Classes

A character's class in D&D is one of their primary defining features. Each class represents a different calling and offers a unique set of abilities, powers, and skills that influence how the character interacts with the world. Classes determine most of a character's capabilities, both in and out of combat. As a character advances in levels within a class, they gain incredible new powers and abilities, shaping their journey and role in the adventure.

A World That Demands Adaptation

Antares is a world ravaged by the devastating Warp Storms. Kingdoms fell, gods grew silent, and knowledge was scattered to the winds. In this broken world, survival depends not on tradition but on adaptation. Magic, martial arts, divine pacts, and ancient relics have been salvaged, mixed, and reforged into new forms.

In Antares, power is not bound by rigid disciplines. It is stolen, traded, rediscovered, and repurposed. A Fighter may forge pacts with eldritch entities, a Wizard might wield firearms, a Druid could shape metal as easily as flesh, and Clerics may draw power from cosmic aberrations. This is not creativity—it’s survival.

The lines between classes have blurred beyond recognition. Techniques, feats, and magics from across time and culture now coexist because the world demands it. In Antares, pragmatism often outweighs tradition.

Player Character Classes

Due to the nature of Antares, many traditional class identities have shifted, with only their mechanics remaining relatively intact. These changes are largely a reflection of the world’s new reality.

Artificers Once a subdiscipline of wizardry, artificers have forged their own identity in the wake of the Warp. Artifice is a fledgling but rapidly growing field, blending Gallian arcana with Albion’s emerging technology. These so-called Technomancers manipulate machines with magic, crafting constructs, tools, and weapons infused with arcane precision. Though some embrace the nickname, “Artificer” remains the preferred title—one that honors their philosophy of shaping the world through innovation.

Barbarians Barbarians once roamed the untamed wilds—but in the age of the Citadel Cities, many live in plain sight. Farmhands, drifters, mercenaries—they blend in, until the moment the Warp rises and the city burns. Then their fury awakens, a primal force not just of nature, but of defiance. Their rage is no longer born only of survival, but of alienation, trauma, and the pressure of a world unraveling.

Bards(.inl) Bards are keepers of songs and tales—and writers of new ones. Their magic flows from performance, emotion, and the raw, resonant power of story. They often masquerade as historians, liars, prophets, and rebels—sometimes all at once. Bards ensure the stories, legacies, and songs of this world are remembered for centuries to come.

Clerics Clerics draw power not from gods, but from the Spires—cosmic forces that shape reality itself with abstract philosophies like Destruction, Harmony, or Judgement. Clerics interpret these Spires through personal or collective belief. One may see Destruction as renewal; another, as pure ruin. Their chosen Domain reflects how they embody their Spire's truth.

Druids Druids are more than nature’s guardians—they are the voice of the world, whether that world is a blooming forest, a toxic industrial sprawl, or the silence between stars. Some still commune with the wilds; others draw magic from decaying cities, celestial alignments, or the whisper of machines. Whatever their origin, druids shape their power to reflect the landscape they serve—or the one they fight to reclaim.

Fighters Combat is survival in Antares. Fighters are the most common warriors—some pure martial artists, others augmented by magic, psionics, or strange pacts. There are no heroes without weapons, no victories without violence. Whether through raw strength, tactical brilliance, or unnatural adaptability, Fighters are the backbone of resistance in a collapsing world.

Magus The Magus is the living fusion of blade and spell. Drawn from ancient orders—many of Gallian origin—they wield arcane power and martial prowess as one. Some Magi defend with protective wards; others strike down enemies with explosive power. Wherever they go, they carry the legacy of magic’s oldest martial traditions, reforged for a world that needs both steel and sorcery.

Monks Monks are rare in the age of the Warp. Their monasteries were destroyed or forgotten—but some endure. Hidden in city slums or posing as actors, they continue to train. Others walk as healers, teachers, or quiet defenders of the displaced. Though their traditions have changed, their discipline remains—refined in alleyways and rooftop gardens, where the world’s noise cannot reach them.

Paladins Paladin powers comes from conviction—unyielding, inflexible, and absolute. Their Oath is a truth they live so deeply it reshapes the world around them. Vengeance, glory, redemption, honor—whatever the ideal, it becomes their source of power. A paladin is not chosen. A paladin chooses—and that stubbornness becomes divine.

Rangers Rangers are survivors. Whether navigating wildlands, ruins, or city depths, they track, scout, and strike with precision. Many work as bounty hunters, guides, or monster-killers. Others act as scouts between the Citadel Cities and the world beyond. Where others see only danger, rangers see patterns, paths, and prey. In a world this broken, they are the ones who know how to walk it.

Sorcerers Sorcerers are born, not made. Most are human, often tracing their bloodlines to Gallia, where magical talent was once a mark of social status. Their power is raw and often volatile—but in the right hands, it rivals any scholar’s. Some embrace their chaos; others temper it with discipline or study. But all sorcerers carry a spark that doesn’t come from books—it comes from within.

Wizards Wizards are the architects of arcane knowledge. They study, catalogue, and master magic through careful discipline. Gallian academies once dominated the magical world—but the rise of intuitive magic and the spread of wild power has shaken their dominance. Now, many wizards see this as a new age: one of rediscovery, reinvention, and arcane rebellion. The old guard may cling to tradition, but the future belongs to those who rewrite it.

Warlocks Warlocks form pacts with beings of immense, mysterious power—dead archmages whose minds still echo, exiled horrors sealed beyond the veil, or entities so alien they barely register as conscious. These patrons are not gods, but they are close enough that the difference hardly matters. The bond is personal, transformative, and dangerous. A warlock doesn’t worship—they survive, they hunger, they reach—and something reaches back.

Class Groups

Each class is a part of a Class Group-a set of Classes that have certain features and themes in common.

Class Group

Group	Classes	What They're Known For
Experts	ArtificerTCE, Bard, Ranger, Rogue	Adaptive and polymaths. They blend skills, tools, and cunning—masters of precision, stealth, and knowing more than they let on.
Mages	Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard	Wielders of arcane forces, both learned and instinctual. They manipulate reality, unleash devastation, or channel forgotten pacts and secrets.
Priests	Cleric, Druid, Paladin	Keepers of divine whispers and primal forces. Whether from gods, nature, or sacred oaths, their power shields, heals, and reshapes life itself.
Warriors	Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, MagusLL	Blades, fists, grit. These are the ones who charge into the fire, crack skulls, and live to tell the tale. Discipline or rage—pain is their language.

New Features

Crown & Misery introduces additional mechanics designed to expand and refine character customization beyond the 2024 Player’s Handbook. This section details new features that are tied directly to character classes. Features that apply universally, or are not specific to a single class, are described in separate sections of this document.

Weapon Masteries: Expanded

Main Article: Weapon Masteries

This new feature expands your base class Weapon Mastery feature. You gain the following option when you use Weapon Mastery.

Replace Weapon Mastery When selecting weapons for Weapon Mastery, you can also replace the Mastery property of any weapon you are using with another eligible property. For example, you could change a Longsword’s Sap property to Flex.

Multiple Mastery on One Weapon When selecting weapons for Weapon Mastery, you can instead assign an additional eligible Mastery property to a weapon you already chose. A weapon can have no more than four mastery properties at a time. If a weapon has multiple mastery properties, you can only use one of them per attack. You must choose which mastery property you're using before making the attack.

Optional Class Features

You gain class features in the Player's Handbook when you reach certain levels in your class. This section offers additional features that you can gain.

ReplacementIf you take a feature that replaces another feature, you gain no benefit from the replaced one and don't qualify for anything in the game that requires it.

Barbarian

Barbarian has the following optional class feature.

BARBARIAN

Level 1 – Primal Defence

While you aren't wearing any armor, your base Armour Class equals 10 + your Strength and Constitution modifiers. You can use a Shield and still gain this benefit.

If you choose to benefit from this class feature, it replaces Unarmoured Defence class feature.

Cleric

Cleric has the following optional class feature.

CLERIC

Level 7 – Improved Divine Strike

When you choose the Divine Strike option for Blessed Strike, certain Cleric subclasses can choose to change the damage type according to the Divine Strike Damage Type table.

Divine Strike Damage Type

Domains	Damage Type
Forge	Fire
Tempest	Thunder or Lightning (your choice)
War	Weapon Damage

Ranger

Ranger has the following optional class feature.

RANGER

Level 1 – Ranger's Aptitude

You gain invaluable knowledge, experiences, or hard-earned lessons, which is represented by Ranger's Aptidude. You gain one aptidude of your choice. Aptidude are described in the "Ranger's Aptitude Options" section later in this class's description.

Prerequisites If an aptidude has a prerequisite, you must meet it to learn that aptidude. For example, if an aptidude requires you to be a level 5+ Ranger, you can select the aptidude once you reach Ranger level 5. If another Ranger feature gives you Aptitude, those Aptitude don't count against the number of Aptitudes you know with this feature.

Replacing and Gaining Aptidudes Whenever you gain a Ranger level, you can replace one of your aptidudes with another one for which you qualify. You can't replace an aptidude if it's a prerequisite for another aptidude that you have.

Spell If an aptidude grants a spell, it is considered a Ranger spell for you, and Wisdom is your spellcasting ability.

Proficiency If an aptidude grants proficiency in a skill you already have, choose a different proficiency available to the Core Ranger Trait table.

When you gain certain Ranger levels, you gain more aptidudes of your choice, as shown in the Aptidudes column of the Ranger Features table.

You can't pick the same aptidude more than once unless its description says otherwise.

Level 2 – Improved Mark

Whenever you cast [ Hunter's Mark] using Favoured Foe feature, you can modify it so that it doesn't require Concentration. If you do so, the spell's duration becomes 1 minute for that casting, and the spell ends early if you cast it again.

Paladin

Paladin has the following optional class feature.

PALADIN

Level 2 – Divine Smite

Level 2 Paladin Optional Class Feature, replaces Paladin's Smite

When you damage a creature with a Melee weapon attack or an Unarmed Strike , you can expend a spell slot to cause that attack to deal bonus damage to the target. This feature also changes the damage type dealt from Radiant Strike feature. This bonus damage is 2d8 for a level 1 spell slot and it increases by 1d8 for each spell slot level above 1, to a maximum of 6d8.

The bonus damage of this feature depends on your alignment, or freely choose from the following table.

Alignment	Damage Type
Good	Radiant
Neutral	Thunder
Evil	Necrotic