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UNEARTHED ARCANA 2021Gothic LineagesBy F. Wesley Schneider, Ben Petrisor, and Jeremy Crawford, with input from the rest of the D&D design teamThis Is Playtest MaterialThe material in this article is presented for playtestingand to spark your imagination. These game mechanicsare in draft form, usable in your campaign but notrefined by full game design and editing. They aren’tofficially part of the game and aren’t permitted in D&DAdventurers League events.The best way for you to give us feedback is in thesurvey we’ll release on the D&D website soon. If wedecide to make this material official, it will be refinedbased on your feedback, and then it will appear in aD&D book.The character options you read here might be moreor less powerful than options in the Player’s Handbook.If a design survives playtesting, we adjust its power tothe desirable level before official publication. Thismeans an option could be more or less powerful in itsfinal form.This document features three new race optionsto playtest for player characters in D&D: Dhampir Hexblood RebornThese options are special; you can choose one atcharacter creation or at an appropriate timelater in a campaign, transforming your character.Creating Your CharacterAt 1st level, you choose whether your characteris a member of the human race or of one of thegame’s fantastical races. Alternatively, you canchoose one of the following lineages. If youchoose a lineage, you might have once been amember of another race, but you aren’t anylonger. You now possess only your lineage’sracial traits.When you create a character using a lineageoption here, follow these additional rules duringcharacter creation. 2021 Wizards of the Coast LLCAbility Score IncreasesWhen you determine your ability scores,increase one of those scores by 2, and increase adifferent one by 1. These increases can’t raise ascore above 20. You follow this rule regardless ofthe method you use to determine the scores,such as rolling or point buy. If you are replacingyour race with a lineage, replace any AbilityScore Increases you previously had with these.LanguagesYour character can speak, read, and writeCommon and one other language that you andyour DM agree is appropriate for the character.The Player’s Handbook offers a list of widespreadlanguages to choose from. The DM is free to addor remove languages from that list for aparticular campaign. If you are replacing yourrace with a lineage, you retain any languages youhad and gain no new languages.Creature TypeEvery creature in D&D, including every playercharacter, has a special tag in the rules thatidentifies the type of creature they are. Mostplayer characters are of the Humanoid type. Arace option presented here tells you what yourcharacter’s creature type is.List of Types. Here’s a list of the game’screature types in alphabetical order: Aberration,Beast, Celestial, Construct, Dragon, Elemental,Fey, Fiend, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrosity, Ooze,Plant, Undead. These types don’t have rulesthemselves, but some rules in the game affectcreatures of certain types in different ways. Forexample, the text of the cure wounds spellspecifies that the spell doesn’t work on acreature that has the Construct or Undead type.Having More Than One Type. Some creaturesare of more than one creature type. If an effectworks on at least one of a creature’s types, thateffect can work on that creature. For example, ifyou are both a Humanoid and an Undead, curewounds works on you, since the spell works on aHumanoid.1

Design Note: Changes to Racial TraitsIn 2020, the book Tasha’s Cauldron of Everythingintroduced the option to customize several of yourcharacter’s racial traits, specifically the Ability ScoreIncrease trait, the Language trait, and traits that giveskill, armor, weapon, or tool proficiencies.Following in that book’s footsteps, the race options inthis article and in future D&D books lack the AbilityScore Increase trait, the Language trait, the Alignmenttrait, and any other trait that is purely cultural. Racialtraits henceforth reflect only the physical or magicalrealities of being a player character who’s a member ofa particular lineage. Such traits include things likedarkvision, a breath weapon (as in the dragonborn), orinnate magical ability (as in the forest gnome). Suchtraits don’t include cultural characteristics, like languageor training with a weapon or a tool, and the traits alsodon’t include an alignment suggestion, since alignmentis a choice for each individual, not a characteristicshared by a lineage.Finally, going forward, the term “race” in D&D refersonly to the suite of game features used by playercharacters. Said features don’t have any bearing onmonsters and NPCs who are members of the samespecies or lineage, since monsters and NPCs in D&Ddon’t rely on race or class to function. Moreover, DMsare empowered to customize the features of thecreatures in their game as they wish.DhampirPoised between the worlds of the living and thedead, dhampirs retain their grip on life yet areendlessly tested by vicious hungers. Their ties tothe undead grant dhampirs a taste of a vampire’sdeathless prowess in the form of increasedspeed, darkvision, and a life-draining bite. Withunique insights into the nature of the undead,many dhampirs turn to the lives of adventurersand monster hunters. Their reasons are oftendeeply personal. Some seek danger, imaginingmonsters as personifications of their ownhungers. Others pursue revenge againstwhatever turned them into a dhampir. And stillothers embrace the solitude of the hunt, strivingto distance themselves from those who’d tempttheir hunger.Dhampir HungersEvery dhampir knows a thirst slaked only by theliving. This desire is a whisper in the mind, atinge to the sight, a reflex constantly needing tobe suppressed. Those who overindulge theirthirst risk losing control and forever viewing 2021 Wizards of the Coast LLCothers as prey. Those who resist might findexceptional ways of controlling their urges orsuppress it through constant, molar-grindingrestraint. In any case, temptation hauntsdhampirs, and circumstances conspire to givethem endless reasons to indulge.While many dhampirs thirst for blood, yourcharacter might otherwise gain sustenance fromthe living. Roll on or choose an option from theDhampir Hungers table to determine whattempts your character to feed.Dhampir Hungersd812345678HungerBloodFlesh or raw meatCerebral spinal fluidEsoteric humorsPsychic energyA color from one’s appearanceDreamsLife energyDhampir OriginsDhampirs often arise from encounters withvampires, but all manner of macabre bargains,necromantic influences, and encounters withmysterious immortals might have transformedyour character. The Dhampir Origins tableprovides suggestions for how your charactergained their lineage.Dhampir Originsd812345678OriginYou are the reincarnation of an ancestor whowas a vampiric tyrant.Your pact with a predatory deity, fiend, fey, orspirit causes you to share their hunger.You survived being attacked by a vampire butwere forever changed.A parasite inhabits your body. You indulgeyour hunger to sate it.You loved an immortal and were willing to betransformed into a vampire to join them, buttragedy interrupted the transformation.You are a diminished manifestation of anotherworldly being. Slaking your hungerhastens your renewal.You don’t know your origins, but you wereraised by vampires or other monsters.A radical experiment changed your body,making you reliant on others for vital fluids.2

Dhampir TraitsType: Humanoid and UndeadSize: Medium or Small (choose when you gainthis lineage)Speed: 35 feetDarkvision. You can see in dim light within 60feet of you as if it were bright light and indarkness as if it were dim light.Spider Climb. You have a climbing speed equalto your walking speed. In addition, at 3rd level,you can move up, down, and across verticalsurfaces and upside down along ceilings, whileleaving your hands free.Vampiric Bite. Your fanged bite is a naturalweapon, which counts as a simple melee weaponwith which you are proficient. You add yourConstitution modifier to the attack and damagerolls when you attack with your bite. Your bitedeals 1d4 piercing damage on a hit. While youare missing half or more of your hit points, youhave advantage on attack rolls you make withthis bite.When you use your bite and hit a creature thatisn’t a Construct or an Undead, you can empoweryourself in one of the following ways of yourchoice: regain hit points equal to the damage dealt bythe bite gain a bonus to the next ability check or attackroll you make; the bonus equals the damagedealt by the biteYou can empower yourself with your bite anumber of times equal to your proficiencybonus, and you regain all expended uses whenyou finish a long rest.HexbloodWhere wishing fails, ancient magic can offer aheart’s desire—at least, for a time. Hexbloodsare individuals infused with eldritch magic, feyenergy, or mysterious witchcraft. Some whoenter into bargains with hags gain their deepestwishes but eventually find themselvestransformed. These changes evidence a hag’sinfluence: ears that split in forked points, skin inwild shades, lengthy hair that regrows if cut, andan irremovable living crown. Along with thesemarks, hexbloods manifest hag-like traits, suchas long life, darkvision, and a variety of magical 2021 Wizards of the Coast LLCmethods to beguile the senses and avoid thesame.While many hexbloods gain their lineage aftermaking a deal with a hag, others reveal theirnature as they age—particularly if a haginfluenced them early in life or even before theirbirth. Many hexbloods turn to lives of adventure,seeking to discover the mysteries of their magic,to forge a connection with their fey natures, or toavoid a hag that obsesses over them.Heir of HagsOne way hags create more of their kind isthrough the creation of hexbloods. Everyhexblood exhibits features suggestive of the hagwhose magic inspires their powers. Thisincludes an unusual crown, often called a“eldercross” or “witch’s turn.” This living,garland-like part of a hexblood’s body extendsfrom their temples and wraps behind the head,serving as a visible mark of the bargain betweenhag and hexblood, a debt owed, or a change tocome.Becoming a HagHags can undertake a ritual to irreversibly transform ahexblood they created into a new hag, either one oftheir own kind or that embodies the hexblood’s nature.This requires that both the hag and hexblood be in thesame place and consent to the lengthy ritual—circumstances most hexbloods shun but might come toaccept over the course of centuries. Once a hexbloodundergoes this irreversible ritual, they emerge as a hagNPC no longer under the control of the hexblood’splayer, unless the DM rules otherwise.Hexblood OriginsA bargain with a hag or other eerie forcestransformed your character into a magical being.Roll on or choose an option from the HexbloodOrigins table to determine how your charactergained their lineage.Hexblood Originsd8123OriginSeeking a child, your parent made a bargainwith a hag. You are the result of thatarrangement.Fey kidnappers swapped you and yourparents’ child.A coven of hags lost one of their members.You were created to replace the lost hag.3