A Player-Based Sourcebook for D&D 5e taking your characters across the planes. 108 subclasses, 18 playable species, spells and more.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Fourth Stretch Goal Unlocked! And How Far Along Is the Book?
11 months ago
– Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 07:48:20 PM
Hey planar adventurers!
We haven’t even hit the second half of the campaign and you all just unlocked the fourth stretch goal — 6 more feats! Like our other content stretch goal updates, we want to give you a look at a few feats and leave you with one you can take into your games this weekend.
But before we jump into the feats, we thought our backers would want to know how far along we are with the book. We know Kickstarter campaigns ask for a lot of trust, and we don’t take that lightly. The team spent some time this week tracking exactly how far along we are in a few major areas. Here’s where we are:
Subclasses: 55% mechanically complete (playable and are in testing; some narrative/flavor written). Another 30% fully outlined or with some core features. 100% of subclasses are ideated and loosely outlined.
Species: 78% mechanically complete. Another 11% outlined.
Spells: 32% complete and in iterative testing. Another 50% are outlined with themes and broad mechanical ideas.
Illustrations: 18% fully complete. Another 30% in progress.
Now, on to the feats sneak peek!
Elusive Celerity: Move through danger with the audacity and cunning of the denizens of the Scintillating Fey Courts.
Liminal Slip: Invoke a ghostly aspect derived from the Liminal Plane of Spirits to literally move through your foes.
Pattern Savant: Your endless pursuit of the The Singular Truth within the Immutable City of Cogs has taught you to find and decipher patterns with peerless acumen.
Pious Fervor: When you channel divine power from the Bright Wylds, you are inspired to move with unparalleled zeal.
Radiant Supremacy: Your radiant power sears creatures with overwhelming light from the High Heavens.
Work In Progress: Half-Orc Ironmonger from The Iron Hells by Erin Rea (scribbleimp.co.uk)
Iron Maiden’s Embrace Prerequisite: Proficiency in heavy armor
You’ve learned to weaponize your armor by grinding your foes into its unyielding surfaces, spikes, or jagged edges.
Your Strength score increases by 1, to a maximum of 20.
While you are wearing heavy armor, you can use your bonus action to damage a creature within 5 feet of you that is grappled by you. The damage is equal to 1d4 plus your Strength modifier, and you can choose to deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage.
Have a question for the team or want to chat with other fans of the planes? Join us on Discord!
Three Stretch Goals Down – More Spells Incoming!
12 months ago
– Sun, Feb 18, 2024 at 11:29:27 AM
Looks like we aren’t taking weekends off after all.
You all have kept the campaign chugging along since the launch less than a week ago. With just over four days since launch, you’ve funded The Planar Codex well past 250% of our goal.
If you want to chat with the team or other plane-hopping adventurers, join us on our Discord! We’ve been sharing some GMing stories and what brought us all to TTRPGs.
So, what did you all unlock this time? Another 9 new spells! With this final spell stretch goal unlocked, The Planar Codex will contain more than 30 new spells, and the spell card deck for Conquerors of the Planes is getting thicker.
At the end of this update is the full text for disruptive mote, a new 3rd-level spell from the Discordant Expanse. Cody was the designer for this one; I asked him what brought him to this design. Here’s what he had to say:
There are very few truly defensive conjuration spells, so I wanted to do something there. I also didn’t want it to be just another take on blur or mirror image. I wanted an active defense spell. I feel like most defensive spells are too passive and make them not as appealing at the table. Players (like me) want to do things.
The Discordant Expanse is all about unpredictability. This is one of its greatest strengths — how can someone prepare against something they can’t anticipate? A random table was an obvious choice.
Building on that theme of unpredictability, disruptive mote may not work out just as the caster hopes. You could roll 1s against a high-Strength attacker, likely limiting the spell’s effectiveness. You do have that resistance fall back though, if you’re ok with ending the spell.
Here’s a look at some of what we have planned!
Fey Courts: Prickling Burrs – a cantrip that allows you to throw stinging nettles to harass and hinder your foes.
The Shadowscape: Shadow Meld – merge your body into shadows, becoming nearly intangible and nigh invisible.
The Liminal Plane of Spirits: Spaces Between – a subtle spell that allows you to stow an object in the space between a creature and the reality it occupies, causing the item to stay with the creature without its knowledge.
The High Heavens: Condemn – a powerful spell of judgement, removing a creature’s ability to protect or heal itself.
The Bright Wylds: Deliverance – a protective spell that allows you to rapidly trade places with other creatures, sweeping them out of harm’s way.
The Iron Hells: Entropic Bolt – shape the inexorable force of entropy into a bolt of predictable destruction.
The Pit: Dance of Ruin – a dangerous dance that seduces the ruinous power of the demonic plane to destroy your foes.
The Immutable City of Cogs: Gravity Well – an area of effect spell that pulls creatures inward toward a single point.
Shacklesoul Warlock of the Gaol by Erin Rea (www.scribbleimp.co.uk)
And here’s the full version of disruptive mote, a chaotic conjuration from the Discordant Expanse:
Disruptive Mote 3rd-level conjuration Casting Time: 1 action Range: Self Components: V, S Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute Spell List: bard, cleric, sorcerer, warlock, wizard
You conjure a mote of pseudo-sentient chaos, anchoring it to orbit protectively around you. For the duration, when a creature within 5 feet of you attacks you, the mote lashes out with discordant energy. Roll 1d6 (before the attack roll is made) to determine the effect.
1d6 – Effect 1 – The attacker makes a Strength saving throw. On a failure, it is restrained until the start of its next turn. 2 – The attacker makes a Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, it takes 3d12 force damage, or half as much on a success. 3 – The attacker makes a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, it is blinded until the start of its next turn. 4 – The attacker makes an Intelligence saving throw. On a failure, it falls prone, and its speed becomes 0 until the start of its next turn. 5 – The attacker makes a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, it is stunned until the start of its next turn. 6 – The attacker makes a Charisma saving throw. On a failure, it is frightened of you until the start of its next turn.
Before the spell ends, you can use your reaction when you are hit by an attack to gain resistance to the attack’s damage. If you do so, the spell ends immediately.
Second Stretch Goal Unlocked! New Feats to Bring to the Planes
12 months ago
– Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 01:35:52 PM
Well, it happened again. Y’all have driven The Planar Codex to smash through yet another stretch goal! Reaching this second stretch goal unlocks 6 new planar-themed feats to help add flavor and useful abilities to your characters. Feats are one of 5e’s best ways to make interesting, customized characters, so we’re extremely excited to have the chance to add more of them to the book.
We can’t thank everyone enough for all of the support thus far, but we can certainly try.
THANK YOU! ...how was that?
Ok, that was lame, but we can do better. How about a sneak preview of the new feats, plus one in full that you can use at your table right away?
Corporal Optimization: The rigorous energies of the Immutable City of Cogs resist invasive forces that would interfere with your body’s normal function.
Defiant Spirit: The Bright Wylds’ rebellious nature burns deep in your soul, allowing you to shrug off effects that would curtail your freedom.
Fleeting Presence: Your identity is awash with the memory-eroding nature of the Shadowscape, causing memories of you to bleed away from those who meet you.
Riotous Combatant: Master the art of moving quickly through the chaos of the Discordant Wastes while harassing your foes.
Thunderous Decree: Make your foes cower before the overwhelming power of the High Heavens’ inviolable truth.
Maddening Tongue Prerequisite: The ability to cast a spell of 1st level or higher with verbal components You can infuse your spoken spellcasting with maddening power siphoned from The Pit. When you cast a spell of 1st level or higher with verbal components, you can force each creature that can hear you within 30 feet of you (excluding yourself) to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. You can choose any number of creatures you can see to make the saving throw with advantage. Each creature that fails the saving throw takes psychic damage equal to the spell’s level. A creature that suffers psychic damage in this way must also roll 1d12 at the start of its next turn to determine how madness grips the creature.
1d12 - Effect 1 - The creature can’t move or take actions this turn. 2 - The creature can’t move this turn but can otherwise act normally. 3 - The creature can speak only gibberish this turn, making it impossible to cast spells with verbal components or be understood in any way. 4 - The creature can’t take bonus actions this turn but can otherwise act normally. 5 - The creature loses concentration if it was maintaining its concentration, and it can’t use spells or effects that require concentration this turn. 6 - The creature becomes frightened of you until the end of its turn. 7 - The creature becomes charmed by you until the end of its turn. 8 - The creature howls in agony, taking 1d4 psychic damage. 9 - The creature becomes deaf until the end of its turn. 10 - The creature falls prone, and its movement becomes 0 until the end of its turn. 11 - The creature becomes blind until the end of its turn. 12 - Ability checks and attack rolls the creature makes this turn are made with disadvantage.
A wasteling druid of the Circle of Corruption using the Maddening Tongue feat.
Don’t mind the Wasteling. He’s like Clippy, just from The Pit... and actually somewhat useful.
So, thanks again, but we’re just getting started! We’re 208% funded as of now, and it’s not stopping there. As soon as we knock out Stretch Goal 3, you’ll unlock ANOTHER nine spells beyond the ones from Stretch Goal 1. Who doesn’t like new spells? Nobody, that’s who.
First Stretch Goal Down! New Spells to Evoke on Your Planar Journey
12 months ago
– Wed, Feb 14, 2024 at 07:27:13 AM
The team is stunned at this response. At the time of us writing this, we are 175% funded and still have a few hours left in Day One. That’s out of this world. In the days leading up to launch we felt that we would fund (probably... eventually) but had no idea it would be this quick.
The Planar Codex would never exist without your trust. Thank you. You can come chat with the team on our Discord.
Ok, so what did we just unlock? New spells! We wanted to give you a sneak peek into some of our spell designs, and even leave you with a fully designed one, the storm of grinding iron. This punishing spell is summoned forth by the infernal spellcasters of The Iron Hells.
When we approach spell designs our first thought is to create something that is immediately recognizable to the fifth edition core rules. We want these spells to fit in right next to fireball. But there’s still room for us to exercise our creative muscles. The storm of grinding iron, for example, plays on the idea of modular spell radius. Spell radius is immediately recognizable to fifth edition players, but we have never been given the opportunity to change it and have spell effects change due to it.
Narrative themes are important to us when designing spells, or anything else. The storm of grinding iron, at first glance, is a bit on the nose — it is a damaging spell that uses metal from a place called The Iron Hells. But it also perfectly represents the metaphysical themes of The Iron Hells. It slowly grinds down groups, and as the weak are crushed on its outer edges, it focuses in on those who think they are strong, eventually tearing them apart under the oppressive, unending onslaught of the hells.
Alright, enough dev talk for this update! Let’s get to some reveals. Some of these spells aren’t much more than the ideas below right now, while others are just waiting for their final tests and copy edits:
The Scintillating Fey Courts: Violent Obsession – an enchantment that drives a creature to fixate on another creature with violent intensity.
The Shadowscape: Bleak Omen – a cantrip that distorts a creature’s thoughts, causing it to look upon an object with abject terror for a moment.
The Liminal Plane of Spirits: Lingering Sigh – a divination spell that allows you to communicate with lingering spirits with unfinished business.
The High Heavens: Righteous Fire – a powerful offensive spell that scours enemies with blinding, radiant flames.
The Bright Wylds: Fan the Flames – a support spell that amplifies a spark of success into an inferno of passionate ardor.
The Pit: Entropic Strike – a melee weapon-based cantrip that whittles your foe’s life away with each attack.
The Immutable City of Cogs: Ward of Convergence – an abjuring spell that redirects and controls where teleporting creatures appear.
The Discordant Expanse: Primordial Arsenal – a support spell that causes your allies’ weapons to deal extra damage of various types to exploit your foes’ weaknesses.
Flickerkin College of Remembrance Bard casting lingering sigh by Hannah Baker
And here is the storm of grinding iron, ready for play at your table now!
Storm of Grinding Iron 4th-level conjuration Casting Time: 1 action Range: 90 feet Components: V, S, M (a handful of metal shards) Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute Spell List: sorcerer, warlock, wizard
You create a storm of howling winds laden with hissing motes of jagged shrapnel. The storm occupies a sphere centered on a point you choose upon casting, where it remains for the duration. You must choose to make the sphere’s radius 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 feet when you cast the spell.
The area within the sphere is difficult terrain and lightly obscured, and creatures are deafened while within the area. When a creature enters the area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, it suffers an amount of necrotic damage and slashing damage, or half as much damage on a success. The amount of necrotic and slashing damage is determined by the storm’s radius.
Storm Radius – Damage 5 feet – 5d4 necrotic and 5d4 slashing 10 feet – 4d4 necrotic and 4d4 slashing 15 feet – 3d4 necrotic and 3d4 slashing 20 feet – 2d4 necrotic and 2d4 slashing 25 feet – 1d4 necrotic and 1d4 slashing
As a bonus action, you can reduce the storm’s radius by 5 feet (to a minimum of 5 feet) or increase it by 5 feet (to a maximum of 25 feet).
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the necrotic and slashing damage increase by 1d4 each for each spell slot level above 4th.
The Planar Codex Funded in Just 4 Hours and 23 Minutes!
12 months ago
– Tue, Feb 13, 2024 at 01:26:30 PM
Hail, denizens of the planes!
We are thrilled to announce that The Planar Codex is now FULLY FUNDED! It’s officially happening! Soon, you’ll all get to see our wild ideas come to life at YOUR tables in YOUR games. We’re very excited to hear how your stories unfold across the planes!
Thank you all for your incredible support. We are truly humbled by it. Quite literally, we couldn’t do this without you.
You funded The Planar Codex in 4 hours and 23 minutes. We figured people like yourselves wanted planar-themed player options for their 5e games, but had no idea just how many of you there would be. It’s staggering, and we couldn’t be happier or more grateful to have you with us on this journey.
So, what comes next? The first stretch goal unlocks 9 Additional Spells — 1 from each of the nine planes featured in the book. It seems only fair we give you some hints about what that means.
Perhaps you plan to play a wizard schooled in the infernal magic of the Iron Hells. There’s no finer demonstration of that plane’s carefully modulated brutality than the Storm of Grinding Iron. On the other end of the spectrum, casters steeped in the philosophies of the Bright Wylds now have access to Fan the Flames, a support spell that amplifies a spark of success into an inferno of passionate ardor.
These and their seven counterparts become possible to implement once we hit the $15,000 funding level. Every pledge gets us one step closer to expanding all our spellbooks, so spread the word!
If you haven’t already, jump in the comments and let us know what you’re looking forward to most from The Planar Codex. Please also feel free to join the P.B. Publishing Discord to continue exploring the planes even after the campaign ends. We want to hear all about your adventures and how we can help you tell awesome stories, so come tell us what’s got you most excited!
We can’t wait to show you how vast your world really is.
