both boss descent concept rather

Water Weird Legacy

Monsters Monster Manual (2014)

those its summoner declares as off limits. When slain, a water weird becomes an inanimate pool of water. Good and Evil Weirds. Like most elementals, a water weird has no concept of good or evil

interlopers rather than kill them, while a neutral evil water weird kills its victims for pleasure and might turn against its summoner. A water weird loses its evil alignment if its waters are cleansed

Firbolg Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

the group’s needs, but the effect each action will have on the forest and the rest of the natural world. Firbolg tribes would rather go hungry than strain the land during a famine. Hidden

Shepherds As caretakers of the land, firbolgs prefer to remain out of sight and out of mind. They don’t try to dominate nature, but rather seek to ensure that it prospers and survives according to its

Human Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

, humans champion causes rather than territories or groups. Human Names and Ethnicities Having so much more variety than other cultures, humans as a whole have no typical names. Some human parents

tall and have green or brown eyes, but these traits are hardly universal. Humans of Chondathan descent dominate the central lands of Faerûn, around the Inner Sea. Chondathan Names: (Male) Darvin

Verdan

Species Acquisitions Incorporated

. Reality is a descent into chaos punctuated by brief flashes of order, whence we arose and so imagine it to be the norm rather than a distant outlier. That-Which-Endures held entropy back for a mere instant

Goliath Legacy

Species Elemental Evil Player's Companion

the goliath concept of fair play. A permanently injured goliath is still expected to pull his or her weight in the tribe. Typically, such a goliath dies attempting to keep up, or the goliath slips

away in the night to seek the cold will of fate. In some ways, the goliath drive to outdo themselves feeds into the grim inevitability of their decline and death. A goliath would much rather die in

Kobold Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

other useful items, but if they are at risk of discovery, they run away rather than attack anyone in the house. By fleeing before they can be seen or identified, they avoid getting into a situation

they were demigods — mighty beings of divine descent. This isn’t a casual sort of worship or lip service; kobolds are awed in the presence of a dragon, as if an actual avatar of a deity

Character Names

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

names, that’s fine. If the group would rather take the characters and their names a little more seriously, urge Bob’s player to come up with a more appropriate name. Player character names should match

each other in flavor or concept, and they should also match the flavor of your campaign world — so should the nonplayer characters’ names and place names you create. Travok and Kairon don’t want to undertake a quest for Lord Cupcake, visit Gumdrop Island, or take down a crazy wizard named Ray.

New Race: Verdan

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

. Reality is a descent into chaos punctuated by brief flashes of order, whence we arose and so imagine it to be the norm rather than a distant outlier. That-Which-Endures held entropy back for a mere instant, and the Verdan emerged. I’m sorry, was that the question? — K’thriss Drow’b

Action-Oriented Creatures

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Flee, Mortals! Rule Primer

Action-Oriented Creatures The solo and leader creatures presented in this book are designed to be bosses: enemies who can take on an entire party by themselves or with a handful of underlings. Rather

dominate the battlefield. These actions make the boss creatures dynamic and formidable. Whether fought as an exciting solo challenge or alongside a few easy-to-run underlings, action-oriented creatures challenge the characters with dramatic and powerful actions in combat.

14. Werebat Boss

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

14. Werebat Boss Precious little light reaches this large cave, which is set aside for the werebat boss, a particularly sinister goblin named Mobar. He prefers to remain in hybrid form — his most

with iron-fisted resolve. As a rule, he does not treat with adventurers; he’d rather rob them and feed on their blood. If combat breaks out here, the werebats throughout area 16 investigate, converging

Survival of the Fittest

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

pity for adults who can’t take care of themselves, though a sick or injured individual is treated, as a result of the goliath concept of fair play. A permanently injured goliath is still expected to

themselves feeds into the grim inevitability of their decline and death. A goliath would much rather die in battle, at the peak of strength and skill, than endure the slow decay of old age. Few folk

Being Your Own Patron

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War

work. The information in this section applies whether you join an organization or found your own. When you’re the boss, some of the benefits of belonging to an organization become expenses you have

to worry about; when you run your own mercenary company, for example, you need to stock your own armory rather than drawing on an existing organization’s stockpile. The organization brings in income

Origin of the Ordning

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

the ordning in some mythic future. Giants on some worlds (including Eberron) have no concept of the ordning at all. Such giants might think of themselves as a single species, with the differences

among giant kinds reflecting a cultural or geographical distinction rather than an inherent one. They might live in bands composed of multiple giant kinds or family groups of a single kind. Or giants of

Chapter 10: Descent into the Depths

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Out of the Abyss

Chapter 10: Descent into the Depths Having survived Mantol-Derith and obtained Ghazrim DuLoc’s ring, the adventurers and their allies continue on into the Underdark. This time, rather than escaped

Character Advancement

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything

taking part in a play session. A character reaches 1 checkpoint for each hour an adventure is designed to last. Note that the award is based on the adventure’s projected playing time, rather than the

designed to take 2 hours, the character reaches 3 checkpoints. Playing time might seem like an odd way to measure experience awards, but the concept is in keeping with how a shared campaign is meant to

Secret

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything

holy symbol that represents that divinity. Some clerics, especially in a world like Eberron, serve a whole pantheon, rather than a single deity. In certain campaigns, a cleric might instead serve a

cosmic force, such as life or death, or a philosophy or concept, such as love, peace, or one of the nine alignments. Chapter 1 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide explores options like these, in the section

Darklords

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

adventures rather than saving them for distant climactic plots. Darklords Don’t Realize They’re Darklords. With a few exceptions, Darklords don’t realize they occupy a special place in the world. Their

concept of how long they’ve lived, how many times they’ve died, or why they returned to life. Should a Darklord fall, the temporary defeat lasts until they’re restored by the Dark Powers. In their

Water Weird

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

. Good and Evil Weirds. Like most elementals, a water weird has no concept of good or evil. However, a water weird bound to a sacred or befouled source of water begins to take on the nature of that site

, becoming neutral good or neutral evil. A neutral good water weird tries to frighten away interlopers rather than kill them, while a neutral evil water weird kills its victims for pleasure and might

Day of Wonders Parade

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

feather of diatryma summoning (see appendix A). For Jarlaxle, the parade is a chance to show off and be cheered; he has no ulterior motive for participating in the event. While the Boss Is Away As the

Jarlaxle hasn’t already met them). Although killing the characters would be easy at that point, Jarlaxle would rather put them to work for him. He has them watched but doesn’t provoke hostilities until such time as the reward clearly outweighs the risks.

Yuan-ti Cities

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

yuan-ti content themselves with maintaining these ancient places rather than building new ones for their needs. Although these sites are hundreds or even thousands of years old, they don’t look or feel

reflects human ideas about art and beauty. Over time this perspective was skewed toward the concept that the snake is the perfect form, so serpents are a common theme in their aesthetic. The major

Introduction

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1

you receive a cancer diagnosis or a similar health news, you probably appreciate that concept a little more than other people. Watching someone you love waste away is a terrible thing. You want a

magic button to bring things back to the way they should be, this person you love so much restored to who they really are rather than what cancer is grinding them down into. It’s easy to give in to

The Xanathar Guild

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

series of such creatures. Like its predecessors, the beholder uses “the Xanathar” as a title rather than its personal name (which is Zushaxx). The guild has been in operation for nearly two hundred years

a human megalomaniac rises to power in an evil organization, that individual is always at risk of being killed or replaced by a power-hungry rival. When such a group is led by a beholder rather than

Appendix A: Shared Campaigns

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything

hard to keep a campaign going. Enter the concept of the shared campaign. In a shared campaign, more than one member of the group can take on the role of DM. A shared campaign is episodic rather than

Watch Your Step!

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War

effects that trigger automatically, keeping you from crushing an innocent passerby in your descent. Many different outcomes could follow a lengthy fall. The Falling in Sharn table presents a few

between our safety and death caused by some rat who would rather spend gold on drink. Falling in Sharn d8 Result 1 You fall hundreds of feet before striking the ground at the base of the

Lynx Creatlach

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Infernal Machine Rebuild

with precious stones and metals. In truth, Lynx is an active agent of Zariel but is no longer among the living. Rather, she’s a lawful evil undead tiefling, with her skeleton specially crafted to retain

her former skills and intellect, and bonded to an equally special flesh golem that she wears as a costumed skin. (If you are playing through Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, this setup was one of

Modifying a Class

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

, paladins might not swear their oaths to ideals, but instead swear fealty to powerful sorcerers. To capture this story concept, you could build a new paladin spell list with spells meant to protect

opportunity to develop the character’s story and that of your world, rather than shutting down possibilities. Substituting Class Features If one or more features of a given class don’t exactly fit the theme

Dragon Relationships

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

lieutenants—which might include younger dragons or half-dragons related to the boss—might hold responsibility over particular segments of the criminal enterprise. Emperor Rather than existing on the

these companions, who can become disillusioned when the dragon’s true nature is revealed. Crime Boss A dragon takes charge of a criminal enterprise, accumulating wealth through illegal activities that

Staff

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

concept behind the hirelings and selecting one proficiency for each. The DM can then customize the hirelings as desired, perhaps by adding additional proficiencies or adjusting their combat statistics

(sailors for a seagoing franchise, engineers for a giant hollow statue, and so on). Crew do not leave a franchise and cannot perform franchise tasks. They typically run rather than fight back when attacked

Mind Flayer Magic

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

after death would its consciousness be cast into oblivion. Two divine entities have long been associated with mind flayers by the scholars of other races. These aren’t deities, but rather

attitude — actions that have often been misinterpreted by observers as worship. Maanzecorian. The entity/concept called Maanzecorian embodies a complete comprehension of knowledge. It is a state

Asmodeus

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

mortals to evil, but he and his minions never breached a contract and explained the terms clearly. Had they not obeyed the rule of law in doing so? Was it not mortal ambition, rather than infernal deception

definitive judgment. He rebuked the angels for their descent into infighting, but didn’t punish Asmodeus for his evil ways. He did, however, order Asmodeus to forever carry a mighty artifact, the Ruby Rod

Rejecting the Ordning

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

one their kind traditionally values. These are often giants whose ranking within their kind is low. For example, a contemplative cloud giant might pursue knowledge rather than wealth, or a weak frost

otherwise enjoy in the ordning. When giants join the cults of demon lords, they reject the entire concept of the ordning—the idea that there is any kind of order to the multiverse at all, which is the

D10. Trinket, Bauble, and Charm's

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

large pane of gray glass is drawn closed across an opening above the counter. A sign mounted above the window reads, “Wondrous Wares & Fair Fares!” The balloon is not made of fabric, but rather appears

merchant’s stall, which is open for business. Their boss, Charm, is a darkling elder (see appendix C) who is presently visiting Bavlorna Blightstraw in her cottage. Charm travels around Prismeer in her

Interloper Gods

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

chapter 6 is an example of a frost giant whose devotion to the demon lord has brought great and terrible rewards. (Kostchtchie is described in Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus.) Yeenoghu. Gnolls, ghouls

Elemental Eye directly rather than serving one of the subordinate cults. As described earlier in this chapter (see “Rejecting the Ordning”), membership in the cults of Elemental Evil replaces the ordning with

Creating a Monster Stat Block

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

Manual guide you. Once you have a monster concept in mind, follow the steps below. Step 1. Name A monster’s name should be given as much consideration as any other aspect of the monster, if not more. Your

Player’s Handbook. Step 3. Type A monster’s type provides insight into its origins and nature. The Monster Manual describes each monster type. Choose the type that best fits your concept for the monster

Island Theme

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Ghosts of Saltmarsh

Island Inhabitants d6 Inhabitants 1 3d10 winged kobolds and 10d10 kobolds 2 1 goblin boss and 8d10 goblins 3 1d6 berserkers and 5d10 tribal warriors 4 1 orc war chief, 2d10 orogs, and 5d10 orcs 5 4d10

Nature reigns on wild islands. The creatures on the island respond to the ebb and flow of the natural world rather than trying to tame the environment. Wild Island Features d6 Feature 1 A waterfall

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