Player Characters

Setting

Backstory considerations

Sanctuary is a diverse world, full of many distinct factions, from the Askari Amazons to the Zealots of the Zakarum. You are a member of one of these many factions, and have been summoned by the Horadrim’s call, one way or another.

As the player, you may choose any faction and backstory that makes sense for your character concept and matches the campaign setting. Maybe you are a neonate warrior from the kingdom of Westmarch, fresh out of training, and your superiors sent you to the remote farming town just to check things out. Or perhaps you are your village’s Chosen One, the last of your bloodline, and the village oracle has forseen a great danger evil that only you may exorcise.

Fantasy species

Sanctuary is fundamentally a human realm, populated with mortals with normal human lifespans. However, D&D is a system where character species has significant mechanical and gameplay implications, which I want to allow in the spirit of fun and creativity. Therefore, players are allowed and encouraged to select fantasy races, but those races will be adapted using concepts like bloodlines, traditions, and/or latent powers. In other words, your parents are humans, but you might be a mutant. If you have a particularly visible mutation, it is likely that you have learned to conceal it out of necessity. Some mutations may become more evident as you grow stronger.

Gods and Patrons

Most mortals do not know about the wars between Heaven and Hell. After the Sin War, there was a mass mind-wipe across Sanctuary. However, some mages, clerics, and other groups resisted the wipe, or have since made contact with these forces again, although such events are often assumed to be imaginary.

In the world of Sanctuary, there are no creator gods that we know of. Good and Evil manifest physically as the High Heavens and Burning Hells. Through your religion, culture, or training, you may know of these warring factions from time eternal.

As a hero of your people, your divine power may flow from more than one source. Many revere the Light, all that is heavenly good, and follow Zakarum, the disciplined faith whose paladins and clerics carry the Light into battle against the darkness (see The Zakarum Church). Others venerate one of the Archangels: Tyrael (Justice), Auriel (Hope), Itherael (Fate), Imperius (Valor), or Malthael (Wisdom), or even a combination of them, the Angiris Council. Nothing forbids a follower of the Light from also revering an Archangel; the two are not opposed.

Alternatively, divine spells may be manifest through your own innate abilities, if that is more appropriate for your character’s concept and journey. Legends tell of a race of people who have been touched by both heavenly and demonic forces.

The forces of evil may or may not be fully known to your people at the beginning of our story…

Favored Prey

Most hostile creatures you encounter will be classified as demons, beasts, undead, or humanoids.

Mechanics

Sources

This game is based on the 5.5e system. However, 5.5e is designed to be backwards-compatible with 5e, so you may make a 2014 character if you are willing to put up with the complexity of doing so.

Your character’s background, species/race, class, and subclass must be fully rooted in either the 5e or 5.5e system; no mixing-and-matching. This means only 2024 characters have access to the new weapon skills, for example.

You may use any official WoTC source material for your chosen version. I only ask that your choices be appropriate for our setting.

All items and spells will be rooted in the 2024 version for the sake of consistency and simplicity.

Alignment

This is an epic tale of Good, Evil, and the mortals stuck between. Players may be Good or Neutral, but may not be Evil.

Class

Different factions are known for different traditions, martial arts, and/or magical abilities. Your choice of background and class is likely to be connected in this universe, although many classes fit with multiple factions, and vice-versa. The suggested classes on the faction pages are only intended to be inspirational; feel free to select other combinations that make sense thematically.

Starting level and progression

Players will begin this campaign at level 3, so you will have your subclass from the very first session. The campaign is expected to run to roughly level 12. Players will advance far more quickly than in traditional D&D campaigns, may even level up mid-session in some cases, and are therefore encouraged to plan one level ahead.

Starting at 3 means you skip the fragile early levels, but this is still a combat-heavy dungeon crawl and characters can die. Build something that can take a hit or avoid one.

Redos and retcons

All character creation and progression follows standard D&D 5.5e rules unless otherwise noted. However, players may request a “redo” or “retcon” of any previous character progression choice at the DM’s discretion. I don’t want players to feel stuck with choices they regret. I ask only that players avoid abusing this leniency in ways that repeatedly circumvent core gameplay mechanics. In other words, you shouldn’t plan to use reroll/retcon, but it’s here as a safety net so you can experiment without fear of becoming “stuck.”

Tools and character sheets

You may use any tool(s) of your choice as long as you can send me a digital copy of your character sheet in some format, such as a webpage link or an emailed PDF.