My Homebrew World: Default Player Options

Similar to my other articles regarding character options for different campaigns, I wanted to create a post detailing typically approved options for campaigns in my own setting. For specific campaign ideas that might exclude certain material or include additional tailored material then I’ll have a separate post with a link to this one within them. Note this post may be periodically updated as I review and add new content that I would accept.

Ancestries

This list of ancestries only includes the generally approved options. Others will be provided for specific campaigns.

• Aasimar (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Dwarves (Player's Handbook)
• Elves (Player's Handbook)
• Gnomes (Player's Handbook)
• Goblins (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Half-Elves (Player's Handbook)
• Halflings (Player's Handbook)
• Half-Orcs (Player’s Handbook)
• Hobgoblins (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Humans (Player's Handbook)
• Kobolds (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Orcs (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Tieflings (Player's Handbook)

Additionally, you may reallocate your ancestry ability score increases as you see fit, putting either +2 and +1 in two abilities or a +1 to three abilities.

Classes

The default approved classes include (see approved subclass section for further restrictions). Players should also remember that although there is flavor and descriptive text about each class and its subclasses that these are actually just mechanical options. You are free to work with your GM to reflavor or describe the way your character’s abilities work in anyway that you desire. A College of Swords Bard might be a better fit for your character concept of a holy knight than a paladin or cleric. Your fighter can be a leader, even if they aren’t a Battlemaster or Warlord. Similarly, a Warlock, Sorcerer, or Bard might be gifted with magical powers, but this doesn’t stop them from being a political leader or priest. The descriptions are given to inspire creativity, not force a player to conform to existing archetypes. Let your creativity run wild. These classes are provided because they have abilities that will generally be available, but some campaigns may restrict or even add classes.

• Apothecary (Sebastian Crowe's Guide to Drakkenheim)
• Artificer (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything)
• Barbarian 
• Bard
• Beastheart (MCDM)
• Bloodhunter (DnD Beyond 2022 version)
• Cleric
• Druid
• Fighter
• Illrigger (MCDM)
• Monk
• Occultist (KibblesTasty)
• Paladin
• Psion (KibblesTasty)
• Pugilist (Benjamin Huffman)
• Ranger (Use revised ranger from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything)
• Rogue
• Sorcerer
• Warden
• Warlock
• Warlord (KibblesTasty)
• Wizard

Subclasses

Subclasses represent an important part of character story. You should take careful thought about the type of character you would like to play, and consider how your chosen class and subclass affect your character. Certain decisions for subclasses, like developing mystical, mental, or arcane powers, or swearing an oath are extremely significant and you should consider how your character came to gain these abilities and discuss it with your GM so they can work those details into the story. The world truly becomes about you if you help the GM bring your motivations, patron, organization, and other backstory into the campaign.

Apothecary

Apothecaries are practioners of medicine and arcane magic. They seek out knowledge of of all kinds, even when it takes them to dark and otherworldly sources and places. They are often particularly gifted in chemistry and various eldritch formulae.

• Alienist
• Chemist
• Exorcist
• Mutagenist
• Pathologist
• Reanimator

Artificer Subclasses

These magical tinkers and experimenters are uncommon but recognized for their genius when they appear. They may not be appropriate for all campaigns, so check if there is additional guidance for your campaign from your GM.

• Alchemist (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything)
• Armorer (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything)
• Artillerist (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything)
• Battle Smith (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything)
• Cognician (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Demolitionist (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Mechanic (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Oozologist (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Scraper (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Stitcher (Advanced 5th Edition)
• Transmortalist (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)

Barbarian Subclasses

Barbarians have heart and spirit. They refuse to give up, fighting through pain to defeat their foes with great strength. Barbarian characters often originate in less populous areas, but are not unknown in cities. Depending on their background they may display various powers or traits.

• Ancestors (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Ancestral Guardian (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Battlerager (Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide)
• Beast (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Berserker (Player's Handbook)
• Booming Magnificence (Tome of Heroes)
• Dragon (Tome of Heroes)
• Giant (Bigby’s Glory of the Giants)
• Harrier (Book of the Righteous)
• Hellfire (Tome of Heroes)
• Herald (Tome of Heroes)
• Inner Eye (Tome of Heroes)
• Instinct (KibblesTasty)
• Mistwood (Tome of Heroes)
• Storm Herald (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Thorns (Tome of Heroes)
• Totem Warrior (Player's Handbook)
• Wild Magic (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Zealot (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)

Bard Subclasses

Bards inspire and persuade. While they might be a quintessential bard, performing and singing you can also create bards that are wily politicians with silver tongues, or different flavored magical archetypes (do not think you have to flavor yourself as a bard when you play a bard).

• Cat (Tome of Heroes)
• Creation (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Echoes (Tome of Heroes)
• Eloquence (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Entropy (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Fool (KibblesTasty)
• Four Suits (Griffon's Saddlebag)
• Glamour (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Greenleaf (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Investigation (Tome of Heroes)
• Lore (Player's Handbook)
• Merchantile (Griffon's Saddlebag)
• Shadows (Tome of Heroes)
• Sincerity (Tome of Heroes)
• Swords (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Tactics (Tome of Heroes)
• Valor (Player's Handbook)
• Virtue (Book of the Righteous)
• Whispers (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)

Beastheart Subclasses

Beasthearts are warriors closely tied to their animal companions. While rare amongst city dwellers, they are not unheard of. Most beasthearts hail from the wilds or frontier lands where people still have a closer bond with the earth.

• Ferocious Bond
• Hunter Bond
• Infernal Bond
• Primordial Bond
• Protector Bond

Bloodhunter

Bloodhunters deal with the dark and gritty side of magic, drawing on a variety of sources for their powers, including fueling their magical effects with their own blood. They are often strong monster hunters and fighters.

• Dragoon (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Eye (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Giantfeller (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Ghostslayer 
• Infected Mind (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Lycan
• Mutant
• Profane Soul

Cleric Subclasses

Clerics act in many roles but in all of them they serve a divine force or deity. Some are village priests. Others are powerful holy warriors. Others are counselors to kings and queens. Still others preside over the churches of their gods. 

• Air (Book of the Righteous)
• Apocalypse (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Arcana (Player's Handbook)
• Balance (Book of the Righteous)
• Beauty (Book of the Righteous)
• Beer (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Clockwork (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Corruption (Book of the Righteous)
• Creation (Book of the Righteous)
• Darkness (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Death (Dungeon Master's Guide)
• Dragon (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Earth (Book of the Righteous)
• Fire (Book of the Righteous)
• Forge (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Grave (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Hunger (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Hunt (Tome of Heroes)
• Judgement (KibblesTasty)
• Justice (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Knowledge (Player's Handbook)
• Life (Player's Handbook)
• Light (Player's Handbook)
• Madness (Book of the Righteous)
• Martyr (KibblesTasty)
• Mercy (Tome of Heroes)
• Moon (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Mountain (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Nature (Player's Handbook)
• Ocean (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Order (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Pantheist (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Portal (Tome of Heroes)
• Prophecy (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Repose (Book of the Righteous)
• Serpent (Tome of Heroes)
• Shadow (Tome of Heroes)
• Speed (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Tempest (Player's Handbook)
• Travel (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Trickery (Player's Handbook)
• Tyranny (Book of the Righteous)
• Void (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• War (Player's Handbook)
• Water (Book of the Righteous)
• Wind (Tome of Heroes)
• Vermin (Tome of Heroes)
• Void (Midgard Heroes Handbook)

See the specific campaign for potential restrictions on cleric subclasses and the deities you can select.

Druid Subclasses

Druids are uniquely tied to nature, drawing upon natural forces of magic. Their druidic circles offer them unique powers, and are often organizations to which they belong.

• Ash (Tome of Heroes)
• Bees (Tome of Heroes)
• Crystals (Tome of Heroes)
• Dragons (Griffon's Saddlebag)
• Dreams (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Elements (KibblesTasty)
• Green (Tome of Heroes)
• Grove (KibblesTasty)
• Land (Player's Handbook)
• Moon (Player's Handbook)
• Sand (Tome of Heroes)
• Shapeless (Tome of Heroes)
• Shepherd (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Spores (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Stars (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Stones (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Sun (KibblesTasty)
• Wild (KibblesTasty)
• Wildfire (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Wind (Tome of Heroes)

Fighter Subclasses

Fighters are specialists in the art of war, training themselves and their comrades to improve their mastery of arms. Most fighters may not have magic, but they'll go toe-to-toe with any monster or challenger, fighting to the death for their friends.

• Adventurer (KibblesTasty)
• Arcane Archer (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Battlemaster (Player's Handbook)
• Blade Breaker (Raider's Guide to Valika)
• Brawler (KibblesTasty)
• Cavalier (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Champion (May use the improved version from KibblesTasty) (Player's Handbook) 
• Chaplain (Tome of Heroes)
• Crusader (KibblesTasty)
• Echo Knight (Explorer's Guide to Wildemount)
• Eldritch Knight (Player's Handbook)
• Hospitaler (Book of the Righteous)
• Legionary (Tome of Heroes)
• Mammoth Hunter (Raider's Guide to Valika)
• Psi Warrior (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Pugilist (Tome of Heroes)
• Radiant Pikeman (Tome of Heroes)
• Rune Knight (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything)
• Samurai (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Shieldbearer (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Timeblade (Tome of Heroes)
• Tunnel Watcher (Tome of Heroes)

Illrigger

Servants of ruin, illriggers are dark paladins sworn to serve the leaders of the hells, the destination for lawful evil beings in the afterlife. They wield diverse powers gifted them by devilish patrons, and with forked tongues they work towards their master's ends. In this world you may serve any ruler of one of the layers of hell or even a lesser noble devil regardless of your choice of subclass. Lore within the Illrigger classes document is not necessarily correct in this world.

• Architect of Ruin
• Hellspeaker
• Painkiller
• Sanguine Knight
• Shadowmaster

Monk Subclasses 

Monks are train their bodies, minds, and spirits, seeking to bridge the gap and give them unity in purpose. They are deeply focused, trying themselves and testing their resolve. They are deeply spiritual beings, respecting the land and gods, but not necessarily religious, rather guided by their own personal beliefs on the world. They are also fierce fighters.

• Abnegation (Planegea)
• Ascendant Dragon (Fizban's Treasury of Dragons)
• Astral Self (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Concordant Motion (Tome of Heroes)
• Dragon (Tome of Heroes)
• Drunken Master (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Four Elements (Player's Handbook)
• Humble Elephant (Tome of Heroes)
• Iron (Book of the Righteous)
• Kensai (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Mercy (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Open Hand (Player's Handbook)
• Shadow (Player's Handbook)
• Still Waters (Tome of Heroes)
• Sun Soul (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Tipsy Monkey (Tome of Heroes)
• Unerring Arrow (Tome of Heroes)
• Wildcat (Tome of Heroes)

Occultist Subclasses

Spellcasters linked to occult powers of nature, occultists often derive their power from the natural or arcane magic of the world around them, but may also call upon otherworldly sources.

• Witch
• Hedge Mage
• Oracle
• Shaman

Paladin Subclasses

Paladins are oathbound warriors, usually a part of a holy order or an order of knights. They must chose a deity to serve who provides them their magic. Should they break their oaths they might transition their subclass to the Oathbreaker, or the Oath of Treachery.

• Ancients (Player's Handbook)
• Ascetic (Book of the Righteous)
• Battle (Book of the Righteous)
• Conquest (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Devotion (Player's Handbook)
• Eagle (Book of the Righteous)
• Elements (Tome of Heroes)
• Giving Grave (See Antipaladin in Midgard Worldbook)
• Glory (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Guardian (Tome of Heroes)
• Hearth (Tome of Heroes)
• Justice (Tome of Heroes)
• Mercy (Book of the Righteous)
• Perfection (Book of the Righteous)
• Plaguetouched (Tome of Heroes)
• Purification (Spectre Creations)
• Redemption (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Safeguarding (Tome of Heroes)
• Sanity (KibblesTasty)
• Silence (KibblesTasty)
• Thunder (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Treachery (Unearthed Arcana)
• Vengeance (Player's Handbook)
• Watchers (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)

Psion Subclasses

Psions are gifted with mental abilities that give them strange abilities. These are distinct from arcane and divine magic as they are derived from the mental power of the user, but sometimes appear to manifest similarly to magic powers.

• Awakened Mind
• Consuming Mind
• Elemental Mind
• Shaper's Mind
• Transcended Mind
• Unleashed Mind
• Wandering Mind

Pugilist Subclasses

Pugilists face enemies with their fists and self determination. They break through barriers, battering down all foes. Some come from the mean streets, others trained in boxing and combat sports. Your pugilist could be the scion of a noble house that enjoys street fighting, or a former gang member, or any other background you can think of.

• Arena Royale (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Bloodhound Bruisers
• Dog & Hound (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Hand of Dread (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Paradox Consortium (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Piss & Vinegar (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Relentless Revenant (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Rift Hitter (Ultimate Adventurer’s Handbook)
• Street Saint
• Squared Circle
• Sweet Science

Ranger Subclasses

Rangers walk the frontiers and the deep forests. They find the way when the night is darkest. They track cold trails, slaying monsters out in the woods that lesser beings could never find much less kill.

• Beastmaster (Player's Handbook)
• Beast Trainer (Tome of Heroes)
• Bounty Hunter (KibblesTasty)
• Drakewarden (Fizban's Treasury of Dragons)
• Fey Wanderer (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Gloom Stalker (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Grove Warden (Tome of Heroes)
• Haunted Warden (Tome of Heroes)
• Horizon Walker (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Hunter (Player's Handbook)
• Monster Slayer (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Snake Speaker (Tome of Heroes)
• Swarmkeeper (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Wasteland Strider (Tome of Heroes)

Rogue Subclasses

Rogues are masters at sneaking. Some specialize in assassination or spying. Their talents enable them to get into tight spaces, and get out through their cunning or wits.

• Arcane Trickster (Player's Handbook)
• Assassin (Player's Handbook)
• Cat Burglar (Tome of Heroes)
• Dawn Blade (Tome of Heroes)
• Divine Hand (KibblesTasty)
• Duelist (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Fixer (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Inquisitive (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Mastermind (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Phantom (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Sapper (Tome of Heroes)
• Scout (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Smuggler (Tome of Heroes)
• Soulknife (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Soulspy (Tome of Heroes)
• Surgeon (KibblesTasty)
• Thief (Player's Handbook)
• Whisper (Midgard Heroes Handbook)

Sorcerer Subclasses

Magic flows through the world and the beings in it. In some people this awakens latent magic talents that they must learn to control. More an art than the science of the wizards, at times this magic is released unpredictably.

• Aberrant Mind (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Aether Heart (KibblesTasty)
• Clockwork Soul (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Desert Soul (Griffon's Saddlebag)
• Divine Soul (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Divine Inspiration (Book of the Righteous)
• Draconic Bloodline (Player's Handbook)
• Dream (Planegea)
• Fey (KibblesTasty)
• Fiendish (KibblesTasty)
• Hungering (Tome of Heroes)
• Phoenix Spark (KibblesTasty)
• Resonant Body (Tome of Heroes)
• Rifthopper (Tome of Heroes)
• Sea (KibblesTasty)
• Shadow (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Spore (Tome of Heroes)
• Stoneheart (KibblesTasty)
• Storm (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Wild Magic (Player's Handbook)
• Wastelander (Tome of Heroes)

Warden Subclasses

Wardens tap into primal chaotic energy to fuel their powerful abilities. They struggle to control their unique gifts, needing to work not to give into the chaos. Similar to Sorcerers in their energy, but they don't derive these powers from their lineage, rather from their experience of the world around them. They tend to be physically aggressive fighters.

• Elemental Soul
• Bearsthide
• Elderheart
• Ironbound
• Stoneblood
• Sunwatcher
• 
  

Warlock Subclasses

Warlocks come by their powers through a pact with a powerful being. You should work with your GM to determine details about your patron. Specific details will be revealed to you by the GM at a time they determine appropriate, probably dictated by the story.

• Ancient Dragons (Tome of Heroes)
• Animal Lords (Tome of Heroes)
• Archfey (Player's Handbook)
• Celestial (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Dark Forest (Planegea)
• Fathomless (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Fey (KibblesTasty)
• Fiend (Player's Handbook)
• Genie (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Great Old One (Player's Handbook)
• Hexblade (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Hunter in Darkness (Tome of Heroes)
• Knowledge Keeper (KibblesTasty)
• Light Eater (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Many (Griffon's Saddlebag)
• Old Wood (Tome of Heroes)
• Oracle (Book of the Righteous)
• Overseer (KibblesTasty)
• Primordial (Tome of Heroes)
• Tempest (KibblesTasty)
• Wyrdweaver (Tome of Heroes)

Warlord Subclasses

Warlords are might leaders in combat, empowering their allies to push themselves farther and directing the battlefield. Warlords might be powerful knights soldiers, or self-taught masters of tactics. They make great leaders and politicians.

• Commander
• Chieftain
• Dancer
• Dreadlord
• Noble
• Packleader
• Paragon
• Tactician

Wizard Subclasses

Wizards turn the arcane into a subject to be studied. They believe that with time onecan learn and unravel most magical mysteries and thus are always searching for new spells and ways to improve their magic. Wizards are quite powerful as they grow in experience. They can come from almost any background but are unified by having received some form of magical training in the past. Some join arcane groups of wizards, while others take a path of religious devotion and become powerful heirophants.

• Abjuration (Player's Handbook)
• Artifice (Book of the Righteous)
• Bladesinging (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Cantrip Adept (Tome of Heroes)
• Conjuration (Player's Handbook)
• Courser Mage (Tome of Heroes)
• Divination (Player's Handbook)
• Enchantment (Player's Handbook)
• Evocation (Player's Handbook)
• Familiar Master (Tome of Heroes)
• Geomancy (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Gravebinding (Tome of Heroes)
• Illusion (Player's Handbook)
• Innovation (KibblesTasty)
• Liminality (Tome of Heroes)
• Necromancy (Player's Handbook)
• Pathology (KibblesTasty)
• Scribes (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)
• Spellsmith (Tome of Heroes)
• Theurge (KibblesTasty)
• Transmutation (Player's Handbook)
• Wand Lore (Griffon's Saddlebag)
• War (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)

Backgrounds 

The following backgrounds are approved for this world due to their versatility across multiple types of regions and character concepts. The guidelines for customized backgrounds from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything may be used to swap skill proficiencies to fit your desired character concept. Work with the GM to alter the flavor details of your background to fit your goals as needed.

• Acolyte (Player's Handbook)
• Charlatan (Player's Handbook)
• Chieftain’s Kin (Planegea)
• Churchguard (variant Soldier) (Book of the Righteous)
• Cloistered Scholar (Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide)
• Court Servant (Tome of Heroes)
• Criminal (Player's Handbook)
• Desert Runner (Tome of Heroes)
• Destined (Tome of Heroes)
• Diplomat (Tome of Heroes)
• Emissary (Book of the Righteous)
• Entertainer (Player's Handbook)
• Faction Agent (Sword Coast Adventure’s Guide)
• Folk Hero (Player's Handbook)
• Forest Dweller (Tome of Heroes)
• Former Adventurer (Tome of Heroes)
• Freebooter (Tome of Heroes)
• Friar (variant Hermit) (Book of the Righteous)
• Gamekeeper (Tome of Heroes)
• Hermit (Player's Handbook)
• Inheritor (Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide)
• Inn Keeper (Tome of Heroes)
• Marine (Ghosts of Saltmarsh)
• Mercenary Company Scion (Tome of Heroes)
• Mercenary Recruit (Tome of Heroes)
• Mercenary Veteran (Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide)
• Monstrous Adoptee (Tome of Heroes)
• Mysterious Origins (Tome of Heroes)
• Noble (Player's Handbook)
• Northern Minstrel (Tome of Heroes)
• Occultist (Tome of Heroes)
• Outlander (Player's Handbook)
• Parfumier (Tome of Heroes)
• Reborn (Book of the Righteous)
• Sage (Player's Handbook)
• Sailor (Player's Handbook)
• Sentry (Tome of Heroes)
• Soldier (Player's Handbook)
• Scoundrel (Tome of Heroes)
• Trophy Hunter (Tome of Heroes)
• Urchin (Player's Handbook)

First Level Feats

I don’t enjoy killing characters at lower levels or boring characters. For that reason I like to give your character an extra boost. You may choose one of the following feats for your first level character (your GM may provide additional feat options tailored to the campaign themes or to bring in new mechanics at their discretion):

• Skilled
• Tough

Prequel Adventure to Rappan Athuk: Against the Cult of the Reptile God

Players stay out…

Looking at the behemoth that is Rappan Athuk, it struck me that a little prequel adventure to both get players used to an old school style sandbox campaign and help them get up to around level three might be in order. You won't want to share the adventure title with them, as it's basically the biggest spoiler possible.

N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God struck me as perhaps a perfect fit. It reinforces similar themes as the later adventure with an evil cult, treasure, travel, and the possibility of deadly fights that require creativity from the players. I might also be interested in playing it because I love this video that touches on it by Matt Colville.

If you're using my hook and metaplot then you'll still have the players be agents of the Archbishop and Archdeacon of Usharia. To slot them into this adventure, simply have them be sent to investigate strange reports about the village of Orlane. The local agricultural gos who the villagers worship is an aspect of one of the Nine Gods of the Church, and tiths have stopped arriving at the Archbishopric of Usharia. You can roll on the rumors table to see what the characters learn on their way to Orlane.

I think the adventure largely runs fine as written in the module otherwise. You can change the names of other towns and the relative locations and distances between them. I might use the Uncharted Journeys rules for the short travel from Orlane to the temple of the reptile god. Use NPC stats like guards, veterans, cult fanatics, priests, and commoners where appropriate (I wouldn't stress much about balance or trying to replicate specific NPC stat details from the original. The spirit naga will be hard for the party, so you can scale down it's abilities if you choose to. Personal I'm just going to go with my new default for a hard campaign which is to provide the Tough or Skilled feat as an extra boost at first level. Using XP leveling, the party should be at second or third level by the time they face the naga, which at least gives them a chance. Remember though, this is an intro to Rappan Athuk. It's supposed to be deadly.

Once the players succeed you can reward them and have them report back to their patrons at Usharia. Then I'd do a little downtime/time jump before launching into the Dungeon of Graves.

And that's pretty much it. This is a classic adventure, and I think it'll be really interesting to run and see players go through it. 

Rappan Athuk: What Do People Know?

Major spoilers for the adventure—potential players, get outta here!

Thinking about a future Rappan Athuk game, I want to establish what people in my world know about the dungeon, combining that with the lore contained in the book. There’s a really interesting rumor table in the book, but in some ways I want less of the historical information to be known to the players. At the same time, I want to leverage the rumor table to add flavor and danger to any communities or NPCs that would know more about the dungeon than the average person. So I’m going to scour the book, looking at what they seem to indicate people generally know about Rappan Athuk and then make my own modifications to the lore to fit my story hook.

From the Book

Rappan Athuk is noted on page 28 of the 5e version as a dungeon of legend, with most people at least knowing the location. The dangers of the area preclude exploration by anyone but only skilled adventurers and those with a deathwish (maybe those are the same people) seem to go there.

The legend of Rappan Athuk as related on page 13 is unclear in a couple areas. It indicates that the legend of Rappan Athuk is well known so characters may know some or all of the information provided. A few pieces of information are clear and seem to be more widely known:

• The Army of Light attacked followers of the Demon Prince Orcus in the city of Tsar.
• The surviving high priests of Orcus fled the city, pursued by the Army of Light.
• The Army of Light was led by the wizard Zelkor.
• The Army disappeared. It’s fate unknown. So did the evil priests.
• A graveyard and mausoleum were built on the hill of the site known as Rappan Athuk, and it’s rumored that this is the final resting place of the army of light.
• Adventurers have been attempting to delve and investigate Rappan Athuk for over a century.

Then there’s some information that seems to be secret:

• Secretly the followers of Orcus settled at the site now known as Rappan Athuk, expanding the system of already existing caves.

Now here’s what’s unclear for me:

• How is the gap in time between the disappearance of the army of light and the construction of the mausoleum and graveyard explained?

The timeline adds further information, clarifying (or contradicting in another sense) the details above, including:

• That construction of the dungeon of Rappan Athuk was begun almost 400 years before the fall of Tsar with temples to Orcus built there. 
• Only one year separates the destruction of the Amry of Light and the construction of the graveyard and mausoleum.
• After the rediscovery of Rappan Athuk by adventurers many have come to seek its treasures and mysteries (secret: these are now some of its denizens).
• Eighty years before the present day another small army led by a holy warrior attempted to attack Rappan Athum and cleanse it off evil. Almost no one escaped the dungeon.

Revised Legend

So the legend should actually go more like:

The dungeon of Rappan Athuk has a mysterious past. Under a dark mausoleum and graveyard, long rumored to be the final resting place of the fabled Army of Light that disappeared after destroying the demon-worshiping temple city of Tsar far to the North, adventurers a hundred years ago found a massive labyrinthine dungeon complex. Tales of wonderful treasures have attracted adventurers for almost a hundred years, but while many tell tales of the dungeon, few of them have actually visited it and survived. A holy warrior dedicated to the god of war even led a military expedition into the depths of Rappan Athuk eighty years ago, but few if any of his followers escaped doom in its halls.

Nestled in remote hills in a coastal forest plagued by bandits and monsters, Rappan Athuk is a destination not for the faint of heart. What dark and wondrous treasures and mysteries remain to be uncovered there?

Details to Hold Back

There are a few details I think are better held back to be secrets you can reveal to your players during play. With the hook and patron I would use the players are not from the region near Rappan Athuk, and thus have less information about the dungeon than those living near it do.

Details you can play close to the chest until a convenient opportunity to relate them during play occurs:

• That Rappan Athuk is a secret temple and dominion of Orcus. I think you can safely hide this until they discover it in the dungeon, or from an NPC. This increases the mystery about the dungeon, forcing them to ask “who built all this? What were their goals? Were they evil?” History is written by the winners but in this case the Army of Light was lost. With over four hundred years of intervening history it’s very much a possibility that only a few only texts in the wider world even recount how Tsar was a temple city to Orcus and that the Army of Light even existed, much less was formed to oppose these demon worshippers.
• Whether or not this is actually where the Army of Light was destroyed. This adds another mystery That they can investigate, and plays well with the hook I mentioned above that I created.

The rumor table has a few items that contradict these omitted details. I suggest rolling for your players and rerolling if you hit anything with info you don’t want them to know before they start adventuring. However, I think that Zelkor’s Ferry is a good place to use the rumor table since other adventurers may have more detailed (or completely false) information.

This product contains intellectual property of Frog God Games LLC under license. Such intellectual property is considered Product Identity under the terms of the Open Game License provided by Wizards of the Coast.

All references to Lost Lands Material from Frog God Games including Army of Light, Tsar, Tsarol, Rappan Athuk, and Zelkor's Ferry are product identity of Frog God Games LLC.

Rappan Athuk: Player Introduction

Rappan Athuk Background

Rappan Athuk, the Dungeon of Graves, has long been a mystery. The legendary dungeon is rumored to have unbelievable treasures from the remnants of a lost holy army that descended into its depths many hundreds of years ago in pursuit of demon-worshipping cultists. No one truly knows what occurred in the depths of Rappan Athuk.

The Archbishop and Archdeacon of Usharia have direct you and your companions to investigate the dungeon and find out the ultimate fate of Zelkor, the wizard who led the lost Army of Light all those hundreds of years ago. Recent rumors allegedly from adventurers who have entered Rappan Athuk suggest that Zelkor met his end there. The Archbishop has tasked some of you to investigate to see if any evidence could be used to canonize Zelkor as a saint for his deeds. The Archdeacon has tasked others of you to find out the truth (and perhaps hide it) so the Church can be protected from political fallout if Zelkor met a darker fate as is now whispered in the same breath as the other rumors.

You must each individually choose which of these two is your primary patron. Those who work for the Archbishop are tied to the clergy or holy orders of the Church and usually idealistic in their faith. The Archdeacon acts as both a Church and political figure, meaning your character can come from a more unsavory or checkered past if they are one of the Archdeaon’s agents. Even a good organization sometimes needs people with special talents to do dirty work so it can carry on its work.

A Dungeon of Graves

Rappan Athuk is a megadungeon created over decades by authors who came up playing Old School, deadly D&D. The encounters are often not balanced for you to win in a straight fight. Some magic may not function as you expect or work at all in certain areas. Some traps may be impossible to escape or do massive amounts of damage. This is to push towards creative play, and to embrace a freer style of gameplay with your character. 

Your starting character will probably die in this game. Your follow up character may as well, along with the character after that. For character creation you will make a primary character and three backups to ensure that you can continue to play if you have several deadly mishaps in one session. All of these characters will use the Church as their patron. They could be connected to one another as lackeys, protégés, or followers, or complete strangers with a blank slate each time. If your character dies, it is your responsibility to create enough replacements to bring you back up to four total during the time between sessions. Additionally, it will be your responsibility to coordinate a time with the GM to input/create your character in our VTT outside session too. We will use XP leveling in this game. When your character dies their replacement will begin play at the same level, but with 0 XP accrued towards the next level (I.e. if your level 2 character with 800 XP dies the replacement character will also be level 2, but will only have 300 XP (the threshold amount for leveling up to 2)). To avoid stoppages in play we will level up at the end of our sessions rather than when the level up threshold is reached. Be sure to level up your backup characters too so they are ready to replace your primary at a moment’s notice).

High stakes play can be extremely fun if we reframe our thoughts about a character dying to remember that the game does not end when this happens. We just have another story to tell. You can’t lose at D&D. You only lose when you choose to stop having fun or inhibit others fun. So create characters you are excited to play and use this opportunity to try every type of character that you want. If you don’t like them there’s plenty of opportunities to make a permanent switch…

A Wide Open Frontier

Rappan Athuk embraces a sandbox style of play, where although players may have quests given by a patron or other NPCs they are free in how they choose to explore and pursue those quests. In this adventure with veryrare exceptions you will get to choose your own path. Exploration, experimentation, and creativity are the way to survive. The game will be restricted to the region around Rappan Athuk, but there are dozens of unique locations to explore and dungeon levels to delve into.

Character Options 

Please see my overall guidelines on character options, along with my specific ones for Rappan Athuk.

Adventure Hook for Rappan Athuk

 

Eventually (hopefully) someday I would like to run the epic mega dungeon, Rappan Athuk, the Dungeon of Graves. I think the major issue for 5e for doing a dungeon delve of this magnitude is providing a compelling or unifying hook for player characters. Otherwise why risk your life in the dungeon. Fortune and glory aren’t worth much when you’re dead.

As I work on my own personal homebrew setting to place my games in, which is where Rappan Athuk and Slumbing Tsar will be used, another theme I want to include is religion. I want to use portions of the Great Church described in Green Ronin’s Book of the Righteous, with my own takes. I have a custom pantheon of nine gods when I will have the church worship. This idea also ties in well with the mythology of Rappan Athuk and the Army of Light. 

The Hook

The party members are agents of an Archdeacon and Archbishop of the Church. Deacons are powerful political operatives working to further the church’s position, while clergy carry out its ministry and oppose evil. This allows characters of any type because they either have faith based ties to the Church, or are agents (perhaps unsavory ones) of the Archdeacon. 

The agents are dispatched to the region to investigate reports about the dungeon of Rappan Athuk. But their secret overall mission is to discover what happened to Zelkor, the leader of the mythical Army of Light. Zelkor and the tale have been lost to history, but church scholars have recently rediscovered lore about the events. The Archbishop desires that the agents investigate the dungeon and cleanse it as the final resting place of so many lost heroes. They are to collect holy relics like the bones of the fallen if possible and find evidence as to Zelkor’s life and death so that the Archbishop can submit him for canonization. The Archdeacon shares these goals, but also instructs his agents to conceal or destroy any evidence of corruption of the Army of Light by evil forces because he fears it will undermine the Church’s standing with the masses of faithful and its political clout. The Army of Light must be a story of triumph, not loss, defeat, or corruption to enable the Church to continue it mission of good. The ends justify whatever means necessary.

Justifications 

Providing a patron with unified goals enables easy incorporation of new characters—when old ones die, new agents are dispatched, or they are sent with messages from the patron. The competing goals introduce the possibility of some character drama depending upon who the characters each align themselves with. The Archdeacon also allows the characters to play less noble characters motivated by their own enlightened self-interest if they desire that too. Non-church entities could have influence over these players too. 

For those serving the Archbishop, I can create suborders and church factions to which they belong (I.e. a holy order of heirophants for a wizard, divine or holy orders for paladins and clerics, etc) that can also be an interesting way to provide additional motivation or even side quests that will give them a break from the megadungeon. 

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - The Opening Move

Table of Contents

Spoilers follow for the adventure...

Following their planning, the officers of the Avengers of the Crossing knew it was time to send out their orders for recruitment and wait for direction from the Kalaman military.

They waited a week for news and for their recruitment officers to muster up troops. In the intervening time, Asterius investigated rumors of some tombs infested by monsters in the hills Northwest of Kalaman, returning with tales and some treasure from his expedition. Davgin busied himself investigating spells and attempting to learn new magic, but instead singed the walls of their ballroom with magical soot and smoke, coughing for breath as he slammed the large windows open to get fresh air into the room. A failure for now, but he would continue his research later in preparation for his eventual trials to join the Mages of High Sorcery. Gringle found a seedy tavern and an odd fellow near the docks speaking of the great investments he had available, and gave him some gold as a buy in. What fruits his money would reap only time would tell.

After a week had passed on 9 Holmwelt, a messenger came running into their headquarters. The Vogler refugees had been moving into temporary housing and areas closer to Kalaman all week, and the last large company of them was coming into town today.

“Lords and lady, the refugee column is under attack from the Red Dragon Army!”

The adventurers armed up and took war horses from the Castle Kalaman stables, immediately lighting off to defend the refugees. Groups of their troops followed behind.

When they arrived they found groups of hobgoblin and human soldiers attacking the refugees and their wagon train. Charging into combat, Asterius and Davgin led Darrett into the fray, while Gringle sniped with arrows from the rear. They and their troops made short work of the enemies.

As they drove the last of them off there appeared over a low hill a large creature, with wings like a dragon, clad in barding and metal spikes. Its scales were red and it flew towards them, a soldier clad in the armor of the Dragon Army on its back. It swooped down, rending Asterius’ horse and slaying it from beneath him. The Solamnic knight fell from the horse, but managed to recover his footing instead of falling to the ground.

Asterius and Darrett took massive swings as the creature passed them, but were unable to deeply penetrate its armored sides. Davgin slung spells that hit their mark, wounding the creature with ice cold magic. Gringle fired off arrows as the creature swung towards him, lashing out once more with its claws. They found their mark and Gringle fell from his horse, deeply wounded and unconscious, fighting for life. 

The rider of the beast cast javelins at Asterius and Darrett, goring Asterius deeply. The knight called on the powers that he served and healed himself to stand in defense of his friends, but found most of his attacks ineffectual as the beast flew out of range. Davgin’s spells were their main defense, wounding and bloodying the creature so that it began to wheel and fly away.

Once it had disappeared once more, Asterius healed Gringle, bringing him back from the brink of death.

“What was that?” Asked Asterius.

“A foul and unnatural beast,” said Gringle, still covered in blood.

“Not a true dragon though,” said Davion. “Something else, less powerful.”

“What wasn’t powerful?” Asked Asterius. “I wonder what will happen when we actually face a true dragon.”

They escorted the surviving refugees to Kalaman, and helped tend to the wounded without further incident. Then returning to Castle Kalaman, they rested for two days until orders arrived in a dispatch from Marshall Vendri.

Your reports of a mechanical dragon hurling fire are of great concern to high command. We have reports of a gnome inventor that lives to the Southwest of Kalaman. We request that you personally visit her and attempt to recruit her aid for Kalaman, offering protection from the Red Dragon Army within the city. Her name is Rookledust.

The officers left quickly, stopping only to make sure they were fully armed at the Castle Kalaman military armory.

Most of the day was spent on the road, riding with care on fresh warhorses. The trip was uneventful under the dark clouded sky of the Dargaard Mountains with the occasional bout of light rain except for a chance meeting with a kender calling himself Trapspringer. The kender asked if the adventurers had seen any dragons, and related that he’d heard rumors of dragons near Kalaman. He also insisted on shaking the hands of each of the adventurers in thanks. After he had long faded behind them on the road, Asterius and Gringle discovered that their purses were each lighter by five gold pieces.

As the evening went on, they came upon a strange building, part house and part stone fortress, perch atop a low hill. A group of goblins and a lone hobgoblin stood in front, attacking as a gnome ran from window to window, hurling clockwork traps at the assaulters.

The party charged in immediately, closing and killing five goblins and the hobgoblin leader within moments. Asterius parted one in twain with a mighty axeblow, while Davgin blasted several with fire. Darrett fought beside Asterius, while Gringle fired from the rear. They made short work of the goblins, riding down the last of them as they fled. Then they turned towards the house to speak with the gnome.

GM Reflections

This was a pretty straightforward and simple session, but was a lot of fun, particularly at the end. The characters are almost to fifth level, so they cut through the goblins very quickly. But it was a nice upward beat and everyone seemed to enjoy it. As I implement the Intrigue system, I used the attack on the refugees as the opening domain action by the Red Dragon Army. The idea of making an Operations test against the players’ organization Resolve inspired me to work it into a combat encounter. The roll failed, which was good for the characters. After two weeks in game the adventurers and the enemy domain will both get to make an action at the same time. I’m hoping the players get more engaged and understand the system better as the campaign goes on. I’m enjoying it though as a framework.

Over the next few sessions I play to run several of the missions from the campaign book, along with a few missions that I’ll add adapted from Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Personally, I think short missions and sandbox play are how most of this campaign should have been structured. I’ve been looking ahead to the exploration and hexcrawl portion but it really isn’t written as a true hexcrawl, with most of the locations really acting like a point crawl. This is a better structure than a straight railroad, but I think it’s interesting that WOTC doesn’t even really correctly frame or signal the game structure they are using.

Enjoying the adventure though. It’s fun to do a war campaign because there is lots of inspiration and things to do with the characters and 5e gets to have lots of heroic combat which is where it tends to be the most fun for players in my experience.