better bards diffusing contests replaces

Melee Attacks

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)

. Contests in Combat Battle often involves pitting your prowess against that of your foe. Such a challenge is represented by a contest. This section includes the most common contests that require an action

in combat: grappling and shoving a creature. The DM can use these contests as models for improvising others. Grappling When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can use the Attack

Melee Attacks

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)

attack replaces one of them. The target of your grapple must be no more than one size larger than you and must be within your reach. Using at least one free hand, you try to seize the target by

smaller than you. CONTESTS IN COMBAT Battle often involves pitting your prowess against that of your foe. Such a challenge is represented by a contest. This section includes the most common

Gods and Devotion

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

beings—heroes and monsters alike—often become unwitting pawns in the contests of the gods. Having a powerful champion is an indication of a god’s power—and can potentially increase the god’s own power. A

champion who acts as an agent of a god among other people helps increase those people’s devotion to the god. And if a hero should happen to strike down the agents of a rival god along the way, all the better. The Vanquisher, and the Hunter (CHUCK LUKACS)

Sun Elves

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

with other art forms, which produces the complex dance of the bladesingers as well as the enchanting music of their bards and the meticulous craftwork of their artisans. Sun elf adventurers often bring

a feeling of noblesse oblige to their profession: they venture out into the world to challenge its dangers because someone must, and who could be better suited?

Champions of Rock Throwing

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

throwing rocks in ways that hone their skills for hunting and war. One of the most popular contests, especially among fire giants, involves nothing more than taking turns trying to knock each other down with

giant who took on a better thrower will stumble away, nursing its injuries, as a lesson that arrogance has a price. In battle against puny creatures, giants use boulders that fit in one hand. When

Modifying a Class

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)

modify existing classes to better serve your game’s needs. Changing Proficiencies Changing a class’s proficiencies is a safe and simple way to modify a class to better reflect your world. Swapping

firmly in the world by associating the class with a particular race or culture. For example, you might decide that bards, sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards represent the magical traditions of four

Bard

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

completely reasonable and plausible explanation. Singing songs and strumming lutes might be fine for most bards. Who doesn’t like a rousing shanty now and then? But standing in a crowded tavern playing for

copper pieces tossed by commoners isn’t for everyone — and it certainly isn’t for bards in the Acq Inc world. The power and magic tied up in the voice of a franchise bard is meant for greater things

Lorehold Student

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos

Lorehold. Bards thrive in Lorehold, and wizards (particularly those of the School of Divination) are numerous among its students. Clerics (often with the Knowledge or Light domains) are also quite common

. The more obscure the historical references I can include in everyday conversation, the better. 2 By searching for these lost artifacts, I hope to find who I really am along the way. 3 I can barely go

Yugoloths

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

yugoloths demand much for their time and loyalty. Whatever promises a yugoloth makes are quickly broken when a better opportunity presents itself. Unlike demons, yugoloths can be reasoned with, but

opportunities to misinterpret them. The General of Gehenna. Somewhere in the brimstone wastes of Gehenna, there roams an ultroloth so strong that none contests his power: the General of Gehenna. Many

Ship of the Dead

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Spelljammer: Adventures in Space->Light of Xaryxis

character who can tolerate undead allies better than he can. When the two parties come to an agreement, Gargenhale bows deeply and invites the characters aboard his ship to celebrate their alliance with a

sensitive to holy praise. While aboard the ship, bards and other musicians are allowed to play only secular tunes. Article 3: Coward’s Consequence. Those who abandon their post or shirk their duty

Leonin of Oreskos

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

the grasslands for countless generations. They know the way of Oreskos’s beasts and seasons better than any. Both mystical and knowledgeable, the Sun Guides read the messages in plant growth and

Swiftclaws, and many bards and wizards come from these prides as well. Speaker Brimaz looks beyond Oreskos and wonders if there is a future for his people in the outside world (PETER MOHRBACHER)

City Celebrations

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

. Although some of the dancing is wanton and performed for show, large-scale ring dances in the street for all ages are also popular. All the dancing ends at dusk, after which bards and minstrels perform at

alongside its residents. Better yet, if you’re of an adventuresome bent, register in your favored ward and compete! Who knows? Your name or visage might soon have a place in the House of Heroes

Quandrix Scholars

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos

philosophy, manipulating physical dimensions and properties of growth. Their magic alters and replaces the equations that describe the natural world, including creatures, space, and substance. Through these

interacts with the world can change the world. They impress upon their students to use magic as a tool to shape the overall experience of reality, and in turn make the world a better place. Quandrix

Alignment

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)

townsfolk. Chaotic Neutral. (CN) creatures follow their whims, holding their personal freedom above all else. Many rogues and bards are chaotic neutral. Lawful Evil. (LE) creatures methodically take

, Artemis is more than a criminal assassin—he is an antihero, driven by his rivalry with Drizzt. His bond might be phrased as “I will not rest until I have proved myself better than Drizzt Do’Urden

Factions

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

least discretion. Bards and wizards are their most prominent members. Harpers operate in small cells throughout the North. One is based in Triboar: Darathra Shendrel, the Lord Protector, belongs to the

Uthgardt to be little better than orcs. Two tribes are the most troublesome to folk of the Dessarin Valley: the Tree Ghosts and the Elk. See chapter 2 for more about the Uthgardt.

Roleplaying a Giant

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

be displayed, and the more ostentatious the display, the better. In a cloud giant family’s home, extravagance is omnipresent. One might boast windows framed in gold leaf, rare perfume stored in vials

. (A gift from one family member to another doesn’t prove anything about the family’s largesse.) No cloud giant truly believes that it’s better to give than to receive; a family does so only with an

Lady's Ward

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse->Sigil and the Outlands

, lamenting, “May your luck be better than mine.” 2 A deluxe sedan chair carried by four veterans stops in front of the characters. A gloved Humanoid hand parts its privacy curtain, extending them an

, supposedly impartial magistrate appointed by the Guvners. Punishments are tailored to fit the crime, and advocates are strongly encouraged. Lawyers and orators, these civil servants include bards

Areas of the Earth Temple

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

the temple, they need to talk fast, because Nartham craves an excuse to kill. The cooking fire and bedrolls belong to the hobgoblins, who have not yet been allocated better quarters in the temple. They

Urnrayle replaces the guards in a few hours with the cultists from area B14. In a few days, he augments this force with two ogres. B5. East Guardroom The crumbling masonry in this old guardroom

Lair Locations

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragon Delves

neat piles labeled in Draconic: “keep,” “trade,” and “dump.” Many of these items were gifts from travelers or admirers; the remaining items the dragon acquired during her efforts to better understand

clasps an Instrument of the Bards (Ollamh harp), which she acquired in her youth. Taking the harp, plucking one of its strings, or removing the glass key from around Yemi’s neck ends the Sequester spell

Maelstrom Level 2

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

room. The coral fountain spouts fresh water (see “Treasure”), which the giants drink from their conch shells. The giant visitors know better than to start a fight in here. They have no interest in

back of her pet killer whale. Dealing with the Giant Lords Ordning or no, Count Vaal, Duchess Tartha, Jarl Hellenhild, and Thane Braxow know better than to defy the storm giants in their own stronghold

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