Giant Slayer Battleaxe — 1d8 Slashing, Versatile, Topple (magical)
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. When you hit a giant with it, the giant takes an extra 2d6 damage of the weapon's type and must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or fall prone. For the purpose of this weapon, "giant" refers to any creature with the giant type, including ettins and trolls.
Crossbow, Hand — 1d6 Piercing, Ammunition, Range, Light, Loading, Vex
Proficiency with a Hand Crossbow allows you to add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll for any attack you make with it.
This weapon has the following mastery property. To use this property, you must have a feature that lets you use it. Vex. If you hit a creature with this weapon and deal damage to the creature, you have Advantage on your next attack roll against that creature before the end of your next turn.
- Armor: Heavy Armor, Light Armor, Medium Armor
- Weapons: Martial Weapons, Simple Weapons
- Saving Throws: Charisma, Wisdom
- Skills: Athletics, Intimidation, Stealth, Survival
- Gaming: Dragonchess Set
- Languages: Common, Draconic
Attack with Giant Slayer Battleaxe — +5 to hit, 1d8+2 Slashing
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. When you hit a giant with it, the giant takes an extra 2d6 damage of the weapon's type and must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or fall prone. For the purpose of this weapon, "giant" refers to any creature with the giant type, including ettins and trolls.
Attack with Crossbow, Hand — +3 to hit, 1d6+0 Piercing
Proficiency with a Hand Crossbow allows you to add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll for any attack you make with it.
This weapon has the following mastery property. To use this property, you must have a feature that lets you use it. Vex. If you hit a creature with this weapon and deal damage to the creature, you have Advantage on your next attack roll against that creature before the end of your next turn.
Breath Weapon (Blue) — As an action once per short rest, exhale in a 5 by 30 ft. line (DEX DC {{savedc:con}}, half damage o...
As an action once per short rest, exhale in a 5 by 30 ft. line (DEX DC {{savedc:con}}, half damage on success) for 2d6 Lightning Damage [6th] 3d6, [11th] 4d6, [16th] 5d6
Divine Sense — As an action, you can detect good and evil. Until the end of your next turn, you can sense anything ...
As an action, you can detect good and evil. Until the end of your next turn, you can sense anything affected by the hallow spell or know the location of any celestial, fiend, undead within 60 ft. that is not behind total cover. You can use this feature {{(modifier:cha)+1#unsigned}} times per long rest.
Lay on Hands Pool — You have a pool of healing power that can restore {{classlevel*5#unsigned}} HP per long rest. As an ...
You have a pool of healing power that can restore {{classlevel*5#unsigned}} HP per long rest. As an action, you can touch a creature to restore any number of HP remaining in the pool, or 5 HP to either cure a disease or neutralize a poison affecting the creature.
Divine Smite — When you hit with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal 2d8 extra radiant dam...
When you hit with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal 2d8 extra radiant damage to the target plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st (max 5d8) and plus 1d8 against undead or fiends.
Channel Divinity — Your oath allows you to channel divine energy to fuel magical effects. When you use your Channel Div...
Your oath allows you to channel divine energy to fuel magical effects. When you use your Channel Divinity, you choose which option to use. You must then finish a short or long rest to use your Channel Divinity again. Some Channel Divinity effects require saving throws (DC {{savedc:cha}}).
Extra Attack — You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Channel Divinity: Peerless Athlete — As a bonus action you gain the following benefits for 10 minutes:
- You have advantage on Athleti...
As a bonus action you gain the following benefits for 10 minutes:
- You have advantage on Athletics and Acrobatics checks.
- The amount you can carry, push, drag, and lift is doubled.
- The distance of your long and high jumps increases by 10 ft. (this distance costs movement as normal)
Channel Divinity: Inspiring Smite — After you deal damage to a creature with your Divine Smite feature, you can use your Channel Divinit...
After you deal damage to a creature with your Divine Smite feature, you can use your Channel Divinity as a bonus action and distribute temporary hit points to creatures of your choice within 30 ft. of you, which can include you. The total number of temporary hit points equals 2d8 + {{classlevel}}, divided among the chosen creatures however you like.
Harness Divine Power — You can expend a use of your Channel Divinity to fuel your spells. As a bonus action, you touch your...
You can expend a use of your Channel Divinity to fuel your spells. As a bonus action, you touch your holy symbol, utter a prayer, and regain one expended spell slot, which can be no higher than level {{(proficiency/2)@roundup#unsigned}}. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
1st Level (4 slots)
Searing Smite — Self ft, 1 bonus action, concentration
1st-level evocation
The next time you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack during the spell’s duration, your weapon flares with white-hot intensity, and the attack deals an extra 1d6 fire damage to the target and causes the target to ignite in flames. At the start of each of its turns until the spell ends, the target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 1d6 fire damage. On a successful save, the spell ends. If the target or a creature within 5 feet of it uses an action to put out the flames, or if some other effect douses the flames (such as the target being submerged in water), the spell ends. At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the initial extra damage dealt by the attack increases by 1d6 for each slot.
Bless — 30 ft, 1 action, concentration
1st-level enchantment
You bless up to three creatures of your choice within range. Whenever a target makes an attack roll or a saving throw before the spell ends, the target can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the attack roll or saving throw. At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 1st.
Thunderous Smite — Self ft, 1 bonus action, concentration
1st-level evocation
The first time you hit with a melee weapon attack during this spell’s duration, your weapon rings with thunder that is audible within 300 feet of you, and the attack deals an extra 2d6 thunder damage to the target. Additionally, if the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed 10 feet away from you and knocked prone.
Command — 60 ft, 1 action
1st-level enchantment
You speak a one-word command to a creature you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or follow the command on its next turn. The spell has no effect if the target is undead, if it doesn't understand your language, or if your command is directly harmful to it. Some typical commands and their effects follow. You might issue a command other than one described here. If you do so, the DM determines how the target behaves. If the target can't follow your command, the spell ends. Approach. The target moves toward you by the shortest and most direct route, ending its turn if it moves within 5 feet of you. Drop. The target drops whatever it is holding and then ends its turn. Flee. The target spends its turn moving away from you by the fastest available means. Grovel. The target falls prone and then ends its turn. Halt. The target doesn't move and takes no actions. A flying creature stays aloft, provided that it is able to do so. If it must move to stay aloft, it flies the minimum distance needed to remain in the air. At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you can affect one additional creature for each slot level above 1st. The creatures must be within 30 feet of each other when you target them.
Cure Wounds — Self ft, 1 action
1st-level evocation
A creature you touch regains a number of hit points equal to 1d8 + your spellcasting ability modifier. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs. At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the healing increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 1st.
2nd Level (3 slots)
Zone of Truth — 60 ft, 1 action
2nd-level enchantment
You create a magical zone that guards against deception in a 15-foot-radius sphere centered on a point of your choice within range. Until the spell ends, a creature that enters the spell's area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must make a Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, a creature can't speak a deliberate lie while in the radius. You know whether each creature succeeds or fails on its saving throw. An affected creature is aware of the spell and can thus avoid answering questions to which it would normally respond with a lie. Such a creature can be evasive in its answers as long as it remains within the boundaries of the truth.
Divine Sense (Paladin)
The presence of strong evil registers on your senses like a noxious odor, and powerful good rings like heavenly music in your ears. As an action, you can open your awareness to detect such forces. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the type (celestial, fiend, or undead) of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity (the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, for instance). Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated, as with the hallow spell. You can use this feature a number of times equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier. When you finish a long rest, you regain all expended uses.
Lay on Hands (Paladin)
Your blessed touch can heal wounds. You have a pool of healing power that replenishes when you take a long rest. With that pool, you can restore a total number of hit points equal to your paladin level × 5. As an action, you can touch a creature and draw power from the pool to restore a number of hit points to that creature, up to the maximum amount remaining in your pool. Alternatively, you can expend 5 hit points from your pool of healing to cure the target of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it. You can cure multiple diseases and neutralize multiple poisons with a single use of Lay on Hands, expending hit points separately for each one. This feature has no effect on undead and constructs.
Divine Smite (Paladin)
Starting at 2nd level, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal radiant damage to the target, in addition to the weapon’s damage. The extra damage is 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st, to a maximum of 5d8. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is an undead or a fiend, to a maximum of 6d8.
Aura of Protection (Paladin)
Starting at 6th level, whenever you or a friendly creature within 10 feet of you must make a saving throw, the creature gains a bonus to the saving throw equal to your Charisma modifier (with a minimum bonus of +1). You must be conscious to grant this bonus. At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Channel Divinity (Oath of Glory)
3rd-level Oath of Glory feature You gain the following two Channel Divinity options. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how Channel Divinity works. Peerless Athlete. As a bonus action, you can use your Channel Divinity to augment your athleticism. For the next 10 minutes, you have advantage on Strength (Athletics) and Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks; you can carry, push, drag, and lift twice as much weight as normal; and the distance of your long and high jumps increases by 10 feet (this extra distance costs movement as normal). Inspiring Smite. Immediately after you deal damage to a creature with your Divine Smite feature, you can use your Channel Divinity as a bonus action and distribute temporary hit points to creatures of your choice within 30 feet of you, which can include you. The total number of temporary hit points equals 2d8 + your level in this class, divided among the chosen creatures however you like.
Aura of Alacrity (Oath of Glory)
7th- and 18th-level Oath of Glory feature You emanate an aura that fills you and your companions with supernatural speed, allowing you to race across a battlefield in formation. Your walking speed increases by 10 feet. In addition, if you aren’t incapacitated, the walking speed of any ally who starts their turn within 5 feet of you increases by 10 feet until the end of that turn. When you reach 18th level in this class, the range of the aura increases to 10 feet.
Breath Weapon (Dragonborn)
Once per short rest as an action, exhale destructive energy based on your Draconic Ancestry. Each creature in the area must make a DC {{savedc:con}} saving throw (type determined by your ancestry), taking 2d6 ([6th] 3d6, [11th] 4d6, [16th] 5d6) on a failed save, and half damage on a successful one.
Damage Resistance (Dragonborn)
You have resistance to the damage type associated with your draconic ancestry.
Fey Touched (Feat)
Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You learn the misty step spell and one 1st-level spell of your choice from the divination or enchantment school of magic. Once per long rest you can cast each of these spells without expending a spell slot. You can also cast these spells using spell slots you have of the appropriate level. The spells’ spellcasting ability is the ability increased by this feat.
The Nova
Zarok’s opening burst — stack every damage source onto one devastating hit, then settle into a steady rhythm.
Thunder Nova
- Bonus Action: Cast Thunderous Smite (2d6 thunder on next hit, STR save or pushed 10ft + knocked prone, audible within 300ft)
- Action: Attack x2 (Extra Attack) — first hit includes Thunderous Smite + Divine Smite. Against giants, first hit adds 2d6 extra from Giant Slayer. 1d8 slashing + 3 slashing + 2d6 thunder + 2d8 radiant | 1d8 slashing + 3 slashing(max 50) (1d8 Giant Slayer axe + 3 STR/+1 + 2d6 Thunderous Smite + 2d8 Divine Smite | 1d8 axe + 3 STR/+1)
Steady Cleave
- Action: Attack x2 (Extra Attack) 1d8 slashing + 3 slashing | 1d8 slashing + 3 slashing(max 22) (1d8 Giant Slayer axe + 3 STR/+1 | same per hit)
- Save remaining Divine Smite charges for critical hits (double all dice) or high-value targets
Lightning Breath 5×30ft line, DEX save — use when enemies line up. 3d6 lightning(max 18) (3d6 Dragonborn Breath Weapon — scales to 4d6 at level 11)
Situational
- Lay on Hands: Emergency healing when an ally drops — no action economy cost beyond the action itself
- Bless: Pre-combat or round 1 if not opening with Thunderous Smite — +1d4 to attack rolls and saves for up to 3 allies (concentration)
- Channel Divinity: Inspiring Smite — after a kill, distribute up to 2d8+level temp HP to allies within 30ft as a bonus action
- Channel Divinity: Peerless Athlete — 10 minutes of advantage on Athletics and Acrobatics for grappling large enemies
Party Synergy
- Aura of Protection: Zarok and allies within 10ft add his CHA modifier (+2) to all saving throws — helps Dustin maintain Hex concentration, helps everyone resist spells
- Aura of Alacrity: Allies starting their turn within 5ft gain +10ft walking speed — helps Kürbis close to melee faster
- Bless stacks with Don Juan’s Vow of Enmity advantage for near-guaranteed hits
- Mindartis’s Hold Person sets up Thunder Nova on humanoid targets — paralyzed = autocrit on both Extra Attack swings, doubling Thunderous Smite (2d6 → 4d6), Divine Smite (2d8 → 4d8), and Giant Slayer (2d6 → 4d6 vs giant humanoids like fire giants)
- Kürbis’s Storm Aura temp HP keeps Zarok healthy on the front line while Zarok’s auras protect Kürbis’s saves
Backstory
Put backstory here.
Campaign Chronicle
Absent: The Tower
The bloodstone took Zarok before the party left Nightstone. The same shimmering distortion that had pulled Dustin and Kürbis into the Ethereal Plane reached out for the dragonborn without warning — one moment standing, the next gone, his outline blurring into grey nothing. The party had no time to wait. The road to Triboar called, and the bloodstone returned people on its own schedule, not theirs.
Back with the Party
The Ethereal Plane released Zarok inside Zephyros' tower — the bloodstone depositing him back into reality with its usual lack of ceremony. He materialised mid-stride, hand already on his axe, as if the grey half-world had simply been a door he'd walked through. He looked around, took in the cloud castle and the giant, and asked no questions. Dragonborn adapted.
Absent: The Road North
The bloodstone pulled Zarok into the Ethereal Plane during the party's time in Luskan. By now the pattern was grimly familiar — the shimmer, the blur, the absence. The party rode north without him. There was nothing to be done about the bloodstone except wait for it to let go.
Arrived in Fireshear
The bloodstone spat Zarok back into the material plane in Fireshear, armour and all, as if the Ethereal Plane had simply grown tired of housing a dragonborn paladin. He found the others already settled in town. He did not comment on the experience. He never did.
Leaving the Caravan
The sun dipped low on the horizon, casting long shadows across the dusty Black Road. Zarok trudged alongside the merchant caravan, guarding the merchants' goods. The monotony weighed heavily on him. He longed for adventure and a purpose beyond counting crates and fending off bandits.
It had been a long journey — back and forth along the Black Road, from the desert of Anauroch where he joined the caravan, to places like Llorkh and Loudwater and eventually to the Sword Coast.
As they approached Daggerford, he noticed colorful posters plastered on walls. They depicted a grand festival in honor of Lady Velrosa Nandar in Nightstone. The words caught his reptilian eyes immediately: "Seeking strong men to keep peace during Nightstone Festival."
Zarok's heart quickened. He envisioned himself standing tall in the town square, a guardian among revelers. It was a chance to prove himself, to find meaning beyond the mundane, to find again the honour he sometimes felt he'd left behind by leaving his clan.
That evening, he shared his thoughts with Garven, the grizzled caravan leader. Garven tried to convince Zarok to stay, feeling safe in the presence of this mighty wielder of battle axe. But to no avail — Zarok's mind was made up, and Garven knew that trying to change that was impossible.
And so Zarok found himself on the trail to Nightstone, using the cover of night and avoiding the eyes of men not used to seeing dragonborn. Until he heard the chatter and music drifting from a campfire by the road.
Thoughts & Reflections
A Beacon in the Void
Trapped in the mists of the Ethereal Plane, Zarok felt an unfamiliar sensation ripple through his scales. The haunting melody of Dustin's song, echoing tales of ancient giants, reached him like a beacon in the void. Each note resonated with his very essence, vibrating through his scales and igniting a spark of hope. The song's powerful verses painted vivid images of towering giants and their legendary feats, providing Zarok with a sense of direction and purpose. In the midst of the endless expanse, Dustin's song became his guide, a comforting reminder that he was not alone and that his path, though shrouded in mystery, was still illuminated by the courage of those who came before. Yet, amidst the solace, a pang of longing struck Zarok's heart. He wished he knew more about what had befallen his trusted companions, their fates unknown and their absence a heavy burden on his soul.
The Mending
I said it lightly. The worg had me good.
The beast came from my left where I should have looked. I did not look. That is how a paladin becomes a corpse — not from lack of strength, but from one inattentive breath at the wrong moment.
And yet I am alive. Don Juan saw me fall and was there before I knew I had fallen. Kürbis pulled the beast off me as if pulling a blanket from a child. The bard kept the rhythm of the fight steady when my own was failing. I did not have to call for help. The help was already there.
This was not the discipline of the caravan, where each sword was its own and the watch was paid for. This was something older. Something I had read about in the tales but had not yet stood inside.
The worg's blood is on my scales tonight. So is a great deal of mine. I will mend. The mending will take longer than I would like. That is fine.
Older Than Mountains
The clan storytellers spoke of dragons the way other peoples speak of gods. Older than mountains. Older than the First Speech. The blood that ran in our scales had once run in theirs, before the world had cooled and the lines had branched. Every Dragonborn child grew up hearing it. Every Dragonborn child grew up wondering if they would ever see one.
I had not. I had walked the deserts. I had crossed the Black Road. I had passed under more skies than most of my clan ever would. And in all those skies, no dragon had been kind enough to fly above me.
Until today.
She was silver. Wings like beaten metal. The way she held her arc above the tower was the way an elder of my clan would hold a blade — without effort, without doubt. She was not hunting us. She was carrying allies, the way a mountain might carry a road. She did not look at me. I do not think she needed to. The looking was mine to do.
Some children dream of speaking with dragons. I had stopped dreaming of it years ago — there had been too much desert and too little wing in my life. And then she banked, and the cloud parted, and the dream came back to me whole.
I do not know if she will ever pass this way again. I do not know if I will ever stand in a sky she shares. But I have stood in one once. That is more than my father did, and more than his father did, and more than the storyteller who first taught me the tales ever did.
That is what I will carry from this tower, whatever else is taken from it.
Where Not to Camp
I knew the name before the sound of it finished.
Not from the storytellers. They gave me dragons the way a priest gives you gods — enormous, distant, owed reverence. They never gave me this one.
This one I had from the road. Caravan men do not tell stories at night. They tell each other where not to camp. North and east of Ascore, past the last good well, where the old ruins come up out of the sand like bad teeth — you do not stop there. You do not water there. If the wind turns hot after dark, you walk the beasts through the night and you do not strike a lamp.
I asked once whose ground it was. The man I asked did not answer with a story. He answered with a name and went back to his work.
Once, a caravan out of Parnast did not arrive. A whole crew, and no wreck on the road, no bodies, nothing burned. Garven took us the long way round for a good while after that, lost money doing it, and never explained himself to the merchants.
So. Today I have seen two dragons.
One of them carried allies over a tower and never looked down at me, and I will carry that to the end of my life.
The other has just told us her name, and I find there is nothing in me that wants to look at her at all.
The Mark Again
Inside of the right forearm, low, where a sleeve sits over it. That is where they put it, so it can be shown and covered in the same motion.
I saw the same mark on the woman at the Nightstone Inn. She had a crossbow inside her reach and a story that arrived too neatly, and once, reaching, she let her sleeve ride up.
I said nothing then. She had been helpful, the village was full of dead, and I had no better reason than a mark on an arm.
I have seen it on the Black Road as well. Men who wear it do not guard caravans. They own them, or they own the man who pays for the guards. Garven paid someone every season and never told us who. Every caravan master does. It is not a thing you ask about twice.
So: one of them was sitting in a village that had just been emptied, and another has walked out of an inn in a town the giants are already coming for.
Dustin looked at me and waited for more. I did not have more. I had the mark, the inn, and a bad feeling, and two of those are worth saying out loud.
Songs
Played at the campfire on the road to Nightstone — the song that drew Zarok Stormscale out of the shadows and into the party. It spoke of kinship, not conquest.