Level up your digs with Manse Magnificent

Architects! We here at Moon Birch Games have been working hard for the past two years on a cool new product: The 5E-compatible supplement, Manse Magnificent. To be offered on Kickstarter in 2025, our book gives you rules for constructing a luxurious magical portable sanctum, and it lets your character craft, research, train, meditate, garden, carouse, perform, and more during downtime. All this, and (take note, DMs!) it won’t break your campaign. 

With Manse Magnificent, you get the Cornerstone, a sapient magic item that produces a cozy hearth, your new home away from home. Your characters can Construct a simple hearth starting at level 4. As you level up, you’ll enjoy more options: colorful room choices, a dedicated staff, fantastic magical amenities, and even customizable astral landscapes.

Today we’re talking about how your hearth levels up as you do. When your party first finds the Cornerstone, whoever takes charge of it is called the Architect. The whole party makes decisions and can customize their parts of the hearth, but the hearth’s overall level and abilities are keyed to the Architect’s level. (If the Architect is multiclassed, add up their levels to arrive at the hearth’s overall level. For example, if your Architect is a level 3 barbarian and level 1 bard, the hearth is level 4.)

The Architect should be level 4 or higher. In mere minutes, any time, anywhere, you can Construct a hearth of the corresponding level. It’s like carrying a stronghold in your saddle pack!

A material world

At levels 4-6 your hearth is a humble physical structure located on the Material Plane. It evolves in fun, but not game-breaking, ways.

Hut (level 4)

Embrace simplicity with this earthy minimalist haven

At this level, you essentially have digs equivalent to the level 3 spell tiny hut. It’s not much protection if you’re facing Pruckna the Perdurable Lich, but your hut provides basic comforts and safeguards. Your enemies can’t smoke you out or hit you with fireballs. It’s not much, but it beats negotiating the watch order and drying out your soggy skivvies on the campfire.

Shieling (level 5)

Enjoy rough-hewn charm and intimate living in this studio-style hideaway

One step up from the hut, your shieling is a rustic dwelling about the size of a garden shed. Rough-hewn as it may be, the Cornerstone’s personality is starting to emerge. You shrug off your cloak, and suddenly there’s a wooden peg on the wall to hang it. Your stomach rumbles with hunger, and a bowl of nuts and berries appears (equivalent to the goodberry spell). The hearth makes you feel welcome.

Cabin (level 6)

Intuitive comfort: A thoughtfully sized, charming two-bedroom that anticipates your every need

Enjoy glamping luxury the size of a two-bedroom apartment, even in deep jungle. Summon lantern light, enjoy food similar to the create food and water spell, sleep without fear of brambles—and no need to worry about cleaning the dishes. Spend the night in this rustic cabin and you’ll wake rested, fed, and secure. And when it’s time to leave, all that relaxation pays off: Enjoy one of 12 random magic amenities that gives you a short-lived advantage the next time you step outside. Oh, and say hello to your new party mascot! It bounds with excitement every time you enter the hearth. 

Astral horizons

From level 7 onward, the hearth becomes extradimensional, a small demiplane, and you enter through an astral portal. (But you remain material, and you’re still bound by material constraints of time, health, movement, and physical needs.) There’s too much to cover at each level, but here are highlights:

Cottage (level 7)

Easy living in the Astral: Unwind in this cozy, three-bedroom cottage with a discreet personal Host

The Cornerstone’s sapience has coalesced and now projects a humanoid guide known as The Host. This phantasmal executive / concierge converses freely with you. It can help you obtain much of what you need, including information from a multiversal rumor network. Your familiars and animal companions get their own shared accommodation. And—and!—your cottage starts developing its own basic reference shelf of scrolls and books. Right now the texts don’t make sense, but just wait…

Household (level 8)

Exquisite comfort: Relish this chic two-floor residence with expert staff and your own private wing

Your demiplane is now two floors, and each party member has a private wing. With your private wing—under your full control—you get to choose a magical cosmetic effect that works inside your suite. (Like wild magic? Try the d100 cosmetic effect table.) Shape your private wing to your own preferences, be that a special room for your familiar, a personal amenity bonus, or a private tutor manifested from Astral patterns. Meanwhile, new staff members join The Host, bringing new types of rumors from the interplanar network. 

Villa (level 9)

Luxurious sanctuary: Unveil multi-level elegance and a stunning grand chamber for each resident

Your luxurious villa is fantastic, and fantastically customizable. One character chooses an elegant tearoom; another wants a levitating meat throne (not to pick an overly specific example). A new attic appears, with powers tapping into the Cornerstone’s unconscious. Your private wing now has an Encanto-like grand chamber, where you can express your identity. Your demiplane gains outdoor grounds you can design, replete with wildlife phantasms.

Manor (level 10)

Plush living: Conjure tiered sophistication that embraces private outdoor lodges

You’re dining on six-course meals, and look at all the closet space! Each resident gains a private lodge on the grounds, which itself surpasses the party’s old level-8 household. Choose your lodge from a colorful list or pick a room from a previous level, along with a custom amenity. Your lodge attracts interest from interplanar social clubs, select groups of Cornerstone owners with unusual hobbies.

Estate (level 11)

Lavish lifestyle: Explore embassy-sized grounds and an enigmatic chamber to unlock your past

The level of luxury and artisanship of your surroundings notches way up—we’re talking museum-quality dining sets, damask wallpaper, and acres of exterior grounds. Your library has grown large and has special-collections interlibrary privileges. At this level, the Cornerstone may want to explore your character’s past, the better to upgrade your grand chamber. Out in the main hall, stop by for your daily random potion.

Pleasance (level 12)

Secluded refinement: An opulent castle shelters flower gardens and freestanding retreats

Your exquisite new garden castle can entertain even royal guests. Special tomes may arrive in your library rotunda that could contain secret magic of the multiverse. A new belfry gives you insights into mysterious objects’ histories. (It has bats!) Upgrade your private lodge, explore the ever-growing grounds, and maybe meet new extradimensional creatures as your demiplane’s boundaries start to allow harmless Astral incursions.

Manse (level 13)

Multiversal magnificence: Enjoy the acme of luxury amid breathtaking panoramas

Your mansion has dozens of rooms and a hundred phantasmal staffers with complete access to every rumor network. On your sprawling grounds you can add an arena, a spectacular place like a harbor, mountain range, cavern complex or volcano lair. Okay, yes, your library atheneum may occasionally surface sanity-troubling scrolls from the darkest patterns of the multiverse. But the food is delicious!

These are some highlights of your hearth’s progress, and there’s much more ahead. Look for the full-length Manse Magnificent supplement on Kickstarter! 

Thanks, and stay cozy.

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