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[DnD 5E Discussion] This is the way 5E ends. Not with a bang but a gnome mindflayer.

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  • WearingglassesWearingglasses Of the friendly neighborhood variety Registered User regular
    I was reading up on the Leorcs, and I was thinking, Hair Duels - loser shaves off his hair.

  • NipsNips He/Him Luxuriating in existential crisis.Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    Whelk wrote: »
    All of this does remind me of an industrialized necromancer society I've played around with mentally. I like the idea of necromancy in this world only working on the willing, but it's a horrific existence as your soul is in a painful state of limbo while rudimentary magic pilots your corpse and you look on, feeling only the trauma inflicted to it.

    Yet..... You get paid for allowing your body to be used for labors after you've died. So there's a big work force who pulled themselves out of poverty in life for a couple decades of torture after death. Depending on the nature of your death, you might make it out without being animated at all! So there's a big middle class in this small necro-nation who live life to a ridiculous degree. A small percentage are more prudent and buy their way out of their contracts through deed or amassing a larger fortune. But I like the idea of all the farms, mines and factories being tended by skellymans.

    Or, instead of an industrial dystopia, you could have the Necromantic Socialist Republic, where the dead see to the material needs of all, for the mere price of donating your body to the People after you're done with it. Neighboring feudal kingdoms hate this arrangement, as it eliminates all need for aristocrats, leading to propaganda campaigns about necromancy being inherently evil and how necromancers pervert the natural order and must be destroyed.

    This description is so close to how my homebrew necromantic society is detailed, I cannot fathom how you so perfectly nailed it. My society has more emphasis on the familial community and it uses a form of necromantic magic that reveres and respects the formerly departed, but is otherwise spot on.

    Have you been reading my notes and/or mind?

    Nips on
    JXUBxMxP0QndjQUEnTwTxOkfKmx8kWNvuc-FUtbSz_23_DAhGKe7W9spFKLXAtkpTBqM8Dt6kQrv-rS69Hi3FheL3fays2xTeVUvWR7g5UyLHnFA0frGk1BC12GYdOSRn9lbaJB-uH0htiLPJMrc9cSRsIgk5Dx7jg9K8rJVfG43lkeAWxTgcolNscW9KO2UZjKT8GMbYAFgFvu2TaMoLH8LBA5p2pm6VNYRsQK3QGjCsze1TOv2yIbCazmDwCHmjiQxNDf6LHP35msyiXo3CxuWs9Y8DQvJjvj10kWaspRNlWHKjS5w9Y0KLuIkhQKOxgaDziG290v4zBmTi-i7OfDz-foqIqKzC9wTbn9i_uU87GRitmrNAJdzRRsaTW5VQu_XX_5gCN8XCoNyu5RWWVGTsjJuyezz1_NpFa903Uj2TnFqnL1wJ-RZiFAAd2Bdut-G1pdQtdQihsq2dx_BjtmtGC3KZRyylO1t2c12dhfb0rStq4v8pg46ciOcdtT_1qm85IgUmGd7AmgLxCFPb0xnxWZvr26G-oXSqrQdjKA1zNIInSowiHcbUO2O8S5LRJVR6vQiEg0fbGXw4vqJYEn917tnzHMh8r0xom8BLKMvoFDelk6wbEeNq8w8Eyu2ouGjEMIvvJcb2az2AKQ1uE_7gdatfKG2QdvfdSBRSc35MQ=w498-h80-no
  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    edited May 2020
    Quoting from the SE++ tabletop RPG thread:
    Darmak wrote: »
    So I'm sure I can come up with something, but my next Spelljammer session is next week, and I wanted to pick y'alls brains for ideas. Sooooo please help,
    our last Spelljammer session ended in the middle of a dungeon. They'll finish it off, and then I plan to give our paladin a vision during their next long rest afterwards. See, she's an aasimar with a celestial guardian, and before our adventures she already knew our fighter. They worked together as friends for one of the Lords of Waterdeep or something (IRL they're married), and at some point during a mission he was murdered. She prayed to anyone, her guardian included, to bring him back. He was, and she was surprised because she's obviously just a lowly paladin. However, he's now a hollow one, like from the Wildemount book, and he has no recollection of his former life and only knows what the paladin has told him and he trusts her. Luckily for him, she's very honest and truthful. Her vision is going to be a dream from her solar guardian telling her she needs to go back to Toril and discover who his murderer is and bring them to justice. However, I have next to zero (if not fuckin negative) knowledge of how to do a sort of murder mystery sort of game (the paladin's player, when talking about it, said she envisioned it like a game of Clue?) and I wanted to know if y'all had any thoughts on it, because that would be rad and I'd love to do it but I want ideas on how to do it. I can just google for them, but those can be hit or miss so I figured I'd ask y'all first

    Darmak on
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  • TerrendosTerrendos Decorative Monocle Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    If I were to do a murder mystery, this is how I'd do it. I'd structure the investigation loosely, and basically have 3-5 "clues" to provide.

    1. First one is simple, like a location. The murderee can only remember that it happened in the basement of a manor in their hometown. Let's check the local manors to see which one matches up, and maybe there's more there we can find!
    2. This one's a red herring. It belongs to someone who's been framed, or it's just unrelated. A conspicuous handkerchief at the scene of the crime, or something. But when they interrogate the owner, they get
    3. A big clue. Probably not enough for the party to figure it out, but hey, if they do, good on them. If not, they get
    4. The break in the case. The DNA Evidence got back from the lab and it turns out it's ELF BLOOD, but the prime suspects are a Dwarf and a Goblin! Could it be the shifty-eyed Elf stranger they talked to when they first got the location? And if the party is hopelessly lost...
    5. Always have a fallback in case your party doesn't put the pieces together. They catch the person with guilty knowledge, or whatever.

    So to make this work, you'll probably need 2-3 locations (the scene of the murder, a second place related to the murder, and maybe a police office or crime lab) and half a dozen people for them to interact with and suspect. Look through character backstories and pull out one or two NPCs so there's someone the group knows (and would never suspect bwahaha) and fill the rest in with some cliches: the butler, the femme fatale, etc. And honestly, I'd probably pick 2 of them to have committed the crime, and that way I have a preplanned backup if they just happen to get lucky and guess which one you've picked right away.

    The other thing to do would be to glance through your group's spell list and make sure they can't instantly solve the case with a magic spell. If the party has access to stuff like Detect Thoughts or Zone of Truth you're going to have a more difficult time. I'm not sure if it's RAI, but my read of Detect Thoughts is that, if the target is thinking in a different language, you'd have to know the language to understand, so that might help. And Tongues, RAW, only lets someone understand a spoken language, so you could argue it wouldn't be able to translate thoughts.

    EDIT: To clarify, I would also be flexible with my locations and characters. If they decide that they absolutely need to talk to the town coroner, and you didn't plan on them going there, well, that's going to be where your next 1-2 characters and your next clue is going to be.

    Terrendos on
  • The Zombie PenguinThe Zombie Penguin Eternal Hungry Corpse Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    I was reading up on the Leorcs, and I was thinking, Hair Duels - loser shaves off his hair.

    Well, that sounds brutal and also yes, i can totally see that as a cultural element. Heck, you might even get some males who are carrying around multiple braids or similar, signs they've won many a duel. (Now wether this is looked up to or down upon is also going to depend, but that's fine! Cultural differences between tribes etc is important. I hate mono-culture races).

    I still need to figure out how i'd stat these up as a 5e race. Off the top of my head - +2 to strength or dex (player's choice, and seems fitting). Come with proficiency in stealth (they are afterall, ambush hunters). I'd want to figure out some sort of system that leans into Exhaustion - stacking it up if they miss their sleep needs, but also letting them shed it quickly once they get the needs.

    Subraces would probably be things like Mountain, Grasslands, Forest and City orcs, with various mental bonuses depending on where, and possibly something similar to the wood elf's stealth feature for each biome.

    ...and dammit, now i want to play an Orc Gentlewoman Thief/Inventor (so artficier, probably? Battle-Smith or something, maybe!), because that'd be awesome. It does however give the comical mental image of every completely missing the giant orc lass sitting in the middle of a box in the town square. She's just THAT STEALTHY.

    @Tastyfish So you could do some real fun with taking your elves as feline and bouncing off Tolkien's orcs-come-from elves here - Keep my lionorcs as outlined, but they're outliers - big cats are generally solitary. Which is where the elves come in, gracile predators who dont get along and tend to clash violently with orcs over territory.

    *jots down notes to use in an implied setting sometime*

    Edit: Thoguhts on Orc domesitcated animals.

    I imagine they have two primary domesticated animals - Wolfdogs and Microraptors.

    Okay, here me out. Dogs make sense for Orcs given their nature as hunters, and it's easy to imagine that all things considered Orc dogs have stayed much closer to the wolf base. As a fun flavor note, Orc-trained hunting dogs would presumably be very valuable - It's easy to imagine some Orc tribes may have become very wealthy selling to various noble lords or similar. Plus all the plot hooks you can hang on something like this! Also because Dog-obssed orcs is just great. "Look, i know we're chasing after a criminal, but theres a VERY FLUFFY DOG IN THAT ALLEY AND I NEED TO CUDDLE IT"

    Microraptors... So i was tempted to call these Chicken-raptors. Because that's basically what i'm imagining - Meat eating chickens. If you've ever read manly guys doing manly things, then imagine the raptors from that. These would be valuable as a source of meat that doesnt need hunting, easy to feed with the scraps and by products of their hunts, and provide feathers (Fletching!) as well as eggs (An extra reliable source of protein is valuable). For extra fun, i like to imagine that microraptors might be highly suspicious of outsiders, so they help keep a village secure just by raising one hell of a fuss. (And you can have your adventuer party get chased by angry fluffy raptors which is great)

    Beyond that - Pigs seem very likely, as they're pretty self-caring from what i know. Goats are possibility too for more mountain dwelling orcs, given those are likewise something that's pretty self-caring from what i know. Beyond that, i dont really know enough about domesticated animals that would fit in with a society that's not big on farming. real world nomadic cultures would be an interesting place to consider, and nomadic steppe orcs sound awesome.

    The Zombie Penguin on
    Ideas hate it when you anthropomorphize them
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  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    So I’m having standard D&D race thoughts:

    Elves have three cities. A city in a magical forest built from living trees. A city on a snowy mountain made of ice with a permanent aurora above it. A city built across an underground magma warmed lagoon.

    Elves themselves are nomadic, but far from primitive. They’ve mastered magic hut, wards, alarm, mending, all manner of spells that make common travelling problems trivial. Throw in some animated furniture, enhanced unseen servants and fey horses and an elven tribe can have a more comfortable set up than the established towns they pass by.

    Different tribes follow different routes, but they all travel through the three cities over a cycle of 10 years. The elderly (in years if not body) move into a preferred city on the way, elves of different tribes trade goods and information, and some even move on with different tribes.

    The cities are effectively themed retirement homes, but the uninformed have built up the classic myths of wood, high and dark elves, with the nomads as outcasts.

    Elves also use (to them) very basic illusion magic to change their skin, eye and hair tone the way humans use make-up, further adding to the confusion.

    The elves don’t lay claim to any land they travel through, but will go to war if the land is sufficiently damaged by a nation, for both spiritual and practical reasons. As in, you can draw any line on your maps you like, but if we personally can’t hunt and rest here, you’re gone bro.

  • WearingglassesWearingglasses Of the friendly neighborhood variety Registered User regular
    Roll20 went down just as I was going to open the doors to the facility the party was going to investigate. Welp.

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    More thoughts:

    Goblins are terrible mimics. A living mockery made by a chaotic power (I’m thinking neither god nor demon; a Limbo thing), goblins will absorb surrounding cultures and run them through a filter of wild mischief.

    Near a woodcutter’s lodge they’ll spend their days snapping twigs, hollering orders in broken Common and stealing hot chocolate. Likewise near a nation of orcs they’ll run around naked covered in incorrectly drawn on tribal tattoos punching whoever or whatever is nearby. Around the elven cities they fire bone arrows at intruders and have been subtly groomed to be effective if sporadic guard dogs that bark pieces of Elvish poetry. They live like rats in human cities, and hold nonsense courts in the sewers wearing stolen wigs and white powder make-up with beauty spots drawn on.

    They’re not naturally evil, but due to their feedback loop of copying and exaggerating behaviour if a nation shows great evil their goblins will too, and if your up and coming Dark Lord gathers a host of them they can be pushed to the extremes of villainy without fully understanding their actions.

    Left in absolute isolation they perish, partly due to incompetence and at least a fraction because the chaotic power desires them to be near other races, forcing them to seek out the very people that will likely turn on them due to their antics.

    Last thing, they’ve got bat faces, 100% taken from this piece by UlaFish.
    2lans245aj5d.jpeg

  • WearingglassesWearingglasses Of the friendly neighborhood variety Registered User regular
    Make them a by-product. No one's creation, but something that still tries to live.
    The first thing Tak did, he wrote himself.
    The second thing Tak did, he wrote the Laws.
    The third thing Tak did, he wrote the World.
    The fourth thing Tak did, he wrote a cave.
    The fifth thing Tak did, he wrote a geode, an egg of stone.
    And in the twilight of the mouth of the cave, the geode hatched, and the Brothers were born.
    The first Brother walked toward the light, and stood under the open sky. Thus he became too tall. He was the first Man. He found no Laws and he was enlightened.
    The second Brother walked toward the darkness, and stood under a roof of stone. Thus he achieved the correct height. He was the first Dwarf. He found the Laws Tak had written, and he was endarkened.
    Then Tak looked upon the stone and it was trying to come alive, and Tak smiled, and wrote All things strive.
    And for the service the stone had given, he fashioned it into the first Troll, and delighted in the life that came unbidden.
    These are the things that Tak wrote!

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Love me some Discworld!

    I am considering that goblins just pop out of ‘goblin warts’ that grow where the material world has been thinned by magic. Everyone has a baseline dislike of wizards because goblins spring up within 5 miles of their towers.

    Or perhaps the original elves were born from a divine tree, and goblins are rotten fruit touched by the chaotic force.

    Maybe the tree still stands and plucking the next fruit is hotly contested by the gods who want their own elves.

  • GoumindongGoumindong Registered User regular
    I dont see leorcs having “more wolflike” dogs. Wolf like dogs would be unproductive and maybe even counter productive. The orcs can do the hunting themselves but wolf like dogs are more likely to want to assert dominance when the orcs are in the meat sleeps.

    I would rather see them hyper domesticated. In the north they would pull sleds as the orc followed the caribou. In warmer clime they would be like terriers, sniffing out rodents, and getting into burrows. All over you would see retreivers and bulls and other traditional “guard” dogs. Dogs in general would be fluffy (the better to be lazy with during the down time) or otherwise soft.

    Cats, of course, also work. And fit the passive nature of value leorcs would need out of domesticated animals. But i think dogs a better in general.

    wbBv3fj.png
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Orcs have pet crocodiles but they call them dogs.

  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    edited May 2020
    They just call anything trained (or at least leashed) a dog.
    "Is... Is that a bear??" "Hargh! It dog!"

    Big orc dragging a pissed off dire wolf around, calling it Fluffy.

    Glal on
  • The Zombie PenguinThe Zombie Penguin Eternal Hungry Corpse Registered User regular
    Orcs have pet crocodiles but they call them dogs.

    Costal orcs have those Hammer-head dog things you? or someone else posted earlier in the thread. Costal orcs would be really interesting - Fish traps can be super passive and effective, but i don't know enough about fishing/sailing itself to say how effective that would (or would not) be given Liorcs needs. On the other hand, seal hunting or similar in more arctic climes is totally a thing that happens. Plus, it's not like you have to go sailing etc to make use of costal terrain

    @Goumindong Thanks for that info - I'd not considered that angle, and it's a good set of points. Consider it stolen and integrated. Though i imagine one advantage of Micoraptors is that they'd go after rats, mice, etc. (Chickens will already do this, because chickens are psychopaths. Making them actual dinosaurs pointy teeth will just make it worse/better!)

    One has to imagine cats would turn up anyway though - Cats are pretty self-domesticating form what i've gathered, and probably would be considered useful enough for Liorcs to not complain about having them around.

    @Glal I approve of this, even more so because the dire wolf is probably aware that if it gets too pissy, Real Big Steve will supplex it. The party's hafling meanwhile is sure Fluffy is planning to eat them when Real Big Steve is not paying attention.

    Ideas hate it when you anthropomorphize them
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  • WhelkWhelk Registered User regular
    See, I saw the liorcs having birds of prey and hardy mounts instead. Pet hawks that don't require much food, clean bones, and are intimidating while they sleep.

    On second hand, big iguanas are already like dogs and I'd love to see that.

  • The Zombie PenguinThe Zombie Penguin Eternal Hungry Corpse Registered User regular
    Whelk wrote: »
    See, I saw the liorcs having birds of prey and hardy mounts instead. Pet hawks that don't require much food, clean bones, and are intimidating while they sleep.

    On second hand, big iguanas are already like dogs and I'd love to see that.

    I mean, there's no reason not to say "All of the above" or just go with various different sub-cultures/sub races of orcs having difference preferences! As said, i hate monocultures, so i'm all for ways to spice things up. Doing some digging into Falconry (Which is a great idea i'd not considered), it seems most likely they'd be using some kind of Golden-Eagle or similar as their falcons of choice - big birds to help bring down big game, rather than small game. So it's probably something that sees more use in Steppe tribes or Mountain tribes, while hunting dogs would be the goto for Forest or grassland based tribes.

    Though, Haast's Eagle was a forest-capable giant fucking eagle. So perhaps some forest dwelling tribes would be falconeering to? (I dont know enough about the art to usefully say). Grasslands, i'm imaging the goto game is bigstuff - your bison, your wildebeest, your elephants - stuff where falconeering may be less useful, perhaps?

    One thing that i am imaging though is that landscapes under orc territory while not farmed in the traditional sense, definitely cultivated - Effort would go into tracking the natural heards, sustainable hunting of such, predator control and similar. Orcs have still gone through their own version of an agriculture revolution, it's just gone very different places.

    With Iguanas, the one issue i can see is that of Iguanas being cold blooded - Which wouldn't lend itself well to why you'd want a hunting dog (or night hunts for that matter, something that an ambush species is certainly going to excel at). Thaaaat said... marine iguanas are a thing, and they're already pretty big fellows. They do, admittedly, go diving for algae pretty much exclusively - but it's hardly breaking the rules too much to imagine a bigger (Komodo dragonish?) sized, predatory Iguana that coastal dwelling orcs have domesticated to help with hunting the sea's bounty.

    Plus, then you've got the great image of orcs and their giant iguana buddies stretched out coastal rocks, soaking in the sun to heat up in between dives. Shades of the japanese Ama (Pearl hunting freedivers), perhaps.

    @Whelk what sort of mounts are you imaging them using? I honestly know very little about things Equestrian or well, anything animal riding related. The one thing i am under the impression of is that horses are in general a lot of work - Perhaps Donkey-derived mounts (harder to tame/train, but easier to keep on forage from a quick google) would be the goto?

    (Also thanks everyone for the feedback and addtions! Have you figured out i love discussing world building yet?)

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  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    I might have drunk bought the Numenera core book last night. >.>

    It's so pretty and cool though!

    JtgVX0H.png
  • Hexmage-PAHexmage-PA Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    I'm working on the backstory for my new PC, Nefelus Dunerain. In addition to the tables in Xanathar's and Wildemount I also consulted an article called Building Character from Dragon 422.

    The results were...interesting.

    - Nefelus was born in prison, the child of a wicked villain and an accomplice former-diplomat slated for execution. A couple of executioners (who would eventually end the lives of Nefelus' birth parents) adopted him as their own, never telling the boy the truth.
    - Though he had a stable home life, Nefelus was often ostracized by other children because of his adopted parents' grisly profession. Eventually his parents incurred a great debt from a noble named Lord Fairbrand who would only forgive it if Nefelus came to live and work with him.
    - Lord Fairbrand turned out to be quite fond of Nefelus and eventually threw him a surprise party in his feast hall. Unfortunately, a freak accident led to Nefelus accidentally burning down the feast hall and getting Lord Fairbrand burned alive. The late noble's family was furious and sought a harsh punishment for Nefelus, prompting the boy to flee.
    - Afraid to return to his adopted parents' home, Nefelus found himself forced to live on the streets with a rough group of thieving orphans. He never fit in with these new compatriots, and before long they set him up as a scapegoat in one of their schemes. To make matters worse, the guard who caught Nefelus was corrupt and sold the young man to slavers.
    - Though he was enslaved and forced to work in a remote mining encampment, Nefelus did come upon a stroke of luck during this time. His digging eventually unearthed the tomb of a long-forgotten hero named Honorus, whose restless spirit longed to have his name known throughout the land once again. Nefelus made a warlock pact with Honorus, and with his new magical power the young man managed to organize a successful slave revolt that saw himself and many other slaves escaping to freedom.
    - Unfortunately for Nefelus it wouldn't be long before he lost his freedom again. Agents working for the late Lord Fairbrand's family found him and dragged him back to his home city to stand trial. After a short trial presided over by a bribed judge Nefelus was sentenced to be executed, by his own adopted parents no less.
    - Desperate to escape this fate and to keep his parents from having to put their own son to death, Nefelus begged for mercy from Lord Fairbrand's daughter Aella. After seeing potential in Nefelus' magical abilities and judging the young man to not be the sort to seek violent revenge Aella agreed to bail him out, though on condition he work for her faithfully as an indentured servant until his debt was repaid.

    So, to recap, Nefelus' birth parents were villains who were executed by his adopted parents, his services were used as payment to a noble, he accidentally got the noble killed, he joined a bad crowd until they sold him out, he was enslaved, escaped, was apprehended and put on trial, and sold himself into indentured servitude to avoid execution.

    Oh, and he also recently contracted wererat lycanthropy.

    And he's prophesied to one day provoke the undying wrath of a dragon.

    Hexmage-PA on
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    That’s rough buddy.

  • override367override367 ALL minions Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    Steelhawk wrote: »
    I have always looked at Hobgoblins like Klingons. Pretty much the same as humans, but with bigger teeth, a funny way of talking and they really like to make war!

    Just as smart and capable as humans. Just as varied in the ways they do things as humans. Fighters. Archers, Monks. Paladins. Wizards. It all works for Hobs just as it does for humans. Same size, same strength, same technological level. A little more body hair though.

    my players really like what I'm doing in my SKT - Exandria campaign, orcs and goblinoids have been free of direct influence of their evil gods for almost 800 years, so "evil mountain orcs" while...they still exist, they aren't as common as you'd expect. Orcs and Goliaths tend to herd together, living nomadic lifestyles with the seasons as their hearty biology allows them to carve out a niche in lands that humans and elves largely consider uninhabitable

    Hobgoblins have a vast empire that is very much Not-Rome, incredibly orderly, and they have the bragging rights of being the first nation to be a Republic - unlike the Tal'dorei Republic to the north you don't have to be a landowner to vote, you just have to have served in a legion for at least 5 years. If not for the (frankly, pretty racist) elven kingdom acting as a buffer state between the largely human Republic to the north, a lot more idealistic young humans who feel like they have something to prove would move south - to join a legion and fight the Yuan-Ti menace.

    They still have a lot of baggage, they have a form of non chattel slavery (which one could sell themselves into to eliminate debts), too large a percentage of their population still worships maglubiyet (who if he had his way, would have hobgoblins living in captured forts instead of building their own civilization) and talks of nostalgia about days of glory against humans and elves that never really happened anyway. They are almost universally arrogant, and while they do have free public education for every young person regardless of social class, it's basically temple funded propoganda. They do not allow political station higher than their equivilent of Tribune of the Plebs to be held by anyone who isn't a hobgoblin.

    Bugbears face a lot of discrimination in primarily human settlements, but have found a real niche in the northlands where life isn't easy and an 8 foot tall friend with 6 foot long arms whos covered in fur is a real handy thing to have around. They are respected for their gifts in cities primarily of other goblinoids. Racism takes a back seat to survival and nobody up there cares if you're gnome, kobold, or bugbear, they find something you're good at, and you work or starve.

    Goblins are goblins. Their short lives and biological maturity happening when they're about as emotionally mature as a 5 year old lead to lots of problems, but you can find them absolutely everywhere. There are still tribes of goblins in the wilds, that worship their war-god or their trickster-god, and are a constant threat to settlements of "enemy" races, but as anyone who rolls a halfway decent history check will tell you, for every person killed by a goblin or orc raid, there are a hundred who go hungry because a human asmodeus worshipper who has political power shifts funds away from helping the poor

    Gnolls I'm fine keeping evil. They're a more yippy zombie plague. They make more by the big ones biting other humanoids (of any race) and making more gnolls. They are seen as infestations like the greenskins, are barely sentient, and extensions of the Demon Lord. There are a small, small percentage of gnolls that have been broken free from this, and have small communities scattered about the world - no one knows really how these groups broke free of the insanity that afflicts the ones a village might see howling on the horizon, but they face a lot of hatred and fear.

    I still have a lot more work to do in this area

    override367 on
  • WearingglassesWearingglasses Of the friendly neighborhood variety Registered User regular
    Game balance question:

    My Forge Cleric player found adamantine and wants to forge an adamantine shield. What's a good benefit to getting one? Adamantine armor reduces crits to normal attacks, but I'm not sure if that's okay to put in a shield... was thinking it'd give her advantage when doing a shield bash (she has Shield Mastery). That or a successful shield bash deals damage = her Strength Modifier.

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    6ag4rtxx201p.jpeg

    Works getting in the way of me completing this setting, but today I managed to make all the many, many festivals of New Zellatia. There’s so many in theory any adventure that takes more than a week should overlap with one!

    Also, I made something very unnecessary for if you wanna be a Tunglani, the mutant near-human race.

    Extra Tunglani Character Inspiration
    All Tunglani have two-toned skin which may be expressed by a soft gradient change, stripes, mottled patches, leopard-like spots, or other naturalist patterns. Their hair is generally earthy tones, but may be of any colour, and the same goes for their eyes.

    Each Tunglani has at least one physical feature called a ‘spice’, owed to their meddled heritage at the hands of the Vilelord. Most Tunglani have a couple of minor spices, but in rare cases they may have so many as to appear to be an unknown race returned from the distant past or made whole cloth, new to the world. Families usually share such traits, but spikes of different, dormant or seemingly new spices can appear even amongst twins.

    The following options are not required to make a Tunglani character, but may be used as further guidance. Roll on each list, or choose from the options below if you wish.

    Roll 2d20 to determine your skin tones.
    1. Magenta.
    2. Red.
    3. Soft pink.
    4. Orange.
    5. Faint orange.
    6. Bronze.
    7. Bright yellow.
    8. Faint yellow.
    9. Teal.
    10. Lime green.
    11. Dark green.
    12. Pale green.
    13. Deep blue.
    14. Eggshell blue.
    15. Sky blue.
    16. Rich indigo.
    17. Dark purple.
    18. Lilac.
    19. Tan.
    20. Soft gold.

    Roll 1d10 to determine the way these tones are present on your skin.
    1. Gentle gradient change from head to foot.
    2. A solid change just above the waist.
    3. Stripes reminiscent of a tiger, zebra or tapir calf.
    4. Patches or spots like a leopard or other camouflaging animal.
    5. Distinctive swathe markings around the eyes and across the chest.
    6. Hands and feet gradient to the rest of the body’s tone.
    7. Thousands of freckles.
    8. Asymmetrical patch on one eye, and another large patch elsewhere on the body.
    9. Wavelike patterns across the entirety of the body.
    10. Barely noticeable blemishes of tone.

    Roll 1d10 to determine your eye colour.
    1. Brown
    2. Green.
    3. Hazel.
    4. Golden hawk-like eyes.
    5. Yellow and cat-like.
    6. Dark and reptilian.
    7. Pale pink.
    8. Purple.
    9. The same as your skin tones.
    10. The opposite to one of your skin tones.

    Roll 1d10 to determine your hair colour.
    1. Light brown.
    2. Dark brown.
    3. Ash brown.
    4. Ginger.
    5. Deep red.
    6. Bright blonde.
    7. Sandy blonde.
    8. Naturally hairless, including a lack of eyebrows.
    9. The same as your skin tones.
    10. The opposite to one of your skin tones.

    Roll 1d6 to determine how your hair grows.
    1. Tightly curled afro.
    2. Loose afro.
    3. Thick curls.
    4. Wavy.
    5. Untameable frizz.
    6. Dreaded locks.

    Roll 1d20 for an extra physical feature. These spices have no bearing on your abilities, unlike your Variety is Spice racial trait.

    1. You have a lion-like tail.
    2. You have a forked tongue.
    3. You have fine, pointed ears.
    4. You have a deer-like tail.
    5. You have a second set of teeth; both sets are jagged as a shark’s.
    6. You have tusks or sabred teeth.
    7. There’s a slick wet look about you, and your eyes are toad-like.
    8. You have iguana-like patches of hard, protective skin and several small spines along your back.
    9. Your legs bend like a beast and end at paw-like padded feet.
    10. You have large fanned ears and a sharp facial structure.
    11. You have an upturned bat-like nose and beady eyes.
    12. In place of hair simple, thick tentacle-like features protrude from your head.
    13. Your facial features are very squat, and your forehead is pulled back.
    14. Your forehead is domed, and the ridge of your nose juts out considerably.
    15. Your cheeks are pronounced and brightly coloured, plus your eyebrows are low, leaving your eyes shadowed.
    16. You are stout, short and weigh twice as much as is expected.
    17. You are tall, slim and considerably strong for how frail you appear.
    18. You have a set of horns (or a second pair intertwined around the first if you already have them).
    19. Your fingertips end in hooked reptilian claws.
    20. Roll two more times.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    What we got here...

    So let’s say they already have antlers as part of the racial choice they get (good at shoving).

    They’ve got red and dark green skin... and I messed up and forgot to roll for how that’s shown, so let’s say I got tiger stripes! Dark green skin with scar-like fighting game markings seems cool. Like a big V on their chest, neck and over their brow!

    Their eyes are a deep red, which works.

    Next, wavy regular dark down hair. Grounds them a bit. Nice.

    Finally, instead of fingernails they’ve got hardened little curved claws.

    So yeah, they’re a perfectly nice baker built like a demon orc with latent lizard-man traits. You will buy the two for one lemon muffins, or else.


    Geth roll 2d20 for Tone
    Geth roll 1d10 for How
    Geth roll 1d10 for Eyes
    Geth roll 1d10 for Hair
    Geth roll 1d6 for Style
    Geth roll 1d20 for Extra Spice

    Tone:
    2d20 13 [2d20=2, 11]
    Eyes:
    1d10 5 [1d10=5]
    Hair:
    1d10 2 [1d10=2]
    Style:
    1d6 3 [1d6=3]
    Extra Spice:
    1d20 19 [1d20=19]

    Endless_Serpents on
  • The Zombie PenguinThe Zombie Penguin Eternal Hungry Corpse Registered User regular
    So, since @Endless_Serpents asked me to do something with this 'ere character options:

    3 and 14 for skin tones, with 7 for the pattern.

    So that's soft pink, Egshell blue, and thousands of freckles. I'm imaging them having egshell blue skin covered in thousands of soft pink freckles.

    Eyes rolled a seven, so also a pale pink.

    Hair color came up a 10, so that's opposite color. A quick look at a color wheel indicates this should be some sort of red-orange if it's opposite our eggshell blue skin tone. It's grows in thick curls according to the three that just rolled.

    Finally, we're short, stout and weigh twice as heavy.

    So we've got a dwarfish-built person with eggshell blue skin covered in pink freckles, a shock of thick, curly fiery red hair, and pale pink eyes.

    Endless sent me some extra mechanical bits and bobs, so i'm imaging that in addition, they've got thick goat horns curling form their skull, and are probably a paladin of some shade.

    Ideas hate it when you anthropomorphize them
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  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    Thanks The Zombie Penguin.

    It seems to work out okay. Obviously when you design your own character you can decide what hairstyle they go for (there’s gonna be some more world building to go in regards to what folks do with the do, plus some rip off Maori tattooing going on, piercings and fashion.

    People in New Zellatia aren’t faux-Europeans, they’re mostly Hawaiian, New Zealanders (what do you mean Zellatia is just the word Zealand shaken for 30 minutes?) and ‘AboriginalPunk’.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • The Zombie PenguinThe Zombie Penguin Eternal Hungry Corpse Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    @Endless_Serpents on the subject of Definitely Not Zealand - look up Haast's Eagles if you've not already, as well as Moa.

    For those unaware: Haasts Eagle are a (thankfully) extinct real life GIANT EAGLE. It's estimated it hit it's pretty with the equivalent impact of dropping a concrete block off an eight story building, with an attack speed of 80km/h. Interestingly, despite their gigantic size they had a relatively small wing span... Which gets less interesting and more terrifying when you realize this is what enabled them to fly in forests.

    Worse, Maori have an excellent oral tradition (seriously, it's crazy impressive how they recorded and remembered stuff), and many myths about Poukai - a monstrous man eating bird. Which it's likely that relate if not out refer to the Haast's eagle. It could have easily nommed children, or perhaps even an unwary adult.

    Fun Fun Fun!

    Edit: Another good bit to steal if you're using NZ as a basis for fantasy terrain. See that lake that's visible from orbit in the middle of the north island?

    That aint a lake as such. It's a volcanic caldera. a DORMANT volcanic caldera, not an extinct one. Lake Taupo is believed to have last gone off around 2k years ago, which would match up with reports from rome and china of the sky being affected by ash clouds. Extra fun fun fun!

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  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    So @Endless_Serpents asked me as well, and I rolled:
    15 & 10
    5
    3
    2
    4
    14
    3 for Variety is Spice

    So that gives me a character with sky blue, shimmery scaley skin with lime green swathes around the eyes and on the chest, with hazel eyes and wavy dark brown hair. My forehead is domed and the ridge of my nose juts out. They sound real pretty, and I'd probably have em wear loose, flowing garments. Probably a loose, white vest and some sort of tan or light grey trousers or even shorts. Hempen sandals and maybe a braided leather bracelet with a green and a yellow bead to complete the look.

    JtgVX0H.png
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    Noice.

    Here’s the whole race:
    tj0l94sbkhf3.jpeg
    34j44qhaa8q6.jpeg

    Tunglani
    The most populous folk, their origins lay in mass displacement, arcane experimentation and the destruction of recorded history at the hands of the Vilelord in his pursuit of total domination. Thought meek and servile, it was from their stock that the Champion cut a path for the rebellion to follow.

    Their oral history remained throughout, and it is for this that stories and song are considered the greatest form of expression, though indeed all acts of creation are held in high esteem. With the founding of New Zellatia the Tunglani have for the first time in an age a place to call their own, and live for its progress as much as the city is a bastion for their own achievements.

    Ability Score Increase
    Increase the ability score of your choice by 2, and another by 1.

    Age
    Tunglani come of age at around 16, but aren’t considered adults until at least 20. They are not known to live much longer than 90 years, though legends abound of far older Tunglani—usually monarchs or mighty sorcerers.

    Alignment
    From oppressed peasants to rebel instigators to the bringing together of disparate races in the foundation of New Zellatia, whatever they may once have been, the Tunglani are now free to act as they wish, judged only by their own morales and those they love.

    Size
    Tunglani are usually between 5 and 6 feet tall and run the full gambit of weight, with some being most frail and others being incredibly broad. Your size is Medium.

    Speed
    Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

    Languages
    You are fluent in New Tongue and one broken language of your choice.

    Bondsman’s Fortune
    When an ally you can see rolls a 1 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can reroll the die and they must use the new roll. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

    Empathetic Rush
    As a reaction, you can move up to half your speed towards an ally that has been successfully hit with an attack.

    Variety is Spice
    Though the Tunglani share many qualities that bring them together as a people, each individual is born with any number of unique traits, seemingly at random, and at odds with their immediate parentage. The Tunglani refer to this phenomena as their ‘spice’, and consider it a beautiful, but hardly integral part of who they are.

    Roll 1d8 or choose one Variety is Spice trait from the options below.
    1. Antlers. You possess small deer-like antlers or curved ram horns. When you make a Shove action on your turn, add your Constitution modifier to the contested check, and deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage to the target creature.
    2. Feathered crest. In place of hair you have brilliant feathers. Your walking speed increases to 40 feet.
    3. Shimmer skin. Your body is covered or partially covered in fine gleaming scales. You have resistance to fire damage.
    4. Beast blood. You have pronounced canine teeth, with an overall predatory look about you. You have proficiency in two of the following skills: Athletics, Intimidation, Perception or Survival.
    5. Flexible form. You have a minute fur coat covering your entire body, plus you are especially lean and long limbed. Focusing your latent bestial qualities, you can ignore difficult terrain on your turn. Once you use this trait you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.
    6. Internal Mutation. Your outer features are slight; stub horns, pointed ears, and so on. It’s your inner workers that mark you the most. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep.


    Truth & Beauty
    Starting at 4th level, you gain access to these traits. Choose one:

    Quickest Wit
    As an action on your turn, you can cajole nearby foes to distract them. Until the end of your next turn, your allies gain advantage on attack rolls against enemies within 10 feet of you that you can see. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

    Young Blood
    When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest.

    Marvellous Visage
    Your singular appearance gives pause to your foes, who take longer to judge your capabilities.

    When a creature you can see makes an attack roll against you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the roll. You must use this feature before knowing whether the attack hits or misses. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

    Dark Designs
    The Vilelord had a plan for your bloodline, or else was particularly cruel in his experimentation.

    As an action, you can shift into a bestial state, your bones stretching and muscles ablaze with sinister power. You gain a temporary damage boost equal to double your Proficiency Bonus for 1 minute.

    After reverting to your regular form you take 1 poison damage each turn (or lose half your remaining Hit Points when on a journey) until you complete a short or long rest.

    You can shift again at any time, halting the poison, but the effect will be doubled upon reverting to your regular form.

    Underdog
    When you are outnumbered you reduce the damage you take by 1d4 + your Charisma modifier.

    At 7th level, choose another trait from the options above.



    All the races in the setting are super powered compared to regular D&D, but with this being a counterpoint to grimdark settings like Barovia and Dark Sun, I think that’s fine. Heroes win in New Zellatia!



    For good measure, here’s the Ishtari, who are giant folk with psychic ghost powers!!!

    qeuqstwuwa56.jpeg

    Ishtari
    Ability Score Increase
    Increase your Wisdom score by 2, and your Strength score by 1.

    Age
    Ishtari are physically adults by 16, but culturally the passing of several tests over the course of their life determines their adulthood. Ishtari can live up to 100 years, but few survive over 70 years due to their lifestyle.

    Alignment
    Led by desire but tempered by tribal discipline, the Ishtari’s reputation swings between wild hedonists and wise shamanic mystics. The truth is they’re likely to be of any alignment, using their past as a guideline but never a tether.

    Size
    Ishtari can approach 8 feet tall and are naturally muscular. Your size is Medium.

    Speed
    Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

    Languages
    You are fluent in New Tongue and one broken language of your choice.

    Powerful Build
    You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

    Interwoven Soul
    As a bonus action, you can connect with a creature within 5 feet of you that is frightened, paralysed, or stunned. Make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw against their condition. On a success, the creature fully recovers at the start of their next turn. On a failure, the creature fully recovers at the start of their next turn, at which point you take on their previous condition.

    In addition, you sense the surface emotions of a single creature you spend an hour of uninterrupted time with, regardless of whether you’re attempting to do so or not. If that creature is a PC, simply ask them how they feel.

    Untameable Passions
    You are a being of great woes and bountiful mirth. Your mind seeks forms of artistic expression, no matter if it is your chosen career or a private whimsy. You have proficiency in two of the following: a musical instrument, cook’s utensils, herbalism kit, painter’s supplies, or potter’s tools.


    Love & Sacrifice
    Starting at 4th level, you gain access to these traits. Choose one:

    Tradition of Masks
    The tribe your people descend from wore masks to draw in primordial power and protect themselves from evil influence. You have one extra attunement slot that only works for special masks of Ishtaric design called ghost masks.

    Giant’s Spirit
    You are older than your years, and your material body has grown to reflect this. You are noticeably taller than your brethren, with rougher features and thick, coarse hair.

    When you make a melee attack on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.

    Elden Speak
    You have the ability to communicate in a limited manner with beasts, and have a knack for understanding the guttural vocalisations of the unfortunate Giants.

    Beasts can understand the meaning of your words, and you can parse their limited languages in return—they will communicate only in the regular calls and gestures they use to each other, and are therefore unable to express the vast concepts of people.

    From somewhere deep, you have gained the power to grasp what few intelligible things Giants say. You are fluent in Giant. If you already had a broken or fluent grasp of the language, your speech now has a naturally soothing quality to Giants, who will always give you time to introduce yourself and make your point before attacking.

    Gift of Life
    During a short or long rest you can give one of your Hit Dice to another creature, who heals an amount of Hit Points equal to your Hit Die + your Constitution Modifier + their Constitution Modifier. Any creature who heals in this way can offer you a single Hit Die in return when you next finish a short or long rest, which heals an amount equal to the Hit Die + your Constitution Modifier.

    Ghost Rend
    You’re capable of reaching out with your soul to tug at the essence of a creature, bringing it closer to the realm beyond life.

    When you make the attack action or cast a damaging spell on your turn, you can reduce the AC of the target creature by 2 until they next take damage. Once you use this feature you must finish a short or long rest before you can use this trait again.

    At 7th level, choose another trait from the options above.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • The Zombie PenguinThe Zombie Penguin Eternal Hungry Corpse Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    Just for fun, rolling a second one of @Endless_Serpents Tunglani

    17,4, 5, 7, 7, 1, 7

    So we've got Dark Purple skin with orange camouflaging patterns. Said skin has a wet look to it, with our eyes being pink and toadlike. Our hair is a sandy blonde grown in a tightly curled afro.

    This has a real tree-frog vibe to it. I find myself thinking of them as a solidery type - some sort of ranger or fighter (Perhaps a barbarian), hair kept shaved down to better show off their markings

    Edit: also stuff stewing in my brain to look forward to some posts on soon

    The Orc Gods

    Demons (Entrophy Elementals)

    Hippo-Ogres, land cultivators

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  • finnithfinnith ... TorontoRegistered User regular
    That first picture looks a lot like Pallegina from Pillars of Eternity!

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  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    finnith wrote: »
    That first picture looks a lot like Pallegina from Pillars of Eternity!

    It is! She makes for a good Tunglani as a few of their options are bird-like, including feathers for hair.



    Come on then Penguin, tell us about the leorc gods!


  • Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    After taking out eight enemies last night with one use of Shatter, with the only downside being that I dropped the party Paladin to 0HP, I now see why Fireball is so popular with Wizards and Sorcerers

    The Roll20 Dyanmic Lighting option is really worth it - each player having limited information on what we're dealing with has led to a lot of blind rushing in and hearing scouting players go "...oh shit" while we're hanging back :D

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
  • SteelhawkSteelhawk Registered User regular
    After taking out eight enemies last night with one use of Shatter, with the only downside being that I dropped the party Paladin to 0HP, I now see why Fireball is so popular with Wizards and Sorcerers

    The Roll20 Dyanmic Lighting option is really worth it - each player having limited information on what we're dealing with has led to a lot of blind rushing in and hearing scouting players go "...oh shit" while we're hanging back :D

    That's the ONLY thing that makes me think about paying for roll20.

    Trying to manage who can see what using the hide and reveal tools is a pain in the ass that get abandoned very quickly.

  • The Zombie PenguinThe Zombie Penguin Eternal Hungry Corpse Registered User regular

    Come on then Penguin, tell us about the leorc gods!


    VERY WELL, MORTAL

    @Endless_Serpents actually knows most of this already, because i was bouncing it off them.

    There are a total of seven orc gods, or six in some orcish traditions. No names as of yet, because i'm terrible at naming things. For now, they're known as Grandmother, Grandfather, The Twins, The Wanderer, The Trickster and Wendigo. In some traditions, the Wendigo and Trickster are conflated into the same entity.

    Grandmother and Grandfather hold place as head of the pantheon - Gods of hearth, home, child-rearing and storytelling. Both are depicted as aged orcs, often depicted together, and always with orcish young around them - being fed, told stories, trained or similar. In orcish myths they often deliver the morals, dispense wisdom, or otherwise take care of the pantheon when an adventure goes wrong.

    The Twins are a pair of sisters, one born with a lame leg, the other with unnatural strength and speed - The mystic and the huntress respectively. Some traditions hold that the Mystic sacrificed her leg so as to bless her sister the huntress in turn. Collectively, they're the goddess of magic, craft, healing, the hunt, protection and cooking. The Mystic is always associated with magic, the huntress with hunting (No duh), but beyond that who holds which domain shifts between oral traditions - and in plenty of them, it's shared. The mystic is sometimes depicted as having a chariot drawn by as local beast of burden that she uses to ride out with the huntress on occasion. The huntress meanwhile is often involved in ribald tales of her seducing or otherwise getting involved with gods of the hunt from other races, particularly the goddesses. (Have i mentioned, Orcs are very queer? Orcs are very queer!). Many of the Twin's myths provide hunting advice or advice on the local terrain and it's risks,and thus change tribe to tribe.

    The Wanderer is a male orc, always dedicated as being rotund, cheerful, good natured and adventurous - think a mix between Thor and Maui. He has giant wolf as a companion, and Orc traditions hold that this is the progentior of the orcs dogs. In some stories the wolf can talk, in some it's silent. Almost all of his myths involve him getting in over his head in his attempts to impress the twins, see what's over the next hill, or at the suggestion of the trickster. He u sally then gets back out of trouble through his own quick wits, with the help of his wolf, the twins, or on very rare occasions, the trickster. A lot of his myths serve double duty as warnings about the greater world and risks orcs might found out there.

    The Trickster is the lean, sour-natured brother of the Wanderer. In some stories and traditions he's outright villainous, seeking to upstage and steal glory from the Wanderer, or sow dissent between the twins, while in others simply untrusting and cautious. Universally though, he is depicted as cunning and a sharp mind - though one that gets him into trouble. Traditionally, his stories end with his schemes undone and him in the care of Grandmother and Grandfather once more (he is, after all, still part of the tribe). A lot of his myths also touch on the darker risks out in the world, such as invaders, slavers and poachers. The few myths that have him as the hero oft have him foiling, outwitting or otherwise bringing low such villains.

    Finally, there is the Wendigo. This is not so much a god as it is a devil figure - a gendereless, demonic spirit of malice - every nightmare other races have about orcs (and more philosophical orcs have about themselves) made flesh. It's myths serve more as warnings against things like overhunting, or the hunting and consumption of other sentient races/other orcs, ecological destruction and similar fears. Traditionally it's depicted as an orc like figure, overgrown with hair. Very much NOT worshiped at all, though individual orcs who've survived the loss of their tribe or similar traumatic events sometimes pray to it for revenge.

    ---

    As an aside it's assumed here that Orcs have a huge oral tradition, a product of their need for regular, low activity rest periods

    ---

    Also, on Orcs being Very Queer

    The basic assumption here is that orcs view bisexuality as their norm. Inside villages, adult males are a rarity, and breeding that can lead to reproduction is usually strictly controlled (So as to avoid over population, or strain on local resources). That, and the majority of a village's adult males are going to be elderly who either aren't interested in sex, or would a: find shacking up with younger orcs gross and b: let's be real here, are shacking up with the equally elderly females/other elderly males.

    So for the majority of a village's population, your potential partners are your fellow ladyorcs. And being with them is viewed as completely normal. Given limited privacy (communal living and all), public sex is also treated as normal - dont do it infront of the pups, and if they do catch you, stop, explain, and then shoo them on.

    Likewise, for male orcs, you most likely partners on the road, or even when you're visiting a village... are other males. There's zero shame or anything unusual to it. Obviously, outright gay and outright hetro Orcs do exist, and are treated with respect. In the case of the latter, i imagine orcs have probably figured out some sort of birth control and it's used liberally.

    Secondly: Orc gender roles are not strict. They're mostly emergent due to the wanderlust quirk of orc biology. The upshot of this is that if a male-bodied orc doesn't experience wanderlust? There's really no problem with them staying in the tribe. A female-bodied orc does get the wanderlust? Send them on the way with as much prep and guidance as they'd give your average male. They do experience said wanderlust, but feel much more comfortable staying, or don't and feel more comfortable wandering? That's fine too. Or in otherwords, Orcs are very trans* friendly. They probably find strict gender binaries in other races/cultures more than a little weird, and homophobia outright baffling.

    This is, of course, just the default - There might be tribes who are more strict, or less, or whatever.

    Okay, i've got to head out now, so enjoy, if i've got the energy i'll write up my Demons for the thread when i get back. Would love thoughts on the above, or suggestions!

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  • TynnanTynnan seldom correct, never unsure Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    Whelk wrote: »
    See, I saw the liorcs having birds of prey and hardy mounts instead. Pet hawks that don't require much food, clean bones, and are intimidating while they sleep.

    On second hand, big iguanas are already like dogs and I'd love to see that.

    I mean, there's no reason not to say "All of the above" or just go with various different sub-cultures/sub races of orcs having difference preferences! As said, i hate monocultures, so i'm all for ways to spice things up. Doing some digging into Falconry (Which is a great idea i'd not considered), it seems most likely they'd be using some kind of Golden-Eagle or similar as their falcons of choice - big birds to help bring down big game, rather than small game. So it's probably something that sees more use in Steppe tribes or Mountain tribes, while hunting dogs would be the goto for Forest or grassland based tribes.

    Though, Haast's Eagle was a forest-capable giant fucking eagle. So perhaps some forest dwelling tribes would be falconeering to? (I dont know enough about the art to usefully say). Grasslands, i'm imaging the goto game is bigstuff - your bison, your wildebeest, your elephants - stuff where falconeering may be less useful, perhaps?

    One thing that i am imaging though is that landscapes under orc territory while not farmed in the traditional sense, definitely cultivated - Effort would go into tracking the natural heards, sustainable hunting of such, predator control and similar. Orcs have still gone through their own version of an agriculture revolution, it's just gone very different places.

    With Iguanas, the one issue i can see is that of Iguanas being cold blooded - Which wouldn't lend itself well to why you'd want a hunting dog (or night hunts for that matter, something that an ambush species is certainly going to excel at). Thaaaat said... marine iguanas are a thing, and they're already pretty big fellows. They do, admittedly, go diving for algae pretty much exclusively - but it's hardly breaking the rules too much to imagine a bigger (Komodo dragonish?) sized, predatory Iguana that coastal dwelling orcs have domesticated to help with hunting the sea's bounty.

    Plus, then you've got the great image of orcs and their giant iguana buddies stretched out coastal rocks, soaking in the sun to heat up in between dives. Shades of the japanese Ama (Pearl hunting freedivers), perhaps.

    Whelk what sort of mounts are you imaging them using? I honestly know very little about things Equestrian or well, anything animal riding related. The one thing i am under the impression of is that horses are in general a lot of work - Perhaps Donkey-derived mounts (harder to tame/train, but easier to keep on forage from a quick google) would be the goto?

    (Also thanks everyone for the feedback and addtions! Have you figured out i love discussing world building yet?)

    This post made me want to mention something interesting about real-life Komodo dragons: they can have parthenogenic reproduction! That is to say, there are recorded cases of zoo-dwelling females with no male contact laying viable eggs. Those eggs are all male. This can happen because komodo dragons use what is called a "ZW" sex determination program, which is different from our XY chromosome system. In the XY system, the male is heterogametic (males have X and Y chromosomes) but the female is homogametic (two X chromosomes). In the ZW system, this is the opposite: the male is homogametic (two similar Z-type chromosomes) and the female is heterogametic (having Z and W chromosomes). I won't get into the meiotic minutiae on why this works (unless there's interest? The details aren't really necessary for worldbuilding), but there can be circumstances where the developing egg cells in a ZW-system female can acquire an additional set of chromosomes containing the Z type and become "ZZ", therefore becoming viable and developing into a male offspring. Birds and some snakes such as pythons and boa constrictors use this system, too.

    Tynnan on
  • The Zombie PenguinThe Zombie Penguin Eternal Hungry Corpse Registered User regular
    Tynnan wrote: »
    Whelk wrote: »
    See, I saw the liorcs having birds of prey and hardy mounts instead. Pet hawks that don't require much food, clean bones, and are intimidating while they sleep.

    On second hand, big iguanas are already like dogs and I'd love to see that.

    I mean, there's no reason not to say "All of the above" or just go with various different sub-cultures/sub races of orcs having difference preferences! As said, i hate monocultures, so i'm all for ways to spice things up. Doing some digging into Falconry (Which is a great idea i'd not considered), it seems most likely they'd be using some kind of Golden-Eagle or similar as their falcons of choice - big birds to help bring down big game, rather than small game. So it's probably something that sees more use in Steppe tribes or Mountain tribes, while hunting dogs would be the goto for Forest or grassland based tribes.

    Though, Haast's Eagle was a forest-capable giant fucking eagle. So perhaps some forest dwelling tribes would be falconeering to? (I dont know enough about the art to usefully say). Grasslands, i'm imaging the goto game is bigstuff - your bison, your wildebeest, your elephants - stuff where falconeering may be less useful, perhaps?

    One thing that i am imaging though is that landscapes under orc territory while not farmed in the traditional sense, definitely cultivated - Effort would go into tracking the natural heards, sustainable hunting of such, predator control and similar. Orcs have still gone through their own version of an agriculture revolution, it's just gone very different places.

    With Iguanas, the one issue i can see is that of Iguanas being cold blooded - Which wouldn't lend itself well to why you'd want a hunting dog (or night hunts for that matter, something that an ambush species is certainly going to excel at). Thaaaat said... marine iguanas are a thing, and they're already pretty big fellows. They do, admittedly, go diving for algae pretty much exclusively - but it's hardly breaking the rules too much to imagine a bigger (Komodo dragonish?) sized, predatory Iguana that coastal dwelling orcs have domesticated to help with hunting the sea's bounty.

    Plus, then you've got the great image of orcs and their giant iguana buddies stretched out coastal rocks, soaking in the sun to heat up in between dives. Shades of the japanese Ama (Pearl hunting freedivers), perhaps.

    Whelk what sort of mounts are you imaging them using? I honestly know very little about things Equestrian or well, anything animal riding related. The one thing i am under the impression of is that horses are in general a lot of work - Perhaps Donkey-derived mounts (harder to tame/train, but easier to keep on forage from a quick google) would be the goto?

    (Also thanks everyone for the feedback and addtions! Have you figured out i love discussing world building yet?)

    This post made me want to mention something interesting about real-life Komodo dragons: they can have parthenogenic reproduction! That is to say, there are recorded cases of zoo-dwelling females with no male contact laying viable eggs. Those eggs are all male. This can happen because komodo dragons use what is called a "ZW" sex determination program, which is different from our XY chromosome system. In the XY system, the male is heterogametic (males have X and Y chromosomes) but the female is homogametic (two X chromosomes). In the ZW system, this is the opposite: the male is homogametic (two similar Z-type chromosomes) and the female is heterogametic (having Z and W chromosomes). I won't get into the meiotic minutiae on why this works (unless there's interest? The details aren't really necessary for worldbuilding), but there can be circumstances where the developing egg cells in a ZW-system female can acquire an additional set of chromosomes containing the Z type and become "ZZ", therefore becoming viable and developing into a male offspring. Birds and some snakes such as pythons and boa constrictors use this system, too.

    The details might not be necessary, but i'd bet they'd be interesting so go ahead! PLus, you never know what's going to be useful for world building. (I just figured out how to use Hippo's tendency to vocalize with their mouths half in and out of water to help explain why ogres are perceived as dumb, despite being quite intelligent!)

    Ideas hate it when you anthropomorphize them
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  • TynnanTynnan seldom correct, never unsure Registered User regular
    Tynnan wrote: »
    Whelk wrote: »
    See, I saw the liorcs having birds of prey and hardy mounts instead. Pet hawks that don't require much food, clean bones, and are intimidating while they sleep.

    On second hand, big iguanas are already like dogs and I'd love to see that.

    I mean, there's no reason not to say "All of the above" or just go with various different sub-cultures/sub races of orcs having difference preferences! As said, i hate monocultures, so i'm all for ways to spice things up. Doing some digging into Falconry (Which is a great idea i'd not considered), it seems most likely they'd be using some kind of Golden-Eagle or similar as their falcons of choice - big birds to help bring down big game, rather than small game. So it's probably something that sees more use in Steppe tribes or Mountain tribes, while hunting dogs would be the goto for Forest or grassland based tribes.

    Though, Haast's Eagle was a forest-capable giant fucking eagle. So perhaps some forest dwelling tribes would be falconeering to? (I dont know enough about the art to usefully say). Grasslands, i'm imaging the goto game is bigstuff - your bison, your wildebeest, your elephants - stuff where falconeering may be less useful, perhaps?

    One thing that i am imaging though is that landscapes under orc territory while not farmed in the traditional sense, definitely cultivated - Effort would go into tracking the natural heards, sustainable hunting of such, predator control and similar. Orcs have still gone through their own version of an agriculture revolution, it's just gone very different places.

    With Iguanas, the one issue i can see is that of Iguanas being cold blooded - Which wouldn't lend itself well to why you'd want a hunting dog (or night hunts for that matter, something that an ambush species is certainly going to excel at). Thaaaat said... marine iguanas are a thing, and they're already pretty big fellows. They do, admittedly, go diving for algae pretty much exclusively - but it's hardly breaking the rules too much to imagine a bigger (Komodo dragonish?) sized, predatory Iguana that coastal dwelling orcs have domesticated to help with hunting the sea's bounty.

    Plus, then you've got the great image of orcs and their giant iguana buddies stretched out coastal rocks, soaking in the sun to heat up in between dives. Shades of the japanese Ama (Pearl hunting freedivers), perhaps.

    Whelk what sort of mounts are you imaging them using? I honestly know very little about things Equestrian or well, anything animal riding related. The one thing i am under the impression of is that horses are in general a lot of work - Perhaps Donkey-derived mounts (harder to tame/train, but easier to keep on forage from a quick google) would be the goto?

    (Also thanks everyone for the feedback and addtions! Have you figured out i love discussing world building yet?)

    This post made me want to mention something interesting about real-life Komodo dragons: they can have parthenogenic reproduction! That is to say, there are recorded cases of zoo-dwelling females with no male contact laying viable eggs. Those eggs are all male. This can happen because komodo dragons use what is called a "ZW" sex determination program, which is different from our XY chromosome system. In the XY system, the male is heterogametic (males have X and Y chromosomes) but the female is homogametic (two X chromosomes). In the ZW system, this is the opposite: the male is homogametic (two similar Z-type chromosomes) and the female is heterogametic (having Z and W chromosomes). I won't get into the meiotic minutiae on why this works (unless there's interest? The details aren't really necessary for worldbuilding), but there can be circumstances where the developing egg cells in a ZW-system female can acquire an additional set of chromosomes containing the Z type and become "ZZ", therefore becoming viable and developing into a male offspring. Birds and some snakes such as pythons and boa constrictors use this system, too.

    The details might not be necessary, but i'd bet they'd be interesting so go ahead! PLus, you never know what's going to be useful for world building. (I just figured out how to use Hippo's tendency to vocalize with their mouths half in and out of water to help explain why ogres are perceived as dumb, despite being quite intelligent!)

    Sure! So, in sexually reproducing species, gametes (egg and sperm cells) are generated through the process of meiosis. This cuts in half those cells' chromosome copy number and renders them eligible to fuse with the other gamete type and create a zygote, which will then develop into the offspring. Cutting down the chromosome copy number and then combining with another gamete is how we generate genetic diversity via sexual reproduction (along with meiotic recombination, the shuffling of chromosome segments between "mom's" and "dad's" copies to create unique combinations of alleles in gametes).

    There are two ways, generally, that a Z-type ovum could acquire an additional copy of the genome containing a Z chromosome: endoreplication, or polar body fusion.

    Endoreplication is when a cell's genome is duplicated without the cell undergoing division, so a Z-type ovum would have its single complement of chromosomes including one Z, and then every one of those would be doubled. That "ZZ" egg cell, with its "normal" diploid complement of other chromosomes, is then viable to proceed through development as a zygote.

    The other way, polar body fusion, is when the Z ovum fuses with a small cell called a polar body, resulting in a "normal" diploid ZZ egg cells that is then viable to proceed through development as a zygote. A polar body is a normal byproduct of oogenesis (egg meiosis), where an oocyte with "normal" chromosome copy number is divided and recombined to produce the ovum. This process creates four cells from one primary oocyte: one ovum and three polar bodies. These four cells represent four different possible recombinations of the oocyte's parental genome, but normally only one of them will proceed to become fertilized, while the other three will destroy themselves. Under the right circumstances, one of those cast-off polar bodies can fuse itself with the ovum and essentially fertilize it.

    I tried to cut down on how much dev bio jargon I used here, so if I kludged anything up and made it confusing by doing so, just let me know!

  • Phoenix-DPhoenix-D Registered User regular
    So the rogue tonight did something rude I hadn't thought of. My fighter had put down some caltrops. An etin stepped on them and stopped- and then the rogue used Catapult to launch the caltrops into the etins crotch :D

  • SmrtnikSmrtnik job boli zub Registered User regular
    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?)?

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  • override367override367 ALL minions Registered User regular
    My favorite thing about the Exandrian setting is that the drow empire that abandoned lolth has more religious freedom and racial acceptance than any other nation in the setting, and are widely considered evil

This discussion has been closed.