terolusgreyhawk - Tumblr blog

[terolusgreyhawk]

As you come over the rise, weary and sweatstained from your journey, the mountainside vista opens before you, revealing a welcoming settlement in the distance--but an armored warrior stands before you as well, blocking your path. He demands a toll, in gold or blood.

[terolusgreyhawk]

A woodblock print in the traditional Emerald Empire style, made by a northern artist in the Longinus States.

William Hays, Cirrus Sky, Woodblock print

[terolusgreyhawk]

Craft (armorsmithing) or (weaponsmithing), or Knowledge (the planes) DC20: 

Vikram is a special material, a variety of celestial steel made from holy iron mined in Nidavellir (the lowest layer of Ysgard) and smelted by celestial dwarves. The finished metal has DR 10/evil (an exception to the rule about DR being only for creatures; it stacks with hardness, also note that adamantine doesn’t bypass DR). It is useful for making more durable weapons and armor, especially when fighting enemies known to favor sundering tactics. Items made with vikram cost 30gp more per pound of metal in their makeup.

[terolusgreyhawk]

A sorceress wreathes herself in a fire shield before a duel of honor.

[terolusgreyhawk]

Knowledge (nature) or (the planes) DC25: Cystolepiota are gentle and kindhearted celestial myconids found in the Blessed Fields of Elysium.

Cystolepiota fungus! The most babygirl of all mushrooms. Just a coquette tumblrina trying to find her way in this cruel world🎀

[terolusgreyhawk]

Knowledge (local) DC20:

The Thunderdome is a huge bloodsports arena in the Pedro district of Skyshroud, where gladiators fight for the crowd every Freeday. Most of the fighters are willing participants, professionals or talented amateurs trying to win purses of gold. However, condemned prisoners are sometimes given an opportunity to fight for their freedom, or to prove their innocence in trial by combat. Duels of honor or mage duels may be held here as well, and sometimes wild beasts like bears, lions, tigers, or boars (even dire ones) are brought in to fight people or each other.

Knowledge (local) DC30: Team battles are not uncommon, sometimes with sides drawn by lot right before, or given a few minutes to discuss strategy, or with a well-organized squad used to fighting together. Not all fights are to the death, as the universal rule is that a yielding or unconscious foe is considered defeated, but deaths are common nonetheless. Asymmetrical fights are the most popular, and the owners know how to mix-and-match to keep the audience excited. Betting is nearly universal among the audience, with bookies milling about the seats and outside the arena, and competitors are free to bet on themselves as well. Seats are 2 copper pieces for one fight, or a silver for the whole day (which usually includes 6 or 7 fights, with intermissions between). Box seats for nobles or merchants cost much more, and include servants with amenties.

[terolusgreyhawk]

A massive, elder octaurpus of the Elemental Plane of Water.

[terolusgreyhawk]

A paladin with half-visored helm, kite shield, and greathammer, bearing the sigildry of crossed bars a symbol of faith in the power of Law.

" Paladin " by Carlo Arellano.

[terolusgreyhawk]

"Avon litein atur...avon litein atur... As I stand, the darkness must fall. Lords and ladies of all good and light, lend me your strength in this fateful hour! Channel your power through me, that we may smite this wretched darkness and banish it from our existence!"

-Lord Avariel Arrinor, Half-celestial8 Human Paladin6 of Heironeous, Justicier of the Wayfinders Adventuring Guild

[terolusgreyhawk]

Knowledge (nature) DC16: Locust swarms are clouds of grasshoppers enlarged and enraged into a feeding frenzy. They devour any organic material in their path, whether it be crops, livestock, or people. Because the individual vermin in the swarm are so diminutive, the swarm as a whole cannot be harmed by normal weapons, but area attacks are effective against it.

[terolusgreyhawk]

"Holy Celene has been corrupted by foul necromancies. I come to cleanse it."

-unknown angel of Sehanine Moonbow sent to the Moonwar

Divine.

[terolusgreyhawk]

Knowledge (religion) DC15:

Undead are basically a perversion of living creatures, intended to turn the normal cycle of life inside-out. With an undead creature, its lifeforce (some scholars instead refer to it as an 'unlifeforce' instead) harvests negative energy from the environment instead of positive, which leads to their bodies having a high concentration of negative energy and very little positive, the opposite of a living creature.

The unique thing about undead (and the key mechanism which allows them to exist at all) is that it's not their energy attunement that's reversed, but also the way energy affects the relationship between their bodies and their environment. Normally, negative energy entering a living creature from outside causes it to decay while its environment becomes relatively healthier (though the latter is less noticeable, since it's spread over a larger area). But for undead, this result is inverted: when negative energy enters an undead from outside, the decay is applied to its environment while the increased health is applied to its body. It's why pumping negative energy into undead heals them, and why the reverse also works: positive energy normally heals a living creature, but since undead have a reversed energy relationship with their environment, the repair effect of the positive energy applies to their environment while the decay effect applies to the undead. For spells like cure and inflict wounds, the energy is conjured from the Inner Planes, so the effect on the target's local environment is negligible.

In rare cases, living creatures can become attuned to negative energy just like undead, usually through the influence of powerful (often divine) necromantic magic. Their bodies then work the same way, though they often end up rather sickly because of the attraction of evil particles to their bodies (undead just can't be harmed by diseases because they don't have working organ systems, so it's not a problem for them). That's also why undead can never really be good, though: the high concentration of negative energy in the bodies, made stable and mobile by their reversed energy relationship, means that they become agent carriers of more and more evil over time.

[terolusgreyhawk]

Knowledge (nature) DC15: The traits of half-breeds sometimes express by mingling evenly and sometimes through intense contrast. The latter can be seen in the example of the half-ogre human shown here, who displays characteristic ogre skin, ears, eyes, nose, and tusks, yet a very human skull shape and hair.

Commission - Signar

[terolusgreyhawk]

"She thinks she's bought me off, has my loyalty. But I was a king before her great, great, great grandmother was even a dream. All these petty struggles are but stairs on my way back to the top."

Red, Deep and Intense. 🩸

[terolusgreyhawk]

Spellcraft DC23:

Widened spells are metamagically modified to increase their area of effect. This at least doubles the spell's area, depending on its shape.

[terolusgreyhawk]

"Are all jesters mad, or are we?"

-Sue Karenhina, Human Cleric9 of Wee Jas, private journal entry

> THE JESTER

[terolusgreyhawk]

The most blessed and favored of Persana, god of tritons and architecture, bear His holy symbol of the trident-conch.

Rokanus, a Triton divine soul sorcerer, for AmphithereRose, my art from the Genasi and Aasimar Secret Satan 2024 challenge!