If you spend 1 hour befriending and feeding a Medium beast of CR 1/2 or less, you become its mounted guardian. The type of beast you can befriend this way is determined by your archetype, but must have an Intelligence score of 2, 3, or 4. The beast you are the mounted guardian of is your unusual mount. It follows you and is loyal to you, but it acts independently. Your unusual mount shares your initiative and takes its turn simultaneously with yours. The mount won’t attack except as a reaction to being attacked, but it can take other actions as normal and makes death saving throws . You can only be a mounted guardian to one beast at a time.

With the Narrator’s permission, rangers can take this as an exploration knack.

Other Mounts. At the Narrator’s discretion, other suitably sized beasts could make good mounts, but it’s recommended to change the flavor text instead. A dire sparrow described as a giant insect could make a fantastic steed for the right rider and none of its statistics have to change for that to happen.

While most shadowcasts prefer not to contemplate their counterpart, you are deeply curious about them, even going as far as finding a portal to the Material Plane, planning to find and observ e them—perhaps not unlike a naturalist studying a rare animal. However, something happened along the way that led you to adventure.

How do you feel about your counterpart? Have you been able to see them yet? Would or have you introduced yourself if you have? Did you choose to stay of the Material Plane, or do you wish to return to the Bleak Gate? Are your adventures a way to find your counterpart, surpass them, or a choice all your own?

Ability Score Increases: +1 to Dexterity and one other ability score.

Skill Proficiencies: Stealth and either Culture, Insight, or Investigation.

Tool Proficiencies: Disguise kit.

Suggested Equipment (Cost 39 gold): bottle of ink, 10 sheets of parchment, ink pen, disguise kit, traveler’s clothes..

Feature: Other Side of the Coin. Your interest in your counterpart has made your bond— and thus your shared inclinations—stronger, even if you do not walk the same path. Choose a feature from a different background, to reflect the abilities and tendencies of your counterpart.

Adventures and Advancement. If you choose to lean into the tendencies of your counterpart, you gain the advancements detailed in that background. Alternately, your knack for subtlety, research, and observation come to the attention of those with matters that require investigation, whether on the streets as a detective, in the stacks as a scholar, or some similar pursuit. Once you have taken on several of these jobs, you gain admission to esoteric libraries (containing information to answer questions that require a DC 25 Arcana, Culture, Engineering, History, Nature, or Religion check) or are sponsored as a member of a secret society or exclusive social club, enabling you to learn relevant information of the same DC. It is up to the discretion of the narrator whether such connections allow you to find specific information.

Connection and Memento. Due to the nature of this background, the Narrator may allow you to choose a connection from a different background, potentially one with someone who mistook you for your counterpart. Otherwise, roll 1d10, choose, or make up your own.

Shadower Connections

1. The kindly innkeeper who let you do odd jobs for free room and board.
2. A fellow shadowcast who found and protected you after your formation.
3. Your counterpart, who accepted you as family.
4. The charlatan who took advantage of your naivete and used you as a dupe in their swindle.
5. A fellow shadowcast, thus far unable to return home.
6. Your best friend, who always warned against finding your counterpart.
7. Your counterpart, who was horrified and attempted to harm you.
8. The mage who found your nature fascinating and wanted to study you.
9. The cleric who thinks you a foul abomination.
10. The family of your now-dead counterpart, eager to have you with them—for good or ill?

Shadower Mementos

1. A personal effect of your counterpart; a comb or accessory.
2. A strange pocket mirror that always shows your reflection in the black and white of the Bleak Gate.
3. A book related to your counterpart’s area of expertise.
4. A philosophy text related to the nature of the self.
5. A small, brilliantly colored landscape painting.
6. A shard of glass in which a wailing ghost can sometimes be seen.
7. A lantern given to you by a shadowcast soul shepherd.
8. A monogrammed locket given to you by a dying adventurer in the Bleak Gate, begging you to return it to their family.
9. Strange, shimmering scars from a near-deadly encounter with an incorporeal undead.
10. A spider pendant you found lying in the open, with no one about to have dropped it.

Shadowcast Traits

When you choose this heritage, select the traits from an existing heritage. These represent your counterpart on the Material Plane and determine your physical appearance, the rate at which you age, your base walking speed, and any heritage traits.

Shadowcast Gifts

While a shadowcast retains the physical characteristics of their counterpart, their Bleak Gate origins give them unique gifts tied to the dark and shadowy plane. In addition to the traits found in your counterpart’s heritage, select one of the following gifts:

Shadow Walker

The Bleak Gate is a dangerous place even for those who originate there, and some shadowcasts have evolved to leverage the darkness to their advantage. You gain the following trait:

Lesser Darkvision. You gain darkvision to 30 feet. If you have darkvision already, its range increases by 30 feet.

Shadow Teleport. Shadows do more than hide you—they provide you with a handy form of short-distance transport. So long as you are in dim light or darkness , you can teleport up to 15 feet to an unoccupied square you can see as a bonus action. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest .

Umbral Magic

Your time spent in the Bleak Gate has given you the ability to bend the bleak aspects of your home plane to your will. You learn your choice of the following cantrips: chill touch , ray of frost , spare the dying . At 3rd level, choose one 1st- or 2nd-level spell from the cold, necrotic, or shadow schools. You may cast this spell once per long rest without expending a spell slot or requiring material components. At 5th level you can cast the chosen spell twice per long rest in this way. A 1st-level spell chosen this way can be cast at 2nd-level using this trait, if the spell allows. Your spellcasting modifier for this spell is Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, whichever is highest.

Shadowcast Paragon

When you reach 10th level, you become a better shadowcast and gain one paragon gift from the following list.

Grasping Shadow

You can now use your shadow as effectively as any weapon. You can make a melee weapon attack with your shadow, which deals necrotic damage equal to 1d6 + the highest of your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifiers. On a successful hit, if the target is no more than one size category larger than you, you can grapple it with your shadow. The target makes a Strength saving throw . The DC for this saving throw is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + the ability modifier that you attacked with. On a failure, the creature is grappled . Until this grapple ends, you can’t grapple another creature with your shadow. The DC to escape the grapple is the same as the DC to avoid the grapple.

Grappling a creature in this manner leaves your hands free. This allows you to attempt to grapple a creature yourself, though you can’t move a grappled creature if both you and your shadow are grappling a creature. Your shadow uses your carrying capacity when moving a grappled creature.

Shadowy Aspect

You have learned to mimic the power of the ghosts and shadows that populate your home plane, granting you the ability to take on a distorted form and grant it to others. You learn the blur spell and can cast it without components or using a spell slot. At the end of a long rest, choose one of the following options: you can cast blur 3 times per long rest ; you can cast blur as a 4th-level spell twice per long rest; you can cast blur as a 6th-level spell once per long rest. Your spellcasting ability for this spell is Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (whichever is highest).

Shadowcast Culture

Like the shadowcasts themselves, shadowcast culture is often an inverse of those cultures that exist on the Material Plane. Even though grand cities lie in ruin and villages appear abandoned, shadowcasts gather in societies that mimic those found on the Material Plane, hidden from the cursed forms of unlife that call the Bleak Gate home. Their cultures, in general, tend to follow similar lines to those typically found in the heritage of their counterpart, though a shadowcast may find that their culture differs from their extraplanar twin in one way or another. For example, a halfling shadowcast may be from a tunnel halfling culture and show a particular affinity for life underground, while their counterpart is from a stout halfling culture and prefers living in quaint hillsides. Or, a shadowcast who is incredibly cosmopolitan may discover that their counterpart leads a much more simple life in the country as a villager.

The ways of life found in the Bleak Gate harbor the same cultural affinities and outlooks as those found on the Material Plane. Language does not experience any changes due to the Bleak Gate’s inverse nature; the Common, Elvish, and other languages that are spoken on the Material Plane are the same languages spoken in the Bleak Gate, and those who encounter a shadowcast on their home plane find that they are able to freely communicate with them. Or, rather, they could if they met with one. A few serve as guides, scouts, or even shepherds of a sort for the unfortunate souls, exiles, and trapped mortals wandering the lifeless expanse, but most shadowcast prefer the company of each other.

Due to the unorthodox nature of their coming into existence, many shadowcast make it their mission to find newly formed members of their kind and ensure that they are kept safe. However, as there seems to be little predictable about where a shadowcast will first appear, some find themselves alone or manifesting with a small group. This leads to adolescents, either singly or in bands, making their own way through the lifeless expanse. Some are found and taken in by settlements or individuals, while others live their lives on the move.

Suggested Cultures

While you can choose any culture for your shadowcast character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: forsaken , itinerant , lone wanderer , wildling .

Nomads typically move between multiple areas where they set up for a season or two and then move on, typically on a circuit between grazing grounds and other useful locations. Because they are not constantly on the move, nomads value equipment that lets their temporary settlements and the often harsh environments around those settlements be made more comfortable, and, because nomads are not always welcomed with open arms, they often try to maintain at least some level of secrecy around their camps.

Beast Treads. These attachable boot accessories work very much like ice cleats or snowshoes, fitting over the wearer’s normal footwear. When worn, they disguise the wearer’s footprints to look like those of an animal, typically a larger creature such as a bison or a bear. If you are traveling through areas native to the creature in question, creatures attempting to track you suffer a –1d4 penalty on their Survival check to do so. However, you can’t travel at a fast pace while wearing the beast treads.

Swamp Sloggers. These heavy, waxed canvas leggings are hot, uncomfortable, and very good at keeping the wearer’s feet and legs dry while wading through water. This gear can be worn over medium or light armor and takes 1 minute to don or remove. While wearing the swamp sloggers, creatures attempting to track you through the water, even by scent, suffer a –1d4 penalty to their checks. At the Narrator’s discretion, swamp sloggers may grant you an expertise die on checks against relevant exploration challenges of 0th and 1st tiers. These leggings can’t be worn in conjunction with marshland gear.

Walking Tent. A strange middle ground between structure and clothing, a walking tent is worn much like a backpack and creates what is essentially a mobile tent covering the wearer’s torso; when worn, they look like giant hoods stretching out to cover the wearer’s shoulders and extending in front and behind like an awning. They typically have a bamboo frame and heavy waxed canvas interiors. Wearing one keeps the user reasonably dry in heavy precipitation. Travelers in areas with a lot of stinging insects may add a screen of mosquito netting or even a wicker weave to the front of the walking tent.

Wearing a walking tent can, at the Narrator’s discretion, provide an expertise die to saves against the effects of inclement weather. However, the extra bulk decreases your base walking speed by 5 feet. You also suffer disadvantage on weapon attacks, as well as Athletics, Acrobatics, Perception, and Stealth checks. They do not impede spellcasting, however, and are popular with druids and weather mages performing rituals in the rain.

Yurt. If tents had a monarch, it would be the yurt. These durable, comfortable, and portable circular structures can serve as a base camp or center of operations. Depending on the size, a yurt can take a few hours to a few days to put together, but once it is assembled, it is a proper building rather than a simple shelter, often with windows, doors, interior rooms, lighting, and ventilation for fire smoke. Like tents, yurts require a flat surface to rest on, but unlike tents, yurts are meant to be living spaces and can accommodate additional creatures for the purposes of gatherings. Even larger yurts than those listed here serve as the centers of settlements and can accommodate over 100 Medium-sized creatures for meetings and celebrations. A yurt can serve as a haven . The listed assembly time assumes 4 Medium-sized creatures.

Small: Suitable for 2 Medium-sized creatures on bedrolls or a gathering of 10 Medium-size creatures. It occupies a 10-foot by 10-foot space and takes 1 hour to assemble.

Medium: Suitable for 6 Medium-size creatures on bedrolls or a gathering of 30 Medium-size creatures. It occupies a 15-foot by 15-foot space and takes 4 hours to assemble.

Large: Suitable for 16 Medium-sized creatures on bedrolls and up to 50 Medium-sized creatures for a gathering. It occupies a 25-foot by 25-foot square and takes a full day to assemble.

Itinerants are typically those with skilled or semi-skilled professions such as tradespeople, doctors, and spiritual guides like clergy. They tend to receive a warm welcome from the communities they travel to, but that welcome comes at least partially because they make active efforts to fit in.

Grooming Kit. This small leather or waxed canvas kit folds up for easy transport and contains a small bar of soap, some small scissors, a comb, a small mirror, a vial of perfume, and some other personal hygiene items. If the user has at least a gallon of clean water, they can clean themselves thoroughly, gaining an expertise die on Persuasion checks for the next two hours, or until something happens to make them less presentable.

Spiced Candies. Sold in packages of 5 pieces, these small hard candies are flavored with ingredients from a variety of far-flung locations. Their unusual flavor makes them excellent as ice-breakers and gifts among those of lower or middle income. At the Narrator’s discretion, gifting such candies grants you an expertise die on your next Persuasion check against the recipient. This bonus only applies once every 24 hours. This period may be longer or shorter, depending on the discretion of the Narrator. The candies do not readily spoil, but cannot be used as Supply .

Traveling Toolkit. All of the artisan toolkits have a traveling variety with collapsable or lightweight tools and especially efficient storage containers that are useful to traveling tradespeople. These toolkits have the same functionality as their normal counterparts, but weigh less and cost more.

Versatile Clothing. This comfortable, neutral-colored clothing has been designed to be worn in different ways, allowing the wearer to pass through the local population without attracting undue notice. When combined with local accessories, the wearer can easily pass as having purchased their clothing locally, though other details of their appearance may still cause them to attract attention.

Circusfolk not only spend their lives traveling, but entertaining. Unfortunately, not all communities are equally-receptive to the shows they put on, and stigmas around circusfolk can sometimes escalate into dangerous situations requiring a fight or a speedy escape. Their equipment reflects this tension.

Makeup Kit. This compact set of face paints and powders lets you quickly change your appearance or freshen up existing makeup between shows. In a pinch, it can be used like a disguise kit, but at a –1d4 penalty and only twice, after which point it is depleted. Alternatively, it can be used to gain an expertise die on Intimidation or Persuasion checks (chosen when you apply the makeup) made in the next hour, unless something happen to compromise your look, such as rain, physical exertion, and the like.

Sleeve Sparklers. These basic fireworks fit in a heavy leather bracer up the sleeves of the user. They can be activated as a bonus action, spraying a stream of colorful sparks for 3 rounds. You must make a DC 5 Dexterity saving throw upon activation, taking 2 points of fire damage on a failure. While the sparks are active, you gain an expertise die on Performance checks and Deception checks to distract creatures. You can also use an action to focus the sparks and ignite paper, dry straw, and other flammable substances. Finally, if the sparks are directed toward the face of a creature, it must make a DC 13 Constitution save or take 2 points of fire damage and be blinded for until the end of its next turn. The sparklers are made with a flammable metal and cannot be extinguished early without the use of magic, though they can’t be lit underwater.

Speaking Horn. This cone-shaped device is popular with ringmasters, barkers, and masters of ceremony. When shouting into this device, your voice is magnified in a 60-foot cone emanating from your space. Creatures within the cone have advantage on checks to hear you over background noise and other distractions, and your voice can be heard up to 300 feet away from your position.

Quick-Change Clothing. Useful for both quick backstage changes during performances and for giving angry locals the slip, this clothing can be quickly removed, reversed, and put back on as an action. The styles can be radically different, such as a simple farmer’s shirt on one side and fine noble’s clothing on the other. The garments do not include the jewelry necessary to pass as a noble, however. Depending on how radical the difference is, the Narrator may rule that swapping garments grants an expertise die on checks to convince creatures that have only seen you in the previous garments that you are not the same person.

Caravanners typically have beasts of burden and wagons, so while their equipment needs to be as rugged as that of any traveling culture, they can often deal with a little bit of extra weight if some other concern makes it worth it. Still, every pound of equipment carried is a pound of carrying capacity that can’t be devoted to trade goods, so a balance must be struck.

Caravanner's Canvas Caravanners usually keep a few of these tarps in every wagon; they are made of heavy-duty, tear-resistant fabric that has been waxed to keep the rain off. They can be folded into an improvised poncho to keep a teamster in an open wagon dry in the rain or used to build quick shelters where needed. At the Narrator’s discretion, this item can be expended to gain an expertise die to relevant exploration challenges of 0th and 1st tiers.

Caravanner's Map. This map is made of heavy parchment and is mounted to a thin sheet of wood and waxed, waterproofing it and making it easier to reference while on a bouncing wagon or horse. It can be marked with grease pencils and wiped clean after. Caravanners typically update these regularly and sell the old ones at a slight discount; they make nice wall decorations.

Easy Access Backpack. Caravanners know better than most that being able to get to the right item quickly can save you a lot of trouble. This backpack has the same capacity as the standard backpack, but it is covered with extra pockets and the larger compartment has additional flaps for quick access to the items stored within. If it is properly packed, which takes half an hour when empty, you can make a DC 5 Dexterity check to access any item inside as a bonus action. On a failed check, retrieving the item requires using an action as normal. Alternatively, you can abandon the attempt to retrieve the item this round without spending your bonus action.

Entertainment Box. Assembled to give weary caravanners something to do in the evenings at camp, this small but sturdy wooden box is lined with waxed canvas to waterproof it and held shut with a simple leather strap. It contains a deck of cards, a small, cheep instrument (such as a flute, ocarina, harmonica or similar), and some paints or colored chalks.

Prodigies are gifted with exceptional talents entirely inaccessible to the vast majority of creatures. Those with elemental skills are most often associated with the Laboratory , Sacred Grove, and Temple strongholds, but may be available as free followers from other stronghold types, at the Narrator’s discretion.

For each prodigy, choose a rare skill.

Inexperienced. Once between the ends of each long rest , the prodigy makes a rare skill check for you as though you had access to and were proficient in that skill.

Seasoned. Twice between the ends of each long rest , the prodigy makes a rare skill check for you as though you had access to and were proficient in that skill.

Expert. Three times between the ends of each long rest , the prodigy makes a rare skill check for you as though you had access to and were proficient in that skill.