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Returning 35 results for 'beings barely design could rules'.
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
Monsters
Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1
can come in tiny packages. Their tiny, foot-tall forms can barely contain the cruelty and malevolence that courses through them. Deep in the Underdark, the jermlaine lurk among the tunnels, dungeons
, leathery, and textured like stone. Whether by the design of some sympathetic god or through sheer luck, their hide makes them appear invisible to darkvision. Part of the jermlaine's anger comes from
Monsters
Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants
’s Guide for rules on extreme cold). If the climate in the area already features extreme cold, the cold is numbing—creatures in the area without immunity or resistance to cold damage have
” in chapter 3 for additional inspiration.)
Scions of giants’ gods are enormously powerful beings who infuse the world around them with primeval magic. In many worlds, they slumber and have
Species
Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
A winged people who originated on the Elemental Plane of Air, aarakocra soar through the sky wherever they wander. The first aarakocra served the Wind Dukes of Aaqa—mighty beings of air&mdash
At 1st level, you choose whether your character is a member of the human race or of a fantastical race. If you select a fantastical race, follow these additional rules during character creation
Monsters
Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants
envelops the land within 6 miles of the scion (see the Dungeon Master’s Guide for rules on extreme cold). If the climate in the area already features extreme cold, the cold is numbing—creatures
the substance of the world together. (See “Giants of Myth” in chapter 3 for additional inspiration.)
Scions of giants’ gods are enormously powerful beings who infuse the world around
Species
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
Giff are tall, broad-shouldered folk with hippo-like features. Some have smooth skin, while others have short bristles on their faces and the tops of their heads. As beings of impressive size and
divine beings who created giff have likewise been forgotten. Their titanic petrified bodies drift on the Astral Sea, isolated and unrecognizable in their current forms.
Although they don’t realize
Species
Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
cultivated over eons in the Astral Plane. Now all githyanki can use their psychic bond with that plane to access splinters of knowledge left behind by beings who travel, live, and die among the silver
race. If you select a fantastical race, follow these additional rules during character creation.
Ability Score Increases
When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score
Species
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
branch.
Today, hadozees are sapient, bipedal beings eager to leave behind the fearsome predators of their home world and explore other worlds.
In addition to being natural climbers, hadozees have feet
of the game’s fantastical races. If you create a character using a race option presented here, follow these additional rules during character creation.
Ability Score Increases
When
Deep Dragon Wyrmling
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
Learn More
Monsters
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
other dragons, but we are superior beings and should not lower ourselves to direct conflict.
4
I have no interest in going to the surface world. It’s where one sends one’s servants
it to the surface world. Lost and confused, the wyrmling has been captured by a group of cruel adventurers.
3
A deep dragon wyrmling whimsically rules over a worshipful group of kobolds, sending
Monsters
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
table to help select spells for a spellcasting dragon. (Though the Monster Manual doesn’t explicitly include dragon turtles in the variant rules for making a dragon a spellcaster, you can apply
those rules to these aquatic dragons.)
Dragon Turtle Personality Traits
d8;{"diceNotation":"1d8","rollType":"roll","rollAction":"Trait"}
Trait
1
I speak slowly and deliberately
Lizardfolk
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
Learn More
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
pity. Born into the world lacking stout scales and sharp teeth, it’s a wonder they have managed to survive for so long. The typical human would barely make it through a day in the swamps.
Still
Magic Items
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
cases, Mother Luba managed to ensnare beings of pure evil amid the strands of fate, imprisoning them within her tarokka deck. There these foul spirits dwell still, trapped within a nether-realm hidden
vanishes and the deck becomes a normal tarokka deck, with no special properties, but it includes a new card of the DM’s design.
Mother Luba and the Vistani
The creator of the Tarokka of Souls
Species
Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
Underdark near the lairs of the earliest dragons. In some lands, kobolds serve chromatic or metallic dragons—even worshiping them as divine beings. In other places, kobolds know too well how
race, follow these additional rules during character creation.
Ability Score Increases
When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
survive for so long. The typical human would barely make it through a day in the swamps. Still, 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, young ones incapable of protecting themselves but who might prove useful in the future if they receive care.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sage Advice Compendium
things they don’t. In a typical D&D session, a DM makes numerous rules decisions—some barely noticeable and others quite obvious. Players also interpret the rules, and the whole group keeps the game
The Role of Rules Why even have a column like Sage Advice when a DM can just make a ruling? Rules are a big part of what makes D&D a game, rather than simply improvised storytelling. The game’s rules
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sage Advice & Errata
typical D&D session, a DM makes numerous rules decisions—some barely noticeable and others quite obvious. Players also interpret the rules, and the whole group keeps the game running. There are times
The Role of Rules Why even have Sage Advice when a DM can just make a ruling? Rules are a big part of what makes D&D a game, rather than simply improvised storytelling. The game’s rules are meant to
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
Followers Certain dragons act like they’re in danger of forgetting their own grandeur unless they’re surrounded with beings they can demean. I’ve found, on the contrary, that those scorned by others
encounter and adventure design. As you craft an encounter, an adventure, or an entire campaign around a dragon, you can decide how many creatures are in the dragon’s service.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Flee, Mortals! Rule Primer
Retainers Retainers are sapient beings who adventure alongside the player characters. Each retainer is a less experienced adventurer who a player character can take under their wing. Retainers are
never meant to achieve the same power level as the player characters. Rules for retainers first appeared in Strongholds & Followers. This book contains updated rules for these followers.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Unearthed Arcana
Apocalyptic Subclasses August 21, 2025
Get ready for the end of a world with the latest innovations from the D&D Game Design Team! This document presents four new subclasses for the Druid (Circle
of Preservation), Fighter (Gladiator), Sorcerer (Defiled Sorcery), and Warlock (Sorcerer-King Patron). The material uses the rules in the Player's Handbook. Learn more about this playtest directly from the designers in this article!
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Forge of the Artificer
Warforged Ignacio Bazan-Lazcano Warforged are mechanical beings built as weapons to fight in the Last War. An unexpected breakthrough produced sentient beings made from wood and metal that
remain conscious. Specialized Design. You gain one skill proficiency and one tool proficiency of your choice. Tireless. You don’t gain Exhaustion levels from dehydration, malnutrition, or suffocation.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual
a particular type. Lists of monsters organized by creature type appear in appendix B. The game includes the following creature types, which have no rules of their own: Aberrations are utterly alien
beings, such as aboleths, beholders, flumphs, and mind flayers. Beasts are non-Humanoid natural creatures, like horses and wolves, as well as most giant animals. Celestials are magical creatures, such
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
a particular type. The game includes the following creature types, which have no rules of their own: Aberrations are utterly alien beings, such as aboleths, beholders, flumphs, and mind flayers
magically created creatures such as homunculi, modrons, and shield guardians. Dragons are scaly beings of ancient origin, such as red dragons and wyverns. Elementals are beings from the Elemental
Species
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
Autognomes are mechanical beings built by rock gnomes. Sometimes, because of a malfunction or a unique circumstance, an autognome becomes separated from its creator and strikes out on its own.
An
fantastical races. If you create a character using a race option presented here, follow these additional rules during character creation.
Ability Score Increases
When determining your character’s
Species
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
Plasmoids are amorphous beings with no typical shape. In the presence of other folk, they often adopt a similar shape, but there’s little chance of mistaking a plasmoid for anything else. They
presented here, follow these additional rules during character creation.
Ability Score Increases
When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one of those scores by 2 and increase a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Descent into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
Credits Lead Designer: Justice Ramin Arman
Designer: Dan Dillon
Rules Developer: Ron Lundeen
Art Director: Fury Galluzzi
Lead Editor: Judy Bauer
Editor: Hannah Rose
Graphic Designer
: Bill Benham, Siera Bruggeman, Robert Hawkey
Product Manager: Natalie Egan
D&D Beyond Product Manager: Jeff Turriff
Digital Design Team: Jay Jani, Sean Stoves, Adam Walton
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mythic Odysseys of Theros
Dragon The dragons of Theros are barely capable of speech and sow destruction either individually or by forcing minions to carry out their will. Only red and blue dragons exist on Theros, and both
lowland valleys, feasting on cattle and those who tend herds. They often lair in dangerous mountain caves or volcanoes. Akroans revere red dragons and employ their images in the design of their armor
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Vecna: Eve of Ruin
Power of Secrets The individuals the characters meet in Avernus are primarily Fiends and other unpleasant beings. As a rule, these creatures lack the remorse, guilt, and shame that would give their
secrets power if revealed to the characters. The characters don’t learn any secrets applicable to the rules in “The Power of Secrets” section found in this book’s introduction, though they can spend secrets during this chapter normally.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player’s Handbook
if it’s wielded in a way contrary to its design; if you use a Ranged weapon to make a melee attack or throw a Melee weapon that lacks the Thrown property, the weapon counts as an improvised weapon. An
improvised weapon follows the rules below. Proficiency. Don’t add your Proficiency Bonus to attack rolls with an improvised weapon. Damage. On a hit, the weapon deals 1d4 damage of a type the DM
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
if it’s wielded in a way contrary to its design; if you use a Ranged weapon to make a melee attack or throw a Melee weapon that lacks the Thrown property, the weapon counts as an improvised weapon. An
improvised weapon follows the rules below. Proficiency. Don’t add your Proficiency Bonus to attack rolls with an improvised weapon. Damage. On a hit, the weapon deals 1d4 damage of a type the DM
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
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, devils, hags, and alien entities of the Far Realm, Warlocks
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual
view galeb duhr as aloof allies and might entrust these long-lived beings with secrets or treasures for future generations. Others speak of galeb duhr songs, barely audible harmonizations by groups of
Galeb Duhr Eyes and Ears of the Earth Habitat: Hill, Mountain; Treasure: Any Luca Bancone Beings of living rock, galeb duhr seek harmony with the earth and give voice to the vibrations of stone
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1
Jermlaine Jermlaine prove that terrible things can come in tiny packages. Their tiny, foot-tall forms can barely contain the cruelty and malevolence that courses through them. Deep in the Underdark
. Hidden Threat. The jermlaine’s skin is rough, leathery, and textured like stone. Whether by the design of some sympathetic god or through sheer luck, their hide makes them appear invisible to darkvision
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Quests from the Infinite Staircase
Romeo and Juliet. It was a departure from the more expected adventure design of the time in that violent solutions to problems aren’t an automatic path to victory—inquisitive minds and compassionate
hearts carry the heroes further than strength of arms.
This updated version of the adventure reimagines Caerwyn and Porphura’s—originally Porpherio’s—garden as the Eternal Garden, a domain in the Feywild, and the Green Man as the Gardener, the benevolent archfey who rules it.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything
Combat Encounters Design your adventure for one of the four tiers, as set forth in chapter 1 of the Player’s Handbook: tier 1 includes levels 1–4, tier 2 is levels 5–10, tier 3 is levels 11–16, and
2, five 13th-level characters for tier 3, and five 18th-level characters for tier 4. Use that assumption when creating combat encounters, whether you use the encounter-building rules in the Dungeon
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation
Credits Designers: Christopher Perkins, Will Doyle, Steve Winter
Additional Design: Adam Lee
Story Consultants: Pendleton Ward, James Lowder
Story Creators: Christopher Perkins, Adam Lee
, Richard Whitters
Lead Rules Developer: Jeremy Crawford
Managing Editors: Jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins
Editors: Michele Carter, Scott Fitzgerald Gray
Editorial Assistance: Matt Sernett