1 Ranger 13 Introduction 3 Rogue 13 Updated Rules for Ravenloft 4 Sorcerer 14 Fear, Horror and Madness 4 Warlock 14 Powers Checks 4 Wizard 15 Outcast Rolls 4 Character Customization 16 Detection Spells 4 Backgrounds 16 Turn Undead 4 Anchorite 16 Destroy Undead 5 Arcanist 16 Channel Divinity 5 Avenger 16 Domain Lords 5 Doctor 16 Closed Domain Borders 5 Gypsy 16 Races 6 Languages 16 Caliban 6 Feats 17 Dragonborn 7 Back to a Wall 17 Drow Elves 7 Cold One 17 Half-Vistani 7 Courage 17 Humans 7 Firearms Expert 17 Teiflings 8 Ghostsight 17 Classes 9 Jaded 18 Barbarian 9 Open Minded 18 Bard 9 Skills 18 Cleric 9 Animal Handling 18 Druid 10 Deception 18 Fighter 11 Hypnosis 18 Equipment 19 Monk 11 Paladin 11 2 Credits Welcome to the 5th Edition Player’s Guide for Based on the Ravenloft Setting created by: the Ravenloft Campaign Setting. These are fan Bruce Nesmith and Andria Hayday created in the spirit and ideal of the setting as an aid to help bring Ravenloft games forward. Domains of Dread Setting written by: The overall intent of this update is a William W. Connors and Steve Miller desire to return Ravenloft back to its core ideals; a feeling that I believe was lost with the 3rd Edi- Sword and Sorcery Edition written by: tion rules and, of course, never even explored in 4th Edition. Andrew Cermak, John W. Mangrum and Andrew Wyatt This is a labor of love and an ongoing process so I hope that what I create is useful to Fan Update written by fans and DMs of Ravenloft from all over. Ravenspyre What to Expect; Updated Rules: This file contains information and data that hopefully updates all present and Legalese past Ravenloft games to the current setting of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, RAVENLOFT, the th 5 Edition D&D. RAVENLOFT logo, D&D, PLAYER’S HANDBOOK, DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE, and MONSTER Modular: The attempt is to make this feel as MANUAL are trademarks of Wizards of the close to the Ravenloft setting rules as possible, Coast. Cover art from the CASTLE RAVENLOFT but DMs should in no way feel obligated to use Board Game. Back art from RAVENLOFT: Van these rules, as this will be drawing from all eras Richten’s Guide to Werebeasts. Additional inte- of Ravenloft. rior art within this guide from various other RAVENLOFT sourcebooks and are all owned by their respective owners and are used out of re- What not to Expect; spect in this guide for their work they put in. Replacement: This is not intended to be a re- This is a fan created rules update and as such I placement for previous products and it is ex- claim no ownership of said products, only a love pected that players own previous editions of for the setting itself. Ravenloft in order to fully utilize these rules up- dates. Mandatory: These are fan made rules in an at- tempt to bring the spirit and feel of the Ravenloft setting forward into the 5th Edition of D&D, and in no way should anyone feel re- quired to use them. Excuse for Piracy: These rules are not intended for players to not buy any products from WotC, and not a legal excuse for piracy. Buy the prod- ucts and insure that D&D will live on and con- tinue to provide entertainment into the future! 3 aged to broaden their horizons on what is con- The following are updated rules for Ravenloft sidered natural and unnatural, such as nonhu- interpreted for 5th Edition D&D. This is an at- mans, familiars and other spells might be con- tempt to cover 2nd and 3rd Editions to the best sidered unnatural. of my interpretation. Uses of these rules are not Undead receive a bonus in that they get required. a Wisdom save with Advantage against said spells to be considered natural or not. Self-willed Fear, horror and madness undead are further pro- checks now correspond tected from mental inva- to an Ability check. Fear is sion and if they make a Wisdom check. Horror their save they can reveal is an Intelligence check. whatever the creature Madness is a Charisma wishes. check. Under the new Undead gain Advantage rules when bonuses are on their saving throw in applied from the chart a Ravenloft. Intelligent and player gains Advantage self-willed undead that now on their save. When fail their save are not penalties are applied compelled to flee but are from the chart a player unable to approach a cleric or paladin with a gains Disadvantage on their save. If both an Ad- presented holy symbol. Turn the Unholy and vantage and Disadvantage are present, then Turn the Faithless are similarly affected. Abjure neither is applied and the save is made normal- Enemy the save is not made with a Disad- ly. Bonuses and penalties from other sources vantage. apply to the roll normally. Powers Checks remain unchanged in this sys- tem still relying on a percentile roll. The only exceptions are specific to classes in these cases. Sinkholes of evil still exist. Whenever a player is near a minor sinkhole of evil, the creatures gain a +1 bonus to their saving In White Wolf’s rules for 3rd Edition D&D, races throw when Turn Undead is employed. A had an outcast rating that would determine major sinkhole of evil increases this bonus penalties or bonuses on specific social rolls. In to saving throws versus Turn Undead to a these updated rules, Outcast Rating is now a +2. Disadvantage on social rolls. In the case of rolls used to Intimidate or Frighten others gain Ad- When a domain lord is in close vantage on said rolls. proximity, they grant a cumulative +1 bonus as well to any saving throw when Turn Undead is employed. This means Spells, abilities and items that grant a player the that if a domain lord is nearby on a major ability to detect other beings, such as detect evil sinkhole of evil, any saving throw made and good do not reveal what the beings are. would have a +3 bonus to Turn Undead. Instead, the player gets a sense of something is either natural or unnatural. DMs are encour- 4 The effect of this is half in Ravenloft. When con- sulting the chart on page 59 of the PHB always half the value, thus ½ becomes ¼, 1 becomes ½, 2 becomes 1, etc. The presence of the divine is felt less in Ravenloft than in other worlds. As a result, un- less otherwise noted, Channel Divinity effects are reduced. Damage dice are reduced by a grade (d8 becomes d6) and bonuses imparted are reduced by half (+10 becomes +5). Normally domain lords are pretty much unstop- pable forces. However, sometimes there is a chance that a player can overcome their influ- ence. However, in these cases, domain lords always have advantage. In instances where a domain lord is the master of whatever the con- test concerns, such as a domain lord that can control all the wolves in his domain, the domain lord wins automatically. Domain lords also know when someone is trying to pry into their minds. As a result any save required is automatically passed unless the domain lord wills it otherwise. Prying into the thoughts of such an evil being requires a Mad- ness check, at the very least. In the case of special closed domain borders, such as Strahd’s Poison Fog, any special protec- tions or other effects that would provide im- munity for the character are ignored. These are special effects that go beyond any protection the player characters might have and thus those protections do not apply. Thus poison still af- fects those immune to it, darkness still affects those able to see in darkness, and extreme heat or other weather conditions cannot be ignored or altered magically or otherwise. 5 and dim conditions. You can see in dim This section only includes Ravenloft races, clari- light within 60 feet of you as if it were fies what races are not native to Ravenloft, and bright light, and in darkness as if it were provides rules for handling truly bizarre races dim light. You can’t discern colors, only from the PHB and beyond. shades of grey. Menacing: You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill. Orcs are unheard of in Ravenloft and thus there Relentless Endurance: When you are are no natural born half-orcs. Caliban take their reduced to 0 hit points but not killed place instead, misshapen humans that were outright, you can drop to 1 hit point in- exposed to foul, corruptive magic while still in stead. You can’t use this feature again their mother’s womb. Average features tend to until you finish a long rest. be hump backs, tusk like teeth and tough hide Savage Attacks: When you score a criti- bodies, abnormal facial features, etc. cal hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage Ability Score Increase: Strength is in- dice one additional time and add it to creased by 2 and Constitution is in- the extra damage of the critical hit. creased by 1. True Outcast: Your standing with others Age: Same as humans. never improves because of your cursed Alignment: Having been born outcasts appearance. You always have a -2 pen- and rejects, Caliban tends towards neu- alty on social rolls in addition to Outcast tral or chaotic alignments. rules, and others tend to look on you Size: Average sizes for humans.