dungeonsandwhatnot-blog

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BARDIC NECROMANCER an idea for a character

Now I could say that as I sat on my porch this beautiful spring morning and listened to the birds singing there song seemingly beckoning in the light and bring the whole world to life this idea came to me, but I'd be lying. The fact is I've watched Micheal Jackson's Thriller music video a few too many times and the idea of commanding a hoard of dancing undead is too good to pass up. Now just a disclaimer, the goal here isn't to make the most powerful necromancer. In fact, compared to a wizard, warlock, or cleric a bard will probably be one of the weaker necromancers. That being said if you're just trying to make the strongest character it's my personal opinion that you aren't playing the game right so this isn't about making the strongest necromancer it's about making a weird necromancer with a twist that makes him or her a more interesting character. A bard so skilled in music that, like Orpheus in Greek mythology, they can charm death itself into releasing it's grasp and letting the dead return to the realm of the living certainly sounds like a fun character to play to me.

So, the goal is to create a necromantic bard, but there is one issue, the bard spell list doesn't really allow for this. The solution? The Lore College subclass. Now this isn't quite as cool as some of the other colleges, but I think story wise you could make it work. Your bard has studied the lore of the multiverse and the intricate balance of life and death found in every aspect of it and they've written songs and poems that compliment and contrast this with such skill that it allows them to manipulate these forces of life, death, and everything in between. Now that all of the fancy story fluff is out of the way let's get into the mechanics. The reason you must be college of lore is because at level six you get the class feature Additional Magical Secrets which you can use to access any spell up to 3rd level and with this we'll get the spell animate dead in order to begin creating our zombie minions. Now animate dead is good for making a few simple long lasting zombie minions, but what about when you're in a pinch and just need a boost to your hoard? Well next time you get a chance for Magical Secrets at level ten we get the aptly named spell danse macabre which allows you to make a small army of undead servants that last up to an hour. In addition to this spell you are able to get any other spell ranging from 1st to 5th level. Personally I'd either go for negative energy flood due to the fact that it allows you to either buff your undead or damage enemies potentially creating a zombie (bonus: it sticks to the necromancer theme). For the next set of Magical Secrets we'll take create undead to start making a stronger hoard of a larger size and finger of death which allows you to damage enemies and possibly add a permanent zombie to your army. Now we can start building our way towards a true hoard of limitless size and unstoppable power, but what about the true end goal of necromancy, immortality. Well to achieve that we have to wait until the next and last set of Magical Secrets. The first spell we'll take is clone which allows you to basically become immortal by cloning yourself and having backup bodies in case the current one is destroyed and finally sure it's not necromantic but who could pass up the opportunity to use a wish spell. So there you have it, how I personally would build a bard necromancer. Feel free to change up the spells or point out any mistakes I made I did my best but I was kind of playing fast and loose with the rules so I'm not sure what all I did wrong and as always thanks for reading all of this.

[dungeonsandwhatnot-blog]

CARDS OF CHAOS a one-shot/campaign starter

The Deck of Many Things is an artifact notorious for derailing campaigns and ruining games. It’s generally regarded as broken as hell and a nuisance, so naturally I’ve decided to make a whole one-shot/campaign starter based entirely around The Deck of Many Things. Now as always there’s the potential for randomness with The Deck and if you like the idea of that then simply give an NPC the deck and let them do their thing. However, if you want a little more control ove the story you can create controlled chaos by choosing which cards the NPC draws.

If you’re going to go the route of controlled chaos then here’s an example of what I mean:

Let’s say a headpriest in a town comes across the deck by some twist of fate. He resists the urge to draw a card for awhile, but soon enough the curiosity becomes too much and he draws just one. Balance. Suddenly this lawful good priest who acts as the moral compass to this village is a cruel chaotic evil sociopath hellbent on seizing power. Seeking more power he draws another. Sun. This small town priest is now level seven and in possession of a magical super weapon. Maybe it wasn’t Sun maybe he drew Moon. He can now cast wish three times free of charge. Perhaps he drew Knight and now has an evil black night that serves him. With just a few draws you can turn any NPC into a big baddy that your players never saw coming, and that’s just one way to play it.

Let’s run through another scenario. Imagine a powerful kindhearted king coming across The Deck of Many Things. He keeps it locked away fearful of what damage it could do, that is until his kingdom fall on hard times. Desperate for a way to help his people he makes the decision to draw a card in hopes that he may be granted the power necessary to save his kingdom. What card does he draw? Flames. He is now the target of a devil who seeks to torture the king and bring about his downfall before ultimately killing him. Helpless and afraid the king makes a desperate act and draws another card. Ruin. Now a king without a kingdom or a penny to his name he must beg your adventurers for help. He seeks to convince them that he is the rightful ruler and that they must defend him from the devil who seeks his destruction.

As you can tell there are a lot of ways this can go and feel free to take it in any direction you see fit, but below I’ll provide a frame work of the cards I would use along with when and how.

First Draw:

•Balance: Take an NPC that the players see as a friend and make them their enemy

•Donjon: A friend or relative of an adventurer may have drawn this card and must now be rescued from their extraplanar prison

•Flames: An NPC is now the target of a powerful devil and is desperate for help

•Idiot: The king is now a fool

•Key: The weapon the NPC receives is sentient possessed by an evil creature that lusts for blood

•Rogue: A villager claims that someone is trying to kill them and they don’t know why

•Ruin: A once powerful kingdom seems to vanish without a trace creating a power vacuum

•Throne: A kingdom springs up from nowhere and its up to your adventurers to investigate the new ruler and the source of his power

•The Void: A family member or friend of an adventurer has their soul whisked away and placed in a single gold coin in a dragons horde

A few of these are the first and only card that needs to be drawn to kick off an adventure, but many provide a starting point to build off of.

Second Draw:

•Balance: Use this after Throne to corrupt the new king

•Euryale: Use this as a sort of background card to debuff an NPC enemy that’s become a bit too strong

•Flames: Use this after one of the cards that affects someone friendly to the players as way to rub salt into the wounds

•Gem: Use after Throne so that the new kingdom has unimaginable wealth suddenly or after Balance to give the new enemy a boost in funding

•Idiot: Use this after Key and have the sentient weapon take command over it’s user

•Key: Use this after Balance or Throne to give the NPC an extra bit of power and uniqueness

•Knight: Use this after Balance to give the new villain a henchman, after Throne to give the new king a loyal protector, or after idiot to give the mad king a brutish enforcer or to create a new villain that uses to idiot king as a puppet ruler

•Rogue: Use this after Throne so that there is now an assassin after the new king for no reason who will stop at nothing to see him killed or after Idiot to have the king be assassinated

•Skull: Use this after Rogue or Flames as a desperate act the NPC draws a card summoning an avatar of death if the players try to help they themselves are attacked

•Sun: Use this card after Balance or Thrown to put a magical super weapon into the hands of whoever used the card

At this point we’re halfway through the draws and a story should be forming pretty nicely.

Draw Three:

•Knight: Use this after Throne and balance to give the new evil king a henchman

•Star: Use this after any path involving Idiot to have the NPC begin to regain their intelligence

•Sun: Use this after Idiot and Knight to give the puppet king a magical super weapon that the knight can make him use

•Talons: Use this after Key and Idiot to strip the person of their magical weapon leaving them virtually a mindless husk (mechanically I’d personally make them feebleminded)

At this point your adventurers should either be on their way to solving the problem or have already solved it and now have The Deck of Many Things in their possession but if not there are some cards that could tie things off nice and tidy

Fourth and Final Draw:

•Donjon or The Void: Eleminate an NPC and poof away the deck effectively a bad ending

•Moon: Wish away all the negative effects created by the deck or use it to gain more power depending on the path but lose the deck in the process

•The Fates: Undo button so that the NPC never found the deck or something more nefarious depending on the path and the deck is lost

Ideally your adventurers should stop the chain of events by the time you’ve reached the second or third pull and captured the deck. If so hopefully this little series of events has taught them to treat it wisely and sent them on a quest to destroy it.

Again, these are just a few ideas I have for using the deck in this way, of course there are thousands of combinations of cards that could be used so feel free to change it up. If you actually bothered to real all of this thanks.

[dungeonsandwhatnot-blog]

A CITY UNDER THE SEA a setting

Off of the sword coast in the midst of an ever raging storm and deep under the sea there lies a vast city. It’s inhabitants are made up of not only sea elves, tritans and the lot but also shipwreck survivors, near drowners and all assortment of surface dwellers who, by one way or another, found their way into the sea and had the good fortune to end up in the city. The city itself has been there for longer than most care to remember. A massive and ancient storm giant quintessent serves as it’s patron and protectector. He uses his unfathomable power to create a swirling dome of wind that encompasses the entire city protecting it from the crushing sea, but beyond that the giant only coalesces to defend the city from attack or provide guidance. Outside of the dome there are some settlements and farms usually run by merfolk, tritans, or sea elves. Life within the city and its surrounding farms and towns is idyllic, however no life is without its dangers. Here that danger manifests itself as brutal sahuagin bandits, ravenous merrow raiders, and malicious sea hags. The worst danger though is a monstrous kraken more ancient than even the storm giant. The kraken sees the city as a nuisance and its patron as it’s nemisis and wishes for no less than to see them both destroyed crushed under the sea and washed away permanently. The kraken, and his lieutenant an old sea captain turned kraken priest, send sea spawn soldiers to widdle down the city’s defenses and deep scion spies to break it down from the inside out. The kraken spends his time just waiting until it has amassed enough power to launch one final frontal attack to finish the conflict once and for all. This setting has potential for all kinds of adventures from political intrigue, to leading an army against a kraken and his hoardes of followers or siding with the kraken and bringing about the downfall of the ancient city and all of its inhabitants.