The General D&D thread

Yes you can have desert and jungle adjacent, you just need a big ass mountain range to provide a rain shadow. or a wizard.

It's cool to think of Anauroch as this unnatural wasteland created by the magical disaster that destroyed ancient Netheril, but then you remember that it's stocked with sheiks and Bedouin nomads.

Faerun has some great worldbuilding, it's just not very coherent worldbuilding. Honestly, if you never try and figure out how all those different locales rest up against each other, you'd be better off. Like if you pretended there were big blank swaths of the map between all the the zoomed-in sandbox areas like the Sword Coast, Dales, Moonsea, Thay and Rashemen, that'd probably raise fewer questions in the long run.

Brace thyselves! Here comes a partial write up on the leaders of Southport, formally known as Foi, the City of Faith, warring southern half of the shattered City of Enlightenment. Providing info on their current leader as well as their temple, each temple also has a function within the city and they begrudgingly get along

• Bahamut - the Children of Platinum
  • Grandmaster James Silverhand, human cleric. He was chosen by Bahamut in his youth and given a magical canary adviser. Has a good sense of humor.
  • Honor's Bastion, a massive, multi-story ziggurat on the cliffs overlooking the Falaise Brise River.
  • Police. The Children are fair and noble peace-officers. Not all police are Children but many precinct commanders are and try to hold everyone to lawful good standards.

• Ioun - the Forsaken Order
  • Archbishop Silgru Halfscale, dragonborn cleric/wizard. He's an old veteran who fought on both sides of the conflict, has come to the opinion it's stupid. He'll talk your ear off on any subject, especially the war, and is very giving, especially with knowledge.
  • the Unwanted Library. A massive repository of both religious and arcane texts, located at the heart of the Pont de L'unite, the enormous bridge connecting the cities. The Unwanted Library is a fortified stronghold in the primary battleground.
  • Library. Though neither side wants them to, books can loaned and distributed through either city...depending on the state of warfare and how many laws you're willing to break to read a book.

• Erathis - the Grand Builders
  • Justicar Megan Apostolov, eladrin paladin. Few realize that she's under the protective wing of a brass dragon, but responsibility and this patronage have made her indecisive in a crisis.
  • the Exemplary City. An actual walled city of some 10,000 people. Currentl infested with armies of renegade fey, civilians losing their minds, and nobody knows why. The temple has been quarantined and thousands trapped inside while the Justicar waits for her powerful ally to return.
  • City Administration. The buck stops here, though the actual city hall was moved out of the Exemplary City years ago. Neutral Erathis bureaucrats keep good and evil working together.

• Asmedeus - the Martinet Order
  • Master Autocrat Julie Riverhopper, halfling cleric. She's creative and clever which is why she rose from a poor cooper's daughter to a high priest and "attorney general" of the city. She's also extremely harsh, especially to anyone who couldn't rise to the elite like she did.
  • the Tyrant's Spire. An imposing tower also on the cliff tops, also the finest legal school in the city.
  • Courts. Uh oh. Basically, if the Children hauled you before a judge then...you deserved it and will be made a harsh example.

edited 30th Nov '17 5:40:26 AM by Rotpar

A desert doesn't necessarily have to be hot, it just has to be dry. Nor does it need to be located at or near the equator. Consider Antarctica and the Gobi desert.

the gobi and surrounding areas is p neat and i feel like it needs more representation in fantasy that is not "generic eastern exotic locale"

The world's largest desert is Antarctica!

Or something like that.

edited 2nd Dec '17 7:45:50 PM by TheyCallMeTomu

@Rotpar Like the central concept of good and evil forced to coexist in the wake of a civil war. Seems very...planar, in a way. And timely somehow. That balancing act. On which note, Erathis might be my favourite out of the 4e gods. Not so much because our values align as because her portfolio is one that's often neglected in fantasy settings.

James Silverhand sounds like a good dude. A sense of humour always seems to be the difference between lawful good characters being likeable and insufferable, and that makes for a nice contrast between him and Julie Riverhopper.

edited 5th Dec '17 6:06:37 AM by Unsung

I actually just went in and added a deity to cover that porfolio in my setting.

Also, I frequently mix up Erathis and Erastil, even if their portfolios are on completely different ends of the spectrum.

edited 5th Dec '17 6:05:28 AM by Xeroop

More from Southport.

• Avandra - Fortune's Wanderers
  • Lord Ryany Stoor, halfling paladin. He hints at a great treasure which might be real or a metaphor. Forgiving but often tardy.
  • the Traveling Temple. A strange combination of psuedo-Legos and Lincoln Log-like components that can be assembled and disassembled fairly quickly. It travels in a seasonal rotation to several plazas around the city, attaching itself to the facilities for the city's couchlines.
  • Transportation. The Wanderers operate the city's couches and ferries, helping citizens and goods travel quickly across Southport.

• Bane - the Brass Brotherhood
  • Warlord Haraan, dragonborn paladin. Disturbingly pale and extremely pleasant and jovial. Deeply religious and advocates the tenants of War to all she meets, will preach at the drop of a hat.
  • the Brass Citadel. Imposing fortress along the Fragma coast, bars the way to the Gods Arm military base.
  • Military. The Brotherhood maintains nearly half of the city's mundane soldiery, bombarded by preachers and prayers espousing Bane and the holy cause of War.

• Kord - Glorious Order of Puissance
  • Supreme Champion Simon Houdin, human paladin. Greedy and tactless, but afraid of arcane magic. Grown depressed recently.
  • Arena of Endless Storms. A massive gladiatorial coliseum and training ground. Southport is not a slaving city and the games are kept as bloodless as possible; generally war games and training exercises.
  • Military. Kord handles a large portion of the city's standing military as well as the navy.

• Lloth - the Nightspiders
  • Shadowmistress Birel Perrin, elf cleric. One of a pair of twins born marked by Lloth, abandoned in the wilderness to die. Taken in by foster parents, eventually murdering her twin brother. Surprisingly outgoing and friendly for a spy/assassin priestess. Said to be a fucking werespider,a gift from Lloth.
  • The Web. A comparatively squat four-winged temple in an old elven slum. Contains many basement levels and an additional four wings. Filled with awful spiders—swarms of attack spiders for intruders and observation spiders hiding and watching from any place a spider can lurk.
  • Intelligence. The Nightspiders have agents across the world gathering information, performing covert actions against Northport and other troublesome kingdoms.

So, why is there a war between two halves of the greatest city on the Fragma Sea? Because both sides are hypocritical assholes with standards. Southern Foi declared that no civilized city could house necromancers, demonologists, or dangerous experiments. Northern Sorcellerie demanded that the worshipers of murder, destruction, greed—and other evil faiths—be expelled from a safe and rational city.

edited 9th Dec '17 1:24:04 PM by Rotpar

I've started doing some worldbuilding for the newbie campaign I'm running, First up, a divine pantheon, sorted into 3 levels: High Gods, Low Gods, and Demigods, depending on how widely they're worshiped.

• The High Gods
  • Vale, God/dess of Seasons. NG. Suggested Domains: Nature. Vale is unique among the gods, in that s/he changes hir nature with the passage of the seasons, as follows:
    • Vadri, the Flowering Prince. CG. Suggested Domains: Nature, Life
    • Vandala, the Radiant Lady. NG. Suggested Domains: Nature, Light.
    • Valta, the Russet Dancer. CG. Suggested Domains: Nature, Tempest.
    • Vajonn, the Sleeping King. LG. Suggested Domains: Nature, Grave.
  • Thymascra, Goddess of Victory. LG. Suggested Domains: Knowledge, War.
  • Gelbin, God of Invention. CN. Suggested Domains: Knowledge, Forge.
  • Sedah, Keeper of the Underworld. LN. Suggested Domains: Death, Grave.
  • Lolth, Goddess of Secrets. CE. Suggested Domains: Arcane, Trickery.
• The Low Gods
  • Nochta, Goddess of Night. LG. Suggested Domains: Arcane.
  • Aremag, Protector of Children. NG. Suggested Domains: Life.
  • Corbis, God of Mischief. CG. Suggested Domains: Trickery.
  • Nideen, Goddess of Earth. CN. Suggested Domains: War.
  • Eropha, Goddess of the Heavens. N. Suggested Domains: Light.
  • Ranyu, Goddess of the Sea. LN. Suggested Domains: Knowledge.
  • Varnim, God of Arms. LE. Suggested Domains: Forge, War.
  • Ungyra, Goddess of Desire. CE. Suggested Domains: Trickery.
  • Vetega, God of Revenge. NE. Suggested Domains: Death.
• Demigods
  • Purposely undefined.

Given that all the other gods in this pantheon are my own inventions, I wouldn't have included Lolth, except that one of my players is playing a drow, and pretty excited about Lolth being part of her backstory, so I'll keep her with a little re-contextualization.

Lloth?! LLOTH?!?

TYPO LOLTH MUST DIE IN A FIRE! Stupid Salvatore...

Is it ok if I let a small group (2-3 P Cs) multi-class and let them get to twenty in both?

edited 10th Dec '17 11:23:09 PM by heliosKAISER

So they could be total level 40? Pretty sure that's literal god level, though a story where the players go to war with the gods and become the new pantheon could be interesting.

I mean, it's possible.

I think a suggested guideline for beyond 20th level play in 5E is that they gain the abilities of their new levels, but do not gain new hit dice or increase their hit point maximum.

edited 11th Dec '17 3:36:27 AM by Xeroop

Random thought for a new magical item today:

The Lore Axe: A +1 Battleaxe that grants the wielder advantage on Nature skill checks and allows the wielder to cast speak with plants on a nearby tree once per day, but is incapable of striking beasts or plants.

My Ancients Paladin would have absolutely loved that weapon, and he would've just taken out his warhammer to bludgeon any wild beasts in his way if the need were to arise. Becoming incapable of attacking beasts or plant-type monsters I feel would be too much; maybe just imposing disadvantage, as well as requiring attunement so that it could potentially keep players from just power-gaming it by switching to a different enchanted weapon when against beasts/plants.

edited 11th Dec '17 2:40:42 PM by ITNW1989

I am the Lore Axe, and I speak for the trees. The trees say "don't chop me bro."

It's no match for my dual-wielded Triple-Sling Jiggers. Not until they errata the Jigger-Rock Snatchem.

I like the concept of the Travelling Temple quite a bit.

Yesterday we had what is probably our last session for the year. On one hand it's good that I have some time to prepare future content, but at the same time it's always a bummer when you have long gaps between sessions.

Got our last session of the year tomorrow, and even getting that organised was a trial. Christmas is not an easy time to arrange meet-ups. Looks like we won't be getting out of the Underdark till next year.

Due to me and my players drowning in exams and projects, our game hasn't started yet :/ That's a bummer, but I'm hopeful we can start this Friday.

The only issue remaining is that one of them is going to be traveling until next year. We decided to start without him. I mean, we might try playing over Skype or something, but I dunno if he's going to have internet access.

Now, see, from the guidelines in the books, three players are less powerful than what they balanced for, but it doesn't seem that far off. Two, however, worries me. I'm worried for a few reasons:

1. We're all first timers, and I definitely don't want to kill them by accident, especially in the first (few) session(s).
2. It feels unfairly punishing to me that they would be weaker. I mean, I do understand why they are weaker; it's perfectly obvious. But I still feel bad. "Oh, do you want to play this game? Well, screw you for not knowing anyone else who's interested in playing."
3. It also feels limiting to me, as a GM, being unable to bring "interesting" encounters to the table later down the line because it could overwhelm them easily.

Out of these, only the first seems like a real issue, but I still feel uneasy.

As someone who first time DM'd a game for a party of three first time players in 5E, I'm sure it's gonna be fine.

regarding accidentally kiling them, just make sure they can't see your dice rolls and memorize everyone's AC. i was fudging like crazy in the last fifteen minutes of my first game as the party walked away with a cumulative 2hp

Aye, you're allowed to mess with stuff to tweak the difficulty.

of course you don't tell them this. you let them walk away thinking that they were incredibly lucky and that was the most intense, memorable fight of their lives.