Caliber, an Urban Fantasy setting for D&D

If I’m ever pitching the Caliber setting to a new group of players, I wrote this to use as a primer!

On the 16^th of July, 1945, the Trinity Nuclear Test was carried out as part of the Manhattan Project. The codename ‘Trinity’ was assigned by Robert J. Oppenheimer, the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory at the time. He picked it with a bit of inspiration from the poetry of John Donne (well-read man that he was).

It was Oppenheimer that, upon seeing the massive nuclear explosion from the bomb he’d helped design, found himself quoting the Bhagavad Gita: ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ He was very well-read.

He was also quite wrong. He was less “destroyer of worlds” and more “opener of gates”. The massive power of the atomic bomb effectively cracked our reality and let the Outside in. Magic spilled through the fractures in the atoms, and opened the way to an infinite line of alternate worlds with ours as the Fulcrum at their center. As with any parallel world, the further from the Fulcrum, the less recognisable they were. Closer to a particular alignment—or Watchtower—and more steeped in its influence.

So, the Earth received its first Outsiders. They’d always been invited; talked about in stories as vague knowledge of them seeped into Humanity’s narrative consciousness. But they’d never attended in-person before. Or, maybe when they arrived, they found identities already waiting in the form of human tales, and slipped them on like comfortable old shoes.

Of the Outsiders, there were four main camps, most of them just seeking better lives: The Draconic, from the direction of Order, with an innate desire to collect and catalogue. The Fae, from the direction of Chaos, leaning hard on narrative roles to keep themselves together. From what was originally termed ‘Evil’, and later redefined as Death, came the Infernals; Demons, Devils, Fiends. They had additional, abstract senses and the ability to shift into monstrous forms, but were otherwise no more prone to ‘evil’ than any other Outsider. From Life, formerly ‘Good’, came the Angelic. Literal Angels, connected to places or concepts, and each with its own interpretation of what Life – the Watchtower itself – wanted.

The Alignments weren’t Gods, and couldn’t be reached or even really be observed. Generally, each alignment is referred to as a ‘Watchtower’ and is less an entity and more a different blueprint for the laws of reality. You can’t meet them, but you could travel so far towards one that its power was all that existed anymore.

The closest things to physical forms for them were their Avatars, which would sometimes manifest as Mantles placed on strongly-aligned individuals. In 1946, a Fiend wearing the Mantle of the Anarchist single-handedly destroyed a small European country, and with it the recipe for a bean-based dessert called ‘Spüngentort’.

Outside forces had infected the world. The world, though, wasn’t made to support magic. And its place on the alignment axis was gradually tipping… well, out of alignment. For the most part, Humanity didn’t notice thanks to an evolutionary adaptation that filters out the unexplainable. But some things were too much for even this perception filter to ignore.

So it turned out that the world had an immune system of sorts; a Mantle of its own for the unaligned. To eliminate contaminants – which was to say, Magic and anything else from Outside – the world could convert Vanilla Humans into Auditors, like turning red blood cells into white ones (or like Agents in the Matrix). All it took was for magic to be seen, and bang, you were getting Audited, with near-universally fatal results. An estimated 95% of all humans are made Auditors when facing the supernatural, with the remaining 5% snapping and acclimatising to the newly-visible world. While 5% of seven billion is a very high number of people, 95% of seven billion is considerably more.

Something needed to be done.

A treaty was drafted. The Fae, the Infernal, the Draconic, and the Angelic – plus a representative of Humanity who would go on to found the Caliber Institute – signed the Inside Accords, agreeing to keep each other, and the world, in balance. They would do everything they could to keep the general populace from discovering them, and as a result immigration could keep running. The Caliber Institute would help facilitate this, acting as a covert intermediary between Outsiders looking to start new lives on the Fulcrum and unknowing local governments. They mostly keep themselves in check. Mostly.

The world is the same as ours except when it isn’t. The main difference is that magic is a thing, and there are Outsiders hiding in plain sight among Humanity. All of this is kept under wraps, though, via the vague rules set out in the Accords.

WHO:

There are 4 main groups that keep hidden, plus any Humans with access to magic. The Angelic (Life), the Infernal (Death), the Draconic (Order), and the Fae (Chaos). Other outliers exist, but are unaligned, and not official members of the Accords. Most fit into the above categories though.

The Inside Accords only state that magic mustn’t be discovered – there’s no rule that says a dog can’t play baseball magic mustn’t be used at all. A Dragon is perfectly within their rights using their talents to become a powerful CEO, for example, or a Fae might use glamours to secure roles in Hollywood. It’d only be a breach of the Accords if their methods were discovered by Vanilla Mortals.

A note on styles, too: since the ‘race’ of a given Outsider is treated much like nationality is in the real world, most ‘races’ are capitalised even though they wouldn’t normally be.

A handy chart of Outsiders

There’s mention in the above table of ‘Unique Features’ – a fully-fledged Outsider will have a sort of gimmick unique to them. Most Fulcrum immigrants of second generation or so feel the pull of these features much less strongly, so may not have them at all.

• Draconic Hoards are fairly self-explanatory; a Dragon will pick a subject for its hoard and pathologically collect items that pertain to it. The quality of a Dragon’s hoard will determine the level of esteem they hold in their society. For example, the Dragon Laniakea’s hoard is doomsday artifacts.
• Archetypes are adopted by the Fae, allowing them to hold themselves together by embodying a particular dramatic role. For example, the Fae Cait-Sìth’s archetype is that of the dogged policeman (or Inspector Javert).
• Angels have a facility. This can mean one of two things, depending on the type: either an innate talent for something, in the case of ‘Fallen’ Angels, or an actual location they watch over, in the case of ‘Guardian’ Angels. For example, the Fallen Angel Adagio has a facility for being late.
• Fiends, or Infernals, all have an additional arcane sense that goes beyond human perception. For example, the Demon Alkahest can ‘taste’ if an object is important to his current course of action.

WHY HIDE?

Earth itself has a kind of immune system – Vanilla Mortals that encounter the supernatural have a chance to enter a fugue state and become an ‘Auditor’, a supernaturally powerful entity who will stop at nothing to eliminate the triggering entity.

The rules for this: a d20 roll is made every round a Vanilla Mortal is exposed to the supernatural. On a 1, they become an Auditor, with the chance of this increasing by 5% on every check. On a 20, they acclimatise and no longer need to make checks.

(This takeover is called a Mantle. More on those in the Alignment section below)

Because of this risk, factions tend to self-police. If a member of the Accords sees you causing trouble, they’ll try to nip that trouble in the bud before it might attract an Auditor. Nobody wants to be around that kind of heat.

HOW IT’S ENFORCED:

Some factions have formal leaders, other don’t. Either way, each faction enforces the masquerade among their own; passing down methods of staying undetected, dealing with breaches, etc. But their other role is to keep the other factions in check – the Fae won’t overstep their bounds for fear of retribution from the other factions.

Paperwork and bureaucracy – in the UK at least – are handled by the Caliber Institute itself. It was founded in 1946 by the Accords’ human signatory (Charlton Brynner, a human-turned-clockwork automaton specifically for that purpose). They will also back other factions if necessary for keeping things balanced, and as such act as arbiters in many negotiations. In the modern era, the Institute’s resident ghost-in-the-machine (the Director’s granddaughter) helps manage any potential breaches from phone cameras and the internet.

There are Caliber Institute branches in every major city in the UK, and equivalent agencies in other countries that all have close working ties with the Institute. Most of the branches are much, much smaller, but always contain at minimum one lawyer specially trained in Outside-adjacent legal concerns, and a pharmacy stocked with various Outside-adjacent medicines and medical paraphernalia that couldn’t be otherwise acquired without attracting attention.

HOW DO MAGICAL BEINGS FUNCTION IN SOCIETY?

There’s a bit of a difference between ‘true’ Outsiders that are local to alternate worlds, and those with Outsider heritage who were born more recently on Earth. Our player characters, if magical, will likely be of the latter sort.

But either way, they mostly just live as regular humans would; albeit with occasional Institute (or other local authority) check-ins. Many were fleeing the nature of their birthplaces, or were born on Earth itself. They know that causing trouble will result in one of three outcomes: they’ll be sent back to their plane of origin, they’ll be ‘dealt with’ by their own faction, or they’ll have the Auditors come for them.

They keep a low profile.

That said, there are known social spots for Outsiders, and as long as there are no Vanilla Mortals about, they can do whatever they like.

Plus there’s an Outsider underworld, with all sorts of magic criminal business going on. The Caliber Institute turns a blind eye as long as said underworld stays under.

Oh, as for Religion – it’s sort of the same as in regular Earth. Nobody knows anything for sure, there aren’t any deities wandering about (that we know of). Clerics and Paladins draw their power from the force of their faith itself.

WAIT, WHAT WAS THAT BEFORE ABOUT ALTERNATE WORLDS?

As it turns out, the Earth of the Caliber setting is referred to by Outsiders as the Fulcrum Earth. It’s at the very centre of a long, long line of others on both the X and Y axes. Each line of worlds stretches from Watchtower to Watchtower, so in directional terms, above is Life, to the right is Chaos, below is Death, and to the left is Order. The further along the line you go, the more steeped in its respective Alignment a given world is.

There are offshoots, too, but those haven’t come up yet. Ignore this bit.

CAN’T HUMANS SEE MY TAIL?

Most Outsiders don’t need to disguise themselves or anything like that – as long as there’s nothing that truly defies explanation, like a fireball or super strength, Vanilla Humans have a kind of weirdness censor in their brains. They’ll perceive an orc to be just a particularly muscular human, or a gnome to be a short human. This is very helpful. The Institute calls it a ‘Perception Filter’.

Outsiders of sufficient power, or at least sufficiently non-humanoid, tend to have three forms: a Mostly-Human form, their true shape, and then something in between.

For example, a Devil’s mostly-Human form might look like a regular man, betrayed only by yellow eyes that most Vanilla Mortals wouldn’t notice even without their perception filter. His true form is that of an Ice Devil, a big blue mantid-looking thing the size of a Michael Jordan stood atop another Michael Jordan. The in-between form would keep the human silhouette and hands, but with insectoid eyes and mandibles instead of a mouth, maybe.

Oddly enough, Angels seem to prefer taking the form of pigeons instead of mostly-Human ones. Nobody can figure out why, but that would explain why the spikes to keep them off things never seem to work.

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE MASQUERADE IS COMPLETELY BROKEN?

The Caliber Institute has a contingency plan kept hidden at a secret location in the Lake District that you don’t need to know about. Seriously, don’t worry about it.

I’m glad you asked! There’s a few options for your characters starting out. Either:

• You’re a Vanilla Mortal who, during the course of the first session, stumbles into the know about things
• You’re aware of Magic; either an Outsider (having immigrated yourself or been part of a family that has), or a Human with the knack for Magic, but with a regular life and job
• You’re aware of Magic; either an Outsider (having immigrated yourself or been part of a family that has), or a Human with the knack for Magic, and part of a magical crime syndicate or other extra-legal group
• You’re an active employee of the Caliber Institute, part of the bureaucratic machine that upholds the Inside Accords (most likely in this case as a field agent, sent to help contain weird shit, but not necessarily)

The majority of the Campaign will be based in the city of Middlemarch (a fake city invented by George Eliot) where the Caliber Institute’s headquarters are based.

Modern weapons are less effective against Outsiders of sufficient power, dealing either half damage or none at all. General protocol for an incident is to take both a gun and a blade.

Modern Weapon	Damage	Weight	Properties
Pistol (Sidearm)	2d6 piercing	3 lb.	Ammunition (range 50/150), reload (15 shots)
Revolver (Hand Cannon)	2d8 piercing	3 lb.	Ammunition (range 40/120), reload (6 shots)
Rifle (Scoped)	2d10 piercing	8 lb.	Ammunition (range 80/240), reload (5 shots), two-handed
Auto Rifle	2d8 piercing	8 lb.	Ammunition (range 60/180), burst fire, reload (30 shots), two-handed
Lever-Action Shotgun	3d8 piercing	7 lb.	Ammunition (range 10/30), reload (2 shots), two-handed
Ammunition
Bullets (10)	—	1 lb.
Grenade	5d6 piercing	1 lb.	Ammunition (range 30/60), area (15 foot sphere)

Firearms use ammunition and must be reloaded, and some of them have the burst fire property.

Ammunition. The ammunition of a firearm is destroyed upon use. Renaissance and modern firearms use bullets. Futuristic firearms are powered by a special type of ammunition called energy cells. An energy cell contains enough power for all the shots its firearm can make.

Burst Fire. A weapon that has the burst fire property can make a normal single-target attack, or it can spray a 10-foot-cube area within normal range with shots. Each creature in the area must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take the weapon’s normal damage. This action uses ten pieces of ammunition.
Reload. A limited number of shots can be made with a weapon that has the reload property. A character must then reload it using an action or a bonus action (character’s choice).

Additional subclasses will be available. Some are from Unearthed Arcana articles, but the Bard and Ranger are my own designs.

Bard – College of Celebrity

A bard that levels their fame, status, and ubiquity as a source of power.

Winning Smile

When you join the College of Celebrity at 3rd level, your innate star power influences how those around you react to your presence.

While you are not wearing any armor, your AC is equal to 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Charisma modifier. Additionally, choose one skill from Deception, Performance, or Persuasion. You add twice your proficiency bonus to any check you make with that skill.

Remote Play

Starting at 3rd level, you can choose to weave your magic into even digital recordings of your performances.

You can use an action to extend your senses out to the region around you. For one minute, you are aware of any recordings of your performances – be it song, poetry, dance, or acting – being played within 1 mile of you. You may cast a spell or use a Bard class feature as if it were being cast by the recording, though all other requirements for the spell (including line of sight) must be met by your physical self.

This feature cannot detect performances being played on analogue formats such as VCR or cassette tapes.

You can use this feature a number of times a day equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once).

At level 14, you gain the ability to travel through a recording you detect with this feature. If you do, you emerge from the device the recording is playing from as if you’d cast the teleport spell targeting a fixed teleportation circle. You emerge wearing the outfit or costume that you wore at the time of recording.

Channel Override

At 6th level, you gain the ability to broadcast your live performances with your magic.

As a bonus action, you can begin to perform by singing, reciting a poem, dancing etc. You can send a livestream of this performance to a digital device you have seen before within 1 mile of your current location. The device must be switched on at the time you use this feature, and becomes unresponsive to other sources of control when the livestream begins. This broadcast of your performance takes on different forms depending on the medium – televisions and other large screens are full videos, but phones and other small devices will be audio only. The stream lasts for up to one hour or until your performance ends.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Brand Identity

At 14th level, the line between your physical self and iconic representations of you grows increasingly blurred.

You can use a bonus action to pull a version of yourself from a recorded performance that’s playing within 30 feet of you. This copy is identical to you, though clothed in whatever outfit or costume you wore at the time of recording, and shares your consciousness. It has AC 14 + your proficiency bonus, 1 hit point, and immunity to all conditions. If it has to make a saving throw, it uses your saving throw bonus for the roll. It is the same size as you, and it occupies its space. On your turn, you can have the copy move up to 30 feet in any direction (no action required). This copy lasts for 15 minutes. If the copy is ever more than 100 feet from you at the end of your turn, it is destroyed.

You can use the copy in the following ways:

As a bonus action, you can teleport, magically swapping places and costumes with your copy at a cost of 15 feet of your movement, regardless of the distance between the two of you.

When you take the Attack action or cast a spell, any attack or spell can originate from your space or the copy’s space.

You can return the copy to the recording. Doing so regains the expended use of this feature that created it.

You can choose to return to the recording instead of the copy. If you do, the copy then becomes your physical self, and acquires all your stats, AC, actions, etc. Its current and maximum hit points also increase to your hit point maximum.

Once you have used this feature, you cannot do so again until you have finished a long rest.

Cleric – City Domain

The City domain is concerned with the citizenry, commerce, traffic, and even architecture of modern civilization. In the eyes of a cleric of the city, the centre of modern life is a sense and spirit of community, and the gravest enemies of the city are those who seek to harm the common weal of its citizens.

Bonus Cantrip

When you choose this domain at 1st level, you learn the On/Off cantrip.

Channel Divinity: Spirits of the City

Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to call on the city for aid. As an action, you present your holy symbol, and any city utility within 30 feet of you either works perfectly or shuts down entirely for 1 minute (your choice).

Additionally, each hostile creature within 30 feet of you must make a Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is knocked prone or restrained (your choice) by hazards such as entangling wires, high pressure water erupting from fire hydrants, pavement collapsing to unseen potholes, and so on. A restrained creature can escape by making a successful Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check against your spell save DC.

This effect is entirely local and affects only utilities within 30 feet of you. Determination of what utilities are available within range and how the physical effects of those utilities manifest are left to the DM.

Heart of the City

From 1st level, you are able to tap into the spirit of community found in the city. While you are within any city, you can gain advantage on a single Charisma (Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion) check, and you are considered proficient in the appropriate skill. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once). You regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Block Watch

Starting at 6 level, your awareness while in the city extends preternaturally. While in an urban environment, you are considered proficient in the Insight and Perception skills, and you add double your proficiency bonus to Wisdom (Insight) and Wisdom (Perception) checks, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.

Divine Strike

At 8 level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with psychic energy borrowed from the citizens of your city. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 psychic damage to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra psychic damage increases to 2d8.

Express Transit

At 17th level, you can use mass transit routes to transport instantaneously to other points in the city. Starting from a bus stop, train station, subway stop, or other suitable mass transit site within the city, you can teleport to any other similar transit stop within the city, as if you had cast a teleport spell whose destination is a permanent teleportation circle you know. Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before using it again.

Ranger – Driver Archetype

A Ranger who specialises in speedy getaways through heaving city traffic. They magically tame vehicles to move through the city with greater ease, and are experts with all kinds of transport from skateboards all the way to military helicopters.

Tame Vehicle

At 3rd level, you gain the ability to magically exert your will upon a vehicle. As an action, you can touch the steering wheel of a vehicle and tame it, creating a magical bond. The physical characteristics of the vehicle subtly change to reflect the one that tamed it. This connection bypasses the need for keys or similar security features.

You are considered proficient with the vehicle you have tamed. You have advantage on all skill checks you make to drive the vehicle or otherwise control it. Add your proficiency bonus to the vehicle’s AC, attack rolls, and damage rolls, as well as to any saving throws it makes. Its hit point maximum increases by two times your ranger level.

If the vehicle you target with this ability is being driven or otherwise controlled by another creature, that creature must make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC to retain control. On a failed save, the vehicle’s controls become unresponsive to that creature.

You can only have one vehicle tamed at a time.

Dispatch Cab

Beginning at 7th level, you learn the Find Vehicle spell if you do not know it already. You can cast this spell without expending a spell slot a number of times equal to your WIS modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

When you cast Find Vehicle using this feature, you can instead choose to summon the vehicle you currently have tamed, as long as there are no living creatures inside it at the time.

Remote Control

Starting at 11th level, you can control the vehicle you have tamed without physically interacting with it, instead issuing commands to it mentally. It still uses your skill checks etc.

Auto Trader

Beginning at 15th level, when you tame a vehicle, you can alter its form to that of any vehicle you have previously tamed.

Warlock – Ghost in the Machine Patron

You have made a bargain for power granted by an entity that you believe to be completely digital. Whether it’s a rogue AI, the spirit of a deceased hacker, or something entirely different, the Ghost in the Machine is capable of feats that defy explanation.

Expanded RAM

You gain proficiency in Hacking Tools. Additionally, the Ghost in the Machine lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

Ghost in the Machine Expanded Spells

Level Spell

1st infallible relay, remote access

2nd arcane hacking, digital phantom

3rd haywire, invisibility to cameras

4th conjure knowbot, system backdoor

5th shutdown, synchronicity

Information Surge

At 1 level, you gain the ability to temporarily render computerized devices inoperable. As an action, you can target a computerized device within 30 feet of you. If the targeted device is held or otherwise actively used by a living creature, that creature must make an Intelligence saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the targeted device ceases to function until the end of your next turn.

If the targeted device is not held or used by a creature, the DM makes a special saving throw for the device with disadvantage and a +0 modifier. Certain shielded devices might negate the disadvantage, at the DM’s determination.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Wire Walk

Starting at 6 level, you gain the ability to travel short distances over electrical wires, data lines, or telephone cables. As a bonus action, you can touch a device or socket connected to a hardwired network and teleport along this network to another device or socket within your line of sight. If you do not have a device or socket within your line of sight, you travel along the line until you reach its origin or end point.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Personal Encryption

Beginning at 10th level, you have learned to apply your innate knowledge of encryption to your thoughts, memories, and presence. You have advantage on saving throws against scrying, thought detection, or any other method of magically learning your whereabouts or reading your thoughts. For any such effect that does not grant you a saving throw but which requires the creature targeting you to make an ability check, the check is made with disadvantage.

Technovirus

At 14th level, you gain the ability to infect a humanoid’s body with living circuitry. You can use an action to make a melee attack against a humanoid creature using your spell attack modifier. The target must make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC as a techno-organic virus quickly spreads through its body. On a failed save, the target takes 8d10 psychic damage, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Additionally, if the target fails the saving throw, you can use an action to issue it a single command, as if you were casting the Command spell. The target makes its saving throw against your command with disadvantage. You can issue this command at any time while the target remains infected.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest, at which point the target is cured of the technovirus. The infection can also be removed with a Lesser Restoration spell.

Wizard – Arcane Tradition: Technomancy

Unlike the more common arcane traditions based around the schools of magic, the tradition of Technomancy does not focus on a singular type of spellcraft or magical energy. Rather, students of Technomancy concern themselves with how their spells interact with modern technology. Technomancers can make use of technology as both a conduit and a storage space for magic. In a campaign using the optional rules for magic item creation (see the Dungeon Master’s Guide) a Technomancer might craft disposable electronic devices and smartphone apps in lieu of potions and scrolls.

Bonus Proficiencies

At 2nd level, you gain proficiency with Hacking Tools. You also learn the On/Off cantrip if you don’t know it already.

Technological Savant

Starting at 2nd level, you trade out your spellbook for a specially attuned storage device of your choosing, capable of storing magical data. The computing power of this device must be enough to run Skyrim. Only one storage device can be attuned to you at any one time. Spells can be copied into this device at half the cost of copying spells into a spellbook.

Program Spell

At 6th level, you can insert a spell within an electronic device of your choosing, so that by touching a key or flicking a switch using an action, the spell activates. All variables of the spell are set at the time it’s placed in the device. The computing power of this device must be enough to run Doom.

A programmed spell remains placed in its device for 48 hours, and is gone once it is discharged. You can use this feature to place a programmed spell in only one device at a time, and a device can hold only one programmed spell. Only you can activate the programmed spell in the device. If the device is destroyed, the programmed spell is lost.

A concentration spell placed in a device cannot be activated while you are concentrating on another spell. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Online Casting

At 10th level, you can cast spells through networked electronic devices, including cameras, mobile phones, and computers. For example, if a creature is under the observation of a security camera and you can see the video feed from that camera on a computer, you can cast a spell into the computer and out through the security camera to target that creature.

If the spell requires the caster to be seen, the target must see you or a live image of you. If the spell requires the caster to be heard, the target must be able to hear you or a live audio transmission of you. The spell’s range is determined using the distance from you to your device, and then from the target to its device. You must be able to see or otherwise determine the location of the target.

This feature can be used a number of times per day equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once).

Chained Device

By 14th level, you have learned to imprint vestiges of your consciousness on electronic devices with significant computing power. When you cast a concentration spell, you can use a device whose computing power is enough to run Skyrim to maintain concentration of the spell on your behalf.

The device must be held or worn by you to maintain this effect. If the device is destroyed, taken from you, dropped, or turned off, the concentration ends. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Spells

There are several modern-day spells that were introduced in the Urban Unearthed Arcana article. Most of them are on the general Sorcerer/Wizard list, as well as the Ghost in the Machine Warlock one. The City Domain Cleric has all but two, I think? Find Vehicle is also available for Paladins and Rangers. You can find that here.

The list is as follows:

CANTRIPS: On/Off

1^ST LEVEL: Infallible Relay, Protection from Alignment*, Remote Access

2^ND LEVEL: Arcane Hacking, Conjurewall*, Digital Phantom, Find Vehicle

3^RD LEVEL: Haywire, Invisibility to Cameras

4^TH LEVEL: Conjure Knowbot, Synchronicity, System Backdoor

5^TH LEVEL: Commune with City, Shutdown

*Described below

Conjurewall

2nd-level Abjuration (Ritual)

Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (Hacking Tools)
Duration: Until Dispelled

(TECHNOMAGIC) You ward a computer or other electronic system against unauthorised access. You can choose to place the Conjurewall anywhere in the system, warding specific files or functions as you see fit. You and creatures you designate at the time you cast the spell can access the system without issue.

Until the spell ends, any creature who attempts to access the warded system must first make an Intelligence saving throw vs your spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature cannot access the warded system for 1d12 hours and you are alerted to the attempt, though you do not learn the identity of the creature. A creature automatically fails this saving throw if it does not know any Technomagic spells.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, you can add a second layer of arcane protection beyond the initial one. If a creature succeeds on the Intelligence saving throw, it enters into a trance, seeing a location or scenario that you designate at the time you cast the spell. This scenario is an illusory duel, puzzle, or other challenge that you create (subject to DM’s approval). Any skill check DCs, saving throws, or attack rolls involved in this scenario are equal to your own spell save DC, with this DC increasing by 2 for each slot level above 4th.

If a creature fails the challenge you create or otherwise drops to 0 hit points in the trance, it takes no damage to its physical form but cannot access the warded system for 1d12 days and you are alerted to the attempt, though you do not learn the identity of the creature. A creature automatically fails this saving throw if it does not know any Technomagic spells.

Protection from Alignment

1st-level Abjuration

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (cyanide (Protection from Life), holy water (Protection from Death), polyhedral dice (Protection from Order) or powdered iron (Protection from Chaos), which the spell consumes)
Duration: 10 Minutes (Concentration)

Until the spell ends, one willing creature you touch is protected against one certain type of creature: celestials, dragons, fey, and fiends. You choose when casting the spell. You can cast the spell multiple times on the same willing creature without breaking Concentration if choosing an additional type of creature to protect from.

The protection grants several benefits. Creatures of those types have disadvantage on attack rolls against the target. The target also can’t be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them. If the target is already charmed, frightened, or possessed by such a creature, the target has advantage on any new saving throw against the relevant effect.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the protected creature also can’t be afflicted with the Mantle of whichever alignment it’s protected from (creatures already bearing Mantles are unaffected). When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 9th level or higher, the protected creature does not have to be willing and is immune to the magical effects of Mantles and any creatures bearing them. If the creature itself is currently under the effect of a mantle, it can make a DC20 saving throw (Charisma) to end the mantle’s effects and remove it from themselves.