before before died 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

Reborn

Species Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

Death isn’t always the end. The reborn exemplify this, being individuals who have died yet, somehow, still live. Some reborn exhibit the scars of fatal ends, their ashen flesh or bloodless

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

Pidlwick II

Monsters Curse of Strahd

, instead assuming that the guests had died in their sleep. But Strahd was not fooled. He came to realize fairly quickly that the clockwork effigy had begun to display a murderous nature. Rather than have

":"Dart","rollDamageType":"piercing"} piercing damage.After her husband died in battle, Duchess Dorfniya Dilisnya set her sights on becoming Count Strahd von Zarovich's bride, but she failed to win his

Criminal / Spy Legacy

Backgrounds Basic Rules (2014)

new place is note the locations of everything valuable—or where such things could be hidden. 4 I would rather make a new friend than a new enemy. 5 I am incredibly slow to trust. Those

Someone I loved died because of I mistake I made. That will never happen again. d6 Flaw 1 When I see something valuable, I can’t think about anything but how to steal it

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

Urban Bounty Hunter

Backgrounds Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

. 4 I would rather make a new friend than a new enemy. 5 I am incredibly slow to trust. Those who seem the fairest often have the most to hide. 6 I don’t pay attention to the risks

ever lived. 5 I’m guilty of a terrible crime. I hope I can redeem myself for it. 6 Someone I loved died because of I mistake I made. That will never happen again. d6

Hermit - Baldur's Gate

Backgrounds Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

a collection of religious texts stuffed into an attic and forgotten when a believer’s patron deity died. In this solitary work, you’ve learned secrets no one else knows. 5 You killed

a patriar’s scion in an illegal duel. The family swore revenge, and you fled to the slums rather than risk bringing their wrath down on your kin. 6 You aren’t originally from Baldur

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

Criminal - Baldur's Gate

Backgrounds Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

could be hidden. 4 I would rather make a new friend than a new enemy. 5 I am incredibly slow to trust. Those who seem the fairest often have the most to hide. 6 I don’t pay

greatest thief that ever lived. 5 I’m guilty of a terrible crime. I hope I can redeem myself for it. 6 Someone I loved died because of I mistake I made. That will never happen again

Faction Agent

Backgrounds Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

knowledge, rather than brute force. Harper agents are often proficient in Investigation, enabling them to be adept at snooping and spying. They often seek aid from other Harpers, sympathetic bards and

parents died. 4 Everything I do is for the common people. 5 I will do anything to protect the temple where I served. 6 I seek to preserve a sacred text that my enemies consider heretical

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.

Darklords

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

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

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

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

General Features

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

DideriusView Player Version Ceilings. The tomb’s ceilings are 10 feet high unless otherwise noted. Light. Unless specified otherwise, there is no light inside the tomb. Regional Effects. When Diderius died

, those who honored him in life transformed him into a special mummy lord whose magic pervades his tomb. Since Diderius is neutral rather than evil, the area lacks the evil magic common to other mummy

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

General Features

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Rise of Tiamat

are 10 feet high unless otherwise noted. Light. Unless specified otherwise, there is no light inside the tomb. Regional Effects. When Diderius died, those who honored him in life transformed him into

a special mummy lord whose magic pervades his tomb. Since Diderius is neutral rather than evil, the area lacks the evil magic common to other mummy-lord tombs. A few chambers of the tomb have the

Walking a Different Path

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

the Ancestral Guardian Rather than calling upon the spirits of your ancestors, you are in communion with the franchise executives and corporate raiders who have traveled your path before. These paragons

clerks reminding you of expense accounts and budgets. Other times, they are fellow heavies and knee breakers who died in the line of duty, sarcastically calling out your mistakes in a misguided effort

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

Shrine of the Tender Oath

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

Shrine of the Tender Oath Revered sites within the Vale of Dancing Waters include temples and shrines positioned throughout the gorge, rather than a single consolidated structure. Most of these spots

. Reulek opted to seek the subterranean route, and he subsequently died in the Black Geode (see chapter 5, area G8). Obratu cut a deal with a dwarf named Grumink and his crew of renegade miners. The oni

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

Past and Present

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Spelljammer: Adventures in Space->Astral Adventurer’s Guide

, attracting profit-seekers, adventurers, and other more respectable types. Upon Cozar’s death, the rule of Bral passed to Frun, his son and heir. Frun was far from an able politician. Rather, he was a hedonist

those of his father but whose time as the overlord lasted only days. Calar died six years ago under mysterious circumstances shortly after taking the throne; his body was found floating in space just

Character Incarnations

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

from the one who just died, but each incarnation doesn’t need to be played before a particular incarnation reappears. Work the incarnation’s return into the adventure, following the guidance in the

“Running Glitch Characters” section. Let players discover that dead characters return in new incarnations during play rather than revealing this outright. When an incarnation appears, they are attuned to

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

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

Life in Dayawlongon

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Journeys through the Radiant Citadel

. In the ancient past, bonesingers oversaw the final rites when great bakunawa died, then infused the creatures’ bones into the magical bridges that unite Dayawlongon as one land. During the days of

and curses the names of their enemy’s family. Debt of the Soul One of the cornerstones of Dayawlongo culture is the concept of utang ng loob, a debt of the soul. If someone saves another from mortal

Way of Mercy

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

needy and making grim choices rooted in reality rather than idealism. Some might be gentle-voiced healers, beloved by their communities, while others might be masked bringers of macabre mercies. The

door to the ultimate mercy. As an action, you can touch the corpse of a creature that died within the past 24 hours and expend 5 ki points. The creature then returns to life, regaining a number of hit

Heart of the Matter

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Keys from the Golden Vault

with every passing second, and my king is part of it. Or rather, his stolen heart is. “Ghalasine is slowly being reduced to ash, and its people are dying and can’t escape. King Jhaeros would do

the city have already died. Regine LaVerne. Naevys doesn’t know what happened to the king’s other councilor, Regine. Reversing the Ritual. According to the mages with whom Naevys consulted

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

Hermit

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

Cemetery, the crumbling remains of dead patriar families’ manors, or a collection of religious texts stuffed into an attic and forgotten when a believer’s patron deity died. In this solitary work

, you’ve learned secrets no one else knows. 5 You killed a patriar’s scion in an illegal duel. The family swore revenge, and you fled to the slums rather than risk bringing their wrath down on your

Hermit

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer

remains of dead patriar families’ manors, or a collection of religious texts stuffed into an attic and forgotten when a believer’s patron deity died. In this solitary work, you’ve learned secrets no

one else knows. 5 You killed a patriar’s scion in an illegal duel. The family swore revenge, and you fled to the slums rather than risk bringing their wrath down on your kin. 6 You aren’t originally

Unwelcome Party

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

family or attracting other fiends, but does so as a last resort. Members of the Hunt family reduced to 0 hit points by the devils are knocked unconscious rather than killed, as the devils are hoping to

silvered. Harkina can relay the following information regarding the current situation in the city: Many of Elturel’s citizens died when the city was drawn to this terrible place. Still more have died in the

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

Running Glitch Characters

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

their other incarnations—even if those incarnations have died before. Once a player chooses which incarnation to play, have that incarnation reappear several minutes after the character’s death as is

rather than having incarnations rejoin the party on their own. Incarnations have no memory of how they came to be wherever they’re found. If a character dies during combat, their next incarnation shouldn’t

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

D&D Beyond

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