WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
Shit, "Adamantine Armor" (the magic item) is different from "adamantine armor" (a suit of armor one can craft from adamantine) ? They should have named the magic item something else.
So being a progressive 2020 DM, i sent out a questionare to a new group forming from all IRL friends asking if there are any taboo subjects. Also have a brief description of the published campaigns I've been wanting to run, and had them vote on that too. These were all individually returned to me, if there was any coordination I'm not aware of it.
The usual suspects came back on the questionnaire, no explicit sex, no violence vs children, no sexual assault. Ok no problem. Also, from one person: no snakes.
The campaign they all overwhelmingly voted for? Tomb of Annihilation. In the jungles of Chult. With the Yuan-ti as a major factor in the story.
Anyone got any suggestions on reflavoring them and the various snakes that show up (including in the monster appendix some sort of leopard with snakes growing out of its shoulders because why not?)?
It could be an Indiana Jones don't drop me into a snake pit issue, versus lets murder this terrible snake monster. Just ask them that.
So being a progressive 2020 DM, i sent out a questionare to a new group forming from all IRL friends asking if there are any taboo subjects. Also have a brief description of the published campaigns I've been wanting to run, and had them vote on that too. These were all individually returned to me, if there was any coordination I'm not aware of it.
The usual suspects came back on the questionnaire, no explicit sex, no violence vs children, no sexual assault. Ok no problem. Also, from one person: no snakes.
The campaign they all overwhelmingly voted for? Tomb of Annihilation. In the jungles of Chult. With the Yuan-ti as a major factor in the story.
Anyone got any suggestions on reflavoring them and the various snakes that show up (including in the monster appendix some sort of leopard with snakes growing out of its shoulders because why not?)?
It could be an Indiana Jones don't drop me into a snake pit issue, versus lets murder this terrible snake monster. Just ask them that.
I tried, getting a "snakes in general" vibe. Mentions "making it through" Harry Potter. I even mentioned Indiana Jones in my blurb about the setting. IJ meets Jurasic Park it's what i said IIRC. I said what about snake monsters, i got back "can you make them lizards instead?". Which.. maybe, but some of the varieties are depicted very snakey in some feature or another. And i haven't read up yet on yuan ti combat tactics to see if there is snakey attacks i have to edit.
I care about this person and don't want to upset them if i can avoid it.
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
So being a progressive 2020 DM, i sent out a questionare to a new group forming from all IRL friends asking if there are any taboo subjects. Also have a brief description of the published campaigns I've been wanting to run, and had them vote on that too. These were all individually returned to me, if there was any coordination I'm not aware of it.
The usual suspects came back on the questionnaire, no explicit sex, no violence vs children, no sexual assault. Ok no problem. Also, from one person: no snakes.
The campaign they all overwhelmingly voted for? Tomb of Annihilation. In the jungles of Chult. With the Yuan-ti as a major factor in the story.
Anyone got any suggestions on reflavoring them and the various snakes that show up (including in the monster appendix some sort of leopard with snakes growing out of its shoulders because why not?)?
It could be an Indiana Jones don't drop me into a snake pit issue, versus lets murder this terrible snake monster. Just ask them that.
I tried, getting a "snakes in general" vibe. Mentions "making it through" Harry Potter. I even mentioned Indiana Jones in my blurb about the setting. IJ meets Jurasic Park it's what i said IIRC. I said what about snake monsters, i got back "can you make them lizards instead?". Which.. maybe, but some of the varieties are depicted very snakey in some feature or another. And i haven't read up yet on yuan ti combat tactics to see if there is snakey attacks i have to edit.
I care about this person and don't want to upset them if i can avoid it.
It should be easy enough to convert yuan-ti to like komodo dragon style creatures. I don't remember too many snake related specific things that would be hard to convert.
Tynnanseldom correct, never unsureRegistered Userregular
Yuan-ti can shapeshift into snakes and use a constrict attack, though I think that could be reasonably reflavored. You could make them more frog-like and use a tongue attack for the constrict, perhaps?
Shit, "Adamantine Armor" (the magic item) is different from "adamantine armor" (a suit of armor one can craft from adamantine) ? They should have named the magic item something else.
Its not. At least i think that is the intent. Adamantine Armor does not require attunement.
I just don't think anyone had a good way to answer your question
In Curse of Strahd the party wizard used a mirror of bullshit to send an assassin after luvash, leader of the vistani near town - then she planted evidence Eva was behind the magical assassin, so Arrigal murdered Madam Eva
The party was sitting in the blue water inn head desking about this when the fruits of giving Arabelle, the 8 year old girl they have with them, 100 gold pieces paid off, as she hooted with happiness upon her delivery of ALL OF THE CANDY IN VALLAKI being delivered to the inn (she has 75 gold pieces left!)
They haven't told her about Wizard murdering Luvash yet, since he's her dad as far as she knows, this might be important
Fun thing about that mirror (big spoiler about that mirror):
if you tell it to look Strahd, it comes after whomever said that instead. I kept hoping my party of murderhobos would do it (i was DM) and high five each other for cleverness before it activated, but they were like "oh a magic mirror? We need to look at that later" and then they never did.
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Tynnanseldom correct, never unsureRegistered Userregular
So being a progressive 2020 DM, i sent out a questionare to a new group forming from all IRL friends asking if there are any taboo subjects. Also have a brief description of the published campaigns I've been wanting to run, and had them vote on that too. These were all individually returned to me, if there was any coordination I'm not aware of it.
The usual suspects came back on the questionnaire, no explicit sex, no violence vs children, no sexual assault. Ok no problem. Also, from one person: no snakes.
The campaign they all overwhelmingly voted for? Tomb of Annihilation. In the jungles of Chult. With the Yuan-ti as a major factor in the story.
Anyone got any suggestions on reflavoring them and the various snakes that show up (including in the monster appendix some sort of leopard with snakes growing out of its shoulders because why not?)?
I think before you go through all tha effort, talk to the player with the snake issue about ToA and just give them a heads up like, "listen, the adventure chosen by the group is a kinda jungle reptile heavy. I'll keep the snake snakes to a minimum for you, but be warned that there's gonna be evil snake people and even a cat with snakes coming out its shoulders. Is that going to be problem?" And let the player decide what constitutes too much snake.
So being a progressive 2020 DM, i sent out a questionare to a new group forming from all IRL friends asking if there are any taboo subjects. Also have a brief description of the published campaigns I've been wanting to run, and had them vote on that too. These were all individually returned to me, if there was any coordination I'm not aware of it.
The usual suspects came back on the questionnaire, no explicit sex, no violence vs children, no sexual assault. Ok no problem. Also, from one person: no snakes.
The campaign they all overwhelmingly voted for? Tomb of Annihilation. In the jungles of Chult. With the Yuan-ti as a major factor in the story.
Anyone got any suggestions on reflavoring them and the various snakes that show up (including in the monster appendix some sort of leopard with snakes growing out of its shoulders because why not?)?
It could be an Indiana Jones don't drop me into a snake pit issue, versus lets murder this terrible snake monster. Just ask them that.
I tried, getting a "snakes in general" vibe. Mentions "making it through" Harry Potter. I even mentioned Indiana Jones in my blurb about the setting. IJ meets Jurasic Park it's what i said IIRC. I said what about snake monsters, i got back "can you make them lizards instead?". Which.. maybe, but some of the varieties are depicted very snakey in some feature or another. And i haven't read up yet on yuan ti combat tactics to see if there is snakey attacks i have to edit.
I care about this person and don't want to upset them if i can avoid it.
Ok. Maybe I should read the next page of my unread posts before I reply to one.
You could even go full Slaad if you wanted to. Get all weird up in there.
Even if not going full Slaad, Toxic Treefrogs are good for mechanical refluffery - bind attacks become the frog holding on, it's toxic skin doing mechanically identical things to the bind, etc
So being a progressive 2020 DM, i sent out a questionare to a new group forming from all IRL friends asking if there are any taboo subjects. Also have a brief description of the published campaigns I've been wanting to run, and had them vote on that too. These were all individually returned to me, if there was any coordination I'm not aware of it.
The usual suspects came back on the questionnaire, no explicit sex, no violence vs children, no sexual assault. Ok no problem. Also, from one person: no snakes.
The campaign they all overwhelmingly voted for? Tomb of Annihilation. In the jungles of Chult. With the Yuan-ti as a major factor in the story.
Anyone got any suggestions on reflavoring them and the various snakes that show up (including in the monster appendix some sort of leopard with snakes growing out of its shoulders because why not?)?
Switch snakes for weasels. In the cold marshy forests of Whult.
Slaadi are probably my least favourite thing in D&D. As a group in Limbo they’re fine, but there’s no way they properly represent chaos enough to be the main representative the way devils are to Hell. Colour coded toads with the correct number of limbs? No thanks.
The local rep should be creatures that can be butterfly-starfish and conjoined leech-bats and a continuous cycle of grasping hands turning to liquid.
Slaadi are probably my least favourite thing in D&D. As a group in Limbo they’re fine, but there’s no way they properly represent chaos enough to be the main representative the way devils are to Hell. Colour coded toads with the correct number of limbs? No thanks.
The local rep should be creatures that can be butterfly-starfish and conjoined leech-bats and a continuous cycle of grasping hands turning to liquid.
I suspect part of the issue with coming up with embodiment of chaos is that Chaos is often defined by Opposition or absence to law and order. That and you have to hit people who just want to make it lolrandom! (Not to say that's what you're suggesting).
I do think mutability and uniqueness are probably things that are key to hit for a good feeling of "chaos"
Slaadi are probably my least favourite thing in D&D. As a group in Limbo they’re fine, but there’s no way they properly represent chaos enough to be the main representative the way devils are to Hell. Colour coded toads with the correct number of limbs? No thanks.
The local rep should be creatures that can be butterfly-starfish and conjoined leech-bats and a continuous cycle of grasping hands turning to liquid.
I suspect part of the issue with coming up with embodiment of chaos is that Chaos is often defined by Opposition or absence to law and order. That and you have to hit people who just want to make it lolrandom! (Not to say that's what you're suggesting).
I do think mutability and uniqueness are probably things that are key to hit for a good feeling of "chaos"
Using a death salad as a base. How about...
Och’sa Medium aberration (shapechanger), any chaotic
Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points 170 (20d8+80)
Speed 30 ft.
STR — DEX — CON — INT — WIS — CHA
20 (+5) — 15 (+2) — 19 (+4) — 15 (+2) — 10 (0) — 16 (+3)
Skills: Arcana +6, Perception +8
Damage Resistances: acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder
Senses: blindsight 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft.
Languages: Any two, telepathy 60 ft.
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
Unstable. The och’sa can use its bonus action to polymorph into a Small or Medium chimerical creature, and has no true form. Its statistics, other than its size, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It cannot use any form as a disguise; no form is natural or convincingly stable. It dissolves into nothingness upon death, leaving no trace behind.
Innate Spellcasting. The och’sa’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). The och’sa can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: detect magic, detect thoughts, invisibility (self only), mage hand, major image
2/day each: fear, fireball, fly, tongues
1/day each: cloudkill, plane shift
Magic Resistance. The och’sa has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Chaos Blade. The och’sa’s weapon attacks are magical. Any weapon held by an och’sa becomes a chaos blade; a prismatic liquid plasma weapon that can take many forms.
Mutagenic Regeneration. The och’sa regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit point. When it has regenerated a minimum of 50 hit points the och’sa must change forms, and additionally changes its current motives completely.
Multiattack. The och’sa makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws or chaos blade.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8 + 5) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d10 + 5) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Chaos Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) random damage (1d6).
So being a progressive 2020 DM, i sent out a questionare to a new group forming from all IRL friends asking if there are any taboo subjects. Also have a brief description of the published campaigns I've been wanting to run, and had them vote on that too. These were all individually returned to me, if there was any coordination I'm not aware of it.
The usual suspects came back on the questionnaire, no explicit sex, no violence vs children, no sexual assault. Ok no problem. Also, from one person: no snakes.
The campaign they all overwhelmingly voted for? Tomb of Annihilation. In the jungles of Chult. With the Yuan-ti as a major factor in the story.
Anyone got any suggestions on reflavoring them and the various snakes that show up (including in the monster appendix some sort of leopard with snakes growing out of its shoulders because why not?)?
What if, instead of snakes, you replaced them with jaguar/panther/tiger monsters?
I’ll second the Rakshasa, but as wild as it sounds... could you replace them with elves?
Just, regular ass evil elves. You can fluff any binding attacks with masterwork elven nets, whips and spells. Poison is poisoned weapons rather than venom. They’re scary because they’re smart, beautiful people, not monsters.
Whatever god the snake folk usually worship replaced the elven ones with the promise they’d get rid of the humans and help them prosper once more, and they did. A band of elves with the basic wood elf abilities could be pretty powerful; they can see in the dark, barely rest, can hide constantly with all the foliage, mist and rain in Chult and can cover more ground per turn than nearly every other race.
Slaadi are probably my least favourite thing in D&D. As a group in Limbo they’re fine, but there’s no way they properly represent chaos enough to be the main representative the way devils are to Hell. Colour coded toads with the correct number of limbs? No thanks.
The local rep should be creatures that can be butterfly-starfish and conjoined leech-bats and a continuous cycle of grasping hands turning to liquid.
I feel like Demons are a better agent of chaos than Slaads. People understand very clearly what the deal is. A few demons stick around, a few more come through, they rip and tear, except it isn't done - they just keep ripping and tearing. The longer they stick around, the bigger the kind of demons show up. Left unchecked, the world will end if you don't deal with them - they will destroy everything that anyone cares about. Enough undealt with Quasits and you have an apocalypse waiting to happen if they can cause enough chaos and mistrust
Slaads have some cool body horror (if your players are okay with the word "impregnation" being used to describe their character's status) but other than that, Demons give you a lot more tools imo
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Tynnanseldom correct, never unsureRegistered Userregular
Incubation is probably a better descriptor to use there
I completely agree, but if we must have a faction for each alignment I don’t think slaad have the oomph, is all.
Cut out the Wheel cosmology and it becomes less of an issue anyways.
—
Speaking of cosmology, I’m gonna include a page worth of it for
I’ll be brief.
You’ve got the material world, which has a finite space that reaches an edge. The edge is a crystal shell.
There are stars in the material world, and each one is a home of gods. These aren’t strictly heavens but the especially faithful, beloved and mighty do end up in their respective stars as advisors, warriors and servants to the gods after death.
Outside the crystal shell you have the Elemental Sphere, where millions of ‘spindles’ hang in a twilight (various intensities of light shift around without sources). Each spindle is a massive structure composed of an element; they even go into finer elements, an iron spindle, a smoke spindle, a bone (calcium) spindle etc. and aren’t singular—there’s a bunch of fire ones and so on, each themed, some more habitable to mortals than others.
Outside that is the Shadow Sphere. Unlike the bejewelled hovering spindles the Shadow Sphere is filled with ‘gouges’, impossibly large and infinitely deep cuts in space that solidify inside into caverns each themed after some frightful thing. All fiends stem from the gouges, and even within the same branch (demon, devil etc.) they’re significantly less organised than other D&D settings, with no absolute authority. They’re also not all evil, but certainly alien. Gouges have been known to seal into nothingness, and new ones can open, to the scale of thousands of years.
It’s easier to port between spheres but they can be physically journeyed through with the right kind of craft.
The actual afterlife proper is a mystery, locked off even to the gods, unless they die. I’m thinking there is a well of souls that allows for rebirth, too.
This all very 20th level though, so I’m not going to dwell on it much, the setting is best from 1st to 10th level.
Edit: There’s no fairy realm because there’s no separation here. Fey and spirits are active in all spheres.
Talking of Demons, i was bouncing this concept of @Endless_Serpents earlier for a take on them.
---
Demons are spirits of destruction, entropy and decay, birthed from the roiling chaos outside creation and driven to return what they touch back to the roil. Appearance wise, demons are twisted elemental mockeries of sentient races - that one a sculpted, nude ash white human figure, blue fires crackling out of empty eyes sockets and fissures in it skin. This one an orc wrought in stone slicked with the water and blood that flows ceaselessy from its eyes and mouth. Here a giant made of wood, ice and wind intertwining. they can talk and think, but are almost single minded devotion to destruction (Which should not be mistaken for them being stupid) - demonic incursions often fall apart when the demons spontaneously turn on one another, and demons are even known to spontaneously destroy themselves.
One can strike bargains or make deals, but must always be aware that a demon will gladly destroy you, everything around you, and then itself. Thusly it follows that attempts to harness Demons are best done when it's for destructive means.
if nothing else, i really like the elemental mockery image of demons, and it lets more traditional devilsih and demonic imagery be used for Devils. It also means they may not be strictly "Evil" - One could posit that they actually several a vital function on recycling the stuff off the multiverse to it's original state so it can be used again (Which is cold comfort if you're the peasant being recycled!)
I imagine them being complex and complicated even you could even have a particularity powerful one as a warlock patron - even to good ends! Destruction is not strictly evil after all, but anyone who would work with demons has to remember that at the end of the day, Destruction is what drives them. You are literally playing with fire, and the fire would see all that is burn.
I can imagine things like a cult summoning a demon, only to have it turn on them when adventurers show up, help the adventures wreck the cult headquarters... and immediately turn on the adventurers once that's done. Or even cases where one is summoned, only to immediately rip it's own heart out and vanish in a conflagration. I also like the idea that they're not strictly limited to destroying in the physical sense - they will destroy metaphorical concepts too, beliefs, social structures, rules... Which is part of why Demons and Devils never ever EVER get along, because a Demon will as gleefully wreck a thousand year plan as it will shatter thousand year pottery - and with as much ease too.
---
@Endless_Serpents suggested the concept of one that's going after a specific bloodline, while another is polite, well spoken, and only ever turns up to destroy antiques.... and is immensely powerful to boot. I imagine that one as as appearing as a gnome wrought in tarnished, pitted metals, always surrounded by the smell of the sea and a constant sea-spray.
For contrast, i'd probably do Devils as a mix of traditional imagery and... Mechanical Fascism/Authoritarianism (Id be inclined to include heartless takes on Democracies too, and other governmental systems). Lots of clockwork machinery grinding things down, labyrinthine bureaucracy and strict hierarchies. The Lord of the devils on it's throne, it's clockwork heart exposed, ticking all the while.
I’ve looked up a couple images that might work with your take on demons and devils.
Demons.
By TETRAMERA
By Shalizeh
A devil.
By Cbot
For the majority of your demons being entropic elemental people I guess some gensai art could work, as well as a lot of standard elemental art being humanoid.
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
How's this for a Strength Monk subclass:
WAY OF THE IMMOVABLE MOUNTAIN
Iron Body - Level 3. Unarmored Defense changes to 10 + Wisdom + Dex (max 2) + Con (max 2). Constitution's max bonus cap increases to 3 at level 5, 4 at level 7, 5 at level 9, and unlimited at level 11.
Iron Fists - Level 3. The damaged die used by your unarmed attacks in Attack actions and in reactions (not bonus actions) is increased by one die size only if you use Strength.
Knife Hands - Level 3. You can choose to deal slashing or piercing damage with your unarmed attacks.
Like a Thing Unto Iron - Level 6. You can spend 2 ki points as a bonus action to set this up. This lasts for a number of rounds equal to your monk level, or if you hit and use it up, or if you disable it. The next time you hit with an Strength unarmed attack you deal an extra 2d(one size higher than your martial arts die).
Unshakeable Stance - Level 6. You can reduce the distance you are forcefully moved by 5 * your Strength Bonus modifier. You can spend additional ki points to further reduce this by 10 feet per ki point spent. You can also prevent yourself from going prone once per 15 feet of "movement resistance" (not sure how to word this). So in theory, a party of leg trippers will be able to trip you if they're dedicated.
Circling the Mountain - Level 6. You gain proficiency in Athletics. If you're already proficient, you gain Expertise with it. If you already have Expertise, well, good for you, I guess.
Buttefly Catch / Butterfly Return - Level 11. You can use a reaction to reduce the damage dealt by a melee attack that hit you by (your martial arts die) + your Strength bonus + your monk level. If the damage becomes 0, the attacker's speed is reduced to 0 for that turn, and you can make a melee attack against the attacker.
God Hand - Level 17. No idea! I haven't been to this level. Maybe you're now the president of monks.
Looks like level 17 features for monks are usually super attacks or reactions of some sort, with only a couple passives since the other high levels give you a bunch of passives. I'm partial to simple but powerful passives like "You cannot be forcibly moved from where you are standing by any means, physical or magical, as long as you are aware of what is trying to move you."
Doesn't really fit the elemental flavor that much but when I think of demons, I think of Torment Demons.
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
Hmmm... how about:
Unstoppable Force - Level 17. Your Strength unarmed attacks ignore resistance. Your Strength unarmed attacks consider immunity as merely resistance. You deal 1.5x damage to creatures with zero resistance (the three effects shouldn't stack). Your speed cannot be reduced to zero.
Immovable Object - Level 17. You cannot be forcibly moved from where you are standing by any means, physical or magical, as long as you are aware of what is trying to move you, and you are not incapacitated.
Iron Body is a bit mathy, especially for a level 3 ability. I'd change it to: Iron Body: Your studies have taught you how to harden your body to deflect most blows. Your unarmored defense is now 10 + your strength modifier, instead of Dex. You may also use a bonus action to plant your feet in the Iron Stance. When you do so, your move becomes zero, and cannot be increased, and you also add your Constitution modifier to your unarmored defense. You lose this benefit at will, or whenever you move from your current space, willingly or not.
Then I'd update Unshakeable Stance to: Unyielding Stance: while in Iron Stance, anytime an effect would force you to move, reduce the distance you would move by five feet times half your strength modifier, rounded down (minimum five feet). While in Iron Stance, you may also add your con modifier to the first attack you make each turn.
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
edited May 2020
Ideally, he'd ignore Dex and focus on STR / WIS / CON. The leftover Dex is merely transitionary since the ability replacement won't come online til level 3. It'd be weird if it goes away entirely, or something? Or bump up the Con cap to +3/3rd level, then go +4/7th, +5/10th, unlimited/11th
Between all the talk of my Demons, Devils, Orcs (and eventually i'll share my Hippogres and (Really need a name that isnt) goblin, but they're small cave-dwelling anglerfish things), I'm kinda wondering about sketching all of this into it's own setting.
So far my inclination would be to set it on a massive, mostly unexplored continent. Think like Africa-sized or similar, place is HUGE. The big trick would be that no-one is native here, some quirk of the multiverse results in ships getting lost at sea and crashing on it's shores. Attempts to sail away form the the continent either result in crashing back on the continent, or simply never being seen again. Parts of it have been successfully colonized and are safe, but plenty of the wilds are hostile.
Have things like one city state ruled by a (Good) lich queen, music audible at all hours throughout the city. Another which by a quirk of the tides is where the vast majority of ships wreck themsevles - it s buildings are wood taken from the wrecks, and it's heavily cosmopolitan.
I'd probably want to do something with both the Feywild and Shaodwfell, drawing from their 4e incarnations too, just because i really like both. For the shadowfell, i'd possibly play it as a place of deep history - delving into it, you can find ruined cities, corpse strewn-battlefields, towns torn apart by natural disasters. Perhaps the keys to the mystery of this continent could be found here.
I'll let it all stew in my head, but hopefully the loose idea is interesting.
So I've had a lot of personal stuff go down this weekend, and I haven't had a chance to respond to any of this. All of your posts have been wonderful to read, though, and I like the energy in this thread.
On topic note, I always wanted to imagine D&D demons as the front-runners of the Neverending Story's Nothing. So Gmork, but happy and frightening and all-consuming. Like fire on the edge of a burning piece of paper.
I am also excited to see your Bermuda Triangle setting, Penguin
I see Slaads as not representative of chaos and Limbo as in the best fit, but as in they are the only denizens structured enough to be known elsewhere. So they are the most normal and everyone just points to the slaad like "man, dont go to Limbo, those are the least weird things you'll meet"
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It could be an Indiana Jones don't drop me into a snake pit issue, versus lets murder this terrible snake monster. Just ask them that.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
I tried, getting a "snakes in general" vibe. Mentions "making it through" Harry Potter. I even mentioned Indiana Jones in my blurb about the setting. IJ meets Jurasic Park it's what i said IIRC. I said what about snake monsters, i got back "can you make them lizards instead?". Which.. maybe, but some of the varieties are depicted very snakey in some feature or another. And i haven't read up yet on yuan ti combat tactics to see if there is snakey attacks i have to edit.
I care about this person and don't want to upset them if i can avoid it.
It should be easy enough to convert yuan-ti to like komodo dragon style creatures. I don't remember too many snake related specific things that would be hard to convert.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Its not. At least i think that is the intent. Adamantine Armor does not require attunement.
I just don't think anyone had a good way to answer your question
The party was sitting in the blue water inn head desking about this when the fruits of giving Arabelle, the 8 year old girl they have with them, 100 gold pieces paid off, as she hooted with happiness upon her delivery of ALL OF THE CANDY IN VALLAKI being delivered to the inn (she has 75 gold pieces left!)
They haven't told her about Wizard murdering Luvash yet, since he's her dad as far as she knows, this might be important
You could even go full Slaad if you wanted to. Get all weird up in there.
I cannot look at that stupid word without thinking "oh, they misspelled 'salad'" and I know damn well what the context usually is.
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i call every salad i make a slaad so this balances out the universe
I think before you go through all tha effort, talk to the player with the snake issue about ToA and just give them a heads up like, "listen, the adventure chosen by the group is a kinda jungle reptile heavy. I'll keep the snake snakes to a minimum for you, but be warned that there's gonna be evil snake people and even a cat with snakes coming out its shoulders. Is that going to be problem?" And let the player decide what constitutes too much snake.
Ok. Maybe I should read the next page of my unread posts before I reply to one.
Even if not going full Slaad, Toxic Treefrogs are good for mechanical refluffery - bind attacks become the frog holding on, it's toxic skin doing mechanically identical things to the bind, etc
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Switch snakes for weasels. In the cold marshy forests of Whult.
With their leader, Caesar Slaad
The local rep should be creatures that can be butterfly-starfish and conjoined leech-bats and a continuous cycle of grasping hands turning to liquid.
I suspect part of the issue with coming up with embodiment of chaos is that Chaos is often defined by Opposition or absence to law and order. That and you have to hit people who just want to make it lolrandom! (Not to say that's what you're suggesting).
I do think mutability and uniqueness are probably things that are key to hit for a good feeling of "chaos"
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Using a death salad as a base. How about...
Och’sa
Medium aberration (shapechanger), any chaotic
Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points 170 (20d8+80)
Speed 30 ft.
STR — DEX — CON — INT — WIS — CHA
20 (+5) — 15 (+2) — 19 (+4) — 15 (+2) — 10 (0) — 16 (+3)
Skills: Arcana +6, Perception +8
Damage Resistances: acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder
Senses: blindsight 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft.
Languages: Any two, telepathy 60 ft.
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
Unstable. The och’sa can use its bonus action to polymorph into a Small or Medium chimerical creature, and has no true form. Its statistics, other than its size, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It cannot use any form as a disguise; no form is natural or convincingly stable. It dissolves into nothingness upon death, leaving no trace behind.
Innate Spellcasting. The och’sa’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). The och’sa can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: detect magic, detect thoughts, invisibility (self only), mage hand, major image
2/day each: fear, fireball, fly, tongues
1/day each: cloudkill, plane shift
Magic Resistance. The och’sa has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Chaos Blade. The och’sa’s weapon attacks are magical. Any weapon held by an och’sa becomes a chaos blade; a prismatic liquid plasma weapon that can take many forms.
Mutagenic Regeneration. The och’sa regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit point. When it has regenerated a minimum of 50 hit points the och’sa must change forms, and additionally changes its current motives completely.
Multiattack. The och’sa makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws or chaos blade.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8 + 5) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d10 + 5) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Chaos Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) random damage (1d6).
Chaos Blade damage:
1. Force.
2. Fire.
3. Cold.
4. Lightning.
5. Thunder.
6. Necrotic.
What if, instead of snakes, you replaced them with jaguar/panther/tiger monsters?
You could then plug in Rakshasa.
Have your party really come to hate these dudes:
Just, regular ass evil elves. You can fluff any binding attacks with masterwork elven nets, whips and spells. Poison is poisoned weapons rather than venom. They’re scary because they’re smart, beautiful people, not monsters.
Whatever god the snake folk usually worship replaced the elven ones with the promise they’d get rid of the humans and help them prosper once more, and they did. A band of elves with the basic wood elf abilities could be pretty powerful; they can see in the dark, barely rest, can hide constantly with all the foliage, mist and rain in Chult and can cover more ground per turn than nearly every other race.
I feel like Demons are a better agent of chaos than Slaads. People understand very clearly what the deal is. A few demons stick around, a few more come through, they rip and tear, except it isn't done - they just keep ripping and tearing. The longer they stick around, the bigger the kind of demons show up. Left unchecked, the world will end if you don't deal with them - they will destroy everything that anyone cares about. Enough undealt with Quasits and you have an apocalypse waiting to happen if they can cause enough chaos and mistrust
Slaads have some cool body horror (if your players are okay with the word "impregnation" being used to describe their character's status) but other than that, Demons give you a lot more tools imo
my players are all about gross body horror, I just think Slaads are kind of one note
especially when the Sibriex exists for body horror, and as a DM nothing stops me from giving their mutations table to even minor demons
Cut out the Wheel cosmology and it becomes less of an issue anyways.
—
Speaking of cosmology, I’m gonna include a page worth of it for
I’ll be brief.
You’ve got the material world, which has a finite space that reaches an edge. The edge is a crystal shell.
There are stars in the material world, and each one is a home of gods. These aren’t strictly heavens but the especially faithful, beloved and mighty do end up in their respective stars as advisors, warriors and servants to the gods after death.
Outside the crystal shell you have the Elemental Sphere, where millions of ‘spindles’ hang in a twilight (various intensities of light shift around without sources). Each spindle is a massive structure composed of an element; they even go into finer elements, an iron spindle, a smoke spindle, a bone (calcium) spindle etc. and aren’t singular—there’s a bunch of fire ones and so on, each themed, some more habitable to mortals than others.
Outside that is the Shadow Sphere. Unlike the bejewelled hovering spindles the Shadow Sphere is filled with ‘gouges’, impossibly large and infinitely deep cuts in space that solidify inside into caverns each themed after some frightful thing. All fiends stem from the gouges, and even within the same branch (demon, devil etc.) they’re significantly less organised than other D&D settings, with no absolute authority. They’re also not all evil, but certainly alien. Gouges have been known to seal into nothingness, and new ones can open, to the scale of thousands of years.
It’s easier to port between spheres but they can be physically journeyed through with the right kind of craft.
The actual afterlife proper is a mystery, locked off even to the gods, unless they die. I’m thinking there is a well of souls that allows for rebirth, too.
This all very 20th level though, so I’m not going to dwell on it much, the setting is best from 1st to 10th level.
Edit: There’s no fairy realm because there’s no separation here. Fey and spirits are active in all spheres.
---
Demons are spirits of destruction, entropy and decay, birthed from the roiling chaos outside creation and driven to return what they touch back to the roil. Appearance wise, demons are twisted elemental mockeries of sentient races - that one a sculpted, nude ash white human figure, blue fires crackling out of empty eyes sockets and fissures in it skin. This one an orc wrought in stone slicked with the water and blood that flows ceaselessy from its eyes and mouth. Here a giant made of wood, ice and wind intertwining. they can talk and think, but are almost single minded devotion to destruction (Which should not be mistaken for them being stupid) - demonic incursions often fall apart when the demons spontaneously turn on one another, and demons are even known to spontaneously destroy themselves.
One can strike bargains or make deals, but must always be aware that a demon will gladly destroy you, everything around you, and then itself. Thusly it follows that attempts to harness Demons are best done when it's for destructive means.
if nothing else, i really like the elemental mockery image of demons, and it lets more traditional devilsih and demonic imagery be used for Devils. It also means they may not be strictly "Evil" - One could posit that they actually several a vital function on recycling the stuff off the multiverse to it's original state so it can be used again (Which is cold comfort if you're the peasant being recycled!)
I imagine them being complex and complicated even you could even have a particularity powerful one as a warlock patron - even to good ends! Destruction is not strictly evil after all, but anyone who would work with demons has to remember that at the end of the day, Destruction is what drives them. You are literally playing with fire, and the fire would see all that is burn.
I can imagine things like a cult summoning a demon, only to have it turn on them when adventurers show up, help the adventures wreck the cult headquarters... and immediately turn on the adventurers once that's done. Or even cases where one is summoned, only to immediately rip it's own heart out and vanish in a conflagration. I also like the idea that they're not strictly limited to destroying in the physical sense - they will destroy metaphorical concepts too, beliefs, social structures, rules... Which is part of why Demons and Devils never ever EVER get along, because a Demon will as gleefully wreck a thousand year plan as it will shatter thousand year pottery - and with as much ease too.
---
@Endless_Serpents suggested the concept of one that's going after a specific bloodline, while another is polite, well spoken, and only ever turns up to destroy antiques.... and is immensely powerful to boot. I imagine that one as as appearing as a gnome wrought in tarnished, pitted metals, always surrounded by the smell of the sea and a constant sea-spray.
For contrast, i'd probably do Devils as a mix of traditional imagery and... Mechanical Fascism/Authoritarianism (Id be inclined to include heartless takes on Democracies too, and other governmental systems). Lots of clockwork machinery grinding things down, labyrinthine bureaucracy and strict hierarchies. The Lord of the devils on it's throne, it's clockwork heart exposed, ticking all the while.
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Demons.
By TETRAMERA
By Shalizeh
A devil.
By Cbot
For the majority of your demons being entropic elemental people I guess some gensai art could work, as well as a lot of standard elemental art being humanoid.
WAY OF THE IMMOVABLE MOUNTAIN
Iron Body - Level 3. Unarmored Defense changes to 10 + Wisdom + Dex (max 2) + Con (max 2). Constitution's max bonus cap increases to 3 at level 5, 4 at level 7, 5 at level 9, and unlimited at level 11.
Iron Fists - Level 3. The damaged die used by your unarmed attacks in Attack actions and in reactions (not bonus actions) is increased by one die size only if you use Strength.
Knife Hands - Level 3. You can choose to deal slashing or piercing damage with your unarmed attacks.
Like a Thing Unto Iron - Level 6. You can spend 2 ki points as a bonus action to set this up. This lasts for a number of rounds equal to your monk level, or if you hit and use it up, or if you disable it. The next time you hit with an Strength unarmed attack you deal an extra 2d(one size higher than your martial arts die).
Unshakeable Stance - Level 6. You can reduce the distance you are forcefully moved by 5 * your Strength Bonus modifier. You can spend additional ki points to further reduce this by 10 feet per ki point spent. You can also prevent yourself from going prone once per 15 feet of "movement resistance" (not sure how to word this). So in theory, a party of leg trippers will be able to trip you if they're dedicated.
Circling the Mountain - Level 6. You gain proficiency in Athletics. If you're already proficient, you gain Expertise with it. If you already have Expertise, well, good for you, I guess.
Buttefly Catch / Butterfly Return - Level 11. You can use a reaction to reduce the damage dealt by a melee attack that hit you by (your martial arts die) + your Strength bonus + your monk level. If the damage becomes 0, the attacker's speed is reduced to 0 for that turn, and you can make a melee attack against the attacker.
God Hand - Level 17. No idea! I haven't been to this level. Maybe you're now the president of monks.
Doesn't really fit the elemental flavor that much but when I think of demons, I think of Torment Demons.
Unstoppable Force - Level 17. Your Strength unarmed attacks ignore resistance. Your Strength unarmed attacks consider immunity as merely resistance. You deal 1.5x damage to creatures with zero resistance (the three effects shouldn't stack). Your speed cannot be reduced to zero.
Immovable Object - Level 17. You cannot be forcibly moved from where you are standing by any means, physical or magical, as long as you are aware of what is trying to move you, and you are not incapacitated.
Iron Body: Your studies have taught you how to harden your body to deflect most blows. Your unarmored defense is now 10 + your strength modifier, instead of Dex. You may also use a bonus action to plant your feet in the Iron Stance. When you do so, your move becomes zero, and cannot be increased, and you also add your Constitution modifier to your unarmored defense. You lose this benefit at will, or whenever you move from your current space, willingly or not.
Then I'd update Unshakeable Stance to: Unyielding Stance: while in Iron Stance, anytime an effect would force you to move, reduce the distance you would move by five feet times half your strength modifier, rounded down (minimum five feet). While in Iron Stance, you may also add your con modifier to the first attack you make each turn.
So far my inclination would be to set it on a massive, mostly unexplored continent. Think like Africa-sized or similar, place is HUGE. The big trick would be that no-one is native here, some quirk of the multiverse results in ships getting lost at sea and crashing on it's shores. Attempts to sail away form the the continent either result in crashing back on the continent, or simply never being seen again. Parts of it have been successfully colonized and are safe, but plenty of the wilds are hostile.
Have things like one city state ruled by a (Good) lich queen, music audible at all hours throughout the city. Another which by a quirk of the tides is where the vast majority of ships wreck themsevles - it s buildings are wood taken from the wrecks, and it's heavily cosmopolitan.
I'd probably want to do something with both the Feywild and Shaodwfell, drawing from their 4e incarnations too, just because i really like both. For the shadowfell, i'd possibly play it as a place of deep history - delving into it, you can find ruined cities, corpse strewn-battlefields, towns torn apart by natural disasters. Perhaps the keys to the mystery of this continent could be found here.
I'll let it all stew in my head, but hopefully the loose idea is interesting.
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On topic note, I always wanted to imagine D&D demons as the front-runners of the Neverending Story's Nothing. So Gmork, but happy and frightening and all-consuming. Like fire on the edge of a burning piece of paper.
I am also excited to see your Bermuda Triangle setting, Penguin