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Returning 35 results for 'both before dark combine rival'.
Monsters
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
thoughts of its dragon rival can become deeply obsessive, eventually pervading the beholder;beholder's dreams. If the rivalry lasts long enough, these fevered dreams can manifest as an eyedrake—a
-like wave of antimagic energy. The creature's wings are formed from multiple eyestalks, each of which can fire magical rays that combine aspects of a dragon’s breath weapon attacks and a beholder
Monsters
Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
—a nervous disorder that manifests as trembling. It can affect her balance and her stride, but she has learned to cast her spells unimpeded by it.
Despite her firm grasp of the dark arts, she
by Vellynne’s rival, Nass Lantomir), but Vellynne animated their corpses, turning them into zombies.
If she is wounded, Vellynne can cast vampiric touch and use the spell to regain hit points
Backgrounds
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
. That’s the world you have been trying to grow in the laboratories of the Simic Combine. Nature is all about adaptation, evolution, and balance — but for it to keep up with the pace of
advancing civilization, nature needs some help from biomancers and terraformers. If, along the way, you happen to create super-soldiers and mutant monsters that can bolster the combine’s defenses
Backgrounds
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
Selesnya contact; you can decide if the contact is an ally or a rival.
10
I have a sibling in the Simic Combine, and we argue every time we see each other.
guilds, and often these new guild members maintain friendships with former guild mates.
Roll twice on the Selesnya Contacts table (for an ally and a rival) and once on the Non-Selesnya Contacts table
Backgrounds
Tomb of Annihilation
greatest treasures from falling into the wrong hands. Whatever their motivations, archaeologists combine the qualities of a scrappy historian with the self-made heroism of a treasure-hunting scoundrel
disappeared on an expedition some time ago.
3
I have a friendly rival. Only one of us can be the best, and I aim to prove it’s me.
4
I won’t sell an art object or other treasure that
Backgrounds
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
the entire city, your place in the Azorius can easily bring you into contact with members of other guilds, for good or ill.
Roll twice on the Azorius Contacts table (for an ally and a rival) and
complimented me on my work.
Non-Azorius Contacts
d10
Contact
1
Roll an additional Azorius contact; you can decide if the contact is an ally or a rival.
2
The person who
Backgrounds
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
in different troupes, which allows for the possibility of a widespread network of contacts.
Roll twice on the Rakdos Contacts table (for an ally and a rival) and once on the Non-Rakdos Contacts table
very amusing dark side.
2
A Boros captain really wants to “redeem” me.
3
I think a member of my troupe is a Dimir agent.
4
I once convinced a Golgari medusa to participate
Backgrounds
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
;Disguise kit
Languages: One of your choice
Equipment: A Dimir insignia, three small knives, a set of dark-colored common clothes, and the starting equipment of the background described in this
Contacts table, giving you an ally who serves as your contact in Dimir. Then roll twice on the table for your secondary guild. The first roll gives you an ally there, and the second roll gives you a rival
Yuan-ti Pureblood
Legacy
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Species
Volo's Guide to Monsters
; Elminster
The serpent creatures known as yuan-ti are all that remains of an ancient, decadent human empire. Ages ago their dark gods taught them profane, cannibalistic rituals to mix their flesh
primordial world heeded the prayers of these people and hissed dark demands into their ears. The people tainted their souls by performing human sacrifices in the name of the gods, debased their flesh by
Backgrounds
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
, rot, and rebirth. You have spent your life in the slow churn of that ecosystem, in the dark places of the city where the messy parts of existence are on display. There is little squeamishness among the
meaningful connections with others.
Roll twice on the Golgari Contacts table (for an ally and a rival) and once on the Non-Golgari Contacts table.
Golgari Contacts
d8
Contact
1
One
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Forge of the Artificer
Morgrave Conflicts A campaign centered on Morgrave University suggests three significant campaign conflicts: Rival Explorers. Characters can explore the tension between legitimate scholarship and
greed as they undertake expeditions and explorations in competition with rival adventurers. Emerald Claw. Adventures can bring characters into conflict with sinister forces such as the Order of the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Dark Fantasy Plots Adventures in dark fantasy domains involve unlikely or reluctant heroes (or rival villains) striking back against the evil at work in the land. This might involve taking on a world
-ruining conspiracy or the street-level depravity affecting a single slum. Dark Fantasy Plots d8 Plot
1 Track down a beholder-shaped flesh golem and learn why it’s targeting specific
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
similar to settings that appear in your Darklord’s past, or take inspiration from the Settings tables in the “Genres of Horror” section later in this chapter. Combine Locations and Visceral Details
creations of the Dark Powers and the domain is the only reality they know, but what logical and psychological leaps might an outsider need to make to sleep at night?
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants
(see chapter 3). Dangerous Beauty Stone giant artisans find inspiration in the Endless Rockslide and create beautiful works from its material, but a fomorian warlock of the dark (see chapter 6) curses
exchange for help retaking the site. Rival Elements A djinni assaults the Endless Rockslide to disrupt the plans of her dao rival. Each genie asks the characters to side against the other. The
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated
operatives of rival organizations, a bit of well-timed sabotage on some manufacturing equipment, or intimidating contractors into turning their backs on a rival are all regular business for an Acq Inc
warlock. Standard Dark Spellcaster Franchise Rules
No summoning circles in the bathroom. No “tentacle talk” during mealtimes. You must wear a gag at bedtime. That constant screaming makes it hard for
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes
who combine a hatred of outsiders with bloodthirstiness. Typically, a cult builds a maze beneath a castle, a guild hall, or some other place it controls. The cultists drug their victims, strip them of
sides, playing demon and devil against each other.
Lolth’s plan, as far as those who study the Abyss understand it, is to tempt her rival demon lords into venturing onto other planes or to send them
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica
military force, the Boros Legion An espionage network, House Dimir An association of raiders, the Gruul Clans Two scientific research institutions, the Izzet League and the Simic Combine An organized
guild. For example, it would be highly unusual for a Devkarin elf (a dark elf) to join any guild other than the Golgari, and the Ordruun line of minotaurs has provided the Boros armies with generations
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos
each student NPC with whom their character has a Relationship. The player should track how many Relationship Points their character has with each NPC; whether that NPC is a Friend, a Rival, or a Beloved
combine with the adventures in this book to enhance the flavor of life at a university of magic.
If you find these rules aren’t the best fit for your group, you can run this book’s adventures without those rules, simply narrating the effects of related encounters without using rules to resolve them.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Princes of the Apocalypse
introduce the player characters to the region and its people. Combine the settlements of Womford and nearby Bargewright Inn into the corrupt town of Nulb. The small river known as Imeryds Run serves as
Beliard. The city of Verbobonc can easily serve as both Yartar and Waterdeep. It’s the most important city anywhere in the area, and the events described in the “Dark Dealings in Yartar” side trek could
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Vecna: Eve of Ruin
The Wizards Three When the Dark Powers divulged Vecna’s plan to Kas, the powers also whispered that Lady Alustriel Silverhand was marshaling allies to stop the lich. Kas didn’t relish the thought of
of Kas’s impersonation. When Kas arrives in the sanctum, he realizes that Alustriel plans to combine her magic with Tasha’s and Mordenkainen’s to craft a Wish spell to thwart Vecna. Alustriel intends
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Forge of the Artificer
, the sinister forces of the Dreaming Dark have infiltrated many places of power within the city. You can replace one or more of these threats with other groups from Eberron: Rising from the Last War—such
work (House Tharashk’s Finders Guild or House Medani’s Warning Guild), you also can incorporate conflicts with rival houses, as described in chapter 5. This section outlines the three conflicts suggested above, the goals of the villainous groups involved, and possible plot arcs tied to them.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica
, wood elves, and dark elves, though there is little physical difference among the three subraces here. Elves share the traits described in the Player’s Handbook for their race and subrace. High Elves
. The high elves of Ravnica have been subsumed into the Simic Combine and have lost their original tribal name. They are more slender than other elves, and they tend to have angular features and pale skin
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated
, and how the franchise’s enemies — or potential enemies — might get caught up in those complications. When a complication or a rival comes into play during downtime or franchise activities, the DM
families can all take notice as a franchise grows in power. And outside the characters’ immediate sphere of influence, factions such as Dran Enterprises and the Six work dark plots that might make the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War
prevent national secrets from falling into the hands of rival intelligence agencies. The Dark Lanterns also have an unwritten license to eliminate any creature that threatens their nation, its sovereign
King’s Dark Lanterns The King’s Dark Lanterns is the intelligence division of the King’s Citadel, an organization sworn to defend Breland from its enemies and dispense justice in the name of King
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Infernal Machine Rebuild
those adventurers driven to seek and destroy him — and partly to claim those adventurers’ souls to feed his phylactery. Even after Acererak eventually became an archlich whose dark plots would threaten
, the balor Tarnhem. Over the years of the tomb’s construction, Moghadam and his rival artificer, Thessalar, have competed fiercely against each other’s endeavors. Moghadam takes pleasure in having lured
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Journeys through the Radiant Citadel
Rival Princes When the characters arrive at the square, read or paraphrase the following: Locals crowd a shaded square, listening to a fervent argument between two well-dressed human men wearing dark
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Fate d4 Fate
1 Azalin was destroyed—slain by a failed magical experiment, a rival, or the Dark Powers.
2 Azalin escaped the Domains of Dread and returned to his home world of Oerth
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Journeys through the Radiant Citadel
Rival Vendors Dyn Singh Night Market vendors Lamai Tyenmo and Kusa Xungoon inherited a long-standing rivalry between their families, but they want to move past it. Circumstances and family grudges
conspire to exacerbate their enmity. In the course of the adventure, the characters are drawn into their conflict. Lamai Tyenmo Lamai Tyenmo (lawful good, gnome commoner) has dark, wild hair and a wide
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)
Chapter 3: Classes Adventurers are extraordinary people, driven by a thirst for excitement into a life that others would never dare lead. They are heroes, compelled to explore the dark places of the
continuing to advance as a barbarian. Elves are known to combine martial mastery with magical training and advance as fighters and wizards simultaneously. Optional rules for combining classes in this
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
Eyedrake When a beholder contends with a dragon for power and wealth, its thoughts of its dragon rival can become deeply obsessive, eventually pervading the beholder’s dreams. If the rivalry lasts
mouth. Inside that mouth is a large eye that emits a breath-like wave of antimagic energy. The creature’s wings are formed from multiple eyestalks, each of which can fire magical rays that combine
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Princes of the Apocalypse
bureaucracy of a specific city-state can serve a similar role in a Dark Sun conversion of this adventure. The city-state most immediately concerned with the rise of a dangerous magical cult in the Great
Alluvial Sand Wastes is Tyr, struggling to find its way after the death of King Kalak. The templars of Tyr can’t allow a new threat to grow on their doorstep — or allow the templars of a rival city such
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron
gang conflict. A Callestan campaign is a dark neo-noir story. Clifftop in Upper Dura is a district catering to established adventurers. This is a place for pulp heroes, established explorers whose
your home—what does it say about your character that this place is your home? Friends and Rivals. Who do you know in the district? The DM should work with each player to develop a friend or rival in the
Orc
Legacy
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Species
Volo's Guide to Monsters
who serve Yurtrus and Shargaas. Some are sent forth into the cities dominated by humans, on dark missions. Beware them.
— Elminster
Search, Destroy, Repeat
When a tribe is on the move, orc
rival orcs first and foremost as competitors for food and victims.
On some occasions, though, tribes that have a common concern band together. The result is an orc horde — a sea of slavering
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
as a friend, paramour, mentor, or rival, the Caller isolates its target, leading the victim to depend on it emotionally or materially. Over time, the Caller coerces or outright forces its victim to
, and truths hinting at the nature of the Dark Powers. Consider the following plots when featuring the Caller in an adventure: One of the characters’ allies requests they check in on the ally’s brother
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
Tough warriors 9 Dark magic 10 Decadence 11 Piety 12 Gambling 13 Godlessness 14 Education 15 Wines 16 High fashion 17 Political intrigue 18 Powerful guilds 19 Strong drink 20 Patriotism Current
Calamity d20 Calamity 1 Suspected vampire infestation 2 New cult seeks converts 3 Important figure died (murder suspected) 4 War between rival thieves’ guilds 5–6 Plague or famine (sparks riots) 7






