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FEAT: MAGIC INITIATE. (Cleric)

Choose a class: bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard. You learn two cantrips of your choice from that class's spell list.

In addition, choose one 1st-level spell to learn from that same list. Using this feat, you can cast the spell once at its lowest level, and you must finish a long rest before you can cast it in this way again. Your spellcasting ability for these spells depends on the class you chose: Charisma for bard, sorcerer, or warlock; Wisdom for cleric or druid; or Intelligence for wizard.

Spells: Guidance, Thaumaturgy, Cure Wounds.

*MAGIC ITEM: CLOAK OF PROTECTION. Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)

You gain a +1 bonus to AC and saving throws while you wear this cloak.

*Note: If we're doing the 'magic item changes as the character changes' type thing, some additional 'cloth-based items' include The Robe of Useful Items*, Cloak of the Bat*, Rogue's Mantle*, Robe of Eyes, Cloak of Arachnida, and the Robe of Scintillating Colors*. Also just a generic portable hole works tbh. I've put an asterisk next to my favourites.

Wizard: 4d4 x 10 gp. (Average: 100gp)

Carry Weight. STR score (6) x 15 = 90 lbs. Oof, gotta keep it light!

Explorer's Pack (10gp): Includes a backpack (5 lbs), a bedroll (7 lbs), a mess kit (1 lb), a tinderbox (1 lb), 10 torches (10 lbs), 10 days of rations (20 lbs), and a waterskin (5 lbs full). The pack also has 50 feet of hempen rope strapped to the side of it (10 lbs). An Arcane Focus: 'Staff' (5gp, 4 lbs): Theoretically doubles as a quarterstaff, not that Scotoma has ever used it as one. A holy symbol: 'Amulet' (5gp, 1 lb): A gift to you when you entered the priesthood. Common clothes (5sp, 3 lbs). Sack (5sp, 3 lbs).

Also the "Improvised Tattoo Kit" aka Spellbook: 1 healer's kit (5gp, 3 lbs), a 1 ounce bottle of ink (10gp, -), 5 blowgun needles (1sp, -), 5 candles (5cp, -), flask of alcohol (6cp, 1lb), soap (2cp, -). If there's anything else you think would be appropriate, we'll add that too.

Also a prayer wheel, 5 sticks of incense, and priestly vestments, supplied by the church. Thieves tools (25gp, 1 lb), Forgery kit (15gp, 5 lbs) not supplied by the church. Scroll case (1gp, 1lb) Paper x5 (1gp), Parchment x2 (2sp).

TRANSACTIONS.

Selling the bedroll for a blanket instead (5sp, 3 lbs) to keep the weight down. Selling 7 of the torches for the same reason. You know they don't fit in the kit they come with? The backpack is actually too small for all of it. Funny, huh?

78gp spent total, 22gp remaining.

Also no need to buy it until begin adventuring, but for armor we're looking at Padded (5gp, 8lbs) or Leather (10gp, 10lbs), as well as maybe some darts (5cp, 1/4lb ea).

Other stuff might want, once get adventuring funds! A nice set of clothing, cos vanity. Silk rope is lighter than hemp. God, a tent would be nice. A mule, so we don't have to carry all our stuff. Oil, a mirror, some good books. Playing cards to pass the time. More candles, a lamp. A hunting trap.

STORAGE.

Both a sack and a backpack each contain 1 cubic foot / 30 lbs worth of gear. You can also strap items, such as a bedroll or a coil of rope, to the outside of a backpack. The weight of the backpack/sack is included in their total weight.

Worn (8 lbs)

• Common clothes (3 lbs)
• Vestments (-)
• Cloak of Protection (-)
• Holy symbol: Amulet - around neck (1 lb)
• Arcane focus: Staff - carried in left hand, or tucked between back and backpack if climbing (4 lbs)

Backpack (48 lbs)

• 10 days of rations (20 lbs)
• Mess kit (1 lb)
• Tinderbox (1 lb)
• 3 torches (3 lbs)
• Waterskin (5 lbs full)
• Blanket, rolled up and strapped to side (3 lbs)
• 50ft of hemp rope, strapped to side (10 lbs)

Sack - 'Messenger Satchel' (13 lbs)

• Trinket: A stone smoking pipe that never needs lighting (EE .23).
• Prayer wheel
• 5 sticks of incense
• Improvised Tattoo Kit: 1 healer's kit (5gp, 3 lbs), a 1 ounce bottle of ink (10gp, -), 5 blowgun needles (1sp, -), 5 candles (5cp, -), flask of alcohol (6cp, 1lb), soap (2cp, -).
• Thieves tools (1 lb)
• Forgery kit (5 lbs)
• Scroll case (1lb): 5 papers, 2 parchment (-)

Beguilers supplement their magic with lying, manipulation, and stealth. You understand that a lie whispered in the right ear can ruin lives, but a dishonest smile and honeyed words can open doors, turn foes into friends, and even end wars. Some may call you silver tongued, but you take up a tradition that specializes in expanding your skillset beyond just magics. Beguilers have reputations as thieves, spies, and puppet masters, but can also be diplomats, peacemakers, or heroic leaders who give hope in desperate situations.

BEGUILING SPECIALTIES:

Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, you gain proficiency with Light Armor and choose one skill from Deception, Intimidation, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth.

SOCIAL BUTTERFLY:

When you choose this school at 2nd level, you learn the friends cantrip. If you already know this cantrip, you learn a different wizard cantrip of your choice. The cantrip doesn't count against your number of cantrips known. Additionally, when you cast friends, you may affect any number of creatures instead of just one that isn't hostile toward you for the duration.

SURPRISE CASTING:

Beginning at 6th level, you know how to cast your spells subtly and to exploit a foe's distraction. If you are hidden from a creature when you cast an enchantment or illusion spell on it, the creature gets disadvantage on any saving throws it makes against the spell this turn.

SUBTLE DECEPTION:

Beginning at 10th level, you can cast enchantment and illusion spells without any somatic or verbal components.

HIDE IN SHADOWS*:

Beginning at 14th level, you know of tricks to alter perception around you to better conceal yourself. You may take the Hide action even while being observed as long as you are within 10 feet of some sort of shadow. You cannot, however, hide in your own shadow.

*Note: It's not an official subclass, so can we change this if we get that far lol?? It kind of sucks haha.

CUSTOMISING A BACKGROUND:

You might want to tweak some of the features of a background so it better fits your character or the campaign setting. To customize a background, you can replace one feature with any other one, choose any two skills, and choose a total of two tool proficiencies or languages from the sample backgrounds. You can either use the equipment package from your background or spend coin on gear. (If you spend coin, you can't also take the equipment package suggested for your class.) Finally, choose two personality traits, one ideal, one bond, and one flaw. If you can't find a feature that matches your desired background, work with your DM to create one.

Note: Here we're combining the 'Spy' and 'Acolyte' backgrounds to get the right idea.

You have spent your life in the service of a temple to a specific god or pantheon of gods. You act as an intermediary between the realm of the holy and the mortal world, performing sacred rites and offering sacrifices in order to conduct worshipers into the presence of the divine. You are not necessarily a cleric — performing sacred rites is not the same thing as channeling divine power.

Criminal Variant: Spy. Although your capabilities are not much different from those of a burglar or smuggler, you learned and practiced them in a very different context: as an espionage agent. You might have been an officially sanctioned agent of the crown, or perhaps you sold the secrets you uncovered to the highest bidder.

Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Religion.

Tool Proficiencies: Forgery kit.

Languages: Primordial.

Equipment: Spending coin on gear. See 'equipment and possessions' above.

Criminal Specialty: Blackmailer.

Personality Traits: "I am incredibly slow to trust. Those who seem the fairest often have the most to hide." & "I quote (or misquote) sacred texts and proverbs in almost every situation."

Ideal: People. "I'm loyal to my friends, not to any ideals, and everyone else can take a trip down the Styx for all I care. (Neutral)."

Bonds: "I owe my life to the priest who took me in when my parents died."

Flaws: "Once I pick a goal, I become obsessed with it to the detriment of everything else in my life."

You have a reliable and trustworthy contact who acts as your liaison to a network of other criminals. You know how to get messages to and from your contact, even over great distances; specifically, you know the local messengers, corrupt caravan masters, and seedy sailors who can deliver messages for you.

Contact Details:

• One day, Toma took in an injured stray that was on the brink of death. After nursing them back to health, discovered they were a shifter. From then on, the shifter felt they owed Toma a debt, and the two of them struck a deal.
• As a priest, Toma can get them out of legal trouble by promising to discipline them, and the authorities won't question the word of a holy person. They have power inside the system, and the contact has power outside it.
• DM says there's a possibility for Contact to investigate something, says we could do a luck roll to see the kind of info they get. Would simply need to ask 'is X around to gather information?' Frankly I'm unlikely to use this mechanic unless absolutely necessary. More likely to use it to scout out an area, cause a distraction, or tail an individual.
• Prefer the more mutual arrangement of favours traded. Equivalent exchange. If they stop being useful to me (or I them), our arrangement is no longer needed. It's always good to end a partnership on good terms.
• The way Toma contacts them is via pipe 'Face-Time Calls'. They put a special crushed flower in the bowl, light it, and set it on the table, whereupon a wispy visage of their associate appears in the smoke. If they're not available, the smoke burns out.
• Main purpose of the contact is so that Toma can send letters to their mentor. This particular method is best, because it allows us to send and receive correspondence even while travelling.
• Toma has a small insignia of this criminal network among the rest of their tattoos: an ouroborous (snake eating its tail), about the size of a coin, tattooed on their solar plexus. Usually wearing full vestments, so it's never visible.
• Unless explicitly stated, they don't know anything about my plans except for what I specifically ask them to find out. They know I'm a 'Spy' though, and would know better than to blow my cover. Maybe we develop a more trustworthy relationship? Maybe not? Depends on story.

PROFICIENCIES

Armor: None

Weapons: Daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows

Tools: None

Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom

Skills: Choose two from Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, and Religion

EQUIPMENT

Spending coin on gear. See 'equipment and possessions' above.

CANTRIPS:

At 1st level, you know three cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. You learn additional wizard cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Wizard table.

SPELLBOOK*:

At 1st level, you have a spellbook containing six 1st-level wizard spells of your choice. Your spellbook is the repository of the wizard spells you know, except your cantrips, which are fixed in your mind.

The spells that you add to your spellbook as you gain levels reflect the arcane research you conduct on your own, as well as intellectual breakthroughs you have had about the nature of the multiverse. You might find other spells during your adventures. You could discover a spell recorded on a scroll in an evil wizard's chest, for example, or in a dusty tome in an ancient library.

Copying a Spell into the Book. When you find a wizard spell of 1st level or higher, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a spell level you can prepare and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it. Copying a spell into your spellbook involves reproducing the basic form of the spell, then deciphering the unique system of notation used by the wizard who wrote it. You must practice the spell until you understand the sounds or gestures required, then transcribe it into your spellbook using your own notation. For each level of the spell, the process takes 2 hours and costs 50 gp. The cost represents material components you expend as you experiment with the spell to master it, as well as the fine inks you need to record it. Once you have spent this time and money, you can prepare the spell just like your other spells.

Replacing the Book. You can copy a spell from your own spellbook into another book-for example, if you want to make a backup copy of your spellbook. This is just like copying a new spell into your spellbook, but faster and easier, since you understand your own notation and already know how to cast the spell. You need spend only 1 hour and 10 gp for each level of the copied spell. If you lose your spellbook, you can use the same procedure to transcribe the spells that you have prepared into a new spellbook. Filling out the remainder of your spellbook requires you to find new spells to do so, as normal. For this reason, many wizards keep backup spellbooks in a safe place.

The Book's Appearance. Your spellbook is a unique compilation of spells, with its own decorative flourishes and margin notes. It might be a plain, functional leather volume that you received as a gift from your master, a finely bound gilt-edged tome you found in an ancient library or even a loose collection of notes scrounged together after you lost your previous spellbook in a mishap.

PREPARING and CASTING SPELLS:

The Wizard table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your wizard spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. You prepare the list of wizard spells that are available for you to cast. To do so, choose a number of wizard spells from your spellbook equal to your Intelligence modifier + your wizard level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For example, if you're a 3rd-level wizard, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With an Intelligence of 16, your list of prepared spells can include six spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination, chosen from your spellbook. If you prepare the 1st-level spell magic missile, you can cast it using a 1st-level or a 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn't remove it from your list of prepared spells. You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of wizard spells requires time spent studying your spellbook and memorizing the incantations and gestures you must make to cast the spell: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.

SPELLCASTING ABILITY:

Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your wizard spells, since you learn your spells through dedicated study and memorization. You use your Intelligence whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a wizard spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier.

Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier.

RITUAL CASTING:

You can cast a wizard spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag and you have the spell in your spellbook. You don't need to have the spell prepared.

SPELLCASTING FOCUS:

You can use an arcane focus as a spellcasting focus for your wizard spells.

LEARNING SPELLS OF 1st LEVEL and HIGHER:

Each time you gain a wizard level, you can add two wizard spells of your choice to your spellbook. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the Wizard table. On your adventures, you might find other spells that you can add to your spellbook.

ARCANE RECOVERY:

You have learned to regain some of your magical energy by studying your spellbook. Once per day when you finish a short rest, you can choose expended spell slots to recover. The spell slots can have a combined level that is equal to or less than half your wizard level (rounded up), and none of the slots can be 6th level or higher. For example, if you're a 4th-level wizard, you can recover up to two levels worth of spell slots. You can recover either a 2nd-level spell slot or two 1st-level spell slots.

ARCANE TRADITION:

When you reach 2nd level, you choose an arcane tradition, shaping your practice of magic through one of the following schools. Your choice grants you features at 2nd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th level.

CANTRIP FORMULAS (OPTIONAL)

At 3rd level, you have scribed a set of arcane formulas in your spellbook that you can use to formulate a cantrip in your mind. Whenever you finish a long rest and consult those formulas in your spellbook, you can replace one wizard cantrip you know with another cantrip from the wizard spell list.

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 score above 20 using this feature.

MULTICLASS PROFICIENCIES GAINED:

Armor: Light

Weapons: None

Tools: Thieves Tools

Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom

Skills: Choose one from Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, or Stealth.