La campagne se joue à une époque bien précise de cet univers riche de secrets, il est donc fortement recommandé de ne pas consulter d'autres sources (mêmes “canoniques” et publiques), car de nombreux évènements liés à la campagne y sont évoqués.

Voici quelques indications qui s'appliquent à chaque étape de la création, en suivant le déroulé de Level Up!:

Choisissez un des pays mentionnés dans le Player's Guide. Ce choix n'a pas d'incidence mathématique, mais étant donné l'importante diversité des idéologies dominantes de chaque Nation, ce choix est probablement le plus important pour ancrer votre personnage dans l'histoire.

• Héritages communs (utilisez les règles de Level Up!):
  • Humains
  • Nains
  • Elfes
  • Orcs
  • Tieffelins (lisez bien l'histoire de Danor du Grand Maléfice (Great Malice) pour comprendre l'origine des Tieffelins dans cet univers
• Héritages spéciaux, décrits ci-dessous:
  • Devas
  • Gnoll
  • Goblins
  • Kobolds
  • Hommes-Lézards
  • Minotaures

Devas were those people—mostly human—who were present at the defeat of the goddess Srasama over five centuries ago. The divine energy released by her death granted them a sliver of immortality, and for hundreds of years whenever they died they reincarnated into a fully-grown adult form, reappearing within a few days some- where generally three miles from where they died.

Reincarnated devas vaguely recall their previous lives and can reconnect with the people and places of they formerly knew if given the chance. But they can just as easily find themselves adopting new lives and training in new skills. But regardles of the paths they take, devas occasionally have flashes of memory from their former lives. Physically, devas resemble their original species, but with un- earthly beauty and an uncanny stillness. Their skin is covered in geometric patterns of light and dark. Some of noteworthy power will occasionally manifest insubstantial and wholly decorative wings, though they can conceal these with practice and concentration. If a deva has a child, it does not inherit any of Srasama’s divinity. Resurrection magic works the same on devas as it does anyone else.

Devas gain the following traits.
Type. Humanoid. However, you can be detected by magic that can detect celestials.
Age. Devas reincarnate into adult bodies, and die of old age per- haps seventy years after their incarnation begins.
Size. Usually Medium, but Small devas who were once gnomes or halflings are not unknown.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Deathless Calm. You gain resistance to necrotic and radiant damage, and you cannot be blinded by bright light.
Memory of Past Lifetimes. When making an ability check or saving throw, you may gain an expertise die. (An expertise die is an extra 1d4 that you roll and add to your main d20 roll.) If you do this for a skill, tool, or vehicle you are not proficient with, you gain pro- ficiency for the next minute. After you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.

Select one of the following deva gifts.

Pluripotent Form. You have one or more extra sets of spiritual arms, which are clearly magical and not attached to your torso, but instead float a short distance away. You can dismiss them or mani- fest them with a thought. You still only have two limbs you can use to wield weapons, shields, and the like, and you don’t gain any extra actions. But these limbs do allow you to hold extra items, and they are quite useful at confounding those who would tie you up. Additionally, you count as one size larger for the purpose of grabbing and shoving, and your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage. Once per round when you hit with an unarmed strike, you can deal an extra 1 radiant damage.

Presence of the Divine. You also know one cantrip of your choice from the cleric spell list. At 3rd level, choose one 1st- or 2nd-level cleric spell, which you can cast once without any material components; you must finish a long rest in order to cast the spell again using this gift. A 1st-level spell chosen this way can be cast as if you used a 2nd-level spell slot. Wisdom is your spell- casting ability for these spells.

When you reach 10th level, you gain one of the following paragon gifts.

Combined Soul. Your memories now include those of many devas who lived before you. You now have proficiency in all skills.

Manifest Incarnation. You learn to call forth a past life more fully. When you gain this ability, create a 3rd-level deva character with identical base ability scores (though you can choose a different background). As a bonus action, you can call forth a shimmering manifestation of this past life. You share senses intuitively. Each of you can move independently, but you share a single pool of one action, one bonus action, and one reaction per round. You share hit points. When you fall unconscious, or if you and the incarnation are separated by more than 250 feet, the incarnation is destroyed. If the incarnation is adjacent to you, you can spend a bonus action to absorb it. If the incarnation is destroyed without you absorbing it, you cannot manifest it again until you complete a long rest. If you do absorb it, you can manifest it again after a short rest. However, any limited-use abilities or spells it has used are still expended. The incarnation only regains expended abilities and spells when you complete a long rest. When you manifest your incarnation, its spiritual essence has the equivalent of mundane equipment worth no more than 200 gp. Any of this equipment that leaves its possession vanishes after one round. The incarnation is corporeal and can wield other objects if it picks them up, but when the incarnation is destroyed or absorbed it drops those items. For every five minutes the incarnation is active, you gain a level of strife, which goes away when the incarnation is destroyed or absorbed

Gnolls resemble humanoid hyenas, averaging between seven and seven-and-a-half feet tall, with long limbs and jaws strong enough to crush and tear. They have difficulty pronounc- ing other humanoid languages, so even among Berans they are often seen as outsiders. Many of their tribes were slow to join with Vairday Bruse, and a region along the southern coast called Tierra de las Bestias Moteado was allowed to de facto secede, serving as a place for Berans who wanted to cling to the old hunter-gatherer ways, and the attendant warfare and tribalism, rather than feel compelled to pursue modern Ber’s ideas of “civility.” Gnolls make up the bulk of this region’s population. Gnolls demonstrate high rates of sorcerous potential. Ber is attempting to make inroads with gnollish com- munities by funding schools to train those with magical talent.

Gnolls gain the following traits.
Age. Gnolls reach adulthood at age 12 and live up to 50 years.
Size. Medium.
Bristling Instinct. You gain an expertise die on saving throws against being frightened and against other effects that would alter your emotions. (An expertise die is an extra 1d4 that you roll and add to your main d20 roll.)
Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 feet.

Select one of the following gifts.

Magic in the Blood. You know one cantrip of your choice from the sorcerer spell list. At 3rd level, choose one 1st- or 2nd-level sorcerer spell, which you can cast once without any material components; you must finish a long rest in order to cast the spell again using this gift. A 1st-level spell chosen this way can be cast as if using a 2nd- level spell slot. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Predatory Body. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. Additionally, your fanged maw is a nat- ural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an un- armed strike. While you aren’t wearing armor, your AC equals 13 + your Dex- terity modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.

When you reach 10th level, you gain one of the following paragon gifts.

Free-Minded. Choose one of the following saving throws: Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. You gain an expertise die when using the chosen saving throw to resist magic.

Supernatural Hide. You can spend a bonus action and choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, electricity, fire, necrotic, poison, radiant, or thunder. You gain resistance to that damage type for the next minute. After you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest.

Many gnolls see themselves as proudly Beran, but one large region resists the calls for modern internationalism and “civility.” Some communities even praise the long-dead dragon tyrants. Most in- famous of these are the steelmarked gnolls of Isla dolas Focas, who worship their old tyrant Gradiax as a sort of god of metal and technology. Suggested Cultures. While you can choose any culture for your gnoll character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: bloodmarked, Pedresco, steelmarked.

Most goblins are short and nimble, living in caves or hillside burrows similar to half- lings. Their appearance—green or yellow skin, mouths wide with sharp teeth, and black or red eyes—were enough for many other peoples to see them as monsters, and their knack for communing with beasts led to many claims they were themselves primitive animals. Even in Ber they were pushed to the margins, but that is changing.

Goblins gain the following traits.
Age. Goblins reach adulthood at age 12 and live up to 60 years.
Size. Small.
Darkvision. You have 60-foot darkvision.
Nimble Escape. You can Disengage or Hide as a bonus action.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Select one of the following gifts.
Adaptive Fortitude. You gain an expertise die on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance to poison damage. (An ex- pertise die is an extra 1d4 that you roll and add to your main d20 roll.) At 3rd level, you gain the ability to cast enhance ability once; you must finish a long rest in order to cast the spell again using this gift. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Soothe the Beast. You can call upon instincts to calm a dangerous creature. Beasts and monstrosities with Intelligence 3 or less have disadvantage on attack rolls against you. At 3rd level, you gain the ability to cast animal friendship once; when you cast animal friendship using this gift, it can target mon- strosities with Intelligence 3 or less. You must finish a long rest in order to cast the spell again using this gift. Wisdom is your spell- casting ability for this spell.

When you reach 10th level, you gain the following paragon gift.
Unbreakable. When you succeed a death saving throw you can spend one Hit Die to heal 1 hit point. Once you use this gift, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

Many goblins live on the fringes of Beran society; in other parts of the world, they are seen with suspicion and even hunted. Suggested Cultures. While you can choose any culture for your goblin character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: De Guerra, stoneworthy, wildling.

Shorter on average than halflings, most kobolds possess reptilian features resembling those of lizardfolk or dragon born, though some kobold lineages are known for their more rat-like, canine, or even feline appearance. All kobolds have “whis- kers,” though technically these fleshy feelers are called “barbels.” Folk tales depicted kobolds as clever tricksters or as guardians of draconic treasures, relying on alchemy, traps, and (recently) technology to make up for their size. International history has few kobolds of note, and even in Ber, the joke is that ko- bolds don’t really exist. The truth, though, is that until recently, most kobold commu- nities kept their distance from settlements of larger humanoids to avoid being victimized.

Kobolds gain the following traits.
Age. Kobolds reach adulthood at age 16 and live up to 200 years.
Size. Small.
Darkvision. You have 60-foot darkvision.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Easily Unseen. When a creature first comes within line of sight of you, you can use your reaction to Hide, even if you don’t have anything to hide behind. When you hide this way, you gain an ex- pertise die on your Stealth check. (An expertise die is an extra 1d4 that you roll and add to your main d20 roll.)
Kobold Nimbleness. You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours.

Select one of the following gifts.
Close Quarters. You have advantage on melee attacks made against a creature whose space you are in. Also, your sensitive whiskers grant you blindsight with a range of 5 feet.

Draconian Wings. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this speed you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. Whenever you spend 3 consecutive rounds airborne without landing, you gain a level of fatigue. Any fatigue gained in this way is removed upon fin- ishing a short or long rest.

When you reach 10th level, you gain the following paragon gift.
Preternatural Senses. With a twitch of your whiskers, you can extend your senses. You can cast one of the following spells once: arcane eye, clairvoyance, detect magic, locate creature, or locate object. Intel- ligence is your spellcasting ability for this spell. You must finish a short or long rest in order to cast the spell again using this gift.

Kobolds have been part of Beran culture for a thousand years, little remarked upon in the history books but quietly innovating and thriving by avoiding direct conflict.

Suggested Cultures. While you can choose any culture for your kobold character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: itinerant, Pedresco, villager.

Most common in the warmer climes of Ber and Elfaivar, various reptilian humanoids are commonly referred to by outsiders as lizard- folk. Though colorfully diverse in their various patterns of claws, scales, frills, and fangs, the many populations of cold-blooded lizardfolk share a mindset that can strike warm-blood- ed people as alien. Very few are driven by a desire for social status, unless they learn such am- bition from other communities. Lizardfolk legends claim their people were the first civilization, and that mam- malian peoples descended from shamans who communed with the spirits of apes and took on traits of those beasts.

Lizardfolk gain the following traits.
Age. Lizardfolk reach adulthood at age 14 and live up to 70 years.
Size. Medium.
Bite. You can use your teeth as a natural weapon to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it your bite, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Coldly Calculating. You can resist unwise impulses. When you fail a Wisdom saving throw or would become frightened, you can delay that effect until the end of your next turn. You cannot use this trait again until you complete a short or long rest.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Lizardfolk have diverse combinations of abilities, so choose two of the following gifts.
Aquatic. You can hold your breath for up to 15 minutes at a time, and you have a swim speed of 30 feet.
Autotomous. As a reaction you can detach one of your limbs, typi- cally a tail, to escape from a grab. At the Narrator’s discretion, this might also help you end other conditions as well. This detachment does no hit point damage to you. Without intervention, you can regrow a limb to full functionality after a week. However, if you re- ceive 20 hit points worth of magical healing when you are already fully healed, your limb will regenerate during your next long rest.
Chameleon. You can change the patterns and colors on your scales, and with effort you can extend that ability to your equipment. You can spend an action to become invisible until the end of your next turn. This invisibility ends if you attack, cast a spell, or move more than 5 feet.
Climber. You have a climb speed of 30 feet.
Runner. You can Dash as a bonus action.
Spiky. When a creature grabs you it takes piercing damage equal to your proficiency bonus. Each turn it maintains the grab, it takes this damage again.
Tough-Scaled. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. A shield’s benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.
Venomous. When you deal damage with your bite, you can inject venom. The creature you bit takes poison damage equal to your pro- ficiency bonus. At the end of each of that creature’s turns, it must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier) or else takes that poison damage again. If it succeeds its save, the effect ends. After you use this ability, you cannot produce venom again until you complete a short or long rest. You can alternately spend a bonus action to release venom onto a weapon you’re wielding, which will have the same effect when it damages a creature. Your venom loses potency within an hour once it leaves your body, but someone proficient with a poisoner’s kit can use it as one of the ingredients needed to create a vial of mundane poison. This reduces the cost of the vial of poison by 10 gp.

When you reach 10th level, choose one of the following paragon gifts.
Metamorphosis. Whenever you complete a long rest, you may choose one of the lizardfolk gifts you don’t normally possess. Your body shifts to gain that gift until you use this ability again.

Torpor. Your metabolism can slow enough to put you into stasis. You can intentionally enter torpor as an action. You become inca- pacitated and appear dead, but remain conscious, and you do not need to eat, drink, or breathe until you emerge from torpor, which requires no action. You may automatically enter torpor when reduced to 0 hit points. While in torpor and at 0 hit points, you do not normally need to make death saving throws on your turn. However, you still must make a death saving throw if you take damage while at 0 hit points.

Most lizardfolk communities in Ber protected themselves from the old dragon tyrants by presenting themselves as methodical, quiet, and not driven by emotion—simultaneously not a threat to the dragons, but also an ineffective target of their oppression. After centuries, what was once an affectation became seen as a mark of distinction, and a restrained lizardfolk would be seen by their people as having the moral rectitude to resist temptation. Lizard- folk in Ber are often seen as trustworthy in matters of building effective bureaucracies. Quiet doesn’t mean dull or heartless, though. Their art and culture are simply more focused on internal reactions, and their festivals focus on serenity or cooperation rather than celebratory outbursts. There are a few exceptions to this trend, as some lizardfolk tribes allied closely with one dragon tyrant or other, or lived in remote swamps that seemingly offered little of value to exploit. These communities have reflexively begun to revel in raucous behaviors, and make some of the loudest and most experimental music on the continent.

Suggested Cultures. While you can choose any culture for your lizardfolk character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: cosmopolitan, Pedresco, villager.

Minotaurs are humanoid but walk on cloven hooves, and their bodies are covered in a layer of fur, while their heads resemble cows, with all manner of color patterns and horn shapes. A few people outside Ber are also called “minotaurs” but have heads like goats, antelopes, or other cloven- hoofed animals. Despite stories of mighty minotaur brawlers, they aren’t particularly much larger or stronger than humans, and most would never consider using their horns as a weapon. Many other cultures have myths that claim minotaurs were born from a cursed king, or were sired by the fey titan Father of Thunder, or were minions serving the son of an ancient demonic mother of monsters. Even the various minotaur communities don’t agree on their ancient history, though they have quite a lot of it. Minotaurs have a natural predilection to recall long stories and obscure details. This makes some minotaurs excellent scholars and bards, while others can be supremely petty in harboring grudges.

Minotaurs gain the following traits.
Age. Minotaurs reach adulthood at age 18 and live up to 100 years.
Size. Medium.
Dominant Presence. Making use of your prominent size or deep voice, you can gain advantage on a Charisma check or saving throw. After you do, you cannot use this trait again until you com- plete a short or long rest.
Labyrinthine Recall. You can perfectly recall any path you have traveled. Your memory is similarly reliable regarding knowl- edge, though it can take you a while to methodically retrace how you learned something. Whenever you complete a long rest, you can choose one of the following skills: Arcana, Culture, Engineer- ing, Nature, Religion. You gain proficiency in that skill until you take another long rest.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Select one of the following gifts.
Driving Horns. You can use your horns as a natural weapon to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with your horns, you deal blud- geoning or piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. Also, whenever you hit with a melee attack (with your horns or otherwise), you may immediately spend a bonus action to Shove the creature you hit. If you make multiple attacks in the same turn, one bonus action suffices to let you shove with each horn attack that hits.

Guard Instinct. You gain an expertise die on initiative checks. Also, you can spend an action to stamp a hoof and sense vibrations and reverberations in the ground, granting you tremorsense with a range of 30 feet until the start of your next turn or until you move, whichever comes first.

When you reach 10th level, you gain the following paragon gift.
Mental Maze. Circuitous thought pathways make your mind harder to infiltrate and overcome. Whenever you fail an Intelli- gence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throw, you may delay the effect until the end of your next turn.

Minotaur communities are often centers of lore and learning, and everyone, from farmers to warriors, is expected to be well-edu- cated. Throughout Ber it is common to see solo minotaurs or small bands traveling between tribes and cities, sharing news and stories among the nation’s many peoples. Suggested Cultures. While you can choose any culture for your minotaur character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: collegiate, De Guerra, nomad.

Bloodmarked gnolls are much more likely to be seen in Beran soci- ety or elsewhere in the world. They emphasize a feral menace but form bonds with allies that are almost as fierce as with family. These gnolls and others who reject modern Beran society live in a patchwork of unincorporated tribes which all share the adult- hood tradition of “blooding.” To become an adult, one must kill an animal with one’s teeth, which once had to be done on a hunt. Today, though, all but the most severe tribes have made this into a formal- ized ceremony with domesticated animals, sometimes drugged, presented for youths to slay.

Bond of Blood. You and allies within 5 feet of you have advan- tage on death saving throws.
Harrying Barks. When you deal damage to a creature you can bark, chortle, howl, or make other unnerving vocalizations. The target you damaged must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma bonus). If it fails, it is frightened of you until the end of your next turn. After you use this ability, you must complete a short or long rest before you use it again.
Speak with Hunting Beasts. Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate with carnivorous mammalian hunting beasts, such as bears, hyenas, and wolves. These animals have no special fondness for you.
Unyielding. When you fail a saving throw, you may reroll it. After you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest.
Languages. You know Common, Gnoll, and one Beran language such as Draconic, Goblin, Minotaur, or Orc.

De Guerra orcs are more common in the mountains and highlands of Ber, with their strongest core on the northeast coast, along the shore of the Marrajado del Oro, where orcish sailors long raided Risuri lands. They take their name from the de Guerra family, whose matriarch Corta Nariz de Guerra is the current Bruse and ruler of Ber. Since the establishment of modern Ber, many non-orcs have ad- opted de Guerra ways, especially those in the military, which often shuffles citizens around the country to train with those descended from other tribes, the better to foster national unity and pride in cultural heterogeneity.

Aggressive. As a bonus action, you can move your speed toward an enemy of your choice that you can see or hear. You must end this move closer to the enemy than you started.
Punch Above Your Weight. You are accustomed to dealing with much larger creatures. Add half your proficiency bonus on damage rolls for attacks against creatures Large or larger.
Reliable and Vigilant. When you would make an ability or skill check or saving throw, you can ignore one source of disadvantage. After you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest.
Steady Legs. Whether climbing mountains or crewing a ship, you’ve learned how to keep yourself and your allies from becoming unbalanced. When you or an ally within reach would fall prone or be pushed, you can grant them an expertise die on the saving throw or check to resist, or to their Maneuver DC. (An expertise die is an extra 1d4 that you roll and add to your main d20 roll.)
Languages. You know Common, Orc, and one Beran language such as Draconic, Gnoll, Goblin, or Minotaur.

Drakran culture is steeped in philosophical debate, and those who study and devise their own philosophies are the main drivers of society.

Epistemological Breadth. You are proficient in Culture, and you gain an expertise die when you make a check with a skill to debate or know about philosophy.
Ethical Imperative. You can cast command once per long rest. At 3rd level you can cast suggestion once per long rest. The saving throw DC for either of these is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom or Charisma modifier.
Hard to Sway. You have advantage on saving throws against il- lusions and to resist being charmed. Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion checks against you have disadvantage.
Languages. You know Common, Dwarf, and Primordial, enough to study nearly all major philosophies.

The largest woodland in Lanjyr is Elfaivar, the eponymous empire of the region’s southeastern subcontinent. Elfaivar’s elves devel- oped wondrous magic and learned to blur the borders of the Waking and the Dreaming. But their holy war with the Clergy ended with the death of Srasama, the Elfaivaran goddess of womanhood, and the backlash slew all but a few hundred Elfaivaran women. The sur- viving men fought over the ruins or fled in a diaspora. But secretive enclaves run by matriarchs were committed to pro- tecting the surviving women, preserving Elfaivaran culture, and rebuilding the civilization. In time these enclaves grew into secre- tive cities, where women were revered and given the finest training in martial arts, spellcraft, and statecraft, while men competed in grand competitions of art and athletics, hoping a woman might favor them and choose to have a child with them. The enclaves were sometimes aided by foreigners who felt a drive to help save a people from near death, and even sometimes sheltered those who were persecuted in the colonies that were slowly conquering the empire’s old land.
Elfaivarans have a close connection to the Dreaming, which manifests whenever they use magic, causing their entire eyes to glow faintly with the color of their irises. Almost every Elfaivaran possesses the inherent power to step briefly into the Dreaming, allowing them to bypass enemies and difficult terrain before reap- pearing in the Waking.

Dreaming Native. Your time in the Dreaming has suffused your being with its very energy. In addition to being humanoid, you also have the fey creature type. Additionally, you are proficient in either History or Nature.
Elfaivaran Training. Elfaivarans must be able to defend their people, but art and beauty elevates life beyond mere survival. You are proficient in longswords, scimitars, and whips. You are also proficient in one tool or instrument of your choice.
Endure and Thrive. A story can only be a tragedy if we let it end. You can cast the cantrip spare the dying. In addition, at 3rd level you can cast heroism once per long rest. When you use either of these powers, you recite a verse from the Dirge of Vekesh or a similar mantra.
Fey Step. You know how to briefly slip between the Waking and Dreaming. You can cast misty step, but you must finish a short or long rest before you can do it again. If you aren’t on the Waking or Dreaming, this power still functions, and to an outside observer you appear to instantaneously teleport, but to you it feels like you spend long moments in a void between worlds before arriving at your destination.
Languages. You can speak, read, write, and sign in Common, Elvish, and Sylvan.

Pedresco orcs are by far the most common, and their features a bit closer to humans, with smaller tusks and gentler brows. Other Berans, as well as de Guerra orcs, used to use the slur “half-orc” to insult the Pedresco orcs, and indeed the term might have some truth to it, as these lowland orcs were more likely to integrate with humans and perhaps even some elves. But after the founder of Ber, Vairday Bruse, hailed from among the Pedresco, the label has taken on a complicated role in orcish culture, co-opted to imply that the “other half” is Beran, a national identity rather than a racial one. Today Berans of all heritages are drawn to the example of their nation’s founder: confident and powerful civility, with a humility that respects that others might have wisdom you lack, and an unre- lenting refusal to give in to tyranny.

Cultural Studies. You are proficient in Culture.
Relentless Endurance. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
Wisdom of the Panoply. When an ally uses the Help action to aid you, you can reroll one of the dice you roll and use the new result.
You can’t use this feature again until you finish a short or long rest. Languages. You know Common, Orc, and one Beran language such as Draconic, Gnoll, Goblin, or Minotaur.

On a large island south of Ber lives a group of gnolls who belong to the Cult of the Steel Lord, and who have remained devoted to the dragon tyrant Gradiax even after he was slain over two centuries ago. These steelmarked gnolls have a somewhat paradoxical reli- gion that commands them to avoid touching metal with bare flesh, yet to understand and master technology, for which their lord will reward them with bodies as strong as steel, free from weakness and hunger. As such, they adhere to fastidious sanitary standards and avoid blooding ceremonies, with adulthood instead being achieved by proving one’s understanding of some technology and devotion to the cult. Their taboo only prohibits bare skin contact to metal, and as such they are fond of ornate kerchiefs and fine leather gloves. Forge workers have popularized garments with heavy padding over fore- arms and lower legs, and such accessories are common even among those who don’t regularly work metal. Priests of the cult wear some- what formless robes, but prefer ostentatious designs of vivid colors to catch the eye, especially when traveling among mainlanders. Despite their exceptional grasp of modern technology, the steelmarked still hold many traditional violent customs. The cult has repeatedly raided the mainland, killing gnolls who speak out against them, and abducting children to convert to their faith. Steelmarked gnolls unnerve outsiders, as they seem to watch the world around them with more detachment, move less, even breathe less than they should.

Blessed Industry. You gain proficiency in Engineering, as well as in the tool or vehicle of your choice.
Metal Taboo. You believe only your draconic lord and those who have earned his blessing are worthy of the strength of metal. You try not to touch metal with your body directly. Gloves or kerchiefs are acceptable to insulate one from metal, and there is no shame in being wounded by someone else’s metal.
Breaking Touch. Your people have developed the ability to break devices with a mere touch, even through a glove or other garment, which they see as a blessing and as proof of their lord’s enduring guidance. As a bonus action, you can touch an object with some mechanical complexity, such as a door, a lock, clock, ship rigging, steam engine, or animated construct. If it is an unattended inanimate object, it breaks in a non-hazard- ous way. A door has to be shoved forcefully open, a lock falls apart, a timebomb stops ticking down, a ship loses its propulsion. If it’s larger than 5 feet across, you only break a section of it, but repairs take at least an hour. If the object is being worn or carried by a creature, or if you’re trying to touch a creature, the creature can make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier) to avoid your touch. A mechanical creature touched this way takes 2d6 damage and its speed is reduced by half until the start of your next turn. The damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, and 5d6 at 16th level. A firearm affected by breaking touch will automatically miss the next time it is fired, as if a natural 1 were rolled (which is a misfire with a nonmagical gun). After you use this ability, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
Steel Endures. If you have obeyed the metal taboo for the past day, you have advantage on saving throws to resist poison and disease, and have resistance against poison damage. Additionally, double the amount of time you can go without food, water, and air. Languages. You know Common, Gnoll, and one Beran language such as Draconic, Goblin, Minotaur, or Orc.

Tous les backgrounds de base sont autorisés, sachant que votre histoire doit toujours vous mener au fait d'être recruté comme brigadier de la préfecture de Risur. Un background supplémentaire est disponible: archéologue.

Though most eyes look to the future, the past fascinates you, and you have found wisdom in exploring the ruins of civilizations that fell to disaster, or that gave birth to today’s world. Foremost in the public’s consciousness are the prehistoric orcs known as the An- cients, who left massive stone edifices, fantastic golden treasures, and little else. But you might also study the Demonocracy, the brief philosopher state of Pala, pre-Malice Elfaivar, the magically un- stable ruins of Methia, or any of the multitude of obscure peoples of the past. Perhaps some day you’ll explore the planets above and the ruins of surely long-dead cultures there.

Ability Score Increase: +1 to Intelligence and one other ability score.
Skill Proficiencies: History, and either Arcana or Survival.
Tool Proficiencies: Cartographer’s tools or navigator’s tools.
Languages: One modern language and one historical language of your choice.
Suggested Equipment (cost 29 gp): A bullseye lantern, a min- er’s pick, traveler’s clothes, a shovel, a two-person tent, a trinket recovered from a dig site.
Feature: Historical Knowledge. You can easily assess the mon- etary value of art objects that are more than a century old, and when you see ruins you can accurately ascertain who built them and for what purpose. Sometimes when you sleep near ruins, you faintly recall dreams of the people who lived there, which might guide you to where to search or dig.
Adventures and Advancement. Your archaeological finds earn you gratitude from scholars and researchers. When you donate a valuable object to a museum or library, you gain advantage on all ability checks made during Research downtime activities per- formed at that institution.

1. The museum curator who owes you a favor.
2. The sea captain with whom you’ve made profitable voyages.
3. The noble who believes you robbed their ancestral tomb.
4. The rival who is always one step ahead of you.
5. The vanished colleague who was close to a breakthrough.
6. The thief who was going to rob you but ended up fascinated by your work.
7. The rich one-time patron with a grudge against you.
8. The buffoonish but well-financed rival whose methods are clumsy and destructive.
9. The former partner who stole your map.
10. The inventor who will buy relics he thinks are keys to lost ancient technology.

1. A tablet with a fragment of the same poem in an archaic form of the languages of the Demonocracy and old Elfaivar, as well as unfamiliar pictograms of what appear to be hand signs.
2. A sealed clay flask, filled with liquid and painted with strange, skeletal humanoids around a crescent moon.
3. Half of a large stone key inscribed with pre-Malice iconography of the Clergy.
4. A solid gold arrow which you discovered embedded in the fossilized skull of an unfamiliar beast.
5. The charred case of an antique calligraphy kit with a brass nameplate that reads “Wm. Miller.”
6. A typed letter from a representative of the Vsadni Tzertze pointing out flaws in a paper you published about the fifth-century B.O.V. Drakr.
7. A wooden case containing a map to a ruin or dungeon, with the initials “RR” penned in the corner, found at a pawn shop.
8. A graven idol of an unknown god, carved from purple stone and partially encased in black volcanic rock.
9. An inherited, found, or stolen diary which once belonged to a great treasure hunter. It contains the answers to several riddles required to access some site, but no information about the site’s location.
10. A signature weapon or tool given by a mentor or old rival.

Choisissez un des thèmes (proposés dans le Player's Guide de la campagne) OU une destinée de Level Up!. Les thèmes vous permettent éventuellement d'accéder à une des classes de prestiges (livret à télécharger). Des ajustements pourront bien sûr être faits pendant la campagne selon l'évolution de votre personnage.

Warriors rely on their physical prowess, and spellcasters have all manner of magic, but a savant needs no weapon or armor, only their mind. Brilliant ingenuity, meticulous planning, or keen deductions will win them the day and leave their enemies confused at how they were defeated. Of course, you’d have to be a fool to not use weapons, armor, or magic when they’re available, and savants are no fools. Knowledge is power, but power is also power. A savant is at their most effective when they have an array of tools at their disposal and an assort- ment of allies to enact their cunning schemes.

Consider why your character relies on wits instead of warcraft or wizardry. Were they physically feeble and had to think their way out of challenges? Did they receive a refined education and learn from history and literature how to deal with all manner of unlikely scenarios? Have they just picked up these talents on the job, per- haps working a trade or serving as a guard?

Your highest ability score should be Intelligence, followed by Dex- terity. Get proficiency in Deception, Investigation, and Perception, plus disguise kits. Choose the Vanguard archetype, and choose proficiency with Culture, light armor, blowguns, pistols, scimitars, and whips. Learn the tricks Antagonizing Flourish, Improved Bas- tion Aegis, and Unbalancing Intervention. Learn the clever scheme Impromptu Persona.

Multiclassing Prerequisite: Intelligence 13 Proficiencies Gained: Improvised weapons and one type of tools

As a savant, you gain the following class features.

Hit Dice: 1d8 per savant level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per savant level after 1st

Armor: None Weapons: Simple weapons, improvised weapons Tools: Choose any one Saving Throws: Dexterity, Intelligence Skills: Choose three from Arcana, Culture, Deception, Engineering, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, and Sleight of Hand

You begin the game with 125 gp (plus the 30 gp each beginning Zeitgeist character gets, for a total of 155 gp) which you can spend on your character’s starting weapons, armor, and adventuring gear. You can select your own gear or choose one of the following equip- ment packages. * Bravo’s Set (cost 137 gp): scimitar, 2 daggers, blowgun, pistol, whip, 20 shots (bullets and firedust), explorer’s pack, leather armor, disguise kit. * Thinker’s Set (cost 146 gp): mace (a cane), 2 daggers, carbine, 20 shots (bullets and firedust), burglar’s pack, leather armor, thieves’ tools.

You constantly analyze combat situations to improve your defen- sive posture, proactively interfering to guide attacks away from yourself. While you are wearing no armor, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Intelligence modifier. You cannot use a shield and still gain this benefit. The savant is not proficient in armor by default, but might gain those proficiencies through archetypes, feats, or multiclassing. When you are wearing armor you’re proficient in, you can use your Intelligence in place of your Dexterity to determine your AC.

Your Savant archetype defines what your greatest aptitude is. This book presents three types of savant: Steward, Vanguard, and Vox. The steward is expert at protecting and healing allies. The van- guard joins the thick of the fight, looking for tactical opportunities others miss. The vox deeply understands how words can manipu- late people. Your archetype gives you unique features at 1st level and again at 2nd, 6th, 11th, 14th, and 17th level.

Introduced in Level Up, exploration knacks are a variety of abilities that help you deal with non-combat challenges. Each class gets its own collection to choose from, and savants’ are called clever schemes. If you are not playing Level Up, your Narrator might ignore these clever schemes so that a savant doesn’t outshine other characters. You learn one clever scheme of your choice. These schemes are detailed at the end of the class description. The Schemes Known column of the Savant table shows when you learn more clever schemes.

You have developed a small number of clever gambits, deft maneu- vers, and canny guards which help you prevail in battle by using your wits. The number of tricks you know is listed on the Savant table, and you can choose from the list below and from the list of tricks your archetype makes available. To use a trick, you must first prepare it by spending a bonus action. You cannot prepare a trick outside of an encounter, but once a trick is prepared, it remains prepared until you use it, until the encounter ends, or until you spend a bonus action to replace it with a different trick. You can only have one trick prepared at time. Different tricks can be used at different times. Some can be used without requiring any action, in response to some trigger. Others require your action, bonus action, or reaction. Some of your tricks require your target to make a saving throw to resist its effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows: Trick save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can choose to replace a trick you know with a different trick.

Some tricks are called Aegises, which let you defend against some sort of attack. Other tricks are called Flourishes, which you can use when you hit with a melee weapon attack. If a trick offers a saving throw, after you use it against a particu- lar creature, that creature has advantage on saving throws against other uses of that same trick until the end of combat. If the trick doesn’t permit a saving throw, after you use it against a particular creature, you cannot use the same trick against that creature for the rest of the combat.

Attention Diverting Aegis. When a creature within 30 feet that can sense you makes an attack that isn’t targeting you, you can use this trick to distract the attacker. If it fails a Wisdom saving throw, until your next turn it has disadvantage on all attack rolls it makes that aren’t against you.
Canny Dodge Aegis. When an attack would hit you, you can use this trick to roll 1d4 and add it to your AC against that attack. Alter- natively, when you would fail a Dexterity saving throw, you can use this trick to roll 1d4 and add it to your saving throw. In either case, you know how much the roll succeeded or failed by before deciding whether to use this aegis.
Committee Defense Aegis. When a creature attacks you, if it is not the first creature to attack you since the start of your last turn, you find an avenue of opportunity amid the massed assault. You can use this trick to impose disadvantage on that creature’s attack. Then, you gain advantage on the next attack roll you make before the end of your next turn that targets a creature that attacked you this round.
Improvised Bastion Aegis. When a creature’s attack, spell, or ability would damage you, you can use this trick to devise a mo- mentary defense (using a chair as a shield, predicting a safe spot in an explosion, diluting a spray of acid with a solvent, etc). You gain resistance to one type of damage you would take, which protects you only against the triggering hostile act.
Mindful Reason Aegis. When you would fail an Intelligence or Wisdom saving throw, you can use this trick to roll 1d4 and add it to your saving throw. You know how much the roll failed by before deciding whether to use this aegis.
Serpentine Rush Aegis. When you are targeted by a ranged attack, you can use this trick and your reaction to move your speed. Until the end of your next turn, ranged attacks against you have disadvantage. Additionally, your movement might get you to a location where cover makes you hard or impossible to hit. Reduce your speed on your next turn by the distance that you move when using this trick.
Tangled Dance Aegis. When you would be hit with an attack and a creature other than the attacker is adjacent to you, you can use this trick to try to dodge so the attack hits that creature. If the attacker fails an Intelligence saving throw, change the attack’s target to another creature within 5 feet, and the attacker uses the same result of its attack roll.
Undermining Taunt Aegis. When a creature misses with an attack or when a foe succeeds on a saving throw against an effect it created, you can use this trick to capitalize on their failure, warning the creature why another possible course of action will also turn out badly. If that creature can understand you, choose an action, such as Attack or Cast a Spell. The target must make a Charisma saving throw. If it fails, until the end of its next turn it cannot take that action.

Antagonizing Flourish. When you hit a creature with a melee attack, you can try to draw its ire. If it fails a Charisma saving throw, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you until the start of your next turn.
Disarming Flourish. When you hit a creature with a melee attack, you can attempt to disarm it. If it fails a Strength saving throw, its grip is loosened, and the creature cannot make use of the item until it spends a bonus action or attack on its turn to regain a solid hold. If the creature has disadvantage on the save and fails both rolls, it drops the item.
Experimental Flourish. Whenever you miss with an attack, you improvise a follow-up that doesn’t directly attack a foe, such as slicing a rope to pin an enemy with a chandelier, or smashing a pipe to spray blinding steam on an enemy. Circumstances will dictate what the effect is, but some examples include shoving or impos- ing the blinded, deafened, grappled, or prone condition, and may also deal damage equal to your Intelligence modifier. Any condi- tions imposed should seldom last more than one round. Creatures affected can make an Intelligence saving throw to anticipate your trick and avoid the effect.
Guiding Flourish. When you hit a creature with a melee attack, you can try to trick it into moving. If it fails a Dexterity saving throw, it moves up to 10 feet in a direction of your choice. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks. If this movement would cause it to take damage (such as by falling or entering fire), the creature has advantage on this saving throw.
Menacing Flourish. When you hit a creature with a melee attack, you can spend a bonus action to activate this trick and de- liver a terrifying threat. The target makes a Wisdom saving throw. If it fails, for the next minute it is frightened of you.
Surgical Flourish. When you have advantage on a melee attack and both dice results are high enough to hit, choose one of the creature’s limbs or eyes to debilitate. If the creature succeeds a Constitution saving throw, you debilitate that body part until the end of your next turn. If it fails the saving throw, the body part is debilitated until the creature can take a short rest.

Assess Vulnerability. When you attack a creature, you can use your Intelligence bonus in place of another ability score bonus for the attack roll and damage roll. This applies to all attacks you make against it before the start of your next turn, but not to attacks you make against other creatures.
Choreographed Disappearance. On your turn, you say some- thing to turn a foe’s attention away from you or an ally. You or an ally of your choice who can understand you can move up to their speed. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks from one creature of your choice that can understand you. If they end up having obscurement or cover relative to the distracted foe, they can Hide without spending an action.
Direct Ally. You identify an opening an ally can take advantage of. You can spend an action and choose an ally that can understand you, then choose a target. If that ally hits that target with an attack before the start of your next turn, their attack deals an extra 1d8 damage. The bonus dice increase to 2d8 at 5th level, 3d8 at 11th level, and 4d8 at 17th level. After you use this trick, you can choose the same ally again, but cannot choose the same target for the rest of the encounter.
Frightful Suppression. When you make an attack that causes loud noises—a firearm or grenade, or also items and spells that deal thunder damage—you can use this trick to force the attack’s target (or creatures in the attack’s area) to make a Wisdom saving throw to gauge when it is safe to move, and thus avoid being pinned down. A creature that fails cannot move until the start of your next turn unless it spends an action.
Rallying Word. You know just what to say to inspire an ally’s flagging stamina. You can spend a bonus action to let an ally within 30 feet who can understand you spend a hit die. If it does, it rolls that hit die (adding its Constitution bonus) plus 1d8 and heals hit points equal to the total. The bonus dice increase to 2d8 at 5th level, 3d8 at 11th level, and 4d8 at 17th level. After you use this ability, the same ally cannot benefit from it again until you complete a short rest.
Saving Advice. Spend a bonus action to advise an ally who can understand you. Choose a saving throw. One time before the end of this encounter, that ally can gain an expertise die on one saving throw of that type, used at the time of their choice. An expertise die is 1d4 they roll and add.
Sweeping Stride. When you stand up, or when you move at least 10 feet and enter a space adjacent to a creature no more than one size larger than you, you can try to trip it. If the creature fails a Dexterity saving throw, it falls prone. If it succeeds, instead your movement ends in the space you entered to use this ability. If you used this ability while standing up, you remain prone.
Timely Tool. Spend a bonus action to use an item that normally can be used as an action. This cannot cause damage or require an attack roll. Examples include administering an antitoxin, potion, or other easy-to-swallow item to a willing creature within reach; lighting a torch; tossing out caltrops, or barring a door.
Unbalancing Intervention. When a creature within your reach makes a Strength or Dexterity ability check or saving throw, you can use your reaction to perform a series of pulls, shoves, and strikes that put a creature off-balance. The creature has disadvan- tage on its ability check or saving throw.

Some savants are prepared to bloody their knuckles in a fight, while others make a point of staying out of the scrum. At 2nd level, you choose one of the following poises.

You have a deft ability to predict your opponents’ responses and interfere with them. Whenever a creature within your reach that you are aware of attempts to take a reaction, you can expend your reaction for the round to try to disrupt them. That creature must make an Intelligence saving throw against your trick DC. If they fail, their reaction is wasted.

You gain the ability to use combat maneuvers. (Combat maneuvers are detailed in the Level Up Adventurer’s Guide.) You gain an exertion point pool equal to your proficiency bonus. Choose two martial traditions. (Most savants learn maneuvers of the traditions Biting Zephyr, Mist and Shade, Rapid Current, or Sanguine Knot.) Whenever you gain a savant trick, you can instead choose a maneuver from any of your chosen martial traditions. You can initially learn maneuvers of the 1st degree. At 7th level you gain access to 2nd degree maneuvers, then at 13th level you can access 3rd degree maneuvers, and finally at 19th level you can access 4th degree maneuvers.

You can adapt your mind for whatever challenges you expect. Start- ing at 3rd level, when you complete a short or long rest you can choose a skill. Until you complete another rest, whenever you make an ability check using that skill, you use Intelligence instead of the ability score it normally uses.

At 3rd level, and again at 7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th, choose a skill you are proficient with. You gain an expertise die on checks with that skill. (An expertise die is 1d4 you roll and add to your check result.)

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

At 4th level, choose one savant trick you know. You are considered to always have that trick prepared, and it does not count against the limit of the number of tricks you can have prepared. When you use that trick, it does not stop being prepared. Whenever you gain a level, you can change your signature move.

At 5th level, you refine your combat poise. Choose one of the follow- ing, or one of the combat poise options available at 2nd level.

Extra Attack. When you use the Attack action on your turn, you can make two attacks.
Rational Maneuvers. You can use your Intelligence bonus to cal- culate the DCs of your basic maneuvers and combat maneuvers.

At 7th level, whenever you complete a long rest you may choose one ability score and gain proficiency in saving throws of that type until you use this ability again.

Also at 7th level, on your turn you can prepare a trick without spending an action. You can do this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. Thereafter, preparing tricks requires the usual bonus action until you complete a short rest.

At 9th level, you can use the confusion of a large battle to protect you. If there are at least two enemies within 30 feet, you can use a bonus action to choose one of them. Until the end of your next turn, that creature has disadvantage on attack rolls against you.

At 10th level, you can hold two tricks in reserve, in addition to your signature trick. Whenever you prepare a trick, you can fill both trick slots (or keep one that is prepared and replace another).

At 13th level, your combat poise can achieve remarkable things. Choose one of the following, or one of the combat poise options available at 2nd or 5th level.

Confounding Defense. The first time each round that you use an aegis, you can immediately prepare another aegis trick.
The Opportune Moment. On your turn, you can take one addition- al action. You cannot use this ability on the first round of combat. After you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you com- plete a short or long rest.

At 15th level, your mental capabilities transcend the normal limita- tions mortal minds face. You gain an expertise die on all Intelligence checks and saving throws.

At 18th level, you can overcome obstacles with ease. When you or another creature that can understand you starts its turn you can grant it the ability to ignore all sources of disadvantage until the start of its next turn. After you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.

At 20th level, you’re clever enough to accomplish anything. When- ever you complete a long rest, choose an effect that could be accomplished by a spell of level 8 or lower. You can have that effect occur immediately, or keep it in reserve for the day, and cause it to occur at any point by spending an action. This can be because you acquired a magic item or spellcaster willing to perform the magic, or have a device or hirelings capable of matching the feat.

Deux nouvelles classes sont disponibles:

• Savant
• Technologist

Quelques archétypes sont interdits:

• Pour la classe d'Adept, l'archétype Warrior Monk est interdit
• Pour la classe de Warlock, l'archétype Diabolist est interdit

Par ailleurs, cinq nouveaux archétypes sont accessibles:

• Queen Bee (Berserker)
• Gadgeteer (Fighter)
• Vagabond (Bard)
• Aspirant (Cleric)
• Executore (Herald)