That doesn't work, IMO. Necromancy/undeath is the exact opposite of the life and growth and natural cycle of things dying and then fueling new growth, etc, etc that Druids hold to.
I can buy that a Druid would seek to live forever to protect the land and all that.... just not by becoming a Lich to do it.
It is super weird as a character goal. A player goal for a direction they want the druid to head in could make an interesting arc but has that huge hurdle that by default druid and lich are basically diametrically opposed.
Yeah, combat familiars are a stunningly bad idea; they're squishy as fuck and difficult to replace.
They are astonishingly easy to replace, just don't have them carry your gold for you when Disintegrates are flying around. RIP Brad the Pixie and 6286 GP(plus cost of healing potions)
You do need some pocket change and ten minutes to summon them but really if you don't care about your familiars emotionally, replacing them is verrry easy.
That doesn't work, IMO. Necromancy/undeath is the exact opposite of the life and growth and natural cycle of things dying and then fueling new growth, etc, etc that Druids hold to.
I can buy that a Druid would seek to live forever to protect the land and all that.... just not by becoming a Lich to do it.
"I will go to hell so that you may live in heaven" is not a weird decision for a character to make though, even if it is uncommon. If you're playing somewhat of a tortured soul, or someone who sees misfortune/devastation/etc on a scale where they see only one way to fix it, you could easily make a very dark choice to accomplish that.
Like the Druid is unlikely to say "I can't wait to become a Lich, shit's gonna be so choice, dude. I've got a sweet design for my phylactery, check this out."
They're more likely to say "My life's work can never be done, or else everything I hold dear will die. Better I become cursed than the forest waste away."
Like the Druid is unlikely to say "I can't wait to become a Lich, shit's gonna be so choice, dude. I've got a sweet design for my phylactery, check this out."
They're more likely to say "My life's work can never be done, or else everything I hold dear will die. Better I become cursed than the forest waste away."
Yeah I think the second thing is key. I can't imagine a Druid becoming a lich just because they want to. They might do it because they feel they have to. There has to be something in between "I'm a druid" and "I want to be a lich".
Disagree, because of what (should, IMO) happens next:
Anything that lichified hand touches would turn to shit. I don't think that rare, fragile, orchid in the deep forest will be happy being tended to by a withered, evil claw. I don't think Bambi and Thumper and whatever the birds name was would flouce over to eat from the Druid's hand and lick those claws clean. Everything that (former) Druid does should rot and ruin the land. The grass would wither and die, the trees would twist and gnarl and all that cool stuff.
That's what I picture when I think of a lich tending to the land. By tending, I mean corrupting by its very existence.
I mean, you could always flavor it as an immortal tree spirit with a living thing acting as the phylactery, like how a dryad dies when its tree is killed.
I mean, unless there is something driving the character to become a lich they would be so much better off just getting hit with a True Polymorph spell into a dragon or something that basically doesn't age but isn't a walking defilement of the druid's primary area of concern.
Could make it part of the character's quest to develop a non-evil version of lichdom so they could become an immortal nature protector. So they'd have to hunt down liches and lich-related items so they could research the process, and have to struggle not to be corrupted along the way. That works whether you want a happy ending (they developed the new spell and live forever looking after the forest) or a sad one (UNDONE BY THEIR OWN HUBRIS NOOOOOOOOOO).
Disagree, because of what (should, IMO) happens next:
Anything that lichified hand touches would turn to shit. I don't think that rare, fragile, orchid in the deep forest will be happy being tended to by a withered, evil claw. I don't think Bambi and Thumper and whatever the birds name was would flouce over to eat from the Druid's hand and lick those claws clean. Everything that (former) Druid does should rot and ruin the land. The grass would wither and die, the trees would twist and gnarl and all that cool stuff.
That's what I picture when I think of a lich tending to the land. By tending, I mean corrupting by its very existence.
And it's fine that that's how you imagine it. But it's not how everyone is obligated to imagine it, because it is not a real thing. Insisting that it could only work the way you describe is essentially telling some other player that he is being an imaginary nature wizard incorrectly.
It's a cool story, a cool theme, and doesn't break any actual rules. There's no reason to shut it down on the grounds that magic can only be a certain way in this co-op game of pretend.
Could make it part of the character's quest to develop a non-evil version of lichdom so they could become an immortal nature protector. So they'd have to hunt down liches and lich-related items so they could research the process, and have to struggle not to be corrupted along the way. That works whether you want a happy ending (they developed the new spell and live forever looking after the forest) or a sad one (UNDONE BY THEIR OWN HUBRIS NOOOOOOOOOO).
Incidentally, this is already a thing even in 'canonical' DnD: Baelnorns are basically good- or neutral-aligned liches in Forgotten Realms, who became liches out of duty rather than ambition.
It's certainly an unusual read on the idea of liches to have them be evil-not-required but it wouldn't be the first such interpretation.
One popular actual-play podcase whose first big story ended late last year made a huge story beat about it.
[EDIT] I'd probably avoid the term "lich" at my table if my player wanted to be immortal but not evil but I feel like if one of my players wanted to become a lich the evil would be implied.
Its funny. I mention a possible (and fairly available) time for all the players and I get cancellation from 3 people (one of them being the druid lich-wanna-be). Still though, down 3 isnt terrible, but it is kind of unfortunate to see people have busy schedules on weekends.
Not much I can do about it, but oh well. Such is life sometimes.
It always seems to drag me back in...CURSE YOU MAPLE STORY!
Disagree, because of what (should, IMO) happens next:
Anything that lichified hand touches would turn to shit. I don't think that rare, fragile, orchid in the deep forest will be happy being tended to by a withered, evil claw. I don't think Bambi and Thumper and whatever the birds name was would flouce over to eat from the Druid's hand and lick those claws clean. Everything that (former) Druid does should rot and ruin the land. The grass would wither and die, the trees would twist and gnarl and all that cool stuff.
That's what I picture when I think of a lich tending to the land. By tending, I mean corrupting by its very existence.
And it's fine that that's how you imagine it. But it's not how everyone is obligated to imagine it, because it is not a real thing. Insisting that it could only work the way you describe is essentially telling some other player that he is being an imaginary nature wizard incorrectly.
It's a cool story, a cool theme, and doesn't break any actual rules. There's no reason to shut it down on the grounds that magic can only be a certain way in this co-op game of pretend.
Could make it part of the character's quest to develop a non-evil version of lichdom so they could become an immortal nature protector. So they'd have to hunt down liches and lich-related items so they could research the process, and have to struggle not to be corrupted along the way. That works whether you want a happy ending (they developed the new spell and live forever looking after the forest) or a sad one (UNDONE BY THEIR OWN HUBRIS NOOOOOOOOOO).
Incidentally, this is already a thing even in 'canonical' DnD: Baelnorns are basically good- or neutral-aligned liches in Forgotten Realms, who became liches out of duty rather than ambition.
Disagree, because of what (should, IMO) happens next:
Anything that lichified hand touches would turn to shit. I don't think that rare, fragile, orchid in the deep forest will be happy being tended to by a withered, evil claw. I don't think Bambi and Thumper and whatever the birds name was would flouce over to eat from the Druid's hand and lick those claws clean. Everything that (former) Druid does should rot and ruin the land. The grass would wither and die, the trees would twist and gnarl and all that cool stuff.
That's what I picture when I think of a lich tending to the land. By tending, I mean corrupting by its very existence.
And it's fine that that's how you imagine it. But it's not how everyone is obligated to imagine it, because it is not a real thing. Insisting that it could only work the way you describe is essentially telling some other player that he is being an imaginary nature wizard incorrectly.
It's a cool story, a cool theme, and doesn't break any actual rules. There's no reason to shut it down on the grounds that magic can only be a certain way in this co-op game of pretend.
Could make it part of the character's quest to develop a non-evil version of lichdom so they could become an immortal nature protector. So they'd have to hunt down liches and lich-related items so they could research the process, and have to struggle not to be corrupted along the way. That works whether you want a happy ending (they developed the new spell and live forever looking after the forest) or a sad one (UNDONE BY THEIR OWN HUBRIS NOOOOOOOOOO).
Incidentally, this is already a thing even in 'canonical' DnD: Baelnorns are basically good- or neutral-aligned liches in Forgotten Realms, who became liches out of duty rather than ambition.
Oh shit, i totally forgot about baelnorns.
So did I, but that's because I thought Baelnorns were good Banshees, and not Liches? I could be entirely wrong though.
There are the Deathless from Eberron...which are functionally the same thing as Undead but powered by Positive Energy. I'd hesitate to call them Good though, much like a lot of things in the Eberron setting.
I wouldn't be surprised if 4E had an "immortal nature guardian" Epic Destiny you could adapt in some way.
Fang of the World Serpent (any primal class)
Fury of the Wild (any primal class)
Glorious Spirit (any primal class)[PH2:171]
Honored Ancestor (any primal class)
Master Hierophant (druid)
Master of the Eternal Hunt (seeker)[PH3:159]
Mythic Spirit (any primal class)
Perfect Guardian (warden)
Primal Avatar (any primal class)[PH2:174]
Pyreen (any primal class or primal theme)[DSCS:102]
Reincarnate Champion (any primal class)
Sovereign Beast (druid, wild shape power)
World Tree Guardian (any primal class)[PrP:156]
I can't believe they didn't carry the Great Elder Spirits over in 5E. The flavor for the primal power source was so good! Describing most nature spirits as basically being elementals that decided they like being part of the natural world was inspired.
I plan to feature the spirits prominently as part of rural folk belief, whereas worship of most gods is more commonly found in cities. Instead of a harvest god there is the spirit Earth Wheel, instead of a goddess of fate there is Grandmother Spider, and instead of a god of the hearth there is Everflame.
A wood woad is a powerful plant in humanoid form invested with the soul of someone who gave up life to become an eternal guardian.
Born of Sacrifice. The ritual to create a wood woad is a primeval secret passed down through generations of savage societies and dark druid circles. Performing the ritual isn't necessarily an act of evil, if the victim-to-be has entered into a bargain that requires it to be a willing sacrifice. In the ritual a living person's chest is pierced and the heart removed. A seed is then pushed into the heart, and it is placed in a tree. Any hollow or crook will do, but often a special cavity is carved out of the trunk. The tree is then bathed and watered with the blood of the sacrificed victim, and the body is buried among the tree's roots. After three days, a sprout emerges from the ground at the base of the tree and swiftly grows into a humanoid form.
This new body, armored in tough bark and bearing a gnarled club and shield, is at once ready to perform its duty. The one who performed the ritual sets the wood woad to its task, and the creature follows those orders unceasingly.
Wouldn't be hard to whip up a spell-caster variant.
Also, check out the level 18 druid thing on PHB p67. Druids age 10x slower, as an elf with a life expectancy of 750 that puts you pretty close to immortality.
Plus, that gives a druid a few centuries more to work on that spell to figure out how to protect the grove properly.
Here's more info on the Primal Spirits from 4E if anyone else wants to utilize them for nature spirits in 5E. Could help out with barbarians, nature clerics, druids, oath of ancients paladins and rangers.
On the meta-level, the Primal Spirits were born out of WoTC noting that the Druid had long been nebulously presented as being somehow different to ordinary nature Clerics, but precisely why that was and what they actually worshipped had never really been explored. So, they went to work and came up with an entire new pseudo-pantheon of animism-based entities, born out of the conflux of the Dawn War but independent of either the progenitor powers.
The Primal Spirits were most prominently detailed in the "Primal Power" sourcebook, alongside most other details relating to the "Primal Way", the specific religions and customs of those races who worship them.
The Great Elders
Whilst the pantheon of Primal Spirits is enormous, filled with all manner of ancestral, locational and elemental spirits, there are some who have attained a particularly universal appeal. These mightiest of all spirits are the closest thing to gods amongst the spirit way, and command respect.
Always Falling: Spirit of the constant motion and mixing of water.
Blood Cousin: Spirit of harmony between different tribes, innovation, creativity and friendship.
Carver: Spirit of the tides and of the forces that shape the natural world.
The Deep Winds: Spirits of the Underdark.
Earth Wheel: Spirit of nature's bounty and the cycle of life.
Everflame: Spirit of fire's cleansing power and the impermanence of flame.
Fate Weaver: Spirit of destiny.
The Grandmothers: A collective of female ancestral spirits who form a social network that reaches across racial lines, all seeking to protect and nurture their living descendants.
Great Bear: Spirit of bears, strength, ferocity and protection.
Great Current: Spirit of the deep ocean.
Great Watcher: Spirit of knowledge, prophecy and insight.
The Hunter Twins: Spirits of the hunt, predator and prey.
Hunter of Winter: Spirit of winter and blizzards.
The Monster Slayers: Ancestral spirits of great warriors, patrons of adventurers.
Old Grandfather: A cantankerous, irascible, disreputable ancestral spirit who claims all the world's races as his children, not so much respected as placated so he'll bugger off and annoy somebody else.
The Primal Beast: Spirit of all predators.
The Soul Serpent: Serpentine guardian of the realm of dreams.
Stoneroot: Spirit of the mountains.
Stormhawk: Spirit of storms and transformation, a tireless guardian against interference in the world by entities from beyond.
Tree Father: Spirit of the forests.
Whisper: Spirit of trickery, deception and malice, also known as the Dark Sister, Fox Woman and Little Dragon.
The World Healer: Spirit of rebirth and renewal.
The World Serpent: Serpentine guardian of the world.
The World Tree: Spirit of the world itself and the balance that maintains life.
Personally, the drow in my setting will revere Fate Weaver instead of Lolth and be Neutral.
Here's more info on the Primal Spirits from 4E if anyone else wants to utilize them for nature spirits in 5E. Could help out with barbarians, nature clerics, druids, oath of ancients paladins and rangers.
On the meta-level, the Primal Spirits were born out of WoTC noting that the Druid had long been nebulously presented as being somehow different to ordinary nature Clerics, but precisely why that was and what they actually worshipped had never really been explored. So, they went to work and came up with an entire new pseudo-pantheon of animism-based entities, born out of the conflux of the Dawn War but independent of either the progenitor powers.
The Primal Spirits were most prominently detailed in the "Primal Power" sourcebook, alongside most other details relating to the "Primal Way", the specific religions and customs of those races who worship them.
The Great Elders
Whilst the pantheon of Primal Spirits is enormous, filled with all manner of ancestral, locational and elemental spirits, there are some who have attained a particularly universal appeal. These mightiest of all spirits are the closest thing to gods amongst the spirit way, and command respect.
Always Falling: Spirit of the constant motion and mixing of water.
Blood Cousin: Spirit of harmony between different tribes, innovation, creativity and friendship.
Carver: Spirit of the tides and of the forces that shape the natural world.
The Deep Winds: Spirits of the Underdark.
Earth Wheel: Spirit of nature's bounty and the cycle of life.
Everflame: Spirit of fire's cleansing power and the impermanence of flame.
Fate Weaver: Spirit of destiny.
The Grandmothers: A collective of female ancestral spirits who form a social network that reaches across racial lines, all seeking to protect and nurture their living descendants.
Great Bear: Spirit of bears, strength, ferocity and protection.
Great Current: Spirit of the deep ocean.
Great Watcher: Spirit of knowledge, prophecy and insight.
The Hunter Twins: Spirits of the hunt, predator and prey.
Hunter of Winter: Spirit of winter and blizzards.
The Monster Slayers: Ancestral spirits of great warriors, patrons of adventurers.
Old Grandfather: A cantankerous, irascible, disreputable ancestral spirit who claims all the world's races as his children, not so much respected as placated so he'll bugger off and annoy somebody else.
The Primal Beast: Spirit of all predators.
The Soul Serpent: Serpentine guardian of the realm of dreams.
Stoneroot: Spirit of the mountains.
Stormhawk: Spirit of storms and transformation, a tireless guardian against interference in the world by entities from beyond.
Tree Father: Spirit of the forests.
Whisper: Spirit of trickery, deception and malice, also known as the Dark Sister, Fox Woman and Little Dragon.
The World Healer: Spirit of rebirth and renewal.
The World Serpent: Serpentine guardian of the world.
The World Tree: Spirit of the world itself and the balance that maintains life.
Personally, the drow in my setting will revere Fate Weaver instead of Lolth and be Neutral.
You could have a cult of Drow Lloth worshippers be some small scale plucky rebellion that will pay the adventures to smuggle in some spiders into the city.
Here's more info on the Primal Spirits from 4E if anyone else wants to utilize them for nature spirits in 5E. Could help out with barbarians, nature clerics, druids, oath of ancients paladins and rangers.
On the meta-level, the Primal Spirits were born out of WoTC noting that the Druid had long been nebulously presented as being somehow different to ordinary nature Clerics, but precisely why that was and what they actually worshipped had never really been explored. So, they went to work and came up with an entire new pseudo-pantheon of animism-based entities, born out of the conflux of the Dawn War but independent of either the progenitor powers.
The Primal Spirits were most prominently detailed in the "Primal Power" sourcebook, alongside most other details relating to the "Primal Way", the specific religions and customs of those races who worship them.
The Great Elders
Whilst the pantheon of Primal Spirits is enormous, filled with all manner of ancestral, locational and elemental spirits, there are some who have attained a particularly universal appeal. These mightiest of all spirits are the closest thing to gods amongst the spirit way, and command respect.
Always Falling: Spirit of the constant motion and mixing of water.
Blood Cousin: Spirit of harmony between different tribes, innovation, creativity and friendship.
Carver: Spirit of the tides and of the forces that shape the natural world.
The Deep Winds: Spirits of the Underdark.
Earth Wheel: Spirit of nature's bounty and the cycle of life.
Everflame: Spirit of fire's cleansing power and the impermanence of flame.
Fate Weaver: Spirit of destiny.
The Grandmothers: A collective of female ancestral spirits who form a social network that reaches across racial lines, all seeking to protect and nurture their living descendants.
Great Bear: Spirit of bears, strength, ferocity and protection.
Great Current: Spirit of the deep ocean.
Great Watcher: Spirit of knowledge, prophecy and insight.
The Hunter Twins: Spirits of the hunt, predator and prey.
Hunter of Winter: Spirit of winter and blizzards.
The Monster Slayers: Ancestral spirits of great warriors, patrons of adventurers.
Old Grandfather: A cantankerous, irascible, disreputable ancestral spirit who claims all the world's races as his children, not so much respected as placated so he'll bugger off and annoy somebody else.
The Primal Beast: Spirit of all predators.
The Soul Serpent: Serpentine guardian of the realm of dreams.
Stoneroot: Spirit of the mountains.
Stormhawk: Spirit of storms and transformation, a tireless guardian against interference in the world by entities from beyond.
Tree Father: Spirit of the forests.
Whisper: Spirit of trickery, deception and malice, also known as the Dark Sister, Fox Woman and Little Dragon.
The World Healer: Spirit of rebirth and renewal.
The World Serpent: Serpentine guardian of the world.
The World Tree: Spirit of the world itself and the balance that maintains life.
Personally, the drow in my setting will revere Fate Weaver instead of Lolth and be Neutral.
You could have a cult of Drow Lloth worshippers be some small scale plucky rebellion that will pay the adventures to smuggle in some spiders into the city.
I really like to plumb obscure references and have discovered an absurd number of demon lords that have been featured in official D&D products but seldom used. So to remedy that I have decided that all the prominent demon lords have already been destroyed by past heroes who completed quests similar to those already presented in official materials.
- Orcus was destroyed but persists as a pervasive spirit of undeath called Tenebrous in the Shadowfell. Spontaneously-generated undead are therefore more common than they were before. A cult leader calling herself Evening Glory is a servant of Tenebrous and is spreading the belief that the taboo against undeath perpetuated by the followers of the gods and primal spirits is an injustice against mortals for whom undeath is their best shot at immortality.
- Both Demogorgon and Yeenoghu enacted plans to decimate civilization but ended up being thwarted and destroyed. Several of their aspects survived in the mortal world, but the destruction of their progenitors effected the aspects mentally, reducing them to unintelligent beasts. Small cults congregate around the remaining aspects, believing that empowering them and returning them to the Abyss could resurrect the demon lords.
- Lolth got killed. Haven't figured out how yet.
So now the top dogs in the Abyss are Graz'zt, Oublivae, Zuggtmoy, Shaktari and Sylbarax (whose sole mention was the entry for the Tomb Demon in the 4E Demonomicon, in which he was stated to have been transformed into an undead by Orcus).
I've also chosen a number of obscure demon lords to highlight as options for warlock pact patrons. For example, there was apparently a Dungeon magazine adventure for 3.5 that name-dropped a number of demon lords like Felex'ja, demon lord of cats. I figured someone might appreciate that maybe.
If the player's still in Barovia, what comes back to them might not be the friendly thing they brought in. Normally familiar things do have a funny way of going dreadfully wrong in that place... not that a visitor would know the difference, of course.
"now I've got this mental image of caucuses as cafeteria tables in prison, and new congressmen having to beat someone up on inauguration day." - Raiden333
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
I have been resistant to use that trick at my table with my High Elven Bladesinger as I foresee my DM not taking it well at all.
Oh hey, I brought this trick up to my DM yesterday during our monthly game and he told me, "Yeah, I'll immediately try to kill your familiar if you do that."
And then later I used my owl familiar to scout out a tower and a Drider within it killed him with an arrow to the face.
- The poor in the seaside city of Diyun are going missing. The truth is that these people are getting the compulsion in the middle of the night to throw themselves into the sea, where they are drowned by a water necromental (necrotically-charged elemental) and carried into a sea cave to be transformed into waterlogged undead. The necromental is controlled by an ambitious vampiric deep scion necromancer who is enthralled to Zuregurex, demon lord of the drowned dead. The deep scion, along with two ixitxachitl allies, is using his victims as the start of an aquatic army that will abduct entire crews from their ships for the purpose of swelling the army's ranks.
- The players discover that the deep scion was aided by an alchemist in town and search for the alchemist's identity. The alchemist was using a number of rare ingredients to brew a "gill lung poison", which renders victims incapable of breathing air but capable of surving underwater for a very short period of time. In a surprising twist, the alchemist is allied with a number of evil fey and utilized pixies to administer the poison at night.
- An outcast druid visited a once-sacred forest now tainted by the Abyss and emerged a follower of Sylbarax, serpentine demon lord of undeath. He has infiltrated an ancient barrow made by his tribe's ancestors so that his skeletal snake spirit companion can feed upon the ancestral spirits and defile the sacred ruin, turning it into a haven full of undead, demons, and demon-tainted beasts.
- A mountain-sized cluster of hot springs pours water ideal for alchemical use, but the local collective of wizards, alchemists and artificers is coming under attack from the firenewts that live in the area, which themselves are reacting to contamination from alchemical run-off that is giving rise to oozes, muddy elementals and a few other strange creatures.
- A morkoth and its island have appeared off the coast near Diyun. It has acquired a bound typhoon dragon and threatens to unleash it unless the morkoth's demands for tribute from the city are met.
I've also been inspired by the Red Steel campaign setting (in which characters gain special magic abilities while within a certain affected area). I'm planning for my setting to have a number of regions with special gimmicks.
- This formerly sacred forest has been thoroughly tainted by the Abyss, effectively transforming it into a new layer. All the natural spirits have been driven out and replaced with disembodied demon spirits. Lawful or Neutral characters who enter gain a primal tattoo, which represents a primal spirit that has temporarily bonded with the character to help it combat the Abyssal taint. Chaotic characters do not gain a primal tattoo; instead, they are in danger of becoming demonscarred. Both primal tattoos and demon scars grant special powers while the character is within the region, but the presence of a demon scar means that demonic spirits are wearing down the character's spiritual resistance to possession.
- The lands that make up the crusader kingdoms are crisscrossed by leylines and nodes of power. Here even the servants of deities and other powers that normally cooperate war with each other for territory, believing that each node of power that is claimed and consecrated in the name of a specific extraplanar lord will strengthen that being's ability to impose its will on the world. The primal ban that bars against extraplanar influence does seem to be unusually weak here; devotees of whatever being a given territory is dedicated to find their magic enhanced, and it is far more common to encounter legions of angels, devils, demons and elemental myrmidons here than anywhere else in the natural world.
- It is rumored that there exists a faraway land where martial prowess is capable of more extraordinary feats than any other place in creation. The warriors here often execute impossible manuevers that seem more magical than any spell or divine invocation, particularly when two combatants battle in a one-on-one duel or when one lone warrior fights a horde that should be completely overwhelming. Arrows weave between obstacles, acrobats run down spear shafts and leap dozens of feet seemingly effortlessly, and warriors cleave in twain the tree-sized clubs of giants with a single swift longsword stroke. Those warriors who routinely perform risky stunts seem to be greatly rewarded. Unknown to everyone, this is the domain of an archfey who secretly watches every conflict and empowers the most entertaining combatants; every practicioner of the martial arts fights for his amusement, and the greatest warriors are spirited away to his colosseum in the Feywild.
So my usual DM invited me to join a campaign he's doing via Roll20, because I wasn't even sure what I wanted to play he decided to roll out three sets of stats for me to choose between. In the end I chose:
15 STR 12 DEX 12 CON 10 INT 15 WIS 15 CHA which is after the racial of Goliath and I went with a Wild Magic Sorcerer. I'm not entirely sure on where to go with this character just yet aside from possibly dipping into Hexblade to get medium armor/shields. The one downside is that with an odd CHA it means I'll need 2.5 ASI's to cap it off.
Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
edited January 2018
Okay wrong thread, whoops, let's do some serious thinking about 5e. Is it still true that healing is underpowered all over the place? I had heard it as almost always better to spend your actions doing damage or otherwise reducing fight duration, that healing was a waste of actions. Did Volo change that? Is that one healing spirit thing still infinite healing, RAW? Is the new rule no in-combat healing is good?
Powerpuppies on
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Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
edited January 2018
I've only used the short rest thing to spend a hit dice, and second wind from my one level dip into fighter, and it's seemed really powerful so far.
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I can buy that a Druid would seek to live forever to protect the land and all that.... just not by becoming a Lich to do it.
They are astonishingly easy to replace, just don't have them carry your gold for you when Disintegrates are flying around. RIP Brad the Pixie and 6286 GP(plus cost of healing potions)
You do need some pocket change and ten minutes to summon them but really if you don't care about your familiars emotionally, replacing them is verrry easy.
"I will go to hell so that you may live in heaven" is not a weird decision for a character to make though, even if it is uncommon. If you're playing somewhat of a tortured soul, or someone who sees misfortune/devastation/etc on a scale where they see only one way to fix it, you could easily make a very dark choice to accomplish that.
They're more likely to say "My life's work can never be done, or else everything I hold dear will die. Better I become cursed than the forest waste away."
Yeah I think the second thing is key. I can't imagine a Druid becoming a lich just because they want to. They might do it because they feel they have to. There has to be something in between "I'm a druid" and "I want to be a lich".
Anything that lichified hand touches would turn to shit. I don't think that rare, fragile, orchid in the deep forest will be happy being tended to by a withered, evil claw. I don't think Bambi and Thumper and whatever the birds name was would flouce over to eat from the Druid's hand and lick those claws clean. Everything that (former) Druid does should rot and ruin the land. The grass would wither and die, the trees would twist and gnarl and all that cool stuff.
That's what I picture when I think of a lich tending to the land. By tending, I mean corrupting by its very existence.
100% guarantee, inarguable. The druid thinks they can control the power, thinks they can subvert it to use it for their own ends. But they can't.
it's not a story that ends well
but it's still a very good story
And it's fine that that's how you imagine it. But it's not how everyone is obligated to imagine it, because it is not a real thing. Insisting that it could only work the way you describe is essentially telling some other player that he is being an imaginary nature wizard incorrectly.
It's a cool story, a cool theme, and doesn't break any actual rules. There's no reason to shut it down on the grounds that magic can only be a certain way in this co-op game of pretend.
Incidentally, this is already a thing even in 'canonical' DnD: Baelnorns are basically good- or neutral-aligned liches in Forgotten Realms, who became liches out of duty rather than ambition.
One popular actual-play podcase whose first big story ended late last year made a huge story beat about it.
[EDIT] I'd probably avoid the term "lich" at my table if my player wanted to be immortal but not evil but I feel like if one of my players wanted to become a lich the evil would be implied.
Not much I can do about it, but oh well. Such is life sometimes.
Oh shit, i totally forgot about baelnorns.
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So did I, but that's because I thought Baelnorns were good Banshees, and not Liches? I could be entirely wrong though.
There are the Deathless from Eberron...which are functionally the same thing as Undead but powered by Positive Energy. I'd hesitate to call them Good though, much like a lot of things in the Eberron setting.
Neither were very druidic.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
I can't believe they didn't carry the Great Elder Spirits over in 5E. The flavor for the primal power source was so good! Describing most nature spirits as basically being elementals that decided they like being part of the natural world was inspired.
I plan to feature the spirits prominently as part of rural folk belief, whereas worship of most gods is more commonly found in cities. Instead of a harvest god there is the spirit Earth Wheel, instead of a goddess of fate there is Grandmother Spider, and instead of a god of the hearth there is Everflame.
Plus you are free to add regional spirits, too.
Yeah, that sounds like 4E epic.
Very well. I stand corrected then.
Did they have good Banshee's too, or was I just wrong?
A wood woad is a powerful plant in humanoid form invested with the soul of someone who gave up life to become an eternal guardian.
Born of Sacrifice. The ritual to create a wood woad is a primeval secret passed down through generations of savage societies and dark druid circles. Performing the ritual isn't necessarily an act of evil, if the victim-to-be has entered into a bargain that requires it to be a willing sacrifice. In the ritual a living person's chest is pierced and the heart removed. A seed is then pushed into the heart, and it is placed in a tree. Any hollow or crook will do, but often a special cavity is carved out of the trunk. The tree is then bathed and watered with the blood of the sacrificed victim, and the body is buried among the tree's roots. After three days, a sprout emerges from the ground at the base of the tree and swiftly grows into a humanoid form.
This new body, armored in tough bark and bearing a gnarled club and shield, is at once ready to perform its duty. The one who performed the ritual sets the wood woad to its task, and the creature follows those orders unceasingly.
Wouldn't be hard to whip up a spell-caster variant.
Plus, that gives a druid a few centuries more to work on that spell to figure out how to protect the grove properly.
Personally, the drow in my setting will revere Fate Weaver instead of Lolth and be Neutral.
You could have a cult of Drow Lloth worshippers be some small scale plucky rebellion that will pay the adventures to smuggle in some spiders into the city.
I really like to plumb obscure references and have discovered an absurd number of demon lords that have been featured in official D&D products but seldom used. So to remedy that I have decided that all the prominent demon lords have already been destroyed by past heroes who completed quests similar to those already presented in official materials.
- Orcus was destroyed but persists as a pervasive spirit of undeath called Tenebrous in the Shadowfell. Spontaneously-generated undead are therefore more common than they were before. A cult leader calling herself Evening Glory is a servant of Tenebrous and is spreading the belief that the taboo against undeath perpetuated by the followers of the gods and primal spirits is an injustice against mortals for whom undeath is their best shot at immortality.
- Both Demogorgon and Yeenoghu enacted plans to decimate civilization but ended up being thwarted and destroyed. Several of their aspects survived in the mortal world, but the destruction of their progenitors effected the aspects mentally, reducing them to unintelligent beasts. Small cults congregate around the remaining aspects, believing that empowering them and returning them to the Abyss could resurrect the demon lords.
- Lolth got killed. Haven't figured out how yet.
So now the top dogs in the Abyss are Graz'zt, Oublivae, Zuggtmoy, Shaktari and Sylbarax (whose sole mention was the entry for the Tomb Demon in the 4E Demonomicon, in which he was stated to have been transformed into an undead by Orcus).
I've also chosen a number of obscure demon lords to highlight as options for warlock pact patrons. For example, there was apparently a Dungeon magazine adventure for 3.5 that name-dropped a number of demon lords like Felex'ja, demon lord of cats. I figured someone might appreciate that maybe.
If the player's still in Barovia, what comes back to them might not be the friendly thing they brought in. Normally familiar things do have a funny way of going dreadfully wrong in that place... not that a visitor would know the difference, of course.
Oh hey, I brought this trick up to my DM yesterday during our monthly game and he told me, "Yeah, I'll immediately try to kill your familiar if you do that."
And then later I used my owl familiar to scout out a tower and a Drider within it killed him with an arrow to the face.
- The poor in the seaside city of Diyun are going missing. The truth is that these people are getting the compulsion in the middle of the night to throw themselves into the sea, where they are drowned by a water necromental (necrotically-charged elemental) and carried into a sea cave to be transformed into waterlogged undead. The necromental is controlled by an ambitious vampiric deep scion necromancer who is enthralled to Zuregurex, demon lord of the drowned dead. The deep scion, along with two ixitxachitl allies, is using his victims as the start of an aquatic army that will abduct entire crews from their ships for the purpose of swelling the army's ranks.
- The players discover that the deep scion was aided by an alchemist in town and search for the alchemist's identity. The alchemist was using a number of rare ingredients to brew a "gill lung poison", which renders victims incapable of breathing air but capable of surving underwater for a very short period of time. In a surprising twist, the alchemist is allied with a number of evil fey and utilized pixies to administer the poison at night.
- An outcast druid visited a once-sacred forest now tainted by the Abyss and emerged a follower of Sylbarax, serpentine demon lord of undeath. He has infiltrated an ancient barrow made by his tribe's ancestors so that his skeletal snake spirit companion can feed upon the ancestral spirits and defile the sacred ruin, turning it into a haven full of undead, demons, and demon-tainted beasts.
- A mountain-sized cluster of hot springs pours water ideal for alchemical use, but the local collective of wizards, alchemists and artificers is coming under attack from the firenewts that live in the area, which themselves are reacting to contamination from alchemical run-off that is giving rise to oozes, muddy elementals and a few other strange creatures.
- A morkoth and its island have appeared off the coast near Diyun. It has acquired a bound typhoon dragon and threatens to unleash it unless the morkoth's demands for tribute from the city are met.
- This formerly sacred forest has been thoroughly tainted by the Abyss, effectively transforming it into a new layer. All the natural spirits have been driven out and replaced with disembodied demon spirits. Lawful or Neutral characters who enter gain a primal tattoo, which represents a primal spirit that has temporarily bonded with the character to help it combat the Abyssal taint. Chaotic characters do not gain a primal tattoo; instead, they are in danger of becoming demonscarred. Both primal tattoos and demon scars grant special powers while the character is within the region, but the presence of a demon scar means that demonic spirits are wearing down the character's spiritual resistance to possession.
- The lands that make up the crusader kingdoms are crisscrossed by leylines and nodes of power. Here even the servants of deities and other powers that normally cooperate war with each other for territory, believing that each node of power that is claimed and consecrated in the name of a specific extraplanar lord will strengthen that being's ability to impose its will on the world. The primal ban that bars against extraplanar influence does seem to be unusually weak here; devotees of whatever being a given territory is dedicated to find their magic enhanced, and it is far more common to encounter legions of angels, devils, demons and elemental myrmidons here than anywhere else in the natural world.
- It is rumored that there exists a faraway land where martial prowess is capable of more extraordinary feats than any other place in creation. The warriors here often execute impossible manuevers that seem more magical than any spell or divine invocation, particularly when two combatants battle in a one-on-one duel or when one lone warrior fights a horde that should be completely overwhelming. Arrows weave between obstacles, acrobats run down spear shafts and leap dozens of feet seemingly effortlessly, and warriors cleave in twain the tree-sized clubs of giants with a single swift longsword stroke. Those warriors who routinely perform risky stunts seem to be greatly rewarded. Unknown to everyone, this is the domain of an archfey who secretly watches every conflict and empowers the most entertaining combatants; every practicioner of the martial arts fights for his amusement, and the greatest warriors are spirited away to his colosseum in the Feywild.
15 STR 12 DEX 12 CON 10 INT 15 WIS 15 CHA which is after the racial of Goliath and I went with a Wild Magic Sorcerer. I'm not entirely sure on where to go with this character just yet aside from possibly dipping into Hexblade to get medium armor/shields. The one downside is that with an odd CHA it means I'll need 2.5 ASI's to cap it off.
Actor is a fun +1Cha feat for a warlock with mask of many faces.
HOW DARE HE