This item had no name, and its origin was unknown. The "die" was only its surface form; in essence, it was a supernatural manifestation of some kind of rule.
Its basic function was a character sheet. Other abilities would only unlock once the symbols on the die were lit.
How do I activate them? Ansel asked in his mind.
The die gave no response. It didn't seem to have any intelligence at all.
View character sheet.
The die trembled slightly and projected a light screen full of numbers and entries into his mind.
[Name: Ansel Holrayven]
「Race」: Human – Silverbrow subrace (Medium)
「Background」: None
「Class」: None
「Level」: 0
「Hit Points」: 2/4
「Armor Class」: 11
「Alignment」: True Neutral
「Faith」: None
—— Core Abilities ——
[Strength: 11]
[Dexterity: 12]
[Constitution: 11]
[Intelligence: 12]
[Wisdom: 13]
[Charisma: 14]
「Skills」: Arcana +1, History +1
「Languages」: Common, Netherese, Illuskan
「Feats」: None
「Equipment」: Crystal arcane focus
—— Spells ——
「Cantrips」: Light, Ray of Frost
After quickly skimming the sheet, Ansel understood. This was a data panel built on D&D rules.
Silverbrow subrace?
He had to think for a while before it came back to him: this Silverbrow subrace should be a dragonblooded variant, descended from the metallic dragon most fond of mingling among humans—silver dragons.
One of the more common physical traits was silvery streaks or sheen in the hair, hence the name "Silverbrow."
The original owner hadn't known any of this, and his body didn't have any innate spell-like abilities. The bloodline was probably so distant and diluted that nothing obvious remained.
That was normal. The world of Toril was full of races, most of them living intermixed. Some species had such powerful reproductive ability that they could even cross species boundaries. Over the course of endless years, who knew how many strange kinds of half-bloods had been born?
Aside from race, the original owner's stats…were honestly pretty garbage.
In D&D, a commoner's HP was 4, and the six ability scores hovered around 10.
If a wizard's Intelligence dropped below 10, they'd lose the ability to cast spells. Below 8 and…they were basically simple-minded. In most cases, a character's abilities wouldn't be lower than 8.
With these stats, he was only a little stronger than the average person. Trying to become a wizard with just 12 Intelligence was no small challenge.
Wizards were a high-IQ crowd. Qualifying as one was extremely difficult; ordinary folk could hardly manage it on book smarts alone.
The 14 Charisma was probably tied to his race.
The original owner wasn't completely useless, though. Thanks to his hard work, he'd picked up two extra languages, and he had a bit of foundation in Arcana and History.
Just then, the character sheet flickered. Ansel lightly "touched" it, and a character editing page popped up, showing three sections from top to bottom: Origin (background, race), Class, and Ability Scores.
However, Origin and Ability Scores were both greyed out.
Looks like background, race, and stats are all inherited from the original and can't be changed. Ansel felt a bit disappointed.
He "clicked" the Background field, and a prompt popped up:
[Noble and Sage backgrounds detected. You may choose one as your character's origin. This will increase your ability scores, feats, and skill proficiencies.]
Huh… a choice of two isn't bad.
He checked them one by one and found the background sources a bit flimsy.
The "Noble" was probably from his family name. Ansel himself didn't hold any titles at all—he was a pure commoner.
"Sage" was more reasonable. After all, he had spent so many long days and nights studying books and scrolls, reading about the wider multiverse. You could barely count him as half a scholar. His mind longed for more, but unfortunately he was a mediocre student.
Noble granted bonuses to Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma, and the feat "Familiarity."
Sage increased Constitution, Intelligence, and Wisdom, and granted the feat "Magic Initiate."
Ansel didn't rush to choose and continued examining Race.
「Race」: Human
「Creature Type」: Humanoid
「Size」: Medium
「Traits」:
• Ability Score Increase: Choose two different ability scores to increase by 1 each.
• Skill: You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice.
• Versatile: You gain one origin feat of your choice.
Two ability points, one feat, three skills. Ansel raised an eyebrow, feeling a surge of excitement.
Once he picked a class, his background and race together could give him five ability points and two feats. That was actually pretty decent.
Finally, he opened the Class options, and thirteen icons popped up.
Barbarian (Strength), Fighter (Strength or Dexterity), Paladin (Strength or Charisma)
Cleric (Wisdom), Druid (Wisdom), Monk (Dexterity or Wisdom)
Ranger (Dexterity or Wisdom), Rogue (Dexterity)
Sorcerer (Charisma), Warlock (Charisma), Bard (Charisma)
Wizard (Intelligence), Artificer (Intelligence)
These were all base classes. After taking a class, he'd be able to pick from a wide range of subclasses.
Each class had different primary stats, and most of them had spellcasting of some kind. But only Wizards, Sorcerers, Clerics, Druids, and Bards were true full casters, capable of learning 9th-level spells by level 17.
Why are all these class icons covered by a black-and-red haze, some darker than others? Ansel frowned slightly, an ominous feeling rising in his heart.
He gently touched the darkest, almost blackened Wizard icon with his mind, and two warnings immediately popped up:
[The Weave is unstable. Uncontrolled raw magic surges through the world. Cast spells with caution!]
[The character's innate Intelligence is too low. Choose this class with caution!]
He'd already half expected the first one. The word "unstable" sounded about right. The Weave probably hadn't completely collapsed, because he could still see spell-light flashing over the distant battlefield.
The second warning, though, stung a little.
Low Intelligence was a hard flaw to fix. If this were a game where he could freely assign points, he'd just pump his main stat to 16 or higher at level 1. Unfortunately, he didn't have any extra ability points to play with.
In D&D, you only got to choose a feat or two ability points every four levels. If your starting stats were too low, you'd have to give up precious feats just to patch them, and your power ceiling would drop sharply.
Looks like the Weave hits wizards the hardest, Ansel thought.
Weave turbulence wouldn't stump those terrifying archmages with sky-high IQ, but ordinary wizards were in trouble. They'd be stuck scraping by on cantrips.
Since he couldn't pick Wizard, he'd have to choose something else.
Right now he needed a level-1 class that could help him escape this crater. The future could wait. In D&D you could multiclass as much as you wanted, as long as you met the stat requirements. Worst case, he could multiclass into something else at level 2.
I just have to climb out of here! He looked up at the sheer cliff and waterfalls towering dozens of meters overhead, a sense of urgency creeping in. Before this place collapses.
If he dropped into the Underdark below, even if the fall didn't kill him, the tide of underground creatures would.
Adventurers had impressive physical abilities, but relying purely on the body was far too risky. It'd be best to have protective spells, things like Mage Hand, Feather Fall, Jump, and so on.
"Caster first. Ideally something that can fix this leg too," Ansel muttered, glancing at his numb right calf as he calculated.
He first tapped the grey-tinted Cleric icon:
[Casual believers cannot become clerics!]
Ansel could only sigh. There was no time to build faith now. A cleric's magic came from their patron deity, and getting noticed had serious consequences.
He looked over the options. All the casting classes were shrouded in ominous red—Bards and Druids were glowing especially dark, while Warlocks and Sorcerers were relatively faint.
Warlocks, also called "hex-casters," borrowed power via pacts with patrons—angels, archfey, fiends, and the like. Just hearing that was enough to make him uneasy, so he set that aside for now.
He clicked on Sorcerer, and a description window immediately appeared:
[The gift of a dragon's blood, or being struck by lightning under a clear sky, can awaken the talents of a sorcerer.]
[The blessing of a god, exposure to the strange magic of other planes, or a glimpse behind the workings of reality can likewise turn an ordinary person into a sorcerer…]
[Sorcerers do not learn magic. The roiling primal magic is an innate part of who they are…]
To Ansel's surprise, Sorcerers got to choose their Sorcerous Origin (subclass) right at level 1:
Aberrant Mind, Clockwork Soul, Draconic Bloodline, Wild Magic, Divine Soul, Shadow Magic, Storm Sorcery.
But out of the seven origins, five of them were greyed out!