The Hearthrealms
There exists a peculiar exhaustion known only to those who wander too long between worlds. It is not merely the fatigue of the body, though the body certainly protests with admirable theatricality after several weeks sleeping beneath damp wagons, broken towers, or the roots of trees that whisper in languages no scholar has yet catalogued. No, the greater wound settles deeper. One begins to feel stretched thin across existence itself, as though the soul has become parchment repeatedly folded and unfolded until the creases threaten to split entirely. It is during such seasons that the Hearthrealm reveals its true value. I have stepped across those impossible thresholds more than once with mud upon my boots, blood upon my cuffs, and despair sitting quietly behind my eyes, only to discover the extraordinary restorative power of a door capable of closing against the entire universe.
What fascinates me most about the Hearthrealm is not its utility, though utility alone would justify its study among any serious dimensional practitioner. Rather, it is the intimate manner in which these spaces reflect their creators. A man may conceal his nature from colleagues, lovers, kings, and even himself for astonishing lengths of time, yet the realm beyond his Anchor eventually betrays him utterly. I once visited the Hearthrealm of a necromancer who insisted he feared death no longer, only to discover a residence constructed as an endless summer vineyard untouched by decay, where phantom cicadas sang eternally beneath golden evening light. Another wizard fashioned his refuge as a fortress of black iron suspended over an abyss without bottom or stars, despite presenting himself publicly as a cheerful academic. The dimension listens while it is being formed. More troubling still - I believe it remembers.
My own Hearthrealm has changed over the years in subtle and deeply concerning ways. Corridors lengthen where none existed before. Books occasionally appear upon shelves precisely when I require them, despite possessing no recollection of placing them there. The kettle is warm more often than probability should comfortably permit. Yet I confess there are evenings, particularly after the uglier sorts of expeditions, when I have stood beneath cold rain with shaking hands upon my Anchor and felt something dangerously close to gratitude at the knowledge that somewhere beyond ordinary reality there exists a lantern-lit room that knows my footsteps by heart. In a cosmos filled with hungry gods, collapsing civilizations, and dimensions that would happily digest both memory and bone alike, there is profound comfort in possessing a place that asks nothing of you except that you return alive.
Hearthrealm, Lesser
Conjuration (Creation, Teleportation)Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 5, Bard 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous
You establish a permanent bond with a small extradimensional refuge existing beyond the Material Plane. This refuge, known as a Lesser Hearthrealm, is a stable pocket dimension containing up to 1,600 square feet of floor space. The shape and layout of this space are determined by the caster at the time of creation and may consist of multiple rooms, levels, corridors, alcoves, stairways, balconies, or similar architectural features. No individual chamber may exceed 20 feet in height.
Upon completion of the spell, you designate a Tiny object as the realm’s Anchor. Common Anchors include rings, lanterns, keys, lockets, books, bags, masks, mirrors, or similar items.
Any creature holding the Anchor may speak a command word as a standard action to open a portal to the Lesser Hearthrealm. The portal appears adjacent to the bearer and remains open for 1 round per caster level unless dismissed earlier. Creatures entering the portal are transported into the Hearthrealm. Exiting the Hearthrealm returns creatures to the space adjacent to the portal from which they entered, or the nearest safe adjacent square if that space is occupied.
The Hearthrealm is furnished as a modest but comfortable dwelling according to the caster’s desires at the time of casting. The realm may contain sleeping quarters, tables, shelves, bathing facilities, storage space, cooking implements, and similar nonmagical furnishings. The environment is clean, dry, and temperate.
The caster may define weather conditions, ambient lighting, apparent sky coloration, and day-night cycles within the realm.
Objects left within the Hearthrealm remain there indefinitely. The realm cannot create valuables, consumable goods, spell components, alchemical substances, or magic items.
The Lesser Hearthrealm possesses the following planar traits:
Normal gravity
Normal time relative to the caster’s native plane
Finite size
Normal magic
Spells attempting to locate or observe the Hearthrealm remotely must succeed on a caster level check against DC 15 + the caster’s level.
If the Anchor is destroyed, the Hearthrealm remains intact but inaccessible until a replacement Anchor is attuned during an 8-hour ritual performed by the original caster.
Material Component: Silver dust, crystal fragments, rare incense, and dimensional reagents worth 2,500 gp.
Hearthrealm
Conjuration (Creation, Teleportation)Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 7
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous
This spell functions as Hearthrealm, Lesser, except as noted here.
The Hearthrealm contains up to 22,500 square feet of floor space arranged in any configuration desired by the caster. No individual chamber may exceed 40 feet in height.
The realm may contain multiple structures, towers, laboratories, libraries, gardens, shrines, workshops, courtyards, bridges, or similar features.
The caster may define weather conditions, ambient lighting, apparent sky coloration, and day-night cycles within the realm.
The environment may contain simple magical conveniences such as continual flame lighting, self-filling wash basins, warming hearths, unseen servant-like maintenance effects, or similar minor magical comforts.
The caster may designate up to three Anchors tied to the same Hearthrealm.
The Hearthrealm possesses the following planar traits:
Normal gravity
Normal time relative to the caster’s native plane
Finite size
Normal magic
Spells attempting to locate or observe the Hearthrealm remotely must succeed on a caster level check against DC 20 + the caster’s level.
Material Component: Silver dust, crystal fragments, rare incense, dimensional reagents, and stabilized planar catalysts worth 15,000 gp.
XP Cost: 1,000 XP.
Hearthrealm, Greater
Conjuration (Creation, Teleportation)Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 8
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous
This spell functions as Hearthrealm, except as noted here.
The Greater Hearthrealm contains up to 250,000 square feet of total space arranged in any configuration desired by the caster. No individual enclosed chamber may exceed 100 feet in height.
The realm may contain terrain features including forests, ponds, marshland, stone courtyards, caverns, bridges, towers, cliffs, rivers, or similar environmental structures.
The caster may define weather conditions, ambient lighting, apparent sky coloration, and day-night cycles within the realm.
The realm may sustain livestock, gardens, orchards, and nonmagical ecosystems indefinitely.
The caster may designate up to five Anchors tied to the same Hearthrealm.
The Greater Hearthrealm possesses the following planar traits:
Normal gravity
Normal time relative to the caster’s native plane
Finite size
Normal magic
Spells attempting to locate or observe the Hearthrealm remotely must succeed on a caster level check against DC 25 + the caster’s level.
Material Component: Silver dust, crystal fragments, rare incense, dimensional reagents, stabilized planar catalysts, and attuned astral gemstones worth 35,000 gp.
XP Cost: 2,500 XP.
Hearthrealm, Sovereign
Conjuration (Creation, Teleportation)
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 9
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous
This spell functions as Hearthrealm, Greater, except as noted here.
The Sovereign Hearthrealm contains up to 27,878,400 square feet of total space arranged in any configuration desired by the caster. No terrain, structure, or environmental feature within the realm may exceed 500 feet in vertical height or depth.
The realm may contain fully self-sustaining environments including rivers, hills, forests, villages, roads, harbors, fortresses, oceans, caverns, mountains, or similar large-scale features.
The caster may define weather conditions, ambient lighting, apparent sky coloration, and day-night cycles within the realm.
The realm may contain permanent magical effects including unseen servant populations, magical illumination, climate regulation, purification effects, and similar noncombat magical infrastructure.
The caster instinctively knows whenever a creature enters or exits the Hearthrealm.
The caster may designate any number of Anchors tied to the same Hearthrealm.
If the caster dies, the Hearthrealm persists indefinitely and may become accessible through planar travel, powerful divination, or possession of an Anchor.
The Sovereign Hearthrealm possesses the following planar traits:
Normal gravity
Normal time relative to the caster’s native plane
Finite size
Normal magic
Spells attempting to locate or observe the Hearthrealm remotely must succeed on a caster level check against DC 30 + the caster’s level.
Material Component: Silver dust, crystal fragments, rare incense, dimensional reagents, stabilized planar catalysts, attuned astral gemstones, and sovereign planar matrices worth 100,000 gp.
XP Cost: 5,000 XP.
