beings bad diffusing cunning reason

Warlock

Classes Player’s Handbook

multiverse. They often begin their search for magical power by delving into tomes of forbidden lore, dabbling in invocations meant to attract the power of extraplanar beings, or seeking places of power where

the influence of these beings can be felt. In no time, each Warlock is drawn into a binding pact with a powerful patron. Drawing on the ancient knowledge of beings such as angels, archfey, demons

Hermit Legacy

Backgrounds Player’s Handbook (2014)

case stuffed full of notes from your studies or prayers, a winter blanket, a set of common clothes, an herbalism kit, and 5 gp Life of Seclusion What was the reason for your isolation, and what

changed to allow you to end your solitude? You can work with your DM to determine the exact nature of your seclusion, or you can choose or roll on the table below to determine the reason behind your

Zhentarim Mercenary

backgrounds Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn

you’re just good at getting the job done by any means necessary. Whatever your reason, you enlisted with the Zhentarim, the most notorious mercenary guild in the Realms. Though the Zhentarim&rsquo

;s leaders insist the organization is more like a family than a shadowy syndicate, few families exhibit as much dishonesty, nepotism, and corruption as this one. You’ve honed your cunning, reflexes, and blade to climb the guild’s ranks.

Hermit - Baldur's Gate

Backgrounds Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

a frivolous lark. You’ve maintained a solitary vigil outside the cavern entrance ever since. 2 You crossed the Guild in a bad way. Fortunately, its members think you’re dead. Less

powerful beings of the outer planes, or the forces of nature. It could be a site that no one else has ever seen. You might have uncovered a fact that has long been forgotten, or unearthed some relic of the

Urchin Legacy

Backgrounds Player’s Handbook (2014)

recuperate. You’ve survived despite all odds, and did so through cunning, strength, speed, or some combination of each. You begin your adventuring career with enough money to live modestly but

I eat like a pig and have bad manners. 6 I think anyone who’s nice to me is hiding evil intent. 7 I don’t like to bathe. 8 I bluntly say what other people are hinting at

Crab Folk

Monsters Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1

, their lack of cunning foiled her plans. Many tumbled into the sea and drowned, too simpleminded and impatient to learn how to swim. Others smashed caravans and crushed their defenders most effectively

bad luck a gull might happen to land near a crab folk lair and utter the right combination of cries to summon up this ancient compulsion. Driven to action, the crab folk rampage along the coast

Far Traveler

Backgrounds Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

;t a native, your reason for leaving “home” probably has something to do with getting away from a bad situation. Feature: All Eyes on You Your accent, mannerisms, figures of

provided. The following section, discussing possible homelands, includes some suggested reasons that are appropriate for each location. d6 Reason d6 Reason 1 Emissary 4 Pilgrim

Lizardfolk Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

; Instead, aggressive, stronger creatures register to the lizardfolk as fearsome beings to be avoided if possible. If such creatures attack, lizardfolk flee, fighting only if cornered. Lizardfolk aren

, if other creatures prove useful to lizardfolk, those creatures can trigger a protective response made all the stronger by their apparent weakness. The lizardfolk assess such beings as hatchlings

Urchin - Baldur's Gate

Backgrounds Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

elements, and endured sickness without the advantage of medicine or a place to recuperate. You’ve survived despite all odds, and did so through cunning, strength, speed, or some combination of each

a pig and have bad manners. 6 I think anyone who’s nice to me is hiding evil intent. 7 I don’t like to bathe. 8 I bluntly say what other people are hinting at or hiding

Strahd, Master of Death House

Monsters Vecna: Eve of Ruin

legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Strahd regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn. Cunning Escape. Strahd moves up to

. Little happens there without the Darklord’s knowledge, although Strahd rarely pays attention to what he considers the uninteresting dealings of lesser beings. History In life, Strahd von

Aarakocra Legacy

Species Elemental Evil Player's Companion

changes in the prevailing winds that they regarded as a bad omen. Unlike the aarakocra of other worlds on the Material Plane, the aarakocra of the Realms rarely travel to the Elemental Plane of Air

. Great Purpose Aarakocra enjoy peace and solitude. Most of them have little interest in dealing with other peoples and less interest in spending time on the ground. For this reason, it takes an

Urban Bounty Hunter

Backgrounds Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

areas to help you succeed. You might be a cunning thief-catcher, prowling the rooftops to catch one of the myriad burglars of the city. Perhaps you are someone who has your ear to the street, aware of

things look bad. 6 An innocent person is in prison for a crime that I committed. I’m okay with that.

Kobold Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

undetected and don’t give their targets reason to harm them. For example, a group of city kobolds might sneak into a cobbler’s house at night to loot it of knives, leather bits, nails, and

, giving each individual and every generation a reason to feel pride and self-respect. The kobolds prefer to run away than fight, to live off the scraps of others, and they are often dominated by larger

Orc Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

created the orcs and continues to direct their destiny. He is aided and abetted by the other warrior deities, Bahgtru and Ilneval, who bring strength and cunning to the battlefield. The followers of all

everywhere in the world around them, and the priests of a tribe are entrusted with the responsibility of identifying these signs and omens — both good and bad — and deciding how the tribe should

The Dark Powers

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

The Dark Powers Unfathomable, hidden forces manipulate life, death, and reality within Ravenloft. These mysterious, deathless beings are the architects of the Domains of Dread, and have secreted

villains to add to their terrifying menagerie. To what end, no one knows. The Dark Powers don’t move in the shadows of Ravenloft; they are the shadows. They’re the Mists and the darkness. They’re the reason

Death Tyrant

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

be perfect beings. No matter how death tyrants come into being, bizarre impulses drive their deathless existences. Their motivations tend to be extreme or beyond the reason of living creatures.

Dark Sun

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

planes — and they lost. The gods were slain or driven into exile, leaving Athas under the dominion of elemental beings who took little interest in the affairs of mortals. In the grim age that

only the strongest survive. One of the hallmarks of the Dark Sun setting is that the heroes don’t need to seek out forgotten dungeons to find adventure — mere survival is adventure enough. But there is no reason you can’t successfully adapt Princes of the Apocalypse to your Dark Sun campaign.

Sora Kell, the Queen of the Night

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

knowledge by force and cunning. A mighty wizard with magic worthy of epic tales, she is a monster whose adamantine claws can flense whole armies before any soldier can land a blow on her plated hide

have allies, except for a handful of other legends like the following groups: Daughters of Sora Kell. Sora Kell’s three daughters—the gifted oracle Sora Teraza, the cunning trickster Sora Katra, and the

The Oases

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

. Har’Akir’s people say this oasis’s waters are poison, as the oasis was given by the gods to the beasts of the land. Prides of cunning lions hunt nearby, frequently washing their kills here. Sek’s Tears

to die soon, for one reason or another, and seek to cleanse themselves with the White Oasis’s waters before meeting their end.

Helmed Horror

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

Helmed Horror This construct possesses intelligence, the ability to reason and adjust its tactics, and an unswerving devotion to its maker that persists even after its maker’s demise. Resembling an

understand the difference between an order’s intent and its exact wording. Unlike many constructs, it seeks to fulfill the former rather than slavishly follow the latter. Tactical Cunning. A helmed horror

Bhaal

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

beings through unlawful means. Some people pray to Bhaal when they want to commit murder. A person might have good reason to resort to murder, such as when one is unable to redress some injustice

Adversary

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

deal with than the average member of the city watch. If your character’s backstory doesn’t already include a personage of this sort, you could work with your DM to come up with a reason why an

1 The pirate captain on whose ship you once served; what you call moving on, the captain calls mutiny 2 A master spy to whom you unwittingly fed bad information, which led to the assassination of

Creating a Black Dragon

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

works of lesser beings crumble and fall into ruin fills me with joy. 3 I never confront a threat directly when deceit and skulduggery are available options. 4 Subjugating others is

always be torn down. (Evil) 2 Acquisitiveness. Possessing what others covet is immensely satisfying. (Any) 3 Cunning. Destroying your foes without exposing yourself to danger is an art

Evil Inchoate

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

Evil Inchoate I will be the last creature when I am done. The cosmos will then be perfect, free of the braying abominations that are all other living things. — Orcus As beings of utter chaos and

particular affinity for their own kind, which is the biggest reason why they seldom cooperate with one another unless they are forced to submit to a demon lord or other leader. Going even farther, every

Goblin Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

appreciation for the finer things! — Volo Goblins occupy an uneasy place in a dangerous world, and they react by lashing out at any creatures they believe they can bully. Cunning in battle and

traps, snares, and nets to catch the unwary, and when their hunting patrols encounter other beings, they always look for ways to capture their foes instead of killing them. Goblins that run up against

Dragon Servitors

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

legend of the creatures’ origin is passed down from elder to hatchling, giving each individual and every generation a reason to feel pride and self-respect. The kobolds prefer to run away than fight, to

dragons. Kobolds willingly serve chromatic dragons and worship them as if they were demigods — mighty beings of divine descent. This isn’t a casual sort of worship or lip service; kobolds are awed in the

Adventures in Bluetspur

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

on other domains. Taking inspiration from sci-fi horror and tales of alien abduction, adventures involving Bluetspur’s mind flayers might begin anywhere with bad dreams or a stranger’s impossible

only surviving creature in the wreck is a cunning displacer beast. 4 The characters find a strange but adorable creature trapped within an abandoned alien installation. The being is a lovable

Story Overview

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica

for the citizens of the Tenth District, but not without attracting the attention of the guilds. A cunning opportunist, Krenko has spent years consolidating goblin street rabble into his fiercely loyal

, a rival goblin gang that often deals in illicit arms. Rumors swirled that Krenko killed Dargig, the youngest of the three brothers, after a weapons drop went bad. The remaining two brothers, Rikkig

Beholders: Bad Dreams Come True

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

Beholders: Bad Dreams Come True To those who would seek to conquer beholders or merely understand them, nearly everything about their quarry is unfathomable. These bizarre creatures are possessed of

. Think ye weave cunning schemes and elaborate intrigues with fallback plans and positions? Beholders change, refine, discard, and spin anew scores of such plans, all the time. To the average beholder, human intrigues are the fumblings of babies. — Elminster

Dock Ward

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

some respects this area has never truly deserved its bad reputation. Yes, aside from the Field Ward, this is the area where most of Waterdeep’s poor reside. Yes, it is home to some of the least

often have no sign at all. You either know where you are going and have reason to be there — or you are lost, and a likely mark for pickpockets or worse. Streetlamps don’t fare well in the Dock Ward

Oozes

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

offspring of the demon lord Juiblex. Whether this is true or not, the Faceless Lord is one of the few beings that can control oozes and imbue them with a modicum of intelligence. Most of the time, oozes

have no sense of tactics or self-preservation. They are direct and predictable, attacking and eating without cunning. Under the control of Juiblex, they exhibit glimmers of sentience and malevolent intent. Ooze Nature. An ooze doesn’t require sleep.

Orog

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

of food often brings them to the surface to hunt. Orcs respect an orog’s strength and cunning, and a lone orog might command an orc war band. Stronger and Smarter. An orog uses its strength to bully

foremost — because they believe that the gods have strength beyond reason, and physical might is all they respect. Servants of Darkness. Mistrusted by orcs, some orogs form independent mercenary war

Survival Skills

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

itself to give its fellows time to collapse a nearby tunnel and prevent invaders from getting to the rest of the tribe. All kobolds know that fleeing from danger, especially against bad odds, is the smart

sacrifice when it presents itself. This practice contributes to the reason why most common folk (and adventurers) think kobolds are stupid as well as weak; they’ve seen or heard of a lone kobold trying to

The Stone Bridge

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

. “Not a bad place to die,” the mage says with mild amusement. The doppelganger posing as Gargosh doesn’t take part in the fight, remaining on the fringes of the battle and rooting for the characters to

to make haste and catch up with him!” Characters who have reason to suspect Gargosh might be lying or holding back information can make a DC 16 Wisdom (Insight) check. A character who succeeds on

Horrors

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica

horrors — a variety of things that lurk in the dark and embody the deepest fears of Ravnica’s people. All are evil creatures with dim reason and preternatural cunning. At least three guilds have been

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