based before driven could reveal

Kas the Betrayer

Monsters Vecna: Eve of Ruin

Tovag, his Domain of Dread. He can be permanently destroyed only by having a stake driven through his heart and then being beheaded. The stake must be cut from a tree growing in soil from Oerth, Kas&rsquo

; Kas has earned many epithets during his long existence. He is a vampire, legendary swordfighter, and ruthless warlord, and he is driven primarily by one thing: his hatred for Vecna. Kas resembles a

Endelyn Moongrave

Monsters The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

” veil. The outermost layers of her dress open to reveal a marionette theatre, and she manipulates her puppets using an arrangement of artificial hands that nestles in the folds of fabric. She

reflects the present, and the third reflects the future. These hags are utter wickedness distilled into corporeal forms, driven by a lust for secrets that can be used to manipulate their prey. Skabatha

Obzedat Ghost

Monsters Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

Council of Five. The ghost has a trait based on who it is, as shown below: Enezesku: Enfeebling Ray. Enezesku’s Innate Spellcasting trait includes ray of enfeeblement, which he can cast at

Obzedat function as a unit, driven by their shared desire to accumulate ever more wealth for the guild. In times of disagreement, the eldest of the council exerts his seniority to bend the council to

Investigator

Backgrounds Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

the mysteries you’re embroiled in are local crimes or realm-spanning conspiracies, you’re driven by a personal need to hunt down even the most elusive clues and reveal what others would

Urchin - Baldur's Gate

Backgrounds Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

their torch-based code. From the lighting, placement, and type of torch arranged on or near a structure, you can gather a great deal of information about those who live or do business there, particularly

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 life &mdash

Tabaxi Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

, wandering tabaxi are catlike humanoids driven by curiosity to collect interesting artifacts, gather tales and stories, and lay eyes on all the world’s wonders. Ultimate travelers, the inquisitive

on a particularly interesting item when an owner refuses to sell or trade it. Tabaxi Names Each tabaxi has a single name, determined by clan and based on a complex formula that involves astrology

Half-Elf Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

, wandering the wilds as trappers, foresters, hunters, or adventurers and visiting civilization only rarely. Like elves, they are driven by the wanderlust that comes of their longevity. Others, in

-Elf Variants Some half-elves in Faerûn have a racial trait in place of the Skill Versatility trait. If your DM allows it, your half-elf character can forgo Skill Versatility and instead take the elf trait Keen Senses or a trait based on your elf parentage:

Aasimar Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

born to serve as champions of the gods, their births hailed as blessed events. They are a people of otherworldly visages, with luminous features that reveal their celestial heritage. Celestial Champions

, and feelings. The angelic being is far from omniscient. Its guidance is based on its understanding of the tenets of law and good, and it might have insight into combating especially powerful evils

Lizardfolk Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

have more in common with iguanas or dragons than they do with humans, dwarves, or elves. Lizardfolk possess an alien and inscrutable mindset, their desires and thoughts driven by a different set of

rage against their enemies. They simply observe and react as a situation warrants. Lizardfolk lack meaningful emotional ties to the past. They assess situations based on their current and future

Izzet Engineer

Backgrounds Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

conception of the Izzet League is based on mad inventions, dangerous experiments, and explosive blasts. Much of that perception is accurate, but the league is also involved with mundane tasks of

solutions. (Chaotic) 3 Discovery. Every experiment has the potential to reveal more secrets of the multiverse. (Any) 4 Science. A rigorous application of logical principles and

Kas the Betrayer

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Vecna: Eve of Ruin

, and he is driven primarily by one thing: his hatred for Vecna. Kas resembles a well-muscled, raven-haired, human man in his thirties, though he is far older. His fangs reveal his vampiric nature.

Greyhawk

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Princes of the Apocalypse

as the elemental prophets, the cults’ use of devastation orbs, and the search for the missing delegation make this a much more far-reaching and event-driven adventure than the original site-based campaign.

Yuan-ti Pureblood Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

with that of snakes, producing a caste-based society of hybrids in which the most snakelike are the leaders and the most humanlike are spies and agents in foreign lands. Humans Transformed The

caste system based on how complete a person’s transformation was. The vast majority of yuan-ti fall into three categories — abominations, malisons, and purebloods — while the mutated

Investigator

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

hire, uncovering secrets for well-paying clients. Whether the mysteries you’re embroiled in are local crimes or realm-spanning conspiracies, you’re driven by a personal need to hunt down even the most

elusive clues and reveal what others would keep hidden in the shadows. Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from among Insight, Investigation, or Perception Tool Proficiencies: Disguise kit, thieves’ tools

Setting the Tone

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron

campaign isn’t driven by material wealth. Even when you go on expeditions, the University will lay claim to most of the treasures you find. Instead, the rewards of Morgrave adventures are measured in

use story-based advancement instead of standard XP. Level advancement could be based on time: player characters gain one level each semester, leveling up after finals. Alternately, advancement could

Lionshield Coster

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Lost Mine of Phandelver

merchant company based in the city of Yartar, over a hundred miles to the east. They ship finished goods to Phandalin and other small settlements throughout the region, but this outpost has been hard hit by

. Recovered Goods. If the characters return the stolen goods found in area 8 of the Cragmaw hideout (or if they left the goods but reveal where they can be found), Linene gives them a reward of 50 gp and promises to help the adventurers any way she can.

Lionshield Coster

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk

merchant company based in the city of Yartar, over a hundred miles to the east. They ship finished goods to Phandalin and other small settlements throughout the region, but this outpost has been hit

in area H8 of the Cragmaw hideout (or if they left the goods but reveal where they can be found), Linene offers a reward of 50 gp and promises to help the adventurers any way she can. She warns the characters that the Redbrands are trouble and advises them to avoid the Sleeping Giant tap house.

Navigation

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation

based on the day’s most common terrain: DC 10 for coasts and lakes, or DC 15 for jungles, mountains, rivers, swamps, and wastelands. Apply a +5 bonus to the check if the group sets a slow pace for

on their map of Chult. The next time a navigator succeeds on a Wisdom (Survival) check made to navigate, reveal the party’s actual location to the players. Map 2.1: Chult

Arcane Origin

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

Arcane Origin Some sorcerers understand where their power came from, based on how their abilities manifested. Others can only speculate, since their powers came to them in a way that suggests no

arose from, your DM can use this table (or select an origin) and reveal it to you when the information plays a role in the campaign. Arcane Origins d6 Origin 1 Your power arises from your family’s

Intrigue

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

Intrigue Intrigue adventures are event-based adventures that revolve around power struggles. Intrigues are common in the courts of the nobility, but power struggles can play out just as easily in

the event-based goals discussed earlier in this section lend themselves to intrigue adventures. For example, if the adventurers must uncover a conspiracy, negotiate a peace treaty, or secure aid from

Darguun

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron

many human cities are built on goblin foundations. This empire collapsed into savagery, and when humanity arrived, goblins were driven from their ancestral lands or enslaved. Galifar ended the

hobgoblin clans known as the Ghaal’dar were based in the Seawall Mountains, but during the Last War the demand for mercenaries drew an ever-increasing number of goblins out of the mountains to fight

Death Dog

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual

, favoring the wounded or infirm. They attack recklessly, infecting as many creatures as possible with their diseased jaws. If driven off, death dogs linger close to their victims, letting infection weaken

their prey before they attack again. Legends tie death dogs to malicious death gods, the underworld, and cursed rulers. These stories are based on the malady death dogs spread. Roll on or choose a result

Using the Poster Map

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus

, and the placement of locations is based on the memories of an intrepid yet insane cartographer. Distances and travel times between locations cannot be determined by studying the map and can change with

, the characters discover a peculiar property of the map: it talks! Whenever they arrive at one of the locations described in this chapter, the voice of the cartographer emanates from the map to reveal

20. Queen of Dragons Chamber

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tyranny of Dragons

fireplace. Once a feast hall, this room is now set aside for cult gatherings and is currently unoccupied. A set of double doors in the north wall pulls open to reveal a stone balcony overlooking the

black dragons are circling above the Mere of Dead Men, the red dragon is near Waterdeep, and the green dragon is clearly rampaging among the High Forest elves, based on the mountains in the background

20. Queen of Dragons Chamber

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Hoard of the Dragon Queen

fireplace. Once a feast hall, this room is now set aside for cult gatherings and is currently unoccupied. A set of double doors in the north wall pulls open to reveal a stone balcony overlooking the

dragons are circling above the Mere of Dead Men, the red dragon is near Waterdeep, and the green dragon is clearly rampaging among the High Forest elves, based on the mountains in the background. Tiamat

Orc Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

; their loyalty by turning them into slaves. If a tribe is defeated and driven from its lair, the survivors might come under the sway of a strong but dimwitted creature, such as a hill giant or an ogre

. These tenets vary from tribe to tribe, and are often based in events that the tribe has experienced. Here are a few examples: If a dwarf or a human invokes its god upon dying, you must carry the

Kobold Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

; animosity, gnomes tend to avoid or abandon settlements that have a severe infestation of kobolds, and conversely kobolds are usually driven out of communities that have a large gnome population

use for healing magic, and a sorcerer can meet most of the tribe’s other magic-related needs. Kobold shamans are very rare; priests of Kurtulmak, when they reveal themselves, are easily recognized

Running the Adventure

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tales from the Yawning Portal->a6

will also reveal the rift. The party can travel on the surface of the glacier-mountain (over the caves shown) to circumvent the whole rift if they so desire. Ropes can be lowered to gain the ledges

other idea as to which path they should follow. Other than a few traces of giant footprints, the ice and wind-driven snow hide all traces of who or what uses the ledges to gain access to the caves. The

Alanik Ray and Arthur Sedgwick

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

of experience and science-driven deductive methods. As a young detective in Darkon, Alanik revealed his father’s criminal empire and oversaw its destruction. His success launched his career as a

.” Bond. “I have the perspective to see depravities others can’t. I use my insight to reveal wickedness and make the world a better place.” Flaw. “Most people are dangerous, manipulative liars and not

Cults of the Dragon Below

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

of a greater whole. Cults of the Dragon Below are based on madness or power. A cult that seeks power chooses to serve a dark force because of the gifts they receive from it. A cabal of scholars might

, not from faith. Cults driven by madness have a warped view of reality. A cultist might believe aberrations are a higher form of life and that the daelkyr will elevate mortals. Other cultists may not

Vampire Spawn

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

water. Stake to the Heart. The vampire is destroyed if a piercing weapon made of wood is driven into its heart while it is incapacitated in its resting place. Sunlight Hypersensitivity. The vampire

damage resistances, darkvision, traits, and actions. Attack and damage rolls for the vampire’s attacks are based on Strength. The save DC for Charm is 8 + the vampire’s proficiency bonus + the vampire’s

The Zhentarim

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Out of the Abyss

fate would destroy the Zhentarim’s plans for control of Faerûn. Davra Jassur Lawful evil human assassin Ideals: Order, discipline, ambition Personality: Driven, focused, ruthless Potential

are nipped in the bud before they can reveal any weakness within the organization. The pragmatic Davra values order and discipline as well as drive and ambition, and she embodies all those traits. The

Doomvault Lore

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tales from the Yawning Portal->a5

Doomvault Lore Some creatures that the characters encounter can divulge important information about the Doomvault. When you give out lore, reveal information appropriate to the creature being

questioned based on its location and circumstance. You can make information more specific and useful, but the basics of the lore should be conveyed. Sectors Some pieces of lore are threats and rumors known

Running the Adventure

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Curse of Strahd

presenting a D&D adventure that was as much story-driven as location-based, featuring a villain who was complex and terrifying. Castle Ravenloft, with its amazing three-dimensional maps, remains to

Reception and Audience

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tyranny of Dragons

) check for each lie. (Don’t reveal the DC of this check.) Feel free to introduce additional modifiers based on specific arguments the characters present and their overall behavior. Sincere (or at least

D&D Beyond

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