back beings desire channel rites

Acolyte

Backgrounds Player’s Handbook

grove. There you performed rites in honor of a god or pantheon. You served under a priest and studied religion. Thanks to your priest’s instruction and your own devotion, you also learned how to channel a modicum of divine power in service to your place of worship and the people who prayed there.

Clockwork Sorcery

Classes Player’s Handbook

Channel Cosmic Forces of Order The cosmic force of order has suffused you with magic. That power arises from Mechanus or a realm like it—a plane of existence shaped entirely by clockwork

efficiency. You or someone from your lineage might have become entangled in the machinations of modrons, the orderly beings who inhabit Mechanus. Perhaps your ancestor even took part in the Great Modron

Book of Vile Darkness

Magic Items Dungeon Master’s Guide

, foul rites that allow one to transform into a death knight or lich, or long-lost spells crafted by beings so evil their names ought never to be spoken aloud. Vile Speech. While the book is on your

damage unless the creature is a Fiend or an Undead. Destroying the Book. The Book of Vile Darkness allows pages to be torn from it, but any evil lore contained on those pages finds its way back into the

Cleric

Classes Player’s Handbook

, a Cleric can reach out to the divine magic of the Outer Planes—where gods dwell—and channel it to bolster people and battle foes. Because their power is a divine gift, Clerics typically

prayers and rites that help them draw on power from the Outer Planes. Not every member of a temple or shrine is a Cleric. Some priests are called to a simple life of temple service, carrying out their

Monk

Classes Player’s Handbook

manifestation of defense and speed, this power infuses all that a Monk does. Monks focus their internal power to create extraordinary, even supernatural, effects. They channel uncanny speed and

to fuel their determination and discipline. Monks generally view adventures as tests of their physical and mental development. They are driven by a desire to accomplish a greater mission than merely

Incarnation of Transience

Monsters Lorwyn: First Light

condition. Success: Half damage only.The incarnations of transience represent all that is fleeting or ephemeral. Despite their apparent bulk, these incarnations are actually ephemeral beings with only a

spectral existence in material reality. Each incarnation resembles a saurian behemoth with an axolotl face, a many-frilled tail, and a hulking back covered in bright-orange pustules. In Lorwyn

Kraul Death Priest

Monsters Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

linger at the margins of the undercity but now increasingly making their buzzing voices heard in the subterranean Golgari guildhall. These six-legged, insectile beings are hard-headed and literal-minded

, with little grasp of metaphor or nuance. The death priests occupy the highest roles in kraul society. They lead the buzzing chants of the kraul rites. Their inscrutable clicks and buzzing can summon

Reborn

Species Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

veins making it clear that they’ve been touched by death. Other reborn are marvels of magic or science, being stitched together from disparate beings or bearing mysterious minds in manufactured

sensations or visions of the past to come rushing back. Rather than sleeping, reborn regularly sit and dwell on the past, hoping for some revelation of what came before. Most of the time, these are dark

The Fiend Legacy

Classes Basic Rules (2014)

You have made a pact with a fiend from the lower planes of existence, a being whose aims are evil, even if you strive against those aims. Such beings desire the corruption or destruction of all

Kolyarut

Monsters Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse

their questions have been satisfied, they report back to their creator, allowing the Kolyarut to impose accurate judgments. Kolyaruts are four-armed beings of magic and machinery. Like maruts, they

judges the needs of planar beings seeking uniquely binding terms and forges ironclad agreements. Those who break these contracts are pursued by marut;maruts (detailed in Mordenkainen Presents

Thanoi Hunter

Monsters Monstrous Compendium Vol. 2: Dragonlance Creatures

beings who dwell in the frozen wastelands of Krynn. They sport thick, ivory tusks, which they use both to defend themselves and to poke breathing holes in sea ice as they swim. Often at odds with the

monstrous creatures that live in the frozen wastes, thanoi are adept hunters. In addition to their tusks, they use harpoons on long ropes that they can quickly reel back. Groups of thanoi hunters work

Mercane

Monsters Spelljammer: Adventures in Space

portfolios revolve around fair commerce. Standing 12 feet tall, they are lanky blue beings who dress in elegant robes and have elongated heads and long, spindly fingers. Mercanes conduct most of their

unreliable. Once a mercane has been offended by someone, getting back into their good graces is next to impossible.

Turlang

Monsters Storm King's Thunder

takes a bonus action to turn it back into an inanimate tree. The tree then takes root if possible. Spellcasting. Turlang casts one of the following spells, requiring no material spell components and

, pass without trace, speak with animals 1/day each: commune with nature (cast as 1 action), conjure woodland beings, hallucinatory terrain (cast as 1 action)A xenophobic, moss-covered treant named Turlang.Bludgeoning, PiercingFire

House of Cards

Magic Items The Book of Many Things

and transform into a shelter made of cards. The shelter can be shaped however you desire, but it must fit in a 40-foot cube centered on a point within 30 feet of you. The shelter has one door and up

psychic damage. The shelter lasts for 24 hours, until you dismiss it as an action, or until it is reduced to 0 hit points. When the shelter’s duration ends, it transforms back into a deck of cards

Madcap

Monsters Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

gnome with a hunched back and a sinewy frame springs from the earth. The creature has a pointed leather cap, pants of similar material, heavy iron boots, and a heavy bladed weapon. From the moment it

been. A redcap’s desire to slay is rooted in its will to survive. VARIANT: MADCAPS A madcap is a redcap that soaks its hat in demon ichor instead of blood. Contact with demon ichor makes the

Frostmourn

Monsters Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

manner—perhaps poisoned, stabbed in the back, or killed while sleeping—the slain giant can rise as a frostmourn. Driven by its desire for vengeance, the frostmourn can turn the living into

Jiangshi

Monsters Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

that is Medium or Small or back into its true form. Its statistics, other than its size, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying is absorbed or borne by the new form (the

their descendants and the communities they knew in life, sowing terror and taking retribution for the slights or neglected burial rites that led to their cursed resurrections. Rigor mortis notoriously

Eater of Hope

Monsters Mythic Odysseys of Theros

them. Twister of Wills. Being obsessed with wealth and dominating lesser beings, eaters of hope hoard treasure for the sole purpose of tempting and manipulating mortals. They revel in using creatures

, feel free to use whatever fiends you wish when telling stories in Theros—the Underworld’s a big place with room for all the incarnate wickedness you desire. PoisonCold, Necrotic

Dwarf Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

“Yer late, elf!” came the rough edge of a familiar voice. Bruenor Battlehammer walked up the back of his dead foe, disregarding the fact that the heavy monster lay on top of his elven

mountains they love, weathering the passage of centuries with stoic endurance and little change. They respect the traditions of their clans, tracing their ancestry back to the founding of their most

Equinal Guardinal

Monsters Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse

powerful, hocked legs carry them over great distances. These good-natured, boisterous Celestials boast their might in contests of strength and rarely back down from a challenge. Tough and courageous

supernatural virtue puts them at odds with the evil beings of the Lower Planes. Guardinals abhor wickedness and strike out against injustice and villainy without hesitation, determined to eradicate forces that threaten beauty and peace.Radiant

Cleric Legacy

Classes Basic Rules (2014)

her holy symbol as light pours from it to drive back the zombies crowding in on her companions. Clerics are intermediaries between the mortal world and the distant planes of the gods. As varied as the

to those chosen to fulfill a high calling. Harnessing divine magic doesn’t rely on study or training. A cleric might learn formulaic prayers and ancient rites, but the ability to cast cleric

The Abbot

Monsters Curse of Strahd

than its own, or back into its true form. It reverts to its true form if it dies. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying is absorbed or borne by the new form (the Abbot's choice). In a new form, the

present since birth. The Abbot became consumed with a prideful, obsessive desire to rid the poor Belviews of their lingering imperfections. The Belview family, however, had strange ideas of what it

Heralds of Dust Exorcist

Monsters Adventure Atlas: The Mortuary

apparitions and their ilk, exorcists channel the forces of death to preserve the living, commune with the dead, and drive evil spirits back to their graves. They can also fire versatile bolts of necrotic or

Arkhan the Cruel

Monsters Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

, Arkhan uses branding smite to channel the radiant power of Tiamat into his weapon attacks. If a fight turns against him, he uses the teleport power of the Hand of Vecna to return to his tower with as

many allies as possible. Should one or more of his comrades fall in battle, Arkhan uses revivify and raise dead spells to bring them back to life as soon as possible. If Arkhan finds himself overwhelmed

Hederan

races

Hederans are living embodiments of alpine trees, sentient beings of bark and leaf whose bodies host moss, holly and fungi. Their outer skin is made of thick bark that toughens with age, and beneath

its body release pollen and a single silver seed forms upon its back. The seed must be planted within a week, or it will wither away, but from it a new hederan sapling will grow. Once planted by their

Star Spawn Seer

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

’s goal is to tap into vast energy sources and perform the dire rites that will extend a bridge between the Material Plane and the squirming chaos of an Elder Evil’s realm. An entity that

even a moment’s contact is enough to break a mortal’s mind. Yet beings do exist that are native to these realms: entities that are ever hungering, searching, warring, and sometimes

Giff

Species Spelljammer: Adventures in Space

Giff are tall, broad-shouldered folk with hippo-like features. Some have smooth skin, while others have short bristles on their faces and the tops of their heads. As beings of impressive size and

divine beings who created giff have likewise been forgotten. Their titanic petrified bodies drift on the Astral Sea, isolated and unrecognizable in their current forms. Although they don’t realize

Star Spawn Grue

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

’s contact is enough to break a mortal’s mind. Yet beings do exist that are native to these realms: entities that are ever hungering, searching, warring, and sometimes dreaming. These

Elder Evils are far older than most of the mortal peoples and always inimical to such creatures’ minds. However much they might desire to enter and dominate the Material Plane, the Elder Evils are

Returned Sentry

Monsters Mythic Odysseys of Theros

work well together, sharing the unified goals of overcoming their foes and getting back to the task at hand. Returned have escaped the Underworld and dwell among the living once more, but their

, which manifest as separate beings known as eidolons. The experience of escaping the Underworld also causes them to lose their faces, which become expressionless surfaces with empty eye sockets and gaping

Star Spawn Mangler

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

of existence lie realms alien to mortal life. Some are so hostile that even a moment’s contact is enough to break a mortal’s mind. Yet beings do exist that are native to these realms

much they might desire to enter and dominate the Material Plane, the Elder Evils are unable or unwilling to leave their realms. Some are imprisoned in their dimensions by external forces, some are

Urchin Legacy

Backgrounds Player’s Handbook (2014)

shaped by lives of desperate poverty, for good and for ill. They tend to be driven either by a commitment to the people with whom they shared life on the street or by a burning desire to find a better

of questions. 3 I like to squeeze into small places where no one else can get to me. 4 I sleep with my back to a wall or tree, with everything I own wrapped in a bundle in my arms. 5

Kenku Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

at the burned-out building, a sudden cacophony erupted around us. Birds squawked, cats hissed, and dogs growled. Lidda hustled us back to the city’s safer avenues. Only when we were back within

. Every kenku is born with a desire to take to the air, and those who learn spellcasting do so in hope of mastering spells that will allow them to fly. Rumors of magic items such as flying carpets, brooms

Orrery of the Wanderer

Magic Items Acquisitions Incorporated

created by a renowned clockwork mage known only as Lottie. She crafted the relic as a means of tapping into the power of the planes, and to channel the divination and foretelling powers of the stars

planes. Eventually, it would impress upon its owner a desire to open portals into the most cursed and dangerous worlds, including the Far Realm. To prevent the orrery from ever being so used, Lottie

Knight of Eldraine

Monsters Monstrous Compendium Vol. 4: Eldraine Creatures

. Knights of Eldraine channel their devotion to the virtues of the realm into magical power that infuses their attacks. Most knights deal extra radiant damage with these attacks, but some knights

: the wildest parts of Eldraine. To that end, they patrol the forests along the Boundary Lands, turning back loggers and hunters—by force if necessary. Though they’ve renounced their

Tabaxi Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

We had a tabaxi come through once, a few winters back. She kept the taproom packed each night with her stories and spent most days napping in a chair in front of the fireplace. We thought she was

mull over the stories and rumors they collected like a miser counting coins. Although material wealth holds little attraction for the tabaxi, they have an insatiable desire to find and inspect ancient

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