Mentat

A squatter from the slums runs along the castle walls with three guards in tow. They chase on his heels looking to punish the trespasser. The child glances around at his surroundings to find some way out to discover that the wall abruptly ends into the vast blue sea. He imagines exerting his energy in just the right way to clear the rocks below and leaps into the sky…

Overlooking an ongoing battle in the valley below, an elf clad in decorated plate mail provides insight to her young apprentice about the chaos unfolding below. She hears the clank of steel behind her, and turns to face her enemies. Her sword and shield were already at the ready and her face showed only serenity – she knew this was coming.

A greataxe flashes downward in an arc, tearing towards the ground at a lightning fast pace. The half-orc wielding the axe notes every last detail of the swing, the power, the precision, and the ferocity, and transmits it to his foe standing in the distance looking ragged and weary. The effect on his target is immediate and obvious, as he recoils from the strike as if he had been struck by an ogre wielding a tree trunk. A single bead of sweat drops from the warrior’s brow as he watches his foe crumple.

Mentats use their mind as a fighter would use a weapon and train their mind to have complete control over itself and the physical world. Mentats spend years using their mind as a tool and become extremely potent warriors and strategists.

Calm in Combat

Mentats are individuals that have the ability to think clearly and focus even in times of great stress. They are either extremely mentally gifted at birth or spend years attuning their minds to meet the demands of battle. Their deep understanding of their own mind allows them to predict the thoughts and actions of others as well. Many mentats serve as leaders of successful small units in battle as they are able to comprehend the complexities of the battlefield while still fighting themselves, while others are tacticians for great armies or are counselors for politicians who can understand the motives of the opposition.

A Higher Plane of Thinking

Mentats eventually reach a level of aptitude that allows them to interact with and manipulate magical energy around them. They become aware of all of the magical energy that weaves throughout the universe and are able to figure out ways to manipulate it themselves, sometimes purely with thoughts. Because of their intense fascination with the mind, much of the magic they learn and can perform is oriented around gathering information for their own mind and with impacting the minds of others.

Creating a Mentat

Creating a mentat requires you to decide both how your character became a dominant fighter and how your character developed a strong intellect. Often times the explanations for those traits of your character will be related. Did you join in the army and show an aptitude for battle strategy, quickly gaining favor among the top ranks as a person to brainstorm with? Were you clearly more gifted than all the kids your age and picked to squire for a renowned knight?

Perhaps you lead a perfectly ordinary life until you had a run-in with a divine being that shared with you a small piece of its omniscience which made you see the world with its perspective. Or maybe you were knocked into a coma while competing in a fighting ring and you awoke thinking with more clarity than ever before.

Quick Build

You can make a mentat quickly by following these suggestions. First, intelligence should be your highest ability, followed by strength. Second, choose the soldier background.

Class Features

As a mentat, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

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• Hit Dice: 1d8 per mentat level
• Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier
• Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per mentat level after 1st

Proficiencies

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• Armor: All armor, shields
• Weapons: Simple, Martial
• Tools: None
• Saving Throws: Wisdom, Intelligence
• Skills: Choose three from Arcana, Athletics, History, Intimidation, Investigation, or Perception

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) scale mail, (b) leather armor, or (c) chain mail
• (a) a shortsword and a shield or (b) a martial weapon
• (a) five javelins or (b) a simple weapon
• an explorer’s pack

Augmentation

The mentat can focus on enhancing one aspect of their performance. You can gain or change your augmentation through 1 minute of uninterrupted focus. You can also change your augmentation as a bonus action by spending one focus point. Changing the augmentation requires an additional focus point each subsequent time it is changed in this manner until you complete a short or long rest. If you are knocked unconscious or take a short or long rest, you lose your augmentation and can gain back an augmentation with either method like you are changing it. Your augmentation choices are detailed at the end of the class description.

Focus

Your training continually improves your mental sharpness. Your mental fortitude is represented by a number of focus points, shown in the Focus Points column on the Mentat table. You can spend these points in a variety of ways, starting with the ability to change your augmentation and the use of the abilities Tactical Retreat and Mental Toughness. Focus points are recovered during a long rest.

If a focus feature requires a target to make a saving throw to resist the feature’s effect, the saving throw DC is

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Focus save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier

Tactical Retreat

You can make your own opportunity to escape from combat. Use one focus point and an action to make one attack roll against an opponent. You may then take the disengage action as a bonus action.

Mental Toughness

You know that pain is purely of the physical world and you can use your mind to overcome that pain. You can use one focus point and a bonus action to gain 1d6 + your Intelligence modifier temporary hit points that last for one minute.

Fighting Style

At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

Defense

While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.

Dueling

When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

Great Weapon Fighting

When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.

Protection

When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.

Spellcasting

By 2nd level, you have learned to manipulate magical energies and mold them into spells. See chapter 10 of the Player's Handbook for the general rules of spellcasting. The mentat spell list is after the class description.

Casting Spells

You may cast any mentat spells you know by expending focus points equal to the level at which you are casting the spell. You can only cast spells at a level that is equal to or less than your maxmimum spell level, which is shown in the Maxmimum Spell Level column of the Mentat table.

For example, if you know the 1st-level spell Command and have a maxmimum spell level of 2, you can cast the spell as a 1st-level spell by expending one focus point or as a 2nd-level spell by expending two focus points.

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

You know two 1st-level spells of your choice from the mentat spell list.

The Spells Known column of the Mentat table shows when you learn more mentat spells of your choice. Each of these spells must be of a level equal to or less than your maximum spell level. Your Maximum Spell Level is shown on the Mentat table. For instance, when you reach 6th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.

Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the mentat spells you know and replace it with another spell from the mentat spell list, which also must be of a level equal to or less than your maximum spell level.

Spellcasting Ability

Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your mentat spells, since their power derives from your mental capabilities. You use your Intelligence whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a mentat spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

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Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier

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Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier

Mindset

When you reach 3rd level, your attention tends to shift towards a particular field. Now you choose a mindset through which to view the world, Stategy, the Mind, or the Weave, all detailed at the end of the class description.

Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 15th, and 20th level. Those features include mindset spells and mindless casting.

Mindset Spells

Each mindset has a list of associated spells. You gain access to these spells at the levels specified in the mindset description. Once you gain access to a mindset spell, you add it to your spells known. Mindset spells don’t count against the number of spells you known.

If you gain a mindset spell that doesn’t appear on the mentat spell list, the spell is nonetheless a mentat spell for you.

Mindless Casting

At level 3, you can cast your mindset spells with almost no effort. You may cast one of your mindset spells as a 1st-level spell without expending any focus points. You must finish a long rest before you can do so again. At higher levels, you can cast more spells this way. You may cast one of your mindset spells as a 2nd-level spell at 7th, one as a 3rd-level spell at 11th, one as a 4th-level spell at 15th, and one as a 5th-level spell at 19th.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Teleprojection

By 4th level, you are able to reach out to other sentient beings and communicate using only your thoughts. You can project short phrases and images into the minds of other creatures which speak a language within 30 ft of you. They cannot respond in the same way. You can only communicate with one creature this way each turn.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Knockback

Starting at 6th level, you can channel mental energy into an attack designed to stagger the opponent backwards. On the first successful melee or thrown weapon attack on your turn, you may spend one focus point to knock back the opponent. The creature must make a strength check or be moved 5 ft backwards and pushed prone.

Sidestep

At 6th level, whenever a creature hits you with a melee attack, you may spend one focus point and use your reaction to get a bonus to your AC against the triggering attack equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1). You may then move up to 5ft without provoking opportunity attacks from the attacking creature.

Blurred Minds

You have become so attuned to the thoughts of others around you, when you come into physical contact with another sentient creature, you can't help but to sense what they are thinking. Beginning at 10th level, when your bare skin is touching the bare skin of another creature, you immediately learn the surface thoughts of the creature – what is most on its mind in that moment. This occurs even if you touch momentarily.

Additionally, when you sustain contact with a creature, you may communicate with one another through thoughts and images. You do not need to share a language to do this.

Creatures with an intelligence of 3 or lower or who do not speak a language are unaffected by Blurred Minds.

Power and Precision

Long time spent locked in skirmishes has taught you to hit harder and hit smarter on every strike. Starting at 11th level, whenever you hit a creature with a melee or thrown weapon attack, that creature takes an extra 1d8 damage of the same type dealt by the weapon to the target. These benefits do not apply to attacks made using the Finesse property.

Mind over Flesh

You are able to use your extreme mental control over your body to forget about the pains of the flesh and maintain consciousness through extraordinary pain. Starting at 14th level, when you are reduced to 0 hit points and are not killed outright, you can choose to use Mental Toughness as a reaction to dropping to 0 hit points. Once you use Mental Toughness this way, you can’t use Mental Toughness again until you finish a long rest.

Meditative Respite

Starting at 14th level, during a short rest, you regain four focus points. You must spend at least 30 minutes of the short rest meditating to clear your fatigued mind.

Mind over Body

Starting at 18th level, you can your action and expend three focus points to gain a second augmentation of your choice for 10 minutes. You can only be under the effects of two augmentations at any given time and those two augmentations must be different.

Mindset

While all Mentats share a massive mental capacity, what they choose to think about varies greatly. Mentats may be concerned with the weave and trying to understand its rules and exceptions, while others are concerned with strategies and outwitting their opponents. Your mindset reflects the nature of your Mentat’s disposition and indicates what your Mentat is most often preoccupied thinking about.

Strategy

You discover ways to overcome your opponents with your sharp wit and can be a premier tactician even in the heat of battle. You know where and when enemies are weakest and inspire confidence in your allies. Eventually you’ll become so good at strategizing that you’ll be able to theorize where and when your enemies will strike.

Mindset Spells

You gain mindset spells at the mentat levels listed.

Stategy Spells

Mentat Level	Spells
3rd	Compelled Duel, Fog Cloud
5th	Mirror Image, Skywrite
9th	Haste, Sending
13th	Dimension Door, Hallucinatory Terrain
17th	Rary’s Telepathic Bond, Wall of Force

Analyze Target

Starting at 3rd level, you can spend one focus point to cast True Strike as a bonus action.

Game Theory

At 3rd level, you view games as simple exersizes in strategic thinking. You gain proficiency with all gaming sets.

Flanking

Starting at 7th level, if an ally is attacking a creature within 5ft of you with a melee weapon, and that creature is under the effects of your True Strike cantrip, you may use your reaction and expend a focus point to perform a single attack roll with the weapon you are holding on that creature with advantage.

Student of Warfare

By 15th level, you have become well versed in the academic side of war. Gain proficiency in History. You may double your proficiency bonus on history checks made to recall information on past and ongoing conflicts and armies.

Additionally, you have advantage on deception checks made when attepting to pass as a member of a military group, like a city guard, a naval officer, or a squire.

Exhaustive Analysis

By 20th level, your mind is constantly determining the most likely outcome of every situation, to the point where you can gain a glimpse of the immediate future. You can cast Foresight on yourself without expending any focus points. Maintaining this level of mental activity is strenuous. When the spell ends, you gain a level of exhaustion. You may not use this ability again until you complete a long rest.

The Mind

You’ve likely developed your mind to this point as a result of a deep fascination with its inner workings and now you can translate that knowledge into impacting the mind of others. You can make it difficult or impossible for others to think clearly and maintain focus while around you.

The Mind Spells

Mentat Level	Spells
3rd	Command, Dissonant Whispers
5th	Detect Thoughts, Phantasmal Force
9th	Fear, Clairvoyance
13th	Phantasmal Killer, Confusion
17th	Dominate Person, Modify Memory

Obfuscate

Starting at 3rd level, you can spend one focus point to cast Vicious Mockery as a bonus action.

Phantom Strike

You have learned to strike someone directly with psychic energy. Starting at 7th level, you may spend two focus points on your action to make an attack on a creature within 60 ft with any weapon, regardless of the range of the weapon. The target makes a Wisdom saving throw against your focus save DC. If the creature fails the saving throw, the attack should be considered a hit and you roll damage as you normally would. The damage from this hit is psychic damage. If the creature succeeds the saving throw, nothing happens.

Deep Thoughts

Beginning at 15th level, you can enter a state of meditation to open your mind to the surrounding world and discern the world for the what it really is. You can spend three focus points and meditate, uninterrupted, for an hour. At the end of the hour you gain truesight out to 60 ft for one minute.

Additionally, you become aware of any creatures within a mile of you with an intelligence or wisdom of 20 or greater. You do not learn anything about them other than a sense of direction from where you are right now and whether they are within 1000 ft of you, or greater than 1000 ft from you.

Brain Sap

By level 20, you are able to tap into the minds of others and use their intellect for your own gains. You may spend three focus points and use an action to access the mind power of those around you. For one minute, creatures that move within 30 ft of you or start their turn there for the first time in a battle make a Wisdom saving throw against your focus save DC. If they fail, they have disadvantage on all Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma saving throws for one minute. Additionally, whenever a creature fails this saving throw, you gain 1 intelligence, up to a maximum of 26. This intelligence bonus lasts for 1 hour.

The Weave

Once you began to understand the weave, you became enthralled by how it works. You have become adept at viewing the magic which connects all things and at times you are able to manipulate it in ways many wouldn't think possible.

The Weave Spells

Mentat Level	Spells
3rd	Thunderwave, Unseen Servant
5th	See Invisibility, Shatter
9th	Dispel Magic, Blink
13th	Banishment, Fabricate
17th	Animate Objects, Telekinesis

Simple Ponderings

You let your thoughts wander and find yourself often daydreaming about different ways to shape the weave into spells. Beginning at 3rd level, after every long rest, roll two d20 dice. If they are the same, re-roll one of them until they are different. You learn two cantrips from the Cantrip Table below based on the result of your rolls, which you know and can cast until you complete a long rest. At 7th level, you may roll a third die and choose two of the rolls to use.

Eyes of the Arcane

By your 7th level, you have spent enough time viewing the world that you can begin to see the fabric of magic easily. You can cast Detect Magic without expending any focus points.

Mind over Matter

Your ability to use magical energy to enhance yourself has become so strong, you’re able to reverse the effect and turn your body into magical energy. Starting at 15th level, on your action, you can spend two focus points to become an incorporeal being for one minute. You still appear and sound as you normally would, however creatures with true sight or magic detection would see that your body is made of energy.

While in this form, your only method of movement is a flying speed of 10 feet. You have resistance to nonmagical damage, and have advantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws. You can’t fall and remain hovering in the air even when stunned or otherwise incapacitated. You can’t manipulate objects, and any objects you were carrying or holding can’t be dropped, used, or otherwise interacted with. You can't attack or cast spells while in this form. You can't talk regularly, but you can communicate through telepathic means. You do not have to breathe as you normally would for the duration of the ability.

You may activate this ability as a reaction to being attacked for an additional focus point. If you do, the triggering attack automatically misses.

Mind over Magic

At 20th level, you can manipulate the essence of magic around you to the point that you can forgo the normal physical requirements of casting spells. When you cast a mentat spell, you may spend a focus point to remove a component of casting that spell (V, S, or M). You cannot remove material components with a specific cost.

Additionally, if you remove all of the components of a spell, you may cast it while under the effects of Mind over Matter.

Cantrip Table

Result (d20)	Cantrip
1	Light
2	Mending
3	Firebolt
4	Shocking Grasp
5	Prestigitation
6	Message
7	Ray of Frost
8	Mage Hand
9	Acid Splash
10	Shape Water
11	Thunderclap
12	Minor Illusion
13	Friends
14	Create Bonfire
15	Gust
16	Control Flame
17	Frostbite
18	Produce Flame
19	Magic Stone
20	Dancing Lights

Augmentations

Featherfeet

You gain an additional 5 ft of movement speed and only require 5 ft of space for leaps and you are resistant to damage from falling.

At level 10, the bonus increases to 10 ft of movement speed and you have advantage on checks against falling prone.

Brainy Brawn

You have advantage on athletics checks. You may add your Intelligence modifier to your strength score for the purposes of determining your carrying capacity.

At level 10, when you score a critical hit, you may use Knockback without expending any focus points. Additionally, whenever you use the Knockback ability, you may add 1d6 to your attack damage.

Keen Senses

You may make perception and investigation checks on your turn as a bonus action. You can discern visual details of objects you have a line of sight on at a range of up to 1000 ft as if they were 10 ft away.

At level 10, you have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see or hear, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, you can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.

Thickened Skin

You may make an intelligence saving throw instead of any Constitution saving throws that you make to maintain your concentration on a spell.

At level 10, when you are hit by a thrown or ranged weapon attack, subsequent ranged attacks made against you before the beginning of your next turn have disadvantage.

Mentat Spells

Brain Damage

1st-level conjuration

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• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 60 ft
• Components: V, S
• Duration: Instantaneous

You send a sharp psychic energy blast into the brain of a creature you can see within range. The target must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw or take 2d6 psychic damage and suffer disadvantage on the first Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma saving throws it makes for the next minute. The target takes half as much damage on a successful save.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot above the 1st.

Enlighten

2nd-level transmutation

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• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: Touch
• Components: V, S, M (a piece of paper from a book)
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

You touch a creature and bestow upon it a magical enhancement. Choose one of the following effects: the target gains the effect until the spell ends.

A Word from the Wise. The target has advantage on Wisdom checks and can’t be charmed or frightened.

Clear Thoughts. The target has advantage on Intelligence checks and advantage on saving throws to maintain concentration when taking damage.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 2nd.

Broadcast

3rd-level divination

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• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: Touch
• Components: V, S, M (a lock of your own hair)
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

You touch a willing creature and create a one-way telepathic link between your minds. The target can hear and see everything that you hear and see for the duration. The images and sounds the target experiences are secondary to their own senses, but can be made more vivid by focusing on them. If the target is in combat, the images and sounds will be unintelligible for the duration of the combat.

There is no limit to how far the linked creatures can move apart from one another, but the link will not work across planes.

Imaginary Foe

3rd-level illusion

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• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 60 ft
• Components: V, S
• Duration: 1 round

You craft an illusion that takes root in the mind of a creature that you can see within range. The target must make an Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, you create a phantasmal creature within 5 ft of the target that is no larger than a 10-foot cube and that is perceivable only to the target for the duration. The target believes that the phantasm has attacked it and takes 3d8 psychic damage. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs. The phantasm includes sound, temperature, and other stimuli, also evident only to the creature.

While a target is affected by the spell, the target treats the phantasm as if it were real and recognizes the phantom as its foe and is drawn to attack the foe. On its turn, the target must make an attack roll on the phantom before performing any other movement, action, or bonus action. Upon making the attack roll on the phantasm, they realize the phantasm is an illusion and the spell ends.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, add an additional 1d8 psychic damage for each slot level above 3rd.

Nightmarish Weapon

3rd-level transmutation

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• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: Touch
• Components: V, S, M (a drop of black ink)
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

A non-magical weapon you touch becomes a magic weapon. For the duration, the weapon absorbs light in a 15 ft radius and turns bright light into dim light in that area. You may specify if the weapon also turns dim light into darkness when you cast the spell. Completely covering the weapon with an opaque object such as a blanket or a sheath blocks the darkening effect. If this darkening area overlaps with an area of light created by a spell of 2nd level or lower, the spell that created that light is dispelled. The weapon also has a +1 bonus to attack rolls and deals an extra 1d4 psychic damage when it hits.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a 5th level spell slot or higher, the bonus to attack rolls increases to +2 and the extra damage increases to 2d4. When you use a spell slot of 7th level or higher, the bonus increases to +3 and the extra damage increases to 3d4.

Shared Pain

4th-level enchantment

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• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 60 ft
• Components: V, S
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You may select any number of creatures in a 20 foot cube originating at a point you can see in range. Those creatures now are linked telepathically in such a way that they experience the pain of any linked individual. If one creature takes damage from any source other than this spell, each other linked creature must make a wisdom saving throw or take 1d6 psychic damage.

There is no limit to how far the linked creatures can move apart from one another, but the link will not work across planes.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a 5th or 6th level spell slot, the damage increases to 1d8 and when you cast this spell using a 7th level spell slot or higher, the damage increases to 1d10.

Healing Thoughts

5th-level enchantment

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• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 60 ft
• Components: S
• Duration: 1 minute

You telepathically soothe the mind of up to six target creatures you can see within range. This spell releases the targets from being charmed or frightened and those creatures gain 6d6 + your spellcasting ability modifier temporary hit points, which are lost when the spell ends. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs.