The Kingdom of

Novaria

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CORE CLASSES

 

Adept
Adepts are primitive spellcasters that often serve their tribes as healers, seers and advisors. They often honor ancestral spirits or nature spirits. In Novaria, Adepts are found mainly among the humanoids and adepts of any other race are viewed with intense suspicion. Most adventuring Adepts do so to gain knowledge of the world around them, to seek out some item that will bring them prestige among their tribe or as a personal quest to better themselves. Information on Adepts can be found on page 37 of the Dungeon Master's Guide.
Barbarian
Barbarians are rare in the civilized kingdom of Novaria. While mostly found among the humanoid population, many Grugach and Half-Grugach are Barbarians as well. Barbarians of other races are beings that have been lost or abandoned as children and have found their own way growing up in the wilderness. Barbarians follow a path of adventure usually as hired muscle, but also to find new challenges to overcome and new opponents to defeat.
Bard
Bards are found wandering throughout Novaria bringing news from one village to the next. Every race has their wandering minstrels and storytellers. Bards are most popular among the Clasbron where they are considered clergy and held with the highest esteem. Bards are usually apprenticed under a more experienced bard, but sometimes a group of bards gather to create an informal college where bards can study under several mentors. Bards, as wanderers, are often called to a life of adventure and are easily swayed to investigate even the most vague rumor.
Cleric
The volatile religious environment of Novaria makes the Cleric an important, if dangerous, occupation. Not only is there dissension between Novaria's diverse religious communities, but inner-faith conflicts exist as well. Clerics receive their training at private religious seminaries that are often conducted at major places of worship. All races have their intermediaries between the gods and men. Most Clerics spend their lives tending to church duties. Those Clerics that do adventure often do so because they are sent on a holy quest or simply because they have been asked to by a party of adventures. Faiths of the Kingdom as well as deities and their domains can be found in the Religion section. 
Druid
The Druids are nature-priests who hold special status in Clasbron society. Among the Clasbron, Druids are the heads of the religious hierarchy in charge of all the Clerics in their region. Other cultures and races have Druids as well, though they are mostly seen as eccentric hermits protecting isolated pockets of terrain. Druids are apprenticed by more experienced Druids. A Druid will often only have one apprentice, whom is being trained as the Druids eventual successor. For this reason, a Druid adventurer usually joins an adventuring party at their mentor's direction.
Fighter
Many individuals who tire of living behind the plow or slaving away behind the forge or lathe pick up the sword (or axe, or mace, or what have you) and attempt to make their way in the world. The Fighter represents a higher level of formal combat training than what is given to rank and file soldiers or watchmen. Most Fighters receive their combat training from an academy, and many graduate from the Royal Academy at The Fortress in Chelsea. Other Fighters were taught the art of combat from a private instructor, often their own parents. Fighters come from all sorts of backgrounds and races. Fighters not serving in the military or militia often seek adventure out of sheer boredom and looking for opportunity to put their abilities to the test.
Monk 
Monks in a Novaria campaign receive some changes in order to make them more conforming to the "Western" version of a monk, rather than the "Eastern" flavored ones in a standard D&D campaign. Primarily, each monastery is associated with a deity or deities. Rather than being trained in a variety of exotic Oriental weapons, Monks receive training in their deities favored weapon. They may use this weapon as part of their flurry of blows attacks and with the Monks wisdom bonus. They learn these forms at monasteries and many monasteries have their own forms. Not all deities have monasteries dedicated to them. Faiths that train monks are detailed in the section on Religion.
Many Monks remain in the monastery for most of their life. Those that leave on the path of adventure do so under orders from the monastery or as a personal quest to further their inner spirituality.
Paladin 
Paladins are divine champions of all that is good and lawful about their deities. Most Paladins will seek the counsel and blessing of the local clergy before taking up the banner of their deity, though some set out on the path of holy vigilance on their own. Sometimes, Paladins form orders to increase their effectiveness. Tiel tends to ignore Paladins and their organizations as long as they don't interfere with his devices...as some orders have found out the hard way. Not all deities have Paladins; those that do are detailed in the Religions section. Paladins are called to adventure out of a sense of duty to right wrongs and overcome great evils. Most Paladins who don't adventure are retired.
Ranger
Rangers can be noble protectors of the wilds, giving aid to those in need or nature's cruel nemesis, punishing those who dare to encroach upon her sanctity. Though Rangers are most common in the forests and mountains, there are Rangers who roam Novaria's unsettled meadowlands as well. Rangers are usually apprenticed by an older, more experienced Ranger. Members of any race may become rangers. Rangers who don't serve in any official capacity adventure to hunt their preferred enemies or to preemptively thwart any threat to their lands.
Rogue 
Whether they're burglars, bandits or bounty hunters, there are plenty of opportunities in Novaria for the ambitious rogue.  Rogues in Novaria are often organized in groups, be they city-based guilds or bandit gangs out in the wilderness, though free-lance rogues are common as well.  All races produce Rogues of one sort or another.  The primary driving force behind Rogue adventurers is wealth, though many Rogues seek adventure to challenge their skills or to simply escape bedlam.

Sorcerer
Sorcerers are gifted spellcasters who do not rely on spellbooks for their magic. Instead, Sorcerers receive their magic through from ancient fey or draconic bloodlines, through magical experiments gone awry or through dealings with dark powers. To find out where your character's sorcerous abilities originate from, roll on the table below.  All Kobolds have a Draconic heritage and all Elves have a Fey heritage, so a roll isn't necessary though you may take one if you wish.
Because of the inability for sorcerous magic to be controlled by the authorities, Sorcerers are required to have the back of their hands branded to warn the public of their ability to cast spells.  Sorcerers found and captured without the brand will be branded on the cheek instead.  Any race may possess the "gift" of sorcery in one of its forms or another.  Since Sorcerers often find themselves on the fringes of society anyway, many join adventuring groups as a surrogate family. 
Two standard sorceror's brands


The Clasbron religion casts magic in a light of mystery, danger and awe. Sorcerers are generally assumed to have a measure of faerie blood in their veins. Wizards are alternately feared and respected as Math, the god of Magic, is a cruel and selfish deity and Oghma is the warden of the power of words and a generous patron to those who thirst for knowledge 

 

Origins of Sorcerous Powers

d% Source
01-40  Fey bloodline
41-80 Draconic bloodline
81-90 Gifted by patron deity of magic
91-95 Arcane experiment
96-100  Evil Characters: Fiendish Patron
Others: Arcane experiment
Wizard
Though Wizards are potentially some of the most powerful people in the kingdom; magic in Novaria is regulated under strict laws.  Wizards must receive a license to practice magic from the College of Wizardry after a year of intense magical study and Arcane Law.  To make their lives easier, most Wizards go through the College of Wizardry.  There are those who choose to forego the College and the permit.  Independent Wizards who have escaped persecution over the years secretly teach these rebellious would be spellcasters the mysteries of arcane power.  Wizards caught casting harmless spells are usually fined and their spellbooks confiscated, while those that injure or kill often receive an immediate death sentence. Most Wizards who go through the College of Wizardry wind up working at a profession or craft to pay for tuition. Any race may become a Wizard, though humanoids are less inclined to do so. 
Wizards become adventurers mainly in a quest for knowledge and to farther their arcane understanding.  Lost tomes of magic and rare spell components place an irresistable call to the Wizard from their dusty resting places.