Search Results
All Results
Characters
Compendium
Spells
Items
Monsters
Vehicles
Forums
Returning 35 results for 'Dark Secrets'.
Other Suggestions:
draw secrets
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
Dark Secrets During character creation, once players have developed their own characters, they should collectively choose a dark secret shared by the entire party. Every member of the party is
entangled in this dark secret, regardless of how new they are to the city or how incorruptible their morals. Maybe they’re merely witnesses, maybe they’re covering for a friend’s crimes, or maybe they’re
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer
Dark Secrets During character creation, once players have developed their own characters, they should collectively choose a dark secret shared by the entire party. Every member of the party is
entangled in this dark secret, regardless of how new they are to the city or how incorruptible their morals. Maybe they’re merely witnesses, maybe they’re covering for a friend’s crimes, or maybe they’re
Monsters
Eberron: Rising from the Last War
temporary hit points per level of that spell.
Maddening Secrets (Costs 3 Actions). Sul Khatesh whispers an arcane secret into the mind of a creature she can see within 60 feet of her. The target must
as the Lords of Dust — scheme to unleash their ancient masters. The overlords gain strength when mortals embrace the dark paths laid down for them. And as they grow stronger, they gain more influence
Magic Items
Keys from the Golden Vault
The contents of this foul manuscript of ineffable wickedness are the meat and drink of those in evil’s thrall. No mortal was meant to know the secrets it contains, knowledge so horrid that to
property again until the next dawn.
Dark Lore. You can reference the Book of Vile Darkness whenever you make an Intelligence check to recall information about some aspect of evil, such as lore about
Monsters
The Wild Beyond the Witchlight
, which plays no part in this adventure, is described in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.)
Iggwilv’s Transformation. Iggwilv learned several dark secrets while studying the Abyss
start of her turn.
Witchcraft. Iggwilv uses Spellcasting or Fey Step.
Dark Speech (Costs 2 Actions). Iggwilv utters a phrase in a forbidden language and targets one or two creatures she can see within
Monsters
The Book of Many Things
Whisperer. A purple star whose guidance and minions seem to help for a time but whose influence inevitably leads to disaster.
Hadar, the Dark Hunger. A cinder-red dying star that siphons life from its
minions to avert its own demise.
Khirad, the Star of Secrets. A blue-white star whose gifts grant insight but also reveal terrible truths.
Zhudun, the Corpse Star. A dead star that whispers of the
Monsters
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
his life. He became a devotee of the Dark Powers and tapped into their immortal malice to fuel his apotheosis.
As his power grew, he attracted disciples who also wished to defy life and death. He
shared his dread secrets with them and demanded their worship. In time, his goal was achieved: he became a lich of almost godly power. Acknowledging the role that his disciples played in his ascension
Monsters
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
delved into any eldritch secret that would prolong his life. He became a devotee of the Dark Powers and tapped into their immortal malice to fuel his apotheosis.
As his power grew, he attracted
disciples who also wished to defy life and death. He shared his dread secrets with them and demanded their worship. In time, his goal was achieved: he became a lich of almost godly power. Acknowledging the
Monsters
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
immortality. He forged pacts with any entity that would give him more power and delved into any eldritch secret that would prolong his life. He became a devotee of the Dark Powers and tapped into
their immortal malice to fuel his apotheosis.
As his power grew, he attracted disciples who also wished to defy life and death. He shared his dread secrets with them and demanded their worship. In time
Monsters
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
more power and delved into any eldritch secret that would prolong his life. He became a devotee of the Dark Powers and tapped into their immortal malice to fuel his apotheosis.
As his power grew, he
attracted disciples who also wished to defy life and death. He shared his dread secrets with them and demanded their worship. In time, his goal was achieved: he became a lich of almost godly power
Monsters
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Dark Powers and tapped into their immortal malice to fuel his apotheosis.
As his power grew, he attracted disciples who also wished to defy life and death. He shared his dread secrets with them and
curse upon them—that their immortality would fail them when they least expected it and that he himself would become one of the Dark Powers. As a result of that curse, a priest of Osybus can’t
Monsters
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
his own immortality. He forged pacts with any entity that would give him more power and delved into any eldritch secret that would prolong his life. He became a devotee of the Dark Powers and tapped
into their immortal malice to fuel his apotheosis.
As his power grew, he attracted disciples who also wished to defy life and death. He shared his dread secrets with them and demanded their worship
Monsters
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
give him more power and delved into any eldritch secret that would prolong his life. He became a devotee of the Dark Powers and tapped into their immortal malice to fuel his apotheosis.
As his power
grew, he attracted disciples who also wished to defy life and death. He shared his dread secrets with them and demanded their worship. In time, his goal was achieved: he became a lich of almost godly
Monsters
Storm King's Thunder
that yakfolk are lazy—quite the contrary. They simply consider most menial tasks beneath them.
Yakfolk have a drive for learning, particularly when it comes to the secrets of elemental magic
and dark knowledge that might serve to corrupt or dominate others. Knowledge that the yakfolk can’t gain or use is to be destroyed. Unsentimental by nature, yakfolk parents pack children off to
Monsters
Storm King's Thunder
secrets of elemental magic and dark knowledge that might serve to corrupt or dominate others. Knowledge that the yakfolk can’t gain or use is to be destroyed. Unsentimental by nature, yakfolk
Monsters
Mythic Odysseys of Theros
worshipers dedicated to Pharika previously hoarded secrets and engaged in dark rituals.
Island of Potent Magic. Although Skathos’s location remains a mystery, stories tell of the island’s
;s victims have dwindled, tales of the medusa queen and the divine secrets she hoards have not. Hythonia eagerly trades the mysteries she knows but demands a constant price: a beautiful individual to
Magic Items
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
over someone’s body, either to impersonate that person for a brief time or to extract secrets from their mind. When the mission is complete, the creature returns to you, reports its success
while carrying out your orders.
Rakdos Keyrune (Uncommon). This dark granite keyrune is marbled with scarlet veins and carved with the leering visage of a mischievous demon. When activated, it
Equipment
Spicule’s vast tome contains secrets concerning celestials and how to use them to fuel dark magic. You must spend 50 hours studying this tome to gain the following benefits:
You have
parts of Celestials and use them to fuel dark magic. You can harvest a heart, eye, or other useful organ from a Celestial’s corpse with a successful DC 16 Wisdom (Survival) check. You can use a
Book of Vile Darkness
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
Learn More
Magic Items
Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
The contents of this foul manuscript of ineffable wickedness are the meat and drink of those in evil’s thrall. No mortal was meant to know the secrets it contains, knowledge so horrid that to
can’t use this property again until the next dawn.
Dark Lore. You can reference the Book of Vile Darkness whenever you make an Intelligence check to recall information about some aspect of evil
Backgrounds
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
You’re a spy. Secrets and misinformation are your stock in trade. You skulk in the shadows, infiltrate other guilds, and steal the most precious secrets, whether they’re written in locked
. You infiltrate your secondary guild to learn its secrets, keep tabs on its activities, or perhaps undermine it from within.
Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Stealth
Tool Proficiencies:
Criminal / Spy
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
Learn More
Backgrounds
Basic Rules (2014)
.
Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Stealth
Tool Proficiencies: One type of gaming set, thieves’ tools
Equipment: A crowbar, a set of dark common clothes including a hood, and a pouch
sold the secrets you uncovered to the highest bidder.
Suggested Characteristics
Criminals might seem like villains on the surface, and many of them are villainous to the core. But some have an
Yuan-ti Pureblood
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
Learn More
Species
Volo's Guide to Monsters
; Elminster
The serpent creatures known as yuan-ti are all that remains of an ancient, decadent human empire. Ages ago their dark gods taught them profane, cannibalistic rituals to mix their flesh
primordial world heeded the prayers of these people and hissed dark demands into their ears. The people tainted their souls by performing human sacrifices in the name of the gods, debased their flesh by
Backgrounds
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
, rot, and rebirth. You have spent your life in the slow churn of that ecosystem, in the dark places of the city where the messy parts of existence are on display. There is little squeamishness among the
joined the Gruul in a battle against the Boros once, and the sergeant of that Boros squad would love to prove that it was me.
3
I had a romance with a Dimir agent whom I still feed secrets to
Backgrounds
Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus
type of gaming set, thieves’ tools
Equipment: A crowbar, a set of dark common clothes including a hood, and a pouch containing 15 gp
Criminal Origins
Criminals are pervasive in Baldur
different context: as an espionage agent. You might have been an officially sanctioned agent of the crown, or perhaps you sold the secrets you uncovered to the highest bidder.
Suggested
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Vecna: Eve of Ruin
Kas’s Plan Lauren Walsh The Dark Powers have gifted Kas a powerful artifact to help him destroy Vecna Shortly after Vecna began traversing the multiverse to gather secrets, Kas learned of the lich
-god’s plan from the Dark Powers. Upon working out a bargain with those powers, Kas devised a plot to usurp the power Vecna was gathering. The moment before the lich unravels existence, Kas plans to slay Vecna and step into the lich’s place, reshaping the multiverse to his own whims.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
drawn to serve Shar often nurture their own deep wounds or dark secrets, which in their minds makes them best suited to console those who suffer from a similar ill. Throughout the world’s history, many
Shar The Mistress of the Night, the Dark Lady, Our Lady of Loss The dark twin of Selûne, Shar is the goddess of darkness, both in its physical form and as it exists in the minds and souls of mortals
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual. Use the first session of the game to help your players create their 1st-level characters. As part of this process, the players can choose their party’s dark secret (see "Dark Secrets").
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Curse of Strahd
dark vestiges imprisoned within the temple will try to corrupt them, offering them secrets and gifts in exchange for a taste of the evil that lurks within their true hearts. I would not be called ‘death’ so soon. I made a pact with death, a pact of blood.
—The Tome of Strahd
evil vestiges (remnants of dead, malevolent entities) they had captured and the hoard of forbidden knowledge they had amassed. They dedicated the temple to a god of secrets, whom they trusted to keep it
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tyranny of Dragons
the character is held by the dark gaze within the stony cowl for 1 round. During this time, the statue whispers impossible secrets to the character, which carry both benefit and burden. A character who
3. Watchful Statues Six statues stand here, all of cowled wizards leaning on staffs, their faces obscured by deep hoods. The hollows the hoods form are particularly dark. Niches between the statues
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Rise of Tiamat
the character is held by the dark gaze within the stony cowl for 1 round. During this time, the statue whispers impossible secrets to the character, which carry both benefit and burden. The character
3. Watchful Statues Six statues stand here, all of cowled wizards leaning on staffs, their faces obscured by deep hoods. The hollows the hoods form are particularly dark. Niches between the statues
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual
Nothic Witness to the Weird Habitat: Underdark; Treasure: Arcana Consumed by their thirst for forbidden knowledge, nothics are cursed lore seekers transformed by secrets never meant to be known. The
enemies, and steal the secrets of those who interrupt their investigations. Some nothics seek to end the curse that warped them into their bizarre forms, but many are unaware of—or uninterested in—their
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron
The Depths Sharn was built on the foundations of an older city, which was itself built atop goblin ruins. This old city was destroyed by dark magic—the elemental powers of the infamous Halas Tarkanan
magic. These portals remain sealed today, and it’s illegal to tamper with them. But it’s generally assumed that there may be many treasures hidden in the ruins of Old Sharn, along with untold secrets of the past.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
The Amber Temple Once a haven of virtuous wizards, the Amber Temple was long ago corrupted by evil. It was here that Strahd made his pact with the Dark Powers to become a vampire, with the blessing
, viewing it as a nexus of secrets underpinning the nature of the Domains of Dread. The priests of Osybus (detailed in the “Other Groups” section later in this chapter) have particular interest in this site.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Out of the Abyss
With Friends Like These … Buppido, Prince Derendil, and Sarith might be gone well before the adventurers are ready to return to the surface, having already revealed their dark secrets and treacherous
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragon of Icespire Peak
against the terrifying powers that threaten the land. Wizards plunder the ruins of the fallen Netherese empire, delving into secrets too dark for the light of day. Bards sing of kings, queens, heroes
dwarf kings of Delzoun, seeking glory and treasure. Rogues prowl the dark alleyways of teeming cities such as Neverwinter and Baldur’s Gate. Clerics in the service of gods wield mace and spell, questing






