The Black Margin: A Shroudbound Field Folio
A field folio of ink-fed techniques for laying darkness in the enemy's path and making the ground answer to it.
Spellbook · The Shroudbound, a non-spellcasting homebrew archetype · Level 1
The Black Margin: A Shroudbound Field Folio
A field folio of ink-fed techniques for laying darkness in the enemy's path and making the ground answer to it.
Ex librisMara Venn, Keeper of the Black MarginShroudbound fieldcraft, a non-spellcasting supernatural discipline
At a glance
Level
1
The Shroudbound, a non-spellcasting homebrew archetype
Spells
8
4 cantrips, 3 signature
At the table
A margin note
Plot hook
Spells
8 spellsCantrips
4- Place a 5-foot-square patch of supernatural dimness on a visible surface within range. It sheds no darkness beyond its space and does not create difficult terrain. This is a Shroudbound technique, not the darkness spell.
- Duration
- Until the start of your next turn
- Target
- One visible 5-foot-square surface
- Components
- Mantle; expend 1 Ink Reserve point
- Higher levels
- No additional effect unless another Shroudbound feature changes the cost or area.
- Source
- Original Creation
- Your Mantle flickers with a false movement. The next attack roll against you before the duration ends has disadvantage if you can see the attacker. Your speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.
- Duration
- Until the start of your next turn
- Target
- Self
- Components
- Mantle; expend 1 Ink Reserve point
- Save or attack
- The next attack roll against you before the duration ends has disadvantage if you can see the attacker.
- Higher levels
- No additional effect unless another Shroudbound feature changes the cost.
- Conditions
- Speed reduced
- Source
- Original Creation
- Mark one unoccupied 5-foot square on a surface you can see. The mark is a visible sign for your Ink Pool features and has no independent effect. It vanishes at the duration's end unless a class feature sustains it.
- Duration
- Until the start of your next turn
- Target
- One unoccupied 5-foot square
- Components
- Mantle; designate one unoccupied space within range
- Higher levels
- The number and persistence of pools are governed by the Shroudbound's Ink Pool features, not by spell level.
- Source
- Original Creation
- Draw a temporary, opaque line of ink-darkness, up to 10 feet long and 1 inch wide, across a visible surface. It blocks sight through its line but does not impede movement. It fades immediately after being drawn.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One visible surface
- Components
- Mantle; expend 1 Ink Reserve point
- Higher levels
- No additional effect unless another Shroudbound feature changes the cost or dimensions.
- Source
- Original Creation
1st level
4- Mark a visible 5-foot line on the ground. The first creature other than you to cross it before the start of your next turn must make the saving throw or fall prone. The mark then vanishes.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One 5-foot line on the ground
- Components
- Mantle; expend 1 Ink Reserve point
- Save or attack
- One creature crossing the marked 5-foot line makes a Dexterity saving throw against your Shroudbound technique DC or falls prone. A creature not crossing the line is unaffected.
- Higher levels
- No additional effect unless another Shroudbound feature changes the line's length or cost.
- Conditions
- Prone, if the target fails its save
- Source
- Original Creation
- Choose one creature in an Ink Pool you control within range. It makes a Strength saving throw; on a failure, its speed is reduced by 10 feet until the duration ends. This technique does not restrain or move the creature.
- Duration
- Until the start of your next turn
- Target
- One creature in an Ink Pool
- Components
- Mantle; expend 1 Ink Reserve point
- Save or attack
- One creature of your choice in an Ink Pool makes a Strength saving throw against your Shroudbound technique DC. On a failure, its speed is reduced by 10 feet until the duration ends.
- Higher levels
- No additional effect unless another Shroudbound feature changes the cost or the technique's effect.
- Conditions
- Speed reduced
- Source
- Original Creation
- Mark a route up to 10 feet long that passes through an Ink Pool you control. Until the duration ends, you and allies who can see the route can treat it as a visual guide. It does not alter terrain, hide creatures, or prevent attacks of opportunity.
- Duration
- Until the end of your next turn
- Target
- A visible route through one of your Ink Pools
- Components
- Mantle; expend 1 Ink Reserve point
- Higher levels
- No additional effect unless another Shroudbound feature changes the cost or the marked route.
- Source
- Original Creation
- Raise a stationary, opaque screen of ink on a visible surface, up to 5 feet wide and 5 feet tall. It blocks sight through its space but does not provide physical cover, stop movement, or block sound. It dissipates at the duration's end.
- Duration
- Until the start of your next turn
- Target
- One visible surface
- Components
- Mantle; expend 1 Ink Reserve point
- Higher levels
- No additional effect unless another Shroudbound feature changes its dimensions or cost.
- Source
- Original Creation
In the margins
4 notes
WarningMark the ground first. A shadow placed after the charge is only a stain.
DiaryThe first mantle was sewn from the funeral curtains of a general who never lost a retreat.
Diagram[Diagram: three shallow pools funnel a pursuer toward a bare patch of stone. The bare patch is labeled 'the lie.']
FormulaA pool is a placed resource, not a spell effect. Track its boundaries and duration separately.
The book itself
The folio teaches placement and control, not conventional spellcasting.
Every technique below is an Original Creation and requires the Shroudbound's Mantle, Ink Reserve, or Ink Pools as specified.
These entries do not grant spell slots or the ability to cast spells. Their availability and resource limits depend on the Shroudbound class rules used at the table.
The caster
Shroudbound fieldcraft, a non-spellcasting supernatural disciplineMara Venn, Keeper of the Black Margin
Studies: Battlefield shaping through the Mantle, Ink Reserve, and Ink PoolsManner: Quiet, observant, and practical; she studies a room's exits before she studies its occupants.Focus: A blunt black stylus used to direct the Mantle and mark Ink Pools; it is a tool, not an arcane focus for spellcasting.Quirk: Before crossing any threshold, she traces its outline in the air with her stylus and silently counts the corners.Wants: Find the officer who ordered her unit into the ravine and learn why the route on the official map was false.Mara Venn served as a battlefield surveyor, mapping safe retreats and concealed approaches. After an ambush left her unit trapped in a ravine, she bound her Mantle from the camp's ink-blackened signal cloth and began shaping escape routes herself.
The book
A narrow, oil-dark folio bound in gray hide, with a stitched mantle-like cover and pages that absorb spilled ink into shifting battlefield diagrams. A note inside the cover clarifies that this is a catalog of Shroudbound techniques, not a spellbook granting spellcasting.
Its wards · GM only
About the book
FormatMantle-bound field folio
ThemeLay the dark where your enemies will be, then make the battlefield obey.
Written by aThe Shroudbound, a non-spellcasting homebrew archetype
Caster level1
SystemDungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (2014), with homebrew Shroudbound techniques
Plot hooks
1A battlefield map in the folio depicts a real, unmarked pass. Someone has begun adding fresh ink to its margins, and the next army to march there may find the terrain obeying the book.
2The former owner vanished after leaving a note that says one Ink Pool has started moving without their command. The Shroudbound must discover what is guiding it.
3A quartermaster recognizes the folio's stitched cover as a missing standard from a defeated regiment and wants it returned before its old soldiers learn who carries it now.
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