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Dhampir

Species Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

Poised between the worlds of the living and the dead, dhampirs retain their grip on life yet are endlessly tested by vicious hungers. Their ties to the undead grant dhampirs a taste of a vampire

restraint. In any case, temptation haunts dhampirs, and circumstances conspire to give them endless reasons to indulge. While many dhampirs thirst for blood, your character might otherwise gain

Goliath Legacy

Species Elemental Evil Player's Companion

goliath, and fewer still can claim friendship with them. Goliaths wander a bleak realm of rock, wind, and cold. Their bodies look as if they are carved from mountain stone and give them great

the goliath concept of fair play. A permanently injured goliath is still expected to pull his or her weight in the tribe. Typically, such a goliath dies attempting to keep up, or the goliath slips

Gnome Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

unlikely to find the burrows in the first place. Gnomes who settle in human lands are commonly gemcutters, engineers, sages, or tinkers. Some human families retain gnome tutors, ensuring that their pupils

most have half a dozen or so. A gnome’s mother, father, clan elder, aunts, and uncles each give the gnome a name, and various nicknames from just about everyone else might or might not stick

Hobgoblin Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

Maglubiyet, the greater god allows them to retain a measure of their influence over the hobgoblins because their philosophies are in line with his own. Hobgoblins don’t build temples to their gods, lest

will result in death if the act will bring glory to the banner or the legion. Honor the Gods. Hobgoblins give regular recognition to the deities left to them after Maglubiyet’s conquest. Idols

Firbolg Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

adopt elven names when they must deal with outsiders, although the concept of names strikes them as strange. They know the animals and plants of the forest without formal names, and instead identify the

whatever name the surrounding folk use, as a matter of tact and hospitality, but among their own kind they simply call it “home.” Sometimes firbolgs adopt the nicknames or titles outsiders give them under the assumption that those who need names can call them whatever they wish.

Chapter 2: Downtime Revisited

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

downtime activities that take weeks or even months to complete, you can give your campaign a longer time line — one in which events in the world play out over years. Wars begin and end, tyrants come

they amass on their adventures. The system presented here consists of two elements. First, it introduces the concept of rivals. Second, it details a number of downtime activities that characters can

Origin of the Ordning

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

the ordning in some mythic future. Giants on some worlds (including Eberron) have no concept of the ordning at all. Such giants might think of themselves as a single species, with the differences

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

The Returned

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

separated from their memories, which become wandering eidolons (see chapter 6). They retain their personalities and skills, but each Returned tends to be a very different being from who they once were

might once have held meaning. Other Returned visit anographers and describe what scraps of memory they retain. Some believe hidden wisdom lies upon these scrolls, clues to ancient mysteries, or hints

Mapping a Settlement

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

be important: the lord’s keep, significant temples, and the like. For cities, add internal walls and think about the personality of each ward. Give the wards names reflecting their personalities

Firbolg Names

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

Firbolg Names Firbolg adopt elven names when they must deal with outsiders, although the concept of names strikes them as strange. They know the animals and plants of the forest without formal names

to their lands by whatever name the surrounding folk use, as a matter of tact and hospitality, but among their own kind they simply call it “home.” Sometimes firbolgs adopt the nicknames or titles outsiders give them under the assumption that those who need names can call them whatever they wish.

Kobold Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

undetected and don’t give their targets reason to harm them. For example, a group of city kobolds might sneak into a cobbler’s house at night to loot it of knives, leather bits, nails, and

lack of emotional bonding means they have no concept of marriage or permanent family relationships. Their eggs are placed in a common tribal hatchery with no effort to keep track of who each one

Life in Godsbreath

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

the most severe wrongs, offenders are banished to uninhabited islands, though they retain the right to travel to the Meet each year to seek reconciliation with the larger community. The Gods’ Tale The

passing down traditions and beliefs through all the generations since. Most people here begin conversations with “give a listen” or “tell me true” before exchanging stories—the more captivating, the

4. Describe Your Character

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

. Your DM might offer additional backgrounds beyond the ones included in chapter 4, and might be willing to work with you to craft a background that’s a more precise fit for your character concept. A

background gives your character a background feature (a general benefit) and proficiency in two skills, and it might also give you additional languages or proficiency with certain kinds of tools. Record this information, along with the personality information you develop, on your character sheet.

Survival of the Fittest

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

pity for adults who can’t take care of themselves, though a sick or injured individual is treated, as a result of the goliath concept of fair play. A permanently injured goliath is still expected to

have ever meet an elderly goliath, and even those goliaths who have left their people grapple with the urge to give up their lives as their physical skills decay. Because of their risk-taking, goliath

The Red Belvedere

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Vecna: Eve of Ruin

. As the characters approach the Red Belvedere, read or paraphrase the following: Jagged mountains give way to an unexpectedly beautiful sight: a sprawling, palatial complex glittering with silver and

gold. Light dances through the front rotunda’s red stained-glass dome, reflecting off the overcast sky to shower the buildings with a rosy glow. A carved stone sign at the front of the complex reads

Conclusion

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Giants of the Star Forge

doesn’t return home safely, Evin and other members of the city’s royalty build a funerary pyre to honor the smith and mourn his loss. Evin thanks the characters for their efforts but cannot give them

a reward; the city must preserve all the wealth it can now that its prized smith is gone. The fate of Brimskarda has a ripple effect on the region. Should the fire giant survive and retain control of

Rolling Initiative

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

. A high-level Barbarian can’t just punch their Paladin friend and roll Initiative to regain expended uses of Rage. In any situation where a character’s actions initiate combat, you can give the acting

spell, everyone rolls Initiative, and the Sorcerer does so with Advantage. If the doppelganger rolls well, it might still act before the Sorcerer’s spell goes off, reflecting the monster’s ability to

L. Lake Zarovich

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

L. Lake Zarovich At the foot of a mountain, nestled in the misty forest, is a large lake. The water is perfectly still and dark, reflecting the black clouds overhead like a monstrous mirror. If the

are lucky. He intends to sacrifice her to the lake, hoping it will give up some of its fish in return. If the characters watch Bluto from the shore for several minutes, or if they row out into the lake

It's Your World

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

element and give details on how to flesh out your world with gods, factions, and so forth. The assumptions sketched out above aren’t carved in stone. They inspire exciting D&D worlds full of adventure

, but they’re not the only set of assumptions that can do so. You can build an interesting campaign concept by altering one or more of those core assumptions, just as well-established D&D worlds have done

Nobility

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

of the city, this means not merely the ability to carry a weapon, but the right to retain up to seventy equipped soldiers. These soldiers always wear a house’s colors and the house’s “arms of grace

” — a heraldic device often borne on a shield, worn as a cloak pin, or affixed to a helmet. Others throughout the city, even foreign dignitaries, are permitted to retain only up to sixteen armed

Introduction

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1

you receive a cancer diagnosis or a similar health news, you probably appreciate that concept a little more than other people. Watching someone you love waste away is a terrible thing. You want a

magic button to bring things back to the way they should be, this person you love so much restored to who they really are rather than what cancer is grinding them down into. It’s easy to give in to

Wizardly Groups

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

wear complex tattoos reflecting their ambitions and achievements and their favored school of magic. In Thay, the Red Wizards have ultimate power, although they give governance of day-to-day affairs to

Modifying a Class

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

faith, making them proficient with the quarterstaff and nothing else. You could give them a benefit to make up for the loss of proficiencies—something like the monk’s Unarmored Defense class feature, but

, paladins might not swear their oaths to ideals, but instead swear fealty to powerful sorcerers. To capture this story concept, you could build a new paladin spell list with spells meant to protect

Warlock

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

weapons appear in a campaign. Does this versatility extend outside the melee theme of the feature? It sure does, but we’re willing to occasionally bend a design concept if doing so is likely to increase

, but the feature doesn’t give that creature the ability to telepathically reply. In contrast, the telepathy ability that some monsters have (MM , "Telepathy") does make two-way communication possible

Talenta Halflings

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

of place, both attracting curious stares and expressing plenty of curiosity of their own about the strange ways of Khorvaire’s cities and towns. As you make a Talenta halfling character, give some

concept of “facts.” To you, everything is a story, and truth is in how you tell it. 7 You are annoyed by buildings and tools designed without consideration for small people. 8 You seek vengeance for a

Exploring Sigil

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse->Turn of Fortune’s Wheel

Hive Ward. For 10 gp, Fell can give a character a magic tattoo that functions as a nexus feature (see “Glitch Characters” in the introduction). He can later remove it for the same amount. Rest at the

adventure surrounds the characters’ identities and the nature of their deaths. While the characters retain vague, surface-level details about themselves, they’re likely to seek more information in

Personal Characteristics

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

Personal Characteristics Fleshing out your character’s personality — the array of traits, mannerisms, habits, beliefs, and flaws that give a person a unique identity — will help you bring him or her

your imagination. You’re not bound to those options, but they’re a good starting point. Personality Traits Give your character two personality traits. Personality traits are small, simple ways to help

Finding a Guide

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

players and let them choose. To help the party select a guide, you can give players copies of handouts 2 through 10 in appendix E. These handouts give players a sense of each guide’s personality. You can

give the players several handouts at once, or provide handouts only for the guides they track down. GUIDES AS PARTY MEMBERS A guide who is hired by the adventurers becomes a NPC party member and

Bard: College of Spirits

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

retain the tale in mind until you bestow the tale’s effect or you finish a short or long rest. You can use an action to choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you (this can be you) to be the

target of the tale’s effect. Once you do so, you can’t bestow the tale’s effect again until you roll it again. You can retain only one of these tales in mind at a time, and rolling on the Spirit

Druid Class Features

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player’s Handbook

you to do so. Beast Shapes Druid Level Known Forms Max CR Fly Speed 2 4 1/4 No 4 6 1/2 No 8 8 1 Yes Rules While Shape-Shifted. While in a form, you retain your personality, memories, and

statistics are replaced by the Beast’s stat block, but you retain your creature type; Hit Points; Hit Point Dice; Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores; class features; languages; and feats. You also

Creating a Race or Subrace

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

at odds, reflecting some greater conflict between the forces of good and evil in your campaign. Here are our basic goals for the aasimar: Aasimar should make effective clerics and paladins. Aasimar

have darkvision. Instead of resistance to fire damage, we give them resistance to radiant damage to reflect their celestial nature. However, radiant damage isn’t as common as fire damage, so we give

4. Describe Your Character

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

that’s a more precise fit for your character concept. A background gives your character a background feature (a general benefit) and proficiency in two skills, and it might also give you additional

Running Combat

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules

Paladin friend and roll Initiative to regain expended uses of Rage. In any situation where a character’s actions initiate combat, you can give the acting character Advantage on their Initiative roll

Sorcerer does so with Advantage. If the doppelganger rolls well, it might still act before the Sorcerer’s spell goes off, reflecting the monster’s ability to anticipate the spell. Using Initiative Scores

Druid Class Features

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules

you to do so. Beast Shapes Druid Level Known Forms Max CR Fly Speed 2 4 1/4 No 4 6 1/2 No 8 8 1 Yes Rules While Shape-Shifted. While in a form, you retain your personality, memories, and ability

statistics are replaced by the Beast’s stat block, but you retain your creature type; Hit Points; Hit Point Dice; Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores; class features; languages; and feats. You also

Creating a Monster Stat Block

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

Manual guide you. Once you have a monster concept in mind, follow the steps below. Step 1. Name A monster’s name should be given as much consideration as any other aspect of the monster, if not more. Your

Player’s Handbook. Step 3. Type A monster’s type provides insight into its origins and nature. The Monster Manual describes each monster type. Choose the type that best fits your concept for the monster

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