A’Erth

Skill DC Bands

🩸⚖️ Homebrew overrides official 5e. Applies to every ability check, skill check, and tool check.

The GM sets a target DC and calls the band. Numbers exist for the GM. At the table you hear the band.

Assistance Rule

🩸⚖️

Helping another PC grants advantage. Advantage does not stack. Two helpers is still one advantage. Three helpers is still one advantage. The second and third helpers can offer flavor or fictional positioning, but the mechanical grant is capped.

Critical Hits

🩸⚖️

On a natural 20 to hit:

1. Double all damage dice and modifiers.
2. Draw one card from the Pathfinder Critical Hit Deck. The GM adjudicates its effect.

Healing Surges

📖 DMG optional rule, adopted for CT.

Once per short or long rest, spend an action to burn up to half your total Hit Dice (round down). Each die spent this way rolls its face plus your CON modifier. You can stop between dice.

Stress and Madness

🩸⚖️ VRGtR plus custom overrides.

Track your Stress Score on D&D Beyond. Your current Stress applies as a penalty to every attack, ability check, and saving throw. Only the GM adjusts it. There is no self-heal.

Madness runs as three token types: Short-Term, Long-Term, and Indefinite. Resist with a WIS or CHA save. Immunity to the Frightened condition grants advantage on Madness saves. Madness does not fade on its own.

Seeds of Fear

📖 VRGtR.

Pick up to two Seeds of Fear at character creation. Lifetime cap is three. When a scene triggers one, the GM calls a DC Fear save. Roleplaying through the fear earns Inspiration.

Ability Drain

🩸⚖️ Replaces RAW exhaustion and level drain from undead.

Ability Drain is a status distinct from HP damage. It reduces the target’s ability score; the score cannot go below 1 unless the source specifies otherwise (at 0 the target dies or collapses). Recovery is +1 point per drained score per long rest. The condition persists through death and resurrection.

Shadows, wraiths, ghosts, and ancient vampires inflict Ability Drain on top of HP damage. This override supersedes any RAW exhaustion or level-drain effect those creatures would otherwise cause.

Corruption of the Dawn

🩸⚖️ Turn Undead d20 table. Triggers in corrupted places, under Umbra, or against formerly-good undead.

Resolve Turn Undead normally, then roll d20 and consult:

Anima Instability

🩸⚖️

Cantrips are exempt. Any spell with a material component rolls d100 on cast. 1% per spell level equals failure. On failure, you choose where the backlash lands.

If every creature in a failed spell’s save succeeds, the backlash dissolves into A’Erth with no damage, but that area’s Anima becomes thin and fragile. Cast there again at your own risk.

Sustainer / Ravager

🩸 Universal to every arcane and primal caster on A’Erth.

Every caster who has drawn on Anima has a stance. Sustainers absorb backlash into themselves. Ravagers let it spill into land, wildlife, and bystanders. Regional traditions have their own names for both. What none of them dispute: once a caster has defiled the A’Erth, there is no returning to the Sustainer’s path.

Druids and rangers are held to the same standard, even though their casting doesn’t use arcane components. Sustainer druids absorb backlash into body, dreams, and spirit. Ravager druids scorch fields, poison rivers, crack ancient trees, twist regrowth. Wildlife notices. Deer bolt, wolves refuse to meet their eyes, sacred groves twist shut, the wind goes still.

Detect Magic Aura Colors

🩸 Codified in-fiction. Players can rely on this as canon.

Circle Magic

Circle Magic is an advanced form of cooperative spellcasting practiced throughout A’erth. Through the principles of Harmonic Geometry, multiple spellcasters combine their concentration, magical knowledge, and Anima into a single ritual directed by a Circle Master. While the published Circle Magic rules determine the mechanical effects of a Circle Working and its chosen Harmonic Expression, the following rules govern how Circle Magic functions within A’erth.

Unlike ordinary spellcasting, Circle Magic emphasizes preparation, coordination, and ritual. It is most commonly employed to perform blessings, consecrations, wards, exorcisms, teleportation rituals, and other workings whose effects extend beyond the abilities of a single spellcaster.

Design Intent

Circle Magic is intended to feel fundamentally different from ordinary spellcasting. Individual spellcasters excel through speed, versatility, and personal mastery. Circle Magic rewards preparation, cooperation, and shared purpose.

These rules intentionally shift Circle Workings away from battlefield tactics and toward meaningful rituals that shape the world around them. Harmonic Preparation represents the time required to bring multiple practitioners into resonance with one another rather than simply gathering magical power.

The greatest expressions of magic in A’erth are not the triumph of extraordinary individuals. They are the achievements of communities acting together through discipline, trust, and harmony.

Circle Master

Every Circle Working has one Circle Master.

The Circle Master chooses the spell to be cast, selects the Harmonic Expression, directs the ritual, and resolves the spell’s effects. Although every participant contributes to the harmonic field, the Circle Master alone determines how the completed working is shaped.

Participants may come from different magical traditions provided they understand the principles of Harmonic Geometry and are capable of maintaining the circle.

Forming a Circle

Before a Circle Working begins, the participants establish a harmonic arrangement appropriate to their tradition.

Temporary circles often employ chalk, salt, incense, candles, measured cords, carved symbols, or ritual braziers. Permanent circles are commonly incorporated into cathedral sanctuaries, observatory floors, standing stone rings, dwarven forge halls, druidic groves, and other sacred architecture.

The geometry itself does not grant magical power. It provides a stable framework through which multiple practitioners synchronize their Anima.

All participants must occupy their assigned positions before Harmonic Preparation begins.

Harmonic Preparation

Circle Magic cannot be improvised in the midst of battle. Before a spell may be released, every participant must establish harmonic resonance through prayer, meditation, measured breathing, chant, mathematical recitation, or similar ritual appropriate to the tradition performing the working.

The required preparation time depends upon the total number of participants.

This preparation replaces the spell’s normal casting time unless the spell already requires a longer casting time or ritual.

Once Harmonic Preparation has been completed, the Circle Master casts the spell using its normal casting time.

Example. A spell with a casting time of 1 action performed by a circle of six participants requires 30 minutes of Harmonic Preparation followed by 1 action to complete the final invocation.

Maintaining the Circle

Every participant must devote their attention to maintaining harmonic resonance throughout Harmonic Preparation.

If the Circle Master becomes incapacitated, willingly abandons the ritual, or otherwise becomes unable to continue, the Circle Working immediately fails.

If another participant is unable to continue, the Circle Master may continue the ritual only if enough participants remain to satisfy the Circle Working’s minimum requirements. Otherwise, the harmonic field collapses and the ritual fails.

Unless otherwise noted, resources committed to a failed Circle Working are expended.

Interruptions

Circle Workings are vulnerable during Harmonic Preparation.

Hostile magic, violent movement, environmental hazards, or any other significant disruption may cause the harmonic field to collapse at the DM’s discretion.

Because of this vulnerability, Circle Magic is most often performed in protected locations such as cathedrals, observatories, ritual chambers, sacred groves, and ancient standing stone circles.

Many adventures involving Circle Magic focus not upon casting the spell itself, but upon defending those maintaining the ritual.

Harmonic Expressions

Every Circle Working employs one of the Six Harmonic Expressions.

• Augment
• Distribute
• Expand
• Prolong
• Safeguard
• Supplant

The chosen Expression modifies the Circle Working according to the published Circle Magic rules.

Within A’erth, these Expressions represent the six classical applications of Harmonic Geometry rather than separate magical disciplines. Additional information regarding their philosophy and role in the world can be found in The Six Harmonic Expressions in the Gazetteer.

Eligible Spells

Circle Magic is best suited to spells that establish, preserve, restore, reveal, transform, or harmonize.

Blessings, consecrations, healing, divination, teleportation, purification, warding, restoration, and similar rituals commonly employ Circle Magic.

Spells intended primarily for instantaneous battlefield damage are rarely appropriate unless specifically permitted by the DM.

The DM always determines whether a particular spell may be performed as a Circle Working.

Harmonic Instability

The larger a Circle Working becomes, the more difficult it is to maintain perfect harmony between its participants. Every additional practitioner introduces another will that must be brought into resonance before the working can be safely completed.

Whenever the Circle Master makes an Anima Stability roll during a Circle Working, increase the chance of a Ravaged result according to the total number of participants.

Only the Circle Master makes this roll. The result represents the stability of the entire harmonic field rather than the actions of any individual participant.

A Ravaged result during a Circle Working should rarely be treated as a simple magical backlash. Instead, the DM should consider consequences appropriate to the ritual. The working might leave lingering disturbances in nearby Anima currents, attract unwanted supernatural attention, subtly alter the ritual site, or produce other lasting effects that reflect the scale and purpose of the working.

The greatest Circle Workings are remembered not only for what they accomplished, but also for the echoes they left behind.

Great Circle Workings

The Circle Magic rules presented here describe the rituals most often encountered by adventurers. Throughout A’erth, however, the greatest achievements of Harmonic Geometry extend far beyond these limitations.

Known collectively as Great Circle Workings, these extraordinary rituals shape civilizations rather than encounters. They consecrate cathedrals, establish permanent teleportation circles, raise fortress wards, sanctify sacred springs, preserve legendary relics, heal blighted landscapes, stabilize dangerous Convergences, and seal planar breaches whose effects endure for generations.

Unlike ordinary Circle Workings, Great Circle Workings seldom follow standardized procedures. They may require dozens of participants, multiple Circle Masters, favorable alignments of the four moons, rare ritual catalysts, ancient Solomon manuscripts, or sites where powerful Anima currents naturally converge. Some demand uninterrupted preparation measured in days rather than hours, while others can only be attempted during specific celestial events that occur once each generation.

Every Great Circle Working is unique. The same principles of Harmonic Geometry apply, but the geometry, participants, sacred architecture, and ritual traditions are shaped by the purpose of the working itself. The consecration of the Cathedral of First Light, the sealing rites performed after the Battle of the Ashwain Stones, the Hall of Severance, and the maintenance of the world’s oldest Solomon observatories are all examples of Great Circle Workings whose scale exceeds the rules presented here.

For the Dungeon Master, Great Circle Workings are best treated as narrative events rather than player abilities. Adventures may revolve around recovering forgotten ritual texts, assembling practitioners from rival traditions, defending a vulnerable circle during Harmonic Preparation, or discovering a long-abandoned site built by the First Civilization. The characters may participate in these rituals, assist those leading them, or one day become Circle Masters capable of directing such workings themselves. Their significance should always extend beyond the resolution of a single spell, shaping the history, faith, and future of the world around them.

Circle Magic in Play

Most people throughout A’erth will never witness a Great Circle Working, but nearly everyone benefits from one. The ward protecting a village shrine, the blessing renewing fertile fields each spring, the beacon guiding ships into harbor, and the sanctified ground surrounding an ancient cemetery are all maintained through generations of Circle Magic. Adventurers often encounter only the dramatic expressions of Harmonic Geometry, yet its quiet influence is woven into the foundations of civilization itself. That distinction should remain true whenever Circle Magic appears in your campaign.

Moon-Phase Magic Modifiers

🩸

Every full moon buffs a school of magic. Multi-moon nights rewrite the rules for that night. Eclipses can invert or overload the moon’s domain. See the Player’s Guide for the moons’ cycles and named portents.

Crafting modifiers

Under a Luna eclipse in Umbra there is a 50% chance any resurrection traps the soul. Read the sky before you cast.

Curse Removal

🩸⚖️ Remove Curse is not enough on A’Erth.

Curses do not yield to Remove Curse alone. Every real curse has an Anchor. Find it. Identify the curse’s Moon Tie. Break it in the opposing moon’s phase via a three-phase skill challenge, 3 successes before 3 failures:

1. Invocation
2. Confrontation
3. Severing

Moon opposites: Luna ↔ Umbra, Ignis ↔ Nyxvasha. An Exorcism Kit helps.

Named curses in the world

• The Widow’s Hunger — Nyxvasha. −1 CON every 7 days.
• The Iron Oath — Ignis. Cannot receive Inspiration.
• The Erlking’s Claim — Luna.
• Plague of the Red Hand — Umbra.
• Eye of Horus — Ignis.
• Blood Debt of the Danube — Nyxvasha.
• The Gorgon’s Mark — Luna.
• The Draugr’s Breath — Umbra.

Potion Crafting Overhaul

🩸⚖️ Replaces the 5e downtime crafting rule.

Four steps: Gather (Nature or Survival), Prep (a kit), Brew (Alchemy or Arcana), Stabilize. Failure by 5+ leaves the batch useless, corrupted, or explosive. Choose your kit: Herbalism, Alchemist’s, Poisoner’s, or Enchanter’s.

Crafting DCs

Physick Remedies

🩸 Nonmagical medicines.

One Physick Remedy per short or long rest, maximum. Categories: External, Restorative, Medicinal, Comfort. Prices run 1 cp to 1 gp. Most give 1d2 HP or advantage on a save.

Circle of Protection Ritual

🩸⚖️ Requires the Exorcism Kit.

The kit enables Protection from Evil and Good and Dispel Evil and Good as a proper drawn circle, and lets non-ritual spells among those be cast as ritual (10 minutes, no slot expended).

• Ritual Circle — 10 minutes, careful drawing. DC 12 + 1 per foot of radius, max 10 ft. On failure: 1 Stress and Short-Term Madness.
• Quick Circle — 1 action, disadvantage on the check. On failure: 2 Stress and Short-Term Madness.

Song of Rest — Marek Extension

🩸⚖️ Vistani bardic. Applies when the party rests within earshot of Marek.

When Hit Dice are spent on a short rest inside Marek’s Song of Rest, each die grants an additional +1d6 HP. This bonus extends to everyone present at the rest, not only the party.

Firearms

🩸 Legal and licensed in most Kingdom cities. Rare in the East.

Firearm rules

• Reload: bonus action with a free hand and components, else a full action.
• Loud: shot audible at 300 ft.
• Misfire on natural 1: DC 10 Dex (Tinker’s Tools) action to clear, else fouled for 1 minute.
• Smoke and Powder: disadvantage in rain or heavy humidity.
• Dueling Advantage: +2 damage to whoever strikes first in a 1v1 duel.
• Proficiency required to add proficiency bonus. Any character with Martial Weapon proficiency may use them. Some jurisdictions require a license.
• Whisperbrace sleeve rig: 100 gp bracer. DC 10 Sleight of Hand to deploy a pistol as an object, bonus action, or action.

Lockpicking

🩸⚖️ Thieves’ Tools + Dex. DC 5 to 30 by tier.

• Quick Pick: 1 action. Disadvantage if threatened.
• Standard Pick: 5 ft / round of movement. 1 round to 1 minute.
• Deliberate Pick: minimum 1 minute. Advantage if assisted.

Fail by 5+: lock jams for 1 minute. Nat 1: lock jams and permanent +2 DC. Force it with Athletics vs. DC+5. Magical locks add +5 DC without Dispel Magic. Dim light: disadvantage. Rain: +2 DC. Cold: −2 Dex. Improvised tools: +5 DC.

Traps

🩸⚖️

Detect via Passive Perception, automatic.

• Quick: bonus action. Disadvantage in combat. Sprint = auto-fail. +2 DC under attack. +5 DC restrained.
• Standard: action. 5 ft / round. Perception or Investigation.
• Deliberate: 1 minute per 10 ft.

Disarming mirrors detection. Quick fail by 5 triggers. Nat 1 triggers. Standard runs 1 minute at 5 ft / round. Deliberate is 1 minute with advantage if assisted.

Pickpocket

🩸⚖️ Sleight of Hand vs. Passive Perception. DC 5 to 30.

• Quick Lift: bonus action. +2 DC. Not in combat.
• Standard Lift: action. Ally distraction grants advantage.
• Fail by 5: immediate awareness. Fail by less: raises suspicion.
• Concealed items: +2 to +5 DC.
• Reverse-pickpocket uses the same rules.

Secret Doors

🩸⚖️

• Quick Scan: Passive Perception, automatic.
• Standard Search: 5 ft / round. Failure locks out that section until a short or long rest.
• Deliberate: 1 minute per 10 ft. Advantage if assisted. Same lockout rule.

DC 10 to 30 by tier.

Channel Divinity: Divine Spark

🩸 Custom Light Cleric variant.

30 ft heal or damage, 1d8 + Wis. DC 14 Con save. Radiant or necrotic, caster’s choice. 2/day. Regain 1 on short rest.

Mark of Grace — Tempered by the Flame

🩸 Custom boon.

Reaction: fire resistance for 1 minute. Recharges on the next full Silver Moon.

Dawnbound Conclave Restrictions

🩸 Silver Dawn wizards.

Necromancy, planar conjuration, and time or identity magic are forbidden without written High Ecclesiarch permission. Sun-sigil rings enforce the ban and flare in the presence of proscribed spellcasting.

The A’Erth Year

🩸

A’Erth’s year is 336 days: 12 months of 28 days each, 4 weeks to a month, 7 days to a week. Because 336 divides evenly by 7, every month starts on the same day of the week within the year, and every year starts on the same day of the week. Day 1 of Year 0 was a Monday.

Regions call the months by their own names. See the date bar on the Player Home for the current in-world date and the region’s naming.