Rules and Sources

Almost all standard 5e rules apply, and all WotC sourcebooks are allowed. In general, Rules as Intended are far more important than Rules as Written, but the DM is the final arbiter on this. If you feel the DM's ruling was incorrect, talk to them after the session and we will look into it. Some of these rules are clarifications of instances where RAI and RAW collide, others are extensions to the base rules.

All homebrew rules and content are subject to balance changes and further updates. This will be done in consultation with the players, with table balance in mind, and never in the middle of a session. Officially published content is also subject to balance changes, but the threshold before official content is changed is much higher than for homebrew (at least for over-performing options).

Character creation

On DnDBeyond, use these preferences for your characters.

While Critical Role content is enabled, the Blood Hunter, Gunslinger Fighter, and the subclasses from Taldorei Reborn are not automatically available.

Homebrew

There are homebrew races and subclasses available for use, and the homebrew spellsword class is also available for use.

Third party homebrew and Unearthed Arcana is not automatically allowed for use, but if there is something from a recent UA you would like to try, talk to the DM. Playing third party homebrew or UA puts a high responsibility on you to know the ins and outs of your features and how they interact with the rest of the rules.

Races

All races are allowed, except for the following:

• Variant human (use the Humans of Estia instead, available on DnDBeyond)
• Custom Lineage (from TCoE), but talk to the DM if you have a specific concept in mind and we might homebrew something
• Legacy versions of the races that were updated in Monsters of the Multiverse
• All the various Dragonmarked sub-races from Eberron
• The old variant races that were printed before the base race:
  • Variant (winged) Tiefling
  • Variant Aasimar
  • Variant Eladrin

If you have trouble thinking of a name for your character, the name generator can provide plenty of inspiration. Don't be too bound by the race selection in the generator, adventurers have all sort of names!

The Customize Your Origin rules (from TCoE) are available to use.

Ability scores

When creating a character, use the Point Buy system to assign your ability scores. This leads to more balanced characters that have a well-defined power curve.

Everyone gets a feat at first level

This opens up a multitude of character builds, making characters more unique from the start. The only banned feat is Aberrant Dragonmark. Feel free to check out the homebrew feats as well, and talk to the DM if you would like one of those feats, as they are not all on DnDBeyond.

Backgrounds

Setting specific backgrounds (from books such as Eberron, Ravnica, Wildemount, Strixhaven), are not automatically allowed. If you like the flavor or features of a background from another setting, talk to the DM and we can almost certainly figure something out. If a background grants a feat, that counts as your free first-level feat, you do not get two.

Personality Traits

Do not neglect the traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws! While they may seem like unnessecary bookkeeping, they can inspire roleplay and help you bring your character to life. Of course, it is okay to mix-and-match options from other backgrounds, or come up with new ones.

You can also look at the ideals of your class, race, and preferred deity for inspiration. These are archetypal examples, and will help your character fit in in the Estian Sea, but as usual you might chose to contrast with the usual.

Your character's personality isn't static and unchanging, and all adventures leave marks on those who go on them. As your character becomes more experienced, their personality might change to reflect this. Just like any other part of your character sheet, you should update what you've written when this happens to reflect your character as they currently are, not what they started as.

Alignment

Alignment follows actions, not the other way around. However, evil characters are problematic in their own right, and require approval by the DM on creation. Remember, you are a protagonist of the story.

You should also consider how your character falls on other scales than lawful-chaotic or good-evil, such as introvert-extrovert or logical-emotional.

Backstory

The primary goal of your backstory is not to define every aspect of your characters past, it is to determine their motivations and personal quests.

It is strongly preferred to make a character from the local area (or who has spent considerable time there) - this gives them a connection to the world, and probably some knowledge that an outsider would not have. For example, if you create an elf, making them a traveler from a far away land is less interesting than if they come from Maeral, Covenant, or Tembridge.

It is also preferable to have 2-5 allies and enemies (with names) that the DM can include in the adventures ahead. If your character has a familiar or other pet, make sure they have a name too.

Make a character that wants to adventure

Your character should be willing to work with an adventuring party and willing to go on heroic quests! Be wary of making a loner who does not care for other people's problems.

Personal Quests

Why are they an adventurer? What made them choose that route in life? Having a clear goal that the character wants to achieve lets the DM weave your character into the story, which leads to some of the most rewarding adventures. Ideally, the resolution will also help them progress as a character. The DM will work with you to integrate your quest in the overall narrative, perhaps by tweaking some minor details and giving you an initial clue to follow.

If you need inspiration for a personal quest, look at the quest hooks. You can also look at the items page for treasures your character might be after (in particular, the paragon items make excellent quest goals). You can also coordinate with the other players in the party to have a shared quest, which can make for a fun bond.

To recap, these are some good questions to answer in a backstory, roughly ranked in order of importance. You do not need to include all of them, especially towards the end of the list. There are also class-specific questions that dive a bit deeper.

• Why are they an adventurer?
• What are the goals that they wish to fulfill by adventuring?
• Where do they come from?
• What do they look like? How old are they?
• What does their equipment look like?
• Who, if anyone, trained them? How long did this training take?
• Which gods, if any, do they worship? Why?
• Do they have some figure of the past that they look up to?
• How do they fight? What types of weapons and spells do they prefer?
• What does their magical powers look like?
• What are some quotes that represent your character's personality?

Ideally, the backstory also provides a reason for the character to have the feat you selected at first level. Perhaps someone who is Fey Touched spent some time in the Feywild, or your Inspiring Leader was a sergeant in a fighting force? Maybe a character with Resilient: Constitution got lost in a snowstorm and had to endure the cold for several days? Some character answers this question automatically: a gruff half-orc barbarian taking Great Weapon Master does not require much additional explanation. On the other hand, if the same character took Ritual Caster, you are going to want to explain why.

The total amount of backstory and character description should be at least 3-400 words. If you are unsure about how to answer any of these questions or have trouble deciding, talk to the DM, and they will help to orientate your character in the world.

For examples of a good backstory, read the character pages for Aurora nan Estiae or Sigyn Spiritspear. If you want, you can also present your backstory in a different way, perhaps as a series of letters or diary entries, but you still need to answer the same questions.

Classes and levelling up

Levels are granted through a milestone system, usually when quests are completed. Very roughly, one can expect levels 1-3 to take one session each, levels 4-5 to take 2-3 sessions each, and then 4-5 sessions per level from there, but this is all up to the dungeon master.

Optional Class Features

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything introduced optional class features for all classes, and all of them are available for use. Additionally, there are homebrew optional class features available for all classes.

Gaining proficiences you already have

If you gain a proficiency that you already have from a different source, you can replace the old source with another choice, if it has other choices. For example, if you are a Rogue with Expertise in Survival and Perception, and you pick up the Scout subclass at level 3, you gain expertise in Nature and Survival. With this rule, you can retrain your Rogue expertise from Survival to another skill such as Stealth.

This rule exists to let characters keep a coherent narrative as they level up. Returning to our example rogue, if you want your character to be a Scout, taking Expertise in Survival at level 1 would be a great way to telegraph your eventual subclass choice.

If you feel that a non-proficiency feature overwrites one of your existing features, talk to the DM and we can probably work something out. One example could be that you feel that you want to multiclassing into wizard, but it would invalidate your Magic Initiate feat.

Multiclassing limitations

The DM has the right to decline you to take a level of a new class if it makes no sense role-playing wise. If you absolutely want to be a barbarian-cleric, foreshadow it a bit, and it will be fine, or talk to the DM if you want a warlock patron etc. This is not a limiting rule, but it is there to make sure that the characters stay somewhat coherent with the story.

If you want to be a sorcerer, it has to be your first class. Sorcerers are born, not learned. It is possible to earn the ability to take sorcerer levels by being subjected to a powerful source of magical energy, but doing so requires adventure.

Character Death and Retirement

Should a character fall in combat, and it is determined that the party does not have the ability to resurrect them, or the resurrection fails, the player can make new character and can rejoin the game at the earliest convenient moment. It is more important to keep everyone playing than to have 100% story cohesion and believability.

It is also not unheard of for adventurers to retire after a particularly big haul of loot, or if their reason for going adventuring has been fulfilled. If the situation calls for it, they might return later.

Creating a character at higher level

If you need to create a character at a higher level, it is advised to step through the levels and make sure the character makes sense for all levels up to the one where you are joining the campaign. This is especially true for learned spellcasters who can switch their spells on levelup, such as bards or sorcerers.

In addition, depending on your level, you may also award yourself the following amount of magic items and gold, in addition to your starting equipment:

Level	Common	Uncommon	Rare	Very Rare	Gold
3-4	1	-	-	-	100 (3d6×10)
5-7	1	1	-	-	500 (3d6×50)
8-10	1	2	-	-	1000 (3d6×100)
11-14	1	2	1	-	5000 (3d6×500)
15-20	1	2	2	1	10000 (3d6×1000)

Plate armor counts as an uncommon item on this table. The DM may disallow any particular choice of magic item. If you have trouble finding items you like, talk to the DM.

Gameplay Rules

These rules govern play at the table, across all pillars of the game: Combat, Exploration, and Social.

Resting and Downtime

In order to slow down the pacing of the story and let campaigns be more epic by spanning longer periods of in-game time, the time it takes to gain the benefits of a short and long rest are increased.

Short rests now take a full 8 hours of downtime, with at least 6 hours being spent sleeping, and no more than 2 hours of light activity. This essentially eliminates the mid-dungeon short rest unless the party can prepare for it accordingly.

Long rests require a full week of downtime in a safe place such as a friendly town, a well-prepared camp, or onboard a chartered ship in decent conditions. During this week, characters are free to pursue downtime activities such as training, item crafting, research, or earning money. A long rest can be interupted by a single day of adventuring without needing to start over.

These resting rules sets the framework for a better paced campaign and provides more balance between martial and magical classes. There is no longer the need for the DM to fit 4+ encounters in a single day to challenge party resources. Instead, the encounters can be spaced out over several adventuring days. It also provides the ability for the DM to ramp up the stakes even higher. Dungeons are absolutely still a part of the game under these rules, but they are higher-stakes adventures, of a length that is easier to prepare and manage for the DM.

Spell timings

While the longer time between long rests is a nerf to spells like Mage Armor, these spells are still good (conversely, some spells like Catnap become substantially better). Magic items which recharge each dusk or dawn also recharge on a long rest instead. Spells which require you to cast it in the same location every day (Nystul's Magic Aura, Teleportation Circle etc) now only require you to cast it once every week instead.

In order to not unbalance spells and keep the slower pace as a tool for pacing and not game balance, the following changes are made to the durations of spells and other abilities:

• Spells with a duration greater than 1 hour and not greater than 8 hours last until you finish a short or long rest.
• Spells with a duration greater than 8 hours last until you finish a long rest.
• Magic items which recharge each dusk or dawn recharge when you finish a long rest.

Note that casting times, including for ritual spells, are unchanged.

Exhaustion

The Exhaustion condition is replaced with a slightly modified version of the rules from the OneDnD playtest version:

• This conditition is cumulative, Each time you receive it, you gain 1 level of exhaustion. You die if your exhaustion level reaches 10.
• Whenever you make an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check, you subtract your exhaustion level from the d20 roll. You also subtract your exhaustion level from the spell save DC of any spells you cast.
• Whenever you drop to 0 hit points, your exhaustion increases by 1.
• You reduce your exhaustion level by 1 each time you finish a short rest, and when you finish a long rest, your exhaustion level becomes 0.

"Bag of Rats" abuse

Features which trigger when you "reduce a creature to 0 hit points" only function against legitimate targets that provide a meaningful threat. Rules as written, these features can sometimes be abused by carrying around a bunch of non-threatening creatures to be able to trigger them at will. The DM will smite you if you try this.

Readying Bonus Actions

When you take the Ready action, it is allowed to ready a bonus action. Examples readying Healing Word for when an ally comes in range, or using Bardic Inspiration on the first ally that makes an ability check.

Haggling with NPCs

While haggling is a part of any business transaction, it is not especially fun at the table, especially for the other players. In order to save time while still allowing the interaction, a mechanic for haggling is added. The mechanic is simple to resolve, and rewards characters who are built to excel in social situations. It also carries a bit of a risk, possibly increasing the price if not successful. While it is most commonly used for material purchases, it is also possible to haggle during other types of transactions, such as quest rewards, bribes, or artisan fees.

If either part in a business transaction wants to get a better price, each party rolls a Charisma (Persuasion) check. The final price is then adjusted in the winners favor by the difference of the two rolls as a percentage. NPCs will honor this price, but players are free to decline it (but might lose their chance at acquiring whatever was haggled for if they do so). The DM might allow you to use a different type of skill check, if you motivate why it applies.

For example, if Archibald haggles when buying an item worth 100gp from Becky, and Archibald rolls a 19 and Becky rolls a 7, the price is adjusted in Archibalds favor by 19-7=12% for a final price of 88gp. If Archibald would have lost the haggling contest, the price would have been adjusted upwards.

The use of magic or other tricks on someone else in order to influence a business transaction is a serious crime, and anyone doing so should be prepared to face the consequences of their actions if they are discovered. Using magic on yourself is not illegal, but is considered unethical, and it is likely that someone who catches you using Enhance Ability on yourself will not want to do business with you.

Rules for martial combat

These rules pertain to combat with fists, swords, bows, and a variety of other implements.

No need to keep track of ammunition

It is just unnecessary bookkeeping. The exception is magical ammunition, which does not replenish itself. The rules for Loading weapons still work the same. This does not apply to thrown melee weapons, which still need to be tracked.

Stowing and drawing weapons and other items

Once one your turn, you can change what you are wielding in your hands, using your free action. For example, you can stow a longbow and draw two shortswords, or swap a warhammer and shield for an arcane focus and a shield. Note that shields still take an action to don or doff.

Two-weapon Fighting

While any character can pick up two weapons and attack with them, doing it effectively takes some specialization. The following rules supersede the PHB rules around two-weapon fighting:

• Light: If you are wielding two weapons with the Light property and make an attack with one of them as part of the Attack action on your turn, you can make an attack with the other weapon as a bonus action, adding your ability score modifier as normal.
• Fighting Style: Dual Wielder: You can make the additional attack from two-weapon fighting as part of the triggering Attack action.
• Giant's Grip: The Giant's Grip feat allows for dual wielding non-Light weapons.

Adjusted Martial Feats

Certain combinations of feats are very powerful for martial characters. These feats narrow "optimal" weapon selection heavily, which leads to less diverse characters. In order to mitigate this, the following changes are made to certain feats:

• Polearm Master: The bonus action attack does not have any of the weapon's base properties. This means that it has a range of 5 feet, and you cannot use Great Weapon Master's power attack on it, as it requires a Heavy weapon. Additionally, tridents qualify for all the benefits of this feat.
• Crossbow Expert: Instead of the bonus action attack, you can reload hand crossbows even when you do not have an open hand. This makes dual-wielding hand crossbows possible, or wielding a Light melee weapon and a hand crossbow.
• Sharpshooter and Great Weapon Master: The extra damage equals twice your Dexterity or Strength modifier, respectively. The penalty is unchanged. This decreases the value of these feats at lower levels.

The full text of these feats, as well as many homebrew feats aimed at increasing weapon diversity, for example Dirty Fighting, Versatile Combatant, or Spellblade, are available on the Feats page.

Earning the Extra Attack feature again

If you gain the Extra Attack feature when you already have it, you can take a feat instead.

Exotic weapons and firearms

Some unusual weapons require special proficiencies to be used, which can be gained through downtime training. Some weapons also have revised properties, including the Keen and Explode properties.

Firearms exist in the world, but are rare and clunky. Talk to the DM if you are interested in creating a firearms-wielding character.

Stacking crit range increases

If you have multiple effects that reduce the number you need to roll to score a critical hit, they stack. For example a level 5 Champion fighter who wields a Keen weapon (such as a Seax), scores a critical hit on an 18.

Administering Poisons

Various vicious toxins can be harvested, bought, created, or otherwise obtained by crafty adventurers. Each dose of poison is enough to poison a single creature, unless it says otherwise. Applying poison to a weapon or piece of ammunition requires a Bonus Action. The poison persists until the ammunition is fired, the weapon hits an enemy, or 1 hour passes. This makes ranged attacks more risky, as there is a chance the poison is wasted. Some weapons, such as a Sun Blade, cannot have poisons applied to them.

Grappling

The following rules modify how grappling and shoving works:

• A character with the Powerful Build trait or equivalent (such as a bugbear or goliath), also counts as one size larger for the purposes of grappling and shoving.
• If a grappled creature is willing, they count as one size smaller for the purposes of whether the grappler is slowed while dragging it.
• A creature can replace any melee attack it makes with a grapple or shove, including opportunity attacks and any bonus action attacks.

Unarmed Strikes and Natural Weapons

Unarmed Strikes are considered to be a simple weapon that deal 1 damage, without any properties, and everyone is proficient with them. If you gain access to a Natural Weapon, you can use it to make unarmed strikes.

Rules around spells and magic

These rules govern the learning and casting of spells. Remember to check the homebrew spells for additional options when you make a spellcaster!

Spellcasting foci and somatic components

RAW, if you have a spellcasting focus in one hand and the other hand is busy, you can cast spells with somatic AND material components, but not with ONLY somatic components. This makes no sense, so it is allowed to cast a S spell with your spellcasting focus in hand and no other free hand. For example, a cleric without any feats with a mace and a shield spellcasting focus (using an emblem holy symbol) could without this rule cast Bless (V, S, M components), but not Guiding Bolt (V, S components).

It is still not allowed to cast S or M spells with no open hands (without the War Caster feat) or no spellcasting focus (for M spells). If you do not have room for War Caster in your build, you can always pick up a Ruby of the War Mage and attach it to a weapon you are wielding.

If a spell has a material component that is consumed, that still needs to be provided with a free hand. If the material component is not consumed, but has a gold cost, a character can usually spend some time to work that component into their spellcasting focus. For example, a sorcerer could spend a short rest (probably less with proper tools) to affix the diamond needed for Chromatic Orb on top of their staff. Ask the DM if you have questions.

Adding components

A spellcaster is also allowed to add extra components at will, such as adding a material component to Cure Wounds as a College of Spirits bards to ensure it qualifies for the level 6 feature, or adding a verbal component to Ice Knife to give an out-of-sight ally something to react to.

Weapon cantrip components

The blade cantrips' M component ('a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp') is also fulfilled by most conjured weapons, such as a Shadow Blade, a Soulknife's Psi Blades or a Pact of the Blade Warlock's weapons. The range of these spells is also doubled by the Spell Sniper feat, making them work with reach weapons if you have that feat.

Noticability of spell components

Casting spells is loud and flashy, not easily hidden unless you invest in features that specifically do so, such as the Sorcerer's Subtle Spell metamagic. Casting a spell at someone without their permission is a very offensive act, especially so with Enchantment magic. If a shopkeeper notices you casting spells in their shop, they are likely to stop providing services to you, and might even call for the guards if they believe you were trying to charm them, much as they would if you were found tampering with the locks to their display cabinets.

Verbal components are incantations of mystical words. They are audible out to a range of 60 feet, and are not 'normal' words able to be woven into conversation with intelligent creatures. In a particularly noisy situation, such as in a large crowd or in a room full of machinery, this radius might be reduced.

Somatic components are large motions, often involving the whole body. Unless you are hidden, a creature that can see you will notice your casting.

Material components must simply be held. They are the easiest component to hide, but not impossible to spot for an attentive onlooker. If a spell only has material components (usually via Subtle Spell), you can make a Sleight of Hand check against onlookers passive Perception to hide the spellcasting from them. In combat, you have disadvantage on this check.

Creatures who can cast spells themselves have advantage on Perception checks, including passive ones, to notice spells being cast.

As an exception, part of the magic of Enchantment spells is designed to conceal the casting from the targets themselves. Targets that fail their save against spells like Charm Person or Calm Emotions do not know a spell has been cast on them while it lasts (refer to the individual spells whether or not their memory returns afterwards). Creatures not targeted, and creatures who succeed on their saving throws against the spells, notice them as normal.

Spell Scrolls

When you cast a spell from a scroll, you can do so without issue if the spell is on your spell list, regardless of spell level. If the spell is not on your spell list, you must succeed on an Arcana check (you can use your spellcasting ability instead of Intelligence if you can cast spells). The DC equals 10 + the level of the spell in the scroll. On a failure, the spell fizzles and the spell scroll is wasted.

Legendary Spells

Some high-level spells are considered Legendary and cannot be simply learned through preparation or selection on level up. The knowledge to cast these spells can only be found through adventuring. They might also require additional components or other complications, again requiring adventure.

The following spells are legendary:

• Geas
• Create Spelljamming Helm
• Magic Jar
• Dream of the Blue Veil
• Create Magen
• Sequester
• Forcecage
• Clone
• Simulacrum : In addition, entities created via this spell can only cast spells up to a level below the level of spell slot used to create them.
• Imprisonment
• True Resurrection
• Genesis
• Second Sun
• Patronize
• Call Dragon

This rule exists in order to encourage adventure, rather than downtime, as the best way of gaining power.

Shield

The Shield is not a legendary spell, but instead of a flat +5 bonus to AC, it now gives you a bonus to your AC equal to your spellcasting modifier. It is otherwise unchanged. Without this change, early-game spellcasters and some gish builds are too tanky.

Silvery Barbs

The Silvery Barbs is not a legendary spell, but it has the following modifications, to make it more balanced:

• The target must be able to hear you and share a language with you.
• A creature who is immune to the Charmed condition is immune to the effect.
• A creature who has advantage on saving throws against charm effects or magical effects in general has advantage on its reroll.

Magic Missile

When you cast Magic Missile, you roll the damage once, and targets of the spell takes one instance of damage (the amount depends on how many missiles they are targeted with). Effects that add flat damage (such as Hexblade's Curse) or modify the damage roll itself (such as the Evoker's Empowered Evocation) are applied to the base damage.

Wish

The Wish spell is not legendary, but its power is not limitless. Wishes beyond the examples listed in the spell are generally not more potent than other 9th-level spells. Using Wish when another spell or effect references it directly (eg wishing to end the transformation inflicted by a Rutterkin) does not incur the risk of not being able to cast Wish again (all other rules still apply).

Resurrection

Returning from death is a major ordeal, and not all souls can endure journeying across the Bifrost. In order to resurrect a creature, it must succeed on a DC 10 Charisma saving throw. The DC increases by 3 every time this save is successfully made. If the resurrection is made with the Revivify spell, it is made with advantage, as the soul has just barely left the body.

If the save is failed, the creature's soul passes to the afterlife and the resurrection fails. Further resurrection attempts automatically fail. The True Resurrection spell bypasses this save, and can be used to revive a creature who failed their save previously. It might also be possible to adventure to the planes of the gods to recover a soul from the afterlife, although it would be an arduous quest.

Summoning Spells

The non-Tasha's summoning spells (Conjure Animals, Animate Objects etc) slow gameplay to a crawl when they are cast. Consider using Tasha-style summons instead (Summon Fey, Summon Elemental etc), as they are far easier to run at the table. If the spells from Tasha's do not align with your character vision, talk to the DM and we can work on a solution.

Familiars and Wildshape

It is allowed to re-flavor familiars and wildshape forms quite heavily. For example, if you want a hamster familiar, you can use the Almiraj statblock. There is also an alternate system where you use customizable statblock templates instead of actual monster statblocks. Talk to the DM if you are interested, or if none of the options feel right to reflavor to the idea you have in mind.

The following statblocks are available to use as a familiar, in addition to the normal shapes listed by the spell:

• Tressym
• Almiraj
• Flying Monkey
• Crawling Claw
• Mephit Familiar
• Red Panda
• Lumin

It is possible to gain the favor of a more powerful entity to serve as a familiar, although this requires adventure. As usual, talk to the DM if this is something you are interested in.

Pets and Magic Items

It might be possible for a familiar or other pet to activate a magic item, provided they have the correct anatomy. If the magic item requires attunement, it needs to be attuned to the master (ie you and your pets share attunement slots).

Gods and Piety

If your character has an especially strong bond to a deity, it is possible to earn piety with that god. Piety is gained by performing deeds in the service of, or that are pleasing to, that deity. Refer to the pantheon pages for more information about the gods and their ideals. You can only earn piety with one deity at a time, and if you seek the favor of a new deity, you lose all your piety with your old deity.

If you gain spells through your devotion to a deity, you choose the spellcasting modifier when you first gain that favor, and you can also cast the spells with your spell slots.

See: Religious Services