brings before descent concern rather

Grippli Warrior

Monsters Candlekeep Mysteries

are raised by the community rather than by a single set of parents, and all of a community’s eggs are kept in freshwater pools until they mature. Protecting their eggs is a major concern for

Orc Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

they are more interested in grabbing plunder and food rather than in wanton slaughter. The elderly, children, and any who seem weak or meek enough might escape death. If they leave the population more

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

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

Memories table to inspire its details. Lost Memories d6 Memory 1 You recall a physically painful moment. What mark or scar on your body does it relate to? 2 A memory brings

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 responsibility to earn a place in the tribe or die trying. Driven Competitors Every day brings a new challenge to a goliath. Food, water, and shelter are rare in the uppermost mountain reaches. A

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

Mogis

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

against. Tread carefully when using him as a patron, as his area of concern trends toward villainy rather than heroics.

Roleplaying an Orc

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

Roleplaying an Orc When you’re roleplaying an orc, the following tables contain possible inspiration. They suggest characteristics that an orc might possess. The gaze of the One Eye brings madness to

strength brings honor to Gruumsh. (Any) 2 Prowess. Killing all your enemies is the path to greatness. (Evil) 3 Dominance. I will have achieved glory when all cower before my might. (Evil) 4 Intimidation

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

Faded Memories

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

. 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, silent stretches. Occasionally, though, in a moment of

Memory 1 You recall a physically painful moment. What mark or scar on your body does it relate to? 2 A memory brings tears to your eyes. Is it a bitter or cheerful memory? Does recalling

Lizardfolk Names

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

Common words. Lizardfolk use active verbs to describe the world. A lizardfolk in cold weather might say, “This wind brings cold” rather than “I feel cold.” Lizardfolk tend to define things in terms of actions, rather than effects.

Approaching the Canyon

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Storm King's Thunder

the “Airship of a Cult” section in chapter 4 for the balloon’s statistics). If it successfully brings down the airship, the roc spends a few rounds picking through the wreckage in search of food before

option of climbing down into the jagged rift at a point of their choosing. The sounds of their descent are muffled by the wind.

Being Your Own Patron

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

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

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

Deep Gnomes

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

is marked by smooth, curving shapes rather than straight lines and hard edges. Svirfneblin are intensely community-minded and have little concern about privacy among themselves. Thus, they don’t

Hidden Shepherds

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

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 own laws. Firbolgs use their magic to keep their presence in a forest secret. This approach allows them to avoid the politics and struggles of elves, humans, and orcs. Such events concern the

Communication and Disposition

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

in cold weather might say, “This wind brings cold” rather than “I feel cold.” Lizardfolk tend to express concepts in terms of actions, rather than effects. Parley and Surrender The lizardfolk are

refusal to do so automatically prompts an attack. In such an attack, the lizardfolk’s first priority is the expulsion, rather than the death, of the intruders, but they fight to the death if provoked. Once

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

Blood Will Tell

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

come off as coarse, blunt, or rude in dealings with other people. With the directness of an orc, they speak their minds with no apparent concern for how their opinions are received. No matter where

they live, half-orcs usually find themselves defined by others in terms of their usefulness as heavy laborers and soldiers. It is the rare and fortunate few who are judged by their character and their deeds rather than their ancestry.

Slithering Tracker

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

the same time, a tracker flows into places where a normal creature can’t go and brings its own brand of watery death down upon its quarry. Vengeance at Any Cost. The ritual for creating a slithering

. Descent into Madness. Achieving revenge against its target doesn’t end a slithering tracker’s existence, nor its hunger for blood. Some slithering trackers remain aware of their purpose and extend

Murder

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer

serial murderer Alhasval Drenz, the Whitkeep Whistler, still stalks the city, possessing innocents to continue her unmatched killing spree. Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus posits a third possibility

Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus) and has a pit fiend trapped inside it (see "Shield of the Hidden Lord"). Were the shield to be taken from the city, the murder rate might drop suddenly. It’s unclear

Lady of Masks

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Storm King's Thunder

attack her castle without provocation or are caught trying to sneak into her home, Sansuri brings her castle’s defenses to bear and tries to crush them, capturing those who surrender. If the characters

update her maps of the lands below. If the characters ask about the dragon, Sansuri replies coldly, “It’s not your concern.” Clever characters might claim to possess knowledge useful to Sansuri, such as

Heliod's Influence

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

honor. The sun’s nightly descent into darkness symbolizes bravery and self-sacrifice—the willingness to endure the horrors of the dark for the sake of others. Those who protect innocents in his name

society in the poleis. Heliod controls the radiant sun that makes the natural world flourish; Karametra brings the interplay of light and nature to life for mortals in the practice of agriculture. And

People of Akros

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

People of Akros For most of Akros’s neighbors, the term “Akroan” evokes legendary warriors, trained from birth in every martial discipline known to humankind. It brings to mind songs of tight-knit

Akroan society are the lektoi, the large warrior class of Akros. Members of this class claim descent from the seven warriors who first established the Kolophon after the fall of the archons. Though the

Suggested Characteristics

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Curse of Strahd

d8 Personality Trait 1 I don’t run from evil. Evil runs from me. 2 I like to read and memorize poetry. It keeps me calm and brings me fleeting moments of happiness. 3 I spend money freely and live

life to the fullest, knowing that tomorrow I might die. 4 I live for the thrill of the hunt. 5 I don’t talk about the thing that torments me. I’d rather not burden others with my curse. 6 I expect

Membership

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Book of Many Things

is relevant. Characters who prove themselves competent and good-hearted might earn an invitation to become knights themselves. If the characters express interest, the knight brings them to the Solar

, the angel chose to establish the Solar Bastion rather than return to his god’s service. A powerful and immortal Celestial, Hilarion sees no reason for additional tiers of leadership in the organization

Mire of Doubt

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk

. The spirit naga Valsyx lurks here, composing abstruse riddles unless the characters encountered him elsewhere. He knows confusion rather than blight. Valsyx is at home in the mire and isn’t slowed

solve a riddle. The riddle he loudly expounds has no answer; it is simply a series of words that contains a hidden code. “What is NEW when it is made old, brings TROUBLE when first seen by its MAKERS

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

Topaz Dragon Lairs

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

frequently brings topaz dragons into conflict with other creatures, since they resent having to share their chosen scenic locations with anything that isn’t food. They often abandon lairs to seek new vistas

. Her desire is born not of greed, though, but rather from her study of the Material Plane, its magic, and dragons’ interconnection with both. Dragons on many worlds acknowledge Astilabor as they establish new lairs to host their hoards, linking them to the magic of the surrounding region.

Inhabitants

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

captured a pentadrone and afterward became convinced the Maze Engine existed in the Underdark. Unfortunately, the modron’s axiomatic mind couldn’t be broken, and it perished rather than reveal anything

. Since then, the beholder has made it known that it’s interested in certain “curiosities,” and it rewards anyone who brings it more modrons or hints about the existence or location of the Maze Engine

Circle of Dreams

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

for a natural alliance between them and good-aligned fey. These druids seek to fill the world with dreamy wonder. Their magic mends wounds and brings joy to downcast hearts, and the realms they protect

teleportation circle is special. Rather than opening a portal to a permanent teleportation circle, it opens a portal to the last location where you finished a long rest on your current plane of

Types of Hags

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

thrives on creating despair and tragedy in the lives of her victims, using her skill with illusion magic to help in this goal. Destroying the hopes of others brings her unbridled joy. Night hags have

, 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

Gnome Adventurers

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

cautious, brings a sense of duty rather than a sense of humor to an adventuring group. With their grit and iron will, deep gnomes meet adversity with hammers, picks, and their dour, dry wit — or no wit at all — as their weapons of choice.

D&D Beyond

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