# Voidstrider A hooded figure runs across a rooftop, the shouts of pursuing guards breaking the quiet evening. A hail of crossbow bolts whistle through the air after him, but with a smile and a subtle bend of space they are sent astray as he continues his sprint, straight down the vertical wall of a building. <br> The trio of bloodthirsty orcs surround a still elf in a forest glade, her eyes closed in readiness. They swing their weapons but at the moment of impact suddenly find them hitting nothing but air. Before they can recover, her shimmering blade swings with supernatural speed, separating their heads from their shoulders.<br> As a skirmish rages, a halfling dashes through the combat towards a bandit chief. Grizzled bodyguards stand between them, but the halfling reaches out a hand and slips through a hole in reality itself, rematerialising and plunging a dagger into the chief's neck. Behind him, his warping passage crushes the bodyguards into a misshapen mass as the space settles back to normality.<br> These are all voidstriders, individuals who share an affinity for reshaping reality with their esoteric connection to the weave of magic. While others shape the power of the arcane into spells, voidstriders take that raw energy and apply it to both their physical selves and their immediate surroundings. The result is a keen minded and thoroughly lethal warrior, capable of creating bends and ripples in space and time to confound and destroy their foes. ### Cracks in the Firmament The raw stuff of magic suffuses nearly all of creation, threaded throughout every plant, rock and creature. Those wishing to cast spells can draw upon this untamed power and through the careful use of knowledge, incantations and precise gestures they can shape it into specific spells. To such normal users of magic, a voidstrider is dangerous at best and an abomination at worst. This is because each and every voidstrider represents a living, breathing rupture in the weave of magic.<br> Through them, its unmasked energy spills out into reality, distorting previously established fundamentals - space itself becomes malleable, whilst time might skip unexpectedly or repeat one or two seconds in a minute. Such is the unpredictable nature of this power that attempting to harness it for traditional spellcasting would be both futile and impossibly dangerous to the wielder. Only through rigorous control of body and mind can an individual begin to shape these distortions to follow their own will and direction. ### The Path of Balance Voidstriders are, at their core, unstable beings. They may have been involved in some terrible ritual or experiment at some point in their life that exposed them to raw magic, or perhaps they were born during some calamitous event that left them slightly disjointed from the rest of the cosmos. Whatever their origins, each voidstrider has to learn how to control their abilities or be overwhelmed by them.<br> Often shunned by society at large, voidstrider makes a natural fit for a traveling adventurer, with their unusual powers providing a unique and significant advantage in many situations, as well as their closeness of mind and body lending itself to an almost supernatural level of martial prowess. The adventuring life also matches well to the goals of a voidstrider, providing an outlet for their ceaseless energy and a chance to further hone and refine their self-control. ### Creating a Voidstrider When creating a voidstrider, the most important thing to consider is what event linked you with the weave as well as how and why you learned to master the unnatural abilities that it bestowed upon you. Were you captured and experimented on to become the prototype for a living source of raw magic, imprisoned for years in the lair of some insane wizard before your escape? Maybe you were the target of a faulty resurrection spell and your soul is now intrinsically linked not just with your body but the stuff of reality itself? Perhaps you were abandoned as a child because you were unable to control your unnatural power and then taken under the wing of a thief that saw the potential of your strange abilities in their line of work. It could be that you were inducted and trained by a secretive order of mage hunters before being sent out into the world to further their goals with your unique skill set. #### Quick Build You can make a voidstrider quickly by following these suggestions. First, make Dexterity your highest ability score followed by Intelligence. Second, choose the hermit background. \pagebreakNum <div class='classTable wide'> ##### The Voidstrider | Level | Proficiency<br> Bonus | Void Dice | Warpstep<br> Distance| Features | | :--: | :--:| :--: | :--:| :-- | | 1st | +2 | - | 10ft. | Temporal Flicker, Warpstep | | 2nd | +2 | 2d4 | 10ft. | Supernal Speed, Warpstrike | | 3rd | +2 | 2d4 | 10ft. | Voidstrider Discipline | | 4th | +2 | 2d4 | 10ft. | Ability Score Improvement | | 5th | +3 | 2d4 | 10ft. | Extra Attack | | 6th | +3 | 3d4 | 15ft. | Reconstitution | | 7th | +3 | 3d4 | 15ft. | Voidstrider Discipline Feature | | 8th | +3 | 3d4 | 15ft. | Ability Score Improvement | | 9th | +4 | 3d4 | 15ft. | Unbound Stride | | 10th | +4 | 4d4 | 20ft. | Voidstrider Discipline Feature | | 11th | +4 | 4d4 | 20ft. | Improved Warpstrike, Improved Warpstep | | 12th | +4 | 4d4 | 20ft. | Ability Score Improvement | | 13th | +5 | 4d4 | 20ft. | Temporal Field | | 14th | +5 | 5d4 | 25ft. | Absolute Self | | 15th | +5 | 5d4 | 25ft. | Voidstrider Discipline Feature | | 16th | +5 | 5d4 | 25ft. | Ability Score Improvement | | 17th | +6 | 5d4 | 25ft. | Blades from the Void | | 18th | +6 | 6d4 | 30ft. | Voidstrider Discipline Feature | | 19th | +6 | 6d4 | 30ft. | Ability Score Improvement | | 20th | +6 | 6d4 | 30ft. | Sliver of Infinity | </div> ## Class Features As a voidstrider, you gain the following class features. #### Hit Points ___ - **Hit Dice:** 1d8 per voidstrider level - **Hit Points at 1st Level:** 8 + your Constitution modifier - **Hit Points at Higher Levels:** 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per voidstrider level after 1st #### Proficiencies ___ - **Armor:** Light armor - **Weapons:** Simple weapons, rapiers, scimitars, shortswords, whips - **Tools:** None ___ - **Saving Throws:** Dexterity, Intelligence - **Skills:** Choose two from Acrobatics, Arcana, Investigation, History, Sleight of Hand or Stealth #### Equipment You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background: - *(a)* a rapier or *(b)* scimitar - *(a)* a dagger or *(b)* any simple weapon - *(a)* an explorer's pack or *(b)* a scholar's pack - Leather armor Alternatively, you may start with 5d4 x 10 gp to buy your own equipment. ### Multiclassing The prerequisites for multiclassing into a voidstrider are a Dexterity and Intelligence score of 13. When you multiclass into a voidstrider, you gain proficiency in light armor, simple weapons, scimitars and shortswords. ### The Living Void Each and every voidstrider embodies a rupture in the weave, allowing them to distort space and time by their very presence. Some of your features require a creature to make a saving throw to resist the harmful or debilitating effects of twisting or altering these universal constants. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows: Void save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier. \pagebreakNum ### Temporal Flicker Beginning at 1st level, you can reflexively cause a brief skip in time, earning you an extra fraction of a second to potentially evade an attacker's blow. When a creature that you can see targets you with an attack, you can spend a reaction to magically cause a stutter in time. After spending this reaction, roll a d20. If you roll a 6 or higher then that attack misses you, regardless of what the creature rolls.<br> You can use this feature twice, regaining all spent uses after completing a long rest. Starting at 6th level, and again at 10th, 14th and 18th level you gain one additional use of this feature, to a maximum of six uses at 18th level. ### Warpstep Also at 1st level, you gain the ability to slip through extradimensional spaces in reality that only you can detect, seemingly disappearing and reappearing in separate places to any outside observers. As long as you are not wearing heavy or medium armor, have at least one hand free and do not have your speed reduced to 0 (such as when Grappled or Restrained) you can spend a bonus action to Warpstep, magically teleporting up to 10ft to a location you can see. This distance increases when you reach certain voidstrider levels, as shown in the Voidstrider table.<br> At 11th level, you no longer need to be able to see the location you are teleporting to, but if the space is occupied by a solid creature or object, you are immediately shunted to the nearest unoccupied space that you can occupy and take force damage equal to twice the number of feet you are moved. ### Supernal Speed Starting at 2nd level, your awareness becomes intrinsically linked with the surrounding area through your connection to the weave, allowing you to react to threats with startling swiftness. You can give yourself a bonus to your initiative rolls equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1). ### Warpstrike At 2nd level, you learn how to twist the residual spatial distortions after you teleport into a weave-rippling assault. If you end your Warpstep within melee range of a creature, you can choose to sacrifice any remaining movement you have left to add extra force damage to the next melee attack that hits on this turn, equal to your Void Dice. The attack must use a finesse weapon to be able to add this extra damage. ## Voidstrider Disciplines While all voidstriders are able to manipulate space and time to a certain degree, there are some that choose to specialize more towards one or the other to gain powerful and unique abilities.<br> At 3rd level, you choose a Discipline that reflects this new focus: The Discipline of Momentum or Discipline of Instance, both detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice of Discipline grants you features at 3rd level and then again at 7th, 10th, 15th and 18th level. ### Ability Score Improvement When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice <div></div> by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. Alternatively, you can choose a feat (see Chapter 6 of the PHB for a list of feats). ### Extra Attack Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. ### Reconstitution Starting at 6th level, you can completely reset the physical state of your body to a previous point in time, though at a considerable cost. As a bonus action, you can magically end the effects of any single condition (except levels of exhaustion or being unconscious) currently affecting you. You can still use this ability even if the condition does not normally allow you to take actions. Until the start of your next turn after using this ability, you can only use your action to Dash, Disengage or Dodge, and you can't take reactions.<br> Once you have used this ability you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. ### Unbound Stride Beginning at 9th level, you can seamlessly shift your momentum to allow you to traverse walls and ceilings with ease. You can magically move up, down and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings up to your maximum speed, while leaving your hands free. If you end your turn on a wall or ceiling, you must maintain concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell) or begin to fall. ### Improved Warpstrike Beginning at 11th level, you become able to sunder space itself, destroying not just the physical matter of your foes but attacking their very connection to the weave. You now add extra force damage equal to your Intelligence modifier whenever you damage a creature with your Warpstrike (minimum of +1). Additionally, once per turn you can force a creature damaged by your Warpstrike to make a saving throw against your Void save DC, choosing one of the following options: - The target must pass a Wisdom saving throw or be knocked prone, as long as it is Huge or smaller. - The target must pass an Intelligence saving throw or it cannot take reactions and has its speed is reduced to 0 until the end of your next turn. - The target must pass a Charisma saving throw or be teleported a number of feet up to your Warpstep Distance to an unoccupied location on the ground within range. You can use this ability a number of time equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once) and regain all uses once you complete a long or short rest. ### Temporal Field Starting at 13th level, you are able to stretch your temporal influence to protect not only you, but your allies as well. You can now choose to spend your reaction to activate your Temporal Flicker to protect any creature within your Warpstep Distance when they are targeted by an attack. \pagebreakNum ### Absolute Self Starting at 14th level, your willpower solidifies your sense of self and place onto the weave, rendering you extremely resistant to being displaced or reshaped against your will. You have advantage on any saving throw or ability check that would subject you to forced movement, alter your physical form or teleport you to another location or plane of existence. ### Blades from the Void Beginning at 17th level, you become able to launch a devastating assault against an array of foes, twisting both space and time to strike them all within the very same instant. Choose a number of creatures equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1) within Warpstep distance to you. As an action, you magically teleport between and make one melee attack against each creature chosen. Each creature you successfully hit takes extra force damage equal to your Void Dice + your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1). After resolving all attacks, you teleport back to the position you triggered this ability from.<br> Once you have used this ability, you need to finish a long rest before you can use it again. ### Sliver of Infinity At 20th level, you become one with the weave itself, honing your mental acuity beyond mortal limits and broadening your awareness to reach an absolute clarity of your local space. Your Intelligence score increases by 4, to a maximum of 24. Additionally, you gain truesight out to a range of 30ft and you can detect magical effects within this range, visible as a faint aura around a creature or object that bears magic. You can also tell what school of magic the effect is from, if any. ## Voidstrider Disciplines An innate and raw connection to the ruptured weave is the source of every voidstrider's powers and all are able and skilled at the manipulation of reality's constants to boost their martial prowess, though this can manifest differently between individuals. <div></div> When a voidstrider chooses a discipline, it represents an intense focus on one aspect of reality that the weave is responsible for and, through training, coming to a mastery of that aspect. The Discipline of Momentum focuses on the mastery of space, traversing it and being fully aware of oneself and others within it, while the Discipline of Instance focuses on the mastery of time, freezing it temporarily and changing ones relative speed to the general flow of seconds and minutes. ## Discipline of Momentum The Discipline of Momentum makes considerable use of a voidstrider's ability to bend and twist space around them. A typical disciple will always be trying to go faster, reach further and cover more space with their abilities.<br> It is not unusual for followers of this discipline to be thieves, as their extradimensional reach, blinding speed and disruptive passage renders them almost uncatchable. <br><br><br> ### Slipstream At 3rd level, you learn to take advantage of the opening after an enemies attack, contracting space to escape to safety. When you cause a creature to miss you as a result of your Temporal Flicker, you can choose to move up to half your speed as part of the same reaction, avoiding opportunity attacks. Any creature you later protect with your Temporal Field also gains this benefit, though they must spend their own reaction to move. ### Pickportal Additionally at 3rd level, you learn how to fold space over a short distance, allowing you to project a small portal through which you can extend a subtle hand. As an action, you can magically create a two linked portals, the first over one of your hands and the second out to a range equal to double your Warpstep distance that you can see. As part of the same action used to create these portals, you can take the Use an Object action as long as the object is size Small or smaller, or attempt a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check through these portals. The portals close immediately after completing this action. ### Unstable Warp Starting at 7th level, you can purposefully increase the disruption you cause when you teleport. On a turn that you teleport using your Warpstep, you can choose to trigger an Unstable Warp. As an action, you can force every creature of your choice within a radius equal to your Warpstep Distance of the location you teleported from to make a Strength saving throw against your Void save DC. On a failed save, each affected creature is moved as close to the initial location as possible and takes force damage equal to your Void Dice. On a success, a creature takes half damage and is not moved.<br> You can use this feature three times and regain all expended uses after you finish a long rest. ### Portal Master Starting at 10th level, you become able to fold space on a greater scale, creating portals to rescue allies, outflank enemies and occasionally as an extremely unorthodox weapon. As an action you can magically create two 10 foot diameter portals on horizontal or vertical surfaces that you can see, one within 10 feet of you and the other up to double your Warpstep distance away. The two portals do not obscure vision between them and creatures within 5 feet of either portal count as being adjacent for the purposes of attacking, movement and area of effect spells. A creature can only pass through either portal once per turn. If a horizontal portal is opened beneath a creature, it can roll a Dexterity save against your Void save DC to try and move out of the portal's area, falling through on a failure. Once a number of creatures equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1) pass through either portal, or after 1 minute, both portals close.<br> As a bonus action, you can shift one of the portals to a new location of your choice, as long as it is still onto a vertical or horizontal surface you can see, and is within double your Warpstep distance to the other portal.<br> \pagebreakNum As a reaction to a willing creature attempting to move through one of the portals, you can choose to instantly end the connection between the portals. The creature attempting to move through must make a Dexterity saving throw against your Void save DC or take force damage equal to twice your Void Dice and be returned to the location of the first portal. On a successful save they take half damage and are instead placed at the location of the second portal. Once this is resolved both portals immediately close and this feature ends.<br> Once you use this feature, you must complete a short or long rest before you can use it again. ### Reckless Velocity At 15th level, you can violently contract and expand your personal space as you move, achieving a dangerous speed far beyond mortal limits. At the start of your turn, you can choose to magically triple your speed for this turn. At the end of your turn, you suffer a level of exhaustion.<br> ### Reality Rupture Starting at 18th level, you can temporarily flare up your spatial distortions, twisting the local area to benefit your allies and confound your foes. As an action, you can choose to become a Reality Rupture for 1 minute. While in this state, you gain the following benefits: - When you choose to Warpstep, you can teleport up to double your Warpstep distance. - You can spend a bonus action to magically teleport a willing creature that you can see up to your Warpstep distance. - You can spend a bonus action to force a creature that you can see to make a Charisma saving throw against your Void save DC. On a failure, they are magically teleported up to your Warpstep distance. Once you use this feature, you must complete a long rest before you can use it again. ## Discipline of Instance The Discipline of Instance focuses on the innate connection to time available to all voidstriders and enhances its effects drastically. Followers of this discipline can speed up their bodies or slow down their foes, becoming shimmering mirages outside of time while their foes end up hitting nothing but air. ### Chrono Counter At 3rd level, when you skip time to protect yourself, you also gain a brief moment of foresight, allowing for a brutal counterattack. Whenever a creature misses you with a melee attack as a result of your Temporal Flicker, you can immediately make a melee weapon attack against that creature as part of the same reaction. Any creature you later protect with your Temporal Field also gains this benefit, though they must spend their own reaction to make the attack. <br><br><br><br> ### Outside the Hourglass Additionally at 3rd level, you partially remove yourself from the effects of the regular flow of time, slowing it's ravaging influence on your body. You have advantage on any checks or saving throws against effects that would age you and for every 2 years that pass, you age only 1 year. ### Transient Burst Starting at 7th level, you can speed up your perception of time and the rate that you can move through it relative to others, becoming a shimmering mirage almost faster than the eye can see. As a bonus action, you can magically enter a Transient Burst which lasts for 1 minute, ending early if you are incapacitated. For the duration, your movements and reactions become faster than the eye can follow, causing you to become heavily obscured to others.<br> Once you have used this feature, you must complete a short or long rest before you can use it again. ### Future Thief Starting at 10th level, you become able to steal years of time from your opponents, restoring your vitality and bringing them closer to their fates. As an action, you can touch a creature within 5 feet of you. The target creature must make a Constitution save against your Void save DC. On a failure, the creature magically takes necrotic damage equal to your Void Dice and you gain temporary hit points equal to half the damage dealt. On a success, the creature takes half damage.<br> You can use this feature three times and regain all uses after a long rest. ### Broken Fate At 15th level, your mastery over your own personal time is so great that you become suspended from the rest of the universe, like a grain of sand frozen in an hourglass, never to fall. You no longer age, nor can you be aged magically or by any other means. ### Timesplitter Starting at 18th level, you can briefly throw off the shackles of time completely, leaving the rest of the world frozen to your perception. You can spend a reaction, either during your turn or immediately at the end of another creature's turn, to magically stop time. You can then take another full turn of movement, actions and bonus actions. During this turn, all creatures other than you are considered blinded, deafened and stunned. After this turn, time resumes and all affected creatures are unaware of the fact that time was stopped. Creatures attacked will not know the attacker was you, you appear to instantly teleport between locations if you end your movement at a different location than when you started and any other interaction with the environment or objects within it will go unnoticed unless the results of such interaction are obvious.<br> Once you have used this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again. \pagebreakNum ## Credits: Thanks to the following: - GMbinder, for providing this easy to use and official style format. - u/Leuku, for their excellent 'Guide to Balancing (and Judging the Balance of) Homebrew classes' which was extremely useful all throughout the creation process of this class, found here - https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-L0X_IgPZTb1I0NOE-W-#p5. - u/messy6 for their excellent post on Class Design 101: A fundamental guide to 5th edition classes and for the Null Caster template included in the same post, found here - https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/73sfp1/class_design_101_a_fundamental_guide_to_5th/. - The users of r/3d6, r/UnearthedArcana and r/DnDHomebrew for their continued and varied feedback as this class is improved and updated.