The Monster Manual, and every version of it that has monsters in it - typically comes with, at the very least, some base lore.
Have you ever changed the lore to fit your world?
What are some interesting monster lore you came up with?
So for example - in my game I run - the players are currently stuck on a cursed island that is chalk full of lycanthropy and vampires... and magic surrounding the island prevents teleporting away... but also the dark cloud that blocks the sun perpetually prevents everyone from aging once maturity is attained (vampires like to keep their food source)... so the party helped an Eladrin who became stuck there as she was chasing two trolls into the mortal realm (onto this island, unaware of its curse) - these trolls were "touched by foul gods" to spread disease and venom across the land (rot troll and venom troll respectively). So the party helped track and defeat these trolls - but the rot troll had gone through a small hamlet, infecting people with disease (a custom thing I did with the rot troll).
Well some of the dogs from the hamlet attacked the trolls when they saw their owners attacked; the dogs soon became ill and feral and began to rapidly change, diseased by the blood of the troll that that had bitten.
So the monster from Strixhaven - the "Groff" - I changed to be these hunting dogs that had been changed by the infection of the trolls. I'd normally not use anything from Strixhaven (a lot of it is all the "Harry Potter" stuff - but since I had the book I wanted to begin making use of it). So these Groff are the dogs of this hamlet who are now diseased.
It always bugged me that dragons have always been considered these great magical creatures, and that they are the source of many sorcerer's magical abilities, and yet their stat blocks don't list any magical capabilities or spell slots or anything.
So I figured there are seven age categories of dragons (wyrmling, young, young adult, adult, old, ancient, great wyrm). A dragon knows one cantrip per age category. A wyrmling can cast 3 spell levels of spells per day. And it gains an additional 4 spell levels per day as young, +5 at young adult, +6 at adult, +7 at old, +8 at ancient, and +9 at great wyrm. So the greatest of dragons can cast up to 42 spell levels worth of spells per day. These are sorcerer spells (unless there's a compellingly logical reason to allow a particular dragon a spell from another list). Also, wyrmlings are limited to up to 2nd level spells, and gain access to 3rd level at young, 4th level at young adult, 5th level at adult, 6th level at old, 7th level at ancient, and 8th level at great wyrm.
I just figure that since this game is called Dungeons & DRAGONS, that dragons should be more than just a bag of hit points with a breath weapon. Dragons should have options. Lots of options. Killing an adult dragon should be a challenge for a Tier 3 party. Killing a great wyrm should be a deadly challenge for anything less than a max level party. If you want an easy fight for easy XP, go farm goblins. Fighting an ancient dragon should be the equivalent to fighting an earthquake, or a tsunami.
Completely changed the lore of MotM's Clockwork creatures (e.g. iron cobra and bronze scout). I turned them into "artificer pets" who did the following tasks:
help out around shops
spy on other engineers
guard places by pretending to be statues
"electrify" things
Also, I turned mind flayers into assassins that you could hire to kill people for you. In my last campaign, my DMPC's long-lost brother hired a Ulitharid to devour the DMPC.
Finally, I turned both bulettes and galeb duhrs into "earth guardians" who would protect a certain ancient area of land and emerge from the ground if you tampered with the area's protective magic.
There aren’t any elemental planes, so elementals are terrestrial nature spirits.
Giants are semi-divine in a way reality could really “support”. Goliaths, ogres, and trolls are their more “stable” offspring.
The most complicated changes come to fey, sorrowsworn, and undead. The Feywild and Shadowfell are merged into one Dreamworld that links the Mortal World to the Divine Realm. Fey are “parts” of a person’s psyche that have become independent from their originator due to energy from the Divine Realm, but aren’t entirely separate beings. Sorrowsworn (which also include other monsters like shadows) are the same, except they’re made when the Void, the broken and corrupted part of the Divine Realm, draws out a part of a person that’s weighed down by suffering or malice. (It should be noted that conflict between a fey and their originator doesn’t automatically mean the fey is a sorrowsworn, nor if the fey is a part of the originator that they don’t like about themselves. And the distinction isn’t always black and white.)
Ghosts and reborn were what undead were originally supposed to be, allowing a person who died to soon to set things right before moving on. But the Void damaged the mechanism that allowed this, so most of the time an undead is animated by the person’s sorrowsworn than themselves. Being a wraith or vampire is really bad, because they’re a fusion of the original soul and the power of the Void. And liches are especially feared because they voluntarily subjected themselves to what most consider a fate worse than death for the sake of more power.
Demons and devils are actually pretty close to their original. Demons are spirits aligned with or spawned from the Void, while devils are a combination of divine beings and mortal souls that tried to fight fire with fire…and got burned. One difference is that they, like all outsiders, only have bodies when they enter the Mortal World. This is not a hard requirement, and some outsiders can even have multiple bodies.
There aren’t any elemental planes, so elementals are terrestrial nature spirits.
No elemental planes? Then what are the four planes outside the Ethereal Plane on the Great Wheel Cosmology?
I always thought there were elemental planes, unless you're using a completely homebrew multiverse. If you are, why did you remove elemental planes? (not angry, just curious lol)
There aren’t any elemental planes, so elementals are terrestrial nature spirits.
No elemental planes? Then what are the four planes outside the Ethereal Plane on the Great Wheel Cosmology?
I always thought there were elemental planes, unless you're using a completely homebrew multiverse. If you are, why did you remove elemental planes? (not angry, just curious lol)
Not so much completely homebrew as very heavily modified. The Dreamworld still has areas that resemble the feywild or shadowfell, for instance, and places within the Divine Realm can have a lot in common with different outer planes. A lot of these changes were because I thought a lot of the planes were too “physical” for what I wanted with them.
As for why there’s no elemental planes, that mostly because I didn’t have any ideas of what to do with them that I was particularly fond of, whereas I could think of some for where they’re part of the material plane (a few plant creatures also count as elementals, forgot to mention). If I come up with something I’ll consider putting them back in, but I’m not expecting it.
Fair enough, no point putting in planes you're never going to use. I have a campaign set entirely in The Feywild, so there's no point for me to tie in elements with Shadowfell or any other planes (except maybe the Material Plane, but I'm trying to avoid that).
I read someone's lore that many devils take on an appearance of anguish (body-horror stuff) for psychological effect against their opponents whether in intellectual or physical contest.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I read someone's lore that many devils take on an appearance of anguish (body-horror stuff) for psychological effect against their opponents whether in intellectual or physical contest.
Wouldn't that better suit demons? I've always imagined devils to be the satanic, don't-deal-with-the-devil types, whereas demons are the more like the thing that lurks in the corner of your bedroom at night.
I read someone's lore that many devils take on an appearance of anguish (body-horror stuff) for psychological effect against their opponents whether in intellectual or physical contest.
Wouldn't that better suit demons? I've always imagined devils to be the satanic, don't-deal-with-the-devil types, whereas demons are the more like the thing that lurks in the corner of your bedroom at night.
Wasn't my lore. The creatures in question played by very strict rules and were eventually tricked by the very agreement they made thinking they tricked the mortals because they were unaware a second soul lived inside one of the people and the deal was for one soul. Their appearances were very unsettling—a useful tool at the bargaining table, but it didn't help them when they broke the contract that even had a loophole to get what they wanted without giving the mortals what they wanted.
Quite interesting because the mortals first said it wasn't fair when the devils gave exactly what the mortals requested but was useless, and then, the devils claimed it wasn't fair when they took the mortal with the strongest soul only to find out too late that it was because there were two instead of one. Hells hath no fury like a contract broken by their own. (They were banished back to the Hells and likely to have real anguish as their reward for their failure.)
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
So I was doing my D&D notes update for my players (they just got a Spelljammer) - and met some Hadozee and Plasmoids. I made the Hadozee native to an area on the Astral Plane. However, the Plasmoids I already technically had ground work. There's an (evil) deity in my campaign (Razataun) who is "the slime god" - and he believes that all being should be single cell organisms (it removes the complications of free thought, and you become one colony that all work together, merging into one, etc.) So he has a cult of followers who worship things like green slime, various oozes, and to be "sacrificed" (chosen) by their fanatic shamans is a great honor... So the Plasmoids in my world are some slimes that hitched a ride on a Spelljammer from the world - however, once they entered the Astral Plane, their ties to Razataun were mysteriously broken - and they were free to think as themselves, and retained independent thought - and realize they'd been overcome by the god's evil madness - and now roam the Astral Plane as "Plasmoids" and have created a new species.
As a lover of the Oni monster; it piqued my curiosity that they are considered a “Giant” type.
…which made me wonder where they fall on the Ordning (the official hierarchy / philosophy of giants).
Then I got the idea that they operate sort of like mercenaries…not so much fitting into any of the established levels of the Ordning; but lending their services to any other giants who have need of them.
With their ability to change their shape, turn invisible, and their affinity for using magic items, Oni make for valuable spies to the leaders of any particular giant sect…particularly when a giant may wish to gain insight into what the “small folk” might be up to.
I even made it so that, strictly speaking, not every Oni is of the evil alignment…just mostly, due to their “self-serving” mentality & greed. Other times, most Oni might develop wicked tendencies out of spite…never quite fitting in with the Ordning; yet also considered monsters by the small folk (which many Oni gladly oblige).
But some Oni might find themselves serving a giant who is somewhat noble; and might develop their sense of honor or justice…others might embrace their independence from the Ordning entirely, and live among the small folk without evil intention.
As a lover of the Oni monster; it piqued my curiosity that they are considered a “Giant” type.
I even made it so that, strictly speaking, not every Oni is of the evil alignment…just mostly, due to their “self-serving” mentality & greed. Other times, most Oni might develop wicked tendencies out of spite…never quite fitting in with the Ordning; yet also considered monsters by the small folk (which many Oni gladly oblige).
But some Oni might find themselves serving a giant who is somewhat noble; and might develop their sense of honor or justice…others might embrace their independence from the Ordning entirely, and live among the small folk without evil intention.
I. Freaking. Love. This.
This would have been good stuff for Storm King's Thunder.
As a lover of the Oni monster; it piqued my curiosity that they are considered a “Giant” type.
I even made it so that, strictly speaking, not every Oni is of the evil alignment…just mostly, due to their “self-serving” mentality & greed. Other times, most Oni might develop wicked tendencies out of spite…never quite fitting in with the Ordning; yet also considered monsters by the small folk (which many Oni gladly oblige).
But some Oni might find themselves serving a giant who is somewhat noble; and might develop their sense of honor or justice…others might embrace their independence from the Ordning entirely, and live among the small folk without evil intention.
I. Freaking. Love. This.
This would have been good stuff for Storm King's Thunder.
Nice!
Don’t tell anyone; but I plan on making a good-aligned NPC Oni character in a campaign I’m running.
They are disguised as a human…we’ll see how long it takes for the party to figure out what they are.
Most of the time I don't really go into monster lore and instead select monsters whose features fit thematically. If they're important to the plot, I'll include the lore - and 95% of the time, I'll change it to suit my needs. I can really only remember one time when I didn't. The Nightmare was perfect as-is.
My biggest changes were to lycanthropes and dragons.
In my universe, lycanthropy is incurable and was created by the gods to help ancient heroes gain an edge in a cataclysmic war. The gods who introduced it were not nice, so the bloodlust side effect came as a nasty surprise on the first full moon. Cue lycans being feared...except within a small sect of one of the gods' followers, who in fact view lycans with reverence and honor their role in saving the world.
As for dragons, I brought purple dragons back (before Fizban's came out and revived Deep Dragons from 2e) and made them a huge part of my Underdark power structure. My purples deal psychic damage, and once they are old enough, they can all shape change. I always thought it odd that a massive beast like a dragon would choose to live underground where there is very little to hoard and be worshipped by, so I decided they were being hunted by the chromatics and metallics and escaped to the Underdark to survive. Their innate psychic powers and ability to shapeshift allowed them to hide and overpower the denizens of the dark. And when the illithids started a conflict, the drow approached the purples with a deal - fight the illithids and the Middledark is yours as perpetual tribute. The purples drove back the ilithids and sealed them in the Lowerdark, then spread out to rule the Middledark, still hiding their true forms to protect themselves from other dragons. And with their changed forms came changed hoards - things like magic items, religious iconography, knowledge, influence, and memories.
When I use demons and devils, I use them as the evil spirits that are often present in mythology. They dwell in the underworld, which is literally under the world, because my world is a giant flying space turtle and the underworld is the underside of the turtle. Devils and demons are still against each other, they dwell on different parts of its underbelly and are constantly fighting each other for power. If they could get along they might be able to escape the underworld and terrorize the overworld, but they don't and they also are held off by an order of magical creatures called rimwalkers who patrol the edge of the shell, keeping the fiends at bay.
The Shadowfell is a plane in the space turtles shadow.
When I use demons and devils, I use them as the evil spirits that are often present in mythology. They dwell in the underworld, which is literally under the world, because my world is a giant flying space turtle and the underworld is the underside of the turtle. Devils and demons are still against each other, they dwell on different parts of its underbelly and are constantly fighting each other for power. If they could get along they might be able to escape the underworld and terrorize the overworld, but they don't and they also are held off by an order of magical creatures called rimwalkers who patrol the edge of the shell, keeping the fiends at bay.
The Shadowfell is a plane in the space turtles shadow.
The Monster Manual, and every version of it that has monsters in it - typically comes with, at the very least, some base lore.
Have you ever changed the lore to fit your world?
What are some interesting monster lore you came up with?
So for example - in my game I run - the players are currently stuck on a cursed island that is chalk full of lycanthropy and vampires... and magic surrounding the island prevents teleporting away... but also the dark cloud that blocks the sun perpetually prevents everyone from aging once maturity is attained (vampires like to keep their food source)... so the party helped an Eladrin who became stuck there as she was chasing two trolls into the mortal realm (onto this island, unaware of its curse) - these trolls were "touched by foul gods" to spread disease and venom across the land (rot troll and venom troll respectively). So the party helped track and defeat these trolls - but the rot troll had gone through a small hamlet, infecting people with disease (a custom thing I did with the rot troll).
Well some of the dogs from the hamlet attacked the trolls when they saw their owners attacked; the dogs soon became ill and feral and began to rapidly change, diseased by the blood of the troll that that had bitten.
So the monster from Strixhaven - the "Groff" - I changed to be these hunting dogs that had been changed by the infection of the trolls. I'd normally not use anything from Strixhaven (a lot of it is all the "Harry Potter" stuff - but since I had the book I wanted to begin making use of it). So these Groff are the dogs of this hamlet who are now diseased.
Just fun stuff like that.
What's something you've done?
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
It always bugged me that dragons have always been considered these great magical creatures, and that they are the source of many sorcerer's magical abilities, and yet their stat blocks don't list any magical capabilities or spell slots or anything.
So I figured there are seven age categories of dragons (wyrmling, young, young adult, adult, old, ancient, great wyrm). A dragon knows one cantrip per age category. A wyrmling can cast 3 spell levels of spells per day. And it gains an additional 4 spell levels per day as young, +5 at young adult, +6 at adult, +7 at old, +8 at ancient, and +9 at great wyrm. So the greatest of dragons can cast up to 42 spell levels worth of spells per day. These are sorcerer spells (unless there's a compellingly logical reason to allow a particular dragon a spell from another list). Also, wyrmlings are limited to up to 2nd level spells, and gain access to 3rd level at young, 4th level at young adult, 5th level at adult, 6th level at old, 7th level at ancient, and 8th level at great wyrm.
I just figure that since this game is called Dungeons & DRAGONS, that dragons should be more than just a bag of hit points with a breath weapon. Dragons should have options. Lots of options. Killing an adult dragon should be a challenge for a Tier 3 party. Killing a great wyrm should be a deadly challenge for anything less than a max level party. If you want an easy fight for easy XP, go farm goblins. Fighting an ancient dragon should be the equivalent to fighting an earthquake, or a tsunami.
But that's just my 2 c.p.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
Completely changed the lore of MotM's Clockwork creatures (e.g. iron cobra and bronze scout). I turned them into "artificer pets" who did the following tasks:
Also, I turned mind flayers into assassins that you could hire to kill people for you. In my last campaign, my DMPC's long-lost brother hired a Ulitharid to devour the DMPC.
Finally, I turned both bulettes and galeb duhrs into "earth guardians" who would protect a certain ancient area of land and emerge from the ground if you tampered with the area's protective magic.
If anybody would like my GMing playlists
battles: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2mRp57MBAz9ZsVpw895IzZ?si=243bee43442a4703
exploration: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0qk0aKm5yI4K6VrlcaKrDj?si=81057bef509043f3
town/tavern: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/49JSv1kK0bUyQ9LVpKmZlr?si=a88b1dd9bab54111
character deaths: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6k7WhylJEjSqWC0pBuAtFD?si=3e897fa2a2dd469e
Lots.
There aren’t any elemental planes, so elementals are terrestrial nature spirits.
Giants are semi-divine in a way reality could really “support”. Goliaths, ogres, and trolls are their more “stable” offspring.
The most complicated changes come to fey, sorrowsworn, and undead. The Feywild and Shadowfell are merged into one Dreamworld that links the Mortal World to the Divine Realm. Fey are “parts” of a person’s psyche that have become independent from their originator due to energy from the Divine Realm, but aren’t entirely separate beings. Sorrowsworn (which also include other monsters like shadows) are the same, except they’re made when the Void, the broken and corrupted part of the Divine Realm, draws out a part of a person that’s weighed down by suffering or malice. (It should be noted that conflict between a fey and their originator doesn’t automatically mean the fey is a sorrowsworn, nor if the fey is a part of the originator that they don’t like about themselves. And the distinction isn’t always black and white.)
Ghosts and reborn were what undead were originally supposed to be, allowing a person who died to soon to set things right before moving on. But the Void damaged the mechanism that allowed this, so most of the time an undead is animated by the person’s sorrowsworn than themselves. Being a wraith or vampire is really bad, because they’re a fusion of the original soul and the power of the Void. And liches are especially feared because they voluntarily subjected themselves to what most consider a fate worse than death for the sake of more power.
Demons and devils are actually pretty close to their original. Demons are spirits aligned with or spawned from the Void, while devils are a combination of divine beings and mortal souls that tried to fight fire with fire…and got burned. One difference is that they, like all outsiders, only have bodies when they enter the Mortal World. This is not a hard requirement, and some outsiders can even have multiple bodies.
No elemental planes? Then what are the four planes outside the Ethereal Plane on the Great Wheel Cosmology?
I always thought there were elemental planes, unless you're using a completely homebrew multiverse. If you are, why did you remove elemental planes? (not angry, just curious lol)
If anybody would like my GMing playlists
battles: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2mRp57MBAz9ZsVpw895IzZ?si=243bee43442a4703
exploration: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0qk0aKm5yI4K6VrlcaKrDj?si=81057bef509043f3
town/tavern: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/49JSv1kK0bUyQ9LVpKmZlr?si=a88b1dd9bab54111
character deaths: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6k7WhylJEjSqWC0pBuAtFD?si=3e897fa2a2dd469e
Not so much completely homebrew as very heavily modified. The Dreamworld still has areas that resemble the feywild or shadowfell, for instance, and places within the Divine Realm can have a lot in common with different outer planes. A lot of these changes were because I thought a lot of the planes were too “physical” for what I wanted with them.
As for why there’s no elemental planes, that mostly because I didn’t have any ideas of what to do with them that I was particularly fond of, whereas I could think of some for where they’re part of the material plane (a few plant creatures also count as elementals, forgot to mention). If I come up with something I’ll consider putting them back in, but I’m not expecting it.
Fair enough, no point putting in planes you're never going to use. I have a campaign set entirely in The Feywild, so there's no point for me to tie in elements with Shadowfell or any other planes (except maybe the Material Plane, but I'm trying to avoid that).
If anybody would like my GMing playlists
battles: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2mRp57MBAz9ZsVpw895IzZ?si=243bee43442a4703
exploration: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0qk0aKm5yI4K6VrlcaKrDj?si=81057bef509043f3
town/tavern: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/49JSv1kK0bUyQ9LVpKmZlr?si=a88b1dd9bab54111
character deaths: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6k7WhylJEjSqWC0pBuAtFD?si=3e897fa2a2dd469e
I read someone's lore that many devils take on an appearance of anguish (body-horror stuff) for psychological effect against their opponents whether in intellectual or physical contest.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Wouldn't that better suit demons? I've always imagined devils to be the satanic, don't-deal-with-the-devil types, whereas demons are the more like the thing that lurks in the corner of your bedroom at night.
[REDACTED]
I don't change much, but one change i made is turn all demons, devils, angels and archons in extraplanar abominations and undead too
Wasn't my lore. The creatures in question played by very strict rules and were eventually tricked by the very agreement they made thinking they tricked the mortals because they were unaware a second soul lived inside one of the people and the deal was for one soul. Their appearances were very unsettling—a useful tool at the bargaining table, but it didn't help them when they broke the contract that even had a loophole to get what they wanted without giving the mortals what they wanted.
Quite interesting because the mortals first said it wasn't fair when the devils gave exactly what the mortals requested but was useless, and then, the devils claimed it wasn't fair when they took the mortal with the strongest soul only to find out too late that it was because there were two instead of one. Hells hath no fury like a contract broken by their own. (They were banished back to the Hells and likely to have real anguish as their reward for their failure.)
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
So I was doing my D&D notes update for my players (they just got a Spelljammer) - and met some Hadozee and Plasmoids. I made the Hadozee native to an area on the Astral Plane. However, the Plasmoids I already technically had ground work. There's an (evil) deity in my campaign (Razataun) who is "the slime god" - and he believes that all being should be single cell organisms (it removes the complications of free thought, and you become one colony that all work together, merging into one, etc.) So he has a cult of followers who worship things like green slime, various oozes, and to be "sacrificed" (chosen) by their fanatic shamans is a great honor... So the Plasmoids in my world are some slimes that hitched a ride on a Spelljammer from the world - however, once they entered the Astral Plane, their ties to Razataun were mysteriously broken - and they were free to think as themselves, and retained independent thought - and realize they'd been overcome by the god's evil madness - and now roam the Astral Plane as "Plasmoids" and have created a new species.
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
Let’s see…
As a lover of the Oni monster; it piqued my curiosity that they are considered a “Giant” type.
…which made me wonder where they fall on the Ordning (the official hierarchy / philosophy of giants).
Then I got the idea that they operate sort of like mercenaries…not so much fitting into any of the established levels of the Ordning; but lending their services to any other giants who have need of them.
With their ability to change their shape, turn invisible, and their affinity for using magic items, Oni make for valuable spies to the leaders of any particular giant sect…particularly when a giant may wish to gain insight into what the “small folk” might be up to.
I even made it so that, strictly speaking, not every Oni is of the evil alignment…just mostly, due to their “self-serving” mentality & greed. Other times, most Oni might develop wicked tendencies out of spite…never quite fitting in with the Ordning; yet also considered monsters by the small folk (which many Oni gladly oblige).
But some Oni might find themselves serving a giant who is somewhat noble; and might develop their sense of honor or justice…others might embrace their independence from the Ordning entirely, and live among the small folk without evil intention.
I. Freaking. Love. This.
This would have been good stuff for Storm King's Thunder.
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
Nice!
Don’t tell anyone; but I plan on making a good-aligned NPC Oni character in a campaign I’m running.
They are disguised as a human…we’ll see how long it takes for the party to figure out what they are.
Most of the time I don't really go into monster lore and instead select monsters whose features fit thematically. If they're important to the plot, I'll include the lore - and 95% of the time, I'll change it to suit my needs. I can really only remember one time when I didn't. The Nightmare was perfect as-is.
My biggest changes were to lycanthropes and dragons.
In my universe, lycanthropy is incurable and was created by the gods to help ancient heroes gain an edge in a cataclysmic war. The gods who introduced it were not nice, so the bloodlust side effect came as a nasty surprise on the first full moon. Cue lycans being feared...except within a small sect of one of the gods' followers, who in fact view lycans with reverence and honor their role in saving the world.
As for dragons, I brought purple dragons back (before Fizban's came out and revived Deep Dragons from 2e) and made them a huge part of my Underdark power structure. My purples deal psychic damage, and once they are old enough, they can all shape change. I always thought it odd that a massive beast like a dragon would choose to live underground where there is very little to hoard and be worshipped by, so I decided they were being hunted by the chromatics and metallics and escaped to the Underdark to survive. Their innate psychic powers and ability to shapeshift allowed them to hide and overpower the denizens of the dark. And when the illithids started a conflict, the drow approached the purples with a deal - fight the illithids and the Middledark is yours as perpetual tribute. The purples drove back the ilithids and sealed them in the Lowerdark, then spread out to rule the Middledark, still hiding their true forms to protect themselves from other dragons. And with their changed forms came changed hoards - things like magic items, religious iconography, knowledge, influence, and memories.
When I use demons and devils, I use them as the evil spirits that are often present in mythology. They dwell in the underworld, which is literally under the world, because my world is a giant flying space turtle and the underworld is the underside of the turtle. Devils and demons are still against each other, they dwell on different parts of its underbelly and are constantly fighting each other for power. If they could get along they might be able to escape the underworld and terrorize the overworld, but they don't and they also are held off by an order of magical creatures called rimwalkers who patrol the edge of the shell, keeping the fiends at bay.
The Shadowfell is a plane in the space turtles shadow.
A'Tuin?
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Please tell me magic is colored octarine...
Definitely. It is quite easy to tell where I get a lot of my inspiration from.