Chronicles of Aeres
The Chronicles of Aeres is a third-party setting for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition published by Dueling Dragon Adventures, inspired by the classical Heroic Fantasy and High Fantasy works of the 70s and 80s.
In its corebook, its themes are summarized as:
- The Small vs. The Strong
- Magic vs. Ignorance
- The Noble Monster
- The Temptations of Honor
The World of Aeres
Aeres is a young world, as such things go; the gods were walking the lands of men only a few centuries ago. The past century, the so-called "Heroic Age", is the most tumultuous time; only a few months ago (as the corebook is set), the legendary "Dragon of Darkness" was defeated by the draconic protector of Aeres, Saeyos the Silver Champion, after she was was awakened by an unlikely alliance of mortal heroes. The result is a setting of turmoil, as malevolent powers that had flourished under the reign of the Dragon of Darkness struggle to cling to what they had, whilst more benevolent forces seek to rebuild and push the malign influences from the land.
The Immordran
The gods of Aeres are beings known as the Immordran, titanic entities that emerged from the swirling storms of aether that made up all of existence at the dawn of everything and gave solid form to all things. Unlike in other worls, the Immordran mostly appear as titanic animals rather than humanoids, with only Gipta, Aeolas and Orthrak appearing as humans... well, okay, Orthrak appears as a demonic figure, half-skeleton and half-shadow fiend, but still.
Eros, The Bastion of the Sun: Courageous god of Light, the Harvest, Craftsmanship and Fraternity.
Karadas, The Bronze Ox: Stubborn god of Stone, Fire, Steam, Wrath and the Vault.
Lornifas, the Nest Watcher: Gentle Goddess of the World Tree, Maternity, Color and Curiosity.
Ardrisyr, the Hawk of the Boughs: Fierce goddess of the Wild Hunt, the Forest, Wind, and Natural Beauty.
Tolgamyr, the Lord of Beasts: Wild God of the Rhythm of Nature, Abundance, Animal Instinct and Transformation.
Brena the Imp: Trickster God of Illusion, Theatre, Mischief, Riddles and the Sky.
Gipta, Maiden of Fate: Twilight goddess of Fortune-Tellingr, Luck, Starlight and Music.
Aeolas the Chronicler: Stoic god of Dreams, Eternal Knowledge and Wisdom, and Imagination.
Orthrak the Dreamstalker: Grim God of Nightmares, Fear, Shadow, Hunger and the Murky Depths.
Races
Aeres is a race of diverse lifeforms, and many of them are playable. When it comes to mechanics, one unusual thing about the setting is that it takes an approach to racial ability score modifiers halfway between "early" 5e and its later "Lineage" systems; races come with a Natural Aptitude (a +2 modifier to one of three ability scores), and can then place a +1 modifier on any other score they like.
Also, there's a houserule in place that further modifies the Small size: it grants +1 to AC and a +4 bonus to Stealth checks, but inflicts a -4 penalty on special attacks like Grapple and reduces their weight capacity by -25%. The designer evidently hadn't quite studied how skills work in 5e.
Humans: Different nationalities function as specific subraces. These are the Erosir, Ormurians, and Hesmoorians.
Dwarf: Subraces are Gray Dwarf and Frostvaegyr.
Kobold: Subraces are Mystic Kobold and Stygian Kobold.
Elf: Subraces are Silverleaf and Twilight.
Half-Elf and Half-Dwarf
Gnome: Subraces are the Draemyr and Drauglir.
Halfling: Subraces are the Hinterfolk and Wanderlings.
Wilderkind: The family of beastfolk races, created by Tolgamyr. They consist of the following races:
- Bjornvir (bearfolk)
- Draconvir (dragonkin)
- Ekornvir (squirrelfolk)
- Grevinvir (badgerkin)
- Kaeninvir (rabbitfolk)
- Klovir (catfolk - specifially wildcats)
- Mustvir (weaselfolk and otterfolk)
- Raevir (foxfolk)
- Rattevir (ratfolk)
- Ravenvir (ravenfolk)
- Ulvir (wolfkin)
Forbidden Races
As wide as the PC racial options are in Aeres, there are a few races that the DM is advised to prohibit:
- Tieflings and Aasimar don't exist because the iconic fiends and angels of D&D don't exist here.
- Goblinoids (and Orcs, which are a branch of the goblinoid family tree here) are pretty much universally evil, and whilst there could be good specimens, the race has such a universally negative reputation as cannibalistic savages that worship dark powers that they'd basically be killed on sight.
- Gnolls are magic-spawned, inherently evil monsters, and superfluous with the Ulvir anyway.
- Minotaurs, satyrs and fauns actually do exist, but they're native to a different continent and being saved for future expansions.
- Lizardfolk, tortles and grippli (or other frog-folk) don't exist on Aeres, althoug they could represent one-of-a-kind wilderkind.
Classes & Subclasses
Aeres of course has some new crunchy class related goodness to go with its racial offerings.
New Classes
Witch
Dreamcaller
Alchemist
=Restricted Classes
Monks don't exist here.
Rangers cannot take celestials, fiends or fey as their favored enemy.
Due to how dragons work in Aeres, only Draconvir can take the Draconic Sorcerer subclass.
New Mechanics
The Chronicles of Aeres have an abundance of new mechanics to try and make their setting more flavorful. These include rules based on the nature of magic as an expression of the mystical element aether, rules for earning (and losing) divine favor, and rules for temporarily gaining the powers of the mysterious rune-stones scattered around the world.