D&D 5e Warlock Patron: The King of Dreams

On some worlds, an entity deep within the ethereal or feywild gains oversight of the concepts of dreams and nightmares. When such a being is in play, sleeping creatures are, in a real sense, casting their minds into the realm of the King of Dreams. In such places, dreams and nightmares might become coherent, thinking entities in their own right, and gain enough power to threaten the waking world.

Far from omniscient or omnipotent, the King of Dreams often must rely upon servants to attempt to police the vast realm of dreams and the recalcitrant denizens therein. While tending to favor relying on other dreams and nightmares forged by their own hand, sometimes they will speak to a gifted dreamer and offer powers in exchange for service in maintaining the dream realm.

Warlocks of the King of Dreams are often tasked with hunting down rogue dreams and nightmares. These may take the form of fey or aberrations when they escape to the waking world, or may simply hide in the recurring dreams of certain mortals for a Sleepwalker to find. The warlocks may also be sent on more whimsical quests: some religious philosophers struggle to cleanly explain the difference between the King of Dreams and any other Archfey.

Pacts

• Blade: Pact weapons of the King of Dreams seem altogether too fanciful to be real; the idea of the weapon, but not the reality. They tend to be overly large and have adornments that no waking smith would include. And yet, they strike as effectively as any mundane weapon.
• Chain: Devotees of the King of Dreams often have a raven tasked to their aid, a protector and a spy for their patron. It has the statistics of the Psychopomp, though instead of being able to transport incorporeal undead, it can transport dream and nightmare fey and aberrations.
• Tome: A classic dream journal, a dream-pact warlock’s book of shadows is often fanciful, with multicolored ribbon bookmarks, an intricate cover, and beautiful images that spontaneously accompany the spells inscribed within.
• Blood: Blood-pact warlocks of the King of Dreams are generally descended from those that procreated while stuck in a coma, deeply linked to the realm of dreams while bringing a child into the world.

Features

Warlock Level	Feature
1st	Expanded Spell List, Lucidity
6th	Sleepwalker
10th	Sandman
14th	Dreamworld

Expanded Spell List

The King of Dreams 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.

Spell Level	Spells
1st	silent image, sleep
2nd	calm emotions, phantasmal force
3rd	catnap (xge), phantom steed
4th	confusion, phantasmal killer
5th	modify memory, seeming

Lucidity

At 1st level, magic can’t put you to sleep unless you choose to let it affect you. Additionally, when sleeping (naturally or through voluntary acceptance of magical sleep), you retain a rudimentary awareness of the world around you. You do not have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made while sleeping, and may wake and act immediately on your initiative when danger occurs while you are sleeping. You may, similarly, choose to wake immediately if subjected to danger that affects you in your dreams. These abilities do not apply when your patron puts you to sleep.

If you are normally incapable of sleep you may choose to sleep and dream. If you would normally rest fewer hours (e.g., four hours for trance), you only need to sleep this long to complete a long rest.

You have advantage on saving throws against illusion and enchantment spells, and on ability checks to recognize an illusion. You may use your action to grant a target you can touch a new saving throw to end an illusion or enchantment spell. At the DM’s discretion, these abilities also apply to effects that are similar to illusion or enchantment spells, but not technically spells.

You have advantage on Wisdom (Insight) rolls against creatures that dream.

Sleepwalker

Starting at 6th level, you gain the ability to walk through dreams. While sleeping, you may enter the dreams of any other sleeping creature within ten feet per point of proficiency bonus. The DM can describe the creature’s dreams to greater or lesser extent. You may encounter creatures of the dream realm within these visions, interacting with them as if you were in a waking encounter with them and the dreamer. Regardless of the outcome, you gain advantage on Charisma checks against the dreamer for 12 hours after they wake, due to your insight into their mind.

You may also use this ability to visit the realm of your patron while you sleep, and converse with them. At your patron’s whim, you may be led to other dreams or dream realms, and interact with them as if you were in a waking encounter.

Additionally, you gain resistance to Psychic damage.

Sandman

Starting at 10th level, you gain the ability to send other creatures directly to sleep, regardless of hit points. As a bonus action when you hit a target you can see with a weapon attack or spell (or the target fails a save against one of your spells), you may force the target to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or fall asleep as if affected by the sleep spell. Undead and creatures immune to charm have advantage on this saving throw. If you affected multiple targets with the triggering attack or spell, you must choose one creature affected to be subject to this effect. You may use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Additionally, you add the dream spell to your spell list (and may choose another spell if you had already learned this spell).

Dreamworld

You gain conjure fey (6th), mirage arcane (7th), demiplane (8th), and weird (9th) as additional uses of your Mystic Arcanum for the listed level (you may cast the spell instead of the spell you have chosen at that level).

After you take damage, you may use your reaction to enter the Ethereal plane, making it more difficult to affect you with subsequent attacks. You return to your original plane at the start of your turn.

Invocations

Warlocks of the King of Dreams count as warlocks of the Archfey to qualify for invocations.

Dream Vortex

Prerequisite: King of Dreams patron, 5th level warlock, Pact of the Blood feature

You add summon fey (tce) as a known warlock spell (and may choose another spell if you had already learned this spell).

When you cast summon fey or conjure fey, the fey spirit takes the form of a dream or nightmare of a creature within 60 feet of you when you cast the spell; that target has disadvantage on saving throws against the summoned creature’s abilities, and the summoned creature has advantage on attack rolls against that target.

D&D 5e: Additional Chain Pact Warlock Options

It’s weird that only Fiendlocks get Pact of the Chain familiar options that are decent, right? Imp and Quasit are significantly better familiar options than Sprite, and while Pseudodragon at least gets Magic Resistance, it’s only CR 1/4 vs. the CR 1 of the fiendish options. This post offers some options for comparable CR 1 familiars that better fit some of the other patrons, and also a new invocation.

I feel like you should offer the youngest version of the Faerie Dragon as a familiar for Archfey warlocks, so that creates a better option than Sprite for them. Argonine is meant for Great Old One, Lantern Archon is meant for Celestial, and Psychopomp is meant for Hexblade (does anyone make a Hexblade patron warlock that isn’t a bladelock?). For Fathomless and Genie, I feel like a reskin of the Imp or Quasit as a stronger Mephit is probably fine: just make it an elemental and reskin the resistances and powers for the appropriate element.

New Invocation: Empowering Chains

Prerequisite: 5th level, Pact of the Chain feature

Your investment in your familiar improves its capabilities. Whenever you summon your familiar using the find familiar spell, it gains the following benefits:

• The to hit for its attacks, its trained skills, and any saving throws DCs for its actions increase by +1 for every point your proficiency bonus is higher than 2 (essentially replacing its proficiency bonus with your own).
• Its AC increases by half your proficiency bonus.
• It gains additional HP equal to twice your Warlock level.
• It gains the Multiattack action, allowing it to make two attacks with its main attack.
• It gains the Evasion ability, as per the Rogue feature of the same name.

New Monsters

Argonine

A strange “cat” from beyond the known planes, the Argonine is a shadowy mass of eyes and sharp tentacles that can disguise itself as a mortal feline to those that don’t look too closely.

Argonine
Tiny aberration, unaligned

Armor Class 13
Hit Points 10 (3d4 + 3)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
6 (-2)	17 (+3)	13 (+1)	7 (-2)	12 (+1)	12 (+1)

Skills Acrobatics +5, Insight +5, Perception +5, Stealth +5
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, necrotic
Damage Immunities psychic
Condition Immunities charmed, grappled
Senses blindsight 60 ft., truesight 20 ft. passive Perception 11
Languages Deep Speech
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Death Sense. The argonine can sense the exact location of any humanoid or beast within 120 feet with current hit points less than half its maximum hit points.

False Appearance. Unless it is using its Claw Barrage ability, the argonine is indistiguishable from a normal housecat to those without truesight, blindsense, or a link to a Great Old One.

Keen Senses. The argonine has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell.

Light Sensitivity. While in sunlight or equivalent bright light, the argonine has disadvantage on attack rolls. The argonine has disadvantage on saving throws against effects that would cause the blinded condition.

Magic Resistance. The argonine has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Actions

Claw Barrage. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., all creatures within reach. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) slashing damage.

Shadowmeld. The argonine magically turns invisible until it attacks or until its concentration ends (as if concentrating on a spell). Any items carried by the argonine become invisible with it. It may only use this power when in dim light or darkness, and it becomes visible again if it enters an area of normal or bright light.

Lantern Archon

The least of the celestial host, lantern archons are little more than ephemeral balls of light, assigned to lead mortals on the path of virtue by giving good advice and faint aid.

Lantern Archon
Small celestial, neutral good

Armor Class 17
Hit Points 11 (2d6 + 4)
Speed fly 60 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
1 (-5)	18 (+4)	14 (+2)	6 (-2)	12 (+1)	12 (+1)

Skills Perception +3, Religion +0
Damage Resistances radiant; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, grappled, prone, restrained
Senses darkvision 120 ft. passive Perception 13
Languages all, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Innate Spellcasting. The lantern archon’s spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 11). The lantern archon can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
        At will: light, detect evil and good
        1/day: aid

Magic Resistance. The lantern archon has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Actions

Healing Touch (1/Day). The lantern archon touches another creature. The target magically regains 9 (2d8) hit points and is freed from any curse, disease, poison, blindness, or deafness.

Light Ray. Ranged Spell Attack: +6 to hit, range 30/60 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4+4) radiant damage.

Psychopomp

Easy to mistake for a particularly large and clever raven, psychopomps are minions of the Raven Queen that can be sent to aid her followers or to force the dead to move on.

Psychopomp
Tiny beast, unaligned

Armor Class 14
Hit Points 10 (3d4 + 3)
Speed 10 ft., fly 60 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
2 (-4)	18 (+4)	12 (+1)	6 (-2)	12 (+1)	14 (+2)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +6
Damage Resistances necrotic, psychic; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons
Condition Immunities frightened, life drained
Senses darkvision 60 ft. passive Perception 13
Languages all (can’t speak except Raven Speech and Mimicry)
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Death Sense. The psychopomp can sense the exact location of any humanoid or beast within 120 feet with current hit points less than half its maximum hit points.

Magic Resistance. The psychopomp has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Mimicry. The psychopomp can mimic simple sounds it has heard, such a person whispering, a baby crying, or an animal chittering. A creature that hears the sounds can tell they are imitations with a DC 10 Wisdom (Insights) check.

Raven Speech. The psychopomp can learn to croak a number of words equal to its Intelligence score.

Actions

Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit:6 (1d4+4) piercing damage. This attack counts as radiant damage if it targets an Undead creature.

Blink. The psychopomp vanishes from its current plane of existence and appears in the Ethereal Plane, or, if already on the Ethereal Plane, appears in the nearest corresponding unoccupied space on the Material Plane (or the plane adjacent to the Ethereal that it most recently exited from). The psychopomp cannot carry any other living creatures or items with it, but may carry incorporeal undead or other souls. For unwilling incorporeal undead, the psychopomp must be adjacent before using this action, and the undead target receives a Charisma saving throw (DC 12) to avoid being brought along.

D&D 5e: Sorcerer Bonus Spells

So I’ve finally played a sorcerer in 5e up to mid-levels, and am discovering the spells-known crunch is real. I have a larger rant about how the way prepared spells were changed in 5e ruined the balance between the Wizard and Sorcerer from 3e, which I won’t go into here. Suffice it to say that it’s not a ton of fun to agonize over your spell choices each level up, knowing that you’ll never really be able to cast more than two spells of each level (and even fewer at higher level, when you have 15 spells known for 9 spell levels). In particular, constantly chasing variety at your highest spell level leaves no room for lower-level utility spells. Meanwhile, Wizards, Clerics, and Druids can prepare up to 25 spells, from their giant list of resources.

Suffice it to say, I think WotC agrees, given that the new Sorcerer bloodlines in Tasha’s get 10 extra spells. This article simply suggests the same arrangement for the bloodlines from the PHB and XGE.

(As an aside, you could also easily give Warlocks their patron expanded spells as bonus spells known, rather than forcing them to purchase them from their limited spells known, without breaking anything at all.)

Draconic

At the level listed, learn the spell listed under Draconic Spells as a bonus spell known. Additionally, at each listed level, learn the spell listed under your breath weapon’s energy type as a bonus spell known.

	Draconic Spells	Acid	Cold	Fire	Lighting	Poison
1st	absorb elements	tasha’s caustic brew	ice knife	burning hands	witch bolt	fog cloud
3rd	dragon’s breath	melf’s acid arrow	snilloc’s snowball swarm	scorching ray	shatter	protection from poison
5th	fly	water breathing	sleet storm	fireball	lightning bolt	stinking cloud
7th	polymorph	vitriolic sphere	ice storm	wall of fire	storm sphere	blight
9th	wall of stone	maelstrom	cone of cold	immolation	destructive wave	cloudkill

Wild Magic

At the level listed, learn the spell listed under Wild Spells as a bonus spell known. Additionally, at each listed level, roll 1d8 and learn the spell listed for the number rolled.

	Wild Spells	Roll 1d8
1st	chaos bolt	absorb elements burning hands chromatic orb color spray detect magic disguise self silent image thunderwave
3rd	shatter	alter self blur crown of madness dust devil mirror image phantasmal force pyrotechnics web
5th	blink	counterspell dispel magic enemies abound fireball hypnotic pattern major image slow thunder step
7th	confusion	banishment dimension door greater invisibility ice storm polymorph storm sphere vitriolic sphere wall of fire
9th	synaptic static	animate objects control winds creation far step immolation insect plague seeming telekinesis

Divine Soul

At the level listed, learn the spell listed under Divine Spells as a bonus spell known. Additionally, at each listed level, learn the spell listed under your alignment Affinity as a bonus spell known. (At 1st level, this incorporates the bonus spell from your original Divine Magic feature.)

	Divine Spells	Good	Evil	Law	Chaos	Neutrality
1st	guiding bolt	cure wounds	inflict wounds	bless	bane	protection from evil and good
3rd	spiritual weapon	lesser restoration	blindness/ deafness	zone of truth	silence	augury
5th	revivify	mass healing word	animate dead	magic circle	dispel magic	glyph of warding
7th	banishment	death ward	shadow of moil	guardian of faith	freedom of movement	divination
9th	raise dead	greater restoration	contagion	geas	insect plague	hallow

Shadow Magic

At the level listed, learn the spells listed as bonus spells known.

1st	disguise self, false life
3rd	invisibility, shadow blade
5th	fear, spirit shroud
7th	greater invisibility, shadow of moil
9th	creation, enervation

Storm Sorcery

At the level listed, learn the spells listed as bonus spells known.

1st	absorb elements, witch bolt
3rd	gust of wind, warding wind
5th	lightning bolt, wind wall
7th	ice storm, storm sphere
9th	control winds, destructive wave

D&D 5e Class: Survivor

With a new Ravenloft book coming out in the near future, I got to thinking about how it’s easier to do horror games if the PCs aren’t… well… as powerful as 5e characters are out of the gate. So this is a class and a couple of house rule ideas to start out with characters that have a much lower power rating than normal.

Rerolled Random Stats

When you make your character, roll 3d6 six times to generate ability scores, and arrange them as desired. Each time you level up, roll another six ability scores. You may choose to keep your original scores or replace all of them with the new set of scores. (Ability score bonuses, such as from race, ability score improvements/feats, etc. are reapplied after replacing your scores.)

When you generate hit points, roll instead of taking the default values (i.e., maximum at first level, average rounded up at subsequent levels). Instead of rolling a new die when you level, roll all hit dice you’re entitled to. If the adjusted total (including Constitution and other bonuses) is greater than your previous level’s total, use the new total. Otherwise retain the total from the previous level. Make this roll after adjusting ability scores and hit dice.

The Survivor

Most citizens never plan a life of adventure until it is thrust upon them. Without years of training in combat, magic, and stealth they have to pick up these lessons as they go.

As a survivor, you were destined for a simple role as one of the common folk, until greatness was thrust upon you and you have to do your best to learn what you can before you die.

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features
1st	+2	Proficiency (Skill)
2nd	+2	Aspiration
3rd	+2	Proficiency (Saving Throw)
4th	+2	Ability Score Improvement
5th	+3	Class Training

Class Features

As a survivor, you gain the following class features:

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d6 per survivor level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 6 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d6 (or 4) + you Constitution modifier per survivor level after 1st

Proficiencies

The survivor gains no initial proficiencies except those provided by race and background (and from your Proficiency class feature, below). Survivors that start especially young might not even have the benefits of their background at the start of play.

Equipment

You start with only the equipment provided by your background.

Proficiency

You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice. At 3rd level, you become proficient in one saving throw of your choice.

All choices should be ones available to the adventuring class you eventually plan to join.

Aspiration

At 2nd level, you choose an aspiration that indicates how your talents will develop as you take on the role of an adventurer. Choose Adept, Expert, or Warrior, each detailed at the end of the class description.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, and 16th level (if you retain this class that long), you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Class Training

By 5th level, you have finally reached the point that you can begin to develop the skills of the adventuring class you have been working toward.

If you have an extended downtime, you can simply transfer directly into the appropriate class at the same level, replacing any statistics with their upgraded versions. You do not gain any abilities or proficiencies from this process that you would not have gained leveling in the class normally.

If you must train “on the fly,” then slowly add abilities from the new class at a pace set by your DM until you are a fully functioning member of the new class.

This class does not gain any new features past 5th level, but can continue to level if it takes a very long period to fully acquire the new class.

Aspirations

The first step to becoming a true member of an adventuring class is picking up the rudiments of magic, warfare, or expertise.

Adept

Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Ranger, Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard

You were likely always somewhat odd, either overly studious or thought of as somewhat touched. Strange things happened near you, but for some reason your magical powers did not begin to come under your control until forced to develop them.

Starting when you choose this aspiration at 2nd level, you gain the ability to cast spells. Use the spells known and spell slots per spell level of a Ranger. Choose the spellcasting ability and spell list of the class you intend to become (Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Ranger, Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard).

If you intend to become a Ranger or Paladin, you gain proficiency in light armor and simple weapons. If you intend to become any other type of spellcaster, you gain two cantrips from that class’ list.

Expert

Artificer, Bard, Monk, Ranger, or Rogue

You have always been studious and clever, just waiting for an opportunity to blossom.

Your hit dice for this class increase to d8 (including the one from 1st level, causing you to recalculate hit points). You gain proficiency in simple weapons. You gain proficiency in the skill of your choice (from the list of the class you intend to pursue: Artificer, Bard, Monk, Ranger, or Rogue).

If you intend to become a Bard, Ranger, or Rogue, you gain proficiency in another skill of your choice (from the class’ list). If you intend to become an Artificer or Monk, you gain proficiency in the second saving throw common to your class.

If you intend to become a Ranger, you gain proficiency in simple weapons. Otherwise, you gain proficiency in one tool or instrument of your choice.

Warrior

Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, or Ranger

You were always stronger and tougher than others, and are finding that manifested in your combat ability now that you have had to fight to survive.

Your hit dice for this class increase to d10 (including the one from 1st level, causing you to recalculate hit points). You gain proficiency in simple weapons, light armor, and one martial weapon of your choice.

D&D 5e: Plane Touched Feats

The Fey Touched and Shadow Touched feats in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything are a much-appreciated addition to the ranks of feats that give you a mental ability score bump plus something else (I was so tired of taking Actor on all of my Charisma-casters). They’re a little bit identical, so very easy to expand to make sure all the other sorcerers and warlocks get a chance to pick up some minor upgrades based on their power theme:

Plane Touched

Your exposure to the magic of a certain plane has changed you, granting you the following benefits:

• Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
• You learn a single spell (listed below for the plane chosen) and a 1st-level spell of your choice. The 1st-level spell must be from one of the schools listed below for the plane chosen. You can cast each of these spells without expending a spell slot. Once you cast either of these spells in this way, you can’t cast that spell again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast these spells using spell slots you have of the appropriate level. The spells’ spellcasting ability is the ability increased by this feat.

Plane	Spell	Schools
Abyss	Darkness	Evocation, Necromancy
Air	Gust of Wind	Conjuration, Transmutation
Astral	Mind Whip (TCE)	Divination, Enchantment
Chaos	Mirror Image*	Evocation, Illusion
Earth	Earthbind (XGE)	Abjuration, Conjuration
Ethereal	See Invisibility	Conjuration, Illusion
Fire	Scorching Ray	Evocation, Divination
Heaven	Spiritual Weapon	Abjuration, Divination
Hell	Suggestion	Enchantment, Necromancy
Order	Zone of Truth	Abjuration, Transmutation
Outside	Mind Spike (XGE)*	Enchantment, Illusion
Water	Blur	Divination, Transmutation

 

* Either of these could have Crown of Madness instead, but only with Brandes’ fixes so it’s something a player might want to use.

5e Background: Sole Survivor

Whatever you were before, your history pales before what you were made to be: the sole survivor of a horrifying event. It might have been a single night of terror, you and your friends stalked through the darkness trying to survive until dawn. It might have been years of slowly-dwindling resistance, trapped in an occupied city. Your tormentors may have been inhuman antagonists, impossible to communicate with or placate, or they may have been monsters of a worse sort: those who were much like you but chose to exterminate all you knew anyway. Whatever the tribulation, at the end, only you remained of those who entered the crucible with you.

Surviving something like that changes you deeply. Despite the nightmares and trauma, you never broke. Perhaps you can’t break, now: all the soft, vulnerable spots in your psyche have been made hard. That hardening, however, makes it difficult to connect with others who can’t truly know what it’s like to have such an experience. You’ve probably turned to adventuring because there’s no longer a place for you in normal society. Somehow, fighting for your life in the darkness again and again is comforting. At least, now, you usually choose what you face.

Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from Perception, Stealth, or Survival
Tool Proficiencies: One type of artisan’s tools (used to make items needed for your survival)
Languages: The language of the enemy that pursued you
Equipment: A simple weapon (a rare example of a fully-functional item you salvaged), a set of artisan tools with which you’re proficient, slightly-damaged common clothes, and a belt pouch with 10 gp worth of assorted coins you’ve scavenged.

Feature: Vigilance

It served you well during your ordeal to keep an eye on your surroundings at all times, waiting for an attack from any direction, and you have not gotten over this wary anxiety. You have advantage on rolls to detect an ambush or otherwise avoid attempts to surprise you with an attack, even while theoretically safe (which can counter disadvantage from these conditions, such as being asleep). (Opponents have disadvantage on rolls to ambush you that target your Passive Perception.)

Variant Feature: Improvisation

You can generally scrounge materials to create equipment that is serviceable from the detritus of civilization. Given access to your artisan’s tools and some kind of raw materials that would make sense in the construction, during a short rest you can cobble together an item that will be functional, if flawed. The item tends to break whenever you roll a 1 using it (or an enemy rolls a 20, for armor other other defensive items), and, in the case of alchemical concoctions, does half its normal effect and expires in 24 hours.

Suggested Characteristics

Sole survivors tend to be damaged in a number of ways, but with a deep inner strength and conviction that saw them through.

d8 Personality Trait

1. The safest place for food is in my belly. I don’t know when I’ll get to eat again.
2. I don’t talk much. I guess I got out of the habit.
3. “Unflappable” is a good word for me: it takes a lot to make me flinch.
4. There are a few seemingly meaningless perks of civilization that I’m disproportionately excited about. I never thought I’d see them again.
5. People are neat (even people I don’t like). I’m just happy to be here, among the living.
6. I relate many things back to anecdotes about people I lost; uncomfortably so.
7. My humor is incredibly dark. If you can’t laugh, you’ll go crazy.
8. While I understand the concept of ownership, I have few qualms about walking off with practical items that I think might be necessary later that nobody else seems to be using.

d6 Ideal

1. Final Girl/Boy. When someone comes after you, you can only give them so much space before you have to push back. Hard. (Neutral)
2. Protector. I lost a lot of good friends. No one else should ever die like that again, especially not my new friends. (Good)
3. Reaver. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with what was done to me. I just need to be strong enough that it’s me on the other side, next time. (Evil)
4. Sheriff. What happened to me was only possible because my allies didn’t stand together and fight back. I hope to show that if we all work together, society is stronger than the monsters. (Lawful)
5. Survivor. At the end of the day, staying alive has its own meaning. Higher callings are all well and good, but every new sunrise you see is a victory. (Any)
6. Wildling. While I hated everything about being hunted, there was something free about just me and my friends against the darkness. Being back in society, I feel like all its rules are only there to make us vulnerable to further attacks. (Chaotic)

d6 Bond

1. I’m trying to find meaning in why these things happened to me. Is there ultimately a way to extract justice? Or was it just an evil I have to contend with?
2. The friends I lost have no one but me to carry out their legacies. I need to protect those they loved and enact their agendas.
3. I don’t think what happened to me was an isolated incident. I want to track down and stop similar things from happening again.
4. The scars I earned in my trials still hurt, and I worry that I might be somehow infected. Am I doomed to become that which pursued me?
5. I left something important behind in the place where I was hunted. Some day, I hope to reclaim it, but it is far and I am not prepared to revisit it, yet.
6. I liked who I was before. I was happier then. Perhaps, by reconnecting with people and places of my youth, I might someday recapture that feeling.

d6 Flaw

1. I can’t differentiate between the beings/nationality that attacked me, and have no belief that any of them can be other than monsters.
2. They mostly came at night. I’m obsessive about maintaining a watch and don’t sleep soundly even in the safest locations.
3. I’ll never fully trust anyone that hasn’t proven they’d die for me. Looking for ulterior motives and danger tends to alienate potential allies.
4. I’m too trusting of anyone that isn’t one of my tormentors, so used to everyone banding together against the greater threat.
5. Basically feral at this point, I have a hard time maintaining normal, emotional relationships. Everyone is either combat partner, risk, or threat.
6. Because of incidents where my enemies played dead, I’m dedicated to ensuring my opponents can’t get back up when my back is turned. It’s gruesome.

D&D 5e Arcane Tradition: Shield Mage

Particularly in lands that are superstitious, an excellent way to practice arcane magic openly is to become an indispensable aide to those in power. Rather than working from the shadows or the back lines, shield mages specialize in being right behind their leaders, supporting but never overshadowing. When wizards are firmly established as protectors, it is much harder to paint them as nefarious.

Colleges that teach this style of magic emphasize abjuration, conjuration, and transmutation: spells to protect and enhance others, quickly get to their side and take them where they need to go, and alter the battlefield in their favor. In wartime, they sit at the left hand of military officers, and, in peace, they are bodyguards to the nobility. As their powers grow, they may become weary of being mere servants, of course, but still have deeply ingrained training to prop up powerful allies in their endeavors. The very skills that make them such an asset to the powerful also make them extremely helpful to small adventuring bands.

Features

Wizard Level	Feature
2nd	Combat Training, Bodyguard
6th	At Your Back
10th	Focused Concentration
14th	Eye of the Storm

Combat Training

At second level, your early martial training finally catalyzes. You gain proficiency in your choice of either simple weapons, light armor, or shields.

Additionally, you learn the spell shield if you did not already know it. You always have this spell prepared, and it does not count against your total number of prepared spells.

Bodyguard

Also starting at second level, you gain a profound ability to expand your conception of “self” to include your shieldmates when they are in danger. Any spell you can cast as a reaction that has a range of Self, you can cast at a range of Touch (and the reaction is triggered as easily by danger to your adjacent allies as it is to yourself). Essentially, you can cast spells like shield and absorb elements on adjacent allies, not just on yourself.

At Your Back

Starting at 6th level, you learn to synchronize your efforts with your protectee, moving as one unit. At the beginning of your turn, after effects have completed but before taking any actions, you can choose to delay your turn to the same initiative as an ally that you can see, acting immediately after their turn completes. If the ally is higher than you in the initiative order, you essentially do not act this round. Any effects that last until the end of your turn persist until you actually take your turn, but you must take at least one turn before you can delay again (i.e., you cannot continually delay to draw out a duration of an effect).

Additionally, you learn the spell misty step if you did not already know it. You always have this spell prepared, and it does not count against your total number of prepared spells.

Focused Concentration

Beginning at 10th level, your total focus upon your allies allows you to transcend the normal limits of maintained spells. When you are already maintaining concentration on a spell, you can cast a second spell that requires concentration and maintain both, as long as one or more of your allies benefits from both spells.

Additionally, you may add +1d4 to Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration for spells you are maintaining on your allies.

Eye of the Storm

At 14th level, you no longer need to fear your position on the front lines when using your most potent battle magic. When you cast any spell with an area of effect, you can choose to exclude your own space or a 10 foot area centered on the corner of your space from the effect. You essentially create a shield bubble of safety around yourself or around yourself and those nearby.

New Spells

Reflect Magic

4th-level abjuration

Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you may take when you are the target of a spell cast by an enemy you can see
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

You attempt to cause a hostile spell to rebound upon its caster. The spell must target you specifically (singly or as one of multiple targets, but not as part of an area of effect). If the spell is of 3rd level or lower, the caster automatically replaces you as the target of the spell (use your spell save DC or make an attack with your own spell attack bonus). If it is a spell of 4th level or higher, make an ability check using your spellcasting ability. The DC equals 12 + the spell’s level. On a success, the spell is reflected as if it was 3rd level or lower.

At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the automatically reflected spell level increases proportionately (to one less than the level of the slot).

Refuse Death

7th-level transmuation

Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you may take when you are about to suffer damage or an effect that would reduce you to 0 hit points or instantly incapacitate/kill you
Range: Self
Components: V
Duration: Until the beginning of your next turn

This spell allows you to sense your oncoming death and skip the impending moment. You essentially become briefly unstuck from time, rewinding your personal existence to the last place you were safe. You disappear from the world upon casting the spell, and return at the beginning of your next turn, having avoided the source of danger entirely. If the location from which you disappeared is still unsafe, you can appear anywhere within 60 feet of your last position, as long as you passed through that area recently (i.e., rewind to a previous safe place you stood).

At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a slot of 9th level, you can appear within 300 feet of your last position if you passed through that area recently, and you can spend hit dice and recover uses of spells and abilities as if you’d just taken a short rest before you reappear.

New Feat: Staff Mastery

Shamelessly stolen from Revenant Blade, since quarterstaff needs the help more than double-sword.

You have worked hard on turning the staff from a simple length of wood into an excellent tool for both offense and defense.

• Increase your Dexterity, Intelligence, or Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
• While wielding a staff or quarterstaff with two hands, you gain +1 AC. You can consider yourself wielding it with two hands even if you’ve cast a spell that required somatic or material components this round, as long as you do not have another weapon or shield in your off-hand.
• A quarterstaff has the finesse property when you wield it.
• When holding a quarterstaff with both hands, you may treat it as two light weapons that deal 1d4 damage each for the purposes of two-weapon fighting (or 1d6 damage if you’re proficient with martial weapons).

D&D 5e: Bardic Performance Feats

I like bards in 5e. It’s probably the most functional version of the class in any edition. But… it’s a Sorcerer/Warlord with musical gloss. The actual mechanical support for doing what bards are expected to do (put on a rousing performance to inspire the rest of the party throughout the course of the battle) is super thin. Depending on your Charisma, you get to hand out 5 or fewer bardic inspiration dice per rest, each of which only technically requires a bonus action’s worth of time performing to create. That bard is the best bard in the land: she played maybe 10 seconds of music this morning, keeping our spirits high.

And as far as I know, no edition has ever made it make sense to use an actual instrument for your performance rather than singing/oratory (or maybe dance). D&D can get really nitpicky about what you’ve got in your hands when you’re trying to sort out whether you can switch weapons, use items, and make somatic gestures… but you’re going to pull out a set of bagpipes on the fly to generate a buff and still theoretically have your sword in hand?

Also, in my experience, any cleric with bless is much more in the traditional bard role than the party bard. A d4 on all your attacks and saves vs. a bigger die maybe once per fight? Yes please.

So the below is an attempt at adding that back in. Ideally, it would be more as class features rather than feats, but, as noted, the class is pretty powerful, just not flavorful, so it’s probably safer to add abilities as feats than just to tack it on or try to replace something load-bearing.

Bardic Weapons

These are admittedly silly, but if Monster Hunter and Power Rangers can get away with it…

Bardic weapons are musical instruments that are reinforced and partially converted into weapons. Bards that are proficient with the instrument are also considered proficient with the weaponized version. Non-bards are proficient if they’re proficient with both the weapon and the instrument. Bardic weapons can be used to perform music and attack without additional actions to switch between modes. The weapon version has the damage and properties of the standard weapon type.

• Bagpipes-Blowgun (35 gp)
• Drum-Mace (8 gp)
• Dulcimer-Warhammer (33 gp)
• Flute-Dagger (3 gp)
• Lute-Battleaxe (40 gp)
• Lyre-Light Crossbow (43 gp)
• Horn-Light Hammer (4 gp)
• Pan Flute-Handaxe (15 gp)
• Shawm-Club (2 gp)
• Viol-Longsword (38 gp)

Bardic Performance Feats

• A bardic performance requires a bonus action to begin, and expends a bardic inspiration die.
• It can affect a number of targets equal to the size of the die (e.g., 6 at d6, 8 at d8, etc.), and affects the closest valid targets to the bard first.
• Maintaining a performance does not prevent the bard from concentrating on a spell, but is in danger of being disrupted similarly: whenever you would be forced to make a Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration on a spell, make a Charisma (Perform) check (or a tool check with the instrument you are using) against the same difficulty to continue performing.
• As with concentration, you may only have one type of bardic performance active at a time. You can cast (and concentrate on) bardic spells, attack with bardic weapons, and assign bardic inspiration dice normally while performing.
• Subjects must be able to hear you (or see you, if your performance is dance) to experience the effects of the performance.

Fascinate

Prerequisite: Bardic Inspiration class ability

Increase your Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

You can use your bardic performance to fascinate targets. You can choose to exclude allies from this effect. Targets must make a Wisdom saving throw against your Spell Save DC, and have advantage on this saving throw if the performance was begun while the target was already engaged in combat. Those that fail are charmed and restrained. The restrained effect ends if the target or any of the target’s allies are the target of hostile actions.

If your bardic inspiration die is d10 or greater, fascinated creatures have disadvantage on saving throws against your enchantment spells.

Targets may re-attempt the save to end the fascination between songs (assume three minutes).

Inspire Competence

Prerequisite: Bardic Inspiration class ability

Increase your Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

You can use your bardic performance to inspire your targets to greater competence. This performance affects allies. All subjects of the effect gain the benefits of guidance (this does not require your concentration, but does not stack with additional castings of guidance). This benefit refreshes at the beginning of each of your turns. You may maintain this performance indefinitely, but the DM may choose to apply fatigue for truly extended performances of an hour or more.

If your bardic inspiration die is d10 or greater, your targets also gain advantage with ability checks that are affected by the guidance.

Inspire Courage

Prerequisite: Bardic Inspiration class ability

Increase your Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

You can use your bardic performance to inspire your targets with courage in battle. This performance affects allies. All subjects of the effect gain the benefits of bless (this does not require your concentration, but does not stack with additional castings of bless). If you maintain this performance for longer than three minutes (effectively, one song), you take a level of fatigue (and an additional level of fatigue for each additional three minutes) from the intense nature of the performance.

If your bardic inspiration die is d10 or greater, you may choose to have the performance count as heroism instead of bless.

D&D 5e Race: Soulmarked, Part 2

Earthbound

Common in former druids, the devoted of certain gods, or those that were bound to elementals of the earth, the earthbound are slowly transforming into stone, metal, or wood.

This soulmark starts with rough patches of skin and a surprising density of bone. You were always tougher and slower than the other children. As your bond deepens, more and more of your flesh transforms into material that should be inanimate, and yet, for now, you can still walk.

Base Power: Durability

At first level, you gain Unarmored Defense. While you are not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit. If you have Unarmored Defense as a class feature, you may add +1 AC to whichever source provides the better AC.

Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws to resist becoming Poisoned or Stunned. However, you have disadvantage on saving throws to resist becoming Petrified.

Your weight is 10% higher than it would be if you were entirely flesh and blood.

Secondary Power: Rooting

Usually, the first part of your anatomy to become fully of the earth is your legs.

You can no longer wear most footwear, your legs gnarling into a stable platform, but you are immune to ground-based hazards that are intended to damage your feet (e.g.; caltrops, spike growth, etc.); you are still slowed by the difficult terrain of these hazards.

Your AC improves by +1, regardless of whether you are wearing armor.

When you are standing on stone, wood, or earth, you can use your move action to gain temporary hit points equal to your level. These hit points disappear if you leave your current space.

Your base walking speed is 25 feet, and your weight is now 40% higher than it would be if you were entirely flesh and blood.

Tertiary Power: Embrace

Often, the transformation only lightly covers the torso before covering the arms, providing just enough support to wield the now-restructured appendages.

Your arms are somewhat oversized and gnarled, and you may need to have gloves, bracers, and the like adjusted to fit. In particular, most gloves are immediately destroyed when you use your arms to attack. Your unarmed attacks now deal 1d6 bludgeoning damage and you are considered proficient. If your unarmed attack already did at least 1d6 damage (e.g., from feats or class abilities), increase their damage further by one die step.

Further, you may extend spikes or blades with concentration and a short or long rest, increasing the damage to 1d8 (slashing or piercing), or two steps if you are already proficient in unarmed attacks. You do not have a hand on the arm transformed in this way, so cannot engage in tasks that require fine manipulation. You can return your arm to normal with another short or long rest.

Similarly, you may transform an arm into a shield-like structure, granting you a shield bonus to AC. This takes the same amount of time to change or change back, and also counts as not having a hand on that arm while you have a shield.

You are immune to any poisons that enter through your hands (e.g., contact poisons, poison needle trap, etc.). You are similarly immune to most other hazards that would damage flesh but not inanimate objects if touched.

Your weight is now 70% higher than it would be if you were entirely flesh and blood.

Ultimate Power: Statuesque

As your transformation completes, you are functionally an animate statue or carving. Some small amounts of flesh and blood still hide beneath sessile skin, allowing you to age, procreate, eat, and breathe. But to onlookers, you no longer appear to be part of the animal kingdom.

You are resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks, as well as to poison damage (from poison sources that can still manage to penetrate). If you gain resistance to such damage from a class ability (e.g., barbarian rage), instead treat your AC as an additional +2 against attacks to which you should be doubly resistant.

If you are made of stone, you are vulnerable to thunder. If you are made of wood, you are vulnerable to fire. If you are made of metal, you are vulnerable to lightning.

Any effect that is based on causing you to bleed or draining your blood automatically fails (you don’t have much blood in you).

You have advantage on Constitution saving throws.

Your base walking speed is 20 feet, and your weight is now 100% higher than it would be if you were entirely flesh and blood.

Beastheart

Often mistaken for lycanthropes or members of anthropomorphic animal races, beastheart soulmarked come by their gradual transformations due to an ancient allegiance to some form of bestial spirit. However, while they do not tend to pass on their animal characteristics to children, there is some speculation that they might still have been progenitors of bestial humanoid bloodlines on the rare occasions they’ve bred true. Typically, however, being of such a race indicates deep commitment to a spirit of the wild in a past life, and is particularly common for former rangers, totem barbarians, and circle of the moon druids.

This soulmark begins with a somewhat feral appearance, and gradually distorts the body into a hybrid of birth race and bonded animal. While any animal is possible, it is much more common to see a beastheart bound to an impressive predator totem than simply any form of animal. Inoffensive prey animals rarely make history.

Base Power: Feral

At first level, your form is not obviously animalistic, save for perhaps an additional hirsuteness and sharpness of features and teeth. However, the natural world is likely to treat you as a member in good standing. Animals react to you as if you were a member of your bonded animal type rather than as a humanoid: if you are a predator, prey animals are likely to flee and other predators to give you a wider berth than they might otherwise. You gain advantage on Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks. Additionally, you gain advantage on Charisma (Intimidate) checks made against beasts.

You gain one of the following abilities that is appropriate to your animal bond: darkvision (60 ft.), hold breath, keen smell, keen hearing, keen sight, or sure-footed. It works the same as the associated or similar animal as described in Appendix A of the Monster Manual.

Your base walking speed is 35 feet, and you may double your jumping distance (as if under a reduced effect of the jump spell).

Secondary Power: Vicious

Once your abilities begin to unlock, the first step is to gain the natural attack methods of your bonded animal. Depending on your animal type, your face may distort and teeth lengthen, your hands and feet may alter to support claws or talons, or you may even grow horns or antlers. Generally, while you can still pass as your parents’ race with some disguise effort or in dim lighting, your bestial nature is now readily apparent to onlookers with good light.

Your natural attack form counts as a finesse, light weapon in which you are proficient. It does 1d6 piercing or slashing damage (as appropriate), or 1d8 if you are proficient in martial weapons (the viciousness of the weapons is in some way contingent on your combat capabilities). It is also effectively versatile, increasing a die size if you make the attack as your primary weapon and do not use your off hand (for shield or secondary attack); this may look like attacking with both claws in a single strike or using your hands to grab the target to improve your ability to bite or gore.

Additionally, you gain one of the following abilities that is appropriate to your animal bond: amphibious, blindsight (60 ft.), charge*, climb speed (equal to walking speed), pack tactics, rampage, relentless**, or swim speed (equal to walking speed). It works the same as the associated or similar animal as described in Appendix A of the Monster Manual.

You count as a beast for magic that can affect them.

You can no longer hide your bestial features easily. They are obvious even in bad light, and onlookers have advantage on all rolls to see through attempts with illusion or physical disguise to hide your animal nature.

* This deals +1d6 damage and increases to +2d6 at 11th level. The target’s strength saving throw to avoid being knocked prone is at a difficulty equal to 8 + your Proficiency bonus + your Strength bonus.

** The threshold for damage that is reduced to leave you with 1 hit point is equal to three times your Proficiency bonus.

Tertiary Power: Mobile

At this stage, your musculature and skeleton has adapted for motion. Your legs have likely become digitigrade (making it hard to fit into most footwear), your arms have lengthened so you can run on all fours as needed, and, if your animal bond flies, you have grown wings. Conversely, if your animal bond relies on its hide or scales rather than mobility as a defense, you may have developed that defense for yourself.

In any case, your base walking speed is 40 feet, and you may triple your jumping distance (as if under the effect of the jump spell).

You gain one of the following abilities that is appropriate to your animal bond:

• All Fours: When you are not carrying objects in either of your hands, your base walking speed is 60 feet.
• Armor: You gain Unarmored Defense. While you are not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit. If you have Unarmored Defense as a class feature, you may add +1 AC to whichever source provides the better AC.
• Wings: You have a fly speed equal to half your walking speed. You may not hover.

Due to an intensified fight or flight reflect, you have disadvantage on saving throws to resist becoming Frightened.

Ultimate Power: Hybrid

Finally, you have become a true optimal hybrid of the traits of humanoid and beast.

You gain advantage on saving throws against spells that specifically target humanoids or beasts but do not work on the other. Additionally, you gain advantage on saving throws against any kind of poison or disease transmitted from eating tainted food.

Your natural attack form increases by a die step in damage and counts as magical for penetrating damage resistance.

You gain one more beast ability from the base power and one more from the secondary power.

You are treated as always wearing cold weather gear.

It is now impossible to disguise your bestial nature without magic more powerful than disguise self (and even then, onlookers have advantage on checks to see through the disguise). At best, you can pretend to be a member of a similar-looking anthropomorphic race or transformed lycanthrope.

D&D 5e Race: Soulmarked, Part 1

This idea is pretty heavily lifted from Wildermyth. For those that haven’t played it, one of the features of the game is that you can start later campaigns with legacy characters who retain any weird traits picked up from previous playthroughs even though they were theoretically born in the core village. The fiction is that they’re strongly reincarnated versions of the old heroes, with a vague feeling that adventure is in their very soul. Since the traits from previous adventures frequently involve various obvious physical transformations into elemental or bestial forms, I’m just tickled by the idea that people in town are just like, “Yeah. She was born here. Her arm has always been made of fire.”

This racial option is probably significantly stronger than standard racial options. It trades most of the up-front options for potentially quite a bit of down-the-line upgrades. Honestly, you might do just as well ignoring the ability boost, giving players a full normal race, and letting each PC have a soulmarked progression, letting them play a band of reincarnated former heroes.

Soulmarked

Sometimes, significant deeds in life can bond to a mortal’s very soul, following them from life to life, trying to reach a conclusion. Typically, these are various mystic paths not fully walked. Sometimes, they involve bonds made with powerful entities. For a few, they are significant mistakes worn even through death.

Soulmarked are born as any other child, potentially to a very different race than their past life. Some pop up on completely opposite sides of the planet, while others tend to stay close to the area where their destiny lies. Each has some kind of signifier of previous power, which tends to grow stronger as the child ages. Those that have been reborn multiple times since the marking often seethe with power even as an infant, though it is rarely an immediate danger to the parents.

Likely having dreams of past lives throughout their childhood, soulmarked may or may not formally discover their previous identities. There is never a moment of unlocking names and full memories, but patron entities may wish to regain their service or old allies and enemies may recognize the distinctive powers.

Soulmarked Traits

Your soulmarked character gains a few traits based on parentage, but most of your power becomes from the particular marking source.

Ability Score Increase: Increase one ability score by 2 or two ability scores by 1. These benefits cannot exceed the bonuses provided to members of your parents’ race and subrace (e.g., the child of Lightfoot Halflings could take Dexterity +2 or Dexterity +1 and Charisma +1).

Age: Your aging rate is the same as that of your parents.

Alignment: Depending on the source of the soulmark, there may be some unconscious pull to match the alignment of the entity that granted the mark. However, this is not a guarantee, particularly if you choose to rebel against destiny.

Size: Your size is the same as that of your parents.

Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Languages: You speak, read, and write Common and the language of your parents (if your parents are Human, you may choose your extra language).

Subrace: There are several types of soulmarked. You typically gain the first power at first level. The availability of the additional powers is based upon events within the game, and up to your GM to award. Typically these powers remain unlocked for subsequent rebirths, until you reach your full potential.

Energy Soul

Depending on the type of energy, these are often specifically called Firesoul, Frostsoul, Stormsoul, Thundersoul, Acidsoul, Poisonsoul, Shadowsoul, or Sunsoul. As might be evident from the names, this subrace occurs when energy is infused deep into a mortal’s identity. This commonly comes from following the Evocation or Necromancy schools, various forms of bond to dragons or elementals, patronage from certain gods or devils, or even more esoteric sources.

From birth, you would flicker with your particularly energy when particularly upset, though it was seemingly illusory and no danger to those touching you, and your eyes were colored and lit to match. As you became more mature, you learned to manifest your ability to cause harm, and will unlock even more powers as you give more of your soul over to your bond.

Base Power: Manifestation

At first level, you gain a bonus cantrip. If you have a spellcasting class, this becomes a bonus cantrip for that class. If not, it uses your Charisma to generate its attack bonus or saving throw DC.

Depending on your energy type you gain produce flame (Firesoul), ray of frost (Frostsoul), shocking grasp (Stormsoul), thunderclap (Thundersoul), acid splash (Acidsoul), poison spray (Poisonsoul), chill touch (Shadowsoul), or sacred flame (Sunsoul).

Secondary Power: Luminescence

Once you begin to unlock your elemental nature, you can no longer contain its visual signifiers. Subtle patterns along all of your exposed skin constantly crackle or seethe with the energy, though you retain enough control to prevent it from harming your worn or wielded items, or those you touch (though the feel of it is very strange).

You gain Resistance to your energy type. Additionally, you gain the ability listed below:

• Firesoul: You produce light like a torch, and heat like being near a campfire. You and anyone within five feet of you has advantage on rolls to resist extreme cold.
• Frostsoul: You can walk without danger of slipping on ice, and blunt nearby heat. You and anyone within five feet of you has advantage on rolls to resist extreme heat.
• Stormsoul: You are slightly magnetic, and can cause ferrous objects to adhere to your skin, or summon lightweight magnetic objects to you from up to five feet away as if using mage hand.
• Thundersoul: Constantly suffused in a subtle blanket of noise, you are immune to the Deafened condition caused by sonic attacks, and have advantage to resist it from other sources.
• Acidsoul: Your natural magic provides a protective influence to all of your equipment against the mild corrosion you exude, granting advantage on any saves to prevent your commonly carried items from being destroyed by any effect.
• Poisonsoul: You gain advantage to saving throws to resist gaining the Poisoned condition (in addition to your resistance to poison damage).
• Shadowsoul: You gain advantage on all saving throws to resist the special, non-damaging attack abilities of undead (e.g., life drain, horrifying visage); if the attack does not normally allow a saving throw (e.g., strength drain) you take half the effect you otherwise would.
• Sunsoul: You produce light like a torch and can produce light like the daylight spell from your body at will.

It is very difficult to hide your nature at this point, and all onlookers have advantage to checks to overcome any disguises (physical or magical) as anything but an energy soul of your type, as wisps of the energy are likely to escape from your control.

Tertiary Power: Emission

You gain a bonus spell. If you have a spellcasting class, this becomes a bonus known spell for that class.

You may additionally (even if if you do not have a spellcasting class) cast the spell once as if with a 3rd level spell slot (if you are not a spellcaster, it is cast using Charisma to generate its attack bonus or saving throw DC). You cannot use the spell again in this way until you take a long rest.

Depending on your energy type you gain scorching ray (Firesoul), snilloc’s snowball swarm (Frostsoul), lightning bolt (Stormsoul), shatter (Thundersoul), melf’s acid arrow (Acidsoul), stinking cloud (Poisonsoul), shadow blade (Shadowsoul), or blinding smite (Sunsoul).

It becomes dangerous to get too close to you. Anyone that isn’t resistant to your energy type cannot spend hit dice to heal during a short rest and does not recover hit points naturally from a long rest if they spend the rest within five feet of you (e.g., sharing a bed, in a small dungeon room, etc.). Bedding that is not specifically enchanted to resist your energy is slowly destroyed by it, usually over the course of a month of sleeping in it. Your clothing deteriorates at a similar rate (though more slowly if you do not wear the same clothing every day), though durable equipment like weapons and armor is only superficially affected, and magical gear is not destroyed.

Ultimate Power: Apotheosis

At the final level, you are almost as much an elemental of your energy type as you are a mortal being, the energy constantly seething from your flesh. You gain Immunity to your energy type. All of your melee attacks add a d4 as additional damage of the energy type. All spells that you cast that deal damage of that energy type are treated as empowered (as per the Sorcerer metamagic ability).

You can no longer disguise your nature physically or with magic. The energy bleeds through any reasonable type of covering, including full plate armor.

Anyone in physical contact with you takes 1 damage of your energy type per round (reduced to 0 with Resistance), including while you are in a grapple. Your life is likely to be quite lonely if you cannot find a resistant partner.