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Returning 35 results for 'both before dropping compare read'.
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Monsters
Mythic Odysseys of Theros
mythic trait by describing her skin cracking and turning pale as she suffers wounds. Read or paraphrase the following text when Hythonia finally uses her Shed Skin trait:
The medusa’s skin
medusa rising up anew, the last of her shed skin dropping away, revealing glistening, unscarred scales.
Fighting Hythonia as a mythic encounter is equivalent to taking on two challenge rating 17
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen
Threshold Evacuation After Belephaion is defeated, read the following: The shaking underfoot continues. Outside the windows, boulder-sized chunks of the city tear free, rising into the air. Beneath
the island it stands on are beginning to crumble. The characters have enough time to escape the tower, but encourage them to make a quick exit by describing cracking walls and stones dropping from
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Curse of Strahd
one hundred thirty feet below. If a character tries to traverse the rooftop, read: Some of the ancient roof tiles slide easily underfoot, easily dropping into the fog-shrouded darkness. Each falling
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Wild Beyond the Witchlight
The Cauldron Was Destroyed If Iggwilv’s Cauldron was destroyed but all its pieces are recovered, Zybilna uses a wish spell to repair the artifact. If this turn of events occurs, read: Zybilna beholds
what was once a fearsome sight to behold now looks wondrous beyond compare.
The archfey commands her pixie courtiers to bring enough water and wine to put the gold cauldron to use; Zybilna uses that
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything
throws are all useful indicators. Compare the damage a monster can deal to the hit point maximum of each character. Be wary of any monster that is capable of dropping a character with a single attack
, unless you are designing the fight to be especially deadly. In the same way, compare the monsters’ hit points to the damage output of the party’s strongest characters, again looking for targets that
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
-foot-high ceilings throughout. As the characters descend the stairs, read: To your left as you enter this dark hall is a closed, stone double door with no handles or hinges on this side. To your right is
(Dragon). Dropping a dragon’s scale in this brazier summons forth its fire. The characters can substitute some other dragon body part, such as a fang or a claw. Vind (Wind). Blowing air into this
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Princes of the Apocalypse
T3. Cage Trap If the party continues east along the tunnel past area T2, they walk into a trap. Read the following text only if a character examines the ceiling: The ceiling consists of square stone
hall, read the following: At the end of the passage is another stone door with an iron pull ring in it. It stands slightly ajar with darkness beyond. About five feet up, the door has a two-inch-wide
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
signature traits? In the case of a new subrace, what sets it apart from the other subraces of the parent race? Compare the race you have in mind with the other race options available to players, to
trait. You regain the ability to do so when you finish a short or long rest. Creating a New Race When creating a race from scratch, begin with the story and proceed from there. Compare your creation
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen
Retreat from Steel Springs When the characters complete the thirty-mile trip to Steel Springs, read the following text: As the brook called the Inkwater comes into view, smoke rises over the tree
flies overhead, dropping a screaming Kalaman soldier next to a random player character as it does. The soldier dies on impact. This event is unsettling but has no other effect. 8 A hostile Dragon Army
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation
detect magic spell or similar effect reveals an aura of evocation magic around each of the cavities. If the characters place the cubes correctly, read: The nine cubes flare with light, then disappear
Configuration 4B. Second Puzzle Door When the characters move past the first door, read: Another slab blocks the hallway twenty feet beyond the first door. An iron lever is set into the door’s surface, with a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Lost Mine of Phandelver
Goblin Ambush Read the following boxed text to start the encounter: You’ve been on the Triboar Trail for about half a day. As you come around a bend, you spot two dead horses sprawled about fifty
Hallwinter. They’ve been dead about a day, and it’s clear that arrows killed the horses. When the characters inspect the scene closer, read the following: The saddlebags have been looted. Nearby lies an empty
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)
sentient magic item has Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. You can choose the item's abilities or determine them randomly. To determine them randomly, roll 4d6 for each one, dropping the lowest
how it communicates or roll on the following table. d100 Communication 01-60 The item communicates by transmitting emotion to the creature carrying or wielding it. 61-90 The item can speak, read
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Wild Beyond the Witchlight
the giant crane flies off, read the following boxed text aloud: Sticky mud squelches beneath your feet. Tangled mangroves grow out of pools of rippling water, half hidden by the thick fog, and purple
your clothes.
But none among us can compare
To one wily, swift, and stand-up hare—
Scarf that’s glorious, thief notorious,
His deeds are truly meritorious!
With a wink and a grin, he’ll show
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Book of Many Things
on a table to make their guesses. Give the players a copy of Unseen Order Handouts 1 and 2, then read the following boxed text aloud: A long table fills the center of this chamber. On the table is a
symbols like those provided in Unseen Order Handout 2, the symbol key. Secretly compare their guess with the solution. In the empty circles next to their guess, color one circle red for each correctly
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
using colored lights or using patterned cut-outs to cast eerie shadows. Whenever manipulating lighting, though, always ensure players have enough light to read by. Props Props can serve as artifacts
compare your game to performances with whole production budgets. Distractions A distraction for one player may be a necessity for another. Discuss compromises that benefit everyone. Maybe food and non
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Spelljammer: Adventures in Space->Light of Xaryxis
When Elves Attack The characters have time to take a short rest before trouble catches up to them and Captain Sartell presses them into service. At the end of the characters’ short rest, read: The
capture and interrogate one or more of the astral elves can learn the following information: The astral elves, by order of Emperor Xavan of the Xaryxian Empire, are responsible for dropping astral seeds on
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Curse of Strahd
Rictavio (see area N2 and appendix D) paid Gunther and Yelena a generous amount of gold to watch his carnival wagon, no questions asked. If the characters approach the wagon, read: The wagon suddenly
!” Rictavio isn’t ready to unleash the tiger on the Vistani just yet. He feeds it by dropping wolf steaks down a 1-foot-square hatch in the wagon’s roof. A character who climbs atop the wagon can spot the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Curse of Strahd
least one character has a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 16 or higher, read: You see a dark figure crouched low and perfectly still, aiming a crossbow in your direction. If more than one scout
nearest berserker. If someone spots the berserker, read: You startle a wild-looking figure caked in gray mud and clutching a crude stone axe. Whether it’s a man or a woman, you can’t tell.
The
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Wild Beyond the Witchlight
contains a lot of information that can be shared with the players at specific times, as discussed below. New Character Options During character creation, you can allow your players to read the new
until circumstances warrant otherwise, as discussed below. Armor Class. When characters make attacks against a creature, you compare those attacks to the creature’s Armor Class to determine whether the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
seen a goliath, and fewer still to have forged a friendship with one. Goliaths love to compete and keep score, counting up their deeds and tallying their accomplishments to compare to what others
acclimated to high altitude, including elevations above 20,000 feet. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Giant. Spine of the World Goliaths Goliaths inhabit the Spine of the World, where
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Journeys through the Radiant Citadel
Ghost Orchid Tepui before opening into a larger chamber. Read the following description when the characters enter the cavern: Glowing crystals speckle this cavern’s walls like stars in the night sky
C6. They try to convince intruders to free them by slaying the monster there. In truth, they want to trick the characters onto the rope bridge so they can destroy it, dropping the characters into the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mythic Odysseys of Theros
action. You might foreshadow Hythonia using her mythic trait by describing her skin cracking and turning pale as she suffers wounds. Read or paraphrase the following text when Hythonia finally uses her
rippling coils precedes the medusa rising up anew, the last of her shed skin dropping away, revealing glistening, unscarred scales.
Fighting Hythonia as a mythic encounter is equivalent to taking on two
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tales from the Yawning Portal->a2
The Stone Tooth When the characters set forth on their journey, read: As you travel north from the mining town of Blasingdell, you pass through brooding pine forests and deep vales. From where you
higher detects the orcs as they approach. The orcs aren’t likely to notice a hidden lookout; compare their passive Perception scores to the character’s Dexterity (Stealth) check. Four hunched humanoids
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Candlekeep Mysteries
contraptions. Characters who compare those drawings with Stonky’s skitterwidgets can tell where the gnome got the inspiration for his mechanical creations. Navigation Notes. A slip of paper tucked into
iron door at the top of the staircase from area B2 leads into the observatory on the third level of the tower. The door is closed but not locked. Read or paraphrase the following boxed text when the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated
“The Orrery of the Wanderer” makes use of an adventure trope as old as D&D itself — working up a totally high-powered artifact, then dropping it into the hands of low-level characters just to see
Tresendar Manor, read the following: Many of the crumbled walls of the manor show signs of having been recently rebuilt, but even that newer stonework has been toppled and smashed, coating everything in the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
). Each time a character makes a check, compare the check result to the Figuring Out Alien Technology table in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. N3. Cryogenic Stasis Pods Each of these four rooms contains a
, knobs, and levers festoon the gunner’s station, which comes with firing instructions written in Qualith (a braille-like script that illithids read with their tentacles). A character who hasn’t read
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
any person with the ability to discover and absorb it all powerful beyond compare. The problem with doing that, of course, is the same as with secrets in any other location: one must know that a
and small gathering chambers, where monks may bring individual tomes to seekers to be read, and where seekers may consult with monks on further materials to enable their research. Despite being
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Lost Mine of Phandelver
room. It quietly observes intruders that enter the area before dropping down to strike. Compare the grick’s Dexterity (Stealth) check to the characters’ Wisdom (Perception) checks (or their passive
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Princes of the Apocalypse
mouth atop its stony ovoid body. Casually dropping gemstones into the creature’s gaping mouth is a creepy-looking earth cultist.
A stonemelder (see chapter 7) named Keltar keeps vigil with a xorn he
.
This area is perfect for random encounters. G8. Cavern of the Lost Crown As the party approaches this area for the first time, read the following text: Bloodcurdling screams come from the cave ahead
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Candlekeep Mysteries
, four on either side of the room. It can be reached by descending the ramps, dropping a rope down from above, or any other way the characters might devise. Each canopic jar is ceramic and approximately 2
. See “Treasure” below for more information on Okuzor’s canopic jar. Sarcophagus. Whenever the characters are in a position to see down into the pit, read: At the bottom of the pit is a dais
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Lost Mine of Phandelver
hide among the weeds that flank the cottage’s open doorway. Make a Dexterity (Stealth) check for the blights, and compare the result to the passive Wisdom (Perception) scores of the characters to
manufacture. Runes in Dwarvish on the axe head read, “Hew,” and the rust is misleading. Hew is a +1 battleaxe that deals maximum damage when the wielder hits a plant creature or an object made of wood
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation
recall the story for the characters. If characters ask a Chultan what the statue signifies, read: In the early days of the world, Man stood by the banks of a river, frightened. Crocodile raised his head
. An individual who crosses this section of floor has a 50 percent chance of triggering the trapdoor and dropping into the 20-foot-deep pit, taking damage from the fall as normal. Once the pit opens, a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk
wall supports of one pool in the next round. In the following round on the goblins’ initiative count, water surges from area H7 to area H1. When the flood happens, read or paraphrase the following
. Sildar takes 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage, dropping him to 0 hit points if he hasn’t received any healing. A character can help Sildar with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check, a healer’s kit, or
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Vecna: Eve of Ruin
enter the room, read the following: A click sounds from above. The room’s ceiling begins descending rapidly.
The 20-foot-high ceiling drops suddenly, stopping 6 inches above the floor before rising
count 20 of the next round (losing initiative ties). The ceiling is too heavy to be stopped by any braces, but an Immovable Rod or similar item can prevent it from dropping so far as to crush anyone. T11
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Princes of the Apocalypse
Areas of the Water Temple C1. Lake Landing If the characters arrive by boat from the stream, read the following text: Firelight shines from a large cavern ahead. The stream opens into a large
, a twenty-foot wide canal leads north from the large lake. The lake stretches westward into darkness.
If the characters find their way here from other parts of the dungeon, read the following text






