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Returning 35 results for 'bards being dead could runes'.
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Magic Items
Tales from the Yawning Portal
This whistle is carved from transparent crystal, and it resembles a tiny dragon curled up like a snail. The name Night Caller is etched on the whistle in Dwarvish runes. If a character succeeds on a
under the night sky, it allows you to cast the animate dead spell. The target can be affected through up to 10 feet of soft earth or similar material, and if it is, it takes 1 minute to claw its way to
Monsters
Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1
denizens of the Feywild. Sages believe that their appearance derives from the primal fear inspired by fiendish creatures, while bards assert that panic, being such a repulsive emotion, is embodied by an
of its faculties. When such an event occurs, the creature's scream echoes through the Feywild. If it echoes at just the right angle between a rocky outcropping in the dead of night, the scream gains
Monsters
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
casting elder runes on them. Halaster’s gates connect the different levels of Undermountain, thus enabling him to bring new monsters into the dungeon to replenish those that die or escape. Even as
helm floating as though worn by an invisible figure, and illusory footprints appearing on a dusty floor.
Silent apparitions of dead adventurers drift through halls and rooms as though they are lost
Magic Items
Storm King's Thunder
the ground and is a massive thing made of polished obsidian with oversized feet — the impaled skulls of four ancient blue dragons. Runes glisten in the carved obsidian, winking to life with blue
breaking at least five Ruling Scepters of Shanatar simultaneously on it. This fact has never been recorded or sung of among the dwarves or any bards or storytellers, and it can’t be discovered
Backgrounds
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
5th
dominate person
Your magic often takes the form of blue or golden runes floating and glowing in the air in circular patterns or of shimmering azure barriers of magical energy. If you
successfully prevented a murder, and the would-be perpetrator wants me dead.
5
One of my parents was prominent in the guild, and I resent constantly being compared to that standard.
6
I’ve
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
hall is 20 feet high, arched, and lightly obscured by thick webs.
Dead Spiders. Three giant spiders lie dead at various points in the hallway, riddled with crossbow bolts. (Members of the Undertakers
placed an elder rune (see “Elder Runes”) on the double door leading to area 16, set to trigger when the doors are opened. Draw from the Elder Runes Deck to determine which rune appears. The elder rune targets a random creature in this hall and within 60 feet of the doors.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
Embedded in the wall at the end of the westward hallway is an arch gate (see “Gates”). Close inspection reveals the image of a dead tree carved into its keystone. The rules of this gate are as follows
: Touching the arch with a dead twig or branch causes the gate to open for 1 minute. Characters must be 8th level or higher to pass through this gate (see “Jhesiyra Kestellharp”). The first creature to
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything
College of Whispers Most folk are happy to welcome a bard into their midst. Bards of the College of Whispers use this to their advantage. They appear to be like other bards, sharing news, singing
songs, and telling tales to the audiences they gather. In truth, the College of Whispers teaches its students that they are wolves among sheep. These bards use their knowledge and magic to uncover
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation
48. Shagambi’s Tomb Each character who teleports into this tomb from area 47C appears atop a randomly determined teleportation rune (see “Teleportation Runes” below). Characters can also enter the
this area: Nervous Unkh suggests that her host leave the tomb at once using one of the teleportation runes, though she can’t decide which rune is best. Impulsive Wongo thinks it’s a good idea to shatter
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
the room. An iron chandelier with melted wax candles is suspended from a rafter above it by a rope tied off to a hook near the northern door.
Dead Halfling. Tucked behind an iron stove in the
northeast corner is a dead halfling in leather armor, his face twisted into a mask of horror.
The halfling adventurer, Haddon Fleetfoot, refused to serve the will-o’-wisp in area 2d and barricaded himself
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tales from the Yawning Portal
runes. If a character succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana or History) check, the character recalls lore that says the duergar made several such whistles for various groups in an age past. If you
blow the whistle in darkness or under the night sky, it allows you to cast the animate dead spell. The target can be affected through up to 10 feet of soft earth or similar material, and if it is, it
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Harpers Any smart, non-evil character can join the Harpers of Waterdeep. Bards and wizards are especially welcome. Harpers are altruists who work behind the scenes to keep power out of the hands of
locations such as the City of the Dead. Harper support comes in these ways: The Harpers make common and uncommon potions and scrolls available to the adventurers at a reduced or deferred cost
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Storm King's Thunder
The Ring of Winter After reclaiming Svardborg, Jarl Storvald used rune magic to divine how best to find the Ring of Winter — what the frost giants call the Ice That Never Melts. The runes told
Zhentarim mage, Nilraun Dhaerlost. Nilraun was dragged before Storvald and came to realize that the frost giants were searching for the Ring of Winter. As the runes had foretold, Nilraun was also
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Keys from the Golden Vault
imparts the following information: Grave Theft. Two halflings dug up his grave in the dead of night and stole his Canaith mandolin (an instrument of the bards). Frody wants it back. (“It was a gift
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation
Lost Treasures As they explore the tomb, characters are likely to find one or more fabled treasures as well as magic items inhabited by the spirits of Omu’s dead trickster gods. What happens to these
Company of the Yellow Banner was vanquished trying to obtain this lost jewel, which is rumored to have the power to resurrect the ancient dead. If the Eye of Zaltec indeed has such power, it requires
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Adventure Atlas: The Mortuary
to expel a dybbuk† from a corpse. The exorcist asks the characters to help in dispatch the Fiend. 9 Two bards† in the Heralds of Dust approach the characters and sing a ballad honoring the dead. If the
characters interrupt or otherwise ruin the tune, 1d4 irascible specters emerge from the walls and attack, causing the bards to flee. 10 Three skeleton farmers quietly tend to corpse-white grave
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
carved with vines that twist through eleven actual humanoid skulls mounted to the frame. Carved into the bottom of the frame are the following words in Celestial: “The dead know the secret.” The
or higher to pass through this gate (see “Jhesiyra Kestellharp”). The first creature to pass through the gate triggers an elder rune (see “Elder Runes”). A creature that passes through the gate
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated
, and both wear ornate collars of silvery metal. Each stands within a square scribed onto the floor, ten feet on a side and edged with runes. The rune-marked boundaries appear to push the creatures back
“crated” here. The hell hounds can’t leave the rune-bounded areas unless the runes are disturbed (including by a character who enters the warded area), or if the characters activate the runes on the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Heroes of the Borderlands
entrance extend into the cave.
A character who examines the symbols and succeeds on a DC 13 Intelligence (Arcana) check recognizes them as arcane runes designed to ward the cave against magical
scrutiny. The runes are unfinished, so they have no effect. C2: Ritual Chamber Half-melted black candles surround a circle of arcane symbols scribed on the floor in white chalk. Scorch marks mar the floor
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
gold rather than stone. Treasure. The gold circlet is a circlet of blasting. 39b. Bugbear Den Three bugbears sit in the middle of the floor, eating from a sack of dead rats and stirges. One of them
scraps of moldy food in this long hall.
Dead Goblin. A twentieth goblin lies dead on the floor, the victim of an argument that ended badly.
39d. Old Forge Ettins. Two ettins, a female named Krung-Jung
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
attract. She is the patron of rangers in the same way that Milil is the patron of bards, but even rangers rarely pray to her directly. They instead pray to Gwaeron Windstrom, who they believe will
wilds. She has many shrines, particularly in the Savage Frontier. Most consist of a dead tree trunk into which has been carved a likeness of her holy symbol, a unicorn’s head. Alternatively, the likeness
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Candlekeep Mysteries
Lower Level B10-B13 B10. Ossuary This dark, dead-end chamber holds a mound of charred bones, desiccated body parts, and skulls scattered across a linen sheet. Strange red-black runes mark the sheet’s
proficiency in the Arcana skill or who succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check can interpret the runes to realize that these remains are being collected to fuel a huge ritual at a later date—one
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos
.) Lorehold Spells Spell Level Spells 1st Comprehend Languages, Identify 2nd Borrowed Knowledge (in this book), Locate Object 3rd Speak with Dead, Spirit Guardians 4th Arcane Eye, Stone Shape 5th Flame
Lorehold. Bards thrive in Lorehold, and wizards (particularly those of the School of Divination) are numerous among its students. Clerics (often with the Knowledge or Light domains) are also quite common
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Journeys through the Radiant Citadel
the Hammock of Worlds. D2: Dead End This short tunnel ends in a wall of pallid meat, devoid of the thick chitin covering the other walls.
If a creature approaches what appears to be the tunnel’s
runes is etched into the ground. The symbols move, crawling in a circle. Above them hovers a mass of insectile limbs encompassing an alien light. Beyond it, a narrow passage opens into the vast void
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War
proximity to the City of the Dead, the district of Deathsgate prides itself on being a haven for those who challenge death on a daily basis. The guild’s founder, Kassh “Blackaxe” Droranath, doesn’t care
city of Sharn, which is both the cultural heart of Breland and a nexus for intrigue and diplomacy. Bards have much to gain from the company of other bards, as they exchange news, stories, and songs
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk
interlocked links of Ilvaash’s runes (knots of tentacles, brains, and jagged lines reminiscent of jaws). A brain breaker uses the stat block of an infected elder brain (see chapter 7) with the following
. Ilvaash wants to punish the characters’ friends as much as the characters themselves. The characters can quell these attacks only by finding and draining the Shallows of Sudden Thought, a miles-wide dead
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Storm King's Thunder
sight. If one is killed, the other flees. Treasure. Pojo has a pouch containing a gold ring (worth 25 gp), which he pulled from Semile Southwell’s dead hand. Tot carries a pouch that holds 5 cp and a
Agganor, the village’s tiefling midwife, and her adult son, Grin. The cottage has locked shutters over its windows. The door, which is also locked, has row upon row of ornate runes burned into it. Most
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Storm King's Thunder
The Giant Lords Convinced that King Hekaton is dead or otherwise out of the picture, five giant lords have struck out into the world to reshape the ordning through their deeds, each hoping to be
grants immortality to its wearer, was last seen in the possession of a human adventurer (and former Harper) named Artus Cimber. Guided by magical runes of tracking, Storvald plans to find the ring and
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
of 15 or higher. 26d. Mirror Gate to Level 10 This tunnel comes to a dead end, mounted on the north wall of which is a mirror gate to level 10 (see “Gates”). Worked into the mirror’s stone frame is
. Characters must be 11th level or higher to pass through this gate (see “Jhesiyra Kestellharp”). The first creature to pass through the gate triggers an elder rune (see “Elder Runes”). A creature that
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Journeys through the Radiant Citadel
summons such creatures. Miner Body. The body on the ground is that of a missing miner named Enwa, who was killed by an aurumvorax attack. If a character casts the speak with dead spell on the corpse
follow any other tunnel, they reach a dead end after 10 minutes and have a 50 percent chance of encountering two aurumvoraxes gnawing on a seam of gold ore. These aurumvoraxes fight to the death and
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated
success, the character discerns that the runes are connected to a ritual that could open a rift to the Far Realm. The dead humanoids were likely victims sacrificed to power the ritual. Something went
desiccated and skeletal humanoid corpses litter the floor of this small chamber. The stone of the north wall has been etched with intricate runes, but the pattern ends abruptly.
Bodies and Runes. A closer
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Spelljammer: Adventures in Space->Light of Xaryxis
Ship of the Dead The Last Breath is a space galleon that has been reduced to 90 hit points. Unless the characters take defensive measures, the galleon comes close enough for its captain, Grimzod
behind him.
Gargenhale’s tone of voice is inviting, but his dead-black eyes glint with malice. “It’s dangerous out here. That menace from Xaryxis, Commander Vael, keeps sending ships to our system, but
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Keys from the Golden Vault
. So gifted a musician was he that an admiring wizard gave Frody an instrument of the bards—a famous Canaith mandolin called Golden Axe. The mandolin’s magic served Frody well during his many
should be a bard. The hamlet of Toadhop can be situated in any countryside. Skalderang Conservatory stands in the middle of a dead olive orchard on the outskirts of a city that’s about two days’ travel from Toadhop on horseback.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
dead ones — wait for adventurers intrepid enough to come and claim them. Faerûn is filled with rich history and wondrous tales of adventure and magic, but the lifeblood of its common people is
others. News and gossip are carried between population centers by caravans and ships that bring in supplies for trade and by traveling bards and minstrels who recount (or invent) stories to inform and
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
otherwise avoid combat. Southeast Door This door has a stone wall behind it, inscribed upon which is an elder rune (see “Elder Runes”). Determine the rune randomly by drawing a card from the Elder Rune Deck
butterfly swarm is an instrument of the bards (Anstruth harp). The yellow sapphires carried by the animal-headed guards fit into the pillars in area 8. Each gemstone is worth 1,000 gp.






