The Journey to RPGs

Reflecting today, it struck me how my journey into the TTRPG hobby is similar yet different from the evolution of the hobby. Most people now have played plenty of videogame RPGs or games that have RPG elements or influence. But unlike many of my friends, I didn't play games like Skyrim or others. I never played, but had a friend who played RuneScape while we were kids and I remember spending a fair amount of time watching over his shoulder. 

Really, I enjoyed building and playing with Legos, probably predisposing me to a fascination with miniatures (although I don't collect miniature largely due to the cost and space to store them). So one day as a kid I stumbled upon the rules and their earlier variations of Brik Wars.

BrikWars cover art by Mike Rayhawk

While I never played, mostly because I could never find anyone interested in learning the rules and taking the time to do so, I remained fascinated by wargaming. Throw in my abiding interested in military history, and it's no surprise that I really was more interested in tactical RTS games, like Age of Empires in its many flavors. I spent many happy hours with Age of Mythology and played the Lord of the Rings RTS game at a friend's house that you can now no long find anywhere due to the expired licensing. 

Eventually I discovered the Total War games, which still strike me as perhaps the best blend possible of a strategic and persistent overworld in which year construction and empire-building matter, combined with a more realistic tactical game than the scrums of declining hit points in most RTS games. Total War units feel like they are full of men, each fighting and dying one by one, while remaining part of an organized mass. Maintaining organization and correct maneuver, alongside using the battlefield terrain and the right equiped units is key to victory, just like in the real world. The original Total War: Rome and Medieval 2: Total War remain perhaps my favorite games of all time, despite the later advancements to the series. I also spent literally hundreds of hours conquering Europe and the New World as Britain, Prussia, and Spain in Empire: Total War. 

The closest game to an RPG I played during this period were Zelda: Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword on the Wii. These were fun, but I found the puzzles and linear dungeon progressions tedious at times. I wanted to punch through much of the time and get to the storytelling, exploration, and combat portions. I loved my time in those worlds though.

I tried Sid Meier's Civilization V, but never really got into it. Later however, I discovered Paradox's excellent games like Stellaris. I never played Europa Universalis, instead spending most of my time in the sci-fi galaxy of Stellaris. The latter focuses mostly on exploration, then research and technological development on a civilizational scale, in an ever advancing arms race towards eventually conflict with neighbors. Fleets and power levels matter more than individual ships and tactics in that grand strategy of space opera. But I often thought about how interesting it would be to be able to zoom in on a character in a battle while still conducting the grand strategy level. 

COVID lockdown proved to be a good time to try out other games with greater RPG-like elements. I played my way through the entire Assassin's Creed series available at that time. Ezio remains a favorite character from the genre along with the landscapes of Florence, Rome, and Constantinople—I would still love to see the Hagia Sophia, having gotten to climb the minarets virtually in the game. I think the closest to true RPGs of that series are Origins and Odyssey though. I would love to try Valhalla at some point.

From there, I tried out Dragon Age: Inquisition, which is very much an RPG. I don’t feel like I ever fully grasped the game, and I’d like to go back and finish the story at some point. Then I also tried out The Witch 3: Wildhunt, which I think remains a masterpiece of a game. 

In all this time, I’d never tried D&D. I remember reading about it briefly during the 4e era, but didn’t feel particularly interested at the time. After COVID I began looking at Warhammer 40k, watching videos of miniature painting. But I also noticed some of the channels I followed painting D&D miniatures. I’d noticed the Lost Mine of Phandelver starter set at my local Target before, but I began really looking at it, and one day bought it. This was rapidly followed up with a Player’s Handbook, and the other core books. The rest is history. And hopefully much more fun times with friends and family.

Usharia

Spoilers for potential players. GMs only...

Usharia is meant to be an off map location to house the adventuring party's patron. But what happens if the characters want to go back there?

First, Usharia is meant to be very distant from the adventure region to give players some autonomy from their patrons, and to limit the availability of many items and magic. They have to go into the dungeon to find their own. So the journey will be long and difficult to return. 

But I don't think you really need a whole city or town for Usharia. If I were to do so I'd suggest dropping in Dulwich from Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands, swapping the NPCs at the cathedral for those detailed below and changing any other relevant details. Otherwise you really just need the cathedral and some NPCs.

Cartography by Dyson Logos

The map above is available at the link and released under a commercial attribution license by Dyson Logos. I think it's perfect for the Cathedral of St. Tevra at Usharia.

Cathedral of St. Tevra

St. Tevra

The legend of St. Tevra is depicted through the statuary and painted panels around the walls in the main nave and sanctuary of the cathedral. Born a poor child in Uqance, St. Tevra is said to have been cast a blessed coin by St. Tedmund as he rode through the city on his departure to slay the green worm Goavraynth. She almost spent the coin on a bit of bread and a warm drink, but instead her feet led her to a wheelwright's shop where she was apprenticed. Many years later she embarked on adventures, the details of which are lost to time, until she was knighted and made a Holy Lancer of the Order of the Nine. 

Archbishop Garvey

Archbishop Garvey is an elderly priest who has risen through the Church hierarchy due to his efforts in the ministry. Previously the leader of the Church of Our Lady St. Adevalia in the small town of Barrowmark, and the head of the Monastic Order of St. Orpheus of the Iron Spike, he was promoted and assigned to St. Tevra's just a few years ago. While he maintains great loyalty to the teachings of St. Tevra, he has added statues of St. Adevalia and St. Orpheus on the left and right alcoves before the inner sanctum to the north of the main nave of the cathedral.

Preferring to be called Father Garvey in less formal instances, the priest is a devout believer in the Nine, the Heavenly Choirs, and the Saints. He is uneasy with having an Archdeacon work alongside him, as the previous deacons he worked with in Barrowmark and at the monastery largerly treated their positions as a ceremonial title alongside their affairs as minor nobles. Having an Archdeacon take such an active role managing the political affairs of the Church bothers him, although he guards these thoughts well. 

Father Garvey largely leaves the ceremonies and worship conducted in St. Tevra's to the younger priests and acolytes, reasoning that they need to learn the skills to lead the Church one day. He spends much of his time in his office off the main nave, or wandering the gardens in quiet contemplation and secret yearning for a return to his simpler life as a lesser priest or contemplating the mysteries alongside the monks of St. Orpheus.

Archdeacon Tamari Philona

The Archdeacon takes her office very seriously, having come up under the tutelage of senior deacons in the Church diplomatic corps. She has reached the pinnacle of her career. While she is extremely devoted to the Church as an organization, she is less versed in the theology and finds ceremonies with hymns, prayers, and incense a bore (but she attends nevertheless to keep up the image of the Church). Archdeacon Philona finds Father Garvey to be quaint and naive in his faith, and doubts that he is capable of doing what she knows from experience is necessary to protect the Church. Philona maintains connections to less reputable people and organizations by necessity, so that should the Church need an action taken to protect it that wouldn't fall into it's definitions of morality, it can be done for the greater good.

Old School Examples of Play

I stumbled across a great YouTube channel that I want to highlight. Mythic Mountains RPG does some great videos of old school, open table games. The GM does some amazing work with visuals and interactive elements on VTT because they play online, which just goes to show you you can have old school fun with innovative tools. Definitely recommend checking out their channel for some great video of Classic Traveller, Shadowdark, Swords & Wizardry, and more. I'll be taking my own notes!

One-Shot Breaks in Play

When playing long-term campaigns (my Lost Mine of Phandelver game just hit a year due to scheduling and sidequests from Dragon of Icespire Peak) I've found that sometimes the best way to keep interest—especially for myself—is to throw in one-shots of the same system or even of another system to try new things and mix it up. 

An example of this type of thing are the use of zero level 5e characters from MCDM’s Arcadia and the single player heroic character classes, also from Arcadia. Some other games and things I’d like to prep and have in my back pocket to try out include:

• A one-shot session using the Avatar: The Last Airbender game (uses the Powered by the Apocalypse engine)
• A session of Shadow of the Demon Lord
• A 5e level 20 one-shot
• A one-shot testing out the epic levels from Epic Legacy 
• A one-shot using Shadowdark
• A one-shot game of 13th Age
• One-shot game of Warhammer 40k Wrath & Glory RPG rules
• A Traveller one-shot
• A game session focused on using the flying encounter rules from Aces High in MCDM Arcadia magazine.
• A one-shot using the original Empire of the Petal Throne rules
• One-shot game using the Dune RPG

How to Implement Kingdoms & Warfare in Dragonlance

 

Table of Contents

This post may include spoilers for the adventure Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen…

Adding the content and extra systems from Kingdoms & Warfare to this adventure may seem onerous at first, but after spending a few hours studying the rules and working on it today, I will tell you that it can be done. But first we need to understand how the new rules work.

Understanding Kingdoms & Warfare

Available in hardcover and PDF from MCDM, Kingdoms & Warfare provides two systems that are related but distinct. First it provides an overarching system for creating player and NPC domains or organizations that help model political interactions between groups (the political science student in me sings for joy!) The second system models war, which as Clausewitz taught us in On War is merely “a continuation of politics by other means.” The systems are intertwined in that intrigue allows the players to interfere with the villain through various means, and impact their capabilities in the final pitched battle that is the confrontation between them, and which uses the warfare rules to have a simplified and abstracted tabletop battle.

So we need to look at how to implement each of these systems for this adventure.

Intrigue

Intrigue involves organizations (in actual political science you might call these actors) sometimes they are a state (or country/kingdom) or sometimes they are non-governmental actors like thieves guilds, knightly orders, religious groups, or mystic circles of mages or druids. 

To understand intrigue, imagine your organization as having skills and features similar to a character sheet. There’s powers that characters can use in combat and titles that also given them powers, but those just act like extra character abilities and can essentially be ignored if you are looking specifically at what interacts with intrigue.

The skills are Diplomacy, Espionage, Lore, and Operations. Much like character skills they can be used to accomplish various tasks and are resolved through a d20 roll with a modifier added based on the score, then compared to a target difficulty class (DC). Now this is an important distinction; outside intrigue these skills can be used to conduct any number of imaginative activities thought of by your players. Inside intrigue, which can be compared to 5e combat, using a domain skill counts as a domain action. These actions function exactly like in combat. An organization only gets one domain action per turn, and if the organization has features that allow them it can also choose to take a domain bonus action and reaction. Domain skill tests can’t be made as domain bonus actions or reactions unless they are included in a feature that allows them.

Each domain also has defenses, which have both a set number that acts as a DC if a skill test is targeting one of them as a domain action. Separate from the number are defense levels, which start at zero at the beginning of each intrigue. There is a scale for each of these and they can be increased and decreased through domain actions on a range of up to +3 or down to -3 (the separate scales for this is a bit confusing in the text of the book as is buried in the middle of a paragraph). There is a section of Kingdoms & Warfare defining consequences that occurs during the final warfare battle between the two organizations at the end of intrigue based upon how these defense levels have changed over the course of the intrigue. So targeting these helps give you more advantageous circumstances in that battle. 

Other examples are provided for domain skill tests as domain actions that include Operations tests to muster additional units for your army, Espionage tests to determine statistics of the enemy domain or learn about their army composition, and diplomacy tests to petition NPC domains not involved in the intrigue to provide units for you to use with your army in the final battle (these units leave after the battle occurs). 

Player Organization 

So the first step of implementing the system is to have your players make their own heroic organization from those options available in the book. For a Dragonlance campaign the Martial Regiment, or the Mercenary Company specialization from the Adventuring Party organization type fit best for a warfare campaign and with the characters as essentially helping Kalaman, but if another organization type works for your group then try it out. 

Enemy Organization 

On the GM side, you need to build a villainous domain for the heroes to oppose. There is a section in Kingdoms & Warfare outlining the process, and it’s pretty clear and concise. 

For Shadow of the Dragon Queen, we’re dealing with only a portion of the Red Dragon Army led by Kansaldi Fire-Eyes. So that portion will have its own organization for now. One issue I’ve noticed with the enemies in the adventure is that the major leaders of this small portion of the Red Dragon Army are all CR 11 or 12, far too high for officers fighting even a group of 10 or 11th level characters at the end of the adventure as written…but the adventure as written uses some of these as bosses over it’s progression, so we’ll just use that attrition and have lower CR commanders fill out Kansaldi’s miniboss ranks when we get to the climax.

We’ll call this organization the Red Dragon Army Vanguard. Although we definitely could use the Draconic Imperium NPC domain as a base I think the Despotic Regime is a better fit for the capabilities and activities of this organization (all the details on these are found in Kingdoms & Warfare). It is a size 2 domain as compared to the characters’ size 1. Because of this we get 16 domain points to spend on the skills and defenses on top of the base stats for Despotic Regime.

Red Dragon Army Vanguard 

Type: Despotic Regime 

Size: 2

Domain Skills:

Diplomacy: -1

Espionage: +2

Lore: +2

Operations: +4

Domain Defenses:

Communications: 14

Resolve: 15

Resources: 13

NPC Domains 

The next step is adding some other domains for the players to interact with. As written there aren’t many options, but I think we can brainstorm a few.

• Kalaman military: This is an already aligned organization, but I want to represent it as something the characters can interact with and influence. I may even do a bit of a house rule and allow the enemy organization to be in intrigue with both the Kalaman and player domains so that the players have to choose between taking their own domain actions against the enemy or assisting their ally. They will get to command the military’s units in the final battle, but these might get some debuffs from the intrigue actions.
• Detachment of Solamnic knights: It’s Solamnia, right? I figure there’s a company or garrison of knights somewhere nearby that can be petitioned for aid. They might have their hands full with their own problems, but hey worth a shot, right?
• Estwilde Goblin Tribe: Though not strictly canon based on what I’ve read about Estwilde in a quick google search, I think it’d be good for Gringle to influence other people like him, and it makes sense that not all of the barbarian tribes of the region bow the knee willingly to the Dragon Armies.
• Silvanesti Exiles: These elves are in the Northern Wastes, and might be a good option to influence via diplomacy to get some magic ranged users help in the final battle. Zhelsuel is a named leader, and the characters can impact his attitude towards them directly, much like in the Baron of Bedegar adventure in Kingdoms & Warfare.
• Thoradin Bay Dimernesti Sea Elves: These elves are also set up to be assisted in the story and are against the Red Dragon Army for their own reasons. 

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - Enemy Raids in the Countryside

Table of Contents

Spoilers follow for the adventure…

After defending Rookledust's home from the Dragon Army goblins. She invited them into the house, which they found to be filled with various mechanical contraptions, parts, books, and junk. As she brewed them tea they discovered that the tinker gnome had provided a fire blasting weed killer to a man in black and red armor. He'd wanted it with detailing added to make it look like a dragon.

"I thought it was quite strange at the time," she said. They noticed lying around amongst the junk were several magic items, like an old spell book, a cape that could give someone the ability to breathe underwater, and a dancing sword. Rookledust also showed them her fargabs, magical devices that enabled people to speak to one another through them from several miles away.

Rookledust agreed to return to Kalaman with them, and they journeyed back without incident, arriving just after dark.

The next day they awoke to a message from Marshall Vendri. Reports indicated that dragon army elements were raiding farms East of Kalaman, and she wanted them to investigate. Additionally a letter from a merchant named Aubreck Drallion arrived requesting that they visit him about a business opportunity, and finally another note from the Mariner's Guild, noting that they needed help with a project that would aid the city's defense. They elected to follow up on the mission from Marshall Vendri with all speed.

The heroes set out immediately, traveling the whole day through a drizzly grey afternoon. They could see the Dargaard Mountains once again, far to the South, before the dark clouds covered them up. 

They knocked on door of kender family’s farm after nightfall in the rain, asking if they had seen soldiers and if they could stay the night. The lender farmer recounted how soldiers had come and taken his pigs after threatening to burn the farm. The soldiers had headed North. The farmer let the adventurers stay in the now empty barn previously occupied by the pigs. 

While Gringle snuggled into a bed of straw and filth, his companions had a more difficult night in the smelly, damp quarters. The next morning Asterius and Davgin still felt exhausted by after the long night of little sleep. After a brief breakfast, they headed North.

Soon the adventurers came upon a fire pit with the carcass of a pig, recently eaten. The embers were still warm. They were close.

A few miles more down the road they came up upon a farmhouse. A group of hobgoblins stood outside with torches and their commander, a human dragon army soldier, ordered them to attack the house and put it to the torch. The heroes charged into battle. Davgin unleashed a bolt of lightning, Gringle fired off arrows, Fallon exhorted her comrades, and Asterius waded into the melee. The battle rapidly turned in their favor after Davgin threw a massive fireball into the midst of their enemies.

The adventurers recovered the pigs following the fight, and returned to arrive at the lender farm once more just before nightfall. The lender slaughted a pig and fed them bacon and pork to celebrate and thank them for the help. Then once more they spent a long night out. Asterius and Fallon elected to sleep outside in what shelter they could find from the rainrather than brave the barn again. They awoke with stiff necks, totally unrested. Gringle once against slept happily with the pigs. Davgin found a warm spot after climbing up to the rafters and spent his night comfortably there.

The next morning they began their return journey to Kalaman, ready with their report for Marshal Vendri. As they drew near Kalaman they spotted a group of tiredly looking soldiers marching from aways off. Gringle rode ahead of the group to investigate and was delighted to discover Cudgel and the remnants of her mercenary company. Cudgel immediately requested to enlist herself and the remaining soldiers in the heroes' company. The adventurers gratefully accepted and the whole group returned to Vogler together.

GM Reflections

This session was fun, but didn't really move the story along. I pulled it from the missions that are part of this section of the campaign around Kalaman, and also included some missions from Ghosts of Saltmarsh as sidequests. My players noted that that they are interested in finishing the story but want to move onto something new sooner than later. So while I'll still run one of the side missions I'll probably start pushing the adventure along a bit faster.

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
• Spellblade (KibblesTasty)
• Talent (MCDM)
• Warden
• Warlock
• Warlord (KibblesTasty)
• Wizard

Note that while I want to provide lots of unique options, due to the inability to control for highly unbalanced character builds based on unique combinations of classes and abilities I do not allow the optional rule for multiclassing to be used in my 5e campaigns.

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. You will swear loyalty to your devilish patron when you select your subclass, so work with your GM to incorporate this choice into the story and roleplay.

• 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. If multiple players decide to have characters with psionics in a campaign they must as a group decide to use exclusively the Psion or the Talent to provide mechanical consistency for easy of play.

• 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)

Spellblade

Spellblades are rare individuals trained in both sword and spell mastery. They may be self-taught or have trained from a remote order in the mysterious arts. Spellblades strike towards a balanced "Gish" (a sword wielding spellcaster), but keep in mind this class is still in development. The GM reserves the right to revise class features or have you implement an updated version when it becomes available.

• Aether Blade
• Battlemage
• Flying Sword
• Guardian
• Iceblade
• Mage Hunter
• Spellfist
• Spellshot
• Swiftblade

Talent

Talents are those rare individuals gifted with strang mental powers. Some might be able to unleash blasts of energy or attack the minds of others. They ride the edge of pushing themselves too far and suffering taxing mental strain. If multiple players decide to have characters with psionics in a campaign they must as a group decide to use exclusively the Psion or the Talent to provide mechanical consistency for easy of play.

• Chronopath
• Metamorph
• Pyrokinetic
• Resopath
• Telekinetic
• Telepath
• Maverick

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, and discuss the details of how you made this pact for your soul. 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 take a feat of your choice for your first level character.

Additional Character Advancements & Paths

Characters can advance in other unique ways in our games careful consider your character's future goals and how the options below might factor into your personal journey. You should coordinate careful with your GM in advance of implementing any of these options to get their final approval, and to help work the knowledge and events into the story of your campaign.

Dragon

In very special cases a player can confer with the GM and elect to play a dragon character. Dragons are noble creatures as unique in their motivations as humans, but with a slightly alien view of life due to their extended lifespan. A dragon character is truly unique and becomes an enduring part of the world due to their longevity and powers. A dragon character might be an adventurer in one campaign and after its conclusion, in another campaign set in a different time period they could become an adventure patron or the source of the powers for one of the draconic-themed subclasses above. Only one player in a party will be allowed to play a dragon character due to the power such a character brings, and any use of this option must be approved by the GM.

• Dragon (Dragonflight)

Lich

Some spellcasting characters elect to take the dark road of transforming themselves into undead after discovering forbidden knowledge. They become bound to a phylactery, and forfeit some of the powers and abilities they would have enjoyed as a mortal to gain other dark powers. While some make this decision with noble intentions, the change of mortal to immortal undead being is traumatic and ultimately corruption, driving such characters towards darker knowledge and decisions (Players should discuss with the GM and their companions before choosing to become a lich). This option is only available if the player undertakes a quest to search for the knowledge necessary to become a lich, or perhaps if they find it on their journeys.

• Lich (Ultimate Bestiary - The Dread Accursed)