Armies require protection, and someone has to put things back together if defenses fail. A combination of protector and medic, a Battle Smith is an expert at defending others and repairing both materiel and personnel. To aid in their work, Battle Smiths are accompanied by a steel defender, a protective companion of their own creation. Many soldiers tell stories of nearly dying before being saved by a Battle Smith and a steel defender.
Barbarians who walk the Path of the Beast draw their rage from a bestial spark burning within their souls. Such a barbarian might be inhabited by a primal spirit or be descended from shape-shifters. That beast bursts forth in the throes of rage, physically transforming the barbarian.
Barbarians following the Path of the Experiment supplement their rage with alchemical cocktails that surge in their bodies through syringes and tubes of copper, steel, and glass. These formulas enhance their ability to channel primal might, or perhaps - because of their rage - they are the only people who can survive the chemicals flooding their veins. A barbarian may have created the implants and serums through their own experimentation, or they could have been subjected to the insidious work of others. Whatever the origin, it could have been well-intentioned and made to enhance or preserve the barbarian's life, or it might have been an unhinged alchemical exploration.
The Path of the Totem Warrior is a spiritual journey, as the barbarian accepts a spirit animal as guide, protector, and inspiration. In battle, your totem spirit fills you with supernatural might, adding magical fuel to your barbarian rage.
Most barbarian tribes consider a totem animal to be kin to a particular clan. In such cases, it is unusual for an individual to have more than one totem animal spirit, though exceptions exist.
Many places in the multiverse abound with beauty, intense emotion, and rampant magic; the Feywild, the Upper Planes, and other realms of supernatural power radiate with such forces and can profoundly influence people. As folk of deep feeling, barbarians are especially susceptible to these wild influences, with some barbarians being transformed by the magic. These magic-suffused barbarians walk the Path of Wild Magic. Elf, tiefling, aasimar, and genasi barbarians often seek this path, eager to manifest the otherworldly magic of their ancestors.
The College of Glamour is the home of bards who mastered their craft in the vibrant realm of the Feywild or under the tutelage of someone who dwelled there. Tutored by satyrs, eladrin, and other fey, these bards learn to use their magic to delight and captivate others.
The bards of this college are regarded with a mixture of awe and fear. Their performances are the stuff of legend. These bards are so eloquent that a speech or song that one of them performs can cause captors to release the bard unharmed and can lull a furious dragon into complacency. The same magic that allows them to quell beasts can also bend minds. Villainous bards of this college can leech off a community for weeks, abusing their magic to turn their hosts into thralls. Heroic bards of this college instead use this power to gladden the downtrodden and undermine oppressors.
Bards of the College of Valor are daring skalds whose tales keep alive the memory of the great heroes of the past, and thereby inspire a new generation of heroes. These bards gather in mead halls or around great bonfires to sing the deeds of the mighty, both past and present. They travel the land to witness great events firsthand and to ensure that the memory of those events doesn't pass from the world. With their songs, they inspire others to reach the same heights of accomplishment as the heroes of old.
Old tales speak of the dangers of whistling: the hollow, haunting pitches call to the spirits of the departed and invite them back to the world of the living. Bards of the College of Whistles take these stories and set them to their own warbling tunes, whistling forth their bardic magic and summoning spirits to aid in their travels. These bards wander even more than most of their fellows, drawn to traveling and gathering both stories and ghosts like patches in tattered clothing.
Gods of the grave watch over the line between life and death. To these deities, death and the afterlife are a foundational part of the multiverse's workings. To resist death, or to desecrate the dead's rest, is an abomination. Deities of the grave include Kelemvor, Wee Jas, the ancestral spirits of the Undying Court, Hades, Anubis, and Osiris. These deities teach their followers to respect the dead and pay them due homage. Followers of these deities seek to put restless spirits to rest, destroy the undead wherever they find them, and ease the suffering of dying creatures. Their magic also allows them to stave off a creature's death, though they refuse to use such magic to extend a creature's lifespan beyond its mortal limits.
The Harvest Domain draws from the cycle beginning with creation, reaching abundance, and ending in culling before repeating endlessly. Deities of farming and crops can focus on one of the harvest's aspects, but most draw from each phase of the cycle. Clerics of this domain are drawn to the cyclical nature of existence, and they often take on roles as shepherds of different cycles.
Druids of the Circle of Spores find beauty in decay. They see within mold and other fungi the ability to transform lifeless material into abundant, albeit somewhat strange, life. These druids believe that life and death are parts of a grand cycle, with one leading to the other and then back again. Death isn't the end of life, but instead a change of state that sees life shift into a new form.
Druids of this circle have a complex relationship with the undead. They see nothing inherently wrong with undeath, which they consider to be a companion to life and death. But these druids believe that the natural cycle is healthiest when each segment of it is vibrant and changing. Undead that seek to replace all life with undeath, or that try to avoid passing to a final rest, violate the cycle and must be thwarted.
Druids of the Circle of the Moon are fierce guardians of the wilds. Their order gathers under the full moon to share news and trade warnings. They haunt the deepest parts of the wilderness, where they might go for weeks on end before crossing paths with another humanoid creature, let alone another druid. Changeable as the moon, a druid of this circle might prowl as a great cat one night, soar over the treetops as an eagle the next day, and crash through the undergrowth in bear form to drive off a trespassing monster. The wild is in the druid's blood.
Favoring the heart of the darkest forests, druids of the Circle of the Old Ways commune with ancient, forgotten entities that lurk within, calling forth truly primeval power to serve as defenders of the oldest and wildest of places.
They harness the power of the Elderwood trees, which are home to the souls of long-dead feyfolk and share their primordial wisdom and might when called upon.
Druids of the Circle of the Shepherd commune with the spirits of nature, especially the spirits of beasts and the fey, and call to those spirits for aid. These druids recognize that all living things play a role in the natural world, yet they focus on protecting animals and fey creatures that have difficulty defending themselves. Shepherds, as they are known, see such creatures as their charges. They ward off monsters that threaten them, rebuke hunters who kill more prey than necessary, and prevent civilization from encroaching on rare animal habitats and on sites sacred to the fey.
Many of these druids are happiest far from cities and towns, content to spend their days in the company of animals and the fey creatures of the wilds. Members of this circle become adventurers to oppose forces that threaten their charges or to seek knowledge and power that will help them safeguard their charges better. Wherever these druids go, the spirits of the wilderness are with them.
Cunning in their ancient art, druids of the Circle of Wicker fashion twig dolls and effigies, binding their magic into these crude forms. These creations often resemble animals, rune shapes, natural symbols, or people. Protective tokens and promises of retribution against trespassers are these druids' stock in trade. You can weave the magic of the land through your wicker creations as boons to your friends and banes to your foes.
The Samurai is a fighter who draws on an implacable fighting spirit to overcome enemies. A samurai's resolve is nearly unbreakable, and the enemies in a samurai's path have two choices: yield or die fighting.
Barrow Guards are warriors who harness the power of the dead, taking upon themselves spectral energies normally forbidden to the living. Some Barrow Guards are those returned from the dead through magical miracles or the whims of the gods. Others stand at the doors of sacred crypts, ready to push back any who attempt to desecrate the dead. No matter their origin, these stoic sentinels are unconcerned with matters of the living. They are separate, other, and duty-bound to their role as crypt-keepers, ensuring the dead - heroes and villains alike - remain at rest.
A monk who follows the Way of the Astral Self believes their body is an illusion. They see their ki as a representation of their true form, an astral self. This astral self has the capacity to be a force of order or disorder, with some monasteries training students to use their power to protect the weapon, and others instructing aspirants in how to manifest their true selves in service of the mighty.
The Way of the Drunken Master teaches its students to move with the jerky, unpredictable movements of a drunkard. A drunken master sways, tottering on unsteady feet, to present what seems like an incompetent combatent who proves frustrating to engage. The drunken master's erratic stumbles conceal a carefully executed dance of blocks, parries, advances, attacks and retreats.
A drunken master often enjoys playing the fool to bring gladness to the despondent or to demonstrate humility to the arrogant, but when battle is joined, the drunken master can be a maddening, masterful foe.
Adherents of the Pestilent Haze draw plague into their very beings, folding it into their energy and becoming one with the disease. Monks who follow this tradition wander, often following or even preceding waves of pestilence. Some walk with caution, their touch measured, unleashing sickness only where dense populations must be culled. Others revel in the miasma spreading as far and fast as possible.
You swore to uphold the law, but found a lord bending it to his own will, using you as an agent of his tyrannical rule. Or, perhaps a goddess of mercy sacrificed you for her own goals, breaking her own ideals you fought to upheld for her. No matter the reason, you did not break your oath; you stuck by it until the very end, until it eventually broke you. But you did not surrender. You fight against the pits of despair looming to draw you in, and draw power from other sources to restore your corrupted ideal to its former glory. Thus is the path of those that uphold their oath by breaking it.
Evil and wickedness are widespread and long-lived, but not infinite. Paladins who swear the Oath of Castigation root evil out to burn it away utterly, giving light to all that is innocent and good. Whether bound by the laws of mortals, their deity, or their own personal code, they relentlessly hunt down evil where it thrives. Paladins of this oath know evil cannot hide in any festering place once it burns.
The Oath of Devotion binds a paladin to the loftiest ideals of justice, virtue and order. Sometimes called cavaliers, white knights or holy warriors, these paladins meet the ideal of the knight in shining armor, acting with honor in pursuit of justice and the greater good. They hold themselves to the highest standards of conduct, and some, for better or worse, hold the rest of the world to the same standards. Many who swear this oath are devoted to gods of law and good, and use their gods' tenents as the measure of their devotion. They hold angels - the perfect servants of good - as their ideals, and incorporate images of angelic wings into their helmets or coats of arms.
The Oath of Perfection is considered an extremist branch of many religions. Found in the worship of many deities of light, their goal is purification through erasure. A blessed being is one in peak form, ready to be sacrificed to the light in searing radiance and holy justice. Known as annihilators in some groups, sentinels of light in others, they are destroyers, and will erase all that fits the right to be.
Grim harbingers wander places touched by death, serving as both a watcher of the dead and the herald of doom for those whose lives are running out. At their side is a guardian spirit and omen of death known as a grim, a constant companion that aids in performing their shared, grave duty.
Some rangers seek to master weapons to better protect civilization from the terrors of the wilderness. Members of the Hunter Conclave learn specialized fighting techniques for use against the most dire threats, from rampaging ogres and hordes of orcs to towering giants and terrifying dragons.
Some rogues enhance their fine-honed skills of stealth and agility with magic, learning tricks of enchantment and illusion. These rogues include pickpockets and burglars, but also pranksters, mischief-makers, and a significant number of adventurers.
You focus your training on the grim art of death. Those who adhere to this archetype are diverse: hired killers, spies, bounty hunters, and even specially anointed priests trained to exterminate the enemies of their deity. Stealth, poison, and disguise help you eliminate your foes with deadly efficiency.
Many rogues walk a fine line between life and death, risking their own lives and taking the lives of others. While adventuring on that line, some rogues discover a mystical connection to death itself. These rogues take knowledge from the dead and become immersed in negative energy, eventually becoming like ghosts. Thieves' guilds value them as highly effective information gatherers and spies.
Many shadar-kai of the Shadowfell are masters of these macabre techniques, and some are willing to teach this path. In places like Thay in the Forgotten Realms and Karrnath in Eberron, where many necromancers practice their craft, a Phantom can become a wizard's confidant and right hand. In temples of gods of death, the Phantom might work as an agent to track down those who try to cheat death and to recover knowledge that might otherwise be lost to the grave.
Vice clings to Sinners like a second skin - cheating, drunkenness, and games of chance are their bread and blood. A scoundrel by nature, sin calls their name, and when whispers of malefic powers reach their ears, they listen. Those powers offer more than temptation; they grant the tools to deceive, steal, and even kill with a precision these rogues never dreamed of.
Perhaps it begins with a meeting in a seedy saloon, a ritual under desert skies, or a cursed temple found deep in the jungle. No matter the road, the end is always the same: Jinxcraft. Through hexes, curses, and foul magic, Sinners cast aside judgment and righteousness. The laws of man and gods are nothing to them. Only the cold comfort of the path of sin remains.
You focus your training on the art of the blade, relying on speed, elegance, and charm in equal parts. While some warriors are brutes clad in heavy armor, your method of fighting looks almost like a performance. Duelists and pirates typically belong to this archetype.
A Swashbuckler excels in single combat, and can fight with two weapons while safely darting away from an opponent.
You hone your skills in the larcenous arts. Burglars, bandits, cutpurses, and other criminals typically follow this archetype, but so do rogues who prefer to think of themselves as professional treasure seekers, explorers, delvers, and investigators. In addition to improving your agility and stealth, you learn skills useful for delving into ancient ruins, reading unfamiliar languages, and using magic items you normally couldn't employ.
Crimson Dynasty sorcerers harness the ancient magic of blood and life essence. They twist and guide the flow of this quintessential energy as a hunger grows deep within them. They manipulate their power to infuse the vitality of others, or they can rip it away and steal it for themselves.
Crimson Dynasty sorcery can be acquired in a variety of ways. Some with this power were born with it. Others were infused with it through a dark ritual or grim event. There are those who discover it through lost secrets.
Consult the Crimson Origins table for a possible origin of your power.
You are a creature of shadow, for your innate magic comes from the Shadowfell itself. You might trace your lineage to an entity from that place, or perhaps you were exposed to its fell energy and transformed by it. The power of shadow magic casts a strange pall over your physical presence. The spark of life that sustains you is muffled, as if it struggles to remain viable against the dark energy that imbues your soul.
Your innate magic comes from the power of elemental air. Many with this power can trace their magic back to a near-death experience caused by the Great Rain, but perhaps you were born during a howling gale so powerful that folk still tell stories of it, or your lineage might include the influence of potent air creatures such as vaati or djinn. Whatever the case, the magic of the storm permeates your being.
Storm sorcerers are invaluable members of a ship's crew. Their magic allows them to exert control over wind and weather in their immediate area. Their abilities also prove useful in repelling attacks by sahuagin, pirates, and other waterborne threats.
Your innate magic comes from the wild forces of chaos that underlie the order of creation. You might have endured exposure to some form of raw magic, perhaps through a planar portal leading to Limbo, the Elemental Planes, or the mysterious Far Realm. Perhaps you were blessed by a powerful fey creature or marked by a demon. Or your magic could be a fluke of your birth, with no apparent cause or reason. However it came to be, this chaotic magic churns within you, waiting for any outlet.
Stumbling upon ancient ruins, or research of ancient texts and scripts, you stumbled upon a seemingly well-maintained crypt, housing an uncannily unblemished statue of gold grandeur. Equally uncanny, it granted you an enticing offer: an eternal life of power. Either by accident, or by choice, you granted access to your body and soul to C'ta-rizh the Accumulator, a devilish entity older than script and man, more knowledgeable than many a deity. It bides its time - waiting, collecting, preserving - to achieve its goals, now with you in its ranks, whether you want to or not.
What horrors and sorrows can't be remedied by maniacal laughter? Warlocks that have made a pact with the Great Fool draw their enigmatic power from a powerful, otherworldly being of jolly revelry, whose twisted sense of humor is lost on mortal understanding. They are a mocking mirror to bring low the arrogant and mighty, though the Great Fool's ultimate designs are often nonsensical and incomprehensible.
You have made your pact with a mysterious entity from the Shadowfell - a force that manifests in sentient magic weapons carved from the stuff of shadow. The mighty sword Blackrazor is the most notable of these weapons, which have been spread across the multiverse over the ages. The shadowy force behind these weapons can offer power to warlocks who form pacts with it. Many hexblade warlocks create weapons that emulate those formed in the Shadowfell. Others forgo such arms, content to weave the dark magic of that plane into their spellcasting.
Because the Raven Queen is known to have forged the first of these weapons, many sages speculate that she and the force are one and that the weapons, along with hexblade warlocks, are tools she uses to manipulate events on the Material Plane to her inscrutable ends.
Whether motivated by desperation or cunning, warlocks that have signed their name in the book of the Horned King have chosen to live deliciously in a pact sealed in blood and a corrupted soul. Bestowed the power of witchcraft by the beast that stalks the deepest woods and darkest hearts, they perfect ancient rituals and weave maledictions toward aims only they know. With each victim of their malign spells filled with rot, hate, and agony, they become more like their patron until they effortlessly wield his kingly might.
You have made a pact with a fiend from the lower plains of existence, a being whose aims are evil, even if you strive against those aims. Such beings desire the corruption of all things, ultimately including you. Fiends powerful enough to form a pact include demon lords such as Demogorgon, Oruc, Fraz'Urb-luu and Baphomet; archdevils such as Asmodeus, Dispater, Mephistopheles and Belial; pit fiends and balors that are especially mighty and ultroloths and other lords of the yugoloths.
Bladesingers master a tradition of wizardry that incorporates swordplay and dance. Originally created by elves, this tradition has been adopted by non-elf practicioners, who honor and expand on the elven ways. In combat, a bladesinger uses a series of intricate, elegant maneuvers that fend off harm and allow the bladesinger to channel magic into devastating attacks and a cunning defense. Many who have observed a bladesinger at work remember the display as one of the more beautiful experiences in their life, a glorious dance accompanied by a single blade.
Focusing on the manipulation of time, those who follow the Chronurgy tradition learn to alter the pace of reality to their liking. Using the ramping of anticipatory dunamis energy, these mages can bend the flow of time as adroitly as a skilled musician plays an instrument, lending themselves and their allies an advantage in the blink of an eye.
Understanding and mastering the forces that draw bodies of matter together or drive them apart, the students of the Graviturgy arcane tradition learn to further bend and manipulate the violent energy of gravity to their benefit, and the terrible detriment of their enemies.
Wizardry urges the relentless pursuit of knowledge that pushes every boundary in search of greater power and understanding, but some boundaries are never meant to be crossed. Occultists care not for these limitations, peering behind cosmic veils, devouring forbidden secrets, and pushing their understanding of spellcraft until reality itself tears open. It is from the strange, alien realms that are revealed which they draw even greater power, shattering all limits no matter the eldritch consequences.
Magic of the book-that's what many folk call wizardry. The name is apt, given how much time wizards spend poring over tomes and penning theories about the nature of magic. It's rare to see wizards traveling without books and scrolls sprouting from their bags, and a wizard would go to great lengths to plumb an archive of ancient knowledge.
Among wizards, the Order of Scribes is the most bookish. It takes many forms in different worlds, but its primary mission is the same everywhere: recording magical discoveries so that wizardry can flourish. And while all wizards value spellbooks, a wizard in the Order of Scribes magically awakens their book, turning it into a trusted companion. All wizards study books, but a wizardly scribe talks to theirs!
Philosophers have focused their study of wizardry on the fundamental nature of existence and reality. They seek the most quintessential truths of creation and manipulate those forces and substances through alchemical practice. Through understanding, deconstruction, and reconstruction, they master the natural energies of the world around them and alter it to their will.
The School of Abjuration emphasizes magic that blocks, banishes, or protects. Detractors of this school say that its tradition is about denial, negation rather than positive assertion. You understand, however, that ending harmful effects, protecting the weak, and banishing evil influences is anything but a philosophical void. It is a proud and respected vocation. Called abjurers, members of this school are sought when baleful spirits require exorcism, when important locations must be guarded against magical spying, and when portals to other planes of existence must be closed.
As a conjurer, you favor spells that produce objects and creatures out of thin air. You can conjure billowing clouds of killing fog or summon creatures from elsewhere to fight on your behalf. As your mastery grows, you learn spells of transportation and can teleport yourself across vast distances, even to other planes of existence, in an instant.
The counsel of a diviner is sought by royalty and commoners alike, for all seek a clearer understanding of the past, present, and future. As a diviner, you strive to part the veils of space, time, and consciousness so that you can see clearly. You work to master spells of discernment, remote viewing, supernatural knowledge, and foresight.
As a member of the School of Enchantment, you have honed your ability to magically entrance and beguile other people and monsters. Some enchanters are peacemakers who bewitch the violent to lay down their arms and charm the cruel into showing mercy. Others are tyrants who magically bind the unwilling into their service. Most enchanters fall somewhere in between.
You focus your study on magic that creates powerful elemental effects such as bitter cold, searing flame, rolling thunder, crackling lightning, and burning acid. Some evokers find employment in military forces, serving as artillery to blast enemy armies from afar. Others use their spectacular power to protect the weak, while some seek their own gain as bandits, adventurers, or aspiring tyrants.
You focus your studies on magic that dazzles the senses, befuddles the mind, and tricks even the wisest folk. Your magic is subtle, but the illusions crafted by your keen mind make the impossible seem real. Some illusionists - including many gnome wizards - are benign tricksters who use their spells to entertain. Others are more sinister masters of deception, using their illusions to frighten and fool others for their personal gain.
The School of Necromancy explores the cosmic forces of life, death, and undeath. As you focus your studies in this tradition, you learn to manipulate the energy that animates all living things. As you progress, you learn to sap the life force from a creature as your magic destroys its body, transforming that vital energy into magical power you can manipulate. Most people see necromancers as menacing, or even villainous, due to the close association with death. Not all necromancers are evil, but the forces they manipulate are considered taboo by many societies.
You are a student of spells that modify energy and matter. To you, the world is not a fixed thing, but eminently mutable, and you delight in being an agent of change. You wield the raw stuff of creation and learn to alter both physical forms and mental qualities. Your magic gives you the tools to become a smith on reality's forge.
Some transmuters are tinkerers and pranksters, turning people into toads and transforming copper into silver for fun and occasional profit. Others pursue their magical studies with deadly seriousness, seeking the power of the gods to make and destroy worlds.
A variety of arcane colleges specialize in training wizards for war. The tradition of War Magic blends principles of evocation and abjuration, rather than specializing in either of those schools. It teaches techniques that empower a caster's spells, while also providing methods for wizards to bolster their own defenses.
Followers of this tradition are known as war mages. They see their magic as both a weapon and armor, a resource superior to any piece of steel. War mages act fast in battle, using their spells to seize tactical control of a situation. Their spells strike hard, while their defensive skills foil their opponents' attempts to counterattack. War mages are also adept at turning other spellcasters' magical energy against them.
In great battles, a war mage often works with evokers, abjurers, and other types of wizards. Evokers, in particular, sometimes tease war mages for splitting their attention between offense and defense. A war mage's typical response: "What good is being able to throw a mighty fireball if I die before I can cast it?"