Races - Plane Shift - Kaladesh

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PLANE SHIFT: KALADESH ©2017 Wizards of the Coast LLC. Magic: The Gathering, Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, their respective logos, Magic, Kaladesh, D&D, Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, and characters’ distinctive likenesses are property of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the USA and other countries. All rights reserved. www.MagicTheGathering.com Written by James Wyatt Cover art by Adam Paquette Edited by Scott Fitzgerald Gray The stories, characters, and incidents mentioned in this publication are entirely fictional. This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast LLC. First Printing: February 2017

Contents The World of Kaladesh Races of Kaladesh A Kaladesh Bestiary

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Kaladesh

Chase Stone

Introduction

From the beginning, I’ve approached all these Plane Shift projects as if I were tinkering in a workshop like the inventors of Kaladesh. I believe that some of the great beauty of Dungeons & Dragons comes from its tremendous flexibility, which includes not just the ability to make stuff up out of whole cloth, but also the ease with which you can take the existing pieces of the game apart and reassemble them into something new. That approach of combining pieces of different rules to form new rules continues for Kaladesh. As one of the designers of the artificer class for Eberron back in 2003, I tinkered for a long time with possible designs for such a class in Kaladesh, but I ultimately came to a couple of important conclusions. First, invention on Kaladesh is fundamentally democratic—it’s a skill anyone can learn, and it shouldn’t be restricted to a single character class. And more importantly, designing an entirely new class is far beyond the scope of what I’ve set out to do in these articles. The D&D team works like the Consulate: they take a serious approach to the job of crafting a class, testing it for balance, sharing it for public playtest, and finetuning it before final publication. I’m more like a renegade inventor (having left the D&D team for the Magic team a couple of years ago), fiddling around in my workshop and unleashing my inventions on the public without the same degree of safety testing. But with that said, the D&D team has just released an artificer class for playtesting, and you should feel free to tinker with that class to adapt it for your Kaladesh campaign. Of course, you’ll find a lot of information about aether-powered devices and invention in this document, in keeping with the spirit of Kaladesh. But it’s more along the lines of rearranging the building blocks and altering the appearance of existing magic items, rather than creating a lot of new things. If you want your character to look like the guy on the Dispersal Technician card, just give him a ring of the ram. As always, the starting point for this document was The Art of Magic: The Gathering—Kaladesh. This document is designed to help you turn that book’s adventure hooks and story seeds into a resource for your campaign with a minimum of changes to the fifth edition of the D&D rules, which you can find here. And even without the book, you can find lore about Kaladesh on the Magic web site. Happy inventing! —James Wyatt Era of Innovation

Jason Rainville

The game mechanics in this supplement are usable in your D&D campaign but are not fully tempered by playtests and design iterations. For these reasons, material in this supplement is not legal in D&D Organized Play events.

Larger than Life

Jaime Jones

Aetherborn

“A day not spent indulging the senses is a day wasted.”

a unique individual, not a mere copy of some other person’s mind and shape. This race is little understood, and When the events of a lifetime are compressed down few aetherborn are willing to waste any of their short to almost nothing, each fleeting moment must be sa- lives allowing vedalken scholars to study their biologivored­—drained of every drop of enjoyment it can offer. cal and psychological characteristics. This is the philosophy that informs the lives and minds Aetherborn and Gender of the aetherborn. Given just a few short years—or Aetherborn are a strange living by-product of the prosometimes only a few months—to live, each aethercess of aether refinement, cast in humanoid form but born views time as exceedingly precious. Each moment lacking any of the biological qualities of other races. spent in a way that does not bring delight is a wasted They don’t eat or sleep, and they don’t reproduce—nor moment. And though aetherborn differ in their drives do they have any physical sexual characteristics. Lanand pleasures, nearly all of them share this desire to guage that categorizes people into male or female catsqueeze the most out of the brief time they are given. egories thus breaks down when it comes to aetherborn. Aetherborn come into being spontaneously as part Most aetherborn prefer that others use the pronoun of the aether refinement process. Their bodies and minds “they” to refer to them, since it doesn’t attribute a genare apparently formed out of some interaction between der that they don’t possess. Only a relative few prefer the volatile elements of aether that are removed during “he” or “she,” having chosen to adopt a gender. refinement and the psychic impressions created by the people involved in the process. But each aetherborn is On Kaladesh, an aether-powered arrow of

Tidy Conclusion

Bastien L. Deharme

slaying can be launched without a bow.

Aetherborn Politics The relationship between aetherborn and the Consulate is complicated. On the one hand, aetherborn understand that their race wouldn’t exist without the Consulate’s aether refining operations, so they feel at least some motivation to ensure that those operations continue to run smoothly. On the other hand, few aetherborn have any patience for the tedious and cumbersome politics and regulations of the Consulate, which gives them at least a little sympathy with renegade philosophy. Typically, aetherborn are drawn to one side or the other more by the lure of excitement and entertainment than by any serious political beliefs. Aetherborn Traits Your aetherborn character has certain traits deriving from your unusual nature. Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and two other ability scores of your choice increase by 1. Age. Aetherborn come into being as adults and live no more than a few years. Alignment. As a rule, aetherborn are driven by hedonism and self-interest, making them neutral at best

and thoroughly evil at worst. Neutral aetherborn might devote much of their time (and wealth) to parties and social activity, while evil aetherborn are usually involved in the criminal underworld. Size. Aetherborn are about the same size as humans, ranging from 5 to 6 feet tall. They are quite light—only about 100 pounds—and their weight diminishes as they age and more and more of their substance returns to the aethersphere. Your size is Medium. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Darkvision. Accustomed to the night, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. Born of Aether. You have resistance to necrotic damage. Menacing. You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice.

Gift of the Aetherborn An unknown aetherborn, desperately seeking a means to extend their short life, discovered a process of transformation that prolonged their existence—by giving them the ability to feed on the life essence of other beings. Since then, other aetherborn have learned and carried out this monstrous transformation, and aetherborn with this “gift” have become a small minority among an already small population. A gifted aetherborn has the ability to drain the life essence of other beings. Similar to the way heat is transferred from a warm object to a cold one, a gifted aetherborn need only touch another living being with a clawed hand to draw life essence out, fueling their own continued existence while draining strength and vitality from their victim. For many aetherborn, living as they do for indulgence and instant gratification, the concepts of “want” and “need” are virtually synonymous. But Aetherborn with this gift understand what it is to truly need, for they develop a hunger for life essence that far exceeds any desires they might have felt before their transformation. A gifted aetherborn who abstains from this feeding deteriorates even more rapidly than other aetherborn, while enduring unspeakable agony caused by the deprivation of life energy. At the DM’s option, an aetherborn character can research methods of achieving this dark “gift.” The process is similar to inventing and manufacturing a rare magic item (see “Inventing and Manufacturing Devices” earlier in this document). But rather than aether, the process requires a variety of rare unguents and unusual ingredients that make up the cost of researching and undergoing the transformation. An aetherborn with this gift gains the Drain Life ability: a natural attack that deals 1d6 necrotic damage and restores the same number of hit points to the aetherborn. However, if the aetherborn goes for 7 days without dealing this damage, their hit point maximum is reduced by 1d6 per week. This reduction can’t be removed until the aetherborn has used their Drain Life ability and completed a long rest. Essence Extraction

Min Yum

Dwarves

“It’s dwarf built. There is no finer mark of quality.” To the artisans of Kaladesh, a device’s beauty is almost as important as its function. Different artists, though, have different definitions of beauty, and to most dwarves, the highest mark of beauty is quality. Nothing is more exquisite than a machine that endures—one that functions perfectly, with a minimum of maintenance, despite the passage of years. Dwarves don’t understand laziness or shortcuts. Just as a machine must function smoothly at all times, so too an artisan should work steadily and with care. Dwarves take pride in their work ethic, and abhor any attitude or behavior that would undermine the quality of their work. They are more thorough than speedy, and although a dwarf’s work might take longer to complete, its quality makes the time worthwhile. If a job must be done, a dwarf will see that it is done correctly. And

Inspired Charge

Deruchenko Alexander

when a dwarf repairs a machine, it will work as well as it did when it was first built, if not better—and it will last. Among the folk of other races, dwarves have a reputation for being utterly fearless. This is largely because their work often finds them scaling tall buildings or hanging from the undersides of airships. Far from being reckless, though, dwarves enter any potentially dangerous situation with firm safeguards in place, thoroughly prepared to avoid any accident. With an unshakable trust in the quality of harnesses, scaffolding, and handiwork, a dwarf has no need to fear falling. Dwarf Politics Dwarves gravitate to where the work is. Accordingly, many dwarves appreciate the Consulate as an inexhaustible source of work opportunities. For its part, the Consulate values dwarves for their painstaking, perfectionist approach to building and maintenance. As a result, dwarves are employed at every level of the Consulate

government, including having representatives among the Enlightened Keepers, the consuls themselves. Dwarf edificers keep the machinery of the cities running smoothly, while dwarf enforcers protect property and help keep the peace. However, it is the potential for making great things, more so than any philosophical leaning, that ties most dwarves to the Consulate. Dwarves are not typically drawn to politics, but some do take issue with what they see as slapdash construction carried out in the Consulate’s foundries. Mass production on the scale of the Consulate’s efforts is an affront to the ideals of true artisanship, they argue, and those who are most offended by this insult sometimes align themselves with renegade groups.

firmly in the benefits of a well-ordered society. They tend toward good as well, with a strong sense of fair play and a belief that everyone deserves to share in the benefits of a just order. Size. Dwarves stand around 5 feet tall and average about 150 pounds. Your size is Medium. Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor. Darkvision. Accustomed to life underground in your race’s ancient past, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. Dwarven Resilience. You have advantage on saving Dwarf Traits throws against poison, and you have resistance against Your dwarf character has an assortment of inborn abili- poison damage. ties, part and parcel of dwarven nature. Dwarven Toughness. Your hit point maximum in Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score in- creases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you gain creases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1. a level. Age. Dwarves mature at the same rate as humans, Artisan’s Expertise. You gain proficiency with two but they’re considered young until they reach the age of kinds of artisan’s tools of your choice. Your proficien50. On average, they live about 350 years. cy bonus is doubled for any ability check you make Alignment. Most dwarves are lawful, believing that uses either of the chosen proficiencies. In addition, whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of any architectural construction (including buildings, public works such as canals and aqueducts, and the massive cogwork that underlies much of the construction of Ghirapur), you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Dwarvish. Dwarvish is full of hard consonants and guttural sounds, and those characteristics spill over into whatever other language a dwarf might speak. Acrobatic Maneuver

Winona Nelson

Wild Wanderer

Sidharth Chaturvedi

Elves

Elf Traits “Everything is connected, and aether flows through it The elves of Kaladesh have much in common with the elves of other worlds. Your elf character has the followall.” ing traits. The movement of aether through the world is visible Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score inand obvious where it courses in glowing rivers across creases by 2 and your Wisdom score increases by 1. the sky, sweeps across sculpted plains, or pours through Age. Although elves reach physical maturity at about great urban pipelines. But the elves of Kaladesh are the same age as humans, the elven understanding of uniquely in tune with the flow of aether throughout the adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass plane, both seen and unseen, and with the subtle ways worldly experience. An elf typically claims adulthood it suffuses and influences all life. They call this flow the and an adult name around the age of 100 and can live to Great Conduit, and they believe that the only way to be 750 years old.  truly grasp it is to be a part of it, simultaneously shap- Alignment. Elves love freedom, variety, and self-expression, so they lean strongly toward the gening it and being shaped in return. tler aspects of chaos. They value and protect others’ freedom as well as their own, and they are more often good than not.  Size. Elves range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have slender builds. Your size is Medium.  Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.  Darkvision. Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.  Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill. Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shorts Thanks to this sensitivity, elves feel a deep connec- word, shortbow, and longbow. tion to other living things. They engage deeply with the Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving world around them, delighting in natural systems and throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you social interactions alike. They revel in exploring the in- to sleep. terconnectedness of nature and society, seeing the flow Trance. Elves don’t need to sleep. Instead, they of aether from nature to invention, from person to per- meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation son, from body to mind and heart. Elves live in harmony with both nature and technol- is “trance.”) While meditating, you can dream after a ogy. They believe that nature inspires technology: each fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that piece of artifice is an expression of natural laws and have become reflexive through years of practice. After principles, and captures one element of aether’s flow in resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a hua sort of microcosmic system. Technology, in turn, can man does from 8 hours of sleep. nurture the natural world, helping life grow and flourish Languages. You can speak, read, and write Comin places and ways that would otherwise be impossible. mon and Elvish. Elvish is fluid, with subtle intonations and intricate grammar. Elven literature is rich and var-

Elves who forsake technology entirely are called the Tirahar. Some elves with Tirahar sympathies live within cities or farms, but most simply withdraw to the wilder areas of Kaladesh. No more than one in a hundred elves is counted among the Tirahar, and many members of other races are unaware that these reclusive elves even exist. Fleet of Foot. Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet. Mask of the Wild. You can attempt to hide even Bishtahar and Tirahar when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy Elves who dwell in the forest and countryside are rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena. known as the Bishtahar. Most live in isolated communities away from other races, though they still trade with Vahadar them. In fact, much of Kaladesh’s food supply is grown The Vahadar are elves who dwell in the cities of Kaby elves. Bishtahar cultivators grow food, decorative ladesh. They are comfortable with technology, and flowers, wood for building, and elaborate living sculp- work as planners, architects, aether-seers, or inventors. tures in their meandering gardens and fields. They use Some of them use the techniques of Bishtahar cultivathe plane’s ubiquitous technology to foster the growth tors to grow food on rooftops, towers, and greenways. of plants and animals, utilizing automatons as garden- The Vahadar are generally integrated into the rest of ers and herders, and employing elaborate, nearly invisi- society on Kaladesh, living in cities dominated by the other races (though, as in Ghirapur, many of them live ble systems controlling heat, water, and nutrients. A garden tended by elves seems to grow natural- in specific garden-like neighborhoods) and engaging in ly in an aesthetically pleasing fashion. In fact, many trade. of the forests and plains of Kaladesh are planted and Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from tended by elves as well. What might appear at first to the druid spell list. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability be wild countryside is more likely a carefully planned for it. landscape designed to meet the needs of the people and Extra Language. You can speak, read, and write one extra language of your choice. animals that live there.

Cultivator’s Caravan

Mark Zug

ied, and their songs and poems are famous among other races. Many bards learn their language so they can add Elvish ballads to their repertoires.  Elf Culture. The elves of Kaladesh don’t organize themselves into nations or tribes. Still, they recognize three distinct cultural groups among their kind—though in truth these groupings are more like attitudes or alignments with regard to the rest of society and the use of technology. Choose one of these cultures.

Artificer’s Epiphany

Kieran Yanner

many humans excel at creating synthesis and finding connections between apparently disparate disciplines, “Curiosity is an itch that must be scratched.” bringing a cross-pollination to the process of invention The humans of Kaladesh are a race full of passionate that drives innovation across every field. aspiration. At their best, humans attempt grand and Human Traits expansive endeavors, driven to strive after the loftiest A human character has the traits described for humans and most impossible goals. At their worst, humans are in the Player’s Handbook. superficial, impractical dreamers who are blind to the Ability Score Increase. Your ability scores each inconsequences of their misguided actions. However, crease by 1. there can be no denying that the best and the worst of Age. Humans reach adulthood in their late teens humankind—along with the vast swath of humanity in and live less than a century. between—have been instrumental in shaping the his- Alignment. Humans tend toward no particular tory of Kaladesh, and continue to shape the destiny of alignment. the plane. Their curiosity, their ambition, their appar- Size. Humans vary widely in height and build, from ently boundless energy, and the scope of their vision are barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your powerful forces that drive invention forward. position in that range, your size is Medium. Human characters thrive on variety and crave new Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. experiences. It’s not uncommon for humans to explore Languages. You can speak, read, and write Comseveral different fields and disciplines in their lifetimes, mon and one extra language of your choice. Humans sometimes abandoning years of accomplishments in typically learn the languages of other peoples they one pursuit for the sake of pursuing something new and deal with, including obscure dialects. They are fond exciting. This tendency often produces characters who of sprinkling their speech with words borrowed from have just enough knowledge of many different fields other tongues: Dwarvish curses, Elvish musical expresto be dangerous in all of them. But at the same time, sions, Vedalken scholarly jargon, and so on.

Humans

Vedalken

“Of course it’s flawed. Everything is. And it’s a good thing, too! Can you imagine how dreadful it would be if everything was already perfect?” Vedalken have an unusual view of progress. They believe that nothing is perfect, nor can it ever be perfect— and they rejoice in this. Every imperfection is a chance for improvement, and progress is an endless march toward a state of perfection that can never actually be reached. Thus, pointing out imperfection is hardly an insult—which leads vedalken to note flaws and problems with an enthusiasm that members of other races sometimes find exasperating. This enthusiasm extends to every aspect of vedalken work, both practical and theoretical. They are curious and excitable, and often become deeply engrossed in their labors. It’s not uncommon for a vedalken to spend hours on end caught up in the details of an abstract question or a minute engineering problem. A flash of genius—resulting in a wand of binding, a crystal ball, or a sphere of annihilation?

Vedalken can be utterly oblivious to their surroundings while meditating on thorny issues, and they are prone to launching into lengthy explanations of their current research, since most find that talking about a problem often leads to a solution. As a rule, vedalken are gregarious in conversation. However, they are quite circumspect concerning their personal lives, and they engage more with ideas than with people. They form close friendships based around mutual interests or compelling disagreements, and their interactions focus on their thoughts about those issues rather than their feelings about them. Emotional dynamics don’t particularly interest vedalken, either as a conversational topic or a field of study. When they talk about their feelings, it is primarily to provide information that might be helpful to others. For example, a vedalken might tell her colleagues, “I’m feeling irritated right now, so I might not be reacting appropriately. Perhaps we should continue this later.” But any questions about the cause of the irritation are likely to be brushed off as being irrelevant to the situation. Glimmer of Genius

Tommy Arnold

Vedalken Politics Most vedalken care far more about invention and inquiry than about politics. They would rather unlock the hidden potential of aether-based devices than dwell on the question of how aether should be distributed to the Consulate’s citizens. For that reason, though vedalken are found both among the officials of the Consulate and among the renegades, their dedication to either cause often lacks the partisan fervor found in the members of other races. Vedalken Traits Your vedalken character has certain characteristics in common with all other vedalken. Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score increases by 1. Age. Vedalken mature at the same rate humans do, and most are expected to settle down into an adult life by around age 40. They can live 350 to almost 500 years. Alignment. Vedalken are most often lawful and rarely evil. Size. Vedalken are taller than humans but more slender. They average 6 to 6½ feet tall, but usually weigh less than 200 pounds. Your size is Medium. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Vedalken Cunning. You have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against magic. Aether Lore. Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to magic items or aether-powered technological devices, you can add twice your proficiency bonus, instead of any proficiency bonus you normally apply. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Vedalken. The Vedalken language is renowned for its technical treatises and its catalogs of knowledge about the natural world and the aether that pervades it.

Curio Vendor

Igor Kieryluk