Bant

Bant is a place of rolling plains, towering castles, fortified towns, and the endless quest for honor. The nations of Jhess and Valeron control the coastal regions, while the inland savannahs are divided between the three nations of Akrasa, Eos, and Topa. Bant is a haven of order, honor, and community. Traditions have thrived, and are protected by innumerable knightly orders, warrior angels, and a caste system designed to support the good of the many over the good of the few.

The Nations of Bant

Jhess and Valeron are coastal nations, and some traditionalists claim their seafaring cultures are too lax when it comes to caste. By contrast, the nations of Akrasa, Eos, and Topa strictly adhere to the rules of warfare and honor.

Esper

Esper is a place where purpose and control have triumphed over savagery and chaos. Towering clouds sliced along wizard-defined grid lines float over vast oceans, slate-colored islands, and deserts of glass. Under the foresight of Esper's ruling sphinxes, the plane has transformed from wilderness to a tightly-controlled magocracy. Human and vedalken mages control almost every aspect of life here, from the tides and winds to its inhabitants.

Travelers to Esper should expect a spectacle of sophisticated beauty, not only the plane but also its denizens have been meticulously designed according to a grand plan. Everything here is observed and controlled. The forces of high magic rule supreme.

Tidehollow

A subterranean system of caverns, half-filled with darkened seawater, extends under Esper's largest islands. The seas' tides have worn the rock into a sort of honeycomb, and the caverns continue for miles insland. The pristine magocracy of Esper lives symbiotically with this sinister underworld of slums and shadows.

Cesspools

Esper's cities and settlements are nothing if not clean. Waste material of all kinds is shipped to the Cesspools, deep pits where monstrous creatures swim through the ashen mulch and "process" the refuse. The Cesspools have given rise to their ghoulish ecosystem that Esper's civilized world does its best to avoid.

Sanctum Arcanum

The Sanctum Arcanum is a glass-and-steel vedalken temple fortress in the clouds. The atmosphere above it is enchanted so that it's never overcast, and a shaft of light cuts through a permanent hole in Esper's clouds, forever illuminating the temple. It houses the Codex Etherium, and sages and scholars from across Esper travel to the Sanctum to behold them. Many small academies have cropped up around the sanctum dedicated to studying these sacred texts.

Visitarium

The Visitarium complex has a multitude of "visitation bays" in which humans can host other creatures for various transactions, whether they're for business, educational, or secretive purposes. There are large, central bays in which Esper's sphinxes land to discuss matters with the humans they deem worthy of their communication.

Glass Dunes

Esper’s largest contiguous landscape is a large, glittering, white "sand" desert known as the Glass Dunes. Though normally calm, windstorms here can kick up the glass-dust and permanently blind those whose eyes aren't protected. Beneath the dunes, glacierlike masses of glass slowly accumulate through pressure and time.

Cliffs of Ot

These wind-carved cliffs hang improbably throughout the Sea of Unknowing. Travelers are encouraged to listen to the whispers and wails in the sea spray; some Esperites believe the sounds are the voices of the dead. Vedalken, however, believes the cliffs are a place of mysticism, and that meditating on their heights will yield arcane insights.

Grixis

Grixis is a hellscape of decay and madness. The undead, mad necromancers, and demons feed on the remaining scraps of life, exploiting the meek and enslaving the willing to realize their dark fantasies of power. Meanwhile, the free-willed living eke out survival under the land's cruel conditions.

Boneheaps

Once the kathari are done gnawing on a corpse, they fly the skeletons piece by piece to enormous hills of bones known as boneheaps. There, rats and other vermin clean the rest of the meat from the bones, leaving only clean, dry, clattering remains. The kathari can then use the pieces to construct animated skeletons, jewelry and armor, and bone golems. Boneheaps can be good sources of mana, and are often scoured for valuables by the minions of necromancers and liches.

Torchlight

The few living humans take shelter in small, hidden brick cities known as hermitages. The largest of these hermitages is known as Torchlight, a mountain fortress well-defended with sword and sorcery. It is constantly under siege by flesh-hungry undead and tempted by the promises of demons. To guard against the Damned and minions of necromancers, travelers are scrutinized with entrance tests and magical screening before being allowed to enter the city.

Necropolises

If there is any true civilization on Grixis, it's in the necropolises, cities of the undead. Most necropolises are ruled by liches or demon lords, but others are run by living necromancers. Rulers of necropolises, called barons, constantly war with one another, trying to expand their boundaries and hoards of resources. Some necropolises are built over enormous, labyrinthine systems of caverns that serve as dungeons for the living and storage for the dead. Kederekt is a necropolis of undead-afflicted, half-sunken manor houses near a greasy, acidic sea. Unx is a necropolis most well known for the massive dragon skeleton that circles the city. Unx was once a grand stadium, but its floor has become a huge sinkhole that leads far down to the magma below. Vampires meet here annually to discuss the future of their people.

Droning Iles

The Droning Isles of Grixis contain crumbling towers of ashen crust that are the massive hives of the banewasps (see chapter 5). Banewasps construct their hives in the middle of murky, shallow seas, which help protect their developing larvae from predators such as kathari and plague bats. The constant buzzing of these larva warehouses gives the Droning Isles their name.

Jund

Jund is a landscape of rocky volcanoes, primal jungles, and treacherous tar pits. Jund is a primeval world teeming with poisonous plants and dangerous wildlife. While Jund is home to humans, viashino, and goblins, it's the dragons who are the undisputed tyrants of the land.

Life on Jund is a never-ending struggle of survival of the fittest. Because of the undisputed supremacy of dragons, a geographical hierarchy has emerged among humanoids. The smallest in stature, goblins occupy the high ground, making them easy prey for the dragons. Below them in the scrubby jungles at the base of mountains are the human tribes, while the viashino live in the jungle depths, safe from dragon predation.

Naya

In the jungles of Naya, natural wonders of astounding beauty are veiled by lush forests and secreted between mountain steppes. In this lush land, life is celebrated and nature is revered. Naya boasts an abundance of resources and the most varied forms of life of all the shards. Growth is even accelerated by the warm, wet climate, and some of Naya's animals have reached an awesome scale. Naya is a glorious tropical jungle peopled by nacatl, elves, and humans—and rumors persist of minotaur in its caves and mountains.

Aven

Aven appear as avian humanoids covered in feathers. They have humanoid arms and legs but possess large feathered wings on their backs. Alaran aven take on characteristics of many bird species, including eagles, falcons, and owls.

A proud race of warriors and mages, the avens' homeland is a swath of rocky highland jutting out of the Bant savannah on land claimed by the nation of Akrasa. Though they follow the caste system of Bant, many aven avoid entanglement in human affairs.

The royal family of Valeron in Bant consists of falcon-like aven, while owl-like aven are found among the wizards in the towers of Akrasa.

Aven Traits

You have the following racial traits.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Size. You are Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Flight. Because of your wings, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. You can't use this flying speed if you're wearing medium or heavy armor.

Talons. You have sharp talons that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier piercing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Feathered Ancestry. You gain an additional benefit based on one of the following options (choose when you select this race):

• Powerful Feathers. You can cast the thunderwave spell with this trait. Once you cast the spell with this trait, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have of 1st level or higher. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for when you cast gust of wind with this trait (choose when you select this benefit).
• Silent Feathers. You have proficiency in the Stealth skill.

Elf

Called Canopy Elves by Naya's humans and Vinewalkers by its nacatl, Alara's elves refer to themselves as the "Descendants of Cylia" or Cylian Elves, after their first high priest Cylia. Their appearance is similar to their counterparts on other planes; humanoids with pointed ears and a wide range of human-like skin tones.

The elves live in brightly colored silk tents and congregate around dewcups; pools of water that gather in the canopy's giant ferns. Except for the Anima and her court, the elves are constantly on the move through the jungle in loosely organized groups. There's an elven saying about leaving their handprint in the air; it's the idea that by living somewhere for a time, they then claim fleeting ownership over that area of the canopy. If one group runs into another, everyone sits inside the silk tents, has a glass of lotus drink, and talks for a long time.

Elf Traits

You have the following racial traits.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Size. You are Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 35 feet.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray.

Cylian Magic Sense. You can cast the detect magic spell with this trait. Once you cast the spell with this trait, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have of 1st level or higher.

Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

Mask of the Wild. You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.

Timberwalk. Ability checks made to track you have disadvantage, and you can move across difficult terrain made of nonmagical plants and undergrowth without expending extra movement.

Goblin

Alara's goblins are bestial in appearance with rodent-like features. They have small red eyes, elongated muzzles with powerful incisors, digitigrade feet, and short tails; and they are covered in short brown hair. They are small, barbaric creatures that lack the whimsical side of most other goblins.

Most goblins are spindly in build, but stronger than they appear and very fast. They can wriggle into tight spaces—the word for squirming into a tight crack, the goblin's preferred escape method, is the somewhat poetic phrase plikintok agat, or "wearing the garment of rock."

Jund's goblins live in cairnlike "shelter stones" that are heaped up to keep off the worst predator attacks. Scavengers who pick the bones of old kills, goblins eat insects and worms and gather the roots and tough fruit of the sparse vegetation that grows on mountainsides and plateaus.

Goblin Traits

You have the following racial traits.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid. You are also considered a goblinoid for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be a goblinoid.

Size. You are Small.

Speed. Your walking speed is 35 feet.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were in dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray.

Bite. You have a fanged maw that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with it, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier slashing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Plikintok Agat. Without squeezing, you can move through and stop in a space large enough for a creature one size smaller than you. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the meld into stone spell with this trait. Once you cast the spell with this trait, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have of 3rd level or higher.

Nimble Escape. You can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.

Homunculus

A homunculus is a magically created, living creature created by the alchemical masters of Esper. Homunculi are sentient and self-willed, but typically incapable of defying the demands of their creators. They vageuly resemble small, "toy" versions of vedalken, and are used for a myriad of purposes, but most often as clerks, scribes, and couriers, and as decorative additions to mages' personal retinues. Though the lives of homunculi aren't considered intrinsically valuable, they are kept well protected due to the labor and expense of their creation.

Homonculus Traits

You have the following racial traits.

Creature Type. You are a Construct.

Size. You are Small.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Constructed Nature. You have resistance to poison damage and immunity to disease, and you have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the paralyzed or poisoned condition on yourself. You don't need to eat, drink, or breathe.

Nimble Escape. You can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.

Sentry's Rest. When you take a long rest, you must spend at least six hours in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but it doesn't render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.

Specialized Design. You gain one skill proficiency and one tool proficiency of your choice.

True Life. If the mending spell is cast on you, you can expend a Hit Die, roll it, and regain a number of hit points equal to the roll plus your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 hit point).

In addition, your creator designed you to benefit from common spells that preserve life but that normally don't affect Constructs: cure wounds, healing word, and spare the dying.

Human

Humans are found throughout all five shards of Alara, with the people of each shard having their own culture. Regardless of their shard of origin, humans are physically similar to their counterparts on other planes and display a wide diversity of skin tones and features.

Bant humans are the originators of the caste system of Bant. Uniquely, Bant humans are taught the weapon-based martial art of Halcou from an early age; its name derived from an alabaster bird with legendary grace and speed.

Esper humans are most likely to have etherium-based body modifications and prosthetics, as the vedalken display. Human culture on Esper places a high value on magical prowess; those who lack the proficiency of mages often volunteer to become telemins or "mage dolls," willing puppets for a mage's mind magic that display works of art, such as dance and song, while under the control of the mage.

Grixis humans are typically more pale and gaunt than their counterparts on other shards, and their culture is driven by isolationism and survival in the harsh environs of Grixis. They place a high value on fighting against the undead.

Jund humans are culturally organized into clans that, while technologically inferior, display superior survivability in Jund's jungles and swamps. They are typically leaner than their counterparts on other shards and often display reptillian features as a result of Jund's mana, including forked tongues and scales.

Naya humans are renowned for their physical beauty. Some retain a nomadic, tribal culture and are known as Drumhunters, using the sound of tree roots to navigate and hunt. Other Nayan humans organize around agricultural cities on the jungle floor.

Human Traits

You have the following racial traits.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Size. You are Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Human Resourcefulness. When you make an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can do so with advantage. Once you use this trait, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Skillful. You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice.

Shard Ancestry. Your ancestry lies in one of the five shards, granting you special talents. Choose one shard from the Shard Ancestry table, which determines the feat you are granted (see the Player's Handbook for rules on feats).

Kathari

The Kathari are a race of scavenging vulture-people native to Grixis. Black-winged scavengers with a bald vulture's head and humanoid arms and legs, they circle the skies in search of sites of death, and thus food. Kathari nest in aeries in the mountains of Grixis' Dregscape, perched high to avoid marauding undead.

Their religion, called Skive, states that only those dead whose skeleton has been completely cleansed from flesh have a chance to enter the afterlife. As such, most Kathari treat their scavenging lifestyle as a holy calling.

Kathari Traits

You have the following racial traits.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid. You are also considered an aven for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be an aven.

Size. You are Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Beak. You have a sharp beak that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with it, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier piercing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Flight. Because of your wings, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. You can't use this flying speed if you're wearing medium or heavy armor.

Kathari Resillience. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the poisoned condition on yourself, and you have resistance to poison damage.

Scavenger. As an action, you can feast on the corpse of a creature you can touch that isn't a Construct or Undead, gaining temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus. Once you use this trait to feast on a creature's corpse, the corpse is destroyed and the creature can be restored to life only by means of a true resurrection or a wish spell.

Nacatl

The mountains of Naya are home to the Nacatl, a race of leonine humanoids. Like lions, male have manes, but the coats of nacatl range from mottled-jaguar to silver-gray to totally black. The nacatl used to dominate Naya, with their Empire of the Clouds operating an extensive system of roads, bridges, and aqueducts across the plane — all constructed out of rocks and timbers so finely cut that mortar was unnecessary. Today, the Empire of the Clouds has fallen into ruin.

The Nacatl social unit is the pride. Among the Cloud Nacatl, prides are longstanding and complex familial structures with great histories and bloodlines. The Wild Nacatl, however, have prides that are looser and more changeable. Each pride has a leader, though individuals within the pride generally have the freedom to do as they wish. Leadership and status are determined through ferocity and survival rather than blood ties.

While stonework is used in the construction of roads and large buildings, the Cloud Nacatl prefer to live in drays: small, stone-hewn dens built around tree trunks and in cliff faces. The Nacatl like baskets and reed weaving, decorate their drays with remnants of their warrior past, like old shields, weapons, and exquisite tusk carvings. Celebration and wealth are highly prized.

Most Nacatl have returned to wandering the cloud jungles and grow more feral with each generation, and are known as the Wild Nacatl. Many nomadic Wild Nacatl tribes camp in the ruins of their former civilization. Because of fewer resources in the high jungles, the Wild Nacatl Nacatl have begun wandering into the lower elevations, where they fight both elves and humans over territory.

Nacatl Traits

You have the following racial traits.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Size. You are Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Agility. You can take the Dash action as a bonus action. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Cat's Grace. You don't take fall damage from falling 20 feet or less as long as you aren't incapacitated.

Claws. You can use your claws to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier slashing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Climb. Because of your claws, you have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray.

Hunter's Instincts. You have proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Athletics, Intimidation, Perception, or Survival.

Rhox

Rhoxes are humanoids with rhinoceros-like characteristics, including tough skin and a single facial horn. Warrior-monks and ascetics, the rhoxes have a solitary nature combined with an innate dedication to spiritual contemplation. They have a reputation for physical prowess and an impatience for those who disagree with them. Those rhoxes that don't turn to spiritual retreat usually become muscle in groups of Unbeholden, the lawless caste that have turned against the rules of Bant society.

Rhox Traits

You have the following racial traits.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Size. You are Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Charge. If you move at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with a melee weapon attack on the same turn, you can immediately follow that attack with a bonus action, making one attack against the target with your Horn.

Horn. You have a horn that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier piercing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Natural Armor. You have thick, leathery skin. While you aren't wearing armor, your base Armor Class is 13 + your Dexterity modifier.

Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Rhox Talents. You have proficiency in the Athletics and Religion skills.

Sphinx

Esper is home to a handful of great sphinxes, whose wisdom, magical prowess, and mastery over etherium makes them the rulers of the plane. Sphinxes prefer to remain a mystery to the humanoids, making their homes on distant, remote islands shrouded from view by magic. Their visits with humanoids are reasonably frequent, but sphinxes do not form lasting relationships. All sphinxes are vastly knowledgable and insightful, but beyond that their characters vary widely, from cold and calculating to honorable and beneficient.

Sphinx Traits

You have the following racial traits.

Creature Type. You are a Monstrosity.

Size. You are Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Claws. You can use your claws to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier slashing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Inscrutability. You have proficiency in the Deception skill, and you have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end spells that would sense your emotions or read your thoughts.

Limited Flight. As a bonus action, you can fly up to a number of feet equal to your walking speed, provided you aren't wearing armor. If you are in the air at the end of this movement, you fall if nothing is holding you aloft.

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

Sphinx Sight. Starting at 3rd level, you can cast the detect magic spell with this trait. Starting at 5th level, you can also cast the see invisibility spell with this trait. Once you cast detect magic or see invisibility with this trait, you can't cast that spell with it again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast either of those spells using any spell slots you have of the appropriate level.

Vampire

The vampires of Grixis are not the elegant aristocrats their counterparts are on other planes. Here they have very little actual blood to feed on, so many are reduced to sustaining themselves from corpses and other undead. Their appearance is typically skeletal. Many have lost the ability to fly, but they can still be fierce. Well-fed vampires on the other hand, flush with the power of vis, soar the storm-choked skies, attracting swarms of bats and other minions. Blood-sated vampires have an almost irresistible aura of power, the attraction of which can be difficult to ignore.

Vampire Traits

You have the following racial traits.

Creature Type. You are an Undead.

Size. You are Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Life Span. You are immune to the effects of aging and can't be aged magically.

Bite. You have elongated fangs that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier piercing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray.

Vampiric Nature. You don't need to eat, drink, or breathe.

Vis Drain. You can drain blood and life energy from a willing creature, or one that has the grappled, incapacitated, or restrained condition, provided that creature isn't a Construct. Make a Bite against the target. When you hit, you gain temporary hit points equal to the damage dealt.

While you have these hit points, you have the following additional benefits:

• You have a flying speed equal to your walking speed.
• You have advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks.
• You can cast the animal friendship spell an unlimited number of times, but you can target only bats and rats with it.

Vedalken

Vedalken are intelligent, progressive humanoids with a skin tone that varies from a bluish-white-gray to a dusky, deep blue. They have only the slightest indication of an outer ear, with no lobe or 'rim' — just a hole that leads to the eardrum. They have nostrils but only a slight nose bridge. They have only fine body hair that's uniformly clear and light.

Esper's vedalken are refined, sophisticated, and lawful, and have led Esper both in magical advancement and in the use of etherium. The vedalken are among Esper's most prestigious mortal inhabitants and often hold positions of power thanks to their prodigious intellect and talent for spellcasting. The vedalken are driven to understand everything around them, and are thus in a constant, intense observational state. It can give other species the unnerving impression that they're being monitored and examined rather than talked to.

After Alara was reborn, some vedalken heretics from Esper were drawn to the verdant jungle of Naya. There they reject the cold clutch of etherium in favor of the warm embrace of nature, seeking enlightenment in the infinite patterns of life rather than the dusty confines of ancient tomes.

Vedalken Traits

You have the following racial traits.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Size. You are Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Etherium Armor. Your body is augmented by etherium. While you aren't wearing armor, your base Armor Class is 13 + your Dexterity modifier.

Filigree Enhancements. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the paralyzed, poisoned, or stunned condition on yourself.

Observant. You have proficiency in the Investigation and Perception skills.

Vedalken Cunning. You have advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against spells.

Viashino

Viashino are heavy, muscular humanoids that resemble alligators. They are brutish predators who form "thrashes," small bands that live and hunt in well-defined territories in the swampy lowland jungles. Expert ambushers, viashino warriors are able to wait patiently for days, then move with alarming speed to make their kill.

Viashino Traits

You have the following racial traits.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Size. You are Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Bite. You have a fanged maw that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with it, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier slashing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Grappling Jaws. When hit a creature with your Bite as part of the Attack action on your turn, you can try to grapple the target as part of the same action (see the Player's Handbook for rules on grappling).

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

Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for up to 1 hour.

Natural Armor. You have tough, scaly skin. When you aren't wearing armor, your base AC is 13 + Dexterity modifier.

Sneaky. You have proficiency with the Stealth skill.

Surprise Attack. If you hit a creature with an attack roll, the creature takes an extra 2d6 damage if it hasn't taken a turn yet in the current combat.

Swimming. You have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.

Backgrounds

When you make a character from Alara, choose one of the backgrounds from the Player's Handbook (or another source, at your DM's discretion). This section provides guidelines for adapting these backgrounds to better represent characters from the shards of Alara. If you would like to customize a background in this section, you can replace one feature with any other, choose two skill proficiencies, and choose a total of two tool proficiencies and languages.

Guild Artisan

Alara has no real guilds of artisans, but artisans and merchants are found among Bant's Mortar caste, the hermitages of Grixis, and the cities of Esper and Naya.

Noble

Nobles on Alara are most likely to be members of the Blessed caste of Bant, the noble families who rule nations and commune with angels. A noble might also represent a renowned mage of Esper or a descendant of the elven high priests of Anima.

Outlander

Outlanders are most likely to be from the lands of Jund and Naya, but might also be scavengers who roam the Dregscape of Grixis or make their home on the savannahs of Bant.

Sage

A sage of Alara is most likely one who studies as a member of the Sighted caste of Bant, or the apprentice of a mage of Esper.

Sailor

Sailors, whether traders or pirates, are most likely privateers of the island nation of Jhess in Bant. A sailor might also be a traveler who rides with the Tidehollow Scullers (see chapter 5) of Esper.

Soldier

A true soldier, as a member of an organized army, is most likely to be a member of the Sigiled caste of Bant, though they might also be a member of the Blessed caste who have received strict military training.

Urchin

Urchins thrive in urban environments, and as such are members of the Unbehold caste of Bant, or otherwise urchins in Grixis' hermitages or the cities of Esper or Naya.

Magic Items

This section presents a selection of magic items for your Ixalan adventure or campaign. DMs can use the magic items in this section as a reward.

Mage Slayer

Weapon (Longsword), Rare

Scepter of Fugue

Rod, Rare (Requires Attunement)

Magma Spray

Evocation Cantrip

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 15 feet
• Components: V, S
• Duration: Instantaneous

You extend your hand toward a creature you can see within range and project a blast of magma from your palm. The creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d12 fire damage. The target is disintegrated if this damage leaves it with 0 hit points. A disintegrated creature and everything it is wearing and carrying, except magic items, are reduced to a pile of fine gray dust. The creature can be restored to life only by means of a true resurrection or a wish spell.

This spell's damage increases by 1d12 when you reach 5th level (2d12), 11th level (3d12), and 17th level (4d12).

Resounding Roar

1st-level Evocation

• Casting Time: 1 bonus action
• Range: Self (10-foot radius)
• Components: V
• Duration: Instantaneous

You let out a menacing roar. Creatures of your choice within range that can hear you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or have the frightened condition until the end of your next turn.

Skeletonize

7th-level Necromancy

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: Self (30-foot cone)
• Components: V, S
• Duration: Instantaneous

You unleash a shadowy flame from your hands in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 3d8 + 15 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

A Humanoid killed by this spell rises at the start of your next turn as a skeleton that is permanently under your command, following your verbal orders to the best of its ability.

Voices from the Void

1st-level Conjuration

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 60 feet
• Components: S
• Duration: Instantaneous

One creature within range you point begins to hear the hateful whispers of the forgotten dead. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be afflicted with short-term madness (determined randomly or by the DM; see "Madness" in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master's Guide).

Ascetic Monk

Bant monasteries are both militaristic and spiritual, and monks divide their time between meditation and martial pursuits. Each monastery has a liturgy based on the martial art Halcou, and monks practice this highly stylized combat system using a variety of single handed weapons. Typically, monks commit to vows and prohibitions, such as a vow of poverty or a vow against deceit. Many rhox monks are ascetics, seeking religious inspiration through meditation and a solitary life.

Banewasp

Banewasps are omnivorous insects that nest in reeflike hives that tower over Grixis' sea. Banewasps prefer decaying flesh to other food and will swarm in great numbers in search of freshly dead corpses. Sometimes banewasp larvae feed on the flesh of still motile creatures, which can cause zombies or even humans to become distended and distorted. Banewasps are poor sources of vis, but can be used by necromancers to animate fleshdolls.

Celebrant Angel

Though mortal, angels are not born; they are formed as a result of an ages-old enchantment that affects all of Bant. Whenever a mortal who conforms to Bant's high ideals of honor and valor dies, their soul transmutes into an angelic state. Once the soul has transcended, the angel's new body is comrpised of physical manifestations of magic drawn from the essence of the land and sky. Angels gather at the Cathedral of Bliss, a vast temple of glowing marble and light that floats in the sky above Bant—higher than even Aven can fly.

Angels protect and cherish life, but they're not supposed to interfere in the political maneuverings of mortals. They may champion a cause, guide, and teach, but they do not lead, command, or order.

Dreg Reaver

When a necromancer needs a heavy armor unit, he calls on the dreg reavers. These massive, bestial juggernauts have the strength of elephants, the resilience of siege machines, and the damage dealing capacity of a herd of baloths. Dreg reavers appear in a variety of shapes, all strong and horrible. They can be saddled with war platforms and used as siege engines, or simply set free to wreak massive destruction on a populated area. Some necromancers lash razorwire around the tusks, horns, claws, and tails of dreg reavers, or attach barbed lances to their flanks to augment their pain-inflicting abilites.

Esperzoa

An esperzoa is a large, jellyfish-like creature native to the cesspools of Esper. It floats along the water, using electricity to find bits of discarded metal in the waste, which it consumes as food. The jelly of these creatures is a highly valued ingredient in many alchemical magics, and sells for high prices in Esper black markets.

Etherium Drake

Drakes are dangerous predators on any plane, but the ehterium-infused drakes of Esper should be treated with special caution. The ehtersworn have spent years perfecting their etherium-infusion techniques on drakes before moving on to humanoids; as a result, thousands of etherium drakes soar above Esper. Many drakes have suffered behavioral changes due to their infusions and can be very unpredictable.

Ethersworn

The sanctioned order known as the Ethersworn serves a single purpose: to instill as many living things with etherium as they possibly can. As Esper's etherium supplies dwindle, their mission grows increasingly difficult, and members of the Ethersworn believe the metaphysical "fitness" of their world is at stake. In accordance with teachings of the sphinx Crucias, they maintain that if enough of Esper's life is infused with etherium, all of Alara will transcend its mortal and physical limitations.

* This spell appears in Xanathar's Guide to Everything

Fleshbag

A fleshbag is the flesh of several corpses sewn together into an amorphous, hollow vessel and filled with some animating element such as banewasps or worms, which are under the command of the necromancer. Fleshbags tear easily and are not meant for long-term survival, but can be used as living vessels for vis to be harvested when needed.

Occasionally, a necromancer will animate a fleshbag using a humanoid ghost, the result of which is called a fleshdoll. Fleshdolls can be enormous, bloated with spectral energy.

Fusion Elemental

Elementals on any plane are manifestations of the plane's natural forces, or emanations of the plane's mana. They often appear as incarnations of a single element: fire, water, air, or earth. Alara's conflux, the reunion of the shards into a single plane, has lead to the creation of fusion elementals who incorporate many or all of these elements into a single form.

Grixis Demon

Demons are the embodiment of evil. Unnaturally strong, cruelly intelligent, possessed of natural spellcasting abilities, and ageless; they command dark reverence wherever they roam. Demons feed on vis and can extract it directly from a nearby vital host at will, but love causing mortals to surrender their souls voluntarily. Demons can grant an almost unlimited array of powers to mortals in exchange, and cunningly disguise the cost.

Grixis Devil

The creatures called "devils" on Grixis are minor demons akin to quasits. These smirking, short, red-skinned sadists love to prick and jab at the living, usually to make their last hours as pain-filled as possible. Some devils are employed as torturers by demons, others as cruel slave-drivers for gangs of vitals or packs of undead hounds. Devils are not particularly smart, but are agile and sly.

Grixis Vampire

Grixis vampires are undead creatures who feed on vis. You can read more about vampires in their entry for the Vampire race in chapter 2.

Hellkite

The dragons of Jund, often called hellkites, are most similar to red dragons of other D&D worlds, though they are little more intelligent than beasts. Hellkites make their lairs in mountains and volcanos, and each dragon has a territorial hunting ground which it defends from rival dragons.

Dragons don't reproduce often. A female dragon might lay eggs only once every twenty years. Eggs are hidden in a cleft or fumarole in the side of a volcano within the mother's territory to keep them warm for the year they need to hatch. The mother tolerates the young dragon in her territory for a while, but once they have grown to the size of horses, she treats them as rivals and might even kill them if they don't leave.

Dragon Statistics

Jund's dragons can be represented by the stat blocks of red dragons throughout their various stages of life (wyrmling, young, adult, ancient), except their intelligence is 6, and they understand Draconic but can't speak.

Homunculus

Homunculi are magical constructed created by Esper mages. You can read more about homunculi in their entry for the Homunculus race in chapter 2.

Incurable

Soon after Alara fractured, a race of ogres in the mountains of Grixis became afflicted with a cursed disease that twisted their anatomies and minds. Their shaman-queen undertook a desperate ritual to dislodge the curse from her people, but instead her magic mutated the curse and strengthened its grasp on them all. Generations of bizarre mutations later, the affliction left these "incurables" monstrous and homicidally insane.

Inkwell Leviathan

Kederekt Parasite

Kederekt, facetiously called "Seaside" by Vithian humans, is a series of large manor houses in Grixis that border a sea of greasy, acidic water. The manor houses have sunken into the silt so they're tilted at odd angles. The residents that remain are all undead.

The Kederekt parasite is a strange, abominable horror that stalks the shores around the manor houses. The undead residents have little to fear from it, but any else who pass through must be wary of its ability to stalk them by detecting their minds.

Knight of Bant

Leotau

Knights of Bant's inner three nations ride semi-intelligent feline creatures of the savannah distantly related to the leonin of Naya. They are unique in that they are hooved animals; they have the heads and bodies of lions but possess the legs of horses or bulls. There are three distinct leotau subspecies: the white-coated orisil favored by the Blessed caste; the golden, fleet-footed mherva; and the large, calico/dappled grohm.

Manaplasm

A creature native to the jungles of Naya, the manaplasm is an ooze parasite that feeds off the jungle's mana. When it feeds, it grows larger and stronger for a short time. Spellcasters who are unaware of its nature often find themselves quickly overwhelmed by it.

Mosstodon

The mosstodon is a gargantuan, which are believed by the Nayan elves to be the manifested will of Progenitus. While its nature is uncertain, it appears as a mammoth made entirely of Naya's plant matter; its body is covered in moss and its tusks are made of tree bark.

Saproling

Saprolings are motile plants found on Jund. They are fungal scavengers, feeding on rotting corpses of the jungle floors. These saprolings have something resembling a shell with oversized fungal hyphae.

Sludge Strider

Esper's sludge-filled Cesspools support their own ecosystem of strange creatures. Sludgestriders are monstrous, etherium-infused insects that balance on the surface of the depths using water tension, feeding on passing refuse.

Strix

Esper is home to a large, owl-like bird called a strix (plural striges). Striges resemble ashen-colored screech owls with deep black eyes. The screeh of a strix can drain the thoughts and memories of those who hear it, which in turn nourishes the bird—a form of psychic vampirism.

Tidehollow Sculler

The most fearsome sight in Esper may be the scullers, the undead boatmen of the tidecaves. When the weather on Esper's surface gets too inclement for extended journeys, some humans and vedalken will brave the Tidehollow and entrust their travel to them.

Travelers to Esper should be aware that scullers use strange, nonverbal communication to negotiate their price, and only agree to unusual forms of payment. If you travel with a sculler, prepare to lose something of great and subtle value.