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 An Initiate’s Guide to the Guilds

The Orzhov Syndicate

Credits
Designers Editor
Alex Riggs, Joshua Zaback Rosa Gibbons

Necromancers of the Northwest, LLC

8302 2nd St NE
Lake Stevens, WA, 98258
www.necromancers-online.com

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Eberron, the dragon ampersand, Ravnica and all
other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other
countries. This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permis-
sion under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

All art in this book, besides the Necromancers of the Northwest logo, is either part of the public domain, or is used with the express
permission of the creator. Some artwork copyright Fil Kearney - http://www.FilKearney.com/ - used with permission. Necromancers
of the Northwest, LLC claims no special rights or privileges to any art presented herein. All other original material in this work is copy-
right 2019 by Necromancers of the Northwest, LLC, and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters
Guild.
 Introduction
The world-city of Ravnica is an exciting place, and one that
can be confusing and dangerous to the uninitiated. While the
city may stretch over the entire plane, it would be a mistake
to assume that every part of it is civilized, or even that the
civilized parts are particularly safe. At the heart of Ravnica,
the one ever-present factor is the city’s ten guilds, which
constantly jockey with one another for dominance. It’s only
natural to want to align yourself with one of these guilds, and
those who insist on remaining “guildless” do so at their own
peril. But what does it mean to belong to a guild, and, more
importantly, what can your guild do for you?
This book presents a number of new options for player
characters aligned with the cunning and unscrupulous
Orzhov Syndicate. Included are a new race for a species
closely aligned with the guild, two new archetypes that
represent the powers and abilities of archetypal paragons of
the guild, and a selection of four new feats that represent the
training, philosophy, and abilities common to members of
the guild.
New Race
The following race is closely associated with the Orzhov
Syndicate, and is suitable for player characters.
Spirit
The ghosts of the dead often remain amongst the living
in Ravnica, especially in the Church of Orzhov. Spirits are
the souls of the departed, animated and given new undead
existence through the paradoxically profane and sacrosanct
magic of the guild.
Ghosts of the Deceased
Before taking on their current, spectral form, each spirit
was once a living, breathing, intelligent creature. Whether
through a deliberate contract signed with the Church of
Orzhov, indenturing their spirit to servitude after death in
exchange for more immediate favors and benefits, or through
quirks in Ravnica’s planar structure, such as the ghost-realm
of Agyrem, a spirit’s soul takes on a life of its own after
death, forming a spectral body that resembles that of the
physical one left behind. When first formed, a spirit retains
all the memories of its former life, although with time, these
memories begin to fade. For many newly-formed spirits, it
is much as though they never died at all, simply transitioned
from a physical body to an incorporeal one. The longer that
the spirit remains in its ghostly existence, however, the more
likely that it begins to change and adapt.
Bleak Existence
Most spirits have little to look forward to in their afterlives.
The majority of new spirits are formed due to contracts with
the Church of Orzhov when they were still living, in which
they promised to serve as indentured laborers in the afterlife
in exchange for gold, services, or other favors while they are
alive. These contracts are almost universally predatory in
nature, with the indentured servitude lasting for decades,
centuries, or, in some cases, even indefinitely. Not known for
their compassion, the church treats these indentured spirits
little better than livestock or equipment, forcing them to
toil away constantly at the same monotonous tasks without
2
rest or comfort. Naturally, this soul-crushing existence can
have a deleterious effect on those spirits, causing them to
quickly lose their memories and sense of self. Those spirits
who forget who they are change physically, as well, with
their lifelike features fading as their bodies take on more
abstract shapes. Although rare, some indentured spirits do
escape their servitude, and others are eventually released
after their term of service is up, although by then they
often lack any semblance of their former selves. In very rare
cases, particularly skilled spirits may be drafted for more
specialized missions on behalf of the guild, allowing them
greater freedom.
The Great Beyond
Although a spirit can, in theory, live forever—especially
spirits such as those on the famous Ghost Council of
Orzhova, who live afterlives of luxury, pursuing plots and
schemes, instead of the toil that most spirits enjoy—an
eternal existence is not guaranteed. Spirits can still be slain
by violence, sending their souls to the same afterlife that
those not raised as spirits enjoy. Spirits who completely lose
their sense of self, whether through hard labor for the church
or simply over unimaginable stretches of time, eventually
fade away into nothingness. It is believed that such spirits are
truly destroyed, rather than moving on to the afterlife, and
cannot be resurrected or contacted via magic, but because
such spirits almost never leave loved ones behind, this theory
is rarely tested.
Spirit Names
Most spirits keep the same name that they had in life.
Only in the most severe cases does a spirit’s ennui and the
crushing decades of its time as a ghost leave it incapable of
remembering its own name. In these cases, oblivion usually
follows shortly, but those spirits who reach this point before
finding a renewed purpose and zest for life often choose
new names for themselves. Some example names for spirits
who have forgotten their mortal lives include: Aerel, Bitter
Warden, Devi, Myst, Remane, Playful Shepherd, Sweet
Dancer, Unwanted Guest, Yuto, and Zion.
Spirit Traits
Your spirit character has the following traits.
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2,
and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Age. Spirits with firm memories of their past lives typically
count their age beginning from when they were born, rather
than when they became spirits. In theory, a spirit can “live”
indefinitely, and, indeed, some of the most powerful and
influential spirits, such as the ghosts of the Obzedat, have
been around for centuries or even millennia. Those spirits
who are indentured to servitude, however, can eventually
succumb to a sort of ennui that erodes their minds along with
their spectral bodies, eventually consigning them to oblivion.
Alignment. Spirits often have the same alignment that they
did when they were alive. Of course, in the same way that life
experiences can change a living creature’s outlook, so too can
spirits grow and change, although as a rule, change tends to
be more difficult for spirits than it is for the living. Because
of the way that many Ravnicans, especially the Orzhov
Syndicate, enslave and use spirits, they are more likely to turn
to evil and law over time, but this is far from an inevitable
process.
Size. Most spirits physically resemble the appearance they
had when they were alive, and even those that have more
abstract features are about the same size as an average living
person. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. You have a flying
speed of 30 feet. You can’t use your flying speed while you
wear medium or heavy armor. (If your campaign uses the
variant rule for encumbrance, you can’t use your flying speed
if you are encumbered.)
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common.
Draining Touch. As an action, you can make a melee attack
against a living creature. If you hit, the target suffers 1d6
necrotic damage, and you heal a number of hit points equal
to the damage dealt in this way. This ability has no effect on
creatures that are immune to or healed by necrotic damage.
Once you have used this ability three times, you cannot use it
again until you complete a short or long rest.
Phase Lurch.You have a limited ability to move through
creatures and objects. As a bonus action, you can make
yourself incorporeal, allowing you to pass through creatures
and objects as though they were difficult terrain. You cannot
end your movement in a space you could not occupy while
corporeal. While incorporeal, your attacks deal minimum
damage, except for your draining touch. Additionally, while
incorporeal, you gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing,
and slashing damage from non-magical attacks. You remain
incorporeal until the beginning of your next turn. Once you
have used this ability a number of times equal to 3 + 1/2 your
level, you cannot use it again until you have completed a long
rest.
Resilient. As a being made of pure spiritual energy, you are Binding Contract
particularly difficult to kill. When at 0 hit points, you can Starting at 3rd level, you gain the ability to create contracts
choose after each death saving throw you make whether to that are backed by the power of potent law magic, ensuring
make your next death saving throw in 1 round or 1 minute. that those who willingly sign them are forced to live up to the
Additionally, rather than dying after your third failure, you strict letter of the document. The amount of time required
die after your fifth failure. to create the contract varies depending on its complexity, but
Revenant. You are not truly an undead creature, but are even the simplest such contact takes at least 1 hour to draft.
treated as undead in many ways. Spells and abilities that The contract has no special properties until it is signed by at
specifically affect undead, or affect them differently from least two parties, one of which can (but does not have to be)
other creatures, treat you as though you were undead. you.

Any creature that signs the contract is bound by its tenets.

Alternate Class Features
The following section presents a number of archetypes and
alternate class features for members of the Orzhov Syndicate.
New Bard College
Advokist’s College (Bard)
Although many choose to focus on the many priests and
pontiffs in the Church of Orzhov, much of the church’s power
comes from its advokists, who manipulate and bend Ravnica’s
legal system to suit the needs of the rich and powerful.
Advokists work long hours in a ruthless, cutthroat profession,
always competing with one another and always in search
of a bigger score, but the promise of potentially joining the
Obzedat is more than reward enough for those few who
manage to claw their way to the top.
The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8
+ your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier) in order
to willingly break the tenets laid out in the contract, and
if this saving throw is failed, cannot try again for 24 hours.
Additionally, even if the creature succeeds on its saving
throw, it suffers 2d10 necrotic damage, plus an additional 1d10
necrotic damage for every 3 bard levels you possess beyond
3rd.
Destroying every physical copy of the original contract frees
an affected creature from its effects. Otherwise, the effect
lasts for as long as the terms of the contract stipulate. A wish
spell can also free a creature from the effects of a binding
contract. There is no limit to how often you can create these
contracts, or the nature of the terms they include, but the
contract must be signed willingly (not under duress or
magical compulsion), or the magic fails.

Legal Training Righteous Injunction

When you join the Advokist’s College at 3rd level, you gain
proficiency in your choice of any two of the following:
Deception, History, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation,
or Persuasion. Additionally, you gain advantage on any
skill checks made as part of official legal proceedings or
courtroom business.
Starting at 6th level, as an action, you can place a magical
injunction on a single creature within 60 feet, barring it
from performing an action you specify, such as casting
spells, making attacks, speaking, moving from their current
location, and so on. The action you forbid must be something
that can clearly be communicated in 5 words or less. The

3
 target is entitled to a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + your
proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier) to resist the
injunction. If it fails this saving throw, then each time it
performs the forbidden action, it suffers 4d10 radiant damage
(no more than once per round). The injunction lasts for a
number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier. Once you
have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you have
completed a short or long rest.
SPIRIT LAW
Starting at 14th level, you become an expert in the esoteric
field of spiritual law. Depending on the type of spiritual
law you choose to practice in, you gain one of the following
benefits:
• Spirit Labor Contracts: You can create a contract
that will necromantically animate a signatory’s spirit
after their death, and force it to serve you. As with
your binding contract feature, the creature must sign
the contract willingly, or it has no effect, and if the
contract is destroyed before the creature’s death, or
you fail to live up to any obligations you agreed to in
the contract, then the contract has no effect. In the
event of the creature’s death, its spirit is animated as
a shadow, except that its strength drain attack does
not reduce the target’s Strength score, and it cannot
create new shadows (it still deals necrotic damage,
as normal). The shadow travels to you, at which
point you are able to control it as though you had
created it with an animate dead spell. Unlike animate
dead, you do not need to reestablish control over the
shadow periodically. Instead, the maximum number
of shadows you can control in this fashion is equal to
1/4 your bard level.
• Soul Insurance: You become an expert in helping
the wealthy and powerful usher their souls into a
comfortable afterlife as spirits. While you are limited
in your ability to make such arrangements without
the involvement of other members of the Church
of Orzhov, you are able to secure your own spiritual
resurrection. If you die as a member of any race other
than spirit, you return to life 1d10 minutes later,
changing your race to spirit (presented earlier in this
book). As long as you remain a spirit, any spell used
to return you to life (such as raise dead, reincarnate,
and so on) does not require the normal costly
material components, and any restrictions in the
spell’s description relating to how long the body has
been dead are doubled. If your body is returned to
life, you cease to exist as a spirit, and are resurrected
by the spell as though you had never been a spirit.
4
New Cleric Domain
Wealth (Cleric)
Perhaps the worst-kept secret in all of Ravnica is that the one
and only thing that the Church of Orzhov truly worships is
cold, hard, currency. Clerics with the wealth domain concern
themselves with amassing worldly goods and possessions,
because they understand that in a very real way, wealth is
power, both here and in the hereafter.
Wealth Domain Spells
Cleric Level Spells
1st alarm, unseen servant
3rd arcane lock, knock
5th create food and water, nondetection
7th divination, stone shape
9th creation, legend lore
Bonus Proficiencies
Beginning at 1st level, you gain proficiency in any two of
the following skills of your choice: Deception, Insight,
Intimidation, Persuasion, or Sleight of Hand.
Shrewd Merchant
Beginning at 1st level, you have a knack for making deals and
pocketing a profit. You have advantage on all checks made
to barter or haggle, as well as on checks made to appraise
the worth of an object, spot counterfeit merchandise, and
so on. Additionally, by succeeding on a DC 20 Deception or
Persuasion check, you can increase the sale price of anything
you sell by 10% (typically this gives you 60% value for armor,
weapons, and other gear, and 110% value for gems, art objects,
and trade goods).
Channel Divinity: Compel Tithes
Beginning at 2nd level, you may use your Channel Divinity
to compel a creature to give you a gift. As an action, you
present your holy symbol and force a single creature of your
choice within 30 feet to succeed on a Wisdom saving throw
or be compelled to give you a gift. A creature that fails its
saving throw must spend an action on its next turn to give
a gift to you, either by handing it to you (if adjacent) or
tossing it to you (if they are further away). The creature may
choose to move to you in order to hand the gift to you, rather
than throw it, but is not required to do so. The creature
determines the nature of the gift, which must be an item in
their possession to which they ascribe a relatively high value.
You can request a particular item in their possession, but
they are not required to give it to you. Common examples of
appropriate gifts include the target’s coin purse (but typically
not individual coins in the coin purse), a treasured family
heirloom (regardless of its actual monetary value), or a magic
item in the target’s possession. Once the gift has been given,
the target is free to attempt to recover it. A creature that
succeeds on its saving throw is immune to this effect for 24
hours.
Celestial Vault
Beginning at 6th level, you gain access to a heavenly (or
infernal) vault in which to store your wealth. By performing
a 10-minute ritual and inscribing a magic circle on the
ground, you can transport any number of non-magical,
non-living objects you own within the circle to your celestial
vault, or recall objects you had sent to the vault previously.
Additionally, at the end of each month, a number of gold
coins is added to the inventory of your celestial vault equal to
1% of the value of all the objects stored within the vault.
Although your celestial vault is very secure, it is not
completely impenetrable, and can potentially be accessed
by creatures capable of reaching the plane it’s on. While
such incursions are incredibly rare, and the stringent
security discourages attempts to do so, if unique items of
great importance are stored there, and powerful creatures
are sufficiently motivated to breach the vault, the DM may
determine that they succeed. The custodians of the vault will
naturally reimburse you for lost wealth in such events, but
they are unable to reproduce any unique items whose value is
not measured in gold.
Gilded Shield
Beginning at 8th level, you can use the power of your wealth
to protect you from harm. Whenever you would suffer any
amount of damage, as a reaction, you can choose to reduce
some or all of that damage. For each point of damage negated
in this fashion, you lose 1 gp per level from the items stored
in your celestial vault (for example, at 8th level, to negate 5
points of damage, you would need to spend 40 gp). If you
do not have enough wealth stored in your celestial vault, the
attempt fails, and you suffer the full damage, but lose nothing
from your celestial vault. All damage to be prevented must be
from a single attack, spell, or effect.
Liquidating Touch
Beginning at 17th level, as an action, you can touch a single
object, and transform it into a number of gold coins whose
total value is equal to 90% of the value of the touched item.
If the object is in the possession of an unwilling creature,
you must succeed on an attack roll to touch the item, and
the creature holding the object may make a Wisdom saving
throw to resist the effect. If the item in question is magical,
the creature gains advantage on this saving throw. The
transformation is instantaneous, and the resulting coins
are non-magical in nature, although at the DM’s discretion,
using this ability on powerful or cursed magical items may
result in unintended side effects. If the object in question was
worn or held, the resulting coins drop to the floor, and may
cause one or more squares to be treated as difficult terrain
until they are collected, at the DM’s discretion. Once you
have used this ability three times, you cannot use it again
until you have completed a long rest.
New Feats
The following section presents a number of feats for
members of the Church of Orzhov.
Haunting Presence
Your lingering malice punishes those who overcome you in
combat. You gain the following benefit:
• Whenever you are reduced to 0 hit points, you may
have some part of your spirit haunt the creature who
last damaged you. That creature must succeed on
a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency
bonus + your Charisma modifier) or suffer
disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and
damage rolls. Because your spirit is busy maligning
the affected creature, you suffer disadvantage on
death saving throws. This penalty lasts until you
die, you are restored to 1 or more hit points, or the
distance between you and the affected creature
becomes 120 feet or greater.
Life Tithe
Each spell you cast drains a tiny amount of life energy from
your victim. You gain the following benefit:
• Whenever you cast a spell that targets a single
creature, the spell deals 1 additional necrotic
damage, in addition to its normal effects. If the spell
allows a saving throw, then the target does not suffer
this additional damage in the event of a successful
save. As long as the target suffers the damage, you
also heal 1 hit point.
Paradoxical Faith
Prerequisites: Charisma or Wisdom 15 or higher.
You are a conflicted duality, both righteous and corrupt at the
same time. You gain the following benefits:
• You gain resistance to your choice of either necrotic
or radiant damage. Once per day, by performing a
10-minute ritual, you can swap your resistance from
one of these damage types to the other. This change
is permanent, but can be reversed by performing the
ritual again another day.
• Whenever you would deal necrotic damage, you can
choose to deal an equal amount of radiant damage,
instead. Similarly, whenever you would deal radiant
damage, you can choose to deal an equal amount of
necrotic damage, instead.
• You are immune to effects that would alter your
alignment.
Sanctified Necromancy
Prerequisites: Must be a member of the Church of Orzhov.
You are licensed and sanctioned by the church to create and
control the undead, and those undead you do create are
empowered with holy magic. You gain the following benefits:
• Undead creatures you create via spells such as
animate dead gain resistance to necrotic and radiant
damage.
• Whenever an undead creature you created is
destroyed, it explodes in a burst of energy, dealing
1d8 radiant and necrotic damage to each creature
within 5 feet.
• When casting animate dead, or a similar spell, to
reassert your control over existing undead creatures,
you can reassert control over one additional creature
per casting of the spell.
5
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