with threads and/or staples suitable for treating open wounds. Each use of a healers' kit expends supplies valued at 1d8 silver pieces. So long as the value of the kit remains above 1 gold piece, another use is possible. Many conditions can be remedied in this way. Using an action along with a healers' kit allows one living creature that has 0 hit points and is also within your reach to regain 1 hit point.
⩺ herbalists' kit: Many fungi and plants blue the line between magic and more mundane physical science. Their special properties can be instrumental in the production of medical compounds as well as recreational drugs. Yet herbs also make important contributions to the production of dyes, inks, and paints. Much as they help bring color to the world, they also enrich the diets of persons favoring well-seasoned meals. These kits feature the tools to safely harvest potent substances from living natural resources as well as means for distilling, grinding, and refining raw materials into potent preparations. Paired with a sickle, the skill of an herbalist allows for excellent gardening.
⩺ gaming set: It is unclear when humanoids first started using small objects to play games. Ancient elves encouraged a wide variety of games to occupy human workforces during long intervals of confinement within towering feyglass bastions. In broad terms, games can be divided into three categories depending on whether their primary mechanics involve building a hand of cards, moving pieces on a board, or rolling dice. Thus this proficiency is subdivided into "cards," "chess," and "dice" variations. Proficiency with one gaming set can cover all of one category among those three. That said, cultural gaming variations seem endless. Even proficient gamers with less than one hour of time spent playing any specific game will perform related ability checks with disadvantage.
⩺ glassblowers' tools: Glass was incredibly rare throughout the Age of Heroes. It was often associated with magic simply because alchemists and poisoners utilizing glassware were so secretive about their techniques. More recent developments in furnace technology and material science have given rise to facilities supplying all manner of glaziers and glassblowers. Large glass windows and the routine use of drinking glasses remain signs of affluence. Yet many well-funded institutions and aristocratic households sustain robust demand for glass. Trophy collectors and retail merchants often house their most coveted possession in glass cases. Glass bottles also play a vital role in the distribution and preservation of mind-altering bevarages. Though specialized turntables are required to produce sheet glass; glassblowers with this kit and a proper furnace can produce all sorts of beeds, bottles, glasses, jars, flasks, lenses, and vials.
⩺ jewellers' tools: Precise work with pure materials is at the heart of this craft. These kits feature special lenses allowing for scrutiny of the tiniest imperfections in gemstones. They also feature specialized vessels that make it possible to perform whitesmithing with only the heat of an ordinary campfire. These techniques soften or melt precious metals to allow for reshaping. Additional components include secure mounts and tiny chisels for us in gemcutting. Other implements make it possible to engrave soft metals or perform upkeep on tarnished items. Individuals proficient with both this tookit and smiths' tools will have the skill to prospect for gems and precious metals at sites where this is possible. The Synod Jewellers offer honorable service of this sort at every major city above ground, though they do not have an absolute monopoly on trade in gems and jewels.
⩺ leatherworkers' tools: The first clothing worn by people was fashioned from the skins of other creatures. From the scrolls in the first libraries to harnesses tethering the earliest plows, leather has played a vital role in the rise of civilization. Fur, hide and leather goods of many varieties can be found in nearly every modern marketplace. These tools convert the skins of dead animals into thin materials much less vulnerable to decomposition. Such kits often feature a variety of buckles, eyelets, and studs useful for assembling finished leather goods. Though leatherworkers are often valued members of their communities, their larger facilities are infamous for foul smells and tainted runoff. Wherever possible, city planners will position tanneries as far downstream and downwind as possible.
⩺ masons' tools: Their durability gives stone structures a prestige seldom attached to wooden buildings. Masons are often among the most well-connected and well-funded guilds in a city. Their efforts maintain fortifications around the city as well as many of the largest structures within. Paved roads also require plenty of shaped stones. Churces and universities often favor stone construction to make their teachings seem more authoritative. Yet some societies see brickmaking causing many apartment buildings and ordinary homes to be built of stone. Much of this kit is focused on tools for cutting and fitting stones into structures stable under their own weight, trowels and aprons for constructing brick walls are also included. Individuals proficient with both these tools and smiths' tools have the skills to construct tunnels through solid rock and conduct mining operations.
⩺ musical instrument: From signaling devices to ranged weapons, the origins of musical instruments are diverse. Creative artisans will work with almost any item that consistently produces distinctive sounds. Cycles of modifications and refinements create the tools of instrumental music. An individual proficiency typical spans an entire category such as bagpipes, drums, dulcimers, flutes, lutes, pan flutes, shawms, and viols. Though each of these categories takes many forms across various cultures, performance techniques remain broadly similar. Skilled musicians pair those techniques with compositions or improvisations informed by understandings of harmony, melody, and rhythm. Entertaining large gatherins is the primary purpose of musical performances, but variations on this trade are in demand everywhere from oar-powered nautical vessels to opulent boutiques.
⩺ navigators' tools: The most basic version of this toolkit, does not contain any charts or maps. Yet it is often sold in conjunction with well-scaled maps and/or charts of major Ley Lines and sea currents. Some of these tools make it possible to measure precise distances between points depicted on those documents. Other instruments measure angles relative to the horizon and make it possible to visualize the Sun through heavy cloud cover. Skilled use of these tools on a clear day makes it possible to determine the precise distance and direction of the kit's present position from a point of departure likewise studied. ???????
⩺ painters' tools:
⩺ poisoners' supplies:
⩺ potters' tools:
⩺ smiths' tools: (includes armorer, bladesmith, smelter)
⩺ thieves' tools: In a world where securing valuables is often taken to extremes, even law-abiding citizens sometimes need access to a strongbox or open a door without the appropriate key. Modern metalworkers can produce a wide range of complex locks and traps. A kit of these tools features an assortment of tiny files, picks, wedges, and wrenches suitable for defeating locks and disarming traps. In the right hands, these tools make it possible to neutralize all sorts of mechanical security devices. Many halflings travel with an elaborate pedicure kit featuring all the capabilities of thieves' tools. Though each contains a costly assortment of durable precision tools, these kits typically fit into a single pouch with a total weight of only 1 pound.
⩺ tinkers' tools:
⩺ weavers' tools: Superficial as it may be, many draw the line between civilized and barbaric folks based on preferences for textiles or hides in personal attire. Cloth is often a more comfortable and convenient alternative to garb fashioned from the skins of other creatures. ???
(includes dyer, seamstress, spinster, tailor, upholsterer; bookbinder w/ Calligraphers' Tools)
⩺ woodworkers' tools: In most parts of the world, wood is a widely available and heavily exploited. Even without extraordinary materials or magical support, stable wooden buildings can reach six stories in height. In rural areas almost all standing structures are built from wood. Yet wood is also commonly found in tools and household objects. Bowls, cups, and spoons can be fashioned from wood. Wood can be found in many weapons. It is the primary constituent of both the weapons and ammunition used by archers. With appropriate supplemental supplies and tools, a skilled woodworker can function as a bowyer, carpenter, cooper, fletcher, or wheelwright. Woodworkers also skilled with calligraphers' tools are capable of manufacturing paper. Woodworkers also skilled with navigators' tools are capable shipwrights.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Tools & Traps ↑ → Skills ← ↓ Peoples ↓
Skills
| Skill Proficiency Proficiency indicates systematic practice and/or training that can dramatically improve perfomance with a particular skill. Every character has a passive value for each skill as well as the ability to attempt some sort of skill checks with each. Being proficient in a skill allows you to add your proficiency bonus to checks utilizing that skill as well as the passive value of that skill. For some skills, proficiency also opens up a range of specialized techniques that are simply impossible without that proficiency. Characters typically begin play with proficiency in six to eight of the seventeen available skills. |
Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, Deception, History, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Religion, Sleight-of-Hand, Stealth, and Survival are vital skills to adventurers. Diverse parties often see proficiency with most or all of these skills distributed amongst their members. Yet broad coverage is not always essential. A campaign entirely confined within the walls of one great city might see little use for expertise in wrangling beasts and foraging supplies. A campaign focused on lands lacking any libraries of note might also see lore skills in low demand. Thoughtful skill selection balances the story of each character with the needs of the group and the particulars of the setting they inhabit.
Every skill has a passive value equal to 10 + an ability score. Proficiency with a skill adds the proficiency bonus to that passive value. Some of these values are crucial to gameplay. Passive Acrobatics determines how difficult a character is to grab. Passive Insight determmines how difficult it is to appear earnest while lying to a character. Passive Perception determines how difficult it is to sneak around near an attentive character. Yet not all passive skill values are so important. In most cases, skill use is resolved through an ability check eligible for a proficiency bonus when the character making that check has the applicable proficiency.
Core Skills Skills are central to the practices and techniques of adventurers. Each class finds two to four skills indispensible. Proficiencies in those skills are attained in the process of entering a class, and they must be retained to reliably use features of that class. Knowledgeable individuals can make inferences based on these particulars. All barbarians and rangers have some idea how to follow tracks. All clerics, druids, and monks know sound techniques for treating wounds. All bards and paladins understand what words might pacify an angry crowd.
Just about any competent adult can benefit from sufficient training in the lore and methods of an adventuring class. Continued improvement of these core skills is essential to advancement as an adventurer. Fighters must constantly cultivate personal fitness while also becoming better able to physically dominate others. Wizards must frequently contemplate both modern enigmas and past events to grow as practitioners. Bards make those same efforts while also honing their talents for the performing arts and public speaking. The core skills of each adventuring class serve as a medium from which more rarified abilities can be cultivated. |
ACROBATICS (passive DEXTERITY)
This is a core skill for monks. Acrobatics is a supplemental skill for bards, fighters, rangers, rogues, and sorcerers. Characters without this proficiency may require assistance when scaling walls or traversing ledges. Passive Acrobatics determines how difficult it is to grab hold of a character.
BREAKFALL: If you are proficient in Acrobatics, when you fall you can use your reaction to minimize resulting harm. Make an Acrobatics check modified by your Dexterity bonus. Reduce the height of your fall by that number in feet. If the result is less than 10, you land on your feet without taking damage.
CLIMBING: Ordinary cliffs, trees, and walls offer plenty of grips for skilled climbers. If you are proficient in Acrobatics and you have at least one free hand, there should be little challenge in the DC 5 skill check posed by climbing dry versions of those features. Yet even climbing at half speed requires such a check, modified by Dexterity, with greater difficulty if traversing crumbling, sheer, and/or slickened surfaces. Ordinarily, a failed climbing check merely reduces your speed to 0 until the start of your next turn as you recover from a minor slip. However, a result of 1 on the d20 indicates an immediate fall.
CONTORTION: With or without proficiency, you can use your action to escape a grab with an Acrobatics skill check modified by Dexterity. That grab ends if your skill check matches or exceeds the DC established by the initiation of that grab.
LEAPING: If you are proficient in Acrobatics and you move at least 10 feet during the same turn, you can add your proficiency bonus to the height of any jump you perform and double your proficiency bonus to the length of any jump you perform. These bonuses also apply when performing a standing jump, though they are to be applied prior to the halving of jump distance due to that standing start.
TUMBLING: If you are proficient with Acrobatics, when you take the Dodge action you can add your proficiency bonus instead of +2 to your Armor Class and Dexterity saving throws until the start of your next turn.
Supplemental Skills Gaining a skill is a significant piece of a character's development as an adventurer. Few characters will ever be proficient in more than ten skills, and proficiency with all seventeen is fantastically rare. When an adventurer gains proficiency in a skill they already have, this redundancy is resolved by gaining proficiency with a supplemental skill.
Most character classes support six to eight supplemental skills, while bards can treat any skill they are not already proficient with as a supplemental skill. As adjuncts to the core skills of each class, supplemental skills convey no special benefits to characters lacking proficiency. Yet they serve as a way adventurers can continue to advance their abilities when a background, class, race, or subclass selection features a duplicate skill proficiency. |
VAULTING: If you are proficient in Acrobatics and you move at least 10 feet closer to an obstacle or creature on your turn, you can use your bonus action to attempt a spectacular leap over that hazard. A DC 20 Acrobatics check is sufficient to vault over a single creature of medium size or an inanimate barrier no more than 10 feet tall, moving through its space. If you are holding a quarterstaff, polearm, or pole of substantial length; you can attempt to vault over a creature of large size or a barrier of up to 20 feet in height.
You must have the speed to accomplish all your intended horizontal movement including at least 10 feet for a running start, and you can only leave the ground for a number of feet equal to the result of your skill check. If you succeed, you can gain up to 10 feet (20 feet while using a pole) of altitude during your movement at no additional cost, and you cannot be the target of an attack of opportunity from the start of your vaulting maneuver until the end of your turn. If you fail, you fall prone at the space you occupied immediately before attempting to move through the space of an obstacle or another creature, and your speed is reduced to 0 until the start of your next turn.
ANIMAL HANDLING (passive WISDOM)
This is a core skill for rangers. Animal Handling is a supplemental skill for barbarians, bards, druids, fighters, and paladins. Characters without this proficiency may be uncomfortable around beasts of their own size or larger. You must be proficient in this skill to coordinate with a companion animal in battle unless that companion animal is under the influence of a spell supporting that coordination. Passive Animal Handling establishes the level of challenge a beast's attitude can present without requiring regular checks to prevent problem behavior.
Skill Batches Sometimes gameplay is improved by consolidating a collection of skill checks into a single roll made without assistance from others and/or against a slightly higher DC. This makes it possible to quickly settle matters like preparing all the animals of a caravan to rest for the night or maintaining control of a companion animal while completing a long journey. A successful roll indicates consistent success across a batch of skilled tasks that would take much longer to resolve individually. Failure indicates a complication following from a significant error associated with some portion of that batch.
This consolidation may also result in some time savings. Watering horses one by one is sure to take longer than leading a train of them to a healthy stream. Inspiring a crowd of hired workers to support a cause demands little more time than addressing each individual. These simultaneous batch efforts should be more difficult then dealing with a single constituent of the group, but assistance typically is an option in these situations. Other batches amalgamate events spread across time. Gameplay sometimes requires tackling serial challenges one by one, such as a quest to unravel mysteries at an ancient temple or the need to conduct individual interview with criminal suspects. For tasks both routine and repetitive, like busking for a full day rather than one hour at a time or donning cold weather gear daily throughout a lengthy journey, a batch skill check is an expeditious way to determine meaningful results. |
Animal Handling checks also determine the quality of care administered during long rests. Proficiency is not required to fulfill the needs of a companion animal. While a DC 5 task should be sufficient to feed and rest a horse overnight at a well-supplied stable, such facilities are not always available. Also, different animals have different needs. Animal upkeep tasks rise dramatically in difficulty where appropriate food and/or gear are unavailable. Failure causes that animal to experience a level of fatigue. Each level of animal fatigue also adds 1 to the DC of checks all Animal Handling efforts applied to that animal. Botched efforts to mind beasts in your care can send both individuals and groups into spirals of declining health.
This skill can also be used to tame wild animals. Yet such efforts require long sessions of interaction in a controlled environment such as a corral or a closed room. Taming wild creatures is only an appropriate activity during the downtime between adventures. Even then, satsifying results are only reasonable expectations when dealing skillfully with creatures of the beast type. Similar long term efforts can then associate cues given by a handler with specific behaviors, like a hound flushing game birds from cover or a warhorse deliberately trampling a fallen solder. The
Beasts section details an array of working animals already well-known throughout at least one major human culture.
ARCANA (passive INTELLIGENCE)
This is a core skill for bards, sorcerers, and wizards. Arcana is a supplemental skill for clerics, druids, monks, paladins, rangers, rogues, and warlocks. Characters without this proficiency may harbor misguided notions about the nature of magic and magic-users. Your passive Arcana value indicates a threshold of complexity at which magical phenomena remain eminently predictable. When you hear or see a spellcasting effort that basic, you immediately identify that particular spell.
SPELL IDENTIFICATION: When you hear and/or see a more complex spell being cast, you can use your reaction to actively scrutinize that effort. This cannot be a Tactical Action. Contemplating a weave in progress requires the expenditure of your true reaction. Doing so allows you to make an Arcana check modified by your Intelligence to assess the particulars of that spell. If your check matches or exceeds a DC equal to the sum of the spellcasting DC of that spellcaster and that level of the spell, you understand what you see and/or hear. This understanding allows you to call out what you know so that allies within earshot can react before the spell is complete.
| Movement Checks Some skill checks cover large spans of time, like an hour of entertaining the public or several hours of searching a large building. Others are the result of a specific action, bonus action, or reaction. Movement skills are often less demanding. Whether or not a skill bonus applies; checks related to climbing, leaping, swimming, or mitigating fall damage normally do not require any sort of action. They resolve the outcome of movement, so merely attempting that movement is basis enough for that check. In most cases horizontal movement incurs the normal cost, moving upward incurs double cost, and dropping or falling downward has no cost. |
ATHLETICS (passive CONSTITUTION)
This is a core skill for barbarians, fighters, and rangers. Athletics is a supplemental skill for bards, druids, monks, paladins, and sorcerers. Characters without this proficiency may be unable to perform the climbing, leaping, or swimming required for dramatic escapes.
CLIMBING: Ordinary cliffs, trees, and walls offer plenty of grips for skilled climbers. If you are proficient in Athletics and you have at least one free hand, there should be little challenge in the DC 5 skill check posed by climbing dry versions of those features. Yet even climbing at half speed requires such a check, modified by Strength, with greater difficulty if traversing crumbling, sheer, and/or slickened surfaces. Ordinarily, a failed climbing check merely reduces your speed to 0 until the start of your next turn as you recover from a minor slip. However, a result of 1 on the d20 indicates an immediate fall.
ENDURANCE: Athletics checks modified by Constitution are the standard method of adjudicating success during a forced march or any other effort to sustain a swift pace over a substantial distance. Proficiency in Athletics is not required to attempt speedy overland travel, but it certainly helps.
“This is one small step for a gnome and one giant leap for gnomekind.”
— Landri Thunderfeld, lunar explorer |
LEAPING: If you are proficient in Athletics and you move at least 10 feet during the same turn, you can add your proficiency bonus to the height of any jump you perform and double your proficiency bonus to the length of any jump you perform. These bonuses also apply when performing a standing jump, though they are to be applied prior to the halving of jump distance due to that standing start.
OVERBEARING: Forcefully tackling an adjacent creature of your size or smaller involves replacing an attack with an Athletics check modified by your Strength score. When you perform this Athletics check, you fall prone. If your effort is successful and your target that target also falls prone. If you have a free hand, you can also grab you target while overbearing.
| Non-proficient Checks Proficiency is not needed for many applications of skills. Characters can attempt the appropriate ability check and possibly succeed in unskilled efforts. Individual skill applications will expllicitly note when only proficient users can perform that effort. Yet skills are unusual in this regard. Tools and toolkits are useless in the hands of people lacking proficiency. Individual components like razors and hammers might still be wielded to good effect; but the crafting, mending, and problem solving capabilities of toolkits require specialized knowledge for any technical endeavor. |
SWIMMING: Most characters are comfortable swimming along the surface of calm waters at half speed. Yet exhaustion from long trips can place swimmers in dire peril, as might the swiftest and most turbulent waters. Regardless of proficiency, sometimes your ability to stay afloat and keep breathing will depend on Athletics checks modified by Constitution. The difficulty of these challenges spans an enormous range shaped by conditions at the surface of that water.
WRESTLING: Forcefully grabbing another creature of your size or smaller within your reach involves replacing an attack with an Athletics check modified by your Strength score. If this check equals or exceeds the passive Acrobatics score of your target, you successfully grab hold of that target with a DC equal to the result of your Athletics check. Whether or not you are proficient in Athletics, you can use your action to escape a grab with an Athletics skill check modified by Strength. That grab ends if your skill check matches or exceeds the DC established by the initiation of that grab.
Social Roleplaying Different groups take different approaches to managing the relationships between PCs and NPCs. Provided that players are serious about portraying their characters, limitations and all, there is nothing wrong with resolving social interactions through the free flow of improvised roleplaying. Quality characterizations reflect the totality of characters as they exist in the game. For tables that do not delight in that approach, it is also possible to resolve social interactions as mechanical processes. Instead of obligating the players of well spoken characters to be spontaneously well spoken in their own right, tests of a character's personal influence can be adjudicated with skill checks.
Rigor varies in the relationship between what players say spontaneously in conversation with NPCs and what their characters say in the actual encounter. Normally there is a blend of approaches at work here. Even the most mechanical methods should reward especially clever comments and penalilze especially problematic claims. Yet even the most freewheeling methods of resolving social interactions should be limited by the skills and abilities of participants. Good faith is essential when eschewing concrete social mechanics. The most guileful portrayals only merit success when paired with guileful characters. Likewise, skill checks indicating great successes might be undermined if the comportment of characters is clearly incompatible with those outcomes. |
DECEPTION (passive CHARISMA)
This is a core skill for rogues and warlocks. Deception is a supplemental skill for bards. Characters without this proficiency may become awkwardly self-conscious while telling lies of any consequence. Passive Deception is a crucial value that establishes how well an ongoing lie holds up across an extended period of scrutiny. Among other things, it is the means by which extremely powerful adventurers might present themselves as ordinary civilians or otherwise much less formidable.
BLUFF: When you declare a readied action, you can perform a Deception check modified by Charisma to declare that action as an attack with a weapon you do not have or the casting of a spell you are unable to perform. If your Deception check exceeds the best passive Insight among the targets of your bluff, your preparations will seem genuine to them. Yet your held action does nothing else even if it is triggered before the start of your next turn.
FEINT: If you are proficient in the Deception skill, when you perform a melee attack, you can choose to automatically miss. If you do this, the next melee attack against that target before the end of your next turn has advantage.
HISTORY (passive INTELLIGENCE)
This is a core skill for bards, paladins, and wizards. History is a supplemental skill for clerics, fighters, rogues, and warlocks. Characters without this proficiency may find a mix of fanciful fictions incorporated into their understanding of the past.
INSIGHT (passive WISDOM)
No class offers this as a core skill. Insight is a supplemental skill for bards, clerics, monks, paladins, rangers, and wizards. Characters without this proficiency may be unable to discern a dishonest grifter from a beggar in need. Passive Insight is a crucial value that establishes the DC of efforts to mislead a character through false identities or intentions.
ASSESSMENT: While interacting socially or observing a person with a clear view of their face and garb, you can attempt to determine their adventuring status. You can use your action to make an Insight check modified by Wisdom. If this surpasses the passive Deception of the individual you are evaluating, you accurately surmise the Tier of Power achieved by that individual.
Difficulty Class Similar to how hitting or exceeding an Armor Class indicates a successful attack, a Difficulty Class establishes the number a skill check must equal or surpass to succeed. In many cases this DC will be written into the content of an adventure, like the description of a prepared encounter or the details of a trapped room. It might instead be derived from other numbers, like the highest passive Perception in a group of sentries or the result of a previous skill check used to establish a grab. Some skill checks do not fit into either category, instead requiring your DM to determine an appropriate value while adjudicating play.
Of course, your DM remains free to declare a task impossible or to allow it to succeed without any skill check. Otherwise that DC should be reckoned with respect for the nature of the task at hand as well as the circumstances surrounding that challenge. For example, using a rope and a tree to secure a mount would not normally challenge a competent adventurer, but the same task in the thick of a heavy storm that periodically spooks said animal escalates the applicable difficulty. Every group will find their own preferred balance between meticulous deliberations and swift gameplay.
Often, a party rallies their resources to address any risk of failure. While this can eliminate the need for a skill check, it is to be encouraged. Playing out this process reflects a serious effort to safeguard the broader mission from the pitfalls of transitory struggles. It can be satisfying for a party to muster accumulated equipment and training in a group effort even without a roll of the dice. Conversely, groups that could eliminate risk and instead allow it should endure consequences if a skill check ends in failure. This can be as mild as wasting the materials and time dedicated to a crafting effort or as severe as gaining level(s) of exhaustion during a desperate struggle to survive in a desolate place. |
INTIMIDATION (passive CHARISMA)
This is a core skill for fighters, paladins, and sorcerers. Intimidation is a supplemental skill for barbarians, bards, monks, paladins, rangers, and rogues. Characters without this proficiency may falter in efforts to maintain a menacing look. Passive Intimidation allows a character to clear a path through sufficiently harmless gatherings.
COERCION: Most adventurers can physically overpower ordinary people with either magical or martial abilities. Yet not everyone automatically yields to pressure of this sort. From driving off a wandering beast away from camp to demanding a troublemaker leave a public festival, a deliberate act of coercion can effectively compel behavior from creatures without the power to clash credibly with adventurers. Extremists often do this to force others to (at least temporarily) abandon a taboo vice. Yet it can also be used to gain the release of someone held hostage or to bring an end to the beating of a defenseless victim. Imposing on another being in this way involves an Intimidation check modified by Charisma.
PACIFICATION: Threatening sounds or a small show of force can focus the minds of an agitated crowd or herd. The difficulty of pacifying a group scales up both with the size of the gathering and the intensity of their drive toward frenzied or riotous behavior. If someone who can be seen or heard by most of that group overcomes that difficulty with an Intimidation check modified by Charisma, then the collective becomes calmer and quieter.
INVESTIGATION (passive INTELLIGENCE)
No class offers this as a core skill. Investigation is a supplemental skill for bards, paladins, rogues, warlocks, and wizards. Characters without this proficiency may struggle to make meaningful deductions from clues uncovered while adventuring. Passive Investigation enables a character to notice subtle clues with greater implications.
CANVASSING: Sometimes the best way to learn about an event is to personally interview nearby residents. This technique can require considerable time and patience. If you are proficient in the Investigation skill, success is determined after 1d8 hours. Otherwise, a a full
8 hours of effort is required. An Investigation skill check modified by Charisma is then compared to the DC of the inquiry. This difficulty is a function of both the extent to which locals have useful information to share and their general willingness to be cooperative. In marginal cases, inforation might yet be obtained through a financial incentive, a personal favor, and/or a Persuasion check.
INSPECTION: Sometimes the solution to a mystery can be found by methodically scrutinizing every detail of a particular place. While these efforts normally take six times longer, if you are proficient in the Investigation skill, a thorough inspection of a room or chamber or outdoor space can be conducted in 10 minutes per 900 square feet of area, with a minimum duration of 10 minutes. The results of such an effort are determined by an Investigation check modified by Intelligence. Every hidden comparment, secret entrance, and trap trigger should have an associated DC. Some rooms contain small pieces of evidence with big implications for an ongoing storyline, also associated with discovery DCs. Superior inspection results reveal these features, while failure leaves associated mysteries unresolved until they anyone involved in the next investigation has completed a long rest.
Skill Assistance Many situations allow an adventurer to perform a skill check with advantage due to effective assistance from another member of the party. This normally requires the assisting character to be in a position to provide useful help. That is a function of reach when it comes to tasks like disarming traps or treating ailments. Greater distances can support assistance, such as is the case with social skills effectively supported by companions able to hear and be heard in the ongoing conversation.
Assistance implies a secondary role – merely providing an extra pair of hands or a smattering of verbal reinorcements. Proficiency in the appropriate skill may be required, especially when it is required to perform the task at hand. Yet in canvassing, foraging, wrestling, and many other efforts; unskilled assistance is suficient to achieve advantage.
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STAKEOUT: This alternative to tracking relies on knowledge of others to predict a place they are likely to visit. A stakeout attempt is likely to require many hours spent quietly and covertly observing a particular location, even if the attempt is not successful. When it is successful, an observer will notice a person or creature of interest entering the target location. This could be a specific individual known to frequent that location or it could be a member of a category of visitors. For example, if a rumor has been circulated that a particular apartment contains evidence of a crime, a stakeout could catch anyone interested in either destroying or obtaining that evidence. Stakeouts can also be conducted to catch wild creatures drawn to a particular spot such as a source of food or water.
These Investigation checks modified by Intelligence face a huge variety of DCs. Staking out a waterfront drinking house in order to find any capable mariner to approach with a job offer could be a downright trivial task. Identifying a venue serving such customers on a regular basis might not qualift as a challenge at all. Staking out a safehouse to learn the identity of a witness in hiding might require many long sessions each with a slim chance of success at observing a single secretive subject. Well-patrolled locations require some success at hiding to set up a stakeout, and successful stakeouts sometimes require sneaking to follow up and achieve a close encounter with an evasive target.
MEDICINE (passive WISDOM)
This is a core skill for clerics, druids, and monks. Medicine is a supplemental skill for barbarians, bards, paladins, and rangers. Characters without this proficiency may be unable to hide their distress in the presence of gruesome wounds or unsightly afflictions. Passive Medicine reflects routine precautions against exposure to some contagions.
DISPENSATION: If you are proficient in the Medicine skill and you use your action along with one charge from a healers' kit to assist one creature you can reach suffering from the agonized, befouled, befuddled, poisoned, and/or weakened condition(s). This involves a a Medicine skill check modified by Wisdom compared to the DC of the saving throw against the condition to be remedied. If no DC is specified , and checkk of 10 or better ends one of those conditions in the target creature.
NEUTRALIZATION: If you are proficient in the Medicine skill and you use your action along with one charge from a healers' kit to assist a creature facing future damage or enduring any ongoing penalties due to non-magical poisoning, you can attempt a Medicine skill check modified by Wisdom. If your check exceeds the DC of the original saving throw against that poison, you can end all ongoing effects of the poison, including future damage.
REMEDY: If you are proficient in the Medicine skill and you use your action along with one charge from a healers' kit to assist a creature facing future damage or enduring any ongoing penalties due to non-magical disease, you can attempt a Medicine skill check modified by Wisdom. If your check exceeds the DC of the original saving throw against that disease, you can end all ongoing effects of the disease.
RESUSCITATE: If you are proficient in the Medicine skill and you use your action along with one charge from a healers' kit to assist a creature with 0 hit points within your reach, you can attempt a Medicine skill check modified by Wisdom. If that check matches or surpasses a DC of 10, your target regains 1 hit point.
STABILIZE: Even if you are not proficient in the Medicine skill and not equipped with a healers' kit, you can use your action to assist a creature with 0 hit points within your reach. To do so, attempt a Medicine skill check modified by Wisdom. If that check matches or surpasses a DC of 10, your target no longer needs to make death saving throws until taking additional damage or undergoing forced movement. Your target remains unconscious with 0 hit points.
| Skill Fumbles Even where a skill check roll of 1 does not trigger an outcome with harsh consequences, it represents a remarkable moment of personal ineptitude. That sometimes leads to complications beyond failure to complete the original task. Skill checks normally do not carry any high risk of negative consequences, but there are cases where a result of 1 on the d20 rolled for a skill check leads to significant harm. From self-poisoning with a foraged meal to provoking the hostility of a large audience, fumbled skill checks can inject a measure of misadventure into ongoing adventures. |
NATURE (passive INTELLIGENCE)
This is a core skill for druids and monks. Nature is a supplemental skill for barbarians, bards, clerics, rangers, warlocks, and wizards. Characters without this proficiency may find false folklore mingling with their beliefs about wild fauna, flora, and fungi. Passive Nature grants a character accurate and certain knowledge about some common creatures.
FORAGING: In lands where food is abundant and small streams are common, it is possible to gather food and/or water while maintaining a hiking pace. It is also possible to do so by extending the duration of a campout. Either sort of effort calls for a Survival check modified by Wisdom to determine if a significant quantity of edible-looking material was gathered. This material also must undergo a Nature check modified by Intelligence to determine if it is actually both edible and safe. The Foraging & Hunting section elaborates on this process.
WILDLIFE IDENTIFICATION: When you encounter a creature of the beast, fungus, or plant types you have not previously encountered; you can use your reaction to identify that organism. Under ordinary conditions in a conventional environment, a Nature check modified by Intelligence need only overcome a DC of 10 to reveal the name of that type of creature as well as any notable traits such as a tendency to hunt in packs or the ability to deilver a venomous bite. The DC of that check rises based on a variety of factors ranging from poor visibility to extraplanar origins. This skill is especially unreliably in the Outer Planes.
PERCEPTION (passive WISDOM)
No class offers this as a core skill. Perception is a supplemental skill for barbarians, bards, clerics, druids, fighters, monks, paladins, rangers, rogues, and wizards. Characters without this proficiency tend to be distractible even in tense situations. Passive Perception is a crucial value that establishes the DC of efforts to hide and sneak within range of this character's senses. It also determines if the character notices concealed traps, hidden compartments, and secret entrances.
INSPECTION: Sometimes the solution to a mystery can be found by methodically scrutinizing every detail of a particular place. A thorough inspection normally requires 1 hour per 900 square feet of area, with a minimum duration of 1 hour. The results of such an effort are determined by a Perception check modified by Intelligence. Every hidden comparment, secret entrance, and trap trigger should have an associated DC. Some rooms contain small pieces of evidence with big implications for an ongoing storyling, also associated with discovery DCs. Superior inspection results reveal these features, while failure leaves associated mysteries unresolved until they anyone involved in the next investigation has completed a long rest.
SURVEY Characters do not normally focus their attention on creatures and places outside the unfolding action of an action sequennce. You can use your reaction do attainn this broader focus, possibly becoming more attentive to your surroundings and non-threatening events nearby. If you do this, roll a Perception check modified by Wisdom, then use that result as your passive Perception until the start of your next turn.
Influential Performers The Performance skill is a measure of how artfully an individual can dance, play, sing, and speak. Normally it has no direct relevance to interpersonal negotiations. Aside from settling questions about the abilities of performing artists, exercises of the Performance skill provide no information that could not be delivered with plain speech. Your DM may support Performance checks to improve the moods of an unreceptive audiences or establish the quality of ongoing entertainments, but these rolls seldom serve to settle a conflict with NPCs.
Using Performance to make others more willing to consider subsequent social appeals is sometimes possible. This requires an audience already willing to listen yet not eager to hear opinions from the party. Violent foes will not patiently watch an artistic performance, while friendly audiences are already willing to give new ideas a fair hearing. Even when a group seeks to persuade (or mislead) with messages embedded in a performance, such as the dialogue of a play or the lyrics of a song, those efforts succeed or fail chiefly as function of their plausibility and a non-Performance skill check, if warranted. |
PERFORMANCE (passive CHARISMA)
This is a core skill for bards. Performance is a supplemental skill for rogues, sorcerers, and warlocks. Passive Performance reflects how compelling it can be to watch or listen to a character outside the context of purposeful entertainment.
BUSKING: Singing for your supper is a common practice in societies throughout the world. Many people rarely have the chance to appreciate quality music outside public festivals and religious services. Exhibitions of poetry, puppetry, and other entertainments are likewise uncommon. In places where large numbers of people can spare the time, it is possible to accumulate coins by providing public entertainment. Within earshot of a receptive crowd not already being otherwise entertained, a DC 10 Performance check is typically enough to put on a satisfying show for a full hour. Collect a number of coins equal to the value of that check over the course of that hour.
The type of coins varies with the type of crowd. These tokens of appreciation will almost always be silver. Yet copper is the norm among impoverished audiences, such as prisoners or slaves. Opportunities to busk for electrum or gold are often reserved for proven talents plying the drinking houses and marketplaces of the financial elite. Busking for platinum is virtually unheard of outside such vaunted venues as ducal, imperial, or royal courts. While the actual proceeds of these efforts will consist of various denominations, their total value will be the equivalent of this single type multiplied by the value of the Performance check.
For each additional hour spent busking in the same place, increase the DC of the Performance check by 3. This has no effect on revenue, but it makes marathon performances especially challenging. Any failed Performance check indicates that the crowd has become unreceptive. No coins are collected, the performer and any known associates cannot attempt to busk at this location again until they have completed a long rest, and their next attempt to busk at this location is performed with disadvantage. A busking Performance check that resuts in a 1 on the d20 goes beyond losing audience interest to actively create hostility. The party must then flee, fight, or placate an enraged crowd of local residents.
PERSUASION (passive CHARISMA)
This is a core skill for bards and paladins. Persuasion is a supplemental skill for clerics, rogues, and sorcerers. Characters without this proficiency are uncomfortable directly addressing large crowds of people.
RELIGION (passive INTELLIGENCE)
This is a core skill for clerics and paladins. Religion is a supplemental skill for bards, monks, and wizards. Characters without this proficiency may have difficulty distinguishing a popular teaching from a spiritual reality.
ENTITY IDENTIFICATION: When you encounter a creature of the celestial, fey, or fiend types you have not previously encountered; you can use your reaction to identify that being. This entails a Religion check modified by Intelligence. If that check overcomes a DC equal to the passive Deception of the target, it reveals the name of that type of creature as well as any notable traits such as a tendency to employ illusions or the ability to possess other creatures. The DC of that check is subject to modification, but it holds true across many exotic environments. This skill is especially useful during forays into the Outer Planes.
SLEIGHT-OF-HAND (passive DEXTERITY)
This is a core skill for rogues. Sleight-of-Hand is a supplemental skill for bards, sorcerers, and wizards. Characters without this proficiency cannot reach into another's clothing or pouches without raising the attention of that person.
ESCAPOLOGY: If you are bound by physical restraints such as manacles or ropes, you can use your action to attempt a Sleight-of-Hand check modified by Dexterity to end that condition. The DC of this check is normally a function of the restraints themselves. Failure indicates that the restraints hold firm, preventing you from making another attempt before the end of your next long rest unless you have been freed and then bound anew.
Common Restraints Paralyzed, unconscious, and/or willing creatures with two hands can be effectively bound with a variety of objects. The restraint itself has much more bearing on its reliability than the skillfullness of application. Similar techniques can also be used to hobble a creature by tethering one ankle close to another. Below are recommended escapology DCs based on the nature of the binding item. Adjust accordingly for especially strong or especially weak variants of these common physical restraints.
| DC | Item | Material |
| 10 | ribbons, sashes | cloth |
| 15 | belts, straps | leather |
| 20 | bindings, mitts | rope |
| 25 | wirecuffs, straightjackets | brass |
| 30 | manacles, shackles | iron |
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PALMISTRY: If you are proficient in Sleight-of-Hand, you can manipulate small objects so that they seem to spontaneously appear or vanish. For these purposes a “small object” must weigh no more than 2 pounds if you are of medium or larger size, no more than 1 pound if you are of small size, and no more than ½ pound if you are of tiny size. When you drop, grab, stow, or wield such an item, you can perform a Sleight-of-Hand check modified by Dexterity. If you moved the item into your hand, any observers with a passive Perception less than the result of that check did not see where that item came from. If you removed the item from your hand, any observers with a passive Perception less than the result of that check did not see where you placed it.
Any item stowed through palmistry can be wielded or held normally, and no skill check is required unless the goal is to conceal where that item was stowed. An ordinary failure of palmistry merely indicates that the motion of the target object and its new location were plainly visible to all observers. Fumbling a palmistry check indicates that the item was dropped.
PICK POCKETS: If you are proficient in Sleight-of-Hand, you can attempt to grab a stowed item from another creature without being detected. In the classic case of pilfering from a plainly visible coinpurse, you can use your action to perform a Sleight-of-Hand check modified by Dexterity. If the result of that check exceeds the passive Perception of your target, you obtain 1d20 coins from that purse without alerting their former owner. Small decorative items, like badges or ribbons, can also be obtained in this way. That passive Perception value is subject to difficulty modifiers, such bonus to percieve the removal of a properly secured piece of jewelry or a bonus to percieve a reach deep within a backpack or handbag.
TICKLE: Anyone can deliberately stimulate another creature in an aggressively disruptive way. When you have at least one free hand, in lieu of an attack, you can perform a Sleight-of-Hand check modified by Dexterity to touch one creature you can reach in a profoundly distracting manner. If the result of your Sleight-of-Hand check is at least as high as the AC of your target, that creature must make a concentration saving throw against a DC equal to your Sleight-of-Hand check or fail to maintain any ongoing concentration.
STEALTH (passive DEXTERITY)
This is a core skill for rogues. Stealth is a supplemental skill for barbarians, bards, druids, fighters, monks, rangers, sorcerers, and warlocks. Excitement can cause characters without this proficiency to move or speak in an abruptly loud way. Passive Stealth establishes the DC of efforts to track a particular individual.
HIDING: The Hide action allows a character behind total cover or otherwise unseen to seemingly vanish. Doing so requires a Stealth check modified by Dexterity. Any observers with a passive Perception less than the result of that check are no longer aware of your position, though they may remember where you were last seen.
SNEAKING: Sneaking normally involves spending 2 feet of movement for each foot of travel. Doing so requires a Stealth check modified by Dexterity. Any creatures with a passive Perception less than the result of that check cannot hear any sounds related to your movement, though they may still hear sounds related to any actions you take or speeches you make.
Mechanical Rigor Different groups will favor different levels of compliance with the rules of the game. Flexibility is problematic when it leaves players unclear about the expectations of their DM. Yet inflexibility becomes problematic when excessive time is dedicated to resolving trivial details. As with so many other things, a group should be able to optimize a suitable balance through clear communication. For example, some groups meticulously track carried weights with increments as small as individual coins. Others might reckon encumbrance penalties only when adding a significant haul of additional material to their collective burden.
Skill checks also see variety in their adjudication. For example, making and breaking camp can involve extensive routines of foraging, cooking, patrolling, setting alarms, etc. Other groups might favor a streamlined approach with rests involving little more than some random risk of encounters with wandering creatures. If methodically engaging with the mechanics of wilderness survival is fun for the whole group, it can enrich routine travels. If those mechanics stand in the way of other fun, there is on harm in setting them aside under ordinary circumstances.
Of course, they should still take effect when the group ventures into especially desolate or exotic environments where every day without proper shelter is fraught with extraordinary challenges. It is not unusual for adventurers to succeed in perilous quests only after aborting previous attempts. Successful campaigners recognize when they are unready to delve into an ancient ruin or obscure cavern. Lessons learned from eariler approaches can pave the way for eventual success. Many of the greatest unclaimed treasures remain where they are precisely because there is no safe approach from any civilized point of origin.
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SURVIVAL (passive CONSTITUTION)
This is a core skill for barbarians and rangers. Survival is a supplemental skill for bards, druids, fighters, and monks. Characters without this proficiency are uncomfortable in remote wilderness settings far from any bustling markets or paved roads. Passive Survival permits characters to ignore some hardships related to a lack of shelter and supplies.
CAMPING: Settling down for the night requires selecting a site without pending complications. Organizing that site for safety and convenience requires thoughtful placement of tents. There are many wrong ways to make camp. In a park-like forest on a night without precipitation, success on a DC 5 Survival check modified by Wisdom should be enough to locate a patch of clear ground with appropriate drainage and no lurking hazards. As terrain becomes less hospitable, that DC will rise. Likewise, another DC 5 Survival check modified by Wisdom should be enough to build and ignite a suitable campfire. Yet that task becomes more challenging as the weather becomes more problematic. Adventures to other planes of existence might require extraordinary Survival skill simply to locate a spot where the group could possibly get some rest.
FORAGING: In lands where food is abundant and small streams are common, it is possible to gather food and/or water while maintaining a hiking pace. It is also possible to do so by extending the duration of a campout. Either sort of effort calls for a Survival check modified by Wisdom to determine if a significant quantity of edible-looking material was gathered. This material also must undergo a Nature check modified by Intelligence to determine if it is actually both edible and safe. The Foraging & Hunting section elaborates on this process.
OUTFITTING: If you are proficient in the Survival skill, you know what non-magical garb and gear is ideal for weathering the elements of a particular climate while traversing the hazards of a particular terrain type. This proficiency allows you to identify effective cold protection and rain protection from items that promise more than they can deliver in those areas. You are also aware of the proper equipment and techniques for mountaineering. A Survival check modified by Constitution may be used to judge the success of long ascents up stony or glacial terrain.
TRACKING: If you are proficient in the Survival skill, you can identify and follow the trails of evidence left by creatures of small size or larger walking on unpaved surfaces. Doing so requires a Survival skill check modified by Wisdom. Initial success reveals the size(s) and type(s) of creatures leaving tracks as well as roughly how long ago they passed through the area. Additional checks may be required when a party being tracked traverses a body of water, moves through a busy crossroads, or significantly alters its own composition. Successful tracking typically requires a superior overland speed, especially since an older trail can be much more difficult to follow than fresh tracks.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Skills ↑ → Peoples ← ↓ Bugbears ↓
Peoples
Ethnic Influences Each major human ethnic group is recognizable in appearance, style, and vocal accent throughout the homeland where those people are an indigenous majority. Experiences attained through association or travel also convey some degree of cultural awareness. Unlike minor ethnic groups that might be defined by ancient curses, empowered bloodlines, or tribal customs; major ethnic groups have their formative roots in the cosmetic and cultural particulars of humans mixing for millennia within the cramped confines of Archfey bastions.
The harsh segregation of that era gave way to free-spirited mingling of all sorts. Many modern non-humans share cosmetic characteristics with the most prominent human ethnic group in their native land. Halflings, goliaths, gnomes, hill dwarves, and wood elves are especially inclined toward regional assimilation on this surface level. Unless otherwise specified; the particulars of any individual's facial features, personal style, and pigmentation are likely to be similar to those of humans hailing from the same locale. This means many people do not look or sound foreign despite being clearly non-human. |
Even before the first people, there were dragons dedicated to surrounding themselves with both gold and magic. Yet hungry dragons can think of little beyond the need to devour meat. Redundant herds were crucial to the well-being of wyrms mature enough to slumber several years at a stretch. The earliest dragon labor pools saw humans far surpassing in numbers their dwarven, elven, and halfling counterparts. Networks of human drovers and farmers typically dispersed into camps near abundant foraging and grazing areas. Large human families were encouraged when they coincided with the growth of large herds. It is literally by design that humanity tends to proliferate across any arable land.
The towering bastions of the Imperium Arcanum were only tolerable for most human inhabitants due to charms and trickery. War with dragonkind and research into new forms of life were both much higher priorities than enriching the lives of sheltered laborers. Dragonborn, firbolgs, gnomes, and orcs all have ancestors given form by the power of that ancient elven regime. Kobolds, pixies, and sprites have their roots in the same era; though peculiar events without coherent design are responsible for their creation. Changes in fey aesthetics drove a gradual transition from emphasis on gentle and delicate forms to the development of monsters meant to embody lethal savagery.
The gods made their own contributions throughout the Age of Heroes. Lizardfolk, minotaurs, and typhonians were each shaped by coalitions of spellcasters commanded directly by deities. Nymphs, satyrs, and tritons each immigrated in huge numbers to this world when deities sought to populate forests and oceans with suitable residents. Bugbears, goblins, and hobgoblins all rose up from the Scarlands after divine wrath obliterated the Nameless Empire. Tieflings remain as the legacy of that diabolic regime. Unholy channels also gave rise to cambions, though they were never known to populate any territory primarily with their own kind.
Today the two habitable continents of the world are heavily settled by human societies. The other twenty-four adventuring races are generally accepted as people by the laws of those societies. In some cases this legally binds them to the edicts of an emperor or king. It may also be the basis for opportunities like citizenship, property rights, and ennoblement. Even the least tolerant societies have been known to offer exceptional status for extraordinary public service from popular heroes. The most egalitarian cultures feature broader standards of inclusiveness. Some authorities go so far as to actively discourage mistreatment of monstrous-looking individuals.
| Innate Spellcasting |
| Race & Form | Cantrip | 1st Level | 2nd Level |
| Cambions | ★ | Produce Flame | Command | Suggestion |
| Drow Elves | ≬ | Dancing Lights | Faerie Fire | Darkness |
| Forest Gnomes | ∢ | Message | Speak with Animals | Animal Messenger |
| Firbolgs | ♣ | Resistance | Disguise Self | Pass without Trace |
| High Elves | ∢ | Light | Feather Fall | Levitate |
| Nymphs | ♪ | Prestidigitation | Charm Person | Misty Step |
| Pixies | ≬ | Mage Hand | Color Spray | Invisibility |
| Satyrs | ♪ | Minor Illusion | Sleep | Enthrall |
| Sprites | ∢ | Mending | Faerie Fire | Invisibility |
| Tieflings | ★ | Thaumaturgy | Hellish Rebuke | Darkness |
| Tritons | ≬ | Shocking Grasp | Fog Cloud | Gust of Wind |
| Wood Elves | ♣ | Coiling Creeper | Entangle | Spike Growth |
| | ♣ | Speak with Animals | Speak with Animals | Speak with Animals |
The onset of the Age of Heroes saw widespread wariness of fey powers. Above ground, those regimes tend to be small nowadays. Modern civilizationst typically feature broad equality for nine forms of fey with natural spellcasting abilities. Cambions, tieflings, and tritons likewise saw extremes of prejudice replaced by more open-minded perspectives early in the Great Consolidation. Even goblinoids, kobolds, and orcs are typically treated as people rather than monsters when they manage to speak coherently on their own behalf. This recognition does not provide immunity from criminal charges. To the contrary – identified outlaws may be hunted much more relentlessly than monsters or beasts responsible for the same level of harm.
Even the most well-regarded adventuring races have produced villains responsible for atrocities. Even the most feared adventuring races have produced legendary heroes. No free-willed race exhibits uniform alignment. On balance humankind tends to be good. Yet every alignment is represented to some degree in any large freethinking human population. The Fivesquare Pantheon works through countless inspirations to coordinate robust clashes among diverse ethical and moral perspectives. Some theologists compare this process to the way cooking improves food, with religious narratives fuelling tensions that enhance the earnestness and thoughtfulness of prayers expressed by mortals.
| Diversity Larger communities and more progressive societies often support economic and social advancement for persons with all sorts of identities. In the spectrum from cities to towns to villages, communities tend to become more homogenous. The smallest are often populated by a single variety of people with few or no residents differing from the prevailing ethnicity and race. These groups might regard all outsiders as alien. By contrast, a true metropolis will shelter many ethnic and/or racial minorities among a majority of humans affiliated with the culture of the surrounding homeland. |
Each race and subrace has an outlook shaped by meaningful differences in capabilities. Historical circumstances and natural inclinations also influence alignment tendencies. As with humans, there will be all sorts of outliers in any sufficiently large population. Unlike humans, modern non-humans are not known to populate their own metropolitan centers. Even the huge underground cities of the Empire of Shadows house no more than tens of thousands of dark elves directing millions of workers, the latter mostly human. It is likewise under the Greater Ocean, where tritons thrive as a relatively small minority striving to maintain order throughout the turbulent Imperium Maris.
Bearing all this in mind, the persona of a character extends far beyond name, class, race, and gender. A sense of place provides context for racial and ethnic attitudes. Some characters will feel tremendous belonging and devotion when they think of their own homeland. Others may feel conflicted about or hostile to its prevailing culture. Some characters will take great pride from what they have already achieved. Others may be eager to prove themselves or skeptical of any future prospects. Each detail of personal identity is a potential springboard to explore how a character thinks and feels. Their consideration is vital when preparing to breathe life into a role.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Peoples ↑ → Bugbears ← ↓ Cambions ↓
| BUGBEAR TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Strength score increases by 2. Your Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom scores each increase by 1. Your Charisma score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Outside ideal conditions, bugbear parents expect to outlive most of their children. Survivors mature in their late teens and sometimes live as long as a century. Primitive living conditions may hasten maturity as well as the onset of old age.
Alignment: Like all goblinoids, bugbears are driven to be both larcenous and destructive. Yet they are more curious and independent than other goblinoids. They tend to be untroubled by even the most repugnant acts. A typical bugbear is chaotic evil.
Size: Most bugbears are between 6' and 8' tall while weighing between 280 and 420 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Monstrous Appearance: You cannot help but look dangerous through the eyes of most modern civilians. Some authorities may mistreat you, and some merchants may decline your business.
Massive Might: For purposes of carrying capacity as well as dragging, pulling, and pushing things; you count as one size larger than your current physical form.
Cull the Weak: When you hit with a melee attack and your target has not made any attack rolls in this encounter, you can add 2d6 damage to that attack. After you use Cull the Weak you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
Innate Brutality: When you roll a 1 on the damage dice for a melee attack, you can reroll that die and must use the new roll.
Persistence Hunter: You are proficient in the Stealth and Survival skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Bugbear as well as one other language of your choice. |
Bugbears Each day more soulless goblinoids emerge from the Scarlands. This vast waste befouled by gods gives rise to creatures that desire only to feed and breed. Yet the children of these atavistic goblinoids have souls and the capacity for free thought. Thus they dream of a better life than digging unsavory morsels out of blighted soil. Monstrous-looking people with empty bellies wander out of the Scarlands in an endless trickle. Sometimes that trickle is overwhelmed by an enormous horde of hungry invaders. Wise travellers know to watch the horizon for distinctive dust clouds indicating barbarian nomads rushing to avoid a multitude of bugbears, goblins, and hobgoblins.
A year rarely passes without at least one major goblinoid incursion into civilized territory. As the largest and most persistent type of goblinoid, bugbears tend to linger in hiding long after a horde has been routed and dispersed. Most bugbears are capable of living off the land without drawing attention to themselves. Small groups build their numbers in isolation only to strike again once able to constitute a proper warband. Bugbears are generally regarded as dangerous brutes. Sociable individuals defy that stereotype with a friendly first impression, since these musky boors are not known for polite greetings.
BANDITS OF THE SCARLANDS
Atavistic bugbears feed on fungi and grubs pulled from the divinely scorched earth of the Scarlands. Yet even these feebleminded creatures supplement their diets by taking supplies from neighboring groups. More intelligent offspring excavate hidden lairs and conduct raids with armed warriors. This behavior continues as bugbears move beyond the Scarlands. Coherent hordes will distribute food and equipment so as to draw bugbear tribes toward the perimeter. These groups dig in and serve as effective military assets so long as they remain confident this support will continue. Bugbears rarely exhibit loyalty to anyone outside the leadership of their own militant tribes.
Anywhere a goblinoid horde disperses, nearby communities will experience periodic conflict with bugbear warbands. A reclusive and primitive way of life helps struggling remnants hide until they build up the numbers and resources to raid nearby settlements. Then they lash out with untamed brutality. Bugbear raiders can be quick to kill witnesses in the hope of delaying or preventing effective retaliation. Most of these attacks involve swift pillaging followed by withdrawal into wilderness. Only the mightiest bugbear tribes attempt to claim fortified strongholds for themselves. Any bugbears so bold are almost certain to be extremely difficult to dislodge.
Bugbear problems recur regularly on the agendas of major political and military leaders. Human bandits may form alliances with nearby bugbear tribes or even recruit from their ranks. Many bugbears have no greater aspiration than to take for themselves the great wealth and luxury of others. They derive profound satisfaction from seizing and hauling away loot. Excesses are essential to providing for their large and naturally quarrelsome families. Bugbears raised in a traditional warband tend to believe it is right that the strong should take from the weak. Few benevolent bugbears hail from these rugged origins.
MERCENARY ELITE
Many bugbears can be satisfied with a constant supply of good food and useful gear. Those with little experience beyond tribal life may see a valuable opportunity in the offer of modest pay to fight alongside a band of civilized allies. Bugbears are well-suited to serve as scouts and trackers in addition to standing strong among heavy infantry. After surviving many battles, bugbears tend to demand their due as especially imposing and effective members of the company. Yet even the highest bidder only commands their loyalty as part of a stronger force. Bugbears are often the first to scatter when the morale of a unit falters in the face of greater opposition.
Bugbears altogether removed from violent circumstances may still respond well to gifts of food and supplies. Some can be lured into personal service for minimal compensation. The desire for more simmers within them all the while. Some seek out advanced training or dangerous jobs in order increase their income. Others may fall in with a criminal element, perhaps driven to it by a hostile authority or a scheming creditor. Experienced bugbears can be thieves capable of heavy lifting or assassins capable of devastating ambushes. Exceptional aptitudes for foraging and hunting make bugbear fugitives especially difficult to apprehend or eliminate.
Atavistic Goblinoids Sages continue to debate why the Scarlands were created. Some see the region as a reminder it is forbidden to consort with devils. Others believe those blackened wastes exist to temper mortals through the crucible of endless battle. Both views are informed by a bleak reality. The Scarlands are an expanse of filth constantly giving rise to horrific abominations. Yet this soil also produces an array of hardy grubs and fungi as well as aggressive beasts in the shapes of bugbears, goblins, and hobgoblins.
These atavistic goblinoids are neither people nor animals. They pair the faculties of primal creatures with an innate malevolence. Most prey upon one another for lack of suitable victims from outside. The offspring of atavistic goblinoids are intelligent enough to become literate. Even those with short brutal lives are adventurers on some level. Simply surviving horde invasions and escaping the Scarlands makes an individual remarkable. Many children of these civilized goblinoids find themselves persectued or promoted into careers of courageous exploits.
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ROUGH AND READY
Most bugbears tower over any human companions. Their muscular bodies normally sport thick fur everywhere save parts of their faces, hands, and feet. This fur tends to be black, brown, or blonde; though some bugbears apply decorative warpaint. Others do not adhere to any grooming standard, looking and smelling of whatever detritus was last used for personal camouflage while hiding. Even after being freshly bathed and brushed, bugbears emit a pungent odor. Most seek to mask that scent when preparing an ambush. Especially urbane individuals understand that non-bugbears may find their personal scent distasteful. They rely heavily on perfumes or smoking materials in some social settings.
Bugbears are named for their ursine visages featuring ferocious muzzles situated beneath a pair of small dark brown eyes. Though their gruff speaking voices are not normally loud, adults are capable of roaring like actual bears of similar stature. Some bugbears keep bears as working animals trained to guard, hunt, and track. Most adult bugbears are eager to grow a large family. Pregnancies normally produce three to seven live births. Littermates forge a special bond while competing for resources with dozens of siblings. In this way small groups of bugbears quickly grow into formidable warbands composed entirely of hardened survivors.
Modern societies tend to see bugbears collectively as a threat while judging individuals by their deeds. Some bugbears persevere through campaigns fraught with peril thanks to their twin drives of material ambition and self-preservation. Accomplished bugbear heroes include athletes, bounty hunters, explorers, monster hunters, priests, sellswords, and wardens. Few earn honors for themselves as bodyguards or sentinels since their tendency is to hide or run rather than confront much more capable combatants. Nearly all bugbear villains are thieves and murderers of one sort or another, though some are among the most prosperous robbers or deadly assassins in the world.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Bugbears ↑ → Cambions ← ↓ Dragonborn ↓
| CAMBION TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Charisma score increases by 2. Your Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores each increase by 1. Your Wisdom score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Though intelligent and articulate from birth, cambions reach physical maturity in their early teens. Adult cambions do not appear to age. Elders often migrate to another plane of existence after several centuries in this world.
Alignment: Cambions carry the blood of demons in their veins. They endure sinister suggestions whispered from afar by fiendish entities of immense power. Though many fight against these temptations, more embrace them. A typical cambion is chaotic evil.
Size: Most cambions are between 5' and 7' tall while weighing between 120 and 280 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Superior Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Exotic Appearance: Some people are especially drawn to individuals of your kind. Under suitable circumstances, authorities and merchants may be induced to show favoratism.
Fiendish Ancestry: You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and you cannot be possessed by magic. You have resistance to fire damage.
Innate Spellcasting: You know the Produce Flame cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Command spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Suggestion spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Immolate Weapon: Unless the last item you ignited with this feature remains alight, you can use your bonus action on your turn to suffuse one piece of ammunition you hold or weapon you wield with demonic flames. When an attack made with that weapon or missile hits, it will deal an additional 1d4 fire damage and its flames will be quenched. Any non-magical wooden object or textile item you immolate is destroyed at the end of your turn.
Forked Tongue: You are proficient in the Deception and Persuasion skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Abyssal as well as four other languages of your choice. Each day of language study you complete counts double toward acquisition of that language.
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Cambions Some demons find mortals intensely fascinating. Extreme cases of this fascination can lead to the conception and birth of a child. Though cambions may instead be the offspring of other cambions, demonic ancestry is their defining characteristic. This fiendish birthright brings with it easy access to arcane fire and an aptitude for social manipulation. These gifts are joined by otherworldly whispers advising malicious mischief. Some cambions happily heed this corrupting counsel, making a constant companion of it. The most pure-hearted cambions resist, yet occasionally hear calls to villainy conveyed from some distant demonic domain.
No such place exists in this world. Both political and religious authorities are quick to hunt confirmed demons. Some legendary heroes are devoted to defeating the most powerful demons they can track down. Demons yet to be banished from this world tend to keep their visits brief and avoid predictable patterns. Though known to some as half-demons, cambions are people of this world. Spiritual magic may identify or impede cambions, but it cannot consign these fiends to another plane of existence. Even so, cambions with great accumulations of age and power often depart on their own to seek out some dark and fiery realm where they might personally preside.
CHILDREN OF TWO WORLDS
Most cambions are raised by one mortal parent dealing with the consequences of congress with a demon. Cambion infants may disturb unprepared observers when they speak fluent Abyssal or a second language inherited from birth. There are benefits to raising a baby capable of cogent conversation. These are often outweighed by a blend of destructive tendencies with immature personalities. Fortunately their firestarting abilities never manifest before age thirteen. Even so, many young cambions complete their upbringing under the guidance of a religious institution intent on the moral redemption of fiends or an occult organization eager to exalt any kin of a demon.
Cambions are natural linguists. Not only do they tend to acquire several more languages while young, but mature cambions always seem to know just what to say and how to say it. Their personal correspondence is equally articulate. They are notorious for using words to spread corruption and strife. Though many people are wary of the general cambion stereotype, it is all too easy to find particular individuals credible if not downright compelling. The most accomplished can magically bend the will of mortals to their whims. Even a fledgeling cambion adventurer is capable of everything from witty banter to persuasive oratory.
Few cambions manage to avoid adventure much beyond their youth. Most become involved with a zealous holy or unholy group. Cambions may maintain relationships with both churches and cults. In this way they build greater restraint along with deeper understanding of their fiendish powers. Cambions more inclined toward humble obscurity face growing pressures. Demonic directives from another plane become increasingly appealing alternatives to any predictable routine. Also, undisguised cambions living a quiet life among ordinary folks can expect investigation and possible persecution. A cambion who goes long enough without making trouble tends to find some all the same.
INFAMOUS INFLUENCERS
Cambions tend to adopt extreme moral outlooks whether they embrace their demonic heritage or commit themselves to the renunciation of it. Those with institutional affiliations are often thrust into high profile positions. Churches and governments strive to make inspiring examples of cambions known to perform public service. Covens and cults demonstrate their connection to the unholy by associating with any prominent cambion. Over the course of long lives cambion loyalties seldom hold to a single hierarchy. History often fails to distinguish individuals keeping true to noble ideals from those changing allegiances purely out of personal convenience.
Their unreliable reputation is rooted in common behaviors. Consistency does not come easily to cambions. Strength of will allows some to resist impulses toward mayhem, but they be informed about best opportunities through silent commentary emphasizing especially unwholesome angles. Inner conflict also comes to cambions embracing their unearthly ancestry. Strong social or spiritual ties to this world can make unholy exhortations seem deeply repugnant. Though far from ordinary, a small number of heroic cambions live well as honorable leaders among mortals. The examples set by such individuals sway some other cambions to reject the maliciousness of demonkind.
Occult Lore The Archfey, demons, devils, and the Great Old Ones enthusiastically pursue unholy compacts. Mortal partners become beacons for unholy energies, exploiting this power to work their own magic. Some warlocks benefit from an experienced mentor or a plainly-written guide to this controversial knowledge. Others find their inspiration in cryptic signs conveyed through strange events. From remarkable patterns in the clouds to the ravings of deranged lunatics, this form of guidance sometimes lurks in the most unlikely of fleeting events. Inspirational signs from unholy patrons often pass unnoticed by any who do not seek them.
After all, clergy and witch hunters can be quick to deal with obvious occult messaging. Despite censorship, related arcane secrets lurk in many libraries, concealed by allegory or cryptically encoded in other literature. Rarely a piece of music will become extremely popular despite references to forbidden knowledge. The markings borne by some cambions contain fragments of lore coveted by demonologists, oracles, and warlocks. Abyssal sages may even recognize these markings as the personal signature of a demonic ancestor. |
VIBRANT AND VULGAR
Cambions are known to be colorful in every sense. Their skin, hair, and eye pigmentations are rarely consistent with human norms. Bold shades of blue, green, indigo, red, or violet may occur as a base tone or contrasting patterns. From rugged stripes to delicate glyphs, all cambions bear distinctive markings of some sort. Individuals also tend to be distinguished by hooved feet, vestigial horns,
and/or a visible tail. Every cambion is a work of Abyssal art designed to mature into a form both appealing and eyecatching. Adults of their kind are endowed with an unnatural allure. That trait paired with demonic fashion sense challenges the norms of emphatically conservative societies.
Excited cambions manifest literal fire in their eyes. They casually utilize flames for everything from dramatic gestures to trash disposal. Most cambions move fluidly between playful and severe attitudes. Words only they can hear sometimes prompt peculiar actions or mood swings. Cambions often strive to maintain both a band of close companions for collaboration and a private sanctum for withdrawal into solitude. Of course, they are never truly alone. Most cambion survivors of epic campaigns turn their attention to other worlds where a realm of demons might thrive openly. Outliers use their experiences to forge a firm resolve against all future inducements to immorality.
Especially when they are not gathered into a group of cambions, these graceful half-breeds have little trouble deflecting concerns about their ancestry. Many rise through the ranks of military or religious organizations, and some join human aristocracies. Cambion heroes have earned fame as artists, diplomats, entertainers, evangelists, merchants, and soldiers. Villainous cambions may pursue similar endeavors to facilitate whatever schemes lurk at the heart of their true agendas. Like much else influenced by demons, those agendas are subject to frequent change. Perhaps the most reliable quality of cambions is an unpredictability energized by inner turmoil.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Cambions ↑ → Dragonborn ← ↓ Dwarves ↓
| DRAGONBORN TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Strength score increases by 2. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
Lifespan: After gestating for nearly a year in an external egg, dragonborn hatchlings emerge voracious. Some reach maturity as early as 10 years of age. Yet none have lived beyond 160 without magical intervention.
Alignment: Dragonborn typically have strong moral convictions, though these span all extremes of alignment. The largest dragonborn clans feature lawful good leadership. This does not produce a clear majority, but there is some bias in that direction.
Size: Most dragonborn are between 6' and 7' tall while weighing between 220 and 340 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Monstrous Appearance: You cannot help but look dangerous through the eyes of most modern civilians. Some authorities may mistreat you, and some merchants may decline your business.
Energetic Metabolism: You cannot complete a short rest or a long rest without eating a full day of rations or its equivalent.
Draconic Ancestry: Choose a damage type from among acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison. You have resistance to that damage type. You are immune to the Frightful Presence of dragons. You are immune to lycanthropy.
Breath Weapon: If you are not muzzled, you can use your action to vent destruction of the type associated with your Draconic Ancestry. This effort creates a 15 foot cone. All within must make a saving throw against a DC of 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. If your damage type is cold or poison, this is a Constitution save. If your damage type is acid, fire, or lightning; this is a Dexterity save. A creature takes 2d6 damage of the associated type on a failed save, and half as much damage on a successful one. This damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, and 5d6 at 16th level. After you use your Breath Weapon, you cannot use it again until you consume an amount equal to your full daily food requirement during a short rest or a long rest.
Vestigial Wings: So long as you are conscious, you never fall faster than 60 feet per round, and you never take damage from falling.
Ancient Authority: You are proficient in the Arcana and Intimidation skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Draconic as well as two other languages of your choice.
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Dragonborn Over
20,000 years ago the Archfey succeeded in their project to reshape dragons into humanoids of ordinary size. Elves and dragons in this new form could stand side by side as equals. This was less about coexisting in harmony and more about deploying effective soldiers in the ongoing war against dragonkind. The innovation provided a significant advantage until some especially open-minded wyrms recruited and equipped their own dragonborn armies. Respected as assets rather than thralls, these scaly soldiers showed dragons an alternative to tyranny when dealing with people.
Many adventurers hunted both dragons and dragonborn throughout the Age of Heroes. Dragonborn numbers dwindled to the point that most lived as nomadic herders or sheltered in remote villages. The Great Consolidation saw the most powerful human leaders forming historic alliances with dragons, casting these oldest of monsters in a new light. Both dragons and dragonborn thrived once more. Some even gained social prominence as allies to an emperor or king. Dragonborn remain rare, and they remain able to kill with their breath. Yet some are trusted public figures known for triumphs of commerce, conquest, defense, or law enforcement.
BEARERS OF THE ORIGINAL SPARK
The first great minds to come alive in the world were dragons. Though shaped by powerful elven wizards, dragonborn are the direct descendants of dragons who lived and died long ago. Lofty ambitions are normal for dragonborn, even those inhabiting modest circumstances. Like their enormous kin, these draconic people dream of luxuriating amidst piles of loose gold. They also feel a primal impulse to make a meal of people who infuriate them. Most dragonborn understand that they are not powerful enough to physically dominate every person they encounter. Yet even the most humble among them derives some pride from an ancestral connection to the original rulers of the world.
As with dragons themselves, the innate magic of dragonborn derives from their digestion. Some of the food that sates their extreme appetites is converted into deadly power. Energies stew within their bellies and infuse their bodies with a high tolerance for one sort of damage. With some effort they can blast a torrent of that same destruction in a smaller form of their ancestors' signature attack. Their magical nature endows many dragonborn with aptitude for the contractual, musical, or visceral style of spellcasting. Yet expressing such a gift requires advancement in the applicable adventuring class.
Adventure comes naturally to most dragonborn, with clans often straining the limits of their food supplies. Young adults unrelated to leadership may set out to find their own fortunes rather than herd beasts they are not permitted to consume in copious portions. Though free thinkers known to explore the full range of alignments, dragonborn heroes and villains alike are drawn to wealth. They are also averse to environments like desert or tundra where foraging is often impractical. Many dragonborn seek to secure and stock a personal treasury from which they might fund endless feasts and luxurious comforts to be enjoyed with a circle of formidable allies.
RESPECTABLE MONSTERS
Despite their scales and fangs, dragonborn take quickly to the refinements of urban living. Some sport the latest fashions and make use of modern household gadgets. Their ferocious visages remind guards and vendors that dragonborn are effectively armed even when no weaponry is evident. Individuals often must work to overcome initial distrust. Some dragonborn clans have been known to encourage banditry and pillaging to supplement their resources. Yet others have been dependable allies of human regimes. Enough benevolent role models have played a helpful part in history that doing business or taking employment with dragonborn is considered an honorable practice.
This esteem can rise to problematic levels. Some people admire or even revere all things draconic, including dragonborn. Also, not even tritons tend to be as insufferable about the topic of racial superiority. Humans often assume monstrous-looking people fantasize about what it would be like to appear “normal.” Dragonborn often assume all people fantasize about what it would be like to become more draconic. Most dragonborn will take risks in pursuit of additional power. True extremists strive to transform themselves into full dragons, soaring through the skies as if the belittling dweomers Archfey performed on their ancient ancestors never happened.
HAUGHTY AND HUNGRY
Though dragonborn scales harden in the preteen years, those features are not permanent. Dragonborn molt up to eight times in intervals roughly seventeen years apart. Fresh scales and skin may be accompanied by new or departed crests, horns, plates, ridges, and spines. Though these are decorative features, they tend to reflect how each individual lived during the previous molt. Frequent participation in coercion and physical combat will result in prominent jagged features composing an aggressive look. Focus on activities like research and trade produces comparatively smooth features like swept-back horns and elegant brow lines.
General scale color remains unchanged from molt to molt. This trait is physically linked to the damage type of each breath weapon. Every dragonborn is completely unbound by the norms of chromatic or metallic morality, being removed from any true dragon ancestors by many hundreds of free-willed generations. Each individual is able to pursue a personal destiny, though most dragonborn remain loyal to a chief commanding
100-
300 individuals as they live and travel together. Adult dragonborn females are capable of producing no more than one viable egg per year. Thus there are no natural dragonborn twins, and populations rise gradually.
This is fortunate, because dragonborn appetites are not offest by the epic sessions of sleep full dragons are known for. Most dragonborn start each day with the first of several huge meals. Many avoid hunger through service to a civic, criminal, military, or religious organization. They are particularly prized as bodyguards and enforcers. Others turn to finance. Dragonborn bankers maintain famously secure vaults, and dragonborn shopkeepers rarely seem vulnerable in the eyes of local thieves. Both heroes and villains among them have been known to serve actual dragons. Their kinship provides a comfort softer people simply cannot experience in the presence of a mature wyrm.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Dragonborn ↑ → Dwarves ← ↓ Elves ↓
| DWARF TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Constitution score increases by 2. Your Charisma score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Dwarves do not complete the process of physical maturation until their beards grow out somewhere between the ages of 30 and 50. Elders are highly respected, though few dwarves live to celebrate their 400th birthday.
Size: Most dwarves are between 4' and 5' tall while weighing between 120 and 180 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing bulky armor.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Resilient Metabolism: You have advantage on saving throws against poison and you have resistance to poison damage.
Dwarven Weapon Training: You are proficient with battleaxes, greataxes, warhammers, and war picks.
Industrious Inclinations: You are proficient with masons' tools as well as one other artisans' tool of your choice from among brewers' supplies, carpenters' tools, cooks' utensils, jewelers' tools, or smiths' tools.
Stonecutting: When you make an ability check related to the creation or examination of stonework, you are both proficient and expert for purposes of that task, adding double your proficiency bonus to the check.
Stope Sniffing: Your sense of smell indicates the presence of significant exposed quantities of copper, gold, iron, nickel, platinum, silver, tin, zinc, or their alloys within 30 feet. This applies to everything from coins and finished goods to raw ore deposits. Handling and close inspection allows you to discern the approximate composition of metal objects. You have reason to doubt odorless illusions of nearby metallic treasure.
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Dwarves Dwarves were designed by dragons for the purpose of gathering precious metals. These efforts led directly to the invention of hand tools along with forges, mints, and smelters. The best practices of modern miners are an evolution of methods dwarves have been utilizing for at least
250,000 years. The traditional lore of their people is not magical, but it features a body of fantastically effective teachings pertinent to prospecting and mining. All dwarves are sensitive to the integrity of structures and tunnels they enter. Their children are relentlessly educated about the warning signs of deadly gas pockets and tunnel collapses.
Dwarves are also able to detect large masses of metal exposed in their vicinity. They cannot pinpoint these lodes, but they can smell extremes of quality or quantity. Dwarves often analyze and sometimes savor the aromas of noteworthy minerals. The Age of Heroes freed dwarves to control the output of their own labors. Fabulously wealthy dwarven kings raised and equipped armies of elite fighters. Underground nations of modern dwarf clans are not so grand as their predecessors, but most feature well-defended networks of subterranean strongholds securing stockpiles of mineral wealth and imported supplies. These clans typically depend on stable trade with the societies above them.
FOLK FROM THE UNDERGROUND
Dwarven custom holds that land ownership only entitles people to dig
200 feet below the surface. From there to
2,000 feet down is the Dwarfdeep, territory that rightfully belongs to those with the skill to mine it safely. Elaborate protocols govern the establishment and expansion of private holdings in the Dwarfdeep. Yet all that custom is largely ceremonial, since dwarven defenders are notoriously difficult to dislodge from tunnels near their homes. Most surface regimes are content to benefit from trade with dwarven clans rather than daring to collect any rents or taxes from the Dwarfdeep.
For their part, most dwarven rulers demand their subordinates practice fair trade and give charitably to human causes in times of crisis. Not only is disaster relief an efficient way to convert wealth to public support, but aiding the recovery of surface communities hastens a return to normalcy in the markets. Every large underground community of dwarves imports considerable amounts of food and drink. Vast reserves make it possible to survive ordinary disruptions in trade, though morale and productivity are always highest when dining halls serve up hearty portions of fresh fare. The absence of such food prompts exploration teams to tunnel urgently in hopes of piloting a new trade route.
Dwarven settlements typically function as economic communes. Adults are assigned work befitting their abilities, with child care second only to mining on the duty roster. Young dwarves tend to be eager students, though they require a constant progression of materials to study and lessons to complete across decades of adolescence. By the time their wispy facial hair becomes a robust beard, each dwarf should be an expert building inspector and miner proficient with a quartet of military weapons and at least one set of tools used to finish goods or structures. In this upbringing as well as beard growth, males and females follow the same pattern.
PRODIGIOUS WORKERS
Most dwarves can be happy repeating a consistent routine evenly divided between socializing, laboring, and sleeping. They idealize a state of being well-fed, secure, and productively occupied. Many work crews fill their idle times with emergency readiness drills and equipment upkeep. Organized teamwork is not only the basis of dwarven prosperity, but it is sometimes necessary for survival deep underground. Armored warriors urgently swarm wherever something hostile penetrates a clan's tunnel network. Dwarven smiths keep busy outfitting these warriors and producing goods for export. Their wares are highly regarded for quality of both fabrication and materials.
| HILL DWARVES |
Ability Scores: Your Wisdom score increases by 2. Your Strength score increases by 1.
Alignment: Securing and trading mineral wealth inevitably brings considerable peril. Hill dwarf brokers are famously fair, though often humorless. Any dwarves who are not some form of lawful tend to be misfits among their own kind.
Methodical Vigor: Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you gain a level.
Personal Bulwark: You have advantage on ability checks and saving throws to resist being pushed, pulled, dragged, or grabbed. You can add your Strength bonus to your passive Acrobatics.
Shrewd Inspector: You are proficient in the History and Insight skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Dwarven as well as two other languages of your choice.
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Dwarves living apart from any clan also tend to be relentlessly productive. Human stereotypes about dwarves mostly focus on humorlessness and industriousness. Some employers value both qualities. Yet few dwarves exploit their reputation to avoid work. Most are instead eager to ensure that their pay is well-earned, seeking advancement through dutiful dilligence. Though dwarves often respect great warriors, even greater prestige goes to those who far surpass norms of quality or quantity in their productive labors. Dwarves sleep best knowing their efforts left the community with more value in goods or harvested materials than were available the previous day.
TACITURN AND TOUGH
Maintaining an orderly living space is all the more important to dwarves lacking the regimentation of a clan stronghold. They can be particular about limiting some activities to specific hours or being prepared for unlikely contingencies. These men and women of few words expect to be heeded when they do speak. Even in trade they tend to keep pleasantries brief and negotiations impersonal. Both below ground and above, dwarves generally do not appreciate surprises and pranks. Dwarven comradery typically takes the form of playing organized games and joining sing-alongs during sessions specifically designated to be free of commerce and labor.
Many of these gatherings feature alcohol. Dwarves supplement imported beverages with varieties of heavy grog brewed using bread and grain on the brink of spoilage. Outsiders may find these drinks difficult to stomach, but most dwarves discover only raucous revels under the foam in their mugs. Though dwarven culinary preferences mostly parallel those of humans, they can tolerate much that would sicken others. Failing strongholds often yield to inner conflict well before moldy rations are no longer able to sustain dwarven residents. In better times dwarven leaders use stockpiles of grains, preserved foods, and spirits to minimize price fluctuations in human markets.
Though they do their best to avoid trouble, dwarves are also built to survive it. Their stature does not prevent them from serving military organizations even in heavy infantry roles. Dwarves also tend to be trustworthy guards suited to securing valuables. Many thrive in business, either as artisans or merchants. The most intrepid dwarves perform dangerous delves underground to hunt ferocious monsters and unearth precious treasures. Dwarven outlaws are often shunned by their own people for some critical breach of duty. Yet even most renegade dwarves prefer rigid routines at their hideouts and training grounds.
| MOUNTAIN DWARVES |
Ability Scores: Your Strength score increases by 2. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Alignment: Excavating and processing minerals are innately risky activities. Mountain dwarf miners tend to follow rigorous procedures and promote strong organizers. Any dwarves who are not some form of lawful tend to be misfits among their own kind.
Clangorous Clothing: You are proficient with light armor and medium armor.
Cavern Comfort: You have advantage on ability checks related to moving through tight spaces as well as navigating caves and underground passages. You do not grant advantage when attacked while squeezing through a small space.
Meticulous Inspector: You are proficient in the History and Investigation skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Dwarven as well as one other language of your choice.
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HILL DWARVES
Some dwarven clans favor a hybrid living situation with at least one stronghold on the surface. These establishments provide easy ventillation for forges, foundries, and smelters. They also serve as trading posts with a constant supply of new ingots and a constant demand for the products of agriculture. Typically a complex of stone structures within a ring of earthen ramparts, these facilities are operated by hill dwarves known to be astute judges of both character and value. They do not engage in fast-talking grifts either as perpetrators or victims. Most hill dwarves feel dutybound to conduct business honorably while securing all wares placed in their charge.
Hill dwarves raised in a traditional setting are so serious about personal responsibility that most maintain a lifelong regimen of exercises dedicated to physical fitness. Dislodging defenders of a dwarven hillfort can be as difficult as clearing their kin from the tunnels below. Fortunately, most dwarven communities value peace. Hill dwarf leaders will try to negotiate tax exemptions, but they tend to comply with the obligations and laws imposed by any surrounding human regime. Many make their profits on small margins. Their scouts prepare newsletters and digests facilitating gainful trade through regularly updated and unbiased assessments of prices at area markets.
MOUNTAIN DWARVES
The largest dwarven clans do not claim any chambers or tunnels within
200 feet of the surface. They remain true to ancient traditions enabling the earliest miners to take shelter while tyrannical dragons expressed fits of rage. These mountain dwarves ascribe to an inflexible code of honor, though some of their customs seem alien to the peoples of the surface. Mountain dwarves tend to flaunt mineral wealth. Many incorporate costly armor and glittering chains in their everyday attire. Yet mountain dwarves prefer to take their rest in cramped quarters, more likely to favor a dank cellar nook over a well-appointed guest room.
Wide open spaces leave them feeling uneasy. Mountain dwarves rarely have anything nice to say during stressful overland journeys. Yet fighting forces prize these warriors for their dependable ferocity. The Age of Heroes saw great mountain dwarf generals and kings altering the course of history. Some individuals bolster their prestige by tracing lineages back to legends from long ago. The mountain dwarf clans of today continue to insist petitioners pay respect to a litany of historic ancestors before directly addressing living leaders. Failure to honor these protocols may result in exile from a realm that is almost impossible to infiltrate covertly.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Dwarves ↑ → Cambions ← ↓ Firbolgs ↓
| ELF TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Dexterity score increases by 2. Your Constitution score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Elves reach physical maturity around the age of 20. Many remain focused on education and training for decades to follow. Elven aging naturally slows as it progresses. This gentle curve allows even 1000 year-old elves to be lively dancers.
Size: Most elves stand around 6' tall while weighing between 110 and 160 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Leyforce Tracing: You have advantage on ability checks to detect secret doors and other hidden entrances.
Fey Ancestry: You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and you cannot be put to sleep by magic.
Elftrance: You do not sleep, and you cannot be put to sleep. Four hours of sitting still while semi-conscious is enough for you to complete a long rest and satisfy your rest requirement for the day. You remain keenly aware of your surroundings in this state. It is spoiled if you move, take damage, or perform any action before the trance has concluded. Otherwise, it conveys all the benefits of a full night's sleep.
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Elves Elves were designed by dragons for the purpose of maintaining personal archives. These clever arcanists progressed rapidly from skins smeared with blood to scrolls inked by quills. Early elves also proved quick studies of the spellcasting lore their tyrants tasked them with transcribing. The practice of wizardry was permitted so these thralls could continue to improve themselves as librarians. A secret society of elven elites eventually emerged as an ambitious regime intent on exterminating all of dragonkind. This Imperium Arcanum did not accomplish its goal, but it did empower the Archfey while dominating the surface of the world for tens of thousands of years.
The global empire of elves collapsed millenia ago, though elvenkind was divided many generations earlier. Debate about coexistence became more popular as dragons dwindled in number. Self-identified “light fey” sought the redemption of dragons while their “dark fey” counterparts insisted on genocide. The former floated castles among the clouds and created metallic dragons while the latter ventured deep underground in pursuit of the most reclusive elder wyrms. Most elves took no part in this political rift, making hidden homes in forested areas rather than do battle in their global empire's inevitable civil war.
HEGEMONS OF THE THIRD ERA
Ancient elves created one of the Seven Sources of magical power while also discovering cosmic energy and building the Ley Line network. Their kind ranks among dragons and gods in terms of impact on the modern magical environment. With the collapse of the last major Imperium Arcanum bastion
5,224 years ago, elves lost the resources required to work wonders at that level. Remnants of their fallen regime have never rivaled past glories. Human historical consensus holds that the charms and illusions used to control Imperium Arcanum labor pools masked a quality of life little better than that endured by the desperate thralls of dragon tyrants.
The gods incarcerated both light and dark fey leadership inside the Moon. Confinement converted these Archfey and their courtiers from disciplined military strategists to sponsors of endless amusements. Though bound by divine restraints, their antics sometimes influence the world below through anomalous moonlight. The Archfey are also capable of voyeuristic scrying and limited metaphysical subterfuge. Unholy channels allow them to empower warlocks willing to preserve patterns of ancient arcane energy with modern acts of spellcasting. Meanwhile the mortal descendants of their race fragmented into three peoples with profoundly different lifestyles and traditions.
WHISPERING WANDERERS
Drow elves, high elves, and wood elves all have distinctive ways of acting and thinking. Yet some elven norms hold true across all three subraces. Pregnancies are so rare that siblings typically differ in age by decades or centuries. Many family-minded elven parents share a home that is otherwise empty for much of their lives. Most prioritize keeping adult children nearby. This builds tension that resolves with elves embarking on long journeys before the end of their first century. Though their motives and destinations are often deeply personal, pursuing the desire to see sights far from their own birthplace is a universal rite of passage among elves.
| DROW ELVES |
Ability Scores: Your Charisma score increases by 2. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Alignment: The Empire of Shadows promotes an authoritarian culture blending brutal discipline with dark powers. Inferiors are to be dominated. Most drow in this society are lawful evil. Surface dwellers are often outliers in terms of morality as well as residency.
Superior Darkvision: Your darkvision has a range of 120 feet.
Sunlight Sensitivity: You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Perception checks when you or your target is in direct sunlight.
Umbral Embrace: You can attempt to hide even if you are visible in dim light, but not while visible in bright light.
Innate Spellcasting: You know the Dancing Lights cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Faerie Fire spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Darkness spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Underworld Weapon Training: You are proficient with hand crossbows, crossbows, scimitars, and whips.
Sly Senses: You are proficient in the Perception and Deception skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Drow as well as three other languages of your choice.
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This dynamic may explain why modern elven enclaves and tribal federations have not raised up anything like a modern metropolis. Their largest communities are unconventional cities protected by extraordinarily experienced residents with impressive abilities and equipment. Humans living nearby routinely underestimate the capabilities of elves inhabiting settlements that harmonize exquisitely with the surrounding environment. Though elves are capable of speaking in a firm resonant voice, none of their languages require phonation. These original archivists often treat their homes like libraries, insisting on a whisper-quiet approach to all things.
Despite this, modern elves tend to be anti-authoritarian. These long-lived beings always see more time ahead for future discussion. Urgent matters of secrecy and security may require orders be obeyed immediately, but elven leaders encourage their subordinates to pose challenging questions in moments suited to calm reflection. Ancient elves maintained their rigid order through exhaustive consultations and debates. Their more diverse descendants generally distrust tyranny in all its forms, including the imperial. Now elven dialectics serve to help individuals better understand and respect the personal beliefs of others even when they do not share similar values.
PRECISE AND POLISHED
Elves are generally delicate people with slender forms. Sensitive ears rising into prominent points are their signature physical feature, though other fey are likewise endowed. Long thin elven fingers adeptly inscribe legible glyphs even at miniscule sizes. Naturally lithe builds see elves displaying accuracy and grace in almost every movement. From dance to embroidery, traditional elven arts feature intricate patterns developed thousands of years ago. Most of their artisans produce garb and gear in accordance with exotic yet highly refined styles. Individual elves often accumulate enchanted items and other rarities as they carry on from century to century.
Experienced survivors of elven wanderlust typically possess a blend of both magical and martial capabilities. Young elves train with a diverse quartet of weapons, competing to strike more accurately and swiftly. They cultivate arcane power while developing a general sensitivity to energies flowing nearby. This awareness makes elves particularly effective when searching for secret passages and hidden doors. Though not always reliable followers, elves are gifted sentries. They have a natural resistance to basic enchantments. Even during the few hours of rest they require each day, elves keep their senses sharp and their minds attuned to the here and now.
Greater understanding seems to be the most profound of elven desires. Some seek to understand the world by travelling to distant and unfamiliar places. Some seek to understand people by engaging in extensive carousing and discussion. Some seek to understand magic by studying arcana both ancient and modern. Elven communities are typically uncrowded in part because these free-spirited individualists need space to pursue their own goals while minimizing conflicts. Those goals are almost as varied as the agendas of humankind. The elven perspective differs thanks to a much longer view of time and the embrace of customs predating the arrival of gods in the world.
| HIGH ELVES |
Ability Scores: Your Intelligence score increases by 2. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
Alignment: Most high elves reside in enclaves dedicated to preserving relics of a lost civilization. Settled residents are normally lawful good. Yet their offspring embrace wanderlust elsewhere, often spending centuries far from their birthplace. These itinerant high elves tend to be chaotic good.
Tranquil Temperament: You have advantage on all saving throws against becoming frightened or confused.
Innate Spellcasting: You know the Light cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Feather Fall spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Levitate spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Elven Weapon Training: You are proficient with longbows, longswords, shortbows, and shortswords.
Serene Senses: You are proficient in the Arcana and Perception skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write High Elven as well as three other languages of your choice.
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DROW ELVES
The original dark fey showed solidarity with the most dedicated dragon hunters by transforming themselves into creatures of the night. Their skin is infused with unearthly pitch, and some likewise sport jet black hair. Peering into the shadows to be greeted by nothing but the eyes and smiles of the drow can be a chilling experience. Those eyes typically sport irises of amber, azure, or celadon. Dark elves do not have vertical pupils, but their eyes catch the light at night with a catlike quality. Even individuals sporting cobalt, crimson, violet, or white hair may fade from view at night without benefit of anything more than a common hood.
Most dark elves dress the part with garb and gear of the darkest shades. Abilities once employed to ambush dragons in their unlit lairs now allow the drow to excel as assassins, bandits, and slave traffickers. Young dark elves make games of fighting like members of the criminal underworld rather than learning the combat styles favored by elves of the surface. Some drow practice a modern variant of the wizardry developed by ancient ancestors. Yet the Empire of Shadows is also a place where unholy powers are highly regarded. All spellcasters are judged by their capabilities rather than their beliefs or methods. Formal magical duels are a common occurrence there.
Drow elves often face prejudice from human authorities. The Empire of Shadows collects both stolen goods and captive laborers from the surface. Dark elves without allies to vouch for them in societies of the surface world may have difficulty gaining entrance to secure areas or doing business with honorable civilians. Though a gift for misleading conversations allows dangerous drow to assuage concerns, that faculty is of no help to dark elves honestly asserting good intentions. Drow heroes often find acceptance comes only after achieving great public triumphs. Drow leaders from far below the Dwarfdeep award esteem for many forms of villainy, and criminal organizations of the surface often welcome drow collaborators.
HIGH ELVES
The original light fey embraced the concept of purification by bleaching themselves in transformative energies. Their skin is almost always alabaster and their hair rarely sports more color than young cherry blossoms or fresh cornsilk. Most favor white or pastel attire, often coordinated with their eyes of honeydew, lavender, or lemon. Even the minds of high elves show signs of cleansing, with extraordinary resistance to outside influences. They derive pride from remaining calm even in the face of grave danger or violent opposition. Still greater esteem follows from any meaningful advance in the field of arcane research.
| WOOD ELVES |
Ability Scores: Your Wisdom score increases by 2. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Alignment: Wood elves prize personal freedom while supporting friend and stranger alike. Their communities are often small and loosely organized. Tribes regularly gain and lose members at festive seasonal gatherings. Most wood elves are chaotic good.
Canopy Comfort: You have advantage on all ability checks related to climbing living trees and vines or balancing on tree limbs. This does not apply to buildings or ships made of sawn wood, nor does it apply to ropes of dead fibers.
Innate Spellcasting: You know the Coiling Creeper cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Entangle spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Spike Growth spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Elven Weapon Training: You are proficient with longbows, longswords, shortbows, and shortswords.
Sylvan Senses: You are proficient in the Perception and Survival skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Greenfey and Sylvan as well as two other languages of your choice.
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Many modern high elves serve as custodians of hidden enclaves preserving the lore of the Imperium Arcanum. Their leaders are often ancient beings with epic spellcasting abilities. Communities of high elves tend to be especially peaceful because this deterrence pairs with a focus on education and study. Accomplished high elves may keep their rarest books and other valuables in an elevated chamber supported only by smooth walls or pillars. This personal treasury doubles as a sanctum for reading quietly above the reach of foot traffic. Persistent illusions and other powerful magical effects often make it difficult to approach a high elven community without invitation.
Some high elves hold a favorable opinion of the Archfey and the Imperium Arcanum, though few other people share this perspective today. High elves seem generally aloof or even arrogant to some. Yet they do not lack empathy. Most present themselves as agreeable allies rather than domineering adversaries. Mature high elves may alternate between episodes of harrowing adventures and long stretches of quiet study. Each lengthy investigation into lore leads to some enigma or treasure worthy of a personal visit. Only the most esteemed human academics are not surpassed by their high elven colleagues. As with their ancient ancestors, high elves are never far from the frontiers of mystical knowledge.
WOOD ELVES
Rejecting both light and dark fey, wood elves retained their full full range of ancestral eye, hair, and skin tones. In this they often share particulars with indigenous humans of the region. These independent thinkers rejected racial segregation and transformative rituals required by ancient fey political mandates. Wood elves often respect the personal freedom of others and always cherish that condition themselves. They rarely accept any obligation beyond caring for the people in their communities and the forests from which they draw sustenance. Nomadic tribes of wood elves strive to break camp in ways that leave little evidence the group was present.
Settled wood elves favor life in the canopies of towering forests. Their kind has sought these habitats for so long that all wood elves have a talent for traversing treetops. With fey magic brought to fruition in verdant lands, wood elves have a natural connection to living plants. Adults learn a method of animating healthy vines to assist in traversing forest canopies. Yet these people are also keen practitioners of traditional elven archery and fencing. Experienced individuals are always dangerous foes in their own element, able to call upon shrubs and thorns for additional protection.
Elven archers defend their homes from favorable positions. Many can be rallied as formidable irregulars likely to sympathize with the defenders of any healthy forest. Even so, literature remains their primary material pursuit. Established treehouses often feature spacious sunrooms suited to reading while relaxing. The most respected wood elf families maintain impressive libraries, happily loaning items to familiar locals. Most of these arboreal fey never stop striving to achieve greater harmony with nature. Where wood elves assert territorial control, they rarely let taxes justify aggressive development of the land. They prefer a quiet comfortable life amidst pristine natural abundance over opulence among farms and ranches.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Elves ↑ → Firbolgs ← ↓ Gnomes ↓
| FIRBOLG TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Strength and Wisdom scores each increase by 2. Your Constitution score increases by 1. Your Dexterity score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Firbolgs typically mature in their late teens, then set out to establish their own homes. Though they remain fit into their later years, most firbolgs succumb to old age after four or five centuries of living in harmony with nature.
Alignment: As wranglers of exotic creatures, firbolgs normalized whimsies before other fey did likewise. They are strongly inclined to encourage healthy growth and stimulating play among associates. A typical firbolg will be chaotic good.
Size: In their true forms, most firbolgs are between 6' and 7' tall while weighing between 220 and 320 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Massive Might: For purposes of carrying capacity as well as dragging, pulling, and pushing things; you count as one size larger than your current physical form.
Changeable Appearance: Ten minutes of effort allows you to transform your physical features. You may become taller or shorter by as much as one foot, and you may become as thin or rotund as seems plausible. You may adopt the features of a different gender and/or race within those constraints. You have advantage on ability checks to pass yourself off as another person. Its effect ends at the start of a shortrest or a long rest. After you use Changeable Appearance you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest.
Relaxing Recreation: Anyone who completes a short rest in the company of one or more firbolgs and can add one to the total number of Hit Dice rolled for healing purposes if at least one Hit Die is spent during that rest.
Innate Spellcasting: You know the Resistance cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Disguise Self spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Pass without Trace spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Menagerie Keeper: You are proficient in the Animal Handling and Nature skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Giant and Sylvan as well as two other languages of your choice.
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Firbolgs Firbolgs and fomorians were both designed by the Archfey to contain their more unruly creations at secret facilities. Firbolgs were originally gentle giants wielding enchanted bags to capture and transport dangerous creatures. Once released into the appropriate habitat, their charges would benefit from the care and support of firbolg minders. Ancient firbolgs routinely employed illusions to appear as different individuals in the eyes of previously hostile beings. When the destruction of a light fey stronghold exposed both firbolgs and fomorians to extreme doses of wild magic, the former fused with their own glamour to become capable of extremely limited shapeshifting.
This sparked an abiding hostility between firbolgs and the less fortunate fomorians. Never able to comfortably stabilize their much larger bodies, fomorians now pass painful arcane afflictions on to others, spreading misery for its own sake. Modern fomorians live far from civilization, while modern firbolgs often hide in plain sight. Their communities feature thriving gardens and menageries that appear natural despite laborious design and upkeep. Firbolgs in human cities tend to wear human faces in public. This behavior can be mistaken for infiltration, but it is more typically driven by a desire to preserve the secrecy of fellow firbolgs' identities and locations.
PLAY AS WORK
Firbolgs often strive to maintain a cheerful demeanor even under difficult circumstances. They make amusements of routine activities to promote good health among their companions while keeping their own spirits up. Their true faces can be contorted into a wide range of bizarrely comical expressions. They are also capable of surreal stunts like momentarily turning a completely different color or appearing to inflate an appendage. These antics make firbogs well-suited to entertaining or schooling young children. They also make it possible to manage the behavior of beasts through non-verbal cues adapted to the inclinations and senses of each species.
Firbolgs are naturally gifted zookeepers inclined to take pride in any positive interactions with dangerous creatures. Yet this pride is not the boastful sort. Firbolgs prefer to keep their homes and assets well-concealed. They can be reluctant to share personal information with anyone outside their most intimate associates. Invitations into a firbolg settlement are never extended casually. They typically act as conservators of rare creatures and keepers of exotic gardens. Pillaging a firbolg community may yield a fortune if treasures are skillfully harvested. Some alchemists and arcanists never ask about how or where the components they purchase were gathered.
MUTABLE MUSCULATURE
Though secrecy is their first line of defense, firbolgs are not lacking in strength. They individually haul burdens no human would attempt without assistance. Firbolg defenders are often unfazed by the special tactics of irregular forces. Their kind routinely uses magic to brace for hazards ranging from poison to petrification. When pressed into battle, firbolgs work well with creature allies. The loyalty of militarized pegasus herds depends the service of firbolg trainers. Though changeable in many ways, few firbolgs ever tolerate sadism toward living beings of any kind. Their culture insists negative reinforcement should always be administered reluctantly.
Firbolg hunters and ranchers perform killings with both reverence and swiftness. They understand that predation has its place in the natural order of things. Most firbolgs also believe that beings capable of using magic or metal have an obligation to limit the suffering these advantages can inflict. Even when they are not doing a great deal more to cover their tracks, firbolgs may take time after a victory in battle to put any lingering fallen out of their misery. Firbolgs tend to disarm any traps they are not actively monitoring. Their customs hold that captives deserve only the kindest treatment it is possible to sustain.
That sense of duty to nature and creatures in their custody is one of the few constants observed among firbolgs. Most prefer life in small isolated settlements, but some thrive by managing urban exhibitions or stables. Monster hunting teams intent on live captures do well to collaborate with a firbolg specialist. Some firbolgs cultivate fame under an authentic identity, though most prefer to be disguised in human company. Firbolgs can manipulate their own flesh and hair like putty, then pigment and stabilize new features to visually resemble anyone of similar height. These guises hold up even when stressed or injured, though firbolgs can only rest in their true forms.
Interracial Impersonation Disguises meant to conceal personal identity can be as simple as a mask or a veil. Cowled hoods sometimes serve this purpose as well. Adopting a specific persona is much more demanding than anonymity. Skill alone cannot make an individual seem much larger or smaller than they actually are. Firbolgs and typhonians are able to reshape their own bodies to appear as a variety of other races. Mannerisms and movements may yet betray an imposter sporting a perfect disguise.
Infiltrating a community of a different race involves effortlessly expressing and observing an array of subtle cues likely to differ from the actor's natural tendencies. Basic cultural and linguistic knowledge is essential to establishing a completely new identity of a different race. Impersonation is more demanding, as any conversation within earshot of the target's acquaintances puts vocal mimicry to the test. Without powerful magic or true dedication to the art of dramatic performance, it is virtually impossible to pass as a specific person in talks with others who know that individual well. |
RECLUSIVE AND REFLECTIVE
Those true forms might pass for unpainted sculptures of clay if relaxed firbolgs did not struggle to stay perfectly still. The irises, hair, and skin of most firbolgs are slate gray, though some take on a rusty hue after years favoring a diet heavy in red meat. At will they can flush almost any color, in general or across a specific body part. Firbolgs can also reshape their flesh, altering sizes and textures of every visible feature. These rippling changes are not effective disguises. More than a few minutes of manual adjustments are needed to firm up firbolg alterations for that purpose. Undisguised firbolgs are distinguished by large pointed ears and drooping wrinkled skin.
Firbolg survival has been a function of sound judgement since they were beastkeepers for the Archfey. They understood how physical exercise and stimulating interactions promote better long term health among captives. Fulfulling their duties demanded firbolgs blend prudence with free-spirited creativity. Modern firbolg communities employ a myriad of different approaches to the problems of hiding from the outside world while harboring rare creatures. Some obtain protection through tributes of exotic resources while others pay conventional taxes. The most fortunate firbolg settlements remain unknown to the outside world despite thriving for centuries.
Most firbolgs will go out of their way to get a good look at any sort of creature they have not personally seen before. When able to interact with exotic animals and fantastic beasts for long stretches of time, firbolgs accumulate personal insights into behavior and biology. Adaptation flows naturally from the minds of firbolgs. They can be keen to modify any process that might be made more sustainable. Though they do not often enter aristocracies, heroes among them have earned great distinction as explorers, preachers, scholars, soldiers, and wardens. The few famed firbolg villains are known for widespread killing in collaboration with unique monsters.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Firbolgs ↑ → Gnomes ← ↓ Goblins ↓
| GNOME TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Dexterity and Intelligence scores increase by 2. Your Strength score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Gnomes reach physical maturity in their late teens. Slower aging then continues in a linear fashion. Most gnomes over 300 sport gray hair, and few live to the age of 600.
Size: Most gnomes stand between 3' and 4' tall while weighing between 40 and 60 pounds. Your size is small.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Modest Metabolism: You only require one-fifth the amount of food and water of larger people. You gain all the benefits of a full day's rations from these reduced quantities.
Gnome Cunning: You have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws to resist magic.
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Gnomes Gnomes were designed by the Archfey to spy on dragons and their thralls. Early gnomes resided in false trees. From there they kept sequential accounts of any notable creatures observed in the area. As their value to the Imperium Arcanum grew, gnomes were permitted to learn advanced techniques of magical subterfuge including spells up to the third level of power. By the time the first human apprentices took to wizardry, great gnomes had already become capable illusionists. They were a welcome addition to many bands of adventurers throughout the Age of Heroes. That era even saw the rise of sovereign gnomish kingdoms.
No major entities of that sort exist today. Yet gnomes are often drawn to and welcome in sprawling organizations. They have a knack for understanding hierarchies as well as a natural desire to sustain strength in numbers. Gnomes living apart from their own kind may be quick to join a band of larger allies in search of protection. Solitary gnomes are almost always cautious and furtive. They consider quietly maintaining surveillance of a monster no less a show of courage than engaging in direct confrontation. Gnomes continue to make natural spies whether their intellects embrace ancient magic or pursue an emphasis on science and technology.
MINDING THE DETAILS
The eyes of gnomes appear small and close set, yet they are capable of shifting focus from extremely distant horizons to truly tiny objects. All their senses are highly refined. Some of the best constabularies employ gnome consultants to be sure no crucial clues are missed during major criminal inquiries. These meticulous investigators will search high and low for anything that might establish the facts at the heart of a mystery. Most gnomes are comfortable with small climbs when needed to peer over crowds of taller pedestrians. Being around other people gives them comfort. Even so, gnomes never seem to stop taking stock of every entrance, exit, threat, and hiding spot nearby.
The hands of gnomes are well-suited to intricate work like sewing or woodcarving. Guilds prize their services as embellishers of finished goods, and many independent artisans form prosperous partnerships with gnomes. Their statures allow gnomes to stretch out in cellar or attic spaces too cramped for human relaxation. Few gnomes are content simply to occupy a secure nook. Most will acquire or fashion comfortable furnishings along with quality cookware. Some gnomes also stockpile supplies in their homes, though these reserves can be mistaken for ordinary pantries given that gnomes tend to eat no more than their small bodies require.
| FOREST GNOMES |
Ability Scores: Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Alignment: Gnomes often feel vulnerable around larger strangers. From urban gardens to remote groves, forest gnomes seek to bring order and tranquility to their surroundings. Most gnomes are lawful, and good gnomes far outnumber their evil kin.
Elusive Evasion: Sneaking does not cost additional movement for you. You can take the Hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.
Innate Spellcasting: You know the Message cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Speak With Animals spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Animal Messenger spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Patient Observer: You are proficient in the Nature and Perception skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Gnomish and Sylvan as well as two other languages of your choice.
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INFORMATION GATHERERS
Gnomish caution is balanced with persistent curiosity. Be they magical, mechanical, or natural; the workings of complex systems are a source of endless fascination to gnomes. Some can sit motionless for hours while observing the arrivals and departures in a high traffic area. From animal migrations to weather patterns, gnomes feel satisfaction from the compilation of extensive logbooks useful in academic analysis. They take pride in the accuracy of their data, using only the best measurement tools and most rigorous methods available to them. The world's many honorable gnomish researchers are openly hostile to any of their kind involved in acts of fraud.
Gnomes tend to admire knowledgeable people of all races. Modern gnomes often obtain formal education. Even so, accomplishment is proof of excellence to them. Spellcasters and inventors who are largely self-taught often have practical knowledge that compensates for any theoretical shortcomings. Most gnomes understand this and welcome all earnest efforts at learning and teaching rather than only those with institutional backing. Wealthy human families sometimes invite a gnome family to inhabit their garden or a portion of the wall around their estate. These residents sustain their welcome by offering loyal advice and tutelage while keeping an eye out for signs of trouble.
OBSCURE AND ORGANIZED
Gnomes typically reside in spaces too small for human habitation. They like to keep the areas around their homes neat and park-like, but the structures themselves are often designed to be overlooked. Gnomes create well-appointed abodes in places like under the floorboards of a gazebo or above the storage area of a tool shed. Their artisans excel at harvesting valuable materials from abandoned or damaged human furnishings to produce smaller new works of comparable quality. Gnomish attire is often likewise stitched from repurposed elements of old human finery. The ordinary clothes of gnomes may pass for human formalwear, while the boldest among them sport gilded garb.
Yet most gnomes would prefer to be renowned for substance rather than style. They can be keen to attain scholastic honors and other professional credentials. Gnomes take particular pride in authoring any literature that enjoys academic or general popularity. The most ambitious always seem to be adding to a cyclopedia documenting their encounters and observations. Accomplished gnomes expect their collected writings to end up in a respectable archive. Gnomish adventuring careers often begin with a mission to recover the final journal entries of a fallen colleague. Gnomes appreciate the usefulness of wealth and power, but most prize knowledge even more.
| ROCK GNOMES |
Ability Scores: Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Alignment: Rock gnomes often inhabit small spaces in city buildings or the remnants of used mining tunnels. Troublesome squatters risk being exterminated like pests. Thus most rock gnomes hail from a rigorously organized community where the majority is lawful good.
Mechanical Minutiae: When you make an ability check related to alchemical objects, magic items, or technological devices; you are both proficient and expert for purposes of that task, adding double your proficiency bonus to the check.
Traditional Tinkering: You are proficient with tinkers' tools. During a short rest or a long rest, you can use those tools to assemble one tiny clockwork device (AC 5, 1 hp) if you do not already have three available. You understand the workings of accordion grippers, fire starters, music boxes, spring heels, toy automata, and tripwire alarms. Each device operates for no more than one hour, ceasing all function after it has been used.
Exacting Observer: You are proficient in the Investigation and Perception skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Gnomish as well as three other languages of your choice.
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FOREST GNOMES
Traditionalists who embrace their fey nature mature into forest gnomes. The study of ancestral magic enables them to convey covert signals and communicate with wild creatures. Years of schooling in the lore of plants and animals helps forest gnomes spot when something is out of place in a natural setting. They tend to be effortlessly sneaky, moving without sound or darting directly between concealed positions. Some aristocrats clothe forest gnome gardeners in bright colors and towering hats for greater visibility. The areas around their homes are often shared with animal informants if not also ferocious beasts made loyal through the provision of helpful assistance in the past.
Though they prefer to be surrounded by greenery and wild animals, forest gnomes are no less at home in a city park or palace lawn than they are in a proper woodland. Some even inhabit the hollows of living trees or make efforts to disguise their homes as trees. Where they are not integrated into the order of some human institution, forest gnomes tend to gather into groups of several hundred families willing to unite for purposes of politics or survival. These villages often sustain themselves by collaborating in a common productive enterprise. Finished goods may be distributed in local shops or sold to trusted traders supplying distant urban markets.
ROCK GNOMES
Modernists who neglect their fey nature mature into rock gnomes. The study of various sciences enables them to make sound inferences from physical evidence that others might not consider meaningful. Their knowledge also makes rock gnomes adept at gadgeteering. They are often associated with trade in mechanical components, and their completed devices are the product of exquisite attention to detail. Well-established rock gnome abodes are likely rigged with alarms and other signalling devices if not also dangerous traps. Their homes often combine secure stonework with excellent visibility for monitoring nearby ground. Some rock gnomes are preoccupied with personal security.
Rock gnomes often wear spectacles with an array of supplemental lenses for specialized tasks. Wealthy individuals obtain additional perspectives on the world through periscopes and telescopes. They can be comfortable residing in windowless tunnels so long as those spaces are well-furnished. Rock gnomes associated with human institutions may inhabit stonework that appears structural rather than residential. Left to their own devices, rock gnomes will raise up a sturdy stronghold then populate a network of tunnels and warrens radiating outward from that base. With the right resources and leadership, these settlements can grow into subterranean cities.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Gnomes ↑ → Cambions ← ↓ Goliaths ↓
| GOBLIN TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Dexterity score increases by 2. Your Constitution score increases by 1. Your Wisdom score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Goblins are not built to last. Though mature by age 6, most goblins go violently to an early grave. Individuals fortunate enough to surpass the age of 50 require some sort of magic to do so.
Alignment: Goblins have innate impulses to take what is not theirs and to victimize less fortunate beings. In general, they live up to their emphatically evil proxies in folklore. Goblins pursuing a different path must struggle against both villainous temptations and strong social prejudices.
Size: Most goblins are between 3' and 4' tall while weighing between 40 and 50 pounds. Your size is small.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Monstrous Appearance: You cannot help but look dangerous through the eyes of most modern civilians. Some authorities may mistreat you, and some merchants may decline your business.
Cull the Weak: When you hit with a melee attack and your target has not made any attack rolls in this encounter, you can add 2d6 damage to that attack. This additional damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, and 5d6 at 16th level. After you use Cull the Weak you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
Nimble Escape: You can take the Hide action or the Disengage action as a bonus action on each of your turns.
Ambush Hunter: You are proficient in the Acrobatics and Stealth skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Goblin as well as one other language of your choice.
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Goblins Nearly all the goblinoids to arise from the Scarlands are atavistic goblins with no real self-awareness. Bugbears see them as potential prey while hobgoblins see them as potential minions. The children of first-generation goblins are much more intelligent. They recognize their own aggressive tendencies and challenging circumstances. Most goblins will take extreme risks for a shot at bettering their quality of life. Some simply do not understand why other peoples lament losses taken in battle. Goblins find it more shameful to never fight for anything than to die in the struggle for a comfortable home.
This attitude is not limited to goblins with direct exposure to the wretched conditions of the Scarlands. Solitary goblins may fair poorly in otherwise inhabited lands. Human societies often mistreat goblins by assuming individuals are not exceptions to the stereotype of monstrous murderers. Most civilized goblins can trace their heritage to the remnants of a horde scattered after clashing with human armed forces. Their quarrelsome groups often dwindle while searching out food and shelter. Furtive goblins may establish lairs in caverns or ruins near monsters deadly enough to deter human foes. Even among bandits, goblins sometimes must prove their loyalty before achieving acceptance.
SCARLAND SCAVENGERS
On the accursed ground from which they spring, goblins are exploited by others. They dig fungus and grubs from the filth below while enduring raids by bugbear warriors or submitting to hobgoblin leadership. Either way much of what goblin foragers harvest is consumed by others. Beyond the Scarlands, goblins may find more agreeable arrangements with other goblinoids. Large groups can be quick to raid settlements with ample food reserves. Bandits and mercenaries may employ goblins, though inexperienced recruits often find themselves assigned to risky positions as decoys or skirmishers. Goblins rarely rise to positions of power over others.
Desperation often pervades their daily lives. Goblins with nothing search frantically for their next meal. Goblins with great wealth scheme frantically to secure their holdings. Even the most prosperous goblins desire more possessions. Even the most secure goblins desire greater protection. Sustained peace and tranquility feel to them like indicators of a pending attack. Goblin kingdoms invariably crumble as troublemakers far outnumber builders and healers. Damage from internal conflicts begins to spiral into escalations of vandalism and violence. Alas, peoples displaced by goblinoid hordes seldom reclaim their lands in time to save much of their former herds and homes.
STORYBOOK
VILLAINS
Through their plays and poems, egalitarian societies sometimes exaggerate the danger goblins pose. Less tolerant societies warn emphatically about the goblin menace. Some communities conduct annual festivals celebrating the routing of a historic goblinoid horde. The nefarious reputation of goblins is not entirely deserved. Sages intent on parting fact from fiction find many well-known goblin attrocity narratives are built upon real yet lesser acts of theft and murder. Cunning criminals shift blame for their own deeds onto innocent goblins, exploiting biases among authorities. Well-settled goblins may be provoked to lash out after a pattern of persecution escalates beyond a tipping point.
Their naturally brief lives compound these tragic circumstances. Even goblins who manage to avoid violence find themselves turning ashen and feeble in their forties. Pale blotches spread across flesh that was formerly bronze, olive, or rosy; while their straight dark hair becomes a sparse collection of ragged wisps. Aging goblins without extraordinary magical resources sometimes gear up and set off in search of conflict. The thought of gradually fading away horrifies most goblins. Many see bleeding out in battle as a glorious demise. These end of life quests create further concern, as few goblins pass away peacefully in repsectable homes surrounded by family and friends.
| Outlaw Status Being a criminal in the eyes of one clan, empire, federation, or kingdom often means little outside that jurisdiction. Marauders and privateers routinely commit crimes against the people and properties of one society while supported by the aristocracy of another. Outlawry is always a matter of cultural context. Exiles able to maintain an agreeable demeanor might be well-received by a distant community. Yet constables remain alert for troublemakers in any unfamiliar group. Monstrous-looking newcomers without a persuasive spokesperson can quickly run afoul of suspicious authorities almost anywhere. |
QUICK AND QUIET
Goblin family ties are largely a function of convenience. Among their own kind, many goblin children remain close to their parents and loyal to their closest kin. Goblins in conflict zones may abandon their children as soon as they are grown enough to wield a spear. Goblin pregnancies typically result in two to four live births after barely more than three months of gestation. Where food is abundant and attacks are rare, any large population of goblins will tend to grow larger. Without the support of expanding agriculture, this soon leads to raids on nearby communities. Violent deaths are the primary factor restraining the population of goblins.
Despite an inclination toward aggression, healthy young goblins are not generally self-destructive. In an instant they can pivot from vicious attackers to agile evaders. Goblins are especially effective skirimshers in rough country with plenty of natural cover. Heroes of their kind have been known to lead irregular forces that turned the tide in historic battes against cruel powers. Some also excel at delving into the lairs of extremely dangerous monsters. Few goblin villains are well-known by name, but their prolific numbers are well-documented. The most formidable lead warbands or criminal syndicates allied with extremely powerful monsters.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Goblins ↑ → Cambions ← ↓ Halflings ↓
| GOLIATH TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Strength and Constitution scores each increase by 2. Your Wisdom score increases by 1. Your Charisma score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Goliaths are rarely formidable enough to be considered adults before their late teens. Their aging continues normally until their bodies abruptly lose durability. Few individuals live naturally beyond the age of 80.
Alignment: Goliath tribes are bound by elaborate traditions largely undocumented. Individuals embracing modern culture may have just about any reputation and the disposition to go with it Yet among their own kind, the only alternative to outcast status is being ardently lawful.
Size: Most goliaths are between 7' and 8' tall while weighing between 260 and 360 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Massive Might: For purposes of carrying capacity as well as dragging, pulling, and pushing things; you count as one size larger than your current physical form.
Stentorian Speaker: You have advantage on all ability checks to call out across long distances or shout intelligibly over nearby noise and clamor.
Unyielding Flesh: You can use your bonus action on your turn to gain 1d8 temporary hit points. This gain increases to 2d8 at 6th level, 3d8 at 11th level, and 4d8 at 16th level. After you use Unyielding Flesh, you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
Alpine Adaptations: Neither cold climates nor high altitude environments impose penalties on your activities. You have resistance to frost damage.
Fleet Forager: You are proficient in the Athletics and Survival skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Giant as well as one other language of your choice.
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Goliaths These towering people are a source of academic controversy. Their existence does not qualify as one of the Nine Mysteries, but there is no historical consensus on their beginnings. Early goliath tribes relied entirely on oral traditions, producing nearly as many origin stories as storytellers. The first modern goliath scholars were contemporaries to hundreds of tribes, each with its own lore. Outside accounts are also problematic. Older journals were rarely written with academic rigor. Early mountaineers were prone to embellish the details of their adventures. Scryers staring into ancient snow often confuse yeti or ordinary humans bundled in furs with goliaths likewise garbed.
Thus not even goliaths truly know how their kind came into existence. Yet they find cultural unity by learning a Palisade Code largely consistent with that taught by other tribes. These ironbound customs govern living arrangements where food, fuel, and shelter tend to be scarce. They also demand formal brawls or duels to settle disputes between individuals. An outsider unwittingly challenging the authority of a chief could be thrust into impromptu mortal combat. Goliaths do not see this as wild behavior, but instead an essential practice for preserving order among their people. Newcomers do well to heed advice about being respectful and quiet when possible.
FOLK FROM THE HIGH GROUND
Wide open spaces and scenes of natural beauty bring comfort to goliaths. Tribes often construct settlements above the tree line where climbing is required to access any resources other than rock, ice, and snow. Goliaths believe strength entitles them to occupy what peaks and slopes they inhabit. This belief also enables them to respect the territorial claims of dangerous neighbors like giants or dragons. Some have even been known to ally with formidable goliath leaders. Modern alpine experts often advise seeking out a local goliath guide to avoid the great dangers of travel at great heights.
In this regard goliaths are the counterparts of dwarves with their knowledge of tunnels and caves. The two are also related in that the language of giants derives from the language of dwarves, and goliaths prefer to speak the language of giants among their own kind. Though goliaths are uncomfortable in deep caves and dwarves likewise at high altitudes, their encounters are often memorable. Some goliaths believe that dwarves are a myth, then struggle with a mix of laughter and questions on learning that they are real. Dwarves often find this annoying, rarely reciprocating any playful curiosity. Both sorts of people tend to be particularly abrupt and direct.
PEAK PERFORMANCE
Goliaths are constantly concerned about their physical prowess. Those who do not spend the day building, climbing, fighting, hauling, or hunting will engage in long intervals of exercise for its own sake. Associates may promote toughness by incorporating a punishing slugfest into their evening routines. What others may see as an obsession with fitness is a vital element of goliaths' survival strategy. Maintaining their mountainous physiques is the means by which goliaths maintain mountainside homes. Their communities often depend on supplies gathered at lower elevations miles away. Productive members should be able to literally carry their own weight while climbing steep trails.
Goliaths tend to be extremely patient with their own children, but they can be less charitable with living ancestors. Tradition holds that the young have yet to take shape. Children represent opportunities for parents and mentors to influence the future. Aging goliaths have a shape that is set and now crumbling. The metaphor is embodied as rugged flesh begins to crack and chip away. Some seek the comforts of civilization in their final years while others ascend to become encased in glaciers overlooking their former homes. Goliaths so entombed while still relatively fit bring prestige to their family lines as visitors admire their remains in the generations to follow.
| Primitive Ethnicities Imperial dossiers and other official records tend to list “primitive” as the ethnicity for persons from some tribal backgrounds. This approach ignores that many primitive societies have rich unique oral histories and notable cultural adaptations to their locale. Bureaucrats of all stripes tend to be more interested in their similarities. Persons so labelled are not expected to be literate or familiar with the customs of cityfolk. Primitive peoples may be called upon to function with little or no shelter. Individuals noted as primitive may strive to earn honors that will generate official acceptance in a new homeland. Others take this status as a badge of honor, perhaps even going so far as to mark themselves with a visible tattoo of the term. |
BOLD AND BURLY
The most venerable goliath tribes live below glacial necropolises of impressive ancestors. The most unfortunate are survivors of catastrophes involving an avalanche of ancient bodies warmed anew. Sometimes this is a natural process driven by changes in the shape of a specific glacier, and sometimes this is an unnatural process caused by entities seeking an army of especially muscular undead. As few as these incidents have been, they give all goliath leaders cause to discourage the popularization of icy graves as points of interest to outsiders. Visitors in general tend to be unwelcome unless they respectfully invoke the Palisade Code or offer generous material tribute.
The former approach obligates outsiders to one day of hard labor for each night of shelter accepted. Useful and well-behaved folks might earn a permanent place as a friend of the tribe. Troublemakers are given beatings as well as arduous assignments to instill humility. Persistent troublemakers may be ceremonially hurled from the edge of the tallest local cliff. Any disturbance in a goliath community tends to generate a swift and decisive response from the entire tribe. Goliaths seldom socialize with each other in urban settings, but many thrive among non-goliath warriors. All the best gladiator schools maintain an active goliath competitor near the tops of their rosters.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Goliaths ↑ → Halflings ← ↓ Half-Elves ↓
| HALFLING TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Dexterity score increases by 2. Your Wisdom score increases by 1. Your Strength score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Halfling traditions celebrate coming of age with a 21st birthday. Aging continues apace such that most halflings succumb to old age in the middle of their second century of life.
Size: Most halflings stand around 3' tall while weighing between 30 and 60 pounds. Your size is small.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Lucky: When you roll a 1 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw; you can reroll the die and must use the new roll.
Brave: You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Halfling Nimbleness: You can move through the space of any creature that is at least one size larger than you.
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Halflings Halflings were designed by dragons to perform tasks related to grooming and hygiene. Small bodies atop large feet enabled halflings to walk without creating much disturbance. A gentle and soft-spoken nature made them easier to tolerate than other thralls. Yet this tolerance would not prove enduring. Some halflings dared exploit their abilities by pilfering from treasure hoards then trading away valuables far from where they were stolen. Dragonkind abruptly turned against this particular creation, eradicating nearly all halflings in the span of a few seasons. Only the most fortunate individuals were able to sustain their people.
No longer in demand as dragon attendants, halflings began to make their way as traders. Silent approaches and quiet negotiations allowed them to facilitate bartering between labor pools in different territories. Halflings lived as explorers and merchants two eras before the rise of anything resembling a guild dedicated to cartography or commerce. When human regimes began to dominate the surface of the world, halfling leaders always seemed to negotiate mutually acceptable tribute. Their villages often enjoyed continuous peace while militant powers gained and lost control of surrounding territory. Even today, majority halfling communities tend to be prosperous towns that prize rustic tranquility.
FOLK FROM THE BACKGROUND
Despite the proliferation of their own communities, most halflings live in much larger human cities. They have a way of coming and going without attracting attention. Outside the coldest climes, halfings generally avoid footwear. Even after becoming rough from heavy use, the undersides of their feet remain effective at silencing the sounds of footfalls. Many halflings travel with a personal set of files and picks to perform pedicures. Though a true comfort to hiking halflings, these kits can also be utilized as thieves' tools. Criminal organizations and other secret societies are often eager to employ discreet halfling operatives.
The archetype of the halfling burglar predates any humanoid civilization. Their modern adventurers are often rogues, though most halflings do not support themselves with theft. Rural halfings tend to pursue agriculture, while their urban counterparts typically settle into work at a market or shop. They are unified by an eagerness to talk business with anyone offering a valuable trade. Halflings working on caravans or ships typically maintain personal cases of sundries suitable for resale far from their original point of purchase. Some halflings operate downright improbable shops with concealed caches of equipment and supplies right in the heart of conflict zones or monster lairs.
| LIGHTFOOT HALFINGS |
Ability Scores: Your Charisma score increases by 2.
Alignment: Halflings are especially keen on making new friends and sampling imported luxuries. Their bias toward good may reflect the same tendency among great human cities. Lightfoot halflings integrate particularly well into almost any community.
Cache Concealment: You have advantage on all ability checks to hide objects on your person or create hiding spots suitable for concealing supplies.
Easily Overlooked: You can attempt to hide even when you are obscured only by a creature that is at least one size larger than you.
Amiable Acquisitiveness: You are proficient in the Persuasion and Stealth skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Halfling as well as two other languages of your choice.
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HIDDEN COURAGE
Modesty in both size and demeanor would suggest that halflings are easily frightened. Most are averse to violence, and some halflings prefer to avoid all forms of struggle. Yet their ancestors were created to remain confident while scrubbing blood from the claws and scales of dragons. Wily halflings sometimes pretend to be scared only to seek a better position before lashing out at a dangerous enemy. Reluctance to fight is normally a choice rather than a compulsion for halflings. When pressed into battle these small people have been known to take down the largest of foes. Tales of halfling heroism resonate with many audiences thanks to the exploits of their ancient ancestors.
In most places where large numbers of humans gather, small numbers of halflings can be found. They collectively form a social network allowing insiders to cultivate a clear picture of local agendas among the aristocracy as well as the criminal underworld. Halfings often distrust others who are fluent in their language. Though halfing spies are among the most formidable covert operatives in the world, many refuse service to any employer known to have spread that treasured birthright to other peoples. Among their own kind, this tongue of murmurs is a proud tradition setting halflings apart from the many cultures into which they are otherwise assimilated.
SUBTLE AND SILENT
Deliberately attracting attention always feels a little uncomfortable to halflings. Most are naturally patient and polite. They are also agreeable about the division of labor. Halfling adventurers are usually happy to let others walk ahead of them or to personally take the lead. It is unusual for halflings decline opportunities to act as the spokesperson for a group. Yet most halflings are also glad to step back and make way for others to speak on their behalf. When they assert themselves in social situations, these quiet people remain as dignified and poised as possible. Even the death threats of infuriated halflings may feature courteous salutations.
| STOUT HALFLINGS |
Ability Scores: Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Alignment: Stout halflings are famously ambitious in matters of trade. They are generally good, though this is a subtle tendency. When it comes to taking risks for gold, some stout halflings will socialize and do business with all sorts of organizations.
Hearty Apetite: If you have already consumed a full day's rations and you consume an additional day's rations during a short rest, you may roll and add two dice for the first Hit Die you spend at the end of that rest.
Resilient Metabolism: You have advantage on saving throws against poison and you have resistance to poison damage.
Adroit Acquisitiveness: You are proficient in the Sleight-of-Hand and Stealth skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Halfling as well as two other languages of your choice.
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Halfling thieves and assassins were the stuff of legend before the gods discovered this world. Even among these vocations, their heroes outnumber villains by more than a little. Many powerful leaders employ trusted halfling agents. Mercantile organizations also appreciate their abilities. Modern halflings may pursue all sorts of adventuring opportunities, though few serve with heavy infantry or seek homes among barbarians. Halflings surpass humans in the inclination to avoid adventure. Most halflings would be happy to live their entire lives pursuing personal comforts in a secure settement where nothing much ever happens. Elders reflecting on just such a life are highly esteemed.
LIGHTFOOT HALFLINGS
Physically and psychologically similar to their ancient ancestors, lightfoot halflings feature little bodies situated between unusually large feet and a head of similar size. Their big eyes and soft features tend to convey an air of harmlessness when engaging face to face. Alternatively they can altogether avoid being seen. Lightfoot halflings have an extraordinary ability to remain obscured while moving through crowds of larger beings. From a corral full of horses to a ballroom full of dancers, lightfoot halflings instinctively make just the right moves to utilize roving cover the way others might hide behind large trees or monumental pillars.
Lightfoot halflings take special satisfaction from completing a mutually beneficial trade. They are friendly by nature, though they will seek to generate profit for themselves. Most nonetheless believe it is important to leave trading partners satisfied. Ending interactions this way allows for safe approaches in the future. Though lightfoot halflings are typically both cautious and humble, some cultivate brash public personae as emissaries or entertainers. They can be relentless about promoting any cause or organization that earns their loyalty. Yet lightfoot halflings rarely outstay their welcome, defty skulking away when a friendly farewell is not appropriate.
| Obscure Ethnicity Many halflings happily embrace the ethnicity of a larger human population living in their locale. Yet there are those who make a point to mask particulars of their upbringing and affiliations. The “halfling accent” is a distinctively sibilant yet clear way of speaking. Remarkably, it displays no variations despite being found in small halfling communities spread across both continents. People with this manner of speech also tend to be intensely private about their own backgrounds, showing no desire to commemorate special dates or favoratism toward regional delicacies. Investigators dealing with these emphatically secretive people may note their ethnicity as “obscure.” Spies and other covert operatives sometimes benefit from cultivating an identity like this. |
STOUT HALFLINGS
Not long before the Age of Heroes, some dragons were keen to prove they could collaborate respectfully with humanoids. The search for peaceful coexistence saw captured halfling burglars lavished with agricultural surpluses. Generations of consuming fine foods in enormous quantities gave shape to a new form of halfling. This did not provide them with a magical fire in the belly like their dragon benefactors, but it did give stout halflings plump builds girded against exposure to toxic substances. The boldest stout halflings repaid their patrons by looting fey troves of any actual treasures mingled with the false gold and gems of those poisoned deathtraps.
The stout halflings of today remain uniformly hardy and heavyset even when they are not able to indulge in endless decadent delicacies. Most will happily feast at every opportunity, though they understand the need to conserve supplies in situations like sieges or voyages. Hungry halflings often complain, but even stouts suffer no worse than humans deprived of food. All the same, many modern stout halflings organize their lives around some fusion of feasting with work. Aristocrats may retain stout halflings specifically to ensure an excess of exquisite edibles is aways available at court. Some also provide lavish banquets to maintain the loyalty of halfling officials in their service.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Halflings ↑ → Half-Elves ← ↓ Half-Orcs ↓
| HALF-ELF TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Dexterity score increases by 2. Your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores each increase by 1. Your Constitution score decreases by 1.
Lifespan: Half-elves reach physical maturity around the age of 20. Slow yet consistent aging progresses such that few half-elves live to celebrate a 200th birthday without some supernatural support.
Alignment: Often a little out of step with crowds of predominantly elven or human composition, half-elves tend to be chaotic. Yet they also show some tendency toward good, most often making their homes in diverse human cities or communities of wood elves.
Size: Most half-elves are between 5' and 6' tall while weighing between 90 and 180 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Fey Ancestry: You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and you cannot be put to sleep by magic.
Elftrance: You do not sleep, and you cannot be put to sleep. Four hours of sitting still while semi-conscious is enough for you to complete a long rest and satisfy your rest requirement for the day. You remain keenly aware of your surroundings in this state. It is spoiled if you move, take damage, or perform any action before the trance has concluded. Otherwise, it conveys all the benefits of a full night's sleep.
Reasoned Reflections: You have advantage on saving throws against being befuddled, paralyzed, or possessed. You have resistance to psychic damage.
Attentive Manner: You are proficient in Perception and one other skill of your choice.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write four languages of your choice.
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Half-Elves The Imperium Arcanum strictly prohibited couplings between fey and non-fey beings. Even so, records from that time document some half-elves as thralls to dragons and others hiding among wood elf tribes. Half-elves played important roles in the transition from elven to human supremacy. A natural understanding of both perspectives enabled half-elves to collaborate with a wide variety of factions. They enjoyed plenty of adventuring opportunities throughout the Age of Heroes. Today they are even more accomplished. Most half-elves could pass for slender humans if not distinguished by a prominent pair of pointed ears.
When they make the effort, half-elves tend to have a way of putting others at ease. They are keen listeners, with voices just as soft or loud as conversation partners would prefer. Half-elves move with natural grace. They also take particular satisfaction from learning the customs of unfamiliar people. Insofar as they have a culture of their own, half-elves are taught to respect the traditions of the people around them. Though half-elves have the potential to populate their own cities and nations, this has never taken place. Half-elven settlements do not normally exclude others. Thus they typically grow into larger, predominantly human, communities.
CHILDREN OF TWO WORLDVIEWS
Half-elves may also have lived among the earliest pracititioners of the Old Faith. These prototypical druids held frequent vigils at ringed Standing Stones. They shared snippets of ancient fey arcana when they were not searching for inspiration in pristine wilderness. Half-elves were no less welcome than humans at the most elite bardic colleges and druidic circles of earlier times. While not as long-lived as elves, a mature half-elf may be the last surviving witness to important events in the history of a human village or a uniquely vigorous associate among a circle of elders. Elves in diverse communities remember half-elves as a little less transient than others.
Some half-elves describe their thoughts as a conversation between an inner elf and an inner human. Arcane and mundane perspectives seem equally clear even when making snap judgements. Half-elves are naturally gifted at grasping multiple points of view, as if the process of dialectic were internalized. The ability to moderate their own thoughts serves as a buffer against disturbing mental instrusions. It also allows half-elves to adapt rather than freeze up when their mind-body connections falter. This fusion of human and elven thinking energizes esoteric curiosities as well as practical ambitions, motivating many half-elves to pursue lives of travel and adventure.
WELCOME OUTSIDERS
Most fey and human communities have no trouble accepting half-elven visitors or immigrants willing to abide by local rules. Artists, priests, and scholars often value the circumspect thoughtfulness for which half-elves are known. Entertainers, outlaws, and soldiers often value the way half-elves combine an easygoing manner with elven precision. Half-elves tend to make excellent diplomats or spies. In keeping with their nature, it is not unusual for one person to perform both roles. Art and science, magic and metal, urban and rural, war and peace – much of what half-elves do involves some mix of disparate elements.
The blending of other ideas and other cultures has become the essence of their own culture. Half-elves will often incorporate an elven touch into an outfit of human garb or
vice versa. As hosts they are always keen to make newcomers feel welcome into an eclectic gathering. Half-elven songs and plays often breathe fresh life into familiar stories by way of exotic settings. As readily as they assimilate into other cultures, most half-elves also aspire to stand out as individuals. From creative pursuits, to spellcasting repertoires, to styles of fighting – half-elves usually exhibit personalized approaches built from the synthesis of diverse influences.
Multiracial Characters When people of different adventuring races conceive, children tend to be the same race as one parent with no definitive physical signs of mixed heritage. This is not so for the offspring of humans paired with elves or orcs. Half-elves and half-orcs are distinct races unto themselves. Their cultures are not as well-defined as most races, perhaps for lack of any large communities populated primarily by their own kind. Yet they are numerous enough to be recognizable by anyone who knows much about orcs and elves.
Dragonborn, kobolds, and lizardfolk are unable to produce children with partners like humans. These scaled peoples are compatible with one another, though none have been known to hatch a proper half-breed. The other twenty-two adventuring races are mutually compatible, at least in theory. Partners of differing races may experience low fertility and/or complicated preganancies. Some multiracial individuals are born only after a couple overcame extraordinary obstacles through dedication to their shared dream of parenthood. |
VARIABLE AND VERSATILE
Half-elven couples conceive as readily as humans. Yet some half-elven mothers continue to give birth after living a full century, allowing them to become matriarchs of large families. The fertility of elven-human pairings is much lower. Half-elves with this parentage will have few or no full siblings. Understandably, larger families are happy to send young adults out into the world while others may cling to their offspring until wanderlust wins out against domestic authority. Even half-elves raised in elven communities often depart for some distant place before turning sixty. Adult half-elves understand that their time in this world is limited.
That does not prevent half-elves from embarking on ambitious academic studies or exploratory journeys. It also does not prevent them from changing course while underway. Shifting from one purpose to another delays the completion of any goal even as it sees half-elves undergoing continuous personal growth. Many half-elven artisans or merchants are adventurers comfortably retired into peaceful trade. Being half-elves, even this retirement may be a temporary condition. Sleepless individuals are particularly valued as lookouts or sentries. Should a new cause inspire them to action, most half-elves find it easy enough to join up.
The rarest half-elven adventurers attain the pinnacle of a single class. Many more make their way with a mix of lesser abilities. Their duality extends to an unpredictable streak fused with relentless rationality. Some half-elves remain true to a set of core principles while context changes around them. Others set out to explore a different perspective purposefully, collaborating with former enemies
and/or turning against old associates. Both scenarios can produce dramatic changes in repututation. Some half-elven adventurers become popularly admired heroes, some become widely despised villains, and some embrace both as facets of their complex personal identities.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Half-Elves ↑ → Half-Orcs ← ↓ Hobgoblins ↓
| HALF-ORC TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Strength score increases by 2. Your Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom scores each increase by 1. Your Intelligence score decreases by 1.
Lifespan: Half-orcs typically mature in their mid-teens. Aging continues at this pace, with many elders proudly sporting accumulated scars. Those who meet a peaceful end often succumb to it in their seventies.
Alignment: Half-orcs often have difficulty finding a comfortable places among either humans or orcs. They strongly tend to be chaotic in almost any context. They also tend toward evil, though much less so among those half-orcs residing in modern cities.
Size: Most half-orcs are between 5' and 6' tall while weighing between 120 and 240 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Monstrous Appearance: You cannot help but look dangerous through the eyes of most modern civilians. Some authorities may mistreat you, and some merchants may decline your business.
Stentorian Speaker: You have advantage on all ability checks to call out across long distances or shout intelligibly over nearby noise and clamor.
Relentless Endurance: When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can instead fall prone and be reduced to 1 hit point. After you use Relentless Endurance, you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest.
Savage Attacks: When you roll critical hit with a melee attack, you may double your Strength modifier for purposes of determining the damage of that attack.
Intense Manner: You are proficient in Intimidation and one other skill of your choice.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write two languages of your choice.
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Half-Orcs The Imperium Arcanum punished elven criminals by stripping them of their long lives and sharp minds. Transformed into orcs, ogres, and trolls; both they and their offspring were routinely sacrificed in battles against dragons. When an army of orcs triumphed over a significant dragon, survivors might occupy its lair. Elite orcs took charge of any remaining thralls and treasure. The earliest half-orcs could be found in these unusual strongholds. The Age of Heroes saw half-orcs proliferate as orcish armies carved out their own territories from human realms. Many of the greatest assassins during that era were half-orcs.
Acceptance of half-orcs was limited then. Even today, these people are routinely underestimated. Some humans think half-orcs fit for nothing but rough and dangerous work. Orcs often see half-orcs as suited for only the safest and least violent duties. Though nearly as versatile as half-elves, half-orcs often find themselves struggling to overcome perceived limitations rather than benefitting from perceived advantages. Most half-orcs have to fight for all the status and trust they attain. Fortunately, fighting comes more easily to them than to humans. They are not as naturally aggressive as orcs, but half-orcs can prove utterly unyielding adversaries.
RUGGED RENEGADES
Half-orcs raised among loving family members will receive lessons and warnings from their kin to prepare for unfair treatment by others. Half-orcs without such an upbringing are made tough through the need to fend for themselves while enduring that adversity. Either path produces adults with profound resilience in the face of insult or injury. Half-orc assassins have always been famed for their determination to complete missions. This trait applies just as well to a brawler shrugging off brutal blows or a bard disregarding wicked wordplay. This grit makes half-orcs consummate competitors, known for dramatic reversals of fortune in gladiatorial combat.
Capable of thriving in many athletic contexts, some half-orcs struggle with a reputation for corruption based in more than a little history. Their famous determination becomes an uncertain prospect if great money can be made through deliberate defeat. They may thrive by playing the heel – performing staged villainy for entertainment purposes. This is as common among theatrical troupes as it is among exhibition fighters. Yet some half-orcs object to any work that reinforces unkind stereotypes about their people. Individuals who have gone to great lengths to prove their value to the community can be particuarly sensitive about unflattering portrayals.
UNIVERSAL MISFITS
Though outlaws can be quick to welcome any formidable half-orc into their ranks, few other groups follow this trend. Overcoming outsider status can be an initial challenge or a series of recurrent hardships for them. Though much of this is unfair prejudice, there is truth to the stereotype that orcs and half-orcs can be treacherous. Some are quick to undermine weak leadership for their own gain. Many half-orc adventurers prefer to act alone or collaborate with teams on a provisional basis. Some half-orcs hesitate only to be sure they will be respected as equals among the company, while others see each excursion as a stepping stone to better opportunities for personal advancement.
Accomplished half-orcs are often eager to support outcasts and other victims of persecution. From assassination squads to holy orders, half-orc leaders are typically surrounded by a diverse mix of allies with complicated life stories. Most half-orcs support freedom and personal choice as important principles. Where authoritarian conformity pairs with widespread oppression, some half-orcs become dedicated enemies of the state. Since the best assassins are not well-known by face or true name, all half-orc outlaws are of particular concern to aristocrats. Even upstanding half-orc citizens sometimes experience tense initial encounters with unfamiliar constables.
Many humans are sympathetic to victims of racial prejudice. Most half-orcs have already endured enough unpleasant experiences to develop a general wariness of law enforcers. Some half-orcs develop large followings as outspoken critics of authoritarian regimes. A few have even joined the aristocracy. The most honorable become officials working to reduce institutional racism. Others enjoy their status as symbolic tokens serving only to diffuse political unrest. Notable half-orc aristocrats are outnumbered by their assassin counterparts (albeit with some overlap.) It is not unusual for young half-orcs to idolize figures known for regicide.
| Blended Ethnicity The best bureaucracies recognize that some people identify with more than one discrete culture. From immigrants in the process of assimilating to children of diverse heritage, it is not unusual for census-takers to note “blended” ethnicity. Some regimes abuse this classification to shut people out from a privileged group. It may also be misused through the automatic classification of all half-elves and half-orcs. Yet it is more often a good faith effort to note a complex mix of ethnic influences. In those cases the term is often followed by a parenthetical listing of major elements in this blend. This allows officials and operatives to be better informed about how to interact effectively with the individual referenced by that label. |
DANGEROUS AND DETERMINED
Distinguished by green or gray flesh, prominent pointed ears, and a tusked underbite; half-orcs normally cannot pass for human. Few half-orcs are incined to rush blindly into battle. Yet backing down when challenged also goes against their nature. Their voices are easily able to convey menacing messages around corners and through doors. Up close and personal, half-orcs strike with the same cruel bloodlust as orcs. Combining orcish might with a grace all their own, assassins are not the only type of legendary half-orc rogue today. Some of their people excel as every class of warrior. Half-orc spellcasters can be especially formidable when associated with a modern faith or the Old Faith.
Regardless of occupation and training, half-orcs tend to be relentless. A venerable half-orc ruse involves faking death in the wake of a failed assassination attempt so that existing security measures are deemed successful. This fosters confidence even as it provides information vital for planning the next attempt. The wisest tacticians know that the initial onslaught of a half-orc could be just the opening stage in a much longer struggle. With slightly higher birth rates and slightly shorter pregnancies than humans, half-orcs sometimes become the majority in urban neighborhoods where their people have been established for many generations.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Half-Orcs ↑ → Hobgoblins ← ↓ Humans ↓
| HOBGOBLIN TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Constitution score increases by 2. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Lifespan: Most hobgoblins mature completely by their late teens. Coming of age is the start of a lifelong social climbing effort for them. Few hobgoblins live beyond 100 without magical assistance.
Alignment: Hobgoblins feel driven toward leadership and conquest. They tend to be lawful supporters of organizations in which they might advance. Yet they retain the malicious qualities of all goblinoids, being evil save for those who willfully reject the legacy of the Scarlands.
Size: Most hobgoblins are between 5' and 6' tall while weighing between 140 and 220 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Stentorian Speaker: You have advantage on all ability checks to call out across long distances or shout intelligibly over nearby noise and clamor.
Tactical Callout: You can use your bonus action on your turn to verbally direct one ally able to hear and understand your words. The recipient can add 1d6 to one attack roll or saving throw before the start of your next turn. After you use Tactical Callout you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
Hobgoblin Weapon Training: You are proficient with broadswords, greatswords, longswords, and whips.
Military Manufacture: You are proficient with the artisan's tool of your choice from among alchemists' supplies, carpenters' tools, cartographers' tools, leatherworkers' tools, poisoners' kit, or smiths' tools.
Disciplined Authority: You are proficient in the Intimidation and Investigation skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Hobgoblin as well as two other languages of your choice.
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Hobgoblins Atavistic hobgoblins are no more intelligent than common beasts, but they benefit from sophisticated social instincts. Division of labor comes naturally to these children of the Scarlands. Their own offspring are much more thoughtful beings still deeply desirous of belonging to and rising within a hierarchy. Hobgoblins strongly covet rank and the respect associated with it. Where there is no leadership, they will seek to promote themselves throughout the clash and consolidation of factions. Where authorities maintain peace, hobgoblins may seek their fortune in orderly productivity. Hobgoblins are astutely aware of every opportunity for personal advancement, and few are comfortable unless pursuing at least one.
Hobgoblins naturally form command structures coordinating the activities of goblinoid hordes. They feel satisfaction when duties are assigned to the most suitable personnel. Persistent thoughts about specialization and the allocation of tasks makes hobgoblins natural planners. It also gives many a sense of entitlement to leadership roles. They are reliable disciplinarians and military commanders. Hobgoblins in subordinate positions can be extreme about enforcing rules, as they believe leisure has far less value than respect for authority. Few hobgoblins escape the mindset that their survival depends on compliance with a well-optimized social structure.
SCARLAND ELITES
Luxuries are beyond scarce in the Scarlands. Anything of value tends to find its way to a hobgoblin commander in charge of a fortified position with well-nourished defenders. These unlikely leaders live as lords of a filthy wasteland. Most hobgoblins with the wits to migrate will set their sights on civilized targets. Not only do they rally other goblinoids, but they will make efforts to equip and train companions. Calculated oversight of resources and breeding allows some hobgoblins to preside over stable communities of assorted goblinoids. Beyond the Scarlands, their strongholds sometimes accumulate power and treasure enough to make proper warlords of their leaders.
Hobgoblins among civilized people typically become a menace of one form or another. A hobgoblin criminal can provide planning and structure that strengthens the entire group – so long as their discipline holds. Such hobgoblins take action against internal troublemakers while the group itself remains hostile to the prevailing aristocracy. Hobgoblins in military service likewise earn the emnity of free spirits, though loyalty to the chain of command can win them coveted promotions. Even hobgoblins who find a place in the academic world make enemies by exploiting the smallest flaws to produce severe critiques of rivals. Being strictly methodical in their own work allows some hobgoblins to maintain respectable positions at major universities.
BORN TO TAKE CHARGE
Hobgoblins emphasize military thinking even among their own children. They encourage games of fencing, jousting, and throwing while using harsh rebukes to discourage bad form. Imposing serious overtones on playtime makes for a stern upbringing that instills a special sort of vigilance. Adult hobgoblins have a way of anticipating when an ally would benefit from a corrective warning. A single well-timed shout from them can prevent error in a decisive moment. These urgent utterances are rarely resented after they prove helpful. In a few human societies, reliable hobgoblins tutors or trainers are in demand to ensure high-born youths maintain a rigorous regimen of exercise and study.
Though hobgoblins tend to be articulate and well groomed compared to other goblinoids, individuals who were not raised in a modern settlement often stand out as misfits. Hobgoblins have been known to force themselves into ill-fitting uniforms rather than alter standardized attire. They also tend to be inflexible about procedures and protocols. Where hobgoblins are integrated into human communities, they often seek work in labor management, law enforcement, and library upkeep. Whatever path they choose, hobgoblins show little tolerance for deviation. They naturally note any irregulaties in routine and lapses in duty they observe.
This makes civilized hobgoblins prolific compared with their Scarland kin. Given clear rules and structure, they will be content to seek personal advancement by enforcing the will of almost any leader. Hobgoblins take particular delight in foiling the efforts of renegades. Most are willing to endure popular backlash so long as support from superiors remains firm. This makes hobgoblin operatives well-suited to providing internal security for large organizations. Few urban hobgoblins pen epic poems, but most keep ledgers and logbooks documenting details of every important interaction. Hobgoblins tend to make the most of any leverage they might acquire over others.
Monstrous Dignitaries Accomplished adventurers tend to be exceptional individuals in myriad ways. Monstrous warriors or spellcasters known to have made great progress in an adventuring class are treated differently from other beings. Assumptions about their power motivate ordinary people to avoid contact by almost any means. Assumptions about their wealth motivate the boldest hirelings and merchants to make business inquiries. Though monstrous villains are widely feared, some have friends in high places. Monstrous individuals known for personal heroism are widely respected, and the most accomplished may enjoy opportunities for ennoblement.
Some adventurers abandon their more conventional appearance to adopt a similarly fearsome look. Formidable capabilities can be clearly conveyed by ongoing magical effects or exotic creature companions. Body modifications may also create a sense of danger. In some cases a monstrous appearance is the result of a transformative process. With enough social support, anyone can be elevated in rank and awarded an estate of their own. Monstrous adventurers sometimes take bold risks in the hope that their service will earn a title that commands respect on an official level. |
VAINGLORIOUS AND VIGOROUS
Extreme attention to detail has made some of the most heroic hobgoblins into legendary criminal investigators. Yet heroism is not the normal course for adventurous hobgoblins. Whether among goblinoid hordes or occupying independent fortresses, they are widely regarded as both villains and monsters. At the other extreme from these ferocious militants are civilized hobgoblins intent on social climbing. These individuals rarely become dangerous outside personal or professional rivalries. Established adults often maintain a workshop along with one or more secret caches of weapons and trade goods. Hobgoblins consider the ability to recruit and arm allies essential for personal security.
Even individuals with peaceful careers in walled cities appreciate the theoretical possibility of being able to assemble an armed squad on short notice. Hobgoblins working with military or criminal organizations strive to prove their effectiveness. In this way they accumulate control of more personnel and equipment if not also some sort of secure headquarters. Despite all this, hobgoblins parallel humans in many ways. Under similar conditions they mature and age at the same rate. Their families follow a similar range of dynamics and sizes. Their eyes, hair, and skin often share traits with the prevailing human population in the region. Yet hobgoblins are clearly not human. Their sturdier builds support heads with wide pointed ears and broad flat noses.
The most refined hobgoblins dress and groom in ways that flatter their distinctive features. Even so, these guileful goblinoids cannot pass for human while their faces, hands, or feet are plainly exposed. Some will initiate social contact through correspondence, allowing eloquence and formality to make a strong impression before any meeting might be arranged. Hobgoblins may blur the lines between alliance and extortion, keeping the peace in diverse neighborhoods while insisting on regular tributes from local institutions. Legendary hobgoblin supervillains have a way of bringing together academics, aristocrats, constables, and criminals into schemes advancing their standing within one or more of these urban subcultures.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Hobgoblins ↑ → Humans ← ↓ Kobolds ↓
| HUMAN TRAITS |
Ability Scores: One ability score of your choice increases by 2 or two ability scores of your choice each increase by 1.
Lifespan: Most humans mature completely by their late teens. Their communities range from the smallest tribes to great metropolitan centers. Few humans live beyond 100 without magical assistance.
Alignment: Humans generally strive to balance prosperity with security. Their overall tendency is toward good, with rewarding opportunities for both themselves and others. Yet humanity is extremely diverse in many ways, including ethical and moral beliefs.
Size: Most humans are between 5' and 6' tall while weighing between 100 and 200 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Training Availability: You gain a Feat.
Human Ubiquity: You are proficient in two skills of your choice.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write two languages of your choice.
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Humans Humans were designed by dragons to increase food supplies. Dragons did not hesitate to devour thralls for sustenance. Thus the work of early humans was a matter of survival for themselves along with dwarven, elven, and halfling peers. Dragons themselves proliferated after farming and ranching made it possible to feast decadently on the flesh from a modest territory. For each of those well-fed dragons, hundreds of humans operated a network of camps, corrals, and farms with the aim of maintaining multiple healthy livestock herds. This bounty drove some dragons to lose track of human population growth, with camps becoming villages and corrals becoming ranches.
Though humans served the Imperium Arcanum as laborers and soldiers, much of this was motivated by trickery. To their credit, the Archfey protected and sheltered enormous human populations for many millennia. It would be the subsequent collapse of fey bastions that produced widespread famine early in the Age of Heroes. Humans were uniquely prepared to recover and build anew, which is precisely what happened. Now humanity numbers more than one billion souls roaming the surface of the world, with millions more residing beneath its lands and waters. Twenty-five major ethnic groups each inhabit a significant human homeland, with countless minor ethnicities residing in small enclaves or dispersed among other populations.
HEGEMONS OF THE MODERN ERA
At present, the three largest and most powerful governments in the world are each empires of predominantly human residents ruled by a human dynasty. Settled lands beyond their borders also tend to be governed by some sort human leadership. Half of the fifty-two tongues spoken by more than one million living people are human languages. The surface of the world sees non-human regimes limited to independent city-states, isolated strongholds, loose federations, and small monarchies. Humans dominate key positions in every metropolis above ground. Human authorities collect taxes or tributes from most elven and halfling communities on their lands. Some also tax dwarven trading posts on the surface.
Many other non-human communities remain small, surrounded by untamed wilderness. Wherever thriving agriculture is secured from monstrous dangers, human aristocrats are likely to show an interest. With treasuries that would be the envy of any dragon and armies that could hunt them, mighty human regimes can be difficult to resist. Human immigrants soon start to fill all sorts of roles, from farmhands to tax collectors, after annexation of a territory. Avoiding this form of assimilation usually requires some sort of special relationship with the aristocracy or some sort of special concealment from outsiders. Some human governments make autonomous zones of non-human communities, encouraging indigenous authorities to preserve traditional ways of life.
Major Ethnic Groups by Dominions
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W
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| GREATER NORLAND | OLD SILVANIA | TRUSCAN EMPIRE | SERPIAN EMPIRE | THE ORIENT | E
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| Norish | Sylvanian | Truscan | Serpian | Celedinese |
| Darrestygian | Sivelsh | Thracian | Iskreshi | Elatolian |
| Fitch | Albionish | Gallorian | Kohaddic | Ontolonese |
| Lachlandic | Carmatian | Helvetican | Zintu | Xe-Shanese |
| Joryanlander | Tuathon | Maniac | Wabahari | To-Shinese |
| | GREATER NORLAND | GREATER NORLAND | GREATER NORLAND | GREATER NORLAND | GREATER NORLAND | |
Alternative Ethnicities The twenty-five major human ethnic groups have global reputations. Their customs, fashions, and languages are well-studied by appropriate experts everywhere. Most humans and their associates simply identify with one of these ethnicities. Adventurers declining to do so should fit into one of these categories.
• Alien: The Dwarfdeep, the Empire of Shadows, and the Imperium Maris are each as culturally sophisticated as any human homeland. Many persons raised in these societies will know protocols, styles, and traditions that seem particularly strange to people of the surface. The same is often true for visitors from other planes of existence.
• Blended: Some immigrants enthusastically embrace their new homeland. The upbringing of some children reflects a mixed heritage. Either sort of fusion tends to create ethnic ambiguity. These people develop personal styles and vocal accents derived from at least two sources. They have an incomplete grasp of multiple major human cultures.
• Cosmopolitan: These global citizens are familiar with the arts, customs, and luxuries of many lands. They speak each known language as if it were their native tongue. They have a knack for intuiting the appropriate behavior and garb for formal events. Extensive travel and contact with social elites makes it easy to investigate their pasts.
• Obscure: Some people were raised in a secretive culture known to few outsiders. Some deliberately mask or reject any ethnic upbringing. Both sorts of individuals do not engage in any recognizable displays of tradition. Their voices sound peculiar and foreign to almost all ears. Extensive surveillance reveals little about their origins.
• Primitive: The world is home to many thousands of independent tribes subsisting on scarce resources. The histories of these peoples are limited to oral traditions and weathered monuments. They rarely venture beyond one small village or nomadic range. Everything from their dining habits to their conversational manner reflects years of rough living.
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UNIVERSAL STANDARDS
From boardwalks to buildings, most construction is completed with expectations of human use. Taller races often must lower their heads in doorways. Heavier races sometimes prove more than a seat or railing can bear. Shorter races routinely have problems accessing shelves. Wee folk require assistance to move any hefty furniture. Proper cities above the surface are unlikely to feature construction that would inconvenience a healthy human. Likewise, equipment and uniforms are typically designed for persons of human stature. Most tools and mills are also built for human use. Artisans can make appropriate alterations, yet it is often non-humans who must adapt to utilize the products of human labor.
The modern world is built for human access in the social sense as well as the physical. Most humans with a metropolitan upbringing were welcome at thousands of different churches, guilds, markets, offices, and schools all within walking distance of their homes. Even humans from the smallest communities could visit these great cities or experience outreach from their institutions. Almost all educational and occupational opportunities are open to these people. Many human adventurers are the product of extraordinary training programs. Others supplement standard academic, artistic, economic, military, or religious endeavors with extracurricular activities. All embark on their first real quests with multiple talents beyond the basics of their class.
FLEXIBLE AND FRUITFUL
Every human ethnic group has its own traditions extolling specific attributes and values. Heroes well-endowed with those attributes are favored as role models in story and song. The most esteemed institutions offer advanced training in related areas. Thus there is some underlying substance to ethnic reputations for particular aptitudes. Yet all physiological variations among major ethnic groups are purely cosmetic. Each new generation features precisely the same range of potential abilities as every other major ethnicity. Sages and well-travelled persons do not dispute this. Even so, ethnic prejudices remain widespread in the least tolerant societies. No major homeland is so egalitarian as to prevent isolated outcroppings of bigotry.
Races are not ethnicities. Ethnicities are not races. Many non-humans have an apparent ethnic identity. Humans normally do. For some this is purely a function of heritage. Others choose to adopt a specific culture as their own. Ethnicity can influence everything from which side of a path one prefers to walk on to what tableware is thought appropriate at a formal dinner. Astute observers may be able to assess ethnicity from details like styles of garb or vocal accents. Ethnic background can determine the artforms, games, religions, tactics, and weaponry most familiar to an individual. Yet every large ethnic group contains plenty of outliers including a fringe of people pointedly living contrary to the cultural mainstream.
Ethnicity provides characters with contexts and probabilities rather than limitations on personal choices. Most humans orient those choices around securing prosperity for themselves and subsequent generations. Some human aristocrats covet land for its own sake, while others focus on the wealth and power their holdings produce. Many humans idealize life in towns and small cities where street after street is lined with individual family homes featuring their own gardens. Some even make a habit of caring for lawns that only produce inedible grass. A typical human concept of success involves a secure position in a community with reliable and redundant food supplies.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Humans ↑ → Kobolds ← ↓ Lizardfolk ↓
| KOBOLD TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Dexterity score increases by 2. Your Charisma score increases by 1. Your Strength score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Actively breeding female kobolds will lay 2-12 viable eggs per year. Hatchlings emerge roughly four months later and may be fully grown by the age of 2. Yet some manage to live more than 200 years.
Alignment: Kobolds pair the ambitions of elder wyrms with the frustrations of inhabiting weak little bodies. Strong leadership can motivate kobolds to support almost any cause. Yet in large groups their cravings often drive them to prey upon outsiders in emphatically evil ways.
Size: Most kobolds are between 2' and 3' tall while weighing between 20 and 30 pounds. Your size is small.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Sunlight Sensitivity: You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Perception checks when you or your target is in direct sunlight.
Monstrous Appearance: You cannot help but look dangerous through the eyes of most modern civilians. Some authorities may mistreat you, and some merchants may decline your business.
Modest Metabolism: You only require one-fifth the amount of food and water of larger people. You gain all the benefits of a full day's rations from these reduced quantities.
Meek Mentality: You have disadvantage on Intimidation checks.
Draconic Ancestry: Choose a damage type from among acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison. You have resistance to that damage type. You are immune to the Frightful Presence of dragons. You are immune to lycanthropy.
Startling Snarl: You can use your bonus action to menace one creature within 5 feet. One of your allies gains advantage on attacks against the menaced creature until the start of your next turn or you become separated from that creature by more than 5 feet.
Stonecutting: when you make an ability check related to the creation or examination of stonework, you are both proficient and expert for purposes of that task, adding double your proficiency bonus to the check.
Wily Wanderings: You have advantage on all ability checks related to avoiding or disarming any known traps you can see. This trait does not apply to perceiving or otherwise detecting traps.
Flouncing Forager: You are proficient in the Acrobatics and Survival skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Draconic as well as two other languages of your choice.
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Kobolds Kobolds are the result of magical sabotage taken to global proportions. The original Wyrmplague was developed by the Imperium Arcanum to curse every dragon in the world with a deadly affliction. A cunning countermeasure twisted that ritual into afflicting the world with more adult dragons than it could possibly sustain. Many centuries later, a council of besieged elder wyrms attempted to duplicate this result. Instead of repopulating dragonkind, their effort was twisted by Archfey interference to produce many millions of weak little draconic people. Initially regarded as pests, large numbers of these kobolds survived even after dragons and elves alike grew tired of hunting them.
To the extent that they operate as modern bandits, many kobolds continue to be treated as pests. They tend to form exclusive colonies in dark places, venturing out at night to hunt and raid as opportunities permit. Given robust supplies, kobolds sometimes wall off huge group lairs to focus entirely on hatching a fierce brood. This results in a rush of hungry mouths when excavation opens a path back to the surface. Though vicious in large numbers, solitary kobolds often seem downright friendly. Kobold parents are entirely capable of raising small families within diverse and peaceful communities. Some integrate smoothly into dwarven or human societies. They demand little as loyal servants or sidekicks to capable protectors.
SEEKERS OF THE ORIGINAL SPARK
Individual kobolds generally avoid powerful beings. Yet both dragons and wizards are endlessly fascinating to these people. They may brave uncomfortable daylight to behold an exhibition of magical power or attend a lecture delivered by a sagacious wizard. Arcane studies and spellcasting abilities are highly prized among kobolds. Though some have a natural aptitude for sorcery, they lack the driving hunger and deadly breath weapon associated with dragons. Kobolds often feel both admiration and awe for dragonborn. Those feelings are even more intense regarding dragons themselves. Many dragons make room for small kobold communities in their lairs since the latter do not smell like food and they are otherwise agreeable thralls.
Kobolds are also respectful of anyone they observe casting an extremely powerful spell. Kobold parents often emphasize the importance of arcane lore, but they rarely provide advanced education in that area. Kobolds feel triumphant after performing any magic that spreads destruction throughout an area. The most ambitious kobolds dream of transforming into dragons, fighting and flying as their ancient ancestors did. The most accomplished gain the ability to do this on a daily basis. Such living legends contrast dramaticaly with ordinary kobolds making their way in a world of more formidable folk. Some kobolds are compulsively apologetic in human company. They may rarely stray from the side of a taller and more imposing defender.
THE BELLY OF THE BEAST
A kobold breeding cavern enables these humble individuals to become part of a mighty collective. Fire and smoke mark the start of a process, preserving meat for long term storage while roving bands continue to gather supplies. Then the group all but seals themselves off from the outside world. Kobolds are instinctively hostile to intruders in these communal hatcheries. Interracial invitations are unheard of, yet few others would choose to socialize in such an environment. Various pickling and tanning efforts produce a pervasive funk. Abundance eventually gives way to tight rationing with curious hatchlings underfoot in every chamber and nook. A critical tipping point triggers the transformation of a simple ventilation shaft into a gaping exit tunnel.
All this produces an eruption of raw hunger. A swarming kobold brood can quickly devastate nearby crops, herds, and storehouses. Even fallen people may be devoured in the thick of these rampages. Such troubling events cause most human regimes as well as leaders in the Dwarfdeep and the Empire of Shadows to eradicate any known independent kobold communities. Despite all this, kobolds assimilating into other populations are rarely subject to severe hostility. Individuals often seem harmless under close scrutiny. Most kobolds are quick to accommodate others with an eye toward building friendships or preserving harmony. They typically make an effort to become well-spoken and well-attired prior to entering any mixed race social situation.
NERVOUS AND NIMBLE
Large gatherings of kobolds feature a distinctive air of unease. Only a little provocation is required to see a crowd of unsupervised kobolds suddenly forcing all others from their ranks. What some sages describe as “gregarious behavior” does not seem so to the people cast out during an escalating frenzy. This usually leads to seizure of all nearby food and the search for a suitable breeding cave. Kobolds born into one of these crowded caves sport bold black, blue, green, red, or white scales while supporting their kin through both banditry and hunting. Adventurers from gregarious broods typically find a place in civilization only after surviving extermination efforts or parting ways with a gang of aggressive peers.
Most kobold adventurers hail from a more conventional background, marked by slate gray scales featuring only subtle chromatic highlights. Kobolds are only surpassed by dwarves when it comes to natural ability at carving tunnels and chambers from solid rock. Many kobolds make names for themselves as companions supporting legendary heroes or villains. Some exceptional individuals are strong enough leaders to maintain discipline in a kobold military unit. Kobold entertainers are most renowned for comic performances, though some favor serious drama or music. The most successful kobolds pursue some form of spellcasting until they gain the power to live out their greatest ambitions.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Kobolds ↑ → Lizardfolk ← ↓ Minotaurs ↓
| LIZARDFOLK TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Constitution and Wisdom scores each increase by 2. Your Strength score increases by 1. Your Charisma score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: After gestating around nine months in an external egg, lizardfolk hatch ready to hunt tiny creatures. Most mature completely by their late teens. Few lizardfolk live beyond 100 without magical assistance.
Alignment: Lizardfolk sometimes struggle to understand moral conflicts. They are famously dispassionate about these and other matters. Lizardfolk who do not tend toward neutrality out of indifference may still do so out of regard for balance and diversity as essential to natural processes.
Size: Most lizardfolk stand around 6' tall while weighing between 140 and 260 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed of 30 feet.
Monstrous Appearance: You cannot help but look dangerous through the eyes of most modern civilians. Some authorities may mistreat you, and some merchants may decline your business.
Rugged Hide: While you are wearing no armor apart from a helm and/or shield, your Armor Class increases by 3. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed. You are immune to lycanthropy.
Savage Chomp: If you are not muzzled, your bite can deliver a natural weapon melee attack that does piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. When you take the Attack action, your bite may be substituted for one melee attack. You may instead bite by following an Attack action with a bonus action, dealing only 1d6 piercing damage on a hit. After you perform a bite attack, you cannot do so again until the start of your next turn.
Instant Ingestion: When your bite attack kills a creature that is neither construct, elemental, nor undead; you may gain temporary hit points equal to the damage inflicted by that attack. After you benefit from an Instant Ingestion, you cannot do so again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
Almost Amphibious: You can go for 15 minutes without breathing at all before time starts on the normal breath holding process for you.
Fulsome Forager: You are proficient in the Nature and Survival skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Saurian as well as one other language of your choice.
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Lizardfolk Lizardfolk are the unfinished work of several Dead Gods led by Quetzalcoatl. Those deities inspired teams of legendary human spellcasters to reshape and uplift wild creatures from the Veiled Lands. Their aim was to cultivate new populations of worshippers. Striving for a world of forty-seven adventuring races, this plan required more land and more time than the schemes of rivals destined for places in the Fivesquare Pantheon. Wondrous sites employed to enlighten large numbers of primal beasts were devastated in direct combat between deities. After Quetzalcoatl and his associates were forced to abandon this world, the Veiled Lands were promptly blanketed by oppressive heat and thick fog.
Lizardfolk alone had the aquatic adaptations to survive long migrations aboard primitive watercraft. During the Age of Heroes both Mainland and the Orient saw lizardfolk settling into swamps and other uncontested lands along southern coastlines. With their own language and a culture shaped by apocalyptic exodus, lizardfolk proliferated with minimal conflict. Their small communities now thrive in many places where periodic flooding limits human agricultural and residential development. Groups of lizardfolk typically keep to themselves, frequently travelling off roads rather than along them. Yet there are plenty of outliers individually pursuing prominent places in modern societies.
CHILDREN OF CALAMITY
Many explorers only know lizardfolk from encounters with simple tribes inhabiting wild places. Such contacts reinforce the stereotype that these people are uneducated if not also dangerous. Some lizardfolk communities engage in little construction or economic development so that emergency relocation is relatively painless. Others stock secure trading posts with bountiful harvests of fish and waterfowl as well as rare herbs. Lizardfolk can be capable farmers, though few of their kind ever gain control of consistently dry land. Most are content to feed and shelter their families, then relax by quietly observing nearby wilderness. Lizardfolk normally learn to read Saurian, though few tribal settlements feature a significant library in that or any other language.
Lizardfolk parents traditionally emphasize the importance of self-sufficiency. Practice and study among lizardfolk typically involves the cultivation of foraging and hunting skills. Even their newborns are capable of delivering vicious bites. Some lizardfolk make a habit of starting their days by devouring a live bird, fish, or rodent. These intensely invigorating meals stimulate metabolism that sometimes runs slow. Yet lizardfolk owe their continued existence to that range of states. They can keep moving or even fighting for a long while without drawing a single breath. This paired with an aptitude for swimming enabled their ancestors to cling to life during desperate oceanic voyages away from their lost homeland.
AT ONE WITH NATURE
The Old Faith is deeply respected by many lizardfolk. It is only logical to appreciate that all sustenance originates in nature. Elevating that understanding to reverence and working to promote ecological sustainability is a sound strategy to stave off starvation. Most lizardfolk need no equipment to act as capable hunters. Healthy adults possess physical advantages on par with wearing a chain shirt while wielding a shortsword. Tribal warriors augment these capabilities with shields and throwing sprears. Their attunement to the natural world relies on extensive lore as much as any exercises. Some lizardfolk excel in academic settings. Many more thrive as explorers, guides, or hunters curious to learn more about exotic natural habitats.
Among their own kind, lizardfolk rarely accumulate many personal possessions. Most adults only carry some small decorative adornments along with a harness for securing tools and weapons. These simple items are adapted for swimming, though few lizardfolk artisans are capable of the sophisticated waterproofing techniques associated with triton armorers and outfitters. When near water, lizardfolk do not hesitate to dive away from trouble or take stock of a situation while mostly submerged. They are also comfortable wearing earth or vegetation for concealment, provided that a swim or a thorough wash will be available later. Most lizardfolk have intense respect for the land, but they also prefer to be clean while taking their rest.
| Scaled Races Dragonborn, kobolds, and lizardfolk do not see each other as monstrous. Attraction may even spark between individuals of different reptillian races. All three reproduce by means of external eggs. Though biologically compatible, these peoples are not often psychologically compatible. Most dragonborn see kobolds as their inferiors, and few kobolds are assertive enough to hold up a contrary position. Both dragonborn and kobolds consider lizardfolk unimaginative and uninspiring. Though often indifferent to personal criticisms, lizardfolk tend to form families based on purely practical considerations. Mixed race parentage is extremely rare among all three of the scaled races. |
COLD AND CALCULATING
Some theologists once claimed lizardfolk were a soulless people. Contacts with deceased lizardfolk inhabiting various afterlife realms repudiate that misguided notion. From the perspective of other scaled races, what lizardfolk lack is a draconic intensity. Even humans often see lizardfolk as dispassionate if not also unambitious. Gold, magic, weapons – lizardfolk typically value material things to the degree each satisfies needs rather than whimsies. Lizardfolk also look at political and spiritual affiliations in practical terms. Those who find faith often do so only after associating with a congregation for economic or social reasons. Religious conversions may be earnest and heartfelt, but even lizardfolk clergy tend to be moderate relative to their peers.
These people are thick-skinned in every sense. Their humorless demeanors are rarely rattled by insults, and their scaly hide serves as natural armor. Those scales may be just about any shade of green or brown. Crocodilian faces make it possible for lizardfolk to peer above a waterline with minimal exposure. Their long muscular tails are not prehensile, but they are useful while swimming. Lizardfolk are known more for avoiding bold moral stances than taking them. The most accomplished lizardfolk are aggressive warriors or Old Faith spellcasters committed to the protection of a remote tribe and the wilderness it inhabits. Often these figures are seen as heroes by the people they defend while unwelcome outsiders see them as villains.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Lizardfolk ↑ → Minotaurs ← ↓ Nymphs ↓
| MINOTAUR TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Strength and Constitution scores each increase by 2. Your Intelligence score increases by 1. Your Dexterity score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Young minotaurs spend much of their time feeding, and most are fully mature by the age of 8. At this point they become eager to test their strength against friend and foe alike. Few minotaurs live beyond the age of 60.
Alignment: Minotaurs strive for control within any order meant to link privilege with power. Contempt for weakness draws many minotaurs toward the slave trade. Serving stronger beings feels as right to them as dominating inferiors. A typical minotaur is emphatically lawful evil.
Size: Most minotaurs are between 6' and 7' tall while weighing between 220 and 340 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Monstrous Appearance: You cannot help but look dangerous through the eyes of most modern civilians. Some authorities may mistreat you, and some merchants may decline your business.
Massive Might: For purposes of carrying capacity as well as dragging, pulling, and pushing things; you count as one size larger than your current physical form.
Herbivorous Metabolism: You cannot derive sustenance from meat. Though vegetarian rations typically do not carry additional cost or weight, you cannot consume food procured through hunting, fishing, or butchering fallen foes (unless those foes were of the fungus, ooze, or plant type.)
Maze Dweller: You have advantage on all ability checks related to navigating complex branching pathways. This includes caverns, tunnels, huge buildings, and urban neighborhoods as well as traditional mazes. You are immune to the maze spell.
Brazenly Bullheaded: You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or paralyzed.
Wicked Horns: If you are able to walk, your horns can deliver a natural weapon melee attack that does piercing damage equal to 1d8 + your Strength modifier. When you take the Attack action, your horn gouge may be substituted for one melee attack. You may instead gore by following an Attack action with a bonus action, dealing only 1d8 piercing damage on a hit. After you perform a gore attack, you cannot do so again until the start of your next turn.
Goring Charge: If you move at least 10 feet closer to a target then hit it with a goring attack on the same turn, you may inflict an additional 2d8 piercing damage. This damage increases to 3d8 at 6th level, 4d8 at 11th level, and 5d8 at 16th level. If that target is a creature no more than one size larger than you, it must attempt a Strength saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. Failure allows you to push that creature up to 10 feet away and knock it prone. After you perform a Goring Charge, you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
Domineering Authority: You are proficient in the Athletics and Intimidation skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Infernal as well as two other languages of your choice.
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Minotaurs The Dead God Poseidon once granted full catches to fishing nets and safe passage to trading vessels wherever his worship was pleasing to hear. Thracian rulers of seaside city-states became fabulously wealthy from these blessings. Awash in gold and earthly power, one of their ancient kings promoted his own veneration until his church drew more congregants and tithes than all of Poseidon's temples. The slighted sea god united his remaining followers to spread a fateful curse over the offending city. So long as that vainglorious king lived, children of his people would inherit the traits of a bull rather than their fathers. This continued until minotaur tyrants wielded absolute authority over the city.
Despised by most humans throughout the Age of Heroes, minotaurs took refuge underground. The Empire of Shadows always had work for sufficiently brutal overseers. Minotaurs also proved valuable for a unique ability to navigate the confounding caverns of the Dread Zone. Their global proliferation was a consequence of minotaur colonies spread across the world beneath the Dwarfdeep. Minotaurs of the surface sometimes dominate larger communities, but they rarely surpass two hundred of their own kind living in close proximity. Where slavery is illegal, some minotaurs preside over labor crews enduring harsh conditions for minimal compensation. In other lands, many minotaurs will be employed as field bosses at farms and work camps.
CHILDREN OF ARROGANCE
The creation of minotaurs was steeped in hubris. Minotaurs are smart enough to yield when confronted by more powerful beings, but a show of force may be required to win their respect. Minotaurs find themselves constantly assessing the capabilities of potential peers. Any who do not accept their leadership can expect a challenge for that role. Minotaurs tend to demand aristocratic treatment from any beings clearly less formidable. Communities with substantial minotaur populations see rigid social hierarchies forming based on the outcomes of direct clashes ranging from jocular wrestling to violent duels. Many minotaurs do not think twice about abrupt acts of violence to establish control amidst uncertainty.
This extreme attitude is backed up with considerable capability. What their bodies lack in grace is balanced with brute force and toughness. Both male and female minotaurs sport horns that can be used as deadly weapons. Supported by the momentum of these massive people in motion, the horns of rampaging minotaurs have claimed many lives before their victims could attempt any retaliation. Yet minotaurs do not relish blood and gore the way they delight in coercion. They also cannot stomach fish or meat. Their travelling rations typically consist of bread, cheese, and nuts; while a minotaur's feast is likely to see a parade of fresh greens and steamed vegetables leading up to a treat made from sweet fruits.
NATURAL BULLIES
Minotaur children are often put to work at a young age. Even particularly selfless parents will demand rigor in exercise and study. Young minotaurs make competitions out of almost any running, jumping, or climbing opportunity. A traditional rite of passage sees juvenile minotaurs abandoned alone at the heart of an unfamiliar underground complex. Successfully backtracking to the entrance is rewarded with a measure of personal autonomy. Most adult minotaurs are keen to remain part of a rigid social structure directed by one individual no others dare defy. Aspiring to rise within that structure is common, though minotaurs typically channel these aspirations into self-improvement and self-promotion rather than long termm efforts to weaken their rivals.
As much as they take advantage of subordinates, minotaurs can also be strangely nurturing. Seeing submissive workers well-fed and well-rested pleases them no less than beating and starving troublemakers. They respect the pursuit of personal growth even among beings they regard as inferior. Minotaurs are often happy to help others obtain useful tools or training. These apparent acts of kindness serve to increase the productivity of people under their purview. From guards to gardeners, minotaurs take pride in the accomplishments of anyone acting on their orders. They also feel outrage at the first hints of disrespect. Few restrain themselves from spontaneously expressing that outrage.
TENACIOUS AND TERRIFYING
With extremely muscular human-like anatomy between a bovine head and hindquarters, minotaurs are accustomed to being the most ferocious figures in mixed company. Their leg and head fur is typically a matching shade of black or brown, though some minotaurs sport blotchy patterns of black and white. Their wide-set eyes are so dark it can be difficult to assess just where a minotaur is directing its gaze. Yet their lumbering motions make it easy to determine where a minotaur is directing personal aggression. While other races bow their heads to show respect, minotaurs do so in preparation for an attack. Even if their authoritarian traditions did not stress the importance of an imposing appearance, minotaurs would be naturally formidable figures in both body and mind.
That mental acuity allows some minotaurs to thrive as practicing wizards. In battle, minotaur magi are unsurpassed at maintaining critical spells despite damage or distraction. Yet most minotaur adventurers are some sort of warrior. Hefty axes or polearms only serve to make these mighty people even more dangerous. Some are employed as executioners, allowing human hands to stay clean in the administration of death warrants. Both hard-hearted and well-disciplined, minotaur mercenary companies command high fees in exchange for duties ordinary forces might hesitate to perform. Well-known minotaurs are generally cruel authority figures, though actions that seem villainous to the oppressed can seem heroic from the perspective of oppressors.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Minotaurs ↑ → Nymphs ← ↓ Orcs ↓
| NYMPH TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Dexterity and Charisma scores each increase by 2. Your Intelligence score increases by 1. Your Strength score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: As they mature beyond their teens, most nymphs minimize the tedium that ages them. Some conclude many centuries of adventures with a rite of reincarnation. Though forever young on the surface, the most sedentary may find their health failing after a single century.
Alignment: Nymphs tend to be irreverent and unpredictable yet generally helpful. Some promote artistry in urban settings and some nymphs collaborate with the custodians of scenic wilderness locations. Individuals are typically chaotic good, though no nymph aspires to be regarded as typical.
Size: Most nymphs are between 5' and 6' tall while weighing between 90 and 180 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Exotic Appearance: Some people are especially drawn to individuals of your kind. Under suitable circumstances, authorities and merchants may be induced to show favoratism.
Elusive Evasion: Sneaking does not cost additional movement for you. You can take the Hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.
Terpsichorean Tactics: You may substitute your Charisma modifier in place of your Dexterity modifier when determining your Armor Class.
Innate Spellcasting: You know the Prestidigitation cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Charm Person spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Misty Step spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Magic Resistance: You have advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Artistic Aptitude: You are proficient with the artisan's tool of your choice from among calligraphers' supplies, jewelers' tools, leatherworkers' tools, painters' tools, potters' tools, or weavers' tools.
Winsome Presence: You are proficient in the Performance and Persuasion skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Sylvan as well as three other languages of your choice.
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Nymphs The bloodlines of some nymphs trace back to different planes of existence. Others originate with an ancestor indigenous to this world. Both genealogies are linked to a wondrous phenomenon. The spontaneous creation of a nymph is marked by a sudden increase in the growth of vibrant flowers throughout a spectacularly scenic natural site. Some nymphs live centuries near these inspiring vistas, always finding something new to behold as local life turns with the seasons. Others seek places in civilization, eager to appreciate artistic achievements. Even in the wild, nymphs hone their creative abilities by crafting elegant objects and decorating local fixtures they find personally meaningful.
Nymphs among other peoples risk objectification. These exclusively female fey sometimes attract problematic suitors. Though they excel at escaping confinement and other dangers, nymphs do not enjoy fleeing and hiding unless these are elements of a consensual game or a cunning plan. Fortunately, humans and the other adventuring races tend to hold nymphs in high regard. Only the most officious or secretive gatherings do not welcome unfamiliar nymphs as guests. Nymphs easily find privileged treatment and special opportunities among collaborators in the performing arts. Though underestimated in many arenas, some nymphs thrive by cultivating networks of influential allies then working indirectly toward their personal goals.
DAUGHTERS OF PARADISE
At first glance nymphs appear to be female wood elves with an ethnic heritage drawn from the location of their bloodline's origin. Unnatural allure often prompts a second look. Most nymphs do not have a visible halo. Yet they emanate an unmistakable mystique all the same. Breezes tend to create picturesque spectacles while playing through their garb and hair. Each nymph's scent is a blend of earthy and floral notes encountered during childhood. This subtle perfume is not overpowering up close, but it can leave lingering traces after extended contact. When a nymph makes a gift from an article of her own clothing, the true offering is the sample of her personal fragrance upon it.
Fully grown nymphs are aware of the effects their presence can have on others. Most try to retain their composure no matter how harrowing the circumstances. Some nymphs dance with such frequency and passion they develop artful evasions to employ when under attack. Many mature nymphs know a magical technique for stripping an adversary of hostile intentions. Those even more seasoned can disperse their own bodies, slipping restraints and flowing right through the smallest openings in a door or wall. Nymphs are often able to escape abuse without calling on allies. This can make them downright fearless as they challenge social conventions or develop rivalries with dangerous authority figures.
This courage even in the face of hostility sees nymphs favoring original ideas presented in ways that push boundaries. They tend to be less interested in art emulating old standards. Some nymphs are serial inspirations – helping one creative individual or group to flourish consistently before moving on in search of another promising talent to be cultivated into something greater. Nymph social ties endure longest when their own need for creative inspiration is met with a steady stream of novelties. Nymphs only age when they are bored. Some settle into decidedly ordinary lives, but this act of personal sacrifice leaves graying nymphs with a deep desire for disruptive experiences outside their daily routines.
NATURAL BEAUTIES
Even in unlikely circumstances nymphs seem well-attired and well-groomed. Their daughters are traditionally schooled in magic that promptly restores stained or rumpled items to pristine condition. These teachings also explore the nuances of cosmetics and fashion, leaving each adult nymph with a keen understanding of techniques that flatter her features. Urban nymphs often incorporate fresh flowers into their clothing and accessories. Similarly, nymphs inhabiting wilderness areas may blend pieces of metal jewelry or modern garb into their primitive wardrobes. Whatever choices they make seem instinctively informed by refined aesthetic sensibilities.
This interest in beautification unifies an otherwise diverse people. While some nymphs are social butterflies roaming from festivity to festivity, others are reclusive figures focused on a singular source of inspiration. Nymphs in wild places often join eclectic communities featuring atomies, awakened animals, druids, and treants united in defense of an enchanted ecosystem. These nymphs may communicate on behalf of the others, expressing approval to respectful visitors while issuing warnings to any destructive intruders. Such parleys allow the true strength of the land to remain hidden until there is no other way to preserve treasured wilderness.
Gendered Races Femininity is essential to the nature of nymphs, and masculinity is essential to the nature of satyrs. Magic allows persons of other adventuring races to flawlessly impersonate or physically adopt a different gender. This is not so for nymphs and satyrs because specific gender identities are central to their existence.
Nymphs remain able to magically resemble or become males of other races, and satyrs can likewise adopt non-satyr female forms. Individuals of other races can transform into either nymphs or satyrs, but the former is sure to be female and the latter sure to be male. All of this is also bound by the particulars of items, locations, or spells enabling these alterations. |
GLAMOROUS AND GRACEFUL
Many nymphs work magic well beyond the innate abilities common among their kind. Their aptitudes apply to the contractual, intellectual, musical, and visceral styles of spellcasting. Nymphs also tend to be eloquent speakers and gifted singers. Travelling undisguised in populated areas can turn heads and stimulate chatter. This makes well-known nymphs easy to investigate and track. Yet it also means any nymph performing among buskers is likely to draw a larger and more supportive crowd. Nymph actresses are in particular demand since featuring them on stage can boost revenue. Aristocrats and other celebrities may seek public association with a nymph as a matter of prestige.
Unfortunately for their admirers, urban nymphs are extremely rare. Spontaneously created nymphs almost never stray long from their original locale. Though compatible with most other adventuring races, nymphs can only be impregnated under a golden moon. Their long lives seldom lead to large families. Sisters and cousins cohere into small communities curating the best views of the most impressive natural wonders. Nymph villains are a tiny portion of a small population. Most nymphs are inclined toward helpful behaviors, and storytellers tend to lavish poetic praise on these beguiling incarnations of nature's splendor.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Nymphs ↑ → Orcs ← ↓ Pixies ↓
| ORC TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Strength and Constitution scores each increase by 2. Your Wisdom score increases by 1. Your Intelligence score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Designed to mature quickly, even the youngest orcs tend to play rough. Most celebrate adulthood at the age of 9 as proven killers. Even peaceful circumstances see few orcs living beyond the age of 50 without magical assistance.
Alignment: Orcs bear thousands of generations of resentent for the transformation and exploitation of their ancestors. Being generally chaotic evil, large orcish armies distress all nearby communities. Yet orcs treasure freedom. Orcs typically respect healthy kin with different lifestyles and moral beliefs.
Size: Most orcs stand around 6' tall while weighing between 220 and 300 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Monstrous Appearance: You cannot help but look dangerous through the eyes of most modern civilians. Some authorities may mistreat you, and some merchants may decline your business.
Massive Might: For purposes of carrying capacity as well as dragging, pulling, and pushing things; you count as one size larger than your current physical form.
Stentorian Speaker: You have advantage on all ability checks to call out across long distances or shout intelligibly over nearby noise and clamor.
Rancorous Rush: You can take the Dash action as a bonus action on any of your turns that also features a melee Attack action. If you do this you must attempt to end your turn within 5 feet of an enemy or the space vacated by an enemy you have attacked during your turn, even if that requires granting opportunity attacks or moving into a hazard. During a Rancorous Rush, you have advantage on the first attack performed against a target you were not adjacent to at the start of your turn.
Savage Attacks: When you roll critical hit with a melee attack, you may double your Strength modifier for purposes of determining the damage of that attack.
Orcish Weapon Training: You are proficient with battleaxes, greataxes, mauls, and warhammers.
Rugged Authority: You are proficient in the Animal Handling and Intimidation skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Orcish as well as one other language of your choice.
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Orcs The ancient Imperium Arcanum punished elven criminals with transformation. The most vile offenders would become trolls, ordinary murderers would become ogres, and elves guilty of lesser offenses were turned into orcs. All of those punishments robbed offenders of their fey blood and its magical properties. Focused elven minds became addled with rage, a rage empowered by the development of hulking frames and rippling musculature. With no hope of successful rebellion against Archfey rulers, many orcs fought with valor in armies deployed to dispatch dragons. Deserters rugged enough to survive on their own could now seek safe havens at cavernous strongholds sheltering communities of triumphant orcs rewarded with freedom.
Orcs who are not already renowned warriors often hunger for the fight that will prove their worth in battle. The Age of Heroes saw the rise of militant orc nations dedicated to religions now long defunct. Warfare among elven, human, and orc forces caused so much ecological harm as to prompt extreme intervention from Silvanus. He established the Holy Sylvan Empire and personally reforested much of Mainland. Legendary orc armies were crushed and scattered after resisting the will of this god. By the start of the Great Consolidation, no majority orc community was more than a hub town deep within a tribal federation. The drive to recapture ancient glories has given rise to a few modern cities of orcs, though none could be described as metropolitan.
CHILDREN OF CONVICTION
Orcs have always endured an association with criminality. Few outsiders welcomed their company during the Age of Heroes. Even today, law-abiding orcs face heightened suspicion during encounters with authority figures in many realms. False accusations force orcs to choose between violent retaliation or leaving the matter unsettled in their minds. Orcs integrate best into societies where it is both honorable and legal to initiate a deadly duel immediately after giving notice of offense. They lack the precision of elves, but orcs charge into battle with a unique blend of speed and fury. Their bellowing voices are well-matched to a naturally elevated level of ferocity. As quick as they can be to start fights, orcs are also quick to finish them.
Once blood is spilled, orcs tend to let questions of right and wrong be settled by victory. Changing the mind of an orc through reasoned argument can be difficult. They respond to more powerful beings making demands from a position of strength. Though selfish by nature, orcs with shared combat experience may forge strong bonds of mutual support and trust. Most orc leaders maintain the loyalty of a formidable inner circle quick to unite in times of danger. Even then, challenges to authority are common. Most orcs have no trouble collaborating with outsiders, exotic animals, or even unholy entities so long as participation in the group remains generally advantageous to its individual members.
DESIGNED FOR WARFARE
Many modern orcs are members of a tribal warband. Quick to accept work as mercenaries, these groups also support themselves with raids on vulnerable communities. Should one of these warbands accumulate enough resources and support, it will attract others to take charge of a proper orc army. Individuals then move freely from tribe to tribe in pursuit of equipment and training opportunities. The most seasoned warriors are welcomed into artillery or cavalry units. Some team up with ferocious beasts or deadly monsters. Tolerating a fluid social dynamic allows allied chiefs to build greater collective capability through specialization. Few orcs are famed for their grasp of lore, but all have a solid understanding of raw power.
Orcs rarely hestitate to attack when they have greater numbers. Their speed and strength deliver overwhelming onslaughts. Yet only their mightiest commanders can order an orc army to stand firm in the face of clearly superior opposition. When faced with likely defeat, orcs often prefer escape over slaughter or surrender. The same augmented fight or flight instincts that helped ancient orc armies minimize losses against hostile dragons now guide orcs in all walks of life. Priestoods dedicated to monstrous deities were once an important part of orc culture as well. Today some orcs find profound inspiration in modern religions, and almost as many practice the Old Faith while supporting animal breeders or hunters.
TEMPERAMENTAL AND TOUGH
Some orcs require frequent reminders to lower their voices, as these people are naturally bombastic when speaking. The loudest orcs are proud of their vocal power. They also see it as a sign of respect to address associates in booming tones, believing softer speech fit only for the ears of children or the infirm. This tendency may explain why orc assassins are rare despite no shortage of orc bandits and orc marauders. Orcs are also capable of military service in racially integrated organizations, though distaste for discipline and rigid command structure makes them rare in the ranks of regular standing armies. Tribal affiliations also tend to be fluid for orcs in urban environments. Orcs there enter in to all manner of trades, criminal as well as legal.
| Alien Ethnicity Public officials do not favor the term “alien” to describe someone affiliated with a major foreign ethnic group. Instead this label applies to people from a sophisticated culture that is not well-understood by many humans. The Dwarfdeep, the Empire of Shadows, and the Imperium Maris each have enormous populations steeped in their own decidedly alien cultures. Individuals with such an ethnic identity are not expected to be well-informed about the rules and traditions governing major human cities. Orcs increasingly identify with this classification as well. The revival of their venerable militant culture has made some people hailing from settlements primarily populated by orcs too urbane to fit the “primitive” classification.
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Orcs are often willing to comply with laws and other rules in the context of respectful requests. More demanding authorities almost always encounter an atmosphere of hostility when confronting orcs. Some insults or threats abruptly trigger the full fury of an orc. They understand that acting quickly and decisively is their best chance for success in combat. The most sensitive orcs can be angered into escalating from ordinary arguments to deadly attacks. The most cunning may seize upon a lesser dispute to eliminate a troublesome target. Unlike half-orcs, orcs are not known for tactical subterfuge. Orcs instead thrive in face-to-face fights such as gladiatorial games, private duels, and trials by combat.
Yet there is more to the lives of orcs than battle. Hungry orcs often do just enough work to solve that problem. Getting excellent results from orc laborers requires attentive oversight paired with generous wages. They rarely excel at artful facades and other fine detail work, but orc builders can be quick to raise stone walls and wooden stockades. Some orcs excel as armorers or smiths. Despite all this, most orc adventurers are known for villainy as members of tribal warbands or modern bandit gangs. Mighty muscles surging under the green or gray skin of any healthy orc demand respect even when their words do not. Upthrust tusks and pointed ears also serve as reminders that these formidable folk are not to be trifled with.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Orcs ↑ → Pixies ← ↓ Satyrs ↓
| PIXIE TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Dexterity score increases by 2. Your Charisma score increases by 1. Your Wisdom score decreases by 2. Your Strength and Constitution scores each decrease by 4.
Lifespan: Juvenile pixies are flightless little fey under the age of 12. Around that time the wings of a pixie naturally unfurl and energize. This event is the start of an uninhibited personal celebration that may continue for several centuries.
Alignment: Pixies are strongly inclined toward chaotic behavior. Their whimsies normally stop short of inflicting bodily harm, but they seldom have qualms about laughs obtained at the expense of others. Most pixies do not pursue either good or evil, instead placing no other value above amusement value.
Size: Most pixies are between 1' and 2' tall while weighing between 10 and 20 pounds. Your size is tiny.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 10 feet, and you have a flying speed of 30 feet.
Wee Folk: You cannot wield weapons unless they have the light property, and you must use both hands to wield a single weapon. You cannot don a shield. Any armor fitting you is one-fifth of its standard weight despite normal cost and function. You can move through the spaces of other creatures and end your turns in the spaces of allied creatures. You can attempt to hide when you are obscured by a creature that is at least two sizes larger than you. You do not need to squeeze when passing through openings or tunnels as small as 1 foot in diameter.
Modest Metabolism: You only require one-fifth the amount of food and water of larger people. You gain all the benefits of a full day's rations from these reduced quantities.
Innate Spellcasting: You know the Mage Hand cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Color Spray spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Invisibility spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Leyforce Legerdemain: Your mage hand is invisible. It can be used to attempt Sleight-of-Hand tricks like picking a pocket or hiding a small object during a thorough search.
Pixie Dust: As an action on your turn, you may sprinkle scintillating motes upon one creature of medium size or smaller as you fly over their space. Doing so grants the recipient a flying speed of 30 for 1d10 minutes. Once you have dispensed Pixie Dust, you may not do so again until you complete a long rest.
Ragdoll Riding Style: You have advantage on all ability checks and saving throws related to guiding a steed or remaining mounted.
Larksome Presence: You are proficient in the Performance and Sleight-of-Hand skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Sylvan as well as two other languages of your choice.
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Pixies After the second Wyrmplague brought kobolds into the world, that rite was never again attempted on such a scale. Nevertheless some venerable dragons continued to wield its power. They shattered individual Imperium Arcanum strongholds by conjuring more tiny fey than those structures could contain. During molts Archfey historians marked as the Age of Atomie Warfare, bastion denizens were instantly crushed in dozens of these atrocities. Yet each tragedy also brought new life into the world. Pixies were created in an attack on the greatest treasure vault of the Archfey. Survivors of this gruesome genesis promptly absconded with all manner of enchanted items and rare components. So began an ongoing tradition of making trouble for authoritarian regimes.
Pixies excel at most forms of subterfuge. Elders amuse children by toying with telekinesis while awakening that faculty in the next generation. Some also become invisible for the entertainment of themselves and others. Pixies are widely known as pranksters and thieves. Many find it difficult to respect the bounds of propriety or property, though few aspire to great accumulations of wealth. Their way of thinking links value to the degree that an object is personally fascinating in the present moment. Among their own kind pixies share all that they have, working in teams to manage hauls beyond the means of any individual. When their communal colonies are not hives of essential activity, they swarm with frivolous festivities.
MISCHIEF ON THE WING
Pixies are graceful in flight, a gift they can briefly share by shedding the fine powder accumulated on their wings during sleep. Those wings sport artful shapes and vivid colors associated with the most eyecatching sorts of butterflies. Their patterns are deeply meaningful to the world's few scholars of pixie heritage. Most pixies believe in free association, departing colonies where they lose interest or become unwelcome. They are likewise itinerant among other peoples, happy to join any intriguing group yet reluctant to remain around potentially hostile companions. Pixies are constantly aware of their vulnerability as tiny creatures. Even so, it remains in their nature to find and push social limits.
This includes limits on how much humor or song others will indulge. In times of distress, pixies often look to break tension with unexpected levity. More relaxed occasions see them pursuing merriment to stave off boredom. Groups of idle pixies can be inclined to plan bizarre spectacles or elaborate heists, sometimes putting those plans into action. Individuals likewise find it inspiring to daydream about remarkable public stunts or brazen burglaries. Most pixies believe it is wrong to inflict bodily harm on innocent strangers. Yet pixies rarely see the harm in tampering with the possessions or reputations of others. Making someone else look foolish is a traditional sort of triumph to a pixie.
PERPETUAL PROVACATEURS
Potentially aggravating behaviors function as a survival strategy for these diminutive folk. Pixies are taught that it is better to discover personal hostility in play than to be surprised by it in a heated moment. Exploring relationships through pranks and taunts allows pixies to learn about the sensitivities of other people. All pixies are born with a profound inner joy. Some discover how to balance their need for play with the needs of their companions. Yet others just keep pushing until a parting of the ways is inevitable. Pixies in human communities often become petty criminals associated with pilferage and vandalism. Even so, few pixies are feared outlaws since they rarely sympathize with avaricious or murderous gangs.
The most disciplined pixies are able to make their own way in an orderly society. Less extreme outliers do well to befriend companions capable of preventing improprieties and placating offended strangers. This sort of guidance can be crucial for pixies looking to integrate into diverse populations. Some pixies are capable of extraordinary works as artists and entertainers. They also make gifted, if unpredictable, spies. It is often a matter of perspective whether a pixie adventurer is regarded as a hero or a villain. Many leave a trail of troubles in their wake, but few leave a trail of dead civilians. Pixies are naturally inclined to flee and hide in the first moments of violent hostilities.
PAINTED AND PLAYFUL
When they are not afraid, pixies delight in drawing attention to themselves. They often dress in brilliant hues, and some cover their entire faces with prismatic pigments. Experienced pixies can even project their passion for color, dazzling onlookers with a burst of luminous magic. These spectacles facilitate unseen escapes and other covert maneuvers. Many pixies also take to painting on a grand scale. Distinctive brush strokes delivered on the move indicate pixie grafitti even when it is not identified by an improbably lofty position. From heretical emblems on church spires to common profanity on a city wall, pixies take particular pride in the placement of especially prominent and enduring graffiti.
It often falls to sprites to clean up damage done by pixies. Another adventuring race arisen from a Wyrmplague event, both are tiny winged peoples with pointed ears. Each is naturally indignant when misidentified as the other. Sprites tend to oppose pixies when possible. This contrast even extends to their arcane preferences. Gifted sprites favor methodical wizardry while pixies prefer to practice uninhibited sorcery. Though some pixies have achieved fame as explorers or spies, most of their adventurers are known for spellcasting and most of those spellcasters are sorcerers. Less ambitious pixies may make their way as couriers or messengers, developing prosperous careers built on an innate equestrian aptitude, so long as their mounts were not acquired by theft.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Pixies ↑ → Satyrs ← ↓ Sprites ↓
| SATYR TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Dexterity and Charisma scores each increase by 2. Your Strength score increases by 1. Your Wisdom score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Satyrs are fully mature by their late teens. Then most take to roaming in search of companionship. Their aging is only unusual for the absence of visible indicators. Few satyrs live beyond 100 without magical assistance.
Alignment: Satyrs delight in challenging restictions and taboos. Many indulge in profanity and public intoxication, making the most of every celebration. This strong chaotic tendency propels many satyrs into cruelty or kindness while nearly all pursue profligate pleasures.
Size: Most satyrs are between 5' and 6' tall while weighing between 110 and 220 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Exotic Appearance: Some people are especially drawn to individuals of your kind. Under suitable circumstances, authorities and merchants may be induced to show favoratism.
Innate Spellcasting: You know the Minor Illusion cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Sleep spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Enthrall spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Magic Resistance: You have advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Jaunty Jumps: You can use your bonus action to add 10 to your speed until the end of your turn while leaping up to 10 feet in any direction without performing a skill check.
Satyric Weapon Training: You are proficient with blowguns, nets, greatclubs, and sabres.
Raucous Repertoire: You are proficient with the pan flute and one other musical instrument of your choice.
Gamesome Presence: You are proficient in the Athletics and Performance skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Sylvan as well as two other languages of your choice.
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Satyrs Few events more deserved celebration than the reforestation of Mainland. Dionysus made an epic effort to herald this achievement while it was underway. His travelling festival continued without interruption for more than a thousand years during the Age of Heroes. Wherever indigenous peoples were too few or too quiet for his tastes, the hedonistic deity extended invitations to other planes of existence. Satyrs responded enthusiastically, eager to revel in the thick of emergent sylvan environments. Abandoned groups of partygoers formed hundreds of independent satyr tribes. Nearly all those tribes lived in harmony with the surrounding woodlands, but their freethinking ways did much to unravel the Holy Sylvan Empire.
Satyrs remain a disruptive influence in many contexts. Their most aggressive communities are full of dangerous renegades known for banditry and kidnapping. The ancient custom of bride abduction is no longer practiced outside a small number of tribes remote enough to elude extermination by armed forces. Even so, a racial reputation for boorish brutality haunts even the most civilized and gentle satyrs. Modern satyr tribes tend to be peaceful, if lively, communities. These exclusively male fey sustain themselves through the lure of copious carousing. Much more than their personal amusement, satyrs savor the intensity of ecstatic social gatherings. They are a welcome sight at the wildest parties and a source of concern to the most staid authorities.
SONS OF DEBAUCHERY
Satyrs are known around the world for music both invigorating and seductive. Some governments go so far as to ban particular performance techniques. The most accomplished satyr drummers can bang out terrifying rhythms to keep hostile forces at bay. Even young satyrs wield magic suitable for creating spectacular sights and sounds. More seasoned individuals also know soporific lullabies and captivating ballads. All this arcane art is chiefly intended to faciliate festivities. Some satyr tribes are itinerant – abruptly relocating in response to hostilities. Others use a blend of magic and militancy to hold their ground, resisting everyone from neighbors with noise complaints to aristocrats intent on annexing tribal lands.
Physical fitness is a high priority for most satyrs. Though the curled horns they sport are not effective natural weaponry, satyrs' muscular hircine legs are well-suited to jumping and climbing. All manner of competitive sports are popular among these jocular people. Though few satyrs covet great wealth, most enjoy making meaningful wagers on interpersonal contests. Some satyrs excel as professional athletes or gladiators. Many more make their way as brewers, entertainers, tavernkeepers, or some fusion of all three. Satyrs unable to enjoy some aspect of their work will rarely do more than needed to fund basic food and shelter along with some form of revelry. Most satyrs would rather sponsor a popular feast than make a lucrative investment.
ARTFULLY ASSERTIVE
Almost every satyr carries at least one pan flute. These signature musical instruments can also perform some bird calls, raise alarms, and tune other sound sources. Young satyrs typically learn at least one more musical instrument while training their voices for song and stage. Satyrs do not possess as much raw vocal power as hobgoblins or orcs, but most speak with a rich full baritone and sing skillfully across an enormous range of pitches. Satyrs in a chorus of fey are comfortable performing almost any part. These graceful and smooth-talking people are intensely appealing in the eyes of some. Yet the relentless confidence of satyrs can create trouble when it gives rise to overconfidence.
Even when sober, satyrs tend to be friendly toward new acquaintances. Spontaneous displays of affection are normal among these passionate people with little regard for protocol. Perspectives can be clouded as intoxicants or magic join the mix. When satyrs are involved, simple misunderstandings can spiral into accusations of severe abuse. Jealous rivals may characterize a healthy romance as something wicked that must be stopped. Well-behaved satyrs and their associates must remain on guard against unfair judgements. Otherwise what begins as a minor dispute could end in exile or worse. Satyrs on the wrong side of law enforcement sometimes join criminal gangs as a means to continue their pleasure-loving lifestyles.
| Fey Choruses Nymphs, pixies, satyrs, and sprites are generally familiar with a collection of musical standards suited to complex and lively group performances. Though getting sprites to harmonize with pixies is never easy, even a partial fey chorus is capable of producing amazing sounds unfamiliar to many cityfolk. Most of these beings are aware of the abilities possessed by the entire quartet of races. Not only can they make full use of their own vocal and magical techniques, but members of a fey chorus naturally create opportunities for their counterparts to dazzle audiences. Despite the great appeal of these groups, most performances take place at obscure wilderness locations where wild animals outnumber people in the audience. |
BLISSFUL AND BOLD
Many satyrs are both charming and nimble enough to make capable smugglers. Their knowledge of alcohol and other drugs is valuable where prohibitions or taxes create lucrative smuggling opportunities. Of course, not all satyrs indulge in mind-altering substances. Yet even those who abstain tend to surround themselves with an atmosphere of merriment. Satyrs well-settled into an area are likely to be familiar with local musical talents, perhaps having collaborated with some of them. Satyr proprietors are known for raucous drinking houses where all welcome customers receive the same service regardless of social standing. These establishments are often associated with controversey or scandal, but they are rarely dull.
The same could be said of many satyrs themselves. Their disregard for formalities and hierarchies sees some satyrs right at home among heretics and rebels. Satyrs may feel pride in the violation of sacred taboos and the facilitation of outlawed vices. Some function as conduits for trade between the criminal underworld and high society. Satyr adventurers often lead complex lives considered heroic by some and villainous by others. The most blatantly villainous satyrs are tribal warriors known to raid frontier villages, seizing supplies as well as people to be forcibly integrated into their tribe. Heroic satyrs are united by little other than enthusiasm for singing or storytelling, curating their own reputations with highly entertaining embellishments.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Satyrs ↑ → Sprites ← ↓ Tieflings ↓
| SPRITE TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Dexterity score increases by 2. Your Intelligence score increases by 1. Your Charisma score decreases by 2. Your Strength and Constitution scores each decrease by 4.
Lifespan: Juvenile sprites cannot fly, and most are raised in magically hidden nurseries. Their early teen years see sprites taking flight from the proverbial nest. So begins what could be centuries of travels meant to make the world a better place.
Alignment: Sprites are naturally inclined to be both helpful and respectful. Some contribute to the defense of minor fey enclaves. Some use their aptitude for detail work to assist artisans or stock their own shops. Though often whimsical or outright annoying, a typical sprite is lawful good.
Size: Most sprites are between 1' and 2' tall while weighing between 10 and 20 pounds. Your size is tiny.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 10 feet, and you have a flying speed of 30 feet.
Wee Folk: You cannot wield weapons unless they have the light property, and you must use both hands to wield a single weapon. You cannot don a shield. Any armor fitting you is one-fifth of its standard weight despite normal cost and function. You can move through the spaces of other creatures and end your turns in the spaces of allied creatures. You can attempt to hide when you are obscured by a creature that is at least two sizes larger than you. You do not need to squeeze when passing through openings or tunnels as small as 1 foot in diameter.
Modest Metabolism: You only require one-fifth the amount of food and water of larger people. You gain all the benefits of a full day's rations from these reduced quantities.
Innate Spellcasting: You know the Mending cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Faerie Fire spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Invisibility spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Inner Illumination: Your body normally emits a glow that spreads dim light in a 10 foot radius. If you take an action to concentrate on shining intensely, you emit bright light in a 20 foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet. If you become invisible or take an action to concentrate on masking your shine, you emit no light at all. Your glow to resumes at the normal level when the applicable concentration or invisibility ends.
Analyze Aura: You can see the type(s) of every visible creature no more than 10 feet away. The first time you touch a creature, it must succeed in a Charisma saving throw against a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence bonus or you will learn its alignment. This trait can be misinformed if a personal aura has been magically altered.
Sedulous Synthesis: You are proficient with the artisan's tool of your choice from among alchemist's supplies, calligraphers' supplies, cartographers' tools, jewellers' tools, leatherworkers' tools, or woodcarvers' tools.
Lightsome Presence: You are proficient in the Arcana and Performance skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Sylvan as well as three other languages of your choice.
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Sprites The Age of Atomie Warfare concluded with its most devastating attack – the destruction of the light fey skycastle where metallic dragons first hatched. It was the greatest monument to ethical purity ever constructed by the Archfey. When that broken bastion plummeted to earth, it released a wave of wild magic with global consequences for firbolgs and fomorians. Yet there was a silver lining to this cataclysm. Swarms of sprites lingered in the clouds where the fallen fortress once floated. Infused with the same altruistic essence that turned some draconic bloodlines benevolent, these little flying fey quickly dedicated themselves to assisting survivors near the impact site.
Sprites were created with a strong impulse to be helpful. Even before their first meal, the original sprites rushed to quench burning villages and settle panicked herds. These actions crystallized compassion for others as the bedrock of sprite traditions. Individual sprites may seek out struggling people in order to build new friendships through selfless acts of assistance. They will not persist in helping the ungrateful, but those who show respect to a sprite may make a loyal ally. This is not always easy to do. Sprites can be compulsive about promoting their own morality or breaking into high-pitched song. A convergence of those tendencies can be especially unwelcome.
SUPPORT ON THE WING
Sprite colonies tend to be elegant treehouse complexes where troubled individuals are promptly given all sorts of friendly favors and thoughtful gifts. Mutual assistance is not only a sprite survival strategy, but a source of deep personal satisfaction to providers. Many human communities welcome sprites for the kindnesses that often follow in their wake. Individual sprites may collaborate with larger artisans, performing meticulous detail work in exchange for a little living space and a fair share of subsequent profits. Sprites are also excellent scholars and scribes, clearly penning literature in its most compact formats. Some sprites excel as archivists or educators, the latter incorporating rhymes or songs into almost every lesson.
Most sprites are smart enough to avoid approaching a hostile monster alone. Their intellect can be less reliable when it comes to judging the right moment to initiate a festive sing-along or a serious lesson about how to be a better person. When their companions show no interest, sprites have been known to conclude a day of adventure by rounding up local urchins to make a brief speech about public safety or personal hygiene. Their counsel generally makes sense, but its unsolicited nature seems bizarre to most recipients. When they are not moralizing aloud, sprites avoid idleness through study and work, including at least one practical trade. Sprites tend to incorporate extraordinary embellishments in their products and packaging.
RELIABLE HELPERS
Any metal items sprites wear or carry often gleam from fresh polish. Signs of wear and tear can rarely be found on any of their trappings. Most sprites are happy to help their companions maintain equipment. Sprites learn to perform flawless repairs on many non-magical items even before they can fly. Though this service is granted freely to friends, most sprites feel it entitles them to deliver a musical interlude or a quick tutorial. It is a habit that can become tiresome, however well-intentioned it might be. Sprites generally feel it is their duty to spread light and joy wherever they can. The former is served by their own intrinsic glow. Sprites are phosphorescent unless they make a conscious effort to conceal their luminous nature.
A sprite who does otherwise to focus on shining brightly will radiate an amber, white, or yellow-green glow as strong as torchlight. Experienced sprites learn how to project this glow onto others, a useful technique for highlighting otherwise invisible targets. Some sprites are themselves capable of becoming invisible. Though an effective means of infiltration, a sprite is more likely to use this ability to covertly assist a prisoner or a slave than to perpetrate espionage or theft. Many sprites are utterly unwilling to associate with evil persons of any sort. Their eyes perceive the auras of nearby beings, and physical contact enables a sprite to probe the moral makeup of a person. A typical sprite is downright hostile to known evil beings and pixies.
SHINING AND SHARP
With similar appearances and origins, pixies and sprites can be misidentified by others, to the consternation of both. Sprites alone effortlessly radiate visible light. Apart from that, these tiny peoples are most easily differentiated by their wings. Sprites take to the sky on clear yet veined membranes similar to the wings of a wasp, while the lepidopteric wings of pixies sport dazzling colors. These pointy-eared aerialists contrast in many ways, including the fact that pixies prefer to practice sorcery while the greatest sprite heroes are well-known wizards. Prominent sages have been known to shapeshift or shrink to comfortably peruse the contents of sprite libraries. Sprites tend to keep their possessions clean and well-organized.
Though sprites are naturally giving, they have little tolerance for theft. Sprites are often charitable and merciful, but only when they believe no trickery is at work. Most sprites carry a dagger they can be quick to draw in defense of innocent people and private property. Sprite warriors can even get their hands around some sorts of swords. Nearly all still practice a distinctive fighting style that relies on flitting about swiftly rather than employing brute force. Though sprites tend to be frail and weak by human standards, the most gifted sprite skirmishers have been known to dispatch gangs of much larger bandits alone, literally whittling away at foes until none remain.
Sprites are generally associated with light fey and pixies with dark fey, yet sprites are considered the more violent of the two. Even unarmed sprite spellcasters will do their best when presented with a chance to fight for good in an unambiguous conflict with evil. Sprite villains are rare and generally the subject of contempt from more conventional sprites. Most sprite colonies feature a small cadre of practicing wizards, and many universities welcome qualified sprite instructors. Despite their enthusiasm for song, sprites can be problematic members of a fey chorus. Some sprites respond badly to criticism, and most become infuriated when mocked. Few things sound so shrill as an offended sprite in the heat of an angry tirade.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Sprites ↑ → Tieflings ← ↓ Tritons ↓
| TIEFLING TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Dexterity and Charisma scores each increase by 2. Your Constitution score increases by 1. Your Wisdom score decreases by 2.
Lifespan: Tieflings traditionally celebrate coming of age in the early teens. Yet physical development continues on into the late teens. Though few tieflings live beyond 100 without magical assistance, those efforts are not unusual for them.
Alignment: The original Tieflings were the scattered ashes of an unholy empire eradicated long ago. Their modern descendants converse with devils in their dreams and behold visions of future conquests. Though some regard these influences as torments, a typical tiefling is lawful evil.
Size: Most tieflings are between 5' and 6' tall while weighing between 100 and 200 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Superior Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Monstrous Appearance: You cannot help but look dangerous through the eyes of most modern civilians. Some authorities may mistreat you, and some merchants may decline your business.
Fiendish Ancestry: You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and you cannot be possessed by magic. You have resistance to fire damage.
Innate Spellcasting: You know the Thaumaturgy cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Hellish Rebuke spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Darkness spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Transmundane Tracing: You have advantage on ability checks to detect secret doors and other hidden entrances.
Hermetic Herald: You have advantage on all ability checks to produce or decipher codes and other secret messages.
Dreamt Weapon Training: You are proficient with arbalests, crossbows, flails, and morningstars.
Secret Servitor: You are proficient in the Deception and Stealth skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Infernal as well as three other languages of your choice.
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Tieflings The Nameless Empire was well-known by name in its own time. That changed when an alliance of hostile deities destroyed the entire homeland under a rain of falling stars. Every acre was reduced to a blackened and dead waste during a single week of
278 A.H. In time, that ground saw charred remnants become food for fungi and worms. They in turn became food for goblinoids spontaneously spawned from residual wickedness in the land itself. Every contemporary political and religious authority censored historical references on the subject, and the entire area became known as the Scarlands. The name of the fallen empire that so offended the gods is now a secret known to few outside occult circles and tieflings.
Every tiefling's ancestors survived divine wrath. Some were diplomats, merchants, or spies far from any major gathering of their own kind. Some became refugees after harrowing escapes from fiery bombardment. Scattered and unsure of their own numbers, tieflings collectively resolved to preserve their secret history. That history saw a nation placed under the thumb of an archdevil, then transformed through systematic exposure to devils' blood. Their sleep brings visions of hellish domains where princely powers plot doom for this world. Some tieflings are troubled by these dreams, determined to defy any entity so hateful. Others take their rests peacefully, wholly content to advance any conspiracies related to devil-worship.
CHILDREN OF TYRANNY
Tieflings were created by a decree both political and unholy. Subjects of a fiendish dictator could be stripped of property and employment options unless they chose citizenship. That choice meant submitting to showers in the blood of gargantuan devils summoned expressly for that purpose. The complete process permanently infused subjects with hellish energies. Children of these citizens had no need of baptismal blood, being born fiends complete with long slender tails, prominent horns, and unholy powers. What once marked tieflings as citizens trusted by a diabolic regime now marks them as suspicious persons in the eyes of many modern authorities. Because some tieflings continue to support infernal powers, nearly all tieflings encounter mistrust.
Governments routinely disrupt any large community of these people. Witch hunters can be downright abusive toward tieflings, especially if they believe a captive can be compelled to share information about pact magic activity in the area. Thus many tieflings have encountered few other families of their own race. Unfamiliar tieflings may make a point of socializing soon after an initial encounter, if only to share information about how to find even more of their kind. In addition to imparting a litany of occult lore, the dreams of tiefling children feature training in the esoteric martial arts of their imperial ancestors. Some bear scars from youthful mishaps testing this knowledge by whirling chained weapons or operating massive arbalests.
Though related to devils, tieflings are not devils themselves. Their connection to malevolent forces is not irresistible. Some tieflings regularly gather in holy places to assist each other in efforts to put aside diabolic temptations. Forming healthy relationships with other mortals and performing satisfying work on a daily basis allows many tieflings to disregard forboding prophecies and ominous signs. Some public officials make this form of religious counseling mandatory for tieflings shown mercy after criminal apprehension. Yet even these supportive groups typically feature a mix of souls sincerely seeking spritual salvation and dishonest villains merely courting public acceptance.
KEEPERS OF SORROWFUL SECRETS
Every tiefling knows of nightmarish planes of existence where apocalyptic armies await opportunities to invade populated worlds. Tieflings seem to find and access channels of unholy magic with a facility comparable to elven awareness of fey energies. Contractual spellcasters intent on deriving personal power from devils often have high regard for tieflings. Individuals tieflings seeking to hide from investigation or persecution may find some covens both capable and quick to provide shelter at secret sites. Occult lore that would not normally be given voice in unfamiliar company might be proudly discussed with a visibly fiendish visitor. Even tieflings with no particular interest in taboo knowledge inevitably accumulate bits and pieces of the stuff.
Tieflings truly devoted to unholy arcana often excel in that pursuit. The influence of devils gives tieflings an extraordinary ability to percieve cryptic patterns in speech as well as writing. These people are natural codebreakers. Layer upon layer of obfuscation remains intuitive to them so long as a the process follows consistent rules. The same gifts also allow tieflings to devise and utilize the most sophisticated ciphers. Many intelligence and trade organizations employ tieflings to better secure confidential communications circulating throughout vast territories. Tiefling agents are adept at corrupting officials, provoking crowds, and spreading disinformation. That only makes them all the more useful from the perspective of spymasters.
“Crusading knights invade the sanctum keep.
“Avengers hurl the fires of righteous rage.
“Revered campaigners strike, intent to reap.
“Constricting walls emerge, enclose, and cage.
“Ordained eclipse hides how to disengage.
“Survival could not be sustained this day.
“Abiding evil thrives, ingesting prey.”
— Rhyme of the Nameless Empire |
GUARDED AND GUILEFUL
Living many generations among human populations tends to see tieflings acquire local skin tones while their hair, horns, and tails adapt likewise. Eye colors also tend to be localized, though subject to alteration at will. Displaying a devilish glow in their eyes is one of many magical effects tieflings normally learn before coming of age. Mature individuals may be warded by hellfire, watching others spontaneously combust for daring to strike a tiefling. Some tieflings fall back on magical darkness to facilitate escape and evasion. Tieflings can be extremists about attention – either forcefully demanding it or doing their best to avoid it. They lack the quiet humility of halflings, but tiefling movements tend to be both silent and surreal.
Tieflings are notoriously indirect. They often take others by surprise either physically or socially. Their correspondence and speech can be cryptic enough to support retroactive reinterpretations. Tiefling villains typically ally with contractual spellcasters even if they do not personally pursue that practice. Many tieflings find it difficult to connect with religious teachings or the beauty of nature. Yet there are more than a few tiefling heroes. From headstrong warriors to fun-loving bards, tieflings inclined to resist infernal urges may also defy stereotypes in terms of personality and interests. Even so, tiefling heroes always risk succumbing to unholy pressures, and there is always hope that tiefling villains may yet be saved from their wicked ways.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Tieflings ↑ → Tritons ← ↓ Typhonians ↓
| TRITON TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Strength, Constitution, and Charisma scores each increase by 1.
Lifespan: Tritons are not physically mature until their early twenties. Extended adolescence is part of a pattern that allows many Tritons to live over 400 years, though the rigors of life on land can reduce that figure considerably.
Alignment: Tritons bring leadership and order to an otherwise chaotic realm. Most are not humble about the civic accomplishments of their people. All tritons on dry land are outliers, though many remain faithful to their ancestors by remaining staunchly lawful good.
Size: Most tritons stand around 6' tall while weighing between 120 and 240 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed of 30 feet.
Thalassic Thirst: You require triple the normal ration of water. You can safely consume salt water to satisfy this need. You automatically fail all saving throws against exhaustion due to a lack of water.
Exotic Appearance: Some people are especially drawn to individuals of your kind. Under suitable circumstances, authorities and merchants may be induced to show favoratism.
Amphibious: You can breathe fresh water and salt water as well as air.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Innate Spellcasting: You know the Shocking grasp cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Fog cloud spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Gust of Wind spell once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Oceanic Adaptations: The extreme pressure of great depths does not impose penalties on your actions. Long distance swimming is likewise unhindered. You have resistance to frost damage.
Pelagic Weapon Training: You are proficienct with crossbows, nets, spears, and tridents.
Watery Wellborn: You have advantage on all Animal Handling and Persuasion skill checks involving creatures native to an aquatic habitat. This includes all the cities of the Imperium Maris but no part of the Sea of Abominations.
Shoal Keeper: You are proficient in the Animal Handling and Persuasion skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Triton as well as two other languages of your choice.
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Tritons Throughout most of the Age of Heroes, Poseidon was clearly the greatest among many rival sea gods. He encouraged triton armies to immigrate from the oceans of other worlds. Here they conquered and prospered, becoming the dominant people of a vast undersea empire. This regime still exists today, long after Poseidon became a Dead God. The modern Imperium Maris sees rival aristocratic houses dissolve and form alliances so fluidly that official policies are often unclear and unevenly enforced. Annual tax collectors and quinquennial census takers are the only oversight some local leaders are required to accommodate. From thriving sea floor cities to remote aquatic outposts, tritons are the aristocratic elite of oceanic settlements.
The most powerful triton families work valiantly to exert control across vast distances without reliable non-magical courier networks. Their grand institutions regulate the availability of advanced training and precious equipment, in part to be sure that no other people can challenge their authority. Worshippers of Mannanan Mac Lir are extremely influential in this perpetually turbulent society. Many tritons dedicate their lives to the management of family enterprises while navigating endless surprises arising in undersea diplomacy. Amidst all this dilligent zeal, some tritons harbor the attitude that civilization itself depends on their efforts.
CHILDREN OF CONQUEST
Tritons achieved glory soon after swimming into this world. Both well-equipped and well-trained, their forces quickly seized control of the best undersea citybuilding sites. Triton soldiers also worked in large teams to slay much larger beasts. Often these victories produced a bounty of useful materials, stimulating the growth of their nascent empire. Poseidon's loyalists fell to no army, but they were converted in the search for relief from a devastating string of famines and betrayals. Clergy devoted to Mannanan Mac Lir gained control of all major churches, then rallied an unlikely coalition to turn back a tide of unholy aquatic abominations. This cemented the God of the Briny Depths as the chief figure in the faiths of a united Imperium Maris.
Tritons generally respect all priests of Mannanan Mac Lir even when those holy persons fail to return the courtesy. Otherwise tritons can be demanding companions, especially if related to any noteworthy nobility. The prestige many tritons command in the Imperium Maris carries little weight on dry land. No human mercantile routes cross the Greater Ocean, and the Lesser Ocean is officially outside triton jurisdiction. Even so, tritons often take it upon themselves to deal with dangerous outlaws and monsters in their area. All triton children are schooled in the ancient fighting style of their extraplanar ancestors. These elegant and statuesque people would surely be more charming if not for an imperious attitude they can be slow to shed among peers.
HYDRATED HOMEBODIES
Most tritons find the thought of living on land unpleasant. Terrestrial tritons typically settle close to a bath house, beach, or lake where frequent immersions provide personal comfort. Only mountain dwarves are more likely than tritons to complain about conditions during a long trek through unfamiliar wilderness. Especially hot weather puts stress on the bodies of tritons. Especially dry environments look frightening and unnatural through their eyes. Land-dwelling tritons often populate small seaside outposts offering specialized services to fishers and mariners. Tritons are welcome aboard most ships, desired for their abilities if not their personalities. Few tritons support piracy, and most will fight with honor to protect innocent sailors.
Though both rare and costly, elite military units of triton irregulars are funded by great powers. Unique aquatic abilities enable effective operations in environments where others would surely flounder. Savvy tritons can be quick to grasp the potential of a covert approach made underwater or an urgent escape initiated with an abrupt plunge. Where weapons prove inadequate, adult tritons may instead deliver damaging jolts of electricity with their bare hands. More experienced individuals can also control nearby fluids to cloud air with damp mist, infuse water with bubbling turbulence, or manipulate flows to push others away. In their own element, the air of authority tritons exude reflects their natural aptitude for giving direction to people and beasts alike.
STALWART AND SURE
Tritons are not immune to fear, but most are taught from an early age the importance of projecting confidence. Tritons do their best to never falter. When that fails most also do their best to save face. Shame often leads to anger among tritons. Ladies and lords of the Imperium Maris can be quick to banish others who give offense or merely uncover embarassing secrets. On land most tritons have no authority beyond their own homes, but that is enough to dismiss unwanted guests. Without any position of power, tritons may flee from controversy or scandal. The most status-conscious individuals value their reputations as much as their own lives, and thus feel it is right to use deadly force in defense of either.
Their justifications go back to the idea that those reptutations are threads holding together the fabric of society. Tritons often strive for leadership roles in mixed company. Yet they make loyal followers when given clear and respectful instructions in service to a helpful cause. With skin some blend of blue and gray, active facial gills, spiny angular ears, and hair that resembles brown or green kelp; tritons leave no doubt they are aquatic creatures when anyone makes eye contact. Those eyes tend to feature bold hues like amethyst, emerald, or sapphire. Few tritons are content to be widely regarded as villains. Yet some find that path after well-meaning efforts to maintain credibility spiral into a spree of escalating tragedies.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Tritons ↑ → Typhonians ← ↓ Backgrounds ↓
| TYPHONIAN TRAITS |
Ability Scores: Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Lifespan: Typhonians often favor hidden pregnancies and secret births to obscure the identities of their children. After maturing in their mid-teens, few fortunate typhonians survive for the additional six centuries required for old age to end their lives.
Size: Most typhonians are between 5' and 6' tall while weighing between 100 and 200 pounds. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Superior Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Monstrous Appearance: Your true form looks wickedly dangerous through the eyes of most modern civilians. While appearing in that form, many authorities will persecute you, and most merchants will decline your business.
Changeable Appearance: Ten minutes of effort allows you to transform your physical features. You may become taller or shorter by as much as one foot, and you may become as thin or rotund as seems plausible. You may adopt the features of a different gender and/or race within those constraints. You have advantage on ability checks to pass yourself off as another person. Its effect ends at the start of a short rest or a long rest. After you use Changeable Appearance you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest.
Concealed Weapon: When you are not under the effect of Changeable Appearance, your head appears to be that of a jackal, lion, or vulture. If you are not muzzled while showing this true face, your bite can deliver a natural weapon melee attack that does piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. Under those conditions; when you take the Attack action your bite may be substituted for one melee attack, or you may bite by following an Attack action with a bonus action to deal only 1d6 piercing damage on a hit. After you perform a bite attack, you cannot do so again until the start of your next turn. |
Typhonians Some of the most intense magic ever attempted by mortals involved an assembly of forty-two sorcerers, each of royal blood. Their goal was to kill the God of Darkest Night. Set was able to slip away from this arcane trap, though he remained damaged and disturbed by the attack. After replacing his own face with that of a jackal, Set tasked generations of his most trusted followers to hoard resources and conduct experiments until they successfully fused the spirit of a jackal with the spirit of a human being. The result was a new race of free-willed mortals both strong and graceful, if also ill-tempered. This spiritual fusion left early typhonians uncomfortable in their own skin. It also made them ideal infiltrators and assassins.
Humanity first took note of typhonians when one of those assassins disintegrated the Sultan of Iskresh. The Sultanate soon splintered under a wave of slain nobility. Other great powers found typhonian subversives holding high positions in their governments. Detecting and removing these threats often required measures so extreme as to create unrest among the general population. Continued hunting for the typhonian menace could do more damage to society than allowing criminal enterprises to continue covertly. Official security measures and typhonian culture evolved in tandem. Modern families of these shapeshifters tend to follow an unforgiving code of obedience and secrecy. Thus they are able to sustain lucrative criminal rackets even in well-policed cities.
CHILDREN OF CONSPIRACY
Conceived to corrupt and destroy a specific government, typhonians are gifted liars by nature. Beyond their own kin, most typhonians are known only through false identities. It is an unusual for a typhonian to sport a true face while socializing with outsiders. This confidence is not to be taken casually. Persons with this knowledge may be marked for death should there be any hint of collaboration with legal authorities or other enemies of a syndicate. Typhonians are strongly driven by both custom and instinct to keep their shapeshifting abilities secret from anyone they might need to influence or eliminate. One common tactic involves withdrawal around a corner or into a dark shadow, appearing to vanish from the spot where a twisted beast now lurks.
Typhonians assuming beast form need only blur their bodies briefly to complete that transformation. Sculpting a new humanoid form requires much more work. This uncomfortable metamorphic process can be disturbing to watch. It is an ordeal of abrupt agitations and convulsive contortions allowing typhonians to take on the appearance of any other ethnicity, gender, and race; provided no great change in height is required. This ability does not convey the skills of a trained actor, but it enhances those skills when used to impersonate others. Investigation or pursuit of a typhonian's public persona may drive that individual to start fresh with the new day, abandoning the compromised identity and burning associated documents.
Jackal-headed typhonians are supernaturally sneaky, leaving neither physical nor spiritual traces of their passage. This ability confounds magical investigators and minimizes evidence to be found at crime scenes. Even so, there is more to typhonians than subterfuge. The bestial heads of their true forms can deliver wicked bites. Among early generations, those heads always resembled those of a large jackal. Some modern typhonians instead sport the heads of lions or vultures. Each can also assume an animal form twisted by the coexistence of two spirits in one body. Though typhonians in other forms might be moody and aggressive, these twisted beast forms sometimes rush their foes and bite with unnatural speed until there is nothing left to kill.
| CANINE TYPHONIANS |
Ability Scores: Your Strength score increases by 2. Your Charisma score decreases by 2.
Alignment: Originally all typhonians sported jackal heads. Today the others seem special while canine typhonians are mostly front line soldiers and couriers for their familial syndicates. The most loyal are lawful evil. The most defiant are chaotic. Extremely freethinking canine typhonians may turn their backs on organized crime altogether.
Twisted Jackal: On your turn as a bonus action, you become a typhonian jackal-beast. You must concentrate to maintain this form. All the items and equipment you carry are absorbed into your body. You continue to benefit from armor and other items worn, but not those you were holding.
Your base speed is 50. You have no hands. Apart from movement, your limbs are only useful for grabbing or grappling one other creature at a time. You have advantage on ability checks that rely on hearing or smell. Your bite is now a natural weapon melee attack that inflicts 2d6 + your Strength modifier piercing damage, and you are not limited to a single bite each turn.
You and your gear instantly return to your Changeable Appearance or true form when concentration ends. After you use Twisted Jackal, you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
Padded Spirit: You cannot be located or tracked by magical means, and your movement leaves neither physical tracks nor scent trails.
Startling Snarl: You can use your bonus action to menace one creature within 5 feet. One of your allies gains advantage on attacks against the menaced creature until the start of your next turn or you become separated from that creature by more than 5 feet.
Underworld Weapon Training: You are proficient with hand crossbows, crossbows, scimitars, and whips.
Excitable Extortionist: You are proficient in the Deception and Intimidation skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Typhonian as well as two other languages of your choice.
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CORRUPTED SOULS
The role Set played in the creation of typhonians remains shrouded by divine shadows. Extensive historical divinations lead back to the children of mysterious "Pawns of Set." These long dead figures cannot be directly observed by scryers, though it is known many raised families to better build trust with the organizations they infiltrated. The first freethinking typhonians were the progeny of these families. When assassinations perpetrated by Pawns of Set created major political upheavals, typhonian families exploited these opportunities to establish secret and secure networks of criminal collaborators. The strongest modern typhonian syndicates have their roots in these seditious organizations.
This strange genesis continues to be a source of great intrigue among scholars. Braided typhonian souls indicate extraordinary metaphysical engineering. Some theologists believe this fusion of human and beast spirits is offensive in the eyes of gods other than Set. Yet typhonians are shapeshifters with no innate fiendishness. This is a crucial distinction for abjurers looking to defend against typhonian threats. Some courts of law and most major military headquarters feature wards barring entry to shapechangers. Elsewhere concern about spies and frauds is seldom intense enough to warrant that particular precaution. Even so, prosperous individuals may retain the services of an Aura Editor to purge themselves of the shapeshifters' spiritual signature.
Typhonians and their beast forms are binary alternatives on a physical level. Metaphysically both are united in a mixture of bestial and human-like traits. Most typhonians look at other people as potential resources to be exploited by their familial syndicates. Typhonian aggression is often unexpected. They have a calming way of maintaining friendly banter right up until violence is underway. Even in their true forms, they are capable of biting attacks on par with those of lizardfolk. Typhonian beast forms are equipped with even more speed and power. From overwhelming a defiant shopkeeper to eluding a fleet-footed patrol, unleashing their inner beast allows typhonians to achieve dramatic reversals of fortune during violent situations.
SAVAGE AND SECRETIVE
Most typhonians have little respect for the lives of ordinary civilians. Some families emphasize this attitude with formal hierarchies of captains, lieutenants, and soldiers; extending protection to the close kin of all three. Accomplished leaders thrive while working almost entirely through underlings. The greatest typhonian syndicates dominate all other criminal organizations throughout an entire metropolis. Shifting public identities allow them to confound investigators while continuing to collect tributes and eliminate troublemakers. Discretion is maintained in part through the use of torture followed by murder of known informants. This maintains a climate of fear among prospective traitors.
In some neighborhoods, these cruel economic predators are also highly respected. Where city governments falter, philanthropists will commit typhonian wealth to public works and poverty relief. Typhonian racketeers may be more reliable than municipal constables when it comes to providing protection from lesser criminals. Yet they look on these protectees as sheep to be fleeced again and again. Typhonian gangsters only fight to protect relationships that are valuable to the family. Gamblers refusing to honor debts, shopkeepers refusing to pay protection, and witnesses refusing to pledge silence – all may be marked for death. Typhonian syndicates excel at staging assassinations to appear as accidents or suicides.
| CATHARTINE TYPHONIANS |
Ability Scores: Your Wisdom score increases by 2. Your Strength score decreases by 2.
Alignment: Cathartine typhonians often contemplate weighty philosophical and spiritual matters. These pontifications enable them to advise or lead familial syndicates through challenging circumstances. Most remain lawful evil and true to their kin, though cathartine typhonians are capable of finding inspiration in all sorts of beliefs.
Twisted Vulture: On your turn as a bonus action, you become a typhonian vulture-beast. You must concentrate to maintain this form. All the items and equipment you carry are absorbed into your body. You continue to benefit from armor and other items worn, but not those you were holding.
Your speed is 10. Your flying speed is 50. Your talons function as a pair of hands; though they cannot be used to wield weapons, and they are entirely unavailable while you are standing, walking, or running. Your bite is now a natural weapon melee attack that inflicts 2d4 + your Strength modifier piercing damage, and you are not limited to a single bite each turn.
You and your gear instantly return to your Changeable Appearance or true form when concentration ends. After you use Twisted Vulture, you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
Winged Spirit: So long as you are conscious, you never fall faster than 60 feet per round, and you never take damage from falling.
Resilient Metabolism: You have advantage on saving throws against poison and you have resistance to poison damage.
Dispatch Death: On each of your turns, you can use your bonus action to perform a melee attack against a prone creature with less than maximum hit points.
Establishment Executive: You are proficient in the Deception and Insight skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Typhonian as well as four other languages of your choice.
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All of this makes a typhonian presence problematic for administrators of any great city. Conducting effective investigations requires people fluent in the obscure Typhonian language, yet they often serve as conduits channeling information back to the local syndicate. Extortion, kidnapping, and impersonation join assassination as methods typhonian traditions endorse without any qualms. When allowed to operate in the shadows, these syndicates will abstain from killing constables and victimizing senior officials. When law enforcers crack down on discreet racketeering and vice operations or dare to hunt a typhonian boss, an escalating campaign of bloodshed and terror typically leads back to the old
status quo.
CANINE TYPHONIANS
Most canine typhonians see themselves as social and economic predators, thriving as part of a subversive order. A small team of these aggressive shapeshifters can quickly overpower armed guards. Canine typhonians traditionally collaborate in squads of two to six members, exploiting their instinctive ability to coordinate attacks. Their teams also excel at controlling tense situations. While one applies coercion, others monitor bystanders and entrances. Though theoretically limitless, typhonian cruelty is carefully calculated to achieve compliance. Eliminating an asset only has value to the extent it influences the behavior of others. Any public spectacle of pure destruction involving typhonians is likely about sending a message.
Thus canine typhonians strive to be discreet for most of their interactions with outsiders. Many clad themselves like prosperous merchants. When shown respect they may return it by demanding modest fees for protection or directing an abundance of paying customers to a loyal shop. Leaving neither footprints nor traces of magic in their wake, these jackal-headed brutes are often happy to remain disguised while completing their business. If pressed to transform, typhonian displeasure is likely to express itself as swift violence. Their twisted jackal forms make outstanding hunters, able to follow scent trails and take note of the slightest sounds. They also make outstanding killers, with a bite no less vicious than the slash of a greatsword.
While canine typhonians normally leave little evidence of their passing, sometimes they choose to do precisely the opposite. Mutilating corpses and wrecking furnishings creates crime scenes that resemble attacks from wild beasts or lycanthropes. A gang of canine typhonians may even take to baying at the Moon like wolves before fleeing the scene of a killing. With fur that tends to be blonde, brown, or red; their larger heads give canine typhonians big brown or blue eyes and enormous muzzles relative to common jackals. From the neck down their true forms appear as burly yet otherwise ordinary humans. Though their alternate identities are often imposing figures, these guises are meant to discourage combat more often than provoke it.
CATHARTINE TYPHONIANS
These rare individuals tend to be the children of senior typhonian leaders. Born for command, they are encouraged to observe how family bosses handle the complications of maintaining their syndicates. Many are reluctant to personally partake in violence, being lighter of build and less muscular than humans on average. Cathartine typhonians are naturally thoughtful. In social settings they may listen attentively during extensive discussion before weighing in with a well-considered opinion meant to be the final word on that subject. This is seldom so when they are merely advisors. On the other hand, cathartine typhonians with official rank demand unquestioning loyalty from subordinates.
| LEONINE TYPHONIANS |
Ability Scores: Your Strength and Charisma scores each increase by 1. Your Intelligence score decreases by 2.
Alignment: Being so rare, it is not easy to make generalizations about the attitudes of leonine typhonians. Individuals who keep close to their families often remain aligned with leadership that is likely to be lawful evil. Leonine typhonians who strike out on their own can be persuaded to ally with almost any cause.
Twisted Lion: On your turn as a bonus action, you become a typhonian lion-beast. You must concentrate to maintain this form. All the items and equipment you carry are absorbed into your body. You continue to benefit from armor and other items worn, but not those you were holding.
Your base speed is 50. You have no hands. Your jumping distance triples. Apart from movement, your limbs are only useful for grabbing or grappling one other creature at a time. You have advantage on ability checks that rely on smell. Your bite is now a natural weapon melee attack that inflicts 2d8 + your Strength modifier piercing damage, and you are not limited to a single bite each turn.
You and your gear instantly return to your Changeable Appearance or true form when concentration ends. After you use Twisted Lion, you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
Proud Spirit: You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened. You are immune to all auras, spells, and magical effects (though not diseases and poisons) that cause you to deal half damage.
Lengthy Leaps: Your jump distances are tripled, and any distance you fall is reduced by 20 feet for purposes of taking damage. You land on your feet if this adjustment results in no damage.
Underworld Weapon Training: You are proficient with hand crossbows, crossbows, scimitars, and whips.
Enthusiastic Enforcer: You are proficient in the Deception and Athletics skills.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Typhonian as well as one other language of your choice.
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High speed flight is a capability cathartine typhonians rarely exercise by day. Their twisted vulture forms are unwelcome in most urban skylines. Only proper supervillains casually expose themselves to the kind of pursuers inclined to chase down aerial threats over great cities. Most cathartine typhonians instead use their wings near street level, roosting in the shadows over a trouble spot or relocating after an unfortunate encounter. When they choose violence, their beast forms lash out with vicious beak attacks or haul victims to great heights before letting go. Cathartine typhonians are uniquely capable of casting spells in their twisted beast forms. Yet this requires that they go aloft with empty talons or lay prone to free up those appendages.
Cathartine typhonians can be reluctant to show such a sign of weakness in battle. Their vulture spirits identify all prone and wounded creatures as prime targets for a finishing strike. That same influence also gives these shapeshifters a chance to shrug off deadly poisons and enables them to glide down from great heights. These abilities pose unusual challenges for hostile assassins. Cathartine typhonians in their true forms resemble slender humans with heads that would look more at home atop giant vultures. With featherless faces of wrinked black, gray, or red skin; their vicious beaks are situated among other disturbing features. Brilliant eyes of brown, gray, or yellow always seem to be fixed on some faraway target.
LEONINE TYPHONIANS
Sometimes born to a profoundly heroic parent, leonine typhonians are the least abundant variant of a people who are generally rare. Other typhonians may regard them as misfits suitable only for work as assassins and bodyguards. In the former role they exploit an uncanny ability to bound between rooftops, pouncing on their targets from elevated positions. They often focus exclusively on a single kill before making their own escape. Leonine typhonians favor simple tactics, with few among them showing great interest in the study of lore. Often they are able to launch attacks on major dignitaries or powerful entities without a full appreciation of the danger. This blithe tendency synergizes with the innate courage of their lion spirits.
When fully unleashed those spirits manifest twisted lion forms capable of delivering brutal bites and running with tremendous speed. A leonine typhonian acting alone is a formidable combatant. United in prides that may surpass a dozen members, they are a match for much larger forces. These independent groups can be difficult to locate or even contact. Some provide homes for elite operatives hired to perform murders distant syndicates dare not perpetrate with their own personnel. Other prides reject typhonian racketeering altogether, instead carving out new homes from wild places or acting as mercenaries in service to more honorable causes. There are even a few prides of paladins dedicated to the moral redemption of their abusive kin.
This goal does not seem practical. Dozens of great cities are known to suffer from the activities of typhonian syndicates. Even more endure these abuses without the knowledge that shapeshifting gangsters influence the local criminal underworld at its highest levels. Leonine typhonians are not known for showing restraint in the face of impractical challenges. Whether perpetrating the murder of an aristocrat or racing to stop just such an event, their dedication seldom wavers. With golden fur and deep brown eyes, leonine typhonians sporting their true visage appear downright regal whether or not their large heads sport the manes traditonally grown by males. Below the neck, these true forms resemble ordinary humans native to their birthplace.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Typhonians ↑ → Backgrounds ← ↓ Classes ↓
| Origin Stories Every character is unique in multiple ways. An important element of each adventurer's tale is the inflection point when an ordinary life gave way to a series of extraordinary experiences. This takes place at birth for some, like the children of aristocrats or demons. Others are moved by an inspiring moment – a chance encounter with a rare monster, bearing witness to an event of historic importance, research illuminating a metaphysical insight, or something likewise profound. Even predictable transitions like a college graduation or military mustering out can lead directly into a compelling campaign. Use the origin story of your character to frame fantasy adventures on your own terms. |
Entering into an adventuring class is rarely anybody's first notable achievement. Both heroes and villains hail from all walks of life. The privileges, skills, and trappings earned prior to an adventuring career often remain useful. Any of these things can be abandoned during the journey ahead, but most characters find comfort in carrying some of their personal history with them through epic ordeals. Backgrounds also provide avenues of social connection with non-adventurers. They help overcome the difficulties of ordinary life, like making the best use of institutional resources or expediting an audience with an important official.
Backgrounds establish how a character sought meaning and value before hearing the call of adventure. Renegades sometimes fade into their own backgrounds in the hope of hiding from authorities. Celebrities sometimes publicize their own backgrounds in the hope of enhancing their popularity. The most resourceful investigators quickly piece together the particulars of a target's background and support network. Only adventurers tend to measure one another by way of class and tier. Ordinary folks might not grasp what it takes to achieve a superior rate of attack or complete a higher level spell, but they appreciate the difference between a succulent meal and a plate of badly burned fare.
Personal Residence Your DM will determine the particulars of housing for the party at the start of the campaign. It is possible that each member owns or rents secure lodgings in proximity to relevant locations. It is also possible that the group is immediately displaced by a disaster. Some campaigns even begin with special limitations on initial possessions, depriving characters of a crucial background benefit to launch a saga from an unfortunate social station like enslavement and/or imprisonment.
Characters may be directed far away at the outset of a campaign. Even adventures conducted near home might see the party camping together at a remote location to avoid drawing dangers toward innocent bystanders. Backgrounds that convey food and lodgings are often limited by location, and they are never meant to serve as permanent homes. Allow your DM to dictate the party's initial residency as well as access to mounts and vehicles. In some cases these particulars profoundly influence crucial story elements essential to an inaugural adventure. |
Some characters campaign only briefly, returning to their roots after accomplishing a quest or surviving a tragedy. It may even be possible to maintain an unrelated occupation while participating in adventures. Yet it is also possible to visit many exotic locations and reduce any former life to distant memories. Characters are not required to retain background languages, proficiencies, or skills across their campaigns. Unlike the Core Skill proficiencies of classes, background training is not essential to function effectively in an adventuring classes. Any background skill redundant with a racial skill proficiency or a class Core Skill proficiency can be replaced with a supplemental skill proficiency from your adventuring class(es).
Specifics of your background may depend heavily on geography. Deft Smugglers do not know their way through
every city wall and harbor patrol. Urban Messengers are no more likely to know the street plan of an unfamiliar city than any other new arrival. Be sure to confer with your DM to avoid misunderstandings about
where key elements of your background are located relative to current and intentended sites of adventures for the group. If is fair to situate some scenarios beyond the reach of background support, though it is also reasonable to press for any significant background detail to have relevance at some point during the span of an epic campaign. Best use of these particulars follows from harmony between limitations imposed by your DM and your own wishes.
A similar notion applies to organizations. Always be specific about any religious affiliation your character develops. It is likewise important that any conspiracies, cults, rebellions, or other secret societies your character supports be explicitly named. Your DM cannot begin to sort out appropriate allies and enemies without substantial disclosure along those lines. Engaging with any negative aspects of your background should be a platform for future conflict and storytelling rather than a punishment. You are not obligated to remain true to the beliefs and loyalties of your character at the outset of a campaign. Yet you should be prepared for consequences, such as an alignment change
and/or institutional persecution, following from noteworthy deeds completely at odds with a character's previous reputation.
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| Able Mariner |
| You served with a crew primarily engaged in legal trade requiring long voyages over open water. |
| You are at home on the waves. You have crossed the Lesser Ocean, and you have seen ports in many lands. Life aboard ship is familiar to you, and in some ways comforting as well. You have witnessed wonders that cannot be seen from dry land. The quirks of waterfront districts and life at sea seem normal to you. You may prefer to sleep in a hammock even when resting on solid ground. You are versed in the lore and traditions of a nautical subculture. Difficult choices were required during your journeys far from land, yet still the ocean calls to you. |
| Privileges: You served for years as a valuable member of a seafaring crew. You can make a credible offer to trade skilled labor for passage on a vessel in need of additional hands. You understand the sort of teamwork required to operate a large sailing vessel. You can blend in at the many waterfront establishments where sailors gather while visiting ports. You know how to give specific technical instructions to other mariners as well as dockworkers and shipwrights. With a clear view you can determine if a seagoing vessel is heavily laden or travelling light. |
| Training: Athletics, Perception, navigators' tools, small boat, one gaming set, two languages |
| Trappings: oiled leather coat, navigators' tools, one gaming set, small chest containing 1d100gp |
↓ Skip List ↓ ↑ View List ↑
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| Academic Associate |
| You spent years of your life quietly copying and studying collections of recorded information. |
| You were once dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and the preservation of documents containing it. You might have been a clerk at an institutional archive, a scribe by trade, or a student yet to graduate a university. It feels like home when you are browsing the collections at a well-maintained library. You are perfectly comfortable spending most of your waking hours hunched over a writing desk. You often have reading materials handy to occupy your spare time. Known for being clever and inquisitive, your associates may look to you to settle disputes of fact or take the lead on research tasks. |
| Privileges: In communities with robust demand for scribes, you can busk with your calligraphers' tools. Many academic or religious libraries welcome your visits so long as you remain respectful of their property and rules. When approaching as a visiting student, you are often able to freely peruse archives otherwise unavailable to those without financial patronage. You also know how to blend in with the boisterous young majority populating conventional institutions of higher learning. |
| Training: Arcana, History, calligraphers' tools, one gaming set, two languages |
| Trappings: 1d4 + 1 books of lore, empty book, calligraphers' tools, 3d10gp |
↓ Skip List ↓ ↑ View List ↑
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| Alloy Technician |
| You study and work metals in all their forms, blending and fusing various materials smoothly. |
| You might have studied materials science at a university long enough to be recognized as a metallurgist in your own right. Perhaps instead you learned through practical experience and training among working smiths. Now you possess a wealth of lore about the eight fundamental metals, including best practices for storage and use in crafting. You also understand how subtle differences in the composition of a piece – the ratio of metals in a blend as well as the particulars of how it was processed – can lead to large variations in its performance. Given adequate supplies, you are capable of adorning items with fillagree and/or inlays. |
| Privileges: For one region, you know the particulars of available ores, popular ingots, and traditional smelting techniques. You also understand how to utilize coal-fired furnaces with advanced ventillation features. If you have achemists' supplies available, you can confirm the presence and relative purity of any copper, gold, iron, nickel, platinum, silver, tin, or zinc in a metal object or sample of ore. You can likewise confirm the legitimacy of adamantine or mithral materials by making contact with a sharp steel edge. |
| Training: Nature, Perception, alchemists' supplies, jewellers' tools, smiths' tools, one language |
| Trappings: alchemists' supplies, jewellers' tools, smiths' tools, 1d100 + 40gp |
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| Archaeological Explorer |
| You have endured expeditions to study lost cities and other ancient ruins. |
| You care deeply about the distant past. Much of what others consider treasure (and some of what they consider trash) is of greater value in your eyes as scientific evidence of how people lived long ago. You survived perilous journeys to probe the remnants of structures raised in a previous era. Much of this work involves digging in the dirt, but a great many of those efforts allowed you to unearth a few items at least as old as the Age of Heroes. You are a natural antagonist to scavengers who would reduce rare remnants of the distant past to sources of precious metals and gems. Some items belong in a museum. |
| Privileges: If you have a steel blade handy, you can confirm the legitimacy of adamantine or mithral materials. You excel at directing teams in systematic searches of small areas. If your companions are both cooperative and patient, you can increase the value of some treasures by documenting their recovery in great detail. This work requires good judgement and a delicate touch. You understand how to preserve most sorts of antiquities, and you easily join educated curators in technical discussions. |
| Training: History, Perception, calligraphers' tools, cartographers' tools, two languages |
| Trappings: bullseye lantern, cartographers' tools, magnifying glass, war pick, 4d20gp |
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| Authorized Constable |
| You have been employed by at least one law enforcement organization, and you have proven your loyalty. |
| You have long been concerned about crime and justice. You become well-versed in the laws applicable to any jurisdiction you inhabit for more than a few months. In one of these places, you attained and used the legal authority to take action against street criminals. You are familiar with official procedures for apprehending public troublemakers, investigating mysterious circumstances, patrolling the community, and wrangling unruly crowds. Other local constables respect your past work, and you remain in good standing with one law enforcement organization. You are familiar with criminal organizations active in the area. |
| Privileges: Within one jurisdiction you have the legal authority to detain and question people lacking any aristocratic title. Inquiries that might be embarassing or impolite can be pressed as a matter of civic duty. While maintaining respect for public safety, you are not bound by legal restrictions on the carriage and use of military equipment within your jurisdiction. Your word carries weight when you vouch for the fitness of companions to participate in criminal investigations or become deputized for purposes of bearing arms in public places. |
| Training: Intimidation, Investigation, one mount, one language |
| Trappings: constabulary badge, helm, manacles, melee weapon, pavise, 6d10gp |
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| Bold Barkeep |
| You are especially confident and capable dispensing drinks at a bar, inn, or tavern open to the public. |
| Not only can you handle your booze, but you are experienced at managing the complications inevitable among a crowd of carousing drunkards. Either as proprietor or hired hand, your job went far beyond refilling cups and mugs while keeping breakage to a minimum. A good night for the business saw many patrons drinking heartily, and you know plenty of techniques to encourage that. Yet it also sees every patron leaving no more than a little worse for wear. Listening for the right moment to pivot from generous host to restrictive supplier is just as important as having the authority to refuse the most problematic customers. |
| Privileges: You are familiar with all the alcoholic beverages popular in the region where you reside. You have contacts either able to legally deliver large quantities of such drinks at reasonable prices or smuggle them at less reasonable prices. You have advantage on ability checks to resist the harmful effects of any sort of mind-altering intoxication. You also have advantage on ability checks to assess if a creature you can see has been impaired by alcohol or another drug. |
| Training: Insight, Intimidation, brewers' tools, two languages |
| Trappings: cask of ale or beer, 1d8 bottles of wine, 1d4 bottles of spirits, 1d100gp |
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| Court Functionary |
| You spent some years gainfully employed in the bureaucracy of a political regime. |
| The quest for comfort and security drove you into the service of an institution funded by a major government. Not only are you skilled at duplicating documents, but you have a knack for organizing and searching large collections. You operated as but one cog in a much larger machine. Even so, that participation gives you a profound perspective on the flow of information in the modern world. In addition to familiarity with procedures for organizing vast archives of records, you grasp complex social hierarchies with many layers of protocols and restrictions. |
| Privileges: You have access to an archive of sensitive information restricted to personnel authorized by the government responsible for its collection. This may include analysis of military capabilites, assessments of tax collectors, copies of diplomatic communications, and/or dossiers on notable individuals. You are permitted to duplicate these documents, making it possible to extract this information in small quantities. The archive is also a uniquely useful research resource for questions directly pertinent to its core mission. |
| Training: History, Investigation, calligraphers' tools, painters' tools, two languages |
| Trappings: official seal, fine (official) clothing, scroll case, vial of ink, 2d100gp |
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| Deft Smuggler |
| You are no stranger to crossing borders while transporting large amounts of contraband. |
| You managed to live well for some years as a professional smuggler. With high risks and high rewards, you found the endeavor intensely invigorating. You know how to disguise bulky shipments, elude armed pursuers, and fast-talk gatehouse inspectors. Though you are no bandit, you roam high roads and borderlands without any of the awkward trepidation that marks some travellers as easy victims. At least one criminal organization considers you a useful asset. Other outlaws as well as some authority figures may harbor grudges after having been eluded or tricked in previous encounters with you. |
| Privileges: You have comprehensive knowledge of at least one city wall, harbor, or stretch of political border. This knowledge includes the positions and habits of patrols, the availability of visual cover, and standard protocols for dealing with trouble. You can reliably lead small groups of people through this area without encountering any unfriendly guards or officials on duty to regulate access. You know reliable methods for verifying the potency of most mind-altering substances, and you can assess the quality of non-magical equipment even if you are not proficient with it. |
| Training: Stealth, Deception, one mount, wagon, small boat, Thieves' Cant |
| Trappings: leather armor, travellers' clothing with hidden pouches, one weapon, 2d100gp |
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| Diplomatic Functionary |
| You spent some years gainfully employed at a foreign mission dedicated to improving relations betweeen regimes. |
| You have always been intrigued by other societies despite being loyal the regime governing the land of your upbringing. A knowledge of languages and a willingness to travel saw you recruited to join an international diplomatic effort. Perhaps you accompanied an aristocrat on many journeys to negotiate with powerful outsiders. Perhaps you lived for years at a permanent embassy. It was your business to convey the official positions of a distant regime and promote goodwill toward its people. Regardless of the particulars, you are now a seasoned expert on the protocols of international relations. |
| Privileges: You have a keen understanding of how political authorities would interpret any significant event. Not only does this allow you to recognize a potential international incident before causing it, but it also highlights opportunities to elevate tensions between sovereign powers. You have a way of framing speeches and personal correspondence so as to avoid giving any offense even while alluding to unflattering particulars. Your independent adventures are not backed by any former employer. Even so, your status as a diplomat may excuse a variety of petty crimes. |
| Training: History, Persusasion, calligraphers' tools, four languages |
| Trappings: fine (official) clothing, scroll case, vial of ink, 2d100gp |
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| Disaster Refugee |
| You recently lost your home during a deadly event that devastated an entire community. |
| You are a survivor of at least one traumatic event. Families and establishments you knew well were destroyed by a magical, natural, or political catastrophe. Tales of this tragedy are known throughout the region if not also the wider world. You may bear physical and/or emotional scars from the disaster itself as well as ordeals endured in its aftermath. Everyone who was there at the time retains vivid memories of hardship and struggle. Like other survivors, you departed to seek out a new way of life well-removed from this troubling chapter in your past. |
| Privileges: You know the truth of a horrific event still subject to retellings in song and story. Others may be keen to hear your account even if it is not an entertaining presentation. To speak or even think of those dark days brings a sorrow to your eyes that no actor can completely counterfeit. Identifying as a victim of this particular event may prompt charitable aristocrats and religious officials to offer monetary gifts. It may also generate sympathy from ordinary folks who want to be seen supporting victims of this well-known disaster. |
| Training: Medicine, Survival, healers' kit, one language |
| Trappings: healers' kit, tent, 1d20gp |
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| Druidic Insider |
| You were raised to respect the lore and teachings of the Old Faith. |
| Perhaps you were raised from a foundling in some wild place by a circle of druids. Perhaps one or both of your parents were druids keeping a more conventional home. Some of your earliest memories involve sitting quietly with elders and contemplating the wonders of nature. When you were patient and respectful, you would be rewarded with pieces of druidic knowledge useful for thriving far from the comforts of civilization. Across your youth, you learned to communicate in the Druidic language and to correctly identify the most prominent creatures indigenous to nearby ecologies. |
| Privileges: You are capable of assisting in a wide variety of Old Faith rituals even if you do not become a druid. You also know the protocols for respectfully approaching secret places guarded by potentially hostile druids. You are familiar with the locations of all functional Standing Stone sites in any region where you have lived for more than a full year. You are welcome at one wilderness retreat where you and a small group of companions can rest outdoors or in tents while enjoying modest food and plenty of fresh water. You cannot fumble Nature checks while foraging.
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| Training: Nature, Survival, herbalists' kit, Druidic and one other language |
| Trappings: herbalists' kit, one weapon, 3d20gp |
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| Extortionate Thug |
| You once sustained yourself by forcefully demanding the support of others. |
| Though you have been a bully, you also have a keen sense of how far individuals can be pushed before reaching their breaking points. There was a time when you made your way in the world through this faculty. Perhaps you were a constable or guard comfortable taking liberties with the people and places under your protection. Perhaps you were a criminal – demanding large fees to protect businesses facing no particular danger apart from your allies, or providing muscle for a small group of grifters. Yet this origin also fits able-bodied domineering family members living in comfort while their kin toil as ordinary laborers outside the household. |
| Privileges: You might not have any criminal record. You might not even have performed any illegal act in your jurisdiction. Yet you understand the gritty realities of the social underworld as a function of your own ruthless nature. When surrounded by prisoners, slaves, or thralls you can busk with your Intimidation skill. When travelling high roads or back alleys, your presence is formidable enough to discourage opportunists of ordinary ability. Even when you are completely unarmed and visibly wounded, your scowl conveys a credible threat. |
| Training: Insight, Intimidation, Thieves' Cant, one language |
| Trappings: fine (sylish) clothing, 3d20+80gp |
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| Financial Executive |
| You have been trusted to keep accounts and handle investments for a wealthy corporation or family. |
| You may have been interested in money from the first day you were able to handle shiny coins. Even if it was otherwise, you are now known as a serious person with a head for reckoning and an honorable personal history. Together those traits earned you a position managing the assets of a large organization. Loyalty tested through the oversight of a single warehouse or workshop gave rise to a more trusted role. You were authorized to conduct trades on behalf of others, and it became your business to coordinate the cash flow of a complex operation. |
| Privileges: If you comprehend the language in which it was written, you can make sense of any non-magical business document. Concepts like compound interest and fractional ownership are familiar to you. Given time and agreeable partners, you can incorporate these ideas into formal contracts likely to carry weight in modern courts of law. You understand how to maintain ledgers, be they reliable or misleading. You have not enaged in embezzlement, but you understand the practice of it. |
| Training: History, Investigation, calligraphers' tools, two languages |
| Trappings: calligraphers' tools, fine (business) clothing, 3d20+180gp |
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| Fraudulent Dignitary |
| You have long made your way by pretending to be monied or titled far surpassing any status you could prove. |
| At some point in your past, desperation and whimsy drove you to impersonate a wealthy individual and/or well-known public figure. This trickery allowed you to exploit hospitality or misdirect investigators long enough to leave you better off than before. It would not be long before you cultivated and diversified this gambit into a regular grift. You have no qualms about exploiting fears and spreading lies, though you are also capable of being genuine with others who get to know the real you. There are never many such persons, as secrecy is crucial to maintaining any false identity. |
| Privileges: You do not require proficiency to appear capable of properly handling weapons and other equipment. This technique conveys no actual proficiencies, but it prevents observers from catching you in displays of routine incompetence. Likewise, the way you conduct yourself and rig your gear can be superficially consistent with any adventuring class and tier of power. Acts of impersonation do not make you uncomfortable no matter how brazen. |
| Training: Deception, Intimidation, disguise kit, forgery kit, one language |
| Trappings: fine (official) clothing, fine (stylish) clothing, disguise kit, forgery kit, 2d100gp |
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| Fraudulent Luminary |
| You have long made your way by pretending to be gifted or empowered far surpassing any status you could prove. |
| At some point in your past, desperation and whimsy drove you to impersonate a sagacious being or powerful spellcaster. This trickery allowed you to exploit hospitality or misdirect investigators long enough to leave you better off than before. It would not be long before you cultivated and diversified this gambit into a regular grift. You have since made a habit of claiming abilities and entitlements beyond anything you actually possess. You have no qualms about spreading nonsense and wasting others' time, though you are also capable of being genuine with people who get to know the real you. |
| Privileges: You can discuss any academic subject as if you were well-trained in associated magical techniques, skills, and/or tools. You understand the practical challenges of maintaining archives and operating schools. You cannot actually teach any abilities you do not possess, but an observer must already know the language or proficiency you are pretending to teach while monitoring multiple whole days of bogus lessons to catch on to such a fraud. |
| Training: Arcana, Deception, disguise kit, forgery kit, one language |
| Trappings: fine (official) clothing, fine (stylish) clothing, disguise kit, forgery kit, 2d100gp |
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| Fugitive Outlaw |
| You are on the run from enforcers with the legal authority to capture or kill you. |
| It could be that you personally murdered innocent people or perpetrated some other serious crime. Alternatively, you might be the victim of false accusations or political persecution. Many fugitives acquired that status after a heated misunderstanding escalated into a bloody street fight. Even if they have committed no harmful acts whatsoever, escaped slaves also hold this status. Successfully fleeing any legal incarceration leads down this path. You are naturally wary around constables and other authority figures even far outside the jurisdiction where you are a documented lawbreaker. You dread any notion of being hobbled, restrained, or imprisoned. |
| Privileges: You are actively hunted across at least one legal jurisdiction. Having never been sentenced to exile, you remain a wanted criminal even after fleeing the land(s) ruled by hostile regime(s). Law enforcers with applicable authority have been informed of your name, general description, and distinguishing features. Rebels and other outlaws may assume you sympathize with their own causes after learning about your legal status. Criminal organizations tend to see you as a promising recruit. |
| Training: Athletics, Stealth, Thieves' Cant, one mount, one toolkit, one language |
| Trappings: one weapon, one toolkit, 2d10gp |
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| Grizzled Prospector |
| You have searched unsettled lands in the hunt for unclaimed deposits of precious metals. |
| When you learned that it is possible to simply find the shiny materials used to craft some of the most beautiful objects you have ever seen, it would not be long before you developed a strong lust for gold. Whatever studies you could manage became focused on how to locate and extract precious metals from the ground. Your youthful antics breaking rocks and digging tunnels gave way to systematic efforts at hunting for mineral wealth. Even if you have yet to achieve your first major haul, you are now capable of approaching this work as a seasoned professional. |
| Privileges: Though you might lack the dwarven ability to smell metals, you are educated about what sorts of bedrock and terrain features tend to make ideal spots for metal gathering or mining operations. You also know how to rig up efficient and effective contraptions ranging from sluice troughs to smelting furnaces. You are capable of conducting or supervising all sorts of mining operations. You have advantage on saving throws to avoid exhaustion, including that caused by hunger, thirst, or sleeplessness; when you are within one mile of a working mine or prospecting site. |
| Training: Perception, Survival, jewellers' tools, masons' tools, smiths' tools |
| Trappings: war pick, shovel, tent, jewellers' tools, masons' tools, smiths' tools, 1d100gp |
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| Guild Artisan |
| You have completed an arduous apprenticeship and earned a place as a trade guild member in good standing. |
| At an early age you learned to take deep satisfaction from working with your hands. Perhaps a professional artisan became one of your personal role models. Perhaps you displayed an undeniable affinity for a particular sort of crafting. Countless long days of toil assisting others in their productive efforts earned you a place among professionals. Those labors qualified you to join a guild dominating one local industry. This full membership makes you a respected artisan in your own right as well as a licensed vendor of items fashioned in compliance with guild standards and practices. Within their area of control, you have the basis for a prosperous career. |
| Privileges: Most guilds expect their members to pay dues, yet these costs are offset by access to discounted crafting supplies and various support services. Guilds can be intensely protective of their own interests, maintaining squads of enforcers to deal with extortionists or thieves troubling their members. You are paid 2gp for completing a full day of work contributing to stockpiles at a guild facility. With your own dedicated workspace and shop this crafting can be much more lucrative. |
| Training: Perception, Persuasion, two toolkits, one language |
| Trappings: guild license, two toolkits, 1d100+40gp |
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| Herbal Healer |
| You are known for alleviating medical complaints with natural remedies. |
| You have long been an attentive student of lore about useful fungi and plants. You may also be well-informed about the preparation and use of some mind-altering substances. You know how to find many medicinal herbs in your region and how to process them into effective doses. You are also sensitive to the health of those around you, quick to offer up a soothing palliative when an associate experiences discomfort. Yet your methods can also treat underlying causes of suffering, making your services especially valuable wherever plague or war sees many lives placed in immediate peril. |
| Privileges: In your own community you are esteemed as a practitioner of the healing arts. Authorities may trust you to traffic in restricted substances and contraband materials. Locals typically regard you as a gifted and helpful individual. Familiar natural resources and friendly merchants near your home allow you to replenish one healer's kit or herbalist's kit by spending a full day resupplying in the area. If you instead spend a full day making house calls and treating maladies, you can collect 1d4gp. |
| Training: Medicine, Survival, healers' kit, herbalists' kit, one language |
| Trappings: healers' kit, herbalists' kit, sickle, fine (stylish) clothing, 4d20+20gp |
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| Honorable Scholar |
| Your achievements as an academic made a positive impression on renowned experts in your field. |
| At least once you marched in a procession of graduates collecting certifications and honors after completing studies at a respectable college or university. You might have gone on to accumulate credentials from a string of prestigious institutions. To one extent or another, you have already accomplished enough to merit the respect of professional educators. At least a few of your peers hold a good opinion of a book or treatise you wrote that has since entered wider circulation. Some respectable figures believe you are on the path to becoming a great sage. |
| Privileges: Most institutions of higher learning welcome you as a guest, offering two days of wealthy food and shelter and 2gp in exchange for each full day spent assisting experiments, conferring with experts, editing documents, and/or lecturing students. These arrangements place much value on novelty. Visiting scholars should negotiate permanent positions or be encouraged to move along after a few weeks. You may be granted access to independent research archives by contributing original works. |
| Training: Arcana, History, calligraphers' tools, three languages |
| Trappings: 1d6 + 2 books of lore, calligraphers' tools, fine (ceremonial) clothing, 3d20gp |
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| Honorable Soldier |
| You have gone to war and returned with the respect of your compatriots in arms. |
| You might have admired warriors from an early age, seizing your first opportunity for military service. Instead it could be that you loathed battle, only plunging into combat as a conscript. Whatever the case, you proved a stalwart supporter of the cause when tested by battle. During your tour of duty you saw horrible bloodshed and devastating ruin, though you took heart from the solidarity of others fighting at your side. Now hardened to the rigors of war, your dutiful service is recorded in official documents. Even if the war you helped to wage was unpopular and/or unsuccessful, you have a reputation as a reliable military professional. |
| Privileges: Previous service entitles you to carry military equipment even when you are not headed toward a rally or participating in an official campaign. You may be able to obtain supplies from military stockpiles at no expense, so long as the provisioner on site believes your efforts advance the political interests of your army's leadership. Your word will carry weight when you report significant threats to superiors in the military chain of command. You may earn special rewards if you succeed in bold actions to advance the interests of your government. |
| Training: Athletics, Intimidation, one gaming set, one mount, one language |
| Trappings: emblem(s) of service, one gaming set, two weapons, 5d10gp |
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| Inventive Tinker |
| You are a dedicated enthusiast of modern technology and its methods of production. |
| There was a time when you thought clockwork toys were powered by magic. Now you understand scientifically how to harness the energies of compressed springs, descending weights, and flowing fluids. Mechanical devices that were once so mysterious continue to fascinate through studies of their workings. This may be your hobby, or you may have profited from some trade related to tinkering. Perhaps you are already responsible for designing an innovative gadget or a popular mechanical toy. You admire the boldest designs of other tinkers, and you aspire to create devices others will value as both artful and useful. |
| Privileges: You appreciate the importance of minute variations in the sizes and properties of mechanical components. If you have access to a large supply of devices, broken or otherwise, you can restock a kit of tinkers' tools with two full days of labor. The same can be done with five days' work if your resources are limited to scrap metal not previously crafted for tinkering purposes. During a brief examination in which you handle, probe, and touch a non-magical mechanism; you can assess the capabilities of that device.
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| Training: Investigation, Perception, smiths' tools, tinkers' tools, one language |
| Trappings: designs for 1d4+1 tiny clockwork devices, tinkers' tools, 2d100gp |
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| Itinerant Trader |
| For some time you made your living as a peddler carting goods to communities with limited shopping opportunities. |
| Urban guilds and well-funded mercantile organizations promote consistent and stable trade among large communities. Towns and villages often lack the consumer spending required to sustain robust supply lines or dedicated storefronts. These smaller settlements are served by independent merchants hauling ecclectic inventories into markets otherwise lacking such supplies. You may have turned a profit by inflating the value of ordinary goods in the eyes of rural folks, or you may have made your way by capitalizing on wholesale bargains to peddle wares at reasonable prices.
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| Privileges: You are familiar with business practices ranging from handclasp oaths to corporate contracts. This helps you track down opportunities to obtain overstocked or irregular goods from organizations keen to cut a quick deal on the condition those items are promptly hauled outside a cartel's area of operations. You likewise have a knack for spotting potential buyers willing to pay good money for cheap trinkets paired with fanciful origin stories. In settlements with few or no dedicated merchants, you can busk by selling odds and ends with no itnrinsic value. |
| Training: Insight, Persuasion, wagon, one toolkit, two languages |
| Trappings: leather coat, one toolkit, one weapon, 2d100 + 20gp |
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| Learned Physician |
| You were once a provider of non-magical healing services to people suffering from ailments or wounds. |
| Always an able student, you made a point of accumulating knowledge related to the relief of personal misery. No individual has a comprehensive understanding of medicine, but you are among those striving toward that ideal. From the properties of distilled spirits to the particulars of exotic roots, you grasp non-magical methods of using materials to heal living creatures. Generally successful treatments paved the way for a positive reputation reinforced by recipients of your care. Now you are known as an accomplished healer – able to rally every power short of magic to the treatment of others in need. |
| Privileges: You are no stranger to greivous injuries and debilitating sicknesses. Unfamiliar afflictions may fascinate you more than they cause distress. The people of one community or region know you as a capable and sensible healer. You understand how to approach wounded creatures in non-threatening ways for purposes of administering assistance. You might be able to parley your training into lucrative work as a personal retainer. You can assess the ongoing conditions and present hit points of any creature you are able to study and touch for at least one minute. |
| Training: Nature, Medicine, alchemists' supplies, healers' kit, herbalists' kit, two languages |
| Trappings: book of medical lore, alchemists supplies', healers' kit, herbalists' kit, fine (stylish) clothing, 2d100gp |
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| Legal Advocate |
| For some time it was your business to argue and petition on behalf of others in audiences with government officials. |
| At least one regime recognizes you as a qualified advocate in court proceedings that do not involve trial by combat or trial by ordeal. You know the proper methods for filing petitions with presiding officials, and you have an impeccable history of complying with the inquiries of local authorities. Despite that, you are also known as someone who keeps information confidential while offering sound advice about exposure to legal hazards. Much of this is a function of your personal gift for navigating complex rules and official procedures. You artfully walk the line between voicing legal complaints and respecting governing aristocrats. |
| Privileges: You know the proper channels for communicating with legal authorities. From personally cajoling local officials to politely corresponding with Imperial secretaries, you have a keen sense of how to promote a political agenda. You know the protocols for disagreeing with court officials without provoking their contempt. In societies where courts of law adjudicate all criminal matters, you know what to say to prevent constables from exceeding their legal authority. Elsewhere you remain ready with the proper language to invoke any traditional rights your companions possess. |
| Training: Investigation, Persuasion, calligraphers' tools, two languages |
| Trappings: book of legal lore, calligraphers' tools, fine (business) clothing, 2d100gp |
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| Licensed Apothecary |
| You have been authorized to produce and sell substances ordinary merchants do not handle. |
| You have long understood that the difference between medicine and poison is often a matter of the dose. Intense curiosity about powers derived from nonmagical substances did not prevent you from exercising due caution when handling dangerous ingredients. From decorative lacquers to embalming fluids, toxic substances are major constituents of many useful mixtures. Being learned in their lore as well as relevant safety concerns, you have been awarded a license to trade in many wares ordinary vendors cannot legally dispense. You might make your way preparing a specific sort of product or selling small, precisely-measured, portions from a reserve of many dangerous preparations. |
| Privileges: You are authorized to receive some shipments that would otherwise be contraband. You are permitted to restock alchemists' supplies, brewers' supplies, healers' kits, and/or poisoners' supplies in one jurisdiction where essential pieces of those items are subject to legal restrictions. You excel at concentrating active ingredients from raw materials as well as diluting potent substances to allow for safe use. You are on good terms with a public official involved with enforcing restrictions on mind altering or toxic substances. |
| Training: Arcana, Nature, alchemists' kit, herbalists' kit, poisoners' supplies, one language |
| Trappings: seal or stamp of licensure, alchemists' supplies, poisoners' supplies, 2d100 + 40gp |
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| Licensed Fool |
| An aristocrat has decreed that you shall not be punished for any words you speak or sing. |
| In societies where speech is restricted, useful candor is often in short supply. Powerful people sometimes invite brutally honest individuals into their entourage for the benefit of perspectives other followers are unwilling to articulate. Artful presentations and glib transitions are essential to maintaining patronage while delivering unkind critiques in this advisory role. Authorities and bystanders alike are expected to regard your foolery as pure entertainment even when it conveys deeply meaningful messages. You may favor absurd attire and/or facepaint in order to better maintain a comedic persona in public. |
| Privileges: Within one jurisdiction the dominant authority has granted you freedom of expression. Constables and guards face professional setbacks if they punish you for speaking your mind or interfere with your efforts to stage a public performance. Some locals find your remarks extremely entertaining, rallying their friends at gatherings where you are expected to perform. Should you require it, your political patron will provide comfortable food and shelter in a secure stronghold. |
| Training: Insight, Performance, one musical instrument, one language |
| Trappings: fine (jesters') clothing, one musical instrument, 1d100gp |
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| Liveried Servant |
| For years you labored to make life easier for the wealthy inhabitants of a private estate. |
| A powerful individual employed you in their household staff. You have provided discreet personal service at gatherings of high society. After sampling your share of leftover luxuries, displays of extreme opulence no longer astound. You have been up close and personal with some of the best and the worst individuals among the elite of your locale, region, or nation. Though quick to show humility to privileged members of the household, servants form strong bonds of friendship through their collaborations. You know how arrange rendevouz with both servants and slaves to enable meaningful conversation without disrupting the business of the house. |
| Privileges: You have an intact uniform consistent with those worn by household staff at a large estate. So long as you do not prove disloyal and you avoid the main entrances, you are welcome to modest food and lodgings among old friends in spare servants' quarters. You understand the internal workings of personal service and structural maintenance required to make good use of a keep or a palace. You also know the protocols for interacting with aristocrats from at least one major society. If you are patient and respectful, you can obtain an audience with a former employer. |
| Training: Persuasion, Stealth, cooks' utensils, wagon, one language |
| Trappings: fine (servants') clothing, 2d100gp |
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| Local Hero |
| When a coherent community was in crisis, you took actions that prevented or minimized a serious disaster. |
| You lived much of your life in a community small enough to be full of familiar faces. You may have been well-liked, ordinary, or even shunned during some of your time there. Yet you are tremendously popular with the whole community nowadays. One bold act of bravery, charm, foresight, or persistence spared others from serious harm. Ever since, you have been a welcome guest in almost every home there, and locals continue to swap stories of your valiant deeds. Many feel honored to render some small favor like mending torn garb or buying a mug of ale. |
| Privileges: You are a beloved figure in one small close-knit community. You have no trouble obtaining modest food and lodgings at no cost while you are there. You might be able to arrange the same for a small group of companions who do not cause too much trouble. Local residents will give you the benefit of the doubt when you seek to be hidden from outside authorities. Area artisans and merchants offer limited selections, but all will be honest and fair in their dealings with you. Locals may look to you for assistance with their personal problems. |
| Training: Animal Handling, Athletics, one mount, one musical instrument, one toolkit |
| Trappings: one musical instrument, one toolkit, one weapon, jewel worth 4d12gp, 3d20gp |
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| Local Artisan |
| You spent years practicing a productive trade outside the auspices of any professional guild. |
| Either you conducted your business in a community too small to support a proper guild, or you worked in an urban environment lacking a strong guilde to monopolize your chosen trade. This allowed for periods of personal prosperity without either the support or the oversight guilds provide. Your methods might be entirely derived from your time with a single mentor, or they might be an ecclectic bland of techniques developed by copying the works of many other artisans. It is even possible you trained with a specific guild, then set up shop in a town or village outside the reach of that organization. Though you are not welcome to compete directly with city guilds practicing your trade, countless towns and villages would accept you into their communities. |
| Privileges: Throughout one region, you are know to be competent and reliable at a particular craft. Within that area, you know an assortment of markets and shops able to provide the tools and supplies required to practice your trade. You are also familiar with other independent artisans practicing the same trade. You can assess the quality of any items you are capable of crafting even if you are not proficient in their use. If you attempt to join an appropriate guild, you might qualify for immediate promotion to journeyman status.
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| Training: Perception, Persuasion, two toolkits |
| Trappings: two toolkits, one weapon, 5d20gp |
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| Mercenary Soldier |
| You fought with an force of hired warriors, commanded by no higher authority than coin. |
| Perhaps you first saw battle as a loyalist fighting for an idealistic political cause. Perhaps you were recruited out of civilian life on the basis of physical strength or respectable weapon training. Whatever the case, you were integrated into an independent military organization known to wage war for financial compenstation. Mercenary companies are not immune to the political consequences of their actions. Yet they give their employers additional capabilites – sometimes turning the tide of major battles, and sometimes taking actions that would trouble indigenous soldiers. Hired warriors provide a means by which the wealth of one regime can counter the popularity of a rival power. |
| Privileges: You have no official license or status, but you are known as a reliable warrior for hire. There is no assurance that any particular employer or faction would trust your loyalty, but you normally appear fit for the duties of an ordinary guard or soldier. You also possess the natural viglance valued in professional bodyguards. In addition to other mercenary companies, caraveneers and ship captains might be willing to pay for your services as a professional combatant. |
| Training: Intimidation, Perception |
| Trappings: leather armor, one weapon, 2d100gp |
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| Military Deserter |
| You avoided an obligation to serve during time of war, and this evasion has been documented by officials. |
| You might have simply fled from a crushing defeat or slipped away from inattentive leadership. Instead it could be the case that you refused to participate in an atrocity or had some other conscientious objection to service. Either way, any applicable bureaucracy now contains records indicating you abandoned a military obligation. Official penalties for desertion vary by culture as well commander, but they are never trivial. Costly fines and legal proceedings, if not much worse, await any deserter arrested as a fugitive. Even if your desertion was well-justified, you remain troubled by memories of abandoned comrades as well as the looming threat of military justice. |
| Privileges: You were officially a soldier in a large army, though you left on terms your commanders noted as dishonorable. Now you are a fugitive if not also an outlaw in the judgement of one society. You will face severe penalties if apprehended by authorities from that society. You know the organizational structure and standard operating procedures of the armed force you deserted. This insider information may have some value to military commanders serving powers hostile to that force. Yet authority figures of any sort will slow to trust if aware of your prior disloyalty. |
| Training: Athletics, Deception |
| Trappings: leather armor, one weapon, 1d100gp |
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| Mounted Courier |
| For some time you made your living as a rider conveying packages between distant communities. |
| You are at home in the saddle. You have crossed vast expanses of open wilderness while riding a swift beast. Perhaps you were employed by a mail delivery service, maintaining communications links inside a prosperous political regime. Perhaps you were less systematic, opportunistically making pickups and deliveries during your travels. You are experienced in riding techniques meant to emphasize the endurance or speed of a steed. You are also familiar with protocols related to handling official mail and locating intended recipients.
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| Privileges: You served for years as a reliable long range transporter of messages and packages. Throughout the reach of one large postal organization or the local leaderships of a politically divided region, you are permitted to come and go freely through most city gates and military checkpoints. Some elites have trusted you with their secrets, and you are respected for conveying sealed containers without tampering. Within your area of operations, you normally know the fastest overland route between any two major communities. |
| Training: Animal Handling, Perception, one mount, navigators' tools, two languages |
| Trappings: navigators' tools, regional map, saddle, saddlebags containing 1d100gp |
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| Noble Scion |
| You were raised as the child of a titled aristocrat, experiencing high society as a person of elite status. |
| Family estate(s) fund a lavish lifestyle for your living ancestors. At least one of them also shoulders serious political responsibilities. You became accustomed to fine things from an early age. You have personally met famous figures most folks could only hope to see in a procession or on a stage. Some of your earliest friends were chidren from other noble houses. You have long been groomed by domestic servants, and you may be unfamiliar with some basics of self-care. Your own dignity is extremely important to you – to the extent you sometimes seem aloof. |
| Privileges: Your social status may exempt you from many laws and/or elevate the severity of punishments for crimes against your person. You are welcome at one or more strongholds where a small group of companions may join you among the comforts of aristocratic food and lodgings. A senior member of the household may be plied for funds, but this invariably requires abandoning adventures to focus on commitments like an arranged marriage or the expansion of business interests. |
| Training: Persuasion, History, one mount, one gaming set, one musical instrument, four languages |
| Trappings: family signet, gaming set, large chest containing five sets of fine (various) clothing, assorted jewels worth 2d200 + 50gp, 1d8pp |
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| Occult Insider |
| You were raised to respect the values and traditions of an explicitly unholy subculture. |
| Some form of pact magic was openly practiced in the home where you grew up. There are lands where this behavior is no cause for persecution. Elsewhere, it must be a shared secret – hidden from ordinary acquaintances for fear of hostile authorities. Insiders feel a special bond when discussing taboo arcana and witchcraft. You continue to keep a sharp eye out for anyone who might benefit from teachings you can share as well as sources of new lore that might broaden your grasp of the occult. You also remain vigilant for agents of political or religious authorities inclined to treat such talk as criminal heresy. |
| Privileges: You know the methods required to locate and enter gatherings of at least one secret society involved with warlocks and witches. You can address demons, devils, and eldritch horrors in their own languages. Should a pact patron seek communications, your familiarity with omens and signs allows you to derive a great deal of information from the particulars of a momentary event or an obscure sigil. If you are able to examine a ritual book or spellcasting focus, you can determine if the item was used in the practice of pact magic. |
| Training: Arcana, Deception, painters' tools, Abyssal, Deep Speech, Infernal |
| Trappings: book of unholy lore, fine (stylish) clothing, one weapon, 3d20 + 66gp |
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| Outlaw Sympathizer |
| You participate in a secret network of supporters allied with an illegal cause or faction. |
| Your family may have been loyal to a rebellion or separatist movement for generations. Perhaps instead this affiliation is a personal choice you made as an adult. Another possibility sees you collaborating with a outlaw group lacking any political agenda. No documents or officials personally link you to any serious crimes at the start of your adventuring career, but you may have been an active participant all the same. Whatever the specifics, you are now trusted among a subculture of lawbreakers to such an extent their leadership and methods are well known to you. |
| Privileges: You know the location of and entry protocols for one or more secure hideouts guarded by formidable gangsters. You are on familiar terms with many other outlaws in that area, and they believe you can be trusted to keep secrets. You have the connections to arrange business with smugglers and thieves if not also assassins and ransomers. You may be given comfortable food and shelter in exchange for criminal activities like guarding a stash of illicit goods or assisting the travels of fugitives. Greater earnings may follow from even more risky undertakings. |
| Training: Stealth, Deception, Thieves' Cant, one toolkit, one gaming set, one language |
| Trappings: leather armor, one weapon, one toolkit, one gaming set, 3d20gp |
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| Piratical Mariner |
| You served with a crew primarily engaged in raiding and plundering vessels in open water. |
| Sailing was part of your daily routine during an important chapter of your life. Your memories of riding the winds feature companions capable of shocking violence. These notable renegades eagerly sustained themselves at the expense of marine merchants. You might have also participated in coastal raids, fleeing into open water before any military response arrived. Piracy typically sees blends of extremes. Many decisions are put to a vote, yet one captain wields absolute power in times of crisis. Long aimless cruises with dwindling supplies are punctuated by encounters that enrich and invigorate survivors of any associated battle. |
| Privileges: You know how to navigate to at least one secret harbor maintained in service to outlaw ships and stolen cargoes. Though these sites are notoriously difficult to locate, they are also openly hostile to vessels flying the flag of any earthly regime. Most of these strongholds operate outside any national laws, trafficking in all manner of contraband if not also captives. Among the survivors of at least one pirate crew, you are known as a reliable ally with the mettle to take bold actions when they are necessary. |
| Training: Acrobatics, Intimidation, navigators' tools, small boat, one gaming set, Thieves' Cant, one language |
| Trappings: two weapons, navigators' tools, one gaming set, small chest containing 1d100gp |
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| Professional Contender |
| You achieved noteworthy success in competitive activities staged at public events. |
| Your primary focus in life was a style of physical contest well-suited to your natural abilities. These competitions may have been violent, such as bareknuckle boxing or gladiatorial combat. Jousting tournaments are the most prestigious events to fit this description, but even pitching horseshoes or running footraces can lead to glorious victories. You might have competed informally or held a position in an organization sponsoring public exhibitions. Also, some courts of law support the use of hired proxies for trials by combat. That is a risky yet rewarding endeavor that quickly makes adventurers of any who survive numerous legal duels. |
| Privileges: Your physical fitness is evident to any observers familiar with the norms of your race. When fighting, jumping, running, and/or throwing you conform with ideals refined through many centuries of sport. Even if your efforts to defeat an opponent are not successful, they may yet be thrilling to witness. You have a keen sense prior to participation if a sporting tournament or trial by combat has been rigged. You have no special power to compel fairness, but you also understand no question of honor is truly settled by an unfair contest. |
| Training: Acrobatics, Athletics, one mount, small boats, wagons, one toolkit |
| Trappings: one weapon, one toolkit, assorted jewels worth 2d100gp, 2d20gp |
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| Professional Gambler |
| Luck and skill conspired to support you in a lifestyle focused on wagering money. |
| You understand the dynamics of personal risk. As an observer at sporting events, you can cultivate a well informed opinion about the odds and margins of particular outcomes. The same is true for any game of chance with which you are proficient. When playing those games, you also understand how to profit by losing more often than you win if those wins coincide with the highest stakes. Yet you are a consistently cunning opponent, constantly assessing rivals while calculating the most gainful strategies. You feel at home in elite gambing parlors, though you also fit in at back alley dice games. |
| Privileges: You can spot marked cards, loaded dice, and other rigged gambling paraphernalia after handling them during a brief inspection. You are likewise able to percieve the differences between a deterimined competitor failing and a team or individual purposefully underperforming. Yet underperformance is a classic ploy you utilize to motivate overconfidence in opponents. You understand how to manage betting syndicates with minimal underlying capital. Your parimutuel schemes require little backing to facilitate enthusiastic wagering on the outcome of a spectacle. |
| Training: Insight, Sleight-of-Hand, three gambling games, Thieves' Cant |
| Trappings: one weapon, fine (stylish) clothing, three gaming sets, 2d100gp |
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| Proven Shipwright |
| You were part of a team that completed the construction of at least one large seaworthy vessel. |
| Perhaps you grew up in the shadow of a mighty naval shipyard, quick to volunteer for an apprenticeship when you were old enough. Perhaps you hail from a small island utilizing longboats as an essential artery of commerce. Whatever the particulars, previous shipbuilding work familiarized you with every nautical construction task from boiling pitch to braiding rope to bucking logs. Mounting rudders and weaving sails are also within your means, given the neccessary tools and supplies. Though you understand how to build durable rafts, you favor opportunities to craft more stalwart and maneuverable ships fit for voyages to and from distant lands. |
| Privileges: Any seafaring crew is likely to value your services in the repair and upkeep of their vessel. Given a full day to inspect a large watercraft, you can assess its condition and maneuvering capabilities. If you are unable to repair a salvageable ship with supplies on hand, you can compile a list of goods required to complete that task. You likewise know which items are most useful when pulling parts from one vessel to modify or repair another. You can blend in at the many waterfront establishments where sailors gather while visiting ports. |
| Training: Nature, Perception, navigators' tools, weavers' tools, woodworkers' tools, small boats, one language |
| Trappings: navigators' tools, weavers' tools, woodworkers' tools, 1d100 + 40gp |
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| Reclusive Mystic |
| You have spent great spans of time focused on solitary contemplation of metaphysical questions. |
| You may have been inspired by academic lectures or religious sermons, but there is originality at the heart of your deepest musings. Your dreams, meditations, and thoughts all gravitate toward a problem or complex of problems involving the underlying nature of the cosmos. You are no stranger to long periods of complete isolation – serenity to better ponder these profound mysteries. Your inquiries are both earnest and well informed. You are no stranger to advanced concepts and technical terminology sages apply to magic and/or spirituality. |
| Privileges: No matter how haggard or bizarre your appearance, you can establish intellectual credibility by conversing briefly with any capable educator, philosopher, priest, or scholar. Your words sometimes sound as if they carry great weight even when they are limited to small talk. Specialists with an area of interest close to your own metaphysical inquiries may be eager to document your perspective and the theories on which it rests. You can assist in the crafting of magic items even if you cannot cast any relevant spell. |
| Training: Arcana, Religion, two languages |
| Trappings: 1d4 books of lore, one spellcasting implement, 1d100gp |
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| Reliable Bookbinder |
| You know all of the arts and crafts required to produce finished books from basic raw materials. |
| Papermakers, threadmakers, and woodcarvers are just a few of the artisans you have observed in the past. Though it probably took years of personal effort, you now know all the techniques required to turn suitable fibers and/or skins into durable works of bound, if blank, literature. You might have practiced this trade in the past, most likely at a sophisticated workshop engaged in mass production for an urban guild. Yet meticulously handcrafted books also remain in high demand. Aristocrats, spellcasters, and tycoons are often keen to project the appearance they possess knowledge of immense value. |
| Privileges: You have advantage on ability checks related to preserving literature and/or salvaging damaged documents. You cannot recover lost information with non-magical techniques, but you can save original materials in good condition while incorporating blank pages of similar appearance in pursuit of a faithful reconstruction. If you gently study a book with your own hands for a full minute, you can estimate its age and assess the types of paper, leather, and wood used in its construction. |
| Training: History, Nature, leatherworkers' tools, weavers' tools, woodworkers' tools |
| Trappings: fine (stylish) clothing, 2d4 empty books, 1d100gp |
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| Reliable Pilot |
| For some time you made a good living by providing relatively safe vehicular transit. |
| From bustling bays to urban boulevards, up to date local knowledge can be indispensable for swift transit. You once made a living operating some sort of vehicle in areas thick with traffic. Perhaps you drove a carriage for hire, quickly conveying hasty or wealthy people to locations in the same walled city. Perhaps you operated a nimble boat able to guide larger vessels through difficult waterways. In either case you routinely fulfilled promises to provide expeditious service. You take special satisfaction from helping others arrive safe and sound at their destinations. |
| Privileges: You have an intimate knowledge of traffic patterns in and around a specific metropolis or some small region of lesser development. Within this area, you have excellent information about potential hazards and probable speeds of various routes to any particular destination. When you have time to socialize with locals, you quickly learn about notable disturbances on any nearby roads or waterways. After you have inhabited an area for several months, you can replace your existing area knowledge by applying this privilege to traffic patterns of your new locale. |
| Training: Animal Handling, Athletics, navigators' tools, small boats, wagons |
| Trappings: fine (uniform) clothing, navigator's tools', regional map, 2d100gp |
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| Reliable Weaponsmith |
| For some time you made a good living by manufacturing dependable weapons and/or ammunition. |
| The tools of warfare have always interested you as much as its history and practices. You value opportunities to observe bowyers, carvers, fletchers, and smiths crafting military hardware. You are familiar with the expectations official procurement agents have for arms dealers in one region of the world. It is possible you previously participated in lucrative opportunities to arm organized soldiers. Even if your experience is limited to the production of hunting equipment in a rural village or the provision of basic arms to ordinary civilians, previous customers can attest that you have produced legitimate wares. |
| Privileges: You can assess the quality of any weapon or armor even if you are not proficient with that item. You can likewise produce any of these items with or without proficiency in its use. If you operate your own forge, workshop, or tannery; you learn about all the major buyers and vendors in the local arms trade. This extends to methods of manufacture. A thorough examination of their equipment allows you to determine if combatants geared up in some distant place or obtained weapons and armor from local suppliers. |
| Training: History, Perception, smiths' tools, leatherworkers' tools, woodworkers' tools |
| Trappings: fine (stylish) clothing, any two weapons, 1d100gp |
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| Religious Officiant |
| You were inducted into an organized priesthood before the start of your adventuring career. |
| Faith has been an important part of your life for as long as you can remember. The songs and stories of the tradition in which you were raised inspire an abiding inner warmth. You might have questioned these teachings at times, but overall you have been an excellent exemplar of the virtues favored by your patron deity. This did not go unnoticed. Leaders promoting your religion were quick to endow you with special honors and teachings. You are qualified to deliver sermons as well as preside at ceremonial weddings, sacrifices, and funerals. |
| Privileges: You are considered a holy person for purposes of laws that make such distinctions. This may elevate the consequences of assaults and threats of bodily harm against you. Depending on public attitudes about your patron deity, you might also enjoy greater freedom of expression or enhanced credibility in the eyes of constables and other public officials. Adherents to your faith show deep respect by default. You are welcome to shelter and take sustenance at any affiliated institutions. |
| Training: Persuasion, Religion, two languages |
| Trappings: book of religious lore, fine (ceremonial) clothing, holy symbol, flask of holy water, 1d100 + 20gp |
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| Religious Traveller |
| You have attempted or completed a lengthy journey to a holy site in a distant foreign society. |
| Either you were raised as part of a family with an overwhelming commitment to one religion or you passionately embraced a particular faith at a crucial juncture in your life. You have been studious in learning the traditions of your chosen sect, and you are likewise dutiful in observing its practices. Your devotion did not go unnoticed. With institutional support, you set off to visit one or more sacred places in lands far from your present home. Accompanied by an eclectic mix of fellow devotees, you have joined many long conversations about faith while walking toward a place of great inspiration to like-minded worshippers.
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| Privileges: You are well-studied in the pariculars of sites deemed sacred by your chosen faith. If you are near a site of sacred importance to your faith or travelling a major road headed in that direction, you know what to say and how to dress as if you were on a holy pilgrimage. You recognize the rites and trappings associated with your faith as reliably as if you were ordained as a priest, though you might not yet have the esteem to be regarded as a holy person. |
| Training: History, Religion, three languages |
| Trappings: book of religious lore, holy symbol, 3d20 + 20gp |
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| Reputable Brewer |
| You are known for personally producing pleasurable beverages of respectable potency. |
| At some point in your life, you werer part of a community where ale, beer, spirits, and/or wine were both legal and popular. Long service assisting in the production of these drinks allowed you to understand the entire process yourself. You now know many recipes for combining additives, raw ingredients, and water under conditions that convert some of the energy in those ingredients into alcohol. Brews can taste foul or even become poisonous if improperly prepared. You have successfully completed at least one batch of ale, beer, spirits, or wine prior to your adventures. |
| Privileges: You are appropriately licensed to produce, ship, and sell trademarked alcoholic beverages in one jurisdiction. Maintaining that privileges can require annual fees and/or substantial taxes on any sales. You also have knowledge of various popular drinks in one culture. Given appropriate supplies and equipment as well as sufficient time, you can produce such beverages yourself. As a glazier, you know how to fabricate many sorts of bottles and jars as well as corks suitable for sealing those vessels. You also know how to produce barrels and casks of various sizes. Given diligent assistance, you can also direct others in any of these tasks. |
| Training: Nature, Perception, brewers' tools, glassblowers' tools, woodworkers' tools |
| Trappings: cask of ale or beer, 1d8 bottles of wine, 1d4 bottles of spirits, 1d100gp |
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| Resident Artist |
| You are known for crafting objects coveted for their distinctive designs and embellishments. |
| From an early age you took pride in some of your own creations. You enjoy time spent making beautiful things or learning new techniques. High personal standards shape everything you craft in your signature style(s). You might sell functional wares as decorative pieces to bypass a guild monopoly. You might instead operate in a niche with no dominant cartel, vying for popularity in a subculture of trending fashions. From bustling food carts to sedate facades, much of the modern world is enriched by creative people able to express real passion throughout day after day of dedicated labors. |
| Privileges: Though you are no stranger to music, your greatest creative efforts take the form of goods you produce with tools. Be it a well-cooked meal or a shining suit of armor, your dedication to excellence sets you apart from ordinary artisans. Others proficient in the same craft may recognize your handiwork at a glance. Your past works may surge in value if they become popularized by a beloved celebrity or outspoken aristocrat. You become familiar with the artistic traditions and norms of any culture you inhabit for more than a few months. |
| Training: History, Perception, two toolkits, one musical instrument, one language |
| Trappings: one musical instrument, two toolkits, 1d100 + 20gp |
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| Resident Performer |
| For some time you appeared on the stage(s) of established theater(s) in a variety of roles. |
| Acting, dancing, music, and oratory often seem routine to you. One or more companies of entertainers with a dedicated amphitheater or playhouse included you as a regular on their stage(s). During this part of your life, almost every day that was not dedicated to putting on a show was spent rehearsing or otherwise preparing for the next production. You formed close bonds with many of the performers involved in past collaborations. You feel at home in backstage environs where actors adopt and part ways with the identities they assume for the sake of a show. |
| Privileges: You are familiar with all the plays and songs that achieved widespread popularity across a specific region in recent years as well as the classics associated with at least one major artistic tradition. This foundation eases efforts to collaborate with other popular entertainers in that area. You are at home in backstage areas and rehearsal spaces. You are familiar with the myriad of technical tasks offstage performers do to animate props, generate sounds, and manipulate settings. You are able to coordinate the collaborative efforts of many performers participating in a single event. |
| Training: Acrobatics, Performance, disguise kit, two musical instruments, two languages |
| Trappings: fine (stylish) clothing, disguise kit, one musical instrument, 1d100 + 20gp |
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| Rugged Teamster |
| You have completed many long journeys while wrangling the beasts of an organized caravan. |
| From dogsleds to camel trains, many communities depend on trade and travel links sustained by beasts of burden driven along paths to distant places. These lengthy treks are familiar to you, as are the natural wonders and vital waystations featured on those routes. You worked on the roads for years – guiding beasts, rationing water, scouting trails, securing cargo, and wrangling stragglers. Those duties did not prevent you from appreciating the beauties of open country. Along the way you also sampled exotic goods from many markets. You might not think of yourself as a merchant, but you understand the crucial role caravans play in modern commerce. |
| Privileges: When you assess the fitness of a working animal, you have a clear sense of their carrying and dragging capabilities. You are familiar with the food and water requirements for every domesticated beast of burden. When you tether animals together or apply harnesses for purposes of pulling vehicles, you always inspect your work to be certain of secure rigging with the best fit in each case. You know how to settle and rest large groups of animals when making camp. |
| Training: Animal Handling, Perception, two mounts, wagon, two languages |
| Trappings: leather armor, one weapon, 2d100gp |
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| Scavenging Vagrant |
| You roam from place to place while searching for abandoned items of value enough to trade. |
| Wherever civilization thrives, there is no shortage of discarded gear. In some communities ironmongers employ respectable procurement agents to collect abandoned or broken metal objects. In others this scrap is so casually discarded that city dumps offer hauls for individuals humble enough to make their wages by digging through garbage. Yet you are not concerned exclusively with acquiring metals.
From the bloodiest battlefield to the most easygoing estate sale, you understand the worth of any possessions not already buried with the dead. However you operate, a good stretch of your life was funded by the collection and resale of abandoned items. |
| Privileges: You do not require proficiency to assess the quality of non-magical equipment. You can also repair routine damage to these items even if you are not proficient in their use. Experience has already taught you where to look for the best loot in the aftermath of a battle or a disaster. At a glance you can determine if a group of bodies has already been picked through or if they retain much of what they had when they fell. You excel at breaking down items to extract any valuable materials they contain. |
| Training: Perception, Survival, one toolkit, one language |
| Trappings: one toolkit, one weapon, 2d100gp |
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| Scouting Soldier |
| You once served in a military organization as a source of information about hostile and/or minor powers. |
| Large military organizations typically provide reconaissance for themselves. Whether trained at a distant service academy or recruited from astute locals, scouts are not considered regular troops. Most sport a mixture of military and civilian garb, deftly concealing the former as needed to blend in with townsfolk or travellers. Their work typically involves taking observations from afar, then relaying reports of sightings to commanders. Reliable scouts go beyond numbering troops to also study the terrain as well as the dispositions of indigenous inhabitants throughout the areas where they operate. |
| Privileges: If you get a clear look at a group of travellers, you can accurately estimate the numbers of people and mounts in that group. You are also at peace with stillness – comfortable spending long hours lurking in the canopy of a tree or hiding in a roadside gully. If you are able to observe a small village or any sort of tribal settlement for at least one hour prior to making contact, you can introduce yourself as a respectful outsider even if you did not previously know the local language. Further parleys might be limited to non-verbal expressions. |
| Training: Perception, Stealth, cartographers' tools, one mount, two languages |
| Trappings: one weapon, field glasses, cartographer's tools, 3d20gp+20gp |
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| Secret Agent |
| A foreign regime or mysterious society recruited you to gather information about the place you presently live. |
| Perhaps you were a convict slated for exile, only to be offered a chance at return after completing a covert mission. Perhaps instead it was your zeal for the cause that saw you chosen for infiltration training. Once prepared and equipped to lead a double life, you were resettled in the community where you now reside. You have been on your own for some time now, with vague goals and no overseers to enforce operational restrictions. You already have a clear overview of economic and political institutions prominent in the region. Reports relaying that intelligence have satisfied your primary mission. |
| Privileges: Your friendships and other social bonds may be real, but your identity is not. You are prepared to create additional aliases as needed to inflitrate organizations or compromise individuals. You are also prepared to vanish, abandoning your present life altogether only to establish yourself anew with a completely different name and trade. A codenamed patron may send encrypted messages seeking specific information available from a nearby source and/or offering specialized support services. |
| Training: Deception, Investigation, disguise kit, forgery kit, two languages |
| Trappings: book of ciphers, disguise kit, forgery kit, 3d20gp+20gp |
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| Street Urchin |
| Your youth was fraught with mischief in the thick of a bustling urban environment. |
| You may have been orphaned and forced to make your own way in the city, or you may have been raised in a troubled home where running with other misfits provided a much-needed sense of belonging. As a young person you made no shortage of mistakes – seeking attention for yourself or lashing out from raw desperation. With greater maturity came greater ability. You are no longer bewildered by an ordinary padlock or a common sentry. You are well aware of any criminal organizations in the area. Each regards you as a desirable recruit and/or a potential competitor. Area constables know you as a persistent troublemaker. |
| Privileges: You are a notable presence in the local criminal underworld even if you remain unaffiliated with any organization. You know the best locations in your own community to attempt a variety of petty crimes, from painting graffiti to picking pockets. You are aware of several obscure hideouts and even more spots suitable for stashing valuables in the area around your home. Though your friends and associates are not the most reliable folks, you know how to make contact with assassins, burglars, fences, and smugglers. |
| Training: Sleight-of-Hand, Stealth, thieves' tools, Thieves' Cant |
| Trappings: studded leather armor, thieves' tools, one weapon, 2d20gp |
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| Super Soldier |
| A large organization dedicated considerable resources to your combat training. |
| You might hail from an aristocratic bloodline, singled out for special training as proof of superior heritage. It is also possible you were selected from a large pool of recruits based on conformity to an organizational ideal or the personal whims of a senior officer. Whatever the path, it led you into a regimen of rarified exercises intended to prepare you for service as an elite member of a miitary organization. Year after year, this training dominated your daily routine. If you did not train at a miliary service academy, then you were affiliated with a lesser institution or secret society focused on preparing future operatives. |
| Privileges: One national army or regional military command recognizes you as part of a high priority training program. You might have credibility when requesting equipment and/or support personnel from that organization. Outsiders devoted to the success of the related nation or faction may extend preferential treatment as a function of their own loyalties. Rarely, a nationalist or zealot devoted to the cause of your trainers identifies you personally, showering you with praise while eager to perform some small service on your behalf. |
| Training: Athletics, Intimidation, one mount, one language |
| Trappings: two weapons, emblem(s) of service, 4d20gp+20gp |
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| Syndicate Scion |
| You were raised as the child of a powerful and highly respected leader in the criminal underworld. |
| Though you grew up among extremely violent lawbreakers, you found their presence a source of reassuring security. Rare emergencies were separated by long chapters of comfortable indulgence. Luxuries were never in short supply for you, and household staff did much to make life easier as well. Prior to the start of your adventuring career, these comforts also served to shelter you from the constant struggles involved in sustaining a criminal empire. Everyone familiar with your family understood that bringing harm to you would provoke intense hostility from an organization with no shortage of accomplished killers. |
| Privileges: You know the location of and entry protocols for one or more secure hideouts guarded by formidable gangsters. Local outlaws know your family by reputation. As a result, nearly all will muster respectful attitudes if they are aware of your relationship with a syndicate boss. At first, you are to be treated as a protected civilian rather than a working member of the organization. Crossing that line makes you "fair game" in conflicts between criminal factions, though it may also open up lucrative opportunities to support illicit enterprises. |
| Training: Deception, Stealth, thieves' tools, Thieves' Cant, two languages |
| Trappings: fine (business) clothing, thieves' tools, one weapon, assorted jewels worth 2d100gp, 1d100 + 50gp |
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| Town Crier |
| For some time you worked as a professional delivering public announcements with your own voice. |
| Even at a young age, you had a way of speaking that caused others to take you seriously. You honed this gift into a voice that sounds elegant and officious even while yelling near top volume. From the opening of a new shop to the particulars of a public execution, much information first flowed out to general public through your lips. Over time, your face became nearly as familiar as your voice throughout an entire community. Though merely a spokesperson for aristocrats, your consistent elocution and poise has garnered the respect of most people within earshot of your frequent announcements. |
| Privileges: The neighborhood, town, or village where you work(ed) is intimately familiar to you. Likewise, you are personally known by nearly all inhabitants of the area. You are sometimes asked to officiate at respectable events dedicated to no particular religion. Local laws might even empower you to certify marriages, conduct funerals, and register births. You are a welcome guest at any large festivals or parties nearby. Yet you are expected to edit all public commentary to reflect well on governing authorities. |
| Training: Performance, Persuasion, three languages |
| Trappings: handbell, fine (official) clothing, 1d100 + 40gp |
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| Travelling Singer |
| For part of your life you roamed a familiar circuit of communities while singing about newsworthy events. |
| Even in youth you displayed an ability to entertain others through storytelling. Learning music allowed your tales to be told with greater appeal. At the same time, making new songs from old melodies helped you to memorize the particulars of notable events. Locals were happy enough to fund your performances, though only up to a point. You found sustainable success by travelling to other communities, sharing your old material with new audiences while devising songs inspired by their lives. For a time you could comfortably make the rounds between several locales, artfully spreading information throughout a region. |
| Privileges: You are extremely knowledgeable in the local lore of several communities each no more than a day's journey from at least one of the others. Entertaining at a receptive inn or drinking house for four hours will earn you wealthy food and lodgings for the night, or the best available alternative in the absence of sufficient luxuries. Yet these guest appearances typically span a single evening, never more than three in a row. To prevent your material from growing stale, you must regularly mingle with new crowds if not also travel to other settlements. |
| Training: History, Performance, two musical instruments, one language |
| Trappings: fine (stylish) clothing, one musical instrumment, 1d100 + 20gp |
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| Undocumented Enigma |
| Until recently, your life and upbringing were unconnected to any major civilization. |
| Perhaps you were raised on the homestead of an extreme isolationist. Perhaps you grew up in a commune, enclave, or tribe effectively hidden from the surrounding world. You might even be an extraplanar immigrant, already in the thick of adventure while forming your first personal connections in this world. No official records of your previous activities exist here. Even diviners investigating your past have no cause for any strong opinions of political or social consequence. Extremely powerful organizations may regard you with curiosity, but they have no basis to regard you with hostility. |
| Privileges: You are a blank slate who cannot be incriminated for hostile affiliations from your former life even when interrogated by angels. While nothing about your background predisposes others toward friendship, there is also nothing about it that can be used to justify negative attitudes. People may find your outsider status especially intriguing. Some important figures also find it useful, as outsiders are often presumed to be neutral in conflicts between factions. Your speech and behavior do not conform with any well-established stereotypes or influences. |
| Training: Deception, Stealth, disguise kit |
| Trappings: disguise kit, greatcloak, 8d8gp |
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| Urban Messenger |
| You can weave quickly through crowded streets and narrow alleys, swiftly delivering documents and goods. |
| Transporting messages and packages in urban environments is largely about minimizing costs. Small fees are associated with the handling of ordinary correspondence and merchandise. Services exploit the speed of eager young couriers to complete a high volume of deliveries during each day of routine business. People who stick with this trade soon become adept at exploiting shortcuts, locating individuals, and weaving through heavy traffic. At once exhausting and exhilirating, many urban messengers adopt a "work hard, play hard" lifestyle – carousing with gusto on the nights after a streak of lucrative jobs. |
| Privileges: You have an extraordinary knowledge of how to get around one city or large town. Locals need only mention a major intersection or a notable landmark for you to know the area under discussion as well as how traffic flows nearby. Unusual crowding or emptiness becomes notable in the context of this understanding. Throughout the city you once served, you have an excellent knowledge of multiple routes between any two structures. You also have a keen ability to differentiate between legitimate servants of an intended recipient and unrelated interlopers. |
| Training: Athletics, Insight, one musical instrument, one gaming set, two languages |
| Trappings: one musical instrument, one gaming set, 2d100gp |
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| Village Idiot |
| You are known throughout an entire community for bizarre antics and nonsensical ravings. |
| You lived much of your life in a community small enough to be full of familiar faces. Somewhere along the way, you became both a beneficiary of charity and a target of ridicule. Consensus among the locals is that you are harmless and not to be taken seriously in any context. You are no stranger to being bullied, but local denizens are generally sympathetic to your plight. The same crowds that gather to laugh at your behavior and engage in hostile mockery also rally to your defense when you face serious peril. There are some acquaintences you would even consider friends. Your arrival may transform routine assemblies into raucous festivities. |
| Privileges: Never being taken seriously enables taboos to be violated without that violation being taken seriously. Wherever you are recognized as a village idiot, authorities will be reluctant to confront you about matters of controversial public speaking, indecent personal behavior, or simple vagrancy. You can obtain squalid food and shelter for the day by panhandling for coins, searching through trash, or sleeping in the outbuilding of a kind-hearted local. No matter how powerful you become, if you are entirely without visible magical effects and impressive gear, you can credibly appear as a harmless beggar. |
| Training: Insight, Performance, Thieves' Cant |
| Trappings: large sack full of random trinkets with no monetary value, 2d100cp |
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| Village Protector |
| When a coherent community was in crisis, you took up arms in defense of innocent folks. |
| It is not unusual for a small settlement of like-minded people to go years without a notable episode of violence. Even where brawling and/or duelling are tolerated, villages tend to be tight-knit communities where family elders deal with trouble before it becomes a source of public concern. When monsters or warbands appear on the horizon, most locals flee and hide. You did otherwise, participating in a ragtag militia that held out until adventurers or authorities arrived. Others started calling on you to confront troublemakers and track down missing persons. Even the elders now regard you as an unofficial peacekeeper. |
| Privileges: There is one small settlement where you are welcome to modest food and lodgings at a variety of local residences. Businesses in this community may offer you small discounts or gifts from time to time. Everyone knows your name, and most locals hold you in high regard. You are welcome at most social events in this community, and you enjoy a place of honor at one annual festival here. You may be targeted in attacks on this community with the aim of driving down public morale. |
| Training: Intimidation, Survival, one toolkit |
| Trappings: two weapons, 1d100gp |
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| Wandering Nomad |
| You feel entirely at home on the open wilderness, and you find comfort among other migratory people. |
| You might have been raised among one of the many tribes that make no permanent claims on any land. Relocating to exploit seasonal resources or manage large herds, nomadic comunities travel light by necessity. Most are guided by venerable traditions that may seem strange to outsiders. Yet not all nomads are part of an organized group. Some individuals or small families keep moving from place to place in search of opportunities to entertain, explore, steal, or trade. Whether you were being carried on horseback within hours of your birth or you inhabited a permanent home until recent years, you are presently on a journey that may last the rest of your life. |
| Privileges: You understand how to situate camp sites away from major roads yet near sources of fresh water. Where foraging and/or hunting are sufficient, you are able to coordinate provisioning in harmony with the land. Leaving plenty of unclaimed fruit or game gives nature every chance to continue thriving through the seasons ahead. When an entire camp follows your strict instructions about everything from fire safety to waste disposal, no matter how large, that campsite can be abandoned in a way that leaves no evidence on the ground. |
| Training: Animal Handling, Survival, one mount, two languages |
| Trappings: one weapon, tent, 2d20gp |
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| Wilderness Explorer |
| You have plunged into the unknown and returned with useful knowledge of undeveloped territory. |
| You have long made a habit of pushing at physical boundaries. For you, mysterious places are tempting lures rather than frightening barriers. Perhaps you ventured off alone into the wilds as a child to live among family of beasts for a time. Perhaps you only dared travel far beyond roads in search of a precious resource or an opportunity to study a rare creature. Since then you have wandered many untamed locales untrod by any previous mapmaker. You could make a trade of charting untamed lands, or you might roam them for other purposes. In either case, you have no need of walls or civilized neighbors to feel entirely at home. |
| Privileges: Apart from deserts, glaciers, wastes, and other lands your DM rules extremely inhospitable; you always gather at least one pound of safe nutritious food even when you fail Survival checks related to foraging. While travelling overland, you can maintain your rushing pace without any of the penalties associated with rushing. You and the equipment you carry are automatically protected from exposure to rain, snow, sun, and/or wind within the range of normal weather events for territory lively enough to support the foraging method described above. |
| Training: Nature, Survival, cartographers' tools, navigators' tools |
| Trappings: cartographers' tools, navigators' tools, tent, one weapon, 3d20gp |
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Classes
| Choose Your Own Adventurer |
1. Would you prefer to wield magic (2) or metal (5)?
2. Would you like to serve a greater power (3) or focus on your own talents (4)?
3. Would you seek out organized religions (cleric), nature worshippers (druid), or secretive cults (warlock)?
4. Would you pursue vocal dynamism (bard), spellcasting finesse (sorcerer), or recondite studies (wizard)?
5. Would you seek specialized training from holy persons (6) or find your own path (7)?
6. Would you rather be a gifted martial artist (monk) or a zealous spiritual enforcer (paladin)?
7. Would you rather spend your time in open wilderness (8) or a walled city (9)?
8. Would you cultivate more intense fury (barbarian) or greater environmental awareness (ranger)?
9. Would you take the direct approach (fighter) or opt for something less conventional (rogue)?
|
Selecting a Class Most people are not adventurers. Nearly half of all human adults will enter an adventuring class at some point in their lives. Most of these careers will be brief, ending either in death or a remarkable personal achievemment. Retired adventurers often find their abilities fading across year after year without any active training or formidable challenges. Adventurers are not rare in a world so full of conflicts and dangers, but each adventurer is a truly exceptional individual, both confident and curious relative to other members of their communities. A capacity for bold actions sets them apart from people whose greatest talents are not related to serious combat or spellcasting.
There was a time when training opportunities were governed so rigorously that race alone determined the abilities an adventurer could develop. Not long after the gods introduced the world to spiritual magic, humanity also started to practice wizardry. Human clerics, fighters, magic-users, and thieves were the first true classes of dungeon-delving adventurers. Their proliferation spread lore that inspired the entire world while generating countless new traditions. Great teachers adapted ancient secrets into plainspoken lessons shared with generations of students. The rise of modern cities eroded racial restrictions on education and training. Today there are no barriers to the potential progress of any capable person in any adventuring class.
All of this knowledge is now so readily available that some adventuring careers begin without any formal training at all. A simple street fighter in the thick of gang warfare will develop abilities faster than a professional soldier who rarely catches sight of blood. A humble nurse tending to refugees or plague victims is more likely to exerience a spiritual revalation than a church official focused entirely on inconsequential ceremonies. Though extremely rare, even a self-taught wizard can arise after methodical study of a scavenged spellbook paired with relevant arcane reference materials. Many adventurers show some signs of extraordinary ability from an early age.
Yet the norm is to receive training from an accomplished member of an adventuring class. A single mentor is enough to unlock the talents of a hopeful hero, though this process is often an accumulation of more than one influence. Most bards are graduates of colleges dedicated to magical music, and most wizards complete lengthy university studies on their path toward apprenticeship. Warriors of all sorts may hone their techniques by sparring with allies or practicing perfect form in front of drill intstructors. Experienced soldiers tend to become fighters, but well-organized armies often maintain specialist units staffed with paladins, rangers, or rogues. The best officers are happy to show leadership by training their subordinates.
Class and Identity Adventurers understand the nature of their own class and level. Learned spellcasters are familiar with the Tiers of Power – a method of categorizing practitioners by the highest spell level an individual can complete unassisted. Great sages verify claims to this form of status by witnessing an appropriate spellcasting effort. Others may infer it, if not from observing the method, then from watching the results.
Bards, clerics, druids, sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards are each associated with one of the Six Forms of magic. Scholars have documented their modern particulars in great technical detail. Barbarians, fighters, monks, paladins, rangers, and rogues are each associated with one of the Six Qualities of highly effective warriors. These concepts are fundamental to military science, though less rigorously defined. Even where names and attitudes vary, well-travelled persons are familiar with the general concepts shaping all twelve classes. |
Each class of adventurer is initially defined by a group of core proficiencies and a pair of special abilities. New characters gain all of this at first level. Armor proficiencies make it possible to fight effectively while protected by durable defensive items. Saving throw proficiencies indicate aptitudes for avoiding broad categories of danger. Skill and tool proficiencies suggest significant professional training or equivalent untutored practice. Weapon proficiencies make it possible to perform accurate attacks with specific arms. No proficiency is exclusive to a single class. Yet each assembly is a unique platform upon which progressively greater capabilities can be developed.
Each class is also associated with a range of supplemental skills. These are not automatically acquired, but relevant studies and techniques overlap with class lore. Redundant skill proficiencies can be replaced with these supplemental skill proficiencies. The ongoing development of class abilities leads to broadening competence. Classes do not leave any marks on the auras of individuals, but adventurers are aware of their own classes and levels. The judgements of others may be informed by an adventurer's behaviors and trappings. Those judgements may also be misinformed. Charlatans have a way of wielding unfamiliar paraphernalia without betraying their own lack of proficiency.
Often it is not possible to simulate magic with ordinary equipment or cast spells without being identified as a spellcaster. On each side of the magical/martial divide, adventurers' abilities are shaped by highly technical lore. Many warlocks purport to be some other sort of spellcaster since their own methods can be cause for persecution. The Arcana skill allows educated observers a chance to recognize spellcasting methods. The Insight skill sometimes supports sound inferences about combat prowess. These methods are imperfect even when applied to displays of great power. Assessments are even less reliable when limited to opinions about the appearances of individuals going about routine activities.
Complete Subclass List
Barbarians: Bestial Savage, Hardened Survivor, Shamanic Militant, Totem Collector, or Zealous Berzerker
Bards: College of Arms, College of Drama, College of Humor, College of Lore, College of Speech
Clerics: Domain of the Forge, Domain of the Grave, Domain of Knowledge, Domain of Life, Domain of Light, Domain of Nature, Domain of Tempest, Domain of Trickery, and Domain of War
Druids: Circle of the Beasts, Circle of the Land, Circle of the Stones, Circle of the Swarms, Circle of the Trees
Fighters: Braced Battlemage, Chiseled Champion, Courtly Cavalier, Deft Duelist, Steadfast Samurai
Monks: Way of the Blazing Fist, Way of the Open Hand, Way of the Roaring Strike, Way of the Shadow Boxer, Way of the Shining Stance
Paladins: Oath of Destruction, Oath of Devotion, Oath of Preservation, Oath of Protection, Oath of Service
Rangers: Arcing Sniper, Beast Tamer, Creature Handler, Stalking Slayer, Steely Trapper
Rogues: Cloaked Assassin, Padded Burglar, Savvy Sleuth, Skyline Tumbler, Stage Magician
Sorcerers: Mesmeric Mentalist, Nebulous Torrent, Noble Cinder, Wildtouched Mutant, Wyrmblooded
Warlocks: Demonic Consort, Diabolic Servitor, Leyforce Custodian, Moongazer, Pupil of Abraxas
Wizards: School of Abjuration, School of Conjuration, School of Divinition, School of Enchantment, School of Evocation, School of Illusion, School of Necromancy, School of Transmutation |
Selecting a Subclass Completing 2nd level in any single adventuring class provides a foundation for highly specialized training. When you attain the 3rd level of any class, you advance into one subclass of that class. Like class selection itself, these decisions are permanent. In some cases this choice is a matter of personal destiny. A sorcerer with an inherited gift or a cleric already pledged to a specific holy order will naturally enter the appropriate subclass. Yet in other cases this crucial decision will be shaped by minor influences a potential hero or villain experiences at the dawn of a demanding campaign.
Each subclass should reflect a character's personal interests and aptitudes. Though formal initiations on entry to a subclass are common, they are not essential. Much more important is some sort of prior activity to establish the cultivation of new abilities along with an additional skill. Those efforts are the true path to entry, and that growth is verifiable evidence of progress. No modern subclass is limited to one organization. Yet some have their roots in a single historic institution. Many adventurers feel a special solidarity with others well-studied in the same lore and techniques. Every subclass is prominent enough that any learned character might reasonably know it by reputation.
Adventurers tend to be aware of all the subclasses associated with their initial adventuring class. Each is a different way of developing the same fundamental talents. Collaborations are common, since a diverse mix of abilities can contribute greatly to the success of a complex endeavor. Criminal syndicates often assemble teams of rogues with different specialties to better perpetrate a heist. Holy orders typically practice a single domain of spiritual magic, yet multiple holy orders devoted to the same deity sometimes pool their facilities and resources. Prestigious academic institutions pointedly feature experienced faculty from every College of Music and/or every School of Magic.
Many subclasses feature a list of bonus spells constantly at the ready. All of them teach a distinctive outlook independent of the struggles between good and evil. A cleric or a paladin lapsed in alignment can reconnect with a Holy Doman or Sacred Oath by embracing a new religion or creed. Recovering spiritual powers requires dedication to a new set of beliefs is confirmed through sacrifice or struggle. Personal morality has no impact on the abilities of the other ten adventuring classes. Only the continued exercise of their skills, spells, and other features in challenging and/or dangerous situations is required for further advancement. Progress to 4th level in any class bestows a Feat, helping adventurers better adapt to their emergent specialties.
| Barbarian Basics |
hit points for new characters: 12 + your Constitution bonus
hit points for gained levels: 1d12 + your Constitution bonus
Hit Dice: 1d12 per barbarian level
armor proficiencies: light, medium, shield
weapon proficiencies: all weapons
saving throw proficiencies: Strength & Constitution
core skill proficiencies: Athletics and Survival
languages: one minor tribal language
tool proficiencies: one mount
supplemental skill proficiencies: You can replace each of your redundant skills with Animal Handling, Intimidation, Nature, Medicine, Perception, or Stealth.
|
Barbarians Warriors typically regard battle as a test of skill and determination. Keeping a clear head while under attack allows combatants to make the most of their talents and training. Barbarians take a different approach. They value any technique that might heighten their own base aggression. As they step toward a worthy challenge, they undergo a profound mental transformation. Barbarians in this frame of mind are heedlessly violent. Few dangers can deter them, and their own attacks become outrageously powerful. A barbarian in this altered state may dominate a clash of equals. Yet their weaponized rage cannot be sustained indefinitely. Spent barbarians may struggle to hold their own against combatants of comparable experience.
Barbarians often emerge from small communities with limited resources. Tribal warriors unable to study manuals of arms or train in advanced maneuvers have no shortage of time to hone their personal anger. Their lore derives from the hard lessons of struggling for survival without benefit of security or social niceties provided by advanced civilizations. Some barbarians adorn themselves with blood and gore, a practice many professional soldiers find deeply disturbing. Even the most gentle and polite barbarians remain ready to engage in terrifying displays of savagery. Abandoning all grace and finesse, barbarians compensate with direct and deadly forms of raw hostility.
All barbarians also feel strong connections to animal spirits. They identify with specific animals, learning to attack and move as wild beasts. Countless obscure traditions call for face painting or tattooing to reinforce aspects of animals associated with an individual. These displays can be hard to miss on barbarians, since most plunge into battle burdened by little more than a few weapons and a shield. In some contexts, exposure to the elements as well as enemies is a more daunting display than a suit of shining steel. Tribes that wish to remain isolated may depend more on the ferocious reputation of barbarian warriors than their actual ability to defeat hostile armies.
| Barbarian Progression |
Proficiency
Level Bonus Features | Minor
Totems | Major
Totems | Rages | Rage
Damage |
| 1st | +2 | Rage,
Unarmored Defense | 0 | 0 | 2 | +2 |
| 2nd | +2 | Reckless Attack,
Savage Totems | 1 | 0 | 2 | +2 |
| 3rd | +2 | Primal Path | 1 | 0 | 3 | +2 |
| 4th | +2 | Feat | 1 | 0 | 3 | +2 |
| 5th | +3 | Tactical Action | 2 | 0 | 3 | +2 |
| 6th | +3 | Path Feature | 2 | 0 | 4 | +2 |
| 7th | +3 | Extra Attack | 2 | 0 | 4 | +2 |
| 8th | +3 | Feat | 3 | 0 | 4 | +2 |
| 9th | +4 | Eviscerate | 3 | 0 | 4 | +3 |
| 10th | +4 | Path Feature | 3 | 1 | 4 | +3 |
| 11th | +4 | Feat | 4 | 1 | 5 | +3 |
| 12th | +4 | Sheer Determination | 4 | 1 | 5 | +3 |
| 13th | +5 | Persistent Rage | 4 | 1 | 5 | +3 |
| 14th | +5 | Path Feature | 5 | 1 | 5 | +3 |
| 15th | +5 | Feat | 5 | 1 | 5 | +3 |
| 16th | +5 | Extra Attack x2 | 5 | 2 | 5 | +4 |
| 17th | +6 | Feat | 6 | 2 | 6 | +4 |
| 18th | +6 | Indomitable Might | 6 | 2 | 6 | +4 |
| 19th | +6 | Feat | 6 | 2 | 6 | +4 |
| 20th | +6 | Primal Champion | 7 | 2 | ∞ | +4 |
CREATING A BARBARIAN
Though barbarians can be found in every major human homeland, these proudly savage warriors normally hail from the sort of minor ethnic groups imperial bureaucracies classify as primitive. “Civilized barbarian” is a term that contradicts itself. Yet such individuals exist. Some were born into another life only to resettle among a subsistence tribe long enough to learn their ways. Others left behind rough origins in search of a comfortable place in a more refined society. Either approach is a sort of crossover. Weathering perils avoided in peaceful and prosperous realms is the only path to the intense aggression and physical toughness of the barbarian.
Peaceful tribes inhabiting bountiful land may rely on a small number of warriors to provide security for the entire community. Groups facing frequent conflict may make warriors of nearly all adult members. The Rawhide Drovers are a loosely-connected culture of nomadic herders known for formidable barbarian protectors and rulers. Frequent encounters with goblinoids venturing out from the nearby Scarlands allow only the most capable tribes to keep their herds viably large. Though Rawhide Drover warriors are the archetypical barbarian adventurers, many lands are home to isolated tribes of people kept safe by aggressive protectors wielding crude equipment. Barbarians with these origins may know little of modern customs and lore.
Yet there are barbarians born and raised among prosperous families. Norish Marauders perpetuate ancient fighting techniques that empower some modern barbarians. Elatolian nomads often value barbarians as both protectors and scouts. Some well-born adventurers take to this class after extensive travels far from civilization. Captives occasionally join the local warrior contingent to become respected members of a primitive tribe. Many barbarians favor nomadic life over any form of permanent residence. All barbarians learn to eschew decorum and elegance in battle. Even the most well heeled can be consumed by bloodlust. Even outside combat, only the rarest of barbarians is capable of embracing the comforts of an office worker or a formal courtier.
| Playing a Barbarian |
∨ bloodthirsty or reluctant?
Some barbarians revel in their own most violent deeds, craving the rush of battle and the anguished cries of the fallen. Yet other barbarians have a gentler nature. Being offered no option other than combat infuriates these reluctant warriors. While neither sort displays poise in the heat of battle, each barbarian must choose to flaunt unchecked brutality at all times or favor calm dignity between personal rampages.
∨ comforted or troubled?
Bonding with a spirit animal conveys prestige in many tribal cultures. These connections to primal forces are normally understood as kind beings intent on sharing great wisdom with the warriors they favor. Most barbarians know their spirit animals as helpful, if mysterious and vague, entities. In less harmonious cases, spirit animals turn up as vexing provocateurs, challenging the beliefs of a barbarian and prompting surges of aggression.
∨ frigid or warm-hearted?
The rigors endured by barbarians turn some into callous figures no longer able to appreciate ordinary affections and simple pleasures. Harsh even when there is no need to be so, some find them difficult travelling companions. Other barbarians maintain compassion at their core, plunging into peril so that they might spare others from pain and suffering. This more friendly sort can be reassuring even when there is good reason for fear.
∨ honorbound or self-serving?
Tribes that persist for many generations often impose a rigid code of behavior on their warriors. They are obligated to respect a variety of taboos and traditions that seem strange to most civilized peoples. Many barbarian adventurers remain true to the customs of their people even while travelling far from home. Others were raised with no such code, or they deliberately abandoned it to make their own way in the wider world.
∨ preserver or destroyer?
Remote tribes often practice some form of the Old Faith, encouraging respect for the land and all the natural processes it supports. Barbarians raised in one these traditions tend to condemn destruction of any pristine wilderness. Yet some tribes are not religious at all, and some barbarians were not raised in a tribal community. Given the gruesome experiences of highly accomplished barbarians, it is no wonder some idealize only violent brutality to the extent they have any ideals at all.
∨ washed or unwashed?
Few barbarians favor both meticulous grooming and modern formalwear. When a party prepares for an audience with an influential NPC, a choice must be made between practical rugged garb or fine courtly attire. Ragtag bands of adventurers often find negotiations become more difficult for failure to blend in among privileged elites. Yet getting a reluctant barbarian to look prim and proper can be an adventure in itself. |
RAGE
Your prowess as a warrior is amplified by an intense desire to be destructive. as a bonus action on your turn, you can unleash your inner beast.
In this altered state, you have advantage on all Strength checks and Strength saving throws, plus you can apply the Rage Damage bonus indicated in the barbarian progression chart to all melee weapon attacks using Strength. If you are not wearing heavy armor while raging, you gain resistances to bludgeoning damage, piercing damage, and slashing damage.
While raging you cannot maintain any form of concentration nor cast any spells. Your Rage ends if you lose consciousness or complete your turn without having inflicted
and/or suffered some sort of hit point loss since the end of your last turn. It also ends after you keep raging for a full minute (10 rounds) of activity. The barbarian progression chart indicates how many times you can start raging before your fury is entirely spent. Yet the completion of a long rest sees you rise invigorated and ready to perform that same number of Rages.
UNARMORED DEFENSE
You can add your Constitution modifier to your Armor Class when you are not wearing body armor. Clothing as immodest as a lone loincloth functions as cold weather gear while you are wearing it. You can use a helm
and/or shield while gaining these benefits.
RECKLESS ATTACK
Barbarians are uniquely capable of disregarding their own safety in battle. During your turn, you may grant advantage on all attacks against you until the start of your next turn. If you do this, you have advantage on attack rolls using Strength until the end of your turn.
SAVAGE TOTEMS
On gaining 2nd level, each barbarian is contacted by a force of nature in the guise of an animal spirit. From cryptic dreams with no clear meaning to profound conversations with talking beasts, surreal visions establish connections to these animal spirits. You gain the ability associated with one
minor animal totem. You gain additional minor totems at 5th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 20th barbarian levels. Barbarians also gain abilities associated with
major animal totems at 10th and 16th barbarian levels. When you gain a barbarian level, you can swap out one Savage Totem for a different selection. Each of these totems is visibly expressed by way of brand, scar, tattoo, warpaint, or primitive fashion accessory.
TACTICAL ACTION
At 5th level you become comfortable in the midst of extreme violence. You may declare a Tactical Action when taking any bonus action or reaction that does not involve casting, controlling, identifying, or modifying a spell. Doing so allows you to retain your bonus action or reaction for the round, expending your Tactical Action instead. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until the start of your next turn.
EXTRA ATTACK
At 7th level your skill in battle far surpasses that of the average soldier. When you take the Attack action, you can attack twice instead of once. At 16th level you beome capable of attacking thrice with an Attack action.
EVISCERATE
At 9th level you instinctively intensify any efforts that draw blood or otherwise inflict obvious bodily harm. If you hit with a melee attack on your turn and you could make an additional attack during your turn, you can give up that attack to double the damage inflicted by the hit you just scored. You can make this decision after rolling that damage. You can use this ability even if the additional attack requires an action or bonus action, though such cases require using the action or bonus action immediately and forgoing an attack it would otherwise provide.
SHEER DETERMINATION
At 12th level you become even more difficult to defeat. If you are reduced to 0 hit points without being killed outright, roll a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you succeed, you retain 1 hit point and you remain standing if you were previously on your feet. Each time you use this ability after the first, the DC increases by 5. When you finish a long rest, the DC resets to 10.
Personal Odor Living in close quarters, cityfolk are often keenly aware of their own fragrance. Wearing fresh flowers or potent perfumes often supplements regular application of various grooming products. Even where aqueducts do not make clean water essentially free, frequent washing is part of any urbane routine. In villages constantly refreshed with natural breezes, different standards apply. Many residents curtail their personal body odors for the sake of special social events if at all.
Barbarians tend toward the most rustic extreme of this spectrum – only worrying about how they smell after others address this issue with concern.
Some can be slow to appreciate that the same fragrances likely to deter wild predators also create an unpleasant environment for social interactions. Yet all characters should be mindful of their signature scent. Skilled trackers and wild beasts may be much more sensitive to this detail than ordinary people. Also, it is a trait not easily ignored by long term companions. |
PERSISTENT RAGE
At 13th level your Rage can now be sustained by will alone, and it can be maintained for twice the standard duration. Unless you choose to become calm, only unconsciousness ends your Rage earlier than two full minutes since it began.
INDOMITABLE MIGHT
At 18th level you can rely on raw willpower when your muscles falter. Your physique makes your might obvious to any observers. You can substitute your Strength score for the final result of any Strength check. Neither bonuses nor penalties apply to this substitution.
PRIMAL CHAMPION
On achieving 20th level a campaign of carnage has empowered you to embody a force of nature. Even without divine support, you develop physical attributes far surpassing normal mortal limits. Your maximum scores for Strength and Constitution become 24. Add 4 to your Strength Score and 4 to your Constitution score.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Barbarians ↑ → Primal Paths ← ↓ Savage Totems ↓
Primitive Cultures Many cityfolk are quick to dismiss the teachings of tribes that never gave rise to any sort of great city. By nature of their limited scope, these cultures are generally simple. Yet tribal people are not the mental inferiors of their urban counterparts. Cultures classified as "primitive" often feature lore shaped by a single wildnerness locale. In their native context, these teachings save lives. From avoiding predators' feeding grounds to discerning the ripeness of exotic fruit, specialized knowledge widely shared among a resident tribe can surpass the reliability of expert opinions informed only by the general knowledge of an outsider.
Without that context, tribal customs and taboos can seem both arbitrary and unfounded. Civilized scholars rarely resist the temptation to look upon the wisdom of less literary thinkers as inferior. The virtues of industry and urbanization often go unchallenged as if the minimal economic exploitation of tribal cultures was morally wrong. Yet there is another way to look at this contrast. Personal hardships tend to be offset by scenic splendor and the simplicity of living close to nature. Honest census-takers do not validate the theory that modern city life promotes personal happiness any more effectively than life in a primitive village.
Both situations span a spectrum from prosperous stability to perilous starvation. When a tribal village enters a crisis, its people often seek salvation from barbarians. Campaigns of aggressive bloodshed may be the only way to minimize the threat posed by a hostile tribe or a surplus of predatory beasts. The brutality of barbarians is often the decisive factor in negotiated settlements with great powers otherwise intent on the total annexation of land containing potentially lucrative resources. Whether staving off the generals of a mighty empire or the hunger of a local blight, barbarians boldly plunge into slaughters with an eye toward a better future for themselves and their allies. |
Primal Paths All barbarians possess a wild quality – raw instincts ungoverned by the protocols of any modern society. When one of these adventurers is proven worthy, a spirit animal provides guidance to unlock abilities derived from ever-present natural forces. Deliberate cultivation of base impulses and brute force opens the way to extraordinary powers. Pursuing any of these Primal Paths will make a barbarian even more ferocious and tenacious. The particulars of this personal progress follow from the choice to become a Bestial Savage, a Hardened Survivor, a Shamanic Militant, a Totem Collector, or a Zealous Berzerker.
⊲ Bestial Savage Barbarians known to walk this path incorporate the traits of animals into their flesh as well as their spirits. Your physical features become increasingly hirsute or jagged. Your mannerisms more frequently feature behaviors associated with predatory beasts. The sight of you eating a large meal can produce greater disturbances than ordinary barbarian disregard for etiquette. Bestial Savages tend to reject all the trappings of civilization while idealizing undeveloped wilderness. This path is such a profound return to nature that these adventurers are sometimes mistaken for lycanthropes.
FERAL FLESH
Your body undergoes significant physical changes when you choose this path at 3rd level. Though you can still throw a punch, your unarmed attacks may instead inflict slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength bonus by way of retractable talons. You are proficienct in the Animal Handling skill. Your responses regress to the fight or flight behaviors of an untamed beast. If your rage ends during your turn, you can perform the Dash action or the Hide action as a bonus action before the end of your turn.
CALL OF THE WILD
At 6th level you know how to sound off in a way that animals find both inspiring and terrifying. On your turn as an action, you can produce a ferocious warcry audible up to
one mile away. Any creatures of the beast type within 60 feet presently fighting as your allies gain your barbarian level in temporary hit points. Any creatures of the beast type within 60 feet presently fighting as your enemies must make a Wisdom saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution bonus or become frightened for
1 minute. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
LEAPS AND BOUNDS
At 10th level your muscular physique allows you to leap great distances from a standing start. You can jump your entire speed horizontally or half your speed vertically even while performing a Dash. When you fall no more than
60 feet onto a solid surface you always land on your feet without taking damage. You have advantage on all ability checks related to climbing, and you can treat any terrain as grassland for purposes of long distance travel.
Character Physique Barbarians are suited to the most brutal sorts of close quarters combat while entirely eschewing body armor. Some barbarians quite comfortable in any weather with nothing more than a loincloth. While all players should have some ideas about their character's physical appearance, these details can be particularly important to barbarians, since they are the least inclined toward heavy garb. This may reveal brands, scars, and/or tattoos that serve badges of honor in a tribal culture.
Adventurers with high Strength scores have every reason to appear remarkably brawny. Many habitually exercise with methods that build muscle mass. Yet this is not universal. Functional muscle can be developed without cultivating much bulk. Warriors rippling with bulging musculature make no secret of their gift. Great Strength can also be found among others, from the lanky to the rotund. Other extroardinary attributes likewise present themselves in varied ways.
Ability scores, race, and many other particulars should influence the physical appearance of your character; but those influences still support wide-ranging choices. An apparently mighty character could be only a little bit stronger than average, while an apparently slender character could be extremely strong. Even so, astute observation will reveal some relevant details. From the thin to the heavyset, persons of great Strength invariably have excellent muscle tone. Even someone made strong through magic will betray that ability in the way they handle objects and haul burdens.
Physical appearance is much more than the basis for custom art like figurines or sketches. It is also an important factor in adjudicating encounters, especially in any social situation. The game does not require any sort of character art, but it benefits greatly from clarity about what others see as they interact with the PCs and other major characters. As with many other matters, different groups will have different standards here. Working together to better conceptualize and/or visualize your characters can give greater depth to the characterizations that follow.
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RELENTLESS VITALITY
Once you have attained 14th level, your inner fury doubles as a robust well of life energy. While you are raging, at the end of your turn, regain hit points equal to your Constitution modifier.
⊲ Hardened Survivor Perhaps you have been bouncing back from hard knocks since your earliest days. Perhaps it is only through adventuring as a barbarian that your personal fortitude has been so thoroughly tested. Either way, you have repeatedly endured hardships that would kill ordinary people. It does not require an insightful observer to infer that you are tough. In almost any situation, you prioritize security above comfort. Yet you do not hesitate to confront the most dangerous enemies, sustaining severe injuries only to find new battle scars accompanied by new powers.
RUGGED FLESH
After choosing this path at 3rd level, your body begins to toughen in extraordinary ways. You gain resistances to acid damage and poison damage. You have advantage on saving throws against the petrified or poisoned conditions as well as all Survival checks and saving throws related to long term exposure involving cold, heat,
and/or natural weather. You gain proficiency in the Medicine skill after nursing so many of your own wounds.
DEFY DEATH
Persisting on to 6th level toughens not only your body but also your spirit and the bonds between both. You have advantage on death saving throws. When you begin a Rage, you gain your Constitution modifier in temporary hit points.
REMARKABLE RECOVERY
At 10th level you are constantly shaking off setbacks and minding injuries when you are not already in top form. As a bonus action on your turn, you can spend one barbarian Hit Die to regain a number of hit points equal to 1d12 plus; your Constitution modifier. As an action on your turn, you can spend one Hit Die to remove one level of exhaustion from yourself. When you complete a short rest, regain a number of Hit Dice equal to your Rage Damage bonus.
RESILIENT VITALITY
Once you have achieved 14th level, your stubborn nature allows you to simply refuse many forms of harm. You may roll a Constitution saving throw in place of the indicated saving throw for any effect that inflicts damage or otherwise reduces your hit points. You gain resistances to force damage and necrotic damage. You gain immunity to poison damage.
| Shamanic Militant Spellcasting |
| | Spell Slots | ‖ | | Spell Slots |
| Level | 1st 2nd 3rd 4th | ‖ | Level | 1st 2nd 3rd 4th |
| 3rd | 2 | – | – | – | ‖ | 12th | 4 | 3 | – | – |
| 4th | 3 | – | – | – | ‖ | 13th | 4 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 5th | 3 | – | – | – | ‖ | 14th | 4 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 6th | 3 | – | – | – | ‖ | 15th | 4 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 7th | 4 | 2 | – | – | ‖ | 16th | 4 | 3 | 3 | – |
| 8th | 4 | 2 | – | – | ‖ | 17th | 4 | 3 | 3 | – |
| 9th | 4 | 2 | – | – | ‖ | 18th | 4 | 3 | 3 | – |
| 10th | 4 | 3 | – | – | ‖ | 19th | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 11th | 4 | 3 | – | – | ‖ | 20th | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
⊲ Shamanic Militant Sages continue to debate the idea that some sort of magic is even older than dragonkind. At the very least least, ambient energy entered the world when the first living creature began to grow and reproduce. While the Old Faith reaches out to this primal power, it is also borrows heavily from the arcane knowledge of the ancient Archfey. Even older magic rarely impresses scholars. Yet its simple lore allows countless small tribes to rely on shamans for guidance and healing. Your willingness to receive the teachings of a spirit animal opens the way for you to practice this primitive precursor to the natural form of magic.
SPELLCASTING
Barbarians are typically wary of magic if not also hostile to spellcasters. Yet some exceptional individuals rally enough curiosity to suspend their fear and rage while exploring tribal traditions steeped in arcane lore. Even illiterate barbarians can become spellcasters by way of assistance and instruction from a spirit animal. At 3rd level this guidance grants you proficiency in the Nature skill and allows you to cast Shamanic Militant spells.
Preparing and Casting Spells
You know a number of
Shamanic Militant spells equal to your barbarian
level + your Intelligence modifier. Making permanent improvements to that ability or gaining barbarian levels sometimes reveals additional knowledge. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of your known spells for another selection. Yet your progress in accumulating spell slots is limited to one advancement in three gained levels.
Shamanic Traditions Nearly every tribe to exist for more than a few generations develops an original body of customs and taboos. Interactions with local nature spirits influence these beliefs. They are also shaped directly by the land, perhaps guiding cliff dwellers not to repeat the climbing mishaps of their ancestors or informing honey gatherers which nests offer more risk than reward. When your whole worldview is centered on a single primitive camp, seeminingly minor events and natural features can generate important teachings. Both shamanic traditions and spoken languages tend to be unique to each minor tribe.
Often a single individual subordinate to the chief acts as custodian of this lore. This shaman serves as guide, healer, trickster, and warrior. As with so much of primitive living, this requires accomplishing many tasks with few tools. Having already proved themselves in battle, fledgeling Shamanic Militants are challenged to prove themselves to the spirits. This often drives a lifelong effort to provide tribal homemakers with comforting stories, tribal leadership with wise counsel, and tribal warriors with unnatural strength.
Traditional shamanic magic calls upon local nature spirits to work with ambient life energy. Despite enduring similar harsh judgements from many clerics, druids often regard Shamanic Militants as misguided and magically inferior. There is a kernel of truth to that – clerics and druids are dedicated spellcasters, while shamans tend to be tribal warriors first and foremost. In communities without any supportive clerics or druids in their population, shamans do what they can to be sure their tribe is never completely without access to magical power. |
You must expend a spell slot of sufficient level to cast a Shamanic Militant spell. You recover all expended spell slots at the completion of a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for all Shamanic Militant spells. Saving throws against your spells face a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus. You can employ a rod, a staff, a totem, or a wand as a spellcasting implement.
JUJU STICK
By 6th level the mixture of magic and aggression within you makes it possible to weaponize pieces of wood as small as modest twig. You gain the
Shillelagh cantrip. Wisdom is your spellcasting modifier for this cantrip. As a Shamanic Militant, any creature you damage with your
Shillelagh has disadvantage on the next saving throw it attempts before the start of your next turn.
PRIMAL WARDS
The assortment of small charms you wear and arcane habits you maintain allows you to gird yourself against may forms of harm by 10th level. When you complete a short rest or a long rest; select a damage type from acid, fire, frost, lightning, necrotic, poison, radiant, or thunder. You have resistance to that damage type until the start of your next short rest or long rest.
WALK WITH THE SPIRITS
The most accomplished Shamanic Militants routinely converse with unseen nature spirits. Formerly mysterious and troubling entities gradually became familiar friends. At 14th level you gain the ability to cast the
Commune with Nature spell once and the
Tree Stride spell once. You regain the ability to cast both spells when you complete a long rest.
⊲ Totem Collector Most barbarians are fascinated by both the workings and the symbols of their Savage Totems. Some allow this fascination to become a lifelong occupation. Sprit animals tend to be cryptic to the extent that they communicate at all. Barbarian rages are sometimes sparked by the enigmatic riddles or annoying antics of entities no one else can see. Totem Collectors strive to overcome this adversarial relationship, making peace with entire menageries of bestial spirit guides. This effort allows them to maintain lifelong relationships with many spirits despite regularly setting old allies aside to explore new sources of guidance.
Nature Spirits The magic of life is particularly inclined to produce echoes. Thriving residents often leave their own marks on favored haunts. Every death sees some release of magical energies. Many living beings retain details of notable encounters. The most exceptional individual creatures sometimes carry on after death as an immaterial presence. Also, a collective spirit can arise to embody the traits of an animal in an area where many beasts of the same kind kind live and die.
These spirit animals develop supernatural awareness and cunning. They have an innate desire to intervene in the lives of barbarians and other denizens of the wilderness. Yet they cannot exert any direct form of physical force. It is rare they can even be seen by anyone not previously encountered during a personal quest to find a spirit animal.
Though they are able to influence beasts, plants, and the air around them; spirit animals are seldom seen simultaneously by multiple intelligent creatures. No less stubborn than they are elusive, these entities return anew within a day if somehow banished from territory they view as their own. The only way to decisively defeat a spirit animal is to purge an area of its namesake and render the land inhospitable to such animals.
Just as in life, some types of spirit animal demonstrate mutual hostility. Incautious barbarians can end up as pawns in the struggles between these mysterious beings. Though spirit animals tend to favor attitudes of reverent preservation toward wildlife habitats, the nemesis of a protective spirit animal might advance an agenda of environmental destruction. Likewise most seek security and prosperity for mortal allies, while some spirit animals convey such bloodlust as to motivate lives of constant struggle.
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MINOR RESERVE TOTEMS
Select a second minor animal totem at 3rd level. Make two selections when you add another minor animal totem to the list. Half of these totems become Minor Reserve Totems – presently out of use but available through some personal effort. When you complete a long rest, you can freely swap any of your Minor Reserve Totems for their active equivalents. You do not gain any benefit from individual Minor Reserve Totems other than this ability to exchange them for minor animal totems presently in use. Yet the collective augments your senses, and you gain proficiency in the Perception skill.
BESTIAL UNDERSTANDING
By 6th level your totem collection functions well as a conduit for communicating with wild beasts. You know the
Steady Beast cantrip. You gain the ability to cast the
Speak with Animals spell once. You regain that ability when you complete a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for both the cantrip and the spell.
RITUAL WARPAINT
At 10th level you do not require a long rest to activate your Minor Reserve Totems. Instead, you can spend ten minutes altering your garb and body art to emphasize different animal spirits. If you successfully maintain concentration across that span of ten minutes, at its conclusion you can freely swap any of your Minor Reserve Totems for their active counterparts.
MAJOR RESERVE TOTEMS
Select a second major animal totem at 14th level. Make two selections when you add another major animal totem to the list. Half of these are Major Reserve Totems – presently out of use but available through some personal effort. When you complete a long rest, you can freely swap any of your Major Reserve Totems for their active equivalents. You do not gain any benefit from individual Major Reserve Totems other than this ability to exchange them for major animal totems presently in use.
⊲ Zealous Berzerker All barbarians fight in an aggressive way. Yet some dedicate themselves completely to this pursuit, elevating their own personal rage above all other concerns. This tendency can be forged by desperate circumstances – struggling to survive in desolate places where strangers often fight over basic resources. Zealous Berzerkers not honed by such an existential grindstone might instead be found among the warriors of especially violent tribes or the soldiers of a unit known for conducting bloody assaults. Regardless of other particulars, you always appear ready for battle, and you rarely seem concerned with self-preservation.
Barbarian Hordes A typical tribal settlement supports between 100 and 300 residents. Roughly one third of that number will have training as warriors, and half of those warriors will have been hardened though years of battles and/or hunts. These norms are not absolute. Tribes in the most peaceful lands may thrive with only a few capable combatants to handle special tasks and maintain order at camp. Communities at the other extreme equip all able-bodied adults with shields, spears, and the skill to fight effectively with both.
Yet barbarians can support larger social structures. Some tribal federations see leadership empowered and enriched by regular tributes from across an entire region. Reliable communications spanning a vast expanse allows these federations to rally massive armies of primitive warriors. Barbarian hordes also arise wherever a large number of tribes are abruptly displaced by settlers from a powerful nation. Able-bodied refugees can be inclined to rally under the most vengeful leadership available. Directed toward a suitable target, such a force quickly overwhelms anything less than the finest fortifications.
Highly experienced barbarians are candidates for leadership in these ferocious swarms of people. Yet taking charge is rarely as simple as asserting personal prowess. It may be necessary to defeat rivals in deadly combat. Barbarian gatherings must determine who is the strongest to enjoy effective leadership. Once that question is settled, that leader has broad lattitude to dictate goals and operational plans for the entire horde.
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BRUTAL BEARING
By 3rd level you have experienced such violence that it is no longer easy to adopt a playful demeanor or wear a friendly smile. Even when there is no literal blood on your hands, you have the look of a serious figure involved in grim struggles. You have advantage on all saving throws to avoid dropping any item(s) held or falling prone. You have proficiency with the Intimidation skill. If an ally within 30 feet of you performs an Intimidation check, incorporating a nod in your direction allows your Strength modifier to be added to that check, even if you are also assisting with that check.
RAGING RELEASE
Once you have reached 6th level, your Rage intensifies to the point it allows you to break free from unwanted influences. During a Rage; you cannot be charmed, fixated, or frightened. If you are charmed, fixated,
and/or frightened when you begin a Rage; the condition(s) end immediately.
FURIOUS FRENZY
Your determination to do violence against your enemies can leave you struggling to recover from the most extreme clashes. At 10th level it becomes possible to commit your whole being to a supreme outburst of aggression. At the start of each of your turns while you are raging you can spend one Hit Die to initiate a Furious Frenzy. To do so, roll 1d12, then add that damage to each of your melee attacks until the start of your next turn. There is no action cost, and it is possible to declare a Furious Frenzy multiple times at the start of a single turn. These results do not accumulate, instead replacing the result of a previous roll with a new 1d12.
RETALIATION
By 14th level your state of mind is nearly always on the brink of initiating a fight. If you take damage while you are not raging, you can begin a Rage as a reaction. If you take damage from a source that is within reach of a melee weapon you are wielding, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature or hazard. In conjunction with Tactical Action, it is possible for a single attack to trigger both reactions.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Primal Paths ↑ → Savage Totems ← ↓ Bards ↓
| Elective Abilities Every class begins accumulating some sort of elective abilities at 2nd level. These optional selections provide a way to tailor each character to a player's personal vision as well as the mechanics of a specific campaign. For example, a series of adventures confined to a thriving city might completely ignore tasks related to acquiring food and drink. Those needs could be fully satisfied through the payment of routine expenses. An elective ability that reduces personal needs for food and water would be a pure storytelling note in that campaign. Yet that same selection could be a literal lifesaver in campaigns that explore barren environments or involve extended trips to other planes of existence. Balance practical concerns with your fantasy role as you pick these elective abilities. |
Savage Totems Most barbarians are comfortable inhabiting a primitive shelter while hunting and foraging from wild places. All barbarians feel an especially close connection to untamed animals. Some regard themselves as untamed people, proudly defying the conventions of modern civilization. These attitudes make barbarians ideal for outreach from animal spirits. Mysterious entities with no verifiable physical incarnations, spirit animals are encountered during dream-like moments in waking minds as well as literal dreams. Be it through encouragement or provocation, each spirit animal empowers chosen warriors to embody an aspect of that type of beast.
Barbarians endowed in this way always make some visible display in recognition of their personal spirit animals. Experts in tribal lore can make sound inferences about an experienced barbarian's tactical options by interpreting the accessories and body art favored by a warrior dressed for battle. Forcibly removing or covering these decorations does not impair a barbarian's connection with spirit animals. Yet these abilities can be lost if a barbarian loses associated indicators then makes no effort to replace them. Easily scavanged goods like ash and berries can provide the basis for effective warpaint. Upgrading to elaborate tattoos or bejewelled totems typically requires significant effort and resources.
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Antlers of the Elk
When you begin a rage, you gain 1d8 temporary hit points.
Beak of the Falcon
When you make an initiative check you can add your proficiency bonus.
Beard of the Lynx
You are proficient with Charisma saving throws. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed.
Bill of the Duck
When your rage ends, you have advantage on all saving throw(s) until the end of your next turn.
Claws of the Badger
When you are raging, you have advantage on ability checks and saving throws to resist being pushed, pulled, dragged, or grabbed; and you can add your Strength bonus to your passive Acrobatics.
Coils of the Viper
When you are raging, your melee attacks do not suffer disadvantage from being prone, and crawling does not cost you extra movement.
Crest of the Chaparral
When you are raging, add 10 to your speed.
Ears of the Cougar
When you are raging and a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to perform a melee attack against that creature.
Eyes of the Owl
You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shapes and forms.
Fangs of the Bat
When you are raging and your melee attack reduces a creature to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to regain 1d4 hit points.
Feathers of the Raven
You can use your bonus action to produce an echoing warcry that alerts all allies within one mile of your desire for assistance and exact location.
Feet of the Hare
You are proficient with Dexterity saving throws. Your jump distances increase by 5 feet.
Forelock of the Horse
Your carrying capacity is doubled, and you have advantage on all ability checks related to avoiding exhaustion or fatigue while travelling long distances on foot.
Hooves of the Goat
When you are raging, attackers do not have advantage from your balancing, and climbing does not cost you extra movement.
Horns of the Ram
When you are raging, you can attempt to shove a creature no more than one size larger than you as a bonus action.
Legs of the Frog
If you are not blind or unconscious, you have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against dangers you can see.
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Mask of the Coyote
When you are raging and you are being attacked with advantage, you can use your reaction counter it by imposing disadvantage on that attack.
Nape of the Crane
You are proficient with Intelligence saving throws. You have advantage on ability checks to doubt illusions.
Paws of the Monkey
When you are raging and your melee attack reduces a creature to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to perform a melee attack against any creature within reach.
Plumes of the Peacock
When you are raging, any hostile creatures you hit with a melee attack have disadvantage on attacks against any target other than you until the end of your next turn.
Pouch of the Opossum
When you are reduced to 0 hit points, you appear dead to all non-magical scrutiny. You immediately become conscious and regain 1 hit point when you are stabilized.
Quills of the Porcupine
When you are raging, any creature that hits you with a melee attack takes your Constitution modifier in piercing damage.
Scales of the Drake
When you are raging and you hit a creature with a melee attack, you have advantage on melee attacks against that creature until the end of your turn.
Shell of the Tortoise
When you are raging and wielding a shield, all ranged attacks against you have disadvantage.
Skin of the Crocodile
At the end of a rage, regain 1d10 hit points.
Spines of the Urchin
While you are raging, you can use your bonus action to add 1d10 poison damage to your next attack that hits before the end of your rage.
Tail of the Fox
You can take the Disengage action as a bonus action on each of your turns.
Talons of the Hawk
Your speed is not halved while grappling a creature of your own size or smaller.
Teeth of the Shark
You have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed. You can go for 15 minutes without breathing at all before time starts on the normal breath holding process for you.
Tusks of the Boar
When you are raging, if you are reduced to 7 or fewer hit points without being reduced to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to regain 1d6 hit points.
Velvet of the Moose
You are proficient with Wisdom saving throws. You have advantage on saving throws against being paralyzed.
Wings of the Gull
While you are raging; you cannot fall faster than 60 feet per round, you do not take damage from falling, and you always land on your feet.
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Beak of the Eagle
While you are raging, add your Constitution modifier to the damage of melee attacks that do piercing damage.
Brow of the Gorilla
While you are raging, when you miss with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to make a melee attack.
Claws of the Bear
While you are raging, add your Constitution modifier to the damage of melee attacks that do slashing damage.
Coat of the Bear
While you are raging, your Armor Class increases by 2.
Coils of the Python
While you are raging, you can use your bonus action to automatically tackle any creature no more than one size larger than you that you are grabbing.
Eyes of the Tiger
While you are raging, your melee attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.
Fangs of the Wolf
While you are raging, all of your allies have advantage on attacks against creatures within 5 feet of you.
Fists of the Gorilla
While you are raging, your unarmed attacks do 1d10 + your Strength modifier bludgeoning damage.
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Mask of the Wolf
You can fight by sense of smell alone. You have blindsight to a range of 30 feet, and you have advantage on all ability checks related to tracking or searching for a scent.
Maw of the Python
While you are raging, add your Constitution modifier to the damage of melee attacks that do bludgeoning damage.
Skin of the Tiger
You can attempt to Hide as a bonus action. You have advantage on Stealth checks if you are not in an urban environment, underground, or on a vehicle.
Tail of the Jaguar
While you are raging, when you are missed with a melee attack you can use your reaction to perform the disengage action and move up to 10 feet to any position more distant from that attacker.
Teeth of the Jaguar
When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and spend a Hit Die to regan a number of hit points equal to 1d12 + your Constitution modifier.
Trunk of the Mammoth
When one of your allies within 120 feet makes a melee attack, you can use your reaction to sound a warcry that gives that ally advantage on melee attacks until the start of your next turn.
Tusks of the Mammoth
While you are raging, when you hit with a melee attack, you can force your target to make a Constitution save against the damage of that attack or be pushed 5 feet away and be knocked prone.
Wings of the Eagle
While you are raging; your jump distances are tripled, and you land on your feet even after a damaging fall.
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↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Savage Totems ↑ → Bards ← ↓ Colleges of Music ↓
| Bard Basics |
hit points for new characters: 8 + your Constitution bonus
hit points for gained levels: 1d8 + your Constitution bonus
Hit Dice: 1d8 per bard level
armor proficiencies: light
weapon proficiencies: all basic weapons, battleaxe, broadsword, greataxe, greatbow, greatsword, hand crossbow, hatchet, longbow, longsword, rapier, sabre, scimitar, shortsword, whip
saving throw proficiencies: Charisma & Dexterity
core skill proficiencies: Arcana, History, Performance, and Persuasion
languages: any two languages
tool proficiencies: all musical instruments
supplemental skill proficiencies: You can replace each of your redundant skills with any other skill of your choosing.
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Bards Sound is uniquely capable of influencing magic. Voices and instruments can flood rooms with powerful vibrations. Pitch, timbre, timing, and volume are each vital considerations for advanced spellcasters. Some practitioners contemplate these issues from an intellectual perspective while others regard verbal components as raw expressions of feelings welling up from within. Integrating music theory with practical stagecraft allows bards to sing with both passion and precision. The Age of Heroes gave rise to many bardic colleges – institutions where folk music and oral histories are extensively studied. These efforts equip bards with arsenals of inspiring ideas and memorable patterns.
Originally, only persons accomplished as both fighters and thieves were accepted at these colleges. An abundance of harrowing experiences was essential to convey the full intensity of epic sagas. Modern bards need not precede their careers with adventures as a fighter or a rogue. New students are only expected to display competence as musicians, orators, and poets. Individual colleges go by many names, but each is associated with one of five categories – arms, drama, humor, lore, or speech. Experienced bards dedicate themselves to one category of study while remaining able practitioners in all five areas. Bards of every college easily infuse parleys and poems with profoundly moving qualities.
Professional performers often travel in search of new audiences and influences. Many support themselves by relaying reports of recent events throughout a regional circuit of towns and cities. Working entertainers are a small part of any population, yet bards are numerous because a habit of long journeys punctuated by public encounters often leads to challenging adventures. Fledgling bards may depend on the support of strangers by literally singing for their supper. Famous practitioners may enjoy lavish compensation for a single evening entertaining in a major stadium or royal court. Thus bards deliberately cultivate social prominence while provoking emotional reactions. Those without celebrity status typically harbor such aspirations.
| Bard Progression |
Proficiency
Level Bonus Features | Flourishes
Types Dice | Cantrips
Known | Spell Slots
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th |
| 1st | +2 | Jack of All Trades,
Spellcasting | – | – | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 2nd | +2 | Inspiring Flourishes,
Song of Rest | 2 | 1d4 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 3rd | +2 | College of Music | 2 | 1d4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | – |
| 4th | +2 | Feat | 3 | 1d4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | – |
| 5th | +3 | Artful Expertise | 3 | 1d6 | 5 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – |
| 6th | +3 | College Feature | 3 | 1d6 | 5 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – |
| 7th | +3 | Countercharm | 4 | 1d6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – |
| 8th | +3 | Feat | 4 | 1d6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – |
| 9th | +4 | Item History | 4 | 1d6 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – |
| 10th | +4 | College Feature | 5 | 1d6 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – |
| 11th | +4 | Showstopper (5th) | 5 | 1d8 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – |
| 12th | +4 | Feat | 5 | 1d8 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – |
| 13th | +5 | Reliable Talent | 6 | 1d8 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – |
| 14th | +5 | College Feature | 6 | 1d8 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – |
| 15th | +5 | Showstopper (6th) | 6 | 1d8 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 16th | +5 | Feat | 7 | 1d8 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 17th | +6 | Personal Glamor | 7 | 1d10 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | Showstopper (7th) | 7 | 1d10 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | Feat | 8 | 1d10 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 20th | +6 | Epic Showstoppers | 8 | 1d10 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
CREATING A BARD
Many people fancy themselves great singers. Bards rise above the norm through intense dedication to established musical form(s). These approaches are typically rooted in ancient traditions, though some bards are inspired by the experiments of modern theorists or the melodies of obscure tribes. This class is unified by an effort to achieve a systematic understanding of creative expression. Bards possess an intuitive yet technical grasp of ratios relating rhythms and vibrations. Each is familiar with at least one system for inscribing the relative pitch and duration of tones. It is possible for a bard to eschew music, focusing entirely on poetics and rhetoric. Yet most delight audiences all the more for singing important messages with instrumental accompaniment.
Bards provide the best opportunities for common folks to experience music outside civic events and religious services. Any drinking house with a decent crowd and no skilled performer is likely to welcome the offerings of a proper bard. Opportunities for busking or commissions can be competitive. The most lucrative venues in any large community are usually plied by serious talent. Competition can be fierce, and often it is not purely artistic. Bards hungry for coin regardless of the particulars sometimes seek support from aristocrats, spreading propaganda to glorify the accomplishmments of privileged families. Persons paid to sing the praises of their patrons often double as artful and articulate heralds.
Many adventuring parties welcome bards into their ranks for several reasons. No other class is so well-suited to chronicling or dramatizing the achievements of other adventurers. Quality entertainment can uplift a party at rest, motivating them to carry on with confidence. Bards are also able negotiators, well-suited to generating favorable opinions among crowds of ordinary people. Though not known as great strategists, bards are natural spokespersons, a status some leverage to attain leadership roles. Others delight in opportunities to support their allies, stepping into the spotlight only as much as is needed to deliver assistance. Regardless of their position, thriving bards epitomize exquisite grace and timing.
JACK OF ALL TRADES
Bards are trained in an extremely diverse body of lore. They excel at learning by watching others in action. You can apply half your proficiency bonus to any skill check that does not benefit from at least your full proficiency bonus.
| Playing a Bard |
∨ lead or supporting player?
The best theatrical troupes feature a few scene-stealing performers backed by a larger number of supporting actors. Too many selfish personalities often spoil creative collaborations. Yet the most impressive spectacles require more than a few talents on stage. This dynamic is even more pronounced in musical ensembles. An extremely charismatic front person is essential to any legendary act, yet backing musicians provide harmonies and rhythms beyond the capabilities of any soloist. Even in the context of adventuring, bards must choose between asserting leadership of their companions or embracing a more supportive role.
∨ person or persona?
Many bards never take the stage as a different character. They perform under the same name used in legal documents and religious ceremonies. Others maintain a separation between their identities as performers and private individuals. In some lands this is a useful precaution to avoid severe penalties for speaking out publicly against authorities. Yet even bards without fear of persecution from local rulers sometimes prefer to go unrecognized without their distinctive costumes, makeup, and/or props. The most extreme maintain their stage identities even among adventuring companions. More typically, bards utilizing this sort of alias maintain a circle of insiders aware of both identities.
∨ brash or reserved?
There is an underlying basis for the stereotype of the libertine bard keen to carouse at every opportunity. Yet, as with all sorts of artists, bards exist at both extremes. Some quickly weary of any audience interactions, valuing time for practice and rest almost as much as their public performances. Individuals may even manifest both tendences. They crave private tranquility in the time surrounding dramatic or virtuosic efforts at some events yet mingle happily at raucous celebrations to share bits of comedy and light-hearted tunes. Most bards exhibit a range of social behaviors with a personal “sweet spot” for gatherings of a particular size and tone best suited to their signature performances.
∨ highbrow or folk artist?
Some bards are steeped in academic perspectives on art and music. Most comfortable in the halls of aristocrats, these musicians often make their way entertaining guests at elite social gatherings. Such bards tend to be impeccable in manners and appearance. Others embrace the traditions and styles of common folk. Some even cultivate reputations as outlaws to rally greater sympathy from oppressed populations. Most large societies support both high culture and folk art with gentle antagonism between the two. Most bards learn from both sorts of influences. Peers and historians alike tend to categorize performers based on an artistic style rather than that complex blend of influences.
∨ innovator or traditionalist?
Drama, music, and poetry can create some degree of connection across time. To hear the same music or share the same stories popular with ancient ancestors makes associated culture(s) feel grand. Less throwbacks to the most remarkable performances from one or two generations earlier are also evocative. Along with general nostalgia, they can inspire feelings of your and vitality among aging people. Even so, some bards reject musical and theatrical standards. This might be in favor of boldly original art, or it might be in service to a heavily improvisational style. All bards understand the value of fresh material and the appeal of classic content, though most excel at one approach to inspiring others at some expense to its alternative.
∨ establishment or outsider?
Bards willing to sing the praises of aristocrats may be able to secure lucrative employment doing precisely that. The best commissions or grants typically follow from some urgent desire for authorities to influence the public. Alas, for every happy circumstance like publicizing a royal birth, there tend to be several situations that involve persecuting a local scapegoat, promoting unpopular new laws, or stimulating militant sentiments. Yet try as they might, other bards almost never manage to remain truly apolitical. Vocal criticism of military aggression, strong law enforcement, or even systematic persecution can rise to the level of a crime in many societies. Any bard at least slightly opinionated is likely to wind up being identified as a tool of the regime or a threat to its prestige. |
SPELLCASTING
Magic is among the many areas of practice and study associated with bards. Bardic colleges often require a demonstration of effective spellcasting before certifying graduates. Your subsequent studies of arcana eventually opens the path to perform more powerful spells. Bards blend spellcasting and martial pursuits evenly. Even so, their grasp of the musical form of magic remains unsurpassed.
Cantrips
You know 3 bard cantrips. You learn additional cantrips at 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 17th, and 19th bard levels. This typically results in knowledge of all standard bard cantrips. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of these learned bard cantrips for another selection, if available.
Preparing and Casting Spells
You know a number of
bard spells equal to
our Intelligence modifier. Making permanent improvements to that ability or gaining bard levels can reveal additional knowledge. Your total number of known spells is a function of your bard level + your Intelligence modifier. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of your known spells for another selection. Yet your progress in accumulating spell slots is limited to one advancement in two gained levels.
You must expend a spell slot of sufficent level to cast a bard spell. You recover all expended spell slots at the completion of a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for all bard spells. Saving throws against your spells face a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma bonus. You can employ an emblem, a musical instrument, or a wand as a spellcasting implement.
SONG OF REST
Adventuring bards typically help their companions unwind with gentle performances of familiar music. Yet some favor whimsical campfire stories, thoughtful reflections on tactics, or poetic retellings of recent events. At 2nd level your presence is enough to promote harmonious peace at a gathering. Every creature spending Hit Dice at the end of a short rest in your company regains the sum of your proficiency bonus and your Charisma modifier in additional hit points.
INSPIRING FLOURISHES
Experienced bards know how to interject bits of speech and song with perfect timing even in the heat of battle. At 2nd level you gain two
Inspiring Flourishes. Most of these creative maneuvers make it possible to influence the course of battle with special reactions. Some allow you to take unique actions to assist your allies. There is no limit to how many Inspiring Flourishes you can perform in one day, though their reactions are only triggered by specific conditions. You gain additional Inspiring Flourishes at 4th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, and 19th bard levels. With each level gained you can swap out one of your known Inspiring Flourishes for a different selection.
ARTFUL EXPERTISE
At 5th level your ongoing pursuit technical precision causes you to excel with Performance, one other skill, and two tool proficiencies. Select a skill and two tookits or musical instruments. When you add your proficiency bonus to an ability check related to those selections or the Performance skill, your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of that check. Also, you can use magic items normally restricted to fighters, rogues, or wizards.
COUNTERCHARM
Your voice can interfere with some forms of supernatural influence. After attaining 7th level you can perform recitations or songs composed for the purpose of thwarting mesmerism. You must begin such a performance by taking an action while you are neither gagged nor silenced, and you must concentrate to maintain a Countercharm. While you continue to speak or sing clearly, any creature that hears you has advantage on saving throws against becoming charmed, fixated, or frightened. Another action is required to resume a performance interrupted by the application of a gag, broken concentration, or magical silence.
ITEM HISTORY
Any bard to reach 9th level has told many tales of powerful magic items and heard countless more. You have a keen ability to sort fact from fiction in the lore of these powerful objects. You need not wield or otherwise use the item, but you must be able to hold it in your hands (gloved or otherwise.) If you are allowed to handle and study an item for 10 minutes, you can determine if it has great cultural value and if it is magical. If it is culturally significant, you will understand that context along with the scope of any contemporary societies valuing that significance. If it is magical (cursed or otherwise) you will recall a rhyme or song conveying a vague accout of its capabilities.
SHOWSTOPPER
Bards often practice the motions and sounds they observe while watching other spellcasters. In this way they seek to achieve powerful magical effects by pure skill of performance rather than advanced arcane study or outreach to a greater power. At 11th level you gain the ability to cast a 5th level spell from any spell list once – your Showstopper. You regain this ability when you complete a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this spell; and you can employ an emblem, a musical instrument, or a wand as a spellcasting implement for it.
You gain an additional Showstopper at 15th level, learning to cast any single 6th level spell once. At 18th level you gain another, learning to cast and any single 7th level spell once. As with the other Showstoppers, these abilities are regained at the completion of a long rest. Learning to perform spells in this way requires long sessions of extremely demanding rehearsal. You can only replace one Showstopper with another spell of the same level each time you gain a bard level, even after learning your second and third Showstoppers.
Instrumental Influences A musician's gear preferences sometimes reveal insights into other personal traits. Many bards favor one or more instruments to better advance their practice of specific arcane techniques.
♪ Bagpipes unrelentingly overpower other sounds by pairing low drones with piercing melodies.
♪ Drums shape all sorts of rhythms to inspire fear and tension or manipulate time itself.
♪ Dulcimers and their dozens of tuned strings allow players to quickly cover a vast range.
♪ Flutes have been soothing beasts and people alike for thousands of years.
♪ Lutes comfortably frame voice(s) with harmony and verse(s) with virtuosity.
♪ Lyres allow skilled players to establish and sustain intricate arpeggiated harmonies.
♪ Pan flutes deliver whimsical melodies while inspiring confidence and merriment.
♪ Shawms tend to produce gentle tones suited to situations demanding subtlety.
♪ Viols specialize in expressions of sadness or sweetness, pairing well with charms.
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RELIABLE TALENT
Relentless practice pairs with tremendous curiosity in any bard to achieve 13th level. You understand all manner of common mistakes associated with any techniques you have actively studied. When you are allowed to add at least your full proficiency bonus to a skill check, you can treat results of 9 or less as if the roll was a 10.
PERSONAL GLAMOR
Bards of 17th level and above typically enjoy widespread admiration. You know the
Charm Person spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast
Charm Person without using a spell slot. Also, you can render one person profoundly starstruck. If you do not presently have a starstruck admirer, you can use an action to cause one person presently charmed by you and presently touching you to become your starstruck admirer. This individual becomes permanently charmed, a condition that can only be ended with the
Cleanse Being spell or the completion of a short rest or a long rest in that admirer's company with the sole intent of ending the condition.
EPIC SHOWSTOPPERS
As a 20th level bard, your command of musical magic is unsurpassed. You gain an additional Showstopper, learning to cast an 8th level spell from any spell list once, then regaining that ability at the completion of a long rest. Also, a few short rehearsals can be enough for you to develop effective use of an entirely new spell. At the end of every long rest you can replace 1d4 of your current Showstoppers with any other spell(s) of the same level(s). Though bards lack the raw power to perform the
Wish spell, a few legendary figures have embraced the epithet “Wishsinger” as a comment on their Epic Showstoppers.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Bards ↑ → Colleges of Music ← ↓ Inspiring Flourishes ↓
Magical Music Similar harmonies and rhythms delight and/or excite beings of many attitudes and statures. Yet most people do not understand the principles of shaping music to satisfy mortal ears. Useful understandings of these patterns can be acquired through training with musical instruments and the Performance skill. Such approaches tend to focus on what most delights the ears of crowds rather than what is most moving to the unseen energies of latent magic. Bards actively pursue both sorts of results. They are no strangers to the play of their voices over volatile crowds. Yet all bards are also aware of methods that trigger magical effects by projecting sounds into arcane reservoirs.
Just as there are countless magical resources to be tapped, there is no end to the variety of patterns that might trigger a magical effect. Even as extreme generalists, it could be said that bards specialize studying the structures shaping effective intonations of spellcasting. Their sensitivity to ratios in frequencies and timing allow accomplished bards to emulate the techniques of more advanced practitioners. Drawing entirely upon their performing abilities rather than any higher power or internal wellspring, even the most accomplished bards are only able to prepare a few advanced spells. Yet the most elaborate of these imitations is entirely effective for any spell under the 9th tier of power. |
Colleges of Music Even bards purely concerned with the spoken word must study music. All communication, as with spellcasting, is most effective when pitch, timing, and tone are the product of precise and well-practiced techniques. Bards value all manner of lore. Most are repositories of eclectic knowledge. Yet each will pursue constant improvement in the areas of vocal performance and spellcasting methods. Adventuring bards accumulate many ways to wield power through artistic expression. The nature of these methods is shaped by a personal focus on the College of Arms, the College of Drama, the College of Humor, the College of Lore, or the College of Speech.
⊲ College of Arms Early in the Age of Heroes, all bards were originally battle-hardened fighters. The College of Arms emphasizes this defunct bardic tradition by elevating the songs of true warriors above any other music. You became familiar with all manner of weaponry while learning to fight and march as part of an effective squad. Your understanding of poetic sagas is informed by re-enacting epic battles while wielding faithful recreations of historic weapons. Members of this college are often welcome to join armies. Music has many roles to play on the battlefield, from promoting morale to sending signals. Your songs typically emphasize the perils of battle and the glories of victory. Members of this college are the most likely to style their musical instruments to resemble weapons.
MILITARY MUSICIANSHIP
You become proficient with all weapons, medium armor, and shields when you join this college at 3rd level. If you take the Attack action while wielding a musical instrument, you can stow that instrument
and/or draw one weapon as part of that action. You are proficient in the Intimidation skill.
TACTICAL ACTION
At 6th level you become comfortable in the midst of extreme violence. You may declare a Tactical Action when taking any bonus action or reaction that does not involve casting, controlling, identifying, or modifying a spell. Doing so allows you to retain your bonus action or reaction for the round, expending your Tactical Action instead. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until the start of your next turn.
Marching Music Though some armies march in silence, many more employ chanted cadences or military drummers to keep their forces on pace. Thus most musicians in armed services maintain lengthy repetitive performances while holding their places in formation. Though bards sometimes perform these duties, adventurous performers tend to favor more creative forms of expression. Their most memorable music might enhance the quality of rest breaks.
Highly experienced bards go beyond providing encouragement and motivation, altering the tone and tempo of conflicts underway. Bards excel at neutralizing either emotional or arcane forces working against allies. They can also sound off with flourishes so exquisitely timed as to alter the outcomes of attacks or spells. Though capable adventurers in general, bards are at their best when using their unique abilities to intensify the successes of others. |
EXTRA ATTACK
At 10th level your skill in battle far surpasses that of the average soldier. When you take the Attack action, you can attack twice instead of once.
COMBAT CADENCE
Blending armed combat with spellcasting becomes especially easy for you at 14th level. If you cast a spell other than a cantrip while holding a weapon, you can also make one attack with that weapon. If you take the Attack action with one free hand or while holding a spellcasting implement, you cast a cantrip once in place of a single attack.
⊲ College of Drama Performers on the stages of ancient Thrace did not think of themselves as bards. Yet they were alike in cultivating creative talents while memorizing more than a couple of epic plays or poems. Bards both ancient and modern respect the achievements of historic dramatists and playwrights. Some focus on continuing this artform. This college teaches the importance of credibility in portrayals. Rather than embellish facts to make a story more spectacular, these practitioners may distort details to make a narrative more believable. Likewise, normal gestures and speech may be mild – the better to contrast with rare moments of overwhelming emotion.
Stage Performances Thriving communities generate strong demand for entertainment. Aside from dancing, gaming, reading; this tends to take the form of shows performed live. Public places like markets and tavens often welcome entertainers able to attract crowds to their venues. Amphitheaters, playhouses, and stadiums are dedicated accomodating large audiences intent on seeing shows. Many of these facilities support a troop of players able to deliver some mix of humor, drama, and/or music for several hours in a typical day. The largest tend to favor brief runs from celebrity acts able to draw customers from outside the community.
Modern entertainment often incorporates comedy, music, and tragedy in a single show. Musical interludes enrich scene transitions even in plays that lack any singing. Grim tragedies can be all the more powerful if dark moods are contrasted with incisive humor. Madcap comedies are more appealing when a coherent story is told though a procession of wild antics. The most ambitious sorts of performing arts pair large ensembles of musicians with plays performed through a mix of acting and singing. Also remarkable are exhibitions of music in which a singular star or small group of vocalists tell epic tales entirely through song. |
MASK OF TRAGEDY
When you reach 3rd level, you are already deeply dedicated to the pursuit of realism in your portrayals of other characters. You are proficient in the Insight skill, and you are proficient with diguise kits. You also have a profound understanding of emotional suffering. You can add your proficiency bonus to the psychic damage each target takes from any spell you cast.
MENTAL CHAMELEON
At 6th level your dedication to dramatic performances allows you to completely adopt the mannerisms and mindset of another character. You can add 5 to all ability checks to determine if you are effectively impersonating an individual you have observed for at least one hour featuring significant interactions with others. Also, if you do not use Song of Rest during a short rest, you can instead prepare for a portrayal by altering your own aura. As a Mental Chameleon you can appear to be of another alignment as well as different creature type(s) for purposes of effects that detect either trait. This altered aura only lasts until the start of your next short rest or long rest.
PERSONAL DETACHMENT
You are likely to have performed a part in a play within a play by reaching 10th level. Even if you have not participated in such a show, you have developed habits that help suppress your own personality to better embody another. This detached mindset also helps you cope with many forms of mental assault. You have resistance to psychic damage. You have advantage on saving throws to resist being charmed, disturbed, fixated, frightened, or possessed. This mindset also allows you to engage in psychic combat. Add
Mental Brawl and
Telepathic Joust to your list of known spells. They do not count against your total number of known spells.
ARCANE CHAMELEON
Most bards have no qualms about incorporating magic into their performances. A practitioner of this college at 14th level can assume the precise appearance, mannerisms, and voice of any other character previously encountered. If you utilize the aura alteration capability of Mental Chameleon, you can simultaneously sculpt yourself into a flawless physical duplicate of any person with similar height and weight. Though magical, these alterations can only be detected by
True Seeing. They persist until you are reduced to 0 hit points or you complete a short rest or a long rest.
Viscous Mockery Highly experienced bards from the College of Humor pair their most incisive insults with a variety of slippery substances that appear to form spontaneously from nothingness. Magical conjuration of this goo is entirely possible, though many of these bards are also prop comics. Concealed waterskins, refilled eggshells, or even exotic eggs could also deliver the material aspect of these humiliating efforts. Most of these messes wiped away after their victims have a moment to appreciate the nature of their impairment.
1) Slickened surface often involves spraying some sort of lubricant onto or under the feet of a victim. Alternatively, globs of slime or rotting fruits can be positioned to deprive a target of reliable footing. This sort of attack can be ideal for delaying a hostile pursuer or gaining advantage over an adversarial duellist.
2) Stinking slime can be as simple as handfuls of especially foul mud or it might involve application of something like nautical pitch. It typically robs valuable garb of status as finery even as it marks targets with dripping trails and strong scents. Adversaries not previously hostile may become so after being subjected to this indignity.
3) Facial coverage is a tactic so venerable that diviners have yet to establish the earliest instance of a pie to the face serving as a comedic gesture. Yet this classic remains a useful tactic for jesters intent on granting advantage to allies in a fight. All manner of foams and gels can be substituted for actual pies in these efforts to momentarily block a victim's vision.
4) Vibrant paint often features rare ingredients to achieve bold colors with strong contrasts to ordinary or bleak surroundings. Such visual highlighting helps attackers find their mark. Yet it is also a humiliation just as outrageous as the susceptibility it creates. In the thick of battle, some victims quickly cover such an eyecatching mark with an unpleasant option like blood or mud.
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⊲ College of Humor Desperate acts of jest sometimes won reprieves from the wrath of ancient draconian tyrants. Early peoples swapping campfire stories developed amusing dances or quick jokes meant to obtain mercy. This soon gave rise to the performing arts, as entertainers competed for the support of growing audiences. Paradoxically, a great deal of practice and precision is required to achieve the best presentations of silliness, surprise, or whimsy. Modern tyrants employ jesters to lighten their mood. Some are licensed to voice concerns their rulers would never otherwise hear. Yet foolery is widely appreciated. Skilled comics can busk large crowds as effectively as musicians of comparable talent.
MASK OF COMEDY
By 3rd level you find yourself chasing the ecstasy emergent from audiences erupting with uproarious laughter. You are proficient in the Acrobatics skill, and you are proficient with disguise kits. You also delight in unexpected trickery. You can perform the Dodge action as a bonus action. You learn the
Shocking Grasp cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of learned cantrips.
SLAPSTICK ROUTINES
The secrets of jesters engaged in mock combat are yours when you achieve 6th level. Add
Oily Ooze,
Tripping Hazard, and
Unseen Ram to your list of known spells. They do not count against your total number of known spells. While casting any of those three spells, you can choose to give one target disadvantage on their next saving throw against that spell.
VISCOUS MOCKERY
By 10th level you have considerable experience with public humiliation, and you incorporate spectacular material effects into some of your favorite tricks. When you cast
Vicious Mockery, replace the d4 damage dice with d8s. When you inflict damage with this cantrip, automatically apply one of the following four additional effects. 1) Target creature falls prone. 2) Target creature is befouled until they can complete a short rest or a long rest. 3) Target creature is blinded until the start of their next turn. 4) Target creature is glamored until the start of their next turn.
COMBAT CLOWNING
Your fighting style never suffers a lack of cutting words. Even when your efforts do not inflict devastating physical damage, they tend to make your foe look weak. By 14th level this is effect so extreme it can have a profoundly inspiring effect on your allies. When you score a critical hit, you can grant your proficiency bonus in temporary hit points to any creatures you choose among those able to see you. When you cast a Showstopper, any creatures you choose among those able to see you have advantage on all saving throws until the start of your next turn.
| College of Lore Bonus Spells |
| Level | Bonus Spells |
| 1st | Faerie Fire | Magic Missile |
| 2nd | See Invisibility | Magic Weapon |
| 3rd | Glyph of Warding | Magic Circle |
| 4th | Private Sanctum | Infuse Weapon |
| 5th | Scrying | Teleportation Circle |
⊲ College of Lore Advanced learning requires language. As powerful as some texts are, the written word is merely a record of sounds a speaker can reproduce. Knowledge is encoded in the words themselves. This College delves deep into the theories and practices of learning. Bards with such training become even more verstatile spellcasters than their peers while acquiring an extraordinarily deep understanding of enchanted items. Their methods are generally well-suited to settling questions of fact, and many sport research skills on par with proper wizards. While suited to work as librarians, most of these adventurers actively travel while keeping a small circle of powerful allies well-informed.
RARIFIED TECHNIQUES
As a sponge for all manner of knowledge, at 3rd level you gain access to a list of bonus spells revealed by your relentless pursuit of sagacity. You know all of these spells of no higher level than your highest level spell slot, and they do not count against your total number of known spells. You are proficient in the Investigation skill, applying your wide-ranging knowledge to settle questions of fact. You are proficient with calligraphers' tools.
Popular Entertainment Legal restrictions on the performing arts are entirely about censorship. Some rules are meant to prevent the spread of rebellious sentiments while others maintain traditional taboos. Perfoming music originated by others is not at all controversial. Many composers and entertainers consider it a personal triumph when their music is repeated by many other acts. Climactic lyrics and evocative melodies sometimes pervade entire societies with persons at every level of talent repeating those references. Skillful renditions of currently popular pieces can help draw larger crowds before an artist launches into more obscure material.
Perfomers credited with originating one or more intensely well-liked works can become celebrities based only on that achievement. They can command higher fees for personal appearances, draw larger crowds at events, and generate more interest in new projects. This applies to poets, playwrights, and raconteurs as well as musicians and singers. Such a prominent cultural voice allows popular entertainers to make influential comments on delicate issues. Many performers proudly dedicate their works to a patron, either divine or political. Yet celebrities persistently challenging authorities can spark both debate and defiance more easily than any less artful advocate. |
EAR FOR THE ARCANE
At 6th level you learn the Eldritch Blast cantrip and the Mystic Shield cantrip. They do not count against your total number of learned cantrips. If you can hear a spell being cast, your Arcana and passive Arcana are increased by 5 for purposes of identifying that spell.
IMPROVED ITEM HISTORY
Eager to accumulate all credible lore, by 10th level you have a downright sagacious knowledge of art objects and enchanted items. When you use Item History on a magic item, you learn all the powers and properties of that item. You can also assess the cultural provenance of ordinary items like tablewear or tools, identifying the original source for supplies used by expeditions from distant lands.
COMPREHENSIVE ARCANA
At 14th level you become capable of using any magic item regardless of class restrictions. You can become attuned to one magical musical instrument without counting that item toward your total number of attuned items. You are not protected from the harmful effects associated with the use of some magic items, but you will be aware of the dangers if you have previously handled the item or you take an action to scrutinize it before use. You can cast the
Identify spell without using a spell slot if it is one of your known spells.
⊲ College of Speech The first spoken words were produced by dragons casting extremely powerful spells. "Original speech" was a method of reshaping reality rather than describing it. These most ancient magicks lost all power through repetition even as non-magical conversations proliferated across many forms of life. Verbal spellcasting is an extremely small portion of words spoken in modern times. Yet some bards continue to shape reality with non-magical words – their oratory, poetry, and singing laced with narratives carefully crafted to cultivate specific opinions. When politics and public sentiment intersect, bards from this College may become valued operatives.
Celebrity Status All adventurers run the risk of becoming famous or infamous for their deeds. Bards are especially likely to develop larger-than-life reputations, since much of what they do involves appearing before audiences of influential figures if not also large numbers of spectators. With styles and voices both carefully cultivated to make an impression, bards are often the most memorable personalities among a company of travellers. Between adventures, bards are the most likely to pen or sing a popular chronicle of the group's previous achievements.
Adventuers and entertainers alike sometimes establish alternate identities. This might make it possible to deliver unwelcome messages and perform controversial art without suffering much persecution away from the stage. It might also allow an extremely famous figure to enjoy relative anonymity once a performing persona has been shed. The most famed heroes and entertainers can be overwhelmed by their own popularity. From attracting an instant entourage to recieving rare gifts from artisans and aristocrats, the life of a proper celebrity pairs special challenges with unique abilities. |
VOCAL PROJECTION
Being heard clearly even over boisterous crowds or hostile hecklers is essential to practitioners of this school. On joining at 3rd level, you will have cultivated such vocal power that you can add your proficiency bonus to the thunder damage each target takes from any spell you cast. Yet you have also learned to remain confident and poised no matter the content of your speech. You gain proficiency in the Deception skill.
VOCAL REFINEMENT
At 6th level your extensive study of linguistics allows you to learn four additional languages. Your eloquence is beyond reproach. Also, your spellcasting DC increases by 2 for purposes of any spell that does not inflict damage.
VOCAL POWERHOUSE
At 10th level your voice conveys tremendous authority when you are not speaking or singing with deliberate softness. You can add your proficiency bonus to your Inspiring Flourishes. You know the
Power Struggle spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. After casting
Power Struggle or triggering a
Power Struggle by casting a spell of your own, spell slots you consume count as three levels higher than they otherwise would for purposes of resolving the
Power Struggle. Also, if you know the
Loudspeaker spell, you can cast it without using a spell slot.
VOCAL PARAGON
At 14th level you always seem to know the perfect thing to say for any occasion. If you know the
Enthrall spell, you can cast it without using a spell slot. If your Artful Expertise includes Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion; your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of all three skills. When you cast a spell that does thunder damage, you automatically roll the maximum amount of damage with that spell.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Colleges of Music ↑ → Inspiring Flourishes ← ↓ Clerics ↓
| Interjections Players will inevitably comment on combat underway. A single action may merit lengthy discussion. Hopefully these occasions are rare. Characters are also able to comment in battle under normal circumstances, though this must be done with some regard for time. When delivering a plea, quip, or threat; keep in mind that an entire round of combat turns only spans six seconds. Action sequences and lengthy speeches do not pair well with one another. If you wish your character to speak during a fight in progress, keep your words few. Bards need not express any words to deliver Inspiring Flourishes, though these abilities often present opportune moments for a little levity or poetry. |
Inspiring Flourishes Almost everyone in combat is too intent on the motions of attacks or invisible energies to focus on the noise of the clash. Bards remain attuned to the noises of battle even when casting spells or clashing blades. Their exquisite senses of rhythm and timing allow bards to achieve significant effects by intervening with timely sounds of their own. Their talents make it possible to amplify the magical effects of allies, distract enemies at crucial moments, encourage allies to resist hostile influences, and modify the behavior of unseen energies. Many political leaders are thought to keep a bard close to better chronicle their victories, but in truth those triumphs often feature a collaborative quality.
Different cultures embrace different approaches to harmony and melody. Regardless of upbringing, all bards are also familiar with a twelve-tone scale reflected in the articulation of Inspiring Flourishes. This permeates into the arcana common to all Colleges of Music. The most accomplished bards know all twelve of the cantrips associated with musical spellcasting. Inspiring Flourishes number two dozen in total, no individual bard is prepared to deliver half of them. Yet it only takes one performed confidently at just the right moment to turn a potential win into a decisive victory.
|
Acoustic Countermeasures
When an ally who can hear you takes thunder damage, you can use your reaction and this Inspiring Flourish to reduce the thunder damage by twice that number. If multiple allies who can hear you are damaged by the same attack or effect, you can reduce the thunder damage taken by al of them.
Alarming Wail
Add 2 to the DC of saving throws against any spell you cast that could inflict the frightened condition. You can use your action with this Inspiring Flourish to produce a disturbing shriek that awakens all sleeping persons within one mile. Having done this, you cannot deliver another Alarming Wail until you complete a long rest.
Antiphonal Phrase
When an ally who can hear you casts Counterspell or Power Struggle, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to grant that ally advantage on the ability check to succeed.
Arpeggiated Fanfare
When an ally who can hear you reduces a creature to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to grant that number of temporary hit points to the triggering ally.
Ballad Improvisation
When an ally who can hear you casts a spell that could charm a creature, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to give one target disadvantage on the saving throw to resist that spell.
Bass Drone
You can add your Constitution bonus to your Inspiring Flourish rolls.
Booming Outburst
Add 2 to the DC of saving throws against any spell you cast that could inflict deafness. When you hit with a melee attack, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to deal that amount of thunder damage to the target of your attack.
Breakneck Beat
When an ally who can hear you begins to move, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to add twice that number to the speed of the ally until the end of their turn.
Comforting Counterpoint
When an ally who can hear you takes psychic damage, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to reduce the damage by that number.
Corrective Rhythm
When an ally who can hear you casts a healing spell, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to allow one recipient to regain that number of additional hit points.
Deadly Crescendo
You can use your action with this Inspiring Flourish to allow one ally who can hear you to make a melee attack during your turn.
Deft Dance
You can use a bonus action with this Inspiring Flourish take the Disengage action or the Dodge action.
| |
Distracting Quip
When an ally who can hear you is hit by an attack, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to subtract that number from the attack roll, possibly causing the attack to miss.
Downbeat Beatdown
When you hit a creature with a melee attack, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to increase the damage of the attack by that number.
Encouraging Rhyme
You can use your bonus action with this Inspiring Flourish to grant an ally who can hear you a saving throw to end one ongoing condition or effect.
Echoing Chorus
When an ally who can hear you casts Dispel Magic or Unravel Effect, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to grant that ally advantage on the ability check to succeed.
Ecstatic Refrain
When an ally who can hear you casts a spell that compels dancing or laughter, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to give one target disadvantage on the saving throw to resist.
Elastic Tempo
When an ally who can hear you casts the Haste spell or the Slow spell, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to add one target to that spell. If you are within the caster's range you may designate yourself as that target.
Frenzied Fugue
When a creature hits you with a melee attack while you are holding a weapon, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to perform a melee attack against that creature.
Fullsome Harmony
When an ally casts a spell with a verbal component and a creature successfully makes the saving throw against that spell, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to increase the DC by that number, possibly causing that saving throw to fail.
Gentle Lullaby
When an ally who can hear you casts a spell that could put a creature to sleep, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to strengthen that spell as if it were cast with a spell slot one level higher.
Gloomy Dirge
When an ally who can hear you casts a spell that could frighten a creature, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to give one target disadvantage on the saving throw to resist.
Grievous Refrain
When an ally who can hear you inflicts psychic damage, you can use your reaction with this Inspiring Flourish to increase the damage one target suffers by that number.
Glorious Reveille
Select one condition from charmed, confused, fixated, frightened, paralyzed, slowed, unconscious, or weakened. You can use your action with this Inspiring Flourish to allow all allies who can hear you to make saving throws against each ongoing effect inflicting that condition. In cases originally established with no saving throw, a result of 11 or higher on 1d20 ends that effect.
|
| Cleric Basics |
hit points for new characters: 8 + your Constitution bonus
hit points for gained levels: 1d8 + your Constitution bonus
Hit Dice: 1d8 per cleric level
armor proficiencies: light, medium, shields
weapon proficiencies: all basic weapons, flail, morningstar
saving throw proficiencies: Charisma & Wisdom
core skill proficiencies: Medicine and Religion
languages: one major human language
tool proficiencies: healers' kit
supplemental skill proficiencies: You can replace each of your redundant skills with Arcana, Insight, History, Nature, Perception, or Persuasion.
|
Clerics Deities radically reconfigured the magical environment of the world twice over. Human leaders rose to power while Archfey influence waned. Early clerics called down countless miracles, providing growing regimes with both inspiration and prosperity. Yet the Age of Heroes featured so many conflicts that progress along both arcane and technological avenues stagnated. Then the Great Consolidation saw the Fivesquare Pantheon uniting to control the entire spirituality of the world. For more than two thousand years, no clerical practice has been able to channel the power of any outsider gods. In huge cities that only continue to grow, urban congregations honor and tithe popular deities associated with the providence of modern civilization.
Apollo, Arawn, Ares, Chih Sung-Tzu, Chung Kuel, Dagda, Dionysus, Geb, Hades, Hel, Lei Kung, Loki, Mannanan Mac Lir, Ma Yuan, Odin, Oghma, Osiris, Ptah, Ra, Set, Shang-Ti, Silvanus, Thor, and Tyr are the only gods empowered to answer prayers. A typical cleric venerates one of these divine patrons, praising that being above all others. Some clerics are polytheists, uttering prayers to a group of deities while only acknowledging patronage by remaining true to the core values of a faith sponsored by a deity. Unfailing fidelity to core values even empowers some philosophers to work spiritual magic without calling upon any gods at all. In all these cases, clerics must remain aligned with a specific divine benefactor.
These spiritual relationships support satisfying connections between the gods and their annointed advocates. Deities of every alignment employ angelic intermediaries. These metaphysically honest entities unfailingly discern insincere invocations from heartfelt outreach. Clerics with a genuine commitment to the teachings of their faith or philosophy will be eager to honor its particulars. Conflicted clerics may find their powers faltering or even failing altogether. Lapsed clerics must perform bold acts of atonement or find a new spiritual connection with a more compatible belief system. Think twice about allowing your character to act against a principle linked to your spiritual creed, especially if your DM warns of heavenly concerns.
| Cleric Progression |
Proficiency
Level Bonus Features | Heavenly
Channels | Cantrips
Known | Spell Slots
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th |
| 1st | +2 | Spellcasting,
Turn Undead | – | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2nd | +2 | Ceremonial Officiant,
Channel Divinity | 1 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 3rd | +2 | Holy Domain | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4th | +2 | Feat | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5th | +3 | Destroy Undead | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6th | +3 | Holy Domain Feature | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 7th | +3 | — | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8th | +3 | Feat | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 9th | +4 | Divine Intervention | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 10th | +4 | Holy Domain Feature | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 11th | +4 | — | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 12th | +4 | Feat | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 13th | +5 | — | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 14th | +5 | Holy Domain Feature | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 15th | +5 | — | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 16th | +5 | Feat | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 17th | +6 | — | 5 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | Personal Eminence | 5 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | Feat | 5 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 20th | +6 | Divine Conversation | 5 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Playing a Cleric |
∨ evangelical or mystical?
Clerics are typically eager preach on behalf of their core beliefs at any suitable opportunity. Some make a habit of delivering short speeches at the start of any journey, meal, and/or social gathering. Evangelical clerics proudly pursue the conversion of others to their faith or philosophy. Mystical clerics are no less sincere in their beliefs, but they are much less willing to spread those beliefs. Their spiritual teachings are organized by a progression of revelations, each shared only after earning greater status in that tradition. Every cleric must choose between actively spreading their spirituality or sharing religious lore only rarely and in secrecy.
∨ formal or casual?
Some clerics take their status as holy persons extremely seriously. They may insist even constant companions use formal protocols and titles in direct address. Ceremonial garb may double as everyday attire for these individuals. They rarely let others forget their special connection with divine power. Yet other clerics do not extend the concept of sacred to themselves any more than they apply it to other living people. Casual clergy tend to reserve ceremonial garb for rare occasions, and many sport ordinary everyday attire. They will prefer to be addressed informally, and many are comfortable striking up friendships with persons who might be judged harshly by their faith. As a mortal agent of the gods, a cleric can either emphasize that status at all times or confine religious formality to the most important rituals.
∨ judgemental or providential?
Some faiths emphasize punishment, directing the faithful to improve the world by ridding it of wickedness as defined by their doctrines. Others emphasize succor, tasking followers to improve the world by providing relief to suffering people. Most ministries inspire a mix of both pursuits. Yet each cleric must find their own place on this spectrum. The most aggressive and violent often prefer the dispensation of harsh judgements, while the most gentle and peaceful often prefer to provide humanitarian relief. Thus adventuring clerics tend to be capable of both roles while clearly favoring one or the other. Judgemental clerics show little tolerance for actions and ideas at odds with their own teachings, while providential clerics often provide valuable assistance even to individuals explicitly condemned by their faith.
∨ elitist or populist?
A cleric tending to the spiritual needs of a few aristocrats can command more influence and resources than someone ministering to thousands of congregants. Holy persons may focus all their efforts on a narrow portion of high society – working to change the world by guiding great leaders. These clerics routienly socialize with the aristocracy, and some hold their own political titles. Others tend to focus on reaching as many souls as possible. Populist preachers deliver sermons advocating causes broadly supported by ordinary working families. Their status stems from the support of a large community of worshippers. Even when dedicated to the same holy order, philosophy, or polytheism; tensions often arise between individuals with these two preferences. Elitists can be disimssive of efforts to rally common folk, while populists tend to see aristocratic priests as highly corruptible.
∨ fundamentalist or reformer?
Some clerics prioritize their teachings by favoring the oldest and most established ideas over newer notions. Venerable lore is especially credible to persons of many faiths. Some people have particular confidence in beliefs and teachings that have remained unchanged for generations. Yet this outlook is not universal. Some clerics preach the value of perpetual reform. They see the imperfections of mortal understanding as a sound basis for an ongoing, perhaps perpetual, project to better fathom the divine. Fundamentalists can be critical of reformers' flexibility, while reformers have doubts about the purported perfection of theological claims made by long-dead priests. Most religions feature practitioners of both sorts, and their disagreements often form the basis for coherent internal factions.
∨ fanatic or moderate?
Some clerics dedicate their entire existence to advancing a spiritual agenda. For these individuals, no sacrifice is too great if the result promotes their own faith or philosophy. Should they die in pursuit of this agenda, their corpse might sport a serene smile. Fanatics can be unsettling, especially in the eyes of those who understand how much more they value spiritual purity than mortal lives. Moderates appeal to a different sort of worship. They see the merits of tolerance for minor violations of taboos. Most moderates will do no more than reprimand talk of heresy, recognizing some value in freedom of thought. They typically believe that only actions rise to the level of offending the gods. Thus moderates can be quick to restrain fanatics, while fanatics can be quick to punish anyone identified as a challenge to their core beliefs. |
CREATING A CLERIC
Entering this class does not automatically convey status in any religion. Instead it marks the beginning of a spiritual connection bound by genuine devotion to specific beliefs. Only after reaching the second Tier of Power does one of nine Holy Domains become available. The emergence of related abilities typically reflects admission of a tested worshipper into the ranks of a holy order. Among philosophies and the least formal faiths, clerical advancement continues without any institutional acknowledgement. In all these arrangements, the purity of a cleric's beliefs provides access to a higher power even in the deepest dungeons.
Alignments and religions are not simple team affiliations. Respecting the tenets of a particular faith or philosophy does not always prohibit working with others who think differently. Even clergy of diametrically opposed alignments can collaborate so long as each individual remains true to their own set of beliefs and the group acts to advance a purpose shared by all. For example, priests in a city recovering from a gargantua attack tend to worry less about the spiritual outlook of individual casualties and more about healing the city as a whole. At the other extreme, heresies can create rifts so violent that clerics of the same sect go to war against each other.
Clerics are abundant in large cities where efforts to sustain and promote religions are joined by organized programs to support public health. Modern folks know to seek out a priest when they are injured just as they might seek out a constable when they are threatened. Not all religions share healing magic and medical skill with outsiders, but ordained clerics invariably acquire these abilities. Most see it as a duty to rally faltering allies, working miracles so others can recover from their worst setbacks in battle or life. Yet clerics also feel a duty to promote their faith or philosophy, proudly praising its teachings and virtues.
SPELLCASTING
Status as a cleric is initially established through some demonstration of spiritual magic. As a 1st level cleric, you already understand a variety of magical effects made possible through the power of prayer. Daily outreach to heavenly powers grants you access to holy effects based on your anticipated needs. Effective spellcasting depends on your continued dedication to some faith or philosophy aligned with your patron deity.
Cantrips
You know three cleric cantrips at 1st level. You learn additional cantrips at 4th, 8th, 12th, and 16th cleric levels. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of these learned cleric cantrips for another selection.
Preparing and Casting Spells
You know a number of
cleric spells equal to your cleric
level +
your Intelligence modifier. Making permanent improvements to that ability or gaining cleric levels sometimes enhances this capacity. Each time you complete a long rest, you can swap out all of your cleric spells with other selections. You must use a spell slot of sufficent level to cast a cleric spell. You recover all expended spell slots at the completion of a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for all cleric spells. Saving throws against your spells face a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus. You can employ a holy symbol, a reliquary, a rod, or a staff as a spellcasting implement.
TURN UNDEAD
All clerics can invoke the harsh judgement of the gods against undead creatures for their violations of conventional mortality. As a 1st level cleric, these invocations merely have the power to induce a strong aversion to your presence. If you use an action to speak out against undeath while presenting your holy symbol, all undead creatures within 30 feet must make a Wisdom saving throw against a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus. Success indicates that creature cannot be the target of this ability until you have completed a long rest. Failure indicates that creature has been turned for 1 minute, and could be turned again if necessary.
Such creatures cannot voluntarily move to a position within 30 feet of you. They will use their actions to Dash as far from you current location as possible. If unable to move toward a more distant location, a turned creature will take the Dodge action while searching for an escape route. This behavior continues so long as the turned creature can see or hear you, or ten consecutive turns have been spent in this manner.
CHANNEL DIVINITY
As a 2nd level cleric, you have achieved something significant without wavering in your devotion to a particular faith or philosophy. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed. When a creature within 30 feet of you makes a saving throw, you can use your Channel Divinity and your reaction to give that creature advantage on that saving throw. You also gain access to one
Heavenly Channel, enabling an alternative use for your Channel Divinity. Additional Heavenly Channels become available at 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th cleric levels. You can use Channel Divinity a number of times equal to your Wisdom bonus. All of these uses are restored when you complete a long rest. When you gain a cleric level, you can replace one of your chosen Heavenly Channels with a different selection.
CEREMONIAL OFFICIANT
As a 2nd level cleric, others trust you to preside over rites associated with your patron deity. This enables you to busk with your Religion skill in communities where a related faith is prominent. While some aspects of your efforts may entertain onlookers, you deal primarily with ministering to the needs of the faithful. Answering theological questions, listening to troubled individuals, offering wise counsel, personally reciting benedictions – these are the sorts of services that sometimes prompt minor gratuities.
Much more lucrative opportunities are also available, though events like royal weddings typically involve at least one high level officiant along with much planning and pageantry. Even a basic ritual might require some actual spellcasting to verify the identity
and/or sincerity of other participants. Substantial fees can follow from the integration of these services into a religious ceremony. You have advantage on Insight checks regarding attitudes about your religion, the earnestness of ritual oaths, and personal compliance with such oaths.
DESTROY UNDEAD
As a 5th level cleric you can take a much more aggressive tone when you attempt to Turn Undead. If you adopt this approach, undead creatures within 30 feet must make a Wisdom saving throw against a DC of your cleric level + your Wisdom bonus. Success means that you can never again attempt Turn Undead or Destroy Undead against that individual. Failure immediately eradicates the undead creature, leaving a corpse or a pile of ash in the space it previously occupied.
Patron Deities Spellcasting clerics are not necessarily religious. Yet all have studied some religious lore. They appreciate the crucial role divine inspiration plays in shaping moral beliefs. Even the most philosophical clerics still recognize one deity of the same alignment as a personal patron. Religious clerics typically pray aloud to their patron deity. Boldly rejecting the core teachings of a chosen faith or philosophy often renders spellcasting clerics unable to channel magical energy. Purposefully pursuing an alignment incompatible with a patron deity is likewise problematic.
Freewill enables mortals to navigate moral dilemmas on their own terms. Enough incompatible actions can drive alignment change. By contrast, the morality of deities is eternal. A lapsed cleric must make great efforts to restore a personal connection to their former patron or achieve consecration in a new, more compatible, spiritual tradition. Thus the alignment of any spellcasting cleric can be inferred from the identity of their patron. Observers highly versed in religious lore might be able to infer that identity from the personal attitudes, routine habits, and sacred symbols of a cleric.
Polytheists pray to multiple deities. Some philosophers quibble about whether or not their sacred utterances amount to prayers. Regardless of technicalities, every cleric praises at least some the virtues associated with a single patron deity. Most philosophers are wise enough to understand that their power flows through heavenly channels, and all religious clerics proudly honor their divine patrons. Spiritual magic is unified by an earnestness of belief that runs both deep and strong. |
DIVINE INTERVENTION
As a 9th level cleric, you have the confidence and know the protocols to make an appeal for assistance beyond your spellcasting abilities. All deities, from the most kindhearted to the most malevolent, employ angels as intermediaries between their heavenly habitats and earthly events. These angels devote most of their efforts to coordinating collections of spiritual energy from earnest prayers and distributions of spiritual energy from heavenly fonts. Clerics informed about the particular hierarchy serving their patron deity can convey requests directly to these angelic intermediaries.
To plead for Divine Intervention you must use an action while describing an urgent need. After articulating your plea, roll 1d20. If the result is less than or equal to your cleric level, your words reach celestial ears. An appropriate miracle should soon follow, though it sometimes occurs a round or two later. Typically these interventions manifest as a single overwhelming magical effect consistent with a deity's elemental, philosophical, and stylistic preferences. After receiving such a miracle, you cannot call for another Divine Intervention until 8 days have passed. If you fail in this effort, you cannot call for another Divine Intervention until you have completed a long rest.
PERSONAL EMINENCE
By the time you attain 18th level, your name is known to everyone with proficiency in the Religion skill. Among practitioners of your faith or philosophy, you are respected as a moral authority proven through arduous spiritual struggles
and/or epic ethical activism. You have resistances to necrotic damage and radiant damage. Every creature within 60 feet to share at least half your alignment (chaotic/neutral/lawful or evil/neutral/good) has advantage on all saving throws. Every creature within 60 feet to share your entire alignment has advantage on all attacks.
DIVINE CONVERSATION
You are among the world's foremost devotees of your patron deity. When you plead for Divine Intervention, you utilize methods that convey your words directly to a deity. These efforts automatically succeed. Even so, you can call for Divine Intervention again after completing a long rest. Furthermore, your patron deity sometimes takes a personal interest in your adventures and prayers. As a 20th level cleric, a lifetime of authentic and effective service makes you both a credible spokesperson for your patron deity and an occasional confidant. Perhaps a long-term pawn in spiritual conflicts, you have now earned a voice in the heavenly community shaping events in the modern era.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Clerics ↑ → Holy Domains ← ↓ Heavenly Channels ↓
| Bonus Spells Many spellcasters receive bonus spells through participation in a relevant subclass. The techniques needed to cast these spells are a core part of the training associated with that subclass. Bonus spells do not count against total number of known spells or prepared spells for the associated class. Yet they are always prepared and utilized with the Spellcasting feature of that class once a sufficiently high level spell slot is granted by that class. This is true even for bonus spells that do not occur on the spell list of that class. A constant state of readiness to achieve these effects is maintained through the rituals and routines of the granting subclass. |
Holy Domains After remaining true to a faith or philosophy through significant challenges, promising upstart clerics gain access to a Holy Domain. In some traditions this is accompanied by an investiture ceremony consecrating the future actions and sermons of an individual. Distinctive garb and titles might be bestowed at theese events. Yet even when such spiritual progress is entirely unspoken, it instills an understanding of new prayer techniques and other ways to derive miracles from purity of belief. This is accompanied by a strengthened sense of personal purpose.
Some clerics are downright evangelical – aggressively promoting their preferred spiritual teachings. Individuals at the other extreme take a mystic approach – selectivey revealing portions of their true beliefs only to trusted insiders. All across this spectrum, clerics remain earnest if not also passionate in the embrace of those beliefs. The Domain of the Forge, the Domain of the Grave, the Domain of Knowledge, the Domain of Life, the Domain of Light, the Domain of Nature, the Domain of Tempest, the Domain of Trickery, and the Domain of War are accessible through particular holy orders and philosophies. Clerics associated with some philosophies and all polytheisms find textual support for the pursuit of whichever single Holy Domain they choose.
| Holy Domain Bonus Spells |
| Level | Forge | Grave | Knowledge | Life | Light |
| 1st | Identify | Inflict Wounds | Comp. Languages | Cure Wounds | Color Spray |
| 2nd | Magic Weapon | Gentle Repose | Detect Thoughts | Lesser Restoration | Flaming Sphere |
| 3rd | Heat Metal | Speak with Dead | Tongues | Revivify | Daylight |
| 4th | Fabricate | Death Ward | Divine Portent | Death Ward | Coherent Beam |
| 5th | Creation | Raise Dead | Legend Lore | Greater Restoration | Flame Strike |
| 6th | Blade Barrier | Move Earth | True Seeing | Heal | Sunbeam |
| 7th | Arcane Sword | Finger of Death | Symbol | Regenerate | Prismatic Spray |
| 8th | Maze | Power Word Stop | Feeblemind | Antipathy/Sympathy | Sunburst |
| 9th | Imprisonment | Power Word Die | Foresight | True Ressurection | Prismatic Wall |
| | Antipathy/Sympathy | Antipathy/Sympathy | Antipathy/Sympathy | Antipathy/Sympathy | Antipathy/Sympathy |
| Level | Nature | Tempest | Trickery | War |
| 1st | Speak with Animals | Thunderwave | Disguise Self | Heroism |
| 2nd | Locate Animals or Plants | Shatter | Pass Without Trace | Magic Weapon |
| 3rd | Speak with Plants | Lightning Bolt | Nondetection | Haste |
| 4th | Dominate Beast | Ice Storm | Confusion | Booming Battlecry |
| 5th | Commune with Nature | Resonating Vibrations | Mislead | Animate Objects |
| 6th | Wall of Thorns | Chain Lightning | Mass Suggestion | Blade Barrier |
| 7th | Animate Trees | Rolling Thunder | Project Image | Heavenly Chariot |
| 8th | Animal Shapes | Control Weather | Maze | Sandstorm |
| 9th | True Polymorph | Storm of Vengeance | Time Stop | Perfect Strike |
| | Locate Animals or Plants | Locate Animals or Plants | Locate Animals or Plants | Locate Animals or Plants |
Sacred Symbols Philosophers and priests alike tend to favor a specific emblem or object as a focus for spiritual power. Though many carry bejewelled versions of these symbols, they need not be conventional treasures to serve as metaphysical talismans. The purchase price of a holy symbol could reflect the cost of religious services involved in its consecration and/or the inclusion of ordinary materials obtained from specific shrines rather than the intrinsic value of the materials consumed in its production. Even philosophers achieve greater clarity and confidence when their decarations of morality are accompanied by displays of a symbol they hold sacred.
|
⊲ Domain of the Forge The deity you most admire is known for creating objects of wondrous power. You strive to do likewise as an ardent admirer of skilled artisans contributing arms and armor to military forces. Some practitioners of this domain focus on producing the elaborate equipment intended for use by prominent persons. Others strive to provide specific communities with the arms and armor to defend themselves. Even when fashioning the simplest pieces for the humblest recipients, clerics of this domain feel a duty to produce quality gear.
Eight well-known holy orders offer these teachings to their clergy, including
Beastminders devoted to Silvanus, the
Bladesmelters devoted to Geb, the
Brass Enforcers devoted to Chung Kuel,
Captive Keymasters devoted to Oghma,
Italic Engravers devoted to Odin,
Lycoctonian Stewards devoted to Apollo,
Mercurual Turncoats devoted to Loki, and
Stormsmiths devoted to Lei Kung.
Destiny Lords inspired by Zeus,
Fatesmiths inspired by Ptah, and
Opportunity Knockers inspired by Thor are among the philosophers able to practice related spellcasting techniques.
Holy Orders Most spellcasting clerics are members of a holy order. These organizations direct their prayers entirely toward one deity. Some go so far as to proclaim their patron as a supreme being, destined to dominate the multiverse. Despite this, each of them teaches broad truths about the entire Fivesquare Pantheon. Holy orders are ordained to play a parts in the unfolding dramas of mortal politics and spiritual struggles. Even the most peaceful of these priests see themselves as warriors on a cultural level. Even the most violent among them can be quick to heal and shelter like-minded worshippers in need.
Beyond the spirituality of religious leaders and followers, holy orders have explicit ambitions or duties. Some pursue secretive agendas fully revealed only to the most senior members of the organization. Others combine worship with commerce, using the sanctity of their vows to win customers in search of quality products and reliable services. Each holy order has its own sacred purpose, and all members are devoted to it. Yet that purpose can be broad and/or vaguely defined. Ecclesiastical superiors can be keen to support the adventuring careers of their underlings, happy to collect tithes while selectively absolving wealthy followers of other obligations. After all, a sincere follower accumulating influence and power is an increasingly valuable asset to the faith itself. |
SPIRITUAL SMITHING
When you reach 3rd level you become proficient in leatherworkers' tools, smiths' tools, and woodworkers' tools. You also become proficient with heavy armor. If you declare your desire for gear before starting a long rest, at the completion of that long rest you acquire a non-magical item valued no greater than
5 × your cleric level in gold pieces. This object can form miraculously even in the absence of any materials suitable for crafting.
ATTESTED ARMORER
Your profound devotion to metalworking produces changes in your physical body. At 6th level you have resistance to fire damage. You also have advantage on all ability checks related to the use of leatherworkers' tools, smiths' tools,
and/or woodworkers' tools.
CELESTIAL CRAFTING
You have become accustomed to forming metal objects from spiritual energy. At 10th level you can cast the
Magic Weapon spell with a 1st level spell slot, achieve +2 results with a 3rd level spell slot, or achieve +3 results with a 5th level spell slot. Also, while you are wearing medium or heavy armor, that suit gains the reduce (slashing 2), reduce (bludgeoning 2), and reduce (piercing 2) properties.
SAINT OF THE ANVIL
At 14th level you become renowned for your miraculous crafting abilities. You gain immunity to non-magical fire damage, and you have advantage on all saving throws to resist fire damage. You are also immune to magical fire damage from crafting facilities like an adamantite forge. You can employ active volcanic craters and other sources of lava as smithing facilities.
Afterlife Realms Death can be reversed, though this becomes progressively more difficult as time passes. Creatures slain in the previous minute can be revived with minor miracles. Their spirits remained firmly tethered to their physical forms. As dead bodies begin to cool, energy departs. The life forces of ordinary beasts return to nature – ambient potentials pooling together and waiting to be recycled into new creatures. The souls of awakened beasts and ordinary people are called to one of five other worlds under the control of Arawn, Hades, Hel, Ma Yuan, or Osiris.
In ordeals that sometimes seem to span years from the perspective of the deceased, the Court of Souls invariably takes ten days to determinne the final fate of each individual. Though the miracle required is not so minor, large religious institutions often shelter multiple personnel with the power to raise the dead. No one casually petitions the Court of Souls for an indefinite stay of process, as this requires a sacrifice of greater value than two trained warhorses. After hearing these rulings and being conveyed to an Afterlife Realm, the possibility of rejoining the living becomes unthinkably remote.
To accomplish such a tremendous miracle, sacrifices beyond the expense of fashioning a full suit of battle dress are required in addition to the services of an extremely experienced cleric. Even success can be devastating, as that cleric might surrender access to spiritual magic for a time. Meanwhile beneficiaries can require weeks to recover from lingering traces of physical death paired with haunting memories of conditions in an Afterife Realm. |
⊲ Domain of the Grave The deity you most admire is known for ruling an afterlife realm or slaying many mortals to increase the population of those places. You are a keen student of the healing and salvation common to all clerics as well as death and killing. You take a reverent approach to all these subjects. You see the corpses of people as sacred even if you lack the ability or intention to raise those people from the dead. Yet your primary concern is the timing of deaths. It could be your holy purpose to prolong the lives of other adventurers so they might fulfill a grand destiny, or it could be your holy purpose to end the lives of specific beings to prevent cataclysmic events.
These holy orders tend to be esoteric. Their interventions can have historic consequences, both intended and otherwise. Written lore associates this domain with
Landwardens devoted to Dagda,
Reconciliators devoted to Arawn,
Spirit Shepherds devoted to Hel,
Spirit Wrestlers devoted to Osiris,
Stormriders devoted to Thor,
Temporal Custodians devoted to Shang-Ti,
Terminal Threadcutters devoted to Zeus, and
Warseekers devoted to Odin.
Eyes of the Storm inspired by Lei Kung have unique perspectives on both killing and survival.
MORBID MYSTERIES
Death is often on your mind as you pursue this domain. It is now also at your fingertips. At 3rd level you learn the Grievous Grasp cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of learned cantrips. You are proficient in the Perception skill.
MORBID MYSTERIES
At 6th level you feel a close connection to death, both as a concept and an occurrence. New questions continue to arise despite your deep understanding of this subject. You have resistance to necrotic damage. When you cast a spell that inflicts necrotic damage, you can add your proficiency bonus to the damage it inflicts on each target. You have advantage on death saving throws.
MORTALITY MANIPULATION
At 10th level you have a refined ability to discourage or encourage a death in progress. You know just what metaphysical threads to pull in pursuit of your preferred outcome. If you inflict damage on a creature with 0 hit points, that creature has disadvantage on death saving throws until it dies or regains at least 1 hit point. If you know the
Spare the Dying cantrip, you can cast it with a range of 30 feet. You can cast the
Grievous Grasp cantrip with a range of 30 feet.
Spellcasting Philosophies All spiritual magic is regulated by the Fivesquare pantheon, and all clerics form relationships with specific patron deities. Yet these relationships take many forms. Polytheists see their patron gods as one among many. The language of their prayers is diverse enough to reflect this. Some philosophers practice their beliefs with such profound conviction they never need explicitly acknowledge their divine patrons. Their prayers may take the form of ethical arguments or moral proclamations.
Spellcasting philosophers are not barred from acknowledging their patron gods. Some draw their powers through religious prayer, simply preferring independence over being bound to the doctrines of any faith. It is their passion for particular ideas rather than worship itself that empowers philosophical spellcasting. Most theologists believe this power proves how deeply the gods are devoted to their favorite virtues. Yet contrarians contend deities ride currents of metaphysical moral substance, with beliefs elevating gods rather than the other way around.
Opinions among philosophers vary here. Modern sages are confident support exists for both views, as worship certainly provides power to deities and deities certainly provide power to faithful worshippers. The result is a chicken-and-egg conundrum, with the true origins of gods and religion shrouded in the histories of worlds from the distant past. While all clerics share a level of mutual respect for the degree of devotion demanded by their class, spellcasting philosophers are not generally considered holy persons. |
DIET OF DEATH
At 14th level your understanding of necromancy is on par with the greatest wizards specializing in that school. Each time you use Turn Undead or Destroy Undead, you can add 1d6 to the DC of saving throws against that particular usage. You do not suffer disadvantage when making ranged attacks against prone targets. You can use your Channel Divinity and a reaction to cast the
Devour Death spell without using a spell slot even if you do not have that spell prepared. If you kill a creature with more than 7 hit points that is not of the undead type, your food and drink requirements for the day are completely satisfied.
⊲ Domain of Knowledge The deity you most admire is known for studying cosmic mysteries and learning techniques considered advanced by cosmic standards. In this domain, even faiths associated with little holy scripture see clerics endlessly analyzing and debating whatever texts are endorsed by tradition. Practitioners with these inclinations can be intense about minor points of doctrine. Yet even when their beliefs are extreme, coherent moral arguments will be available to support related commandments and/or taboos. Clerics dedicated to this domain sometimes integrate into holy orders other than their own – studying these alternative practices while helping to coordinate all religious teachings dedicated to a particular deity.
Many holy orders pursue this lore, including the
Apparatus Society devoted to Ptah, the
Asset Recruitment Corporation devoted to Set,
Binders of the Sacred Lace devoted to Zeus,
Cardinal Navigators devoted to Mannanan Mac Lir,
Discordians devoted to Loki, the
Dragon Gang devoted to Ma Yuan,
Echo Journalists devoted to Arawn,
Liquid Quartermasters devoted to Dionysus,
Martial Manhunters devoted to Ares,
Oracles of Doom devoted to Hel,
Peerless Profilers devoted to Tyr,
Providential Preachers devoted to Shang-Ti,
Radiant Rekillers devoted to Hades,
Reverend Architects devoted to Geb,
Reverend Archivists devoted to Oghma,
Seers of the Ponds devoted to Chih Sung-Tzu,
Seers of the Stones devoted to Dagda,
Soul Assessors devoted to Osiris, the
Truthsayers devoted to Odin, and the
Unlying devoted to Chung Kuel.
Idea Illuminators hunger for knowledge as philosophers inspired by Ra.
Polytheisms The Age of Heroes was wracked by constant conflict between gods. Early in that era, pantheons rose to prominence by overpowering deities without any allies of their own. These teams of deities did much more than band together to fight off rivals. They actively promoted particular mortal societies while collaborating on religious narratives rich with the seeds of moral conflict.
In this way the most successful pantheons grew large populations of worshippers made all the more passionate by struggles internal to each major pantheon. Even today the Æsir, the Ennead, the Olympians, the Tribe, and the Wŭshén are venerated as collectives. While the patrons of these faiths are the respective chief deities for each group, individual practitioners embrace a broad range of ceremonial and stylistic conventions. These broad polytheisms often perpetuate worship of Dead Gods previously affiliated with a particular pantheon.
Yet there are also some polytheisms rooted in more recent developments. These faiths often promote narratives of particular importance to the prevailing culture in one major human homeland. Polytheisms not devoted to a large collection of mostly departed deities will instead promote gospels focused on five specific members of the Fivesquare Pantheon. The five gods featured in such a polytheism each have parts to play in an ongoing conflict or cycle with profound moral implications. Though only one of those five will serve as patron to clerics practicing such a faith, effective invocations can follow from references to the entire pentad or any of its members. |
PRODIGAL SCHOLAR
Your thirst for lore drives you to an ecclectic mix of exercises and readings. At 3rd level your devotion is acknowledged by a wave of epiphanies across several areas of ongoing study. You are proficient in three additional languages. You are proficient with two additional toolkits. You are proficient in the History skill and the Investigation skill. You have advantage on ability checks to gather information from documents and/or eyewitness interviews.
LEARNED ADVISOR
At 6th level you have become a reliable source of thoughtful guidance in virtually all matters. You are now such a quick study that you can act as an assistant in skilled tasks even if you lack a relevant proficiency. You learn the
Enhance Assistance cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of learned cantrips. You are always prepared to cast the
Rallying Eloquence spell, and it does not count against your total number of prepared spells.
GIFTED INQUISITOR
At 10th level your link to divine knowledge is a constant source of useful information. The guidance and inspiration derived from your beliefs can help you uncover even the most obscure truths. You canuse your Channel Divinity and an action to cast the
Locate Object spell or the
Locate Creature spell without using a spell slot, even if you do not have either of those spells prepared. When you add your proficiency bonus to a History skill check or an Investigation skill check, your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of that check.
PARADOXICAL PONTIFF
At 14th level you develop a craving for all sorts of knowledge, including taboo teachings. Zealous faith tends to insulate you from accusations of witchcraft. You learn the Eldritch Blast cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of cantrips learned. You gain hellsight with a range of 60 feet. When you notice another creature casting a spell, you can attempt to recognize that spell without using your reaction.
Modern Medicine Many human communities plan development around networks of churches or temples subsidized to tend to the health of the general public. Which religions are favored by local and national officials is often reflected by preferences in this area. That tends to result in huge institutions simultaneously healing the sick and promoting the values of established dynasties. Injured people know to seek out these facilities just as victims of crimes know to contact city guards. Urban clerics invariably learn the basics of first aid, hygeine, and wound care because their ability to address basic medical complaints conserves whatever resources are available to perform more miraculous sorts of healing.
In less crowded quarters, this medical training remains crucial for clerics. With few or no peers prepared to perform emergency magic, any spellcasting makes the entire community more vulnerable. Analgesics, bandages, sedatives, spirits, splints, and stitches are poor substitutes for the power of the gods. Yet these remedies can dramatically reduce both the personal suffering and the recovery times associated with ordinary ailments and injuries. For many clerics, these acts of mercy are also a stepping stone to divine inspiration. Others naturally develop this skill as their capacity for reverence allows them to remain calm and clinical despite downright gory predicaments. |
⊲ Domain of Life The deity you most admire is known for treating afflictions and injuries with miraculous remedies. A general tendency of clerics to desire well-being among their companions is especially intense among those pursuing this domain. They often feel a duty to plunge into danger if doing so creates opportunities to save the lives of persons valued by their faith. Most have scriptures to guide them when dispensing limited resources after a bloody battle or promoting the availability of care to improve the health of an entire community.
Participating in a class widely regarded as healing specialists, clerics adhering to that archetype are likely to embrace a major holy order focused on this domain. Those spiritual traditions include the
Aegis Church devoted to Zeus,
Akesion Institutes devoted to Apollo,
Blossoms of Mercy devoted to Silvanus,
Earth Mothers devoted to Geb,
Elegant Morticians devoted to Hades, the
Order of Oroborous devoted to Osiris, the
Phoenix Phalanx devoted to Ares,
Plaguemongers devoted to Hel,
Recovery Squads devoted to Lei Kung,
Salutary Brigades devoted to Dionysus,
Spinach-Eaters devoted to Mannanan Mac Lir,
Sunlit Singers devoted to Ra, the
Veterans' Alliance devoted to Tyr, and
Winds of Salvation devoted to Thor. These sacred secrets can also be unlocked by philosophers contemplating texts associated with
Maidens of the Grail inspired by Chih Sung-Tzu or
Social Praxis inspired by Shang-Ti.
EMERGENCY MEDICINE
A key component of your spirituality motivates you to take risks for the sake of delivering prayers directly to victims of violence. When you gain 3rd level, you gain the Merciful Providence Heavenly Channel, and it does not count toward your total number of Heavenly Channels. You also gain proficiency with heavy armor.
BEDSIDE MANNER
At 6th level you exude a therapeutic presence even in your most irate moments. when you cast a spell that allows a creature to regain hit points, you can add your proficiency bonus to the hit points regained by each target. You have advantage on all ability checks related to a healers' kit
and/or the Medicine skill.
Alignment Philosophies Arawn, Chung Kuel, Dagda, Hel, Ma Yuan, Mannanan Mac Lir, Shang-Ti, and Zeus each sponsor philosophies keenly harmonized with their respective alignments. Like other spellcasting philosophies, these efforts allow deities to develop spiritual channels related to select virtues in a more flexible form than religious doctrines. These philosophies go beyond promoting one alignment, but their teachings often sound sastisfying to individuals strongly sympathetic to the associated alignment.
⇥Agents of Equilibrium are neutral.⇤
⇥Just Lawgivers are lawful good.⇤
⇥Merry Hoodlums are chaotic good.⇤
⇥Selfless Benefactors are neutral good.⇤
⇥Solicitous Drafters are lawful evil.⇤
⇥Sovereign Renegades are chaotic evil.⇤
⇥Tidal Movers are chaotic neutral.⇤
⇥Upstanding Counselors are lawful neutral.⇤
⇥Vicious Malefactors are neutral evil.⇤
Alignment philsophers can be especially averse to prayer. Yet clerical spellcasting requires deep and genuine commitment. Thus alignment philosophers tend to hold moral stances with great emphasis. Most are articulate enough to defend their own heartfelt convictions with the full spectrum from logical analyses to sentimental appeals. Some philosophers revel in debating ethics with no less enthusiasm than conventional hedonists partake of wine. Though seldom revered as holy persons, spellcasting philosophers can be highly esteemed in academic circles. They play vital roles at any universities seeking to offer comprehensive arcane education without any specific religious affiliation. |
CHOSEN CHANNELER
At 10th level you become so accustomed to healing with holy power that you can partake of overflows while functioning as a conduit for spritual energy. When you cast a spell that causes another creature to regain hit points, you regain 1d8 hit points. When you spend a Hit Die to regain hit points, you roll an 8 on that Hit Die.
MARVELOUS MENDER
At 14th level you become known as a gifted worker of curative miracles even by clerical standards. When you cast a spell that allows a creature to regain hit points, you automatically roll the maximum amount on any dice used to determine how many hit points are regained. When you cast a spell that removes a condition from a creature, all conditions you consider undesirable end for each target. You learn the Mending cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of learned cantrips.
⊲ Domain of Light The deity you most admire is known to have a fondness for huge fires and other displays of literal brilliance. Your are most able to meditate, pray, and relax in the presence of a roaring brazier, campfire, hearth, or pyre. Sanctums dedicated to your tradition tend to be kept well-lit all through the night. Some also maintain blazes atop spires as beacons to attract and inspire nearby worshippers.
Despite the complex nature of this domain's lore, at least a dozen major holy orders place their focus here. Among them are
Beacons of Truth devoted to Chung Kuel,
Blazing Dervishes devoted to Ares,
Celestial Accountants devoted to Shang-Ti,
Hellfire Preachers devoted to Hades,
Honorable Sunrays devoted to Ra,
Sundown Temples devoted to Apollo,
Synod Jewellers devoted to Ptah,
Valiant Justiciars devoted to Tyr,
Wicker Dancers devoted to Silvanus,
Wild Embers devoted to Dagda, and
Wildfires devoted to Loki.
Perpetual Students inspired by Oghma stand alone among major philosophical movements to illuminate this intersection of the arcane and the divine.
IGNITION SOURCE
When you gain 3rd level you learn the Light and Produce Flame cantrips. They do not count against your total number of learned cantrips. You can use your Channel Divinity and an action to cast the
Burning Hands spell without using a spell slot, even if you cannot otherwise cast that spell. You are also proficient in the Arcana skill.
Layfolk Spellcasting For a variety of reasons, deities sometimes extend a spark of divine power to individuals with no prior history of spiritual spellcasting prowess. Extremely devoted adventurers can gain this ability. It is a personal triumph when it stems from the promotion of a faith to a travelling acquaintance. Even without knowledge of the protocols and traditions of any particular faith, layfolk spellcasters are considered holy persons by admirers of patron deity associated with that ability. Their distinctive spellcasting confirms this in the eyes of astute arcanists.
Layfolk Spellcasting is more akin to racial magic abilities than any class-based spellcasting. It resides in the blood. Some Layfolk Spellcasters are endowed by distant divine heritage, and all are empowered by direct divine intervention. So long as a recipient maintains an alignment in concert with their heavenly benefactor, that individual can work small miracles on a daily basis. Some clerics regard these directly consecrated individuals with jealousy, as they are not bound so severely as spellcasters empowered by a formal religion. Others recognize layfolk spellcasters' personal connections as justification for direct reverence.
Sages take a keen interest in this special ability, since many Layfolk Spellcasters played crucial roles in modern history. Conquerers or defenders, liberators or oppressors, rulers or usurpers – the principled actions of these divinely-endowed individuals shape the outcome of crucial conflicts. There is no obvious path to the pursuit of layfolk spellcasting, but Annointed Souls are not rare among adventurers. Plunging into the thick of peril certainly draws divine attention more readily than tending to uneventful daily routines. Heroes and villains with coherent moral outlooks are prime targets for deities looking to mint additional minions in their efforts to shape earthly events. |
INTENSIFY BLAZE
At 6th level you learn techniques for intensifying some energies derived from spiritual power. When you cast a spell that inflicts fire damage
and/or radiant damage, you can add your proficiency bonus to the damage it inflicts on each target. You can use your Channel Divinity and a bonus action to cast the
Flame Blade spell even if you cannot otherwise cast that spell, and the effort does not consume a spell slot. You gain the Walk of Embers Heavenly Channel, and it does not count against your total number of Heavenly Channels.
SHINING SPIRIT
At 10th level you become accustomed to intense illumination. You have advantage on all saving throws against being blinded or glamored. You have resistance to radiant damage. When you suffer radiant damage without being reduced to 0 hit points; any creatures within 30 feet regain as many hit points as you lost, distributed as you choose.
BLAZING AVENGER
At 14th level you become known as a living beacon of divine power. You learn the
Firebolt cantrip, and it does not count against your total nuber of learned cantrips. You have resistance to fire damage. You can use your Channel Divinity and an action to cast the
Fire Shield spell, even if you are not otherwise able to cast that spell, and the effort does not consume a spell slot. When you hit with a weapon attack, you can add 1d8 fire damage or 1d8 radiant damage to that attack.
⊲ Domain of Nature The deity you most admire is known for harmonizing with and supporting healthy wildlands. You feel reverence toward thriving populations of untamed animals. Plants and animals dominate the iconography associated with your spirituality. Untouched wilderness of sufficient beauty is a suitable venue for gatherings dedicated to the teachings of your faith or philosophy. You may feel a solidarity with druids that contrasts with the antipathy more common among clerics.
At least fourteen major holy orders direct nature worship into heavenly channels. These include
Analemmic Harvesters devoted to Apollo,
Arcadian Runners devoted to Zeus, the
Bloodthirsty devoted to Ma Yuan,
Civil Manhunters devoted to Chung Kuel,
Dunewalkers devoted to Ra,
Floodminders devoted to Chih Sung-Tzu,
Heavenly Vintners devoted to Dionysus,
Mushroom Hunters devoted to Hel,
Nightcrawlers devoted to Set, the
One-Handed Legion devoted to Tyr,
Primal Taskmasters devoted to Odin,
Shrineminders devoted to Arawn,
Sunken Saints devoted to Mannanan Mac Lir, and
Whispering Seekers devoted to Oghma. Related philosophical movements empower clerics committed to
Animism inspired by Dagda,
Kind Cultivationists inspired by Osirirs,
Mudminders inspired by Geb, and the
Unbreakable Pack inspired by Loki
Religious Tolerance The three largest human empires are joined by many great kingdoms and minor nations in upholding some sort of religious tolerance laws. These laws may recognize all spellcasting clerics as holy persons, making assaults on them more serious crimes. All religious tolerance policies support the establishment and protection of places of worship for any faith dedicated to a member of the Fivesquare Pantheon. Some priesthoods exploit these protections by raising up temples that go far beyond clashing with the neighborhood aesthetic.
Yet religious tolerance laws are no magical shield. Where a deity is extremely unpopular, any associated facility on a public street will be a frequent target for vandalism. Also, outspoken proponents of an unpopular faith can find themselves subject to severe critiques. Emperors and monarchs may demand representatives of all the gods be permitted to practice religion in their lands, but this is not the same as making them all feel welcome. Some holy orders construct all major centers of faith in remote wilderness locations to be free from popular backlash.
Though religious tolerance laws sometimes reduce tax burdens on holy persons, they do not generally support other legal exemptions. Nearly all modern governments severely punish any sacrifice of people for religious purposes. Save for small towns dominated by individual religions, local constables tend to prioritize keeping the peace over the enforcement of any spiritual teachings. Priests are expected to promote religious doctrines among their followers, but being too bold in the enforcement of taboos among non-believers turns some holy persons into recurrent criminals. |
WILDERNESS WORSHIP
You are most comfortable in proper wilderness or in proximity to green spaces inside cities. When you gain 3rd level you learn the
Green Thumb and
Steady Beast cantrips. They do not count against your total number of learned cantrips. You can use your Channel Divinity and an action to cast the
Animal Friendship spell even if you are not otherwise able to cast that spell, and the effort does not consume a spell slot. You are proficient in the Animal Handling skill and the Nature skill.
PASTORAL PASTOR
At 6th level you become comfortable far from the trappings of civilization. You are proficient in the Survival skill, and you have advantage on all ability checks related to foraging for nourishing food
and/or potable water. In any environment where foraging is possible, you can use your Channel Divinity and an action to cast the
Create Food and Water spell without using a spell slot, even if you do not have that spell prepared. For you, the results of that spell feature a flavorful mix of any delicacies indigenous to that environment along with hearty portions of basic sustenance. You have resistance to poison damage.
PRIMAL PRAYERS
At 10th level you maintain an air of confidence even among the most dangerous beasts. You have proficiency in the Animal Handling Skill. When you cast the
Protection from Entities spell, you choose from beast, fungus, or plant as the applicable creature type in addition to the standard choices. You can use your Channel Divinity and an action to cast the
Conjure Animal spell or the
Tree Stride spell without using a spell slot, even if you cannot otherwise cast those spells.
PRIMITIVE PRELATE
At 14th level you become known as a formidable protector of pilgrims and other travellers. When you complete a long rest outside the walls of any city, stronghold, or permanent structure; you can cast the
Commune with Nature spell or the
Heroes' Feast spell without using a spell slot, even if you do not have the latter spell prepared. This communion or meal can occur inside a tent or other temporary shelter. Regardless of your surroundings, when you cast a healing spell on a single target, you can choose one creature of the beast, fungus, or plant type within 30 feet to also regain that number of hit points.
Holy Persons Most civilized people have a broadly positive attitude about religion. A little education is required to become familiar with the entire Fivesquare Pantheon, but it is common for folks to favor one or more deities while also having an unkind opinion of a few others. Local superstitions add endless wrinkles to spirituality. A limited grasp of religious lore can cause people to seek medical assistance and/or spiritual guidance from clerics of faiths not inclined toward such benevolence.
Some practitioners go so far as to conceal holy symbols and other religious paraphernalia when intent on carousing and/or relaxing. It is all too easy to forget that holy persons are nontheless persons, with all the physical and social needs that implies. People can be unusually self-conscious around priests. Also, the strain of helping others can disrupt an otherwise satisfying rest. In some cases, normality need be concealed from worshippers to avoid compromising the mystique or the solemnity of religious proceedings.
Yet there are advantages to being recognized as a holy person. Civilized bandits are more likely to leave clerics and their companions alive after a raid. A combination of insititutional respect and traditional superstition makes many street criminals reluctant to attack priests even where the associated criminal penalties are not heightened. Mutual recognition between holy persons can produce almost any outcome. Devotees of the same patron deity will generally be helpful and sympathetic. Yet the priesthoods of divine rivals often work tirelessly to undermine each other. Other reactions range from respectful professional courtesy to contemptuous theological rebuke. |
⊲ Domain of Tempest The deity you most admire is known for commanding and creating storms of disastrous magnitude. Your faith or philosophy is extremely appealing to seafarers and other individuals often at the mercy of weather events. Powerful leaders value the support of senior clerics associated with this domain, since control over the weather itself is enough to change the outcome of battle. Yet many humble people also join in these prayers, seeking protection against flooding or relief from drought.
At least six major holy orders are known to promote the rites of this domain among their clergy –
Agents of Wrath devoted to Zeus,
Calamitous Thunderbirds devoted to Lei Kung,
Cloudgazers devoted to Ptah,
Cloudstriders devoted to Chih Sung-Tzu,
False Witches devoted to Set, and the
Mjölnir Church devoted to Thor. Also,
Gnarly Waveriders inspired by Ares, and
Wild Maelstroms inspired by Mannanan Mac Lir are a pair of philosophical movements able to derive profound spiritual insights from extremes of chaotic turbulence.
ECCLESIASTICAL ENERGY
At 3rd level you can add your proficiency bonus to the lightning damage or the thunder damage each target takes from any spell you cast. If you or a creature within 60 feet of you falls, you can use your Channel Divinity and a reaction to cast the
Feather Fall spell without using a spell slot, even if you cannot otherwise cast that spell. You are proficient in the Acrobatics skill.
ELECTRIC ESSENCE
At 6th level your connection to spiritual power can take on truly shocking forms. You can use your Channel Divinity and an action to cast the
Call Lightning spell even if you are not otherwise able to cast that spell. You gain the Bolt from the Blue Heavenly Channel, and it does not count against your total number of Heavenly Channels. You have resistance to lightning damage.
STORMY STEEL
At 10th level you have incorporated lightning itself into your physical body. You learn the Produce Arcs cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of learned cantrips. You gain the Celestial Chorus Heavenly Channel, and it does not count against your total number of Heavenly Channels. When you hit with a weapon attack, you can add 1d8 lightning damage or 1d8 thunder damage to that attack. You have resistance to thunder damage.
Religious Evangelism Typical clerics are quick to act on opportunities to promote their beliefs. Even philosophers can be keen to preach at length about ethical and moral particulars. Some faiths engage in less outreach, even to the extreme of being downright secretive about their own core teachings. Likewise, intensely evangelical faiths continue to support clerics more inclined to serve the cause in other ways. All that said, normal clerics in normal situations will act to honor and popularize their preferred body of spiritual teachings.
Wise judgements help to shape these acts. For example, clerics selling sacred goods and/or services to outsiders often limit their evangelism to proscribed rituals and vague non-magical benedictions. It can be bad for business to disrespect other faiths while pursuing a holy purpose into the realm of commerce. Winning over new followers is most smoothly accomplished at the right time and place. While people are recovering from recent ailment or injury, they can be especially receptive to recruitment efforts performed by their healers.
Many religious institutions hold weekly gatherings that welcome outsiders. Some also conduct classes that promote religious doctrines while teaching languages and literacy. Blending worship with family activities allows priests to encourage the growth of those families most likely to contribute to a new generation of thriving adherents. Clerics settled into a non-adventuring life often dedicate themselves to sustaining and growing such a congregation. Legendary adventurers may find themselves attacting a following even if they do not raise up a suitable stronghold. |
SKY ELDER
At 14th level you have become comfortable travelling far from any solid surface. You have a flying speed of 30 with the ability to hover. You cannot fall faster than 60 feet per round, and you take no damage from falling.
⊲ Domain of Trickery The deity you most admire is known for manipulating and misleading other immortal entities. You remain sincere in dedication to your faith or philosophy, though you can pretend to believe otherwise in service to a jest or a ruse. You excel at keeping secrets as well as lying about earthly matters. Sacred lore teaches you how to maintain false identities, promote conspiracy theories, and spread provocative rumors. Even when you are truly loyal to authority figures, this often takes the form of efforts to undermine their rivals.
Though these sects are often secretive, eight major holy orders focus their teachings on this domain.
Artful Squatters devoted to Dagda,
Concierge Cleaners devoted to Hades,
Cryptic Correspondents devoted to Oghma,
Dawnlords devoted to Ra, the
Deranged Jester Mob devoted to Loki,
Inscrutable Observers devoted to Shang-Ti,
Rain Dancers devoted to Chih Sung-Tzu, and
Savage Talons devoted to Ma Yuan are all known for their trickery. Philosophical movements advancing similar ideas include
Blushing Fools inspired by Dionysus,
Face Painters inspired by Hel,
Lieweavers inspired by Set, and the
Rites of the Medium inspired by Arawn.
SHROUD OF LIGHT
Your favorite stories and teachings feature figures both amusing and confusing in the eyes of other deities. As a 3rd level cleric with similar inclinations, you are proficient with disguise kits, and you are proficient in the Deception skill. Also, add
Blur and
Mirror Image to your list of cleric spells. Every day you awaken ready to cast those two spells, and they do not count against the number of cleric spells you can prepare for the day.
CURTAIN OF SHADOW
At 6th level you can use your Channel Divinity and an action to cast the
Alter Aura spell or the
Invisibility spell without using a spell slot, even if you cannot otherwise cast either spell. You are proficient in the Stealth skill.
DIVINE RUSES
At 10th level you can use your Channel Divinity and an action to cast the
Modify Memory spell or the
Seeming spell without using a spell slot, even if you cannot otherwise cast either spell. You are proficient in the Performance skill.
Minor Religions The faiths and creeds listed in this document do not describe every possible approach playing a cleric. It can be satisfying to navigate the lore in search of compatible selections, but this is not required. Selecting one patron deity from the Fivesquare Pantheon is required. Following the alignment of that deity is required. Original philosophies and religions can be tailored closely to the ideas of players, yet they still require loose consistency with some concept of alignment. They also require the approval of one among the twenty-five deities known to support all effective spiritual spellcasting in this world.
Holy persons are less likely to be formally recognized when they practice minor religions rather than well-known belief systems. Without that recognition, it can be difficult to assert privileges like religious tolerance for ritual activities or tax exemptions for tithe collections. Otherwise sympathetic clerics and paladins often attempt to recruit established clerics into their congregations. Yet some potential allies turn hostile toward what they consider heresy. Though each commitment to a Holy Domain is permanent, clerics can change religions readily enough. Some even abandon their alignments and divine patrons only to reconnect with spiritual power after performing profound acts of atonement or successfully adopting a new alignment/patron supportive of the same Holy Domain.
The status of clergy from venerable organizations differs wildly from those involved in minor upstarts. What remains constant from the most widely-practiced faiths to the most obscure spiritual movements is the connection to divine power. If beliefs remain earnest and actions remain largely consistent with those beliefs, holy power flows from heavenly sources along strong channels anchored by this personal moral integrity. Practitioners of a minor religion need not preach evangelically or otherwise engage in promotional ministry, but they must have some core beliefs they would promote if so inclined. They must also extol these beliefs in acts of prayer. |
COSMIC CHEATER
At 14th level you gain the ability to teleport up to 30 feet into an available space you can see by using your full movement on your turn. If you have not moved since the start of your previous turn, when you are attacked you can use your reaction to teleport up to 30 feet into an available space you can see, possibly preventing the attack altogether.
⊲ Domain of War The deity you most admire is known for showing leadership in battles of cosmic consequence. Devotion to a martial philosophy or religion helps you cultivate personal military capabilities. Your sermons promote combat readiness and physical fitness as moral duties. You view battlefields where great armies clashed in honorable conflict as sacred sites. Your ministry is often focused on soldiers, and you are not reluctant to personally plunge into the fray.
At least sixteen major holy orders incorporate the lore of this domain into their traditions. These include
Apex Predators devoted to Ma Yuan, the
All-Father's Shields devoted to Odin, the
Forked Tongue Society devoted to Set,
Hammers of the Gods devoted to Thor,
Impeccable Strategists devoted to Shang-Ti, the
Long-Armed Legion devoted to Dagda,
Martyrs of the Sunrise devoted to Osiris, the
Order Indomitable devoted to Ares,
Radiant Shields devoted to Ra,
Retarii devoted to Mannanan Mac Lir,
Sabre Dancers devoted to Dionysus,
Scalpels of the Law devoted to Chung Kuel,
Shields of Seb devoted to Geb,
Shining Steelmongers devoted to Ptah, the
Tsunami Force devoted to Lei Kung, and the
Well of Thorns devoted to Silvanus. Philosophical movements able to unlock techniques from this domain include the
Bushido Blades inspired by Tyr, the
Grim Gallants inspired by Hades, and the
Sagittarian Way inspired by Apollo.
MARTIAL MORALITY
When you gain 3rd level you become proficient with all weapons as well as heavy armor. You are also proficient in the Intimidation skill. You gain the Zealous Fury Heavenly Channel, and it does not count against your total number of Heavenly Channels. It fills you with bliss to enter combat in service to a cause aligned with your personal beliefs.
TACTICAL ACTION
At 6th level you become comfortable in the midst of extreme violence. You may declare a Tactical Action when taking any bonus action or reaction that does not involve casting, controlling, identifying, or modifying a spell. Doing so allows you to retain your bonus action or reaction for the round, expending your Tactical Action instead. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until the start of your next turn.
EXTRA ATTACK
At 10th level your skill in battle far surpasses that of the average soldier. When you take the Attack action, you can attack twice instead of once.
BISHOP OF BATTLE
At 14th level your military exploits are of such renown as to merit the respect of generals and senior aristocrats. You cannot be charmed, disturbed, or frightened. All creatures of your choosing within 30 feet have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, disturbed, or frightened. When you hit with a weapon attack, you can choose to inflict radiant damage rather than other type(s) with that attack.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Holy Domains ↑ → Heavenly Channels ← ↓ Druids ↓
Spheres of Influence The Age of Heroes saw miracles and prayer caught up in epic snarls of inharmonious spirituality. The Great Consolidation demands all divine providence flow from some combination of channels dedicated to air, balance, authority, darkness, earth, fire, harvests, havoc, judgement, medicine, mischief, music, propriety, prosperity, secrecy, slaughter, storms, strategy, vigor, vision, and water. Excellent coordination optimizes the efficiency of these flows. In what some lecturers describe as "theological alchemy," clerics can call down those energies then mix them with relatively simple formulae into complete spells.
Deities do not limit their clergy with to a subset of the spells available to all clerics, but they make their preferences felt all the same. The unique combination of five spheres in the portfolio of each god affects the presentation of their miracles. For example, healing from a god of air might be accompanied by a refreshing cool breeze, while a god of fire might impart a comforting warmth to the afflicted. What a cleric can accomplish with magic is only limited by the entire structure of 21 providential channels. Yet how that magic looks and feels is often shaped by the divine portfolio of a patron. |
Heavenly Channels Theologists agree about the general nature of 42 spiritual channels. Half of these convey energy from vast heavenly reserves to mortals in need. Channel Divinity can be used to draw a mote of raw holy power from one of these Heavenly Channels of distribution. Countless mixtures involving these 21 metaphysical pathways form the basis for spiritual spellcasting. Competent clerics can draw from any of these sources. Interdependence is an important feature of this Immaculate System. Though each practitioner can only access a small subset of Heavenly Channels for purposes of Channel Divinity, those selections are not limited to spheres of influence associated with patron deities.
It is different for energy flowing from mortals to the gods. Each member of the Fivesquare Pantheon favors five specific channels of virtue. Sacred scriptures and others teachings are normally packed with relevant moral lessons. Holy persons are expected to adhere to the ideals of their faith. Though the acts of prayer feed power into the system, the genesis of this power goes back earlier. Some sages understand spiritual energy as a byproduct of the intense thoughts mortals have when dealing with ethical challenges. From distress in the face of an ambiguous dilemma to ecstasy in the aftermath of a righteous sacrifice, passionate mortals naturally produce powerful feelings.
Channeled into the heavens through acts of prayer, these passions simultaneously satisfy and stimulate divine appetites. Holy persons are inspired to augment these flows by encouraging habitual prayer, participating in struggles of historic consequence, and publicly promoting particular virtues. All this activity floods the system with mortal devotion. Even the least popular deities enjoy abundant surpluses. While many magic-users grow in ability through attention to the arcane, spiritual spellcasters effectively convert the practice of morality itself into wondrous effects of considerable power.
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Adjust Axis [BALANCE]
When a creature within 30 feet falls or is knocked prone, you can use your Channel Divinity and a reaction to keep that being upright. The creature remains standing in the last position it occupied before the fall. If a trapdoor, vanishing floor, or something similar makes it impossible to stand there, falling occurs normally.
Bolt from the Blue [STORMS]
When a creature within 30 feet of you inflicts lightning damage, you can use your Channel Divinity and a reaction to add triple your cleric level to that damage.
Celestial Chorus [MUSIC]
When a creature within 30 feet of you inflicts thunder damage, you can use your Channel Divinity and a reaction to allow that creature to inflict maximum damage rather than rolling damage dice.
Divine Plan [JUDGEMENT]
When a creature within 30 feet of you has disadvantage on an attack roll or ability check; you can use your Channel Divinity and a reaction to grant advantage on the roll, countering that disadvantage.
Ecclesiastical Elocution [AUTHORITY]
When you perform or assist a Persuasion check, you can use your Channel Divinity and a reaction to add your Wisdom bonus to that check.
Fortune's Favor [PROSPERITY]
When a creature within 30 feet rolls a 1 on an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check; you can use your Channel Divinity and a reaction to allow that creature to reroll that d20. That creature must use the new result.
Gather Gloom [DARKNESS]
You can use your Channel Divinity and a bonus action to eliminate one light source within 30 feet – automatically dispelling a cantrip, snuffing a lantern, or quenching a torch. This ability may instead cause one magic item or magic spell to cease producing illumination for 1 minute.
Hallow Vessel [WATER]
You can use your Channel Divinity and a bonus action to make a flask of ordinary water you are presently holding function as a flask of holy water if it is used within 1 minute.
Immovable Stance [EARTH]
When a creature touching the ground within 30 feet of you is forced to move by any means, you can use your Channel Divinity and a reaction to prevent the forced movement. Even forced teleportation can be thwarted in this way.
Keen Observance [SECRECY]
You can use your Channel Divinity and an action to notice all secret doors and hidden traps within a 15' radius. This effect is instantaneous and cannot be expanded by movement.
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Loathsome Notion [HAVOC]
You can use your Channel Divinity and a bonus action to force a concentrating creature within 30 feet to make a Constitution saving throw at your spellcasting DC to maintain that concentration.
Merciful Providence [MEDICINE]
You can use your Channel Divinity and an action to allow creatures no more than 30 feet away to regain hit points. Multiply your cleric level by 1d6, then distribute that many hit points as you choose. Regaining hit points cannot raise a creature's current hit points above their maximum hit point value.
Orthodox Enforcement [PROPRIETY]
When you perform or assist an Intimidation check, you can use your Channel Divinity and a reaction to add your Wisdom bonus to that check.
Pious Ploy [MISCHIEF]
When you perform or assist a Deception check, you can use your Channel Divinity and a reaction to add your Wisdom bonus to that check.
Reaping Wound [SLAUGHTER]
When a creature within 30 feet hits of you with a weapon attack, you can use your Channel Divinity and a reaction to add 10 to the damage of that attack.
Spiritual Vapors [AIR]
You can use your Channel Divinity and an action to allow one creature within 30 feet to breathe normally in any environment for the next hour. This effect will not allow speech or verbal spellcasting in an airless place, but it will prevent suffocation.
Total Awareness [VISION]
You can use your Channel Divinity and an action to grant a creature you touch blindsight with a range of 30 feet and a duration of 1 minute.
Unearthly Timing [STRATEGY]
When a creature within 30 feet of you makes a weapon attack, you can use your Channel Divinity and a reaction to grant a +10 bonus to that attack roll if you do so before the die has been cast.
Victual Sufficiency [HARVESTS]
During a short rest or a long rest, you can use your Channel Divinity to grant one creature the ability to satisfy full food and drink requirements for that day with as little as a morsel of bread and a single drink of water. This method allows daily beneficiaries to subsist indefinitely on one-twentieth rations.
Walk of Embers [FIRE]
You can use your Channel Divinity and a bonus action to grant one creature within 30 feet fire resistance and immunity to non-magical fire damage for 1 minute.
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Zealous Fury [VIGOR]
You can use your Channel Divinity with an Attack action to make one more attack with that action than you otherwise would.
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| Druid Basics |
hit points for new characters: 8 + your Constitution bonus
hit points for gained levels: 1d8 + your Constitution bonus
Hit Dice: 1d8 per druid level
armor proficiencies: all nonmetallic armors and shields
weapon proficiencies: atlatl, blowgun, crop, cudgel, dagger, dart, dirk, greatclub, hammer, handaxe, hatchet, javelin, longsword, maul, needle, razor, rock, quarterstaff, scimitar, scythe, sickle, sling, spear, trident, whip
saving throw proficiencies: Constitution & Wisdom
core skill proficiencies: Medicine and Nature
languages: Druidic and one non-human language
tool proficiencies: herbalists' kit
supplemental skill proficiencies: You can replace each of your redundant skills with Animal Handling, Arcana, Athletics, Perception, Stealth, or Survival.
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Druids Many lands were awash in the life energy of thriving creatures long before dragons worked the first spells. Until gods arrived in this world, ancient elves effectively forbid the instruction of humans in magical practices. The greatest human arcanists of that time worshipped nature spirits while serving as caretakers at Standing Stone sites. Tidbits of useful lore could be gleaned by observing elven wizards exploiting the power at leyforce line intersections. Blending nature worship with eldritch power gave rise to the Old Faith. The support of early druids was invaluable to any population struggling for survival in untamed wilderness. Among those with no written languages of their own, such learned spellcasters were much more than priests.
The Old Faith has always emphasized one fundamental truth – creatures unable to coexist in harmonious balance will bring a deadly crisis upon themselves. The Age of Heroes saw druids enforce a scrupulously neutral alignment among their ranks to maintain this concept of balance. The morality of modern druids is not restricted in this way. The Old Faith welcomes good and evil along with law and chaos provided all respect the value of ecological sustainability. Druids normally abhor the destuction of pristine wilderness. Most insist economic development be restrained to prevent the worst risks of harming the land and its natural inhabitants. Druids are often uncomfortable in crowded cities and unwilling to devastate any unspoiled wildlands.
Yet they are not spiritually bound to any belief system the way clerics are. Druids known to deliberately damage natural environments do not lose access to their powers and spells. Instead, they face nature's wrath – increasingly powerful rivals will seek to eliminate the menace. These assailants may be joined by formidable creatures like lycanthropes, treants, and unicorns. Most druids would eagerly join an attack on any of their colleagues known for laying waste to large tracts of land. On the other side of the proverbial coin, most druids are happy to help foragers, hunters, loggers, and urban planners proceed with projects that balance economic ambition with respect for local wildlife.
| Druid Progression |
Proficiency
Level Bonus Features | Wild
Shapes | Cantrips
Known | Spell Slots
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th |
| 1st | +2 | Druidic,
Spellcasting | – | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2nd | +2 | Ecological Expertise,
Wildshape | 2 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 3rd | +2 | Primeval Circle | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4th | +2 | Feat | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5th | +3 | Verdant Vitality | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6th | +3 | Primeval Circle Feature | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 7th | +3 | — | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8th | +3 | Feat | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 9th | +4 | Awaken Stones | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 10th | +4 | Primeval Circle Feature | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 11th | +4 | — | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 12th | +4 | Feat | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 13th | +5 | — | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 14th | +5 | Primeval Circle Feature | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 15th | +5 | — | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 16th | +5 | Feat | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 17th | +6 | — | 8 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | Elemental Shapes | 8 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | Feat | 8 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 20th | +6 | Hierophant | 9 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Playing a Druid |
∨ reclusive or social?
Some druids consider themselves denizens of the wilds. They show little more interest in civilized folk than a wild beast might. These druids use what they know of magic and metal to support the land(s) from which they draw nourishment. At the other extreme, there are druids who visit wild places only to collect exotic resources enrich or their own understandings. All druids must benefit from sensible tutelage to grasp essential lore. Yet they also must spend quiet time in deep wilderness, opening their senses to the raw experience of nature. Individual druids tend to be drawn toward one extreme or the other over time – withdrawing into the wilds at every opportunity or making permanent homes inside modern communities.
∨ rough or elegant?
Druids in the wild can rally plenty of time and resources to keep up appearances. Some do precisely that – regularly bathing themselves and washing their garb. These druids often study animals, plants, soil, and water with clinical detachment. After weeks far from any shelter they may return shrouded in clean robes and pleasant herbal fragrances. Others take a less restrained approach to appreciating nature. Even short forays into wild places can leave them sporting matted hair and tattered garb. The most primal druids disregard all social niceties, making little effort to groom their persons even during lengthy stays in urban environments. Wild-looking outsiders roaming city streets can be mistaken for charity cases or public menaces. Druids who do not cultivate a degree of personal elegance tend to drift in the other direction – becoming even closer to nature by adopting primitive habits and manners.
∨ affiliated or independent?
Local and regional druid circles provide structure enough to preserve and share these esoteric practices. Most practitioners only became so after many long trips through nature in the company of druids from such an organization. Druid circles are not as philosophically coherent as holy orders, yet each has a unique agenda and its own distinctive teachings. A druid in good standing with an established circle will be welcome at seasonal gatherings and secret shelters maintained by that group. It might even be viable to rise through the ranks of the organization, gaining influence enough to coordinate major ecological efforts. Independent druids combine their initial training with extensive meditations on the environment itself. Continued advancement is possible given a profoundly personal relationship with nature itself. Otherwise it should involve clearly identfiable peers, superiors, and/or supporters.
∨ doctrinal or mystical?
Even druids known to take a patron deity from the Fivesquare Pantheon are still said to practice the Old Faith. Their rites and traditions have roots in fey arcana older than the first holy powers to function in this world. Conveyed through oral traditions, the Old Faith itself features a fluid theology. Some interpretations are spectacularly bloody, calling for living animals and even persons to be sacrificed to honor and nourish the land. Others emphasize harmony, endeavoring to regulate the economic exploitation of natural resources while preserving life in general – even if this means defending ordinary civilians from indigenous predators. Druids inclined to promote the growth of civilization tend to speak of nature in vague mystical terms, but druids favoring primitive conditions are more likely to make specific demands and issue violent threats on behalf of a particular ecosystem if not also Nature as a sacred entity.
∨ peaceful or predatory?
The popular image of a druid tends toward harmlessness. Some societies see them as ineffective and misguided protestors standing in the way of inevitable economic progress. Elsewhere they may be regarded as suitable ministers to the simplest and most superstitious folks, bringing structure to villages too small to support a “proper” religion. Some druids embody these archetypes, desperately struggling against the development plans of powerful mercantile houses or contendedly counseling the most rural communities. Yet others can be keen to use their powers in destructive ways. Some rally deadly creatures and the elements themselves to sabotage construction and engineering efforts along a frontier. The most extreme keep pristine wildlands untouched by personally slaughtering intruders before they even have time to build a campfire.
∨ primeval or theological?
The Old Faith predates the existence of souls in this world. In godless times, death simply distributed lost life energy throughout the magical environment. Tradition holds that this energy eventually reassembles through a process of reincarnation. Some druids think often of experiences they recall from previous lives as animals or people. Yet druids can be entirely effective spellcasters without embracing this most ancient of metaphysical perspectives. Belief in modern spirituality, including souls and Afterlife Realms, is no barrier to progress as a druid. What this theological realism lacks in connection to the distant past, it makes up for by allowing practitioners to harmonize their own magic with the current environment. Druids generally have strong opinions about their personal destinies in terms of reincarnation in the mortal realm or a final resting place.
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CREATING A DRUID
Ultimately, all druids take inspiration from the land. Some actively worship a deity. Arawn, Chih Sung-Tzu, Dagda, Dionysus, Geb, Ma Yuan, and Silvanus are each venerated by significant numbers of druids. Most practitioners of the Old Faith do not pray to any god, instead calling upon some abstract personification of nature. The magic of druids is effectively the same in all these cases. Some cities are hostile to institutions of the Old Faith, seeing them as rivals to modern religions. Elsewhere druids and clerics find harmony, collaborating in the upkeep of sacred sites and seasonal rites. Beyond an abiding respect for the land, little restricts the personal beliefs of individual druids.
Many druids live as hermits in a patch of wilderness they can be aggressive to defend. Others travel as they like, revelling in encounters with great scenic beauty while laboring to minimize ecological damage they find along the way. Druidic is a language of signs and gestures rather than a mode of speech, allowing gatherings of these spellcasters to converse without disturbing the sounds of nature. Fluency also conveys an understanding of many subtle indicators druids use to note explicit details of a natural feature or resident creature. These signs, such as an unnatural stack of pebbles or a twig from one tree braided into the canopy of another type, allow newly-arrived druids to quickly gather knowledge about local wildlands and their notable inhabitants.
All druids are also healers, though their approach to the craft favors herbal and fungal remedies over modern treatments. In this as so many other things, their practices are shaped by lore that predates the arrival of deities in this world. Some druids are educated in these ways from a young age, students of nature chosen for their sensitivity to it. Others seek out a mentor after being inspired by wild places, either marvelling at their beauty or grieving at their devastation. Druidry is not wizardry, but they are alike in drawing from enormous bodies of complex lore. Aspiring druids may assist a circle for many years before being initiated into their ranks.
DRUIDIC
This unspoken language is also the foundation of druid lore. Druidic employs gestures and facial cues to express a wealth of information about many subjects, including the arcane. Once initiated in this method of communication, druids learn from one another while carrying on unrelated conversation with spoken language or silently appreciating the sounds of the environment around them. Though the Old Faith sometimes calls for gatherings to engage in frenzied howling or ominous chanting, experienced druids often favor voiceless conversations. This enhances their mystique while preventing the spread of secret knowledge to outsiders.
This concern also causes nearly all druids to eschew teaching through text. Many organizations of druids outright forbid any conventional documentation of their practices. Yet druidic also supports an analog to writing. Specific formations of deliberate footprints, knotted plants, and/or stacked stones express meaningful statements in Druidic. Though temporary, these expressions can convey rich detail. They are typically used to note observations of specifics so that collaborating druids need not meet to share details about their ecological efforts. Though clusters of these indicators can convey entire essays or stories, the elements destroy all this information in a matter of weeks if not days.
SPELLCASTING
Druids derive their grasp of magic through careful and patient scrutiny of the elements and living things in their environments. As a 1st level druid, you already understand a variety of magical effects made possible by weaving ambient life energy with other resources. Constant attention to local natural phenomena inform druids about what energies they might utilize. Effective spellcasting depends not only on this attentiveness, but also some degree of respect for the equilibriums and tensions shaping life in nearby wildlands.
Cantrips
You know three druid cantrips at 1st level. You learn additional cantrips at 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, 17th, and 19th druid levels. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of these learned druid cantrips for another selection.
Preparing and Casting Spells
You know a number of
druid spells equal to your druid
level +
your Intelligence modifier. Making permanent improvements to that ability or gaining druid levels sometimes enhances this capacity. Each time you complete a long rest, you can swap out all of your druid spells with other selections. You must use a spell slot of sufficent level to cast a druid spell. You recover all expended spell slots at the completion of a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for all druid spells. Saving throws against your spells face a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus. You can employ a clump of oak leaves, a sprig of mistletoe, a staff, a totem, or a wand as a spellcasting implement.
ECOLOGICAL EXPERTISE
Despite thousands of years of accumulated writings about individual plants and animals, mainstream science is just beginning to appreciate the ways many different forms of life to thrive together in natural harmony through staggeringly complex collections of relationships. Ancient druids identified these ecosystems as important mysteries to be studied in every detail. Their accumulated lore analyzes the dietary needs, migratory patterns, reproductive cycles, and sheltering habits of countless interdependent organisms. After roaming a wild place for at least one week, any druid of at least 2nd level will develop a sound assessment of what natural resources could be harvested there without major disruption to resident wildlife.
No such roaming is required to address immediate needs with this knowledge. You have advantage on all ability checks related to finding food, shelter, and/or water in natural environments. You also have advantage on ability checks to locate specific types of indigenous creatures or recognize what sort of creatures left a particular set of tracks. At a glance you can differentiate between new construction or long-established institutions if these observations take place outside the walls of any city or stronghold.
WILDSHAPE
You gain 2
Wild Shapes. You acquire additional Wild Shapes at 4th, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 20th druid levels. When you gain a druid level, you can replace one of your Wild Shapes with another Wild Shape of your choice. As a bonus action on your turn you can use Wildshape become a creature of the wilderness. The progression chart above indicates the total number of Wild Shapes you can apply to a single form. Your creature type becomes beast until you revert to your normal form. You assume the general appearance of a beast you have previously observed alive for at least one hour, adapting its physiology to the abilities of your new form. Those forms can be enhanced by Wild Shapes, yet they come with limitations. Wildshape forms cannot cast spells or wield any sort of equipment. Items held or worn during the transformation temporarily merge with your new form. Worn magic items continue to function normally, save for armor – magical bonuses and properties continue to function, but you no longer benefit from the base armor class provided by its armor type.
In the standard Wildshape form your size is small or medium, your speed is 40, your Armor Class is 10 + your Dexterity modifier, your maximum hit points are your druid level + your Constitution modifier, and you have a natural weapon melee attack. That attack features a bonus to hit equal to your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier. It deals either bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage (determined at the time of transformation) equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. The particulars of your natural attacks can vary by shape; utilizing claws, horns, spines, stingers, talons, teeth or any other physical features suited to the task. In this form you cannot wield any items, and you cannot hold more than one thing at a time. You cannot perform natural weapon attacks while holding an object, grabbing anything, or grappling a creature.
Many varieties of mammals or reptiles can be emulated with these characteristics. Natural weapons are optional. Wildshape forms can feature reduced values for Armor Class, Constitution, Dexterity, hit points, speed,
and/or Strength. If those particulars are plausible for the sort of creature the druid now resembles, even animals of the same kind will have no basis to suspect they have encountered anything other than just such a creature. Though druids in their Wildshape forms may be revealed through speech, they are also capable of producing the same sounds as their new forms. Wildshape forms appear monstrous at a glance when they incorporate dubious abilities, like a buffalo moving about on Agile Wings or a rabbit capable of Rending Fury.
The Old Faith Even before gods arrived in the world, there were forms of reverence similar to religion. Simple tribes performed ritual sacrifices to respect the land that sustained them through seasonal cycles. When human caretakers at Standing Stone sites witnessed the wonders of elven archmagi in action, a distinct offshoot of shamanism arose. Laced with fey secrets, the Old Faith is a body of beliefs promoting reverence for natural environments and ambient energies. It is rarely described as a “system” of beliefs because druids tend to condemn and destroy documentation of their lore. One of their core teachings holds that all of their teachings should be confined to speech and Druidic, a language of gestures and facial expressions.
Claims that the Old Faith is not a true religion are supported by the fact that some druids practice a modern faith without compromising their natural method of spellcasting. The ability of other druids to excel at this method without venerating any established deity counters those claims. Perhaps because its foremost experts show no interest in written chronicles, the Old Faith remains mysterious. Some speculate that the world itself, or perhaps the collective life energy of the world, has godlike qualities without the well-defined morality and personality of a conventional deity. Others wonder if shrouding the nature of their powers in such secrecy is the real reason senior druids remained among the most formidable spellcasters throughout three consecutive eras of world history. |
The hit points of your Wildshape form are separate from those of your normal form. If your Wildshape form is reduced to 0 hit points, you immediately revert to your normal form then take any remaining damage while gaining one level of exhaustion. Your Wildshape form does not have its own Hit Dice, though you may spend your druid Hit Dice to regain hit points while in a Wildshape form when the opportunity arises, such as during a short rest. At any time on your turn, you can perform an adjustment to voluntarily end the Wildshape effect, instantly returning to your normal form. You also return to your normal form when you become unconscious or start a long rest. You can assume a Wildshape form a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain those uses when you complete a long rest.
VERDANT VITALITY
For each Hit Die you spend during a short rest, you may regain one spell slot of the level you rolled on that die.
AWAKEN STONES
The earliest druids combined the simplest sorts of nature magic with elaborate arcana from the ancient fey. Though never permitted to study this lore, druids obtained supplies from elven wizards in exchange for maintaining parklike conditions in the environments surrounding Standing Stones. As a 9th level druid, you understand the original techniques employed to activate and utilize Standing Stones. You know the sequences required to access hundreds of well-known Standing Stone sites spread around the world. After performing 1 hour of ritual activity at a Standing Stone site, you can cast the
Teleportation Circle spell once at that site without the need for any material components, even if you do not have that spell prepared. You must complete a long rest before you can attempt another such casting.
ELEMENTAL SHAPES
As an 18th level druid, you have cultivated personal connections to each of the four Elemental Planes. When you use Wildshape, you can add elemental rather than beast to your creature type. While in an Elemental Shape, you do not need to breathe, though you are still capable of speech, even in environments where that would not normally be possible. While in one of these forms your have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage so long as the source(s) of that damage are non-magical. You also gain one of the four additional sets of abilities. Each set includes three Wild Shapes available even to druids otherwise lacking those abilities, though each trio counts as three against the upper limit of Wild Shapes you can incorporate into a single form.
Duelling Druids Ancient druids long retained the barbaric custom of allowing usurpers to achieve leadership through mortal combat with incumbent chiefs. In darker times Great Druids could not help but see their Archdruid lieutenants as both personal advisors and personal threats. Though largely undocumented, early druid culture appears to have placed great emphasis on “survival of the fittest.”
The druids of today certainly respect fitness and vigor, but few are active in circles requiring the blood of a slain leader to annoint any successor. Instead modern druidic duels typically involve two Wildshapes clashing until one is forced to abandon beast form. This practice can influence personal stature within a druid circle, though it is almost never seen as a sound basis for selecting leadership figures. |
♣ Air: You have resistance to lightning damage and thunder damage. Your natural weapon attacks inflict lightning damage instead of any other type. This Elemental Shape has Agile Wings, Basic Wings, and Weak Wings even if you lack any or all of those Wild Shapes.
♣ Earth: You have resistance to acid damage, force damage, and poison damage. Your natural weapon attacks can inflict bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage as selected at the time of your transformation. This Elemental Shape has Burly Build, Digging Claws, and Raw Grit even if you lack any or all of those Wild Shapes.
♣ Fire: You have resistance to fire damage and immunity to nonmagical fire damage. Your natural weapon attacks inflict fire damage instead of any other type. This Elemental Shape has Frenzied Fury, Pouncing Lunge, and Rending Fury even if you lack any or all of those Wild Shapes.
♣ Water: You have resistance to frost damage. Your natural weapon attacks inflict frost damage instead of any other type. This Elemental Shape has Aquatic Adaptations, Evasive Instincts, and Long Limbs even if you lack any or all of those Wild Shapes.
HIEROPHANT
You can use Wildshape an unlimited number of times per day. Your Wildshape forms can cast spells with exclusively verbal and/or somatic components.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Druids ↑ → Primeval Circles ← ↓ Wild Shapes ↓
Druidic Hierarchies Druid circles adhering to the most ancient and extreme practices follow a single leader replaced by way of ritual duel. This brutal custom makes leadership a test of fitness to survive – a trait widely respected among druids. More typically, these groups feature an inner circle of elites recruited by their peers. Large organizations of druids likely feature nested circles of increasingly privileged insiders. Some druid circles governed primarily by democratic gatherings, and are some guided by devotion to a deity known to accept Old Faith practices. No druid is obliged to join any sort of social circle, but all to rise above the first Tier of Power must adopt practices and studies associated with a category of druid circles collectively known as a Primeval Circle.
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Primeval Circles Though dragons and elves advanced magic with huge archives of written formulae, the earliest practitioners of nature magic had no access to written lore. Advances in their knowledge were slow to accumulate. After the Archfey energized various formations of Standing Stones, a new movement formed among shamans able to observe epic rituals. Thus this Old Faith has its origins in a blend of fey arcana with primal traditions. Especially patient humans tasked with upkeep on the grounds around Standing Stones were permitted to silently observe elven rituals. Over time these observations were so valued that only the most learned and reverent groundskeepers were trusted to attend important events.
These societies of Standing Stone caretakers formed the original Primeval Circles. Druidic developed from the silent communication protocols they used to better avoid the wrath of distracted archmagi. What these pioneering druids learned as quiet watchers allowed them to far surpass the spellcasting capabilities of simple shamans. Their lore become more elaborate until their organizations became downright mystical. While united by the Old Faith, druids do not all share the same beliefs about the sources of their powers or their most useful applications. Thus advancing druids eventually affiliate with the Circle of the Beasts, the Circle of the Land, the Circle of the Stones, the Circle of the Swarms, or the Circle of the Trees.
| Primeval Circle Bonus Spells |
| Level | Land (barrens) | Land (beaches) | Land (caverns) | Land (deserts) | Land (forests) |
| 1st | Inflict Wounds | Thunderwave | Guiding Bolt | Longstrider | Entangle |
| 2nd | Silence | Scorching Ray | Darkness | Heat Metal | Spike Growth |
| 3rd | Bestow Curse | Water Breathing | Meld into Stone | Daylight | Plant Growth |
| 4th | Blight | Control Water | Stone Shape | Wall of Fire | Freedom of Movement |
| 5th | Antilife Shell | Greater Restoration | Wall of Stone | Antilife Shell | Tree Stride |
| 6th | Circle of Death | Sunbeam | Flesh to Stone | Sunbeam | Wall of Thorns |
| 7th | Finger of Death | Regenerate | Sequester | Mirage Arcane | Sequester |
| 8th | Mind Blank | Sunburst | Maze | Sunburst | Antipathy/Sympathy |
| 9th | Power Word Die | Storm of Vengeance | Imprisonment | Time Stop | True Polymorph |
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| Level | Land (freshwater) | Land (glaciers) | Land (grasslands) | Land (highlands) | Land (jungles) |
| 1st | Fog Cloud | Grease | Longstrider | Feather Fall | Entangle |
| 2nd | Locate Object | Blindness/Deafness | Invisibility | Spider Climb | Prot. from Poison |
| 3rd | Water Breathing | Sleet Storm | Daylight | Fly | Plant Growth |
| 4th | Control Water | Ice Storm | Stone Shape | Ice Storm | Freedom of Movement |
| 5th | Cone of Cold | Cone of Cold | Mislead | Wall of Stone | Insect Plague |
| 6th | Freezing Sphere | Wall of Ice | Sunbeam | Wind Walk | Wall of Thorns |
| 7th | Reverse Gravity | Finger of Death | Regenerate | Project Image | Regenerate |
| 8th | Antipathy/Sympathy | Maze | Sunburst | Earthquake | Maze |
| 9th | Storm of Vengeance | Imprisonment | Time Stop | Imprisonment | Weird |
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| Level | Land (swamps) | Land (tundra) | Stones | Swarms | Trees |
| 1st | Grease | Fog Cloud | Thunderwave | Feather Fall | Entangle |
| 2nd | Prot. from Poison | Gust of Wind | Shatter | Web | Spike Growth |
| 3rd | Stinking Cloud | Sleet Storm | Meld Into Stone | Gaseous Form | Barkskin |
| 4th | Blight | Ice Storm | Stone Shape | Freedom of Movement | Hallucinatory Terrain |
| 5th | Cloudkill | Wall of Stone | Wall of Stone | Insect Plague | Tree Stride |
| 6th | Move Earth | Freezing Sphere | Move Earth | Wind Walk | Wall of Thorns |
| 7th | Mirage Arcane | Sequester | Sequester | Regenerate | Mirage Arcane |
| 8th | Antipathy/Sympathy | Control Weather | Earthquake | Control Weather | Sunburst |
| 9th | Imprisonment | Storm of Vengeance | Imprisonment | Shapechange | Imprisonment |
| | Freedom of Movement | Freedom of Movement | Freedom of Movement | Freedom of Movement | Freedom of Movement |
Shapechangers Many people have a strong distrust of beings able to assume wildly different physical forms. Typhonians are generally associated with violet criminal syndicates. Lycanthropes pose even more blatant threats to public safety. Dopplegangers often profit by inflicting tragedies on ordinary people. Law enforcers may be hostile to shapechangers as a default attitude. The popularity and resources of organizations that actively hunt these creatures far surpasses the popularity and resources of organizations that shelter and assist shapechangers.
Like spellcasters utilizing Polymorph, druids utilizing Wildshape do not see themselves as shapechangers (unless they also happen to be typhonian or afflicted with a condition such as lycanthropy) Observers may harbor different perspectives. Where the Old Faith and modern religions compete for followers, sermons can be laced with cruel invective about the nature of druids and their abilities. Where hardline druids use violence to defend pristine ecologies from outside exploitation, their passion for nature can be misrepresented as something accursed and unholy.
Though druids often defend themselves against attacks either physical or rhetorical, they seldom pursue academic and aristocratic alliances. Those efforts could win over popular support at the price of demystifying druidry itself. Thus individuals using Wildshape or Polymorph for overland travel do well to slip behind cover before assuming their normal forms. Even harmless spellcasters can quickly become targets of public hostility if their changes of shape are believed to be part of a plot to infiltrate a coherent community. |
⊲ Circle of the Beasts Accomplished druids may regard their own physical bodies less as fundamental aspects of being and more like garments to be changed often. Reducing attachments to their own natural forms eases the effort of taking on animal shapes. Some believe they have already been reincarnated many times as many different creatures. Some seek to inhabit myriad diverse shapes in their present lives. From apex predators to harmless burrowers, druids in a Circle of the Beasts focus on achieving a huge variety of animal forms to better explore and understand the workings of nature.
INNER BEASTS
Select two additional Wild Shapes at 3rd level. Make two selections when you gain an additional Wild Shape. Half of your Wild Shapes become your Inner Beasts – unavailable until swapped with counterparts from the other half. When you complete a short rest or a long rest, you can exchange any or all of your Inner Beasts with your active Wild Shapes. Your Wildshape ability can only incorporate those active Wild Shapes. You learn the
Steady Beast cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of cantrips learned. If you have it prepared, you can cast the
Speak with Animals spell without using a spell slot. You are proficient in the Perception Skill.
SCULPTED BEASTS
At 6th level you become adept at both partial and total transformations into beast form. You gain +1 to hit with all natural weapon attacks. You have advantage on ability checks related to hiding, sneaking, and/or tracking on land that is not surrounded by city walls or any other enclosed structure.
BLENDED BEASTS
At 10th level your Inner Beasts merge with your Wild Shapes. You now have double the normal amount of Wild Shapes available at all times, though you remain limited to that normal number of Wild Shapes incorporated into a single form. If you have it prepared, you can cast the
Alter Self spell without using a spell slot. When a creature of the beast type inflicts damage on you, you can use your reaction to cause that creature to be frightened for one minute unless it makes a Wisdom saving throw against your spellcasting DC. Also, if you end a Wildshape while you have the maximum hit points for that form, you regain one use of your Wildshape ability.
Awakened Creatures Most animals are guided by primitive impulses. The Nature skill indicates an observer's ability to predict behaviors based on these innate inclinations and the circumstances at hand. Plants and fungi can be even more predictable. Most are technically inanimate, following their own tendencies to grow and reproduce. Yet astute observers will notice outliers with distinctive personalities of their own. Awakened creatures go far beyond this as beneficiaries of magic that bestows the powers of reason and speech.
In addition to accomplished druids, the most formidable bards or rangers might also learn this process for transforming a simple beast, fungus, or plant into the mental equal of a person. Awakened creatures can be invaluable as allies, companions, or informants. Most societies regard awakened creatures as curiosities or even monsters, though others offer respect if not also citizenship to articulate animals.
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GUIDED BEASTS
At 14th level you feel a natural ability to command animals. You automatically gain the benefits of the
Speak with Animals spell while you are in any Wildshape form. If you have it prepared, you can cast the
Dominate Beast spell without using a spell slot. All of your natural weapon attacks inflict 2 points of additional damage.
⊲ Circle of the Land Most druids focus on living things in the environments they study. Those favoring a holistic approach look to the foundation of it all – the land itself. Druids of this Primeval Circle are mindful of plants and animals as well as concerns like the weather. Some even manage to study ecology in places virtually bereft of other living things. Elevating the land in importance provides a grounded framework for structuring observations about less enduring entities and their complex relationships. In this way druids accumulate additional arcane lore while also augmenting various methods of attack and recovery.
SEASON OF RENEWAL
At 3rd level your connection to the land itself blossoms into something profound and metaphysical. Select a terrain type from barrens, beaches, caverns, deserts, forests, freshwater, glaciers, grasslands, highlands, jungles, swamps, or tundra. Circle of the Land bonus spells associated with that terrain type and of no higher level than your highest level druid spell slot are added to your list of prepared spells without counting against your total number of prepared spells. Also, when you complete a short rest, regain 2d8 hit points. You are proficient in the Survival skill, and you have advantage with all Survival skill checks conducted in your chosen terrain type.
Magical Weather Meteorological phenomena are also magical resources. The most powerful mortal spellcasters generate disturbances in the local winds and clouds as secondary effects of their activities. Though the power to control the weather is rare, manipulating miles and miles of sky with a single effort allows a small number of government officials totalitarian control over the weather of Darresteg, the greatest human magocracy. Elsewhere the uncoordinated activities of many spellcasters shape the weather through some blend of both deliberate and unintended effects.
Yet all this transpires in boundaries of climate – trends of an seasonal and regional nature by which the world itself defines a limited range of possibilities for each place and time. Proficiency with the Nature skill or the Survival skill should be enough to know the climate of a familiar earthly region in a particular season. Predicting the weather in the day to follow requires a little spellcasting or a skillful estimate of present conditions. As your DM adjudicates these results, be mindful of the prospect that they might be altered by the whimsies of a practitioner active on that particular day. |
SEASON OF GROWTH
At 6th level your link to the land matures into a powerful source of support. You can add your Wisdom modifier to the damage inflicted by your cantrips. You regain all your Hit Dice when you complete a long rest on or near ground level outside city walls or any other permanent structure. Your Wildshape forms can be large in size even if you do not have Raw Power.
SEASON OF HARVEST
At 10th level you become attuned to the rhythms of the land – patterns at the heart of all other rhythms. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points, you can spend one Hit Die to regain hit points equal to the results of the die + your Constitution modifier. When you wield a weapon, you can add your Wisdom bonus to the damage inflicted by attacks with that weapon, and the weapon is considered magic for purposes of resistance or immunnity to non-magical weapon damage.
SEASON OF STRUGGLE
At 14th level even the grand cycles that shape climate and topography have entered the realm of your natural understanding. You are immune to all diseases and poisons, incuding poison damage and the poisoned condition. You can remove two levels of exhaustion rather than one when completing a long rest. You are also immune to petrification, and you have advantage on saving throws against involuntary changes of shape such as the
Polymorph spell. All of your natural weapon attacks inflict 2 points of additional damage.
Standing Stones The original Standing Stones were magical sanctuaries designed for the slaughter of dragons spellbound under the combined power of multiple elven archmagi. Wyrmblood spilled around those stones caused these sites to grow in power while new fey magicks established conduits to ease teleportation between Standing Stone sites. This slaughter and the Imperium Arcanum rose together, with new Standing Stone sites emerging wherever convenient for teams of dragon hunters. So many scaled tyrants were destroyed in ritual sacrifice that this network of connections between Standing Stones accumulated godlike power.
These Ley Lines are a subject of studies so complex they sometimes blur the lines between scholarship and reverence. This is particularly true for druids immersed in lore from the Circle of the Stones. They preserve secret methods the Archfey themselves once employed to navigate from one junction of Ley Lines to another. These druids memorize ancient sequences and practice esoteric rituals as if that information was sacred. By contrast, warlocks acting as Leyforce Custodians tend to take a transactional view – performing arcane actions that maintain the network in exchange for their own measures of occult power.
Social attitudes about Standing Stones vary greatly. In some lands they remain entrusted to a circle of caretaker druids. In others they are exploited for the economic benefit of (relatively) affordable teleportation. Yet there are also societies that bury their Standing Stones under great mounds or that never saw their homelands sporting more than modest individual freestanding megaliths at Standing Stone sites. Though many of these locations feature devoted druids tending to the grounds and warding off vandals, the most important Ley Line intersections see ring Standing Stones rearranging or even reconstituting themselves after a destructive attack. |
⊲ Circle of the Stones Techniques borrowed from ancient elven wizardry allowed druids to progress far beyond the magical abilities of their shamanic precursors. All continue to respect Standing Stone sites as sacred to the Old Faith. Some druids focus primarily on Standing Stones while studying the entire world as a single interconnected ecology. Highly accomplished spellcasters of this sort may lead social circles of itinerant druids in reguar relocation by teleportation. While their knowledge of local plants and animals might not be as in-depth as the average druid, their planetary studies are a uniquely ambitious pursuit.
STUDENT OF THE STONES
At 3rd level you have become familiar with the unique energies racing through active Standing Stone sites. When you take damage from a melee attack, you can use your reaction to force the attacker to make a Dexterity saving throw against your Spellcasting DC. Failure causes that attacker to take 2d10 force damage, while success avoids this damage entirely. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest. Whenenver you teleport a limited distance to a location of your choice, you can double the range of that movement. You have advantage on saving throws to resist involuntary teleportation. You are proficient in the Arcana skill.
SHARD OF THE STONES
At 6th level you feel as if the Standing Stones themselves seek to develop a personal connection. You can add your Wisdom modifier to the damage inflicted when you attack using a rock conjured with the
Produce Stone cantrip, and your thrown attacks with those rocks have a range of 30'/60'.
When you cast a spell with a range of Touch while you are in contact with the ground or floor, that spell instead has a range of 30' for purposes of target(s) in contact with the same surface. When you attack with slings and stones, your munitions are magical for purposes of overcoming resistance or immunity to non-magical weapon damage, your base damage is 1d8 bludgeoning, and your range is 80'/320'. You have resistance to damage caused by stones such as avalanches, crushing traps, hurled boulders, sling shots, structural collapses, and falls onto stone surfaces. This resistance does not apply to metallic alternatives (steel rollers, hurled cauldrons, lead bullets, falls onto copper roof tiles, etc.)
STONE WHISPERER
At 10th level you learn more advanced forms of the protocols involved in travel through Standing Stones. When you use Awaken Stones, you require only 1 minute of ritual activity to prepare for teleportation. Having used that ability, you regain it after completing a short rest or a long rest. If you have it prepared, you can cast the
Scrying spell without using a spell slot or any material components while you are able to see at least one functional Standing Stone. If you are involuntarily teleported, you can use your reaction to cancel that movement. Also, when you fail a saving throw against petrification, you can use your reaction to automatically succeed.
Collective Creatures There are practical reasons to represent large numbers of tiny creatures as a single creature for purposes of game mechanics. Yet these collectives are often established for reasons that go beyond convenience of play. Ants, bees, and many other sorts of insects function as superorganisms. They often act as one being despite consisting of hundreds or thousands of individuals. Some swarms will deliberately sacrifice a portion of themselves for the benefit of survivors. All swarms tend to minimize the harm of ordinary spell attacks and weapon attacks since the annihilation of an individual does little to degrade the capabilities of the collective.
Birds and vermin may also be represented as swarms. These groups are less likely to see individuals undertake suicidal maneuvers for the benefit of the collective, but they share an ability to carry on near full strength even after a small percentage of their population has been neutralized. Druids from the Circle of Swarms can convert themselves into collective creatures. So long as a portion of their members survive, these swarms can reconstitute the full form of the original druid. Some metaphysicists argue this reality proves that superorganisms have a single soul. This opinion is controversial, since any awakened swarms encountered in the afterlife tend to be embodied by a single queen or master carrying on as an oversized exemplar of her or his kind.
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WARDEN OF THE STONES
At 14th level you no longer perceive space and distance in normal ways. If you have it prepared, you can cast the
Misty Step spell without using a spell slot. If you do so while touching a willing creature of medium or smaller size, you can teleport together. When you are attacked, you can use your reaction to cast
Stoneskin on yourself even if you do not otherwise know that spell. Once you have cast
Stoneskin in this way, you cannot do so again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
⊲ Circle of Swarms While some druids are inspired most deeply by the majesty of towering beasts, others look to the roles tiny creatures in the environment. Many people think first of pestillence when they think of swarming creatures. Yet all cultures are enriched by honeybees – one of the many insects studied by members of this Primeval Circle. Insects constantly reshape their environment, producing countless changes in the lives of much larger plants and animals. Observation of swarms teaches druids much about living collectives able to act together despite being composed of hundreds or thousands of individual creatures.
ONE INTO MANY
On reaching 3rd level you learn to disperse yourself into a coordinated group of many creatures. When you use Wildshape, you can add swarm as well as beast to your creature type. If you do this, while you retain your swarm form you are resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. That form also gains the ability to occupy the same space as other creatures, moving through or stopping and sharing that space. You are proficient in the Intimidation skill.
BIOLOGICAL WARFARE
At 6th level your grasp of alchemical processes taking place inside living things proves especially useful. You have resistance to poison damage. If you have Personal Venom, you do not need to use your reaction to envenom natural weapon attacks while in Wildshape form. If you have Personal Venom, in your normal form you can use your reaction to envenom a successful attack with a piercing or slashing weapon wielded by you.
Sentient Plants Druids attaining the 5th Tier of Power know how to impart an exceptional fungus or plant with the mental and physical capabilities of an ordinary person. Bards and rangers at the 9th Tier of Power might be likewise capable. Though able to walk and talk, these creatures remain plants nourished by sunlight or fungi sustained by contact with rich earth or organic refuse. Many cultures regard these beings as magical effects rather than sentient creatures. Yet some societies respect them as people or even extend the status of citizenship to plants able to declare their own loyalty.
Often content to stand motionless for hours at a stretch, sentient plants make excellent spies at sites with appropriate greenery. They can often be found keeping watch over locations especially sacred to practitioners of the Old Faith. Many awakened plants regard treants the same way ordinary people look upon dragons – as majestic beings infused with an ancient and awesome power. In forests where legendary druids once lived, large numbers of awakened plants and animals may yet reside. They quickly spread news of any destructive intruders, rallying the most formidable defenders available. |
MEET THE BEETLES
At 10th level you understand the true nature of bugs just as well as you grasp the inner workings of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles. When you use Wildshape, you can add insect instead of beast to your creature type. If you do this, your Wildshape form can feature Weak Wings, Basic Wings, Rugged Hide, and Sturdy Carapace even if you do not otherwise have access to those Wild Shapes; though it cannot use more than your normal maximum number of Wild Shapes. While in an insect form, you can safely satisfy your daily food requirement by eating carrion and/or spoiled foodstuffs.
FIGHTING REMNANT
At 14th level you can easily reconstitute yourself from a few survivors of a swarm. While you are in a Wildshape with the swarm type, you can use you action to regain a number of hit points equal to your druid level. You can also cast the
Arcane Eye spell while in such a form, even if you do not otherwise know that spell. If you have
Insect Plague prepared, when you end a Wildshape with at least 1 hit point remaining you can cast that spell as a reaction.
⊲ Circle of Trees Plants can be found anywhere animals thrive. Their ability to feed on sunlight is the foundation of energy collection in ordinary ecologies. Yet only druids from this circle focus on flora and fungi in their shapeshifting exploration. Actually becoming a plant with neither blood nor bone requires more radical techinques than those used to assume animal forms. This circle imparts special understanding of the alchemy going on inside all living creatures. Its most advanced practitioners transform into animated trees, personally embodying the might of the forest.
Druidic Lore Powerful fey magi were quick to kill any humans known to keep written accounts of arcane lore. Thus custodians at Standing Stone sites developed an ironclad custom of exclusively oral teaching methods. Druids trace their aversion to documentation as well as their language of gestures and postures to the traditions of those ancient custodians. Modern druids continue to view Standing Stones as sacred anchors maintaining the network of fey power often useful in magical efforts to promote robust ecologies and defend unspoiled wildlands.
Druids can be especially keen to encourage the adventures of like-minded people. Without benefit of colleges and libraries, their lore only endures to the extent it is verbally conveyed to each new generation. As mentors, some cultivate large personal followings while others only share what they know with one or two disciples. As patrons, accomplished druids can be downright generous and supportive despite minimal financial resources. From modest shelters to mighty artifacts, the handiwork of these skilled ecologists and spellcasters often create resembles the products of nature itself rather than the result of crafting. |
BEYOND THE GREEN THUMB
Though still capable of taking on animal forms, at 3rd level you branch out into bushes, shrubs, and vines. When you use Wildshape, you can add plant rather than beast to your creature type. While you stand on a solid surface in plant form, you have advantage on all saving throws against forced movement or being knocked prone. If you know the
Coiling Creeper cantrip, you can use it to manipulate objects and grab tiny objects, and you can cast it in Wildshape form if your creature type is plant. You also have advantage on ability checks to hide or sneak while surrounded by many other plants. You are proficient in the Stealth skill.
FUNGUS AMONG US
At 6th level molds and mushrooms expand the range of your shapeshifting repertoire. You learn the
Poison Spray cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of learned cantrips. When you use Wildshape, you can add fungus rather than beast to your creature type. If you do this, while you retain fungus form you have resistance to magical poison damage and immunity to non-magical poison damage as well as the poisoned condition. Also, you can cast
Cloudkill,
Fog Cloud,
Poison Spray,
Rot Wood, and
Stinking Cloud in Wildshape form if your creature type is fungus and you have prepared the spell you wish to cast.
FLOWER POWER
Attaining 10th level allows you to blur the lines between person and plant. You have resistance to poison damage. You have advantage on saving throws against the poisoned condition. If you have the
Speak with Plants spell and/or the
Stinking Cloud spell prepared, you can cast them without using spell slots. If you have the
Dominate Beast spell prepared, you can cast it on creatures with the fungus and/or plant types as well as beasts. You have advantage on all saving throws to resist effects caused by creatures of the fungus and/or plant types. You have advantage on ability checks related to your personal scent, including efforts to cover your own tracks.
“The forest would be nearly silent if only the birds with the finest voices were permitted to sing.”
— Finola O'Cloon, Tuathon conservationist |
OAK GIANT
You can win the respect of most treants with the dendritic forms available to you at 14th level. When you use Wildshape, you can add plant rather than beast to your creature type. Given sufficient space, you can change your size to large during such a transformation. While you stand on a solid surface and your creature type is plant, you automatically succeed on all saving throws against forced movement or being knocked prone. If your plant form incorporates Long Limbs, your reach is 15. If your plant form incorporates Raw Power, your Strength score is 23. If your plant form incorporates Rugged Hide, your base armor class is 14 unless your plant form also incorporates Sturdy Carapace, raising your base armor class is 17. If you end your turn standing outdoors under natural sunlight in plant form, regain hit points equal to your Wisdom modifier.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Primeval Circles ↑ → Wild Shapes ← ↓ Fighters ↓
| Shifting Identities Taking on an animal form is as effective as any mask at hiding facial features. Yet changing shape normally has no effect on the alignment, beliefs, and identity of an individual. A prince polymorphed into a frog will still seem to be a prince for purposes of divinition magic. Likewise, for all their prowess at disguising themselves and their tracks, druids known by name can be located by powerful diviners. Only something like persistent use of the Nondetection spell relialby thwarts that sort of magic. Some powerful druids avoid this need by living lifestyles so recluse that they are not known by either name or reputation in any civilized communities. |
Wild Shapes The profound connection between druids and the natural world provides a foundation for the practice of especially ancient forms of magic. Perhaps most notably, accomplished druids can transform themselves into animals. This ability makes it possible to share in the experiences of wild beasts while exploring various environments from their inhabitants' points of view. None of this is possible without a deep dedication to living in harmony with nature. Yet most druids actually possess this ability. Increasingly powerful druids can adopt increasingly formidable forms. The most accomplished expand their environmental understandings to the Elemental Planes, infusing their Wild Shapes with the power of an element.
The most basic of these transformations bestows the form of a wolf or a lynx – able to fight, but no more dangerous than a hostile civilian competently wielding a shortsword. Though some druids specialize in aggressive beast forms; others refine their Wild Shapes by learning to become smaller, sneakier, and/or more versatile creatures. This ability can be no less useful for escaping or surveilling than it is for plunging headlong into battle. Druids with a preference for that direct approach often adopt the forms of burly beasts with rugged exteriors.
|
Agile Wings (requires Basic Wings)
Your Wildshape forms can hover, and they can fly with light encumberance.
Arcane Assimilation
Choose one staff, totem, or wand when you merge your equipment into a Wildshape form. Though this item also combines with your form, you benefit from its properties and you can use it as if you were wielding that item with one hand.
Aquatic Adaptations
Your Wildshape forms can feature swimming speeds up to 40 as well as the abilities to breathe and see normally underwater.
Basic Wings (requires Weak Wings)
Your Wildshape forms can feature flying speeds up to their normal speeds.
Burly Build
Multiply your druid level by four when determining the hit points of your Wildshape forms of medium or larger size.
Chameleon Skin
Your Wildshape forms can feature proficiency in Stealth, and you can add double your Wisdom bonus to ability checks related to hiding or remaining hidden while you are in a Wildshape form.
Clinging Claws
Your Wildshape forms can feature climbing speeds up to 40.
Deft Appendages
While you are in a Wildshape form, you remain unable to wield equipment, but you can hold two items at the same time or hold one item while performing natural attacks.
Digging Claws
Your Wildshape forms can feature burrowing speeds up to 10.
Evasive Instincts
While you are in a Wildshape form, you can perform the Disengage action or the Hide action as a bonus action.
Eyeless Vision
Your wildshape forms can feature blindsight up to a range of 30 feet.
Frenzied Fury
While you are in a Wildshape form you can use the Attack action to perform two natural weapon attacks.
Furry Finery
Your Wildshape forms can feature resistance to frost damage and immunity to penalties imposed by cold environments.
Harmless Critter
If they have no natural attacks, your Wildshape forms can be tiny in size, weighing as little as one pound, with Stealth proficiency and advantage on ability checks related to the Hide action.
Hearty Build
Multiply your Constitution modifier by your druid level when determining the hit points of your Wildshape forms of small or larger size.
Lithe Form
You can use your Dexterity or your Strength modifier when determining bonuses associated with the natural weaponry of your Wildshape forms.
Long Limbs
The natural weapons of your Wildshape forms can possess the property reach 10.
Mending Morph
If you leave your Wildshape form before it is reduced to 0 hit points, regain 1d12 hit points.
Musky Spray
Your Wildshape forms can emit foul-smelling substances. You can use a bonus action to spray a stinking scent at one creature within 15 feet. That creature must make a Dexterity saving throw against your spellcasting DC or become befouled until able to wash thoroughly during a short rest or a long rest.
| |
Natural Agility
You Wildshape forms can feature Dexterity scores up to 18, and you have advantage on Acrobatics checks while you are in a Wildshape form.
Nocturnal Nature
Your Wildshape forms can feature darkvision with ranges up to 120 feet, and you have advantage on all Stealth checks performed in darkness or dim light while you are in a Wildshape form.
Personal Antivenom
Your Wildshape forms can feature immunity to poison damage and immunity to the poisoned condition.
Personal Venom
When you hit with a natural weapon attack while in a Wildshape form, you can use your reaction to force the target to make a Constitution saving throw against your spellcasting DC, suffering 3d6 poison damage on failure or half that if the saving throw succeeds.
Play Dead
When your Wildshape form is reduced to less than 10 hit points but more than 0 hit points, you can fall prone and appear dead to all non-magical scrutiny. This appearance is spoiled when you move, speak, or take any action. You have advantage on the first natural weapon attack you make within 1 minute of using this ability.
Pouncing Lunge
When you hit with the first natural weapon attack of an Attack action while in a Wildshape form, you can force your target to make a Constitution saving throw against your spellcasting DC or be knocked prone.
Primal Senses
Your Wildshape forms can feature the Perception proficiency, and you have advantage on Perception checks as well as any Survival checks related to tracking while you are in a Wildshape form.
Raw Grit
You Wildshape forms can feature Constitution scores up to 18, and you have advantage on saving throws to resist forced movement other than teleportation while you are in a Wildshape form.
Raw Power
Your Wildshape forms can feature Strength scores up to 18, and they can be large in size.
Rending Fury
The natural weapon attacks of your Wildshape forms inflict 1d10 + your Strength modifier piercing or slashing damage.
Rugged Hide
Your wildhsape forms have a base Armor Class of 12 rather than 10.
Swift Slither
Your Wildshape forms can move up to their full speed while prone and do not incur disadvantage for attacking while prone.
Springing Leaps
Your Wildshape forms can jump up to their full speed, and you land on your feet without taking damage after a fall of 60 feet or less while you are in a Wildshape form.
Strong Venom (requires Personal Venom)
On a failed saving throw, victims of your venom also suffer the poisoned condition for 1d12 minutes.
Sturdy Carapace (requires Rugged Hide)
Your wildhsape forms have a base Armor Class of 15 rather than 12.
Sudden Strike
Your Wildshape forms can feature multiple natural weapons. You can use a bonus action to perform one natural weapon melee attack that does 1d8 + your Strength modifier piercing or slashing damage.
Swift Strides
Your Wildshape forms can feature speeds up to 90 along with Acrobatics and Athletics proficiencies.
Weak Wings
Your Wildshape forms can feature gliding speeds up to their normal speeds. While you are in a Wildshape form you cannot fall faster than 60 feet per round, you take no damage from falling, and you always land on your feet.
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↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Wild Shapes ↑ → Fighters ← ↓ Armed Services ↓
| Fighter Basics |
hit points for new characters: 10 + your Constitution bonus
hit points for gained levels: 1d10 + your Constitution bonus
Hit Dice: 1d10 per fighter level
armor proficiencies: light, medium, heavy, shield
weapon proficiencies: all weapons
saving throw proficiencies: Constitution & Strength
core skill proficiencies: Athletics and Intimidation
languages: none
tool proficiencies: siege warfare, one mount, wagons
supplemental skill proficiencies: You can replace each of your redundant skills with Acrobatics, Animal Handling, History, Perception, Stealth, or Survival.
|
Fighters Armed combat tends to be a bloody and brutal business. Dedicated fighters harbor no illusions about the perils of battle. They understand how each military officer basking in triumph owes that result to many wounded soldiers staggering over the bodies of friend and foe alike. Fighters combine extremely skilled use of weaponry with tenacity enough to weather the rigors of total war. Most fighters developed their abilities while serving in a uniformed army, but this is not the only path to such prowess. Many organizations employ armed guards operating under an informal command structure with no official garb. Even an independent ruffian can become a formidable fighter after surviving a series of savage struggles.
The unifying characteristic of this class is an ability to attack effectively even in the face of fierce opposition. Every fighter develops a personal style blending formal training
and/or natural aptitudes with techniques forged in the thick of battle. Some clad themselves in steel and wield weapons of imposing size, dominating all within their reach. Others favor practical leathers and light weapons as they eliminate hostile combatants while weaving through violent clashes. Learned fighters study manuals informed by thousands of years of accumulated martial lore – information pervasive enough to echo into the ears of common street fighters. These warriors are proven survivors inclined to grow stronger through extensive combat experience.
Fighters are extremely diverse in both origin and outlook. They are united by a dedication to perfecting techniques of armed combat. Most fighters are exacting about the upkeep of their arms and armor. Yet some build their legends by wielding equipment taken from defeated foes or plunging into battle armed only with one crude weapon. More typically a fighter prepares for battle by becoming a walking arsenal. Thrown weapons and archery provide options when foes are wary enough to keep their distance. At any range, a fighter's greatest weapon is pure grit. Known for rallying even after enduring tremendous abuse, reversals of fortune are often part of the greatest victories achieved by fighters.
| Fighter Progression |
Proficiency
Level Bonus Features | Fighting
Styles | Combat
Maneuvers |
| 1st | +2 | Fighting Styles,
Second Wind | 2 | – |
| 2nd | +2 | Combat Maneuvers,
Tactical Action | 2 | 2 |
| 3rd | +2 | Armed Service | 2 | 2 |
| 4th | +2 | Feat | 2 | 3 |
| 5th | +3 | Extra Attack | 3 | 3 |
| 6th | +3 | Service Feature | 3 | 3 |
| 7th | +3 | Action Surge | 3 | 4 |
| 8th | +3 | Feat | 3 | 4 |
| 9th | +4 | Indomitable Stance | 4 | 4 |
| 10th | +4 | Service Feature | 4 | 5 |
| 11th | +4 | Feat | 4 | 5 |
| 12th | +4 | Extra Attack x2 | 4 | 5 |
| 13th | +5 | Armed Aptitude | 5 | 6 |
| 14th | +5 | Service Feature | 5 | 6 |
| 15th | +5 | Feat | 5 | 6 |
| 16th | +5 | Indomitable Bulwark | 5 | 7 |
| 17th | +6 | Feat | 6 | 7 |
| 18th | +6 | Extra Attack x3 | 6 | 8 |
| 19th | +6 | Feat | 6 | 8 |
| 20th | +6 | Victory Declaration | 6 | 9 |
CREATING A FIGHTER
Standing armies are the backbones of three major empires as well as many large kingdoms. Corps of professional fighting men and women strengthen those prestigious armies. Yet many veteran soldiers never served in any established imperial or royal force. Fighters find no shortage of work related to bloodsport, crime, or work in private security – all non-military endeavors. Thus fighters hail from diverse backgrounds. What unites all members of this class is a personal interest in arms and armor. Fighters immediately understand how to maintain and use all varieties of ordinary military equipment. Most will be eager to handle or even train with unfamiliar weapons of respectable quality.
Though a small portion fighters concern themselves primarily with weapon production and care, weapons are more typically regarded as tools of the trade. Fighters routinely prepare to accomplish tasks through force of arms, though they also prepare earthworks, siege equipment, and stockades as required by military leaders. Disabling threats, dispatching enemies, and driving off interlopers are all missions fighters anticipate as they practice maneuvers and plan tactics. Most fighters would prefer to see their foes routed quickly over more bloody engagements. Yet there are those inclined to revel in killing for its own sake.
Though fighters typically carry projectile weapons to attack effectively at long range, as a class they are focused on clashing in close quarters. Some see being surrounded by enemies as an opportunity rather than a problem. Training is essential part of life for most fighters. In battle the smallest increments of force, reach, or time can make all the difference. Honing their bodies, maintaining their gear, and practicing their maneuvers allow fighters to convert long hours of preparation into both reliable and superior results in combat. After all, their survival can easily depend on a flurry of violence informed by a series of snap judgements.
FIGHTING STYLES
Deeply dedicated to excellence in armed combat, you normally follow forms and techniques honed by generations of great warriors. You know 2 Fighting Styles. Matched to your proficiency bonus, your total number of known Fighting Styles increases at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th character levels. When you gain a fighter level, you can replace a single known Fighting Style with another selection. You can only use a single Fighting Style at a time. You must perform an adjustment to activate (or reactivate) one of your Fighting Styles. Once you have done this, you cannot do so again until the start of your next turn. You cannot apply any bonuses or benefits from Fighting Styles other than the one you are actively using at any given time.
| Playing a Fighter |
∨ aggressive or protective?
Some fighters feel it is their business to initiate combat. Striking as early and often as possible is their preferred path to victory. These fighters make able bounty hunters, marauders, and shock troops. Others prioritize personal defense and the defense of others. They prefer to outlast foes in pursuit of victory. These fighters work well as bodyguards, regular troops, and sentries. All fighters understand both attack and defense. Yet individuals tend to favor one over the other in both tactics and training.
∨ active or veteran?
Being actively employed in a fighting capacity sometimes imparts privileges. Soldiers are often trusted not only to enter secure areas but to do so while heavily armed. Both guards and soldiers may have access to armories along with stockpiles of useful supplies. Former members of these professions lack that support, though they might yet be authorized to wear arms and armor in places where that is a heavily restricted privilege. Active members of a military or security organization will be bound by duties to their commanders. Many veterans continue to benefit from the respect of personnel active in the same service, but they no longer feel any obligation to obey orders originating from someone of superior rank.
∨ burly or lithe?
Physical strength is especially important to fighters. Some owe their lives to heavy armor and massive weapons. Using this gear to good effect requires significant muscle power. Some fighters train relentlessly to cultivate their own musculature, honing both functional strength and apparent brawn. Others do not require an imposing physique to engage in imposition. Great strength can also take the form of lean muscle, evident as excellent tone despite minimal bulk. Then there are fighters focused entirely on precision and speed. Their nimble forms are often slender – the better to avoid attacks while swiftly repositioning. There is no singular "fighter physique," but all fighters hone their physiques with habitural exercise.
∨ gritty or neat?
Some of the most effective fighters pay no mind to their own appearance. They will go to great lengths to preserve the functional capabilities of their equipment, but they allow cosmetic damage to accumulate over time. If nothing else, this conserves free time. Some so embrace the rugged nature of their work, they go in to battle looking as if fresh from a brutal fight. A rough appearance can make a fighter more intimidating, yet the same can be said for arriving on the battlefield with flawless personal grooming and gleaming armor. Officers and specialists often make every effort to maintain capes, tabards, and other decorative gear. Arriving well-polished in both figurative and literal ways, some fighters manage to dominate the battlefield without wearing any of it.
∨ modest or showy?
Some fighters strut through life as if inviting attack from any who would dare claim to be their superiors. Others regard violence as nothing more than the consequence of failure to achieve peaceful coexistence. Every fighter understands effective methods of killing other creatures. Yet many fighters do not celebrate their grasp of these methods. Each must choose between a life of flamboyantly showcasing skill at armed combat or hiding great prowess behind a less threatening public persona. Showy fighters risk aggressive hostility from rivals intent on enhancing their reputations, while more soft-spoken fighters sometimes must prove their abilities before commanding the respect of civilian populations.
∨ haunted or proud?
Most fighters have already killed individuals from among their own people. All fighters have the mindset required to slay sentient creatures without hesitation. As useful as this attitude might be in battle, it can have lingering aftereffects. It is not unusual for soldiers to report disturbing dreams inhabited by the very enemy combatants personally eliminated in warfare. Yet there are also highly experienced fighters with no qualms about plunging into more bloodshed even when their own people will be victims of this aggression. Perhaps less a choice than a consequence, nonetheless all fighters must either grapple with the ramifications of their killings or become coldly indifferent to professional slaughter. |
⤩ Blind Fighting: You have blindsight to a range of 10 feet.
⤩ Braced Blocking: Your Armor Class increases by 1 while you are wearing heavy armor, and your speed is not reduced if that armor is bulky.
⤩ Deflecting Shield: Your Armor Class increases by 1 while you have a shield ready. The armor bonus of your shield is doubled for purposes of ranged attacks.
⤩ Determined Assault: Designate one weapon you are already wielding. All your attacks with that weapon inflict 2 points of additional damage.
⤩ Dirty Fighting: You have advantage on your next attack if you perform that attack before the end of your turn.
⤩ Double Parrying: Your Armor Class increases by 2 while you are wielding a melee weapon in each hand.
⤩ Dual Wielding: You can perform and Offhand Attack with a weapon that does not have the light property, though it cannot have the two-handed property. You can add either your Strength modifier or your Dexterity modifier to the attacks rolls and damage rolls associated with your Offhand Attacks.
⤩ Focused Fencing: Designate one creature within 50' as your target. While you are holding at least one weapon, your Armor Class increases by 2 for purposes of attacks from that target. If you use your reaction to perform an attack of opportunity on your fencing target, you can also apply Extra Attack to perform additional attack(s) of opportunity on that target as if you had used the Attack action.
⤩ Freehand Fighting: Your Armor Class increases by 1 while you have one free hand or you are grappling a creature.
⤩ Hurled Volleys: You gain a +1 to hit with all thrown weapon attacks. You can draw another weapon as a part of the attack every time you make a thrown weapon attack.
⤩ Mighty Swings: While you are wielding a versatile or two-handed weapon with both hands, you can add your proficiency bonus to the damage of attacks with that weapon.
⤩ Sniping Sharpshooter: Your weapon attacks do not suffer disadvantage at long range.
⤩ Standard Sharpshooter: You gain a +2 to hit with all ranged weapon attacks.
⤩ Vigilant Shield: Designate one creature within 5 feet you desire to defend. While you are no more than 5 feet apart, you both have advantage on Dexterity saving throws and you both benefit from your shield bonus.
SECOND WIND
Hardened by battle, you are able to shrug off some physical injuries. You can use your bonus action on your own turn to regain a number of hit points equal to 1d10 + your fighter level. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
COMBAT MANEUVERS
Your experience in combat allows you to execute sophisticated techniques while attacking with weapons. At 2nd level you learn 2
Combat Maneuvers. Ongoing study and training broadens your capabilities. You learn additional Combat Maneuvers at 4th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th, and 20th fighter levels. When you gain a fighter level, you can replace one of your known Combat Maneuvers with a different selection.
TACTICAL ACTION
At 2nd level you become comfortable in the midst of extreme violence. You may declare a Tactical Action when taking any bonus action or reaction that does not involve casting, controlling, identifying, or modifying a spell. Doing so allows you to retain your bonus action or reaction for the round, expending your Tactical Action instead. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until the start of your next turn.
EXTRA ATTACK
At 5th level your skill in battle far surpasses that of the average soldier. When you take the Attack action, you can attack twice instead of once. At 12th level you beome capable of attacking thrice with an Attack action. Once you have reached 18th level, you can attack four times with an Attack action.
ACTION SURGE
Your extensive combat experience allows you to identify ideal moments for pushing yourself to extremes. On your turn, you can perform two actions in addition to your bonus action, reaction, and/or Tactical Action. After you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
INDOMITABLE STANCE
You can rally from almost any setback after struggling your way to 9th level. When you fail a saving throw, you can reroll that saving throw, though you must use the new result. After you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest.
ARMED APTITUDE
Attaining 13th level indicates a degree of martial prowess forged through many victories in armed combat. When you inflict damage with a weapon attack, you can double your Dexterity modifier or your Strength modifier for purposes of determining that damage.
INDOMITABLE BULWARK
Once you have attained 16th level, you have fortified yourself to survive situations that would outright slay most mortals. When you use Indomitable Stance, you can spend two Hit Dice. If you do this you do not regain any hit points, instead retaining Indomitable Stance as if you had not used it in this instance. You can still use Indomitable Stance without spending Hit Dice, losing the ability to use that feature again until you complete a long rest.
“Nothing is easier than claiming the spoils of victory. Enduring the indignities of defeat is entirely another matter.”
— Ernst Schnieder, Maniac general |
VICTORY DECLARATION
Having personally turned the tide in battles gone by, you now have an aptitude for both identifying and exploiting tactical turning points. You can use your bonus action to deliver a menacing gesture and/or remark. In doing so you gain the full benefit of an Action Surge even if you have already used that ability during this encounter. Any creatures of your choosing within 60 feet able to see your gesture or hear your remark can use their reactions to either cast a cantrip, make an attack, or perform the Activate action. After you perform a Victory Declaration, you cannot use this ability again until you have completed a long rest.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Fighters ↑ → Armed Services ← ↓ Combat Maneuvers ↓
| Combat Training The world has been home to routine violence since Primordial Times. Dragons achieved supremacy by being especially effective at killing and eating other creatures. While most fighters do not devour their enemies, they also seek supremacy through violence. At first this takes the form of achieving competence with the diverse array of arms and armor available to civilized warriors in the modern era. Eventually, it takes a turn toward some more coherent direction. Every great fighter becomes known for meaningful accomplishments surpassing mere proficiency with well-known weapons of war. |
Armed Services Whether or not they are part of any military organization, fighters become seasoned through acts of service. Saving the lives of allies and the ending the lives of enemies often blur together. Each enduring focus on of one sort of effort often features multiple instances of the other. Even as the experiences of battle become fuzzy, new distinctions develop. Personal proclivities eventually see accomplished fighters adapt in pursuit of more advanced combat capabiliites. These adaptations see every great fighter become a Braced Battlemage, a Chiseled Champion, a Courtly Cavalier, a Deft Duelist, or a Steadfast Samurai.
⊲ Braced Battlemage In a world brimming with magical energies, some fighters believe spells deserve respect as another category of weapons. You embrace this perspective by incorporating aspects of wizardry into your fighting and training. This training makes it possible to learn a variety of destructive cantrips along with a limited selection of attack spells. Yet these teachings also focus on altering combatants and conditions in the field. You are tough enough to stand on the front line while also being versatile enough to help a group accomplish or counter countless exotic tactics.
| Braced Battlemage Spellcasting |
| Cantrips | Spell Slots | ‖ | Cantrips | Spell Slots |
| Level | | 1st 2nd 3rd 4th | ‖ | Level | | 1st 2nd 3rd 4th |
| 3rd | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | ‖ | 12th | 5 | 4 | 3 | – | – |
| 4th | 2 | 3 | – | – | – | ‖ | 13th | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 5th | 2 | 3 | – | – | – | ‖ | 14th | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 6th | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | ‖ | 15th | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 7th | 3 | 4 | 2 | – | – | ‖ | 16th | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – |
| 8th | 3 | 4 | 2 | – | – | ‖ | 17th | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – |
| 9th | 4 | 4 | 2 | – | – | ‖ | 18th | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – |
| 10th | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | ‖ | 19th | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 11th | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | ‖ | 20th | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
SPELLCASTING
Fighters are always intent on the motions of combatants and other visible hazards. Concentrating on unseen energies swirling through the area is especially problematic while engaged in armed struggle. Yet some exceptional individuals incorporate keen magical sensitivity into their broader tactical awareness. At 3rd level this blend grants you proficiency in the Arcana skill and allows you to cast Braced Battlemage spells.
Cantrips
You know two Braced Battlemage cantrips. You learn additional cantrips at 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, and 18th Braced Battlemage levels. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of these Braced Battlemage cantrips for another selection.
Preparing and Casting Spells
You know a number of
Braced Battlemage spells equal to your fighter
level + your Intelligence modifier. Making permanent improvements to that ability or gaining fighter levels sometimes reveals additional knowledge. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of your known spells for another selection. Yet your progress in accumulating spell slots is limited to one advancement in three gained levels.
You must expend a spell slot of sufficent level to cast a Braced Battlemage spell. You recover all expended spell slots at the completion of a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for all Braced Battlemage spells. Saving throws against your spells face a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence bonus. You can employ a crystal, an orb, a rod, a staff, or a wand as a spellcasting implement.
Battlefield Leadership In a typical adventuring company, a fighter is not likely to be the most charming or the most knowledgeable member of that group. Yet, in the thick of combat, fighters emerge as uniquely capable leadership figures. Their situational awareness reveals how the movements and positions of every combatant present a constantly-changing array of favorable tactics. A preference for direct and simple ways of speaking makes these militant adventurers especially effective at calling out warnings or indicating opportunities while their allies can still react appropriately.
Though a fighter with an especially strong personality might step forward to convey threats and warnings to hostile creatures, many more act as field commanders coordinating squads in active combat. Early in their careers, fighters learn hard lessons about how to make the most of their personal resilience. More experience bestows greater ability to create more favorable circumstances for their own attacks as well as additional options for helping allies eliminate foes. In parties with shared leadership roles, fighters often take charge during those brief yet critical clashes when blood is intentionally spilled. |
ARCANE ARMORY
At 6th level your growing grasp of wizardry allows you to read spell scrolls and use magic items normally restricted to wizards. You can add your Intelligence modifier to the damage dealt by any cantrip you cast. If you know the
Identify spell; you can cast it on any sort of ammunition, armor, shield, or weapon without using a spell slot.
WARCASTING
Magical and martial influences harmonize in the complex approach to combat you have developed by 10th level. When you take the Attack action, you can cast a cantrip in place of a single attack. When you use an action to cast a spell, you can perform a single weapon attack with one hand.
BATTLEFIELD BEACON
At 14th level you learn a unique method of producing light for the benefit of allied combatants. You can use your action to cast the
Daylight spell even if you do not otherwise know it. This does not consume a spell slot. Creatures of your choice in that area of effect gain your Intelligence modifier in temporary hit points at the start of your turn. Creatures of your choice outside that area of effect yet able to see it can add your Intelligence modifier to their speed while moving toward or into that area. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you have completed a long rest.
⊲ Chiseled Champion
A heroic master of weapons is the most popular and well-understood archetype in the modern world. Among the endless variations of armed combat techniques, some stances and moves are generally accepted as effective. Fighters normally mix traditional techniques with other forms of attack, cultivating more exotic capabilities. Often pairing serious brawn with heavy armor, the greatest champions focus on making the most of established techniques. The consistent excellence of their motions can be enough to draw spectators to routine training sessions of these physical exemplars.
Military Institutions Though some fighters have never served in an armed force, insightful observers can discern if an individual is capable of performing well in armed combat. Even fighters who are neither active soldiers nor former soldiers are nonetheless potential soldiers. Like all evidently capable warriors, this marks them as both possible allies and possible threats. Even fighters without any monstrous appearance may be barred from audiences with dignitaries or wealthy merchants especially concerned about their own safety. Well-mannered fighters may be welcome as peacekeepers by community leaders or vendors less inclined to fear murder than harassment or theft.
Most societies make it easy for capable fighters to enlist in an army loyal to the regime. Yet this terms of these enlistments vary widely. A land at peace may only offer token payments to loyalists attending weekly or monthly rallies of military reserves. A government under siege might make heavy demands paired with only the promise of payment at a later date. Regular armed service typically involves joining the garrison in residence at a fort or military encampment, routinely participating in combat readiness drills. It is a life of steady pay and steady routine that requires special privileges from commanding officers to be compatible with unrelated adventures. |
SOLDIERING WITH STYLE
At 3rd level you develop an exceptional ability to maintain ideal form even in the thick of battle. You can keep up two Fighting Styles at the same time, gaining the bonuses and benefits of both. You can have two fighting styles active at the same time, and you can activate two Fighting Styles with a single adjustment. Yet you cannot have more than two active Fighting Styles. When you add your proficiency bonus to an ability check related to Athletics, your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of that check. Also, your Strength modifier is doubled for purposes of any jumping distance. You are proficient in the Performance skill.
PERFECT FORM
Relentless practice has done much to hone your natural aptitudes by 6th level. Your weapon attacks score critical hits on rolls of 19 or 20. You can busk with your Athletics skill, showcasing your might and persistence through entertaining stunts.
RELENTLESS ADVANCEMENT
At 10th level you are a juggernaut energized by ceaseless personal determination. You have advantage on saving throws against forced movement except teleportation. Instead of rolling the result, you can take an automatic 10 (plus all applicable modifiers) on any Athletics check as well as any saving throw against exhaustion. When you spend a Hit Die, roll 2d10 and use the most favorable d10. When you drop a weapon, you can use your reaction to draw a different weapon.
ETERNAL WARRIOR
At 14th level you become an unstoppable force on the battlefield. If you start your turn with fewer hit points than double your fighter level, you immediately regain hit points equal to double your Constitution modifier. When you fail a saving throw, gain temporary hit points equal to double your Constitution modifier. When you use Second Wind, you can ignore the effects of exhaustion until the end of your next turn.
Fighting Aristocracies From early in the Age of Heroes right up to the modern day, fighters have been known for making the most of rare arms and armors. Elite families often encourage promising scions to participate in military campaigns where they might learn to become great fighters while acting in support of senior officers. Over time, fledgelings develop into combatants formidable enough to perform hazardous missions. Though often carefully managed, there are always elements of real danger in these experiences. They prepare future leaders to stand firm against personal threats and lash out at territorial rivals.
Families following this approach often thrive across many generations. Hereditary transfers of land are often paired with transfers of legendary combat gear. Venerable bloodlines inhabiting ancestral manors enriched by centuries of prosperity can seem like unassailable institutions. In many realms, maintaining this perception is the key to peace and political stability. Aristocratic leaders without tremendous experience as fighters are more likely to encounter challengers intent on testing their worth. Monarchies and empires tend favor famed fighters seeking positions in government. |
⊲ Courtly Cavalier Armored warriors on horseback have epitomized military power across the two most recent eras of history. In some societies, presentable lancers able to fund their own service are contenders for entry level aristocratic titles. Shining armor and a proper warhorse are each enormous expenses. Heavy mounted forces tend to feature many soldiers from privileged backgrounds. Some pursue glory and riches as an obligation, while others are opportunists. Yet all study the conventions and fashions of high society so as to better navigate the intrigues of elites.
EQUESTRIAN BEARING
At 3rd level your prowess as a rider fully matures. You also adopt the habits of prestigious personages. You are proficient with all mounts. You gain the Saddle Vault Combat Maneuver, and it does not count toward your total number of Combat Maneuvers. You have advantage on ability checks to avoid falling off a mount. You also have advantage on ability checks to follow social protocols, recall family lineages, or spot counterfeit luxuries. You are proficient in the Persuasion skill.
BATTLE RIDING
At 6th level you have become accustomed to managing both yourself and a steed in the thick of bloody violence. The land speed of any mount you ride is increased by your fighter level. Your mounts also have advantage on all saving throws against becoming charmed, confused, fixated, frightened, slowed, or unconscious. When you spend Hit Dice during a short rest, your mount regains the same number of hit points you regain. You can complete a long rest while wearing any sort of armor. You are proficient in the Animal Handling skill.
Mounted Combat Dragons differentiated cows from horses because the former were more tasty while the latter were more evasive. Human wranglers developed an understanding that horses could be ridden, providing increased speed and stature suitable for herding large beasts. Early in the Age of Heroes, many battles were decided by armored reinforcements riding horses into battle only to dismount and do battle on foot. That era saw the emergence and refinement of advanced techniques for fighting from horseback. Both lancers and mounted archers became figures of historic importance during the Age of Heroes.
Modernity offers a wealth of gear and techniques to support mounted combat. Even spellcasters sometimes race around open battlefields atop steeds – using enhanced mobility to control the range of engagement. Mounted archers likewise dish out devastating attacks while keeping clear of enemy blades. Other cavalry units take a contrary approach, plunging headlong into the thick of entrenched defenders. Long lances backed by the momentum of both steed and rider cans skewer all but the hardiest defenders. Barbarians fighters, paladins, and rangers routinely rely upon steeds to enhance their mobility on open ground. Yet any proficient adventurer can exploit a tame mount to maneuver in through dangerous action sequences. |
VALIANT CHARGING
You have an extraordianry understanding of momentum as you attain 10th level. If you move at least 10 feet closer to a target then hit it with a melee weapon during the same turn, you automatically inflict the maximum damage you could roll with that attack. If your target is a creature no more than one size larger than you, it must attempt a Strength saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier. Failure allows you to push that creature up to 10 feet away and knock it prone. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until the start of your next turn. Also, while you are mounted, you score critical hits on rolls of 19 or 20.
DEFENDER OF THE REALM
At 14th level you have the status of a lord on any battlefield, your personal armor is an ideal fit, and others quickly yield to your procession. You cannot be charmed. You cannot be frightened. While you are wearing armor with the reduce property, associated damage reduction values are doubled. While you are mounted and travelling exclusively with a party of flying and/or mounted companions, add your fighter level to the daily overland travel speed of your group. You can use your action to perform a battlecry or sound off with a loud musical instrument such that every creature within 1 mile becomes aware of your need for military support as well as your political allegiances, if any. Once you have performed this call for aid, you cannot perform another until you have completed a long rest.
⊲ Deft Duelist Fighters normally focus their efforts on cultivating powerful muscles and delivering mighty attacks. Yet they also endeavor to hone personal precision. Individuals most able to appreciate subtle nuances of angles, positions, and timings may devolop into Deft Duellists. Rigging their equipment for smooth and reliable access, these enthusiasts of single combat are keen to strike first even if they do so only by the tiniest fractions of seconds. Though no less durable than other fighters, their quick and decisive techniques often minimize their exposure to the rigors of battle. Some focus on perfecting the use of one weapon and some gear up as a walking arsenals, but all of these fighters seek swift victories.
Legendary Weapons While some fighters covet wealth and some crave popularity, nearly all seek the most effective available weaponry. Traditional archetypes of extreme fighting prowess typically include at least one powerful magic weapon. Many epic sagas feature a quest to obtain a weapon suitable for accomplishing some greater goal. In these popular stories as well as the ballads of modern adventurers, such weapons are often found as trophies in the lairs of monsters responsible for slaying previous owners.
Others are the creations of extremely experienced spellcasters, rallying their own greatest spells along with expert artistry and rare materials to produce an item tailored to the preferences of its intended recipient. Some dynasties are happy to award a prosperous fiefdom in exchange for a signature weapon even royalty would be proud to wield. While elites often maintain personal arsenals, attuning to specific weapons as a function of specific events; outliers make due with mighty arms ill-matched to their personal styles. When the time is right for spilling blood, fighters tend to prize effective equipment over decorative details. |
QUICKDRAW
You have developed the mindset of a professional duellist by 3rd level. You gain one additional Combat Maneuver, and it does not count against your total number of Combat Maneuvers. For any weapon attack that did not already allow it, you can draw one weapon as part of that attack. When you make an initiative check you can add your proficiency bonus. The first time you take the Attack action after an initiative roll, you can perform one more attack than you otherwise would. You are proficient in the Sleight-of-Hand skill.
PROFESSIONAL PRECISION
At 6th level you approach training as a perfectionist, now familiar with the subtleties of a deadly duel. When you miss an attack roll with a weapon attack, you can use your reaction to reroll that attack, using the new result. Once you have used this ability you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest. You are proficient in the Insight skill.
QUICKSLAY
Your dedication to the swift elimination of foes is especially evident at 10th level. You gain one additional Combat Maneuver, and it does not count against your total number of Combat Maneuvers. During your first complete turn after determining initiative, you automatically roll the maximum damage for every weapon attack that hits. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a weapon attack, you can sheathe or stow that weapon as part of that attack.
Military Organizations No government remains autonomous long without some sort of army. Prosperous yet undefended territory looks like a prize through they eyes of any astute warlord. In every realm, national security depends on the ability to project overwhelming power throughout a territory. Ordinary people are much happier and more productive when neither bandits nor cults are known to operate strongholds nearby. Some military organizations actively engage in law enforcement and tax collection. All provide protection for authorized officials engaged in these pursuits.
Armies are rarely inexpensive. Some tribal federations and other outlier regimes maintain permanent forces sustained by their own foraging and hunting activities. Yet this is far from the norm. Other garrisons are funded and equipped by wealthy aristocrats. Individuals governing border territories are often subsidized – given support from a national treasury so as to spend more on military defense than might be possible from taxes on local revenue. Many kingdoms have little permanent military power beyond some companies of heavy cavalry constantly poised to ride against any threats in the region.
The three great human empires and other expansive nations go beyond highway patrols and border fortifications to maintain huge standing armies with prestigious service academies constantly training new officers and specialists even during times of peace. Such armies can provide protection for settlers developing wilderness areas as well as labor crews expanding national infrastructure projects. Some societies task their soldiers with the construction of new fortresses, roads, and walls when they are not actively deployed in a combat capacity.
Each situation provides its own set of opportunities for adventurers. Where peacetime garrisons are small, there is much more need for bounty huters and monster hunters. A small party of adventurers able to resolve minor crises can solve many problems confronting local leaders, freeing up regular military units for other tasks. When war comes to a realm with a modest standing army, adventurers may be called upon to muster troops or win over the support of factions with no previously-declared loyalty.
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IMMACULATE PRECISION
At 14th level you have the ability to correct your own errors during an attack in progress. You can use Professional Precision as often as you like, provided you have a reaction to use when you miss with a weapon. Also, when you score a critical hit with a weapon attack that was not thrown, you can make another attack with that weapon.
⊲ Steadfast Samurai Whether you come from a long line of noble warriors or some humble origin, you value your reputation even more than your life. Your ability to soldier on despite grave injuries and other serious setbacks is anchored in an overwhelming sense of duty. You are entirely formal and thoughtful when accepting a quest or entering into other sorts of service. You can think of no greater failing than to betray such a promise. If you only kill for coin, you are nonetheless a consummate professional. If you fight for a faction, you are always mindful of how your deeds will reflect on the prestige of that faction. Honor is supreme to a Steadfast Samurai.
WARRIOR CODE
After hearing countless stories that emphasize the importance of following through with personal commitments, by 3rd level your own adventures drive that lesson home. Now you spare no effort in the pursuit of combat readiness. For any weapon attack that did not already allow it, you can draw one weapon as part of that attack. When you make an initiative check you can add your Wisdom modifier. When you use Second Wind, you can also perform one attack with a weapon already in hand. You are proficient in the History skill.
DRIVEN BY PURPOSE
Total focus on the mission at hand allows you to ignore various dangers and distractions at 6th level. You are proficient with Wisdom saving throws. You have resistance to psychic damage. You have advantage on all saving throws against exhaustion. Also, when you add your proficiency bonus to an Intimidation check, your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of that check.
IMPECCABLE EFFORT
By 10th level your determination could be enough to slay a foe even as you yourself are slain. When you use Action Surge, you can spend Hit Dice, regaining hit points equal to the number rolled + your Constitution modifier for each Hit Die spent. When you use Indomitable Stance, you have advantage on all subsequent saving throws until the start of your next turn. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to perform one weapon attack before you fall prone. You can deliver two such attacks if your both reaction and your Tactical Action remain available.
“Violence is best done decisively and swiftly. Fit minds cannot experience joy until they are well removed from bloodshed.”
— Osamu Yamada, To-Shinese Bugyō |
LEGENDARY SHOUT
At 14th level, if you are able to speak, you can use your action to deliver a battlecry with such authority as to outright slay minor foes. Each creature that is not of the construct, fungus, plant, ooze, or undead types in a 30-foot cube originating from you must make a Wisdom saving throw at a DC equal to your fighter level. Failure results in 4d10 psychic damage while rendering that victim stunned until the start of your next turn. Success reduces that damage by half while rendering that victim frightened until the start of your next turn. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you have completed a long rest.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Armed Services ↑ → Combat Maneuvers ← ↓ Monks ↓
| Foraged Weapons Rocks already the right size and shape to be weaponized might be abundant in places like crumbling buildings to untouched wildlands. Some sturdy bones or dead branches can be wielded as cudgels, while a switch of fresh green wood might function as a crop. Many more options become available with time and tools. Where the right raw materials are available in proximity, many basic weapons can be assembled on the same day their constituents are harvested. Crossbows and shortbows require much more effort, though some primitive tribes still produce their own versions of those items. Maces also prove difficult to fabricate in the wild, since suitable substitutes for a solid metal sphere tend to be rare. |
Combat Maneuvers Save for some animated objects, weapons alone cannot defeat foes. Large battles are shaped by both weaponry and wielders working together to eliminate enemies. A poorly-equipped army might struggle to succeed, yet even the best gear and supplies will not produce a victory in the hands of incompetent combatants. Experienced fighters have access to many of the most advanced techniques of armed violence in widespread use today. With sufficient training and equipment, fighters can outperform their rivals by both completing more attacks in less time and enhancing some of those attacks with special maneuvers.
The careers of highly accomplished fighters become individualized in part through this evolution of personal fighting styles. These adaptations allow different fighters to excel in different roles. For example, a law enforcer might learn techniques of immobilization for purposes of capturing and restraining targets while an enforcer supporting an outlaw syndicate might focus on doing as much damage as quickly as possible – all the better to eliminate potential witnesses to serious crimes. Since many Combat Maneuvers require a weapon with a particular property or damage type, fighters must equip themselves to make the most of their own special techniques.
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Assess Adversary
You have advantage on all Insight checks to determine if a creature has formidable combat capabilities and/or if a creature intends to attack during the present encounter. Your passive Insight increases by 5 for purposes of evaluating these threats.
Befoul Weapon
When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make a Constitution saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure causing that creature to be poisoned for one minute.
Brutal Bash
When you hit a creature with a melee weeapon attack that inflicts bludgeoning damage, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make their choice of either a Strength saving throw or a Constitution saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure forcing them to move 10 feet away from you and knocking them prone.
Challenging Strike
When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make their choice of either a Charisma saving throw or a Wisdom saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure causing that creature to become fixated on you until the start of your next turn.
Consecrate Weaponry
Your routine weapon maintenance takes the form of an empowering ritual. Whenever you complete a long rest, you can cause weapons in your possession to become magical for purposes of overcoming resistance or immunity to non-magical weapon damage until the next time you complete a long rest. You can do this to a number of weapons no larger than your proficiency bonus. To do this you must consume 10gp per weapon in supplies of enchanted oils or religious sacrifices.
Create Opening
When a melee attack misses you, you can use your reaction to allow one creature with appropriate reach to make a melee attack with advantage against your attacker.
Determined Charge
If you perform the Dash action then move at least 10' to a position suitable for a melee attack; attacks of opportunity against you have disadvantage until the end of your turn, and you can make one melee attack with advantage using a weapon already in hand.
Directed Strike
You can use your bonus action to allow one creature within 50 feet able to see and hear you to perform one weapon attack on your turn.
Disarming Strike
When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make their choice of either a Dexterity saving throw or a Strength saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure forcing them to drop the item of your choice they are presently holding. If your weapon has the entrap property, the saving throw becomes your choice of Strength or Dexterity.
Displacing Strike
When you hit a creature of medium or smaller size with a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make their choice of either a Dexterity saving throw or a Strength saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure forcing them to exchange places with you. If your weapon has the entrap property, the saving throw becomes your choice of Strength or Dexterity.
Distracting Strike
When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make their choice of either an
Intelligence saving throw or a Wisdom saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure causing them to suffer disadvantage on their next attack before the start of your next turn.
Dragging Attack
When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack that inflicts slashing damage, you can use your reaction to repeat that attack against a different creature both within your reach and within 5 feet of the original target.
Extend Cover
If you are wielding a shield, when an ally within your reach is hit by a ranged attack or a ranged spell attack, you can use your reaction to increase that ally's armor class by 2 until you are no longer within 5 feet or your next turn begins, possibly causing the triggering attack to miss.
Envenom Weapon
When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction to add 1d10 poison damage to that attack.
Fireproof Undergarments
While you are wearing a suit of armor, you have resistance to fire damage as well as advantage on saving throws against fire damage.
Foil Lining
While you are wearing a helm, you have resistance to psychic damage as well as advantage on saving throws against becoming charmed, fixated, or possessed.
Hard Parry
If you are wielding a melee weapon when you are hit with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to add your Strength modifier to your Armor Class for purposes of that single attack.
Hobbling Strike
When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack that inflicts bludgeoning damage, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make a Constitution saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure causing this creature to be hobbled until the end of your next turn.
Immaculate Upkeep
If an item in your possession is the target of rot or rust, you can use your reaction to cancel that effect before the item is damaged or destroyed.
Immovable Stance
When you are subjected to forced movement other than teleportation, you can use your reaction to cancel that movement.
Improvise Weaponry
You inflict 1d4 damage when attacking with a crop, a needle, a razor, or a rock. You habitually take notice of objects in your environment that could effectively perform those functions.
Long Lunge
You can use your bonus action to increase the reach of your melee attacks by 5 feet until the end of your turn.
Penetrating Thrust
When you miss with a melee weapon attack that could inflict piercing damage, you can use your reaction to double your proficiency bonus for that attack, possibly causing it to hit.
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Pinning Strike
When you hit a creature with an attack using a weapon that has the entrap property, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make a Dexterity saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure causing that creature to become immobilized until you perform another attack with that weapon, move out of the reach of that creature, or drop/sheathe/stow that weapon.
Personal Immunity
You have resistance to poison damage as well as advantage on saving throws against poison damage and/or the poisoned condition.
Prompt Pirohuette
When you are missed with a melee attack from a creature of medium size or smaller, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make their choice of either a Dexterity saving throw or a Strength saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure causing them to exchange places with you.
Prompt Riposte
When you are missed with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to make one attack against that attacker with a weapon already in hand.
Prompt Withdrawal
When you are missed with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to perform the disengage action and move up to 10 feet away from your attacker.
Punishing Attack
When you are hit with a melee attack, you can use your reaction perform an attack against that attacker with a weapon already in hand.
Resistant Undergarments
While you are wearing a suit of armor, you have resistance to lightning damage as well as advantage on saving throws against lightning damage.
Saddle Vault
You can use your bonus action without using any movement to mount an adjacent steed or dismount into an adjacent space. You have advantage on ability checks to complete falling or jumping maneuvers by landing on the back of a mount.
Sensory Safeguards
While you are wearing a helm, you have advantage on saving throws against being blinded and/or deafened.
Shield Throw
If you are holding shield, you can use your bonus action to drop it by performing a thrown weapon attack with a range of 30'/60', inflicting bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. Your proficiency bonus applies to this attack roll. If the shield has a magic bonus, that applies to both the attack roll and damage roll. If it hits your target, the thrown shield conveys advantage to the next attack against that target before the end of your next turn. Be it hit or miss, you drop your shield at the feet of your target.
Shoving Strike
When you hit a creature of large size or smaller with a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make their choice of either a Strength saving throw or a Constitution saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure forcing them to move 10 feet away from you. If your weapon has the two-handed property, that saving throw becomes your choice of Constitution or Strength.
Spiked Boots
While you are wearing boots, including the footwear from a suit of armor, you have advantage on saving throws against forced movement other than teleportation and you have advantage on saving throws against falling prone.
Sweeping Attack
When you are wielding a melee weapon that inflicts slashing damage, you can use your action to make a single attack with that weapon against every creature within your reach.
Tactical Concealment
When you take the Hide action, you can use your reaction to increase your Armor Class by 2 until the start of your next turn.
Tactical Evasion
When you take the Dodge action, you can use your reaction to make one attack with a weapon already in hand.
Tactical Repositioning
When you take the Dash action, you can use your reaction to make one attack with a weapon already in hand.
Tactical Setup
When you miss with a weapon attack, you can use your reaction to gain advantage on the next attack you make with that weapon before the end of your next turn.
Tactical Withdrawal
When you take the Disengage action, you can use your reaction to make one attack with a weapon already in hand.
Thermal Undergarments
While you are wearing a suit of armor, you have resistance to frost damage as well as advantage on saving throws against frost damage and/or exposure to cold environments.
Threatening Strike
When you hit a creature with melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make an Intelligence saving throw or Wisdom saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure causing that creature to become frightened until the end of your next turn.
Thrusting Charge
When you move at least 10' closer to a creature then hit it with a melee weapon attack that inflicts piercing damage, you can use your reaction to inflict 1d10 + your Strength modifier in additional damage.
Tripping Strike
When you hit a creature with an attack using a weapon, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make a Constitution saving throw or Dexterity saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure causing that creature to fall prone. If your weapon has the entrap property, the saving throw becomes your choice of Constitution or Dexterity.
Wall Training
You do not grant advantage to attackers while balancing, and your attacks do not suffer disadvantage due to balancing or climbing.
Weapon Throw
If you are wielding a melee weapon without either the thrown or the throwing property, you can use your action to drop it by performing a thrown weapon attack with a range of 30'/60', rolling to hit and inflicting damage as if it were a melee attack. If it hits your target, the unorthodox throw conveys advantage to the next attack against that target before the end of your next turn.
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| Monk Basics |
hit points for new characters: 8 + your Constitution bonus
hit points for gained levels: 1d8 + your Constitution bonus
Hit Dice: 1d8 per monk level
armor proficiencies: silk
weapon proficiencies: bagh nakh, chakram, cudgel, dagger, dart, dirk, flail, gauntlet, hammer, handaxe, hatchet, needle, razor, rock, quarterstaff, sabre, scimitar, sickle, shortsword, spear, war pick
saving throw proficiencies: Dexterity & Strength
core skill proficiencies: Acrobatics, Medicine, and Nature
languages: none
tool proficiencies: healers' kit, herbalists' kit
supplemental skill proficiencies: You can replace each of your redundant skills with Arcana, Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, Religion, Stealth, or Survival.
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Monks Peaceful people seeking refuge from turmoil and violence during the Age of Heroes established sanctuaries of serenity. Humble soft-spoken residents could dedicate themselves to meditation and study. Then as today, leaders at these isolated monasteries supervised institutional routines emphasizing self-discipline and physical fitness. Most monks embrace an ascetic lifestyle – accumulating few personal possessions and rarely showing interest in earthly pleasures. As monasteries became havens for able-bodied people averse to military life, some faced hostility from government forces. Wary of strongholds outside their chain of command, many regimes compelled a choice between the security of stone walls or license to maintain an armory.
The most vulnerable monasteries soon fell to hostile aristocrats or bandits, but others found ways to resist outsiders. Monks became dedicated to unlocking the full potential of their own bodies. Initiations evolved to feature extensive training focused on barehanded fighting techniques effective against armed opponents. Remaining monasteries hardened from prime targets for pillaging into bastions that quickly made hostages or corpses of any hostile intruders. Though still modest and quiet by nature, monks are now recognized as respectable warriors able to incorporate mystical powers into their extraordinary styles of unarmed combat. Most do not require any equipment to deliver deadly beatdowns.
Yet not all monks eschew steel. Their dedication to fighting without weapons allows them to make the most of small blades or bludgeons. Some martial arts styles are linked to a signature weapon specially adapted for fast yet fluid fighting. Many monks carry a supply of throwables to supplement their hand-to-hand capabilities. Some even employ magical methods of lashing out beyond the reach of their feet and fists. The magic of monks is informed by an ecclectic blend of lore. All are students of life energy and its flows. Religious teachings, the Old Faith, and unholy practices each have much to offer these practitioners. While their spellcasting style is broadly spiritual, monks value all arcane techniques to the degree they strengthen or weaken the animating forces enabling creatures to act and exist.
| Monk Progression |
Proficiency
Level Bonus Features | Disciplined
Forms | Unarmed
Damage | Spell Slots
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th |
| 1st | +2 | Martial Arts,
Unarmored Defense | – | 1d4 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2nd | +2 | Disciplined Forms,
Spellcasting | 3 | 1d4 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 3rd | +2 | Bound Tradition | 4 | 1d4 | 3 | – | – | – | – |
| 4th | +2 | Feat | 5 | 1d4 | 3 | – | – | – | – |
| 5th | +3 | Tactical Action | 6 | 1d6 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – |
| 6th | +3 | Tradition Feature | 6 | 1d6 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – |
| 7th | +3 | Extra Attack | 7 | 1d6 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – |
| 8th | +3 | Feat | 7 | 1d6 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – |
| 9th | +4 | Deflect Missiles | 8 | 1d6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – |
| 10th | +4 | Tradition Feature | 8 | 1d6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – |
| 11th | +4 | Feat | 9 | 1d8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – |
| 12th | +4 | Evasion | 9 | 1d8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – |
| 13th | +5 | Regulate Body | 9 | 1d8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – |
| 14th | +5 | Tradition Feature | 10 | 1d8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – |
| 15th | +5 | Feat | 10 | 1d8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 16th | +5 | Extra Attack x2 | 10 | 1d8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 17th | +6 | Feat | 11 | 1d10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | Rally Body | 11 | 1d10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | Feat | 11 | 1d10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 20th | +6 | Transcend Body | 12 | 1d10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
CREATING A MONK
All living members of this class were trained in person by at least one experienced monk. Many will have performed years of hard labor without complaint simply to earn an invitation into the martial arts classes conducted at a prestigious monastery. Others may have done likewise for a series of lessons from a single reclusive monk. Yet there are also individuals who take quickly to these disciplines. Students blessed with great natural ability or prophesied destiny might be spared any menial duties to better focus on rapid preparation for future conflict. There are also naturally pugnacious students – so inclined toward fighting with their fists that mere proximity to a community of monks regularly results in lessons administered in the form of severe beatings.
Many monks are devoutly religious and considered holy persons in their own communities. Some monasteries are operated by clergy from specific holy orders. Even so, monks need not associate with any particular religion or institution. Changes in alignment and/or faith do not rob monks of spellcasting and other magic. A strong connection to life energy as well as an openness to all valid spiritual teachings gives monks a much less personal connection to any patron deity they might worship. Some do no such thing, instead practicing the Old Faith or limiting religious practice to a vague veneration for life energy itself. At its heart, monastic power derives not from prayer and ritual but from self-discipline.
Denial is a crucial tool in the training of monks. From practicing combat on an empty stomach to living on a narrow ledge for days at a time, special constraints help monks develop special abilities. Students learn to function and then to thrive while enduring extreme self-imposed hardships. Most monks subsequently develop a broader asceticism. They may show no interest in wealth, and some never own more than they can carry while maintaining a brisk hiking pace. They may also limit personal relations to platonic friendships and tactical partnerships. Yet the abilities of monks do not depend on any ascetic outlook. Atypical monks may surround themselves with comforts and luxuries to better soothe themselves between severe ordeals conducted for purposes of training.
| Playing a Monk |
∨ loud or quiet demeanor?
Nearly all ancient monks were soft-spoken individuals keen to avoid appearing as any sort of threat whenever they could maintain a modest bearing. This contrasts dramatically with celebrity prizefighters, living like princes when they are not training for their next arena event. Loud monks may not be in the majority even today, but their numbers appear to be growing and their most famous exemplars enjoy the same status as the most popular entertainers in their societies. Most monks tend toward one extreme or the other. Be they stomping across the room and shouting with every strike or silently advancing only to lash out with subtle precision, listening to a monk in combat can be revealing about the personality of that individual.
∨ hard or soft style?
Most approaches to martial arts can be categorized as either hard or soft. Hard styles deliver strikes intended to injure or even kill opponents with all possible speed. Their defensive maneuvers often take the form of direct blocks. Soft styles rely on holds and throws to reposition adversaries while favoring redirection as a defensive technique. Extremely accomplished monks may have trained in a wide variety of martial arts. Even a novice might have know a mix of techniques that could be classified as either hard or soft. Yet monks generally show a personal preference for one over the other. This tactical preference often spills over into a personal disposition that is either emphatically demanding and unyielding or especially understanding and accommodating.
∨ ancient or modern lore?
The oldest martial arts lore emerges from the study of animals and their movements. Focus on the nature of life energy gave the earliest monks extraordinary abilities to strike at vital spots and administer herbal remedies. Their teachings shared much with the lore of the Old Faith. Yet modern monks avail themselves of all they can learn about both bodies and spirits. This knowledge enhances their own training methods while also allowing them to be effective as healers. Many monks are faithful to a modern religion, perhaps even to the point of holding positions in religious organizations. Yet monks practicing the Old Faith or no faith whatsoever are equally capable. A preference for ancient lore and animistic beliefs remains nearly as common among monks as a preference for modern lore and religious practices.
∨ cloistered or roving habits?
Many monks live nearly all their lives within sight of a particular monastery or dojo. Others are itinerant, quick to move along after completing a course of training or participating in an organized event. While few campaigns transpire entirely within sight of one compound, cloistered monks may feel social awkward during their rare forays into the wider world. They may seek isolation and meditation simply to ward off the heavy stimulation of a crowded city or unfamiliar wildland. Roving monks need not be socially gifted, but they usually have no trouble sharing public spaces with crowds of strangers or negotiating ordinary financial transactions. Yet these habitual travellers can be keen to move on from any place they feel has already made a complete contribution to their insatiable need for new methods of fighting and training.
∨ minimal or lavish trappings?
Monks ordinarily eschew all but the most essential possessions. Some seem happy to go through life without so much as a proper shirt to wear. Their ability to accomplish so much without benefit of any weapons translates into a desire to minimize material burdens of all sorts. This pairs well with the phiosophical outlook of the most ascetic monks. Yet others dress in fine silks for reasons that go beyond their protective potential. Also likely to sport an array of glittering jewels, heavily materialist are an outlier archetype. Their philosophies often emphasize robust participation in all forms of material pleasure. Their personal wealth becomes a point of pride, especially if it was earned by way of prizefighting or accumulated from shares of monster hoards. As much as monks respect martial arts prowess, mutual disrespect is common between individuals with these contrasting dispositions.
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MARTIAL ARTS
As a monk, you are a formidable unarmed combatant. You rarely let a day pass without practicing specialized exercises intended to hone this capability. Your fists and feet have been toughened into effective natural bludgeons. You gain all of the following benefits.
⊖ You do not injure yourself when performing unarmed attacks on solid objects.
⊖ You can choose between your Dexterity modifier or your Strength modifier when calculating the attack rolls and damage associated with your unarmed attacks.
⊖ You gain a +1 bonus to the attack rolls of your unarmed attacks.
⊖ Your unarmed attacks inflict bludgeoning damage rolled as indicated by the class progression table above.
⊖ When you hit with a weapon on the monk weapon proficiency list, you can roll your unarmed attack damage die in place of the damage die of that weapon. The damage type of the weapon attack remains unchanged.
⊖ You can use your bonus action to perform one unarmed attack even if you do not perform the Attack action on your turn.
⊖ If you are able to walk and you have at least one free hand, you are eligible to perform attacks of opportunity (unarmed attacks) as if that hand were holding a melee weapon.
⊖ If you are able to walk and you have at least one free hand, you can add your proficiency bonus to initiative checks.
UNARMORED DEFENSE
You can add your Wisdom modifier to your Armor Class when you are wearing silk armor or no body armor at all provided you are also wearing no helm and using no shield. Clothing as immodest as a lone loincloth functions as cold weather gear while you are wearing it.
DISCIPLINED FORMS
Progress in your study of Martial Arts not only allows more damaging strikes, but each regimen offers additional techniques and abilities determined by the specifics of training. At 2nd level you learn 3
Disciplined Forms. You gain additional selections at 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 20th levels. When you gain a monk level, you can replace one of your known Disciplined Forms with a different selection.
SPELLCASTING
Monks are always aware of life energy flowing through their own bodies. They strive to sense and manipulate it in others as well. Yet their training also inspires a limited ability to draw upon heavenly channels. As a 2nd level monk you are capable of casting spells connected to these energies.
Preparing and Casting Spells
You know a number of
monk spells equal to
your monk level + your Intelligence modifier. Making permanent improvements to that ability or gaining monk levels can reveal additional knowledge. Your total number of known spells is a function of your monk level + your Intelligence modifier. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of your known spells for another selection. Yet your progress in accumulating spell slots is limited to one advancement in two gained levels.
You must expend a spell slot of sufficent level to cast a monk spell. You recover all expended spell slots at the completion of a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for all monk spells. Saving throws against your spells face a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus. You can employ a crystal, an emblem, a holy symbol, or an orb as a spellcasting implement.
TACTICAL ACTION
At 5th level you become comfortable in the midst of extreme violence. You may declare a Tactical Action when taking any bonus action or reaction that does not involve casting, controlling, identifying, or modifying a spell. Doing so allows you to retain your bonus action or reaction for the round, expending your Tactical Action instead. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until the start of your next turn.
EXTRA ATTACK
At 7th level your skill in battle far surpasses that of the average soldier. When you take the Attack action, you can attack twice instead of once. At 16th level you beome capable of attacking thrice with an Attack action.
DEFLECT MISSILES
At 9th level your own motions are so swift you can snatch arrows in flight. When you are hit by a ranged weapon attack, you can use your reaction to intercept that attack. If you do this, the damage from that attack is reduced by a number of hit points equal to 1d10 + your monk level + your Dexterity modifier. If you take no damage from this attack, you can either knock the incoming ammunition/weapon aside or catch it in one free hand.
REGULATE BODY
At 12th level you have achieved an extraordinary degree of control over your own physical processes. Though you can still die of old age, you are otherwise immune to the harmful effects of aging. When you make a Strength check, a Dexterity check, or any sort of Acrobatics skill check; you can treat results of 9 or less as if the roll was a 10. This applies to Strength saving throws and Dexterity saving throws.
Monasteries The first great unarmed martial artists honed their abilities to defend fortified sanctuaries from militant authorities unwilling to tolerate strongholds outside their chain of command. The successes of early monks popularized their fighting styles and training methods. By the time the Age of Heroes was drawing to a close, the countrysides of every civilized realm were peppered with monasteries. Though almost none of these places willingly served as havens for violent outlaws, most welcomed people intent on avoiding military conscription.
Such people were especially numerous amidst historic turmoil as one era ended and another began. Most monasteries made poor targets for conquest or siege. Monks can be determined and effective defenders, and many make problematic captives. Yet an ancient tendency toward apolitical stances gave way to embrace of controversies among some monasteries to embrace modern religions. Monks need not practice a faith or remain true to any particular spirituality in order to utilize their special abilities. Yet many modern monks are earnest in faith, and some monasteries are wholly religious institutions complete with clerical leadership. |
EVASION
By 13th level you maneuver with uncommon grace even while inches away from deadly energies. When you attempt a Dexterity saving throw to reduce a source of damage by half, instead success allows you to take no damage while failure indicates that you suffer half damage.
RALLY BODY
As an 18th level monk, you have full command of your inner reserves. When you spend Hit Dice during a short rest, you automatically roll an 8 on every monk Hit Die that you spend. When your are reduced to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to martial these inner reserves. Spend any number of available monk Hit Dice. Reduce the triggering damage by a number of hit points equal to 1d8 + your Constitution modifier for each Hit Die spent in the effort. You do not fall prone or incur a level of exhaustion when Rally Body successfully prevents you from reaching 0 hit points.
TRANSCEND BODY
Looking back across your many epic adventures, you feel prepared to thrive far beyond this world. As a 20th level monk you are immune to all damage inflicted by extreme environmental conditions or terrain hazards, though not temporary effects like spells. For example, if you are in a building destroyed by a fire-breathing dragon, you could take fire damage from that breath while being immune to subsequent damage as the structure burns around you. This ability allows you to function on hostile planes of existence or even the surface of the Moon. You can speak and hear in any environment, even where there is no air. You have advantage on saving throws to avoid being teleported or transported to another plane of existence against your will.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Monks ↑ → Bound Traditions ← ↓ Disciplined Forms ↓
Monastic Teachings Unlike clerics and paladins, monks are extremely flexible as spiritual spellcasters. Many are no less capable of harnessing ambient life energy than channeling holy power. Some understand techniques for commanding draconic or fey energies. There are even monasteries that teach methods of directing unholy power through the exertions of dedicated monks. Gathering energy is ony one small part of a diverse and intense training regimen.
Individual monks already have the discipline and knowledge to develop new techniques fit to replace any lost by way of shifting beliefs. Thus they do not lose Spellcasting or any other feature even after profound changes of alignment or faith. Even so, no proper monastery is exclusively dedicated to martial arts training. Most espouse some sort of philosophy or religion while looking to clerics, druids, sorcerers, or warlocks for leadership. Though often cloistered and rarely evangelical, each modern monastery promotes its own unique form of esoteric mysticism.
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Bound Traditions All monks possess extreme self-control. Many were trained by severe disciplinarians adhering closely to ancient protocols. Yet even chaotic mentors offering arbitrary exercises and whimsical teachings must make harsh demands of their students. Anything less would not effectively hone the body and mind of an aspiring monk. Each Bound Tradition is a combination of lessons and ordeals shaping the progress of a mystical martial artist. Though each has its roots in a single historic monastery, modern times see every Bound Tradition being taught at many sites unaffiliated with any ecclesiastical authority. Thus monks of all alignments are free to pursue any Bound Tradition as their abilities advance.
While often religious, monks understand their Martial Arts and Disciplined Forms as achievements earned through arduous training and personal sacrifice rather than god-given blessings. They may speak of their capabilities as gifts, but they also see these talents as tools to accomplish personal goals. Monks seldom let contempt for the beliefs and causes of their enemies translate into disrespect for effective fighting techniques. Rival monks often harbor complex attitudes about each other – united in mutual admiration of fighting and training techniques while also locked in mutual hostility related to an earthly or spiritual conflict.
Though the study of Martial Arts is an essential aspect of life as a monk, there is much more to these adventurers than an aptitude for punching and kicking. The fundamentals of unarmed combat are contextualized by a body of lore rich with legends and myths. Novice monks are encouraged to contemplate profound mysteries and make peace with cosmic contradictions. In this way they learn to see themselves as spirits especially empowered to work their will on the material world. After becoming proven warriors able to manipulate their own vital energies, monks find this metaphysical introspection links them to a Bound Tradition. Further advancement takes the form of progress as a Blazing Fist, Open Hand, Roaring Strike, Shadow Boxer, or Shining Stance monk.
| Bound Tradition Bonus Spells |
| Level | Blazing Fist | Open Hand | Roaring Strike | Shadow Boxer | Shining Stance |
| 1st | Signal Flare | Sanctuary | Loudspeaker | Expeditious Retreat | Faerie Fire |
| 2nd | Flaming Sphere | Aid | Unseen Ram | Silence | Moonbeam |
| 3rd | Fireball | Revivify | Fear | Gaseous Form | Daylight |
| 4th | Wall of Fire | Death Ward | Stone Shape | Greater Invisibility | Resilient Sphere |
| 5th | Flame Strike | Hold Monster | Passwall | Mislead | Wall of Force |
| | Expeditious Retreat | Expeditious Retreat | Expeditious Retreat | Expeditious Retreat | Expeditious Retreat |
| Weapon Kata While all proficient warriors practice handling their own weaponry, the distnctive approach of monks is most focused on making those weapons feel like extensions of the body. Always thoughtful about anatomy, they consciously adapt their muscles and joints to better integrate various blades and bludgeons into natural motions. This also allows monks to better emulate the fighting techniques of wild beasts – a practice dating back to their own precursors. Even martial artists employing no animal-derived stylistic techniques wield some weapons with motions no less fluid and natural than throwing a punch. |
⊲ The Way of the Blazing Fist Whether it is from a yearning for victory or a hatred of foes, battle causes your spirit to burn. That inner heat is a reminder in every muscle after a thorough workout. Through training you can direct your own life force to erupt with incendiary effect. Fire is featured prominently in any iconography associated with your martial arts style. Practitioners of this tradition often eschew weapons, relying exclusively on the focused ferocity of their heated hands. The Way of the Blazing Fist is associated with some of the least humble and serene monks.
This journey begins when outbursts of hostility from the convert manifest as actual flames. Yet this burning aggression is not easily sustained. Some experience is required to consistently incorporate fire into a flurry of punches and kicks. Consistency brings with it personal tolerance for heat as well as the mystical power to project an explosive punch into a distant explosion. The most advanced practitioners can reshape battles with curtains of fire or even create deadly pillars of the stuff, all the while ignoring its effects on their own bodies.
Muscle Power Except for the constructs and the undead, life energy flows through the bodies of all animated creatures. The internal processes of living creatures tend to be wellsprings of energy rather than effects produced by it. Yet great warriors can thrive without sparing a single thought for the magical nature of their own bodies. Even in areas where disruption quashes the most basic magical effects, mighty attackers can deliver deadly force. The most dedicated combatants may focus primarily on physical exercises rather than arcane enhancements.
The power of living muscles is crucial beyond its reliability in exotic environments. Rallying a legion of spellcasters is much more demanding than rallying a like number of laborers or soldiers. In large groups, working people can alter the course of rivers, pave modern highways, raise durable fortifications, or expel hostile powers from a coherent territory. Military organizations employ some mix of barbarians, fighters, monks, paladins, rangers and rogues to lead unproven recruits in pursuit of security for the regimes they serve. Though monks are not uniquely suited to construction and excavation, they benefit from extraordinary attunement to the power of their own personal musclature. |
IRATE IGNITION
Entering this tradition at 3rd level allows you to cast the
Produce Flame cantrip. If you perform a melee attack with that spell, all of your unarmed melee attacks inflict fire damage until the start of your next turn, and you can apply the Extra Attack feature as if you had performed the Attack action. You are proficient in the Arcana skill.
COMFORTABLE COMBUSTION
At 6th level your burning spirit is now comfortable in your physical form. You have resistance to fire damage. Any of your unarmed attacks may infict magical fire damage instead of their normal damage type(s). You can add your Wisdom modifier to the fire damage inflicted by any attack you make.
FORMIDABLE FUSION
At 10th level you have developed extraordinary command of your inner furnace. You can cast the
Firebolt cantrip. You have immunity to non-magical fire damage. Extreme heat does not impose penalties on your actions or increase your drinking water requirement.
IMPERIOUS INFERNO
At 14th level you must meditate simply to cease radiating unnatural warmth. You are immune to magical fire damage. When you cast
Burning Hands, the spell deals 6d6 + your Wisdom modifier fire damage regardless of the spell slot used. When you reduce a creature of medium size or larger to 0 hit points with an unarmed strike on your turn, you can use a reaction to trigger a fiery explosion erupting from the fallen foe. All creatures within a 15 foot radius (including the victim if still alive) take 6d6 magical fire damage on a failed Dexterity save or half as much damage on a successful one.
Magic and Vitality Bards, clerics, druids, monks, paladins, rangers, and Shamanic Militants can learn techiques capable of instantly healing injuries. Without such relief, rest can be the only other method of recovery from pain and suffering. Be it through holy power or the energies of nature, these efforts are a matter of survival for many adventurers. Healing spells can make all the difference once the alarm has been raised at a hostile camp or compound, setting the stage for a string of violent encounters in quick succession. They can be equally crucial when a stronghold must fend of relentless waves of attackers.
The most powerful healing spells allow their targets to shrug off devastating injuries repeatedly over the course of a battle. Some clerics, monks, and Shamanic militants are capable of causing the reverse of this effect. They can use magic to diminish or even snuff out the vital energies of living creatures. Some even incorporate these spells into ritual sacrifices. Though necromancy offers similarly deadly techniques, these have less to do with transfers of vitality and more to do with cancelling it directly or converting it into something else entirely. |
⊲ The Way of the Open Hand
Like all Bound Traditions, the Way of the Open Hand does not limit the alignment of practitioners. Yet it does require initiates maintain pleasant demeanors while freely giving of their own time and energy. When you commit to this path, you make consistent efforts to care for the bodies and spirits of associates. You inquire regularly about their personal troubles and provide any remedies you can. This helpful attitude allows you to support allies with effective benedictions.
Enough lessons about giving collectively teach practitioners how give a spark of their own vitality to pull dying people back from the brink of oblivion. Having grasped that there is balance in taking life from some while giving to others, Open Hand monks become capable of learning esoteric techniques for manipulating life energy. The most accomplished can revive a creature slain moments earlier, stop a charging monstrosity in its tracks, or doom a creature with deadly vibrations infused through a swift series of pinpoint strikes.
PERSONAL PURIFICATION
At 3rd level you might be ordained as a priest or otherwise regarded as a holy person. You can cast the Spare the Dying cantrip. You are proficient in Religion. When you are at maximum hit points, you can add your Constitution modifier to the number of hit points regained as a result of any spell you cast.
SECRETS OF VITALITY
At 6th level you are versed in the variations of how life energy flows through anatomical features. You have advantage on all Medicine checks. If it is among your known spells, you can cast
Cure Wounds as a bonus action.
Religious Monasteries Many of the oldest and most influential monasteries occupy sacred ground established by a holy order. Some were dedicated to the presevation of relics or the support of demanding rituals. Whether focused on peace or fortified for war, these compounds saw large numbers of residents committed to training in a local style of unarmed combat. Some religious monasteries demand spiritual devotion of all permanent residents while offering the mystic secrets of a monastic tradition only to a chosen few. Others use their combat training to draw in all sorts of students while using those teachings as an avenue to promote their faith to any receptive disciples.
Yet not all monasteries are religious institutions. Large cities often feature martial arts training facilities attracting a mix of curious novices and competitive boxers. Great natural wonders often see a monastery constructed nearby as a sanctuary for meditative retreats. Faithless persons are fully capable of joining and advancing in this class. Monks no longer devoted to the religious tradition in which they were originally schooled are also capable of using and improving these abilities. Individual monasteries may welcome or exclude students based on all sorts of criteria, including religion. Even so, the self-discipline and control over vital energies unique to monks is also wholly independent of alignment and faith. |
STEADFAST SPIRIT
At 10th level your own body is profoundly enhanced by rejuvenating techniques. You have resistance to necrotic damage and poison damage. You have advantage on saving throws against the poisoned condition. For every 10 years that you age, your body only ages 1 year. You gain a +2 bonus to all saving throws against gaining one or more levels of exhaustion.
QUIVERING PALM
At 14th level your profound understanding of life energy allows you to administer a series of superficially harmless jabs meant to place a victim on the brink of complete physiological shutdown. To prepare a Quivering Palm attack, you must use your bonus action to energize at least one free hand with deadly vibrations. Then you must use your action to attempt a single unarmed attack on a creature that is not of the construct, elemental, plant, ooze, or undead types. This attack does no damage even if it hits. Instead this maneuver entangles your hand with the spirit of your victim. So long as you remain on the same plane of existence as that victim, you can use an action to end this entanglement.
A harmless outcome is still possible, but if you choose death then the creature previously struck by your Quivering Palm must make a Constitution saving throw against a DC equal to your monk level. Failure results in immediate reduction to 0 hit points, while success inflicts 1d100 + your monk level in necrotic damage. If you do not end it yourself, this effect ends harmlessly after 5 days. You cannot simultaneously have more than one victim under the effect of your Quivering Palm. Once you have successfully hit with this ability, you cannot attack with Quivering Palm again until you have completed a long rest.
⊲ The Way of the Roaring Strike Students of this tradition are encouraged to vocalize violent outbursts of life energy. Success makes it possible to knock down minor foes by loudly stomping in their general direction. While many martial artists excel at breaking things, highly accomplished monks in this tradition can blast doors open with a shout. Eventually their ability to express aggressive energy allows them to perform terrifying displays that drive enemies from the field before any blood is spilled. Continuing on to the most powerful techniques associated with this tradition makes it possible to shatter stone or even breach fortified walls through the power of that eponymous Roaring Strike.
Alternative Monks Warrior monks are a well-known archetype in every major culture. Yet there are monasteries that do not offer training in techniques of unarmed combat. These institutions still maintain remarkable discipline among a community of residents dedicated to a common mission. Agricultural and archival monasteries are each prominent in many societies – assets in the estates of aristocrats or independent institutions functioning as communes. Even more than the monasteries of warrior monks, these facilities often depend on the isolation of a remote location for security.
In other cases, a relatively defenseless monastery will be located within a larger complex of political or religious loyalists. Soft-spoken monks sometimes perform the least desirable duties with humility while earning their place in the broader community. They can develop a unique sort of intimacy with the pontiffs and potentates they serve. Monasteries with no such affiliation may instead focus on dedication to an area of craft or study. Whether or not martial arts are involved, monks are united by systematic self-denial in service to disciplined growth in a meaningful practice. |
INNER THUNDER
At 3rd level you unlock the secret of sensing vibrations as they move through solid obects. You gain Chi Strike, and it does not count against your total number of Disciplined Forms. You are proficient in Intimidation. You can cast the Thaumaturgy cantrip.
SONIC SAVANT
At 6th level you have no trouble mustering surges of spiritual power coordinated with your physical attacks. So long as you are able to shout while attacking, your unarmed strikes may inflict thunder damage instead of their normal damage type(s). You have resistance to thunder damage.
VIBRATORY VITALITY
At 10th level you have energized your body to turn away conventional attacks. Each instance of bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage you take is reduced by 2 points. You have advantage on all saving throws to resist effects that cause the petrified condition or an involuntary change of shape such as
Polymorph.
SHATTERING STRIKE
At 14th level you must tread lightly to suppress footfalls audible from up to one mile away. You can also shout short phrases with enough volume to be heard clearly up to one mile away. When you cast the
Shatter spell, you can choose to achieve the effect of a 3rd level spell slot while using one spell slot of any level. When you reduce a creature of medium size or larger to 0 hit points with an unarmed strike on your turn, you can use a reaction to generate booming blast from the body of the fallen foe. All creatures within a 15 foot radius (including the victim if still alive) take 5d8 thunder damage on a failed Constitution save or half as much damage on a successful one.
Martial Arts Styles As secretive as they can be about their techniques, many monks will proudly perform exhibitions of their own fighting styles. Some institutions stage these public displays in order to attract new students. They are also part of a culture intermingled with competitive martial arts. From graceful gymnastics routines scored by judges to bloody bareknuckle boxing tournaments, many monks are no strangers to performing in front of large crowds. Though some are celebrities unto themselves, most do so to popularize a martial arts style associated with their teachers and techniques.
These styles are often named for an animal with a descriptor, like "Blazing Falcon" or "Leaping Tiger." Others are regional variations of a general method like "Chomtukian Wrestling" or "Junkongese Boxing." Martial arts as popular entertainment span the spectrum from impromptu back alley sparring to formal bouts witnessed by packed arenas. Participants strive to promote their preferred style of martial arts outside huge yet rare events offering their winners tremendous prizes and prestige. Celebrity prize fighters transcend the clash of styles, yet even they retain associations cultivated earlier in their careers. |
⊲ The Way of the Shadow Boxer Monks inclined toward covert operations emphasize precision to avoid attracting unwanted attention. Their approaches to martial arts rely heavily on ambush attacks, evasions, and misdirections. These Shadow Boxers supplement their unarmed techniques with an arsenal of weapons and other items to be thrown at unexpected moments. As an adherent to this tradition you become a person of few words – rarely eager to be featured in bards' tales or official histories. You appreciate the value of anonymity and mystique more than fame and followers.
Thus it is difficult to find mentors for this secretive tradition. Criminal syndicates and intelligence agences sponsor Shadow Boxer monasteries. These institutions are often small and effectively disguised as an entirely different organizations. New recruits learn how to withdraw unharmed from almost any situation, while more advanced practitioners study powerful metaphysical techniques for avoiding observation. Whether hiding in plain sight or training at an isolated enclave, Shadow Boxers develop techniques ideal for bypassing conventional security.
SILENT STALKER
At 3rd level softening your own footfalls becomes second nature to you. Your garb is modified to conceal many small objects in readily accessible folds or pouches. You gain Flurry of Throws, and it does not count against your number of Disciplined Forms. You are proficient in the Stealth skill. You can cast the Poison Spray cantrip.
ROOFTOP SHOOTER
At 6th level you learn special techniques for killing from afar. You are proficient with hand crossbows and shortbows and able to wield either sort of weapon as if it were on the monk weapon proficiency list. When you cast the
Poison Spray cantrip, it has a range of 90 feet.
“The wise man does not seek a path with no challenges. The wise man seeks methods of growing stronger while overcoming the challenges ahead.”
— Shen Hung, Shadow Boxer Shifu |
UNSEEN INVADER
At 10th level you can momentarily flicker into the form of a weightless shadow. You gain Double Jump, and it does not count against your number of Disciplined Forms. You have advantage on all Acrobatics checks. If you are wearing dark clothing, you can attempt to hide even if you are visible in dim light, but not while visible in bright light.
UMBRAL INCARNATION
At 14th level you can vanish into your own shadow, becoming nothing more than a two-dimensional projection. To do this, you must take an action on your own turn. You become unable to attack or cast spells, though you also become immune to all attacks, hazards, and spells that do not inflict psychic damage or radiant damage. In this state you cannot inflict damage of any kind, you cannot physically interact with other creatures or objects in the material world, you cannot be bound or grabbed, and you do not activate non-magical traps.
Vital Energies Known in literature as "chi," "kai," and "qi" among other names; mystical forces power both attacks and spells performed by monks. Various sources of lore associate this power with modern religion, the Old Faith, or occult practices. None of these teachings are essential to monastic practices, yet nearly all traditions weave fanciful lore with moral messages into lessons required for advancement in their martial arts.
One unifying theme is a focus on honing personal potential. The endless hardships of training prepare monks to look within for the means to accomplish amazing things. So it is that devout monks can change or lose their religions without losing any special abilities. It is likewise for those who turn their backs on a lifetime of reverence for nature or service to an unholy entity. Effectiveness as a monk only requires faith in the self.
Exercises that constantly challenge and strain the limits of personal capabilities also instill confidence. This allows monks to remain poised and smooth even while weaving within inches of deadly blades or daring to catch thrown weapons. The greatest monks bring the lore of their traditions full circle by personally accomplishing legendary feats while overcoming fanciful foes. These larger-than-life figures can be willfully cryptic while ordinary monks favor quiet. Thus few sages can comment with any authority about the true nature of monastic power. |
Umbral Incarnation allows you to fit through openings as narrow as the crack under a door, ignore increased movement costs related to terrain, and move through the spaces of other creatures so long as you do not end your movement there. You must concentrate to maintain this shadowy form. At any time you can end this concentration, becoming substantial in your present space. You have advantage on the next attack you make if you attack during the same turn you end an Umbral Incarnation. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
⊲ The Way of the Shining Stance Most monks practice a sophisticated spirituality without endeavoring to convert outsiders. The Shining Stance tradition differs from this norm. Its practitioners strive to become prominent exemplars of an explicit moral code. Some of these monks remain humble and modest in many ways, but all practice flashy fighting styles while striving to draw attention to themselves in battle. Their creed may be rooted in elaborate theology or it may be simple and personal, but each of these warriors enforces their beliefs through a hands-on approach.
Individuals of any alignment can enter this tradition. Having done so, you should remain true to that outlook while actively promoting your own core principles. As your reputation grows, you hope the public learns as much about your stances on controversial issues as the stances you adopt in battle. Rather than regard the power that flows through you as purely personal, you seek to serve a higher purpose. Perhaps ironically, this fosters righteousness of such intensity it can be downright radiant.
CIRCUMSPECT CLARITY
At 3rd level you become habitually vigilant, always searching for potential enemies lurking in darkness. You can cast the Dancing Lights and Light cantrips. You have advantage on saving throws against becoming blinded. You are proficient in the Perception skill.
PUGILISTIC PURITY
At 6th level you learn to coordinate surges of furious zeal with your physical attacks. So long as you do not suffer from the befouled, befuddled, confused, poisoned, and/or weakened conditions; your can choose to inflict radiant damage instead of the normal damage type(s) associated with each of your unarmed attacks. You have advantage on saving throws to resist the charmed, fixated, and/or possessed conditions.
| Monastic Garb Monks have uncanny ways of moving in combat. Many avoid armor altogether, and some nearly do the same with clothing. They prefer their movements be as unrestricted as possible. Silk is the only effective armor that does not interfere with the practice of most advanced martial arts. Thus monks who do not favor functional wrappings and/or simple robes often wear elaborate silk suits. This sort of armor is especially effective at protecting againt the slings and arrows a monk is likely to face when closing ground on a group of armed hostiles. |
SEARING SCINTILATIONS
At 10th level you unlock the ability to project a pulse of deadly energy over substantial distance. You gain the
Sunbolt cantrip. You can add your Wisdom modifier to the damage dealt when you cast
Sunbolt. If you know the
Light Chakram spell, you can cast that spell as a bonus action.
INNER LIGHT
At 14th level you are ablaze with amplified life energy, able to surround yourself in a harmless yet colorful aura at will. If you know the
Cure Wounds spell, when you cast it the target regains an additional 2d8 hit points. If you know the
Greater Restoration spell, you can cast that spell using any spell slot of 3rd level or higher. If you know the
Lightning Bolt spell, when you cast it you can choose to inflict either lightning or radiant damage with that spell. You have resistance to radiant damage.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Bound Traditions ↑ → Disciplined Forms ← ↓ Multiclassing ↓
Monastic Mysticism Some monasteries serve religious traditions that slowly allow disciples to unlock secret knowledge. Each layer of hidden knowedge is secured by its own tests and trials. Even monks without any religious affiilation often find themselves striving to progress through degrees of achievement. Extremely experienced monks reserve their most advanced teachings for proven students. This practice cultivates mystique, yet in some cases it is simply about preventing unready disciples from injuring themselves.
Normally both sorts of mysteries will exist as a mixture in the lore of a monastic tradition. Progress as a martial artist is paired with progress toward understanding a particular faith or philosophy. The most gifted warriors are constantly challenged to reflect on profound questions, and the most enlightened thinkers are constantly called upon to overcome physical challenges. Sufficiency in both realms is required to unlock the secrets of the next degree along a progression toward a pinnacle of magical and martial capabilities. |
Disciplined Forms Training methods among warrior monks are famously exotic. Students may practice a small set of exercises for years before learning any methods of applying those motions in combat. The repetitive nature of monastic training instills all sorts of lifelong habits. Some individuals strive to maintain a daily regimen of meditative stillness. Others prefer to begin the day with dramatic displays of their acrobatic capabilities. In the thick of a violent adventure, a monk might get more than enough practice in battle. Yet in more tranquil times, routine tests of agility, precision, endurance, and self-discipline are crucial to the upkeep of special abilities.
These Disciplined Forms accumulate from a small core of techniques into an arsenal of methods for fighting and thriving even when faced with severe opposition. Some legendary monks have been known to weave through well-armed groups while dispensing death like a ghost or a wraith. Many monks can climb and leap with extraordinary swiftness. They can also be swift to strike, landing aggressive flurries of unarmed attacks. Some monks even display unnatural speed while hiking overland. Even with select weapons, monks stand out as the fastest of warriors.
Yet not all Disciplined Forms are about aggression and speed. Others emphasize sensitivity and stillness. Some monks learn to meditate as effectively as elves, rendering sleep entirely optional. Hunger, thirst, and even suffocation are all hardships monks can simply ignore with the right mindset. Some monks focus much of their training on resistance to the torments and tricks of reviled fiends. Each Disciplined Form is achieved through extensive exercise and/or instruction. Collectively they shape the habits monks maintain to keep up their own personal fitness.
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Absolute Incline
You have advantage on all ability checks to related to climbing. While you are within 5 feet of a vertical surface such as a wall or cliff face; you cannot fall faster than 60 feet per round, you do not take damage from falling, and you always land on your feet.
Anchored Body
You are proficient with Constitution saving throws. You have advantage on saving throws against being knocked prone as well as any forced movement other than teleportation.
Ascetic Mind
You are proficient with Wisdom saving throws. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed.
Ascetic Flesh
You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage.
Buoyant Stride
You can walk across water or other fluids so long as you end each movement standing on a solid surface.
Ceaseless Vigil
You are proficient with Intelligence saving throws. You have advantage on ability checks to notice or identify traps.
Chi Block (requires 9th level monk)
You can use Deflect Missiles to reduce the damage from ranged magical attacks. You are unable to catch these attacks.
Chi Projection
You have an effective reach of 15' for purposes of shoving.
Chi Push
When you hit a creature no more than one size larger than you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to force that target to up to 10' to a more distant position unless it makes a Constitution saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier.
Chi Shield
When you are attacked, you can use your reaction to raise your Armor Class by 2 until you move at least 5' or your next turn ends.
Chi Siphon
When you hit a creature that is not of the construct or undead types with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to cancel all other damage while inflicting 1d4 + your Wisdom modifier necrotic damage. When you do this, regain the number of hit points rolled on that damage die.
Chi Stride
So long as you are not using a shield and you are not wearing armor other than silk armor, you can add 5× your proficiency bonus to your speed.
Chi Strike
All of your unarmed attacks inflict triple damage on inanimate objects and double damage on creatures of the construct type.
Chi Weave
You can take the Disengage action as a bonus action.
Disarming Strike
When you hit a creature no more than one size larger than you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to force it to drop one held or wielded item of your choice unless that target makes a Strength saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier.
Double Jump
Your jump distances are doubled. You have advantage on saving throws against falling off ledges or into pits.
Fancy Footwork
You can take the Dodge action as a bonus action.
Favorable Momentum
When you score a critical hit, gain 1d12 temporary hit points.
| |
Flawless Footwork
Attackers do not have advantage from your balancing, and climbing does not cost you extra movement. You have advantage on all ability checks related to balacing or avoiding known traps triggered by footsteps.
Flurry of Throws
When you throw a weapon, you can ready another weapon as part of that attack.
Flying Roundhouse
You can use your action to perform one melee attack against every creature within 5 feet of your present position instead of the normal Attack action.
Ground Fighting
Your melee attacks do not suffer disadvantage from being prone.
Harmonious Flesh
You suffer no penalties from exposure to cold climates, hot climates, and high altitudes. Add one to the number of Hit Dice you regain when you complete a long rest.
Harmonious Mind
You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened, and you have resistance to psychic damage.
Heaving Hold
Your speed is not halved while grappling a creature of your own size or smaller.
Hidden Vitality
When you take damage you can use your reaction to fall prone and appear dead to all non-magical scrutiny. This appearance is spoiled when you move, speak, or take any action. You have advantage on the first attack you make within 1 minute of using Hidden Vitality.
Inner Awareness
You have blindsight to a range of 10 feet.
Inner Sufficiency
You can go five days without food or water before you must make saving throws against hunger and thirst. You can go for 15 minutes without breathing at all before time starts on the normal breath holding process for you.
Kicking Kata
The bound condition does not inflict disadvantage on your unarmed attacks. When you hit a prone creature with an unarmed attack, you can add your proficiency bonus to the damage of that attack.
Kip Up
If you are prone at the start of your turn, you can stand once before the end of your turn without using any movement.
Light Step
Sneaking does not cost additional movement for you.
Leveraged Throw
When a creature no more than one size larger than you misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to move that creature 10 feet in any direction unless it makes a Constitution saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier.
Meditative Praxis
Four hours of sitting still while semi-conscious is enough for you to complete a long rest and satisfy your rest requirement for the day. You remain keenly aware of your surroundings in this state. It is spoiled if you move, take damage, or perform any action before the trance has concluded. Otherwise, it conveys all the benefits of a full night's sleep.
Rallying Stance
When you stand after having been knocked prone by a foe, you can use your reaction to regain 1d8 hit points.
Sweeping Kick
When you hit a creature no more than one size larger than you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to knock that target prone unless it makes a Constitution saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier.
Unyielding Will
You are proficient with Charisma saving throws. You have advantage on saving throws against being paralyzed.
Vital Foresight
When an attacker lands a critical hit on you, you can use your reaction to force your attacker to reroll that attack and use the new result.
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| Multiclass Progression |
Proficiency
Level Bonus | Spell Slots
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th |
| 1st | +2 | | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2nd | +2 | | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 3rd | +2 | | 4 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4th | +2 | | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5th | +3 | | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6th | +3 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 7th | +3 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8th | +3 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 9th | +4 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 10th | +4 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 11th | +4 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 12th | +4 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 13th | +5 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 14th | +5 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 15th | +5 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 16th | +5 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 17th | +6 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 20th | +6 | | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Multiclassing Some adventurers forego the opportunity to reach the pinnacle of any class by pursuing a mix of abilities from more than one. When you gain a level, your DM might permit that level to be added to a mutually agreeable class. Your character attains 1st level after previously holding no level in that class. Adding a new class should reflect some prior efforts to learn related lore and exercise applicable skills. Joining a new class provides all of the proficiencies and features associated with the 1st level of that class. Multiclass characters are then free to apply each additional level gain to any one of their classes.
To avoid confusion, each
class level is referenced directly by name (i.e. "cleric level," "ranger level," "warlock level," etc.) Often they will be indicated in series with slashes (e.g.
"fighter 2/rogue 5/wizard 4" would indicate a character who was simultaneously a 2nd level fighter, a 5th level rogue, and a 4th level wizard.) Class level determines Hit Dice, class features, cantrips learned, and what level(s) of spells are available from the list for that class. Multiclass characters are unable to know or prepare spells of higher level than the highest level spell slot available through the individual class level providing access to that spell.
The full value of every class level should be added together to determine
character level. For example, the character level of a
fighter 2/rogue 5/wizard 4 would be 11th. Multiclass characters cannot advance beyond the 20th character level. Character level determines proficiency bonus as indicated on the nearby table. Observations relative to the Tiers of Power are also are informed by the character level of multiclass individuals. Some multiclass adventurers are driven by lifelong interests too diverse to be fully supported by a single body of training. Others seek to empower themselves through synergies unlocked with specific combinations of techniques. The study and self-improvement activities of multiclass characters should be as ecclectic as the capabilities they accumulate.
Multiclass characters determine their overall
spellcasting level by adding together their levels in cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock and wizard with half (rounded down) their total levels in bard, monk, paladin, and ranger. Braced Battlemagi, Shamanic Militants, and Stage Magicians can also add one third (rounded down) of their respective level(s) in the class(es) associated with those subclass(es). The table nearby indicates the spell slots available to a multiclass character after completing a long rest based on spellcasting level. When that spellcasting level substantially surpasses a character's highest class level, this results in slots useful only for casting lower level spells.
“The best way to acquire a formidable power is to acquire a great many powers.”
— Gaston Silvertongue, half-elf visionary |
An adventurer is normally limited to compiling a readied spell list no larger than character level + Intelligence modifier. Bonus spells provided by class and subclass features normally do not count against that limit. Yet it does apply evenly across all spellcasting classes. Essentially, the Intelligence modifier is a flexible pool of additional choices a multiclass character can apply to any spellcasting class(es). While clerics, druids, and wizards can alter their spell mix on a daily basis; other spellcasters have relatively unchanging personal lists of prepared spells. When the number of spells on such a list surpasses the relevant class level, each additional spell locks down a point of that Intelligence modifier, making it unavailable for bolstering spell selections from any other class.
“The vigorous study of many trades will never lead to the mastery of any among them.”
— Aeschinion, Thracian philosopher |
Some multiclass capabilities are redundant. No character or other creature can benefit simultaneously from more than one feat, feature, or spell with the same name. For example, a fighter/paladin experienced enough to earn Tactical Action from both classes can only declare one Tactical Action per round. Likewise, Extra Attack only ever adds multiple extra attacks to a single attack action by way of x2 and x3 variants restricted to high class levels. Exclusivity by name applies even when the mechanics of abilities differ. For example, a barbarian/monk can use Unarmored Defense to add
either their Constitution bonus, helm bonus, and shield bonus
or their Wisdom bonus and silk armor bonus to their Armor Class while otherwise unarmored.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Multiclassing ↑ → Paladins ← ↓ Sacred Oaths ↓
| Paladin Basics |
hit points for new characters: 10 + your Constitution bonus
hit points for gained levels: 1d10 + your Constitution bonus
Hit Dice: 1d10 per paladin level
armor proficiencies: light, medium, heavy, shield
weapon proficiencies: all weapons
saving throw proficiencies: Charisma & Wisdom
core skill proficiencies: History, Persuasion, and Religion
languages: one major human language
tool proficiencies: siege warfare, one mount, masons' tools
supplemental skill proficiencies: You can replace each of your redundant skills with Animal Handling, Arcana, Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Medicine, or Perception.
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Paladins
The most inspiring figures during the Age of Heroes were holy warriors dedicated to the service of Athena (daughter of Zeus,) Chung Kuel, Math (son of Dagda,) Osiris, or Tyr. These paladins were paragons of lawful good beliefs, employing holy power to defeat menacing monsters while conveying nearly all their recovered treasures to charitable causes. Modern paladins sometimes emulate these ancient idealists by pursuing profoundly selfless agendas. Most draw their inspiration from other deities or earthly causes. Today a paladin may be of any alignment, yet all are expected to honor an explicit moral stance. Each is bound by a Sacred Oath. These oaths may be sworn to civic instituions or even tracts of land, though most are expressions of fanatical faith.
All paladins are versed in the ecclesiastical and political particulars of sensitive subjects in their homelands. They tend to view matters through the lens of alignment. Traditions and training drive each paladin to become an exemplar of the ethical system framing one Sacred Oath. Most are militant champions of a specific religion. Yet legendary paladins have been driven entirely by devotion to a principled government or scenic vista. Paladins call upon divine power even if their vows have no explicit religious terms. In every instance, steadfast sincerity is absolutely essential. Spellcasting and other spiritual powers may fail for paladins known to have faltered greatly in upholding their own ideals.
Military leaders know paladins as reliable operatives. If a mission can be contextualized as service to the cause a paladin holds most sacred, many would sooner die in the attempt than fail to complete that quest. Paladins rarely flee or employ skirmishing tactics. Acting as righteous authorities, they usually favor direct confrontations. Paladins also encourage their allies to hold firm in battle, their personal drive accompanied by touches of holy power. Paladins tend to be direct even in the channeling of divine energy, though experienced individuals also develop limited spellcasting ability. Some religions integrate paladins directly into their priesthoods. Many other paladins enjoy support from law enforcement or military organizations.
| Paladin Progression |
Proficiency
Level Bonus Features | Divine
Smite | Spell Slots
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th |
| 1st | +2 | Fighting Styles,
Lay on Hands | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2nd | +2 | Divine Smite,
Spellcasting | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 3rd | +2 | Sacred Oath | 1 | 3 | – | – | – | – |
| 4th | +2 | Feat | 1 | 3 | – | – | – | – |
| 5th | +3 | Tactical Action | 1 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – |
| 6th | +3 | Oath Feature | 2 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – |
| 7th | +3 | Extra Attack | 2 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – |
| 8th | +3 | Feat | 2 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – |
| 9th | +4 | Aura of Protection | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – |
| 10th | +4 | Oath Feature | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – |
| 11th | +4 | Feat | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – |
| 12th | +4 | Improved Divine Smite | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – |
| 13th | +5 | Aura of Courage | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – |
| 14th | +5 | Oath Feature | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – |
| 15th | +5 | Feat | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 16th | +5 | Extra Attack x2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 17th | +6 | Feat | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | Truesight | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | Feat | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 20th | +6 | Total Commitment | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
CREATING A PALADIN
Paladins begin their careers before swearing the Sacred Oaths that will shape the trajectories of those careers. Each aspires to become a spiritually-empowered warrior. Even paladins not inclined toward routine prayer will designate one patron god as a source of personal inspiration. Every member of the Fivesquare Pantheon supports some modern paladins, and this class spans the entire range of possible alignments. Divine power answers much more readily to mortals actively calling out the name of a specific deity. Yet an accomplished paladin can become equally capable of channeling heavenly energies through appeals to an abstract principle, an earthly institution, or a physical locale.
While no benefits associated with a Sacred Oath are awarded before 3rd level, most paladins begin adventuring in the hopes of proving their worth to make such a grand pledge. Few are the seekers able to fight and heal like paladins without any vision of the cause to which they will commit their very lives. Once a Sacred Oath is sworn, it becomes the dominant motivation driving that individual. Most paladins are distressed by the smallest breeches of loyalty and deviations in alignment. Any major acts of either sort threaten their connection to divine power. Even chaotic paladins require a sort of steadfast quality, remaining utterly earnest in fealty to their chosen cause or creed.
People from any walk of life can experience the calling to enter this class. Priests and soldiers are the two most common sorts of folks to become paladins. Many members of this class work closely with holy orders or even hold rank in them. Other paladins achieve dignified stations through direct service to aristocrats or work within an organization dedicated to protecting a regime. Yet some paladins are not particularly courtly or religious figures. They endeavor to fulfill their Sacred Oaths as independent hunters, peacekeepers, vigilantes, or wardens – answerable to no earthly superiors. Whether a humble minion in one of the world's largest religions or a lone sentinel keeping watch over a scenic wonder, dedication to duty is the defining characteristic of all paladins.
| Playing a Paladin |
∨ heavenly or grounded?
Most paladins openly flaunt their connection to divine power. Some adopt a downright angelic demeanor. Many proudly call upon a deity in times of need. Other paladins may be soft-spoken about their faith. Some cultivate spiritual channels and divine patronage purely through passionate dedication to a compatible cause or creed. Both sorts of paladins can access the magic of prayer by appealing to an ideal or an earthly institution rather than a divine being. Yet it is commonn for paladins to seek distinction by prominently emphasizing their affinity for heavenly power.
∨ holy or unconsecrated?
Some paladins seek formal status as holy persons. Paladins with a clear religious affiliation might be admitted into a priesthood on joining a subclass and swearing a Sacred Oath. This holy status can change everything from the legal penalties for victimizing a paladin to the privilege of conducting ceremonies at sacred sites. Yet not all paladins are holy persons, or even explicit advocates of any particular faith. Some political organizations favor unconsecrated paladins so as to operate without building religious tensions in their societies. Others are simply so committed to an earthly purpose that no formal theology has much bearing on their ambitions and restrictions.
∨ judgemental or tolerant?
Paladins typically live under strict codes of morality. In many cases these beliefs are held up as universal truths, readily applied to others. Judgemental paladins can be quick to make enemies even over minor doctrines or taboos. They often expect companions to at least attempt to live by that same moral code. More tolerant paladins see their morality as limited to a set of personal obligations. They will happily argue the merits of their own beliefs, but they do not condemn or punish others merely for adhering to different beliefs.
∨ plutocratic or philanthropic?
While all paladins support a cause, only some honor the ancient tradition of consistently donating the bulk of any new personal wealth improve conditions for the least fortunate people in their communities. There are even modern paladins holding moral stances against feeding the poor and healing the sick. They may direct all their support toward an elite institution already well-financed. Some such adventurers still perform token acts of philanthropy for purposes of self-promotion, but they will not let the needs of the downtrodden signifigantly deplete their coffers. Paladins typically wind up accumulting prestige in the eyes of the common folk or in the eyes of a financial elite, rarely managing to become role models among both extremes of privilege.
∨ crusading or territorial?
Different paladins have different perspectives on the extent to which their moral authority travels wherever they do. Some see their Sacred Oaths as pledges bound to a particular region or place. They might be sworn defenders of an ethnic homeland or sworn custodians of an ancient shrine. Territorial paladins can be especially fierce and unrelenting in clashes relevant to that territory, yet comparatively disinterested in struggles far from the place(s) mentioned in their oath. Yet many paladins lack any geographic constraints, applying their views to the entire world if not also beyond. Some crusading paladins deliberately venture to distant lands for the greater challenge of being surrounded by natural enemies of their faith or creed.
∨ fanatical or flexible?
Ancient paladins rarely withdrew from battle, preferring death in honorable battle to life after retreat. Not all modern paladins share this mindset, but some do. Fanatical paladins see their own lives as fit for sacrifice to a sufficiently worthy cause. Inclined to speak with chilling certainty, these extremists inspire confidence in their allies right up until it becomes clear that a battle is truly lost. Less severe paladins recognize the value of living to fight another day. They can be reluctant to issue threats and more willing to negotiate with hostile forces. Often torn between rigid ideals and practical realities, each paladin must make a choice to fulfill their oath with absolute conviction or to allow for imperfections in the advancement of their ideals. |
FIGHTING STYLES
Trained in modern methods of armed combat, you normally follow forms and techniques honed by generations of great warriors. You know 2 paladin Fighting Styles. When you gain a level, you can replace one of these Fighting Styles with a different selection. You can only use a single Fighting Style at a time. You must perform an adjustment to activate (or reactivate) one of your Fighting Styles. Once you have done this, you cannot do so again until the start of your next turn. You cannot apply any bonuses or benefits from Fighting Styles other than the one you are actively using at any given time.
⤩ Blind Fighting: You have blindsight to a range of 10 feet.
⤩ Braced Blocking: Your Armor Class increases by 1 while you are wearing heavy armor, and your speed is not reduced if that armor is bulky.
⤩ Deflecting Shield: Your Armor Class increases by 1 while you have a shield ready. The armor bonus of your shield is doubled for purposes of ranged attacks.
⤩ Double Parrying: Your Armor Class increases by 2 while you are wielding a melee weapon in each hand.
⤩ Focused Fencing: Designate one creature within 50' as your target. While you are holding at least one weapon, your Armor Class increases by 2 for purposes of attacks from that target. If you use your reaction to perform an attack of opportunity on your fencing target, you can also apply Extra Attack to perform additional attack(s) of opportunity on that target as if you had used the Attack action.
⤩ Freehand Fighting: Your Armor Class increases by 1 while you have one free hand or you are grappling a creature.
⤩ Vigilant Shield: Designate one creature within 5 feet you desire to defend. While you are no more than 5 feet apart, you both have advantage on Dexterity saving throws and you both benefit from your shield bonus.
LAY ON HANDS
The first real evidence that someone has potential to become a great holy warrior often follows from use of this ability. Whenever you complete a long rest, you gain access to a reserve of healing sufficient to restore a number of hit points equal to your paladin
level × 5. If you take an action to touch a creature within your reach, that creature regains as many hit points as you are willing to spend from this reserve of healing energy, up to the entire remainder. When you do this, for each five hit points of healing you deduct from the regained amount, you can cure the target of one disease or neutralize one sort of poison affecting the target. The entire process requires only one action regardless of how many conditions are remedied and/or how many hit points are regained.
DIVINE SMITE
At 2nd level you have earned the authority to channel pure spiritual energy through your own weapons. When you hit with a melee weapon attack on your turn, you can use your reaction to spend a spell slot. If you do so, the target takes 1d8 radiant damage per level of the spell slot expended in addition to the normal damage from that attack, and you cannot use this feature again until the start of your next turn. You will initially be able to apply
one modification to your Divine Smite. You gain additional enhancements to your Divine Smite at 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th levels. Whenn you gain a level, you can replace one of your Divine Smite modifications with a different selection.
SPELLCASTING
Paladins often directly deploy the divine power flowing through their bodies. Yet reaching 2nd level imparts enough metaphysical awareness to facilitate proper spellcasting. Subsequent cultivation of spiritual strength expands this capability. Paladins feel great comfort from their connection to the divine. This stimulating empowerment becomes familiar enough to distract only a little from the movements of bodies and weapons in battle.
Preparing and Casting Spells
You know a number of
paladin spells equal to
your paladin level + your Intelligence modifier. Making permanent improvements to that ability or gaining paladin levels can reveal additional knowledge. Your total number of known spells is a function of your paladin level + your Intelligence modifier. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of your known spells for another selection. Yet your progress in accumulating spell slots is limited to one advancement in two gained levels.
You must expend a spell slot of sufficent level to cast a paladin spell. You recover all expended spell slots at the completion of a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for all paladin spells. Saving throws against your spells face a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus. You can employ an emblem, a holy symbol, a rod, or a staff as a spellcasting implement.
TACTICAL ACTION
At 5th level you become comfortable in the midst of extreme violence. You may declare a Tactical Action when taking any bonus action or reaction that does not involve casting, controlling, identifying, or modifying a spell. Doing so allows you to retain your bonus action or reaction for the round, expending your Tactical Action instead. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until the start of your next turn.
Paladin Patrons Every paladin should designate a specific patron deity. The paladin should be of the same alignment as that deity, and there should be some intersection between that paladin's moral code and the virtues associated with that deity. Paladins do not need to function as holy persons or advance any faith, though many do both. Even paladins averse to discussing faith support ideals largely consistent with the overall priorities of a particular deity. This closeness paves the way for spiritual connections essential to the use of many paladin abilities.
As with clerics, paladins can lose many of their magical abilities if they stray far from the core beliefs responsible for their empowerment. Lapsed paladins must attone for their moral deviance or renew their Sacred Oath under different terms pleasing to the ears of a different divine patron. While the particulars of this replacement oath may vary, it reconnects the paladin with the same subclass as before, since those abilities are as much a function of practice and study as attitude and belief. While all this is possible, crises of faith are especially rare among paladins. After all, they tend to be even more zealous and less contemplative than clerics. |
EXTRA ATTACK
At 7th level your skill in battle far surpasses that of the average soldier. When you take the Attack action, you can attack twice instead of once. At 16th level you beome capable of attacking thrice with an Attack action.
AURA OF PROTECTION
At 9th level, your determination to stand and fight for your cause is an inspiring example even to companions with wildly different personal beliefs. When a creature within 30 feet of you makes a saving throw, if you are not prone and you can be seen by that creature, you can choose to give that creature a bonus on that saving throw equal to your Charisma modifier. Paladins with low Charisma cannot use this feature because it cannot apply a penalty to a saving throw.
IMPROVED DIVINE SMITE
At 12th level, you excel at channeling spiritual energy. When you use Divine Smite, treat the spell slot you spent as if it were one level higher.
AURA OF COURAGE
At 13th level, your confidence is so strong it hardens your closest companions against moments of doubt and fear. While you are conscious and able to speak, clap, or otherwise produce sounds; all creatures of your choosing within 30 feet cannot become frightened. When you use Lay on Hands, reducing the healing effect by 5 hit points per condition also allows you to end the befuddled, blinded, charmed, deafened, disturbed, fixated, frightened, and possessed conditions.
“Any society that tolerates adultery and nudity in public is sure to harbor devil-worship and witchery behind closed doors.”
— Neeltje Meyer, Fitch witch hunter |
TRUESIGHT
Any paladin of 18th level or higher is a significant asset in the machinations of the gods. To reduce tragedies related to misunderstandings, each of these legendary holy warriors is endowed with true sight to a range of 120 feet.
TOTAL COMMITMENT
At 20th level, you have adapted yourself into an ideal conduit for channeling the power of your patron deity. If you can speak when you use Improved Divine Smite and you have at least one additional spell slot remaining, you can swear on that which you hold most sacred to direct all of your remaining power into that single attack. Expend all remaining spell slots, then add the level of each to the number of dice rolled for your Improved Divine Smite. If you inflict damage with this feature and your target is not reduced to 0 hit points, you are stunned until the end of your next turn. If you reduce a target to 0 hit points with this feature, roll 2d4 and regain a pair of spell slots of the indicated levels.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Paladins ↑ → Sacred Oaths ← ↓ Divine Smites ↓
| Holy Warriors Paladins are uniquely suited to bring motivations and remedies into the thick of battle. Most also see themselves dutybound to impose their own beliefs on others. Their oaths make them unflinching in the right contexts. A sworn defender of a place will never stop struggling to fight off any invaders. A sworn defender of a bloodline would sooner die than allow a senior aristocrat to be slain. Paladins driven by hostility toward a particular sort of creature or creed will press their crusades to the more remote reaches of the world, and beyond, if necessary. A great many large institutions value paladins as reliable operatives with personal convictions sure to remain strong even when payrolls and provisions do not. |
Sacred Oaths Paladins pair weaponry prowess with principled dedication to a meaningful cause or creed. These conscientious crusaders so profoundly pursue their personal morality that they become conduits for channeling heavenly power. Though some paladins do not engage in any religious practices, all are so faithful to their alignments and core beliefs as to benefit from the support of a patron deity. Many paladins celebrate this relationship, actively participating in a holy order or other organized religion. Others find fidelity to their sworn cause and associated values is enough to work miracles of faith.
Each Sacred Oath infuences the bearing of persons taking such a pledge. An Oath of Destruction causes individuals to favor jagged ornamentation and severe language. A soothing aesthetic and gentle voice are favored by those who take an Oath of Devotion. An Oath of Preservation often leads to a preference for imagery from nature and an affinity for mascots indigenous to a particular locale. Shields, walls, and other barriers are favored in the emblems of people committed to an Oath of Protection, and it is likewise with plain yet firm language. Taking an Oath of Service typically motivates individuals to proudly sport the symbols of their chosen institution while maintaining high standards of decorum in all their words and deeds. Prior to fully attaining the second Tier of Power, a paladin must affirm an explicit pledge conforming with one of those five categories.
| Sacred Oath Bonus Spells |
| Level | Destruction | Devotion | Preservation | Protection | Service |
| 1st | Bane | Charm Person | Healing Word | Locate Companion | Lithographic Touch |
| 2nd | Excruciate | Suggestion | Find Traps | Warding Bond | Arcane Lock |
| 3rd | Thundercrash | Sending | Revivify | Nondetection | Create Food & Water |
| 4th | Wall of Fire | Power Word Kneel | Fire Shield | Stoneskin | Secret Chest |
| 5th | Resonating Vibrations | Dominate Person | Mass Cure Wounds | Wall of Stone | Creation |
| | Resonating Vibrations | Resonating Vibrations | Resonating Vibrations | Resonating Vibrations | Resonating Vibrations |
Military Paladins Many organizations dedicated to recruiting and training paladins function as elements of a standing army. These groups require funding enough to maintain costly instutitions during times of peace. Riding in heavy armor is part of basic traininng for these adventurers. Many are groomed for low level positions in an aristocracy even if few attain such awards. Paladins are often taught that their righteous mission alone is enough to demand the best equipment and mounts available to allies of a faction. Some develop the mix of courtesy and gravitas required to make such demands.
Yet even the least charming paladins may enjoy respect and prestige as military personnel. Some organizations structure small cadres of paladins around service to a particular order of knighthood. Powerful leaders enjoy that rank or more while the bulk of the group pursues quests dictated by those leaders. These obligations are often regarded as sacred, making parties of paladins ideal for missions ordinary soldiers might refuse to complete. Pragmatic generals sometimes deploy loyal paladins as suicide troops. Others deploy paladins as zealous enforcers instrumental in imposing a new order on conquered peoples.
Instead of being concentrated into small units of like-minded warriors, some paladins are part of a broader service dispersed throughout a large military force. Imperial armies often incorporate paladins into front line combat units to provide both spiritual and tactical support. These roles seldom involve strategic command, but they often blend active combat service with ministry to soldiers in need of both physical and spiritual renewal. Be they specialists integrated into an enormous national army or elites deployed as independent squads, military paladins fuse loyalty to a chain of command with devotion to their divine inspiration. |
⊲ Oath of Destruction You have sworn to kill people and raze structures in a lifelong mission to oppose a specific group. This oath is focused on negativity, causing some to associate it with the archaic term “anti-paladin.” Pursuit of this path normally involves dedication to the eradication of a cultural movement, political faction, or religious organization. Such enduring commitments to hunt a type of creature to extinction might also inspire an Oath of Destruction. The most evil and hateful paladins dedicate their lives to the genocide of an entire people. More typically this oath is focused on a grave threat to civilization on at least a regional scale.
Criminal syndicates, subversive conspiracies, and unholy alliances are also suitable targets for an Oath of Destruction. Such pledges see zealous spiritual warriors eliminating dangers to the surrounding community by way of decisive attacks performed with urgent haste. Yet many of these paladins believe in guilt by association, quick to persecute any persons and organizations bearing strong similarities to their chosen anathema. A vow like this allows little tolerance for those who would fund, heal, or shelter the very scourge selected for extermination. Paladins of this sort are uniquely capable of revelling in brutality for its own sake.
SOLEMN STRIKES
At 3rd level your life has been dedicated to killing and ruin. You can cast the
Produce Flame cantrip. When you hit with a weapon attack, you can add your proficiency bonus to the damage dealt by that attack. You are proficient with masons' tools. You are proficient in the Intimidation Skill.
SOLEMN SMITES
At 6th level you excel at harmonizing spiritual power with acts of violence. When you use Divine Smite, you can add your proficiency bonus to the damage dealt by that feature. If your Divine Smite reduces a creature to 0 hit points, you can perform one attack with a weapon already in hand. You have advantage on ability checks related to demolishing buildings and/or burning large structures.
SOLEMN SPELLBREAKERS
At 10th level you have become adept at channeling your hostility into disruptive effects. You can cast the
Firebolt cantrip. If you know the
Cleanse Lair spell, the
Dispel Magic spell, the
Fear spell and/or the
Remove Curse spell, you can cast them using one spell slot of any level to achieve the effect of a 3rd level spell slot.
SOLEMN STRATEGEMS
At 14th level you are no stranger to plotting raids against well-protected targets. When you use Improved Divine Smite, you enable one creature you can see within 30 of that target to make one attack against that target. When you score a critical hit, you enable one creature you can see within 30 of that target to make one attack against that target. When you are hit with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to make one attack. When you make a saving throw against a spell or magical effect, you can cause one creature you can see within 30 feet to regain 1d8 hit points.
Evangelical Paladins Some paladins use their connection to divine power to establish positions for themselves within a religious organization. Associating with a church or a temple of incurs a variety of obligations, from paying tithes to enforcing taboos. Yet it may also open up access to support services such as congregants volunteering to perform basic labors or clergy eager to assist in ministerial outreach. Various holy orders and polytheisms extend status to paladins in different ways. Some are keen to ordain paladins as priests and offer privileges equal to a cleric from the same Tier of Power. Others see paladins as warriors first and priests second, limiting their spiritual authority to circumstances where no fully ordained cleric is available.
Even these adjunct priests are considered holy persons to be respected above layfolk and unbelievers in questions of faith. Evangelical paladins may strive to build their own congregations or even establish shrines at the sites of major events. These activities can support the expansion of civilization into lands once dominated by monsters. Sometimes they likewise hasten the assimilation of peoples inhabiting conquered territories. |
⊲ Oath of Devotion You have sworn to enforce the rules and promote the teachings of a specific belief system. Deeply convinced in the righteousness of one cause or creed, this variety of paladin eagerly pursues opportunities to preach or teach their preferred gospel, moral code, or philosophy. Though never hesitant to use violence in defense of what they hold sacred, these paladins prefer negotiations. Other incentives, from simple services to thoughtful gifts, often support these efforts. Whether pledged to a civic institution, a cultural movement, or a religious organization; each aspires to be an honorable advocate. These paladins are prepared to do battle only if unable peacefully overcome opposition to their ongoing mission.
Turned outward, this oath tends to make paladins evangelical. Turned inward, it allows them to zealously enforce standards within a faction. The Oath of Devotion motivates both sorts of behaviors. These paladins will raise their voices to promote harmony and settle disputes inside any institution or movement they find personally inspiring. They will also speak out against critics and other adversaries of their chosen cause. Yet the strongest speeches these paladins make are constructive. Their advocacy is simultaneously passionate and rational. Most remain at ease even while addressing large audiences. They tend to keep a keen eye out for any potential converts to their chosen cause.
PURITY OF PURPOSE
3rd level sees you secure in your decision to pursue a life of idealistic advocacy. You can the
Thaumaturgy cantrip. You cannot be charmed or confused. You have advantage on saving throws against becoming muzzled. You are proficient with Intelligence saving throws. You are proficient in the Insight skill.
Noble Paladins Some paladins dedicate themselves to a bloodline of aristocrats or a specific government office. The former sort act as familial retainers, defying members of the family they revere only in extreme situations where even that defiance is in support of the family's overall interests. Such paladins sometimes find their moral codes under stress while protecting the persons and the reputations of privileged elites. Others stand proudly as formidable operatives serving a house of like-minded aristocrats. Paladins committed to the support of a bloodline may themselves be distant kin of the prevailing leader, and outsiders having shown such loyalty for years might earn similar treatment.
Paladins dedicated to a non-hereditary office dedicate themselves to the ideals and the purpose of that office over the support of any individual persons. They see themselves as living extensions of a vital cause or tradition whether or not they are also agents of a modern regime. Such paladins will not hesitate to exert legal privileges or disregard earthly laws when advancing the agenda of a higher power. Some of these paladins benefit from the resources and support of a large organization. Even in the absence of that support, noble paladins typically make every effort to garb and groom themselves in ways fit for high society. |
PURITY OF UNDERSTANDING
By 6th level you know how to draw down divine power into your a halo illuminating your head, an effect you sometimes maintain as a show of pride in your divine connection. Yet your halo can also overcome nearly all barriers to communication. You know the
Tongues spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the
Tongues spell on yourself, you can do so with a single spell slot of any level. You can cast the
Vicious Mockery cantrip. Your proficiency bonus is doubled when applied to the Persuasion skill.
PURITY OF PATTERNS
By 10th level you know how to welcome divine power into your ears and tongue, overcoming nearly all barriers to communication. When you are under the effect of the
Tongues spell, you have advantage on Persuasion checks. When you cast the
Glyph of Warding spell, the
Magic Circle spell, or the
Zone of Mercy spell, you can use one spell slot of any level to achieve the effect of a 3rd level spell slot. You can cast the
Sending spell using one spell slot of any level.
PURITY OF LIGHT
14th level sees you generally accepted as an instrument of holy power. You have resistance to radiant damage. You have advantage on all saving throws to resist the blindness condition. You are proficient in the Perception skill. You have advantage on saving throws and ability checks to discern illusions. When you inflict radiant damage with Improved Divine Smite, you can choose to inflict the maximum result you could roll for that damage.
⊲ Oath of Preservation You have sworn to safeguard the physical integrity of a place as well as the culture of its inhabitants, if any. Paladins tend to be conservative by nature. Those most emphatically so become dedicated conservators of a settled community, major stronghold, or wilderness locale. Dutiful defense sustained over time can forge spiritual channels with geographical roots. Formalizing this through an Oath of Preservation establishes a strong personal attachment to some specific site. That attachment drives a spectrum of behaviors from publicly encouraging immigration into a thriving city to keeping the secrets of a sylvan glade by silently hunting trespassers.
| Independent Paladins Though rare, it is possible for a paladin to take a Sacred Oath in private, being driven by a deeply personal cause. So long as this dedication is sincere and it aligns well with the favored virtues of a patron deity, this can empower a paladin to lash out with divine wrath. These paladins often craft their own embellishments and emblems. Likewise the language of their battlecries and prayers might be completely original. While independent paladins rarely enjoy the elegant trappings and institutional support available to others of their class, in their holy purposes can be driven by unique ideals. |
What unites these paladins is a desire to maintain or improve the
status quo rather than allow the place they hold most sacred to become fundamentally different in any way. Since a defensive stand is always stronger when fighting as part of a team, this oath also focuses on literally preserving the lives of allies. Joining a formidable adventuring company works well when honoring an Oath of Preservation. Together the group can muster more resources for conservation efforts even as they travel together in pursuit of suspected threats to sacred lands and/or structures. These vows do not obligate paladins to perform perpetual sentry duty, but they do forbid abandoning a sacred place while it is otherwise undefended and likely to be violated in the absence of the preserver.
TIMELY RESCUE
Having achieved 3rd level, your fidelity to this oath empowers you to save lives even in the most dire circumstances. You can cast the
Spare the Dying cantrip and the
Steady Beast cantrip. If you know the
Purify Food and Drink spell, you can cast it without using a spell slot. You are proficient with healers' kits. You are proficient in the Medicine Skill.
Foreign Paladins Moral crusaders intent on taking their cause to distant lands often experience alienation. Where an associated faith or government dominates local culture, paladins are naturally regarded as authority figures. Where a hostile faith or government dominates local culture, paladins become unwelcome if not also threatening figures. Plans to brashly sweep over a distant land with righteous fervor often yield to the necessities of survival as a hunted outlaw. Insurgent paladins inhabit completely different circumstances from those supporting local norms and traditions.
Pressing a moral crusade in the midst of a hostile populace poses a special set of challenges. Constables might actively hunt well-known paladins at odds with local norms. Aristocrats rarely support activists openly hostile to the local mainstream. Foreign spirituality often clashes with overwhelming power from indigenous clerics and paladins. Surviving while surrounded by hostile forces might require colluding with dishonorable leaders or engaging in dishonorable acts. Paladins campaigning well outside the influence of their spiritual inspirations can find themselves struggling to maintain their principles if not also their lives. |
TIMELY BRACE
At 6th level you become extremely talented at standing your ground. You have advantage on saving throws against forced movement, including teleportation. When you are grabbed, you can use your reaction to attempt to escape that grab. When you end a turn in which you used none of your movement and remain on the same space where you began that turn, you have advantage on the next attack you make before the end of your next turn.
TIMELY COUNTERATTACK
At 10th level
When a creature under the effect of your Aura of Protection fails a saving throw, you can use your reaction to allow that creature to reroll that saving throw, using the new result. When a creature under the effect of your Aura of Protection is hit by a melee attack, you can use your reaction to move up to 30 feet and perform one mmelee attack against the triggering attacker.
TIMELY TRANSFORMATION
Following your commitment to this oath all the way to 14th level makes you a proper superhero in the eyes of people associated with your efforts as a preserver. If you have a suit of armor in your possession, you can use your bonus action to unload the entire item in a configuration suitable for donning. If an unoccupied suit of armor is within your reach and you are not already armored, you can use your action to don that suit in its entirety. This abrubt transformation is often accompanied by a flash of light, a puff of smoke, or a swirl of mist. While you are armored, you have resistance to non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
Spiritual Atonement The gods can be quick to abandon worshippers praying in bad faith. Clerics and paladins known to act with flagrant disregard for the teachings and values of their patron deity can find themselves stripped of Spellcasting and other features dependent on holy power. This dramatically reduces their effectiveness as adventurers. One path to recovery involves healing the wounded relationship with a divine patron. This can be accomplished by remaining faithful while completing a dangerous quest without benefit of holy power. It might instead require abstaining from the normal rigors of campaigning to complete a regimen of lectures, rituals, and trials.
Even an enormous material expenditure to fund a religious institution or social initiative can serve as the means to win back the support of a patron deity. The effort should amount to a meaningful sacrifice of some sort, and its success depends on how your DM plays that patron god. Forsaking a worshipper is no small thing. Ideally, your DM warns of the possibility and gives you a chance to keep the faith through changes in behavior. Likewise, planning a mutually agreeable atonement process converts these unpleasant struggles into rich character arcs with meaningful goals. Lapsed holy persons sometimes return with an even deeper understanding of the teachings promoted by their faith or creed. |
⊲ Oath of Protection You have sworn to prevent bodily harm from befalling a category of living creatures. All sorts of adventurers are employed as bodyguards. Yet there is something especially reassuring when a protector is sworn to look upon that duty as sacred. Any Oath of Protection is a commitment to defend some sort of group from all deadly dangers. It is often a pledge to shield the aristocrats of a particular family or the leadership of a venerable institution. Yet it is also possible to swear a broader oath, committing to defend all people identified as part of one specific culture, faith, profession, or race. Beasts or monsters subject to widespread abuse also sometimes inspire effective oaths of this sort.
Paladins bound by an Oath of Protection readily employ subterfuge. Fleeing or hiding becoems the most honorable path whenever those tactics improve the odds of survival for a protectee. These paladins also remain relentlessly vigilant, dutybound to spot trouble in time enough for effective action. Though typically humble and polite, they can become demanding and forceful even toward the beings they are sworn to protect. These oaths do not compel obedience, but instead establish obligations to keep select beings alive and uninjured. Even comfort and dignity can be compromised if the result improves safety for respected individual(s) facing active threats. Paladins of this sort often stand out as oddly vigilant individuals amongst crowds of carousing elites.
CUSTODIAL CAPABILITIES
Upon attaining 3rd level and taking this oath, you become an obsessively vigilant guardian. You are can cast the Mystic Shield cantrip and the Resistance cantrip. Add Vigilant Shield to your Fighting Styles, and it does not count against your total number of Fighting Styles. You can have Vigilant Shield and one other Fighting Style active simultaneously. You are proficient in the Perception Skill.
CUSTODIAL COUNTERMEASURES
Reaching 6th level leaves you determines to serve as an unshakable defender of others. You cannot be charmed or frightened. You have advantage on saving throws against forced movement, and any beneficiary of your Vigilant Shield also has advantage on saving throws against forced movement. When a creature within your reach takes damage, you can use your reaction to apply your Lay on Hands feature to that creature. When you cast the
Warding Bond spell, your target gains a +2 rather than a +1 Armor Class bonus.
Spiritual Conversion The gods do not look kindly on worshippers behaving as if they had completely different core values. Any alignment change tends to prompt a crisis of faith. In some instances there is a viable alternative to atonement. Rather than restore a faltering connection, a lapsed cleric or paladin can plead for access to holy power from a different divine patron. Taking bold actions in support of that new deity's teachings and values can drive this process. Some cases only require building on momentum established by the original moral deviation. Others might involve extensive indoctrination and/or generous funding of religious institutions.
A spiritual conversion should involve some sort of meaningful sacrifice to cement this new bond of faith. As with atonements, conversions are best played out as part of a plan agreeable to both player and DM. Any spiritual conversion, even to a patron of the same alignment, is a major event in the life of a character. Having proven themselves through extensive training, material support, and/or risky adventuring; spiritual converts regain the powers and respect associated with their status as holy persons. |
CUSTODIAL CONVICTIONS
By 10th level you have become an exemplar to other professionals involved in personal protection. When you cast the
Resistance cantrip, it continues to be effective after it is triggered, lasting up to 1 full hour or until you cast that cantrip again. When you cast the
Nondetection spell on another creature, you can include yourself in the effect as well. You can maintain one instance of the
Warding Bond spell without conncentration. You are proficient in the Insight skill.
CUSTODIAL COMMAND
14th level sees you prepred to secure a potential target against virtually any threat. When you cast the
Stoneskin spell on another creature, you can include yourself in the effect as well. When a creature within 15 feet of you fails a saving throw, you can use your reaction to allow that creature to reroll that saving throw and use the new result.
⊲ Oath of Service You have sworn to do the bidding of an institution you regard with deep reverence. Paladins typically seek to be used as tool of the gods. Yet many develop their own agendas, independently advancing personal principles. Independence is not compatible with this oath, since it entails accepting a place well below the senior leadership of a coherent organization. These groups are often integrated into civil or military bureaucracies, though religious factions are also appropriate recipients of such service. Paladins so sworn become tools of the group and its leadership. Everything from message deliveries to military command can be asked of these profoundly loyal holy warrriors.
Though subject to orders from mortal superiors, the Oath of Service allows for autonomy in the fulfillment of those orders. These paladins are no ordinary servants or soldiers. Instead, they are expected to be capable of delving in to delicate matters and sorting out the truth behind mysterious tragedies. They often act as enforcers tasked with meting out justice according to some sort of code. Be it a body of religious taboos, the expectation of silence among organized outlaws, or the laws of a governing authority; paladins naturally seek to serve the spirit of such rules even at great personal cost. As personal retainers, these discreet and respectful adventurers make excellent guards, heralds, secretaries, and stewards.
Spiritual Inspiration Holy persons known to faithfully respect the core teachings of their faith or creed can serve as powerful examples to others. Many clerics and paladins actively seek fame in the hope they might become role models for like-minded believers. Publicly preaching and sponsoring activists can also do much to popularize a philosophy or religion. Senior leaders in significant religious or social movements enjoy the support of large followings, conveying the sort of clout and leverage needed to effectively petition aristocrats and other public officials.
These followings are almost never confined to a single segment of society. Some religions teach that specific productive techniques and trades are sacred, but even these often appeal to members of other professions. Unlike social station, faith is purely a function of personal choice. Spiritual leaders will flounder if they reject earnest devotion from others. Even religions featuring formal ceremonial initiations accept support from loyalists yet to undergo such a rite. Thus supporters of any faith popular throughout a region are likely to be found in all walks of life. |
STATELY SERGEANT
At 3rd level you have been officially recognized as a martial and/or spiritual agent of some authority. You pledge yourself to advancing their agenda and defending the interests of a major institution. You excel at helping aristocrats maintain their appearances both figuratively and literally. You can cast the
Prestidigitation cantrip and you can cast the
Reflect Image cantrip. You have advantage on ability checks related to etiquette or protocol. You are proficient in the Investigation Skill.
STATELY STEWARD
At 6th level you have becoming accustomed to supervising household servants if not also personally tending to aristocrats and their belongings. When you use Lay on Hands to cure a disease or neutralize a poison, your target also regains 5 hit points. When you cause another creature to regain hit points, you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to your Wisdom modifier. You are proficient with weavers' tools.
STATELY SENESCHAL
At 10th level you are known for adhering to a particular, perhaps even impractical, code of conduct throughout arduous battles. You have advantage on saving throws against forced movement and/or being knocked prone. When a creature under the influence of your Aura of Protection succeeds in a saving throw, that creature gains a number of temporary hit points equal to your Wisdom modifier. You are proficient with jewellers' tools.
STATELY SUPERINTENDANT
By 14th level you have become a welcome presence at the social gatherings of at least one aristocracy or govermment organzation. You have done much to advance the agenda of the institution you are oathsworn to serve. When you finish a long rest, a number of companions no greater than your paladin level can receive uniforms of fine clothing bearing the colors and emblems of that institution. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or possessed, and you cannot be put to sleep by magic. You know the
Tongues spell, and it does not count against your total number of spells known. You can cast the
Tongues spell on yourself without using a spell slot. You are proficient with calligraphers' tools.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Sacred Oaths ↑ → Divine Smites ← ↓ Rangers ↓
| Holy Authority Few paladins are reluctant to publicly praise their patron deities. Many are also quick to turn violent whenever doing so is consistent with their own values and strictures. Just as rogues employ misdirection and subterfuge to finish fights quickly, paladins do likewise with direct attack and miraculous power. Where they are prominent, members of this class tend to be effective peacekeepers. In the best cases they are heroes working with honorable constables in pursuit of public safety. In the worst cases they are villains actively suppressing resistance to the will of a tyrant. |
Divine Smites Paladins are the original holy warriors. Their signature ability extends an invitation for pure spiritual energy to flow through a violent attack. The standard Divine Smite channels holy radiance through a melee weapon attack. Experienced paladins can modify this flow of energy, learning five modifications to Divine Smite over the course of their careers. Each modification is associated with a specific sphere of divine influence. Every patron deity is associated with five of these spheres, though paladins remain free to select other Divine Smite modifications as befits their approach to battle.
Multiple modifications can be applied to a single Divine Smite. Yet each delivers a single type of damage since it is not longer radiant when a single substitution is applied. Declaring all intended modifications along with each smite avoids confusion when resolving its effect(s). Highly experienced paladins often have a signature form of this feature like an Arcing Reaping Vengeful Smite or a Heavenly Majestic Staggering Smite. When violence breaks out in civilized areas, paladins often use their smites to quickly eliminate threats to their control of the situation. Epic quests see paladins more likely to conserve their spell slots, partially so that they can still manage to deliver a smite when needed to achieve decisive victory.
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Anchoring Smite [EARTH]
A creature damaged by your Divine Smite must make a Dexterity saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus or be hobbled until the end of your next turn.
Arcing Smite [AIR]
You can use your Divine Smite when you hit a creature with a missile weapon attack.
Blighted Smite [SLAUGHTER]
Your Divine Smite can inflict necrotic damage or poison damage instead of radiant damage.
Demanding Smite [AUTHORITY]
If your divine smite damages a creature able to understand your speech, you can use a bonus action to force that creature to make a Wisdom saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus or obey a single-word command until the start of your next turn.
Dimming Smite [DARKNESS]
A creature damaged by your Divine Smite must make a Wisdom saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus or be blinded until the end of your next turn.
Disarming Smite [PROSPERITY]
A creature damaged by your Divine Smite must make a Strength saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus or drop an item of your choice presently held or wielded.
Heavenly Smite [STORM]
Your Divine Smite can inflict lightning damage or thunder damage instead of radiant damage.
Hurling Smite [HAVOC]
You can use your Divine Smite when you hit a creature with a thrown weapon attack.
Illuminating Smite [STRATEGY]
A creature damaged by your Divine Smite must make an Dexterity saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus or become glamored until the end of your next turn.
Immolating Smite [FIRE]
Your Divine Smite can deal fire damage instead of radiant damage. If you choose this option, the target must make a Constitution saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus or be unable to regain hit points before the end of your next turn.
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Inspiring Smite [MEDICINE]
When you use your Divine Smite to deal radiant damage, distribute half the amount of that damage as hit points regained by creatures other than yourself that you can see within 30 feet of the original target.
Majestic Smite [BALANCE]
A creature damaged by your Divine Smite must make a Dexterity saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus or be knocked prone.
Marking Smite [VISION]
You are always aware of the position of any creature damaged by your Divine Smite during the present encounter. You can visualize these creatures clearly and incur no penalty from their invisibility or obscurement, though blindness or darkness could still prevent you from seeing a smitten creature.
Merciful Smite [PROPRIETY]
When you use your Divine Smite, the total damage dealt by the attack and the smite becomes an upper limit. You can choose to deal less damage down to a minimum of 1 point of the type inflicted by the original attack.
Reaping Smite [HARVEST]
If your Divine Smite reduces a creature to 0 hit points, half the total damage of your attack and your smite becomes a DC. Make a Wisdom saving throw at that DC to recover the spell slot used for the smite.
Rallying Smite [VIGOR]
If your Divine Smite reduces a creature to 0 hit points, regain 1d10 hit points.
Ringing Smite [MUSIC]
A creature damaged by your Divine Smite must make a Constitution saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus or be deafened for one minute.
Spraying Smite [WATER]
Your Divine Smite can inflict acid damage or frost damage instead of radiant damage.
Staggering Smite [MISCHIEF]
A creature damaged by your Divine Smite must make a Constitution saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus or be pushed 10 feet away from you.
Subtle Smite [SECRECY]
Your Divine Smite can inflict the same type of damage as your attack instead of radiant damage. You can use your Divine Smite when you hit with an unarmed melee attack.
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Vengeful Smite [JUDGEMENT]
When a creature that has inflicted damage since the start of its last turn is itself damaged by your Divine Smite, you inflict 1d12 damage per spell level rather than the usual 1d8.
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↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Divine Smites ↑ → Rangers ← ↓ Hunting Techniques ↓
| Ranger Basics |
hit points for new characters: 10 + your Constitution bonus
hit points for gained levels: 1d10 + your Constitution bonus
Hit Dice: 1d10 per ranger level
armor proficiencies: light, medium, shield
weapon proficiencies: all weapons
saving throw proficiencies: Dexterity & Strength
core skill proficiencies: Animal Handling, Athletics, Survival
languages: one non-human language (or Sylvan/Tuathish)
tool proficiencies: all mounts, cartographers' tools, navigators' tools
supplemental skill proficiencies: You may replace redundant skills with Acrobatics, Arcana, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, or Stealth.
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Rangers As far back as the Age of Dragons, some humans developed extraordinary skill as drovers. To better nourish their scaly tyrants with the largest possible herds, they hunted dangerous predators. True rangers would not be known before the Age of Heroes, yet even modern members of this class benefit from lore as ancient as the first shortbow. Every type of terrain presents its own set of hazards. Every ecosystem presents its own mix of resources and threats. Only druids surpass rangers in sensitivity to the rhythms of the land. Rangers excel as foragers, hunters, and scouts. Some serve as guides and protectors to workers gathering natural resources. Some act as wardens, driving off people intent on harvesting resources that are not theirs to take.
Unlike barbarians, rangers typically hail from civilized communities. Most are happy to employ any magic or technology in their efforts. Rangers equip and prepare in modern settlements so as to thrive during extended travels through wild country. They do not study animals in pursuit of mystical experiences, instead endeavoring to learn patterns of behavior. This method proves helpful in efforts to anticipate or manipulate wild beasts. While most rangers are comfortable in urban environments, sophisticated cityfolk sometimes dismiss the value of wilderness expertise. People who rarely travel overland or only do so along patrolled roads may fail to appreciate the importance of astute guidance in less secure environs.
Most rangers are heavily armed. Their signature characteristic is an ability to fight effectively at distances both great and small. Arriving equipped for brutal melee, furtive skirmishing, or a shooting contest gives rangers several options their rivals might not match. Extraordinary skill at exploiting natural obstacles and traversing rugged terrain often allows these wildland warriors to choose a manner of of engagement least favorable to their targets. Military reconnaissance personnel are often schooled in these methods. Seasoned hunters may acquire similar talents without any formal training. Often supplemented by spells or traps, the wrath of a ranger is expressed through tactics tailored to exploit each enemy's individual shortcomings.
| Ranger Progression |
Proficiency
Level Bonus Features | Rustic
Exploits | Spell Slots
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th |
| 1st | +2 | Fighting Styles,
Natural Explorer | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2nd | +2 | Rustic Exploits,
Spellcasting | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 3rd | +2 | Hunting Technique | 2 | 3 | – | – | – | – |
| 4th | +2 | Feat | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – |
| 5th | +3 | Tactical Action | 3 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – |
| 6th | +3 | Technique Feature | 3 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – |
| 7th | +3 | Extra Attack | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – |
| 8th | +3 | Feat | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – |
| 9th | +4 | Land's Stride | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – |
| 10th | +4 | Technique Feature | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – |
| 11th | +4 | Feat | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – |
| 12th | +4 | Pathfinder | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – |
| 13th | +5 | Seasoned Striker | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – |
| 14th | +5 | Technique Feature | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – |
| 15th | +5 | Feat | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 16th | +5 | Extra Attack x2 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 17th | +6 | Feat | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | Feral Senses | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | Feat | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 20th | +6 | Call of the Hunt | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
CREATING A RANGER
Rangers do not embrace the primal rhythms of the land as druids do, yet rangers observe those patterns all the same. Any individual inspired to become a ranger respects the life forces teaming through vibrant wildlands. Most do not revere this environmental energy as sacred, yet they are keen students of its power. Rangers also excel at utilizing working animals. They are capable of taming and training any beasts fit to serve as working animals. They are also able riders of any serviceable mounts. Rangers span the full spectrum from aggressively hunting for personal profit to showing deep reverence for all animals.
Adventuring groups often value the way rangers ease passage through uncivilized territories. Members of this class are all capable foragers and trackers. Even so, rangers are warriors at heart. Most equip themselves for a variety of attacks, earning their name by engaging from whatever range is least advantageous to their foes. Though known for excelling at archery, these combatants also have excellent options for skirmishing and melee. Rangers see every stay within city walls as an opportunity to rearm and re-equip. They often burden themselves with copious reserves of ammmunition, blankets, harnesses, ropes, stakes, tents, and traps. Such surplusses make it possible to carry on unimpeded after significant equipment loss or to raise up camps suitable for sheltering large groups.
Rangers also often carry backup weapons. Handaxes, hammers, and hatchets often wind up mixed in with their toolkits. Pouches of beads and concealed slings often give rangers a way to engage from a distance even after surrendering other gear Some also carry such proliferations of small blades that they can be as difficult to disarm as rogues. Most rangers understand and respect the rules of civilized cultures. Few have outright barbaric grooming habits or table manners.
FIGHTING STYLES
Trained in modern methods of armed combat, you normally follow forms and techniques honed by generations of great warriors. You know 2 ranger Fighting Styles. When you gain a level, you can replace one of these Fighting Styles with a different selection. You can only use a single Fighting Style at a time. You must perform an adjustment to activate (or reactivate) one of your Fighting Styles. Once you have done this, you cannot do so again until the start of your next turn. You cannot apply any bonuses or benefits from Fighting Styles other than the one you are actively using at any given time.
| Playing a Ranger |
∨ ecological or exploitative?
Some rangers develop their abilities by seeking to maintain harmony with the land. They may even embrace practices from the Old Faith. Yet other rangers see every natural resource as an opportunity for personal enrichment. These individuals will hunt and gather without regard for sustainable practices. While all rangers tend to understand the environmental impact of various activities, not all of them are personally concerned about keeping that impact to a minimum.
∨ practical or stylish?
Outfitting for travel through rough territory often demands rugged garb. Various specialized supplies and tools may be kept at the ready with complex bandoliers, belts, and harnesses. People who look ready for a plunge into wildlands almost certainly do not look ready to attend a formal aristocratic event. Some rangers accept or even embrace these practical demands, perhaps also cultivating a gruff and laconic persona. Others incorporate special features into fashionable greatcloaks or overcoats, keeping all sorts of gear close at hand while also keeping up appearances.
∨ rustic or urbane?
Some rangers are uncomfortable inside the walls of any modern city. Their days seem more vivid and their rests more relaxing when surrounded by undeveloped wilderness. Yet this preference is not universal. There are rangers intent on funding a comfortable life inside a major hub of commmerce and culture by using their abilities on infrequent expeditions. Elite guides and trackers are known to operate like this, if only because wealthy concerns with need of outdoor adventuring specialists rarely attempt their own treks to find rangers in remote camps.
∨ primal or learned?
Rangers can center their craft on the application of lore to wild places. Thorough study of plants, animals, terrain, and the elements enables these adventurers to thrive in environments that cause many others to struggle. Learned rangers might be academics applying their knowledge to the outdoors, or they might be seasoned explorers quick to gather whatever they can from experts and texts guiding journeys past. Yet some rangers draw little on ecological science, instead focusing their abilities on a personal relationship with nature. These adventurers may converse with spirit animals and other nature spirits in addition to utilizing practices from the Old Faith.
∨ careful or heedless?
Rangers can approach the outdoors with a preference for secrecy. This motivates covered tracks, concealed campsites, and limited foraging efforts. Careful hunters personally study their prey, patiently waiting for the most favorable moments to strike. Yet other rangers do not worry as much about blending in with nature. Their camps can be luxurious, and their tracks may be accompanied by all manner of discarded trash. Heedless rangers are no less effective at foraging, hunting, navigation, and tracking. Yet their conduct can provoke the wrath of resident druids and like-minded wilderness conservators.
∨ independent or military?
Large armies systematically train rangers to serve as guides and scouts. Many lives would have been lost but for the astute navigation or the timely warning of an allied ranger. Smaller forces quartered in rural areas also give rise to adventuring rangers. They may outnumber both barbarians and fighters in tribes that favor archery. Yet many rangers have no background in military service at all. Their abilities result from experiences and mentoring during other sorts of travels. From aggressive hunters to bold explorers, independent rangers cultivate their fighting styles as another addition to their arsenal of survival techniques. |
⤩ Blind Fighting: You have blindsight to a range of 10 feet.
⤩ Double Parrying: Your Armor Class increases by 2 while you are wielding a melee weapon in each hand.
⤩ Dual Wielding: You can perform an Offhand Attack with a weapon that does not have the light property, though it cannot have the two-handed property. You can add either your Strength modifier or your Dexterity modifier to the attacks rolls and damage rolls associated with your Offhand Attacks.
⤩ Hurled Volleys: You gain a +1 to hit with all thrown weapon attacks. You can draw another weapon as a part of the attack every time you make a thrown weapon attack.
⤩ Mighty Swings: While you are wielding a versatile or two-handed weapon with both hands, you can add your proficiency bonus to the damage of attacks with that weapon.
⤩ Sniping Sharpshooter: Your weapon attacks do not suffer disadvantage at long range.
⤩ Standard Sharpshooter: You gain a +2 to hit with all ranged weapon attacks.
NATURAL EXPLORER
You have a talent for crossing rough terrain without running afoul of common hazards. When you make an ability check to avoid complications related to unusual terrain or to guide a group around hazardous ground and your proficiency bonus applies to the check, your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of that check. You can likewise double your proficiency bonus for any ability check involved in foraging or hunting. So long as you are not befuddled, confused, indoors, underground, underwater, within city walls, or on another plane of existence; you cannot become lost except as the result of a spell or other magical effect. When you are travelling alone, you can sneak at your normal speed. When you succeed with an ability check related to tracking, you can determine the number and sizes of the party you are tracking as well as how many hours have passed since those tracks were left.
RUSTIC EXPLOITS
In both battle and routine activities, you sometimes employ unconventional methods honed by long stretches of wilderness travel. At 2nd level you learn 2
Rustic Exploits. You gain additional selections at 4th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 6th, and 19th levels. When you gain a ranger level, you can replace one of your known Rustic Exploits with a different selection.
SPELLCASTING
Rangers rarely study the arcane lore favored by druids, but the share a keen interest in observing natural processes. Reaching 2nd level as a ranger offers the first glimmers of true spellcasting powered primarily by ambient reserves of life energy in the environment. Subsequent surveys of beasts, plants, and the ecologies they inhabit builds on those early epiphanies. The movements of bodies and weapons in battle are not lost on rangers even as they also observe the subtle signs of local magical resources then weave spells to tap those resources.
Preparing and Casting Spells
You know a number of
ranger spells equal to
your ranger level + your Intelligence modifier. Making permanent improvements to that ability or gaining ranger levels can reveal additional knowledge. Your total number of known spells is a function of your paladin level + your Intelligence modifier. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of your known spells for another selection. Yet your progress in accumulating spell slots is limited to one advancement in two gained levels.
You must expend a spell slot of sufficent level to cast a ranger spell. You recover all expended spell slots at the completion of a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for all ranger spells. Saving throws against your spells face a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus. You can employ a rod, a staff, or a totem as a spellcasting implement.
TACTICAL ACTION
At 5th level you become comfortable in the midst of extreme violence. You may declare a Tactical Action when taking any bonus action or reaction that does not involve casting, controlling, identifying, or modifying a spell. Doing so allows you to retain your bonus action or reaction for the round, expending your Tactical Action instead. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until the start of your next turn.
EXTRA ATTACK
At 7th level your skill in battle far surpasses that of the average soldier. When you take the Attack action, you can attack twice instead of once. At 16th level you beome capable of attacking thrice with an Attack action.
LAND'S STRIDE
By the time you reach 9th level, even extraordinary hazards do not slow your gait. Moving through difficult terrain does not cost you extra movement. You are also a fantastically effective guide and trailblazer. You can add your ranger level to the daily overland travel speed of your group. You have advantage on saving throws to avoid being befouled, hobbled, immobilized, poisoned, or slowed. When you complete a long rest far from the sounds and smells of any city or town, you can remove one additional level of exhaustion.
PATHFINDER
By the time you reach 12th level, your profound understanding of terrain as well as driving curiosity about roads and waterways endows you with a special gift for navigation. So long as you are not befuddled, confused, indoors, underground, underwater, within city walls, or on another plane of existence; you know the most direct route to any familiar location on the surface of the world. For example, you do not automatically know the path to the nearest village, but if you or a companion once visited a nearby village then you will know how to navigate there. This knowledge includes accurate distance and directions, even when travelling under dark skies. It does not include alternatives to the shortest route traversable by way of low-risk riding/walking and boating/swimming.
SEASONED STRIKER
By the time you reach 13th level, you know how to take down even the most massive targets by inflicting vicious injuries on vital anatomy. When have you advantage with a weapon attack and you hit, add 2d8 to the damage of that attack. This damage increases to 4d8 if you target is large or 8d8 if your target is huge.
FERAL SENSES
At 18th level you have studied and emulated countless ways animals detect each other. You have blindsight to a range of 30 feet. You have advantage on all ability checks related to your faculties of hearing or smell.
CALL OF THE HUNT
20th level sees you prepared to orchestrate the sudden slaying of multiple targets. Though an ideal ambush tactic, this ability can also be used in the thick of an ongoing battle. You can use your bonus action to announce that a hunt is underway or sound off with a horn. When you do so, every creature of your choice that you can see within 360 feet must make a Wisdom saving throw against your Spellcasting DC or become glamored for 2 minutes. When you hit any creature you have glamored with a weapon attack, you score a crticial hit. When damage you inflict reduces a creature you have glamored 0 hit points, you can perform one attack with a weapon already in hand.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Rangers ↑ → Hunting Techniques ← ↓ Rustic Exploits ↓
| Hunting Technique Bonus Spells |
| Level | Arcing Sniper | Beast Tamer | Creature Handler | Stalking Slayer | Steely Trapper |
| 1st | Guiding Bolt | Sleep | Alarm | Spider Climb | Silent Image |
| 2nd | See Invisibility | Venemous Lash | Enlarge/Reduce | Moonbeam | Find Traps |
| 3rd | Daylight | Fear | Conjure Animal | Locate Person | Firecage |
| 4th | Arcane Eye | Slithering Serpent | Giant Insect | Shadowy Form | Wall of Fire |
| 5th | Passwall | Hold Monster | Insect Plague | Cloudkill | Planar Binding |
| | Slithering Serpent | Slithering Serpent | Slithering Serpent | Slithering Serpent | Slithering Serpent |
⊲ Arcing Sniper Some people have a strong aptitude for reckoning ballistic trajectories. Unlike bolts of magical energy, launched munitions and hurled weapons are constantly pulled down to earth. Great strength and powerful bow limbs can mitigate this effect. Even so, reaching out to strike a distant target with precision requires consideration of this downward force. You are among those warriors most able to compensate for this as well as the effects of wind on long range attacks. Honing this talent makes it possible to fight from beyond the reach of foes with similar equipment.
SHARP EYES
At 3rd level you have demonstrated an uncanny ability to attack moving targets even at great distances. You can add double your ranger level to the normal range and long range of your ranged weapon attacks. You are proficient in the Perception skill. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of your passive Perception.
⊲ Beast Tamer Though large beasts offer a variety of resources to capable hunters, some adventurers in wild places strive to capture great creatures alive. Techniques vary from offerings of favored foods to threats of brutal discipline. Conditioning a savage beast to remain under control around noisy or vulnerable strangers is often a tremendous challenge. Tamers must establish dominant status or at least equal partnership with their charges. If you can accomplish this, then you can proceed with the grooming and training required to make that creature fit for appearances in civilized places.
BEASTLY BRAVADO
At 3rd level you know how to remain poised and confident even when confronting a predator much larger than yourself. You can cast the Steady Beast cantrip. You do not suffer disadvantage on Animal Handling checks directed at beasts from a higher Tier of Power. You are proficient in the Intimidation skill.
⊲ Creature Handler A wide variety of insects, reptiles, and vermin can serve useful purposes despite never really grasping the nature of their relationships with adventuring companions. Though many of these creatures can be magically controlled or even enlightened, it is also possible to manage them with more conventional methods. Understanding the instincts of these simple beasts allows you to direct their activities for your own benefit. You may travel with a menagerie of bugs and serpents mingling with your possessions, ready to be deployed almost as if they were additional pieces of equipment.
SENSIBLE PRECAUTIONS
At 3rd level you have become comfortable in the midst of various snakes, spiders, and swarms. You have advantage on saving throws to resist poison damage and/or the poisoned condition. You can add the property reduce (piercing 2) to any suit of light or medium armor you wear. You are proficient in the Nature skill.
⊲ Stalking Slayer Rangers often benefit by controlling the distance of engagement during combat. Your approach to this goal supplements surefooted movement with an extraordinary gift for spotting and exploiting visual cover. This often allows you to initiate combat before your enemies are aware of the threat you pose. In familiar locales, you likely know of several excellent hiding places each offering useful overviews of surrounding terrain. Elsehwere you can be quick to recognize ideal spots for eluding trackers or staging an ambush. These abilities might allow you to indefinitely harrass a hostile military force and/or drive off visitors to a particular patch of land.
FIERCE GAZE
At 3rd level you gain Blind Fighting, and it does not count against your total number of Fighting Styles. You are proficient in the Stealth skill. You have advantage on all Stealth checks performed outside any city wall, enclosed building, or underground complex.
FIERCE GAZE
At 14th level daily
Cover of Darkness spell.
⊲ Steely Trapper You excel at applying technology to the challenges of thriving in wild places. You have a knack for deploying arrays of traps to immobilize prey animals or even kill them outright. Though it may be possible to fashion this equipment from gathered resources, rangers often prefer the more durable and reliable creations of urban artisans. Your great comfort at exploiting such devices makes you especially effective at integrating them into combat with intelligent foes as well as rampaging beasts. Focus on these techniques allows you to be both precise and thorough even while compressing a complex technical task into a few swift motions.
FIERCE GAZE
At 3rd
You are proficient in the Investigation skill.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Hunting Techniques ↑ → Rustic Exploits ← ↓ Rogues ↓
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Advanced Venom (requires Basic Venom)
If you successfully inflict damage with Basic Venom, that attack deals an additional 1d8 poison damage.
Animal Kinship
You treat your companion animals as if you were linked by close family ties. When a creatures of the beast type under your control makes a saving throw, you can substitute your saving throw bonus for the saving throw bonus of that creature. When you regain hit points during a short rest, one or two creatures of the beast type in your company can regain the same amount of hit points.
Basic Venom
If you use a bonus action in preparation, any attacks you make that inflict slashing or piercing damage before the end of your turn also inflict the poisoned condition on injured targets unless they make a Constitution saving throw at a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom bonus. Each victim can repeat this saving throw at the end of its turn.
Beastly Bond
You know the Animal Friendship spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you complete a long rest, you can immediately cast the Animal Friendship spell once without using a spell slot.
Climbing Harness
Though you must have at least one hand to move while climbing, you do not fall if you make some other use of both hands while climbing.
Deadly Hurler
You can add both your Dexterity modifier and your Strength modifier to the damage dealt by thrown weapon attacks. This includes throwing weapons, but it does not include melee attacks even when weapons with the thrown property are used to perform those melee attacks.
Deadly Shooter
You can add both your Dexterity modifier and your Strength modifier to the damage dealt by missile weapon attacks.
Displacing Strike
When you hit a creature of medium or smaller size with a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make their choice of either a Dexterity saving throw or a Strength saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure forcing them to exchange places with you. If your weapon has the entrap property, the saving throw becomes your choice of Strength or Dexterity.
Eyecatching Crest
When you hit a creature with a ranged weapon attack, you can use your reaction to cause that creature to become glamored until the end of your next turn.
Find Cover
You can take the Hide action as a bonus action.
Hitching Maneuver
When you are holding a chain, harness, rope, shackles, straps, or another item capable of imposing the bound, hobbled, muzzled and/or tethered conditions; you can use your bonus action to perform the Activate action for any of those purposes.
Immolating Compound
If you use a bonus action in preparation, any attacks you make with a bow or a crossbow inflict fire damage instead of piercing damage until the end of your turn.
Night Eyes
Your eyes have adapted to travelling after sundown. You have darkvision to a range of 60 feet.
Obscure Tracks (requires Stealth proficiency)
If you are sneaking on foot at the rear of a group travelling overland, your passive Stealth establishes the DC of efforts to track the entire group, even if other members of the party are not sneaking.
Painted Weaponry
When you hit a creature with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to cause that creature to become glamored until the end of your next turn.
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Penetrating Gaze
When you attack a creature behind partial cover, you can use your reaction to ignore the effects of that particular source of cover until the end of your turn.
Personal Immunity
You have resistance to poison damage as well as advantage on saving throws against poison damage and/or the poisoned condition.
Pinnning Strike
When you hit a creature with an attack using a weapon that has the entrap property, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make a Dexterity saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure causing that creature to become immobilized until you perform another attack with that weapon, move out of the reach of that creature, or drop/sheathe/stow that weapon.
Planting Maneuver
When you are holding caltrops, marbles, oil, or another item capable of creating a hazard to others moving through a space; you can use your bonus action to perform the Activate action for any placement or scattering of that item.
Primal Bond
When you regain hit points, you can select one companion animal no more than 30 feet away to regain up to the same number of hit points.
Relentless Hunt
When you attack a creature you have damaged in the previous ten minutes, you can use your reaction to add your Wisdom modifier to all your damage rolls against that target until the end of your next turn.
Saddle Vault
You can use your bonus action without using any movement to mount an adjacent steed or dismount into an adjacent space. You have advantage on ability checks to complete falling or jumping maneuvers by landing on the back of a mount.
Swift Skirmishing
You can take the Dash actionn as a bonus action.
Slayer's Sight
When you attack a creature that is glamored, you can use your reaction to add your Wisdom bonus to the attack roll and the damage roll associated with attacks you make against that creature before the start of your next turn.
Spiked Boots
While you are wearing boots, including the footwear from a suit of armor, you have advantage on saving throws against forced movement other than teleportation and you have advantage on saving throws against falling prone.
Thermal Undergarments
While you are wearing a suit of armor, you have resistance to frost damage as well as advantage on saving throws against frost damage and/or exposure to cold environments.
Tripping Strike
When you hit a creature with an attack using a weapon, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make a Constitution saving throw or Dexterity saving throw at a DC of the attack damage + your proficiency bonus, with failure causing that creature to fall prone. If your weapon has the entrap property, the saving throw becomes your choice of Constitution or Dexterity.
Vicious Volley
When you infilct damage with a ranged weapon attack and do not reduce your target to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to make another ranged weapon attack against the same target.
Wild Whisperer
You know the Speak with Animals spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. If you spend ten minutes quietly observing an appropriate partner for this sort of communication, you can immediately cast the Speak with Animals spell once without using a spell slot.
Worsen Wounds
When you attack a creature you have damaged in the previous ten minutes, you can use your reaction to add your Wisdom modifier to all your attack rolls against that target until the end of your turn.
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↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Rustic Exploits ↑ → Rogues ← ↓ Covert Methods ↓
| Rogue Basics |
hit points for new characters: 8 + your Constitution bonus
hit points for gained levels: 1d8 + your Constitution bonus
Hit Dice: 1d8 per rogue level
armor proficiencies: light
weapon proficiencies: all basic weapons, arbalest, bagh nakh, broadsword, gauntlet, hand crossbow, hatchet, longsword, net, sabre, scimitar, shortsword, shuriken, rapier, whip
saving throw proficiencies: Dexterity & Intelligence
core skill proficiencies: Deception, Sleight-of-Hand, and Stealth
languages: Thieves' Cant and one human language
tool proficiencies: all gambling games, thieves' tools
supplemental skill proficiencies: You may replace redundant skills with Arcana, Deception, History, Intimidation, Investigation, Perception, Performance, Persuasion.
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Rogues Social expectations and norms establish the boundaries of what is acceptable among ordinary folks. Rogues operate outside those boundaries, keen to exploit opportunities most others would never consider. Thus secrecy is at the heart of rogues' tradecraft. Many arm themselves with concealed weaponry. Cloaks, hoods, and masks are all favored among the garb of rogues. Most also wear leathers for personal defense. Drawn to concentrations of wealth and power, rogues tend to prefer urban environments where they can make the most of their aptitude for circumventing security measures. Some rogues are not criminals, but all draw upon traditions established by the thieves and burglars of previous eras.
Modern rogues rely on the best available equipment as well as their personal cunning and physical fitness. In a military capacity they excel at infiltration and staging ambush attacks. Even law-abiding members of this class often become involved with secret societies. Rogues with no qualms about criminal acts deftly facilitate racketeering, smuggling, and theft. Most excel at escaping captivity as well as pursuit. All rogues understand Thieves' Cant – a way of talking in double meanings so that sensitive subjects are masked by unrelated conversation. Not a proper language unto itself, Thieves' Cant allows those who know both it and another tongue it to plan downright vile activities without ever saying something that might alarm a bystander.
Rogues also know the protocols and symbols of the criminal underworld. These adventurers understand signs used to mark gang assets and territories, from subtle carvings to bold graffiti. Rogues have a way of fitting in with misfits and outcasts. Yet rogues can also be found in high society. As aristocrats or merchants they are especially suited to securing their own treasuries. Some heroic rogues steal from tyrants then fund charities with much of their loot. Others take false identities to investigate cults or syndicates from within. Villainous rogues can be quick to act on any plan leading to greater personal wealth. Some prosper by selecting only the best opportunities to grift, sneak,
and/or slay their way to a coveted prize.
| Rogue Progression |
Proficiency
Level Bonus Features | Sly
Ruses | Sneak
Attack |
| 1st | +2 | Sneak Attack,
Thieves' Cant | – | 1d6 |
| 2nd | +2 | Sly Ruses,
Tactical Action | 3 | 1d6 |
| 3rd | +2 | Covert Method | 4 | 2d6 |
| 4th | +2 | Feat | 5 | 2d6 |
| 5th | +3 | Deviant Expertise | 5 | 3d6 |
| 6th | +3 | Method Feature | 6 | 3d6 |
| 7th | +3 | Uncanny Dodge | 6 | 4d6 |
| 8th | +3 | Feat | 7 | 4d6 |
| 9th | +4 | Elusive Instincts | 7 | 5d6 |
| 10th | +4 | Method Feature | 8 | 5d6 |
| 11th | +4 | Feat | 8 | 6d6 |
| 12th | +4 | Reliable Talent | 9 | 6d6 |
| 13th | +5 | Evasion | 9 | 7d6 |
| 14th | +5 | Method Feature | 9 | 7d6 |
| 15th | +5 | Feat | 9 | 8d6 |
| 16th | +5 | Guileful Awarenness | 11 | 8d6 |
| 17th | +6 | Feat | 11 | 9d6 |
| 18th | +6 | Astounding Agiity | 12 | 9d6 |
| 19th | +6 | Feat | 12 | 10d6 |
| 20th | +6 | Stroke of Luck | 13 | 10d6 |
CREATING A ROGUE
By definition, every rogue is a social misfit. Some are part of a tight subculture, collectively embracing norms that clash with mainstream society. Others hail from that mainstream, yet find themselves drawn toward activities and methods condemned by their peers. All rogues have complex and nuanced attitudes about the law, from the most authoritarian criminal investigator to the most nihilistic professional assassin,. Many thrive in opposition to it – sustaining themselves through smuggling, theft, and/or violence. All rogues move easily between entirely wholesome scenes and dark gritty struggles.
Yet rogues need not be outlaws. Armed forces and constabularies both have need of stealthy subterfuge specialists. Many other organizations hire members of this class as discrete professionals suited to bolstering security or conducting investigations without attracting attention the way heavily armed and armored personnel tend to. Independent rogues may make their way as charlatans, entertainers, private investigators, or treasure hunters. While they may not excel at traversing untamed wilderness, rogues balance that out with extraordinary survival skills suited to slipping past deadly traps and violent resistance.
Experienced rogues make ideal guides in crowded urban quarters. Where criminal activity is abundant, they can spot the signs and avoid the worst troubles. Where law and order reign supreme, rogues can reach out to subversives should a need arise that cannot be fulfilled through legal methods. Nearly all rogues cultivate some sort of reputation among the local criminal underworld. Those prone to violence may be widely feared as killers. Senior members of thriving syndicates as well as the momst daring thieves may be esteemed for their wealth. Almost all rogues have a personal talent and a track record known to other local criminals if not also the general public.
SNEAK ATTACK
While you are a deadly armed combatant, it is not in your nature to dominate a clash with heavy weapons and wild swings. Rogues specialize in subtlety. Whenever possible in battle, you exploit vulnerabilities. Even creatures like oozes and elementals can vary their profiles from moment to moment. Most targets also present anatomical variations including vital spots where especially severe injuries can be inflicted. When you have advantage with a weapon attack, that weapon has the finesse property, and you hit; you can declare a Sneak Attack. Doing this allows you to add the indicated Sneak Attack damage to the damage dealt by that attack. Once you have done this, you cannot do it again until the start of your next turn.
THIEVES' CANT
All rogues are comfortable delving into the criminal underworld. Thieves' Cant is a special way of speaking – not a language so much as a way of hiding ideas inside other languages. This ability is only useful when conversing or corresponding with others similarly endowed. When two or more users of Thieves' Cant communicate in a different shared language, they can discuss all manner of brutal, coercive, illegal, indecent, nefarious, taboo, or unholy subjects in the form of banter revealing none of that shocking content to less savvy bystanders and eavesdroppers.
This ability also conveys a working knowledge of the protocols and symbols utilized by criminal subcultures. From subtle carvings to bold graffiti, most urban neighborhoods are marked by the dominant criminal organization in that area. Related markings also allow insiders to share information about the hazards and opportunities of life on the street. Thieves' Cant allows savvy individuals a method of navigating the criminal underworld even if a reliable local informant cannot provide this information. Though persons of all alignments and loyalties can learn Thieves' Cant, a display of this conversational technique often relaxes the natural suspicions of outlaws and other renegades.
SLY RUSES
Your cunning and guile can be applied to much more than unexpected attacks. At 2nd level you learn 3
Sly Ruses. Additional life experience makes it possible to incorporate more of these unconventional tactics into your personal style. You learn additional Sly Ruses at 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th and 20th rogue levels. When you gain a rogue level, you can replace one of your known Sly Ruses with a different selection.
TACTICAL ACTION
At 2nd level you become comfortable in the midst of extreme violence. You may declare a Tactical Action when taking any bonus action or reaction that does not involve casting, controlling, identifying, or modifying a spell. Doing so allows you to retain your bonus action or reaction for the round, expending your Tactical Action instead. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until the start of your next turn.
DEVIANT EXPERTISE
At 5th level you have honed select methods of subterfuge to an extent that far surpasses mere proficiency. Choose one skill from Deception, Sleight-of-Hand, or Stealth. Choose two tools from the disguise kit, forgery kit, poisoners' kit, or thieves' tools. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes related to that skkil and those tools. Also, you can use magic items without regard for restrictions based on class and/or race.
UNCANNY DODGE
At 7th level your ability to avoid attacks dramatically enhances your odds of surviving violent encounters. When you take damage from an attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage of that attack by half.
ELUSIVE INSTINCTS
9th level sees you in possession of an uncanny ability to discern subtle signs of danger. Add 5 to your passive Perception. Add your proficiency bonus to your initiative checks.
RELIABLE TALENT
At 12th level you maintain high standards whenever you attempt a skilled endeavor. When you make an ability check that is not a saving throw and you add your proficiency bonus to that check, if your d20 result is a number from 2-9, you can replace it with a 10.
EVASION
At 13th level your knack for dodging dangers is extensive enough to address just about any source of harm. When you make a saving throw to take half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed and half damage if you fail that saving throw.
GUILEFUL AWARENESS
By 16th level you have operated in total darkness so much that you can fight effectively in that environment. You have blindsight to a range of 20 feet.
ASTOUNDING AGIITY
At 18th level your capacity for damage avoidance begins to seem downright supernatural. While you are conscious, standing, and able to walk; no attack roll has advantage against you.
STROKE OF LUCK
At 20th level you appear to be leading a charmed life. If you miss an attack roll, you can use your reaction to hit with that attack instead. If you fail a saving throw, you can use your reaction to succeed instead. Once you have done either of these things, you cannot use this ability again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Rogues ↑ → Covert Methods ← ↓ Sly Ruses ↓
Cloaked Assassin Many people believe military violence is innately honorable, especially when equals clash on an open field. Those same people often hold that killings without legal warrant in time of peace are the lowest acts of cowardice, especially when armed assailants ambush comparatively harmless civilians. A less popular corollary to those positions holds that there is no more courageous endeavor than the work of Hashāshīns. They risk the most torturous forms of execution, pitting their skills against professional guards to slay figures often formidable in their own right.
Still in operation today, Hashāshīns are a covert social network facilitating meetings between brokers selling assassination services and handlers able to direct the activities of elite Cloaked Assassins. The Age of Heroes saw all assassins working with this decidedly evil organization. Like other rogues, modern Cloaked Assassins can be of any alignment. Many hunt bounties on monsters and outlaws alike. Some Cloaked Assasins even join security teams, dutifully observing public events from hidden positions while prepared to deliver deadly force at any outbreak of hostilities.
COWLED CAMOFLAUGE
By 3rd level you have proven yourself to be both mysterious and deadly. Witnesses to your activities may be hard-pressed to offer much descriptive detail beyond “hooded” and “quiet.” You are proficient in the Intimidation skill. You have advantage on all ability checks related to remaining alert and still throughout many hours waiting in one position. You are proficient with arbalests, crossbows, greatbows, longbows, and shortbows. You are proficient with poisoners' supplies and weavers' tools.
During a long rest, you can use those tools and consume 1d6gp in materials to optimize a cloak for concealment in one particular terrain type or among one specific style of buildings. Each is crafted for personal use, funcioning as an ordinary cloak when worn by anyone else. When you are wearing such a cloak with its hood raised while hiding
and/or sneaking in the appropriate environment, you can add your proficiency bonus to your Stealth checks and passive Stealth one additional time. In these circumstances you should apply triple your proficiency bonus if you have Stealth expertise or double your proficiency bonus if you are not an expert in the Stealth skill.
These modifications may be useful on more than one occasion. Yet this is no sure thing even at a singular site. A forest after a change of season could present a completely different color scheme, as might the interior of a palace recently inhabited by an aristocrat from a different noble house. You can prepare for multiple environments by tailoring and transporting multiple cloaks. Magical cloaks can be modified with this ability, though each is only capable of being adapted to one sort of camoflauge at a time, and the rules of item attunement continue to apply to your magical cloak(s).
INTENSIFY INJURY
By 6th level you understand all manner of wicked ways to snuff out lives with blades, bludgeons, and projectiles. You have Sniper's Precision, and it does not count against your total number of Sly Ruses. Determine your sneak attack damage by rolling a number of d8s rather than d6s. Your sneak attack damage can be of any type inflicted by the attack.
DISPATCH DEATH
Cloaked Assassin training has, by 10th level, endowed you techniques for pairing long range attacks with phenomenal precision. You do not normally suffer disadvantage on ranged weapon attacks due to attacking from long range. Alternatively, if you use your action to perform a single ranged weapon attack from long range and accept disadvantage on account of range, you can add your Sneak Attack damage to that attack even though it cannot be performed with advantage.
ELIMINATE ENEMY
At 14th level your grasp of lethal methods occasionally grants you a unique understanding of how to immediately neutralize a specific target. When you use a bonus action to consider the assassination of a creature you can see that is not of the aberration, elemental, plant, ooze, or shapechanger types; that creature must attempt a Constitution saving throw against a DC of 8 + your Dexterity modifier + your proficiency bonus. If the target saves successfully; you find no exposed weaknesses, and you cannot use Eliminate Enemy again during this encounter.
If the target fails that saving throw, the next attack you make against that target before the end of your turn could exploit the tiniest point of vulnerability. If you miss with that attack, Eliminate Enemy has no other effect and cannot be used again during this encounter. Yet if it is a weapon attack that hits and inflicts at least 1 point of damage, then it also inflicts an additional 1d100 damage of any type dealt by that attack. If the attack was eligible for Sneak Attack damage, you automatically roll the maximum possible result. Once you have inflicted additional damage with Eliminate Enemy, you cannot use this ability again until you complete a long rest.
Padded Burglar In an age when tyrannical dragons claimed ownership of everything and everyone in their territory, fugitive halfling burglars gave rise to the first trade between peoples of the world. This prototypical commerce was not systematic – bartering typically transpired under twin clouds of deception and desperation. In a later time when the greatest accumulations of gold could be found in royal treasuries, covetous persons from many races developed extraordinary skills through lives of thievery. All modern rogues are trained in the lore of ancient burglars and thieves.
Some continue to specialize in methodical removal of property from secure locations. Padded Burglars have been known to insist that the staging a heist is a science unto itself. They prefer painstaking preparation that sets in motion an efficient and relatively safe plan. Whereas any rogue can pick pockets in a bustling crowd or climb onto balconies to exploit less secure points of entry, Padded Burglars hatch ambitious procurement schemes. Some pursue purely personal enrichment while others confiscate goods in service to a cause or institution. Yet all of these capable thieves remain ready to engage in violence should they fail to avoid it altogether.
CLANDESTINE PILFERAGE
By 3rd level you have learned to become especially calm and alert while intruding on hostile ground. You are proficient in the Perception skill. You can recreate the floorplan of any structure you have surveyed visually in the previous month. This does not extend into chambers, rooms, and corridors you did not see, but it is otherwise a precise recollection. Though you can craft elegant maps with this ability, you are as likely to use dust or chalk to produce temporary diagrams that can be wiped away before they become incriminating evidence.
You are proficient with cartographers' tools and leatherworkers' tools. You gain Softshoe Shuffle, and it does not count against your total number of Sly Ruses. At a glance you naturally note all nearby portable items of obvious value. Given time and effort, you can complete a more thorough inventory of goods in any collection that is not impractically vast. You have advantage on all ability checks to notice disguised containers or hidden compartments suitable for storing valuables.
ORGANIZED LARCENY
At 6th level you have become extremely adept at swiping objects. You gain Holding the Bag, and it does not count against your total number of Sly Ruses. At the end of your turn, you can stow any inanimate objects you are holding provided you have an appropriate container or harness to secure them. You have advantage on Sleight-of-Hand checks to pilfer loose items (as opposed to objects in the physical possession of other creatures.) If you direct others in the process of looting a site, a number of individuals up to your rogue level can work twice as quickly without any more damage or loss than normal for their efforts.
PROTECTIVE PADDING
You have developed an elaborate protocol for disarming traps by the time you reach 10th level. This involves donning a special array of cushions and plates then maintaining concentration. Creating such a suit requires five full days of labor with leatherworkers' tools and 25gp in materials. The garb itself is 50 pounds of bulky protection, thus not normally worn while adventuring. Yet it can be donned with a single action taken with two otherwise free hands. It may be worn over light armor or ordinary clothing, but it is not compatible with medium or heavy armors. While you are clad in this cumbersome suit, your Armor Class is raised by 4 against attacks originating with traps as well as creatures of the construct type. Also, when you fail a saving throw against damage inflicted by a trap while wearing this suit, you take half damage. If you succeed in such a saving throw, you take no damage at all.
A bonus action is required to achieve an ideal state of concentration for dealing with deadly traps. This faculty can fail during a cascade of trap effects or a when hostile bystander creates a timely distraction. Otherwise, you can resume this state of concentration by taking a bonus action on your turn. In this state you have advantage on all ability checks to avoid triggering traps or avoid harm any harm inflicted by a trap. Such concentration also allows you to add your proficiency bonus to your Thieves' Tools checks one additional time when disarming traps. In these circumstances you should apply triple your proficiency bonus if you have Thieves' Tools expertise or double your proficiency bonus if you are not an expert with Thieves' Tools.
VICTORY SNATCHING
Your prodigious thievery extends into the field of battle when you reach 14th level. Such profoundly accommpished Padded Burglars know how to steal the momentum of foes in combat. When you deal Sneak Attack damage, you can either regain one rogue Hit Die or spend one rogue Hit Die to add 4d8 hit points to that Sneak Attack damage.
Savvy Sleuth Most cities are home to layers of conspiracies. From street gangs with simple codes of silence to prominent people leading double lives – secrets accumulate in crowded quarters. Some rogues make it their business to uncover any information others struggle to keep hidden. These Savvy Sleuths may thrive assisting officials with complex criminal investigations. Their unique outlooks and special skills allow them to confirm accounts and gather evidence through methods beyond the capabilities of any ordinary constable. Yet these curious adventurers are not always public servants. Some gather information on behalf of hostile powers or secret societies. There are even Savvy Sleuths gathering personal secrets purely for purposes of extortion.
These gifted infitrators penetrate organizations as deeply as they must to uncover whatever information they seek. Adopting a different name, feigning a different background, and pretending to embrace a different religion are all options for a Savvy Sleuth determined to get close to a particular target. Yet infiltration and false identities are just part of the skill set honed by these adventurers. They need no ruses to excel at sorting out the truths behind mysterious circumstances. Some rise directly into leadership positions while others become valued as gifted agents, handling complex and dangerous situations with a mix of indefatigable curiosity and reliable discretion.
DEEP COVER
All rogues understand the nature of deception. Some dedicate themselves to comprehending and navigating hidden agendas. By 3rd level you are at ease while maintaining a false identity. You consistently respond to any active alias, even when charmed or intoxicated. You are proficienct with the disguise kit and the forgery kit. You are proficienct in the Investigation skill. You have advantage on ability checks to maintain any identity already established through suitable credentials and garb.
TRUE DETECTIVE
By 6th level your attention to detail far exceeds that of ordinary observers. You are proficient in the Perception skill. When you add your proficiency bonus to an ability check related to Investigation skill or the Perception skill, your proficiency bonus is doubeld for purposes of that check. Your proficiency bonus is also doubled for purposes of passive Investigation and passive Perception. You have advantage on all ability checks to related to the Insight skill.
STREET BOSS
By 10th level you are known for savvy so extreme that a group of professionals often solicits your expert opinions. Whether these individuals are perpetrating crimes or prosecuting criminals, they have great respect for your judgement as well as your knowledge of the urban subcultures. If you have lived in the same community for more than a month, you have a clear picture of the local criminal underworld as well as any significant corruption among public authorities. You cannot be charmed, disturbed, or frightened. You have resistance to psychic damage.
STREET OVERBOSS
At 14th level anyone with your abilities is likely to have an established reputation among both criminals and law enforcers throughout an entire nation. Either you have the means to make trouble for a major government, or such an entity trusts you to function as a troubleshooter. You cannot get lost in an urban neighborhood that you have previously scouted, including all of them in any city where you have lived for more than a month. You have truesight to a range of 30 feet. You cannot be poisoned or weakened. You have advantage on saving throws against being knocked prone and/or forced movement other than teleportation.
Skyline Tumbler Known for footwork both light and precise, rogues roam urban rooftops more than any other adventurers. Many find climbs and leaps offer a path to freedom from less nimble pursuers. Throughout the Age of Heroes, all thieves were adept at scaling ordinary walls. Today this aptitude remains universal among rogues, extending the careers of many apparently cornered by overwhelming opposition.
As acrobatic specialists, Skyline Tumblers are keenly aware of opportunities for vertical movement. Some elevated positions allow for superior surveillance. Criminal organizations and other secret societies often place graffiti near the tops of walls or towers, making their marks both more persistent and more visible. Infiltration is another Skyline Tumbler specialty, as these graceful gymnasts find it easy to access balconies and windows well above street level.
TOWER TRAVERSER
By 3rd level you have proven your skill and courage by personally defacing or enhancing a spire plainly visible throughout an urban neighborhood. You have advantage on ability checks to climb on or cling to the exteriors of buildings. When you fall more than 10 feet without taking damage, you have advantage on the next attack you make before the end of your next turn. You are proficient with calligraphers' tools and painters' tools. You are proficient in the Acrobatics skill.
ROOFTOP RUNNER
By 6th level you remain surefooted even when jumping and sprinting across the loftiest architectural features of a neighborhood. When you leap while you are balancing or land in a place where you must balance, you do not suffer disadvantage related to balancing on ability checks related to the leap and/or the landing. You do not need to spend additional movement while balancing. Your Deviant Expertise now applies to the Acrobatics skill as well as the other skill and tools selected earlier. You can use your Acrobatics skill to busk by stringing a tightrope above a public space, then flaunting your skills on that rope. You have advantage on ability checks to escape grabs or escape restraints. If you successfully perform a vaulting maneuver, you can add 10 to your speed until the end of your turn.
VAULTING VANDAL
By 10th level you have developed profoundly powerful leaping and aerobatic abilities. You can vault as if you were carrying a pole or a staff even when you have neither. You can jump as if you had a running start without performing any ground movement. You can also jump from a climbing position even while hanging by one arm. While holding a slashing weapon or a painting tool, you can use your bonus action to leave your personal mark on any surface within your reach. You are proficient in Athletics.
WALLCRAWLING WONDER
By 14th level your movements seem surreal as you fling your own body over barriers and boulevards. You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. You automatically succeed when attempting any horizontal jump no longer than 60 feet or any vertical jump no higher than 30 feet (though you must use enough speed to complete such jumps.) If you jump at least 10 feet in any direction during your turn, you gain advantage on the next attack you perform before the end of your turn. You can use your reaction to automatically succeed any saving throw to resist forced movement and/or being knocked prone.
⊲ Stage Magician All rogues practice one form of trickery or another. Some of the most learned find ways to incorporate magic into their repertoires. As one of these spellcasters, you are an initiate to a popular yet strange form of arcane entertainment. The spells associated with this form are largely designed to amuse, confuse, and excite crowds of onlookers. Yet these same techniques facilitate all manner of deceptions. Cunning use of these spells pairs well with other subterfuge techniques. Covert operators and criminal gangs often work with Stage Magicians to conceal activities, create distractions, and misdirect pursuers.
| Stage Magician Spellcasting |
| Cantrips | Spell Slots | ‖ | Cantrips | Spell Slots |
| Level | | 1st 2nd 3rd 4th | ‖ | Level | | 1st 2nd 3rd 4th |
| 3rd | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | ‖ | 12th | 5 | 4 | 3 | – | – |
| 4th | 2 | 3 | – | – | – | ‖ | 13th | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 5th | 2 | 3 | – | – | – | ‖ | 14th | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 6th | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | ‖ | 15th | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 7th | 3 | 4 | 2 | – | – | ‖ | 16th | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – |
| 8th | 3 | 4 | 2 | – | – | ‖ | 17th | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – |
| 9th | 4 | 4 | 2 | – | – | ‖ | 18th | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – |
| 10th | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | ‖ | 19th | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 11th | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | ‖ | 20th | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
SPELLCASTING
Rogues are constantly alert for physical dangers in their surroundings. Dividing their attention to weave spells seems risky to them. Yet some exceptional individuals embrace this risk to cultivate keen magical sensitivity. At 3rd level this blend grants you proficiency in the Arcana skill and allows you to cast Stage Magician spells.
Cantrips
You know two Stage Magician cantrips. You learn additional cantrips at 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, and 18th Stage Magician levels. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of these Stage Magician cantrips for another selection.
Preparing and Casting Spells
You know a number of
Stage Magician spells equal to your rogue
level + your Intelligence modifier. Making permanent improvements to that ability or gaining rogue levels sometimes reveals additional knowledge. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of your known spells for another selection. Yet your progress in accumulating spell slots is limited to one advancement in three gained levels.
You must expend a spell slot of sufficent level to cast a Stage Magician spell. You recover all expended spell slots at the completion of a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for all Braced Battlemage spells. Saving throws against your spells face a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence bonus. You can employ a crystal, an orb, a rod, a staff, or a wand as a spellcasting implement.
ARCANE ASSISTANT
6th level sees you thoroughly in control of minor telekinetic powers. You learn the
Mage Hand cantrip, it does not count against your total number of learned cantrips, and you do not have disadvantage when using your Sleight-of-Hand skill through this cantrip. When you cast
Mage Hand, the effect of your cantrip is invisible. If you know the
Floating Disk spell or the
Unseen Servant spell, you can cast those spell(s) without using a spell slot.
PALPATING PEST
Your telekinetic trickery becomes even more advanced at 10th level. The range of your
Mage Hand cantrip increases to 60 feet. Whether or not that cantrip is active, you can use your bonus action on your turn to remotely tap or tickle one creature within a range of 60 feet. When you do this you have advantage on the next attack you make on that creature before the end of your next turn.
HAT TRICK
By 14th level you have learned the ancient secret of producing an entire living creature from thin air. You can use your action to cast the
Conjure Animals spell even if you do not otherwise know it. This does not consume a spell slot. You do not need to concentrate to maintain the effect of this spell for up to 1 full hour, though you can end it at any time. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you have completed a long rest.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Covert Methods ↑ → Sly Ruses ← ↓ Sorcerers ↓
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Baleful Butcher
You are proficient in the Nature skill. You are proficient with cooks' utensils and poisoners' tools. Applied to freshly-slain venomous creatures, these abilities make it possible to harvest then quickly concentrate deadly substances.
Blinged Out
You can attune to as many as five magic items at the same time.
Bolt to Cover
You can use your bonus action to take the Hide action.
Bookmaking Racket
You understand how to manage betting syndicates with minimal underlying capital. Your parimutuel schemes require little backing to facilitate enthusiastic wagering on the outcome of a spectacle.
Careless Fling
When you drop a melee weapon on your turn, you can use your action to make an attack using the weapon already in your other hand. You have advantage on that attack.
Chameleon Spirit
When you spend at least ten minutes applying a disguise to yourself, you can alter your aura so that you appear to be of a different alignment to magical effects including the scrutiny of sprites. You can also add or remove creature types so long as at least one remains. These changes end when you remove that disguise or you begin a long rest.
Climbing Harness
Though you must use at least one hand to move while climbing, you do not fall if you make some other use of both hands while climbing.
Concealed Glider
While you are conscious and wearing a cape or a cloak; you can use your reaction to unfurl that garment and take hold of it with both hands, dropping any held items. If you do this; you cannot fall faster than 60 feet per turn, and you cannot take damage from falling. During these gliding falls, you can move horizontally up to half the distance you have descended.
Counterfeit Arcana
You can attune to any magic item, even if you do not satisfy requirements related to alignment, class, level, and/or race.
Furtive Habits
You are secretive by nature. Through an assortment of non-magical behaviors, you have made it impossible for others to use you as a target target for divinition magic and/or scrying effects.
Give 'em the Slip
You can use your bonus action to take the Disengage action.
Grazing Pilferage
Among crowds that are not heavily policed, you can inconspicuously steal small amounts of coin as if you were busking with your Sleight-of-Hand skill. Rather than +3, add +6 to the DC for each hour of additional busking.
Ground Fighting
Your melee attacks do not suffer disadvantage from being prone.
Grim Gardener
You are proficient in the Nature skill. You are proficient with herbalists' tools and poisoners' tools. Combined with a nice plot of land and patient labor, these abilities make it possible to slowly cultivate then quickly concentrate deadly substances.
Holding the Bag
For purposes of carrying backpacks, bags, and sacks as well as dragging, pulling, and pushing containers; you count as one size larger than your current physical form. Penalties apply normally if you exceed standard encumberance limits through total items held, worn, or stowed outside a backpack, bag, or sack.
Modern Tinkering
You are proficient with tinkers' tools. During a short rest or a long rest, you can use that kit to assemble one tiny clockwork device (AC 5, 1 hp) if you do not already have three available. You understand the workings of accordion grippers, fire starters, music boxes, spring heels, toy automata, and tripwire alarms. Each device operates for no more than one hour, ceasing all function after it has been used.
Light Step
Sneaking does not cost additional movement for you.
Night Eyes
Your eyes have adapted to a nocturnal routine. You have darkvision to a range of 60 feet.
Nooks & Crannies (requires small size or larger)
Your garb features many folds and pockets where small objects can be concealed. Yet even when unclothed, you have advantage on all Sleight-of-Hand checks to thwart searches of your person for objects weighing no more than 1 pound. This limit increases to 2 pounds for rogues of medium size or larger.
Quick Contortionist
You have advantage on all ability checks to escape restraints or grapples.
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Quickdraw Practice
When you make an initiative check you can add your proficiency bonus. When you make an attack, you can draw a weapon as part of that attack.
Rules of the Street
Your unarmed melee attacks are eligible for Sneak Attack damage as if they were performed with a finesse weapon. Like attacks with finesse weapons, the ability to add Sneak Attack damage is triggered by another factor such as advantage on that particular attack.
Second Story Work
You have advantage on ability checks related to climbing buildings, including the stone walls of many underground structures. While you are climbing, you also have advantage on saving throws to avoid forced movement other than teleportation.
Sheep's Clothing
If you are not visibly armed with anything other than light weapons and/or a quarterstaff, you can add your rogue level to your passive Deception for purposes of appearing to be a harmless civilian.
Sniper's Precision
You can perform a Sneak Attack with a missile weapons or a thrown weapon even if it does not have the finesse property.
Softshoe Shuffle
If you are not wearing medium or heavy armor, you can adapt your footwear to dampen the sounds of your steps. You have advantage on all Stealth checks related to moving silently.
Silent Triumph
When you deal Sneak Attack damage, you gain temporary hit points equal to the number of dice rolled for your Sneak Attack feature.
Slippery Style
When you complete a long rest and use an entire flask of oil, you have advantage on all saving throws to resist being bound, grabbed, and/or hobbled as well as all ability checks to escape a grab, escape bindings, or squeeze through a tight space until the start of your next long rest.
Smooth Deployment
You can use your bonus action to take the Activate action.
Spatial Awareness
You have blindsight to a range of 10 feet.
Steal Steel
When you deal Sneak Attack damage with a melee attack against an armed opponent, your target must make a Strength saving throw against a DC equal to half the total damage inflicted by that attack. Failure forces the victim to drop one item of your choice being wielded or held.
Strong Tolerance
You have advantage on all saving throws to resist becoming confused, narcotized, or poisoned. You also have advantage on ability checks to avoid the harmful effects of mind-altering substances.
Subtle Tinkering
You can use your bonus action to pick a lock or disarm a trap. The result of your thieves' tools check becomes the Perception DC of detecting your efforts.
Tabletop Gambler
In places where people play gambling games, you can busk with your proficiency in those games. Rather than +3, add +1d4 to the DC for each hour of additional busking.
Thrill of the Chase
You can use your bonus action to take the Dash action.
Toxic Tactics
Routine handling of poisons has heightened your tolerance to exposures. You have resistance to poison damage. You have advantage on all saving throws against poison damage and/or the poisoned condition.
True Yoink
If you are holding a magic item attuned to another creature, you can use your bonus action to spoof that attunement. For 1 minute, you can use that item as if it were attuned to you. This does not count against your limit on attuned magic items.
Wait for It
If you use a readied action to perform a single attack when it is not your turn, you have advantage on that attack.
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↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Sly Ruses ↑ → Sorcerers ← ↓ Power Inceptions ↓
| Sorcerer Basics |
hit points for new characters: 8 + your Constitution bonus
hit points for gained levels: 1d8 + your Constitution bonus
Hit Dice: 1d8 per sorcerer level
armor proficiencies: none
weapon proficiencies: chakram, crop, cudgel, dagger, dirk, dart, greatclub, hammer, javelin, mace, morningstar, needle, razor, rock, quarterstaff, shuriken, sling, spear, trident, whip
saving throw proficiencies: Charisma & Constitution
core skill proficiencies: Arcana and Intimidation
languages: none
tool proficiencies: jewellers' tools
supplemental skill proficiencies: You may replace redundant skills with Acrobatics, Athletics, Performance, Persuasion, Sleight-of-Hand, or Stealth.
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Sorcerers Extreme restrictions governed the spread of arcane knowledge across many millenia of warfare between dragons and elves. Ancient elves used a term like "sorcerer" in reference to creatures with forbidden spellcasting abilities. Breaches of the policy against mentoring non-fey were incredibly rare. Far more of these beings were infused with energy as unintended side effects of exposure to wild magic. Such mutants were also rare, though their offspring could develop similar powers. The Age of Heroes saw many more sorcerers after the blood of dragons and genies mingled with ordinary people. Some of these families rose to historical prominence. Even so, sorcerers then were not so much a class of adventurers as several categories of extraordinary beings.
What was once purely hereditary is now available to anyone with the requisite force of personality and toughness of flesh. Internalizing wellsprings of arcane power demands much fortitude and willpower. While wizards may study for a decade or more before truly entering their class, sorcerers are either born with a supernatural gift or empowered by a profoundly transformative event. There is typically an abruptness to these changes. Even inherited sorcery eludes most children only to manifest suddenly near coming of age. Commanding such a gift is often the start of a lifelong quest for greater power, both magical and temporal. Humility and sorcery seldom run strong in the same individual.
These spellcasters grasp magic on a deeply intuitive level. Their relationship with unseen energetic phenomena seems instinctual. Every spell they learn motivates habitual experimentation and practice. Sorcerers push themselves to produce larger and more intense effects than normally yielded by the formulae they employ. Rather than study as many magical processes as possible, they make the most of each individual technique. Some even learn creative ways to abridge a casting method, reducing the components or time required to achieve results. Experience allows their inner magic to flourish and grow in power. Several sorcerers attained historic prominence through the use of their own overwhelming arcane abilities.
| Sorcerer Progression |
Proficiency
Level Bonus Features | Metamagic
Stunts | Cantrips
Known | Spell Slots
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th |
| 1st | +2 | Amplify Magic,
Spellcasting | – | 5 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2nd | +2 | Arcane Recovery,
Metamagic Stunts | 2 | 5 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 3rd | +2 | Power Inception | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4th | +2 | Feat | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5th | +3 | Energized Flesh | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6th | +3 | Power Inception Feature | 3 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 7th | +3 | — | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8th | +3 | Feat | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 9th | +4 | Sorcerous Gambit | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 10th | +4 | Power Inception Feature | 5 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 11th | +4 | — | 5 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 12th | +4 | Feat | 5 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 13th | +5 | — | 6 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 14th | +5 | Power Inception Feature | 6 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 15th | +5 | — | 6 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 16th | +5 | Feat | 7 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 17th | +6 | — | 7 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | Improved Sorcerous Gambit | 7 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | Feat | 8 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 20th | +6 | Arcane Torrent | 8 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Playing a Sorcerer |
∨ hereditary or original power?
Innate magic runs in some bloodlines. Unlike racial magic, hereditary sorcery is not so much a birthright as a trait that inconsistently emerges in descendants. Some families use these gifts to maintain an economic and/or political dynnasty. Others find such powers unreliable or even troublesome, with no familial tradition of sorcerous practice.
∨ hereditary or original power?
Stuff
∨ hereditary or original power?
Stuff
∨ hereditary or original power?
Stuff
∨ hereditary or original power?
Stuff
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CREATING A SORCERER
Many sorcerers have no choice in their destiny. Great magical power runs from the blood of their ancestors. Others choose power through hazardous acts like striding into the thick of concentrated wild magic. Either path results in a lifetime of sunrises infused with fresh rations of arcane power. Some sorcerers actively promote bloodlines of kin likewise endowed. These privileged individuals might dominate the aristrocracy of a thriving nation. Even renegade sorcerers tend to view themselves as superior by virtue of their innate abilities. Some of these adventurers have no qualms about the use of both charms and threats to pursue their personal goals.
Yet many sorcerers provide valuable services to groups and organizations. Some are naturally gifted speakers. All are comfortable brandishing arcane energy with the same menace a hostile fighter might convey by brandishing weaponry. Though some sorcerers proudly abstain from arcane paraphernalia, most bejewel themselves elaborately while seeking to possess magic items. All sorcerers have knowledge of how arcane power can be concentrated if not also stored in various precious metals and gemstones. Sometimes sacrificing costly stones to power their own spells, every practitioner of this spellcasting style understands how to appraise jewels and gems.
That is one of few unifying traits among sorcerers. While some proudly stand with a venerable aristocracy, others find themselves only comfortable among outcasts hostile to the prevailing regime. Likewise, some sorcerers use their powers for personal enrichment while others show little interest in financial matters. Though sorcerers can be especially effective in battle, they rarely see broad instititional support outside societies where a particular sorcerous bloodline has aristocratic significance. With power intrinsic to their own bodies, few sorcerers feel any compelling motivation to support a particular moral stance or political position. Their gifts drive them to see the world as a venue for interaction rather than a source of personal constraints.
AMPLIFY MAGIC
When you inflict damage by casting a spell with an instantaneous duration, you can use your reaction and expend a spell slot to intensify that effect. Add 1d8 hit points per level of the expended spell slot to the damage inflicted on one target of your spell.
SPELLCASTING
Either you were born with innate reserves of arcane power or you have been exposed to transformative magical energies. Though you study the causes and effects of magical processes, aspects of that lore feel obvious from the perspective granted by intrinsic power. Sorcerers take pride in the intensity and versatility of energies emitted from their fingertips.
Cantrips
You know 5 sorcerer cantrips. You learn additional cantrips at 4th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 15th, 17th, and 19th sorcerer levels. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of these learned sorcerer cantrips for another selection.
Preparing and Casting Spells
You know a number of
sorcerer spells equal to 1 + your Intelligence modifier. Making permanent improvements to that ability or gaining sorcerer levels can reveal additional knowledge. Your total number of known spells is a function of your sorcerer level + your Intelligence modifier. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of your known spells for another selection.
You must expend a spell slot of sufficent level to cast a sorcerer spell. You recover all expended spell slots at the completion of a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for all sorcerer spells. Saving throws against your spells face a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma bonus. You can employ a crystal, an orb, a staff, a rod, or a wand as a spellcasting implement.
ARCANE RECOVERY
As a 2nd level sorcerer you understand how to manage the magical resources emergent from your own body. During a short rest in which you are able to eat enough to satisfy your entire daily food requirement, you can regain spell slots in any combination of total levels up to your sorcerer level. If you make this choice, you cannot spend Hit Dice during that short rest.
METAMAGIC STUNTS
As a 2nd level sorcerer you habitually push the limits the spells you cast. This teaches you how to surpass those limits, achieving more than the standard result. You might also develop non-standard techniques to reduce the demands of some spells or methods of utilizing your innate power without any spellcasting. You learn 2
Metamagic Stunts. Additional Metamagic Stunts are acquired at 4th, 7th 10th, 13th, 16th, and 19th levels. When you gain a level, you can replace one of your Metamagic Stunts with a different selection.
ENERGIZED FLESH
At 5th level your internal arcane energies are strong enough to constitute an effective personal defense. Choose one damage type from acid, fire, force, frost, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant, or thunder damage. You have resistance to that damage type. You can replace that damage type with a different selection when you complete a long rest.
SORCEROUS GAMBIT
At 9th level your intuitive control of magical energies allows you to manipulate processes too swift and volatile for other practitioners to handle. This makes it possible to conserve your own spellcasting potential. When you intend to cast a spell with the effect of a spell slot no lower than 4th level nor higher than 7th level, you can attempt a Sorcerous Gambit. If this is your choice, roll an adjustment of 1d4-3 to determine the level of the spell slot you require in this instance to achieve that effect. Half of these efforts reduce that cost, while one-fourth of them increase that cost. If you do not have a spell slot of the adjusted level to spend, associated action(s) are taken and no spell is cast. Otherwise the spell functions as if cast with a slot of the level originally intended.
IMPROVED SORCEROUS GAMBIT
At 18th level your grasp of exotic and intense arcane phenomena enables you to harness unpredictable surges of power. Your Sorcerous Gambits now apply a 1d6-4 adjustment to the level a spell slot consumed. Half of these efforts reduce that cost, while one-third of them increase that cost. If you do not have a spell slot of the adjusted level to spend, associated action(s) are taken and no spell is cast. However, when an Improved Sorcerous Gambit consumes an available spell slot of higher level than was originally intended, you cast that spell with the full effect of the higher level slot.
ARCANE TORRENT
As a 20th level sorcerer, tremendous energies await your direction. When you use Amplify Magic, the additional damage applies to every target of the enhanced effect. When you cast a spell of 3rd level or above that inflicts damage determined by dice and has an instantaneous duration, you can spend one additonal spell slot of any level to automatically roll the maximum dammage for that effect. When you inflict damage with a spell of 1st or 2nd level that has an instantaneous duration, make a Charisma saving throw against your own spellcasting DC. If you succeed, you did not expend a spell slot to cast that spell.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Sorcerers ↑ → Power Inceptions ← ↓ Metamagic Stunts ↓
| Innate Magic Sorcerers are not the only people to draw spellcasting power from their own bodies. Fiends as well as most fey possess an Innate Spellcasting feature. Electrically empowered tritons are likewise endowed. Each of these races sees internal energies paired with traditional lore to facilitate an extremely basic and limited form of spellcasting. Sorcerers of all races also act as their own sources of energy, but with the potential to become several orders of magnitude more powerful. Sorcerers make especially formidable arcane duelists as they are naturally nimble at causing and manipulating magical effects. |
Power Inceptions Some sorcerers inherit tremendous potential power. Others are set on this path by way of some transformative process. Though sorcery runs in the blood much more than any other magic, possessing the aptitude is merely the first step toward spellcasting practice. Fledgelings must learn how to control their abilities in the smallest measures before they can hope to create the greatest effects. Sorcerers do not require the abilities of other spellcasters, but they must appreciate the the artful precision of bards, the flexible attitudes of warlocks, the awed humility of clerics, the quiet patience of druids, and the methodical rigor of wizards. Those understandings help sorcerers effectively project and regulate their most potent thoughts and feelings.
The five archetypes shaping the personal power of sorcerers are not rooted in any morality or religion. Individuals with the same Power Inception may have diametrically opposed beliefs. The only factor unifying this form of magic is self-confidence. Sorcerers must believe in their own gifts to better impose their will on energies flowing nearby as well as power originating from inside. The origin of that power determines whether a novice sorcerer can advance to become a Mesmeric Mentalist, a Nebulous Torrent, a Noble Cinder, a Wildtouched Mutant, or identify as Wyrmblooded. Whether carrying the spark of a mighty ancestor from ancient times or coping with recent accidental empowerment, practicing sorcerers tend to have grand ambitious in both material and immaterial worlds.
| Power Inception Bonus Spells |
| Level | Mesmeric Mentalist | Nebulous Torrent | Noble Cinder | Wildtouched Mutant | Wyrmblooded |
| 1st | Charm Person | Fog Cloud | Burning Hands | Jump | Color Spray |
| 2nd | Detect Thoughts | Gust of Wind | Flaming Sphere | Alter Self | Shatter |
| 3rd | Hypnotic Pattern | Gaseous Form | Firecage | Haste | Fear |
| 4th | Arcane Eye | Ice Storm | Wall of Fire | Stoneskin | Polymorph |
| 5th | Telepathic Bond | Telekinesis | Wall of Stone | Hold Monster | Legend Lore |
| 6th | Magic Jar | Wind Walk | Move Earth | Flesh to Stone | True Seeing |
| 7th | Project Image | Etherealness | Fire Storm | Arcane Sword | Prismatic Spray |
| 8th | Mind Blank | Control Weather | Incendiary Cloud | Clone | Power Word Stop |
| 9th | Astral Projection | Storm of Vengeance | Meteor Swarm | Time Stop | True Polymorph |
| | Wildtouched Mutant | Wildtouched Mutant | Wildtouched Mutant | Wildtouched Mutant | Wildtouched Mutant |
⊲ Mesmeric Mentalist Throughout the age of heroes, many forms of intelligent life produced rare individuals with innate reserves of psychic power. The abilities abruptly ceased functioning at the dawn of the Great Consolidation, but latent potential remained. Some descendants of these psionicists are both reservoirs and wellsprings of potent thought energies. In modern times the path to uleashing that potential involves sorcery. Equipped with the appropriate arcane knowledge, a gifted telepath can weave a wide variety of magical effects derived primarily from personal psychic exertions.
SENSITIVE PSYCHE
At 3rd level your mind is now fully open to the world of mental energies. When you cast the
Detect Thoughts spell; you can select targets up to 120' away, you can maintain that spell for up to 1 hour, and you have advantage on saving throws to maintain concentration on that spell. You have advantage on saving throws against becoming charmed, confused, or frightened. You are proficient in the Insight skill, and your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of any Insight check involving a living creature within 120 feet.
FOCUSED WILL
Attaining 6th level in this subclass endows you with the equivalent of extraordinary mental arms and armor. When your cast a spell that does psychic damage, you can add your proficiency bonus to the damage inflicted on every target. You have proficiency with Wisdom saving throws. When you cast the
Mental Brawl spell or the
Telepathic Joust spell, your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of saving throws against backlash.
AMPLIFIED EGO
At 10th level your personality projects in such a way that your presence often influences the general mood in the room. When you cast a spell that could inflict the charmed or possessed status, you can use your reaction to give one target disadvantage on saving throws against that spell. When you cast the
Dominate Beast,
Dominate Person, or
Magic Jar, spells; you can double your proficiency bonus when determining your spellcasting DC. You have advantage on concentration saving throws to maintain the
Arcane Eye spell, the
Arcane Hand spell, the
Floating Disc spell, the
Greater Floating Disc spell, the
Scrying spell, the
Telekinesis spell, or the
Willful Shroud spell.
TRANSCENDENT MIND
Achieving 14th level required cultivation of mental strength beyond the understanding of most mortals. You have resistance to psychic damage. You can add your proficiency bonus to the damage inflicted by any spell you cast. You cannot fall faster than 60 feet per round, you do not take damage from falling, and you always land on your feet. You know the
Fly spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast that spell on yourself without using a spell slot.
⊲ Nebulous Torrent The ancestry of some mortals features djinnis or marids. Magic flows strong through bloodlines connected to those extraordinary elementals. It allows the arcane efforts of these individuals to readily manipulate all sorts of fluids. The practice of sorcery converts this aptitude into tremendous spellcasting potential. Air and water become your playthings. You feel particular affinities for ice and lightning as well. Drawn to rivers, oceans, and storms; you sometimes think like an ecologist while musing about water and its eternal cycles. Yet you can also be abrupt with your power, rarely making yourself known to others until you are ready to take action.
RECIRCULATING FLOWS
At 3rd level you learn how to energize fluid effects to sustain themselves. You do not need to concentrate to make the
Fog Cloud spell last up to 1 full hour or the
Gust of Wind spell last up to 1 full minute. You can still end either spell at any time. If you know the
Weatherproof Barrier spell, you can cast it without using a spell slot. You are proficient in the Stealth skill.
DEFENSIVE FLOWS
At 6th level you excel at converting your own body into mist. You can do this with your entire form or engage in momentary partial transformations. When your Energized Flesh grants resistance to frost damage or resistance to lightning damage, your Armor Class increases by 2. When you are hit by a weapon attack or an unarmed attack, you can use your reaction to cast the
Gaseous Form spell, gaining its benefits for purposes of that attack.
AERATED FLOWS
Achieving 10th level allows you to create powerful effects that seem to constantly conjure fresh air. You know the
Fly spell and the
Water Breathing spell, and they do not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the
Fly spell, you do not need to concentrate to make that spell last 10 full minutes. When you cast the
Water Breathing spell, you can cast it using one spell slot of any level. You can breathe and speak any environment, including airless spaces.
SUPPORTIVE FLOWS
You have learned the art of riding on currents of loose magic by the time you have achieved 14th level. You have a flying speed of 40. On your turn as a bonus action, you can concentrate on flight. While you maintain this concentration, you have a flying speed of 90 and you can hover. When you use Improved Sorcerous Gambit to cast the
Telekinesis spell or the
Wind Walk spell, you automatically roll a 1 on the d6 for that gambit.
⊲ Noble Cinder Efreeti live like royalty in the Elemental Plane of Fire. Dao are likewise esteemed in the Elemental Plane of Earth. Your sorcerous bloodline does not make you an extraplanar aristocrat. It does grant you power over stones and flames as well as combinations of the two. Volcanic eruptions of all varieties hold great interest for you. Except at your most depleted, you can always muster the energy to spew a fiery torrent from your bare hands. It is the sort of magical power that just might have made your distant ancestors part of a royal house in a previous era of this world. Regardless of ancestry, you now harbor the same sort of power that makes dao and efreeti so widely feared.
COMFORTING GLOW
At 3rd level you can feel an inner warmth inherited from powerful elementals. When you take frost damage, you can reduce the amount of that damage by your Charisma modiier. You cannot be petrified. You have advantage on saving throws against being hobbled, paralyzed, or slowed. You can use your bonus action to begin concentrating on an aura that warms your surroundings. While you maintain this concentration; all creatures within 30 feet, including yourself, automatically succeed on all saving throws against frost damage as well as exposure to cold conditions and/or wintery weather. You have proficiency in the History skill.
SURGING GLOW
6th level sees you literally shooting sparks in situations where others might spray blood. You know the
Flame Blade spell and the
Heat Metal spell, and they do not count against your total number of known spells. When you take damage from a metal weapon, you can use your reaction to cast the
Heat Metal spell on that weapon. When you take damage from a spell or magical effect, you can use your reaction to cast the
Flame Blade spell.
SEARING GLOW
At 10th level you feel an extraordinary affinity for volcanic environmments. You gain a burrowing speed equal to your sorcerer level. When your Energized Flesh grants resistance to fire damage, you are immune to both magical and non-magical fire damage. You can use your bonus action to begin concentrating on an aura that immolates your immediate surroundings. While you maintain this concentration, each creature starting a turn within 10 feet of you takes your Charisma modifier in fire damage, and you personally shed bright light in a 60 foot radius as well as dim light out to a 120 foot radius.
SUPPORTIVE GLOW
At 14th level you have tremendous control over the fiery phenomena at your command. You know the
Heavenly Chariot spell, and it does not count against your total number of spells known. When you cast the
Heavenly Chariot spell, you do not need to concentrate to maintain its effects for up to 8 hours. You have advantage on saving throws to maintain concentration on any spell capable of dealing fire damage. When you use Amplify Magic to boost the fire damage inflicted by a spell, you automatically roll an 8 on each 1d8.
⊲ Wildtouched Mutant Exposure to significant wild magic typically leaves people disfigured and disturbed. Intense doses sometimes transform subjects into entirely different creatures. Yet rare individuals internalize this unpredictable energy. The most fortunate learn to weave effective spells from it. Specializing in the magical reshaping of their own bodies, many of these sorcerers are the children of an individual likewise endowed. It is even possible that an ancestor exposed to wild magic developed no unusual abilities, yet passed on the potential to offspring. Whatever the source, you are now in command of an internal dynamo brimming with transformative power.
PERSONAL PLASTICITY
At 3rd level you have begun to unlock the secrets of reshaping yourself with the motes of wild magic circulating through your body. When you cast the
Alter Self spell, you do not need to concentrate to maintain that effect for up to 1 hour. If you know the
Enhance Ability spell and/or the
Metamorphic Weaponry spell, you do not need to concentrate to maintain any of those effects for up to 1 hour if you apply them only to yourself. If you know the
Darkvision spell, the
Disguise Self spell, and/or the
See Invisibility spell; you do not need to concentrate to maintain any of those effects for up to 8 hours if you apply them only to yourself. You are proficient in the Athletics skill.
PASSIVE PLASTICITY
By 6th level you have developed the means to gird your own flesh against bodily harm. When you use Energized Flesh, select a second damage type from bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing. You also gain resistance to that damage type. Alternatively, when you use Energized Flesh, you can opt to select none of the damage types normally associated with that feature. This choice instead conveys three resistances against non-magical damage of the bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing types.
ACTIVE PLASTICITY
At 10th level you can manipulate your body in a variety of unique and extreme ways. Your reach increases by 5 feet. When you hit with a melee attack, you can add your Charisma bonus to the damage of that attack. You have advantage on all ability checks to avoid being grabbed or to escape a grab. When you take the Dash action, your speed is tripled rather than doubled. If you know the the
Haste spell, you do not need to concentrate to maintain its effects for up to 1 hour if you apply them only to yourself.
RADICAL PLASTICITY
At 14th level you change forms more frequently than some people change garb. You know the
Disguise Self spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast
Disguise Self without using a spell slot. When you use Improved Sorcerous Gambit to cast the
Freedom of Movement spell, the
Mislead spell, the
Polymorph spell, or the
Project Image spell you automatically roll a 1 on the d6 for that gambit. You can also transform yourself into a less injured shape. You can use your action on your turn to regain a number of hit points equal to your Charisma modifier. Once you have done this, you cannot do it again until the start of your next turn.
⊲ Wyrmblooded There was a time when any coupling between a dragon and a thrall was inconceivable. New attitudes were forged by millennia of warfare endangering all of dragonkind. Modern aristocratic lines often claim the blood of dragons runs in their veins. In some cases this is confirmed by some number of family members able to practice a draconic form of sorcery. They find modern equivalents to the ancient transformative magicks developed by dragonkind. Their heritage might also be revealed through bold arrogance, extreme gluttony, and a habit of wearing weighty jewelry.
INTERNAL FURNACE
At 3rd level your apetite grows, and your body converts a portion of what you eat into raw potential similar to the energies in draconian breath weapons. Sometimes your dreams or visions feature memories from an extremely powerful ancestor. You gain Power Projection, and it does not count against your total number of Metamagic Stunts. When you use Arcane Recovery, add your Constitution bonus to the number of spell levels you regain. Your spellcasting DC increases by 2 for purposes of spells that cause the frightened effect. You can speak Draconic. You are proficient in the Perception skill.
ENERGIZED BLOOD
By 6th level your arcane activities allow draconic energies to permeate your own life essence. When you use Energized Flesh, you can add a second damage type provided at least one of these two selections is acid, fire, frost, lightning, or poison. If you know
Mage Armor, that spell gives you an AC of 14 + your Dexterity modifier. If you know
Alter Self and you cast that spell to give yourself natural weapons that do slashing damage, you do not need to concentrate to maintain that effect for up to 1 hour.
DRACONIC PERSPECTIVE
Achieving 10th level sees your mind join your body in development under the influence of ancestral dragons. You have darkvision to a range of 120', and you can see the invisible. You cannot be charmed. You have advantage on saving throws against the
Command spell, the
Suggestion spell, and all the
Power Word spells. Your spellcasting DC increases by 2 for purposes of the
Enlarge/Reduce spell, the
Polymorph spell, and other spells that force targets to change shape.
WINGS OF THE WYRM
Learning to soar in the way of your ancient ancestors marks your progress to 14th level. Where space permits, you can use your reaction to sprout a pair of enormous leathery wings. Your size becomes large. You gain a flying speed of 40 with the ability to hover. You can end this ability at any time, causing your wings to vanish along with your flying speed as your size returns to normal.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Power Inceptions ↑ → Metamagic Stunts ← ↓ Warlocks ↓
Weaving Spells Typically invisible and immaterial, a myriad of potential magical energies can be reached from any given point in space. While elementary cantrips are often powered entirely by a single resource; more ambitious spellcasting requires personal thoughts directing at some blend of cosmic, draconic, fey, holy, life, thought, and/or unholy phenomena.
Each in their own way, sorcerers and wizards adeptly exploit all manner of spellcasting resources. While wizards devote their lives to methodical study guided by sagacious ideas, sorcerers independently explore and expand the limits of their own powers. In this way many sorcerers learn to weave effects their counterparts in wizardry consider theoretically impossible. |
Metamagic Stunts Though sorcerers understand the workings of magic from a mechanical perspective, most do not embrace the arcane theories and elaborate metaphysics that fascinate wizards. Instead sorcerers approach their powers from perpectives that are primarily practical. Sorcery is a visceral form, rallying personal willpower to directly control potent forces. Some sorcerers have been routinely manipulating magical energies since adolescence or even childhood. Any seasoned sorcerer is likely to know at least a couple of techniques for bending the proverbial rules of spellcasting. These modifications can enhance the effect of a spell or reduce the effort required to produce its standard effect.
Some Metamagic Stunts are instead magical abilities that can be utilized without actual spellcasting. Sorcerers call upon internal reserves of power to achieve these results, doing so even in many environments where spellcasting is disrupted or suppressed. Some multiclass sorcerers can perform specific Metamagic Stunts as Tactical Actions, but only those that do not modify a spell or enable a spell to be cast. Also, some Metamagic Stunts produce ongoing effects that only last as long as concentration can be maintained. Any spell that requires concentration must be ended to initiate one of these effects, and concentration on such an effect makes it impossible to cast any spell with a concentration requirement of its own.
|
Abridged Formula
You can use your bonus action to cast a spell that has a casting time of 1 action. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again before the end of your next turn.
Arcane Echo
When you cast a spell that targets a single creature, you can use your reaction to also target a second creature within the range of that spell. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again before the end of your next turn.
Ancestral Blessings
If you roll a 1 on a saving throw, you can reroll the die and must use the new result.
Brilliant Outburst
You can add your proficiency bonus to the radiant damage each target takes from any spell you cast. You know the Sunbolt cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of known cantrips.
Casting Kata
When you make a melee spell attack you can add your Dexterity modifier to the attack roll.
Cerebral Emanations
You can use your bonus action to begin concentrating on patterns of psychic interference. Every creature within a number of feet equal to your sorcerer level plus your Charisma bonus has advantage on Wisdom saving throws while you maintain that concentration.
Comforting Emanations
You can use your bonus action to begin concentrating on patterns of emotional support. Every creature within a number of feet equal to your sorcerer level plus your Charisma bonus has resistance to psychic damage while you maintain that concentration.
Cosmic Awareness
You have blindsight to a range of 20 feet.
Cosmic Shortcuts
When you teleport, voluntarily or otherwise, before the end of your next turn you can use your bonus action to teleport up to a number of feet up to triple your sorcerer level. If you use this ability, you cannot use it again before the end of your next turn.
Density Depletion
When you fall, you can cast the Feather Fall spell as a reaction, even if you cannot otherwise cast that spell.
Density Amplification
You can use your bonus action to begin concentrating on empowering your unarmed and natural weapon attacks. While you maintain that concentration, your unarmed attacks and natural weapon attacks inflict 1d6 additional damage.
Ember Kata
You know the Firebolt cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of known cantrips. If you inflict damage with the Firebolt cantrip you can use your bonus action to cast Firebolt again before the end of your turn.
Disk Driver
You know the Floating Disk spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Floating Disk spell, you can use your reaction to regain the spell slot used to cast that spell.
Disrupt Life
You can add your proficiency bonus to the necrotic damage each target takes from any spell you cast. You know the Grievous Grasp cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of known cantrips.
Durable Weave
When you cast a spell with a fixed duration, you can use your reaction to double that duration.
Energy Sheath
When your Energized Flesh provides resistance to fire, force, frost, lightning, thunder, psychic, necrotic, or radiant damage and you take damage from a melee attack; you can use your reaction to unleash a flare of energy. Your attacker must attempt a Dexterity saving throw, taking 3d6 damage of the type associated with your Energized Flesh on failure or half that damage with success.
Focused Projection
When you cast a spell, you can use your reaction to double the range of that spell.
Follow Through
When you consume a spell slot during a Power Struggle spell, that spell slot counts as one level higher.
Frigid Bearing
You can add your proficiency bonus to the frost damage each target takes from any spell you cast. You know the Produce Ice cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of known cantrips.
Geomantic Appraisal
You know the Identify spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you are holding a crystal worth at least 1,000gp, you can cast the Identify spell without using a spell slot or any material components.
Girded Weave
When a spell you have cast is the target of the Counterspell spell, the Dispel Magic spell, the Power Struggle spell, or the Unravel Effect spell; you can add your Wisdom bonus to the DC the other spellcaster must overcome.
Glacial Torrent
You know the Winter Wind spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Winter Wind spell using a 1st level slot, you can use your reaction to regain that spell slot.
| |
Guided Aftertouch
When you make a ranged spell attack you can add your Dexterity modifier to the attack roll.
Impact Amplification
You can use your bonus action to begin concentrating on empowering your unarmed and natural weapon attacks. While you maintain that concentration, your unarmed attacks and natural weapon attacks also inflict 1d6 force damage.
Incendiary Torrent
You know the Burning Hands spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Burning Hands spell using a 1st level slot, you can use your reaction to regain that spell slot.
Inner Fire
You can add your proficiency bonus to the fire damage each target takes from any spell you cast. You know the Produce Flame cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of known cantrips.
Inner Spark
You can add your proficiency bonus to the lightning damage each target takes from any spell you cast. You know the Produce Arcs cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of known cantrips.
Intellect Surge
When you cast the Mental Brawl spell or the Telepathic Joust spell, you can use your reaction to add your Intelligence modifier to your spellcasting DC for purposes of that spell.
Power Projection
When you cast a spell with an area of effect, you can use your reaction to add 10' to its radius, 15' to the size of its cone/cube, or 20' to the length of its line. If you do so, the DC of saving throws against that spell increases by 2.
Prismatic Torrent
You know the Color Spray spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Collor Spray spell using a 1st level slot, you can use your reaction to regain that spell slot.
Psychic Spellweaving
When you cast a spell, you can use your reaction to omit the verbal and somatic components. This might allow you to cast the spell successfully despite being bound, muzzled, paralyzed, silenced, and/or holding an object in each hand. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again before the end of your next turn.
Raw Power
You can add your proficiency bonus to the force damage each target takes from any spell you cast. You know the Cosmic Veil cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of known cantrips.
Rugged Quintessence
When you make a saving throw against a spell or magical effect, you can add your Constitution modifier to that saving throw.
Savage Violation
You can add your proficiency bonus to the psychic damage each target takes from any spell you cast. You know the Mindbolt cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of known cantrips.
Seismic Torrent
You know the Thunderwave spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Thunderwave spell using a 1st level slot, you can use your reaction to regain that spell slot.
Sonic Strikes
You can use your bonus action to begin concentrating on empowering your unarmed and natural weapon attacks. While you maintain that concentration, your unarmed attacks and natural weapon attacks also inflict 1d6 thunder damage.
Sculpted Effect
When you cast a spell with an area of effect, you can choose a number of creatures up to your Charisma modifier to automatically succeed all saving throws required by that spell.
Surging Flare
When you inflict damage with a spell, you can use your reaction to reroll a number of damage dice up to your Charisma modifier.
Temporary Talons
As a bonus action you can convert one or both of your hands into melee weapons that deal 1d8 slashing damage. You can restore a free hand at any time, as if dropping a weapon.
Quicksilver Currents
You can add your sorcerer level to your speed. When you make an initiative check you can add your Charisma bonus.
Twisted Weave
When you cast a spell, you can use your reaction to double both your Charisma modifier and your proficiency bonus when determining your spellcasting DC for purposes of identifying that spell.
Wielding Kata
For purposes of utilizing a crystal, orb, staff, rod, or wand; you can perform the Activate action as a bonus action.
Vicious Glare
When you cast a spell, you can use your reaction to cause one target of that spell to have disadvantage on saving throws against this particular casting of this spell.
|
| Warlock Basics |
hit points for new characters: 8 + your Constitution bonus
hit points for gained levels: 1d8 + your Constitution bonus
Hit Dice: 1d8 per warlock level
armor proficiencies: light
weapon proficiencies: all basic weapons, arbalest, hand crossbow, net, trident, whip
saving throw proficiencies: Charisma & Wisdom
core skill proficiencies: Arcana and Deception
languages: none
tool proficiencies: brewers' supplies
supplemental skill proficiencies: You may replace redundant skills with History, Investigation, Nature, Performance, Persuasion, or Stealth.
|
Warlocks The Age of Heroes saw evil gods and their teachings termed unholy by most religious people. In those days holiness was synonymous with the morality of the original paladins. This thinking changed after magic was fundamentally transformed during the Great Consolidation. Now each member of the Fivesquare Pantheon is served by legions of angels. Even the most cruel among these deities and their religions are nonetheless considered holy. The modern concept of unholy is reserved for magic channeled from other entites. Warlocks and witches study obscure occult lore and perform forbidden ceremonies to form connections with these unholy powers. No heartfelt worship is required, but each of these patrons requires beneficiaries to strike a magical bargain.
Pact magic is not necessarily evil, but it is always unholy. Active Archfey are evenly divided among dark and light patrons. The latter pairs well with a warlock or witch inclined toward helpful acts. The Great Old Ones are both incoherent and inconsistent – traits that thwart efforts to assess their motives, let alone any underlying morality. Among known pact benefactors, only demons and devils are assuredly evil. In all of these cases, practitioners need not share the alignments of their patrons. Merely preparing and casting granted spells strengthens channels between this world and those extraplanar entities. This is why contractual spellcasting is condemned in the teachings of most religions and punished by the laws of some realms.
Warlocks often navigate these issues by publicly identifying as a bard, sorcerer, or wizard. Others lead double lives by appearing as upstanding civilians until donning a disguise prior to any public display of power. Some governments issue official licenses to engage in occult studies, and many others do not enforce any bans on pact magic. Social context determines the extent to which warlocks and witches are persecuted. Even in the most permissive lands, their covens are naturally secretive. Unholy lore takes cryptic forms, and its enthusiasts are compulsively discreet. Gatherings actively discussing occult literature or performing taboo rites have been known to attract hostility from witch hunters acting far beyond the limits of any legal jurisdiction.
| Warlock Progression |
Proficiency
Level Bonus Features | Pact
Invocations | Cantrips
Known | Spell Slots
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th |
| 1st | +2 | Occult Lore,
Spellcasting | – | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2nd | +2 | Familiar Spirit,
Pact Invocations | 2 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 3rd | +2 | Unholy Patron | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4th | +2 | Feat | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5th | +3 | False Arcana | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6th | +3 | Unholy Patron Feature | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 7th | +3 | — | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8th | +3 | Feat | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 9th | +4 | Occult Secret | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 10th | +4 | Unholy Patron Feature | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 11th | +4 | — | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 12th | +4 | Feat | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 13th | +5 | — | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 14th | +5 | Unholy Patron Feature | 6 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 15th | +5 | — | 6 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 16th | +5 | Feat | 6 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 17th | +6 | — | 7 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | Greater Occult Secret | 7 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | Feat | 7 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 20th | +6 | Eldritch Alliance | 8 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Unholy Covens Witches and warlocks often live in societies openly hostile to the practice of pact magic. In extreme cases, well-funded witch hunters are constantly investigating to enforce laws against such spellcasting. Even where contractual magic is accepted by the public, warlocks rarely socialize outside small secretive circles known as covens. Though some of these groups promote the value of absolute equality, they also typically feature stricts oaths of secrecy as well as pledges to a specific patron entity. Covens can be quick to hunt and eliminate any traitors. To do otherwise could expose the activities and identities of the entire group.
Despite their ruthless codes of silence, covens also tend to be free-spirited associations. Senior members will be keen to share arcane secrets with new recruits. Though many covens acknowledge an individual leader, they often reserve titles and other formality for rituals. In social contexts, mutual affection and friendship are encouraged. Rarely welcome among or supported by highly religious communities, warlocks naturally look to their peers for assistance in times of need. Long-established covens are often extremely cohesive because they have already endured so many struggles and losses.
These groups tend to keep small even where authorities license and subsidize occult studies. Many covens deliberately maintain a membership of 13, hoping to avoid even the appearance of threatening authorities. Though groups as small as 4 can collectively practice illuminating rites, patrons generally encourage expansion among their covens. Consumed by ambition, every variety of warlock has grown covens until extremely powerful authorities regarded the group as a menace to civilization itself. The line between a gathering of subversive spellcasters and an apocalyptic cult can be crossed unwittingly. Campaigns to eliminate large covens inevitably spawn many tragedies. Yet it could be that the world would suffer even more if any of them were to complete the full agenda of an unholy patron. |
CREATING A WARLOCK
Deities only channel their power through individuals earnestly devoted to an aligned creed, faith, or philosophy. They are not the only entities seeking outreach into this world. The Archfey, elite fiends, and the Great Old Ones each possess godlike powers. Their connections to this world grow deeper in each instance their energies are utilized by spellcasters here. Yet warlocks and witches need not worship their patrons. This relationship is transactional at its heart. Spellcasting ability is honed through the performance of occult rites and the study of aberrant phenomena. Only those arcane practices are required to satisfy the terms of a unholy bargain.
Pact magic does not oblige warlocks to support the aims or alignnments of their patrons. Even so, these spellcasters can be heavily infuenced by magical partnerships. Patrons communicate through dreams, minions, spirits, visions,
and/or visitations. Guidance to greater magical power is paired with sophisticated appeals to advance the agenda of a patron in more concrete ways. Some warlocks do precisely that – zealously serving the source of their power. Others remain aloof or even hostile to these remote entities, doing the minimum to fulfill every particular of a pact. Pact magic remains reliable because the spellcasting itself advances the enigmatic agendas of unearthly beings.
Also known as witchcraft, pact magic is controversial in many societies. Along the western coast of Mainland, the Sylvanian Confederation operates teams of well-funded witch hunters. At the other extreme, the To-Shinese Shogunate welcomes sufficiently powerful witches into its aristocracy and military. Many warlocks and witches keep up the pretense of being some other sort of spellcaster when active in communities with a history of persecuting pact practitioners. Political leaders and religious officials can be quick to blame unspecified warlocks for their own failings and misfortunes. Because doomsday cults and malevolent covens are real, it is often possible to rally a frightened public behind this sort of hateful distraction.
OCCULT LORE
You are drawn to banned books and troubling teachings. What might have started for you as a casual interest in spellcasting soon became a guided pursuit of arcane techniques. Working through forbidden texts and cryptic signs, an unholy power actively mentors you in the ways of magic. These teachings are comprehensive, unrestricted by any taboo. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of calculating your passive Arcana as well as active attempts to identify spellcasting in progress. If you are touching another warlock while they are casting a spell, you can use your reaction to allow that individual to use your spell slots to cast warlock spells until the start of your next turn.
SPELLCASTING
The search for magical secrets is never far from the start of any warlock's adventuring path. Your subsequent studies of arcana are guided by unholy entities eager to empower effective spellcasters. Warlocks can be downright fearless when exploring unfamiliar techniques. They are the predominant practitioners of contractual magic.
| Pact Guidance Clerics strive to embody the ideals of their divine patrons, druids strive to promote thriving natural ecologies, sorcerers strive to control intense internal energies, and wizards strive to comprehend universal magical theories. All four tend to see warlocks as taking the "easy path" because their grasp of arcane power is informed by collaborations that only require perfunctory ritual support. Though warlocks are not obliged to share or even comprehend the moralities of their magical patrons, they are exposed to entities and influences most spellcasters would reflexively avoid. Even the gentlest pact patrons inspire dreams and visions of profoundly disturbing apocalyptic scenarios. |
Cantrips
You know 2 warlock cantrips. You learn additional cantrips at 5th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th warlock levels. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of these learned warlock cantrips for another selection.
Preparing and Casting Spells
You know a number of
warlock spells equal to
1 + your Charisma modifier. Making permanent improvements to that ability or gaining warlock levels can reveal additional knowledge. Your total number of known spells is a function of your warlock level + your Charisma modifier. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of your known spells for another selection.
You must expend a spell slot of sufficent level to cast a warlock spell. You recover all expended spell slots at the completion of a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for all warlock spells. Saving throws against your spells face a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma bonus. You can employ a crystal, an orb, a staff, a totem, or a wand as a spellcasting implement.
| WARLOCK FAMILIARS |
| d100 | Familiar | d100 | Familiar |
| 1 | atomie | 61-65 | hare/rabbit |
| 2-6 | bat | 66 | imp |
| 7-11 | beetle | 67 | jaculus |
| 12-18 | cat | 68-70 | lizard |
| 19-22 | chameleon | 71-74 | mouse/rat |
| 23-26 | crab | 75-77 | newt |
| 27-31 | crow/raven | 78-80 | octopus/squid |
| 32-36 | dove/pigeon | 81 | ooze |
| 37-41 | falcon/hawk | 82-84 | owl |
| 42-45 | ferret/weasel | 85-87 | parrot |
| 46-48 | fish | 88-91 | serpent |
| 49-53 | fox | 92-94 | scorpion |
| 52-56 | frog/toad | 94-96 | spider |
| 57-59 | goose/duck | 97-99 | turtle |
| 60 | gremlin | 100 | wisp |
FAMILIAR SPIRIT
Your efforts to contact unholy patrons have made it possible for you to summon and bind a range of minor spirits to your service at 2nd level. Initially, these efforts are unpredictable. If you dedicate one hour to ritual activity, you can cast the
Find Familiar spell without any material components, even if you do not otherwise know that spell. Rather than take the form of your choosing, roll 1d100 to determine the form this open call for magical assistance manifests nearby. Except for this form selection process, such Familiar Spirits have all the capabilities and drawbacks associated with the
Find Familiar spell.
PACT INVOCATIONS
At 2nd level you incoporate an assortment of minor rituals into your private moments, literally pleading for power from entities beyond this world. You gain two
Pact Invocations, with that number incrementing at 5th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 20th warlock levels. When you gain a warlock level, you can replace one of your Pact Invocations with a different selection.
FALSE ARCANA
By 5th level you have learned to mask your controversial spellcasting behind other magical techniques. When an observer attempts to identify a spell you cast, both your Charisma modifier and your proficiency bonus are doubled when determining your spellcasting DC for purposes of that identification. Misleading others is second nature to you now. Your proficiency bonus is doubled when applied to the Deception skill. You can use your action to wear any disguise that normally could be applied in ten minutes or less, and you can completely remove any disguise as a bonus action.
| Unholy Perquisites Sealing an occult pact normally conveys at least one proficiency along with enhanced spellcasting abilities. This is merely the beginning of what can be accomplished when conspiring with an unholy entity. Sufficiently aggressive warlocks sometimes discover their rivals in art or business are abruptly unable to continue their own careers. Witch hunters and their most prominent aristocratic supporters are always fair game in the eyes of spellcasters practicing contractual magic. Even when a warlock does not call down misfortune upon professional or personal rivals, pact patrons and their intermediaries may show initiative along those lines. |
OCCULT SECRET
As a 9th level warlock you have earned the privilege of seeking powers beyond the recommendations of your patron. You learn one spell of 4th level or less from any spell list, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. You can replace your Occult Secret with a different spell when you gain a warlock level.
GREATER OCCULT SECRET
Virtually no arcane lore seems off limit to an 18th level warlock. You learn one spell of 8th level or less from any spell list, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. If you engage in 1 hour of spectacular ritual activity, including a sacrifice no less valuable than 1,000gp while generating lights and/or smoke visible from at least a mile away, at the end of your next long rest you can replace either your Occult Secret or your Greater Occult Secret with a different spell.
“Look closely at every mystery to cross your path. Magical secrets can be found in the least likely places.”
— Natalie Klepper, Pupil of Abraxas |
ELDRITCH ALLIANCE
An unholy entity older than the first faiths looks to you as a reliable minion. At 20th level you gain the ability to personally plead for complete renewal from your pact patron. If you are able to maintain concentratation on this effort for one full minute, you gain all the benefits of completing a long rest except for satisfying your daily rest requirement, regardless of how recently you completed an ordinary long rest. Your hit points return to maximum and you regain up to half of your Hit Dice along with all spell slots. Once you have called upon this Eldritch Alliance, you cannot do so again until you complete a long rest by way of your ordinary method.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Warlocks ↑ → Unholy Patrons ← ↓ Pact Invocations ↓
Cult Activity Warlocks and witches rarely let groups of their own kind grow well beyond a dozen members. Larger affiilations undermine the secretive nature of their gatherings. That secrecy minimizes hostility from mainstream regimes and religions. Yet large cults exist. Typically these organizations grow rapidly until defeated in violent conflict with a faith or government. Teams of specialists continue hunting remnants of those potentially apocalyptic cults.
Persistent cults are comparatively rare. Such stable groups often have an academic inclination and maintain clinical detachment throughout their studies. Unholy secret societies sometimes bring magic to outcasts by affiliating with a criminal subculture or a political minority. Whether the product of direct inspiration, a single mentor, a small coven, or a great unholy assembly; each warlock tends to have general knowledge of unholy traditions and historic cult activity. |
Unholy Patrons Pact magic is made possible by entities so powerful they are feared by the gods, but none of these beings are deities unto themselves. Spiritual magic requires earnest connections with properly-aligned practitioners. Pact magic requires fidelity only to technique in its habitual invocations and spellcasting methods. The Archfey, demons, devils, and the Great Old Ones all have their own agendas. Even as warlocks and witches do the bidding of these distant powers, both grand plans and individual roles often remain unclear. Unholy patrons exert their own influences, but they do not withhold power once it has been bestowed through a magical pact.
Practitioners of this spellcasting form nonetheless tend to show respect for unholy objects and symbols related to their personal patron. Some happily yield to any desires their pact partners convey, while others only see occult talismans as tools of the trade. Many even maintain ruses implying that they are bards or sorcerers using magic widely accepted in mainstream society. Yet fear of unholy power can be a useful side effect of its taboo nature. Known warlocks and witches may be able to issue credible threats far beyond the extent of whatever powers they actually possess. Some even dedicate themselves to raising false alarms, occupying witch hunters with investigatoins into harmless villages and pursuits of covens that never existed.
Relationships between pact patrons and their empowered beneficiaries take diverse forms. When dealing with fiends, Demonic Consorts typically favor intimate and personal connections, while Diabolic Servitors find themselves dealing with an uncaring infernal bureaucracy. Pupils of Abraxas understand they have transacted with the Great Old Ones, but deeper insights are always more disturbing than they are illuminating. Moongazers often seem disturbed as they gaze smiling into the night sky, yet many recieve personal instruction from an Archfey aristocrat during these rapturous reveries. By contrast, Leyforce Custodians show little interest in their Archfey patrons despite obsessively contemplating mysteries within the global network of Ley Lines. As warlocks progress into the second Tier of Power, they formalize a pact from among these five types of collaborations with an unholy power.
| Unholy Patron Bonus Spells |
| Level | Demonic Consort | Diabolic Servitor | Leyforce Custodian | Moongazer | Pupil of Abraxas |
| 1st | Charm Person | Burning Hands | Floating Disk | Sleep | Unseen Servant |
| 2nd | Enthrall | Flaming Sphere | Levitate | Moonbeam | Locate Object |
| 3rd | Nondetection | Fireball | Fly | Bestow Curse | Clairvoyance |
| 4th | Compulsion | Wall of Fire | Resilient Sphere | Polymorph | Phantasmal Killer |
| 5th | Geas | Flame Strike | Wall of Force | Dream | Contact Other Plane |
| 6th | Magic Jar | Disintegrate | Globe of Invuln. | Eyebite | True Seeing |
| 7th | Project Image | Fire Storm | Forcecage | Regenerate | Symbol |
| 8th | Antipathy/Sympathy | Incendiary Cloud | Antimagic Field | Animal Shapes | Feeblemind |
| 9th | Gate | Gate | Imprisonment | Shapechange | Weird |
| | Contact Other Plane | Contact Other Plane | Contact Other Plane | Contact Other Plane | Contact Other Plane |
Patron Demons Demons are by nature cruel and destructive. Yet any powerful enough to support unholy pacts or otherwise act as major benefactors to a party of adventurers are also sure to be highly intelligent. This intelligence often pairs with exceptional charisma. Demons seeking service from or alliance with mortals can be can be downright delightful company. Many are enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the art and music. They never seem to run short on fine drinks and powerful narcotics. Actual encounters with demons often take place at crowded social events where religious authorities are unlikely to muster a swift response.
Demons often arrive and depart by teleportation. They rarely schedule future meetings. Abruptness is one of their many unpredictable qualities. Any arcane teachings bound up in some great conspiracy are likely to be paired with other techniques a empowered for purely whimsical reasons. Demons have been at the heart of the downfall of many legendary institutions. They also tend to encourage hostility toward obscure authority figures and abrasively moralizing bystanders. Maintaining a strong relationship with a demon sometimes requires vile acts, but these are exceptions to the rule of a fun if not also festive tone. Seekers of a demonic acquaintance often begin by frequenting social gatherings where other taboos are openly violated amidst enthusiastic debauchery. |
⊲ Demonic Consort Temptation is at the heart of every bargain with a demon. These intensely individualistic fiends favor personal relationships with pact partners. The bond between patron and consort can be as intimate as a marriage, though these deals are more often akin to business contracts or creative collaborations. Variations are endless save for a unifying pressure to ignore rules while pursuing personal indulgences. Demonic Consorts who are not carefree hedonists at least pretend to celebrate debauchery from time to time. For this they are rewarded with the power to bend others to their will.
UNEARTHLY ALLURE
Though your age, height, and weight remain unchanged; your physical features become much more appealing when you commit to this pact at 3rd level. You cultivate a personal mystique by looking your best when a moment of calm allows. You have the Exotic Appearance feature. You gain both the Mending and Prestidigitation cantrips, and they do not count against your total number of cantrips known. You have advantage on all ability checks to encourage people to act on their own personal desires. You can speak Abyssal. You are proficient in the Persuasion skill.
UNHALLOWED FLESH
6th level sees you endowed with a demonic degree of resilience. You have resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. You are proficient with the Performance skill. You are proficient with one musical instrument of your choice.
UNSAVORY CONGRESS
At 10th level your patron personally appears to you, at least in dreams and visions if not also amidst revels in the waking world. Choose one damage type from acid, fire, force, frost, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant, or thunder damage. You have resistance to that damage type. You can select a different damage type when you complete a long rest. You can cast the
Magic Jar spell without any material components. If you know the
Dream spell, the
Private Sanctum spell, and/or the
Seeming spell; you can cast those spell(s) without any material components. When you add your proficiency bonus to an ability check related to the Performance skill and/or musical instruments, your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of that check.
Patron Devils Devils hail from heavily organized realms. Yet their organizations remain locked in perpetual struggle with one another. There are dozens of diabolic leaders known to have sustained unholy pacts with mortals. With titles like "Duke," "General," or "Minister;" they preside over hellish hierarchies with layer upon layer of subordinates. Most diabolic pacts are initially confirmed by a lesser devil of no consequence – perhaps even a mere imp. These beings are representatives of the true patron. Direct communications remain impossible for all but the most powerful warlocks and legendary allies. Other collaborators must work their way up through a hierarchy of contacts all loyal to that particular patron.
Devils often pursue grand plans, with schemes unfolding across multiple human generations. They make no secret of their wicked aims. Their earthly representatives are often repulsive and always inflexible in matters of arcane tutelage. Stern and demanding, they regard even the most powerful mortals as tools to be exploited as well as discarded at their own convenience. Yet devils excel at raising up resistance movements to religions with their own protocols of corruption and empowerment. Any major city with zealous holy enforcers probably also sees a proliferation of nearby camps where warlocks and outlaws conspire to shelter and train anyone openly hostile to the local cultural mainstream. |
UNHOLY UNION
By 14th level your dedication to the advancement of this pact is beyond question. If you know the
Conjure Fiend spell, you can cast it without any material components. Fiends summoned in this way will never directly harm you or your companions. Instead, a loss of concentration liberates that fiend to distribute mind-altering substances and propose bold acts of indecency while whimsically altering the environment. They sometimes continue to fight on behalf of the group in exchange for acts of self-impairment like quaffing proferred intoxicants or removing pieces of armor. If you know the
Arcane Hand,
Faithful Hound,
Plane Shift,
Scrying, and/or
Symbol spells; you can cast those spell(s) without any material components.
⊲ Diabolic Servitor Devils are united by elaborate hierarchies. Factions may clash, but all devils see themselves as supporters of a rigid and singular power structure. These infernal echelons are a respectable subject of study among academics and clergy. Ambitious mortals sometimes have access to pertinent occult lore. The secret of contacting a receptive devil is not truly secret. Promising practitioners pledging loyalty to an infernal aristocrat are rewarded with power over hellfire. Diabolic Servitors work through intermediaries, the latter rising in rank as the former completes increasingly elaborate rites.
FIERY TEMPER
An ember of pure hellfire embeds itself in your soul when you commit to this pact at 3rd level. No empathy is required for nearby persons to sense when you are angry, as you visibly fume at such times. You gain the Produce Flame cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of cantrips known. You have resistance to fire damage. You can speak Infernal. You are proficient in the Intimidation skill.
Pact Obligations In practical terms, maintaining an unholy pact only requires occult study and ritual activity in amounts comparable to the habits clerics, druids, sorcerers, and wizards maintain in service to their own Spellcasting features. Flashes of unholy inspiration in dreams supplement whatever lessons individuals can derive from cryptic coincidences and occult literature. On the rarest occasions, a resting warlock or witch might even be visited by an otherwordly entity with lore and power to bestow. These pursuits alone are sufficient to energize warlock spells and Pact Invocations. Both patrons and other practitioners may assert social pressure to participate in unholy conspiracies, but this form of participation is not required of pact partners.
Embracing these supplemental goals usually comes with a mix of risks and rewards. The strongest covens provide each of their members with a dozen loyal allies. Aspiring occultists sometimes serve as willing minions to spellcasters with proven unholy power. Unholy lore sometimes contains secrets that point the way toward ancient treasures. Yet actually supporting any such cause invites the wrath of witch hunters. Even where the activities of proper covens are legal, they can attract the attention of powerful persecutors from distant lands. Occult conspiracies that become widespread public knowledge routinely encounter extreme hostility from holy crusaders. Even active service to the Archfey is an abomination in the eyes of some religious authorities.
Whereas the players of clerics and paladins should work with their DMs to align the behaviors of their characters with the expectations of their patron deities, this sort of thing is entirely optional with unholy patrons. Warlocks and witches associated with each of the five categories of Unholy Patrons adhere to the full spectrum of character alignments. Contrasts in this area can lead to tensions or even expressions of open contempt from those patrons. Yet warlock abilities should continue to function normally. Those arcane practices are themselves of great value to the higher powers promoting them. Additional service should take the form of opportunities rather than obligations. |
DIABOLIC MACHINATIONS
Subversive forces conspire to your benefit at opportune moments after you attain 6th level. When you fail a saving throw or other ability check, you can add 6 to the result, possibly changing the outcome. Once you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest. When you summon a Familiar Spirit, you can choose to automatically receive an imp.
INFERNAL INFUSIONS
At 10th level gruesome rites have repeatedly bathed you in strange blood. You can cast the
Enhance Ability spell on yourself without using a spell slot, even if you are not otherwise able to cast that spell. You have immunity to non-magical fire damage. You have resistance to poison damage. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, fixated, frightened, poisoned, or weakened.
DEVILISH DEPUTY
At 14th level you are recognized as a valuable asset to an infernal legion. After you use Diabolic Machinations, you can do so again after you complete a short rest. If you know the
Conjure Fiend spell, you can cast it as a bonus action. Fiends summoned in this way are loyal military assets. They promptly offer a respectful salute then vanish back to their hellish homes when concentration fails or the spell ends.
⊲ Leyforce Custodian The global Ley Line network is an Archfey creation shrouded in mystery. Established long before the first deities arrived in the world, this complex mesh of magical currents carries incalculable reserves of fey power. Its unseen lines run true over land. Modern spells often rely on major convergences as geographic reference points. Typically secretive and soft-spoken, Leyforce Custodians perpetuate ancient protocols that maintain and repair Ley Lines. Extensive practice is rewarded with techniques for weaving temporary platforms and walls from energy flowing through this network.
STUDENT OF LEYFORCE
You make a habit of manipulating unseen phenomena related to Ley Lines when you commit to this pact at 3rd level. Fey power and the barriers of force it can create prove endlessly fascinating to you. You gain the Mage Hand cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of cantrips known. You gain Agonizing Blast, and it does not count against your total number of Pact Invocations known. You can speak Drow. You are proficient in the Perception skill.
LEYLINE OPERATOR
You gain a greater level of accesss to the network if your exercises in force manipulation continue on to 6th level. When you teleport voluntarily, the maximum distance you can travel is doubled. You have resistance to force damage. You gain Eldritch Spear, and it does not count against your total number of Pact Invocations known.
Ley Lines As the Archfey empowered themselves, they sacrificed many thousands of dragons in rituals designed to create storehouses of arcane energy. Accumulations proved unstable as static pools of great power, but as flows in constant circulation they were theoretically limitless in capacity. Ivaldi, now King of the Dark Fey, devised a network of conduits to conserve and convey all this energy. Aside from promoting the formation of Standing Stones at major intersections of these Ley Lines, the power of the network is effectively self-contained by being kept in motion at extreme velocities.
Some sages contend that these energies circle the planet several times per minute. That might explain how they facilitate instantaneous transcontinental and intercontinental travels in normal long range teleportation techniques. These theories are supported by the fact that the most accomplished Leyforce Custodians are even more skilled at travel by way of the Teleportation Circle spell than druids from the Circle of the Stones. Yet their efforts support much more than a globetrotting lifestyle.
Ever since its inception, this network of Ley Lines appears to have harbored a mind of its own. Building on the arcane efforts of previous eras, Leyforce Custodians work to enhance the interface between fey power and mortal spellasters. Though all these warlocks answer to a single patron, that entity only communicates in brief coded messages. Insofar as it has any personality, the network features similarities to an arcane construct. It rarely makes demands beyond technical correctness in the ritual activities constituting routine network maintenance. |
CONVERGENCE REGULATOR
Your network privileges continue to escalate alongside leyforce manipulations as you reach 10th level. When you are hit with a missile weapon or a thrown weapon, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage from that attack by your warlock level. When you hit with a weapon attack, you may choose to inflict force damage in place of bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage.
NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR
By the time you reach 14th level your manipulation of fey energies has been refined through a library of powerful sequences each keyed to individual commands. You know the
Contingency spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you use your action to cast a warlock spell, you can use your bonus action to cast the
Eldritch Blast cantrip before the end of your turn. If you know the
Teleportation Circle spell, you can cast it without material components or without using a spell slot.
⊲ Moongazer Presently confined inside the Moon, the immortal Archfey and their prison sometimes dominate the night sky. Nocturnal individuals have been known to spend hours staring directly at that distant orb. On rare occasions this just might forge a telepathic link with an inmate of immense power. The Archfey and their courtiers crave strange entertainments. Yet they must work covertly through a system twice reconfigured by overwhelming divine power. Moongazers willing to personally perform peculiar antics for the entertainment of incarcerated fey are rewarded with distinctively lunar magical capabilites.
NIGHT MOVES
You have already completed the first in a series of a bizarre dances or whimsical exhibitions in view of the Moon by the time you commit to this pact at 3rd level. You find it comforting to silently stare in its direction even when the Moon is not in clear view. When your eyes capture that sight you feel rapturous. You gain the
Dancing Lights cantrip and the
Light cantrip, and they do not count against your total number of cantrips known. You have advantage on saving throws to resist being petrified or polymorphed. You can speak Sylvan. You are proficient in the Performance skill.
Patron Archfey Among the Archfey, both light fey and dark fey welcome pacts with warlocks willing to perform for the remote viewing pleasure of their patrons. Each faction functions as an extended family with hundreds of actual entities taking on aristocratic titles subordinate to King Oberon and Queen Titania or King Ivaldi and Queen Mab. These Archfey houses are shrouded in both chaos and secrecy, with the Archfey themselves unable to venture beyond their prison in the Moon.
Further confusion arises from the many aliases and pretenses of the Archfey. To these immortals, maintaining a ruse for decades or centuries is just another form of amusement. From mysterious beasts providing wordless guidance to whimsical atomies always ready with incisive quips, the proxies of these patrons typically take forms easily dismissed as entities of no great consquence. Even so, they can bestow downright deadly capabilities. Moongazers have wreaked more than enough public havoc that the case for their persecution is not entirely without basis. Yet above all what pleases an Archfey patron is entertainment value. Their pact partners are encouraged at every turn to make their lives more interesting as spectacles for unearthly audiences. |
NIGHT BLOOD
By 6th level you have bonded with the Moon itself in such a way that nighttime invigorates you. You no longer require any rest to avoid fatigue. You can complete a long rest by spending four hours crafting items, keeping watch, performing rites, and/or studying texts so long as you do not cast any spells, make any attacks, take any damage, or venture more than 120 feet from your starting point during this time. You have darkvision to a range of 120 feet. You have advantage on ability checks related to hiding in dim light or seeing in dim light. You have resistance to non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage except for damage inflicted by silvered weapons. When you summon a Familiar Spirit, you can choose to automatically receive an owl.
LUNAR FAVOR
At 10th level you develop an ability to call down concentrated moonlight under almost any circumstances. When you cast the
Moonbeam spell, it lasts a full minute with no need for concentration. You can cast another spell that requires concentration during this time. However, you cannot cast another
Moonbeam while the original remains active. If you have been polymorphed, you can use your action to end that effect.
OUT OF PHASE
Like the Moon itself, by 14th level it is your nature to be partially absent yet fully present at the same time. Whenever you complete a long rest, roll 1d4 and add that value to your Armor Class until the next time you complete a long rest or utilize Eldritch Alliance. If you added 3 or 4 to your Armor Class, you have the Monstrous Appearance feature until you complete your next long rest. If you know the
Misty Step spell, when you cast it you can teleport the same distance a second time before the end of your next turn. If you know the
Arcane Eye spell and/or the
Shadowy Form spell, you can cast those spell(s) without using a spell slot.
Patron Primordials The Great Old Ones predate the existence of any member of the Fivesquare Pantheon. Even so, the gods find these particular primordial entities to be especially disturbing. This is not so for all of the most ancient beings in the multiverse. Some gave birth to deities. Some have always been trusted and respected as the purest embodiments of fundamental forces. Yet the Great Old Ones lack this cosmic esteem. Their true natures and agendas are mysterious even in the eyes of divinely sagacious beings like Odin and Shang-Ti.
Their pact partners are no more enlightened than those deities. Even the most skilled linguists tend to see the verbal arcana of the Great Old Ones as unrelated to any clear meanings. Analysts of that arcana sometimes form theories about its internal consistencies, but these theories are never widely published. Contradictory evidence always seems to emerge soon after any such theory gains traction among academics. Likewise, efforts to study the geometry of unholy channels linked to the Great Old Ones are inconclusive, as resources arrive in myriad patterns with no consistent angular preference. Even their institutions reveal little, favoring downright alien architectural styles and bizarre internal hierarchies.
Many mortal authorities are hostile to the Great Old Ones because they are seen as a source of wasteful corruption. Their influence has driven many great scholars to pursue esoteric studies of no apparent value. Entire villages have been lost to collective obsessions with crafting edifices dedicated to the Great Old Ones. Visions of remote realities and impossible abominations haunt their pact partners in restful moments. Sanity itself seems to erode from contact with the Great Old Ones. The warlocks they empower always seem to pair a profound sense of purpose with a complete inability to articulate that purpose in ways that make sense to persons outside their cult or coven. |
⊲ Pupil of Abraxas No primordial entities are more enigmatic than the Great Old Ones. Their lore is riddled with confounding contradictions. Communion with these ancient enigmas is facilitated by Abraxas the All-Knowing Idiot. That quiescent demiurge simultaneously sees through the eyes of every being in creation. Pupils of Abraxas begin their negotiations by offering the free use of their own point of view to any of the Great Old Ones. This is rewarded with alien visions both disturbing and profound. These eye-opening revelations drive Pupils of Abraxas to study esoteric forces along with transcendental metaphysics.
ANOMALY RESEARCHER
A compelling desire to learn more about the Great Old Ones takes hold when you commit to this pact at 3rd level. From time to time you become intensely curious about a forbidden text or mysterious tragedy. You gain the Resistance cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of cantrips known. You have advantage on saving throws against becoming befuddled, confused, fixated,
and/or frightened. When you summon a Familiar Spirit, you can choose to automatically receive an ooze. You can speak Deep Speech. You are proficient in the Investigation skill.
WANDERER OF THE VOID
By 6th level you have begun to adapt to the strangeness of serving immense alien entities from forgotten primordial worlds. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of applying False Arcana to spell identification. You have resistance to psychic damage. You are proficient with Intelligence saving throws. You can use your action and spend one Hit Die to cast the
Detect Thoughts spell even if you cannot otherwise cast that spell. If you make a saving throw against becoming befuddled, confused, fixated, or frightened, you gain temporary hit points equal to 1d8 + your Charisma modifier.
POSSIBILITY CONDUIT
Your speech and writing become peppered with nonsense phrases when you reach 10th level. When you complete a long rest, note the result of 1d20 as your Cthonic Count. When a creature you can see rolls that number as the d20 used to determine an attack or a saving throw, you can use you reaction to cause a reroll of that attack or saving throw, forcing use of the new result. When you roll an attack or ability check with advantage or disadvantage, both dice produce the same result, and you use that result; you regain one spell slot of 3rd level or lower unless that result and your Cthonic Count are also the same, in which case you regain one spell slot of any level.
“It is noble to explore the most remote reaches of the existence. Yet it takes a certain kind of crazy to enter the astral expanse.”
—Septimus Loricus, Truscan Archmage |
ASTRAL TRAVELLER
By 14th level you have become comfortable on cosmic voyages that were once beyond your wildest imaginings. You can breathe and speak in any environment, including airless spaces. You are also immune to all harmful effects related to extremes of temperature and/or pressure. When you are visiting any other plane of existence, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed as well as the ability to hover. You have advantage on all saving throws against being forced into another plane of existence, including effects that would force you to return from a foray into another plane of existence.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Unholy Patrons ↑ → Pact Invocations ← ↓ Wizards ↓
| Hollow Worship Pact magic bears strong similarities to spiritual magic. Burning material sacrifices, showing respect for symbols, speaking to entities not physically present – it might seem like witches and warlocks worship their unholy benefactors. Yet this is almost never the case. The requirements of pact patrons are satisfied through proper technique during occult rites, not any underlying sentiment. Rather than demand like-mindedness from all channeling partners, providers of unholy power merely exert subtle influences. Anything more would reduce the popularity of techniques that are already difficult to promote. |
Pact Invocations Some warlocks make no secret of their practice, openly wearing iconography associated with their patrons while publicly performing occult rites. Though most prefer covert methods, all must honor the performative demands of unholy entities. Boiling foul brews, crafting tiny effigies, speaking forbidden incantations, and writing in blood are all methods of advancing the arcane agendas of eldritch powers. Many warlocks conceal labors in support of unholy pacts by dabbling in these activities. Such methods of outreach also infuse practitioners with extraordinary abilities. As a supplement to spellcasting opportunities, these Pact Invocations provide more direct compensation for satisfying the terms of occult bargains.
While negotiating for increased magical ability, warlocks sometimes obtain persistent knowledge of a single spell beyond the bonus spells each Unholy Patron illuminates. These contributions help warlocks stay on par with arcane peers despite lacking the internal power reserves of sorcerers or the sophisticated theoretical frameworks of wizards. Many other spellcasters feel as if warlocks "cheated" by exploiting unholy bargains. Yet that unfavorable status is just a small part of what these spellcasters give up in exchange for their power. The most brutal witch hunters seem like gentle folks when contrasted with the cosmic horrors, hellish legions, and primordial predators recurrent in the dreams of warlocks.
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Agonizing Blast (requires Eldritch Spear)
When you inflict damage with Eldritch Blast, you can add your Charisma modifier to that damage.
Arcane Tether
When you complete a long rest, select one item you can wield. When you have at least one empty hand on your turn, as a bonus action you can summon this item into that hand from anywhere on the same plane of existence. When you drop this item, you can use your reaction to return the item to your hand(s). Affixing an Arcane Tether to a different item ends this effect for the previous target.
Armor of Shadows
You know the Mage Armor spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it on yourself without using a spell slot.
Ascendant Step (requires 3rd level warlock)
You know the Levitate spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it on yourself without using a spell slot.
Beast Speech
You can understand and verbally communicate with all creatures of the beast type.
Bewitching Whispers (requires 7th level warlock)
You know the Compulsion spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Compulsion spell, if every target attempts and fails a saving throw, you regain the spell slot used to cast that spell.
Beyond Comprehension (requires Mindbolt)
When you inflict damage with Mindbolt, you can add your Charisma modifier to that damage.
Binding Sigil (requires 9th level warlock)
You know the Hold Monster spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Hold Monster spell, if every target attempts and fails a saving throw, you regain the spell slot used to cast that spell.
Blighted Blade
When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, that creature also takes 1d12 poison damage.
Cauldron of Clarity (requires 9th level warlock)
You know the Scrying spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it without using a spell slot.
Cosmic Tether (requires Arcane Tether)
When you inflict damage with a thrown weapon attack and your Arcane Tether is affixed to that weapon, you can use your reaction to force that target to make an Intelligence saving throw against your Spellcasting DC or take force damage equal to the damage dealt by that thrown weapon attack.
Decomposing Cauldron
When you cast a spell that inflicts necrotic damage, you can add your proficiency bonus to the damage inflicted on every target. When you cast a spell that inflicts the befouled condition, the DC of saving throws against that spell is increased by 2.
Devil's Dog (requires 7th level warlock)
You know the Faithful Hound spell and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you lose more than double your character level in hit points from a single attack or spell, you can cast Faithful Hound as a reaction without using a spell slot. Yet you must use a spell slot to cast Faithful Hound in the normal way.
Devil's Sight
You have hellsight to a range of 120 feet.
Distilling Cauldron
When you cast a spell that inflicts acid damage or poison damage, you can add your proficiency bonus to the damage inflicted on every target.
Double Secret Execration (requires 9th level warlock)
You can choose a second spell for your Occult Secret feature, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you complete a long rest, you can choose either of these spells to be your Occult Secret for the day. The other spell is a reserve secret, unavailable for casting until swapped with the other Occult Secret spell at the end of a long rest.
Dreadful Word (requires 7th level warlock)
You know the Confusion spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Confusion spell, if every target attempts and fails a saving throw, you regain the spell slot used to cast that spell.
Eldritch Sight
You know the Detect Magic spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it without using a spell slot.
Eldritch Spear (requires Eldritch Blast)
When you cast Eldritch Blast, its range is 300 feet.
Eyes of the Rune Keeper
You can read all writing.
Fiendish Vigor
You know the False Life spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it on yourself without using a spell slot.
Faces of Death (requires 3rd level warlock)
You know the Unearthly Visage spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it on yourself without using a spell slot.
Gripping Voice (requires 3rd level warlock)
You know the Hold Person spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Hold Person spell, if every target attempts and fails a saving throw, you regain the spell slot used to cast that spell.
Guided Weapon (requires Phantom Weapon)
If you are wielding a Phantom Weapon with the thrown property, you can use it to complete one thrown weapon attack. Long range does not cause this attack to be made with disadvantage. The Phantom Weapon does not vanish until after this thrown weapon attack is resolved.
Inner Whispers (requires 3rd level warlock)
You know the Detect Thoughts spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it without using a spell slot.
Invisible Weapon (requires Phantom Weapon)
After wielding a new Phantom Weapon, you have advantage on the first attack you make with it before the end of your next turn.
Lifedrinker
When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack or an unarmed attack, that creature also takes necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier and you gain an equal number of temporary hit points.
Light as a Feather
You know the Feather Fall spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it without using a spell slot.
Mask of Many Faces
You know the Disguise Self spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it without using a spell slot.
Minions of Gehenna (requires 9th level warlock)
You know the Conjure Minor Elemental spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Conjure Minor Elemental spell, if you end this spell before the conjured elemental drops to 0 hit points or you lose concentration, you regain the spell slot used in its casting.
Minions of Pandæmonium (requires Minions of Gehenna)
You know the Conjure Elemental spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Conjure Elemental spell, if you end this spell before the conjured elemental drops to 0 hit points or you lose concentration, you regain the spell slot used in its casting.
| |
Mire the Mind (requires 5th level warlock)
You know the Slow spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Slow spell, if every target attempts and fails a saving throw, you regain the spell slot used to cast that spell.
Misty Visions
You know the Silent Image spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it without using a spell slot.
Murky Ground (requires 7th level warlock)
You know the Quagmire spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Quagmire spell, if you end the effect before any target makes a successful saving throw, you regain the spell slot used in its casting.
Myriad Forms (requires 7th level warlock)
You know the Alter Self spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it without using a spell slot.
Nightmare Unleashed (requires Mindbolt)
When you inflict damage with Mindbolt, that target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your Spellcasting DC or become frightened until the start of your next turn.
Occult Precautions (requires 5th level warlock)
You know the Magic Circle spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it without using a spell slot.
Occulus of the Final Seal (requires 7th level warlock)
You know the Arcane Eye spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it without using a spell slot.
One with Shadows
You can attempt to hide even if you are visible in dim light, but not while visible in bright light.
Otherworldly Leap
You know the Jump spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it on yourself without using a spell slot.
Phantom Weapon
When you have at least one empty hand on your turn, as a bonus action you can conjure a ghostly duplicate of any non-magical melee weapon. You wield this weapon as if you were proficient with it. It inflicts magical damage of the type(s) it otherwise would. Your Phantom Weapon promptly vanishes when dropped, stowed, or thrown.
Phasing Out (requires 5th level warlock)
You know the Gaseous Form spell and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you are hit with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to cast Gaseous Form without using a spell slot, possibly gaining immunity or resistance to the damage from that attack. You must use a spell slot to cast Gaseous Form in the normal way.
Primordial Glimpse (requires Mindbolt)
When you inflict damage with Mindbolt, your target must make an Intelligence saving throw against your Spellcasting DC or suffer disadvantage on the next attack made before the start of your next turn.
Reek of Death (requires 5th level warlock)
You know the Stinking Cloud spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. If you designate the corpse of a creature deceased no more than five days earlier as the center of this effect, you can cast the Stinking Cloud spell without using a spell slot.
Reeling Tether (requires Arcane Tether)
When you damage a creature of Large size or smaller with a thrown weapon attack and your Arcane Tether is affixed to that weapon, you can use your reaction action to force that target to make a Constitution saving throw against your Spellcasting DC or be pulled to a position up to 15 feet closer to you and knocked prone.
Repelling Blast (requires Eldritch Spear) When you inflict damage with Eldritch Blast on a target of large or smaller size, you can push that target to a position up to 10 feet more distant from your position.
Ride the Sky (requires Ascendant Step)
You know the Fly spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it on yourself without using a spell slot.
Sculptor of Flesh (requires 7th level warlock)
You know the Polymorph spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Polymorph spell, if every target attempts and fails a saving throw, you regain the spell slot used to cast that spell.
Secret Incarnate
You cannot be the target of divinition magic, including many forms of alarms or scrying. Your alignment and creature type(s) are always inscrutible.
Sign of Ill Omen (requires 5th level warlock)
You know the Bestow Curse spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Bestow Curse spell, if every target attempts and fails a saving throw, you regain the spell slot used to cast that spell.
Startling Surge
For purposes of utilizing a crystal, an orb, a staff, a totem, or a wand; you can perform the Activate action as a bonus action.
Sudden Snake (requires 7th level warlock)
You know the Slithering Serpent spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells and you can cast it without using a spell slot. When you cast the Slithering Serpent spell, if you end its effect before you lose concentration or the beast drops to 0 hit points, you regain the spell slot used in its casting.
Tendrils of Tartarus (requires 7th level warlock)
You know the Black Tentacles spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells and you can cast it without using a spell slot. When you cast the Black Tentacles spell, if you end its effect before you lose concentration, you regain the spell slot used in its casting.
Thief of Five Fates
You know the Bane spell, and it does not count against your total number of known spells. When you cast the Bane spell, if every target attempts and fails a saving throw, you regain the spell slot used to cast that spell.
Thirsting Blade
When you inflict damage with a melee weapon attack, you can make one more attack with that weapon. Once you have done this, you cannot use Thirsting Blade again until the start of your next turn.
Unholy Fury
When you make a weapon attack or an unarmed attack, you can use your Charisma modifier in place of your Strength modifier.
Voices of the Ancients
You are proficient in the Persuasion skill and the Intimidation skill. You know Abyssal, Deep Speech, and Infernal.
Whispers of the Grave (requires 5th level warlock)
You know the Speak with Dead spell, it does not count against your total number of known spells, and you can cast it without using a spell slot.
Witch Sight (requires Devil's Sight)
You have truesight to a range of 30 feet. |
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Pact Invocations ↑ → Wizards ← ↓ Schools of Magic ↓
| Wizard Basics |
hit points for new characters: 6 + your Constitution bonus
hit points for gained levels: 1d6 + your Constitution bonus
Hit Dice: 1d6 per wizard level
armor proficiencies: none
weapon proficiencies: crop, cudgel, dagger, dart, dirk, greatclub, needle, razor, rock, quarterstaff, sickle, sling
saving throw proficiencies: Intelligence & Wisdom
core skill proficiencies: Arcana and History
languages: none
tool proficiencies: calligraphers' tools
supplemental skill proficiencies: You may replace redundant skills with Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Religion, or Sleight-of-Hand.
|
Wizards
The first major civilization on the surface of the world was the magocracy of the Archfey. They pioneered new levels of power through the systematic slaughter of dragons. Their reign only ended when a swarm of immigrating gods imprisoned all immortal archmagi inside the Moon. Wizardry itself was endangered, becoming less so as the Age of Heroes gave rise to a proliferation of new practitioners. Racial embargoes were no longer enforced. Any person with great faculties of patience and reason could pursue these studies. Early elven wizards took to classifying magical techniques according to the Eight Schools, a scheme that remains valid in the present day. Elves continue to excel with this form of magic, but they do not constitute a majority of modern wizards.
An intellectual approach to spellcasting is notoriously complex and difficult to grasp. Many wizards are the product of university curricula built around nine years of advanced magical studies. Even ambitious adults enrolling with excellent language skills are fortunate to achieve their goals on that schedule. Individuals so profoundly learned are still only familiar with several basic spells – babes in the woods from the perspective of highly accomplished wizards. Careers begun by awkward scholars burdened with bulky literature can pave the way to vast arrays of magical marvels. The spell selection of individual wizards is only limited by the scope of arcane formulae thoroughly documented in their own spellbooks.
Wizards remain rare and mysterious, though less so than during the Age of Heroes. Many modern public officials subsidize arcane studies to increase the number of wizards in their communities. Some of these spellcasters organize into guilds, setting fixed prices and terms for specific services. Wizards remain reluctant to share their personal spellbooks, but any respectable university will house an abundance of excellent instructional material expounding upon the theories and practices of wizardry. As with the proliferation of recorded lore, magic itself offers countless discoveries. No wizard knows it all, but the best keep learning new techniques while illuminating these findings for future review or ritual performance.
| Wizard Progression |
Proficiency
Level Bonus Features | Inked
Illuminations | Cantrips
Known | Spell Slots
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th |
| 1st | +2 | Spellcasting,
Transcribe Spell | – | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2nd | +2 | Arcane Recovery,
Inked Illuminations | 1 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 3rd | +2 | School of Magic | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4th | +2 | Feat | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5th | +3 | Arcane Expertise | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6th | +3 | School of Magic Feature | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 7th | +3 | — | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8th | +3 | Feat | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 9th | +4 | Signature Spell | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 10th | +4 | School of Magic Feature | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 11th | +4 | — | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 12th | +4 | Feat | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 13th | +5 | — | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 14th | +5 | School of Magic Feature | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| 15th | +5 | — | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 16th | +5 | Feat | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 17th | +6 | — | 5 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | Greater Signature Spell | 5 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | Feat | 5 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 20th | +6 | Arcane Supremacy | 5 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Magical Formulae Outsiders sometimes view the practice of magic as a simple matter of providing the right gestures, items, and/or words to fuel the effect thus produced. This is never the case. Spell components serve as guides and triggers driving interactions between unseen forces and visible realities to produce magical results. The real power of magic stems from phenomena that constantly surround most people without being perceived in any way. A better understanding of magical formulae is that they are directions for practitioners intent on choreographing magical energy to achieve specific results.
Many magical formulae are cryptic suggestions rather than explicit recipes. All spell scrolls pair their directions with infusions of energy enough to actuate the spell they will enable. The underlying workings of a spell require more thoughtful study than immediate recitation. Wizards alone have the rarified training required to appreciate the underlying interactions that result from the expenditure of a spell scroll. Thus wizards alone can trascribe the contents of a spell scroll into spellbook entries detailed enough to inform future Spellcasting efforts.
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CREATING A WIZARD
A typical fledgling wizard emerges from the shelter of lengthy academic endeavors. This often involves more than a decade of study at a prestigious university. Yet not all wizards are typical. Some study under a single mentor, performing the work of a domestic servant in exchange for the teachings of an accomplished spellcaster. There are even self-taught wizards, informed by whatever literature and lore should cross paths with their voracious minds. Yet those individuals are extremely rare. One way or another, every wizard begins an adventuring career already in possession of a book containing personalized explanations of several basic spells.
Once a privilege elvenkind reserved for themselves, then later a body of techniques shared by fey and humans; wizardry requires extensive knowledge and training. In modern times this training is available to members of every adventuring race. Unlike the unholy bargains of warlocks or the raw visceral energy of sorcerers, wizards generate power with sophisticated arcane interactions. Their gestures, sounds, and thoughts trigger tiny impulses that bind and unleash greater energies. The most impressive of their spells follow from cascades of carefully engineered escalations.
The knowledge these techniques demand is diverse. Any formula employed by wizards is likely to be a complex yet flexible procedure. Energies must be blended in precise proportions. Steps must be completed in the proper sequence with the proper timing. A grasp of underlying theories may be required when adapting to the moment at hand. Many wizards seem aloof and/or absent-minded. This perception follows from the way their minds are always contemplating profound subjects of interest only to mages and sages. When not actively engaged in some magical effort, a wizard is likely to dwell on the merits of a new arcane theory or speculate about the ramifications of a mysterious event.
SPELLCASTING
In a world where many hunger for authentic arcane lore, you maintain a personal collection of the stuff. There is no limit to what knowledge can be recorded in your spellbooks. Wizards are fiercely protective of these prized possessions, yet they sometimes take great risks for opportunities to add new and useful formulae to these portable archives.
Cantrips
You know 3 wizard cantrips. You learn additional cantrips at 3rd, 7th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th wizard levels. Each time you gain a level, you can swap out one of these learned wizard cantrips for another selection.
Preparing and Casting Spells
Your initial spellbook contains 6 first level
wizard spells. You can use the Transcribe Spell ability to expand this collection. When you gain a wizard level you learn one wizard spell of a level that you can cast. Removing a spell from your spellbook never allows you to learn a substitution. This knowledge can be permanently lost through the physical destruction of spellbooks. When you complete a long rest, you can prepare a number of spells from your spellbooks equal to your wizard level + your Intelligence modifier. The spellbook(s) containing those spells must be available to you, and you require light enough to read for at least 2 hours of that rest.
You must expend a spell slot of sufficent level to cast a wizard spell. You recover all expended spell slots at the completion of a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for all wizard spells. Saving throws against your spells face a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence bonus. You can employ a crystal, an orb, a staff, a rod, or a wand as a spellcasting implement.
TRANSCRIBE SPELL
Nearly all adventurers are capable of taking written notes. Wizards do this with methods simultaneously profound and rigorous. Their approach to magic is uniquely intellectual. This empowers them to compose complete records of the methods for casting individual spells. Unlike magic scrolls with innate power triggered through simplified recitations, the spellcasting guides of wizardry are elaborate and well-supplemented instructions to inform original acts of spellcasting.
Given access to another wizard's
spellbook, you can generate one of these guides through experiments that cost 50gp per spell level while requiring two hours of effort per spell level. A similar process allows you to reveal and study the more advanced lore associated with a wizard spell contained in a scroll. While these experiments destroy the scroll, they normally have no harmful effects on spellbooks. Yet they convey knowledge essential to composing new spellbook entries.
At any time you are prepared to cast a wizard spell, you can also devote 10gp of calligraphy supplies per spell level and one hour of effort per spell level to record a complete guide to casting that spell in one of your own spellbooks. Maintaining duplicate spellbooks is not unusual for a wizard, since an inability to study this personalized body of lore robs them of their hallmark versatility. Some maintain a small nunber of well-guarded spellbooks, while others maintain archives stashed away across diverse lands.
ARCANE RECOVERY
As a 2nd level wizard you are dilligent enough to remain studious on the campaign trail. During a short rest in which you have access to at least one spellbook and adequate light to read, you can regain spell slots in any combination of total levels up to your wizard level. If you make this choice, you cannot spend Hit Dice during that short rest.
INKED ILLUMINATIONS
Any spellbooks you write or actively curate appear valuable at a glance, and they are magical in the eyes of beings able to discern such things. At 2nd level select 1
Inked Illumination. You gain additional selections at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th wizard levels. You can replace one of your Inked Illuminations with a different selection when you gain a wizard level. They each indicate precious materials, rare inks, reference tables, special illustrations, or other embellishments incoporated into any spellbooks penned by your hand.
ARCANE EXPERTISE
As a 5th level wizard you are well-studied on all major varieties of magic. Uour proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes related to the Arcana skill. You do not suffer disadvantage on ability checks related to understanding ancient forms of languages you know.
SIGNATURE SPELL
Select one 1st or 2nd level spell from your spellbook(s). At 9th level this becomes your Signature Spell. You always have this spell prepared, and it does not count against your total number of prepared spells. You can cast this spell without using a spell slot.
GREATER SIGNATURE SPELL
Select one 3rd or 4th level spell from your spellbook(s). At 18th level this becomes your Greater Signature Spell. You always have this spell prepared, and it does not count against your total number of prepared spells. You can cast this spell without using a spell slot. If you spend 1,000gp per spell level of your new choice and labor over experiments for one full workday per spell level of your new choice, you can replace either your Signature Spell or your Greater Signature Spell with another selection from your spellbook(s) of appropriate level.
ARCANE SUPREMACY
As a 20th level wizard your understanding of magic pushes at the boundaries of mortal potential. You can substitute your Intelligence score for the final result of any Arcana check. Neither bonuses nor penalties apply to this substitution. When you spend a spell slot to cast a spell, you can treat that slot as one level higher, up to a maximum of 9th level.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Wizards ↑ → Schools of Magic ← ↓ Inked Illuminations ↓
Schools of Magic No mortal has compiled a complete list of magical phenomena. Countless interactions offer sufficiently curious minds endless mysteries to contemplate. Novice wizards join the collective struggle to organize related knowledge by taking instruction in all eight Schools of Magic. Abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, and transmutation each have vital lessons to offer students of arcane lore. Unfettered by primal attachments, spiritual vows, or unholy pacts; wizards approach every aspect of magic as an intellectual challenge. Experienced practitioners commit to one School of Magic lest their advancement flounder for lack of conceptual focus.
School of Abjuration The Archfey developed their own form of magic to counter aggressive energies emenating from mature dragons. Epic clashes of those two power sources in ancient times generated enormous echoes enduring for exploitation by modern spellcasters. Abjuration is the magic of neutralizing powerful forces. Students attune their senses to the mighty ripples of past events as well as mystical undercurrents in the present moment. This mindset generates awareness to better thwart the efforts of hostile spellcasters. Such sensitivity also makes it possible to bend and weave magical reverberations into arcane structures with the properties of solid objects.
ARCANE VIGIL
Anticipating threats is often essential to effective magical defense. Well-honed intuition allows you to differentiate ordinary tensions from genuine menace. You gain proficiency in the Insight skill when you join this School at 3rd level. If you choose to concentrate on an Arcane Vigil, your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of passive Arcana and passive Insight. You also know various techniques of scanning for metaphysical signs of hostile or misleading intentions. When you a attempt an Insight check, you can use a single spell slot to gain a bonus equal to 1d4 + the level of that spell slot.
COUNTERMAGIC
When you cast
Counterspell,
Dispel Magic, or
Power Struggle your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of that casting. When you cast
Power Struggle or trigger a casting of that spell, spell slots of 8th level or less you consume count as one level higher than they otherwise would for purposes of resolving that
Power Struggle.
ARCANE RECYCLING
You are resistant to force damage.
School of Conjuration The earliest expressions of Draconic were simultaneously descriptive and imperative. Those ancient wyrms sought power over their surroundings more than they sought dialogue with one another. This school does not require knowledge of that rumbling language, but its practice relies heavily on related core concepts to call upon beings from other planes of existence. Even if they prove shy in public address, accomplished conjurers show unflinching confidence when addressing creatures summoned into their personal service. The magic of summoning and commanding otherworldly creatures normally requires verbal direction both clear and firm.
IMPERATIVE INTONATION
Prepared to command deadly creatures from other planes of existence, you do not take voice training lightly. You gain proficiency in the Animal Handling skill when you join this school at 3rd level. You know how to maintain unwavering confidence in the face of peril as well as how to deliver clear verbal commands reinforced with body language. When you attempt an Animal Handling check, you can use a single spell slot of any level to add your Intelligence modifier to that check.
INTENSE INFLUENCE
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When you make a concentration saving throw to maintain a conjuration spell, you have advantage on that saving throw. When a creature you have conjured makes a saving throw, you can use your reaction to give that creature advantage on that saving throw. When you take damage inflicted by a conjured creature,
School of Divination ???
INSPIRED INQUIRY
You are inclined toward profound contemplations of fundamental truth and falsity. These musings allow you to cultivate a special sensitivity to accurate information. You gain proficiency in the Investigation skill when you join this school at 3rd level. When you make an Investigation check, you can spend one spell slot of any level to add your Intelligence modifier to the result of that check.
School of Enchantment ???
HONEYED WORDS
Extensive study of behavior and motivation endows you with an uncanny ability to say precisely what someone else wants to hear. You gain proficiency in the Persuasion skill when you join this school at 3rd level. When you make a Persuasion check, you can spend one spell slot of any level to add your Intelligence modifier to the result of that check.
School of Evocation ???
ENERGETIC THREAT
Commanding raw destructive power requires some aptitude for warning allies of imminent danger. Cautionary callouts give way to menacing predictions as your control improves. You gain proficiency in the Intimidatation skill when you join this school at 3rd level. When you make an Intimidation check, you can spend one spell slot of any level to add your Intelligence modifier to the result of that check.
School of Illusion ???
HOCUS POCUS
From your earliest arcane efforts, you appreciated the potential of spellcasting to misdirect the attention of observers. You gain proficiency in the Sleight-of-Hand skill when you join this school at 3rd level. You learn the
Minor Illusion cantrip, and it does not count against the total number of learned cantrips. Blurring furtive gestures and movements becomes second nature to you. When you make a Sleight-of-Hand check, you can spend one spell slot of any level to add your Intelligence modifier to the result of that check.
SMOKE & MIRRORS
If you have the
Fog Cloud spell prepared, you can cast it without using a spell slot. When you cast the
Mirror Image spell, you automatically produce the maximum possible number of illusry decoys. You learn the
Reflect Image cantrip, and it does not count against the total number learned cantrips.
School of Necromancy ???
CHIRURGICAL TECHNIQUES
Extensive study of cadavers has given you an extraordinary knowledge of internal anatomy. You gain proficiency in the Medicine skill when you join this college at 3rd level. When you make a Medicine check, you can use a single spell slot of any level to add your Intelligence modifier to that check.
School of Transmutation ???
FIREPIT FABRICATION
Committing to this school at 3rd level allows you to excel at producing mundane objects from magical energies slowly solidified by ordinary fires. When you complete a long rest at a location with an active bonfire, brazier, campfire, or hearth; at the completion of that long rest you can acquire one non-magical item valued no greater than 5 × your wizard level in gold pieces. This object forms magically when the fire is extinguished. It might require some cleaning and/or cooling to be serviceable.
Also, your training creates a persistent awareness of ways to improve any ordinary materials you examine. From dehydrating food for preservation to emphasizing visual contrasts in footprints, you can perform countless small adjustments to ease challenging journeys. You are proficienct in the Survival skill. When you attempt a Survival check, you can use a single spell slot of any level to add your Intelligence modifier to that check.
FULLSOME FORMATION
At 6th level you learn how to increase the size of conjurations.
FEROCIOUS FOCUS
At 10th level you develop exceptional control of your own magical creations. When you roll a 1 on a die to determine the damage inflicted by a conjuration spell, you can reroll that die and use the new result. When you cast a conjuration spell that causes another creature to make a saving throw, you can cause one target creature to suffer disadvantage on that saving throw.
FLUID FORMS
You have integrated the concept of transformation into the core of your being by the time you achieve 14th level. When you cast the
Polymorph spell, the
True Polymorph spell, or the
Shapechange with yourself as the only target, you do not need to concentrate to maintain that effect for up to 1 full hour. When you cast the
Polymorph spell or the
True Polymorph spell without targeting yourself, you can instead target a number of creatures within range no greater than your Intelligence modifier, provided that they are all transformed into the same type of creature or object.
Abjuration -- Insight
Conjuration -- Animal Handling
Divination -- Investigation
Enchantment -- Persuasion
Evocation -- Intimidation
Illusion -- Sleight-of-Hand
Necromany -- Medicine
Transmutation -- Survival
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Schools of Magic ↑ → Inked Illuminations ← ↓ Feats ↓
Spellbooks Wizards reign supreme in the realm of assimilating new magical knowledge. Scrolls and spellbooks can be especially valuable to them. Even with such a resource, their methods require documented experimentation spanning two hours per spell level while consuming 50gp per spell level of materials. Completing such a project produces a working guide to one previously unfamiliar wizard spell. Binding that completed guide into a spellbook makes it practical to prepare for future castings of that spell.
A single minute of study per spell level can be sufficient for a wizard to recall the inner workings a well-documented spell. Once added to a spellbook, copying a known spell is a straightforward process. Nonetheless, much labor is required to produce pages full of detail yet free from error. Each copy requires one hour of work and 10gp of materials per spell level. A typical spellbook weighs 5 pounds and features enough content to support 100 levels of wizard spells.
The most efficient squeeze 100 levels of formulae into a 1 pound miniature or 500 levels of spellcasting lore into the standard 5 pound format. |
Inked Illuminations Wizards have a unique relationship with literature. Most adventurers are well-read, and most spellcasters are familiar with large libraries. Yet only wizards derive their magical power directly from the review of documents carefully curated to inform a career of magical reckonings. Their grasp of arcane theories and complex processes provides the broadest of all the spell selections available to adventurers. For wizards to avail themselves of this extraordinary lore, they must go beyond appreciating its lessons to elaborate upon their personal understanding of each proper spell. Studious review of detailed personal notes and supporting reference materials enables wizards to recall the methods of casting spells long unused.
Some wizards regard their spellbooks as extensions of their own minds. Even the most whimsical among them takes a thoroughly intellectual approach to spellcasting. Most have high standards when it comes to both the content and the presentation of literature. Flawless calligraphy and elaborate illustrations enrich the reading experience on every level. Painstaking preparations make it possible to spend hour after hour studying serviceable spellbooks. Incorporating rare materials into these precious volumes can foster familiarity with exotic creatures or mystical forces. Most wizards are not strongly religious, but they can be as protective of their spellbooks as priests tend to be of their holy symbols.
Being intensely literary spellcasters, wizards hunger for novel lore and the resources to document it in the best possible formats. Given sufficient supplies and time, wizards can add their own interpretations of magical scrolls or the content of other spellbooks to their personal collections written lore. All wizards are capable calligraphers. Some also excel as alchemists, cartographers, leatherworkers, painters, or weavers. Aside from novices, the only wizards known to maintain ramshackle spellbooks do so as a ploy to be underestimated. Examination of salvaged folios invariably reveals a systematic and thoughtful approach to the collection. There is a method to the madness of even the most eccentric archmage.
“Magic is not about saying words and waving fingers. It is about asserting imperatives.”
— Olyssèus Baros, minotaur spellbinder |
Wizards incorporate increasingly sophisticated techniques into the preparation of their spellbooks as they progress in their craft. These illuminations inform and inspire practitioners engaging with unseen forces. The more bold and memorable the text, the more beneficial its study will be. Just as all spellcasters weave mystical forces together to produce extraordinary results, wizards craft their spellbooks to better focus on crucial convergences of arcane power. Some sages can infer a great deal about a wizard by skimming an open spellbook. The conceptual grasp of magical phenomena all wizards crave is best satisfied by detailed texts they write for themselves in their own personal style.
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Alchemical Tables
You can add your proficiency bonus to the acid or poison damage each target takes from any spell you cast. You have advantage on saving throws against the poisoned condition.
Assembly Plans
You can add your Intelligence modifier to any ability check related to tinkering. The DC of saving throws against your spells is increased by 2 for creatures of the construct type.
Astrological Charts
When you roll a 1 on a saving throw, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll. Add 2 to the DC of efforts to counter any spells you cast.
Bonded Clasps
When closed, your spellbooks can only be opened by a specific gesture or word that you can change at any time. Your Perception and passive Perception are increased by 5 for purposes of noticing any kind of theft in progress.
Chromatic Paints
When you cast a spell from the school of Illusion, you may use your reaction to perform the Dodge action or the Hide action. If you do so, the DC of saving throws against that spell increases by 2.
Comprehensive Indices
You can add your proficiency bonus to the total number of spells you can prepare while studying your spellbook(s).
Cramming Guides
You can replace 1d4 of your prepared spells with other selections when you complete a short rest with sufficient light for reading.
Cryptographic Ciphers
You have advantage on all ability checks to produce or decipher codes and other secret messages.
Diabolic Ichors
You gain hellsight to a range of 60 feet. The DC of saving throws against your spells is increased by 2 for creatures of celestial or fiend types.
Draconic Rubrications
When you cast a spell with an area of effect, you can use your reaction to add 10' to its radius, 15' to the size of its cone/cube, or 20' to the length of its line. If you do so, the DC of saving throws against that spell increases by 2.
Elemental Atlases
You have advantage on saving throws to maintain concentration on spells that conjure elementals. The DC of saving throws against your spells is increased by 2 for creatures of the elemental type.
Embossed Plates
Your spellbooks are metal objects immune to rust. They can be studied by sense of touch as well as normal vision. You have blindsight to a range of 20 feet.
Feyglass Mirrors
Each of your spellbooks may serve as a focus for Scrying. The DC of saving throws against these Scrying spells is increased by 2.
Figurehead Beacons
You always know the exact distance and direction to each of your spellbooks currently within 9 miles of your location. If you cast a spell that allows you to teleport, you and any companions can travel up to twice the standard distance.
Flora and Fauna Figures
You know the Green Thumb cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of cantrips known. The DC of saving throws against your spells is increased by 2 for creatures of beast, fungus, or plant types.
Fluorescent Tinctures
When you cast a spell that causes another creature to become invisible, you can use your reaction to include yourself in this effect. You remain invisible until the spell ends. If the original target(s) end the spell by taking particular sorts of actions, you also end the spell when performing any of those actions.
Focal Mandalas
You can add your proficiency bonus to the psychic damage each target takes from any spell you cast. You have advantage on saving throws against being paralyzed or possessed.
Gold Leaves
When you cast a spell that could charm target(s), you can use your reaction to gain 1d10 temporary hit points. If you do so, the DC of saving throws against that spell increases by 2.
Historiated Capitals
Targets of your Enlarge spells inflict 1d8 (instead of 1d4) additional damage with attacks. The DC of saving throws against your spells is increased by 2 for creatures of the giant type.
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Interlaced Borders
You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed. The DC of saving throws against your spells is increased by 2 for creatures of the fey type.
Lexicons of Power
When you roll a 1 while determining damage for a cantrip, you can reroll that die and must use the new roll. Add 2 to the DC of efforts to dispel any spells you cast.
Leyline Maps
If you cast a spell that requires a die roll to determine the result of teleportation, you may roll twice and use either result. You have advantage on saving throws against involuntary teleportation or planar travel.
Lunar Almanacs
You have advantage on saving throws against being cursed. The DC of saving throws against your spells is increased by 2 for creatures of the shapeshifter type.
Manuals of Forms
You can add your proficiency bonus to initiative checks. You gain a +1 bonus to hit with spell attack rolls.
Mithral Inlays
You can add your proficiency bonus to the force damage each target takes from any spell you cast. Reduce each instance of force damage you take by your Intelligence modifier.
Philosophical Dialectics
If you roll a 1 on an ability check related to the use of a skill or tool proficiency, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll. You have advantage on saving throws against illusions.
Phosphorescent Tinctures
You know the Dancing Lights and Light cantrips, and they do not count against your total number of cantrips known. Add 2 to the DC of saving throws against any spell you cast that could inflict blindness.
Reinforced Bindings
You are proficient with Constitution saving throws. If you roll a 1 when spending a Hit Die, you may reroll that die and must use the new result.
Rowan Panels
For purposes of utilizing a crystal, an orb, a rod, a staff, or a wand; you can perform the Activate action as a bonus action.
Sanguine Verses
When you cast a spell under 9th level, you can use your reaction to lose 1d10 hit points, then make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. Failure causes that spell to fail, while success adds one to the level of the expended spell slot.
Scrimshaw Spines
You have resistance to necrotic damage. The DC of saving throws against your spells is increased by 2 for creatures of the undead type.
Thermoelectric Coefficients
You can add your proficiency bonus to the fire, frost, or lightning damage each target takes from any spell you cast.
Vocal Exercises
You know the Thaumaturgy cantrip, and it does not count against your total number of cantrips known. You can add your proficiency bonus to the thunder damage each target takes from any spell you cast.
Vivisection Sketches
You can add your proficiency bonus to the necrotic damage each target takes from any spell you cast. You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened or weakened.
Wicked Drolleries
When you cast a spell that could confuse or frighten target(s), you can use your reaction to perform the Attack action. If you do so, the DC of saving throws against that spell increases by 2.
Wyrmskin Covers
Your spellbooks are immune to fire damage. You are immune to the Frightful Presence of dragons. The DC of saving throws against your spells is increased by 2 for creatures of the dragon type.
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Campaign Integration All aspects of game play are subject to DM approval, alteration, or denial. This is especially important when dealing with Feats and Forfeits. Not all game mechanics are appropriate for all campaigns. A particular capability or limitation could be incompatible with a vital story element. Perhaps the scope of the campaign is confined to a region where some forms of training are unavailable. Perhaps some players would prefer not to feature a specific disability in the fantasy stories they personally develop and share. Whatever the concern, it is important to remember that none of these options are mandatory.
Also, character growth works best when it is tethered to the ongoing narrative. Feats facilitate a measure of personality development in addition to individualizing tactics. Specialized equipment or a new exercise regimen might be adopted in anticipation of acquiring a Feat. A challenging mission might be undertaken to honor a respected mentor. Relationships with other party members may deepen as some study the lore and techniques of others. Roleplaying the addition of a Feat should not convey new abilities prematurely, but some DMs reward these efforts with inspiration and/or experience. |
Feats There is no singular path to acquiring these extracurricular abilities. Feats may result from arcane enhancement, divine providence, elite training, natural aptitude, relentless practice, or unholy covenant. Most are produced by some blend among those possibilites. Each marks a character as gifted beyond the norms of class and level. In a world where many songs already depict wizards throwing
Fireballs, news may yet be quick to spread about the individual who did likewise while clad in chain armor. Few remark about encountering a bard able to facilitate international diplomacy while speaking many languages, but the barbarian who does likewise is sure to inspire colorful stories.
Established adventurers normally combine progress with sacrifice to acquire any new Feats. For each progression into a higher character level, a single Feat may be exchanged for another. Perhaps an old ability falls out of practice. Perhaps a neglected magical weave falters and fades away. The adventurer remains formidable and focused, but that focus has shifted to different practices and techniques. It is also possible to gain Feats by giving up earned ability score increases. Adventurers may have as many as seven of these opportunities for development over the course of a personal saga. Sacrificing an ability score increase when it becomes available grants one Feat beyond those a character already possesses.
Barbarians, fighters, monks, paladins, rangers, and rogues acquire additional feats at 4th, 8th, 11th, 15th, 17th, and 19th levels in their respective classes. Bards, clerics, druids, sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards acquire additional feats at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th levels in their respective classes. New Feats can also be acquired by accepting Forfeits approved by your DM. The particulars of that process are covered in
the next section.
Annointed Soul (requires a patron deity and matching character Alignment) Choose your patron god or goddess. You may also choose to become versed in the practices of one relevant religion. Your status as an Annointed Soul brings esteem at gatherings of that faith. You know one cantrip. If you are at least 3rd level, you also gain the ability to cast one first level spell once, regaining that ability when you finish a long rest. If you are at least 5th level, you gain the ability to cast one second level spell once, regaining that ability when you finish a long rest. These spells are determined by the Layfolk Spellcasting list for your patron deity. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for purposes of casting these spells. Clerics dedicated to the same patron will recognize this magic as genuine and holy.
Extracurricular Interests Adventuring class(es) establish the primary paths of progress adventurers will pursue throughout their careers. Class features, subclass features, and elective class abilities pave the way toward a particular sort of greatness. Few adventurers do not stray from these courses. It is normal to show some interest in skills, techniques, and tools beyond the mainstays of any character class. Feats support this diversity of talent. Most adventurers begin their careers with one or two Feats, with the potential to acquire five or six more while rising to the pinnacle of an adventuring class.
Each Feat can be dedicated to a two-point ability score increase, and some other Feats offer a one-point increase in an ability score along with some other benefit. Since no individual can benefit from two Feats with the same name, adventurers intent on using Feats to increase any ability score by more than two points must accumulate that gain through a diverse mix of Feats. No ability score can be raised above 20 through an increase provided by a Feat. Thus most high level adventurers have a few Feats granting them special abilities outside the norms for their class.
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Armored Warrior (requires proficiency with light armor) You have proficiency with medium armor. You have proficiency with shields.
Boxing Training You do not injure yourself when performing unarmed attacks against solid objects. Your unarmed attacks inflict
1d4 + an ability score modifier bludgeoning damage. You can choose between your Dexterity modifier or your Strength modifier when calculating the attack rolls and damage associated with your unarmed attacks. You can use your bonus action to perform one unarmed attack even if you did not take the Attack action on your turn. If you are able to walk and you have at least one hand free, you are eligible to perform attacks of opportunity (unarmed attacks) as if that hand were holding a weapon.
Convincing Impersonator You have proficiency in the Performance skill and disguise kits. Your Performance skill is effective for purposes of mimicking a voice you have previously heard and imitating a face when you have previously seen.
Dignified Translator Your Charisma score increases by 1. You gain proficiency in any four languages of your choice.
Elementary Elementalism Choose between Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. You learn the
Produce Arcs cantrip, the
Produce Flame cantrip, the
Produce Frost cantrip, and the
Produce Stone cantrip. Your chosen ability score is the spellcasting ability for those cantrips.
Elementary Lycanthropy Add shapeshifter to your creature type. You have resistance to bludgeoning, pierceing, and slashing damage from weapons that are neither magical nor silvered. Your passive Perception increases by 2 and you gain +2 to Perception checks. Most forms of raw meat, viscera, and other organs are now able to satisfy your daily food requirement.
Elementary Undeath Add undead to your creature type. You do not require food or water. You cannot be charmed, and you have advantage on all saving throws against becoming frightened. You do not sleep, and you cannot be put to sleep. To completely satisfy your rest requirement, you must spend eight hours within a single 5 foot radius that is not exposed to direct sunlight. You may study, converse, and even cast spells during this rest.
Enlightened Soul (requires Annointed Soul) You have a deep understanding of the spiritual flows that bring power to the faithful. You can cast spells associated with Layfolk Spellcasting by using any spell slots available to you. If the slot is of higher level than the spell, its effects are enhanced appropriately. You can still cast Layfolk Spellcasting spells without using a spell slot, though doing so with more than a cantrip causes you to lose the ability to cast that spell until you regain it through rest.
Erudite Translator Your Intelligence score increases by 1. You gain proficiency in any four languages of your choice.
Hardened Traveller Your Constitution score increases by 1. You have proficiency with light armor.
Heavy Metals (requires proficiency with heavy armor) You can add 2 to the reduce property of any armor while you are wearing it.
Infused Soul (requires Annointed Soul) Your patron deity has strengthened your personal conection. When you complete a short rest, you regain use of all the spells associated with Layfolk Spellcasting.
Inspired Soul (requires Annointed Soul) Your patron deity honors you with a personal vision. You gain the ability to cast the third level spell associated with your Layfolk Spellcasting once, regaining that ability whhen you finish a long rest. Display of this magic will serve as evidence to other worshippers of your patron that you have been personally favored by that god or goddess. Be it eagerly or reluctantly, you become a notable figure among contemporary religious practitioners dedicated to this patron deity.
Ability Score Increases Twenty-one simple Feats cover all the possible ways a character could gain two ability score points. Noting one of these Feats in the record of your character preserves information helpful for purposes of maintaining correct tallies of both Feats and ability scores. When swapping out a Feat on gaining a level, an ability score increase Feat may be abandoned. Of course, the increase(s) it bestowed must also be removed from that record.
These notes also highlight important personal developments on a narrative level. Ideally, some hopes and/or plans are already in play before a new Feat is acquired. These increases can be brought about through any development your DM determines plausible. Official rulings can deny a proposal, allow it, or award Inspiration for the creative merits of its particulars.
• Body Modification – Through some combination of alchemical, chirurgical, and/or magical procedures, you have been permanently transformed. This could involve a single remarkable event or the accumulation of many deliberate efforts at physical and metaphysical alteration.
• Divine Providence – This could result from a particular deity taking a personal interest in your saga. It might instead follow from passionate devotion to the virtues promoted by a specific faith. In either case, someone from the Fivesquare Pantheon went beyond the norm of inspiring adventurers to bestow additional sparks of potential to succeed.
• Extraordinary Training – Either you have long been following a specific regimen imparted by an old teacher, or you have recently undergone intensive in-person instruction with a gifted mentor. Sufficient effort enables the practical application of their lessons to regular activities.
• Personal Achievement – Your accomplishments during the campaign strained your abilities. You eagerly seek out greater challenges to further test your limits. Some stretch so much as to permanently grow to some degree. Whether learning from successes or struggling to avoid the failures of the past, your deeds drive profound personal progress.
• Ritual Empowerment – You attended a rare event (or series of events) as the recipient of extraordinary energies. This process might have involved extensive experimentation or indoctrination. It surely intensified your connection to a cause or entity. Yet when all is said and done you emerged with permanently enhanced abilities.
|
Improved Adroitness Your Dexterity score increases by 1, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Improved Charisma Your Charisma score increases by 2.
Improved Constitution Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Improved Dexterity Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Improved Fitness Your Constitution score increases by 1, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Improved Fortitude Your Constitution score increases by 1, and your Strength score increases by 1.
Improved Grace Your Charisma score increases by 1, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Improved Gravitas Your Intelligence score increases by 1, and your Strength score increases by 1.
Improved Guile Your Charisma score increases by 1, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Improved Intellect Your Intelligence score increases by 1, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Improved Intelligence Your Intelligence score increases by 2.
Improved Mettle Your Strength score increases by 1, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Improved Physique Your Charisma score increases by 1, and your Strength score increases by 1.
Improved Poise Your Dexterity score increases by 1, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Improved Robustness Your Charisma score increases by 1, and your Constitution score increases by 1.
Improved Spryness Your Dexterity score increases by 1, and your Strength score increases by 1.
Improved Strength Your Strength score increases by 2.
Improved Surety Your Constitution score increases by 1, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Improved Vigor Your Constitution score increases by 1, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Improved Wisdom Your Wisdom score increases by 2.
Improved Wit Your Charisma score increases by 1, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Kickboxing Training You do not injure yourself when performing unarmed attacks against solid objects. Your unarmed attacks inflict
1d4 + an ability score modifier bludgeoning damage. You can choose between your Dexterity modifier or your Strength modifier when calculating the attack rolls and damage associated with your unarmed attacks. You can use your bonus action to perform one unarmed attack even if you did not take the attack action on your turn. If you can walk, you do not suffer disadvantage for having no free hands when making an unarmed attack. When you hit a prone creature with an unarmed attack, you can add your proficiency bonus to the damage of that attack.
Kindred Spirit Select a race from cambions, drow elves, forest gnomes, firbolgs, high elves, nymphs, pixies, satyrs, sprites, tieflings, tritons, or wood elves. You know one language mentioned by name in the Languages feature of that race. You know the cantrip named in the Innate Spellcasting feature of that race. You can cast the 1st level spell assocated with the Innate Spellcasting feature of that race once, regaining the ability to do so when you complete a long rest. You spellcasting ability for this magic is the ability score named in the Innate Spelcasting feature of that race.
Minor Mutant Choose between Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. You can cast the
Metamorphic Weaponry spell once. You can cast the
Alter Self spell once. You regain the ability to cast both spells when you finish a long rest. Your chosen ability score is the spellcasting ability for those spells.
Nocturnal Adaptation You gain darkvision to a range of 60 feet.
Precision Handiwork Your Dexterity score increases by 1. You gain proficiency with any four games, musicial instruments, and/or tools of your choice.
Racial Arcana (requires Innate Spellcasting) You have integrated racial magic into your broader spellcasting capabilities. You can use any spell slot of sufficient level to cast a spell listed in your Innate Spellcasting feature. You can continue to cast those spells without using spell slots as permitted by that feature.
Reliable Assessor (requires Insight proficiency) Your Wisdom score increases by 1. You are a keen listener and an excellent judge of character. You have advantage on all ability checks and saving throws related to understanding criminal activities or financial transactions. Your passive Insight increases by 2. You become known for a piercing gaze and probing questions used to scrutinize suspicious strangers and unfamiliar merchants.
Reliable Climber (requires Athletics proficiency) Your Strength score increases by 1. You have long limbs and a slender build relative to the norms of your people. You have advantage on all ability checks related to climbing or resisting forced movement. You can accurately estimate the difficulty of challenges along a climbing route if you can study it in bright light for at least one hour. You become known for scaling local buildings or cliffsides few others would dare.
Reliable Footwork (requires Acrobatics proficiency) Your Dexterity score increases by 1. You normally step with remarkable grace and precision. You have advantage on all ability checks related to balancing, climbing, and/or trap avoidance. When you make a Performance check related to dancing, you can add 2 to that result. Your shoes often emerge unblemished from journeys that leave your companions' footwear muddied and damaged. Your Acrobatics skill can be used to busk with whimsical tumbling and spectacular gymnastic displays.
Reliable Hauler (requires Athletics proficiency) Your Strength score increases by 1. A habit of constantly challenging yourself to pull or lift increasingly massive objects causes your body to bulk up. You have advantage on all ability checks and saving throws related to hauling burdens or lifting heavy objects. When you are heavily encumbered, you only suffer the penalties of being lightly encumbered. Your musculature is visibly well-developed, and you gain a +1 bonus to all Intimidation checks.
Reliable Juggler (requires Sleight-of-Hand proficiency) Your Dexterity score increases by 1. Your well-tuned muscle memory makes it effortless to stash or draw familiar items. This capacity is not limitless, but it should make it possible to ready
and/or stow all the weapons and spell components employed even during a complex turn of actions without dropping anything. You develop a habit of tossing small objects around during idle moments, and your Sleight-of-Hand skill can be used to busk with spectacular displays of juggling.
Reliable Magic-User (requires Arcana proficiency) Your Intelligence score increases by 1. You are entirely comfortable casting spells and collaborating with other spellcasters. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for purposes of calculating your passive Arcana as well as any ability checks related to identifying spells or other magical phenomena. You become known for an encyclopedic knowledge of the Seven Sources and their practical applications.
Reliable Orator (requires Persuasion proficiency) Your Charisma score increases by 1. You become exhilarated rather than apprehensive when appearing before large crowds or judgemental officials. You do not suffer disadvantage when relying on two different tongues within a language group to communicate. Conditions and effects that reduce the range of speech are themselves reduced by half for purposes of limiting your voice. Your spellcasting DC is increased by 1 for purposes of casting the
Command spell, the
Suggestion spell, the
Mass Suggestion spell, and any
Power Word spell.
Reliable Runner (requires Athletics proficiency) Your Constitution score increases by 1. You adapt to maintaining a swift pace over great distances. You can add your Constitution bonus to your speed. You have advantage on all ability checks and saving throws related long distance travel speed or incurring exhaustion from overland movement. When you are not actively campaigning, you habitually maintain personal fitness by completing several lengthy runs each week.
Reliable Student (requires History proficiency) Your Intelligence score increases by 1. You have already read an enormous number of books. Though the cost is not diminished, you require half the usual time to add a new entry to a spellbook or ritual book. You also require half the usual time to read a piece of literature, and you have advantage on all saving throws or ability checks related to recalling the content of texts you have read. You crave opportunities to borrow books related to your interests, and you delight in perusing large collections of written works.
Scintillating Soldiery (requires proficiency with medium armor and proficiency with shields) You have proficiency with heavy armor.
Skill Versatility You gain proficiency in any three skills of your choice.
Skilled Expert You gain proficiency in any one skill of your choice. Select a skill or tool in which you are proficient. Your proficiency bonus counts double for purposes of ability checks using that skill or tool.
Skilled Factotum You gain proficiency in any one skill along with any four games, musical instruments, and/or tools of your choice.
Skilled Translator You gain proficiency in any one skill of your choice and learn any four languages of your choice.
Skilled Traveller You gain proficiency in any one skill of your choice. You gain proficiency with one game, musical instrument, or toolkit of your choice. You gain proficiency with light armor.
Sleek Skirmisher Your Dexterity score increases by 1. You gain proficiency with light armor.
Spatial Awareness You have blindsight to a range of 10 feet.
Tongue of the Wyrm Select one damage type from acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison. If you are not muzzled, you can use your action to vent destruction of that damage type. This effort creates a 15 foot cone. All within must make a saving throw against a DC of 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. If your damage type is cold or poison, this is a Constitution save. If your damage type is acid, fire, or lightning; this is a Dexterity save. A creature takes 2d6 damage of the associated type on a failed save, and half as much damage on a successful one. Once you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest or a long rest. You can speak Draconic.
Vampiric Smile (requires Elementary Undeath) Your Charisma score increases by 1. You can cast the
Charm Person spell. You regain this ability after completing a short rest or a long rest.
Vampiric Thirst (requires Elementary Undeath) When you grab a creature that is not of the construct, elemental, fungus, ooze, plant or undead types; you can inflict 1d6 + your proficiency bonus in necrotic damage on that creature, then regain half as many of your own hit points. When you are able to attack a creature you are grabbing, you can instead repeat this effect if that creature is not of the construct, elemental, fungus, ooze, plant or undead types.
Weapon Expertise You are proficient with all weapons.
Weapon Focus Select any single weapon with which you are proficient. All your attacks with that weapon are +1 to hit, and they inflict 2 points of additional damage.
Weapon Handling Your Dexterity score increases by 1. You gain four weapon proficiencies of your choice.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Feats ↑ → Forfeits ← ↓ Companions ↓
Campaign Integration All aspects of game play are subject to DM approval, alteration, or denial. This is especially important when dealing with Feats and Forfeits. Not all game mechanics are appropriate for all campaigns. A particular capability or limitation could be incompatible with a vital story element. Perhaps the scope of the campaign is confined to a region where some forms of training are unavailable. Perhaps some players would prefer not to feature a specific disability in the fantasy stories they personally develop and share. Whatever the concern, it is important to remember that none of these options are mandatory.
Also, character growth works best when it is tethered to the ongoing narrative. Feats facilitate a measure of personality development in addition to individualizing tactics. Specialized equipment or a new exercise regimen might be adopted in anticipation of acquiring a Feat. A challenging mission might be undertaken to honor a respected mentor. Relationships with other party members may deepen as some study the lore and techniques of others. Roleplaying the addition of a Feat should not convey new abilities prematurely, but some DMs reward these efforts with inspiration and/or experience. |
Forfeits The default character generation process results in a literate person with the normal range of working limbs and senses. With the approval of your DM, it is possible to accept a significant disability by incurring a Forfeit, gaining a Feat to balance out this loss. Characters might also suffer Forfeits as the result of epic curses or other afflictions beyond the remedy of conventional magic. Such hardships should always be the result of agreement between the player of the afflicted character and that campaign's DM.
Some players opt for a Forfeit to explore how a character with a particular disability might still thrive in the face of harsh opposition. Among the many purposes this game can serve, helping people forge fantasies about lives where their personal struggles lead to great personal triumphs is among the most noble. Yet players might also take a Forfeit to explore hardships alien to their own lives. Flawed characters are often much more compelling than peers without any personal deficiencies. Forfeits are always subject to DM approval, and that approval should only be granted to multiple simuultaneous Forfeits under the rarest circumstances.
Blindness Your eyesight is permanently and severely impaired. You automatically fail Perception checks that rely on sight. You cannot read writing unless it is in a tactile format like Triton. You have disadvantage on all Investigation, Medicine, and Survival checks that rely on visual examination. You permanently experience the blinded condition, and you have resistance to radiant damage.
Deafness Your sense of hearing is permanently and severely impaired. You automatically fail Perception checks that rely on hearing. Many people find it extremely difficult to communicate with you. You have disadvantage on all Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion checks that rely on conversation. You cannot be a the target of an Inspiring Flourish, and you have resistance to thunder damage.
Dumbness You cannot speak, though you are still capable of nonverbal utterances. You cannot cast spells with a verbal component. You have disadvantage on all Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion checks that rely on conversation. You cannot perform an Inspiring Flourish or a Tactical Callout.
Feeble Flesh (requires Strength 9) Your Strength score decreases by 6. If you are small or larger, you size is reduced by one category for purposes of encumbrance. You have disadvantage on all Strength ability checks.
Feeble Mind (requires Intelligence 9) Your Intelligence score decreases by 6. You automatically fail all Arcana and Deception checks. You have disadvantage on all Intelligence ability checks.
Lameness (requires 25 speed and no innate flying speed) Your walking speed is 10. You cannot move during the same turn that you rise from a prone position. You have disadvantage on saving throws to resist forced movement or being knocked prone.
Living Corpse Add undead to your creature type. You emit the foul stench of decomposition when you go more than eight hours without spending ten minutes to cleanse and deodorize yourself. You are vulnerable to fire damage and radiant damage.
Lycanthropic Curse (requires a race other than dragonborn, kobold, or lizardfolk) Add shapechanger to your creature type. You become obviously hirsute and unkempt when you go more than eight hours without spending ten minutes to shave and groom yourself. You are vulnerable to radiant damage and damage from silvered weapons.
Sickly Flesh (requires Constitution 9) Your Constitution score decreases by 6. You automatically fail all ability checks to avoid gaining a level of exhaustion. You have disadvantage on all Constitution ability checks.
Sickly Mind (requires Charisma 9) Your Charisma score decreases by 6. You automatically fail all Performance and Persuasion checks. You have disadvantage on all Charisma ability checks.
Single-handed One of your arms is permanently crippled or entirely absent. You only have one useful hand. You cannot wield any two-handed weapon or make use of the versatile property of any weapon. While you are wielding or holding an object in your hand; you cannnot cast any spell with a somatic component (unless the object you are holding is a spellcasting implement,) draw a weapon, perform a grab, or otherwise attempt efforts that require a free hand.
Unsteady Flesh (requires Dexterity 9) Your Dexterity score decreases by 6. You have disadvantage on all ranged attacks and ranged spell attacks. You have disadvantage on all Dexterity ability checks.
Unsteady Mind (requires Wisdom 9) Your Wisdom score decreases by 6. You automatically fail all saving throws to resist being charmed or possessed. You have disadvantage on all Wisdom ability checks.
↟ Contents ↟ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Forfeits ↑ → Companions ← ↓ Allies ↓
⇈ Title ⇈ ↡ Index ↡ ↑ Titles ↑ → Spell Lists ← ↓ Index ↓
All (1-2, 3-4, 5-9) ·
Bard ·
Braced Battlemage ·
Cleric ·
Druid ·
Monk ·
Paladin
Ranger ·
Shamanic Militant ·
Sorcerer ·
Stage Magician ·
Warlock ·
Wizard
All Standard Spells |
| Cantrips | 1st level | 1st level | 2nd level | 2nd level |
Acid Splash
Brilliant Strike
Coiling Creeper
Cosmic Veil
Dancing Lights
Eldritch Blast
Enhance Assistance
Firebolt
Granite Fist
Green Thumb
Grievous Grasp
Light
Mage Hand
Mending
Message
Mindbolt
Minor Illusion
Mystic Shield
Poison Spray
Prestidigitation
Produce Arcs
Produce Flame
Produce Ice
Produce Stone
Ray of Frost
Reflect Image
Resistance
Sacred Flame
Shillelagh
Shocking Grasp
Spare the Dying
Steady Beast
Sunbolt
Thaumaturgy
Vicious Mockery
Vile Miasma
|
Alarm
Animal Friendship
Animate Ropes
Aura Sight
Bane
Bless
Breadcrumb Trail
Burning Hands
Charm Person
Color Spray
Command
Comprehend Languages
Cosmic Ray
Create or Destroy Water
Cure Wounds
Detect Magic
Detect Poison and Disease
Disguise Self
Divine Favor
Entangle
Expeditious Retreat
Faerie Fire
False Life
Feather Fall
Find Familiar
Floating Disk
Fog Cloud
Guiding Bolt
Healing Word
Hellish Rebuke
Heroism
Hideous Laughter
Hunter's Mark
Identify
Illusory Script
Inflict Wounds
| Jump
Lightning Jolt
Lithographic Touch
Locate Companion
Longstrider
Loudspeaker
Mage Armor
Magic Missile
Mental Brawl
Metamorphic Weaponry
Oily Ooze
Penetrating Glimpse
Purify Food and Drink
Putrid Shiv
Program Puppet
Protection from Entities
Quick Shield
Resounding Noise
Resplendent Garb
Restore Sense
Sanctuary
Signal Flare
Silent Image
Sleep
Shield of Faith
Speak with Animals
Spider Climb
Steady Person
Tickling Tendrils
Thunderwave
Tripping Hazard
Unseen Servant
Vomit Ichor
Weatherproof Barrier
Winter Wind
Zone of Tranquility
|
Acid Arrow
Aid
Alter Aura
Alter Self
Agonizing Arc
Animal Messenger
Arcane Lock
Augury
Barkskin
Blindness/Deafness
Blur
Calm Emotions
Continual Flame
Darkness
Dark Chakram
Darkvision
Detect Thoughts
Enhance Ability
Enlarge/Reduce
Enthrall
Excruciate
Find Steed
Find Traps
Flame Blade
Flaming Sphere
Gentle Repose
Gust of Wind
Heat Metal
Hold Person
Invisibility
Knock
Lesser Restoration
|
Levitate
Light Chakram
Locate Animals or Plants
Locate Object
Magic Mouth
Magic Weapon
Mirror Image
Misty Step
Moonbeam
Pass without Trace
Prayer of Healing
Protection from Poison
Ray of Enfeeblement
Rime Cloud
Rot Wood
Rope Trick
Rusting Touch
Scorching Ray
See Invisibility
Shatter
Silence
Spike Growth
Spiritual Weapon
Strange Brew
Suggestion
Unearthly Visage
Unseen Ram
Venemous Lash
Volley of Stones
Warding Bond
Web
Zone of Honesty
|
| 3rd Level | 3rd level | Forms
of Magic
★ Contractual
∢ Intellectual
♪ Musical
♣ Natural
✠ Spiritual
≬ Visceral
Schools
of Magic
◬ Abjuration
◬ Conjuration
◬ Divination
◬ Enchantment
◬ Evocation
◬ Illusion
◬ Necromany
◬ Transmutation
| 4th level | 4th level |
Animate Dead
Beacon of Hope
Bestow Curse
Blink
Call Lightning
Clairvoyance
Cleanse Lair
Conjure Animal
Conjure Imp
Corrosive Spill
Counterspell
Create Food and Water
Daylight
Dispel Magic
Envenomed Darts
Fear
Fireball
Firecage
Fly
Gaseous Form
Ghoulish Feast
Glyph of Warding
Haste
Hypnotic Pattern
Lightning Bolt
Magic Circle
Major Image
Mass Healing Word
Meld into Stone
Nondetection
|
Phantom Steed
Plant Growth
Power Struggle
Power Word Flee
Protection from Energy
Quagmire
Rallying Eloquence
Remove Curse
Reverent Burial
Revivify
Row of Hedges
Sending
Sleet Storm
Slow
Speak with Dead
Speak with Plants
Spirit Guardians
Stinking Cloud
Telepathic Joust
Thundercrash
Tongues
Triple Threat
Unseen Archivist
Vampiric Touch
Water Breathing
Water Walk
Willful Shroud
Wind Wall
Witching Hour
Zone of Mercy
|
Arcane Eye
Banishment
Booming Battlecry
Bestow Hellsight
Black Tentacles
Blight
Burning Breath
Cleanse Being
Cover of Darkness
Coherent Beam
Compulsion
Confusion
Conjure Minor Elemental
Conjure Woodland Being
Control Water
Death Ward
Devour Death
Dimension Door
Divine Portent
Dominate Beast
Fabricate
Faithful Hound
Fire Shield
Freedom of Movement
Giant Insect
|
Greater Floating Disk
Greater Invisibility
Guardian of Faith
Hallucinatory Terrain
Ice Storm
Infuse Weapon
Locate Creature
Mass Charm Person
Phantasmal Killer
Polymorph
Power Word Kneel
Private Sanctum
Protection from Swarms
Redirect Lightning
Resilient Sphere
Secret Chest
Shadowy Form
Slithering Serpent
Stone Shape
Stoneskin
Telepathic Bond
Temporary Vigor
Vanish Object
Wall of Fire
Zone of Vitality
|
| 5th level | 6th level | 7th level | 8th level | 9th level |
Animate Objects
Antilife Shell
Arcane Hand
Awaken
Broadcast Thoughts
Cloudkill
Commune with Divinity
Commune with Nature
Cone of Cold
Conjure Elemental
Contact Other Plane
Contagion
Creation
Dismissal
Dominate Person
Dream
Flame Strike
Geas
Greater Restoration
Hallow
Hold Monster
Insect Plague
Legend Lore
Mass Cure Wounds
Mislead
Modify Memory
Passwall
Planar Binding
Power Word Fumble
Raise Dead
Reincarnate
Resonating Vibrations
Scrying
Seeming
Telekinesis
Teleportation Circle
Tree Stride
Unravel Effect
Vampiric Embrace
Wall of Force
Wall of Stone
Zone of Stability
|
Acid Rain
Blade Barrier
Chain Lightning
Circle of Death
Contingency
Conjure Fey
Conjure Fiend
Create Undead
Disintegrate
Energize Construct
Eyebite
Find the Path
Flesh to Stone
Freezing Sphere
Globe of Invulnerability
Guards and Wards
Harm
Heal
Heroes' Feast
Instant Summons
Irresistible Dance
Lethal Injection
Magic Jar
Mass Suggestion
Move Earth
Planar Ally
Power Word Fall
Programmed Illusion
Spontaneous Combustion
Sunbeam
Transport via Plants
True Seeing
Wall of Ice
Wall of Thorns
Wind Walk
Word of Recall
|
Animate Trees
Arcane Sword
Conjure Aberration
Conjure Celestial
Delayed Blast Fireball
Divine Word
Etherealness
Finger of Death
Fire Storm
Forcecage
Heavenly Chariot
Mirage Arcane
Plane Shift
Power Word Sleep
Prismatic Spray
Project Image
Regenerate
Resurrection
Reverse Gravity
Rolling Thunder
Sequester
Simulacrum
Symbol
Teleport
|
Animal Shapes
Antimagic Field
Antipathy/Sympathy
Clone
Control Weather
Create Atmosphere
Demiplane
Dominate Monster
Earthquake
Feeblemind
Flash Flood
Glibness
Holy Aura
Incendiary Cloud
Maze
Mind Blank
Power Word Stop
Sandstorm
Sunburst
Unholy Aura
|
Astral Projection
Foresight
Gate
Imprisonment
Maelstrom
Meteor Swarm
Perfect Strike
Power Word Die
Prismatic Wall
Shapechange
Storm of Vengeance
Time Stop
True Polymorph
True Resurrection
Weird
Wish
|
♪ Bard Spells – Charisma |
| Cantrips | 1st level | 2nd level |
Brilliant Strike
Dancing Lights
Enhance Assistance
Light
Mending
Message
Minor Illusion
Prestidigitation
Reflect Image
Resistance
Thaumaturgy
Vicious Mockery
|
Animal Friendship
Charm Person
Comprehend Languages
Detect Magic
Disguise Self
Faerie Fire
Healing Word
Hideous Laughter
Heroism
Identify
Longstrider
Loudspeaker
Resonating Sound
Resplendent Garb
Silent Image
Sleep
Speak with Animals
Thunderwave
|
Animal Messenger
Blindness/Deafness
Calm Emotions
Detect Thoughts
Enhance Ability
Enthrall
Hold Person
Knock
Lesser Restoration
Locate Object
Magic Mouth
Mirror Image
Misty Step
Shatter
Silence
Suggestion
|
| 3rd level | 4th level | 5th level |
Bestow Curse
Counterspell
Dispel Magic
Fear
Haste
Hypnotic Pattern
Major Image
Nondetection
Rallying Eloquence
Remove Curse
Sending
Slow
Speak with Dead
Speak with Plants
Thundercrash
Tongues
|
Banishment
Booming Battlecry
Compulsion
Confusion
Death Ward
Dimension Door
Freedom of Movement
Locate Creature
Mass Charm Person
Phantasmal Killer
Secret Chest
Telepathic Bond
|
Awaken
Broadcast Thoughts
Dismissal
Dream
Geas
Greater Restoration
Hold Monster
Legend Lore
Mislead
Resonating Vibrations
Seeming
Unravel Effect
|
∢ Braced Battlemage (Fighter) Spells – Intelligence |
| Cantrips | 1st level | 2nd level | 3rd level | 4th level |
Acid Splash
Brilliant Strike
Enhance Assistance
Firebolt
Grievous Grasp
Light
Mending
Message
Mindbolt
Mystic Shield
Poison Spray
Prestidigitation
Ray of Frost
Reflect Image
Resistance
Shocking Grasp
Sunbolt
Vicious Mockery
|
Alarm
Aura Sight
Breadcrumb Trail
Burning Hands
Detect Magic
Expeditious Retreat
Feather Fall
Floating Disk
Fog Cloud
Identify
Jump
Lightning Jolt
Lithographic Touch
Longstrider
Loudspeaker
Mage Armor
Magic Missile
Mental Brawl
Program Puppet
Quick Shield
Signal Flare
Sleep
Spider Climb
Thunderwave
Unseen Servant
Weatherproof Barrier
Winter Wind
|
Acid Arrow
Alter Self
Agonizing Arc
Blindness/Deafness
Darkness
Darkvision
Detect Thoughts
Enhance Ability
Enlarge/Reduce
Flaming Sphere
Gust of Wind
Invisibility
Levitate
Locate Object
Magic Mouth
Magic Weapon
Misty Step
Rime Cloud
Scorching Ray
Shatter
See Invisibility
Unseen Ram
Volley of Stones
Web
|
Bestow Curse
Blink
Cleanse Lair
Counterspell
Dispel Magic
Fear
Fireball
Fly
Haste
Lightning Bolt
Magic Circle
Nondetection
Phantom Steed
Protection from Energy
Remove Curse
Sleet Storm
Slow
Telepathic Joust
Thundercrash
Triple Threat
Vampiric Touch
|
Arcane Eye
Banishment
Booming Battlecry
Burning Breath
Cleanse Being
Coherent Beam
Dimension Door
Fire Shield
Greater Floating Disk
Greater Invisibility
Ice Storm
Locate Creature
Polymorph
Redirect Lightning
Resilient Sphere
Stoneshape
Stoneskin
Wall of Fire
|
✠ Cleric Spells – Wisdom |
| Cantrips | 1st level | 2nd level | 3rd level | 4th level |
Acid Splash
Brilliant Strike
Cosmic Veil
Dancing Lights
Enhance Assistance
Grievous Grasp
Light
Mending
Message
Mystic Shield
Poison Spray
Resistance
Sacred Flame
Spare the Dying
Steady Beast
Sunbolt
Thaumaturgy
Vicious Mockery
|
Aura Sight
Bane
Bless
Command
Create or Destroy Water
Cure Wounds
Detect Poison and Disease
Divine Favor
False Life
Guiding Bolt
Healing Word
Heroism
Inflict Wounds
Locate Companion
Loudspeaker
Mental Brawl
Purify Food and Drink
Protection from Entities
Restore Sense
Sanctuary
Shield of Faith
Steady Person
Weatherproof Barrier
Zone of Tranquility
|
Aid
Augury
Blindness/Deafness
Continual Flame
Darkness
Enhance Ability
Enthrall
Find Traps
Gentle Repose
Hold Person
Lesser Restoration
Locate Object
Magic Weapon
Prayer of Healing
Protection from Poison
See Invisibility
Silence
Spiritual Weapon
Warding Bond
Zone of Honesty
|
Animate Dead
Beacon of Hope
Bestow Curse
Cleanse Lair
Create Food and Water
Daylight
Dispel Magic
Fear
Ghoulish Feast
Glyph of Warding
Magic Circle
Protection from Energy
Remove Curse
Reverent Burial
Revivify
Speak with Dead
Spirit Guardians
Tongues
Water Walk
Zone of Mercy
|
Banishment
Bestow Hellsight
Cleanse Being
Coherent Beam
Control Water
Death Ward
Devour Death
Divine Portent
Freedom of Movement
Guardian of Faith
Locate Creature
Private Sanctum
Protection from Swarms
Slithering Serpent
Stone Shape
Zone of Vitality
|
| 5th level | 6th level | 7th level | 8th level | 9th level |
Commune with Divinity
Creation
Dismissal
Flame Strike
Greater Restoration
Hallow
Hold Monster
Insect Plague
Legend Lore
Mass Cure Wounds
Raise Dead
Zone of Stability
|
Blade Barrier
Create Undead
Find the Path
Globe of Invulnerability
Guards and Wards
Harm
Heal
Heroes' Feast
Planar Ally
Sunbeam
True Seeing
Word of Recall
|
Conjure Celestial
Divine Word
Etherealness
Heavenly Chariot
Plane Shift
Regenerate
Resurrection
Symbol
|
Antimagic Field
Antipathy/Sympathy
Control Weather
Earthquake
Flash Flood
Holy Aura
Sandstormm
Sunburst
|
Astral Projection
Foresight
Gate
Perfect Strike
Prismatic Wall
True Resurrection
|
♣ Druid Spells – Wisdom |
| Cantrips | 1st level | 2nd level | 3rd level | 4th level |
Coiling Creeper
Dancing Lights
Enhance Assistance
Granite Fist
Green Thumb
Light
Mending
Mystic Shield
Poison Spray
Produce Arcs
Produce Flame
Produce Ice
Produce Stone
Reflect Image
Resistance
Shillelagh
Spare the Dying
Steady Beast
|
Animal Friendship
Animate Ropes
Breadcrumb Trail
Burning Hands
Charm Person
Create or Destroy Water
Cure Wounds
Detect Magic
Detect Poison and Disease
Entangle
Faerie Fire
Fog Cloud
Jump
Locate Companion
Longstrider
Oily Ooze
Purify Food and Drink
Restore Sense
Speak with Animals
Spider Climb
Steady Person
Tripping Hazard
Winter Wind
Zone of Tranquility
|
Alter Self
Animal Messenger
Barkskin
Darkvision
Enhance Ability
Find Steed
Flame Blade
Gust of Wind
Heat Metal
Lesser Restoration
Locate Animals or Plants
Misty Step
Moonbeam
Pass without Trace
Protection from Poison
Rot Wood
Rusting Touch
Spike Growth
Volley of Stones
Web
|
Call Lightning
Cleanse Lair
Conjure Animal
Create Food and Water
Daylight
Dispel Magic
Firecage
Meld into Stone
Nondetection
Plant Growth
Protection from Energy
Quagmire
Reverent Burial
Row of Hedges
Sleet Storm
Speak with Plants
Stinking Cloud
Water Breathing
Wind Wall
Zone of Mercy
|
Cleanse Being
Conjure Minor Elemental
Conjure Woodland Being
Control Water
Dominate Beast
Fire Shield
Freedom of Movement
Giant Insect
Ice Storm
Locate Creature
Polymorph
Protection from Swarms
Redirect Lightning
Slithering Serpent
Stone Shape
Wall of Fire
|
| 5th level | 6th level | 7th level | 8th level | 9th level |
Antilife Shell
Awaken
Cloudkill
Commune with Nature
Conjure Elemental
Greater Restoration
Insect Plague
Reincarnate
Scrying
Teleportation Circle
Tree Stride
Wall of Stone
|
Chain Lightning
Conjure Fey
Find the Path
Flesh to Stone
Freezing Sphere
Move Earth
Sunbeam
Transport via Plants
Wall of Ice
Wall of Thorns
Wind Walk
Word of Recall
|
Animate Trees
Etherealness
Finger of Death
Fire Storm
Heavenly Chariot
Mirage Arcane
Regenerate
Rolling Thunder
|
Animal Shapes
Control Weather
Create Atmosphere
Demiplane
Earthquake
Flash Flood
Sandstorm
Sunburst
|
Astral Projection
Gate
Maelstrom
Shapechange
Storm of Vengeance
True Polymorph
|
✠ Monk Spells – Wisdom |
| 1st level | 2nd level | 3rd level | 4th level | 5th level |
Animate Ropes
Aura Sight
Bless
Burning Hands
Cure Wounds
Detect Magic
Detect Poison and Disease
Expeditious Retreat
Inflict Wounds
Jump
Longstrider
Mental Brawl
Purify Food and Drink
Protection from Entities
Restore Sense
Spider Climb
Steady Person
Thunderwave
Winter Wind
Zone of Tranquility
|
Agonizing Arc
Blur
Calm Emotions
Dark Chakram
Enhance Ability
Gentle Repose
Lesser Restoration
Levitate
Light Chakram
Pass without Trace
Protection from Poison
Rope Trick
Scorching Ray
Shatter
Venemous Lash
Zone of Honesty
|
Cleanse Lair
Dispel Magic
Envenomed Darts
Fireball
Haste
Lightning Bolt
Magic Circle
Nondetection
Protection from Energy
Remove Curse
Reverent Burial
Slow
Thundercrash
Telepathic Joust
Water Walk
Zone of Mercy
|
Banishment
Booming Battlecry
Burning Breath
Cleanse Being
Coherent Beam
Devour Death
Fire Shield
Freedom of Movement
Redirect Lightning
Stoneskin
Temporary Vigor
Zone of Vitality
|
Arcane Hand
Commune with Divinity
Commune with Nature
Contact Other Plane
Geas
Greater Restoration
Hallow
Resonating Vibrations
|
✠ Paladin Spells – Wisdom |
| 1st level | 2nd level | 3rd level | 4th level | 5th level |
Alarm
Aura Sight
Bless
Command
Cure Wounds
Detect Magic
Detect Poison and Disease
Divine Favor
Guiding Bolt
Heroism
Loudspeaker
Mental Brawl
Penetrating Glimpse
Purify Food and Drink
Protection from Entities
Restore Sense
Sanctuary
Shield of Faith
Steady Person
Zone of Tranquility
|
Aid
Augury
Blindness/Deafness
Calm Emotions
Enhance Ability
Find Steed
Flame Blade
Gentle Repose
Lesser Restoration
Magic Weapon
Prayer of Healing
Protection from Poison
See Invisibility
Spiritual Weapon
Warding Bond
Zone of Honesty
|
Beacon of Hope
Cleanse Lair
Daylight
Dispel Magic
Fear
Glyph of Warding
Magic Circle
Protection from Energy
Rallying Eloquence
Remove Curse
Reverent Burial
Spirit Guardians
Telepathic Joust
Water Walk
Willful Shroud
Zone of Mercy
|
Banishment
Booming Battlecry
Bestow Hellsight
Coherent Beam
Cleanse Being
Death Ward
Divine Portent
Faithful Hound
Guardian of Faith
Infuse Weapon
Protection from Swarms
Zone of Vitality
|
Commune with Divinity
Commune with Nature
Dismissal
Flame Strike
Geas
Greater Restoration
Hallow
Zone of Stability
|
♣ Ranger Spells – Wisdom |
| 1st level | 2nd level | 3rd level | 4th level | 5th level |
Animal Friendship
Animate Ropes
Bane
Breadcrumb Trail
Cure Wounds
Detect Magic
Detect Poison and Disease
Entangle
Expeditious Retreat
Faerie Fire
Feather Fall
Fog Cloud
Hunter's Mark
Jump
Locate Companion
Longstrider
Purify Food and Drink
Restore Sense
Speak with Animals
Tripping Hazard
|
Acid Arrow
Animal Messenger
Darkvision
Enhance Ability
Find Steed
Gentle Repose
Invisibility
Lesser Restoration
Locate Animals or Plants
Magic Weapon
Pass without Trace
Protection from Poison
Rope Trick
See Invisibility
Silence
Spike Growth
|
Cleanse Lair
Conjure Animal
Dispel Magic
Envenomed Darts
Haste
Nondetection
Phantom Steed
Plant Growth
Protection from Energy
Quagmire
Sleet Storm
Slow
Speak with Plants
Row of Hedges
Water Breathing
Wind Wall
|
Banishment
Cleanse Being
Conjure Woodland Being
Dominate Beast
Faithful Hound
Freedom of Movement
Greater Invisibility
Hallucinatory Terrain
Infuse Weapon
Locate Creature
Protection from Swarms
Temporary Vigor
|
Antilife Shell
Awaken
Commune with Nature
Conjure Elemental
Greater Restoration
Seeming
Teleportation Circle
Tree Stride
|
♣ Shamanic Militant (Barbarian) Spells – Wisdom |
| 1st level | 2nd level | 3rd level | 4th level |
Animal Friendship
Aura Sight
Breadcrumb Trail
Cure Wounds
Detect Magic
Detect Poison and Disease
Entangle
Faerie Fire
Fog Cloud
Heroism
Inflict Wounds
Jump
Locate Companion
Longstrider
Purify Food and Drink
Shield of Faith
Speak with Animals
Steady Person
Thunderwave
Tripping Hazard
|
Animal Messenger
Barkskin
Darkvision
Enhance Ability
Gust of Wind
Hold Person
Lesser Restoration
Locate Animals or Plants
Locate Object
Magic Weapon
Moonbeam
Pass without Trace
Protection from Poison
Rot Wood
Rusting Touch
Spike Growth
|
Bestow Curse
Call Lightning
Cleanse Lair
Conjure Animal
Dispel Magic
Firecage
Locate Plant Growth
Meld into Stone
Protection from Energy
Remove Curse
Reverent Burial
Row of Hedges
Sleet Storm
Speak with Plants
Water Breathing
Wind Wall
|
Booming Battlecry
Cleanse Being
Confusion
Death Ward
Dominate Beast
Freedom of Movement
Hallucinatory Terrain
Ice Storm
Locate Creature
Polymorph
Stoneskin
Wall of Fire
|
≬ Sorcerer Spells – Charisma |
| Cantrips | 1st level | 2nd level | 3rd level | 4th level |
Acid Splash
Cosmic Veil
Dancing Lights
Firebolt
Granite Fist
Grievous Grasp
Light
Mage Hand
Mending
Message
Mindbolt
Minor Illusion
Mystic Shield
Poison Spray
Prestiditation
Produce Arcs
Produce Ice
Produce Flame
Produce Stone
Ray of Frost
Reflect Image
Resistance
Shocking Grasp
Sunbolt
|
Alarm
Aura Sight
Burning Hands
Charm Person
Color Spray
Command
Cosmic Ray
Detect Magic
Disguise Self
Expeditious Retreat
Feather Fall
Floating Disk
Hideous Laughter
Identify
Jump
Lightning Jolt
Longstrider
Loudspeaker
Mage Armor
Magic Missile
Mental Brawl
Metamorphic Weaponry
Oily Ooze
Protection from Entities
Putrid Shiv
Quick Shield
Resounding Noise
Resplendent Garb
Signal Flare
Silent Image
Sleep
Spider Climb
Thunderwave
Tripping Hazard
Weatherproof Barrier
Winter Wind
|
Alter Aura
Alter Self
Agonizing Arc
Blur
Dark Chakram
Darkvision
Detect Thoughts
Enhance Ability
Enlarge/Reduce
Enthrall
Excruciate
Hold Person
Invisibility
Levitate
Light Chakram
Magic Mouth
Magic Weapon
Mirror Image
Misty Step
Protection from Poison
Ray of Enfeeblement
Rime Cloud
Scorching Ray
See Invisibility
Shatter
Suggestion
Unearthly Visage
Unseen Ram
Volley of Stones
Web
|
Blink
Call Lightning
Cleanse Lair
Counterspell
Dispel Magic
Envenomed Darts
Fear
Fireball
Firecage
Fly
Gaseous Form
Haste
Hypnotic Pattern
Lightning Bolt
Magic Circle
Major Image
Nondetection
Phantom Steed
Power Struggle
Power Word Flee
Protection from Energy
Sending
Sleet Storm
Slow
Telepathic Joust
Thundercrash
Triple Threat
Vampiric Touch
Water Breathing
Willful Shroud
|
Arcane Eye
Booming Battlecry
Burning Breath
Cleanse Being
Coherent Beam
Confusion
Control Water
Devour Death
Dismissal
Dimension Door
Dominate Beast
Fire Shield
Freedom of Movement
Greater Floating Disk
Ice Storm
Greater Invisibility
Infuse Weapon
Mass Charm Person
Phantasmal Killer
Polymorph
Power Word Kneel
Protection from Swarms
Redirect Lightning
Resilient Sphere
Stone Shape
Stoneskin
Telepathic Bond
Wall of Fire
|
| 5th level | 6th level | 7th level | 8th level | 9th level |
Arcane Hand
Cloudkill
Cone of Cold
Dismissal
Dominate Person
Dream
Geas
Hold Monster
Mislead
Modify Memory
Passwall
Power Word Fumble
Resonating Vibrations
Seeming
Telekinesis
Teleportation Circle
Unravel Effect
Vampiric Embrace
Wall of Force
Wall of Stone
|
Acid Rain
Chain Lightning
Contingency
Disintegrate
Eyebite
Flesh to Stone
Freezing Sphere
Globe of Invulnerability
Irresistiblle Dance
Magic Jar
Mass Suggestion
Power Word Fall
Programmed Illusion
Spontaneous Combustion
True Seeing
Wall of Ice
|
Arcane Sword
Delayed Blast Fireball
Etherealness
Fire Storm
Forcecage
Plane Shift
Power Word Sleep
Prismatic Spray
Project Image
Reverse Gravity
Rolling Thunder
Teleport |
Antimagic Field
Antipathy/Sympathy
Clone
Control Weather
Create Atmosphere
Dominate Monster
Earthquake
Flash Flood
Incendiary Cloud
Mind Blank
Power Word Stop
Sandstorm
|
Astral Projection
Foresight
Gate
Maelstrom
Meteor Swarm
Power Word Die
Prismatic Wall
Shapechange
Storm of Vengeance
True Polymorph
|
∢ Stage Magician (Rogue) Spells – Intelligence |
| Cantrips | 1st level | 2nd level | 3rd level | 4th level |
Brilliant Strike
Cosmic Veil
Dancing Lights
Enhance Assistance
Light
Mage Hand
Mending
Message
Mindbolt
Minor Illusion
Mystic Shield
Poison Spray
Prestidigitation
Produce Flame
Reflect Image
Resistance
Shocking Grasp
Vicious Mockery
|
Animate Ropes
Charm Person
Color Spray
Detect Magic
Disguise Self
Expeditious Retreat
Feather Fall
Floating Disk
Fog Cloud
Identify
Illusory Script
Jump
Longstrider
Loudspeaker
Mage Armor
Mental Brawl
Penetrating Glimpse
Program Puppet
Resounding Noise
Quick Shield
Resplendent Garb
Signal Flare
Silent Image
Sleep
Spider Climb
Unseen Servant
Weatherproof Barrier
|
Alter Aura
Arcane Lock
Blindness/Deafness
Blur
Darkness
Darkvision
Detect Thoughts
Enthrall
Find Traps
Invisibility
Knock
Levitate
Locate Object
Mirror Image
Misty Step
Pass without Trace
Protection from Poison
Rope Trick
See Invisibility
Shatter
Silence
Suggestion
Unearthly Visage
Unseen Ram
|
Blink
Clairvoyance
Counterspell
Daylight
Dispel Magic
Fear
Fly
Gaseous Form
Haste
Hypnotic Pattern
Magic Circle
Major Image
Nondetection
Phantom Steed
Protection from Energy
Remove Curse
Sending
Slow
Telepathic Joust
Water Breathing
Water Walk
|
Arcane Eye
Bestow Hellsight
Cover of Darkness
Confusion
Dimension Door
Fabricate
Freedom of Movement
Greater Floating Disk
Greater Invisibility
Hallucinatory Terrain
Mass Charm Person
Phantasmal Killer
Private Sanctum
Protection from Swarms
Secret Chest
Shadowy Form
Telepathic Bond
Vanish Object
|
★ Warlock Spells – Charisma |
| Cantrips | 1st level | 2nd level | 3rd level | 4th level |
Acid Splash
Coiling Creeper
Cosmic Veil
Dancing Lights
Eldritch Blast
Grievous Grasp
Mage Hand
Message
Mindbolt
Minor Illusion
Mystic Shield
Poison Spray
Produce Flame
Reflect Image
Resistance
Shocking Grasp
Vicious Mockery
Vile Miasma
|
Aura Sight
Bane
Burning Hands
Charm Person
Comprehend Languages
Cosmic Ray
Detect Magic
Disguise Self
Expeditious Retreat
Faerie Fire
Feather Fall
Find Familiar
Fog Cloud
Hellish Rebuke
Hideous Laughter
Identify
Illusory Script
Jump
Mage Armor
Magic Missile
Mental Brawl
Oily Ooze
Penetrating Glimpse
Program Puppet
Putrid Shiv
Quick Shield
Resplendent Garb
Silent Image
Sleep
Spider Climb
Thunderwave
Tripping Hazard
Unseen Servant
Vomit Ichor
Weatherproof Barrier
Winter Wind
|
Acid Arrow
Alter Aura
Alter Self
Agonizing Arc
Blindness/Deafness
Darkness
Darkvision
Dark Chakram
Enhance Ability
Enlarge/Reduce
Excruciate
Gust of Wind
Heat Metal
Hold Person
Invisibility
Locate Object
Misty Step
Moonbeam
Pass without Trace
Protection from Poison
Ray of Enfeeblemment
Rime Cloud
Rot Wood
Rusting Touch
Shatter
Strange Brew
Suggestion
Unearthly Visage
Venemous Lash
Web
|
Animate Dead
Bestow Curse
Call Lightning
Cleanse Lair
Conjure Imp
Corrosive Spill
Dispel Magic
Envenomed Darts
Fear
Fly
Gaseous Form
Ghoulish Feast
Hypnotic Pattern
Magic Circle
Major Image
Nondetection
Phantom Steed
Power Struggle
Quagmire
Remove Curse
Sending
Speak with Dead
Stinking Cloud
Telepathic Joust
Thundercrash
Tongues
Unseen Archivist
Vampiric Touch
Willful Shroud
Witching Hour
|
Arcane Eye
Banishment
Bestow Hellsight
Black Tentacles
Blight
Cleanse Being
Cover of Darkness
Compulsion
Confusion
Devour Death
Dimension Door
Dominate Beast
Faithful Hound
Freedom of Movement
Greater Invisibility
Hallucinatory Terrain
Infuse Weapon
Mass Charm Person
Phantasmal Killer
Planar Binding
Polymorph
Private Sanctum
Protection from Swarms
Redirect Lightning
Secret Chest
Shadowy Form
Slithering Serpent
Temporary Vigor
|
| 5th level | 6th level | 7th level | 8th level | 9th level |
Animate Objects
Arcane Hand
Cloudkill
Contact Other Plane
Contagion
Dismissal
Dominate Person
Dream
Geas
Hallow
Hold Monster
Legend Lore
Mislead
Modify Memory
Planar Binding
Scrying
Seeming
Teleportation Circle
Vampiric Embrace
Wall of Force
|
Acid Rain
Circle of Death
Conjure Fey
Conjure Fiend
Create Undead
Disintegrate
Eyebite
Flesh to Stone
Globe of Invulnerability
Irresistible Dance
Lethal Injection
Magic Jar
Mass Suggestion
Spontaneous Combustion
True Seeing
Wall of Thorns
|
Conjure Aberration
Etherealness
Finger of Death
Fire Storm
Forcecage
Mirage Arcane
Plane Shift
Project Image
Reverse Gravity
Sequester
Symbol
Teleport
|
Antimagic Field
Antipathy/Sympathy
Control Weather
Create Atmosphere
Demiplane
Dominate Monster
Feeblemind
Glibness
Incendiary Cloud
Maze
Mind Blank
Unholy Aura
|
Astral Projection
Gate
Imprisonment
Maelstrom
Perfect Strike
Prismatic Wall
Shapechange
Storm of Vengeance
True Polymorph
Weird
|
∢ Wizard Spells – Intelligence |
| Cantrips | 1st level | 2nd level | 3rd level | 4th level |
Acid Splash
Brilliant Strike
Cosmic Veil
Dancing Lights
Enhance Assistance
Firebolt
Grievous Grasp
Light
Mage Hand
Mending
Message
Mindbolt
Minor Illusion
Mystic Shield
Poison Spray
Prestidigitation
Produce Arcs
Produce Flame
Produce Ice
Produce Stone
Ray of Frost
Reflect Image
Resistance
Shocking Grasp
Sunbolt
Vicious Mockery
Vile Miasma
|
Alarm
Animate Ropes
Aura Sight
Breadcrumb Trail
Burning Hands
Charm Person
Color Spray
Comprehend Languages
Detect Magic
Disguise Self
Expeditious Retreat
Feather Fall
Find Familiar
Floating Disk
Fog Cloud
Heroism
Hideous Laughter
Identify
Illusory Script
Jump
Lightning Jolt
Lithographic Tourch
Longstrider
Loudspeaker
Mage Armor
Magic Missile
Mental Brawl
Penetrating Glimpse
Program Puppet
Quick Shield
Resounding Noise
Resplendent Garb
Signal Flare
Silent Image
Sleep
Spider Climb
Thunderwave
Tripping Hazard
Unseen Servant
Weatherproof Barrier
Winter Wind
Zone of Tranquility
|
Acid Arrow
Alter Aura
Alter Self
Agonizing Arc
Arcane Lock
Blindness/Deafness
Blur
Continual Flame
Darkness
Darkvision
Detect Thoughts
Enhance Ability
Enlarge/Reduce
Enthrall
Flaming Sphere
Gust of Wind
Hold Person
Invisibility
Knock
Levitate
Locate Object
Magic Mouth
Magic Weapon
Mirror Image
Misty Step
Ray of Enfeeblement
Rime Cloud
Rope Trick
Scorching Ray
See Invisibility
Shatter
Silence
Suggestion
Unseen Ram
Volley of Stones
Web
|
Animate Dead
Bestow Curse
Blink
Clairvoyance
Cleanse Lair
Counterspell
Dispel Magic
Fear
Fireball
Firecage
Fly
Gaseous Form
Glyph of Warding
Haste
Hypnotic Pattern
Lightning Bolt
Major Image
Magic Circle
Nondetection
Phantom Steed
Power Struggle
Power Word Flee
Protection from Energy
Remove Curse
Sending
Sleet Storm
Slow
Stinking Cloud
Telepathic Joust
Thundercrash
Tongues
Triple Threat
Unseen Archivist
Vampiric Touch
Water Breathing
Willful Shroud
|
Arcane Eye
Banishment
Bestow Hellsight
Booming Battlecry
Burning Breath
Cleanse Being
Coherent Beam
Confusion
Conjure Minor Elemental
Control Water
Devour Death
Dimension Door
Fabricate
Fire Shield
Freedom of Movement
Greater Floating Disk
Greater Invisibility
Hallucinatory Terrain
Ice Storm
Infuse Weapon
Locate Creature
Mass Charm Person
Planar Binding
Polymorph
Power Word Kneel
Private Sanctum
Redirect Lightning
Resilient Sphere
Secret Chest
Stone Shape
Stoneskin
Telepathic Bond
Vanish Object
Wall of Fire
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| 5th level | 6th level | 7th level | 8th level | 9th level |
Animate Objects
Arcane Hand
Broadcast Thoughts
Cloudkill
Cone of Cold
Conjure Elemental
Contact Other Plane
Creation
Dismissal
Dominate Person
Dream
Hold Monster
Legend Lore
Mislead
Modify Memory
Passwall
Planar Binding
Power Word Fumble
Resonating Vibrations
Scrying
Seeming
Telekinesis
Teleportation Circle
Unravel Effect
Vampric Embrace
Wall of Force
Wall of Stone
Zone of Stability
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Acid Rain
Chain Lightning
Circle of Death
Contingency
Create Undead
Disintegrate
Energize Construct
Eyebite
Find the Path
Flesh to Stone
Freezing Sphere
Globe of Invulnerability
Guards and Wards
Instant Summons
Irresistible Dance
Lethal Injection
Magic Jar
Mass Suggestion
Move Earth
Power Word Fall
Programmed Illusion
Spontaneous Combustion
True Seeing
Wall of Ice
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Arcane Sword
Delayed Blast Fireball
Etherealness
Finger of Death
Forcecage
Mirage Arcane
Plane Shift
Power Word Sleep
Prismatic Spray
Project Image
Reverse Gravity
Rolling Thunder
Sequester
Simulacrum
Symbol
Teleport
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Antimagic Field
Antipathy/Sympathy
Clone
Control Weather
Create Atmosphere
Demiplane
Dominate Monster
Earthquake
Feeblemind
Flash Flood
Glibness
Incendiary Cloud
Maze
Mind Blank
Power Word Stop
Sandstorm
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Astral Projection
Foresight
Gate
Imprisonment
Meteor Swarm
Power Word Die
Prismatic Wall
Shapechange
Time Stop
True Polymorph
Weird
Wish
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