Vagabond

Peals of thunder and sheets of rainfall batter a lone
traveler on a forest road. In a flash of lightning, a
half-dozen hooded bandits emerge from the treeline,
brandishing crossbows and shouting demands. Weary
but unfazed, the traveler draws a longsword and plunges
into an exotic stance, sweeping through the brigands with
terrible speed.
On another road, caustic bile drips from a behir’s
teeth as it surveys its latest victim—its next meal. The elf
adorned in patchwork armor, beaten and bruised, snaps
awake and seizes a cracked floor tile with both hands.
Wild desperation in her eyes, the elf drives the tile into the
behir’s skull over and over, carving a path toward salvation.
No matter where they’re going or what they’re
running from, a vagabond’s only home is the open road.
The peril of their journey would leave most dead on the
roadside, but the vagabond endures, driven by a desperate
will to survive and a mastery of fierce combat maneuvers.
Endless Wanderers
Vagabonds are constantly on the road, drifting between
taverns and backwoods villages on an endless, wandering
journey. Some choose the unrooted lifestyle, but many
more were driven from their homes, never to return.
Whether a particular vagabond is a dangerous fugitive,
penniless vagrant, or devout pilgrim is a secret known
only to them. After all, anonymity is a precious boon for
the road-weary.
Many vagabonds prefer to travel alone, but just as
many find themselves in the company of adventurers.
There is safety in numbers, after all, and a lifestyle of
questing and dungeon-delving rarely lets one settle in one
place for long.
Desperate Maneuvers
The long miles of their journeys instill a feeling of
desperation in vagabonds. They’re desperate to continue,
to reach their destinations. But most of all, they’re
desperate to survive. When a vagabond is backed into a
corner, they fight like a crazed animal, slashing wildly,
biting and scratching if necessary.
But they also learn more practical tools for survival.
Vagabonds are experts at performing maneuvers picked
up from traveling companions and warriors they
encounter on their globe-spanning travels. Those that fail
to master these exotic fighting styles end their wanderings
early, dead on the roadside.
When other means fail, vagabonds can always find
short-term employment as sellswords or bodyguards, for
few can match their experience in perilous combat with
equal vigor.
Creating a Vagabond
As you create your vagabond, consider why your
character has taken to the road. Do you one day wish to
return home? Consult the options in the Wander’s Secret
feature for ideas. Also consider how your journey has
shaped your character so far. Do you take joy in finding
companionship wherever you travel, or do you prefer
anonymity underneath a drawn hood? Are you roadweary
from your travels or does seeing a new horizon
invigorate you each day?
Who taught you how to wield a weapon, and who
trained you in the deeper arts of battle tactics? You might
be self-trained, learning through near-death experiences
and careful observation of others. Or you might have had a
tutor, even several of them, whose teachings have resulted
in your unique fighting style. Were you a dangerous
combatant before you left home, or are your fearsome
maneuvers a survival mechanism learned on the road?
Vagabond
Complete Vagabond
4
Proficiencies
Armor: Light armor, medium armor, heavy armor, shields
Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Strength, Constitution
Skills: Choose two from Acrobatics, Animal Handling,
Athletics, Deception, Insight, Intimidation,
Perception, Stealth, and Survival
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the
equipment granted by your background:
• (a) chain mail or (b) leather armor and two daggers
• (a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial
weapons
• (a) two handaxes or (b) a shortbow and 20 arrows
• (a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack
• A trinket from your home
Alternatively, you may start with 4d4 × 10 gp to buy your
own equipment.
Quick Build
You can make a vagabond quickly by following these
suggestions. First, make Strength or Dexterity your
highest ability score, depending on whether you want to
focus on melee weapons or on a combination of archery
and finesse weapons. Your next-highest score should be
Constitution, or Charisma if you plan to take a subclass,
such as Mage Brand, that employs spellcasting or other
magical abilities. Finally, choose any background,
preferably one that ties into your choice for your
Wanderer’s Secret feature.
Class Features
As a vagabond, you have the following class features.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d10 per vagabond level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your
Constitution modifier per vagabond level after 1st
Level
Proficiency
Bonus Features
Maneuvers
Known
Battle
Dice
1st +2 Wanderer’s Secret, Battle Tactics 2 2d8
2nd +2 Desperate Attack, Breather 3 2d8
3rd +2 Wanderer’s Road, Battle Edge 4 3d8
4th +2 Ability Score Improvement 4 3d8
5th +3 Extra Attack 5 3d10
6th +3 Wanderer’s Road feature 5 3d10
7th +3 Mettle 6 4d10
8th +3 Ability Score Improvement 6 4d10
9th +4 Ambush Reflexes 7 4d12
10th +4 Wanderer’s Road feature 7 4d12
11th +4 Battle Edge improvement 8 5d12
12th +4 Ability Score Improvement 8 5d12
13th +5 — 9 6d12
14th +5 Wanderer’s Road feature 9 6d12
15th +5 Desperate Survival 10 7d12
16th +5 Ability Score Improvement 10 7d12
17th +6 — 11 8d12
18th +6 Martial Recovery 11 8d12
19th +6 Ability Score Improvement 12 8d12
20th +6 Wayworn 12 8d12
The Vagabond
Mage Hand Press
5
Battle Tactics
In your endless wandering, you have adopted a handful of
maneuvers from traveling companions and foes that are
fueled by special dice called battle dice.
Battle Dice
You have two battle dice, which are d8s. A battle die is
expended when you use it. Your battle die changes and
more battle dice become available when you reach certain
levels in this class, as shown on the Vagabond table.
You regain all of your expended battle dice when you
finish a short or long rest, or when you roll initiative.
Once per turn, you can use a maneuver of your
choice. Maneuvers typically expend a battle die, but
you don’t add this battle die to the maneuver’s attack or
damage roll unless otherwise noted.
Maneuvers
You learn two maneuvers of your choice, which are
detailed at the end of the class description. You gain
additional maneuvers as you gain levels in this class, as
shown in the Maneuvers Known column of the Vagabond
table. When you gain a level in this class, you can choose
one of the maneuvers you know and replace it with
another maneuver that you could learn at that level.
Overexertion
If you have no battle dice remaining, you can still expend
a battle die once per turn to fuel a maneuver or feature.
When you do so, you roll the battle die and lose hit points
equal to the number rolled.
Saving Throws
Some of your maneuvers require the target to make a
saving throw to resist the maneuver’s effects. The saving
throw DC is calculated as follows:
Maneuver save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus +
your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice)
Desperate Attack
By 2nd level, you are most dangerous when backed into a
corner. If you have no more than half your hit points left,
you have advantage on weapon attack rolls.
Breather
Also at 2nd level, you can take a breather, 1 minute of
downtime during which you compose yourself and mend
your wounds. When you do so, you can expend one Hit
Die to regain hit points as if you finished a short rest.
Wanderer’s Road
By 3rd level, you adopt the mannerisms, style, and skills
of an archetypal wanderer, embodied by a wanderer’s
road. These subclasses are detailed at the end of the class
description. The road you choose grants you features at
3rd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th level.
Wanderer’s Secret
By choice or necessity, you have left your home and
committed to a life of aimless travel. Your reasons for
drifting through the world are deeply personal, either
a closely-guarded secret or a painful aspect of your life.
Choose your reason for traveling from the options below:
Avenger. You have set out on a mission to exact
vengeance. You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill.
Choose up to five specific creatures that have wronged you
that you wish to seek revenge against.
You must know these creatures’ names or must
otherwise have enough information to identify them.
Your weapon attack rolls against these creatures have a +5
bonus to hit and deal an extra 5 damage on a hit.
Bohemian. Wanderlust is in your bones; you
couldn’t stay in one place for too long if you tried. You
ignore nonmagical difficult terrain. Additionally, you
can communicate simple ideas to any creature that
understands at least one language using universal gestures
and some creativity.
Explorer. Consulting vague maps and ancient texts,
you have embarked upon an expedition to find a mythical
location or chart a distant corner of the world. You gain
proficiency in the Survival skill and with cartographer’s
tools and navigator’s tools. Additionally, you learn one
language of your choice.
Ghost. You are dead, as far as anyone knows. If you
can keep moving and remain anonymous, no one will
be the wiser. You gain proficiency in the Deception skill.
Additionally, when you gain this feature, choose one
falsehood about yourself that you practice until you can
recite it perfectly. This falsehood can be a single lie or an
entire false history. You never need to make a Deception
check for this falsehood.
Hunted. You are pursued by those who would kill
you on sight or drag you to an ill-fated end. You might
be on the run from the law, a wayward assassin, or a
supernatural force. This constant threat grants you a +5
bonus to your passive Wisdom (Perception) score and
allows you to instantly awaken whenever a creature moves
within 30 feet of you.
Pilgrim. Your journey is to a remote holy site, both
as a test of faith and in search of enlightenment. You
gain proficiency in the Religion skill. Additionally, you
learn the light and spare the dying cantrips. Intelligence,
Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these
spells when you cast them with this feature (choose when
you select this motive).
Seeker. You are searching for something or someone
that is precious to you, such as a loved one or a powerful
magic item. You have advantage on ability checks you
make to gather information about the object of your
search. Additionally, you can take the Search action as a
bonus action.
Vagrant. You are penniless and just trying to get by.
Because you are beneath the notice of most people, you
never need to make a Stealth check to move unnoticed
while traveling alone in public spaces. This anonymity
fails if your conduct draws undue attention to yourself.
Additionally, you can perfectly conceal one-handed
weapons on your person.
Complete Vagabond
6
Maneuvers
The vagabond can spend battle dice to utilize special
maneuvers listed in this section. They are presented in
order of prerequisite level. If a maneuver has prerequisites,
you must meet them to learn it. You can learn the
maneuver at the same time that you meet its prerequisites.
A level prerequisite refers to your level in this class.
Bear Hug
Immediately after you hit a creature with a melee attack
on your turn, you can expend one battle die as a bonus
action to attempt to grapple the target. Add the battle
die to the Strength (Athletics) check. If you successfully
grapple the target, it takes bludgeoning damage equal to
the battle die’s roll + your Strength modifier.
Bull Rush
When you move at least 10 feet in a straight line and
immediately make a melee weapon attack against a
creature, you can use a bonus action and expend one battle
die to shove the target after the attack. Add the battle die
to the Strength (Athletics) check you make to shove the
target. On a success, you can choose to either knock the
target prone or push it up to 10 feet away from you.
Cleave
Once on each of your turns, when you reduce a hostile
creature to 0 hit points or score a critical hit with a melee
weapon attack, you can expend a battle die to move up
to 15 feet and make another melee weapon attack as part
of the same action. On a hit, you add the battle die to the
attack’s damage roll.
Dig Deep
As a bonus action on your turn, you can expend one battle
die to gain temporary hit points equal to the number
rolled on the die + your Constitution modifier. These
temporary hit points last for 1 minute.
Dodge Roll
You can expend one battle die as a bonus action to move
up to 15 feet. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity
attacks, ignores difficult terrain, and allows you to move
through a hostile creature’s space, as long as you don’t end
your movement there.
Eagle Shot
When you make a ranged weapon attack roll against a
creature, you can use your bonus action and expend one
battle die to add it to the roll. You can use this ability
before or after making the attack roll, but before the GM
says whether the attack hits or misses.
Effortless Dodge
As a bonus action, you can expend a battle die to take the
Dodge action. You can’t use this maneuver while wearing
medium or heavy armor.
Battle Edge
Also at 3rd level, you gain an additional way to spend
your battle dice. Once on each of your turns, when you hit
a creature with an attack, you can expend one battle die
and add it to the attack’s damage roll.
Starting at 11th level, you can use this feature twice
on each of your turns.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th,
and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your
choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your
choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score
above 20 using this feature.
Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of
once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Mettle
At 7th level, your determination allows you to shrug
off effects that would otherwise harm you. When you
are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a
Constitution saving throw to take only half damage, you
instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving
throw, and only half damage if you fail.
Ambush Reflexes
Beginning at 9th level, you can sense ambushes moments
before they happen. You can’t be surprised while you
are conscious. Additionally, when you roll initiative, you
can move up to your walking speed without provoking
opportunity attacks.
Desperate Survival
By 15th level, you have a knack for evading lethal blows. If
you have no more than half your hit points left and aren’t
incapacitated, critical hits against you automatically miss.
Martial Recovery
Starting at 18th level, you can use your bonus action to
regain all of your expended battle dice. You can use this
bonus action only if you haven’t used a maneuver this
turn, and after you use the bonus action, you can’t use a
maneuver until the end of the current turn.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until
you finish a short or long rest.
Wayworn
By 20th level, your long years on the road have left you
bone-weary, but always ready for danger. You are always
considered to have fewer than half of your hit points for
the purposes of your class features.
Mage Hand Press
7
Lion’s Challenge
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack on your
turn, you can expend one battle die as a bonus action to
challenge the target to a duel. Until the end of your next
turn, that target has disadvantage on any attack roll that
isn’t against you.
Staggering Strike
As a bonus action when you make a weapon attack
against a Large or smaller creature, you can expend a
battle die to attempt to daze the target. On a hit, the
target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be
incapacitated until the start of your next turn.
Viper Strike
When you make a weapon attack on your turn, you can
expend one battle die as a bonus action to extend the
strike’s distance. If it is a melee attack, increase your reach
by 5 feet for that attack. If it is a ranged attack, increase
the attack’s range by 30 feet for that attack.
Additionally, if the attack hits, the target can’t take
reactions until the start of its next turn.
Heel-Cutter
When you make an opportunity attack against a creature,
you can expend one battle die to knock the creature off
balance, preventing it from escaping. You add the battle
die to the attack roll, and on a hit, the target must make
a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, its speed is
reduced to 0 until the end of its turn.
Iron Wall
As a bonus action, you can expend a battle die to fortify
yourself. The next time you are hit by an attack within the
next minute, roll the battle die. You gain a bonus to your
Armor Class against the attack equal to half the number
rolled on the battle die, rounded down (to a minimum of
+1), potentially causing the attack to miss you. You must
be wearing heavy armor to use this maneuver.
Lightning Reflexes
After you regain battle dice when rolling initiative, you
can immediately expend one battle die and add it to
your initiative roll, provided you aren’t incapacitated or
surprised.
Vagabond Maneuvers
Maneuver
Prerequisite
Level
Battle Dice
Cost Description
Bear Hug — 1 Grapple a target and crush them
Bull Rush — 1 After a charge, push a target away or knock it prone
Cleave — 1 Perform a deadly follow-up to a critical hit or mortal blow
Dig Deep — 1 Bolster yourself with temporary hit points
Dodge Roll — 1 Roll out of harm’s way without provoking opportunity attacks
Eagle Shot — 1 Make a ranged attack with pin-point accuracy
Effortless Dodge — 1 Take the Dodge action as a bonus action
Heel-Cutter — 1 Prevent a foe from retreating
Iron Wall — 1 Gain an AC bonus against the next hit against you
Lightning Reflexes — 1 Add a battle die to your initiative roll
Lion’s Challenge — 1 Challenge a target to single combat for one round
Staggering Strike — 1 Attempt to temporarily incapacitate a foe
Viper Strike — 1 Increase your reach and prevent a foe’s reactions
Blinding Attack 5th 3 Aim for the eyes and attempt to temporarily blind a foe
Coup de Grace 5th Varies Attempt a killing blow
Ruinous Blow 5th 3 Permanently damage a foe’s armor
Volley 5th 3 Target several foes with ranged attacks
Whirlwind Attack 5th 3 Attack multiple foes around you
Critical Strike 11th Varies Make an attack with a high chance of scoring a critical hit
Flourish 11th Varies Perform an elegant maneuver with up to five effects
Focused Assault 11th Varies Keep attacking until you miss
Stunning Blow 11th 5 Perform a powerful blow with a chance to stun
Wounding Strike 11th Varies Inflict bleeding wounds on a foe
Complete Vagabond
Flourish
Prerequisite: 11th level
You can use your action to perform a graceful maneuver
with a melee weapon you are holding. Make a weapon
attack against a creature. On a hit, expend up to five
battle dice and add any number of them to the damage
roll. Additionally, you can choose to inflict one of the
following effects, plus an additional effect for each die you
didn’t add to the damage roll:
• If the target is Large or smaller, you knock it prone or
push it 15 feet away from you.
• If the target can make multiple attacks on its turn, it
can make one fewer than normal, to a minimum of one.
• The target has disadvantage on the next attack roll,
ability check, or saving throw it makes.
• The target can’t take reactions until the start of its next
turn. If it has Legendary Actions, it can take one fewer
before the start of its next turn.
• The target drops one item of your choice that it’s
holding. The object lands at its feet.
Focused Assault
Prerequisite: 11th level
You can use your action to initiate a series of rapid strikes.
Make a weapon attack against a creature. On a hit, you can
expend one battle die to attack the target again. You can
continue expending battle dice and attacking the target,
up to a maximum of five attacks, until you miss. On each
hit after the first, add a battle die to the damage roll.
Stunning Blow
Prerequisite: 11th level
You can use your action to make a weapon attack against
a creature, attempting to stun it with the force of the
blow. On a hit, you expend five battle dice and add them
to the damage roll. The target you hit must succeed on
a Constitution saving throw or be stunned for up to 1
minute. A creature stunned by this maneuver makes
another Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its
turns. On a successful save, it is no longer stunned.
Wounding Strike
Prerequisite: 11th level
You can use your action and make a weapon attack against
a target, attempting to deal a bleeding wound. On a hit,
you expend two, four, or six battle dice, and add half of
them to the damage roll. The target suffers a bleeding
wound for every two dice you expended. Constructs,
Oozes, and Undead can’t get bleeding wounds. While the
target has one or more bleeding wounds, it loses hit points
at the start of each of its turns equal to one roll of your
battle die for each wound. The creature can use an action
to staunch the bleeding of all of its wounds. While a target
is bleeding, it can’t regain lost hit points.
Blinding Attack
Prerequisite: 5th level
You can use your action to make a weapon attack against a
creature, attempting to temporarily blind it. On a hit, you
expend three battle dice and add them to the damage roll.
The target you hit must succeed on a Constitution saving
throw or be blinded for up to 1 minute. A creature blinded
by this maneuver makes another Constitution saving
throw at the end of each of its turns. On a successful save,
it is no longer blinded.
Coup de Grace
Prerequisite: 5th level
You can use your action to make a melee weapon attack
against a creature that is missing any of its hit points. On
a hit, you expend up to three battle dice and add them to
the damage roll. If this attack reduces the target to 0 hit
points, this maneuver expends no battle dice.
Ruinous Blow
Prerequisite: 5th level
You can use your action and make a melee weapon attack
against a target that has natural armor or is wearing
armor, attempting to sunder its defenses. On a hit, you
expend three battle dice and add them to the damage roll.
The target you hit suffers a −3 penalty to its Armor Class.
The penalty imposed by this maneuver is cumulative if a
creature is affected by it multiple times. Armor reduced to
an AC of 10 in this way is destroyed. A creature can repair
its armor or heal the damage dealt to its natural armor
over the course of a long rest.
Volley
Prerequisite: 5th level
You can use your action and expend three or more battle
dice to make a ranged weapon attack against a number of
creatures up to the number of battle dice expended. Each
target must be within 10 feet of a point you can see within
your weapon’s range. You must have ammunition for each
target, as normal, and you make a separate attack roll for
each target. On a hit, add a battle die to the damage roll.
Whirlwind Attack
Prerequisite: 5th level
You can use your action and expend three or more battle
dice to make a melee attack against a number of creatures
within 5 feet of you, up to the number of battle dice
expended, with a separate attack roll for each target. On a
hit, add a battle die to the damage roll.
Critical Strike
Prerequisite: 11th level
You can use your action to aim for a foe’s vital areas.
Choose how many battle dice to expend on a hit, up to
five, and make a weapon attack against a target. For each
battle die, the number you must roll on the d20 to score a
critical hit decreases by 2. For example, if you expend five
battle dice, you score a critical hit on a roll of 10–20. On a
critical hit, expend the chosen number of battle dice and
add half of them, rounded down, to the damage roll.
Mage Hand Press
9
Maneuver: Sick ‘Em!
Also at 3rd level, you learn the following maneuver:
As a bonus action, you can expend a battle die to
command your hound to attack a creature you can see
within 40 feet of it. The hound moves up to its speed and
makes one Bite attack against the target, adding the battle
die to its attack roll.
Desperate Companion
Also at 3rd level, your hound will stop at nothing to
protect you. If you have no more than half your hit points
left, your hound has advantage on weapon attack rolls.
Hound’s Instincts
By 6th level, your hound can pick up a scent and follow
it for miles. While your hound is at your side, you have
advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks you make to
track a creature and can always discern if a creature has
passed through a location.
Additionally, you have advantage on Wisdom
(Insight) checks you make to discern if a creature is
hostile and any ability check you make to determine if a
creature is disguised, possessed, or transformed.
Wanderer’s Roads
No two vagabonds embark on the same journey; no two
roads are the same. However, the destinations sometimes
rhyme. Each of a vagabond’s choices on their endless
journey is a fork in the road that shapes them. Each mile
hardens them a bit more. Ultimately, a vagabond’s choices
and skills converge on an archetypal expression, that of a
wanderer’s road. This road represents how the vagabond
chooses to travel, what they value most, and lines they will
never cross.
Houndmaster
Stretching ever onward, the road is grueling and
unforgiving. But, as houndmasters know, it need not be
lonely. A single dog, mankind’s most loyal companion,
can make all the difference in the world. Houndmasters
are never found without their dogs, who both serve as
inseparable companions and fearsome defenders as the
need arises.
Faithful Hound
Starting when you set out on this road at 3rd level, you
always have your loyal hound at your side. Your hound’s
statistics improve as you gain levels in this class.
Commanding Your Hound. You can control your
hound with verbal commands or hand signals while you
are conscious without using any actions. In combat, your
hound takes its turns immediately before or after your
turn each round (your choice). If you are unconscious,
your hound will move and attack to protect your body
from harm.
Hit Points. For each vagabond level you gain after
3rd, your hound gains an additional Hit Die and increases
its hit points accordingly.
If your hound drops to 0 hit points, it is stable but
unconscious until it regains any hit points. See the Does
the Dog Die? sidebar for how to govern your hound living
or dying.
Proficiencies. Your hound uses your proficiency
bonus rather than its own. Due to your connection and
your hound’s training, your hound adds your proficiency
bonus to its Armor Class, saving throws, and damage
rolls.
Wanderer’s Roads
Name Description
Houndmaster A wanderer, inseparable from their dog
Mage Brand Burns their body with magical runes to command minor magic
Rōnin A dangerous and disgraced knight
Hound
Medium Beast, Unaligned
Armor Class 12
Hit Points 16 (3d8 +3)
Speed 40 ft.
STR
13 (+1)
DEX
14 (+2)
CON
12 (+1)
INT
3 (–4)
WIS
12 (+1)
CHA
7 (–2)
Skills Perception +3, Survival +3
Senses passive Perception 13
Languages —
Challenge 1/8 (25 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2
Keen Hearing and Smell. The hound has advantage
on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or
smell.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one
target. Hit: 4 (1d6 + 1) piercing damage. If the target is
a creature, it must succeed on a DC 11 Strength saving
throw or be knocked prone.
Complete Vagabond
10
Spellbranding
Starting when you set out on this road at 3rd level, you
have been taught the agonizing magic of spellbranding.
Cantrips. You learn two cantrips of your choice
from the wizard spell list. You learn an additional wizard
cantrip of your choice at 10th level.
Branded Spells. By searing arcane symbols into your
flesh, you gain the ability to harness certain spells. You
gain two 1st-level spells of your choice from the Branded
Spells table. At 6th level, you gain two 2nd-level spells of
your choice from the table.
Because your spells are branded onto your skin, you
can’t later remove or replace a spell after it is gained.
Casting Spells of 1st-Level or Higher. To cast one of
your branded spells, you must expend a number of battle
dice equal to the spell’s level.
Spellcasting Ability. Charisma is your spellcasting
ability for your branded spells, so you use your Charisma
whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In
addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting
the saving throw DC for a branded spell you cast and
when making an attack roll with one.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus +
your Charisma modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus +
your Charisma modifier
Loyal Redirection
By 10th level, you would put your life on the line for your
hound. When your hound is within 5 feet of you and is
targeted by an attack while you are within the attack’s
range or reach, you can use your reaction to change the
target of the attack to you instead. Or vice-versa, your
hound can use its reaction to change the target of an
attack to it instead, provided it is within 5 feet of you and
within the attack’s reach or range.
Old Dog, New Tricks
Starting at 14th level, your dog has learned how to
perform dangerous combat maneuvers.
Battle Dice. Your hound has two battle dice, which
are d12s. A battle die is expended when your hound uses
it. It regains all of its expended battle dice when it finishes
a short or long rest, or when it rolls initiative.
Maneuvers. Your dog knows two of your maneuvers
that don’t have a prerequisite. If a maneuver you use
requires a target to make a saving throw to resist the
maneuver’s effects, the saving throw DC equals your
Maneuver save DC.
Mage Brand
Searing runes and arcane geometry into one’s skin is an
agonizing practice known as spellbranding. Though it was
once used by tyrannical giants to imbue their conscripts
with a mote of magical potential, spellbranding has long
since been disparaged in polite society. However, a few
that are willing and desperate enough to burn themselves
with magical runes might still utilize that magic today.
The so-called “Mage Brands” need none of a mage’s
intellect or a priest’s faith; they need only tenacity and a
tolerance for pain.
Does the Dog Die?
Your hound isn’t just a minion to be sacrificed in
combat: it’s your most loyal companion, an important
part of your character, and an integral component
of your playstyle. Therefore, discuss with your GM
about how to handle the possibility of your dog’s
death. Your dog might be narratively immortal and
fully healed overnight, or its death might represent a
major moment in your character’s story, causing you to
adopt another subclass, such as Death Wish, instead
of this one.
Mage Hand Press
11
Recall
2nd-level conjuration (chronomancy)
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 round
Record where you are when you cast this spell. Until
the end of your next turn, you can use your reaction
to teleport back to that location, or to the nearest
unoccupied space. If you use this reaction in response
to an attack, spell, magical effect, or any other damaging
effect, resolve the triggering effect before teleporting.
Stone Bones
2nd-level transmutation
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 round
You magically reinforce a creature you can see within
range, granting it resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and
slashing damage from nonmagical attacks until the end of
your next turn.
Swift Flight
2nd-level transmutation
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (a wing feather from any bird)
Duration: 1 round
Streaks of energy flow from the back of a willing creature
you touch, tracing the shapes of wings. The target gains a
flying speed of 30 feet until the end of its next turn. When
the spell ends, the target falls if it is in the air and nothing
is holding it aloft.
Time Hop
1st-level conjuration (chronomancy)
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (the second hand of a clock)
Duration: Varies
You shunt yourself a few seconds into the future. Choose
a duration: 1 round, 2 rounds, or 3 rounds. You vanish,
reappearing after the duration at the start of your turn in
the nearest unoccupied space to where you disappeared.
While vanished, you are outside time; you can’t take
actions or reactions, time doesn’t pass for you, your spell
effects are suspended, and you can’t be affected by attacks
or effects.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a
spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can choose a duration
of 1 minute. If you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th
level or higher, you can choose a duration of 1 hour.
Branded Spells
New spells are marked with an asterisk (*) and included at
the end of the class description.
Spell Level Spells
1st expeditious retreat, instant replay,*
time hop,* sanctuary
2nd magic weapon, misty step, recall,*
stone bones,* swift flight*
Arcane Synesthesia
Starting at 6th level, due to your spellbrands, you can
smell and taste the lingering evidence of magic. You can
instantly identify a creature that has cast a spell within the
last 24 hours. If you touch an object, you can detect if it is
a magic item, but not its properties.
Aegis Mark
By 10th level, you bear a defensive spellbrand that wards
you from harm and punishes your foes. You can cast the
spell hellish rebuke or shield using this feature without
expending a spell slot or battle dice.
Once you use this feature to cast one of these spells,
you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest,
unless you expend two battle dice to use it again.
Imprinted Spellscar
Beginning at 14th level, when a spell is cast that targets
you, or you are in the area of a spell’s effect, you can
temporarily learn that spell if it is of 5th lever or lower,
marking it on your skin as a faint spellbrand. You can’t use
this ability to learn a spell that had no effect on you, even
if it forced you to make a saving throw against it.
Once before you finish a long rest, you can cast this
spell as a branded spell by expending a number of battle
dice equal to the spell’s level.
You know this spell until you cast it or you use this
feature again.
Branded Spells
The following spells are available to the Mage Brand as
branded spells, and are presented in alphabetical order.
Instant Replay
1st-level transmutation (chronomancy)
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 minute
The next time you miss a creature with an attack before this
spell ends, you can instantly reset yourself to the moment
before the attack and repeat it against the same target.
Complete Vagabond
12
Rōnin
You were once a knight of renown, a blademaster almost
without peer. But those days are long gone. You have
broken the only vows you have ever sworn, and worse, lived
to tell the tale. Disgraced and despised, people know you
only as a dangerous swordmaster—someone to be feared.
You may search for a new master, a way to redeem the
black mark on your honor, or simply to survive another
day in your endless journey. Perhaps your broken vows still
guide you, or perhaps you have abandoned all semblance
of honor; only your conduct, and your blade, define you.
Infamy
Starting when you set out on this road at 3rd level, your
violent reputation precedes you. Choose the Deception or
Intimidation skill. You gain proficiency in the chosen skill.
Whenever you make a Charisma check using the chosen
skill, you can treat the result as a 10, or your vagabond
level plus your Charisma modifier, whichever is higher.
Maneuver: Grudge
Also at 3rd level, you learn the following maneuver:
As a bonus action, you can expend a battle die to
mark a creature that has dealt damage to you or a friendly
creature with a grudge. This grudge lasts for 1 minute, or
until you use this maneuver again.
At the start of each of your turns while the creature is
marked, you gain a grudge battle die, which is a d6. You
can only have one of these battle dice at a time. You can
only use your grudge battle die to either fuel maneuvers
or use Battle Edge targeting the marked creature.
Lone Wolf
By 6th level, you’re used to being outnumbered. When
you roll initiative and there are more hostile creatures
than friendly creatures in the initiative order, you have
advantage on the roll.
Additionally, other creatures don’t gain advantage on
attack rolls against you as a result of the Ambusher, Blood
Frenzy, Grappler, or Pack Tactics traits, nor do they gain
advantage as a result of the Help action. Furthermore,
circumstances such as enemies flanking or surrounding
you don’t grant other creatures advantage on attack rolls
against you.
Killing Stroke
Starting at 10th level, when a creature that you can see
makes a melee attack against you, you can use your
reaction to preemptively strike. Make a melee weapon
attack against the attacker; your attack precedes the
triggering effect. You can draw a melee weapon as a part
of this reaction. On a hit, the target takes damage as
normal and its attack misses you, regardless of its roll.
Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until
you finish a short or long rest.
Swordmaster
By 14th level, your skill with a blade has no equal. Once
on each of your turns when you make a melee weapon
attack and miss, you can repeat that attack against the
same target.
New Subclasses:
Brigand
Death Wish
Justicar
Knight Errant
Pugilist
Troubadour
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