Almost all of the standard 5E rules apply, and all WOTC sourcebooks are allowed.

Character creation

On DnDBeyond, use these preferences for your characters.

While UA (Playtest Content) is enabled, it is not automatically allowed for use (see below). Also, while Critical Role content is enabled, the Blood Hunter and Gunslinger Fighter are not automatically available.

Races

All races are allowed, except for variant human (use the Humans of Estia instead, available on DnDBeyond), aarakocra, winged tiefling and the Dragonmarked sub-races from Eberron. Custom Lineage (from TCoE) is also disallowed, but talk to the DM if you have a specific concept in mind and we might homebrew something.

Both great ursinians and smallkin are available to use.

Ability scores

When creating a character, assign ability scores by rolling six 4d6 and dropping the lowest die on each. Use either this array or point buy (your choice after rolling).

Everyone gets a feat at first level

You can not however be a variant human and get two feats. This opens up a multitude of character builds, making characters more unique from the start.

Backstory

Total amount of backstory + character description should be ~250 words. If you have allies in your backstories, give them names. If you have trouble thinking of something, talk to the DM!

Some good questions to answer in a backstory blurb: Why are they an adventurer? Who, if anyone, trained them? Which gods do they worship? How do they fight? What do they look like?

A good backstory gives the DM something to work with to integrate your character into the story. It is preferred to make a character from the local area - this gives them a connection to the world, and probably some knowledge that an outsider would not have. For example, if you create an elf, making them a traveller from a far away land is much harder to integrate than if they come from Maeral.

Make a character that wants to adventure

Your character should be willing to work with an adventuring party and willing to go on quests! Be wary of making a loner who does not care for other people's problems.

Alignment

Alignment should follow actions, not the other way around. However, evil characters are problematic in their own right, and require approval by the DM on creation. Remember, you are a protagonist of the story.

UA and homebrew NOT allowed by default

However, talk to the dungeon master about what you would like and we might work something out. Any previously allowed UA or homebrew is subject to continuous further balancing.

Levelling up

Levels are granted through a milestone system, usually when quests are completed. In general, one can expect levels 1-3 to take one session each, 4-5 to take two sessions each, and then 3-4 sessions per level from there, but this is all up to the dungeon master.

Multiclassing limitations

The DM has the right to decline you to take a level of a new class if it makes no sense role-playing wise. If you absolutely want to be a barbarian-cleric, foreshadow it a bit and it will be fine, or talk to the DM if you want a warlock patron etc. This is not a limiting rule, it is there to make sure that the characters stay somewhat coherent with the story.

If you want to be a sorcerer, it has to be your first class. Sorcerers are born, not learned. It might be possible to earn the ability to take sorcerer levels by being subjected to a powerful source of magical energy, but those gifts are very rare.

Character Death and Retirement

Should a character fall in combat and it is determined that the party does not have the abilities or resources to resurrect them, the player makes a new character and can re-join the game at the earliest convenience. It is more important to keep everyone playing than to have 100% story cohesion and believability.

It is also not unheard of for adventurers to retire after a particularly big haul of loot, or if their reason for going adventuring has been fulfilled. If the situation calls for it, they might return later.

Creating a character at higher level

If you need to create a character at a higher level, it is advised to step through the levels and make sure the character makes sense for all levels up to the one where you are joining the campaign. This is especially true for learned spellcasters who can switch spells on levelup, such as the bard or sorcerer.

In addition, depending on your level, you can also award yourself the following amount of magic items, in addition to your starting equipment:

Level	Common	Uncommon	Rare	Very Rare	Gold
3-4	1	-	-	-	3d6*10
5-7	1	1	-	-	3d6*25
8-10	1	2	-	-	3d6*100
11-14	1	2	1	-	3d6*500
15-20	1	2	2	1	3d6*1000

The DM may disallow any particular choice of magic item. If you have trouble finding items you like, talk to the DM.

Gameplay Rules

No need to keep track of ammunition

Just unnecessary bookkeeping. An exception is magical ammo, which does not replenish itself. Loading weapons still work the same. This does not apply to thrown weapons.

Spellcasting foci and somatic components

RAW, if you have a spellcasting focus in one hand and the other hand is busy, you can cast spells with somatic AND material components, but not with ONLY somatic components. This makes no sense, so it is OK to cast a S spell with your spellcasting focus in hand.

It is still not allowed to cast S or M spells with no open hands (without the War Caster feat) or no spellcasting focus (for M spells).

If a spell has a material component that is consumed, that still needs to be provided with a free hand. If the material component is not consumed, but has a gold cost, upon acquisition a character can usually spend some time to work that component into their spellcasting focus. For example, a sorcerer could spend a short rest (probably less with proper tools) to affix a diamond needed for Chromatic Orb on top of their staff. Ask the DM if you have questions.

The blade cantrips' M component ('a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp') is fulfilled by most conjured weapons, such as a Shadow Blade, a Soulknife's Psi Blades or a Pact of the Blade Warlock's weapons. The range of these spells is also doubled by the Spell Sniper feat, making them work with reach weapons in that case.

Legendary Spells

Some spells are considered Legendary and cannot be simply learned through preparation or selection on level up. The knowledge to cast these spells can only be found through adventuring. They might also require additional components or other complications, again requiring adventure.

The legendary spells are:

• Geas
• Magic Jar
• Dream of the Blue Veil
• Create Magen
• Sequester
• Forcecage
• Clone
• Simulacrum: In addition, entities created via this spell can only cast spells of a level below the level of spell slot used to create them.
• Imprisonment
• True Resurrection

This rule exists in order to encourage adventure, rather than downtime, as the best way of gaining power.

Resurrection

Returning from death is a major ordeal, and not all souls can endure journeying across the Bifrost. In order to resurrect a creature, it must succeed on a DC 10 Charisma saving throw. The DC increases by 3 every time this save is successfully made. If the resurrection is made with the Revivify spell, it is made with advantage, as the soul has just barely left the body. If the save fails, the resurrection fails and the creature's soul goes to the afterlife. Further resurrection rituals automatically fail. The True Resurrection spell bypasses this save, and can be used to revive a creature who failed their save previously. It might also be also possible, although it would be very difficult, to adventure to the planes of the gods to recover a soul.

Summoning Spells

The non-Tasha's summoning spells (Conjure Animals, Animate Objects etc) slow gameplay to a crawl when they are cast. Talk to the DM if you want to play a character that uses these spells, and we can work on a solution, but consider using the Tasha summons instead (Summon Fey, Summon Elemental etc), as they are far easier to run at the table.

Familiars and wildshape

It is allowed to reflavor familiars and wildshape forms quite heavily. As an example, if you want a red panda familiar, we can use the Cat or Almiraj statblock. There is also an alternate system where you use Tasha-style statblock templates instead of actual beast statblocks. Talk to the DM if you are interested.

Pets and Magic Items

It might be possible for a familiar or other pet to activate a magic item, provided they have the correct anatomy. If the magic item requires attunement, it needs to be attuned to the player (ie you and your pets share attunement slots).

Spellcasting Services

This is a rough guide for what one might expect to pay to have a spell cast by an NPC. The cost can be further modified by previous interactions with the NPC in question.

Spell Level	Base Cost
Cantrip	5gp
1	10gp
2	50gp
3	100gp
4	500gp
5	1000gp
6	5000gp
7	10000gp
8	50000gp
9	100000gp

You will also need to supply any consumed material components.

Downtime: Spellcasting Services

There is a market for selling spellcasting services. With one workweek of downtime, you can sell one casting of your highest level spell slot, up to 5th (higher level spell slots require more specialized buyers, and will take longer to sell). At the end of the week, make a ability check using your spellcasting modifier in order to determine the outcome.

d20	Outcome
1-10	You do not find any buyer. You earn no gold.
11-15	You have to haggle the price down. You earn half the base cost.
16-20	Your customer is satisfied. You earn the full base cost.
21+	Your customer is very happy. You earn the full base cost and have advantage the next time you roll on this table.

Stealth

Unless something says otherwise, you need to be Heavily Obscured in order to hide - you cant hide in the open. Line of sight is an effective way of being able to hide. It can also be as simple as a bush, or a fallen pillar, or in darkness. You can even hide behind an illusion, provided the target does not see through it.

Outside of initiative, Stealth checks are rolled at the time of possible detection, not when stealth starts. When a possible detection event occurs, roll a Stealth check against the passive perception of the threat. If several people are sneaking, at least half the party needs to pass the DC (as per the group check rules, otherwise the check is basically done at super-disadvantage equal to the number of players in the party). If the detector has reason to believe there is a threat, the DC is instead set by a Perception check.

Light and obscurement

Hiding in dim light (or darkness if the detector has darkvision) gives a +5 bonus to stealth (technically a -5 bonus to passive perception). Hiding in darkness is an automatic success. This only applies to sight-based detection. If there is reason the detector would use hearing or another sense (such as trying to sneak in heavy armor, or trying to cast a spell with verbal components, see below), this bonus is not given. The same is true if the detector has Blindsight or Truesight.

Invisibility

Invisibility lets you hide in plain sight, as you are considered heavily obscured to other creatures, even in bright light.

Spellcasting and stealth

Casting a spell with verbal components requires the caster to speak a clearly audible phrase. This is generally incompatible with sneaking, and would at the very least trigger a detection event if any enemies are nearby. Likewise, somatic components are clearly visible to others, making casting S spells in social situations very noticeable.

Surprise

In order to gain Surprise when Initiative is rolled, the enemy cannot know you are attacking. This could for example be achieved through kicking down a door when they are unaware of your presence on the other side (no rolls required), or waiting until they are close to spring an ambush (group Stealth check vs passive perception, those with lower passive perception than the lowest Stealth check are surprised). Surprise can be mutual if both parties are trying to be stealthy, in which case the rules apply equally both ways.

Hiding in Combat

Hiding in combat works as such: You take the Hide action, rolling a Stealth check. You need to be at least Heavily Obscured for this, unless a feature says otherwise. You are now hidden to all enemies who you are considered Heavily Obscured to and have a passive perception below the number you rolled, and you make your next attack against them with Advantage. Creatures can take the Search action on their turn to make a Perception check against your Stealth roll.