Dark Souls The Roleplaying Game Rulebook

YOU DIED Credits

2

3 Co-Founders Mat Hart (CCO) Rich Loxam (CEO) Chairman Simon Spalding Non-Executive Director Ron Ashtiani Ian Livingstone CBE Investment Director Rob Jones Development Richard August Jordan Connolly Alex Delaney Fraser McFetridge Steve Margetson Sherwin Matthews Jamie Perkins Sculpting & Art Ben Charles Russ Charles Lua Garo Nathan Lines Tom Lishman Doug Telford Holly Woolford Graphic Design & Layout Mike Hyslop Elliott Smith Adam Steel Abigail Cornton Kelly Vizma David Wheeler Human Resources Gareth Reid Production Candy Chan Matthew Elliott Nicolas Lu Carl Matthews Tom Rochford Finance/IT Jo Bebb John Higham Adam King Vanessa O‘Brien Amy Rapaport Operations & FulCllment Judy Guan John Hockey Richard Jennings Susanna Ngai Marketing & Community Management Chynna-Blue Scott Mike Appleton Luuk Bolander Rae Dixon Stuart Fenton Laurence Finch Emma King Stuart Lee Aimee Neale Chynna-Blue Scott Nicole Holmes-De-Wyvill Sinclair Ben Taylor Ross Compson Dylan Wilby Licensing & Commercial Tom Hart Emma Higgins Toby Davies Firoz Rana Elise Rezendes Jo Turner Matthew Vann-Hinton Steamforged Games Team DARK SOULS: The Roleplaying Game Team Writing & Design Richard August & Mat Hart Additional Writing Alex Delaney Development Editing Alan Bahr Editing Emil Andersen Ead Brown Gabe Hicks Sherwin Matthews Elise Rezendes Graphic Design & Layout Elliott Smith Playtesting Ce Cursday Night Gamers

4 Prologue Table of Contents Chapter III - Magic & Miracles Chapter I - Character Generation Chapter II - Core Rules Introduction What is a Roleplaying Game? Using the Dice Playing DARK SOULS So Remember... 7 9 10 11 12 Introduction Acquiring Spells Cost Range Pyromancer Spells Sorceries Miracles 129 130 131 132 134 138 143 Introduction Character Generation Process Something's Direrent Here... Ce Unkindled Character Concept Backstory, Memory and Drives Backstories Memories Drives Using Your Backstory, Memory, and Drives Origins - Ce Brute - Ce Fencer - Jack of all Trades - Caster Classes - Knight - Mercenary - Assassin - Warrior - Cief - Herald - Cleric - Sorcerer - Pyromancer - Ce Deprived 15 16 17 18 19 20 22 23 24 25 26 28 28 29 29 30 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68 Using Ability Scores Ability Scores and Modieers Advantage and Disadvantage Proeciency Bonus Ability Checks Contests Skills Variants: Skills with Direrent Abilities Passive Checks Position Helping A Companion Group Checks Using Each ability - Strength - Dexterity - Constitution - Intelligence - Wisdom - Charisma Saving Crows Souls, Experience and Levelling Up Adventuring Special Types of Movement Environment Objects Resting, Death and Respawning Conditions Poison Madness Traps Combat Creature Size Actions in Combat Cover Bloodied Conditions Damage Type Mounted Combat Underwater Combat 72 73 74 74 75 76 77 78 78 79 82 82 84 85 86 87 87 88 88 89 90 92 94 95 96 98 100 102 103 106 111 115 117 123 124 125 127 127

5 Chapter VII - Monsters & Antagonists Chapter V - Kindling the Flame Chapter IV - Equipment Chapter VI - The World of Lothric Introduction Beasts Golems and Constructs Demons Denizens of the Darkness Undead Bosses Glossary Character Sheet Index 299 300 316 322 330 348 356 398 403 404 Introduction Running a DARK SOULS Game Didculty Levels Lore and Canon Plot and Goals Building Adventures Locations Cemes Encounters Bosses NPCs Campaigns Boneres and Estus Reells Equipment: Finding it, Winning it, and Buying it Optional Rules: Summoning 237 238 239 240 242 244 246 248 250 252 254 258 261 262 264 Introduction Using this Chapter Cemetery of Ash Firelink Shrine Undead Settlement Cathedral of the Deep Road of SacriCces Catacombs of Carthus Irithyll of the Boreal Valley Irithyll Dungeon Farron Keep Profaned Chapel Anor Londo Lothric Castle Grand Archive Archdragon Peak 267 268 270 272 274 276 278 280 282 284 286 288 290 292 294 296 Introduction Encumbrance Core Equipment Armour Shields - Small Shields - Standard Shields - Greatshields Weapons - Daggers - Straight Swords - Greatswords - Ultra Greatswords - Curved Swords - Curved Greatswords - Crusting Swords - Katanas - Axes - Great Axes - Hammers - Great Hammers - Spears and Pikes - Halberds - Scythes - Whips - Fist and Claws - Bows - Great Bows - Crossbows - Staves - Chimes, Flames and Talismans Rings Souls 149 150 152 158 174 175 178 182 186 188 190 193 196 198 201 202 203 204 206 208 209 212 215 217 218 219 220 222 222 224 226 230 235 For Greg StaCord, and Hidetaka Miyazaki - in thanks for giving us whole worlds to play in. ranks to all who oCered feedback and helped make this game better. Your patience and assistance was invaluable. Download a free DARK SOULS: Ce Roleplaying Game character sheet from our website: www.steamforged.com

6

7 Introduction he world is occluded, choked with fog and darkness. Ce men and women around you, empty husks of what were once breathing, laughing human beings. Ce gods who gave ere to the world merely demiurges, their hubris bringing down the most terrible of aiictions on those lacking their power. And, with the hideous inevitability that life follows death, uglier and more powerful things lumber out of the shadows, lusting after souls, tesh, warmth... anything to ease their existence. Welcome to DARK SOULS: Ce Roleplaying Game! Based on the bestselling video game franchise, this book contains everything you need to play immersive roleplaying games (RPGs) set in the sinister and crumbling world of DARK SOULS. From innovative combat mechanics, endlessly customisable character design, and a host of unique spells and abilities, this book enables players to experience the strange and ethereal atmosphere of this unique world, while crafting their own story of inevitably doomed heroism. Cis chapter orers a brief introduction and overview for those who are familiar with RPGs on their console or computer screen, but have yet to experience them on a tabletop. If you know your way around a set of polyhedral dice, you can fast travel to the next bonere—Chapter One: Character Generation, but keep an eye out for some new rules. Check pages 79 and 124 for rules on Position, and Bloodied conditions, as well as Chapter 3 for a brand new magic system. For those who are new, prepare yourself for a world of inenite adventure, limited only by your imagination and how long your luck might hold...

8

9 Introduction — What is a Roleplaying Game? As with the original DARK SOULS video games, a tabletop roleplaying game involves a player taking on the part of an individual character, guiding them through a ectional world. As they do so, their character will grow and improve, becoming more skilful as they hone their abilities, learn new talents, and gain new weapons and equipment. Where a tabletop roleplaying game dirers from a video game is in the other players around the table; your friends get to play their own characters, with whom you form a band of protagonists, encountering danger and challenges as you attempt to achieve your objectives. Cere is another player at the table, but, unlike everyone else, they aren’t playing an individual. Cey are the Game Master, or GM. While other players concentrate on deciding and describing the actions of their individual, the GM describes everything else going on around them, from the reactions of enemies to the weather above. Ce GM creates and sets the scenes in which the players have their characters act. Cink of the GM as a cross between a elm director, a set designer and all the character-actors and extras needed to make a cinematic masterpiece work. Yes, they are the ones nominally running the show, but it’s all to make sure their stars look good—and your protagonists are the stars. Except, of course, this is DARK SOULS. While you may be the star, you’ll have to be clever, cautious, and skilful to survive. Below is a short illustration of how play can unfold: During each gameplay session the players progress through a story or adventure. Cese can be played individually or as part of a grand, overarching narrative campaign made up of several stories. Cink of adventures as events taking place in an individual dungeon or location, and a campaign as your journey across the entire world. Cis is not to say that playing a single adventure or a campaign is better or worse. Cey’re simply direrent. Playing a single adventure can be an exhilarating ride, where you can push your character to their limits, unconcerned about consequences. A campaign orers something direrent, however, and presents an opportunity to delve deep into the lore and narrative you and the GM have created between you. Your characters can grow, developing new facets to their personalities, and end new perspectives and understanding of the world around them. Ce story can be straightforward or have multiple twists and head in strange directions, wrong-footing both you and the GM! Game Master (GM): So, you’re approaching a series of gnarled, misshapen trees that cast strange shadows on the ground. Ahead, there is a tickering light. What are you doing? Hidetaka: I ready my sword, holding it in two hands and stowing my shield on my back. Cen I slowly creep towards the light. Carli: I follow, my bow at the ready. GM: Excellent. Ce light, through the trees, merely accentuates the sinister shadows creeping around you. Suddenly you are confronted by a clearing, in which three Hollows stumble around the ere. Carli: I ere my bow! GM: Okay, make me an attack roll. Carli (rolling a d20): 5. Plus 2. For a total of 7. Cat’s not going to hit, is it? GM: I’m afraid not. But the thrum of the bow string and the thunk of the arrow striking a tree nearby has attracted the Hollows’ attention. Cey turn toward you, dead eyes gleaming red. Hidetaka: I heft my sword and charge!

10 Introduction — Using the Dice I n the DARK SOULS video game, mechanics like whether you hit or how much damage you intict are handled by your console or computer. In the tabletop game, things are decided by rolling dice. DARK SOULS: Ce Roleplaying Game uses polyhedral dice of various direrent sizes. Dice are always described in shorthand, as “d”, and then the number of facings on the die (i.e. d4 is the die with four faces, d6 is the die with six faces, and so on). Ce only instance where this isn’t the case is a d3. When a rule requires a d3, roll a d6 and halve the result, rounding up. The most common die you’ll roll when making a check or test is the d20. When you roll a d20 you’ll usually roll the die and then add a modieer to the result. Cese modieers are usually taken from the Attributes which deene each character. Cese are Strength (STR); Dexterity (DEX), Constitution (CON), Intelligence (INT), Wisdom (WIS), and Charisma (CHA). Occasionally a rule may also apply other modieers to the result. You might, for example, have used an ability or cast a spell, or be attempting a particularly didcult challenge. Once you have a enal result, it is compared to a target number, or Didculty Class (DC). If the result equals or exceeds this number, the roll passes. If it’s less than the number, the roll failed the check or test. Some dice rolls are made with advantage or disadvantage. When doing so, roll two d20 instead of one. When rolling with advantage, discard the die with the lowest result. When rolling with disadvantage, discard the die with the highest result. Cere are, of course, many direrent rules to retect the strange and deadly events which an adventurer must confront as part of their quest. DARK SOULS is a world beset by fell creatures, saturated in peculiar magics... nothing is simple, nothing is without risk. Other rules, detailed elsewhere in this book, orer a means of simulating the terrifying impact of eldritch sorcery, the secrets of pyromancy and other elements of the DARK SOULS world. Mat’s character, a Knight named Sir Windrunner, is attempting to attack a Hollow Soldier. Ce Hollow Soldier is wearing the armour they bore in their past life, giving them an Armour Class (AC) of 15. Unfortunately, this target number makes the Hollow quite didcult to hit. Sir Windrunner is a skilled combatant, and certainly no stranger to bloodshed. When making an attack check, Sir Windrunner adds a +4 modieer to the result. Sir Windrunner has also been carefully picking his way through the ruins of Lothric Castle, and managed to sneak up on the Hollow. As a result, the GM determines Sir Windrunner has advantage on his attack. Mat rolls two d20, and gets a 3 and a 16! He discards the 3, then adds his +4 modieer to the 16 for a total result of 20. Sir Windrunner easily beats the Hollow Soldier’s AC of 15. It’s a hit! Making an Attack Check D4 D6 D8 D10 Cere’s one dice which might be a little direrent to what you’ve seen before—the d4. After rolling a d4, the result is the number which is upright on all three faces. D12 D20

11 Introduction — Playing DARK SOULS DARK SOULS: Ce Roleplaying Game is direrent from other RPGs. In those games, you might play the hero or the villain, but in either situation, you’re likely to survive, and even prosper. Cere is no such guarantee in this game. Death is a constant presence. It doesn’t matter how strong or well prepared the player characters believe themselves to be; a poorly planned strategy for combat and a bad round of dice and characters can be dead. Yes, they can come back again, but that’s not the point. Ce DARK SOULS franchise is infamous for its didculty; this game is true to that. Ce process of negotiating the DARK SOULS world is one fraught with danger, with blood, with trepidation. Ce GM shouldn’t be afraid of making things didcult for their players, and players shouldn’t be afraid to think tactically, to end new approaches to the lethal foes they face, to seek to outwit and outthink the complexities of the world they face. Ce erst step is to consider who you are in this strange and sinister world, and then create a character. But, should you wish to skip ahead, here’s an overview of what you can end in each chapter. Where next? Character Generation — Rules for creating your own unkindled character, ready to enter the heart of Lothric and undertake the most dangerous of expeditions. Equipment — An exhaustive list of armour, shields, and weapons, enabling you to et out your characters exactly as your wish! Magic — Ce secrets of sorcery are contained herein! Ce spells for the Sorcerer, Cleric, and Pyromancer class are found here, along with rules for how magic works in DARK SOULS: Ce Roleplaying Game. re World of Lothric — Ce key locations of Lothric, ready for you to explore again. Reveal the sinister remains of this once great kingdom like never before! Core Rules — How do you play the game? Cis chapter shows you, taking you through the rules and how your character interacts with the world—and how to survive it! Kindling the Flame — Cis chapter is for the GM. It’s a guide on building authentic games in the DARK SOULS world, and includes additional and optional rules to help capture the brooding strangeness at Lothric’s heart. Monsters & Antagonists — Creatures dwell in the shadows, foul beasts await you, and the living dead pursue you endlessly. Cis chapter is elled with statistics for these foul creatures, and much more. I II III IV V VI VII

12 So Remember… When the link of ere is threatened, the bell tolls, unearthing the old Lords of Cinder from their graves... Aldrich, Saint of the Deep... Farron's Undead Legion, the Abyss Watchers... And the reclusive lord of the Profaned Capital, Yhorm the Giant... Only, in truth... the Lords will abandon their thrones... And the Unkindled will rise. Nameless, accursed Undead, unet even to be cinder. And so it is, that ash seeketh embers. Welcome, friends, to Lothric…

13

14

15 Character Generation ou awake by a bonCre; the rames lick and smear at the darkness, forcing it back. Beyond the circle of light, shadows move. eings stir, watching you, waiting. But, for now, that’s all they do. Who are you? You’re unsure. Something like memory gnaws at the fringes of your mind. Flashes of silver. Screams of the dying. Maybe. But not now… this was before. Long before. What matters is: who are you now? Generating a character is straightforward and extremely quick, allowing you to get exploring the ruined kingdom of Lothric as soon as possible. ee character generation process has Cve simple steps, detailed on the following pages. All you need to do is follow them, Clling in your character sheet as you go. If you’re concerned this is too simple, don’t worry. As you play, there will be plenty of opportunity to customise your character, tweaking them so they suit your vision and play style; as your character gains skills, abilities, and equipment, there will be a plethora of methods to make your character feel truly unique.

16 1 2 3 4 5 Character Generation Process Decide on a concept for your character Choose/Randomly determine your Memory, Backstory, and Drive Select your Origin — this gives you your attribute scores, and modiCers Select your Class — this gives you your skills, class abilities, and starting equipment Get Playing!

17 Character Generation — Something’s Different Here… I f you’re familiar with the world’s Crst RPG, you might notice a few things missing from Character Generation. ee Crst, and perhaps most substantial of these, is the option to choose a heritage (or race). In DARK SOULS: Ce Roleplaying Game you are all Unkindled. You possess vague memories of your home, of where you come from, but little in the way of solid information. It’s all fragments. You might care about who you were, you might not. But it doesn’t deCne you. In the same way, there are no alignments in this game, either for your characters or for the monsters you must face. DARK SOULS is a world of moral ambiguity, and of moral strangeness. Are the Unkindled good, as they hack their way through endless enemies, to relight a rame? Is the world not better dead? Does Yhorm deserve to die? For all its magic, and its mystery, the world of Lothric is intensely human, and human decisions can’t be neatly divided into nine categories. We’ve also omitted languages. In DARK SOULS, creatures can either speak or not. ee Unkindled utters not a word throughout the entirety of DARK SOULS III. Your character can speak, of course, but choosing diderent languages isn’t important. If you meet a creature able to speak, you can speak to it. If it can understand speech, it can understand you. We've also added things. Instead of hit points, there's Position. Position measures both your stamina, your cunning, and your health. It can also be spent, enabling characters to utilise their special features and abilities. For more on Position, and other special rules, including the Bloodied condition, see Chapter 2, pages 79-124.

18 Character Generation — The Unkindled You are Unkindled. All player characters in DARK SOULS: Ce Roleplaying Game are. You were dead. Long consigned to the grave. And now… now you’re not. You don’t know how or why. But you’ve been raised from the dead. eis is far from unique. ee kingdom of Lothric, and beyond, is swarming with the mindless, rapacious undead. You’re diderent, though. You possess a sense of self, a mind. You know who you are, what you are. eere’s little memory, perhaps, but you recollect parts of your past life. You know what you once were, if not who. And there’s one more thing; you don’t seem to be able to die a second time. Go ahead, try… You just awaken, once again, next to a bonCre. ee essence of life sparked once more in your chest. Weary, bone-weary, you drag yourself to your feet and prepare to begin again. But why? What has made you as you are? What forces you, time and time again, raise yourself up from beside these burning cinders, and heft your weapons? eat doesn’t matter. All that matters is what you choose to believe. This section helps you begin to conceive your character, to create someone perfectly suited both to the world of DARK SOULS: Ce Roleplaying Game, and to the ideas you have in your head. First od, we’ll discuss constructing a clear character concept, and then we’ll begin to resh this out a little more. One way is to choose your own backstory; the other is to determine the memories you retain from your past lives—both are invaluable methods of making your DARK SOULS character that little bit more your own. ee last, and perhaps most important step, in creating a character concept is your character’s drive. Why do they continue to drag themselves up each time they die? What is it that forces them onwards, against the hordes of the undead, the cruel talons of the demons? What do they seek, what’s their quest? We’ll know, soon enough.

19 Character Generation — Character Concept Your character is how you interact with the world of DARK SOULS. As you wander its abandoned corridors or plunge into the remnants of once-magniCcent palaces, you explain their actions to the GM, and detail their responses as the GM confronts you with some ancient grotesquerie. But who are they? In the DARK SOULS video games, you learn of your character’s past as you experience their adventures. eat’s true, to some extent, in DARK SOULS: Ce Roleplaying Game too. ee emergent nature of tabletop roleplaying games, however, means things don’t always happen as expected. With this in mind, coming up with a clear concept for your character helps both you envision who your character is, and helps the GM come up with possible quests for them to go on. A character concept doesn’t have to feature huge amounts of detail, or be fully reshed out. Just a single key idea, or feature, is usually enough. What do you want your character to be good at? How do they Ct into the world of Lothric? What do they want to achieve? eis gives both you and the GM a clear idea of what makes your character tick; what makes them unique. Knowing what you want your strengths and weaknesses to be assists you in choosing your Origin, and your Class. But it can also aid you in thinking about who your Unkindled is, as a person. ee Unkindled aren’t entirely blank. eey aren’t hollows. Each of them possesses a personality, a character that seeps through in their every action. eis leads us to the Cnal element. What does your character wish to achieve? Is it to become a Lord of Cinder? Is it to free the Unkindled from the cycle of life and death and rebirth? Or is it simply to be left alone, to be allowed to drift od, slowly, and peacefully, into death? eis Cnal decision helps when determining your backstory, and the memories you possess from your previous lives. If your Unkindled is tired of this life, why? Did their grand failure, deep in the past, break them for all time? Or did they never intend to bring the curse of undeath on themselves? Use these prompts to help you begin creating an original character, unique to you, but perfectly suited to the grim, oppressive darkness of Lothric.

20 Character Generation — Backstory, Memories, and Drives The actions of Gwyn, Lord of Cinder, brought the curse upon the world. In exchange for prolonging the Age of Light, he sacriCced himself and all who worshipped him. ee selCsh actions of a man who power had fundamentally corrupted? Or the Cnal act of a man who put the survival of the world beyond himself? It does not matter to you. All you truly know is that you bore the mark, the Dark Sign, and were despised for it. And, Cnally, when the end came – whether at the edge of a blade, or in the feverish grip of a disease – you awoke. You were still you. More or less. You possessed most of your memories, maybe. Or maybe you had none of them. But you had a mind; you could think. You still can. ee curse returned you from the darkness of death to the pallid gleam of life. But you cannot truly say which you preferred. Being Chosen Those who do live in the world, as opposed to unlive, sometimes find themselves chosen, or driven by their own inner desires, to travel beyond the settlements of their birth, to venture into the landscape and to find adventure. ee same is true of you, the dead, the Unkindled. Sometimes, upon awakening, you recognise that you have changed. Not in the slow, corrosive way you are always semiconscious of, but in some other sense... you have been called by powers greater and stranger than yourself. For some who awake, their quest is to either prolong the Age of Fire or end it. Others pursue other goals, more cryptic requirements which the gods and those other beings of great power inhabiting this cruel and blighted world place upon them. You have had such a geas laid upon you. Your only choice is to follow it. It is the nature of such things. The Weight of Memory Who are you? What do you remember of your old life? Only you can tell, truly. So much of you might have been lost, so much might have been taken by the insinuating grip of the grave. Or perhaps you recall everything that was your life before you awoke. It is rare, but it is possible. What kind of person were you before the Curse claimed you? Were you a devoted family man or a ruthless butcher? A kind, caring woman with many friends or the dead-eyed executor of contracts taken out on those who angered the wealthy? What do the living who once knew you say upon seeing your face, now withering, but still, unmistakeably, you? And do you even know them at all? All of these questions can be answered in play but determining a few elements ahead of time is a worthwhile part of character generation. It allows you to more fully deCne your Unkindled, and it aids the GM in creating adventures. eere shouldn’t be too much detail, of course. eis is DARK SOULS: Ce Roleplaying Game. It’s deliberately intended to be vague, strange, opaque. Hints, rumours, fragments… these are the foundations of the world.

21

22 1 8 2 9 3 10 15 4 11 16 5 12 17 6 13 18 20 7 14 19 You sought to become a great lord of Lothric, by any means. You failed. You’re a lowly murderer, hanged in ages past and forgotten about. You were a poet, writing the tales of knights and damsels, singing them to court. You lived by your wits, a gambler, a drunkard, a sot. None liked you, but you didn’t care. Physicians cure the sick, bring life to the dying. You sought to heal, but what purpose your craft in this world where undeath touches everything? You raised a family, tilled the Celds, cultivated crops. Until the darkness came. eere’s always been a need for graves. You dug them, hauled the corpses to them, and Clled them in again. You were a bandit; hiding in the hills and raiding villages when you got the chance. An apprentice to a sorcerer—you sought the mysteries of the beyond, in books and teachings. Maybe you found them. An alchemist was what they called you. All you cared for was the perfect combination of substances, achieving the ideal edect. You preached the message to the faithful; gathering your rock, and reassuring them of salvation. Did you believe any of it? You were a brutal master, working your servants to death. Can you ever be redeemed? A knight. You’re certain. One of those who rode steeds and sought quests to prove your virtue. DeCnitely. eat was you. A thief. Nothing more, and nothing less. You stole the earnings of any you could. A great warrior. You were beloved by many for your deeds. And loathed by many more. You were a sage, constantly trying to unpick the hidden history of the Lords of Cinder. You didn’t get very far. Dungeons need warders, keeping their prisoners safely incarcerated, no matter what their sin might be. You were keeper of the keys. All the ancient knights of Lothric needed squires. You were one, tending to their weapons and armour, waiting your chance to become a knight yourself. A killer for hire is an ugly name, for an ugly job. But it was your ugly job, and you were good at it. You were an archivist, preserving the fragments of ancient wisdom that survived the ages. If only you could recall any of it. So… who was your character before they awoke by the bonCre? What had they done, what did they seek to escape? ee following table contains several possibilities. You can randomly choose one by rolling a d20, select the one you like most, or use them as inspiration for crafting your own. Backstories Character Creation —

23 1 8 2 9 3 10 15 4 11 16 5 12 17 6 13 18 20 7 14 19 A man stands over you with a bloody knife, laughing. Laughing and laughing. ee scent of earth in your nose, as it fell onto your face. Were you buried alive? ee grasping, clawing hands of hollows everywhere. ee screams and chaos of a bandit raid, running, arrows rickering past you… Horses’ hooves, trampling down on you, imperiously. ee beating of wings, and the sudden darkening of the sky. Applause. A crowd, gathered to watch you die, and were pleased as you did. Touching that treasure chest. ee roughness of a rope around your neck, the stiring interior of a hemp sack over your head, the feeling of nothing beneath your feet for a moment. Someone shouting in your face, and a punch. No worse than you’d received before but this time… A thud. A second thud. No pain. Not initially. And then you glanced down to see arrows, protruding from your chest. You knew you shouldn’t have read those words aloud. A pain in your chest. Searing, your left arm aching and useless. ee roar of something… something vast… behind you. A roaring explosion, sudden blazing heat, spray of stone, and then darkness. ee feel of foetid breath on your neck. Joyful smiles on the faces of people you love, becoming rictuses of agony. Watching as the rock beneath your hands suddenly gave way How hard breathing had become. How you weren’t sure where your neck ended, and your body began. A rame blossoming into life somewhere ahead of you, rickering in the dark. How much do you remember of your past life? What remains in your mind, not stripped from you as the possibility of true death was stripped from you? ee following table contains possible last memories your Unkindled might possess, lodged ineradicably in their minds. ee Unkindled tend to remember little of their lives before, though it is seldom entirely stripped from their recollection. Some remember everything, every last moment of their lives before. As with determining your backstory, you can randomly determine a last memory, choose one which Cts your concept, or use those below to inspire your own creation. Memories Character Creation —

24 1 8 2 9 3 10 15 4 11 16 5 12 17 6 13 18 20 7 14 19 To become a Lord of Cinder – no matter the cost to you, or the world. To return the sun to this stygian world. To know everything. Everything. No matter how obscure. To correct the mistakes of the Cinder Lords. To Cnally erase the mark of the Unkindled from your resh. To save the world. Whatever is left of it. To become the greatest warrior ever known. To see Lothric, once again, Clled with life. To rediscover yourself. Whoever you were, you want to know. To one day, return home, to see the place of your birth one last time. To discover the lost tome, containing the true history of the world. To heal this blasted world, and make it anew. To achieve redemption; you know the darkness in your past lives. Perhaps you can cleanse yourself. To become the sorcerer you know you should be. Powerful beyond compare. Simply to die. Finally, completely. To restore the Crst rame to life. To bring the faith of the gods to the sheltered and lost. To destroy all who would stand before you, no matter who or what they might be. To consign the undead, including yourself, once more to the grave. To extinguish the Crst rame forever. You are dead, but not quite. You’re alive, but not truly. ee Unkindled are an anomaly. Some believe them to be the only means of saving Lothric, and the world, from the everencroaching darkness. Others insist you are abomination, the cause of the sudering slowly drowning the world. Amid this onslaught of theology, of praise, and hatred, you pick up your sword or your talisman. But why? What drives you on? Why, when you are sure to suder so much pain, and rejection, do you gather your memories each time you awaken beside the bonCre, and try, once more to bring light into the darkness? Use the following table to randomly generate a drive, choose one which suits your character concept, or inspire one of your own! Drives Character Creation —

25 Invoking your memory Allows you to roll with advantage on one check of your choice. Invoking your backstory Allows you to roll with advantage on one saving throw of your choice. Invoking your drive Allows you to reroll one failed check or saving throw of any kind. Character Generation — Using Your Backstory, Memory, and Drives These elements of your character aren’t simply to resh out your Unkindled. eey also serve an important mechanical function, enabling your character to push beyond their limitations, to strive to keep going against apparently impossible odds. eis is called ‘invoking’ and is a way of both developing your character and bringing that character to the tabletop. When you face a situation, you can describe a way in which an element of your backstory, your memory, or your drive, assists you in dealing with the challenge ahead. For example, when searching through the Grand Archive (see page 294) for a speciCc book, a character with the drive ‘to discover the lost tome, containing the true history of the world’ might explain to the GM they wish to draw on this drive to make them focus harder, search more diligently, and push past any tiredness. Whether or not your invocation is up to the GM. eey are the Cnal arbiter of whether you can invoke your character element in this way or not. Each of the diderent character elements can be invoked to achieve a speciCc mechanical beneCt. When using your backstory or memory, you must invoke them before making your roll. Only when invoking your drive can you do so after you’ve made a check or saving throw. Once per long rest, you may invoke each of these character elements to gain a speciCc mechanical beneCt. Being creative and Cnding interesting ways of utilising these character elements is actively encouraged; add additional details to further justify your choices, elaborate on what happened, gradually unfurl your backstory as you Cnd new ways of using it. ee only things to remember are that the GM must agree to your invocation, and you must directly cite your character element— that is, it must form a key part of your invocation.

26 There are four Origins; these determine your initial stats and give you an idea of the kind of classes you’re most likely to excel at. If you have a particular kind of character concept in your head, choose the Origin which best suits that concept. So, for instance, if you intend to be a belligerent knight, hacking through hollows and refusing to accept the dying of the rame, then you should probably choose the Brute. If, instead, you want to draw on your faith, and use prayer to drive out the darkness, then selecting the Caster origin might be a better option. eere are no restrictions on choosing a class, however. If you wish to select the Fencer origin, and then choose to be a Pyromancer—that’s Cne. Your character is your character; build them entirely as you wish. Each overview gives you your base statistics and modiCers, plus your Position dice. eis determines your base Position and tells you your Position dice—the dice you’ll be rolling when determining your Position pool for combat (for more on this, see page 79). It also tells you your Bloodied ability (for more on being bloodied, see page 124). Character Generation — Origins

27

28 The Brute The Fencer Big, strong, obdurate. You’re used to enduring pain, and continuing to push on, push forward, push through. eere’s nothing out there, no creature lurking in the darkness, you’re unable to defeat. ee strength of your sword arm is all that matters. Constantly moving, your blade a rowing line of silver, you’re a deadly combatant. You are the master of the blade, of the parry and riposte, of the forms of war. eere is nothing you know, and love, more than the relentless surge of battle. You’re always ready to duel, and no foe is too large, or too deadly, for you. Brutes are good at: Fencers are good at: 1d10 per level 10 + your Constitution modiCer 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution ModiCer + Brute level after 1st 1d8 per fencer level 8 + your Constitution modiCer 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution ModiCer + Fencer level after 1st Brute Position Fencer Position Brute Base Statistics Fencer Base Statistics Bloodied Effects Bloodied Effects During combat, when reduced to 50% of their starting Position pool, a brute gains the following beneCts: During combat, when reduced to 50% of their starting Position pool, a fencer gains the following beneCts: Position Dice: Position at 1st Level: Position at Higher Levels: Position Dice: Position at 1st Level: Position at Higher Levels: Taking damage; you can protect your party, drawing the enemy’s ire. Dealing out pain; you’re strong and deadly. With the right weapon, you’re unstoppable. You make an excellent Knight, Mercenary, or Warrior. Dealing damage; you’re talented with multiple weapons, and you’re a formidable opponent. Keeping out of harm’s way; you’re swift, and able to dodge even the most accurate of blows. You make an excellent Assassin, eief, and Herald. eey may add an additional +3 to their AC. eey gain advantage on all Strength-related checks and saving throws. eey reduce all damage they take by 2 points. eey may add an additional +2 to their Dexterity. eey make one additional reaction on their turn. eey reduce all melee-weapon position spend costs by 1. 15 (+2) 12 (+1) 10 (+0) 15 (+2) 14 (+2) 14 (+2) 10 (-1) 13 (+1) 12 (+1) 10 (+0) STR DEX CON INT WIS STR DEX CON INT WIS 13 (+1) 10 (-1) Base Speed: 30 feet. Base Speed: 30 feet. CHA CHA

29 The Jack of all Trades The Caster You’re skilled at whatever you turn your hand to. You might not be the Cnest Cghter, but you’re more than capable of gutting a demon if given the chance. You might not be the most scholarly of people, but you can make your prayers heard, or your spells work. You’re capable of anything, and those who underestimate you end up regretting it. Wreathed in mystical powers, you draw on the powers of the beyond, shaping it, and using it to cast powerful spells at the blighted creatures you encounter. Your ability to wield the deadliest of magical powers makes you feared; the rame you conjure in your hand, or the bolt of lightning called up from nothing, all are weapons… weapons capable of obliterating the staunchest of foes. Jack of all Trades are good at: Casters are good at: 1d8 per Jack level 8 + your Constitution modiCer 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution ModiCer + Jack of all Trades level after 1st 1d6 per Caster level 6 + your Constitution modiCer 1d6 (or 4) + your Constitution ModiCer + Caster level after 1st Jack of all Trades Position Caster Position Jack of all Trades Base Statistics Caster Base Statistics Bloodied Effects Bloodied Effects During combat, when reduced to 50% of their starting Position pool, a jack of all trades gains the following beneCts: During combat, when reduced to 50% of their starting Position pool, a caster gains the following beneCts: Position Dice: Position at 1st Level: Position at Higher Levels: Position Dice: Position at 1st Level: Position at Higher Levels: Everything. You’re capable of turning your hand to any task, no matter what it might be. Supporting your party, by always having the right skill at the right time. You make an excellent Herald, Cleric, Warrior… you name it, you can do it. And do it well. Exploiting an enemy’s weakness: your spells are great at dealing targeted damage. Hitting at range: you can stay away from the enemy’s melee attacks, keeping up your attacks at distance. You make an excellent Cleric, Pyromancer, and Sorcerer. eey may add an additional +2 to their Wisdom, and to their AC. Gain advantage on all saving throws against magical attacks and edects. Remove any one negative condition of their choice. eey may add +2 to their Intelligence and Charisma, and to their AC. eey may use the special ability of an equipped weapon without spending Position. While bloodied, a caster does not trigger any attacks of opportunity. 13 (+1) 10 (+0) 13 (+1) 12 (+1) 12 (+1) 10 (+0) 12 (+1) 14 (+2) 13 (+1) 13 (+2) STR DEX CON INT WIS STR DEX CON INT WIS 12 (+1) 15 (+2) Base Speed: 30 feet. Base Speed: 30 feet. CHA CHA

30 Character Generation — Classes The Unkindled are more than simply random corpses. Most possessed professions, skills, remarkable gifts. Whatever drew them back from the realm of death did so for a reason; the reason may well be their class. Class is an essential component in creating your character in DARK SOULS: Ce Roleplaying Game. It’s an indication of what you can do, of the martial, mental, and magical gifts you possess. You might be a Mercenary—a hardy warrior, used to dealing with the wilderness—or you might be a eief—skilled at taking that which does not belong to them, and with a longbow. A class also tells you whether you possess magical powers—capable of conjuring Cre from the air, like a Pyromancer, or invoking the blessings of your gods, like the Cleric. In the following section are listed the core ten classes you can choose as part of your character creation. You are clad in armour, a sword strapped at your side, and a shield in your Cst. Your memories, scant though they are, recall the feel of joy as you charged into battle, arrows rattling against your mail and plate. ee bonCre’s sickly light traces the tarnished gleam of steel, and you know what you were. A Knight. You were one of the Knights of Lothric…

31 A Note on Position A lot of the class features and abilities detailed below mention Position, and spending Position. eis is a new mechanic developed for DARK SOULS: Ce Roleplaying Game. It’s both a measure of your health, stamina, and vitality, and a resource you can spend and replenish, allowing you to perform amazing combat manoeuvres, and make use of devastating battle abilities. You can read more about Position, how it is calculated, and how you can spend it, on page 79. A resolute warrior, well-armoured and devoted to their cause. Knight Herald A stout warrior, determined to protect themselves and their friends, and a wielder of miracles. A canny, cunning warrior who uses two swords to cut down enemies. Mercenary Cleric A faithful follower of the gods, and a channel for their divine power on earth. A killer from the shadows, appearing when least expected to Cnish their enemy. Assassin Sorcerer A learned scholar, whose power is derived from years of studying magical tomes. A brutal, indomitable northern Cghter, driven to berserk fury. Warrior Pyromancer A wielder of magical Cre, and not too shabby with an axe, either. A master of the bow, and a purloiner of objects that don’t belong to them. Cief Ce Deprived An unfortunate soul, or an idiot. No one is entirely sure which. Strength Strength & Charisma Dexterity Wisdom Dexterity Intelligence Strength Charisma Dexterity One of your choice Strength & Constitution Wisdom & Charisma Strength & Dexterity Wisdom & Charisma Strength & Dexterity Intelligence & Wisdom Strength & Constitution Constitution & Charisma Dexterity & Intelligence Two of your choice All armour, shields & weapons, as long as prerequisites met All armour, shields & weapons, as long as prerequisites met All armour, shields & weapons, as long as prerequisites met All armour, shields & weapons, as long as prerequisites met All armour, shields & weapons, as long as prerequisites met All armour, shields & weapons, as long as prerequisites met All armour, shields & weapons, as long as prerequisites met All armour, shields & weapons, as long as prerequisites met All armour, shields & weapons, as long as prerequisites met All armour, shields & weapons, as long as prerequisites met Armour and Weapon Prorciencies Saving Crows and Prorciencies Class Description Primary Ability

32 There are many who follow the way of the sword. Of course there are. eere must be. How else can you survive this world? But your choice to take up the blade is not in pursuit of money or survival, but of honour, righteousness, justice. Or so some believe. It may be that you uphold diderent values, perhaps carrying a taint of darkness in your soul. But what matters is that you represent something. You are a Knight. Clad in your armour, your blade at your side, your shield ever before you, you are something other than a well-trained killer. You are a champion. Knight Prorciency Bonus +2 +3 +5 +2 +3 +5 +2 +4 +5 +2 +4 +6 +3 +4 +6 +3 +4 +6 +5 +6 Level 1 9 5 13 20 2 10 6 14 15 3 11 7 16 17 4 12 8 18 19 Class Features Fighting Style, Second Wind Second Fighting Style Extra Attack Blessing of Oblivion Action Surge (Two uses) Unbreakable Extra Attack Remorseless Improved Unbreakable Ability Score Increase Action Surge Riposte Cursed Memory Improved Critical Between the Endless Rain Improved Critical, Ability Score Increase Grim Reputation Ability Score Increase Ability Score Increase Walking Citadel, Extra Attack

33 Proficiencies Equipment Noble Birth There are many noble families in the great cities of the world. Not all of them are wealthy. Not all of them are very noble, but they give you a name. It is the name which enables you to be a Knight. You are a scion of an old family and you owe at least some of your training to that. Perhaps you have long forgotten your name, and with it the memories of who you once were and where your family lived. It doesn’t matter. Others recognize it instantly. ee romantic might call it an air of nobility. Perhaps. Questing Knights are those men and women who have chosen to pursue something over and above their own needs. eey pursue quests to help those who require help, to Cnd what needs to be found, to save that which needs to be saved. Even those Knights who have dedicated themselves to something other than the selress protection of life require a quest—require something to dedicate themselves towards. Sometimes this can simply be slaughter, but, at other times, it is the search for a lost child, the return of a tome of ancient lore to the scholar it was Clched from, or the preservation of the Flame that ensures civilisation continues and is not consumed by the Age of Dark. ee Knight must be prepared for anything, for any task and any challenge. eey must be ready to overcome mortal challenges whenever they present themselves. It is not an easy life, but then who, in this world, possesses one of those? Armour: Weapons: Saving Crows: Skills: All armour and shields as long as prerequisites met. All weapons, as long as prerequisites met Strength, Constitution Choose two skills from Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, and Survival You start with the following equipment: An Estus Flask (page 154) Long Sword (page 192) Knight Shield (page 179) Knight Armour (Page 167)

34 Fighting Style You are a specialist in a particular Cghting style, your abilities well practiced and capable of inricting death on even the most dangerous of foes. Choose one of the following options (if selecting a Second Fighting Style, you may not choose one that you already have): Archery: Your bow is a part of you. It responds to your touch with deadly eiciency. You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls made with ranged weapons, and a +2 bonus to all attack rolls made with a greatbow. Defence: Stalwart in the face of all enemies, nothing daunts you and little hurts you. While you are wearing armour, gain +1 bonus AC. Evasive: Your specialty is in the use of exceptional rerexes to avoid harm. You suder no DEX penalties for wearing armour, irrespective of the armour’s weight, when making a Dexterity roll as part of a Dodge action (see page 118). Great Weapon Fighting: When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if it is a 1 or a 2. ee weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property. Protection: When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose Disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield Withdrawal: You are an expert of tactical retreat, leading your enemy into more advantageous terrain for you to strike from. You are immune to all Crst attacks of opportunity (e.g.: if you retreat within range of two enemies capable of making attacks of opportunity, the Crst enemy cannot make one. ee second, however, can). Second Wind You have a limited well of stamina that can be drawn upon to protect yourself from harm. On your turn you can use a bonus action to regain Position equal to 1d10+your Knight level. Once this feature has been used you must either Short or Long rest to regain it. Unbreakable Starting at 3rd level, you may reroll one Strength check (see page 75), or Strength save, and choose the best result. Once this feature has been used you must complete a Short or Long rest to regain it. Action Surge Starting at 2nd level, you can push yourself beyond your normal limits for a moment. On your turn, you can take one additional action on top of your regular action and a possible bonus action. Once you use this feature, you must Cnish a Short or Long rest before you can use it again. Starting at 17th level, you can use it twice before a rest, but only once on the same turn. Improved Critical At 4th level, your weapon attacks score critical hits on a roll of 19 or 20. At 14th level, this improves again so your weapon attacks score critical hits on a roll of 18, 19, or 20.

35 Blessings of Oblivion At 13th level, the powers of magic are not as edective when used against you. You gain +1 to all saving throws made against magic and magical edects. You may also spend Position to reduce damage from spell attacks, up to a total of 2 Position to cancel 5 points of damage. Ability Score Increase When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. Extra Attack Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. ee number of attacks increases to three when you reach 11th level in this class and to four when you reach 20th level in this class. Improved Unbreakable At 15th level, in addition, you may choose to spend 5 Position to automatically succeed on any Strength check or saving throw. You may use this ability as often as you choose. Between the Endless Rain By 18th level, you have become as elusive and hard to hit as drifting smoke. You gain +1 to DEX and +1 to AC permanently. Remorseless At 7th level, if you rolled a Critical Attack in your previous turn, the Crst successful attack of your next turn deals an additional +1d8 damage Cursed Memory When you reach 6th level, you may, at the start of combat, nominate one foe. For some reason, an old memory stirs; you’ve faced such a foe before and defeated it. Until that foe is killed, all attacks you make against it may be made with Advantage by spending 2 Position. Once this feature has been used you must either Short or Long rest to regain it. Riposte At 10th level, whenever a creature misses you with a melee attack, you may use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the creature. You may use this ability multiple times per turn, spending 2 Position the second time you use it, and spending 3 Position the third time, and so on, to a maximum of 5 Position. Grim Reputation At 12th level, your reputation as an Unkindled of formidable strength precedes you. At the beginning of combat, you may nominate one creature. ee Crst time that creature attempts to attack you, it must succeed on a Wisdom save with a DC equal to 12 + your Charisma modiCer. If the creature fails, it is frightened of you until it passes a subsequent Wisdom check. Once this feature has been used you must either Short or Long rest to regain it Walking Citadel At 20th level, your defence is virtually impregnable, capable of withstanding even the most brutal of attacks. You become resistant to two types of damage of your choice. eis can be combined with resistant edects from armour but does not stack (e.g.: if you are resistant to bludgeoning damage, and wear armour with resistance to bludgeoning damage, you do not become immune).

36 To some it's a dirty word. A curse. You’ve had it hissed at you, interspersed between other, even fouler terms. Mercenary. Sellsword. Brigand. You wonder if they think it really hurts you, as you pass through their ruined towns and gloom-shrouded, your blades at your side, your armour at your back... or maybe they think it’s the only way they can hurt you. eey are wrong about that too. You’ve lived through far worse. Well, maybe lived isn’t always the right term, but it’s a good enough approximation for now. Sometimes you remember how you came to this life. Sometimes you don’t. It doesn’t really matter - it’s what you are. You can feel it in your bones, in the meat surrounding them. In that wasted thing you sometimes, laughingly, call a soul. If it’s still there, of course, clinging to you. Because you know you’ve done terrible things to survive this long, to have emerged intact when so many of those who fought and killed beside you are just mindless hollows...or scintillas of sand trapped beneath your Cngernails. You’ve done terrible things, but that doesn’t matter. Neither does that they whisper behind their hands. You are still here. So are your swords. eat’s enough. Mercenary Prorciency Bonus +2 +3 +5 +2 +3 +5 +2 +4 +5 +2 +4 +6 +3 +4 +6 +3 +4 +6 +5 +6 Level 1 9 5 13 20 2 10 6 14 15 3 11 7 16 17 4 12 8 18 19 Class Features Favoured Enemy; Strike Fast Extra Attack Extra Attack Extra Attack Favoured Enemy Improvement Blooded Spinning Slaughter Favoured Enemy Improvement Stand Against the Tide Foe Slayer Fighting Style Multiattack Defence Flurry of Blades Uncanny Dodge Extra Attack Ability Score Increase Ability Score Increase Ability Score Increase Ability Score Increase Death Blows

37 Proficiencies Equipment Path of the Curving Blade You’re a killer, and a good one. But you aren’t like those knights, tramping through mud and across stone in their armour. You’re light on your feet, quick to move and you wield twin blades. Each attack you make is a glittering Cligree of woven steel and air. Your defence is the same; deft, sinuous, deadly. It took long years of training to achieve such mastery, and it requires concentration and energy to achieve even now, but it makes you diicult to anticipate, hard to stop. You can’t quite remember how you became so proCcient in such a style; there are vague recollections of sea travel. Of another land. But all such things have faded to be replaced by the world in front of you... vast, bleak and forever doomed. Survivor Life as a mercenary was always diicult and few of the places you have visited in your travels were ever intact. You’ve become adept at living od little, hunting the strange creatures of the world and harvesting what little nutrition you can from them, or digging up the roots and the twisted foliage that has sprouted in the parched earth. You wring life from the little that remains. eis is one of your gifts; the capacity to make the world oder up sustenance. It has ensured that you have continued to survive, no matter how diicult the world you must make your way through has made it. Of course, certain of those you have met have not needed to eat. But some of them do anyway. Death shouldn’t prevent you from doing something you enjoy, after all. Armour: Weapons: Saving Crows: Skills: All armour and shields as long as prerequisites met. All weapons, as long as prerequisites met Strength, Dexterity Choose three from Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival You start with the following equipment: An Estus Flask (page 154) Sellsword Twinblades (page 200) Wooden Shield (page 182) Sellsword Armour (page 171)

38 Favoured Enemy Beginning at 1st level, you have signiCcant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and destroying a certain type of enemy. Choose a type of favoured enemy: aberrations, beasts, constructs, demons, elementals, giants, monstrosities, or undead. You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favoured enemies, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them. You choose one additional favoured enemy, at 7th and 17th level. As you gain levels, your choices should rerect the types of monsters you have encountered on your adventures. Fighting Style At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of Cghting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. Archery You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons. Duelling When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon. Two-Weapon Fighting When you engage in two-weapon Cghting, you can add your ability modiCer to the damage of the second attack. Blooded At 3rd level, you have an incredible capacity to endure pain and hardship. When you would suder damage which would reduce you to 0 Position, you may choose to ignore it. You regain use of this feature after either a Short or Long rest. Ability Score Increase When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. Flurry of Blades At 6th level, you gain the ability to spend 2 points of Position to add an additional 2d6 damage to one damage roll after a successful melee attack. You roll these additional dice with your normal damage dice. You may only use this ability once per combat encounter. Strike Fast At 1st level, you’re always prepared for combat. You may reroll Initiative and choose which of the two scores to take. You regain use of this feature after either a Short or Long rest. Extra Attack Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. ee number of attacks increases to three when you reach 9th level in this class, to four when you reach 13th level in this class, and to Cve when you reach 18th.

39 Spinning Slaughter At 11th level, you gain the ability to trigger a Critical hit edect on a single attack, by spending 3 points of Position. You regain use of this ability after a Long rest. Uncanny Dodge At 14th level, when an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you may spend 1 Position to use your reaction to halve the attack’s damage against you. Turn the Tide At 15th level, when a hostile creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to repeat the same attack against another creature (other than itself ) of your choice. eis attack must follow all the normal rules for the attack—the new target must be within range, for example. Foe Slayer At 19th level, you’ve become a Cghter capable of driving back even the deadliest of foes. Once per turn, you can add your Wisdom modiCer to the attack roll or the damage roll of an attack you make against one of your favoured enemies. You can choose to use this feature before or after the roll, but before any edects of the roll are applied. Death Blows At 20th level, you can combine your experience, and training, into a series of devastating attacks on a single creature of your choice. Once per Long rest, you may nominate a creature you're in combat with. You may spend Position to increase your damage rolls by d20, against that creature, at a cost of 3 Position per additional d20 of damage, until that creature is dead or until 10 minutes has elapsed. Multiattack Defence At 10th level, once per turn you may choose to use one of your reaction to gain an additional +4 bonus to AC against all attacks you suder that turn. For each additional attack you are the intended target of after the Crst, you may spend 2 Position per attack to increase your AC by an additional +2. You cannot have a bonus higher than +10 at any point. eis bonus ends at the start of the next turn. You regain this ability after a Short or Long rest.

40 You’re a killer. Nothing more, nothing less. You aren’t interested in codes of honour; you don’t care for the comradeship of mercenary bands. You care only for the thrust of the blade, the silence of the dead, and the welcoming embrace of the darkness as you sneak away. eat’s the nature of your trade. And it is a trade. You are a creature of the darkness; you may be Unkindled, but you feel the dark ever at your side, pressing in, surrounding you. Part of you loathes such closeness to the creeping shadow. Part of you covets it. Knowing it makes you ever more deadly. Assassin Prorciency Bonus Sneak Attack +2 1d6 +3 4d6 +5 7d6 +2 1d6 +3 4d6 +5 8d6 +2 2d6 +4 5d6 +5 8d6 +2 2d6 +4 5d6 +6 9d6 +3 3d6 +4 6d6 +6 9d6 +3 3d6 +4 6d6 +6 10d6 +5 7d6 +6 10d6 Level 1 9 5 13 20 2 10 6 14 15 3 11 7 16 17 4 12 8 18 19 Class Features Expertise, Sneak Attack Plunging Attack Extra Attack Knife in the Sleeve Improved Plunging Attack Assassinate Reliable Talent Evasion Slippery Mind Stroke of Luck Dive & Roll Lonely Pilgrim Slayer of the Elect; Expertise Extra Attack Elusive Ability Score Increase Ability Score Increase Ability Score Increase Ability Score Increase Death’s Friend

41 Proficiencies Equipment Strike First. Strike Last. Nothing matters beyond Cnishing your target. eat is the secret of the assassin. You are trained to home in on a single enemy, bringing them down however you can, as brutally as needed. You are used to working alone, but you can bring your skills to bear in a group. Indeed, sometimes the distraction is useful. eose you call friends—or, at least, colleagues—can attract your target’s attention, while you sneak in to deliver the Cnishing blow, safely concealed in the shadows. Hidden Order Where did you learn your deadly skills? Were you taught in the gloom-sodden streets of Lothric, or trained in the strange locales most only dream of? Places where the sun still shines, perhaps? Who knows? It’s unlikely you even remember. You remember how to use a blade, though. You remember that, and that’s all that truly matters. As an assassin, you are there to hit hard, and vanish. You’re a constantly moving, constantly shifting target— and, when you get in close enough, capable of delivering the most brutal of attacks. Armour: Weapons: Saving Crows: Skills: All armour and shields as long as prerequisites met. All weapons, as long as prerequisites met Dexterity, Intelligence Choose four from Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth You start with the following equipment: An Estus Flask (page 154) Estoc (page 202) Target Shield (page 177) Assassin’s Armour (page 159)

42 Ability Score Increase When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. Dive & Roll Starting at 2nd level, you can avoid attacks with astonishing speed and grace. Incoming arrows, blades, claws… all can be slipped past with ease. You may reroll one Dexterity save, per combat. Extra Attack Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice instead of once whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. ee number of attacks increases to three when you reach 14th level. Evasion At 7th level, you can nimbly dodge out of the way of certain area edects, such as a dragon’s breath or a darkeater’s deadly rame. When you are subjected to an edect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail. Assassinate Starting at 3rd level, you are deadliest when you are wreathed in shadows. You have advantage on any attack rolls against creatures that have yet to take a turn in combat. In addition, any hit you score against a creature that that has the Surprised condition is a Critical hit. Expertise At 1st level, choose two of your skill proCciencies, or one of your skill proCciencies and your proCciency to disarm a trap or open a lock. Your proCciency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proCciencies. At 6th level, you can choose two more of your proCciencies (in skills or saving throws) to gain this beneCt. Sneak Attack Beginning at 1st level, you know how to strike subtly and exploit a foe’s distraction. Once per turn, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one creature you hit with an attack if you have advantage on the attack roll. ee attack must use a Cnesse or a ranged weapon. You don’t need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn’t incapacitated, and you don’t have disadvantage on the attack roll. ee amount of the extra damage increases as you gain levels in this class, as shown in the Sneak Attack column of the Assassin table. Slayer of the Elect At 6th level, you become an expert at confronting the enormous abominations stalking this land. It does not matter how huge or deadly the enemy might be, you are equal to the challenge. Indeed, the more terrible they are... the better. When facing an enemy with a CR higher than your level, you may use one of your reactions to gain advantage on your next attack roll, as well as double the damage you deal to that enemy. Once you've used this ability, you must complete a Short or Long rest before you can use it again. At 11th Level, you can use this ability 4 times before needing to complete a Short or Long rest.

43 Reliable Talent By 11th level, you have reCned your chosen skills until they approach perfection. Whenever you make an ability check that lets you add your proCciency bonus, you can treat a d20 roll of 9 or lower as a 10. Death's Friend At 20th level, you’ve walked with death so long, it is almost part of you. You may elect to succeed on a saving throw you failed. Once you’ve used this feature three times, you may not use it again until after a Long rest. Swift Recovery By 15th level, you recover faster than any creature should. You recover 5 Position at the beginning of each of your turns. Elusive Beginning at 18th level, you are so evasive that attackers rarely gain the upper hand against you. No attack roll has advantage against you while you aren’t incapacitated. Strength in Numbers At 10th level, you are accustomed to striking from positions of strength, and to vanishing into crowds. Whenever you outnumber your target during melee combat, you may spend 1 Position to gain +3 to your AC until the start of your next turn. You may continue to use this ability by spending 1 Position each turn, for as long as you, and your party, continue to outnumber your target. Stroke of Luck At 19th level, you have an uncanny knack for succeeding when you need to. If your attack misses a target within range, you can turn the miss into a hit. Alternatively, if you fail an ability check, you can treat the d20 roll as a 20. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you Cnish either a Short or Long rest. Plunging Attack At 9th level, you gain the ability to leap upon an unsuspecting enemy, driving your blade into them. When within 15 feet of a creature that is unable to see you, you can elect to spend 3 Position in order to make a Plunging Attack. On a successful attack roll, you leap onto the creature, delivering double your Sneak Attack bonus damage, in addition to your weapon’s standard damage. At 17th level, the cost of making a Plunging Attack is reduced from 3 Position to 1. Knife in the Sleeve At 13th level, your rerexes are honed to an astonishing degree. If you miss when making a standard melee attack roll against a creature, you may spend 2 position to make a second attack as a bonus action. You may make this second attack against any target within 30 feet in any direction. eis second attack uses your Dexterity modiCer to determine if it hits, and deals 1d6+ Strength modiCer damage if successful.

44 The north is a harsh place. Harsher, in some ways, than Lothric. It may not be cloaked in darkness in the same fashion, but it’s colder, and just as grim. Something drew you out of the northlands, brought you to this desolate place. You don’t know what, and you’re not sure you care… there are always memories, always uncertainties in life. You know this, you embrace it. You don’t search for meaning when it oders nothing but confusion. Let the scholars debate what it means to be Unkindled, let the foolish search their minds for remnants of lost selves. You came to Cght. Warrior Prorciency Bonus Cinder Wrath +2 2 +3 4 +5 5 +2 2 +3 4 +5 5 +2 3 +4 4 +5 6 +2 3 +4 4 +6 6 +3 3 +4 4 +6 6 +3 4 +4 5 +6 6 +5 5 +6 7 Level 1 9 5 13 20 2 10 6 14 15 3 11 7 16 17 4 12 8 18 19 Class Features Cinder Wrath, Iron Will Brutal Critical Extra Attack Protector Grind erough Unstoppable Extra Attack Northern Might Let eem Come! Guard Breaker Reckless Attack, Fighting Style Grim Sentinel Touch of Death Brutal Critical (2 dice) Brutal Critical (3 dice) Ability Score Increase Ability Score Increase Ability Score Increase Ability Score Increase Blood Feud

45 Proficiencies Equipment Relentless Nothing stops you; no matter how much damage you take, how deadly the foe before you, you keep going. You may not seek to understand the nature of the Unkindled, but you can draw on it, sometimes. Drawing on your confusion and using it to work yourself into battle frenzy. eere were tales of such men in the north, those who could detach their mind from their body amid the tumult of war and become engines of destruction. You’ve harnessed this ability in yourself, though that doesn’t mean you know where it comes from or how to control it. Sometimes you wonder if drawing on such power risks making you more like those Hollows you kill; empty husks, devoid of humanity. But you soon suppress such concerns, when the thrill of battle surges up in you anew. Devastating Your ancestry shows in the manner you Cght; there is no stealthy subtlety here, and little hiding behind a shield. You deal in reckless assaults, hewing down as many as you can with a sword or axe, before being forced to retreat, and gather yourself for the next attack. You specialise in the use of brutal, two-handed weapons, eschewing shields in favour of hacking the foe to pieces. eat’s not to say the north doesn’t appreciate defence, tactics, the study of the enemy. It does. All who survive in this world must care about such things. It’s a matter of priorities. When you attack, you attack with everything. It is not caution you lack, merely fear. Armour: Weapons: Saving Crows: Skills: All armour and shields as long as prerequisites met. All weapons, as long as prerequisites met Strength, Constitution Choose two from Animal Handling, Athletics, Intimidation, Nature, Perception, and Survival You start with the following equipment: An Estus Flask (page 154) Battle Axe (page 204) Warrior's Round Shield (page 177) Northern Armour (page 169)

46 Cinder Wrath All Unkindled bear the mark of undeath. For you, this inability to pass beyond life left you Clled with the rage of your northern homeland. On your turn you can enter a state of furious anger, known as Cinder Wrath, as a bonus action. While in this state, you gain the following beneCts: • You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws. • When you make a melee weapon attack, you gain a bonus to the damage roll (equal to your proCciency bonus) that increases as you gain levels as a Warrior. • You have resistance to force, acid, poison, and necrotic damage. Your Wrath lasts for 12 rounds. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious. Once you have entered a Cinder Wrath the number of times shown for your Warrior level in the appropriate column of the Warrior table, you must Cnish a Long rest before you can enter Cinder Wrath again. Fighting Style At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of Cghting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. Great Weapon Fighting When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll. ee weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this beneCt. Duelling When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon. Two-Weapon Fighting When you engage in two-weapon Cghting, you can add your ability modiCer to the damage of the second attack. Iron Will You’re used to the privations of the lands to the north. ee Crst time you incur a level of exhaustion or madness, you may draw on your inner grit to ignore any ill edects. Once you’ve used this ability, you must Long rest before you can use it again. Unstoppable At 3rd level, you become a pillar of strength. When an enemy attack would knock you back any distance, you may choose to remain in place. In addition, once per Long rest, if you would be knocked prone, you may choose not to be. Ability Score Increase When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. Reckless Attack Starting at 2nd level, you can throw aside all concern for defence to attack with Cerce desperation. When you make your Crst attack on your turn, you can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives you advantage on melee weapon attack rolls during this turn, but attack rolls against you have advantage until your next turn.

47 Brutal Critical Beginning at 9th level, you can roll one additional weapon damage die when determining the extra damage for a Critical hit with a melee attack. eis increases to two additional dice at 14th level and three additional dice at 18th level. Guard Breaker At 19th level, you learn to breach your opponent’s desperate defences, leaving them open for a killer blow. Upon making a successful attack roll against a creature of Large size or smaller, you may choose to spend 3 Position in order to knock the enemy prone, alongside delivering damage. Extra Attack Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. ee number of attacks increases to three when you reach 11th level. Grim Sentinel At 10th level, you gain hyper awareness of your surroundings. You cannot be Surprised, and creatures gain no advantage on attacks from making an ambush or surprise attacks against you. Unkindled Strength At 20th level, you are the epitome of the warrior, the epitome of the north. Your Strength and Constitution scores increase by 5, and your maximum for those scores is now 25. Touch of Death At 6th level, you have mastered what little remained of your emotions entirely. You are immune to the frightened condition and edects. Protector At 13th level, if a friendly creature is knocked prone, or becomes Bloodied, you may spend 2 Position to immediately move adjacent to them, provided they are within 20 feet. You have advantage on all saving throws made while standing adjacent to the prone, or Bloodied, friendly creature as you seek to defend them. Let Them Come At 15th level, you prefer to face multiple foes in combat. Doing so almost reminds you of what the excitement of life used to be like. Whenever you are simultaneously in melee with two or more opponents, you gain +2 to your AC. eis bonus is removed once you return to Cghting a single opponent. Grind Through At 17th level, you gain the ability to move from enemy to enemy. When you have killed a creature, you may spend 5 Position to immediately move into melee combat with another creature, within 20 feet. eis movement isn't impacted by terrain, and doesn't provoke any opportunity attacks. Northern Might At 7th level, you have learned to endure what your friends and companions cannot. When a friendly creature is Bloodied (reduced to half their Position total), if you are within 5 feet of them, you instead take any amount of damage the friendly creature sudered on a 1 for 1 basis.. eis still counts as the creature attacking the friendly creature, and you may not use a reaction to avoid this damage.

48 They talk about surviving, the mercenaries and the knights, but what do they know? In their suits of armour, behind the walls of castles… that’s not surviving. eat’s not rooting among the detritus for anything to keep body and soul (or what’s left of it) together. eat’s not being plunged into streets swarming with hollows, when the plague of undeath struck, as you were. Fleeing, and Cghting you way out. And your life before, the fragments you can recall, there was little in the way of castles and palaces then. It was grime and stealing whatever you could lay your hands on. It still is, really. Being Unkindled has not changed your life overmuch. Thief Level 1 9 5 13 20 2 10 6 14 15 3 11 7 16 17 4 12 8 18 19 Class Features Deadly Aim, Cunning Action Evasion Colossus Slayer Light Fingers eief ’s Rerexes Fast Hands Volley Move and Fire Uncanny Dodge Impossible Shot Expertise Extra Attack Ammunition Expert Draw a Bead Fast Strike Ability Score Increase Ability Score Increase Ability Score Increase Ability Score Increase Cinder Mark Prorciency Bonus Deadly Aim +2 1d6 +3 4d6 +5 7d6 +2 1d6 +3 4d6 +5 8d6 +2 2d6 +4 5d6 +5 8d6 +2 2d6 +4 5d6 +6 9d6 +3 3d6 +4 6d6 +6 9d6 +3 3d6 +4 6d6 +6 10d6 +5 7d6 +6 10d6

49 Proficiencies Equipment Unnoticed That’s how you prefer to be. Unseen, moving in the shadows if at all. Undetectable. Untraceable. You Cnd what you want, take it, and go, back into the darkness. eat’s not to say you’re incapable of defending yourself. Of course you are; you don’t survive on the streets for long without knowing how to use a knife, or, more importantly, a bow. eat’s where your true talent with a weapon lies. Something to keep you safe, but also capable of distracting those you’re trying to rob, something to ensure you can deal with enemies at range, so they don’t see your face. You can keep even the sternest opponents pinned down, with a withering cascade of arrows. Or pinpoint the weakness of a single foe, striking it exactly with a perfectly placed shot. Useful You’re always good for something. eat’s what kept you alive before, it’s what keeps you something more than undead now. Maybe it’s why you were chosen to become Unkindled. You’re skilled at so many things, capable of Clching the well-protected treasure of the giant or striking the giant’s single eye with an arrow. Able to protect your friends or vanish into the darkness. Whatever is needed, you provide. You’re an asset. Maybe you were always this way, the utility person, on heists and raids. Or maybe you just woke up, your amateur thievery from the past suddenly perfected. Who knows? You don’t. You just know the world is still all about surviving, by whatever means necessary. Armour: Weapons: Saving Crows: Skills: All armour and shields as long as prerequisites met. All weapons, as long as prerequisites met Dexterity, Intelligence Choose four from Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth You start with the following equipment: An Estus Flask (page 154) Bandit's Knife (page 188) Iron Round Shield (page 176) Deserter Armour (page 163) Short Bow (page 221) Quiver of 20 arrows (page 156)