Disgust helps the Ardent create boundaries, recognize threats, and avoid harmful or undesirable influences. By embracing this emotion, they develop heightened awareness and protective instincts.

1. Protective Barrier (2nd Level): Your disgust manifests as a personal barrier, making you more cautious. You gain a +1 bonus to AC while in your Passion state, as your heightened awareness keeps you alert to dangers.
2. Vigilant Insight (6th Level): Disgust sharpens your perception of threats. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks while in your Passion state, allowing you to notice hidden dangers or undesirable influences.
3. Contempt’s Resolve (10th Level): You feel an inner fortitude when dealing with things you disdain. While in your Passion, you gain advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, diseased, or frightened.
4. Purging Auras (14th Level): You channel disgust to remove harmful effects. As a bonus action, you can end one disease or poisoned condition affecting you once per long rest while your Passion is active.

Surprise brings with it curiosity and the excitement of discovery. The Ardent embraces the unexpected, turning moments of shock into opportunity and using curiosity to fuel their drive forward.

1. Curious Reflex (2nd Level): When you experience Passion through surprise, your mind sharpens. You can take one additional reaction per round while in your Passion state.
2. Wondrous Agility (6th Level): Your curiosity makes you more agile and adaptive. While in your Passion, you can move an additional 10 feet as part of your movement and have advantage on Acrobatics checks.
3. Shockwave Momentum (10th Level): Your reaction to the unexpected gives you bursts of energy. When you take damage, you can immediately move up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks.
4. Serendipity’s Favor (14th Level): Once per long rest while in your Passion, if you fail a saving throw, you can reroll the die and take the new result.

Sadness deepens the Ardent’s inner strength, allowing them to process pain and turn it into endurance. By embracing sorrow and grief, the Ardent becomes capable of weathering both emotional and physical hardships, drawing resilience from their introspection.

1. Reflective Sorrow (2nd Level): As sadness washes over you, it strengthens your ability to endure. While in your Passion state, you can reduce the damage from one attack by 1d6 per long rest, representing how you absorb emotional pain and convert it to resilience.
2. Enduring Willpower (6th Level): The weight of sorrow reinforces your resolve. While in your Passion state, whenever you take damage, you can choose to roll a Constitution saving throw (DC = 10 or half the damage taken, whichever is higher). On a success, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier.
3. Grief’s Fortitude (10th Level): Grief reinforces your physical and emotional resolve. While in your Passion state, you gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from non-magical attacks.
4. Sorrowful Persistence (14th Level): Embracing your sadness allows you to keep going despite adversity. While in your Passion state, if you drop below half your hit points, you can regain hit points equal to your Constitution modifier at the start of your turn, lasting for up to one minute. This feature can be used once per long rest.

Happiness empowers the Ardent by bringing a sense of fulfillment and gratitude. By embracing this feeling, the Ardent reinforces their own resilience and spreads an aura of encouragement to those around them.

1. Joyful Surge (2nd Level): Happiness fills you with energy. When you enter your Passion state, you immediately regain hit points equal to 1d6 + your proficiency bonus.
2. Contentment’s Peace (6th Level): Your sense of inner peace gives you resistance to emotional turmoil. While in your Passion, you have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
3. Grateful Momentum (10th Level): Your connection to happiness makes you more enduring. You can use a bonus action to take the Dash action, and opportunity attacks against you have disadvantage while you are in your Passion state.
4. Euphoric Resilience (14th Level): Once per long rest, while in your Passion, if you drop to 0 hit points but are not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. Additionally, you regain hit points equal to your Ardent level.

Fear sharpens the Ardent’s senses and instincts, allowing them to move swiftly and react with precision. By embracing fear rather than fleeing from it, the Ardent channels their heightened alertness into improved defensive and evasive abilities.

1. Heightened Reflexes (2nd Level): Fear enhances your reflexes. While in your Passion state, your movement speed increases by 10 feet, and you have advantage on Dexterity saving throws.
2. Anxious Precision (6th Level): Your fear-driven focus makes every action feel vital. Once per Passion state, you can reroll one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. You must use the second roll, even if it’s lower.
3. Evasive Footwork (10th Level): Fear keeps you on your toes. While in your Passion state, when an attack roll targets you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack once per round.
4. Survival Instinct (14th Level): When your fear spikes, you act on pure survival instinct. While in your Passion state, if you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. This feature can be used once per long rest.

Anger is a driving force that motivates the Ardent to overcome obstacles. It is an emotion that calls for change and action, and when wielded constructively, it becomes a tool of immense strength and resilience.

1. Burning Determination (2nd Level): While experiencing Passion through anger, you feel a relentless drive. You gain temporary hit points equal to your level, which last until your Passion ends.
2. Frustration’s Focus (6th Level): When something prevents you from succeeding (such as missing an attack or failing an ability check), your frustration sharpens your focus. You can reroll one failed attack roll or ability check per round while your Passion is active.
3. Channel the Heat (10th Level): You’ve learned to harness the burning sensation of anger, making you more resistant to physical harm. You gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage while in your Passion state.
4. Unbreakable Will (14th Level): As your anger peaks, so does your refusal to back down. When you are reduced to 0 hit points while in your Passion, you can instead drop to 1 hit point. This can be used once per long rest.

When the village bell tolls, Jara feels a familiar sense of fear tighten in her chest. Instead of letting it paralyze her, she takes a deep breath, letting the fear fuel her movements as she races toward the danger. Fear sharpens her focus, heightens her reflexes, and hones her instincts. In this moment, Jara knows that her fear isn’t a weakness—it’s what will keep her alive.

Mirek walks the battlefield in silence, his eyes downcast as grief threatens to overtake him. But rather than burying his sorrow, he embraces it. The pain reminds him of the lives lost, the ones he fights to protect. Each step he takes becomes a vow, his sadness giving him the endurance to continue, even when hope seems faint.

Ainsley’s laughter rings out as she moves through the crowd, her lighthearted nature a balm to those around her. But when the time comes to act, that joy transforms into a well of energy, driving her actions with precision and grace. Happiness isn’t just something she feels—it’s a force that propels her forward, making her quicker, sharper, and harder to pin down.

The Ardent channels their emotional states into powerful actions, affirming that all emotions—whether joyful or painful—have value and purpose. While others might suppress or ignore their feelings, the Ardent embraces theirs, drawing strength, insight, and resilience from every emotional experience. Their power is not derived from manipulating the emotions of others but from their own intense emotional experiences, which they use to fuel their physical and mental prowess.

Whether motivated by righteous anger, deep sorrow, or focused anxiety, the Ardent’s Passion manifests as a heightened state of being, turning inner turmoil into a tool for survival and protection. Their Passion is not a frenzied outburst but a deep expression of personal truth. The Ardent’s philosophy is simple: every emotion has worth, and they are stronger for embracing them all.

Creating an Ardent

When creating your Ardent, think about their relationship with emotions. Are they someone who always felt deeply, even when it caused discomfort, or have they recently learned to harness their emotional depth? Consider their experiences with various emotions—do they find strength in anger, resolve in sadness, or focus in fear? Perhaps joy and surprise inspire them to act with agility and determination.

Each Ardent views emotions differently, but all understand the transformative power that emotions can offer. Your Ardent’s emotional core will shape their actions in both combat and daily life. Whether they’re driven by deep personal loss, a protective nature, or an unwavering sense of justice, their Passion is a manifestation of their emotional truth.

Key Questions for Your Ardent:

• What emotional experiences define you?
• Which emotions do you channel most often?
• How do you view the role of emotions in your life and battles?
• Do you see your emotional depth as a blessing, a burden, or simply a fact of life?

Your Ardent class is driven by intense emotions, fueling action in battle and beyond. The Fervent Embodiments represent the various ways an Ardent channels their emotions, drawing on unique feelings to guide their powers.

The Ardent Table

Class Features

Hit Points

• Hit Dice: 1d12 per Ardent level
• Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + your Constitution modifier
• Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d12 (or 7) + your Constitution modifier per Ardent level after 1st

Proficiencies

• Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields
• Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
• Tools: Choose one type of artisan’s tools or a musical instrument
• Saving Throws: Constitution, Wisdom
• Skills: Choose two from Acrobatics, Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion, and Survival

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a greataxe or (b) any martial weapon
• (a) two handaxes or (b) any simple weapon
• An explorer’s pack and four javelins

1st Level: Passion

You tap into the well of your emotions, using the depth of your feelings to enhance your performance in critical moments. Your Passion is a heightened state of focused intensity, empowering you both mentally and physically.

You can enter a Passion state as a bonus action, allowing you to channel your emotions to gain the following benefits for 1 minute:

• Heightened Awareness. You gain advantage on Wisdom (Insight) and Wisdom (Perception) checks as you become acutely aware of the world around you and the emotional undercurrents of your environment.
• Emotional Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened, as your emotional focus shields you from external influences that would alter your state of mind.
• Unwavering Resolve. You gain temporary hit points equal to your Wisdom modifier + half your Ardent level (minimum of 1) when you enter the Passion state.
• Swift Reactions. Once per round, when you are hit by an attack or targeted by a spell, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll or force the caster to make a concentration check (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier). On a failure, the attack misses, or the spell’s effect is negated.

Limitations

• You cannot cast spells or maintain concentration on spells during Passion, as the intensity of your emotions requires your full attention.
• Your Passion ends early if you are knocked unconscious, if you choose to end it (no action required), or if you don’t take damage or make an attack against a hostile creature on your turn.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses after a long rest.

1st Level: Emotional Insight

As someone in tune with your own emotions, you have advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks to discern the emotional state of others.

2nd Level: Fervent Embodiment

At 2nd level, you choose a Fervent Embodiment, a deep connection to a primary emotion that shapes your abilities. You gain features from your chosen embodiment at 2nd, 6th, 10th, and 14th level.

2nd Level: Emotional Resilience

While you’re not in a Passion state, you gain proficiency in saving throws against being charmed or frightened, representing your ability to ground yourself in your emotions rather than being manipulated by others.

3rd Level: Emotional Surge

At 3rd level, when you use your Passion feature, you can also choose to manifest a surge of emotion. When you activate your Passion, you may unleash an emotional burst, allowing you to do one of the following:

• Anger: Gain temporary hit points equal to your level.
• Fear: Choose a creature within 30 feet. It must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier) or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
• Happiness: You and one ally within 30 feet gain advantage on your next attack roll or saving throw within 1 minute.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all uses on a long rest.

5th Level: Emotional Overdrive

Your Passion drives you to act with extraordinary speed. While in a Passion state, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

7th Level: Resonant Spirit

At 7th level, your intense emotions bolster your physical and mental endurance. You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws if you don’t already have it. If you already have this proficiency, choose another saving throw proficiency.

9th Level: Unyielding Passion

Your Passion allows you to push beyond normal limits. When you would be reduced to 0 hit points while in a Passion state, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can use this feature once per long rest.

11th Level: Emotional Empowerment

While in a Passion state, your emotional power deepens. The bonus damage from your Passion increases to +3, and when you use Emotional Surge, you can now choose two effects instead of one.

13th Level: Boundless Heart

At 13th level, you learn to channel the intensity of your emotions to recover more swiftly. When you finish a short rest, you regain one use of your Passion feature.

15th Level: Focused Emotion

Your control over your emotions sharpens. When you activate your Passion, you may choose to gain one of the following benefits for the duration:

• Gain advantage on Constitution saving throws.
• Gain resistance to psychic damage.

17th Level: Ardent Mastery

At 17th level, you can enter a state of Perfect Passion once per long rest. When you activate this feature, your Passion lasts for 10 minutes, and you do not lose it if you haven’t attacked or taken damage. Additionally, your Passion bonus damage increases to +4, and you gain resistance to all damage except force damage.

20th Level: Emotional Ascendancy

At 20th level, your mastery of emotions transcends normal limits. When you roll initiative and have no uses of Passion left, you regain one use. Additionally, your Passion bonus damage increases to +5.

Fervent Embodiments

The Fervent Embodiments represent the primary emotions that shape the Ardent’s abilities and powers. Each embodiment focuses on a different aspect of emotional experience, allowing the Ardent to channel their feelings into unique strengths and skills.

• Embodiment of Anger
• Embodiment of Disgust
• Embodiment of Fear
• Embodiment of Happiness
• Embodiment of Sadness
• Embodiment of Surprise