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Returning 35 results for 'backstory great woodlands settlements'.
Monsters
Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants
.
Siege Monster. The scion deals double damage to objects and structures.Multiattack. The scion makes one Great Tree Club attack and two Slam attacks, or it makes three Boulder attacks.
Great Tree
Club. Melee Weapon Attack: +15;{"diceNotation":"1d20+15", "rollType":"to hit", "rollAction":"Great Tree Club"} to hit, reach 30 ft., one target. Hit: 30 (4d10 + 8);{"diceNotation":"4d10+8", "rollType
Monsters
Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1
tell the sun about them, and ask endless questions about the sun's actions, its anger, and its attitudes. But surface folk who attempt to soothe the blindheims' fears often cause these creatures great
offense. In the minds of the blindheims, the sun could not possibly have forgotten their great and heroic theft, and anything said to dispel the belief that they remain infamous and feared by all folk
Monsters
Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1
+ 2);{"diceNotation":"1d8+2","rollType":"damage","rollAction":"Claw","rollDamageType":"slashing"} slashing damage.Heralded by the ominous, deep rumbling of their strange song, great packs of dire
inevitably emerge on the surface, the dire corbies’ voracious appetites cause them to quickly strip their new environment—including any nearby settlements—of life.Thunder
Triton
Legacy
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Species
Volo's Guide to Monsters
and worse, so you know you can count on them in a fight.
— Brego Stoneheart, sea captain
Tritons guard the ocean depths, building small settlements beside deep trenches, portals to the
to escape so easily. A great conclave of tritons chose volunteers skilled in weapons and magic as part of an expeditionary force to enter the Material Plane and seek out their enemies.
Those tritons
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
everything within reach to satiate its hunger. Its powerful lungs can suck food straight into its gullet. The scion uses a great tree to bat foes far into the distance.
Regional Effects
The region
Backgrounds
Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide
locations discussed here, it is far more unnatural. You hail from one of the settlements in the Underdark, each of which has its own strange customs and laws. If you are a native of one of the great
hundreds of miles of the Great Glacier and the Great Ice Sea. No one from your nation makes the effort to cross such colossal barriers without a convincing reason. You must fear something truly
Monsters
Storm King's Thunder
), water (drowning), or air (throwing the victims off a great height). Sacrifices ensure the Forgotten God’s benevolence.
The Forgotten God enabled the yakfolk to enslave dao for a time. It is
they once did, but fear of the Forgotten God has kept the dao from seeking vengeance.
Yakfolk Society. Yakfolk dwell in secluded settlements sheltered from the worst of nature’s abuse, including
Monsters
Storm King's Thunder
(immolation), earth (live burial), water (drowning), or air (throwing the victims off a great height). Sacrifices ensure the Forgotten God’s benevolence.
The Forgotten God enabled the yakfolk to
no longer summon dao as they once did, but fear of the Forgotten God has kept the dao from seeking vengeance.
Yakfolk Society. Yakfolk dwell in secluded settlements sheltered from the worst of nature
Monsters
Mythic Odysseys of Theros
settlements. Whether it acts at the command of the god Thassa or to sate its own hunger, Tromokratis numbers among the most feared threats in the sea, having no fixed lair and wandering where it will
. In recent memory, the massive menace rose from the waves to topple the Pyrgnos, Meletis’s great repository of scholarly knowledge. Since that day, the polis keeps a watch specifically for
Monsters
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
to mirror the dragon’s mood.
Clever Concealment
The shyest of the gem dragons, emerald dragons are also the most curious. They love to observe local settlements and peoples, using their psionic
features:
Lava Tubes. When the volcano is quiet, the dragon uses the lava tubes to come and go from the lair.
Great Hall. The emerald dragon resides in a grand rectangular hall near the center of the
Monsters
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
dragon’s mood.
Clever Concealment
The shyest of the gem dragons, emerald dragons are also the most curious. They love to observe local settlements and peoples, using their psionic abilities to
had subsided, the dragon moved in.
The lair has the following features:
Lava Tubes. When the volcano is quiet, the dragon uses the lava tubes to come and go from the lair.
Great Hall. The emerald
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
Independent Realms Interspersed among the fortresses of the dwarves and the settlements protected by the Lord’s Alliance are significant sites that have no collective character, except that they
exist largely outside the protection or purview of the great powers of the region. Even the civilized locales among these places, such as Elturgard, exist, at best, in an uneasy tension with the denizens
Yuan-ti Pureblood
Legacy
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Species
Volo's Guide to Monsters
people who became yuan-ti were one of the original human civilizations. Their society built great temples of stone and forged metal into armor, tools, and weapons. In their ceremonies they paid homage to
serpent gods began to demand more and more sacrifices, the yuan-ti stepped up their raids on bordering settlements to meet this need.
Calm long-view schemers, innate deceivers, and immune to poison
Orc
Legacy
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Species
Volo's Guide to Monsters
the world. For no matter how thick its walls, skilled its archers, or brave its knights, few settlements have ever withstood a full-scale onslaught of orcs.
Every soldier who lives through a fight
great unknown.
NISHREK AND THE ETERNAL WAR
Orcs believe that if they die with honor, their spirits go to the plane of Acheron, the Infinite Battlefield — specifically the layer of Nishrek
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
Wilderness Features No wilderness map is complete without a few settlements, strongholds, ruins, and other sites worthy of discovery. A dozen such locations scattered over an area roughly 50 miles
rules or once ruled, adventurers might find monuments built to honor great leaders, gods, and cultures. Use the Monuments table for inspiration, or randomly roll to determine what monument the adventurers
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Settlements and Sites Port-a-Lucine shines with the veneer of a sophisticated city. It boasts a university, an opera house, a wax museum, and an aquarium, as well as a scandalous cabaret (the Red
Widow Theater) and lush gardens. The Zuvich Hospital offers the highest standards of science-based medical care, while the Great Library curates a large collection of supposedly significant but largely repetitive writings.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
typically includes the following material: Any restrictions or new options for character creation, such as new or prohibited races. Any information in the backstory of your campaign that the characters
point. Two pages is a reasonable maximum. Even if you have a burst of creative energy that produces twenty pages of great background material, save it for your adventures. Let the players uncover the details gradually in play.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
the gnomes’ war god, who espouses vigilance and defense. Nature Gods Baervan Wildwanderer is the gnomish god of forests and woodlands, accompanied by his companion Chiktikka Fastpaws, a great raccoon
last member of the gnomish pantheon is Urdlen, which appears not as a gnome, but an elephantine, blind, pale mole. Urdlen is the great-clawed god of bloodlust and evil, of greed and uncontrolled
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
easily. A great conclave of tritons chose volunteers skilled in weapons and magic as part of an expeditionary force to enter the Material Plane and seek out their enemies. Those tritons spread across the
stewardship over the sea floor from their initial settlements and built outposts to create trade with other races. Despite this expansion, few folk know of them. Their settlements are so remote even merfolk and sea elves rarely encounter them.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War
folk hero, entertainer, or charlatan. You could even be an urchin who was stranded in a great city and adapted to life there. Surrounded by Spirits. Fey, fiends, and the ghosts of ancestors, these are
the course of your adventures. You can also consider whether a fallen dinosaur is part of your backstory; perhaps you lost your faithful mount in the Last War, but you believe its spirit is still with you.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
, there’s a great deal of overlap in their portfolios: Pelor is the Flan god of the sun and Pholtus is the Oeridian sun god, for example. Deities of Greyhawk Deity
Alignment
Suggested Domains
Symbol
, goddess of woodlands NG Life, Nature Unicorn horn Erythnul, god of envy and slaughter CE War Blood drop Fharlanghn, god of horizons and travel NG Knowledge, Trickery Circle crossed by a curved horizon
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
they think the campaign is going, what they’d like to experience more of, and what elements they’d like to explore further. After a session concludes and between sessions are great times to ask
from a character’s backstory. As characters continue to adventure, they’ll find different goals to pursue, such as finding a lost relic, honoring an ancestor, avenging a fallen mentor, or defeating a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Storm King's Thunder
extends as far north as Icewind Dale and as far south as the town of Daggerford. Old roads stretch across this great expanse, linking the dwarven strongholds and mines in the mountains to the coastal
settlements, frontier towns, and fortified outposts of humans and other folk. These roads are long, lonely, or poorly defended, making them dangerous to traverse. In fertile valleys, towns and cities
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Princes of the Apocalypse
Red Larch or Triboar boast that their humble settlements are “the Gateway to the North.” Through these lands pass hundreds of caravans and keelboats each year, linking the great ports of Waterdeep and
Neverwinter with places such as Everlund, Mirabar, or Silverymoon. The steady caravan traffic breathes life into the towns of this area, supporting businesses in the settlements along the Long Road
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
, Gauntlgrym is an ancient place, first delved as a mine in the earliest days of Old Delzoun. All sorts of myths persist about the great mithral doors of the city, but at its start, Gauntlgrym was simply a
mine. When they delved too deeply, the dwarves there discovered the presence of a great being of flame, sealed the mines, and left. Only later, when the humans begged the Delzoun dwarves to build one
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Storm King's Thunder
Uthgardt The Uthgardt are a black-haired and blue—eyed people—large, hale, territorial folk who don’t trust outsiders. Few Uthgardt are willing to trade with non-Uthgardt settlements. Many are
raiders who pillage and destroy any caravan or homestead they come across. The Uthgardt take their name from Uthgar Gardolfsson, a great hero-chief who battled giants and conquered much of the North before
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
strongholds and settlements deep in the forests. Today, most wood elves stand guard over the ruins of the past, believing it their duty to preserve their fallen glory as an object lesson of the dangers of
pursuits than do other elves, and they view ancient elven history with a more critical eye. To the wood elves, the “great” elven kingdoms were responsible for many equally great mistakes. They look upon
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mythic Odysseys of Theros
Meletis’s Surroundings Meletis sits on the coast of the Siren Sea, surrounded by rivers, sparse woodlands, and vast, stepped grasslands. Fields of barley provide sustenance to Meletians and their
be Meletian, but the polis’s lands also includes numerous other settlements and wildernesses. The people who live in these holdings are no less Meletians than the inhabitants of the city, and they
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
temple of an agricultural deity in the evening. Cities and large towns can host numerous temples dedicated to individual gods important to the community, while smaller settlements might have a single
shrine devoted to any gods the locals revere. Temples and shrines outside settlements often mark places where a god (or the manifestation of a god) appeared or caused a miracle. These sites can become
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War
force of light, but it can act only through mortal champions. The few powerful benevolent NPCs have limitations: the Keeper of the Flame loses her powers if she leaves her citadel. The Great Druid, the
fate of the city is in your hands. Consider a dynamic backstory when developing your character and choosing your background, whether you take a background from the Player’s Handbook or the house agent
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
Settlements The places where people live — bustling cities, prosperous towns, and tiny villages nestled among miles of farmland — help define the nature of civilization in your world. A single
settlement — a home base for your adventurers — is a great place to start a campaign and begin your world building. Consider the following questions as you create any settlement in your world: What purpose
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual
manipulate groups, settlements, and whole nations in the Underdark and sometimes the surface world. Few creatures loathe beholders more than other beholders. Every beholder views itself as the physical
subterranean realms. Beholders are a particular threat to adventurers because both gravitate toward mysterious ruins and sites of great magic. Many beholders collect the magic items and petrified bodies of heroes they’ve defeated, displaying them as trophies.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
Dwarfholds of the North The various dwarven communities of the North are the heirs and survivors of Delzoun, the great Northkingdom of long ago. Despite continually warring over the centuries with
recently taken back from the drow, stands as a beacon of resurgent dwarven strength in the North. Stoneshaft Hold and Ironmaster are lonely settlements continually girding themselves for threats real and
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Journeys through the Radiant Citadel
Noteworthy Sites Atagua is a rugged country of tropical grassland plains and gallery forests—a great savanna known locally as the Llanos. Spread across the basin of the twisting Holroro River, the
. El Caparazón Hundreds of farming villages dot the Llanos, bordered by sugarcane fields and orchards of cacao trees. El Caparazón (“The Shell”) is the largest of these settlements and the capital of
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Curse of Strahd
Svalich Road passes through Strahd’s domain. Three settlements lie on the road like beads on a string: Krezk to the west, Vallaki in the heart of the valley, and Barovia to the east. Strahd has spies in
great Vistani fortune-tellers, none compares to Madam Eva. If knowledge of the future is what you seek, Madam Eva will tell you your fate. A prescient Vistana can’t see her own future or the future of