Path of the Dustbringer

The Order of Dustbringers can seem the most contradictory of the Radiant orders. They wield enormous destructive powers and both Dustbringers and ashspren alike tend to enjoy breaking things down to see how they work—but at its core, the philosophy of the Dustbringers is that those with great power must have even greater discipline. Just as their powers must be properly channeled and shaped, so must their own desires and wills.

Dustbringers strive to avoid civilian casualties in even the largest conflicts, and as a rule, they spurn people who only value their destructive potential. Between the speed and mobility from Abrasion and the decay and annihilation of Division, Dustbringers are the Radiant order capable of the greatest destruction. However, they define themselves by their control, precision, and understanding, and this is reflected in their Ideals.

Beyond the First Ideal (see “Swearing Ideals” earlier in this chapter), each Ideal is designed to teach the true nature of power—both literal and figurative—along with what it means to possess power and the responsibilities that power brings. While each individual Dustbringer’s Ideals are personal to their own journey and involve their own specific Words, they tend to follow certain patterns. The sections below suggest common phrases you can use to inspire your own oaths.

Enhance

As a bonus action you can spend 1 Stormlight to become enhanced. You add +1 to your Strength and Dexterity modifiers becomes and your walking speed increases 10 ft.

Enhance

As a bonus action you can spend 1 Stormlight to become enhanced. You add +1 to your Strength and Dexterity modifiers becomes and your walking speed  increases by 10 ft.

Giant’s Havoc

Your rages pull strength from the primal might of giants, transforming you into a hulking force of destruction. While raging, you gain the following benefits:

Crushing Throw. When you make a successful ranged attack with a thrown weapon using Strength, you can add your Rage Damage bonus to the attack’s damage roll.

Giant Stature. Your reach increases by 5 feet, and if you are smaller than Large, you become Large, along with anything you are wearing. If there isn’t enough room for you to increase your size, your size doesn’t change.

Giant’s Power

When you choose this path, you learn to speak, read, and write Giant or one other language of your choice if you already know Giant. Additionally, you learn a cantrip of your choice: either druidcraft or thaumaturgy. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Druidcraft

When you choose this path, you learn to speak, read, and write Giant or one other language of your choice if you already know Giant. Additionally, you learn a cantrip of your choice: either druidcraft or thaumaturgy. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Thaumaturgy

When you choose this path, you learn to speak, read, and write Giant or one other language of your choice if you already know Giant. Additionally, you learn a cantrip of your choice: either druidcraft or thaumaturgy. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Level 3: The First Ideal

Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.”

After swearing the first ideal you form a Nahel bond with an Ashspren companion. This bond grants you:

• Advantage on saving throws against being frightened.

• Telepathic communication with the spren within 30 feet.

• Spren Guidance: Your spren uses their knowledge and experiences to help you obtain information. Typically, ashspren can help with setting traps, dismantling objects, Crafting tests, and Lore tests related to topics they’re familiar with, though your spren may be able to help in additional ways. You receive advantage on Athletics, Slight of hand, Investigation, Arcana, and History skill checks.

Stormlight

The Nahel Bond gives you access to the use of Stormlight. Stormlight is your source of Investiture. You can spend Stormlight to activate your surges and surge talents, along with your spren bond talents.  Additionally, you can use the three Stormlight actions: Breathe Stormlight, Enhance, and Regenerate

Surges

 As a Skybreaker you gain the surges of Abrasion and Division

Radiant Damage

When you hit with your mele weapon, it deals additional radiant damage based on your level:

Rank	Level	Size	Die
1	3-5	Small	d4
2	6-8	Medium	d6
3	9-11	Large	d8
4	12-14	Huge	d10
5	15-20	Gargantuan	2d6

Level 3: Division

You can use this surge to decay a character, object, or area within your reach. You must have a hand free and touch the target.

Targeting a Character. You can target a character regardless of their size. Spend 1 Stormlight to make a melee Division attack, rolling 3d4 radiant damage. If this reduces the target to 0 health, they crumble into dust and die. The size of this attack’s damage dice increases with your ranks in Division; at 2 ranks, roll 3d6 (instead of 3d4), and so on. As usual, on a hit, add your Division modifier to damage, and on a miss, you can spend an additional 1 Stormlight to graze with the attack.

Targeting an Object or Area. To destroy an object or the contents of an area, spend Investiture equal to the number of surge ranks required to affect a target of that size: 1 for Small, 2 for Medium, and so on. As usual, this object or area can’t exceed the surge size for your ranks in Division (see the Surge Scaling table at the beginning of this chapter), even if you have more Investiture than that. If you’re in combat or another tense situation, you must succeed on a Division test (see “Division Under Pressure” to determine the DC). On a success (or if you’re not under pressure), your target decays in a manner of your choosing. For example, you could crumble the object into dust, etch writing or art into the object, destroy parts of a object to form a smaller object, or create a smokescreen that lasts for 1 round in the destroyed object’s area. If you attempt elaborate etching or shaping in this way, it takes additional time and actions. Depending on complexity, the DM might also require a Division skill test (or increase the DC for that test). You can’t use this surge on Invested objects (like Shardplate) or objects that have been infused with Stormlight (like infused spheres or objects affected by surges).

Division Under Pressure
Material	DC
Clear air	DC 0
Vapors like smoke and gas	DC 5
Liquids like blood, water, and oil	DC 10
Organics like flesh, bone, and pulp	DC 15
Solids like metal, stone, and crystal	DC 20

Abrasion

You can use this surge to alter the frictional force on an object’s surface, usually by nearly eliminating it.

Abrasion on Others

While you can’t directly target other characters with Abrasion, you can target objects they’re holding or wearing. If a character is willing, you can easily infuse objects in their possession. To infuse an object held by an unwilling character or to infuse a surface that’s supporting most of their weight (such as the ground they’re standing on or a wall they’re climbing), you must succeed on an Abrasion test against the target’s Physical defense. On a failure, you don’t infuse that object and you don’t spend Investiture on the attempt.

Interacting With Slick Surfaces

When another character steps on or otherwise interacts with a surface or object you made slick with Abrasion, it’s difficult to stay on their feet or hold on to the slippery object. The character must make an Agility test opposed by your Abrasion. If they succeed, they stay on their feet or hold on to the object; otherwise, they fall Prone or drop the object.

Frictionless Motion

While infused with Abrasion, your movement rate increases by 10 feet, and you ignore the Slowed condition when imposed by difficult terrain, climbing, crawling, and swimming.

Level 3: Enhance

As a bonus action you can spend 1 Stormlight to become enhanced. You add +1 to your Strength and Dexterity modifiers becomes and your walking speed increases by 10 ft.

Level 6: Thrown Cleave and The Second Ideal

When you enter your rage, you can choose one weapon that you are holding gains the thrown property, with a normal range of 20 feet and a long range of 60 feet. If you throw the weapon, it reappears in your hand the instant after it hits or misses a target. The infused weapon’s benefits are suppressed while a creature other than you wields it.

While raging and holding the infused weapon, you can use a bonus action to change the infused weapon’s current damage type to another one from the damage type options above.

The Second Ideal (Level 7)

 

“To control my power, I will control myself.”

 

The Second Ideal focuses on self-mastery. Each Dustbringer has their own desires and wills, but this oath channels all toward a greater purpose. This is less about changing yourself and what you want, and more about demonstrating your discipline to constructively direct your desires—thereby proving you can be trusted to do the same with your destructive Surgebinding potential. 

As you work toward milestones to “Speak the Second Ideal,” consider the following guidance:

• Demonstrate restraint, especially relating to your purpose and obstacle. If you’re usually impulsive, you must work not to act on your impulses. If you’re usually careless in how your actions harm others, you must become more cognizant of the consequences your actions have beyond yourself. In moments of emotion and passion, channel them in a controlled and deliberate way“

After you complete this goal, you gain the following reward:

• You become Empowered until the end of that scene.
• Your Enhance action becomes more powerful.
• While you have 1 Stormlight or more, you can use Enhance as and free action, and you don’t need to spend Stormlight to use this action or maintain its effect.

Level 10: Mighty Impel and The Third Ideal

Your connection to giant strength allows you to hurl both allies and enemies on the battlefield. As a bonus action while raging, you can choose one Medium or smaller creature within your reach and move it to an unoccupied space you can see within 30 feet of yourself. An unwilling creature must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier) to avoid the effect.

If, at the end of this movement, the thrown creature isn’t on a surface or liquid that can support it, the creature falls, taking damage as normal and landing prone.

The Third Ideal (Level 11)

 

“To understand my power, I will understand what power is.”

 

Now that you’ve shown through the Second Ideal that you can master yourself, the Third Ideal begins your journey to the mastery of power itself. You must understand not only the Surgebinding powers you wield, but also other types of power: political position, societal echelon, wealth, physical aptitude, charisma, knowledge, and other avenues of influence. As you work toward milestones to “Speak the Third Ideal,” consider the following guidance:

• Bear witness to the effects of various types of power. How do leaders control those under their command? How do merchants and nobles wield wealth to get what they want? How do Shardbearers and Radiants exert their influence? 
• Examine your own powers. Beyond Surgebinding, what types of power do you hold, and what privileges do they afford you?

You seek to advance your Nahel bond even further by speaking the Third Ideal. You gain the goal “Speak the Third Ideal.” After you complete this goal, you gain the following reward:

• You become Empowered until the end of that scene.
• You can summon your spren as a Radiant Shardblade

Demiurgic Colossus and The Fourth Ideal

The primordial power of your rage intensifies. When you rage, your reach increases by 10 feet, your size can increase to Large or Huge (your choice), and you can use your Mighty Impel to move creatures that are Large or smaller.

The Fourth Ideal (Level 15)

Though the specific words are individualized for each Dustbringer, the Fourth Ideal requires acknowledgment that all power is accompanied by obligation, and that ignoring your responsibility can have dire consequences. For Radiants, obligation means literally following oaths, but even a monarch is responsible for serving their people, and there are rules that even gods must follow.

When those with influence fail to match it with responsibility, shockwaves extend as far as the power that person wields. As a powerful Dustbringer, you have a duty to serve the common person and do as little harm as possible.

As you work toward milestones to “Speak the Fourth Ideal,” consider the following guidance:

• Examine the ways you’ve seen power abused. What should’ve been the duties of holding that power, and how were those duties failed?
• Consider the powers you wield, including any you’ve gained since speaking the Third Ideal. What responsibilities do each of your sources of power require of you? How do they conflict with your purpose or obstacle?
• Reflect on the times you’ve failed to properly uphold your obligations. What consequences did your failures bring for you and others? What harm did you cause, intentionally or not, and how could you have avoided it? If you gain greater power, what responsibilities might it bring and how will you manage them?

You gain the goal “Speak the Fourth Ideal.” After you complete this goal, you gain the following reward:

• You become Empowered until the end of that scene.
• You can call a swarm of flamespren as Radiant Shardplate.