#dnd-lore

1 messages · Page 14 of 1

modest badger
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Not sure if I can recall any in 5e off top of my head. Klauth?

obtuse magnet
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Across all editions

shrewd bobcat
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I'm sure someone did a rankings for the most powerful Dragons in D&D
and if not, the first one to do so will be very popular on YouTube

obtuse magnet
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I SHALL SURCH!!!!!

modest badger
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Hard to say as well, as you'd need to try and compare and convert between editions. Klauth is likely still up there. I guess start with canonical Great Wyrms

obtuse magnet
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Also could one dragon graft tiamts meat?

iron saffron
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Wut.

obtuse magnet
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Gotcha I shall get to work!!

obtuse magnet
modest badger
iron saffron
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I don't think she would appreciate it.

modest badger
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Just dab a little sovereign glue to the sovereign dragon, makes sense right?

obtuse magnet
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She'd have to be dead first

obtuse magnet
modest badger
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But in general- I don't think lore exists for that.

obtuse magnet
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If I had the ability to put images in here I'd show you

modest badger
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I'd rather not see that.

obtuse magnet
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Dragon grafters and there "abominations"

obtuse magnet
molten osprey
zinc oak
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Mrrhexx has a heap of good lore videos or stuff, and he talks about dragons, actually ranking the most powerful ones and going into a deep dive on most of them

foggy seal
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Do giants influence the area around them like dragons? So does a frost giant make snowy weather? Does a storm giant cause thunderstorms?

white ravine
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Not that I know of, but they're certainly capable of causing some crazy things

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Not as involuntary as dragons do, but still as impressive

iron saffron
modest badger
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One of my issues with Mr Rhexx is he doesn't cite his sources very well sometimes so it can be a mix of different edition lore, from different source books (magazines, supplements, core books) all given the same weight and importance, and sometimes mixed and clipped as he needs them to be. They're interesting videos for inspiration, but frustrating for trying to track the 'official' history of a topic in D&D.

unkempt merlin
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He'll also just toss in headcanons without saying so, which muddies the waters further

stuck breach
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But, if you're looking for lore inspiration, then he's a pretty good resource

grim siren
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I also really enjoy Jorphdan and Aj Pickett

unkempt merlin
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AJ is good because he cites his sources yea

eager bay
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Just wondering opinions on whether female dwarves grow beards? I read online that the answer to that question varies depending on the campaign, but I wanted to hear other's opinions.

white ravine
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In DND, they do not

unkempt merlin
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Depends on the setting

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In the FR and Exandria, they can grow beards. In the FR they normally shave them in Exandria they don't always

eager bay
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Oh okay cool thanks

iron saffron
foggy seal
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What weapons do giants normally carry in the FR?

unkempt merlin
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Axes and boulders are common

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As well as nets and clubs

white ravine
white ravine
foggy seal
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Can storm giants actually see the future or is it just them seeing “omens” and interpreting them?

iron saffron
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I think that's more flavour than a game mechanic.

upper ether
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do centaur have multiple hearts/lungs

modest badger
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According to Dragon Magazine 103 they do, although can't recall any more 'core' sources off the top of my head.

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Centaurs have two hearts, one in the upper body and one in the lower. Each is about three times the size of a human heart, and they beat together in a slow but powerful rhythm. There is also a pair of lungs in each chest cavity, though the lower pair is mostly a bellows for the peculiar but efficient upper respiratory system. The Chests of a centaur expand and contract in unison.
Dragon Magazine 103, p.36, The Centaur Papers, by Stephen Inniss and Kelly Adams, 1985

upper ether
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ew

sacred root
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Is there more Owlin lore anywhere? I can’t find almost anything other than “The could be connected to Giant owls and the fry realm”

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Fey*

unkempt merlin
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short answer: no. Since they were made for Strixhaven

crude blaze
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And Strixhaven itself doesn’t have a lot of lore

stuck breach
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Personally, I like the idea of female dwarves having beards, and in my world they definitely do, but I'd never force that on a player who wanted to play a female dwarf and didn't like the idea of having a beard

golden charm
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I don’t really like it because it ties into dwarves being used as a dumping ground of anti semitic tropes

versed sable
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I want to talk about my FR homebrew piece but I don't know where to start

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(succubus-erinyes war)

iron saffron
versed sable
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Yea

stuck breach
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I mean, I'm generally aware of a lot of anti-semetic tropes and how they're used in relation to dwarves, but I can't say I've ever heard anything related to the females with beards

golden charm
stuck breach
golden charm
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The villain of the first part of the ring cycle was a dwarf who contrived to steal the gold of the rhine river, who he was using as a metaphor for Jewish people he blamed for undermining Germany (something he did himself at times constantly switching political sides during the formation of the German state)

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Sadly one of the people who was a driving force behind repopularizing the German folklore that serves as a basis for a lot of modern fantasy also injected some of his ethnocentric views into it along the way

modest badger
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Female dwarves having beards is a long debated issue in D&D and does actually reflect a lot of cultural values on body hair and using body hair on women as a joke. I ended up doing a whole essay post in the older D&D discord about this. #974802232535023656 message (For anyone who still has access to that server)

It's one of those ones were personally, I like that female dwarves could have facial hair and still be considered beautiful and feminine, but also allowing for different dwarven cultures to also have different styles, including 'clean shaven' faces for any gender. But can't ignore that the discussion around bearded female dwarves in the D&D space (Going aaaall the way back to the 80's) has been rife with trans misogyny and also that intersection of subtle racism of demeaning women from other races as being 'more masculine' compared to the 'standard' (White European women). How sincerely and sensitively female beards are included and for who is a big part of it.

stone topaz
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So, I am running a campaign where all the PC are from Lantan. I have a question though… after the second sundering are all the lantanese portals still working?

white ravine
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Nobody's sure, but they say that while they're more secretive with their technology the lantanese have gotten more advanced. Read into that how you will.

fallen lance
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whats the difference between gods and patrons?
correct me if i'm wrong but as far as i understand a person can choose to or stop worshiping a god at any time but patrons make a pact and if needed force someone to do what they want
are there any good aligned patrons which dont want to spread chaos or can a god even be a patron?

crude blaze
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I think the difference between a god and a patron is less about the nature of the being and more about the nature of the relationship between the mortal and the greater entity.

magic jackal
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Gods have a semi strict hierarchy of authority and power and oversee usually a limited domain. That being said they are almost always incomprehensibly powerful in relation to mortals, in the sense that they don't have stat blocks and in relation to mortals, they just do or do not things, no faffing about with rolling dice or trying etc.

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Patrons can be almost literally anything that's capable of granting power to a mortal, the nature of this power can vary, for some (like devils) it's a strict deal for which reneging can have severe and immediate consequences for the individual, for others, it's a granting of power freely, maybe with the expectation of servitude and the threat of repercussions if refused.

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As for Clerics, and others who gain power from Gods directly, that's due to faith and favor and is a bestowal of power which can be revoked.

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Basically, Gods are a specific class of entity and follow rules, Patrons are each distinct and separate entities, operate by their own rules, and each Patron and Pact is different

fallen lance
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so worshiping gods is like permanently paying taxes but getting free access to the vault of the town at any time
patrons instead are like an employer who makes a contract and gives you the salary for completing the work they have for you

shrewd bobcat
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A follower of a God is more similar to a willing servant who answers to their master while wielding a fraction of that God’s power.

But yes, warlocks are very much like a employer/employee relationship.

fallen lance
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how tolerant are gods? do they care about the actions of their servants at all or can you use the powers they provide as long as you worship them from time to time
paladins have their oaths which is like a contract right? but clerics dont

crude blaze
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Probably varies by god

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All the gods have different personalities. Some may be more strict than others.

grim siren
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And it varies by setting. For example in the Realms the average person worships by convenience. A sailor doesn't want to drown on a voyage so he makes an offering to umberlee the Goddess of the Sea with the sole purpose so she doesn't tip over his boat. But otherwise the sailor wants nothing to do with umberlee.

Paladins no longer require gods. Their powers come from the Oath itself.

upper ether
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  1. Genasi can be born from any race

  2. Genasi always look human

so two lizardfolk lay and egg, and because the marid next door is raging at her fortnite gamer pc, when the egg hatches, instead of a lizardfolk its a wet human baby?

grim siren
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Can genasi be born of any species?

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They have always been described as Human planetouched.

upper ether
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they can

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motm says it

modest badger
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Where in Motm?

grim siren
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It just says non genasi parents

upper ether
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above genasi i think

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oh lemme check im pretty sure i read that somewhere

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i could have sworn i read that somewhere

grim siren
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The official art also has the genasi have some elven characteristics like sharp ears or fins like tritons

shrewd bobcat
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One of the issues with half-races is that the assumption is that the other half is human or at least humanoid.

There’s nothing to say that a Genasi has to be humanoid.

You just have to take a little artistic liberties.

upper ether
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I think someone here said it

upper ether
grim siren
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Yes the fins on water genasi resembles earlier art for tritons

modest badger
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Things like Genasi/Tiefling/Aasimar should be able to apply to any race, but lore wise have been the terms for human 'planetouched' for simplicity.

grim siren
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the Ancestry/Heritage system of pathfinder 2e I have found solved that without too much work but that is not the direction of D&D

modest badger
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I can't actually find Genasi in Mordenkain's Tome of Foes.

grim siren
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Monster of the Multiverse

upper ether
modest badger
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Ah my bad I read Motm as MToF. I tend to abbreviate MMMMMMMM as MPMotM but yeah, that makes more sense- doesn't seem to be much on them there though either

grim siren
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I use 3M

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Its a really good adhesive

upper ether
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i have never used mordenkainens tome of foes so

yeah

i would probably use motm and mtof/tof

shrewd bobcat
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Say I have a Half-Orc that wants to hide his Orc Heritage. I’m wondering if there’s a lore precedent for this.
And would a half-orc be more human-like if they had a human father and orc mother?
Because my character does.

upper ether
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i would imagine that a half orc could be anywhere from a human with tusks to a shorter orc

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might have very obvious orc parts that they hide

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such as tusks hidden by a mask or claws hidden by gloves

crude blaze
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I believe the tieflings in OneD&D are following the same approach as well, pick your size, flavor the tiefling to be based on whatever “mortal” race they were born from.

modest badger
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The original Players Companion for Elemental Evil does word it to allow Genasi to be any mortal + genie heritage or mortal + planetouched, but then goes on to describe them as human looking.

It sometimes manifests in beings who, through an accident of birth, carry the power of the planes in their blood. The genasi are one such people, the offspring of genies and mortals.
(...)
Occasionally, genasi result from exposure to a surge of elemental power, through phenomena such as an eruption from the Inner Planes or a planar convergence. Elemental energy saturates any creatures in the area and might alter their nature enough that their offspring with other mortals are born as genasi.
(...)
Genasi inherit something from both sides of their dual nature. They resemble humans but have unusual skin color (red, green, blue, or gray), and there is something odd about them. The elemental blood flowing through their veins manifests differently in each genasi, often as magical power. Seen in silhouette, a genasi can usually pass for human

In 3.5, when genasi first were mentioned, they were specifically human mixed:

The Genasi are planetouched beings descended from a union of a human and an elemental creature such as a genie.
-Monster Compendium, Monsters of Faerun

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Yeah, 5e seems to now be trying to break away from human only, which is why they're not doing the specific stat blocks for such heritages like half-orc being assumed orc-human and such

grim siren
upper ether
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now im imagining a halfling tiefling and its just a short demon and its funny

crude blaze
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Because up until MotM, they were always just medium, and the provided art always showed them as being more “human-based”, if that makes sense.

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But now, with the MotM rules, the mechanics are definitely more supportive of the idea of them being a “planetouched” group.

grim siren
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there is precedent for that with tieflings. Though tieflings were strictly human there used to be other creatures that had the blood of fiends. Like Maeluths for dwarves, Fey'ri for elves and the like.

grim siren
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Wisplings are halfling/demons

crude blaze
upper ether
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why do tieflings have a cha boost if everyones hates them? Is it intimidation or succubus things or something else

crude blaze
upper ether
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ok

crude blaze
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It’s not exactly great lore imo. “People don’t trust me by default because of my appearance, so we as a people had to learn to be a little more manipulative.”

obsidian gate
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basically, you have to get good at social interaction or you die

grim siren
crude blaze
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Sure, and not to diminish the lore of yore, but I’m okay with them stepping away from it and saying, “People don’t want to be locked into human-based tieflings anymore, so we’re gonna open it up.”

grim siren
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Sure, opening up is great but it my point is that those things existed. WOTC just chose to not use them again.

crude blaze
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For the better imo, but I feel ya

strange whale
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So... The Minecraft creatures are now official D&D content...

grim siren
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I do hope WOTC is not designing in a vacuum and actually looks at the ancestry heritage system from PF2e. It handles things like Genasi, Tiefling, and aasimar so much better than. "Pick stuff from X and looks from Y."

Like that is neat and better than before. But there could be a little more depth WOTC.

strange whale
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Based on how strong is a Blaze, how strong would Steve be in D&D?

crude blaze
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And 5E is pretty adamant about trying to keep things simpler.

grim siren
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Too much simplicity imo can be a bad thing

crude blaze
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Plus, I don’t want them to be PF2E

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If I wanted to play PF2E, I’d go play PF2E. I want D&D to be D&D.

grim siren
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I don't want all of the depth of PF2e either. But they have some good ideas.

crude blaze
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Yeah, but 90% of the arguments I’ve seen in this server recently (and this isn’t pointed at you specifically) have been, “Well, PF2E does things this way, so why can’t D&D?”

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It’s getting exhausting.

grim siren
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Of course. I would personally love a system in the middle of 5e and 2E

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5E could really use some more clarity and more support in rules for things like crafting and downtime. The One dnd weapons are also a good trend.

2E could stand to be a bit simpler too.

zenith dust
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I vastly prefer not defaulting to blood quantum

grim siren
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uhh? who said we were?

zenith dust
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I'm saying it's my preference same as you saying you'd like it if WOTC followed Paizo

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am I rstricted in my preferences?

grim siren
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no? Bruh?

zenith dust
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cool 🙂

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please carry on

grim siren
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Why you being weird?

zenith dust
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what's weird about not wanting blood quantum in a game?

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I don't know what you're pushing at here, but I'm happy to move on

strange whale
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Blood quantum?

zenith dust
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we don't need to go into it at this time, someone has expressed discomfort with it so let's just get back to lore

strange whale
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Well my question about Steve in D&D still stands XD

zenith dust
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I think those minecraft bits are just a fun extra rather than being lore applied to a given existant D&D setting

strange whale
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Well technically they are part of lore because of Multiverse anyway

zenith dust
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I don't have a strong opinion on that, but they're not part of a given setting, is all I'm saying

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like they aren't eberron or forgotten realms

strange whale
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They might not be part of FR or Eberron, but since blaze is elemental, you could technically summon one anywhere

crude blaze
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Yeah, the Minecraft things are “official”, but like… I’m not gonna use any of it unless I decided I wanted to run a Minecraft campaign

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(Which is more than highly unlikely, I have no interest whatsoever lol)

grim siren
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Like most things your mileage may vary with your DM

strange whale
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I mean, it would be fun to run a D&D minecraft campaign, but it would definitely require a lot of crafting recipes XD

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Which D&D 5 e doesn't have tbh.

crude blaze
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I feel like if I wanted to run a Minecraft campaign, I’m better off just playing Minecraft

grim siren
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True TBH and dnd really isn't a system that supports what minecraft would need.

strange whale
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But anyway, so Blaze has 20 hearts in minecraft, which in D&D translates to 75 hp

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So that means that Steve has to have around 75 HP

crude blaze
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If you say so. But that’s likely encroaching into #homebrew territory.

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Idk that it’ll be a 1:1 transfer either.

strange whale
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Depends if we see it as player character, then it would be more like : what build would require to achieve steve level of strength

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And we know that Steve is not a magic caster, but can enchant and craft items, and brew potions.

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Also can wear heavy armor, and wield all kinds of weapons

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So I bet if translated to D&D it would be some kind of Fighter subclass

modest badger
shrewd bobcat
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If Minecraft is in any way canon in D&D, it should be like a bad dream Mordenkainen had after a bad meal.

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Or maybe like a sub game within the lore somewhere

zenith dust
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I think the scope of the channel is various official D&D settings

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so it's less "well multiverse so every setting is official" and more "is there setting information printed in a D&D book"

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like the Nerds adventure stuff doesn't necessarily mean that Nerds candy is a canonical member of the D&D multiversal settings, so much as it's a promotional material that they put together for fun

shrewd bobcat
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Sadly, the later is often inferred to be the former.

cinder pulsar
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Are there people who are monotheistic

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and if they are are they like flat-earthers

unkempt merlin
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what?

iron saffron
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What...?

cinder pulsar
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Like

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In dnd worlds there are usually multiple gods

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with paladins and clerics and stuff so their existence cant be denied

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so if you believe in one god are you considered to not believe in facts like how we consider flat-earthers

unkempt merlin
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Its not so simple, and varies dramatically per setting

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In some settings there isn't definitive proof of any gods (like Eberron), in others they are all known about, but that doesn't necessarily mean every religion worships them all. In others iconoclasts/atheists do still exist, but they exist in a manner often different than irl. Atheists in many settings are more about believing the gods (if there is proof of their existence) don't deserve worship, rather than necessarily believing they don't exist

iron saffron
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People in D&D worlds accept other gods (hence pantheons) but they (clerics and paladins) dedicate themselves.

On Toril (Forgotten Realms) the gods literally walked the earth among mortals during the Time of Troubles.

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Think of atheists in a D&D setting like Greek philosophers, who rather spend their time thinking about ideals rather than dedicating their time to finicky egotistical gods.

cinder pulsar
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I was not expecting such a detailed answer ngl

iron saffron
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Lore nerds hang out here.

molten osprey
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Being an atheist on FR doesn't end well

iron saffron
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Stuck in a wall in the Fugue... (although WotC retconned that now)

zenith dust
obsidian gate
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well thankfully, it doesnt end that way anymore

molten osprey
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eh, that was just to appease the anti religious today. It doesn't make sense to be atheist in a world where everyone can see the influences of deities in action. That said unless one is clergy it feels odd to me for a character to only venerate a given deity, most people would pray to the god that they need as it applied. Praying to Tyr for a good crop is silly

iron saffron
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You don't need to be a direct follower of a god of a particular pantheon to worship them. A follower of Tyr may offer a honorary prayer to Umberlee so she wouldn't summon storms to sink their ship during a voyage.

eager bay
molten osprey
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lol

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They aren't allowed to just light you up, would be funny in a comedy campaign maybe

iron saffron
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Most mortals are below the radar of the gods or their proxies.

obsidian gate
unkempt merlin
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Hence why atheism in settings where gods are proven to exist is different than atheism irl

molten osprey
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in prior editions priests couldn't cast over lvl 3 with divine connection. Your local church to Chauntea has cured people in the village and blessed pregnancies. Denying the gods in FR is just being spiteful or possibly considered an act of insanity

obsidian gate
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even if that were true, putting those that do so into the Wall is still an act of pure evil

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so its good it was retconned, because the gods in charge of the wall were not supposed to be evil

modest badger
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There's also a difference between not really being devoted (which should be very normal for people in a panthiestic world with real gods), and being antithiest and an ur-priest.

molten osprey
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but it was. it was built by Myrkul(sp)

unkempt merlin
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The wall hasn't existed for multiple editions

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5e brought up back by accident and then removed it again

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The wall was a silly concept for a variety of reasons

obsidian gate
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i think

grim siren
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He was and he tried being much more reasonable. But it didn't work which is why he wears a mask to strip out his own humanity.

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He replaced the OG wall with a mirrored wall to show the faithless and the false the follies of their ways. The good aligned souls that were faithless were given a good place in the city of the dead. The bad ones were tortured or sent to Baator. That is its own can worms. But the idea of being mortared into the OG wall returned in 5e before being removed again.

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But all of this happened in a novel. And WotC probably was just careless when re-adding the wall.

iron saffron
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I'm surprised new WotC is avoiding D&D novels, other than Drizzt and Dragonlance, when the new corporate bosses are trying to expand outside of D&D source and adventure books.

grim siren
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Probably because they weren't profitable

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And all that was in 1998 so that most certainly knew the wall bad 25 years ago

molten osprey
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Since Asmodeus tossed the abyss into the elemental chaos does Styx still flow through Hades into the abyss?

grim siren
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The choice to republish the worst version of the lore bit over 15 years later in SCAG was not smart lmao

grim siren
unkempt merlin
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Aka Green Ronin

iron saffron
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The 4E FR lore?

grim siren
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The og wall of the faithless when it was fixed

grim siren
unkempt merlin
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Considering it was a singular line that added it back, and some of wotcs editors are... poor in the way they edit, I'm not surprised it made its way through

grim siren
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Me neither tbh.

unkempt merlin
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there are a lot of (old) editors at wotc who both put in and change things to be bad

iron saffron
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I never bothered getting SCAG as it's wafer thin compared to my thicc 3E FR Campaign Setting book

unkempt merlin
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Most notably came to a head recently by the addition of all the "primitive" descriptors in the recent Candlekeep adventures

grim siren
# iron saffron The 4E FR lore?

Only good bit of 4e lore is Laerakond since that was an OG Ed Greenwood continent from the original realms he made pre-d&d that wasn't a real world analogue.

iron saffron
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My issue with Laerakond it looks like it makes it a tad too easy to traverse the Great Sea from Faerun to Maztica

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I'm just a tad bored of 5E's fixation on the Sword Coast.

So my (original remaining) players' characters have travelled down south from Waterdeep to Tashluta. They're currently in the outer western mountains of Halruaa (after a quick trip to a small Tear of Selune) and will be spending the time during the current adventure in village of Thilzoun and then in the capital of Halarahh and the Ahlaur Swamp before heading back to Tashluta, where they'll spend a couple months sailing around the Chult Peninsla to the Isle of Dread (set SE of Nimbral).

steady verge
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What would y’all call a war between the Harpers and the Lords Alliance that mostly centers around the Icewind Dale, the Sword Coast, and the Sea of Swords? I need ideas

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(Homebrew campaign thats just using the setting of The Forgotten Realms)

molten osprey
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a good time 🙂

iron saffron
steady verge
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Also a few skirmishes take place in the Evermoors

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Right now its just being referred to as The Harpers War

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The Emerald Enclave sided with the Harpers and the Cult of the Dragon aligned with the Lords Alliance because of a number if things, this is like the fourth chapter of a campaign

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A lot has happened but I’m completely stuck on a cool name for the war

white ravine
final dust
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What's the best way to start getting into FR lore

white ravine
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Pick something you find interesting and start reading from there

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It takes a bit, but itll eventually start making sense

grim siren
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I recommend Jorphdan on YouTube his videos are easy to digest.

jovial blaze
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What’s a good YouTube video for dnd lore

iron saffron
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AJ Pickett, MrRhexx, and Jophdan.

steady verge
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Start small, then go out from there

shrewd bobcat
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In Drow lore, Females then towards the Divine/Clericial magic while male gravitate (not not choice) towards the Arcane spellcasters.
But would there be any lore reasons a Female Drow, particularly a follower of Lolth, take up Bladesinging?

white ravine
final dust
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I've watched all of Mr.Rhexx's lore vids

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Onto AJ pickets then

final dust
shrewd bobcat
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Snow Elves are canon in 5e, correct?

unkempt merlin
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not to my knowledge

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iirc they are barely a thing in the past editions as well

iron saffron
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Never heard of them.

shrewd bobcat
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I find a reference to them in 3e on forgottenrealms.fandom
but was hoping for more

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Is the Planet Oerth canon?

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Shame. Not that we need more Elves but still

unkempt merlin
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Oerth is the name of the planet of the Greyhawk setting

shrewd bobcat
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That's apparently where they came from.

unkempt merlin
#

not seeing that but shrug they don't really have much of any lore

shrewd bobcat
#

Wanted to make one.

#

I asked this once before but has anyone made a family tree of all the Elven races and their lineages?
It's difficult to keep track of

iron saffron
steady verge
#

Bits of history and lore are bound to be lost somewhere along the way

iron saffron
#

In 3.5E eladrin were celestial fey native to Arborea.

modest badger
#

The elf family tree has also changed with editions. 5e doesn't bother with one.
5e gives you high (which can be sun/gold, grey/faerie, valley, moon/silver, or high elf), and wood (wood, wild/grugach), so on, so you can use one of these bases to represent more, and .. yeah they have introduced more over the years. But Snow elves never returned.

Snow elves were introduced as a dragon magazine race for Greyhawk in AD&D 1e, (Dragon Magazine, 155# ,"In the Frost and the Snow", David. S Reimer, 1990)

Then Frostburn (2004), an agnostic supplement book, had very different snow elves, but Living Greyhawk Campaign adopted those stats for snow elves and offered them as a special reward race in Campaign Card Set 1 2007, somewhat canonising them.

That's basically it for snow elves as far as I can recall.

harsh crest
#

Any good books / places to look for info about hades.
I only need the lore, so any edditon works

grim siren
ripe terrace
white ravine
#

Though the man does exist in dnd

ripe terrace
white ravine
#

Also, Cerberus does too

ripe terrace
#

If where going by setting, i would say you could take a generic river map and darken it for the river stiks

white ravine
#

Styx is also a canon place dndLol

ripe terrace
white ravine
#

Wipes your memory out for several hours if you touch a drop of water, stay too long and its permanent

harsh crest
ripe terrace
harsh crest
#

Witch, yah il probably read sum info on norse myth and make it myself

harsh crest
#

I'm already neck deep in homebrew. A few more drops won't kill me.

ripe terrace
harsh crest
#

After 3 years.... All the homebrew has added up, I need to end this campaigne soon, any more and it's going to be too mutch to handle.
Its my first Very long campaine and I've made a lot of balence mistakes.

#

Anywas. I'm off to study the deep lore from older edditons.

ripe terrace
#

Gods speed to ya

harsh crest
#

Thank you

ripe terrace
#

Hey just reaching out a friend ask me for this and i kinda would like one also. Does anyone have/know where a good map of grey hawk that i can zoom in on is?

modest badger
#

Ohh, look into Anna Meyer''s greyhawk maps!

#

She's made some amazing maps, that include a lot of locations from the official sources and also some of the RPGA Living Greyhawk sources. Occasionally she does include a few things from her own game (like dragon lairs) but they're all good fun too.

stuck breach
harsh crest
#

yah , but its limited info

#

i was more looking if there was a hole book about the lower planes i wasnt aware of

stuck breach
#

Oh, you meant Hades the D&D plane? I thought you meant Hades from Greek mythology, lol

#

There is a D&D book called Manual of the Planes which was produced for 1e. I think there might have also been one for 3e.

#

It discusses all the planes, but to my knowledge there isn't a book which only covers the lower planes.

median bobcat
# harsh crest i was more looking if there was a hole book about the lower planes i wasnt aware...

There is going to be a lot of stuff about the lower planes on Planewalker.com, but what with WotC rebooting the Planescape cosmology for 3e, 4e and 5e, you may have a few version tracking issues:
https://planewalker.com/

Use the dropdown list called "The Planes" on that page.

See also the Planes artcle on the Planewalker.com wiki:
https://planewalker.com/encyclopedia/plane_.html

You have to know the names of the plane, you are looking for.

Here is their entry for Hades:
https://planewalker.com/encyclopedia/hades_.html

stuck breach
#

Do also keep in mind that you're free to mix up, sample, invent, and ignore whatever lore you want.

ripe terrace
ripe terrace
#

Does anyone have a preference on books about the history of the bandit kingdoms? I just learned how this area and must know all I can now

grim siren
#

Here is all the sources for the Bandit Kingdoms

"From the Sorceror's Scroll." Dragon #56, 1981.

"Where the Bandits Are." Dragon #63, 1982

The World of Greyhawk 1980

World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting 1983

Living Greyhawk Gazetteer 2000

Iuz the Evil 1993

I really like dragon #63 and the Gazetteer

modest badger
#

I'd also chuck in some modules, like Fate of Istus for places like Rookroost, and some details in the boxed set and From the Ashes.

oak condor
#

What does a drows personality tend to be like?

iron saffron
#

Depends on the drow.

lone river
#

Depends on the Drow but those who follow Lolth are typically what you'd expect from an edgy rogue in my experience

oak condor
#

Like drizzt of d'urden kind of drow.

#

I want my character to be a traitor to the drow or something like that

crude blaze
#

They’ve also updated Forgotten Realms lore within the last year or two, so yeah. Definitely varies.

oak condor
iron saffron
oak condor
#

Okay, sorry, just wondering

lone river
#

I mean if your Drow is like Drizzt then they probably don't fllow typical drow personalities

oak condor
#

true...

#

Okay, I think I will basically make him like drizzt personality. Thanks for the help!

hollow raven
molten osprey
iron saffron
#

That doesn't have stuff on the lower planes (I can check my copy)

#

Manual of the Planes would be a better source.

molten osprey
#

it has stuff on the specific realms of the princes and lords iirc

iron saffron
#

It has half a page broadly mentioning the Lower Planes and then several pages on the archdevils and demon princes (page 124+).

harsh crest
tepid plover
#

I had a question regarding Astral Elves, I see everywhere that they can live thousands of years but a lot of race creation states that those that don't dwell in the Astral Plane can live more than 750, which seems to be alike to other elf races?
And how would that work for elves in the Astral Plane that are literally thousands, if they leave will they shrivel up to reflect their age similarly to other elves? Or do they continue aging from the point they physically reflect for additional time?
Not sure what the 750 represents, old lady elf?

iron saffron
#

The passage of time on the Astral Plane doesn't exist

#

Astral elves, the gothyanki, and others who live in the Astral Plane have to leave to the Material Plane to raise children since they wouldn't age

tepid plover
#

Oh so it's literally a pause on them physically. Thank you!

harsh eagle
#

@sharp owl okay, I guess I'll rephrase, under what kind of worlds would a medusa be redeemable

#

since medusa has petrifying gaze under raw

sharp owl
#

RAW, the medusa can control it's petrifying gaze

#

And even if it couldn't, why would that make the medusa 'irredeemable'?

#

Cursed, sure
A wretched existence, certainly

vital heron
#

It's up to you, really. If you want to make the Terrasque tameable, nobody can tell you otherwise. You just own the consequences of having Asmodeus turn good, or whatever you decided.

sharp owl
#

But if it can't control the petrifying gaze, that doesn't make the medusa a bad person

#

Saying someone is 'beyond redemption' because they have an uncontrolable afflication that hurts other people has some unpleasant coding

harsh eagle
#

ok thanks for the help

unkempt merlin
# harsh eagle ok thanks for the help

What do you mean by redeemable? In eberron Medusa are their own people with their own culture and things like that, and utilize special clothing covering their gaze when interacting with creatures not of stone

harsh eagle
#

so it is hard to reconcile the people wit hthe medusa

unkempt merlin
#

Depends on the interpretation of Medusa in the setting

#

Even when its a curse

inner gate
#

I'm going to have to agree with Swampellow.

vital moat
#

Are there any good books that cover sorcerer lore or a famous sorcerer?

#

Either a “guidebook” like Sword coast adventurers guide or Mordekainen tome of foes; or novels like the drizzt series

modest badger
#

A little difficult as Sorcs really only came into D&D during 3rd edition.
Even some of the 'famous' Sorcs listed post 3rd are Sorc/wizard multiclasses, or were originally wizards.

vital moat
modest badger
#

Most of the famous sorcs in those lists I know as wizards, because they're from AD&D

vital moat
#

Awesome thanks a lot!

#

This is great 😊

molten osprey
#

I know a few who have sorc levels that are kinda obv, like The Simbul

stuck breach
#

Although granted, if they were lvl 11+, then Wizard

raven needle
#

Simon is a famous sorcerer since a few months ago 😉

safe agate
#

Lore question

Are elven monks a thing
And if not, they totally should be given their thing with nature.

modest badger
#

In AD&D, only humans could become monks if I recall, which did set a foundation for that.

in 3.5 that opened up and the monk class had this for races:

Races: Monasteries are found primarily among humans, who have incorporated them into their ever-evolving culture. Thus, many monks are humans, and many are half-orcs and half-elves who live among humans. Elves are capable of single-minded, long-term devotion to an interest, art, or discipline, and some of them leave the forests to become monks. The monk tradition is alien to dwarf and gnome culture, and halflings typically have too mobile a lifestyle to commit themselves to a monastery, so dwarves, gnomes, and halflings very rarely become monks.

#

4e in playerhandbook 3 says similar:

Races: Humans are the most common monks and master a greater variety of fighting styles than monks of other races. Githzerai society is built around monastic communities, and many members of that race adopt the monk class. Elves are talented monks, since their awareness and agility are both useful tools in studying monastic disciplines.

But I can't really recall any famous elven monks in D&D off the top of my head, or any elven based monasteries.

safe agate
#

Hmmmm
Weird
Wonder why they didn't for 5e

modest badger
#

5e hasn't really added a lot in the way of lore, and also didn't lean into race + class combos like previous editions.

molten osprey
#

Elves aren't lawful as a species, it makes dedication to monastic studies difficult

#

immortal elves should wind up like LoTR elves, millennia old monsters, D&D kinda gets around that by making them flighty (chaotic) as a culture, Harn makes them borderline senile

modest badger
#

5e has also moved away from bioessentialism like that. Many elven cultures may tend towards individualistic, and their faith and religion does encourage individualism, but they no longer have ingrained morality, chaotic or lawful.

Also worth noting in 5e they live to 750 years, not millennia. Older editions had some elves reach 1500, rarely 2000, years or so, such as some Grey elves in AD&D greyhawk. Most FR elves did not reach more than 1000.

shrewd bobcat
#

Supposing a Paladin of Kiarasalee, would you say she would embody Vengence or Conquest?

drifting jacinth
#

Are Questions about the Dragonlance Universe also allowed here?

sterile breach
#

Yep! Per the channel description:

For discussion of the lore of the various official D&D settings. Wherever possible, please indicate which setting you're talking about, eg [Forgotten Realms]/[FR], [Eberron], [Dragonlance], etc

drifting jacinth
#

Cool - So who can become a knight of Solamnia? From a class perspective?

echo wraith
#

Idk them last one's are just me spitballing

#

But I know for a fact 75% of martial classes/Half casters and War cleric are what you'd typically find

drifting jacinth
iron saffron
#

Well, pre-5E Dragonlance the Knights of Solamnia were their own martial class, not unlike 5E's Purple Knight subclass in SCAG.

#

5E Dragonlance changing the Knights to a background mixes things up...

echo wraith
#

Or like... A duelist

drifting jacinth
#

Would say more like a scout. A person who sneaks behind the enemy backline to sabotage stuff? Or someone who collects informations?

#

Oh Rogue is an Arcane Trickster and now thinking about it - I’m not allowed to use Magic because I’m not an official mage of high sorcery - And at the same time it’s hard to join the knights because I neither have the Knight of Solamnia Background or being a fighter/Paladin^^

iron saffron
drifting jacinth
#

It is. Sorry

rancid saddle
#

Hello

restive isle
#

Hi im making a city for a game, does Mara rhodiomous sound like a sci fi city?

iron saffron
silent atlas
#

So why are oni listed as giants and not fiends?

echo wraith
#

Because Oni's are demon ogres from Japanese mythology

silent atlas
#

I still say leaning more fiend than giant

echo wraith
#

Also there's a passage in the MM about Oni's:

Magical Ogres. Oni are sometimes called ogre mages because of their innate magical ability. Though they are only a distantly related to true ogres, they share the ogres habit of joining forces with other evil creatures. An Oni serves a master if doing so proves lucrative or provides it with a luxurious, well-defended home. Oni covet magic, and they work for evil wizards and hags in exchange for useful magic items.

#

They're related to ogres, who are giants. They're referred to as Ogre mages, which indicates that they're giants.

So imo, they're leaning towards giant

silent atlas
#

Arnt they on the smaller side of large thoe

echo wraith
#

They're around the same height as ogres

silent atlas
#

I thought they were 8-10ft

echo wraith
#

Also I'd like to point out: The only thing demonic or fiendish about them is their appearance and maybe like... One spell, everything else is actually pretty not-fiendish when you take into account the fact they work with fey and humanoids

#

Sure, some may work for friends, most notably devils or Yugoloth's, but like... Imo, they're just magic ogres that eat babies like an unwatched pitbull

#

Fiends*

#

Piss off autocorrect ;-;

silent atlas
#

I would describe a ifreeti and some of my players thought it was a oni

echo wraith
#

How did you describe the efreeti

#

?

silent atlas
#

Like how it looks in the official art

#

Which to be honest does look like oni art lol

echo wraith
#

Kinda, they're very similar

#

In appearance

serene crater
#

quick question, but would the red wizards of that be up for business with outside markets such as buying machine servans. trying to give reason of why a bbeg was locked in Revel's end by selling his machines to bad company

echo wraith
#

However you can generally break it down to the following distinguishing features:

Efreeti have red or black skin (not human black, more like coal or soot black), orange eyes, and wear fine silks. They do not possess claws and generally look more Nobel and regal. They also have more/less than two horns and are depicted bald.

Oni's have blue or green skin, they will always have two horns, both ivory, they have dark or white hair, jet black claws, and dark eyes, with white pupils. They also look more like their ogre kin, with them hunched over and wearing less extravagant clothing, whereas Efreeti flexes their status hard... Especially on their slaves.

#

Or I would imagine so

echo wraith
silent atlas
echo wraith
#

Efreeti's

serene crater
#

I thought the dao were the slavers amongst the djin

echo wraith
#

Ok, so, I'm pretty sure all genies have slaves

#

However Dao are proud

#

They flaunt it

serene crater
#

I know the air ones are pretty much just butlers rather than slaves

echo wraith
#

Yeah, Djinni treat them well, however it's forced service as a butler in some cases, Efreeti I think just take people as slave soldiers and also mini slave masters, depending on how cruel they are. Marids capture artistic people and worshippers. Dao actively seek out slaves to dig for gems and also trade them with the efreeti like Pokémon cards

#

I wish I was joking about that trade part, it genuinely says that in the monster manual

serene crater
echo wraith
#

I mean... Yeah, I would imagine that would be how it would go, but then also you might not be given a choice when it comes to recruiting, for better or worse

#

I mean on one hand you're living a life of luxury as a servant to a really kind and gentle soul... But then also there's the whole "I'm taking you in and you don't have a choice" side of things and even then you might get taken by a different genie and god forbid it's not another Djinni or a Marid.

silent atlas
#

Ya ifreeti are crafts men who farge enchanted gear from the material the dao mine

iron saffron
#

There were other types of oni introduced in Kara-tur beyond the ones found in the MM.

#

That said monters' creature types have changed from edition to edition as the types of creature type changed as well.

silent atlas
#

Speaking of im heading to #homebrew to get opinions for cr adjustment for the new abilitys and stat changes im giving my boss monster oni

foggy seal
#

Why are Oni “boogeymen?”

white ravine
#

They eat babies.

foggy seal
#

That’s it? They just eat babies? That’s a lot more straightforward than I would have thought.

white ravine
#

Well there is more, but that's a big issue

eager bay
iron saffron
#

No, they're the Japanese version of ogres / evil spirit / demon.

#

A goblin would imply a small creature.

wind bronze
#

hey guys, so i know pretty much nothing about the lore of dnd. but during creating a tiefling i got recommended the name “Malron Ebinon” and it just sounds familiar to me for some reason, might it be a character in some lore somewhere?

modest badger
#

This is one issue with trying to translate and compare different real world mythological terms because 'Goblin' could be applied to ifrit, the erlking, so on, and etymologically is the same as kobold. But also was just 'generic spirit/ fantasy being that was a (usually malicious) trickster'. A boogeyman is a bugbear is a goblin is a malicious spirit. But also yeah- boogeymen were also described as 'demons/devils that threatened naughty children' targetted you while you where sleeping, which is now the flavour of Oni in D&D- they can pretend to be humans, sneak into villages, cast sleep, and abduct people.

modest badger
foggy seal
#

Is “amen” a word in the Forgotten Realms? Like, if they’re praying to a god do they say “amen” at the end, or do they have their own word to end prayer? Strange question, I know.

iron saffron
#

Sure, why not.

patent yarrow
#

You can insert any religious words you like, tbh.

#

If that's how you express religion

foggy seal
#

😱

brittle palm
#

Any lore dump on pirates? Lost ship's at sea or one shop haunted ship modules?

iron saffron
#

Can you be more specific? Which region?

shrewd bobcat
#

Supposing Drow have Paladins, would they call them Paladins or would they have their own name for them?

crude blaze
#

They’d probably just be referred to as paladins, but it might depend on the setting and/or table you’re at

#

I personally don’t like to use the class names in-world, so a character that would be recognized as a Paladin from the meta perspective might just be referred to as a champion in-world.

#

But ultimately, there’s no reason to believe a drow couldn’t be a paladin, if that’s what you’re inquiring.

shrewd bobcat
#

Not that I don’t believe they can be but more I think they would have their own word for it. Like inquisitors or … I don’t know, Spider knights?

iron saffron
#

Look at the various gods in a particular setting. They have priestly and knightly (aka paladin) orders.

shrewd bobcat
#

Yeah, I’m just trying to think of creative ways to portray them

iron saffron
shrewd bobcat
#

Promising. Too bad Paladins didn’t have Bladesingers

#

Which actually makes Paladins using Charisma as a stat actually makes sense

zenith dust
#

what would bladesinging do for paladins? they are already well defended, good at melee, and casting spells

shrewd bobcat
#

Not bladesinging exactly but a fighting style like it. Like a Dex-base fighting style

unkempt merlin
crude blaze
#

I feel like Dueling fighting style evokes a Dex fighter pretty well already tbh

unkempt merlin
#

Paladin as a class is nondiegetic

shrewd bobcat
#

I feel like we’re moving away from my original point though.

iron saffron
#

This is why I said knightly order and not specifically the paladin class.

shrewd bobcat
#

Yeah and that certainly does fit the bill, at least for Eilistraee.
Was thinking more for Drow as a whole, specifically for the darker religions

iron saffron
shrewd bobcat
#

Like, Lolth has her Priestesses which take the place of warriors but wouldn’t call them similar to paladins. Though, war priest is almost a Paladin already.

And I don’t see the rest of them really having actual organized orders.

Not saying they wouldn’t have fanatical warriors though

unkempt merlin
#

That's what I meant about Paladin in the sense of the class technically being nondiegetic

surreal needle
#

Can someone help me with my dnd lore? I'm trying to flesh it out

iron saffron
surreal needle
#

Oh, ok. Thanks

iron saffron
#

Taps on channel's sign:

For discussion of the lore of the various official D&D settings. Wherever possible, please indicate which setting you're talking about, eg [Forgotten Realms]/[FR], [Eberron], [Dragonlance], etc

surreal needle
#

My bad

zenith dust
#

you didn't do anything wrong, it's all good

shrewd bobcat
vital heron
#

I just mashed some words together from the Drow dictionary. My villain was Avinsin Ell-ghor, "the doomed destroyer"

#

I mean that was his title, on top of his name.

#

Sargtlin, meaning warrior, would be an appropriate word I guess

#

@shrewd bobcat

versed sable
eager bay
versed sable
#

hell yeah

snow badge
#

What is the god of magic?

#

Just wondering for my world

white ravine
echo wraith
#

(she loves arcane embroidery)

jagged apex
#

anyone know what the normal racial relationship, ie how the 2 races interact with or view each other, is for elves and goblins? be it the forgotte nrealms or just in dnd published materials in general, i know hobgoblins hate elves, but not able to find or am aware of anything between normal goblins and elves

molten osprey
molten osprey
jagged apex
#

thx

cerulean raven
# snow badge What is the god of magic?

thoth and isis from egyptian mythos have served me well in a couple campaigns, Boccob was already mentioned but he is also the god of arcane knowledge, balance, and foresight, Hleid from frostburn is the goddess of cold magic, mystra, solinari/lunitari/nuitari is good/neutral/evil magic, and Wee Jas is my personal favourite she's the 'steward of the dead'

#

hope u find something that works for u!!

#

oh wee jas was also mentioned already whoops

molten osprey
#

WeeJas is the old school hotness that Shadow/Mystra could only hope to be 😛

cerulean raven
#

gygax knew what he was doing w her

modest badger
#

I think Wee Jas would have been written more by Lakofka, not that I want to give the man too much credit. But he wrote most of the Suel Pantheon if I recall

#

Yeah 95% percent sure Weejas was Lakofka's.

#

Least fleshed out by him.

#

Right seems to be she was mentioned and set out by Gygax (likely with input from Lakofka) in 1983's Greyhawk Campaign setting, where Gygax gathered a bunch of different lore togetehr to flesh out his campaign world, including using Lakofka's Lendore Isle/ Spindrift stuff. (One of the Suel gods being 'Lendor' is likely a reference to Lenard Lakofka).

But was first properly fleshed out in Dragon #88 by Lakofka.

I recalled vaguely that Lakofka was a big influence and designer behind Suel lore in Greyhawk.

kindred spindle
#

Who would be an evil rival group for The Silver Flame worshippers?

#

The Dark Six?

unkempt merlin
#

More likely worshippers/cultists of the overlords

split crystal
#

I like to think about the times Magic turning off with Mystra sending out a universal Sending spell saying “Sorry the Weave is down for system maintenance.”

molten osprey
#

...followed by a pop up ad from Shar

split crystal
#

As a fun bit of trolling, she happened to do it when Thay was gonna do a raid.

modest badger
#

Was contemplating in a game if Githyanki would have given enslaved captives to a vampire for repeated passage through their lair, including a Githzerai prisoner.
I know they are very anti being enslaved themselves but do enslave others on raids, but I don't know if it'd make sense for them to have bartered with prisoners, especially another gith, zerai or not.

white ravine
modest badger
#

Yeah there is that. Kill him, take control of the portal- trying to set it up so that they can't just do that so have to grudgingly pay to use the portal.

regal wraith
#

What year is it currently in the Forgotten Realms? It seems like the book releases were keeping up with time 1:1 until the last couple of years

white ravine
#

1495 DR.

elfin cradle
#

Okay, I get that the sword coast doesnt really have a "King" in the traditional sense, its closer to ancient greece with city-states, but how does that work? How do lords govern places like neverwinter?

iron saffron
#

Councils

vital heron
elfin cradle
#

So otherwise, the lords hold no territory outside the city walls?

vital heron
#

In theory, the open lord is the premier of the whole arrangement, so it's sort of like the holy Roman empire with its elected emperor...in some sense.

vital heron
iron saffron
elfin cradle
#

ohh i think I understand, instead of a traditional kingdom or country, its like a republic of lords

vital heron
#

Rassalantar, a small hamlet, has waterdhavian military stationed there, who patrol at least as far as amphail

#

Maybe pre-unification Italy would be a better comparison: city states with spheres of influence. The difference is that their borders don't necessarily touch, so you might have unprotected land in between.

iron saffron
#

City states can have power beyond its walls.

#

A city is useless without the farms around it required to feed it.

vital heron
shrewd bobcat
#

Are tall Drow a thing in Lore? Like 6+ feet?

zenith dust
#

sure

latent forum
iron saffron
ebon jewel
#

How would you all make your character backstory not tragic

iron saffron
ebon jewel
#

Ph sorry

#

Thanks

jagged barn
#

I am new to the D&D community and I have become fascinated with the world of D&D I would like to know more about the lore of D&D where would be a good starting point

white ravine
iron saffron
#

MrRhexx, AJ Pickett, and Jorphdan are great sources on Youtube for D&D lore.

hazy fox
#

Also Mr Welch (also an admin on DND Fantasy Art Page on YouTube as “Glenn Welch) for Mystara lore.

vital heron
forest sundial
#

how does arcane epllcasting normally work in DnD? Is it more like innate energy that comes from yourself, or something different?

white ravine
#

Arcane energy is generally defined as magic from the weave (anything from sorcerers to wizards) while divine magic is stuff given from gods/greater powers (like clerics/druids)

sharp owl
#

In the Forgotten Realms (the main setting that uses the weave as a concept), the following classes are considered Arcane Casters

  • Artificers
  • Bards
  • Sorcerers
  • Warlocks
  • Wizards
    And the following are considered Divine Casters
  • Clerics
  • Druids
  • Paladins
  • Rangers
echo wraith
#

Druids are considered divine???

sharp owl
#

Within those two groups, a casters connection to magic is forged differently depending on their class; bards tap into the power of creation, while paladins gain their power from the strength of their conviction.

#

Yep, they connect to the divine magic of the natural world around them

white ravine
#

(and rangers, rangers are divine too)

sharp owl
#

ty

echo wraith
#

Huh... Guess that makes a whole lotta sense ngl

fast zephyr
#

Anyone has a clue on a Plasmoid's lifespan?
They're mentioned to be based on these Dralasites, but they're stated to have an average lifespan of 250 years.
I will sort out all such details with the DM, but I'm curious if there's any consensus on that.

sharp owl
#

Plasmoids are a new addition to D&D and their lifespan isn't (intentionally) codified in lore

fast zephyr
#

Alright.

vital heron
severe storm
#

Reverting to primal*
That's how 4e at least classified them

iron saffron
shrewd bobcat
#

Honestly, I actually thought of bards as a unique form of magic user who is sort of both arcane and divine yet neither also.
Bards should of been classified as being able to draw from both.

#

Otherwise, bards struck me as more divine then arcane

#

But a cross-magical class would been interesting.

iron saffron
#

They use Wizard spells...

#

However, the original bard in 1E had to become a Fighter/Thief/Druid first before become a Bard (this is #dnd-elder-editions territory).

shrewd bobcat
iron saffron
#

Anyway, that's beyond the scope of this channel.

magic jackal
sharp owl
#

I'd heard they were inspired by a race from a different, non-d&d system, but you might be right

magic jackal
#

Both could be true tbh

#

Someone who's more familiar with AD&D 2e monsters/races fact check me

iron saffron
#

Plasmoids were in 2E Spelljammer but weren't a playable race (MC7 Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer). They were inspired by Star Frontier's Dralasites.

magic jackal
#

Good to know

#

Thanks

eager bay
#

Hey! I can't seem to find exact information anywhere, what are the environmental dangers of travelling through the Astral Sea? Is there something like a breathing issue, extreme cold, anything else to take into account when building adventures or campaigns?

Specifically asking for natural hazards, not monsters or other similar activity

spark haven
#

Barring external influence, I'm pretty sure the Astral Sea is perfectly habitable and tranquil

iron saffron
#

There's no air in the Astral Sea. Travellers who use Astral Projection and similar magic use their astral bodies to travel and are anchored to their physical bodies via a silver cord.

Those who travel by a spelljamming ship use the air around the ship itself.

#

The 5E Spelljammer should have more on encounters in the Astral Sea/Plane.

eager bay
#

To make sure I understand correctly, number one danger and priority when travelling in Astral Sea is maintaining a source of breathable air then, correct?

iron saffron
#

Depends if you're in the Astral Plane physically or as an astral body. With the latter you don't need to breath since you're just there metaphysically.

molten osprey
#

number one danger is wondering why the Kender suddenly has a silver sword

rough fractal
#

Alright, one of my players (a high level half-elf bard) in the Realms is going Candlekeep to find ways to lengthen his life. What exactly are his options?

iron saffron
#

Can you be more specific?

rough fractal
#

That's as specific as the player was. They're looking for any and all non-undeath options

molten osprey
#

how flexible are you... is he looking to purge his human side, or just go with potions of longevity

iron saffron
#

This isn't really a lore question.

molten osprey
#

Kirkson in Haruaa has an option

rough fractal
#

He wants to live as long as his elven partner

molten osprey
#

Halruaa*

iron saffron
#

King Kirkson created a longevity spell that he destroyed all sources of.

molten osprey
#

Kirkson used a variation of majic jar iirc

iron saffron
#

He's the most powerful diviner in Faerun. He extended his life via a longevity spell he worked with another archmage with — they eventually fought and killed each other (see the novel Magehound).

#

I have him in my campaign as the PCs are in the outskirts of Halruaa. So 5E is over 100 years after the events of Magehound.

molten osprey
#

what year was Magehound?

iron saffron
#

1373 DR (when Kirkson was killed at the end of the book but was subsequenly resurrected)

#

The Shining South, p. 9.

molten osprey
#

5e bard could get Clone I suppose

iron saffron
#

The king isn't going to use that spell on anyone. The Halruaans are very wary of outsiders, especially non-wizards — they are a hermit kingdom of wizards afterall.

molten osprey
#

no, he'd have to steal it some how, and Kirkson would know he's going to try

iron saffron
#

Kirkson is the greatest diviner in the Realms so he has his eye on everything and everyone in his kingdom.

#

Anyway, game mechanics-wise. Lot of elixir of longevity or become a monk/druid.

molten osprey
#

bard of the old ways

#

@rough fractal, does your bard follow any gods

rough fractal
#

Oghma

molten osprey
#

there's a human bard on Oerth, Gywdiesin of the Cranes, he's basically a chosen/lover of Beory, and is functionally immortal, at least 700yrs old. He is a planeswalker to steal a term from MtG and has visited Faerun many times

foggy seal
#

Does Demogorgon exist in every mainstream D&D world? For instance, is Demogorgon in Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance and Eberron? Does he have different names in each world?

iron saffron
#

Each campaign setting is different because of different cosmology.

unkempt merlin
calm crest
#

Several settings have a shared multiverse—Oerth and Toril, for example. However, settings like Eberron and Athas are not connected to the main D&D multiverse.

#

And Mystara, despite not being connected to the main cosmology, has a Demogorgon, but a different portrayal (female Immortal rather than male demon).

echo wraith
#

I'm sorry what?????

#

she has a Demogorgon just sat in her crib?

unkempt merlin
#

Mystara is a setting, not Mystra

echo wraith
#

Oh

#

Oh...

#

Oh that I confuse

unkempt merlin
#

understandable

crude blaze
#

It’s still really tough to break out of the “Siberspace”, but not impossible.

rocky steeple
#

I have a question.

#

Mind you I am very very new to DnD.

#

How does the God of War feel about perfidy?

white ravine
rocky steeple
#

There are multiple. Good to know.

white ravine
#

Mhm. There's a lot of gods in DND.

rocky steeple
#

"Gods by the bushel, gods by the pound, gods for all occasions." As one emperor said...

iron saffron
#

There are many pantheons. Not all are in all campaign settings.

drifting jacinth
#

Anyone here who can answer me some Questions of the Dragonlance universe

versed hare
#

I can try

#

I have read alot of the novels

drifting jacinth
#

In a nutshell - Who can become a knight of Solamnia?

versed hare
#

The old lore is like, you gotta be from solamnia, squire for one be presented by knight in good standing and complete a test that they prescribe

#

I'm gonna be a lot less restrictive about it though when I run the dragonlance 5e campaign

modest badger
#

In 5e- anyone really. Traditionally, it seems to be mostly humans. Female knights were rarer, because Dragonlance in AD&D had themes of feminism and female empowerment, so female characters were just as capable, but rarer and having to deal with sexist traditions.

drifting jacinth
#

Oh don’t care actually about the Gender. For example - Do you like have to a knight in Shining Armor and Martial weapon? Or can also a Ranger become a Knight of Solamnia… or even a rogue xD

versed hare
#

Oh any class is fine

#

For sure

modest badger
#

Any class that has martial prowess can be a good fit in the Knights of Solamnia. Fighters and Paladins make up the bulk of the knighthood’s forces. Clerics (often with the War Domain) can also be found among the knights' ranks.

For a more unusual take on a Knight of Solamnia character, consider playing a Bard of the College of Valor (or the College of Swords) or a Barbarian devoted to the ideals of the nature god Habbakuk (perhaps adopting the Path of the Zealot).

drifting jacinth
echo wraith
modest badger
#

More that while Dragonlance has many issues, when it came to female characters it was doing somewhat better than any other setting in terms of female representation, but all the female characters faced sexism and had to over come it, and it was often a big part of their character arc. Might be a bit on the nose nowdays, but was pretty progressive then. Laurana, Goldmoon, Tika and for knights of Solamnia, I will point to Riva Silvercrown / Silverblade.

Mostly a character in the comics, than novels, she's one of the few female knights of Solamnia I can think of that has any kind of fleshed out character.

Also fun fact- in all the AD&D comics I read, Riva, precious cinnamonbun Riva at age 16, is the only character who got to say a swear word.

drifting jacinth
#

I reaaally have to read the Dragonlance Books

drifting jacinth
#

But what I take away is that I can become a knight of Solamnia even as a rogue… now I only need to convince that one knight, which hates me right now ingame^^

modest badger
#

Well, that's your character arc then- to proove yourself worthy of being a knight, despite being a sneaky, likely chaotic thief, of questionable upbringing 😛

versed hare
#

A blade in the dark can take down a sworn enemy of solamnia just as quick as a charge on heavy horse, if we are to win this war we need warriors fighting every way we can

drifting jacinth
#

But yes the universe is pretty cool

minor umbra
#

Does anybody know how many planes of existence there are?

#

Like inner, outer, material, echos, transitive

iron saffron
#

That depends on the cosmology used.

#

The PHB and DMG lists out the planes in the Great Wheel cosmology.

minor umbra
#

Yeah the ones in the great wheel

iron saffron
minor umbra
#

Thank you

jagged apex
unkempt merlin
modest badger
#

Feels like that lore would be very outdated now, as it's more dependent on regional cultures and history, than racial monoliths. Even in 1e, the 'racial preference' table was removed because it felt too much like mechanical racism for 2e.

jagged apex
# unkempt merlin Setting?

mainly just in general, though if there is examples from specific settings, that works too, am mainly looking to compare published canon norms to what is the norm in a homebrew setting i am playing in

iron saffron
#

If it's a homebrew setting you make up what you will. There's no real "norm" as there's no real "default" setting in D&D.

jagged apex
#

i know, but i like to compare lore of published materials to the homebrew settings i play in mainly for fun and to compare and contrast the 2, cuz i just find that interesting as a lore fan

#

plus often helps me with RPing my characters and or helping the dm to flesh out their own lore, by raising such questions

shrewd bobcat
#

Races can have history with each other but their feelings towards each other are largely up to you

fathom rapids
#

What is the practical difference between a Changeling and a Doppleganger?

unkempt merlin
#

What setting?

fathom rapids
#

I guess we'll say FR

iron saffron
#

Changelings don't exist on FR

unkempt merlin
#

Well. MM has you covered then

Doppelgangers are too lazy or self-interested to raise their young. They assume attractive male forms and seduce women, leaving them to raise their progeny. A doppelganger child appears to be a normal member of its mother's species until it reaches adolescence, at which point it discovers its true nature and is driven to seek out its kind to join them.

#

Which is to say, a changeling is just a young doppelganger

unkempt merlin
fathom rapids
iron saffron
unkempt merlin
#

They are

iron saffron
#

You can add them at your table.

unkempt merlin
#

They are just the children of doppelgangers

#

The fey changeling specifically might not be but still

obsidian gate
unkempt merlin
#

Monster Manuel

#

Under the section called "Changelings"

obsidian gate
#

ahh okay so there are two changelings. The children of doppelgangers and the fey people (and also eberron changelings, who are slightly different)

shrewd bobcat
#

They are two different, unrelated races.
Though, they should of been tied together though.
But they weren't and it is what it is

obsidian gate
#

presumably, if the question is about the difference between the two, one doesnt mean the difference between young and old doppelgangers

fathom rapids
# iron saffron Not officially they're not.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I thought the point of Monsters of the Multiverse was "these can exist in any setting."

Changeling is a playable race in that book, which means they are legal to use in the FR setting and any prewritten or AL games there in

iron saffron
#

Campaign setting agnostic doesn't mean they're autmatically everywhere.

obsidian gate
#

Anyway, apart from cultural and biological difference when it comes to true appearance and reproduction, Changelings can just change how they look and sound, while doppelgangers read minds to perfectly mimic someone

unkempt merlin
#

Yea dopplegangers are mildly psionic

unkempt merlin
fathom rapids
#

We're getting to far into the weeds here. I picked FR at random to start a conversation. I'm interested in the 2 types of shape changing fey creatures, and how their behaviors and culture differ

obsidian gate
#

Doppelgangers are devious shapeshifters that take on the appearance of other humanoids, throwing off pursuit or luring victims to their doom with misdirection and disguise. Few creatures spread fear, suspicion, and deceit better than doppelgangers. Found in every land and culture, they can take on the guise of any individual of any race.

iron saffron
#

For some reason I had thought Changelings were a playable race in 4E but I checked in all three 4E PHBs and they're not there.

#

Edition confusion strikes again!

obsidian gate
#

Each changeling decides how to use their shape-shifting ability, channeling either the peril or the joy of the Feywild. Sometimes they adopt new forms for the sake of mischief or malice, and other times they don a new identity to right wrongs or delight the downtrodden.

unkempt merlin
fathom rapids
#

Oh? I can look it up in a sec, but if you have it in front of you, what creature type are they?

unkempt merlin
#

Monstrosity

fathom rapids
#

Hmmm... interesting

#

Actually, that solves a lot of my issues. Thanks for catching that

unkempt merlin
#

But yea it's worth keeping what oldman said in mind. Agnostic doesn't inherently mean present in all in terms of lore

#

For example Fey Changling don't make up the bulk of changeling in eberron (and if they did, they would be more likely to be one off things from Thelanis than anything else)
While in Exandria, they are derived from the feywild

fathom rapids
obsidian gate
#

honestly there are 3 kinds of changelings, though the fey and eberron ones are more similar mechanically

magic jackal
unkempt merlin
#

Fey changeling for example, don't exist in the lore of the FR. In the FR they would just be young doppleganger (potentially humanoid, maybe monstrosity)
In Eberron the classic Changeling isn't Fey (nor would it work for the lore if they all generically were)

#

Theros (as an example I remember off the top of my head) also has a fairly narrow range of playable races in it

fathom rapids
#

What makes you so confident that FR doesn't have them though? Its not like its specifically written that they don't exist. Are you just assuming that because one isn't mentioned out side of MotM, that means there are none?

obsidian gate
#

I mean, if fey changelings exist in the feywild, they exist in FR, right. its not hard to cross over

shrewd bobcat
#

It's safe to say that A changling race exists in every setting, but they aren't the same race.
But you can use the MMM Race as any of them

fathom rapids
#

Would it be safe to assume that the fey wild must exist in every setting? (Not counting homebrew ones that play by different rules)

unkempt merlin
#

Yes*

crude blaze
#

In some form, yes

unkempt merlin
#

*In canon you are theoretically able to get from the feywild to any setting.

Which isn't quite the same thing as the feywild being part of every setting

crude blaze
#

They don’t necessarily have to act the exact same way (see the Eberron version of the Feywild whose name currently escapes me)

unkempt merlin
#

Like. Eberron does not have a feywild

#

It has Thelanis as its closest equivalent

crude blaze
#

There it is

unkempt merlin
#

The Feywild that is connected to multiple other settings doesn't connect to Eberron

fathom rapids
#

So in settings that do have a feywild, are you saying its meant to be the same fey wild for all of them?

unkempt merlin
#

And now you have begun the multiverse questions

#

Theoretically, at least in the current setup of canon, there is 1 feywild that is connected to multiple settings.

fathom rapids
#

If that is true, they how can someone say that the playable race of changelings that live in the Fey Wild are not canon to FR?

shrewd bobcat
#

Because there is no war in Ba Sing Se

unkempt merlin
obsidian gate
#

thats not the same. fey changelings are not from eberron

unkempt merlin
#

Its a matter of "while something can cross from a different setting into another, it doesn't inherently mean they are a part of that other setting"

crude blaze
#

But on the other hand, are the fey changelings not setting agnostic?

obsidian gate
#

warforged are not canon to the FR because they are from eberron which is seperate from the great wheel. Fes changelings are from the great wheel feywild

magic jackal
tender aspen
#

Would this Not Be up to The DM? If My Players can give a decent argument for or against something I May allow it....

grim siren
#

The multiverse problem and the multiverse solution.

fathom rapids
crude blaze
grim siren
#

Isn't that like the offcial stance though?

#

the DM decides,

crude blaze
#

Yes, the DM can do and/or change and/or allow what they want, but that’s not particularly helpful to the discussion

magic jackal
grim siren
#

Oh don't get me wrong, I think its a weak excuse.

fathom rapids
grim siren
#

I would say setting agnositc applies unless directly contradicted by a setting specific source.

fathom rapids
#

I personally agree with that

grim siren
#

Otherwise setting agnostic becomes meaningless so fast.

shrewd bobcat
#

Eberron is canonically a part of the same lore as FR, just a distant universe with it's own cosmology
But because of this, they are canonically connected so there's no reason why there couldn't be crossover

jagged apex
fathom rapids
#

now

jagged apex
#

basically also to my knowledge changelings and dopplegangers only have a direct connection in the eberron setting

jagged apex
iron saffron
fathom rapids
tender aspen
#

Usually I run a "Changling" as Switched with a Fey Creature at Birth, Raised by (Insert Race Here) Parents... Doppelgangers I run as "Can Assume a Form after sampling said Creature."

iron saffron
shrewd bobcat
jagged apex
shrewd bobcat
#

Not that they existed in every multiverse

iron saffron
fathom rapids
iron saffron
jagged apex
fathom rapids
iron saffron
#

...

#

Dragonborn didn't exist in FR until later in 3E. They were retconned into FR lore when Abeir merged (again) with Toril. Abeir was the dragonborn's homeworld.

AFAIK no such FR lore (or the retcon of lore) has explained the inclusion or absence of changelings.

grim siren
#

I found a Dragon magazine on shifters in the realms.

#

nothing on changelings though

#

Dragon magazine 394

obsidian gate
#

not how I would put it but yeah. Fey changelings are presented as present in many settings, at least those that have close ties to the feywild. there is nothing about FR that would exclude it from the those settings

fathom rapids
iron saffron
#

You're asking for lore, which goes back to all editions.

obsidian gate
#

newer lore does supercede older lore I would say

#

if there is contradiction

iron saffron
#

That's the case with all editions — new editions' lore have always retconned past editions'.

fathom rapids
#

As soon as editions change, all of the lore from the old one is wiped clean. It's not canon anymore

grim siren
#

New beats old, spefific beats general.

iron saffron
#

Canon is moot.

fathom rapids
#

Canon is lore

#

lore is whats canon

obsidian gate
#

so the new lore is: Changelings are everywhere. doesnt matter if they were mentioned before or not

iron saffron
#

Not necessarily. 4E FR lore is not canon at my table.

grim siren
#

Personal tables are irrelevant to canon.

#

personal tables can add or remove anything on whims alone.

iron saffron
#

And that has WotC's blessing 😛

shrewd bobcat
grim siren
#

Thank god it does.

#

5e does not wipe away past editions. Like in the Realms, the Time of Troubles still happened. The Spellplague as much as it was the stupidest decsision any writer at WOTC could have had. Still happened.

iron saffron
#

There are plenty of 5E books that has glancing mentions of older edition lore.

grim siren
#

If you want a unchanging setting go play Eberron.

iron saffron
grim siren
#

Things are retconned out. As they always are. Zariel was retconned to take over the position of Bel, then later provided a story to back fill that reason.

iron saffron
#

2E retconned out the Archdevils and demonlords due to the Satanic Panic in the 1980s, replacing the archdevils with the Dark Eight, only to bring the arch fiends back once the Satanic Panic was over later in 2E. Lore changes all the time, even within an edition.

grim siren
#

People oft complain about how the Forgotten Realms in particular retcons so much and it is laughably inconsistent.

But as someone who has poured over every sourcebook, for FR and as of last week finished every currently published FR novel.

It is nothing short of amazing it is as consistent as it is. And it is more than someone who's only experience with the realms is internet memes or a module or two.

Is it confusing? Yeah. Is it too dense for its own good? Yea. But it works. Like an old 98 Ford Explorer with 300K miles on it. It gets you to where you need to go. And that is all it needs to be.

fathom rapids
#

Well, regardless, whatever your opinions are on the relevancy of old lore is, the point still stands what MotM says that Changelings exist in the feywild, and can be found across the multiverse. That in and of itself is enough confirmation to state that they can be found in FR, since it has connections to the fey wild

grim siren
#

And you know what?

#

that is okay.

#

You know what else?
If Oldman here wants to say that is not how its going to be at his table.

that is okay too.

fathom rapids
#

Sure. Everyone has a right to run their table however they like

grim siren
#

no player or other DM has the right to complain about it.

#

If a player came to me and said "Well in Monsters of the Multiverse..."

I would reply. "Well that is nice."

#

people getting this bent out of shape about canon is for certain a high reason for WOTC to deprioritize it.

iron saffron
fathom rapids
#

I think the main reason why Canon feels important to many people is because it determines what players feel like they should know or have access to. We all acknowledge that DM's have the right to micromanage what is or isn't allowed in their games, but that doesn't change the fact that a player will always be at least a little bit upset if something doesn't exist when they think it "should." Whether that's a subclass, or a race, or a creature, or whatever. A denial of expectations often leads to dissatisfaction if not handled properly. So when we acknowledge the cultural norms of what "should" exist in D&D by discussing canon, theres a bit of a subconcious understanding that it can affect the statisfaction levels at our own tables

grim siren
#

To be fair, Monsters of the Multiverse literally opens with consult with your DM before using these options.

fathom rapids
#

It does, but on a broader, cultural level, the general consensus is usually "if its printed, its allowed"

grim siren
#

Is it?

#

I have never allowed artificer in my games.

#

I only personally know one or two dms that do allow them. Its just not for us.

#

Its safer to assume that only the PHB and maybe maybe XGtE and TCoE are allowed base line.

fathom rapids
#

I don't mean to sound rude, but that kinda sounds like an echo chamber. Though I suppose i could be the one in one, and not know it. But as far as I know, its a very small minority of DMs that disallow anything

obsidian gate
#

I dont think I ever played with a DM who doesnt allow artificer

#

but then again, I only play dnd since 2020

grim siren
#

I know many DMs that do just not personally.

#

And DMs ban stuff literally all the time. Its a constant discussion point on places like r/dndnext and even here.

shrewd bobcat
#

Artificer doesn't really fit in the D&D well. It wasn't implemented well and always feels out of place overall
But I've sort of grown use to it now.

grim siren
#

So yea, the one safe assumption should be the PHB

#

and perhaps the rules expansions. But those are DM dependant.

iron saffron
grim siren
#

not to mention "If it is printed its allowed" the absolute horrid financial burden that puts on a DM

iron saffron
grim siren
#

I mean good lord the sourcebook bundle on ddb is nearly 500$

jagged apex
# iron saffron I can't find any references to them in FR.

FOUND IT! dragon magazine number 304 the article called "Guardians of The Wild", they are the first ones detailed followed by other various kinds of fey such as the "crystaline cat" and "force of nature", though will admit it is not setting specific, but nothing seems to indicate it couldn't apply to the forgotten realms as it ties them to the plane of farie, knows now as the feywilds, and the prime material plane in general

grim siren
#

I know you looked very hard for that. I am sorry you ended in the same place as we started in lmao

obsidian gate
jagged apex
#

and the magazine was made for 3e/3.5e

shrewd bobcat
obsidian gate
#

artificers always seemed like a natural fit for dnd if you went with the magic item crafter flavor

jagged apex
#

or artificers

obsidian gate
jagged apex
#

though depending on the time period and world, wizards may be called arconists, might have mispelled that though

jagged apex
#

even if not named, artificers have always had ample ecidence for existing in dnd lore no matter how far back you go

grim siren
#

The thing that perports this notion is the magic-tech look of the artificer art for eberron.

jagged apex
#

those that don't think they fit, either don't understand what the artificer is properly, or have confirmation bias as is so heavily associated these days with the eberron setting

shrewd bobcat
grim siren
#

magic-tech doesn't fit every setting. It does not fit most settings. But every setting has engineers. Inventing stuff.

#

Those people are artificers.

obsidian gate
shrewd bobcat
#

As I have always said, Artificers are just Wizard who use tools.

jagged apex
#

wizard was not even a term for the first few editions on some worlds, artificers still exists, just not in name

iron saffron
#

Artificer was semi-introduced back in 2E as a wizard specialist

jagged apex
#

yep

iron saffron
#

They were a full class in 3E Eberron.

unkempt merlin
shrewd bobcat
#

My point though is that the Artificers in Eberron aren't exactly the same crafters of magic items that were traditional lore.

unkempt merlin
#

Artificers fully fit into dnd. Even moreso if you get rid of the false notion they are reliant on technology

grim siren
#

most misconceptions like that do come from Art.

#

Thanks Art.

shrewd bobcat
grim siren
#

You are beautiful, but you be driving thought processes.

iron saffron
#

Lantan is an essentially island of artificers in FR

jagged apex
#

i blame the hated pet peeve of people having this bias and misconseption that dnd is just mideval fantasy and that is it, when it has always been both sci-fi and fantasy, for god's sake we had crashed space ships and deities that were a cowboy with a gun in 1e for crying out loud

grim siren
#

Dnd is closer to Star Wars than Lord of the Rings.

#

God I love Pulpiness in my stories.

iron saffron
# jagged apex i blame the hated pet peeve of people having this bias and misconseption that dn...

Yup, even though my current campaign is pirates-themed during the PCs' downtime I set them off to personal side quest which they met Kwalish, the famous gnome artificer on a crashed alien city-sized space ship, then to an orbitting Tear of Selune to retreive a helm (and not a helmet as the players thought...), and later the floating wizard towers of Halruaa.

I want them to experience the buffet of different things that D&D has to offer.

shrewd bobcat
unkempt merlin
jagged apex
# grim siren Dnd is closer to Star Wars than Lord of the Rings.

yeah, just do to the forgotten realms for the longest time being the primary default setting, and the events in it's history that effected the magic used for things like spelljamming at the time being effected, and the majority part that later editions focused on, the sci-fi elements were less focused on and the area of faerun happen to have a medieval europe aesthetic to it's architecture, thus likely giving birth or at least nurtering the misconception of it being just medieval fantasy.

shrewd bobcat
#

Personally, I always thought of Artificers should of been "Inverted Wizards."
They may of had some magical inclinations but shouldn't of been mandatory.
But the use the skill and knowhow to create magical effects through technology.
Instead of the opposite, which we now have

molten osprey
#

the reason canon is important is because it allows immersion by players without having to go through the DM. If you've read all the books in the Dales, then decide to make a character from the Dalelands, you're going tpo have a very good handle on what your character knows and what things transpired that may have flavoured his past. I wish more players took it apom thenselves to read up on the setting, it's the biggest reason I use Greyhawk, and not Harn or Glorantha, I want to ake it easy for my players to find stuff

shrewd bobcat
#

Yeah. It's also allows players to only need to know of just a single setting instead of having to read a DM's 300 page lore dump in addition to the setting the DM is basing their homebrew on

#

and then trying to tie it all in together

jagged apex
shrewd bobcat
molten osprey
#

I house ruled them (back when they were still UA) to work sorta like warlock spells, but it's the atrificer building gizmos to cast the spells and he only has so many gizmos he can keep assembled at a time

#

the players liked it, it felt good

shrewd bobcat
#

They shouldn't of been spellcasters. They should of had Infusions which were like their spells.

molten osprey
#

agreed

jagged apex
#

i disagree, but will agree to disagree

molten osprey
#

flavorwise, there's no reason for an artificer to have spells at all, and if they did they should all be pure utility/ritual, not combat. They're engineers & mad scientists but somehow they wound up being the magic item savant other jack of all trades behind the bard

#

anyway, wrong channel so leaving off before I get slapped on the wrist 😄

unkempt merlin
#

"somehow"
thats what they've always been. Sauron was an artificer afterall.

#

To cast a spell, an artificer might use alchemist's supplies to create a potent elixir, calligrapher's supplies to inscribe a sigil of power, or tinker's tools to craft a temporary charm

molten osprey
#

well, mages could make magic items before

#

you didn't need to be an artificer

unkempt merlin
#

sure. Artificer is a classification of wizard. The same way Paladin is a classification of priest Cleric. And Ranger is a classification of Druid. And Bard is a classification of thief Rogue.

shrewd bobcat
#

Can't wait til Necromaner gets it's own branching class

molten osprey
#

I had a blast playing a NE True Necro (of Velsharoon) in 3.5. Nicest guy in the world, but utter sociopath

shrewd bobcat
#

Yep.

#

Anyway, what would be the lore basis for a Heavy Armor wearing Sea Elf?

#

Sense they typically don't wear metal

unkempt merlin
#

Bone. Coral. The various "it's totally not metal" materials that exist across setting

shrewd bobcat
#

Aye. Reading up on their lore, they do use coral for a lot.

#

When a subclass becomes so distinct from it's base class, it branchs off to be it's own class

unkempt merlin
#

Mage, Priest, Thief, and Fighting Man splitting to what we have now

hazy fox
#

That or people just handwave the price as "so this is same price as one in PHB because finding armor grade is expensive." in 5E.

jagged apex
#

if they had been adapted beyond 2e, would puffers be considered beasts or monstrosities?, given they seem to be naturally born and have rather primal behavior from their ecology, but have a high level of intelligence stat wise
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Puffer

iron saffron
#

Monstrosities as they're not natural animals, like real lions and crocodiles are, and live in wildspace.

jagged apex
#

yeah but not every beast in dnd is one that exists in our own world, as magic is a core part of the structure of dnd's multiverse and thus some beasts still have rather fantastical or odd powers and traits

#

and again part of what has me learning toward and hoping beast would be reasonable is their ecology, makes no suggestion or mention of being created unlike other monstrosities, as monstrosities are a bit more complex than just "not natural animals" if we were to be technical here

#

but so far i guess that is one point towards monstrosity, assuming others are willing to try to help too

white ravine
#

If memory serves, Mithral was specifically made by elves

jagged apex
white ravine
#

Thats spelljammer creature typings which are trash

jagged apex
white ravine
#

Why are the space whales celestials, WOTC i am begging you.

jagged apex
#

cuz they are not simply space whales, that would be an oversimplification

white ravine
white ravine
#

Also, dohwar being Fey makes zero sense as well

jagged apex
jagged apex
white ravine
#

Maybe to you, but it throws a lot of WOTCs precious decisions into turmoil by making choices so extremely against any previous logic

#

Though to answer the original question

jagged apex
#

i am sorry you feel that way, but i don't see that as being nearly as problematic as you do, like at all, unless it is not obvious, not implied, or not explained well enough

white ravine
#

Puffers would be a monstrosity, mainly because theyre almost identical in nature to how things like owlbears exist. Its a mashing of a few animals with a few weird quirks thrown in

jagged apex
#

like closest such thing in the 5e spelljamming was the hadozee, which i honestly did not notice until it became a public issue

#

ok, 2 towards monstrosities

white ravine
#

If it looks like it crawled out of a wizards lab, it probably is a monstrosity

#

(Unless something more apparent comes up first)

jagged apex
#

well mechanically is potentially a bit powerful, bit of a shame but, version 1 will at least for now be monstrosity given the answers you both provided and your imputs

white ravine
#

Whatcha mean by the powerful bit?

molten osprey
jagged apex
molten osprey
#

conversion?

#

of a puffer?

white ravine
#

Why not lol

jagged apex
#

yep

#

despite the name, is basically croc/scorpion looking thing that is rather smart, and drifts through space, inhaling air to inflate itself and able to spend years in it's dormant state, making what air it is filled with last until it becomes active or uses it all up with propeling themselves

molten osprey
#

76hp, 15ac, +10 bite d12+4, +10 Sting d6 (poison, reach)

#

Smarter than the average person

jagged apex
#

frick, need to fix the range on the stinger i just realized

molten osprey
#

save or die isn't really a thing in 5e though

jagged apex
#

i know, took it from the giant wasp and modified the last line of the sting's effect

#

basically, if the stinger poison gets you to 0 = GG

#

and by gg i mean you die out right, no saves

white ravine
#

The poison is kinda nutty yeah

jagged apex
#

is one of those creatures that seems could be the part of the rare fantastical or magical beasts that remain beasts even in 5e

white ravine
#

The thing about how beasts operate in 5e is that they're meant to be exclusively animal-like

#

The most out there ones like flying monkeys at least could have some basis being beasts since their environment (like the nightmare island of chult) encourages them to stay away from the ground as much as possible since...dinosaurs

#

The kicker that would keep me from saying Mortiss would be beast-like is they carry innate magical powers

void whale
#

Any suggestions for a Forgotten Realms deity for a Conquest paladin?

white ravine
white ravine
jagged apex
# white ravine On one hand, cranium rats. On the other hand, those things are smaller purple wo...

only legacy cranium rats are beasts last i checked, but flying snakes and flying monkeys are beasts as are almiraj, Bristled Moorbounders (basically weird tusked panthers with spikey hides), chimeric rats/baboons/cat/foxes/hares/weasels, fiendish giant spiders, various giant versions of animals, giant space hamsters, Jaculi, relic sloths, sahuagin hatchling swarms, space eels, space guppies, space mollywawks, space swines, stirges, and young horizonback tortoises, to name a few from 5e, some having minor to out right fantastical or magical abilities that normally would not exist in real animals, are all beasts, and some more obscure beasts that have been covered by the likes of AJ Pickett has covered from past editions are beasts despite being literally immune to magic and able to drain magic

#

so magic does not automatically make an animal like creature not an animal in dnd, which is why i feel it is a valid question to be raised if one was to try to adapt it to 5e

white ravine
jagged apex
void whale
#

The archdevil

jagged apex
#

to be fair to some cultures irl, what are now to some considered demons were gods of other cultures and civilizations, so is fair to choose a power that is not technicaly a god

void whale
#

The archdevils for sure have worshipers. most of Bel's are warriors and conquest pallies

jagged apex
#

also cuz in 5e paladin's power is fueled by conviction in their cause or oath, not any god, by RAW

void whale
#

according to his wiki

jagged apex
#

so as long as your paladin believes in the oath he is swearing strongly enough, you are good to go with your powers and spell slots lore wise technically

white ravine
# jagged apex only legacy cranium rats are beasts last i checked, but flying snakes and flying...

In fairness:

Almiraj aren't too absurd, since it's just a uni-rabbit.
Moorbounders and Horizonback's are EGW
The Chimeric animals should definitely be monstrosities by definition
Giant Animals are more bestial spirits (whether or not that adds or takes away from the argument)
A lot of spelljammer's creature typings are unreliable
Jaculi are pretty much snakes with camoflague which isn't the most absurd thing
Relic sloths are Strixhaven which uhhh...screw that
Sahuagin hatchlings aren't exactly humanoid, any certainly don't act in any way like it (even if it's weird that they change typings as they age)
Stirges by all means should be monstrosities, they even describe them in ways identical to others.

In the end though, I think it's a tossup that can go either way for the Mortiss specifically.

void whale
#

One interesting thing about Almiraj is that it's size implies its a very large rabbit. like those giant ones irl

white ravine
#

They're like...a foot tall iirc?

jagged apex
white ravine
#

Sorry, 1 foot is the horn.

void whale
#

they are size small

#

tiny stops at about 2 ft

#

tall

white ravine
#

Given how the art looks, and the horn being 1 foot long...

void whale
#

big bunny

jagged apex
#

in past editions it was fey, ie 4e, cuz it seems to have bunny hopped over 3e

white ravine
#

They're about 4 horns long in their art so...yeah 4 foot tall nightmare rabbit.

jagged apex
#

and 1e and 2e had not implemented creature types as a thing yet

white ravine
#

Though they're more bunny than hare, thank god for that.

jagged apex
#

as for size is specified as "Almiraj resembled a large rabbit"

void whale
#

When i realized how big they were I told everyone that would listen. lol

jagged apex
#

so is likely on the higher end of the size category

void whale
#

Size small goes up to about 4 ft

#

from 2 to 4ft in height

jagged apex
#

so i'd say 2ft minimum for an Almiraj's size when grown

#

then, extra foot for the horn

void whale
#

so not including horn they could be up to a little over 3ft

jagged apex
#

potentially

white ravine
#

i did a size comparison using the horn as a measuring tool, and it was around 4 feet

#

little over 4 feet

void whale
#

height or length?

white ravine
#

Length of the rabbit, height of the horn. Was using the 5e art as a measuring tool

jagged apex
void whale
#

whats the height of the rabbit?

jagged apex
#

😛

white ravine
#

Beeg bunny.

unkempt merlin
#

Beast is overall a poorly defined category. Because as much as they act like magical beasts (or things that were magical beasts in previous editions) aren't Beasts in 5e, they continue to put them in there.

#

Tldr: something having magic doesn't disqualify it from being a Beast

#

But that's not really a lore thing

void whale
#

I'm gonna be playing ToA soon, but frankly flying monkeys just way better unless youre in a campaign where people keep getting distracted by how cute your almiraj is

unkempt merlin
#

They are also monstrosity

white ravine
#

Tressym are great.

unkempt merlin
#

But they are still beasts as well

void whale
#

my tressyms also a fiend

unkempt merlin
#

Unlike crag cats tressym never got hit with errata

void whale
#

i wish there was doggy familiar

jagged apex
unkempt merlin
#

(I'm also trying to find the reasoning behind dismissing both spelljammer and wildemount just because they disprove stuff but w/e)

#

Rothe straight up cast dancing lights and remain beasts

unkempt merlin
jagged apex
jagged apex
unkempt merlin
#

They are just straight up dogs.

jagged apex
# unkempt merlin Rothe straight up cast dancing lights and remain beasts

just noticed where this explains potentially why that might be "Deep rothé are Underdark cattle that communicate with one another using the dancing lights spell. Some scholars speculate that rothé came originally from the Feywild and brought the ability to cast the spell with them. Other sages attribute the ability to the centuries rothé have spent in the Underdark, where ambient magic slowly transforms everything." that is their lore in their latest iteration

unkempt merlin
#

Some lore behind them but still just dogs

#

Yes

jagged apex
unkempt merlin
#

I know why they have the ability. I was pointing it out in the sense of the "magical animals aren't beasts" thing