Book of Spirits: An Ethereal Supplement for 5E

Playtest Insights for Empath and Conduit! Dev Update + US Tariffs
over 1 year ago – Tue, May 27, 2025 at 03:21:55 AM

Hey Misthikers, we have some exciting news and important updates to share!

Creatures are Ready!

All 60 creatures have made it safely into the book with lore and statistics. We think you’re going to enjoy the variety of spiritual challengers and allies.

This officially closes chapter 3, meaning all that’s left is finalizing chapter 4, the book’s introduction, and some appendices. We’re on it!

Empath and Conduit Changes

You’ve shared a great amount of insights on your playtest forms, and we’ve finally incorporated some of them into the classes you love!

Let’s start with the Empath.

We have adjusted the Empath’s Psychic Flare so that it is influenced much more by your choice of subclass. At level 3, you will get the Psychic Flare feature with one variant that all empaths have, and one additional option will immediately become available through your choice of subclass. 

We have also adjusted the capstone ability of the empath to make it more interesting; At level 20, whenever you cast a spell, you can choose an ally you are linked to and have them hold concentration for you. This allows you the epic feat of having two concentration spells active simultaneously! There are a few other small changes, but you’ll see those in the book.

Now let’s move to the Conduit. Here are some comments that were recurring and how we addressed them:

• You asked for more spell interactions with your attuned spirits, so we have adjusted the spell list slightly. Namely, Conjure Elemental is joining spells like Find Steed, Shield of Faith, and Spirit Guardians. We believe these provide many opportunities to showcase your awesome spirits in combat and beyond!
• Conduct Spirit has been renamed to Channel Spirit, and you will have more uses of it now! You start with two, and restore one use whenever you complete a short rest, but now you can also spend two Hit Dice to activate your Channel Spirit features if you run out!
• Code of the Furnace underdelivered on its premise, so we have increased the number of times you can use Power Surge significantly. Additionally, you will have even more Hit Dice to use all of the class’s features once you hit level 7.
• The Code of the Harvest was also adjusted slightly; the duration of Essence Coating is now 1 minute, and when you reach 7th level, you can unattune from one of your Attuned Aspects to use its Channel Spirit for free, and even gain some Hit Dice (that’s our interpretation for draining the spirit dry and killing it).
• The Code of Sympathy conduit can now switch the spirits they are attuned to as a bonus action, granting you more versatility with this subclass (one switch per day for free, more by spending Hit Dice).
• Some of you requested an expanded list of Conduit Spirit Aspects. There are currently 8 of them, aligning with the 8 core emotions presented in the book. While we think it’s really cool to attune ‘hope’ or ‘malice’, expanding the list quickly gets out of hand. After all, there are 60 creatures in the book, and even they cannot convey the full range of emotions that exist. Instead, we would like to encourage you to think about the components of these more ‘complex’ emotions, and attune to multiple aspects that assemble them. For instance, at level 6 you might attune to both Trust and Anticipation to form ‘hope’, or take upon yourself the aspects of Disgust and Anger to form 'malice'.
• Project Awareness is confusing and situational, so we have removed it. The conduit already has a lot of features, and level 3 is quite great as is! That said, we have improved the duration of Spirit Sense to compensate (now it lasts for a full minute).

US Tariffs

Like every other publisher out there, the US tariffs have caught us off guard. Currently, the tariff rate on Chinese imports is 30%, though whether or not it remains that way is anyone’s guess. 

Unless the tariffs change by the time we fulfill, we may have to add a small fee from backers situated in the US to offset their tariffs. We expect such fees to be a few bucks at most, even for the highest pledge levels. 

This is not our final decision on the matter; it is a transparent evaluation of the situation with you, our backers. If the fees end up being modest, we may choose to just take that loss (or at least subsidize your fees). However, as a relatively small studio, we need to be smart so we can stay afloat. 

We appreciate your patience as we navigate this unpredictable situation!

Mist Hikers, what do you think about the empath and conduit changes?

An Ethereal Menagerie - Dev Update
over 1 year ago – Sun, Mar 30, 2025 at 02:07:31 AM

Hey Mist Hikers, we are excited to share more of our progress with you!

Spirits Galore

Plenty of animar have unveiled their ethereal visage for the first time, and this week we are expecting the last round of creature illustrations, completing a total of 60 spirits!

Out of those, 45 have at least an advanced draft for lore and mechanics, and out of those, 30 are nearly done, waiting for line edits and proofing.

Spirit Crafting Guide - Done!

Chapter 3 of the book includes a guide for DMs on homebrewing animar. It provides inspiration and direction for each spirit type, along with tables filled with mechanical traits that you can choose from. It was really important to us that incorporating Resonance into your new creations is easy, and we think our guide delivers!

What's Next?

We are still developing the remaining creatures and the final adventure module for the book. After that is done, we will assemble chapter 4 (the final chapter, “Adventures in the Spirit Realm”), adding some introductory information before presenting each of the three adventure modules (we have a level 3, level 5, and level 7). The appendices, glossary, and the book’s introduction are the next priority after that. Once those are done, and after we edit everything to our satisfaction, layout can begin! 

Physical Items Status

• The Mist Hiker Notes have all the art we need, but still require in-character text to match their wonderful energy. We can’t wait for you to meet Maeve. We think you’re going to get along.
• Miniatures and dice are already in print, we have started early to avoid fulfillment delays as much as possible.
• VTT is still waiting the final edited version of the book, but we have found a great designer from the Foundry community that we trust.
• The DM Screen is something we’ve yet to develop. We have some ideas, but we think this is a great opportunity to take notes from the community!

Mist Hikers, what do you love seeing on your DM Screen?

Of Shrines and Spirits - Dev Update
over 1 year ago – Mon, Mar 03, 2025 at 02:46:18 AM

Hey Mist Hikers, we’re here with more exciting things to show!

Companions

Book of Spirits features 8 new creatures you can summon with the Find Familiar spell, and we’re excited to share them with you in this beautiful depiction. 

The statistics of each of these animar are still in development, a non-trivial task due to the limiting nature of the Find Familiar spell (CR 0 creatures are intentionally basic). Our goal is that each of these spirits will have a minor passive benefit or a 1/Day ability that makes choosing them worthwhile. 

The true challenge is not overshadowing the other CR 0 options. Animar are ethereal creatures with the Incorporeal Movement trait, which lets them pass through objects and creatures. That trait alone is a potentially abusable game-changer. To cope, we propose that summoning them as familiars removes their Incorporeal Movement trait. They’d still be relevant and cool, but no longer the automatic go-to choice for infiltration and more subtle exploration. 

What do you think about this solution? Let us know in the comments!

Shrines

Chapter 3 is getting the attention it deserves. We’re going beyond just animar statistics; we contemplate how society deals with the presence of spirits, and shrines are one of our answers. These magical monuments are attuned to a specific spirit, making it more powerful (mechanically, this affects its ability to grant boons and banes).

Some shrines are designed with a different purpose in mind; they empower the animar still, but also lock it in place and preventing its escape. We feel that this design plays into many great stories of dark spirits locked in crumbling ruins, ready to be released by unwary travelers.

The Shape of Valor

Following the discussion on our previous update, we’re pushing the valor animar into the realm of Trust and Anticipation, bringing you a very striking sketch!

Thank you for your continued interest and support! We’ll keep you posted on more developments soon :)

The Nature of Valor - Dev + Fulfillment Update
over 1 year ago – Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 03:23:37 AM

Hey Mist Hikers, We hope the New Year is treating you well!

Spirit Forging

Chapter 3 is all about the animar. It expands on their nature, demeanor, society, and intrinsic connection to all sentient life on the physical realm. It also includes 60 animar stat blocks. 

Many of the animar made an appearance in previous supplements (published on Patreon). Our objective now is to revisit, review, and rework each design to incorporate the Resonance system and match our new standard of quality. 

Sometimes, this means reconsidering previous design choices.

This is the wheel of emotions we used to define our 8 core emotions. Each animar resonates with one or more core emotions, like the adorable accomplishment animar—entities brimming with joy. Some animar resonate with more than one core emotion, like affection animar, holding both joy and trust.

The valor animar already made an appearance on the cover of the book in the form of a majestic lion. Initially, we thought it had only one aspect—anticipation. But as we began considering the animar for the book, we asked ourselves: “is this really enough to capture the essence of valor?”

What do you think? Which of the wheel’s limbs resonates most with valor? Tell us in the comments below!

Range of Emotions

The spectrum of emotion is not only extensive, it’s also incredibly subjective. Context and nuance are fundamental to spirit realm storytelling, and that means different situations in your games will evoke unique interpretations of each emotion. Yes, sometimes valor means fighting a dragon, but it could also mean facing your own patterns of self-hatred or doubt. Both situations can be equally heroic in games that use Book of Spirits.

On a practical level, the animar presented in the book won’t cover every emotion the player characters might feel. At first this thought was intimidating to us, because we want to give you something that feels complete, but we have changed our mind after considering two things:

• How easy it is to reskin animar to match different situations, especially when they share the same core emotions
• How fun it is to create new animar

In fact, we enjoy their creation so much that we want you to have some of that fun too! That’s why we’re including a dedicated section within chapter 3 that guides you in designing original animar. This will include tables with abilities that are associated with each core emotion so you can mix and match, and key features based on their desired challenge rating.

Development Delay

We are committed to giving you the best book we can, and while we are certain you appreciate that sentiment, it has the unfortunate side effect of us spending more time with each element in the book. That, combined with some personal life changes, have resulted in a delay. 

Our original timeline estimated digital fulfillment in April of 2025, physical fulfillment three months later in July. The delay currently adds two months to each estimate, meaning digital fulfillment is postponed to June of 2025, and physical fulfillment will take place in October of the same year.

We will keep you posted about this timeline, and work to prevent further delays where possible. We know that you want the book, and you can trust that we want you to have it! 

In the meantime, we thank you for your patience, understanding, and support. We hope that you see how important this project is to us, and that we put much thought, time, and passion into every part of it.

Last Chance to Provide Feedback! + Art/Dev Update
over 1 year ago – Sat, Dec 21, 2024 at 02:49:32 PM

Hey Mist Hikers, happy holidays! We’re back with a fresh update.

Playtest Feedback Surveys End Soon

We’re excited to read all of your feedback on the empath, conduit, and the resonance system! On December 23rd, 4pm EST we will close the feedback form, and begin incorporating your input to improve the designs.

If you’re reading this before then, you can still submit your feedback through this link:

https://forms.gle/Fc5ondBmtTGjUgtU9

Thank you for making Book of Spirits even better!

Dev Update - Art & Modules

With the coming holidays, some life changes, and an abundance of vacation plans across the board, the end of the year was slower than we anticipated. Although this means less progress in the short term, rest, recovery, and family time are important to us.

While chapter 3 remains mostly undeveloped, we were still able to produce additional artwork and refine the adventure modules of chapter 4. We will try to make up for lost time in the new year, but realistically, this may result in a delay of the publication to May 2025 instead of the initial April 2025 estimation. 

We will keep you posted about the timeline, but for now, here’s some nice art!

On behalf of the studio, I would like to wish you a happy holiday season and an exciting new year filled with wonderful adventures (tabletop or otherwise) and cherished memories forged with friends!