D&D 5E The Bible Is A New 5E Setting

The Adventurer’s Guide to the Bible is a 5E setting and adventure set in the first century AD.

The 350-page book, created by Bible enthusiasts, included four new lineages, a range of subclasses, and an adventure for character levels 1-10, along with a full first-century AD setting with locations like the Library of Alexandria and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, NPCs, and monsters such as giants, seraph serpents, angels, and demons. The adventure itself involves a search for three missing Magi.

It's $25 for a PDF, or $39 for a hardcover.

The Adventurer's Guide to the Bible for 5E

A fifth edition campaign setting with new rule options for players and GMs, and a full adventure for characters of levels 1 - 10.

www.kickstarter.com

Cleopatra is dead. Rome and Parthia struggle for control of the Fertile Crescent in a bid for world domination, while local politics in the Middle Kingdoms become increasingly divisive. The prophecies of the so-called “Messiah” have long been forgotten, and an ancient Evil lurks in the shadows, corrupting the hearts of humankind. Three of the wisest mystics known as the “Magi” travelled to Bethlehem following a star they believed to be a sign. They never returned. Hope grows dim as the world descends into darkness. What we need are answers... and those brave enough to seek them.

This isn’t the first biblical era setting for D&D, although it might be for 5E. Green Ronin released Testament: Roleplaying in the Biblical Era for 3E over a decade ago.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

Am I interested in a Christian lore game? No. Am I interested in playing the Roman republic/empire eras? Hell yeah. I’m a bit torn.

Might I recommend Xcrawl? If I recall right, it's Earth where America is very Rome and the Christians are a very secret society. Reagan is Emperor and takes orders from a magical, intelligent short sword. And the most popular entertainment is televised dungeoncrawling which is the new gladiator fights

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I am curious how you graft (presumably) devout monotheism onto a game built on a presumption of a particular, gamified style of polytheism. If you roll up a cleric worshiping someone other than Jesus's version of the Judeo-Christian God does your magic still work? What sort of beings are available to form warlock pacts with?

 

[humble minion]

I am curious how you graft (presumably) devout monotheism onto a game built on a presumption of a particular, gamified style of polytheism. If you roll up a cleric worshiping someone other than Jesus's version of the Judeo-Christian God does your magic still work? What sort of beings are available to form warlock pacts with?

From their comments page re warlocks:

First of all, the question of what patrons are allowed at the table is a question for your GM. However, at present we are not including a Warlock class in the module. We may - potentially - get there with stretch goals, but for now there is not one included. This is for two reasons. First, in a Biblical setting there are two obvious choices for a patron: celestials and fiends. Both of these options already exist for warlocks in other core rulebooks and major expansions, so it seemed a little redundant to include our own version here. Second, the concept of the warlock as it exists mechanically in 5E is not something that is really seen in the Bible. As much as possible, we are trying to base our classes on the abilities of the real people from the Bible (prophets, magi, spartans, etc.)

We're not ruling out the warlock, but it isn't part of our content right now.

And re clerics, magic etc:

We tried to change as little as possible about the standard 5E mechanics, so that gameplay would be familiar to players. However, this campaign setting presumes a monotheistic view of the cosmos. This is to say, there is one God and divine magic comes only from this one God. There are no other gods from which divine casters can get there power, but arcane casters, such as wizards or sorcerers can still tap into magic through other methods (as is standard for these classes). To summarize: a divine caster (cleric) should be a follower of God, but there are other spellcasting classes available that do not require this belief. Regarding the other part of your question, this is an excerpt from the module about magic in this setting:



“Magic” is often cast in a bad light in the Bible (Deuteronomy 18:9, etc.), while “miracles” and other supernatural phenomena are praised as gifts from God. In truth, these terms often have more to do with their motivation than their use in the narrative. “Magic” as a human term is simply a word applied to events which defy explanation. Whether it is the magicians of Egypt turning staffs into snakes, Moses parting the Red Sea, or Jesus resurrecting Lazarus from the dead, all of these would have been deemed as “magic” during biblical times. In fact, it is well documented that many famous biblical figures, including Joseph, Moses, Elijah, and Daniel used different kinds of magic with some frequency. So why does the Bible seem to condemn magic in some places, but support it in others?

The best example of this is in Numbers 20:11, when Moses uses magic to create water. Moses had been granted great power from God, channeled through his shepherd’s staff, and with this staff he had already worked great miracles. However, on this occasion Moses is punished by God for striking a rock twice, instead of once, to produce water in the desert. The reasons for this double strike are unclear, but what is obvious is that Moses had begun to take this magical power for granted, using it out of pride rather than concern for his people.

In the end, the difference between the “evil” magic mentioned in Deuteronomy and the “good” magic used by the prophets comes down to how and why this power is used. When magic is used to glorify God and help others, it is labeled as a “miracle;” when the magic is sought for selfish gain or used for evil purposes, it is labeled as “dark magic.”

In the vocabulary of 5th edition role playing games, the term “magic” is broad, and refers to any of these powers regardless of whether they come from God or evil spirits. Likewise, the term “spell” refers to an action a character can take to use magic in the context of the game. Some spells are miraculous moments of divine intervention, while others may be dark rituals used by those worshiping the devil. In the mechanics of the game, they are all listed simply as “spells” for the purpose of determining what they do, not how they are used.

 

[Parmandur]

I am curious how you graft (presumably) devout monotheism onto a game built on a presumption of a particular, gamified style of polytheism. If you roll up a cleric worshiping someone other than Jesus's version of the Judeo-Christian God does your magic still work? What sort of beings are available to form warlock pacts with?

Polytheism is a Setting assumption, nor really a rules assumption. The DMG details how to play 5Ein a monotheistic Setting, and it really doesn't change any rules. Even with a monotheistic approach,not every Cleric has to have the same Domain: St. Francis if Assisi and St. Joan of Arc are pretty different, for example.

 

[Minigiant]

Bible 5e. That's awesome.

I get to sword people's ears off with by paladin but do it biblically accurate this time.

 

[Weiley31]

St. Francis if Assisi and St. Joan of Arc are pretty different, for example.

You can also have the Cleric Domains be reflavored as the various Catholic Saints as well.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I'm not sure the fine line there really matters...

Perhaps not. But, as stated, this was a position the actual author held, and he was very specifically an expert on this exact topic, respected enough to (effectively) be given the very first professorship chair for it at (IIRC) Cambridge while remaining a fellow at Oxford (or possibly the other way around).

When the author is a renowned expert on the specific thing in question, and very specifically made these kinds of statements while he was alive, it seems the respectful thing to at least give it an ear, even if it's a minor point.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I am curious how you graft (presumably) devout monotheism onto a game built on a presumption of a particular, gamified style of polytheism. If you roll up a cleric worshiping someone other than Jesus's version of the Judeo-Christian God does your magic still work? What sort of beings are available to form warlock pacts with?

It did in the old testament, the Egyptian Priests' Divine magic worked, it's just that Moses was a higher level so his magic worked better.

 

[Weiley31]

You know, playing as a Lazarus-lite type character in this would be a legit cool idea. Heck while we're at it.

The Binding of Isaac (video game) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[AtomicPope]

The current moral panic comes from "diversity". It seems those people left the church and took up residence in other areas to ply their religious moralizing. So it's no surprise there's a Biblical setting in D&D. I predict that the biggest outcry will be a "lack of diversity", combined with the pathologically anti-religious who are only programmed to attack a single religion.