back beings down cities roiling

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

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

Doomwake Giant

Monsters Mythic Odysseys of Theros

terror can manifest as one of these massive Nyxborn beings. Once unleashed, a doomwake giant goes on a rampage, fulfilling the prophecy mortals believed into being. After doing so, these terrors

strength from aspects of the world itself—from ancient stone and roiling flames to the depths of the seas and skies. Unlike many creatures of legend, most giants owe their existence not to Nyx and the

Planar Incarnate (Fiend Form)

Monsters Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse

. These expressions of a plane’s power are called planar incarnates, and they appear as roiling energies with features distinct to the plane that created it. They protect their home from destructive

or otherwise antithetical forces, then merge back into their plane of origin. Planar incarnates are akin to natural disasters that work to protect and further the virtues and vices of the planes

Planar Incarnate (Celestial Form)

Monsters Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse

expressions of a plane’s power are called planar incarnates, and they appear as roiling energies with features distinct to the plane that created it. They protect their home from destructive or

otherwise antithetical forces, then merge back into their plane of origin. Planar incarnates are akin to natural disasters that work to protect and further the virtues and vices of the planes they

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

Eladrin (Variant)

Species Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)

twilight realm of the Feywild. Their cities sometimes cross over to the Material Plane, appearing briefly in mountain valleys or deep forest glades before fading back into the Feywild.

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

Yuan-ti Pit Master

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

involved in yuan-ti’s long-term plan to take over Humanoid governments, as well as in the ongoing effort to protect their cities from discovery or attacks by hostiles. They oppose reckless behavior

and argue for a slow, cautious approach in all matters.PoisonChange Shape. The yuan-ti transforms into a Medium snake or back into its true form. Its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. If it dies, it stays in its current form.

Guild Artisan / Guild Merchant Legacy

Backgrounds Player’s Handbook (2014)

of introduction from your guild, a set of traveler’s clothes, and a pouch containing 15 gp Guild Business Guilds are generally found in cities large enough to support several artisans

provides. Your fellow guild members will provide you with lodging and food if necessary, and pay for your funeral if needed. In some cities and towns, a guildhall offers a central place to meet other

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

Prisoner 13

Monsters Keys from the Golden Vault

in Dwarvish script on her neck and across her shoulder blades reads, “Endless dreams entombed in stone.” Flames. A roiling storm of brilliant flames covers her back and ribs. Shroud

tattoo across her back, filling a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on her. Each other creature in that area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 13 (3d8

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

Tlincalli

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

alive. After using their stingers to paralyze victims and their spiked chains to bind them, tlincallis take these captives back to their encampment and tie them to cacti or rock formations. When the

powerful hunter, such as a blue dragon, they carefully weigh whether to serve the superior hunter, move on, or fight to the death to remove it as competition. Tlincallis rarely build cities, make

Yuan-ti Anathema

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

. Anathemas don’t age, allowing them to pursue their goals until the end of days. Truly powerful ones might rule multiple yuan-ti cities and bring entire regions under their control.PoisonAcid

, Fire, LightningChange Shape. The anathema transforms into a Huge constrictor snake or back into its true form. Its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed.

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

Genasi Legacy

Species Elemental Evil Player's Companion

Those who think of other planes at all consider them remote, distant realms, but planar influence can be felt throughout the world. It sometimes manifests in beings who, through an accident of birth

of savage humanoids and weird cults in untamed lands. Others gain positions of great influence, especially where elemental beings are revered. A few genasi leave the Material Plane to find refuge in

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

Half-Elf Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

Flint squinted into the setting sun. He thought he saw the figure of a man striding up the path. Standing, Flint drew back into the shadow of a tall pine to see better. The man’s walk was

parents. Diplomats or Wanderers Half-elves have no lands of their own, though they are welcome in human cities and somewhat less welcome in elven forests. In large cities in regions where elves and

Urchin Legacy

Backgrounds Player’s Handbook (2014)

, and a pouch containing 10 gp FEATURE: CITY SECRETS You know the secret patterns and flow to cities and can find passages through the urban sprawl that others would miss. When you

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

Elder Brain Dragon

Monsters Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

away when a colony manages to capture a dragon. Teams of mind flayers bind the dragon, which is subject to a gruesome transformation as the elder brain latches onto the dragon’s back and digs its

. Even the elder brain dragon’s breath weapon mutates during its transformation, becoming a stream of briny liquid roiling with illithid tadpoles. These tadpoles can swiftly slay victims and transform them into mind flayers, allowing the elder brain dragon to grow its own roving colony.Psychic

Guild Artisan - Baldur's Gate

Backgrounds Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

traveler’s clothes, and a pouch containing 15 gp Guild Business Guilds are generally found in cities large enough to support several artisans practicing the same trade. However, your guild

provide you with lodging and food if necessary, and pay for your funeral if needed. In some cities and towns, a guildhall offers a central place to meet other members of your profession, which can be a

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

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

Barbarian Legacy

Classes Basic Rules (2014)

fierce animal spirits. Others draw from a roiling reservoir of anger at a world full of pain. For every barbarian, rage is a power that fuels not just a battle frenzy but also uncanny reflexes

, resilience, and feats of strength. Primal Instinct People of towns and cities take pride in their settled ways, as if denying one’s connection to nature were a mark of superiority. To a barbarian

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

. They settle in places that accept them, usually bleak cities that have fallen on hard times and are overrun with crime. Dreams of Flight Above all else, kenku wish to regain their ability to fly

Cradle of the Hill Scion

Monsters Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

standing stones, a village, or a city on a scion’s back, unaware of the mighty power beneath them. Such settlements can thrive for centuries, as the scion’s magic causes crops to flourish

Myth” in chapter 3 for additional inspiration.) Scions of giants’ gods are enormously powerful beings who infuse the world around them with primeval magic. In many worlds, they slumber

Hulgaz

Monsters The Book of Many Things

long, snakelike tail. In the midst of a conversation with an especially tantalizing victim-to-be, Hulgaz can’t help but whip her tail back and forth with excitement. Selfless heroes and true

martyrs pique Hulgaz’s interest because she loves the challenge of twisting and defiling the souls of such noble beings. She responds to unwavering do-gooders by redoubling her efforts to corrupt

Scion of Grolantor

Monsters Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

each swallowed creature and regains 10 hit points.A slumbering scion of Grolantor is often mistaken for a hill, and sometimes people erect standing stones, a village, or a city on a scion’s back

giants’ gods are enormously powerful beings who infuse the world around them with primeval magic. In many worlds, they slumber and have become part of the landscape. In this case, each scion is

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

a simple life of temple service, carrying out their gods’ will through prayer and sacrifice, not by magic and strength of arms. In some cities, priesthood amounts to a political office, viewed

Iymrith

Monsters Storm King's Thunder

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the dragon fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead. Change Shape. Iymrith magically polymorphs into a female storm giant or back into her true form

planted rumors in the storm giant court that the queen had been assassinated by the Lords’ Alliance, a confederacy of cities and settlements populated by small folk and scattered throughout the

Urchin - Baldur's Gate

Backgrounds Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

in, a pet mouse, a token to remember your parents by, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp FEATURE: CITY SECRETS You know the secret patterns and flow to cities and

. 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 I eat like

Young Topaz Dragon

Monsters Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

the necrotic energy of the Negative Plane that suffuses them. Their psionic power manifests the fundamental entropic principle that mortal beings and their creations are ultimately doomed to death and

spines that run in a ridge from the crown of the head to the tip of the tail. These spines hover above a living topaz dragon’s back, dancing and shifting with the dragon’s mood. Embodiment of

Topaz Dragon Wyrmling

Monsters Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

the nature of topaz dragons, thanks to the necrotic energy of the Negative Plane that suffuses them. Their psionic power manifests the fundamental entropic principle that mortal beings and their

visibly in the gem-like spines that run in a ridge from the crown of the head to the tip of the tail. These spines hover above a living topaz dragon’s back, dancing and shifting with the dragon

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