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Balasar's Guide to Exploration

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My next release, Yathuna: Remnants of the Hedrons, is out now! It is a 275 page PDF which includes a campaign setting, 64 archetypes, 150+ spells, 150+ magic items, 48 new monsters, 30 optional rules and a revamped ruleset for wilderness navigation! It costs $15 and can be found on DriveThruRPG! Want some of the content instead? All player-focused content can be found in the Adventurer's Guide to Yathuna, and DM-focused content in the Sponsor's Guide to Yathuna! Each of those are also on DriveThruRPG and are $7.50 each!


As of 4/2/2021, we hit 20,000 downloads!

We hit 10,000 downloads and reached Electrum metal status! To celebrate, I commissioned artwork for a special edition cover!


Probably one of the best homebrewed books out there, especially for the massive amount of content here. I usually am very restrictive about homebrew with my players but I'll be allowing anything from Balasar's.

T.W.

Of all the D&D 5th edition products I have seen (including those published by WoTC), this is by far my favorite. It is presented in a similar style as Xanather's Guide, and excels in every aspect. It is professionally written and aesthetically pleasing. It includes truly unique subclasses, an excellent version of the Artificer class, interesting backgrounds, additional spells, and other tools useful for DMs. Whenever I am looking for something to add my campaign, for character options for my players, or for inspiration, I start by delving into Balasar's Guide to Exploration.

T.D

Let me start that this book is big. Like, massively huge, especially for free. The writers or team of writers must have been extremely busy the entire time. To have a dedicated source of people that could release it for little to nothing is surprising and gives me hope for the community.

Overall, if you are a dungeon master that has seen it all, this book adds a fresh new take on Dungeons and Dragons. If you are a new or old player, this can mix things up and bring back a new feeling of excitement, as it has done for me. This book is great for everyone and especially helps pass the time between new releases by Wizards of the Coast.

J.S.

You have found the journal of Balasar Turnuroth, a famous explorer! Inside this 127 page document contains all his notes to everything he has found so far! What might that be? Well, to list off a few things, 15 new playable races, 23 brand new archetypes, 4 new classes (one of which is the artificer), 60+ spells, new magical items, and much more!

Balasar's Guide to Exploration is a massive collaboration and collection of a few local Dungeon Masters which expands the options for players and dungeon masters.
This sourcebook acts as the journal of a famous explorer and adventurer, Balasar Turnuroth, who had lost it somewhere in Faerun and ended up in your hands. Presented as though it was written from his point of view, the documents are over 100 pages worth of content that he has observed throughout his years. It brings you new player options, including subclasses for every class, backgrounds, magic items, DM variant rules, and many spells!
Inside, you will find:
  • 15 New Races
  • 23 New Subclasses
  • 21 new warlock invocations
  • 10 new metamagic choices
  • 4 New Classes
  • 14 New Backgrounds
  • 17 new feats
  • Many new items for adventuring
  • A guide to making different traps
  • 17 premade magical traps
  • 19 new variant rules
  • Details of the dark ritual for lichdom
  • 50 New Magic Items that are uncommon to legendary in rarity
  • Over 70 new spells

Updates in this edition:

- Removed all of Chapter 1 (Half Breed Races). There were many people who found that it took away from the book, and wasn't needed.

- I added "speech dialogue" to the Artificer, Death Knight, Magus, and Oracle classes.

- I also added additional construct modifications to the Artificer.

- There are 4 feats removed (combat using Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma) as they were not up to our standard, and showed laziness. Instead, four different feats have been added (Counter Strike, Elementalist, Fearless Hero, and Power Nap).

- Altered Stronghold Plate armor. AC decreased from 22 to 20. Cannot take Dash action while wearing armor. Donning/doffing takes 20 minutes. No longer has a shield that can be attached or removed. Armor is too bulky to use a shield in one hand.

- Added boomerang description to special weapons

- Fixed the order of spell components (verbal, somatic, material)

- New footer design

- Altered the Diobolist Pact Leader feature. Can either be in your favored terrain, or tracking your favored enemy.

- Grammatical error fixes

6/2/2021 Update

Hello everyone,

Balasar's Guide to Explortion is no longer supported for updates. However, I will be releasing a new PDF later this year which acts as a campaign setting, known as Yathuna. It is filled with dangerous beasts as well as the land itself, which erupts in violent fury. This campaign setting will have all the lore and details needed to play in this setting.

This PDF will contain 64 subclasses, 150+ new spells, 50+ feats, 100+ magic items, 50+ monsters, tables and charts for everything you need, and much more. Please look out for Yathuna: Remnants of the Hedrons later this year.

Again, thank you all with this! Dakota

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Reviews (11)
Discussions (30)
Customer avatar
Eamon W June 24, 2023 11:20 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Amazing! Can we get a print-friendly version of this please?
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Customer avatar
Dakota N July 02, 2023 4:43 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hello,
This product is no longer supported, so it does not get updates unfortunately, as of 6/2/2021. If you would like a better product that is supported and has much more content, I recommend my product Yathuna: Remnants of the Hedrons
Customer avatar
Daniel R May 12, 2023 1:38 am UTC
PURCHASER
Psychic Howl is a cantrip, why does it do half damage on a save?
Aren't all save cantrips save for nothing?
Reply
Customer avatar
Dakota N May 24, 2023 1:05 am UTC
CREATOR
You are correct, cantrips are save for no damage. This was back when I wasn’t confident fully in the rule set (5 years ago), that is why it is released for free. This product is also no longer supported.

If you want a product that is better and more compatible with 5e, I suggest my newest PDF, Yathuna: Remnants of the Hedrons
Customer avatar
andrea P May 27, 2022 10:22 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Are you going to make a physical copy?
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Customer avatar
Dakota N May 28, 2022 12:52 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hello,
Unfortunately, there will not be a physical copy of this, as this product is no longer supported. However, I just released my newest product, Yathuna: Remnants of the Hedrons, on DriveThruRPG about a week ago. It is 275 pages of content, and it is currently going through the process of having a physical copy right now
Customer avatar
andrea P May 23, 2022 11:01 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This is genius
Customer avatar
Jim P December 13, 2021 9:18 am UTC
PURCHASER
This looks so good that im coming back with a different account later to actually pay you for this
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Customer avatar
Dakota N December 13, 2021 1:36 pm UTC
CREATOR
Much appreciated for the comment, but no need to pay! It was never my intention to make any money off of this product. Instead, I made this to try and motivate the community that they can release content that looks and feels somewhat like Wizards of the Coast can. Since the debut in early 2018, many creators have taken it upon themselves to do so. Additionally, this content is no longer supported, as it no longer meets my production standards. If you would like to continue to support me, please look forward to my next project, Yathuna: Remnants of the Hedrons, which is on schedule to be released next year!
Reply
Customer avatar
Cody S April 04, 2022 3:50 am UTC
PURCHASER
I love the content you produce! Do you have a website or page where I can see more of your work?
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Customer avatar
Dakota N April 27, 2022 8:13 pm UTC
CREATOR
I appreciate the feedback! Unfortunately no, I do not at this time. I just pick up and write when inspiration comes to mind. I do show off little snippets on Reddit (u/pinkcanoedavagoo), but I limit the amount of time that those links are valid (for roughly 10 days). It allows me to get feedback on anything and rebalance everything.

However, at this time I am mostly filling in lore details of my world as the majority of player-focused content (150+ spells, 100+ magic items, 50+ monsters, 64 subclasses) have been previewed and beta tested and shown. Currently, I need to finish about 15 more pages of lore, and then finish the included adventure that comes with it, and it will be finished. When those pages are added, I imagine it will be at roughly 350 pages (currently at 308 pages as I am looking at it).

I will provide more information as the time comes, but I hope you look forward to this!
Customer avatar
Raymond H August 01, 2020 9:32 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hey. The Unholy Archetype feature that upgrades your undead minion for the Death Knight class has some very strange wording. It mentions raising the minion inside the radius of your aura of fear, but aura of fear lasts for 1 minute, and raising the minion takes ten minute and already has the wording “performing a ritual over the corpse”.... so how are you supposed to use aura of fear while raising a corpse, and also why does it matter? You have to be over the corpse while raising it in the first place.
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Customer avatar
Dakota N August 03, 2020 7:26 pm UTC
CREATOR
Yeah, that was a mistake on my part. When I had people review it early on, they saw that the Aura of Fear was originally always on. They said instead that it should turn on and off with a minute duration. Because of that, I forgot to change the language of Archfiend's Wish (the feature you mention). I would just ignore the requirement of the aura for that
Customer avatar
Sam T May 27, 2020 5:31 am UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks for this, really good.

Regarding the section on attaining Lichdom: There are several details that directly contradict Lich lore as described in the Monster Manual. Is this intentional? Either way it's great, but I just prefer homebrew content that doesn't contradict source books, and instead fills in the blanks where the books don't go. That's why this section is so good. But there are a couple of contradictions I wanted to ask about..

1. You describe liches as possibly not having a phylactery at all. According to the MM, the lich would die.
2. You say that if the lich stops feeding its phylactery, the phylactery will consume the lich's soul and destroy itself. According to the MM the lich will become a demilich and the phylactery will remain intact.
3. Also you give the phylactery rather weak stats, whereas the MM says that destroying a phylactery would require a special weapon/artifact etc.

I also found a number of grammar corrections, would you like...See more
Reply
Customer avatar
Dakota N May 27, 2020 12:25 pm UTC
CREATOR
As far as the lich stuff goes, I took from previous editions and tried to fill in blanks. Of course, there is not a true guide on becoming a lich from what I am aware of, but different books have alluded to the process. If I remember correctly, a lich can exist without a phylactery (say, a party of adventurers find and destroy it), but the lich much immediately craft another. Again, I was going by information of previous editions instead of the 5e MM during this time, using various sources, but I am sure the content has been has changed due to 5e (post Spellplague).

I also personally gave weak stats for the phylactery as it is a PC version. I wanted to give a baseline easy thing that I could throw to the person wanting to become a lich, giving full details and be up front about the downsides. Its much harder to take away a powerful thing from a player, rather than give something weaker and then improving it/changing it.

Don't worry about giving grammar corrections, as I have officially...See more
Customer avatar
Ben P May 12, 2020 6:41 am UTC
PURCHASER
Does anyone know where I could find XML files for the classes in this book, especially the Death Knight?
Customer avatar
Maxwell C February 15, 2020 1:39 am UTC
PURCHASER
How is Aoth's Grimoire of Aberrations coming? I'm looking forward to it.
Reply
Customer avatar
Dakota N February 17, 2020 9:45 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hello, if you are interested in the progress of Aoth's Grimoire, you can see previews on reddit, under the r/UnearthedArcana subreddit! Thank you for the continued support!
Customer avatar
Kyle D October 23, 2019 4:03 am UTC
PURCHASER
Fantastic backgrounds! However, I noticed an error. The Scavenger background under the "suggested characteristics" lists the "apprentice" options instead of scavenger options.
Customer avatar
Daniel R October 06, 2019 1:26 am UTC
PURCHASER
Regarding the Combat Reflexes feat, is that extra "attack" purely an attack of opportunity, or can you legitimately make one additional melee / ranged attack in a round?
Reply
Customer avatar
Dakota N October 07, 2019 1:18 pm UTC
CREATOR
That is purely an attack of opportunity. I worded that badly
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Customer avatar
Daniel R November 07, 2019 2:22 am UTC
PURCHASER
Furthermore, if you took both Combat Reflexes and Counter Strike, would you be capable of taking two returning strikes (Attacks of Opportunity), assuming you were attacked twice that is. I would ask to clarify whether multiattacks made against the character would trigger this response as well, given that they are multiple attacks made as a single action.
Customer avatar
Taryn C September 20, 2019 12:26 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi ther! Absolutely love the book and am very interested in playing an Oracle. I just can't seem to find a section on their spells known. How many spells do they learn per level and can they add spells from scrolls like a wizard? Thanks!
Reply
Customer avatar
Dakota N September 25, 2019 1:02 am UTC
CREATOR
You can find out how many spells and Oracle can prepare per day on page 72, under the Preparing and Casting Spells area.

"You prepare the list of wizard spells that are available for you to cast. To do so, choose a number of wizard spells that you know equal to your Intelligence modifier + your oracle level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

For example, if you're a 3rd-level oracle, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With an Intelligence of 16, your list of prepared spells can include six spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination. If you prepare the 1st-level spell magic missile, you can cast it using a 1st-level or a 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn’t remove it from your list of prepared spells."

As you can see, an oracle prepares their spells the same way a cleric or druid would. Additionally, they can use spell scrolls of wizard spells.

Thank you!
Customer avatar
Brandon R August 09, 2019 8:54 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Great Book, The Arcane Armor Feat is insanely strong and I recommend DMs consider adjusting it before making it available in their games.
Customer avatar
Kai V May 02, 2019 2:55 am UTC
PURCHASER
I genuinely love this book! Although, some of the Magus stuff simply lacks detail. Soul Collection and Projected Harm don't have any range (and Power Swell seems a tad useless unless I'm missing something major. An extra 2d6 for a fireball at 4th or 5th level doesn't really seem like a 1/long rest thing). Genuine Illusion could use some extra text as well to expand on its capabilities.
Customer avatar
Samuel G April 30, 2019 3:46 am UTC
PURCHASER
Cool homebrew stuff. Especially the half race part. Enjoying what I've read through so far but there are a lot of typos.
Customer avatar
Ana M March 24, 2019 4:42 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I had a question about the 'Chorus' spell which is listed as an Enchantment cantrip in the Spell Descriptions. The spell doesn't isn't listed in the section that shows the spells by class (i.e. Arcane / Divine / Nature). Wasn't sure if there was a reason for it..or it was missed and thus not included? Thanks so much!
Reply
Customer avatar
Dakota N April 17, 2019 6:47 pm UTC
CREATOR
It was a brand new spell, and is intended for the arcane list. Sorry about that!
Reply
Customer avatar
Ana M August 10, 2019 10:42 pm UTC
PURCHASER
No worries! We were torn on whether it was Divine or Arcane (since I agree with my DM, this spell felt like the perfect spell for a bard XD) Thanks for taking the time to respond. I like to read over spells and knowing the description/details help me understand the intricate web that is spellcasting for storytelling purposes, so the response is very much appreciated!
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File Last Updated:
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This title was added to our catalog on February 03, 2018.