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Beastlands

2019-05-21T01:48:59Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06: /* Inhabitants */

'''The Wilderness of the Beastlands''', or just the Beastlands, is the [[Alignment|Neutral Good (Chaotic)]] [[Plane|Outer Plane]] of the Great Wheel cosmology of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]' [[Planescape]] setting. It is a plane of endless nature: vast forests of all kinds of trees, plains that continue on and on, huge mountain ranges, oceans dotted with countless island and great humid swamps. But that's not what the plane is known for or named after: it is all suited perfectly for every kind of natural creature imaginable: from tiny mice to collossal anthropods, from herds of grazers to singular predators: if it is an animal on the Material Planes, it can be found in the Beastlands. Anything from fish to mammals to birds to motherfucking [[Dinosaur|T. Rexes]] and the more exotic things as well all make their home on this plane, living their lives of eating, migrating, reproducing and being eaten without sapient life intervening. It is a world of hunters and prey, surviving amongst nature and being part of it, rather than against it. It is a place meant for the fight of the fittest, nature at its purest. Because of how fitting the plane is to their wants and needs, the inhabitants often stay away from the portals to the other planes and layers.

The Beastlands have a strange effect on visitors: as they stay there their bodies exhibit a minor change to reflect their personalities. Strong people will grow tiger fangs or the fur of a bear, agile ones get monkey-like limbs, charismatic ones start to grow [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia|cat ears]] and so on. How fast this happens depends on your views: Lawful people can last days before the change sets in while Chaotic people start to change after a few hours. The change is not permanent: it remains in place as long as a person stays in the Beastlands and a length of time equal to their stay as they leave the plane.

==Layers of the Beastlands==
The Beastlands consist of three layers: Krigala, Brux and Karasuthra. Each of these layers is perpetually in the same time of day: afternoon, [[twilight]] or night. There are many between the three layers, though they almost always go to or from Brux. Those who do not often go to the Beastlands' neighbouring planes, [[Elysium]] and [[Arborea]]. And while the Beastlands are relatively safe in comparison to the other planes, it is not a very well explored place and still holds many wonders to discover.

===Krigala===
Krigala is a layer of eternal afternoon, a warm sun basking the land in its glow. The temperatures on the plane are perfect for its diurnal inhabitants: grazing and hunting, migrating and reproducing.

Most of the divine realms in Beastlands are located here. These are: ''Filchnest'', realm of [[Quorlinn]], ''Goldenroost'', realm of [[Remnis]], ''Grove of Perpetual Spring'', realm of [[Atroa]], ''The Grove of the [[Unicorn]]s'', realm of [[Ehlonna]] and [[Mielikki]], ''The Pridelands'', realm of [[Nobanion]], and ''Skerrit's Glade'', realm of [[Skerrit]].

===Brux===
Brux is a plane stuck in eternal [[The Elder Scrolls|dawn and dusk]], colder than Krigala and often covered in fog and mist. The animals here are those who are active on the Material plane during the hours of twilight and would seek shelter during the day. If you ever get lost on this plane, find a river and go upstream, you will eventually end up on Krigala again.

Five divine realms are located here. These being: ''The Cat Lord's Prowl'', realm of the [[Cat Lord]] and [[Ferrix]], ''Findar Endar'', realm of [[Haela Brightaxe]], ''The Library of All Knowledge'', realm of [[Deneir]] and [[Milil]], ''Reastweal'', realm of Puchan, and ''Ursis'', realm of [[Balador]]

===Karasuthra===
Karasuthra is the most dangerous of the three planes. Covered in eternal midnight, only the moon with its slowly changing phases provides a bit of light that manages to pierce through the thick canopy of leaves. Many dangerous predators stalk the darkness, in search of prey and unwary travelers to devour. While the creatures here are very dangerous they are still Celestials, and will hunt evil creatures down without remorse. It is said that this layer has a close link to the [[Plane of Shadow]], and that there are plenty of places on the plane where the barrier is thin enough to travel from and to the [[Plane of Shadow]] with ease. This would explain the large number of shadow creatures found on the layer, but this is not conclusive.

Here you have [[Stronmaus]]' ''Stormhold'', Kura-Okami's ''Misty Valley'', and ''Zhar, the Grand Forest Beyond the World'', the realm of [[Chislev]], [[Habbakuk]], and [[Zivilyn]].

==Inhabitants==
Almost all of the inhabitants of the Beastlands are animals in some way or shape. Petitioners who awaken here are turned into animals and live as such: while they can speak Celestial and can cast spells if they could do so during life they are still animals at heart and will attack any who threaten them. Hunters sometimes visit the plane in seek of great prey, but hunting here is difficult because of the intelligence of its inhabitants and with a bit of bad luck you are beset by a trio of Ankylosaurus who start breathing fire at you. Other visitors sometimes seek the wisdom of spirit animals who live there. All animals on the plane have their own lord: an animal that can turn into a humanoid shape. These are the Animal Lords: quasi-deities who protect their people from outside threats. The most famous one of these is the Cat Lord, who protects all large and small cats in the Beastlands. She has great animosity for Bast, the Egyptian goddess of pleasure and cats who might have something to do with the disappearance of the previous Cat Lord, who was quite clearly a different person (and claimed to be an ancestor of [[Gord the Rogue]], however unlikely this is).
Some petitioners awaken in their old forms and gather in communities at the bases of great trees, where they stay as they turn into animals over the course of centuries, going from [[catgirl]]s to [[beastfolk]] to full-on animals. Other inhabitants include Skerrit's [[centaur]]s and the [[bariaur]]s in service of Ehlonna, and the [[wildren]] ([[dwarf]]/badger hybrids) on Karasuthra. The Beastlands are also where [[Hollyphant]]s are found, which are celestials resembling small elephants with fairy wings that can turn into bat winged humanoid mastodons. Finally there are a small amount of the occasional inhabitants from other planes like archmages, but because of the nature of the plane these often seek other places to make their bases of operations.

{{Template:OuterPlanes}}

Beastlands

2019-05-21T01:48:09Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06: /* Inhabitants */

'''The Wilderness of the Beastlands''', or just the Beastlands, is the [[Alignment|Neutral Good (Chaotic)]] [[Plane|Outer Plane]] of the Great Wheel cosmology of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]' [[Planescape]] setting. It is a plane of endless nature: vast forests of all kinds of trees, plains that continue on and on, huge mountain ranges, oceans dotted with countless island and great humid swamps. But that's not what the plane is known for or named after: it is all suited perfectly for every kind of natural creature imaginable: from tiny mice to collossal anthropods, from herds of grazers to singular predators: if it is an animal on the Material Planes, it can be found in the Beastlands. Anything from fish to mammals to birds to motherfucking [[Dinosaur|T. Rexes]] and the more exotic things as well all make their home on this plane, living their lives of eating, migrating, reproducing and being eaten without sapient life intervening. It is a world of hunters and prey, surviving amongst nature and being part of it, rather than against it. It is a place meant for the fight of the fittest, nature at its purest. Because of how fitting the plane is to their wants and needs, the inhabitants often stay away from the portals to the other planes and layers.

The Beastlands have a strange effect on visitors: as they stay there their bodies exhibit a minor change to reflect their personalities. Strong people will grow tiger fangs or the fur of a bear, agile ones get monkey-like limbs, charismatic ones start to grow [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia|cat ears]] and so on. How fast this happens depends on your views: Lawful people can last days before the change sets in while Chaotic people start to change after a few hours. The change is not permanent: it remains in place as long as a person stays in the Beastlands and a length of time equal to their stay as they leave the plane.

==Layers of the Beastlands==
The Beastlands consist of three layers: Krigala, Brux and Karasuthra. Each of these layers is perpetually in the same time of day: afternoon, [[twilight]] or night. There are many between the three layers, though they almost always go to or from Brux. Those who do not often go to the Beastlands' neighbouring planes, [[Elysium]] and [[Arborea]]. And while the Beastlands are relatively safe in comparison to the other planes, it is not a very well explored place and still holds many wonders to discover.

===Krigala===
Krigala is a layer of eternal afternoon, a warm sun basking the land in its glow. The temperatures on the plane are perfect for its diurnal inhabitants: grazing and hunting, migrating and reproducing.

Most of the divine realms in Beastlands are located here. These are: ''Filchnest'', realm of [[Quorlinn]], ''Goldenroost'', realm of [[Remnis]], ''Grove of Perpetual Spring'', realm of [[Atroa]], ''The Grove of the [[Unicorn]]s'', realm of [[Ehlonna]] and [[Mielikki]], ''The Pridelands'', realm of [[Nobanion]], and ''Skerrit's Glade'', realm of [[Skerrit]].

===Brux===
Brux is a plane stuck in eternal [[The Elder Scrolls|dawn and dusk]], colder than Krigala and often covered in fog and mist. The animals here are those who are active on the Material plane during the hours of twilight and would seek shelter during the day. If you ever get lost on this plane, find a river and go upstream, you will eventually end up on Krigala again.

Five divine realms are located here. These being: ''The Cat Lord's Prowl'', realm of the [[Cat Lord]] and [[Ferrix]], ''Findar Endar'', realm of [[Haela Brightaxe]], ''The Library of All Knowledge'', realm of [[Deneir]] and [[Milil]], ''Reastweal'', realm of Puchan, and ''Ursis'', realm of [[Balador]]

===Karasuthra===
Karasuthra is the most dangerous of the three planes. Covered in eternal midnight, only the moon with its slowly changing phases provides a bit of light that manages to pierce through the thick canopy of leaves. Many dangerous predators stalk the darkness, in search of prey and unwary travelers to devour. While the creatures here are very dangerous they are still Celestials, and will hunt evil creatures down without remorse. It is said that this layer has a close link to the [[Plane of Shadow]], and that there are plenty of places on the plane where the barrier is thin enough to travel from and to the [[Plane of Shadow]] with ease. This would explain the large number of shadow creatures found on the layer, but this is not conclusive.

Here you have [[Stronmaus]]' ''Stormhold'', Kura-Okami's ''Misty Valley'', and ''Zhar, the Grand Forest Beyond the World'', the realm of [[Chislev]], [[Habbakuk]], and [[Zivilyn]].

==Inhabitants==
Almost all of the inhabitants of the Beastlands are animals in some way or shape. Petitioners who awaken here are turned into animals and live as such: while they can speak Celestial and can cast spells if they could do so during life they are still animals at heart and will attack any who threaten them. Hunters sometimes visit the plane in seek of great prey, but hunting here is difficult because of the intelligence of its inhabitants and with a bit of bad luck you are beset by a trio of Ankylosaurus who start breathing fire at you. Other visitors sometimes seek the wisdom of spirit animals who live there. All animals on the plane have their own lord: an animal that can turn into a humanoid shape. These are the Animal Lords: quasi-deities who protect their people from outside threats. The most famous one of these is the Cat Lord, who protects all large and small cats in the Beastlands. She has great animosity for Bast, the Egyptian goddess of pleasure and cats who might have something to do with the disappearance of the previous Cat Lord, who was quite clearly a different person (and claimed to be an ancestor of [[Gord the Rogue]], however unlikely this is). The Beastlands are also where [[Hollyphant]]s are found, which are celestials resembling small elephants with fairy wings that can turn into bat winged humanoid mastodons.

Some petitioners awaken in their old forms and gather in communities at the bases of great trees, where they stay as they turn into animals over the course of centuries, going from [[catgirl]]s to [[beastfolk]] to full-on animals. Other inhabitants include Skerrit's [[centaur]]s and the [[bariaur]]s in service of Ehlonna, and the [[wildren]] ([[dwarf]]/badger hybrids) on Karasuthra. Finally there are a small amount of the occasional inhabitants from other planes like archmages, but because of the nature of the plane these often seek other places to make their bases of operations.

{{Template:OuterPlanes}}

Demon Prince

2019-05-20T22:03:24Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06: /* Obyrith */

:''This is the [[D&D]] and [[Pathfinder]] creature, not to be confused with [[Warhammer]]'s [[Daemon Prince]]s''

'''Demon Princes''' are a specific breed of lesser (though how "lesser" varies from edition to edition, with them being literally equivalent to lesser deities in 1e, which meant they were at least as powerful as most deities) tier evil [[God]] in the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Pathfinder]]. As their name suggests, they are [[Tanar'ri]] who have managed to claw their way to a position of particular power and influence amongst their kind. They may even be worshipped by some evil races as patron gods, though usually they are not "full-tier" gods, thusly allowing [[adventurers]] to bust into their homes and beat the shit out of them.

Emphasis on ''usually'': some Demon Princes have managed to secure a position of such power that they are full-fledged gods, so fighting with them isn't a really good idea. The most traditional example in D&D is [[Lolth]], who is not only the Demon Queen of Spiders, but also the patron god of the [[Drow]], a position that saw her promoted to a "corebook deity" in 4th edition. Likewise, in Pathfinder, the Demon Queen of Monsters, Mutation and Miscarriages, [[Lamashtu]], is a full-fledged god and stands as a counterpoint to [[Asmodeus]] the [[Archdevil]]-turned-God.

==Tanar'ri==
The vast majority of Demon Princes are Tanar'ri and attained their position early on in their existence. Others rose to power over the course of eons, usurping another to take their place.

===[[Baphomet]]===
Baphomet, the lord of the [[minotaur]]s, is a massive bull-headed brute. He revels in combat, but prefers to put his powerful-looking opponents into a magical maze and trample the smaller ones before crushing the big ones. His most common followers include minotaurs, bulezau and goristro demons, fiendish or half-fiendish minotaurs and Awakened animals such as dire animals or [[dinosaur]]s. His ultimate goal is nothing less than the destruction of all civilization, and the descent of all life into violent, bestial savagery.

Baphomet's cult is on the rise, often finding worship in rural areas by evil [[druid]]s and [[ranger]]s, preaching the gospel of a nature deity of vengeance that will deliver the common folk from the evil machinations of city-dwellers, eventually swaying them to his cause. From there, armies of fanatical Luddites, many bearing [[Beastmen|physical manifestations of his influence]], swarm out to raze towns and slaughter those who live in them.

Baphomet lives in the Endless Maze, the 600th layer of the [[Abyss]]. He shares this layer with the [[Obyrith]] Pale Night, with whom he has some kind of understanding: neither of them encroach on each other's territories and they will help each other when one of them is invaded by one of their foes.

===[[Demogorgon]]===
The current Prince of Demons, a title largely contested only by Orcus and, to a much lesser extent, Graz'zt. He has the shape of a two-headed baboon with tentacles instead of arms and a theropod's legs and tail. His left head is called Aameul and has a silver tongue that can charm any creature, while the right head, Hethradiah, can cause insanity. They seek to dominate or kill one another, just as their combined self seeks to slay or overpower all life. Demogorgon is a fearsome foe in battle, capable of rotting flesh from bones with but a caress of its tentacles and draining the energy of anyone slapped by its tail.

Demogorgon has few followers amongst the humanoid races, but he has many amongst the more monstrous people. [[Yuan-ti]], troglodytes, ixitxachitl and hosts of demons worship Demogorgon as their lord. These cults are depraved and engage in all manner of horrific rituals and sacrifices to their lord. Humanoids rarely worship him as cults, but individuals dedicated to the Prince of Demons tend to be just as dangerous, given that they are quite often high-ranking members of society, and his influence is thought to be the source of many monstrous versions of natural creatures, like ettins and merrow.

Demogorgon's layer of The Gaping Maw is the 88th of the Abyss. While it's a tropical realm with plenty of water it is not a hospitable plane, with many different kinds of demons roving the surface and the ocean looking for things to devour. Demogorgon runs the great city of Lemoriax that is one of the premier slave markets in the Great Wheel. He frequently stalks through his city to whip his followers into a frenzy. His layer is linked to the next layer, Dagon's home of Shadowsea. The two are allied, which effectively means they stay off of each other's backs.

He was also a ''motherfucker'' of a bonus boss in ''[[Baldur's Gate|Throne of Bhaal]]'', even if actually fighting him was definitely not the smart move there.

===[[Fraz-Urb'luu]]===
The Prince of Deception, Fraz-Urb'luu is a great pale plue winged monster with surprising magical ability. He is the patron of evil illusionists and tricksters, so powerful that he can easily summon demons and even other demon lords, though he prefers to not do the latter all that much because does not want to piss Demogorgon off any more than he already does.

Fraz-Urb'luu was one of [[Zagig]]'s prisoners below Castle [[Greyhawk]], trapped in a bas-relief for more than two centuries. When he was finally freed by a bunch of [[adventurers]], whom he repaid by wrecking their gear and casting them into the Abyss. [[Eldrad|What a dick.]] Back in the 176th layer of the Abyss, Hollow's Heart, he spent time rebuilding his realm and searching for his magic staff. If he succeeds, his first order of business would be to visit terrible vengeance upon the world of man.

Cults of Deception pose as cults of exciting but obscure deities and try to convert people to their cause... only to be sacrificed to the Prince of Deception. His followers include large numbers of other deceptive demons, including [[Succubus|succubi]], lilitu and a group of Chaotic Evil [[Rakshasa]] called the Hollow Rajas.

===[[Graz'zt]]===
The Dark Prince Graz'zt is something of an anomaly amongst the princes of the Abyss. While the others all possess some degree of cleverness, at the end of the day they will use brute force to get what they want. Not so much in Graz'zt's case. He is skilled in the ways of seduction, guile, politics and plotting in ways that go beyond the abilities of even the most intelligent princes of hell. [[4e]] suggested that this is because Graz'zt is an exiled [[Baatezu|devil]], but this is the only version that posed this option. While by far the weakest of the three in terms of raw hitting power, Graz'zt's genius and cunning ensure that he remains a strong rival to both Demogorgon and Orcus.

He resembles a tall, handsome humanoid with goat legs, horns, six fingered hands and yellow eyes that betray him for what he really is. Graz'zt has a massive libido and counts many female priests, [[succubus|succubi]], [[harpy|harpies]], [[marilith]]s, [[lamia]], [[monstergirls|you name it]] amongst his followers, with the odd male equivalent here and there for variety's sake. The closest of these are called the Chosen (with the suggestion he chooses them to join him in his bed). He also has more offspring than any other demon lord, with many of the closest members of his court, including his chief general and personal assassin, being his own children.

While he is of great intelligence, he has met his match in a mortal, the witch-queen [[Iggwilv]]. She managed to trap him on the Material Plane to learn from the demon. The two of them eventually became lovers, culminating in the birth of a child. Said child turned out to be [[Iuz]], who became a major player in the world of [[Greyhawk]]. Graz'zt slowly figured out that Iggwilv did not want to let him go back to his home. So he waited and plotted, eventually breaking free in a battle that cost Iggwilv most of her resources. But she escaped and was lured into the Abyss by the Dark Prince. She in turn was used by Graz'zt to regain his lost powers and grow stronger before ''she'' escaped. The two of them are currently in a mutual love-hate relationship, each trying to exploit the other to increase their power even as, to the extent that either of them are capable of positive emotions, they genuinely enjoy one another's company.

Graz'zt's realm is the largest in all of the Abyss. Covering the 45th, 46th and 47th layers of the Abyss, Azzagrat's primary attraction is the city of Zelatar, which somehow exists on all three layers at the same time. Each layer hosts a different neighbourhood, and Graz'zt's citadel on the center layer. It is also one of the more popular destinations in the Abyss for travelers to visit, featuring markets full of rare goods and comparatively better-behaved demons, but those who think that that translates to "safe" are as foolish as those who think that Graz'zt's hedonism and hunger for pleasure over raw power makes him any less evil or dangerous than the likes of Orcus or Demogorgon, whom already have a large size advantage over him in a fight.

Additionally, his dick is so massive he puts Armour plating on it, and has even shagged a goddess, whom I might add, went missing and stayed of her own will before the party come and uh, "save" her, something that went under the radar for years according to the heavens, guess he's that good.

===[[Juiblex]]===
The Faceless Lord Juiblex lords over all oozes, slimes and jellies. This is not a paricularly difficult task given the mindless nature of these creatures and Juiblex' lack of tact regarding such issues. He resmbles a massive puddle of green slime filled with eyes swimming around in it and pseudopods drippingwith ooze. This apperance was later changed, and by that, literally photoshopped to a Shoggoth's colour scheme, because Pathfinder did it, so it must sell. His goals are simple: destroy everything that is not like him. He wants to kill and corrode everything in existence, destroying whatever it can touch with its oozing appendages, until all life, everywhere, is as formless and protean as he is. This makes him very unpopular with the other demon lords and all stay away from his layer as much as possible.

Juiblex has few cultists given that his charges are almost exclusively of low intelligence. When a deranged humanoid takes up the worship of the Faceless Lord it is quite possible that Juiblex doesn't really care about these worshippers, and even when an intelligent ooze such as Darkness Given Hunger, a Black Pudding possessed by a Hezrou, worships him, Juiblex cares little. The amusing fact that he doesn't give a shit means PCs who follow him are incredibly flexible (pun intended) because entry to his worship means the acidic dissolution of Any poor sap overseen by a number of slimes. His base nature, infact leaves most forms of organization to his cults, who if not insane or fanatic could easily build an interesting infrastructure to their lords benefit, if not moreso their own, I.E turn everyone into slimes and destroy everyone else, and have everlasting shapeshifting shoggoth sex, Praise Juiblex!

One Origin for the faceless lord had him as a deity that lost his face in retaliation from the other gods for sympathizing with Demons in the older times, being thrown into the abyss as a result, and becoming an ever-shifting protean mass as a result, his soul locked in a prison.

On that note, his PrC is great if Stacked with the OozeMaster PrC, polymorph into a Gibbering mouther and use size category increasing cheese to become a Shoggoth capable of multiple slime attacks, unlimited slime summonings and all sorts of fun, nevermind how this can extend to Ghaunadaur worship as Juiblex was once an Avatar for the nonsensical primordial deity of oozes and slimes.

Juiblex lives on the 222nd layer of the Abyss named Shedaklah. He contests for control of this plane with Zuggtmoy, the Queen of Fungi. While she had the upper hand for a while, since the events with [[Iuz]] getting his ass handed to him and the famous adventure in the Temple of Elemental Evil, Juiblex has gained a lot of territory, currently battling with the forces of the Queen of Fungi and slowly gaining ground.

===[[Kostchtchie]]===
Demon Prince of Frost, racial patron god of frost giants. Is additionally summable by chanting his name, which gets you a Hastur-tier death if you're not prepared for the consequences

===[[Lolth]]===
The Spider Queen is a former elven goddess, and is now the ruler of all [[drow]], spiders, poison, and other fluffy things.

===[[Malcanthet]]===
Malcanthet, the Queen of the Succubi is a being of unparalleled beauty and cruelty. Taking the shape of an alluring succubus she prefers to let others do the fighting for her, either summoned minions or enslaved attackers. Befitting her status of the Queen of the Succubi she really gets around: aside from her usual trysts, she has Pazuzu and Demogorgon as her most frequent lovers, having sired several powerful succubi with the former and and unspeakable abominations with the latter. She has had short affairs with most of the other demon lords at some point or another, but these were mainly flings for her private benefit. Yeenoghu is one of her enemies, the two of them still being embittered by the other foiling their plot to corrupt the same family of nobles, ending with the entire family being destroyed instead. Her relationship with Graz'zt is even worse: each claims that the other spurned their advances, and, deeply embittered, the two have been at war ever since. Her servants include, aside from succubi and lilitus, lamias, harpies, and fiendish nymphs.

Malcanthet lives on the 570th layer of the Abyss, a layer called Shendilavri. It is of unmatched beauty, surpassing even some of the heavens as a paradise. Here she lives in the city of Rivenheart, where all desires can be sated. Every imaginable perversion, debauchery and experience can be found here. Malcanthet's palace has no doors, and all are invited to enter and experience what lies within its forbidden halls. While thousands of people from all over the planes enter to find bliss within, few leave, and all ultimately realize that Shendilavri is a paradise only for Malcanthet herself.

===[[Miska the Wolf-Spider]]===
The right-hand man and lover of the Queen of Chaos, Miska the Wolf-Spider is one of the most dreaded demon lords in existence. Resembling a nightmarish [[Drider]] with a spiked and armored spider lower body, the upper body of a pale, handsome, four-armed human with long black hair and a pair of red-haired wolf heads sprouting from his shoulders. Once the foremost servant and lover of the Queen of Chaos, she appointed this Tanar'ri as the Prince of Demons, the first to bear that title. This, combined with Miska's skill as a general and a warrior and the victories he achieved massive numbers of demons flocked to his service. Eventually he was defeated at the Battle of Pesh, where one of the [[Wind Dukes of Aaqa]] pierced him with the [[Rod of Seven Parts]]. The Prince of Demons wailed in anguish as his blood covered the Rod, corrupted and shattered it. If it had not been for the Rod breaking Miska would have perished, and instead he went through a planar rift. Some of the Wind Dukes followed him, imprisoned Miska and the citadel he was in in a great cocoon of pure law and cast him into the depths of [[Pandemonium]], where he remains to this day.

In his prison Miska can do little harm, but only partially because of the prison itself. When he was injured by the Rod of Seven Parts his abilities were crippled, rendering him at only a shadow of his former self. On the other hand this made him next to indestructible: [[Perpetual|even if he were to be turned to ash he can simply rebuild himself.]] If he were to get his hands onto the fully restored Rod of Seven Parts he would be fully restored and become able to leave the cocoon of law to join his beloved Queen and continue on their bloody crusade. The plus side to this is that restoring Miska to his full powers will make him vulnerable again, and allows for him to be permanently destroyed.

Actually destroying him is a daunting task: his armored body is resistant to blunt weapons, and slashing and piercing weapons draw his acidic blood that is both dangerous to an attacker and their weapon. It is in fact so lethal that it might kill an attacking instantly and disintegrate a weapon coated in the Wolf-Spider's blood. Miska himself wields deadly weapons in is powerful arms: a scimitar that can disintegrate lawful opponents, one that strikes at blinding speeds and two magical morning stars, each of whom he wields with deadly precision.

Miska commands the respect or fear of the Spyder-Fiends, monstrous spiders with the heads of wolves and clawed humanoid arms in the more powerful cases. While some resent serving Miska, they do not dare anger him or his master, the Queen of Chaos.

===[[Orcus]]===
Looking and acting like the forbidden lovechild of [[Khorne]] and [[Nagash]], Orcus is the Prince of the Undead. Entry requirements to worship him involve contracting a Feat based STD from Necrophilia, and generally doing horrid things that probably earn their place in the Book of Vile Darkness. According to Gary Gygax, he is responsible for the creation of undead universally when he cast a dweomer that killed everyone on his native plane when he was alive, following this, he ended up in the Abyss and worked his way up the demonic ladder. Sources state he ended up in the Abyss for doing something horrible, but this isn't in the official post Gygax material

===[[Yeenoghu]]===
The King of the [[Gnoll]]s, Yeenoghu is a savage beast. Despite not being the most powerful of the demon lords, his savagery and that of his followers still makes him a powerful opponent. This became clear when he and his forces invaded the layer above his own, the White Kingdom. This layer was ruled by Doresain, the King of the Ghouls. When his armies were destroyed, Doresain swore fealty to Yeenoghu for the sake of self-preservation, forsaking his old master Orcus. Because of Orcus' recent plots his attention has been elsewhere, and it is as of yet unknown how he will reply to this treason.

Yeenoghu's greatest desire is to have the Material Plane inhabited by his chosen people, the gnolls. A world where his people are the dominant race, and all [[human]]s, [[elves]], [[dwarves]] and [[halfling]]s are either slaves or food. But he understands that gnolls alone are not numerous enough to achieve this goal, and as such he allows cults of other races to serve him. One of the most powerful of these cults, originating from the Maure family, was finally getting somewhere when Malcanthet ''also'' tried to corrupt them, resulting in a self-destructive downward spiral that wiped out all of the humans. They have resented each other ever since, with Yeenoghu sending frequent raids into Shendilavri to destroy it. These attacks have always been held at bay, but he hopes to one day destroy her and her realm. The King of the Gnolls also has a violent hatred for Baphomet, perhaps due to their similarity, against whom he frequently wages war to little result.

Yeenoghu's realm is called exactly that, Yeenoghu's Realm, perhaps reflecting its master's lack of imagination. Located on the 422th layer of the Abyss it is covered in a great savanna where packs of feral gnolls, other hyena-like creatures, and worse monsters make their home, preying on visitors, one another, and even the servants of Yeenoghu. The King of the Gnolls himself lives in a great palace drawn by thousands of slaves across the plane past various points of interest at a speed of about one year per round.

===[[Zuggtmoy]]===
Zuggtmoy, The Queen of Fungi is an ambitious but not very successful demon lord. Given her domain over fungi and mushrooms she has difficulty finding people to worship them. So she opts with having to disguise her influence, creating cover cults that her own followers kept in line so that they could stay in charge. The Temple of Elemental Evil was such an endeavor, and it worked pretty well for a while, only for everything to spectacularly backfire when the Circle of Eight destroyed the cult and imprisoned her. She managed to escape the Material Plane at the cost of a good deal of her essence, only to discover that her enemy Jubilex had conquered a good deal of her home layer in the meanwhile.

Aside from her rivalry with Jubilex, she has frequently been at odds with [[Lolth]] prior to her gaining significant power as a deity, putting her a class above the Queen of Fungi. On her home layer of Shedaklah she lives in a palace built from the largest fungi in the multiverse, rising more than four miles into the air. Here she conducts horrific experiments and plots to gain foothold on the Material Plane and to defeat the hated Jubilex.

==Obyrith==
While the Tanar'ri are created from the petitioners of the Abyss, they were not the first beings to live there. Those were the Obyrith, creatures of Chaos. When the first mortal souls entered the Abyss they did not know what to do with them and so began to experiment, slowly creating a servant race to fight for them against the forces of Law.

===[[Dagon]]===
Demon Prince of the Sea, an antediluvian aquatic horror who serves as Demogorgon's most loyal advisor ia also, pretty much H.P lovecraft's Dagon, with his servants the Kuoa-Toa being the effective replacement for Deep Ones though without the crossbreeding, his mortal thralls sort of just mutilate themselves into fish creatures in his service. He likes spellcasters of all sorts and wants to flood the earth, is allied with Demogogron

===[[Pale Night]]===
If there is one creature that is the mother of all demons (literally), then it would probably be her. Some texts say she is the mother of specific demon princes. Others say she is the mother of tanar'ri race. When asked about this by reporters, Pale Night has refused to comment on the claims. Pale Night's appearance is so horrific that reality itself refuses to accept it and hides her with a shroud. Seeing what she ''actually'' looks like prompts a high Fort save. If you succeed, then congratulations, you're still alive because your mind didn't process what your eyes saw. She literally does nothing but harrass Eldarin children on her Layer of he Abyss like a Saturday morning cartoon villain, and is responsible for the "pseudonatural template" which is uselessly used by the Alienist Prestige class.

===[[Pazuzu]]===
Demon Prince of Air, master of the skies of the Abyss, and a demon with a pretty chill attitude. In D&D, he's the "big shot", but in Pathfinder, he's been dethroned in importance by his ex-girlfriend Lamashtu. He's also Starfox Falco levels of furbait sexy, and can be summoned like Hastur, just say his name more than thrice and he'll appear for you to bargain off your alignment for power.

===[[Queen of Chaos]]===
Even older than Pale Night. She once was the ruler of the Obyrith race. She created the Tanar'ri, but this backfired on her when her lover [[Miska the Wolf-Spider]] got imprisoned and the rest of the Tanar'ri rebelled.

===[[Sertrous]]===
Demon Prince of Heretics. Was originally a demon prince of parasites who refused to serve the Queen of Chaos and as a result was personally killed by her, but his spirit escaped to material plane and possessed a snake and turned it into his new body. An angel named Avamerin was sent to kill Sertrous when he began sending armies of snakes to harass mortals, but just before Avamerin could kill Sertrous, he revealed the secret that clerics could gain their spells without needing to worship a god. Avamerin at first didn't understand what Sertrous had said and decapitated him, and brought back his head. Avamerin shared the words Sertrous had said, which resulted in the appearance of godless clerics. Avamerin got punished for this and betrayed his masters to serve Sertrous. Sertrous still remains a powerless snake skull but he is slowly returning to life as he gains more worshipers. He is worshiped mainly by [[Yuan-ti]] who claim that he is their true creator.
{{D&D-DemonPrinces}}
{{D&D-Outsiders}}

==Pathfinder==
===[[Abraxus]]===
Demon Prince of Magic, Forbidden Lore and Snakes, known as the Master of the Final Incantation due to his arsenal of deadly and unique magical spells and formulas including the "Final Incantation", which can unmake magic with a single word.

===[[Aldinach]]===
Demon Princess of Sand, Scorpions and Thirst, whose cult is predominant in the desert regions. Most notable for her descent from Lamashtu and her bitter rivalry with her half-sister Areshkagal. Title: She of the Six Venoms.

===[[Andirifkhu]]===
Demon Queen of Illusions, Traps and Knives, the Razor Princess is a secretive and cunning killer particularly favored by sadists, torturers, trap-makers, assassins, murderers and evil illusionists.

===[[Angazhan]]===
Demon Prince of Apes, Jungles and Brutal Tyranny, the Ravenous King is one of the lesser Demon Princes, mostly restricted to worship by his savage [[Chara-kur]] ape-men creations.

===[[Areshkagal]]===
Demon Princess of Greed, Magical & Mundane Portals, and Riddles, the Faceless Sphinx fights a constant war against her half-sister Aldinach due to She of the Six Venoms having usurped the Faceless' Sphinx's original abyssal kingdom.

===[[Cyth-V'sug]]===
Demon Prince of Disease, Fungus and Parasites; despite certain similarities in appearance and portfolio, should not be confused with [[Xhamen-Dor]], the [[Cthulhu Mythos|Great Old One]] of Decay, Parasites and Transformation.

===[[Deskari]]===
Demon Prince of Chasms, Infestations and Locusts; known as the son of Pazuzu via some giant, monstrous demonic insect, the Lord of The Locust Host may potentially be a cousin to either Aldinach or Areshkagal. Is most notable for having created and maintained the Worldwound on [[Golarion]].

===[[Flauros]]===
Demon Prince of Fire, Salamanders and Volcanoes, the Burning Maw fights to defend his rulership over salamanders from an elemental lord named Ymeri, the Mistress of Fire.

===[[Gogunta]]===
Demon Queen of Amphibians, Boggards and Swamps, the Song of the Swamp actually claims rulership over a tiny part of Dagon's realm; because she has yet to be destroyed for this, her cult and Dagon's cult are often friendly towards each other.

===[[Haagenti]]===
Demon Prince of Alchemy, Invention and Transformation, not to be confused with the the [[Vestige]] connected to Frost Giants, Hill Giants and Minotaurs in the lore of the [[Binder]]s.

===[[Jezelda]]===
Demon Queen of Desolation, the Moon and Werewolves; ironically, despite the usual connections drawn to such powers, the Mistress of the Hungry Moon has never claimed to be the origin of all werewolves.

===[[Kabriri]]===
Demon Prince of [[Ghoul]]s, Graves and Secrets Kept By The Dead, the demon prince known as Him Who Gnaws is generally believed to be the damned soul of the first cannibal (and a fratricidal one at that), and the reason why ghouls cannot paralyze elves (and can mutate into elf-like forms) is because he was supposedly an elf in life.

===[[Lamashtu]]===
A Pathfinder-only Demon Queen and goddess, mother of all "manbeast" races such as [[minotaur]]s, [[harpy|harpies]], [[gnolls]] and [[medusa]]s. In fact, two of her most powerful daughters have become Demon Princesses in their own right; Aldinach and Areshkagal.

===[[Mazmezz]]===
Demon Queen of Binding, [[Drider]]s and Vermin, the grotesquely insectile Creeping Queen has the soul of a /d/eviant, using her powers of illusion to assume seductive guises in order to acquire more trophy-spouses for her hideous harem.

===[[Mestama]]===
Demon Queen of Cruelty, Deception and [[Hag]]s, the infamously misandric Mother of Witches bitterly hates the demi-goddess [[Gyronna]] for having stolen the position of Queen of All Hags from her.

===[[Nocticula]]===
Demon Queen of Assassins, Darkness and Lust, Our Lady In Shadow was actually the very first [[succubus]] to exist in Golarion, seducing and murdering her way into power. Sister and sometimes lover of Socothbenoth.

===[[Nurgal]]===
Demon Prince of Deserts, the Sun and Senseless Warfare, the Shining Scourge should not be confused with [[Nurgle]], as he has no plague-related powers. Former lover of Areshkagal, he may also be Socothbenoth's half-brother, but he hates the Demon Prince of Perversion.

===[[Shax]]===
Demon Prince of Envy, Lies and Violent Murder, the Blood Marquis is of course the favored patron of serial killers, and competes with Andirifikhu for worship by torturers.

===[[Shivaska]]===
Demon Queen of Aberrations, Clocks and Prisons, the Chained Maiden has a disturbing interest in scaring kids and bondage.

===[[Sifkesh]]===
Demon Queen of Hopeless Despair, Heresy and Suicide, the Sacred Whore loves to tempt devout worshippers and priestly types into heresy, eating their souls when they commit suicide out of grief upon realizing their betrayal.

===[[Socothbenoth]]===
Demon Prince of Pride, Perversion and Taboos, the Silken Prince is Nocticula's brother and occasional lover, as well as the demonic patron of [[/d/]].

===[[Urxhel]]===
Demon Prince of Natural Disasters, Storms and Trolls, unlike most "racial patron" demon lords, the Trollfather actually ''despises'' his children and so is worshipped only in an effort to stop him destroying them all.

===[[Xoveron]]===
Demon Prince of Gargoyles, Gluttony and Ruins, the four-headed Horned Prince seeks the emptying of all cities to create a world in which he and his children can feed.

===[[Yhidothrus]]===
Demon Prince of Age, Time and Worms, worshipped by those driven to desperation out of their hatred of time's encroach, the Ravager Worm is a patron of many [[lich]]es.

===[[Zevgavizeb]]===
Demon Prince of Vast Caverns, Reptiles and Troglodytes, an immensely gluttonous and lazy squamous horror who rules an Abyssal realm set up as a mad hollow earth.

===[[Zura]]===
Demon Queen of Blood, Cannibalism and Vampires, this uniquely powerful and depraved succubus has a complicated relationship with [[Urgathoa]], with the Vampire Queen being as likely to make common cause with the Pallid Princess as to fight for worshippers.

{{Pathfinder-Fiends}}
{{Pathfinder-DemonPrinces}}

Book of Exalted Deeds

2019-05-20T12:04:41Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06:

{{dnd-stub}}

The '''Book of Exalted Deeds''' is a term from [[Dungeons & Dragons]] that can refer to either of two things; an in-game magical item, or a [[Splatbook]] for [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]. It is the good counterpart of the [[Book of Vile Darkness]]

==The Magical Item==
It works the same way as its evil counterpart. A book that grants power and knowledge to its reader but only if they are of good alignment and will harm the reader if they are evil.

==3e Splatbook==
Released for 3.5 edition Dungeons & Dragons. Like the ''Book of Vile Darkness'' it has a warning that it is meant for a mature audience because it deals with the topics of ethics and morality in a serious manner. Also like the ''Book of Vile Darkness'' it isn't completely successful at this and also has several major balance issues.

Chapter 1 of the book discusses the nature of good and gives advice on how to roleplay good aligned characters. It also lists archetypes of good characters and gives a sample of character of each of those archetypes. Rather hilariously, the sample redeemed villain character is a good [[Illithid]]

Chapter 2 is about variant rules that can be used by good characters. One seriously imbalanced rule is Voluntary Poverty, which restricts the player from owning magic items or keeping any wealth they don't need in exchange for bonuses which aren't anywhere near enough to make up for it. The chapter also lists a few obscure gods of good: [[Ayailla]], [[Chaav]], [[Estanna]], [[Lastai]], [[Phieran]], [[Valarian]].

Chapter 3 includes a variety of weapons for good characters to use. One hilarious thing it includes are Ravages and Afflictions, which are supposed to be less evil alternatives to using poisons, but some of the descriptions of what they do actually sound worse that just using poison, for example Raging Desire causes insatiable sexual desire while preventing any possible fulfillment of that desire.

Chapter 4 is a long list of feats for good characters.

Chapter 5 contains '''22''' new prestige classes.
* [[Anointed Knight]]
* [[Apostle of Peace]]
* [[Beloved of Valarian]]
* [[Celestial Mystic]]
* [[Champion of Gwynharwyf]]
* [[Defender of Sealtiel]]
* [[Emissary of Barachiel]]
* [[Exalted Arcanist]]
* [[Fist of Raziel]]
* [[Initiate of Pistis Sophia]]
* [[Lion of Talisid]]
* [[Prophet of Erathaol]]
* [[Risen Martyr]]
* [[Sentinel of Bharrai]]
* [[Skylord]]
* [[Slayer of Domiel]]
* [[Stalker of Kharash]]
* [[Swanmay]]
* [[Sword of Righteousness]]
* [[Troubadour of Stars]]
* [[Vassal of Bahamut]]
* [[Wonderworker]]

Chapter 6 contains magic spells and items.

Chapter 7 is about Celestial Paragons, extremely powerful good aligned outsiders that could be called [[Archangel]]s including the Celestial Hebdomad, 7 archons that each are each the protector of a different layer of [[Celestia]], Talisid and the Five Companions, an adventuring party made up of one of each kind of [[Guardinal]] except for Musteval, and the Court of Stars that rules over the [[Eladrin]].

Chapter 8 list a variety of good monsters. It introduces the Deathless, a creature type that is similar to undead but with many of their traits reversed, as they are powered by positive energy instead of negative.
* Aleax (Template): A construct created by a good aligned god sent to punish a mortal that has done something to upset them. It looks like a clone of the intended victim with glowing eyes. If it successfully kills its target their soul is sent to the god that sent the Aleax who will then offer them a chance to redeem theirself.
* [[Archon]]:
** Owl Archon:
** Sword Archon:
** Throne Archon:
** Warden Archon:
* [[Asura]]: A chaotic good celestial resembling an angel with flaming wings
* [[Bariaur]]: A celestial resembling a centaur but with the features of a ram or goat instead of a horse.
* Crypt Warden: A skeletal deathless that protects the tombs of saints and heroes.
* [[Eladrin]]:
** Coure:
** Firre:
** Shiradi:
** Tulani:
* [[Guardinal]]
** Equinal
** Musteval
** Ursinal
* [[Hollyphant]]: A powerful celestial that normally looks like a tiny elephant with wings, but make it mad, and it will turn into a bat winged humanoid mastodon.
* [[Leskylor]]: A magical beast resembling a blue furred tiger with wings, which sometimes also has three heads.
* Moon dog: A celestial dog that acts like a good counterpart of the yeth hound.
* Quesar: A construct resembling a shining humanoid created by angels
* [[Rhek]]: Lawful good humanoids with rhinoceros like features.
* Sacred Watcher (Template): A ghostly deathless that returns from the dead to continue protecting somebody.
* Saint (Template): A mortal who has become like a celestial through living a life dedicated to good.
* Sanctified Creature (Template): A creature that has been transformed into a good version of itself by the effect of the spell ''Sanctify the Wicked''. It loses many of its abilities in exchange for new good ones.
* Divine Wrath Swarm: A swarm of animals sent by a god to punish mortals.
** Apocalypse Frog Swarm: A swarm of frogs sent as a warning to evildoers that a far worse punishment will be coming soon.
** Bronze Locust Swarm: Fine constructs resembling locusts that spit divine fire and have jaws made of adamantine.
** Deathraven Swarm: A swarm of silver-eyed ravens that can instantly kill anything they wound and are sent to kill only the most evil of people. For some added horror, they also have a rule for pecking their victim's eyes out.
** Sunfly Swarm: Shining dragonflies from the planes of good.

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Game Books]]
[[Category:Splatbook]]

Cleric Domain

2019-05-20T12:02:56Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06: /* 3rd edition */

'''Cleric Domains''', commonly abbreviated to '''Domains''', are a mechanic from [[Dungeons & Dragons]] that serves to provide greater individuality for [[cleric]]s.

Much like how [[wizard]] [[magic]] is divided into its eight schools, one would presume that the powers granted by the goddess of earth and healing would be different to those granted by the god of fire and plague. Domains, then, serve as a way to mechanically differentiate clerics based on their patron [[gods]], and can even be used to define adherents to specific sub-beliefs or sects of a particular god.

The concept of the Domain has been around since at least the days of [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]], and isn't going anywhere any time soon.

==AD&D==
The foundations of the Cleric Domain were laid in two AD&D mechanics; Spheres and Specialty Priests. Specialty Priests were a form of priestly [[kits]] that were used to represent specialized followers of specific gods. This gave the priest different mechanical edges and disadvantages, depending on what kit was chosen.

''Spheres'' were direct priestly correlations to the wizardly schools of magic; they represented divine portfolios, areas of influence that a god would have dominion over, and so they had magical spells based on that portfolio. Depending on what god you worshipped, your cleric had either Major access to certain spheres (get all spells as you level up), Minor access (only get spells of level 1-3) or no access, meaning you get no spells. The Spheres determine the kind of spells you can cast - Sun spells, Nature spells, War spells, etc. The original sixteen Spheres are:

* '''All''', basic spells that all Clerics get.
* '''Animal''', which has to do with animals.
* '''Astral''', which allows you to use the [[Astral Plane]] for travel and communication.
* '''Charm''', which lets you make friends and influence people.
* '''Combat''', which lets you break faces left and right.
* '''Creation''', which lets you create things ''ex nihilo''.
* '''Divination''', which lets you detect things, communicate with them and see at great distances.
* '''Elemental''', which lets you [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|control the elements]].
* '''Guardian''', which lets you create barriers and zones of protection.
* '''Healing''', which makes you the [[party]]'s [[healslut]].
* '''Necromantic''', which lets you smell the funk of fourty thousand years and raise and destroy the dead.
* '''Plant''', which lets you control nature itself.
* '''Protection''', which exists because sometimes it's better to prevent damage than heal it.
* '''Summoning''', because sometimes you want [[CoDzilla|a spell more powerful than an entire class]].
* '''Sun''', for those times you want to [[Meme|praise the sun]].
* '''Weather''', because everybody wants a sunny day now and then.

The Tome of Magic later introduced eight additional Spheres:

* '''Chaos''', for those who want the power of [[CHAOS]].
* '''Law''', for those who want to control others.
* '''Numbers''', because some gods are HUGE NERDS.
* '''Thought''', for mastery of the self.
* '''Time''', allow you to manipulate how time affects things and people.
* '''Travelers''', which lets you travel distances at a fast pace.
* '''War''', the larger brother of the Combat Sphere.
* '''Wards''', to protect areas and items from harm.

Of the base sixteen Clerics gain Major access to all Spheres except Animal, Elemental and Plant, and Minor access to Elemental. Speciality priests gain access to a limited set of Spheres, to offset the other abilities they get later down the line. Druids meanwhile gain Major access to the Spheres of All, Animal, Elemental, Healing, Plant and Weather.

==3rd edition==
The iconic form of the Cleric Domain, if only due to its lifespan, was made in 3rd edition. This version of a Domain granted a cleric access to both a small list of bonus spells that would not normally be on the Cleric spell list and a single passive mechanical edge - for example, an elemental domain would usually grant the ability to turn and rebuke elementals of the "enemy" element as if they were undead.

In this edition, clerics select two Domains at 1st level, representing the particular divine portfolios that their faith resonates with.

Because of how disorganized shit was in this edition, many domains beyond those in the original [[Player's Handbook]] would be reprinted time and time again.

;Player's Handbook:
* Air
* Animal
* Chaos
* Death
* Destruction
* Earth
* Evil
* Fire
* Good
* Healing
* Knowledge
* Law
* Luck
* Magic
* Plant
* Protection
* Strength
* Sun
* Travel
* Trickery
* War
* Water

;Complete Divine:
* Celerity
* Cold
* Community
* Competition
* Creation
* Domination
* Dream
* Force
* Glory
* Inquisition
* Liberation
* Madness
* Mind
* Mysticism
* Oracle
* Pact
* Pestilence
* Purification
* Summoner
* Weather

;[[Book of Exalted Deeds]]:
* Celestial
* Community
* Endurance
* Fey
* Glory
* Herald
* Joy
* Pleasure
* Wrath

;[[Book of Vile Darkness]]:
* Bestial
* Corruption
* Darkness
* Demonic
* Diabolic
* Greed
* Pain

;Deities & Demigods:
* Artifice
* Charm
* Community
* Creation
* Darkness
* Glory
* Liberation
* Madness
* Nobility
* Repose
* Rune
* Scalykind
* Weather

;Fiendish Codex 1:
* Corruption
* Demonic
* Entropy
* Fury
* Ooze
* Temptation

;Frostburn:
* Cold
* Winter

;Libris Mortis:
* Deathbound
* Hunger
* Undeath

;[[Lords of Madness]]:
* Corruption
* Force
* Hatred
* Madness
* Mind
* Vile Darkness

;[[Oriental Adventures]]:
* Ancestor
* Celestial
* Community
* Divination
* Flame
* Fortune
* Fury
* Grave
* Guardian
* Healing
* Hero
* Knowledge
* Metal
* Nature
* River
* Stone
* Travel
* Trickery
* War
* Wood

;Planar Handbook:
* Abyss
* Arborea
* Baator
* Celestia
* Elysium
* Hades
* Limbo
* Mechanus

;[[Races of X|Races of Destiny]]:
* City
* Destiny

;[[Races of X|Races of the Wild]]:
* Sky

;Sandstorm:
* Nobility
* Repose
* Rune
* Sand
* Summer
* Thirst

;Stormwrack:
* Blackwater
* Ocean
* Seafolk
* Storm

;[[Dragon Magazine]]:
* Dragon (344)
* Army (317)
* Avarice (323)
* Beguilement (312)
* Charity (355)
* Chastity (355)
* Chromatic Dragon (344)
* Deathless (319)
* Emotion (340)
* Envy (323)
* Gem Dragon (344)
* Generosity (355)
* Gluttony (323)
* Hope (355)
* Humility (355)
* Hunger (312)
* Hunt (342)
* Life (319)
* Lung Dragon (344)
* Lust (323)
* Metallic Dragon (344)
* Night (342)
* Patience (355)
* Pride (323)
* Radiance (321)
* Seduction (312)
* Sloth (323)
* Spirit (312)
* Temperance (355)
* Undead (312)
* Wrath (323)
* Zeal (355)

;Spell Compendium:
* Balance
* Cavern
* Celerity
* Charm
* Cold
* Community
* Competition
* Courage
* Craft
* Creation
* Darkness
* Deathbound
* Domination
* Dragon
* Dream
* Drow
* Dwarf
* Elf
* Envy
* Family
* Fate
* Force
* Glory
* Gluttony
* Gnome
* Greed
* Halfling
* Hatred
* Hunger
* Illusion
* Inquisition
* Liberation
* Lust
* Madness
* Mentalism
* Metal
* Mind
* Moon
* Mysticism
* Nobility
* Ocean
* Oracle
* Orc
* Pact
* Pestilience
* Planning
* Portal
* Pride
* Purification
* Renewal
* Retribution
* Rune
* Scalykind
* Slime
* Sloth
* Spell
* Spider
* Storm
* Suffering
* Summoner
* Time
* Trade
* Tyranny
* Undead
* Wealth
* Windstorm
* Wrath
* Abyss
* Arborea
* Baator
* Celestia
* Elysium
* Hades
* Limbo
* Mechanus

===Dragonlance Domains===
;Dragonlance Campaign Setting:
* Alteration
* Community
* Forge
* Insight
* Liberation
* Meditation
* Mentalism
* Necromancy
* Passion
* Pestilence
* Restoration
* Storm
* Sun
* Treachery

;Age of Mortals:
* Channeling
* Sensitivity

===Eberron Domains===
;Eberron Campaign Setting:
* Artifice
* Charm
* Commerce
* Community
* Deathless
* Decay
* Dragon Below
* Exorcism
* Feast
* Life
* Medness
* Meditation
* Necromancer
* Passion
* Shadow
* Weather

;Faiths of Eberron:
* Revered Ancestor
* Warforged

===Forgotten Realms Domains===
;Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting:
* Cavern
* Charm
* Craft
* Darkness
* Drow
* Dwarf
* Elf
* Family
* Fate
* Gnome
* Halfling
* Hatred
* Illusion
* Mentalism
* Metal
* Moon
* Nobility
* Ocean
* Orc
* Planning
* Portal
* Renewal
* Retribution
* Rune
* Scalykind
* Slime
* Spell
* Storm
* Suffering
* Time
* Trade
* Tyranny
* Undeath

;Faiths & Pantheons:
* Repose

;Underdark
* Balance
* Portal (Alternative)
* Watery Death

===Ravenloft Domains===
;Ravenloft Campaign Setting:
* Mists
* Repose

;[[Van Richten's Guide]]s:
* Glamour ([[Shadow Fey]])

;[[Ravenloft Gazetteer]]s:
* Bindings (I, V)
* Mora (I)
* Salvation (I)
* Slaughter (IV)
* Scrutiny (V)
* The Weave (V)

==4th edition==
In something of a throwback to AD&D, 4th edition Divine classes - the [[Cleric]], the [[Paladin]], the [[Avenger]], and the [[Invoker]] - didn't initially have Domains. The idea was that the sheer variety of powers, feat-based "worshipper of X" class bonuses, and paragon paths could grant quite a bit of variety to a clerical concept as it was.

However, Domains were too potentially interesting an idea to just up and abandon. Thus the "Divine Power" splatbook contained a whole segment dedicated to reintroducing Domains. In addition to examining them from a fluffy angle and how to respin Domains for odd-seeming alignment fits - a Good God of Destruction, a Chaotic Evil God of Freedom, an Evil God of Protection, etc - it provided mechanical details for making them work.

4e Cleric Domains take advantage of the comparatively high number of feats that a 4e PC gets access to. Each Domain has two associated feats; one that grants a permanent passive skill buff and takes on a special rider to a thematically appropriate set of at-will powers, and one that provides a new, thematic way to use the Channel Divinity class feature.

The list of 4th edition domains is as follows:

'''Arcana:''' The "Arcana Ward" feat adds a new Channel Divinity that gives Resistance 5 to a type you just got damaged by. The "Power of Arcana" feat adds +2 to all Arcana checks while also making the powers Divine Bolts, Lance of Faith, Radiant Vengeance, and Virtuous Strike count as Arcane powers. If any of these powers hit, you gain a +1 to hit them the next turn with another arcane power.

'''Change:''' The "Cycle of Change" feat adds a Channel Divinity that lets you transfer a condition you're suffering to an ally right next to you (or vice versa). The "Power of Change" domain adds +2 to all Thievery checks and if successful with the use of Bolstering Strike, Divine Bolts, Overwhelming Strike, or Recovery Strike, you gain +1 to hit the target with an encounter or daily power on the next turn.

'''Civilization:''' The "Anthem of Civilization" feat adds a Channel Divinity that grants either yourself or an ally within 3 spaces a +2 bonus to hit while flanking, which while useful requires selecting the right person. The "Power of Civilization" feat adds +2 to Diplomacy checks and adds +1 to the damage of Leading Strike, Mantle of the Infidel, Priest's Shield, or Valiant Strike for each enemy right next to you when used.

'''Creation:''' The "Creation Secret" feat adds a Channel Divinity that gives you a chance to use a magic item's power without spending a use. The "Power of Creation" feat adds +2 to Religion and grants +1 AC to you or an ally when you hit with Bolstering Strike, Grasping Shards, Radiant Vengeance, or Righteous Brand.

'''Darkness:''' The "Darkness Consumes" feat adds a Channel Divinity that grants you and every ally within a Burst 1 concealment. The "Power of Darkness" feat adds +2 to Stealth and grants concealment from the next attack when you hit with Ardent Strike, Overwhelming Strike, Priest's Shield, or Visions of Blood.

'''Death:''' The "Death Knell feat adds a Channel Divinity that instakills a bloodied enemy with an HP lower than 5+1/2 your level. The "Power of Death" feat adds +2 to Religion and grants a scaling bonus to damage against bloodied enemies when using Enfeebling Strike, Radiant Vengeance, Righteous Brand, or Visions of Blood.

'''Destruction:''' The "Path of Destruction" feat adds a Channel Divinity that lets you re-roll damage for one melee attack. The "Power of Destruction" feat adds +2 to Intimidate and deals scaling extra damage against unbloodied enemies when using Ardent Strike, Bond of Censure, Grasping Shards, or Righteous Brand.

'''Earth:''' The "Earth Hold" feat adds a Channel Divinity that immobilizes you but slows down any foe within a Burst 2, which is handy for someone trying to draw attention. The "Power of Earth" feat adds +2 to Athletics and slows any enemy hit by Bolstering Strike, Overwhelming Strike, Recovery Strike, or Visions of Blood.

'''Fate:''' The "Fate Rolls On" feat adds a Channel Divinity that's a big wild-card; if someone passes a saving throw, they gain a +2 to their next save, but if they fail they get a -2 to their next save. The "Power of Fate" feat adds +2 to Insight and adds +1 to damage bloodied enemies when using Astral Seal, Avenging Light, Bond of Retribution, or Holy Strike.

'''Freedom:'''The "Path of Freedom" feat adds a Channel Divinity that enables allies to either escape a grab or roll a save against an immbobilized, slowed, or restrained condition. The "Power of Freedom" feat adds +2 to Acrobatics and gives you or an ally +2 to the next Saving Throw when you use Holy Strike, Leading Strike, Righteous Brand, or Vanguard's Lightning.

'''Hope:''' The "Hope Remains" feat adds a Channel Divinity that gives someone who just recovered from 0 HP a +2 to attacks, saves, and defenses for the turn. The "Power of Hope" feat adds +2 to Diplomacy and gives you or an ally +1 to the next attack when you hit with Avenging Light, Leading Strike, Righteous Brand, or Valiant Strike.

'''Justice:''' The "Immediate Justice " feat adds a Channel Divinity that immediately deals radiant damage to an enemy who just downed an ally. The "Power of Justice" feat adds +2 to Insight and lets all bloodied allies take +1 to their next attack when you hit with Bond of Censure, Mantle of the Infidel, Righteous Brand, or Virtuous Strike.

'''Knowledge:''' The "Sure Knowledge" feat adds a Channel Divinity that lets anyone taking a knowledge test to re-roll. THe "Power of Knowledge" feat adds +2 to history and grants a +1 to all defenses when you hit with Astral Seal, Grasping Shards, Leading Strike, or Virtuous Strike.

'''Life:''' The "Pulse of Life" feat adds a Channel Divinity that gives one person a +10 on a death saving throw. The "Power of Life" feat adds +2 to Heal and gives one ally a scaling amount of THP when you hit with Astral Seal, Avenging Light, Bolstering Strike, or Radiant Vengeance.

'''Love:''' The "Loving Sacrifice" feat adds a Channel Divinity that lets you take damage for an ally. The "Power of Love" feat adds +2 to Diplomacy and gives the bizarre option of forgoing damage when using Radiant Vengeance, Recovery Strike, Sun Strike, or Virtuous Strike to grant up to two allies a tier-scaling amount of THP.

'''Luck:''' The "Imminent Luck" feat adds a Channel Divinity that's a safety net for a safety net: if you use a power to re-roll and it gets lower than the original roll, you can re-roll the re-roll. The "Power of Luck" feat adds +2 to Acrobatics and lets you crit on a 19+ with Bond of Censure, Holy Strike, Lance of Faith, or Vanguard's Lightning.

'''Madness:''' The "Screaming Madness" feat adds a Channel Divinity that makes an enemy hit themselves after you hit them with a Fear power. The "Power of Madness" feat adds +2 to Bluff and makes an enemy hit by Enfeebling Strike, Overwhelming Strike, Righteous Brand, or Visions of Blood take -1 to attack for the next turn.

'''Moon:''' The "Moon Touched" feat adds a Channel Divinity that continuous heals up a bloodied ally on a value that scales by tier with a twist: when the die is rolled, an odd adds that value as THP (Which won't stack with other THP and ends the power) while an even just adds flat HP and ends the power. The "Power of the Moon" feat adds +1 Perception and when you hit with Bond of Censure, Enfeebling Strike, Hand of Radiance, or Righteous Brand, the defense you hit is reduced by -2.

'''Poison:''' The "Original Poison" power adds a Channel Divinity that just adds +2 to hit with a poison power. The "Power of Poison" feat adds +2 to Bluff and lets you make Enfeebling Strike, Grasping Shards, Overwhelming Strike, and Righteous Brand deal poison damage instead of whatever it used to while also dealing extra damage that scales by tier (Which makes these feats work very well with each other).

'''Protection:''' The "Sure Protection" feat adds a Channel Divinity that lets any one person taking a Second Wind add +3 to their defenses for that turn. The "Power of Protection" feat adds +2 to Heal while also letting an ally gain +1 to all defenses when you hit with Leading Strike, Priest's Shield, Valiant Strike, or Vanguard's Lightning.

'''Sea:''' The "Sea Surge" feat adds a Channel Divinity that lets you slide an ally who just got forcibly moved. The "Power of the Sea" feat adds +2 to Athletics and when you hit with Bond of Censure, Divine Bolts, Recovery Strike, or Virtuous Strike, you can either make a save or force -2 on the target's next save.

'''Skill:''' The "Divine Excellence" feat adds a Channel Divinity that adds +2 to a skill check for you and gives a +2 to anyone else trying that skill. The "Power of Skill" feat lets you add +1 to all skills you're trained in and makes Divine Bolts, Overwhelming Strike, Righteous Brand, and Valiant Strike count as basic attacks.

'''Storm:''' The "Storm Sacrifice" feat adds a Channel Divinity that grants you and one enemy Vulnerable 5 to lightning and thunder damage (Unless they're already resistant, in which case they lose that resistance). The "Power of the Storm" feat adds +2 to Intimidate and lets Overwhelming Strike, Righteous Brand, Valiant Strike, and Vanguard's Lightning deal thunder damage instead of their normal typing while also adding a tier-scaling damage bonus for using this.

'''Strength:''' The "Strength of the Gods" feat adds a Channel Divinity that lets you add your Strength mod to the damage of one move. The "Power of Strength" feat lets you add +2 to Athletics and deals extra damage that scales by tier when you use Avenging Light, Holy Strike, Overwhelming Strike, or Priest's Shield.

'''Strife:''' The "Sudden Strife" feat adds a Channel Divinity that makes two enemies take -4 to all attacks while they're within 3 spaces of each other - handy in some situations, but useless for shooters. The "Power of Strife" feat adds +2 to Bluff and deals tier-scaling extra damage for all enemies near the target when you use Ardent Strike, Bond of Retribution, Lance of Faith, or Sun Strike.

'''Sun:''' The "Solar Enemy" feat adds a Channel Divinity that forces a Vulnerable 2 to radiant damage on all enemies within a burst 2 area. The "Power of the Sun" feat adds +2 to Insight and inflicts a tier-scaling vulnerability to radiant damage when you use Lance of Faith, Radiant Vengeance, Sun Strike, or Virtuous Strike.

'''Torment:''' The "Perfect Torment" feat adds a Channel Divinity that gives nearby enemies a -2 on their saves that turn. The "Power of Torment" feat adds +2 to Intimidate and lets an enemy hit with Ardent Strike, Astral Seal, Mantle of the Infidel, or Overwhelming Strike grant combat advantage to whoever attacks them next.

'''Trickery:''' The "Trickster's Fortune" feat adds a Channel Divinity that forces a -2 on an enemy's saving throw while letting you or an ally roll their own save if the enemy fails. The "Power of Trickery" feat adds +2 to Thievery and allows you to shift yourself or a nearby ally when you hit with Avenging Light, Enfeebling Strike, Overwhelming Strike, or Recovery Strike.

'''Tyranny:''' The "Master of Tyranny" feat adds a Channel Divinity that just adds +2 to hit bloodied enemies. The "Power of Tyranny" feat adds +2 to Intimidate and forces targets to take -2 on their saving throws when you use Astral Seal, Bond of Censure, Divine Bolts, or Enfeebling Strike.

'''Undeath:''' The "Undeath's Ally" feat adds a Channel Divinity that lets you steal an ally's Healing Surge but grant them THP equal to that surge amount + 1/2 your level. The "Power of Undeath" feat adds +2 to Religion and lets you make Bond of Censure, Enfeebling Strike, Grasping Shards, and Lance of Faith deal necrotic damage instead of their typical type while also adding a tier-scaling damage bonus for using it.

'''Vengeance:''' The "Small Vengeance" feat adds a Channel Divinity that instantly deals damage that scales by tier the instant an enemy bloodies an ally. The "Power of Vengeance" feat adds +2 to Intimidate and makes it so that anyone hit by Astral Seal, Avenging Light, Holy Strike, or Radiant Vengeance and then attacks you or an ally takes a small bit of instant damage that scales by tier.

'''War:''' The "Path of War" feat adds a Channel Divinity that gives everyone a +2 to hit but -2 AC. The "Power of War" feat adds +2 to History and adds +1 to hit an unbloodied enemy with Bolstering Strike, Bond of Retribution, Priest's Shield, or Visions of Blood.

'''Wilderness:''' The "Grasp of the Wilderness" feat adds a Channel Divinity that makes a small burst 1 area within 10 spaces difficult terrain, which has uses for a Controller. The "Power of the Wilderness" feat adds +2 to Nature and lets you and all nearby allies ignore difficult terrain when you use Overwhelming Strike, Recovery Strike, Sun Strike, or Valiant Strike.

'''Winter:''' The "Path of Winter" feat adds a Channel Divinity that grants you and any friends a resistance to cold damage that scales by tier. The "Power of Winter" feat adds +2 to Endurance and lets Bond of Censure, Enfeebling Strike, Hand of Radiance, and Lance of Faith deal cold damage instead of whatever they used to do while also adding a tier-scaling damage bonus for using this feat.

==5th edition==
With [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition]] taking the approach of mandatory [[subclass]]es, turning Domains into the [[cleric]] subclasses was as natural as turning the iconic eight schools of magic into the [[wizard]] subclasses. As in 3rd edition, a 5e Cleric Domain grants a list of bonus spells for all of the spell levels. More importantly, it also grants a number of bonus class features, at levels 1, 2, 6, 8 and 17, which mechanically alter how the cleric plays and what it can do to a far greater extent than the oft-meager domain powers of 3e.

In addition to the domains sorted below, several Domains have appeared in [[Unearthed Arcana]], namely the [[d20 Modern]]-themed "City" Domain, the Protection Domain, and precursors to the Forge and Grave Domains.

===Core Domains===
The core Domains in 5e's Player's Handbook are Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Tempest, Trickery, and War.

'''Knowledge''' covers deities who value learning and understanding, although its observation that some such gods hoard their knowledge and others coax their followers to seek forbidden secrets makes it plain to see that this is as much the Domain of [[Vecna]] as it is the domain of [[Oghma]] or [[Gilean]]. At first level, you gain the Blessings of Knowledge feature, which grants you two bonus languages and Expertise (apply double your proficiency bonus when making such checks) in two skills of your choice selected from a list of Arcana, History, Nature or Religion. Its Channel Divinity is Knowledge of the Ages, which grants you 10 minutes of proficiency in a skill or tool of your choice. 6th level provides the Read Thoughts feature, which as the name suggests lets you reach out and probe a victim's mind once per long rest; if they fail a Wisdom save, you can read their surface thoughts for the next minute and, when you break contact, can leave them under the effects of a Suggestion spell. At level 8, you gain the Potent Spellcasting feature, which adds bonus damage to your Cleric cantrips equal to your Wisdom modifier. Finally, at level 17, once per short rest, you can undergo a 1 minute long meditative ritual to engage in some postcognition, reading the most recent history of either an object or your immediate vicinity, courtesy of your Visions of the Past feature.

'''Life''' is, of course, the healing and fertility gods Domain of choice, and is all about making you a better healer. Aside from a bevvy of curative Domain Spells, this Domain gives you free proficiency with Heavy Armor and the 1st level feature Disciple of Life, which causes your healing spells to grant 2 + the spell's level bonus hit points to the total they heal. Your Channel Divinity is Preserve Life, which lets you use Channel Divinity to heal up to 5 times your cleric level in hit points in any number of non-construct, non-undead creatures within 30 feet of you. Level 6 grants the Blessed Healer, which causes you to be healed of 2 + spell's level hit points whenever you cast a healing spell. Divine Strike, a level 8 feature, lets you deal +1d8 (+2d8 at 14th level) radiant damage with a weapon attack once per turn. Finally, at 17th level, you gain the Supreme Healing feature, which causes your dice roll-based healing spells to always restore the maximum possible hitpoints (so a 2d6 healing spell cast by you will automatically heal 12 HP).

'''Light''' is a diverse domain mostly associated with deities of good, but whilst its fluff claims it can be metaphorical, its mechanics lean more towards the literal. If you liked the Laser Cleric build from 4e, this is the Domain that you want. Its Domain spells are all about making light and fire, and it grants Light as a bonus cantrip. Its level 1 feature is Warding Flare, where you can use a reaction in response to being attacked by a visible creature within 30 feet to impose Disadvantage on its attack roll, which you can do a number of times per day equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1). As this is flavored as being due to a sudden flash of light, creatures immune to blindness are unaffected by this feature. Your Channel Divinity is Radiance of the Dawn, which lets you burn a Channel Divinity to dispel magical darkness within 30 feet and to inflict 2d10 + your cleric level radiant damage on all hostile creatures within 30 feet of you - a successful Constitution save halves the damage, and being behind total cover protects them from all damage. Improved Flare, your 6th level feature, now lets you use Warding Flare to protect allies within 30 feet. At level 8, you gain the Potent Spellcasting feature, which adds bonus damage to your Cleric cantrips equal to your Wisdom modifier. Finally, at level 17, Corona of Light lets you envelop yourself in an aura of divine light for a minute as an action. Whilst your aura is up, you emit bright light for 60 feet and dim light for 30 feet, but any enemies within that bright light have disadvantage on saving throws against any spell that inflicts fire or radiant damage.

'''Nature''' is the "so, why are [[druid]]s and [[cleric]]s not the same thing again?" Domain, focusing on control over plants and animals. Its Domain Spells all manipulate plants and animals, whilst at first level it gainst the Acolyte of Nature, which gives the cleric a free druid cantrip and proficiency in either Animal Handling, Nature or Survival. It also gets free heavy armor proficiency, which really doesn't make a lot of sense. Its Channel Divinity is Charm Animals and Plants, which... well, you can probably take a wild guess what it does. Dampen Elements, its level 6 feature, lets them burn a reaction to apply Resistance to acid, cold, fire, lightning or thunder damage delivered against either themselves or an ally within 30 feet. Their 8th level feature, Divine Strike, lets them add +1d8 (+2d8 at 14th level) bonus damage to a weapon attack once per turn, which can be cold, fire or lightning damage as they choose each time they use this feature. Finally, at 17th level they gain the Master of Nature feature, which lets them use a bonus action to verbally command animals & plants charmed by their Channel Divinity.

'''Tempest''' is the Domain of storm gods, making it all about the weather, the thunder and the lightning. Granting bonus proficiencies with martial weapons and heavy armor, its 1st level feature is Wrath of the Storm, which lets you blast a visible foe within 5 feet of you with 2d8 lightning or thunder damage as a reaction if that creature hits you with an attack, although they can halve the damage with a Dexterity save and you can only do this a number of times per long rest equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1). This Domain's Channel Divinity is Destructive Wrath, which lets them burn a charge of Channel Divinity to max out the damage on a thunder or lightning attack. Level 6 grants Thunderbolt Strike, where dealing lightning damage to a Large or smaller creature lets the cleric push them up to 10 feet away. Another Domain with the Divine Strike 8th level feature, this one grants +1d8 (+2d8 at 14th level) Thunder damage on a weapon attack once per turn. Finally, at level 17, they gain the Stormborn feature, which grants them a Fly speed equal to their current walking speed whenever they're not underground or indoors.

'''Trickery''' is the Domain of holy rogues and divine tricksters, all about mischief and deception. With an assortment of enchantment and illusion spells, plus dispel magic, dimension door and polymorph, as its Domain Spells, its 1st level feature is Blessing of the Trickster, which lets you grant a creature other than yourself Advantage on all Stealth checks for the next hour or until you bless somebody else, whichever comes first. Its Channel Divinity is Invoke Duplicity, which lets you create an illusory double that can cast spells for you and grant you advantage on attack rolls by double-teaming the same target, but can't physically interact with the world. At level 6, you gain a second Channel Divinity in Cloak of Shadows, which lets you become invisible until the end of your next turn, you attack or you cast a spell. Another Domain with the Divine Strike 8th level feature, this one grants +1d8 (+2d8 at 14th level) Poison damage on a weapon attack once per turn. Finally, Improved Duplicity at 17th level lets your Invoke Duplicity create up to four illusory doubles instead of the normal 1.

'''War''' is... do you really need to be told what kind of gods give this Domain? Its Domain Spells are all about bolstering attack or defense, it grants bonus proficiencies with heavy armor and martial weapons, and its 1st level feature is War Priest, which lets you make a secondary weapon attack as a bonus action a number of times per day equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1). Its Channel Divinity is Guided Strike, which grants you a +10 bonus to an attack roll when invoked, which is done after you see your roll but before the DM tells you if this was a hit or a miss. Another Domain with two Channel Divinities, its level 6 one is War God's Blessing, which is the same thing as Guided Strike, but applied to an ally's attack roll as a reaction. Another Domain with the Divine Strike 8th level feature, this one grants +1d8 (+2d8 at 14th level) damage on a weapon attack once per turn, with the bonus damage being the same type as the base damage. Finally, 17th level grants you Avatar of Battle, which is permanent resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage.

===Sourcebook Domains===
The very first sourcebook to feature a new Domain was the Dungeon Master's Guide, which featured the '''Death''' domain. Hilariously, the ''PHB itself'' acknowledges that death and its clerics aren't necessarily evil, and lists ''multiple'' non-evil death gods in its various appendices. But the discrepancy can be explained; trying to finally untangle the snarl of "why do Death Gods who hate the Undead have spells relating to creating the undead?", 5e split up the Death God archetype into its two main components; the Death Domain is for "Reaper" Gods, those Death Gods who embody the actual role of killing people, such as [[Nerull]], [[Loviatar]], [[Bhaal]], [[Talona]], and [[Morgion]]. In fact, it goes so far as to break up the three components of 3e's Death Domain - The Reaper God, the Underworld God and the [[Necromancer]]-God - that it actually completely forsakes the mastery of necromancy associated with "Death Priests" in editions past. This means that the [[necromancer]] [[wizard]] is '''finally''' the best character class at its actual role.

Death Domain Clerics gain access to a bevvy of spells based on offensive or debilitating necromancy, such as Rays of Sickness and Enfeeblement, False Life, Blight and Cloudkill. They get a bonus proficiency with martial weapons, and the 1st level feature "Reaper", which grants them a bonus necromancy cantrip from any class's spell list and the ability to target two adjacent (within 5ft of each other) creatures with the same necromantic cantrip. Their Channel Divinity is Touch of Death, which lets them inflict bonus necrotic damage (5 + 2 X Cleric Level) on a melee attack. 6th level grants them the Inescapable Destruction feature, which means their necrotic damage cleric spells, Channel Divinity and Divine Strike options all ignore necrotic resistance. 8th level gives them Divine Strike, which is the ability to inflict +1d8 Necrotic damage (+2d8 at 14th level onwards) with a weapon attack once per turn. Finally, at level 17, they get Improved Reaper, which applies Reaper's bonus to any single-targetting necromancy spell of 1st through to 5th level.

The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide adds the '''Arcane''' domain, for a little more of a [[Mystic Theurge]] feel to the cleric. As worshippers of the God of Magic, these clerics possess abilities that make them a lore more [[wizard]]ly. In addition to a bevvy of "basic arcane" and arcane magic-manipulating spells, like Detect Magic, Magic Missile, Dispel Magic and Teleportation Circle, their first level feature is Arcane Initiate, which grants them proficiency in the Arcana skill and two wizard cantrips of their choice, which function for them as Cleric cantrips. Their Channel Divinity is Arcane Abjuration, which is basically the ability to turn planar creatures ([[angel|celestials]], [[elemental]]s, [[fey]] and [[fiend]]s) as if they were undead, which upgrades to the ability to banish them from the material plane for a minute from 5th level onwards, if the creature is weak enough. At 6th level, they gain Spellbreaker, which lets their curative spells function as a Dispel Magic on whoever they are targeting. Potent Spellcasting, their 8th level feature, lets them add their Wisdom modifier to the damage rolls they make for their offensive cantrips. Finally, at level 17, they can pick one wizard spell from each of the 6th through 9th level lists and turn these into bonus Domain Spells.

Xanathar's Guide to Everything would add two more Domains; '''Forge''' and '''Grave''', based on an earlier Unearthed Arcana article.

'''Forge Clerics''' worship smithing creator deities like [[Moradin]], [[Gond]], and [[Reorx]], and thusly have abilities aimed at filling the [[artificer]] role, with a dash of tankiness. Their Domain Spells all relate directly to their role, consisting of Identify, Searing Smite, Heat Metal, Magic Weapon, Elemental Weapon, Protection from Energy, Fabricate, Wall of Fire, Animate Objects and Creation. They receive a free proficiency with heavy armor and smith's tools, and their 1st level feature is the Blessing of the Forge, which lets them temporarily imbue a suit of armor or a single weapon with magic until their next long rest or they die, which makes that item function as a +1 item. Their Channel Divinity is Artisan's Blessing, which lets them spend a Channel Divinity use over the course of an hour to create one item from the following list: a simple or martial weapon, a suit of armor, ten pieces of ammunition, a set of tools, or any other metal-based object that costs no more than 100 gold pieces. It can be used to create duplicates of metal objects you already possess, such as an exact replica of a key. 6th level grants them the Soul of the Forge, which gives them Resistance to Fire, plus it also gives them a +1 bonus to AC when wearing heavy armor. 8th level grants them a Divine Strike that deals +1d8 (+2d8 at 14th level) fire damage with a weapon attack once per turn. Finally, 17th level's Saint of the Forge improves their Soul of the Forge to Immunity to Fire and means they gain Resistance to Nonmagical Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing damage when wearing heavy armor.

'''Grave Clerics''' are, as you'd expect, the "non-evil death clerics!" domain; whilst Death is mechanically aimed at gods of the undead, murder and other "death as an evil force to be feared" deities, the Grave Domain is aimed at gods of "death as a natural part of the cycle", like [[Kelemvor]], [[Pharasma]], the [[Raven Queen]], [[the Undying Court]] and [[Wee Jas]]. This means the two main traditional depictions of a Death Priest in D&D are now covered, although the "Necromancer Cleric" traditionally held by servitors of deities like [[Vecna]] or [[Chemosh]] is still yet to be covered. Domain Spells for the Grave Domain are a weird grab-bag of "gently offensive" necromancy spells (Bane, Ray of Enfeeblement, Blight) and benign necromancy spells (False Life, Gentle Repose, Raise Dead). At 1st level, they gain Circle of Mortality, which not only causes them to always count as rolling the maximum value for their dice-based healing spells, but also gives them a 30ft long, cast on a bonus action version of Spare the Dying as a bonus cantrip that doesn't count against their cantrip limits. 1st level also gives them Eyes of the Grave, which lets them sense the location of all non-protected (that is, neither in total cover nor warded against divination) undead within 60 feet as action, which they can do a number of times per day equal to their Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1) before needing to take a long rest to recharge it. Their Channel Divinity is Path to the Grave, which lets them curse a creature within 30 feet so that it counts as having Vulnerability against the next attack to hit it. 6th level grants them the feature Sentinel at Death's Door, which lets them nullify a critical hit against themselves or an ally within 30 feet (downgrading it to a normal hit and cancelling any rider effects that trigger on a crit) as a reaction; again, they can do this a number of times per day equal to their Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1). At level 8, they gain the same Potent Spellcasting feature as the Arcane Domain Cleric does. Finally, 17th level grants them the Keeper of Souls trait, which means that once per turn, when an enemy dies within 60 feet of them, the cleric can heal a creature of their choice that is also within 60 feet, giving the target hit points equal to the dead creature's Hit Dice.

===Plane Shift Domains===
Since it's unclear where WoTC's "Plane Shift" articles, which convert [[Magic: The Gathering]] [[planes]] to D&D 5e worlds, fit on the canon scale, Domains introduced in such articles are given their own segment here. So far, only four new cleric Domains have arisen from the Plane Shift articles, in the form of the Ambition, Solidarity, Strength, and Zeal Domains associated with the gods of [[Amonkhet]].

The '''Ambition''' Domain is the most evil-flavored Domain, because of course wanting to push yourself to the top is most appealing to selfish jerkasses. Its bonus spells are all about cheating or manipulating; Bane, Ray of Enfeeblement, Vampiric Touch, Dominate Person, etc. At level 1, you get the Warding Flare ability, which you can use 1 or Wisdom modifier times per day, whichever is greater. This lets you impose Disadvantage on an assailant's attack roll against you as a reaction, provided that you can see them and they're within 30 feet - oh, and they're not immune to being blinded. Your level 2 Channel Divinity is "Invoke Duplicity", which lets you use your CD to create an illusionary double, which is sustained as per a Concentration spell. Aside from the obvious misleading effects, although it's only got a 120 range, you can cast spells through it, and you can tag-team with it to gain advantage on attack rolls. In comparison, your level 6 Channel Divinity, "Cloak of Shadows, is much simpler: you turn invisible, until your next turn ends, you attack somebody, or cast a spell. Level 8 gives you the Potent Spellcasting feature, where your offensive Cleric cantrips inflict +Wisdom modifier bonus damage. Finally, at level 17, Improved Duplicity lets you make up to 4 duplicates with Channel Divinity instead of 1.

The '''Solidarity''' Domain is a sort of cross between the War and Life Domains, as it's all about fostering team-work and unity. Its bonus spells relate to group-targeting heals and buffs, such as Bless, Guiding Bolt, etc. It grants proficiency in Heavy Armor and several features. At level 1, Solidarity's Action lets you spend a bonus action when using Help to assist an ally's attack to make a weapon attack of your own, which you can do Wis bonus times (minimum once) per day. At level 2, you get the Channel Divinity feature "Preserve Life", which lets you heal others as a bonus action without expending a spell slot. At level 6, Channel Divinity "Oketra's Blessing" lets you spend a Channel Divinity use as a reaction to a creature within 30 feet of you make an attack roll; this grants them a +10 bonus to their roll. At 8th level, you get Divine Strike, which lets you bump up the damage on one weapon attack per turn by +1d8 (+2d8 after you hit level 14). Finally, at level 17, you get Supreme Healing, where you automatically heal the maximum possible amount when using a random roll-based healing effect.

The '''Strength''' Domain is all about proving your strength, physically and mentally. As such, its bonus spells are an odd mix of physical boosters, protective buffs, and also includes the Dominate Beast and Insect Plague spells. At level 1, you gain Acolyte of Strength (1 Druid cantrip, Proficiency in 1 of Animal Handling, Athletics, Nature or Survival) and proficiency in Heavy Armor. At level 2, your first Channel Divinity, "Feat of Strength", allows you to use Channel Divinity to grant yourself a +10 bonus to any Strength based check. The level 6 version, "Rhonas's Blessing", is the same thing, but targeting somebody else within 30 feet instead. You get the same Divine Strike feature as the Solidarity Domain at level 8, and finally, level 17 gives you Avatar of Battle; permanent resistance to all physical damage that comes from non-magical sources.

The '''Zeal''' Domain is a weird mixture of the War and Tempest Domains, in practice. Its bonus spells are all offensive based, either directly (Destructive Wave) or indirectly (Searing Smite), and heavy on the thunder and fire damage. You get free proficiencies with martial weapons and heavy armor, and the Priest of Zeal feature at level 1. Usable 1 or Wisdom modifier (use the higher of the two) times per day, it lets you use a bonus action after making an attack to make an extra weapon attack. Your level 2 Channel Divinity, Consuming Fervor, lets you spend Channel Divinity uses to maximize fire and thunder damage. At level 6, you get Resounding Strike, which means your thunder attacks will knock any target that is Large or smaller back 10 feet when they hit. At level 8, you get Divine Strike, which functions the same as Solidarity and Strength's version. Finally, at level 17, you get Blaze of Glory: once per day, when reduced to 0 hit points by an attacker that you can see, you can use your reaction to move at full speed towards that bastard and make a melee weapon attack with Advantage that deals +5D10 (weapon damage type) damage and +5d10 fire damage if it hits. Whether it hits or not, you then collapse on the spot, either dead or dying, depending on how badly hurt you were beforehand.

===Mearls' Creations===
{{dnd-stub}}

Like with all the other [[subclass]]es, Mearls has admitted to homebrewing his own cleric domains, which he has sometimes shared through platforms such as Twitter. Currently, three such domains have been revealed; Beauty, Darkness and Destruction.

[[Category: Game Mechanics]]

Always Chaotic Evil

2019-05-20T12:00:57Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06: /* Standards & Examples */

'''Always Chaotic Evil''' is a slang term that [[/tg/]] has picked up from our frenemies over on [[TVTropes]]. The term originates from [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and specifically its early use of the mechanics of [[alignment]]. In the [[Monster Manual]], creatures would always have their "alignment propensity", the specific alignment that the "average" member of their species would have, listed as part of their statblock.

It's mostly used as an easy placeholder term for the "typically villainous races" - [[orc]]s, [[goblinoid]]s, [[gnoll]]s, [[ogre]]s, etc. A handy way to refer to the usual "chuck 'em at the PCs and let them hack 'em down" cannon fodder races.

The term has gotten a little unwelcome on /tg/ in modern years, as the basic idea that thinking humanoid races are somehow inherently evil and deserve only extermination is seen as being... well, a little too [[/pol/]]-friendly. That, and what's the point of roleplaying if you can't go against type ([[Drizzt|''meaningfully'', mind you]])? These last years, focus has somewhat shifted to throwing people actively doing evil things ([[slavery|Slavers]], [[Nazi]]'s, etc...) as chaff to be exterminated to players instead of [[kobold]]s and their ilk. Additionally, Eberron has actually broken the trope entirely: alignment in that setting is canonically fluid by the rules given, so that evil-aligned clerics may worship/serve good-aligned deities, and vice versa (with a few exceptions; certain class-based restrictions, such as paladins having to be Lawful Good, remain).

It is telling that the grandfather of modern fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien himself presented orcs as the servants of evil 'overlords', but was uncomfortable with the notion of 'born evil' or 'always evil' due to the theological implications of being born with an inherently evil soul. As a devout Catholic, the idea that Eru Iluvatar (his stand in for the Christian God) would deliberately create people who were inherently evil was contrary to his depiction as a purely good being, but Morgoth (read: Satan) could not create life himself, and Tolkien believed that making Orcs soulless would have caused them to become mere animals.

The solution that Tolkien used (though even then he was never wholly satisfied and settled only because the alternatives were worse) was that Orcs were effectively resurrectively immortal, and had been under the influence of Morgoth and later Sauron (the Evil Overlord of the setting) for thousands of years by the start of the story--and even then, as soon as Sauron's will vanished, so did their desire to fight, meaning that they were probably under some form of mind control at the time as well.

This sort of behavior can easily go too far in the hands of a sloppy writer. Morality in humans is at its roots an extension of the fact that we are social animals that work better together. Parents raise their children, protecting them when they are small and vunerable and teaching them how to do things so they don't have to figure out everything on their own and build on the knowledge of their forebearers. A tribe of humans pools its food so that those which are unlucky can get the calories they need to live and forage another day when they will be lucky and bring in a surplus. In an agrarian setting several farmers till the land and raise livestock which they give to the local blacksmith who forges iron tools so they can better till the land and produce more food per square meter and together they provide food, weapons and arms to a warrior who defends them from attack. Those are are just two basic arrangements of which a medieval society needs to operate, let alone a modern one. All of which is predicated on people getting along which we generally do more often than not. If everyone around you is liable to stab you in the back for momentary gain or for a larf as they are all dyed in the wool self centered sadistic sociopaths, the listed arrangements can't work. The lack of cooperation would prevent any such society they might dream of making from getting off the ground. The only rational thing for said creatures to do is to avoid others of their kind like the plague, unless of course they can mug them...and in the case of humans, subsequently die from a wide variety of circumstances (famine, crippling injuries leaving then unable to find food, etc.) which they would probably have avoided if they had just worked with others.

==Standards & Examples==
The usual standards for "entirely evil species" nowadays requires one or more of the following:
* Be reborn into that species or type of creature after a sufficient amount of evildoing. This is how it works for D&D for the most part: evil people die, and their souls are essentially tortured and/or warped by horrific powers to become the fiends of the Lower Planes (devils, demons, gehreleths, yugoloths, assorted others). The process used to create such beings is designed to utterly strip away every vestige of humanity remaining in a soul, basically "purify" the latent evil inside of it, and create something that is incapable of empathy as we would understand it. (Note that this absolutely does not mean that such beings might not turn stag on their alignment so much as make it extremely unlikely they would do so on their own; this was actually one of the interesting points in Planescape, and there is astonishingly a good-aligned mind-rape spell in [[Book of Exalted Deeds]] that can reverse the process, forcing an evil being to confront its nature and reemerge as a good being).
* Have biological requirements incompatible with peaceful coexistence. The best and first example of these are the undead who absolutely require feeding on living, sapient beings to survive. Among these the best two examples are ghouls (who must consume living flesh) and vampires (who must drink blood and/or lifeforce, depending on the setting). This is one of the biggest motives running through the World of Darkness vampire games: you are continually doing fucked-up stuff to just survive, and spend your time pitting your fleeting Humanity against the raving bloodlust of the Beast inside you (and this is all before you start sailing towards a moral event horizon due to vampiric politics demanding even worse crap from you). Shadowrun also has a big moral quandry here with their ghouls, who actually form a nation out in Africa and are always agitating for equal rights despite their diet.
* Constructed from certain dark/negative emotions or concepts. This is usually given as the reason why Frankenstein's Creature is violent and malicious: it is depicted in most media as having been made from the parts of convicted criminals, including the brain of an executed murderer, which reacts badly when other people see how fucked-up it looks and acts. Or take the Daemons of Warhammer; they are psychic entities made of emotions carried way too far; for example, "Bloodletters" are essentially endless anger given form.
* The creature is of such alien mentality and physiology that it is incompatible with human life as we know it. Good examples are things like the Orks and Tyranids of [[Warhammer 40,000]], who are genetically driven to destroy and/or consume all other species.

Note that most games define good and evil through a human-survival morality, which denotes a fundamental respect for life (well, at least human life; we're pretty shitty toward other forms of life, to say nothing of how we treat our own kind). Blue And Orange Morality from [[TVTropes]] doesn't really apply where non-human creatures who are as far above us as we consider ourselves above animals may see us as the same kind of vermin or parasites we ourselves routinely destroy to preserve our own survival. Most such beings who do get to know humans advocate for them; the rest talk over/around us about dealing with certain things.

Also, the influence of a divine being trying to force a certain mode of behavior doesn't wash: evil can only exist where there is a choice between doing one thing or another - such as harming someone or not harming them - and actively choosing the evil course of action as the preferred one. This is why the drow don't get a fucking pass, kids. Yeah, they choose to serve Lloth, and yet they could always run away, rebel, join with Elistraee or some other deity, etc. Can Lloth make life short and horrible for such people? Sure as fuck she can. But if that person dies in a "state of grace", maintaining a Good alignment the entire time, they break free and get to go to the Upper Planes. In a way, it makes drow even more despicable, since unlike [[Baatezu|other beings who try to secure better positions for their damned souls]], all the drow do is whatever their spiteful bitch-goddess Lloth tells them, then get to enjoy a shitty time in the Demonweb Pits being her fuck-puppet for eternity.

==Modern Practices==
All that being said, Goblins and Orcs and the like are still sword and spell fodder, but nowadays the conflict is more likely to be cultural ("they want us off what they consider their land") or religious ("the Blood God demands Blood, and they think your little hamlet looks like it can supply a large quantity thereof"), and non-combatant Orcs are likely to be treated as well as any other enemy non-combatants.

==See Also==
* [[Detect Evil]], for a closely related problem.
* [[Demon]], which depending on gameline and/or setting may or may not qualify
* [[Orc]], for the original "Always Chaotic Evil" race
* [[Baatezu]], for a fairly standard case of "Recruited and Recreated from Already Evil People"
* [[The Orc Baby Dilemma]]

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Alignment]][[Category:Gamer Slang]]

Archangel

2019-05-20T11:58:42Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06:

{{dnd-stub}}
'''Archangels''' are a bigger, stronger form of [[angel]] and usually their direct commanders, though they do themselves often tend to serve various [[gods]] as trusted, high-level servants. They are essentially the goodly equivalent of [[Demon Prince]]s and [[Archdevil]]s.

==D&D==
In [[Dungeons & Dragons]], there are several groups of exalted celestial paragon who are functionally archangels, even if the name itself is never used in D&D canon - they tend to prefer the term "Celestial Paragons". The most recent description of all of these can be found in the [[splatbook]] [[Book of Exalted Deeds]] for [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]], where they are divided into several sub-groups.

The '''Celestial Hebdomad''' is a collective of seven [[Archon]]s who serve the cause of righteousness from their home on [[Celestia]] - these are the closest of the Paragons to "traditional" archangels.
* Barachiel, the messenger: Ruler of Lunia and coordinator of Celestia's defenses should it be attacked.
* Domiel, the Mercy-Bringer: Ruler of Mercuria.
* Erathaol, the Seer: Ruler of Venya and patron of seers and prophets.
* Pistis Sophia, the Ascetic: Ruler of Solania.
* Raziel, the Crusader: Ruler of Mertion and patron of paladins.
* Sealtiel, the Defender: Ruler of Jovar, charged with preventing incursions into Chronias and defending against the machinations of fiends. Patron of warden archons.
* Zaphkiel, the Watcher: Ruler of Chronias and leader of the Hebdomad. Only gods and the Hebdomad have seen him without either perishing or being absorbed into the essence of the mountain.

The '''Six Companions''' (technically '''Talisid and the Five Companions''') are the leaders of the [[Guardinal]] races.
* Talisid, the Celestial Lion: Leader of the companions for several millenia, most powerful of the leonals.
* Sathia, the Sky Duchess: Representative of the avorals and patron of sculptors and painters.
* Manath, the Horned Duke: Representative of the cervidals and newest member of the Companions.
* Vhara, Duchess of the Fields: Representative of the equinals.
* Kharash, the Stalker: Paragon of lupinals and Talisid's best friend.
* Bharrai, the Great Bear: Matriarch of the ursinals and teacher of magic.

The '''Court of Stars''' is the smallest of the archangel groups, and represents the three leaders of the [[Eladrin]] race in the [[Great Wheel]] cosmology:
* Morwel: Queen of the Eladrin
* Faerinaal, The Queen's Consort: Master politician and shrewd judge of character. Tasked with defending the Court of Stars and rescuing captured eladrins as well as providing company and counsel to the queen.
* Gwynharwyf, The Whirling Fury: Patron of barbarians, when not leading good-aligned barbarian hordes against evil she also acts as consort to the queen.

{{D&D-Outsiders}}

==Pathfinder==
In [[Pathfinder]], there are a profusion of archangels collectively known as Empyreal Lords; the most powerful members of the various angelic races of [[Golarion]] cosmology, the Empyreals are demigods in their own right, and worshipped as lesser deities by the righteous. They are covered extensively in a sourcebook called "Chronicle of the Righteous".

[[Category:Pathfinder]]

Sharess

2019-05-20T11:57:22Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06: /* Celebrant of Sharess */

{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Sharess / Bast
|Symbol = A pair of red lips
|Alignment = Chaotic Good
|Divine Rank = Demigoddess
|Pantheon = Faerûn, Mulhorandi, Phaeronic
|Portfolio = Hedonism, Sensual Fulfilment, Sex, Cats ''(also War and Righteous Fury)''
|Domains = '''3E:''' Chaos, Charm, Good, Travel, Trickery
|Home Plane = '''[[Great Wheel]]:''' ''Brightwater'' ([[Arborea]]), ''Merratet'' ([[Ysgard]]) '''[[World Tree]]:''' ''Rapture'' (Brightwater), Heliopolis '''[[World Axis]]:''' ''Brightwater'' (Gates of the Moon)
|Worshippers = Bards, Sensates, Hedonists, Warriors, Women
|Favoured Weapon = ''A Great Cat's Paw'' (Claw Bracer)
}}
'''Sharess''' (originally called '''Bast''')'' is the Mulhorandi goddess of beauty, pleasure and cats. Her portfolio had enough unique appeal that she crossed over into the Faerûnian pantheon of the [[Forgotten Realms]].

Considered to be utterly self interested and fickle, it is often forgotten that she is actually a deity of protection and battle, and is the nemesis of the snake deity [[Merrshaulk|Set]].

Despite the similarities in name, she should ''not'' be confused with Ba-steh, the [[Mystara]]n Immortal who was worshiped as Bastet on Earth for a time and who created the [[Rakasta]] race.

==History==
Starting out as Bast, she was the lieutenant of the war-deity '''Anhur''' and the eternal enemy of the evil deity '''Set'''. Originally, she was the slayer of vermin ''(Snakes, Scorpions, Rats)'' and was seen as a protector against famine ''(as vermin tend to eat or spoil the food)''.

At some point in Anhur's war with Set, Bast assumed the portfolio of '''Felidae''' who was a goddess of pleasure and cats, which was enough to cause a complete shift in her personality and lead her to quit her efforts against the god of evil and wander off on her own and join the Faerûnian pantheon. Because the Mulhorandi pantheon were interlopers from another plane, [[Ao]] generally preferred to keep everything neat and tidy and not have too much cross-over; but he allowed the transfer because [[Mask]] had already insinuated his way into the religions of the Old Empires ''(Mulhorand and Unther)'' because they didn't have their own God of Thieves. So because [[Ao]] plays fair, he allowed Bast and Mask to expand geographically into each others areas. So she traveled away from Mulhorand in order to seek out new experiences and began a journey of serial sexual conquests and experimenting with various drugs that left small cults all over the place.

In her travels, she assumed the portfolio of yet another deity, called '''Zandilar the Dancer''' who was an Elven deity localised in the Yuirwood, whose portfolio encompassed physical passion. Zandilar had attempted to seduce [[Vhaeraun]], the son of [[Lolth]] and was betrayed and her avatar was captured and drained of power. However Bast arrived just in time to prevent the drow deity from assuming her portfolio, and a diminished Zandilar freely merged with Bast and combined the two religions. From then on, one of Bast's titles was "The Dancing Lady", though she still occasionally acts in the name of Zandilar for the elves.

The name "Sharess" only came later, when Bast fell totally under the sway of [[Shar]], goddess of Darkness ''(and ironically a feminine analogue to Set)'' where Bast continued her experimental phase by experiencing lesbianism with a much older woman. Shar taught Bast to seek out [[Slaanesh|pleasures without limit or restriction]], turning her into a dark and dangerous deity in her own right, and about as far from her original incarnation as a goddess of protection and good as she could get. Unbeknownst to Bast, this dark-goth phase that Shar was encouraging was just Shar fattening Sharess up so that she could be consumed and give the goddess of Darkness more power.

It was only during the [[Time of Troubles]] that Sharess was saved by [[Sune]], the actual goddess of beauty and pleasure, who was inevitably sexier than Shar ever could be. So the thrill seeking little lesbian cat switched sides again and became a force for good.

Sharess moved her belongings into a ghetto in Sune's home of Brightwater and started getting out of her drug and sex addled stupor. She made peace with her estranged companion ''Anhur'' and has only started putting her life back together.

It's a bit difficult for her though, seeing as her fierce independent streak causes her to ignore most advice, combined with her inherent pursuit of pleasure continually leads her into dark places which sometimes brings her very close to overlap with [[Loviatar]], the maiden of pain and puts her at risk of getting drawn into yet another portfolio struggle.

==Worshippers==

===Celebrant of Sharess===
The Celebrant of Sharess is the goddess's foremost prestige class. However it is neither a reckless nymphomaniac, nor is it an evangelical cleric. Instead it is a warrior arcanist that crosses a little bit of Enchanter with a little bit of Barbarian.

It relies on rules from the [[Book of Exalted Deeds]] and you need two Exalted feats to qualify, meaning your character has to maintain a Good outlook, and specifically a Chaotic Good alignment. Aside from this the class needs seven points in Diplomacy and Perform skills to qualify; that's it. So pretty much anyone who worships Sharess can qualify.

From there, you get Charisma-based Arcane spellcasting from a limited spell list up to level 4 spells, along with a [[Cat]] familiar.

The class also comes with some spell-like & supernatural abilities that allow you pull off an effect similar to ''Bardic Music'' where you can fascinate, compel or even force people to fall in love with each other on failed saves.

The [[Barbarian]] comparison comes from the fact that in addition to all the magical stuff listed above, they can enter a [[Rage]] a number of times per day, using exactly the same mechanic. They can also perform full attacks as part of a charge action and may ALSO ''Haste'' themselves as an extraordinary ability.

The only downsides include a shitty BAB progression that doesn't result capitalize on the benefits of having combat abilities, and the only good save is Will. So it appears the class doesn't know what it wants to be.

However, it could be a powerful extra class for the group's warrior who want to pick up a few Arcane tricks while also augmenting their own fighting prowess with actions they couldn't otherwise do. But because it doesn't improve existing spellcasting of any type, it is practically useless for Clerics or Wizards.

===Glorious Servitor (of Bast)===
Sharess's other prestige class from '''Lost Empires of Faerûn''' turns your character into a pseudo-lycanthrope as befits a member of a beast-cult. It requires Improved Turning and 2nd Level Divine casting to qualify for this class, but [[What|has nothing to do with those features]], so it's a bit of an odd ball class that takes your cleric career into a dead end.

Instead, the Glorious Servitor prestige class let's you turn into a Leopard at level 1, then gives you increasing buffs as you progress, such as +6 AC and +3 STR while in animal form, and also giving Spell Resistance, Poison Immunity and eventual transformation into an ''Outsider''. Despite the bizarre entry requirements, This class at least has an attempt to theme, but competes against a [[Druid]] for the shapeshifting party role. But is stuck with one form and no spell progression.

===Dancers of Sharess===
Introduced in ''Dragon Magazine'', this prestige class combines divine spell casting with aspects from the wizard, monk and ranger archetypes. Creating something rather awesome.

You are required to be able to cast 3rd level divine spells as a condition for entry, but thankfully the class continues with full spellcasting progression. It also grants you a [[Cat]] familiar that will make you the bane of 1st level commoners everywhere. Also, rather uniquely your familiar increases in ability based on your character level rather than class level ''(this is a good thing)'', so you can get a solid companion even if you don't progress with this class fully.

What's more, is that from level 3 onwards, gain the class feature to polymorph your familiar into a much larger animal. Giving you your own MIGHTY BATTLECAT!

Other cool features include passive +2 bonuses to Dexterity and Charisma based skill checks, +4 bonus to Diplomacy and +2 DC bonuses on enchantment spells and to your resistance against enchantment.

We mentioned [[Ranger]] earlier, well you get favored enemies, but rather than races, you target members of a specific organisation chosen from the Churches of [[Merrshaulk|Set]], [[Shar]] or [[Vhaeraun]]. Giving you yet more passive bonuses to skills and damage against them.

Also, you can literally make an opponent cream his pants on a melee touch attack, essentially stunning them for one round ''(or 1d4+1 rounds at 10th level)'' so long as they have a nervous system that works, so no jerking off creatures that are undead or goo girls.

The final ability of the class allows you to substitute verbal components of enchantment spells for performance checks ''(specifically dancing)''. Meaning that you practically have the Silent Spell ability for enchantments without needing to prepare ahead of time or increase your slot level.

All in all this is probably the best prestige class for Priests of Bast, giving some really unique features that theme quite well with a deity of both pleasure and war.

==Realm==
Sharess's personal domain is called '''Rapture''' which is a quiet little neighborhood located in the planar city of '''Brightwater''' on the plane of [[Arborea]].

Rapture is considered the "rough" part of Brightwater where any of your darkest, most illicit desires can be met if you look hard enough, essentially making this place the fabled drug den and sex party that [[Arborea]] aught to be famous for, considering its reputation as a plane of self-fulfilment and indulgence. Apparently if you have to ask for it in hushed tones because it might cause a scandal in polite society, the odds are it exists in Rapture.

Do bear in mind the plane is still Chaotic Good in alignment, so no matter how lost you get in the miasmic haze of opiates and orgies; unless you came into the plane with evil intentions, you're likely to be safe. That also means that despite advertising that they can get anything you want, you're not going to find torture porn or underage [[trap]]s here, so get lost you sick fuckers!

{{D&D5e-FR-Deities}}

Guardinal

2019-05-20T11:56:40Z

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[[Dungeons & Dragons]], despite having a diverse array of demons and devils to fill the ranks of its evil extraplanar monsters list, has always struggled to make meaningful entries into its list for the opposing team. Perhaps in no small part because of the game's reputation as a refuge for [[murderhobo]]s? Regardless, to fill the obligatory slot for Neutral Good angels, D&D has traditionally relied upon the Guardinals, a race of benevolent outsiders who just so happen to appear as a melding of man and beast, usually making use of some positive symbolism related to the animal.

Needless to say, '''Guardinals''' get a lot of mockery as being, essentially, "[[furry]] angels". Making matters worse, D&D artwork for Guardinals traditionally goes in the direction of... well, let's be honest: fucking ''ugly''. If they had to make furry angels, they might have been better off getting actual furries to do the artwork; at least they might have looked somewhat decent (okay who are we kidding, they'd look freaking gorgeous, GODDAMIT WHY ARE SO MANY FURRIES SUCH AMAZING ARTISTS?!).

Guardinals first appeared in the [[Blood War]]s card game way back in 1995, and then made the jump over to the [[Planescape]] Monstrous Compendium Appendix II in the same year. They went on to be further detailed in 1999's "Warriors of Heaven". After that, they slowly migrated over to 3rd edition, scattered across several sourcebooks; the Monster Manual 1 and 2, Manual of the Planes, and [[Book of Exalted Deeds]].

The Guardinals are ruled by a group of Patrons - basically epic level demigod members of their race - most known for their brodom with each other, to the point it's implied they're basically an epic tier Good-aligned adventuring party.

==Avoral==
Bird-based avian angels, the avorals hold the honor of being both the first guardianal to make the transition to 3rd edition and the one to make the most appearances in 3e in general (Monster Manual 3e and 3.5, Savage Species, Planar Handbook), the only one to receive attention as a player race, and for going through the most Patrons between sourcebooks - from Duke Windheir in the Blood Wars card game to Zvestra in the Warriors of Heaven splatbook to Duchess Sathia in the [[Book of Exalted Deeds]]. Avorals make up the scouts of the guardinal forces, using their flight and keen eyesight. They are perhaps best known for being one of the most fucking ugly guardinals of all.

Sathia the Sky Duchess is a CR 26 celestial best known for serving as a patron & muse to painters and sculpters, with a keen eye for artwork.

==Cervidal==
The [[satyr]]-like cervidals are said to make up the bulk of the guardinal "armies", being the closest things they have to professional soldiers. Despite this, they didn't make it into 3rd edition until the Monster Manual 2.

Manath, the Horned Duke, is the second Cervidal Patron to be named in Planescape lore thus far, having taken over from Lord Rhanok (who had the job in AD&D and his own card). The in-universe newest member of the team, he's only CR 20 and feels he has much to learn about his new role, though if he's intimidated at the prospect, he certainly doesn't act it. He's certainly nothing like his curmudgeonly predecessor, which his partners appreciate.

==Equinal==
One of the last races to make the edition jump, not appearing until the [[Book of Exalted Deeds]], the equinals are big, good-natured boisterous bruisers who like testing their strength and bashing evil-doers upside the head. They had to wait until the Book of Exalted Deeds to get an appearance in 3rd edition.

As with the Cervidals, their original Patron was lost with the edition change, Lord Hwhyn being replaced by Vhara, the Duchess of the Fields; a 15ft tall CR 24 female equinal who adores flowers (especially gifted bouquets) and hides a generous, emotional nature behind a facade of being aloof and somewhat domineering. Despite this, she's a skillful brawler who can easily tear through small armies of evil humanoids with her bare hands. Hooves. Whatever.

==Leonal==
Essentially a race of leonic [[paladin]]s, leonals are the unofficial leaders of all guardinals, and so their Prince, Talisid the Celestial Lion, has been in charge of them all since he first appeared in Blood Wars. In fact, he's so prominent and powerful - CR 30! - that the band of Guardinal Patrons are officially known as "Talisid and the Five Companions".

Leonals first appeared in the Manual of Planes for 3e, but were reprinted alongside their avoral buddies in the 3.5 Monster Manual.

==Lupinal==
Angelic wolf-people who constantly hunt down evil. Like the cervidals, despite their commonness amongst the Upper Planes, they didn't appear until the Monster Manual II.

Their Patron, Duke Lucan, was replaced by Kharash the Stalker in 3.5, a CR 22 monster who's essentially a good-aligned assassin/ranger multiclassed character.

==Musteval==
A race newly added to the guardinal ranks in the [[Book of Exalted Deeds]], their newcomer status is lampshaded by noting that "The Companions" have never had any Musteval Patrons in their ranks, but they're sure that'll change soon. The smallest of all guardinals at only 2ft tall, these humanoid ferrets are essentially an entire race of golden-hearted rogues.

==Ursinal==
Bearlike guardinals whose benevolent wisdom leads to them serving as the scholars, philosophers and record-keepers of Elysium in general and the guardinals in particular. They are still 8ft tall bear-people and more than capable of slapping you upside the head if you're an evil prick, however.

Originally lead by Duchess Callisto, she was replaced in the Book of Exalted Deeds - the race's first reappearance in 3rd edition - by Bharrai, the Great Bear. An 18 foot tall, near max-level wizard with god-like intelligence and a bevvy of other powers that make her Challenge Rating ''28''.

==Agathions==
Because [[Pathfinder]] never met a D&D 3e element it couldn't try to rip off, it eventually created its own race of Neutral Good celestial furries, and called them Agathions. Credit where it's due, at least they look better than the Guardinals did.

Agathions inhabit the plane of Pure Good, [[Nirvana]], and are all the ascended souls of former Neutral Good mortals. They are aggressive and interventionist in the mortal world when it comes to dealing with evil, and their philosophical acceptance of both Order and Chaos whilst subordinate to Good means they often serve as go-betweens and diplomats for the more opinionated Lawful Good and Chaotic Good celestials, such as [[Archon]]s and [[Eladrin|Azatas]], soothing hot tempers and working toward mutual goals of vanquishing evil and protecting good.

All agathions have an animal-like aspect. Some are more humanoid in appearance, while others spend their entire existence in a form nearly identical to that of a true animal. Each type of agathion serves a particular role in Nirvana, and their duties on other planes echo these responsibilities. Agathions are proud of their feral aspects and don’t take kindly to the suggestion that they are cursed folk like lycanthropes or nothing more than magical talking beasts. Every agathion was once a mortal who aspired to goodness and was rewarded in the afterlife with a form suiting her talents and personality; suggesting that an agathion’s form is a kind of punishment is a terrible insult.

As with all Pathfinder outsiders, a massive array of guardinals exist; the ones below merely document the types that have been described so far. Other types exist beyond these, corresponding to other conventional animals (bears, dinosaurs, fish, wolves, and so on), with a few having shapes that resemble insects (particularly beetles, butterflies, and mantises); a handful resemble stranger creatures (such as basilisks and owlbears) or unique “animals” native to extreme environments on distant worlds. Certain animals, particularly those associated with scavenging activities (such as hyenas, buzzards, or jackals) or parasitism (like lampreys or ticks) specifically do not have agathions associated with them—these animals are not intrinsically evil, but their habits and ecological niches are far from the noble and proud traditions that most of the souls who seek enlightenment upon Nirvana would associate with themselves.

Individual agathions may be male or female, but they do not reproduce among their own kind—every agathion is a unique individual made from the soul of a good mortal. This does not prevent them from falling in love or having affairs with mortals, and a few [[aasimar]] and [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|celestial sorcerer bloodlines]] derive from past contact with agathions, particularly among communities not averse to anthropomorphic humanoids. Indeed, many mythologies tie numerous races of this kind to the inevitable result of human tribes forming strong emotional attachments to visiting agathions.

Most of the agathion breeds were revealed in the Pathfinder Bestiary 2, with others creeping in with subsequent [[splatbook]]s.

The Bestiary 2 species can be considered the "Core" agathions, and consist of the following:
* '''Avorals''' are eagle-featured agathions that serve as the scouts, spies, and messengers of the agathions. They resemble humans with hand-bearing wings for arms, bird-like legs, a feathery cowl in lieu of hair, and human but "avian" facial features; a prominent nose reminiscent of a beak and piercing eyes.
* '''Cetaceals''' are orca-featured agathions charged with defending the seas and the aquatic races against evil aquatic creatures, such as [[sahuagin]] and [[aboleth]]s. They resemble huge [[merfolk]] with the lower bodies of orcas and the black & white skin-tone extending to their humanoid upper torsos.
* '''Draconals''' are amongst the rarest and most powerful of the agathions, serving as direct servitors of the Neutral Good deities and embodying mystical elements relating to energy, life, and the natural world. They resemble humanoid dragons, with wings, reptilian muzzles, tails, scaly skin and dragon-like hides. They come in five different colors, Black, Green, Red, White and Yellow, and each color is associated with a different mystical aspect. These colors are normally chromatic rather than metallic, and an ignorant person seeing a draconal’s colors may mistake her for an evil [[half-dragon]]. However, some draconals have metallic or gem-like coloration; for example, a yellow draconal may appear mustard yellow or metallic gold, while a white draconal may be chalk white, pearlescent white, or metallic silver. Draconals can change their coloration after a lengthy period of meditation, but normally only do this in response to some horrible evil that requires their direct intervention. This change affects the draconals’ personality, and may alter their physical shape or apparent gender. In a sense, draconals are based on [[Oriental Dragon]] lore, although they visually look more like the classic [[Chromatic Dragon]] or [[Metallic Dragon]].
** Black is a balance between male and female energy, and represents the sky, stars, immortality, and leadership. Black draconals are immune to fire damage, and their breath weapon is fire.
** Green is slightly skewed toward masculinity. It represents wood, plants, and flowers. Green draconals are immune to cold damage, and their breath weapon is cold.
** Red is a strongly masculine color, and most red draconals are male or have aggressive or gregarious personalities. Red represents fire, light, and warding against bad luck. Red draconals are immune to fire damage, and their breath weapon is fire.
** White is slightly skewed toward femininity, and most white draconals are female or have protective or serene personalities. White represents brightness, fulfillment, metal, mourning, and purity. White draconals are immune to cold damage, and their breath weapon is cold.
** Like black, yellow is a balance between male and female energy. Yellow represents earth, oracles, stone, and luck. Yellow draconals are immune to acid, and their breath weapon is acid.
* '''Leonals''' are, as their name suggests, humanoid lions who vary between actively hunting down agents of evil and simply guarding areas against the depredation of evil. Both roles are equally respected.
* '''Silvanshees''' are the smallest and weakest of their ilk, taking on a form that resembles a somewhat [[fey]]-looking cat. They often serve as [[familiar]]s to goodly aligned [[mage]]s, which fits in well with their role; they are the spies of Nirvana, wandering the world in secret to act as its eyes and ears against evil influences.
* '''Vulpinals''' are charming, charismatic humanoid foxes who serve as the [[bard]]s and sages of Nirvana, often working closely with [[lillend]]i. Ironically, they're Small-sized, meaning the charming fox troubador is technically only the size of a [[gnome]] or a [[halfling]].

'''Bishop Agathions'''' resemble a strange melding point of man and fish; a roughly piscine body shape, but with webbed limbs instead of fins and a weirdly human face. They serve as go-betweens for the angelic powers of the land and the sea, being amphibious enough that they can safely move between the two environments. Appearing in the adventure "Shards of Sin", they were most likely based on the Sea-Monk, a Renaissance-era mythical creature of Europe.

'''Cervaprals''' are humanoid antelopes who embody the essence of liberty and are passionately devoted to both the overthrow of tyranny and the abolition of slavery. They have no moral objection to the concepts of royalty or nobility, but hold any group that is granted authority through inheritance or tradition to a very high standard, insisting that the rights of the ruled must be protected at least as strongly as the rights of the rulers. As you can probably tell from this, Cervaprals appeared in the [[splatbook]] dedicated to Andoran, the "America/Democracy, Fuck Yeah!" region of [[Golarion]].

'''Cervinals''', not to be confused with Cervaprals, are a [[centaur]]-like agathion who consist of a humanoid upper body (with stag-like antlers growing from the head) sprouting from the neck & shoulders of a massive elk. They are sometimes termed the “knights” of the agathions, having gained a reputation for their battle prowess, noble natures, and admirable wisdom, as well as their fearlessness and willingness to lead from the front, serving as either general or elite warrior depending on the situation. Cervinals were first mentioned in the "Chronicle of the Righteous", and were reprinted in the Bestiary 5.

'''Chelonidals''' are humanoid sea turtles who serve as Nivana's guardians and foot soldiers; when roused to war, they are powerful, well-armored troopers. Ironically, chelonidals assigned to guard places in the mortal world have a well-documented tendency to fall in love with mortals they interact with, leading to the birth of idyllkin [[aasimar]]; if this happens, the chelonidal's priorities change to safeguarding and looking after the child(ren), as whilst they are dutiful and protective by nature, family comes first. This agathion breed appeared in the adventure "The Lost Outpost".

'''Muldnals''' are humanoid moles who, having formed from the souls of farmers and miners, work to guard and maintain the underground regions of Nirvana and tend to the health of that plane's soil. On the material plane, they have been known to attend sites of magical power associated with agriculture and nature. Although small and inoffensive looking, Muldnals possess a paralytic bite and potent(ish) [[druid]]ic magic over the earth, the plants and small animals, which they use to defend themselves and their charges. Muldnals were first detailed in the adventure "Assault on Longshadow".

'''Procyals''' are humanoid raccoons who embody the positive aspects of civilization, and seek to guide cities to achieve that perfect state in which the city and its inhabitants symbiotically support and strengthen each other. They believe that individuals can be truly happy or free only within a society when they have access to luxury, commerce, and choice, and that society basically exists as a structure centered on the freedom of the individuals within. Procyals see some administrations as fundamentally better than others: democratic groups and wise councils are among their favorite forms of government, while dictatorships, monarchies, and military states must ultimately be replaced. They appeared in the adventure "Dance of the Damned".

'''Reptials''' are curious and benevolent scholars of Nirvana. They spend their time collecting holy relics, no matter how minor, and can store some of their knowledge within a chosen relic. They keep most of these relics for themselves, but individual reptials have been known to distribute particularly useful pieces to good-aligned individuals and temples that are enduring difficult trials. These agathions, who resemble humanoid iguanas, appeared in the Bestiary 5.

Whilst the above represent the official Agathions, "Wayfinder", the Pathfinder fanzine, has also hosted some fan made additions; issue #8 houses the jellyfish-like '''Aequoreals''', dreamy sages of Nirvana's oceans, and #9 houses the '''Chiropteals''', halfling-sized humanoid bats who look after the goodly races of the Golarion [[Underdark]], namely [[svirfneblin]].

==Gallery==
;Guardinal Lords
<center>
<gallery>
File:Guardinal Patron - Talisid.jpg|The closest thing to a "king" of the Guardinals, and for very good reason.
File:Guardinal Patron - Manath.jpeg|He's witty, charming and can headbutt illusions so hard they dissipate.
File:Guardinal Patron - Sathia.jpg|Yes, she's naked. Yes, you wish she wasn't.
File:Guardinal Patron - Kharash.jpg|He likes hunting. A lot.
File:Guardinal Patron - Bharrai.jpg|She's 18ft tall, a level 18 wizard, has Int 30, and is CR 28. You may now commence praying for mercy.
File:Guardinal Patron - Vhara.jpg|Before you get your fur-smiting staff, remember that she's 15ft tall, CR 24, and ready to literally stomp your ass into the grass. She also likes flowers.
</gallery>
</center>

;Agathions
<center>
<gallery>
File:Agathion, Vulpinal.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

{{D&D-Outsiders}}

Bariaur

2019-05-20T11:54:37Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06:

[[File:Bariaur (PlaHB).jpg|thumb|right|300px|The forgotten member of the original [[Planescape]] trinity.]]

'''Bariaurs''' are a playable race from [[Planescape]], first introduced to the D&D scene back in [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] 2nd edition. They were one of the three playable races introduced in ''A Player's Guide to the Planes'', the [[Player's Handbook]] of Planescape, alongside the [[Githzerai]] and the [[Tiefling]]s.

Bariaurs are a planar race hailing from [[Ysgard]], an Upper Plane that lies on the border between the Chaotic Good and Chaotic Neutral planes. They resemble [[centaur]]s, though smaller, with the body of a large mountain goat or a bighorn sheep - the books cannot seem to keep which it is straight, because they insist on referring to males as "rams" and females as "ewes", even though they are outright stated as resembling a "goat". Males of the race, and a tiny minority of females, have long curling ram horns growing from their foreheads, which give them a natural weapon attack. They are best known for being very vain, always fussing over their appearance, and for their strong racial wanderlust. Also, despite their obvious resemblance to centaurs, they consider being compared to them insulting.

Bariaurs exhibit sexual dimorphism in their stats, with different ability scores and racial abilities for both genders. Males get +1 Strength and Constitution, -1 Wisdom and Dexterity, the ability to headbutt for 1D8 + Str bonus damage, a charge attack, and the ability to be fighters, rangers, paladins or priests. Females get +1 Wisdom and Intelligence, [[-4 Strength|-1 Strength]] and Dexterity, +2 bonus to surprise rolls against ambushers that "make noise or have smells", +3 to saving throws vs. spells, and the ability to be fighters, priests or wizards.

That said, it's not unheard of for female bariaur to be born with horns, or male bariaurs to be born hornless, but these are huge upsets in their very gender-stratified culture; most of these poor souls, who happen in 1 out of 20 births, are drowned at birth. There's no real rules for playing a horned doe, but the Bariaur Book of Belief introduced the Payira, a secret order of hornless bariaur bucks who pursue the path of the [[mage]], which normally is forbidden to their gender. Aside from a kit to further distinguish their order's special affinity for the [[Wild Mage]], though, there's no clear rules on how they statistically differ from normal bariaur bucks (beyond the obvious loss of the headbutt and charge attack).

Bariaurs have never been very popular amongst the fans; even the [[Aasimar]] were more popular, despite not originally being one of the Planescape PC options. They were forgotten about for most of 3.x edition, although they did appear in several 3e sources - the Manual of the Planes, the Planar Handbook, and the [[Book of Exalted Deeds]], as well as a Creature Class write-up in [[Dragon Magazine]] #312. They never made the transition to 4th edition, and have yet to be seen in 5th edition.

There are two semi-official netbooks that expand upon the Bariaur; The Complete Book of Bariaur, which is a huge expansion on their culture, classes, characters, etc, and The Bariaur Book of Belief, which covers bariaur rituals, legends, religious rites and more, serving as a sourcebook for bariaur [[wizard]]s and [[cleric]]s. Currently, however, the only place you can find these is on Scribd:

*http://www.scribd.com/doc/48456344/Ps-the-Complete-Book-of-Bariaur
*http://www.scribd.com/doc/48456253/bariaur-book-of-belief

==Male Bariaur PC Stats==
::Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 10/18, Dexterity 3/18, Constitution 11/18, Intelligence 3/18, Wisdom 3/17, Charisma 3/18
::Ability Score Adjustments: +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, -1 Dexterity, -1 Wisdom
::Class & Level Limits: [[Fighter]] 13, [[Cleric]] 13, [[Druid]] 13, [[Ranger]] 13, [[Paladin]]] 13
::Movement 15
::Infravision 60 feet
::A male bariaur can make a headbutt attack that inflicts 1d8 + Str bonus damage.
::By moving at least 30 feet beforehand, a male bariaur can make a charge attack; this is a headbutt attack that triples its damage, but which forces the bariaur to make a save vs. breath weapon, taking damage equal to its opponent if it fails the save. Medium or smaller creatures hit by a bariaur's charge attack have a 50% chance to be knocked to the ground.

==Female Bariaur PC Stats==
::Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 3/18, Dexterity 3/17, Constitution 5/18, Intelligence 9/18, Wisdom 11/18, Charisma 3/18
::Ability Score Adjustments: +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, -1 Strength, -1 Dexterity
::Class & Level Limits: [[Fighter]] 13, [[Cleric]] 13, [[Druid]] 13, [[Wizard]] 13
::Movement 15
::Infravision 60 feet
::+2 to all surprise rolls
::+3 to saving throws vs. spell

{{D&D2e-Races}}

==3e PC Stats==
Taken from the Planar Handbook.

::+2 Strength, -2 Charisma: Bariaurs are powerful, but they have underdeveloped social skills.
::Outsider (Extraplanar): Bariaurs are native to the Heroic Domains of Ysgard, and thus have the outsider type. They gain the extraplanar subtype when not on Ysgard. They are not subject to spells or effects that affect only humanoids, such as charm person and dominate person.
::Medium: As Medium creatures, bariaurs have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
::A bariaur's base land speed is 40 feet.
::Bariaurs have darkvision out to 60 feet.
::Quadruped: As quadrupeds, bariaurs have a +4 bonus on checks to resist bull rush and trip attacks. They have a carrying capacity 1-1/2 times greater than normal for their Strength. They must wear barding (usually made of studded leather) instead of normal armor and cannot wear boots designed for humanoids.
::Powerful Charge: A charging bariaur can make a single ram attack that deals bludgeoning damage equal to 2d6 + 1-1/2 times the bariaur's Str modifier.
::Spell Resistance: Bariaurs have spell resistance equal to 11 + class level.
::+2 racial bonus on Will saves against spells and spelllike abilities.
::Skills: Bariaurs have keen senses, giving them a +2 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks.
::Automatic Languages: Celestial, Common. Bonus Languages: Abyssal, Infernal. Bariaurs commonly learn the languages of fiendish creatures to better prepare themselves against such threats.
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Ranger]].
::[[Level Adjustment]]: +1.

[[Category:Planescape]]

Healer

2019-05-20T11:53:50Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06: /* Making Healers Work */

In gameplay, a '''Healer''' is a class of character which their primary function is to restore the wounds of others; usually their group/party.

You'd think this is one of the most essential roles that a player can fill in any gaming group, and you'd be right. However, it takes a [[This Guy|particular type of personality]] to want to play a healer since it often requires sacrificing the ability to do other cool stuff with your character and relegating your character to a support role.

This is especially prominent in [[Video games|MMORPGs]] which require you to take your character down certain skill trees which exclude you from other options. This makes fully optimised Healers always be in high demand and effective players in the role are broadly regarded as of being higher value than an effective damage dealer.

In traditional RPG gameplay, a healer need not resign himself to endlessly healing others though. Since pen and paper games require a bit more lateral thinking and are not always bound by the attrition formula of "hit it until it's dead". Therefore social interaction becomes much more of an issue and it can be quite common for a healer to become the "face" of gaming groups or at the very least the player who brings the party together, since everyone is ALWAYS going to need a healer at some point so they better treat them acceptably and keep them comfortable.

==Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition==
The D&D 3rd edition splatbook: '''Miniatures Handbook''' gave us a completely dedicated healing spellcaster class from the same vein as video game healers. They can't do much at all except healing.

In fact, like [[Paladin]]s, Healers are bound by spiritual oaths that make them the closest gameplay equivalent of [[Stupid Good]], since they are required to provide healing to their allies or any other good-aligned creature in need. Otherwise they lose all their class features until they atone. Anyone who chooses this class will also probably find that the only way to play is Stupid Good anyway since there are very few other avenues available to them.

They are bound by similar restrictions on armour as [[Druid]]s are, so therefore cannot wear metal armour or carry shields without losing the ability to cast spells for 24 hours, meaning they are more fragile than arcane casters and will rely on the support of the rest of the group to stay alive since even Wizards can cast magical defences on themselves in case things get hairy.

While also continuing to compare them to Wizards, Healers have the same BAB progression, making them next to useless in a straight up fight anyway.

While they do have a full divine spellcasting progression like a [[Cleric]] does, their spells are almost entirely devoted to healing or removing status ailments, in fact the spellcasting list adds [[FAIL|no]] spells that a Cleric could not already cast! So you might have been better off playing a Cleric rather than a Healer, especially since Clerics can spontaneously cast Cure Wounds spells by converting prepared spells and so do not lose any healing function by attempting to diversify themselves into other roles.

At this point you might be wondering why on earth would you play a healer at all then?
Well, first off you are better at healing, and get to add your CHA bonus to any spell that restores hit point damage, this can mean less need for as many spells to restore the same damage if your charisma bonus is acceptably high enough. Also, once they reach high enough level, their healing spells no longer provoke attacks of opportunity. Meaning they are less worried about getting into the thick of it when trying to heal their allies. Though it's still a bad idea due to armour restrictions.

Secondly, you get a celestial unicorn companion which has a similar progression to a Wizard's familiar with respect to sharing spells and empathic senses, which is probably the coolest feature of the class.

Finally, they get an assortment of spell-like abilities for restorative abilities other than healing... such are removing poison, disease, petrification and the like. Meaning less foresight is required when preparing your spell requirements for the day, contrasted to another divine caster who would have just prepared something more immediately functional at the beginning of the day and just hoped for a situation where it's use becomes required.

===Making Healers Work===
This class is not really optimal for a player character, since it is so entirely focused on the intended task, considering it came from the miniatures handbook, it is obvious that the class was designed for implementation in pitched battles where they are attached to units.

The class also works nicely as a Cohort character for PCs with the '''Leadership''' feat, since it does not require too much development on the part of an NPC. They could even be used as DMPC if nobody wants to play a healer and thus enable the players to do combat part of the adventure without needing to chug health potions like a frat party.

Players wanting to be a Healer should first be steered towards Clerics with the Healing Domain instead, and allowed to play this class only if they are really trying to make a point. In which case the only real way to make it work is to include the rules from the [[Book of Exalted Deeds]] which really fits the way this character functions. Most important are the "Sanctified spells," which are able to be cast by any class that prepares spells, which include the healer. A highlight of the Sanctified spells is "Valiant Steed" which summons a unicorn to help you for one year, meaning you can run around with two of the things.

Sacred Vow '''Exalted''' Feats work well with most of the deficiencies of the class. Such as the ''Vow of Poverty'' granting bonuses to you in the absence of any decent armour or weaponry, as does the ''Vow of Peace'' which overcomes your complete lack of any offensive options.

The "Dynamic Priest" Feat from '''Dragonlance: Legends of the Twins''' allows you to cast spells using your Charisma, reducing MAD.

In fact, a good [[prestige class]] option is the '''Apostle of Peace''', which requires the above exalted feats as pre-requisites. While it does hamper your overall Healer spell progression, you do get access to a separate 9th level spell progression which has less spells per day, but a considerably broader range of versatility spells.

Other less passive prestige options include the '''Contemplative''' from '''Complete Divine''', which aside from a roleplaying requirement involving your GM is quite easy to quality for. It expands the variety of spells available to a healer by adding up to two more domains, as well as granting a number of persistent bonuses like poison/disease immunity, spell resistance and eventually culminating in changing the character into an ''Outsider''.

'''Divine Oracle''' from the same book is also easy to qualify for, requiring only the ''Skill Focus (Religion)'' feat, since you already know enough divination spells at level one. This class adds some more useful divination spells (through the Oracle domain) and also gives you a measure of protection through mystical ''Evasion'', ''Trap Sense'' and ''Uncanny Dodge'' to counter your utter lack of defenses from being a healer.

Yet another viable option for ''Dragonblood'' characters is the '''Singer of Concordance''' prestige class from '''Races of the Dragon''', which makes a Healer even more useful in a group as a support character. It adds a good choice of Domain, expands your Healing ability to even more ridiculous heights by adding d8 to all cure attempts, as well as giving you a supernatural sphere of influence that makes you much harder to attack or interfere with.

{{D&D3-Classes}}

Rabbi

2019-05-20T11:52:49Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06:

== Prestige class: Rabbi ==
[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_3rd_Edition 3rd_Edition]

(*=) not listed in PHP

most of the abilities are listed in the [[Book of Exalted Deeds]]

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A Rabbi is chief religious official of a synagogue who performs ritualistic, educational, and other functions as spiritual leader of a Jewish congregation. A Rabbi is also a scholar qualified to rule on questions on Talmudic law. The word “rabbi” in Hebrew translates to the word “teacher”

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'''Requirements:'''
'''Alignment:''' Cannot be any evil, cannot any chaotic

'''Cleric of''' the Hebrew g-d* <NE>

'''Holy symbol''' must be a 6-point star

'''Cleric domain''' must be either; healing, knowledge, law, or Community*

'''Feats:''' SACRED VOW *
'''Languages:''' Hebrew*

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'''Hit Die:''' d8.
'''Class Skills:''' The Rabbi’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are
Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis),
Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and
Spellcraft (Int).
'''Class Features:''' same as cleric

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'''Ex- Rabbi'''
A Rabbi who breaking their oaths of vow or A Rabbi who ceases to be lawful, who willfully commits an evil or chaotic act, loses all Rabbi/ Cleric spells and abilities). They may not progress any farther in levels as a Rabbi or Cleric. She regains her abilities and advancement potential if he atones for there violations (see the atonement spell description,)

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[Level:1] [Lore (Ex)* SACRED VOW (kosher)* SACRED VOW (Sabbath)*][ Spells per Day: Same as cleric]

[Level:2] [-] [Spells per Day:Same as cleric]

[Level:3] [DEIFIC VENGEANCE* replaces Spiritual Weapon] [Spells per Day:Same as cleric]

[Level:4] [-] [Spells per Day:Same as cleric]

----

'''Abilities:'''
'''Lore (Ex):'''* Thanks to long hours of study, a cloistered cleric has a wide range of stray knowledge. This ability is identical to the bard’s bardic knowledge class feature, using the cloistered cleric’s class level in place of the bard level.

'''VOW OF PURITY (kosher)*'''
You have taken a sacred vow to avoid contact with dead flesh.
'''VOW OF OBEDIENCE (kosher)*'''
You have taken a sacred vow to live according to the dictates of another, generally your superior in a religious order or similar organization.

Once every seven days commonly known as Starday (Sabbath) they must fulfill the fallowing sacred vow (the DM must keep track of what day of the week it is)

'''VOW OF PEACE (Sabbath) *'''
You have taken a sacred vow to abstain from harming any living creature.
'''VOW OF POVERTY (Sabbath) *'''
You have taken a sacred vow to forswear material possessions
'''VOW OF NONVIOLENCE (Sabbath)*'''
You have taken a sacred vow to avoid violence against humanoids.
However on the other 6 days they do not get the benefit of these feats and no not have to fulfill said vow,
Therefore If a rabbi brakes the SACRED VOW (Sabbath)* on any other day that is NOT the Sabbath (or Starday) they do not need to receive an atonement spell to get the benefits of SACRED VOW (Sabbath)* on the Sabbath (or Starday)

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Common Day: Common Task: SACRED Vows

----

Starday: Work: (kosher) + (Sabbath)

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Sunday: Work: (kosher)

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Moonday: Work: (kosher)

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Godsday: Worship: (kosher)

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Waterday Work (kosher)

----

Earthday: Work: (kosher)

----

Freeday: Rest: (kosher)

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Rabbis can take the '''Extra Turning [special]''' feat as a cleric even though they do not have the ability to turn undead at 1st level. This allows the rabbi to turn undead a number of times per day equal to there charisma modifier

----
''' COMMUNITY DOMAIN*'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Exalted_Deeds]
Granted Power: Use calm emotions as a spell-like ability once per day. Gain +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.
Community Domain Spells
1 Bless: Allies gain +1 attack and +1 on saves against fear.

2 Status: Monitors condition, position of allies.

3 Prayer: Allies gain +1 on most rolls, and enemies suffer –1.

4 Tongues: Speak any language.

5 Rary’s Telepathic Bond: Link lets allies communicate.

6 Heroes’ Feast: Food for 1 creature/level, cures and blesses.

7 Refuge: Alters item to transport its possessor to you.

8 Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion: Door leads to extradimensional mansion.

9 Heal, Mass: As heal, but with several subjects.

----

A Rabbi can not learn the the spell Spiritual Weapon

Level: Clr 2, War 2

Instead they can lean the spell DEIFIC VENGEANCE

This is simply replaced in the clerics level 2 spell list in the PHP

'''DEIFIC VENGEANCE'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Exalted_Deeds]
Conjuration (Summoning)

Level: Cleric 2, Purification 2

Components: V, S, DF

Casting Time: 1 standard action

Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)

Target: One creature

Duration: Instantaneous

Saving Throw: Will half

Spell Resistance: Yes

When you cast this spell, you call out to a deity, listing the crimes of your target and urging the deity to punish the miscreant.

(The target’s alignment is irrelevant to the success of the spell.) The divine power of the angry deity imposes this punishment in the form of a sharp, spiritual blow to the target. This attack hits automatically and deals 1d6 points of damage per two caster levels (maximum 5d6), or 1d6 points per caster level (maximum 10d6) if the target is undead. A successful Will saving throw reduces the damage by half.

----

'''Feats:'''
'''SACRED VOW''' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Exalted_Deeds]
You have willingly given yourself to the service of a good deity or cause, denying yourself an ordinary life to better serve your highest ideals.
Benefit: You gain a +2 perfection bonus on Diplomacy checks.
Special: This feat serves as the prerequisite for several other feats, including the Vow of Abstinence, Vow of Chastity, Vow of
Nonviolence, Vow of Obedience, Vow of Peace, Vow of Poverty,
and Vow of Purity.
VOW OF NONVIOLENCE (Sabbath)*
You have taken a sacred vow to avoid violence against humanoids.
Prerequisites: Sacred Vow.
Benefit: The saving throw DC for spells you cast or other special abilities you use against humanoid or monstrous humanoid targets is increased by +4 if the spell does not deal damage (including ability damage but not nonlethal damage), bestow negative levels, or cause death. Spells affected by this feat include most Abjuration, Enchantment, and Illusion spells (though not phantasmal killer, for example), those few Divination spells that have targets and require saving throws (including detect thoughts and discern lies), and even Necromancy spells such as waves of fatigue and ray of exhaustion. It does not affect most Evocation, Conjuration, and Transmutation spells.
The bonus granted by this feat does not stack with the bonus granted by the Spell Focus feat. It affects only saving throw DCs, not caster level checks or other elements of a spell.
The benefit of this feat extends to special abilities other than spells that allow a saving throw, but only if the ability does not deal damage and is not dependent on dealing damage. For example, a character with the Stunning Fist feat can increase the saving throw DC to avoid being stunned by +4 if she deals nonlethal damage, rather than regular damage, with her stunning attack. A couatl’s venom would not become more virulent because of this feat, however, because it deals ability damage and requires the couatl to deal hit point damage in order to deliver it.
Special: To fulfill your vow, you must not cause harm or suffering to humanoid or monstrous humanoid foes. You may not deal real damage or ability damage to such foes through spells or weapons, though you may deal nonlethal damage.
You may not target them with death effects, disintegrate, pain effects, or other spells that have the immediate potential to cause death, suffering, or great harm.
Your purity is so great that any ally of yours who slays a helpless or defenseless foe within 120 feet of you feels great remorse. Your ally takes a –1 morale penalty on his attack rolls for 1 hour per your character level. For each helpless foe slain, the attack penalty increases by 1, to a maximum equal to your character level. The duration of the increased penalty starts from the latest slaying.
You may ask your allies to give you an oath that a helpless foe will not be slain. If the oath is sworn, an ally who later breaks the oath takes the penalty for doing so as if you were present. If you leave a helpless foe to be killed by your allies, you have broken your vow. You may ask a defeated creature to give you an oath of surrender or noninterference in exchange for its life. If the creature breaks this oath to you, you can allow your allies to deal with the creature as they see fit without breaking their oaths or your vow of nonviolence.
If you intentionally break your vow, you immediately and irrevocably lose the benefit of this feat. You may not take another feat to replace it. If you break your vow as a result of magical compulsion, you lose the benefit of this feat until you perform a suitable penance and receive an atonement spell.

----
'''
VOW OF OBEDIENCE''' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Exalted_Deeds] (kosher)*
You have taken a sacred vow to live according to the dictates of another, generally your superior in a religious order or similar organization.
Prerequisites: Sacred Vow.
Benefit: You gain a +4 perfection bonus on Will saving throws against compulsion spells and effects.
Special: To fulfill your vow, you must unquestioningly obey your superior and live according to the rules of your organization.
If you intentionally break your vow, you immediately and irrevocably lose the benefit of this feat. You may not take another feat to replace it. If you break your vow as a result of magical compulsion, you lose the benefit of this feat until you perform a suitable penance and receive an atonement spell.

----

'''VOW OF PEACE''' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Exalted_Deeds] (Sabbath)*
You have taken a sacred vow to abstain from harming any living creature.
Prerequisites: Sacred Vow, Vow of Nonviolence.
Benefit: This sacred vow grants significant supernatural benefits, but its cost is high.
First, you are constantly surrounded by a calming aura to a radius of 20 feet. Creatures within the aura must make a successful
Will save (DC 10 + one-half your character level + your
Cha modifier) or be affected as by the calm emotions spell. Creatures who leave the aura and reenter it receive new saving throws. A creature that makes a successful saving throw and remains in the aura is unaffected until it leaves the aura and reenters. The aura is a mind-affecting, supernatural compulsion.
Second, you gain a +2 natural armor bonus to your AC, a +2 deflection bonus to your AC, and a +2 exalted bonus to your AC.
This exalted bonus does not apply to touch attacks and does not hinder incorporeal touch attacks. Brilliant energy weapons, however, do not ignore it. It does not stack with an armor bonus.
If you also have the Vow of Poverty feat, the natural armor, deflection, and exalted Armor Class bonuses granted by that feat all increase by +2. If a creature strikes you with a manufactured weapon, the weapon must immediately make a successful Fortitude save (DC 10 + one-half your character level + your Con modifier) or shatter against your skin, leaving you unharmed.
Finally, you gain a +4 exalted bonus on all Diplomacy checks.
Special: To fulfill your vow, you must not cause harm to any living creature (constructs and undead are not included in this prohibition). You may not deal real damage or ability damage to such creatures through spells or weapons, though you may deal
nonlethal damage. You may not target them with death effects, disintegrate, or other spells that have the immediate potential to cause death or great harm. You also may not use nondamaging spells to incapacitate or weaken living foes so that your allies can kill them—if you incapacitate a foe, you must take him prisoner.
If you intentionally break your vow, you immediately and irrevocably lose the benefit of this feat. You may not take another feat to replace it. If you break your vow as a result of magical compulsion or otherwise unwittingly, you lose the benefit of this feat until you perform a suitable penance and receive an atonement spell. (Characters who have taken a Vow of Peace are known to drink water through a strainer in order to avoid accidentally swallowing, and thereby causing harm to, a small insect.)

----
'''
VOW OF POVERTY''' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Exalted_Deeds](Sabbath)*
You have taken a sacred vow to forswear material possessions.
Prerequisites: Sacred Vow.
Benefit: You gain bonuses to your Armor Class, ability scores, and saving throws, as well as bonus exalted feats, all depending on your character level. See Voluntary Poverty in Chapter 2 of the [[Book of Exalted Deeds]] for details.
Special: To fulfill your vow, you must not own or use any material possessions, with the following exceptions: You may carry and use ordinary (neither magic nor masterwork) simple weapons, usually just a quarterstaff that serves as a walking stick. You may wear simple clothes (usually just a homespun robe, possibly also including a hat and sandals) with no magical properties. You may carry enough food to sustain you for one day in a simple (nonmagic) sack or bag. You may carry and use a spell component pouch. You may not use any magic item of any sort, though you can benefit from magic items used on your behalf—you can drink a potion of cure serious wounds a friend gives you, receive a spell cast from a wand, scroll, or staff, or ride on your companion’s ebony fly. You may not, however, “borrow” a cloak of resistance or any other magic item from a companion for even a single round, nor may you yourself cast a spell from a scroll, wand, or staff. If you break your vow, you immediately and irrevocably lose the benefit of this feat. You may not take another feat to replace it.

----
'''
VOW OF PURITY''' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Exalted_Deeds] (kosher)
You have taken a sacred vow to avoid contact with dead flesh.
Prerequisites: Sacred Vow.
Benefit: You gain a +4 perfection bonus on Fortitude saving throws to resist disease and death effects.
Special: To fulfill your vow, you must avoid all contact with dead creatures, including meat cooked for food. You may not touch fallen foes. You may fight undead foes, but must purify yourself as soon as possible afterward. You may touch dead characters in order to restore them to life (by way of a raise dead or similar spell that requires you to touch the corpse), but for no other purpose.
If you fight undead creatures or accidentally touch dead flesh, you must purify yourself in a special ritual that requires 1 hour and a flask of holy water.
If you intentionally break your vow, you immediately and irrevocably lose the benefit of this feat. You may not take another feat to replace it. If you break your vow as a result of magical compulsion, you lose the benefit of this feat until you perform a suitable penance and receive an atonement spell.

--[[User:Nlstrong|Nlstrong]] ([[User talk:Nlstrong|talk]]) 21:47, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]

Stupid Good

2019-05-20T11:50:14Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06: /* The darker side of goodness */

{{Topquote|Ignoring what he's done in the past. Blindly, stupidly disregarding the entire graveyards he's filled, the thousands who have suffered, the friends he's crippled.|Jason Todd to Batman about Joker, nailing how Stupid Good characters actually end up causing massive harm for the sake of their own "morals."}}

'''Stupid Good''' is a term derived from the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[alignment]] system, but can easily be applied to [[character]]s in any [[role-playing game]] in fact, it can be applied to characters in any medium, for a specific way of playing a morally good character, usually a [[Paladin]] with a relatively even split between this and [[Lawful Stupid]].

==Definition==
A Stupid Good character takes actions with good intent, but without regard to long-term consequences and obeying one typically "good" principle while ''completely'' disregarding all other principles. This alignment is not at all selfish, just rigid to the point of insanity. For example, a character might refuse to lie (an action that, in a neutral context, is usually considered "bad") under any circumstances. If asked by a serial killer whether he'd seen a man running past, such a character might say that he did see that man running past, even though this would realistically lead to the man's entire family being tortured to death. A good rule of thumb is to ask whether any person in real life would consider this to be an ethical and reasonable course of action. If not, time to check for Stupid Good.

Batman's treatment of the Joker is probably the most famous example. By not only refusing to kill the evil clown, but often saving his life, Batman has enabled the murder of millions of people. When it comes to deciding which action is right, they pick one specific idea (don't kill the Joker) and make it the absolute cornerstone of their decisions on morality. This also highlights another aspect of a Stupid Good character - they can be shown to be intelligent in many other ways. A refusal to kill an enemy is probably the most common form of Stupid Good presented in media. This is usually applied selectively instead of generally, as a character who refuses to kill the villain may have just burned twenty of the villain's henchmen to death without a second thought. The villain is often spared simply because they are narratively important.

A common thought experiment in the field of ethics is the Trolley Problem, where you have a choice to directly cause the death of one innocent person and save ten people, or save one person and indirectly cause the death of ten others. This can be argued either way, but Stupid Good is a matter of extremes. A dead giveaway of Stupid Good is if that person would not kill the villain even if it would save the lives of a billion people the villain himself put in danger.

While crazy in the context of real life, Stupid Good characters are sometimes shown to be right within the context of their very contrived narrative. Stupid Good cartoon characters can seem to have made the "good" choice, but only in retrospect and only because they got lucky with a one-in-a-million matter of pure chance. A leader with responsibility to subordinates or subjects who acts in this way in real life would clearly be betraying their team in order to "uphold their morals".

In the vast majority of cases, however, a Stupid Good character will become [[That guy]] in a gaming group. The player's Disneyland version of what he thinks a really nice character would do is sure to get in the way of the plot and make it seem very stupid if he is allowed to influence the direction of the story. [[Cegorach|Amusingly]] common in terms of actual game mechanics in Dungeons & Dragons, along with Lawful Stupid. Paladins often suffer from some degree of [[MAD]] in various D&D editions, thus leading to intelligence being a dump stat, leading to characters who are literally lawful good and very, very stupid.

===Examples of Stupid Good===
*The '''Autobots''' particularly from the classic 80s cartoons. Almost incessantly "good" and stubborn in their refusals to do anything remotely bad. Seriously, in the whole run of the original series and the millions of years of war between them and the Decepticons, did they kill anyone?
**Optimus Prime can also be equally described as [[Lawful Stupid]], thanks to shit like the time he let himself get blown up as a consequence of a duel in which he ''knew'' the other guy cheated.
*The '''Organians''' from the original series of [[Star Trek]] are peace lovers to the extreme, to the point in intervening in the Federation/Klingon War and stopping all fighting across the galaxy. Particularly in the expanded content where they refuse to get involved in Q-Wars threatening multiple dimensions of existence.
*Batman. Just...how many times did he let the Joker live, FULLY KNOWING that he'd escape Arkham and kill many more innocents, and doing the whole dance over again? Oh yeah, because for some stupid reason, putting a Batarang through the psycho-clown's throat to stop innocent people from being tortured and killed makes the Batman as bad as the Joker. This also extends to other dangerous villains, including Oswald Cobblepot AKA Penguin (or in one specific case, Oswald "kill all of Gotham's firstborn children in their sleep" Cobblepot).
** The reason he gives is actually pretty sound: he is afraid to become a villain with killing Joker as a start, much like the Injustice version of Superman. It's the fact he doesn't do anything ''else'' to stop him (like push to have him lawfully and legally executed by the government) is stupid. Of course, if he's afraid of sliding towards evil, that the execution would be lawful isn't really the issue, it would still be just as much of a kill as the batarang in the neck.
*Ned Stark can both fit into Lawful Stupid and Stupid Good, as his penchant for mercy (he doesn't want Robert to murder Tommen and Myrcella in a fit of rage) ends up getting him executed and generally starting the major clusterfuck known as the War of the Five Kings.
** The War would have likely happened anyway because Stannis and Renly were both gathering armies & planning their moves. The real stupid things there were not only not getting his kids out faster (he tried but Sansa wanted to stay), but not getting more trustworthy allies given how Littlefinger betrays him. Another note is that Ned’s execution was both unexpected by most and virtually everyone thought it was a bad move. Tywin personally claimed it made no sense and was forced to fight Ned’s angry family as a result. Numerous others acknowledged that they just executed a highly valuable political hostage and pissed off powerful family members and vassals of Ned. Ned himself didn’t expect to be executed because he did his part and knew how valuable he was. Had things gone “normally” (fan theories include Joffrey being insane or Littlefinger whispering into his ear to cause this), Ned would have gotten out alive but still badly off.

==The darker side of goodness==
<blockquote>''"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a villain." ''</blockquote>

On the flip side of Stupid Good, there are those who attempt to justify whatever it is that they do so long as their characters create good outcomes. In essence as opposed to good '''actions''' "no matter the cost", the other side of stupid good is good '''consequences''' "no matter the cost". Generally those who circumvent moral problems with clever use of ethics and is therefore more often associated with Chaotic Good on the alignment scale ''(though not exclusively).''

This ''"ends justifies the means"'' approach is less like taking good actions to the point of situational absurdity and more like players using logic to create goodness out of absurd situations.

An example of a dilemma surrounding this phenomenon is: Is it morally good to do something evil, to result in an even [[Greater Good]]? Such as killing an innocent to save the king/country/world/universe?

The '''[[Book of Exalted Deeds]]''' says that the above example is most definitely '''not''' a Good act, no matter the intention of the PC and treads the muddy Neutral ground at best, however not all RPGs use the [[D&D]] alignment system, but any RPG that involves some mechanical tracker of morality may inevitably encounter a player action which causes an awkward collective intake of breath, followed by the question of ''"[[This Just Happened|did you really just do that?]]"''.

This is dangerous ground for any potential [[GM]] and needs to be [[Rules Lawyer|decided]] upon firmly when it arises. While there are many examples of real-world applications of the line of thought historically and politically, they are controversial almost without exception. In roleplaying games; the end justifies the means approach can certainly be seen as upholding the "moral good", but if a GM allows attitudes like this to take root, savvy players may eventually find reasons to do anything and have essentially just become [[Murderhobo]]s with apparent moral authority, and it can force hard-alignment systems to lose their legitimacy.

If "Good" players start justifying why they are [[Imperium|seeking out and slaying whole villages]] of Orcs "just BECAUSE they are evil" or if they are committing acts of [[Alpha Legion|terrorism against an oppressive state]] even when that state system is perfectly codified and functional then a GM should probably think about dropping any alignment systems rather than attempt to enforce muddy and dubious decisions.

===Examples of "Good" done Stupidly===
* The [[Tau]] in 40k, though with particular reference to the harsher side of the [[Greater Good]] where they believe that people can be forcibly brought into harmony with one another. It's not terribly unreasonable given that pretty much everyone else in the setting is either [[Orks|insane]], [[Chaos Space Marine|evil]], or [[Imperium of Man|xenophobic]] ([[Dark Eldar|or all three]]) to the point where almost nobody gets along without a gun to their head.
*[[Konrad Curze]] - VERY VERY much so, despite the fact he [[Noblebright|brought crime and corruption on his world to near-zero, improving efficiency and bringing hope]] to his world, he was NOT a good person, no matter what he was attempting to argue.
*The '''Organians''' again; Though only in [[/v/|video games]] where they have given up the non-violent approach and decide to force everyone into peace by [[derp|declaring war on them]].
* Stannis Baratheon, from the show adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire. He keeps on committing morally dubious and sometimes even downright villainous acts, such as sacrificing his own daughter to a fire god, in order to save Westeros from a bunch of evil elves, their zombie minions, and their Darth Maul lookalike leader; all at the behest of a crazed priestess who can't see that Stannis is NOT the chosen hero of yore, which she has fooled both herself and him into believing. In other words, he's a more well intentioned Macbeth who will end up with the same fate.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Alignment]]

Prestige Class

2019-05-20T11:47:35Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06: /* Risen Martyr */

'''Prestige classes''' are a set of player options from the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[3e]] [[DMG]] and other supplements. They are character [[Class|classes]] with a specific set of requirements that a typical first-level character will not qualify for. Thus, they are typically taken as a multi-class at a later time, and can be anywhere between three and fifteen levels big, most being around 10.

The original intent of prestige classes was something like creating a specialty profession for a particular DM's game, with a unique set of abilities not found in the core rules, yet relevant to the setting. In practice, they are really just another way for [[Powergamer|powergamers]] to spend all their time optimizing their character sheets so they can have as many kewl powurz as possible. Another downside is that classes with a lot of class features will have these features gimped because of their new features.

They do however serve one useful function: they make it easy to spot [[munchkin|munchkins]] in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[3e]]. All you have to do is read a player's character sheet. If his list of classes reads like a reject [[Yu-Gi-Oh]] monster ("I SUMMON ''DWARF MONK PSYCHIC WARRIOR''!"), then he is a [[weeaboo]] [[munchkin]] who thinks [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20]].

While they exist in [[Pathfinder]], Paizo's official "twenty-levels in a class" policy has made them more and more rare as time goes by, and the addition of ''archetypes'' that change out class features for different ones has largely come to fulfill the same role.

4th edition D&D replaced these with the concept of "Paragon Paths" and "Epic Destinies". In essence, at level 11 - remember, the idea in 4e was that you'd play from level 1 to 30, rather than level 1 to 20 - you get a [[Paragon Path]]. Over the next ten levels, you get a couple of new class traits and some new powers. The [[Epic Destiny]] worked under the same concept, except with much beefier class traits, including cheating death in various (generally along the lines of "once per day, you get to auto-rez yourself if you get killed") and only one new power.

==Famous, Infamous and otherwise Notable Prestige Classes==

===Abjurant Champion===
A completely mandatory five-level class for all [[gish]]es. Advances Base Attack Bonus and casting at every level, which is already great, but also provides some nifty abilities including burning spells for buffs. Probably has one of the most frustratingly misread abilities in the game at fifth level, allowing the Champion to use their Base Attack Bonus in place of their Caster Level for a chosen class. It does NOT, contrary to popular belief, allow a Champion to use their Caster Level in place of their Base Attack Bonus or allow a Champion to learn higher-level spells.

===Chameleon===
Can change between being a fighter, an arcane caster, divine caster or sneaky dude daily. It was a little weird to qualify for, needing to be [[Human]], [[Doppelganger]] or [[Changeling]] with Able Learner and 8 ranks in disguise and bluff plus 4 in Sense Motive and Spellcraft. This basically required at least one level in [[Rogue]] (or [[Scout|similar]] [[Ninja|class]]) if you didn't want to wait till really late to enter or be stuck with aborted class features, since that was the only non-caster with the needed skills in class. It advanced casting at a fairly quick rate, could pick spells from any arcane caster class and had a bonus feat and bonus attribute scores they could change daily, but the cap on spell progression at 6th level spells. It was largely a novelty (though certainly better than straight rogue) and remained so until [[Factotum]] was printed 3 years later. Factotum was not only easy to enter Chameleon with, it synergized extremely well since Factotum could gain extra actions and had all skills as class skills (which Chameleon effectively keeps thanks to Able Learner). Released for free as [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?page=1&x=dnd/iw/20041210b a book preview].

Out of all 3.5 classes, it's the most difficult port to [[Pathfinder]] thanks to how the skill system changed. Able Learner's entire reason for existence is gone so it needs either a different feat requirement. Since having a class skill only determines if you get a +3 bonus to that skill any class can enter it. Since a boost to intelligence lasting 24 hours or longer now gives skill points and there is a feat that gives you skill points equal to your character level, a Chameleon could get any skill they wanted with prep time without a specific exclusion.

===Eye of Gruumsh===
A ten-level class for [[Orc]]s and [[Half-Orc]]s who worship [[Gruumsh]]. It makes you [[rage]] harder than a [[Barbarian]], give some bonuses to (half) Orcs fighting at your side, grants you a neat AC bonus and lets you [[Tyranid|spit acid at the faces of your foes]]. Given its requirements (being aligned to Gruumsh, [[Grimdark|taking out your own eye]]) are not often what a player character does, they are more often seen as high-level enemies. The most notorious thing about them is that if an Eye of Gruumsh regains the ability to see with its eye it took it loses all of its class features, so if you face one [[troll|cast Regenerate or other potent restorative magic on it to make it lose all of its abilities]].

=== [[Exemplar]] ===
A 10 level class that is about being a [[skill monkey]]. Notable for its role in the [[Arseplomancer]] build.

=== Frenzied Berserker ===
A 10 level class for Barbarians to either be a motherfucking rampaging god of slaughter, or to have a "DO NOT WAAANT!" moment after finally passing the mandatory DC20 Will save to stop being PCP-bugnuts-insane while surrounded by the corpses of his or her party. It adds Frenzy which stacks with Rage for truly ridiculous Strength bonuses but requires a DC 20 Will save to stop or you'll keep killing anything you see, makes it pretty much impossible to stop the Barbarian when they're "emotional" and allows the character to make his allies also go so batshit nuts for blood that they need to pass that DC20 test to stop. Infamous for two reasons: it functionally changes the party's strategy from "Kill the scary one" to "Point the Barbarian at them and try to bring him under mind control when they're dead", and the possibility a party TPKs itself because everyone is acting like they're on the mother of all Bath Salts rampages. Calm Emotions is a low level CORE spell that is fairly good for putting down the frenzy after the enemy is dead. Hopefully your DM will let the Beserker to voluntarily fail the Calm Emotions Will save.

===Grey Guard===
A ten-level class meant for [[Paladin]]s who do not like being [[Lawful Stupid]]. If you want to play your Paladin as [[Awesome|Jack Bauer]], breaking faces and choking bitches to protect the innocent, this is where you should be at. Rare amongst prestige classes is that some of the features you get with the Grey Guard stack with your normal Paladin classes, making you suck less at your main job than you would normally. Features include being able to receive the Atonement spell without XP cost, allowing you to fall and get up again like a [[Necron]] in a Tubthumping video; being able to use Lay On Hands to hurt people ([[Muscle Wizard|Lay On FISTS]]), smiting [[Chaos]] and eventually Good and Law as well, with the final bonus being unable to fall as long as you act for the forces of good.

===Hulking Hurler===
Originally intended as a refinement for the rock-throwing abilities of [[Giant|Giants]], the Hurler received noteriety for having an ability that allowed them to throw anything as long as it was within their equip load limit, scaling damage up based on weight. With proper minmaxing, however, the Hurler became one of the most powerful classes in the game, capable or hurling small moons and dealing enough damage to destroy whole planets.

===Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil===
A seven-level class meant for [[Wizard]]s who want to become even more crazy powerful. While the class has notable requirements (12 ranks on two skills, meaning you have to be around level 9 before you can take this prestige class). It does not interfere with how the caster gains its levels, and makes them even more powerful. An Initiate gets to cast Wardings: shields they use as personal shields, area shields or walls. These wards can be infused with veils, much like the dreaded Prismatic spells: from fire, acid and lightning damage to constitution damage, petrification, insanity and disintegration. At higher levels the Initiate can use these abilities more often, as reaction to being charged, have her Abjurations become more difficult to dispel, impart two veils on a warding and even cast Greater Dispel Magic infused with the power of the veils once per day, becoming more powerful the more magic effects the target has on it. [[Troll|Work together with your Cleric or Bard to make this more potent.]]

===Master of Many Forms===
A ten-level class meant to crank the Wild Shape ability to the max. With is simple requirements (Alertness, Endurance and Wild Shape) a Totem Druid can enter the class at a level as low as 2, or a character with the Divine Minion template can do so at level 3 (because of the +1 LA). Otherwise you can get in at level 6 by obtaining Wild Shape the natural way as either a Druid or a Wild Shape Ranger at level 5.

The main feature of a Master of Many Forms is that you get a lot of different new sizes and shapes you can turn into, with many of them being unique to the Prestige Class. These are as follows:

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10
|-
| '''Shape:''' || Humanoid || Giant || Monstrous Humanoid || Fey || Vermin || Aberration || Plant || Ooze || Elemental || Dragon
|-
| '''Size:''' || || Large || || Tiny || || Huge || || Diminutive || || Gargantuan
|} 

In addition to a 3/4 BAB and good Fort and Ref saves, the prestige class grants a few other options as well. At level 1 you can talk normally in your shape, in addition to being able to communicate with creatures of the same kind. A third level Wild Shape becomes a move action rather than a standard action, at level 7 you get all the Extraordinary abilities the creature has (often including at-will powers), and at level 10 you get Shapechanger as a subtype. In addition to all of this, the Master of Many Forms also gets one additional use of Wild Shape per level, meaning a total of 16 uses at level 20, or 19 with Totem Druid.

The obvious use to this is that the Master of Many Forms has a tremendous variety of creatures to choose from, not just those formally restricted by type but also by size. Turning into a [[Dinosaur|T. rex]] and devouring dudes or a Roc and ferrying around your party has a lot of potential, but can leave a player overwhelmed with all the options. The best practice is to make a shopping list in advance so you have on hand what you can turn into.

The problem with this class is the same that the normal Druid has: the [[Familiarity Question]]. Some [[DM]]s demand that you have seen a creature before you can turn into it. While this is not a problem to [[This guy|some DMs]], others [[That guy|will not allow you to shapechange into them]] because of reasons. The best piece of advice for this is talk with your DM about this before you play a Master of Many Forms, and don't be a dick and try to break the DM's game by turning yourself into [[Pun-Pun]].

===Master of Masks===
This prestige class looks damn cool but underpowered at first glance, but it can be an excellent way to suprise a DM with its versatile power-set. Particularly the Gladiator mask which grants weapon-proficiency *EVERYTHING*. It's not unheard of for a DM to trick the party into buying a weapon nobody can use, and then the master of masks slips that mask on and wipes the floor with the challenge ahead. Still, while this is sometimes a good one-level dip class in some builds, it sadly tends to be overshadowed by other far superior versatile classes like the Chameleon, [[Factotum]], or even Use Magic Device build [[Truenamer]]!

===Mystic Theurge===
A ten-level class designed to combine arcane and divine casters into a single package. Infamous for being a [[trap]] despite sounding good on paper: the Mystic Theurge requires you to take levels in both an Arcane ([[Wizard]], [[Sorcerer]], [[Bard]] and so on) and a Divine ([[Cleric]], [[Druid]], [[Paladin]] and so on), then the Mystic Theurge allows you to keep gaining levels in BOTH classes. The downside to this is you require to be able to cast level 2 Arcane and Divine spells alongside 6 ranks in Arcana and Religion knowledge spells, putting you at level 6 while only being able to cast as a level 3 class. This means that you'll always lag behind when it comes to casting levels, AND you do not get the delicious class bonuses/feats you normally would receive for leveling up. This puts you at a supreme disadvantage when compared to other classes: your caster level will always be low, you'll struggle with SR, and for most of the game you'll still be stuck casting Glitterdust while everyone else is getting Polymorph or Evard's Black Tentacles. You also suffer a bit from [[MAD]], generally needing to heavily devote to two mental stats to very little benefit.

This class can be very good, but only if you use some sort of cheese to qualify early like the Precocious Spellcaster feat or the Alternative Spell Source feat (from Dragon Magazine) and get their first Mystic Theuge level at lv5. Then with the proper feats to increase your caster level and beat SR, you can make a spellcaster who's only missing one level of say, Wizard spells, but can also cast spells like a Cloistered Cleric of his level-3! In general, it performs best either very early (where any low-level spell can make a difference) or very late (once it's off the ground). If magic being overpowered is due to always having the right spell to solve a problem, though, this class can get very overpowered.

====Arcane Hierophant====
Best put here to compare the differences between the two classes. This is a class from ''Races of the Wild'' that also combines Arcane & Divine functionality for ten levels, but this one is SIGNIFICANTLY improved over the Mystic Theurge. You still require the ability to cast level 2 Arcane and Divine spells, however you also need the Trackless step ability, which practically dictates that you have to have taken your divine levels in Druid ''(though funny combinations of other classes can bypass this)''. Compared to the Theurge, you still get normal progression with each spellcasting class, meaning you will still lag behind a few levels at top level spellcasting, however you do not sacrifice as many class features as a Hierophant. Your Druid animal companion becomes your familiar and gains the benefits of both, and you still continue improving your wild shape as if you were a druid. Additionally, your arcane spellcasting now ignores spell failure while wearing druidic armour. Finally, as you progress you gain the ability to ''Channel Animals or Plants''... all in all a much better choice than Mystic Theurge if you were already a druid caster.

Also, you can take levels in both Mystic Theurge and Arcane Hierophant at the same time, which with the right build allows you to get 9th level Druid spells AND Wizard spells - Wizard 3/Druid 3/Mystic Theurge 4/Arcane Hierophant 10. Maybe not as strong as a straight build, but you have more spell slots than the party Rogue has daggers. Use them.

====Cerebremancer====
Also put here for comparison's sake, this is basically the same concept, just using Psionics instead of divine magic. However unlike the Mystic Theurge this class actually kicks 20 kinds of ass. What's the difference? Well, you don't have any MAD problems since Wizard and Psion make use of the exact same attributes. Psionics is way more suited for raw damage powers due to the rules for enhancing powers, meaning you can save your spell slots for the less explosive but still game breaking spells. And finally, if you're playing with the full or even half transparency rules (Psionics is not effected by anti-magic/dispel magic and vice versa) you can bypass and set up the proper defenses. If there's a downside, it's the fact that this class takes a lot of time to build up power, but it's well worth the wait.

===Rainbow Servant===
A ten-level class that can give an Arcane caster access to the [[Cleric]] spell list. Based on the fake [[Raven Guard|Native American]] myth about [[Rainbow Warriors|the rainbow warrior, who will defend all life]] (which was written by an evangelist, and said rainbow warrior is actually [[Emprah|Jesus]]), the Rainbow Servant fights evil and inspire hope and mercy wherever they go. Like a [[paladin]] but not an ass and dressed in bright colors. [[Fluff|In-universe]] the Rainbow Servants are the agents of the Couatl, [[Alignment|Lawful Good]] feathered serpents who fight evil, despair and lovecraftian horror all over the planes. By finding their temples in the jungle they will train Arcane casters in the ways of Divine casting and worship of their futanari progenitor sitting on her fat tail all day long.

This class is, using the FAQ, [[Pyrovore|more powerful than intended]]: the text describing the class says the Rainbow Servant gets new casting levels at EVERY level, netting you the full 10/10 instead of only 6/10. This, combined with the FAQ saying that text ALWAYS takes precedence over tables, means that you get the full package. Fun times! The Portugese translation even makes the table match the text. So at the cost of only two feats (as a Wizard) you get access to the Good domain and Detect Evil at will at level 1, the Air domain and the ability to grow multicolored wings at level 4, the Law domain and Detect Chaost at level 7, capping off at level 10 with Detect Thoughts(!) and access to all spells on the core Cleric list(!!). While this does not give you access to the Domain spells, this makes any Arcane caster FAR more flexible with what it can cast.

The use for the Prestige Class is somewhat limited for [[Bard]]s and [[Sorcerer]]s (since you can only CHOOSE the spells when you level, you do not get them for free), the class is rather good for the Wizard. You get a large number of spells to add to the Spellbook, making you a poor man's [[Archivist]]. Bring plenty of gold to write all those spells down when you hit the coveted level 10, though. But where the class truly shines is on the [[Warmage]], [[Beguiler]] and [[Dread Necromancer]]. Since these classes get to pick their spells from fixed lists, this means that they get the full list of Cleric spells added to what they can pick from, immensely increasing their versatility.

===Reaping Mauler===
A five-level class that improves your grappling capabilities. It also allows you to [[Muscle Wizard|cast a Sleep-like effect with your bare hands]] at level 3 and have a chance at outright killing a target by pinning it for three turns at level 5. The downside to this is that the saves for those effects are rather easy to make (Fort on DC10 + Reaper Mauler level + [[wat|wis modifier]]). This means that for a good Reaping Mauler you'll need STR, DEX and WIS, meaning that you'll have to be a [[MAD]] [[Fighter]], a [[Cleric]] or a [[Monk]] in order to use this class well. Still, with a bit of minmaxing you might end up [[Los Tiburon|pinning dragons to death.]] Pathfinder adds additional feats, if your DM allows the systems to mix, that allow you to break jaws and such, as well.

===Risen Martyr===
A ten-level class from the [[Book of Exalted Deeds]] that turns you into [[Emprah|Jesus]]. Well, more or less. You have to martyr yourself and, if you have the requirements (spread over saves, skills and feats) you rise from the dead as a Deathless, aka an undead who does not run on negative energy. They get all kinds of personal defense bonuses and can cast shields. This goes on until level 10: if you gain enough XP to level up after that point you'll leave the world and go to the Upper Planes. No, you can't advance other classes to avoid that. Oh, and if you commit as much as 1 act of Evil (Exalted guidelines), your ass is grass and you get pulled to the Upper Planes for a paddlin'. Most often seen on Monks with the Vow of Poverty, giving them nearly unbeatable touch AC.

===Sublime Chord===
A ten-level class from Complete Arcane that lets you gish the fuck out on a [[bard]]. A properly [[Powergamer|min-maxed]] Sublime Chord build will only actually have like one level of the fairly worthless class itself, but the class opens the entire spellbook (all the way to ninth level spells) with only nine levels, which means you can use other PrCs to make full casters with base attack bonuses that don't look like full casters. GMs won't like it because the class doesn't actually look overpowered on its own, and it's only when you start getting other crap involved that it turns everyday bards into flawless casters capable of doing literally everything. So if your GM is new, they probably won't notice that anything is weird with your build until you cast max level buffs on yourself and charge into a mob of demons slaughtering them all with a bastard sword.

===Thrallherd===
The Thrallherd takes the already broken Leadership [[feat]] and builds an entire Prestige Class around it for [[psion]]s. The requirements are not too difficult: Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Diplomacy 4 (which is a class skill for Telepaths, but with nomral skill point investments this is obtained at the same level as the previous skill), the [[Inquisitor]] feat (requires 13 [[Wisdom]]), Manifester Level 5 and the Mindlink power. This is an 8/10 advancement class, but what you get for those levels in return is staggering. First off, at level 1 you get yourself a Thrall. This is a cohort of one level lower than you, as long as this level is not higher than the one mandated by your Leadership Score (character level + Thrallherd level + [[Charisma]] modifier, maxes out at 25 so unless Charisma is your [[Dump Stat|dump stat]] you hit it at Psion 5/Thrallherd 10) who is drawn to you through the psychic resonance that you radiate, making them want to serve you. In the same vein you get another Thrall at Thrallherd 10, who is 2 levels lower than you. On top of that you also get a whole horde of Believers: a bunch of low-level [[NPC]]s who more or less worship you. Their levels are in the 1-6 range, and at the highest level you can have 135/13/7/4/2/2 of them in order of lowest to highest. On top of that at the odd levels you get a mix of new psionic powers (Psionic Charm and Psionic Dominate if you didn't have them already) and have them be cheaper to cast.

[[Dreamscarred Press]]' Ultimate Psionics has a version of the Thrallherd as well, taking the same class and adding a number of features. At the even levels they gain a permanent +2 buff to Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate or Sense Motive (bonuses can stack) and at level 10 they gain an upgrade to their Thralls and Believers, increasing the maximum levels of the first (17 to 19) and greatly increasing the number of Believers to 300/30/15/8/4/2.

Just like the Leadership feat, the Thrallherd is infamous because of its ability to attract large amounts of manpower for relatively little effort. As such, few [[DM]]s will allow you to play this, because even with just the Thralls this is a supremely potent class that's nigh impossible to keep track of. If you really want to piss off your DM you point out that it doesn't say that the Thralls can't be Psions with levels in Thrallherd themselves, which means that [[meme|your class features have class features more powerful than entire classess]]. But if you do this you have to accept that your DM [[RAGE|is going to force-feed you your psionics book]].

===Ur-Priest===
A ten-level class for Evil characters who want to steal Divine spells from the gods and use them against them. Being some kind of anti-[[cleric]] the Ur-Priest has a nice array of spells it can use (Cleric list) and cast (interestingly enough they're not bound by alignment). They also get to Rebuke Undead, get 20 Spell Resistance against Divine spells and spell-like abilities from Outsiders, can combine spell slots into higher level spell slots and at level 10 steal spell-like (no supernatural) abilities from any creature. While it is open to any class that meets it requirements, without some serious weight in Knowledge skills (and Bluff and Spell craft) you're not going to join the kewl kids club.

===Warshaper===
A meh prestige class that gave a few more options when using shape shifting abilities... unless you had at will shapeshifting. While no player character friendly method for getting that existed at the time of printing, [[Eberron]] eventually added the [[Changeling]]. A Changeling in this class is hard to kill (+4 con and fast healing 2, 10 if they spend the round concentrating), can reach like Mr. Fantastic and grow any natural weapon they want potentially even as many as the GM will let them (though the limit on changing "body type" in the Changeling's shapeshifting should prevent growing extra limbs or enough tentacles to fill a hentai OVA).

{{D&D3-Classes}}

[[Category:Game Mechanics]]

Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)

2019-05-20T11:46:58Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06: /* Schools of Thought */

[[File:Dragon_Disciple.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Dragon Disciple. A sub-class of sorcerers that avoid being squishy.]]
'''Sorcerers''' are a core playable spellcaster class in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] since Third Edition. Unlike [[Wizard]]s, a Sorcerer's power comes not from years of study, but as a result of supernatural power infusing their blood. In D&D, this is usually because one of your ancestors fucked a Dragon, while [[Pathfinder]] gives much more varied(and sometimes squickier) origins.

Prior to Fourth, they are really just simpler versions of their [[Wizard]] brothers, able to cast spells on the fly without morning preparation or a spellbook. The drawback is that they can only know a few distinct spells per spell level. In essence, they are "easier to play" wizards for people who have short attention spans and/or don't want to muck around with strategy.

Critics claim there are several additional problems with the class:
* Fewer [[feats]] than the wizard.
* No class [[skills]] except Bluff use Charisma, the sorcerer's casting stat.
* Inferior [[Prestige classes]] compared to the wizard (think ''Tome and Blood'').
* Cannot obtain as much benefit from spell scrolls and spellbooks as a wizard can.

Advocates argue that:
* Some of the prestige classes are pretty good (exalted arcanist, archmage) if you have the right [[splatbook]] ([[Book of Exalted Deeds]], [[Heroes of Horror]], ''Draconomicon'').
* Sorcerers got a mild buff in 3.5, allowing them to vary some spells between levels to make up for their limited spell selection.
* Not having to prepare their spells ''does'' offer some advantages (casting ''flight'' or ''invisibility'' on the whole party off-the-cuff without prior preparation).

In addition, the self-contained nature of the sorcerer is useful to counteract a [[That Guy|difficult]] [[Dungeon Master|DM]]:
* A sorcerer doesn't depend on an external, potentially destructible object to prepare his spells (i.e. the wizard's spellbook).
* A wizard may not obtain or be able to afford the spells he wants to add to his book, while a sorcerer is granted his new spells at each level-up.

Each day, sorcerers and [[bard]]s must focus their minds on the task of casting their spells. A sorcerer or
bard needs 8 hours of rest (just like a wizard), after which he spends
15 minutes concentrating. (A bard must sing, recite, or play an
instrument of some kind while concentrating.) During this period,
the sorcerer or bard readies his mind to cast his daily allotment of
spells. Without such a period to refresh himself, the character does
not regain the spell slots he used up the day before.

== Schools of Thought ==

Sorcerers are really just single-minded versions of their [[Wizard]] brothers, able to cast spells spontaneously (e.g. without preparation in the morning). Sorcerers are one of the easiest classes in the game to play (Look at your spelllist, find the most effective spell for the current situation, then cast it.), but, since you need knowledge of what spells are actually ''good'' on top of other tricks, one of the hardest to build. Published pre-gen Sorcerers tend to suck, so unless someone else builds it with/for you or you consult a handbook good luck doing anything useful with one as a novice.

Players of sorcerers (not to be mistaken with [[Saucerer]]s) often enjoy the [[Dragonborn|dragon blood]] fluff, and use it in some vague attempt at [[roleplaying]], but we all know that deep down inside they're just playing a sorcerer because they want to throw more fireballs per day than the [[wizard]]. But then again, with the right specialization and [[Prestige classes|PrCs]], a wizard can have more spells per day than the sorcerer, rendering him useless. This is especially true when you realize that the wizard gets things like bonus feats, further pushing his power well past anything the sorcerer can accomplish without a prestige class.

It's a well-known fact that [[Skip Williams]], one of the developers of Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition, absolutely ''despised'' the sorcerer class and is famous for saying in a now-notorious thread on the [[Wizards of the Coast]] forums that sorcerers weren't worthy of being called spellcasting classes. The findings of most of the balance team for 3.5 regarding the sorcerer were steadfastly ignored by WotC, which is why the sorcerer doesn't get bonus feats, skills that actually use his main stat (except for Bluff), or the full benefits of metamagic; you know, all the things wizards get and take for granted. About the only buff they got in 3.5 is that they can now vary some spells up between levels to make up for how limited their spell selection is. All of this is painfully obvious if one cracks open a copy of the ''Tome and Blood,'' which is widely-regarded as being for wizards what the current-edition [[Matt Ward|Space Marine Codex was for Ultramarines]]. All of the sorcerer-specific classes in the book were horrifically underpowered, whereas a number of wizard builds offered via ''T&B'' were incredibly, gob-smackingly powerful.

Sorcerers are, to put it simply, underpowered compared to wizards: they make sacrifices in the number of spells they can know at any one time in order to be able to cast two more spells of every level per day than [[wizard]]s, who can still very easily surpass a sorcerer's spells per day with the right builds. If your group is a hack-and-slash, combat-centric group, you're probably going to want to roll a sorcerer. If your group [[/tg/ gets shit done|actually does anything]] besides kick in doors and behead goblinoids/innocent [[dorf|dwarves]]/the [[Tarrasque]] (haha, beheading the [[Tarrasque]], it'd just grow a new head before you could blink), then consider the [[wizard]]'s immense versatility an advantage.

On the other hand, a sorcerer represents the chaotic side of magic, free to face the encounter with all that he knows, ever ready to adapt and prevail. Wizards represent the methodical, logical, and lawful mechanics of magic. So long as they have planned accordingly the night before and morning of, they can face any situation as it comes. But any one unpredictable thing comes along and the sorcerer gets to loot the wizard's corpse. Of course, the sorcerer also has to plan ahead because he prepares his spells once and doesn't get to change them until he gets to the next level, so you can't afford to have shitty spells.

...Which isn't to say it's all bad news. The sorcerer qualifies for a number of [[Prestige classes|prestige classes]] that dramatically improve the power of the class. Exalted arcanist (from [[Book of Exalted Deeds]]) gives the class access to a few clerical spells and gives the class a surprising bit of versatility; fiend-blooded (from [[Heroes of Horror]]) seems outwardly similar to the dragon disciple class from ''Tome and Blood'' in that you trade levels for what's functionally a template, but unlike the dragon disciple, offers full spell progression, access to spells you can't normally get, familiar boosts, and the ability to load up a spell to be even more destructive a few times a day - just for example; the ''Draconomicon'' also has a bunch of useful sorcerer buffs, including sorcerer-specific feats and [[Prestige classes|PrCs]]. Additionally, the sorcerer can also easily latch onto (and take advantage of) a number of wizard-exclusive prestige classes; seeing what this class can do with archmage is nothing short of hilarious.

But as far as a base class goes? No reason to bother. Prestige out of this class ASAP; all you have to lose is familiar progression. You'll likely find the result far more effective than a sorcerer by its lonesome.

==d20 Modern==
[[d20 Modern]] features the Sorcerer class in ''d20 Past''. It's effectively a combination of the 3E sorcerer and Dragon Disciple. Like the other 3rd edition variants, this Sorcerer gains casting at a lower speed than Wizards for no particular reason. They are also squishier than Mage (wizards), having a lower defense bonus progression. They do however get all the social skills as class skills, but get really low skill points per level. They are the only way in the system to get flight for any notable duration of time (5 hours instead of six seconds per level) outside of a plane or the rubbish ''d20 Future'', though this doesn't kick in till character level 11.

==Pathfinder==
[[Pathfinder]] gave every class a unified system of feat progression, removing one problem with the wizard comparison right there; it also offers traits to let them make the charisma-based skills they should ''always have fucking had in-class'' into class skills, and indirectly helps them out by making prestige classes much rarer and more corner-case. It also added a series of "bloodline powers" to let the player customize them a little and to make them a little less like weaker versions of wizards; it does a good job of that, though they still lack some of the wizard's raw versatility. Greatly helping their limited spells known is that Humans (and anything that counts as Human, so [[Half-Elf]], [[Half-Orc]] and certain [[Planetouched]]) can select to learn an extra spell of a lower level as their favored class bonus instead of bonus HP or skill points (though this will make them even squishier). Those bloodlines show what monster in your ancestry is the source of your powers, making it the class equivalent of half-elf or half-orc or whatever. It's possible to be descended from an undead or an aberration; best not to think about how, though at least ''some'' undead [[vampire|are generally considered quite attractive]] and officially all exposure to mutating magical forces is a possible source of becoming a sorcerer instead of just good ol' fashioned breeding. The article for [[Android]]s in the first ''[[Adventure Path|Iron Gods]]'' book implies reincarnation is also a potential source of bloodline.

Either way, said bloodlines dramatically increase the power of the sorcerers: each bloodline gives you a list of bonus feats, bonus spells, and "bloodline powers" which range from mediocre (1d6 blast) to getting even moar bonus spells, +6 str, [[What|having all of your internal organs shifted so that you are immune to critical hits and cannot be backstabbed]], and casting metamagic without increased casting time. Core bloodlines are pretty standard, being classic themes as Abyssal/Infernal/Celestial/Dragonkin/Fey/etc, with the aberration and undead being kind of oddballs, the destined being hilarious, and the arcane pretty boring but obviously the most powerful, as it is clearly the most viable option in the entire game for metamagic users. Yes, now [[Powergamer|munchkins]] can be sorcerers too. Then Paizo started printing all of its "Ultimate X" stuff and things kept going weird(er), with sorcerers descending from nearly everything that can sport a reproductive system, including (but not limited to) Cthulhu-like abominations and plant monsters. They also introduced the "wildblooded" concept of variant bloodlines, though most of these are negligible difference in ancestry and exist mainly for mechanical changes. To get an idea of how weird things can get, here is the full list:

*'''Aberrant''': Your ancestor messed around with an [[Aboleth]], [[Beholder]] or something similar.
**'''Warped''': Your shapesifting powers are contagious.
*'''Abyssal''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[demon]].
**'''Brutal''':Your ancestor messed around with another demon, one that let you inherit wing-a-lings.
*'''Accursed''': Your ancestor was cursed, possibly by a [[Hag]].
*'''Aquatic''': Your ancestor messed with an aquatic creature like a [[Merfolk]], [[Triton]]... or a [[Deep One]].
**'''Seaborn''': Your powers wax and wane in power like the tides.
*'''Arcane''': Your ancestors were [[wizard]]s, and powerful ones at that.
**'''Sage''': You control your powers with research, using intelligence instead of charisma. Unlike Empyreal there's not really anything fun to do with this because intelligence based arcane casters already existed.
*'''Boreal''': Your ancestor was <s>[[Indrick Boreale]]</s> a creature living in cold regions up north.
**'''Rimeblooded''': Your power focuses more on ice than snow.
*'''Celestial''': Your ancestor was touched by an angel in ''that'' way.
**'''Empyreal''': You control your powers with insight instead of willpower, meaning you use wisdom instead of charisma. Has interesting combos with zen Archer Monk and Arcane Archer.
*'''Daemon''': Your ancestor messed around with a life-hating [[daemon]].
*'''Deep Earth''': Your ancestor messed around with a creature of the earth.
**'''Bedrock''': More of a stylistic difference, this bloodline offers more protection than offense.
*'''Destined''': Your family was destined for greatness, and it produced you. Better deliver the goods, kiddo.
**'''Karmic''': Your magic now flows upon the premise of delivering bad things to those who do them. Now those who hit you are cursed for it.
*'''Div''': Your ancestor messed around with one of the nihilistic [[div]].
*'''Djinni''': Your ancestor messed around with a Djinni, an air [[genie]].
*'''Draconic''': Your ancestor got fucked by a [[dragon]]. Comes in the full Chromatic and Metallic spectrum. A feat can also allow you to use Outer Dragons as well.
**'''Linnorm''': Instead of a 4 legged dragon, your ancestor was a norse style serpent dragon. Given their sub-orc intelligence, inability to shapeshift, growing instead of gaining class levels and tendency to curse people, this one was ''probably'' not from genetics.
*'''Dreamspun''': Your family has always been able to mess around with dreams, and now it's your turn.
**'''Visionary''': Your family might has a history of rampantly harmless insomnia because what dreams you do have actually happen to come true.
*'''Ectoplasm''': Your family is somehow linked to ectoplasm, which does not have to mean they fucked [[ghost]]s, but probably does.
*'''Efreeti''': Your ancestor messed around with an Efreeti, a fire [[genie]].
*'''Elemental''': Your ancestor fucked a powerful elemental being, or was exposed to strong elemental energy. Comes in variations of the usual four element ensemble.
**'''Lifewater''': Your ancestor managed to fuck water (or rather, an elemental of water) and got it's healing properties.
**'''Primal''': Your elemental power is on overload.
*'''Fey''': Your ancestor messed around with a fairy, and not of the [[gay|homosexual]] kind.
**'''Dark Fey''': Your ancestor messed around with a dark fairy. Like a normal one, but darker and edgier.
**'''Sylvan''': Your ancestor had more of a tie to nature than fairies. Oh, and now you have a pet.
*'''Ghoul''': Your ancestor probably ate a bit too much [[human|long pig]], and now you're a bit ghoulish.
*'''Harrow''': Your ancestor played too much with their not-[[Tarot]] deck, which nets you [[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|magical powers linked to this not-Tarot]].
*'''Imperious''': Your ancestor was so much into [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] it gained you magical powers [[Zarus|to secure a future for the human race]]. For [[human]]s only.
*'''Impossible''': You're here to kick reason to the curb and do the impossible.
*'''Infernal''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[devil]], or didn't read the fine print when they made a deal with one.
**'''Pit-Touched''': Your deal with the devil made you a bit tougher than normal.
*'''Kobold''': You carry the blood of dragons inside you, which other kobolds are really impressed with. As expected, it's for [[kobold]]s only.
*'''Maestro''': Your ancestor was way into music and sound, like a [[bard]], trumpet [[archon]], [[lillend]] or something less wholesome like a [[harpy]] or even a [[Gibbering Mouther]].
*'''Marid''': Your ancestor messed around with a Marid, a water [[genie]].
**'''Shahzada''': Your ancestor fooled around with an elite Marid, and now you're hydrokinetic.
*'''Martyred''': Your ancestor died for their beliefs, which nets you powers courtesy of grandpa Jesus.
**'''Retribution''': What happens when you ignore "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" and reap holy vengeance.
*'''Nanite''': Your ancestor messed around with [[Metal Gear|NANOMACHINES, SON!]] They grant you magical powers.
*'''Oni''': Your ancestor messed around with one of the hedonistic [[Oni]].
*'''Orc''': Your ancestor messed around with an [[orc]], which gives you [[rage]] powers. Not actually limited to orcs or humans, meaning that you could be an [[elf]] with this bloodline.
*'''Pestilence''': You are a disturbed individual who's down with the sickness and gains magical powers through your blighted soul.
*'''Phoenix''': Your ancestor witnessed the rebrith of a [[Phoenix]] (though the sole NPC of this bloodline actually got it by being resurrected at a young age). You can turn your fire blast spells into ranged AoE healing spells.
*'''Possessed''': You're kind of a [[Spiritualist]]: you have a spirit riding your soul who gets you magical powers, except you get casting like a sorcerer.
*'''Protean''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[Protean]], the [[Slaad]] standins of [[Pathfinder]].
**'''Anarchic''': Instead of touching beings made of chaos, your ancestor was literally corrupted by literal chaos itself.
*'''Psychic''': Your family includes many [[Psion|psychics]], and you're too.
*'''Rakshasa''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[Rakshasa]], making them a [[furry]].
*'''Salamander''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[Salamander]], giving you all sorts of neat fire and smithing powers.
*'''Serpentine''': Your ancestor messed around with one flavor or another of [[snek]], meaning you have snake powers.
**'''Envenomed''': Your ancestor inherited the snake's venom rather than its sneakiness.
*'''Shadow''': Your ancestor messed around with edgy powers, and now you have a shadowy soul and matching powers.
**'''Umbral''': Slightly different sort of shadowy power, now granting concealment.
*'''Shapechanger''': Your ancestor was a shapechanger (presumably one that wasn't an outsider or dragon), so you're better at polymorph spells, even able to maintain one near-permanently.
*'''Shaitan''': Your ancestor messed around with a Shaitan, an earth [[genie]].
*'''Starsoul''': Your ancestor traveled through space, and instead of getting irradiated and dying their descendants gained magical powers.
**'''Void-Touched''': Your ancestor's powers didn't come from a star, but from that giant black vacuum the stars were sitting in.
*'''Stormborn''': Your ancestor messed around with <s>[[A Song of Ice and Fire|House Targaryen]]</s> a creature of storm and electricity.
**'''Arial''': Your ancestor actually messed around with the element of wind.
*'''Undead''': Your ancestor [[Discworld|has something to do with death, which nets you magical powers]].
**'''Sanguine''': Your ancestor may have been some sort of vampire. You're no [[dhampir]], but you still feel that thirst.
*'''Unicorn''': Your ancestor was a unicorn ''rider''. You get healing spells as bonus spells known, but little condition removal so you can't replace a dedicated divine caster.
*'''Verdant''': Your ancestor messed around with plants, making being [[Batman|Poison Ivy]] a hereditary trait to your family.
**'''Groveborn''': Your ancestry's more prevalent in how everything looks all wooden.

Still, sorcerers are really an interesting, entertaining choice and can be tailored and customized to be whatever the fuck you may desire, with great opportunities for roleplaying. Even the lack of spells is less severe - you get one free spell among your bloodline ones every odd level beyond the first, and a good chunk of races has a favored class bonus that nets you 1 bonus spell each level, even if it has to be one level lower than your highest spell's level. If you don't mind being a special snowflake, check out the "build your own spells" Words of Power system from "Ultimate Magic." The sky's falling in on our heads, 'cause someone in a 3.X game actually put in an alternate casting system that favors sorcerers over their [[wizard|spoiled rotten cousins]]. Think on how some of the elemental bloodlines boost power for ''any'' spell with the right elemental subtype. Think how easy it is to slip a level zero ''cold snap'' or ''spark'' keyword into a larger spell. Engage trollface, because you just made the best "blaster" mage in 3.X history.

Also in Pathfinder, sorcerers make arguably better mystic theurges than wizards because they can choose to multiclass in [[Oracle]]. The oracle is a divine equivalent of the sorcerer that uses charisma as his casting stat, thus avoiding being [[MAD]], or can take the empyreal bloodline and swap their casting stat with Wisdom, making it a perfect multiclass option for druids or clerics that want to go theurge. Obviously, this advantage becomes moot when you notice that Pathfinder theurges suck pretty bad, and one of their (few) features only works for prepared spellcasters. Oops!

See also the [[Dragon Disciple]], which synchronizes heavily with the Draconic Bloodline. You don't gain magic as much as the pure Sorcerer, but their bloodline powers come faster or more powerful. The spellcasting loss can be mitigated by taking the [http://aonprd.com/FeatDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Prestigious%20Spellcaster Prestigious Spellcaster] feat three times (one for each Dragon Disciple level that lacks spellcasting progression) but that and its prerequisite feat ([http://aonprd.com/FeatDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Favored%20Prestige%20Class Favoured Prestige Class]) is a pretty hefty feat investment. And man, that's a whole lotta sprinting just to get where you coulda been standing still.

== 4e's Attempts ==
[[Image:Wrathful Vapors.png|300px|thumb|The green vapors do lightning and acid damage, the blue ones cold and thunder damage.]]
4th edition kept the sorcerer out of the first PHB precisely because the developers wanted to come up with a way to make it more useful and distinct, especially since it could no longer fall back on a different spellcasting mechanism to justify its uniqueness. Instead, it came out in the PHB2 with a stunning new redesign.

Keeping the idea that the sorcerer is an intuitive, innate caster rather than a [[wizard|studied, deliberate arcanist]] or a [[warlock|pact-bound channeler]], the 4e Sorcerer is an Arcane Striker who has basically taken up the [[Evoker]] niche. Their spells focus on dealing large amounts of elemental damage, often multiple types simultaneously, over a close-ranged area - in essence, taking up a midway point between the 4e wizard and the 4e warlock.

Furthermore, the 4e sorcerer finally distinguished just where its magic came from, in contrast to the nebulous and vague fluff of 3rd edition. By the time 4e was cancelled, four distinct power origins were presented; draconic magic, wild magic, storm magic and cosmic magic. Each of these granted its sorcerer some unique magical traits.

* Wild Magic sorcerers would randomly gain either +1 AC or a free saving throw at the start of each round, had [[Damage Reduction|energy resistance]] that changed randomly with each long rest, could slide their target around & knock it prone on a natural 20, and shoved away every creature within 5 squares on a natural 1.
* Dragon Magic sorcerers gain one form of energy resistance from a list of Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning and Poison, can determine their AC bonus with the highest of their Strength, Dexterity or Charisma modifiers, and gain +2 AC whenever they are Bloodied.
* Storm Magic sorcerers are resistant to thunder & lightning damage, and get to push their target and then fly a short distance on a natural 20.
* Cosmic Magic sorcerers can determine their AC bonus with the highest of their Strength, Dexterity or Charisma modifiers, and can choose which of the three cosmic phases they are aligned with after completing a rest; the phase they're in gives them a special bonus. The Sun phase grants Cold resistance and inflicts Fire & Radiant damage on all nearby enemies. The Moon phase grants Psychic resistance and +1 AC per conscious enemy adjacent to you, making you super tanky. The Stars phase grants Radiant resistance and the ability to teleport as a free reaction if an enemy takes a swing and misses. Additionally, you can choose to change to the next phase in the cycle (Sun-Moon-Stars-Sun) each time you cast a sorcerer daily, although you're forced to switch to the next one along when you get Bloodied.

For all sorcerers, emphasizing their raw power, they have the unique ability to ignore the elemental damage resistance of enemies who share their elemental affinity. So a sorcerer with Fire resistance ignores the Fire resistance of its foes.

==Meanwhile, in 5th Edition...==
In 5th Edition, opinions on sorcerers is... decidedly mixed. Some argue that they're just as useful and viable as they were in 4e, others argue they've gone right back to being the redheaded bastard children of the family.

See, someone finally realized that sorcerers should get something unique: [[metamagic]], torn screaming from [[wizard|the hands of the most pampered brats of 3rd edition]]. They now have exclusive access to metamagics, of which they can eventually get four, and can alter ''any'' of their spells on the fly using a resource pool called Sorcery Points (which is basically a stupider name for a mana system). They get more as they level up, and can also use them to regain spells. These mechanics are important, because with the reworks to prepared spellcasting, the complaint that sorcerers prepare their spells once and can't easily swap them out is more true than ever.

Sorcerers get to choose their bloodline power at first level: [[Dragon]]s or something vague and chaotic. The dragon bloodline gives them natural armor (which doesn't stack with actual armor, naturally) and one more hit point per level. Eventually they get dragon wings, resistance to, and affinity for, their chosen dragon's element, and the ability to use SP to activate an aura that either scares people or inspires them, depending on which the sorcerer wants it to do.

The second bloodline option is that the sorcerer has "[[Wild Mage|Wild Magic]]." This means that whenever they cast a spell, the DM can ask them to roll a D20, and on a 1, random magical effects happen. However, given their probable frequency, they are now less devastating (none that instantly kill you, the worst it gets is turning you into a plant for one round or casting ''grease'' on your location, though we can't forget the chance to drop a fireball on yourself). In fact, many are helpful, and later the wild mage actually uses this to their advantage (whenever they have a surge, they can roll twice on the chart). Oh, and they have a D6 hit die now, like in [[Pathfinder]]. I guess WotC got sick of spellcasters whining about not having enough HP to do anything.

Finally, their class skills include lots of Charisma-based choices, like in 4e, which is just one more sweet, sweet improvement.

Their four major weaknesses (and they are all, admittedly, doozies) are thus:
* That the heavily-reworked magic system took a lot of the punch out of their spontaneous casting, and made the wizard's tremendous versatility even more of an advantage, since now every caster has access to all memorized spells of a given level whenever they cast for a slot.
* That they are the ''only'' full-caster in the game ''without'' access to ritual casting, further preventing them from being good "utility" people.
* That they gain access to about as many spells as the goddamn ''quarter casters'', and, unlike the [[paladin]] and [[ranger]], neither of whom is at the pinnacle of this edition's tier list, they don't have ''any'' unique spells, with their list being, essentially, a gimped-as-fuck version of the wizard's.
* That they don't gain ''any'' short rest benefits until their fucking ''capstone'', meaning that for most of his career the sorcerer is going to lag behind the wizard in terms of spells per day ''as well as'' spells known. And the only way to avoid that involves eating into the same resource pool that feeds metamagic.

The metamagic still helps make them unique, and ''definitively'' gives them access to a number of things the wizard simply ''cannot'' do, but they really could stand to have access to greater access to more total spells and/or some sort of short-rest recovery mechanic if you're the sort that likes to homebrew fixes. Perhaps in the form of a set of additional "bloodline" spells attached to each archetype choice? Fuck's sake, [[Mike Mearls|Mike]], even ''[[Pathfinder Roleplaying Game|Paizo]]'' figured that one out, and they couldn't even be bothered to fix their skill list! I know you thought about it because it's attached to ''both'' the "playtest" bloodlines!

The sorcerer has been arguably the slowest-growing arcane class in 5th edition; [[Unearthed Arcana]] has done what it can to give sorcerers more options, but WoTC's repeated bungling has kept the development of ''good'' Sorcerer subclasses slow. So far, only ''three'' new Sorcerous Origins have been added since the PHB came out; Divine Soul, Shadow Magic and Storm Sorcery.

''Divine Soul'' is basically a rebrand of the [[Favored Soul]] from 3e; a sorcerer with divine magical affinities. It took WoTC ''four goes'' before they finally posted this in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and gamers ''still'' argue about whether it's any good. At 1st level, they pick up the ''Divine Magic'' and ''Favored By The Gods'' features. Divine Magic allows sorcerers to learn [[Cleric]] spells as they level up, and gives them a bonus clerical spell that doesn't count against their normal list of spells; this is taken from a short list that masquerades as a facade of the Cleric Domain aspect (Good - Cure Wounds, Evil - Inflict Wounds, Law - Bless, Chaos -Bane, Neutrality - Protection from Evil & Good), but you can swap it out for another clerical spell later. Favored By The Gods, in comparison, lets you add a +2d4 roll to the result of a failed saving throw or attack roll once per short rest, which can turn a failure into a success. Level 6 gives Divine Souls the ''Empowered Healing'' trait, which basically lets them spend a sorcery point to reroll any number of dice in a healing spell cast by themselves or an ally within 5 feet, though they can only do this once per turn. Level 14 comes with ''Otherworldly Wings'', which lets them sprout spectral wings that give them Fly speed of 30 feet as a bonus action. Finally, at level 18, they pick up ''Unearthly Recovery'', where they can heal themselves back from half health or lower potentially to full health once per day.

''Shadow Magic'' is a sort of mix-up of [[Dread Necromancer]] and [[Shadowcaster]]. Its level 1 features are Eyes of the Dark (gain Darkvision 120 feet, gain a Darkness spell that doesn't count against spells known at 3rd level, can cast Darkness with 2 sorcery points and see through it if you do) and Strength of the Grave (1/day, can make a Charisma save against an attack that would drop you to 0 HP to only drop to 1 HP, but this doesn't work on radiant damage and critical hits). Level 6 lets them summon a ghostly Hound of Ill Omen. Level 14 grants them the ability to Shadow Walk, teleporting at will from one patch of dim light or darkness to another that is within 120 feet. Finally, at level 18, ''Umbral Form'' lets them assume a shadow-like ghostly form for up to 1 minute at the cost of 6 sorcery points, during which time they are resistant to all damage types bar force and radiant and have the Incorporeal Movement trait (can pass through creatures & objects as if they were difficult terrain, but ending your turn inside one inflicts 5 Force damage on you). This showed up in Xanathar's Guide.

''Storm Sorcery'' is a kind of [[elementalism]] based on affinity for storms, and a nod back to their 4e options. It's got two fluff-only features (level 1's ''Wind Speaker'' lets you speak Primordial, the [[elemental]] language, whilst level 6's ''Storm Guide'' lets you manipulate the path of wind blowing around you and keep yourself from getting wet in the rain), but the rest of it is solid crunch. ''Tempestuous Magic'' (level 1) lets you ride a gout of wind whenever you cast a level 1 or higher spell, which lets you fly 10 feet without provoking an opportunity attack. ''Heart of the Storm'' (level 6) grants you resistance to lightning & thunder damage, and lets you inflict lightning or thunder damage equal to half your sorcerer level on any enemy within 10 feet whenever you cast a 1st level or higher spell dealing lightning/thunder damage. ''Storm's Fury'' (level 14) lets you use a reaction to inflict lightning damage equal to your sorcerer level on anyone who hits you with a melee attack, as well as potentially knocking them up to 20 feet away from you if they fail a Strength save. Finally, ''Wind Soul'' bumps your lightning/thunder resistance to full-blown immunity and gives you a fly speed of 60 feet, which you can choose to drop down to 30 feet for a hour once per short rest in order to give (3 + Cha modifier) allies a fly speed of 30 feet for an hour. This first appeared in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, but was then reprinted completely for Xanathar's Guide.

Whilst unofficial, there's a Fire [[Elementalism]] Sorcerous Origin, the Pyromancer, in the [[Magic the Gathering|Plane Shift: Kaladesh]] article. This one, unlike the Phoenix Soul, is all about the burninating of shit in your way. Its first feature means all fire spells you cast technically become area spells, as any enemies within 10 feet of you take some fire damage when you cast a fire spell. Then it grants you both Fire Resistance and the ability to negate Fire Resistance in others when you're flinging flames everywhere. It can retaliate against melee attacks by inflicting fire damage on them if they successfully hit the Pyromancer, and finally, they upgrade Fire Resistance to Fire Immunity and can now sling flames so hot that Fire Immune targets only count as being Fire Resistant, in addition to burning normally Fire Resistant foes for full damage. It's considered to be a lot better than the Phoenix Soul Sorcerous Origin from [[Unearthed Arcana]].

Yes, Sorcerers do get some subclasses in [[Unearthed Arcana]] - the Storm, Shadow and Divine magics all began there and were later promoted to official status. Other UA Sorcerer branches that haven't had that luck yet consist of:
* [[Phoenix]] Soul: A strange mixture of fire [[elementalist]] and tanky sorcerer, with its abilities revolving around a 1/day "phoenix form" the player can assume.
* Sea Soul: A water [[elementalist]]. Surprisingly good, makes for a viable melee sorcerer.
* Stone Soul: Actually, no, not an earth [[elementalist]] but a weird-ass homage to the [[Swordmage]].
* [[Giant]] Soul: Some bonus spells based on the different giant breeds, combined with the ability to make yourself row into a giant at the highest levels.

==Zakharan Sorcerers==
You read that bit at the top about sorcerers being a class added by [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]? That's... not entirely the whole story. Oh, the sorcerer as we know it today was basically a 3e invention, but it wasn't without precedent. The name "Sorcerer" first appeared as a variant [[Wizard]] in the [[Al-Qadim]] subsetting of the [[Forgotten Realms]] in [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]. Described in the Al-Qadim corebook, "Arabian Adventures", the Zakharan Sorcerer is a specialist wizard that improves upon the standard [[Elementalist]]; in exchange for dropping their increased chance to learn "allowed" magic to a mere +20%, they can learn spells from ''two'' of the four elemental styles, at the cost of being unable to learn any other spell that isn't Universal or one of their two chosen elemental schools.

==Sorcadin==
Since both [[Paladin]] and Sorcerer are charisma based, multiclassing between the two is fairly common. This makes a common type of [[Gish]] known as a Sorcadin.

In 3.5 Paladin 2/Sorcerer X is a staple gish entry thanks to having a massive bonus to all saving throws. Since it has less caster levels and is a sorcerer instead of a wizard it tends to be less powerful than a wizard based [[Gish]], but still reasonably powerful. In Pathfinder Paladin 2/Sorcerer 1/Dragon Disciple 4/Sorcerer 2/Eldritch Knight 10/Sorcerer 1 was the best gish in core since Dragon Disciple no longer sucked, but since the introduction of the [[Magus]] and Shapechanger bloodline this build has largely been ignored.

In D20 Modern a Whatever 3/Sorcerer 10/Archmage 4 needs only to spend one feat to qualify for (Un)Holy Knight, which is a good way to finish off the last 3 levels (if your game somehow reaches that point). Not that it's likely for a game to reach this point.

In 4th edition, this actually works out a lot better than you'd expect. Whilst the Paladin is a Defender and the Sorcerer is a Striker, the fact is that both classes rely predominantly on [[Charisma]] to do the things they do, so [[MAD]] is no problem at all. Furthermore, the Sorcerer is a "glass cannon" type Striker, specializing in short-ranged spells that hit wide areas with multiple elemental typed damage or targeting multiple saves. So sorcerers wanting to get into the fray is actually an intended part of game design. As such, the Paladin's bonus health, healing surges and armor proficiencies are a big help to the Sorcerer. Add in the lack of any alignment restrictions or armor interfering with spellcasting, and frankly the Sorcadin is incredibly viable, albeit with the caveat that it won't be as good at either role as a single-role character will be. But hey, that's always the downside of [[multiclassing]].

In 5E Sorcerers, like everyone else who meets arbitrary ability score requirements in 5E, can multiclass. ''Unlike'' everyone else in 5E however Sorcerers actually have a point to it when they multiclass with Paladin, creating one of the few character options in 5E that isn't exactly what the developers intended you use nor utterly pointless. A Paladin fuels smite with spell slots, and a Sorcerer has a lot of spell slots. Paladin slashes things, while a sorcerer gains ability to light that sword on fire and add extra damage because it's now a fire attack. This results in a character that can nova things ''really'' well, but is even more susceptible to blowing all their resources at once... Or until ''Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica''. There a new magic item, Illusionist's Bracers, allows casting Green-Flame Blade twice in a turn. Now, even after exhausting yourself you still make ''two'' attacks that each add twice your charisma to your melee damage so you'll likely be outdamaging all but the best melee types unless your DM realizes how fantastically broken this is and only makes you fight single foes or foes who avoid going near each other.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Primordial Channeler.png
File:Storm Sorceress.png
File:Dragon's Crown Sorceress.jpg|Sorcerer *is* a Charisma-based class after all.
</gallery>

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Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)

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[[File:Dragon_Disciple.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Dragon Disciple. A sub-class of sorcerers that avoid being squishy.]]
'''Sorcerers''' are a core playable spellcaster class in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] since Third Edition. Unlike [[Wizard]]s, a Sorcerer's power comes not from years of study, but as a result of supernatural power infusing their blood. In D&D, this is usually because one of your ancestors fucked a Dragon, while [[Pathfinder]] gives much more varied(and sometimes squickier) origins.

Prior to Fourth, they are really just simpler versions of their [[Wizard]] brothers, able to cast spells on the fly without morning preparation or a spellbook. The drawback is that they can only know a few distinct spells per spell level. In essence, they are "easier to play" wizards for people who have short attention spans and/or don't want to muck around with strategy.

Critics claim there are several additional problems with the class:
* Fewer [[feats]] than the wizard.
* No class [[skills]] except Bluff use Charisma, the sorcerer's casting stat.
* Inferior [[Prestige classes]] compared to the wizard (think ''Tome and Blood'').
* Cannot obtain as much benefit from spell scrolls and spellbooks as a wizard can.

Advocates argue that:
* Some of the prestige classes are pretty good (exalted arcanist, archmage) if you have the right [[splatbook]] ([[Book of Exalted Deeds]], [[Heroes of Horror]], ''Draconomicon'').
* Sorcerers got a mild buff in 3.5, allowing them to vary some spells between levels to make up for their limited spell selection.
* Not having to prepare their spells ''does'' offer some advantages (casting ''flight'' or ''invisibility'' on the whole party off-the-cuff without prior preparation).

In addition, the self-contained nature of the sorcerer is useful to counteract a [[That Guy|difficult]] [[Dungeon Master|DM]]:
* A sorcerer doesn't depend on an external, potentially destructible object to prepare his spells (i.e. the wizard's spellbook).
* A wizard may not obtain or be able to afford the spells he wants to add to his book, while a sorcerer is granted his new spells at each level-up.

Each day, sorcerers and [[bard]]s must focus their minds on the task of casting their spells. A sorcerer or
bard needs 8 hours of rest (just like a wizard), after which he spends
15 minutes concentrating. (A bard must sing, recite, or play an
instrument of some kind while concentrating.) During this period,
the sorcerer or bard readies his mind to cast his daily allotment of
spells. Without such a period to refresh himself, the character does
not regain the spell slots he used up the day before.

== Schools of Thought ==

Sorcerers are really just single-minded versions of their [[Wizard]] brothers, able to cast spells spontaneously (e.g. without preparation in the morning). Sorcerers are one of the easiest classes in the game to play (Look at your spelllist, find the most effective spell for the current situation, then cast it.), but, since you need knowledge of what spells are actually ''good'' on top of other tricks, one of the hardest to build. Published pre-gen Sorcerers tend to suck, so unless someone else builds it with/for you or you consult a handbook good luck doing anything useful with one as a novice.

Players of sorcerers (not to be mistaken with [[Saucerer]]s) often enjoy the [[Dragonborn|dragon blood]] fluff, and use it in some vague attempt at [[roleplaying]], but we all know that deep down inside they're just playing a sorcerer because they want to throw more fireballs per day than the [[wizard]]. But then again, with the right specialization and [[Prestige classes|PrCs]], a wizard can have more spells per day than the sorcerer, rendering him useless. This is especially true when you realize that the wizard gets things like bonus feats, further pushing his power well past anything the sorcerer can accomplish without a prestige class.

It's a well-known fact that [[Skip Williams]], one of the developers of Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition, absolutely ''despised'' the sorcerer class and is famous for saying in a now-notorious thread on the [[Wizards of the Coast]] forums that sorcerers weren't worthy of being called spellcasting classes. The findings of most of the balance team for 3.5 regarding the sorcerer were steadfastly ignored by WotC, which is why the sorcerer doesn't get bonus feats, skills that actually use his main stat (except for Bluff), or the full benefits of metamagic; you know, all the things wizards get and take for granted. About the only buff they got in 3.5 is that they can now vary some spells up between levels to make up for how limited their spell selection is. All of this is painfully obvious if one cracks open a copy of the ''Tome and Blood,'' which is widely-regarded as being for wizards what the current-edition [[Matt Ward|Space Marine Codex was for Ultramarines]]. All of the sorcerer-specific classes in the book were horrifically underpowered, whereas a number of wizard builds offered via ''T&B'' were incredibly, gob-smackingly powerful.

Sorcerers are, to put it simply, underpowered compared to wizards: they make sacrifices in the number of spells they can know at any one time in order to be able to cast two more spells of every level per day than [[wizard]]s, who can still very easily surpass a sorcerer's spells per day with the right builds. If your group is a hack-and-slash, combat-centric group, you're probably going to want to roll a sorcerer. If your group [[/tg/ gets shit done|actually does anything]] besides kick in doors and behead goblinoids/innocent [[dorf|dwarves]]/the [[Tarrasque]] (haha, beheading the [[Tarrasque]], it'd just grow a new head before you could blink), then consider the [[wizard]]'s immense versatility an advantage.

On the other hand, a sorcerer represents the chaotic side of magic, free to face the encounter with all that he knows, ever ready to adapt and prevail. Wizards represent the methodical, logical, and lawful mechanics of magic. So long as they have planned accordingly the night before and morning of, they can face any situation as it comes. But any one unpredictable thing comes along and the sorcerer gets to loot the wizard's corpse. Of course, the sorcerer also has to plan ahead because he prepares his spells once and doesn't get to change them until he gets to the next level, so you can't afford to have shitty spells.

...Which isn't to say it's all bad news. The sorcerer qualifies for a number of [[Prestige classes|prestige classes]] that dramatically improve the power of the class. Exalted arcanist (from ''Book of Exalted Deeds'') gives the class access to a few clerical spells and gives the class a surprising bit of versatility; fiend-blooded (from ''Heroes of Horror'') seems outwardly similar to the dragon disciple class from ''Tome and Blood'' in that you trade levels for what's functionally a template, but unlike the dragon disciple, offers full spell progression, access to spells you can't normally get, familiar boosts, and the ability to load up a spell to be even more destructive a few times a day - just for example; the ''Draconomicon'' also has a bunch of useful sorcerer buffs, including sorcerer-specific feats and [[Prestige classes|PrCs]]. Additionally, the sorcerer can also easily latch onto (and take advantage of) a number of wizard-exclusive prestige classes; seeing what this class can do with archmage is nothing short of hilarious.

But as far as a base class goes? No reason to bother. Prestige out of this class ASAP; all you have to lose is familiar progression. You'll likely find the result far more effective than a sorcerer by its lonesome.

==d20 Modern==
[[d20 Modern]] features the Sorcerer class in ''d20 Past''. It's effectively a combination of the 3E sorcerer and Dragon Disciple. Like the other 3rd edition variants, this Sorcerer gains casting at a lower speed than Wizards for no particular reason. They are also squishier than Mage (wizards), having a lower defense bonus progression. They do however get all the social skills as class skills, but get really low skill points per level. They are the only way in the system to get flight for any notable duration of time (5 hours instead of six seconds per level) outside of a plane or the rubbish ''d20 Future'', though this doesn't kick in till character level 11.

==Pathfinder==
[[Pathfinder]] gave every class a unified system of feat progression, removing one problem with the wizard comparison right there; it also offers traits to let them make the charisma-based skills they should ''always have fucking had in-class'' into class skills, and indirectly helps them out by making prestige classes much rarer and more corner-case. It also added a series of "bloodline powers" to let the player customize them a little and to make them a little less like weaker versions of wizards; it does a good job of that, though they still lack some of the wizard's raw versatility. Greatly helping their limited spells known is that Humans (and anything that counts as Human, so [[Half-Elf]], [[Half-Orc]] and certain [[Planetouched]]) can select to learn an extra spell of a lower level as their favored class bonus instead of bonus HP or skill points (though this will make them even squishier). Those bloodlines show what monster in your ancestry is the source of your powers, making it the class equivalent of half-elf or half-orc or whatever. It's possible to be descended from an undead or an aberration; best not to think about how, though at least ''some'' undead [[vampire|are generally considered quite attractive]] and officially all exposure to mutating magical forces is a possible source of becoming a sorcerer instead of just good ol' fashioned breeding. The article for [[Android]]s in the first ''[[Adventure Path|Iron Gods]]'' book implies reincarnation is also a potential source of bloodline.

Either way, said bloodlines dramatically increase the power of the sorcerers: each bloodline gives you a list of bonus feats, bonus spells, and "bloodline powers" which range from mediocre (1d6 blast) to getting even moar bonus spells, +6 str, [[What|having all of your internal organs shifted so that you are immune to critical hits and cannot be backstabbed]], and casting metamagic without increased casting time. Core bloodlines are pretty standard, being classic themes as Abyssal/Infernal/Celestial/Dragonkin/Fey/etc, with the aberration and undead being kind of oddballs, the destined being hilarious, and the arcane pretty boring but obviously the most powerful, as it is clearly the most viable option in the entire game for metamagic users. Yes, now [[Powergamer|munchkins]] can be sorcerers too. Then Paizo started printing all of its "Ultimate X" stuff and things kept going weird(er), with sorcerers descending from nearly everything that can sport a reproductive system, including (but not limited to) Cthulhu-like abominations and plant monsters. They also introduced the "wildblooded" concept of variant bloodlines, though most of these are negligible difference in ancestry and exist mainly for mechanical changes. To get an idea of how weird things can get, here is the full list:

*'''Aberrant''': Your ancestor messed around with an [[Aboleth]], [[Beholder]] or something similar.
**'''Warped''': Your shapesifting powers are contagious.
*'''Abyssal''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[demon]].
**'''Brutal''':Your ancestor messed around with another demon, one that let you inherit wing-a-lings.
*'''Accursed''': Your ancestor was cursed, possibly by a [[Hag]].
*'''Aquatic''': Your ancestor messed with an aquatic creature like a [[Merfolk]], [[Triton]]... or a [[Deep One]].
**'''Seaborn''': Your powers wax and wane in power like the tides.
*'''Arcane''': Your ancestors were [[wizard]]s, and powerful ones at that.
**'''Sage''': You control your powers with research, using intelligence instead of charisma. Unlike Empyreal there's not really anything fun to do with this because intelligence based arcane casters already existed.
*'''Boreal''': Your ancestor was <s>[[Indrick Boreale]]</s> a creature living in cold regions up north.
**'''Rimeblooded''': Your power focuses more on ice than snow.
*'''Celestial''': Your ancestor was touched by an angel in ''that'' way.
**'''Empyreal''': You control your powers with insight instead of willpower, meaning you use wisdom instead of charisma. Has interesting combos with zen Archer Monk and Arcane Archer.
*'''Daemon''': Your ancestor messed around with a life-hating [[daemon]].
*'''Deep Earth''': Your ancestor messed around with a creature of the earth.
**'''Bedrock''': More of a stylistic difference, this bloodline offers more protection than offense.
*'''Destined''': Your family was destined for greatness, and it produced you. Better deliver the goods, kiddo.
**'''Karmic''': Your magic now flows upon the premise of delivering bad things to those who do them. Now those who hit you are cursed for it.
*'''Div''': Your ancestor messed around with one of the nihilistic [[div]].
*'''Djinni''': Your ancestor messed around with a Djinni, an air [[genie]].
*'''Draconic''': Your ancestor got fucked by a [[dragon]]. Comes in the full Chromatic and Metallic spectrum. A feat can also allow you to use Outer Dragons as well.
**'''Linnorm''': Instead of a 4 legged dragon, your ancestor was a norse style serpent dragon. Given their sub-orc intelligence, inability to shapeshift, growing instead of gaining class levels and tendency to curse people, this one was ''probably'' not from genetics.
*'''Dreamspun''': Your family has always been able to mess around with dreams, and now it's your turn.
**'''Visionary''': Your family might has a history of rampantly harmless insomnia because what dreams you do have actually happen to come true.
*'''Ectoplasm''': Your family is somehow linked to ectoplasm, which does not have to mean they fucked [[ghost]]s, but probably does.
*'''Efreeti''': Your ancestor messed around with an Efreeti, a fire [[genie]].
*'''Elemental''': Your ancestor fucked a powerful elemental being, or was exposed to strong elemental energy. Comes in variations of the usual four element ensemble.
**'''Lifewater''': Your ancestor managed to fuck water (or rather, an elemental of water) and got it's healing properties.
**'''Primal''': Your elemental power is on overload.
*'''Fey''': Your ancestor messed around with a fairy, and not of the [[gay|homosexual]] kind.
**'''Dark Fey''': Your ancestor messed around with a dark fairy. Like a normal one, but darker and edgier.
**'''Sylvan''': Your ancestor had more of a tie to nature than fairies. Oh, and now you have a pet.
*'''Ghoul''': Your ancestor probably ate a bit too much [[human|long pig]], and now you're a bit ghoulish.
*'''Harrow''': Your ancestor played too much with their not-[[Tarot]] deck, which nets you [[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|magical powers linked to this not-Tarot]].
*'''Imperious''': Your ancestor was so much into [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] it gained you magical powers [[Zarus|to secure a future for the human race]]. For [[human]]s only.
*'''Impossible''': You're here to kick reason to the curb and do the impossible.
*'''Infernal''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[devil]], or didn't read the fine print when they made a deal with one.
**'''Pit-Touched''': Your deal with the devil made you a bit tougher than normal.
*'''Kobold''': You carry the blood of dragons inside you, which other kobolds are really impressed with. As expected, it's for [[kobold]]s only.
*'''Maestro''': Your ancestor was way into music and sound, like a [[bard]], trumpet [[archon]], [[lillend]] or something less wholesome like a [[harpy]] or even a [[Gibbering Mouther]].
*'''Marid''': Your ancestor messed around with a Marid, a water [[genie]].
**'''Shahzada''': Your ancestor fooled around with an elite Marid, and now you're hydrokinetic.
*'''Martyred''': Your ancestor died for their beliefs, which nets you powers courtesy of grandpa Jesus.
**'''Retribution''': What happens when you ignore "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" and reap holy vengeance.
*'''Nanite''': Your ancestor messed around with [[Metal Gear|NANOMACHINES, SON!]] They grant you magical powers.
*'''Oni''': Your ancestor messed around with one of the hedonistic [[Oni]].
*'''Orc''': Your ancestor messed around with an [[orc]], which gives you [[rage]] powers. Not actually limited to orcs or humans, meaning that you could be an [[elf]] with this bloodline.
*'''Pestilence''': You are a disturbed individual who's down with the sickness and gains magical powers through your blighted soul.
*'''Phoenix''': Your ancestor witnessed the rebrith of a [[Phoenix]] (though the sole NPC of this bloodline actually got it by being resurrected at a young age). You can turn your fire blast spells into ranged AoE healing spells.
*'''Possessed''': You're kind of a [[Spiritualist]]: you have a spirit riding your soul who gets you magical powers, except you get casting like a sorcerer.
*'''Protean''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[Protean]], the [[Slaad]] standins of [[Pathfinder]].
**'''Anarchic''': Instead of touching beings made of chaos, your ancestor was literally corrupted by literal chaos itself.
*'''Psychic''': Your family includes many [[Psion|psychics]], and you're too.
*'''Rakshasa''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[Rakshasa]], making them a [[furry]].
*'''Salamander''': Your ancestor messed around with a [[Salamander]], giving you all sorts of neat fire and smithing powers.
*'''Serpentine''': Your ancestor messed around with one flavor or another of [[snek]], meaning you have snake powers.
**'''Envenomed''': Your ancestor inherited the snake's venom rather than its sneakiness.
*'''Shadow''': Your ancestor messed around with edgy powers, and now you have a shadowy soul and matching powers.
**'''Umbral''': Slightly different sort of shadowy power, now granting concealment.
*'''Shapechanger''': Your ancestor was a shapechanger (presumably one that wasn't an outsider or dragon), so you're better at polymorph spells, even able to maintain one near-permanently.
*'''Shaitan''': Your ancestor messed around with a Shaitan, an earth [[genie]].
*'''Starsoul''': Your ancestor traveled through space, and instead of getting irradiated and dying their descendants gained magical powers.
**'''Void-Touched''': Your ancestor's powers didn't come from a star, but from that giant black vacuum the stars were sitting in.
*'''Stormborn''': Your ancestor messed around with <s>[[A Song of Ice and Fire|House Targaryen]]</s> a creature of storm and electricity.
**'''Arial''': Your ancestor actually messed around with the element of wind.
*'''Undead''': Your ancestor [[Discworld|has something to do with death, which nets you magical powers]].
**'''Sanguine''': Your ancestor may have been some sort of vampire. You're no [[dhampir]], but you still feel that thirst.
*'''Unicorn''': Your ancestor was a unicorn ''rider''. You get healing spells as bonus spells known, but little condition removal so you can't replace a dedicated divine caster.
*'''Verdant''': Your ancestor messed around with plants, making being [[Batman|Poison Ivy]] a hereditary trait to your family.
**'''Groveborn''': Your ancestry's more prevalent in how everything looks all wooden.

Still, sorcerers are really an interesting, entertaining choice and can be tailored and customized to be whatever the fuck you may desire, with great opportunities for roleplaying. Even the lack of spells is less severe - you get one free spell among your bloodline ones every odd level beyond the first, and a good chunk of races has a favored class bonus that nets you 1 bonus spell each level, even if it has to be one level lower than your highest spell's level. If you don't mind being a special snowflake, check out the "build your own spells" Words of Power system from "Ultimate Magic." The sky's falling in on our heads, 'cause someone in a 3.X game actually put in an alternate casting system that favors sorcerers over their [[wizard|spoiled rotten cousins]]. Think on how some of the elemental bloodlines boost power for ''any'' spell with the right elemental subtype. Think how easy it is to slip a level zero ''cold snap'' or ''spark'' keyword into a larger spell. Engage trollface, because you just made the best "blaster" mage in 3.X history.

Also in Pathfinder, sorcerers make arguably better mystic theurges than wizards because they can choose to multiclass in [[Oracle]]. The oracle is a divine equivalent of the sorcerer that uses charisma as his casting stat, thus avoiding being [[MAD]], or can take the empyreal bloodline and swap their casting stat with Wisdom, making it a perfect multiclass option for druids or clerics that want to go theurge. Obviously, this advantage becomes moot when you notice that Pathfinder theurges suck pretty bad, and one of their (few) features only works for prepared spellcasters. Oops!

See also the [[Dragon Disciple]], which synchronizes heavily with the Draconic Bloodline. You don't gain magic as much as the pure Sorcerer, but their bloodline powers come faster or more powerful. The spellcasting loss can be mitigated by taking the [http://aonprd.com/FeatDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Prestigious%20Spellcaster Prestigious Spellcaster] feat three times (one for each Dragon Disciple level that lacks spellcasting progression) but that and its prerequisite feat ([http://aonprd.com/FeatDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Favored%20Prestige%20Class Favoured Prestige Class]) is a pretty hefty feat investment. And man, that's a whole lotta sprinting just to get where you coulda been standing still.

== 4e's Attempts ==
[[Image:Wrathful Vapors.png|300px|thumb|The green vapors do lightning and acid damage, the blue ones cold and thunder damage.]]
4th edition kept the sorcerer out of the first PHB precisely because the developers wanted to come up with a way to make it more useful and distinct, especially since it could no longer fall back on a different spellcasting mechanism to justify its uniqueness. Instead, it came out in the PHB2 with a stunning new redesign.

Keeping the idea that the sorcerer is an intuitive, innate caster rather than a [[wizard|studied, deliberate arcanist]] or a [[warlock|pact-bound channeler]], the 4e Sorcerer is an Arcane Striker who has basically taken up the [[Evoker]] niche. Their spells focus on dealing large amounts of elemental damage, often multiple types simultaneously, over a close-ranged area - in essence, taking up a midway point between the 4e wizard and the 4e warlock.

Furthermore, the 4e sorcerer finally distinguished just where its magic came from, in contrast to the nebulous and vague fluff of 3rd edition. By the time 4e was cancelled, four distinct power origins were presented; draconic magic, wild magic, storm magic and cosmic magic. Each of these granted its sorcerer some unique magical traits.

* Wild Magic sorcerers would randomly gain either +1 AC or a free saving throw at the start of each round, had [[Damage Reduction|energy resistance]] that changed randomly with each long rest, could slide their target around & knock it prone on a natural 20, and shoved away every creature within 5 squares on a natural 1.
* Dragon Magic sorcerers gain one form of energy resistance from a list of Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning and Poison, can determine their AC bonus with the highest of their Strength, Dexterity or Charisma modifiers, and gain +2 AC whenever they are Bloodied.
* Storm Magic sorcerers are resistant to thunder & lightning damage, and get to push their target and then fly a short distance on a natural 20.
* Cosmic Magic sorcerers can determine their AC bonus with the highest of their Strength, Dexterity or Charisma modifiers, and can choose which of the three cosmic phases they are aligned with after completing a rest; the phase they're in gives them a special bonus. The Sun phase grants Cold resistance and inflicts Fire & Radiant damage on all nearby enemies. The Moon phase grants Psychic resistance and +1 AC per conscious enemy adjacent to you, making you super tanky. The Stars phase grants Radiant resistance and the ability to teleport as a free reaction if an enemy takes a swing and misses. Additionally, you can choose to change to the next phase in the cycle (Sun-Moon-Stars-Sun) each time you cast a sorcerer daily, although you're forced to switch to the next one along when you get Bloodied.

For all sorcerers, emphasizing their raw power, they have the unique ability to ignore the elemental damage resistance of enemies who share their elemental affinity. So a sorcerer with Fire resistance ignores the Fire resistance of its foes.

==Meanwhile, in 5th Edition...==
In 5th Edition, opinions on sorcerers is... decidedly mixed. Some argue that they're just as useful and viable as they were in 4e, others argue they've gone right back to being the redheaded bastard children of the family.

See, someone finally realized that sorcerers should get something unique: [[metamagic]], torn screaming from [[wizard|the hands of the most pampered brats of 3rd edition]]. They now have exclusive access to metamagics, of which they can eventually get four, and can alter ''any'' of their spells on the fly using a resource pool called Sorcery Points (which is basically a stupider name for a mana system). They get more as they level up, and can also use them to regain spells. These mechanics are important, because with the reworks to prepared spellcasting, the complaint that sorcerers prepare their spells once and can't easily swap them out is more true than ever.

Sorcerers get to choose their bloodline power at first level: [[Dragon]]s or something vague and chaotic. The dragon bloodline gives them natural armor (which doesn't stack with actual armor, naturally) and one more hit point per level. Eventually they get dragon wings, resistance to, and affinity for, their chosen dragon's element, and the ability to use SP to activate an aura that either scares people or inspires them, depending on which the sorcerer wants it to do.

The second bloodline option is that the sorcerer has "[[Wild Mage|Wild Magic]]." This means that whenever they cast a spell, the DM can ask them to roll a D20, and on a 1, random magical effects happen. However, given their probable frequency, they are now less devastating (none that instantly kill you, the worst it gets is turning you into a plant for one round or casting ''grease'' on your location, though we can't forget the chance to drop a fireball on yourself). In fact, many are helpful, and later the wild mage actually uses this to their advantage (whenever they have a surge, they can roll twice on the chart). Oh, and they have a D6 hit die now, like in [[Pathfinder]]. I guess WotC got sick of spellcasters whining about not having enough HP to do anything.

Finally, their class skills include lots of Charisma-based choices, like in 4e, which is just one more sweet, sweet improvement.

Their four major weaknesses (and they are all, admittedly, doozies) are thus:
* That the heavily-reworked magic system took a lot of the punch out of their spontaneous casting, and made the wizard's tremendous versatility even more of an advantage, since now every caster has access to all memorized spells of a given level whenever they cast for a slot.
* That they are the ''only'' full-caster in the game ''without'' access to ritual casting, further preventing them from being good "utility" people.
* That they gain access to about as many spells as the goddamn ''quarter casters'', and, unlike the [[paladin]] and [[ranger]], neither of whom is at the pinnacle of this edition's tier list, they don't have ''any'' unique spells, with their list being, essentially, a gimped-as-fuck version of the wizard's.
* That they don't gain ''any'' short rest benefits until their fucking ''capstone'', meaning that for most of his career the sorcerer is going to lag behind the wizard in terms of spells per day ''as well as'' spells known. And the only way to avoid that involves eating into the same resource pool that feeds metamagic.

The metamagic still helps make them unique, and ''definitively'' gives them access to a number of things the wizard simply ''cannot'' do, but they really could stand to have access to greater access to more total spells and/or some sort of short-rest recovery mechanic if you're the sort that likes to homebrew fixes. Perhaps in the form of a set of additional "bloodline" spells attached to each archetype choice? Fuck's sake, [[Mike Mearls|Mike]], even ''[[Pathfinder Roleplaying Game|Paizo]]'' figured that one out, and they couldn't even be bothered to fix their skill list! I know you thought about it because it's attached to ''both'' the "playtest" bloodlines!

The sorcerer has been arguably the slowest-growing arcane class in 5th edition; [[Unearthed Arcana]] has done what it can to give sorcerers more options, but WoTC's repeated bungling has kept the development of ''good'' Sorcerer subclasses slow. So far, only ''three'' new Sorcerous Origins have been added since the PHB came out; Divine Soul, Shadow Magic and Storm Sorcery.

''Divine Soul'' is basically a rebrand of the [[Favored Soul]] from 3e; a sorcerer with divine magical affinities. It took WoTC ''four goes'' before they finally posted this in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and gamers ''still'' argue about whether it's any good. At 1st level, they pick up the ''Divine Magic'' and ''Favored By The Gods'' features. Divine Magic allows sorcerers to learn [[Cleric]] spells as they level up, and gives them a bonus clerical spell that doesn't count against their normal list of spells; this is taken from a short list that masquerades as a facade of the Cleric Domain aspect (Good - Cure Wounds, Evil - Inflict Wounds, Law - Bless, Chaos -Bane, Neutrality - Protection from Evil & Good), but you can swap it out for another clerical spell later. Favored By The Gods, in comparison, lets you add a +2d4 roll to the result of a failed saving throw or attack roll once per short rest, which can turn a failure into a success. Level 6 gives Divine Souls the ''Empowered Healing'' trait, which basically lets them spend a sorcery point to reroll any number of dice in a healing spell cast by themselves or an ally within 5 feet, though they can only do this once per turn. Level 14 comes with ''Otherworldly Wings'', which lets them sprout spectral wings that give them Fly speed of 30 feet as a bonus action. Finally, at level 18, they pick up ''Unearthly Recovery'', where they can heal themselves back from half health or lower potentially to full health once per day.

''Shadow Magic'' is a sort of mix-up of [[Dread Necromancer]] and [[Shadowcaster]]. Its level 1 features are Eyes of the Dark (gain Darkvision 120 feet, gain a Darkness spell that doesn't count against spells known at 3rd level, can cast Darkness with 2 sorcery points and see through it if you do) and Strength of the Grave (1/day, can make a Charisma save against an attack that would drop you to 0 HP to only drop to 1 HP, but this doesn't work on radiant damage and critical hits). Level 6 lets them summon a ghostly Hound of Ill Omen. Level 14 grants them the ability to Shadow Walk, teleporting at will from one patch of dim light or darkness to another that is within 120 feet. Finally, at level 18, ''Umbral Form'' lets them assume a shadow-like ghostly form for up to 1 minute at the cost of 6 sorcery points, during which time they are resistant to all damage types bar force and radiant and have the Incorporeal Movement trait (can pass through creatures & objects as if they were difficult terrain, but ending your turn inside one inflicts 5 Force damage on you). This showed up in Xanathar's Guide.

''Storm Sorcery'' is a kind of [[elementalism]] based on affinity for storms, and a nod back to their 4e options. It's got two fluff-only features (level 1's ''Wind Speaker'' lets you speak Primordial, the [[elemental]] language, whilst level 6's ''Storm Guide'' lets you manipulate the path of wind blowing around you and keep yourself from getting wet in the rain), but the rest of it is solid crunch. ''Tempestuous Magic'' (level 1) lets you ride a gout of wind whenever you cast a level 1 or higher spell, which lets you fly 10 feet without provoking an opportunity attack. ''Heart of the Storm'' (level 6) grants you resistance to lightning & thunder damage, and lets you inflict lightning or thunder damage equal to half your sorcerer level on any enemy within 10 feet whenever you cast a 1st level or higher spell dealing lightning/thunder damage. ''Storm's Fury'' (level 14) lets you use a reaction to inflict lightning damage equal to your sorcerer level on anyone who hits you with a melee attack, as well as potentially knocking them up to 20 feet away from you if they fail a Strength save. Finally, ''Wind Soul'' bumps your lightning/thunder resistance to full-blown immunity and gives you a fly speed of 60 feet, which you can choose to drop down to 30 feet for a hour once per short rest in order to give (3 + Cha modifier) allies a fly speed of 30 feet for an hour. This first appeared in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, but was then reprinted completely for Xanathar's Guide.

Whilst unofficial, there's a Fire [[Elementalism]] Sorcerous Origin, the Pyromancer, in the [[Magic the Gathering|Plane Shift: Kaladesh]] article. This one, unlike the Phoenix Soul, is all about the burninating of shit in your way. Its first feature means all fire spells you cast technically become area spells, as any enemies within 10 feet of you take some fire damage when you cast a fire spell. Then it grants you both Fire Resistance and the ability to negate Fire Resistance in others when you're flinging flames everywhere. It can retaliate against melee attacks by inflicting fire damage on them if they successfully hit the Pyromancer, and finally, they upgrade Fire Resistance to Fire Immunity and can now sling flames so hot that Fire Immune targets only count as being Fire Resistant, in addition to burning normally Fire Resistant foes for full damage. It's considered to be a lot better than the Phoenix Soul Sorcerous Origin from [[Unearthed Arcana]].

Yes, Sorcerers do get some subclasses in [[Unearthed Arcana]] - the Storm, Shadow and Divine magics all began there and were later promoted to official status. Other UA Sorcerer branches that haven't had that luck yet consist of:
* [[Phoenix]] Soul: A strange mixture of fire [[elementalist]] and tanky sorcerer, with its abilities revolving around a 1/day "phoenix form" the player can assume.
* Sea Soul: A water [[elementalist]]. Surprisingly good, makes for a viable melee sorcerer.
* Stone Soul: Actually, no, not an earth [[elementalist]] but a weird-ass homage to the [[Swordmage]].
* [[Giant]] Soul: Some bonus spells based on the different giant breeds, combined with the ability to make yourself row into a giant at the highest levels.

==Zakharan Sorcerers==
You read that bit at the top about sorcerers being a class added by [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]? That's... not entirely the whole story. Oh, the sorcerer as we know it today was basically a 3e invention, but it wasn't without precedent. The name "Sorcerer" first appeared as a variant [[Wizard]] in the [[Al-Qadim]] subsetting of the [[Forgotten Realms]] in [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]. Described in the Al-Qadim corebook, "Arabian Adventures", the Zakharan Sorcerer is a specialist wizard that improves upon the standard [[Elementalist]]; in exchange for dropping their increased chance to learn "allowed" magic to a mere +20%, they can learn spells from ''two'' of the four elemental styles, at the cost of being unable to learn any other spell that isn't Universal or one of their two chosen elemental schools.

==Sorcadin==
Since both [[Paladin]] and Sorcerer are charisma based, multiclassing between the two is fairly common. This makes a common type of [[Gish]] known as a Sorcadin.

In 3.5 Paladin 2/Sorcerer X is a staple gish entry thanks to having a massive bonus to all saving throws. Since it has less caster levels and is a sorcerer instead of a wizard it tends to be less powerful than a wizard based [[Gish]], but still reasonably powerful. In Pathfinder Paladin 2/Sorcerer 1/Dragon Disciple 4/Sorcerer 2/Eldritch Knight 10/Sorcerer 1 was the best gish in core since Dragon Disciple no longer sucked, but since the introduction of the [[Magus]] and Shapechanger bloodline this build has largely been ignored.

In D20 Modern a Whatever 3/Sorcerer 10/Archmage 4 needs only to spend one feat to qualify for (Un)Holy Knight, which is a good way to finish off the last 3 levels (if your game somehow reaches that point). Not that it's likely for a game to reach this point.

In 4th edition, this actually works out a lot better than you'd expect. Whilst the Paladin is a Defender and the Sorcerer is a Striker, the fact is that both classes rely predominantly on [[Charisma]] to do the things they do, so [[MAD]] is no problem at all. Furthermore, the Sorcerer is a "glass cannon" type Striker, specializing in short-ranged spells that hit wide areas with multiple elemental typed damage or targeting multiple saves. So sorcerers wanting to get into the fray is actually an intended part of game design. As such, the Paladin's bonus health, healing surges and armor proficiencies are a big help to the Sorcerer. Add in the lack of any alignment restrictions or armor interfering with spellcasting, and frankly the Sorcadin is incredibly viable, albeit with the caveat that it won't be as good at either role as a single-role character will be. But hey, that's always the downside of [[multiclassing]].

In 5E Sorcerers, like everyone else who meets arbitrary ability score requirements in 5E, can multiclass. ''Unlike'' everyone else in 5E however Sorcerers actually have a point to it when they multiclass with Paladin, creating one of the few character options in 5E that isn't exactly what the developers intended you use nor utterly pointless. A Paladin fuels smite with spell slots, and a Sorcerer has a lot of spell slots. Paladin slashes things, while a sorcerer gains ability to light that sword on fire and add extra damage because it's now a fire attack. This results in a character that can nova things ''really'' well, but is even more susceptible to blowing all their resources at once... Or until ''Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica''. There a new magic item, Illusionist's Bracers, allows casting Green-Flame Blade twice in a turn. Now, even after exhausting yourself you still make ''two'' attacks that each add twice your charisma to your melee damage so you'll likely be outdamaging all but the best melee types unless your DM realizes how fantastically broken this is and only makes you fight single foes or foes who avoid going near each other.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Primordial Channeler.png
File:Storm Sorceress.png
File:Dragon's Crown Sorceress.jpg|Sorcerer *is* a Charisma-based class after all.
</gallery>

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Tarrasque

2019-05-20T11:44:52Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06: /* (3.5) How to Kill A Tarrasque in 20 Easy Levels */

[[Image:Tarrasque.jpg|400px|right]]
The '''Tarrasque''' is a pure fucking engine of destruction (which not coincidentally resembles Godzilla). Dreaded by adventurers for its high HP value and its obscenely high regeneration ability, only surpassed by Zargon the Returner in the [[Elder Evils]] book, it is known to rampage across nations eating everything. It cannot fully be killed through normal means; therefore, anyone lucky enough to reduce a Tarrasque to negative 30 HP will then have to use a wish or a miracle spell to completely destroy it, with only a 50% chance of success. If unsuccessful it will wake up again x years later and fuck more shit up. Also, no matter how big your army is (assuming your adventuring party had enough cash to recruit mercenaries), the Tarrasque's fast metabolism will allow him to produce such powerful flatulence that all your troops will die by suffocation in just one turn.

He only wakes up for 1-4 days every 2-12 months, but every now and then he stays up for several weeks before napping for several years for some reason that's never explained. Yeah, he's a heavy sleeper. Must be all the binge drinking.

Named after a famous [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarasque | dragon myth] from the south of France, which originally featured Saint Martha taming the beast with her prayers and piety, only for the people to kill it anyway once it came quietly, because man is the real monster, etc. You are welcome to try that on this version of the beast. We'll wait. ''munches popcorn'' Incidentally, this is almost certainly the origin of the shell on its back and the fierce, leonine look of its head.

As 3.Xe went on, more and more monsters were introduced to constantly one up the Tarrasque who already had to compete with Great Wyrm Dragons. In the monster manual II, we at first got the Leviathan and the Phoenix, neither of which had an comparable hit point count (though the phoenix has some fuckawesome spell like abilities, and goes boom with the force of a disintegration spell when killed, after which it promptly COMES THE FUCK BACK TO LIFE!) and Linnorms, who are massively over CRd. Nothing really similar to the Tarrasque was introduced in the other three monster manuals save for Dalmosh, who the Tarrasque would eat for breakfast, and then there was this giant prismatic...hamster...thing. But then a (lot of) challenger(s) approached when the [[Epic Level Handbook]], and the very first monsters that were undoubtedly bigger and stronger than the Tarrasque appeared in the form of Abominations, Colossi, Prismatic and Force Dragons, Devastation Vermin, and other such shit (like the bullshit permanent HP loss inducing wights.) Then came the books of Vile Darkness and Exalted Deeds which gave us the outsider lords, then came Deities & Demigods, and the fiend folio which gave us thunder worms, after which wizards didn't make much more uber-high CR shit. The Tarrasque got a break when the Fiendish Codex 1 nerfed the fuck out of the demon lords, though the Fiendish Codex 2 kept the Lords of the Nine where they were. Then came the [[Elder Evils]] book (a fuckawesome splatbook) and now the Tarrasque was literally swimming in competitors.

But salvation came when Dragon Magazine and the WotC website offered advanced and templated Tarrasque statistics, allowing the Tarrasque to reclaim his rightful spot as the strongest creature in all of D&D. That's right, you Atropals and your other abomination pals can fuck off, the big T is number 1!!!111ONEONEONE
[http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/5789941/ According to some, however, the Tarrasque is actually a pretty swell guy.]

''[[Spelljammer]]'', as usual, had its own unique spin on the Tarrasque. Turns out, in their native environment, Tarrasques are peaceful lithovores that wouldn't harm a fly. It's just that the nitrogen-rich atmosphere of most habitable planets simultaneously super-charges their regeneration and collects in several glands in the brain, resulting in their typical murderous insanity.

Traditionally, the Tarrasque's biggest weakness was its lack of any ability to counter flying opponents. Surprisingly, both [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition|4e]] and [[Pathfinder]] took steps to fix this, though they did it in different ways. 4e gave the bugger an "Earthbinder Aura" that covers a fuckhuge area -- 40 squares, bigger than any other effect in the game and wider than any other attack can reach -- in a magical effect that cripples Flight speed to 1 square a round and forces a max altitude of 20 feet... which, as the book sardonically notes, is well within the Tarrasque's reach. Pathfinder instead just gave ol' Tarry the ability to make about 6 ranged attacks a turn and the power to make fuckhuge leaps. Both games explicitly made the Tarrasque unkillable, so even Wish doesn't kill it now; when its health drops to 0 it just burrows deep underground to hibernate. Though 4e does note that Earthbinder Aura might mean that Big T is somehow tied to the earth, and as such it might (maybe) be possible to kill it if one were to find a way to "coax it off this world," whatever that means. (Shoot the Tarrasque into space. You know you want to.)

5th edition further boosts its threat level by giving it the ability to auto-pass three failed saves a day, magic resistance, the ability to reflect ranged spells back at the idiot who casted them, and the ability to make five attacks in a single turn. And that's ''before'' it gets its Legendary Actions! However, it once again lacks any long-range attacks, <strike>and while it does regenerate a sizable chunk of health a turn</strike> scratch that, it doesn't even have fucking regeneration anymore, you no longer need a Wish spell to kill it, leading to a derogatory saying among fans of the old nigh-indestructible Tarrasque that "the new Tarrasque is basically just a big dinosaur".

== How to Kill A Tarrasque ==
What are its weaknesses? Well... it's corporeal.

The following are mental exercises, not meant for actual gameplay. In a real game, a halfway-decent Dungeon Master would come up with a creative solution, and hopefully a player wouldn't really optimize a character solely for the sake of killing a unique creature that might never appear in the campaign.

So stop bitching about how "this would never happen in a real game."

===(3.5) How to Kill A Tarrasque in 20 Easy Levels===
First, the feats for each level (''and source book if it's not the PH''):
*Human extra feat: Power Attack
*Fighter 1: Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus: Greatsword
*Fighter 2: Improved Bull Rush
*Fighter 3: Mage Slayer
*Fighter 4: Weapon Specialization: Greatsword
*Fighter 6: Leap Attack (''Complete Adventurer''), Shock Trooper (''Complete Warrior'')
*Fighter 8: Blind-Fight
*Fighter 9: Pierce Magical Concealment (''Complete Arcane'')
*Fighter 10: Melee Weapon Mastery: Slashing (''Player's Handbook II'')
*Fighter 12: Greater Weapon Focus: Greatsword, Pierce Magical Protection (''Complete Arcane'')
*Fighter 14: Greater Weapon Specialization: Greatsword
*Fighter 15: Martial Study: Tiger Claw: Claw at the Moon (''Tome of Battle'')
*Fighter 16: Martial Study: Tiger Claw: Sudden Leap (''Tome of Battle'')
*Fighter 18: Martial Study: Tiger Claw: Pouncing Charge (''Tome of Battle''), Weapon Supremacy: Greatsword (''Player's Handbook II'')
*Fighter 20: Improved Initiative

Key Equipment:
*+5 Speed, Valorous (''Unapproachable East''), Adamantine Greatsword: 166,050 gp, provides an extra attack at your highest attack bonus when making a full attack, and deals double damage on all charge attacks.
*+1 Soulfire ([[Book of Exalted Deeds]]), Heavy Fortification, Mithril Armor: 100,000 gp + the cost of the mithril armor, provides immunity to critical hits, death effects, and negative energy effects
*Manual of Gainful Exercise +5: 137,500 gp, provides a +5 inherent bonus to Strength
*Belt of Giant Strength +6: 36,000 gp, provides a +6 enhancement bonus to Strength
*Ring of Freedom of Movement: 40,000 gp, provides immunity to grappling and movement impedances
*Ring of Mental Protection (''Player's Handbook II''): 110,000 gp, provides immunity to mind-affecting effects
*Mask of True Seeing (''Unapproachable East''): 75,000 gp, provides continuous True Sight

Strength:
* 18 base from point-buy
*+5 from level ups
*+5 inherent bonus from Manual of Gainful Exercise
*+6 enhancement bonus from Belt of Giant Strength
Total Strength: 34, with a Strength modifier of +12

Attack bonus with +5 greatsword when charging:
* 20 Base
*+12 Strength bonus
*+1 Weapon Focus
*+1 Greater Weapon Focus
*+2 Melee Weapon Mastery
*+5 enhancement bonus from magic weapon
*+2 charging
Total attack bonus when charging: +43

Damage with +5 greatsword:
*2d6 base damage
*+18 Strength bonus and a half
*+2 Weapon Specialization
*+2 Greater Weapon Specialization
*+2 Melee Weapon Mastery
*+5 enhancement bonus from magic weapon
Total damage: 2d6+29

So, you're a Human Fighter 20, standing 60 feet away from the death machine that is the Tarrasque. This is the moment of ultimate truth. If you lose initiative, you're supremely and irrevocably fucked like a bunny on fire in a bucket of gasoline with poo for a brain, since although you can survive a charge of the Tarrasque, you probably won't be able to survive the AoOs from repositioning you. If you win initiative though, with the help of some initiative-boosting items I forgot to list down then it's game time.

You spend a full-round action using your Pouncing Charge maneuver, which lets you charge and make a full attack at the end of it, while getting the +2 bonus to attack rolls on all your attacks. As part of your charge, you make a Jump check (easy enough with your ranks and Strength bonus) to activate Leap Attack, as you Power Attack for your full Base Attack Bonus, transforming the attack penalty into an AC penalty using Shock Trooper. So, you're making a full attack at +60 damage on each hit, at the cost of -20 AC and then another -2 AC from charging. Now, at this point, the damage on each of your attacks would normally be 2d6+89 (average 96) from your Leap Attacking shenanigans. However, your Valorous weapon makes you deal double damage on any and all charge attacks, shooting it up to a ludicrous 4d6+178 (average 192). This isn't including critical hits, but they're a pain to calculate in 3.5 anyway.

So then, as you charge past the Tarrasque's threatened squares, it takes an AoO against you, using its bite. It damages you some, but it won't be able to score a crit thanks to your Heavy Fortification armour, and your Ring of Freedom of movement prevents a grapple and a swallow. You then make five attacks, at +43/+43/+37/+32/+27. The Tarrasque has "only" 35 AC. The first three only miss on a natural one, giving them a 95% hit chance. For the fourth one, you activate your +5 bonus from Weapon Supremacy, shooting it up to +37, and thus giving that one a 95% hit chance as well. The fifth and final attack is where you take 10, also using Weapon Supremacy, to make it automatically hit. So then, four attacks at a 95% hit chance, and one attack automatically hitting. 0.95 * 4 + 1 = 4.8.

4.8 * average 192 damage on each hit = average 921.6 damage in total. The Tarrasque has damage reduction 15/epic, however, subtracting a total of (15*4.8) = 72 damage from (nearly) five hits, but that's still an amazing 849.6 damage inflicted on the Tarrasque's hit point total of 858 anyway. At this point, the Tarrasque should be down to -180 or -181 hit points, meaning it will be back in action in 5 rounds, and that's why I hope you've got a means to cast Wish right then and there.

===(3.5) How to Kill A Tarrasque in 18 Easy Levels===
Key Requirements:
*Cleric/Master of Shrouds with the [[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|Time domain]].
*Greater Rod of Maximize spell or the Maximize Spell feat and DMM or Illumian race with the Naenhoon sigil word.

Method:
*Start your turn within close range and cast Maximized Time Stop giving you 5 turns to prep.
*For five turns use the Master of Shrouds ability to summon shadows, 4 each time for a total of 20. (For this to work we only need 15 shadows assuming they all hit, but best to be on the safe side.)
*Master of Shrouds gives +2 damage to all summons, Shadows deal 1d6 str damage on touch turning it into 1d6+2 str damage.
*All shadows ready action to touch Big T inappropriately when time stop ends.
*Assuming one rolls a 1 and misses the shadows deal a minimum of 19*3(min str damage) = 57 str damage, no save, no SR.
*Big T has a str score of 45 (only 15 actually have to hit) and the shadow ability specifies that when a living creature has its str reduced to 0 it dies.

===(3.5) How to Kill A Tarrasque in 17 Easy Levels (or 1, if you are wealthy)===
Start off as a Cleric or Wizard. Add whatever full spellcaster PrC's you want/qualify for. Reach 17th level.

Key Equipment:
*Holy Symbol (Cleric) or Spellbook (Wizard). If you're a Wizard, you'll need to have learned the Gate spell.
*Some method of flying for around 10 rounds or so (yes, you can use a spell if you have a suitable one). Or just be able to run quickly.

Method:

Stand (or fly) far enough away from the Tarrasque so that it can't attack you.
Cast Gate, to Call an Angel (Solar). You should be able to get one with at least 34 HD.
Have the Solar attack the Tarrasque with Slaying arrows. Be ready to hit the Tarrasque with ongoing damage once it goes down, but stay out of melee range of it.
Use the Solar's Wish (Spell Like ability) to kill it. If that fails, have the Solar cast Miracle (one of its standard spells).

Note: Anyone with 8,400 gp (including a wealthy 1st level Commoner) can also accomplish this by using a Good aligned Candle of Invocation.

===(3.5) How to Defeat The Tarrasque in 3 Easy Levels===
[[Image:Kill_tarrasque.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The illustrated guide.]]
*No particular feats required.
*No particular items required.
*Be a wizard of level 3.
*[[meme|Put on your robe and wizard hat]].
*Cast Command Undead on an allip (it's a CR 3 monster, if you can't find any just learn to cast Summon Undead.)
*Cast Silent Image in front of the Tarrasque or Invisibility on yourself.
*Have the allip attack it. Every hit will take off 3 wisdom on average with no saving throw, and the Tarrasque has an abysmal touch AC, with no way to hit incorporeal targets.
*Once at 0 wisdom, it'll be unconscious until its ability score is restored. Cast Unseen Servant and order it to shovel dirt into the nasal passages and sinuses of the disabled Tarrasque so it can't breathe.
*Per the MM, regeneration does not restore HP lost from suffocation, so it will be stuck at negative hit points, at least until some fool unpacks the dirt from its sinuses.
*Congratulations! For defeating the Tarrasque, you're now a level 4 wizard, with 1 XP away from level 5. Make some wealth by opening a Bar and Grill on its back.
*For added hilarity, take the Precocious Apprentice feat and with some mildly lucky rolls do this at level 1.

===(3.5) How to defeat The Tarrasque in 1 Easy Level===
[[Pazuzu]], [[Pun-Pun|Pazuzu, Pazuzu]]... ''gets knocked out by thrown DMG.''

===(3.5) How to ''Become'' The Tarrasque===
In 3.5 D&D, start as a Psion, focused on Telepathy. Take True Mind Switch.

Method:
* Fly near Tarrasque so it can't attack you.
* Cast True Mind Switch until you run out of XP, or the Tarrasque fails its save.
* If you run out of XP, leave, earn more, then come back later.
* If it fails the save, congratulations. You now possess the body of the Tarrasque, with all its invincibility, as well as the abilities of a 17th-level telepath. The rest of the multiverse is officially fucked.

This trick doesn't work in AD&D because the AD&D Tarrasque is explicitly immune to all psionics, but AD&D psionics are shit anyways. This trick probably won't work in Pathfinder either, as the PF Tarrasque is immune to "mind-affecting effects."

===(4E) How to Defeat The Tarrasque in 6 Easy Levels===
*Be a 6th Level Wizard with a starting Intelligence of 20.
*Grab the Implement Focus feat.
*Buy a riding horse for 75g.
*[[meme|Put on your robe and wizard hat]].
*Obtain a +2 Staff of Missile Mastery.
*Cast Magic Missile on the Tarrasque while 20 squares away. With your staff and a reasonably high starting Intelligence, your Magic Missile will do more damage than the Tarrasque can resist, and hits automatically.
*Ride away from the Tarrasque until you're far enough that it can't close the distance with you in one of its turn. If you have the Wizard's Fury daily power, you can cast Magic Missile as a minor action, allowing you to use both your standard and move actions in order to maintain a distance of 20 squares.
*Repeat the last two steps a thousand more times. This will take roughly two hours.
*Congratulations! For defeating the Tarrasque, you are now level 18.
*For added hilarity, have some friends roll Warlords or other basic attack factories with their own horses, and switch off leading the Tarrasque while receiving extra basic attacks which can be used to fire more Magic Missiles.
*Beware the Tarrasque's burrow and action points - without action points it can't try to get a lucky shot on you or your horses. While burrowing, it cannot be seen but it can still be attacked, and your attacks are automatic hits - your magic missile simply veers into the tunnel it created and pops it in the ass. The rules never state that burrowing removes line of sight, only that the creature cannot be seen, which is different (for example, you can still attack an invisible enemy or an enemy you cannot see due to blindness.)

===(PF) How to Defeat The Tarrasque===
You can't. Most of the issues above were fixed, including the ability damage and drain issues (no longer affected by permanent damage and immune to ability damage), and they added an actual GM Fiat requirement for the kill. They also added a flying and a burrowing version, a.k.a. the Spawn of [[Rovagug]].

You can, however, strand it imprisoned on a plane with nothing on it that explicitly can't be accessed by any means and can only be freed by spells that can't be cast.
*Create a [[Demiplane]] and make it permanent
*Make a permanent magic portal to it
*KO the Tarrasque and planeshift to that plane with it
*Cast Imprisonment on it or at least keep it underwater to stop it from waking up.
*Cast Greater Create Demiplane to make this plane have the dead magic trait, blocking all planar travel except the portal.
*Leave the plane and destroy the portal, ideally on both sides (Remote detonation of explosives, even as simple as throwing a lit torch through the portal, sending Constructs to do it or making the portal on a separate, non-permanent, demiplane are the easiest way to accomplish this.). If you really want to you never make any portal in the first place then get off by killing yourself to pop up in a Clone on the prime material or have a construct use a magic item to bring the KOed Tarrasque to dead end plane.

This still requires you defeat it the old fashioned way though. Fortunately it's no longer the most powerful monster: That would be Great Cthulhu, who, while not a god, may as well be one. Bestiary 6 had a fetish for unkillable monsters above CR 20 and now we have giant Qlippoth lady-mushrooms with a reach of over a mile Giving birth to Quippoths from blisters.

===(PF) How to ''Become'' the Tarrasque at 21st Level===
As of the release of Occult Adventures (OA), you can now play a [[Mesmerist]]. This wonderful class gives you the option of choosing the ability "Psychic Inception", an ability which allows - if you are looking at the target of your spell (no duh), to have a flat 50% chance of affecting ANYONE, no matter the immunities (yes, even swarms can fall prey to suggestion). Even something with quote: "immunity to mind-affecting effects". You then cast Major Mind Swap (also from OA), while having Extended Greater Invisibility cast on yourself, and pray for the best as you expend all of your 9th level spells. Then you can become the Tarrasque. It may not end the problem completely, but now you can only be ejected from the Tarrasque's body with a wish or miracle.

*Gain three levels in Mesmerist
*Gain eighteen levels in Psychic
*Possess the Tarrasque
*Buy as many SR items as possible, as to prevent wish/miracles from affecting you
*Be kicked from the table
*???
*Win.

This has the problem that Pathfinder doesn't actually have epic levels in the official rules.

===(5E) How to Kill the Tarrasque in 1 Easy Level===

*Be an [[Aarakocra]] cleric, sorcerer, or wizard. Cleric is the optimal choice here, as Sacred Flame is better than Acid Splash and aarakocra get a Wis boost.
*Choose a as one of your cantrips either Acid Splash or Sacred Flame (as both require a Dexterity saving throw, and the tarrasque has a +0 Dex save and advantage, it'll fail about 36.1% of the time).
*Fly 85 feet above the tarrasque
*Repeatedly cast your chosen cantrip at it, flying down 25 feet to be in range and then flying 25 feet back up (both cantrips have a range of 60 feet).
*Spend 1 hour blasting away.
*???
*Win.

== tl;dr ==
WHAT'S THAT YOU SAY? YOU CAN FLY? YOU THINK YOU'RE SAFE NOW? THE TARRASQUE HAS ONE THING TO SAY!

'''BRING IT.'''

[[Image:Balloon Tarrasque.png]]

== See Also ==
* [[Emperasque]]
* [[Tarrasque with Wizard Levels]]
* [http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Heart_of_Tarrasque In vidya games too!]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Tarrasque_Sam_Wood.jpg|3e concept sketch
Image:Tarrasque_1st_Edition.gif|A long time ago, in a MM2 far away...
Image:Tarrasque 4e.jpg|oh how the mighty have fallen... due to Earthbinding Aura!
Image:Tarrasque_Adventurers.jpg|"[[GENTLEMEN|Gentlemen]]."
Image:Tarrasque_copy_anonib.jpg|DR 15/epic won't protect you from [[Rule 34]]
Image:Tarrasque_nyaaan.jpg|...or [[Rule 63]] nyaa~n!
Image:Chibitarrasque.JPG|Nyoro~n
Image:Tarrasque_we_cant_stop_here.jpg|OH SHIT WE'RE FUCKED.
Image:EMPRAHASQUE_PROTECTS.jpg|OH SHIT, WE'RE '''SERIOUSLY''' FUCKED.
Image:Torrasque_-_StarCraft_and_StarCraft_II_Wiki.png|Now (ie since 1998) Starcraft has their own version
</gallery>

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Monsters]][[Category:Monsters]][[Category:Pathfinder]][[Category:Gamebreaking]]

Book of Exalted Deeds

2019-05-20T11:34:26Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06:

{{dnd-stub}}

The '''Book of Exalted Deeds''' is a term from [[Dungeons & Dragons]] that can refer to either of two things; an in-game magical item, or a [[Splatbook]] for [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]. It is the good counterpart of the [[Book of Vile Darkness]]

==The Magical Item==
It works the same way as its evil counterpart. A book that grants power and knowledge to its reader but only if they are of good alignment and will harm the reader if they are evil.

==3e Splatbook==
Released for 3.5 edition Dungeons & Dragons. Like the ''Book of Vile Darkness'' it has a warning that it is meant for a mature audience because it deals with the topics of ethics and morality in a serious manner. Also like the ''Book of Vile Darkness'' it isn't completely successful at this and also has several major balance issues.

Chapter 1 of the book discusses the nature of good and gives advice on how to roleplay good aligned characters. It also lists archetypes of good characters and gives a sample of character of each of those archetypes. Rather hilariously, the sample redeemed villain character is a good [[Illithid]]

Chapter 2 is about variant rules that can be used by good characters. One seriously imbalanced rule is Voluntary Poverty, which restricts the player from owning magic items or keeping any wealth they don't need in exchange for bonuses which aren't anywhere near enough to make up for it. The chapter also lists a few obscure gods of good: [[Ayailla]], [[Chaav]], [[Estanna]], [[Lastai]], [[Phieran]], [[Valarian]].

Chapter 3 includes a variety of weapons for good characters to use. One hilarious thing it includes are Ravages and Afflictions, which are supposed to be less evil alternatives to using poisons, but some of the descriptions of what they do actually sound worse that just using poison, for example Raging Desire causes insatiable sexual desire while preventing any possible fulfillment of that desire.

Chapter 4 is a long list of feats for good characters.

Chapter 5 contains '''22''' new prestige classes.
* [[Anointed Knight]]
* [[Apostle of Peace]]
* [[Beloved of Valarian]]
* [[Celestial Mystic]]
* [[Champion of Gwynharwyf]]
* [[Defender of Sealtiel]]
* [[Emissary of Barachiel]]
* [[Exalted Arcanist]]
* [[Fist of Raziel]]
* [[Initiate of Pistis Sophia]]
* [[Lion of Talisid]]
* [[Prophet of Erathaol]]
* [[Risen Martyr]]
* [[Sentinel of Bharrai]]
* [[Skylord]]
* [[Slayer of Domiel]]
* [[Stalker of Kharash]]
* [[Swanmay]]
* [[Sword of Righteousness]]
* [[Troubadour of Stars]]
* [[Vassal of Bahamut]]
* [[Wonderworker]]

Chapter 6 contains magic spells and items.

Chapter 7 is about Celestial Paragons, extremely powerful good aligned outsiders including the Celestial Hebdomad, 7 archons that each are each the protector of a different layer of [[Celestia]], Talisid and the Five Companions, an adventuring party made up of one of each kind of [[Guardinal]] except for Musteval, and the Court of Stars that rules over the [[Eladrin]].

Chapter 8 list a variety of good monsters. It introduces the Deathless, a creature type that is similar to undead but with many of their traits reversed, as they are powered by positive energy instead of negative.
* Aleax (Template): A construct created by a good aligned god sent to punish a mortal that has done something to upset them. It looks like a clone of the intended victim with glowing eyes. If it successfully kills its target their soul is sent to the god that sent the Aleax who will then offer them a chance to redeem theirself.
* [[Archon]]:
** Owl Archon:
** Sword Archon:
** Throne Archon:
** Warden Archon:
* Asura: A chaotic good celestial resembling an angel with flaming wings
* [[Bariaur]]: A celestial resembling a centaur but with the features of a ram or goat instead of a horse.
* Crypt Warden: A skeletal deathless that protects the tombs of saints and heroes.
* [[Eladrin]]:
** Coure:
** Firre:
** Shiradi:
** Tulani:
* [[Guardinal]]
** Equinal
** Musteval
** Ursinal
* [[Hollyphant]]: A powerful celestial that normally looks like a tiny elephant with wings, but make it mad, and it will turn into a bat winged humanoid mastodon.
* [[Leskylor]]: A magical beast resembling a blue furred tiger with wings, which sometimes also has three heads.
* Moon dog: A celestial dog that acts like a good counterpart of the yeth hound.
* Quesar: A construct resembling a shining humanoid created by angels
* [[Rhek]]: Lawful good humanoids with rhinoceros like features.
* Sacred Watcher (Template): A ghostly deathless that returns from the dead to continue protecting somebody.
* Saint (Template): A mortal who has become like a celestial through living a life dedicated to good.
* Sanctified Creature (Template): A creature that has been transformed into a good version of itself by the effect of the spell ''Sanctify the Wicked''. It loses many of its abilities in exchange for new good ones.
* Divine Wrath Swarm: A swarm of animals sent by a god to punish mortals.
** Apocalypse Frog Swarm: A swarm of frogs sent as a warning to evildoers that a far worse punishment will be coming soon.
** Bronze Locust Swarm: Fine constructs resembling locusts that spit divine fire and have jaws made of adamantine.
** Deathraven Swarm: A swarm of silver-eyed ravens that can instantly kill anything they wound and are sent to kill only the most evil of people. For some added horror, they also have a rule for pecking their victim's eyes out.
** Sunfly Swarm: Shining dragonflies from the planes of good.

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Game Books]]
[[Category:Splatbook]]

Book of Exalted Deeds

2019-05-20T11:33:57Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06:

{{dnd-stub}}

'''The Book of Exalted Deeds''' is a term from [[Dungeons & Dragons]] that can refer to either of two things; an in-game magical item, or a [[Splatbook]] for [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]. It is the good counterpart of the [[Book of Vile Darkness]]

==The Magical Item==
It works the same way as its evil counterpart. A book that grants power and knowledge to its reader but only if they are of good alignment and will harm the reader if they are evil.

==3e Splatbook==
Released for 3.5 edition Dungeons & Dragons. Like the ''Book of Vile Darkness'' it has a warning that it is meant for a mature audience because it deals with the topics of ethics and morality in a serious manner. Also like the ''Book of Vile Darkness'' it isn't completely successful at this and also has several major balance issues.

Chapter 1 of the book discusses the nature of good and gives advice on how to roleplay good aligned characters. It also lists archetypes of good characters and gives a sample of character of each of those archetypes. Rather hilariously, the sample redeemed villain character is a good [[Illithid]]

Chapter 2 is about variant rules that can be used by good characters. One seriously imbalanced rule is Voluntary Poverty, which restricts the player from owning magic items or keeping any wealth they don't need in exchange for bonuses which aren't anywhere near enough to make up for it. The chapter also lists a few obscure gods of good: [[Ayailla]], [[Chaav]], [[Estanna]], [[Lastai]], [[Phieran]], [[Valarian]].

Chapter 3 includes a variety of weapons for good characters to use. One hilarious thing it includes are Ravages and Afflictions, which are supposed to be less evil alternatives to using poisons, but some of the descriptions of what they do actually sound worse that just using poison, for example Raging Desire causes insatiable sexual desire while preventing any possible fulfillment of that desire.

Chapter 4 is a long list of feats for good characters.

Chapter 5 contains '''22''' new prestige classes.
* [[Anointed Knight]]
* [[Apostle of Peace]]
* [[Beloved of Valarian]]
* [[Celestial Mystic]]
* [[Champion of Gwynharwyf]]
* [[Defender of Sealtiel]]
* [[Emissary of Barachiel]]
* [[Exalted Arcanist]]
* [[Fist of Raziel]]
* [[Initiate of Pistis Sophia]]
* [[Lion of Talisid]]
* [[Prophet of Erathaol]]
* [[Risen Martyr]]
* [[Sentinel of Bharrai]]
* [[Skylord]]
* [[Slayer of Domiel]]
* [[Stalker of Kharash]]
* [[Swanmay]]
* [[Sword of Righteousness]]
* [[Troubadour of Stars]]
* [[Vassal of Bahamut]]
* [[Wonderworker]]

Chapter 6 contains magic spells and items.

Chapter 7 is about Celestial Paragons, extremely powerful good aligned outsiders including the Celestial Hebdomad, 7 archons that each are each the protector of a different layer of [[Celestia]], Talisid and the Five Companions, an adventuring party made up of one of each kind of [[Guardinal]] except for Musteval, and the Court of Stars that rules over the [[Eladrin]].

Chapter 8 list a variety of good monsters. It introduces the Deathless, a creature type that is similar to undead but with many of their traits reversed, as they are powered by positive energy instead of negative.
* Aleax (Template): A construct created by a good aligned god sent to punish a mortal that has done something to upset them. It looks like a clone of the intended victim with glowing eyes. If it successfully kills its target their soul is sent to the god that sent the Aleax who will then offer them a chance to redeem theirself.
* [[Archon]]:
** Owl Archon:
** Sword Archon:
** Throne Archon:
** Warden Archon:
* Asura: A chaotic good celestial resembling an angel with flaming wings
* [[Bariaur]]: A celestial resembling a centaur but with the features of a ram or goat instead of a horse.
* Crypt Warden: A skeletal deathless that protects the tombs of saints and heroes.
* [[Eladrin]]:
** Coure:
** Firre:
** Shiradi:
** Tulani:
* [[Guardinal]]
** Equinal
** Musteval
** Ursinal
* [[Hollyphant]]: A powerful celestial that normally looks like a tiny elephant with wings, but make it mad, and it will turn into a bat winged humanoid mastodon.
* [[Leskylor]]: A magical beast resembling a blue furred tiger with wings, which sometimes also has three heads.
* Moon dog: A celestial dog that acts like a good counterpart of the yeth hound.
* Quesar: A construct resembling a shining humanoid created by angels
* [[Rhek]]: Lawful good humanoids with rhinoceros like features.
* Sacred Watcher (Template): A ghostly deathless that returns from the dead to continue protecting somebody.
* Saint (Template): A mortal who has become like a celestial through living a life dedicated to good.
* Sanctified Creature (Template): A creature that has been transformed into a good version of itself by the effect of the spell ''Sanctify the Wicked''. It loses many of its abilities in exchange for new good ones.
* Divine Wrath Swarm: A swarm of animals sent by a god to punish mortals.
** Apocalypse Frog Swarm: A swarm of frogs sent as a warning to evildoers that a far worse punishment will be coming soon.
** Bronze Locust Swarm: Fine constructs resembling locusts that spit divine fire and have jaws made of adamantine.
** Deathraven Swarm: A swarm of silver-eyed ravens that can instantly kill anything they wound and are sent to kill only the most evil of people. For some added horror, they also have a rule for pecking their victim's eyes out.
** Sunfly Swarm: Shining dragonflies from the planes of good.

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Game Books]]
[[Category:Splatbook]]

Book of Exalted Deeds

2019-05-20T11:32:32Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06: /* 3e Splatbook */

{{dnd-stub}}

'''The Book of Exalted Deeds''' is a term from [[Dungeons & Dragons]] that can refer to either of two things; an in-game magical item, or a [[Splatbook]] for [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]. It is the good counterpart of the [[Book of Vile Darkness]]

==The Magical Item==
It works the same way as its evil counterpart. A book that grants power and knowledge to its reader but only if they are of good alignment and will harm the reader if they are evil.

==3e Splatbook==
Released for 3.5 edition Dungeons & Dragons. Like the ''Book of Vile Darkness'' it has a warning that it is meant for a mature audience because it deals with the topics of ethics and morality in a serious manner. Also like the ''Book of Vile Darkness'' it isn't completely successful at this and also has several major balance issues.

Chapter 1 of the book discusses the nature of good and gives advice on how to roleplay good aligned characters. It also lists archetypes of good characters and gives a sample of character of each of those archetypes. Rather hilariously, the sample redeemed villain character is a good [[Illithid]]

Chapter 2 is about variant rules that can be used by good characters. One seriously imbalanced rule is Voluntary Poverty, which restricts the player from owning magic items or keeping any wealth they don't need in exchange for bonuses which aren't anywhere near enough to make up for it. The chapter also lists a few obscure gods of good: [[Ayailla]], [[Chaav]], [[Estanna]], [[Lastai]], [[Phieran]], [[Valarian]].

Chapter 3 includes a variety of weapons for good characters to use. One hilarious thing it includes are Ravages and Afflictions, which are supposed to be less evil alternatives to using poisons, but some of the descriptions of what they do actually sound worse that just using poison, for example Raging Desire causes insatiable sexual desire while preventing any possible fulfillment of that desire.

Chapter 4 is a long list of feats for good characters.

Chapter 5 contains '''22''' new prestige classes.
* [[Anointed Knight]]
* [[Apostle of Peace]]
* [[Beloved of Valarian]]
* [[Celestial Mystic]]
* [[Champion of Gwynharwyf]]
* [[Defender of Sealtiel]]
* [[Emissary of Barachiel]]
* [[Exalted Arcanist]]
* [[Fist of Raziel]]
* [[Initiate of Pistis Sophia]]
* [[Lion of Talisid]]
* [[Prophet of Erathaol]]
* [[Risen Martyr]]
* [[Sentinel of Bharrai]]
* [[Skylord]]
* [[Slayer of Domiel]]
* [[Stalker of Kharash]]
* [[Swanmay]]
* [[Sword of Righteousness]]
* [[Troubadour of Stars]]
* [[Vassal of Bahamut]]
* [[Wonderworker]]

Chapter 6 contains magic spells and items.

Chapter 7 is about Celestial Paragons, extremely powerful good aligned outsiders including the Celestial Hebdomad, 7 archons that each are each the protector of a different layer of [[Celestia]], Talisid and the Five Companions, an adventuring party made up of one of each kind of [[Guardinal]] except for Musteval, and the Court of Stars that rules over the [[Eladrin]].

Chapter 8 list a variety of good monsters. It introduces the Deathless, a creature type that is similar to undead but with many of their traits reversed, as they are powered by positive energy instead of negative.
* Aleax (Template): A construct created by a good aligned god sent to punish a mortal that has done something to upset them. It looks like a clone of the intended victim with glowing eyes. If it successfully kills its target their soul is sent to the god that sent the Aleax who will then offer them a chance to redeem theirself.
* [[Archon]]:
** Owl Archon:
** Sword Archon:
** Throne Archon:
** Warden Archon:
* Asura: A chaotic good celestial resembling an angel with flaming wings
* [[Bariaur]]: A celestial resembling a centaur but with the features of a ram or goat instead of a horse.
* Crypt Warden: A skeletal deathless that protects the tombs of saints and heroes.
* [[Eladrin]]:
** Coure:
** Firre:
** Shiradi:
** Tulani:
* [[Guardinal]]
** Equinal
** Musteval
** Ursinal
* [[Hollyphant]]: A powerful celestial that normally looks like a tiny elephant with wings, but make it mad, and it will turn into a bat winged humanoid mastodon.
* [[Leskylor]]: A magical beast resembling a blue furred tiger with wings, which sometimes also has three heads.
* Moon dog: A celestial dog that acts like a good counterpart of the yeth hound.
* Quesar: A construct resembling a shining humanoid created by angels
* Rhek: Lawful good humanoids with rhinoceros like features.
* Sacred Watcher (Template): A ghostly deathless that returns from the dead to continue protecting somebody.
* Saint (Template): A mortal who has become like a celestial through living a life dedicated to good.
* Sanctified Creature: A creature that has been transformed into a good version of itself by the effect of the spell ''Sanctify the Wicked''. It loses many of its abilities in exchange for new good ones.
* Divine Wrath Swarm: A swarm of animals sent by a god to punish mortals.
** Apocalypse Frog Swarm: A swarm of frogs sent as a warning to evildoers that a far worse punishment will be coming soon.
** Bronze Locust Swarm: Fine constructs resembling locusts that spit divine fire and have jaws made of adamantine.
** Deathraven Swarm: A swarm of silver-eyed ravens that can instantly kill anything they wound and are sent to kill only the most evil of people. For some added horror, they also have a rule for pecking their victim's eyes out.
** Sunfly Swarm: Shining dragonflies from the planes of good.

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Game Books]]
[[Category:Splatbook]]

Swanmay

2019-05-20T11:29:15Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06:

{{monstergirls}}
Inspired by the swan maidens of various real-world folklores, '''swanmays''' are a race/order of holy-aligned nature-protecting female humanoids from [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]. They derive their name specifically from similar beings who appeared in Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions (1961), who are stated to wear a magical feathered tunic that melds into her flesh, which gives her the appearance of a "Swan-Girl" instead of a human.

First appearing in the original Monster Manual II, Swanmays are an order of human females who have devoted themselves to protecting nature and all the goodly creatures associated with it. As a result, they have gained the craft enchanted talismans in the form of feather tokens, feather garments and signet rings, which allow members of their order to transform themselves into swans. This effectively makes them a form of lesser [[therianthrope]], and thus in AD&D, they gain some of the powers of such creatures as a result. Most notably, they are impervious to damage that doesn't come from magic or enchanted weapons, requiring a +1 or better weapon to be harmed. Of course, because the power comes from the token, if you can steal it, you trap the swanmay in whichever of her two forms - human or swan - she's in at the time.

This depiction of the swanmay didn't change much in the edition switchover; first appearing in the Monstrous Compendium Volume Two, they were then reprinted in the Monstrous Manual, a collection of many of the different compendiums. They were presented as a mysterious race who did good things, but mostly were left to stoke the imagination.

But... AD&D couldn't leave them in the dark forever. Swanmays were part of the many different races included in the Complete Book of Humanoids, which was essentially AD&D's first big "nonstandard races" splatbook. Admittedly, there wasn't much of an upgrade in terms of information known, but still, it was something. This information would later be reprinted in Player's Option: Skills and Powers.

As a player character, the swanmay, also known as the White Swanmay, is a female human who gains +1 Dexterity and Wisdom and who is restricted to the [[Ranger]] and [[Druid]] classes, in which she can attain 14th level. Her natural armor class is 7 and she possess a magical token that she can use to switch between human and swan forms; its enchanted status is obvious to anyone using Detect Magic, and if it gets stolen or destroyed, she's stuck in her current form. In swan form, a swanmay can fly (speed 19, maneuverability D), has Magic Resistance 2% per hit die, and can only be harmed by +1 or better weapons. Swanmays have their ability scores all max out at 18, save for Wisdom, which maxes out at 19 instead. Swanmay rangers have minimum ability scores of 13 Str & Dex, 14 Con, 9 Int & Cha, and 14 Wisdom. Swanmay druids instead have minimum ability scores of 9s in Str and Dex, 12s in Con, Int and Wis, and 15 in Cha. They have access to the weapon proficiencies of Broad sword, dagger, long bow, long sword, short bow, and short sword, and the following Nonweapon Proficiencies: Alertness, animal handling, animal lore, animal noise, bowyer/fletcher, danger sense, direction sense, firebuilding, fishing, hiding, hunting, set snares, survival (forests, wetlands), and swimming. Finally, they receive one bonus proficiency depending on their class; tracking for Rangers, and weather sense for Druids.

Whilst the Swanmay is more associated with [[Greyhawk]] or the [[Forgotten Realms]], they have a cousin native to [[Al-Qadim|Zakhara]]. These "Bird Maidens" are a form of travelling, shapeshifting [[cleric]] who can transform into many different birds, particularly becoming giant eagles at 8th level. They can't turn undead like most clerics, but are adept spellcasters, with major access to the All, Animal, Divination, Elemental, Healing, Plant and Weather spheres and minor access to the Creation, Protection, and Sun spheres. They are fairly pacifist; they can only use spears, darts and slings and only hide or lighter forms of armor. They can't even use shields. Bird Maidens had their own "Ecology Of" article in [[Dragon Magazine]] #218.

Which wasn't the last time that bird-women appeared in its pages. Dragon #266 introduced four new societies of magical bird-shifter; [[Laridian]]s, [[Red Falcon]]s, [[Thebestyn]]s and, most relevant to this article, '''Black Swanmays'''.

The Black Swanmay is a more militant and goodly-aligned version of the common "White" Swanmay, restricted to the [[cleric]], [[paladin]] and [[crusader]] classes (Crusaders having been introduced in Faiths & Avatars). Black swanmays have the same special abilities and limitations as ordinary swanmays, but differ in the minutia. For example, classes (Paladin 14, Cleric 12 or Crusader 12), ability score adjustments (+1 Charisma, -1 Constitution) and ability score minimums (10 Str, 9 Dex & Con, and 12 Int/Wis/Cha for Clerics & Crusaders, 12 Str/Con/Int, 10 Dex, 13 Wis and 17 Cha for Paladins) and ability score maximums (18s in everything bar Con and Cha, which are 17 and 19 respectively). They're restricted to the Lawful Good alignment, and must therefore atone like Paladins if they ever commit evil or chaotic acts, their natural armor class is 10 for human form and 6 for swan form, and their swan form has a fly speed of 21 (compared to the white swanmay's fly 19).

Swanmays made their last appearance in D&D to date in the pages of [[Book of Exalted Deeds]], where they finally found their true place as a [[prestige class]]. In this form, they required the would-be swanmay to be female, have a Good alignment, have the Wild Empathy class feature, be able to cast Speak With Animals, have 8 ranks in Knowledge (Nature) and Survival, the ability to speak Sylvan, and the feats Sacred Vow & Vow of Purity. It mostly focuses on bolstering their ranger/druid abilities, with new spells per day at every level bar the first, the ability to shapeshift into a swan, spell resistance, wild empathy, favored enemy, spell-like abilities to Charm Person, Speak With Animals, Speak With Plants, and Charm Monster, and finally, at the 10th level, changing their racial type to Fey and granting Damage Reduction 10/Cold Iron.

Being that all kinds of swanmays are literally magical women with shapeshifting powers, it's accurate to consider them to be "technical [[monstergirls]]", although most monstergirl fans would probably mock you for it on the basis that they don't even look as 'inhuman' as [[elves]], [[gnome]]s, [[dwarves]] or [[halfling]]s do.

{{D&D2e-Races}}

[[Category:Monsters]]

Swanmay

2019-05-20T11:28:26Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06:

{{monstergirls}}
Inspired by the swan maidens of various real-world folklores, '''swanmays''' are a race/order of holy-aligned nature-protecting female humanoids from [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]. They derive their name specifically from similar beings who appeared in Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions (1961), who are stated to wear a magical feathered tunic that melds into her flesh, which gives her the appearance of a "Swan-Girl" instead of a human.

First appearing in the original Monster Manual II, Swanmays are an order of human females who have devoted themselves to protecting nature and all the goodly creatures associated with it. As a result, they have gained the craft enchanted talismans in the form of feather tokens, feather garments and signet rings, which allow members of their order to transform themselves into swans. This effectively makes them a form of lesser [[therianthrope]], and thus in AD&D, they gain some of the powers of such creatures as a result. Most notably, they are impervious to damage that doesn't come from magic or enchanted weapons, requiring a +1 or better weapon to be harmed. Of course, because the power comes from the token, if you can steal it, you trap the swanmay in whichever of her two forms - human or swan - she's in at the time.

This depiction of the swanmay didn't change much in the edition switchover; first appearing in the Monstrous Compendium Volume Two, they were then reprinted in the Monstrous Manual, a collection of many of the different compendiums. They were presented as a mysterious race who did good things, but mostly were left to stoke the imagination.

But... AD&D couldn't leave them in the dark forever. Swanmays were part of the many different races included in the Complete Book of Humanoids, which was essentially AD&D's first big "nonstandard races" splatbook. Admittedly, there wasn't much of an upgrade in terms of information known, but still, it was something. This information would later be reprinted in Player's Option: Skills and Powers.

As a player character, the swanmay, also known as the White Swanmay, is a female human who gains +1 Dexterity and Wisdom and who is restricted to the [[Ranger]] and [[Druid]] classes, in which she can attain 14th level. Her natural armor class is 7 and she possess a magical token that she can use to switch between human and swan forms; its enchanted status is obvious to anyone using Detect Magic, and if it gets stolen or destroyed, she's stuck in her current form. In swan form, a swanmay can fly (speed 19, maneuverability D), has Magic Resistance 2% per hit die, and can only be harmed by +1 or better weapons. Swanmays have their ability scores all max out at 18, save for Wisdom, which maxes out at 19 instead. Swanmay rangers have minimum ability scores of 13 Str & Dex, 14 Con, 9 Int & Cha, and 14 Wisdom. Swanmay druids instead have minimum ability scores of 9s in Str and Dex, 12s in Con, Int and Wis, and 15 in Cha. They have access to the weapon proficiencies of Broad sword, dagger, long bow, long sword, short bow, and short sword, and the following Nonweapon Proficiencies: Alertness, animal handling, animal lore, animal noise, bowyer/fletcher, danger sense, direction sense, firebuilding, fishing, hiding, hunting, set snares, survival (forests, wetlands), and swimming. Finally, they receive one bonus proficiency depending on their class; tracking for Rangers, and weather sense for Druids.

Whilst the Swanmay is more associated with [[Greyhawk]] or the [[Forgotten Realms]], they have a cousin native to [[Al-Qadim|Zakhara]]. These "Bird Maidens" are a form of travelling, shapeshifting [[cleric]] who can transform into many different birds, particularly becoming giant eagles at 8th level. They can't turn undead like most clerics, but are adept spellcasters, with major access to the All, Animal, Divination, Elemental, Healing, Plant and Weather spheres and minor access to the Creation, Protection, and Sun spheres. They are fairly pacifist; they can only use spears, darts and slings and only hide or lighter forms of armor. They can't even use shields. Bird Maidens had their own "Ecology Of" article in [[Dragon Magazine]] #218.

Which wasn't the last time that bird-women appeared in its pages. Dragon #266 introduced four new societies of magical bird-shifter; [[Laridian]]s, [[Red Falcon]]s, [[Thebestyn]]s and, most relevant to this article, '''Black Swanmays'''.

The Black Swanmay is a more militant and goodly-aligned version of the common "White" Swanmay, restricted to the [[cleric]], [[paladin]] and [[crusader]] classes (Crusaders having been introduced in Faiths & Avatars). Black swanmays have the same special abilities and limitations as ordinary swanmays, but differ in the minutia. For example, classes (Paladin 14, Cleric 12 or Crusader 12), ability score adjustments (+1 Charisma, -1 Constitution) and ability score minimums (10 Str, 9 Dex & Con, and 12 Int/Wis/Cha for Clerics & Crusaders, 12 Str/Con/Int, 10 Dex, 13 Wis and 17 Cha for Paladins) and ability score maximums (18s in everything bar Con and Cha, which are 17 and 19 respectively). They're restricted to the Lawful Good alignment, and must therefore atone like Paladins if they ever commit evil or chaotic acts, their natural armor class is 10 for human form and 6 for swan form, and their swan form has a fly speed of 21 (compared to the white swanmay's fly 19).

Swanmays made their last appearance in D&D to date in the pages of [[The Book of Exalted Deeds]], where they finally found their true place as a [[prestige class]]. In this form, they required the would-be swanmay to be female, have a Good alignment, have the Wild Empathy class feature, be able to cast Speak With Animals, have 8 ranks in Knowledge (Nature) and Survival, the ability to speak Sylvan, and the feats Sacred Vow & Vow of Purity. It mostly focuses on bolstering their ranger/druid abilities, with new spells per day at every level bar the first, the ability to shapeshift into a swan, spell resistance, wild empathy, favored enemy, spell-like abilities to Charm Person, Speak With Animals, Speak With Plants, and Charm Monster, and finally, at the 10th level, changing their racial type to Fey and granting Damage Reduction 10/Cold Iron.

Being that all kinds of swanmays are literally magical women with shapeshifting powers, it's accurate to consider them to be "technical [[monstergirls]]", although most monstergirl fans would probably mock you for it on the basis that they don't even look as 'inhuman' as [[elves]], [[gnome]]s, [[dwarves]] or [[halfling]]s do.

{{D&D2e-Races}}

[[Category:Monsters]]

List of D&D PC Races

2019-05-20T07:56:26Z

2602:306:B88B:FB60:C4DD:4184:6603:BD06: /* Races of X */

[[Dungeons & Dragons]] has been around a long, long time, across many different editions over the decades. Most people, when the topic is brought up, immediately think of the "Tolkienish" races - the humans backed by elves ad dwarves, gnomes and halflings, and maybe halfbreeds of human with elf or orc, if you're lucky. But D&D has always sought to embrace the possibilities when it comes to player races, and over the years, it's built up quite a list of races between various editions and settings.

Since /tg/ believes in getting shit done, the hardworking anons of /tg/ have tracked down all of the races of D&D from past to present and planted them all here, so you don't have to run around ignorant of the many potential PCs you could be making.

==Original==
* [[Human]]
* [[Elf]]
* [[Dwarf]]
* [[Hobbit]]/[[Halfling]]

==Basic==
* [[Human]]
* [[Elf]]
* [[Dwarf]]
* [[Hobbit]]/[[Halfling]]

===Dragon Magazine===
* [[N'djatwa]] (#158)
* [[Lupin]] (#181)
* [[Rakasta]] (#181)
* [[Shazak]] (#185)
* [[Gurrash|Gator-Man]] (#185)
* [[Cayma|Cay-Man]] (#185)
* [[Wallara]] (#186)
* [[Phanaton]] (#188)

===Creature Catalog===
====PC1: Tall Tales of the Wee Folk====
* [[Brownie]]/[[Redcap]]
* [[Centaur]]
* [[Dryad]]
* [[Faun]]
* [[Hsiao]]
* [[Leprechaun]]
* [[Pixie]]
* [[Pooka]]
* [[Sidhe]]
* [[Sprite]]
* [[Treant]]
* [[Wood Imp]]
* [[Wooddrake]]

====PC2: Top Ballista====
* [[Faenare]]
* [[Faenare]] Windsinger
* [[Gnome]], Sky
* [[Gnome]], Earth
* [[Gremlin]]
* [[Harpy]]
* [[Nagpa]]
* [[Pegataur]]
* [[Sphinx]]
* [[Tabi]]

====PC3: The Sea Peoples====
* [[Nixie]]
* [[Merrow]]
* [[Aquatic Elf]]
* [[Shark-kin]]
* [[Triton]] (Mage, Cleric or Cleric/Mage)
* [[Kna]]
* [[Kopru]]
* [[Sea Giant]]

===Known World Gazeteers===
* [[Dwarf]] [[Cleric]] (GAZ3: Dwarves of Rockholme)
* [[Goblin]] (GAZ10: Orcs of Thar)
* [[Kobold]] (GAZ10: Orcs of Thar)
* [[Hobgoblin]] (GAZ10: Orcs of Thar)
* [[Bugbear]] (GAZ10: Orcs of Thar)
* [[Troll]] (GAZ10: Orcs of Thar)
* [[Gnoll]] (GAZ10: Orcs of Thar)
* [[Orc]] (GAZ10: Orcs of Thar)
* [[Ogre]] (GAZ10: Orcs of Thar)
* [[Shadow Elf]], Common (GAZ13: Shadow Elves)
* [[Shadow Elf]], [[Shaman]] (GAZ13: Shadow Elves)

===Hollow World===
* Warrior [[Elf]]
* [[Beastman (D&D)|Beastman]]
* [[Neanderthal|Brute-Man]]
* [[Hutaakan]]
* Krugel [[Orc]]
* [[Kubbit]]
* [[Lizardfolk|Malpheggi Lizard Man]]
* [[Kogolor]]

===Champions of Mystara===
* [[Elf]] [[Shaman]]
* Gruugraakh [[Gnoll]]
* [[Lupin]]
* [[Rakasta]]
{{D&D1e-Races}}

==AD&D 1st Edition==
* [[Human]] (Player's Handbook)
* [[Dwarf]] (Player's Handbook)
** Gray [[Duergar]] (Unearthed Arcana)
** Hill (Player's Handbook)
** Mountain (Player's Handbook)
* [[Elf]]
** Dark [Drow] (Unearthed Arcana)
** Gray (Unearthed Arcana)
** High (Player's Handbook)
** Valley (Unearthed Arcana)
** Wild [Grugach] (Unearthed Arcana)
** Wood (Unearthed Arcana)
* [[Halfling]]
** Hairfoot (Player's Handbook)
** Stout (Player's Handbook)
** Tallfellow (Player's Handbook)
* [[Half-Elf]]
** Dark (Unearthed Arcana)
** Other (Player's Handbook)
* [[Half-Orc]] (Player's Handbook)
* [[Gnome]]
** Deep [Svirfneblin] (Unearthed Arcana)
** Surface (Player's Handbook)
* [[Korobokuru]] (Oriental Adventures)
* [[Hengeyokai]] (Oriental Adventures)
** Carp
** Cat
** Crab
** Crane
** Dog
** Drake
** Fox
** Hare
** Monkey
** Raccoon Dog ([[Tanuki]])
** Rat
** Sparrow
* [[Spirit Folk]] (Oriental Adventures)
** Bamboo
** River
** Sea

===Dragon Magazine===
* [[Goblin]] (#141)
* [[Half-Dryad]] (#109)
* [[Half-Ogre]] (#29, #73)
* [[Half-Satyr]] (#109)
* [[Kender]] (#101)
* [[Kobold]] (#141)
* [[Minotaur]] (#116)
* [[Orc]] (#141)
* [[Uldra]] (#119)
* [[Xvart]] (#141)

===[[Dragonlance]]===
* [[Dwarf]],
** Fatherless (Player's Handbook)
** Hill (Dragonlance Adventures)
** Mountain (Dragonlance Adventures)
** Gully (Dragonlance Adventures)
* [[Elf]],
** Dark (Player's Handbook)
** Qualinesti (Dragonlance Adventures)
** Silvanesti (Dragonlance Adventures)
** Kagonesti (Dragonlance Adventures)
* [[Gnome]]
** Mad (Player's Handbook)
** Tinker (Dragonlance Adventures)
* [[Half-Elf]] (Player's Handbook)
* [[Human]] (Player's Handbook)
* [[Irda]] (Dragonlance Adventures)
* [[Kender]] (Dragonlance Adventures)
* [[Minotaur]], Krynnish (Dragonlance Adventures)

==AD&D 2nd Edition==
* [[Human]]
* [[Elf]]
* [[Dwarf]]
* [[Halfling]]
* [[Half-Elf]]
* [[Gnome]]

===[[Birthright]]===
* [[Dwarf]], Cerilian
* [[Elf]], Cerilian
* [[Half-Elf]], Cerilian
* [[Halfling]], Cerilian
* [[Human]], Cerilian
** Anuirean
** Brecht
** Khinasi
** Rjurik
** Vos

===[[Dark Sun]]===
* [[Aarakocra]], Athasian (Revised)
* [[Dwarf]], Athasian (Original, Revised)
* [[Elf]], Athasian (Original, Revised)
* [[Half-Elf]], Athasian (Original, Revised)
* [[Half-Giant]] (Original, Revised)
* [[Halfling]], Athasian (Original, Revised)
* [[Human]], Athasian (Original, Revised)
* [[Mul]] (Original, Revised)
* [[Pterran]] (Revised)
* [[Thri-kreen]] (Original, Revised)
* [[Dragonborn|Dray]] (City by the Silt Sea)

===Dragon Magazine===
* [[Half-Dragon]] (#206)
* [[Derro]] (#241)
* [[Lerara]] (#241)
* [[Skulk]] (#241)
* [[Jermlaine]] (#241)
* [[Su-Doppelganger]] (#241)
* [[Ashiera]] (#244)
* [[Fainil]] (#244)
* [[Masgai]] (#244)
* [[Telvar]] (#244)
* [[Xakhun Elf]] (#244)
* [[Crabfolk]] (#250)
* [[Koalinth]] (#250)
* [[Locathah]] (#250)
* [[Malenti]] (#250)
* [[Merfolk]] (#250)
* [[Pahari]] (#250)
* [[Selkie]] (#250)
* [[Vodyanoi]] (#250)
* [[Liminal]] (#250)
* [[Sesheyan]] (#251)
* [[Fraal]] (#253)
* [[Alfar]] (#257)
* [[Dockalfar]] (#257)
* [[Erlking]] (#257)
* [[Trow]] (#257)
* [[T'sa]] (#257]
* [[Aspis]] Drone (#260)
* [[Buckawn]] (#262)
* [[Chitine]] (#262)
* [[Grippli]] (#262)
* [[Ravenkin]] (#262)
* [[Tasloi]] (#262)
* [[Gibberling]] (#265)
* [[Grimlock]] (#265)
* [[Mold Man]] (#265)
* [[Quaggoth]] (#265)
* [[Su-Monster|Su-folk]] (#265)
* [[Troglodyte]] (#265)
* [[Yeti]] (#265)
* [[Swanmay]], Black (#266)
* [[Laridian]] (#266)
* [[Red Falcon]] (#266)
* [[Thebestyn]] (#266)
* [[Hengeyokai]] (#266)
** Badger
** Dolphin
** Falcon
** Frog
** Lizard
** Lynx
** Octopus
** Owl
** Panda
** Turtle
** Weasel
* [[Diopsid]] (#267)
* [[Sapromneme]] (#267)
* [[Zygodact]] (#267)
* [[Lizardfolk]] (#268)
** Agrutha
** Crocodilian, Brute
** Crocodilian, Master
** Varanid
** Geckonid
** Tokay
** Iguanid
* [[Satyr]] (#269)

===Complete Book of Dwarves===
* Hill Dwarf
* Mountain Dwarf
* Deep Dwarf
* [[Duergar]]
* Sundered Dwarf
* Gully Dwarf

===Complete Book of Elves===
* Aquatic Elf
* Dark Elf
* Grey Elf
* High Elf
* Sylvan Elf
* Half-Elf

===Complete Book of Gnomes & Halflings===
* Rock [[Gnome]]
* [[Svirfneblin]]
* [[Tinker Gnome]]
* Forest [[Gnome]]
* Hairfoot [[Halfling]]
* Stout [[Halfling]]
* Tallfellow [[Halfling]]
* [[Kender]]
* Athasian [[Halfling]]
* Furchin [[Halfling]]

===Complete Book of Humanoids===
* [[Aarakocra]]
* [[Alaghi]]
* [[Beastman]]
* [[Bugbear]]
* [[Bullywug]]
* [[Centaur]]
* [[Fremlin]]
* [[Giant]]-Kin, [[Firbolg]]
* [[Giant]]-Kin, [[Voadkyn]]
* [[Gnoll]]
** [[Gnoll#Family_Tree|Flind]]
* [[Goblin]]
* [[Hobgoblin]]
* [[Kobold]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Minotaur]]
* [[Mongrelman]]
* [[Ogre]]
** [[Half-Ogre]]
** [[Oni|Ogre Mage]]
* [[Orc]]
** [[Half-Orc]]
* [[Pixie]]
* [[Satyr]]
* [[Saurial]]
* [[Swanmay]]
* [[Wemic]]

===Savage Coast of [[Mystara]]===
* [[Aranea]] (Characters of the Savage Coast)
* [[Lupin]] (Characters of the Savage Coast)
* [[Rakasta]] (Characters of the Savage Coast)
* [[Tortle]] (Characters of the Savage Coast)
* [[Lizardfolk]] (Orc's Head 1: Sourcebook)
** [[Cayma]]
** [[Gurrash]]
** [[Shazak]]
* [[Ee'ar]] (Mystaran Winged Elf) (Orc's Head 1: Sourcebook)
* [[Enduk]] (Mystaran Winged [[Minotaur]]) (Orc's Head 1: Sourcebook)
* [[Manscorpion]] (Orc's Head 1: Sourcebook)
* [[Phanaton]] (Orc's Head 1: Sourcebook)
* [[Wallara]] (Orc's Head 1: Sourcebook)

===[[Planescape]]===
* [[Bariaur]] (Player's Guide to The Planes, The Planewalker's Handbook)
* [[Githzerai]] (Player's Guide to The Planes, The Planewalker's Handbook)
* [[Tiefling]] (Player's Guide to The Planes, The Planewalker's Handbook)
* [[Aasimar]] (The Planewalker's Handbook)
* [[Genasi]] (The Planewalker's Handbook)
* [[Half-Elf]], Planar (The Planewalker's Handbook)
* [[Human]], Planar (The Planewalker's Handbook)
* Rogue [[Modron]]
* [[Githyanki]] (The Guide to the Astral Plane)

===[[Red Steel]]===
* [[Aranea]]
* [[Lupin]]
* [[Rakasta]]
* [[Tortle]]

===[[Spelljammer]]===
* [[Dracon]] (Complete Spacefarer's Handbook)
* [[Giff]] (Complete Spacefarer's Handbook)
* [[Grommam]] (Complete Spacefarer's Handbook)
* [[Hadozee]] (Complete Spacefarer's Handbook)
* [[Hurwaeti]] (Complete Spacefarer's Handbook)
* [[Lizardfolk]] (Lorebook of the Void, Complete Spacefarer's Handbook)
* [[Rastipede]] (Complete Spacefarer's Handbook)
* [[Scro]] (Complete Spacefarer's Handbook)
* [[Xixchil]] (Complete Spacefarer's Handbook)

===[[Ravenloft]]===
* [[Half-Vistani]] (Domains of Dread)
* [[Undead]] (Requiem: The Grim Harvest) - treated more like Classes than Races
** [[Skeleton]]
** [[Zombie]]
** [[Ghoul]]
** [[Ghast]]
** [[Wight]]
** [[Mummy]]
** [[Vampire]]
** [[Lich]]
** [[Wraith]]
** [[Spectre]]
** [[Shadow]]
** [[Ghost]]

====AD&D Ravenloft Netbooks====
The 2e Ravenloft setting didn't have any official new races, due to its focus on "Weekend In Hell" gameplay. But, a series of semi-official sourcebooks called the Books of S did contain some racial options. There were also rules for playable [[undead]] PCs in the adventure ''Requiem: The Grim Harvest''.
* [[Therianthrope]] (Book of Souls)
* [[Broken One]]s (Book of Souls)
* Ravenloftian Human/Elf/Dwarf/Gnome/Halfling/Half-Elf (Book of Sorrows)
* [[Flesh Golem]]s (Book of Secrets)
{{D&D2e-Races}}

==3rd Edition==
* [[Human]] (Player's Handbook)
* [[Elf]] (Player's Handbook)
* [[Dwarf]] (Player's Handbook)
* [[Halfling]] (Player's Handbook)
* [[Half-Elf]] (Player's Handbook)
* [[Half-Orc]] (Player's Handbook)
* [[Gnome]] (Player's Handbook)

===Monster Manuals & Related===
* Undead Monster Racial Classes (Libris Mortis)
** [[Ghoul]]
** [[Mohrg]]
** [[Mummy]]
** [[Vampire]]
** [[Wight]]
* [[Necropolitan]] (Libris Mortis)
* [[Hellbred]] (Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells)

====Monster Manual 1====
* [[Aranea]]
* [[Azer]]
* [[Bugbear]]
* [[Centaur]]
* [[Derro]]
* [[Doppelganger]]
* [[Dwarf]]
** Deep Dwarf
** [[Duergar]]
* [[Elf]]
** [[Half-Elf]]
** Aquatic Elf
** [[Drow]]
** Gray Elf
** Wild Elf
** Wood Elf
* [[Genie]], [[Janni]]
* [[Githyanki]]
* [[Githzerai]]
* [[Gnoll]]
* [[Gnome]]
* [[Gnome]], [[Svirfneblin]]
* [[Gnome]], Forest
* [[Goblin]]
* [[Grimlock]]
* [[Half-Celestial]] Template
* [[Half-Dragon]] Template
* [[Half-Fiend]] Template
* [[Halfling]]
** Tallfellow
** Deep Halfling
* [[Hobgoblin]]
* [[Kobold]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Locathah]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Minotaur]]
* [[Ogre]]
** [[Merrow]]
** [[Oni|Ogre Mage]]
* [[Orc]]
** [[Half-Orc]]
* [[Planetouched]]
** [[Aasimar]]
** [[Tiefling]]
* [[Rakshasa]]
* [[Sahuagin]]
* [[Salamander]]
* [[Satyr]]
* [[Sprite]], [[Pixie]]
* [[Troglodyte]]
* [[Troll]]
* [[Yuan-ti]], Pureblood

====Monster Manual 2====
* [[Abeil]]
* [[Bladeling]]
* [[Braxat]]
* [[Desmodu]]
* [[Firbolg]]
* [[Fomorian]]
* [[Giant]], Forest
* Giant, Sun
* Giant, Ocean
* Giant, Mountain
* [[Glimmerskin]]
* [[Half-Fiend]] [[Duergar]], [[Durzagon]]
* [[Ixitxachitl]]
* [[Loxo]]
* [[Neogi]]
* [[Ocean Strider]]
* [[Planetouched]]
** Chaond
** Zenythri
* [[Thri-Kreen]]
* [[Yak Folk]]
* [[Death Knight]]
* [[Half-Golem]]
* [[Girtablilu|Scorpionfolk]]

====Monster Manual 3====
* [[Armand]]
* [[Changeling]], Eberron
* [[Dracotaur]]
* [[Giant]], Sand
* [[Gnoll]], Flind
* [[Ibixian]]
* [[Goblinoid]], [[Forestkith Goblin]]
* [[Harsaff]]
* [[Kenku]]
* [[Lizardfolk]], Poison Dusk
* [[Lumi]]
* [[Nycter]]
* [[Ogre]], Skullcrusher
* [[Quaraphon]]
* [[Rakshasa]], Naztharune
* [[Shifter]], Eberron
* [[Troll]], Crystalline
* [[Warforged]], Charger
* [[Warforged]], Scout
* [[Athame|Witchknife]]

====Monster Manual 4====
* [[Varag]]
* [[Windblade]]
** Windrazor
** Windscythe

====Monster Manual 5====
* [[Jaebrin]]

===[[Races of X]]===
* [[Illumian]] (Races of Destiny)
* [[Aasimar]] (Races of Destiny)
* [[Doppelganger]] (Races of Destiny)
* Half-[[Ogre]] (Races of Destiny)
* [[Mongrelman|Mongrelfolk]] (Races of Destiny)
* [[Sea Kin]] (Races of Destiny)
* [[Sharakim]] (Races of Destiny)
* [[Skulk]] (Races of Destiny)
* [[Tiefling]] (Races of Destiny)
* [[Underfolk]] (Races of Destiny)
* [[Goliath]] (Races of Stone)
* Chaos Gnome (Races of Stone)
* Dream Dwarf (Races of Stone)
* Feral Gargun (Races of Stone)
* Stonechild (Races of Stone)
* Whisper Gnome (Races of Stone)
* [[Dragonborn]] of Bahamut (Races of the Dragon)
* [[Spellscale]] (Races of the Dragon)
* [[Kobold]] (Races of the Dragon)
* Dragon-Descended (Races of the Dragon)
** Half-Dragon
** Draconic
* [[Raptoran]] (Races of the Wild)
* [[Catfolk]] (Races of the Wild)
* [[Centaur]] (Races of the Wild)
* [[Gnoll]] (Races of the Wild)
* [[Killoren]] (Races of the Wild)

===Expanded Psionics Handbook===
* [[Dromite]] (Expanded Psionics Handbook)
* [[Duergar]] (Expanded Psionics Handbook)
* [[Elan]] (Expanded Psionics Handbook)
* [[Githyanki]] (Expanded Psionics Handbook)
* [[Githzerai]] (Expanded Psionics Handbook)
* [[Half-Giant]] (Expanded Psionics Handbook)
* [[Maenad]] (Expanded Psionics Handbook)
* [[Thri-kreen]] (Expanded Psionics Handbook)
* [[Xeph]] (Expanded Psionics Handbook)

===Planar Handbook===
* [[Aasimar]] (Planar Handbook)
* [[Bariaur]] (Planar Handbook)
* [[Buomman]] (Planar Handbook)
* [[Fire Gnome]] (Planar Handbook)
* [[Frost Dwarf]] (Planar Handbook)
* [[Mephling]] (Planar Handbook)
* [[Neraphim]] (Planar Handbook)
* [[Shadowswyft]] (Planar Handbook)
* [[Spiker]] (Planar Handbook)
* [[Tiefling]] (Planar Handbook)
* [[Wildren]] (Planar Handbook)

===Environmental Sourcebooks===
* Core Race, Frostfell Variants (Frostfell)
* [[Neanderthal]] (Frostfell)
* [[Uldra]] (Frostfell)
* Core Race, Sandstorm Variants (Sandstorm)
* [[Asherati]] (Sandstorm)
* [[Bhuka]] (Sandstorm)
* Core Race, Stormwrack Variants (Stormwrack)
* [[Aventi]] (Stormwrack)
* [[Darfellan]] (Stormwrack)
* Aquatic Elf (Stormwrack)
* [[Hadozee]] (Stormwrack)

===One-Off Sourcebooks===
* [[Bariaur]] (Book of Exalted Deeds)
* Vashar (Book of Vile Darkness)
* Jerren (Book of Vile Darkness)
* [[Azurin]] (Magic of Incarnum)
* [[Duskling]] (Magic of Incarnum)
* [[Rilkan]] (Magic of Incarnum)
* [[Skarn]] (Magic of Incarnum)
* [[Karsite]] (Tome of Magic)
* [[Hengeyokai]] (Oriental Adventures)
** Badger
** Carp
** Cat
** Crab
** Crane
** Dog
** Fox
** Hare
** Monkey
** Raccoon Dog (Tanuki)
** Rat
** Sparrow
** Weasel
* [[Korobokuru]] (Oriental Adventures)
* [[Spirit Folk]] (Oriental Adventures)
* [[Vanara]] (Oriental Adventures)
* [[Ratfolk|Nezumi]] (Oriental Adventures)

===Dragonlance===
* [[Human]] (Dragonlance Campaign Setting, Races of Ansalon)
** Civilized
** Nomadic
** Ithin'carthian
* [[Dwarf]] (Dragonlance Campaign Setting, Races of Ansalon)
** Hill Dwarf
** Mountain Dwarf
** Dark Dwarf
** Gully Dwarf
** Half-Dwarf (Races of Ansalon)
* [[Elf]] (Dragonlance Campaign Setting, Races of Ansalon)
** Kagonesti (Wild Elf)
** Qualinesti
** Silvanesti (High Elf)
** Sea Elves
*** Dargonesti
*** Dimernesti
** [[Half-Elf]]
* [[Gnome]]
** Tinker Gnome (Dragonlance Campaign Setting, Races of Ansalon)
** Mad Gnome (Races of Ansalon)
** Wild Gnome (Races of Ansalon)
** Half-Gome (Races of Ansalon)
* Goblinoid (Races of Ansalon)
** [[Bugbear]]
** [[Goblin]]
** Hobgoblin
** Half-Goblin
* [[Kender]]
** True Kender (Dragonlance Campaign Setting, Races of Ansalon)
** Afflicted Kender (Races of Ansalon)
** Half-Kender (Races of Ansalon)
* [[Minotaur]], Krynnish (Dragonlance Campaign Setting, Races of Ansalon)
* [[Minotaur]], Thoradorian (Races of Ansalon)
* [[Ogre]] (Dragonlance Campaign Setting, Races of Ansalon)
* Half-Ogre (Dragonlance Campaign Setting, Races of Ansalon)
* [[Irda]] (Dragonlance Campaign Setting, Races of Ansalon)
* [[Centaur]] (Dragonlance Campaign Setting, Races of Ansalon)
* [[Kyrie]] (Races of Ansalon)
* [[Phaethon]] (Races of Ansalon)
* [[Thanoi]] (Races of Ansalon)
* [[Ursoi]] (Races of Ansalon)
* [[Draconian]], Base (Dragons of Krynn)
** Aurak
** Baaz (Dragonlance Campaign Setting)
** Bozak
** Kapak (Dragonlance Campaign Setting)
** Sivak
* [[Draconian]], Noble (Dragons of Krynn)
** Flame
** Frost
** Lightning
** Vapor
** Venom
* [[Dragonspawn]] (Dragons of Krynn)
** Black
** Blue
** Green
** Red
** White
** Sea
* Bakali (Dragons of Krynn)
** [[Lizardfolk]]
** [[Kobold]]
** [[Troglodyte]]
** [[Naga]]
** [[Slig]]
** [[Jarak-sinn]]

===Dragon Magazine===
* [[Gnome]] (#291)
** Arcane Gnome
** River Gnome
* [[Aarakocra]], Athasian (#319)
* [[Aelfborn]] (#307)
* [[Aranea]] (#351)
* [[Planetouched]]
** Axani (#397)
** Cansin (#397)
** Para-[[Genasi]] (#397)
*** Dust Genasi
*** Ice Genasi
*** Magma Genasi
*** Ooze Genasi
*** Smoke Genasi
*** Steam Genasi
** [[Azerblood]] (#350)
** [[Celadrin]] (#350)
** [[D'hin'ni]] (#350)
** [[Worghest]] (#350)
* Fey [[Changeling]] (#304)
* [[Cyclopean]] (#323)
** Menta Cyclopean
** Feral-kind Cyclopean
* Races of Bas-Lag (#352)
** Cactacae
** Khepri
** The Remade
** Bas-Lag Vodyanoi
** Garuda
* [[Dark Sun]] 3.5 Update (#319)
** Athasian [[Aarakocra]]
** Athasian [[Dwarf]]
** Athasian [[Elan]]
** Athasian [[Elf]]
** Athasian [[Half-Elf]]
** [[Half-Giant]]
** Athasian [[Halfling]]
** Athasian [[Human]]
** Athasian [[Maenad]]
** [[Mul]]
** [[Pterran]]
** [[Thri-kreen]]
* [[Diabolus]] (#327)
* [[Draconian]], Bozak (#315)
* [[Adu'ja]] (#317)
* [[Gruwaar]] (#317)
* [[Golmoid]] (#317)
* [[T'kel]] (#317)
* [[Genasi]] #293
** Air
** Earth
** Fire
** Water
* Wanderers of Wildspace (#339)
** [[Giff]]
** [[Insectare]]
** [[Scro]]
* Ghost Elf (#313)
* [[Glimmerfolk]] (#321)
* [[Grippli]] (324)
* Half-Elemental Racial Class (#326)
** Air
** Earth
** Fire
** Water
* [[Kobold]] (#332)
* [[Lupin]] (#325)
* [[Marodin]] (#292)
* [[Phanaton]] (#339, #351)
* [[Saurial]] (#292)
** Bladeback
** Finhead
** Flyer
** Hornhead
* [[Shifter]], Saurian (#328)
* [[Shade]] (#307)
* [[Synad]] (#314)
* [[Tortle]] (#315)
* [[Drow]], Umbragen (#330)
* [[Asura]] racial class (#312)
* [[Bariaur]] racial class (#312)
* [[Hollyphant]] racial class (#312)
* [[Leskylor]] racial class (#312)
* [[Moon Dog]] racial class (#312)
* [[Quesar]] racial class (#312)
* [[Rhek]] racial class (#312)
* [[Werebear]] racial class (#313)
* [[Wereboar]] racial class (#313)
* [[Wererat]] racial class (#313)
* [[Weretiger]] racial class (#313)
* [[Werewolf]] racial class (#313)
* Half-Undead (#313)
** [[Fetch]] (Half-[[Ghost]])
** [[Ghedan]] (Half-[[Zombie]] or [[Skeleton]])
** [[Ghul]] (Half-[[Ghoul]])
** [[Dhampir|Katane]] (Half-[[Vampire]])
* [[Mortif]] (#313)
* Half-[[Doppelganger]] (#313)
* Half-[[Genie|Janni]] (#313)
* Half-[[Minotaur]] (#313)
* Half-[[Nymph]] (#313)
* Half-[[Ogre]] (#313)
* Half-[[Rakshasa]] (#313)
* Half-[[Satyr]] (#313)
* [[Xvart]] (#339)
* [[Duthka'gith]] (Polyhedron #100)

===Dragon Compendium===
* [[Diabolus]]
* [[Diopsid]]
* [[Dvati]]
* [[Lupin]]
* [[Catfolk#Tibbet|Tibbet]]

===[[Eberron]]===
* [[Warforged]] (Eberron Campaign Setting, Races of Eberron)
* [[Shifter]] (Eberron Campaign Setting, Races of Eberron)
* [[Changeling]] (Eberron Campaign Setting, Races of Eberron)
* [[Kalashtar]] (Eberron Campaign Setting, Races of Eberron)
* [[Eneko]] (Secrets of Sarlona)

===Forgotten Realms===
* [[Dwarf]] (Races of Faerun)
** Arctic Dwarf
** Gold Dwarf
** Gray Dwarf
** Shield Dwarf
** Urdunnir
** Wild Dwarf
* [[Elf]] (Races of Faerun)
** Aquatic Elf
** [[Avariel]]
** [[Drow]]
** Moon Elf
** Sun Elf
** Wild Elf
** Wood Eld
* [[Gnome]] (Races of Faerun)
** Deep Gnome
** Forest Gnome
** Rock Gnome
* [[Half-Elf]] (Races of Faerun)
** Common Half-Elf
** Half-Aquatic Elf
** Half-Drow
* [[Half-Orc]] and [[Orc]] (Races of Faerun)
** Gray Orc
** Half-Orc
** Mountain Orc
** Orog
* [[Halfling]] (Races of Faerun)
** Ghostwise
** Lightfoot
** Strongheart
* [[Human]] (Races of Faerun)
** Calishite
** Chondathan
** Demaran
** Illuskan
** Mulan
** Rashemi
** Tethryian
* [[Planetouched]] (Races of Faerun)
** [[Aasimar]]
** [[Fey'ri]]
** [[Genasi]]
*** Air
*** Earth
*** Fire
*** Water
** [[Tanarukk]]
** [[Tiefling]]
* [[Aarakocra]] (Races of Faerun)
* [[Centaur]] (Races of Faerun)
* Goblinoids (Races of Faerun)
** [[Bugbear]]
** [[Goblin]]
** [[Hobgoblin]]
* [[Kir-lanan]] (Races of Faerun)
* [[Lizardfolk]] (Races of Faerun)
* [[Shade]] (Races of Faerun)
* [[Wemic]] (Races of Faerun)
* [[Yuan-ti]] (Races of Faerun)
* Human, Southlands (Shining South)
** Arkain
** Durpari
** Halruaan
** Shaaryan
* [[Loxo]] (Shining South)
* [[Thri-kreen]] (Shining South)
* Star Elf (Unapproachable East)
* [[Gnoll]] (Unapproachable East)
* [[Hagspawn]] (Unapproachable East)
* [[Spirit Folk]] (Unapproachable East)
* [[Taer]] (Unapproachable East)
* [[Volodni]] (Unapproachable East)
* [[Chitine]] (Underdark)
* Human, Deep Imaskari (Underdark)
* [[Drow]] (Underdark)
* [[Duergar]] (Underdark)
* [[Gloaming]] (Underdark)
* [[Grimlock]] (Underdark)
* [[Kuo-toa]] (Underdark)
* [[Slyth]] (Underdark)
* [[Svirfneblin]] (Underdark)
* [[Derro]] (Underdark)
* [[Illithid]] (Underdark)
* [[Orog]] (Underdark)
* [[Minotaur]] (Underdark)
* [[Quaggoth]] (Underdark)
* [[Tanarukk]] (Underdark)
* [[Troglodyte]] (Underdark)

===[[Ravenloft]]===
* [[Caliban]] (Ravenloft Campaign Setting)
* [[Half-Vistani]] (Ravenloft Campaign Setting)

====Ravenloft Netbooks====
* [[Broken One]], Markovian (Book of Sacrifices)
* [[Abber Nomad]] (Quoth the Raven #6)
* Dread [[Genasi]] (Quote the Raven #7)
** Blood Genasi
** Grave Genasi
** Pyre Genasi
** Mist Genasi
* [[Caliban]], Mutable (Quoth the Raven #8)
** Generic Caliban
** Banshee
** Beast
** Brute
** Cannibal
** Witchspawn
* Deep-Kin (Quoth the Raven #9)
** Half-[[Sahuagin]]
** Half [[Kuo-toa]]
** Half-[[Reaver]]
* [[Dwarf|Dwarves]] of the Mists (Quoth the Raven #12)
** Black-beard
** Delver
** Ravenloftian Hill Dwarf
** Pale Dwarf
** Folkloric Dwarf
* [[Halflings]] of the Mists (Quoth the Raven #12)
** Ravenloftian Hairfoot
** Ravenloftian Stout
** Ravenloftian Tallfellow
* [[Elf|Elves]] of the Mists (Quoth the Raven #13)
** Darkonian Elf
** Mist-Elf
** Outlander Elf
** Sithican Elf
** Ravenloftian Wild Elf
* [[Gnome]]s of the Mists (Quoth the Raven #14)
** Mist Gnome
** Mad Gnome
** Folkloric Gnome
* Booged (Quoth the Raven #14)
* [[Dhampyre|Dhampir]] (Quoth the Raven #14)
* Fey-Born (Quoth the Raven #14)
* Midget (Quoth the Raven #14)
* Humghoul (Quoth the Raven #17)
* Half-[[Selkie]] (Quoth the Raven #20)

===[[Kingdoms of Kalamar]]===
* [[Dwarf]], Stone (KoK Player's Guide)
* Sil'karg - [[Half-Hobgoblin]] (KoK Player's Guide)
** Kargi
** Krangi
* [[Halfling]], Golden (KoK Player's Guide)
* [[Hobgoblin]] (KoK Player's Guide)
* Adumark - Kalamaran [[Half-Dwarf]] (Dangerous Denizens)
* Haragitu - [[Half-Githzerai]] (Dangerous Denizens)
* Vraark - [[Half-Gnoll]] (Dangerous Denizens)
* Daruukala - Kalamaran [[Half-Gnome]] (Dangerous Denizens)
* Fieri - Kalamaran [[Half-Goblin]] (Dangerous Denizens)
* Vrastand - Kalamaran [[Half-Satyr]] (Dangerous Denizens)
* [[Tel-Amhothlan]] - Elf/Orc hybrid (Dangerous Denizens)

===[[Midnight]]===
* Human (Midnight Campaign Setting)
** Dorn
** Sarcosan
** Erenlander
* Dwarf (Midnight Campaign Setting)
* Elf (Midnight Campaign Setting)
** Caransil (Wood Elf)
** Danisil (Jungle Elf)
** Erunsil (Snow Elf)
** Miransil (Sea Elf)
* Gnome (Midnight Campaign Setting)
* Halfling (Midnight Campaign Setting)
* Orc (Midnight Campaign Setting)
* [[Dwarrow]] (Midnight Campaign Setting)
* [[Dworg]] (Midnight Campaign Setting)
* [[Elfling]] (Midnight Campaign Setting)

===[[Scarred Lands]]===
* [[Dwarf]], Scarnish (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
** Mountain Dwarf (Kelder) (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
** Charduni Dwarf (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
** Forsaken Dwarf (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
* [[Elf]], Scarnish (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
** Dark Elf (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
** Forsaken Elf (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
** Wood Elf (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
* [[Half-Elf]], Scarnish (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
* [[Half-Orc]], Scarnish (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
* [[Halfling]], Scarnish (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
* [[Human]], Scarnish (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
** Calastia & The Sweltering Plains (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
** Gascar Cities & Dunahnae (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
** Karria, Darakeene & Albadia (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
** The Plains of Lede (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
** Vesh, Codrada & The Repose Peninsula (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
** Durover & The Kelders (Scarred Lands DM's Companion)
** Crilos & Gray Isle (Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana)
** Kingdoms ofthe West (Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana)
** Tehlashos (Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana)
** Tepuje Cities & Gamulganjus (Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana)
* [[Gnome]], Termanan (Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana)
* [[Gnoll]], Termanan (Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana)
* [[Catfolk|Terali]] (Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana)

==4th Edition==
* [[Human]] (Player's Handbook 1)
* [[Eladrin]] (Player's Handbook 1)
* [[Elf]] (Player's Handbook 1)
* [[Dwarf]] (Player's Handbook 1)
* [[Halfling]] (Player's Handbook 1)
* [[Half-Elf]] (Player's Handbook 1)
* [[Dragonborn]] (Player's Handbook 1)
* [[Tiefling]] (Player's Handbook 1)
* [[Half-Orc]] (Player's Handbook 2)
* [[Gnome]] (Player's Handbook 2)
* [[Goliath]] (Player's Handbook 2)
* [[Deva]] (Player's Handbook 2)
* [[Shifter]] (Player's Handbook 2)
* [[Githzerai]] (Player's Handbook 3)
* [[Minotaur]] (Player's Handbook 3)
* [[Shardmind]] (Player's Handbook 3)
* [[Wilden]] (Player's Handbook 3)
* [[Goblin]] (Into The Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook)
* [[Kobold]] (Into The Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook)
* [[Svirfneblin]] (Into The Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook)
* [[Revenant]] (Player's Option: Heroes of Shadow)
* [[Shade]] (Player's Option: Heroes of Shadow)
* [[Vryloka]] (Player's Option: Heroes of Shadow)
* [[Hamadryad]] (Player's Option: Heroes of The Feywild)
* [[Pixie]] (Player's Option: Heroes of The Feywild)
* [[Satyr]] (Player's Option: Heroes of The Feywild)
* [[Bladeling]] (Manual of the Planes)

===Forgotten Realms===
* [[Drow]]
* [[Genasi]]

===Eberron===
* [[Changeling]]
* [[Kalashtar]]
* [[Warforged]]

===Dark Sun===
* [[Mul]]
* [[Thri-kreen]]

===Monster Manuals===
* [[Bugbear]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Doppelganger]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Drow]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Githyanki]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Githzerai]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Gnoll]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Gnome]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Goblin]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Hobgoblin]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Kobold]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Minotaur]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Orc]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Shadar-kai]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Shifter]], Longtooth (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Shifter]], Razorclaw (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Warforged]] (Monster Manual 1)
* [[Bullywug]] (Monster Manual 2)
* [[Duergar]] (Monster Manual 2)
* [[Kenku]] (Monster Manual 2)

===Dragon Magazine===
* [[Warforged]] (#364)
* [[Gnoll]] (#367)
* [[Minotaur]] (#369)
* [[Dhampyre|Dhampyr]] (#371)
* [[Shadar-kai]] (#372)
* [[Deva]] (#374)
* [[Revenant]] (#376)
* [[Githzerai]] (#378)
* [[Genasi]], Abyssal (#380)
** Plague
** Cinder
** Void
** Caustic
* [[Vistani]] (#380)
* [[Tiefling]], Blood-Crowned Courtier (#381)
* [[Elf]], Dusk (#382)
* [[Tiefling]], Broken Mirror (#383)
* [[Dwarf]], Forgeborn (#383)
* [[Eladrin]], Winterkin (#384)
* [[Tiefling]], Blightseer (#387)
* [[Dragonborn]], Dragonfear (#388)
* [[Wilden]], Stormchaser (#393)
* [[Deva]], Veilwalker (#393)
* [[Deva]], Redeemed (#393)
* [[Genasi]], Athasian (#396)
** Ember
** Magma
** Sand
** Sun
* [[Hengeyokai]] (#404)
** Badger
** Carp
** Crab
** Cat
** Monkey
** [[Tanuki]] (Raccoon Dog)
** Rat
** Crane
** Sparrow
** Dog
** [[Kitsune|Fox]]
** Hare
* [[Kenku]] (#411)
* [[Hobgoblin]] (#419)
* [[Bladeling]] (#419)
* [[Ghost]] (#420)
* [[Draconian]] (#421)
** Bozak
** Kapak
* [[Tinker Gnome]] (#422)

===Ravenloft 4e (Fanmade)===
The 4th edition corebook for Ravenloft appears as a free downloadable PDF on the Fraternity of Shadows fan-website.

* [[Caliban]] (Player's Guide)
* Giomorgo ([[Half-Vistani]]) (Player's Guide)
* Ravenloftian [[Dragonborn]] (Quoth the Raven #15) (fluff only)
** Created
** Cursed
** Tainted
** Monster
** Sentinel
** Born-Dragon
* [[Catfolk|Paka]] (Quoth the Raven #19)
{{D&D4e-Races}}
==5th Edition==
* [[Human]] (Player's Handbook)
* [[Elf]]
** High Elf (Player's Handbook)
** Wood Elf (Player's Handbook)
** [[Drow]] (Player's Handbook)
** Sea Elf (Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes)
** [[Eladrin]] (Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes)
** [[Shadar-kai]] (Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes)
* [[Dwarf]]
** Hill Dwarf (Player's Handbook)
** Mountain Dwarf (Player's Handbook)
** [[Duergar]] (Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes)
* [[Halfling]]
** Lightfoot Halfling (Player's Handbook)
** Stout Halfling (Player's Handbook)
** Ghostwise Halfling (Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide)
* [[Gnome]]
** Rock Gnome (Player's Handbook)
** Forest Gnome (Player's Handbook)
** Svirfneblin (Elemental Evil Player's Companion, Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes)
* [[Dragonborn]] (Player's Handbook)
* [[Half-Orc]] (Player's Handbook)
* [[Half-Elf]] (Player's Handbook)
** Variant Half-Elf (Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide)
* [[Tiefling]] (Player's Handbook)
** Variant Tiefling (Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide)
** Archdevil Tiefling (Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes)
* [[Genasi]] (Elemental Evil Player's Companion, Princes of the Apocalypse]]
* [[Aarakocra]] (Elemental Evil Player's Companion)
* [[Goliath]] (Elemental Evil Player's Companion, Volo's Guide to Monsters]]
* [[Aasimar]] (Volo's Guide to Monsters)
* [[Firbolg]] (Volo's Guide to Monsters)
* [[Kenku]] (Volo's Guide to Monsters)
* [[Lizardfolk]] (Volo's Guide to Monsters)
* [[Catfolk|Tabaxi]] (Volo's Guide to Monsters)
* [[Triton]] (Volo's Guide to Monsters)
* [[Bugbear]] (Volo's Guide to Monsters)
* [[Goblin]] (Volo's Guide to Monsters)
* [[Hobgoblin]] (Volo's Guide to Monsters)
* [[Kobold]] (Volo's Guide to Monsters)
* [[Orc]] (Volo's Guide to Monsters)
* [[Yuan-ti]] Pureblood (Volo's Guide to Monsters)
* [[Githyanki]] (Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes)
* [[Githzerai]] (Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes)

=== Plane Shift ===
* Human, [[Innistrad]]ii (Plane Shift: Innistrad]]
** Gavony
** Kessig
** Nephalia
** Stensia
* Human, [[Zendikar]]an (Plane Shift: Zendikar)
* [[Kor]] (Plane Shift: Zendikar)
* [[Merfolk]], [[Zendikar]]an (Plane Shift: Zendikar)
** Emeria (Wind) Creed
** Ula (Water) Creed
** Cosi (Trickster) Creed
* [[Vampire]], [[Zendikar]]an (Plane Shift: Zendikar)
* [[Goblin]], [[Zendikar]]an (Plane Shift: Zendikar)
** Grotag Tribe
** Lavastep Tribe
** Tuktuk Tribe
* [[Elf]], [[Zendikar]]an (Plane Shift: Zendikar)
** Joraga Nation
** Mul Daya Nation
* [[Aetherborn]] (Plane Shift: [[Kaladesh]])
* Dwarf, [[Kaladesh]]ian (Plane Shift: [[Kaladesh]])
* Elf, [[Kaladesh]]ian (Plane Shift: [[Kaladesh]])
** Bishtahar
** Tirahar
** Vahadar
* Human, [[Kaladesh]]ian (Plane Shift: [[Kaladesh]])
* [[Vedalken]] (Plane Shift: [[Kaladesh]])
* [[Aven]] (Plane Shift: [[Amonkhet]])
** Ibis-Headed
** Hawk-Headed
* [[Khenra]] (Plane Shift: [[Amonkhet]])
* Sheep-Headed [[Minotaur]] (Plane Shift: [[Amonkhet]])
* [[Naga]] (Plane Shift: [[Amonkhet]])

=== Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica ====
* Centaur
* Goblin
* Minotaur
* Loxodon
* Simic Combine Hybrid
* Vedalken
=== Unearthed Arcana ===
* [[Tiefling]]
** Demonic Tiefling (Unearthed Arcana: That Old Black Magic)
* [[Revenant]] (Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Heroes)
* [[Minotaur]] (Unearthed Arcana: Waterborne, Centaurs & Minotaurs)
* [[Centaur]] (Unearthed Arcana: Centaurs & Minotaurs)
* Viashino
=== Other ===
* [[Grung]] (One Grung Above)

===[[Midgard]]===
* Alseid, (Midgard Heroes for 5th Edition)
* Centaur, Midgardian (Midgard Heroes for 5th Edition)
* Dragonkin, (Midgard Heroes for 5th Edition)
** Edjet or Soldier Dragonkin
** Flame or Fire Dragonkin
** Stone or Cave Dragonkin
** Wave or Tide Dragonkin
** Wind or Storm Dragonkin
* Gearforged, (Midgard Heroes for 5th Edition)
* Ghoul, Darakhul (Midgard Heroes for 5th Edition)
* Kobold, Midgardian (Midgard Heroes for 5th Edition)
* Minotaur, Midgardian (Midgard Heroes for 5th Edition)
* Ravenfolk, (Midgard Heroes for 5th Edition)
* Shadow Fey, (Midgard Heroes for 5th Edition)
* Trollkin, (Midgard Heroes for 5th Edition)
* Aasimar, Midgardian (Southlands Heroes for 5th Edition)
** Alternate Racial Traits
* Gnoll, Midgardian [Southlands Heroes for 5th Edition)
** Civilized Gnolls
** Savage Gnolls
* Lizardfolk, Midgardian (Southlands Heroes for 5th Edition)
** Alternate Racial Traits
* Tosculi (Hiveless) (Southlands Heroes for 5th Edition)
** Alternate Racial Traits
* Werelion ([Southlands Heroes for 5th Edition)

===[[Ravenloft]] 5e===
A 5th edition of Ravenloft was published with WoTC's acceptance on the Dungeon Master's Guild website.

* [[Caliban]] (Heroes of the Mist)
* Dread [[Gargoyle]] (Heroes of the Mist)
* Giomorgo ([[Half-Vistani]]) (Heroes of the Mist)
* [[Dhampyr]] (Heroes of the Mist)

===[[Scarred Lands]]===
[[Onyx Path Publishing]] have taken up the Scarred Lands mantle and have begun to re-write and relaunch it for both 5th edition and Pathfinder.

* [[Asaatthi]] ([[Serpentfolk]]) (Scarred Lands Player's Guide 5e)
* [[Dwarf]], Scarnish (Scarred Lands Player's Guide 5e)
** [[Charduni]]
** Kelder
* [[Elf]], Scarnish (Scarred Lands Player's Guide 5e)
** Drendali
** Ganjus
* [[Halfling]], Scarnish (Scarred Lands Player's Guide 5e)
* [[Hollow Legionnaire]] (Scarred Lands Player's Guide 5e)
* [[Human]], Scarnish (Scarred Lands Player's Guide 5e)
* [[Sutak]], Ironbred (Scarred Lands Player's Guide 5e)
* [[Manticora]] ([[Catfolk]]) (Scarred Lands Player's Guide 5e)
* [[Orc]], Scarnish (Scarred Lands Player's Guide 5e)
* [[Slitherin]] ([[Ratfolk]] (Scarred Lands Player's Guide 5e)

{{D&D5e-Races}}

==[[Pathfinder]]==
* [[Lashunta]] (People of the Stars)
* [[Shobhad]] (People of the Stars)
* [[Munavri]] (Occult Bestiary)
* [[Kuru]] (Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Isles of the Shackles)
* [[Being of Ib]] (Pathfinder Adventure Path: Dreams of the Yellow King)

===Player's Handbook===
* [[Human]]
* [[Elf]]
* [[Dwarf]]
* [[Halfling]]
* [[Half-Elf]]
* [[Half-Orc]]
* [[Gnome]]

===Advanced Race Guide===
* Variant Rules for all PHB Races
* [[Aasimar]]
* [[Catfolk]]
* [[Dhampyre|Dhampir]]
* [[Drow]]
* [[Fetchling]]
* [[Goblin]]
* [[Hobgoblin]]
* [[Genasi|Ifrit]]
* [[Kobold]]
* [[Orc]]
* [[Genasi|Oread]]
* [[Ratfolk]]
* [[Genasi|Sylph]]
* [[Tengu]]
* [[Tiefling]]
* [[Genasi|Undine]]
* [[Changeling]]
* [[Duergar]]
* [[Gillman]]
* [[Grippli]]
* [[Kitsune]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nagaji]]
* [[Samsaran]]
* [[Strix]]
* [[Genasi|Suli]]
* [[Svirfneblin]]
* [[Vanara]]
* [[Vishkanya]]
* [[Wayang]]
* Race Builder with [[Centaur]], [[Drider]], [[Gargoyle]], [[Gnoll]], [[Lizardfolk]], [[Ogre]], [[Gathlain]], [[Kasatha]], [[Trox]], [[Wyrwood]] and [[Wyvaran]] sample races

===Bestiaries===
====Bestiary 1====
* [[Aasimar]]
* [[Drow]]
* [[Gnoll]]
* [[Goblin]]
* [[Hobgoblin]]
* [[Kobold]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Kenku|Tengu]]
* [[Tiefling]]

====Bestiary 2====
* [[Fetchling]]
* [[Dhampyre|Dhampir]]
* [[Grippli]]
* [[Genasi|Ifrit]]
* [[Genasi|Oread]]
* [[Genasi|Sylph]]
* [[Genasi|Undine]]

====Bestiary 3====
* [[Catfolk]]
* [[Ratfolk]]
* [[Genasi|Suli]]
* [[Vanara]]
* [[Vishkanya]]

====Bestiary 4====
* [[Changeling]]
* [[Gathlain]]
* [[Kitsune]]
* [[Nagaji]]
* [[Samsaran]]
* [[Trox]]
* [[Wayang]]
* [[Wyrwood]]
* [[Wyvaran]]
* [[Kasatha]]

====Bestiary 5====
* [[Android]]
* [[Astomoi]]
* [[Caligni]]
* [[Deep One]] Hybrid
* [[Ghoran]]
* [[Orang-Pendak]]
* [[Reptoid]]
* [[Shabti]]

====Bestiary 6====
* [[Monkey Goblin]]
* [[Munavri]]
* [[Naiad]]
* [[Rougarou]]
* [[Yaddithian]]

===Inner Sea Races===
* Default versions of all races from PHB and Advanced Race Guide
* [[Aasimar]] Subraces:
** Idyllkin
** Angelkin
** Lawbringer
** Musetouched
** Plumekith
** Emberkin
* [[Android]]
* Aquatic Elf
* [[Changeling]] Subraces:
** Brine May
** Callow May
** Hearth May
** Moon May
** Slag May
** Snow May
** Sorrow May
** Veil May
** Virga May
** Waker May
* [[Dhampir]] Subraces:
** Ru-Shi
** Svetocher
** Ancient-Born
** Ajibachana
* [[Ghoran]]
* [[Monkey Goblin]]
* [[Lashunta]]
* [[Shifter|Skinwalker]]
** Skinwalker Subrace: Bloodmarked
** Skinwalker Subrace: Coldborn
** Skinwalker Subrace: Ragebred
** Skinwalker Subrace: Scaleheart
** Skinwalker Subrace: Nightskulk
** Skinwalker Subrace: Seascarred
** Skinwalker Subrace: Fanglord
** Skinwalker Subrace: Witchwolf
* [[Syrinx]]
* [[Tiefling]] Subraces:
** Faultspawn
** Grimspawn
** Foulspawn
** Pitborn
** Hellspawn
** Spitespawn
** Shackleborn
** Hungerseed
** The Motherless
** Beastbrood
* [[Triaxian]]
* [[Wyrwood]]
* [[Wyvaran]]

===Blood of the Sea===
* [[Adaro]]
* [[Cecaelia]]
* [[Grindylow]]
* [[Locathah]]
* [[Sahuagin]]
* [[Triton]]

===Ultimate Wilderness===
* [[Gathlain]]
* [[Ghoran]]
* [[Vine Leshy]]

===Planar Adventures===
* [[Aphorite]]
* [[Duskwalker]]
* [[Ganzi]]

===Plane-Hopper's Handbook===
* [[Ifrit]] subraces:
** Lavasoul
** Sunsoul
* [[Oread]] subraces:
** Gemsoul
** Ironsoul
* [[Sylph]] subraces:
** Smokesoul
** Stormsoul
* [[Undine]] subraces:
** Mistsoul
** Rimesoul

===Ravenloft Pathfinder (Fanmade)===
The Pathfinder conversion books for Ravenloft appear as free downloadable PDFs on the Fraternity of Shadows fan-website.

* Ravenloftian Human (Domains of Dread)
* [[Caliban]] (Domains of Dread)
* Ravenloftian [[Changeling]] (Domains of Dread)
* Ravenloftian [[Dhampyr|Dhampir]] (Domains of Dread)
* Giomorgo ([[Half-Vistani]]) (Domains of Dread)
* Ravenloftian Half-Elf (Domains of Dread)
* Ravenloftian Halfling (Domains of Dread)
* Ravenloftian Dwarf (Domains of Dread)
* Ravenloftian Elf (Domains of Dread)
* Ravenloftian Gnome
* [[Catfolk|Paka]] (Quoth the Raven #19)

{{Pathfinder-Races}}