I am running a small campaign. I am new to the game and especially DMing and the lore of the forgotten realms.
My players are a Druid and a ranger so I had the idea of having the Forest they live by start to surge with magical energy. I’ve already had various people trying to harness said energy for their own means, and the energy is starting to corrupt some of the fae, monsters, and animals in the forest, making them lose their minds and other various effects. Certain magical objects can absorb this energy, either to use it or to remove it from the creatures after beating them.
I have a few other ideas, but I am trying to figure out a cause for this event. I was thinking maybe something to do with the feywild, but the energy is also affecting the fey, and I was considering running Witchlight later so idk if that works well.
Any ideas are welcome, the players are level 3 but it doesn’t need to be something they can deal with right away. Thanks.
Consider a magical virus — say, one that manifests as purplish blue crystals growing on the infected. A virus, especially a magical one, can alter the way creatures act. A virus can be weaponized, so it can certainly make sense for magical items to be made using the virus. A virus with a semblance of sentience might be drawn to certain things, such as a specific color of light or type of magic. The virus started here in the forest (or perhaps in a cave in the forest). The fact that fey exist in the forest implies some kind of transportation from the Feywild to here, but what happens when the virus is transmitted to the plane of the Fey?
Have fun with it! Let us know what you decide on, and how it goes!
Consider a magical virus — say, one that manifests as purplish blue crystals growing on the infected. A virus, especially a magical one, can alter the way creatures act. A virus can be weaponized, so it can certainly make sense for magical items to be made using the virus. A virus with a semblance of sentience might be drawn to certain things, such as a specific color of light or type of magic. The virus started here in the forest (or perhaps in a cave in the forest). The fact that fey exist in the forest implies some kind of transportation from the Feywild to here, but what happens when the virus is transmitted to the plane of the Fey?
Have fun with it! Let us know what you decide on, and how it goes!
Thanks. Tbh I was looking more for a who/how than a what, like what could cause this virus? Or is it just magical energy that through random wild magic or whatever mutated into a virus? I guess that's up to me, but working in some existing lore would be cool. I'm not sure where to set the campaign/forest itself either, I kinda wanna keep it small scale but also powerful and dangerous, but if I was like, next to waterdeep or a major area with like, super powerful people., the world building doesn't really make sense (which I guess is a problem for most campaigns set in Faerun tbh, and might be why people usually only use what they need, but it's hard to decide how much I want in the background, since I prefer a sandboxy fleshed out world). Anyway I digress, thank you. I like the idea of the virus and how it could all be tied in, super cool.
Consider a magical virus — say, one that manifests as purplish blue crystals growing on the infected. A virus, especially a magical one, can alter the way creatures act. A virus can be weaponized, so it can certainly make sense for magical items to be made using the virus. A virus with a semblance of sentience might be drawn to certain things, such as a specific color of light or type of magic. The virus started here in the forest (or perhaps in a cave in the forest). The fact that fey exist in the forest implies some kind of transportation from the Feywild to here, but what happens when the virus is transmitted to the plane of the Fey?
Have fun with it! Let us know what you decide on, and how it goes!
Thanks. Tbh I was looking more for a who/how than a what, like what could cause this virus? Or is it just magical energy that through random wild magic or whatever mutated into a virus? I guess that's up to me, but working in some existing lore would be cool. I'm not sure where to set the campaign/forest itself either, I kinda wanna keep it small scale but also powerful and dangerous, but if I was like, next to waterdeep or a major area with like, super powerful people., the world building doesn't really make sense (which I guess is a problem for most campaigns set in Faerun tbh, and might be why people usually only use what they need, but it's hard to decide how much I want in the background, since I prefer a sandboxy fleshed out world). Anyway I digress, thank you. I like the idea of the virus and how it could all be tied in, super cool.
With regards to how the virus started, perhaps the death of a powerful creature of magic, like an Archfey or archmage interrupted in the process of a ritual, could create an aberrant flow of magic that resulted in the creature’s body crystallizing, et cetera. Or maybe it originated from a part of the Elemental Plane of Earth, where the locals are pretty much immune to the virus, but it somehow was transmitted to the aforementioned cave in the wood.
As you said, it’s your own campaign and you make the choices. Go somewhere new with the idea and run wild to the stars. Have fun!
What I understand of the Feywild is that it can come "close" to the Material Plane in various places. In those places, the Feywild and the Material Plane look similar, and someone could even accidentally cross over in the most extreme cases (though it is often no accident but exploiting a phenomenon).
Can something or someone make these "thin" areas? I don't see why not. Being able to pass between the Material Plane and Feywild can provide opportunities that one couldn't have in one Plane alone. How is a different matter.
Perhaps, it's an unintended side effect of long-term practices and ancient cultural rituals, and someone is now using that unexpected side effect to an advantage. It proposes some questions of what someone gains from this situation but also should the players try to "correct" the separation of Feywild and Material Plane as if this bleeding effect also provides some necessary positive benefit to the survival of the forest. Someone else could come along and abuse that aspect of the forest again later, but severing the link to prevent anyone from trying again will also kill the forest.
Anything is possible in D&D. Chapter 9 of the DMG even gives examples of optional rules for real world modern items and fictional futuristic items finding their way into the Realms, but they don't explain how those items get there.
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.
What I understand of the Feywild is that it can come "close" to the Material Plane in various places. In those places, the Feywild and the Material Plane look similar, and someone could even accidentally cross over in the most extreme cases (though it is often no accident but exploiting a phenomenon).
Can something or someone make these "thin" areas? I don't see why not. Being able to pass between the Material Plane and Feywild can provide opportunities that one couldn't have in one Plane alone. How is a different matter.
Perhaps, it's an unintended side effect of long-term practices and ancient cultural rituals, and someone is now using that unexpected side effect to an advantage. It proposes some questions of what someone gains from this situation but also should the players try to "correct" the separation of Feywild and Material Plane as if this bleeding effect also provides some necessary positive benefit to the survival of the forest. Someone else could come along and abuse that aspect of the forest again later, but severing the link to prevent anyone from trying again will also kill the forest.
Anything is possible in D&D. Chapter 9 of the DMG even gives examples of optional rules for real world modern items and fictional futuristic items finding their way into the Realms, but they don't explain how those items get there.
What I understand of the Feywild is that it can come "close" to the Material Plane in various places. In those places, the Feywild and the Material Plane look similar, and someone could even accidentally cross over in the most extreme cases (though it is often no accident but exploiting a phenomenon).
Can something or someone make these "thin" areas? I don't see why not. Being able to pass between the Material Plane and Feywild can provide opportunities that one couldn't have in one Plane alone. How is a different matter.
Perhaps, it's an unintended side effect of long-term practices and ancient cultural rituals, and someone is now using that unexpected side effect to an advantage. It proposes some questions of what someone gains from this situation but also should the players try to "correct" the separation of Feywild and Material Plane as if this bleeding effect also provides some necessary positive benefit to the survival of the forest. Someone else could come along and abuse that aspect of the forest again later, but severing the link to prevent anyone from trying again will also kill the forest.
Anything is possible in D&D. Chapter 9 of the DMG even gives examples of optional rules for real world modern items and fictional futuristic items finding their way into the Realms, but they don't explain how those items get there.
Yeah, I was thinking of having the Forest be a place where the barrier between the two is weak/there is a connection there. However, I’ve already had some fey creatures be affected by whatever is going on (was winging it and don’t wanna retcon now) so maybe someone or something is “corrupting” the connection/barrier, rather than creating it per se. (Like the virus idea from the other poster)
I like the idea of fixing it by having the forest separated from the feywild, but with that having consequences. Thanks for the input.
Maybe it's not just the Feywild that's close to the prime material plane. Maybe something rare happened and for a brief moment, the Shadowfell was also brought close to both of them. You'll have a McGuffin for the 'virus'(the Shadowfell) and a few totally different sandbox type areas for the party to explore! Maybe it's even like, the one singular forest is translated across both the Feywild and Shadowfell, so it's similar across all 3 in terms of geography, but the things living there are vastly different.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I am running a small campaign. I am new to the game and especially DMing and the lore of the forgotten realms.
My players are a Druid and a ranger so I had the idea of having the Forest they live by start to surge with magical energy. I’ve already had various people trying to harness said energy for their own means, and the energy is starting to corrupt some of the fae, monsters, and animals in the forest, making them lose their minds and other various effects. Certain magical objects can absorb this energy, either to use it or to remove it from the creatures after beating them.
I have a few other ideas, but I am trying to figure out a cause for this event. I was thinking maybe something to do with the feywild, but the energy is also affecting the fey, and I was considering running Witchlight later so idk if that works well.
Any ideas are welcome, the players are level 3 but it doesn’t need to be something they can deal with right away. Thanks.
This is a great opportunity to start bringing in some Fey creatures that are a bit more "Created" or influenced by their surroundings. Boggles are created by feelings of loneliness experience by a creature that enters the area. Darklings are devious little devils that explode when killed. As trees come to life more that would be Treants, but could also effect dryads. You could have Eladrin "Season elves" and Quicklings start going mad. Korreds are just down right fun to use in a setting like this. Meenlocks are created from moments of intense fear. Redcaps are just the most blood hungry garden gnomes. Screaming Devilkin are created from intense emotional panic. And Yeth Hounds could add some great moments of dread if you are ready for CR: 4 fun.
At a bit more of an advanced level it could be fun to incorporate the influence of magic coming from some thinning of the veil to create a portal to Hades and you could bring Night Hags into a fun bit of lore. Hags collect soul larvae which are just the deceased souls of evil beings. But you could come up with a Bazaar setting where your adventurers have to find or research a "macguffin" that would have a similar feel to the Bazaar shown in Hellboy 2. This could even be an interesting way of introducing your table to concepts of the Blood War.
And just for a piece of flair. If you Google "List of Necromancy Rituals in Whitewolf Fandom" it will give some interesting flavor ideas of some evil Meanie might have made the veil thin.
In no way am I an expert on any of this, but I love to read and watch movies, and these are some creative ideas you gave me with your inspiration. I hope you have great fun with your adventure.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I am not sure what my Spirit Animal is. But whatever that thing is, I am pretty sure it has rabies!
Maybe it's not just the Feywild that's close to the prime material plane. Maybe something rare happened and for a brief moment, the Shadowfell was also brought close to both of them. You'll have a McGuffin for the 'virus'(the Shadowfell) and a few totally different sandbox type areas for the party to explore! Maybe it's even like, the one singular forest is translated across both the Feywild and Shadowfell, so it's similar across all 3 in terms of geography, but the things living there are vastly different.
I am running a small campaign. I am new to the game and especially DMing and the lore of the forgotten realms.
My players are a Druid and a ranger so I had the idea of having the Forest they live by start to surge with magical energy. I’ve already had various people trying to harness said energy for their own means, and the energy is starting to corrupt some of the fae, monsters, and animals in the forest, making them lose their minds and other various effects. Certain magical objects can absorb this energy, either to use it or to remove it from the creatures after beating them.
I have a few other ideas, but I am trying to figure out a cause for this event. I was thinking maybe something to do with the feywild, but the energy is also affecting the fey, and I was considering running Witchlight later so idk if that works well.
Any ideas are welcome, the players are level 3 but it doesn’t need to be something they can deal with right away. Thanks.
This is a great opportunity to start bringing in some Fey creatures that are a bit more "Created" or influenced by their surroundings. Boggles are created by feelings of loneliness experience by a creature that enters the area. Darklings are devious little devils that explode when killed. As trees come to life more that would be Treants, but could also effect dryads. You could have Eladrin "Season elves" and Quicklings start going mad. Korreds are just down right fun to use in a setting like this. Meenlocks are created from moments of intense fear. Redcaps are just the most blood hungry garden gnomes. Screaming Devilkin are created from intense emotional panic. And Yeth Hounds could add some great moments of dread if you are ready for CR: 4 fun.
At a bit more of an advanced level it could be fun to incorporate the influence of magic coming from some thinning of the veil to create a portal to Hades and you could bring Night Hags into a fun bit of lore. Hags collect soul larvae which are just the deceased souls of evil beings. But you could come up with a Bazaar setting where your adventurers have to find or research a "macguffin" that would have a similar feel to the Bazaar shown in Hellboy 2. This could even be an interesting way of introducing your table to concepts of the Blood War.
And just for a piece of flair. If you Google "List of Necromancy Rituals in Whitewolf Fandom" it will give some interesting flavor ideas of some evil Meanie might have made the veil thin.
In no way am I an expert on any of this, but I love to read and watch movies, and these are some creative ideas you gave me with your inspiration. I hope you have great fun with your adventure.
I've been a bit generous with feats and magic weapons, to help with them only being 2 people and also because they are new and I want them to try stuff out, so I think they can handle some of these.
A few of these I've been considering throwing at them already, but the ones I haven't heard of sound really dope. Guess I'm adding another dozen sections to my encounter tables.
As someone who likes implementing the Abyss into their campaign arcs, it provides a useful justification for “corruption” or “madness”.
Perhaps a small tear into the Abyss has appeared somewhere inside the forest, causing all the living things in the area to go violent & wild.
Perhaps…and this a tad specific…the portal to the Abyss has appeared in the largest source of water in the forest; and has corrupted the organisms that drink from it.
That would be why nobody has detected that anything is amiss; the portal is at the bottom of a lake.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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I am running a small campaign. I am new to the game and especially DMing and the lore of the forgotten realms.
My players are a Druid and a ranger so I had the idea of having the Forest they live by start to surge with magical energy. I’ve already had various people trying to harness said energy for their own means, and the energy is starting to corrupt some of the fae, monsters, and animals in the forest, making them lose their minds and other various effects. Certain magical objects can absorb this energy, either to use it or to remove it from the creatures after beating them.
I have a few other ideas, but I am trying to figure out a cause for this event. I was thinking maybe something to do with the feywild, but the energy is also affecting the fey, and I was considering running Witchlight later so idk if that works well.
Any ideas are welcome, the players are level 3 but it doesn’t need to be something they can deal with right away. Thanks.
Consider a magical virus — say, one that manifests as purplish blue crystals growing on the infected. A virus, especially a magical one, can alter the way creatures act. A virus can be weaponized, so it can certainly make sense for magical items to be made using the virus. A virus with a semblance of sentience might be drawn to certain things, such as a specific color of light or type of magic. The virus started here in the forest (or perhaps in a cave in the forest). The fact that fey exist in the forest implies some kind of transportation from the Feywild to here, but what happens when the virus is transmitted to the plane of the Fey?
Have fun with it! Let us know what you decide on, and how it goes!
Come participate in the Competition of the Finest Brews, Edition XXVIII?
My homebrew stuff:
Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, Feats, Subclasses.
I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
Extended Signature
Thanks. Tbh I was looking more for a who/how than a what, like what could cause this virus? Or is it just magical energy that through random wild magic or whatever mutated into a virus? I guess that's up to me, but working in some existing lore would be cool. I'm not sure where to set the campaign/forest itself either, I kinda wanna keep it small scale but also powerful and dangerous, but if I was like, next to waterdeep or a major area with like, super powerful people., the world building doesn't really make sense (which I guess is a problem for most campaigns set in Faerun tbh, and might be why people usually only use what they need, but it's hard to decide how much I want in the background, since I prefer a sandboxy fleshed out world). Anyway I digress, thank you. I like the idea of the virus and how it could all be tied in, super cool.
With regards to how the virus started, perhaps the death of a powerful creature of magic, like an Archfey or archmage interrupted in the process of a ritual, could create an aberrant flow of magic that resulted in the creature’s body crystallizing, et cetera. Or maybe it originated from a part of the Elemental Plane of Earth, where the locals are pretty much immune to the virus, but it somehow was transmitted to the aforementioned cave in the wood.
As you said, it’s your own campaign and you make the choices. Go somewhere new with the idea and run wild to the stars. Have fun!
Come participate in the Competition of the Finest Brews, Edition XXVIII?
My homebrew stuff:
Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, Feats, Subclasses.
I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
Extended Signature
What I understand of the Feywild is that it can come "close" to the Material Plane in various places. In those places, the Feywild and the Material Plane look similar, and someone could even accidentally cross over in the most extreme cases (though it is often no accident but exploiting a phenomenon).
Can something or someone make these "thin" areas? I don't see why not. Being able to pass between the Material Plane and Feywild can provide opportunities that one couldn't have in one Plane alone. How is a different matter.
Perhaps, it's an unintended side effect of long-term practices and ancient cultural rituals, and someone is now using that unexpected side effect to an advantage. It proposes some questions of what someone gains from this situation but also should the players try to "correct" the separation of Feywild and Material Plane as if this bleeding effect also provides some necessary positive benefit to the survival of the forest. Someone else could come along and abuse that aspect of the forest again later, but severing the link to prevent anyone from trying again will also kill the forest.
Anything is possible in D&D. Chapter 9 of the DMG even gives examples of optional rules for real world modern items and fictional futuristic items finding their way into the Realms, but they don't explain how those items get there.
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.
Yeah, I was thinking of having the Forest be a place where the barrier between the two is weak/there is a connection there. However, I’ve already had some fey creatures be affected by whatever is going on (was winging it and don’t wanna retcon now) so maybe someone or something is “corrupting” the connection/barrier, rather than creating it per se. (Like the virus idea from the other poster)
I like the idea of fixing it by having the forest separated from the feywild, but with that having consequences. Thanks for the input.
Maybe it's not just the Feywild that's close to the prime material plane. Maybe something rare happened and for a brief moment, the Shadowfell was also brought close to both of them. You'll have a McGuffin for the 'virus'(the Shadowfell) and a few totally different sandbox type areas for the party to explore! Maybe it's even like, the one singular forest is translated across both the Feywild and Shadowfell, so it's similar across all 3 in terms of geography, but the things living there are vastly different.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
This is a great opportunity to start bringing in some Fey creatures that are a bit more "Created" or influenced by their surroundings. Boggles are created by feelings of loneliness experience by a creature that enters the area. Darklings are devious little devils that explode when killed. As trees come to life more that would be Treants, but could also effect dryads. You could have Eladrin "Season elves" and Quicklings start going mad. Korreds are just down right fun to use in a setting like this. Meenlocks are created from moments of intense fear. Redcaps are just the most blood hungry garden gnomes. Screaming Devilkin are created from intense emotional panic. And Yeth Hounds could add some great moments of dread if you are ready for CR: 4 fun.
At a bit more of an advanced level it could be fun to incorporate the influence of magic coming from some thinning of the veil to create a portal to Hades and you could bring Night Hags into a fun bit of lore. Hags collect soul larvae which are just the deceased souls of evil beings. But you could come up with a Bazaar setting where your adventurers have to find or research a "macguffin" that would have a similar feel to the Bazaar shown in Hellboy 2. This could even be an interesting way of introducing your table to concepts of the Blood War.
And just for a piece of flair. If you Google "List of Necromancy Rituals in Whitewolf Fandom" it will give some interesting flavor ideas of some evil Meanie might have made the veil thin.
In no way am I an expert on any of this, but I love to read and watch movies, and these are some creative ideas you gave me with your inspiration. I hope you have great fun with your adventure.
I am not sure what my Spirit Animal is. But whatever that thing is, I am pretty sure it has rabies!
This is actually a really cool idea. Thanks.
I've been a bit generous with feats and magic weapons, to help with them only being 2 people and also because they are new and I want them to try stuff out, so I think they can handle some of these.
A few of these I've been considering throwing at them already, but the ones I haven't heard of sound really dope. Guess I'm adding another dozen sections to my encounter tables.
Thank you. I'll check out that lore as well.
As someone who likes implementing the Abyss into their campaign arcs, it provides a useful justification for “corruption” or “madness”.
Perhaps a small tear into the Abyss has appeared somewhere inside the forest, causing all the living things in the area to go violent & wild.
Perhaps…and this a tad specific…the portal to the Abyss has appeared in the largest source of water in the forest; and has corrupted the organisms that drink from it.
That would be why nobody has detected that anything is amiss; the portal is at the bottom of a lake.