I'm thinking of running a combat-based western-themed campaign that involves fiends. Basically, a portal to one of the lower planes opened up in the desert. The portal only allows lesser devils to pass through, but as time progresses the planar rift gets larger, allowing stronger fiends to enter the material plane. The players' goal is to close the portal before the BBEG (probably a pit fiend) can cross over. I have settlements and NPC's planned out but I'm having trouble coming up with low-level fiendish encounters. How should I start the campaign combat-wise?
Lemure are low level and motivated to cause havoc to get "promoted" to a higher degree of demon; a group of them randomly attacking a settlement ought to kick start the theme of the campaign fairly well
Vargouille can serve as a deadly unintended consequence of the new rift; basically one can slip through with no agenda and curse/multiply ad infinitum on the local townspeople, unless the heroes intervene and avoid getting cursed themselves
Thanks! I forgot about quasits. I was thinking devils though but I'm just in the brainstorming phase of the campaign. Maybe I could use an imp or lemure, then move on to spined and bearded devils. Heck, I could just call air elementals "dust devils" and change the tag to fiend.
You could always have the devils hire a goblin tribe. Then you also establish a precedent that they are willing and able to work with non-devils. It allows more monster options, and can keep the PCs off balance since it will mean that anyone could be working for the enemy.
Well, if you're running a homebrew world you could remove/blur some of the distinctions between devils/demons/other fiends so you could pick and choose as you please, or if you're playing with official material you could also have the portal open to neutral/border territory, such as on an island in the river styx or on one of it's banks.
Another thing you could do is take non-fiendish encounters and add fiendish flair to them. For instance, hellish power could have touched a wolf pack and mutated/driven them mad (and replace their saving throw against being knocked prone to a saving throw against being poisoned as a result) or there could be fiendish influence reaching a graveyard and making the dead rise at night, or making the scarecrows in a field animate. There's many different ways for you to add fiendish flavor without necessarily using fiends (such as your "dust devil" idea; I really, reeeaaally love that one!)
(also, just as an aside, your campaign sounds a heck of a lot like my campaign right now, lol)
Also it would be totally believe if some of the towns you've created had small upstarts of fiendish cults in them. The corruption spreading from the planar rift could be the cause. Or maybe an invisible imp has been whispering in the ears of the townsfolk. In short, throw some cultists at em!
If there's a Western theme, maybe you could have a bandit gang whose leader is in league with the devils. Undead are also easy to justify alongside fiends.
I would probably look into the folklore of such an area. One thing that came to mind fairly quickly are the Anaye and things like them. Anaye, hailing from Navajo mythology, are sort of alien entities spawned by blasphemers. The creation of these entities (or their existence in general) could represent a corruption in the town, as the demonic influence slowly turns the people into fiends of a sort. Just a thought, and if you need any sort of statblock I can help you find or make one that's appropriate.
Ooh, well, I might be able to help with this, being half-Navajo and actually attending a Navajo high school, although I admit I don't remember all the specifics perfectly.
The Anaye are an extremely open-ended monster from Navajo mythology... "Anaye" is often used in the Navajo language as more of just a term for monsters in general. Within Navajo mythology there was a time when Men and Women chose to separate on either side of a river... during that time, some women would choose to pleasure themselves with strange objects, birthing monstrous offspring depending on the object used, although the specific objects vary from telling to telling, and therefore aren't specifically important, but I just thought that would give you some idea of the myth.
As for the creatures themselves, there's no consistent rhyme or reason to their nature... they vary greatly in size and shape, some monstrous and unnatural, some simply giant versions of natural creatures. Some that stuck out to me were The Kicking Monster... a creature that waits on the ledges of tall mountains, its long hair literally growing into the ground itself. using unnaturally long legs to kick travelers off the side of the mountain. There's also the Horned Monster, a massive ground-dwelling beast with large, antler-like horns it uses to gore its victims. And yet still there is the Giant Eagle, which was a massive bird so large that when it was slain it crashed into the earth and its body became the mountain Shiprock.
I'm interested in learning more about these Anaye and how to stat them, if you've got a minute. 🤠
There's really not very much to learn. Basically, they're interpreted as "alien gods" and are essentially a small rogue's gallery that were all slain by the hero Nayenezgani, using magical weapons and some level of trickery and cunning. Providing a stat block for them would be an absolute pain, given that they had some incredibly varied forms. I've got a link below that's somewhat consistent with what I already knew, though the sources they use are a little dubious and, since these stories have remarkably poor coverage in a more certain, widespread sense, I would more than advise taking some minor creative liberties with this idea.
I've also got a link on Nayenezgani, the hero of these stories. He's pretty cool in my opinion, he might make a good basis for a character or for an NPC.
If you maybe want more help than "just make stuff up", which is what I chalked up my explanation to, I would advise using Sorrowsworn from MToF for some convenient stat blocks, since they're similar enough in their design that it makes for a very easy conversion. A lot of aberrations in general make for convenient conversions, too. However, if you want to make completely customized statblocks, I would consider a few things.
- First, they're usually fought as a single, powerful threat. They should be designed in such a way as to make them very durable, or at least hard to hit.
- Flying and Burrowing speeds are often thematically appropriate, given that these stories were set mainly in deserts and cliffs.
- Almost all of the Anaye were created with some sort of gimmicky ability or weapon they used. That gimmick should be their main method of attack.
I think I'm stating the obvious here, though. I think I'm going to take a bit of time later to make an actual stat block for one of these things, then I'll post it here and you can do what you wish with it.
I'm thinking of running a combat-based western-themed campaign that involves fiends. Basically, a portal to one of the lower planes opened up in the desert. The portal only allows lesser devils to pass through, but as time progresses the planar rift gets larger, allowing stronger fiends to enter the material plane. The players' goal is to close the portal before the BBEG (probably a pit fiend) can cross over. I have settlements and NPC's planned out but I'm having trouble coming up with low-level fiendish encounters. How should I start the campaign combat-wise?
Lemure are low level and motivated to cause havoc to get "promoted" to a higher degree of demon; a group of them randomly attacking a settlement ought to kick start the theme of the campaign fairly well
Vargouille can serve as a deadly unintended consequence of the new rift; basically one can slip through with no agenda and curse/multiply ad infinitum on the local townspeople, unless the heroes intervene and avoid getting cursed themselves
Boldly go
Why not just look at fiends on dnd beyond, sort by base game, and list them by CR. One I see doing that is a Quasit.
Also known as CrafterB and DankMemer.
Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.
Thanks! I forgot about quasits. I was thinking devils though but I'm just in the brainstorming phase of the campaign. Maybe I could use an imp or lemure, then move on to spined and bearded devils. Heck, I could just call air elementals "dust devils" and change the tag to fiend.
You could always have the devils hire a goblin tribe. Then you also establish a precedent that they are willing and able to work with non-devils. It allows more monster options, and can keep the PCs off balance since it will mean that anyone could be working for the enemy.
Well, if you're running a homebrew world you could remove/blur some of the distinctions between devils/demons/other fiends so you could pick and choose as you please, or if you're playing with official material you could also have the portal open to neutral/border territory, such as on an island in the river styx or on one of it's banks.
Another thing you could do is take non-fiendish encounters and add fiendish flair to them. For instance, hellish power could have touched a wolf pack and mutated/driven them mad (and replace their saving throw against being knocked prone to a saving throw against being poisoned as a result) or there could be fiendish influence reaching a graveyard and making the dead rise at night, or making the scarecrows in a field animate. There's many different ways for you to add fiendish flavor without necessarily using fiends (such as your "dust devil" idea; I really, reeeaaally love that one!)
(also, just as an aside, your campaign sounds a heck of a lot like my campaign right now, lol)
Also it would be totally believe if some of the towns you've created had small upstarts of fiendish cults in them. The corruption spreading from the planar rift could be the cause. Or maybe an invisible imp has been whispering in the ears of the townsfolk. In short, throw some cultists at em!
Wealth beyond measure, outlander.
If there's a Western theme, maybe you could have a bandit gang whose leader is in league with the devils. Undead are also easy to justify alongside fiends.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
I would probably look into the folklore of such an area. One thing that came to mind fairly quickly are the Anaye and things like them. Anaye, hailing from Navajo mythology, are sort of alien entities spawned by blasphemers. The creation of these entities (or their existence in general) could represent a corruption in the town, as the demonic influence slowly turns the people into fiends of a sort. Just a thought, and if you need any sort of statblock I can help you find or make one that's appropriate.
I is the feels good.
- Kefko, the Traveler
I'm interested in learning more about these Anaye and how to stat them, if you've got a minute. 🤠
Ooh, well, I might be able to help with this, being half-Navajo and actually attending a Navajo high school, although I admit I don't remember all the specifics perfectly.
The Anaye are an extremely open-ended monster from Navajo mythology... "Anaye" is often used in the Navajo language as more of just a term for monsters in general. Within Navajo mythology there was a time when Men and Women chose to separate on either side of a river... during that time, some women would choose to pleasure themselves with strange objects, birthing monstrous offspring depending on the object used, although the specific objects vary from telling to telling, and therefore aren't specifically important, but I just thought that would give you some idea of the myth.
As for the creatures themselves, there's no consistent rhyme or reason to their nature... they vary greatly in size and shape, some monstrous and unnatural, some simply giant versions of natural creatures. Some that stuck out to me were The Kicking Monster... a creature that waits on the ledges of tall mountains, its long hair literally growing into the ground itself. using unnaturally long legs to kick travelers off the side of the mountain. There's also the Horned Monster, a massive ground-dwelling beast with large, antler-like horns it uses to gore its victims. And yet still there is the Giant Eagle, which was a massive bird so large that when it was slain it crashed into the earth and its body became the mountain Shiprock.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
There's really not very much to learn. Basically, they're interpreted as "alien gods" and are essentially a small rogue's gallery that were all slain by the hero Nayenezgani, using magical weapons and some level of trickery and cunning. Providing a stat block for them would be an absolute pain, given that they had some incredibly varied forms. I've got a link below that's somewhat consistent with what I already knew, though the sources they use are a little dubious and, since these stories have remarkably poor coverage in a more certain, widespread sense, I would more than advise taking some minor creative liberties with this idea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaye
I've also got a link on Nayenezgani, the hero of these stories. He's pretty cool in my opinion, he might make a good basis for a character or for an NPC.
https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100226562
I think TransmorpherDDS here did a better job summarizing, though.
I is the feels good.
- Kefko, the Traveler
If you maybe want more help than "just make stuff up", which is what I chalked up my explanation to, I would advise using Sorrowsworn from MToF for some convenient stat blocks, since they're similar enough in their design that it makes for a very easy conversion. A lot of aberrations in general make for convenient conversions, too. However, if you want to make completely customized statblocks, I would consider a few things.
- First, they're usually fought as a single, powerful threat. They should be designed in such a way as to make them very durable, or at least hard to hit.
- Flying and Burrowing speeds are often thematically appropriate, given that these stories were set mainly in deserts and cliffs.
- Almost all of the Anaye were created with some sort of gimmicky ability or weapon they used. That gimmick should be their main method of attack.
I think I'm stating the obvious here, though. I think I'm going to take a bit of time later to make an actual stat block for one of these things, then I'll post it here and you can do what you wish with it.
I is the feels good.
- Kefko, the Traveler