Wyvern Rider (5e Class)
Wyvern Rider
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A half-orc knight, riding his wyvern cladded in steel, fly over a battlefield and order his draconic companion to pick an enemy soldier with his claws. The wyvern take the desperate soldier to the skies, and then drop it to his certain death on the floor bellow.
An aarackroka sentinel, guarding his tribe encrusted on the mountains, with his wyvern as his mount and loyal companion, spot a young red dragon approach, ready to claim both the territory and the treasure on the local as his own. With bravery, he charges towards the dragon, leaping from the wyverns back. Both fly towards the dragon in a perfectly synchronized attack, moving as if only one mind controlled their actions.
An elf, exploring a ruined city, looking for knowledge and gold, is approached from behind by an horde of ghouls. They where already noticed by his eye on the sky, the wyvern who launches towards the undeads. While the great dragon approaches, the elf makes some gestures with his hands, commanding with arcane words the dragon to breath fire, burning them to the ground.
Those are examples of wyvern riders, tamers and companions of the most feral of the dragons. They are defined by their connection with a wyvern, but vary on the way they approach this connection. The wyverns are more than mere mounts, acting as extensions of the rider mind and body, fighting in unison and developing deep connections, that allow them to manifest incredible powers. For this very reason, they are a sight on the battlefield, inspiring fear and admiration on both allies and enemies.
Powerful Bond
The first thing a wyvern companion sees when his egg hatches is the face of his rider, and from very young age, the wyvern is trained and taken care off by him. The wyverns are, in their natural state, very aggressive, which makes this first contact with his future companion crucial to tame their instincts and make them docile enough to be mounted.
The development of the bond between rider and wyvern is both arcane and mundane in nature. The mundane portion is not to dissimilar to the process of taming an wild animal. The arcane process, on the other hand, involves a ritual that links the essence of both rider an wyvern. This ritual uses the skin from the first skin-change of the wyvern, the dust of his eggshell and some other arcane supplies, who are made into a potion, drank by the rider. After this ritual, some rider's brotherhoods often give to the rider a symbol of this bond, like a tattoo or a token object (rings and pendants are common options).
Creating a Wyvern Rider
When creating a wyvern rider, decide, with your DM, what role the wyvern rider have in your campaing setting. They are part of an organized army of an realm or nation? They are a common division on the fantasy army or maybe exclusively trained by an specific country? They are an older and almost extinct order, with a tradition almost forgotten? Or they are not even an organized class, and the ritual of bonding with a wyvern is a secret kept by an old master or a family, or even discovered by your character alone.
After deciding whats the place of the class in the world, you need to do the same for your character. How did you become a wyvern rider? Did you have a master and formal training, or discovered how to bond with wyverns by yourself? Did you have discovered a lost wyvern egg while wandering through the woods and decided to hatch and train the wyrmling? Whats your goal as a wyvern rider? Protect the borders of your homeland? Or maybe invade the enemy borders, in a quest to expansion in the name of your nation. Maybe you are just an avid researcher on the behavior and nature of wyverns, and seeking to further the conection between you and the wyvern. Or maybe what interest you is the draconic heritage of the wyverns, and how it is possible to explore that conection to use magic. And others just want to become better riders, exploring new lands while riding the winds on the back of your dragon, in search for adventures.
- Quick Build
You can make a wyvern rider quickly by following these suggestions. First, put your highest ability score in Dexterity, followed by Constitution. Chose Intelligence instead of Constitution if you are intending to chose the Brotherhood of Sorcery subclass. Chose Strength instead of Dexterity and Charisma as your third higher ability if you are intending to go with the Brotherhood of the Wyvern Knights. Finally, choose the knight background.
Class Features
As a Wyvern Rider you gain the following class features.
- Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d8 per Wyvern Rider level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + Constitution modifier per Wyvern Rider level after 1st
- Proficiencies
Armor: Light armor, medium armor
Weapons: simple weapons.
Tools: none
Saving Throws: Strength,Dexterity
Skills: Chose two from Athletics, Animal Handling, Intimidation, Insight, Nature and Persuasion.
- Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
- (a) Spear or (b) any simple weapon
- (a) Handaxe or (b) any simple weapon
- An explorer's pack and a shortbow
| Level | Proficiency Bonus | Features | Natural Weapons | Flight Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +2 | Wyvern Companion, Trained Rider | 1d6 | - |
| 2nd | +2 | Share Pain, Flight Training | 1d6 | +10 ft |
| 3rd | +2 | Rider Brotherhood | 1d6 | +10 ft |
| 4th | +2 | Ability Score Improvement | 1d6 | +10 ft |
| 5th | +3 | Multiattack | 1d6 | +20 ft |
| 6th | +3 | Poisonous Sting | 1d8 | +20 ft |
| 7th | +3 | Wyvern Companion | 1d8 | +20 ft |
| 8th | +3 | Ability Score Improvement | 1d8 | +20 ft |
| 9th | +4 | Encouraging Friendship | 1d8 | +30 ft |
| 10th | +4 | Rider Brotherhood Feature | 1d8 | +30 ft |
| 11th | +4 | Death From Above | 1d10 | +30 ft |
| 12th | +4 | Ability Score Improvement | 1d10 | +30 ft |
| 13th | +5 | Aerial Terror | 1d10 | +40 ft |
| 14th | +5 | Defensive Command | 1d10 | +40 ft |
| 15th | +5 | Rider Brotherhood Feature | 1d10 | +40 ft |
| 16th | +5 | Ability Score Improvement | 1d10 | +40 ft |
| 17th | +6 | Destructive Charge | 2d6 | +40 ft |
| 18th | +6 | Rider Brotherhood Feature | 2d6 | +50 ft |
| 19th | +6 | Ability Score Improvement | 2d6 | +50 ft |
| 20th | +6 | Soul Mates | 2d6 | +50 ft |
Wyvern Companion
Starting at 1st level, you gain the services of a Wyvern, that you have raised and trained since it was born. It is friendly to you and your companions, and it obeys your commands. See this creature's game statistic on the wyvern companion block.
In combat, the wyvern acts independently of you, but it always obeys your command. In combat, i rolls initiative and acts on its own turn. It can't attack without your command to do so, but it can take other actions as normal. You can command your wyvern to attack as an action on your turn.
You can mount your wyvern. The initiative of a mounted wyvern changes to match yours when you mount it. You can only move to dismount your wyvern, while mounted. It moves as you direct it, and it has only three action options: Dash, Disengage, and Dodge. A mounted wyvern can move and act even on the turn that you mount it. All other rules of mounted combat apply. Your wyvern can still use its reaction to make an attack, at your command. While mounted, your wyvern is unable to fly, but it can use its wings to aid its jump, doubling its jump height. If you are wearing heavy armor, your wyvern can't jump and his movement speed is reduced to half.
When your wyvern is slain by a creature, you gain advantage on all attack rolls against the killer for the next 24 hours. If the wyvern dies, you can perform a special ritual to bring it back to life. The ritual is performed as part of a long rest to summon his soul and regenerate his body.
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| Dragon Hunter by LiXin Yin |
| Wyvern
Large dragon, same alignment as the rider Armor Class 12+ wyvern rider proficiency bonus Hit Points equal the wyvern’s Constitution modifier + five times your wyvern rider level (the wyvern has a number of Hit Dice [d8s] equal to your wyvern rider level) Speed 20 ft, 30 ft fly (must end the movement on the ground, or is considered falling for the distance above the ground). STR 15 (+2) DEX 10 (+0) CON 12 (+1) INT 5 (-3) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 6 (-2) Saving Throws Strength and chose one between Wisdom and Constitution. Skills Chose two skills. Damage Immunities The dragon is immune to the damage type associated with it. Senses passive Perception 10 Languages draconic Continued Training. The following numbers increase by 1 when your proficiency bonus increases by 1: the wyvern’s skill and saving throw bonuses (above) and the bonuses to hit and damage of its rend attack.
ACTIONS Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5ft., one target you can see. Hit: 1d6 + 2 piercing damage. The damage increases according the the Natural Weapons Column on the Wyvern Rider table.
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Trained Rider
Starting at 1st level, your mastery as a rider becomes apparent. You have advantage on saving throws made to avoid falling off your wyvern. If you fall off your mount and descend no more than 10 feet, you can land on your feet if you’re not incapacitated. Mounting or dismounting a creature costs you only 5 feet of movement, rather than half your speed.
Share Pain
At 2nd level, you can use the magical bond between you and your wyvern to protect him from harm. While your wyvern is within 30 feet, when he takes damage, you can use your reaction to split that damage between you and your wyvern.
Flight Training
At 2nd level, you start to improve your wyvern's ability to flight. The flight movement speed of the wyvern increases according to the Flight Improvement column on the Wyvern Rider table.
Rider Brotherhood
When you reach the 3rd level, you choose a rider's brotherhood, that shapes the way you develop your link with your Wyvern. Chose between the Brotherhood of the Wyvern Knights, the Brotherhood of Connection, and the Brotherhood of Sorcery.
The archetype you choose grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th level.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Multiattack
When you reach the 5th level, you can command your Wyvern to make two attacks, instead of only one: one with its bite and one with its stinger.
Poisonous Sting
At 6th level, your wyvern has developed the glands to produce venom. A creature that takes damage from the attack with the stinger of the wyvern must make a Constitution saving throw. The saving throw to resist the poison is equal 8 + your proficiency bonus + the wyvern's Constitution modifier.
On a failed save, the target takes poison damage equal to 3d6, or half as much on a successful one. This feature can be used a number of times equal to your wyvern's Constitution modifier (minimum once). Once the wyvern has spent all his uses of this feature, it cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
The poison damage increases in 1d6 when you reach the 8th level (4d6), 11th level (5d6), 14th level (6d6) and 17th level (7d6).
Encouraging Friendship
At 9th level, while your wyvern can see you, it has advantage on all saving throws.
In addition, as long you and your wyvern can see each other, you are both immune to the frightened and charmed conditions.
Death From Above
At 11th level, you have trained your wyvern into mastering its flying skills. Your wyvern no longer needs to end his turn on the ground. While you are wearing light or medium armor, your dragon can carry you while walking without any reduction on its movement speed, and while flying with half of his movement speed.
In addition, your wyvern can now uses its claws to attack. Once in each of your turns, you can command your wyvern to replace one of his attacks with the claw attack, dealing damage equal to 2d6 + his Strength modifier. The damage increases to 2d8 when you reach 17th level.
Aerial Terror
When you reach the 13th level, you can perform quick aerial maneuvers with your wyvern. When you attack a creature during the flight movement of your wyvern, this movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks for entering or leaving the reach of a creature.
Defensive Command
At 14th level, whenever an attacker that your wyvern can see hits it with an attack, it can use its reaction to halve the attack’s damage against it.
Wyvern Rage
At 17th level, you can use your action to use all his natural weapons at once. The wyvern can make one attack with each of its natural weapons (claw, bite and tail). Each natural weapon must be used against a different target, and all targets must be within 5 feet of the wyvern.
Soul Mates
When you reach the 20th level, your bond with the wyvern is a link that transcends death. If you die, your wyvern, if it is within 60 feet, can sacrifice its life to restore yours (no action required).
You come back with any hit points remaining on the wyvern, and for the next hour, is under the effects of the heroism spell.
Wyvern Rider Brothehood
The wyvern riders are part of specific brotherhoods, with different emphasis on the exploration of the link between a wyvern and his rider. There are three brotherhoods: the Brotherhood of Soul, the Brotherhood of the Wyvern Knighs and the Brotherhood of Sorcery.
Brotherhood of the Wyvern Knights
The rider from the Brotherhood of the Wyvern Knights focus on the training of mounted combat techniques with wyvern, developing the synchrony of movements, and teaching the art of war to its companion. Wyvern knights are often members of a highly specialized heavy cavalry of an army, either by being part of the regular army of realms who employ those knights, or as mercenary guilds. Due to the difficult of finding armors suited to protect his special mounts, a wyvern knighs are versed in blacksmithing, crafting powerful garments for themselves and for their wyverns.
- Ironclad Knight
Starting at 3rd level, your training as a wyvern knight have led you to the learning of how to craft and use weapons and armors, and how to teach your wyvern to do so. You gain proficiency with the smith's tools. If you already have this proficiency, you can add the double of your proficiency modifier to make checks with it.
In addition, you gain proficiency with martial weapons and with heavy armors. Your wyvern doesn't suffer any movement speed reduction if you are riding it while using heavy armor.
- Metal Scales
At 3rd level, you have learned the process of how to create a powerful armor to protect your companion. You create a suit of armor adapted to your dragon, with the statistics of the full plate armor. This suit of armor can endure blows directed towards the wyvern, grating him a number of temporary hit points equal to twice your level on this class.
When the armor reaches 0 hit points, the armor is no longer usable until is repaired, and the wyvern lose the AC of the armor. You can repair an armor with 1 hour of work, which can be done as part of a long rest.
You can also adapt a magical suit of armor you find into a wyvern armor. You need to spend half of the time and gold pieces you would normally spend to craft the armor from scratch.
- Warding Wings
At 3rd level, you can use your bonus action to command your wyvern to engulf a creature within 5 feet of it with his wings, grating the creature the benefits of a half-cover, until the beginning of your next round.
- Wyvern Jousting
At 7th level, you can use your action to command your wyvern to take the Charge action. When the wyvern makes a Charge, it moves at least 10 feet in a straight line and can make one melee weapon attack against a creature within its reach. Additionally, when you command your wyvern to Charge, you can make one attack as a bonus action.
- Diligent Warden
At 10th level, if your wyvern haven't moved on the round yet, when a creature within a range equal to the wyvern flying movement is target of an attack, you can use your reaction to command the wyvern to rush towards the the target to protect it. When you do this, the wyvern takes damage instead of the creature. If the attack was a melee attack, the attacker must make a Strength saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + the wyvern Strength modifier. On a failed save, the creature is pushed 5 feet away from the wyvern and is knocked prone.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier. You regain your ability to do so when you complete a short or a long rest.
- Sentinel Stance
At 15th level, when a creature enter or leave a space within 5 feet of your wyvern, you can command it to use its reaction to make an opportunity attack. You must be able to communicate the command to your wyvern, and this feature doesn't require you to take any action.
- Aerial Charge
At 18th level, if your wyvern fly for at least 20 feet, you can make an aerial charge. You can command your wyvern to attack with his claws and, in a success, the target must make a Strength saving throw against a DC equal to the 8 + your proficiency bonus + the wyvern's Strenght modifier. On a success, you can snatch the creature from the ground and carry with you, then dropping it at any point of your movement. The creature take fall damage equal to 1d6 for each 10 feet you move with it.
Brotherhood of Connection
The rider from the Brotherhood of Connection are specialists in the training of wyverns, and explore the nature of the link between wyvern and rider.They can see through their eyes and think with their minds, what make them act as one.
- Specialist Tamer
At 3rd level, you can add the double of your proficiency modifier to your Charisma (Animal Handling) check and you gain proficiency in Wisdom (Insight). If you are already proficient with this skill, you can add the double of your proficiency modifier to checks made with it.
- Instantaneous Command
When you chose this brotherhood at 3rd level, you gain the ability to use your telepathic bond to command your wyvern instantly, directing your mount as if it where an extension of your own body. While your wyvern is within 30 feet, you can command it in the following ways:
- When your wyvern is targeted by an attack, you can use your reaction to add your proficiency bonus to his AC, potentially causing the attack to fail.
- You can use the Help action to aid your wyvern as a bonus action. Additionally, when you use the Help action to aid the wyvern in attacking a creature, the target of that attack can be within 30 feet of you, rather than 5 feet of you, if the target can see or hear you.
- You can, as a bonus action, command your wyvern to use the Dash or Disengage action. This is considered a bonus action taken by the wyvern, rather than an action.
- Bonded Minds
At 7th level, you start to furthering your connection with your wyvern. While you are mounted on the wyvern, you gain darkvision with a range of 60 feet and a bonus to your passive Wisdom (Perception) score and to Wisdom (Perception) checks. The bonus equals your Charisma modifier. While you are mounted, the wyvern can’t be targeted by any attack or other harmful effect; it don't have an initiative score, sharing yours.
You can see through the wyvern's eyes and hear what it hears while it is within 100 feet of you. If you spend 10 minutes, you can enter on a meditative state, allowing you to see through your wyverns eyes and control his movement up to a range of 1000 feet. During this time, you are considered incapacitated.
- Encouragement Shout
At 10th level, if your wyvern is within 30 feet and drops to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to cause it to have 1 hit point instead. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you complete a short or a long rest.
- Synergistic Combat
At 15th level, the wyvern's mind and yours work as one. While you and your wyvern can see each other and are within 30 feet of one another, when you use your action to command the wyvern to attack, you can use your bonus action to make a weapon attack.
- Mind Split
At 18th level, you can focus on controlling your wyvern and your own actions at the same time. For 1 minute, your wyvern can act independently of you. While in this state, he can use his action, bonus action or reaction to activate any class features that usually require your command to do so. When the effect ends, you suffer one level of exhaustion. Once you use this feature, you can't do it again until you complete a long rest.
Brotherhood of Sorcery
The rider from the Brotherhood of Sorcery researches the relation between wyverns and dragons, awakening the dormant magic capabilities inside the wyverns.
| Wyvern Rider Level |
Cantrips Known |
Spells Known |
—Spell Slots per Spell Level— | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | ||||
| 3rd | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | — | — | — |
| 4th | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — | — | — |
| 5th | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — | — | — |
| 6th | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — | — | — |
| 7th | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | — | — |
| 8th | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | — | — |
| 9th | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | — | — |
| 10th | 3 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | — | — |
| 11th | 3 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 | — | — |
| 12th | 3 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 | — | — |
| 13th | 3 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | — |
| 14th | 3 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | — |
| 15th | 3 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | — |
| 16th | 3 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — |
| 17th | 3 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — |
| 18th | 3 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — |
| 19th | 3 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 20th | 3 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
- Arcane Researcher
When your chose this brotherhood at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Arcana skill, and you have advantage in all Intelligence (Investigation) checks related to the story of dragons or magic.
- Quintessential Fangs
At 3rd level, the attacks with the natural weapons of the wyvern are considered magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
- Spellcasting
- When you reach 3rd level, you learn how to use the dormant arcane power from your wyvern to cast spells. To cast a spell, you must be within 60 feet of your wyvern.
- Cantrips
- You learn two cantrips of your choice from the sorcerer spell list. You learn an additional sorcerer cantrip of your choice at 10th level.
- Spell Slots
- The Brotherhood of Sorcery Spellcasting table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. you regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
- Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher
- You know three 1st-level sorcerer spells of your choice. The Spells Known column of the Brotherhood of Sorcery spellcasting table shows when you learn more sorcerer spells of 1st level or higher.
- Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of the sorcerer spells he know with another spell of your choice from the sorcerer spell list. The new spell must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
- Spellcasting Ability
- Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for the sorcerer spells, since you learn this power through research and study. You use your Intelligence whenever a spell refers to his spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a sorcerer spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier
- Draconic Heritage
At 7th level, you can use your arcane research to activate the atrophied Fundamentum of the wyvern, enabling it to use its breath weapon. The breath weapon affects a cone 30-foot wide, and deals damage equal to the damage of your Poisonous Sting feature. The type of damage is chosen when you gain this feature, from the following: acid, cold, fire, lighting and poison.
Once you have chosen the breath weapon, the choice is definitive. You can spend one of your uses of the Poisonous Sting feature to activate the breath weapon.
- Magical Conductor
At 10th level, you can use your wyvern to deliver spells. You can cast any spell you know from your wyvern's position.
In addition, you can spend 1 minute to store a any spell with self or touch range on your dragon, and use your reaction to activate. The spells with "self" range will be cast onto the wyvern . The spells with the touch range can be delivered after a successful attack of the dragon with its natural weapons, once in each of your turns.
You can store up to three spell slots onto your wyvern. The level of the spell slot stored must be one bellow the higher level spell slot available to you.
- Magic Repositioning
At 15th level, you gain the ability to swap places with your wyvern. While you and your wyvern are within 30 feet, you can magically swap places with it, using your action.
- Arcane Assault
At 18th level, whenever you cast a spell of 1st-level or higher using your action, you can command your wyvern to attack as a bonus action.
Multiclassing
Prerequisites. To qualify for multiclassing into the wyvern rider class, you must meet these prerequisites: 13 Dexterity and 13 Charisma.
Proficiencies. When you multiclass into the wyvern rider class, you gain the following proficiencies: light armor, medium armor and simple weapons.
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