Myths and Folklore Collection

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Myths and Folklore Collection

Artificer: Lumberjack

The Lumberjack is a physically imposing, brawny specialist that are experts in wooden constructions. While still a tinkerer in their own right, a Lumberjack isn’t afraid to get their own hands dirty in collecting raw material needed to create their inventions, sometimes without regard for its impact on the environment.

Tools of the Trade

3rd-level Lumberjack feature


You gain proficiency in the Athletics skill. You also gain proficiency in woodcarver’s tools. If you already have this tool proficiency, you gain proficiency with one other type of artisan's tools of your choice.

Lumberjack Spells

3rd-level Lumberjack feature


You always have certain spells prepared after you reach particular levels in this class, as shown in the Lumberjack Spells table. These spells count as artificer spells for you, but they don't count against the number of artificer spells you prepare.

Lumberjack Spells
Artificer Level Spell
3rd beast bond, speak with animals
5th barkskin, beast sense
9th conjure animals, plant growth
13th blight, locate creature
17th conjure volley, tree stride

Axe Affinity

3rd-level Lumberjack feature


You are practised in felling down trees. You gain proficiency in the greataxe. You ignore the heavy property of the weapon, and you can use your Intelligence modifier, instead of Strength, for its attack and damage rolls. You can also use this weapon as a spellcasting focus for your artificer spells. When you cast a spell on a plant or Plant creature using the greataxe as the spellcasting focus, it has disadvantage on saving throws against the spell.

North American Folklore: Paul Bunyan

The Lumberjack subclass is inspired by the tales of Paul Bunyan, a giant lumberjack and folk hero known in American and Canadian folklore. Many of his tales revolve around his superhuman strength and voracious appetite, as well as his companion, Babe the Blue Ox.

Tales of Paul Bunyan were first thought to have been told by lumbermen in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin at the turn of the 20th century. However, his transformation from marginal folk hero to national legend was through the efforts of W.B. Laughead who, in 1914, appropriated the character into a series of pamphlets made to advertise the Red River Lumber Company.

Today, giant statues of him appear throughout the US and Canada serving as tourist attractions, and remains an iconic figure in popular culture.

Woodcrafter

3rd-level Lumberjack feature


You are a master crafter of wood. Once a day, you can find a tree or other suitable plant of a size no larger than Medium, and spend 1 hour using your woodcarver’s tools to magically convert the tree into 100 lb. of lumber.

You can magically create weapons and armour composed entirely of wood using your woodcarver’s tools. Each object takes 1 hour to craft, and the value of the object can’t be worth more than a number of gold equal to 10 times your artificer level in its normal leather or metal equivalent (see chapter 5, "Equipment," in the Player's Handbook for examples of these items).

The object you craft consumes wooden raw material equal to its final weight in its normal leather or metal equivalent. For example, crafting a wooden studded leather armour consumes 13 lb. of wooden material. If a creature using the wooden weapon or armour takes fire damage, it must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or the object catches fire and becomes unusable.

Ox Companion

5th-level Lumberjack feature


Your exploits as a lumberjack are accompanied by a great beast. You learn the summon beast spell, which counts as an artificer spell for you and doesn’t count against the number of spells you prepare each day.

When you cast the spell, you can modify it so that the summoned creature gains the following benefits:

  • You can only pick the Land stat block when you use the spell. When the bestial spirit is summoned, it resembles a fearsome blue ox.
  • The bestial spirit has a movement speed of 60 feet and has no climbing speed. Additionally, the bestial spirit is considered to be one size larger for the purposes of determining its carrying capacity.
  • The bestial spirit gains a number of temporary hit points equal to your artificer level.
  • If the bestial spirit moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a maul attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the bestial spirit can make another maul attack as a bonus action.

Timber Goods

9th-level Lumberjack feature


You can use the Woodcrafter feature to turn trees into raw material up to twice per day, and the time it takes to magically craft an item using woodcarver’s tools is halved. You can also convert trees of a size up to Large, and a Large tree gives 500 lbs. of lumber.

In addition, the weapons and armour you craft are specifically designed to fell trees and other plants. Your crafting gains the following benefits:

  • Plant creatures take double damage from attacks made by weapons using the Woodcrafter feature.
  • A creature wearing armour made using the Woodcrafter feature gains resistance to bludgeoning and piercing damage. It also gains resistance to all damage dealt by Plant creatures.

Giant Jack

15th-level Lumberjack feature


When a creature wields a weapon or wears armour that you make with the Woodcrafter feature, it gains a +1 bonus to its attack and damage rolls or to its AC respectively. An item made using the Woodcrafter feature no longer becomes unusable when the creature using it takes fire damage.

In addition, your legacy as a lumberjack has given you the strength of giants. You always have the enlarge/reduce prepared, and it doesn’t count against the number of spells you prepare each day. When you cast the spell, you can only choose the Enlarge option, and you can modify the spell in one of the following ways:

  • You can cast the spell as a bonus action.
  • You don’t need to concentrate on that casting of the spell. The spell ends on the target at the end of the spell’s duration or when you cast the spell on the same target again.

Additionally, you can cast this spell without expending a         spell slot a number of times up to your Intelligence               modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all                  expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Barbarian: Path of Adoration

For barbarians that walk the Path of Adoration, their rage is a manifestation of the love and passion they hold toward a person or place they hold dear to them. They use this emotional attachment to fuel their rage, knowing that all that matters is protecting their beloved by any means necessary.

Warrior's Beauty

3rd-level Path of Adoration feature


Your rage is defined by the passion you hold for your loved one. When you first enter your rage, you can choose one willing creature you can see within 30 feet of you to act as your beloved for the rage’s duration. You gain the following benefits while within 30 feet of your beloved:

  • You have advantage on Charisma saving throws.
  • When a creature you can see hits your beloved with an attack or harmful spell, you can use your reaction to move up to your movement speed and make one weapon attack against the attacker.

Charming Strength

3rd-level Path of Adoration feature


Your gait as a warrior offers your words more weight. Whenever you make a Charisma check, you gain a bonus to the check equal to your Strength modifier (minimum of +1).

Norse Mythology: Brunhild and the Vǫlsunga saga

Brunhild is a princess and valkyrie in Norse mythology who is the main character of the Vǫlsunga saga. The saga chronicles the rise and decline of the Völsung clan. Among these stories include Sigurd’s heroic exploits against the dragon Fafnir, and Brunhild’s relationship with the famed dragonslayer. This subclass takes most of its inspiration from the latter story and Brunhild's reputation as a fearsome valkyrie.

Beautiful Veil

6th-level Path of Adoration feature


You project a majesty that is befitting of a passionate fighter. You have advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the charmed condition on yourself. If you are raging, you instead become immune to being charmed. If you are charmed when you enter your rage, the effect is suspended for the duration of the rage. In addition, while you are raging, creatures of your choice within 10 feet of you have advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the charmed condition. At 18th level, the range of this aura becomes 30 feet.

Smitten Form

10th-level Path of Adoration feature


Anyone that attempts to beguile you instead finds themselves looking at you in awe. When another creature attempts to charm you, you can use your reaction to attempt to turn the charm back on that creature. The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier) or be charmed by you for 1 minute or until the creature takes any damage.

Beloved's Passion

14th-level Path of Adoration feature


The feelings you and your beloved hold for each other makes the two of you a combined storm in battle. Once before the end of your next long rest, when you enter your rage and choose your beloved, you can give it the benefits of a rage while it is within 30 feet of you if it is willing (the creature can’t cast and concentrate on spells while raging, as normal). The effect ends for your beloved if you are no longer raging, if you are more than 30 feet from each other, or if your beloved ends its rage effect early as a bonus action.

In addition, when your beloved is reduced to 0 hit points by an attack or harmful spell, you find yourself consumed with fury. You can use your reaction to immediately take an extra turn, interrupting the current turn, and you can do so no more than once per long rest. When you do so, you gain the following benefits, which lasts until you are no longer raging:

  • You gain a +2 bonus to AC.
  • Your melee weapon attacks deal extra damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of +1).
  • You are immune to being frightened, restrained, and stunned. These effects are suppressed for the rage’s duration if you are affected by them.

Barbarian: Path of Giants

Barbarians who walk the Path of Giants tap into their own giant heritage to fuel their rage. Their heritage grants these barbarians the powers and abilities of the giant of their choosing, as well as the ability to grow rapidly in size.

Raging Giant

3rd-level Path of Giants feature


Your giant ancestry has allowed you to tap into its primal power whenever you are raging. When you enter your rage, your reach increases by 5 feet, and if you are smaller than Large, you become Large, along with anything you are wearing. If there isn't enough room for you to become Large, your size doesn't change. You also choose one of the giant types to embody, which grants you certain benefits until your rage ends.

Cloud. You invoke the power of the cloud giants and gain their cunning. You can use the Disengage action as a bonus action.

Fire. You invoke the power of the fire giants and call upon their flame. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to emit a fiery burst. Each creature of your choice within 5 feet of you takes fire damage equal to your bonus rage damage.

Frost. You draw upon the power of the frost giants to bolster your might. Once on each of your turns, when you roll a 1 on a damage dice, you can choose to reroll the dice and you must use the new number.

Hill. You draw upon the power of the hill giants to strengthen your resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and gain resistance to poison damage.

Stone. You draw upon the power of the stone giants to replicate their poise. You can use your Reckless Attack and apply your bonus rage damage to ranged weapon attacks made with thrown weapons.

Storm. You invoke the power of the storm giants and gain their prophetic abilities. You roll a d20 at the start of your rage and take note of the number. Once while raging, when you or someone you can see within 30 feet of you makes an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, you can use your reaction and replace the d20 roll with your own.

Giant Heritage

3rd-level Path of Giants feature


When you choose this path, you gain proficiency with smith's tools, and you learn to speak, read, and write Giant.

Towering Stature

6th-level Path of Giants feature


Your naturally imposing stature makes it hard for others to try and pin you down. You have advantage on contested throws against being grappled, as well as on saving throws against impeding your movement. You can also attempt to break free of a grapple using a bonus action.

In addition, you are considered to be one size larger for the purposes of determining your carrying capacity. This doesn't stack with other traits or features that give this bonus.

English Mythology: Gogmagog and the Historia Regum Britanniae

The Path of Giants is loosely inspired by Gogmagog, a legendary giant that appears in the Historia Regum Britanniae or "The History of The Kings of Britain". The work is a psuedohistorical account of British history written in the 12th century by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It tells of how the exiled Brutus of Troy, along with his fellow Trojans, discovered the island of Albion after being guided by the goddess Diana. The Trojans find the island prosperous, but also inhabited by giants.

Brutus decides to hold a festival of thanksgiving to the gods. However, the giants launch a surprise attack during the festival. Brutus' leadership turns the tide of the battle and the Trojans kill all the giants save for one: Gogmagog. He is spared at the request of one of Brutus' companions, who wants to duel Gogmagog in single combat. The giant dies in the duel by being thrown off a cliff. Brutus then renames the island "Britain" after himself and becomes its first king.

Mighty Impel

10th-level Path of Giants feature


Your connection to giant strength now allows you to hurl both allies and enemies alike. As a bonus action while raging, you can choose one Medium or smaller creature within your reach and move it to an unoccupied space you can see within 30 feet of yourself. An unwilling creature must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier) to avoid the effect.

An unwilling creature must also make a Dexterity saving throw (DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier) after being moved to the unoccupied space or take falling damage and fall prone. This creature automatically fails its saving throw if it is moved to a surface or liquid that can’t support it.

Giant Wrath

14th-level Path of Giants feature


When you rage, your reach now increases by 10 feet, your size can increase to Huge, and you can now use your Mighty Impel to move creatures that are Large or smaller. You also gain further benefits to your Raging Giant feature when you choose a giant type:

Cloud. You further channel the cloud giant’s cunning into your rage. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see.

Fire. The forging flames of the fire giants fuel your rage further. You are immune to cold damage. In addition, creatures of your choice within 10 feet of you gain resistance to cold damage, and can deal extra fire damage equal to your bonus rage damage once per turn.

Frost. You channel the frost giant’s freezing aura into your attacks. Whenever you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can force it to succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier) or have it be restrained until the start of your next turn.

Hill. Your body emulates the hill giant’s resilience. You can choose to gain resistance to an additional damage type.

Stone. You replicate the stone giant’s agility. When you are hit by a ranged weapon attack, you can use your reaction to deflect or catch the projectile. When you do so, the damage you take from the attack is reduced by 1d10 + your Strength modifier + your barbarian level.

If you reduce the damage to 0, you can catch the projectile if it is small enough for you to hold in one hand and you have at least one hand free. If you catch a projectile in this way, you can make a ranged attack (range 60/240 feet) with it as part of the same reaction. You make this attack with proficiency, regardless of your weapon proficiencies.

Storm. Once during your rage, when you or a creature you can see within 30 feet of you fails an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, you can choose to succeed on it instead.

Bard: College of the Departed

Bards of the College of the Departed celebrate the occurrence of death and what comes with it. Stories told by bards of this college portray death as something to be embraced. To them, death is not simply the end of something, but also a new beginning. The death of a person leaves behind it a legacy to be cultivated and memories that people can look back on fondly.

Their connections to death also give bards of this college the ability to raise the recently departed, in what most would consider a perverse act of celebration to the very process they claim to revere. However, these bards will simply say that undeath is one of the many new beginnings that can happen after death.

Macabre Inspiration

3rd-level College of the Departed feature


Your performances have a haunting quality to them. When an ally uses your Bardic Inspiration die, it can choose one target it can see within 60 feet of it to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the target is frightened of both the ally and you until the start of the ally’s next turn. The target also takes psychic damage equal to the number rolled on the Bardic Inspiration die to add to the d20 roll.

Undead's Lethargy

3rd-level College of the Departed feature


You’re able to magically numb one’s physical sensations to be close to death itself. You learn the bane spell, and it doesn’t count against the number of bard spells you know. You can cast this spell without expending a spell slot a number of times up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain expended uses at the end of a long rest.

Mexican Folklore: Día de los Muertos

The College of the Departed subclass is inspired by the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos or “Day of the Dead”. During this holiday, people spend their time honouring loved ones passed and to also make peace with their departure, treating the concept of death with familiarity rather than trepidation.

The celebration was originally derived from the pre-Hispanic peoples of Mexico, most notably the Aztecs, who celebrated this tradition for a month by paying tribute to Mictēcacihuātl, the Lady of the Dead. After the arrival and subsequent influence of Spanish colonists, the ritual was gradually altered to the modern festival that’s known today. Notably, the day of celebration was moved to November 1st and 2nd to coincide with All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, to better fit with the spread of Roman Catholicism at the time.

Anthem of the Departed

6th-level College of the Departed feature


You infuse your songs with magic that allows you to raise the dead. When a Beast or Humanoid you can see dies within 60 feet of you, you can use your reaction and expend a use of Bardic Inspiration to animate it, causing it to immediately stand up. The creature is a zombie, using the zombie stat block in the Monster Manual, and it gains a number of temporary hit points equal to your bard level. It remains animate for up to 10 minutes, after which it collapses and dies.

In combat, the zombie's turn comes immediately after yours. It obeys your verbal commands (no action required). If no commands are given, it uses the Dodge action and uses its move to avoid danger. Whenever the zombie makes an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, it can roll a Bardic Inspiration die and add the number rolled to the d20.

Celebration of Death

6th-level College of the Departed feature


You revel at the sight of death and dying. When you reduce a creature’s hit points to 0 with an attack or harmful spell, you can regain one use of Bardic Inspiration, and you must finish a long rest before you can do so again.

Amongst Death

14th-level College of the Departed feature


You’re able to enter a state of undeath for a limited time. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can use your reaction to expend a use of Bardic Inspiration and not fall unconscious. You still must make death saving throws, and you suffer the normal effects of taking damage while at 0 hit points. If you would die due to failing death saving throws, you don't die until the end of your next turn, and you die then only if you still have 0 hit points.

You must finish a long rest before you can use this feature again.

Bard: College of the Weaver

The College of the Weaver teaches bards to express themselves not just through the physical strings by which they weave their creations, but also the metaphysical strings that bind people together. By doing so, they can move past the superficial affection of crowds and instead intimately tap into the emotions and drives of people.

Weaver's Skill

3rd-level College of the Weaver feature


You learn the tools needed to express yourself through your embroidery. You gain proficiency in the Sleight of Hand skill and with weaver’s tools.

Weaver's Attire

3rd-level College of the Weaver feature


You are able to make costumes that can dazzle others. As an action, you can expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration and spend 1 minute using weaver’s tools to magically create a captivating costume, which grants the wearer certain benefits. If the wearer dons armour over the costume, the wearer will not gain the costume’s benefits.

A creature can only wear one captivating costume at a time. While the costume exists, it takes up one use of your Bardic Inspiration and you don’t regain that use of Bardic Inspiration until you or the wearer makes the costume vanish as a bonus action.

The types of costumes you can make are shown below:


  • Breezy. The wearer’s walking speed increases by 5 feet.
  • Cosy. The wearer has resistance to cold damage and can withstand temperatures below 0 degrees Celsius.
  • Glamorous. The wearer chooses one skill of its choice. It can roll one of your Bardic Inspiration dice whenever it uses that skill, adding half the number rolled to the check.
  • Silky. The wearer can use the Disengage action as a bonus action, and it has advantage on contested ability checks to avoid being grappled.
  • Tactical. A creature has disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks to try and find the wearer.
Chinese Folklore: The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl

The College of the Weaver is inspired by the tale of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. In the tale, after the cowherd, Niúláng (牛郎), meets a weaver girl from the heavens, Zhīnǚ (織女) the two quickly fall in love and marry. Eventually, the couple is discovered by the Goddess of Heaven, who forbids the weaver girl from being with a mortal and forces her back to heaven, creating a rift to separate the two. However, once a year, magpies will flock over to bridge the gap between the two lovers so they can reunite. The tale is widespread in Asia, and is known as the Qīxī (七夕) festival in China, Tanabata in Japan, and the Chilseok festival in Korea.

Strings of Fate

6th-level College of the Weaver feature


You are able to weave strings to tie the emotions of others together. When you cast a spell that forces at least one target to make a saving throw to avoid being charmed or frightened, you can expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration and choose another target you can see within 30 feet of the first. If the first target fails its saving throw, both targets are affected by the spell.

Once you use this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Exemplary Weave

14th-level College of the Weaver feature


The clothes you craft encompass both form and function in perfect harmony. Your captivating costume gains additional benefits based on the type of costume.


  • Breezy. The wearer’s walking speed increases by 10 feet and its jump distance is tripled.
  • Cosy. The wearer now has immunity to cold damage, and is able to take a short or long rest in harsh environments.
  • Glamorous. When the wearer chooses a skill, it can now use the full number rolled on the Bardic Inspiration die to add to the check.
  • Silky. The wearer can move through a creature that is one size smaller than itself.
  • Tactical. The wearer can cast the disguise self spell, using your spell save DC and spellcasting modifier, and it must finish a long rest before it can do so again.

Magpie Bridge

14th-level College of the Weaver feature


Your mastery in weaving has allowed you to always find your way back to a loved one. You can expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration to give a creature a special Bardic Inspiration die. This die lasts for up to 30 days or until you or the creature dies, and you don’t regain this use of Bardic Inspiration while the creature is holding the die. The die can be used for one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, at which point the die is expended as normal. While the die exists, you or the creature can use an action to teleport to the closest unoccupied space within 5 feet of the other, expending the die in the process.

Only one creature can hold this special die at a time, and you can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.

Cleric: Fate Domain

The Fate Domain is concerned with the occurrences of what has, is, and will happen. Gods of this domain ensure that the procession of all events throughout the planes happen within the limits that they have set without deviation.

Clerics of the Fate Domain are staunch believers of determinism. The most devout clerics subscribe completely to the concept of fatalism; accepting anything and everything that is happening as being determined beforehand by the deities they serve.

Fate Deities
Example Deity Pantheon
  Anunnaki Sumerian
  Laima Latvian
  Moirai Greek
  Mórrígan Irish
Fate in Mythology

The concept of fate has been a source of reassurance to early civlisations to explain the physical unknowns of the world around them. Undesirable events could be seen as the whims of fate. Conversely, fate could also be used to explain abnormally lucky events, showing the person as blessed. You can use the Fate Deities table to search more on the culture’s respective fate gods.

Domain Spells

1st-level Fate Domain feature


You gain domain spells at the cleric levels listed in the Fate Domain Spells table. See the Divine Domain class feature for how domain spells work.

Fate Domain Spells
Cleric Level Spell
1st guiding bolt, magic missile
3rd enhance ability, locate object
5th clairvoyance, nondetection
7th divination, locate creature
9th legend lore, scrying

Hand of Fate

1st-level Fate Domain feature


You learn the guidance cantrip if you don’t already know it, which doesn’t count against the number of cleric cantrips you know. When you cast this cantrip, you can modify the spell so you cast it as a bonus action.

You can modify the spell a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Channel Divinity: Foregone Conclusion

2nd-level Fate Domain feature


You use your Channel Divinity to turn the tide of fates in your favour. When you make an ability check, you can use your Channel Divinity to gain a +10 bonus to the roll. You make this choice after you see the roll, but before the DM states whether you succeed or fail.

Channel Divinity: Fateful Intervention

6th-level Fate Domain feature


You push the strings of fate toward favourable outcomes for others. When a creature you can see within 30 feet of you makes an ability check, you can use your Channel Divinity to grant a +10 bonus to the roll. You make this choice after you see the roll, but before the DM states whether you succeed or fail.

Foretelling Future

6th-level Fate Domain feature


You are able to glimpse into a person’s near future. You and a willing creature can perform a 1 hour long ritual where you ask your god a single question regarding an activity the creature will attempt to undertake, or the likelihood of an event occurring to the creature, that is to happen within the next 24 hours. Your god offers a truthful reply, which can be in the form of a short phrase, a riddle, or an omen.

Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until the end of a long rest.

Potent Spellcasting

8th-level Fate Domain feature


You add your Wisdom modifier to the damage you deal with any cleric cantrip.

Predetermination

17th-level Fate Domain feature


You’re able to fix causality for a limited time. At the end of a long rest, roll a 2d10 and record the total number rolled. You can then choose a willing creature (which can also be yourself). That creature uses the number rolled in place of a d20 in all of its ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws until the end of your next long rest. This number is not affected by advantage or disadvantage, and can’t be altered by spells or other effects.

Cleric: Sea Domain

The ocean has always held a sacred place in many cultures and civilisations. Its status as the primordial source of all life has given this domain a level of reverence, tying different cultures together through this common perspective. Deities of this domain are generally benevolent and are usually of a good alignment. See the Sea Deities table for a list of some of the gods associated with this domain.

Clerics of the Sea Domain celebrate and pay tribute to the seas for being the provider and sustainer of life. These clerics worship and protect the oceans from threats, as well as celebrate life’s common origin of the ocean.

Sea Deities
Example Deity Pantheon
  Manannan mac Lir Celtic
  Mazu Chinese
  Poseidon Greek
  Sedna Inuit
Sea Gods in Mythology

The sea has always been an inclusion in the pantheons and folk stories of many different cultures and civilisations. With the majority of the planet’s surface covered in water, and its importance in early and modern civilisation, the seas have always been an entity to be worshipped and to be thankful for. You can use the Sea Deities table to search more on the culture’s respective sea gods.

Domain Spells

1st-level Sea Domain feature


You gain domain spells at the cleric levels listed in the Sea Domain Spells table. See the Divine Domain class feature for how domain spells work.

Sea Domain Spells
Cleric Level Spell
1st create or destroy water, purify food and drink
3rd aid, lesser restoration
5th wall of water, water breathing
7th control water, summon elemental (water only)
9th greater restoration, maelstrom

Ocean's Blessing

1st-level Sea Domain feature


The seas are always open to you. You gain swimming speed equal to your movement speed and can breathe underwater. In addition, you can use an action to grant one willing creature this benefit, which lasts for 1 hour. Once you share it, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Channel Divinity: Provider of Life

2nd-level Sea Domain feature


You can use your Channel Divinity to enhance the life force of a creature. As an action, you present your holy symbol and choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. That creature gains temporary hit points equal to twice your cleric level. It also recovers hit points equal to your cleric level.

Waterdome

6th-level Sea Domain feature


You can create cleansing water to purify your allies. As an action, you create a thin layer of water in a 20-foot radius centred on yourself. The sphere moves with you, and it lasts for 1 minute or until you are incapacitated or reduced to 0 hit points. Each creature of your choice inside the sphere regain 1d4 hit points at the start of each of its turns. It also gains resistance to poison damage and advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the poisoned condition.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.

Potent Spellcasting

8th-level Sea Domain feature


You add your Wisdom modifier to the damage you deal with any cleric cantrip.

Protection of the Seas

17th-level Sea Domain feature


The oceans will always be a place of respite for you. While you are fully submerged under a body of water, you gain resistance to all damage.

In addition, when you use your Domain Spells feature to cast a spell while under the effects of a Waterdome, your concentration can’t be broken as a result of taking damage.

Druid: Circle of the Unborn

Druids of the Circle of the Unborn are a rare circle that align themselves with life that is yet to be. They seek to protect creatures and environments that are about to give birth to new life. Such duties could be watching over budding stalks after a forest fire, overseeing the transition from winter to spring, or guarding a horse as it gives birth to a healthy foal. However, not all life to be is given. These druids often encounter spirits of those that were robbed of a life. Some become haunted by them and become unable to cope. The few druids that find peace with these spirits provide them comfort and assurance, aiding them in their own tasks.

Circle Spells

2nd-level Circle of the Unborn feature


You have learned spells that allow you to protect life anew. You gain additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown on the Circle of the Unborn Spells table.

Once you gain access to one of these spells, you always have it prepared, and it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. If you gain access to a spell that doesn't appear on the druid spell list, the spell is nonetheless a druid spell for you.

Circle of the Unborn Spells
Druid Level Spell
2nd bane, cure wounds
3rd gentle repose, silence
5th revivify, vampiric touch
7th aura of life, death ward
9th antilife shell, reincarnate
Malay and Indonesian Folklore: Pontianak/Kuntilanak

The Pontianak is a vampiric female spirit with long, black hair and dressed in a white, bloodied robe. She is the manifestation of a woman who died during childbirth with a stillborn child. Myths surrounding this spirit describe her as vengeful. She would lure prey, typically young men, with her beautiful appearance, before killing them with elongated claws and drinking their blood. A city in Indonesia is also named after these spirits, as they used to haunt the surrounding area.

Features in this subclass lean more towards the stillborn and vampiric aspects of the myth, with the purpose of invoking a strong dichotomy between the imagery of life and death.

Stilled Summons

2nd-level Circle of the Unborn feature


You call upon the souls that did not have a chance to live and allow them to temporarily manifest. As an action, you can expend one use of your Wild Shape feature to summon a stillborn spirit, rather than assuming a Beast form.

The spirit appears in an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of you. Each creature within 10 feet of the spirit (other than you) when it appears must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or take 2d6 necrotic damage.

The spirit is friendly to you and your companions and obeys your commands. You use the limitations provided in the Beast Shapes table of the Wild Shape feature when choosing the stat block for the stillborn spirit. However, the Creature Type changes from Beast to Undead, and all its attacks deal necrotic damage rather than the original damage type. Also, once on each of the spirit’s turns, when it deals necrotic damage, it can regain a number of hit points equal to half the amount of necrotic damage dealt.

In combat, the spirit shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. The only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block or some other action. If you are incapacitated, the spirit can take any action of its choice, not just Dodge.

The spirit manifests for 1 hour, until it is reduced to 0 hit points, until you use this feature to summon the spirit again, or until you die. If the spirit is reduced to 0 hit points as a result of being damaged by a hostile creature you can see, you can use your reaction to curse that creature. The next time you hit the cursed creature with an attack, the creature has vulnerability to all of that attack's damage, and then the curse ends

Transfer Essence

6th-level Circle of the Unborn feature


You’re able to sacrifice some of your own vitality in order to bolster another’s. You learn the life transference spell, which counts as a druid spell for you but doesn’t count against the number of druid spells you know. Whenever you cast this spell, you can modify the spell in one of the following ways:

  • You can choose two creatures within range of the spell to regain hit points from the spell.
  • The creature regains a number of hit points equal to four times the necrotic damage you take. You can cast the spell without expending a spell slot.

You can modify the spell a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once), and you regain spent uses at the end of a long rest.

Dichotomic Aura

10th-level Circle of the Unborn feature


You’re able to emit auras that represent the precipice between nonexistence and new life. When you first summon the stillborn spirit, both you and the spirit emit these two auras in a 10-foot radius; these are the Quiet Aura and Renewal Aura. You choose which of these auras is emitted by you and the spirit, and the auras move with you (both of you can’t emit the same aura). At the start of each of your subsequent turns, you can choose to switch auras with the spirit. If a creature is inside the area of both auras, it can only be affected by one aura at a time. The auras last until you or the spirit is reduced to 0 hit points, until the spirit disappears, or until you summon the spirit again.

Quiet Aura. Creatures other than you and the spirit that are inside the aura are deafened. A creature that moves into the aura on the first time on its turn or starts its turn there must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or become frightened of you and the spirit. A creature frightened in this way is incapacitated and has a speed of 0. The effect ends when the creature is outside of the aura, if it takes damage, or if someone else uses its action to shake the creature out of its fear.

Renewal Aura. You and creatures of your choice inside the aura have advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the frightened condition, and also regain a number of hit points equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of one hit point) at the start of each of your turns.

Spirit Boundary

14th-level Circle of the Unborn feature


When you use your Stilled Summons feature, you can empower the summoning to gain the following benefits:

  • You and the spirit gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
  • The spirit can move through creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain, but it takes 1d10 force damage if it ends its turn inside a creature or an object.
  • You and the spirit are immune to being frightened.
  • As part of the bonus action you use to command the spirit, you can switch places with it, as long as you can see the spirit and are within 120 feet of it.

These benefits last until you or the spirit is reduced to 0 hit points, until the spirit disappears, or until you use your Stilled Summons feature to summon the spirit again. Once you empower the summoning in this way, you must finish a long rest before you can do so again.

Figher: Islander

The Islander is a crafty fighter that lives by the oceans. Their close spiritual ties to the various islands they call home have allowed them to draw magic from it. As such, an Islander doesn’t simply dwell on these islands, but they also serve as its protector, guarding both the natural environment and the communities that depend on it from those who seek to do harm.

Spellcasting

3rd-level Islander feature


Your affinity with nature has allowed you to cast spells, shaping the forces of nature to your will. See chapter 10 of the Player’s Handbook for the general rules of spellcasting and chapter 11 for the druid spell list.

Cantrips. You know three cantrips of your choice from the druid spell list, of which one must be shillelagh. You learn an additional druid cantrip of your choice at 10th level.

Spell Slots. The Islander Spellcasting table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your druid spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

For example, if you know the 1st-level spell longstrider and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast longstrider using either slot. Spells Known of 1st-level and Higher. You know three 1st-level druid spells of your choice, two of which you must choose from the conjuration and transmutation spells on the druid spell list.

The Spells Known column of the Islander Spellcasting table shows when you learn more druid spells of 1st level or higher. Each of these spells must be a conjuration or transmutation spell of your choice, and must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 7th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.

The spells you learn at 8th, 14th, and 20th level can come from any school of magic.

Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of the druid spells you know with another spell of your choice from the druid spell list. The new spell must be of a level for which you have spell slots, and it must be a conjuration or transmutation spell, unless you're replacing the spell you gained at 3rd, 8th, 14th, or 20th level from any school of magic.

Spellcasting Ability. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your druid spells, since your magic draws upon your devotion to your island home. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a druid spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spell Save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus +

your Wisdom modifier

Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus +

your Wisdom modifier

    Ritual Casting. You can cast a druid spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag.

Spellcasting Focus. You can use a druidic focus as a spellcasting focus for your druid spells

Islander Spellcasting
Fighter
level
Cantrips
Known
Spells
Known
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
3rd 3 3 2
4th 3 4 3
7th 3 5 4 2
8th 3 6 4 2
10th 4 7 4 3
11th 4 8 4 3
13th 4 9 4 3 2
14th 4 10 4 4 2
16th 4 11 4 3 3
19th 4 12 4 3 3 1
20th 4 13 4 3 3 1
Polynesian Mythology: Maui

The Islander subclass is inspired by Maui, a folk hero and demigod in Polynesian mythology. His exploits stretch across the “Polynesian Triangle”, a group of countries around the Pacific Ocean including Hawaii in the north, New Zealand in the south, and the islands of Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Society Islands spanning the area’s vast central region.

Each island has its own folktale regarding Maui’s origin and how he founded their island. However, tales regarding Maui’s feats and exploits are usually told with very little variation, remaining largely consistent despite the ancient Polynesian settlers’ oral tradition and their physically vast distances.

Maui is considered a folk hero with a mischievous personality and many of his legends revolve around fire and the sky. Common legends include the discovery of fire, regulating the rotation of the sun, and lifting the heavens itself to the sky. The combination of these legends and his personality are used as the basis for this subclass.

Island Dweller

3rd-level Islander feature


Your time spent on islands has made you hardy and self-sufficient. You gain a swimming speed equal to your movement speed, and you gain proficiency in one of the following artisan’s tools of your choice: carpenter’s tools, cook’s utensils, or woodcarver’s tools.

In addition, when you cast the shillelagh spell, you can make an attack with the weapon used for the spell’s casting as a bonus action on subsequent turns while the spell lasts.

Tricky Respite

7th-level Islander feature


You’re hard to pin down even when backed into a corner. When you use your Second Wind feature, you can also choose to do one of the following:

  • You teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see.
  • You turn invisible until the start of your next turn, or until you make an attack or cast a spell.

When you reach 18th level, you can choose to both teleport and turn invisible when you use your Second Wind feature.

Elemental Strength

10th-level Islander feature


You draw on the natural wonder of the islands to empower yourself. You choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. You gain resistance to that damage type. Additionally, when you cast a spell that deals your chosen damage type, you can use a bonus action to have that casting of the spell ignore resistances. You must finish a long rest before you can use this bonus action again.

At 18th level, you choose another damage type from the above list, and you can use a bonus action for each damage type once before the end of your next long rest.

Guardian Atoll

15th-level Islander feature


Your island magic lashes out at those who seek to do you harm. When you are concentrating on a druid spell and a creature damages you with an attack or spell, that creature takes fire damage equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of one damage).

Kolohe Maui

18th-level Islander feature

You fight with quick wit, giving your enemies the slip and striking unexpectedly. You can cast the mislead spell, which counts as a druid spell for you. On each of your turns while you concentrate on the spell, including the turn when you cast it, you can make one attack with a weapon as a bonus action.

Once you cast the spell with this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Monk: Way of Zhenren

Monks of the Way of Zhenren emphasises living without assigning extrinsic value to any one thing or person. They remove themselves from conventional dogma of gainful motivation and social value, and reject systems that impose order and restriction. By being solely reactive, these monks believe they can achieve true enlightenment and become a perfect being.

Total Balance

3rd-level Way of Zhenren feature


You aim for equality and harmony. When a creature you can see within 60 feet of you makes an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw with advantage or disadvantage, you can use your reaction and 1 ki point to negate the advantage or disadvantage.

Reactive Strike

3rd-level Way of Zhenren feature


When a creature first moves within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to use Flurry of Blows on it.

Taoist Philosophy: Zhuangzi and zhēnrén

The zhēnrén (真人), meaning “Perfected Being” or “True Man”, is a key concept that has influenced Taoism and its philosophies. The term first appeared in prominence in a collection of short stories called the Zhuangzi (莊子) by the author of the same name during the Warring States period. His stories exemplifies the ideal Taoist sage as being able to move with the chaotic flow of the universe and detach themselves from assigning any meaning to the material. By adhering to these principles, it’s believed one can reach the mind state of a fully realised person and obtain Dao, the source of everything and nothing, and become this perfect being.

Purposeful Inaction

6th-level Way of Zhenren feature


The teachings of your tradition have allowed you to draw power in passivity. If, by the end of your current turn, you have not attacked a creature, you can spend 2 ki points to gain resistance to all damage until the start of your next turn. If you attack a creature before the start of your next turn in the meantime, you lose the resistances.

Worldly Detachment

6th-level Way of Zhenren feature


Your tradition encourages you to take things as they are and be unaffected by drives and desires. You have advantage on saving throws made to avoid or end the charmed and frightened condition on yourself.

Effortless Technique

11th-level Way of Zhenren feature


Your strikes have become second nature to you, requiring little forethought to execute. Once before the start of your next turn, when you make an attack with your monk weapon or an unarmed strike, you can spend 3 ki points to treat a d20 roll of 7 or lower as an 8. You must do this before seeing the attack roll. If the attack hits, you deal extra damage equal to the attack roll minus 8 (minimum of 0 extra damage).

Perfected Being

17th-level Way of Zhenren feature


Your complete detachment from pursuing worldly needs has ascended both your mind and body. If, by the end of your current turn, you have not attacked a creature, you can spend 2 ki points to become immune to being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, incapacitated, and you cannot be put to sleep. If you decide to use your Purposeful Inaction feature at the same time, you only need to spend 1 ki point instead of 2 to use this feature.

If you are affected by any of these conditions when you use this feature, they are suspended until you lose the immunities. Attacking a creature before the start of your next turn causes you to lose these immunities. Finally, when you roll for initiative and have no ki points remaining, you regain 2 ki points.

Paladin: Oath of Charity

The Oath of Charity binds paladins to the path of generous giving. Paladins of this oath know that helping need not be tied to defeating an evil lich’s lair or participating in sanctioned quests by a kingdom. Help to those who need it can and should be given freely wherever one goes. Reassuring the common folk that there are those that still think and actively look out for them, and then following this thought with benevolent action, is central to these paladin’s ideals.

Tenets of Charity

A paladin who assumes the Oath of Charity gives and gives freely, always considering the needs of others before their own.

Benevolence. Share your possessions and give where you can, for doing so is its own reward.

Compassion. Always aid the weak and those in need. They are, by definition, in need of help which makes you, by comparison, in a position to offer it.

Humbleness. Never look down on others no matter their circumstances. Everyone benefits from an act of kindness.

Oath Spells

3rd-level Oath of Charity feature


You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed in the Oath of Charity table. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how oath spells work.

Oath of Charity Spells
Paladin Level Spell
3rd healing word, sanctuary
5th prayer of healing, warding bond
9th create food or water, Leomund’s tiny hut
13th fabricate, Mordenkainen's private sanctum
17th creation, greater restoration

Channel Divinity

3rd-level Oath of Charity feature


You gain the following Channel Divinity options. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how Channel Divinity works.

Charitable Giving. You can use your Channel Divinity and call upon your holy power to help others in need. You can cast any of the spells listed in your Oath Spells feature without expending a spell slot. The spell also doesn’t require material components, unless they are consumed by the spell.

Healer’s Touch. You can use your Channel Divinity to strengthen the effectiveness of your healing. When you cast a spell that restores a creature’s hit points, you can draw from your Lay on Hands and add any number of those hit points to the creature you are healing. If the spell affects multiple creatures, you can divide the Lay on Hands hit points in any way you wish.

You can also spend 5 hit points from the pool to cure the target of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it.

Aura of
Shielding

7th-level Oath of Charity feature


You emit a protective aura while you aren’t incapacitated. You and any creatures within 10 feet of you gain a +1 bonus to AC. At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Restore Life

15th-level Oath of Charity feature


Your resolve to help others in need has bolstered your healing magic. You can cast the heal spell without expending a spell slot and without preparing the spell. Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

Indian Mythology: Karna and the Mahābhārata

The Oath of Charity is inspired by Karna, a major character from the Mahābhārata, one of two Sanskrit epic poems of ancient India. The Mahābhārata details a civil war that breaks out over sovereignty challenges between two groups of cousins. The epic extols the key concept of dharma, the virtue of giving and generosity, and the gods considered Karna to be the best at upholding these ideals. At one point, Karna gives away various blessings from his father that made him immortal, knowing it would lead to his death in an upcoming duel with his half-brother, Arjuna.

Benevolent Figure

20th-level Oath of Charity feature


You become the embodiment of charity and compassion. As an action, you can bestow the following benefits to you and any creatures of your choice within 30 feet of yourself:

  • You regain hit points up to half their current maximum and are cured of all diseases, and any negative conditions or effects.
  • The next time you or any creature of your choice succeed on their next saving throw to take only half damage, they instead take no damage if they succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if they fail.
  • Any damaged objects with a size of Large or smaller are repaired instantly.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Ranger: Ferryman

A Ferryman is a ranger that seeks to protect the natural order of life and death. They utilise their natural talents of tracking and survival to find restless spirits and help them move onto the afterlife. A Ferryman’s motivations might vary; some seek out lost souls like revenants and spectres to help them finish their business, others actively hunt those who purposefully violate and threaten the sacred cycle of life such as liches and evil necromancers.

Enhanced Life Force

3rd-level Ferryman feature


You possess a stronger life energy than most. Your hit point maximum increases by 3 and then increases by 1 whenever you gain a level in this class.

Ferryman Magic

3rd-level Ferryman feature


You learn the spare the dying cantrip if you don’t already know it. When you cast it, grass and other small flowers grow around the body.

You also learn an additional spell of 1st level or higher when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Ferryman Spells table. Each spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of ranger spells you know.

Ferryman Spells
Ranger Level Spell
3rd bless
5th gentle repose
9th speak with dead
13th death ward
17th holy weapon

Soul Cutter

3rd-level Ferryman feature


You’ve learned to sever soul from body in order to take down threats. Once during your turn, when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can deal an extra 1d6 psychic or radiant damage (your choice). When you do so, you can also force the creature to make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, it takes 1d6 damage of the same type at the start of each of its turns for 1 minute. At 11th level, the damage dice for both instances of extra damage increases to 1d8.

The creature can repeat this saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.

Unwavering Nerves

7th-level Ferryman feature


The unspeakable encounters you’ve had beyond the grave has given you an unshakeable resolve. You are immune to being frightened.

Greek Mythology: Charon

The Ferryman subclass is loosely inspired by Charon, the ferryman of Hades. He guides the souls of the deceased who have received their burial rites through the River Styx. Those wishing to board his boat and cross over must pay the ferryman in coin, typically known as an obol. Charon was first depicted in Athenian funerary vases at around 5th century BCE as an unkept and grisly seaman, though depictions of him in later vases portrayed him having a more refined demeanour.

Many of the features for this subclass take inspiration from his role as a guide to help lead departed spirits into the Underworld. The 15th level feature, however, Catabasis, refers to a journey that mortals take whereby they descend to the underworld and then return, achieving partial or full immortality.

Encroaching Lethargy

11th-level Ferryman feature


You guide others on the verge of death over the edge. When a creature fails its saving throw against your Soul Cutter feature, you can use a bonus action to give yourself advantage on the next weapon attack you make against it before the start of your next turn.

Additionally, you can inflict a curse on the creature which lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if another creature fails its saving throw against your Soul Cutter feature, or if the current creature succeeds on its saving throw to end the effect early when it repeats the saving throw. You choose the nature of the curse from the options below:

  • The creature’s movement speed is halved. It also can’t hide from you and gains no benefit from being invisible.
  • Whenever the creature makes an ability check, attack roll, or damage roll, it must roll a d4 and subtract the number rolled from the roll it just made.
  • The creature becomes frightened of you. While frightened in this way, it can only take the Dash action on its turn to move as far away from you as possible.

The curse can also be lifted by the remove curse spell.

Catabasis

15th-level Ferryman feature


Being on the precipice between life and death has allowed you to control your life states to a limited degree. You only need to make two death saving throws instead of three in order to stabilise yourself.

In addition, when you are reduced to 0 hit points and not killed outright, you can choose to immediately return to life with a number of hit points equal to 1d10 + your ranger level. You can regain hit points in this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain one expended use at the end of a long rest.

Rogue: Fear

The Fear archetype enhances their own natural abilities for inflicting anxiety and terror, becoming a bogeyman that strikes dread into anyone who even thinks of them. They are able to instil a sense of unease, making their targets increasingly uncomfortable and, quite literally, scaring them stiff into complete inaction.

Prolonged Fear

3rd-level Fear feature


You strike instinctual dread into your foes when you appear before them. As a bonus action, you can force a creature that you can see within 30 feet of you that can also see you to make a Wisdom saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier). On a failure, it becomes frightened of you until the end of your next turn. If you are hidden from the creature or you reveal yourself from a position of dim light or darkness, it makes the saving throw with disadvantage. You are also no longer hidden from the creature if you were hidden from it before.

This effect ends early if you are no longer within its line of sight, or another creature becomes frightened of you as a result of this feature.

Grim Strike

3rd-level Fear feature


You have the upper hand when others fear you; you have advantage on weapon attack rolls against creatures that are frightened of you.

Frightful Spree

9th-level Fear feature


You stalk those you have frightened with glee. While a creature is frightened of you, you can choose to gain one of the following benefits against it:

  • Your speed increases by 5 feet whenever you move towards it.
  • Once on each of your turns, when you hit the creature with a weapon attack, you regain a number of hit points equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1 hit point).
  • Your reach increases by 5 feet when making an attack roll against it.

You can change the benefits at the start of each of your turns, and the effect ends early if the creature is no longer frightened of you.

Fearful Paralysis

13th-level Fear feature


You scare your quarry into inaction. You can use an action to make a creature that is frightened of you also restrained until the end of your next turn. You must be able to see each other, and the effect ends early if the creature is no longer frightened of you or if it no longer has line of sight of you.

Korean Mythology: Eodugsini

The Fear subclass is inspired by the eodugsini (어둑시니), a type of supernatural creature known as yogoe (요괴) in Korean mythology. The eodugsini, literally meaning “darkness ghost”, is the embodiment of man’s primal fear of the dark, and is first believed to have been recorded in the Goryeo Dynasty in the 10th century. Despite what one might think, this mythological creature doesn’t kill people but instead delights in frightening them.

When one looks at an eodugsini from beneath it, the bigger it grows until it crushes the person under its weight. Conversely, looking at an eodugsini from above will cause it to shrink and disappear, much like how overcoming one’s fears makes them feel smaller.

Avatar of Fear

17th-level Fear feature


You embody all that is sinister about the unknown. When you use your Prolonged Fear against a creature while in dim light or darkness, or when you are hidden from it, that creature automatically fails its saving throw.

Sorcerer: Dreamer

Your magic comes from your close association with the Ethereal Plane, the formless plane that borders the material. Here, gaseous nascent matter swirls around waiting to be shaped into something solid and tangible. As such, your own magic reflects this creational aspect, limited only by your mastery and what you can dream into existence.

Dreamer Magic

1st-level Dreamer feature


You learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown on the Dreamer Spells table. Each of these spells counts as a sorcerer spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of sorcerer spells you know.

You can cast the 1st-level spells of the Dreamer Spells table once without expending a spell slot. Once you cast that spell in this way, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Dreamer Spells
Sorcerer Level Spell
1st colour spray, sleep
3rd alter self, find steed
5th conjure animals, spirit guardians
7th conjure woodland beings, polymorph
9th creation, dream
15th demiplane
Australian Aboriginal Folklore: Dreaming

The Dreamer subclass is inspired by the Dreaming. It is both a creation story and a place that exists outside time and space. The Dreaming explains how ancestral spirits created the physical world that we know today through dreams. Each spirit dreamt of, and subsequently created, a specific aspect of the world. After finally creating Man and imparting instructions for governing the environment, the ancestral spirits either withdrew from the physical world into the Dreaming or embedded themselves in the physical world. These sites are considered sacred.

Because the ancestral spirits are still alive, the period of the Dreaming still continues, connecting the aboriginal peoples to their past, present and future. The Dreaming can also be accessed by man through various rituals such as bodypainting and storytelling through song and dance.

Timeless Waking

1st-level Dreamer feature


You don’t distinguish between the states of linear time, viewing all of existence as one continuous stream. You don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to sleep. You can finish a long rest in 4 hours if you spend those hours in trancelike meditation, during which you retain consciousness. Additionally, when you finish a long rest, you can choose one skill proficiency you lack and gain it. This proficiency lasts until the end of your next long rest.

Ethereal Creation

6th-level Dreamer feature


You tap into the intangible matter of the Ethereal Plane to will things into existence. You gain the following abilities, which you can use as an action and spending any number of sorcery points. At 14th level, the size category for each ability increases by one stage.

You can use each of these abilities once, and you must finish a long rest before you can do so again. If you die, the items and creatures created by this feature immediately vanish.


  • Materiality. You create a nonmagical item of your choice in an unoccupied space you can see within 10 feet of you. The gp value of the item can't be more than 20 times the number of sorcery points spent, and the item must be Large or smaller. The created item disappears after a number of hours equal to your proficiency bonus. If you create another item while the first one still exists, the first item disappears and then the new one appears.
  • Manifest Life. You conjure a Beast or Plant creature into an unoccupied space you can see within 30 feet of you. The CR of the creature can’t be more than half the number of sorcery points spent, and it must be Large or smaller. In combat, the creature shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. The creature is an ally to you and your companions. In combat, the creature shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. You can issue verbal commands to it as a bonus action. If you don't issue any, it takes the Dodge action and uses its move to avoid danger. The creature disappears after 1 minute or when it drops
    to 0 hit points.

Dreamtime

14th-level Dreamer feature


Your connection to the Ethereal Plane allows you to transport yourself there at will. When you begin a long rest, you can cast the etherealness spell without expending a spell slot. If you spend more than 4 hours in the Ethereal Plane when you cast the spell in this way, you don’t gain the benefits of a long rest.

Sacred Site

18th-level Dreamer feature


You’ve deigned a miniature plane as your own domain. You can cast the demiplane spell once without expending a spell slot, and you must wait 1d4 days before you can do so again. Additionally, when a creation you make with your Ethereal Creation feature is stored inside your demiplane, you can affect permanence on it after it has stayed for 1 year. Not even dying will cause the creation to disappear.

The interactions of your temporary creations from your Ethereal Creation feature change slightly when stored inside the demiplane, as detailed below:


  • Materiality. The item doesn’t disappear after its time limit has passed as long as it remains inside the demiplane. If you use Materiality to create a new item whilst the previous item is inside the demiplane, it doesn’t disappear. However, if the previous item is taken out of the demiplane while the newest item still exists, the previous item immediately disappears.
  • Manifest Life. The creature doesn’t disappear after 1 minute if it remains inside the demiplane. If you use Manifest Life whilst a previously conjured creature is contained inside the demiplane, it doesn’t disappear. If the previous creature is taken out of the demiplane while a new creature exists, the previous one immediately disappears. You must provide appropriate food, water, and habitation for the creature while it resides in the demiplane to prevent it from dying.

Warlock: Many Faces

You have entangled yourself into a pact of
many. Your patron is an amalgamation of
conscious minds that constantly shout over
one another in endless wails. All of them press you
to do their bidding. You yourself don't know which voice to listen to, and you have forgotten your own inner voice long ago. Reconciling their constant demands, desires, and pains have all but drive you mad. You try to appease them all despite the futility of it all, as it is all you can do now.

Expanded Spell List

1st-level Many Faces feature


The Many Faces lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

Many Faces Expanded Spells
Spell Level Spells
1st dissonant whispers, false life
2nd detect thoughts, phantasmal force
3rd nondetection, stinking cloud
4th compulsion, confusion
5th dominate person, modify memory

Fearful Utterings

1st-level Many Faces feature


You can unleash the discordant voices in your head onto a creature. When a creature you can see within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll against you, you can use your reaction to force it to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, the creature becomes frightened of you until the start of its next turn and the attack or spell is wasted.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Unnavigable
Subconscious

6th-level Many Faces feature


Your mind is a mental minefield that
is set off by unwary intruders. Magic is
unable to read your thoughts. If a creature
attempts to read your thoughts or enter your mind, it must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature takes 2d6 psychic damage and you also know its current location at the time of the attempt.

Biblical Lore: Legion

The Many Faces subclass is inspired by Legion, a group of demonic spirits from the Bible. Jesus encounters them possessing a man, and they are exorcised into a herd of pigs at their request, whereby they subsequently drowned by causing the pigs to fall into a river. This short encounter is chronicled in the first three books of the New Testament. The original Hebrew text uses a loanword derived from the Latin legio, to mean a large but unspecified quantity.

In popular fiction, the term is now synonymous with concepts such as multiple personality afflictions or being possessed by a hivemind. This subclass' features mostly takes its inspiration from this interpretation of the term.

Torturous Wails

10th-level Many Faces feature


The cacophonous voices in your head are so loud they can be heard by those nearby. Creatures of your choice within 10 feet of you have disadvantage on attack rolls against you. This doesn’t affect creatures with an Intelligence score of 3 or less.

Hive Drone

14th-level Many Faces feature


You unleash your fractured subconscious to mentally overwhelm others. As an action, you can choose any number of creatures that you can see and who can also see you within 20 feet of you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature becomes assaulted by the voices for 1 minute (as if concentrating on a spell). A creature affected in this way can’t take reactions and it must roll on the Drone Behaviour table to determine what it will do during its next turn.

A creature can repeat this saving throw whenever it takes damage, ending the effect on a success. If your concentration is broken as a result of failing a Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration, you roll a number of d10 equal to the number of creatures that were under the effect of this feature, and take psychic damage equal to the number rolled. This damage can’t be reduced in any way.

Drone Behaviour
d10
Behaviour
1-2 The creature uses all its movement to move in a random direction. To determine the direction, roll a d8 and assign a direction to each die face. The creature doesn't take an action this turn.
3-4 The creature doesn't move or take actions this turn.
5-6 The creature falls prone and takes no actions this turn.
7-8 The creature uses its action to make a melee attack against a randomly determined creature within its reach. If there is no creature within its reach, the creature does nothing this turn.
9-10 The creature can act and move normally.

As part of the same action, and on your subsequent turns as an action, you can choose a creature that has been affected by this feature and take total precise control over it until the start of your next turn (this overrides its behaviour determined in the Drone Behaviour table). While controlling a creature in this way, you can speak to it telepathically. You determine what actions the creature will take and where it will move, and it doesn't do anything that you don't allow it to do. During this time, you can also cause the creature to use a reaction, but this requires you to use your own reaction as well.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Warlock: Spiritual Guardian

You have entered a unique spiritual pact with your patron. Your patron oversees all the spirits that roam the various planes, whether still tied to their physical body or not. Your spiritual pact has directly tied your own soul to your patron, thus giving you access to a portion of its power. Your patron helps you grow your affinity with the spirit within you, as well as others that roam the various planes through a special talisman that is the source of your power.

Expanded Spell List

1st-level Spiritual Guardian feature


The Spiritual Guardian lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

Spiritual Guardian Expanded Spells
Spell Level Spells
1st ceremony, sanctuary
2nd gentle repose, healing spirit
3rd revivify, spirit guardians
4th divination, death ward
5th commune, raise dead

Soul Talisman

1st-level Spiritual Guardian feature


Your Spiritual Guardian has taught you to harness the power within your own spirit. You gain a special talisman made of your own spiritual energy. When you fail an ability check, you can add a d4 to the roll, potentially turning the roll into a success. This benefit can be used a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and all expended uses are restored when you finish a long rest.

If you lose the talisman, you can perform a 1 hour ceremony to receive a replacement from your Spiritual Guardian. This ceremony can be performed during a short or long rest, and it destroys the previous amulet. The talisman turns to ash when you die.

If you later gain the Pact of the Talisman feature, your Soul Talisman becomes the amulet given to you by your patron, and the d4 becomes a d6 when you reach 10th level in this class. In addition, once on each of your turns, you can expend one use of your Pact of the Talisman whenever you fail an attack roll or saving throw, but only if you are the wearer.

Ritual Communication

1st-level Spiritual Guardian feature


Your main method of communication with the spirits around you, as well as your Spiritual Guardian, is through embedded practices of intense song and dance. You gain proficiency in a musical instrument of your choice and the Performance skill, and you can use this musical instrument as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells. In addition, you gain the ability to cast your warlock spells as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag.

Sacrificial Offering

6th-level Spiritual Guardian feature


You can offer an earthly sacrifice to your patron in exchange for its blessings. Once before the end of your next long rest, you can perform a special ritual by offering your patron the carcass of a Beast with a CR of 1/2 or lower. You perform the ritual with a musical instrument you are proficient in over the course of 10 minutes. At the end of the ritual, roll on the Sacrificial Boon table for the ritual’s blessing. The wearer of your Soul Talisman gains one of the benefits shown below. Each benefit lasts until the end of your next long rest.

   d6  
Boon
1 The wearer is immune to poison and disease, and has resistance to poison damage.
2 The wearer can choose to expend a use of your Soul Talisman to add a d4 to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw it makes; it can do so only once on each of its turns.
3 The wearer gains proficiency in one skill it isn’t proficient in. The wearer also gains expertise in a skill it is proficient in, which means its proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check it makes with the skill. The skill the wearer chooses must be one that isn't already benefiting from a feature, such as Expertise, that doubles its proficiency bonus.
4 The first time a creature hits the wearer with an attack on its turn, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or take radiant damage equal to your warlock level.
5 The wearer gains blindsight out to a range of 10 feet.
6 The wearer and its allies within 10 feet of it have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.

Talisman of Protection

10th-level Spiritual Guardian feature


You can confer the protection of the spirits onto others. When another creature wears your talisman, you can use an action to cast the warding bond spell without expending a spell slot or material components. You and the wearer of your talisman are warded by the spell. The spell ends early if you are more than 60 feet apart, as normal, or if the wearer takes off the talisman.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Haitian Religion: Haitian Vodou and the Lwa

The Spiritual Guardian subclass is inspired by Haitian Vodou. The religion originated from West African slaves during the transatlantic slave trade, developing between the 16th and 19th century in what was then the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). It blends various influences from the traditional religions of West Africa as well as Roman Catholicism from French colonialists.

The term Vodou literally means "serving the spirits". At the centre of this religion are Bondyé, a supreme creator god akin to god in Christianity; as well as Lwa, spiritual intermediaries between Bondyé and humanity, akin to angels, of which there are over a thousand of them.

Each feature in this subclass is taken directly from an important element in Haitian Vodou; the Gwobonanj for the soul, animal sacrifice to gain favour with Lwa, and the ceremony of possession by a Lwa, done through intense song and dance.

Patron Possession

14th-level Spiritual Guardian feature


Your direct spiritual connection with your patron allows it to possess you when you request its intervention. As an action, the wearer of your Soul Talisman gains all the benefits listed in the Sacrificial Boon table for 1 minute, which ends early if the wearer takes off the talisman.

You also gain the following benefits for the same duration:

  • The wearer of your talisman can use your Soul Talisman feature an unlimited number of times without expending any uses of the feature, but only once on each of its turns.
  • You are immune to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks.
  • If a creature within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll against you with advantage, it loses that advantage.
  • You can attack twice, instead of once, when you take the Attack action on your turn. You ignore this benefit if you already have a feature, like Extra Attack, that lets you attack more than once when you take the Attack action on your turn.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Wizard: Runecrafter

A Runecrafter is a wizard that specialises in carving and invoking runes, ancient magic derived from the old Norse gods, to cast and bolster their spells. Many of its meanings and symbols have been lost to time. However, a growing contingent of wizards have begun research into deciphering the runes, discovering new ways to integrate them into their spellcasting.

Language of Runes

2nd-level Runecrafter feature


Your study into the magical application of runes has made you fluent in its language. You learn to speak, read, and write Dwarvish. If you already know Dwarvish, you learn another language of your choice that uses a Dwarvish script.

Runic is an esoteric language that uses a heavily modified Dwarvish script. When you add spells to your spellbook, they can be written and verbalised in Runic. When you learn a new spell as a result of gaining a wizard level, they can be inscribed normally or in Runic.

Runic Enhancement

2nd-level Runecrafter feature


You can use the runes embedded in your spells to aid yourself and your allies. You learn two such runes now, and learn an additional rune at 6th and 10th level. Each time you learn a new rune, you can replace one rune you know with a different one from this feature.

When you cast a wizard spell, you can invoke one of the runes you know. Some runes require you to cast certain spells to invoke the rune. The effect for each rune lasts for the duration stated or until the same rune is invoked on the creature again. The spell cast must be written in Runic in order to invoke a rune, and you can invoke no more than one rune per spell. In addition, when you have no uses of this feature remaining, you can regain one use of it as part of your Arcane Recovery feature.


  • Alrune. When you invoke this rune, choose a number of creatures up to the spell slot level expended that you can see within 30 feet of you (this can include yourself). The creatures have advantage on the next saving throw made to avoid or end the charmed condition within the next minute.
  • Biargrune. When you invoke this rune, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. That creature can add your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1) to its Strength and Constitution saving throws for the next minute.
  • Brimrune. When you invoke this rune, your speed increases by a number of feet equal to 5 times the level of the spell slot expended, and your movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks. These benefits last until the start of your next turn.
  • Gamanrune. When you invoke this rune, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. That creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be charmed by you for a number of minutes equal to the spell slot level expended, or until you or your allies deal damage to it.
  • Hugrune. When you invoke this rune, choose one creature within your reach. That creature gains advantage on Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks and Wisdom (Insight) checks for a number of minutes equal to the spell slot level expended.
  • Limrune. When you invoke this rune, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you (including yourself). That creature regains hit points equal to 5 times the level of the spell slot expended.
  • Malrune. When you invoke this rune, you gain a bonus to Charisma (Persuasion) checks equal to the level of the spell slot expended for the next hour.
  • Tyrune. When you make a spell attack roll, you can invoke this rune and give one creature you can see within 60 feet of you advantage on its next weapon attack roll. If it hits, it can deal bonus damage equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of one damage).

You can invoke these runes a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Sigil of Warding

6th-level Runecrafter feature


You can call on a rune of protection to guard yourself against threats. You learn the blade ward cantrip, which doesn’t count against the number of wizard cantrips you know. When you cast the spell, you can modify it so that you cast it as a bonus action.

Once you use this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a use of your Runic Empowerment to use it again.

Magical Engraving

10th-level Runecrafter feature


You use your runes to engrave spells for later use. When you cast a spell, you can expend a number of uses of Runic Empowerment equal to the spell slot level to carve out a spell from your spellbook into a rock, a piece of paper, or other Tiny object suitable for the engraving. You can also invoke a rune as part of casting the spell using your Runic Empowerment feature, which is stored along with the spell.

To create this engraving, you must have the spell prepared, it must be written in Runic in your spellbook, and it can be no higher than 3rd level. This engraving has AC 15 and 1 hit point, and it is immune to poison and psychic damage, and all conditions. If the engraving is destroyed, it crumbles into dust and the spell is lost.

While this engraving exists, you can’t regain the uses of Runic Empowerment that was used to create it (including any runes invoked in its creation). A creature holding the engraving can use its action to release the spell within, whereupon the object disappears. The spell uses your spell attack bonus and save DC, and the spell treats the creature who released it as the caster for all other purposes.

Once you create an engraving using this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

Norse Mythology: Runes and the Poetic Edda

The Runecrafter subclass is mainly inspired by the magical runes described in the Poetic Edda, an untitled collection of Old Norse poems of unknown authorship written in the 13th-century. Alongside the Prose Edda, the two works are the most comprehensive written source on Germanic mythology.

The selection of available runes in this subclass’ Runic Enhancement feature take heavy inspiration from the Sigrdrífumál, a section of the Poetic Edda whereby Brynhild teaches Sigurd how to use the magic of runes.

Outside of mythology, the runic alphabet, also known as futhark, is well known as a writing system that was used by Germanic peoples in northern Europe, Britain, Scandinavia, and Iceland from the 3rd century to around the 16th and 17th century.

Rune Maven

14th-level Runecrafter feature


You have mastered interweaving Runic into your spells. You can invoke up to two runes using your Runic Empowerment when you cast a spell. This takes up only one use of the feature.

May Ancestors

Guide You

Made by /u/Stuffies_12 (stuffies12). Created in The Homebrewery & GM Binder.

The stories of our ancient past continue to touch the imagination of countless others far into the future. These tales of gods and heroics told countless times and cross into the realm of fantastical. Is it any wonder we continue to draw from them still?

Lumberjack
Path of Adoration - Path of Giants
College of the Departed - College of the Weaver
Fate Domain - Sea Domain
Circle of the Unborn - Islander
Way of Zhenren - Oath of Charity
Ferryman - Fear - Dreamer
Many Faces - Spiritual Guardian - Runecrafter

Disclaimer

The Myths and Folklore Collection is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Special thanks to exoduspie, Inkayaku, and Juan Bot for their feedback and support.