5e Table Aid: List of Approved Familars

I have a multitude of interesting monster and sourcebooks that have lots of cool options for familiars for spellcasters. However, it’s difficult to provide players a consolidated list of their options when making spellcasters. Thus this page.

First, the section below provides the text of the spell Find Familiar from the SRD.

Find Familiar Spell

1st-level conjuration (ritual)

Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)
Duration: Instantaneous

You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.

Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. A familiar can’t attack, but it can take other actions as normal.

When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again. As an action, you can temporarily dismiss your familiar to a pocket dimension. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. Whenever the familiar drops to 0 hit points or disappears into the pocket dimension, it leaves behind in its space anything it was wearing or carrying.

While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar’s eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

You can’t have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.

Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll.

Gaining a Familiar 

Additional ways to gain a familiar include finding one. Typically this should involve discussion between a player and a GM, so that such an opportunity can be provided, and an appropriate familiar that doesn’t impact the play experience negatively can be selected. These types of familiars normally can choose to leave the spellcasters at anytime should they act in a way that is negative or perhaps as a dramatic story element.

Options that can be used in this way include the traditional animal familiars, along with those in the other familiars section below.

Other Familiars

Faerie Dragon (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 205)

Flumph Familiar (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 207)

Psuedodragon (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 363)

Imp (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 85)

Quasit (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 74)

Alkonost (Creature Codex, pg 12)

Kuunganisha (Creature Codex, pg 245)

Leonine (Creature Codex, pg 250)

Living Shadow (Creature Codex, pg 255)

Wolpertinger (Creature Codex, pg 382)

Stryx (Tome of Beasts, pg 369)

Library Automaton (Tome of Beasts, pg 273)

Witchlight (Tome of Beasts, pg 409)

Lymarien (Tome of Beasts 2, pg 248)

Wicked Skull (Tome of Beasts 2, pg 368)

Aviere (Tome of Beasts 2, pg 36)

Blood Imp (Tome of Beasts 2, pg 103)

Keyhole Dragonette (Tome of Beasts 2, pg 118)

Light Drake (Tome of Beasts 2, pg 125)

Barnyard Dragonette (Tome of Beasts 3, pg 148)

Sedge Dragonette (Tome of Beasts 3, pg 149)

Shovel Dragonette (Tome of Beasts 3, pg 150)

Light Eater (Tome of Beasts 3, pg 262)

Rock Salamander (Tome of Beasts 3, pg 333)

Sunflower Sprite (Tome of Beasts 3, pg 358)

Torch Mimic (Tome of Beasts 3, pg 370)

Catterball (Tome of Beasts 3, pg 76)

Tomegrub (Monstrous Menagerie II, pg 245)

En5ider 16 Reactions

By Mark A. Hart, King and Country in En5ider 16, outlines the idea of using nationality as a background. This is in contrast to the typical approach in 2014 5e of basing backgrounds on occupation. It provides a list of fourteen nationality background themes, and provides the tools to create custom backgrounds, along with a couple examples of fleshed out ones.

Overall I like the approach this article takes. Equating background with nationality could be a problematic topic, leaning into negative stereotypes. However, this treatment does a good job of showing how various fantasy tropes can be tied into a player character’s background about an interesting place. As a practical matter, it is a great guide to how to develop custom backgrounds in general, breaking down the pieces into a more step-by-step process.

Looking forward to future En5ider articles!

Homebrew World: Expanded Ancestry Options

By default in my world I only allow certain player ancestries because most others are a bit too rare in the mundane world. However, some campaigns go beyond the world or range into remote or forgotten regions. In those campaigns, the list below provides an authoritative list of the ancestries that are thematically appropriate for my universe. I will note exceptions by exclusion in the campaign write-up. I’m also including a write-up about each species in my setting so players can use the information to craft their backstories appropriately for the setting.

Expanded Ancestry Options

Note: Players may reassign ability score increases that are included in their ancestry.

• Astral Elf (Astral Adventurer’s Guide)
• Bugbear (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Cambion (Cambion Player Option)
• Changeling (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Chimeran (Path of the Planebreaker)
• Chthonic Scion (MCDM - Arcadia 11)
• Deep Gnome (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Derro (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Dhampir (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft or Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Dragonborn (Chromatic) (Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons)
• Dragonborn (Gem) (Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons)
• Dragonborn (Metallic) (Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons)
• Drow (Tome of Heroes or Player’s Handbook)
• Duergar (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Eladrin (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Fikrawi (MCDM - Arcadia 16)
• Firbolg (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Genasi (Air) (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Genasi (Earth) (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Genasi (Fire) (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Genasi (Water) (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Ghoul (Darakhul) (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Githyanki (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Githzerai (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Gnoll (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Godsong Scion (MCDM - Arcadia 11)
• Half-Giant (Goliath) (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Inkarnate (Path of the Planebreaker)
• Leonin (Mythic Odysseys of Theros)
• Lizardfolk (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Modron (the_singular_anyone)
• Mushroomfolk (Tome of Heroes)
• Ogre (MCDM - Arcadia 14)
• Primordial Scion (MCDM - Arcadia 11)
• Ratfolk (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Ravenfolk (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse or Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Reborn (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft)
• Ruin-Touched (somanyrobots)
• Satarre (Tome of Heroes)
• Sea Elf (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Shade (Tome of Heroes)
• Shadow Elves (Shadar-kai or Shadow Fey) (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse or Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Shifter (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Somnian (MCDM - Arcadia 3)
• Thri-kreen (Astral Adventurer’s Guide)
• Traveler (Path of the Planebreaker)
• Triton (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Trollkin (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Vindicator Scion (MCDM - Arcadia 11)
• Yuan-Ti (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)

Descriptions

Astral Elf

Hailing from colonies in both the Astral Plane and amongst the stars of space, Astral Elves are the heirs to great spaceborne empires and powerful magic that drives their flying ships through the void to explore new frontiers.

Bugbear

Bugbears are found in greater numbers in remote areas, but also have communities in many large cities. They have great traditions of folk magic both arcane and divine, as well as a legacy of being talented and stealthy hunters.

Cambion

Cambions are the direct offspring of powerful fiends of all varieties from the lower planes. They lead diverse and often traumatic life experiences, often needing to fight to survive. Cambions are also inclined to oppose others of their kind, seeing them as competitors for power and control. Only one cambion may be part of a party.

Changeling

Changelings are humanoids possessed of the strange skill of being able to alter their appearance. Some discover this talent in their adolescence, while others grow up in changeling communities. Generally shunned in most societies when discovered, being a changeling is a hard life. Some adopt a particular persona and simply live out their lives, while others go off adventuring or journeying, changing their appearance in every place they find themselves.

Chthonic Scion

Chthonic scions are touched or literally descended from Dalquiel or Rindriaze. They most often manifest in families of Aasimar, already embued with the blood of celestials. These mysterious figures possess abilities to comfort or speed the dying upon their way. They are extremely rare, and often become known as saints for their activities.

Deep Gnome

Deep gnomes have bluish skin and have spent much more time underground than their surface swelling cousins. They often have experience in surviving and living in subterranean environments, and their culture emphasizes crafting to a lesser degree than other gnomes.

Derro

A subterranean people with blue and purplish skin, white shocks of hair, and wide eyes from generations in dark caverns, the derro may be related to dwarves, duergar, or gnomes. Some isolated communities of derro have taken to worship of strange eldritch beings or discovered corrupting artifacts, giving many who are familiar with the underground the false idea that all derro are insane. This is not the case, and many thriving communities of derro exist in hidden sanctuaries.

Dhampir

Not quite living and yet not quite dead, dhampir arise from a variety of circumstances—but most often after an encounter with a vampire. They possess a hunger like their undead kin and vampiric powers.

Dragonborn (Chromatic, Gem, & Metallic)

Dragonborn are rare in many lands, but many dwell with the draconic populations in the Thornspire Highlands. They possess some of the powers of their true dragon forebears, but are not as powerful as half-dragons.

Drow

An elvish people that primarily live in matriarchal societies in large cities deep beneath the earth, Drow are known to have potent spellcasters, and strong survivors against the alien entities in the deep places of the world.

Duergar 

Eladrin

Fikrawi

Firbolg

Genasi (Air, Earth, Fire, Water)

Ghoul (Darakhul)

Githyanki

Githzerai 

Gnoll

Godsong Scion

Half-Giant (Goliath)

Inkarnate

Leonin

Lizardfolk

Mushroomfolk 

Ogre

Primordial Scion

Ratfolk

Ravenfolk

Reborn

Ruin-Touched

Satarre

Sea Elf

Shade

Shadow Elves

Shifter

Somnian

Thri-kreen

Traveler

Triton

Trollkin

Vindicator Scion

Yuan-Ti

Homebrew Campaign: Mercenary Company - Player Introduction

Your company has a long and storied history or always completing the contract—even if it’s not in the way expected. You’ve served many masters, across many worlds—if the annals are to be believed. 

All that has taken you to this moment. Your characters are the lead officers of your company. You are currently under contract to defend the city of Vraugate from a clan of ice giant reavers. What contract will you take next? What will come from the rumblings of war with the powerful, self styled She Who Sees Beyond and the falling empire? Will you serve good or evil—is there even a difference anymore? This is for you to decide.

Create the Story You Want

Players will have a heavy role in helping drive this campaign. It will be a complete sandbox, offering possibilities and adventure hooks, but ultimately it will be up to the players to follow them.

Players might get into the conflict referenced above, but could go in any number of other directions like capturing a ship and becoming pirates with their troops, or investigating the mysterious ancient origins of their company by traveling across the planes to places like the Hells and the Abyss, or even to the Heavens, or the Inner planes of elemental fire, water, air, and earth. The universe is yours to explore in an epic of your own creation.

Some Assembly Required

Players will help create their own mercenary company, creating a group name and a symbol for their banner alongside their own characters.

This campaign will use the organization rules from MCDM’s Kingdoms & Warfare supplement for 5e to simulate commanding a mercenary regiment. Kingdoms & Warfare uses a system called Intrigue to model conflict between the player organization and an opposing faction, ultimately culminating in Warfare battles. While not in intrigue you can use your organization to perform certain tasks (within reason!) However, you can only recruit new military units or improve your existing ones during intrigue. The defense of Vraugate mentioned above will serve as a tutorial on the warfare system. We will learn intrigue through play. It may seem complicated at first, but you will eventually master it, just like you have your characters.

Players may pick from the various organization types and subtypes available in the supplement, but we will reskin the organization as a mercenary company with different flavor depending upon the mechanics you choose. Every character must have a title from those available from their organization, but one must also take this custom title in place of one of the organization titles:

Company Annalist. The long tradition of keepIng the records of your company has come down to you. You gain proficiency in the History and Religion skills. If you already have proficiency in one or both then you gain expertise in the respective skill. Your studies of the lore of the company also grant you advantage on History and Religion Checks that regard the company’s history. The annals are held in a massive chest, to which you hold the only key, carried on an iron chain around your neck. The chest is guarded by the most elite veterans of your company. On your belt you carry the current annals, which is a book connected by a larger iron chain to your belt. It never leaves your person until it is full and joins the larger collection, upon which you begin writing in a new book.

The Current Annals. This book contains your and recent annalist’s writings. The book is a mundane item, but contains great significance for the company. You should give your life before losing it or the other annals. While you maintain the book you may inspire your companions with a story from the company’s past, granting you and each of your companions one use of Inspiration each. Additionally, you can inspire one of the units you command in a warfare battle, granting them one extra attack on their first activation. These abilities can only be used again after you take an extended rest (one week conducting no other downtime activity other than recording recent events and studying the annals), and they may not be used more than once a month. Should you ever lose the annals your troops have disadvantage on all attacks during warfare battles until the annals are retrieved. If they are destroyed your company is broken and you lose all your units. You must undertake a great quest to restart the annals and the company in a new form.

Junior Officers

We will also use retainers from MCDM’s Strongholds & Followers. The GM will provide a list of all the retainer types. Each character will get to choose two retainers, giving them names and a brief background. Your two retainers are the junior officers of the mercenary company under your command. You may pick one to accompany the party on quests or in combat (this is to make managing them reasonable and not unbalance the game). You may roleplay interactions with your retainers and send them to complete other tasks for you. For instance, you might order a retainer to take some of your troops and guard a place or position. Or you might dispatch one to obtain supplies for your company or to do research at a library or temple. Another might be a healer that can render aid to you as senior officers after a mission. Another might be your spymaster, providing you reports. 

Retainers also serve as backup characters. Each corresponds to a specific character class from the Player’s Handbook, so your retainer can become a replacement character should you so choose. If you want a custom retainer of another character type then coordinate with the GM to design an appropriate retainer together that can represent that character archetype in a balance manner.

Your Characters 

The most important element of this campaign are your characters—their motivations, secrets, and connections are what will drive the story of this campaign. 

We will build characters to start play at fifth level. All character options from the default list are approved. Regardless of what character you create consider the following guidance and themes that should guide you as you craft them and help tie them into the campaign:

• Everyone who joins your company leaves their old name behind and takes on a nickname. Create a name and a nickname for your character. Then consider if any of your companions are so close that you have shared your real name with them. 
• You have been in many battles together. You are veterans who have come up in the company together. Come up with some war stories that connect your characters—perhaps someone saved your life or soul! Or maybe you saved them and they decided to join the company.
• Consider why you left your old life to join the company. Were you running away from your old life? Were you leaving painful loss behind? Or did you just want adventure?
• Make up an NPC connected with your past before the company and write down one line describing them and your connection.
• Create a personal goal or quest for your character and share it with the GM (you can decide whether to keep it a secret from other players or left them know). It should be general enough that the GM can work with you to modify it if necessary and fit it into the story. Completing this goal or quest will earn you both a free feat (subject to GM approval) and the equivalent of a deadly encounter’s worth of XP for your party.

Mechanics & Miscellany

Here are a last few things to keep in mind:

• We will use XP-based leveling. 
• Because we are starting at higher level, characters will have 500 gp plus 1d10 x 25 gp, one uncommon magic item, and normal starting equipment for your class and background. They can spend the gold on additional mundane equipment during character creation.
• We will use my modified exhaustion rules.
• We will use enhanced healing rules: All healing spells and potions double the type of die used. Additionally, if you use a potion during combat you may expend a full action to get max healing, while using a bonus action requires a die roll, using the doubled dice mentioned above.
• We will use the rules from Uncharted Journeys by Cubicle7 for long distance travel. The GM may modify encounters due to the presence of your army. Monster encounters may occur while you are riding or exploring ahead of your main force (it’s not very cool if you come across a monster and instead of getting to defeat it and gain experience your troops charge in and stab it to death—while having a few of them get killed or crushed!) Additionally, traveling through some areas will be easier with an army, while traveling in certain environments might be impossible with a large force.
• Your army may be used for some tasks like clearing out dungeons—but keep in mind that even if such checks are successful there may be negative consequences. You could loose a unit even if your troops successfully clear a dungeon, or have your organization stats permanently decreased due to the strain of the operation.
• We will use a modified version of the “Last Stand” rule from page 125 of Cubicle7’s Broken Weave supplement. This rule in essence allows a character who is critically injured and doing death saves to elect to die after taking a final turn with certain buffs to their actions. This allows them to sacrifice themselves in combat for their comrades while expending their most powerful abilities.

Demonology Domain

While reaching the message boards on ENWorld, I stumbled across the subclass below created by RustyDemiGod. I loved the concept so much and thought it fit in really well as an option for the setting I’m working on for my own home games. I liked it so much I asked if I could share it here and make it more readily available to my players. 

Demonology Domain

Theology and Demonology have always been two sides of the same coin. For as long as scholars have studied the divine, others have studied the profane. Clerics that study demons are forced to walk a fine line between salvation and damnation. Will you use this knowledge to fight back corruption, or will you take the easy way to power?

Demonology Domain Spells

1st Chaos Bolt, Protection from Good and Evil
3rd Shatter, Flock of Familiars
5th Magic Circle, Summon Lesser Demons
7th Banishment, Summon Greater Demon
9th Planar Binding, Contact Other Plane

-Demonic Knowledge: When you choose this Domain at 1st level, you have a rudimentary knowledge of demonic lore. You are able to speak, read, and write Abyssal fluently. Additionally, you gain proficiency with 2 of the following skills: Arcana, Religion, Investigation, History, or Insight.

-Bound Underling: At 1st level, you gain the Find Familiar ritual spell. This spell always summons a Quasit. This counts as a Cleric spell for you, and does not count against the number of spells that you can prepare each day.

If you wish to conceal your familiar you may, as a Bonus Action, absorb your familiar into your body. If your familiar is reduced to 0 HP you may also absorb it as a Reaction. Expelling the demon back into physical form requires no action. If you die while joined you will both die.

While absorbed you can hear your familiar’s voice in your mind, and if you will it, allow it to speak through you.

-Channel Divinity: Chastise Fiends: Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to turn or command the damned.

As an Action, you present your unholy symbol, and one Fiend of your choice that is within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw, provided that the creature can see or hear you. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage.

A turned Fiend must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can't willingly end its move in a space within 30 feet of you. It also can't take reactions. For its action, it can only use the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there's nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.

At 5th level, whenever a Fiend fails it’s saving throw against your Chastise Fiends feature, the Fiend is Charmed for 1 minute. After the Charm expires the Fiend knows that it was charmed, and who charmed it.

-Damnable Will: At 6th level, your connection to your demonic familiar allows you to call upon its strength of will to aid your own. While absorbed, the presence of a second mind grants you advantage on saves against charm and fear effects. While your forms and minds are bonded, you also have advantage on saves to maintain concentration on spells.

-Unholy Strikes: When you reach 8th level, you are blessed with unholy might in battle. When a creature takes damage from one of your cantrips or weapon attacks, you can also deal 1D8 Necrotic damage to that creature. Once you deal this damage, you cannot use this feature again until the start of your next turn.

-Tongue of the Black Speech: At 17th level, you gain the ability to speak a few words of the foulest demon lord’s curses. You gain Disintegrate, Power Word: Pain, Power Word: Stun, and Power Word: Kill as bonus spells. You add these spells to your list of Domain Spells, and like other Domain Spells, they are always prepared and count as Cleric spells for you. These spells require on the verbal components for you.

Northlands Campaign Concept: Tailored Player Options

For the Northlands campaign idea that I had for the Midgard setting I wanted to flesh it out further by creating a list of options for player characters. To reinforce the themes of the campaign this involves some restrictions on the content available to them. The books allowed will be the Player's Handbook, Midgard Heroes Handbook, Tome of Heroes, and Grimhollow: Raider's Guide to Valika (maybe one or two thematically appropriate subclasses from others). To emphasize some of the wildness and primordial nature of the setting some flavoring and material will also be used from the Star-Shaman's Song of Planegea. 

Content Warning

Another note on content: Kobold Press' Midgard setting deals with mature topics including some that relate to the real world including political intrigue, religious conflict, violence, war, refugees, racism, and slavery. Many of these also come up when looking at vikings in our real world history, and may come up when flavoring or using the character options below. You should have a discussion with your players about their comfort with these themes and make adjustments where necessary to ensure that everyone has a positive experience at the game table.

Ancestries

Some player ancestries are better suited to a Northlands campaign in Midgard due to the setting's established demographic distribution. 

The following ancestries have roots in the Northlands and could make up one clan village that includes multiple ancestries. Other clans might be less heterogeneous in composition and more antagonistic towards the players because of their village's make-up due to their past history with certain groups. For example, many groups are antagonistic towards trollkin due to their shared kinship with trolls and other lesser giants that have attacked their communities in the past. 

• Alseid (Tome of Heroes)
• Bearfolk (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Northland Dwarf (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Spindrift Dwarf (Tome of Heroes)
• Frostfell Elf (Tome of Heroes)
• Firbolg (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Goliath (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Winterfolk Halfling (Tome of Heroes)
• Half-Orc (Player's Handbook)
• Human (Player's Handbook)
• Human (Variant) (Player's Handbook)
• Orc (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Ravenfolk (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Shifter--no weretigers, but all others approved (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse)
• Trollkin (Midgard Heroes Handbook)

Additionally, if you so choose you may swap out up to two of the traits derived from your ancestry for traits from the list of clan traits in Raider's Guide to Valika to reflect your experiences in the Northlands. These changes are subject to GM approval.

Classes

Approved classes include (see approved subclass section for further restrictions):

• Barbarian 
• Bard
• Beastheart (MCDM)
• Cleric
• Druid
• Fighter
• Monk
• Occultist (KibblesTasty)
• Paladin
• Ranger
• Rogue
• Sorcerer
• Warlock
• Warlord (KibblesTasty)
• Wizard

Subclasses

Barbarian Subclasses

Barbarians are quintessential vikings in many respects, and these characters are great additions to a reaver clan like the one the players will be members of. Berserker ragers fighting at the battlefront or manning the shield wall will prove powerful members of any Northlands party.

• Ancestors (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Berserker (Player's Handbook)
• Carrion Raven (Raider's Guide to Valika)
• Dragon (Tome of Heroes)
• Farstriker (Planegea)
• Giant (Bigby’s Glory of the Giants)
• Herald (Tome of Heroes)
• Inner Eye (Tome of Heroes)
• Mistwood (Tome of Heroes)
• Thorns (Tome of Heroes)
• Totem Warrior (Player's Handbook)

Bard Subclasses

Bards are better known as skalds or chanters in the Northlands. They are the keepers of lore, passing on oral traditions through the epics in both song and poem of the great heroes of ancient days, and the tales of the gods and the future in prophesy. Any party benefits greatly with a skald in the Northlands, able to charm and gain welcome in strange feast halls they might otherwise be rejected from.

• Entropy (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Lore (Player's Handbook)
• Shadows (Tome of Heroes)
• Tactics (Tome of Heroes)
• Valor (Player's Handbook)

Beastheart Subclasses

Beasthearts are warriors closely tied to their animal companions. They are rare amongst the Northerners for having tamed a powerful beast, but exceptionally tied to Midgard and the forces of nature. 

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

Approved beast companions (talk to your GM about creating one if you have another beast that you are interested in):

• Basilisk
• Bear
• Blood Hawk
• Bulette
• Chimera
• Earth Elemental
• Giant Spider
• Giant Toad
• Griffon
• Manticore
• Mohler
• Owlbear
• Otyugh
• Shambling Mound
• Skitterling
• Stirge
• Wildcat
• Worg

Cleric Subclasses

Clerics in the North are known as druids or shaman, deriving their powers from the gods and seeking to navigate the relationship between mortal and the fickle deities. The shaman, with the exception of the pantheists, focus their worship on a particular god, but they make sure to show deference to all, even the dark gods when required. One does not lightly challenge a god in Midgard, for they all have great power, and as masked deities one could actually also be another.

• Apocalypse (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Beer (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Darkness (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Death (Dungeon Master's Guide)
• Forge (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
• Hunt (Tome of Heroes)
• Knowledge (Player's Handbook)
• Life (Player's Handbook)
• Light (Player's Handbook)
• Mercy (Tome of Heroes)
• Moon (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Nature (Player's Handbook)
• Ocean (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Pantheist (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Portal (Tome of Heroes)
• Serpent (Tome of Heroes)
• Shadow (Tome of Heroes)
• Tempest (Player's Handbook)
• Trickery (Player's Handbook)
• Void (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• War (Player's Handbook)
• Willing Vessel (Raider's Guide to Valika) - Applies for any deity
• Wind (Tome of Heroes)
• Winter (Raider's Guide to Valika)

Deities of the North and their Domains:

• Baldur: Life, Light, Mercy
• Freyr: Life, Mercy, Nature
• Freyja: Tempest, War
• Loki: Apocalypse, Knowledge, Travel, Trickery, Portal, Serpent, Winter
• Sif: Beer, Hunting, Speed, War
• Thor: Mercy, Mountain, Ocean, Tempest, War, Wind, Winter
• Tyr (Horus): Justice, Light, Tempest 
• Volund: Knowledge, Mountain, Travel, Forge
• Wotan: Justice, Knowledge, Moon, Mountain, Prophesy, War

Dark and lesser known deities:

• Boreas: Mountain, Tempest, Travel, Wind, Winter
• Chernobog: Darkness, Death, Shadow
• Goat of the Woods: Apocalypse, Prophesy, Void
• Jormungandr (the World Serpent): Apocalypse, Dragon, Hunger, Nature, Ocean, Prophesy, Knowledge, Serpent, Tempest
• Forseti (The Hunter): Death, Hunting, Moon
• Hel (Vardesain): Darkness, Death, Hunger, Life, Void
• Mara (Marena): Darkness, Death, Shadow
• Njord (Seggotan): Tempest, Ocean
• The White Goddess: Apocalypse, Darkness, Death, Hunger, Shadow 

Druid Subclasses

Druids are religious leaders in the Northlands, communing with nature and the power of the gods manifest through it. They are often found amongst the fjords, mountains, and darkened forests of the Northlands, or building their mysterious circles of standing stones to gain power from Midgard.

• Ash (Tome of Heroes)
• Green (Tome of Heroes)
• Land (Player's Handbook)
• Moon (Player's Handbook)
• Stones (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Stoneraisers (Raider's Guide to Valika)
• Wind (Tome of Heroes)

Fighter Subclasses

Fighters are hardened warriors, more controlled than barbarians. They specialize in taking the fight to the enemy and surviving in the harsh environments of the Northlands. They make strong and disciplined raiders, well suited to combat from their longships and in the wildlands.

• Battlemaster (Player's Handbook)
• Blade Breaker (Raider's Guide to Valika)
• Champion (Player's Handbook)
• Eldritch Knight (Player's Handbook)
• Legionary (Tome of Heroes)
• Mammoth Hunter (Raider's Guide to Valika)
• Pugilist (Tome of Heroes)
• Rune Knight (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything)
• Shieldbearer (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Timeblade (Tome of Heroes)
• Tunnel Watcher (Tome of Heroes)

Monk Subclasses 

Monks are known as ascetics in the Northlands. 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)
• Wildcat (Tome of Heroes)

Occultist Subclasses

Spellcasters linked to occult powers of nature, occultists are often druids, or derive their power from the natural or arcane magic of the world around them. In Midgard arcane magic flows through the earth and over it in the form of ley lines, leading many into their own self-taught studies of the arcane. Other occultists might be influenced by the hags of the Northlands or Giants, or any number of magical influences.

• Witch
• Hedge Mage
• Oracle
• Shaman

Paladin Subclasses

In the reaver clans a paladin is flavored a bit differently than normal. They are called Guardians, and while they remain great warriors tied by oaths to their deities, they are less of the shining knight in armor than highly powerful raiders, focused on cleaving down foes while supporting their allies with the divine gifts they have received from the deity or the force of nature that is the focus of their devotion.

• Ancients (Player's Handbook)
• Devotion (Player's Handbook)
• Elements (Tome of Heroes)
• Giving Grave (See Antipaladin in Midgard Worldbook)
• Guardian (Tome of Heroes)
• Hearth (Tome of Heroes)
• Justice (Tome of Heroes)
• Safeguarding (Tome of Heroes)
• Thunder (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Undying Flame (Raider's Guide to Valika)
• Vengeance (Player's Handbook)

Ranger Subclasses

In the harsh environs of the Northlands, rangers are the great navigators, sailing and traveling by the moon and stars, the hunters of might beasts and monsters, and the guides for those traveling the lands where the skies dance with arcane fire.

• Beastmaster (Player's Handbook)
• Beast Trainer (Tome of Heroes)
• Haunted Warden (Tome of Heroes)
• Hunter (Player's Handbook)
• North Wind (Raider's Guide to Valika)

Rogue Subclasses

Cunning is a great asset for warriors of the North, enshrined in their faith by the wily trickster god Loki. Rogues are often his devotees and excel at striking when least expected. They are masters of sneaking and skirmishing. Rogues are often those who are not strong enough to man the shieldwall, but who still make a dramatic impact upon the fight with their daggers or barbed arrows.

• Arcane Trickster (Player's Handbook)
• Assassin (Player's Handbook)
• Cat Burglar (Tome of Heroes)
• Duelist (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Fixer (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Sapper (Tome of Heroes)
• Smuggler (Tome of Heroes)
• Soulspy (Tome of Heroes)
• Thief (Player's Handbook)
• Whisper (Midgard Heroes Handbook)

Sorcerer Subclasses

Magic flows through the Northlands, derived from many sources. Sometimes it awakens powers within mortals, who are born with mysterious gifts. Magical powers given them from their heritage or exposure to the magic of Midgard during their life.

• Draconic Bloodline (Player's Handbook)
• Dream (Planegea)
• Hungering (Tome of Heroes)
• Living Blade (Raider's Guide to Valika)
• Resonant Body (Tome of Heroes)
• Rifthopper (Tome of Heroes)
• Shadow (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Wild Magic (Player's Handbook)

Warlock Subclasses

Warlocks of the North come by their powers through a pact with a powerful being, often accepted and bound through a ritual presided over by the druids, calling upon the greater powers. The exact identity of your patron will be determined by the GM and revealed to you at a time they determine appropriate, probably dictated by the story (unless it their identity is already included in the subclass).

• Ancient Dragons (Tome of Heroes)
• Archfey (Player's Handbook)
• Dark Forest (Planegea)
• Gormadraug -changed to Jormungandr (Raider's Guide to Valika)
• Light Eater (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Old Wood (Tome of Heroes)
• Primordial (Tome of Heroes)
• Wyrdweaver (Tome of Heroes)

Warlord Subclasses

The great leaders of the Northlands are warlords; future jarls or kings, leading their huscarls and companions on raids that take rich treasures and conquering new lands.

• Commander
• Chieftain
• Noble
• Packleader
• Paragon
• Tactician

Wizard Subclasses

Wizards in the Northlands come in the normal varieties, but those of the remote clans like yours do not keep spellbooks. Instead they wear their spells as tattoos, detailing complex diagrams across their body to remind them of the steps and ways to cast spells. They also are known to record their spells in runes on tablets and standing stones. Instead of inks and a spell book, you have tattoo inks and tools to record your spells on your body.

• Abjuration (Player's Handbook)
• Burning Mind (Raider's Guide to Valika)
• Cantrip Adept (Tome of Heroes)
• Conjuration (Player's Handbook)
• Courser Mage (Tome of Heroes)
• Divination (Player's Handbook)
• Doom Croaker (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Elementalist (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Enchantment (Player's Handbook)
• Entropy (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Evocation (Player's Handbook)
• Familiar Master (Tome of Heroes)
• Geomancy (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Gravebinding (Tome of Heroes)
• Illusion (Player's Handbook)
• Liminality (Tome of Heroes)
• Necromancy (Player's Handbook)
• Ring Warden (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Spellsmith (Tome of Heroes)
• Transmutation (Player's Handbook)

Backgrounds 

The following backgrounds are approved for this campaign due to their theming and the campaign concept grounding the characters in a village which they are familiar with, having either been born there or lived there for several years. 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 the Northlands of Midgard if necessary (Sidenote: the backgrounds in Planegea make really good fits for this type of campaign set in a more remote and non-cosmopolitan community).

• Acolyte (Player's Handbook)
• Apprentice (Planegea)
• Captive (Planegea)
• Caretaker (Planegea)
• Charlatan (Player's Handbook)
• Chieftain’s Kin (Planegea)
• Crafter (Planegea)
• Criminal (Player's Handbook)
• Dancing Bear Guide (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Entertainer (Player's Handbook)
• Fisher (Ghosts of Saltmarsh)
• Folk Hero (Player's Handbook)
• Forest Dweller (Tome of Heroes)
• Former Adventurer (Tome of Heroes)
• Gamekeeper (Tome of Heroes)
• Gatherer (Planegea)
• Hermit (Player's Handbook)
• Hunter (Planegea)
• Inn Keeper (Tome of Heroes)
• Keeper of Beasts (Planegea)
• Marine (Ghosts of Saltmarsh)
• Monstrous Adoptee (Tome of Heroes)
• Mysterious Origins (Tome of Heroes)
• Noble (Player's Handbook)
• Northlands Reaver (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Northern Minstrel (Tome of Heroes)
• Occultist (Tome of Heroes)
• Outcast (Planegea)
• Outlander (Player's Handbook)
• Prophet (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Raider (Planegea)
• Sage (Player's Handbook)
• Sailor (Player's Handbook)
• Savant (Planegea)
• Seer (Midgard Heroes Handbook)
• Soldier (Player's Handbook)
• Scoundrel (Tome of Heroes)
• Sentry (Tome of Heroes)
• Shipwright (Ghosts of Saltmarsh)
• Storyteller (Planegea)
• Trader (Planegea)
• Trophy Hunter (Tome of Heroes)
• Urchin (Player's Handbook)

Languages

In this campaign all the characters speak the Northern Tongue (see Midgard Worldbook), replacing common when referenced during character creation. They can choose common as one of their additional languages if they desire. Additionally, unless they have a background, subclass, or other feature that the GM approves as allowing it, all characters cannot read nor write. However, all druids, shaman, skalds, and wizards can read and write runes in a basic form. Characters must use a language proficiency selection to learn to read and write in a language they already speak. They may learn new languages through downtime but must first learn to speak the language, then learn to read and write that language by repeating the downtime learning process.

Ring & Rune Magic

Both ring and rune magic are forms of magic practiced by the magic wielders of the Northlands in Midgard, particularly the reavers. They are appropriate for spellcasters in this campaign, and to promote their use, they will be provided to spellcasting classes as option for first level feats (see below).

First Level Feats

Characters in this campaign have been changed by their experiences surviving in the far North. Characters without the ability to cast spells can choose from the following two feats:

• Skilled
• Tough

Spellcasters can choose from the above as well as the following feats:

• Circle Spellcaster
• Ring-Bound
• Rune Knowledge