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Masters of the Mundane: A Collection of Character Classes for Low-Magic Settings

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A collection of eight new and reimagined character classes for use in low magic settings.  Includes the Artisan, the Hunter, the Knight, the Minstrel, the Mutant, the Priest, the Scholar, and the Shaman. 

Also includes low magic subclass options for the Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, and Rogue.

The Artisan is a reimagining of the Artificer.  The spellcasting and magical infusions have been replaced with Extra Attack and a new system of enhancing weapons and armor.  The Artisan selects one of four Vocations starting at level 3: The Armorer, the Bladesmith, the Bowyer, or the Tanner.   

The Hunter is a reimagining of the Ranger with the spellcasting feature removed and replaced with nonmagical features that aid in dealing damage, tracking enemies, and supporting allies.  A Hunter can follow one of five paradigms starting at level 3: The Wanderer, the Warden, the Wilder, the Wraith, or the Beast Trainer.

The Knight is a reimagining of the Paladin.  The spellcasting features, magical healing, and magical auras have been replaced with abilities that allow you to issue challenges to enemies or commands to allies, among other nonmagical features.  A Knight can join one of seven Knightly Orders at level 3: The Order of Deliverers, the Order of Enforcers, the Order of the Green, the Order of Justiciars, the Order of the Samurai, the Order of the Shield, or the Order of the Chevalier.

The Minstrel is a reimagining of the Bard.  The spellcasting feature has been replaced with Extra Attack and a new system of buffing allies or debuffing enemies through song.  Minstrels choose to follow one of four paths at level 3: The Path of the Troubador, The Path of the Skald, the Path of the Sword Dancer, or the Path of the Snake Charmer.

The Mutant is a brand new class for low or dark fantasy settings.  They grow beastly or monstrous features that grow more powerful and can be customized as they level up.  A Mutant chooses a Primary Mutation at level 1, choosing from the Alchemical, Aquatic, Bestial, Monstrous, or Venemous Primary Mutations.  You can further customize your Mutant by choosing from 30 Secondary Mutations as you level up.

The Priest is a reimagining of the Cleric.  The spellcasting feature has been replaced with Extra Attack and new abilities depending on your chosen Divine Domain and Divine Calling.  Priests choose from one of ten Divine Domains at level 1: Death, Forge, Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Night, Trickery, Tempest, or War.  They can further customize their abilities by choosing from one of four Divine Callings at level 3: the Ascetic, the Crusader, the Inquisitor, or the Preacher.  Priests grow even more unique as they choose from various Divine Revelations as they level up.

The Scholar is a brand new Intelligence based class for settings in which Wizards or other spellcasters would be out of place.  They are able to use their quick wits to improve ability checks and their ability to study enemies in combat to find vulnerabilities, as well as many other features.  A Scholar chooses a Scholastic Discipline at level 3, choosing from the Arcanist, the Explorer, the Physician, or the Tactician.

Finally, the Shaman is a reimagining of the Druid for low magic settings.  The spellcasting feature has been replaced with Extra Attack and new nature themed abilities useful both in and out of combat. Shamans choose from one of five Shamanic Traditions at level 3: The Land-Bound Shaman, the Medicine Man, the Star Caller, the Sword Medium, or the Witch Doctor.

Barbarians can now join the new Path of Steel, Path of the Tribal Warrior, or Path of the Viking.  Fighters can choose the new Gladiator, Legionnaire, or Marksman archetypes.  Monks can follow the Way of the Mountain, the Way of the Serpent, or the Way of the Elements.  Rogues can pick the Brute, Dagger Master, or Outrider archetype.

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Reviews (8)
Discussions (3)
Customer avatar
Javier I March 06, 2024 2:55 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hello ^^ This is the first time i comment in here, so i apologize if i'm not using this section properly, or if my language it's weird, because i'm not sure how to adress the author in here. What i wanna say, first of all, is that I love this supplement. It's one of the best, if not the best, collection of custom classes i've seen on here. So much so that it is my reference for the low magic setting i'm working on, and i plan to traslate most of it to spanish to make my life easier as an spaniard DM and for easy access to my non english speaking players. I wonder if the author would be ok with that, and with me sharing the traslation around, to ease the access to the supplement. Also i'd like to know if the author would like to add them on dmsguild somewhere. I don't know how putting content in here works but i'll be glad to add to this great supplement, even if it's with an amateur traslation. I'm not a professional traslator, so i'm not sure how good the end result will be. I've spent some time homebrewing and...See more
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Zachary K March 06, 2024 3:55 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi Javier! I'm thrilled you like the book and it would be awesome to have a translated version. Feel free to go ahead with that and share it around once you're finished, though I'd ask that you keep my name on it as the author and provide a link to the original here on the DMs guild if you upload it anywhere. If you send the completed translation to me at zachary.k.dm@gmail.com, I can either create a new DMs guild entry for it or add it to the file downloads for this entry so that anyone who downloads from this page will get both the English and Spanish version - let me know if you have a preference. Either way, I'll make sure to credit you with the translation.
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Javier I March 09, 2024 11:59 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi! I'll keep you informed as i go on the e-mail you have provided me. I have never posted much in forums or pages like this one. I'm not sure where i'd put the traslation up, so i'm inclined to just hand it to you when it's done. I love the idea bringing attention to your work and i've been toying with the idea of making some sort of private wiki-page in spanish with player resources for my table, where i may included your stuff traslated. I'll be sure to credit and link you as you told me.

That's still a bit far, tho. My first priority is finishing stitching together some sort of "player's hand book" in a series of docs for myself, so i have all the info, options and rules for my setting accesible at a glance, mostly so i don't go crazy. Eventually everything will be in order, with propper language in both english and spanish, with credits to yall creators and such. I'll send you a copy when it's done, so you can see how your homebrew classes are being put to work. It's a passion project...See more
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Frank M February 11, 2024 12:01 am UTC
PURCHASER
_Masters of the Mundane_ is exactly what I've been looking for. But I have questions.

Any advice for a DM who wants to run a low-magic game? For example, so many monsters in the Monster Manual are only vulnerable to magic weapons, or have magical attacks that can only be countered with more magic. Should I keep opponents lower powered and wholly non-magical? Should I lean into roleplaying and skill challenges and away from combat (arguably the thing 5e's best known for)? Or will using magical monsters not necessarily lead to a TPK?

Thanks to anyone who responds.
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Customer avatar
Javier I February 11, 2024 9:41 am UTC
PURCHASER
I also wanna get into a more low fantasy vibe and my advice will be to get a look at adventures of middle earth (aime) or the new middle earth roleplaying phb and dms guide. They are 5e adaptations for middle earth, wich is a low magic setting. There's other manuals, campaign books and, and setting books, but i feel those are not as necessary unless you wanna play in middle earth. AIME has helped me a ton on how to do a more down to earth setting, with combat being less frecuent but more impactful, more mechanics for RPing, with consequences via de the shadow system, nice travelling rules that make it immersive and fun, a better economy for the world and a lot of flavour. There's also rules for editing monsters and using scenery for fights. If you go low magic you tend to get more enemies that are just some dudes, some thugs, buncha orcs. It's hard to keep it grounded but also keep the whole monster manual zoo.
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Customer avatar
Zachary K February 11, 2024 8:23 pm UTC
CREATOR
Glad you're finding the book useful!

One way to deal with monsters that are normally only vulnerable to magic attacks is by giving those creatures weaknesses that the party can learn to help overcome their resistances without using magic. Silver weapons overcoming resistances for undead, devils, or lycanthropes are a pretty common example. Cold iron weapons overcoming the resistances of fey or demonic creatures holds to legends about such creatures or older versions of the game. For a boss or more powerful enemy, maybe something more specific is required - only weapons that have been dipped in the sacred pool at the top of the Saint's Mountain can harm the lich-king because its waters were blessed by Saint Augustus in the age before the gods left the world behind. But beware, the lich-king knows this and has left his elite undead to guard its waters, for he cannot destroy it nor stay in its presence for long.

It can even be part of the adventure to learn a creature's weakness or...See more
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Zachary K November 21, 2022 1:11 am UTC
CREATOR
Now that Masters of the Mundane has reached best silver seller status, I'd like to thank everyone who has downloaded this supplement, and especially all those who gave a small donation to help it achieve that status. Thank you to everyone who has left a review or rating, as well. I'm glad that you've found my work interesting and hope it added something to your adventures.

When I first uploaded this supplement, it contained only 4 classes: the Hunter, the Knight, the Minstrel, and the Scholar. Since then, I have added an additional subclass to each of those, added 3 more classes to the compendium, and added low magic subclass options for the Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, and Rogue, increasing the page count from 29 to 81. With the additional time and effort spent on this, as well as the best silver seller status the supplement has achieved, I feel it is fair to remove the Pay What You Want option and ask all those who download it in the future to pay the small $0.99 price.

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File Last Updated:
May 26, 2023
This title was added to our catalog on April 11, 2021.