Search Results
All Results
Characters
Compendium
Spells
Items
Monsters
Vehicles
Forums
Returning 35 results for 'both before descent close read'.
Other Suggestions:
both before descend choose read
both before descends choose reach
both before deceit class reach
both before deceit class rest
both before deceit choose reach
Balhannoth
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
Learn More
Monsters
Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
in the area reshapes to assume the appearance of a location sought by one intelligent creature whose mind the balhannoth has read (see Regional Effects below). The transformation affects nonliving
material only and can’t create anything with moving parts or magical properties. Any object created in this area is, upon close inspection, revealed as a fake. Books are filled with empty pages
Human
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
Learn More
Species
Basic Rules (2014)
sang from every page. Long into the night Liriel read, lighting candle after precious candle.
She’d never given much thought to humans, but these stories fascinated her. In these yellowed
Just as readily as they mix with each other, humans mingle with members of other races. They get along with almost everyone, though they might not be close to many. Humans serve as ambassadors, diplomats
Monsters
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
choose to succeed instead.
Nebulous Thoughts. Magical attempts to read the dragon’s mind or glean its thoughts fail automatically.
Siege Monster. The dragon deals double damage to objects and
shell, shiny black and opaque. When an egg is close to hatching, the shell becomes translucent, allowing the light from the unborn wyrmling’s wings to shine through.A Solar Dragon’s Lair
Monsters
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
choose to succeed instead.
Nebulous Thoughts. Magical attempts to read the dragon’s mind or glean its thoughts fail automatically.
Siege Monster. The dragon deals double damage to objects and
shell, shiny black and opaque. When an egg is close to hatching, the shell becomes translucent, allowing the light from the unborn wyrmling’s wings to shine through.A Solar Dragon’s Lair
A
Monsters
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
their bodies and the spines and horns that hover close to their heads and backs. These horns shift with the dragon’s mood: bristling with anger, lying back with fear or suspicion, and rippling
. They read these signs as omens, giving them glimpses of what is to come, and they eagerly examine the potential futures of any creatures who come to them in peace.
Crystal dragons’ connection to
Backgrounds
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
;s activities.
3
I’ve been assigned to get close to an individual in this guild and learn their secrets.
4
I’ve been assigned to recruit a new Dimir spy from the ranks of this
) into a thought strand that others can potentially read, share, or steal. These thought strands are treated as valuable currency among the Dimir.
Suggested Characteristics
Skilled at infiltration
Magic Items
Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus
Intelligence of 22, a Wisdom of 18, and a Charisma of 24, as well as hearing and truesight out to a range of 120 feet.
The shield can speak, read, and understand Common and Infernal, and it can communicate
touching the shield and speaking Gargauth’s name. When released, Gargauth appears in a random, unoccupied space as close to the shield as possible.
Monsters
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
starlight between their bodies and the spines and horns that hover close to their heads and backs. These horns shift with the dragon’s mood: bristling with anger, lying back with fear or
in starlight. They read these signs as omens, giving them glimpses of what is to come, and they eagerly examine the potential futures of any creatures who come to them in peace.
Crystal dragons&rsquo
Monsters
Eberron: Rising from the Last War
Alien Mind. If a creature tries to read Belashyrra’s thoughts or deals psychic damage to it, that creature must succeed on a DC 22 Intelligence saving throw or be stunned for 1 minute. The
close my eyes, I see my past misdeeds.”
5
“I don’t trust my sight. I have no idea what’s real and what’s a hallucination.”
6
“Something watches the world through my eyes. To thwart them, I keep my eyes closed or covered.”
Poison, Psychic
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Infernal Machine Rebuild
The Two Agents The two agents reside in or close to the characters’ current city or home base. If you are playing through Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, you can arrange for both agents to
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen
the villagers. After learning the scout’s news, Mayor Raven orders the evacuation to begin. Read the following description: The villagers remain eerily quiet as they begin lowering themselves into the
, slowing their descent into the village.
As invaders sweep over the cliff into Vogler, Darrett draws his sword and asks the characters to help him defend the escaping villagers.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Candlekeep Mysteries
approach, read: “Very few people would dare to come here,” says a voice from above. Perched twenty feet above you is a man balanced with his legs braced between two of the larger stone columns. He has
, you’ll have to deal with me—Steel Crane!”
As Steel Crane presses his attack, the monks use the steles for cover and leap between them to engage the characters in close-quarters combat. Red Key. Steel
Monsters
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
; scales. It glows like starlight between their bodies and the spines and horns that hover close to their heads and backs. These horns shift with the dragon’s mood: bristling with anger, lying back
the signs written in starlight. They read these signs as omens, giving them glimpses of what is to come, and they eagerly examine the potential futures of any creatures who come to them in peace
Monsters
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
dragons’ scales. It glows like starlight between their bodies and the spines and horns that hover close to their heads and backs. These horns shift with the dragon’s mood: bristling with
sky and tracking the signs written in starlight. They read these signs as omens, giving them glimpses of what is to come, and they eagerly examine the potential futures of any creatures who come to
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Giants of the Star Forge
Entering the Crater Read aloud the following to describe what the characters see in the crater: You stand atop a roughly circular ridge nestled into the mountainside. The ridge overlooks a massive
shore. The way into the crater’s basin is a hazardous slope of loose scree.
From the crater’s rim, it’s a 150-foot descent to the lake’s edge. The safest path to the lake is a series of switchbacks
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Curse of Strahd
-facing gargoyle carvings. If a character peers over the balcony, read: A flash of lightning illuminates the dismal village of Barovia, its rooftops visible above a smothering blanket of fog one
dusty tomb beyond (area K88). Characters who try to reach the windows from the overlook must descend 110 feet and move 20 feet back under the platform. This descent can’t be accomplished without the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Curse of Strahd
8. Library The master of the house used to spend many hours here before his descent into madness. Red velvet drapes cover the windows of this room. An exquisite mahogany desk and a matching high-back
look like a red-covered book with a blank spine. A character inspecting the bookshelf spots the fake book with a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check. Unless the secret door is propped open, springs in the hinges cause it to close on its own. Beyond the secret door lies area 9.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Princes of the Apocalypse
, narrowing as it proceeds.
A body is sprawled on the floor 60 feet into the passage. When the characters get close enough to take a good look at the body, read the following: The corpse of a human
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Spelljammer: Adventures in Space->Light of Xaryxis
in chapter 5, read: The Wildspace orrery shows the black vortex with two planets slowly spiraling around it. The system also has twelve moons—one close to the vortex, one orbiting each planet, and
Arrival in Doomspace As the characters leave the Astral Sea and enter Doomspace, read the following boxed text: The silvery haze thins as the ship enters a system that appears to have no sun. The
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragon Delves
Skalanthas Strikes! The voyage to Najkir is uneventful until the ship comes within a mile of the island. When that happens, read or paraphrase the following aloud: The sea is calm; the sky is clear
is Skalanthas. He was scouring old shipwrecks when he saw the Wavemount from beneath the sea. Skalanthas no longer permits strange ships to venture this close to his island, and he is Hostile, uncommunicative, and unwilling to accept bribes.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragon of Icespire Peak
Arrival If the characters follow the river from Falcon’s Hunting Lodge, they arrive from the east. If they come straight from Phandalin, they approach from the south. When they arrive, read the
. Older cabins close by have been torn down to leave only stone chimneys and foundations. A grim silence hangs over the camp, and you see no one around.
The ankhegs hide underground and rely on their
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
Sundered Chains As close to a place of pilgrimage as you’ll find in this accursed place. A beacon to those seeking the missing link or looking for a way out. — The Cartographer When the characters
arrive at one of these locations, read the following boxed text to the players: Colossal spiked chains extend across the hellscape, their links partially buried under the ash and large chunks of masonry
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Princes of the Apocalypse
D4. Dormitory The passage west from the courtyard becomes a long hallway with a series of stone doors on either side. Read the following aloud the first time a character enters one of the rooms: A
successful DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. Southwest Room. The renegade dwarves dumped the bodies of everyone they slew in the southwestern cell. Even before the door is open, read the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation
its turns. After 10 rounds, the gas valves close and the stone block rises back into the ceiling. Any puzzle cubes still in their cavities are pushed out, and the trap resets. Any character searching
the tunnel for traps spots the raised stone block with a successful DC 16 Wisdom (Perception) check. The weight of the block makes it impossible to hinder its descent. Any character who examines the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Book of Many Things
, offering magical trinkets and the opportunity to draw from his Deck of Many Things. But when the Grim Harrow begins to close in, Oddlewin hides the deck among the characters’ belongings and flees, sending
champion. Unwitting Pawns. The characters are recruited to search for a Deck of Many Things by a wealthy patron, Lord Verin Oakley, who claims descent from a famous knight who once owned this deck
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Spelljammer: Adventures in Space->Light of Xaryxis
dressed figure standing inside its glassy dome.
Hastain The esthetic is 250 feet away at the start of the battle and tries to get close enough to attack the Second Wind with its tentacles. The reigar
casts dimension door on their first turn, using the spell to board the party’s ship. When that happens, read: A magical doorway appears on the main deck of your ship. The flamboyantly dressed figure
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Vecna: Eve of Ruin
transport to Vecna’s Grasp appear in this chamber. Read the following to set the scene: You appear before a thirty-foot-wide mass of translucent purple crystals embedded in the floor of a large obsidian
enormous hole in the cave floor like a cork. This hole leads down to the Cave of Shattered Reflection, but the characters can’t bypass the crystals or make their descent until they explore the side
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Quests from the Infinite Staircase
, inherited the magic required to read these books from the line of sages who came before him—but this magic prevents him from turning more than one new page per day, allowing only a peek at the future
the star’s course, recover it, and trade it to the svirfneblin for the second set of tomes. In anticipation of the star’s descent, Shalfey sent his most trusted tower hands—martial artists sworn to
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
the Sundering, the Crown Wars, the descent of the drow, and other calamities as the result of acts of arrogance on the part of their ancestors. Living around and amid the reminders of this arrogance
, with the wider world. Sylvan counterparts of the sun elves and moon elves, wood elves eschew the cities and strongholds of their kin in favor of living close to nature. Wood elves have not claimed a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
Frozen Shipwreck The Dark Duchess is hundreds of yards from shore, trapped in thick ice. When the characters get close enough to see it, read: The Sea of Moving Ice stretches out before you, a
is thick, and there is no risk of the characters breaking through it. Approaching the Ship When the characters get within 15 feet of the ship, read: You hear loud thumping and creaking coming from
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
Encounters in the Forge
Map 3.5: Bel’s Forge View Player Version The following descriptions correspond to areas marked on map 3.5. F1. Descent to the Forge Read the following boxed text to the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Infernal Machine Rebuild
Dangerous Pathways As the characters travel deeper into the woods, they find themselves traversing winding pathways that seem to slowly close in from all sides. At the place where the hags
’ corruption begins to take hold, the plants have become living traps. Read or paraphrase the following to set the scene: Your path through the woods descends along a ridgeline, with the trees crowding together
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Journeys through the Radiant Citadel
Starting the Adventure The adventure begins as the characters near the walls of Yeonido. Read or paraphrase the following description as the party draws close to the city gates: The curving walls of
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Curse of Strahd
Each of these sheds is fitted with an iron padlock. Clovin Belview (area S17) carries the keys to these locks. If the characters open a shed, read: This shed holds the shattered remains of several
Belview (see area S12a). If the characters approach Marzena, read: The creature chained to the post flaps its leathery wings and takes to the air, but doesn’t get far before its chains go taut. She
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Spelljammer Academy
reveals that it’s partly ajar and causes it to creak open. Read or paraphrase the following if the characters peer inside: Mirt’s quarters are sumptuously decorated with velvet curtains, gold fittings, and
prone and soaked through by the sudden outflow of water. Topographic Map Close inspection of the map on the table reveals that it is set with tiny figurines representing troops. The figurines magically






