New Warlock patron: Great Machine (D&D 5e)

   While most warlocks serve capricious masters, these warlocks have bound themselves to a force for knowledge, rationality, and science. In some societies, this may be a creation of the most powerful arcanists. However, even these devices come to express themselves in manners similar to Great Machines known elsewhere. It is assumed by most that this entity is a greater spirit or minor god from the plane of Mechanus. It is possible that they are unknown types of truly mighty modrons acting in a manner similar to other outsiders; providing power for their own ends. Regardless of its actual nature, this patron describes itself as a computing machine with vast repositories of knowledge located within the folds of time and space. Its vast knowledge and perspective, along with its utter dispassion, renders its true designs inscrutable to its supplicants.
   However unknowable its objectives may be, and whether its professed intentions are believed, it seems strongly bound by structure and order. Several formal and repeatable processes for petitioning to become a warlock of the Great Machine have been documented. Many are connected with places or artifacts associated with this patron or its servants, as might be expected. The most common are processes of initiation by an existing warlock. As a result, warlocks of the Great Machine have occasionally established enclaves, schools, and even cults, depending on their various approaches to their patron.
   Warlocks sworn to the Great Machine nearly always take the Pact of the Tome. The most common form for this boon appears to be little more than a featureless tablet of slick, unnatural material hinged together with another plate whose inner surface is covered with odd, mechanical buttons. Under the manipulations of its owner, the blank inner surface can be made to show nearly infinite pages worth of information. Still stranger tomes have been granted, however, including simple slates that appear similar in effect to the blank half of the tome and small crystals which project the information into the space above them.
   Occasionally a warlock will instead receive the Pact of the Chain. Such familiars are strange, obviously artificial creatures. Their outer coverings are made from the same sort of slick, unnatural material as tomes so often are, and through the gaps metal, mechanical components can be seen. Despite their appearance, these creatures are not treated as constructs as their complexity exceeds what is apparent and their mechanical systems effectively replicate many biological systems. Frequently creatures summoned or produced by the magic of the Great Machine have this appearance.

Great Machine Patron Summary
1st; Expanded Spell list, Technomancer, Arcane Sight
6th; Clockwork Universe
10th; Wheels within Wheels
14th; Dust in the Gears

New Arcane Tradition: Battlemage

A rare tradition, battlemages are instructed in the use of arms and armor so that they can engage in close quarters combat while wielding their arcane powers. Sometimes considered a dwarven answer to the Bladesinger, these armed and armored wizards seek out combat and bend their magic to empowering attacks against their foes.

New Arcane Tradition; White School Necromancer (D&D 5e)

The stereotypical necromancer is a dark-cloaked ghoul huddled over the graves of the dead in search of parts and pieces to bolster their power. These charnel misanthropes are ill liked and mistrusted, and their practices are often marginalized if not outlawed directly. There are those, however, who claim the necromancers so often seen are the failures and degenerates of a greater legacy. This lost legacy recognized the powers and energies of death and dying as merely one part of a greater whole. The few practitioners who know of this ancient tradition talk of the respect and power it held at its height. Their stories are bolstered by eldritch and obscure formulae and tantalizing descriptions held in some of their most prized texts; tomes of ancient provenance and exceeding rarity. However, often, these pieces are useless. Calculations and formulations built upon assumptions that the writers took for granted but have been lost to the modern practitioners of the necromantic arts.

New Maneuvers; Defender Sub-Archetype (D&D 5e)

The following maneuvers are available to the Battle Master archetype of the fighter class;

Castle. When an enemy moves, regardless of whether they would normally provoke an attack of opportunity, if they are within reach of your weapon you may spend a superiority die to make a melee weapon attack against them as a reaction. If you hit with this attack, add the roll of the superiority die to the damage.

Gate. When you make an attack against an enemy that is moving you may expend a superiority die. If you hit with the attack add the roll of the superiority die to the damage roll and their movement immediately ends.

Press. When you make an attack against a moving enemy you may expend a superiority dice. If you hit with the attack you add the superiority die to the damage roll, then you may move 5'.

Toll. When you make an attack of opportunity against an enemy which is moving you may expend a superiority dice. You also may add your superiority die roll to both the attack and damage roll.

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Playing with Class: Charismatic Fighters (D&D 5e)

The following maneuvers are available to the Battle Master archetype of the fighter class.
New Maneuver; The Art of Battle. The flair and style of your attacks are undeniable, when you make a weapon attack on your turn you may expend one of your superiority die, adding the your Charisma bonus to your to hit and the superiority die roll + your Charisma bonus to the damage roll for the attack.

New Maneuver; Blood on the Sand. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die perform a flourish ending with an attempt to make an additional strike. Choose a target, which may be the same as your initial attack or another within your reach, then roll a Charisma (Perform) check against the creature's armor class. If you are successful, you deal damage normally for your weapon and add the roll of your superiority die to the damage.

New Maneuver; Blood, Sweat, and Cheers. A brilliantly executed attack reinvigorates you, knowing such will bring you accolades and honor. When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack you can expend a superiority die. You add the superiority die roll + your Charisma modifier to the attacks damage and gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the die roll + your Charisma modifier.

New Maneuver; Covered in Glory. You can make dazzlingly brazen attacks without leaving true openings in your defense. When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll and may add your Charisma bonus to your Armor Class until the beginning of your next turn.


New Feat; Bloody Showman
Prerequisite: Charisma 13 or higher and proficiency in the Perform skill.
You have trained to perform before crowds in gladiatorial games, learning to use dramatic maneuvers to gain their approval.

• You learn three maneuvers of your choice from among those available to the Battle Master archetype in the fighter class. If a maneuver you use requires your target to make a saving throw to resist the maneuver's effects, the saving throw DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice). 

New Feat; For the Crowd

The art of the gladiator is to use dramatic moves to defeat their foes and, more importantly, impress their audience.

• After you use a maneuver from the Battle Master archetype you may make a Charisma(Perform) check against DC 20 as a bonus action. If you are successful you regain a superiority die. You may not attempt to use this ability after that maneuver again until you finish a short or long rest.

House Rule; Commander's Strike On your turn you can use a bonus action to direct one of your companions to strike. When you do so, chose a friendly creature who can see or hear you and expend on superiority die. Roll a Charisma (Persuasion) check against a DC of 15 and, if successful, that creature can immediately make one weapon attack, adding the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.

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New Class; Scout (D&D 4e)

“There will be an open way, even if I have to use some arrows to find it...”

Role; Controller. You manage the battlefield, denying enemies access to areas and punishing them for taking specific actions. Your ability to deal damage to enemies accurately and repeatedly allows you to act as a striker as a secondary roll, however you are most effective at dealing with larger numbers of enemies.

Power Source; Martial. Your talents depend on extensive training and constant practice, personal determination, and natural coordination.

Key Abilities; Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom

Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather

Weapon Proficiencies: Simple ranged, military ranged.

Bonus to Defense: +2 Reflex

Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + Constitution score

Hit Points per Level Gained: 4

Healing Surges per Day: 6 + Constitution modifier

Trained Skills: Perception or Stealth. From the class skills list below, choose four trained skills at 1st level.

Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Athletics (Str), Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Dungeoneering (Int), Heal (Wis), Insight (Wis), Nature (Wis), Perception (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Streetwise (Cha), Thievery (Dex),

Build Options:

Class Features:

Scouts wander the far byways of the wilds and run the back streets of cities. Their personalities are as varied as the weapons they use, but they know the nooks and crannies wherever they are found, having ferreted out the secret ways and best places with unerring instincts. As water finds the cracks in a cobblestone road, Scouts find what they need to remain prepared.

As a Scout, you will be a guide. Whether you are a nimble pathfinder that leads the way into danger with blade ready or a battle wizened sage providing less physical direction. This attitude extends into the way you view combat- it is a maze through which you can shepherd your allies safely and where your foes can be drawn into blind alleys that promise only death.

With your weapon at the ready you have no fear of the unknown. The next horizon is not a goal to be reached, but a milestone on a journey. Will you come back to show others the way, or is your path ever onward?

New Rogue Archetype: Chirurgeon (D&D 5e)

The earliest studies of healing required the robbing of graves and little mortal knowledge has ever advanced without being wrenched bodily from a universe ill-desiring to yield it.

Sometimes a chirurgeon starts as a humble product of the streets who seeks the knowledge to heal and help those they care about in whatever way they can. More often, they begin as one of the learned who finds themselves skulking in the shadows performing whatever deeds are necessary to further their knowledge. Shunned in higher society of most "civilized" places where magical healing is available, chirurgeons are considered little better than ghouls. Seen as butchers and mocked as would be necromancers lacking the true power of magic, they still flourish wherever the poor and desperate exist. After all, when you need a healer and can't afford the "donations" asked by a temple, some questions aren't worth asking.

Chirurgeons will join adventuring parties for the same reason any other scholar might; in search of knowledge, glory, or for more personal motivations. Perhaps starting adventurers simply needed someone who could patch them together and found that their resources were sufficient to hire a chirurgeon out of their laboratory and into pursuit of greater fortune. Perhaps a soul who would otherwise have spent a life taking decided instead to try their hand at giving back. Regardless, even if their companions fall never to rise again, it simply means the chirurgeon will have new subjects with which to further their understanding of the myriad living forms.

New Arcane Tradition: Craftsmage (D&D5e)

The world of Eberron is kept running by the Artificers who build the pervasive magic upon which the society is built. The evolution of magic from a wild, unpredictable force to one that is becoming available to the masses is not a thing that happens overnight, and the first step was a tradition which shifted focus from types of spells and schools of magic to a method of applying that magic reliably. Far from being a dead practice that vanished with the evolution of the Artificer, there are still Craftsmages across Khorvaire. Appealing to those with the intellectual rigor but not the physical stamina of the Artificer, many junior craftsmages work providing mystical support in arcane foundries and forges. As they gain experience, talented craftsmages go on to serve as theoreticians as researchers; the more dynamic nature of spell-work providing a flexibility to their arcane research that the process of attempting to create new types of enchanted items sometimes lacks.