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Returning 35 results for 'some of rule defenses variant'.
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Monsters
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
behold, radiating heat from the shell to boil the surrounding water—and any creatures in it. And even if an enemy wears down the dragon turtle’s defenses, magical storms manifest to
characters, and use the Dragon Turtle Spellcasting table to help select spells for a spellcasting dragon. (Though the Monster Manual doesn’t explicitly include dragon turtles in the variant rules for
Monsters
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
dragon turtle’s defenses, magical storms manifest to shield the dragon turtle and strike at foes.
Creating a Dragon Turtle
Use the Dragon Turtle Personality Traits and Dragon Turtle Ideals tables
explicitly include dragon turtles in the variant rules for making a dragon a spellcaster, you can apply those rules to these aquatic dragons.)
Dragon Turtle Personality Traits
d8
Monsters
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
the surrounding water—and any creatures in it. And even if an enemy wears down the dragon turtle’s defenses, magical storms manifest to shield the dragon turtle and strike at foes
table to help select spells for a spellcasting dragon. (Though the Monster Manual doesn’t explicitly include dragon turtles in the variant rules for making a dragon a spellcaster, you can apply
Species
Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
have lived on the worlds of the Material Plane since the worlds’ creation. Gifted by the gods with remarkable physical defenses and a mystical connection to the natural world, lizardfolk can
Increases
When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. Follow this rule regardless of
Backgrounds
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
advancing civilization, nature needs some help from biomancers and terraformers. If, along the way, you happen to create super-soldiers and mutant monsters that can bolster the combine’s defenses
offer bribes, favors, or other incentives to induce people to reveal their secrets.
Your DM might rule that the knowledge you seek is secreted away in an inaccessible place, or that it simply can
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything
Sleight of Hand with Intelligence, rather than Dexterity. This is an example of how to apply the rule in the “Variant: Skills with Different Abilities” section in chapter 7 of the Player’s Handbook.
to untie a knot or slip out of one. Here’s an optional rule for determining the effectiveness of a knot. The creature who ties the knot makes an Intelligence (Sleight of Hand) check when doing so. The
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
expended. Variant: Training to Gain Levels As a variant rule, you can require characters to spend time between adventures training or studying before they gain the benefits of a new level. This
variant slows the passage of time in the game world, which can help support a more realistic or gritty tone in your campaign. If you choose this option, after earning enough Experience Points to attain a
Monsters
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
great thinkers, and spur adventurers to heroic deeds. They sometimes give guidance to those in need or request help from adventurers to encourage them to greatness.
As a rule, moonstone dragons are
a night hag (coven variant);night hag coven are determined to prevent an adult moonstone dragon from contacting creatures in the dream realm, and the dragon has no idea why.
7
An adult
Goblin
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
Learn More
Species
Volo's Guide to Monsters
the fringes of a society first test its defenses by stealing objects, and if these crimes go unpunished, they begin stealing people.
Enslaved creatures receive the worst treatment the goblins can dish
opportunity to supervise and dominate such creatures, which have no status at all.
WHO'S THE BOSS?
Goblins pattern the rule of their tribes after the whip-cracking rule of their god, Khurgorbaeyag
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
remembering where you are in the list can bog the game down. If you want quicker combats, at the risk of those combats becoming unbalanced, try using the side initiative rule. Under this variant, the
Initiative Variants This section offers different ways to handle initiative. Initiative Score With this optional rule, creature don’t roll initiative at the start of combat. Instead, each creature
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
the following variants. Choose whichever one best suits your campaign. Ability Check Proficiency With this variant rule, characters don’t have skill proficiencies. Instead, each character has
distinction among characters. For example, a character can’t choose to emphasize persuasion or intimidation; he or she is equally adept at both. Background Proficiency With this variant rule, characters don’t
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
Variant Abilities When a beholder’s dream-imagination runs wild, the result can be an offspring that has an unusual or unique set of abilities. Rather than the standard powers of a beholder’s central
eye and eyestalks, the creature has one or more variant abilities — guaranteed to surprise any enemies who thought they knew what they were getting themselves into. This section provides several
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
Creating a Shadow Dragon Use the Shadow Dragon Personality Traits and Shadow Dragon Ideals tables to inspire your portrayal of distinctive shadow dragon characters. If you use the variant rule in the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
Difficulty Class It’s your job to establish the Difficulty Class for an ability check or a saving throw when a rule or an adventure doesn’t give you one. Sometimes you’ll even want to change such
ability score of 20 still needs a 19 or 20 on the die roll to succeed at a task of this difficulty. Variant: Automatic Success Sometimes the randomness of a d20 roll leads to ludicrous results. Let’s
Yuan-ti Pureblood
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
Learn More
Species
Volo's Guide to Monsters
the blood, as it once did.
Because their population is so small, the yuan-ti are aware they are vulnerable in open warfare. Instead, their current plans assume they will never rule outwardly in
can more easily pronounce the name in this altered form. An adopted name of this sort is recognized as a variant of the birth name, rather than a unique name unto itself. A yuan-ti might refer to
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
Spellcasting table to help select spells for a spellcasting dragon. (Though the Monster Manual doesn’t explicitly include dragon turtles in the variant rules for making a dragon a spellcaster, you can apply
my rule over these waters suffer my displeasure. (Lawful or Evil)
5 Preservation. I am the ocean’s steward, tending reefs and waters to ensure that they remain unspoiled. (Lawful)
6
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Spelljammer: Adventures in Space->Astral Adventurer’s Guide
ballistae and crossbows 1,000 feet Beyond the range of most ranged weapons Initiative The Dungeon Master’s Guide presents a variant rule called side initiative, which is ideal for ship-to-ship engagements
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
Players Award Inspiration As a DM, you have a lot to track during the game. Sometimes you can lose track of inspiration and forget to award it. As a variant rule, you can allow the players to handle
spice that you can use to enhance your campaign. Some DMs forgo using inspiration, while others embrace it as a key part of the game. If you take away anything from this section, remember this golden rule
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)
rolls and Dexterity saving throws. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage while it's in the smaller space. VARIANT: PLAYING ON A GRID If you play out a combat using a square grid and
adjacent to the square you’re in. (The rule for diagonal movement sacrifices realism for the sake of smooth play. The Dungeon Master’s Guide provides guidance on using a more realistic approach.)
If
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
feed on, while Undermountain’s existing defenses offered an unprecedented level of security. Enemies at the Gates Through methods unknown to the illithids, the githyanki vanguard force tracked the
flayers remaining under its rule, Extremiton has resorted to breeding a neothelid (see appendix A) and plans to set it loose in the Crystal Labyrinth to finally wipe out the githyanki force
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes
send the demons back to the Abyss. In fact, devils believe that the demons would have long ago swept across the multiverse but for the unflinching rule of law that underlies the actions of the
legions establish their defenses. Each legion within a category has a distinctive, fearsome-sounding name in the Infernal tongue. When translated into Common, these names are often descriptive of the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Storm King's Thunder
enemies who yearn to topple her. As a powerful wizard and noble, Sansuri believes it is her duty to rule over others and command their respect. Even so, she has been forced to bow to the will of King
attack her castle without provocation or are caught trying to sneak into her home, Sansuri brings her castle’s defenses to bear and tries to crush them, capturing those who surrender. If the characters
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual (2014)
found on the Material Plane. The rest reside on the Elemental Planes, where they rule from lavish palaces and are attended by worshipful servants. Genies are as brilliant as they are mighty, as proud as
wind, a flash of fire and smoke, or a burst of water and foam. Rule or Be Ruled. Mortal servants validate a genie’s power and high self-opinion. A hundred flattering voices are music to a genie’s ears
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
Outside Combat As described in the Monster Manual, a beholder’s use of its eye rays in combat is random, governed by die rolls instead of by choice. This rule is an abstraction, designed to keep the
beholder’s opponents unsure of what rays will be coming next (and, not incidentally, to prevent the monster from using its most lethal eye rays at every opportunity). The rule also makes the creature
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
proficiencies, particularly if the dragon spends time in Humanoid form. Spells. The Monster Manual’s variant rule about making dragons innate spellcasters is an easy way to add variety to dragons
druid spells feels different from one who casts warlock spells. You can also give a dragon spells of a higher level than the variant rule allows, but such a tweak might increase the dragon’s
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual (2014)
and magical properties when brought to the surface. VARIANT: DROW MAGIC ARMOR AND WEAPONS
Drow often wear magic armor and carry magic weapons that lose their enhancement bonuses permanently if they
social ladder are drow of low birth and the occasional non-drow captive. Matriarchal Rule. Lolth, through her faithful priestesses, dictates the rules of drow society, ensuring that her orders and plots
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
affecting the dragon’s challenge rating (as noted under “Customizing Dragons” earlier in this chapter). Likewise, if you use the Monster Manual variant rule to make dragons innate spellcasters, you could
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
every foot it moves there, and it has disadvantage on attack rolls and Dexterity saving throws. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage while it’s in the smaller space. VARIANT: PLAYING ON A
least 1 square of movement left, even if the square is diagonally adjacent to the square you’re in. (The rule for diagonal movement sacrifices realism for the sake of smooth play. The Dungeon Master’s
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
. If an enemy force does approach, though, these barriers do a good job of delaying any incursion until the goblinoids can rally their defenses. Inside the surrounding bulwark, the goblinoids all have
upon spikes, their eyelids removed and mouths open. These honor the bugbears’ deities, Hruggek and Grankhul, and their separate but subordinate positions in Maglubiyet’s rule.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse->Sigil and the Outlands
Plague-Mort Gate Destination: Infinite Layers of the Abyss Primary Citizens: Demons and Humanoids Ruler: Archlector Bex Might and treachery rule in Plague-Mort, an autocratic cesspool teetering on
Blightsteel Keep. At the Razed Altar, she hires the characters to infiltrate the stronghold and report on its defenses. 4 Alorio Nightriddle (chaotic evil, human mage) invites the characters to a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
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 the fringes of a society first test its defenses
the opportunity to supervise and dominate such creatures, which have no status at all. WHO'S THE BOSS?
Goblins pattern the rule of their tribes after the whip-cracking rule of their god
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Lost Laboratory of Kwalish
driven out. The city’s only resident is Kwalish, but the inventor has developed potent defenses to defend the entrance to his lab. The following locations are identified on the map below. View
information. If the steam mephits are released, they might try to immediately escape (a 50 percent chance), but they otherwise attack everyone in the lab. A mind flayer arcanist (a variant creature in the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
before the death kiss gets into melee range. Thus, out of self-preservation, a death kiss usually submits to the rule of a beholder that it encounters, though it might attempt to escape as soon as its
exert fine control on objects with this ray, such as manipulating a simple tool or opening a container.
VARIANT: GAZER FAMILIAR
Spellcasters who are interested in unusual familiars find that
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
a variant rule, you can require characters to spend downtime training or studying before they gain the benefits of a new level. If you choose this option, once a character has earned enough
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
penetrate the foe’s defenses. Murderers carry many javelins with them, which they throw from hiding and wield in melee, and they also carry garrotes to cut off sounds of screaming.
The Host on the March
rule. The hobgoblins bring their own legal code down upon the vassals, and it is liable to be harsher than that to which the inhabitants were accustomed. Yet the host will also respect traditions of