Specialty Trees
Speciality Trees are Special
Some specialty trees do not follow the standard eight-part format by which most other trees abide. For example, the Armor tree has four branches instead of three and the Adventuring and Weapon trees are much closer to standard feats than talent trees (one might call them "Talent Bushes"). Regardless of structure, the method for unlocking their talents remains the same: start at the top and work towards the bottom.
A Little Extra Life
| Endurance | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tough | Resilient | Tenacious |
Endurance
When you roll a Hit Die to regain hit points, the minimum number of hit points you regain from the roll equals twice your Constitution modifier (minimum of 2).
Tough
Your hit point maximum increases by an amount equal to twice your level when you gain this talent.
Whenever you gain a level, your hit point maximum increases by 2 additional hit points.
Resilient
Choose one ability score. You gain Proficiency with Saving Throws using the chosen ability.
Tenacious
You gain two special bonus Hit Dice, which are your Class's Hit Die. You always regain both of these dice at the end of a long rest in addition to the normal number of hit dice you would regain. Your maximum hit points are not affected.
Armor
A proficiency in armor represents your ability to effectively use it to stay alive. Whether you are strapping in or ducking out, dodging blows or simply standing firm as chaos rains upon you, a proficiency in armor is essential for keeping yourself safe as an adventurer. Continuing to hone your skill lets you learn to use and care for your armor more effectively as well as mastering unusual uses for it.
| Armor Training |
|---|
| Light as a Feather | Shield Bash | Padded Plate | Built to Stand |
| Master of Pockets | Shield Master | Medium Armor Master | Heavy Armor Master |
| Ready for Action | Master of Protection |
Armor Training
You gain proficiency with armor or improve your existing armor proficiencies. You can take this talent multiple times. You gain proficiency with light armor.
If you already have proficiency in light armor, you also gain proficiency in medium armor and shields.
If you already have proficiency in medium armor, you also gain proficiency in heavy armor.
When you take this option, if you already have proficiency with the armor you desire, you can choose to progress again on this tree instead of gaining any armor proficiencies.
Light as a Feather
While wearing no armor or only light armor, when an enemy hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to prepare yourself to disengage. Until the end of your next turn, your movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity from that creature.
Many Pockets
You are able to hide a small number of knick-knacks, tools, or even creatures in crevices, pockets, or elsewhere on your person. If you are wearing clothing or light armor, you can store items weighing 1 lb or less (such as daggers, mice, or potions) in your clothes. You have advantage on checks related to keeping such items hidden and when you use an object interaction to retrieve one, you can retrieve two instead.
In addition, as an action, you can maneuver one of these items into an easy-to-access spot. When you take the Use an Object action to use this item, you can do so as a bonus action. You can only have one item set up in this way at a time.
Shield Bash
If you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to try to shove a creature within 5 feet of you with your shield.
Shield Master
If you aren’t incapacitated, you can add your shield’s AC bonus to any Dexterity saving throw you make against a spell or other harmful effect that targets only you.
In addition, if you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you can use your reaction to take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, interposing your shield between yourself and the source of the effect.
Ready for Action
You’re experienced in getting up and going. You can throw a leather cuirass over your head, heft your shield, and be out the door in seconds. You’re always ready for a fight. You gain the following benefits.
- You can don and doff light armor as an action.
- You can don and doff your shield as a bonus action.
- You can add your proficiency bonus to initiative rolls while wearing light armor or no armor.
Padded Plate
Wearing light or medium armor doesn’t impose disadvantage on your Dexterity (Stealth) checks. Also, you can sleep in medium armor without penalty.
Medium Armor Master
If you wear medium armor, you can add 3 to your AC, rather than 2, if you have a Dexterity of 16 or higher.
Built to Stand
When you’re wearing heavy armor, you have advantage on contested checks and saving throws against effects which would knock you prone or push you. In addition, your speed is not reduced by wearing armor with a Strength requirement greater than your Strength score.
Heavy Armor Master
While you are wearing heavy armor, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage that you take from nonmagical weapons is reduced by your proficiency bonus.
Master of Protection
Whether you wear thick hide or full plate armor, you have learned to use the hefty armor to your maximum advantage. You gain the following benefits.
- You ignore half of the weight of the armor you’re wearing for the purposes of encumberance.
- When you are subjected to an effect which would corrode, rust, or otherwise damage your armor, you can use your reaction to prevent it from being affected.
- When a creature scores a critical hit against you while you are wearing medium or heavy armor, you can use your reaction to cause it to become a normal hit against you.
Apprenticeship
| Jack of Trades | Apprentice |
|---|---|
| Master of Some | Magic Initiate |
Jack of Trades
You gain proficiency with three tools, instruments, or gaming sets of your choice.
Master of Some
Choose one tool, instrument, or gaming set in which you have proficiency. You gain expertise with that tool, instrument, or gaming set, which means your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with it. The option you choose must be one that isn’t already benefiting from a feature, such as Expertise, that doubles your proficiency bonus.
Apprentice
Choose a class: bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard. You learn a cantrip of your choice from that class’s spell list. Your spellcasting ability for the chosen cantrip is the same as that of the chosen class.
Magic Initiate
You learn one more cantrip of your choice from the class you chose for Apprentice. In addition, choose one 1st-level spell from that same list. You learn that spell and can cast it at its lowest level. Once you cast it, you must finish a long rest before you can cast it again. Your spellcasting ability for these spells is the same as that for the class you chose for Apprentice.
Martial Talent
| Weapon Training |
|---|
| Martial Training | Martial Adept |
| Weapon Improvisation |
|---|
| Tavern Brawler | Back-Ally Pitcher |
Weapon Training
You have either trained, formally or informally, under a master of arms or have otherwise come to earn mastery over nearly any weapon you come across. You gain proficiency with all simple and martial weapons. When you take this talent, if you already have proficiency with all simple and martial weapons, you can instead choose to progress again on this tree rather than gaining weapon proficiencies.
Martial Training
You gain the benefits of a Fighting Style of your choice. You can select this talent multiple times. As normal, you can’t take a particular Fighting Style option more than once.
Martial Adept
You have martial training that allows you to perform special combat maneuvers. You gain the following benefits:
- You learn two maneuvers of your choice from among those available to the Battle Master archetype in the fighter class. If a maneuver you use requires your target to make a saving throw to resist the maneuver’s effects, the saving throw DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice).
- If you already have superiority dice, you gain one more; otherwise, you have two superiority dice, which are d6s. These dice are used to fuel your maneuvers. A superiority die is expended when you use it. You regain your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest.
Weapon Improvisation
You have mastered making commonplace items into vicious tools of battle. You gain proficiency with improvised weapons. While the items remain sufficiently undamaged, your improvised weapons gain additional properties based on their weight as described in the Improvised Weapons Properties table below.
Improvised Weapons Properties
| Improvised Weapon Weight | Damage | Properties |
|---|---|---|
| 2 lbs or less | 1d6 | light |
| between 2 and 10 lbs | 1d8 | versatile (1d10) |
| 10 lbs or more | 2d6 | heavy, two handed |
Tavern Brawler
Renouned as a fierce unarmed fighter, you are never without a weapon. You gain the following benefits:
- Your unarmed strikes use a d4 for damage.
- When you make at least one unarmed strike as part of the the Attack action on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.
- When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike or an improvised weapon on your turn, you can use a bonus action to attempt to grapple or shove the target.
Back-Alley Pitcher
Quick and accurate, you have developed an excellent throwing arm. You gain the following benefits:
- Simple and Martial Melee Weapons without the thrown property can be treated as if they have the thrown property. One-handed weapons have a range of 20/60, while two-handed weapons have a range of 15/30.
- Weapons that naturally have the thrown property increase their range by +20/+40. (example a Dagger's thrown range is now 60/100).
Warcasting
| Battle Spells | Damage Specialist | Half-Hand Casting |
|---|---|---|
| Spell Sniper | Potent Speciality | Martial Casting |
| Enchanted Warrior |
Battle Spells
You learn two cantrips from any classes’ spell lists. Both of these spells must deal damage and at least one of them must require an attack roll. Your spellcasting ability for these spells is your choice of Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma.
Spell Sniper
When you cast a spell that requires you to make an attack roll, the spell’s range is doubled. Your ranged spell attacks ignore half cover and treat three-quarters cover as half cover.
Damage Specialist
Choose a damage type from the following list: acid, cold, fire, lightning, necrotic, poison, radiant, or thunder. Spells you cast ignore resistance to damage of the chosen type. You can select this talent multiple times. Each time you do so, you must choose a different damage type.
Potent Specialty
When you roll a 1 on a damage die for a spell that deals one or more types of damage that you have chosen with Damage Specialist, you treat that 1 as a 2.
Half-Hand Casting
You can perform the somatic components of spells even when you have weapons or a shield in one or both hands.
Martial Casting
You are skilled at using war magic in melee combat. You gain the following benefits:
- You have advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration on a spell when you take damage.
- When a hostile creature’s movement provokes an opportunity attack from you, you can use your reaction to cast a cantrip at the creature, rather than making an opportunity attack. The cantrip must have a casting time of 1 action and must target only that creature with a melee attack.
Enchanted Warrior
You have developed a magical affinity with weapons. You gain the following features.
- By spending 10 minutes mystically attuning to a simple or martial weapon or a shield, you can use it as an arcane focus, druidic focus, or holy symbol. This does not count against the number of magic items to which you can attune.
- You can add bonus damage to one damage roll of a cantrip you cast. This bonus is equal to your Spellcasting Ability Modifier (Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma).
- When you deal acid, cold, fire, lightning, necrotic, poison, radiant, or thunder damage with a spell while holding a weapon, the next time you deal damage with that weapon before the end of your next turn, you deal an additional 1d8 damage of that type.
Weapon Specialization
While most adventurers can pick up a weapon easily enough, only a select few take the time to truly learn the subtleties of their weapons of choice. These few, whether favoring the harsh blunt honestly of maul or the delicate and mobile presence of a rapier; whether relying on the simple straightforward work of a warpick or the unpredictabile bouncing of a morningstar; whether cherishing the heft of an axe or the haft of a pike, the secrecy of a hidden dagger or crossbow or the flamboyant presence of a greatsword or longbow, each finds reliable strength and confidence in their choice of weapon.
Specialization Tiers
The Weapon Specialization talent is the most complex talent of them all. It allows you to pick and choose from a host of options to build up a customized martial toolkit which will make your character feel unique. When selecting this talent, you choose one of the four options below and then consult the relevant table(s) to select which weapon specialties you wish to include. You can take this talent multiple times, but you can’t benefit from a specific specialty more than once, no matter how many times you select it. Weapon specialties are divided into three tiers: Major, Intermediate, and Minor. For each talent point spent on gaining weapon specialties, you can choose to gain one of the following options:
- You gain one major specialty.
- You gain two intermediate specialties.
- You gain one intermediate and one minor specialty.
- You gain three minor specialties.
Major Specialties
| Type | Name & Description |
|---|---|
| Melee, light | Remise. When you attack a creature with a light melee weapon during your turn and miss, you can use your bonus action to make another attack with the weapon against the same creature. |
| Light | Dual Weapon Fighting. When you use two-weapon fighting, you can perform the extra attack as part of your Attack action instead of a bonus action. You can't use two-weapon fighting again this turn. |
| Melee, Ranged, Light | Dual Wielder. You can use two-weapon fighting with light ranged weapons and with one-handed melee weapons which are not light. |
| Ranged | Power Shot. Before you make a ranged attack with a weapon with which you are proficient, you can choose to take a penalty to the attack roll equal to your proficiency bonus. If the attack hits, you add a bonus to the attack’s damage equal to double your proficiency bonus. |
| Ranged | Deadshot. When you score a critical hit with a ranged weapon attack, the missile lodges itself in the target and causes a serious wound, which continues to bleed until staunched. The target takes 1d4 necrotic damage at the end of each of its turns until it or another creature uses an action and succeeds on a DC 10 Medicine check to remove the projectile. |
| Melee, Two-Handed, Versatile | Knock About. Once per turn, when you take the Attack action and hit a creature with a two-handed or versatile weapon wielded in two hands you can push the target 5 feet to an unoccupied space, provided the target is no more than one size larger than you. |
| Melee, Heavy | Power Attack. Before you make a melee attack with a heavy weapon with which you are proficient, you can choose to take a penalty to the attack roll equal to your proficiency bonus. If the attack hits, you add a bonus to the attack’s damage equal to double your proficiency bonus. |
| Melee, Heavy | Rampage. On your turn, when you score a critical hit with a heavy melee weapon or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with one, you can make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action. |
| Piercing | Penetrating Strike. When you score a critical hit that deals piercing damage to a creature, you can roll one additional damage die when determining the extra piercing damage the target takes. |
| Polearm | Phalanx. While you are wielding only a glaive, halberd, pike, trident, or spear wielded with two hands, other creatures provoke an opportunity attack from you when they enter your reach. |
| Polearm | Batter. When you take the Attack action and attack with only a glaive, halberd, pike, spear, or quarterstaff you can use a bonus action to make a melee attack with the opposite end of the weapon; this attack uses the same ability modifier as the main attack. The weapon’s damage die for this attack is a d4, and the attack deals bludgeoning damage. A quarterstaff or spear must be held in both hands to gain this benefit. |
| Finesse, One-Handed | Parry. When you are wielding a finesse weapon with which you are proficient in one hand and another creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use a special reaction to add your Proficiency to your AC against that attack, potentially causing the attack to miss you. You can only use this special reaction once until the start of your next turn. |
| Poison | Precise Poisoning. When you make a damage roll that deals poison damage, it ignores resistance to poison damage and the target has disadvantage on its initial saving throw to resist the poison. |
| Poison | Rapid Application. When you apply poison to a weapon, you can do so as a bonus action. |
Intermediate Specialties
| Melee | Offhand Steel. You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand. |
| Melee | Whirling Dervish. Whenever you hit a creature with a melee attack you can move 5 feet without spending any movement. This movement may still trigger an attack of opportunity. |
| Melee, Heavy, Two-Handed | Rebuff. While you are wielding a heavy, two-handed weapon, you may attempt to rebuff the advances of up to two adjacent creatures. Make a single attack roll against up to two adjacent creatures within 5 feet of you. If the attack hits a target, you push it up to 10 feet away from you instead of dealing damage. |
| Melee, Two-Handed, Slashing | Great Cleave. When you attack with a longsword, battleaxe, greatsword or greataxe, which is being wielded in two hands, you may choose to target two adjacent creatures within 5 feet of you with a single attack. This attack uses the same attack and damage roll for both targets and if you hit both targets, you choose how much of the damage to apply to each. |
| Melee, One-Handed, Piercing | Blitz. When you use your action to Attack, if you moved 15 feet or more in a straight line before hitting a target with a spear, trident, or lance, you deal an additional 1d6 piercing damage to the target. |
| Melee, Blunt | Shove About. Whenever you hit a creature with melee weapon that deals bludgeoning damage, you may use a bonus action to attempt to shove a creature. |
| Melee, Ranged, Blunt | Bashing Daze. As an action, you can make a special attack with any weapon that deals bludgeoning damage to daze a creature. The target must make a Constitution saving throw against a DC of 8 + your Strength modifier + your proficiency bonus. If it fails, it takes your normal weapon damage and it can’t take reactions until the start of its next turn. |
| Melee, Hooked | Hook. When you hit a creature with a trident, war pick, or sickle on your turn, you can use your bonus action to attempt to grapple the targeted creature. |
| Piercing | Sharp Attack. Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an attack that deals piercing damage, you can reroll one of the attack's damage dice, and you must use the new roll. |
| Whips | Whip Wielder. The whips you wield gain the light property while you wield them. |
| Slings | Slinger. Once per turn, when you make a ranged attack with a sling, you can target two creatures that you can see that are within 5 feet of each other. You must have ammunition for each of them. |
| Ranged | Hammer Fanner. You ignore the loading property of ranged weapons. |
| Any | Daze. When you score a critical hit, the target can’t take reactions until the end of your next turn. |
Minor Specialties
| Any | Quick Draw. On your turn, you can draw or stow one weapon as a part of the Attack action without using your Object Interaction and you can treat weapons with the thrown property as ammunition for the purpose of drawing them. |
| Ranged | Close-Quarters Shooter. Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn’t impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls. |
| Ranged | Precise Shooter. Your ranged weapon attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover. Ranged Sharpshooter. Attacking at long range doesn’t impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attacks. |
| Blowgun | Powerful Lung. You may use Constitution instead of Dexterity for attack and damage rolls with blowguns. |
| Net | Combat Knots. When you ensnare a creature with a net, the DC required to escape is increased by your proficiency modifier. |
| Whip | Snapback. As an action, you can use a whip to pull objects weighing 5 lbs or less which are within your reach towards you. If you have a free hand, you catch the object, otherwise it lands at your feet. |
| Melee, Hooked | Tine Capture. You do not need a free hand to perform a grapple while you are wielding a trident, war pick, or sickle. |
| Melee, Chained | Shieldbreaker. Your attack rolls with a morningstar or flail gain a +2 bonus against any target using a shield. |
| Melee, Light | Axe Juggle. The light hammers and handaxes that you wield gain the finesse property while you wield them. |
| Polearm | Extend. As a bonus action, you can you can extend the reach of quarterstaff, spear, or trident, you’re wielding by 5 feet until the end of your turn. |
| Bludgeoning | Breaker. Your attacks which deal bludgeoning damage deal double damage to objects and structures. |
| Slashing | Pin Down. Once per turn when you hit a creature with an attack that deals slashing damage, you can reduce the speed of the target by 10 feet until the start of your next turn. |