RULES, FACTIONS & LORE

The compendium

Official references for the rules as written, plus every homebrew class, item, ability, and piece of lore approved for this campaign.

TRUSTED SOURCES

Official D&D references

These links open D&D Beyond, the official digital toolset and compendium.

FROM THE DM’S DESK

Homebrew library

This is the campaign’s permanent source of truth: every approved custom class, item, spell, technique, and rule belongs here.

HOMEBREW

Campaign mechanics

The Crowned Serpent Contract

Known rules, marks, and consequences surrounding the contract and the sealed vessel recovered from the Blackwing.

Read entry

The contract binds only people who were named, paid, or present when it was accepted. Bianca was an Iron Crow captive, not a stowaway or contract member. She bears no serpent mark, but anyone who handled the vessel or witnessed the Blackwing raid remains a target. The chest must stay sealed until the crew understands what is inside.

contractsealed vesselcustom rules
HOMEBREW

World lore

Waterfront Underworld Primer

A spoiler-safe guide to the crew’s tavern, Pier 4, Crow’s Landing, Old Gallows Bridge, and the powers moving through the docks.

Read entry

The crew operates from a battered waterfront tavern called The Stumbling Goblin. Pier 4 belongs to opportunists, while Crow’s Landing belongs to the Iron Crow Cartel. The Crows kidnapped Bianca and held her aboard the Blackwing alongside Asset Seven, confirming a broader abduction operation—even if the barge’s wards were also containing something worse.

waterfrontfactionsspoiler-safe
HOMEBREW

Homebrew class

BBL Surgeon

Miranda’s Intelligence-based homebrew class combines magical surgery, battlefield enhancement, Glute Trauma healing, and posterior-only precision combat.

Full rules

Intelligence-based surgical support, enhancement, and precision-combat class · Ark-approved homebrew

Hit die
d8
Key ability
Intelligence
Saving throws
Dexterity, Intelligence
Procedure save DC
8 + PB + INT
Procedure attack
PB + INT

BBL Surgeons combine magical surgery, alchemy, and specialized anatomical training. Every class feature must involve a target’s butt, gluteal muscles, tailbone, or functional posterior. Miranda’s Level 3 statistics are Save DC 13, attack +5, and four d6 Procedure Dice.

Core rules

  • Posterior Restriction: Procedures cannot heal ordinary injuries, enhance unrelated actions, or target a creature without an identifiable rear.
  • Accessible Posterior: A posterior is accessible from behind, while the target is Prone or otherwise vulnerable, while an ally distracts it, after Circle the Patient, or when Ark rules its anatomy is exposed.
  • Glute Trauma: Qualifying posterior damage is tracked alongside normal HP. It cannot exceed missing HP, and Restructure cannot heal more than the target’s current Glute Trauma.
  • Procedure Dice: Procedures spend dice from the pool shown in the progression table. All expended dice return after a Long Rest.
  • Restructure: Spend one Procedure Die to restore the die + Intelligence modifier in HP, limited by Glute Trauma. A 20-foot syringe requires a Procedure Attack against AC 10.

Miranda’s Level 3 Combat Sculptor features

  • Circle the Patient: Bonus Action movement toward a patient or accessible posterior without provoking from one selected creature.
  • Rapid Injection: Administer a beneficial procedure, potion, syringe, or medical compound as a Bonus Action.
  • Combat Sculptor: Miranda’s scalpels and syringes count as magical weapons for posterior attacks.
  • Enhanced Gluteus: For 1 minute, grant +10 Speed, doubled jumping and carrying capacity, Athletics Advantage, stronger resistance to Prone and forced movement, and Posterior Slam. One free use per Long Rest; further uses cost two Procedure Dice.

Clinical procedures

  • Emergency Lift: React with a Procedure Die to help resist Prone or forced movement.
  • Power Injection: Enhance a qualifying athletic effort, movement defense, or posterior attack for 1 minute.
  • Precision Incision: Add a Procedure Die to a scalpel hit and reduce the target’s Speed by 10 feet.
  • Anesthesia Shot: A posterior syringe hit can deal extra Procedure Die damage, halve Speed, and suppress Reactions on a failed Constitution save.

Level progression

Procedure Dice progress from 4d6 at Levels 1–4, to 5d8 at 5–8, 6d8 at 9–10, 6d10 at 11–12, 7d10 at 13–16, and 8d12 at 17–20. Later features include Advanced and Mass Restructure, Buns of Steel, Rear Chassis Specialist, Perfect Contour, Surgical Precision, Ultimate BBL, Functional Posterior, Mobile Clinic, and Perfect Reconstruction.

“BBL Surgeon” is the official class name. “BBL Doctor” is a retired earlier name that NPCs may still use casually.

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HOMEBREW

Homebrew class

Culinarian

Davidee’s Wisdom-based homebrew class turns prepared recipes into healing, support, battlefield control, and underworld utility.

Full rules

Wisdom-based culinary support and control class · Approved through Level 4

Hit die
d8
Key ability
Wisdom
Saving throws
Constitution, Wisdom
Recipe save DC
8 + PB + WIS
Recipe attack
PB + WIS

Culinarians turn field-prepared food into extraordinary adventuring techniques. Their recipes can restore allies, create openings, control space, and solve problems without counting as spells. Davidee’s Level 4 statistics are Save DC 14, attack +6, and four d6 Culinary Dice.

Core Culinarian features

  • Culinary Dice: Davidee has four d6s. He regains all expended dice after a Long Rest and can recover one die during a Short Rest once per Long Rest.
  • Field Kitchen: Prepare extraordinary recipes during adventures. Consuming one normally takes a Bonus Action.
  • Mise en Place: Draw, use, or administer food, potions, tools, and nonmagical consumables as a Bonus Action.
  • Good Meal: Up to six creatures that spend Hit Dice during a Short Rest regain an additional 1d6 HP.
  • Culinary Savant: After examining food or drink for 1 minute, Davidee can identify poison, drugs, or magical alteration.

Level 4 recipes

  • Hearthloaf: Restore 1d6 + 4 HP. A creature can benefit once per Short or Long Rest.
  • Sugar-Rush Tart: Gain +10 feet of Speed, a Bonus Action Dash, and avoid Opportunity Attacks through the end of the next turn.
  • Fortune Cookie: As a Reaction, add a Culinary Die to a failed ability check or saving throw made within 30 feet.
  • Pepperburst Pocket: Creatures within 5 feet make a DC 14 Constitution save. On a failure, they take 1d6 Fire damage and cannot take Reactions.
  • Marijuana Brownie: Gain 1d6 + 4 temporary HP, Advantage on saves against fear, and protection from effects that magically prevent sleep for 1 hour; Initiative is made with Disadvantage.

Understreet Provisioner specialty

  • Neighborhood Connections: Advantage when gathering rumors, tracing factions, or arranging discreet underworld meetings.
  • The Bakery Is Neutral Ground: Davidee’s Bakery is protected territory. Tiny objects concealed in its packages require a DC 14 Investigation check to find.
  • Backroom Intelligence: Once per Long Rest, reveal one truthful clue about a local criminal group, waterfront site, smuggling route, disappearance, or recent visitor.

Culinarian is campaign homebrew, not an official D&D class. These are the currently approved Level 4 rules; later progression is added to the Compendium when Ark approves it.

Davideerecipessupport class
HOMEBREW

Campaign item · official mechanics

Giant Spider Leg Pike

Lilly’s preserved spider leg is a campaign-specific weapon appearance that uses the official pike’s statistics and Push mastery.

Full rules

Campaign weapon appearance using official pike mechanics

Weapon
Martial melee
Damage
1d10 Piercing
Reach
10 feet
Properties
Heavy, Reach, Two-Handed
Mastery
Push

Lilly’s weapon is the preserved leg of the giant-spider broodmother she killed beneath the waterfront. Steel bands reinforce the limb, and alchemical resin preserves its chitin. Its history and appearance are unique to the campaign, but it has no additional magical or homebrew powers.

Lilly’s current attack

  • Attack: +5 to hit.
  • Damage: 1d10 + 3 piercing.
  • Reach: Lilly can attack a target up to 10 feet away.
  • Push mastery: On a hit, Lilly can push the target up to 10 feet away.

How the weapon was made

When Lilly’s greatsword became lodged in the broodmother’s armored body, she tore off one of its legs and used it as a spear. She kept the weapon after abandoning the regiment that concealed the disaster.

View the official pike statistics on D&D Beyond ↗

This item is homebrew in story and appearance only. Mechanically, it is an official 2024 pike.

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HOMEBREW

Battle-Mage spell

Warband Step

Kwesi’s runic Battle-Mage teleport carries a linked group—and, with help, one shared object—across the battlefield.

Full rules

Battle-Mage teleportation spell

Casting time
1 action
Range
Self, 10-foot radius
Duration
Instantaneous
Components
V, S, M—a runic focus
Uses
Once per long rest

Kwesi activates his runes and chooses up to five willing creatures within 10 feet. Every chosen creature must be touching Kwesi, another chosen creature, or the transported object.

The entire group teleports to unoccupied spaces within 30 feet that Kwesi can see.

Transporting objects

Warband Step can transport one shared object, such as a chest, provided:

  • At least two travelers are touching it.
  • It weighs no more than 500 pounds.
  • It fits within the destination area.
  • It isn’t being worn or carried by an unwilling creature.

Limitations

  • Unwilling creatures cannot be transported.
  • The group cannot teleport through magical barriers that block teleportation.
  • Everyone must arrive within 10 feet of Kwesi.
  • Kwesi’s teleportation runes burn out after casting. He cannot use Misty Step, Warband Step, or another teleportation ability until completing a long rest.

Visual effect

Blue runes spread from Kwesi across everyone in the chain. The group collapses into a flash of light and reappears simultaneously with a thunderous rush of displaced air.

Kwesiteleportationrunic magic
HOMEBREW

Environmental technique

Winterwright

Cameron channels Ray of Frost into the environment to quench, freeze, reveal, weaken, and suppress hazards without damaging creatures.

Full rules

Environmental Ray of Frost technique

Requirement
The caster must know Ray of Frost
Casting time
1 action
Range
60 feet
Duration
Varies
Components
V, S

Instead of attacking a creature with Ray of Frost, Cameron can channel it into the environment. Winterwright deals no creature damage but can produce one appropriate environmental effect.

Environmental effects

  • Quench: Extinguish nonmagical flames within a 5-foot cube.
  • Freeze Water: Freeze a 5-foot section of water to a safe thickness for one Medium creature. It normally lasts 1 minute.
  • Ice the Ground: Cover a 5-foot square in ice until the end of Cameron’s next turn, making it difficult terrain.
  • Cool an Object: Rapidly cool a nonmagical object no larger than 5 feet.
  • Create Frost: Coat an object or surface in frost, revealing footprints, airflow, hidden seams, or recent disturbances.
  • Brittle Freeze: Weaken a small nonmagical object such as a rope, wooden latch, or rusted mechanism. Breaking it still requires an appropriate check.
  • Suppress Heat: Make a dangerously hot surface safe to touch temporarily.

Larger effects

For a large fire, deep body of water, complicated mechanism, or similarly difficult task, Cameron makes an Intelligence spellcasting check:

DC 10
Simple effect
DC 13
Moderate effect
DC 16
Difficult effect
DC 19
Extreme effect

A particularly high roll may increase the affected area or duration. Cameron’s raw 18 aboard the Blackwing successfully contained its largest fire.

Winterwright modifies Ray of Frost rather than counting as a separate cantrip.

CameronRay of Frostutility magic