Disinterred Eldricity: Ruling Domains, Part One

Here it comes. The big kahuna of imports. I'll be doing my best to update mechanics, but am keeping much of the previous structure of the Birthright domain management intact. Sometimes I'll clean up something ugly or that doesn't fit, but for now, this first section is for the edification of those who are unfamiliar with the rules so they can understand the rest of what we talk about.

I've also taken care not to just, you know, copy paste crap from the Birthright rulebook, but it's pretty critical to have a cross-reference going on.

Glossary of Terms

I’ll be working with a bunch of words that might not have any context if you are unfamiliar with Birthright. For the clarification of the audience, these are the following terms I will be using below.

Assets - A resource that a regent controls that is not otherwise classified as a province or holding. These include Armies, Courts, Fortifications, Ley Lines, Lieutenants, Roads, Trade Routes, and Treasury.

Domain - The term for the collective territories that a regent holds. It can be as small as a single province, or as large as whole kingdoms.

Domain Power - A numeric rating that represents a regent’s total control over their territory. It is equal to the total number of levels of all provinces and holdings that the regent currently owns, no matter where they are located or what type by which they are classified.

Domain Turn - A period of time in which a regent can perform activities in their domain, be it to go on adventures, build holdings, engage in diplomacy, or muster armies to war. Domain Turns typically happen in threes, and are roughly equivalent to a calendar season.

Holding - An establishment of law, trade, faith, or magic within a province. A province can only contain as many total holdings of each type as it has levels; therefore a level 3 province can have up to 3 levels of each kind of holding, and not all of them must be controlled by the same regent. Holding types are Law, Guild, Temple, and Source.

Loyalty - A scale of how loyal a given province is to its regent, affected by Law holdings. Loyalty is graded as high, average, poor, or rebellious.

Province - A section of land within a domain. The typical province is anywhere from 1000 to 1500 square miles in size, but the dimensions are largely irrelevant.

Province Level - A numeric descriptor of how populated and developed a province is, on a scale of 0 to 10 (typically). The more developed a province, the less the potential of its Source (if any).

Realm Magic - Powerful spells that can be cast using Sources to power them. These spells typically affect an entire province or an army occupying a province, and are extremely taxing to the spellcaster.

Regency - The power that a blooded regent holds over the land. It is a very real sense of divine right to rule. It is also a currency of sorts, referred to as regency points (RP, not to be confused with the roleplaying part of “RPG”).

Regent - The term used to describe a blooded scion that also rules a domain. This term is used in the setting itself by its populace, but a regent is more typically referred to by their noble title (count, baron, duke, etc.).

Scion - Used to describe any blooded individual, but in a shorthand sense. One may be a scion without being a regent.

Regency

As Regency is the first of two currencies used in managing domains, it becomes important to track every time a series of domain turns comes into play. At the beginning of a given domain turn, a regent collects Regency equivalent to their Domain Power (sum of all levels of all holdings and provinces) plus their Bloodline score modifier.

Example: Erin Velescarpe is a young regent with a lot of work to do to carve out her domain. She owns four provinces (levels 3, 2, 1, and 4 respectively) and five total holdings (of levels 2, 2, 1, and 1). Her Bloodline score is 15, giving her a modifier of +2. At the beginning of her domain turn, she collects 18 Regency Points.

Regency can be gained or lost in a number of ways. If the regent’s bloodline is ever damaged, by magic or some fell curse, it will affect future Regency gains. It is also a currency used to initiate actions during the domain turn, with costs varying dependent on the given action being taken and how much effort the regent puts into said action.

Previously a regent could also spend Regency Points to increase their bloodline strength score. Since we do not use that scale anymore, and overall Regency Point generation and expenditure will be modified from original formulae, this is no longer present in my conversion. 5th Edition already has a bunch of ways to improve ability scores, and those are more than good enough.

Should a character’s Regency Points ever drop below zero for any reason (be it the attack of an awnsheghlien, a magic spell, or bad management of points during the domain turn), they become temporarily cursed by their blood and are at disadvantage on all checks made using Bloodline (domain action checks, Bloodline saving throws, etc.) until their Regency Points once again rise to zero or above.

As such, finding ways to target an enemy regent’s Regency Points is a valid means of weakening them severely so that you can mount actions against their territory. These methods will be covered more in depth below.

Gold Bars

The other domain-level currency is the Gold Bar (GB). In liquid terms, it’s roughly equivalent to two thousand gold pieces of typical player currency, but is an abstracted value of actual precious metal, trade gems, scrip, and goods. Gold bars can be liquidated into coinage through a specific domain action, but are generally out of the reach of players in the short term (no one is going to ride off with the entire domain’s currency by raiding one storehouse of gold ingots).

The currency is used to finance domain actions of all kinds, from construction of holdings to paying spies and mercenaries. It is also used to pay for court expenses when hosting dignitaries and holding tournaments. Gold bars are acquired via taxation of provinces and holdings, as well as spoils of war when conquering enemy domains.

Holdings

Holdings can be thought of as ways a province is structured both on a policy and political scale as well as the nature of its populace and income. The four types of holdings available are guild, law, source, and temple.

Guild Holdings

These holdings represent the presence of businesses, craftsmen, and financial investments that are maintained by various guild journeymen. While the exact type of guild is not relevant to its mechanics, it is helpful and flavorful to determine the nature of a given guild holding within a province.

A seaside province may have a guild associated with the fishing industry or shipping, while an inland plains province may support a guild that maintains the wellness and trade of livestock and crops.

Law Holdings

Regents desire law holdings in order to exert their influence and control over a given province. A law holding may take the form of an organized local force of guards, or a group of roughnecks who exist in your employ and mete out your questionable justice throughout the territory.

Law holdings controlled by you help bring rebellious provinces under control, while law holdings belonging to other regents within your territory might represent their thugs or bandits working against you -- or just a few men they keep around to make sure they can get a piece of the local pie, as it were.

Source Holdings

Only those who are both blooded and can cast arcane spells (bards, eldritch knight fighters, arcane trickster rogues, sorcerers*, warlocks, and wizards) may make use of source holdings. Sources are a representation of the primal magic of Cerilia, and in more developed lands, this magic is weaker. The further from civilization that a given piece of land is, the more likely it is to have a high source rating and thus more bountiful source holdings. Additionally, source holdings are required for arcane spellcasters cast realm magic.

Source holdings may take the form of ancient henges, primeval forests, faerie trods, the remains of a gigantic ancient dragon, or other sites of implied magical power.

*if using Cerilian sorcerers in your campaign

Temple Holdings

As their name implies, temple holdings are bastions of the faith (any faith, really, that can gain popular support among the locals). While temple holdings can be controlled by anyone, divine spellcasters (clerics and druids) require temple holdings to cast their versions of realm magic.

Temples do not need to be temples as such, but any site of worship from a modest rural chapel to a massive cathedral can be counted as a temple holding. Correspondingly, higher level temple holdings tend to be more elaborate.

Investiture

Truly conquering territory in Cerilia is not merely marching your troops into a location and subjugating its population. Until investiture is performed, a province or holding does not contribute to Domain Power and no regency points are gained from it at the beginning of domain turns.

Investiture also encompasses the creation of vassals and transferring the rule of provinces and holdings to other regents. This function is more properly explained in its listing under Domain Actions, which will come in another article.

Vassalage

The largest domains are almost impossible to manage on one’s own, even with a massive staff of courtiers and financiers, a regent will find themselves pulled in too many directions once their domain reaches critical mass -- in game terms, being unable to rule the whole domain through the course of a season with just three domain actions. This is where vassals become important.

The ceremony of investiture has a function to install a vassal under another regent. This relationship is both political and mechanical; the vassal is promised some functional support (whether it be in the form of a mutual defensive pact, a one-time or repeated donation of wealth, or a threat to submit or be eradicated) and in exchange the vassal agrees to add the regency points they would normally gain from the Bloodline ability score to the regent instead.

This means that the vassal does not receive this extra value at the beginning of their domain turns; it is a tithe given to the lord. Powerful lords who control vast portions of territory will install multiple vassals and vastly increase their per-turn regency point gain, but in return must devote aid to their vassals or risk losing their support.

Vassals can be other player characters or simply represented by promoted NPCs, but they must possess a bloodline in order to contribute regency points. Promoting unblooded characters does not require this function of investiture, as unblooded characters cannot rule domains.

Next Time!

In the next article, we'll dive into the Domain Turn, the functional aspects of managing territory, and describe all of the domain actions a player can perform. Here, a fair bit of nip and tuck was done to make the actions feel more familiar with 5th Edition terminology, as well as reduce the amount of free-action abuse that could become prevalent in the previous incarnation.

As a personal note, have I mentioned how much fun this is for me? This is really fun. I love doing this. I love Birthright, I love tabletop games, I love this kind of game in particular, etc. There's just so much to love here. It's actually kind of cluttered now. Hand me that dustpan, would you?

Disinterred Eldricity: Blood Abilities Revisions, Plus Deities and Domains

Revisions to Blood Abilites

The abilities have been cooking for a few days, and after some chats with colleagues, I feel some revisions are in order. Some abilities are not as attractive as others, and the mechanics of a few could serve to be beefed up.

Iron Will

This power was pretty dull on its own. Detect Illusion has something of the same problem, but Harbinger pointed out that it does have the potential to save your bacon if you are targeted by nasty stuff like Phantasmal Killer. Iron Will is still kind of boring since it uses the same mechanic type (advantage on saving throws) and I think we can do better.

Harbinger recommended allowing in a version of the monk's ability to spend an action to end enchantments and charms, which I liked. So the revised version looks something like this:

Iron Will (Minor)
You may spend your action to end an enchantment or charm effect upon you. You may use this a number of times equal to your Bloodline modifier (minimum 1), and your uses recharge after a long rest.

Not quite so boring as the advantage mechanic that I started to grow too fond of, and still has a use limitation. Iron Will becomes a pretty great blood ability, but it's not a mechanic I'd want to go overboard with, or copy over to things like Detect Illusion due to the oddity of resolving problems like the aforementioned Phantasmal Killer; do I just spend a use to say "nah" to someone's illusory attack? Feels kind of annoying to adjudicate, and at least Iron Will eats an action.

Touch of Decay

This was my bad, and Harbinger properly called out the fact that it ended up being kind of weaksauce for a Great power. It should scale as you increase in level, like a cantrip would, and do something a bit nastier on top of that.

Touch of Decay (Great)
You may take an action to make a single attack using your Bloodline score as the attack ability to deal 1d8 points of damage. This damage replaces that of any unarmed strike you would normally perform. The damage increases by 1d8 damage when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).

Damage inflicted against inanimate objects (including constructs and unattended objects such as walls) doubles the damage dice.

Unfortunately, sometimes this power manifests spontaneously. Each day you must make a Bloodline saving throw against DC 5. If this saving throw fails, you destroy a random non-magical object in your possession. 

Now that's freakin' scary. A high-level scion of Azrai can put their hand on a stone wall and crumble it to dust. Siege engines and castles can be taken apart, literally, with the scion's bare hands. Sounds right up Azrai's alley.

Cases were also made for the reintroduction of Detect Lie and Persuasion, but I need to do some more thinking. Additionally, it was suggested that certain powerful abilities, such as Elemental Control and Travel, could have minimum level requirements before you can even take the power. The number of blood abilities that would have this is, overall, pretty low, and I do gate the actual summoning powers of Elemental Control to a bit later, so I don't yet think this is necessary.

It's also damned unlikely that a player will have a 20 Bloodline in order to qualify for either of them at 1st level, unless you're doing point-buy or rolls and they play a variant human that also takes the Power of the Blood feat. If you put in that much bullheadedness into being a Great bloodline strength starting out, more power to you.

Deities of Cerilia

The work I intended to put in this section is actually already done. The good ol' PDF I reference frequently took a pretty accurate stab at this, and I feel there's no point changing it just for the sake of changing it.

If you're lazy or don't otherwise want to reference the PDF for whatever reason, these are the pertinent gods for player character clerics:

• Avani, Goddess of the Sun (LN): Knowledge, Life, Light
• Belinik, God of Terror (CE): Nature, War
• Cuiraecen, God of Battle (CG): Life, Tempest, War
• Eloele, Goddess of Night and Trickery (CN): Life, Trickery
• Erik, God of the Forests (N): Life, Nature (though most are just druids)
• Haelyn, God of Law and Nobility (LG): Life, Light, War
• Kriesha, Goddess of Winter (LE): Life, Tempest
• Laerme, Goddess of Beauty (CG): Life, Light
• Moradin, God of the Dwarves (LG): Knowledge, Life, War
• Nesirie, Goddess of the Seas (NG): Life, Nature
• Ruornil, God of the Moon (N): Knowledge, Life
• Sera, Goddess of Fortune and Wealth (CN): Life, Trickery

Obviously there's the smattering of humanoid and monster deities, but those generally aren't going to be worshiped by players.

Next time, I'll begin conversion and update of the domain management rules. It will be split into multiple entries, beginning with a minor rehash of what all the numbers and slashes mean, and what classes benefit most from what holding types.

Disinterred Eldricity: Blood Abilities 1.0

This one will be mostly rules and less meandering rambles like my usual posts. Here goes...

Gaining Blood Abilities

At the time of character creation, provided you have elected to be a blooded scion, you may choose one blood ability from the list of those available to your derivation. You must be of the bloodline strength associated with the ability in question. Note that some abilities have multiple strength categories listed, and grow more powerful as the character's Bloodline score increases.

For example, the human scion of Basaia, Erin Velescarpe, has a starting Bloodline score of 15 at first level. This puts her in the Major category, so she can choose any Basaia ability that is classified as Major. If she chooses the Healing ability, she gains the benefits from both its Minor and Major variations. If Erin later increases her Bloodline score to 20 (becoming a Great bloodline), she automatically gains the Great variation of this ability.

It should be stated that a character who begins play with a Tainted bloodline strength, or who later becomes blooded and does not have at least a Minor strength score, does not get to select a blood ability. The blood is too, well, tainted to actually gain any significant power with it. You can still rule a domain and conduct actions as a regent, but no ability manifests itself. If you ever increase your Bloodline score to at least Minor strength, you may then choose a blood ability fitting your derivation and strength category.

If, through bloodtheft or a powerful curse, your bloodline drops to a lower category from a higher category, any abilities you possess that require the higher category become dormant and cannot be used until your bloodline strength is restored.

The Culling

Of the two sources of blood abilities I have at my disposal (those being the core Birthright rulebook and Blood Abominations), there were thirty eight total abilities that needed to be reviewed. This is a first draft of my work, and revisions will undoubtedly be necessary.

There was some of mechanical work done here, but oddly not as much as I expected. Some abilities did not make the cut, and were summarily removed. My criteria for doing this was essentially determining whether something had noticeable mechanical benefit and wasn't already covered in another ability. In addition, I would lean more towards cutting if the rebalancing of a given ability would have a low return on investment (if I needed to create new resolution or effect-grouping mechanics just to build one power, it went in the rubbish bin).

To wit, the following abilities did not make it.

1. Bloodmark. This ability was already mostly duplicated under the minor effect for Divine Aura and the visual marker can easily be considered a physical trait that needs no actual mechanic. If someone wants to play a character with a visual bloodmark, I feel as though that's a choice they can make on their own without needing to burn an ability on it.
2. Detect Lie. Zone of Truth already exists as a low level spell and the benefits of this ability would be very niche. Insight checks can already help determine whether someone is not being completely honest, and it would get very tiring to hear, "Is he lying?" after every NPC answer.
3. Heightened Ability. D&D 5th edition already has numerous ways to increase ability scores, and the system's math counts on players actually having something to work towards as they gain levels. This blood ability simply isn't necessary and would contribute to a snowballing of player power, which is already precarious with the introduction of bloodlines at all.
4. Persuasion. It's already partially covered under some other abilities, and I don't want to steal the spotlight from bards and players who specialize in the skill of the same name (you'll note a pattern in which I tend to nuke abilities that nullify or remove the need to roleplay).
5. Resistance. This one was tough, but in the end I felt it was better for balance if players didn't possess a huge gamut of things to which they could be highly resistant or outright immune. Having a portion of your tricks as a Dungeon Master basically turned into scrap is not fun, and it doesn't promote player creativity or involvement. Also, some of the old resistances were kind of weird (Masela's in particular, pretty useless if you're far inland), and there are already other sources of resistances out there.
6. Most of the abilities introduced by Blood Enemies. They range from "wildly overpowered" to "NPC only" or are even outright redundant -- perhaps fairly, since this is a book about horrible monster NPCs. Bloodform, Bloodtrait, Charm Aura, Detect Life, Invulnerability, Major Regeneration, Major Resistance, and Wither Touch are all out. I did keep Death Touch and Long Life though, since I think those could be cool (human regents not interested in having heirs definitely want the latter).

The ones that did survive the culling needed to be updated to current rules. I attempted to keep the spirit of the abilities the same, and some translated very neatly. Some did not, due to troublesome or vague wording that never had particularly good mechanical translation. As before, they may not all have parity in a combat environment, but many blood abilities were never about your strength in a brawl, and indeed this is a good thing. It is very easy to shove combat balance too far in one direction or another.

Some of these duplicate cultural feats, specifically as they pertain to advantage on some saving throw varieties. This is intentional; I want there to be several avenues to pick up these very helpful bonuses if players so choose.

Blood Abilities by Derivation and Strength

Anduiras

• Animal Affinity (Minor, Major, Great)
• Battlewise (Major)
• Courage (Minor, Major, Great)
• Detect Illusion (Minor)
• Divine Aura (Major, Great)
• Divine Wrath (Major)
• Elemental Control (Great)
• Enhanced Sense (Minor, Major)
• Healing (Minor, Major, Great)
• Iron Will (Minor)
• Long Life (Minor)
• Protection from Evil (Major)
• Regeneration (Great)
• Unreadable Thoughts (Minor)

Azrai

• Alertness (Minor)
• Alter Appearance (Major)
• Animal Affinity (Minor, Major, Great)
• Battlewise (Major)
• Death Touch (Minor, Major)
• Detect Illusion (Minor)
• Divine Aura (Major, Great)
• Enhanced Sense (Minor, Major)
• Fearsome Mein (Major)
• Iron Will (Minor)
• Long Life (Minor, Major, Great)
• Poison Sense (Minor)
• Regeneration (Great)
• Shadow Form (Great)
• Touch of Decay (Great)
• Travel (Great)
• Unreadable Thoughts (Minor)

Basaia

• Alertness (Minor)
• Animal Affnity (Minor, Major, Great)
• Blood History (Minor)
• Character Reading (Major)
• Detect Illusion (Minor)
• Divine Aura (Major, Great)
• Divine Wrath (Major)
• Elemental Control (Great)
• Enhanced Sense (Minor, Major)
• Healing (Minor, Major, Great)
• Long Life (Minor, Major, Great)
• Protection from Evil (Major)
• Travel (Great)
• Unreadable Thoughts (Minor)

Brenna

• Alertness (Minor)
• Alter Appearance (Major)
• Animal Affnity (Minor, Major, Great)
• Character Reading (Major)
• Detect Illusion (Minor)
• Enhanced Sense (Minor only)
• Iron Will (Minor)
• Long Life (Minor, Major, Great)
• Protection from Evil (Major)
• Travel (Great)
• Unreadable Thoughts (Minor)

Masela

• Animal Affnity (Minor, Major, Great)
• Blood History (Minor)
• Detect Illusion (Minor)
• Direction Sense (Minor)
• Divine Aura (Major, Great)
• Divine Wrath (Major)
• Elemental Control (Great)
• Enhanced Sense (Minor, Major)
• Long Life (Minor, Major, Great)
• Protection from Evil (Major)
• Travel (Great)
• Unreadable Thoughts (Minor)

Reynir

• Alertness (Minor)
• Animal Affnity (Minor, Major, Great)
• Detect Illusion (Minor)
• Direction Sense (Minor)
• Divine Aura (Major, Great)
• Elemental Control (Great)
• Enhanced Sense (Minor only)
• Healing (Minor, Major, Great)
• Iron Will (Minor)
• Long Life (Minor, Major, Great)
• Poison Sense (Minor)
• Protection from Evil (Major)
• Regeneration (Great)
• Unreadable Thoughts (Minor)

Vorynn

• Alter Appearance (Major)
• Animal Affnity (Minor, Major, Great)
• Blood History (Minor)
• Character Reading (Major)
• Detect Illusion (Minor)
• Divine Aura (Major, Great)
• Enhanced Sense (Minor, Major)
• Long Life (Minor, Major, Great)
• Protection from Evil (Major)
• Travel (Great)
• Unreadable Thoughts (Minor)

The New Blood Abilities

In alphabetical order, listed below. Some became stronger from their previous incarnations, particularly Long Life, though admittedly that one's hard to balance as most campaigns might not even see such longevity. Some are deceptive in how powerful they are; Azrai's animal affinity might not seem like much compared to Basaia or Anduiras's, but there are plenty of places a snake can get into that a cat or lion cannot.

Alertness (Minor)
You have a bonus on Initiative rolls and Perception rolls to spot hidden enemies equal to your Bloodline modifier, with a minimum value of +1.

Alter Appearance (Major)
You may use the disguise self spell once, and it recharges after a long rest. You do not require material components for this spell.

Animal Affinity (Minor, Major, Great)
Scions of Anduiras are affiliated with lions. Azrai's brood are affiliated with serpents, primarily poisonous ones. Basaia favors eagles and hawks, and Brenna cats both large and small. Masela's scions have kinship with dolphins and similar creatures. Reynir's chosen animal is the wolf, while Vorynn is most often represented by owls.

Minor: You have empathic communication with animals of your bloodline's affiliation out to 60 feet.

Major: You may communicate with animals of your bloodline's affiliation at will. They will never attack you unless first provoked.

Great: You may also use the animal friendship and animal messenger spells once each, but only towards animals of your bloodline's affiliation. These uses recharge after a long rest. In addition, you may use a special form of wild shape, as though you were a druid, provided you meet minimum level requirements.

At 2nd level, an Azrai scion can transform into a giant poisonous snake as a druid of equivalent level.

At 2nd level, a scion of Brenna can transform into a cat as a druid of equivalent level. At 4th level, the scion can instead transform into a panther.

At 2nd level, a scion of Reynir can transform into a wolf as a druid of equivalent level. At 8th level, the scion can instead transform into a dire wolf.

At 4th level, a scion of Masela can transform into a dolphin as a druid of equivalent level (use the statistics for a reef shark).

At 8th level, a scion of Vorynn can transform into a giant owl as a druid of equivalent level.

At 8th level, a scion of Basaia can transform into a giant eagle as a druid of equivalent level.

At 8th level, a scion of Andurias can transform into a lion as a druid of equivalent level.

Battlewise (Major)
Units that the scion commands gain advantage on Morale checks during field battles. Units also improve their AC and saving throws by a value equal to your Bloodline modifier.

Blood History (Minor)
You have inherited the memories of your predecessors. You have advantage on all History checks made to recall events of the past, and once per day you may call upon those memories to gain advantage on any one skill check. This use recharges after a long rest.

Character Reading (Major)
After a round spent concentrating on a target, you gain advantage on Deception, Insight, or Persuasion checks made to assess or influence an individual. Note that your pauses between responses might be seen as suspicious by canny conversationalists.

You can also make a special Insight check (with advantage) to determine if the target is under any sort of compulsion, magical or otherwise. The Dungeon Master determines the DC of this check secretly.

Courage (Minor, Major, Great)
Minor: You have advantage on saving throws against any effect that can make you frightened.

Major: You and any allies within 10 feet of you have advantage on saving throws against any effect that can make you frightened.

Great: As above, and any units you command will never flee from an engagement unless destroyed or commanded to do so.

Death Touch (Minor, Major)
Minor: You may use the poison spray cantrip as a wizard of your level. You do not require a spellbook or material components to cast this spell.

Major: You may poison any individual, water source or food that you touch, at will. Anything that imbibes your poisoned substances must make a Constitution saving throw or become poisoned (Bloodline is your casting ability for this power).

Detect Illusion (Minor)
The scion has advantage on saving throws against any illusion spell that allows a save.

Direction Sense (Minor)
You always know which direction is north, regardless of your place above or below ground.

Scions of Reynir can never lose their way in wilderness or rural settings. You do not need to make checks to determine if you or your party become lost, unless the setting is unnatural (such as the horrible landscape of the Shadow World).

Scions of Masela can never become lost at sea. You can innately navigate by the stars and by your own supernatural senses. However, you must be familiar with any land mass you wish to travel to; you do not have preternatural knowledge of continents you have not visited.

Divine Aura (Major, Great)
Your mantle of power and nobility naturally influences individuals around you. Any NPC who would begin their interaction with you as Indifferent is instead Friendly. Hostile NPCs are unaffected.

Major: You may use the enthrall spell once per day. This use recharges after a long rest.

Great: As above, and beginning at 5th level you may use either the hypnotic pattern or fear spell (but not both in one day) once per day. This use recharges after a long rest.

Divine Wrath (Major)
Once per day as a bonus action, you may add your Bloodline modifier to attack and damage rolls with melee or ranged weapons for 1 minute.

Elemental Control (Great)
The element of Anduiras is air, for he was lord of the skies and all that crowns the world. Basaia, as a sun goddess, was affiliated with fire. Masela's domain was the sea, and elemental water is hers to command. Reynir was the everlasting earth, and his elemental power is similarly aligned.

You may speak the language of the elementals you are affiliated with. You will always be neutral with elementals of that type unless they are summoned and bound to attack you by a controlling entity.

At 7th level, you may cast the conjure lesser elementals spell once per day, but only to summon elementals of your affiliated type. This use recharges after a long rest.

At 9th level, you may also cast the conjure elemental spell once per day, but only to summon elementals of your affiliated type. This use recharges after a long rest.

Enhanced Sense (Minor, Major)
Anduiras, Minor: You may use divine sense as a paladin once per day. If you are also a paladin, you gain additional use of this ability. This ability recharges after a long rest.

Anduiras, Major: You may clearly see someone's bloodline strength and derivation by looking at them. While this does not give you the numeric ability score, you can determine whether they are tainted, minor, major, great, or true at a glance and which derivation of divine blood they possess.

Azrai, Minor: You have darkvision out to 60 feet. If you already possess darkvision, your range is increased by 60 feet.

Azrai, Major: You automatically detect creatures with a Bloodline score equal to or greater than 20 within 100 feet and can pinpoint their location. You know the nature and relative strength of such creatures (a low-level scion with a Great bloodline might register to you as weak, while a terrible awnsheghlien would be sensed as an extreme danger). You can also automatically detect places where there is a strong connection to the Shadow World while standing in them.

Basaia, Minor: Your distance vision is sublime. You do not suffer disadvantage for firing ranged weapons at long range.

Basaia, Major: You may see through any magical darkness effects as though they did not exist.

Brenna: Your hearing is especially acute, and you have advantage on any Perception or Investigation checks associated with hearing. You cannot be deafened.

Masela, Minor: You are unaffected by conditions of extreme wind or rain, and do not suffer any disadvantage to skill checks or attack rolls as a result of these conditions.

Masela, Major: You can hear your name spoken, as well as what is said about you, anywhere within 10 miles of your position. Both you and the speaker must be outdoors at the time.

Reynir: You have advantage on any Survival checks made to track opponents. In addition, you have advantage on checks made to Forage for food in the wilderness.

Vorynn, Minor: You may use the augury spell once per day as a ritual. This use recharges after a long rest.

Vorynn, Major: You may use the divination spell beginning at 7th level, once per day as a ritual. This use recharges after a long rest.

Fearsome Mein (formerly just Fear) (Major)
Once per day as a bonus action, by either touch or a weapon attack, you may force your target to make a Wisdom saving throw or be affected by the fear spell. Bloodline is your spellcasting ability for this power. This ability recharges after a long rest.

Healing (Minor, Major, Great)
Minor: You may use the Lay on Hands ability of a paladin, but only to heal wounds (not to cure conditions). If you are also a paladin, your total pool of hit points per long rest is increased by 10, and you do not suffer the restriction.

Major: You may also use this pool to cure diseases or neutralize poison, just as a paladin might. If you are also a paladin, you need only expend 3 hit points from your pool to cure one of these conditions, rather than 5.

Great: You increase your healing pool by your Bloodline modifier times your level.

Iron Will (Minor)
You have advantage on saving throws against charm or enchantment effects.

Long Life (Minor, Major, Great)
Minor: Your maximum lifespan is increased by 50%.

Major: Your maximum lifespan is increased by 100%.

Great: Your maximum lifespan is increased by 200%.

Poison Sense (Minor)
Once per day, you may use the detect poison and disease spell. This ability recharges after a long rest.


Protection from Evil (Major)
Once per day as a bonus action, you may use the protection from evil and good spell on yourself. However, the protection only applies against aberrations, fiends, and undead. This ability recharges after a long rest.

Regeneration (Great)
Whenever you take a short rest, you regain an additional number of hit points equal to your Bloodline modifier for each hit die you expend. At the end of a long rest, you recover all expended hit dice, rather than the usual half your total.

You automatically succeed on death saving throws. If someone wishes to dispatch you, they must see it done personally and not wait for you to bleed out.

Shadow Form (Great)
Azrai's corruption slowly transforms your body into a shadowy creature.

Beginning when you take this power, creatures from the Shadow World will be neutral to you, as though you were native to that world. They will not generally attack you unless provoked, but are not beholden to follow your commands.

At 3rd level, you may use an action become shadowy and translucent for up to 10 minutes per day, as though affected by the blur spell. You do not need to use these 10 minutes concurrently. Each transformation must last at least one minute.

At 5th level, you gain advantage on Stealth checks made while attempting to hide in any location with dim or darker lighting. You gain resistance to necrotic damage and do not suffer from difficult terrain while transformed as per your third level power.

At 9th level your transformation becomes even more powerful, turning you invisible in conditions of darkness (so that even creatures with darkvision cannot make you out), and you become resistant to non-magical physical attacks.

Touch of Decay (Great)
Once per day as a bonus action, you can invoke this power to cause the next bare-handed touch you make to cause 2d8 + Bloodline modifier damage to inanimate objects. This attack can also affect unliving objects such as material undead or golems, at the DM's discretion. This ability recharges after a long rest.

Unfortunately, sometimes this power manifests spontaneously. Each day you must make a Bloodline saving throw against DC 5. If this saving throw fails, you destroy a random non-magical object in your possession.

Travel (Great)
Your bloodline enables you to transport to familiar locations, with some restrictions. You may take yourself plus one other individual per level along on your journeys. You must be familiar with the destination you wish to teleport to, and it must be a place in keeping with your derivation's restrictions.

Traveling takes an action of preparation time, assuming the conditions are correct for you to do so on both ends of your journey.

Azrai: You may enter the Shadow World to travel to your destination. This form of travel must be done between the sunset and sunrise, and both the entry and exit points must be in place where the Shadow World is near to the living world (such as in a graveyard, a deep cavern, or a bloody battlefield).

Basaia: Your entry and exit points must be in a fire large enough to immerse your entire body. You are protected during the transition, but those following you must find a way to protect themselves from the flames.

Brenna: Your entry and exit points must be standing on a road, path, or trail.

Masela: Your entry and exit points must be accessible by water, and you must be partially immersed in order to conduct the travel.

Vorynn: You can only transport at night, during moonrise or moonset.

Unreadable Thoughts (Minor)
You have advantage on saving throws against spells that attempt to read your thoughts. Attempts to use Insight to determine your motives are at disadvantage.

Conclusion

Lots of stuff to comb through, to be sure, and lots of iteration yet to come. I won't pretend this was perfect the first time around, but I think I made a pretty decent go at it. Next time I'll touch on any revisions to all of this, and then move on to a new subject.

Disinterred Eldricity: Bloodlines and Derivations

This is where we start doing New and Exciting things. Let's dig in, there's a lot to cover and this will span multiple articles. First, we're going to cover what the Bloodline score is and how you choose derivation.

To Be or Not to Be (Blooded)

This is a choice players will make at first level. It is a simply yes or no answer, with no obligation to actually be the ruler of a domain if one does say yes. Birthright generally assumes players will want to do this, but most individuals in the setting completely lack any of the ancient bloodlines. Nor does a lack of bloodline preclude one from actually holding a title or position within a court; most NPC nobles and courtiers won't have a bloodline.

There is no boost that a player gets for decided to be unblooded. In and of itself, the lack of bloodline takes some pressure and sometimes-unwelcome attention off of the character, for those who possess a bloodline tend to have greatness thrust upon them or enemies that spring up to steal their birthright. At worst, this comes at the tip of a tighmaevril sword.

In AD&D, unblooded characters had a special 10% bonus to experience earned; nowadays, that's just asking for tracking and player level-disparity annoyances, so I am opting not to use it.

Lore-wise, the bloodlines are the actual divine right to rule. A character with a bloodline possesses a sort of magical fallout from a historical event that slew the gods. The bloodline passes from parent to child, but it is not purely inheritance that can drive the sharing of bloodlines. Certain powerful rituals, fell magic, or terrible weapons can imbue others with bloodlines, even if they never possessed an ancestor that had one. In good cases, this is known as investiture. In bad ones, this is called usurpation or "bloodtheft".

It is also important to determine whether the character wishes to rule a domain. We'll touch on that in another article as well (there's going to be a lot of cross-references going on, since this is a huge system to convert).

The Bloodline Ability Score

Players who elect to have a bloodline possess a seventh ability score, aptly named Bloodline. This ability score, like the others, ranges from 1 to 20 for player characters, with higher numbers representing a stronger and more pure lineage. It is listed along with the other ability scores and possesses a modifier and saving throw, as though it were any other score. It may also be raised with ability score increases gained by earning levels.

New characters using the standard array gain an 11 to place where they wish (making your standard array consist of 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 8). Point-buy gains an extra 3 points to distribute. Those who opt to roll simply roll for an additional ability score assignment. All of this is in line with the suggested addition of a new ability score as presented in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

Bloodline has a second axis of measurement in its bloodline strength. This is measured as follows:

1-8: Tainted
9-14: Minor
15-19: Major
20-24: Great
25+: True

Like other ability scores, players cannot acquire higher than a 20 through natural means. As a rule, player characters are never intended to attain True bloodline strength, as these are relegated to awnsheghlien and other creatures of extreme power or who were at the Battle of Deismaar (that is, the event that created the divine lineages in the first place).

The Bloodline score does not naturally drive any skills or proficiencies, nor is any class or race naturally proficient in Bloodline saving throws or skill checks. It will sometimes be used as an additional modifier on certain checks or when determining events and acquisitions during the domain turn, which I'll get into much later on. Bloodline saving throws are used to resist severe damage from certain powerful magic spells, terrible events happening in a domain that you own, or attacks from tighmaevril weapons, which can steal bloodline power directly from victims (though are thankfully extremely rare).

A higher Bloodline may also change the form and power of any blood abilities that a player might possess. More on these later as well. Generally, if you want to play a blooded character that is exceedingly good at managing and ruling their domain, or who wants very strong bloodline abilities, you want your Bloodline score to be high.

Why did I do it this way instead of a brute import? Well, the bloodline strength scale carries forward nicely into the ability score scale. It uses a familiar mechanic that integrates neatly into the system of skill checks, conflict resolution, and general measurement purposes of D&D, rather than being a bolt-on that doesn't always fit.

I loved old AD&D Birthright, but there are very good reasons to update it and make it jive with the rest of the new edition, not the least of which is balance and cleanup. All of this would function fine if you simply riveted everything from page 20 of the rulebook onto 5th edition, if that's your fancy. Also, if you like building Frankenstein's monsters.

Bloodline Derivations

The next step is to determine your bloodline derivation. This determines which ancient, now-dead deity from whence your power springs, and blood abilities you may receive. There are seven derivations to select from:

1. Anduiras (nobility and war)
2. Azrai  (the face of evil and shadow)
3. Basaia (the Queen of the Sun)
4. Brenna (commerce and fortune)
5. Masela (the Lady of the Seas)
6. Reynir (the woods and the streams)
7. Vorynn (the moon and magic)

There is no rule regarding which dead deity your power springs from, and even heroic characters can be cursed with the blood of Azrai. It is worth noting that Azrai's blood is seen as a terrible omen, and those with it often become awnsheghlien. Still, it can be an excellent roleplaying hook to fight the cursed blood that runs in your veins to do great deeds -- or conversely, use the prestige of Anduiras to your own cruel and tyrannical ends.

The available powers of these derivations are themed accordingly; I will be greatly trimming down the old list, merging and tearing out completely in order to achieve serenity and banish the gods of cruel randomness. It may be argued by some that this was flavor, but dollars to donuts that flavor would be abhorrent if those individuals rolled bloodmark while the other guy got fear.

Blood Ability Selection

After selection one's derivation, the player may choose a single blood ability from those available to that derivation. Some abilities cannot be selected unless the player's bloodline strength is a particular category; these are inherently stronger abilities, and even if a player does not qualify right away, they may further down the road.

How, you might ask? Well, here's how -- a feat! 

Power of the Blood

Prerequisites: You possess a Bloodline score.

Effect: Your Bloodline score increases by 1. You may select one blood ability for which you qualify at the time you take this feat. If the Bloodline increase granted by this feat improves the strength of your bloodline to a new category, you may select the new ability as though you were that bloodline strength.

Since you can potentially be playing a variant human with a free feat, nothing stops you from taking this and grabbing two blood abilities at first level, if you so desire. Taking it later on may ensure you qualify for a better ability from your derivation's list.

But what are the abilities? I have tons of work to do on that front still, so we'll touch on that next time. I welcome feedback and questions (and have made the comment system a bit more open; it was said that people's comments were vanishing because I made it too strict, but I prefer to avoid spam and random hostility from drive-bys).

Disinterred Eldricity: Class Act

As a setting steeped wholly in the tropes and trappings of its home edition, Cerilia has a few conflicts we need to resolve in order to determine the way we do classes. As previously hinted at, there are some race/class combinations that simply do not exist in the history of the setting, and in most cases it is historically imperative that this remain true.

One of the primary reasons elves continued to lose ground against the relentless humans as they trudged across Cerilia in the early days of recorded history is the fact that the elves completely lacked divine magic. Elves are far more in tune with the magic of the land (mebhaigl, as the setting calls it, pronounced "MEE-vahl" because who cares about consonants), and make natural wizards, but they never had clerics as the humans did.

This is an important setting distinction, one that's pretty hard to handwave unless you modify the history a bit (or simply imply that the elves lost just because humans are fecund and relentless). Introducing old edition class restrictions seems like an unwelcome throwback, given how later editions of D&D are all about player choice and open selection of classes.

"Dwarf mages from 3rd edition onward? Preposterous!" 

- Some guy, probably 

My take is going to keep the idea of restricted class access based on race. It both keeps the important historical elements and also provides crucial flavor for the setting, but I introduce a possible solution below if someone just really, really wants to play a historically-improbable character.

Elves

Elves are restricted from belonging to the cleric, druid, and paladin classes. They have access to some minor magical healing via bards if they so choose, but divine magic is simply not the purview of the elves -- even the druid, which in other settings is iconic for elves. Druids are the priests of the nature god Erik, worshiped by humans.

Dwarves

Dwarves are restricted from belonging to the bard, eldritch knight fighter path, arcane trickster rogue path, sorcerer, wizard, and warlock classes. Cerilian dwarves are not magically endowed, but have access to divine magic as normal. Though nothing explicitly forbids them, you'll almost never see a dwarven Erik priest (also known as a druid).

Halflings

Halflings are restricted from belonging to the eldritch knight fighter path, sorcerer, and wizard classes. I feel as though a strong enough case can be made for the iconic halfling bard, as well as the arcane trickster. Halfling warlocks seem unusual, but Great Old One path warlocks, reflavored for Shadow World entities, are very appropriate in my opinion (see below for more about warlocks). They wouldn't be Lovecraftian monstrosities, but eldritch creatures that still dwell in the Shadow World, or dead gods, might be suitable sources of power.

While my approach is heavy-handed, nothing stops you from allowing a very determined player to belong to one of these forbidden combinations. I can see a strong case being made for elf Oath of the Ancients paladins, for example. It should be very clear that the player is an abnormality -- perhaps the dwarf sorcerer's power is a strange manifestation of their bloodline abilities, or the elf druid believes more in living in harmony with humans and nature than remaining isolated and bitter towards everyone else.

It should remain clear that they are unique, however, and no NPCs of those race/class combination exist in significant numbers.  

Modifications or Special Rules for Classes

There are a few classes that have a hard time fitting into Cerilia. For a purist interpretation of the setting, some changes need to be made.

The monk's theme and powers have a hard time translating into any of the cultures in the setting, and they're really iffy to reflavor into something like a battle friar or pugilist. You could potentially have a dead-set player who wants to be a monk come from a different part of the world (of which extremely little is known or catalogued). They would be a fish out of water, and having them also be blooded would border on ridiculously unlikely.

Sorcerer also has some problems, but mostly because of the setting's take on arcane magic and how it is made available. It's less egregious than the monk, however, and a case could be made for the draconic sorcerer who spent too much time (wittingly or unwittingly) near Cerilia's staggeringly powerful and ancient dragons. Like the possibility for the elf cleric or the dwarf wizard, you would be playing an exception to the rule and likely be alone in the world.

Some players and DMs are cool with that though! Far be it from me to say that it should Never Be Done.

Even more brow-furrowing than outright forbiddance is the restriction on wizards. Standard Birthright wholly prohibits unblooded/non-elven or half-elven individuals from accessing higher magic in the setting; mechanically, spells belonging to schools other than illusion and divination above second level. Given the restriction, it is extremely unlikely that players would choose to play a non-elven or half-elven wizard (known as a magician) unless they are also blooded, though sometimes you get those wacky players that love the self-imposed challenge. Magicians should otherwise be relegated to NPC only.

I think, and I'm drawing this from the PDF I keep linking, that it is reasonable to extend this to third level if someone really wants to be a magician. Of course, third level spells contain the Combat Trifecta -- that is, fireball, lightning bolt, and haste. The latest edition has good mechanics for making two of these stronger by using higher level spell slots, so even an unblooded magician has the potential for suitable destructiveness (though nasty stuff like cloudkill and meteor swarm remains forever out of their reach unless they somehow become blooded later on).

Of course, this restriction complicates the hybrid class paths for fighter and rogue (eldritch knight and arcane trickster, respectively), but they don't even get fourth level magic until levels 19 and 20 (and even then, only one spell). I feel they can break this restriction so as not to create a tracking problem for two measly levels that most campaigns never even reach.

The bard is kind of a gray area. They're arcane, but they also have a smattering of traditionally "cleric" spells. Do they have the same restriction? I'm leaning toward no -- an elven bard does slip in the possibility of magical healing that may fly in the face of their setting-traditional lack of healing magic, but in no sane universe is a 5th edition bard going to be the party's main combat healer in difficult combats (and if they are, that DM needs to amp up the challenge a little, in my humble opinion!).

The warlock remains untouched, and my justification for that is that the power of a warlock does not come from Cerilia's unique magic-of-the-land, but an external source such as a powerful fiend (demons and devils are extremely rare to see summoned, it seems), archfey (who would be acting as a conduit from the land themselves, or powerful unknowable entity from the Shadow World -- or even a particularly strong awnsheghlien (for the uninitiated, someone or something that has a mighty bloodline but is highly evil and corrupted).

Barring any revisions I may want to do based on comments and feedback I receive, I think this will be the only part I do on classes. Next we start into stuff that is completely rebuilt and not just converted, that being the addition of the Bloodline ability score as well as how players go about creating a blooded scion.

Disinterred Eldricity: Cerilian Races 2.0

Revisions!

The more I looked at it and mulled it over, the less I am excited about my proposed variants for Cerilian races. Ultimately it feels unnecessary to change the foundation of a thing that works, and the Cerilian demihumans most of all seem like they would function perfectly well without such drastic modification. And let's face it, no one likes giving up their favorite toy in exchange for one they may not like.

My new proposal is less drastic, but still supported by rules put in place by the Powers That Be (that is, D&D developers). My new proposal for these races revolves around Racial Feats, even for humans. This way, we're not reinventing the wheel, but still giving players something to make them more like the "ideal" Cerilian representations of their given race.

As such, Cerilian dwarves are identical to the mountain dwarf from the Player's Handbook in all respects. However, I introduce a new racial feat to represent their preternaturally dense bodies.

Tough as Stone  

Prerequisites: You must be a dwarf to take this feat. 

Effect: Your Constitution score increases by 1. Your incredibly dense body is as tough to break as the mountain stone. You gain resistance to bludgeoning damage.

Simple, right? That's all there is to it. Since dwarf PCs do not gain their first feat until (potentially, if they forego the attribute point increases) fourth level, this suitably delays the effectiveness of the power and gives it a trade-off. It also doesn't force the player to pick "crappier mountain dwarf" just to get two points of bludgeoning damage resistance that they may not even want.

Cerilian elves were already almost identical to wood elves, but my proposal gave them a point of Intelligence instead of Wisdom. Here's another angle using a racial feat.

Ancient Blood 

Prerequisites: You must be an elf or half-elf to take this feat. 

Effect: Your Intelligence score increases by 1. Whenever you are in a province with a Source rating, you add one third of of its Source rating (rounded down, minimum 1) to the outcome of ability checks (skills and saving throws included).

Crazy strong-looking, right? Elves are most powerful in their ancient, primeval domains, where Source ratings are highest. In most provinces, the rating is anywhere from 1 to 4, depending on how developed it is. They are treacherous on their home turf, which is super in-theme for elves in this setting.

(If Source ratings went over your head, don't worry; I'll get to that in a later chapter. It's basically how strong the magic is in a given piece of land.)

Cerilian halflings are (seeing my pattern?) pretty much just stout halflings from the Player's Handbook. They get their Lucky feature back, and their racial feat becomes the following:

From Shadow 

Prerequisites: You must be a halfling to take this feat.

Effect: Your Wisdom score increases by 1. You gain the following abilities:

• As an action, you may open your awareness to know the location of any fey, fiend, or undead with 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the type of being whose presence you sense, but not its unique identity. Within the same radius, you can detect the presence of magic from the necromantic school. You must complete a short or long rest before you can use this ability again.
• The halfling may also use the misty step spell while standing in any condition of dim or darker lighting (such as a crowded tavern, a wilderness cave, or conditions or moon or starlight). You must complete a short or long rest before you can use this ability again.
• Upon reaching 7th level, the halfling may also use the dimension door spell under the same conditions. You must complete a long rest before you can use this ability again.

To that end, I think the humans can get racial feats as well, rather than introducing a whole bunch of new subrace variants to the existing base human and variant human.

Culturally Anuirean

Prerequisites: You must be a human descended from Anuirean blood and not possess any other cultural human feats.

Effect: Your Charisma score increases by 1. You are considered to have proficiency and advantage on any History checks made to identify heraldry, quote Anuirean laws, or recall historical events taking place in Anuire or as they relate to Anuirean historical figures.

Culturally Brecht

Prerequisites: You must be a human descended from Brecht blood and not possess any other cultural human feats.

Effect: Your Dexterity score increases by 1. You have advantage on rolls made to determine the value of an object, identify its origin, or haggle over the price of goods. This also grants you advantage on saving throws to see through illusions.  

Culturally Khinasi

Prerequisites: You must be a human descended from Khinasi blood and not possess any other cultural human feats.

Effect: Your Intelligence score increases by 1.  You may choose to know one from among the following cantrips: dancing lights, friends, mending, or prestidigitation. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability.

Culturally Rjurik

Prerequisites: You must be a human descended from Rjuven blood and not possess any other cultural human feats.

Effect: Your Wisdom score increases by 1. You are unimpeded by difficult terrain caused by undergrowth or the entangle spell. Further, you will always have a neutral reaction with fey creatures unless you or your companions demonstrate hostile intentions.

Culturally Vos

Prerequisites: You must be a human descended from Vos blood and not possess any other cultural human feats. 

Effect: Your Strength score increases by 1. At the end of any turn in which you did not use the Attack, Cast a Spell, or Dodge actions, you may take a bonus action to make a single melee attack against any opponent in range.

I like this loads better than the last incarnation, that's for sure. Players can pick the variant human from the Player's Handbook to grab these feats up right away (for great statistical benefit), or choose the standard human and pick it up at 4th level in lieu of an ability score increase. No abrupt changes or taking away toys from players, while also allowing them to avoid being bland tofu if they so desire.

This does, of course, require the player to keep track of where they are descended from. A Dungeon Master should make sure no one claims to be a mutt of all five (or six, see below) cultural groups so they can pick any of the feats at their whim upon hitting 4th level. Though it certainly stands to reason they could be of mixed Anuirean/Brecht, Anuirean/Rjuven, Anuirean/Khinasi, or Brecht/Rjuven descent. I'd probably contend that mixed-blood Vos are rare since Vos parents would consider the offspring weak and abandon it, and any other parents would consider it a great shame.

New Stuff!

To that end, the new stuff I wanted to propose is fairly straightforward.

Half-elves are unchanged from the Player's Handbook. They have good ability score bonuses and racial powers, and Birthright half-elves were never particularly outstanding in any field, so if anything this is an upgrade. If you were really brave, you might even allow half-elves to take the cultural feats that are allowed to humans...

Khinasi lands are home to a second tribal group that crossed over to Cerilia and were subjugated by the Basarji (the precursors to the Khinasi people). The Masetians have all but sublimated into Khinasi society, but there are undoubtedly small pockets of its cultural traditions hidden throughout the vast territories of the Khinasi.

There's precious little documented about this culture (even within the Cities of the Sun splatbox), but they are implied to be a spiritual and willful people. Let's use that as a springboard.

Culturally Masetian

Prerequisites: You must be a human descended from Masetian blood and not possess any other cultural human feats.

Effect: Your Wisdom score increases by 1. You have advantage on saving throws against charms and enchantments.

I feel that this isn't too overboard. Masetians are little more than a footnote in most Birthright books, and we know next to nothing about what the designers intended for them.

So that should cover it for the races of Cerilia (until I do a bonus entry for crazy stuff like goblin and orog characters!), and I can move on to a new chapter. Next time I'll do an entry on classes, which may have some controversial resurgence of Old Design (gasp!) for the sake of keeping the theme of the original Birthright. Stay tuned!

Disinterred Eldricity: Humans of Cerilia

Harbinger remarked to me that "humans are tofu" in pretty much any incarnation of D&D. They are, as designed, made to be the most flexible of the player races and easily adapted to any class that they select. In 5th edition D&D, this is a streak yet unbroken.

I don't generally share Harbinger's dislike of the tofu race as it stands, but it does lead to humans being kind of bland in comparison to the ancient elves, the stalwart dwarves, and the myriad other races. I feel like, in Cerilia, the standard and variant humans are perfectly serviceable, but given the intense focus on the cultural differences of the humans of the setting, it is completely reasonable to present a handful of variants based on those cultures.

Each of the Cerilian human races has its own real-world cultural base, and it's tricky to do this in a manner that is sensitive to some of those cultures. While they are indeed fantasy cultures, the ones they are based on are certainly real, and you kind of don't want to be a jerk by stereotyping them in a statistical manner. Nevertheless, there are aspects unique to those cultures that can make for a compelling and enjoyable "Cerilian variant human" for player characters.

Human, Anuirean

The humans of Anuire are "semifeudal and based on a class of free farmers and craftsmen", as defined by the Birthright rulebook. They have strong traditions and respect nobility and civilization, and the amount of politicking that goes on between the various classes of citizens means that most Anuireans know how to talk the talk.

As such, my proposal is this:

Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Skills: You gain proficiency in either the History skill or the Persuasion skill, at your discretion.
Military Service: Most domains have a tradition of raising peasant levies to defend their borders, or training noble sons and daughters to protect themselves. You are proficient in simple weapons and light armor.
Revered Traditions: You are considered to have proficiency and advantage on any History checks made to identify heraldry, quote Anuirean laws, or recall historical events taking place in Anuire or as they relate to Anuirean historical figures.
Languages: You speak Anuirean and one other language of your choice.

This variant human loses the free feat, has a choice of two skills, some free weapon and armor proficiencies, and is an excellent scholar of history. They have a somewhat stronger ability score selection compared to other humans, and make excellent paladins and courtiers. The free ability score point also lets them add it to Bloodline if they so choose (of course, if you wanted to use the standard and PHB variant humans, they could add it to that too; this makes standard non-variant human slightly more powerful).

Human, Brecht

The Brechts are clearly based on the Mediterranean trading cultures of the early Renaissance, taking cues from Greek, Italian, and even some mild Turkish influence. They are the preeminent trading culture of Cerilia, and they are ruled less by nobles and more by the powerful trading guilds and merchant houses of the area.

Ability Score Increase: Your Wisdom and Charisma score each increase by 1, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Skills: You have proficiency in Persuasion.
Keen Eye for Value: You have advantage on rolls made to determine the value of an object, identify its origin, or haggle over the price of goods. This also grants you advantage on saving throws to see through illusions.
Languages: You speak Low Brecht and one other language of your choice.

Brechts have good ability flexibility and break the mold by having three different ability score increases (albeit minor). Keen Eye for Value has good roleplaying use, but also a powerful mechanic to combat illusions; it's hard to fool a savvy Brecht.

Human, Khinasi

The Khinasi are somewhat unusual in Cerilian human cultures in that they do not generally fear magic -- it is indeed considered a noble calling, and Khinasi magic-users are welcomed in courts across Cerilia (save those of Vosgaard, of course). They have more "modern" cultural mores than the rest of the Cerilian nationalities, respecting gender and class of birth equally and with laws that treat all of their people fairly. In practice, of course, this may vary, but the Khinasi are an enlightened culture as a whole.

As a side note, if you can get your hands on the Cities of the Sun splatbooks (splatbox?) they are worth it for the cultural information alone. Beautiful stuff, kudos to Rich Baker.

Ability Score Increase: Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Skills: You are proficient in one skill of your choice.
Magical Traditions: The Khinasi respect for magic encourages everyone to try to learn at least the basics. You may choose to know one from among the following cantrips: dancing lights, friends, mending, or prestidigitation. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability.
Languages: You speak Basarji and one other language of your choice.

Khinasi make awesome magicians, and even non-magical Khinasi know a trick or two (it's kind of like a pseudo-gnome, but Cerilia has no gnomes). Their Intelligence bonus may be a bit out of line, and I encourage discussion on that point. I can't say I'm sold on it just yet, but they are the most educated Cerilian culture.

Also, for a bonus in the next article, I'll take a crack at a variant for the other Khinasi subculture, the Masetians.

Human, Rjurik

No bones about it, the Rjurik are very Scandinavian in theme. They are also the culture with the most druids, and their lands are rough and hardscrabble, steeped in ancient magic and populated by spirits both benign and hostile. Their worship of the Cerilian pantheon's nature deity, Erik, gives them a great respect for the forests and their inhabitants. I dare say they are the most likely to get along with Cerilia's elves, who are generally pretty hostile to humans (for good reason).

Ability Score Increase: Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Skills: You are proficient in the Survival skill.
Respect of Nature: You are unimpeded by difficult terrain caused by undergrowth or the entangle spell. Further, you will always have a neutral reaction with fey creatures unless you or your companions demonstrate hostile intentions.
Languages: You speak Rjuven and one other language of your choice.

Rjurik humans make excellent druids and rangers, naturally. Their Respect of Nature ability can be powerful when fighting enemies in wooded territory, or when needing to negotiate with wild spirits. They might be a bit too specialized, so I'm not 100% on the Rjurik yet. I may "errata" them later on (as I may with any other presented material).

Human, Vos

The Vos are as brutal and unforgiving as their homeland. The weak perish, the strong rule, and those in between suffer at the mercy of their tsarevos. Despite their barbaric traditions, the Vos have a strong code of honor, albeit one that calls for bloodshed at even the slightest offense.

Ability Score Increase: Your Strength and Constitution scores increase by 1, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Skills: You are proficient in Athletics. No Vos survives without rigorous physical training.
Savage: At the end of any turn in which you did not use the Attack or Dodge action, you may take a bonus action to make a single melee attack against any opponent in range.
Languages: You speed Vos and one other language of your choice.

Breaking the "rule" again by giving the Vos three minor ability score increases, and making them very heavily bent toward fighter-type classes. The Savage ability may be too much, and its wording may need to be clarified. Originally, I didn't have the Dodge action listed. You lose the ability to make extra attacks, if your class allows for it, but up until you get them, there's no reason NOT to Dodge every turn you're in melee combat.

It may be too edge-case without it, so I may take it out entirely on a future iteration.

So that's what I came up with for now. Next time, I'll hit half-elves, Masetians, do some errata on previous entries, and do some brooding on whether or not to scrap this entirely and go for racial feats as hinted in the Elemental Evil Players Companion (PDF link!).