Base Class: Fighter
Overview
Velmyris does not survive beside the Feywild because its people are stronger than everything beyond the veil.
It survives because they understand boundaries.
The Veilwardens are warriors trained to enforce those boundaries.
They guard Bloomgates beneath flowering arches, stand watch beside Mirror Pools under moonlight, patrol ancient Root Doors hidden beneath Elderboughs, escort diplomats through Moonveil Crossroads, and wait beside Waterfall Veils whose silver mist can become a road into another plane.
When fey guests come peacefully, the Veilwarden lowers their weapon.
When frightened mortals misunderstand harmless glamour, the Veilwarden prevents needless bloodshed.
When a bargain becomes predatory, a crossing is forced open, a child is hunted under some ancient claim, or riders of a hostile fey hunt pour through the trees, the Veilwarden becomes something entirely different.
A line that does not move.
Veilwardens are not mage-knights in the conventional sense. Most possess no spellcasting ability at all.
Instead, they are martial specialists who have trained so extensively around glamour, teleportation, illusion, enchantment, fey combat styles, and planar crossings that their instincts border on the supernatural.
They know how a glamour changes someone's breathing.
They know the moment a creature intends to step through a fold in space.
They recognize the subtle shift of weight before a fey duelist disappears from one location and emerges from another.
They learn how to ground themselves in identity, memory, pain, oath, and physical reality strongly enough that enchantment struggles to rewrite their choices.
A Veilwarden's central principle is simple:
The veil is permitted to open. It is never permitted to own what stands on the other side.
- Origins in Velmyris
The Veilwarden tradition arose from the practical realities of life on the continent where the Feywild stands closest to Aetheris.
Velmyris contains locations where the boundary between worlds becomes thin enough for passage.
Some crossings are natural.
Some are ancient.
Some open according to moon, season, weather, emotion, or old agreement.
Some are deliberately maintained as diplomatic routes.
Others are sealed because nothing good has used them in living memory.
These locations include:
- Bloomgates;
- Mirror Pools;
- Root Doors;
- Mist Roads;
- Court-Groves;
- Waterfall Veils;
- ancient elven paths;
- unstable glamour thresholds;
- fey roads appearing during particular seasons.
A druid might understand why such a crossing exists.
A scholar might know its history.
A diplomat might know which court possesses rights of passage.
But when something violent emerges from it, someone must be standing there with a weapon.
That need gave birth to the earliest Veilwardens.
The First Wardens
The oldest traditions disagree over exactly who first formalized Veilwarden training.
Verdant accounts attribute the discipline to Cae'lindras defenders who guarded sacred groves against fey predators without disturbing peaceful courts.
Evershade accounts describe shadow-trained warriors who learned to identify glamour through silhouette, reflection, and emotional inconsistency.
Moonveil traditions insist that the first true Veilwardens were created only after warriors from both cultures learned that neither approach was sufficient alone.
Whatever the historical truth, the modern discipline clearly draws from both.
From the Verdant Confederacy came:
- patience;
- observation;
- ecological awareness;
- defensive fighting;
- crossing lore;
- respect for natural fey;
- discipline around hospitality.
From Evershade came:
- anti-glamour techniques;
- identity discipline;
- shadow-reading;
- emotional self-control;
- illusion awareness;
- protection of personal autonomy;
- sophisticated understanding of manipulation.
Together, these became the martial philosophy now called Keeping the Veil.
III. What Veilwardens Actually Protect
Outsiders sometimes assume Veilwardens are fey hunters.
Most Veilwardens strongly reject that description.
The Feywild is not the enemy.
Many fey are allies, neighbors, treaty partners, lovers, guests, guides, teachers, and citizens of communities where mortal and fey influence overlap.
A Veilwarden therefore does not exist to kill fey.
A Veilwarden exists to protect boundaries.
They defend:
- mortal agency;
- lawful crossings;
- legitimate fey hospitality;
- treaty rights;
- communities near planar thresholds;
- travelers lost through glamour;
- children subjected to inherited claims;
- diplomats dealing with dangerous courts;
- refugees;
- sacred lands;
- the integrity of the Root and Veil Accords;
- peaceful fey from mortal poachers and exploiters.
Sometimes the person violating those boundaries is fey.
Sometimes it is mortal.
The Veilwarden's answer is the same.
- Philosophy and Doctrine
A Door Is Not Consent
The existence of a crossing does not grant unlimited right of passage.
A mortal opening a Root Door does not surrender their identity.
A village allowing a fey festival does not become property of the visiting court.
A treaty permitting passage does not permit predation.
This distinction is fundamental to Veilwarden philosophy.
Hospitality Runs Both Ways
Velmyris takes hospitality seriously.
Guests receive protection.
Hosts have responsibilities.
But guests also have obligations.
A creature accepting hospitality and then abusing the host's protections has violated one of the deepest principles of Veilwarden law.
Many Veilwardens therefore treat hospitality violations with particular severity.
Beauty Proves Nothing
Fey threats are rarely ugly.
A predator may speak gently.
A killer may wear flowers.
A captor may call imprisonment love.
A tyrant may offer every victim exactly what they desire.
Veilwardens are trained to judge behavior rather than presentation.
One of their oldest exercises places recruits in rooms full of illusions, beautiful spirits, frightened monsters, and harmless grotesques.
The lesson is repeated until instinctive:
Appearance is evidence of appearance. Nothing more.
Your Mind Is Your Ground
A Veilwarden cannot rely solely upon resisting magic through brute force.
Fey influence often enters through:
- desire;
- grief;
- loneliness;
- nostalgia;
- shame;
- vanity;
- curiosity;
- love.
Training therefore includes intense exercises in self-knowledge.
A Veilwarden learns:
- their fears;
- their desires;
- their regrets;
- their true loyalties;
- the promises they have actually made;
- the people they refuse to abandon;
- the name by which they understand themselves.
The more clearly a warrior knows who they are, the harder it becomes for glamour to tell them otherwise.
Steel Is the Last Argument
The best Veilwarden encounters end without violence.
A misunderstood fey crossing can be closed.
A badly worded bargain can be renegotiated.
A frightened spirit can be calmed.
A lost traveler can be recovered.
An arrogant courtier can be reminded of treaty obligations.
But Veilwardens are Fighters.
When negotiation fails, they are trained to end the danger decisively.
- Appearance and Equipment
Veilwardens rarely possess a universal uniform.
Instead, their equipment reflects the region where they serve.
Common visual elements include:
- silvered or pale-steel weapon fittings;
- green, midnight blue, violet, silver, or dark brown cloth;
- moon-thread embroidery;
- Elderbough leaf patterns;
- small mirror-polished armor plates;
- cords tied in deliberate knots representing remembered oaths;
- protective masks;
- half-cloaks suitable for forest movement;
- leather reinforced for climbing;
- subtle shadecrystal or moonstone details;
- bells deliberately designed not to ring unless glamour is present;
- insignia combining root and crescent motifs.
Some carry physical tokens known as grounding anchors.
Examples include:
- a family ring;
- a piece of elderfall wood;
- a river stone;
- a strip of cloth from a childhood home;
- a lover's token;
- a written name;
- a piece of broken armor from a fallen companion.
These objects have no inherent magical power.
Their purpose is psychological.
When glamour says everything you remember is false, you touch something that reminds you what is real.
- Favored Weapons and Fighting Styles
There is no required Veilwarden weapon.
Common choices include:
- longswords;
- rapiers;
- spears;
- glaives;
- longbows;
- shortbows;
- paired blades;
- quarterstaves;
- scimitars.
Their training emphasizes adaptability rather than devotion to a particular weapon.
A Veilwarden must be capable of fighting:
- in dense forest;
- upon canopy bridges;
- beside narrow crossings;
- in moonlit mist;
- within cramped root halls;
- across riverside platforms;
- against enemies appearing from impossible angles.
VII. The Veilwarden in the Two Nations
Verdant Confederacy
Verdant-trained Veilwardens tend to emphasize:
- territorial defense;
- crossing observation;
- protection of groves;
- nonlethal intervention;
- pursuit through difficult terrain;
- disrupting hostile fey movement.
They often work beside:
- Verdant Wardens;
- druids;
- Riverwardens;
- Cae'lindras scouts;
- Ursarath guardians.
Evershade Sovereignty
Evershade-trained Veilwardens emphasize:
- anti-glamour discipline;
- identity protection;
- illusion recognition;
- shadow movement;
- diplomatic security;
- memory-crime intervention.
They frequently cooperate with:
- Nightguard;
- Veilwardens of arcane institutions;
- memory witnesses;
- shadow-dream healers;
- Fey'ri advocates;
- diplomats.
Moonveil Tradition
The most prestigious training incorporates both philosophies.
These warriors are sometimes called Wardens of Root and Veil.
They are commonly assigned to:
- Moonveil Crossroads;
- major Feywild thresholds;
- cross-border emergencies;
- fey diplomatic delegations;
- violations involving both nations.
VIII. Veilwarden Features
The Veilwarden gains subclass features at Fighter levels:
3, 7, 10, 15, and 18.
The subclass uses a special resource called Warden Dice.
Additional Boundary Techniques
The following techniques become particularly appropriate as a Veilwarden advances.
Mirror-Split Guard
Prerequisite: Level 7
When an attack roll made against you has Advantage, you may expend one Warden Die as a Reaction.
Roll the Warden Die and subtract the result from the attack roll.
You may use this feature after seeing the roll but before learning whether it hits.
Thorned Reprisal
Prerequisite: Level 7
When a creature Charmed by another creature damages you, you may expend one Warden Die when you hit the controlling creature.
Add the die to the damage.
The Charmed creature immediately repeats its saving throw against the effect.
Crossing Pursuit
Prerequisite: Level 10
When a creature teleports within 30 feet of you and reappears within your Speed of its previous position, you may expend one Warden Die as a Reaction.
Move up to your Speed toward the creature.
This movement does not provoke Opportunity Attacks.
If you finish within reach, make one weapon attack and add the Warden Die to the damage on a hit.
Name Yourself
Prerequisite: Level 10
When you fail an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throw, you may expend one Warden Die and add it to the result.
You may do so after rolling but before the DM announces the consequences.
You cannot use Name Yourself if you are unconscious.
Root Against the Hunt
Prerequisite: Level 15
When two or more hostile creatures move within 10 feet of you during the same turn, you may expend one Warden Die as a Reaction.
Until the beginning of your next turn:
- your reach for Opportunity Attacks increases by 5 feet;
- you may make up to two Opportunity Attacks instead of one;
- each creature can trigger only one such attack.
Add your Warden Die to the damage of the first attack that hits.
Moonveil Counter
Prerequisite: Level 15
When you succeed on a saving throw against a spell or magical effect, you may expend one Warden Die and move up to half your Speed toward the creature responsible.
If you end within melee reach, you may make one melee weapon attack against it.
Add the Warden Die to the attack roll.
- Combat Style
The Veilwarden is a reactive martial controller.
Unlike Fighters focused primarily on delivering maximum damage, the Veilwarden excels at deciding what enemies are allowed to do.
The subclass is particularly effective against opponents that rely upon:
- teleportation;
- charm;
- illusion;
- fear;
- invisibility;
- supernatural mobility;
- hit-and-run attacks;
- planar movement;
- manipulation of allies.
A typical Veilwarden combat sequence might be:
- identify the enemy most likely to manipulate or bypass the front line;
- engage without overcommitting;
- use Boundary Techniques to restrict movement;
- protect vulnerable companions;
- interrupt teleportation with Deny the Crossing;
- switch between Root and Veil according to battlefield needs;
- pursue enemies attempting to disengage;
- maintain a defensive center around allies.
The Veilwarden does not ask:
“How much damage can I inflict?”
The Veilwarden asks:
“What is the enemy trying to accomplish, and how do I make that impossible?”
- Strengths
The subclass excels at:
- resisting charms;
- fighting fey;
- fighting teleporting creatures;
- protecting allies;
- controlling narrow spaces;
- guarding important locations;
- countering hit-and-run enemies;
- identifying glamour;
- surviving magical manipulation;
- fighting in forest terrain;
- escorting vulnerable NPCs;
- responding to planar incursions.
It is particularly useful against enemies such as:
- hostile fey courtiers;
- fey riders;
- glamour assassins;
- teleporting skirmishers;
- magical predators;
- kidnappers;
- dream or memory manipulators;
- planar raiders.
XII. Weaknesses
The Veilwarden deliberately sacrifices some raw offensive output for control and defensive versatility.
It is less specialized against:
- ordinary creatures using no supernatural mobility;
- large hordes of simple melee enemies;
- long-range artillery;
- creatures immune to most control;
- enemies relying purely upon brute physical damage.
Its Warden Dice also demand judgment.
A player who spends them too aggressively early in an encounter may lack answers when a major enemy later attempts to escape, charm an ally, or cross a threshold.
XIII. Roleplaying a Veilwarden
Veilwardens are often difficult to surprise emotionally.
Their training encourages deliberate observation.
A Veilwarden may habitually ask:
- Who invited you?
- What exactly was promised?
- What did you give them?
- Did you say yes, or did someone say yes for you?
- What name did you give?
- Did you eat anything?
- Did you cross running water?
- What did the road look like before it changed?
- Did the creature ask permission?
- What do you remember before the music started?
To outsiders, this can sound paranoid.
In Velmyris, it is basic professional competence.
XIV. Common Personality Traits
A Veilwarden might:
- distrust gifts that come without explanations;
- never make casual promises;
- insist upon precise wording;
- maintain meticulous travel notes;
- dislike people touching their grounding anchor;
- instinctively position themselves between doors and companions;
- memorize the names of everyone in their party;
- become visibly uncomfortable when someone says “I promise” jokingly;
- treat good fey guests with impeccable courtesy;
- become extremely cold toward anyone exploiting hospitality.
Some are quiet.
Some are theatrical.
Some are deeply spiritual.
Others regard the entire tradition as practical military doctrine.
- Relationship with the Fey
A Veilwarden may have close relationships with fey creatures.
Many do.
Some have:
- fey mentors;
- fey spouses or lovers;
- fey siblings by adoption;
- courtly allies;
- friendly rivalries with fey duelists;
- long-term diplomatic contacts.
This does not make them less effective against hostile fey.
Indeed, familiarity often makes them more dangerous.
They know that the Feywild contains kindness as well as cruelty.
That knowledge prevents hatred from replacing judgment.
XVI. The Wild Hunt
Among all threats confronted by Veilwardens, few inspire more preparation than manifestations of the Wild Hunt or similarly predatory fey hunts.
A Hunt is dangerous because it combines many things Veilwardens train against:
- supernatural pursuit;
- terror;
- glamour;
- extreme mobility;
- fey law;
- pack tactics;
- crossing manipulation;
- ritualized claims over quarry.
Veilwarden doctrine against a Hunt emphasizes one objective above all others:
Break the pursuit.
A Hunt derives power from momentum, fear, inevitability, and the belief that quarry must continue running.
The Veilwarden refuses that premise.
They find defensible ground.
They identify the Hunt's passage.
They protect the quarry.
Then they turn around.
XVII. Relationships with Other Classes
Druids
Veilwardens frequently work closely with Druids.
The Druid understands the crossing.
The Veilwarden ensures nobody weaponizes it while the Druid is working.
Rangers
Rangers and Veilwardens are natural partners.
Rangers track intruders and understand terrain.
Veilwardens specialize in preventing supernatural escape once the target is found.
Barbarians
Barbarians can provide overwhelming physical force against fey creatures resistant to conventional positioning.
Stormbound or Beastbreaker warriors in particular can complement a Veilwarden exceptionally well.
Rogues
Veilwardens appreciate competent scouts but often become irritated by Rogues who casually steal from fey markets.
Experienced Rogues learn quickly:
Do not pickpocket beings who can put your childhood in a jar.
Wizards and Sorcerers
Arcane specialists are useful against sophisticated glamour and planar magic.
Veilwardens sometimes become frustrated with scholars who wish to study an unstable crossing before sealing it.
XVIII. Organizations and Affiliations
Veilwardens may serve numerous Velmyrian institutions.
Common connections include:
- the Moonveil Conclave;
- Verdant Wardens;
- Evershade Nightguard;
- crossing-watch stations;
- Crownfall guardians;
- Root and Veil diplomatic missions;
- specialized monster-hunting companies;
- fey treaty escorts;
- refugee protection networks;
- planar research teams.
Some Veilwardens remain independent.
Such individuals often travel between communities responding to problems too small for national institutions but too dangerous for local militia.
XIX. Training Sites
Moonveil Crossroads
The most prestigious location for advanced Veilwarden education.
Students learn:
- treaty law;
- fey etiquette;
- anti-glamour combat;
- crossing defense;
- diplomatic restraint;
- identity discipline.
Crownfall Sanctuary
Crownfall-trained wardens specialize in:
- Waterfall Veils;
- dangerous terrain;
- root-caverns;
- wilderness pursuit;
- physical crossing defense.
Gloomhollow
Gloomhollow training emphasizes:
- memory protection;
- emotional manipulation;
- dream threats;
- fey-shadow convergence;
- distinguishing genuine spirits from predatory mimics.
Nyxholme
Nyxholme instructors teach advanced theories of:
- planar movement;
- magical displacement;
- illusion mechanics;
- shadow boundaries;
- dangerous artifact containment.
- Adventure Hooks
- The Door Opens Inward
A Root Door that has remained sealed for three hundred years opens.
Nothing emerges.
Instead, people near it begin disappearing.
The crossing may be pulling rather than releasing.
- The Hunt's New Quarry
A Wild Hunt manifestation names an ordinary child as its quarry.
The Hunt insists the claim is lawful under an ancestral bargain.
The child's family insists no such bargain exists.
Both may be telling the truth.
- The Veilwarden Who Crossed
A respected Veilwarden pursued a fugitive through a Mirror Pool.
Three days later, the fugitive returns.
The Veilwarden does not.
- One Name Missing
A Veilwarden patrol returns from Mosswynd.
Everyone remembers six people leaving.
Only five returned.
Nobody can remember the sixth person's name.
Their equipment is still present.
- The Hospitality Murder
A fey ambassador is killed while protected by mortal hospitality.
Unless the murderer is found quickly, a major court may consider the Root and Veil Accords broken.
- The Crossing Merchant
Someone has discovered a method of bottling temporary Feywild crossings and selling them to criminals.
Veilwardens begin finding impossible escape routes throughout Velmyris.
- Root and Veil Divided
A major planar disturbance requires both Verdant and Evershade expertise.
Someone is deliberately feeding each side false evidence that the other caused it.
- The Hunter Who Became Quarry
A veteran Veilwarden known for protecting communities from hostile fey is being pursued by something.
They refuse to say why.
The truth is that decades earlier they made a bargain that saved hundreds of lives.
The payment is finally due.
XXI. Notable NPCs
Sereth Vaelthorn
Cae'lindras Fighter — Veilwarden
Sereth has guarded crossings around the Elderheart region for more than a century.
He rarely raises his voice.
He never threatens.
He simply explains exactly what will happen if a boundary is crossed.
The fact that several notorious fey nobles politely obey him says more than any boast could.
His grounding anchor is a tiny wooden toy carved by his human foster brother, who died of old age decades ago.
Lyssara Veil-of-Moons
Umbrathari Fighter — Veilwarden
Lyssara is an Evershade-trained anti-glamour specialist who dresses more like an artist than a soldier.
Her armor incorporates black-violet cloth, polished silver mirrors, and moonstone discs.
She is charming, socially confident, and perfectly comfortable at fey revels.
Predatory courtiers often underestimate her.
Once.
Garran Hollowmere
Vaelthrim Fighter — Veilwarden
Garran originally trained as a traveling storyteller before a fey bargain destroyed the memories of an entire village.
He became a Veilwarden afterward.
He still sings.
His songs now serve a second purpose.
Each one contains facts about himself, his companions, and the places they have traveled.
If glamour changes something important, Garran notices when the song no longer matches reality.
Asha Winterpaw
Ursarath Fighter — Veilwarden
Asha guards the Crownfall approaches and specializes in hostile crossings opening during Winterrest.
She possesses little patience for courtly word games.
Her standard approach to fey negotiations is to bring an actual trained advocate while she watches exits and keeps everyone alive.
This division of labor has proven extremely effective.
XXII. Character Concepts
The Survivor of the Hunt
You were once quarry.
Someone protected you long enough to survive.
Now you stand where they stood.
The Diplomat's Blade
You accompany fey negotiators throughout Velmyris.
Your duty is not to threaten their guests.
Your duty is to ensure everyone leaves the table possessing the same identity with which they arrived.
The Fey-Raised Warden
You were raised partly among fey.
You love them.
You understand them.
And because you understand them, you know exactly why boundaries matter.
The Root Door Guardian
Your family has guarded the same ancient crossing for generations.
Nothing has passed through it in two hundred years.
Last night, someone knocked from the other side.
The Evershade Counterglamourist
You trained in Umbraeth to protect citizens from coercive illusion and magical manipulation.
You treat identity as something worth defending with steel.
The Broken Promise
You once violated a fey bargain.
Someone else paid the price.
Your entire life since has been an attempt to understand what promises truly mean.
XXIII. Balance Notes
Mechanical Identity
The Veilwarden is intended as a martial controller/defender Fighter rather than a spellcasting Fighter.
Its major strengths are:
- reactions;
- battlefield movement;
- anti-teleportation;
- charm resistance;
- ally protection;
- supernatural target pursuit.
Warden Dice
Warden Dice use a Short-or-Long-Rest recharge structure so the subclass retains meaningful tactical resources without becoming dependent upon spell slots.
Scaling:
- 4d6 at level 3;
- 4d6 at level 7;
- 5d8 at level 10;
- 5d10 at level 15;
- 6d12 at level 18.
Their value comes primarily from tactical flexibility rather than raw damage.
Anti-Teleportation
Deny the Crossing is intentionally one of the subclass's signature abilities.
Teleportation normally allows enemies to ignore front-line Fighters entirely.
Giving a Fighter a limited means of contesting magical repositioning creates a distinct tactical niche.
The saving throw prevents automatic shutdown of major enemies.
Anti-Fey Without Creature-Type Dependence
The subclass deliberately avoids bonuses that function only against the Fey creature type.
This is important both mechanically and narratively.
Velmyris does not treat all fey as enemies, and many of its most dangerous threats are not technically Fey.
The subclass therefore counters fey-style tactics rather than fey biology:
- glamour;
- charm;
- teleportation;
- manipulation;
- planar movement.
This also keeps the subclass useful outside Velmyris.
Defensive Scaling
The 18th-level Warden Aura is intentionally powerful but appropriate for late-tier play.
At this level, the Fighter should feel capable of protecting companions against effects that would once have bypassed martial defenses entirely.
Damage Output
The Veilwarden generally deals less additional raw damage than heavily offensive Fighter subclasses.
Its power budget instead goes into:
- extra movement;
- reactive attacks;
- movement denial;
- defensive reactions;
- resistance to control;
- teleportation interference.
This makes the subclass strongest when played tactically rather than as a simple damage engine.
XXIV. DM Guidance
A Veilwarden should not make all fey encounters trivial.
Their abilities should provide tools, not automatic answers.
Allow the character to recognize patterns and resist manipulation, but maintain mystery.
A Veilwarden may know that:
“This road is glamoured.”
They may not automatically know:
“The road leads to the Autumn Court, whose third princess created this illusion eleven minutes ago.”
Similarly, Deny the Crossing can stop an individual teleportation effect, but should not automatically seal enormous planar phenomena beyond mortal scale.
The subclass works best when the DM treats its expertise seriously without turning expertise into omniscience.
XXV. Narrative Themes
The Veilwarden works especially well in campaigns exploring:
- the Wild Hunt;
- fey incursions;
- Moonveil diplomacy;
- glamour crimes;
- stolen names;
- coercive enchantment;
- planar kidnappings;
- missing travelers;
- dangerous courtship;
- ancient bargains;
- living forests;
- memory manipulation;
- disputed hospitality;
- fey-shadow convergence;
- foreign exploitation of Velmyris.
The subclass also fits adult-oriented campaigns particularly well because its underlying themes concern agency, identity, boundaries, promises, desire, manipulation, and consent without requiring the character to be morally naive about any of those subjects.
XXVI. Summary
The Veilwarden is the martial guardian of Velmyris' most important boundary:
not simply the border between Aetheris and the Feywild, but the boundary between wonder and exploitation.
At 3rd level, the Fighter gains Warden Dice, a suite of Boundary Techniques, enhanced knowledge of fey phenomena, and resistance to magical influence through Anchored Self.
At 7th level, Walk Between the Leaves allows the Veilwarden to navigate Velmyris' difficult terrain and recognize glamour without becoming a spellcaster.
At 10th level, Deny the Crossing allows the Veilwarden to interrupt teleportation and planar movement—giving the Fighter a unique ability to force supernatural enemies to remain on the battlefield.
At 15th level, Root and Veil lets the Fighter alternate between two combat philosophies: becoming immovable when the line must hold or almost impossible to contain when movement is required.
At 18th level, the Veilwarden's identity becomes nearly impossible to overwrite, their ability to deny planar movement reaches its peak, and their presence protects nearby companions through Guardian of Root and Veil.
The result is a Fighter who feels unmistakably native to Velmyris.
Not a fey slayer.
Not a spellcaster with a sword.
Not merely another forest warrior.
A guardian of boundaries.
A warrior who understands that some doors should remain open.
Some doors should remain closed.
And sometimes the most important duty in the world is simply standing between them.
The rider smiled.
It was a beautiful smile.
Too beautiful.
Behind him, pale hounds stepped silently from between trees that had not been there a moment before.
“You misunderstand,” the fey noble said. “The child belongs to the Hunt. The promise was made long before either of you were born.”
The Veilwarden drew her sword.
“No.”
The rider's smile faded.
“No?”
“You have mistaken age for legitimacy.”
The forest became very still.
The Veilwarden planted her feet between the riders and the frightened child.
“Show me the promise.”
“And if I refuse?”
Silver steel caught the moonlight.
“Then you aren't here to enforce a bargain.”
She raised the blade.
“You're here to steal someone.”
The hounds began to growl.
The Veilwarden smiled.
“That,” she said, “I know how to answer.”
Keeper of the Boundary
At 3rd level, you begin formal Veilwarden training.
You gain the following features:
- Warden Dice;
- Boundary Techniques;
- Veilwise;
- Anchored Self.
Warden Dice
You possess four Warden Dice, which are d6s.
A Warden Die is expended when you use it.
You regain all expended Warden Dice whenever you finish a Short or Long Rest.
Your Warden Dice increase in size as you gain Fighter levels:
- d6 at level 3
- d8 at level 10
- d10 at level 15
- d12 at level 18
You gain a fifth Warden Die at level 10 and a sixth at level 18.
If a Veilwarden feature requires a saving throw, your save DC is:
Veilwarden Save DC = 8 + your Proficiency Bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier
Choose Strength or Dexterity when you gain this subclass.
Boundary Techniques
You learn three Boundary Techniques of your choice at level 3.
You learn one additional technique at levels 7, 10, and 15.
Whenever you gain a Fighter level, you may replace one technique you know with another for which you qualify.
Unless otherwise stated, you can use only one Boundary Technique on a single attack.
Root the Intruder
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you may expend one Warden Die.
Add the die to the attack's damage.
The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or its Speed becomes 0 until the beginning of your next turn.
A creature that teleports can still teleport unless another feature prevents it.
Sever the Glamour
When you damage a creature concentrating on a spell or magical effect, you may expend one Warden Die.
Add the die to the damage.
The creature has Disadvantage on the next Constitution saving throw it makes to maintain Concentration because of that attack.
If the effect is a charm, illusion, or enchantment, it also subtracts your Warden Die from that saving throw.
Moonstep
Immediately after you make a weapon attack, you may expend one Warden Die to move a number of feet equal to:
5 × the number rolled on your Warden Die, to a maximum of your Speed.
This movement does not provoke Opportunity Attacks from the creature you attacked.
Turn the Hunter
When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you may use your Reaction and expend one Warden Die.
Move up to 10 feet without provoking an Opportunity Attack from that creature.
You may then make one weapon attack against it.
If the attack hits, add the Warden Die to its damage.
Guard the Guest
When a creature you can see within 5 feet of you is hit by an attack, you may use your Reaction and expend one Warden Die.
Reduce the damage by:
the Warden Die + your Fighter level.
You may then switch places with the protected creature if both of you are willing and capable of movement.
This movement does not provoke Opportunity Attacks.
Break the Enchantment
When you or a creature you can see within 30 feet fails a saving throw against being Charmed or Frightened, you may use your Reaction and expend one Warden Die.
Add the die to the saving throw, potentially turning the failure into a success.
You must be conscious to use this technique.
Mark the False Step
When a creature you can see within 60 feet teleports, turns Invisible, or magically changes its appearance, you may use your Reaction and expend one Warden Die.
Until the end of your next turn, you know:
- its direction from you;
- whether it is within 60 feet;
- the space where it reappeared if it teleported within that range.
If you make an attack against that creature before the end of your next turn, add the Warden Die to the attack roll.
This feature does not reveal a creature that has traveled beyond 60 feet.
Driving Steel
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, expend one Warden Die and add it to the damage.
The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 10 feet.
If this movement would force it through an active planar crossing, the creature may repeat the saving throw with Advantage before entering the crossing.
Veilwise
You gain proficiency in the following skills:
- Arcana;
- Insight;
- Investigation;
- Nature;
- Perception;
- Survival.
You also have Advantage on ability checks made to:
- identify evidence of fey glamour;
- recognize active Feywild crossings;
- identify common fey hospitality customs;
- determine whether natural surroundings have been altered by glamour;
- follow tracks that vanish through minor magical interference;
- recognize obvious signs of coercive enchantment.
This does not automatically reveal illusions or hidden creatures.
Anchored Self
Your training teaches you to hold tightly to your identity.
You have Advantage on saving throws against the Charmed condition.
Additionally, whenever you use Indomitable to reroll a saving throw against being Charmed or Frightened, you may immediately move up to 10 feet without provoking Opportunity Attacks after resolving the saving throw.
Break the Enchantment
When you or a creature you can see within 30 feet fails a saving throw against being Charmed or Frightened, you may use your Reaction and expend one Warden Die.
Add the die to the saving throw, potentially turning the failure into a success.
You must be conscious to use this technique.
Driving Steel
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, expend one Warden Die and add it to the damage.
The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 10 feet.
If this movement would force it through an active planar crossing, the creature may repeat the saving throw with Advantage before entering the crossing.
Guard the Guest
When a creature you can see within 5 feet of you is hit by an attack, you may use your Reaction and expend one Warden Die.
Reduce the damage by:
the Warden Die + your Fighter level.
You may then switch places with the protected creature if both of you are willing and capable of movement.
This movement does not provoke Opportunity Attacks.
Mark the False Step
When a creature you can see within 60 feet teleports, turns Invisible, or magically changes its appearance, you may use your Reaction and expend one Warden Die.
Until the end of your next turn, you know:
- its direction from you;
- whether it is within 60 feet;
- the space where it reappeared if it teleported within that range.
If you make an attack against that creature before the end of your next turn, add the Warden Die to the attack roll.
This feature does not reveal a creature that has traveled beyond 60 feet.
Moonstep
Immediately after you make a weapon attack, you may expend one Warden Die to move a number of feet equal to:
5 × the number rolled on your Warden Die, to a maximum of your Speed.
This movement does not provoke Opportunity Attacks from the creature you attacked.
Root The Intruder
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you may expend one Warden Die.
Add the die to the attack's damage.
The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or its Speed becomes 0 until the beginning of your next turn.
A creature that teleports can still teleport unless another feature prevents it.
Sever the Glamour
When you damage a creature concentrating on a spell or magical effect, you may expend one Warden Die.
Add the die to the damage.
The creature has Disadvantage on the next Constitution saving throw it makes to maintain Concentration because of that attack.
If the effect is a charm, illusion, or enchantment, it also subtracts your Warden Die from that saving throw.
Turn the Hunter
When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you may use your Reaction and expend one Warden Die.
Move up to 10 feet without provoking an Opportunity Attack from that creature.
You may then make one weapon attack against it.
If the attack hits, add the Warden Die to its damage.
Walk Between the Leaves
At 7th level, your familiarity with glamour and fey movement has taught you to navigate spaces that confuse ordinary warriors.
You gain the following benefits.
Glamour-Sighted Instinct
You gain Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks made specifically to detect:
- illusions;
- hidden magical doors;
- disguised crossings;
- creatures concealed by magical visual distortion.
If you successfully determine that something is an illusion, you may communicate this to any creatures of your choice within 30 feet who can hear you.
Those creatures have Advantage on their next ability check or saving throw made to recognize that specific illusion.
Boundary Stride
Nonmagical Difficult Terrain caused by:
- plants;
- roots;
- mud;
- shallow water;
- rubble;
- natural forest undergrowth
does not cost you additional movement.
You also ignore movement penalties caused by harmless magical vegetation created as part of the normal environment.
Hostile magical effects can still create Difficult Terrain normally.
Step Through Confusion
When you begin your turn while Charmed or Frightened, you may immediately move 5 feet before making any required saving throw at the end or beginning of that turn.
This movement:
- does not provoke Opportunity Attacks;
- cannot move you closer to the source of your Frightened condition;
- cannot be prevented by the creature charming you unless your Speed is 0.
This represents ingrained physical routines that remain even when thought is compromised.
Deny the Crossing
At 10th level, you learn one of the Veilwarden's defining techniques: interrupting supernatural movement.
Your Warden Dice become d8s, and you gain a fifth Warden Die.
You also gain the following feature.
Deny the Crossing
When a creature you can see within 30 feet attempts to:
- teleport;
- enter another plane;
- pass through an active Feywild crossing;
- magically disappear from one location and reappear in another;
you may use your Reaction and expend one Warden Die.
The creature must make a Charisma saving throw against your Veilwarden Save DC.
On a Failed Save
The movement fails.
Any action, Bonus Action, or Reaction used to initiate it is expended.
If a spell slot or expendable charge powered the effect, that resource is also expended.
The creature remains in its original space.
On a Successful Save
The movement occurs normally, but you learn the direction and distance of its destination if it appears within 120 feet.
If the creature reappears within your weapon's normal range, you may make one weapon attack against it as part of the same Reaction.
Add the expended Warden Die to that attack's damage if it hits.
Legendary Resistance
If a creature uses Legendary Resistance or a similar feature to succeed against Deny the Crossing, the movement succeeds normally.
Veil-Hardened
Also at 10th level, you gain Resistance to Psychic damage while you are Charmed, Frightened, or concentrating upon maintaining control of yourself against a magical mental effect.
Additionally, whenever you succeed on a saving throw against a charm, illusion, or fear effect, you may immediately identify the creature or visible phenomenon responsible for that effect if it is within 60 feet of you.
Root and Veil
At 15th level, you have learned the two great approaches to Veilwarden combat:
Root, which refuses displacement;
and
Veil, which refuses confinement.
Your Warden Dice become d10s.
At the beginning of each of your turns, choose Root Stance or Veil Stance.
The stance lasts until the beginning of your next turn.
No action is required.
Root Stance
While in Root Stance:
- you have Advantage on Strength and Constitution saving throws made against forced movement;
- you cannot be knocked Prone unless you are Incapacitated;
- creatures provoke Opportunity Attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action;
- when you hit with an Opportunity Attack, the target's Speed becomes 0 for the remainder of that turn.
Root Stance represents the Verdant principle:
The line holds.
Veil Stance
While in Veil Stance:
- Opportunity Attacks against you have Disadvantage;
- moving through a hostile creature's reach does not cost additional movement;
- you have Advantage on saving throws against the Restrained condition;
- immediately after you successfully avoid or resist an Opportunity Attack, Grapple, or Restrained effect, you may move 5 feet without provoking Opportunity Attacks.
Veil Stance represents the Evershade principle:
What cannot be held cannot be owned.
Counterglamour Assault
Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature currently concentrating on or benefiting from an illusion, enchantment, teleportation, or planar-travel effect, you deal additional Psychic or Force damage equal to one roll of your Warden Die.
Choose the damage type when the damage is dealt.
This does not expend the die.
The Veil Does Not Break
At 18th level, you become one of the greatest mortal guardians of planar boundaries.
Your Warden Dice become d12s, and you possess six Warden Dice.
You gain the following features.
Unbroken Identity
You become Immune to the Charmed condition.
If you are Charmed when you gain this feature, that condition immediately ends.
You also gain Advantage on saving throws against:
- possession;
- effects that alter your memories;
- effects that magically compel you to act against your will.
Whenever you succeed on one of these saving throws, you may use your Reaction to move up to half your Speed and make one weapon attack.
Keeper at the Threshold
Your Deny the Crossing feature improves.
Its range becomes 60 feet.
Additionally, if a creature fails its saving throw against Deny the Crossing, you may choose one of the following effects.
Seal
The creature cannot teleport or voluntarily travel between planes until the end of your next turn.
Recoil
The creature takes Force damage equal to two rolls of your Warden Die + your Fighter level.
Pursuit
You immediately teleport to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the creature.
Because the creature's original movement failed, this teleport places you near its original location.
Shut the Door
If the interrupted movement involved an active Feywild crossing within 60 feet of you, you suppress that crossing until the beginning of your next turn.
No creature may voluntarily pass through it during that time.
Artifacts, deities, and planar phenomena of extraordinary power may be immune at the DM's discretion.
Guardian of Root and Veil
While you are conscious, you radiate a 10-foot Warden Aura.
You and creatures of your choice within the aura gain:
- Advantage on saving throws against being Charmed;
- Advantage on saving throws against being Frightened;
- Advantage on checks or saving throws against magical forced movement;
- awareness whenever a creature teleports into or out of the aura.
Additionally, hostile creatures cannot gain Advantage on attack rolls against creatures in the aura solely because they are Invisible.
They remain unseen, but your training allows those under your protection to recognize disturbance, sound, displaced foliage, shadow inconsistency, or magical pressure.
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