been before desert concept rather

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

Snow Sphinx

monsters

whips around a feline face, revealing piercing blue eyes that can freeze foes with a single glance. Compared to its desert-dwelling cousins, this sphinx is far less likely to be defeated with reason or

logic. Although a snow sphinx can speak, it generally greets its prey with claws and teeth rather than riddles or philosophical conversation. Physically, this fearsome creature is well adapted to harsh

Reborn

Species Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

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

of Dread (detailed in chapter 3): Har’Akir. You died and endured the burial rites of this desert realm, yet somehow a soul—yours or another’s—has taken refuge in your

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

Far Traveler

Backgrounds Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

about Mulhorand is alien to someone from the Sword Coast. You likely experienced the same sort of culture shock when you left your desert home and traveled to the unfamiliar climes of northern Faerû

because you have made too many enemies among the desert communities of your home. Sossal. Few have heard of your homeland, but many have questions about it upon seeing you. Humans from Sossal seem

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

Travel in Anauroch

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Candlekeep Mysteries

, scouts looking for food, or bandits hoping to raid merchant caravans that try to shortcut their way across the desert rather than circumnavigate it. The Bedine nomads can act as guides for lost characters, offer clues for stuck players, and provide food and water for adventurers in desperate need.

Travel in Anauroch Due to its magical history, Anauroch is more than a barren wasteland and a hostile desert climate to those who wander within its borders. Anauroch holds lost cities, savage

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.

Druid Legacy

Classes Basic Rules (2014)

of nature itself or from a nature deity. Many druids pursue a mystic spirituality of transcendent union with nature rather than devotion to a divine entity, while others serve gods of wild nature

used for thrown weapons, such as darts or javelins. Druids from regions that lack the plants described here have chosen other plants to take on similar uses. For instance, a druid of a desert region

Background

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Quests from the Infinite Staircase

Background Centuries ago, Cynidicea was the capital of a prosperous kingdom. Through advancements in magic and technology, the Cynidiceans reclaimed land from the desert and transformed their city

protuberance, Zargon devoured the workers and slew the garrisons that followed, drowning them in torrents of slime. Rather than face the grim reality confronting them, some Cynidiceans began to view

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

Character Advancement

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Quests from the Infinite Staircase

Character Advancement If you want to use story-based level advancement, the characters receive experience points for achieving the following milestones rather than defeating monsters: Escape the Maze

reprinted Pharaoh in 1982 but also hired Tracy Hickman. TSR later published two more adventures in the Desert of Desolation trilogy. Pharaoh was praised for blending masterful dungeon design with a

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

Arrival in the Outlands

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse->Turn of Fortune’s Wheel

portal, which leads back to Sigil, can be reopened with a piece of lapis lazuli etched with an eye. The surreal nature of the surrounding desert, forest, and hills, as well as the rapid transition

, but rather by a large magical device or machine. A character who succeeds on a DC 10 Intelligence (Arcana) check recognizes the stone spire in the distance as the Spire that marks the center of the

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

Appendix: Festive Monsters

compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->One-Shot Wonders: Holiday Adventure Pack

single glance. Compared to its desert-dwelling cousins, this sphinx is far less likely to be defeated with reason or logic. Although a snow sphinx can speak, it generally greets its prey with claws and

teeth rather than riddles or philosophical conversation. Physically, this fearsome creature is well adapted to harsh habitats, such as ice-covered mountains or arctic plains. It has wide paws to stop

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

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

Brass Dragon Lairs

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

Brass Dragon Lairs Brass dragons prefer to make their lairs in hot, dry, rocky areas—desert canyons, caves beneath arid mesas, or ancient stone ruins. Brass dragons often compete with blue dragons

Dragon Lair Features The brass dragon lair shown in map 5.4 is an ancient ruin located within rough, stony canyons in a desert environment. The lair has the following features: Column Guardians. Massive

3. Serpents of the Sands

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Storm King's Thunder

3. Serpents of the Sands Two rows of sandstone pillars support the ceiling of this vast chamber. Before Iymrith claimed it as her own, this room was once a secret temple belonging to a sect of desert

Dendar the Night Serpent). Standing around the edge of the hole are three yuan-ti purebloods wearing desert robes and six yuan-ti malisons. Two of the malisons are type 1 (human body with a snake head

Dendradis

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse->Turn of Fortune’s Wheel

maintain their vision of equilibrium, no matter the cost. What does that mean? It means I’d rather deal with demons. At least with them I know what to expect!” –Sazraen Tildoma, Fraternity of Order

one in the group will ever speak to the plumach again. If a character gets a plumach to talk, the rilmani shares that a modron was seen in the caves within the Spire called the Desert of Rust. The

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

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

Mind Flayer Magic

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

after death would its consciousness be cast into oblivion. Two divine entities have long been associated with mind flayers by the scholars of other races. These aren’t deities, but rather

attitude — actions that have often been misinterpreted by observers as worship. Maanzecorian. The entity/concept called Maanzecorian embodies a complete comprehension of knowledge. It is a state

Evereska

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

by natural features and magical guise. No significant human settlement stands within a hundred miles west of it, and to the east lies the hungry desert sands of Anauroch. Strange, then, that the

folk have taken it upon themselves to speak on such topics rather heatedly. I’m hopeful that the coming decades will smooth over these differences and sooth the contentions. Evereska is a beautiful place, and I see no reason to mar that beauty with an argument among friends.

The Greyhawk Setting

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

great white moon, also called the Mistress) and Celene (a smaller blue moon, also called the Handmaiden). Greyspace’s sun orbits Oerth, rather than the other way around. The sun takes 360 days to

the ice, where the sun never sets. Riches of the Bright Desert. The Bright Desert, walled off from the rest of the Flanaess by the monster-infested hills of the Abbor-Alz and the aptly named Gnatmarsh

(Mis)Fortune

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

of Fortune, hidden in the foothills of the Greypeak Mountains near the desert of Anauroch. Though dusk is upon you, even in the fading light, you can see that the town was never very big to begin with

if imbibed. Rather, any humanoid drinking from a bottle suffers as if they had drunk from the river (see above) and gains a killer hangover that imposes one level of exhaustion when the effect wears

Journey Stage Challenges

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

unnecessary in your game. Even if the characters are in a desert, you can assume that a character with proficiency in the Survival skill can find enough food and water to sustain the party. Make sure you

gain 1d4 Exhaustion levels. Another Condition. The obstacle imposes another condition on the characters. For example, wading through a fetid swamp rather than skirting around it might impose the Poisoned

Above the Ashen Spires

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Fated Flight of the Recluse

Brynshal’duun, a young blue dragon whose lair lies in the upper reaches of the Blade Desert. The dragon, having learned what Kreffik has been trafficking to Karnath, has chosen to waylay the airship above the

incident if its attitude is shifted to Friendly. Fleeing from the Dragon If the characters decide to flee rather than fight, Brynshal’duun gives chase. Use the rules for running chases in chapter 3 of the

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