Page 138 - D&D - Player's Handbook

SWASHBUCKLERS AND Two-WEAPON FIGHTING Due to their varied origins and delayed manifestation
The Swashbuckler relies on a good understanding of the of powers, sorcerers can be found almost anywhere
D&D rules to realize its potential, specifically when it and among almost any people. Larger cities on the
comes to fighting with two weapons. Other characters Sword Coast-including Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter,
must use an action to Disengage if they want to escape a and Waterdeep- all have a few sorcerers, since people
melee, but the Fancy Footwork feature of the Swashbuck- with magic gravitate to places where their abilities are
ler bundles a more limited version of Disengage with in valued. Sorcerers are slightly more common among
your attack. This allows you to use your bonus action to cultures steeped in magic, such as among the elves of
fight with two weapons, and then safely evade each foe Evermeet and the humans of Halruua. The witches of
you attacked.
Rashemen are sorcerers who lead that country's society,
but their Thayan neighbors often persecute the sorcer-
RAKISH AUDACITY
ers who appear in Thay, seeing sorcery as a threat to the
Starting at 3rd level, your unmistakable confidence pro-
nation's power structure, which is based on the study of
pels you into battle. You can add your Charisma modi-
wizardry. Magic-hating cultures, such as the Northland-
fier to your initiative rolls.
ers and Uthgardt, exile or kill the sorcerers who mani-
In addition, you don't need advantage on your attack
fest among them.
roll to use your Sneak Attack if no creature other than
your target is within 5 feet of you. All the other rules for
WILD MAGIC
the Sneak Attack class feature still apply to you.
The Forgotten Realms has a long history of magical
PANACHE disasters and uncontrolled surges of power that alter
At 9th level, your charm becomes extraordinarily beguil- creatures or the land itself. Whether caused by a Neth-
ing. As an action, you can make a Charisma (Persua- erese wizard trying to become god of magic, deities
sion) check contested by a creature's Wisdom (Insight) being forced to walk the earth during the Time of
check. The creature must be able to hear you, and the Troubles, or the chaos of the Spell plague, the magical
two of you must share a language. chaos unleashed by such events has created a legacy of
If you succeed on the check and the creature is hostile wild magic sorcerers. This legacy often lies dormant for
to you, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against tar- generations, then suddenly manifests under the right
gets other than you and can't make opportunity attacks (or wrong) circumstances. These wild mages are more
against targets other than you. This effect lasts for 1 common recently in lands directly affected by the Spell-
minute, until one of your companions attacks the target plague, including Halruaa, Mulhorand, and pockets of
or affects it with a spell, or until you and the target are Cormyr and the Sword Coast.
more than 60 feet apart.
If you succeed on the check and the creature isn't DRACONIC MAGIC
hostile to you, it is charmed by you for 1 minute. While Dragons are known to take humanoid form and live
charmed, it regards you as a friendly acquaintance. This among lesser creatures for decades. Some of these
effect ends immediately if you or your companions do dragons have liaisons with humanoids, or invest their
anything harmful to it. allies or minions with dragon magic. These invested
creatures might become draconic bloodline sorcerers,
ELEGANT MANEUVER
or pass their abilities on to their descendants. Draconic
Starting at 13th level, you can use a bonus action on
bloodline sorcerers have appeared in most parts of the
your turn to gain advantage on the next Dexterity (Ac-
world due to the actions of individual dragons or exper-
robatics) or Strength (Athletics) check you make during
imentation by dragon cults, but they are significantly
the same turn.
more common around Chessenta, which was once ruled
by a dragon, and the land of Murghom near Thay, where
MASTER DUELIST
dragon princes have ruled for the last eighty years.
Beginning at 17th level, your mastery of the blade lets
you turn failure into success in combat. If you miss with
MAGIC OF THE STORM
an attack roll, you can roll it again with advantage. Once
you do so, you can't use this feature again until you fin- During the Sundering, a constant storm called the
ish a short or long rest. Great Rain covered the Sea of Fallen Stars, darkening
the skies and causing massive floods. Thousands of
SORCERERS people died from drowning, lightning strikes, or bursts
of wind that hit like fists and capsized ships. A few survi-
The Weave of magic infuses every part of the Realms, vors of these events found themselves blessed or cursed
and some people have the natural ability to perceive, with innate magic- storm sorcerers able to bend light-
touch, and shape the Weave. Some inherit this ability ning, thunder, and wind to their will. Most of these new
from a magical ancestor such as a dragon or an angel, mages appeared near the Inner Sea, but clouds from the
others gain it by accident from exposure to wild magical Great Rain sometimes traveled much farther away. Al-
power, and others manifest this power by chance or the though not all storm sorcerers gained their powers from
hand of fate, perhaps portended by events at their con- the Great Rain, most common folk associate them with
ception or birth. its destructive weather and treat them with caution.

CH APTER 4 I CLASSES