This step-by-step walkthrough guides you through the process of creating your 1st-level Level Up character.

There are six major steps: Ability Scores , Heritage , Culture , Background , Destiny , and Class . As you work through them, you will build your character's backstory from birth up until the point where they begin adventuring.

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1. Roll or select your ability scores

You have six ability scores : Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.

Generate ability scores

Ability scores are generated randomly by rolling four 6-sided dice and recording the total of the highest three dice on a spare sheet of paper. You continue to do this until you have a total of six numbers.

Choose where you’d like to assign these numbers by recording each next to an ability score.

Variants: There are other ways to generate your ability scores , including a standard ability array (assign 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8 to whichever ability scores you wish) and a point-buy method. Check with your Narrator which you are using.

These ability scores will be modified by your choice of background, later.

Record ability modifiers

Your ability scores correspond with 'ability modifiers'. These are numbers you add to or subtract from your dice rolls when making attacks or ability checks. 

Record each ability score's corresponding modifier.

Ability Score Modifiers

Score	2-3	4-5	6-7	8-9	10-11
Modifier	-4	-3	-2	-1	+0
Score	12-13	14-15	16-17	18-19	20-21
Modifier	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5

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2. Choose your heritage 

Your heritage determines your biologically inherited characteristics. You can choose from several heritages, such as dragonborn , elf , or human .

 

Heritage Traits

Record all of your heritage traits, which include things like size, speed, and special abilities like a dragonborn's breath weapon.

 

Heritage Gift

Choose one  heritage gift. Each heritage contains two or more gifts which help distinguish you from others with the same heritage.

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3. Choose your culture

Your culture tells you where you grew up, and the skills and customs you learned along the way. There are lots of cultures, such as circusfolk , nomads , warhordlings , and wildlings ; and there are some cultures which are usually associated with specific heritages, such as wood elves , and tinker gnomes . Any heritage can choose any culture -- your dwarf may have grown up with forest gnomes .

Cultural Traits

Record all of your culture's traits, which include things like languages, and special skills and abilities learned by those within that culture.

Urthek.  Steamforged  is a fun culture which represents a character who grew up in an early industrial society. A steamforged character gains the traits Mind Like a Steel Trap, Tech Savvy, War Scholar, and Languages.

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4. Choose your background

You now know who your parents were, and you know what culture you were raised in, but your background tells you what your role was within that culture. Were you a farmer , a guard , a noble ? There are over 20 backgrounds to choose from.

Background Traits

Record all of your background traits. These include increases to two ability scores , and proficiencies in some skills and tools, along with a special feature.

Background Connections & Mementos

Roll for or choose one connection and one memento from the lists in your chosen background . These help flesh out your backstory.

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5. Choose your destiny

The final part of your character's origin is their destiny . This tells you what motivates and inspires your character. Destinies include things like Knowledge , Revenge , and Wealth .

 

Source of Inspiration

Record your destiny's source of inspiration. This tells you when you will gain an inspiration die (an extra d20 you can roll when making an attack or ability check ).

Inspiration Feature

Record your inspiration feature. This is a special ability.

 

Fulfillment Feature

Your destiny will tell you what you must achieve to fulfill it, and what special benefits you gain once you have done so. This is a long-term goal for your character.

 

Motivation

Finally, roll for or choose one of the six motivations listed for your destiny, or create one of your own. Along with your background connections and mementos, this motivation helps to flesh out your character.

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6. Choose your class

Now that you have a complete origin for your character, it's time to decide what sort of adventurer they are now. Are you a wizard or a rogue? A berserker or a bard? There are 13 core adventuring classes for you to choose from.

Your class gives you a collection of features and statistics which will round off your character.

 

Level

You start the game at 1st level unless your Narrator tells you otherwise.

Hit Dice

Record your Hit Dice type. This will be d6, d8, d10, or (rarely) d12. This is how tough you are, and tells you how may hit points you start the game with, how many hit points you gain when you go up a level, and many hit points you can recover when you take a short rest.

Hit Points

Record your starting hit points. This noted in your class description, but it is equal to a maximum roll of your Hit Die. 

 

Proficiencies

Your class will give you some armor, weapon, tool, saving throw, and skill proficiencies. Note all of these. You will already have some proficiencies from your culture and your background.

Skill Specialties

At 1st level, you also gain two skill specialties. Each skill has a list of suggested specialties. Choose two skill specialties from skills you are proficient in.

Proficiency Bonus

Note your proficiency bonus . This is +2, as you are a 1st-level character. It will increase when you reach 5th-level. This is an important number which is added to all attack rolls, skill checks, saving throws , or ability checks in which you are proficient.

Class Features

The class table for your chosen class tells you what class features you get at each level. As you're a 1st-level character, you only need to worry about the first row. Record the class features you get.

 

Spells, Knacks, and other Tricks

Most classes also gain some other features, which are selected from lists.

Spells

Characters with spell casting ability will be able to choose one or more first level spells, and a number of cantrips. The class entry tells you how many spells to choose. Only the []bard]], cleric , sorcerer , warlock , wizard , druid , and herald gain spells at 1st level.

Knacks 

Knacks (sometimes called tricks, lessons, and other names) are acquired in a similar way to spells. These generally work in the exploration pillar of the game. Only the rogue , berserker , druid , fighter , and ranger gain knacks at 1st level.

Combat maneuvers

Several classes gain combat maneuvers , which are non-magical martial abilities you can use in battle. If you have access to combat maneuvers, your class entry will tell you at which levels you will gain those. Record the two traditions you are proficient in (selected from the list in your class entry). You should also record your exertion points which are equal to twice your proficiency bonus . Only the fighter gains combat maneuvers at 1st level, and can choose any two traditions.

 

Equipment

Your class offers you two or more choices of starting equipment packages, or you can spend your starting gold in the Equipment chapter.

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7. Final Statistics

There are a few final housekeeping statistics to record.

Defense

Your Armor Class (AC) represents your ability to avoid damage in combat. Normally, you character's AC is 10 + their Dexterity modifier.

If you have purchased armor , the armor entry in the equipment list will tell you what your AC now is. If you have a shield , this gives you a bonus to your AC.

Check whether any of your class features affects your AC.

 

Save Difficulty Classes

Some of your attacks and spells may force your target to make a saving throw to resist it. You have two saving throw difficulty classes (DCs), one used for combat maneuvers , and the other for spellcasting .

Combat maneuver save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier.

Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your spellcasting ability modifier.

Offense

For each weapon you own, you should record its attack statistics on your character sheet.

Attack bonus = Strength modifier (melee) or Dexterity modifier (ranged) plus your proficiency bonus if you are proficient.

Damage is listed in the equipment entry. Melee weapons add your Strength modifier to damage, while ranged weapons add your Dexterity modifier to damage. Some weapons with the thrown property allow you to use your character’s Strength modifier. All attacks also indicate the type of damage they deal. A sickle deals slashing damage while a heavy maul deals bludgeoning damage.

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You can see the final character here.

Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E) is designed to be backwards compatible with the original version of the game. You can use any of your existing (or future) original 5th Edition (O5E) adventures, monsters, spells, characters, and more in Level Up right out of the box. This book, Trials & Treasures, and the Monstrous Menagerie replace the O5E core book with revamped classes and expanded rules, the O5E Narrator’s book with new magic items and rewarding exploration rules, and the O5E monster book with more in-depth versions of the same creatures (plus variants and a whole lot more).

However, in some rare cases, you will find some terminology changes. For convenience, these have been listed below.

 

Some spells have also been renamed. O5E spells which contain proper named individuals in the title no longer contain the proper name (sometimes substituting the word “arcane”). The spell name is the same otherwise. This includes the following spells: acid arrow , arcane hand , arcane sword , arcanist’s magic aura , black tentacles , faithful hound , floating disk , freezing sphere , hideous laughter , instant summons , irresistible dance , magnificent mansion , private sanctum , resilient sphere , secret chest , tiny hut , telepathic bond .

Maneuver DC

Before using an O5E creature in an A5E game, the Narrator should calculate and jot down its Maneuver Defense (8 + proficiency bonus + Dexterity or Strength modifier).

Supply & Magic

In A5E, magic is limited in the amount of useful food and water it can create. Only the following spells in this book create Supply: create food and water , create or destroy water , heroes’ feast . Also, magnificent mansion can support a number of occupants for its duration. If a spell does not specify that it creates Supply, then any foodstuffs that it creates do not constitute Supply.

Additionally, Supply cannot be stored in extradimensional spaces.

If you are using O5E spells, or spells from additional sources, the Narrator will need to determine whether the spell creates Supply. Generally, a spell is able to create a maximum amount of Supply equal to its spell level up to 3rd-level spells, or up to twice its spell level for spells of 4th level or higher. Spells of 8th or 9th level can generally circumvent Supply requirements.

What Isn’t Compatible?

While characters in O5E and A5E can be used alongside each other, and are fully compatible as complete entities, their building blocks are slightly different in each game because A5E was designed from the ground up to provide a wide degree of flexibility and customization.

This means that A5E’s heritages, cultures, and backgrounds are not individually directly compatible with O5E’s races and backgrounds. However, your A5E character can be used in an O5E adventure and vice versa, and you can safely mix and match characters and NPCs from both games.

 

Melee combat is not always an exchange of weapon attacks—sometimes you are trying to subdue, not kill. Other times, you may want to do something else other than damage your target in order to gain an upper hand. Several other basic maneuvers are presented below. The Narrator can use these to help adjudicate other improvised actions, following a similar structure and using similarly weighted effects.

All creatures can use basic maneuvers, even if they do not have access to combat maneuvers. No exertion points are required to use a basic maneuver.

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Basic Melee Damage

When you successfully use a basic maneuver you also deal basic melee damage. This is equal to 1 + your Strength modifier.

You cannot use a basic maneuver to activate any features that deal additional damage (such as Sneak Attack or Divine Smite) unless the feature specifically states otherwise.

Any creature with a Challenge Rating of 0 cannot deal basic melee damage.

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Disarm

You can use the Disarm maneuver to attempt to knock an item or weapon from a creature’s hand. If you are able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this maneuver replaces one of them.

The target must be within your reach and be holding an item (either carried or wielded). The target makes a Strength or Dexterity saving throw against your maneuver DC. On a failure, you deal basic melee damage and the target drops the item in its space. The target has advantage if it is larger than you or holding the item with two or more hands, or if the target is smaller than you it has disadvantage .

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Grab On

While you cannot grapple a creature two or more size categories larger than you, you can grab onto it. By jumping onto its back or climbing up a limb, you can make a Strength or Dexterity saving throw against the creature’s maneuver DC to cling to or balance upon its body. On a success, you move into the creature’s space and can move upon its body as if it is difficult terrain .

While grabbing onto a larger creature, you gain advantage on attack rolls against it. The larger creature may be able to attack you as normal, depending on its limbs or attacks. It can also use an action to dislodge you, such as shaking you loose or bashing you against a wall, forcing you to make a Strength or Dexterity saving throw against its maneuver DC or fall prone into the nearest space adjacent to the creature, taking its basic melee damage in the process.

If the creature chooses to roll over in order to dislodge you, it becomes prone , but you have disadvantage on the check to hang on.

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Grapple

You can use the Grapple maneuver to grab or wrestle a creature. If you are able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this maneuver replaces one of them.

You must have at least one free hand to attempt a grapple, your target must be within your reach, and the target must be no more than one size category larger than you. The target makes a Strength or Dexterity saving throw against your maneuver DC. On a failure, you deal basic melee damage and the target becomes grappled (see Conditions ). In addition to things that end the condition, you can release the target at any time (no action required).

Escaping a Grapple. While grappled, a creature can use its action to attempt to escape. It must succeed on a Strength or Dexterity saving throw against your maneuver DC. 

Moving a Grappled Creature. When you move, you can drag or carry the grappled creature with you. When you do so, your Speed is halved, unless the creature’s weight is within your carrying capacity and you are not encumbered by bulky items.

Freeing a Grappled Creature. You can use the Grapple maneuver to try to free another grappled or restrained creature. The creature grappling or restraining the target makes a Strength saving throw against your maneuver DC. If it fails the saving throw, the grappled or restrained creature is freed. Additionally, you may move the freed creature 5-ft in any direction.

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Knockdown

You can use the Knockdown maneuver to trip or push a creature down. If you are able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this maneuver replaces one of them.

The target must be within your reach and be no more than one size category larger than you. The target makes a Strength or Dexterity saving throw against your maneuver DC. On a failure, you deal basic melee damage and knock the target prone .

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Overrun

You can use an action or bonus action to make an Overrun maneuver to move through a hostile creature’s space by forcing your way past. Make a Strength saving throw against the target’s maneuver DC. On a success, you deal basic melee damage and can move through the hostile creature’s space once this turn. The creature can choose to just let you pass instead of rolling. You have advantage if you are larger than the target, or disadvantage if you are smaller. If you are two or more sizes smaller than the target, you can move through the hostile creature’s space without making a save. You still provoke opportunity attacks if you move beyond a creature’s reach.

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Shove

You can use the Shove maneuver to push a creature away. If you are able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this maneuver replaces one of them.

The target must be within your reach and be no more than one size category larger than you. The target makes a Strength saving throw against your maneuver DC. On a failure, you deal basic melee damage and push the target a number of feet away from you equal to 5 + 5 for every 5 points it failed its saving throw by. You can move the creature in any direction away from you (to the side, forward, or diagonally away).

A creature that is shoved off of a precipice is propelled off of whatever it is standing on—it does not receive any saving throw or ability check to grab onto something to avoid falling down below.

When you roll a natural 20 and succeed on an ability check, or when you roll a natural 1 and fail on an ability check, if you’re using a skill roll 1d6 to determine what special effect occurs. Because of the benefits of ability check criticals, some players may try a variety of easy ability checks to get a critical effect. The Narrator is always the arbiter of these critical effects and can rule that if an ability check is superfluous or insignificant, any resulting natural 20s and natural 1s have no special effect.

Tool Kits. Whether or not a tool kit is appropriate for an Ability Check Critical and for which type it qualifies is at the Narrator’s discretion.

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Arcane

Arcane criticals only occur when an active magical effect is involved. This might be the response to a counterspell or dispel magic , the curious activation of a specific magic item, or interaction with a ritual or permanent enchantment.

When an arcane critical success or critical failure would not apply to the effect that activated it, reroll.

Critical Success

1. Arcane Surge. You gain temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus. These temporary hit points last 1 hour.
2. Comfort in the Arcane. You may take 10 on Arcana checks for the next 24 hours, even if it is not normally allowed.
3. Expanded Use. If the magic item or effect targets a set number of targets, you may add one additional target within range. When this does not apply, reroll.
4. Free Use. If activating a scroll or item with charges (such as a wand), you do not use the scroll or any charges. When this does not apply, reroll.
5. Lucky Magic. You gain an expertise die on Arcana checks for the next 24 hours.
6. Metamagic Use. Choose one minor metamagic from those found in the sorcerer class and apply it to the spell. When this does not apply, reroll.

Critical Failure

1. Arcane Feedback. You take 1 point of damage per spell level. When this does not apply, reroll.
2. Break Device. The activated item gains the broken condition or, in the case of a scroll it is destroyed entirely. When this does not apply, reroll.
3. Delayed Activation. At some point within the next 1d12 hours, the magic device randomly activates. The target is chosen by the Narrator. When this does not apply, reroll.
4. Misaligned Aiming. The device activates, but the target of the item’s effect or spell changes to a target of the Narrator’s choosing. When this does not apply, reroll.
5. Unlucky Magic. You are rattled for the next 2d4 hours.
6. Wasteful Usage. If activating an item with charges (such as a wand), you use 5 charges (even if the device does not activate). When this does not apply, reroll.

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Facts and Discoveries

Includes skills such as Arcana, Culture, Engineering, History, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Religion, and Survival.

Critical Success

1. Doctorate. This subject is one of your areas of study and some of it is coming back to you. For the next 24 hours, you gain an expertise die on ability checks using this skill so long as the check is for similar subjects.
2. Forgotten Language. Choose the language most closely associated with the target (if none or if you already know the language, roll again). If this is your first time getting a critical success with that language, you remember that you studied it long ago. Write down the language. The next time you roll this result, you permanently learn the language.
3. Moment of Revelation. You gain the benefits of a single augury spell (although no magic is involved).
4. Related Expertise. For the next hour, you may add half your proficiency bonus (rounded down) to any Intelligence or Wisdom check that doesn’t already include your proficiency bonus.
5. Relevant Tidbit. You recall some important bit of information relevant to the target.
6. View Auras. For 1 minute, you gain the benefits of detect magic against targets related to your check.

Critical Failure

1. Aggressive Handling. If you are examining something, you either break it or worsen a creature’s attitude towards you (as Gossip). When this does not apply, reroll.
2. Arcane Fatigue. You lose one of your highest level spell slots. When this does not apply, reroll.
3. Boring Topic. You find this topic incredibly boring. For the next 24 hours, you take a –2 penalty on checks against similar targets.
4. Earworm. You are trying to concentrate but all you can remember is an advertising jingle. For the next hour, you cannot gain expertise dice on Intelligence and Wisdom checks.
5. Frightening Revelation. You become frightened for 1d4+1 rounds. There is no direct source of your fear.
6. Misinformation. You are positive of the veracity of some false bit of information.

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Medicine

Critical Success

1. Buffer. The target gains a number of temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus. These temporary hit points last 1 hour.
2. Comprehensive Checkup. The target heals 1 level of fatigue or strife (reroll if neither applies).
3. Expertise. You may take 10 on Medicine checks for the next 24 hours, even if it is not normally allowed.
4. Repeat the Procedure. You may treat your next Medicine check as a natural 20 so long as it is made before you complete a long rest . This does not result in a critical success.
5. Spur Natural Healing. The target’s natural healing improves dramatically. For the next 24 hours, double the hit points the target regains from spending Hit Dice during a short rest .
6. Superb Healing. The target regains additional hit points equal to your proficiency bonus.

Critical Failure

1. Amputate Toe. You accidentally amputate the patient’s little toe (or similar non-vital extremity). Now, how did you do that?
2. Disgusting Procedure. You and the target are poisoned for 1 minute.
3. Harm. The target takes 1d4 bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage.
4. Infect Wound. The target must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or becomes infected with sewer plague (see Diseases in Chapter 12: Gamemastery).
5. Open Wound. The target takes 1 ongoing damage for 1 minute. Each turn the target can use its bonus action to make a Constitution saving throw (DC 20 – 1 per previous save) to stop the bleeding. Any amount of magical healing also stops the bleeding.
6. Organ Damage. The target suffers one level of fatigue.

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Physical Skills

Includes skills such as Acrobatics, Athletics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth.

Critical Success

1. Cool Confidence. You may take 10 on these skill checks for the next 24 hours, even if it is not normally allowed.
2. Impressive Success. You impress others with your physical feat. For the next hour, you gain an expertise die on Intimidation and Persuasion checks against targets who saw your success.
3. Lead the Way. Your allies who attempt a similar check in the next 5 minutes gain an expertise die .
4. Like Wearing Nothing at All. For the next hour, you ignore any disadvantage to Stealth checks gained from wearing armor.
5. Satisfying Exhaustion. You’ll sleep well tonight. For the next 24 hours, double the hit points you regain from spending Hit Dice during a short rest .
6. Speedy. You can immediately use your reaction to move half your Speed.

Critical Failure

1. Fumble. An item held in your hands (Narrator’s choice) gains the broken condition.
2. Jam. You jam your fingers or toes, and for the next 10 minutes your melee attack bonus or AC are reduced by –1 (Narrator’s choice).
3. Loosened Latch. Something you are wearing inexplicably gains the broken condition (Narrator’s choice).
4. Off Balance. You fall prone .
5. Pull a Ligament. Your Speed is reduced by 5 feet for the next hour.
6. Pushed Too Hard. You suffer 2 levels of  fatigue . After 1 round one of these levels of fatigue is removed, and the other is gone after 1 hour.

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Social Skills

Includes skills such as Animal Handling, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Performance, and Persuasion.

Special: When using a disguise kit, the effect of the natural 20 or natural 1 is “stored” until a particularly opportune or inopportune time.

Critical Success

1. Clever Banter. Improve the target’s attitude toward you—someone that was put off might become apathetic, and an apathetic person might become friendly.
2. Friendly Crowd. The target calls over some friends that are friendly to you and interested in what you are doing.
3. Gift. The target wants to give you some small gift outside the scope of this conversation.
4. Good Reputation. After this conversation, the attitudes of the target’s closest allies improve towards you (as Clever Banter).
5. Loose Lips. The target accidentally reveals a useful piece of information.
6. Love Interest. The target may become romantically interested with you.

Critical Failure

1. Accidental Reveal. You accidentally reveal a piece of information best kept hidden.
2. Escalating Tension. The target calls over some friends that are not fans of you and your cause.
3. False Negative. You believe something truthful that the target says to be a lie.
4. Gossip. After this conversation, the attitudes of the target’s close allies worsen towards you. Someone who was apathetic might be put off, and someone put off might become borderline hostile.
5. Suspicious. The target believes something truthful to be a lie.
6. Unfriendly Banter. Worsen the target’s attitude toward you by one step (as Gossip).

Strength

Strength measures the power of the physical body and the extent to which you can use your body to exert physical force.

Strength Checks

Strength is used for any attempt to lift, push, pull, or break something, to force yourself through tight spaces, to jump, climb, or swim beyond your usual physical limits, and to otherwise apply brute force to a situation:

• Forcing a stuck or locked door.
• Bursting out of bonds.
• Tearing a thick book in half.
• Squeezing into a tunnel that is too small.
• Hanging onto a moving wagon while being dragged along.
• Tipping over a statue.
• Holding up a collapsing mine shaft.
• Stopping a rolling boulder.

Attack Rolls and Damage

Strength is one of the default abilities when making melee attacks in hand-to-hand combat. When you make an attack roll using a weapon such as a mace, a battleaxe, or a javelin, you add your Strength modifier to the attack roll and the damage roll. Some weapons, such as the javelin, can also be thrown to make a ranged attack using Strength.

Lifting and Carrying

Your Strength score determines how much weight you can bear. The following terms define what you can lift or carry.

Carrying Capacity. Your carrying capacity is your Strength score multiplied by 15. This is the weight (in pounds) you can carry as you go about day-to-day business. If you exceed your carrying capacity, you are encumbered (see Appendix: Conditions).

Bulky Items. You can carry a number of bulky items equal to 1 + your Strength modifier (minimum 1). If you exceed this number, you are encumbered.

Supplies. You can carry a number of Supplies equal to your Strength score in addition to the rest of your gear.

Push, Drag, or Lift. You can push, drag, or lift a weight in pounds up to twice your carrying capacity (30 times your Strength score). While pushing or dragging weight in excess of your carrying capacity you are encumbered.

Size and Strength. Tiny creatures can’t carry much, while Larger creatures can carry more. A Tiny creature’s carrying capacity is halved and it can’t carry bulky objects. For each size category above Medium, Larger creatures double their carrying capacity, the number of bulky items they can carry, and the amount they can push, drag, or lift. A creature can only be considered a maximum of one size larger or smaller when determining how much Supply and weight it can carry.

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Dexterity

Dexterity measures your physical grace, balance, agility, and reflexes.

Dexterity Checks

Dexterity is used for any attempt to move nimbly, quickly, or quietly, to keep from falling on tricky footing, or to perform physical tasks focused on deft-fingered movements rather than force:

• Sneaking behind a distracted guard.
• Staying on your feet on slick ice.
• Concealing a playing card up your sleeve.
• Steering a chariot around a tight turn.
• Tinkering with a mechanical device.
• Securely tying a prisoner.
• Wriggling free of bonds.
• Crafting a Tiny detailed object.

Attack Rolls and Damage

Dexterity is the default ability when making some melee attacks and most ranged weapon attacks. When you make an attack roll using a ranged weapon like a crossbow, longbow, or sling, you add your Dexterity modifier to the attack roll and the damage roll. When using a melee weapon with the finesse property (such as a rapier or whip), you can choose to use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier.

Armor Class

The armor you wear determines whether you add any, some, or all of your Dexterity modifier to your Armor Class (see Chapter 4: Equipment).

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Constitution

Constitution measures your physical health, stamina, and vitality.

Constitution Checks

Constitution checks are uncommon because the endurance this ability represents is largely passive rather than involving a specific effort. Constitution is used for any attempt to physically push beyond normal limits over a period of time:

• Remaining perfectly still for over an hour.
• Holding your breath.
• Marching without rest for many hours.
• Staying awake for several days.
• Enduring thirst and starvation.
• Winning a pie eating competition.

Hit Points

Your Constitution modifier contributes to your hit points. Whenever you roll Hit Dice to determine the increase to your hit point maximum when gaining a level or to recover hit points during a short rest, you add your Constitution modifier to each dice roll.

If your Constitution modifier changes, your hit point maximum also changes as if you always had the new modifier. For example, a 10th level berserker with a Constitution of 17 equips a belt of dwarvenkind , increasing their Constitution score by 2 (to 19), and likewise their Constitution modifier by +1 (from +3 to +4). The berserker's hit point point maximum increases by 10 hit points (1 per character level) as though their Constitution modifier was always the new value. When they increase to 11th level, they roll a d12 Hit Die adding the +4 Constitution modifier, to determine their new hit point maximum. Should they remove the belt of dwarvenkind afterward, their hit point maximum decreases by 11 hit points (1 per character level) because their Constitution modifier decreases by 1 (from +4 back to +3).

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Intelligence

Intelligence measures mental swiftness and acuity, accuracy of recall, past education and learning, and the ability to reason.

Intelligence Checks

Intelligence is frequently used to recall details of the shared adventure world, representing memory and education—knowledge obvious to a character even if unknown or forgotten by their player. It is also used when you need to draw on logic or deductive reasoning:

• Recalling lore.
• Estimating the value of a precious item.
• Describing an object from memory.
• Forging a document.
• Winning a game of wits.
• Deducing the link between clues and a killer.
• Outsmarting a charlatan.
• Using a little information to appear to be an expert.

Bonus Knowledge

Having a higher Intelligence means having more knowledge than other characters. During character creation, for each point of your Intelligence modifier above 0 you can choose a skill specialty chosen from lore skills (Arcana, Culture, Engineering, History, Nature, Religion). If you are not proficient in any lore skills you either gain proficiency with a lore skill, choose an extra language known, or pick a tool proficiency in one artisan’s tool, gaming kit, instrument, or vehicle.

As long as your Intelligence modifier is above 0, it contributes to the things you know. At character creation, you can choose one of the following benefits for each point of your Intelligence modifier above 0:

• An extra language known.
• A tool proficiency in one artisan’s tool, gaming kit, instrument, or vehicle.
• A skill specialty in one of the following skills: Arcana, Culture, Engineering, History, Nature, Religion.

If your Intelligence modifier changes, it affects your bonus knowledge. When your Intelligence modifier increases, you can choose an additional skill specialty in the skills listed above as if you always had the new modifier. If your Intelligence modifier decreases you must remove the last benefit from your bonus knowledge. If your Intelligence modifier drops below 0, you don’t lose more knowledge than you gained from bonus knowledge.

If you lose bonus knowledge due to a decrease in Intelligence, at the Narrator’s discretion you might choose a new bonus knowledge the next time your Intelligence modifier increases (instead of regaining the lost bonus knowledge).

Spellcasting Ability

Wizards and some warlocks use Intelligence as their spellcasting ability to determine their spell attack bonus and the saving throw DCs of the spells they cast. Intelligence also determines the number of spells a wizard can prepare each day.

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Wisdom

Wisdom measures your attunement to the world around you: your intuition, mental endurance, and perceptiveness.

Wisdom Checks

Wisdom is frequently used to notice details of the shared adventure world immediately around you, representing what you perceive in the moment—the present world obvious to your character as described by the Narrator. It is also used to understand feelings and emotions, read body language, offer appropriate care to others, and discern cryptic omens on an intuitive rather than logical level:

• Calming a frightened animal.
• Noticing a lie from the liar’s mannerisms.
• Predicting an opponent’s next move.
• Providing care for a sick companion.
• Detecting an unusual odor or sound in the air.
• Spotting an enemy waiting in ambush.
• Tracking wild game through thick undergrowth.
• Interpreting a gut-feeling about an upcoming course of action.

Spellcasting Ability

Clerics, druids, and some warlocks use Wisdom as their spellcasting ability, which determines their spell attack bonus and the saving throw DCs of the spells they cast. Wisdom also determines the number of spells a cleric or druid can prepare each day.

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Charisma

Charisma measures your ability to effectively interact with others, including your confidence and eloquence, as well as the power of your personality (be it charming, commanding, or forceful).

Charisma Checks

Charisma is used in social situations to determine first impressions, to fit in or stand out, and to influence others:

• Deceiving a monster of your true intentions.
• Threatening a guard to allow you to pass.
• Engaging in a dramatic performance to inspire a crowd.
• Convincing a frightened child you mean them no harm.
• Haggling with a shopkeeper for a better price.
• Blending into a crowd to overhear rumors.

Spellcasting Ability

Bards, heralds, sorcerers, and some warlocks use Charisma as their spellcasting ability, which determines their spell attack bonus and the saving throw DCs of the spells they cast. Charisma also determines the number of spells a herald can prepare each day.

An ability check tests a character’s or monster’s training and talent to overcome a challenge. The Narrator calls for an ability check when a creature attempts any action (other than an attack) that has a chance of failure. When an outcome is uncertain, it is determined by a roll of the dice.

For every ability check, the Narrator decides which of the six abilities is relevant to the task at hand and the difficulty of the task, represented by a Difficulty Class or DC. The more difficult the task, the higher its DC.

To make an ability check, roll a d20 and add the relevant ability modifier. Apply any other bonuses and penalties, and then compare the total to the DC. If the total equals or exceeds the DC, the ability check is a success and the challenge is overcome! Otherwise, it’s a failure.

A failed ability check means a creature either makes no progress toward its objective or makes progress but with a setback determined by the Narrator.

Typical Difficulty Classes

Task Difficulty	DC
Very easy	5
Easy	10
Medium	15
Hard	20
Very hard	25
Nearly impossible	30

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USING SKILLS

When a character attempts an ability check, the Narrator may decide that a specific skill is relevant to the check. If a character is proficient in that skill, they may add their proficiency bonus to their ability check. For instance, if a character is attempting to fool a palace guard, the Narrator might call for a Charisma check using the Deception skill. For this ability check, a character proficient in the Deception skill may add their proficiency bonus to their ability check. A character not proficient in Deception simply makes a Charisma check.

Any skill can be used with any ability check, although some pairings are more common than others. For instance, the Deception skill is commonly used with Charisma ability checks, although a character who is attempting to encode a written message might instead make an Intelligence check using the Deception skill.

Sometimes the Narrator will ask for an ability check using a certain skill: for instance, “Make a Charisma (Deception) check.” Other times, a Narrator may ask for an ability check, and a player might ask whether one of their skills applies to the check. The Narrator is the sole arbiter of which skill, if any, applies to an ability check.

Skill Checks

The rules sometimes refer to a check with a skill but no ability specified—for example, “Your character has advantage on Deception checks.” This refers to all ability checks using the Deception skill regardless of which ability score is used.

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Passive Checks

A passive check is a special kind of ability check that doesn’t involve any die rolls, instead representing any of the following circumstances:

• The average result for a task done repeatedly or continuously, such as taking in the details of a room on first sight.
• When a character is under no pressure and can take as long as they need, such as opening a locked chest in a safe location during downtime.
• To determine a character’s knowledge or awareness (possibly in secret) without rolling dice, such as recalling a local culture’s legend or noticing an ambush.

To determine a character’s total for a passive check, add 10 + all the modifiers that normally apply to the check.

If the character has advantage on the check, add 5, and if they have an expertise die add 3. If the character has disadvantage , subtract 5.

The most common use of a passive check is a passive Wisdom (Perception) check. When a character first experiences a new scene or location, the Narrator describes what they sense based on their perceptiveness. A highly perceptive character might automatically detect dangers a less perceptive character wouldn’t notice, such as hidden opponents or traps.

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Contests

Sometimes one creature’s efforts are directly opposed by another’s. This happens when two or more creatures are attempting the same thing but only one can succeed (trying to snatch a fallen magic ring from the floor) or when a creature’s actions are trying to prevent another from accomplishing a goal (such as when an adventurer is holding shut a trapdoor while a monster is trying to force it open). In these situations the outcome is determined by contested ability checks—a contest.

Participants in the contest make ability checks appropriate to their efforts and use an ability score chosen by the Narrator. They apply bonuses and penalties, but instead of comparing the total to a DC they compare the totals of their checks. The participant with the higher check wins the contest, either succeeding at their action, or preventing the other from succeeding.

If the contest has a tied result the situation remains the same as it was before the contest—neither creature grabs the ring and the adventurer keeps the door closed.

An initiative check  is a type of contested ability check to determine the order of action during an encounter.

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Critical Success and Failures

When a creature rolls an ability check and gets a natural 20 or a natural 1 on the dice, it has a critical success or critical failure and there is an additional effect to the outcome of the action. Refer to Table: Ability Check Criticals at the end of this chapter to determine the additional effect.

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Advantage, Disadvantage, and Expertise

When the Narrator asks for an ability check, it might be modified by circumstances, spells, features, or traits that grant advantage (roll twice and use the higher result), disadvantage (roll twice and use the lower result), or expertise dice . 

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Working Together

Sometimes two or more characters work together to attempt a task. The character leading the effort can make an ability check with advantage , reflecting the help provided by other characters. In combat, this requires the Help action.

A character can’t attempt to help with a task that they couldn’t attempt alone. For example, trying to research a series of Draconic texts for a clue to a lost treasure is only possible if you can read the language. A character unable to read Draconic isn’t able to help with the research. Likewise, a character can help only when two or more individuals working together would actually be productive. Some tasks (such as picking a lock) are no easier with help.

Group Checks

When all individuals in a scene are attempting the same thing as a group, such as climbing a cliff or sneaking up on an enemy camp, the Narrator calls for a Group Check .

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Proficiency Bonus

Every creature has a proficiency bonus determined by its level (for PCs) or its challenge rating (for monsters and most NPCs). The bonus is used for ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls when a creature has a relevant proficiency.

When applicable, you add your proficiency bonus to a d20 roll. If two different rules say you can add your proficiency bonus to a roll, you still only add the bonus once.

Some rules might modify your proficiency bonus before it is applied to a roll; for example, a bard’s Jack-of-All-Trades feature halves the proficiency bonus before it is applied to ability checks where the bard wouldn’t usually add the proficiency bonus  at all. If multiple rules modify the proficiency bonus in the same way, you still only modify it that way once.

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Saving Throws

A saving throw (sometimes called a save) represents an attempt to resist an effect being forced upon your character such as a spell, a trap, a poison, a disease, or similar threat. You don’t normally decide to make a saving throw; you make one because you’re at risk of harm. Although you typically will not want to, you can always choose to fail a saving throw.

Hidden away inside trapped chests in ancient and forgotten tombs, hoarded by monsters, and prized by societies that have been changed by their presence, magic items are an essential part of Level Up. Although it’s possible for a Narrator to mount an entire campaign without them, adventurers acquiring enchanted gear is a pivotal and fun part of the game, granting access to abilities and prowess that can help them change the very course of history.

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Category

Every magic item falls into one of the following categories: armor, potion, ring, rod, scroll, staff, wand, weapon, or wondrous item. In addition, some items are more particular and use a set of general rules specific to a subcategory like gear gremlins or patron tokens.

Charms

Charms are magic items that can be attached to a nonmagical item (like a bracelet or necklace) or worn as an earring. A charm attached to a magic item confers no benefits unless its rarity is greater, in which case the magic item the charm is attached to confers no benefits.

Gear Gremlins

Gear gremlins are Tiny magical quasi-real creatures summoned through technomancy to fulfill a purpose, and each is ethereal and unable to interact with objects on the Material Plane—except for their housing items and items they were specifically designed to interact with. A gear gremlin has Armor Class 10 and 1 hit point, though it can only be damaged by creatures on the Ethereal Plane or by creatures who can specifically affect creatures on the Ethereal Plane. Gear gremlins have limited intelligence and can speak Common, though they typically only converse about subjects that relate to their purpose.

Patron Tokens

Familiars, tomes, and weapons are among the most impressive gifts otherworldly patrons grant their servants—other things are simply baubles designed to delight or unsettle the recipient and those around them. Warlocks typically receive these tokens after completing a significant task, such as when they defeat the patron’s enemies or further its interests in the mortal realm. A servant may deliver it directly, or a gift may appear mysteriously among the warlock’s belongings while their attention is focused elsewhere.

Patron tokens function only for the warlock who receives them. Though the flavor of the items presented here suggests the type of otherworldly patron that might grant them, Narrators can adapt the descriptions to make them more suitable for characters of a different stripe. For example, a warlock with a fiendish patron may receive a confidante’s journal bound in demon flesh, while a fey might grant their servant a seven-sided coin stamped with images of fey creatures.

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Rarity

Magic items range from small things that are surprisingly useful to potent relics of unimaginable power. The availability of a magic item, as well as its lowest and highest possible price, are determined by its rarity. More common magic items might be found among the kit of many adventurers, while rare magic items can only be afforded by successful adventurers or wealthy nobles, and legendary magic items are just that—the stuff of legends. 

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Cost

Each magic item is also listed with a suggested cost for purchase, though the Narrator may choose to reduce or increase the price of any piece of enchanted gear depending on the campaign.

Magic Item Costs

Rarity	Low Price	High Price
Common	2 gp	100 gp
Uncommon	101 gp	500 gp
Rare	501 gp	5,000 gp
Very Rare	5,001 gp	50,000 gp
Legendary	50,001 gp	500,000 gp
Artifact	-	-

 

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Attunement

The magical properties of some magic items are locked away until they have linked to the creature bearing them, bonding the energies of both together into attunement. Certain pieces of enchanted gear have prerequisites that must be met before they can be attuned to, such as levels in a class. In the case of monsters attuning to an item, they must have spell slots and have access to the prerequisite class spell list. Any creature able to cast one spell qualifies as a spellcaster for the purposes of attunement.

Magic items that require attunement are treated as mundane unless they are described otherwise—a magic sword is still a magic sword, but if it requires attunement it does not deal magical damage or confer its other properties until the creature wielding it has attuned to the blade. 

The process of attunement requires a creature to finish a short rest where all it does is remain in physical contact with and focus upon the magic item. This could mean practicing with a magic weapon, concentrating on the details of a wondrous item, referencing arcane tomes, or praying for guidance. An interrupted short rest ruins the attempt to attune to the magic item. Once attuned the creature intuitively knows how to activate the magic item and any command words, but not if it is cursed (or how it is cursed).

Unless it has a feature or trait that allows it, a creature can be attuned to a maximum of three magic items at a time. Attempts to attune to additional magic items fail until the creature ends one of its attunements first. In addition, it is impossible to attune to two identical items at the same time—a creature can only attune to a single ring of protection. 

The most common method to end an attunement is by finishing a short rest focused on the item, but it can also be ended in the following ways: the magic item is more than 100 feet away from the creature for 24 hours, the creature no longer meets the attunement prerequisites, or the creature dies.

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Identifying Magic Items

A magic item that requires attunement can have its properties identified by a creature that attunes to it, but otherwise learning what a piece of enchanted gear is and what it can do is the remit of learned minds or magic like the identify spell. Identifying a magic item is similar to the process for attuning to one and requires just as much concentration. A creature can spend a short rest inspecting a magic item, making an ability check at the end against a DC based on the magic item’s rarity (see Table: Identifying Magic Items) after searching its memories for references as it scrutinizes the magic item for clues. The type of the ability check and any skills used for it are at the Narrator’s discretion, determined by the magic item and its origins, but often include Arcana, Culture, History, Nature, or Religion. On a success, at the end of the short rest the creature recognizes what the magic item is and remembers any command words it might require. Whether or not a magic item is cursed requires a success by 10 or more.

Recognizing Artifacts. Extremely potent relics are literally items of myth and even when it might not be immediately recognized for what it is, the countless tales about an artifact make it easy to recognize without all of its secrets laid bare. 

Identifying Magic Items

Rarity	Check DC
Common	10
Uncommon	13
Rare	16
Very rare	19
Legendary	22
Artifact	Special

 

Curses

Remember that most methods of identifying magic items, including the identify spell, fail to reveal an item's cursed properties so they offer an opportunity to surprise adventurers when the curse is revealed. When describing the items, it’s important for Narrators to highlight their extraplanar connections as the party may be justifiably wary of items with aberrant, fiendish, or otherwise questionable connections.

The curses included with certain magic items in this chapter focus on story possibilities rather than mechanical consequences, and the Narrator can choose to ignore them if their implementation would distract rather than engage the party. Likewise, these items are specific to the adventurer that acquires them and they cannot be sold (even if they were bought).

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Wearing and Wielding Magic Items

In order for a magic item to function properly it must be worn or wielded as the item intended: feet in boots, hands in gloves, heads under hats or inside helmets, fingers in rings. Magic armors and shields only work when they are donned, weapons have to be wielded, and cloaks fastened around a creature’s shoulders. 

Unless noted otherwise, a worn magic item automatically stretches or shrinks to match the size and shape of the creature wearing it. When a nonhumanoid creature attempts to wear a magic item, it’s up to the Narrator whether it works or not—a merfolk can certainly use rings and amulets, but probably not a pair of enchanted boots.

Multiple Magic Items of the Same Type

Most creatures have only two legs and one head so usually a creature can only make use of a single pair of boots and one hat or helmet. Whether or not more than one item can be worn in the same spot is at the Narrator’s discretion. For example, an ettin (which has two heads) might be able to wear two magic hats, or a half-elven mage may be allowed to wear a magic circlet beneath an enchanted helmet.

Paired Magic Items

When a magic item is described as a pair—boots, bracers, gauntlets, gloves—any properties it grants only function when the full set is worn. For example, an adventurer wearing one half of bracers of defense and one half of bracers of archery doesn’t gain the benefits of wearing either. 

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Activating Magic Items

There are magic items that require something special to function, like speaking a command word while holding it. Each magic item’s description provides details on how it is activated, otherwise using the following rules.

Note that the Use an Item action does not apply to magic items—any item that requires an action to activate is treated as its own separate action, not the Use an Item action.

Charges

Magic items often have charges which must be expended to activate one or more of their properties. How many charges the magic item has is revealed either when a creature attunes to it or after a casting of the identify spell. In addition, when an attuned magic item regains charges the creature attuned to it knows how many charges have been regained.

Command Words

Command words are specific words or phrases that when spoken cause a magic item to use one of its properties. Magic items that require a command word to be spoken can’t be activated in the area of a silence spell or other circumstance where sound is prevented.

Consumables

Magic items can also be used up when activated—elixirs and potions have to be swallowed, oils applied to an item or creature’s body, arcane or divine script disappearing as it is read from a spell scroll, and so on. A consumable magic item loses its magic after being used.

Spells

Many magic items grant the creature using them the ability to cast one or more spells. Unless stated otherwise, a spell cast from a magic item is cast at the lowest possible spell level, and it requires no components or spell slots. The spell uses its normal rules unless the item describes a change to how the spell functions, and if it requires concentration the creature must maintain concentration on the spell. Some magic items (like potions) simply grant the benefits of a spell, with its usual duration, without requiring the spell be cast or for the creature to concentrate. 

When a staff or other magic item requires a creature to use its own spellcasting ability and it has more than one spellcasting ability, it chooses which to use. A creature without a spellcasting ability that uses such an item cannot use its proficiency bonus and it treats its spellcasting ability modifier as +0.

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Enchanted Trinkets

Level Up has a plethora of common and uncommon magic items that cost 150 gold or less. Narrators shouldn’t be afraid or wary of rewarding the adventurers with these innocuous enchanted trinkets—they are perfectly suited for enhancing the roleplaying experience without introducing an unbalancing element to the game. Unless the party are in a metropolis known for its arcana or divinity, most shops specializing in magic items will only have a few more expensive pieces but plenty of enchanted trinkets.

Religion is an indispensable facet of most fantasy worlds, taking imagination into the inner depths of the soul and out into the vast reaches of the multiverse. Like culture and heritage, personal beliefs are a critical part of a character’s identity, and the religious landscape in which they find themselves is often riddled with the seeds of adventure. People’s fundamental beliefs, hopes, and fears often drive them to the dire straits which are the stuff of legend.

Using the modest toolbox in this section, Narrators can reinforce the themes of their campaign and build numinous encounters which allow the characters (and their players) to reflect on their innermost heart. This section is not a definitive study on how religion works in any campaign setting—it is a humble starting point in exploring the same questions which challenge even the greatest storytellers.

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Religion Types

All religions, both in real-life and fantasy, are extraordinarily complex. No religion is as simple as a list of gods in a pantheon and their respective departments. Even so, Narrators need not be scholars and a list of gods and ideologies is a fair start at creating a religiously rich and diverse setting.

Consider the various types of traditions. Some religions very clearly represent a single type—such as the religion of most druids, which is nature worship. Other religions are more complex and may be a hybrid of many types. Norse mythology, for example, might be thought of as a combination of nature worship, folk hero worship, and a cosmic warfare religion. Although that is a simplification, the point is that even briefly reflecting on a religion’s type can add profound depth to a setting's religious landscape.

It is also important to consider how the religion is organized. Is it a loose collection of spiritual beliefs held by a cultural or ethnic group? Is it a powerful movement with a centralized (or decentralized) authority base? Or does this belief system shun ideas like oversight and dogma, preferring congregations or individuals to make their own choices? These facets will likely be tied to how the faith uniquely lives out its type.

Ascended Hero Worship and Religions

People pass down tales of unbelievable and miraculous historical events through generations. These stories speak of folks of humble origin saving a family from drowning via astral projection, remaining loyal in the face of execution, or using one brilliant strategy after another to help the rebellion succeed. In time these legendary figures become revered not only in literature or art, but also in faiths, spirituality, and religions. 

Explanations for how folk heroes come to possess divine power can vary. Some say that they became a candidate in life (or possibly death), which is then confirmed by succeeding a series of challenges put before them. Another might say the supernatural powers they accumulated help them surpass their mortal limits. Lastly there is the theory that the collective belief of others in the individual leads to the god’s enlightenment or ascendancy. Some gods take their station long before the call of death, effectively becoming immortal, while others only take their stations after their passing from the corporeal realm.

Unlike those of pure divine or spiritual origin, a once-mortal deity has experienced the trials, tribulations, and vices of the mortal world. This can impact their view of mortal affairs and how they intervene when called upon to aid one, if they decide to do so at all. Some gods become so involved that they manifest via incarnation, or even reincarnation. Others, meanwhile, prefer to distance themselves from the complicated and intricate politics of people and relations.

When creating religions that are centered on the worship of folk heroes, in addition to brainstorming how they are worshiped and by whom, ask the following questions: what is this deity’s life story? What did they become known for? How did they subsequently become a deity? What led to people worshiping them? Was it miracles, visionary prophecies, or were they already on the divine pedestal in life? How did becoming a god affect who they are, how they act, and what they think?

Ascended Pantheon Examples

Centuries ago the Righteous Five went head to head against an evil lich overlord looking to conquer the world, sacrificing their lives to save all from the undead scourge. Each of the five is associated with a day of the week, with the sixth day associated with the final battle against their enemy, and the seventh and last day associated with the day they were laid to rest. Below are two of the gods described in detail:

Josfen the Harbinger, iconically represented as a human rogue, is the first of the five. As the sole survivor of an undead outbreak in the frontier lands, Josfen spent much of his life dedicated to seeking out rumors of the undead in order to eradicate them before they rise in unmanageable numbers. It is through his vigilance that signs of an undead legion were discovered. In modern times, common folk worship Josfen to ask for premonitions of an action they plan to take, or for him to grant them vigilance towards possible danger, while his temples continue the mission of rooting out undead wherever they rise.

Serafina the Silver-Tongued is one of the better documented gods out of the five, for she was a member of a major elven noble family in life. She is linked with the third day of the week. As the eldest child of a well-known diplomat, Serafina served as an emissary herself for a time before becoming a royal consort, then ascending to the throne as Queen Adeline III. Serafina is credited by many nations for settling the historical grudges of many nations to unite each under a single banner against the undead army. As a goddess she is associated with the art of speechcraft, rising in status and power, and the achievement of peace between groups. Many of her temples are built by aristocrats hoping such tributes will allow them to continue to prosper—these sacred places are often used to settle disputes with her clergy being trained in handling various legal or personal settlements.

Example Folk Heroes

• Margthran the Scholar: Dwarves, Invention, Knowledge, Magic, Research | Good
• Gurerdin the Goldcount: Accountability, Commerce, Currency, Numbers, Orcs | Good
• Sharlthiss the Redeemed: Death, Dragonborn, Morality, Redemption, Undead | Lawful

Nature Worship

People’s views of the wilderness have always been shaped by how much control they feel they have over it. If it cannot be dictated by will, it is doubted. If it cannot be predicted, it is regarded with vigilance. If it threatens the stability of society and life, it is revered—sometimes out of respect, sometimes out of fear. 

In time this leads to the worship of nature itself, which can gradually change and end up expressing fundamentally similar ideas that look very different from one another. For example, while one culture might worship nature via a god that is an anthropomorphized sky, another may worship the sky as an entity by itself. Both groups of worshipers may pray out of the same desire, such as mild and pleasant weather and plentiful harvests.

If nature worship makes an appearance in the campaign setting, consider the following questions: is nature worshiped as a single entity or as several entities? Does nature answer the call of its believers? If it does, how strong of a response is it and how does that manifest?

Nature Worship Example

The hardy Stoneworthy live in a region of the world where metal is scarce and believe that nature is a singular powerful entity named Ratuk, a being who bends all of reality. Each life and matter in existence (even those others call gods) is a part of Ratuk that has been discarded in its pursuit for perfection. Though death may temporarily unify a soul with Ratuk, if one has not undergone sufficient trials to perfect themselves, they will be discarded and born anew.

Perfection under Ratuk is defined as remaining clear-headed and in control of one’s thoughts, attitudes, and actions while experiencing intense emotions associated with the desire to survive. This can be the fear felt when starving while traveling through barren lands, or anger at getting injured while hunting a dangerous predator. That said many are all too aware of the perilous nature of such situations, and it is considered unwise to intentionally seek out such opportunities. Most believe that such chances can only be granted by the reality-warping Ratuk itself. To encounter hardships is seen as having Ratuk’s expectations placed upon one’s shoulders.

Those who have survived multiple such encounters become widely known as Wildspeakers. Often heavily wounded and permanently injured by their experiences, they are seen as those ready to rejoin the great Ratuk, though they have been tasked with remaining mortal to act as a way to communicate with the people. In many communities Wildspeakers are respected healers or diviners that interpret various weather events or anomalies as omens.

Cosmic Warfare Religions

These faiths believe in or are involved with a millennia-long spiritual struggle for control of the multiverse, worshiping one (or many) of the various interplanar entities and factions vying for domination. Amid this grand battle the mortal realms are often considered relatively safe zones—but in truth the Material Plane is the site of many spiritual proxy-battles. Nobody knows when a world might draw the attention of intergalactic forces better left forgotten.

The cosmological horror of cosmic war positions religion as a natural psychological defense. Even if time begins and ends with the gods at war, that is no reason to live with the fact in the center of one’s spiritual life. The psychological benefit of these faiths is that the faithful can devote their life to a god and that god’s laws, and in doing so live with a sense of security and integrity.

As for the gods, seemingly beneficent entities reveal themselves to mortals and provide for them—they may or may not ask for worship and undying loyalty in return. Some seekers of knowledge and power petition entities who never pretended to have the Material Plane’s best interest at heart. Other beings who have nothing to do with the cosmic war may misrepresent themselves to mortals with canny deceptions or seductive lies. And some deities keep cosmic war a secret from their followers, suppressing any revelations of their activities.

When thinking about a fantasy religion that might be this type, consider whether or not the religion’s main appeal is that supernatural forces are here to protect mortals and their world from other supernatural forces. If they are, what is this tradition’s history regarding cosmic war? Is the Material Plane born from the blood and bones of slain gods, or is it a precious speck of dust that deities deign to protect? What are the forces of destruction—fiends, elementals, undead, or something else? Are they banished, sealed, or barely kept at bay? How do all these things fit into the religion's moral norms? What is the reward for loyalty and obedience?

No matter the specifics of your campaign’s cosmology, consider how that aspect affects the religious life of everyday people. How do the stories of the origin, fate, and meaning of the multiverse play out in daily life? 

Philosophies

Some religions did not begin as beliefs but rather as philosophies meant to dictate how one should view life and existence, and the appropriate behaviors that should reflect such views. These philosophies may arise to explain or criticize various societal issues, and serve to point out solutions to solve or prevent such problems. The rules dictated by these philosophies can encompass various aspects of life, from laws by which a sovereign should govern to simple acts of compassion and charity.

In addition, philosophies often provide an explanation of the cosmology and existential purpose of the world to go in tandem with their rules. From explaining how souls can reincarnate or what purpose the world was created for, each philosophy defines how the world works and uses such definitions to dictate whether certain acts or ideas should be perceived as good or evil, natural or aberrant, proper or inappropriate.

Much like other belief systems, philosophies can become ritualized and ingrained into a culture. Over time it may look like any other religion in all but origin. Such processes often take centuries, if not longer, and often involve various societies interpreting the philosophy for their own benefit. For example, it’s not unusual for philosophies to be co-opted by rulers if it means that they will have better control over the populace.

When creating a philosophy which might appear in the world, consider the following: who is or are the primary philosophers, and what influenced them to form this school of thought? What effect did they want it to have on society? What is the philosophy’s central idea? What values does the philosophy hold as greatly important or good? What behaviors and thoughts are discouraged or criticized? How is a person judged in such a philosophy?

Philosophy Example

The Measure of the Oath originally began as a declaration of ethics meant for swearing in knights of a kingdom. Drew Markin wrote it during a time when the crown was rapidly switching hands every handful of years, realizing that with each new sovereign upon the throne, new knights would be inducted as favors. The lack of vetting process caused many abuses of power as the noble rank became bloated. His old lordship thus wrote the first of many documents, hoping these would serve as a standard that all knights would be held to. While he did not live to see it, an expanded and amended Measure of the Oath was formally adopted after a bloody civil war and did in fact serve to reign in the knights.

Despite royalty and nobility being a thing of the past in the republic that replaced said kingdom, the Measure of the Oath remains an important aspect of daily life. Many national religious holidays are annual rituals where one renews their oaths to society, themselves, and each other. Elected officials are sworn in with a declaration that is remarkably similar to the historical version of the Measure of the Oath. The most common method of farewell is saying, “maybe,” in reply to the question, “shall we meet again?” 

A common phenomenon observed in societies that practice the Measure of the Oath is in how casually people might promise something to a stranger, yet the same shall never be given, demanded, or expected from those held close. Apparently this behavior arose as the result of the Measure seeing the breaking of promises as abhorrent and despicable—thus the closer two people are the greater the expectation there is upon the oath. Many avoid the uncomfortable position of disrespecting one another by breaking an oath due to something they have no control over. Incidentally, the most obvious impact this has can be observed in how the republic does not practice or celebrate marriage, nor record or keep track of such relations in the sense that many other cultures do. If anything, there seems to be a distinct lack of it.

Atheism and Secularism

In some cultures the removal or divorce of faith and beliefs from daily life can be the most prevalent of societal norms. Sometimes this is actively achieved with the purging of religious materials, or the passive result of traditions that have fallen into the past. With the former there is often a reason behind such movements, ranging from a desire to remove past dogma that stifled the people to persecution in the name of control or politics. The reasons behind passive loss, however, can be much more elusive to pinpoint. Some say that high population density leading to the homogenization of cultures may be the cause, while others think that social stability means people have less of a need for faith, particularly those that placed trust into the supernatural and unknowing.

When creating an atheist culture, consider why this is the norm. Did the society start out atheist and remained so, or was there a prevalent religion before? What historical events might have led to the desire for lack of beliefs? What do people place faith in then with regards to hopes, wishes, and desires?

Humanism and Humanistic Faith

Humanism is the central concern with and for human beings (and other humanoids), but it isn’t so much a standalone philosophy as it is a sentiment found within a wide variety of religious and philosophical movements. In a word, humanism centers the wellbeing, autonomy, rationality, and moral judgment of humans (as well as dwarves, elves, and other heritages) over and against radical dependency on the gods. 

Some humanists simply don't define their religious life in terms of the gods—others actively view the gods with suspicion. What makes the gods the absolute arbiters of right and wrong? Isn’t worshiping gods to get something a practice of selfishness? Humanists interpret divine magic as the manifestation of a person’s clarity of heart, rather than direct intervention by a deity. A humanist might well grant that the gods exist, but whereas the pious will ask the gods, “what is your law?,” the humanists will ask, “how can we become a law unto ourselves?” 

Some folk strike a curious balance between devotion to a patron god and a central concern for humanity. They might say the gods are pleased when humanity practices their independence. On the other hand, a person might take no interest in deities, but that does not make them a humanist. Devotion to law, commerce, and knowledge all lose their humanist bent when policy, profit, or information are elevated above human dignity. 

The humanist tendency can take a culture by storm, and it can appear spontaneously even in stiflingly reverential environments. When creating a humanist culture, ask if humanist (or dwarvist, or elvist, and so on) is the term that they use for the ideology, or if the term is related to something more tangible—like art or science? How do pious factions respond to humanist sentiment? Do they see it as a legitimate interpretation of faith, or as a heresy? Are the secular and atheist factions humanist?

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Sample Gods and Pantheons

Every campaign varies in terms of what deities take center stage. To help accommodate this the following tables gloss the gods and religions referenced in this book, plus a sample pantheon for building and expanding upon. 

Each god or belief system has suggested aspects presented for convenience, but they are easily expanded or modified. Domains are a brief overview of the gods' theological symbols and areas of influence, but the specifics vary between believers, communities, and settings. Alignment represents a common moral disposition among that religion's believers, but not all worshipers fit that mold—and who can say what thoughts a god privately entertains. 

The sample gods are usable as presented, but they also work well combined. For example, the Dawnbringer and the Hunter strongly resemble Apollo and Artemis from Greek mythology. On the other hand, the god Thor from Norse mythology might be some combination of the Ravager, the Tempest, and others.

 

The world is vaster than anyone could explore in a lifetime with mysterious corners that promise wonder and peril, yet there are other dimensions far stranger and deadlier, called planes. Many claim to have read the truths of those other realms in books or learned them from religious dogma, or even boast that they’ve visited in person. Their accounts may not be trustworthy, but they all tell of places that pose unique challenges and offer rewards unlike anything one could find at home. 

A Planar Primer

Everyday people know legends about strange pathways in remote forests that lead into the dream-like land of the fey. Their tales warn of bleak ruins where one can step across the threshold to a place where all joy, sound, and light have been leached away. In the dark of night they gaze at the stars and share stories of ancient heroes and gods who gave the Heavens their shape. In times of crisis they curse their enemies to Hell, and pray to gods they’ve never seen.

Adventurers eventually come to understand more about the nature of existence. Clerics and scholars study the true names of demons and devils and the differences between the two. Learned wizards and theurgists research the metaphysics that provide the arcane energies of their spells. Druids and worshipers of nature perform incantations to ward against interplanar incursions. Warlocks form pacts with horrors born of the spaces between worlds, the lower planes, or even the fey.

Common folk are superstitious, seeing danger in mundane shadow, but perhaps adventurers and their ilk don’t understand the nature of reality as well as they think—the fell entities that warlocks pledge themselves to might even just be clever monsters from the next county over having a good laugh. While people aren’t entirely sure of the truth of the multiverse, it is undeniable that these planes exist, and that the nature of reality elsewhere isn’t quite the same as here. Fools who stumble upon another world unprepared are unlikely to survive. Interplanar monsters are often more powerful and magical than average wild beasts, and the native intelligent beings have strange ways of thinking. They are seldom swayed by the same threats or persuasion that work on normal humanoids.

Types of Planes

The so-called ‘real’ world where most humanoids and nations exist is known as the Waking, or the Material Plane. Closely linked worlds referred to as Mirror Planes have the same general shape as the realms material—the same landforms, same structures, perhaps even the same people—but differ in character or the nature of magic.

Two other types of planes are easily codified. Elemental Planes (sometimes called Inner Planes) are defined by some overriding physical trait, while Moral Planes (sometimes called Outer Planes) each reflect a central ideology or philosophy of being.

Magic to travel between worlds makes use of the Transitive Planes, which connect multiple planes but have few noteworthy landmarks or residents. Amidst these are innumerable Demiplanes that range from lifeless pocket dimensions for bags of holding, to drifting shards that support the vestiges of dead worlds, to realms as large as continents created as prisons, crucibles, or palaces. Beyond them all exists the Far Realm, a place so alien to the minds of mortals that few can understand it or glimpse it without risking insanity.

The same plane may have different names in different cultures. Explorers might erroneously think two locations on the same plane are separate dimensions entirely, or model them as different nested ‘layers’ that have the same essence but take different forms. Some planes even actively resist efforts to map them, morphing to vex codification and categorization.

Travel Between Planes

Monsters from other dimensions can be summoned to the Material Plane but sometimes adventurers must face strange outsiders in the realms where they originated.

Spells. A handful of metal with the appropriate resonance and several hours of smithing with arcane treatments can produce the rod necessary for a plane shift spell, though discovering the proper formula might require an adventure itself. The esoteric astral projection spell lets people explore in a spiritual form, protecting their bodies at the risk of their very souls. The mighty gate spell permits immediate and precise travel, but the rare magic users capable of such powerful magic are seen as threats by many extraplanar powers.

More obscure magic can also breach the veil between worlds, often through great rituals and terrible costs.

Transits. Planar transits take three main forms: portals, pathways, and tides. Portals have a clear threshold between worlds, like a carved stone dragon maw that leads to the Prison Plane of the Great Pyromancer. Pathways offer a gradual transition that must be completed in full to reach the destination plane, such as the shadow labyrinth that leads to the demiplane of Phorros Irrendra, last bastion of the Taranesti elves. Tides cause a given area to shift between worlds, taking those within with it, like the shores along Bosum Strand where on the Night of the Mirror Moon those who dive into the waters holding a mirror emerge in the fey realm known as the Dreaming. By dawn however the magic fades, stranding any who haven’t found their way home.

Many planar transits are ephemeral and cannot be relied on to still be there for a return trip. Some appear and vanish without discovery, brought forth by little understood conjunctions of place and planar energy—and those that are discovered often provoke fear rather than exploratory fervor.
The rare permanent portal is highly valued and closely guarded. It is said the hierarchs who built the Gates of Dawn and Dusk hoped to unite their world with Heaven and Hell, but angels and devils united to punish their hubris. The hierarchs’ continent was carved out into a prison plane known as Daemonforge where the souls of the dead can never reach the afterlife.

Overlays. While a planar tide carries creatures in an area between worlds, sometimes the elemental or moral energy of a plane bleeds into the Material Plane, such as the haunted peak of Cauldron Hill where the veil to the Bleak Gate is thin. Overlays—also called coterminances or manifestations—can vary greatly. One might be temporary, linked to some celestial convergence, or permanent, perhaps the result of a great magical cataclysm, and its borders might simply mark a return to normalcy or could serve as a way to travel to another plane.

Mirror Planes

Like a reflection or echo of the realms material, Mirror Planes take the familiar and imbue it with a sense of fascination or repulsion. 

The land called the Dreaming is a verdant, shifting landscape where time and distance conspire for the sake of dramatic events, ensuring travelers reach their destination at the moment that will yield the greatest conflict or catharsis. The fey population’s strange behaviors make a whimsical sort of half-sense, even if their goals are cruel. Promises made in the Dreaming are dangerous to break, and accepting gifts can oblige their recipient to the giver. 

The most famous figures of the Dreaming are the lords of the Unseen Court—served by the implacable riders of the Great Hunt—who threaten war but can be appeased with offerings of songs and riddles. But the fey vary based on the cultures and myths of the lands they reflect. Around temperate farmlands pixies cavort with leaves in their hair and hags lure children into the woods with tempting sweets, while in vaunted cities of high art the pixies might take the shape of figures from famous paintings and hags call gullible schoolchildren down into sewer drains.

In opposition to the vibrant life of the Dreaming is the somber emptiness of the Bleak Gate. Here buildings sit hollow and abandoned, and even the brightest magic cannot illuminate much farther than a stone’s throw. The air lies still and windless. The only sounds are the scattered whispers and lonely moans of the recently dead, whose souls linger for a time before passing on to some final reward. Without sun or stars time here becomes almost meaningless, unconsidered by the beings of shadow and decay that reside within. Uneasy spirits haunt their old houses, cursed mortals and condemned penitents roam in caravans seeking absolution or simply a way home, and exiled fey of the Bleak Court trade in souls, their servants often seen at the sites of great tragedies to enslave the recently slain.

Other Mirror Planes are possible. Some conceptions of Hell depict it as the Material Plane in the aftermath of some fiery cataclysm. Temporal magic that flows around a crux of fate might create two splinter realities branching from different outcomes of a pivotal event—perhaps in that world, an adventurer’s double longs for everything that their counterpart has, and would kill to get it.

Transitive Planes

If you were to write down details of each plane, the Ethereal Plane is like the page the words are written on, and the Astral Plane is the book itself. Both dimensions have little in the way of interesting landmarks or natives, and even most planar travelers pay them no mind. But certain magic relies on them.

Thought reigns in the Astral Plane—disembodied souls navigate by will and distance means nothing, the world fading to silvery gray in every direction. Most of the dimension is empty, though errant ideas can sometimes manifest crude matter. The personal mindscapes of dreamers may form links to the Astral Plane, and those trapped in perpetual sleep may create permanent dream bodies that eventually degenerate into monsters. Ur-ideas can take the form of leviathans that swim the astral like a psychic sea, and it is rumored an entire empire of psychic beings has learned to control these creatures. Magic like dream and astral projection can untether the soul from the body, using the astral to reach other minds and other worlds. Travelers can move to other planes through convergences, which mortal minds often perceive as swirling pools of color or other sensations that evoke the feeling of the destination. 

The Ethereal Plane is what allows incorporeal creatures to move through solid objects, and nearly every plane has its own ethereal. Beings in the ethereal usually are invisible to those in the plane they originated from, but can perceive a small swath of the dimension they left. Matter and energy from that world cannot affect them, nor even gravity, but other ethereal beings can interact with or harm them, and spells like wall of force extend into the Ethereal Plane. Usually the only thing for a traveler to do in the ethereal is to watch their plane of origination, explore, and emerge at some other spot in that same world, though sometimes two dimensions abut the same Ethereal Plane, and a creature can slip between them like poking a hole in a sheet of paper. It is also possible for ethereal travelers to metaphysically wander away from their origination plane—they find themselves swept up in mists, and might become lost forever or emerge in a random dimension.

Elemental Planes

Most magical traditions define four cardinal elements—air, earth, fire, and water. These are often depicted as vast wedge-like realms floating together in a roiling Elemental Chaos. 

The cores of the Elemental Planes are simple expanses of pure elemental energy. Some regions are almost like the Material Plane just with an exaggerated presence of one element—huge flocks of birds might nest on islands that float through storms in Caeloon, the Plane of Air, gems might rain as hailstones upon endless mountain ranges of Urim, the Plane of Earth, city-sized forges might gather ore from molten seas on Jiese, the Plane of Fire, and luminescent kelp might support civilizations of fish folk in deep benthic gorges in Ostea, the Plane of Water. 

The cardinal elements are sometimes categorized alongside four esoteric elements—death, life, space, and time. Amrou, the Plane of Death has dark grottos, vacuous expanses of drifting asteroids, and rivers of negative energies that awaken undead. Av, the Plane of Life thrums with positive energy, nurturing light, endless tangles of jungle, and rains that cause animals to sprout from rich soil. Mavisha, the Plane of Space is known for geometric palaces and platforms of pure force that orbit, interlink, and fold upon themselves in mind-bending tesseracts and optical illusions brought to life. Sphinxes watch over Ascetia, the Plane of Time, a place where mirages of the past and flickering glimpses of possible futures cause travelers to forget when they are, and the only signs of civilization are enigmatic monoliths and bones upon bones of fallen empires.

Moral Planes

The Moral Planes are the homes of gods, or at least things that claim that title. As with the Elemental Chaos, the great majority of these planes are hard for mortals to conceive and exist more as ideas than as places. Even so certain regions can be explored and visited, and are home to creatures that are motivated by strong ideologies or overpowering impulses. Deities may claim domain to some regions where they can shape the world and set the rules.

Goodness elevates the heavens and other Upper Planes while evil seethes in Hell and similar Lower Planes, but from those generalities each dimension’s texture is nuanced with diverse philosophical manifestations of that core morality. On a single plane that is suffused with lawful essence, one divine domain might be a gallery garden that shifts to fulfill a visitor’s every hedonistic pleasure, another a stolid yet vaunted bureaucracy working to ensure a stable price for diamonds and pearls across the cosmos, and a third a holy bastion under constant siege by demons. 

Mortal souls are thought by most to find their way to Moral Planes after death where they may be transmogrified into servants or receive rewards for their service. Others wait in purgatory, endure punishment for sins, or are simply absorbed into the plane’s spiritual core where perhaps the choices they made with their free will in life will help shift the scales of the moral multiverse.

Otherworldly Oddities

Most dimensions are not so neatly codified as the Elemental, Moral, Mirror, and Transitive Planes.

Planets

The Material Plane has other planets orbiting other stars, and some are suffused with a different mix of elemental and moral energies. 

In the ZEITGEIST setting travel to most planes is nearly impossible, but plane shift and planar transits allow some journeys between worlds around the same star. Each has a supernatural influence on the primary world, Amsywr—the planet Jiese, the Fire of Industry has spurred technological innovation, the influence of Mavisha, the Mysterious Deep means divinations do not work well on islands or at sea, and Caeloon, the Paper Wind lifts spirits in the face of tragedy and produces magic to help with graceful flight.

Mindscapes

Psychic magic can draw energy from the Astral Plane to create small ephemeral dimensions where one’s thoughts can shape subjective reality almost like a god. Here the limits of flesh and physical laws bend to a strong will, and weak minds can be overwhelmed and forget that what they see isn’t real. 

These planes are almost always temporary, but in the BURNING SKIES setting a perpetual and massive mindscape exists deep underground, guarded by dragons. The dreamborn beings within (called trillith) reflect various desires and fears of some great sleeping entity called the Mother of Dreams that is trapped in the depths of the mindscape. Within this world one must have the right mindset to reach their destination, and those who find common purpose with a trillith might bond with it and receive occult powers.

Pocket Dimensions

Mortal magic can attempt to emulate the divine power necessary to create planes, but few can create more than mere pocket dimensions a few score feet across. Without a true divine spark, most of these artificial planes cannot support life. Inanimate objects made of wood or fabric can endure for weeks or years, but still degrade rapidly. Food is sapped of its nourishing essence and becomes tasteless within hours if not faster. Creatures placed within might die within minutes. Water, even in sealed vessels, becomes infused with energies that makes it undrinkable.

The Gyre and The Far Realm

In some distant reach of the multiverse floats The Gyre, a graveyard of planes where the last vestiges of dead worlds are drawn into a churning cloud and ultimately obliterated. Perhaps their energies are then used for the creation of new worlds, or maybe the whole of the multiverse will be consumed one day, but those pieces of worlds that survive long enough to reach the Gyre are homes of the most dreadful and powerful beings–often those who brought about their own apocalypses.

How many of those worlds have been destroyed by corruption from the Far Realm? Few even begin to understand the alien concepts of that place, and those with the insight can become threats themselves. To most the aberrations birthed by contact with the Far Realm are terrifying, yet some come to see that very unnaturality as something be desired and shared with others. Adventurers should be careful when staring into that maddening abyss—lest they become like the monsters they fight.

The Nature of Reality

One theory sees other planes as wellsprings of elemental essences and morality that underpin reality. The elemental energies mingle to create the diverse physical form of the realms material, and the balance of moral energies ensure that free will is innate to the mortals native to the Material Plane. No shortage of theories disagree. Some think other planes are simply places like any other, and that they exert no sway on reality. Others claim the planes are actually created by mortals and their beliefs, and that there was no Hell before there were people to consider the nature of evil, no Plane of Earth until there were mortal minds to think of rocks as being distinct from water. This may seem a distinction without a difference, but it has ramifications for the meaning of life and the purpose of existence. Perhaps mortals are fairly inconsequential relative to the vast scale of the planes, their actions drowned out by forces far greater than them—yet if the planes are shaped by belief, then a person with the right idea can remake the multiverse.

From fighting on the frontlines to raiding royal repositories, the activities of your character and their party members gains them experience points. As these accumulate a character will eventually gain a level when they’ve acquired a certain number of experience points as seen in the table below.

Experience	Level	Proficiency Bonus
0	1st	+2
300	2nd	+2
900	3rd	+2
2,700	4th	+2
6,500	5th	+3
14,000	6th	+3
23,000	7th	+3
34,000	8th	+3
48,000	9th	+4
64,000	10th	+4
85,000	11th	+4
100,000	12th	+4
120,000	13th	+5
140,000	14th	+5
165,000	15th	+5
195,000	16th	+5
225,000	17th	+6
265,000	18th	+6
305,000	19th	+6
355,000	20th	+6

 

When your character gains a level their class offers additional features, and at certain levels their proficiency bonus increases. Leveling up will eventually provide the opportunity to increase your ability scores; however no ability score can surpass 20.

As part of the process, each level provides your character with an additional Hit Die. You may either roll this die or take the average result of the die (rounded up), add your Constitution modifier, and increase your hit point maximum by that amount.

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Tiers of Play

The challenges your characters face and the adventures they take can be classified into five main tiers of play. Tiers of play help give you an idea of what to expect involving the scale of the challenges you face and how the world generally reacts to you.

At Tier 0 (levels 1st–2nd) your characters are novices. They are taking their very first steps towards destiny, perhaps traveling further from their homes than ever before. The obstacles and foes they face are only slightly more perilous than what commoners contend with, albeit more frequent

At Tier 1 (levels 3rd–4th) your characters are local heroes. They are coming into their own as adventurers and learning the basic elements of their classes. Threats are small in scale and scope.

At Tier 2 (levels 5th–10th) your characters are regional heroes. They are accessing new levels of martial or magical power and can use skills, features, and magic that attract attention and acclaim.

At Tier 3 (levels 11th–16th) your characters are masters of their craft, well beyond the abilities of other people and even other adventurers. Spells can bend the definition of what’s possible while martial characters taking to the battlefield can and have turned the tides of massive battles.

At Tier 4 (levels 17th–20th) your characters have reached a point where the challenges they face are of world-changing size and proportion. At this tier, your character’s actions have the potential to fundamentally alter the lives and wellbeing of those that rely on (or fear) them.

Other parts of the game will also refer to tiers of play, including exploration challenges and regions . These tiers assist the Narrator in determining appropriate challenges for the player characters.