Magical power and fantastic features abound in the Forgotten Realms. Arcane secrets whisper to those with the ears to hear in the eons-long movement of the continents, in rushing river rapids, in every inhalation of beasts great and small, and in the sighing cries of the wind. Raw magic is the wild stuff of creation itself, the mute and mindless will of being, suffusing every bit of matter and coursing within every manifestation of energy throughout the world.

Wizards, warlocks, clerics, sorcerers, bards, paladins, and even rogues, fighters, rangers, and other adventurers call upon personally derived threads of magic to cast mighty spells, enforce pacts with enigmatic entities, heal injury, ward against evil, or accomplish physical feats that transcend purely mortal means.

Dangerous monsters, too, call up frightful magic to accomplish their deceitful ends. Aberrations spawned by ancient magic seethe below the earth and above it, hungry for flesh and knowledge alike, waiting for the chance to feed. Dragons whose blood runs with magic wield abilities so potent that gods and primordials alike fear to face the most ancient of these mighty beings. Undead fuel their mind and protect their corpses from dissolution by powerful necromantic rituals, especially liches, whose never-ending acquisition of arcane knowledge has propelled more than a few into contention with divine designs.

Indeed, magic is so bountiful in Abeir-Toril that even the land bristles with fantastic landscapes. Great motes of free-hanging earth balance on nothing but air, amazing all those who chance upon these mighty demonstrations of nature’s glory.

If fact, the Realms are so awash with magic that the world proved particularly vulnerable to a plague that fed on magic itself.

The Year of Blue Fire
“Learn ye well the lesson of the pebble that begets a landslide. Likewise a single betrayal unleashed the Spellplague, whose consequences yet dance and stagger across Toril, and beyond.”
--Elminster of Shadowdale, 1479 DR, Year of the Ageless One

An appalling magical event called the Spellplague afflicted (and still afflicts) the world in 1385 DR.

Despite its name, the Spellplague was much more than a disease. For one, it did not restrict itself to mere flesh. All things were meat to the Spellplague’s insatiable hunger—flesh, stone, magic, space, and perhaps even the flow of time was suborned. The world of Toril, its lost sibling Abeir, and even the planes themselves were infected with a plague of change.

Most suppose the Spellplague was the direct result of the goddess of magic’s murder at the hands of the god Cyric. Some whisper that Mystra’s death was achieved through the machinations of the goddess Shar, with Cyric her unwitting stooge.

This theory holds that the world’s magic was held so long in Mystra’s Weave that when the Weave lost its weaver, magic spontaneously and ruinously burst its bonds. Areas of wild magic, already outside the constraints of the Weave, touched off first when their boundaries misted suddenly away. But eventually, few parts of Toril and the planes beyond were unaffected.

The plague raged on and on in ever-widening spirals, leaving some places completely untouched (such as many northern lands of Faerыn, including Cormyr and the Swordcoast), and radically altering others (such as Muhorand, Unther, and points south). The plague passed into the realms of demons, gods, and lost souls—dividing some realms, joining others, and generally seeding chaos.

Near-mythical realms that had passed beyond easy reach were pulled back, such as the Feywild (called Faerie in ancient days). The home of demons fell through the cosmology, unleashing swarming evil before the Abyss found its new home beneath the Elemental Chaos.

Even the long forgotten world of Abeir burned in the plague of spells, despite having been unreachable and cut off from Faerыn for tens of millennia. Portions of Abeir’s landscape were transposed with areas of Toril in the disaster. Such landscapes included their living populations, and thus places such as Akanыl and Tymanther lie as if new-birthed on Faerыn’s face. Across the Trackless Sea, and entire continent of the lost realm reappeared (called Returned Abeir) subsuming the continent of Maztica.

The Spellplague was a potent direct agent of change, but it also set off a string of secondary catastrophes.

Effects on the Weave
For eons, the use of magic in Faerыn was focused through a god of magic, most recently Mystra. Except for certain Netherese wizards of ancient days who learned the truth, most believed that no magic would be possible without such a deity. However, with the death of Mystra and jealous Shar suppressing the ascension of a new deity of magic, it became common knowledge that magic is accessible without a god to control and codify it. Now when a spellcaster speaks of the Weave, she is just using another term for magic.

Effects on the Shadow Weave
Just as Mystra controlled the Weave, the goddess Shar controlled the Shadow Weave. Not satisfied with her portion, Shar plotted to seize control of both. She miscalculated. When Cyric murdered Mystra, the Weave collapsed so completely that Shar not only failed to gather up the fraying threads, she also lost control over the Shadow Weave.

Just as magic persists without Mystra, so does the dusky power of shadow endure without Shar acting as an intermediary. Powerful necromancers have developed their own unique methods for accessing the dim energies of the Shadowfell.

Effect on Spellcasters
Many creatures that learned to cast spells and channel magic with Mystra’s Weave found themselves powerless in the Spellplague’s wake. Some never regained their power. Others worked to attune themselves to the new magical environment. Many required years to regain this facility, while others never regained the knack. Others took shortcuts to reaquire the power they’d lost, swearing questionable pacts to enigmatic beings in return for the ability to utilize arcane powers.

Today, spellcasters access magic through a dizzying array of methods. Some murmur spells and incant rituals, some forge arcane bargains, and others pray for intervention. In truth, it seems that magic can be accessed in more ways than ever before, fueled by newfound knowledge of arcane, shadow, primal, and other sources of power.

Effect on Items
Most magic items that permanently store magic, such as magic swords, cloaks, and boots, survived the Spellplague and continue to operate normally. Permanent access to magic was "installed" in these devices when they were created, so even though the Weave was used in their making, the Weave no longer played any part in their continuing operation. That said, some items that temporarily stored “charges” of magic, such as wands and staffs created prior to the Spellplague, no longer work. If such items do work, they no longer work in the same way.

The secret of making magic items in a post-Weave world was relearned decades ago. Magic items are as plentiful as ever, as desperately sought by doughty adventurers, and as mysterious as they ever were.

Effects on the Landscape
Where magic was completely loosed, the Spellplague ate through stone and earth as readily as bone and spell. Broad portions of Faerыn’s surface collapsed into the Underdark, partially draining the Sea of Fallen Stars into the Glimmer Sea far below (and leaving behind a continent-sized pit called the Underchasm). The event splintered several of the Old Empires south of the drained sea into a wildscape of towering mesas, bottomless ravines, and cloud-scraping spires (further erasing evidence of the lands and kingdoms once situated there). Historical lands most changed by the Spellplague include Mulhorand, Unther, Chondath, and portions of Aglarond, the Sea of Fallen Stars, and the Shaar. What was once called Halruaa detonated and was destroyed when every inscribed and prepared spell in the nation went off simultaneously. This explosion was partly to blame for destroying the land bridge between Chult and the Shining South—only a scattered archipelago remains.

Tendrils of the Change Plague reached many other corners of Faerыn, sometimes directly across the landscape, othertimes bypassing great swathes of land by infecting both sides of the many two-way portals that once dotted the world.

Pockets of active Spellplague still exist today, most famously in the Changing Land. Referred to as plaguelands, each one is strange and dangerous. No two possess the exact same landscape or features, save for the fact that entering could lead one to be infected by the Spellplague. Luckily, remnant plaguelands possess only a fraction of the vigor demonstrated in the Spellplague’s initial appearance. These lingering Spellplague pockets are secreted away in hard-to-reach locales, often surrounded by twisted no-man’s land. Most of Faerыn and Returned Abeir are entirely free of such pockets, though the plaguechanged and spellscarred may appear in any land.

Effects on Creatures
When the initial wave of Spellplague infected a creature, object, or spell, the target usually dissolved into so much glowing, dissipating ash. However, sometimes living creatures survived the plague's touch but were altered, twisted, or fused to another creature or even a portion of the landscape. The initial Change Plague wave had no regard for boundaries or species, or the ability of a changed entity to survive with its new form, powers, and limitations. The most unlucky of these mewling, hideously changed survivors perished within a few days.

Luckily, the initial wave directly touched relatively few parts of Toril and Abeir. Moreover, not all creatures, objects, or spells touched by the original Spellplague were doomed, but to have survived meant having to accept change. Living creatures so affected are differentiated into two broad groups: plaguechanged and spellscarred.

Plaguechanged
A massive change in body and mind marks a creature that has survived contact with the original wave of the Spellplague during the Year of Blue Fire. Such survivors are called the Plaguechanged. Extreme alterations forge potent monstrosities in even the meekest flesh. Plaguechanged creatures are monsters, driven slightly insane by the viciousness of their metamorphosis. Few of this generation survive today, because the initial plague was so virulent, and the changes wrought were so extreme. What’s more, many decades have passed since the Spellplague’s end, so most plaguechanged creatures simply died in the interim. A few of the horrifying monstrosities remain, though, hidden away in various corners of the world.
Spellscarred
Spellscars are a phenomena of the present, gained when someone moves too close to a plagueland (where active Spellplague yet lingers), though sometimes spellscars afflict people who’ve never had any contact with rampant magic. Some individuals—heroes and villains alike—can gain spellscars and learn to master the powers inherent in them.

On rare occasions, a spellscar appears as a physical abnormality, but more often it is an intangible mark that only appears when its owner calls upon it. When this happens, a spellscar might appear as jagged cracks of blue fire racing out across a spellscarred’s forearms or hands, a corona of blue flame igniting the creature’s hair, a flaming blue glyph on the creature’s forehead, or perhaps even wings of cobalt flame. In many instances, an individual's sudden manifestation of blue fire is a reliable indicator of a spellscar.
Magic in the Year of The Ageless One
The ancient wonder of old magic yet lingers among the ruins of thousand-year-old empires, in crumbling towers of mad wizards, and in buried vaults of elder races. The modern marvels of living wizards, sorcerers, warlocks, clerics, druids, and other spellcasters stride the land as purposefully as they ever did, altering the world in small or large ways with each spell they cast. Indeed, without the divine restrictions of previous ages, magic is more abundant than ever, manifesting not only as inexplicable changes to the landscape, items, and creatures, but even in some of the most fantastic exploits of fighters, rogues, rangers, and other heroes. Magic truly does permeate all things. For all the changes wrought by the Mystra’s death, magic remains the lifeblood of Toril.

What We Hated
Early in the design process, Rob, James, and I identified a number of ways that we were unsatisified with D&D’s current death and dying rules. For example, we strongly disliked the inability of 3rd Edition D&D’s negative-hit-point model to deal with combat at higher levels—once the monsters are reliably dealing 15 or 20 points of damage with each attack, the chance of a character going straight from “alive and kicking” to “time to go through his pockets for loose change” was exceedingly high; effectively, the -1 to -9 “dying” range was meaningless. Ask any high-level fighter whether he’d prefer the second-to-last attack from a monster to leave him at 1 hp or -1 hp; I’d put odds on unconsciousness, and how lame is that?

Among other problems, this also meant that characters effectively had no way to “lose” a combat except by being killed. This removes a lot of dramatic possibilities for the story—for instance, the classic scene of the characters being captured and thrown in a cell from which they have to escape using only their wits and a pack of chewing gum (or whatever).

On top of all that, the game added a complex state of being at exactly 0 hp, which wasn’t quite like being fully capable but also wasn’t quite dying. Honestly, though, how often does any character actually get reduced to exactly 0 hp? Why did the game need a condition that existed at exactly one spot on the big, broad range of hit point possibilities?

What We Wanted
We wanted a death and dying system that added fun and tension at the table, scaled well to any level of play, and created the threat of PC mortality (without delivering on that threat as often as 3rd Edition did).

Characters had to feel that death was a possibility in order for combat to feel meaningful. If it seems impossible to be killed, much of the tension of combat disappears. However, if the majority of combats result in death (as is the case for a lot of high-level play in previous editions), the game is forced to reclassify death as a trivial obstacle in order to remain playable. 3rd Edition accomplished this with popular spells such as close wounds, delay death, and revivify—mandatory staples of any high-level cleric’s arsenal due purely to the commonality of death. But that removes the tension, and now what’s the point of death at all?

The system also had to be simple to remember and adjudicate at the table. Being able to keep the rule in your head is important, because you don’t want to be bogging the game down flipping through a book when a character is clinging to life by a thread—that should be high-tension time, not slowdown time!

Finally, it had to be believable within the heroic-fantasy milieu of D&D. (Believability isn’t the same thing as realism—an error which has ruined more games than I can count.) Put another way, it had to feel like D&D—one of those tricky “you know it when you see it” things.

What We Did About It
Back in 2005, this was obviously a much lower priority than, say, creating the new model for how classes and races worked, so we put it on the back burner to simmer. As the months passed, we and other designers proposed various models that tried to solve the conundrums set out above, varying from exceedingly abstract to witheringly simulationist. We playtested every model, from death tracks to life points, each time learning something different about what worked or didn’t work. A few times, we even temporarily settled on a solution, claiming that the playtesters only needed time to get used to our radical new ideas.

Side note to all those would-be game designers out there: When you hear yourself making that claim, you might be in danger of losing touch with reality. Sometimes you’re right, and your innovative game design concept just needs a little time to sink in. (The cycling initiative system used by 3rd Edition D&D is a good example of that—back in 1999, some very vociferous playtesters were convinced that it would ruin D&D combat forever. Turned out that wasn’t exactly true.) But every time you convince yourself that you know better than the people playing your game, you’re opening the possibility of a very rude (and costly) awakening.

Thankfully, our awakening came well before we released the game (or even before widescale playtesting began, for that matter). Despite some quite elegant concepts, none of our radical new ideas met all the criteria necessary, including simplicity, playability, fun, and believability.

The system had to be at least as simple to remember and at least as easy to play as what already existed. For all their other flaws, negative hit points are pretty easy to use, and they work well with the existing hit-point system.

It had to be at least as much fun as what already existed, and it had to be at least as believable as what already existed. In ideal situations, negative hit points create fun tension at the table, and they’re reasonably believable, at least within the heroic fantasy milieu of D&D, where characters are supposed to get the stuffing beaten out of them on a regular basis without serious consequences.

Every one of our new ideas failed to meet at least one of those criteria. Maybe they were playable but too abstract to feel fun or believable, or they were believable but too complicated to remember. Nothing worked, and I admit we experienced a couple of freak-out moments behind closed doors.

The Breakthrough
Eventually we got it through our heads that there wasn’t a radical new game mechanic just waiting to be discovered that would revolutionize the narrow window between life and death in D&D. What we really needed to do was just widen the window, reframe it, and maybe put in an extra pane for insulation. (OK, that analogy went off the tracks, but its heart was in the right place.)

Characters still use a negative hit point threshold to determine when they move from “unconscious and dying” to “all-the-way-dead,” but now that threshold scales with their level (or more specifically, with their hit point total). A character with 30 hit points (such as a low-level cleric) dies when he reaches -15 hit points, while the 15th-level fighter with 120 hp isn’t killed until he’s reduced to -60 hit points.

That may seem like an unreachable number, but it’s important to remember that monsters, like characters, aren’t piling on as many attacks on their turn as in 3rd Edition. At 15th level, that fighter might face a tough brute capable of dishing out 25 or 30 points of damage with its best attack… or nearly twice that on a crit. The threat of “alive-to-negative-everything” on a single hit remains in play, but it’s much less common than in the previous edition. That puts that bit of tension back where it belongs.

The new system also retains the “unconscious character bleeding out” concept, but for obvious reasons speeds it along a bit. (There’s not really any tension watching that 15th-level fighter bleed out at a rate of 1 hp per round for 30 or 40 rounds.) Thanks to some clever abstractions, the new system also removes the predictability of the current death timer. (“OK, Regdar’s at -2 hp, so we have 8 rounds to get to him. Yawn… time for a nap.”)

It’s also less costly to bring dying characters back into the fight now—there’s no “negative hit point tax” that you have to pay out of the healing delivered by your cure serious wounds prayer. That helps ensure that a character who was healed from unconsciousness isn’t in an immediate threat of going right back there (and you’ll never again have the “I fed Jozan a potion of healing but he’s still at negative hit points” disappointment).

Monsters don’t need or use this system unless the DM has special reason to do so. A monster at 0 hp is dead, and you don’t have to worry about wandering around the battlefield stabbing all your unconscious foes. (I’m sure my table isn’t the only place that happens.) We’ve talked elsewhere about some of the bogus parallelism that can lead to bad game design—such as all monsters having to follow character creation rules, even though they’re supposed to be foes to kill, not player characters—this is just another example of the game escaping that trap. Sure, a DM can decide for dramatic reasons that a notable NPC or monster might linger on after being defeated. Maybe a dying enemy survives to deliver a final warning or curse before expiring, or at the end of a fight the PCs discover a bloody trail leading away from where the evil warlock fell, but those will be significant, story-based exceptions to the norm.

Oh, and speaking of zero hit points? You’re unconscious and dying, just like every new player expects it should be. It’s not as harsh as the “dead at 0 hp” rule of the original D&D game, but it’s still not a place you want to be for long!

Try It Now!
If you want to try out a version of this system in your current game, try the following house rule. It’s not quite the 4th Edition system, but it should give you an idea of how it’ll feel.

1) At 0 hp or less, you fall unconscious and are dying.
Any damage dealt to a dying character is applied normally, and might kill him if it reduces his hit points far enough (see #2).

2) Characters die when their negative hit point total reaches -10 or one-quarter of their full normal hit points, whichever is a larger value.
This is less than a 4th Edition character would have, but each monster attack is dealing a smaller fraction of the character’s total hit points, so it should be reasonable. If it feels too small, increase it to one-third full normal hit points and try again.

3) If you’re dying at the end of your turn, roll 1d20.
Lower than 10: You get worse. If you get this result three times before you are healed or stabilized (as per the Heal skill), you die.
10-19: No change.
20: You get better! You wake up with hit points equal to one-quarter your full normal hit points.

4) If a character with negative hit points receives healing, he returns to 0 hp before any healing is applied.
In other words, he’ll wake up again with hit points equal to the healing provided by the effect—a cure light wounds spell for 7 hp will bring any dying character back to 7 hp, no matter what his negative hit point total had reached.)

5) A dying character who’s been stabilized (via the Heal skill) doesn’t roll a d20 at the end of his turn unless he takes more damage.

Left to themselves, halflings lived for ages. They formed close families and communities, centered on their wisest elders. Clans of halflings wandered creation, never stopping for long, and rarely claiming any particular spot as their own. Their traditions formed and survived among a population constantly on the move and influenced little by the ways of other races. Unassuming, resourceful and independent, halflings hardly ever attracted much notice.

But Avandra, the goddess of boldness, luck and travel, took note of the halflings traversing the world. It seemed to her as if these little people, whom she didn’t create, were hers nonetheless by virtue of the fact that they were living manifestations of her best-loved ideals. Halflings say Avandra smiled on them that day, adopting them as her people and blessing them with good fortune through their worldly struggles. Anyone who knows halflings has little doubt that chance is indeed on their side.

Halflings, for their part, hold fables such as these as true, and their rich oral tradition of such tales is an important part of their culture. Young halflings learn the lore of their people, clan and family from hearing stories. From these, halfling children also pick up lessons on morality and knowledge of many subjects. Outside the political struggles, wars, and other concerns of nations and empires, but widely traveled, halflings have observed and preserved what they learned in their common yarns.

Favorite sagas retell the life and deeds of halflings bold enough to strike out on their own to see the world, right a wrong, or accomplish a great task. Most halflings are practical folk, concerning themselves with the simple things in life. Adventurous halflings are of the same stripe but practice such habits in a different way. A halfling leaves the security of family and clan not for high ideals, fame, or wealth. Instead, he goes to protect his community or friends, to prove his own capabilities, or to merely see more of the world than his nomadic lifestyle can offer.

A halfling hero might be the size of a preteen human child, but he has quick feet, deft hands and quick wit. He is forthright, bold and nigh fearless. His talents run toward sneakiness and craftiness. Pluck and fortune carry him to success where others would fail. He is an expression of all that halflings esteem, and so he is a valuable ally and a daunting foe.

All this went into creating halflings for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons game. The popular halfling of 3rd Edition is only slightly re-imagined so the race’s mechanical elements make the story elements true. Halflings are still Small, even though they are not 3rd Edition’s versions—in which halflings are the size of 3- or 4-year old humans. They still make great rogues, but they also make good rangers. A few new aspects, such as a tweak to Charisma and a slight influence over luck, in addition to making halfling warlocks viable, reinforce the halfling as a lucky, loveable protagonist. A halfling can also be a hard-to-kill enemy sharp of tongue and blade.

In other words, halflings are exactly what veteran D&D players expect from the 4th Edition refinement to something that worked well in 3rd Edition. Similar flavor, mechanical underpinning to the story, and as much, if not more, fun.

Number One: Directing Damage
Don't play the warlord if your only idea of a good time is personally wreaking havoc on your foes. I love the name of the warlord class. I supported using the name instead of the original "marshal" name we'd drafted from 3rd Edition. But some players' first impression on hearing the name "warlord" is that the class must be tougher than all the other characters, the nastiest battlefield hack-and-slasher in the game. The warlord can hold his own in melee and will frequently save the day thanks to outright combat mojo, but every warlord is more effective as a commander than as a lone hero.

For example, the warlord's 1st-level daily attack power, pin the foe, does as much damage as the best of the fighter's 1st-level daily attack powers, brute strike. Pin the foe's advantage is that it locks down the target's movement whether the attack hits or misses. This pin effect only functions if the warlord has allies with him to team against the enemy. So the power might be a big enough hit to slay the enemy outright. But against an extremely tough foe, or when pin the foe misses, the power creates a tactical advantage that depends on teamwork between multiple party members to keep the target from shifting freely around the battlefield.

At that stage, with an enemy who is pinned and fighting to the last breath, the warlord isn't as likely to be the party member who gets in the killing blow. Take a look at the fighter's brute strike power again. While the warlord's cool 1st-level daily exploit sets up a teamwork benefit, brute strike has the keyword "Reliable," meaning that the power isn't expended if the attack misses. Eventually, as long as the fighter is alive to swing, that brute strike is going to connect -- the warlord doesn't have that certainty. If you're the player who always wants to be finisher, the party's sword-wielding ass-kicker, play a rogue, ranger, or a fighter who uses two-handed weapons.

Pin the Foe Warlord Attack 1
No matter where your foe turns, one of your allies is waiting for him.
Daily
Martial, Weapon
Standard Action
Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage.
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, the target cannot shift if at least two of your allies (or you and one ally) are adjacent to it.

Brute Strike Fighter Attack 1
You shatter armor and bone with a ringing blow.
Daily
Martial, Reliable, Weapon
Standard Action
Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage.

Number Two: Play Well with Others
This is the shiny-happy side of the previous commandment. Fourth edition has fundamentally selfish classes that care only about their own combat tricks and successes. Fourth edition also has extremely unselfish classes, and that's where the warlord fits in. Different players at the table are likely to take a different approach to the combat encounter portion of the game. If you enjoy cooperative games like Reiner Knezia's Lord of the Rings boardgame or Shadows over Camelot, you're much more likely to enjoy playing a warlord. For example, your warlord can provide the entire party with an extra movement option with a power such as white raven onslaught.

During the early stages of design, we often used a sports metaphor, casting the warlord as the quarterback. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure quarterback is the right analogy -- after all, quarterbacks tend to land a huge percentage of the glory, MVP awards, and Hollywood girlfriends! Basketball point guard may be a more apt comparison. Not every combat depends on the warlord/point guard, but they distribute benefits the rest of the party thrives on. Without the warlord's assists, the party is often left only to its own devices, which might not be enough to triumph in a given encounter. You can operate without a warlord, but when you get to the playoffs against powerful competition, parties that don't have a warlord (or possibly some other to-be-designed tactical leader) have a rougher time of it. If you feel a glow of accomplishment when your assists combine with your attacks' damage to help the party succeed, the warlord is for you.

White Raven Onslaught Warlord Attack 1
You lead the way with a powerful attack, using your success to create an opportunity for one of your allies. Each of your comrades in turn seizes on your example and begins to display true teamwork.
Daily
Martial, Weapon
Standard Action
Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage, and you slide an adjacent ally 1 square. Until the end of the encounter, whenever you or an ally within 10 squares of you makes a successful attack, the attacker slides an adjacent ally 1 square.
Miss: Choose one ally within 10 squares. Until the end of the encounter, the ally slides an adjacent ally 1 square after making a successful attack.

Number Three: Order Up!
If you often find yourself suggesting a tactical course of action to your fellow players, the warlord might be for you. Back when we designed the original version of the marshal class for the Miniatures Handbook, the marshal owed a good deal to the vision and example of Skaff Elias. Skaff is famous for having excellent suggestions for what other players should be doing with their turns. The warlord class, as a descendant of the marshal, is partly an exercise in turning that sometimes annoying habit into a positive contribution that will be appreciated by other players, rather than resented.

Iron dragon charge is an example of how we're trying to make this type of guidance a welcome addition to another character's glory. Getting to charge as an immediate reaction when it's not your turn is a fantastic addition to any melee character's life, not an onerous order that forces your ally to spend their turn following your commands. Few players complain when the warlord in the party uses a well-timed exploit to give their PC a charge, another basic attack, or the chance to shift away from encroaching foes. Ditto for warlord powers that simultaneously allow the warlord to attack and inspire his allies to attempt a saving throw or recover hit points.

The warlord doesn't have unlimited license to boss other players around. Taken to extremes, that style of gameplay is still annoying. But if you're the type of player who loves studying tactical situations and trying to puzzle out the best way to get everyone through alive, the warlord provides roleplaying hooks and flexible powers to support your play style in a way that will endear you to your allies.

Iron Dragon Charge Warlord Attack 9
Like a rampaging iron dragon, you hurl yourself at your adversary, landing a terrific blow that inspires your allies to charge as well.
Daily
Martial, Weapon
Standard Action
Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Special: You must charge as part of this attack.
Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage.
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, as an immediate reaction, an ally of your choice within 5 squares of you can charge a target that you charge.

"Reaching out northwest from beyond the horizon's rim, I beheld a sight which was at once horrifying as it was beautiful; a stormlike catastrophe rolling across the sky, which seemed to be ablaze with blue fire. Frozen in stupefying awe, I witnessed the cerulean thunderhead crash into the mighty Lhairghal, throwing pillars of azure fire skyward to snatch at Selыne's calming light. Selыne, my gods! The surface of the moon, long presented to us mortals as a barren landscape of craters and lifeless valleys, now revealed to me majestic mountains and sprawling seas; itself alight with similar cobalt radiance. A nearby exclamation from the Magehound returned my attention earthward to witness a shimmering wall of sapphire flame racing down Mhair Pass. Five breaths longer and the storm would crash into the battlement upon which I stood with a handful of loomwardens. I recall hastily whispered prayers to Azuth, a moment of unqualified stillness, and then nothing."

As dusk fell over the Shining South on the 29th day of Tarsakh in the Year of Blue Fire (1385 DR), a menacing storm began forming over the Mhair Jungles west of Halruaa. Beyond its massive size, the storm was particularly notable for the ribbons of blue flame that seemed to writhe and flow among its formations. In the mountains near Lhair in western Halruaa, dumbfounded priests watched in absolute silence, unable to comprehend the terrible events unfolding on the horizon. What the clerics of Azuth could not possibly fathom was that three score or more similar storms sprang up all across Toril; born instantly upon the assassination of Mystra in her heavenly dominion. Arleenaya Kithmaer and four nearby priests were teleported to safety by a quick-thinking magehound. The nation of Halruaa, however, would suffer horribly that ill-fated night. The three great mountain ranges that oft protected the nation from external invasion actually made it difficult for many Halruaans to escape the uncontrolled wild magic unleashed across the countryside. Halruaa today is best known as a magical wasteland; it is also the birthplace of the roving mercenary bands known as the Five Companies.

The cerulean storm and its aftereffects would become known in later days as the Spellplague. Despite its name, the Spellplague was no mere magical affliction. The Spellplague burned fiercest in its first year, but flareups and indirect repercussions continued for decades, irrevocably altering whole regions while leaving others completely unscathed. Whole countries vanished in earthquakes, fires, and windstorms, inexplicably replaced with peoples and lands from a world beyond our own. Even the starry constellations in the Sea of Night seemingly rearranged themselves in the heavens above. Scholars in later years would name this decade of chaos and upheaval the Wailing Years, or simply the Plague Years. For more details on the Spellplague and the secondary catastrophes that followed in its wake, check out the Countdown to the Realms preview article Magic in the Forgotten Realms.

The Wailing Years
In game terms, the Spellplague represents the definitive event for transitioning the setting from one rules system to the next, and the loss of the Weave will have a profound effect on arcane spellcasters in your campaign. Though a small percentage of mages are driven to madness at the outset of the Spellplague, it's recommended you spare your players from this ignoble fate. Instead, wizards and other arcane spellcasters find that their magic has gone wild or departed altogether. In effect, all of Abeir-Toril is blanketed by a massive zone of wild magic. Refer to the 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (page 55) for Table 2–1 of Wild Magic Effects. As the Weave unravels throughout the month of Nightal in the Year of Blue Fire, these wild magic zones are quickly replaced with dead magic zones until one day arcane magic ceases to function altogether.

DMs might wish to take advantage of the Wailing Years to run a low magic/melee-centric campaign using rules or concepts from sourcebooks such as Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords or Iron Heroes. Otherwise it might be wise to simply move your campaign forward to the Year of Silent Death (1395 DR) or beyond, where direct effects of the Spellplague have largely subsided and most spellcasters have once again gained mastery of their magic. See the section below on the Vilhon Reach for a description of a functioning time portal you might wish to use for this purpose.

Included below is a timeline of key events that occurred during the Wailing Years, which can be useful to a transitional campaign set in the kingdom of Cormyr or the Vilhon Reach. Following the timeline is a brief update of these two regions, including sample adventure hooks.

Timeline
1385 DR (Year of Blue Fire)
The Spellplague: An unthinkable catastrophe ensues when Cyric, aided and abetted by Shar, murders Mystra in Dweomerheart. The plane itself disintegrates at once, destroying Savras and sending the gods Azuth and Velsharoon reeling into the endless Astral Sea. Without Mystra to govern the Weave, magic bursts its bonds all across Toril and the surrounding planes and runs wild. In Faerыn, this event is known as the Spellplague. Thousands of mages are driven insane or destroyed, and the very substance of the world becomes mutable beneath veils of azure fire that dance across the skies by night or by day.

Where once stood the realm of Sespech, the Golden Plains, and the Nagalands, the Spellplague reveals a surreal landscape breathtaking in its beauty, grandeur, and changeability. For the next century, active Spellplague cavorts on this territory called the Plaguewrought Lands, contorting terrain, natural law, and the flesh of any creature that dares enter.

Cormyr is struck hard, but not so violently as many other nations. Roughly one third of all Wizards of War are slain, driven mad, or simply have gone missing in the year following Mystra's death.
1386 DR (Year of the Halfling's Lament)
A portion of Toril's sibling world Abeir violently exchanges places with large sections of Chondath and western Chessenta. Displaced genasi from the Abeiran land of Shyr quickly set about creating a kingdom of their own.

The former expanse of the Sea of Fallen Stars is altered when wide portions of the landscape collapse into the Underdark. When the sea level reaches its new equilibrium, the average drop in water level measured nearly 50 feet. The waters of the Vilhon Reach were similarly drained, uncovering several drowned ruins from ancient Jhaamdath.
1387 DR (Year of the Emerald Ermine)
The Emerald Enclave begins sending agents throughout the Vilhon Wilds to counter the effects of the Spellplague. As years became decades, their original mission is slowly perverted from one of respect for and guardianship of nature to a vain struggle against forces far beyond their control.

1388 DR (Year of the Tanarukka)
Bullywugs tribes from the Farsea Marshes begin harrying Zhentarim forces operating throughout the Tunlands, diminishing Black Network activities in the region.

Some members of Cormyr's remaining War Wizards, having lost access to the Art, begin cross-training with the Purple Dragons in swordplay and martial defense. In years to come these swordmages will prove invaluable against neighboring aggression in the region.
1389 DR (Year of the Forgiven Foes)
A strangely angular black monolith is sometimes visible breaking above the waves along Cormyr's coast, never in the same place twice.

1390 DR (Year of the Walking Man)
Dowager Dragon Queen, Filfaeril Selazair Obarskyr, dies. Alusair attends the state funeral, argues briefly and privately with her nephew the king, and disappears altogether from Court. Rumors persist of her riding through the frontiers and borderlands, but no confirmed reports of her appearance exist following the burial of Filfaeril.

1391 DR (Year of the Wrathful Eye)
The human druid Zalaznar Crinios, transformed into a mighty treant for his service to nature, takes hold of the druid circle in Cedarspoke. A lesser druid, able to take lion form and calling himself Firemane, rises to prominence in the same circle.

1392 DR (Year of the Scroll)
The Dragon Coast city of Pros petitions the Crown to become a vassal-state of Cormyr in order to protect it from the ravages of the Spellplague. Azoun V reluctantly accepts. By year's end, Pros' sister-town of Ilipur joins the Forest Kingdom as well. Unfortunately the receding waters of the Sea of Fallen Stars have spelled ruin for these small trading towns.

1393 DR (Year of the Ring)
Sembian investors begin buying up land in the southern Dales. Concerned, Azoun V issues a formal objection to the Dale's Council in Archendale but the King's emissary is rebuffed.

Spellscarred beings and pilgrims hoping to obtain a spellscar begin journeying to the Plaguewrought Lands in large numbers. They are welcomed in Ormpetarr by the Order of Blue Fire.
1394 DR (Year of Deaths Unmourned)
The Grand Cabal of the Emerald Enclave begins attempting to stem the tide of spellscarred pilgrims that pass through Turmish.

Years of straining with their conflicted Sembian and Cormyrean identities, and struggling against the rule of Netheril, culminates in the annexation of the border city of Daerlun into the Forest Kingdom.
1395 DR (Year of Silent Death)
Sakkors, the Netherese floating enclave not seen since the days before the Spellplague, makes a reappearance over Daerlun in the dead of night. The following morning civil unrest breaks out throughout the city. Azoun V sends elite swordmages to restore order in the city.

Instead, the landscape itself is often spectacular, striking, and magical. Of course each region maintains its own distinctive flavor; Waterdeep isn’t adrift on a floating earthmote, and the Dalelands still have plenty of farmland and forest… with just a little touch of the fantastic here and there.

Vilhon Reach
The lands of the Vilhon Reach were affected greatly by the merging of Abeir with Toril. The waters of the Reach itself were partially drained during the Spellplague, revealing several drowned Cities of the Sword from ancient Jhaamdath. The once welcoming and cosmopolitan folk of Turmish have grown increasingly xenophobic throughout the Wailing Years. Akanыl, formerly the lands of Chondath, are now populated by genasi from the Abeiran land of Shyr, a region that will barely survive its first contact with the Abolethic Sovereignty some years later. Since the Year of Blue Fire, civilization has been slow to return to the wilder Spellplague-morphed regions. The notorious Plaguewrought Lands lie close by, contorting terrain, natural law, and the flesh of any creature that dares enter.

The Vilhon Reach is a great example of the new "Tone and Feel" of the setting in action, making it a great region to explore some of the more fantastic locales on Faerыn.

ANDRIO'S GATE: The Reach happens to contain one of Toril's few functioning time gates; a useful tool for bringing characters forward beyond the Wailing Years (1385 DR to 1395 DR) to a more stable time period for campaign play. The time gate is located within Mount Andrus, a volcanic peak within the Orsraun Mountains on Turmish's western frontier. There the time gate has survived millennia despite several volcanic eruptions, shielded from the monstrous heat and the effects of the Spellplague by powerful, and some would say divine, wards. Adrio's Gate is activated by speaking the name of a year as given in the Roll of Years then stepping through the gate's event horizon.
Turmish
Turmish suffered much less than Chondath, but the partial draining of the Sea of Fallen Stars did leave its busy port at Alaghфn high and dry. Today, this realm of increasingly competitive and desperate merchant costers is also a through-route for fanatics on spellscar pilgrimages to the Plaguewrought Lands. The once welcoming and cosmopolitan Turmishans have grown increasingly xenophobic, and they are guarded and suspicious of strangers, even though they remain dependent on outside trade.

North and west of Turmish beyond the Orsraun and Alaoreum Mountains stretches the forested realm of Gulthandor. Gulthandor has no ties with the largely disbanded organization once known as the Emerald Enclave. Ilighфn, once the island home of the Enclave, became part of mainland Turmish when the seas retreated in 1386 DR.

YURGRIM'S DELVE: Alaghфn remains the capital of Turmish; the city's curious architecture is the result of the Chondathan humans building over existing structures left by a previous dwarven civilization. The dwarves also left an abandoned mine -- a maze of subterranean tunnels, vaults, and catacombs that have never been fully explored, or fully rid of monsters -- beneath the city streets. Few entrances to the Undercity remain, but adventurers continue to brave their dark reaches in search of plunder. A few ancient tomes make reference to a lich queen from Unther residing below the palace, yet most discount these accounts as wild tales of fiction.

PRIDE OF FIREMANE: Zalaznar Crinios (NE treant druid 12), has secretly turned away from the teachings of Mielikki to embrace Malar, who "rewarded" the High Druid by transforming him into a treant. Crinios used this transformation as proof he is meant to lead in Gulthandor. Dark creatures now threaten the forest, as well as nearby settlements. Unaware of Crinios’s duplicity, a druid who prefers lion form and calls himself Firemane has put out the call for those willing to purge the forest of whatever blight grows at its heart.
Chondath
A portion of Toril's sibling world Abeir violently exchanged places with large sections of Chondath and western Chessenta during the Spellplague. The shattered ruins of cities lie broken at the bottom of ravines or thrust high atop stone spires, a constant draw to adventurers seeking troves of lost gold. The land today is characterized by crazed stone spires, cavernous ravines, and cliffs like petrified waves. Freefloating earthmotes host miniature forests, grasslands, lakes, and ever-replenishing waterfalls that mist the land below in draperies of mist. The wild landscape is perfectly suited to the tempestuous population of genasi that now claim the land as their own. Akanыl is the name of this genasi-ruled realm, and the capital city of Airspur holds the bulk of the nation's population. The waters of the Vilhon Reach were partially drained during the Spellplague, revealing several ruined Cities of the Sword, lost since the last days of Jhaamdath. Travelers to the region are few and far between. The few who travel through this treacherous floodplain return with madness or not at all.

The Chondalwood is a confusion of ravines and floating junglemotes, some sailing free, others webbed to lower jungle regions by thick vines and vegetation. The Chondalwood's vigor is impressive -- it grew in the Spellplague's wake instead of being diminished or being erased by it; witness its colonizing junglemotes spreading like airborne seeds north, south, and east, and west. The halflings and centaurs that once roamed these woods are now gone; replaced with spellscarred satyrs and feral elves who declare blood feud on any outsider entering the jungle's heartwood.

LESSER OF TWO EVILS: During a violent spring thunderstorm, a strange angular black monolith is spotted in the shallow waters off the Nun Coast near Reth. The following morning, kuo-toa harpooners flying strange winged morkoth attack the port city. The invaders are repelled by High Lady Glorganna and a detachment of Banite guerrillas. It remains unclear what the Abolethic Sovereignty was seeking in the city -- half of which lies in shattered ruin at the bottom of the Bay of Silvanus.

MAGEDOOM: At the center of the Chondalwood is a ruin of ancient, toppled stone towers whose cellars are packed with lost treasures. The elves of Wildhome steer well clear of it, citing terrible bodiless guardian creatures that ravage flesh, inspire madness, and target spellcasters in particular, igniting them like torches.
Plaguewrought Lands
Where once stood the realm of Sespech, the Golden Plains, and the Nagalands, now stands a surreal landscape breathtaking in its beauty, grandeur, and changeability. Active Spellplague still cavorts on this territory, contorting terrain, natural law, and the flesh of any creature that dares enter. Earthmotes aplenty break up the sky in a strange parity with the fractured terrain below. Swaths of moving earth change with mercurial speed, and great ravines empty directly into the Underdark. Artist renditions that capture true glimpses of the place's exquisite loveliness and horrific strangeness can command large sums back in civilized lands.

SCAR PILGRIMAGE: Plaguechanged and pilgrims hoping to obtain a spellscar sometimes journey here because it's the most prominent plagueland in Faerыn, as well as a great hold of the Order of Blue Fire. The stability of the plagueland's border provides an environment where the clever, ambitious, or insane can experiment with the Spellplague and its effects. As with most who brave plaguelands, few pilgrims who enter the Plaguewrought Lands are ever seen again, but those who do return sometimes claim newfound power.

Motes

After the plague of change, some elements of the physical world have gained a supernatural independence from certain natural laws. The most striking of these (to those unfamiliar with them) are motes. Motes are free-floating bits of landscape that defy gravity to hover in place over certain locales (usually, those locales most affected by the Spellplague). These motes are usually small in size, but whole ecosystems cling to them, apparently sustained by the more natural landscape over or through which a particular mote floats.

Motes are often referred to according to the type of landscape each sports. Thus, there are junglemotes, fungusmotes, cavemotes, grassmotes, pinemotes, and so on. Larger motes might support animal life, including humanoids.

Cormyr
Unlike the lands of the Vilhon Reach, the nation of Cormyr suffered little geological upheaval during the Spellplague Years. Instead the upheaval in the Forest Kingdom was largely political. Famine, economic hardship, and unrest among the peerage would be difficult for any ruling monarch, yet these challenges perhaps weighed more heavily upon the shoulders of young King Azoun V. Claiming the Dragon Throne in the Year of Three Streams Blooded (1384 DR), Azoun had merely thirteen winters behind him at his coronation and only sixteen months on the throne before the Spellplague sent the world spinning into chaos. Thankfully, the king surrounded himself with men and women of wise counsel, including the Caladnei, Mage Royal of Cormyr. Under his rule, the Forest Kingdom quickly recovered from the anarchy of the Wailing Years, and the young king went on to become a just, wise, and long-lived ruler.

The Helmlands
Formed during the Time of Troubles, this desolate land of howling winds and jagged rock was the site of Mystra's destruction at the hands of Helm in the Year of Shadows (1358 DR). In the months following its creation, locals named the site the Pits of Mystra, for the land was nothing but bubbling tar pits as far as the eye could see. Priests dedicated to the new Goddess of Magic cleansed the land of the fetid pits in later years, but the tear in the fabric of the Weave remained. Today a forest of towering redwoods has returned; the original was lost when Mystra's dying energy blasted the land like a million Shou cannons. In the wake of the Spellplague, the Helmlands have grown, spreading along the northern wall of the Stormhorns, stretching as far west as the foothills above Eveningstar. Wild magic still pervades the entire region, but unlike the Plaguewrought Lands, visitors can enter the Helmslands without fear of becoming spellscarred.

TEMPLE ACHERON: Once the blasted ruin of Castle Kilgrave, the imposing stronghold was rebuilt by priests of Bane following his apparent resurrection in the Year of Wild Magic (1372 DR). As the Lord of Strife himself had done during the Time of Troubles, the strifelords reshaped the ruins into an echo of Bane's Temple of the Suffering in the Barrens of Doom and Despair. Thirty-foot-high walls constructed of a seamless other-worldly material of black laced with green connect the windowless towers on four corners, and on the west side a towering 60-foot obelisk encloses a drawbridge set against the wall. Purple Dragon Knights stationed at Castle Crag patrol the eastern perimeter of the Helmslands daily, keeping a vigilant eye for any threats coming from Temple Acheron.
Farsea Swamp
This slowly growing swamp consists of two formerly separate marshes, Farsea and Tun. The swamp has mile after mile of muddy terrain swept with golden-green tall grasses broken by channels of bronze water. Most citizens of Cormyr see the wetlands as dark, forbidding places, where evil festers and foul creatures lurk in murky water to devour the unwary. While this image is largely true of the deadly Vast Swamp in eastern Cormyr, it is an incomplete and misleading portrayal of the Farsea Swamp.

LEGACY OF THE BATRACHI: Amid the vast, fog-laced expanse of the Farsea Swamp rests the scattered ruins of a vanished civilization, not Netherese as many have speculated. Thick with poisonous insects and plague, few enough have glimpsed these ruins. Ornate buildings made of glass as strong as steel hint at a magical technology lost to the present day. Rumors have it that the bold can claim gold and strange secrets from the half-drowned basements, if they can but survive the swamp's pestilence and withstand the might of strange creatures set as guardians within the interior of the glassteel towers.
Hullack Forest
Dark and foreboding best describes the thick dense woods of the Hullack Forest. The Hullack is almost a primeval forest, with dark valleys and hidden vales that have gone unseen for decades. Ghostly creatures and odd monsters pepper the local folklore, and orcs and goblins are frequent visitors from the Thunder Peaks. In the years immediately preceding the Spellplague, large numbers of adventurers entered the forest seeking to clear it of monsters and explore its deeper regions. Thunderstone, a small town on the southern edge of Hullack Forest, was often used as a base of operations for such expeditions.

These crown-sanctioned activities came to an abrupt end in the Year of the Wrathful Eye (1391 DR) when the Eldreth Veluuthra, a militant group of human-despising elves, claimed the forest as their own. A brief conflict with the elves ensued in the Year of Deaths Unmourned (1394 DR), but young King Azoun V later turned his full attention to more pressing threats from neighboring Netheril and Sembia.

REALM OF WAILING FOG: Sandwiched between the Hullack Forest and the Thunder Peaks, the Realm of Wailing Fog remains a land of desolate fens, ever-present mist, and eerie echoing calls. Even the Eldreth Veluuthra dare not explore the realm's long-ruined towers. Travelers to the region speak of a heavy feeling of "watchfulness" hanging over everything. Rumors persist that a coven of hags lives in the area, but these claims have never been substantiated.

The Feywild is commonly thought to be a reflection of the natural world. If this is true, some skeptical sages point out, then what parallel is there in the world for the mad fomorian tyrants in the Feywild? These kings and queens rule their kingdoms in the Underdark of the Feywild -- or the Feydark -- with an iron fist. Their madness is legendary, and few rulers of the Underdark can claim the level of power that these deformed creatures possess in the Feydark.

Fomorian monarchs rule their dominions mercilessly and cruelly, their tyranny fueled in part by typical fomorian madness. Among some fomorian rulers, this insanity manifests constantly, and their kingdoms are places of chaos and violence. Among others, their madness manifests in a more calculated form, allowing for rational thought, although this doesn't diminish their lust for power. All fomorian rulers, regardless of how insane, have one trait in common: extreme paranoia. For all their physical and magical might, they constantly fear rebellion from within, as well as conquest from without.

Fomorian Rule
Wielding absolute power within their kingdoms, fomorians rule their Feydark territories through fear and oppression, and few dare to challenge a fomorian's grip on a kingdom. The unique madness of each ruler means no two courts are the same. One court, that of King Borunnor, for example, embodies the enigma of fomorian rulers. One week, he might seem merciful, granting pardons and sending emissaries of peace to neighboring kingdoms. But the week following, in a mercurial shift of temperament, he is just as likely to begin an inquisition to root out traitors, slaughtering pardoned souls and triggering sleeper agents among his ambassadors. Another king might revel in blood sports and hold grand tournaments between selected champions, as well as command the public -- and graphic -- executions of political enemies and conspirators, both real and imagined.

To an outsider, chaos seems to reign in fomorian kingdoms, but there is a method to their madness. The paranoia that besets fomorian rulers is one of the prime reasons that they manage to retain their power, because their constant fear is infectious. Their subjects tend to be suspicious and are likely to turn on one another if given an opportunity, for a fomorian tyrant shows favoritism to those fey who succeed in their ruler's plots and are willing to betray their fellows to do so. Fomorian tyrants are notorious for using their spies to stir up trouble within their own governments to try to expose traitors, and many of those accused, interrogated, and publicly executed are often just courtiers who failed to plan well enough for the onset of their ruler's latest mad investigations.

Each fomorian tyrant has an extensive spy network. The most elite of their spies are the Dark Hands, fey spies and assassins that act as a tyrant's secret police. Many Dark Hands are quicklings, dryads, or members of other fey races that are skilled at stealth or deception. These spies allow a fomorian tyrant to see much that happens within a kingdom, so the tyrant relies on them but does not necessarily trust them. Due to their constant fear of insurrection, fomorian tyrants keep few allies other than their loyal cyclops bodyguards, the only other creatures a fomorian will trust. Few other servants keep their positions for long before they are moved to a new one or are relieved of duty permanently.

Not every fomorian rules a kingdom. Those fomorians who lack this power hunger for it -- a trait that fuels the fears of the leadership. Such fomorians often seek service under a fomorian king or queen and then constantly scheme to usurp power. Still other fomorians seek advancement by overthrowing a power base in the Feywild -- perhaps an eladrin city or a gnome warren -- and claiming its magic and riches as their own.

A fomorian tyrant's spy network doesn't keep tabs on internal threats only. Fomorians plot against each other constantly, which is one of the main reasons they see traitors lurking in every shadow. A fomorian knows that his or her constant scheming is not unique among fomorians, that his or her lust for power is equaled by other fomorian rulers', who are doing whatever they can to undermine one another's authority. They have sent their agents across the Feydark and the surface of the Feywild, seeking chinks in the armor of neighboring fomorian kingdoms.

The natural suspicion of a fomorian tyrant's subjects serves a kingdom well when preventing incursions from external enemies. Untrustworthy of any creature they do not recognize, the tyrant's subjects are quick to report newcomers to the Dark Hands. A tyrant's subjects and spies keep an especially watchful eye on the drow, who commonly establish outposts or enclaves within the Feydark, and the hated eladrin (see "Fomorians and the Eladrin" below). But really, any race with a chance to accumulate power in the Feywild, especially magical power, is likely to gain the attention of a fomorian tyrant's wandering eye. And woe to them, for fomorians are tenacious in their madness, and usually nothing short of death will stop them from pursuing a goal.

Entertainment
Fomorian kingdoms are filled with blood sports. Gladiatorial combat is common and usually involves captured creatures from the world as well as eladrin, other denizens of the Feywild, and supposed traitors to the crown. Sometimes these games go on for days of gory pageantry. Whether held in massive arenas built of crystal or staged as races through city streets and surrounding caverns, each contest is either to the death or, sometimes, until mutilation.

In the latter case, two opponents are given nonlethal but brutal weapons, such as lashes or staffs that emit a magical, low-damage dose of painful electricity or necrotic damage. Other times, contestants are put through a grueling series of tests. Sometimes these are public inquisitions presided over by a master torturer, and sometimes the contestants are made to compete at trivial games, with the loser being punished by the loss of a finger or possibly a nose or an ear. Some games continue until one competitor confesses to some crime, whether or not it was committed, and begs for death. The winner -- almost certainly deformed in some way -- is usually never seen again.

What happens to the winners? Those who show a penchant for surviving the deadly games of a fomorian kingdom often find themselves in a worse situation. Fomorians, perhaps because of their own disfigurements, often pursue bizarre breeding programs, trying to magically combine the fiercest creatures in the hope of creating new forces for their blood sports and armies. Those who find the most success in the gladiatorial arenas often find themselves subjected to these breeding experiments, which usually result in their minds and bodies being twisted beyond sanity. Most of these experiments go nowhere, but some result in new toys for fomorian tyrants: deadly new creatures that serve them in all manner of twisted endeavors.

The Court
A fomorian tyrant's court consists of a variety of creatures. The most common, and the roles they often assume in these bizarre hierarchies, are described below.

Cyclopses: Perhaps the creatures most instrumental in ensuring a fomorian's rule -- other than the fomorian -- are cyclopses. These one-eyed giants serve their fomorian masters unquestioningly and without hesitation. They worship their fomorian masters as gods, a belief that fomorians foster through their practice of powerful magic. No one is certain why cyclopses view their masters in this manner, and many sages debate the behavior endlessly. Cyclopses act as a fomorian's valued lieutenants, spymasters (though they rarely take to the field themselves as spies), field generals, and bodyguards, and the number of cyclopses a fomorian ruler commands serves almost as a measure of the ruler's power in the Feydark. The eladrin, among others, believe that if they could unravel the secret of the cyclopses' blind obedience, they could sever the tie between fomorians and cyclopses and weaken all fomorian kingdoms permanently.

Most cyclopses are gifted in some sort of craft. Some show a knack for creating ornate suits of magic armor or magic weapons, and fomorians value any creature that can increase their store of magic.

Quicklings: Nimble and deadly, quicklings are the most numerous fey among the Dark Hands. They form squads of spies, assassins, and saboteurs and are frequently partnered with dryads, lamias, and hags on reconnaissance missions sent to infiltrate eladrin and other settlements on the Feywild's surface.

Dryads: It seems unlikely that these creatures -- tied so strongly to their trees on the surface -- would ever serve a fomorian. But it is precisely because of the dryads' ties to the surface that fomorians value their service; dryads' knowledge of eladrin communities is considered invaluable. After quicklings, dryads form the second largest contingent of fey among the Dark Hands, and briar witch dryads frequently command large groups of spies and assassins.

Goblins: Some goblin kingdoms populate the dark reaches of certain Feywild forests. Fomorians do not restrict their activities to their own plane, and when they do turn their gaze to the world, goblins are often their proxies. Only a few goblins serve within the dark, crystalline realms of the fomorians, usually as ambassadors from their own kingdoms on the surface.

Magic
Because of how massive and brutish-looking fomorians are, many of their enemies assume that fomorians will attack only with the massive weapons they carry. While all fomorians enjoy the feel of their enemies' blood splashing against their skin, they are an inherently magical race of tremendous intelligence. Each fomorian possesses an evil eye that gives it a potent magical ability -- as well as the potent curse that is the source of a fomorian's madness.

Fomorian rulers employ some of the best magical artisans in the Feywild, some willing and some not. The cyclops armorsmiths and weaponsmiths in fomorian employ are legendary in the Feydark, although many a fomorian has enslaved members of other races. Captured dwarves are especially prized, as are enslaved shadar-kai from the Shadowfell. Fomorians value magic as highly as dragons, some say, and many adventurers and brave merchants have offered powerful magic items to gain audience with a fomorian ruler or to secure safe passage through a fomorian kingdom.

The struggle for power through the acquisition of new magic has led to some of the fiercest struggles between fomorians and the eladrin. The eladrin take to magic like a dryad to a forest and constantly develop new spells, rituals, and magic items of all sorts. Conquering one of the last bastions of eladrin power in the world ranks high on every fomorian ruler's list of desires, and they betray and compete against each other for the right to seize each eladrin city they discover. This competition among fomorians is likely what has allowed the eladrin to survive against such hostile odds in the increasingly dangerous Feywild.

Fomorians and the Eladrin
Fomorians see enemies everywhere. Their spy networks are vast, and the conspiracies they sow endless. Other than fellow fomorians, few groups in the Feywild irk fomorians more than the eladrin. In contrast to the eladrin empires of old, which sought peace and stability in the Feywild, fomorians have always sought to spread tyranny and conflict. The two races' opposing goals have destined them for conflict.

The eladrin seek harmony with the natural world, while fomorians seek to bring everything they see under their malformed thumbs. With eladrin civilization now splintered into city-states, the eladrin seem more vulnerable than ever before, and fomorians covet their powerful magic. To a fomorian -- king, queen, or ambitious upstart -- an eladrin city looks like a treasure trove waiting to be plundered. Most of the creatures will stop at nothing to crack open these vaults and strip them bare. Glorious eladrin cities fall each year to fomorian forces, their beautiful spires crushed to rubble and their vaults pillaged of powerful magic items.

Of all the varied races of the Feywild, fomorians are perhaps some of the least understood. Utterly mad but possessed of nearly unrivaled power, they rule -- or seek to rule -- with unmatched avarice and ambition. Few can get close enough to the fomorians to fully understand their paranoid and magical ways. But if eladrin scholars can agree on anything, it is this: fomorians are a threat. Wielders of immense power, fomorians always crave more, and the threat they represent is not restricted to the Feywild. Who knows what they could do if given unrestricted access to a portal to the world . . . if this hasn't happened already.

Behold, the power of editing!

Creating such a concise version of the wizard spell dispel magic was more than a matter of wielding our red pens and cutting away. In many ways, D&D 4th Edition has involved rebuilding the game from the ground up, and dispel magic needed to be reconceived alongside the rest of the game system. The new edition's dispel magic was developed during the process of editing the Player's Handbook.

To begin with, the number of magical effects that might be dispellable had narrowed since 3rd Edition. Most arcane powers and divine powers -- called spells and prayers respectively -- create effects that are instantaneous or that last for 1 round, so the days of having numerous spells that last for many minutes or hours are over. Instantaneous and 1-round magical effects aren't intended to be dispellable, which left us considering the game's persistent magical effects. Most of the persistent spells and prayers in 4th Edition last no more than one encounter. Rituals can create magical effects that last for hours, days, or years, but it would take more than a spell or a prayer to dispel the effects of most rituals. Similarly, magic items -- which are created by rituals -- are designed so that their magic can't normally be suppressed by a spell or a prayer.

With these things in mind, we focused our attention on the spells and the prayers that create magical effects that last longer than 1 round. Some of those powers grant bonuses to or impose penalties on a target, but like 1-round effects, they aren't intended to be dispellable, and the game provides other ways of counteracting them.

So with all of these magical effects in the new edition that dispel magic wasn't intended to apply to, what purpose could it serve? To destroy magical effects created by powers and persisting in the environment, whatever their power source.

When the editors received the classes and powers chapter of the Player's Handbook, we found a number of familiar spells like Bigby's grasping hands, spells that conjure forth things made of magical energy. We also found persistent areas of effect, such as the cleric's blade barrier and the paladin's righteous inferno, which could be sustained for many rounds. Over the course of a few conversations with the development team -- okay, more than a few -- we settled on two keywords to describe these powers: conjurations and zones.

Conjurations create objects or creatures out of magical energy and are often movable. The wizard's Bigby spells and the cleric's spiritual weapon are examples of powers that have the conjuration keyword. Zones are areas of effect that persist for several rounds. For example, the cleric's consecrated ground and the wizard's stinking cloud have the zone keyword. Conjurations and zones allow their users to add new elements to an encounter or to reshape a battlefield in their favor.

With the definitions of conjurations and zones in place, the role of dispel magic became clear. Useful for dispelling persistent effects: check. Useful across power sources, as defined by keywords: check. It doesn't matter whether an effect is the creation of a wizard or a warlock spell or a cleric or a paladin prayer -- if it's a conjuration or a zone, it can be dispelled. Good news for PCs caught in an enemy warlock's tendrils of Thuban!

So here's the new dispel magic, in all its short-and-sweet glory:

Not only are we in the midst of seeing finished galleys of the core books here in the office, but we’re about to enter the final stage before the launch of 4E. To me, this last sprint kicks off with D&D Experience. At the show, fans and players get to mingle with Chris Perkins, Andy Collins, Rob Heinsoo, James Wyatt, Mike Mearls, and Chris Youngs from my R&D team, as well as with The Rouse and Sarah Girard from the Brand Team, Didier Monin, and the great folks in Organized Play. It should be a wonderful event.

At the event, everyone will get to see the new game system in action. Games will be played, secrets will be revealed, and amazing D&D Insider features will take center stage. I’m sure the various tidbits that get revealed will be reported here and elsewhere as they happen, but I want to kick off the festivities with my own surprise round.

What better way to get everyone excited and talking than to show off one of the class write-ups from the new Player’s Handbook? And what class more typifies the surprise round than the rogue? What follows is the opening spread for the rogue class, as well as a few of the powers available to rogue characters.

You’re going to see something called “builds” in the information that follows. Builds present themes that you can use to guide you as you select powers and other abilities. You can follow the advice of a build, or you can ignore it. It’s not a constraint, but instead provides information to help you make informed choices as you create your character. Using a class build isn’t required; builds exist to help guide your decisions through the process of character creation and each time you level up.

If you’re going to attend D&D Experience, say hello to the gang for me. In the meantime, enjoy this surprise peek at the rogue. Hurry, though. You know how sneaky the rogue can be.

Rogue
"You look surprised to see me. If you’d been paying attention, you might still be alive."

CLASS TRAITS

Role: Striker. You dart in to attack, do massive damage, and then retreat to safety. You do best when teamed with a defender to flank enemies.
Power Source: Martial. Your talents depend on extensive training and constant practice, innate skill, and natural coordination.
Key Abilities: Dexterity, Strength, Charisma

Armor Training: Leather
Weapon Proficiencies: Dagger, hand crossbow, shuriken, sling, short sword
Bonus to Defense: +2 Reflex

Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + Constitution score
Hit Points per Level Gained: 5
Healing Surges: 6 + Constitution modifier

Trained Skills: Stealth and Thievery plus four others. From the class skills list below, choose four more trained skills at 1st level.
Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dexterity), Athletics (Str), Bluff (Cha), Dungeoneering (Wis), Insight (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Perception (Wis), Stealth (Dexterity), Streetwise (Cha), Thievery (Dexterity)

Build Options: Brawny rogue, trickster rogue
Class Features: First Strike, Rogue Tactics, Rogue Weapon Talent, Sneak Attack
Rogues are cunning and elusive adversaries. Rogues slip into and out of shadows on a whim, pass anywhere across the field of battle without fear of reprisal, and appear suddenly only to drive home a lethal blade.

As a rogue, you might face others’ preconceptions regarding your motivations, but your nature is your own to mold. You could be an agent fresh from the deposed king’s shattered intelligence network, an accused criminal on the lam seeking to clear your name, a wiry performer whose goals transcend the theatrical stage, a kid trying to turn around your hard-luck story, or a daredevil thrill-seeker who can’t get enough of the adrenaline rush of conflict. Or perhaps you are merely in it for the gold, after all.

With a blade up your sleeve and a concealing cloak across your shoulders, you stride forth, eyes alight with anticipation. What worldly wonders and rewards are yours for the taking?

ROGUE OVERVIEW

Characteristics: Combat advantage provides the full benefit of your powers, and a combination of skills and powers helps you gain and keep that advantage over your foes. You are a master of skills, from Stealth and Thievery to Bluff and Acrobatics.

Religion: Rogues prefer deities of the night, luck, freedom, and adventure, such as Sehanine and Avandra. Evil and chaotic evil rogues often favor Lolth or Zehir.

Races: Those with a love for secrets exchanged in shadows and change for its own sake make ideal rogues, including elves, tieflings, and halflings.

Creating a Rogue
The trickster rogue and the brawny rogue are the two rogue builds, one relying on bluffs and feints, the other on brute strength. Dexterity, Charisma, and Strength are the rogue’s most important ability scores.

Brawny Rogue
You like powers that deal plenty of damage, aided by your Strength, and also stun, immobilize, knock down, or push your foes. Your attacks use Dexterity, so keep that your highest ability score. Strength should be a close second—it increases your damage directly, and it can determine other effects of your attacks. Charisma is a good third ability score, particularly if you want to dabble in powers from the other rogue build. Select the brutal scoundrel rogue tactic, and look for powers that pack a lot of damage into every punch.

Suggested Feat: Weapon Focus (Human feat: Toughness)
Suggested Skills: Athletics, Dungeoneering, Intimidate, Stealth, Streetwise, Thievery
Suggested At-Will Powers: Piercing Strike, Riposte Strike
Suggested Encounter Power: Torturous Strike
Suggested Daily Power: Easy Target
Trickster Rogue
You like powers that deceive and misdirect your foes. You dart in and out of the fray in combat, dodging your enemies’ attacks or redirecting them to other foes. Most of your attack powers rely on Dexterity, so that should be your best ability score. Charisma is important for a few attacks, for Charisma-based skills you sometimes use in place of attacks, and for other effects that depend on successful attacks, so make Charisma your second-best score. Strength is useful if you want to choose powers intended for the other rogue build. Select the artful dodger rogue tactic. Look for powers that take advantage of your high Charisma score, as well as those that add to your trickster nature.

Suggested Feat: Backstabber (Human feat: Human Perseverance)
Suggested Skills: Acrobatics, Bluff, Insight, Perception, Stealth, Thievery
Suggested At-Will Powers: Deft Strike, Sly Flourish
Suggested Encounter Power: Positioning Strike
Suggested Daily Power: Trick Strike
Rogue Class Features
All rogues share these class features.

First Strike
At the start of an encounter, you have combat advantage against any creatures that have not yet acted in that encounter.

Rogue Tactics
Rogues operate in a variety of ways. Some rogues use their natural charm and cunning trickery to deceive foes. Others rely on brute strength to overcome their enemies.

Choose one of the following options.

Artful Dodger: You gain a bonus to AC equal to your Charisma modifier against opportunity attacks.
Brutal Scoundrel: You gain a bonus to Sneak Attack damage equal to your Strength modifier.
The choice you make also provides bonuses to certain rogue powers. Individual powers detail the effects (if any) your Rogue Tactics selection has on them.

Rogue Weapon Talent
When you wield a shuriken, your weapon damage die increases by one size. When you wield a dagger, you gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls.

Sneak Attack
Once per round, when you have combat advantage against an enemy and are using a light blade, a crossbow, or a sling, your attacks against that enemy deal extra damage. As you advance in level, your extra damage increases.

Level Sneak Attack Damage
1st–10th +2d6
11th–20th +3d6
21st–30th +5d6

Rogue Powers
Your powers are daring exploits that draw on your personal cunning, agility, and expertise. Some powers reward a high Charisma and are well suited for the trickster rogue, and others reward a high Strength and appeal to the brawny rogue, but you are free to choose any power you like.

Deft Strike
Rogue Attack 1
A final lunge brings you into an advantageous position.

At-Will [ ] Martial, Weapon
Standard Action
Melee or Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a crossbow, a light blade, or a sling.
Target: One creature
Special: You can move 2 squares before the attack.
Attack: Dexterity vs. AC

Hit: 1[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
Increase damage to 2[W] + Dexterity modifier at 21st level.

Piercing Strike
Rogue Attack 1
A needle-sharp point slips past armor and into tender flesh.

At-Will [ ] Martial, Weapon
Standard Action
Melee weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a light blade.
Target: One creature
Attack: Dexterity vs. Reflex

Hit: 1[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
Increase damage to 2[W] + Dexterity modifier at 21st level.

Positioning Strike
Rogue Attack 1
A false stumble and a shove place the enemy exactly where you want him.

Encounter [ ] Martial, Weapon
Standard Action
Melee weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a light blade.
Target: One creature
Attack: Dexterity vs. Will

Hit: 1[W] + Dexterity modifier damage, and you slide the target 1 square.
Artful Dodger: You slide the target a number of squares equal to your Charisma modifier.

Torturous Strike
Rogue Attack 1
If you twist the blade in the wound just so, you can make your enemy howl in pain.

Encounter [ ] Martial, Weapon
Standard Action
Melee weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a light blade.
Target: One creature
Attack: Dexterity vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
Brutal Scoundrel: You gain a bonus to the damage roll equal to your Strength modifier.

Tumble
Rogue Utility 2
You tumble out of harm’s way, dodging the opportunistic attacks of your enemies.

Encounter [ ] Martial
Move Action
Personal
Prerequisite: You must be trained in Acrobatics.

Effect: You can shift a number of squares equal to one-half your speed.

Crimson Edge
Rogue Attack 9
You deal your enemy a vicious wound that continues to bleed, and like a shark, you circle in for the kill.

Daily [ ] Martial, Weapon
Standard Action
Melee weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a light blade.
Target: One creature
Attack: Dexterity vs. Fortitude

Hit: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage, and the target takes ongoing damage equal to 5 + your Strength modifier and grants combat advantage to you (save ends both).
Miss: Half damage, and no ongoing damage.

This made multiclassing very sad. Even game mechanics hate being called jerks, but deep down it knew it was true. Back in the old days, it was a great tool for building what amounted to your own class. Magic-user/thieves, fighter/clerics, and even the rare but potentially awe-inspiring fighter/magic-user/thief walked the land, like chimeras wrought by strange rites involving Player's Handbooks, an overactive imagination, and a DNA splicer.

3rd Edition gave us a simpler, elegant, and intuitive solution that worked wonderfully… for characters who didn’t cast spells. The system also forced the core classes to delay abilities after 1st level to avoid cherry picking, where “clever” players simply took one level of as many classes as possible (or layered single levels on to a primary class) to reap the benefits of ungodly saving throws and bizarre but ultimately frightening combinations of class abilities that—like chocolate and pickle relish—were never meant to be combined by men and women of good taste.

The 4th Edition design had three primary goals for multiclassing:

Design the classes, make them cool, then force multiclassing to play nice with them.
Institute controls to prevent abusive combinations.
Institute controls to make every combination as playable as possible.
In 4th Edition, we strived to make each character option useful. Since D&D lacks a competitive or deck building element, it's silly to hide bad choices in the rules. Multiclassing had to obey this rule in order to justify its existence.

In the end, we came up with a system of feats that allow you to borrow abilities and powers from other classes. At 11th level, you can choose to forgo your paragon path in order to further specialize in a second class. This approach lacks the intuitive elegance of the 3E system, but it allows us to tone down or boost a class's multiclass options as needed. If everything works as planned, you have the flexibility to mix classes without making your character into a juggernaut or a cripple. Combos like fighter/wizard now work much better, while traditional choices like fighter/rogue still function just fine. Going forward, we'll introduce new feats for new classes, ensuring that all classes play well together.

So, that's multiclassing. Whether you missed playing a cleric/wizard from older editions or liked the flexibility of building a fighter/rogue in 3R, we've got you covered.

Multiclass feats allow you to dabble in the class features and powers of another class. You might be a fighter who dips his toe into wizardry, or a warlock who wants a smattering of rogue abilities. Each class has a class-specific multiclass feat that gives you access to features from that class.

Class-Specific Feats
There are two restrictions on your choice of a class-specific multiclass feat. First, you can’t take a multiclass feat for your own class. Second, once you take a multiclass feat, you can’t take a class-specific feat for a different class. You can dabble in a second class but not a third.

A character who has taken a class-specific multiclass feat counts as a member of that class for the purpose of meeting prerequisites for taking other feats and qualifying for paragon paths. For example, a character who takes Initiate of the Faith counts as a cleric for the purpose of selecting feats that have cleric as a prerequisite. These feats can qualify you for other feats; for example, a warlock who takes Sneak of Shadows can use the rogue’s Sneak Attack class feature, which means that he meets the prerequisite for the Backstabber feat.

Power-Swap Feats
The Novice Power, Acolyte Power, and Adept Power feats give you access to a power from the class for which you took a class-specific multiclass feat. That power replaces a power you would normally have from your primary class. When you take one of these power-swap feats, you give up a power of your choice from your primary class and replace it with a power of the same level or lower from the class you have multiclassed in.

Any time you gain a level, you can alter that decision. Effectively, pretend you’re choosing the power-swap feat for the first time at the new level you’ve just gained. You gain back the power that you gave up originally from your primary class, lose the power that you chose from your second class, and make the trade again. You give up a different power from your primary class and replace it with a new power of the same level from your second class.

You can’t use power-swap feats to replace powers you gain from your paragon path or epic destiny. If you use retraining to replace a power-swap feat with another feat, you lose any power gained from the power-swap feat and regain a power of the same level from your primary class.

Multiclass Feat Table

Name Prerequisites Benefit
Initiate of the Faith Wis 13 Cleric: Religion skill, healing word 1/day
Student of the Sword Str 13 Fighter: skill training, +1 to attack and mark 1/encounter
Soldier of the Faith Str 13, Cha 13 Paladin: skill training, divine challenge 1/encounter
Warrior of the Wild Str 13 or Dex 13 Ranger: skill training, Hunter's Quarry 1/encounter
Sneak of Shadows Dex 13 Rogue: Thievery skill, Sneak Attack 1/encounter
Pact Initiate Cha 13 Warlock: skill training, pact at-will 1/encounter
Student of Battle Str 13 Warlord: skill training, inspiring word 1/day
Arcane Initiate Int 13 Wizard: Arcana skill, wizard power 1/encounter
Novice Power Any class-specific multiclass Swap one encounter power with one of multiclass feats, 4th level
Acolyte Power Any class-specific multiclass Swap one utility power with one of multiclass feats, 8th level
Adept Power Any class-specific multiclass Swap one daily power with one of multiclass feats, 10th level

To think of them another way, paragon paths are like snack-size packets of character concept—just enough, but not so much you’ve ruined your dinner with either bloat or an unhappy mixture of class concepts for your taste. Dip into one flavor by selecting your path for 11th to 20th, and then select another course again from 21st to 30th with an epic destiny. (Alternatively if you wish, you can also select powers from a second class in place of a paragon path. That’s described in the information on multiclassing, and something we’ll cover in a future preview article.)

The Player’s Handbook supplies many paragon paths (you’ll find one for each class, previewed below), plus upcoming products and Dragon Magazine features will include even more paths as time goes on. That gives you lots of snack-size packets to choose from in order to craft the perfect character and differentiate your particular class build from the many others in the Dungeons & Dragons game.

Here are the fundamentals: You select a paragon path at 11th level. You gain access to two or more paragon path features at 11th level, including a paragon path feature that let’s you broaden the use of an action point with an additional benefit. You also gain another paragon path feature at 16th level. In addition, selecting a paragon path gives you access to one encounter power at 11th, one utility power at 12th, and a daily power at 20th. All of which looks like this:

11th: Paragon path feature
11th: Paragon path action point feature
11th: Paragon path encounter power
12th: Paragon path utility power
16th: Paragon path feature
20th: Paragon path daily power
--Julia Martin

You have survived and thrived through ten levels of adventure.

You’ve explored dank dungeons, defeated vile monsters, and learned priceless secrets. You’ve started making a name for yourself.

Now you’re ready to take the next step: you’re ready to choose a paragon path.

As your class describes your basic role in the party, your paragon path represents a particular area of expertise within that role. It’s a form of specialization beyond even what a build choice represents. You might be a battle cleric and specialize in melee powers, but starting at 11th level you can be a warpriest and specialize in battle prayers.

As shown on the Character Advancement table on page 29 of the Player's Handbook, your paragon path gives you new capabilities from 11th level through 20th level. But adopting a paragon path doesn’t mean you stop advancing in your class. All the powers and features you gain from your paragon path come in addition to your class powers and features, not instead of them. You don’t stop being a cleric when you become a radiant servant. Instead, you gain new capabilities that extend, enhance, and complement the abilities of your class.

Paragon paths also broaden the use of action points in different ways. Each paragon path features a different, extra capability that characters can unlock by spending action points. So, once you pick your paragon path, you can still spend an action point to take an extra action. But you’ll also have a new capability for action points that is unique to your path. Some of these capabilities come in addition to the extra action you get for spending an action point, some are used instead of getting an extra action.

When you reach 11th level, choose a paragon path. All paths have prerequisites, conditions you have to fulfill before you can adopt that path.

Paragon Tier Feats
Any feat in the following section is available to a character of 11th level or higher who meets the prerequisites. A sampling of paragon tier feats:

Name Prerequisites Benefit
Armor Specialization (Chainmail) Dex 15, training with chainmail +1 to AC with chainmail, reduce check penalty by 1
Danger Sense — Roll twice for initiative, use the higher result
Deadly Axe Str 17, Con 13 Treat all axes as high crit weapons
Devastating Critical — Deal additional 1d10 damage on a critical hit
Empowered Dragon Breath Dragonborn, dragon breath racial power Dragon breath uses d10s
Lasting Frost — Target hit with cold power gains vulnerable cold 5
Scimitar Dance Str 15, Dex 17 Deal Dex modifier damage on miss
Second Implement Wizard, Arcane Implement Mastery class feature Gain mastery with second arcane implement
Seize the Moment Dex 17 Gain combat advantage over foe with lower initiative
Sly Hunter Wis 15 +3 damage with bow against isolated target
Spear Push Str 15, Dex 13 Add 1 square to distance pushed with spear or polearm
Steady Shooter Con 15 +3 damage with crossbow if you don’t move
Twofold Curse Warlock, Warlock’s Curse class feature Curse the two nearest enemies
Underfoot Halfling, trained in Acrobatics Move through spaces of Large or larger creatures

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Cleric: Warpriest
“Let loose the gift of battle!”

Prerequisite: Cleric class

Your god demands battle to accomplish the tenets of your faith, and you are the chosen priest at the forefront of the war. When you call upon your divine powers, your weapons glow with holy light.

Warpriest Path Features

Extra Damage Action (11th level): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, you also add one-half your level to the damage dealt by any of your standard action attacks this turn.

Warpriest’s Strategy (11th level): Once per encounter, if you or an adjacent ally rolls a 1 when making a melee attack or a close attack, you can call for a reroll.

Warpriest’s Training (11th level): You receive a +1 bonus to AC when wearing heavy armor.

Warpriest’s Challenge (16th level): When you hit an enemy with an at-will melee attack, you can choose to mark that enemy for the rest of the encounter. The next time that enemy shifts or attacks a creature other than you, you can make an opportunity attack against that enemy. If you mark a new enemy with this feature, any previous marks you have made with this feature end.

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Fighter: Kensei
“My weapon and I are as one.”

Prerequisite: Fighter class

You study an ancient form of martial training that makes you one with your chosen weapon, creating a combination of destruction that few foes can long stand against.

Kensei Path Features

Kensei Control Action (11th level): You can spend an action point to reroll one attack roll, damage roll, skill check, or ability check, instead of taking an extra action.

Kensei Focus (11th level): You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with a melee weapon of your choice.

Kensei Mastery (16th level): You gain a +4 bonus to damage rolls with the same weapon you selected for Kensei Focus. If you ever use a different type of weapon, you lose this benefit, and the benefit for Kensei Focus, until you take a short rest, during which time you reattune yourself to your chosen weapon with a short meditation.

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Paladin: Justiciar
“I fight for justice, my faith and my strong arm defending those in need.”

Prerequisite: Paladin class

You become the embodiment of justice, a champion of righteousness and fairness—at least as viewed from the perspective of your particular faith. You are granted the ability to shelter and protect your allies and others in need, while also receiving powers that help you do the right thing according to the faith you have embraced.

Justiciar Path Features

Just Action (11th level): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, each enemy adjacent to you is weakened until the end of its next turn.

Just Spirit (11th level): Each ally adjacent to you can reroll one saving throw at the end of his or her turn.

Just Shelter (16th level): Allies adjacent to you are immune to fear and charm effects and receive a +1 bonus to saving throws.

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Ranger: Stormwarden
“I have accepted the burden of the stormwardens of the Feywild, and this region is under my protection.”

Prerequisite: Ranger class, two-blade fighting style

Your role as a warden and defender of the wild takes on new heights as you learn the ancient ways of the stormwardens of the Feywild. These techniques turn your whirling blades into a storm of destruction that rains down punishing blows on your enemies. With each slash of your weapon, the wind howls in anticipation of the coming storm.

Stormwarden Path Features

Blade Storm (11th level): As long as you are armed with a melee weapon and are capable of making an opportunity attack, one adjacent enemy (your choice) takes damage equal to your Dexterity modifier at the end of your turn.

Stormstep Action (11th level): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, you can teleport 3 squares either before or after you use the extra action.

Twin-Blade Storm (16th level): As long as you are armed with a melee weapon and are capable of making an opportunity attack, two adjacent enemies (your choice) take lightning damage equal to your Dexterity modifier at the end of your turn.

Stormwarden Exploits

Clearing the Ground Stormwarden Attack 11
You sweep your blades in mighty arcs around you, cutting foes that get too close and thrusting them back.

EncounterMartial,Weapon
Standard Action Close burst 1
Requirement: You must be wielding two melee weapons.
Target: Each enemy in burst you can see
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage, and you push the target 1 square.

Throw Caution to the Wind Stormwarden Utility 12
Aw, what the hell. You only live once.

EncounterMartial, Stance
Minor Action Personal

Effect: You take a –2 penalty to all defenses and gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls.

Cold Steel Hurricane Stormwarden Attack 20
You rush into the midst of your enemies and, like a freezing wind, flay them alive.

DailyMartial, Weapon
Standard Action Close burst 1
Requirement: You must be wielding two melee weapons.
Special: Before you attack, shift a number of squares equal to your Wisdom modifier.
Target: Each enemy in burst you can see
Attack: Strength vs. AC (main weapon and off-hand weapon), two attacks per target

Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage per attack.

Effect: You regain your second wind if you have already used it during this encounter.

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Rogue: Shadow Assassin
“When you need something dead, you’ll be hard pressed to find someone better at the job than me.”

Prerequisite: Rogue class

You become a killing machine, striking from the shadows with deadly and bloody efficiency, and turning attacks against you into pain and suffering for your enemies. You believe in doing unto others before they can do unto you, and you know how to deliver punishment as only a striker can.

Shadow Assassin Path Features

Shadow Assassin’s Action (11th level): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, you also gain a +4 bonus to attack rolls until the start of your next turn.

Shadow Assassin’s Riposte (11th level): Any adjacent enemy that misses you with a melee attack takes damage equal to your Dexterity modifier.

Bloody Evisceration (16th level): Gain an extra 1d6 Sneak Attack damage when attacking a bloodied enemy.

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Warlock: Doomsayer
“I speak for the cold darkness beyond the stars. I see the myriad ways that doom comes upon you.”

Prerequisite: Warlock class, star pact

You wrap yourself in the fear of the darkness beyond the stars and use it as a shield against your enemies. In addition, you examine the strands of fate to issue proclamations of doom to all who stand against you.

Doomsayer Path Features

Doomsayer’s Action (11th level): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, you also deal the extra damage of your Warlock’s Curse to all of your enemies currently affected by it.

Doomsayer’s Proclamation (11th level): Enemies within 10 squares of you must roll two dice when rolling saving throws against fear effects. They must use the lower of the two rolls.

Doomsayer’s Oath (16th level): When you are bloodied, you gain a +2 power bonus to attack rolls when you use a power that has the fear keyword.

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Warlord: Sword Marshal
“This weapon is my symbol of office, and it shines over the field of battle as I wield it against our enemies.”

Prerequisite: Warlord class, proficiency with heavy blade

You have extensively studied the use of light blades and heavy blades, and your weapon of choice has become a symbol of your power and leadership. You never enter a battle without your blade in hand, and your allies know to look for the gleaming weapon when they need help or inspiration.

Sword Marshal Path Features

Disciplined Blade (11th level): When you miss with a melee attack when using a heavy blade, you gain a +2 bonus to your next attack roll against the same enemy.

Sword Marshal’s Action (11th level): You can spend an action point to regain one warlord encounter power you have already used, instead of taking an extra action.

Skewer the Weak (16th level): When you score a critical hit using a heavy blade, you and all your allies gain combat advantage against the enemy you struck until the end of your next turn.

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Wizard: Battle Mage
“You think I’m just a simple scholar, my head buried amid my scrolls and books? Think again!”

Prerequisite: Wizard class

You didn’t leave behind the thrill of battle when you took up the mantle of wizard, so why should you stand back and let the fighters have all the fun? You have developed skills and techniques that have turned you into a true battle mage, ready to deal damage up close and personal or from afar, depending on the situation and how the mood strikes you. You have even learned of a technique for using arcane energy to temporarily stave off death—and you can’t wait to try it out in battle!

Battle Mage Path Features

Arcane Riposte (11th level): Imbued with magical might, your hands bristle with arcane energy in the heat of battle. When a creature provokes an opportunity attack from you, make an opportunity attack with one of your hands (Dexterity vs. AC). Choose cold, fire, force, or lightning. You deal 1d8 + Intelligence modifier damage of that type with this attack.

Battle Mage Action (11th level): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, you also gain a +4 bonus to attack rolls until the start of your next turn.

Battle Edge (16th level): When you first become bloodied in an encounter, you can use any at-will power you know as an immediate reaction.

Immortality
Every epic destiny gives you immortality -- either true everlasting life or a legacy that will live forever. One way or another, you will move beyond mortal affairs. You might leave the world, be reincarnated as a new hero, die a glorious death, or enter the realm of the deities and assume divine power. This is the end of your adventuring career, and it provides a satisfying ending to your character's story. Which is not to say that your story might not have an epilogue . . . there are many ways you might return and find adventure once again. The forms of immortality listed here include ways in which the DM might incorporate the legacy of your epic hero into a future campaign.

Destiny Quests
You don't fulfill your epic destiny by chance or by gaining experience. Your final adventure, carefully crafted by your DM, takes you on to immortality. If everybody in the group has an epic destiny (which is recommended if you're using epic destinies in your campaign), the DM can end the campaign with one extraordinary adventure. You'll be working toward your destiny quest in subtle ways long before you reach 30th level. Keep an eye out for clues that might point toward your destiny quest.

Forge Your Own Destiny

You have many options when using epic destinies. Not every group wants to end the campaign at 30th level, and not every DM wants to end a campaign in a way that will mesh with your destiny. All the details for immortality and suggestions for destiny quests are entirely optional. What happens to you when you finish your destiny quest (or if you just keep playing) is up to you and your DM.

Epic Destinies in 4th Edition
As a part of the core 4th Edition rules, epic destinies are an iconic facet of epic play. The epic tier of play is built to have an endpoint, unlike 3rd Edition's epic levels. Usually, this means taking on an immense threat to the world, such as Orcus, or perhaps even an evil deity.

See if you can guess which of the epic destinies in this article is also featured in the 4th Edition Player's Handbook!

Gaining an Epic Destiny

Normally, you can gain an epic destiny by taking the Epic Destiny feat. Doing so takes up your 21st-, 24th-, 27th-, and 30th-level feat slots. (You gain bonus feats from your class normally.) Your DM might decide that, if everybody in the group is taking an epic destiny, the epic destiny doesn't use up any feats. Ask your DM how epic destinies work in his campaign.

An epic destiny has four parts:

One or more 21st-level features
A 24th-level feature that makes you harder to kill
A 27th-level special power
A 30th-level feature
Any effect that applies to class features also applies to epic destiny features.

New Feat: Epic Destiny
You have a destiny beyond that of other adventurers.

Prerequisite: 21st level, any other requirements listed in the epic destiny's description.

Benefit: Choose an epic destiny. You gain that epic destiny's benefits at 21st, 24th, 27th, and 30th level. When you have this feat, you do not gain additional feats at 24th, 27th, or 30th level.

Artifact Lord
The power of magic items lures you, and you learn to command them with great ease. When you hold an item, you can trace the paths of the magic that formed it, and understand it like no one else -- not even its creator, unless the creator also is an artifact lord -- is able to. The more you use magic items, the closer your connection to them, and you gain the ability to protect them and even place your very soul within them. Eventually, even artifacts consider you their master.

Requirements: 21st level.

Artifact Lord
Level Benefit
21st Impossible activation, charge item
24th Disjunction ward
27th Soul transfer
30th Artifact dominion

Impossible Activation (Ex): At 21st level, you disregard effects that prevent you from activating magic items. For example, you can speak a command word even when silenced, or activate a mental command item while dominated or unconscious. This does not apply to items for which you don't meet the requirements, but you automatically get a result of 20 on all Use Magic Device checks.

In addition, you never provoke attacks of opportunity for activating a magic item.

Charge Item (Ex): At 21st level, you get the most out of your magic items. Once per day as a swift action, you can add one charge to an item that has charges or get an extra use out of an item that has a limited number of uses per day. If the item has multiple functions that have charges (such as a staff) or multiple functions that have a number of uses per day, you choose which one to increase or restore.

Disjunction Ward (Su): At 24th level, magic items you possess are protected against magical disjunction. If an effect (such as Mordenkainen's disjunction) would cause an item you hold, wear, or have on your body to become nonmagical, you can choose to negate that effect (for your items only) and to cause the effect's caster (if within line of effect) to suffer the effect himself. This feature also offers some protection to items you own, but don't have with you. An item you own that is not being worn or held by someone else gets a bonus on its saving throws equal to half your level.

Soul Transfer (Su): At 27th level, you can transfer your soul to an item when you die. This ability functions once per day. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, choose a magic item you possess. Your body blazes with cold blue light, then transforms into adamantine as the object becomes your soul's new home. As the object you have a fly speed of 30 feet (perfect), though if you transfer into an item your body's wearing, you won't be able to move. You can cast spells in this form, activate the item, and attack with it if it's a weapon (or similar item). Anything you do using this item functions as it normally would, and you still count the bonuses for magic items your body's wearing.

In this form, you can be attacked only as an item, not a creature (mind-affecting effects are an exception). If the item is destroyed, you die.

Artifact Dominion (Su): At 30th level, you can call upon the power of various artifacts. An artifact called by artifact dominion appears, assists you briefly, then returns to the location from which it came. Choose three of the options from the list below. You can activate each effect once per day as a swift action. If at any time you possess one of these artifacts, you gain one extra use of the listed effect (and the artifact dominion effect doesn't prevent you from using the artifact normally).

Book of Exalted Deeds: You can use this effect only if you are lawful good, neutral good, or chaotic good. For 1 hour, you cast good spells and use good abilities at +2 caster level. During this time, you can also make a melee touch attack that deals 1d6 points of damage per character level to an evil creature.

Book of Vile Darkness: You can use this effect only if you are lawful evil, neutral evil, or chaotic evil. For 1 hour, you cast evil spells and use evil abilities at +2 caster level. During this time, you can also make a melee touch attack that deals 1d6 points of damage per character level to a good creature.

Olidamarra's Dice: Choose a creature within 20 feet (or yourself). Roll 1d6 and consult the table to determine the effect upon the creature. There is no saving throw.

Roll Result
1 -1 penalty on attacks, saves, and checks for 1 hour
2 -4 penalty to AC for 10 minutes
3 +1 morale bonus on attacks and on saves against fear for 10 minutes
4 Gain effects of blur for 10 minutes
5 +1 insight bonus on all attacks, saves, and checks for 1 hour
6 Gain effects of freedom of movement for 1 hour

Sphere of Annihilation: Duplicate the effects of disintegrate, caster level 20.

Staff of the Magi: You gain spell resistance equal to 10 + your level for 1 hour, and you're invisible (as the greater invisibility spell) for 5 rounds.

Immortality of Metal and Stone: With your destiny complete, you can rest in a new form that can survive for eons, through any sort of calamity. You disperse your essence into artifacts of your own design. Perhaps you transfer fragments of your persona to twelve amulets that wait to be picked up by the next generation of epic heroes. Or you could become an adamantine vessel that travels the skies, using supernatural senses to seek out danger and end it. Maybe your bones become artifacts, imbuing those who come upon them with some of your power. And if your next campaign is a 4th Edition game, you can use the artifact rules (in the Dungeon Master's Guide) to model your character's new incarnation.

Blade of Ragnarok
When powerful forces desire to end the world or to snuff out existence, you will be there. With power that is destined to be under your command, you can fight off any threat. There is no danger you cannot face, and on the battlefields where the fate of everyone and everything is decided, you will stand victorious. You can fight the most powerful of creatures -- those regarded as invincible by almost everyone.

Requirements: 21st level.

Blade of Ragnarok
Level Benefit
21st Unbreakable body, weapon of ruin
24th Slayer's fury
27th Unstoppable tenacity
30th Destiny strike

Unbreakable Body (Ex): At 21st level, you gain damage reduction 5/--. Unlike most damage reduction, this stacks with all other DR. You automatically succeed on saving throws when you take massive damage.

Weapon of Ruin (Su): At 21st level, your attacks have abilities that let them bypass some damage reduction. You gain the aligned strike (corresponding to your alignment), epic strike, and magic strike qualities (Rules Compendium, pages 100-101).

You can also emulate a material or damage type on all your attacks. Only one can be in effect at a time, and changing it is a move action. The effect is continuous. You can treat your attacks as bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, adamantine, cold iron, or silver (with no damage penalty).

You also gain the ability to make a Sense Motive check (opposed by the target's Bluff) to determine the damage reduction type (but not amount) of a creature you can see.

Slayer's Fury (Su): At 24th level, you gain the ability to make devastatingly accurate attacks. Twice per day as a swift action, you gain a +20 luck bonus on all attack rolls you make on your current turn, and your critical hit range is doubled. Furthermore, you suffer no miss chance on the attacks and can re-roll any 1 you roll on an attack or damage roll.

Unstoppable Tenacity (Ex): At 27th level, you can fight when you should be dead. You don't die when you reach -10 hit points. Instead, you die when you have negative hit points equal to half your full normal hit points.

Furthermore, you can keep fighting when you are below 0 hit points. When reduced to -1 or fewer hit points, you automatically become stable and can choose to keep fighting. If you keep fighting while below 0 hit points, you take a -1 penalty on attacks, saves, and checks.

Destiny Strike (Su): At 30th level, you can make attacks that strip away the defenses of powerful enemies. You can use this ability three times per day. Before making an attack, you can declare it to be a destiny strike (a free action). If you hit, the DM lists all of the following the hit creature possesses: damage reduction, fast healing, immunities, miss chance (including from incorporeality), regeneration, resistance to energy, spell resistance, and turn resistance. You can suppress one of those benefits for 3 rounds. If it has multiple types of immunities or resistances, choose only one. The DM lists only the types, not the amounts. For example, the DM would tell you a monster has fast healing, fire resistance, and spell resistance, not that it has fast healing 23, fire resistance 10, and spell resistance 35.

The Long Wait of Immortality: Your destiny quest has been fulfilled. Most likely, you fought off an evil that could have destroyed your world, your plane, or all of creation. Your work done, you pass into hibernation in an unknown place, sleeping until you are needed once more. You've become a legendary, godlike figure. The one who is prophesied to return when needed once again. When another threat arises that is as powerful as the last, you might rise to stop it . . . but you might need to be awakened. A group of adventurers could seek you out to tap into the deep well of your martial power. And perhaps your new character can be one of these brave souls.

Note that the demigod epic destiny does not use the demigod traits outlined in Deities and Demigods. This is to keep the demigod's abilities more in line with the rest of the party, and for simplicity's sake.

Requirements: 21st level.

Demigod
Level Benefit
21st Divine spark, death denied
24th Regenerative touch
27th Divine surge
30th Miracle

Divine Spark: At 21st level, you gain either a +1 inherent bonus to each of two ability scores or a +2 inherent bonus to one ability score.

Death Denied: At 21st level, you become resistant to attacks that would instantly kill you. You gain a +5 luck bonus on saving throws against necromancy effects and saving throws against massive damage. If you roll a 1 on one of these types of saving throws, you can re-roll the die. If you succeed on a save against a necromancy spell, you suffer no effect, even if you would normally suffer a partial effect.

Regenerative Touch (Sp): At 24th level, you gain the ability to use regenerate at will (caster level 20).

Divine Surge (Su): At 27th level, you can restore yourself to fighting form. Once per day as an immediate action, you can use this ability to restore yourself to full maximum hit points and gain the benefit of greater restoration.

Miracle (Sp): At 30th level, you can use miracle once per day. You choose what happens, using your own divine power instead of making a request of a deity. You must still pay any XP and component costs required by the miracle spell. Use your character level to determine the caster level.

Divine Immortality: When you reach the end of your destiny quest, you become a true deity (if a minor one). Perhaps you create your own divine domain and portfolio, or perhaps a deity you had a close connection with gives you a piece of his power in respect for your incredible service. You might want to design a divine portfolio, holy symbol, and other trappings of your own faith before the campaign ends, and share those with the group when you finish your destiny quest. When you reach godhood, the adventuring life seems quaint compared to the power you wield. Your character's need to travel and battle mortal threats is finished, but her influence on other adventurers might not be. Perhaps the deity you've become will even be a major player in your next campaign.

Eternal Hero
Over many eons, in many bodies, with many names, you have adventured and conquered. In an endless cycle of death and rebirth, you have attained the name "hero" in many lands and many incarnations. When you die, you always return again, as a new hero. You might be very different in each form, but a common thread binds one soul to all these manifestations. You learn to draw on the strength and resolve of your past selves to fight off death itself.

Requirements: 21st level.

Eternal Hero
Level Benefit
21st Continual resurrection, death denied
24th Quickening
27th Eternal renewal
30th Nexus of many lives

Continual Resurrection: At 21st level, you gain the ability to return from the dead. At dawn each day, if you are dead, you are restored to life (as true resurrection). You can set a place where you want to be resurrected. (You must be standing in that place when you make the choice.) When you are resurrected, you can choose to be resurrected in the place you choose or in the place you died. You can choose a new location for your place of resurrection once per level.

Death Denied: At 21st level, you become resistant to attacks that would instantly kill you. You gain a +5 luck bonus on saving throws against necromancy effects. If you succeed on a save against a necromancy spell, you suffer no effect, even if you would normally suffer a partial effect.

You gain a +10 luck bonus on saving throws against death attacks and saving throws against massive damage. If you roll a 1 on one of these types of saving throws, you can re-roll the die.

Quickening: At 24th level, your body begins to heal at an amazing rate. At the start of your turn, you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to your level. If you already have any temporary hit points when you gain these temporary hit points, they do not stack -- use only the higher value.

Eternal Renewal (Su): At 27th level, you gain the ability to immediately come back from death's door. When you take damage that reduces you to below 0 hit points (even if you go below -10 hit points), you can use this ability as an immediate action. You go to 0 hit points, then regain a number of hit points equal to half your maximum hit points. You can use this ability twice per day, increasing to four times per day at 30th level.

Nexus of Many Lives: At 30th level, you can tap into the power of one of your past incarnations. You can use this ability once per day. When you do, choose which incarnation to activate and use the effect listed. Upon gaining this class feature, you must choose a weapon type for the warrior incarnation, the arcane spell for the arcanist incarnation, the divine spell for the disciple incarnation, and up to three options for the traitor incarnation.

The Warrior (Su): Make a full attack as a standard action. For the purpose of this attack, you have a +25 base attack bonus, a +11 Strength modifier, and a magic weapon with up to a +8 enhancement bonus and special properties equaling up to a total +5 bonus equivalent (you must choose the weapon's bonus and properties when you gain this epic destiny feature). You can apply any spells affecting you or feats you have to these attacks.

The Arcanist (Sp): Duplicate the effect of any 7th-level arcane spell from any class list. Your caster level is equal to your character level for this spell. While casting this spell, you do not suffer arcane spell failure, you automatically succeed on Concentration checks, and you gain a +10 bonus on caster level checks to overcome spell resistance.

The Disciple (Sp): Duplicate the effect of any 7th-level divine spell from any class list. Your caster level is equal to your character level for this spell. While casting this spell, you automatically succeed on Concentration checks and you gain a +10 bonus on caster level checks to overcome spell resistance.

The Traitor (Sp): Duplicate the effect of any 8th-level evil spell from any class list. This can include spells that can attain the evil descriptor if used in certain ways, such as summon monster spells, but must be cast as the evil version if used in this way. When you use the traitor manifestation, you might become evil if you are not already. Make a Charisma check (DC 20) after you use the manifestation. If you fail and are good, change the good axis of your alignment to neutral. If you are not good or evil, change neutral to evil. Your caster level is equal to your character level for this spell. While casting this spell, you automatically succeed on Concentration checks and you gain a +10 bonus on caster level checks to overcome spell resistance.

Immortality in Rebirth: Despite your ability to avoid it, you will eventually face death. It might be from a foe too powerful to overcome, but whom you might face again in another life. Or, you might have finished your destiny quest and realized your work is done in this body and it is time to move on. In either case, your soul returns to its true essence, and you experience, briefly, knowledge beyond all mortal ken. Then, you find yourself once again in a new body. Does this manifestation know anything about its past lives now or will it learn more later on? Does this form resemble the last or are they far different? All these might be questions to explore with your next character.

Force of Nature
Your connection to nature has always been strong, but now it grows deeper still. Wherever you go, your essence infuses the landscape all around you, and you are likewise affected by your surroundings. You can manifest the power of the weather and call upon all the animal and plant life of the terrain to defend you or strike your foes. The strength of stone, the fluidity of water, and the life force of the trees are all a part of you. In time, it becomes difficult to separate you from the land, as it and your soul merge into one.

Requirements: 21st level, wild shape class feature

Force of Nature
Level Benefit
21st Boon of nature
24th Improved boon of nature
27th Storm suffusion
30th Environment shape

Boon of Nature (Su): At 21st level, you gain a continuous benefit that gets better in certain types of environments. You have access to two of the different boons listed below (chosen when you acquire this class feature), and can swap out boons as a swift action. The benefit applies in both your normal form and when wild shaped (or otherwise in an alternate form).

Boon of Life: At will, you can use a swift action to heal a creature within close range (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels). This effect cures a number of points of damage equal to half your character level. While you are in an area where plant growth is pervasive (such as a forest or meadow), you have fast healing 10.

Boon of Stone: You have DR 3/adamantine while this boon is active. If you have the ability to wild shape into an elemental, you can wild shape into any elemental with the earth subtype (within the normal size and HD restrictions). If you're in an area where stone is common (such as a mountain or stone-walled structure), you can trigger a minor tremor as a swift action. The range is long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level) and affects any creature standing on the ground within a 30-foot-radius spread. An affected creature must make a Reflex save (DC 20 + your Wisdom modifier) or fall prone.

Boon of Storms: At will, you can use a swift action to tap into the power of lightning or wind. You can call down a streak of lightning against a creature within medium range. It requires a ranged touch attack to hit and deals 1d6 points of electricity damage per two character levels. If you have the ability to wild shape into an elemental, you can wild shape into any elemental with the air subtype (within the normal size and HD restrictions). If you're under an open sky, you gain concealment (20% miss chance) while this boon is active.

Boon of Water: While this boon is active, you gain DR 3/magic and resistance to fire 10. If you have the ability to wild shape into an elemental, you can wild shape into any elemental with the water subtype (within the normal size and HD restrictions). While you are in an aquatic environment, you gain the benefits of freedom of movement and water breathing.

Improved Boon of Nature: At 24th level, you gain access to one additional boon of nature.

Storm Suffusion (Su): At 27th level, you take on the form of an immense storm when you are in danger of dying. When you are reduced to 0 hit points or fewer, you become a storm. This duplicates the effects of a storm of vengeance, with the radius of the effect centered on the square where you were. Use your character level for the caster level and your Wisdom modifier for the ability bonus. This effect lasts for 5 rounds (it's not dismissable when used this way), at which time you return to your natural form at 0 hit points and become stable. You can use this ability once per day.

Environment Shape (Su): At 30th level, you can assume the form of the terrain around you when you wild shape. When you do so, choose one of the forms listed below that is applicable in your current environment. You fuse with the terrain, taking up a 15-foot cube of space within the terrain type you choose (this cube must be adjacent to you when you change shape). This makes you fill the same amount of space as a Huge creature, and attacks against you can target any square in that space (though you don't take any of the modifiers for being Huge).

You can "move" at your normal speed, though you're actually moving your essence from one part of the environment to another. Consequently, this movement doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.

Unlike with other uses of wild shape, your physical ability scores do not change and gear you wear still functions, though you can't activate items. If you are targeted by a spell that would affect the terrain (such as transmute rock to mud or whirlwind), you get a Fortitude saving throw. If you fail, you return to your natural form in a square adjacent to the space you occupied as the terrain.

Form of Life: You must be in an area where plant growth is pervasive. You gain the benefits of boon of life (see above). You can make a grapple check as a swift action that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity. You can use a slam attack as a swift action or a standard action. You can use control plants and entangle at will, as supernatural abilities.

Form of Stone: You must be in an area where stone is common. You gain the benefits of boon of stone (see above). You gain a melee touch attack that knocks the target prone. You can use this attack as a swift action or a standard action. You can use earthquake as a supernatural ability, using your character level as the caster level. You can do this once while in this form (returning to normal form, then using wild shape to return to form of stone allows you to use earthquake again). You can also cast spells with the earth descriptor normally while in this form (as the Natural Spell feat), and you use them as though you were three caster levels higher.

Form of Storms: Only while under an open sky, you gain the benefits of boon of storms (see above), plus the following additional features. You gain a slam attack that deals 2d8 (plus your Strength modifier) points of damage and knocks the target back 20 feet. You can use this slam attack as a swift action or a standard action. You can use call lightning storm as a supernatural ability while in this form. This is an at-will ability, but you can have only one in effect at a time. You can also cast spells with the air or electricity descriptor normally while in this form (as the Natural Spell feat), and you use them as though you were three caster levels higher.

Form of Water: You must be in an aquatic environment. You gain the benefits of boon of water (see above). You gain a slam attack that deals 2d10 (plus your Strength modifier) points of damage and knocks the target back 10 feet. You can use this slam attack as a swift action or a standard action. You can use waterspout (Spell Compendium 236) as a supernatural ability, using your character level as the caster level. This is an at-will ability, but you can have only one waterspout active at a time. Unlike the normal spell, this waterspout has a 10-foot radius and can suck in Large and Huge creatures. You can also cast spells with the water descriptor normally while in this form (as the Natural Spell feat), and you use them as though you were three caster levels higher.

Immortality of the Earth and Planes: Your life force pulses with the rhythms of the natural world, and in time you can no longer tell which is which. Your essence flows from place to place in the world, and from plane to plane. You see many things, but care little for events that don't harm the plants and animals of the planes. Over the eons, your name becomes forgotten -- heard only in the rustle of leaves, the crash of thunder, and the babbling of brooks.