i roll to drown the harpy

💎 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺! Candlecoven Hat
Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement by a spellcaster) ___

This pointed mage hat is weighed down and stiffened by the solidified wax of 7 candles set atop it. The candles are harmless, require no oxygen, and emit dim light in a 10-foot radius while lit. While wearing the hat, you can use a bonus action to mentally light or extinguish the candles, up to the maximum amount. The candles can only be lit in this way. The maximum number of candles that can be lit depends on the number of times you’ve used the following property of the hat.

If a creature that you can see is cursed by you, such as by the "bestow curse" spell or other feature or property that uses “curse” in its name or description, you can use a bonus action to magically ignite that creature. You must be wearing the hat, and its candles must be lit. Each time you do, one of the candles on the hat is extinguished and can’t be relit until the next dusk. The creature must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC, taking 1d8 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. If the creature is affected by a curse that causes it to take extra damage from attacks, this fire damage also triggers that extra damage on a failed save.

Alternatively, you can use an action to cast the "dancing lights" spell from the hat while wearing it. The maximum number of lights you can create with this version of the spell is equal to the number of lit candles atop the hat, up to seven. By combining all seven of these lights, you can create a vaguely humanoid form of Large size, or one of Medium size with six or fewer. ___

✨New item!✨ Raiment of the Raccoon Armor (studded leather), very rare (requires attunement by a rogue)

You have a +1 bonus to AC while wearing this armor. While wearing it, you are imbued with the hardiness of a raccoon. Your rogue feature Evasion now applies to Constitution saving throws as well.

Keen Sense of Touch. While wearing this armor you develop a hypersensitive tactile awareness. You can add your Wisdom modifier to Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks, thieves tools checks and Intelligence (Investigation) checks that use your sense of touch. You can reliably detect the surface details, such as engraved writing or material properties, of an object by touching it.

Curse. While attuned to this armor you become obsessively hygienic. You must spend at least 10 minutes washing your hands to benefit from a short or long rest and you prefer to dunk your food into water before eating it.

Krandle had aspirations to become the best pick-pocket in town, but he got caught. Two months into his prison sentence, during a sleepless night, he heard a strange noise coming from the window to his cell. There, looking back at him, silhouetted by moonlight, was a raccoon in a hooded cloak, sliding a scroll through the bars. “Sign this contract and I’ll bust you outta here” it whispered. Krandle knew better than to trust talking animals, so he rolled over in his cot and fell asleep. He never saw that raccoon again and spent the rest of his life in prison, the end. - 🖌🎨 Like our work? Consider supporting us on Patreon and gain access to the hi-resolution art for over 150 magic items, item cards and card packs, beautiful creature art and stat blocks and setting pdfs with narrative hooks and unique lore!🧙‍♂️

As a mentor DM, I've heard a lot of people's campaign concepts and I want to talk about how you can make your games a little more cohesive from their inception.

Step one: Concept

As creative folks, we often start from a place of aesthetic or concept. For instance, many people want to run a game on a ship so that they can finally use all of those sea-based monsters and have some Pirates of the Caribbean style shenanigans. This is a great place to start, but tells you very little about what the game will actually be like.

Step two: Genre

The next step in conceptualizing a campaign is to isolate the genre you're wanting to play in. While the concept of a seafaring campaign is enticing, you (as a dm) need to know exactly what type of seafaring you want to do.

Are you wanting to run a pirate adventure to find hidden treasure and ancient artifacts like Pirates of the Caribbean? Or a journey across the sea on a merchant vessel fighting off pirates? Or new recruits in the Navy? Or a resource management and business focused game of keeping your ship afloat?

Having a concept in which many genres can exist poses a problem for your players in terms of character creation. Imagine if your party was composed of a pirate, a merchant, a naval officer, and a mercenary soldier, all treating the game as a different genre. Session zeroes tend to suffer when you just tell your players about the setting of your game and the higher concept rather than the genre and the style of play.

Being clear about what the game will feel like from a genre and playstyle standpoint will help your player characters make a more cohesive group based on genre staples.

Step three: Theme

Nailing down a genre and a playstyle also allows you as a dm to nail down your story more effectively.

For instance, if your game is a piratical treasure hunt, it is going to be more like a classic d&d adventure where your characters are outlaws attempting to gain extraordinary wealth. You can create a story about wealth inequality, the disenfranchisement of lower class people, and the injustices inherent in structures of law in the age of sail.

On the other hand, if you are playing a game from the view of the Navy, you can tell a story about finding and defeating a singular antagonist of a pirate lord, which becomes a different d&d genre staple.

The Litterbug. You see a human man finish his meal and throw this grease-covered piece of parchment to the ground before you hear one of the Guards nearby, who apparently noticed this, shout “Oi! I saw that!” as everyone’s heads turn “Pick it up!” as he points his hand at the same man who quickly picks up the parchment and stuffs it in his pocket before moving on…

Giving Directions. You see two guardsmen on the corner who appear to be speaking to a colourful looking group as they’re giving directions.

Morning Preparations. You see a group of about ten-to-twelve guardsmen all conversing with each other as their superior starts to speak and split them up into groups of twos and threes as they begin their morning patrols around the local streets.

Helping the Weak. You see a trio of guardsmen helping an older man up off the ground as people slow their walk to catch a glimpse, as one of the guards shouts “Nothing to see here! Go about your business!”

Lunch Break! You see a pair of guards exit a small bakery with a bundle of sweet treats wrapped up in layers of thin parchment paper, as they divvy out their lunches amongst themselves as they return to their duties.

Canine Unit! You see a large hound beside one of the Guards, who currently has his hand wrapped around the dog’s collar and seems to be just watching and scanning the streets.

Some Tips on Town Guards….

Who are your guards, anyway? They can come from all walks of life. Maybe they want to prove themselves, or maybe they’re just tired of their old job and signed up in the hopes of seeing some crime-fighting action?

Here, we’re family. The smaller the town, the more likely that any given Guard is going to be emotionally tied to that town, and the more personally they’re going to take any threat to their home town.

A Bribe, good sir? The poorer the Guards, the higher the rate of corruption. According to the rules, some Guards can get paid anything from 2 Silver Pieces a Week to 1 Gold Piece a Day, so surely with enough money, any Guard could be bribed…

Arrest, not Kill. Few guards, if any, will immediately go to violence, most will try to deescalate a situation and try to arrest the individual. 

A Guard may say things such as “State your Name and state your Business!” or “Drop your weapons and raise your hands to the sky!” before they begin running people through with swords and spears.

Magic? Since when? It’s not just Wizards that can be trained in Magic, some higher-paying Guardsmen might be trained to spot common spells and others might be trained to defend against certain Magics like a Fire Bolt or Charm Person…

Everyone loves Tieflings, and mixing races is fun.

~Mod Luci

EDIT: Hey everyone just a quick switch of the title for this one. i didn’t know when i first posted it but apparently what i called it could be considered offensive. Besides that nothing has changed on it. Sorry and i hope i didn’t bother anyone with it. <3

This week I decided to do my first monster homebrew. They are a set of 3 fey all with diverse alignments as well as CR.

Bastard.

After the redesign of the Cartography standards, I did another redesign, this time around, I added more details for R&D to help in making map design easier.  Something else that was requested from upper management was the addition of low, medium & high complexity maps, and the workflow chart showing how a map starts and travels through the various steps to completion within our corporate environment at that time at Wizards of the Coast.

I hope this helps everyone in creating their own maps and making gaming more fun and enjoyable for all :)

Cheers!

Nothing special today, just a quick post. Friend of mine posted in our discord a super incomplete beginnings of a system for special effects on crits based on the damage so I went and ran with it.

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Whenever a creature suffers a critical hit or rolls a natural 1 on a saving throw against an effect, the creature suffers an additional effect based on the damage dealt. If the creature is immune to the damage type, the effect does not occur. If there is more than one damage type present, use the one that dealt the most damage. If the damage rolled for each is a tie, the DM chooses the effect.

Acid. Any nonmagical or natural armor the creature has is removed. Their AC becomes 10+ their Dexterity modifier+ any other bonuses to AC the creature has. If the creature has magical armor, this reduction lasts for 3 rounds. If the creature has natural armor, their full AC is restored once they complete a long rest.

Bludgeoning. The creature is knocked prone.

Cold. The creature’s movement speed is reduced by 10 feet for 3 rounds.

Fire. The creature is set on fire for 3 rounds, suffering 1d4 fire damage at the start of each of their turns. A creature can spend an action to douse the flames, ending the effect.

Force. The creature is pushed backwards 5 feet in the opposite direction of the attack. This movement stacks with other effects that would cause forced movement.

Lightning. The creature is stunned for 1 round.

Necrotic. The creature becomes frightened of the creature who caused the effect for 3 rounds. If the creature has any food such as rations, they begin to spoil and are reduced by 1 day.

Piercing. The effect leaves a gaping wound in the creature, making further attacks easier. Attacks against the creature now crit on a roll of 19-20. If a creature already has an increased crit range, it is increased further by 1 against that creature. This effect ends when the creature regains any number of hit points.

Poison. The creature becomes poisoned for 3 rounds. 

Psychic. The creature becomes confused for 1 round as if under the effect of the Confusion spell.

Radiant. The creature becomes blinded for 3 rounds. 

Slashing. The creature begins bleeding, suffering 2 damage at the start of each of its turns until it regains any number of hit points.

Thunder. The creature becomes deafened for 3 rounds.

Carnival and celebrations

Chance for players to practice role playing a bit.

Locations

Inn- Arm wrestling, eating and drinking contests

Town square/centre- Find the coin, ring toss, knock over the bottles

Town Green-Target shot, ring the bell, log toss, checkers

Food Ideas

• Candy apples, sweet and crunchy 10 silver

• Shush kabobs, lamb&haloumi, chicken&mushroom, beef&capsicum, halloumi, mushroom&capsicum 10 copper

• Apple pie and other sweet pastries 5 copper

• Hand pulled candy floss 10 silver

• Raspberry/strawberry taffy 10 silver

Drink Ideas

Main price Per Bottle(per cup is 1/4 price)

• Ale 20 copper(5 copper)

• Wine 20 silver(5 silver)

• Spirits 20 gold(5 gold)

• Fruit juice 20 copper(5 copper)

• Sarsaparilla 20 silver(5 silver)

• Sparkling fruit juice 20 gold(5 gold)

GAMES

Town Square

• Knock over the Bottles: Dex DC13, 3 balls for 25 copper knock down the milk bottles. 3 times in a row to get spell scroll animal friendship, 2 wins gets an animal plush and 1 win gets a lolliepop Run by a young halfling girl with blond pigtails and freckles, she has a sweet and cheery disposition and appearance, wearing a simple blue dress, her name is Lizzy.

• Find the coin: Int/perception Dc15. 10 silver per game, watch the cups and find the coin. If you find the coin you win an item from the Magic Item Table A. held at the shrine of luck and run by Sister Ashling, a zealous young elf who worships Tymora

• Ring Toss: Dex Dc18, 3 rings/hoops for 50 copper Throw hoops onto bottles. Win a dagger worth 25 gold. Run by a shady old man named Rowland, who is wearing a rough spun tunic, dc13 insight/perception reveals that this game is rigged and he's very sure no one will win

• Ring the Bell: Dc20. 25 silver for 1 try. Hit the bell and win an item from Magic Item Table B. Run by Falmire a tall human male with huge muscles and and a rough beard, showing off his muscled arms by previously tearing off his sleeves.

Town Green

• Target Shot: Dex DC10-20, 3 bolts for 50 silver. Hit the bulls eye of the targets to win a prize. Easy target Dc10-redbrand ruffian dog toy. Medium Target Dc13 candied apple. Hard target Dc16, bronze engraved light cossbow. Impossible Target Dc20, win 10 special +3 Crossbow bolts/arrows . This game is run by a sharp-tongued human woman Lillian Greyjoy, she seems to be advertising her weaponry and armour.

• Checkers: Int vs opponent, minimum 10 copper to enter, winner takes all. Seems to just be a friendly game set up by a few older townsfolk. 1d4 for opponents.

• Log Toss: Str vs 1d6 opponent dc 15 to succeed. 25 gold to enter. 1st place gets an item from the 250gp art object table. 2nd place prize Morningstar. 3rd place prize decorated iron flask. Run by Torin a lean and balding human male shopkeeper of fifty years with a kindly manner

Inn/Tavern

• Arm Wrestle: Str vs opponent, minimum 25 silver to enter competition.Prize = total coin added to pot.1d6 for number of opponents. Not run by anyone in specific just a congregation of burly men drunkenly having a go

• Eating Contest: Dc10 first to 5 successes wins, 5 fails you're out of the running, 10 silver to play. Prize is 25 gp Art Objects Table and the total of the all participant's entry fee minus 10% for the proprieter. 1d6 opponents. Organised by the innkeeper/bartender

• Drinking contest: Dc15 first to 5 successes wins, 5 fails you're out of the running 10 gold to play. Prize is an itdm from the Magic Item table A and the total of the all participant's entry fee minus 20% for the proprieter. 1d6 opponents. Organized by the innkeeper/bartender.

Here’s a bunch of ways to inspire unique traps and puzzles for your setting, mostly from a D&D perspective.

Trap Creativity

Create Danger. Take something that already exists in a dungeon’s room and imagine how it could be made dangerous. Is there a big snake statue in a room? Perhaps looking into its eyes can petrify you or stepping on a hidden tile releases poison gas from its mouth. Keep in mind that empty rooms can be just as deadly. Imagine ways that the walls, floor, or ceiling could have a trap within it.

Random Object. Add a random thing to a room, perhaps using the Dungeon Furnishing tables in the D&D 5e DMG (pg 299-301). Then imagine how that could be used as a trap. Maybe a sextant on a table stabs those who try to peer through it. You could even use the random noise, odor, and atmosphere tables on those pages to create hints of a trap’s existence. A metallic smell could mean there are a lot of mechanisms in the walls implying a large section of the room may move. A mist-covered floor could be hiding an open pit.

Random Spell. Pick a random D&D 5e spell and think of how to use it for a trap, even if it’s usually a harmless spell. Say you pick magic mouth. What if the spell calls for help to lure creatures into a trap? What about create food and water? Maybe food continues to spawn filling a room with thick peanut butter, trapping victims inside? Magical traps leave a lot more room for creativity than physical mechanisms do. The same could apply to technology in a scifi setting that could perhaps mimic some magical effects.

Roll Randomly. I sometimes forget there’s a set of tables to create traps in the D&D 5e DMG (pg 297). They aren’t particularly creative, but can be a jumping-off point if you wish to push the creativity of the trigger or the trap itself, perhaps adding another layer to it in complexity.

Puzzle Creativity

Copy Existing Puzzles. Look at puzzles from the real world and figure out how to incorporate them into your setting, perhaps by abstracting them or changing the variables. Look in science or toy stores or else find puzzle-filled web sites. You can find that there are many logic and shape and word puzzles that already exist which can prove challenging for players. Remember, most puzzles don’t need to be complicated to fool a group of adventurers. After all, they still need to figure out a puzzle’s goal when the only things they have to go on are the GM’s descriptions and perhaps a hastily-drawn schematic with a riddle for an instruction sheet.

Random Object. Take something in a room and imagine how it could be used part of a puzzle. This works especially well for objects that have moving parts or states that can be toggled. A drawer could be closed or open, for instance. With a series of drawers, you could encourage the players to make sure certain ones are open and closed to unlock a door. Maybe the key is written somewhere in the form of symbols that correspond to the drawers’ handle shapes. Think creatively about where things can hide on objects with secret compartments and such.

Object Series. Take a series of objects and alter some key aspects of them to help create a puzzle. Let’s say for instance that you have a room with a series of humanoid statues. You could change the materials of the statues, have them painted different colors, give them different weapons, give each one a different face, or give each one a different pose. Once you change one of these aspects, you can start to create a puzzle that cares about each particular statue. Maybe they need to be rearranged, or the series needs to be completed, or maybe the statues inform the players what to do if they mimic them.

Relate Two Objects. Take two objects in a room and make them somehow interconnected. Maybe changing the state of one can affect the state of the other. Maybe they need to be used in tandem to solve the puzzle. For instance, you could have a table in an empty room with a locked door that has no handle or keyhole but four 2-inch holes near the corners of it. If you insert the table’s legs into the four holes in the door it will open.

A lot of times when players make a Wisdom (Insight) check to try and determine a creature’s motives, DMs may tend to immediately divulge the creature’s intent, emotions, or whether they were lying.

Instead, try to be more subtle with what you tell your players. You can especially be vague with a partial success, which might come from being “very close” to the target DC.

The most common things players use Insight for is to tell whether or not a character is lying, hiding something, or guilty of something. Use these random tables to clue players in on the character’s intent.

The Character Seems Guilty

Roll 1d10 and consult the list below when a Wisdom (Insight) check is made with a partial success and the creature is hiding something.

Their cheeks are either flushed red or drained and pale.

They seem to keep blaming other things.

They are shuffling their feet a lot.

Their pose is very closed, as if reluctant to give away information.

They keep biting the edge of their lip as they talk.

There are a lot of pauses while they are talking to you.

Their story seems highly elaborate.

They looked away for a second before answering you.

They are fidgeting a lot while they talk.

You note a drip of sweat on their brow.

The Character Seems Innocent

Roll 1d10 and consult the list below when a Wisdom (Insight) check is made with a partial success and the creature is innocent.

They are confident in their response.

Their emotions seem genuine.

They are caught off-guard when accused.

They look you in the eye without wavering.

They didn’t have to think too hard to answer you.

They take responsibility for their part, if any.

They seem more worried for safety of others than themselves.

They seem offended that they would ever be accused.

They seem preoccupied with other matters right now.

Their shoulders and chest seem relaxed.

Failed Insight Check

When a player fails their Wisdom (Insight) check, you can usually just tell them that the creature’s motives or body language is hard to read. If the player fails spectacularly (especially if the roll was made in secret) you can give them an incorrect or misleading result.

💎 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺! Carrion Shroud Wondrous item, very rare (requires attunement) ___

This ruffled cloak of dull feathers and down grants you the resilience and cunning of a ravenous vulture. When you move while wearing this cloak, small, tattered feathers drift from the cloak that vanish when they touch the ground. While wearing the cloak, your Constitution score increases by 2 to a maximum of 20, you have advantage on saving throws against disease and poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.

In addition, while wearing the cloak, you can speak its command word as a bonus action to cause it to transform into a pair of sickly vulture wings for 1 minute. While the cloak is transformed, you gain a a flying speed of 60 feet, and when you hit a creature that’s missing any of its hit points with a melee weapon attack, that creature takes an extra 1d6 necrotic damage. This property of the cloak can’t be used again until the next dusk.

𝘾𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚. This cloak is cursed, and becoming attuned to it extends the curse to you until you are targeted by the "remove curse" spell. As long as you remain cursed, you are unwilling to part with the cloak, keeping it worn at all times. The cloak gives you an insatiable hunger for flesh, and while traditional food can sustain you, you no longer enjoy the smell or taste of it. While cursed, whenever you reduce a creature within 5 feet of you to 0 hit points, you’re forced to make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw. If the creature is a construct, undead, or plant, you automatically succeed on this saving throw. On a failed save, you are overcome with the urge to tear into the creature’s flesh and feast: sacrificing any additional movement, action, or bonus action you had left on your turn. You can repeat this saving throw at the start of each of your following turns, ending your need to feast on a success. ___