Quaggoth of the Underdark

The Quaggoth are the white ape-like humanoids of D&D's Underdark. They are classically depicted as surface elf hating slaves to the drow. In my Underdark, many were no longer slaves and served as mercenaries and sailors in the underground body of water called the Inkblood Sea. They were constructed with a partial basis on the Bugbears found in Volo's Guide to Monsters. Included in the race are two subraces matching the two quaggoth Monster Manual entries (one melee and one psionic).

Originally believed to have been bred by drow magicians as a slave race, the quaggoth escaped and filled their own niche in the Underdark. The origin of the quaggoths was unknown. Some sages claim that they were once a semi-civilized race that dominated much of the Underdark through conquest and ritual sacrifice, until the drow, duergar, and other races broke their power. Now they are common throughout the Inkblood Sea as sailors and mercenaries. Others in the Underdark them as tough and uncompromising.

Source

Quaggoth traits. Your quaggoth character has certain characteristics in common with all other quaggoth.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2

Age. Quaggoth reach adulthood at age 16 and live up to 80 years.

Alignment. Quaggoth endure a harsh existence that demands each of them to remain self-sufficient, even at the expense of their fellows. They tend to be chaotic evil.

Size. Quaggoth are between 6 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 250 and 350 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in Darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in Darkness, only shades of gray.

Long-Limbed. When you make a melee Attack on Your Turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.

Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Quaggoth Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.

Languages. You can speak Undercommon and Quaggoth.

Source

Subraces

Hunter

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Sneaky. You are proficient in the Stealth skill.
Surprise Attack. If you Surprise a creature and hit it with an Attack on your first turn in Combat, the Attack deals an extra 2d6 damage to it. You can use this trait only once per Combat.

Thonot

Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Thonot Fearsense. You are proficient in the Insight skill.
Thonot Psionics. You know the Mage Hand cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Featherfall spell on yourself once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Mirror Image spell on yourself once with this trait. You don’t need material components for either spell. You must finish a long rest to cast them on yourself once again with this trait. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Underdark Encounters: The Umber Hills

For the past year I ran a D&D 5e game set in the Underdark, or at least my version of it that featured elements from Hot Spring Island sprinkled in. The players all played Underdark races and never once saw the sun (the one they saw when transported to Hot Spring Island doesn't really count) My players and I finished that campaign recently so I am free to put my encounter tables up without fear of spoiling my players. These encounters were meant to provide a challenge for a high-level 5E party but the Umber Hills holds this level of danger most of the time.

Area Summary

The Umber Hills represent a section of the Underdark with glowing hills. It divides a dwarven kingdom (Argentus) from a tiefling enclave (Formosa) and is isolated from the rest of the caverns by underground rivers. Visibility is understandably much better here but the glowing hills seem to shift and change the creatures living within. The only humanoids making their home in the area are a group of deep gnome monks (The Pinnacle Order) who pledge themselves to the dead goddess of balance. 

Source

Umber Hills Event Table

A) EVENT

roll 1d10

1. Bright Lichen, an area where pressure generates light, blinding light. Not moving creates patches of light that burn for 2d6 radiant damage
2. Heart Root, a massive pulsing red root that will flood areas with red sticky nectar that smells of blood (it confers difficult terrain and grabs and sticks at flying things as per the Earthbind spell (DC15 Str Save)
3. Ancient carvings on the hills generate areas of magical darkness, of course, things are hiding inside.
4. Holes shaped like upright humanoids dot the hillside, you get the sinking feeling one of them belongs to you. (Save 15 Wis Save or start looking for yours, if you roll 10 or lower you start to climb inside).
5. A ruined tower looms ahead, a fire burns a bright green inside, you hear whispers (75% chance of summoning a glabrezu)
6. A pall cold fills the hills, treat as extreme cold from the dmg (DC10 con save every hour or gain exhaustion)
7. A buried titan's eye flutters open in waking sleep, it fires beams that slows the movement of whatever moves the most.
8. A large nest is set up amongst the hills, it belongs to something big and there's baby-like mewling coming from it.
9. A sunken temple overgrown with plants comes into view. Singing can be heard from within.
10. The way is clear and the path is peaceful...

B) Creature

roll 1d10

1. Sundew-men, monstrous plants that grow in a humanoid shape. They smell sweet and eat meat. (4d8)
2. 4 cyclops are engaged in a long distance staring contest
3. Something ancient appears, it has 4 heads, 7 wings and seeks to cleanse the hills of sinful life.
4. A troop of tielfing knights (3d4)
5. A group of Pinnacle Order Initiates (2d4) 
6. A chariot pulled by nightmares is chilling on the side of the road, I'm sure it doesn't belong to anyone. (Contains a death knight within that will possess would be thieves)
7.  A creepy gnome salesman is waiting at a crossroads, he sells magical wheels
8. A literature spider (it consumes written language) has made its nest nearby
9. A previous enemy of the party reappears dramatically!!
10. Purple Worm x2 Electric Boogaloo

5E Hack: Class Templates Part 4

Welcome back to my attempt to hack 5e character creation into something fast and rollable.  Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard class templates were mostly completed. They function as follows.

Class Templates

All classes have 6 templates. You may roll to determine or choose one from the list presented.
Templates functionally combine and replace Starting Skill Proficiencies, Starting Equipment and Backgrounds during character creation.
If your race provides a proficiency provided by your Template, you may replace one of the proficiencies in the template with a different one.

All Templates come with traveling basics

• A backpack/bag/sack
• A wineskin with alcohol or other liquid 
• A bedroll
• A mess kit 
• A tinderbox
• A day's rations (7) 
• 10 gold pieces 
• A light source (usually 6 torches or a hooded/bullseye lantern with 2 flasks of oil) 

Some templates include an animal. Unless marked by a “*” the animal has 1 hp and no concrete mechanical capabilities. Animals marked with a “*” can be found in the PHB

After selecting/rolling a template choose a discipline and toolkit for your character

• A Discipline includes a game set, artisan’s tools, or musical instrument; along with its accompanying proficiency.
• A Toolkit includes a Disguise kit, Forgery kit, Herbalism kit, Navigator’s tools, Poisoner’s kit, Land Vehicle or Water Vehicle Proficiency and the accompanying kit/tools (Land Vehicle Proficiency comes with a wagon, Sea Vehicle Proficiency comes with a rowboat).

Now completed and ready to roll on are the Monk and Ranger tables.

Monk Tables go by the following starting equipment template

• 1 Monk Weapon (Detailed)
• 1 Ranged Weapon
• Robe or monk outfit
• Musical Instrument or Artisan Tools
• A light source (6 torches or either kind of lantern with 2 flasks of oil)
• Flavor/fluff item (no clear mechanical use)
• Equipment (Clear mechanical use)
• 50’ of rope

Ranger Tables go by the following starting equipment template

• 1 ranged weapon w/ 20 arrows/bolts
• 2 simple weapons
• light/medium armor
• A light source (6 torches or either kind of lantern with 2 flasks of oil)
• Flavor/fluff item (no clear mechanical use)
• 2x Equipment (Clear mechanical use)
• 50ft of rope where applicable

Minor notes:

I have four classes left to complete before I can playtest the whole template situation. I'm trying to keep good notes on the starting equipment so I can make more templates in the future. Overall I've really been enjoying the process and hope it's something people can use in their game. 

Myconids of the Underdark

For my now completed D&D 5e Underdark game, I developed some fun setting specific player races. Here is the Myconid race available in my games. They make their home in the Rotted Expanse and two guest player had the pleasure of playtesting them to fun results.

Source

This race of sentient mobile fungi lives peaceful existences in the Underdark. They communicate through spores and are shown to be adept at magic despite a verbal language of their own.

Myconid Traits. Your myconid character has certain characteristics in common with all other myconid.

Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2 and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Size. Myconids grow to 6 feet tall, weighing around 125 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of grey.

Speed. Your speed is 30 feet.

Age. Myconids given enough nutrients can easily survive centuries with the oldest among them becoming Sovereigns of their people.

Alignment. They tend towards lawful.

Sun Sickness. You become poisoned if you spend more than 1 minute in direct sunlight. This condition ends when you spend 1 minute in dim or dark conditions.

Cast without Words. You have no conventional language, however, your magical nature allows you to cast spells that require verbal components.

Rapport Spores. All creatures within 15 feet of you with an Intelligence of 2 or higher that aren't undead, constructs, or elementals can communicate telepathically with you and with each other. You don't need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic utterances, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language. You can suppress this ability at will.

Hallucinogenic Mastery. You know the Minor Illusion cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Blur spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a Long Rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Phantasmal Force spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a Long Rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these Spells.

Languages. You can read and write Undercommon. You cannot speak.

If you have any questions about playing a mushroom person let me know!

Secret Santicorn: Codpiece Crafting

So this holiday season I participated in the OSR Discord Server's Secret Santicorn Event. As per the lovely Rattlemayne's request I've taken to creating a nuanced codpiece crafting system, including enchantments. I'll be honest, codpiece crafting has never even entered into my consciousness as something to make but here I am and Merry Santicorn!

The codpiece began life as a piece of cloth that covered an underexposed area in men's Renaissance fashion, from there it was popular for 50 years in the 1500s as a thing to adorn and call attention to the crotch region. It was also a part of plate armor construction during the time period.

Portrait of Antonio Navagero (1565), oil on canvas, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, by Giovanni Battista Moroni

Moving into the realm of enchantable codpieces I present to you the following crafting system.

Materials

The first step of crafting a codpiece is the material construction. The higher quality the material the more powerful the possible enchantment

• Gourd: Old school, easy to decorate, cumbersome, and secured by a rope sling. A gourd codpiece can be made by the poorest farmers and offers no bonuses to enchantment rolls.

• Cloth: Dignified, available in many colors (mostly red), wicks away sweat and goes great with your favorite pair of hoses. A cloth codpiece requires a skilled hand to craft and provides a +2 bonus to enchantment rolls.

• Metal: Protective, usually part of a set of armor, terrible in hot climates, you'd think the armor would protect you but it usually just draws attention down there. A metal codpiece provides a +5 bonus to enchantment rolls.

• Giant Hide: Dangerous, can be made from any giant if you're industrious enough, it's usually worn to assert dominance. A giant hide codpiece provides a +7 bonus to enchantment rolls.

• Devil Hide: Positively brimming with sin, you probably shouldn't have this on hand, always blood-red and stains other clothes you wash it with. A devil hide codpiece provides a +10 bonus to enchantment rolls.

Enchantments

The second step of crafting a codpiece is the various enchantments that can be placed on it. You can enchant a codpiece a number of times equal to your Shame (Charisma Score - Wisdom Score). Having a negative Shame value means you're less inclined to wear a codpiece overall while having a Shame value of zero means you can wear a codpiece but you find the idea of enchanting them to be ostentatious at best.  

Roll 1d10+Enchantment Bonus

1. The codpiece performs its necessary function and covers up a vulnerable area and refuses magical enchantments. You don't have to roll drawbacks.

2. The codpiece tightens 1 hour before it rains.

3. The codpiece changes color based on your mood.

4. The codpiece can be activated to pull you due north. This effect lasts for 1 hour, can be used once a day.

5. The codpiece causes all flowers within 10ft of the wearer to bloom

6. The codpiece can magically store an entire weapon within. You can conjure it and store it with an appropriate double entendre.

7. The codpiece emits light like a lantern might. You can turn it on and off with a simple tap.

8. The codpiece can point toward the nearest bar/tavern/establishment to buy alcohol at.

9. The codpiece stiffens, allowing your voice to be projected and audible up to 1000ft.

10. The codpiece can discreetly record 4 hours of audio. On the side are buttons similar to that of a recorder.

11. The codpiece can be used to turn invisible for 10 minutes. The effect functions as long as you keep one hand on the codpiece.

12. The codpiece contains a fully functioning grappling hook and 50ft of rope. It is mounted in a way that doesn't tear off your trousers upon use.

13. The codpiece contains a considerable amount of either caltrops or ball bearings (your choice). You can unleash them at a moments notice.

14. The codpiece contains wisdom from the future. Once a day you can ask the codpiece a question about the future. It will answer with a good, bad, or mixed omen (usually by rising or falling).

15. The codpiece has an attachment that functions as a heavy crossbow with 20 bolts. It can be reloaded by removing the codpiece (this takes about 10 minutes).

16. The codpiece increases your strength magically. While wearing the codpiece your Strength score increases by 4

17. The codpiece allows you to increase your size to that of a giant once a day. Your new giant form has equivalent giant strength and increases damage from melee attacks by 4d4.

18. The codpiece can extend and works like a prehensile limb. It has a reach of 10ft and can manipulate objects dexterously. It can manipulate and attack with light weapons.

19. The codpiece increases your intelligence magically. While wearing the codpiece your Intelligence score increases by 4

20. The codpiece grants infernal resistances. You become immune to fire, acid and cold damage. While wearing it you gain knowledge of the languages of hell.

Drawbacks

The third step of crafting a codpiece is to understand that wearing an enchanted object so close to your crotch might have some unintended side effects. The codpiece gain drawbacks equal to its number of enchantments. Bonuses to enchantment rolls also affect drawback rolls.

Roll 1d10+Enchantment Bonus

1. The codpiece is a little tight, nothing major though.

2. The codpiece makes loud clanging noises whenever you drink liquids.

3. The codpiece painfully retracts inward when you hear lightning.

4. The codpiece shouts obscenities whenever you cough or clear your throat.

5. The codpiece slowly dyes all your clothing and armor a dull brown color

6. The codpiece sings bawdy songs about the sea and whatever handsome lady or gent happens to be nearby (it's in your voice).

7. The codpiece occasionally will disappear completely, leaving you smooth down there for about 1d4 hours.

8. The codpiece is way too hot and chafes nonstop.

9. The codpiece forces the wearer to speak in rhyme. Not doing so deals 1d4 psychic damage.

10. The codpiece causes the hair on your head to grow down to your ankles, this hair can't be cut by mundane means and causes you to trip constantly.

11. The codpiece causes all wild beasts to instinctively hate you while you wear it.

12. The codpiece can't be removed except by a spell that would remove a curse

13. The codpiece collects static electricity as you move, zapping you for 1d6 damage for every 120ft of movement you take

14. The codpiece chills you to the bone, you are always cold and take double damage from cold-based attacks.

15. The codpiece traps your soul within it if you die. You cannot be resurrected.

16. The codpiece grows a tiny face on the material. The face can't stop talking (making stealth impossible for you) and bites anything nearby for 1d6 damage

17. The codpiece can't be worn with any other armor or clothing. All attempts to do so cause the armor and clothing to fly off.

18. The codpiece magically labels you the greatest duelist in all the land and the greatest cheater in all the land. Duelists will try to duel you on sight, gambling houses will deny you entry, and agents of the law know you by name and would benefit from your capture

19. The codpiece summons a powerful devil when worn. This devil will not act against you directly but will take every opportunity to spread lies about you and make your life miserable

20. The codpiece is very sticky and cannot be removed. Anything that touches it becomes adhered to its surface. When completely cover with objects/creatures the stickiness wears off and becomes a potent acid that deals 4d10 damage to all objects/creatures attached to the codpiece


The Bogeyman's cave did my prompt for locales in Ke'Sik here.

5E Hack: Class Templates Part 3

Welcome back to my attempt to hack 5e character creation into something fast and rollable.  Barbarian, Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard class templates were mostly completed. Since we last visited them I have added a basis for the templates that works as follows.

Class Templates

All classes have 6 templates. You may roll to determine or choose one from the list presented.
Templates functionally combine and replace Starting Skill Proficiencies, Starting Equipment and Backgrounds during character creation.
If your race provides a proficiency provided by your Template, you may replace one of the proficiencies in the template with a different one.

All Templates come with traveling basics

• A backpack/bag/sack
• A wineskin with alcohol or other liquid 
• A bedroll
• A mess kit 
• A tinderbox
• A day's rations (7) 
• 10 gold pieces 
• A light source (usually 6 torches or a hooded/bullseye lantern with 2 flasks of oil) 

Some templates include an animal. Unless marked by a “*” the animal has 1 hp and no concrete mechanical capabilities. Animals marked with a “*” can be found in the PHB

After selecting/rolling a template choose a discipline and toolkit for your character

• A Discipline includes a game set, artisan’s tools, or musical instrument; along with its accompanying proficiency.
• A Toolkit includes a Disguise kit, Forgery kit, Herbalism kit, Navigator’s tools, Poisoner’s kit, Land Vehicle or Water Vehicle Proficiency and the accompanying kit/tools (Land Vehicle Proficiency comes with a wagon, Sea Vehicle Proficiency comes with a rowboat). 

Now that the traveling basics are covered before the actual tables, they will no longer be included in the starting equipment portion. I will be updating the previously posted tables to fit the new format in a pdf document in the future. For now, enjoy the table for druid I have retrieved from the wilds.

Druid

I am a fan of the new look, It wastes less space on survival essentials and lets the specific flavorful stuff stick out more. Raised by Wolves and Stormborn, in particular, are my favorites.

Starting Equipment Includes: 

• Druidic focus
• Melee weapon
• Armor (Light) with a thematic cloak
• A light source (6 torches or either kind of lantern with 2 flasks of oil)
• Flavor/fluff item (no clear mechanical use)
• Equipment (Clear mechanical use)
• Herbalism Kit (All druids have herbalism kit proficiency)

Coming soon to this blog are the ranger and monk tables chock full of evocative templates like fur trapper and wandering poet.

5E Hack: Class Templates Part 2

This post documents one of my proposed D&D 5E Hacks, The Class Template. It includes Proficiencies, Starting Equipment, and Backgrounds into an easy to parse 1d6 table. Part 1 included the Barbarian and an explanation for the Templates use in character creation. Part 2 has the 4 Classic Classes (Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard) and the notes I used to fill in their starting inventory.

Cleric

Cleric was a fun one to put together. The most important thing to include in a cleric template I felt was a unique holy symbol. While players are free to change how their holy symbol looks, having a unique one for each template gives them more personality. My favorite would probably be Wild-Eyed Doomsayer. 

Starting Equipment Includes:

Melee weapon

Shield/ranged weapon

Armor (light or medium/heavy)

Holy symbol (with detail)

Bag of some sort

A light source (6 torches or either kind of lantern with 2 flasks of oil)

Holy text (no clear mechanical use)

Clerical Equipment (clear mechanical use)

Wineskin and liquid

50ft of rope if the template is military or dungeoneer focused

Tinderbox, rations (7 days), 10 gp

Exceptions based on the template

Fighter

The fighter as it stands shares templates with the Barbarian. The three that are shared (Sea Rover, Monster Tracker, and Steppe Nomad) tended to be well equipped enough to function as fighters. As a minor note 3 of the 6 templates feature an animal of some sort. While the Corsair's parrot serves as more a 1 hp pet with little to no mechanical benefits, the Sea Rover and Steppe Nomad feature animals that classically have stat blocks. I am considering dropping these animals for future iterations but for now, they stick around. Of the six templates, Corsair is my favorite. 

Starting Equipment Includes

2 Melee Weapons

1 Ranged Weapon

Shield

Armor (Light/Medium)

Bag of some sort

A light source (6 torches or either kind of lantern with 2 flasks of oil)

Flavor/fluff item (no clear mechanical use)

Equipment (clear mechanical use)

Wineskin and liquid

50ft of rope if the template is military or dungeoneer focused

Tinderbox, rations (7 days), 10 gp

Possible exceptions based on the template

Rogue

Rogue has the most skill proficiencies to work with as well as an auto-included proficiency in thieves' tools. I'm still on the fence about matching this amount of proficiencies in Bard so be on the lookout for that update. Rogue has the most starting nonweapon equipment to work with as befitting of their station and Duelist for Hire is probably my favorite out of the lot.

Starting Equipment Includes

2 Weapons

Leather armor

Thieves’ tools

Bag of some sort

A light source (6 torches or either kind of lantern with 2 flasks of oil)

Flavor/fluff item (no clear mechanical use)

3 Equipment (clear mechanical use)

Wineskin and liquid

50ft of rope

Tinderbox, rations (7 days), 10 gp

Possible exceptions based on the template

Wizard

Wizards have the usual 4 proficiencies with an auto-included arcana proficiency. Every wizard also includes a unique spellbook and focus They have access to less equipment overall but that may change in future updates. Sylvan Ambassador is my favorite wizard template out of the six as it leads into a more fey/illusion aesthetic.

Starting Equipment Includes:

Spellbook

Focus

Bag of some sort

A light source (6 torches or either kind of lantern with 2 flasks of oil)

Simple melee weapon

Simple ranged weapon

Flavor item (no clear mechanical use)

Wineskin and liquid

50ft of rope if the template is military or dungeoneer focused

Tinderbox, rations (7 days), 10 gp

Exceptions based on the template

With the 4 Classic Classes completed, my next goal is to venture into the wilds and return with templates for Druid and Ranger. I'll of course update any of the previous tables with any changes I make. Until then I hope you can use these at your table for some quick character generation.

5E Hack: Class Templates Part 1

At this point, it is fairly obvious I play D&D 5e and maybe less obvious that I think character creation is a huge chore. To remedy this I present Class Templates, put together by discord user @Jojiro#7209 and myself.

The Class Templates combine Proficiencies, Starting Equipment and Backgrounds for the player to roll or choose from on a 1d6 table. Currently Barbarian, Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard are completed. The Barbarian Template was a test case but as written you could roll a classic D&D party and have your 1st level character halfway done within 5 minutes. Below is the Barbarian Template.

I decided on Athletics Proficiency as an auto-include due to all the benefits from Barbarian Rage. There is some overlap between the Barbarian and the Fighter, particularly with Sea Rover, Monster Tracker, and Steppe Nomad. I intend to update and specialize them in the future but for now, they serve as an interesting template for both.

I've also included some notes on filling in the Starting Equipment

Starting Equipment Includes
2 Melee Weapons
1 Ranged Weapon
Shield
Armor (Light/Medium)
A bag of some sort
A light source (6 torches or either kind of lantern with 2 flasks of oil)
Flavor/fluff item (no clear mechanical use)
Equipment (Clear mechanical use)
Wineskin and liquid
50ft of rope if the template is military or dungeoneer focused
Tinderbox, rations (7 days), 10 gp
Possible exceptions based on the template

The overall goal is to cut down on character creation time for new players or players in a high lethality 5e game. In my follow up post I'll include the 4 Classic Classes and their Equipment notes.

Worldbuilding: Ke'Sik, the Red Faithful (Part 1)

Players adventuring in Ke'sik will find a cold and silent place. A valley full of grey trees and masked men in red. The jarls of the North all agreed to not attempt to conquer the valley, lest provoke the strange people who live within. Some jarls secretly wish to despite the warnings, the people of Ke'sik once conquered the whole of the North and hold old treasure presumed lost forever.

Source

The origins of Ke'Sik began with some dope art from Josh Corpuz. Their face was hidden, their weapons glow and their theming was top notch. Ke'sik as an adventuring location emerged from my need to give them a home that could culturally explain looking like a badass in red.

Prehistory

 Ke'sik started as an unheard of northern tribe. The first people of Ke'sik dyed their clothes red with the sap of a dark grey tree and wore simple masks that obscured the face. Riding upon their great tusked beasts of war they made many neighboring tribes bend the knee. They would raze enemy settlements to the ground and on each slain foe they planted a seed of the dark grey tree with red sap. Before long they had conquered a whole valley and were constrained only by the mountains that surrounded them.

Source

Dawning Age

While other places on the continent were still discovering the secrets of metal and magic, the first people of Ke'sik were learning more about their great ritual tree. By now the whole valley was filled with them. and some had grown alcoves that shone a dull red. The shaman of the first people heard the signs. Their forest could grow beyond the mountains if but a few were given to the trees. "The bark would be their mother and the sap would be their milk. Give your children to the trees. May their bellies be full of the vigor of youth." The first people obeyed her edict and placed the children in the dull red alcoves. Creatures began to emerge from the forests, they paced and moved like powerful predators crafted from red tree bark. They lacked heads at first but over time the people saw their children emerge from the monstrous torso. The red worshipped their children for the forest had made them beautiful and strong. The shaman commanded these children of the forest to gather to her, for conquest was at hand. She named them "The Raudr."

Source

The Raudr are still around today in the North. There exist pockets of the dark grey trees that weren't torched by great armies and people who cling to the old monstrous faith. The type of Raudr depends on the birth order of the child sacrificed to the dark grey tree. All are by the usual estimation centaur-like with the bestial part being made of dark red bark and the human part being covered intermittently by this bark. All Raudr are born with a mask of silvery metal covering their face. All Raudr are violent and hungry. When they die a dark grey tree grows from their corpse after 7 days unless immolated.

1. A First Born creates the Raudr Gungir. It has the lower body of a dragon and the human elements of an old wizened man. It speaks in murmuring warnings about the future and can manipulate the bones of the living and dead.
2. A Second Born creates the Raudr Gram. It has the lower body of a many-legged wyrm and the torso and the human elements of an elderly woman. Its breath creates connected portals and its voice sounds like gravel being sifted.
3. A Third Born creates the Raudr Tyrfing. It has the lower body of a stag and the human elements of a young woman with silver hair. It can boil the blood of men and beast alike. To allies this is a boon, to enemies it drives them mad. It makes a faint sobbing sound rather than speak.
4. A Fourth/Fifth/Sixth Born creates a Raudr Forseti. It has the lower body of a muscular drake and the human elements of a young man/woman with short blond hair. It is natural skilled at weapons of war and has a voice like a bellowing horn.
5. A Seventh Born creates a Raudr Hrotti. It has the lower body of a fat toad and the upper body of a beautiful young man. It sounds like sweet dreams and spider silk and can steal shadows.
6. A Child beyond the Seventh creates a Raudr Stillborn. It has the body of a lithe drake and has only the atrophied face of an angelic babe as its human element. It has no voice and creates an aura of silence in its wake.

5 Room Dungeon: A Tomb For Beans

For more info on 5 Room Dungeons check the Link

The main deal is that I love making these as a creative exercise and as a fun self-contained nugget to put somewhere for my players to find. This one has had a successful run in a 5e West Marches game and served as a fun way to introduce underwater theming far from the ocean.

Source

Fluff: Some foolish child bought some magic beans and rolled the die of fate horribly. The farm where he planted the bean has been destroyed as the bean has spawned a level appropriate ancient sunken tomb set into a flooded crater. The coral doors depict the name of Elik Va Resh, an ancient Sahuagin king whose tomb was thought lost to history.

Room One Entrance/Guardian: A Sunken Shark

A sahuagin priestess and her brood guard the entrance to the tomb which is set in a vast flooded crater present where the foolish child’s farm once was. They fight from a vast underwater pool and will attempt to drag people under to fight them with ease. The priestess holds the key to the tomb and will generally keep on the defensive. At a pivotal moment where all seems lost she can summon a coral golem crafted from the corpses of sahuagin. It will rise next to the priestess to join the fray.

Room Two Puzzle/Roleplaying Challenge: A Light in the Water

The tomb proper is only half flooded, enough to create difficult terrain for any medium sized creature without a swim speed and completely submerging any small creatures. In the first room, many brilliant shafts of light pierce through what appear to be solid chunks of glass that make up the ceiling of the first floor. There are various archways each blocked off by different materials. One by thick roots, one by a cloud of thick green gas, and the last by solid thick darkness. Hidden around the room are rods with small pieces of colored glass, one red, one blue, one yellow. The rods can channel one of the shafts of light to burn away at the obstacles in the archway in the following manner: red(fire damage) - thick roots, blue (lightning damage) - gas, and yellow (radiant damage) -darkness. Using the incorrect color on a door will spawn 1d4 electrin which function like magmins except they speak Aquan, deal/are immune to lightning damage and charge people with static electricity. Two of the archways contain treasure while the third leads further into the tomb.

Room Three Trick/Setback: A Scylla and Charybdis Problem

This room features a 5ft wide hole leading to a room with an aquatic roper. It has 10ft of swim speed and its rocky carapace is cracked providing only 15 AC to it and its tendrils. The roper will attempt to grapple and reel any creature in the center of the room. The edges of the room are raised and are mostly out of reach of the roper. The walls are decorated by murals of sharks which will magically move around the murals to bite at people treading the edges of the room to avoid the roper (the mural sharks use a +5 to hit and do 2d6 piercing damage.) Anyone capable of speaking shark or Aquan can deactivate the murals by saying “down boy” The instruction to do so is written in Aquan in the entrance archway.

Room Four Climax/Big Conflict: Elik Va Resh, Lord of the Tomb

In the throne room sits Elik the Sahuagin Baron and sunken king, he is flanked by waterfalls hiding 6 electrin. He sits laughing as he torments a small boy holding an empty bag of beans. Elik wields a magical trident and has an aura of fear the effects all within 60ft of him.

His throne room provides him with the following benefits as long as there are electrins toiling away:

• Roll Initiative for the electrins. On their turn they don't attack, they simply use a mystical orb unless the orb is destroyed. 
• The orb allows Elik to perform more than one action per round. On an electrins’ turn, they forgo their action to have Elik attack once & move half his movement, take the disengage/ dodge action, or reroll a saving throw. 
• 3 electrins may forgo their turn to provide legendary resistance up to 3/day.
• On initiative count 20 Elik gains 1d10 temp HP per electrin alive and powering a mystical orb.
• On Elik's initiative turn, he can take his full turn as normal.
• Killing the electrins or destroying the orbs will remove these extra abilities.

Room Five Reward/Revelation/Plot Twist: The Final Bean

The child provides his rescuers with his final magic bean which he assures will create a natural freshwater spring when planted but cautions to plant it away from farmland and homesteads just in case. Also in the final burial chamber is a chest of 300 bloody gold pieces embossed with sharks.

Underdark Encounters: The Rotted Expanse

For the past year I ran a D&D 5e game set in the Underdark, or at least my version of it that featured elements from Hot Spring Island sprinkled in. The players all played Underdark races and never once saw the sun (the one they saw when transported to Hot Spring Island doesn't really count) My players and I finished that campaign recently. There were magic eating constructs, evil deep gnomes monks, and medusa shock troops galore.

Along the way, I designed some fun encounter tables for the more dangerous regions the players traversed. Below is the table for one of my favorite regions: The Rotted Expanse.

Area Summary

Mushroom Men, meets Chernobyl, meets Salt in Wounds, meets that scene in Blade Runner: 2049 set in Dust Bowl Vegas. Three titanic beasts fought a battle, died and have been rotting ever since. In this section of the caverns is near impossible to breathe in unassisted as the air is choked with a yellow fog made up of spores and poison gases. The only things that thrive here are demons, rot, and Myconids. The myconids made the three slowly rotting beasts into their home cities and tend to be isolationist in nature. Occasionally, Underdark city states close to the Rotted Expanse send caravans through to trade with the myconids. These caravans are the safest way to travel as they provide breathing masks and strength in numbers. My players took part in one of these caravans.

Source

The Rotted Expanse Event Tables

A) Event (While traveling the following occurs...)
roll 1d10
1. A sinkhole crumbles around the party
2. A thick spore fog lowers visibility to 10ft
3. An ethereal noise echoes throughout, Wis Save become lost and confused.
4. A sickly sweet smell surrounds you, Con Save or suffer exhausting hunger
5. A field of exploding spherical mushrooms
6. Giant pillars of bone jut out of the mottled ground, The smaller finer bones litter the area around it.
7. A strong wind blows through, verbal communication, flight, and gaseous effects are near useless.
8. You pass a massive stone monolith glowing with red energy
9. Mushrooms begin to grow at an alarming rate, it becomes difficult terrain
10. You come across a failed drow colony. Buildings are covered in fungal growth

B) Monster (At the site of the Event you encounter..)
roll 1d10
1. A Mind Flayer researcher and his two pet Chuul
2. A skull obsessed demon bird named Gor.
3. Two ancient constructs carry a puzzle box through the wastelands. They appear to be following a preset path
4. Living whirlwinds filled with spores tear through the landscape.
5. A Myconid Merchant selling breathing masks and bone sculptures
6. Three tall ethereal antlered beings appear, they accept offerings for wisdom.
7. Giant mushroom dryads are participating in a neat little dance, they ask you to join.
8. A squad of myconids, dressed for battle is cresting over the hill.
9. A small garden of gargoyles, carved from bone, is set up in what appears to be an intricate pattern.
10. A looming silhouette is seen in the distance, a flat giant is making its rounds

C) Attitude
roll a 1d6
1. Hungry/Exhausted
2. Aggressive
3. Hunting for (creature)
4. Looking for (object)
5. In conflict with (roll B again)
6. Willing to trade/ distracted if unintelligent

DungeonLiar (Technically a Relaunch)

From the mind of @spindatheliar comes the launch of my blog (now with more OSR sensibilities). I'm jumping on the blog train because:

• I've miss designing and documenting RPG and D&D content. 
• My original blog didn't live up to my expectations. 
• I've recently joined some choice OSR discord servers and love the cool ideas I get to apply to my usual D&D fare
• I've been told by enough people that maybe I should shout my ideas into the void so here goes

I'm starting off with something simple, a cool hex I made for a 5e hexcrawl contest. Odds are I might repurpose it for a hexcrawl project I've kept on the back burner. It doesn't necessarily need to be tied to D&D but the white apes helping a psychic alien rebuild it's spaceship in the desert is too evocative to not share.

The Crashed Nautiloid

A crashed astral shuttle and the enclave that surrounds it radiates menaces. You can see various white furred apes going about their daily activities and you feel like you’re being watched. Here in the desert is a small rough-hewn village, arrayed around a small oasis and populated by 15 or so four-armed albino apes.  These girallon (VGTM pg 152) are leagues more intelligent than their more savage cousins and have 14 intelligence as well as the ability to speak in sign language from exposure to the creature within the crashed shuttle. They follow the orders of the creature and revere it like a god.  They are under strict instructions to capture alive any intelligent creature that enters the borders of the village and kill any creature who is deemed too much trouble. Their individual huts do not contain any treasure of note beyond some rough-hewn tools and carvings of some many limbed deity that appears attached to a spiral shell. The girallon tribal leader (denoted by his distinctive headdress frilled with long purple cords that fall to the monster’s knees) has been outfitted with flensing claws (VGTM pg 81). Its claw attacks deal 1d12+4 damage. He also has some pieces of nautiloid steel fitted as a sort of half plate (AC 17). 

Near the center of the village is a crashed Nautiloid (VGTM pg. 78) The fairly large vessel is mostly either in pieces or buried in the sand. The pieces that remain above ground resemble a collapsing spiral shell with a nasty gash down the side serving as an entrance. The room immediately past the gash appears to be some form of ship deck with various upturned tables and instruments. There is an open porthole in the ceiling with a rusted metal ladder leading up. Surrounding the ladder are various offerings. These offerings include large bowls of brine-filled water and several bound halflings that look severely underfed and unconscious. Occasionally several long purple tentacles will reach down through the porthole and grab an offering.

In the upper level attached to the ceiling and pinned by various machines and psionic instruments is Velthoris an Ulitharid (VGTM pg 175) who has seen better days and currently boasts a speed of zero as he remains attached to the remains of his nautiloid. Having to rely mostly on his tentacles to manipulate things in his permanent domicile, he can use two tentacle attacks as one action. Using his considerable psionic abilities to wrest control of the girallon in the area, Velthoris has tasked them to slowly restore himself and his ship to its former glory. At the current pace, this is likely impossible and the ship will never truly fly again.  Velthoris continues his crusade regardless and needs brains to do it. He orders the girallon to capture most anyone they can alive as a snack to speed his recovery. Should Velthoris recover completely he will likely take steps to complete his transformation into an elder brain and gods help surrounding areas after that.

Velthoris makes a fairly effective tactician, using his creature sense to pinpoint intelligent intruders within two miles and directing his girallon in ambushes from the dunes. He likely won’t use plane shift as the strain of moving his pinned and ingrained body will likely kill him.  If he is in danger he will emit a psychic cry for help that any girallon in range will heed. In a moment of final desperation, he can use a reaction to activate the ship’s self-destruct engine dealing 10d6 fire and 10d6 force damage in a 600ft radius 1 minute after its activation (No save).

Plot Hooks: 

Mysterious Kidnappings

We’ve heard tell from our scouts that kidnappings are becoming a serious problem near the desert edge.  The culprits appear to be white apes of some kind.

A Crashed Ship

A couple months ago a large structure not unlike an astral ship crash-landed in the desert. None of the scouting parties sent to check it have returned.