building before dark combat relate

Building Combat Encounters

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

Chapter 13: Building Combat Encounters When creating a combat encounter, let your imagination run wild and build something your players will enjoy. Once you have the details figured out, use

this section to adjust the difficulty of the encounter. Combat Encounter Difficulty There are four categories of encounter difficulty. Easy. An easy encounter doesn’t tax the characters’ resources

Dreaming Dark Infiltrator

Monsters Eberron: Forge of the Artificer

StaticDreaming Dark Infiltrators are spies sent to gather intelligence. They plant psychic seeds in their minds of their foes that enhance the infiltrators’ combat prowess against those

Bamboo

Equipment

Combat Utility Whimsy 3 3 3 Used in everything from building material to drinking vessels and musical instruments, bamboo is perhaps the most versatile material on the

Dorrin Plate

Equipment

Combat Utility Whimsy 7 8 4 Dorrin plate is a naturally occurring stone that can be broken off in large sheets and used as roof tiles, crockery, or building material. Potion

Moodmark Paint

Magic Items Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

just saw around the corner, grief at the loss of a friend, or happiness derived from pride in your performance in combat. A dark elf has advantage on this check.

Living Portent

Monsters The Book of Many Things

inhabitants of the world. Living portents seek out beings who will play a part in the prophecies they serve, and as the living portents search, they relate fragments of the prophecies to those they

Whisperer. A purple star whose guidance and minions seem to help for a time but whose influence inevitably leads to disaster. Hadar, the Dark Hunger. A cinder-red dying star that siphons life from its

Nightbringer

Magic Items Monstrous Compendium Vol. 2: Dragonlance Creatures

This heavy mace has a dark oaken handle and a head of blackened steel trimmed with gold. In combat, the mace’s head is wreathed in inky black energy. You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage

Auspicia Dran

Monsters Acquisitions Incorporated

Auspicia Dran had her life torn apart as a child when she was seized by a mysterious creature called the Wandering Crypt. Having spent long years in a kind of dark dream within the crypt, she was

she doesn't understand, even as it grants her occasional memories of others still trapped there and an awareness of faraway places. In combat, she manifests an instinctive knowledge of events before

Tortle Legacy

Species The Tortle Package

Yondalla relate to tortles most of all. Tortles believe that night and day watch over them and other creatures. The moon is the eye of night that watches over them in darkness, and the sun is the

watch a frog croaking on a lily pad, or to stand in a crowded human marketplace. Tortles like to learn new skills. They craft their own tools and weapons, and they are good at building structures and

Viari

Monsters Acquisitions Incorporated

and earnest debate, he demonstrates an equal flair for planning and forethought, mad combat moves (involving leaping off high places whenever possible), and dark vengeance. Viari's career as an

Memory Web

Monsters Quests from the Infinite Staircase

memory web is motionless at the start of combat, it has advantage on its initiative roll. Moreover, if a creature hasn’t observed the memory web move or act, that creature must succeed on a DC

webs lie in ambush draped over plant life, wrapped around corpses, or stuck to ossuaries in dark catacombs. Memory webs feed on memories and require daily sustenance. When a memory web’s prey

Hundred-Handed One

Monsters Mythic Odysseys of Theros

Reactive. The giant can take one reaction on every turn in a combat. Vigilant. The giant can't be surprised.Multiattack. The giant makes four longsword attacks or two rock attacks. Longsword. Melee

performed dark rituals, robbing the power of ancient, slumbering giants and using it to transform their servants. This primal energy granted the archons' agents numerous limbs—the better to raise the

Alustriel Silverhand

Monsters Vecna: Eve of Ruin

are to spread kindness, reward virtue, and promote a culture of compassion throughout the multiverse. She is good at building alliances and quick to intervene when she senses a threat to the forces of

Weave favors those who act with mercy and compassion, seeks to deliver lives of security for all, and bolsters people’s efforts when they seek to right wrongs and combat evil. Nowhere are

Gray Render

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

it forms a bond, a gray render serves its master devotedly. A gray render might be a strong ally, but it’s always an unpredictable one. In combat, a gray render fights viciously and never

ground 8 Attacks carts and wagons as if they were terrible monsters 9 Howls when it rains 10 Whines piteously in the dark 11 Buries treasure it finds 12 Chases birds, leaping into the air to catch them, heedless of the destruction it causes

Sword of Kas Legacy

Magic Items Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)

. His successes earned him Vecna’s admiration and a reward: a sword with as dark a pedigree as the man who would wield it. For a long time, Kas faithfully served the lich, but as Kas’s

your person, you add a d10 to your initiative at the start of every combat. In addition, when you use an action to attack with the sword, you can transfer some or all of its attack bonus to your Armor

Golgari Agent

Backgrounds Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

, rot, and rebirth. You have spent your life in the slow churn of that ecosystem, in the dark places of the city where the messy parts of existence are on display. There is little squeamishness among the

coins Feature: Undercity Paths You know hidden, underground pathways that you can use to bypass crowds, obstacles, and observation as you move through the city. When you aren’t in combat, you

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

Knight of the Order

Backgrounds Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

again in ruins, Dove Falconhand decided to reform the group with the primary goal of building alliances and friendship between the civilized races of the world and goodly people in order to combat evil

Yuan-ti Pureblood Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

; Elminster The serpent creatures known as yuan-ti are all that remains of an ancient, decadent human empire. Ages ago their dark gods taught them profane, cannibalistic rituals to mix their flesh

primordial world heeded the prayers of these people and hissed dark demands into their ears. The people tainted their souls by performing human sacrifices in the name of the gods, debased their flesh by

Dimir Operative

Backgrounds Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

;Disguise kit Languages: One of your choice Equipment: A Dimir insignia, three small knives, a set of dark-colored common clothes, and the starting equipment of the background described in this

people’s nightmares. 6 Combat is meant to be quick, clean, and one-sided. 7 I like to stick to the shadows. 8 I never show my anger. I just plot my revenge. Ideals

Young Topaz Dragon

Monsters Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

Combat. I despise most other dragons, but I meet them face to face without resorting to the base trickery I use on lesser creatures. (Lawful) Topaz Dragon Adventures The Topaz Dragon

to ask for help getting home. 6 A topaz dragon is building a tableau of desiccated creatures and has grown obsessed with catching one treasure hunter who escaped the dragon’s clutches

Topaz Dragon Wyrmling

Monsters Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

ocean. (Good) 6 Code of Combat. I despise most other dragons, but I meet them face to face without resorting to the base trickery I use on lesser creatures. (Lawful) Topaz Dragon

, but the dragon is too proud to ask for help getting home. 6 A topaz dragon is building a tableau of desiccated creatures and has grown obsessed with catching one treasure hunter who escaped the

Rak Tulkhesh

Monsters Eberron: Rising from the Last War

strength as their servants — the fiends known as the Lords of Dust — scheme to unleash their ancient masters. The overlords gain strength when mortals embrace the dark paths laid down for them. And

in combat, Rak Tulkhesh roars in rage as new weapons are spawned from his body, called forth by the Rage of War to slaughter all who dare stand before him. Khyber Shards. Rak Tulkhesh's soul is

Orc Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

scythe. Only a skilled and determined hero can hope to survive single combat with an orc. Savage and fearless, orc tribes are ever in search of elves, dwarves, and humans to destroy. Motivated by their

while learning to fight, to survive in the wild, and to fear the gods. The children that can’t endure the rigors of a life of combat are culled from the main body of the tribe, taken into the

Criminal - Baldur's Gate

Backgrounds Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

type of gaming set, thieves’ tools Equipment: A crowbar, a set of dark common clothes including a hood, and a pouch containing 15 gp Criminal Origins Criminals are pervasive in Baldur

Guild took over your family business, ran it into the ground, and burned the building for insurance money. You were driven into crime yourself, but you’ll never work for the Guild. You take

Encounter Building

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

Encounter Building This section introduces new guidelines on building combat encounters for an adventure. They are an alternative to the rules in “Creating Encounters” in chapter 3 of the Dungeon

encounter-building system assumes that, as DM, you want to have a clear understanding of the threat posed by a group of monsters. It will be useful to you if you want to emphasize combat in your

Campaign Theme

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

mortality, whether embodied in undead monsters or expressed through the death of loved ones. A campaign revolving around an insidious evil, whether dark gods, monstrous races such as the yuan-ti, or

revealed to relate to a larger plot in the campaign. If most of your adventures are dungeon expeditions, shift gears with a tense urban mystery that eventually leads the party into a dungeon crawl in

Chapter 2: Dungeon Master's Tools

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

. The chapter opens with optional rules meant to help you run certain parts of the game more smoothly. The chapter then goes into greater depth on several topics — encounter building, random encounters

, traps, magic items, and downtime — which largely relate to how you create and stage your adventures. The material in this chapter is meant to make your life easier. Ignore anything you find here that

Y5. Wall of Fog

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

bell. The Dark Powers have created a false image of Strahd’s ancestral home within the fog, just beyond reach. Strahd comes to the hill on occasion to gaze upon the city, even though he knows it can’t

this part of the wall of fog, that person might relate an ancient legend about it. According to the mountain folk of Barovia, there was always a wall of mist near Yester Hill, even before the deadly

Ancient Deep Dragon Legacy

Monsters Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

far-off lands. Many seek out new insights and tricks that they can use against other denizens of the Underdark, preferring social manipulation and crafty dealmaking to exerting themselves in combat

, they use local settlements—and any competent visitors—as pawns in their struggle. 4 An ancient deep dragon has put the folk of a city to work building the dragon a metropolis to rule

Hag Names

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

Hag Names Hags have whimsical names, often with a dark twist. A hag gives her newborn daughter a name that the girl keeps during her childhood, but upon gaining her full hag powers the daughter

chooses her own name, which might or might not relate to her birth name. Some hags use different names in different guises, but still prefer their original name as their favorite. The Hag Names table

Something Fishy in Town

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

. At the center of the ruins, a tall tower, mostly collapsed, rests atop a bluff. The only intact stone building sits at the bottom of the bluff, its white façade bearing the mark of Lathander

. There is an intact wooden building closer to the water marsh at the southwest side of town, smoke rising from two chimneys. In front of this building stands a tiefling dressed in blue robes. She raises

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

Dark Fantasy

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

Dark Fantasy Vampires brood on the battlements of their accursed castles. Necromancers toil in dark dungeons to create horrid servants made of dead flesh. Devils corrupt the innocent, and werewolves

full of creatures that perfectly suit a storyline of supernatural horror. The most important element of such a campaign, though, isn’t covered by the rules. A dark-fantasy setting requires an

Companion Encounter Balance

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

Companion Encounter Balance Unless a caregiver has the beastheart class (found in Beastheart and Monstrous Companions), the GM should consider a companion as akin to a powerful combat-focused magic

item when building encounters. A companion gives a party a significant power boost, not just by dishing out more damage and providing more hit points for enemies to target, but also by creating

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