School of the Veil

"An ocean wave is the ocean in motion,
A desert twister is nothing but sand and wind,
A flock of birds has no thought of its own,
A word is a sound that pretends to carry meaning.

From the Flow, the Veil arises, like a mirror reflecting reality.
Because it is only a mirage, it has no potency.
When names and imaginary things take control of the Flow,
we call it Magic."
-- The Way of the Vedari, Verse II

In Vedari philosophy, reality is thought to have two aspects: the Flow, which is the fundamental energy of the universe, and the illusory Veil, which hides reality's true nature. Through natural processes, the Flow gives rise to the Veil, the same way speech is made from sound energy, but carries meaning we can understand. Vedari wizards see magic as a process where beliefs and ideas that originate from the mind are manifested to become true in reality. This perspective on magic is the foundation of the School of the Veil.

Meditation

When you adopt this subclass at 2nd level, you learn how to enter a meditative state that takes you away from thoughts about past and future, and turns your attention to the world as it exists here and now. As an action or bonus action, you can begin to Meditate. While Meditating, you have advantage on Wisdom checks and saving throws, as well as Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration. The effect lasts until the end of your next turn, unless you spend your action or bonus action to maintain it.

Bonus Proficiencies

Your meditative practices have taught you to more focused and present in the moment. At 2nd level, you gain expertise with your choice of Animal Handling, Insight, or Performance.

Animal Handling

(you gain expertise with animal handling)

Insight

(you gain expertise with insight)

Performance

(you gain expertise with performance)

Manifest Imagination

Also at 6th level, you gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between real and imaginary, transcending boundaries you used to believe were inviolable. While Meditating, you can cast a spell from your wizard's spellbook that you have not prepared, expending a spell slot and material components as usual. Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.

Part the Veil

Starting at 10th level, you have seen through the Veil of reality and realized how thoughts are illusions that hold no power over your true self. While Meditating, you now gain the following benefits.

• You have resistance to psychic damage.
• You can choose to be unaffected by effects that require you to understand or share a language.
• You can abolish meaning from your speech, so that whatever you say, it is treated as neither a truth nor a lie for the purposes of magic that relies on whether you are being truthful. When speaking this way, you don't trigger magical items that require a command word.
• If a creature tries to read your mind, it reads as if you have no thoughts.

Muddle Mind

Starting at 14th level, you gain the ability to manipulate others' connection with the Veil. As an action, you choose a creature you can see within 60 ft. that has both Intelligence and Wisdom scores of 4 or more and produce one of the following effects.

Lost in the Veil. You attempt trap the creature in the Veil, forcing them into a thought-world where they have limited awareness of reality. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, their Wisdom score becomes 3 for one minute. During this time, the creature struggles to tell the difference between its own thoughts and actual reality. At the end of each of its turns, the creature can make an Intelligence saving throw, ending the effect on a success. If its Intelligence score drops to 3 or below while affected, the effect ends early.

Sever the Veil. You attempt to sever the creature's connection with the Veil, making them incapable of having clear thoughts. The target must make an Intelligence saving throw. On a failure, their Intelligence score becomes 3 for one minute. During this time, they cannot understand language, and cannot remember anything that isn't directly related to their current situation. At the end of each of its turns, the creature can make a Wisdom saving throw, ending the effect on a success. If its Wisdom score drops to 3 or below while affected, the effect ends early.

After using this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.