Weird Wastelands

creaTED BY web dm produced by 2cgaming written by Jim DaviS, emma Lambert, Jonathan pruitt

© Web DM Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Weird Wastelands v1.0 printed June, 2023 by 2CGaming, LLC. The Web DM Entertainment, LLC logos and name and the book name (Worlds of Web DM: Weird Wastelands) are protected by copyright and trademark. Other logos and names remain property of appropriate parties and are protected by similar protections. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of material contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Web DM Entertainment, LLC or its authorized representatives.

©Web DM Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Weird Wastelands v1.0 printed June, 2023 by 2CGaming, LLC. The Web DM Entertainment, LLC logos and name and the book name (Worlds of Web DM: Weird Wastelands) are protected by copyright and trademark. Other logos and names remain property of appropriate parties and are protected by similar protections. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of material contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Web DM Entertainment, LLC or its authorized representatives. Printed in China. Standard Print ISBN: 978-1-946678-43-0 Deluxe Print ISBN: 2370001734272 Alternate Deluxe Print ISBN: 2370001734289 Digital ISBN: 978-1-946678-44-7 PRODUCED BY CREATED BY Web DM WRITTEN BY Jim Davis, Emma Lambert, Jonathan Pruitt

Weird is my favorite word. If you hear me call something weird, it’s always a compliment. So it’s really a fun honor to write the foreword to this book. Because it’s weird. Let’s talk about that word, though. It gets used a lot. Maybe overused. I’m not going to give you the dictionary definition. Instead, I’ll give you my personal one: weird is what keeps things interesting. It keeps the boredom at bay—the boredom of repetition, of jaded experience, of “nothing new under the sun.” Weird involves surprises and twists. It goes beyond (or sometimes around) expectations. The very best weird concepts are the kind that make you pause long enough to allow your mind to reel with possibilities. Weird Wastelands embraces the idea of weird through some of my favorite methods: combining concepts of magic and technology, a setting with deep roots in a mysterious past, a focus on exploring strange places filled with wonder, and, of course, weird monsters and creatures. The glory of putting weird into a game is that you almost always raise more questions than answers when you do. And here’s a secret from me to you: in roleplaying games, questions are always better than answers. Questions lead to adventures. They lead to stories. Answers put an end to them. It’s fine to learn where the legendary sword Wyrmwrath lies, defeat the mutant ettin guardians, and obtain the blade for yourself. These are all answers. But why does the queen of the thools seek to destroy it? How did it come to house the spirit of a dragon? Does it have a goal beyond bloodlust? See what I mean? Each one of these can lead to new adventures and stories. One of my other favorite words is fun. That shouldn’t be all that surprising, considering I’ve been working professionally on games for 30+ years. The lesson I’ve learned after all that time is that you can craft all the cool game rules you want, you can write a book filled with wonderful and weird ideas, but if they don’t actually make the game more fun, you’ve missed the point. Games are about fun, and they’re called roleplaying games for a reason. There’s nothing more satisfying as a designer than to walk by a table of gamers having an absolute blast—whether they’re laughing at some crazy situation, cheering at a great die roll, or swept up in the story being woven by the group—knowing that you had some small part of that. And to be sure, all designers do is lay out the tools or give a nudge at the right time. It’s the GM and players that craft the story, make the fun, and revel in the joy of the game itself. Considering the hours of great advice and commentary from Web DM, it should come as no surprise to anyone that this book is filled with options that will make campaigns and characters more fun. These folks know what makes for a good game session and a grand campaign that will leave you with stories you’ll be reminiscing about with your friends for years to come. I hope you’ll dive right in and create a psion character, set an adventure in the Colossus of Rust, or do battle with a magicore. And I hope you do it in your very next game session. Don’t just let this excellent book sit on your shelf with all the others. (I know very well what your overcrowded game shelf looks like, friend—I’ve got one of my own!) The material in this book needs to be used. It needs to be experienced at the game table. The wasteland stretches before you, brave adventurers. But be careful…it’s weird out there. Monte Cook 2022 foreword FOREWORD weird waStelandS 1

LEAD WRITING Jim Davis, Emma Lambert, Jonathan Pruitt ADDITIONAL WRITING Celeste Conowitch, Gwendolyn Marshall EDITING Misty Bourne PROJECT MANAGEMENT Misty Bourne, Celeste Conowitch, Jon Kelly, Gwendolyn Marshall ART DIRECTION Jason Strutz COVER ART Bruce Brenneise (Standard Cover), Wayne Reynolds (Alternate Cover) INTERIOR ART Juan Arrabal, Bruce Brenneise, Tina Fulton, Ambrose Hoilman, Matt Morrow, Jason Strutz, Thomas Tanner GRAPHIC DESIGN AND LAYOUT BNE Design SPECIAL THANKS This book is dedicated to our viewers, backers, patrons, and fellow tabletop gamers. You changed our world with your support of Web DM, and in so doing made it possible for us to create this one. This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systemsreference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. CREDITS 2 weird waStelandS

Foreword ...........................................................................1 Table of Contents.........................................................3 Introduction: Welcome to the Postapocalypse........................4 How to Use This Book.........................................................4 The Weird Wastelands as a Sandbox...............................5 Setting Notes ........................................................................6 Postapocalypse as Inspiration...........................................6 Ecology of the Weird Wastelands.....................................8 Apocalyptic Cataclysms......................................................9 Choose Your Own Apocalypse....................................... 11 Chapter 1: Character Options .......................... 18 New Class: Psion............................................................... 18 New Subclasses in the Wastes....................................... 31 Barbarian.......................................................................... 31 Bard................................................................................... 33 Cleric ................................................................................. 35 Druid.................................................................................. 36 Fighter............................................................................... 39 Monk.................................................................................. 40 Paladin .............................................................................. 42 Ranger............................................................................... 44 Rogue................................................................................ 45 Sorcerer............................................................................ 46 Warlock ............................................................................. 48 Wizard............................................................................... 51 Backgrounds ...................................................................... 53 Enclave Envoy ................................................................. 53 Faction Veteran............................................................... 54 Mendicant Lawgiver....................................................... 56 Naturalist.......................................................................... 57 Nomad .............................................................................. 59 Raider............................................................................... 61 Remembrancer................................................................ 62 Wasteland Trader............................................................ 64 Feats .................................................................................... 66 Spells ................................................................................... 67 Spell Lists ......................................................................... 67 Spell Descriptions........................................................... 67 Alterations to Magic ....................................................... 73 Chapter 2: Equipment, Magic Items, and Settlement Interaction................................. 74 Settlement Industry and Trade....................................... 74 Wasteland Equipment...................................................... 80 Magic items ........................................................................ 94 Chapter 3: Exploration and Wasteland Survival ......................................102 Variant Survival Rules ....................................................102 Hex-Based Exploration...................................................109 Turn-Based Exploration .................................................124 Chapter 4: GM Toolkit..........................................140 Monster Reskins..............................................................140 Wasteland Factions ........................................................140 Arcanotech Cabal .........................................................140 Blood Harpy Legion......................................................143 Enduring Aristocracy....................................................146 The Fellowship ..............................................................148 Infernal Recruiters ........................................................150 Wastelanders .................................................................152 Wasteland Encounters ...................................................155 Chapter 5: Weird Wasteland Locations ....174 How to Use the Weird Wastelands Locations ...........174 Tradetown.........................................................................176 Last City of MAN..............................................................190 Toxic Alchemical Sump ..................................................201 Deep Green ......................................................................212 Derbytown ........................................................................230 Rust Wastes......................................................................245 Basalt Palace....................................................................255 Gates of the Afterlife ......................................................276 Chapter 6: Friends and Foes ...........................289 Wasteland Monster Templates.....................................289 Arcanavore.....................................................................289 Spell-Warped .................................................................292 Wasteland Bestiary.........................................................295 Feast Beast ....................................................................295 Guardian Gate ...............................................................296 Magicore.........................................................................299 Mechaboleth..................................................................302 Shadow Chameleon.....................................................304 Squamous Magnedon..................................................308 Thool ...............................................................................309 Tremble...........................................................................310 Swarm of Trembles...................................................311 TABLE OF CONTENTS weird waStelandS 3

introduction What follows is a conceptual introduction to Weird Wastelands. 1 Here, we tell you about the wastelands’ ecology, resources, formation, and origin and invite you to create a campaign setting of your own. This is also where we’ll be talking about apocalypses, looking at the themes inherent in postapocalyptic media, and exploring how all these elements can be put together to create the kind of unforgiving hellscape that’s a perfectly pestilent place to put your players in peril. how to use this book We wrote this book to be used the way we like to use supplements, which is to cannibalize them to suit our homebrew needs just as often as we run our games directly from the book. As such, we’ve kept modularity in mind: this is neither a setting book nor an adventure, though it contains elements of both. The book is about the environment of a postapocalyptic fantasy wasteland, how that environment affects the ecosystem and society, then it presents you with tools to run a game there. Each location, subsystem, monster, faction, and character option can fit into most fantasy campaigns, but they create a world on the edge of the unknown, full of danger, discovery, and opportunities to change the world in ways that transcend preserving what came before. Setting material is seeded throughout every element of the book, as are quest hooks and places to expand upon and create your own, unique wasteland. 1. This chapter is all about the big picture. If you’re eager to get straight to building your world as it exists in the way the players will experience it, the “Build Your Own Wasteland Terrain Hex Map” section on p. 111 in chapter 3 is what you’re looking for! Throughout the text, we have included our Web DM wisdom, where we let you know why we made the choices we did and give you advice on running open-world games. We also include a number of page references to make it easier to find the information you need when you need it. Chapter 1 contains everything players need to make characters who come from the Weird Wastelands. There you can find our complete psion class as well as new subclasses for each base 5E class. We also have a set of backgrounds that better support gameplay in a setting without much of the societal framework from which most other backgrounds arise. This section also contains many new spells and spell variants that fit in a wasteland environment, as well as some variant ranger features to better reward their mastery in adapting to an environment. Some of these classes and backgrounds are designed to work particularly well in conjunction with new mechanics we introduce, such as the Ascetic Domain cleric, Circle of Broken Land druid, and Scavenger ranger, but they fit into campaigns in other environments just as well. Chapter 2 is all about goods and services and how to obtain them. It contains equipment and arcanotech wonders and devices—the Weird Wasteland’s version of magic items—including vehicles and vessels. The Weird Wastelands operates predominantly on trade, so we discuss wealth and how to easily reconcile the standard gold piece system in a place that operates differently. You can also find tables for everything from trade goods, mounts, hirelings, and food to lists of what standard equipment can be called upon in the wasteland to evoke the postapocalyptic aesthetic. Greetings, Weirdos! Please park your war wagon on the left, don’t eat the mushrooms, and ignore the screaming—it’s just the billions of beetles in that big pit. They become intelligent when the sun shines on them. They build a civilization and, by nightfall, it all collapses back into the sand. Maybe they’ll get it right someday! (Probably not.) INTRODUCTION • welcome tothe postapocalypse 4 weird waStelandS

Chapter 3 is where we revamp exploration-focused adventuring. There you will find a plethora of tools and variant rules designed to make exploration more meaningful and interesting by offering more activities, outcomes, and options for a deeply detailed exploration experience. We offer ways to make travel an activity that’s worth spending more time on—to increase the stakes of finding food, water, and a comfortable place to rest—and to give game masters tools to make the environment dynamic and noteworthy. The mission of this chapter is to make victories out of discovery, to bring meaning to survival, and to make comfort worth celebrating, which is what we expect when immersing our imaginations in the postapocalypse. Chapter 4 is the Game Master’s Toolkit. This chapter will be your bread and butter for creating adventures. It includes encounter and hazard tables organized by terrain type, disaster events, arcane anomalies, and Wasteland Factions complete with NPCs, notable figures, and rewards for membership. Chapter 5 is our collection of notable locations in the Weird Wastelands. Each of these locations is noteworthy and contains enough content for multiple adventuring sessions. Some are larger than others, and not all take the same form. Deep Green is presented as a dungeon, the Ruins of the Basalt Palace is presented as a depth crawl, and the Last City of MAN can be procedurally generated every time you visit. No matter the presentation of the location, each is full of exciting encounters, weird things to discover, and opportunities to change the world on small and large scales. Each location takes a postapocalyptic concept we love—like ancient battlefields, lost cities, sites of forgotten disasters, fighting cars, or polluted ecosystems—and turns it up to eleven. Chapter 6 is all about monsters and opponents. There you will find unique and powerful wasteland monsters as well as templates to transform any creature that will clearly represent how the Weird Wasteland has changed their nature. the weird wastelands as a sandbox This book, particularly chapter 4, offers tools and guidance to run a Weird Wastelands game as a sandbox: a campaign presented as a place for the players to explore and decide what they want to do, not an adventure to complete. We present tools such as hex maps, weather grids, faction activities, and encounter tables to facilitate open-world gaming with a primary focus on exploring a challenging environment. To that end, we’ve created a wilderness exploration minigame that gives every character something to do and offers meaningful incentives for going into the wastes and discovering what’s out there. All these tools are meant to present a world that is as rewarding as it is challenging. INTRODUCTION • welcome tothe postapocalypse weird waStelandS 5

This is a discussion to have during session zero. We highly encourage you to try it out. If your group is on the fence, just try it for a few sessions and check in. We know that suggesting playing a game in which it’s hard to get by and characters have to scrounge and think through their every action may be a tough sell for people who want to chill out in their free time, but the glory of success more than makes up for the trouble. We’ve designed the Weird Wastelands to give your players a playground. They get to choose what they want to do, and you get to decide how the world reacts to them. Open-world play works particularly well for a postapocalyptic campaign because the world is already wrecked. Common fantasy themes suggest that there is a threat to be stopped, a society to save, or some “good” thing that must be preserved. In the Weird Wastelands, that window is closed. Spectacularly destructive events occurred so far in the past that no one knows for sure what happened or what the society that endured them was like. There is no through line to this history, only what you want the present to become. setting notes Weird Wastelands has an implied setting; if you read it cover to cover, everything fits together, and you’re welcome to use it all (we think it’s pretty evocative). However, that is certainly not a requirement for using this book. Our hope is that these pages become a go-to whenever you need to run a game in a challenging environment or when you’re looking to infuse your game with something science/fantasy-esque. If you’re looking to play in traditional fantasy, there’s a way to include most of this content. In this section especially, we discuss how to set up your wasteland, your harsh wilderness, and even your apocalypse. In chapter 5, we show you how to put it together into a functional sandbox primed for adventure. You can use these locations as they are, and any will suffice as a one- or two-shot (or more if your group digs into every quest hook). You can link your favorites together to create an arc that spans as many sessions as you like. We also include everything you need to base your campaign in the Weird Wastelands and everything you might want to know as a player stepping foot into this challenging environment. For adding our content into an existing campaign, your “postapocalypse” can be scaled down to a “disaster zone” that covers a smaller region: a badland over the mountains, a small desert, or even just a single location where some terrible, long-forgotten event occurred. The supernatural, techno-magical elements of the Weird Wastelands can be toned up or down depending on the magic level of your campaign (or what you feel like dealing with), as can all survival rules. We recommend trying our wilderness survival rules, as we think they give way to a kind of gaming rarely possible in the 5th edition of the world’s most popular roleplaying game. One that encourages exploration of weird locations, expands the scope of the emergent story of gameplay with mechanical support and narrative context, lets the players drive the action of the game, and introduces risks that are fun and interesting whether you succeed or fail. But if that’s not your table’s cup of tea, you’ll still be able to get lots of gameplay and interesting choices out of the material in the book. postapocalypse as inspiration Until recently, there were many parts of the world where living among the ruins of more technologically advanced (or at least technologically different) civilizations was somewhat commonplace. When the Anglo-Saxons began exploring Great Britain, they discovered abandoned ruins of Roman settlements with masonry and architecture drastically different than their own smaller, wooden structures. Those places were left to stand as a grim omen of societal collapse, shrouded in superstition. In Beowulf, Roman ruins are referred to as the dwellings of giants who had long since died in unknowable ways, a dramatic expression of what was nevertheless true: the Romans were capable of enormous feats of engineering but were incapable of ensuring that their society was stable. In what was essentially a socioeconomic apocalypse from the perspective of the Anglo-Saxons, the Romans vanished from the region. Most tropes in apocalyptic and postapocalyptic media center around one thing: preventability. There is something that could have been done if the powers that were could stop making mistake after mistake. Hubris was their sin, and if they had turned left instead of right even once, perhaps this could have been thwarted. But they didn’t, and those who are left must bear the burden. This is particularly true in zombie apocalypses. Typically, a zombie is slow, lacks the powers of cognition, behaves predictably, is no stronger than its opponents, and has no allies (other than more zombies). Their threat should be negligible. However, due to a chain of failures—someone trying to gain power by experimenting with whatever caused the apocalypse in the first place (if the cause is even revealed), governments failing to contain or even communicate about the threat, healthcare systems INTRODUCTION • welcome tothe postapocalypse 6 weird waStelandS

neglecting to gain more knowledge about infections, local groups refusing to band together to protect resources, or individuals being unwilling to fend off any zombies that do come their way—society collapses. Everyone’s a zombie. What makes a zompocalypse scary isn’t the zombies— it’s a society that couldn’t protect itself from them. Much postapocalyptic media follow the same lines but focus on the dangers of scarcity. Scarcity leads not to righting the wrongs that led to an apocalyptic result, but to mayhem, tyranny, bloodshed, and the occasional Thunderdome. The fractures of the previous society are laid bare in the aftermath, most knowledge is lost forever except perhaps to the privileged few, and everyone is out for themselves. Often, the only way to survive is to perpetuate some of the fatal flaws of the society that preceded disaster—hoarding resources, excluding those in need, theft, and warfare. Most postapocalyptic narratives2 fall deeply into the realm of science fantasy (a setting that contains scientific elements but also transcends science and often relies on the supernatural) in that, if there is a cause given, the effect isn’t particularly plausible. Take Waterworld for example. Yes, Waterworld, the 1995 film set in a postapocalyptic future where the polar ice caps melted due to global warming, resulting in the Earth being covered entirely in water. While it was considered one of the biggest flops of its time, it’s a fantastic example of science-fantasy worldbuilding and deserves a watch through that lens alone. If (when) the polar ice caps melt, we know they will not cover the entire world except for a single island. And even if we buy 2. To see a list of all the postapocalyptic media we find inspiring, keep reading! The list is here in the intro. We didn’t need to tell you though, because everyone reads the introduction to TTRPG books, right?! INTRODUCTION • welcome tothe postapocalypse weird waStelandS 7

into that concept, others start to break down. What do the people eat? How do they get dirt if they imprison the only people who can obtain it on sight? Why doesn’t everyone know about the giant, person-eating fish? Why doesn’t anyone need sunscreen? Why are there mutants like Kevin Costner? If paper is so rare and valuable, why does Dennis Hopper’s gang have so many impossibly ancient yet still dry and smokable cigarettes? We will never know. The important part—and this is true of all science fantasy—is that the more interesting question is not necessarily “why” but “what” happens when all these things are put together. We don’t need all the answers for the world of the film to be thought-provoking and immersive or to get us thinking about what it would be like to be part of that experience. This is the beauty of postapocalyptic science fantasy as a setting for emergent storytelling. The answers to the question of “what happened to cause these conditions” aren’t on the surface; the conditions are clues that kick off the mystery and challenges with which we must contend. These conditions are a result of how the environment changed in response to the decisions of those who came before. There is no going back. No restoration can come without significant reform (if restoration to what came before is even desirable). This gives us as worldbuilders an amazing opportunity to decide when we use plausible environmental ramifications as a jumping off point into the fantastic. inspirational media The following media have inspired us about the postapocalypse, psionics, or people living in challenging times. If you’re looking for media to get in the Weird Wastelands mindset, these are the ones to explore. THE MAD MAX FRANCHISE The Mad Max movies defined the look of the arid postapocalypse wasteland and the survivors, scavengers, and raiders who inhabit it. The video game builds on the setting established in the movies with snippets of lore set in a relatively simple open-world survival game featuring fast-paced combat with customizable vehicles. MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE The various He-Man and She-Ra cartoons are the gold standard for heroic, science-fantasy action. They’ve got all things that are good: larger-than-life characters, champions empowered by cosmic force, cyborg henchmen, monstrous creatures, magic swords, blaster pistols, skull-faced sorcerers, world-shaking magic. What’s not to love? THE EBERRON CAMPAIGN SETTING Eberron is a world recovering from a prolonged global magical war, one whose ending came only after the appearance of the Mournland, a magical wasteland. The suggested setting of Weird Wastelands takes similar ideas about magical warfare and its impact but assumes there was no restraint, even when the magical wastelands began to appear. FALLOUT 3 Nothing typifies the postapocalypse in all its horror and glory like this game. You choose how you make your way in the world and live with the consequences. THE BOOK OF ELI This film is about a paladin on a mission who is tested in every way possible. Despite the postapocalypse leaving him jaded, he finds a way to pass along his wisdom because that is how you survive as a species. STALKER This 1979 Soviet film, written by the authors of and loosely based on the novel Roadside Picnic, centers around themes of living in a broken society, the hazards of exploring places where the laws of nature are broken, and the risk of wanting a better life. The movie excels in creating a sense of mystical danger in the mundane and creating a visual juxtaposition between nature and wrecked, manmade structures. WATERWORLD We won’t tell you this is an amazing feat of storytelling, acting, or filmmaking in general, but it is a top-tier film for postapocalyptic worldbuilding inspiration. It’s got this gonzo mishmash of repurposed technology, economics, societal structures, ecology, and tie-ins to real-world fears that make just enough sense to leave you wanting to know more. Ignore the story (it’s got some problematic moments that shouldn’t have been in it and would not make it into a film today) and focus on the...waterworld. ecology of the weird wastelands Most of the Weird Wastelands consist of deserts and badlands. Deserts are areas of low precipitation. What many think of as deserts are actually badlands as well: areas where sedimentary deposits, often from what used to be watery regions that have since dried up, have been eroded to reveal curious rocky outcroppings. In our world, it takes millions of years for air and water to work away rock. But in the Weird Wastelands, this need not be so, because magic suffusing the land via warfare, mining, experimentation, and agriculture hastened the geologic timeline. Verdant grasslands became battlefields that turned earth to stone. Cities of rock built by earth elementals melted into the mountains. Component mines and magical dumping grounds became murky bogs that absorbed most of the water and magical sludge that was left. Waves of INTRODUCTION • welcome tothe postapocalypse 8 weird waStelandS

force and walls of wind ate away at the calcified remains of civilization at a supernatural rate, creating sand that covers everything. As magical wind continues to blow in the region, weather patterns change. What rain does fall is often suffused with magic, more perilous than lifegiving. The Weird Wastelands used to house a highly magical civilization. This traditional fantasy society integrated magic into every part of life for all people. When the civilization fell, all that magic polluted the environment. Alchemical reagents leaked into the water table, uncontrolled spells with unlimited durations continue to wreak havoc, ruined constructs oozed powerful warping magic, battlefields with no one left to clean them have left the remnants of war strewn across the land, and all these things interact with natural weather patterns to make everything worse. The creatures living here have adapted to this harsh environment in what may be a relatively short time, geologically speaking. Much like the animals in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, some descend from pets and familiars of the civilization’s last residents, some are native to the area, and others came later, finding an opportunity to thrive in this landscape. All must contend with lack of water, herbivores must be able to go without food for long periods, and, as all life here takes on magical pollution, all creatures in this place risk changing because of the environment. Carnivores and monsters bear the highest risk, as consuming their prey means consuming concentrated doses of magic. making the ecology your own In your game, you may wish to change these ecological elements. You are, of course, welcome and encouraged to! Perhaps the area itself is not infused with magic,3 but the sun, moon, or stars shine with dangerous energy, making darkness the only truly safe place. If your game has less magic, hazards like magical rainfall, risk of spell interruption, and more can be adjusted to fit your campaign’s needs. If you’re interested in adventuring in a fantasy postapocalypse but not in a desert-like environment, all it takes to reskin most of what’s in the book can be achieved by changing descriptions. Life in the Wastelands The people descended from those who left, or those who wandered here after the cataclysm, have had to adapt to a new and unforgiving way of life. There are few social bonds remaining from the “before-times.” Broadly speaking, wastelanders can be categorized into those who are settled and those who are semi-nomadic. The settled people live in small village-states, always centered around a resource or creature that can protect and provide for 3. See the “Wasteland Terrain Hex Descriptions” on p. 111 of chapter 3 for more info on this topic. them, be it friendly, malevolent, or something in between. For the most part, this settled life is stable. Villages aren’t necessarily trusting of outsiders but are accommodating to those willing to help. The semi-nomadic wastelanders tend to be scavengers or herders. They have their own migratory patterns they follow or paths they pursue to stay one step ahead of the dangers of the wastelands. Though they travel in much smaller groups, the nomadic peoples outnumber those in settled villages. A nomadic group out of food and water may be forced to turn to banditry or worse, but most are not violent. All intelligent humanoids are wastelanders. Old divisions based on ancestry, social class, origin, gender, or alignment are as dead as the civilization that placed importance on such things. People live together based on the help they can provide each other, or for the less fortunate, the authoritarian groups of which their families are a part. Life is harsh, but it goes on. The past is ever present in all wastelanders’ lives because the litter of a dead age fills this place. In order to move on and build a better world, they must innovate to get by. apocalyptic cataclysms In the following section, we go over a few broad types of cataclysms that can lead to something on the scale of an apocalypse and the kinds of things we believe are required to create a disaster that is truly apocalyptic. This is intended as inspiration for your worldbuilding (or “worldbusting”) to help you generate places in which unspeakably terrible things happen. This section also introduces and explains the complex Choose Your Own Apocalypse tables at the end of this chapter. the shift from cataclysm to apocalypse A cataclysm is a single, major disaster event. This could be a plague, a massive military action, a monster invasion, an ecological or magical catastrophe, an act of the gods, or anything similar. The geographic size of your cataclysm will vary based on how large you want the affected area to be. Izrador winning the War of Domination in the 3.5E Midnight setting4 was a cataclysm for the entire world. The cataclysm that created the Mournland in Eberron was regional, not worldwide. Chernobyl was a cataclysm for its local area. A cataclysm is undeniably terrible, but it does not necessarily make an apocalyptic event all on its own. An apocalypse is The Big One: the series of events from which there is no recovery, be it socially or ecologically. The only way forward is to abandon whatever led to this event. The interaction of the following things is what tips a cataclysm 4. The Midnight setting is arguably darker than Ravenloft and is rife for an update. INTRODUCTION • welcome tothe postapocalypse weird waStelandS 9

After some deliberation, we have chosen not to tie any mechanics to the specific apocalypses, though it may be some GMs’ impulse to do so. To us, it adds a level of complexity that may or may not be relevant or intuitively implemented. Sometimes content like this is best integrated into worldbuilding as flavor rather than mechanical elements that must be remembered every time they come up. But it is, of course, up to you. over the edge and transforms it into a full-on apocalypse. PREVIOUS SOCIETAL FLAWS All societies are imperfect, and those that undergo apocalypses are no different. They tend to have themes of ongoing war, corruption, extreme income inequality, pollution, unchecked consumption of resources, social stratification, religious dogma, and overuse of risky technology. These issues either create the cataclysm itself or prevent the society from properly identifying, preventing, or minimizing it. Example: A highly stratified techno-mageocracy living in a nearly planet-wide megacity experiences a magical disaster that renders transmutation magic incapable of providing nourishment. Until now, 75 percent of the society’s people ate entirely magical food. BAD RESPONSES TO CATACLYSMS Many cataclysmic events could be recovered from, or at least minimized, if a correct course of action were taken. In an apocalypse scenario, all the wrong decisions are made, which create a domino effect of unfortunate results. Example: The ruling class of technomages fight among themselves for control over gates to planes with more food, hurling starving armies at one another. The few druidic agriculturalists in the society create fortified bunkers of plenty that are subsequently besieged. An anti-magic cultural movement sweeps the starving armies, becoming a bloody coup. With their backs against the wall, the technomages reconcile and exit the material plane together. The armies begin to besiege the few druidic agricultural strongholds in the outer corners of the megacity. SECONDARY DISASTERS Once society has taken a major hit, the stage is set for things to get even worse. Either bad decisions cause an even worse event or another calamity comes at just the wrong time, and society gets pushed over the edge into complete breakdown. Example: With no magic users left to maintain the many magical systems of the megacity, sewage that is normally sent to the plane of water backs up and mixes with lingering transmutation fallout, transmutes into wood, and then leads to pipes filled to bursting with flammable material. A fire elemental that has been bound to a furnace in a great abandoned hall convinces someone to free it, and it escapes into the sewers. Without nonmagical water systems, 99 percent of the city, along with the rooftop crops that had been growing for the first time, burn to cinder. The druidic compounds are overrun. The few that survive are defenseless when the Infernal Army arrives at the unguarded gates to the hells. Types of cataclysms There are many types of cataclysmic events, and the one you choose for your world will inform play in all manner of ways. We’ve arranged ours into broad categories we find the most interesting for this book and setting, though there are certainly more. For more inspiration, use our Choose Your Own Apocalypse tables at the end of this chapter! INFERNAL INVASION Devils or demons roll up, wreck shop, and win. The celestials choose your world as their final battleground against evil—sorry! What do the invaders want? Are there elements of your society that were complicit or use this upheaval for their own gain? Why was society unable to fight back effectively or to protect itself from collateral damage? How does this make life uniquely more difficult? UNDEAD PLAGUE This is your zombie apocalypse, but there are plenty of other undead that are arguably more frightening. One of the more interesting questions to answer is, “Why wasn’t this recognized or prevented sooner?” Is your plague a literal one—something that infects those who come into contact with it—or is it an undead army engineered by necromancers, the cult of a god of undeath, or something else? What is the cultural significance of death in your world? Does that inform the nature of this plague? MONSTER INVASION Maybe it’s dragons, giants, purple worms, or cockatrices—almost anything goes. All we know is there were too many of them, and society wasn’t strong enough to withstand the assault. Why did the monsters do it? Was there someone in charge of them? How did society attempt to fight back? DIVINE WRATH The gods are pissed. Why? Maybe they’re exacting vengeance upon the land. Maybe one day they were just gone, and no one is quite sure why or where they went. What should the mortals have done? How were they relying on divine blessings? How do they respond to this crisis? INTRODUCTION • welcome tothe postapocalypse 10 weird waStelandS

ANCIENT EVIL RETURNS The arch-lich whom legends tell was vanquished 50,000 years ago isn’t dead—oops! Something old and terrible has awakened, and society has little knowledge of it and even less of how to defeat it. What was it doing all this time? What made it awaken or return? How did the rules of the world change when it arrived? COSMIC REALIGNMENT Something about the fundamental underpinnings of the laws of the multiverse changed in a big way. Good and evil become transposed. Ao, the Hidden One, decided the Tablets of Fate are BS and we’re starting over. The outer planes are getting a renovation, your world was fundamentally changed, and that’s news to your societies. The Norse Ragnarök is a good example of this, as is when the Greek gods supplanted the titans. There’s a new divine order. Things are going to get weird. COSMIC DISASTER The sun went out, something stole the moon and replaced it with something else, or all the stars exploded and then chunks crashed into your world. Given the extreme nature of many cosmic-scale cataclysms, collective response and preexisting societal flaws may or may not have much bearing. If you want to lean more into the science side of science fantasy, this may be for you. SUPERNATURAL DISEASE A sickness ravaged your world with bizarre effects. What are they? What is the result? Where did the sickness start, and how did it spread? This group of cataclysms often takes a long time to become an apocalypse and requires a lot of bad reactions to get there. MAGICAL DISASTER The ubiquity of magic in many fantasy settings can make you forget it carries danger all the time, not just when wielded by powerful casters. In many settings, magic is not fully harnessed or understood, yet it is used with abandon. Things can go very wrong, and they did this time. Perhaps magic stopped working in some way. Or perhaps it worked too well. Does this magical disaster cause immense damage and death? Does it cause social upheaval, as the place magic has in society is upended? Does it have other lasting effects—contamination or a breaking of the laws of magical energies—or is this cataclysm merely the first kindling of a massive and misunderstood firestorm? In our tables, we include possibilities for every school of magic, but yours may include several or all. PLANAR CATASTROPHE Perhaps your world was once intricately interconnected with many planes, until suddenly it wasn’t. Or maybe the opposite is true—planar gates were made by powerful elites or a group of academics figuring out this new form of travel (Stargate game, anybody?), and suddenly a gate too large or too unstable leading to the worst possible plane is opened and can never close. Or perhaps the planes themselves actualize on the material plane, mixing in strange and terrifying ways (that once-quaint village is now the plane of shadow slime). Maybe your world is the newest chunk of material to become the next few million levels on the Infinite Staircase. Whatever it is, it ended in doom and precarity. TARRASQUE Maybe it’s one, maybe it’s several—any way you cut it, it’s going to be terrible. We’re talking about tarrasques. The appearance of a tarrasque is always cataclysmic, but what if we turn that dial up to eleven? Storm your world with thousands of tiny tarrasques, or have a titanic tarrasque big enough to eat planets.5 There’s a lot of terrible potential here. NUCLEAR WAR GIVES BIRTH TO MAGIC This option is for those of you who want to channel maximum Cold War nuclear panic in a sci-fi, pulp, Fallout-style game. Nuclear Armageddon happened, and it unlocked something no one expected: magic. The world probably looked a whole lot like Earth before the bombs fell. Now it’s something else. What kind of magic is in this world? What do people do with it? How much do they understand or trust it? How intertwined with radioactive fallout is it? Are all lobsters now Gargantuan or merely Huge? choose your own apocalypse The following tables are presented to help you determine what caused the apocalypse in your campaign. They are intended primarily for inspiration and fun, and you can attach your worldbuilding elements to the results as much or as little as you like. For example, if you find that the previous society suffered from food shortages caused by hoarded resources, you may wish to include places for your party to discover where it was stored and forgotten. Or you might decide those tendencies have become abhorred in the wastelands, everyone shares food with anyone else, and perhaps it’s a little easier to find when exploring. If the results of your rolls don’t feel suitable, bad enough, or weird enough to you, roll again on any table you like until you get a result that feels fitting. 5. For further inspiration, check out Invasion from the Planet of Tarrasques by James Introcaso. INTRODUCTION • welcome tothe postapocalypse weird waStelandS 11

instigating cataclysms Use this table to determine what type of cataclysm caused the apocalypse in your game. You can use the Cataclysm Subtype column to roll for further details or create your own. d12 INSTIGATING CATACLYSM CATACLYSM SUBTYPE 1 Infernal Invasion 1. Demons try to save humanity from extinction, and it goes wrong. 2. Devils win evil championships and invade. 3. Heaven and hell reconcile. Mortals are doomed. 4. Warlocks destroy the barriers between planes, and the material plane literally becomes hell on earth. 2 Undead Plague 1. Shadows 2. Ghouls 3. Zombies 4. Specters 5. Vampires 6. Dracoliches 3 Monster Invasion 1. An evil dragon queen sets up a new lair. 2. A subterranean civilization invades.  3. Gibbering mouthers have come to consume everything. 4. Giants attack. 5. Cockatrices swarm. 6. A billion hungry aberrations decide society is too happy. 4 Divine Wrath 1. There is too much evil or goodness in the world. 2. Mortals are caught in the crossfire of divine war. 3. The people stopped worshipping the gods. 4. The angel of death got impatient. 5. Rogue celestials try to purge mortals (and their ridiculous excuses) from the land.  6. Complete and utter apathy—the gods got bored and left. 5 Ancient Evil Returns 1. The great sleeper awoke. 2. The king in chains returned like he promised he would.  3. The arch-lich did a bad thing. 4. A time-traveling psychic warlord invades with an army of clone soldiers. 6 Cosmic Realignment 1. The wheel of fate turns and demands the world be purged before ushering in a new age.  2. Definitions of good and evil become subjective. 3. The metaphysics of the world radically shift and now use the rules of a different game. 4. All creatures switch to opposite alignments. 7 Cosmic Disaster 1. The sun goes out. 2. A huge asteroid strikes. 3. The planet enters the orbit of the corpse star, Algol. 4. A prophecy of doom is proclaimed when the stars align. 5. The moon becomes psionic, and it’s pissed. 6. A group of evil adventurers blight the skies and make them impenetrable. 7. Something steals the moon and replaces it with something horrific. 8. A small planet lands gently on the world. 8 Supernatural Disease 1. A sentient plague strikes the land. 2. The god of pestilence’s secure vault is pillaged. 3. Diseased rat-people unleash a plague on surface civilizations who refuse to acknowledge their existence. 4. A rapidly spreading virus causes afflicted creatures to mutate as recessive genes become dominant. 9 Magical Disaster 1. Abjuration – Metastasizing magical barriers and wards trap the populace in an ever-shifting, invisible maze. 2. Conjuration – Everything conjured becomes permanent and cannot die. 3. Divination – All symbolic meaning and language are lost. 4. Enchantment – An extinction-level pandemic of solipsism begins. 5. Evocation – Tempests of radiant fire and frozen lightning, acid tsunamis, and cacophonous meteor showers rage. 6. Illusion – Everything material becomes illusory. 7. Necromancy – All living things suddenly die, like marionettes whose strings were cut.  8. Transmutation – All manufactured objects revert to their base materials. 10 Planar Catastrophe 1. Planar boundaries collapse.  2. The material plane is scheduled for recycling back to inner planes. 3. All the planes of existence suddenly collide with one another, existing in the same physical space. 4. The material plane disappears, and all its creatures are simultaneously banished to other planes of existence. 11 Tarrasque 1. d100 normal tarrasques attack! 2. One planet-sized tarrasque goes on a rampage.  3. A million Medium-sized tarrasques swarm the plane (apocalypse by action economy).  4. An immortal tarrasque awakes from a magic-induced slumber. 12 Nuclear War Gives Birth to Magic 1. Players stat out their real selves as their characters. 2. Creature types other than beasts appear for the first time in recorded history. 3. A large group of people suddenly wake up with one level of sorcerer. 4. Random items across the world become magical artifacts. INTRODUCTION • welcome tothe postapocalypse 12 weird waStelandS

social consequences Use this table to determine the social consequences of the primary cataclysm and what those consequences eventually cause. ecological collapses Use this table to determine how the environment was affected by the primary cataclysm and the resulting consequences. d12 SOCIAL CONSEQUENCE RESULT 1 Surge in violent crime Authoritarianism 2 Shortages and rationing Riots 3 Powerless institutions People’s revolution/class warfare 4 Widespread paranoia and mistrust Anarchy 5 Epidemic of despair Coup d’état 6 Class warfare/peasant revolt All high-level creatures that are not good aligned abandon the world 7 Theft and banditry Guerilla warfare 8 Religious reformation Ideological break, mass unrest 9 Desperate fanaticism Theocratic despot rises to power 10 Decadent nihilism Breakdown in chains of production 11 Militarization Draft leads to gestapo 12 Political fragmentation and localism Civil war d12 ECOLOGICAL COLLAPSE CONSEQUENCES 1 Crop blight Unstable food chain 2 Drought Desertification 3 Floods All water is non-potable unless treated 4 Earthquakes Volcanoes 5 Mass extinction of wildlife Stirge plague 6 Polluted ecosystem Warped wildlife: 1. Everything small becomes big. 2. Common creatures become venomous. 3. Common creatures gain sentience. 4. Common creatures without wings grow wings and gain a breath weapon. 5. Common monsters gain regeneration powers. 6. Common creatures rise as undead. 7 Rapid global temperature change Extreme weather conditions and natural disasters 8 Accelerated evolution/speciation Increased competition for resources leading to daily monster attacks 9 Unstable orbit/unreliable seasons Changes in weather patterns: 1. Winter lasts 10 years, then 9, then 8, etc. before returning to normal. 2. Winds are impossible to predict, making air and sea travel impossible. 3. Lightness and darkness are completely unpredictable; all but the hardiest plants do not survive. 4. Extreme tides cause tidal waves on nights when the moon is too close. 10 Extreme cold Terrain becomes glacial 11 Wildlife population explosion Beast populations increase, outnumbering humanoid populations 100:1 12 Civilization unknowingly built over dangerous location 1. Geysers of flame sprout up randomly through the landscape. 2. The city begins to sink into massive, flammable tar pits below. 3. Cities begin to fall through planar portals that were previously blocked. 4. Ancient creatures entombed below ground suddenly begin to wake. INTRODUCTION • welcome tothe postapocalypse weird waStelandS 13

societal flaws Use this table to determine how your pre-apocalypse society was poised for collapse instead of recovery. We recommend rolling or choosing a minimum of two. d12 SOCIETAL FLAW DETAILS 1 Moribund institutions 1. Corruption 2. Oligarchy 3. Rotting infrastructure and food systems  4. Inefficient distribution of labor and goods 2 Extreme class stratification 1. Little to no mobility between classes 2. Social friction between classes  3. Lots of people at the bottom and few at the top 4. A highly expensive procedure that grants eternal life is discovered, allowing the very rich to live forever and hoard the world’s wealth. 3 Reliance on dangerous technology 1. Constructs 2. A highly rare and volatile alchemical substance harvested from trolls called trolleum and its byproducts 3. Abyssal energy 4. Undead labor   5. Extradimensional fusion 6. Planar bindings 4 Unsustainable resource use resulting in resource depletion 1. Water 2. Food 3. Building materials 4. Resources for temperature regulation 5 Disrupted food system 1. Use of magic food 2. Use of magic irrigation and fertilization 3. Really big bees 4. Main food source germinated by endangered animal 6 Ideologically divided society 1. Do we trust magic? 2. Are monsters actually bad? 3. Can sorcerers be trusted?  4. Do we believe the government? 5. Is it right to use magical healing? 6. Do good and evil exist? 7 Low birth rate 1. Societal restrictions 2. Widespread infertility 3. Procreation is too expensive  4. Aged population 8 High hunger rate 1. Low food supply 2. Resource hoarding 3. Inefficient distribution chains  4. Some groups attempting to control others 9 Weak medical system 1. Not enough doctors 2. Heavy reliance on divine magic 3. Medical care is inaccessibly expensive 4. Society’s knowledge of medicine and divine magic is unusually underdeveloped 10 Poorly developed infrastructure 1. Buildings lack structural integrity and are highly flammable. 2. Only one major water source is available, and it’s easily contaminated. 3. Most major systems require highly skilled maintenance to prevent disaster, and there’s a chronic labor shortage. 4. Roads, bridges, and transportation systems are on the verge of collapse. 11 Tyranny 1. A good ruler dies, and their terrible child replaces them. 2. The ruler is secretly in league with demons, and their stable reign deteriorates into chaos.  3. A coup replaces a corrupt ruler with a worse one. 4. The ruler is replaced by an evil doppelganger who craves power at all costs. 5. The ruler secretly dies, and this fact is suppressed by their evil cabal. 6. The ruler is an angel of temperance who has been away from their divine plane for too long. 12 Major war 1. Decades-long conflict 2. Both sides are almost out of resources 3. Quick and terrible escalation of deadly technology 4. An unjust war created for political ends  5. High casualty rate; conscription is almost surely a death sentence 6. The mercenary armies who do most of the fighting turn on the governments who hired them INTRODUCTION • welcome tothe postapocalypse 14 weird waStelandS

societal legacies Use this table to determine what people remember about the fallen society. In the Weird Wastelands, what is the common recollection of the society that came before? d10 SOCIETAL LEGACY 1 All the monolithic architecture that litters the wastes looks so pretty. Wonder what it did. 2 They say they liked to eat monsters, and that was the beginning of their undoing. 3 They were greedy. So greedy. 4 They cared so much about freedom that they gave up everything to protect it, even freedom itself. 5 Whatever DVDs were, they must have been really important, because they’re everywhere. 6 There used to be so much water, they’d take baths every day. Imagine that! 7 For fun, they used to play a dice game where they pretended to be unique heroes who saved the world. Fools! 8 They say there were great beasts in the sea who could talk in your mind and guide your way to the worlds beyond, and they hunted all of them for their fins until there was nothing left but bones. 9 The seas were fresh water before the end. They say the seas turned salty with their tears, red with their blood, and angry with their vengeance. 10 There’s a dot on the horizon no matter what direction you go in. Some say it’s where they still live as they once did. Some hear it sing to them in their dreams. INTRODUCTION • welcome tothe postapocalypse weird waStelandS 15

The examples here of a psion’s origins are just a couple ways your psion could come about. What inspires you when you think about psions? Is it Jedi or Jean Grey? Commander Shepard or Carrie? There are many paths. Which will you choose? chapter one This chapter adds an array of options to character creation to support adventurers in the Weird Wastelands, including: ■ The psion class ■ Subclasses for every class in the PHB plus a handful of optional class features ■ Backgrounds for characters who hail from the wastelands ■ Feats for those who use them ■ New spells and suggested weird alterations to magic new class: psion There are those who shake the ground with might or magic, and then there are those who use pure will to redirect the ever-present vibrations of reality itself. Psions are those adventurers, individuals who have seen beyond the curtain and tap the mysteries therein. unlocked by cataclysm The apocalypse cleared the plane of chattering minds, allowing those with sensitive perceptions to hear the beckoning of this new psionic force. With the gods gone and magic awry, more and more such individuals are beginning to listen to the call. Such a potent new power represents hope for the communities struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic landscape, but it also invites the attention of warlords and profiteers who wish to exploit it. No matter the motivation, a newly discovered psion is always a hot commodity, and many do well to hide their talents from strangers. disciplined masters While the talent for psionic power is born rather than made, mastering such power requires arduous training. Untrained psions are likely to destroy themselves and everyone around them if their power goes unchecked, so many cloister themselves in desolate corners of the wastes to master their minds. Such psions live the lives of sages, secluding themselves from the noise of the world to focus their will inward. Only rigid meditation and mental control allow a psion to safely assess their full potential. Psionic power is the pure expression of internal willpower to affect the external environment. creating a psion As you make your psion character, first consider how you want to affect the wastelands. Does your rage scorch a path across the land in pursuit of sworn vengeance? Do crystals sing in I ain’t never seen nothing like it. Now I’m usually an honest shopkeeper, but times are tough in the wastelands, and one day this minotaur comes looking for a dragon horn. He seemed an easy mark, so I handed him my finest ‘dragon’ horn, and he looked pleased. Until…until his eyes rolled back and started glowing. Then the goat horn started glowing. The minotaur’s eyes narrowed at me, and his deep, gravelly voice rumbled, ‘Pathetic.’ Then he just walked away, and the damned psion took my lucky horn without paying. I miss that goat. – Wasteland shopkeeper, on the dangers of dealing with psions CHAPTER ONE • character options 18 weird waStelandS

harmony to you with the consumption of mental energies? Does your strategic use of power restore life to those fighting for a brighter tomorrow? The wastelands are naturally unforgiving, but you have mastered your mind and can fully control your path. You have extraordinary diversity in what you can do to change the world. You are more than able to pull your weight, but be careful, because you can overexert yourself. That’s a feature, not a bug. QUICK BUILD You can make a psion quickly by following these suggestions. First, make Intelligence your highest ability score, followed by Constitution. Second, choose the Nomad background1 . Third, start with a rank in the Telekinesis discipline. CLASS FEATURES As a psion, you gain the following features. Hit Points Hit Dice: 1d8 per psion level Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per psion level after 1st 1. See p. 59 for information on the Nomad background. Proficiencies Armor: Light armor Weapons: Simple weapons Saving Throws: Constitution, Intelligence Skills: Choose two from Arcana, Deception, History, Insight, Intimidation, Nature, Perception, and Persuasion Equipment You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background: ■ (a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) any simple weapon ■ (a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack ■ Leather armor, any simple weapon, and two daggers Psionic Power At 1st level, your innate psionic potential grants you the ability to manifest psionic effects through the prodigious power of your mind. Psionic effects are strange, supernatural manifestations that take various forms, as detailed in the following benefits. Focus Some psionic powers require you to maintain focus in order to keep their effects active. If you lose focus, the power is no longer active. LEVEL PROFICIENCY  BONUS FEATURES DISCIPLINE ADVANCEMENT POWER POINTS ZONE OF INFLUENCE 1st +2 Psionic Power, Psionic Discipline, Psionic Recovery 1 2 30 ft. 2nd +2 Mental Modality 1 4 30 ft. 3rd +2 — 2 8 30 ft. 4th +2 Ability Score Increase 2 12 30 ft. 5th +3 — 3 16 60 ft. 6th +3 Mental Modality (2) 3 16 60 ft. 7th +3 — 4 16 60 ft. 8th +3 Ability Score Increase 4 16 60 ft. 9th +4 — 5 18 90 ft. 10th +4 Improved Psionic Recovery 5 18 90 ft. 11th +4 — 6 20 90 ft. 12th +4 Ability Score Increase 6 20 90 ft. 13th +5 — 7 22 120 ft. 14th +5 Mental Modality (3) 7 22 120 ft. 15th +5 — 8 24 120 ft. 16th +5 Ability Score Increase 8 24 120 ft. 17th +6 — 9 26 150 ft. 18th +6 Mental Modality (4) 9 26 150 ft. 19th +6 Ability Score Increase 10 26 150 ft. 20th +6 Burn Bright 10 30 150 ft. CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 19

The description of each power denotes whether it must be maintained with focus and how long you can focus on it. You can end focus at any time (no action required). Here are some ways you can lose focus on a psionic power: ■ You can’t focus on two powers at once. You lose focus on a power if you activate another power that requires focus. You cannot maintain focus and concentration simultaneously. ■ Whenever you take damage while you are focusing on a power, you must attempt a Constitution saving throw, maintaining focus on a success. The DC equals 10 or half the damage you take, whichever is higher. If you take damage from multiple sources, such as an arrow and a dragon’s breath, you attempt a separate saving throw for each source of damage. ■ You lose focus on a power if you are incapacitated or if you die. The GM might also decide that certain environmental phenomena, such as a wave crashing over you while you’re on a storm-tossed ship, might require you to attempt a DC 10 Constitution saving throw to maintain focus on an ongoing power. Power Points The psion table shows how many power points you have in order to manifest your psionic powers. Your class features and disciplines detail the number of power points you must expend to produce certain effects. You regain all your expended power points when you finish a long rest. Zone of Influence The farther something is away from you, the more difficult it is to manipulate with your psionic power. Any psionic effect you produce has a range, called your zone of influence, which is determined by your level as detailed in the Zone of Influence column of your class progression table. When you manifest a psionic effect, you cannot target or affect anything outside of range. If a target with an ongoing psionic effect leaves this area, the effect immediately ends. Psionic Ability Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your psionic effects, which represents the mental prowess required to invoke psionic energy. You use your Intelligence whenever a power or feature refers to your psionic ability. Additionally, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a psionic effect you manifest and when making an attack roll with one, as follows: Psionic save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier Psionic attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier Psionic Discipline At 1st level, you may select one discipline from the “Psionic Disciplines” section and gain a single advancement in that discipline. As you level up as a psion, you gain the ability to put ranks into new disciplines or continue to improve your skills in a discipline you already know by increasing its rank, as detailed in the Discipline Advancement column of your class progression table. Each ability granted by a discipline can be enhanced by expending power points. While using one of these abilities, you can never expend more power points in a single instance than you have ranks in its associated discipline. For example, at 1st level, you may put a single rank into the Telekinesis discipline, but when you reach 3rd level, you may choose to either increase the Telekinesis discipline’s rank by one or put a rank into a different discipline. You may focus only on one power at a time (as if concentrating on a spell). The specific durations for each power are detailed in its associated discipline. Discipline Masteries Reaching the maximum rank in a psionic discipline is an achievement few psions in the wastelands realize, but those who do truly are masters. The mastery ability options for each discipline represent the final insights a psion can achieve should they strive this far. Upon reaching five ranks in a discipline, the psion has access to the masteries detailed at the end of that discipline’s description. Psionic Recovery At 1st level, you have learned to regain some of your psionic energy through meditation. Once per day, when you finish a short rest, you can recover a number of spent power points equal to your total number of discipline advancements. Mental Modality When you reach 2nd level, your powers have solidified into a particular mental routine known as a modality. Choose one of the following: Structured Mind, Emotional Conduit, or Strategist, detailed at the end of the class description. Your modality grants you features at 2nd level, and again at 6th, 14th, and 18th level. Ability Score Improvement 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 above 20 using this feature. Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead. CHAPTER ONE • character options 20 weird waStelandS

Improved Psionic Recovery At 10th level, your experience with meditation and the use of different disciplines has limbered your mental faculties to the point you can recover power points multiple times a day. As a bonus action, you can recover power points equal to your total number of disciplines known. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest. Burn Bright Your journey has been leading here all along. When you reach 20th level, you have mastered discipline after discipline to understand your effect on the world. Now you have achieved true balance of mind and body, for they are one and the same, and your power has expanded beyond what you previously knew. CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 21

As a psion, falling damage is your friend—use it. If you hurl a target and it doesn’t hit anything, it still lands prone. But if there’s a wall at the end of its path, it takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it traveled. The same applies if you throw the target into the air and let it fall back to the ground. Also, one must consider throwing creatures up into the ceiling…and the fall back down to the ground. This gets tricky if you throw one creature into another, but we’d rule that the creature not being hurled would be allowed a Dexterity saving throw to get out of the way. If it fails, split the damage evenly between the tossed creature and the target. Telekinetic psions should use every advantage to stretch the utility of their abilities. You can use your action to enter a conscious meditative trance that lasts for 1 minute. For the duration, you are a conduit of pure will with the following benefits: ■ If you have at least one rank in a discipline, you may spend power points as if you have reached maximum rank in that discipline. This feature does not give you access to the mastery feature of that discipline. ■ You are immune to force and psychic damage. ■ As a bonus action, you may sacrifice a number of Hit Dice up to your Intelligence modifier. For each Hit Die sacrificed, you recover 1 power point. ■ If you have no Hit Dice to spend, as a last resort you can take on levels of exhaustion to regain power points. As a bonus action, you can choose to gain one level of exhaustion and recover 3 power points. Once you use this ability, you may not do so again until you’ve finished a long rest. psionic disciplines2 Psionic disciplines represent the ways you can control psionic power to affect the external environment. Each discipline requires rigorous mastery over particular portions of the mind and the development of unique mental processes. Successful advancement in even one discipline represents the reward of countless laborious hours of study and meditation. When you choose a discipline, you gain access to all the standard powers listed under that discipline, with the exception of the mastery power, which is gained only when you have five ranks in that discipline. TELEKINESIS This discipline allows you to manifest your will as physical force. You can move creatures and objects with a strength far beyond the limitations of your physical form. 2. We wanted to create a unique feel for the disciplines. With as many iterations of the psion as there have been, that is tough, but we think we found a nice niche. One of our goals was to distinguish psionics from spellcasting, so leveled spells and cantrips were the first thing to go. The discipline advancement system is scaled so it feels like a more natural progression of psionic effects. It may seem overpowered, but to achieve that power, you must sacrifice a number of psionic effects to which you have access. Manipulate Focus, 1 minute You gain the ability to move or manipulate objects by exerting your psionic power. As an action, you can exert your will on one object you can see within your zone of influence. If the object isn’t being worn or carried, you automatically move it up to 30 feet in any direction, but not beyond your zone of influence. You can exert fine control on objects with your telekinetic grip, such as manipulating a simple tool, opening a door or container, stowing or retrieving an item from an open container, or pouring the contents from a vial. You may also make attacks with a melee weapon being moved in this way. Determine the attack as if you were in the object’s place wielding the weapon, but use your Intelligence ability modifier to determine whether you hit and the amount of damage you deal. While you maintain focus on this power, you can use an action each round to move the object up to 30 feet in any direction. If you do not use an action to move the object, it remains where you last moved it. This power remains active for 1 minute, until you lose focus, or until you decide to end its effects. The power also ends if another creature takes control of the object. A creature may attempt to take control of the object by using their action to attempt a Strength ability check versus your psionic save DC, gaining control of the object on a success. You can move an object that weighs up to 30 pounds in this manner. As part of the action used to control the object, you can choose to spend power points to increase the amount of weight you can manipulate, as shown on the Manipulate Weight table. MANIPULATE WEIGHT POINTS SPENT MAXIMUM WEIGHT 0 30 lbs. 1 100 lbs. 2 1,000 lbs. 3 2,000 lbs. 4 5,000 lbs. 5 10,000 lbs. At Higher Ranks. When you spend at least 3 power points to use Manipulate in this way, you can attempt to move a Huge or smaller creature. An unwilling creature that succeeds on a CHAPTER ONE • character options 22 weird waStelandS

Strength saving throw versus your psionic save DC is unaffected. Even while affecting a creature, you are still bound by the weight limits outlined on the Manipulate Weight table Psychic Crush As an action, you unleash your psionic power to crush something with your telekinesis. Make a psionic attack against a creature or object of your choice that you can see within your zone of influence. On a successful hit, the target takes 1d10 bludgeoning damage. When you hit with this attack, you can spend power points to increase this damage by 1d10 per point spent. Your base damage for this effect increases by 1d10 at rank three (2d10) and rank five (3d10). Telekinetic Hurl As an action, you may attempt to hurl a Large or smaller creature or object of your choice within your zone of influence. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw versus your psionic save DC or be thrown up to 10 feet in a straight line in a direction of your choice and fall prone. When you hurl a target in this manner, you may increase the distance it is hurled by expending power points. The distance increases by 20 feet per power point spent. To hurl an object within your sphere of influence at a target, make a ranged attack roll using your psionic attack modifier. On a success, you hurl the object 10 feet in a straight line in a direction of your choice. When you hurl an object in this manner, you may increase the distance it is hurled by expending power points. The distance increases by 20 feet per power point spent. On a success, the target takes 1d6 damage per 10 feet of distance the object moves. Your base distance for this effect increases by 10 feet at rank three (20 feet) and rank five (30 feet). Telekinesis Mastery The world around you is always at hand, and your continued growth in this discipline unlocks new ways to manipulate the world—for better or for worse. Enhanced Manipulate You may now use an action to attempt to affect an object being held by another creature with this psionic effect. The target holding the object must attempt a Strength saving throw, retaining control of the object on a success. On a failure, you may manipulate the object according to the requirements of the psionic effect. A creature may attempt to take control of the object by using their action, gaining control of the object on a successful Strength ability check versus your psionic save DC. In addition, you may affect a second object or creature with Manipulate. Each affected creature must make its own saving throw against the effect. The total combined weight of both creatures must not exceed the weight limit listed in the Manipulate Weight table. PSYCHOPORTATION This discipline allows you to manipulate the spaces between dimensions and planes of existence. This knowledge opens doorways to movement and control of the battlefield that few can rival. Dimensional Step As an action you can magically teleport yourself to an unoccupied space you can see within 5 feet of you. By spending power points, you can increase the distance you can travel as specified on the Dimensional Step table. DIMENSIONAL STEP POWER POINTS SPENT DISTANCE 0 5 ft. 1 10 ft. 2 30 ft. 3 60 ft. 4 120 ft. 5 500 ft. Transposition As an action, you attempt to transpose yourself and another target within your zone of influence. When you do so, you and the target switch spaces. If the target is willing, this effect happens automatically with no power point cost. By spending 2 power points, you can attempt to transpose yourself with an unwilling target. An unwilling target must succeed on a Strength saving throw versus your psionic save DC or be pulled through dimensional space and swapped with you. When you declare the use of this feature, you may spend additional power points to increase the DC of the save. Each point spent in this manner increases the DC by 1, up to a maximum increase equal to your proficiency bonus. Baleful Anchor Focus, 1 minute As an action, you can focus on a creature and attempt to tether it to a spot within your zone of influence, turning its own momentum against it. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw versus your psionic save DC or have its speed reduced to 0 for the duration. A target tethered in this way takes 1d6 force damage at the start of each of its turns. When a target takes damage in CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 23

this way, you can use your reaction to expend up to five power points to increase this damage, with each power point adding an additional d6 of damage. At the end of each of its turns, the target can attempt another Strength saving throw, ending the effect on a success. Your base damage for this effect increases by 1d6 at rank three (2d6) and rank five (3d6). Psychoportation Mastery You now have thousands of teleportations under your belt, and your calculations are second nature. This allows you greater freedom with your abilities and frees your focus for movement. Enhanced Dimensional Step You may focus on this psionic effect for 1 minute, allowing you to use your action to teleport the same distance each round based on the power points you expended on your first use of Dimensional Step. Enhanced Baleful Anchor You no longer need to focus on this effect for its duration, but the effect ends if you use this ability again, are knocked unconscious, or die. CLAIRSENTIENCE This discipline allows you to read the energies that suffuse reality and extrapolate information from them. You are able to assess situations quickly to discover vital secrets or counteract your enemies even as they strike. Assess Aura As an action, you may read the aura of an object or creature you can see within your zone of influence. When you read a creature’s aura, you automatically learn its emotional state and whether or not it is hostile toward you. When you read an object, you learn if it was within 5 feet of a creature experiencing strong emotions within the last 3 days and what those emotions were (if any). For example, a pebble from a battlefield may carry the psychic stain of violence and fear. In contrast, a golden locket might convey love and remembrance. At your GM’s discretion, an object present during a truly momentous event might carry an aura signature for much longer than 3 days. When you read an aura, you can attempt to glean a deeper understanding. If the target is an unwilling creature, it must attempt a Wisdom saving throw against your psionic save DC to conceal its nature. On a success, the creature knows of your attempt, you cannot learn more information, and the creature is immune to your Assess Aura feature for the next 24 hours. On a failure, you can ask one of the following questions about the target. The GM offers a truthful reply. The reply might be a short phrase, provide only partial information, or be a statement of the obvious. For each power point you spend, you can ask an additional question from this list. ■ What threat does it pose? ■ What can it do? ■ What does it want? ■ What is it hiding? ■ Where is it from? Sight beyond Sight As an action, you can use your psionic senses to see in normal and magical darkness out to a range of 10 feet for 1 hour. When you use your senses in this way, you can choose to expend power points to increase the range of your sight, adding 30 feet for each power point spent, up to a maximum range equal to your zone of influence. Your base distance for this effect increases by 10 feet at rank three (20 feet) and rank five (30 feet). At Higher Ranks. When you spend at least 3 power points to use your senses in this way, you also gain the ability to see invisible creatures and objects. When you spend 4 power points or more, you can perceive the original form of a shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic. Forecast Conflict You foresee the swell of combat and are more ready for battle. When initiative is rolled, you may add your Intelligence modifier to your initiative (minimum of +1) When you use this ability, you can spend power points to affect allies as well. For each power point spend, you can choose one ally who also gets to add your Intelligence modifier to their initiative. Clairsentience Mastery You have followed this discipline to its masterful conclusion and can now see the whole picture. Enhanced Assess Aura If you spend 5 power points on this ability, you may scry on any creature, object, or place that you have previously observed with your Assess Aura feature. You view and hear the creature, object, or place from a point within 30 feet of the target, and your scrying position is immobile. A creature being observed can attempt a Wisdom saving throw. On a success, a creature can sense it is being watched, the scrying ends, and the creature is immune to this effect for 24 hours. On a failure, you may observe the target, following it as it moves, so long as you focus on the effect. Enhanced Sight beyond Sight If you spend 5 points when you use Sight beyond Sight, you have superior vision. To you, solid objects within your radius appear transparent, and light passes thr-ough them. Your vision can penetrate 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of CHAPTER ONE • character options 24 weird waStelandS

There was some debate during writing whether this effect should be through force of will or by repurposing matter in the nearby environment. We chose the former for continuity of the discipline, but if the latter is more enticing, then repurpose the silt out of that wasteland! common metal, or up to 3 feet of wood or dirt. Thicker substances block your vision, as does a thin sheet of lead. PSYCHOMETABOLISM This discipline allows you to meditate on bodily forces, altering the state of those around you. You can lend comfort or leech life itself. Bolster Ally As an action, you send a psychic rush to an injured creature other than yourself within your zone of influence, allowing the target to immediately spend one of their Hit Die and recover a number of hit points equal to the rolled result plus the target’s Constitution modifier. When you use this feature, you can choose to expend power points to increase the number of Hit Dice your ally can spend, adding one additional Hit Die for each point you spend. Ease Malady As a bonus action, you can target an ally affected by an ongoing condition and reduce the DC of your target’s next saving throw against that condition by 1. When you use this ability, you can choose to spend power points to reduce the DC even further according to the Ease Malady table. EASE MALADY POINTS SPENT DC REDUCTION 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 Siphon Life Focus, 1 minute As an action, you attempt to make a melee spell attack with your psionic attack modifier against a creature. On a successful hit, you deal 1d4 psychic damage and regain hit points equal to half the damage dealt, minimum of 1. When you successfully hit but before you roll damage, you can choose to spend up to five power points to increase this damage by 1d4 per point spent. Until this effect ends, as an action you may choose to spend more power points at the beginning of each of your turns to deal 1d4 psychic damage per point plus base damage to the target, and you regain hit points equal to half the damage dealt that round. You do not need to be in contact with the target after the initial melee attack, though the effect ends if the creature moves out of your zone of influence or drops to 0 hit points. Your base damage for this effect increases by 1d4 at rank three (2d4) and rank five (3d4). Psychometabolism Master Now that you have mastered psychometabolism by experimenting on hundreds of subjects, you can turn this knowledge inward without worry of malpractice. You may now use all the effects of this discipline on yourself. Enhanced Siphon Life You now make a melee spell attack or a ranged spell attack against your target as long as they are within your sphere of influence. METACREATIVITY This discipline allows you to rearrange energy to create tangible objects. You can create new forms with pure will, whether they be mundane items, weapons, or walls. Construction As an action, you create a Small or smaller nonmagical object or tool worth 100 gp or less out of your pure force of will. The object has a number of hit points based on how many power points you spend when using this feature, based on the Item Durability table. The object is visibly magical, radiating dim light in a 5-foot radius. The object lasts until you dismiss it, until you use this effect again, or until the object is destroyed. At Higher Ranks. When you spend at least 3 power points to create an item, you can choose to create a Medium or smaller object. When you spend 5 power points, you can create a Large or smaller object. ITEM DURABILITY POINTS SPENT HIT POINTS 0 10 1 20 2 30 3 40 4 50 5 60 CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 25

Couple thoughts here. For starters, think of what you can do with four panels, maybe make a pen for someone, or with six panels you could make a box. We don’t think the panels have to be flat, and with curved panels you can make hemispheres and spheres, given adequate rank and number of panels. If you force a Mind Link, what will you choose to do? Sing all night to keep the target awake and give them exhaustion? Distract a guard in order to get past them? The weird ways to use this ability are nearly limitless. Force Weapon3 As an action, you can create a melee weapon made of pure force and use it to make an attack. This weapon cannot be removed from your grasp unless you allow it. Attacks made with this weapon use your psionic attack modifier, and a successful hit deals 1d6 force damage. When you hit with this attack but before damage is rolled, you can spend up to five power points to increase the total damage by 1d6 per point spent. You may have only one of these weapons active at a time, and it lasts until you dismiss it or manifest this effect again. Your base damage for this effect increases by 1d6 at rank three (2d6) and rank five (3d6). Barrier Focus, 1 minute As an action, you create a translucent nonmagical barrier of solid force at a point you choose within your zone of influence. The barrier is a 10-foot-by-10-foot panel that is 1 inch thick. The wall appears in any orientation you choose, as a horizontal or vertical barrier or at an angle. It can be free floating or resting on a solid surface. When you use this feature, you can spend power points to increase these dimensions. For each point you spend, you can either create another panel or add 1 inch of thickness to a single panel. If you create multiple panels, each must be contiguous with at least one other panel. Each panel has AC 15 and 20 hit points per inch of thickness. Reducing a panel to 0 hit points destroys it. Metacreativity Mastery Masters of metacreativity are artists, and with this achievement they can give motion to the beauty of their workings. The ability to focus and move your creations leaves others in awe. Enhanced Force Weapon Your force weapon now has the thrown property with a normal range of 60 feet and a long range of your zone of influence. Immediately after making an attack with your force weapon, it flies back to your hand. When you use this weapon to make an attack, you may make an additional attack as a bonus action. 3. What color will your blade be? You are no longer bound by canon. Enhanced Barrier As a bonus action, you may move your barriers up to 30 feet on your turn. When you move a barrier through a space containing a creature, you can attempt to push a creature with it. A creature can attempt to resist this effect by attempting a Strength saving throw against your psionic save DC, being pushed along with the wall on a failure. On a success, the barrier stops moving. Large or smaller objects that are not being worn or carried are moved with the barrier. TELEPATHY This discipline allows you to push the limitations of the mind. The information you gain through this discipline grants you ultimate control over your own mental faculties and the ability to touch the minds of other creatures. Mind Link As an action, you may telepathically link minds with a willing creature within your zone of influence for 1 hour. When you establish this mind link, you can choose to spend additional power points to connect with a number of additional creatures equal to the number of points spent, allowing them all to communicate with each other. The creature does not have to share a language with you but must understand at least one language. At Higher Ranks.By spending 3 power points, you may attempt to force a mind link with an unwilling creature. The target must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw versus your psionic save DC to resist the link. Psychic Probe As an action, you attempt to probe the mind of a creature you can see within your zone of influence. The creature must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw versus your psionic save DC or you immediately learn its surface thoughts. On a successful save, the probe ends, and the creature knows you were attempting to read its thoughts. If the creature you choose has an Intelligence of 3 or lower or doesn’t speak any languages, the creature is unaffected. On a failed save, you probe deeper into the target’s mind by expending power points. The number of points you spend allows you to affect the target’s mind differently, as shown on the Psychic Probe table. CHAPTER ONE • character options 26 weird waStelandS

Life in the wastelands is hard, and that can leave some characters and NPCs with extra flaws. Master telepaths are sought out for psychic surgery to remove terrible memories and personality flaws. This can be a one-off encounter, or you can consider the ramifications, like those shown in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. A character seeking this alternative could start a cascade of events that could give your game a trippy, surreal vibe, and that’s what we’re here for! PSYCHIC PROBE POINTS SPENT EFFECT 0 Learn 1 Gather 2 Extract 3 Suppress 4 Modify 5 Excise ■ Learn – You learn the creature’s surface thoughts—what is most on its mind at that moment. ■ Gather – You gain insight into the creature’s reasoning (if any), its emotional state, and something that looms large in its mind (such as something it worries over, loves, or hates). ■ Extract – You learn the answer to a specific question you have (if the creature does not know the answer, you learn that). ■ Suppress – You suppress the creature’s memory for 10 minutes. You can choose whether it forgets the last 10 minutes or ceases to retain new information for the next 10 minutes. ■ Modify – You change a detail about an existing memory the creature has. To do this, you must know the specific memory you are trying to affect, and the change you make must make sense in the context of the memory. Inserting the appearance of a particular person, rewriting a few minutes of a conversation that occurred, or inserting a memory of an object that wasn’t there are all acceptable examples. ■ Excise – You cause the target to forget a piece of information permanently. If it is a specific memory, the memory cannot be longer than 1 hour. If it is a specific creature or object, the target forgets all details about the creature or object but not the impression that something was there. In both cases, the creature is aware that it has forgotten something. Mind Spike As an action, you attempt to psychically attack the mind of a creature you can see within your zone of influence. Make a ranged spell attack with your psionic attack modifier. On a successful hit, the creature takes 1d8 psychic damage. When you hit with this attack but before damage is rolled, you can spend up to 5 power points to increase the total damage by 1d8 per point spent. Your base damage for this effect increases by 1d8 at rank three (2d8) and rank five (3d8). Telepathy Mastery The mind is but an open book to a master telepath; the question is whether to read, rewrite, or tear out the pages entirely. Enhanced Mind Link When you have linked minds with a hostile creature, you can use an action to attempt to paralyze it. The creature must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw against your psionic save DC or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The creature may attempt another saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. Once the creature succeeds on a saving throw against this effect, it is immune to your Mind Link for 24 hours. Enhanced Mind Spike You may affect a second creature with this psionic effect. Roll attacks and damage separately for each target. mental modalities Psions come in many shapes and stripes, but all wield power of a kind. When it comes time to choose how to fully express that power, the psion must decide. Do you want complete mastery of the mind by finding balance without and within? Or does your tumultuous nature yearn to break free and spill out over all you see? Maybe pure logic will move you toward victory. How will you reveal yourself to the wastelands? How will you change both the wastelands and yourself? STRUCTURED MIND Those with the Structured Mind modality realize that finding and synchronizing with concordant patterns in the multiverse is a path to allow perfection of the self, thus harmonizing the external and internal rhythms. These patterns CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 27

come in many forms but on the prime material plane they usually manifest as a lattice structure, or some form of crystals and gems. Structured minds like to meditate on these lattice structures to focus while manifesting psionic effects, since some crystals and gems have the proper lattice structures to mirror the psion’s mental energies, but also to store and amplify said energies. Structured Minds often fill their days with contemplation and meditation, though they also spend time seeking out kindred spirits. They love to tell others about the lifechanging solutions that crystals provide. Some actually end up listening. Charlatans deck themselves in cheap crystals to dupe unwitting masses out of food or water. Those frauds do not last long once a true Structured Mind picks up their trail, and then the crystals find a genuine owner. STRUCTURED MIND FEATURES PSION LEVEL FEATURE 2nd Sync Crystal, Crystalline Focus 6th Harmonic Discipline 14th Multifaceted 18th Mind Lattice Your affinity for crystals and gems leads you to seek out or teach yourself how to prepare and set crystals for use. You gain proficiency with jeweler’s tools. Sync Crystal Starting at 2nd level, you may spend a short rest syncing with a crystal focus.4 Syncing with a crystal focus functions similarly to attunement, though it does not use attunement slots. At 6th level, you may sync with a second crystal focus, and at 18th level, you may sync with a third. Choose one of the following benefits for each crystal focus with which you are synced. ■ You gain +1 to psionic attacks. ■ You gain +1 to your psionic save DC. ■ You gain a number of power points equal to your proficiency bonus. When you complete a long rest, you may change the benefit you receive for each synced crystal. 4. A psion must find a crystal or gem worth at least 10 gp to transform into their crystal focus. They must then spend at least 8 consecutive hours meditating and honing their focus with their jeweler’s tools to sync with the crystal focus. Crystalline Focus At 2nd level, you may use your synced crystal focus to provide better access to your psionic effects. For each crystal focus to which you are synced, you may use your bonus action to utilize one of the features from your psionic disciplines that would otherwise cost your action. You are still limited to only focusing on one psionic effect at a time. Once you use a crystal focus for this ability, you cannot use that crystal again until you finish a short rest. Harmonic Discipline Beginning at 6th level, you can harmonize with another effect from one of your psionic disciplines. When you complete a long rest while meditating with a synced crystal focus, you can choose one such effect that costs 1 action and prepare it as a reaction that triggers in response to a specific condition you set, communicated to the GM. Examples of triggers might be: ■ When I am attacked, then… ■ When I am damaged, then… ■ When I manifest a psionic effect, then… ■ When an ally falls to 0 hit points, then… Once you use this feature, you cannot do so again until you finish a short or long rest. CHAPTER ONE • character options 28 weird waStelandS

Multifaceted At 14th level, as you continue molding your mind into the perfect conductor of mental energy, gaining a greater understanding of how to interact with the world. You gain a bonus equal to your total number of synced crystal focuses to any ability check you make that doesn’t already include your proficiency bonus. Mind Lattice Starting at 18th level, you have crafted the perfect mental structure for your power and logic—woe to any who would seek to lay it low! You gain the following abilities: ■ Once per turn, you add your Intelligence modifier to one damage roll you make with a psionic effect. ■ If you fail a saving throw, you may sacrifice the sync with one of your crystal focuses to reroll the saving throw. (You may resync with the crystal focus later.) EMOTIONAL CONDUIT Psions who realize their mental modality as an Emotional Conduit know their manifestation of power is chaotic and harmful to the surrounding area, but this is how they prefer things. They let the hate flow through them without hesitation and damn anyone who stands in the way. Anger isn’t the only emotional path, however—it’s just the easiest. Emotional Conduits usually have some pain that drives them to adventure. Whether to avenge or forget, the journey still must be traveled. Some psions stand up for those who cannot protect themselves, while others oppress people with their abilities in a mad scramble for power and control. The latter cannot remain low key for long and usually draw the attention of the former. Emotional Conduits usually have a flair for dress, even in the wastelands. Subtlety is not a strong suit for these psions, especially when suits are involved. They are all in fashion—as much as fashion can be crafted in the wastelands, at least. EMOTIONAL CONDUIT FEATURES PSION LEVEL FEATURE 2nd Fluttering Control, Well of Emotion 6th Radiate Pain 14th Self-regulation 18th Overwhelm Fluttering Control Starting at 2nd level, your emotions can get the better of you. Sometimes rest helps, though sometimes it does not. Your zone of influence fluctuates in tandem with your emotions. Roll 1d4 at the end of a long rest and apply the following adjustment to your zone of influence based on the result: ■ (1) −10 feet ■ (2) No change ■ (3) +10 feet ■ (4) +20 feet These changes are not cumulative and are always based on the default zone of influence for your level. At 10th level, you may roll twice and pick either result. Well of Emotion At 2nd level, your emotions fuel your psionics to greater and more intense outcomes with rage, love, or hate. When you affect a creature with a psionic effect, you can choose to deal 1d4 psychic damage per power point spent on the triggering effect, up to your Intelligence modifier to the creature, even if the effect does not initially deal damage. CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 29

Well of Emotion Optional Rule At the GM’s discretion, the type of damage you deal with your Well of Emotion feature depends on your current emotional state at the time. You may choose one damage type from the following list based on your character’s emotions or, to play up the chaotic nature of your power, you may roll for your damage type each time you roll for initiative. (This optional rule can apply to your Radiate Pain feature as well.) d6 DAMAGE TYPE ASSOCIATED EMOTIONS 1 Fire Anger, love 2 Cold Cool, callous 3 Lightning Acrid, ecstatic 4 Radiant Self-righteous, jubilant 5 Necrotic Miserable, sardonic 6 Force Vivacious, confident Radiate Pain Beginning at 6th level, your swirling emotions pool up and spill out when you are attacked. Whenever you take damage, you may use your reaction to cause a 10-footradius burst of energy centered on you. Each creature in the area must attempt a Dexterity saving throw, taking 1d4 psychic damage on a failure, or half as much damage on a success. You can spend power points to increase the damage by 1d4 per power point spent. You may spend a number of power points in this manner up to your Intelligence modifier. Self-Regulation When you reach 14th level, you learn to regulate your emotions to greater effect. Your Radiate Pain damage die becomes a d6. Additionally, when you use Radiate Pain, you may either choose which creatures in range suffer the damage or, after the damage is dealt, you may use your reaction to move up to 10 feet (this movement does not provoke opportunity attacks). Overwhelm At 18th level, your emotions can seem like too much to others, but they are under your control. If you miss when making a psionic attack against a creature or a creature succeeds on a saving throw against one of your psionic effects, you can choose to deal psychic damage to the creature equal to your Intelligence modifier. STRATEGIST Psions with the analytical minds of a Strategist see their zone of influence for the chessboard it is, and no one can beat them at their own game. They know all the moves and have studied the pawns that surround them. They usually see victory from the beginning and are waiting at the end of most struggles for others to catch up. Their psionic abilities enhance them, which elevates those around them. No matter a Strategist’s attitude, they usually land in the role of leader or warlord. While some cannot stand their subordinates, other psions find a family in their warband or party. Either way, they know that more pieces allow you to play the game longer and better. Psions of this ilk generally dress in symmetrical styles, with an eye toward utility and comfort. Their cadre generally follows their fashion, thus creating a close-knit following. STRATEGIST CONDUIT FEATURES PSION LEVEL FEATURE 2nd Thought Imparts Action, Action Grants Movement 6th Movement Provides Defense 14th Defense Affords Organization 18th Organization Grants Victory Thought Imparts Action When you select this modality at 2nd level, you gain proficiency on initiative rolls and may add either your Intelligence modifier or your Dexterity modifier to your initiative roll. Action Grants Movement At 2nd level, whenever you affect a creature with one of your psionic effects or attacks, you may use your bonus action to grant an ally some movement. When you do so, choose a friendly creature within your zone of influence; that creature may immediately use its reaction to move 10 feet. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks. Movement Provides Defense Starting at 6th level, you know a moving target is difficult prey, so you are always on the move. You try to help others see this truth. For every 10 feet you move during your turn, you gain a +1 bonus to your AC until the beginning of your next turn. This bonus cannot exceed your Intelligence modifier. CHAPTER ONE • character options 30 weird waStelandS

It is not a requirement that a character consume the heart of a monster to gain this ability. If the player wants to re-flavor (rimshot) these abilities to be a ritual of sacrifice of a monster (like in scenes from Avatar or The Last of the Mohicans where one thanks their fallen prey), that’s okay. It can also just be symbolic, and that works too. Defense Affords Organization When you reach 14th level, you read the ebbs and flows of battle so well you can keep your allies in order—for their own good. When you gain a bonus to your AC via your Movement Provides Defense feature, as a reaction, you may share that benefit with a number of allies up to your Intelligence modifier within your zone of influence until the beginning of your next turn. Organization Grants Victory At 18th level, the final stratagem is within your grasp. After many battles and countless war councils, you have ultimate understanding of battle tactics. Whenever you enhance your allies with your Defense Affords Organization feature, you gain the following additional benefits: ■ You gain +10 feet to your movement speed. ■ You gain +1 to hit with melee, ranged, and psionic attacks per ally enhanced by your Defense Affords Organization feature. barbarian Living in the wastelands can bring anyone to anger, but not everyone can turn that anger into effective rage. Whether it’s in battle or at the forefront of a storm, barbarians live their lives raging against magic most wild and beasts of all kinds. They are guardians of ancestral legacies and commit to their path with zealotry. new barbarian subclass: path of the monster champion Some barbarians become monstrous in their rage, but monster champions use their rage against monsters. The monster champion seeks out aberrations, dragons, and similar creatures to slay and take their power by consuming their hearts. Monster champions can be heroes, villains, or both depending on the day and monster—they may fell a dragon harassing a town or slay a dragon protecting a village. For most monster champions, the ends—that is, the monster’s end —justify the means. Stay hungry, friends. PATH OF THE MONSTER CHAMPION FEATURES BARBARIAN LEVEL FEATURES 3rd Monster Heart 6th Power in the Blood 10th Legendary Power 14th Heart to Heart MONSTER HEART When you choose this path at 3rd level, you recognize the power that exists in all monsters and have learned to harness these abilities through your rage. Partaking of the heart of a fallen monster cedes the power within. Choose a creature type from the following list. You gain the associated benefit. CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 31

Aberration While raging, you have advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Celestial While raging, you begin to glow with bright light out to 20 feet and dim light another 20 feet. Any ally within the bright light can use their reaction to spend Hit Dice up to or equaling your proficiency bonus with a minimum of 1 plus their Constitution modifier to heal themselves. Construct While raging, you are immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition. Dragon While raging you gain resistance to one of the following draconic damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. Elemental While raging, you release the elemental energy stored inside your heart. Your weapon attacks deal extra elemental damage equal to your Constitution modifier. Choose the damage type from the following list: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. You may choose the type upon reaching this level and cannot change it unless another feature of this subclass allows it. Fiend While raging, your eyes burn with the fires of hell itself, giving you darkvision out to a range of 60 feet, and you can see in both nonmagical and magical darkness. If you already possess darkvision, you instead add 30 feet to your current range. Monstrosity While you are raging, you gain a natural +3 bonus to your AC. This can be from thick fur, chitinous plates, or bony protrusions that manifest when you rage. Ooze While raging, you gain 5 feet of reach as your limbs become pliable. Also, creatures attempting to grapple you do so with disadvantage. POWER IN THE BLOOD At 6th level, you have consumed the blood of many fallen foes, and their power courses through your veins, empowering you to unimaginable feats. Choose a second option from the Monster Heart list. LEGENDARY POWER Beginning at 10th level, while raging you can attempt to lock a monster in place with your overwhelming power. When you hit a creature with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to force it to attempt a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the creature’s movement drops to 0 for as long as you continue to rage. Once you have used this feature (regardless of whether or not it succeeds), you must complete a short or long rest before you can do so again. HEART TO HEART At 14th level, you have devoured many monster hearts and can now benefit from their various powers. Upon finishing a long rest, you can change the two creature types in your Monster Heart features. You benefit from the associated abilities until you change them again at the end of a long rest. CHAPTER ONE • character options 32 weird waStelandS

This subclass is an homage to both epic storytelling and the inherent (and oft forgotten) value of those who can butcher. If you’ve had the opportunity to watch a master butcher practice their craft, you know that their skill is almost magical. It ensures as much of an animal can be eaten as possible and that any byproducts with other uses are preserved. This subclass was born out of us supposing how a butcher—a person who can turn a corpse into food—might exist in our postapocalypse and how they might spread their grim and vital knowledge. Sometimes, all that’s left in the wastes is bones, and this bard is the one who can derive use and meaning from even them. bard There are no bard colleges in the Weird Wastelands, though performers are occasionally found in larger settlements or attached to a faction with an infrastructure robust enough to support such a specialist. Nomadic troupes are the closest things to colleges in the wastes. They may train an eager bard and travel circuits between settlements to exchange performance for goods and services, though they often travel with a muscled retinue for protection. The average wastelander can expect to see someone with bard-like skills perform for entertainment once or twice in their lifetime, if they’re lucky, and most spend the intervening decades recounting those experiences on cold, bleak nights. What the wasteland lacks in venues and training for a gifted artist, it more than makes up for in a grateful audience. new bard subclass: college of bones Bards of the College of Bones seek to preserve tales of the most sacred knowledge in the wastes: the knowledge of how to survive. They perform ceremonies and rituals through song, story, or poetry as they butcher and cook the bodies of beasts and monstrosities, using whatever bones are left as costume, supplies, or for their own more esoteric magical purposes. Everyone has to cook their own food in the wastes, but it takes a special person to make a meal pleasant and safe to eat. Bards of the College of Bones can do exactly that. The hearth is their stage, a knife is their instrument, and a carcass is their muse. Bards of the College of Bones pass their knowledge between generations through the ritual feasts they prepare, the stories they tell as they work, and the inscribed bones they leave in their wake—a bleached bone wrapped in leather will last far longer in the wastes than any scroll. COLLEGE OF BONES FEATURES BARD LEVEL FEATURES 3rd Butchercraft, Osseous Focus, Epic of Bones 6th Meatgrinder 14th Skeletal Inhabitant BUTCHERCRAFT At 3rd level, you can confer with the spirits of the dead you once prepared for nourishment and get the ability to perform small wonders. You know the druidcraft cantrip, which doesn’t count against the number of bard cantrips you know. You also know speak with dead and purify food and drink, which don’t count against the number of bard spells you know and each of which you can cast once per long rest without expending a spell slot. OSSEOUS FOCUS Starting at 3rd level, a bone of any creature that you have butchered yourself becomes your spellcasting focus. Starting at 6th level, when you roll an Intelligence (Nature) or Wisdom (Animal Handling) check and you are holding your osseous focus, you may add 1d6 to your roll. EPIC OF BONES Starting at 3rd level, you can chant a grand poem of knowledge you’ve gained from the bones of beasts and monstrosities. While you are holding your osseous focus, you can use an CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 33

What’s better? Probably three Medium creatures because of that sweet, sweet action economy. Alternatively, you could have a skeleton horse that packs a punch, and how cool would that be? action to expend one of your Bardic Inspiration dice to roll on the Epic of Bones table. You retain the poem in your mind until you bestow the poem’s effect or until you finish a short or long rest. You can use a bonus action to choose yourself or one creature you can see within 30 feet of you to be the target of the poem’s effect. When you reach 6th level, you may expend two of your Bardic Inspiration dice to affect three creatures at once with the same effect. At 14th level, you may expend three of your Bardic Inspiration dice to affect four creatures at once. MEATGRINDER Starting at 6th level, you can use your knowledge of anatomy to help your allies hit in just the right place. If a creature with your Bardic Inspiration hits a creature with a weapon attack, that creature may expend the Bardic Inspiration to turn the hit into a critical hit. Once a creature with your Bardic Inspiration uses this ability, it cannot be used by anyone until you finish a short or long rest. SKELETAL INHABITANT At 14th level, you learn to beseech a spirit to embody the skeleton of a beast or monstrosity and help you in your adventures. This ritual takes 1 hour to perform, and it can be performed as part of a long rest. Choose either (a) up to three corpses of Medium or smaller beasts or monstrosities with skeletons or (b) the corpse of one Large beast or monstrosity with a skeleton within 10 feet of you. If you choose Medium or smaller corpses, they become ghouls under your control. If you choose the Large corpse, it rises as an ogre zombie. (The GM has game statistics for these creatures.) As a bonus action on each of your turns, you can mentally command any one creature you animated in this way as long as it is within 120 feet of you. You decide what action the creature will take and where it will move during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as to guard a particular chamber or corridor. If you issue no commands, the creature defends itself against hostile creatures. Once given an order, the creature continues to follow it until its task is complete. The creature is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any command you have given it. To maintain control of the creature for another 24 hours, you must perform this ritual on the creature before the current 24-hour period ends. This use of the ability reasserts your control over the creatures you have animated with this feature rather than animating new ones. EPIC OF BONES d8 EPIC OF BONES EFFECT 1 The Epic of the Skull For 1 minute, you have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws. 2 The Epic of the Aitch You may roll double damage dice on one successful spell attack of your choice. 3 The Epic of the Femur For 1 minute, your walking, climbing, and swimming speed are increased by 20 feet. 4 The Epic of the Rib For 1 minute, you have a magical +1 bonus to your AC. 5 The Epic of the Humerus For 1 minute, your Strength score is increased by 2. 6 The Epic of the Chine For 1 minute, you have advantage on all Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws. 7 The Epic of the Blade You may roll double damage dice on one successful weapon attack of your choice. 8 The Epic of the Marrow For 1 minute, you are immune to disease and poison and gain temporary hit points equal to the result of rolling two Bardic Inspiration dice. CHAPTER ONE • character options 34 weird waStelandS

cleric Clerics of many domains exist in the Weird Wastelands, but the source of their powers is often unclear. With the gods absent, those who can access divine abilities may be channeling the raw power of the belief held by those who still worship the old gods (though who can say how long that magic can sustain their abilities), or they may be drawing upon divine magic granted from beings who, while not divine themselves, are powerful enough to grant them. Clerics in these lands are more likely to devote themselves to a concept rather than to a deity, and the raw magic pulsating through the area is strong enough to facilitate their abilities. These clerics are charismatic and dogged in their devotion, and their beacon of hope may attract adherents to their cause. Some who say they are clerics are, simply put, liars. Their weak wonders are granted only by those who wish them to be real. They perform miracles of misdirection, acts of thinly veiled bravado, and smoke and mirrors that give the hopeful a flimsy reason to ease their worries for yet another unforgiving day—at the low, low price of a meal, a drink, or a family heirloom. Did worm-tongued charlatans exist before the apocalypse? Were they the cause? Who can say? new cleric subclass: ascetic domain The Ascetic Domain focuses on independence and sufficiency of the self. Born in an area that was either abandoned or became incompatible with people, organized societies, or even gods, those of the Ascetic Domain find connection with the divine—if there is such a thing anymore—in the absence of sustenance, shelter, and comfort. While others may seek to restore the land or build up settlements to someday rival those of the ancient past, Ascetic clerics do not. If the wastes exist, there is a reason. Letting the wastelands take what they will and, like the sands themselves, existing without unsustainable plenty lead to the path of true understanding and oneness with whatever gods are left. In their search for transcendent wisdom, Ascetic clerics can go without food, water, and shelter far longer than most other heroes, though it is neither easy nor riskless for them to do so. But when they do, they are uniquely suited to discover things no one else can. Many Ascetic clerics are on quests for internal and external knowledge: to prove their own commitment to their cause; to seek the reasons for the errors committed in the name of greed, pride, and desire that led to disaster; or to teach others the way they’re meant to live in this hellscape. ASCETIC DOMAIN SPELLS CLERIC LEVEL SPELLS 1st relief 5, sanctuary 3rd blindness/deafness, ray of enfeeblement 5th beacon of hope, protection from energy 7th freedom of movement, resilient sphere 9th legend lore, reincarnate ASCETIC DOMAIN FEATURES CLERIC LEVEL FEATURE 1st Internal Oasis (1), Enduring Vigor 2nd Channel Divinity: Transpose Exhaustion 6th Comfort in Discomfort, Internal Oasis (2) 8th Potent Spellcasting 17th Nothingness, Internal Oasis (3) 5. Info about this new spell can be found in the “Spell Descriptions” section at the end of this chapter. CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 35

INTERNAL OASIS Beginning at 1st level, you can use your reaction when you take damage in combat to expend one Hit Die to heal yourself. You regain this ability whenever you complete a short or long rest. You may use this ability twice before needing a rest at 6thlevel, and three times at 17thlevel. ENDURING VIGOR Starting at 1st level, you can ignore the effects of a number of levels of exhaustion equal to your proficiency bonus. Any levels of exhaustion you incur beyond your proficiency bonus impose normal exhaustion penalties. For example, if you have a proficiency bonus of +2 and you gain a third level of exhaustion, you suffer the penalty normally associated with one level of exhaustion. CHANNEL DIVINITY: TRANSPOSE EXHAUSTION Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to either relieve your allies of their exhaustion or inflict exhaustion upon your enemies. As an action, you can relieve a number of levels of exhaustion equal to your proficiency bonus from creatures within 30 feet of you, taking them on yourself. The levels of exhaustion that you relieve may be from one creature or several, but the total you relieve with this action cannot exceed your proficiency bonus. Alternatively, as an action, you can inflict a number of levels of your own exhaustion equal to half your proficiency bonus (rounded down) onto one or more creatures you can see within 30 feet of you, ridding yourself of the same number of levels of exhaustion. The levels of exhaustion you lose may be inflicted onto one creature or several, but the total you inflict with this action cannot exceed half your proficiency bonus (rounded down). When you do this, a targeted creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take on your levels of exhaustion. If the creature succeeds on the saving throw, you retain the levels of exhaustion you were attempting to inflict on that creature. COMFORT IN DISCOMFORT Starting at 6th level, you have advantage on saving throws made to resist gaining levels of exhaustion imposed by lack of food, water, or rest. If you are using the variant survival rules for the comfortable condition,6 you no longer require comfort to gain the benefits of a long rest. POTENT SPELLCASTING Starting at 8th level, you add your Wisdom modifier to the damage you deal with any cleric cantrip. 6. See the “Variant Survival Rules” section of chapter 3 on p. 102 for information on the comfortable condition and how it affects taking a long rest in the wastelands. NOTHINGNESS At 17th level, you can ignore the material components of spells with a value of 1,000 gp or less. optional class feature DIVINE INTERVENTION VARIANT: ABSTEMIOUS VISION Starting at 10th level, Ascetic clerics can use their Divine Intervention ability to experience a vision of past events that grants a benefit to them. Describe the assistance you seek, spend 24 hours in meditation, and roll percentile dice. If you roll a number equal to or lower than your cleric level, you gain the knowledge or abilities you seek. For every full day you go without food, water, and rest before making your roll, you can subtract 10 from the results of your roll. Instead of imploring a deity for aid, the Ascetic cleric gets a vision of the past that aids them in gaining the knowledge they seek. How far in the past and what they see is up to the GM’s discretion; it may be a relatively recent event, or, for the most devoted and powerful Ascetics, this is one of the few ways to access information about the pre-apocalypse. Here are some examples of the benefits an Ascetic cleric might receive from a vision using this feature: ■ You learn a spell not on the cleric list, which is now a cleric spell for you. ■ You are able to cast any single spell of your choosing with no material components once per day without expending a spell slot. ■ You can ask the GM a number of questions equal to the number of levels of exhaustion you currently have and receive a truthful, though perhaps cryptic, answer. Druid Druids adapt to the harsh conditions of the wastes with ease, making them the ultimate survivalists in a postapocalyptic wasteland. Their magical abilities and spells give them an array of options to deal with harsh weather, hazardous environments, monstrous inhabitants, and other wastelanders. They thrive due to their connection with the land and can easily share the benefits of their power with others. Druids make excellent leaders, especially for those communities dedicated to restoring the land to its preapocalyptic state. They serve a dual spiritual-political role by coordinating restoration efforts, passing along knowledge vital for surviving the wastes, and ensuring their communities are a place of shelter and respite. Some of these communities become quasi-religious orders as the populace work toward environmental and communal harmony necessary to prosper in the wasteland. In other CHAPTER ONE • character options 36 weird waStelandS

Hi! Jim here. I’ll come out and say it—I miss playing shillelagh-wielding melee druids. Oh sure, turning into some ferocious beast is great and all, but I look at shillelagh sitting all by its lonesome on that cantrip list and I long for a melee druid subclass that isn’t covered in gross fungus. The Circle of the Broken Land has its thematic foundations set firmly in my love of postapocalyptic survival stories, but its mechanical heart comes from a desire to see more badass druid warriors fighting monsters with magic-infused beat sticks. settlements, druids might simply serve as respected advisors or teachers, letting others take the lead in guiding the community. In any case, the power of a druid’s primordial magic is an asset for defense and prosperity. Still other druids choose a life of solitude in the wastes. For some, this isolation is a matter of spiritual purification. Self-reliance is paramount to them, and they live simple lives of survival and contemplation. Other druids choose the loner’s life to avoid power struggles and warfare. These hermitic druids are aware of the value of their primordial magic and do not want to risk harming others by becoming a target for merciless warlords. Finally, there are those druids who seek a life of solitude because the pain of ruin runs too deep within them. Their connection to the land is not a source of comfort, but an ever-festering wound. Spirits of nature call out to these druids with demands for vengeance. As these tortured few listen to the anguished cries of the primordial world, they use extreme acts of asceticism and mortification of the flesh to turn their connection to the land into means to channel the fury of the perishing lands around them. A primordial fury overtakes them, and they venture forth into the wastes to seek justice for the dying land. new druid subclass: circle of the broken land Circle of the Broken Land druids channel the primordial fury of the dying earth to act as nature’s avengers against those who would further harm the land. They are inured to hardship by a life of wasteland survival, using their connection to nature’s primal power to overcome the CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 37

With Wasteland Survivor, the mechanical benefits are powerful but limited— the perfect ability if you have a stretch of nasty, scorching badlands to cross—and the narrative elements invite questions about how the benefits manifest. What goes on in the ceremony? What does it look like to become attuned to the wasteland? Is there something about the ceremony that explains the 24-hour limit? What do others think of your character eating dirt? These questions prompt the player to consider the environment and their character’s place in it, opening the way for more engaging exploration play. limits of what other mortals can endure. Their deep connection to the dying earth gives them a wellspring of spiritual pain from which to draw power that druids of the Broken Land use to hone their fighting skills. Unlike those druids of the wastes who seek to restore nature’s balance and heal the land, Circle of the Broken Land druids seek out those who destroyed it in the first place to punish them for their careless and destructive acts. When not waging a war of revenge, they live solitary lives of ascetic contemplation and communion with dying primordial spirits. CIRCLE OF THE BROKEN LAND FEATURES DRUID LEVEL FEATURE 2nd Primordial Fury, Survivalist’s Cunning 6th Elemental Scouring, Primordial Fury (2), Survivalist’s Cunning (2) 10th Wasteland Survivor, Primordial Fury (3), Survivalist’s Cunning (3) 14th Wasteland Avenger, Primordial Fury (4), Survivalist’s Cunning (4) PRIMORDIAL FURY Starting at 2nd level, you can enter a trance of primordial fury. As a bonus action, you can expend one use of Wild Shape to enter this trance. When you enter your primordial fury, choose one of the following benefits: ■ You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your proficiency bonus. ■ As a bonus action on each of your turns, you can make a single attack with a melee weapon you are holding. You may cast shillelagh as part of this bonus action. ■ You gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. ■ You gain proficiency in Strength and Constitution ability checks and saving throws. Your primordial fury lasts for 1 minute, until you use your Wild Shape again, or until you are incapacitated. You can also end your fury at any time (no action required). At higher levels, you can choose additional benefits when you enter your primordial fury. You may choose two benefits at 6th level, choose three benefits at 10th level, and gain all four benefits at 14th level. SURVIVALIST’S CUNNING At 2nd level, whenever you make a Wisdom (Survival) check, you can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the result. The bonus die increases to a d6 at 6th level, a d8 at 10th level, and a d10 at 14th level. ELEMENTAL SCOURING Starting at 6th level, the rage of the dying world flows through you to bring its wrath upon your enemies. When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage to the target (your choice) in addition to the weapon’s damage. The extra damage is 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st. WASTELAND SURVIVOR When you reach 10th level, as part of a short or long rest, you may perform a 1-hour ceremony to harmonize yourself with the wasteland’s harsh conditions. You can choose a number of creatures equal to your proficiency bonus to join the ceremony to gain the benefits as well. At the end of the hour, you and any participants in the ceremony gain the following benefits for the next 8 hours while not wearing heavy armor: ■ As an action, you may spend one of your Hit Dice to remove one level of exhaustion from yourself.  ■ You can safely consume sand, gravel, or dirt in place of normal food and water. ■ Nonmagical difficult terrain does not slow your travel. ■ You ignore the effects of extreme heat and extreme cold. Once you use this ability, you cannot perform the ritual again for 24 hours. WASTELAND AVENGER Starting at 14th level, whenever you are in your primordial fury and roll damage against a single target with an attack or spell, add an additional 1d8 damage to your roll. CHAPTER ONE • character options 38 weird waStelandS

fighter Fighting is something every wastelander must do every day of their lives, and there is a place for all kinds of fighters in the wastes. They may do it for sport, honor, or maybe to perfect their mastery of battle. They must always remember why they fight or fall victim to their lack of integrity and fight mindlessly...and then it’s time to multiclass. Fighters are perhaps the most common class in the wastelands—after all, there’s always someone to fight here. Organized martial disciplines may be few and far between, but every village has their own special style, taught through generations as soon as young ones can walk and perfected in regular battles for survival. Armies are rare in the wastelands, and groups seldom train as large units. Those few that do have a fighter leading the charge. Tactics that favor speed, mobility, and subterfuge are common. Those heroes strong enough to fight in the open are sentinels for their more vulnerable compatriots, and a battle featuring two skilled fighters may well be won or lost by combat between only them. new fighter subclass: reaver martial archetype7 Reavers are not to be trifled with. They can overwhelm you, and when you start running, they will catch you. A reaver lives a hard life in the wastelands, but they wouldn’t have it any other way. They use mobility as their strength, moving fast and striking hard. Few can match their knowledge of war wagons and their capabilities. A reaver can be a driver of a war wagon that gives chase, or they can take on more of a support role, leaping onto vehicles to end the chase. They can fight, repair, or run better than most in the wastelands. Reavers are the ones who take what they can to live another day in an environment that will finish all but the heartiest adventurers. REAVER MARTIAL ARCHETYPE FEATURES FIGHTER LEVEL FEATURE 3rd Pedal to the Mettle, Hell on Wheels, Speed Kills 7th Gone in Six Seconds 10th Going the Distance 15th Witness Me 18th Walk Hard PEDAL TO THE METTLE When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in either Athletics or Intimidation. Alternatively, you gain proficiency with the mechanic’s kit8 or vehicles (land). 7. The reaver is very much based on the Mad Max series, so having a more expansive battlefield is where this subclass shines. Dealing with vehicles and larger areas can mean using more theater of the mind, which means keeping distances easy to deal with, so don’t get too specific with them. Keep distances in terms of move actions: 30 feet, 60 feet, or 120 feet. This subclass can move a lot, especially if your player chooses the Skirmisher fighting style and the Mobile feat. Also, if a caster bestows haste on them…wow. They will be able to keep up with some vehicles, and that’s okay. This is a fantasy postapocalypse. Have fun with it. 8. See the “Survival Gear” section of chapter 2 on p. 82 for information on the mechanic’s kit and how it’s used to repair various machines. CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 39

This seems like a lot for a subclass, but it is comparable with (and obviously inspired by) the Cavalier from XGE. There isn’t a limitation on the total number of times a reaver can use this ability because movement is the limitation. If a player is inventive in how they use their movement, that’s great, but don’t let them spam this ability. If a player runs 40 feet away from a target only to Dash 40 feet back toward the target, that’s only a +4 to their damage, not +8, because this ability is about using momentum. This subclass is a potent one, but the wastelands are a potent environment. If you’re using all the options from this book, this class will feel just right. The monk has always been my favorite class because martial arts have been a big part of my life, from watching samurai and wuxia movies to learning and eventually teaching Tae Kwon Do. Be sure to challenge your monk players not just with their martial prowess but with the moral implications of their actions. Part of learning to fight is learning when not to, so make sure to reinforce that point. HELL ON WHEELS At 3rd level, you have lived your life around vehicles and know all the ins and outs of them, literally. You have advantage on saving throws to avoid falling off a vehicle. If you fall off a vehicle and descend no more than 10 feet, you can land on your feet if you’re not incapacitated. Additionally, mounting or dismounting a vehicle costs you only 5 feet of movement rather than half your speed. SPEED KILLS At 3rd level, you know that war wagons don’t slow down for anyone, so you’ve learned to attack even when you’re moving fast, and you know how to use momentum to increase the impact of your attacks. When you use your action to Dash, you may use your bonus action to make one weapon attack. Also, when you successfully hit with a melee weapon on your turn, you may add bonus damage to the melee weapon attack. This bonus damage is 1 per 10 feet moved toward the target during that turn. You may only use this feature once per turn. GONE IN SIX SECONDS Starting at 7th level, you know how to navigate combat better than most, using every trick at your disposal to get the job done. You can take the Disengage or Use an Object action as a bonus action on each of your turns. GOING THE DISTANCE When you reach 10th level, you are no stranger to running through the wastelands. Whether it’s catching up to prey or returning home when a war wagon breaks down, you have the wherewithal to see it through. You gain advantage on Constitution ability checks and saving throws. Additionally, you gain +10 feet to your base movement speed. WITNESS ME At 15th level, your exploits bring out the best in your allies, pushing them to greater accomplishments than even they knew they were capable of. Whenever you add damage to an attack via your Speed Kills feature, any ally who sees the attack can immediately use their reaction to move up to their walking speed. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks. WALK HARD Starting at 18th level, you have been everywhere and seen it all, and this has given you unmatched endurance. Whenever you use your Second Wind ability, you may also remove a level of exhaustion. optional class feature FIGHTING STYLE OPTION: SKIRMISHER When you wear light or no armor, you gain +5 feet to your base movement speed and can stand up from prone by expending only 5 feet of movement rather than half your movement. monk While not all the old ways survived the apocalypse that cast its shadow over the wastelands, many were still passed down. True masters open their hearts as well as their hands when new students present themselves, because otherwise these fighting styles would go the way of the long death. Drink deep the wisdom of the masters, for they will show you the way. Like rangers, fighters, and barbarians, monks are relatively common in the wastelands. Some are itinerant, traveling the wastes as comets traverse a galaxy, off on their own path to do what they will and seek out their own enlightenment. Others act as bodyguards to the powerful or worthy—a combatant with speed, skill, and the ability to fight without any expensive, specialized equipment is always in high demand. Some villages may have their own masters and traditions, and, as fighters, may train young monks in their own styles. new monk subclass: way of the wanderer A lone wanderer staggers into town, surviving the vast wastes when they should be dead. A towering monk steps in to defend a bullied shop vendor being extorted by a local gang. A former student stands over the body of their now dead master, angered that their teacher would not share the final secrets of their order, and now they must search the world for these lost techniques. The Way of the Wanderer can be a lonely one, but it is always exciting. The wanderer knows that strength is the key, but how that strength is achieved and used is up to each monk. Will the wanderer adopt the age-old philosophy of “might CHAPTER ONE • character options 40 weird waStelandS

We considered allowing this subclass to use Strength in place of Wisdom for calculating the monk’s DC, but we thought it was too potent and too dependent on a single attribute. If you feel it’s okay for your table though, go for it. Attacking someone’s attack is a great defense but can lead to weariness. Flood your players with attacks if you want to drain their ki, or attack them with a huge monster just to see if they can block it. This should lead to some epic battles. Also, look up the Kung Fu training this is based on, called Stone Bone or Iron Bone training. It’s nuts, but it also gives you and your players an idea of their daily regimen to achieve this level of bodily perfection. makes right,” or will they use their strength to lift others up? Either way, monks who walk this path strive to be the strongest in the land. But what does that mean in the end? Is it worth it to achieve unlimited power? What happens when there are no more challenges to best? WAY OF THE WANDERER FEATURES MONK LEVEL FEATURE 3rd Scales of Might, Iron Fists 6th Stone Bones 11th True Grit 17th ONE PUNCH! SCALES OF MIGHT At 3rd level, you have worked to toughen your skin to rival the strongest armor, natural or otherwise. You may use your Strength instead of Dexterity when calculating your Unarmored Defense. Your AC equals 10 + your Strength modifier + your Wisdom modifier. IRON FISTS Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, your strikes rain like a blacksmith’s hammer, molding your target into any shape you desire. Your Martial Arts die is increased to a d6 and follows the same progression with the increased die size: d8 at 5th, d10 at 11th, and d12 at 17th. STONE BONES At 6th level, you have worked to make your body unbreakable, allowing you to turn your defense into offense and deal extra damage to inanimate objects. When you are hit with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage dealt by spending 1 ki point to roll two Martial Arts dice plus your Strength modifier. In addition, you may spend 1 or 2 more ki points and add one Martial Arts die per ki point spent, making the maximum you may spend for this reaction 3 ki points in total. The amount of damage you roll is subtracted from the initial damage total, and you take any damage not negated. If your roll is higher than the damage dealt to you, the creature that dealt the damage takes damage equal to the difference. Additionally, you deal double damage to unattended inanimate objects. TRUE GRIT By 11th level, you have the kind of determination that makes lesser foes tremble, losing their nerve and any upper hand they might have had. You gain the following benefits: ■ You gain proficiency in Constitution ability checks and saving throws. ■ Any damage type you deal using monk weapons or unarmed strikes ignores damage resistance, and a creature’s immunity to this damage is treated as resistance instead. CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 41

This seems awfully powerful, but it deals less damage than meteor swarm and only affects one creature, so let your monk go all out with this Serious Punch. (If you haven’t watched One Punch Man yet, though, pause your game and go do that.) ONE PUNCH! When you reach 17th level, you have honed your body to be a conduit for the might of your ki, allowing you to deliver a single devastating punch. If you hit with an unarmed strike, you may use your bonus action to spend ki points to add an equal number of Martial Arts dice to the damage roll for the attack. You may only use this feature once per short rest unless you slay your foe. If you defeat your foe with your ONE PUNCH!, it is immediately available for use. If you spend the last of your ki points to defeat an opponent with your ONE PUNCH!, you immediately regain 5 ki points. paladin Paladins of many oaths may exist in the Weird Wastelands, though there are few religious orders to which they can avow themselves. As such, oaths are more spiritual than religious in these lands. They may be taken up by anyone with fervent conviction to any suitably powerful being, organization, or cause. Pledging one’s service for life is perhaps the rarest form of altruism in the wasteland because so few are able to commit themselves fully to anything other than survival. In so doing, paladins show that they often have privilege of some sort, or at the very least a great deal of good fortune to both be in a position to give themselves over to an ideal and also find someone or something that is able to accept them. Many a warlock once aspired to be paladin but accepted a different sort of offer from a different sort of being instead. new paladin subclass: oath of pilgrimage The Oath of Pilgrimage is a vow to seek out, create, and protect sites of holiness, goodness, and truth. Where evil seeks to snuff out refuge, Oath of Pilgrimage paladins stand to defend it. When displaced peoples seek a place to call home, these paladins help them find it. When places of divinity have been lost, these paladins rediscover them. When travelers on spiritual journeys require safety, these paladins provide it. They sacrifice their own safety and a place to call home so others may have the chance at a lasting sanctuary.9 Paladins who take the Oath of Pilgrimage in the Weird Wastelands may have a variety of missions. Some believe fervently that there are significant sites that have been lost, the discovery of which would benefit the people of the wastes. Others believe no such locations exist and seek to create new places of meaning or gathering. Some protect paths between settlements and curiosities and may act as messengers. Still others travel the wastes in search of people on important journeys who could use their aid. 9. In some ways, the paladin is one of the tougher subclasses to include in Weird Wastelands, as they’re generally tied to an organization (something there isn’t a lot of in this type of place) and spiritual ideals (something which is at best tricky to stick to and at worst really messes with the tone of this type of game). Initially, we were going to go with a more nefarious and power-hungry oath, but we settled on this one instead. It’s easy to see the word “pilgrim” and think of the Mayflower, but this paladin is much more like a Knight Hospitaler—a helper, an enabler of journeys, and a protector of destinations. These sorts of helpers are essential and are more common than you’d think in the real world. They’re often overlooked, but they’re most definitely worthy of a place in any setting or game. CHAPTER ONE • character options 42 weird waStelandS

TENETS OF PILGRIMAGE Journey. For you, the journey is more important than the destination. Honor it, protect the ability of others to do so, and seek journeys out where they are least expected. Consecrate. The places that the world has forsaken have goodness in them yet. Seek them out, nurture them, and see them flourish. Connect. The bonds between people are the bedrock of holiness. Forge connections between peoples and honor the right of all to have a safe or sacred home. OATH OF PILGRIMAGE FEATURES PALADIN LEVEL FEATURE 3rd Oath Spells, Channel Divinity 7th Aura of Surefootedness 15th Hospitality 20th Divine Sojourn OATH SPELLS You gain oath spells at the paladin level listed. OATH OF PILGRIMAGE SPELLS PALADIN LEVEL SPELL 3rd longstrider, sanctuary 5th aid, rope trick 9th beacon of hope, water walk 13th freedom of movement, guardian of faith 17th passwall, teleportation circle CHANNEL DIVINITY When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options. Word of Comfort. Immediately after a creature within 30 feet of you takes damage, you can use your reaction to use your Lay on Hands ability on that creature, even if you are too far away to touch them. Turn the Offender. As an action, you can target any attacker with a non-good alignment within 30 feet of you that has dealt damage with an attack in the last turn and force it to attempt a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes damage. A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, it can’t willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you, and it 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. AURA OF SUREFOOTEDNESS At 7th level, you emit an aura of stability while you aren’t incapacitated. When this aura is in place, you can ignore the effects of difficult terrain and are immune to the prone condition. You and any creatures you choose within 10 feet of you have advantage on Dexterity saving throws. At 18th level, this aura increases to 30 feet, and other creatures you choose in the aura can also ignore the effects of difficult terrain. HOSPITALITY When you reach 15th level, you have everlasting comfort. You may make the area within 30 feet of the point where you finish a short or long rest hallowed ground. Celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead can’t enter the area, nor can such creatures charm, frighten, or possess creatures within it. Any creature charmed, frightened, or possessed by such a creature is no longer charmed, frightened, or possessed upon entering the area. This effect lasts in the area until you complete a short or long rest somewhere else. If you complete seven long rests in the same hallowed area, this effect lasts until it is dispelled. Additionally, you may remove from yourself up to two levels of exhaustion per long rest spent in the hallowed area, and you don’t require comfort10 to gain the benefits of a long rest. DIVINE SOJOURN At 20th level, unseen spirits protect you and your allies to ensure you continue your journey. When you use a bonus action to activate this ability, you gain the following benefits for 1 hour as long as you are not incapacitated. ■ You and your allies have advantage on Constitution saving throws. ■ You and your allies have resistance to one of the following damage types of your choice: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. ■ You and your allies gain a flying speed of 300 feet per round in combat or up to 300 miles if you are in a wilderness round.11 Once you use this ability, you cannot do so again until you complete a long rest. 10. See the “Variant Survival Rules” section of chapter 3 on p. 102 for information on the comfortable condition and how it affects taking a long rest in the wastelands. 11. For an explanation of wilderness rounds and how to implement them in your game, see the “Turn-based Exploration” section in chapter 3 on p. 124. CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 43

ranger Many rangers work as guides, hunters (of animals, monsters, and people), or simply survivalists. They band together into cadres of protectors and guardians keeping the wilderness where it belongs—in the wild. Many rangers form hunting lodges to share trade secrets and trails to help each other thrive. Some rangers prefer the solitude of the wastelands, knowing their abilities are all they need to keep themselves alive. new ranger subclass: scavenger archetype Scavengers delve into ruins and wrecks looking for scrap— salvageable materials, arcanotech fragments, and other useful objects. They repurpose the castoffs of past ages, forging their own futures. They understand that scrap doesn’t exist for lack of purpose but lack of imagination. Scavengers know how to repair the objects they find and quickly assemble what they need out of nearby items. They learn to craft weapons and armor, and some even make a living selling their cobbled-together wares. Scavengers can’t help but tinker and build, making them a helpful addition to any party. SCAVENGER ARCHETYPE FEATURES RANGER LEVEL FEATURE 3rd Scavenger Technomagic, Elbow Grease, Bounty of the Wastes 7th Armed and Rangerous 11th Smithing Rank 100 15th By My Own Hands SCAVENGER TECHNOMAGIC Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Scavenger Spells table. The spells count as ranger spells for you, but they don’t count against the number of ranger spells you know. SCAVENGER SPELLS RANGER LEVEL SPELL 3rd floating disk 5th locate object 9th speak with dead 13th secret chest 17th passwall ELBOW GREASE At 3rd level, you know how to quickly craft what you need from scrounged items. As part of a short or long rest, you can use an appropriate set of artisan’s tools to gather materials from a Small or larger construct, vehicle, or pile of scrap materials12 to create one nonmagical item from the Adventuring Gear table13 worth less than 10 gp. This requires double the amount of scrap in weight of the item you are creating. Additionally, you gain proficiency in tinker’s tools, smith’s tools, and one other type of artisan’s tools of your choice. BOUNTY OF THE WASTES Starting at 3rd level, when you forage or gather resources, you gain double the amount of food, water, or scrap materials. When you reach 11th level in this class, you gain advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to find food, water, and scrap materials. ARMED AND RANGEROUS At 7th level, you can craft the exact weapon you need for any occasion. The list of items you can craft with Elbow Grease expands to include tools that you are proficient 12. See “Scrounging for Scrap” in chapter 3 on p. 128 for more info. 13. The Adventuring Gear table can be found in the core rules (see chapter 5 of the PHB). CHAPTER ONE • character options 44 weird waStelandS

What counts as a “distinct region” is up to the GM, but a particular desert, a canyon complex, or a stretch of wasteland between settlements would work. It comes down to terrain, rock formations, and the unmapped borders between them. with as well as simple and martial weapons, and the value limit increases to 50 gp. When you hit with a weapon you have crafted, you add your proficiency bonus to the damage dealt. SMITHING RANK 100 At 11th level, your crafting reaches new levels with both weapons and now armor. You treat the weapons you craft as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance. The list of items you can craft with Elbow Grease expands to include armor, and the value limit increases to 100 gp. BY MY OWN HANDS Starting at 15th level, you gain better functionality with your crafted items. When you take the Attack action with a weapon you have crafted, you can immediately use your bonus action to make another attack with that weapon. Alternatively, you may immediately use your bonus action to take the Use an Object action to use an item you have crafted. optional class feature WASTELAND EXPLORER 1st-level ranger feature, which replaces the Natural Explorer feature You are particularly adept at surviving the harsh environments of the wasteland. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any Wisdom (Survival) checks you make related to traveling or surviving in the wasteland. Additionally, when you spend one week in a distinct region of the wasteland, you gain the following benefits: ■ You double your proficiency bonus when you attempt an Intelligence or Wisdom ability check related to the region. ■ When you forage for food, you can gather food for one more person than you otherwise could. ■ When traveling alone, you may travel an extra hex per wilderness round and can move stealthily at a normal travel pace. ■ You do not need the comfort of a campsite to gain the full benefits of rest while in the wilderness. ■ You have advantage on any ability checks made to avoid becoming lost due to terrain features and natural hazards. rogue While there are rogues throughout the wastelands, not all have the physical skillset to be an Enforcer. Either way, being able to scale ruins or read the intentions of others are skills for which many warlords are willing to pay their weight in water. Where scarcity lives, thieves thrive, and no place is scarcer than the Weird Wastelands. All raiders, all delvers, and all bands of miscreants, liars, and bullies benefit from having a skilled rogue in their retinue. Rogues abound, and their abilities are up for sale to whomever can pay… unless the rogue would rather steal from the perspective client, but that’s another adventure all together. CHAPTER ONE • character options weird waStelandS 45

Pruitt here. This ability gives the Enforcer access to imposing the stunned condition, but it comes at a heavy price: your Sneak Attack damage and your reaction. Even then, the target could still succeed on the saving throw, negating all that sacrifice. I don’t believe this is OP. I do believe one should look at the Tavern Brawler feat, if those options are being utilized, and think of all the enhanced possibilities, especially how it would tether the first two Enforcer abilities together. *taps temple with index finger* Just think about it. new rogue subclass: enforcer roguish archetype The Enforcer is whispered about by their prey and bystanders alike. They combine stealth and strength to become a terror of shadows. The Enforcer is sent to retrieve targets that do not want to come willingly but need to be taken alive. They have a keen eye for guarding strongholds (or bars), and they are merciless if you cross them. Most rogues don’t want to stay in melee for long, but Enforcers live in melee. They seek it out and put it in a chokehold. The Enforcer is built differently, and most thieves guilds know exactly how put that build to good use. Enforcers are the first, and often the only, defense needed. Whether you need to attack a rival guild or crack some heads, just call on an Enforcer. ENFORCER ROGUISH ARCHETYPE FEATURES ROGUE LEVEL FEATURE 3rd Sapping Strength, Breaking Bad 9th Doorman 13th Shadow Stride 17th Leveraged Position SAPPING STRENGTH Starting at 3rd level, you can use your Sneak Attack with weapons with the light property that deal bludgeoning damage (such as a club, light hammer, or an unarmed attack). Additionally, you may attempt to take an opponent down without too much harm. You must have advantage on the attack roll against the creature, and the creature can’t have taken its turn in combat yet. If the attack hits, you may forgo your normal Sneak Attack damage to attempt to stun the target. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn. The DC for the save is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier. BREAKING BAD When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you learn to twist joints and manipulate opponents in combat. You no longer need advantage or an ally within 5 feet of your target to use your Sneak Attack or your Sapping Strength, and you may also attempt to Sneak Attack a creature you are grappled with. DOORMAN14 At 9th level, your work on watch—whether to protect or to plan a heist—has sharpened your senses. While you are conscious and remain in the same space for at least 1 minute, you gain advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks. SHADOW STRIDE Starting at 13th level, you have worked so long in dark places that you expertly combine your strength and grace as you move through the shadows. While hidden, you can add 10 feet to your movement speed. You also count as one size larger when calculating your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift. LEVERAGED POSITION When you reach 17th level, you know how best to use your strength and position yourself in combat. A target grappled by you is considered restrained. Additionally, your attacks against grappled opponents score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20. sorcerer Since magic is part of the land in the wastelands, it’s no surprise that powers would be awakened within more people. Sorcerers of all types exist in the Weird Wastelands and are perhaps even more common here than in traditional fantasy settings. But none are considered as tied to this place as sorcerers of the Sun-hollowed Soul, and none are given a wider berth. The sun often unleashes its power with too much fury, and one can never be sure when it will strike. The same is assumed of a Sun-hollowed sorcerer. Sorcery is typically considered a blessing in the Weird Wastelands, even if its origin is nefarious. Its unique and wondrous strength reflects the nature of magic in the environment. To have a sorcerer in your village is a boon…until it’s not, of course. Some sorcerers with powers that are difficult to explain in the present state of the 14. This is a specific use of Wisdom (Perception) checks, so don’t let your players exploit it by saying after the fact, “My character is always on watch.” Weird Wastelands is a game of mechanics, and this is a thematic one. All they need to say in game is, “I’m on watch.” – Pruitt CHAPTER ONE • character options 46 weird waStelandS