bar brutal down concept rather

Cultist of Bhaal

Monsters Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn

. Cultists of Bhaal sometimes form cabals of assassins or mercenaries, but they perform their brutal slaughter for the perverse love of bloodshed and honor to their sinister god rather than for

Water Weird Legacy

Monsters Monster Manual (2014)

those its summoner declares as off limits. When slain, a water weird becomes an inanimate pool of water. Good and Evil Weirds. Like most elementals, a water weird has no concept of good or evil

interlopers rather than kill them, while a neutral evil water weird kills its victims for pleasure and might turn against its summoner. A water weird loses its evil alignment if its waters are cleansed

Forlarren

Monsters Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1

bound to their fey lord and unable to bargain away their souls. So rather than claim them, Fierna warped and twisted them before returning them to the Feywild, content that the corruption of the satyrs

, chaotic, and temperamental nature they all share. When its diabolical aspect shines through, a forlarren is a cunning, calculating, and brutal enemy. It might use its natural charm to worm its way

Firbolg Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

the group’s needs, but the effect each action will have on the forest and the rest of the natural world. Firbolg tribes would rather go hungry than strain the land during a famine. Hidden

Shepherds As caretakers of the land, firbolgs prefer to remain out of sight and out of mind. They don’t try to dominate nature, but rather seek to ensure that it prospers and survives according to its

Goliath Legacy

Species Elemental Evil Player's Companion

the goliath concept of fair play. A permanently injured goliath is still expected to pull his or her weight in the tribe. Typically, such a goliath dies attempting to keep up, or the goliath slips

away in the night to seek the cold will of fate. In some ways, the goliath drive to outdo themselves feeds into the grim inevitability of their decline and death. A goliath would much rather die in

Character Names

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)

names, that’s fine. If the group would rather take the characters and their names a little more seriously, urge Bob’s player to come up with a more appropriate name. Player character names should match

each other in flavor or concept, and they should also match the flavor of your campaign world — so should the nonplayer characters’ names and place names you create. Travok and Kairon don’t want to undertake a quest for Lord Cupcake, visit Gumdrop Island, or take down a crazy wizard named Ray.

Conflict without End

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

conflict is a great war of attrition — the combatants don’t often gain or lose territory as the result of battle. But on a personal scale, combat is brutal, with no quarter given or expected. The duergar

fight a persistent guerrilla war of sudden raids and brutal attacks against isolated groups of dwarves. Duergar often begin an attack by burrowing into a dwarf settlement from below, then bursting out

Kenku Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

kenku, constant attempts to mimic noises can come across as confusing or irritating rather than entertaining. You can just as easily describe the sounds your character makes and what they mean. Be clear

tapping a stone to show how bored he is. He plays with his dagger and studies the Lords’ Alliance agent sitting at the bar.” Creating a vocabulary of noises for the other players to decode

Survival of the Fittest

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters

pity for adults who can’t take care of themselves, though a sick or injured individual is treated, as a result of the goliath concept of fair play. A permanently injured goliath is still expected to

themselves feeds into the grim inevitability of their decline and death. A goliath would much rather die in battle, at the peak of strength and skill, than endure the slow decay of old age. Few folk

Introduction

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1

you receive a cancer diagnosis or a similar health news, you probably appreciate that concept a little more than other people. Watching someone you love waste away is a terrible thing. You want a

magic button to bring things back to the way they should be, this person you love so much restored to who they really are rather than what cancer is grinding them down into. It’s easy to give in to

Kenku Adventurers

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters

you’re playing a kenku, constant attempts to mimic noises can come across as confusing or irritating rather than entertaining. You can just as easily describe the sounds your character makes and what

tapping a stone to show how bored he is. He plays with his dagger and studies the Lords’ Alliance agent sitting at the bar.” Creating a vocabulary of noises for the other players to decode might sound like fun, but it can prove distracting and could slow down the game.

Daask Operations

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War

Daask Operations Violence and intimidation are Daask’s most used tools. Rather than using bribery, Daask manipulates the Sharn Watch through displays of force and brutal reprisals against officers

Origin of the Ordning

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

the ordning in some mythic future. Giants on some worlds (including Eberron) have no concept of the ordning at all. Such giants might think of themselves as a single species, with the differences

among giant kinds reflecting a cultural or geographical distinction rather than an inherent one. They might live in bands composed of multiple giant kinds or family groups of a single kind. Or giants of

Character Advancement

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything

taking part in a play session. A character reaches 1 checkpoint for each hour an adventure is designed to last. Note that the award is based on the adventure’s projected playing time, rather than the

designed to take 2 hours, the character reaches 3 checkpoints. Playing time might seem like an odd way to measure experience awards, but the concept is in keeping with how a shared campaign is meant to

Kobold Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

other useful items, but if they are at risk of discovery, they run away rather than attack anyone in the house. By fleeing before they can be seen or identified, they avoid getting into a situation

divination (to find raw materials and foresee threats to the tribe). The main reason why kobolds depend on arcane magic rather than divine is Kurtulmak’s imprisonment, which makes it difficult for

Secret

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything

holy symbol that represents that divinity. Some clerics, especially in a world like Eberron, serve a whole pantheon, rather than a single deity. In certain campaigns, a cleric might instead serve a

cosmic force, such as life or death, or a philosophy or concept, such as love, peace, or one of the nine alignments. Chapter 1 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide explores options like these, in the section

Water Weird

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual (2014)

. Good and Evil Weirds. Like most elementals, a water weird has no concept of good or evil. However, a water weird bound to a sacred or befouled source of water begins to take on the nature of that site

, becoming neutral good or neutral evil. A neutral good water weird tries to frighten away interlopers rather than kill them, while a neutral evil water weird kills its victims for pleasure and might

Darklords

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

adventures rather than saving them for distant climactic plots. Darklords Don’t Realize They’re Darklords. With a few exceptions, Darklords don’t realize they occupy a special place in the world. Their

concept of how long they’ve lived, how many times they’ve died, or why they returned to life. Should a Darklord fall, the temporary defeat lasts until they’re restored by the Dark Powers. In their

Yuan-ti Cities

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters

yuan-ti content themselves with maintaining these ancient places rather than building new ones for their needs. Although these sites are hundreds or even thousands of years old, they don’t look or feel

reflects human ideas about art and beauty. Over time this perspective was skewed toward the concept that the snake is the perfect form, so serpents are a common theme in their aesthetic. The major

Blood Will Tell

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide

among orcs react to this stigma by being more brutal than others of their tribe, which can put them in roles of leadership, but outsider half-orcs aren’t welcomed into orc society because they aren’t of

they live, half-orcs usually find themselves defined by others in terms of their usefulness as heavy laborers and soldiers. It is the rare and fortunate few who are judged by their character and their deeds rather than their ancestry.

Purphoros's Villains

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mythic Odysseys of Theros

Purphoros’s Villains Though Purphoros’s ideals are shared by many, the methods he uses to advance them can be brutal. His belief that creation necessitates destruction, combined with his cavalier

rise to deadly rivalries. Resistance to lawful authority can become tyranny of another sort. And when passions become inflamed, giving in to them can lead to tragedy rather than triumph. Purphoros’s

Currency

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)

coins of long-lost, legendary lands and centers of great magic are honored, though those who find them are wise to sell them to collectors rather than merely spending them in markets. The coins of the

by weight, as follows: A 2-pound silver bar is worth 10 gp and is about 5 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 1/2 inch thick. A 5-pound silver bar is worth 25 gp and is about 6 inches long, 2 inches wide

Orc Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

they are more interested in grabbing plunder and food rather than in wanton slaughter. The elderly, children, and any who seem weak or meek enough might escape death. If they leave the population more

Ruhk Neega Bone Crusher 7 Mobad Baggi Flesh Ripper 8 Shamog Shautha Doom Hammer 9 Mugrub Ovak Elf Butcher 10 Bajok Vola Spine Snapper 11 Rhorog Engong Death Spear 12 Jahrukk Volen The Brutal

Fishbone Tavern

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated

frequently, though he hasn’t seen any of them in a few days. He ponders a while on how that’s rather unusual. Zurb can suggest the characters talk to Fryer the bartender to figure out why. (She earned

. One wall holds a small, smoky fireplace, while a long bar of dark-stained wood stands along the opposite wall. Standing behind the bar under oval plaques set with yellowing fish skeletons is a heavyset

Appendix A: Shared Campaigns

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything

hard to keep a campaign going. Enter the concept of the shared campaign. In a shared campaign, more than one member of the group can take on the role of DM. A shared campaign is episodic rather than

Modifying a Class

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)

, paladins might not swear their oaths to ideals, but instead swear fealty to powerful sorcerers. To capture this story concept, you could build a new paladin spell list with spells meant to protect

opportunity to develop the character’s story and that of your world, rather than shutting down possibilities. Substituting Class Features If one or more features of a given class don’t exactly fit the theme

Nylea's Influence

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mythic Odysseys of Theros

, blaming her fellow gods for the spread of civilization rather than the mortals themselves. Divine Relationships Nylea seldom comes into open conflict with the other gods, and she would say that all her

the natural world. Nylea is virtually incapable of distinguishing between the “noble” and “brutal” aspects of their shared bailiwick, considering all forms of war a senseless waste of life and energy

Seven Secrets of Ravenloft

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

1. Ravenloft Is Not a World. The lands and characters of Ravenloft don’t share a planet. Rather, the Domains of Dread consist of innumerable demiplanes hidden amid the Plane of Shadow. Mysterious

undergo terrifying transformations, whole villages disappear unnoticed, and the Mists bar every method of escaping a threat. Any surreal development you desire is also the will of the Dark Powers, assuring

Anatomy of a War Band

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters

, and the flesh gnawers, which rely on natural savagery rather than weapons to tear apart their foes. A pack of hyenas is always part of the band, and sometimes these beasts are as numerous as the

behind a war band, making quick work of wounded gnolls and those who can’t keep up the pace. Gnoll Flesh Gnawers All gnolls are ruthless and brutal, but the flesh gnawers in a war band use their

Hive Ward

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse->Sigil and the Outlands

and shakers of Sigil or burn away detritus within the ward—engulf the innocent. Rather than maintain a single base of operations, the Hands of Havoc operate out of warehouses strewn throughout the

swill peddled throughout the Hive, Beatrice keeps a selection of top-shelf liquors in a chilled demiplane behind the bar for scoundrels with coin to spare: Beverages available at the Bottle and Jug

Forlarren

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1

rather than claim them, Fierna warped and twisted them before returning them to the Feywild, content that the corruption of the satyrs would be adequate compensation for her failure. Bifurcated Souls

diabolical aspect shines through, a forlarren is a cunning, calculating, and brutal enemy. It might use its natural charm to worm its way into earning trust from those it encounters, casting itself as a

Mirabar

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide

(coincidentally echoing the dwarven “-bar” naming convention used for citadels throughout the North). It was only when dwarves returned to work the mines below that Mirabar began to see its fortunes

collections of unusual and rare gems, to use seals made of gems carved into signet rings, and to be investors in ventures (rather than property) up and down the Sword Coast. They are sophisticated and

Staff

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated

concept behind the hirelings and selecting one proficiency for each. The DM can then customize the hirelings as desired, perhaps by adding additional proficiencies or adjusting their combat statistics

(sailors for a seagoing franchise, engineers for a giant hollow statue, and so on). Crew do not leave a franchise and cannot perform franchise tasks. They typically run rather than fight back when attacked

Type

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)

types, which have no rules of their own. Aberrations are utterly alien beings. Many of them have innate magical abilities drawn from the creature's alien mind rather than the mystical forces of the world

spellcasting), and a bipedal form. The most common humanoid races are the ones most suitable as player characters: humans, dwarves, elves, and halflings. Almost as numerous but far more savage and brutal, and

Rejecting the Ordning

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

one their kind traditionally values. These are often giants whose ranking within their kind is low. For example, a contemplative cloud giant might pursue knowledge rather than wealth, or a weak frost

otherwise enjoy in the ordning. When giants join the cults of demon lords, they reject the entire concept of the ordning—the idea that there is any kind of order to the multiverse at all, which is the

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