broad before derived compete rather

Tiefling Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

three broad categories. Tieflings born into another culture typically have names reflective of that culture. Some have names derived from the Infernal language, passed down through generations, that

ancient sin, for which they and their children and their children’s children will always be held accountable. Infernal Bloodline Tieflings are derived from human bloodlines, and in the broadest

Vedalken

Species Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

external ears, their noses are broad and flat, and they are partially amphibious. Cool Rationality Despite being talkative, vedalken keep their personal lives private, and they tend to engage more

with ideas than with people. They form close friendships based on mutual interests or compelling disagreements, and their interactions dwell on their thoughts about those issues rather than their

Feral Tiefling

Species Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

three broad categories. Tieflings born into another culture typically have names reflective of that culture. Some have names derived from the Infernal language, passed down through generations, that

ancient sin, for which they and their children and their children’s children will always be held accountable. Infernal Bloodline Tieflings are derived from human bloodlines, and in the broadest

Elf Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

enjoy simple yet lovely jewelry. A Timeless Perspective Elves can live well over 700 years, giving them a broad perspective on events that might trouble the shorter-lived races more deeply. They are

minstrels, artists, or sages. Human nobles compete for the services of elf instructors to teach swordplay or magic to their children. Exploration and Adventure Elves take up adventuring out of wanderlust

Human Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

empires on the foundation of conquest and trade. Whatever drives them, humans are the innovators, the achievers, and the pioneers of the worlds. A Broad Spectrum With their penchant for migration

, 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

Rogue Legacy

Classes Basic Rules (2014)

variety of skills as they do to perfecting their combat abilities, giving them a broad expertise that few other characters can match. Many rogues focus on stealth and deception, while others refine the

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

Tiefling Names

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)

Tiefling Names Tiefling names fall into three broad categories. Tieflings born into another culture typically have names reflective of that culture. Some have names derived from the Infernal language

Tiefling Names

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)

Tiefling Names Tiefling names fall into three broad categories. Tieflings born into another culture typically have names reflective of that culture. Some have names derived from the Infernal

Tabaxi Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

of the world beyond their home. Barterers of Lore Tabaxi treasure knowledge rather than material things. A chest filled with gold coins might be useful to buy food or a coil of rope, but it’s

, prophecy, clan history, and other esoteric factors. Tabaxi names can apply to both males and females, and most use nicknames derived from or inspired by their full names. Clan names are usually based

Simic Scientist

Backgrounds Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

commoner’s clothes, a book of research notes, an ink pen, a bottle of squid ink, a flask of oil (made from blubber), a vial of acid (derived from digestive juices), a vial of fish scales, a vial

Everything I do is an attempt to impress someone I love. Flaws d6 Flaw 1 I have a rather embarrassing mutation that I do everything I can to keep hidden. 2 I’m more

Skill and Precision

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)

Skill and Precision Rogues devote as much effort to mastering the use of a variety of skills as they do to perfecting their combat abilities, giving them a broad expertise that few other characters

comes to combat, rogues prioritize cunning over brute strength. A rogue would rather make one precise strike, placing it exactly where the attack will hurt the target most, than wear an opponent down

Skill and Precision

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)

Skill and Precision Rogues devote as much effort to mastering the use of a variety of skills as they do to perfecting their combat abilities, giving them a broad expertise that few other characters

comes to combat, rogues prioritize cunning over brute strength. A rogue would rather make one precise strike, placing it exactly where the attack will hurt the target most, than wear an opponent down

Player's Handbook plus One

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

the characters in the campaign work. Since a DM in a shared campaign must deal with a broad range of characters, rather than the same characters each week, it can be difficult to track all the

Life in Umizu

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

marriages, typically with a clan matriarch and several spouses of any gender. Powerful clans compete for prestige through formal dueling matches every few months. Umizu has few taboos around sexuality and

gender. Titles such as “daimyo” are gender-neutral, as are most names. Clothing varies by class status rather than gender—instead, people express their gender through perfumes. Bright citrus scents

Province Scale

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

chapter) or any location where you expect to track the adventurers’ movement in hours rather than days. The ground cover of an area this size will include broad stretches of one predominant terrain type

The God-Brain's Powers and Dominion

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

knows anything that they know. The God-Brain delegates broad goals to its most effective servants, encouraging them to indulge all manner of radical experiments. Mist Vibrations. Through the awesome

is wracked by extreme electrical storms, and alien vapors rise at the domain’s distant edges and within its hidden tunnels. Rather than barring creatures’ escape, these Mists repress memories. Any non

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

divination (to find raw materials and foresee threats to the tribe). The main reason why kobolds depend on arcane magic rather than divine is Kurtulmak’s imprisonment, which makes it difficult for

Humans

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

risen to power in the region. This power-hungry religion controls the city of Haven and surrounding settlements in the name of vague, fickle deities who condemn the use of magic. The broad plains of the

-understood technology and magic from the ancient past. Icereach. The humans of Icereach live in the frozen south, where they compete with groups of thanoi (walrus-folk) for hunting grounds. Khur. The nomadic

Licensed Region

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

big part of what makes an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign. Rank 3: Large Territory Your license grows to include a broad expanse of provinces, a few small kingdoms, or a large kingdom or

theoretically working with (and perhaps overseeing) smaller franchises rather than working against them. You can ship your goods to any destination, and can assign staff to a city to which you ship goods

Rangers

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

responded with a whoo, then went off into a complicated series of chattering hoots and whoos. Montolio took it all in, weighing every detail. With the help of his friends, particularly this rather

graves or tombs. Many of these symbols were derived from elven lore or borrowed from groups like the Harpers. While by no means a secret language, these trail marks are often obtuse to non-rangers

Gnome Adventurers

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

of better understanding the workings of the multiverse. A Gnome’s Role Gnomes are valuable members of an adventuring party for a number of reasons, derived from both their innate abilities and their

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.

Rival Houses

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

protection services. Extremely wealthy individuals have been known to hire bodyguards from both houses, but even then, house agents often compete to prove their services the more valuable. Deneith

Medani and House Tharashk both operate guilds of inquisitives, vying for a limited field of business. Each house has its specialties, but the inquisitives of both houses compete fiercely for customers

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

lifetime of crafting new items for the dragon’s treasure collection. Red Dragons. Even though dwarves and red dragons compete for the same terrain, they don’t come into conflict as often as they once

Vedalken

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica

blue or violet. They lack external ears, their noses are broad and flat, and they are partially amphibious. Cool Rationality Despite being talkative, vedalken keep their personal lives private, and they

rather than their feelings about them. To members of other races, vedalken often seem cold, even emotionless. That assessment isn’t fair — they feel emotion every bit as intensely as other folk do, but

Types of Hags

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

hag appear in chapter 3 of this book. Green hags inhabit dismal forests, swamps, and moors. A green hag’s body, whether broad, narrow, fat, or thin, is topped with a tangled mane of hair. A green hag

, 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

Arrival

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation

boats along the canals. Dinosaurs compete in weekly races through the streets. These brightly painted racing dinosaurs are fast, vicious, and barely under their riders’ control. Flowers, green plants, and

bamboo or thatch walls with enormous windows to let in the breeze, under broad thatched or tiled eaves. All buildings are richly decorated with paint, ivy, and vivid flowers. Some are painted in

Complications and Rivals

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

complications and rivals as part of downtime, but you don’t need to own that book to make use of these ideas. Rather, just remember that an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign is always about story. Each

, though. Other Acq Inc franchises all compete with the characters’ franchise, seeking to expand their own reach and impress Head Office. Governments, merchants, guilds, religious institutions, and noble

Brass Dragon Lairs

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

Brass Dragon Lairs Brass dragons prefer to make their lairs in hot, dry, rocky areas—desert canyons, caves beneath arid mesas, or ancient stone ruins. Brass dragons often compete with blue dragons

everything any other one is aware of. Aasterinian encourages all dragons to think for themselves rather than relying on the ideas or opinions of others. She cherishes learning and invention and

Seven Things to Know

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

world needs heroes to take up the cause. Nations compete on many levels—over economic dominance, political influence, territory, magical power, and more—each looking to maintain or improve its status

circumstances, rather than the direct influence of the gods. As a result, you can’t assume that a gold dragon is good or a beholder is evil; only in the case of celestials, fiends, and certain other

Korranberg Chronicle

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

out of the newspaper’s various offices. They are organized into an extensive hierarchy from senior to junior editors. The top tier of senior editors is responsible for broad categories of stories

reporting the truth, and such an attitude is always certain to arouse the ire of those who would rather keep their secrets hidden. The following represents just a fraction of the enemies the newspaper

Chaos Incarnate

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

shapes and abilities. The common forms that are familiar to demonologists represent broad trends, but individual demons defy those tendencies. For instance, a vrock might crawl out of an oil slick in the

no such principles exist, how that power might be seized. Most mortals would rather be annihilated than have their souls travel to the Abyss, but some see its chaos as something that can be harnessed

Using Survivors

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

Using Survivors Survivors are premade characters that are simple and easy for players to master, while being customizable enough to fill broad roles in your adventures—whether they be farmers or

Domains of Dread. They don’t always claim their victims bodily, though. Rather, the Mists might steal characters’ minds, placing them into survivors involved in specific terrifying scenarios. Perhaps

Other Religious Systems

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

Philosophies Not all divine powers need to be derived from deities. In some campaigns, believers hold enough conviction in their ideas about the universe that they gain magical power from that conviction. In

rather than from a specific nature deity, some clerics devote themselves to ideals rather than to a god. Paladins might serve a philosophy of justice and chivalry rather than a specific deity. Forces and

House Tarkanan

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

might follow this broad outline. Levels 1–4. A patron asks the characters to get involved in a criminal investigation into a rash of murders in Sharn because all the victims have dragonmarks. Both the

abilities. For example, a Vampire Familiar might gain its unique abilities from an aberrant mark rather than from any connection to a vampire, and a Bandit Deceiver ’s spellcasting could derive from

Gala at the Cerulean Lyceum

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

Gala at the Cerulean Lyceum Xoese-Addae leads the characters to the Cerulean Lyceum, a series of vaulted, crystalline halls set around a broad quadrangle. When the characters arrive, the quad is

interrupts and orders all the characters to introduce themselves rather than first sharing her own name. If the characters speak about the ghost ship, Zisatta tensely reports that sightings of a ghostly

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