Player Options

Written by Taciturn

Playable Races

Listed from most common to rare.

Common

• Aarakocra
  
• Bugbear
  
• Dwarf (Hill, Mountain)
  
• Elf (Half-Elf, High, Wood) (Except Half-Drow)
  
• Genasi (Air, Earth, Fire, Water)
  
• Gnome (Forest, Rock)
  
• Goblin
  
• Goliath
  
• Halfling (Lightfoot, Stout)
  
• Harengon
  
• Hobgoblin
  
• Human (Except Variant)
  
• Kenku
  
• Kobold
  
• Leonin
  
• Orc (Full, Half-Orc)
  
• Owlin
  
• Tabaxi
  
• Tiefling (Standard, Variant)

Uncommon

• Dwarf (Duergar)
  
• Eladrin
  
• Elf (Drow, Sea, Shadar-Kai)
  
• Fairy
  
• Firbolg
  
• Giff
  
• Grung
  
• Hadozee
  
• Halfling (Ghostwise)
  
• Hexblood
  
• Lizardfolk
  
• Locathath
  
• Loxodon
  
• Minotaur
  
• Satyr
  
• Shifter
  
• Tortle
  
• Triton

Rare

• Aasimar (Standard, Winged)
  
• Avariel
  
• Centaur
  
• Changeling
  
• Dhampir
  
• Elf (Astral, Moon, Sun)
  
• Gith (Yanki, Zerai)
  
• Gnome (Auto, Deep)
  
• Naga
  
• Plasmoid
  
• Reborn
  
• Thri-Kreen
  
• Tiefling (Zmeyian)
  
• Warforged
  
• Yuan-Ti

Backgrounds

• Acolyte
  
• Anthropologist
  
• Archaeologist
  
• Athlete
  
• Caravan Specialist
  
• Charlatan
  
• City Watch
  
• Clan Crafter
  
• Cloistered Scholar
  
• Courtier
  
• Criminal
  
• Entertainer
  
• Faceless
  
• Faction Agent
  
• Failed Merchant
  
• Far Traveller
  
• Fisher
  
• Folk Hero
  
• Gambler
  
• Gladiator
  
• Guild Artisan
  
• Guild Merchant
  
• Haunted One
  
• Hermit
  
• Inheritor
  
• Investigator
  
• Marine
  
• Mercenary Veteran
  
• Noble
  
• Outlander
  
• Pirate
  
• Sage
  
• Sailor
  
• Shipwright
  
• Smuggler
  
• Soldier
  
• Spy

Background Features

These are optional background features that you can decide to replace your default background feature with.
You can only choose one background feature.

• Deep Delver
  
• Inheritor
  
• Spirit Medium
  
• Trauma Survivor
  
• Underdark Experience

Ask First

These CANNOT be used or created without input from the DM.
Doing so will have your character potentially rejected.

Class and Subclasses

• Bloodhunter (All Subclasses)
  
• Shadow Monk
  
• Echo Knight Fighter
  
• Crystalline Sorcerer

Feats

• Cohort of Chaos
  
• Righteous Heritor
  
• Ember of the Fire Giant
  
• Fury of the Frost Giant
  
• Guile of the Cloud Giant
  
• Keenness of the Stone Giant
  
• Soul of the Storm Giant
  
• Vigour of the Hill Giant
  
• Strike of the Giants
  
• Rune Shaper
  
• Magical Trickster

Spells

• Goodberry
  
• Create Food and Water
  
• Create or Destroy Water
  
• Water Breathing
  
• Water Walk
  
• Control Water
  
• Raise Dead
  
• Reincarnate
  
• Resurrection
  
• True Resurrection
  
• Heroes' Feast

Backgrounds

• Feylost
  
• Rune Carver
  
• Giant Foundling

Unplayable Stuff

Asking to play one of these will have you sent to the deepest pits of the Hells with no saving throws.

General

• Wild Magic Sorcerer
  
• Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer
  
• Ascendant Dragon Monk
  
• Drakewarden Ranger
  
• Purple Dragon Knight Fighter
  
• Gift of the Chromatic Dragon
  
• Gift of the Gem Dragon
  
• Gift of the Metallic Dragon
  
• Dragonborn (All subraces)
  
• Variant Human
  
• Half-Elf Drow
  
• Draconic (Language)
  
• Official races/backgrounds/feats that come from non-Forgotten Realms sources that are not already listed in the 'Ask First' section
  
• Any homebrew/Critical Role/Matt Mercer content not already listed in the 'Ask First' section

Spells

• Leomund's Tiny Hut
  
• Rope Trick
  
• Magnificent Mansion
  
• Mighty Fortress
  
• Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum
  
• Temple of the Gods
  
• Wish
  
• Time Stop
  
• Planeshift
  
• All Critical Role/Matt Mercer spells (E.G dunamancy spells)
• All homebrew and non-Forgotten Realms spells not already listed
  

Cultural Changes

This is primarily in comparison with the cultural aspects of races from D&D 5e's Forgotten Realms, and what difference there is between it and Cambrium. Some may not have many or any changes at all, while others will have drastic changes.

Drow

The drow subrace does not have the same evil connotations in Cambrium as they do in Forgotten Realms. Though drow are still seen as dangerous, it is not because they are an inherently evil subrace as Lloth is not their main deity. Instead, the drow tend to forgo any of the known deities and instead worship a figure known as the Woundfather, as do all the subterranean sentient races. Most descriptions of this entity often take the form of a huge, burrowing worm of some sort, but no decisive evidence has ever been found as to the Woundfather's appearance.

Drow in Cambrium are a female-only subrace, which means that biologically all drow are assigned female at birth. While it is possible that male drow can be born it is extremely rare, and what happens to the male drow that are born remains a mystery. Instead, in order to procreate drow will travel to the surface to search for a suitable mate that characterises what they wish in a child - strength, intelligence, cunning, certain looks, etc. Once a child is conceived they have no further contact with the male partner and return to the Underdark. A child conceived this way is always drow and will always be a full-blooded drow. This journey, when a drow decides to take it, is known as the Matriarch's Pilgrimage, and has gained the attention of unsavoury individuals looking for the opportunity to experience a sexual encounter with a drow partner. Most of these people end up dead or heavily mutilated for being unworthy.

Drow culture can be likened to shinobi and other ninja-like cultures. They excel in subterfuge, assassinations, poisons and illusion magic. This is what earned them their dangerous reputation rather than their worship to Lloth and questionable cultural practises. Although other races can be trained in the art form of the shinobi it is believed that none can ever be as talented as the natural gift of the drow. Rather than spiders being the de facto symbol of the drow, in Cambrium it is a snake - specifically the black mamba.

Sun and Moon Elves

Taking the mantle of most despised elf subraces are the sun and moon elves, due to their connections to the evil sun and moon deities Sköll and Hati. It is believed that these two subraces were created with a spark of divinity from the twin deities, Hati creating the moon elves first and Sköll, growing envious, making the sun elves second. Although sun and moon elves are not inherently evil, their culture is often looked down upon by other sentient races because of any real or perceived connection to the apocalypse deities. Their culture can be likened to Aztec and Mayan cultures respectively, sharing similarities but also having stark differences between them, while also constantly being at war with one another. This is because, at the heart of both of their cultures, they believe that it is their creator deity that starts the apocalypse, and so contends with the other in order to ensure their opposing prophecies do not come to fruition. This has caused many bloody, chaotic wars between them, though this conflict has died down somewhat in the past century.

Sun and moon elves are a rarity in places dominated by other sentient races, and some will actively avoid civilisation altogether in order to avoid persecution. Those that do choose to venture into cities and settlements that are not dominated by their own kind often find themselves met with suspicious glances, unfavourable treatment and sometimes outright refusal by vendors or merchants. Even those who do not follow the doctrine of the apocalypse deities find it a struggle not to be judged for what they were born as.

Giff, Hadozee, Loxodon, Gith, Plasmoid & Thri-Kreen

All sentient races that come from sources other than Forgotten Realms or are typically considered a spacefaring race have completely different origin.

• Giff - These hippo people are native to Jhenta. Once they had been the ruling sentient race of the continent due to their innate psychic abilities, but like most colonial conquests their power over the land waned, and so too did the number of giff along with with their psychic strength. Many other sentient races native to Jhenta still hold resentment for their once-masters whilst many giff seek to right the wrongs of their warmongering ancestors.
  
  
• Hadozee - The flying squirrel/monkey race find themselves native to the sky islands that float above Cambrium. They developed the loose flaps of skin that allow them to glide through the air as a means of protection from falling off the sky islands and plummeting to their death. They have a reputation for being tricksters, with more unkind opinions calling them 'untrustworthy', and make for a good addition to any sea or sky faring vessel due to their innate quick reflexes.
  
  
• Loxodon - The elephant folk are native to Jhenta. Despite their huge, powerful frames they are known to typically be peaceful and gentle. They tend to lean towards more intellectual pursuits, finding it easier to use their minds than relying on their unwieldy bodies, and have been the forerunners for metaphysical science, alchemy and philosophy. That doesn't mean they aren't capable of moving quickly, as many of the greatest monks in Cambrium happen to be loxodon.
  
  
• Gith - Both githyanki and githzerai are native to the sky islands. They have been at war amongst themselves for as long as the sentient races have been alive, as they cannot agree on whether physical might or mental fortitude is the better aspect for a warrior. Rather than having a relationship with red dragons the gith of Cambrium typically ride griffons, of which are notoriously difficult to saddle break and can only reliably be achieved by gith. A gith is typically bonded to a griffon for life, as they choose their mount from an egg and raise it alongside themselves.
  
  
• Plasmoid - Plasmoids aren't native to one area like other sentient races due to how they come into being. A 'natural' plasmoid comes into being when an ooze (such as an ochre jelly or black pudding) gains sentience, while artificial plasmoids are created by scientists and wizards to act as servants or experiments. Due to having only recently gained sentient awareness plasmoids tend to lack innate intelligence, are fairly gullible and take words literally, however the longer a plasmoid survives the more it develops its own personality and gains more intelligence. The reason they are not considered on par with other sentient races is because natural plasmoids are usually killed on sight due to the assumption that they are hostile oozes, and scientists typically destroy artificial plasmoids once they start showing higher forms of intelligence and begin questioning the authority of their creator.
  
  
• Thri-Kreen - These insectoid beings are native to the Underdark. They mostly live in the 'wild' sections of the Underdark were many sentient races refuse to travel to due to how dangerous it is, allowing the majority of thri-kreen to live in peace away from others. Those that wander too close to drow settlements however find themselves quickly snatched up and enslaved due to their exotic appearance and generally non-violent nature which can be mistaken as subservience. They are also known to be quick, agile and sneaky, and so a thri-kreen trained in the drow art of shadow monks can make for a devastatingly powerful opponent.

Beastkin

Beastkin refers to sentient races that may be seen as less 'civilised' than others. Physical appearance has little to do with classification, as animal-like races (such as giff, tabaxi, owlin, etc) are not considered beastkin while more human-looking races (such as goblins) are considered beastkin. Similarly, the sun and moon elves are often met with unfavourable treatment and the occasional hostile stranger in busy cities and other settlements, however they are not considered beastkin. The classification of beastkin comes from early history of the sentient races, where these races (with the exception of plasmoid and thri-kreen) all at some point hosted a war campaign against other sentient races. The majority of these war campaigns ultimately failed, resulting in historical scholars painting these sentient races in a negative light and so developed a long, sordid history of being 'evil' and 'chaotic'. While modern beastkin had no hand in the wars their ancestors waged, they still find themselves held under the yoke of discrimination.

It is considered impolite to refer to these sentient races as beastkin openly, as many of the 'greater' races have been fighting against the animalistic connotations of such a description. Instead, a movement that has been taking off throughout Cambrium instead refer to these cultures as demi-humans.

Lesser Beastkin

• Goblin
  
• Bugbear
  
• Kobold
  
• Locathath
  
• Grung
  
• Kenku
  
• Plasmoid

Greater Beastkin

• Centaur
  
• Lizardfolk
  
• Minotaur
  
• Naga
  
• Yuan-Ti
  
• Hobgolin
  
• Thri-Kreen