Introduction

Introduced in the Acquisitions Incorporated sourcebook, the Verdan is a race descended from goblinoids native to the Forgotten Realms. They resemble humans with backswept, pointed ears and skin in shades of green. They lack a distinct culture, but they are described as empathetic and opposed to tyranny, but tolerant of rules and laws.

Mechanically, the Verdan screams “make a Charisma-based spellcaster”. Constitution and Charisma increases are obvious, and Black-Blood Healing is more effective if you have a smaller hit die. Limited Telepathy and Persuasion allow you to communicate easily and serve as your party’s Face, and while Telepathic Insight isn’t as good as Gnome Cunning or Vedalken Dispassion, it’s still pretty good since Intelligence saves are so incredibly rare.

With the custom origin rules in place, the Verdan overlaps with other races significantly. They fall somewhere between the Kalasthar and the Vedalken, getting Advantage on two mental saves and proficiency in one skill. Their telepathy only allots communicating simple concepts, so it’s not quite as good as the Kalashtar’s. Beyond that, the Verdan’s signature trait is Black Blood Healing, which provides some insurance against poor hit die rolls. Like both the Kalashtar and the Vedalken, these traits work well for basically any class, but don’t predisipose you to any specific capability, so the variance in class options is typically small.

Table of Contents

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.

  • Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
  • Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
  • Green: Good options. Useful often.
  • Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.

The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.

Verdan Classes (Customizable Origins)

This section assumes that you’re using the option “Customizing Your Origin” rules presented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. If you’re not using those rules, scroll down to the next section.

Artificer

With only a d8 hit die, Black Blood Healing is decently effective, and Telepathic Insight protects the Artificer’s two bad saves. You also get an extra skill without piling on yet another tool.

Barbarian

For a class with relatively poor armor and and a big pool of hit points, Black Blood Healing feels like nice insurance against poor hit die rolls. And while rolling a 1 or a 2 certainly hurts, mathematically Black Bood Healing is not going to save you.

Bard

An extra skill helps you expand beyond Face skills, and Black Blood Healing is reasonably effective with a d8 hit die. Telepathic Insight provides some protection on one the Bard’s bad saves, and an extra skill will help you expand beyond Face skills.

Cleric

Black Blood Healing is decent with a d8 hit die, but the Druid has no lack of healing options. Telepathic Insight is nice, but clerics are proficient in the same saves so the benefits are less impactful. The extra skill never hurts, but it’s hardly novel.

Druid

Black Blood Healing is decent with a d8 hit die, but the Druid has no lack of healing options. Telepathic Insight is nice, but druids are already excellent at Wisdom saves. The extra skill never hurts, but it’s hardly novel.

Fighter

Black Blood Healing isn’t great with a d10 hit die, but an extra skill offers you some sorely-needed options outside of combat, and Telepathic Insight protects you from saves which are normally major vulernabilities for the Fighter.

Monk

Monks tend to have poor AC at low levels, so you’re very reliant on hit dice to recover. Black Blood Healing can help there a little bit, especially with only d8 hit dice. Telepathic Insight provides additional protection until Diamond Body comes online and you largely stop worrying about saving throws. An extra skill helps close the skill gap with rogues.

Paladin

Black Blood Healing feels silly on the Paladin due to both Lay on Hands and their large hit dice. An extra skill is great, but you can get that from numerous other races. The Verdan’s telepathy is neat, but too limited to be particularly exciting. Telepathic Insight covers the same saves as the Paladin’s proficiencies, and couple with Aura of Protection you really don’t need the extra help there.

Ranger

Black Blood Healing isn’t great with a d10 hit die, but an extra skill helps close the skill gap with the Rogue and Telepathic Insight protects the Ranger on two of their bad saves.

Rogue

An extra skill helps you cover more skill-based roles, Black Blood Healing is reasonably effective with a d8 hit die, and Telepathic Insight protects you on two of the Rogue’s worst saves.

Sorcerer

Black Blood Healing is at peak effectiveness with a d6 hit dice. An extra skill helps you expand beyond Face skills, and Telepathic Insight helps protect one of your weak saves as well as making you basically infallibe at Charisma saves.

Warlock

An extra skill helps you expand beyond Face skills, and Black Blood Healing is reasonably effective with a d8 hit die. Telepathic Insight reinforces the Warlock’s two good saves, so as long as you’re not worried about Insight or Perception, you can dump Wisdom with little consequence.

Wizard

Black Blood Healing is at peak effectiveness with a d6 hit dice, and Telepathic Insight protects you on Charisma saves without needing to actually degrade yourself by being charismatic. Wizards are proficient in Wisdom saves, but often don’t have great Wisdom, so Telepathic Insight’s protection there is very welcome.

Verdan Classes (Default Rules)

Artificer

No Intelligence increase.

Barbarian

Bad ability spread.

Bard

Charisma-based spellcasting, and a natural Face. A perfect choice.

Cleric

Bad ability spread.

Druid

Bad ability spread.

Fighter

Bad ability spread.

Monk

Bad ability spread.

Paladin

Your best bet for a martial class. Stick to Blessed Warrior builds to capitalize on your Charisma increase.

Ranger

Bad ability spread.

Rogue

Bad ability spread.

Sorcerer

The smallest hit die of any Charisma-based spellcaster, so Black-Blood Healing is exceptionally effective. You get plenty of skills to be a Face, and there’s little else that you need to worry about. Since the Verdan were born of a chaotic entity, Wild-Blooded Magic seems like an obvious subclass, but don’t feel like you absolutely need to go that route.

Warlock

Great traits for any warlock, and Hexblades who fight on the front lines will find Black-Blood healing very helpful.

Wizard

No Intelligence increase.