I'd multiclass into barbarian a bit for unarmored defence and rage.
grabbing the shield feels like a metagamey choice and thusly earns a >:( from me.
tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
Loxodons already have the 12AC+Con unarmored defense, so I could ignore Dex.... but hmm, is Reckless Attack, Danger Sense, and Rage worth an ASI? I could go 15 Battlemaster / 2 Barb.
I can probably drop the shield if I manage to negotiate a bracers of defense for my items. Grapple with my Trunk, then two free arms for d8 attacks.
There aren't that many feats that help a pugilist, imo.
you're going to need tavern brawler to make your fists 1d4 weapons. the bonus damage from raging is practically making your fists 1d6 weapons.
Plus, danger sense is sort of a resilient: dexterity feat anyway!
if you were to go for barb 3 you'd also get the bear path, making you resistant to all damage except psychic.
I'd reskin it to something more street fightery. Narcis Prince from super knock out if you're feeling loly.
I'd ask the DM if you could have a custom feat, one that allows you to punch as a bonus action if you used your action to make an unarmed strike with your action.
This way you can sensibly make use of your OH without infringing upon the monk's competencies.
edit:
my brain somehow made "loxodon" into "london boxer" and I had Dudley pictured in the back of my mind.
Although I suppose a refined, upright elephant in slacks would also be a sight.
evilthecat on
tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
+2
WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
edited June 2020
There's that Variant Class Features UA that gives Fighters the Unarmed Fighting Style: 1d6 for one hand, 1d8 for two fisted punch-ups, plus extra 1d4 damage every time I grapple and every time I attack the dude I'm grapplin'.
Yeah the resistance on Barb 3 (plus 3rd rage) is kinda worth considering.
I could further go 4Barb/14BMaster just for 1d12 hit die instead of 1d10.
Ah.
The fighting style devalues the barb choice a bit. If you don't go bear totem I'd reconsider if the dip is worth it.
consider the grappler feat: you'd have advantage against the thing you're grappling.
I don't have Ravnica, I have no idea what the loxodon trunk does so a bit unsure if that'll fly.
The build will work and allows for crit fishing.
tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
The trunk's pretty nifty!
Trunk. You can grasp things with your trunk, and you can use it as a snorkel. It has a reach of 5 feet, and it can lift a number of pounds equal to five times your Strength score. You can use it to do the following simple tasks: lift, drop, hold, push, or pull an object or a creature; open or close a door or a container; grapple someone; or make an unarmed strike.
Letting things digest mentally for a bit, but i'm goign to be trying to compile stuff into a more readable bulletpoints style of notes for the various major features/factions/etc. I need to go and update my map too, but again, i want to let stuff mentally digest.
Letting things digest mentally for a bit, but i'm goign to be trying to compile stuff into a more readable bulletpoints style of notes for the various major features/factions/etc. I need to go and update my map too, but again, i want to let stuff mentally digest.
Letting things digest mentally for a bit, but i'm goign to be trying to compile stuff into a more readable bulletpoints style of notes for the various major features/factions/etc. I need to go and update my map too, but again, i want to let stuff mentally digest.
...have you ever heard of latex?
I have not, and googling it, i'm not sure on it's particular value here? That's just a dump document as said, it's meant to be mildly more useful than scrolling back through my posts.
Letting things digest mentally for a bit, but i'm goign to be trying to compile stuff into a more readable bulletpoints style of notes for the various major features/factions/etc. I need to go and update my map too, but again, i want to let stuff mentally digest.
...have you ever heard of latex?
I have not, and googling it, i'm not sure on it's particular value here? That's just a dump document as said, it's meant to be mildly more useful than scrolling back through my posts.
Eh, it was a semi serious suggestion/joke.
Either you know the program and the love-hate relationship people have with it or you googled latex (hopefully at work. with a colleague looking over your shoulder ;P).
At this point i have to note i'm actually part of the kink community (I make candles as part of this, for one). I fully know what Latex is =P However, googling it just took me to the program, so your schemes have failed
So help me out folks: what sort of domesticated animals do you think the aeternum elves had? When their empire fell over, what would have gone feral and survived in the grasslands that made up the majority of their empire? What about on the islands? Or the more barren desert lands in the North East?
(Note here the aeternum drove a huge bunch of natives to extinction, because they were that sort of people.)
Off the top of my head:
Horses
Goats
Sheep
Cattle
Dogs
Cats?
Rats, mice, other vermin
I know there's now feral Phoenix populations, some of which have grown to prodigious (and terrifying) size now they're no longer bound by aeternum chains
(... Oh hey, cool idea: phoenix are like various reptiles, and don't actually have an upper size limit. They just keep growing. But when they're killed, they rebirth in much smaller forms. Suggests I should give phoenix a feathered dinosaur vibe!)
But what else could there be? I welcome left field suggestions as much as sensible, historic ones!
Been reading through the Mage: The Awakening rulebook and wow, this is really fuckin cool. I'm glad y'all and the peeps in the SE++ TTRPG thread talked about it enough to get me to check it out. Now I just have to save up money so I can buy the books for Symbaroum and Spire: The City Must Fall, because those are next on my list of game systems I want to check out entirely due to their artwork and setting/premise and steal ideas/inspiration from.
Just spent way too much time brainstorming the BBEG for the next campaign I want to run.
Seghulerak is a yuan-ti abomination cleric who wants to become the champion of the god Zehir and begin a new yuan-ti empire. She's already received the aid of Avamerin, a fallen solar dedicated to the serpent god who believed Seghulerak would he able to succeed where others have failed. Seghulerak herself is a very proud and ambitious cleric who believes she should try to rely on her god as little as possible, thinking her tenacity and self-sufficiency will impress Zehir.
Seghulerak's current goals:
- Defeat the worshipers of Zehir's traitorous creation Uk'otoa and put the leviathan back into its original, subservient role.
- Secure an arms deal that includes monsters.
- Convert a levitating ruin into a mobile flying fortress equipped with a wyvern aerie.
- Capture people to serve as slaves, food, or potential yuan-ti converts.
- Find and awaken the yuan-ti hidden throughout the world in stasis.
- Secure an alliance with Shaktari, demon queen of mariliths.
- Locate three powerful magic items to increase her own personal power: the Book of Vile Darkness, the Lash of Shadows, and the Riteknife.
The last part is especially tricky. The Book of Vile Darkness can have negative drawbacks, including amplifying the attuned user's mental flaws. The Lash of Shadows is inhabited by the spirit of an insane marilith that apeaks telepathically to the lash's owner. The dreams of the wielder of the Riteknife are haunted by rhe souls sacrificed by it.
Even if Seghulerak gets the Book of Vile Darkness and finds fiendish true names within it, as a cleric she doesn't have much in the way of summoning spells, so she'd have to get at least some wizards and warlocks involved to actually make use of the true names.
So help me out folks: what sort of domesticated animals do you think the aeternum elves had? When their empire fell over, what would have gone feral and survived in the grasslands that made up the majority of their empire? What about on the islands? Or the more barren desert lands in the North East?
I've always been partial to almiraj! Also, maybe krenshar used as hounds that'd gone feral again?
Surely when a pheonix is killed, the one that comes back is bigger, or has the potential to be?
I think on the domesticated/feral animal front, you need to decide if the wilderness left behind after the Aeternum collapsed should feel different from the wilderness bordering your other settlements and how accessible these places are. Presumably there are some natural barriers that have kept this otherwise very fertile land (that sustained an Empire!) out of the hands of newer civilisations.
Is it one of those tantalising regions that ambitious lords yearn to add to their realm, enough that they are always happy to fund expeditions across the mountains/seas to establish colonies (and the adventurer's to guard them)?
Or is it your more traditional fantasy lands, dotted with little villages and farms connected by roads but with large ancient ruins scattered across it?
If it's the latter, I'd probably go a little more traditional and use it as the excuse as to why the PCs can 'ask to buy a horse' etc at the local taverns, the animals that you think of that would be in a place like this are there because the ancient empire domesticated them - same as it is in the real world.
If it's the former, I'd go a little bit more 'Lost World' and either have a look at the pleistocine (or before) ancestors of those creatures or the things that exist/existed in the same niches in the Americas. Don't worry about the long fancy names for them, just use the literal greek translations. English is a little strange in the way that we use a lot of foreign language words for names, of both people and things. A lot of other languages called Rhinos - "Nose Horns", and we do too - just in greek.
You could even collect some of the wierder suviving animals from this time like the Saiga antelopes, as things that are familiar but also quite strange.
Just spent way too much time brainstorming the BBEG for the next campaign I want to run.
Seghulerak is a yuan-ti abomination cleric who wants to become the champion of the god Zehir and begin a new yuan-ti empire. She's already received the aid of Avamerin, a fallen solar dedicated to the serpent god who believed Seghulerak would he able to succeed where others have failed. Seghulerak herself is a very proud and ambitious cleric who believes she should try to rely on her god as little as possible, thinking her tenacity and self-sufficiency will impress Zehir.
Seghulerak's current goals:
- Defeat the worshipers of Zehir's traitorous creation Uk'otoa and put the leviathan back into its original, subservient role.
- Secure an arms deal that includes monsters.
- Convert a levitating ruin into a mobile flying fortress equipped with a wyvern aerie.
- Capture people to serve as slaves, food, or potential yuan-ti converts.
- Find and awaken the yuan-ti hidden throughout the world in stasis.
- Secure an alliance with Shaktari, demon queen of mariliths.
- Locate three powerful magic items to increase her own personal power: the Book of Vile Darkness, the Lash of Shadows, and the Riteknife.
The last part is especially tricky. The Book of Vile Darkness can have negative drawbacks, including amplifying the attuned user's mental flaws. The Lash of Shadows is inhabited by the spirit of an insane marilith that apeaks telepathically to the lash's owner. The dreams of the wielder of the Riteknife are haunted by rhe souls sacrificed by it.
Even if Seghulerak gets the Book of Vile Darkness and finds fiendish true names within it, as a cleric she doesn't have much in the way of summoning spells, so she'd have to get at least some wizards and warlocks involved to actually make use of the true names.
She can multiclass - surely finding the lash is the perfect opportunity to add some Warlock abilities in as the Marilith lends it's aid in order to free/depose it's mistress, and if the players briefly managed to get hold of it first then it can also whisper its promises to them if you think they need a bit of forwarning that when they meet Seghulerak again, she might have a few new tricks up her sleeve.
Plus you can also always just assume she has the Ritual Caster feat, and a few Warlock minions to do the grunt work. Surely that also lends itself to the basis for a few lieutenants too, who are intially sent after the items.
Plus you can also always just assume she has the Ritual Caster feat, and a few Warlock minions to do the grunt work. Surely that also lends itself to the basis for a few lieutenants too, who are intially sent after the items.
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking of doing. However, as Seghulerak and her minions all worship a god of assassination and trickery none of them really trust each other. Her lieutenants do what they're told while looking for ways to discreetly eliminate their rivals and possibly replace Seghulerak as leader, and she has no illusions that this is not the case. This sets up scenarios where various lieutenants could have their own side hustles going on. They might even send proxies to tell the PCs about a rival's activities to get that rival killed and take their place.
I thought about just saying that studying the Book of Vile Darkness gave Seghulerak access to spells like Summon Greater Demon and Infernal Calling in addition to the Planar Binding spell she gets as a cleric. However, looking into it, summoning fiends and using true names is kinda complicated and can require multiple casters.
>To actually bind a demon and make him useful outside the duration of the Summon Greater Demons spell, you need a minimum of three casters: a summoner, a sealer, and a binder.
>First, the sealer casts Magic Circle, so that when the demon breaks free with a Cha save, it can't do any damage. This isn't necessary if the summoner's save DC is high enough that the demon can't pass it, but that is pretty rare.
>Next the binder prepares himself to begin casting Planar Binding on the demon the moment it enters the circle. The summoner casts Summon Greater Demon inside the circle, trapping it there.
>One round before the planar binding is completed, the Magic Circle will disappear, which is why you need a designated sealer. He needs to complete a second magic circle before the first one expires. Otherwise the demon will simply dash away from the caster, get out of range of the Planar Binding, and ruin the spell.
>A few seconds before the demon would normally poof away at the end of his summoning, your planar binding takes hold and the demon makes a Cha save. If your sealer is a Cleric, it may make sense for him to spam Bane on the demon to make the save more difficult to pass (or just use a divination wizard). If and when the demon fails, the duration on Summon Greater Demon changes to match Planar Ally, which is 24 hours with no concentration (or longer with higher level slots).
>Magic Circle can be upcast for a longer duration, meaning you can skip having a Sealer, and just use a 4th level slot.
I know Seghulerak doesn't have to follow the same rules PCs use. I could just say she has fiends who work for her, or that her base has an Abyssal portal or something. I just think it's fun to get more simulationist with things sometimes. It helps me memorize the rules if players attempt it, and it gets me thinking who Seghulerak and her lieutenants are working with to accomplish things they can't do on their own. These individuals could become relevant to the campaign and potential leads the players could follow up on.
Going by the summoning and binding method I quoted, I imagine that when Seghulerak wants to make use of one of the true names she knows she has some spellcasters abducted to aid her in the ritual under threat of death. The sealer is deafened to prevent them from hearing the true name before setting the magic circle. The summoner calls forth the specific fiend using the true name, and Seghulerak casts Planar Binding, using the fiend's true name to help ensure it is bound. Once this is accomplished, the sealer is taken back to their prison until their services are required again. Then Seghulerak has an underling cast Modify Memory on the summoner to suppress it's knowledge of the true name before sending them back to their prison. There's a different summoner for each true name, of course; can't have one guy holding a bunch of true names that might become known with a Greater Restoration spell. The summoner capable of summoning glabrezus probably has some pretty tight countermeasures set in place against his own magic.
So now my homework is to figure out who in Seghulerak's organization is responsible for which duties and possesses certain knowledge, how Seghulerak ensures their obedience, and what weaknesses there might be in this set-up.
Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is strength, for only a diverse group of adventurers can overcome the many challenges a D&D story presents. In that spirit, making D&D as welcoming and inclusive as possible has moved to the forefront of our priorities over the last six years. We’d like to share with you what we’ve been doing, and what we plan to do in the future to address legacy D&D content that does not reflect who we are today. We recognize that doing this isn’t about getting to a place where we can rest on our laurels but continuing to head in the right direction. We feel that being transparent about it is the best way to let our community help us to continue to calibrate our efforts.
One of the explicit design goals of 5th edition D&D is to depict humanity in all its beautiful diversity by depicting characters who represent an array of ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, and beliefs. We want everyone to feel at home around the game table and to see positive reflections of themselves within our products. “Human” in D&D means everyone, not just fantasy versions of northern Europeans, and the D&D community is now more diverse than it’s ever been.
Throughout the 50-year history of D&D, some of the peoples in the game—orcs and drow being two of the prime examples—have been characterized as monstrous and evil, using descriptions that are painfully reminiscent of how real-world ethnic groups have been and continue to be denigrated. That’s just not right, and it’s not something we believe in. Despite our conscious efforts to the contrary, we have allowed some of those old descriptions to reappear in the game. We recognize that to live our values, we have to do an even better job in handling these issues. If we make mistakes, our priority is to make things right.
Here’s what we’re doing to improve:
We present orcs and drow in a new light in two of our most recent books, Eberron: Rising from the Last War and Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. In those books, orcs and drow are just as morally and culturally complex as other peoples. We will continue that approach in future books, portraying all the peoples of D&D in relatable ways and making it clear that they are as free as humans to decide who they are and what they do.
When every D&D book is reprinted, we have an opportunity to correct errors that we or the broader D&D community discovered in that book. Each year, we use those opportunities to fix a variety of things, including errors in judgment. In recent reprintings of Tomb of Annihilation and Curse of Strahd, for example, we changed text that was racially insensitive. Those reprints have already been printed and will be available in the months ahead. We will continue this process, reviewing each book as it comes up for a reprint and fixing such errors where they are present.
Later this year, we will release a product (not yet announced) that offers a way for a player to customize their character’s origin, including the option to change the ability score increases that come from being an elf, a dwarf, or one of D&D's many other playable folk. This option emphasizes that each person in the game is an individual with capabilities all their own.
Curse of Strahd included a people known as the Vistani and featured the Vistani heroine Ezmerelda. Regrettably, their depiction echoes some stereotypes associated with the Romani people in the real world. To rectify that, we’ve not only made changes to Curse of Strahd, but in two upcoming books, we will also show—working with a Romani consultant—the Vistani in a way that doesn’t rely on reductive tropes.
We've received valuable insights from sensitivity readers on two of our recent books. We are incorporating sensitivity readers into our creative process, and we will continue to reach out to experts in various fields to help us identify our blind spots.
We're proactively seeking new, diverse talent to join our staff and our pool of freelance writers and artists. We’ve brought in contributors who reflect the beautiful diversity of the D&D community to work on books coming out in 2021. We're going to invest even more in this approach and add a broad range of new voices to join the chorus of D&D storytelling.
And we will continue to listen to you all. We created 5th edition in conversation with the D&D community. It's a conversation that continues to this day. That's at the heart of our work—listening to the community, learning what brings you joy, and doing everything we can to provide it in every one of our books.
This part of our work will never end. We know that every day someone finds the courage to voice their truth, and we’re here to listen. We are eternally grateful for the ongoing dialog with the D&D community, and we look forward to continuing to improve D&D for generations to come.
lots of good stuff in that quote all around, but I would be lying if I said the bolded text didn't make me the most excited:
Curse of Strahd included a people known as the Vistani and featured the Vistani heroine Ezmerelda. Regrettably, their depiction echoes some stereotypes associated with the Romani people in the real world. To rectify that, we’ve not only made changes to Curse of Strahd, but in two upcoming books, we will also show—working with a Romani consultant—the Vistani in a way that doesn’t rely on reductive tropes.
I could well be wrong but I didn't think the vistani did much outside ravenloft. I would be so fuckin' hyped for more modules in the vein of CoS, probably more than anything else they could be working on.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
On racial bonuses, they literally called it out:
Later this year, we will release a product (not yet announced) that offers a way for a player to customize their character’s origin, including the option to change the ability score increases that come from being an elf, a dwarf, or one of D&D's many other playable folk. This option emphasizes that each person in the game is an individual with capabilities all their own.
I'm about to run it (i have a very simplified overview of several modules to a group new to D&D and they went with "mix of Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park" from the choices. And one of them hates snakes IRL so I'm reworking Yuan Ti to be called lizardfolk (they don't know any better, and I'm just using the usual stats), they keep pet iguanas. I will cut off the bottom half of Ras Nisi's picture and his head priestess too. The Jakuli snakes are pointy chameleons instead. The leopard with snakes growing out of its shoulders in going to make them poisonous vines instead. The Zhents have little drakes wrapped around their hands. Dendar is the Night Wyrm. Other snakes get replaced with komodos, spiders, or giant centipides.
I can do this.
+2
Tynnanseldom correct, never unsureRegistered Userregular
I'm about to run it (i have a very simplified overview of several modules to a group new to D&D and they went with "mix of Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park" from the choices. And one of them hates snakes IRL so I'm reworking Yuan Ti to be called lizardfolk (they don't know any better, and I'm just using the usual stats), they keep pet iguanas. I will cut off the bottom half of Ras Nisi's picture and his head priestess too. The Jakuli snakes are pointy chameleons instead. The leopard with snakes growing out of its shoulders in going to make them poisonous vines instead. The Zhents have little drakes wrapped around their hands. Dendar is the Night Wyrm. Other snakes get replaced with komodos, spiders, or giant centipides.
I ended up taking my ToA game in a very different direction from the published adventure, and at this point we're well off the published tracks and I'm just using the module as a style guide for Homebrew Adventures in Chult. I posted about the ways I've changed the adventure for my players here: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/42501797/#Comment_42501797
Culture would be a good replacement. Then you could be a refined orc from the high elven nation of Stuc’up, but also choose +2 strength, +1 wisdom.
This is pretty much what I do in whatever I'm running/trying to run. My players come up with characters before they know anything about what I want to do anyway, so I accommodate them by having a setting where there's not just dwarfs living in the dwarven city of Dwarfheim in the land of Dwarfistan.
Sounds good, adventurers are supposed to be really special in a bunch of ways already, why not allow unusually strong elves, intelligent orcs, or whatever else? Same with the rewrites, it sounds like they're adding depth to their characterizations, which is always good. I feel like prejudice against Vistani from the people of Barovia fits Curse of Strahd, and I hope they don't simply remove it, since those sorts of underlying conflicts can really make for a good story. Drow (and yuan-ti, which they didn't even mention) are even worse; it's difficult to believe those cultures would even work at all as described in the MM.
Maybe now they'll bring back cool 4e gnolls instead of Always Chaotic Evil 5e ones?
Sounds good, adventurers are supposed to be really special in a bunch of ways already, why not allow unusually strong elves, intelligent orcs, or whatever else? Same with the rewrites, it sounds like they're adding depth to their characterizations, which is always good. I feel like prejudice against Vistani from the people of Barovia fits Curse of Strahd, and I hope they don't simply remove it, since those sorts of underlying conflicts can really make for a good story. Drow (and yuan-ti, which they didn't even mention) are even worse; it's difficult to believe those cultures would even work at all as described in the MM.
Maybe now they'll bring back cool 4e gnolls instead of Always Chaotic Evil 5e ones?
Gotta ask, how would the Drow not work?
Re: WOTC
I'm not entirely onboard with removing racial/species/whatever bonus, depending on how they handle it they're just moving the goalposts.
I enjoy that Pathfinder uses Ancestry and Heritage to describe their fantastical peoples. They usually give a bonus people can choose from for ability scores, but they also just have you assign the scores in their method. They also have a pool of ancestry feats you get as you level up. So some dwarfs are resistant against magic, but not all. Some elves have extra skills from a long life, but not all. It's an interesting system, but can be gamed a little.
Maybe I just haven't read enough stuff on drow, but it feels like there would be at least one group of them that are tired of all the treachery and politics and Lolth worship. The matriarchy is presented in a very monolithic fashion, like everything has been going the same way for a long time without a lot of internal unrest or change. Maybe it helps that they're basically imprisoned in the Underdark, it's not exactly easy to run away...
That ties in to one of the (imo) boring tropes of fantasy writing: {narrator} Fer a thoooousand years the people of ___" etc etc.
1000 years? Do you know how fucking long that is? And these are intelligent people? Who are just like regular humans? And here is this story where something stayed the same for 1000 years?
Nah man. If something remained unchanged for 50 years that'd already be long. Maybe make 4 generations if you're describing a fantastically powerful force that is making it happen.
Maybe I just haven't read enough stuff on drow, but it feels like there would be at least one group of them that are tired of all the treachery and politics and Lolth worship. The matriarchy is presented in a very monolithic fashion, like everything has been going the same way for a long time without a lot of internal unrest or change. Maybe it helps that they're basically imprisoned in the Underdark, it's not exactly easy to run away...
Well the "status quo" effect is kinda required for the world to work.
Why hasn't Amn done anything about that town they lost to the south to some monsters?
Why hasn't Waterdeep reclaimed all of the wards?
Why hasn't someone considered using lightning spells to, well, make electricity?
That isn't to say these settings can't evolve, it's just that most changes will be minor and incremental. Just look at 40k. Just kill the emperor already!
tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited June 2020
In the Forgotten Realms (and instantly adopted into my homebrew world) there's a goddess named Eilistraee that's the daughter of Corellon and Lolth. She's good-aligned, and tries to act as a symbol of hope to drow that want to escape from the bounds of typical drow society.
When I found out about her, I just about did a dance out of happiness. I immediately dropped her into my world, gave her a faithful settlement of caring and wholesome drow to worship her, and instantly contrived a way to put my PC's into their proximity.
My players enjoyed having time in a drow city that didn't involve constant scheming and backstabbing and enslavement just for not being drow.
Each drow city is a state with its own rules and views themed after a particular spider.
Trapdoor Drow that are isolated in a deadly fortress, known for their tricky bounty hunters.
Black Widow Drow are just sexy evil bitches who offer riches and luxury for a deadly price.
Orb-weaver Drow live in a city suspended over a drop by fine magical thread, and are famed for their acrobatic saboteurs.
Tarantula Drow are part orc across the board, six foot minimum and live in the woods. Rockstar hairdos and spiky moustaches.
Real far below you’ve got weird albino drow that where chitin armour and go swimming in underground caverns.
Brazilian wandering spider Drow: hoard bananas for some unknown reason and are known for their venom. Causes intense pain and a throbbing boner for hours.
Maybe now they'll bring back cool 4e gnolls instead of Always Chaotic Evil 5e ones?
I really liked the 4E reading of Kenku, where as they age they procure more and more knowledge (thanks to their ability to remember stuff to mimic) and old Kenku basically become intelligent masterminds that use their flock as eyes and ears to know what's happening in the entire city.
The 5E version is also neat, but also kind of awkward to actually work with, be it player or NPC.
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
I wonder if they'll make the Yaun-Ti Purebloods less of a 100% evil race as well.
Maybe I just haven't read enough stuff on drow, but it feels like there would be at least one group of them that are tired of all the treachery and politics and Lolth worship. The matriarchy is presented in a very monolithic fashion, like everything has been going the same way for a long time without a lot of internal unrest or change. Maybe it helps that they're basically imprisoned in the Underdark, it's not exactly easy to run away...
In the book I'm currently listening to, a rando Drow, at potentially the cost of being tortured to death if discovered, just warned Drizzt about a trap that was set for him because Drizzt is something of a beacon of hope to a lot of Drow who want something better, but they dare not ever say so out loud
And there is a great deal of internal change, the second sundering and war of the spider have created a lot of houses that put their males up on the top, out of necessity
I love the direction WOTC is going with their recent announcements, and rather than retconning drow (whos stories I love), now is the perfect moment in the lore: Xorlarrin's schemes have failed, Baenre's gambits haven't been successful, Lolth lost to her sister in the recent struggle
Now is the perfect lore moment for the city of spiders to see an upheaval that doesn't just end with a different set of matriarchs (they very nearly had that right after the second sundering, the archmage was plotting to murder his sister and declare himself Patron of the 1st house)
I really hope they go this route, I would love a campaign book about the iron bonds of the Drow's matriarchy coming apart, where Eilistree is heavily featured (who doesn't enjoy nude moon dancing with swords? very dangerous, sure, but you gotta take a risk), rather than simply retconning it and saying "nah the drow have always been pretty okay". We haven't had a campaign book about bringing down a tyrannical ethno-state in ever
Sounds good, adventurers are supposed to be really special in a bunch of ways already, why not allow unusually strong elves, intelligent orcs, or whatever else? Same with the rewrites, it sounds like they're adding depth to their characterizations, which is always good. I feel like prejudice against Vistani from the people of Barovia fits Curse of Strahd, and I hope they don't simply remove it, since those sorts of underlying conflicts can really make for a good story. Drow (and yuan-ti, which they didn't even mention) are even worse; it's difficult to believe those cultures would even work at all as described in the MM.
Maybe now they'll bring back cool 4e gnolls instead of Always Chaotic Evil 5e ones?
They will be featuring Vistani in two upcoming adventures strongly and have hired a Romani writer to assist, they'll be changing their culture up a bit and probably ditching the evil eye and all that
Gnolls are going to be changed to fiends or fiendish humanoids - they are a demonic zombie plague, not a conventional race in 5e
As for stat bonuses, I've always allowed players to have different bonuses but their background needs to support it. You can't be a super smart dwarf just because, why does your dwarf have +2 int? Oh okay, you've got a scholarly background and have always been a smart kid. Wonderful, carry on. Oh but you lose your medium armor proficiency, because you didn't spend your time fighting with the beardlings as an adolescent. Then I'll give them like, maybe a cantrip and free cast of a first level cleric spell per day to make up for it, because they learned from the secrets of Clangadin in their studies
I always tailor it per character if they want to break the mold, mostly to discourage powergaming and encourage thinking about their character
Posts
grabbing the shield feels like a metagamey choice and thusly earns a >:( from me.
I can probably drop the shield if I manage to negotiate a bracers of defense for my items. Grapple with my Trunk, then two free arms for d8 attacks.
you're going to need tavern brawler to make your fists 1d4 weapons. the bonus damage from raging is practically making your fists 1d6 weapons.
Plus, danger sense is sort of a resilient: dexterity feat anyway!
if you were to go for barb 3 you'd also get the bear path, making you resistant to all damage except psychic.
I'd reskin it to something more street fightery. Narcis Prince from super knock out if you're feeling loly.
I'd ask the DM if you could have a custom feat, one that allows you to punch as a bonus action if you used your action to make an unarmed strike with your action.
This way you can sensibly make use of your OH without infringing upon the monk's competencies.
edit:
my brain somehow made "loxodon" into "london boxer" and I had Dudley pictured in the back of my mind.
Although I suppose a refined, upright elephant in slacks would also be a sight.
Yeah the resistance on Barb 3 (plus 3rd rage) is kinda worth considering.
I could further go 4Barb/14BMaster just for 1d12 hit die instead of 1d10.
The fighting style devalues the barb choice a bit. If you don't go bear totem I'd reconsider if the dip is worth it.
consider the grappler feat: you'd have advantage against the thing you're grappling.
I don't have Ravnica, I have no idea what the loxodon trunk does so a bit unsure if that'll fly.
The build will work and allows for crit fishing.
I just finished compilinbg all the posts i've made, plus some choice quotes from some of you into a google doc for my terror incognita project.
The total bloody work count right now? 21k. Good Fucking Gods.
Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pa8qJpNHczanrOPPye_QPXi7kL_D9HiKCOY_ziyD7Fc/edit?usp=sharing
Good grief. That's a lot of words.
Letting things digest mentally for a bit, but i'm goign to be trying to compile stuff into a more readable bulletpoints style of notes for the various major features/factions/etc. I need to go and update my map too, but again, i want to let stuff mentally digest.
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...have you ever heard of latex?
I have not, and googling it, i'm not sure on it's particular value here? That's just a dump document as said, it's meant to be mildly more useful than scrolling back through my posts.
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Eh, it was a semi serious suggestion/joke.
Either you know the program and the love-hate relationship people have with it or you googled latex (hopefully at work. with a colleague looking over your shoulder ;P).
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(Note here the aeternum drove a huge bunch of natives to extinction, because they were that sort of people.)
Off the top of my head:
Horses
Goats
Sheep
Cattle
Dogs
Cats?
Rats, mice, other vermin
I know there's now feral Phoenix populations, some of which have grown to prodigious (and terrifying) size now they're no longer bound by aeternum chains
(... Oh hey, cool idea: phoenix are like various reptiles, and don't actually have an upper size limit. They just keep growing. But when they're killed, they rebirth in much smaller forms. Suggests I should give phoenix a feathered dinosaur vibe!)
But what else could there be? I welcome left field suggestions as much as sensible, historic ones!
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Seghulerak is a yuan-ti abomination cleric who wants to become the champion of the god Zehir and begin a new yuan-ti empire. She's already received the aid of Avamerin, a fallen solar dedicated to the serpent god who believed Seghulerak would he able to succeed where others have failed. Seghulerak herself is a very proud and ambitious cleric who believes she should try to rely on her god as little as possible, thinking her tenacity and self-sufficiency will impress Zehir.
Seghulerak's current goals:
- Defeat the worshipers of Zehir's traitorous creation Uk'otoa and put the leviathan back into its original, subservient role.
- Secure an arms deal that includes monsters.
- Convert a levitating ruin into a mobile flying fortress equipped with a wyvern aerie.
- Capture people to serve as slaves, food, or potential yuan-ti converts.
- Find and awaken the yuan-ti hidden throughout the world in stasis.
- Secure an alliance with Shaktari, demon queen of mariliths.
- Locate three powerful magic items to increase her own personal power: the Book of Vile Darkness, the Lash of Shadows, and the Riteknife.
The last part is especially tricky. The Book of Vile Darkness can have negative drawbacks, including amplifying the attuned user's mental flaws. The Lash of Shadows is inhabited by the spirit of an insane marilith that apeaks telepathically to the lash's owner. The dreams of the wielder of the Riteknife are haunted by rhe souls sacrificed by it.
Even if Seghulerak gets the Book of Vile Darkness and finds fiendish true names within it, as a cleric she doesn't have much in the way of summoning spells, so she'd have to get at least some wizards and warlocks involved to actually make use of the true names.
I think on the domesticated/feral animal front, you need to decide if the wilderness left behind after the Aeternum collapsed should feel different from the wilderness bordering your other settlements and how accessible these places are. Presumably there are some natural barriers that have kept this otherwise very fertile land (that sustained an Empire!) out of the hands of newer civilisations.
Is it one of those tantalising regions that ambitious lords yearn to add to their realm, enough that they are always happy to fund expeditions across the mountains/seas to establish colonies (and the adventurer's to guard them)?
Or is it your more traditional fantasy lands, dotted with little villages and farms connected by roads but with large ancient ruins scattered across it?
If it's the latter, I'd probably go a little more traditional and use it as the excuse as to why the PCs can 'ask to buy a horse' etc at the local taverns, the animals that you think of that would be in a place like this are there because the ancient empire domesticated them - same as it is in the real world.
If it's the former, I'd go a little bit more 'Lost World' and either have a look at the pleistocine (or before) ancestors of those creatures or the things that exist/existed in the same niches in the Americas. Don't worry about the long fancy names for them, just use the literal greek translations. English is a little strange in the way that we use a lot of foreign language words for names, of both people and things. A lot of other languages called Rhinos - "Nose Horns", and we do too - just in greek.
You could even collect some of the wierder suviving animals from this time like the Saiga antelopes, as things that are familiar but also quite strange.
She can multiclass - surely finding the lash is the perfect opportunity to add some Warlock abilities in as the Marilith lends it's aid in order to free/depose it's mistress, and if the players briefly managed to get hold of it first then it can also whisper its promises to them if you think they need a bit of forwarning that when they meet Seghulerak again, she might have a few new tricks up her sleeve.
Plus you can also always just assume she has the Ritual Caster feat, and a few Warlock minions to do the grunt work. Surely that also lends itself to the basis for a few lieutenants too, who are intially sent after the items.
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking of doing. However, as Seghulerak and her minions all worship a god of assassination and trickery none of them really trust each other. Her lieutenants do what they're told while looking for ways to discreetly eliminate their rivals and possibly replace Seghulerak as leader, and she has no illusions that this is not the case. This sets up scenarios where various lieutenants could have their own side hustles going on. They might even send proxies to tell the PCs about a rival's activities to get that rival killed and take their place.
I thought about just saying that studying the Book of Vile Darkness gave Seghulerak access to spells like Summon Greater Demon and Infernal Calling in addition to the Planar Binding spell she gets as a cleric. However, looking into it, summoning fiends and using true names is kinda complicated and can require multiple casters.
I know Seghulerak doesn't have to follow the same rules PCs use. I could just say she has fiends who work for her, or that her base has an Abyssal portal or something. I just think it's fun to get more simulationist with things sometimes. It helps me memorize the rules if players attempt it, and it gets me thinking who Seghulerak and her lieutenants are working with to accomplish things they can't do on their own. These individuals could become relevant to the campaign and potential leads the players could follow up on.
Going by the summoning and binding method I quoted, I imagine that when Seghulerak wants to make use of one of the true names she knows she has some spellcasters abducted to aid her in the ritual under threat of death. The sealer is deafened to prevent them from hearing the true name before setting the magic circle. The summoner calls forth the specific fiend using the true name, and Seghulerak casts Planar Binding, using the fiend's true name to help ensure it is bound. Once this is accomplished, the sealer is taken back to their prison until their services are required again. Then Seghulerak has an underling cast Modify Memory on the summoner to suppress it's knowledge of the true name before sending them back to their prison. There's a different summoner for each true name, of course; can't have one guy holding a bunch of true names that might become known with a Greater Restoration spell. The summoner capable of summoning glabrezus probably has some pretty tight countermeasures set in place against his own magic.
So now my homework is to figure out who in Seghulerak's organization is responsible for which duties and possesses certain knowledge, how Seghulerak ensures their obedience, and what weaknesses there might be in this set-up.
Source
I could well be wrong but I didn't think the vistani did much outside ravenloft. I would be so fuckin' hyped for more modules in the vein of CoS, probably more than anything else they could be working on.
About damn time.
I'm about to run it (i have a very simplified overview of several modules to a group new to D&D and they went with "mix of Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park" from the choices. And one of them hates snakes IRL so I'm reworking Yuan Ti to be called lizardfolk (they don't know any better, and I'm just using the usual stats), they keep pet iguanas. I will cut off the bottom half of Ras Nisi's picture and his head priestess too. The Jakuli snakes are pointy chameleons instead. The leopard with snakes growing out of its shoulders in going to make them poisonous vines instead. The Zhents have little drakes wrapped around their hands. Dendar is the Night Wyrm. Other snakes get replaced with komodos, spiders, or giant centipides.
I can do this.
I found Graeme Barber's analysis very informative when I was planning out what to do with my ToA game. He highlighted a lot of ways the published module and the existing works about Chult fell into negative colonial tropes. His three-parter is here:
https://pocgamer.com/2017/10/13/tomb-of-annihilation-review-part-1-chult-in-5e/
https://pocgamer.com/2017/10/22/tomb-of-annihilation-review-part-2-the-adventure/
https://pocgamer.com/2017/11/16/tomb-of-annihilation-review-part-3-world-building/
I ended up taking my ToA game in a very different direction from the published adventure, and at this point we're well off the published tracks and I'm just using the module as a style guide for Homebrew Adventures in Chult. I posted about the ways I've changed the adventure for my players here: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/42501797/#Comment_42501797
Maybe now they'll bring back cool 4e gnolls instead of Always Chaotic Evil 5e ones?
Gotta ask, how would the Drow not work?
Re: WOTC
I'm not entirely onboard with removing racial/species/whatever bonus, depending on how they handle it they're just moving the goalposts.
1000 years? Do you know how fucking long that is? And these are intelligent people? Who are just like regular humans? And here is this story where something stayed the same for 1000 years?
Nah man. If something remained unchanged for 50 years that'd already be long. Maybe make 4 generations if you're describing a fantastically powerful force that is making it happen.
Well the "status quo" effect is kinda required for the world to work.
Why hasn't Amn done anything about that town they lost to the south to some monsters?
Why hasn't Waterdeep reclaimed all of the wards?
Why hasn't someone considered using lightning spells to, well, make electricity?
That isn't to say these settings can't evolve, it's just that most changes will be minor and incremental. Just look at 40k. Just kill the emperor already!
When I found out about her, I just about did a dance out of happiness. I immediately dropped her into my world, gave her a faithful settlement of caring and wholesome drow to worship her, and instantly contrived a way to put my PC's into their proximity.
My players enjoyed having time in a drow city that didn't involve constant scheming and backstabbing and enslavement just for not being drow.
Each drow city is a state with its own rules and views themed after a particular spider.
Trapdoor Drow that are isolated in a deadly fortress, known for their tricky bounty hunters.
Black Widow Drow are just sexy evil bitches who offer riches and luxury for a deadly price.
Orb-weaver Drow live in a city suspended over a drop by fine magical thread, and are famed for their acrobatic saboteurs.
Tarantula Drow are part orc across the board, six foot minimum and live in the woods. Rockstar hairdos and spiky moustaches.
Real far below you’ve got weird albino drow that wear chitin armour and go swimming in underground caverns.
Brazilian wandering spider Drow: hoard bananas for some unknown reason and are known for their venom. Causes intense pain and a throbbing boner for hours.
The 5E version is also neat, but also kind of awkward to actually work with, be it player or NPC.
In the book I'm currently listening to, a rando Drow, at potentially the cost of being tortured to death if discovered, just warned Drizzt about a trap that was set for him because Drizzt is something of a beacon of hope to a lot of Drow who want something better, but they dare not ever say so out loud
And there is a great deal of internal change, the second sundering and war of the spider have created a lot of houses that put their males up on the top, out of necessity
I love the direction WOTC is going with their recent announcements, and rather than retconning drow (whos stories I love), now is the perfect moment in the lore: Xorlarrin's schemes have failed, Baenre's gambits haven't been successful, Lolth lost to her sister in the recent struggle
Now is the perfect lore moment for the city of spiders to see an upheaval that doesn't just end with a different set of matriarchs (they very nearly had that right after the second sundering, the archmage was plotting to murder his sister and declare himself Patron of the 1st house)
I really hope they go this route, I would love a campaign book about the iron bonds of the Drow's matriarchy coming apart, where Eilistree is heavily featured (who doesn't enjoy nude moon dancing with swords? very dangerous, sure, but you gotta take a risk), rather than simply retconning it and saying "nah the drow have always been pretty okay". We haven't had a campaign book about bringing down a tyrannical ethno-state in ever
They will be featuring Vistani in two upcoming adventures strongly and have hired a Romani writer to assist, they'll be changing their culture up a bit and probably ditching the evil eye and all that
Gnolls are going to be changed to fiends or fiendish humanoids - they are a demonic zombie plague, not a conventional race in 5e
As for stat bonuses, I've always allowed players to have different bonuses but their background needs to support it. You can't be a super smart dwarf just because, why does your dwarf have +2 int? Oh okay, you've got a scholarly background and have always been a smart kid. Wonderful, carry on. Oh but you lose your medium armor proficiency, because you didn't spend your time fighting with the beardlings as an adolescent. Then I'll give them like, maybe a cantrip and free cast of a first level cleric spell per day to make up for it, because they learned from the secrets of Clangadin in their studies
I always tailor it per character if they want to break the mold, mostly to discourage powergaming and encourage thinking about their character