being before defeat code rather

Vampirate Captain

Monsters Spelljammer: Adventures in Space

vampirates conducts itself depends entirely on the mood and disposition of the captain. The crew of one ship might behave like a murderous mob, while another might abide by an ancient code of chivalry. One

parchment. A vampirate has fangs like a vampire’s but doesn’t use them to draw vital fluids from prey, which vampirates consider an unsavory act. Rather, a vampirate drains life energy from

Mighty Servant of Leuk-o

Magic Items Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

, the servant’s two crew members can cause it to explode. The self-destruct code is not revealed to crew members when they attune to the artifact. If the code is discovered (the DM determines how

), it requires two attuned crew members to be inside the servant and spend their actions on 3 consecutive rounds performing the command. Should the crew members begin the process of entering the code

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

. Unfortunately, when it reaches that breaking point, its diabolical nature asserts itself, and it remains in this scheming, dominating mindset until its plans are foiled and it faces defeat. Then, overwhelmed

City Watch / Investigator

Backgrounds Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

easily pick out the dens of criminal activity in a community, although you’re more likely to be welcome in the former locations rather than the latter. Variant: Investigator Rarer

Investigation rather than Athletics. Suggested Characteristics Use the tables for the soldier background below as the basis for your traits and motivations, modifying the entries when appropriate to

Soldier Legacy

Backgrounds Basic Rules (2014)

forget the crushing defeat my company suffered or the enemies who dealt it. 5 Those who fight beside me are those worth dying for. 6 I fight for those who cannot fight for themselves

mistake in battle that cost many lives—and I would do anything to keep that mistake secret. 4 My hatred of my enemies is blind and unreasoning. 5 I obey the law, even if the law causes misery. 6 I’d rather eat my armor than admit when I’m wrong.

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

from a fight. 2 Gold seems like a lot of money to me, and I’ll do just about anything for more of it. 3 I will never fully trust anyone other than myself. 4 I’d rather

Goliath Legacy

Species Elemental Evil Player's Companion

individual skill. They have a compulsion to keep score, counting their deeds and tallying their accomplishments to compare to others. Goliaths love to win, but they see defeat as a prod to improve their

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

Birth of the Poleis

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

Akros and Skophos were born from that bloodshed, inspired by the martial doctrines of Iroas and Mogis rather than the legal code of Ephara. Eventually the years of war settled into an uneasy peace with

inspired and equipped two human heroes, Kynaios and Tiro, to overthrow the archon Agnomakhos. Divergent tales describe their history following the defeat of the tyrant. Some claim that they warred with each

Lizardfolk Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

aggression toward creatures that they could defeat in a fight and that can’t be dealt with in some other manner. They are aggressive toward prey they want to eat, creatures that want to harm them, and

pleasurable creatures and things are ones that allow lizardfolk to assess more situations as benign rather than fearsome. Cold and Calculating Most humanoids describe cold-blooded people as lacking in

Mercenary Veteran

Backgrounds Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

never leave a friend behind. 3 My honor is my life. 4 I’ll never forget the crushing defeat my company suffered or the enemies who dealt it. 5 Those who fight beside me are those

enemies is blind and unreasoning. 5 I obey the law, even if the law causes misery. 6 I’d rather eat my armor than admit when I’m wrong.

Soldier - Baldur's Gate

Backgrounds Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

life on the battlefield. To this day, I will never leave a friend behind. 3 My honor is my life. 4 I’ll never forget the crushing defeat my company suffered or the enemies who dealt it

keep that mistake secret. 4 My hatred of my enemies is blind and unreasoning. 5 I obey the law, even if the law causes misery. 6 I’d rather eat my armor than admit when I’m wrong.

Paladin

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

Paladin The Oath of the Crown’s utility for your campaign comes from its ability to capture neutral paladins, those whose code of conduct is focused on the law rather than on moral principles. Its

Dimir Operative

Backgrounds Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

d6 Flaw 1 I like secrets so much that I’m reluctant to share details of a plan even with those who need to know. 2 I would let my friends die rather than reveal my true

through a series of code phrases we exchange. 3 An ostentatiously wealthy vampire is my secret guild superior, summoning me to a luxurious estate by means of coded messages. 4 I have never

Faction Agent

Backgrounds Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

choice, as appropriate to your factionLanguages: Two of your choiceEquipment: Badge or emblem of your faction, a copy of a seminal faction text (or a code-book for a covert faction), a set of common

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

Tempus

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

, appearing to one side or the other. If he is seen riding a white mare (Veiros), then the army will succeed. If he rides a black stallion (Deiros), then defeat is certain. Most often he appears to be riding

envision him. Tempus’s favor might be randomly distributed, but over the centuries his priests have made an effort to spread and enforce a common code of warfare — to make war a thing of rules, respect for

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

how to run a shared campaign and seeing how the Adventurers League handles certain issues, then the rest of this appendix is meant for you. CODE OF CONDUCT Time and time again, the core rulebooks

Far Traveler

Backgrounds Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

strong code of honor or sense of propriety that others don’t comprehend. 4 I express affection or contempt in ways that are unfamiliar to others. 5 I begin or end my day with small

foreign land. 2 I pretend not to understand the local language in order to avoid interactions I would rather not have. 3 I have a weakness for the new intoxicants and other pleasures of this

Reaching the Tower

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

Reaching the Tower Lolth’s forces surround the tower, but they are focused on the spyder-fiends below rather than on defense. Hundreds of driders, Humanoids, and demons surround the tower, but the

driders, 1d6 giant spiders, and 1d4 assassins. Characters who defeat the squad can try again to infiltrate the tower.

Returning War Band

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

heads are trophies from the hobgoblins’ recent victory over an elf hunting party. Clever characters might try to reason with Targor by urging him to think of himself as Grol’s successor rather than

) check. Awarding Experience Points Divide 500 XP equally among the characters if they defeat the hobgoblin war band or come to terms with Targor.

Khur Joins

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

Khur Joins Early 349 AC The Green Dragon Army was dispatched to the steppes of Khur to subdue the tribes there. Rather than fight a protracted campaign, Ariakas allowed the cunning Khur leader Salah

-Khan to defeat the Green Dragon Army’s original highlord in battle, then offered to make Salah-Khan highlord in his place. In exchange for control over Khur and the surrounding lands, Salah-Khan

Alien Minds

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

understand that a troll is a fearsome, dangerous creature and react accordingly. Lizardfolk never become angry in the way others do, but they act with aggression toward creatures that they could defeat in a

for lizardfolk. Pleasurable things should be preserved and protected, sometimes at the cost of the lizardfolk’s own safety. The most pleasurable creatures and things are ones that allow lizardfolk to assess more situations as benign rather than fearsome.

Lord Soth

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

them to defeat. Rather than presenting him as a foe to be challenged in combat, portray Soth as a terrifying example of the villains in the Dragon Queen’s service—a lurking threat to be avoided. By the

High Deck

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

High Deck The cards that compose the high deck aren’t considered to be one suit, although they are often denoted with a crown icon to mark their importance. Rather, each card is an important power in

or lurking just below the surface Broken One Defeat, failure, and despair; the loss of something or someone important, without which one feels incomplete Darklord A single, powerful individual of an

Suggested Characteristics

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

code of honor or sense of propriety that others don’t comprehend. 4 I express affection or contempt in ways that are unfamiliar to others. 5 I honor my deities through practices that are foreign to this

so secretly) convinced of the superiority of my own culture over that of this foreign land. 2 I pretend not to understand the local language in order to avoid interactions I would rather not have. 3 I

Creating a Bronze Dragon

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

lie outright, though I choose my words carefully. I will fight to the death rather than break my word or abandon a comrade. (Lawful) 4 Discipline. Disorganization breeds defeat. I demand self

strategy. A quick death in combat is its own kind of courtesy. 6 I trust my gut. I’d rather act on incomplete information than be hamstrung by indecision. 7 I’m fascinated by other species

Life in the City of Blades

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

. Rather, they roll up their sleeves and work harder to increase their prestige through the fruits of their labor. All the honor and honesty the duergar apply among themselves doesn’t apply to

their lives: the calassabrak, meaning “the flawed who aren’t to be trusted” in Dwarvish. They are shunned by other duergar, many eventually taking their lives rather than face an existence apart from

Mighty Servant of Leuk-o

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

button presses, the servant’s two crew members can cause it to explode. The self-destruct code is not revealed to crew members when they attune to the artifact. If the code is discovered (the DM

code, though, the servant uses its Ghost in the Machine property and turns the crew members against each other. If the crew members successfully implement the code, at the end of the third round, the

Resolving the Mystery

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

regardless of their approach. Bloodbath It’s possible to kill or defeat the Amberdune Pack without ever hearing their side of the story. With no one to stop them, characters in this situation can

Digressions and see the book safely back to Candlekeep, if they so desire. NIDALIA The true leader of the Amberdune Pack, Nidalia is a lamia who delights in hoarding books rather than in corruption and

Attack of the Nematode

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

Nematode writhing 500 feet above the town like a malevolent cloud. The creature is far too large to defeat by conventional attacks or spells, so the characters must once again explore the Nematode from

rather than lightning). Beyond the membrane in the Nematode’s head is a massive, fluid-filled chamber that serves as the Nematode’s brain. The characters must damage each of the five electroreceptors in

Re-created by the Doctor

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

. Mordenheim attack the party or their allies (at the doctor’s command or otherwise). These foes are more powerful than the characters, who might defeat the majority of the attackers before being overwhelmed

. Worse Than Death? The characters are legitimately defeated during another adventure. Rather than the campaign ending, they awake in Dr. Mordenheim’s clutches, delivered there by the Mists.

Gnomes of Zilargo

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

goals — of which there are many — often still prefers to use trickery and cunning rather than the unreliable tools of honesty or brute force. Most Zil gnomes belong to the forest gnome subrace. Their

code. 6 You know the location of a wanted war criminal, and you’ve been trying to decide whether to turn them in or try to get something in exchange for your silence. 7 You’ve been selling false

Customizing the Puzzle

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

those presented in the Player’s Handbook. Alternatively, you can create an entirely new code to replace the letters, requiring the characters to find a cipher to reveal the tiles’ meanings before they

can undertake the puzzle and cross the room safely. You can also increase the difficulty by introducing trap variants, as described below. Trap Variants Rather than have the same poison gas trap on

Mire of Doubt

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

. The spirit naga Valsyx lurks here, composing abstruse riddles unless the characters encountered him elsewhere. He knows confusion rather than blight. Valsyx is at home in the mire and isn’t slowed

solve a riddle. The riddle he loudly expounds has no answer; it is simply a series of words that contains a hidden code. “What is NEW when it is made old, brings TROUBLE when first seen by its MAKERS

Character Levels

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

Ravenloft without first increasing their power will likely die. You can award experience points for the defeat of foes, use milestone awards, or a mixture of both. Given the fact that much of the

adventure involves social interaction and exploration, rather than combat, your work will probably be easier if you use milestone awards. Appropriate milestone awards include the following: Finding

Simple Traps

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

characters discover a trap, be open to adjudicating their ideas for defeating it. The trap’s description is a starting point for countermeasures, rather than a complete definition. To make it easier

for you to describe what happens next, the players should be specific about how they want to defeat the trap. Simply stating the desire to make a check isn’t helpful for you. Ask the players where their characters are positioned and what they intend to do to defeat the trap.

D&D Beyond

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