building before driven crawling run

Anhkolox

Monsters Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

target.Anhkoloxes are vicious undead creatures created from the bones of bears and other beasts. Their barbed bones grind and crack, often moving in seemingly impossible ways. Anhkoloxes are driven by

territorial instinct and a predatory urge to hunt and devour living prey. They run on all fours and rear up onto their hind legs when they corner their quarry. When they strike, they wallop foes about

Bavlorna Blightstraw

Monsters The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

within 10 feet of Bavlorna uses at least 10 feet of movement to run in place counterclockwise, Bavlorna is overcome by a fit of sneezing and can’t cast spells until the end of her next turn. In

moment, is all that matters.” Bond. “I’m safe in my cottage. Why should I leave it when I can make others come to me?" Flaw. “Watching someone run widdershins makes me sneeze

Tortle Legacy

Species The Tortle Package

test, and make new acquaintances. Life of a Tortle A tortle hatches from a thick-shelled egg and spends the first few weeks of its life crawling on all fours. Its parents, old and near death, spend

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

Urchin Legacy

Backgrounds Player’s Handbook (2014)

shaped by lives of desperate poverty, for good and for ill. They tend to be driven either by a commitment to the people with whom they shared life on the street or by a burning desire to find a better

will run away from a fight. 2 Gold seems like a lot of money to me, and I’ll do just about anything for more of it. 3 I will never fully trust anyone other than myself. 4 I&rsquo

Criminal - Baldur's Gate

Backgrounds Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

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

; but what you learn you pass on to the Guild. 4 The inequality of Baldur’s Gate has driven you to take matters into your own hands. You steal from patriars and rich Lower City residents

Shifter Legacy

Species Eberron: Rising from the Last War

personality: a feline shifter may be cool and distant, driven by predatory instincts, while a shifter with a lupine spirit might be drawn to find and protect a pack. When a shifter fully embraces this beast

bear or boar: stoic, stubborn, and thick-skinned. Longtooth shifters typically have lupine traits and prefer to run with a pack. Swiftstride are often predatory and feline, but a swiftstride could

Topaz Dragon Wyrmling

Monsters Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

visibly in the gem-like spines that run in a ridge from the crown of the head to the tip of the tail. These spines hover above a living topaz dragon’s back, dancing and shifting with the 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

Young Topaz Dragon

Monsters Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

spines that run in a ridge from the crown of the head to the tip of the tail. These spines hover above a living topaz dragon’s back, dancing and shifting with the dragon’s mood. Embodiment of

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

Izzet Engineer

Backgrounds Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

basic knowledge of the structure of buildings, including the stuff behind the walls. You can also find blueprints of a specific building in order to learn the details of its construction. Such

suspension. 7 Great ideas are fine, but great results are what counts. 8 If you can guess what I’m about to do, that means I’ve run out of imagination. Ideals d6

Triton Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

and worse, so you know you can count on them in a fight. — Brego Stoneheart, sea captain Tritons guard the ocean depths, building small settlements beside deep trenches, portals to the

the depths revealed that krakens, sahuagin, and far worse foes had fled the Plane of Water for the Material Plane. The tritons, driven by a sense of duty and responsibility, would not allow their foes

Urchin - Baldur's Gate

Backgrounds Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

of desperate poverty, for good and for ill. They tend to be driven either by a commitment to the people with whom they shared life on the street or by a burning desire to find a better life &mdash

important person, and I’m wanted for it. 6 No one else should have to endure the hardships I’ve been through. d6 Flaw 1 If I’m outnumbered, I will run away

Start Small

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

Start Small When you first start building your campaign, start small. The characters need to know only about the city, town, or village where they start the game, and perhaps the nearby dungeon. You

might decide that the barony is at war with a nearby duchy, or that a distant forest is crawling with ettercaps and giant spiders, and you should note these things. But at the start of the game, the local area is enough to get the campaign off the ground. Follow these steps to create that local area:

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

; animosity, gnomes tend to avoid or abandon settlements that have a severe infestation of kobolds, and conversely kobolds are usually driven out of communities that have a large gnome population

Random Encounters

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

toy 8 Unseen servant 9 1d4 Barovian commoners 10 2d6 crawling claws 11 1d6 shadows 12 1d6 swarms of bats 13 1 crawling Strahd zombie (see appendix D) 14 1d4 + 1 Vistani thugs 15 1d4 wights 16 Trinket 17

Giant spider cocoon 18 1 Barovian witch (see appendix D) 19 1d4 + 1 vampire spawn 20 Strahd von Zarovich (see appendix D) Use the descriptions that follow to run each encounter.

Strahd von Zarovich

Monsters Curse of Strahd

. Stake to the Heart. If a piercing weapon made of wood is driven into his heart while he is incapacitated in his coffin, he is paralyzed until the stake is removed. Sunlight Hypersensitivity. While

intelligently and do everything you can to make him a terrifying and cunning adversary for the player characters. When you run an encounter with Strahd, keep the following facts in mind: Strahd

Feonor

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus

frustrated sighs. Golden Doom Feonor rides around in a Demon Grinder called Golden Doom, so named because Mahadi fitted it with gilded death armor (see "Gilded Death Armor"). The vehicle is driven by a ghast

, and its other stations are operated by ghouls. She also commands a force of ten crawling claws. A pair of Tormentors crewed by mezzoloths provide escort.

Charlatan

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

an upper ward noble. 2 You’ve crafted the identity of a prophet driven by holy visions. If you are a divine spellcaster, your actual faith may be entirely different from the one you profess

You’re a covert operative working for another nation, or for a powerful agency (a dragonmarked house, the City Watch, a criminal organization). Are you carrying out missions, or are you a sleeper agent building a deep cover?

Joint DMs

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

characters step out of the action when their players take their turns as DM. Joint DMs can also team up to run each session of a campaign, with each DM focusing on the aspects of the game they most

enjoy or the DMs trading focus from session to session. One DM might run combat description and keep a battle moving while the other focuses on miniatures and music. The two DMs can play two different

Session Zero

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

run a special session—colloquially called session zero—to establish expectations, outline the terms of a social contract, and share house rules. Making and sticking to these rules can help ensure

that the game is a fun experience for everyone involved. Often a session zero includes building characters together. As the DM, you can help players during the character creation process by advising them to select options that will serve the adventure or campaign that awaits.

Campaign Models

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

Campaign Models Chapters 4, 5, and 6 provide tools to help DMs start an Eberron campaign quickly and easily. Each chapter describes one flavor of campaign you might run in Eberron—the gritty life of

an inquisitive on the mean streets of Sharn, high-stakes intrigue among the dragonmarked houses, and the rollicking adventures of scholarly explorers from Morgrave University. Building on the tools

Fractured Soul

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

Kianna. Unlike most lost to the lake, Culley eventually emerged—at least, part of him did. A single Undead hand escaped the lake, and it eventually found others of its kind known as crawling claws

seed of its being. It also remembered the last living person Culley ever saw, his dear friend Kianna. Driven by instinct, shattered memories, and the discordant urges of dozens of tiny Undead, the soul shaker grew in power, then sought out its old friend.

Play Style

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

Play Style By building a new world (or adopting an existing one) and creating the key events that launch your campaign, you determined what your campaign is about. Next, you have to decide how you

want to run your campaign. What’s the right way to run a campaign? That depends on your play style and the motivations of your players. Consider your players’ tastes, your strengths as a DM, table

Save the Mill

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tyranny of Dragons

mill. Any kobolds in this force run away as soon as two or more raiders are killed. If characters observe the mill for a minute or more before attacking, allow them to attempt DC 15 Wisdom (Insight

) or Charisma (Performance) checks. If successful, a character realizes that the raiders are making a demonstration of starting a fire, but it’s for show. A few fires are burning around the building

23. Desecrated Sanctuary

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

23. Desecrated Sanctuary This windowless stone building was set aside for cult initiates. The building has lighting and plumbing (see the “Lighting and Plumbing” sidebar). 23a. Hall of Prayer Boars

on a tapestry restores its value (25 gp). 23b. Initiates’ Quarters Furnishings. Eight rows of bunk beds stacked four high run the length of this room. Wreckage. Along the walls are piles of

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

doesn’t help you, and don’t hesitate to customize the things that you do use. The game’s rules exist to serve you and the games you run. As always, make them your own.

Save the Mill

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Hoard of the Dragon Queen

mill. Any kobolds in this force run away as soon as two or more raiders are killed. If characters observe the mill for a minute or more before attacking, allow them to attempt DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) or

Charisma (Performance) checks. If successful, a character realizes that the raiders are making a demonstration of starting a fire, but it’s for show. A few fires are burning around the building, but

Simic Scientist

Backgrounds Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

1 I helped create a krasis that I love like a pet and would carry with me everywhere … except it’s the size of a building, and it might eat me. 2 In my laboratory, I

fungus field. 5 I can’t fathom what could have made my childhood friend run off and join the Gruul. 6 I love comparing notes with my friend in the Izzet, though our fields of research are

Adult Topaz Dragon

Monsters Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

power manifests visibly in the gem-like spines that run in a ridge from the crown of the head to the tip of the tail. These spines hover above a living topaz dragon’s back, dancing and shifting with

from the sea, 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

Creating Encounters

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

to run. Beyond that, a well-crafted encounter usually has a straightforward objective as well as some connection to the overarching story of your campaign, building on the encounters that precede it

Location Overview

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

the planar beacon and are refurbishing the tower for use as a garrison building. These efforts are led by Gallio Elibro, a powerful wizard and ranking member of the Order of the Many-Starred Cloak

, which have driven away his military work crew. Gallio is unaware that Thalivar’s spirit haunts the tower and possesses him each night to carry on its research!

Random Buildings

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

Random Buildings Pulse-pounding chases and harrowing escapes within the confines of a town or city can sometimes force characters to dash into buildings. When you need to flesh out a building quickly

, roll on the Building Type table. Then roll on the table corresponding to that building to add further detail. If a roll makes no sense considering where the characters are (such as a lavish mansion

Goblin Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

traps, snares, and nets to catch the unwary, and when their hunting patrols encounter other beings, they always look for ways to capture their foes instead of killing them. Goblins that run up against

goblin tribe has to nobility is the caste of lashers — families of goblins trained in the ways of battle, and also possessed of key skills such as strategy, trap-building, beast taming, mining

Dragonborn

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

influence of the Lords of Dust. Over time they drifted away from their duties, building an empire in western Khorvaire and clashing with the Dhakaani goblinoids. This came crashing down when one of the

dragonborn believe they’re some exotic type of lizardfolk. If you’re a dragonborn PC, what has caused you to emerge from Q’barra? Are you on a quest to help your people or to oppose the Lords of Dust? Are you driven by wanderlust or curiosity? Did you serve as a mercenary in the Last War?

Dragonborn

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

Lords of Dust. Over time they drifted away from their duties, building a nation in eastern Khorvaire and clashing with the goblinoids of the Dhakaani Empire. This dragonborn nation came crashing down

lizardfolk. If you’re a dragonborn, what has caused you to emerge from Q’barra? Are you on a quest to help your people or to oppose the Lords of Dust? Are you driven by wanderlust or curiosity? Did you serve as a mercenary in the Last War? How might your travels tie to the fate of your people?

Learning by Observing

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

Learning by Observing One of the best ways to learn how to run a D&D game is to observe other DMs in action. Another DM can give you a solid foundation for understanding the role—as well as inspire

the DM change the pitch or tempo of narration in different situations? Player Participation. Did the players participate in the world-building or make decisions that seemed to send the adventure in an

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