both build designs currents rather

Reborn

Species Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

sensations or visions of the past to come rushing back. Rather than sleeping, reborn regularly sit and dwell on the past, hoping for some revelation of what came before. Most of the time, these are dark

alongside complex designs for clockwork organs. 6 You were released after being petrified for generations. Your memories have faded, though, and your body isn’t what it once was. 7 Your

Pidlwick II

Monsters Curse of Strahd

return the courtesy, the duchess commissioned the legendary toymaker Fritz von Weerg to build a clockwork effigy of Pidlwick as a gift for Strahd's family. Although the duchess's heart was in the right

, instead assuming that the guests had died in their sleep. But Strahd was not fooled. He came to realize fairly quickly that the clockwork effigy had begun to display a murderous nature. Rather than have

Sea Elf

Species Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

Sea elves fell in love with the wild beauty of the ocean in the earliest days of the multiverse. While other elves traveled from realm to realm, sea elves navigated the currents and explored the

rule regardless of the method you use to determine the scores, such as rolling or point buy. The “Quick Build” section for your character’s class offers suggestions on which scores to

Young Moonstone Dragon

Monsters Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

… oh my goodness, is that circlet made of silver? 7 I find the waking world tedious and mundane and would much rather spend my time asleep, in the realm of dreams. 8 I find the

1 A young moonstone dragon on the cusp of adulthood refuses to settle down and build a lair. To protect the local populace from the dragon’s chaotic activities, a minor deity sends a deva

Human Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

shorter lives that they strive to achieve as much as they can in the years they are given. Or maybe they feel they have something to prove to the elder races, and that’s why they build their mighty

build cities to last for the ages, and great kingdoms that can persist for long centuries. An individual human might have a relatively short life span, but a human nation or culture preserves

Halfling Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

treasures locked in a cellar rather than on display for all to see. They have a knack for finding the most straightforward solution to a problem, and have little patience for dithering. Kind and

communities are threatened. Pastoral Pleasantries Most halflings live in small, peaceful communities with large farms and well-kept groves. They rarely build kingdoms of their own or even hold much

Rogue Legacy

Classes Basic Rules (2014)

would rather make one precise strike, placing it exactly where the attack will hurt the target most, than wear an opponent down with a barrage of attacks. Rogues have an almost supernatural knack for

. QUICK BUILD You can make a rogue quickly by following these suggestions. First, Dexterity should be your highest ability score. Make Intelligence your next-highest if you want to excel at

Bard Legacy

Classes Basic Rules (2014)

necessary, using their magic to bolster their swords and armor. Their spells lean toward charms and illusions rather than blatantly destructive spells. They have a wide-ranging knowledge of many

, making a bargain for a musical gift in addition to your life and freedom, but at what cost? QUICK BUILD You can make a bard quickly by following these suggestions. First, Charisma should be your

Warlock Legacy

Classes Basic Rules (2014)

gained. Rather, the vast majority of warlocks spend their days in active pursuit of their goals, which typically means some kind of adventuring. Furthermore, the demands of their patrons drive

their patrons in dreams or waking visions, or deal only with intermediaries. QUICK BUILD You can make a warlock quickly by following these suggestions. First, Charisma should be your highest ability

Seekers of New Lore

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

most excitement. Artificers who wish to make their mark must innovate, creating something fresh, rather than iterating on familiar designs. This drive for novelty pushes artificers to become

Seekers of New Lore

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron

most excitement. Artificers who wish to make their mark must innovate, creating something fresh, rather than iterating on familiar designs. This drive for novelty pushes artificers to become

Characters in Airship Combat

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Forge of the Artificer

do in combat, while others prefer to stick with the familiar options their characters bring to any fight. As DM, learn your players’ preferences and try to build encounters that allow players to do

wind or water currents. The descriptions here include a speed for overland journeys as well as a tactical speed for use in combat. Airship crew stations use the same format as siege equipment (see "Siege Equipment" in the Dungeon Master’s Guide).

Waterdeep Dangers

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Lost Laboratory of Kwalish

destruction across the city. After stopping the threat, the characters learn that it was built based on a Kwalish design, and that other such designs might be used to build great engines of destruction. The

Druid Legacy

Classes Basic Rules (2014)

of nature itself or from a nature deity. Many druids pursue a mystic spirituality of transcendent union with nature rather than devotion to a divine entity, while others serve gods of wild nature

? Perhaps your homeland was befouled by evil, and you took up an adventuring life in hopes of finding a new home or purpose. QUICK BUILD You can make a druid quickly by following these suggestions

Izzet Engineer

Backgrounds Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

protocols will lead us toward progress more surely than any belief system. (Lawful) 5 Fun. I love my job! Despite the dangerous working conditions, there’s nothing I’d rather do

it was sabotage that destroyed my first laboratory and killed many of my friends, and I seek revenge against whoever did it. 4 I have the schematics for an invention that I hope to build one day

Dragon Turtle Lairs

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

its presence, creating one or more of the following effects: Diverting Currents. Underwater currents push unwanted visitors away from the lair. While swimming in these currents, each foot of movement

missing patch of shell. However, rather than humbling the great dragon turtle, these injuries have made him more irascible. Those who meet the dragon turtle are advised to pay whatever price he asks, and to treat him with the deference he believes he deserves.

Origin of the Ordning

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

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

different kinds might not recognize each other as kindred at all. All these giants build a range of social structures in the same manifold ways other peoples do, without regard to an overarching ordning.

Guardian Naga

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

convoluted plots to thwart the evil designs of their enemies. A guardian naga doesn’t seek out violence, warning off intruders rather than attacking. Only if its foes persist does the naga attack

Modes of Travel

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

Underdark, all water travel involves either rowing at 1½ miles per hour, or floating with prevailing currents at 1 mile per hour. Characters can work in shifts to row more than 8 hours per day, but

encounter each hour that characters are swimming, rather than every 4 hours of travel. A swimming character must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw for each hour of swimming or gain one level of

Kobold Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

sewer tunnels, paying them with food and tools the kobolds wouldn’t have access to on their own. If they are treated well and left alone to do the job, the kobolds work industriously and build a

, they might build a warren and make a permanent home there, while continuing to expand the town’s sewers as the community grows. These so-called “city kobolds” live underground but

Nyx

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

fully formed. Thassa’s palace floats underwater, its buildings suspended in giant bubbles that drift with the currents. At its edge, in a city of divine copper and marbleized hopes, Ephara makes her

territory. He doesn’t maintain a central residence. Rather, his influence binds the conflict, encompassing all perspectives and preventing the battle from spilling forth into the rest of Nyx.

Droaam

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

Droaam are learning to work together and finding ways to use their supernatural gifts to help build and sustain society. A medusa might use its petrifying gaze to preserve the life of an injured ally

until medical attention can be obtained. Harpies in the taverns of Droaam use their hypnotic songs to entertain rather than to harm. When you bring creatures from Droaam into the campaign, consider how

Meeting Rookledust

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

dangerous, she doesn’t build them with violence in mind. She’s particularly interested in devices for long-distance communication and inventions that mechanize the work of farm animals. Personality Trait

. “The faster I talk, think, and invent, the faster I can improve my designs.” Ideal. “Not only can I make that, I can make it better!” Bond. “Through invention, we make a more interesting world.” Flaw

Life in the Sensa Empire

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Journeys through the Radiant Citadel

and craftspeople to build social and professional connections, better their craft, and organize for improved labor conditions. Each city-state has its own chapter of the guild that pushes back when

. Historically, rather than a single imperial line controlling the throne, each empress or emperor selects an heir from among the eldest children of each city-state’s monarch. While no law prevents rulers

NPC Stat Blocks

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

can build the NPC as you would a player character, as discussed in the Player’s Handbook. If you decide to build an NPC the same way you build a player character, you can skip choosing a background and

affect a monster’s challenge rating are listed in the Monster Features table. The NPC’s proficiency bonus is determined by its level, just like a character, rather than by its challenge rating. If the

Mogis's Villains

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

Mogis’s Villains Unquestionably, Mogis makes an excellent villain. His lust for bloodshed and willingness to fight all comers makes him easy to build a campaign around if you want a straightforward

associated with vicious monsters bent on wholesale destruction. He isn’t at all concerned with subtlety, but rather with creating mayhem. Adventures that bring characters into conflict with agents of

Fire Snake

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

emerges as a fire snake. A fire snake matures into a salamander adult within a year. Enslaved by the Efreet. Long ago, the efreet hired azer to build the fabled City of Brass, but then failed in

salamanders dedicated to the cults of Elemental Evil, they slay them rather than enslaving them. Domineering Nobles. Although salamanders follow the destructive impulses of their fiery nature

The Attack

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Storm Lord’s Wrath

. Three-sided battles can sometimes take longer because of the number of combatants participating. Use your discretion as the DM to have the excitement of the battle build up rather than fizzle out

recover and regroup. Encourage tactical thinking. If one of the sides of the battle consists of savage monsters or mindless undead, give clues that they attack the nearest enemy rather than thinking

Nylea's Influence

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

, blaming her fellow gods for the spread of civilization rather than the mortals themselves. Divine Relationships Nylea seldom comes into open conflict with the other gods, and she would say that all her

. As a result, she remains wary of his designs. Nylea is disappointed in Karametra, precisely because of the overlap in their spheres of influence. Karametra insists on transforming nature into a

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

manor library. If the characters accept Lynx’s invitation, she meets them while strolling the long hallways of her manor, the walls of which are filled with fine paintings. Rather than noting their

Enemies All Around

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

to possess the material goods in a stronghold’s hoard, and would much rather snatch up living treasure. Using its powers of deception, a green dragon might try to entice dwarves it encounters to ally

designs on a white dragon’s territory enters the picture. Taking advantage of the dragon’s limited mental faculties, the rival secretly sends its minions out to harass the dragon. Convinced that the

Types of Hags

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

, and most are stout or have a medium build rather than being thin or emaciated. Night hags enjoy corrupting the dreams of good people, compromising the ideals of their victims to get them to

The Role of Rules

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sage Advice & Errata

The Role of Rules Why even have Sage Advice when a DM can just make a ruling? Rules are a big part of what makes D&D a game, rather than simply improvised storytelling. The game’s rules are meant to

direction we took for fifth edition was to lay a foundation of rules that a DM could build on, and we celebrate the DM as the bridge between the things the rules address and the things they don’t. In a

Gauntlgrym

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

mine. When they delved too deeply, the dwarves there discovered the presence of a great being of flame, sealed the mines, and left. Only later, when the humans begged the Delzoun dwarves to build one

, once again abdicating the leadership in Mithral Hall. There are some who think that King Bruenor has designs on a great, restored empire of Delzoun, with the dwarves of all the North — from Ironmaster to

Centaur

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

basic physiology, the centaur bands are commonly associated with their own distinct traits. Lagonna band centaurs tend to be sleek and muscular, with powerful legs built for endurance rather than

strike out on their own. These renegades often feel like outsiders in their own band. They might be pacifists, wishing to learn about other people rather than fighting them. Or they might feel a

D&D Beyond

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