It's a long way off, and I'd need to do it with the correct group, and it likely wouldn't work, but I kinda want run a session where the group gets pulled through space and time into other worlds where the laws of physics are different...
... and represent that by handing them copies of their character sheets converted to older versions. Just for an encounter or two per edition of course, but I just like the idea of having them manage 1st edition attack matrices, then move to 2nd Ed. for some classic THAC0 and some alternative Initiative systems! Maybe someone will cast Fireball or Lightning Bolt indoors!? Then to spoil them with massive 3rd Edition Attack Bonus (+15 to hit!) whilst hoping no one tries to grapple!!
Also 4th edition would feature, but I've never played it so would have some difficulty with that one.
So apparently Dungeons & Dragons is introducing more non-Lolth worshiping drow to the Forgotten Realms. How? By saying they've always been around, but they live far away and no one ever noticed them before apparently. Also, the Lolthite drow of Menzoberranzan are now specifically called "Udadrow".
Earlier today, Dungeons & Dragons released a new website celebrating the iconic drow ranger Drizzt Do'Urden as part of the brand's summer-long celebration of all things Drizzt. The website contains plenty of detail about Drizzt's origins, but it also notes one major change to D&D canon that relates to the drow culture that Drizzt ultimately abandoned. The website points out that while Drizzt grew up in a "cult of Lolth" (a well-known evil spider goddess tied to drow culture), there are two other entire cultures of drow who have no ties to Lolth whatsoever. These groups are known as the Lorendrow and the Aevendrow, both of whom live in remote cities far from Drizzt's home city of Menzoberranzan.
This doesn't mean that we still won't see some drow serve as villains. The Legend of Drizzt website notes that Menzoberranzan is the stronghold of the cult of Lolth and suggests that the beliefs and evil practices once seen as common to all drow are specifically related to the "Udadrow," the culture of drow who have become corrupted by the evil spider goddess. The influence of the Unadrow and their frequent raids on the surface explain the biases many have towards drow in the Forgotten Realms, while also providing players and designers with a potential source for future villains and storylines.
We'll likely learn more about the Lorendrow and Aevendrow in the coming months. Given that R.A. Salvatore has a new Drizzt novel called Starlight Enclave coming out later this summer and the Aevendrow are known as "Starlight Elves," it seems we'll get more information about these newly discovered drow cultures when that book comes out on August 3rd.
Deep in the Underdark lies the city of Menzoberranzan, stronghold of the cult of Lolth. This Udadrow society has become corrupted by the malicious goddess, who teaches them to despise all outsiders. The subterranean City of Spiders is the bastion of the Udadrow: drow elves who became tainted by Lolth’s insidious teachings. Udadrow society values ruthlessness, obedience, and a burning hatred of surface dwellers. Menzoberranzan’s young warriors raid surface villages, proving their worth by how many elves they destroy. It was once widely believed that all drow elves lived belowground and worshipped Lolth. But truths that have long been buried are now beginning to come to light...
Far to the North lies Callidae; an Aevendrow enclave built of glittering ice. Few recall its location and even fewer know the secrets long guarded at its heart. Even as some of their kin followed Lolth down to the Underdark, many drow elves rejected her, remaining true to their innate integrity. One band ventured north, vanishing from history behind curtains of snow, aurora, and illusion. They became the Aevendrow—or Starlight Elves—a highly secretive clan steeped in powerful magic. The Aevendrow remain untainted by Lolth’s influence, and life in Callidae is radically different from that of oppressive Menzoberranzan. Yet, though many would rejoice to see it, almost no one—including the longest-lived elves—can quite remember its existence.
The teeming southern jungles conceal the drow elf city of Saekolath, populated by the Lorendrow—dwellers in the endless green. Head far enough south and one enters the territory of the Lorendrow, or “Greenshadow Elves.” Far from the Spider Queen and her terrors, the Lorendrow draw their wisdom from their environment: the generosity of earth; the mystery of sky; and the complex harmony of forest. Their verdant city is Saekolath—“Place of Shade”—and it wends between towering trees and chattering rivers. Even the most knowledgeable bard would be hard-pressed to sing its histories, and few northern adventurers have ever reached its borders.
I personally still use the 4E take on the Underdark that it spans the Material Plane, Feywild, and Shadowfell, so if these turn out to be drow subraces I'll probably use the Greenshadow Drow for the drow of the Feywild's Underdark.
Personally I like the Kryn Dynasty drow of Exandria best, because they're descendants of former Lolth worshipers who up and decided one day that Lolth and the Underdark suck, actually, and live on the surface in cities covered by supernatural night.
that's....a hell of a retcon, and something I was really worried about them doing (like, there's a colony of goodly drow that live in the waterdeep field ward as of Death Masks... and Salvatore put a lot of heavy lifting into showing how regular Drow are just trying to get by in the last few books, but screw that), to fulfill their commitment that "no really, there's no such thing as an evil race"
I'd put money on none of these other drow being in Salvatore's upcoming books, if they do it's going to be really awkward, Yvonnel II suddenly being like "Wait, now I remember, not all of the drow fled to our sanctuary city, there's actually several other large groups of them that I previously forgot to mention but would have been really important, yeah it doesn't really make sense that they have the same physical attributes as us because we got those things after coming down here but..."
Despite my wish to see Salvatore's latest plot developments reflected in official sourcebooks, I am guessing they'll ignore them and be like "nah actually all drow from Menzobenzo except drizztboy are still evil, but we know that's problematic so we're retconning in new cities of drow that aren't evil"
the next book is literally about the city splitting between the secular and the lolth extremists for crying out loud, there was nearly an entire book about how common drow are just doing their best, and behind closed doors they despair at the chains their culture creates
talking about any group of D&D elves being "innately good" makes me give a huge side eye, where the elven ethnostates spent tens of thousands of years developing many flavors of "genocide - the spell". The Drow fled to avoid being exterminated by their surface cousins, and weren't even close to being the most "evil" faction of elves when they founded Menzobaranzan (A human who walks into the city of spiders might at least get a chance to explain their purpose and walk out alive, if they have some beneficial reason for being there - high elves? they'll just kill you, and if even the leader of their civilization shelters you, they'll destroy their civilization to kill you)
the next book is literally about the city splitting between the secular and the lolth extremists for crying out loud, there was nearly an entire book about how common drow are just doing their best, and behind closed doors they despair at the chains their culture creates
I've not read these books (although I'm kind of curious now), but is that next book you're talking about the one titled "Starlight Enclave"? Because one of the new drow varieties (the northern aevendrow) is also known as starlight elves.
the next book is literally about the city splitting between the secular and the lolth extremists for crying out loud, there was nearly an entire book about how common drow are just doing their best, and behind closed doors they despair at the chains their culture creates
I've not read these books (although I'm kind of curious now), but is that next book you're talking about the one titled "Starlight Enclave"? Because one of the new drow varieties (the northern aevendrow) is also known as starlight elves.
No they're refugees from menzobaranzan who worship eilistree
The masked lord's were trying to find a reason to deny their permit, settling on "think of the children" and Laeral was like "yeah fuck that, waterdeep is a city of equality among races under the law they can build here if they want"
By definition if a group of elves didn't go into menzobaranzan with Yvonnel, they weren't drow. The dusk elves are literally the elves that didn't serve lolth, but didn't want to war against the drow - like literally that's what a drow is. Elves can and have left menzobaranzan to form other cities already in the lore (like Ched Nassad, Q'Xorlarrin recently), so I'm okay with the idea of hidden enclaves of non lolth-worshipping drow - but these are saying that they aren't breakaway factions, they're just super secret squirrel factions that never went down into the underdark with the first group. That makes no sense, they didn't go down into the underdark because they were evil, they went down to avoid a genocide. Everything the Drow teach about the evil of surface elves was 100% true 10,000 years ago in the lore!
I get it, I'm being super picky lore nerd - but I mean, it's their lore! They can accomplish every objective they had without violating it, and it sucks to read dozens of books in their world and have them disregarded as they update the lore
With thanks to @see317 (seriously, you gave me tons of ideas and I'm super grateful) I finished the write-up for the Twilight Domain cult I'm creating for my DM's next game. I figured I'd go ahead and put what I've got here in case anyone else is jonesing for some inspiration in regards to organized religion. Main thing to understand is that, in my DM's homebrew world, the plane was cut off from all the higher and lower realms for centuries, and most religious organizations faded away. At the end of Season 1, a big ol' Door into the Astral Sea was opened by the BBEG, the Iron Mother, that reconnected the link. It was closed at the end of Season 2 (10 years later) after a big demon invasion, but the link remains. Season 3 will be more like a century later.
The Cult of the Open Eye
Origin
The origin of the Cult of the Open Eye dates back to shortly after the opening of the Door. Several of the Iron Mother’s former disciples, who had abandoned her cause and been proscribed for it, returned to Inuria and dug through her research. What they found was even more abhorrent than they had originally thought. One of them, a minor noble named Arturo de Vuarno, resolved that such horrific crimes against mortals should never be committed again. To that end, he met with a few of his like-minded friends and established a compact to root out the foulness of the Iron Mother’s machinations and destroy her works and research.
Over the next several years, they did just that, until word began to spread of a new religion, founded by the Paladin player from Seasons 1 and 2, dedicated to Bahamut, and based upon ancient texts unearthed from an age long past. Aware that the Iron Mother had also dabbled in such works, the compact rushed to gather whatever ancient texts and relics they could find, and keep them sequestered away, to protect society from them. What they could find, they studied, but they lacked the presence of a God to temper the writings and distill the true meaning, as the Paladin had in Bahamut.
What emerged from their study was a Biune God, Sol Eternus and Luna Clementa. The compact reformed as a cult, the Cult of the Open Eye, with Arturo as the first Grandmaster. And from that original compact, combined with their uncovered writings, came the Unforgivable Sin: No being shall be allowed to partake in the life force of an unwilling conscious being. Although they remained dedicated to their original vow to prevent the recreation of any of the Iron Mother’s dark magics, they slowly took on additional responsibilities. For just before the Door was shut, an invasion unlike any seen before took place. Even when the Door was closed, many such evil creatures remained and had to be dispatched. With the divine secrets bestowed upon them from their gathered relics, they learned new ways to fight the creatures of the Night, and turn Luna’s blessing against them. As decades have passed and the cult has spread, they continue to find new means of service to their communities, most often through the eradication of creatures that are beyond the capacity of ordinary mortals.
The Cult Today
Today the cult has spread far from the ashes of Inuria, and covers much of the world in relative secrecy. Most commoners would know of the existence of the cult and the location of the town with the nearest enclave, and a few might know an Acolyte by name. The primary weapon of the cult, aside from divine magic derived from Sol and Luna, is gunpowder, for several reasons. In the early days of the compact, the nobles often carried firearms in self-defense. They were found to be quite effective at disposing of evil creatures, especially when firing silver bullets, which encouraged their continued use. As the Cult developed, they saw in gunpowder an expression of their own beliefs: that light could be drawn forth from darkness with but a single spark. Their symbol, used on their holy symbols as well as their garments, is that of an open eye, with a pupil half covered to represent sunset. Five rays like eyelashes sprout from the top half of the eye.
Tenets of the Faith
1. No mortal stands above another in the eyes of Sol Eternus and Luna Clementa.
2. The body of a mortal is weak and impermanent. The soul is eternal, pure at birth and corrupted by time and the iniquity of the world. Purity of soul is regained through charity and selflessness.
3. Although the Door has been closed, mortals are yet beset upon from beyond the world by unfathomable entities of malice and hatred. These entities must be killed at the root lest they take firm hold.
4. The Night is the refuge of foul creatures and fouler deeds. But by studying creatures of the Night, we may be inured to their powers and even turn the Night against them.
5. In combat, there is no such thing as a “fair fight.” If your cause is just, overwhelming force and even the use of traditionally “unsportsmanlike” techniques are acceptable. However, unnecessary pain is to be avoided. Poisons that prolong suffering, or actions such as torture, are forbidden from use by adherents.
6. The Cult remains as such for its own protection. Although you bear symbols of the cult in public, the means of contacting other disciples must be protected to ensure its safety.
7. Gunpowder is the purest expression of the spirit of the cult. Although other weapons may be used in a pinch, the use of gunpowder as a means of purifying the wicked is preferable.
Taboos
1. The Unforgivable Sin: No mortal shall ever practice in magic that unwillingly transfers life force from another. Such an action irrevocably damages both souls.
2. Provide no aid or comfort to aberrations and monstrosities. Such creatures prey on mortals and often exert their will where it does not belong.
3. Suffer not the shapechangers to exist. All those afflicted by lycanthropy are abhorrent; if the mortal (not the beast, for it is a creature of only instinct) shows repentance, then offer aid in providing a cure. A were-beast who has given in to its nature shall be put down.
Rituals
1. Every morning, a disciple performs an extensive prayer that is conducted while cleansing their firearms and anointing them in ritual oil. This ritual gives the Cleric/Paladin/devotee their spells.
2. When an abomination, monstrosity, or shapechanger is slain, its heart (or nearest analogue) is ritually cut out and burned. This ritual signifies the triumph of light against the darkness.
3. When a serious mistake is made, such as an innocent losing their life due to a disciple’s actions, a moonlight vigil is conducted. Luna forgives those who fail and seek redemption through the ritual, which also involves bathing or immersion in water to represent the washing away of sin.
Holy Days
- The Day of Sol takes place on the vernal equinox, and is the most significant holy day in the religion. A day spent in celebration and good cheer, disciples are encouraged to spend this time with friends and family, drink, and welcome the oncoming season of warmth as Sol Eternus ascends.
- Similarly, the Day of Luna takes place on the autumnal equinox, and is somewhat more subdued. It is a day for quiet contemplation and reverence, and also a day to practice clemency in honor of Luna Clementa herself. This is the day to let go of old grudges, for they only weigh you down, and you will need your strength for winter.
- The Nightscour, or Winter Solstice (known in some places as Frostfeast) is the time of year when Night is at its strongest. Believers light a bonfire and tell stories of heroes and good times to ward off the evil spirits that wander about on this day.
- Arturhart is the customary celebration that occurs on the anniversary of the founding of the cult. Tradition dictates an exchange of small gifts or kind words between the devout.
- The Day of Mourning is the day in remembrance of the Door closing coinciding with the many deaths at the hands of the invading creatures. On the night of this day, a worshipper lights a small candle for each of their deceased loved ones.
Presence and Activities
The Cult has an Enclave in every major city and in many towns. Small settlements may have a contact in a larger town to reach out to for help. Where they have a presence, it is almost always hidden for the protection of the whole. Individual disciples typically live among the people and wear their badges and symbols in the open, as their actions to protect society tend to make them well-received. Although there is some variation, a typical Enclave contains a room for prayers and worship, a small library of various religious texts and monster-slaying treatises, an armory for the creation and blessing of the cult's traditional firearms, a powder-closet for the storing of ammunition, and one or more small meeting rooms for discussion of cult business.
Anyone in need of help may leave a note on a town message board with their concern and a mark in the shape of the cult’s symbol. An Acolyte or Inquisitor will check the boards periodically and find it. Cities may have a dedicated mailbox-like object marked with the cult’s symbol to be used as a sort of dead drop. In the largest cities, where the local enclave is too massive to practically hide, notes may be left in person.
The primary focus of the modern, expanded cult is the fight against monsters, with the dangers of magical mis-use more of a concern in the larger enclaves. Typically, disciples do not deal with matters such as presiding over trials or resolving disputes (such matters are typically handled by the Church of Bahamut) but they may be sought for such things in a pinch. They may also provide opinions regarding appropriate penance for certain unusual crimes when the local government is unsure. Lastly, they may be contacted in certain areas purely for their expertise with explosives. If a large boulder is in the way of a new road and must be broken, a disciple may be hired for the task if no professional is readily available.
Aside from the enclaves, the Temple of Dawn is the main refuge of the cult, up in the mountains past the ruins of Aberidge. Those who seek to become members of the cult make their way here to walk the Path. It is the home of the cult’s Grandmaster and most of the Novices, as well as the location of the Conclave, where all Masters may meet. Complex Sending magics allow for even distant Masters to attend as though in person.
More Like Guidelines
Acolytes and above (that is to say, any Disciple one is likely to encounter in public) typically possess broad leeway in dealing with matters. Disciples are encouraged to adhere more to the spirit of the law than the letter. The sole exception to this is the Unforgivable Sin, which is never to be considered a just action. In a matter of disagreement between two disciples, the senior or ranking member typically “wins,” but a concerned “loser” may appeal up the command. This is especially true when it comes to the taking of lives, which is never to be done lightly.
Ranks and Trials
Entrance into the cult makes one a disciple, but there are several ranks within the cult itself.
Every new recruit starts as a Novice. They will learn (almost always at the Temple of Dawn) and serve in prayer, in the production of gunpowder and ammunition, and in various other tasks while preparing themselves for true membership. When they are deemed ready, an Inquisitor at the temple will oversee their first trial.
The Trial of Blood is the first trial a disciple attempts. In their duties, Inquisitors will occasionally harvest blood from slain lycanthropes. This blood is mixed with a cocktail of drugs that induce panic and then injected into the Novice attempting the trial. To pass the trial, the Novice must survive without succumbing to the disease or losing control of themselves. If they fail and attack another or transform, they are cured by the Inquisitor and asked to leave. Of these, a few sometimes return, but most take it as a sign that the life of a disciple was not for them. Those who survive become an Acolyte. The ritual leaves lasting effects on the body, namely, enhanced senses and the yellow eyes of a wolf.
The Acolyte is the most common rank in the cult, representing the rank and file of the religion. They handle most day-to-day business outside the temples and the slaying of lesser monsters.
Beyond this point, the trials are kept secret. Only those who have passed them know them for certain, and it is possible or even likely that they will vary based upon which enclave performs them. The Trial of Judgment is used to determine whether an Acolyte may rise to Inquisitor, and some further unknown trial is conducted for Inquisitors to become Masters. Of the highest rank, the Grandmaster is elected for life (or retirement) from among all living Masters.
An Inquisitor, ranking above Acolyte, typically has a local enclave and a few Acolytes in a smaller town under their purview. When they are called upon, it is for more grave threats and more dangerous heresies. A Master runs a large enclave with several young Inquisitors and many Acolytes in a large city. Masters alone are called to attend Conclaves, the cult-wide meetings that are used to set or change religious doctrine.
Avernus went better this time, we FINALLY left elturel, ran into a strange obelisk demanding we prove our might and had to fight a super powered dragon man, who we killed after 2 rounds and the obelisk said "not strong enough"
continued on to Mad Maggie's place, I told off all the redcaps and wrestled an Oni blacksmith (and won!)
Mad Maggie made a warlock pact with me, Pact of the Gray Portrait from the WONDERFUL compendium of forgotten secrets - with the difference that "The painted world" feature was given to me at level 1 warlock
the DM combined my song of creation ability with this, so not only can I paint a painting and the party can walk into it, but we can take things out of the painting up to 20x my level in gold value (although it only lasts 7 hours, wizard #2 is going to find this out next session as his character kept interrupting me when I tried to explain, thinking I was going to insist he pay for the suit he put on inside a shop depicted in the painting)
She gave us a war machine, and I promptly painted a pleasant oceanside penthouse view in its cargo container, so the assorted entourage following the party climbed in - the DM realizing these demiplanes have no duration on them, but they can be easily destroyed if the artwork takes damage
I made the pact with Mad Maggie to cure my warlocks vampirism, which it did, but it also turned me into a fiend who has to gather 8 contracts for Mad Maggie to be free from her
the rest of the party had a lot of fun with their own stuff too, it really seems DM was storing a lot of his creative juices for the Avernian planes, and only ran a bunch of stuff in elturel because he had prepared it so, why not run it
She built a memory device straight out of professor farnsworth's lab and needs us to go recover parts to finish it from around avernus, 3 locations mentioned but we can do them in any order - to dig into the elephant's memory to get the secret to winning
I'm glad this one was so much better than the last 3
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Avernus went better this time, we FINALLY left elturel, ran into a strange obelisk demanding we prove our might and had to fight a super powered dragon man, who we killed after 2 rounds and the obelisk said "not strong enough"
continued on to Mad Maggie's place, I told off all the redcaps and wrestled an Oni blacksmith (and won!)
Mad Maggie made a warlock pact with me, Pact of the Gray Portrait from the WONDERFUL compendium of forgotten secrets - with the difference that "The painted world" feature was given to me at level 1 warlock
the DM combined my song of creation ability with this, so not only can I paint a painting and the party can walk into it, but we can take things out of the painting up to 20x my level in gold value (although it only lasts 7 hours, wizard #2 is going to find this out next session as his character kept interrupting me when I tried to explain, thinking I was going to insist he pay for the suit he put on inside a shop depicted in the painting)
She gave us a war machine, and I promptly painted a pleasant oceanside penthouse view in its cargo container, so the assorted entourage following the party climbed in - the DM realizing these demiplanes have no duration on them, but they can be easily destroyed if the artwork takes damage
I made the pact with Mad Maggie to cure my warlocks vampirism, which it did, but it also turned me into a fiend who has to gather 8 contracts for Mad Maggie to be free from her
the rest of the party had a lot of fun with their own stuff too, it really seems DM was storing a lot of his creative juices for the Avernian planes, and only ran a bunch of stuff in elturel because he had prepared it so, why not run it
She built a memory device straight out of professor farnsworth's lab and needs us to go recover parts to finish it from around avernus, 3 locations mentioned but we can do them in any order - to dig into the elephant's memory to get the secret to winning
I'm glad this one was so much better than the last 3
See this all just sounds straight up awesome. I'm real glad you were able to get through to this!
valhalla13013 Dark Shield Perceives the GodsRegistered Userregular
Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft is, IMHO, 5he best D&D sourcebook ever.
I love Bluetspur, the Headless Rider, and so many of the domains they created or reimagined for this book. I have realized I really love horror themed adventures in D&D.
So apparently campaign 2 of Critical Role is in its last few episodes (I've gotten behind, unfortunately, due to school eating up all my time), but Matt Mercer got a custom mini for the (alleged first of two forms) for the final enemy:
We finished up our House of Death intro to Curse of Strahd and one of our players left for a bit for the full campaign due to other obligations (I do hope he'll be back soon).
Second session was really short as we basically ran from one of the big monsters and escaped the house. I did give our DM a headsup as with lvl 3, I've chosen Gloom Stalker as subclass and that "doesn't show up on darkvision" passive ability is something that he should be aware of when setting up encounters.
We've also decided that my character, due to consistently rolling far better attack rolls for her off-hand than her main, is actually right-handed, but thinks she's left-handed.
I got mad maggie to cure the little vampire kid too, but Maggie made a seperate deal with the girl
I was like what the hell kind of fiendish contract can a child agree to? And she said "That's the benefit of bein' a warlord to hell and a certified denizen of the Feywild sugar, if I don't like one set of magical deal rules, I use the other!"
my soul is now bound to a painting, like Dorian Grey, so if I can touch the painting I can cure most ailments, and if I'm ever killed I can be brought back with ANY return to life spell by casting it on the painting, no matter the duration. If the painting is destroyed I start accruing exhaustion until I create a new one
issue is the DM has the painting talk to me and constantly insist that I am a pale reflection of it, and it initially was trying to convince the party that it was the real me trapped in the painting, and my character was just some kind of fiendish clone
it's really great
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
edited May 2021
Just had our first sit down in person session in 15 months today. We started out the Rime of the Frost Maiden campaign and its been a blast so far! We have a REAL good cast of characters. I'm really excited to see how we all play them out. We hung out for about 6 hours and played for about 4.5 of it. We also consumed each about 2500 calories, on the low side.
Since I use the 4E take on the Underdark, which is very weird and has stuff like living rock, migrating mushroom fortresses, and seas of stone that act like water, I'm having to try extra hard to elaborate on the Feywild sections of the Underdark to make them it even stranger.
Ideas so far:
Fomorian raiders flooded a deep gnome city by threatening the cave mouth draining the water to close unless it wanted to be stuffed full of boulders and rubble.
A talking fish separated from its pond travels about via an elemental that manifests as a small, shallow pool of water that can move around. The elemental sometimes speaks a garbled, bubbling form of the Primordial language, but is usually happy to let the fish do the talking.
Sometimes the air gets mad at not being able to travel as freely as it would like through the Underdark and manifests as whirling elementals to help its fellow air flow more quickly. Air that is trapped within small chambers, air-tight chambers for centuries on end can go insane; the unlucky souls to break through into such a chamber must deal with a depraved air elemental that seeks to drain the breath of mortals like some sort of bizarre vampire.
Certain tunnels just disappear when you exit and turn around to look back. Sometimes this happens while people are still traveling through.
Plants that subsist on a combination of ambient magic and glowing crystals are omnipresent, as well as likely to be awakened.
Underdark dryads are twisted by the strange nature of their subterranean trees and more likely to attack.
The beauty, sanity, and magical power stripped from the fomorians by the archfey can manifest as curses against those possessing the traits the fomorians once had.
Some underground jungle vaults hold dinosaurs enhanced with magical abilities. The behemoth known as the triceratops is a particular favorite for capture and training by the fomorians and their servants.
Isolated caves that have known quiet for too long can become greatly agitated by noisy intruders, magically enhancing the loudness of their echoes until they become deafening and physically painful.
Myconids are plentiful throughout the Feywild's Underdark, with whole colonies coming into being within a shockingly short amount of time. Some myconid sovereigns claim to be aspects of a greater being who watches over the myconids, though they seldom agree as to what that being is or what they want. In general, the myconids of the Feywild also seem to be less peaceful and more prone to expanding their territory.
Glowing gems within fomorian territories become doomlight crystals when disturbed, radiating sickening energy.
The remaining fomorian lords are very paranoid tyrants. They use their supernatural influence over their territories to do things such as manifest scrying sensors and forbid the telling of lies under penalty of curse. Those individuals they believe to be useful pawns are offered warlock pacts; refusal is punishable by death, as they cannot risk a rival gaining control of such an asset.
The Underdark of the Feywild is full of resources and riches, inspiring inhabitants of the Material Plane's Underdark to try and seize them. Such interlopers can meet myriad fates as the plane itself does not wish to be deprived of its spoils; mortals find themselves slain at the very least, but more often cursed, hopelessly lost, enslaved by the fomorians, transformed into various flora and fauna, or return to the Material Plane long before or long after they entered the Feywild.
oh my god one of my soul coins is empty on D&D beyond and I just checked with him and he said "nah that's intentional, it's not a bug"
did
did the hag make a clone of my character and put the real me into a painting, suffering all the wounds for the clone, all diseases and poisons, with my character's soul powering resurrections of the clone should it die, using the soul coin to provide the soul for the clone
because that's the most night haggy thing I've ever heard of and that's sure as shit what I would do
I will be disappointed if at some point in this campaign I don't have to fight myself
I have 8 fiendish contracts I must sign with mortals that cause them suffering according to Maggie, I got two right off the bat (Gift of Expansive Knowledge for the wizard to fill out every spell of a level he can cast in his spellbook and Gift of Unfettered Freedom for... freeing an NPC from vampire charm... my vampire charm, I had to keep charming her so she didn't get mad at me for charming her so we could steal some stuff), one from my party because the wizard was like YEAH I LIKE INFERNAL CONTRACTS (the rub is going to come when he discovers that he can't change his prepared spells until we collect the parts for Maggie's memory machine, despite having his spellbook full of them)
My guess at this time is that after signing the 8th contract my character will be released from the painting, cured of vampirism per our agreement - because "Maggie's got a reputation for delivering, but that aint mean you'll be happy with how you get there, sufferin is my blood little vampire, and Maggie's gotta get fed too" (paraphrased) is what I was told when I started so...... I really hope I end up being right
oh god then I'm going to have to kill the clone me for the last part probably and the clone's going to be like "come on guys, we're friends, don't do this"
I am soooooooooooo glad we got to the part of the campaign where we make deals with fiends instead of having to whack-a-mole them
or I'm overthinking it and the painting is just a painting that can talk
The text for Scroll of Protection reads "For 5 minutes, this barrier prevents creatures of the specified type from entering or affecting anything within the cylinder."
My assumption was that this was mainly to protect against melee attackers, but recently I'm seeing that other people take it to mean that the effect can go so far as to make it so projectiles or even spells cast by creatures of the specified type have no effect. I know Scrolls of Protection are rare items and an individual creature can make a Charisma check to no longer be hindered by the barrier, but that still seems crazy good.
The text for Scroll of Protection reads "For 5 minutes, this barrier prevents creatures of the specified type from entering or affecting anything within the cylinder."
My assumption was that this was mainly to protect against melee attackers, but recently I'm seeing that other people take it to mean that the effect can go so far as to make it so projectiles or even spells cast by creatures of the specified type have no effect. I know Scrolls of Protection are rare items and an individual creature can make a Charisma check to no longer be hindered by the barrier, but that still seems crazy good.
I feel like "affecting anything within" is pretty ironclad, so the barrier acts like a wall of force against the specified creatures unless they succeed on their Charisma Save after using their action (IMO)
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
I agree. This is magic we're talking about. Not physics.
I agree. This is magic we're talking about. Not physics.
this reminds me that my latest gripe is every single balancing argument on Reddit is like "but in real life" "but terminal velocity" "but realism" and its like okay so you're fine with people surviving meteors but not a fall?
same logic I think is why people don't let martials do amazing things, because we can contextualize how hard a person can punch, but when magic is involved we have no context so we're more willing to let magic do things that are a bit crazy
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Yea my thought for PCs is that their all touched by magic in some way. It just manifests differently.
This is the first time I get to kill my players conscience free, because they arranged to get true resurrections if they succeed in lieu of a reward if they don't come out of the tomb
I think I'm going to have him Banish the barbarian and then dimension door to the disposal area, go 1 on 1 with the barb, kick his butt, have acererak drag him to a tomb guardian to hold him down and feed a healing potion, Shapechange into an Intellect Devourer, then eat his brain. Return to the party's discord channel, have the barb say "holy shit I pushed him into the disposal and it worked "
then shove the bard into the lava
I don't just want to kill the party, I want him to fuck with them, otherwise this would be too much of a foregone conclusion
When I ran ToA, I made sure to impress on my players that survival was not a victory condition!
As long as the SoulMonger was destroyed, they would save the world. Defeating the Lich Acererak, the dude on the cover of the DMG, was icing on the cake.
So I got to kill them all in an EPIC battle, and they still saved the world and "won" D&D. It was smiles all over.
if you die in the tomb, you're done.
no resurrection spell will bring you back.
they destroyed the soul monger and the atropol
however I might have Acererak keep one of their souls, to add to his collection of stuff, maybe for a future one shot with the remaining characters at 20th level in the future
the first thing he did was cast Invulnerability :rotate:
We didn't know, of course, and made a great effort at trying to take him down. 2/3s of the party died, the others fled through a portal back into the jungle.
Then, as Acerack confronted the final character standing, my Halfling Monk, another portal opened behind me, and an alternate reality version of the party emerged, complete with a grizzled NPC we had grown attached to only for them to die third session in, before the Tomb adventure even started, whisking him away from certain death. The GM said he didn't want it to end on too much of a downer, especially since my Monk had almost broken Acerack's concentration on the spell multiple times.
I am tickled pink that if I have Acererak cast Banishment at 9th level, the only one who even can make the save is the bard, and the entire party ditched their black skull amulets because they thought they were some kind of trap
for those who don't know, being banished without one of these shunts the character to a giant garbage facility with two ways out, one gets you out, one kills you, no way to know which is which
if you die in the tomb, you're done.
no resurrection spell will bring you back.
they destroyed the soul monger and the atropol
however I might have Acererak keep one of their souls, to add to his collection of stuff, maybe for a future one shot with the remaining characters at 20th level in the future
doesn't matter, the tomb itself funnels souls into Ace's phylactery.
if you die in the tomb, you're done.
no resurrection spell will bring you back.
they destroyed the soul monger and the atropol
however I might have Acererak keep one of their souls, to add to his collection of stuff, maybe for a future one shot with the remaining characters at 20th level in the future
doesn't matter, the tomb itself funnels souls into Ace's phylactery.
okay well that's dumb so I'm not doing that, that'd just piss everyone off and leave everyone feeling bad about the entire campaign since there is no way they win this fight unless I have Acererak just be a moron
Edit#3: I've read this over and I disagree. There is flavor text that says that Acererak uses his dungeons so that his phylactery can feed on the adventurers that fall in them, but there are no DM instructions there - it's just flavor text referring to the past tense. There are DM instructions on page 7 that say anyone who dies is consumed by the Atropol after the Soul Monger has had the requisite time to Monch on them - either this instruction to the DM is incorrect, or Acererak is currently not doing that so his Soulmonger can work.
Besides it doesn't matter, a Lich phylactery can only contain one soul at a time, and it takes 24 hours before it is unavailable for raising
if you die in the tomb, you're done.
no resurrection spell will bring you back.
they destroyed the soul monger and the atropol
however I might have Acererak keep one of their souls, to add to his collection of stuff, maybe for a future one shot with the remaining characters at 20th level in the future
doesn't matter, the tomb itself funnels souls into Ace's phylactery.
I don't remember this at all. Where did the module say this? From my understanding, once the Soulmonger is out of the picture then souls are free to go wherever it is that souls go.
if you die in the tomb, you're done.
no resurrection spell will bring you back.
they destroyed the soul monger and the atropol
however I might have Acererak keep one of their souls, to add to his collection of stuff, maybe for a future one shot with the remaining characters at 20th level in the future
doesn't matter, the tomb itself funnels souls into Ace's phylactery.
I don't remember this at all. Where did the module say this? From my understanding, once the Soulmonger is out of the picture then souls are free to go wherever it is that souls go.
These two breakout boxes of flavor text:
Describing Acererak
And this one
under the "History of the Tomb" section which describes the tomb's "grisly past"
neither of these are guidelines for the DM (what does "Feed to his phylactery mean, specifically, mechanically?")
Besides, the next paragraph says he has abandoned the tomb to let the death god feast on souls so he can watch it from afar
Oh yeah. I feel like that's some of the larger lore around Acererak rather than a directive for the module. If the Lich eats a soul here and there, that's more of an active thing he chose to himself from time to time. A hobby that fueled his research and construction of the Soulmonger. Which, by itself, is the more passive and effective method of collecting souls for the express purpose of nursing an undead-god-fetus.
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... and represent that by handing them copies of their character sheets converted to older versions. Just for an encounter or two per edition of course, but I just like the idea of having them manage 1st edition attack matrices, then move to 2nd Ed. for some classic THAC0 and some alternative Initiative systems! Maybe someone will cast Fireball or Lightning Bolt indoors!? Then to spoil them with massive 3rd Edition Attack Bonus (+15 to hit!) whilst hoping no one tries to grapple!!
Also 4th edition would feature, but I've never played it so would have some difficulty with that one.
Source
Source
I personally still use the 4E take on the Underdark that it spans the Material Plane, Feywild, and Shadowfell, so if these turn out to be drow subraces I'll probably use the Greenshadow Drow for the drow of the Feywild's Underdark.
Personally I like the Kryn Dynasty drow of Exandria best, because they're descendants of former Lolth worshipers who up and decided one day that Lolth and the Underdark suck, actually, and live on the surface in cities covered by supernatural night.
I'd put money on none of these other drow being in Salvatore's upcoming books, if they do it's going to be really awkward, Yvonnel II suddenly being like "Wait, now I remember, not all of the drow fled to our sanctuary city, there's actually several other large groups of them that I previously forgot to mention but would have been really important, yeah it doesn't really make sense that they have the same physical attributes as us because we got those things after coming down here but..."
Despite my wish to see Salvatore's latest plot developments reflected in official sourcebooks, I am guessing they'll ignore them and be like "nah actually all drow from Menzobenzo except drizztboy are still evil, but we know that's problematic so we're retconning in new cities of drow that aren't evil"
the next book is literally about the city splitting between the secular and the lolth extremists for crying out loud, there was nearly an entire book about how common drow are just doing their best, and behind closed doors they despair at the chains their culture creates
talking about any group of D&D elves being "innately good" makes me give a huge side eye, where the elven ethnostates spent tens of thousands of years developing many flavors of "genocide - the spell". The Drow fled to avoid being exterminated by their surface cousins, and weren't even close to being the most "evil" faction of elves when they founded Menzobaranzan (A human who walks into the city of spiders might at least get a chance to explain their purpose and walk out alive, if they have some beneficial reason for being there - high elves? they'll just kill you, and if even the leader of their civilization shelters you, they'll destroy their civilization to kill you)
I've not read these books (although I'm kind of curious now), but is that next book you're talking about the one titled "Starlight Enclave"? Because one of the new drow varieties (the northern aevendrow) is also known as starlight elves.
No they're refugees from menzobaranzan who worship eilistree
The masked lord's were trying to find a reason to deny their permit, settling on "think of the children" and Laeral was like "yeah fuck that, waterdeep is a city of equality among races under the law they can build here if they want"
By definition if a group of elves didn't go into menzobaranzan with Yvonnel, they weren't drow. The dusk elves are literally the elves that didn't serve lolth, but didn't want to war against the drow - like literally that's what a drow is. Elves can and have left menzobaranzan to form other cities already in the lore (like Ched Nassad, Q'Xorlarrin recently), so I'm okay with the idea of hidden enclaves of non lolth-worshipping drow - but these are saying that they aren't breakaway factions, they're just super secret squirrel factions that never went down into the underdark with the first group. That makes no sense, they didn't go down into the underdark because they were evil, they went down to avoid a genocide. Everything the Drow teach about the evil of surface elves was 100% true 10,000 years ago in the lore!
I get it, I'm being super picky lore nerd - but I mean, it's their lore! They can accomplish every objective they had without violating it, and it sucks to read dozens of books in their world and have them disregarded as they update the lore
The Cult of the Open Eye
The origin of the Cult of the Open Eye dates back to shortly after the opening of the Door. Several of the Iron Mother’s former disciples, who had abandoned her cause and been proscribed for it, returned to Inuria and dug through her research. What they found was even more abhorrent than they had originally thought. One of them, a minor noble named Arturo de Vuarno, resolved that such horrific crimes against mortals should never be committed again. To that end, he met with a few of his like-minded friends and established a compact to root out the foulness of the Iron Mother’s machinations and destroy her works and research.
Over the next several years, they did just that, until word began to spread of a new religion, founded by the Paladin player from Seasons 1 and 2, dedicated to Bahamut, and based upon ancient texts unearthed from an age long past. Aware that the Iron Mother had also dabbled in such works, the compact rushed to gather whatever ancient texts and relics they could find, and keep them sequestered away, to protect society from them. What they could find, they studied, but they lacked the presence of a God to temper the writings and distill the true meaning, as the Paladin had in Bahamut.
What emerged from their study was a Biune God, Sol Eternus and Luna Clementa. The compact reformed as a cult, the Cult of the Open Eye, with Arturo as the first Grandmaster. And from that original compact, combined with their uncovered writings, came the Unforgivable Sin: No being shall be allowed to partake in the life force of an unwilling conscious being. Although they remained dedicated to their original vow to prevent the recreation of any of the Iron Mother’s dark magics, they slowly took on additional responsibilities. For just before the Door was shut, an invasion unlike any seen before took place. Even when the Door was closed, many such evil creatures remained and had to be dispatched. With the divine secrets bestowed upon them from their gathered relics, they learned new ways to fight the creatures of the Night, and turn Luna’s blessing against them. As decades have passed and the cult has spread, they continue to find new means of service to their communities, most often through the eradication of creatures that are beyond the capacity of ordinary mortals.
The Cult Today
Today the cult has spread far from the ashes of Inuria, and covers much of the world in relative secrecy. Most commoners would know of the existence of the cult and the location of the town with the nearest enclave, and a few might know an Acolyte by name. The primary weapon of the cult, aside from divine magic derived from Sol and Luna, is gunpowder, for several reasons. In the early days of the compact, the nobles often carried firearms in self-defense. They were found to be quite effective at disposing of evil creatures, especially when firing silver bullets, which encouraged their continued use. As the Cult developed, they saw in gunpowder an expression of their own beliefs: that light could be drawn forth from darkness with but a single spark. Their symbol, used on their holy symbols as well as their garments, is that of an open eye, with a pupil half covered to represent sunset. Five rays like eyelashes sprout from the top half of the eye.
Tenets of the Faith
1. No mortal stands above another in the eyes of Sol Eternus and Luna Clementa.
2. The body of a mortal is weak and impermanent. The soul is eternal, pure at birth and corrupted by time and the iniquity of the world. Purity of soul is regained through charity and selflessness.
3. Although the Door has been closed, mortals are yet beset upon from beyond the world by unfathomable entities of malice and hatred. These entities must be killed at the root lest they take firm hold.
4. The Night is the refuge of foul creatures and fouler deeds. But by studying creatures of the Night, we may be inured to their powers and even turn the Night against them.
5. In combat, there is no such thing as a “fair fight.” If your cause is just, overwhelming force and even the use of traditionally “unsportsmanlike” techniques are acceptable. However, unnecessary pain is to be avoided. Poisons that prolong suffering, or actions such as torture, are forbidden from use by adherents.
6. The Cult remains as such for its own protection. Although you bear symbols of the cult in public, the means of contacting other disciples must be protected to ensure its safety.
7. Gunpowder is the purest expression of the spirit of the cult. Although other weapons may be used in a pinch, the use of gunpowder as a means of purifying the wicked is preferable.
Taboos
1. The Unforgivable Sin: No mortal shall ever practice in magic that unwillingly transfers life force from another. Such an action irrevocably damages both souls.
2. Provide no aid or comfort to aberrations and monstrosities. Such creatures prey on mortals and often exert their will where it does not belong.
3. Suffer not the shapechangers to exist. All those afflicted by lycanthropy are abhorrent; if the mortal (not the beast, for it is a creature of only instinct) shows repentance, then offer aid in providing a cure. A were-beast who has given in to its nature shall be put down.
Rituals
1. Every morning, a disciple performs an extensive prayer that is conducted while cleansing their firearms and anointing them in ritual oil. This ritual gives the Cleric/Paladin/devotee their spells.
2. When an abomination, monstrosity, or shapechanger is slain, its heart (or nearest analogue) is ritually cut out and burned. This ritual signifies the triumph of light against the darkness.
3. When a serious mistake is made, such as an innocent losing their life due to a disciple’s actions, a moonlight vigil is conducted. Luna forgives those who fail and seek redemption through the ritual, which also involves bathing or immersion in water to represent the washing away of sin.
Holy Days
- The Day of Sol takes place on the vernal equinox, and is the most significant holy day in the religion. A day spent in celebration and good cheer, disciples are encouraged to spend this time with friends and family, drink, and welcome the oncoming season of warmth as Sol Eternus ascends.
- Similarly, the Day of Luna takes place on the autumnal equinox, and is somewhat more subdued. It is a day for quiet contemplation and reverence, and also a day to practice clemency in honor of Luna Clementa herself. This is the day to let go of old grudges, for they only weigh you down, and you will need your strength for winter.
- The Nightscour, or Winter Solstice (known in some places as Frostfeast) is the time of year when Night is at its strongest. Believers light a bonfire and tell stories of heroes and good times to ward off the evil spirits that wander about on this day.
- Arturhart is the customary celebration that occurs on the anniversary of the founding of the cult. Tradition dictates an exchange of small gifts or kind words between the devout.
- The Day of Mourning is the day in remembrance of the Door closing coinciding with the many deaths at the hands of the invading creatures. On the night of this day, a worshipper lights a small candle for each of their deceased loved ones.
Presence and Activities
The Cult has an Enclave in every major city and in many towns. Small settlements may have a contact in a larger town to reach out to for help. Where they have a presence, it is almost always hidden for the protection of the whole. Individual disciples typically live among the people and wear their badges and symbols in the open, as their actions to protect society tend to make them well-received. Although there is some variation, a typical Enclave contains a room for prayers and worship, a small library of various religious texts and monster-slaying treatises, an armory for the creation and blessing of the cult's traditional firearms, a powder-closet for the storing of ammunition, and one or more small meeting rooms for discussion of cult business.
Anyone in need of help may leave a note on a town message board with their concern and a mark in the shape of the cult’s symbol. An Acolyte or Inquisitor will check the boards periodically and find it. Cities may have a dedicated mailbox-like object marked with the cult’s symbol to be used as a sort of dead drop. In the largest cities, where the local enclave is too massive to practically hide, notes may be left in person.
The primary focus of the modern, expanded cult is the fight against monsters, with the dangers of magical mis-use more of a concern in the larger enclaves. Typically, disciples do not deal with matters such as presiding over trials or resolving disputes (such matters are typically handled by the Church of Bahamut) but they may be sought for such things in a pinch. They may also provide opinions regarding appropriate penance for certain unusual crimes when the local government is unsure. Lastly, they may be contacted in certain areas purely for their expertise with explosives. If a large boulder is in the way of a new road and must be broken, a disciple may be hired for the task if no professional is readily available.
Aside from the enclaves, the Temple of Dawn is the main refuge of the cult, up in the mountains past the ruins of Aberidge. Those who seek to become members of the cult make their way here to walk the Path. It is the home of the cult’s Grandmaster and most of the Novices, as well as the location of the Conclave, where all Masters may meet. Complex Sending magics allow for even distant Masters to attend as though in person.
More Like Guidelines
Acolytes and above (that is to say, any Disciple one is likely to encounter in public) typically possess broad leeway in dealing with matters. Disciples are encouraged to adhere more to the spirit of the law than the letter. The sole exception to this is the Unforgivable Sin, which is never to be considered a just action. In a matter of disagreement between two disciples, the senior or ranking member typically “wins,” but a concerned “loser” may appeal up the command. This is especially true when it comes to the taking of lives, which is never to be done lightly.
Ranks and Trials
Entrance into the cult makes one a disciple, but there are several ranks within the cult itself.
Every new recruit starts as a Novice. They will learn (almost always at the Temple of Dawn) and serve in prayer, in the production of gunpowder and ammunition, and in various other tasks while preparing themselves for true membership. When they are deemed ready, an Inquisitor at the temple will oversee their first trial.
The Trial of Blood is the first trial a disciple attempts. In their duties, Inquisitors will occasionally harvest blood from slain lycanthropes. This blood is mixed with a cocktail of drugs that induce panic and then injected into the Novice attempting the trial. To pass the trial, the Novice must survive without succumbing to the disease or losing control of themselves. If they fail and attack another or transform, they are cured by the Inquisitor and asked to leave. Of these, a few sometimes return, but most take it as a sign that the life of a disciple was not for them. Those who survive become an Acolyte. The ritual leaves lasting effects on the body, namely, enhanced senses and the yellow eyes of a wolf.
The Acolyte is the most common rank in the cult, representing the rank and file of the religion. They handle most day-to-day business outside the temples and the slaying of lesser monsters.
Beyond this point, the trials are kept secret. Only those who have passed them know them for certain, and it is possible or even likely that they will vary based upon which enclave performs them. The Trial of Judgment is used to determine whether an Acolyte may rise to Inquisitor, and some further unknown trial is conducted for Inquisitors to become Masters. Of the highest rank, the Grandmaster is elected for life (or retirement) from among all living Masters.
An Inquisitor, ranking above Acolyte, typically has a local enclave and a few Acolytes in a smaller town under their purview. When they are called upon, it is for more grave threats and more dangerous heresies. A Master runs a large enclave with several young Inquisitors and many Acolytes in a large city. Masters alone are called to attend Conclaves, the cult-wide meetings that are used to set or change religious doctrine.
Ta-LIE-SIN
wake up people
continued on to Mad Maggie's place, I told off all the redcaps and wrestled an Oni blacksmith (and won!)
Mad Maggie made a warlock pact with me, Pact of the Gray Portrait from the WONDERFUL compendium of forgotten secrets - with the difference that "The painted world" feature was given to me at level 1 warlock
the DM combined my song of creation ability with this, so not only can I paint a painting and the party can walk into it, but we can take things out of the painting up to 20x my level in gold value (although it only lasts 7 hours, wizard #2 is going to find this out next session as his character kept interrupting me when I tried to explain, thinking I was going to insist he pay for the suit he put on inside a shop depicted in the painting)
She gave us a war machine, and I promptly painted a pleasant oceanside penthouse view in its cargo container, so the assorted entourage following the party climbed in - the DM realizing these demiplanes have no duration on them, but they can be easily destroyed if the artwork takes damage
I made the pact with Mad Maggie to cure my warlocks vampirism, which it did, but it also turned me into a fiend who has to gather 8 contracts for Mad Maggie to be free from her
the rest of the party had a lot of fun with their own stuff too, it really seems DM was storing a lot of his creative juices for the Avernian planes, and only ran a bunch of stuff in elturel because he had prepared it so, why not run it
She built a memory device straight out of professor farnsworth's lab and needs us to go recover parts to finish it from around avernus, 3 locations mentioned but we can do them in any order - to dig into the elephant's memory to get the secret to winning
I'm glad this one was so much better than the last 3
See this all just sounds straight up awesome. I'm real glad you were able to get through to this!
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
I love Bluetspur, the Headless Rider, and so many of the domains they created or reimagined for this book. I have realized I really love horror themed adventures in D&D.
I want one...
Second session was really short as we basically ran from one of the big monsters and escaped the house. I did give our DM a headsup as with lvl 3, I've chosen Gloom Stalker as subclass and that "doesn't show up on darkvision" passive ability is something that he should be aware of when setting up encounters.
We've also decided that my character, due to consistently rolling far better attack rolls for her off-hand than her main, is actually right-handed, but thinks she's left-handed.
I was like what the hell kind of fiendish contract can a child agree to? And she said "That's the benefit of bein' a warlord to hell and a certified denizen of the Feywild sugar, if I don't like one set of magical deal rules, I use the other!"
my soul is now bound to a painting, like Dorian Grey, so if I can touch the painting I can cure most ailments, and if I'm ever killed I can be brought back with ANY return to life spell by casting it on the painting, no matter the duration. If the painting is destroyed I start accruing exhaustion until I create a new one
issue is the DM has the painting talk to me and constantly insist that I am a pale reflection of it, and it initially was trying to convince the party that it was the real me trapped in the painting, and my character was just some kind of fiendish clone
it's really great
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Shame, the temple they're in has the new Loup Garou or "common werewolf" as far as they party knows in it, aka "what the werewolf should have been"
Ideas so far:
I mean, given how the resurrection for it works, it's probably right.
I asked the DM if I was the real me or a fiendish clone and my arcana check revealed "Whatever makes you feel better" was the answer
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
did
did the hag make a clone of my character and put the real me into a painting, suffering all the wounds for the clone, all diseases and poisons, with my character's soul powering resurrections of the clone should it die, using the soul coin to provide the soul for the clone
because that's the most night haggy thing I've ever heard of and that's sure as shit what I would do
I will be disappointed if at some point in this campaign I don't have to fight myself
I have 8 fiendish contracts I must sign with mortals that cause them suffering according to Maggie, I got two right off the bat (Gift of Expansive Knowledge for the wizard to fill out every spell of a level he can cast in his spellbook and Gift of Unfettered Freedom for... freeing an NPC from vampire charm... my vampire charm, I had to keep charming her so she didn't get mad at me for charming her so we could steal some stuff), one from my party because the wizard was like YEAH I LIKE INFERNAL CONTRACTS (the rub is going to come when he discovers that he can't change his prepared spells until we collect the parts for Maggie's memory machine, despite having his spellbook full of them)
My guess at this time is that after signing the 8th contract my character will be released from the painting, cured of vampirism per our agreement - because "Maggie's got a reputation for delivering, but that aint mean you'll be happy with how you get there, sufferin is my blood little vampire, and Maggie's gotta get fed too" (paraphrased) is what I was told when I started so...... I really hope I end up being right
oh god then I'm going to have to kill the clone me for the last part probably and the clone's going to be like "come on guys, we're friends, don't do this"
I am soooooooooooo glad we got to the part of the campaign where we make deals with fiends instead of having to whack-a-mole them
or I'm overthinking it and the painting is just a painting that can talk
The text for Scroll of Protection reads "For 5 minutes, this barrier prevents creatures of the specified type from entering or affecting anything within the cylinder."
My assumption was that this was mainly to protect against melee attackers, but recently I'm seeing that other people take it to mean that the effect can go so far as to make it so projectiles or even spells cast by creatures of the specified type have no effect. I know Scrolls of Protection are rare items and an individual creature can make a Charisma check to no longer be hindered by the barrier, but that still seems crazy good.
I feel like "affecting anything within" is pretty ironclad, so the barrier acts like a wall of force against the specified creatures unless they succeed on their Charisma Save after using their action (IMO)
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
this reminds me that my latest gripe is every single balancing argument on Reddit is like "but in real life" "but terminal velocity" "but realism" and its like okay so you're fine with people surviving meteors but not a fall?
same logic I think is why people don't let martials do amazing things, because we can contextualize how hard a person can punch, but when magic is involved we have no context so we're more willing to let magic do things that are a bit crazy
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Acererak rolled a natural 20 on initiative
This is the first time I get to kill my players conscience free, because they arranged to get true resurrections if they succeed in lieu of a reward if they don't come out of the tomb
I think I'm going to have him Banish the barbarian and then dimension door to the disposal area, go 1 on 1 with the barb, kick his butt, have acererak drag him to a tomb guardian to hold him down and feed a healing potion, Shapechange into an Intellect Devourer, then eat his brain. Return to the party's discord channel, have the barb say "holy shit I pushed him into the disposal and it worked
then shove the bard into the lava
I don't just want to kill the party, I want him to fuck with them, otherwise this would be too much of a foregone conclusion
no resurrection spell will bring you back.
As long as the SoulMonger was destroyed, they would save the world. Defeating the Lich Acererak, the dude on the cover of the DMG, was icing on the cake.
So I got to kill them all in an EPIC battle, and they still saved the world and "won" D&D. It was smiles all over.
they destroyed the soul monger and the atropol
however I might have Acererak keep one of their souls, to add to his collection of stuff, maybe for a future one shot with the remaining characters at 20th level in the future
We didn't know, of course, and made a great effort at trying to take him down. 2/3s of the party died, the others fled through a portal back into the jungle.
Then, as Acerack confronted the final character standing, my Halfling Monk, another portal opened behind me, and an alternate reality version of the party emerged, complete with a grizzled NPC we had grown attached to only for them to die third session in, before the Tomb adventure even started, whisking him away from certain death. The GM said he didn't want it to end on too much of a downer, especially since my Monk had almost broken Acerack's concentration on the spell multiple times.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
for those who don't know, being banished without one of these shunts the character to a giant garbage facility with two ways out, one gets you out, one kills you, no way to know which is which
doesn't matter, the tomb itself funnels souls into Ace's phylactery.
okay well that's dumb so I'm not doing that, that'd just piss everyone off and leave everyone feeling bad about the entire campaign since there is no way they win this fight unless I have Acererak just be a moron
Edit#3: I've read this over and I disagree. There is flavor text that says that Acererak uses his dungeons so that his phylactery can feed on the adventurers that fall in them, but there are no DM instructions there - it's just flavor text referring to the past tense. There are DM instructions on page 7 that say anyone who dies is consumed by the Atropol after the Soul Monger has had the requisite time to Monch on them - either this instruction to the DM is incorrect, or Acererak is currently not doing that so his Soulmonger can work.
Besides it doesn't matter, a Lich phylactery can only contain one soul at a time, and it takes 24 hours before it is unavailable for raising
I don't remember this at all. Where did the module say this? From my understanding, once the Soulmonger is out of the picture then souls are free to go wherever it is that souls go.
These two breakout boxes of flavor text:
Describing Acererak
And this one
under the "History of the Tomb" section which describes the tomb's "grisly past"
neither of these are guidelines for the DM (what does "Feed to his phylactery mean, specifically, mechanically?")
Besides, the next paragraph says he has abandoned the tomb to let the death god feast on souls so he can watch it from afar