[Let's Read] Devabhumi: Heroic Indian Fantasy Setting for 5e and Pathfinder (2024)

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The history and legends of the Indian subcontinent are full of material suitable for heroic fantasy, from the dynastic wars of the Mahabharata to the fearsome tales of asuras in their endless struggle against the devas. Such things did not escape the notice of tabletop gamers, as can be evidenced in the adoption of the rakshasha monster, or controversially the incorporation of Hindu deities into the old Deities & Demigods sourcebook. During the 3rd Edition of Dungeons & Dragons we got some material that sought to make self-contained settings inspired by Indian legends, such as Green Ronin’s Mindshadows and Wizard of the Coast’s Mahasarpha. However, Mindshadows is now out of print and not sold online, making it hard to get, while Mahasarpa was but a brief 11 pages. In line with increased emphasis on cultural sensitivity and social progressivism, WotC created several Indian-influenced content in their works written by people with ties to that land’s cultures, such as the domain of Kalakeri in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft or the In the Mists of Manivarsha adventure detailed in Tales From the Radiant Citadel. However, full setting sourcebooks in the vein of Mindshadows more or less remain the province of third party publishers, and even then those are relatively rare.

Devabhumi is written by Khanjan Patel, who sought to write a setting inspired by the epic stories of India. Although they’ve published gaming content in the form of cartography as Silver Compass Maps, this appears to be their first hand at writing a full-on complete sourcebook. Written for both the 5th Edition of D&D and Pathfinder 2nd Edition rulesets, Devabhumi’s PDFs are split into a complete Campaign Setting and a Player’s Guide that just includes the content necessary for PC building, with a pair for each ruleset. As I am familiar with 5th Edition D&D and not Pathfinder 2e, I will be reviewing the former ruleset’s mechanics for this Let’s Read.

While the book is relatively short as far as campaign settings go in totaling 134 pages, the first thing I notice is a lack of bookmarks. This harms its navigability, and is also a problem in the Player’s Guide which is a much shorter 48 pages.

Welcome to Devabhumi is our introduction, setting up the core themes of the setting along with a lexicon of common terms and definitions. Devabhumi hews closely to epic fantasy, where heroes can be expected to travel across the land and meddle in the affairs of gods; where an adventuring party by happenstance might stumble upon long-forgotten ruins home to mythical beings; where magic is rare but those who do possess it are capable of wondrous feats spoken of for generations, such as erecting forests made of crystal or building chariots that can travel across planes of existence. And where even the victory of the gods and other divine beings isn’t certain, as mortals and rakshasa also scheme and plot to make their mark in history and influence world events to their liking.

History of Devabhumi talks about the major events of the setting, but just as importantly the cosmic concept of the Kalachakra, or “wheel of time.” Time itself has no beginning or end, and is infinitely cyclical. Due to this, there is no Big Bang or creation story in cultures, but people still research the past and present as a means of coming to understand the world and its changes. Time is divided into four Yugas, or Ages, which last around 4 million years each. Satya Yuga, the golden age, is the first yuga, where gods and mortals lived together in harmony and is generally regarded as the most ideal age by historians. However, it wasn’t a utopia free of conflict, for asuras sought to wreak division and suffering by encouraging mortals to commit evil via deception and tempting offerings.

Treta Yuga, the silver age, saw the first kingdoms to arise along with specific class distinctions via the division of labor, and through this many cultures walked a fine line between pursuing selfish desires and ambition while still striving for virtue. Gods still lived in the world of mortals, but they started becoming more isolated from wider society, and asura and other evil forces started to operate more openly via overt warfare and conquest.

The Dvapara Yuga, the bronze age, is the current age of the setting, and is 2.5 million years into the cycle. This age is marked by a notable decrease in the standard of living via frequency of wars, famine, natural disasters, and societies becoming increasingly fractured over competition of resources. The asura manage to become significant power blocs via the formation of expanding kingdoms, and the gods almost never interact with mortals beyond close circles of sages. On the plus side, this age is marked by development of innovative magic and technology, along with the discovery of new lands.

While it’s still far off, the end of the Dvapara Yuga will be marked by the gods leaving the world entirely and the asura conquering Devabhumi in full. Once this happens, the Kali Yuga, or iron age, will arrive, a time of strife and darkness where the asura rule almost completely unchecked, and knowledge and technology of past eras is forgotten. The age will end once the god Kalki reincarnates and destroys the world. Only a few pious souls will be spared, and then reality will reset into a new Satya Yuga.

After this general explanation, we get specific entries on recent history in Devabhumi proper. The last great war was the Mahabharata, which occurred a little over a thousand years ago but its effects are still being felt today. What began as a dispute between the Kuru and Pandava dynasties escalated into a cataclysmic war that used Astras* which destroyed entire regions and cities. The Pandavas achieved a pyrrhic victory, but the war left most of their subjects dead. Northern Devabhumi is covered in ruins, leading to southern realms on the subcontinent to grow as rising powers. We get a sidebar of notable figures who participated in the Mahabharata and would thus be remembered as household names in the setting, such as the peerless archer Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna, the latter of whom sought to remain neutral during the war. The calendar system has 12 months which each have 30 or 31 days, and the denomination for years is centered around the end of the war, with NS a shorthand for Nave Sal or “new year.” The current year is 1044 NS.

*basically magical Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The asura managed to take advantage of the political instability by seizing control of a handful of western coastal settlements. But one such figure, Maladhari, stands head and shoulders above the rest and became known as the Asura Queen. The precursor to her rule began at the end of the Treta Yuga, where the drying up of a great river that sustained millions of people saw mass migrations from the desertification of their homelands, with most fleeing to the coast and causing a refugee crisis. In the city of Khara, the rioting and political division from the stretching of resources allowed Maladhari to storm the city with an army of asura in the name of “restoring order,” and after establishing her power base she conquered nearby city-states in a growing kingdom-to-be.

I will note an inconsistency in the text regarding the Asura Queen. As the book notes that it’s 2.5 million years into the Dvapara Yuga, that would mean that the refugee crisis around the end of the Treta Yuga occurred around that long ago. But 11 pages later, the book notes that the Asura Queen’s rise to power happened a few decades ago, and the rest of the book treats her as a new rising power vs one that’s been in place for what would be countless mortal lifetimes.

See Also

The Sagas of the Flood. By Hermann Usener, 1899; Tr. by Robert Hutwohl, 2024The Past, Present and Possible Future of a Return to School Year Age Grouping📖 Let's Read! - Devabhumi: Heroic Indian Fantasy Setting for 5e and Pathfinder | Dungeons & Dragons / Fantasy D20 SpotlightThese Advent Calendars Keep The Holiday Cheer Going All Month Long — And Kids Are Obsessed

This section ends with a description of seasons and how they manifest in regions. Basically Devabhumi is a hot subcontinent, being more arid in the north and more humid in the east and south. There are three Realms, which are similar to but distinct from planes of existence in that they are planets which can be visited via portals and magic. But people arrive there most commonly by being reincarnated into a being that then lives on said planet. Bhuloka is the planet that contains the continent of Devabhumi, Svargaloka is the home of the gods who each have their own kingdom populated by their servants and greatest devotees, and Patala is a planet shrouded in darkness home to asuras, nagas, and the souls of people who committed deeds of great evil in their past life. Yamaraj, the god of death and judge of souls, rules over the realm of Naraka, and releases souls back into Bhuloka once they “served their time.”

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I wanted to include this big beautiful map (that you can also see for free on Itch.io), but as it would blow up the page I put it in spoilers.

The People of Devabhumi focuses on the continent’s major cultures on the macro-level. The inhabitants of the subcontinent are known as Devavasi, or Vasi for short, which translates to “dwellers.” Devabhumi also has a shortened term of Bhumi, which simply means “land.” The overarching customs, predominant languages, and religious traditions that tie the various people of the subcontinent together is known as the Indic culture, serving as an umbrella term encompassing the many varied subcultures living here. There are three major geo-cultural groups: the Bhavata preside in Devabhumi’s north and northwest regions which is home to deserts and heartland plains, the Parthiva comprise the south and are heavily based around the coast, while the Asrita dominate the eastern rainforests. There’s a fourth group, the Zhav, who are nomads that travel the land and adopt elements of various cultures they interact with yet also have their own unique traditions.

Indic culture has various commonalities, grouped up into 11 major subjects, ranging from organization of family units, common forms of food and currency, cultural taboos, holidays, and common forms of recreation. I won’t go over every subject, but I will highlight some I deem particularly important or interesting. Devabhumi still follows the copper/silver/gold standard, and particular kingdoms often stamp their own seals which are typically the face of the ruling raja.

There’s a wide variety of food, although barley and millet are common crops across Devabhumi and it’s taboo to eat any form of cattle (cows and bulls, buffalos, etc) as they are considered sacred animals. The majority of the populace has access to and eats various forms of meat and seafood, but vegetarianism is practiced by a minority. Abstaining from meat, garlic, and onions for 3 days is required to be pure enough to conduct a Puja, a form of ritual involving fire and a sacrifice whose particulars differ upon the god(s) being honored.

Reincarnation is a cosmic reality, where upon death a soul leaves the body and enters a new one. A soul’s karma, or accumulation of the deeds they performed in their last life, determines whether they are born into a new life in more or less fortunate circumstances. In a rare few cases they might descend into Patala or ascend into Svagaloka. There are exceptions and ways around reincarnation: the first case involves a soul who has a strong desire to rectify what they view as “unfinished business,” causing them to persist as a ghost-like bodiless Bhoota who is trapped in a constant cycle of hunger-like pain. The other way is via necromancy, as the soul thus becomes stuck in limbo and restlessness. Like most campaign settings, this school of magic is seen as particularly vile by the general populace.

Devabhumi has its own languages, with 8 major ones detailed here. Bhavata is the most common and functions as the Common tongue, being spoken in the center and north and is used for trade and cross-cultural interaction. Parthiva is the second-most common language, spoken mainly in the south and whose inhabitants take great pride in preserving it. Asrita is spoken in the east, and while the region is pretty isolated it has incorporated elements of Bhavita and Parthiva into everyday speech. Anarya is the umbrella term for the many languages of the Zhav nomads. In terms of racial languages, Vaanara is spoken by the primate humanoids known as the Vaanars, and Varali is spoken by the treelike Yakshi people. Patala is the “common” tongue of Patala as well as asura and naga in general, while Svarga is akin to Celestial in being the language of the gods along with apsaras and garudas.

One aspect of Indian society that is interestingly absent, save for an implied example in one kingdom the next section, is the caste system. The author explained this reasoning in the comments section of the Itch.io storefront here, basically that the desire to leave it out along with other sensitive issues of Indian history is to make a setting where a player has freedom to play the character they want and not “not a place where they face the same issues as the world that they live in.” While in the real world caste discrimination is illegal on paper in India, it isn’t always enforced and its legacy is still a major issue today. So I like Patel’s explanation on this, and feel that it’s worth pointing out given that most other Fantasy India campaign settings still have a caste system in some shape or form.

Nations & Tribes takes a look at Devabhumi’s various regions, split up into smaller kingdoms and domains listing major population centers and general points of interest. Like the culture section, I won’t be covering every such particular place, but rather highlight the ones that stand out the most.

North Devabhumi is bordered by the Aakashparvat Mountains, from which the holy Devapani River flows and is a major economic and religious power for countless communities among its banks. Even after the end of the Mahabharata, conflict is still sadly a reality for the people. In addition to mortal rajas and ranis*, there are bandits, asura, and other evildoers and opportunists scouring the land to enrich themselves off of other people’s misfortune. But it is also a land of great beauty and history, with ruins once home to the dwellings of mythic races, sages, and even gods.

*female term for rajah.

The Kuru Kingdom is the oldest in the region, whose current raja treats his subjects well but is warlake and feared by his neighbors. The people hew to conservative and orthodox ways and are distrustful of esoteric teachings and foreigners. Their adherence to the Law of Dharma heavily discourages people from straying too much beyond their societal occupations. One interesting place includes the Colossus of Rudra, a likeness of one of the god Shiva’s forms that serves a popular yet dangerous pilgrimage route, as the water flowing from the head of the statue is believed to extend one’s natural lifespan by a century. Another is the battlefield of Kurkshetra, where the Mahabharata took place, and is a haunted realm where not even the smallest animal or blade of grass grows, and holds many abandoned legendary weapons. Opportunistic scavengers have to compete with asura and undead who prowl the land.

The Matsya Kingdom is west of the Kurus, and while smaller in land it is a magical superpower whose capital city of Virata is home to an old and famous school of magic. They allied with the Kurus, but even their power wasn’t enough to turn the tide of war, and in modern times they made up for their shortage of soldiers with magic-users. In comparison to the Kuru, the Matsya subjects are known for being open-minded and display a curiosity to new things and foreigners, but they are fiercely patriotic and brook no talk of disrespect to their land and people. In addition to a college of wizards, the raja is in possession of an airship known as the Vimana which he lends to adventurers in exchange for them accomplishing important quests for him.

Maladhari’s Dominion is the growing empire of the Asura Queen, currently consisting of four cities on the western coast. Each city has a governor appointed by her, not all of whom are necessarily asura. For example, the city of Ranapur is ruled by Vilamba Rani, a human woman. It is a dangerous realm to visit, for the people have been pretty thoroughly cowed into submission, being too fearful to mount rebellions and their reigning asuras are eager to do what they want and take what they will.

But the asura serving Maladhari are not necessarily unified. The city of Malini is a particularly chaotic place, whose soldiers are prone to killing and stealing for the thrill of it on a large scale. Maladhari might be wicked, but she isn’t fond of getting rid of too many mortal slaves and laborers at once, so if its ruler is unable to reign in such excesses the Asura Queen will send in outside armies to take control. Beyond the cities, one interesting place includes the cursed mobile town of Upadi, which appears like a mirage to tired travelers, inhabited by undead eager for new prey.

Not so much a location as a major culture, the entry on the Zhav concludes our overview of Northern Devabhumi. They immigrated to the subcontinent from foreign lands around the beginning of the Dvapara-Yuga. They come from a wide plateau to the far west, and worship a sky spirit by the name of Dyuman. They are renowned horse-riders and archers which are taught to them from a young age, and their talents and technology were incorporated in the rest of Devabhumi. One such example is the brigandine armor known as Chilta Hara Nakh, or “Coat of a Thousand Nails.” Even to this day, their livelihood revolves around the animals they herd.

I spotted an error in the entry of this book, where a section of a paragraph is repeated twice:

The Zhav people have their own unique culture separate from the culture of Devabhumi. Born under the open sky, a Zhav has lived on the road and slept under the stars as early as they can remember. Every Zhav learns the skills of archery and horse riding, starting as early as six. They believe in a central sky spirit, the one who created the vast open sky and the grand plains they roam. The Zhav have elaborate worship rituals, where they venerate their ancestors surrounded by a circle of stampeding horses. They are pastoralists that travel with large herds of goats and cattle, sustaining themselves from the animals alone.

The Zhav people have their own unique culture separate from the culture of Devabhumi. Born under the open sky, a Zhav has lived on the road and slept under the stars as early as they can remember. Every Zhav learns the skills of archery and horse riding, starting as early as six.

Eastern Devabhumi is heavily dominated by forests and jungles, with the eastern end of the Aakashparvat Mountains lowering into hills. The omnipresent woodland prevents large-scale warfare due to the difficulty of moving troops through them, and many kingdoms can be comfortably hidden beneath the eaves of tall trees. When diplomacy fails, conflict takes place as smaller skirmishes that inevitably end in negotiations. The smaller Hira mountain range is home to mostly-untapped veins of diamonds, known for being the largest known in Devabhumi. Many people have tried and failed to mount expeditions to them, and in addition to natural hazards the naga who live there are hostile to trespassers.

There are four major geo-political entities in the east. The first is the Magadha Kingdom, whose inhabitants live in treetop and stilt homes raised above the forest floor, and their friendliness and hospitality makes them a popular trading hub. The second is the Chandavati Kingdom, who are fiercely devoted to the god Indra who managed to dispel a roaming supernatural famine that afflicted their people when they were once desperate refugees, but their continual conflicts with rampaging danavas (bulky anthropomorphic fiends) and other threats have made them xenophobic. The Neelanag Kingdom has a naga-majority population, who make ample use of diamonds and gemstones into local art and architecture. But the realm is troubled by a succession crisis on the horizon, for its raja has been unable to conceive a child and it’s rumored that he might be able to sire offspring with a naga who shares his rare olive scale tone. Most naga in this kingdom are blue, as Neelanaga literally means ‘blue snake.’ Finally, we have the Samya Confederacy, a loose network of six hunter-gatherer tribes whose local appointed leaders convene regularly for important matters that affect them as a whole. We get brief names and details for each tribe, such as the Unnata tribe whose members are very tall, averaging seven feet or more. All of the tribes domesticated a rare animal known as a makara, aquatic beasts who have the head of an elephant and body of a crocodile, and can be ridden on safely in bodies of water which makes them effective naval cavalry.

There aren’t many Points of Interest in this section. Magadha has the shrine of Bhamsvedi, one of the holiest sites on Devabhumi whose waters are dedicated to the deity Moksha, and thus can help cleanse the sins of the truly remorseful. Crocodiles guard the way to the shrine and can see whether a pilgrim is pure of heart. The Saya Confederacy has Devabhumi Bay, the endpoint of the Devapani River that could be a major economic and trade hub. Yet the Samya people and many natural disasters prevent any large-scale town-building here. Lastly we have the Sampriya Wilderness, a portion of jungle that is home to animals of amazing size, and those few Samya who live here are on a constant combat footing against the many local dangers.

Southern Devabhumi is a diverse region, home to the Dakkhana Plateau that is the subcontinent’s heartland and teeming with towns both old and new, ruined and standing alike. The hilly Shur Range is home to many caves and an active volcano, with cities on the coast and misty forests inland where the elusive Vaanar people are known to dwell. The wet lowlands are a natural hiding place for monsters of all kinds, but its fertility makes it perfect for growing rice that feeds countless people across Devabhumi, making it a dangerous realm in which to live but necessary to defend. The subcontinent’s southern tip is home to the island of Thaara, from which many stories of amazing adventures come from.

There are five major geo-political entities in the south. The Avanti Confederation grew from hardy independent tribes who raided others. They united under a great warlord five centuries ago, but their territory has shrunk over the last two hundred years. The Confederation is made up of clans ruled by nobles who elect one of their own to be the Peshwa, who rules over all of them. The current Peshwa enacted a series of reforms, such as universal education in the capital city and forming a conventional standing army, not all of which is well-received by the Confederation. Another source of potential conflict includes the city of Jinkale, originally part of the Vindhya Kingdom but claimed by the Avanti during a prior war. The current rani of the latter kingdom seeks to liberate the city, which will lead to all-out war.

The Vindhya Kingdom has a long and proud history stretching back to the Satya Yuga, whose standards of living and wisdom of its leaders were the envy of even the gods. But it’s fallen greatly, and its current government is riddled with incompetence and corruption. Adding to this problem, a long-lasting famine has halved the kingdom’s population over the last hundred years, and they suffered various invasions over the last thousand years that saw the capital city losing much of its splendor.

The Danda Kingdom sits at a crossroad of several rivers, and the recent discovery of sea routes that circumnavigate the subcontinent granted the realm great wealth as well as a powerful navy. Some of Devabhumi’s most famous explorers hail from this kingdom, although its rulers have a less rosy reputation given the large amount of kinslaying and infighting over the throne.

The Vaanar Forest is home to the simian race of the same name, who are insular and their family units form larger clans. Vaanar are loyal first and foremost to their clans over any pan-Vanaar sense of identity. The forest is filled with magical clouds that can mislead visitors, along with monsters such as the cyclopean bhramrachok. Temples to the god Hanuman are hidden throughout the forest, who led an army of vaanar to aid Rama in rescuing his wife Sita from the asura king Ravana.

While there are hundreds of vaanar clans (and a series of tables for generating clan leader NPCs), two bear special mention. The Angada clan is the largest and most widespread, whose leader is wise and far-seeing but finds his hands full at being a peace-keeper. An increasingly popular movement to re-establish the old vanaar kingdom of Sugriva is growing, encouraging war with smaller clans and extending their borders beyond the forest. The other source of conflict is the Yugyuva clan, who ended up becoming possessed by demons known as yakkas whose evil nature is causing these vanaar to become monstrous in appearance as well as mentality. They have started attacking other vanaar and anyone else they can get their claws on.

The final realm of the south is the Kingdom of Thaara, a lush island that has been ruled by a dizzying array of cultures: mortal, asura, and gods alike, with Ravana being the most famous historical king. Currently the island is ruled by Aamaya Rani, whose origin is the speculation of folk tales. But the common consensus is that she was set out to sea as a baby, part of a raja’s sacrifice to appease the sea god Varuna for killing one of his priests. She was safely sheltered and the winds blew her to Thaara, adopted by a local family of fishers. Aamya later married the prince and was given the throne after his death. Thaara is notable for having not one, but two capital cities: Katalmakkal and Vanamakkal, the former on the coast and the latter in the interior forest. The raja/rani’s court traditionally switches places between them every so often, so as not to cause feelings of elitism or resentment in making one seem more favored.

In addition to the large number of kingdoms, Southern Devabhumi has a good amount of Points of Interest, too. For instance, the Tejasvi Falls are rumored to hold a secret cave temple to the sun god Surya that is rumored to hold a great reward, but can only be entered by a leap of faith from the waterfall’s peak. Or the ruined city of Aranyanagar, which is said to hold treasure that remains undiscovered by scavengers to this day. Or the Pushpaka Crash Site somewhere in the rainforest of Thaara, housing the remains of Ravana’s flying chariot but whose scattered pieces can still be useful for building a new magical vehicle.

The Great Churning is the final region of this chapter, consisting of the Purvaja Sea. The Great Churning is the name of an old legend, speaking of a rare collaboration between the Devas and Asuras in churning the ocean in order to obtain an immortal elixir known as Amrita. Many mighty monsters spawned from the Great Churning as a result, such as the seven-headed horse of legend, the Uchaishrava, that was once used as a mount by the god Indra.

The sea is home to a chain of islands that lay mostly undisturbed, and contain all manner of wondrous places, creatures, and treasure, but the book is kind enough to give us two sample locations. The first is the Garuda Isles, inhabited by legendary bird-people who form various settlements here, trading, interacting, and warring with each other. It is said that they are descendents of the great sage Kashyapa, which would make them distant relatives of the nagas. Garudas primarily hunt and build nests for their young, and there’s hundreds of colonies across the isles. Being ardent worshipers of Vishnu, they build temples inside trees dedicated to him. There is a clan of asura known as the Nastasva who were long forgotten by the gods and other asura during the Great Churning. Lacking the traditional magical abilities of much of their kind, they fruitlessly seek ways of amassing power. They are still a danger, often raiding isles and sailors unlucky enough to be in their path.

Jalpurush is both an island and a creature, a gigantic turtle believed to be an avatar of Vishnu. A mountain reaching to the heavens on the turtle’s back is known as Magnha Pravatah, or “the sinking mountain.” Jalpurush’s blood flows through the many tropical plants and animals growing upon its back, each bearing a cerulean mark as proof of their ties to divinity. Natural springs of amrita give the native life immortal lifespans. A magnificent city known as Deakurmapuram is carved into the mountain, a near-utopian settlement of splendor and plenty whose inhabitants devote themselves to various forms of art and music.

Thoughts So Far: Devabhumi starts out with a strong first impression right out of the gate. Its introduction is brief yet paints a clear picture of what kind of campaigns the setting wishes to support. Its history and locations paint a picture of a land wrought in various kinds of conflict, along with potential realms of interest to dungeon-delving and adventuring types. While one gets the sense that the Asura Queen is being set up as the BBEGal, there’s quite the number of smaller-scale threats in every region of Devabhumi. Due to this, just about anywhere feels like an ideal place to start a campaign, without feeling the need to move the party to a more interesting locale.

The text is easy to read, as strategic use of bolded font calls attention to locations, NPCs, and concepts of note under the various sections, and the placement of illustrations is frequent enough that you’re not hit with too many walls of text. The book also does a good job of providing brief descriptions of new monsters or unfamiliar concepts so that the reader can quickly know what the author is talking about. It still has that “first-time publisher” feel, like the lack of bookmarks and the accidental repeating text, but so far the errors haven’t been too numerous.

Join us next time as we cover two major Cities and Devabhumi’s gods and cosmos in Religion, Cults & Factions, and Karma!