concept reflecting grabbing to have rather

Goliath Legacy

Species Elemental Evil Player's Companion

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

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

Water Weird Legacy

Monsters Monster Manual (2014)

those its summoner declares as off limits. When slain, a water weird becomes an inanimate pool of water. Good and Evil Weirds. Like most elementals, a water weird has no concept of good or evil

interlopers rather than kill them, while a neutral evil water weird kills its victims for pleasure and might turn against its summoner. A water weird loses its evil alignment if its waters are cleansed

Accursed

races

chosen with a specific character concept in mind. Accursed are so named not because their birth or creation was the result of magical malfeasance, a hag’s bargain, a corrupted scroll, or any

of the other typical senses of “curse” in the game. Rather, accursed reflects the grim sense of how most other folk in the campaign will view such a character, especially those who don

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

Origin of the Ordning

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

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 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

Character Names

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

names, that’s fine. If the group would rather take the characters and their names a little more seriously, urge Bob’s player to come up with a more appropriate name. Player character names should match

each other in flavor or concept, and they should also match the flavor of your campaign world — so should the nonplayer characters’ names and place names you create. Travok and Kairon don’t want to undertake a quest for Lord Cupcake, visit Gumdrop Island, or take down a crazy wizard named Ray.

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

themselves feeds into the grim inevitability of their decline and death. A goliath would much rather die in battle, at the peak of strength and skill, than endure the slow decay of old age. Few folk

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

Darklake District

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

heat slams against you as an acrid smog rises to choke the air out of your lungs. The Darklake spreads out beyond a jumble of buildings and streets, reflecting the lights of countless fires burning

restricted to the Darklake District, and the characters have better luck asking other outsiders for directions rather than trying to engage the duergar locals. They are directed to the Blade Bazaar if

Character Advancement

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

taking part in a play session. A character reaches 1 checkpoint for each hour an adventure is designed to last. Note that the award is based on the adventure’s projected playing time, rather than the

designed to take 2 hours, the character reaches 3 checkpoints. Playing time might seem like an odd way to measure experience awards, but the concept is in keeping with how a shared campaign is meant to

Darklords

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

adventures rather than saving them for distant climactic plots. Darklords Don’t Realize They’re Darklords. With a few exceptions, Darklords don’t realize they occupy a special place in the world. Their

concept of how long they’ve lived, how many times they’ve died, or why they returned to life. Should a Darklord fall, the temporary defeat lasts until they’re restored by the Dark Powers. In their

Caregiver

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

crawl. If every player wants to get in on the companion action, it’s simpler for the characters to take turns as a creature’s caregiver, rather than running around adventuring with a menagerie. For

level, those statistics might fluctuate if the characters in a party are different levels, reflecting that a more experienced caregiver is more adept at directing a companion. Charmed Caregiver A

Yuan-ti Cities

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

yuan-ti content themselves with maintaining these ancient places rather than building new ones for their needs. Although these sites are hundreds or even thousands of years old, they don’t look or feel

reflects human ideas about art and beauty. Over time this perspective was skewed toward the concept that the snake is the perfect form, so serpents are a common theme in their aesthetic. The major

Water Weird

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual (2014)

. Good and Evil Weirds. Like most elementals, a water weird has no concept of good or evil. However, a water weird bound to a sacred or befouled source of water begins to take on the nature of that site

, becoming neutral good or neutral evil. A neutral good water weird tries to frighten away interlopers rather than kill them, while a neutral evil water weird kills its victims for pleasure and might

Secret

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

holy symbol that represents that divinity. Some clerics, especially in a world like Eberron, serve a whole pantheon, rather than a single deity. In certain campaigns, a cleric might instead serve a

cosmic force, such as life or death, or a philosophy or concept, such as love, peace, or one of the nine alignments. Chapter 1 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide explores options like these, in the section

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

Action Options

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

wall, or grabbing and throwing it—by making a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the smaller creature’s Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. The smaller creature chooses which

side, rather than away. The attacker has disadvantage on its Strength (Athletics) check when it does so. If that check is successful, the attacker moves the target 5 feet to a different space within its

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

Peryton

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual (2014)

humanoid rather than reflecting the creature’s physical form. Sages postulate that the first perytons were humans transformed by a hideous curse or magical experiment, but bards tell a different tale

Appendix A: Shared Campaigns

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

hard to keep a campaign going. Enter the concept of the shared campaign. In a shared campaign, more than one member of the group can take on the role of DM. A shared campaign is episodic rather than

Modifying a Class

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

, 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

opportunity to develop the character’s story and that of your world, rather than shutting down possibilities. Substituting Class Features If one or more features of a given class don’t exactly fit the theme

Mind Flayer Magic

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

after death would its consciousness be cast into oblivion. Two divine entities have long been associated with mind flayers by the scholars of other races. These aren’t deities, but rather

attitude — actions that have often been misinterpreted by observers as worship. Maanzecorian. The entity/concept called Maanzecorian embodies a complete comprehension of knowledge. It is a state

Magewrights

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

having a spell that’s superior to the usual version of a spell, reflecting their tight focus. An oracle’s version of augury might be able to predict outcomes up to a week in advance, as it’s hard to

functions. Such a divine caster is called an adept. Divine magic is a gift instead of a science, and adepts typically work on behalf of their faith rather than selling their services.

Vault Guards

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Keys from the Golden Vault

rotation in the “Preparation” section know two guards are posted in the lobby, seven guards patrol the first floor of the vault, and no guards patrol upstairs. Rather than requiring you to track each

” section, roll a d6 instead of a d4, reflecting their increased ability to avoid the guards. If the characters spend more than 10 minutes in any room that’s part of the guard rotation, a guard

Staff

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

concept behind the hirelings and selecting one proficiency for each. The DM can then customize the hirelings as desired, perhaps by adding additional proficiencies or adjusting their combat statistics

(sailors for a seagoing franchise, engineers for a giant hollow statue, and so on). Crew do not leave a franchise and cannot perform franchise tasks. They typically run rather than fight back when attacked

Rejecting the Ordning

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

one their kind traditionally values. These are often giants whose ranking within their kind is low. For example, a contemplative cloud giant might pursue knowledge rather than wealth, or a weak frost

otherwise enjoy in the ordning. When giants join the cults of demon lords, they reject the entire concept of the ordning—the idea that there is any kind of order to the multiverse at all, which is the

Glorium

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse->Sigil and the Outlands

colorful wicker shields mounted beside trophies of battle. Among them hangs a magic tapestry adorned with a scene of charging warriors. Its image changes after each battle, reflecting any newly fallen

their treaty shattered, a death tyrant attacks the gate-town. 3 A frost giant jarl learns of the entrance to the World Tree within Serpent’s Rise. Rather than attack Glorium, he sets out to find the

Creating a Race or Subrace

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

increasing the diversity of options for a particular race, rather than replacing some options with other ones. The following example walks through the creation of an elf subrace: the eladrin. This

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

Life in the Tribe

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

that the lair is protected from intruders. Special Enemies When orcs attack a settlement of humans or halflings, they will kill anyone who presents a threat, but 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 or less intact, the orcs leave

Dragon Characters

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

Given the opportunity, I eat to excess and then fall into a long, deep sleep. 4 I would rather let my fearsome reputation scare away intruders than fight them off. 5 Other dragons would

’ names resonate with power and inspire terror: Ashardalon, Dragotha, Klauth, Khellendros, Malystryx, Vaskar. Others are intricate and obscure, reflecting the grandeur of dragons’ ancient language

Alignment

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

plane of lawful evil. A devil does not choose to be lawful evil or tend toward lawful evil, but rather it is lawful evil in its essence. If it somehow ceases to be lawful evil, it changes into something

one person, concept, or event that you are terrified of? What are your vices? TIKA AND ARTEMIS: PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS Tika and Artemis have distinct personality traits. Tika Waylan dislikes

Uthgardt Lands

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

call themselves “children of Uthgar.” Though the Uthgardt each belong to a given tribe, these are markers of identity, rather than coherent populations. In my experience, it is rare outside of

size that near the ancient ancestral mound of the Red Tiger tribe. The settlement was founded some time ago by members of the Black Lion tribe, who put down roots here rather than continuing to live

Tour of the Planes

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

city reflecting the first days of a glorious empire. The sun never sets here. Positive energy flows into Eberron from Irian, and the denizens of Irian believe that the simple fact of their existence

draws merchants and travelers from across reality. Syrania is home to a host of angels that devote their immortal lives to serene contemplation. Each angel seeks to achieve mastery of one pure concept

Palace of Spires Locations

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Quests from the Infinite Staircase

reflecting pool dances with the twilight colors of the sky above. Luminous butterflies flit above vivid flower beds that stand to the left and right of the pool. Just outside the gatehouse stands a

perpetually in full bloom. The reflecting pool is 1 foot deep. Sundial. The sundial here functions identically to the one in the hedge maze (area G21), but the leaves required to operate it don’t grow within

Annam and the Ordning

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

her father of her clever deeds rather than her feats of strength: she solved a sphinx’s riddles, plumbed the secrets of the ocean, and stole a string of pearls from a god of the kuo-toa. Through these

firbolgs, who claim a distant kinship with giants. Hiatea’s priests adopt one of two roles, reflecting the god’s dual areas of concern. Some live within the giants’ enclaves and focus their efforts on

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