TEXT: EN World EN5idEr | Metropolitan Arcana
  Metropolitan
  Arcana
   
  writing Andrew Engelbrite
   color art Héctor Rodríguez
   
  editing Mike Myler
   
  layout Eric Life-Putnam
  S
  crutinizing the half-orc’s doc-
  ument carefully, the captain 
  carefully analyzes every line of the 
  supposed pardon until suddenly the 
  writ explodes in a puff of scrap paper, 
  the rapidly shrinking form of the crimi-
  nal racing away and cackling mad as 
  a hatter. He reaches for his sword but 
  grasps at nothing, the illusion of his 
  weapon disappearing just as he spots 
  the fleeing half-orc raising the blade in 
  triumph. The captain cracks a smile 
  in response and concentrates on the 
  invisible mark cast upon his sword, 
  the location of the thieves’ den finally 
  about to be revealed. 
  Metropolitan
  Arcana
  EN World EN5ider | Intriguing Organizations: Esoteres
  hey experiment on 
  slaves and purchase 
  corpses by the cartload 
  yet mortals tolerate them 
  because of their bribes, 
  and power, and the 
  beautiful goods they 
  sell. The gods too do 
  not interfere with their 
  presence, the reasons for 
  doing so as mysterious as 
  the enigmatic group. The 
  Esoteres: their saints are 
  equations, their liturgy  
  formulae that exceeds 
  the confines of arcana, 
  and from within their 
  Tesseract they research 
  the abstract, the absurd, 
  and the impossible. 
  ESOTERES
  ESOTERES
  Writing	
  Quinn Callahan
  Color	Art	
  Phil Stone,
   
   
  Claudio Pozas
  Editing		
  Mike Myler
  T
  
  EN World EN5ider | Intriguing Organizations: Esoteres
  History
  Called by many names the Esoteres have existed 
  for centuries—they were human at the start and 
  in a hubris so common among humanity sought 
  to achieve the divine through the study of powers 
  unknown, fervently seeking godhood through spells, 
  rituals, expanded consciousness, and, perhaps oddly, 
  mathematics. Later scholars have claimed such 
  a thing is impossible, that it takes divine magic 
  whether freely given (or in rare cases stolen) to gain 
  deific power. At first the organization’s successes 
  were few and rare but not without interesting 
  results. Their experiments twisted and distorted 
  their bodies over the years of their study, yet with 
  those mutations came many things: alien wisdom, 
  mighty intellects, and extended lifespans. 
  Only two or three decades after the group began 
  their sages—those that survived both voluntary and 
  sometimes forced experimentation—became more 
  than what they were, undeniably ascended from 
  their original forms. The less human the Esoteres 
  became the more apathetic their attitude towards 
  anything that did not serve their needs. Their souls 
  grew monstrous, experimenting on stolen corpses 
  and slaves, and with their heinous inhuman behavior 
  came the hatred of many. Over the course of half a 
  century they constructed a refuge for themselves 
  and their critical work: the Tesseract, a testament to 
  their power and genius just as strange and alien as 
  its minders. On the outside it looks like a moderately 
  large fortress of stone with very few windows and 
  seemingly no guards yet within it is an ever-shifting 
  labyrinth of halls, doors, and passages to unknown 
  dangers. It is here these savants have done their 
  work since its completion, hidden away except when 
  a particular member’s activities requiring venturing 
  beyond the safety of its walls.
  Activities
  From the Tesseract’s completion onward the 
  Esoteres have quietly researched increasingly 
  abstract mathematics and secrets of the unknown. 
  Many (themselves included) claim the group has 
  long since abandoned its goal of godhood and that 
  they now research for purely research’s sake. They 
  hide the most potent of what they learn but have  
  on occasion traded secrets or strange magical  
  These are but a few of the remarkable yet utterly
  mundane items traded by the Esoteres.
  Dream (100–2,000 gp). Esoteres have  
  mastered the distillation of dreams into strange 
  and hauntingly beautiful gel-like orbs. Eating 
  one of these sweet-tasting wonders cause the 
  imbiber to dream extremely vividly the next 
  time they sleep. Specific details of the dream 
  can be established beforehand with the  
  Esotere broker for additional cost based on 
  complexity—some are so perfectly modulated 
  that their events are indistinguishable from  
  the real world.
  Epsilon-Model Longship (50,000 gp). While 
  it may be identical in most ways to a standard 
  longship this Esotere vessel has no sails or 
  obvious means of propulsion. This ability alone 
  is not what makes it so amazing however—
  through a technique utterly incomprehensible 
  to outsiders it does this completely without 
  magic. Although it is a mundane vehicle, only 
  Esoteres are able to repair such a ship without 
  the use of magic (such as mending or similar 
  spells).
  Flame Devourer (150 gp). Looking and  
  feeling not unlike a gray sponge, these spheres 
  can be tossed up to 20 feet into any non- 
  magical flame as a bonus action, exploding  
  into an unpleasant smelling goo that instantly 
  snuffs out all fire in a 5-foot radius. After it  
  is expended the item takes the shape of a  
  cube approximately 1 foot across that smells  
  strongly of rubber.
  Immaculato Clothing (+150 gp). Through  
  a mysterious series of unknown treatments  
  an Esotere can take any standard non-magical 
  item of clothing and cleans it completely, 
  making it impervious to staining. The treated 
  clothing is never dirtied and remains perfectly 
  clean until it is significantly damaged, ending 
  the effect.
  Olympicene Extract (100 gp). This perfect 
  copper dodecahedron can be smashed or 
  thrown against a surface to release a corrosive  
  liquid. Olympicene extract functions the same 
  way as an acid vial but is much easier to  
  conceal, granting advantage on any Dexterity 
  (Sleight of Hand) checks made to hide it.
  
  EN World EN5idEr | Metropolitan Arcana
  Metropolitan
  Arcana
   
  writing Andrew Engelbrite
   color art Héctor Rodríguez
   
  editing Mike Myler
   
  layout Eric Life-Putnam
  S
  crutinizing the half-orc’s doc-
  ument carefully, the captain 
  carefully analyzes every line of the 
  supposed pardon until suddenly the 
  writ explodes in a puff of scrap paper, 
  the rapidly shrinking form of the crimi-
  nal racing away and cackling mad as 
  a hatter. He reaches for his sword but 
  grasps at nothing, the illusion of his 
  weapon disappearing just as he spots 
  the fleeing half-orc raising the blade in 
  triumph. The captain cracks a smile 
  in response and concentrates on the 
  invisible mark cast upon his sword, 
  the location of the thieves’ den finally 
  about to be revealed. 
  Metropolitan
  Arcana
  EN World EN5ider | Intriguing Organizations: Esoteres
  exclusively) and, by extension, render useless any 
  form of deific scrying or divinations into future 
  events connected to their cult. They have found 
  moderate success here: for brief periods (and at 
  presently incredibly high cost) they can hide their 
  own thoughts and even entire rooms from the eyes 
  of prying gods while within the Tesseract. They are 
  exceptionally careful with this ability however: they 
  fear it shall anger one or many deities should they 
  be noticed, and more importantly there is concern 
  it simply does not work the way they presently think 
  it does. Were the Esoteres to act as though no god 
  was watching when one actually was, they know the 
  results could be catastrophic. 
  The second project (technically nameless but 
  sometimes called Project Zero) is researched almost 
  entirely in rooms hidden as a result of Project One’s 
  gains and has had disappointing results thus far. The 
  Esoteres’ ultimate wish is to sever the Material Plane 
  from all planes connected to it positing that if this 
  was accomplished the gods would lose all of their 
  worldly power and presence. It is fortunate that they 
  have made little progress here for if the Esoteres  
  succeeded it would be beyond apocalyptic: with 
  their souls unable to leave the dead would not truly 
  die, nearly all divine magic would be lost, and it  
  is not clear if physics as they are known would  
  continue to function. 
  Modus Operandi
  The Esoteres are incredibly secretive and their  
  members usually only know the very basics of an 
  experiment or the overarching purpose of any given 
  field of esoteric research. The fewer who know  
  of Project One’s purpose (let alone the order’s  
  compounds with outsiders. For the right price (and 
  information is an Esoteres’ favorite coin), one can 
  purchase beautiful dreams, the purest of colors, 
  and more from one of their kind—one only needs 
  to ignore the strange sounds from their fortress and 
  the cries of slaves entering to never leave again. 
  Dealing the Esoteric. The Esoteres are no fools 
  and know it is often easier to use their power to 
  trade for what they desire rather than to seize  
  it by force. By trading the odd bit of research or  
  producing bizarre and beautiful items that defy  
  understanding, they are able to keep a steady  
  supply of slaves coming in and bribes going out to 
  remain comfortably positioned as a disliked but  
  tolerable organization. Striking at the Esoteres  
  would mean making an enemy of their many trade 
  partners and well-paid allies, including multiple  
  warlords and at least one dragon. 
  Blackmailing the Powers. The work of the 
  Esoteres has attracted the ire of many an archfiend 
  and deity. While most mortals remain clueless to the 
  cult’s true purposes, the gods cannot be kept blind 
  for long. A daring conclusion was reached by the 
  organization’s leaders long ago: they can be hated by 
  even deities so long as it remains more convenient 
  for them to exist than not. With this understanding 
  they’ve made it known that should any god attack 
  the Tesseract with their armies directly, they shall 
  release the entirety of their archives to the wider 
  world—whatever secrets the Esoteres hide, this 
  threat has kept the angels and devils at bay.
  Motivations
  The Esoteres are primarily motivated by a hatred of 
  divine magic. The material world and most instances 
  of magic (arcane included) are unjustly bound by the 
  will of bickering gods, all the varied manifestations 
  of deific power no more than extensions of that 
  tyrannical will. Though they would never say as 
  much (and many Esoteres have even had their minds 
  wiped of such thoughts), there are two ongoing 
  projects that have endured for centuries that drive 
  most (but not all) of their research. 
   
  The first project—called simply Project One 
  and the most promising of the two—is focused 
  on hiding their work from the eyes of the gods 
  indefinitely. The Esoteres want to break divine 
  omniscience (on themselves and their work 
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  EN World EN5ider | Intriguing Organizations: Esoteres
  experimentation and study—for this reason they 
  often by necessity are the most aware of the Broad 
  Mind’s overarching goals. Dark Minds (typically 
  Mages and Assassins) are the unfortunates who have 
  had their minds almost entirely wiped of memories 
  unnecessary for a given task, mitigating any chance 
  of them revealing their ties to the organization but 
  relegating them to delivering messages to extremely 
  powerful beings or to assassinate targets. 
  Headquarters: 
  The Tesseract
  On the outside the Tesseract appears to be a large 
  three story circular stone structure with two smaller 
  towers on either side of it. Floating atop the tower is 
  its namesake: a large ever shifting tesseract, a fourth 
  dimensional shape rendered in three dimensional 
  space. In truth, it is an illusion but many outsiders 
  still view it with wonder. On the whole, the building 
  is clearly able to face mighty sieges and was even  
  designed to be resistant to earthquakes. Inside the 
  Tesseract is a maze, an unfriendly place filled by 
  whimpering and mad laughter emanating from  
  behind its numerous closed doors—many of them  
  an entrance to a pocket dimension of one sort or 
  another. Aside from food storage most of the  
  chambers are either rooms for study or traps  
  meant to kill intruders.
  intention to sever the Material Plane) the more  
  likely they are to succeed. Only a single Esotere is 
  permitted to know the entirety of their organization's 
  projects: the Broad Mind. The few outsiders who 
  manage to learn of this unique creature’s existence 
  (and survive) would not be faulted for thinking of 
  such a being as their leader but such thinking is at 
  least partially inaccurate. 
  The Broad Mind is an Esotere who has converted 
  into an archive for all of its peers’ collected learning 
  —as a group the mutated sages decide what avenues  
  of experimentation and research to pursue, at  
  which point the Broad Mind grants them access to 
  “dangerous” information essential to their assigned 
  projects. When a project is complete the Broad  
  Mind absorbs its details before an Esotere has all  
  potentially troublesome information about the  
  project (both old and new) wiped from their own 
  memory. The Broad Mind is barely sapient, speaking  
  eloquently but without emotion, and is totally  
  incapable of lying (although that doesn’t stop it from 
  withholding information). It does not speak unless 
  spoken to with the sole exception of when it detects 
  an error in an Esotere’s work or some other issue 
  that needs attention—its will is that of the Esoteres.
  With the exception of the Broad Mind, these 
  savants tend to work in one of three roles: Brokers, 
  Researchers, and Dark Minds. Brokers buy and sell 
  goods and information as deemed appropriate by 
  the Esoteres. Researchers immerse themselves in  
  
  EN World EN5idEr | Metropolitan Arcana
  Metropolitan
  Arcana
   
  writing Andrew Engelbrite
   color art Héctor Rodríguez
   
  editing Mike Myler
   
  layout Eric Life-Putnam
  S
  crutinizing the half-orc’s doc-
  ument carefully, the captain 
  carefully analyzes every line of the 
  supposed pardon until suddenly the 
  writ explodes in a puff of scrap paper, 
  the rapidly shrinking form of the crimi-
  nal racing away and cackling mad as 
  a hatter. He reaches for his sword but 
  grasps at nothing, the illusion of his 
  weapon disappearing just as he spots 
  the fleeing half-orc raising the blade in 
  triumph. The captain cracks a smile 
  in response and concentrates on the 
  invisible mark cast upon his sword, 
  the location of the thieves’ den finally 
  about to be revealed. 
  Metropolitan
  Arcana
  EN World EN5ider | Intriguing Organizations: Esoteres
  4th level (3 slots): dimension door, fabricate,  
   
   
     private sanctum
  5th level (2 slots): arcane hand, modify  
   
   
     memory, scrying
  6th level (1 slot): disintegrate, forbiddance
  ACTIONS
  Calculated Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to  
  hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 8 (1d8+4)  
  bludgeoning damage. On a successful hit, the  
  target makes a DC 16 Constitution saving throw  
  or is paralyzed for 1d6 rounds. A target can repeat 
  the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, 
  ending the effect on itself on a success.
  Doom Equation. Through a mix of alien knowledge 
  and an ultimate mastery of mathematics, the  
  Esotere unleashes a dangerous and unstable 
  power. A 30-foot radius maelstrom of energized 
  equations roils from the Esotere. The maelstrom 
  spreads around corners. Each creature in that area 
  (including the Esotere) must succeed on a DC 18 
  Charisma saving throw or take 35 (10d6) necrotic 
  damage and be stunned for 1 round.
  Esotere 
  Medium monstrosity, lawful neutral
  Armor	Class 16 (natural armor)
  Hit	Points 127 (17d8+51)
  Speed 30 ft.
  STR
  DEX
  CON
  INT
  WIS
  CHA
  13 (+1) 15 (+2) 16 (+3) 18 (+4) 15	(+2)
  8	(–1)
  Saving	Throws Intelligence +8, Wisdom +6
  Skills Arcana +12, Insight +6, Nature +12,  
  Perception +8, Persuasion +7, Religion +8
  Senses passive Perception 18
  Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common,  
  Deep Speech, Infernal, Giant
  Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
  Compartmentalized Mind. The Esotere is  
  immune to all forms of telepathy and mind  
  reading except from a Broad Mind. In  
  addition, it has advantage on saving throws  
  made to resist being charmed.
  Enemy of Heaven & Hell. When a creature  
  targets the Esotere with a divine trait, class  
  feature, or spell, the creature makes an  
  ability check using its spellcasting ability  
  (if it has no spellcasting ability, use the  
  creature’s highest ability score). The DC  
  equals 12 or, if the Esotere uses its reaction  
  to focus, 17. On a success, the creature’s  
  divine trait, class feature, or spell functions  
  normally. On a failure, it fails and has no effect.
  Esotere Cunning. The Esotere’s magic is beyond  
  the confines of typical arcana. When a creature  
  attempts to counterspell or use dispel magic  
  against one of its spells, they have disadvantage  
  and treat the Esotere’s spell as if it were one  
  level higher than normal.
  Magic Resistance. The Esotere has advantage on saving 
  throws against spells and other magical effects.
  Spellcasting. The Esotere is a 12th-level spellcaster. Its 
  spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 18;  
  +8 to hit with spell attacks). The Esotere has the  
  following spells prepared:
  Cantrips (at will): light, mending, message
  1st level (4 slots): alarm, detect magic, identify,  
   
   
    magic missile
  2nd level (3 slots): alter self, detect thoughts,  
   
   
    invisibility, see invisibility
  3rd level (3 slots): counterspell, dispel magic,  
   
   
    fireball, nondetection
  
  EN World EN5ider | Intriguing Organizations: Esoteres
  Broad	Mind 
  Medium monstrosity, lawful neutral
  Armor	Class 17 (forcefield)
  Hit	Points 126 (23d8+23)
  Speed 20 ft.
  STR
  DEX
  CON
  INT
  WIS
  CHA
  8 (–1)
  8 (–1)
  12 (+1) 25 (+7) 20	(+5)
  6	(–2)
  Saving	Throws Intelligence +12, Wisdom +10, Charisma +3
  Skills Arcana +17, Insight +10, Medicine +10, Nature +17, Perception +10, Religion +12
  Damage	Vulnerabilities	psychic
  Condition	Immunities	charmed, frightened
  Senses passive Perception 20
  Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Deep Speech, Infernal, Giant; telepathy 80 ft.
  Challenge 15 (13,000 XP)
  Enemy of Heaven & Hell. When a creature targets the Broad Mind with a divine trait, feature, or spell, the 
  creature makes an ability check using its spellcasting ability (if it has no spellcasting ability, use the creature’s 
  highest ability score). The DC equals 15 or, if the Broad Mind uses its reaction to focus, 20. On a success, the 
  creature’s divine trait, class feature, or spell functions normally. On a failure, it fails and has no effect.
  Esotere Cunning. The Broad Mind’s magic is beyond the confines of typical arcana. When a creature attempts 
  to counterspell or use dispel magic against one of its spells, they have disadvantage and treat the Broad 
  Mind’s spell as if it were one level higher than normal.
  Forcefield. The Broad Mind’s armor class is reduced to 9 when it is petrified or unconscious.
  Forget.	A Broad Mind can use a bonus action to instantly forget any piece of information it desires, permanently 
  wiping part of its memories. The Broad Mind can also use this trait on any willing creature within 80 feet. 
  Magic Resistance. The Broad Mind has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
  Oceanic Memory. Any creature that targets the Broad Mind with detect thoughts or any similar spell or effect 
  makes a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the creature is stunned for 1 round. 
  Rapid Learning.	The Broad Mind can become proficient in any tool or language after approximately 2 hours of 
  study. In addition, the Broad Mind can perfectly remember anything it has experienced.
  Sharing Aura. Friendly creatures within 80 feet of the Broad Mind gain proficiency with one language or tool  
  of its choice. This does not need to be the same proficiency and may differ for each creature.
  Spellcasting. The Broad Mind is a 15th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 20, 
  +12 to hit with spell attacks). The Broad Mind has the following spells prepared:
  Cantrips (at will): acid splash, light, mage hand, mending, message
  1st level (4 slots): alarm, detect magic, identify, magic missile
  2nd level (3 slots): alter self, detect thoughts, invisibility, see invisibility
  3rd level (3 slots): counterspell, dispel magic, fireball, nondetection
  4th level (3 slots): dimension door, fabricate, private sanctum
  5th level (2 slots): arcane hand, modify memory, scrying
  6th level (1 slot): disintegrate, eyebite, forbiddance
  7th level (1 slot): prismatic spray
  8th level (1 slot): maze
  ACTIONS
  Overload. The Broad Mind targets up to three creatures it can see within 120 feet of it. The creature must  
  succeed on a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw or take 44 (8d10) psychic damage. If the target fails by 10 or  
  more, it takes double damage and is frightened of the Broad Mind for 1 minute. A target can repeat the  
  saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/EN World EN5ider/EN5ider 251 - IO Esoteres.pdf