Some say gods gain power from the devotion of their followers, and that kings are strengthened by the approval of their subjects. Well you’re damned famous, and people spend more time each day thinking about your dramatic and entertaining feats than about stodgy monarchs or absent deities. Why shouldn’t your notoriety grant you power and influence?

A handful of notorious celebrities seem to only grow more impressive the more people hear of them. They demand attention, and attract followers (colloquially known as a posse) who do their bidding and share in their supernatural power. To take full advantage of their unique abilities they must make an effort to have an audience wherever they go, and they find it impossible to avoid scrutiny. This is perhaps not the best choice for a constable who might need to travel incognito, but sometimes the affection of fans is more useful than the indifference of strangers.

Prerequisite:  Docker's Jank feat (or Actor or Inspiring Leader), proficient in Performance, character level 7th, must be wildly popular as an entertainer

Features

Hit Dice: 1d8 per notorious celebrity level.

Hit Points: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per notorious celebrity level.

Roll with a Posse 

You attract four loyal followers, your “posse,” who protect you from unimportant people and do tasks you don’t have time for, as well as aid you in combat. Each member of your posse has the following stats , or something roughly equivalent.

Your posse members act on your initiative in combat, but normally they hang back and don’t attack. They’ll move where you direct without you needing to spend an action. You can spend an action to have them each take the Attack, Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help action. Thereafter they return to being noncombatants.

You have a subtle supernatural connection to each member of your posse, so whenever something deals damage to a posse member you can see, you can transfer that damage to yourself. If the same source damages multiple posse members simultaneously, you can protect all of them, but you only take the damage once. If a source would damage you and one or more of your posse members simultaneously, you can shield them automatically without taking any extra damage.

A posse member who dies should be mourned briefly and then can be replaced casually the next time you’re somewhere you have fans. You might eulogize them in a song, and everyone will admire how great you are for respecting whatever-their-name-was

Audience Participation

You’re unparalleled at getting the crowd on your side. If there are noncombatants present who are friendly to you and aware that you’re engaged in combat, whenever an enemy starts its turn within 5 feet of one or more of those noncombatants, the crowd deals 4 bludgeoning damage to that creature. This damage increases to 6 if you are 11th level, and 8 if you are 17th level. Your posse counts as noncombatants for this effect if you haven’t directed them to act in the past round.

Demand Attention

On your turn you can shout for attention. Choose one non-mindless enemy aware of you. That enemy has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than you until the end of your next turn. After using this ability, you cannot use it again until you take a short or long rest .

Crowd Effect

When you have an audience of at least eight non-combatant bystanders, their reactions bolster you. While you have an audience, you gain a +5 bonus on death saving throws, and whenever you drop an enemy you gain 6 temporary hit points. This increases to 9 if you are 11th level, and to 12 if you are 17th level.

Summon Audience

As a bonus action, you can create up to eight illusory people in a 20-foot cube within 120 feet, lasting for ten minutes or until you dismiss them. These illusions are as convincing as major image , and are lifelike but generally stationary unless you spend an action to have them move. You and your allies can move freely through the illusory crowd, but they are difficult terrain for enemies and grant cover against ranged attacks. These audience members count as real onlookers for the purpose of your audience participation and crowd effect abilities.

After using this power, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest .

One-Upmanship

You find it hard to let your allies have a moment in the spotlight. The first time each combat when an ally drops an enemy or scores a critical hit, you grant yourself the benefits of the Bardic Inspiration die from your Docker’s Jank feat. This doesn’t expend the die you would normally grant to your allies. If you don’t have the Docker’s Jank feat, instead you gain a d6 inspiration die.

Shock and Awe

When you hit an enemy with an attack or an enemy fails a save against a spell you cast , as a bonus action you can have one of your posse members attack the same enemy. If your posse member hits, the enemy is frightened of you until the end of your next turn unless it succeeds a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Charisma modifier).

All militaries spin their greatest war veterans into mythic heroes, who come to embody the ideals and hallmarks of various wars for their nation’s citizenry. Some rare veterans become empowered by this public investment in their life stories, and learn to manifest parts of their myth in battle today. At the veteran’s invocation, a remembered fusillade of cannons might strike a new foe, or a fallen ally might once again step in the path of a bullet to spare the veteran’s life.

These living monuments of war are often haunted by their fallen brethren or by the dishonorable acts they had to perform to survive, which they must now keep secret as the public cheers them as unimpeachable heroes. Yet others just wish to recapture their glory days or to get another shot at the enemies who wronged them and got away.

Ber’s national pride has been hurt by almost losing its first major war as a new nation, and Elfaivar is still constrained by the memories of losing the Second Victory. Both nations are likely to produce monuments of war, though Elfaivarans are more likely to recall barrages of arrows or spells than cannons

Prerequisite: Display of Heroism feat, proficient in Athletics and History, character level 7th

Features

Hit Dice: 1d12 per monument of war level.

Hit Points: 1d12 (or 7) + your Constitution modifier per monument of war level.

Instant Boot Camp

As a bonus action you can shout directions you recall from your own military training. You and each ally who can see or hear you becomes proficient in Athletics and proficient in all simple and martial weapons for the next minute. You and each of those allies can immediately stand up or drop prone , then walk 10 feet or crawl 5 feet. Once you have used this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest .

Fearless Mien

Accounts of your heroism carry their own strength. You and allies within 30 feet of you have advantage on saving throws against being frightened . When you use your Display of Heroism, each ally you affect can spend and roll one hit die, and heal that many hit points. If they were at 0 hit points, they instead heal that much plus 1.

Shell Shock

As an action you can call upon a powerful memory of being caught in an artillery barrage to conjure psychic manifestations of a cannon strike in your immediate vicinity. This manifestation must be centered on a space no more than 10 feet away, and strikes in a 15-foot-radius burst. Thus you must be caught in your own  remembered blast, though perhaps cover might shield you. Targets in the area take 7d6 points of force damage, and are pushed 5 feet and knocked prone . A successful Dexterity save (DC 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Constitution modifier) halves the blast is filled with dust and smoke, providing concealment until the end of your next turn.

After using this power, you cannot use it again until you take a short or long rest .

Do You Want to Live Forever?

You have survived bullet hells or arrow tempests where the crossfire should have killed anyone, and that story is so well-known and powerful that it protects you. When you have no physical cover or concealment , you gain the benefit of three-quarters cover against ranged attacks.

Remembrance of the Heroic Sacrifice

You can call upon the psychic memory of a long-dead friend to save an ally from an attack. When an attack is about to hit you or an ally, you can conjure the psychic manifestation, who is struck by the attack instead of the original target. The manifestation is instantly destroyed, but the original target of the attack is unaffected by it.

After you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest .

Cannon Overture

When you use your shell shock ability, on the following two rounds you may as a bonus action call in additional artillery strikes. These strikes do not need to include you in their area of effect, but each one must land at least 30 feet from the center point of any other previous strike.

Guns, feh. Guns are passé. The weapon of the future needs to do more than just shed blood. A firearm can store magical power, firing explosive projectiles, striking with beams of elemental energy, or creating even more unusual effects. You never know what tool you need to win a battle, but soon you will be able to carry them all at once!

Prerequisite:  The Man with Two Guns is God feat, proficient in Arcana, character level 7th, access to a technology lab with at least 500 gp in components

Features

Hit Dice: 1d10 per mad shootist level.

Hit Points: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per logos level.

Inventive Gunnery

Choose a type of non-grenade firearm. You have invented a “blaster,” a modular arcano-scientific version of that weapon which is powered by an unstable energy matrix. You can craft this blaster or upgrade an existing firearm by spending one day and 500 gp in raw materials beyond the normal price of the weapon.

You can have your blaster use its normal method of firing, or you can have it fire force blasts. These are identical to normal rounds, except they deal force damage and can be fired limitlessly without requiring reloading. And they sound very futuristic.

The energy matrix of a blaster is very volatile, and while you know how to keep your weapons within limits, if anyone else fires one of your blasters, it begins to pulse, and then if you do not regain possession within three rounds, it releases a burst of force energy. Each creature within 15 feet takes 7d6 force damage. A successful Dexterity save (DC 15) reduces the damage by half.

A blaster discharge doesn’t damage the weapon, but does drain it. Restoring the energy matrix requires 50 gp in raw materials and eight hours’ work, but any enchantments and other modifications on the weapon survive. If one of your blasters discharges, it cascades through the energy matrix of every other blaster you’ve crafted, which drains those weapons too.

Autofire

With the flip of a switch, your blaster converts from firing a single shot to releasing a volley of smaller force bolts. When you make an attack with your blaster, you can choose to autofire. This deals damage equal to your Dexterity modifier to each creature within 5 feet of the space you targeted with your attack. If you hit your primary target this doesn’t add any damage, but if you miss and would normally deal no damage, the autofire instead deals this grazing damage. Creatures that have cover relative to you take no damage from autofire. This graze damage is not increased by anything else (not ability modifiers, feats, smite spells, sneak attack, etc.), though resistances and vulnerabilities still apply.

If you are 11th level or higher, increase this damage to 2 + your Dex modifier, and at 17th level to 4 + your Dex modifier.

If you use autofire, during your next turn your blaster is overheated and cannot fire normal blasts, but it can use other abilities like beam shot and mobility shot.

Beam Shot

During a long rest you can use the energy matrix of a blaster to refine latent elemental energy in the environment and charge three cartridges, which glow blue, and red, and yellow. The cartridges lose their charge within a day, making it impossible—barring further technological innovation—to stockpile such ammo.

As an action or bonus action you can load one of these cartridges into your blaster. The next shot with your blaster creates a beam of energy that sounds even more futuristic. The cartridge loses its charge after use, but can be recharged during your next long rest.

• Freeze Ray. A creature hit by this beam is restrained by encasing ice, and if the attack reduces it to 0 hit points the beam immediately stabilizes it. The restrained creature or one who can touch the ice can use its action to make a Strength check (DC 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Intelligence modifier) to free the creature. While the creature is restrained, it is vulnerable to the first attack that damages it. Thereafter the ice is broken and it is freed.
• Shrink Ray. A creature you hit with this beam takes no damage but instead it shrinks by three size categories (gargantuan to huge, large, medium, small, tiny, and miniscule), it has disadvantage on Strength checks and saves, its speed is halved, and it deals half damage with its non-spell attacks. If it is reduced below Tiny, it instead deals only 1 damage with its non-spell attacks, and its speed is reduced to 5 ft. If the creature is incapacitated , it remains shrunk for one hour. Otherwise, it returns to its original size at the end of your next turn. At the Narrator’s discretion, other effects may apply.
• Wave Beam. This beam oscillates with visible peaks and troughs, ignoring static, inanimate objects and covering a wide enough area that you only need to aim in approximately the right spot. Your shot ignores cover and concealment . A creature struck by this shot takes an extra 1d10 damage. This increases to 2d10 if you  are 11th level, and 3d10 at 17th level.

Kinetic Repulse

You can spend a bonus action to activate an arctech kinetic shield, which surrounds you until the start of your next turn. It grants you resistance to all damage except psychic damage. Track how much damage is prevented this way. On your next turn, when your blaster deals damage to a creature, you can have it deal extra damage equal to how much the shield blocked, to a maximum of 20 extra damage. This repulsed energy can only damage one creature, even if you hit multiple with the same attack.

After you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest .

When you reach third level, you can activate this feature once on your turn without spending a bonus action.

Mobility Shot

You can fire an electrical grapple from your blaster as a bonus action. You target a solid anchor point at least 5 feet across within 30 feet and then fire a grapple beam. You can use your movement to pull yourself to that location and hang (so if you’re 20 feet away, it takes 20 feet of movement), or you can use it as the anchor point of a swing, so if you make a long jump you can add up to the length of your beam to the distance you jump (at the Narrator’s discretion). You can keep the grapple shot engaged as long as you want, but once you release it, it takes 5 minutes to recharge. While the grapple beam is engaged, you cannot fire your blaster.

If the anchor moves, the beam disengages. The grapple cannot damage creatures.

Rocket Launcher

After a long rest, you can create up to five rockets. Like beam shot cartridges, they destabilize after a day. Similar to an alchemical launcher, you can load a rocket as an action, and they function as grenades with your blaster’s range and attack bonus.

Hyper Beam

Instead of having your blaster overheat after using autofire, you can choose to have it use that unstable energy to charge a hyperbeam. On your next turn as an action you can unleash a 5-foot-wide beam out to the weapon’s maximum range. Make an attack roll against every creature in that line, and roll damage once to apply to all the targets. You also deal autofire damage to every creature within 5 feet of that line, and to any creature in the line that you miss with your attack roll. If you loaded a
beam shot charge, all these attacks are with the chosen beam. After this hyper shot, your blaster is depleted for five minutes.

Philosophers practice swaying people’s opinions with words, by reshaping how they think about the world. Convince a man that charity is wasting money on people who contribute nothing to society, and he will see a starving child as a beggar. Convince that same man that charity can lift up the poor so they rejoin the workforce, and he’ll see the same child as a potential worker or investment. Great heroism and horrid cruelty can occur when a powerful idea holds sway.

Underlying philosophy is the understanding that some if not all truths are relative. And some philosophers—whether they have grown jaded to the constant ebb and flow of ideologies battling for ascendance, or they have come to realize that even their own beliefs are impermanent and their perceptions inherently faulty—can effect changes in the world through speech alone.

It is said that the second-century Drakran philosopher von Copenhoff learned to yield such power after he discovered a book written by William Miller, a philosopher whose teachings were declared heretical by the Clergy. Perhaps the Clergy was wise, for von Copenhoff nearly took control of an entire nation by declaring to people in power one-by-one that they agreed with him.

Prerequisite:  Expression of Belief feat, proficient in Persuasion and Religion, character level 7th, must have convinced an enemy to surrender without fighting

Features

Hit Dice: 1d8 per logos level.

Hit Points: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per logos level.

Fiat

If opinion can be swayed by rhetoric, so too can behavior. You can impose this certainty upon the world by fiat. As  an action you can state what a creature you can see will do on its next turn. This command must be equivalent to the one-word  commands listed in the command spell—approach, drop, flee, grovel, halt, or something similar—though you state it as a declaration rather than an order, such as, “The red-haired brigand cast his weapons to the ground.”

If the creature fails a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier) it acts as you stated on its next turn if possible, taking no other actions or movement. This feature has no effect if your command is directly harmful to the target, but it can put it in a dangerous situation (standing beneath a teetering boulder, or running past foes and provoking opportunity attacks). This feature does not require the target to understand you, and it can affect undead targets normally. You can use this power at will, but after you use it on a given creature, you cannot use it on the same creature until you finish a long rest .

Pathos of the Inanimate

People can disagree with an argument, but inanimate objects have no power to resist your words. You can manipulate unattended objects by speech alone, causing furniture to move, trees to crack, locks and doors to open or close, and even guns to fire on their own, simply by stating it occurs.

As an action, you can move objects filling up to a 10-ft. square within 30 feet, objects as large as a person as a bonus action, and handheld items without spending an action. You can only manifest something that might happen to the object naturally in time, or that a person could cause the object to do, so you cannot make a tree float, but you could fling a butcher knife or have a wagon roll down the street at a walking pace. If you use this power in a way that might damage a creature, it will typically deal no more than 1d10 damage, with a Dexterity save (DC 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier) to negate.

This cannot affect objects that have been given a name, since doing so imbues them with a fragment of willpower.

Make It So

By framing luck and chance as an argument between possible futures, you can sometimes choose which argument is more convincing. As an action, choose a creature you can see and declare whether its next attack will hit or miss. The next time that creature makes an attack, it either hits or misses as you declared. This effect wears off if the creature takes a short or long rest . You can use this power at will, but after you use it on a given creature, you cannot use it on the same creature until you finish a long rest. If the creature has multiple attacks, you can choose a specific attack you wish to affect, such as, “The manticore’s bite shall miss.”

Ethos of the Unwilling

As a student of behavior and rhetoric, you know that if someone agrees to a small concession, they develop a small measure of trust. Even if they are not conscious of it, it becomes easier for you to get them to agree with you. Whenever you hit a creature with an attack or a creature fails a save against an effect you created, that creature takes a –2 penalty to its first attack roll on its next turn, and the DC of the first saving throw it makes a creature roll next turn is likewise reduced by 2.

Inexplicable Narration

Until one sees a place, that location could contain anything. You just need to convince it to be what you want.

As an action you may choose an area that you are unaware of the details of, no more than 20 feet across, and describe that area. If any creature enters that area within the next  five minutes, it will match the description until you finish a long rest . You can declare mundane objects or minor elements of terrain, but cannot use this feature to deal damage or to create creatures, magical effects, or objects of any noteworthy value.

Simple changes are almost always possible (e.g., the doors down that short hallway are unlocked, and the lever to deactivate any filled with weapons). At the Narrator’s discretion, however, more drastic declarations may cause the ability to simply fail (e.g., the hold of this ship is filled with lava; or a note explaining the villain’s plans just happens to be sitting on a table waiting for us).

After you use this power you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Undeniable Truth

When a creature fails a save against your Fiat feature, you may choose to state a more involved or long-lasting task. If the creature fails another Wisdom save (DC 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier), it follows your direction as it would the suggestion spell, except this feature does not require the creature to understand you.

The myriad motes shining in the night sky influence the world through subtle magic, and with the proper study that magic can be grasped and harnessed. Skyseers, familiar with sensing the patterns of the stars, can learn to wield this magic in battle, enhancing themselves, conjuring otherworldly destructive forces, or shifting the environment to be more like those of these wandering planes.

The Great Eclipse increased public interest in the heavens and in skyseers, and researchers at several new telescope observatories seek to measure the effects of the planets and stars, gaining deeper insights than traditional skyseers can glean with their more intuitive techniques.

The airship docks at Flint are currently constructing an experimental levitating scientific vessel, to be commanded by one Captain Phineas Mount-Redoubt, an academic skyseer who hopes to observe the night sky from above the clouds themselves. Mount-Redoubt hopes that this escapade will attract the attention and the patronage of one or both of Lanjyr’s space exploration agencies: Pemberton Industries’ interplanar exploration division, and the Drakran Planarnaya Razvedyvatel’naya Kompaniya.

Prerequisite:  Skyseer Vision feat, proficient in Arcana and Nature, character level 7th, must be able to name and identify all the planets detailed in Chapter Five

Features

Hit Dice: 1d6 per applied astronomist level.

Hit Points: 1d6 (or 4) + your Constitution modifier per applied astronomist level.

Spellcasting

Add the following spells to all of your classes’ spell lists: augury , clairvoyance , contact other plane , divination , guidance , guiding bolt . Whenever you gain a level in this class, it grants or advances your choice of bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, or wizard spellcasting, or warlock Pact Magic and Mystic Arcanum. This advancement includes spell slots, spells prepared, and spells known.

Stargazer

You gain darkvision with a range of 60 feet, or if you already have darkvision, its range is extended by 60 feet. The range increases to one mile under starlight or moonlight. You cannot be blinded .

Touching the Wheel of Heaven

Different planes are in ascendance or decline each day, entering or leaving conjunction with various constellations and other celestial phenomena. 

After a long rest , if you were able to spend an hour watching the night sky in the past day, roll two times on the following table to determine which planes you are able to connect to. Reroll duplicates. This connection determines the effects of some of your powers. The connection lasts until you finish a long rest, but no more than 24 hours.

Table: Planar Connections

1d8: Roll two times each day. 

1 – Jiese, plane of fire.

2 – Caeloon, plane of air.

3 – Av, plane of dreams.

4 – Ostea, plane of water.

5 – Urim, plane of earth.

6 – Mavisha, plane of journeys.

7 – Ascetia, plane of time.

8 – Amrou, plane of wards.

Heavenly Flare

As an action, you can choose one plane you are attuned to and one creature you can see within 60 feet. You manifest a flare of starlight which deals 2d6 radiant damage to that creature and inflicts an additional effect based on the plane you chose. The damage increases to 3d6 if your character level is 11 or higher, and 4d6 at level 17 or higher. A saving throw against your spell DC negates the damage and extra effect. The type of saving throw depends on which plane you choose.

Follow Yonder Star

You can let the stars guide your movement and protect you. At the start of your turn you can call upon the stars. This does not require an action. Until the end of your next turn opportunity attacks that target you or your allies automatically miss. You cannot use this feature again until you finish a long rest .

Space Travel

Each day you gain movement options or bonuses from the two planes you are connected to.

Cataclysmic Conjunction

As an action you can cause a portion of another plane to temporarily merge with reality. Choose a plane you’re attuned to today. A 15-foot-radius burst within 60 feet of you becomes suffused with the essence of that plane.

When you use this ability, creatures in the burst must make a save against your spell DC. The chosen plane determines the type of save, as with heavenly flare. On a failed save, a creature takes 4d6 force damage and 4d6 radiant damage and suffers the same effect as a heavenly flare of that plane. A creature that succeeds its save takes half as much damage and suffers no extra effect.

For the next five minutes, that area is altered, depending on what plane you chose. You cannot use this power again until you take a long rest .

The following ten prestige classes are tied to the character themes in Chapter One. You can multiclass into a prestige class if you meet the listed prerequisites. Each only has three levels. With each level you take in a prestige class your proficiency bonus increases normally (as if you had taken levels in a standard class).

Choose one of the twelve themes in Adventures in ZEITGEIST to provide a quick hook to link your character to the ZEITGEIST campaign setting. Themes don’t have a mechanical benefit, but can help your Narrator plan what sorts of adventures will appeal to you. Each theme offers an associated feat for characters who are especially committed to the ideals of the theme. As you gain levels, you could potentially even take multiple theme feats. These feats may be selected as part of your normal allocation of feats.

Most backgrounds are still suitable to the Zeitgeist setting, though might warrant a few small changes. Guilds have fallen out of favor outside of Crisillyir and Drakr, so “guildmember” could be replaced with “factory worker.” An “entertainer” might actually be a journalist, and the “charlatan” background could represent someone spying on behalf of a politician or industrialist.

Also, modern society and scholarship leads to a few new backgrounds.

Archaeologist |  Faction Agent | Investigator |  Riven Mind

The modern great nations of ZEITGEIST offer some new cultures.

Bloodmarked | De Guerra | Dialectician | Elfaivaran | Harimau | Pedresco | Steelmarked

These cultures are generally specific to ZEITGEIST . The Adventures in ZEITGEIST hardcover contains more setting-specific information. 

Most people won’t blink at the sight of a gnome or halfling, though outside of Risur they might not be able to tell the difference at a glance. Dragonborn, gnolls, goblins, kobolds, lizardfolk, and minotaurs all are respected in Ber. Devas have spread from a single battlefield in Crisillyir to every corner of the world. Many other peoples have homelands of their own, unknown to all but the wellread and the adventurous.

Despite their small population, two of the most well-known uncommon heritages are deva and gnolls. We also present brief entries for common Beran races not present in the core rules.

Deva | Gnoll | Goblin | Kobold | Lizardfolk | Minotaur

These heritages can be used in any Level Up game world. The Adventures in ZEITGEIST hardcover contains more setting-specific information, as well as setting information on humans, dwarves, elves, orcs, and tieflings.