Subclasses, Spells, Monsters, and Legendary Items
A Homebrew Adventure
Right, so I will be the first to admit that I got…more than a little carried away when I was first homebrewing this campaign. In my defense, I was genuinely just trying to make it as fun for my friends as I could. Which, of course, meant that I was going to make them as many shiny and pretty things as I could dream and cook up so that they could have the maximum amount of fun possible while at my table.
Also in my defense, I was a first time DM and had no idea how far in over my head I was getting. I’ve learned since then, but if you think I’m going to change my entire style just to make things bland…that’s not going to happen. But here are some of the homebrew highlights from the three year long Tales of Eriathra tabletop campaign, based then on Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition.
My homebrew collection contains subclasses, spells, monsters, mounts, and items both crafted and gifted by the gods. My players were a varied sort, and so my goal became to match their unhinged creativity with as much passion as I could muster.
On this page, you will find subclasses, spells, and a homebrewed feat. For items and monsters, see the below page links, as those lists are significantly longer and well deserving of their own dedicated pages.
Homebrewed Monsters
Homebrewed Items
Homebrewed Subclasses
Oath of the Blazing Sun
Paladin Subclass
This subclass was created specifically for my best friend, who multi-classed from Cleric into Paladin after discovering a holy sword hidden in the desk of a dead elven king’s study and an amulet boosting Charisma early on in their adventures. It was designed to be everything that we traditionally associate with the idea of fantasy holy knights, but without the severe limitations of established paladin subclasses.
Tenets:
1) A Protector’s Honour – The world faces many threats, both within, and from realms beyond. As one of the realm’s protectors, shine your light into the darkest places, rescuing the weak and purging the darkness of fiends and undead that threaten harm upon His people.
2) Loyalty to the Realm – Loyalty and honour stand above all, and champions of the Lord of Light must choose those that they serve wisely, whether they serve a king or queen, the common people, or the realm as a whole. When you make your oath, you swear yourself to your ideals, and to the cause you wish to serve.
3) A Life of Sacrifice – The life of a paladin is one of battle and sacrifice, for it is your body and your will that stem the tides of darkness and serve to lead people into the light. Never content to remain stagnant, His paladins wander from place to place, seeking out the darkest threats and putting an end to them through shining blade and fiercest devotion.
4) Champion of the Gods – Paladins of the Lord of Light are called to a higher purpose as great champions to restore balance to the realm. They abhor the forces of evil and devote their lives to carrying out justice on behalf of the Lord of Light and all of the peoples under His protection.
Channel Divinity
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.
Champion’s Sword – The blinding light of Balor shines through you, empowering your very being with divine energy. Imbue your strikes for one minute with the power of the blazing sun, adding 1d8 radiant damage to your weapon attacks. This increases by 1d8 at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th level.
Gaze of the Sun – Use a holy talisman to shine the light of your heart for all to see, turning away the undead and destroying those that fail to escape your divine light. At 3rd Level, CR rating of Destroy Undead increases to 1, and subsequently increases by 1 at levels 6, 10, and 14.
A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can’t willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can’t take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.
If the creature’s true form is concealed by an illusion, shapeshifting, or other effect, that form is revealed while it is turned.
Oath Spells
You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed.
Oath of the Blazing Sun Spells:
| Paladin Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Create Bonfire |
| 5th | Earth Tremor, Prayer of Healing |
| 9th | Daylight, Fireball |
| 13th | Wall of Fire, Fire Shield |
| 17th | Dawn |
Aura of the Golden Knight
Beginning at 7th level, your god coats you in an aura of sunlight, transforming you into a golden knight. You and friendly creatures within 15 feet of you have resistance to damage from spells, and all creatures within your aura have disadvantage on attacks against your allies as their gaze turns upon you.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Bane of the Undead
At 13th level, gain the ability to emanate a radiant aura to burn away at the souls of your foes. Using a holy weapon as a focus, radiant fire races across the ground, engulfing everything within 30 feet in holy fire. You deal your weapon’s radiant damage to all creatures within 30 feet of you, excepting those that you have sworn to protect.
This aura does extra damage to the undead.
March of the Mage-Knight
Your faith and devotion to Balor do not go unnoticed, and he is a god to repay in kind. For your devotion, you gain the ability to cast new spells.
You now possess the Ring of Swift Smithing Balor and are granted access to these spells;
6th Level – Sunbeam, Conjure Fey
7th Level – Fire Storm, Crown of Stars
8th Level – Sunburst, Earthquake
9th Level – Blade of Disaster, Mass Heal
Champion of the Sun
Though the Lord of Light has many servants and worshippers across the realms, few are truly favoured above the rest by Balor himself. A warrior to his core, the god of the sun bestows his favour on those he views as truly worthy of the boon, who have proven themselves beyond all shadow of a doubt, and whose triumphs in battle provide protection to his realm. These golden sentinels he favours are blessed with eternal life, ended only when the devout warriors fall valiantly in glorious battle.
Knight-Enchanter
Wizard Subclass
This subclass took inspiration from the Knight-Enchanter mage class in Bioware’s Dragon Age Inquisition, but with my own twists, taking the spirit of the Bladesinger and Eldritch Knight and upgrading it into a truly defensive wizard build for party utility and protection. An arcane paladin, if you will. Because as much as Rune Knights and Eldritch Knights are a nice nod to the idea of a heavily armoured mage, playing as a true defensive mage isn’t an option that we’re given in traditional 5E. So, I decided to rectify that, as someone who loves playing battlemages in games like The Elder Scrolls series.
Knight-Enchanters are among the few true and tried battlemages. Their strength comes from magic, which they use to conjure spirit blades with which to do battle. The elven tradition of Knight-Enchanters is an old one. However, contrary to their cousins, the Bladesingers, theirs is no hypnotic dance as they weave in and out of the fray. The Knight-Enchanter places themselves in the middle of the battle, controlling it from within using spell and steel. Cloaked in mystical armour, a Knight-Enchanter fears no blade or spell, and fights with the deadly elegance of their Fey ancestors.
Spirit Blade
2nd-level Knight -Enchanter feature
You force the magic from your body and coalesce it into a physical form, empowering it to strike at the hearts of your foes. This ethereal blade strikes with the sharpness of a sword and the strength of a giant’s fist, imbuing this slashing weapon with force damage to unleash on your enemies with every strike.
Your spirit blade acts as your spellcasting focus, allowing you to cast the somatic components of spells even with sword in hand.
At 9th level, with every successful melee strike against an opponent, you build one charge in your spirit blade. Also, each time you take damage, you build towards the next charge in your sword. For every six damage you take, you build one charge.
Shield of the Knight-Enchanter
3rd-level Knight-Enchanter feature
Upon rolling initiative and entering battle, you can use a bonus action to activate your Knight-Enchanter’s Shield, which lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are incapacitated, or if you don a mortal shield. You can also dismiss the shield at any time (no action required). If you roll highest in the initiative order, you may activate the Knight-Enchanter’s Shield with a free action in preparation for battle. As a result of your intense physical training, you find yourself to be hardier than other wizards.
While your shield is active, you gain the following benefits:
- You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1).
- You can use your reaction a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, up to once per round to parry a blow with your spirit sword, reducing the damage of a single melee attack to zero, or a projectile spell by half.
- You have advantage to any Constitution saving throw you make to maintain your concentration on a spell.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.
Extra Attack
5th-level Knight-Enchanter feature
You can attack twice with your spirit blade, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Ascending Tide
9th-level Knight-Enchanter feature
With every blow you land against your foes, the strength of your spirit blade grows. Every successful blow adds a charge of 1d6 force damage, able to be discharged at will through a melee attack with the spirit blade. You can store a number of charges up to double your proficiency bonus within the energy of the blade. you may then discharge this energy with a bonus action as part of a melee attack with your spirit blade.
Alternatively, as a reaction, you can spend charges up to or equal to your proficiency bonus to reduce incoming damage to yourself or an ally within thirty feet as you conjure a veil of spirit energy over their skin to protect them from harm. Each charge reduces the damage by 1d6.
Fading Step
14th-level Knight-Enchanter feature
Caught between the Material Plane and the other realms, you now possess the ability to make your body incorporeal, stepping through your foes to avoid attacks of opportunity, and fade through obstacles on your way across the battlefield. Once per turn, you can use your bonus action to Fade-Step up to your character’s movement speed to any location reachable by foot, ignoring any terrain that would otherwise count as difficult terrain.
Any enemies you pass through take 2d6 force damage, as well as any additional force damage you expend from charges built up in your spirit blade.
If you rematerialize inside of an enemy, they take 10d6 force damage. Being reduced to zero hit points causes their physical form to explode. If they are not reduced to zero hit points, they are hurled twenty feet away from you. If you rematerialize inside of a creature larger than yourself and it is not reduced to zero hit points, you are considered grappled.
Circle of the Deep Woods
Druid Subclass
This subclass sought to diversify the Druid class into one that could properly account for the vast array of beasts and monsters within D&D and the game setting. Would you allow me to turn into monsters that even the Circle of the Moon wouldn’t normally allow? That was the sort of question one of my players asked when interested in playing a druid character. My answer? If you’ve got spell slots, why not turn yourself into every abomination of a creature under the sun?
This subclass took inspiration from the Shapeshifter class from Bioware’s Dragon Age Origins.
A tradition born in the darkness of the deep woods, druids of the deep woods specialize in the dark and fearsome aspects of nature. These druids act more as hedge witches, shifting into monstrous shapes to prowl the wilds as blight wolves, corrupted spiders, and bereskarn. They do not shy away from the uglier aspects of nature, instead, embracing the wilds in all their terrifying glory. And sometimes, that terror embraces right back, corrupting those who delve too deeply into the dark magics of the deep woods.
These deep woods druids generally do not live in formal circles. Instead, they choose the life of a hermit, withdrawing to the depths of the most wild places, where they feel most at home amongst their monstrous kin, often taking on aspects of the natural world unto themselves through their deep connection with the natural magics of the earth. However, they are fully capable of blending into human society when it suits them.
Famous hedge witches of the deep woods include Morrigan of the Korcari Wilds, a dark and selfish shapeshifter whose loathing of humanity, particularly men, sets her apart from any traveling companions she may meet on the roads.
Aberrant Wild Shape
Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Wild Shape feature to transform into aberrant creatures rather than beasts. You can transform into a creature with a Challenge Rating (CR) of 1 or lower without expending a spell slot. To transform into a creature with a higher CR, you must expend a spell slot of the appropriate level, as shown in the Wild Shape table below. The maximum CR of aberrant creatures you can transform into is 10.
Wild Shape Table
| Druid Level | Max CR Wildshape | Spell Slot Level for Higher CR |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd | 1 | — |
| 3rd | 2 | 1st |
| 4th | 3 | 2nd |
| 5th | 4 | 3rd |
| 7th | 5 | 4th |
| 9th | 6 | 5th |
| 11th | 7 | 6th |
| 13th | 8 | 7th |
| 15th | 9 | 8th |
| 17th | 10 | 9th |
Blighted Resilience
At 6th level, your connection to the Blight infuses you with resilience and an unsettling presence. You gain the following benefits while you are transformed using your Wild Shape feature into an aberrant creature:
- Blighted Fortitude: You gain resistance to necrotic and poison damage while in aberrant form.
- Terrifying Aura: As an action, you can unleash a terrifying aura of Blight-infused energy. Each creature of your choice within 30 feet of you that can see or hear you must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier). On a failed save, a creature becomes frightened of you until the end of your next turn. Additionally, creatures that fail the saving throw take necrotic damage equal to your druid level. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
- Blighted Strikes: Your attacks while in aberrant form are considered magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to non-magical attacks and damage.
Blighted Evolution
At 10th level, your connection to the Blight allows you to access more powerful aberrant forms and enhances your abilities further.
- Advanced Aberrant Wild Shape: You can now use your Wild Shape feature to transform into aberrant creatures with a Challenge Rating (CR) of up to 2 without expending a spell slot. You can still use spell slots to transform into aberrant creatures with higher CRs, as detailed in the Aberrant Wild Shape feature.
- Blighted Empowerment: While you are transformed using your Wild Shape feature into an aberrant creature, you gain temporary hit points equal to your druid level at the start of each of your turns, up to a maximum of your druid level. If you already have temporary hit points from this feature and gain more from it, you can choose to replace your current temporary hit points with the new ones. These temporary hit points last until you revert to your normal form.
- Enhanced Blight Affinity: Your understanding and affinity with the Blight allow you to communicate telepathically with aberrant creatures while in their form. Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against spells and effects that would charm or frighten you.
- Greater Blighted Forms: You gain the ability to use your Wild Shape feature to transform into upgraded versions of aberrant creatures you already know how to transform into. These upgraded forms are more powerful versions of the creatures, reflecting their enhanced Blight-infused abilities and traits.
Blighted Ascendance
At 14th level, your mastery over the Blight and aberrant forms reaches its pinnacle, granting you profound abilities.
You can use your Blighted Presence feature without expending an action, affecting creatures within 30 feet of you.
Eldritch Resilience: You gain immunity to necrotic and poison damage while you are transformed using your Wild Shape feature into an aberrant creature.
Blighted Presence: Your presence becomes truly unsettling and terrifying to behold. As an action, you can emanate an aura of Blight-infused dread. Each creature of your choice within 60 feet of you that can see or hear you must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier). On a failed save, a creature becomes frightened of you for 1 minute. A frightened creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Blighted Metamorphosis: Once per long or short rest, you can use your action to undergo a Blighted Metamorphosis, transforming into a terrifying aberrant monstrosity of your choice from those you can normally transform into with your Wild Shape feature. While transformed in this way, you gain the following benefits:
Your size category increases by one step (up to a maximum of Huge).
You gain temporary hit points equal to your druid level + your Wisdom modifier.
Your attacks are considered magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to non-magical attacks and damage.
Homebrewed Spells
Defending Blade – Knight-Enchanter Spell
Level: 2nd
Casting Time: 1 Reaction
Range/Area: Self
Components: S
Duration: Instantaneous
School: Abjuration
Attack/Save: DEX Save
Damage/Effect: Warding
You deflect projectiles aimed at your or an ally within 5 feet with your Spirit Blade, freezing and turning the projectiles in mid-air, sending them back at your attacker.
Elementalist’s Blade
Level: 1st
Casting Time: 1 Bonus Action
Range/Area: Self
Components: S
Duration: Instantaneous
School: Evocation
Attack/Save: Melee
Damage/Effect
In time, every arcane warrior learns to imbue their weapons with the powers of nature and the elements. Add 2d8 of one of the below damage types to your weapon strike. At higher levels, add an additional 1d8 per level of spell slot expended of 2nd level or higher.
Thunder, Fire, Cold, Lightning, Poison, Acid
Fade Shield – Knight-Enchanter Spell
Level: 1st
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range/Area: Sight
Components: S
Duration: Concentration
School: Abjuration
Attack/Save: None
Damage/Effect: Magical defense is counted among the basics of a Knight-Enchanter’s training, for they must not only be capable of shielding themselves, but others. As an action, raise your spirit blade and create a shield to protect yourself and your allies. This spell scales as you invoke higher spell slots.
- First Level: You apply a concentration shield to yourself and gain 3 AC for the duration. You have resistance against being frightened or charmed.
- Third Level: You apply a concentration shield to yourself and two allies within 30 feet, gaining 3 AC for the duration. All affected have resistance to being frightened or charmed.
- Fifth Level: You apply a concentration shield to yourself and up to four allies within 30 feet, gaining 3 AC for the duration. All affected have resistance to being frightened or charmed.
Be warned, the Fade Shield is strong, yet delicate, woven of mystical energies from beyond this plane. Casting of other magical wards within the radius will disrupt the protective qualities of the Fade Shield, causing the concentration to end.
Reflect
Level: 2nd
Casting Time: 1 Reaction
Range/Area: Self
Components: S
Duration: 1 Round
School: Abjuration
Attack/Save: None
Damage/Effect: When you find yourself under attack by sword or spell, create a shimmering mirror that reflects half of the damage taken back upon your opponent. At higher levels, increase the duration for 1 round per level of spell slot spent.
Resurgence – Knight-Enchanter Spell
Level: 4th
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range/Area: Self (30 ft. )
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration
School: Evocation
Attack/Save: None
Damage/Effect: Healing
Call on spirits of the Fade to restore vitality to yourself and your allies. Each round you hold concentration, restore health to yourself and each ally within 15 feet of you.
You can expend charges stored in your spirit blade to provide extra bursts of health as you convert damage into healing. Add a number of d6 equal to the number of charges spent to the healing pool, to be distributed amongst your allies as you see fit.
Wave of Destruction – Knight-Enchanter Spell
Level: 5th
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range/Area: Self (30 ft. )
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
School: Evocation
Attack/Save: DEX Save
Damage/Effect: Force
When an army comes, turn your blade into a weapon of battlefield control. Step out into the enemy’s midst and unleash a blast of destruction to decimate your foes. Discharge force damage in a radius of 15 feet in every direction, empowered by the magical charge of your blade.
This spell’s base damage is 5d6 force damage. However, additional force damage may be added from the charges stored in the spirit blade, up to a maximum of 17d6 force damage (on a fully charged spirit blade) at 5th level, or up to 21d6 force damage at 9th level.
Homebrewed Feats
Whirling Death
Feat
Prerequisite: Requires a Strength score of 16 or higher, requires weapon proficiency
Once per turn, you can sacrifice your bonus action to wind up a heavy attack with a halberd, glaive, or greatsword. As an action, release the coiled energy and swing your weapon with mighty strength, clearing the five closest occupied spaces within reach of your weapon.
You attack up to five enemies in front of you with your weapon’s full damage, however this effect is halted prematurely if you attack a creature of a large size or bigger.