Tag: Playing D&D

  • Errata for December 2021 mostly focused on helping your character be yours

    Errata for December 2021 mostly focused on helping your character be yours

    The semi-regular blog by the D&D team at Wizards of the Coast released today is from Jeremy Crawford, folding in Sage Advice and Errata updates.

    Four rules answers are shared, all about spells. The biggest impact on my games would be the clarification that spell attacks are not spells. This means Counterspell and similar are not effective against the consolidated stat blocks for monsters in the latest and upcoming releases. Also, Silvery Barbs is ineffective against Legendary Resistance, which shouldn’t be a surprise. The other two questions seemed to have obvious answers, but the clarification helps.

    There is a significant change to Drow, and that connects to most of the player-facing Errata updates.

    This new text replaces a description that confused the culture of Menzoberranzan—a city in the grip of Lolth’s cult in the Forgotten Realms—with drow themselves. The new text more accurately describes the place of drow in the D&D multiverse and correctly situates them among the other branches of the elf family, each of which was shaped by an environment in the earliest days of the multiverse: forests (wood elves), places of ancient magic on the Material Plane (high elves), oceans (sea elves), the Feywild (eladrin), the Shadowfell (shadar-kai), and the Underdark (drow). Drow are united by an ancestral connection to the Underdark, not by worship of Lolth—a god some of them have never heard of.

    Sage Advice December 2021

    Within the nine books that have Errata updates that theme is extended.

    The Player’s Handbook sees 15 of 22 new changes being related to Alignment. The most common change is “The “Alignment” section has been removed.” No longer are characters going to be directed towards certain behaviors. They are, instead, the heroes and anti-heroes of the story — unique and special.

    “The “Alignment” section has been removed.”

    Volo’s Guide to Monsters and Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide (which is not only still in print, but still getting updates!) have similar changes to their PC-facing content. Volo’s also notes that Volo himself is an unreliable narrator with almost all of his experiences being confined to the Forgotten Realms.

    “The lore in this chapter represents the perspective of Volo and is mostly limited to the Forgotten Realms. In the Realms and elsewhere in the D&D multiverse, reality is more varied than the idiosyncratic views presented here. DM, use the material that inspires you and leave the rest.”

    Volo’s Guide to Monsters Errata

    SCAG has some changes to the Sun Soul Monk and the Swashbuckler that bring them in line with these subclass’s appearances in other books.

    Overall the Errata focuses on the concept that only canon that matters is what’s at your table, and that your character is yours. All nine books with Errata in the last year are linked at the Sage Advice update.

  • Embracing the Mechanics of Backgrounds

    Embracing the Mechanics of Backgrounds

    As Wizards of the Coast makes changes to how race & lineage impact character creation there is some pushback towards removing Ability Score Increases from race and having that instead be a floating adjustment. There are many proposed adjustments and several games or third-party products include adjustments to this part of the system, to varying degrees.

    Ancestry & Culture and Level Up are the two that I’ve been most intrigued with to this point. My home game just uses floating ASI for simplicity’s sake. Another movement tries to connect the ASI to Backgrounds. One such proposal on reddit suggests this because;

    The backgrounds we have in basic 5e are fairly lackluster. Here’s some tools and a little feature. It’s kinda meh. You can almost skip them in character creation.
    What I’d like to see are dozens of backgrounds that provide: tools, languages, equipment, more substantial features, as well as appropriate ASIs. They could provide so many more variations with every published book as well as allow for plenty of homebrew.

    There are a few reasons this suggestion would not work at my table, and isn’t recommended.

    • You can already suggest that your Floating ASI connects to your character’s Background. As well as writing your character’s story as if the Floating ASI connects to your racial/species/lineage origin, or to Class, or whatever element you want. This empowers players to tell the widest variety of tales possible.
    • Assumptions about weak/strong, or unintelligent/smart people in specific roles aren’t as bad as those connected to race, but they’re still not great. Being a weak Farmer is a good story, whether or not the character is a Remarkable Drudge.
    • Backgrounds already do a lot of mechanical work. Embrace those mechanics. Their design tells your table so much about who you are and why you do the things you do. The Background rules do not need to change. They need to be used.
    Photo by Canan YAu015eAR on Pexels.com

    Mechanics of Backgrounds

    To review every Background in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition as written includes two skills (roughly 1/4 to 1/2 of the skills your character begins with), two languages/tools/games/instruments/kits (closer to half of the beginning amount), and a social or exploration themed feature. A removal of Backgrounds further reduces the social and exploration pillars bringing the game back to its wargaming roots, which ignores current desires of most gamers.

    This change also ignores the Traits, Ideal, Bond, and Flaw system. These few short sentences are guidance towards personality, more so than the archaic use of Alignment. They tell you about the who of your character. They are not a complete personality, but a snapshot. This system also adds mechanics to roleplay. When a character plays their Traits, Ideal, Bond, and/or Flaw they are granted an Inspiration Die. This d20 is consumed when a player wants to grant their character advantage (a handy house rule is that players can grant each other an Inspiration Die based on roleplay too). Having advantage is powerful. The math shifts.

    Together there are ten mechanics attached to Backgrounds. TEN.

    Plus those mechanics attach themselves to something else that race and calls do not — the story of what you did Before. Your zero to hero journey is fundamentally intertwined with Backgrounds.

    Backgrounds Empower Story

    What were you before you picked up a sword or spell to fight a bandit? How did that upbringing and background inform who you are becoming? Real world ‘adventurers’ are not the same, even if they are from the same ethnic group and took the same adventuring job. A studious nerd from the ‘burbs who became a linguist with the Special Forces has a different story from the hunter from rough rural lands who became a linguist with the Special Forces.

    Tools aren’t ‘meh.’ They are powerful ways to talk about what your character is outside of combat. Tools are one of the best ways to explain your character’s hobbies. And your character must have a hobby. People in the times that inspire our game had hobbies. Tools are also ways to tell cultural stories about a region. The existence of an expert coffee roaster or athlete carries worldbuilding implications. Knowing more languages than typical speaks to a character’s education (either by book or by street or by silk road)

    Those social and exploration features are some of the only ways that a Fighter will have social and exploration mechanics. The class is so blank slate that without Backgrounds that hole is massive. They also augment the ways that the rest of the Classes interact with those pillars of the game.

    Backgrounds help D&D players differentiate their characters by adding another layer of story from Before as they begin to tell the story of Now.

    Custom Backgrounds for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons

  • Latest Unearthed Aracana sends us to the Phlogiston (maybe)

    Latest Unearthed Aracana sends us to the Phlogiston (maybe)

    With the announced pace of products picking up, we should also expect Unearthed Arcana’s pace to pick up. Today, Wizards of the Coast sent out the latest Dungeons & Dragons playtest document with six new races to play n the game. They have strong flavors of my favorite settings from the days of yore — Spelljammer.

    Unlike the foundational settings of D&D Spelljammer has no relationship to the real world or literature. The concept is D&D in space, but an odd kind of space with ships that look like dragonflies and mind flayer heads, all powered by hooking up a magic user to a chair/helm/etc that sucks magic from them. Each “solar system” exists within a crystal sphere, and outside of that is a highly flammable sea of a Phlogiston.

    There are prates, even crafter gnomes, space monkeys that can glide, Victorian hippo-people, asteroid trading posts run by beholders, fleets of mind flayers. The whole of the setting is comc book/cartoon joy with themes of exploration similar to Star Trek.

    Some of the new races are also part of the Planescape realm and the thri-keen are one of the signature elements of Dark Sun.

    Astral Elf

    An elf denizen of the Astral Plane who is likely thousands of years old.

    What I like

    Radiant Soul is a cool way to bounce back from death’s door once per day. That you must be down and making death saves in order to use it connects the mechanics to Astral Elf’s planar nature.

    Trance Tools are a non-cultural way to gain proficiency, nifty little mechanic. Maybe my favorite from this drop, which is funny because…

    What I don’t like

    Don’t know why the world needs another elf, ever. There are a lot in D&D these days, with more to come for every new setting. The Astral Elf, if the feedback is strong, will be the 14th elf within official D&D worlds for Fifth Edition.

    Also, just after so many reminders that each playable races is supposed to have a human-like age spectrum, the Astral Elf is even older than normal elves.

    Will I play one?

    Probably not. Elves and all their permutations are my least played race. The idea of an ancient people viewed as the ideal of sapience has little appeal to me.

    Autognome

    A mechanical gnome gifted with free will.

    What I like

    True Life is a brilliant way to empower healing for living constructs. The Warforged need this in the expected minor racial reworks coming with the three-book gift set.

    Built for Success strongly connects the rules of the race to why the race exists. Gnomes created these automatons to be better than gnomes are, at least at certain tasks.

    What I don’t like

    Sentry’s Rest is another variant on Trances. Having a party with a creature that needs 4 hours, and another that needs 6 hours, and most that need 8 hours adds unnecessary complexity to organizing watches.

    Will I play one?

    Yep, I love the little people. Also, I enjoy tool users and specialists. These would make strong Rogues.

    Giff

    A hippo-headed being of impressive size.

    What I like

    They’re big, really big. Playing a super-sized race that doesn’t have to smush itself through most passages is a great way to feel more powerful than you are in real ife. Hippo Build embraces this.

    What I don’t like

    Damage Dealer connects more strongly to Rogues and Paladins than the Giff’s traditional role as a Fighter. Also, that’s it. They only have two traits. The Astral Elf, embracing their racial superiority have seven.

    Will I play one?

    Yep. Absolutely. Anthropomorphic races are cool. The Giff’s traditional Victorian military culture can be fun. There will be a search for another trait that connects to their build, maybe something as boring as Tough Hide which gives them an extra hit point every level.

    Hadozee

    A highly adaptive simian being who uses winglike membranes to glide.

    What I like

    The climbing speed and Glide are both great ways to capture their tree glider meets monkey vibe.

    Dexterous Feet allowing a bonus action to Use an Object is good, but it doesn’t go quite far enough.

    What I don’t like

    Dexterous Feet should include the tail, and to enable more fun, should allow the activity via a Reaction too. Yes, that break the standard for Reactions, but it’s cool.

    Will I play one?

    Maybe. Kinda want to be an Artificer or Wizard, who manipulates their magic components with their feet and tail.

    Plasmoid

    An amoeba-like being.

    What I like

    These things are bizarre, the oddest playable concept in the game. You have no standard form, as you are an Ooze. Shape Self enables you to look kind of like a person and also lets you grow an ‘arm’ up to ten feet long.

    What I don’t like

    The mechanics are great, the ability to be one the creatures mentally needs a lot of explanation.

    Will I play one?

    Not until the lore is revealed. My head needs help wrapping around this concept even more than it does for Lizard Folk.

    Thri-kreen

    A six-limbed, telepathic insectoid.

    What I like

    Secondary Arms is a good solve for how these six-limbed peoples work with the D&D action economy. There is a fun synergy with Two-Weapon Fighting and with light thrown weapons when you have multi-attack or related abilities.

    What I don’t like

    Sleepless Revitalization reveals another Long Rest variant to confuse the party.

    With five racial traits, most with power, they are insectoid elves.

    Will I play one?

    No, but they are absolutely necessary for the world of Dark Sun, and maybe in my own world (spoiler?).

  • 8 Cantrips to Enhance Fall Festival Celebrations

    8 Cantrips to Enhance Fall Festival Celebrations

    Festivals, holidays, and celebrations are great ways to add verisimilitude to your game. Plus, everyone likes a party. With Halloween and its associated celebrations (All Saints Day, Samhain, Harvest tide, Día de los Muertos, etc) there is frequently a lean into those themes within our gaming. That can be as simple as skeletons, headless horse riders, ghosts, or more complexity. Or it can just mean the presence of cornucopias, jack-o’-lanterns, and candles as the party walks through a village.

    Copying real world makes sense. Twisting and adapting it a bit makes even more sense. You can advance your game world even more by leaning into the Dungeons & Dragons of it all (or your game of preference) by leaning into what makes D&D unique and special — the presence of various kinds of magic.

    Photo by David Gomes on Pexels.com

    Over the next month I’ll be following the prompts from Magic: The Gathering to share the lore and rules within my campaign world. Some will be short hits, others expansions on previous lore. These prompts may just inspire regular rather than irregular blogging.

    https://twitter.com/wizards_magic/status/1443977494164426752

    This entry grew when thinking about pumpkins. And then the mind drifted. Pumpkin > Jack ‘o Lantern > Will o’ Wisp > Dancing Lights. These 8 utility cantrips in the Basic Rules can add a bit of flavor to your world’s Fall festivals.

    • Dancing Lights – A spell almost certainly inspired by the Will o’ Wisp, the four tiny lights can be any color, a pale silver would be best for this usage. Place them behind a cloth used for ghostly apparitions inside windows and trees making those fake ghosts look even more spectral.
    • Druidcraft – There are so many ways to use Druidcraft that it almost needs its own post, but what if your fake cemetery started to reek, or you cause a group of tree leaves to fall all at once?
    • Light – The image attached to the post almost perfectly demonstrates a use for this tiny spell. Lighting up a carving for the hour after sunset is magic I can get behind.
    • Mage Hand – What haunted house doesn’t have a torch floating by in a spectral hand?
    • Message – Within worlds of lighter magic Message can be used as a friendly spook as people walk about the town.
    • Minor Illusion – A couple of the descriptions of possible illusions read as if they were designed for Halloween… “its volume can range from a whisper to a scream” and “muddy footprints” are ideal haunts.
    • Prestidigitation – Create small marks on doorways that ‘ward’ off evil spirits or welcome visiting neighbors.
    • Thaumaturgy – The ability to dim all lights along a street creates an unwelcome space where spirits can hide and fear can thrive.

    How do you incorporate the mystical, fantastic, and magical into your Fall festivals?

  • Uprising & Rebellion Campaign Two: One Sheet

    Uprising & Rebellion Campaign Two: One Sheet

    This campaign is set six years after the Lorebook Hunters returned magic to the World of the Everflow. It is set in Kirtin-on-the-Lake, and is centered on political intrigue with social and exploration pillars being as important as combat. Every player is united in rebellion against the corrupt Mayor, but may have differing ideas about how the various factions can help Kirtin-on-the-Lake be free.

    Made using the Medieval Fantasy City Generator.

    Campaign Premise

    You are common people living in and around Kirtin-on-the-Lake who are inspired to free the city from under the rule of Daoud. You may want it to once again be part of Kirtin, or you may want to copy the Free City of Sheljar. The City Guard, a unit of Daoud’s military, and even Dragons, who see Kirtin-on-the-Lake as their ancestral home, stand in your way.

    Background

    Kirtin-on-the-Lake was once the winter capital of Kirtin. Taken over by Daoud in the generational wars it is a city of borders even before the Awakening and the discoveries of the Lorebook of Divination and the Folio of Necromancy. Now, the Ken and their Dragons are trying to capture what they claim are their ancestral homeland. Daoud and Kirtin remain at war over the city.

    There is also a general uprising of peoples inspired by the Free City of Sheljar. The Mayor has managed to consolidate power by playing the various factions off against each other; this hasn’t helped the common people beyond allowing them peace.

    Made using Perilous Shores

    Grand Conflicts

    The Proctors of Grace and their other allies want to control access to magic. Certain Dragons also want to repopulate Kirtin-on-the-Lake as the Ward of Mighty Trees is the ancestral home of certain types of Dragons (at least a Red as that first DragonTree has regrown).

    Daoud will not allow their winnings (Kirtin-on-the-Lake and the Slope) to leave their control after centuries. The rebellion has taken control of the Dock District. What will they free next? While the mayor may be willing to have the rebels help repel the Proctors, he serves at the whim of an empire that refuses to recognize Kirtin-on-the-Lake as anything but its own territory.

    Factions

    • Mayor and City Guard, generally aligned with Daoud, he is willing to look the other way and cede districts to other invaders for a price.
    • Daoud, the conquering empire of the south. Normally a naval power in the World of the Everflow, their long conflict over Kirtin-on-the-Lake is their largest land holding.
    • Kirtin, the mountain kingdom has been at war with Daoud and Azsel for so long that all of its peoples serve in the military.
    • Proctors of Grace and the Ken, lead by Dragons the various fey peoples are experts at magic and claim that Kirtin-on-the-Lake’s Ward of Mighty trees is their homeland. They also want to put the power of magic under their control and only their control.
    • Society of Veil and Shadows, these rebels are inspired by the Free City of Sheljar and its empowerment of all thinking peoples. Whether Kin, Ken, or Kon the people deserve equality of treatment and opportunity.

    Rumors

    • There are half-animal/half-people roaming the Western Wildes.
    • Out in the Ferments forms of life based on the elements are driving out the Kin there.
    • Headquartered Church of Quar has lost control of the Everflow (the source of all healing potions).
    • Peace has come between the Kingdoms of the North as the Crinth Confederation and Azsel are more concerned with the Kon and the Ken.
    • The Dragons seek the Robe of the Magi.
    • The Tome of Abjuration and its Proctor may be in the city or surrounding area.

    Facets

    • Exploring the zero-to-hero tropes, rebellion, and who gets to control knowledge.
    • Sandbox play.
    • Player agency creates history.
    • Drop in/drop out, whatever.
    • Sessions are 2-3 hours. Adventures are 1-3 sessions.

    Variant Rules

    • Playable races are Human, Hin/Halfling, Goliath/Firbolg, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome (wood only), Goblin, Hobgoblin, Bugbear.
      • Only the Kon (goblinoids may be Artificers.
      • Kin start with a Bonded Companion
      • Ken start with a Feat that grants a 1st level spell such as Magic Initiate.
      • Kon start with Tek
    • There are a few custom subclasses available (Way of Frayed Knot, Society of Veil and Shadows, Conscript, Propagandist, Liberator, Circle of Sewers).
    • There are several custom backgrounds and tools available. We will use cultures, not languages.
    • Use point buy or standard array for starting attributes. If you want something random, the redrick roller gives random point buy valid stats.
    • Start at 3rd level, because power is cool.
    • Long rests require 24 hours within sanctuary. This creates a pace of play more similar to novels than video games.

    Practicum

    Sessions will be on Sunday afternoons and evenings, floating times based on the Puget Sound pro soccer schedule. Characters must be created prior to dropping in. The table will be on an outdoor patio at one of a few locations in South King County.

    Email, private message, or text for more details.

  • My next D&D character is…

    My next D&D character is…

    For some finding inspiration for their next Dungeons & Dragons character can be difficult. A way to solve that difficulty is to find some part of our actual reality as a starting point, and then give it a twist. Maybe add something magical, or heroic, or tragic — and then smash something else from reality into that idea as well.

    Over on my Twitter account I ocaissionally present my every day life as inspiration for D&D characters. This series always starts with “My next D&D character is“.

    Let’s take this Propagandist (or Bard) concept.

    https://twitter.com/bedirthan/status/1400560210901553153

    I had recently been gifted a knife for which I had no sheath. When searching for a way to protect both it and the family I remembered my Field Notes notebook from the End Pages series. It was the perfect length. Then, springing from that secret spot in the mind where inspiration resides I thought of a character who stored their blades inside notebooks.

    They certainly write in the book as well, because they must — tracking those who have wrong them or those they care about; jotting down a possible secret; picking up the stories during their travels. Basically they use the notebook the way normal real people do, except it also has a dagger in it.

    Cleaning Houses

    While helping my wife prep homes for sale my mind sits within itself and wonders what magic would be helpful to complete this act. My latest idea was for someone who isn’t smart, but they are either lazy or overworked. So they took the fast way out and made a Pact with the Great Old One. Their Tome is full of rituals to help make living life easier. This warlock isn’t evil. They just needed a way to make living life easier. Now they are on a quest for a mighty power.

    Or, maybe your character studied to learn Prestidigitation because that’s what they needed to do in order to be better at helping the family business. They dreamed of being a warrior. Then one day those things combined.

    https://twitter.com/bedirthan/status/1398123279840268290

    During the winter you see an ice sculpture — your next PC is a Water Genasi that carves Ice Sculptures. When the weather is too warm they create the ice that’s needed for sculpting.

    I’ve been a sports writer spanning from amateur to semipro to pro (you can hire me), so many of my ideas revolve around sports. Each with nuance and difference, and yet all come about through following sports.

    During this whole pandemic period I came up with the idea that the party healer also heals the mind. This was entirely a creation due to my own personal mindspace during the pandemic. I needed a party healer that heals body and mind. The mind of adventurers is inherently broken. Like Special Forces soldiers they see some shit and though they work for noble cause (often) there are still mental scars.

    What would the heroic version of my time as a linguist look like? A Mastermind or Inquisitive Rogue, halfling (duh) who studies the cultures and communities of the world, granting them a bit of insight when they fight, but also able to operate as the party face.

    Inspiration is everywhere. It’s in beer, in mushrooms, in trees, in walks down by the river, in your trips to the thrift shop, in the social media you consume. Our life is filled with interesting characters and characteristics. These can be your next PC or NPCs.

    A few of them I’ve statted up over at DnDBeyond. Feel free to use them. If you do just kindly share that you got the idea from Full Moon Storytelling.

  • Add the bright lights and big booms of fireworks to D&D – the Sparkler Background

    Add the bright lights and big booms of fireworks to D&D – the Sparkler Background

    Combing magic with an emergent technology these workers of fire are usually about celebration and frivolity. They remain rare in most D&D worlds. When they work they are paid quite well. But outside of the largest communities there is little need for a Sparkler. For this reason they often travel in a small group of other Sparklers, attached to a circus, or maybe even part of an empires retinue.

    This Dungeons & Dragons background is designed for 5th edition. It also adds a new tool (using PHB rules) and a new exotic weapon. The Sparkler grants a cantrip rather than one of the skills and tools/languages that are typical of backgrounds.

    Photo by Rakicevic Nenad on Pexels.com

    Sparkler

    You are a master of smokepowder or gunpowder as appropriate to your world. Using these powders you can create displays to inspire or scare thinking beings. As a Sparkler you have also learned how to combine these effects with magic, thereby increasing the the scope of your art.

    Often hired as an entertainer the Sparkler is in high demand during festival season. Due to wandering between large and/or rich communities your close friends tend to be the other Sparklers and your hosts.

    Your knowledge of the powders is often approached as a magic much more powerful than it is, because it is both different and rare. Most Sparklers hide this knowledge from the general public working in secret except during their performances. Some Sparklers specialize in aerial displays, others in massive thunderous noises, and a few even weave the illuminating powder into their fluid dances and twirling — all are artists.

    Skill Proficiencies: Acrobatics or Performance
    Tool Proficiencies: Fireworks
    Languages: None
    Cantrip: Minor Illusion
    Equipment: Traveler’s Clothes, Costume, flint & steel, assorted fireworks including 3 rockets all stored in an oilcloth backpack, pouch with 5 gp

    Feature: Ooohs and Ahhhhhs

    Given a few minutes to prepare, you can create a wonderous display of lights and sounds that can serve as a distraction. This display may be augmented by your Minor Illusion. This display can serve as a distraction for some guards, as inspiration for a besieged city, or as a reward for those who have worked hard. The display, whether spells are used or not, feels supernatural to those who watch it.

    Characteristics: For now, use those from the Entertainer, Guild Artisan, or pick & choose as appropriate for your concept. Whenever my background project sees full publication there will be unique characteristics for each of them.

    Fireworks (Tool)

    Cost: 150 gp | Weight: 20 lbs

    Proficiency with fireworks means that you know how to safely store and transport the pseudomagical devices known as fireworks. You are also proficient in how to set up a small display that would entertain a group for a few minutes. This could be an aerial, ground, or sound based display — or a mix of all three. Larger displays would require several people proficient in the tool to work together.

    Additionally you know how to create more fireworks. With the necessary supplies you can create a new display or three rockets during a long rest. The supplies may not be readily available.

    Rocket (weapon)

    Type: Firearms Ranged Weapon | Cost: 10 gp | Weight: 1 lbs | Damage: 2d4 | Type: Fire | Properties: Ranged (30/90), Loading, Special*

    *On a hit those within 5′ of the target must succeed on a saving throw or take half damage.

    All awakened rodents are proficient in rockets.

    Sparkler Design Goals

    The desire here is to have a real-world, culture-neutral version of a fireworks specialist. The primary example of these in fiction is the Illuminators from the Wheel of Time series, which share some aspects of Romany culture and some from aspects from various northeast Asian cultures.

    Additionally the Sparkler serves to introduce a new tool and a new weapon to the game. The Rocket varies from the standard firearms rules by being a charge on a stick that would be pointed at a target either held in the hand or planted in ground, and then lit. Players may develop other ways to use them rather than just as a first round attack.

    Custom Backgrounds for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons

    Fediverse Reactions
  • Feat: Bonded Companion

    Feat: Bonded Companion

    Salvy

    Animal Companions, or Bonded Companions, or a key element of life in Kin. The Kin are the people of friendship, loyalty of loving those around them. This extends towards their non-humanoid companions as well. Where an elf might group in a land where spells are used to do mundane things, in Kin when a goliath needs a bit of string to finish sewing they send their swallow off to do it, or their heron to fish. Halflings have dogs that pull, push, fetch, hunt, fish, carry, and many other tasks. Human bonds with goats, rams, dogs, birds and horses are quite common. Bonds of Kin are a very essence of life. Almost everyone has one.

    This ruleset needs to do a few things.

    • Scale like cantrips, attacks and proficiency. The companion is expected to live alongside their friend for some time.
    • Build in a reason that having a Bond die is bad for the PC
    • Not destroy the action economy
    • As a bonus, can it be simplified for usage in gaming outside the World of Everflow?

    Feat: Bonded Companion

    Prerequisite: Wisdom of 13 or higher. Kin and Rangers ignore this prerequisite.
    This feat can be taken more than once.

    Two dogs on gravel

    You have an intense bond with a beast. These beasts cannot have a higher Intelligence than the character. In certain worlds the bonded companion can be a monstrosity. At this point I considered just granting access to the Bonded Companion system in a similar manner as to how Magic Initiate works, but instead built it within the Feat. The rule could be built by making Bonded Companion a Class Feature and Feat, but I digress. Taking the feat gives you Companion Points. You also gain companion points in the following manners;

    • Rangers at 1st, 3rd, 5th, 11th, and 17th levels
    • Druids at 1st and 5th level.
    • Clerics with the Nature domain at 1st level.
    • Your Wisdom modifier

    Those points can be spent on a single companion or multiple companions. A character can bond with a number of Companions equal to their Wisdom modifier +1 (minimum 1). Each new companion takes a number of weeks to establish a bond as their cost in companion points. This can be done as downtime, or could be a solo adventure. A character may only spend new points when they take the feat or if they are a Ranger or Druid at their higher levels that earn Companion Points.

    The following chart lists various Companions and their Companion Point cost.

    OneTwoThreeFiveSevenTen
    Herd dogSled DogWarhound *Giant Eagle *&Rhino &Mammoth *&
    RetrieverMastiff *Axebeak *&BisonElephant *Wyvern *&
    TerrierBloodoundOstrich &Bear *&Dire Wolf *&Roc *&
    Sentry DogGuard dog *Elk &Lion *&Owlbear *& 
    SprinterRavenPanther *&Worg *&Griffon *& 
    HeronEagle *&Bear Cub *&Hippogriff *&Pegasus *& 
    PigeonFalcon *Wolf *&Peryton *&  
    SparrowParrotTiger *&Awakened Tree &  
    Pony/MuleDraft HorseWarhorse *   
    FoxRiding HorseApe &   
    Goat/SheepMonkey    
    Awakened Shrub &Cow    

    Legend: The ‘&’ is used to indicate an animal companion that can only be paired with a Ranger, Druid or Nature Cleric. They are normally wild. The ‘*’ is used to indicate animals that can enter combat on command.

    "Postduif". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Postduif.jpg#/media/File:Postduif.jpg
    “Postduif” – Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

    As a Bonus Action the Bonder can command their animal. These commands are Attack, Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help. An animal without a * can only attack if the Bonder passes a Wisdom (Animal Handling) DC: 20 check. The Companion will continue that action until the combat is complete or another Bonus Action is used (ie they will Attack the directed target until that target is no longer participating in the combat). Some Companions have other actions that can be taken (A Retriever can Fetch as an action). Check with your DM for these other actions.

    When separated a Bonder and Companion that are on the same plane know the direction and rough travel time between them.

    If someone tries to control a Companion it is an opposed Animal Handling check for the Bonder and whatever skill or spell is appropriate for the attempt to control the Companion. The duration of the control is per the appropriate spell or skill.

    If a Companion dies the Bonder takes half their Companion’s hit points in psychic damage. If they make a Wisdom save (DC: 15) they then take one quarter of their Companion’s hit points in psychic damage.

    Variant Rule in Kin: At first level and below halflings usually bond with canines and goliaths usually bond with avians. All Kin start with an additional Companion Point.

  • Taien Sahul – the ripper lizard

    Taien Sahul – the ripper lizard

    Out in the lands of Mehmd mammals and avians are rare. Many of the ecological and domestic niches are instead filled by lizards, amphibians and dinosaur-like creatures. The Taien Sahul are small saurs based on the Velociraptor by Sam Stockdale at ENWorld.

    In Mehmd they tend to roam the wilderness, though certain tribes of Unkempt in the South and the Isles use them as companions. When free they roam in packs of 9 or so (3d6). Their Pounce needs quite a distance in order to be used, but when the commit they tend to rush prey quickly. Taien Sahul can survive in deserts, having advantage on CON checks to deal with dehydration.

    Photo by Innermost Limits on Pexels.com

    Taien Sahul – the ripper lizard
    Small beast, unaligned

    Armor Class 13 (natural)
    Hit Points 3 (1d6)
    Speed 45 ft., climb 10 ft.

    STR 7 (–2)
    DEX 15 (+2)
    CON 10 (+0)
    INT 3 (–4)
    WIS 14 (+2)
    CHA 7 (–2)

    Skills Perception +4, Stealth +4
    Senses passive Perception 14
    Languages —
    Challenge: ½ CR 50 xp

    Keen Sight: The raptor has advantage on sight-based Perception (WIS) checks.
    Pounce: If the raptor moves at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hits with a claw attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 10 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If a target is prone, the raptor can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.
    Pack Tactics: The raptor has advantage on an attack roll against a target if at least one of the raptor’s allies is within 5 feet of the target and isn’t incapacitated.

    ACTIONS
    Multiattack: The raptor makes two melee attacks, usually using both claws unless they’ve pounced.
    Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d4+2 piercing damage.
    Claws: Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d4+2 slashing damage.

  • Queen and Konstruct: A Goblin’s Lyfe

    Queen and Konstruct: A Goblin’s Lyfe

    There are two important things in a goblin’s lyfe. I’m talking about all of us, the gobkon, the hobkon, the mulkon — all of us — our relationship to the Queen and our Guild. This is hard for you humans, with all your divergent nations and cities and faiths and disgusting menagerie animals to understand.

    Goblin
    By creanita design und ausführung by nina saner (CC BY-SA 2.0)

    I’m a printer, part of the Ratxet Guild. My engines run on the power of muls (best!) or whoever else I can hire. The clockwerks give that comforting noise as sheaf and stamp press against each other leaving words behind.

    We’re into gears, mostly. But also some other interesting clockwerks. Frankly, we do better with springs than the Union does. Sure, they’ve the Queens’ Stamp – so we cannot sell to others. In our builds we don’t buy from the Union anymore.

    My first engine was a climbing device. Lean it up against a feral tar-tree and you’ll be able to get to the top on a platform to work that tree with nary your own effort. It was a tough build, because I needed it to be strong enough for a hob. Without a brother there were no hobs to help me. Sis rode atop my shoulders during the entire testing phase.

    At Test it showed a new mechanic for the tar-tree. A Baroness blessed the family via flag and decree. Mother’s standing improved, and the full family took on that glory.

    Now, sister is part of the Airxip Syndicate. They’re relatively new. Taking our bike-props and bladders from the Sisterhood, and the Federation’s tar stacks, the Syndicate built those awesome airxips. I don’t understand her werk. There’s something about steampipes. She’s done well for mother. Her flags came from a Countess, one for her and one for mother. Blerxa left on the First Flight with me.

    I’m Phatha Phioxa Baroness-flagged of the Guild. Sis is Blerxa Phioxa First-Countess Flagged and Many Unfurled of the Syndicate.

    We are what we build and how much the Ladies, may they serve the Queen, reward us for our werks.

    A few more daughters like us and mother could be a Lady. If Blerxa and I hadn’t left for the untamed lands of the Kin Blerx may have earned mother the knighting on her own.

    Our werks are trapped from knowing since we are far from Queen, so I expect mother to have a few more gobkon. Maybe I’ll find out if I go back, not until after I figure out how to use the power of horses in my next werk. They smell, but they are even stronger than mulgobs.