D&D Companion

The transitive planes serve as paths between planes:
• Astral Plane. This endless, silvery expanse links the Material Plane and the Outer Planes. Whole civilizations have arisen in this glimmering vastness, while others navigate the magical cosmos in spelljamming vessels.
• Ethereal Plane. This ghostly realm connects the Material Plane and the Inner Planes. The region where the Ethereal Plane overlaps with other planes is called the Border Ethereal, a place where creatures can glimpse visions of planes beyond.

Realms where ideas take form and spirits spend their afterlives, the Outer Planes are the homes of immortals. The following locations compose the Outer Planes:
• Sigil. Sigil, the City of Doors, is a metropolis rather than a plane at the center of the Outer Planes. Here portals lead throughout the multiverse, and the enigmatic Lady of Pain maintains order.
• Outlands. Influences from the other Outer Planes converge in the Outlands, where portals lead to those planes. At the Outlands’ center rises the Spire, a pillar atop which floats Sigil.
• Other Outer Planes. These planes are listed on the Outer Planes table. Some are paradises, some are nightmare realms, and some are more bizarre. Each is dominated by forces that embody one or more of the alignments described in chapter 2.

The philosophical and elemental forces of reality converge to create the following planes of existence:
• Material Plane. Most D&D adventures take place on the Material Plane, which holds the worlds of settings like Dragonlance, Eberron, the Forgotten Realms, and Greyhawk. There's also room for any world your group creates. Magic and physical laws shape this plane's diverse worlds.
• Feywild. This vibrant, idealized realm brims with life and emotion, which are most intense in the realm’s Domains of Delight.
• Shadowfell. This gloom-haunted realm holds grim wastelands, haunted ruins, and the infamous Domains of Dread.

The worlds of D&D glimmer with magic, monsters, and spectacular adventure. Launching from a foundation of medieval fantasy, these worlds soar with possibilities beyond those of our reality.
D&D worlds exist in a multiverse and are connected to one another and to other planes of existence. Some of the worlds have been published as official D&D settings, including the Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Spelljammer, Planescape, Dark Sun, Eberron, and Ravenloft settings. Alongside these worlds are thousands more, created by generations of D&D players for their own games. Amid the richness of the multiverse, you might create a world of your own.
The worlds of the multiverse share characteristics, but each world is set apart by its own history and geography. Your DM might set a campaign on one of these worlds or on a world of their own invention. Because there is so much variety among D&D worlds, check with your DM about the world of your upcoming adventures.
Adventuring in the Dragonlance setting, the siblings Caramon Majere, Raistlin Majere, and Kitiana Uth Matar provoke the rage of a wyvern.

When you choose your character's species, you determine whether your character is a human or a member of a fantastical species, such as dragonborn or gnome.
The peoples of the D&D multiverse hail from different worlds and include many kinds of sapient life forms. A player character's species is the set of game traits that an adventurer gains from being one of those life forms.
Some species can trace their origin to a single world, plane of existence, or god, while other species first appeared in multiple realms at once. Whatever a species’ genesis, its members have spread across the multiverse and contribute to many different cultures.
Members of most species live for about 80 years, with exceptions noted in the text about the species in this chapter. Regardless of life span, members of all species reach physical maturity at about the same age. Your character can be any age that isn’t beyond their species’ normal life span.

YOU CAN MAKE A CHARACTER FOR DUNGEONS & DRAGONS using the building blocks in this book. Your character is a combination of game statistics, roleplaying hooks, and your imagination. You choose a class (such as Fighter or Wizard), a background (such as Sailor or Acolyte), and a species (such as Human or Elf). You also invent the personality and appearance of your character. Once completed, your character serves as your avatar in the D&D multiverse.

Prerequisite: Level 2+ Warlock You have received knowledge from an elder entity of the multiverse, allowing you to gain one Origin feat of your choice (see chapter 5). Repeatable. You can gain this invocation more than once. Each time you do so, choose a different Origin feat.

Your character knows at least three languages: Common plus two languages you roll or choose from the Standard Languages table. Knowledge of a language means your character can communicate in it, read it, and write it. Your class and other features might also give you languages.
The Standard Languages table lists languages that are widespread on D&D worlds. Every player character knows Common, which originated in the planar metropolis of Sigil, the hub of the multiverse. The other standard languages originated with the first members of the most prominent species in the worlds of D&D and have since spread widely.

Soothe the Hurts of the World The Life Domain focuses on the positive energy that helps sustain all life in the multiverse. Clerics who tap into this domain are masters of healing, using that life force to cure many hurts. Existence itself relies on the positive energy associated with this domain, so a Cleric of almost any religious tradition might choose it. This domain is particularly associated with agricultural deities, gods of healing or endurance, and gods of home and community. Religious orders of healing also seek the magic of this domain.

Elemental forces and the building blocks of reality originate from these Inner Planes:
• Elemental Plane of Air. Winds blow clouds and floating islands across this boundless sky.
• Elemental Plane of Earth. This maze of caverns winds through stone and untold mineral riches.
• Elemental Plane of Fire. An everlasting inferno, this realm blazes with life on volcanic islands.
• Elemental Plane of Water. This bottomless ocean churns with mysterious sea life.
• Elemental Chaos. Here on the fringes of the Inner Planes, elemental forces clash unpredictably.
• Para-Elemental Planes. In these borderlands between the Elemental Planes, elemental forces combine into realms of ash, ice, magma, and ooze.

If you have Advantage on a D20 Test, roll two d20s, and use the higher roll. A roll can't be affected by more than one Advantage, and Advantage and Disadvantage on the same roll cancel each other. See also chapter 1 (“D20 Tests”).

The Rare Languages table lists languages that are either secret or derived from other planes of existence and thus less widespread in the worlds of the Material Plane. Some features let a character learn a rare language.

Warlocks quest for knowledge that lies hidden in the fabric of the multiverse. They often begin their search for magical power by delving into tomes of forbidden lore, dabbling in invocations meant to attract the power of extraplanar beings, or seeking places of power where the influence of these beings can be felt. In no time, each Warlock is drawn into a binding pact with a powerful patron. Drawing on the ancient knowledge of beings such as angels, archfey, demons, devils, hags, and alien entities of the Far Realm, Warlocks piece together arcane secrets to bolster their own power. Warlocks view their patrons as resources, as means to the end of achieving magical power. Some Warlocks respect, revere, or even love their patrons; some serve their patrons grudgingly; and some seek to undermine their patrons even as they wield the power their patrons have given them. Once a pact is made, a Warlock’s thirst for knowledge and power can't be slaked with mere study. Most Warlocks spend their days pursuing greater power and deeper knowledge, which typically means some kind of adventure.

years, those of you who've contributed to the game through your feedback, and those of you who are about to experience the joy of playing it for the first time. As a teenager, I met both Gary and Dave. I even spent an entire day with Gary, and we did what all D&D fans do: share stories about our adventures in the D&D multiverse. I invite you to embark on such adventures anew. Share as much laughter as you can with your friends. Use only the rules that serve your fun, and always follow your group's bliss. So many people have been enjoying the magic of D&D for half a century. Let's keep it blazing for another 50 years! —Jeremy Crawford Are you ready to embark on fantasy adventures with your friends? Dungeons & Dragons invites you to play imaginary adventurers who delve into dungeons and other perilous locations together, face fearsome foes such as dragons, and build friendships forged amid fantastical dangers. Fueled by imagination and rules, D&D invites you to adopt a fantasy persona—a mighty Fighter, a cunning Rogue, a faithful Cleric, a magical Wizard, or something else—and then solve problems, fight monsters, and visit wondrous places. There's no winning and losing in D&D, at least not the way those terms are usually understood. Together you and friends create an exciting story of adventurers who confront perils. Sometimes an adventurer might come to a tragic end. Even so, the other adventurers can search for powerful magic to revive their fallen comrade, or the character's player might create a new character to carry on. No matter what happens, if everyone has a good time and creates a memorable story, they all win.