Sovereign
A lone, graceless aasimar in dark iron armor trudges across the surface of a springtime lake, a block of ice instantly forming at every footstep that touches the water. As he lifts his claymore towards the clouds, the villagers at the shoreline fall backwards as the sudden surge of icy winds rush past to destroy their crops.
A crowd of adventurers in a hearthlit pub throw coins to a gray-skinned deep gnome happily dancing a jig on the bar counter, with smiling sprites flitting about. With every cheer, another tiny fey critter seems to pop out of his pockets, fluttering and scurrying about. At the climax of the dance, the bottom of his shirt rides up as a shimmering faerie dragon slips out from the planar portal he had hidden underneath.
A young farmhand sits on the edge of a hillside cliff underneath a bright and starry night, overlooking the russet fields below. With her dog in her lap and a bow and quiver leaning against her thigh, she watches the curious ripples in the sky. An unfamiliar voice in her head beckons her to lay claim to the Astral Sea.
These willful people, whether wittingly or not, lay claim to everything they set their gaze upon. The nature of a sovereign has been likened to the incarnation of a plane itself, arriving on distant shores to push boundaries ever further. To be a sovereign is to be a destiny manifest.
The Frontier Noble
Many sovereigns who tread the domains of kings and the ruins of the past do not even know why they venture. But the instincts within them speak of power, and power is nothing but the land and its peoples agreeing to enact one's will.
The drive to control, though, is often subconscious, and quite a few of these fortunate people live out their lives without feeling the need to twist arms or raise armies. Sometimes, their inner nature is subtle in action: a sovereign might find themselves pledging alliance rather than allegiance when they weren't watching their tongues. Swearing fealty, as a sovereign, is only swearing.
Magic of the Planes
The sovereigns are like spillways on the dams that hold back bodies of planar magic from pouring into each other in whirls of unpredictable eddies. Different to the tempered and practiced forms of magic that arcane casters use, and not at all like the parceled and delivered magic of the divine, the form that a sovereign's spell takes is often unfamiliar to behold for its shape reflects an unfiltered originality.
When sovereigns raise their arms to cast their magic, they release surges of their power planes' fundamental essences. When they speak incantations, they invite the surrender of weaker realms. When they trod upon lands of unclaimed material, the magic they exude annexes dominions.
Creating a Sovereign
While you build a sovereign, you should consider if your character knows of their extraplanar heritage or destiny. If they do, has it always been instinctual knowledge for them, or did they bring about a major change in their life that attuned them to this other plane? Perhaps their connection to a plane is from an event when they were a trainee wizard, or maybe they sought out a blessing from an elemental that was more powerful than expected.
Do you have a reverence for the planes or are they nothing more than a convenient source of power? Is your power your method of improving your own life, or is it your means of changing the world for the better? Do you view yourself as a champion of nature, or a force of nature?
Quick Build
You can build a sovereign quickly by following these suggestions. First, Charisma should be your highest ability score, followed by Strength or Dexterity depending on whether you fight with heft or nimbleness, respectively. Second, choose the Noble background.
The Sovereign
| Level | Prof. Bonus | Features | Spells to Prepare | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +2 | August Presence, Fighting Style | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2nd | +2 | Spellcasting, Planar Dominion | 2 | 2 | — | — | — | — |
| 3rd | +2 | Itinerant Court (30 feet), Chamberlain | 2 | 3 | — | — | — | — |
| 4th | +2 | Ability Score Improvement | 3 | 3 | — | — | — | — |
| 5th | +3 | Might and Magic | 3 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — |
| 6th | +3 | Camarilla | 3 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — |
| 7th | +3 | Sojourn | 3 | 4 | 3 | — | — | — |
| 8th | +3 | Ability Score Improvement | 4 | 4 | 3 | — | — | — |
| 9th | +4 | — | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | — | — |
| 10th | +4 | Planar Dominion feature | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | — | — |
| 11th | +4 | Itinerant Court (300 feet), August Presence improvement | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — | — |
| 12th | +4 | Ability Score Improvement | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — | — |
| 13th | +5 | — | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | — |
| 14th | +5 | Tenure, Long Live the Sovereign | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | — |
| 15th | +5 | Might and Magic improvement | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — |
| 16th | +5 | Ability Score Improvement | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — |
| 17th | +6 | — | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | Planar Dominion feature | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | Ability Score Improvement | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 20th | +6 | Itinerant Court (1 mile), Planar Attunement | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Class Features
As a sovereign, you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
- Hit Dice: 1d10 per sovereign level
- Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
- Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your
Constitution modifier per sovereign level after 1st
Proficiencies
- Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields
- Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
- Tools: None
- Saving Throws: Wisdom, Charisma
- Skills: Choose two from Arcana, Athletics,
Insight, Intimidation, Nature,
Persuasion, Survival
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
- (a) scale mail or (b) chain shirt, a simple ranged weapon, and 20 pieces of appropriate ammunition
- (a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons
- (a) a diplomat's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
August Presence
Your stature seems almost always dominating, inspiring loyalty or fear into creatures of weaker wills.
If you would have disadvantage on a Charisma (Persuasion) or Charisma (Intimidation) skill check, you roll normally instead.
When you reach 11th level, your compelling nature resists that of others. If you would have disadvantage on a Charisma saving throw, you roll normally instead.
Fighting Style
You adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can't take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.
Archery
You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.
Dueling
When you are welding a weapon in one hand and no other weapons you have a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.
Great Weapon Fighting
When you roll a 1 or a 2 on damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the dice and must use the new roll. This weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
Interception (Optional Feature)
When a creature you can see hits a target, other than you, within 5 feet of you with an attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage the target takes by 1d10 + your proficiency bonus (to a minimum of 0 damage). You must be wielding a shield or a simple or martial weapon.
Protection
When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.
Planar Dominion
At 2nd level, you come into your Title of Sovereignty, which describes your dominion—your holdings in a plane of power. These are all detailed at the end of the class description.
Your choice grants you features when you choose it at 2nd level and again at 10th and 18th levels.
Dominion Spells
Each dominion has a list of associated spells. You gain access to these spells at the sovereign levels noted in the dominion description. Once you gain access to a dominion spell, you always have it prepared, and it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.
A dominion spell that doesn't appear on the sovereign spell list still counts as a sovereign spell for you.
Spellcasting
By 2nd level, your very presence is a conduit for planar energies to come through as spells in your current plane. See chapter 10 of the Player's Handbook for the general rules of spellcasting and the end of this document for the sovereign spell list.
Cantrips (0-Level Spells)
Cantrips do not appear on the sovereign spell list, nor does the Sovereign table specify a number of cantrips you know; nonetheless, whenever you gain a sovereign cantrip, Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it (explained further in the Spellcasting Ability section below), and it does not count against any limit of cantrips that you can know.
Preparing and Casting Spells
The Sovereign table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells. To cast one of your sovereign spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
You prepare the list of sovereign spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the sovereign spell list. When you do so, choose a number of sovereign spells according to the Spells to Prepare column of the Sovereign table. The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
For example, if you are a 5th-level sovereign, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. Your list of prepared spells can include three spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination. If you prepare the 1st-level spell command, you can cast it using a 1st-level or 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn't remove it from your list of prepared spells.
You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a short or long rest. Preparing a new list of sovereign spells requires time spent reaching through the unseen eddies of elemental energy that act as minute and ephemeral portals to your current plane: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell changed from your previous list.
In Case You've Just Missed It
It's easy to skim over Spellcasting features, so in case you've just missed it: the sovereign can prepare a new spell list at the end of every short or long rest, despite only restoring spell slots on long rests.
Spellcasting Ability
Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your sovereign spells as your force of personality subjects the elemental powers to your desire.
You use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a sovereign spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + Charisma modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier
Spellcasting Focus
You can use a weapon with which you have proficiency as a spellcasting focus for your sovereign spells.
Itinerant Court
At 3rd level, you understand that your dominion isn't just a faraway place from where you draw your power, but rather it is always with you. Any space within a 30-foot radius surrounding you is considered to be your power plane in addition to its usual plane of existence.
Whenever you or a creature you can see within your power plane would be banished to another plane, you may use your reaction to have the creature, if it is willing, appear instead in an unoccupied space you choose within 5 feet of you.
The radius of your Itinerant Court increases to 300 feet at 11th level and 1 mile at 20th level.
Power Plane? Native Plane? Explain.
The 5th edition sourcebooks use the term "native plane" with regard to the concept of banishment. It is generally understood, but ultimately unspecified, that banishment sends creatures to the planes in which they were born.
The sovereign grants player characters travel to other planes earlier than those of most other character classes, but there is no guarantee that the primary plane on which a campaign takes place is the native plane to all player characters. Thus, the class uses the term "power plane" for most features and enforces a return to the originating plane (which is likely the campaign's primary plane at earlier levels).
Chamberlain
Also at 3rd level, you gain unseen servant as a sovereign spell; you always have it prepared, and it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.
When you cast the spell from a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you can choose to concentrate on the spell to promote the servant into your chamberlain, though the spell ends if your concentration is broken. If you do so, your DM selects a creature associated with your power plane (determined by the spell's level, as shown in the Chamberlain Forms table), and the chamberlain assumes that form and uses its game statistics, though it is still invisible and mindless.
Your chamberlain is not restricted to servile tasks and can fight alongside you. It takes its turn on your initiative, though it doesn't take an action unless you command it to do so.
Chamberlain Forms
| Spell Level | Max. CR | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd, 3rd | 1/2 | Magmin (Basic Rules, p329) |
| 4th | 1 | Specter (Basic Rules, p346) |
| 5th | 2 | Awakened Tree (Basic Rules, p117) |
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level and again at 8th, 12th, 16th and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Might and Magic
Beginning at 5th level, when you use your action to cast a sovereign cantrip on your turn, you can make a weapon attack as a bonus action. You also gain blade ward and true strike as sovereign cantrips.
When you cast true strike, you can ignore disadvantage on the next attack roll you make against the target before the start of your next turn. If you do so, the spell ends after the attack roll is made.
While affected by your blade ward, weapon attacks made against you do not benefit from advantage.
Camarilla
At 6th level, it is apparent to you that truly no man rules alone. You empower allies to speak your will, but gather their counsel to clarify your perspective when needed.
When you first gain this feature, you establish a camarilla, cabal, cabinet, or some other informal council of up to 6 members of your choice, called courtiers. These courtiers must be willing allies that you have known for at least 1 week and with whom you have conversed for at least 1 hour within the previous week. Whenever one of your courtiers within the radius of your Itinerant Court fails a Charisma check, that courtier can reroll the die, replacing their Charisma modifier with yours for the new roll.
Alternatively, whenever you fail a Wisdom check, you can reroll the die once, replacing your Wisdom modifier with the Wisdom modifier of one of your courtiers within the radius of your Itinerant Court for the new roll.
Once one of your courtiers uses your modifier on a Charisma check, or you use that courtier's modifier on a Wisdom check, you and that courtier cannot benefit from each other's modifiers using this feature again until that courtier finishes a long rest. You can still use the feature with other courtiers who have not expended its usage.
A courtier loses membership in your camarilla if you have not had at least 1 hour of conversation with them within the past week. You can remove and add up to 6 members in any combination to your camarilla whenever you finish a long rest, but if you do, you can't do so again for 1 week.
Sojourn
At 7th level, you can make pilgrimages to your power plane, though your stay can only be for a short while at a time.
You can meditate for 1 hour to create a one-way planar portal in an unoccupied space within 30 feet. The portal leads to a location on your power plane. Much of the meditation involves focusing on a relatively hospitable egress for the other side of the portal, even though you may not be aware of how the other side will actually look; you specify the destination in general terms and the DM uses their discretion to provide a fair and appropriate location (the plane shift spell description can provide some guidance). The location should be suitable to have an uninterrupted long rest if desired, but such a condition cannot be guaranteed.
The boundaries of the portal are formless and the visuals can vary wildly (including being invisible to the naked eye), but the portal can always fit within a 5-foot cube and yet allows creatures of even gargantuan size to pass through.
When you open the portal, you can either specify which creatures are allowed to travel through it or specify which creatures are not. An allowed creature must also be willing to travel through the portal; otherwise, the creature may simply occupy the portal's space, potentially blocking other creatures from traveling through.
A creature that travels through your portal is encircled by a translucent chain, which trails behind the creature for 1 foot before fading to invisibility. That chain tethers the creature's body to the portal, and it can only be severed by an effect that specifically states it can cut either this chain or a cord of an astral projection spell. The chain also prevents the creature's banishment and travel through any other planar portals.
The portal closes when you use your action to close it, after 8 hours, or when you fall to 0 hit points or die. When it closes, all creatures attached to the portal by its chains instantly reappear, unchained, in the nearest unoccupied spaces surrounding the portal's previous opening.
Once you open a portal with this feature, you can't do so again for 7 days.
Tenure
When you reach 14th level, you learn techniques to make your planar travels more easily repeated. After you open a portal with your Sojourn feature, you can do so again after finishing a long rest, instead of needing to wait 7 days.
When you create a planar portal to the same destination as your previous usage of the Sojourn feature, you spend 1 minute instead of 1 hour to open it.
Long Live the Sovereign
Additionally at 14th level, when you finish a short rest, each courtier within 30 feet of you can spend one Hit Die to toast to your health, which restores your hit points by the result of the die roll. If a courtier does so, that courtier gains temporary hit points equal to your sovereign level + your Charisma modifier, which last for 8 hours.
Once a courtier has toasted your health this way, that courtier cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
Improved Might and Magic
At 15th level, when you use your action to cast a spell, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action.
In addition, your true strike and blade ward cantrips gain additional potency. When you cast true strike on your turn, your first attack roll on your next turn is made with advantage even if you have a source of disadvantage. Your blade ward affects any type of damage dealt by weapon attacks.
Planar Attunement
When you reach 20th level, you can cast plane shift without expending a spell slot. When you cast the spell this way, you cannot use the spell to banish unwilling creatures.
You are a sufficient material component for plane shift, attuned to your power plane.
Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
PLANAR
DOMINIONS
A QUICK WORD ON THE PLANES OF EXISTENCE
Guidance for the Player
Your campaign will most likely take place on the Material Plane at the beginning. This is a world somewhat similar to our own, often with the medieval fantasy themes of Lord of the Rings. But there are other dimensions, as if they were wholly different planets or even dreamscapes with different physics, to which you can't travel just by walking—you must pass through a magical gateway, like the wardrobe in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe that leads to Narnia, or change metaphysical states, such as dying to wake up in the realms of heaven or hell, or else be the target of a powerful spell that shifts you across the boundary that otherwise keeps your current plane of existence separate from others.
Information on the typical planes of existence found in the 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons are in Appendix C (starting on page 300) of the Player's Handbook, but your DM may not use all or any of them. Discuss your Dominion choices and share this page with your DM before committing to a choice that they may not wish to handle.
Guidance for the Dungeon Master
You might briefly skim (or fully read) through Chapter 2, starting from page 43, of the Dungeon Master's Guide. No campaign is beholden to the setting described in official materials, but a knowledge of pre-existing material can help produce actionable creativity during a game session.
When the sovereign reaches 7th level, it gains the Sojourn feature, which allows the party to make weekly 8-hour trips to a plane of existence associated with the sovereign's Dominion. These power planes are named but ultimately, like everything written for a tabletop game, are suggestions for the DM. If your campaign doesn't contain the Sovereign's named power plane (such as the Positive Energy Plane), choose instead a location that captures its "essence" (such as an always-sunny grove in the Feywild, the highest peak in the Elemental Plane of Fire, or a well of radiant energy in the divine realm of a celestial god).
Also, the DMG's optional rules for planes are strongly discouraged, at least for the Itinerant Court feature.
Ashen Dignitary
There is no pride amongst the denizens of the Plane of Ash, itself a plane that has crumbled away from existence, for everyone there knows that nothing can be created in a land so lethargic that it can barely grow even a flame.
An elemental mephit once native to the extinguished plane would find your inheritance a point of mockery. But though the holdings of your title are wretched and barren, you know something can come from these composite planar powers.
Dominion Benefits
When you take this Dominion at 2nd level, you gain the following benefits:
- When you cast a spell that deals fire or necrotic damage, you can choose to deal half of the damage total as fire and the remainder of the total as necrotic. If a spell altered this way would normally produce flames, the flames are invisible in bright light and hard to perceive in dim light.
- You gain proficiency with heavy armor.
- You are naturally adapted to both hot and cold climates, as described in chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master's Guide.
- Each time an effect references your power plane, you can choose the Negative Energy Plane or the Elemental Plane of Fire.
You also choose to gain one of the two following options:
Wretched. You gain fire bolt as a sovereign cantrip. If your fire bolt deals at least 1 point of fire damage to a section of grease from a grease spell, the entire area rapidly ignites in a flash of fire; each creature in that area makes a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC and takes 2d4 fire damage per level of the grease spell on a failure, or half as much on a success.
If your fire bolt dealt necrotic damage to the grease by way of your Dominion Benefits feature, the leftover grease becomes a thin spread of sticky tar, in which moving 1 foot costs a creature 3 feet of movement for the remainder of the spell's duration. Otherwise, the leftover grease turns to a scattering of charcoal worth 5 sp and the grease spell ends.
Barren. You cast cast create or destroy water as a sovereign spell. You always have it prepared, though it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. When you cast the spell at its lowest level to destroy water, it does not expend a spell slot and you can cast it using either an action or a bonus action.
When you cast create or destroy water to destroy water, instead of being limited to one open container, you can choose a cube of space with a size of 5 feet per the spell's level that contains water either freestanding or in open containers, or you can target a creature which is not undead nor a construct.
If there are multiple containers of water or disconnected bodies of freestanding water within the cube, you can choose how many gallons are destroyed from each container or body, up to the spell's limit.
If you target a creature, the creature makes a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC; on a failure, the creature has disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn, and its body builds fatigue as if it traveled for a number of hours equal to the spell's level, which can trigger the corresponding Constitution saving throws to avoid exhaustion from a forced march.
Dominion Spells
You gain the following spells at the sovereign level indicated:
| Sovereign Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 2nd | grease |
| 5th | heat metal |
| 9th | life transference |
| 13th | shadow of moil |
| 17th | immolation |
Hardened by Fire
At 10th level, when you cast heat metal on a nonmagical weapon or suit of armor and you allow the spell to last its full duration without using your bonus action to cause damage as described in the spell, the item becomes magical and grants a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls if it is a weapon or a +1 bonus to AC if it is armor.
Alternatively, when you cast heat metal on a nonmagical object and use your bonus action each round throughout the spell's full duration to cause damage as described in the spell (even if there is no creature in contact to receive the damage), the metal becomes weak and brittle, making the item fragile.
Deliverance from the Wasteland
Also at 10th level, if your life transference spell deals fire damage to you on your turn by way of your Dominion Benefits feature, you receive the effects of lesser restoration.
Nothing but Ashes
When you reach 18th level, you can cast the disintegrate spell without expending a spell slot.
When you cast the spell this way at a creature, you can choose to deal fire damage instead of its usual damage type, which can be further altered with your Dominion Benefits feature. If your disintegrate spell deals necrotic damage by way of your Dominion Benefits feature and the creature is disintegrated by the spell, the remaining pile of dust has the effects of a continual flame spell.
When you cast the spell this way at an object made primarily of naturally-occurring materials, you can choose for the remains of the disintegrated object (or portion of the object) to amount to 100 gp worth of raw materials for items that can be created using smith's tools.
After casting the spell without expending a spell slot, you must finish a long rest to cast the spell this way again.
Astral Captain
The Astral Sea is a plane of pure thought, yet it captures everything natural about the realms and keeps them adrift in its infinite cosmos. Plying the endless inbetweens to get from end to end, at least with any punctuality, takes a mind with intent and a will to press forward in this eternal void.
Dominion Benefits
When you take this Dominion at 2nd level, you gain the following benefits:
- You gain proficiency with Intelligence saving throws.
- Spells you cast at creatures in the Astral Sea treat immunity to psychic damage as resistance instead.
- Each time an effect references your power plane, it refers to the Astral Sea.
You also choose to gain one of the two following options:
Mind. You gain mind sliver as a sovereign cantrip. If you cast mind sliver on a creature that would subtract 1d4 from the saving throw due to a prior mind sliver affecting it, the creature subtracts 2d4 on this saving throw instead.
Will. When you cast color spray, you immerse affected creatures in an overwhelming vision of the Astral Sea. The blinded creatures might focus on ideas of petrified gods, beautiful nebulae, a light show of twinkling stars, a collage of color pools, or the sublime nothingness of eternity. You add your Charisma score to the pool of hit points used to determine the creatures affected.
In addition, on your turn you can use your bonus action to attempt to extend the duration of the spell on affected creatures by 1 round (to the end of your next turn). Each affected creature makes a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC; on a success, the spell's effects will end on that creature at the end of your current turn.
Dominion Spells
You gain the following spells at the sovereign level indicated:
| Sovereign Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 2nd | color spray |
| 5th | mind spike |
| 9th | intellect fortress |
| 13th | Raulothim's psychic lance |
| 17th | synaptic static |
Anchor
At 10th level, when you make a portal to the Astral Sea using your Sojourn feature, you can choose to modify the portal such that its chains do not prevent a creature from traveling through planar portals. If you do so, the portal also closes whenever any chained creature would drop to 0 hit points or die, preventing the creature's death and stabilizing it.
You can also use your action to sever any chain within reach that tethers a creature to your portal.
Sea of Dreams
At 18th level, while unconscious, you are under the effects of a mind blank spell.
Mind Palace
Also at 18th level, you can cast the demiplane spell without expending a spell slot. When you cast the spell this way, the door is silvery and wispy (rather than shadowy), can only appear on a surface you can see within the Astral Sea, and allows creatures of even Gargantuan size to pass through despite appearing an appropriate size for Medium creatures. In addition, the demiplane created by this use of the spell is 300 feet in each dimension, rather than 30 feet.
Once you cast the spell this way, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
While you are within a demiplane you have created, you can accurately recall anything you have seen or heard.
Astral Sea vs. Astral Plane
The power plane's proper name is the Astral Plane, but it is commonly called the Astral Sea for its empty vastness, a tradition of seafaring themes used in the settings of prior editions of Dungeons & Dragons, and (in one of the planar cosmologies) the manner in which the Outer Planes float and drift within this plane.
This subclass is called the Astral Captain and uses the moniker of Astral Sea mainly to evoke a creative flavor, but you should feel free to lean in only as much works for your character or the campaign's tone and motifs.
Sojourning to the Astral Sea
For the first few levels you can Sojourn to the Astral Sea, you might have a limited few places of interest; the Astral Sea is often conceived as an empty void with occasional rocks. Many treat the Astral Sea as a vestibule to color pools (natural portals that lead to other planes), but the chains of Sojourn's portal prevent their usage.
Your Anchor feature makes it possible to use the color pools and travel into a plane beyond your power plane, but unlike the normal portal, the modified portal forces all travelers back to the originating plane if one of the travelers has a lethal encounter.
Conductor-General
There is lawfulness, and there is goodness, in that order.
The dark secret of Arcadia is that its third layer, its deepest and most beautiful and bountiful layer of Nemausus, was corrupted by evil practices from good intentions. Thus it fell from the harmonious plane to land on a cog of the plane of Mechanus, spinning rhythmically, endlessly, without melody.
You are an inheritor of that quiet battlefield between the guard drones of Mechanus and the Arcadian reclaimers.
Dominion Benefits
When you take this Dominion at 2nd level, you gain the following benefits:
- You gain proficiency with heavy armor.
- You can choose to be considered lawful good, lawful neutral, neutral good, or your usual alignment to any magical effect that detects or uses your alignment.
- Each time an effect references your power plane, you can choose either the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia or the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus.
You also choose to gain one of the two following options:
Lawfulness. You gain mage hand as a sovereign cantrip. Whenever you cast the spell, you can choose for the spectral hand to manifest as a solid metal hand for the duration. When cast this way, the spell requires concentration.
While the hand is metallic, it can carry an additional number of pounds equal to twice your spellcasting ability score, and the hand can be controlled to make a special melee attack (such as a grapple or shove) or an unarmed strike that deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage.
When you use the hand to grapple or shove, or when the target attempts to escape your mage hand's grapple, the target makes a Strength or Dexterity saving throw (their choice) against your spell save DC. Your mage hand's unarmed strikes use your spellcasting ability modifier for the attack rolls.
Once you reach 5th level, whenever you use your action to control the hand on your turn, you can make a weapon attack as a bonus action. The damage dealt by the unarmed strike of your mage hand increases by 1d4 when you reach 5th level (2d4), 11th level (3d4), and 17th level (4d4).
Goodness. You can cast goodberry as a sovereign spell. You always have it prepared, though it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.
When a creature eats a berry conjured from your spell, the creature gains temporary hit points equal to the level of the spell slot used to cast the spell until it finishes a long rest.
Dominion Spells
You gain the following spells at the sovereign level indicated:
| Sovereign Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 2nd | comprehend languages |
| 5th | moonbeam |
| 9th | beacon of hope |
| 13th | aura of purity |
| 17th | dispel evil and good |
Natural Order
At 10th level, you can cast plant growth as a sovereign spell. You always have it prepared, though it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.
When you cast the spell using 1 action, you can choose for the affected plants in the spell's area to grow into a maze. When you do so, plants that act as the maze's walls grow high enough to allow Large creatures to attempt to hide and they shift laterally enough to allow Medium creatures to move normally along these walls (Large creatures must squeeze through these spaces), while the plants between the walls will bend underfoot to avoid hindering movement. The walls are thick enough to provide total cover, but a creature can spend 15 feet of movement to move through a wall.
You can choose any amount of exits (minimum of 1) for the maze and decide where on the outer wall they will appear, but the internal walls of the maze are randomly created. However, you always know the way through the maze and cannot get lost within.
In addition, whenever you finish a long rest, you can expend a spell slot of 3rd level or higher. If you do so, you can choose a point within 150 feet and cause the effects of a plant growth spell as if it were cast over 8 hours.
Paladin Fighting Style
At 18th level, you can choose a Fighting Style option available to the paladin class. If you choose the Blessed Warrior option as your Fighting Style, the cantrips count as sovereign spells rather than paladin spells for you.
Modron Facsimile
Also at 18th level, you can cast summon construct as a sovereign spell and always have it prepared, though it doesn't count against the number of sovereign spells you can prepare each day. You can cast it without providing a material component, though the construct spirit can only can resemble a modron when the spell is cast this way.
While a modron spirit from your summon construct spell is within 5 feet of you, you have advantage on Constitution saving throws made to maintain concentration and both you and the modron spirit gain truesight to 120 feet.
Fey Ancient
Ancients of the Feywild are the spirits that manifest as the protector of a grove, mountainside, or some other region of bountiful growth. Sometimes that spirit incarnates itself, but often it shares its power with a creature as its champion.
The lands of the Feywild, as whimsical and chaotic as can be, constantly threaten to spill over their bounds. As a mortal being that can open and close a barrier to such forces, do you take on the role of a warden or a wildling?
Dominion Benefits
When you take this Dominion at 2nd level, you gain the following benefits:
- You learn the Sylvan language. You also understand and can speak Druidic, though not well enough to decipher encoded messages in the language left by druids.
- At the end of a long rest, you can spawn twenty pieces of natural ammunition, taking the forms of pine needles, large thorns, spines, prickles, seed cones, etc. This nonmagical ammunition can be used by you, but not other creatures, in the place of any ammunition. Each piece of this ammunition breaks after being used as a component of a spell or to make an attack, even if rendered magical.
- Each time an effect references your power plane, it refers to the Feywild.
You also choose to gain one of the two following options:
Warden. You gain magic stone as a sovereign cantrip. Any instance in the spell's description that refers to a pebble or stone also applies to your natural ammunition, except that your natural ammunition can be used with any ranged weapon that uses ammunition, not just slings.
At 5th level, natural ammunition empowered by your magic stone have a bonus of +1 to attack and damage rolls. At 11th and 17th level, the bonus increases to +2 and +3, respectively.
Wildling. You gain additional dominion spells, found in the Wildling Spell column of the Dominion Spells table.
You gain a spell slot, called your Wildling spell slot, which can only be used to cast spells that appear in the Wildling Spell column of the Dominion Spells table. The level of this slot is equal to your highest-level non-Wildling spell slot. When this spell slot is expended, you regain it when you finish a short or long rest.
You also gain druidcraft as a sovereign cantrip.
Dominion Spells
You gain the following spells at the sovereign level indicated:
| Sovereign Level | Spell | Wilding Spell |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd | faerie fire | hail of thorns |
| 5th | cordon of arrows | alter self |
| 9th | conjure barrage | plant growth |
| 13th | guardian of nature | grasping vine |
| 17th | conjure volley | wrath of nature |
Crossroads Guardian
At 10th level, your power plane has championed you to enforce its borders. Whenever you make a Wisdom (Survival) check to track a creature, and the creature's tracks that you follow were made while it was within your power plane, you can expend one piece of your natural ammunition to add 1d4 to the result.
In addition, you sense whenever a non-fey creature either teleports or passes through a planar portal to a location within the radius of your Itinerant Court and can choose to mark it for 1 minute. As a bonus action on each of your turns, you can expend one piece of your natural ammunition to be pointed in the direction of any creature you choose that you have marked this way.
Hastened Responder
At 18th level, you gain a benefit based off the option you chose for your Dominion Benefits feature.
If you chose Warden, you can cast swift quiver as a sovereign spell. You always have it prepared, though it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. Your swift quiver spell can use a container holding natural ammunition in place of a quiver, producing an endless supply of natural ammunition for the duration.
If you chose Wildling, whenever you cast plant growth from a spell slot of 4th level or higher on your turn, you can cast grasping vine at the same spell level on that turn. Casting grasping vine this way does not expend a spell slot.
Neighbors of the Realm
Also at 18th level, you can cast druid grove without expending a spell slot or providing material components.
Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest to be able to use it again.
Fireborn Chieftain
Those born with fire in their veins are often natural leaders with a passion in mind and a will to spread that passion to others. Fireborn Chieftains often kindle followers in the march to build movements, but others fan flames just to see the world burn instead.
The Fireborn soul is always in a constant flicker, trying to self-regulate while continuing to grow. They must tread the coals between embers and ash.
Dominion Benefits
When you take this Dominion at 2nd level, you gain the following benefits:
- You can regulate how hot you run inside: at the end of each of your turns, you may choose to change your body heat between stoked and smoldering. While stoked, your movement speed is increased by 10 feet; while smoldering, you are immune to fire damage but are vulnerable to cold damage.
- Each time an effect references your power plane, it refers to the Elemental Plane of Fire.
You also choose to gain one of the two following options:
Kindle. You gain produce flame as a sovereign cantrip. Whenever you use the flame to attack, you can choose not to end the spell, and if the target creature is within 5 feet of you, you can make a melee spell attack instead of a ranged spell attack. You can also target objects, and the spell ignites flammable objects that aren't being worn or carried.
You also gain control flames as a sovereign cantrip. When you cast it, the non-instantaneous effects are permanent until the flame is extinguished.
Conflagrate. You can cast burning hands as a sovereign spell. You always have it prepared, though it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. Whenever you make a melee attack against a target creature or object within 5 feet of you on your turn, you can cast burning hands with the cone's point of origin on the target as a bonus action instead of an action before your turn ends.
Dominion Spells
You gain the following spells at the sovereign level indicated:
| Sovereign Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 2nd | hellish rebuke |
| 5th | pyrotechnics |
| 9th | Melf's minute meteors |
| 13th | wall of fire |
| 17th | immolation |
Hotblooded
At 10th level, elemental fire courses constantly within your body. Your exhaustion is now measured in 8 levels; there are no effects to suffer from the first two levels, and from exhaustion levels 3 through 8 you suffer the usual effects listed in Appendix A of the Player's Handbook in the same order. For example, at exhaustion level 3, you suffer disadvantage on ability checks; at exhaustion level 8, you die.
You reduce your exhaustion level by 1 each time you complete a short rest, and you set your exhaustion level to 0 whenever you complete a long rest (provided you have ingested some food and drink for the day).
You can cast dominion spells (and burning hands if you chose the Conflagrate option from your 2nd-level feature) without expending a spell slot; after casting the spell, however, you gain exhaustion levels equal to the spell's level.
Inner Fire
At 18th level, your will is nearly resolute and others with their own passions are in awe of yours.
While you are stoked, you and your courtiers each have a +7 bonus to your passive Charisma (Persuasion) while within your power plane, though it is reduced by 1 for each level of exhaustion you have.
While you are smoldering, you and your courtiers within your power plane cannot be frightened.
Frostfell Monarch
The lineage of Frostfell Monarchs, sparse but full of legend, consists almost entirely of reclusive and eerie individuals. Movement and action are slow in the so-called Plane of Ice, but they are deliberate and weighty. With a sneer of cold command, frozen castles are erected in middle of a blizzard by the might of these kings and queens of ice.
In the lonely solitude of tundras, frozen wastes, and arctic waters, some find boredom; the Frostfell Monarch finds a fertile garden for imagination, creation, and discovery.
Dominion Benefits
When you take this Dominion at 2nd level, you gain the following benefits:
- You gain proficiency with heavy armor. While wearing heavy armor, you have resistance to cold damage, or immunity if you have another source of resistance to cold.
- You can move across difficult terrain created by ice or snow without spending extra movement. You also do not risk falling prone when moving on slippery ice, nor will you break thin ice with your weight unless you choose to.
- Each time an effect references your power plane, you can choose either of the Elemental Planes of Air or Water.
You also choose to gain one of the two following options:
Command. You gain frostbite as a sovereign cantrip and can cast it at a point within range instead of a target creature. When you do so, a 5-foot-radius sphere of dense, frozen mist appears centered on that point, which lasts until the end of your next turn or until you cast the spell again. Its area is lightly obscured.
When a creature other than yourself enters the spell's area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it suffers the effects of the frostbite cantrip.
If the area in the sphere is principally water, the mist does not form; instead, the water freezes into slippery ice and the spell ends. Any creature partially or completely submerged in that water can use their reaction to move up to 5 feet to avoid being trapped in ice; otherwise, the creature is restrained and must use its action to make a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC to break free.
Solitude. You gain ray of frost as a sovereign cantrip. When you cast ray of frost at a target at least 10 feet away, you can spend your bonus action to manifest a fragile barrier of clear ice in an unoccupied space 5 feet away from you between you and the target. The barrier does not block sight but provides full cover. It has an AC of 7 and 4 hit points; the barrier is destroyed when it is reduced to 0 hit points or after 1 minute.
You also can cast ice knife as a sovereign spell. You always have it prepared, though it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. The barrier created by your ray of frost does not obstruct targets of your ice knife; instead, the spell can travel through the barrier unimpeded. Whenever this structure is pierced by your ice knife, instead of taking damage, it gains temporary hit points equal to the damage total rolled for the spell.
Dominion Spells
You gain the following spells at the sovereign level indicated:
| Sovereign Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 2nd | armor of Agathys |
| 5th | Snilloc's snowball swarm |
| 9th | sleet storm |
| 13th | ice storm |
| 17th | cone of cold |
Shelter from the Elements
At 10th level, you can construct and sculpt structures of ice to reshape the environment around you. In lands of heat and change, your bridges and walls represent opportunities and short respites as you continue moving in a hostile world. In cold and desolate reaches, however, your monuments can last for eternities.
When you are creating a structure using this feature, you must choose an area within the Elemental Plane of Air or Water that you can see.
You can spend 10 minutes to create a hemispherical dome of ice with a radius of 10 feet, a sphere with a radius of 5 feet, or a flat surface composed of four contiguous panels of 10 square feet. In any form, the ice is 6 inches thick, and each quadrant or panel has an AC of 12 and 30 hit points.
When you create one of these structures, you can shape a passage to give yourself and other creatures of your size and smaller access into the interior, if applicable. Despite an unsealed entryway (or lack of walls in the case of a flat surface above you), your presence inside or underneath these structures renders the space comfortable to creatures that you choose.
Placing your Shelter
When you use your Shelter from the Elements feature, you must choose an area within the Elemental Planes of Air or Water.
Due to the third benefit from your Dominion Benefits feature, your power plane can be the Elemental Planes of Air or Water, and your Itinerant Court feature states that any space within its radius is considered part of your power plane.
Alternatively, you can spend 8 hours to create a massive block of ice that fits within a 40-foot cube, though only up to half of that space can be solid ice. During that time, you magically shape the ice to suit your purposes, such as a multi-room home or a statue of your likeness, but you cannot carve fine details such as the hinges of doors or the individual hairs on a statue's head, for example. Your creation must be one continuous body of ice, though it can be worked into separate pieces by ordinary efforts afterward while still remaining "part" of the structure.
These structures can hold themselves aloft with the natural magics of the Elemental Plane of Air or Water, but if they are in neither plane for any reason, they must be physically self-supporting to resist the ravages of gravity and will begin to melt in temperatures above the freezing point. If a structure created this way begins to collapse or melt but isn't completely reduced to a puddle, you can use this feature to spend 1 minute to restore it instead of creating a new structure.
Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest.
If you spend 1 minute restoring a structure built this way every day for one year, a 1-mile sphere from the center point of the structure permanently becomes part of the Elemental Planes of Air and Water, unless the structure is destroyed.
Frostfell Encroachment
At 18th level, your shelters become fortresses.
You can cast the wall of ice spell without expending a spell slot. When you cast the spell this way, the sections of wall are not vulnerable to fire damage and they do not leave behind sheets of frigid air when destroyed.
Any section of your wall of ice that stays in the Elemental Planes of Air or Water for its whole duration becomes permanent and can't be dispelled, and its AC and hit points are doubled. As these walls are natural ice, if they are ever outside those planes, they will require structural support to resist falling to gravity and freezing temperatures to avoid melting.
If you cast this wall of ice so that a section is contiguous with a structure you created with your Shelter from the Elements feature (or contiguous with another wall of ice that is incorporated into such a structure), the wall immediately becomes permanently incorporated with the structure, such that spending 1 minute restoring either the wall or the original structure will successfully restore the whole combination. By placing a shelter and then making multiple casts of wall of ice, you can effectively build a walled keep or something more elaborate and creative. You can also use your wall of ice to connect two nearly-adjoining shelters that you've magically shaped, which consolidates both shelters and the wall into a single structure.
Once you've used this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.
Finding Time to Build a Castle
Campaigns can include time-skips. Bring up your desire to make a permanent frost palace with your DM and work together to make it happen. The "every day for one year" requirement matches that of establishing a permanent teleportation circle. Your DM can change such a rule in your campaign.
Gravekeeper
In the dreary and muted plane of the Shadowfell, the landscape is a twisted echo of its parallel planes of the Material Plane and the Feywild, where the same forests could be found shriveled and the same cities could be found in ruin and disrepair. However, patches of the Shadowfell manifest as darklands, where life is quickly drained by negative energy and the limited few entities that can tolerate existence are largely the undead.
Gravekeepers are by no means the respected leaders of zombies and ghasts and wraiths, nor the obeyed masters of vampires and liches and shadow dragons, but nonetheless they are born of the darklands' quirk and spread its influence wherever they go, draining other lands of their vitality to use for the gravekeeper's own.
A gravekeeper that establishes an expansive domain by these means may eventually find the obedience of zombies, ghasts, and wraiths, and possibly even the respect of vampires, liches, and shadow dragons.
Dominion Benefits
When you take this Dominion at 2nd level, you gain the following benefits:
- Each time an effect references your creature type, you may choose to be either a humanoid or an undead for the purposes of that effect. As an example, if both cure wounds and negative energy flood are cast on you in the same turn, you can choose to be humanoid to receive healing from the former and undead to receive temporary hit points from the latter spell.
- Your maximum hit points cannot be reduced. While you are in dim light or darkness, you have resistance or immunity to necrotic damage, respectively.
- Each time an effect references your power plane, you can choose either the Shadowfell or the Negative Energy Plane.
You also choose to gain one of the two following options:
Leader. You can cast false life as a sovereign spell. You always have it prepared, though it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.
Whenever you roll initiative, you gain a special turn that takes place before other creatures can act. On this turn, your action can only be used to cast false life. If more than one creature in an encounter has a special turn preceding combat in a similar manner, they all act first in order of initiative. Then, the regular initiative order begins.
Once you reach 6th level, whenever you cast false life, each of your courtiers gains the effects of a heroism spell as if cast by you. The effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to the spell level of the false life spell that you cast.
Lastly, you also learn the spare the dying cantrip.
Master. You gain chill touch and toll the dead as sovereign cantrips.
A creature that has a clinging hand from your chill touch spell is considered undead in addition to its usual creature types. Your toll the dead ignores any resistance and immunity to necrotic damage on undead creatures.
Dominion Spells
You gain the following spells at the sovereign level indicated:
| Sovereign Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 2nd | cause fear |
| 5th | ray of enfeeblement |
| 9th | summon undead |
| 13th | sickening radiance |
| 17th | negative energy flood |
Laid to Unrest
At 10th level, digging graves is as easy as snapping your fingers, dumping the body, and snapping again. You gain mold earth as a sovereign cantrip, which you can cast as a bonus action in addition to its usual casting time. In addition, if you allow the spell's non-instantaneous effects to last for their full durations, they become permanent.
You can spend 1 minute performing a ritual on the grave of a dead humanoid creature. The surface of that grave becomes a shadow crossing for up to 24 hours, or until the remains are disinterred or destroyed. A grave can only manifest a shadow crossing once, and if its remains are disinterred, those remains cannot be used to produce a new shadow crossing if reburied. You can use your Sojourn feature to open a portal to the Shadowfell in a shadow crossing as an action instead of its usual preparation time.
When dusk falls, or if it is already night, the dead creature manifests as a shadow guardian atop its grave. You roll a d10 to determine which kind of undead creature it is.
| d10 | Shadow Guardian |
|---|---|
| 1 – 4 | Shadow (Basic Rules, pg. 344) |
| 5 – 7 | Specter (Basic Rules, pg. 346) |
| 8 – 9 | Ghost (Basic Rules, pg. 129) |
| 10 | Wraith (Basic Rules, pg. 355) |
Regardless of which undead creature manifests, the shadow guardian is extremely hostile to all living creatures but recognizes you and will stay neutral to you and your allies so long as none make hostile actions towards it, and it permits you to use the shadow crossing to create portals.
The shadow guardian understands its duty is to disallow unpermitted access to the shadow crossing, but it is not restricted beyond its sense of duty, and may chase fleeing targets or engage in terse conversation with other undead. Once the shadow crossing dissipates, the shadow guardian will stay neutral with you and your allies if unprovoked, and otherwise wanders away to enact its own goals.
You or your allies may be able to convince a ghost or wraith to continue a tenuous alliance if its goal of slaughter coincides with accessible nearby targets of your adventuring group, but incorporeal undead are usually wracked with emotional turbulence and impatience; such a negotiation is wholly reliant on the discretion of your DM.
Spoils of Duty
At 18th level, you can cast the soul cage spell without expending a spell slot. Aside from the spell's usual cast time and range, you can also cast the spell as an action only to target a shadow guardian within the range of your Itinerant Court feature, which eliminates the guardian's form and captures a violently energetic facsimile of a soul that can be used as normal for the spell.
Once you've cast soul cage without a spell slot, you must finish a long rest to cast it without a spell slot again.
Whenever the spell ends and your cage would release a shadow guardian trapped inside, you can banish its "soul" immediately into the Negative Energy Plane. If you choose to let it out normally, the shadow guardian will be as it was before you had cast soul cage on it, but extremely hostile to all living creatures without exception, with a particular grudge against you.
Planar Crossings
Fey crossings, or crossroads, are locations where movement between the Plane of Faerie and a second plane is easy, but the entrances to this crossroad were hidden from plain view and required the detect crossroads spell to find. Druids and bards would know some of them, but this was only the first step—an ancient fey known as a crossroad guardian also needed to be convinced to allow passage (fey creatures were permitted by default).
Shadow crossings are the same concept applied to the Plane of Shadow, guarded by an incorporeal undead creature. They're called crossings rather than crossroads because it sounded slightly too edgy to say "shadow crossroads" every time.
Stormlord
Power crashing in from the roiling chaos known to some as the Plane of Lightning, a Stormlord or Stormlady can cause shipwrecks, wash out villages, and set forests alight. These sovereigns tend to be attention-getters, as they are often loud, persistent, and full of vitality.
Dominion Benefits
When you take this Dominion at 2nd level, you gain the following benefits:
- At the start of your turn, you have immunity to lightning damage if you have spent 10 feet of movement since the start of your previous turn; otherwise, you have resistance to thunder damage and have advantage on saving throws to resist effects that force you to move.
- You ignore penalties to Wisdom (Perception) checks from strong winds or storms (magical or otherwise) and you cannot be unwillingly deafened by such effects.
- Each time an effect references your power plane, you can choose either the Elemental Plane of Air or the Positive Energy Plane.
You also choose to gain one of the two following options:
Loud. When you cast a spell that deals thunder damage to a target, you can choose to make it audible from twice as far away; if you do, roll the damage dice twice and use the higher total.
You also gain booming blade and thunderclap as sovereign cantrips.
Persistent. You can cast witch bolt as a sovereign spell. You always have it prepared, though it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. When you cast the spell, you do not need to provide its material components. Though the initial casting of the spell has a range of 30 feet, the spell's range becomes 60 feet for the purposes of dealing damage on subsequent turns and for the spell ending if the target leaves its range.
Whenever you use your action on your turn to deal damage with witch bolt, you can Dash as a bonus action.
DM Advice: Using Weather Effects
It's easy for DMs to forget to include hazards related to weather unless a module calls for it; that's reasonable as it can often feel tedious. However, since there are a lot of exploration-related features here, it's worth an extra effort to prioritize keeping weather relevant—otherwise, it might not be so fun for the player of the Stormlord sovereign character.
The Weather heading on page 109 of the Dungeon Master's Guide begins with a simple 3-roll system of tables for temperature, wind, and precipitation. Players might wish to ask at the end of each long rest what the weather is like that day, in order to prompt the DM's roll.
Page 110 contains sections related to the extreme results of the previous tables' entries. The DM only needs to reference these sections in events of extreme weather.
Once this habit is established, the game should no longer slow down significantly, and weather descriptions should provide color to the world even for players who do not play a character that is so tightly involved with weather.
Dominion Spells
You gain the following spells at the sovereign level indicated:
| Sovereign Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 2nd | thunderwave |
| 5th | warding wind |
| 9th | thunder step |
| 13th | storm sphere |
| 17th | destructive wave |
Perpetual Chase
When you reach 10th level, you can travel through adverse weather events safely and unceasingly.
You gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed. If you already had a flying speed, you can increase it by 15 feet instead. When you fly in strong winds, you do not fall at the end of your turn.
You no longer need to sleep and can’t be forced to sleep by any means. To gain the benefits of a long rest, you can spend all 8 hours doing light activity, such as keeping watch.
Stormcaller
When you reach 18th level, you can bend the weather to your whim and will. You can cast the control weather spell without expending a spell slot. When you cast the spell this way, you cannot change the weather's temperature; however, your Itinerant Court feature extends its radius to 5 miles for the duration of the spell.
Casting and concentrating on this spell counts as only light activity for you for the purposes of short and long rests.
Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest to be able to use it again.
Utter Paragon
In the cacophonous din of murmuring that pervades every pocket in the Plane of Echoes, a non-native creature can barely hear itself think.
"But hearing yourself think isn't necessary," says the voice of a creature, native to the plane, from within the sovereign's mind, "for we can tell you whatever you wish to know."
A different voice telepathically adds, "but of course, for a price... and the only currency we value here is your attention."
The sovereign, however, can speak their own rebuttal just fine, with little impulse to be choosy with their words.
Dominion Benefits
When you take this Dominion at 2nd level, you gain the following benefits:
- You can speak telepathically to any creature within 30 feet of you. The creature understands you only if the two of you share a language. You can speak telepathically in this way to one creature at a time. (If you have another source of telepathy, its range is increased by 30 feet.)
- You learn 2 languages of your choice.
- You gain message as a sovereign cantrip.
- Each time an effect references your power plane, it refers to the Planes of Echoes.
You also choose to gain one of the two following options:
Attention. You gain thaumaturgy as a sovereign cantrip. Whenever you cast the spell to boom your voice, you can choose for your voice to be prioritized over all other sounds in the minds of any creature that hears it, conferring a –10 penalty to passive Wisdom (Perception) to hear other sounds for 1 round (to the end of your next turn) if you speak during your turn. You can select any creatures within range to be exempt from this effect. An affected creature can spend its action on its turn to actively listen, negating the penalty until the start of its next turn.
Rebuttal. You gain vicious mockery as a sovereign cantrip. Whenever you cast message at a creature on your turn, you can use your bonus action to cast vicious mockery on that creature, ignoring the latter spell's range. You do not need to see the creature to target it this way. If you cast vicious mockery this way, you can choose not to hear the creature's reply from your message spell.
Dominion Spells
You gain the following spells at the sovereign level indicated:
| Sovereign Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 2nd | dissonant whispers |
| 5th | magic mouth |
| 9th | tongues |
| 13th | compulsion |
| 17th | contact other plane |
More info about the Plane of Echoes
Nope, this is a set-up! The Plane of Echoes does not exist in any prior official materials. Feel free to run with these themes in any way you wish. This subclass was produced to hammer home that the player and the DM have permission to make up planes of existence and improvise their details.
Bell's Toll
At 10th level, you always have the sending spell prepared, though it doesn't count against the number of sovereign spells you can prepare.
You can use between 5 to 25 copper coins in place of the material component of your sending spell. When you use copper coins as the material component of the spell, the spell's effects change as follows:
- The spell consumes 1 coin before you speak your message, 2 coins after you send it, and 2 coins after a reply is (or would be) received.
- You can spend up to 10 additional turns casting the spell. For each additional turn casting the spell, its word limit increases by 25 and another 1 coin is consumed.
- The target's reply is initially limited to 25 words, but they can speak beyond that limit so long as the spell hasn't ended. Each time their word limit is exceeded, 1 of your coins is consumed, the target's word limit is increased by 25 words, and the spell's duration is increased by 1 round up to 10 additional rounds.
- When all but the last 2 copper coins in hand are spent while casting the spell, the message is sent as-is and the target can reply with up to 25 words, which consumes the last 2 coins and ends the spell.
- If all the copper coins used to cast the spell are consumed from your hand while the target is replying, the target's reply cuts out at their word limit, ending the spell.
When you cast the sending spell this way, the material components are refunded to your hand and your spell slot is not expended if the message fails to reach its intended recipient. You and the target both hear the chiming of a small bell when the spell ends.
Cellular Bond
At 18th level, you can cast telepathic bond as a sovereign spell. You always have the spell prepared, though it doesn't count against the number of sovereign spells you can prepare.
You can cast the spell without expending a spell slot, but when you cast the spell this way, you do not choose the targets; instead, you and your courtiers are the spell's targets, regardless of whether they are within range when you cast the spell. In addition, the spell's duration becomes 8 hours.
When you cast the spell without expending a spell slot, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.
Winter Regent
Although the majority of inhabitants were various evil or corrupted fey, any creature with even a drop of fey blood, or with useful or entertaining skills, could be welcome to the Unseelie Court of the Feywild. Undead creatures were used as menial servants... more successful fey servants were sometimes rewarded with one.
...One of the more notable groups of inhabitants was the Dark Hunt, a loose organization of the most skillful hunters among the Unseelie... Although mainly composed of fey, extremely skilled non-fey were sometimes permitted to join the Dark Hunt.
--- Forgotten Realms Wiki, Unseelie Court
The Queen of Air and Darkness would never deign to allow a competing title vie in her domain, but nothing is more fitting for the Unseelie Court than a potential rival biding their time, hiding their activities, and amassing their power in the pretense of serving the Queen more aptly. The Dark Hunt might be the ideal stepping stone to establish your dominion in this seedier side of the Feywild.
You are a Regent of the Gloaming Court, and while a forceful usurpation is likely too ambitious to entertain, the Queen's presence is tied to her throne, while your form is not.
Dominion Benefits
When you take this Dominion at 2nd level, you gain the following benefits:
- You learn the Sylvan language.
- You gain minor illusion as a sovereign cantrip.
- Creatures have disadvantage on ability checks made to discern any magical illusions you create.
- Each time an effect references your power plane, it refers to the Feywild.
You also choose to gain one of the two following options:
Servant of Air. You can cast ensnaring strike as a sovereign spell. You always have it prepared, though it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. You do not need to maintain concentration on the spell.
You also gain thorn whip as a sovereign cantrip.
Servant of Darkness. You can cast hex as a sovereign spell. You always have it prepared, though it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. When you cast the spell, you do not need to provide its components, and the spell suppresses the target's awareness of the spell's existence unless the target can detect it magically.
You also gain primal savagery as a sovereign cantrip.
Dominion Spells
You gain the following spells at the sovereign level indicated:
| Sovereign Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 2nd | silent image |
| 5th | invisibility |
| 9th | feign death |
| 13th | charm monster |
| 17th | mislead |
Servants of Servants
At 10th level, you can cast summon fey and summon undead as sovereign spells and always have them prepared, though they don't count against the number of sovereign spells you can prepare each day. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can magically conjure a substitute material component, such as a rat skull with a dandelion between its teeth, which fulfills the material component for both spells, but is consumed when used to cast either spell. The component also vanishes after 24 hours if unused.
When you make a Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration on either of these spells, you also add the spell's level to your roll's result.
Illusion of Death
Also at 10th level, whenever you cast feign death, your target is not incapacitated for the duration, and the target can use its action to nullify or resume the effects of the spell, though the target always appears corpse-like.
Woodlands of the Gloaming Court
When you reach 18th level, you can cast conjure woodland beings as a 6th-level spell without spending a spell slot. When you do, the fey creatures summoned are generally evil or at least the unpleasant side of chaotic—but environment dictates, and the DM has final say. Examples exist on the following page.
Once you have used this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
Examples for Conjure Woodland Beings
Ultimately, the DM decides the creatures summoned when a Winter Regent sovereign casts this spell, but in the absence of preferred creature ideas, some stat blocks to use include:
- Sea Hag. CR 2, page 320 of the basic rules.
- Quickling. CR 1, page 187 of Volo's Guide to Monsters.
- Screaming Devilkin. CR 1, page 19 of Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio, Vol. I.
- Reflection. CR 1/2, described on page 158 of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, but whose stat block is an alteration of the shadow from page 344 of the basic rules. Its creature type is fey instead of undead, and it is vulnerable to bludgeoning damage instead of radiant.
- Bramble. CR 1/4, produced here as an alteration of the pixie stat block from page 348 of the basic rules.
Bramble
Tiny fey, neutral evil
- Armor Class 18 (plate mail)
- Hit Points 2 (1d4)
- Speed 10 ft., fly 40 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 3 (–4) 18 (+4) 10 (+0) 14 (+2) 13 (+1) 11 (+0)
- Skills Athletics –2, Perception +3, Stealth +8
- Senses passive Perception 13
- Languages Elvish, Sylvan
- Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)
Wrestling. When the bramble attempts to grapple a target creature within 5 feet, it can use its bonus action to make a Poison Barb attack against the target.
Actions
Poison Barb. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute. If its saving throw result is 5 or lower, the poisoned target is confused and unable to distinguish friend from foe for the same duration, or until it takes damage or another creature takes an action to shake it sensible.
Sovereign Spell List
Unlike the player options of most official sourcebooks, the spells listed for the Sovereign and its subclasses (Planar Dominions) are not restricted to those found in the Player's Handbook. One of the core design tenets of the class was the alteration of existing spells, so some Planar Dominion spell lists required searching exhaustively to find non-redundant yet relevant choices.
In the case in which you receive a Dominion spell that is not accessible to you, work with your DM to choose a suitable alternative—and possibly modify that spell if appropriate!
1st Level
- Absorb Elements
- Bane
- Cause Fear
- Chaos Bolt
- Charm Person
- Chromatic Orb
- Command
- Compelled Duel
- Detect Magic
- Heroism
- Protection from Evil and Good
- Sanctuary
- Tenser's Floating Disc
- Wrathful Smite
2nd Level
- Aid
- Calm Emotions
- Cloud of Daggers
- Crown of Madness
- Enthrall
- Hold Person
- Magic Mouth
- Magic Weapon
- Silence
- Suggestion
- Warding Bond
- Zone of Truth
3rd Level
- Clairvoyance
- Dispel Magic
- Elemental Weapon
- Enemies Abound
- Fear
- Leomund's Tiny Hut
- Magic Circle
- Phantom Steed
- Protection from Energy
- Sending
- Tiny Servant
4th Level
- Banishment
- Charm Monster
- Compulsion
- Dimension Door
- Dominate Beast
- Elemental Bane
- Faithful Hound
5th Level
- Banishing Smite
- Commune with Nature
- Planar Binding
- Steel Wind Strike
Multiclassing
Should you want to multiclass into a sovereign, the prerequisites and proficiencies are as follows:
- Prerequisite: 13 Charisma.
- Proficiencies gained: Light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, martial weapons.
Rules Questions
- (Ashen Dignitary) Can't grease only be a 1st-level spell? "When a spellcaster casts a spell using a slot that is of a higher level than the spell, the spell assumes the higher level for that casting." (PHB, p201.)
- (Ashen Dignitary) Two create or destroy water casts per turn? You can only cast 1 spell of 1st level or higher on a turn, even if the spell doesn't consume a spell slot.
- (Ashen Dignitary) Life transference. That's it. That's the question. You have the option of healing the target for half the usual amount but purging a negative condition on yourself. Don't get bogged down on the semantics of "reduction" in the spell's description.
- (Fey Ancient) Does the natural ammunition become magical when magic stone is cast on it? Yes.
- (Fey Ancient) Is a normal misty step affected by the 10th-level feature? That's the most likely teleportation that you will punish with it.
- (Gravekeeper) Can a Gravekeeper that's "actually" in the Shadowfell make a shadow crossing? Ultimately, while it might not make sense based off the feature's fantasy, the effect isn't worth "policing". A sovereign that reaches its power plane without Sojourn can already use the feature to portal to another location within their power plane, so it's both useful and consistent enough to establish planar crossings as "bridges to nowhere" to allow for quick Sojourning and to let guardians manifest.
- (Stormlord) Can a Stormlord ignore Perception penalties on a rainy afternoon with dark clouds but no thunder? This is sort of a ribbon feature, so the DM and player should come to an agreement as to what determination is appropriate for the fun of the campaign.
- (Utter Paragon) Bell's Toll's might not track its math correctly. Maybe? At minimum, 3 coins are spent on a 1-turn cast of sending and 2 coins are spent receiving a default reply of up to 25 words. At maximum, 13 coins are spent over 11 turns of casting and 12 more coins can be spent to receive 275 words in over 11 rounds—the same round the spell had finished casting, plus 10 more.
- (Winter Regent) Sixteen brambles seems insane! A 6th-level conjure woodland creatures can always be insane.
Suggested Chamberlains
The small list below gives a jumping-off point for the DM to search from in an effort to pick suitable forms when you concentrate on Unseen Servant per your Chamberlain feature. You can also alter existing monsters' stat blocks and add a feature thematically appropriate to the plane.
- Astral Plane: Foo Dog, Githyanki Monk
- Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus: Modron
- Elemental Plane of Air: Air Mephit
- Elemental Plane of Earth: Mud Mephit
- Elemental Plane of Fire: Fire Mephit
- Elemental Plane of Water: Water Mephit
- Feywild: Sprite
- Negative Energy Plane: Xeg Ye
- Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia: Hollyphant
- Plane of Echoes: Blink Dog
- Positive Energy Plane: Xag Ya
- Shadowfell: Ghoul
This is version 2023-10-07. Thanks for taking a look!
Class design:
- Current document by /u/grunnikins
- Original concept by /u/Savark for /r/UnearthedArcana
Layout assets:
- /u/FlamableConcrete's stains for images in backgrounds
- /u/blckthorn's themes for alternative handbook elements
Artwork, in order of appearance:
- Orc Clan Shaman, Nuare Studio Inc., ZeniMax Media Inc. (Elder Scrolls: Legends)
- Sarkhan Vol, Mike "Daarken" Lim, Wizards of the Coast (Magic the Gathering)
- Characteristics of Planes, Jason Engle, Wizards of the Coast (Dungeons and Dragons 4th ed.)
- A Mark of Kings: The Shattered Reigns #1, Billy Christian (billcreative at ArtStation)
- Ayrenn, Dominion Queen - The Elder Scrolls: Legends, Artur Gurin (otomozok at ArtStation)
- Cabal, Chris Cold (chriscold at ArtStation)
- Endless Loop-5, Zhang Jing (zhangjing051130 at ArtStation)
- Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, Great Wheel planar cosmology; Andrew28913 on Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Ysgard, Víctor Manuel Rodríguez (victorsickman on ArtStation)
- Sigil City, Víctor Manuel Rodríguez (victorsickman on ArtStation)
- Dune tribute, Gary Jamga (Jamga on DeviantArt)
- Celestial Dream, Lemmy-X on DeviantArt
- March of the Modrons, Julie Dillon (juliedillon on DeviantArt), Paizo (Pathfinder 2nd ed.)
- Harmonium Champion, Stephen Wood (@stevewoodgames on Twitter)
- Plains (Kaladesh Remastered), Clint Cearley, Wizards of the Coast (Magic the Gathering)
- Battlemage, Greg Rutkowski, rutkowski on ArtStation
- Dragonborn, Wizards of the Coast (Dungeons & Dragons)
- City of Brass, Wizards of the Coast (Dungeons & Dragons)
- Town Guard, Paizo (Pathfinder)
- Follow the freezing moon, Marthe & Ward (DrawingNightmare on DeviantArt)
- The Lord of Death Bookcover, Sebastian Horoszko (TatarskiSkandal at DeviantArt)
- Lady Karla, JiHunLee at DeviantArt
- Mistral the Air Genasi Barbarian, Lindsay Kerner (spiffeigh at ArtStation)
- Dragon Lair Sequence, Daniel Romanovsky (formlanguage at ArtStation)
- Soul Collector, Valentina Remenar (tincek-marincek at ArtStation)
- Bramble, Jon Pickens, Wizards of the Coast (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three)
- Ahkal Throne Room (WIP), Robert Wiese (robwiese149 at ArtStation)