Four fantasy characters, including a dwarf warrior, a bearded man with a shield, a man with a feathered hat, and an elf with a staff, standing near an old ruined stone building with a castle in the background.

Welcome to Curious Quill, an original content resource for d20 roleplaying.

Choosing a class typically is more about its capabilities: what will it allow the character to do? But when building your character, theorycrafting on why the character, versus the player, followed that path can play a large role in creating an interesting back story. Some classes are more straightforward, while some are more open-ended. In these Class Theory features we will explore and present ideas to help illustrate the reason a character follows a class path.

Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

Mortals: Anthropomorphs

The Quill already spent a season each on the ‘civilized’ people including: dwarves, elves, urchins (smalfolk) and orcs; along with humans. There are other mortal beings across the land. Mortals are considered to be sentient people who have a finite existence and are subject to death: they are not immortal.

The last group of mortals include the anthropomorphs, hybrid humanoid beings with the features of a beast.

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Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

Mortals:Hexen

The Quill already spent a season each on the ‘civilized’ people including: dwarves, elves, urchins (smalfolk) and orcs; along with humans. There are other mortal beings across the land. Mortals are considered to be sentient people who have a finite existence and are subject to death: they are not immortal.

Hexen are fey who share strange, hideous, or unpleasant features due to exposure to corrupt magic.

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Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

Mortals:Fey

The Quill already spent a season each on the ‘civilized’ people including: dwarves, elves, urchins (smalfolk) and orcs; along with humans. There are other mortal beings across the land. Mortals are considered to be sentient people who have a finite existence and are subject to death: they are not immortal.

The beings collectively known as the fey are uncanny, preternatural people considered to be spirits of the natural world.

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Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

Mortals:Eidolons

The Quill already spent a season each on the ‘civilized’ people including: dwarves, elves, urchins (smalfolk) and orcs; along with humans. There are other mortal beings across the land. Mortals are considered to be sentient people who have a finite existence and are subject to death: they are not immortal.

The most powerful mortals are the eidolons. Eidolons are divine beings that are not immortal. They can be corporeal or incorporeal and often represent or are the manifestation of preternatural essences like the elements or radiant power.

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Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

Mortals:Gargants

The Quill already spent a season each on the ‘civilized’ people including: dwarves, elves, urchins (smalfolk) and orcs; along with humans. There are other mortal beings across the land. Mortals are considered to be sentient people who have a finite existence and are subject to death: they are not immortal.

After the Rivening when the cloud, fire, frost and stone giants were created, the Caelestine were able to further enhance a few of them who were able to accept the fifth element of aether which is the thunder and evolve into storm giants. Over time, those giants that were not granted an element devolved into what we know today as hill giants.

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Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

Mortals:Fiends

The Quill already spent a season each on the ‘civilized’ people including: dwarves, elves, urchins (smalfolk) and orcs; along with humans. There are other mortal beings across the land. Mortals are considered to be sentient people who have a finite existence and are subject to death: they are not immortal.

Our first classification of mortals are fiends. Fiends are mortals with infernal heritage, originally the offspring of demons and devils. This includes demonkin or lesser demons, who are the result of two infernals or an infernal and another mortal mating, and the orc and their kin who are offspring of demons and mortals.

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