Friday, July 15, 2016

Here are some spells

Deflecting Barrier

2nd-level abjuration

Casting Time:

1 action

Range:

5 feet

Components:

V, S

Duration:

Concentration, up to 1 minute

You create a 10-ft. wide, 5-ft. tall barrier of magical energy adjacent to yourself. The wall prevents projectiles, and any spells with a target of one creature that requre a Dexterity saving throw, from passing through it. These instead deal their damage to the wall itself, which has 30 hp and resistance to nonmagical sources of damage. Additionally, the wall can help absorb area effects requiring a Dexterity saving throw, like a fireball spell, although it is immediately destroyed in the process. In this case, the wall allows targets behind it to take half damage from the effect.

When you move, you may move the wall with you, although you cannot change its orientation.

At Higher Levels.

When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the hit points of the wall increase by 10 for each slot level above 2nd.


Discharge

2nd-level evocation

Casting Time:

1 action

Range:

Self

Components:

V, S, M (a loop of copper wire)

Duration:

1 minute.

You trace a sign in the area, causing your body to become charged with electric energy. The next time you hit a target with a melee attack, or are hit by a target's melee attack, the energy is discharged, shocking the target. They must make a Constitution saving throw, taking 18 (4d8) lightning damage and becoming stunned until the end of their next turn on a failed save. On a successful save, they take half as much damage and are not stunned.

At Higher Levels.

When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 2nd.


Dissuade

Enchantment cantrip

Casting Time:

1 action

Range:

60 feet

Components:

V, S

Duration:

1 round

You attempt to momentarily influence the thoughts a creature you can see within range, causing it to hesitate to follow a certain course of action. Choose one of that creature's actions, and a possible target for it. For example, you might choose a melee attack and an ally next to it, or you might choose a spell (even one effecting an area or multiple targets) and yourself, in which case it could still cast the spell but not in a way that would affect you. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. If it fails, it is unable to use that action targetting the chosen creature on its next turn, although it can still take other actions.


Grasp of Winter

2nd-level evocation

Casting Time:

1 action

Range:

120 feet

Components:

V, S

Duration:

1 minute

You extend your hand towards a Large or smaller target you can see within range and close it into a clenched fist, causing the air around them to crystallize instantly into ice. They take 9 (2d8) cold damage, and must make a Strength saving throw. On a successful save, their movement speed is halved on their next turn. On a failed save, they are restrained, and must use an action to break free. If the target is a water elemental, they take an additional 27 (6d8) cold damage.

You may also target a 30 ft. square or 100 ft. by 10 ft. line of a body of calm water with this spell, causing it to freeze into solid ice. The frozen area may be walked on, counting as difficult terrain, for one minute.



Repel

Transmutation Cantrip

Casting Time:

1 action

Range:

5 feet

Components:

V, S

Duration:

Instantaneous
A burst of force emits as your raise your hand, attempting to propel a Medium-sized or smaller creature away from you. It must succeed at a Strength saving throw or immediately be moved 10 feet directly away from you. If this movement would cause the creature to move into danger, it may make a Dexterity saving throw to avoid the danger, instead moving to an a different square not adjacent to you of its choosing.
When you reach 11th level, this spell may affect Large creatures as well.


Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Clockworks I

Clockwork Beetle

Small construct, unaligned

Armor Class

15 (natural armor)

Hit Points

18 (4d8 + 20)

Speed

30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
8 (-1) 15 (+2) 11 (+0) 4 (-3) 12 (+1) 1 (-5)

Skills

Perc +3, Stealth +4

Damage Immunities

poison, psychic

Damage Resistances

fire

Condition Immunities

charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned

Senses

passive Perception 13

Languages

Understands a language of its creator but cannot speak

Challenge

1/2 (100 XP)

Clockwork Outfitting.

Each clockwork beetle is outfitted with either a Spy or Repair module.

Keen Hearing.

The beetle has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.

Spy Module

The beetle has a fly speed of 30 ft.It can choose to record up to 10 minutes of sound that it hears and can reproduce this recording perfectly.

Actions

Sting.

Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage. The target must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.

Repair Module (Recharge 5-6).

The beetle restores 16 (3d10) hit points to another clockwork within 5 ft. that is Large size or larger.

Detonate.

The clockwork beetle detonates an explosive within its own body, instantly destroying itself. Creatures within 10 ft. of the beetle must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 17 (5d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Knowledge (Religion): the Gods of Orma

The people of Orma recognize three gods: Aiod, Vyzhora, and Argand. These entities are not customarily anthropomorphized: they are deities in the sense of Moloch. (Why just these three, then? When priests appeal to their divine magic, it actually works.) When one of the three is worshiped, they are represented by an Aspects: one of the many historical heroes and prophets who have come to represent that god in the stories, a kind of sainthood.

Aiod: pronounced Eye-odd. He (his customary gender) is above all else the god of Justice. The Sun is his representative in the world, and its depiction in golden is his symbol. By his order are peace, community, and civilization possible. The laws of the land are his will.

His good and gentle aspects are by the far the dominant religious sects across Orma. But those who claim to know right and wrong say that while Aiod stands for justice and peace, he is not necessarily a champion of good. Nor of evil: he has no interest in the concepts. War, and cruelty against one's enemies, are not at odds with Aiod's way: nations have slaughtered each other in Aio'd name. Nor is slavery, and he would have no fundamental objection to the single-minded pursuit of power or wealth. as long as you don't betray the peace and harm your neighbors.

For those who wish to do good, there are kind aspects: Åasis the Defender, Ozic (a famed healer and druid), Llyr the Navigator. For those who don't care so much: Tylé the Magnanimous, and Vanquisher Dormall.

Of the PHB cleric domains, Light, Life, and War could be associated with Aiod, and possibly Tempest, for some aspects. Other aspects might be represented by domains concerning law, protection, civilization, and retribution.

When the typical clerics of Aiod pray for divine magic to aid them, they kneel and beg for forgiveness for all their vanities and their doubts, and state their case, that their devotion and the righteousness of their cause might be found worthy of his power.


Vyzhora: with zh sounding like the s in usual. Neutral on the Law/Chaos scale. Civilized peoples distrust Vyzhora. She claims dominion over all that is mysterious about the world, all that may only be known through study and contemplation, or felt through heightened experience,or that which is unknowable: magic and music, the arts, pure knowledge and wisdom, love and sex and birth, life and death. She associated with the Pale Moon, and the shifting stars, which comprise her symbol.  Wizards, sages, mad-people, artists, and all those seeking wisdom pray to her for guidance, though her most devoted followers are monks and ascetics. Thus the common idea of a Vyzhorite is a celibate monk living far from civilization, spending their days meditating and starving, and they are mocked by city-folk as loons. In fact many Vyzhorite rituals are very experiential, and those isolated monasteries have some of the wildest parties in Orma, when the stars decree it.

Her best known aspect is Aegwyn, the Dreamer. Others include the Lady Ninya Avance, Sorceress and Anchorite, and the Unwavering Yon Hulud, each a patron of a monastery in remote regions of the world.

The PHB domains Knowledge and Life are customary of clerics of Vyzhora. Domains concerning magic, death, darkness, music, the oceans, and the moon might also be represented in her aspects.

The prayers of Vyzhorite clerics before a battle are silent meditations, a practiced pursuit of a transcendent state. They say Vyzhora's divine magic awaits all of us in the depths of our minds, for anyone who cultivates the necessary wisdom and temperament to freely access.

Argand: Chaotic - but not necessarily evil. Sometimes depicted as male, but often androgynous, and often as a wild beast rather than a humanoid, or any of many demi-humans: a satyr, centaur, or merrow, perhaps. He is the god of nature and of fate: self-determination and luck, good or bad. The Red Moon is his sign. To city-folk he is the embodiment of evil, and worship of his aspects is taboo, leading to witch-hunts and the likes, leading his followers to form secret cults, which often are hatching wicked plots, but sometimes not. Some of them just want to keep the old ways alive. In rural areas Argandian aspects are tolerated, and sometimes entire towns follow some traditional sect that Aiod's missionaries never managed to expel.


His PHB cleric domains are Nature, Trickery, Tempest, and possibly War, and would also include things like chaos, blood, luck, and strength.

Betruwin the Bleak, evil demon-sorcerer, became a well-known aspect of Argand, and around the world there still exist many followers of Jaheira, the Avenger, waiting for their chance to undo the evil that was the perpetrated against the world during the Age of Heroes.

Friday, April 1, 2016

Lightning Serpent

Based (loosely) on the WoW cloud serpent.

The lightning serpents (or lightning hawks, thunderhawks, or cloud serpents) are a family of winged serpents found in the badlands, canyon-lands, savanna, and desert, capable of generating a powerful electric shock to subdue prey.  These creatures feature feathery wings and plumage ranging from blue to white in color, and are usually seen hovering, supernaturally suspended on slow-moving wings, or streaming in cartwheels or figure-eights in the air.

Lightning Serpent

Small beast, unaligned

Armor Class

12

Hit Points

14 (4d6)

Speed

10 ft., fly 60 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
8 (-1) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 2 (-4) 13 (+1) 3 (-4)

Skills

Perception +3, Stealth +3

Damage Immunities

lightning

Senses

passive Perception 13

Languages


Challenge

1/4 (50 XP)

Discharge.

When the lightning serpent strikes a creature that has been polarized with its bite attack, it releases electrical energy into the target, ending the condition. The creature must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw (with disadvantage if wearing metal armor), taking 2d6 lightning damage and becoming stunned until the end of its next turn on a failed save. On a successful save it takes half as much damage and is not stunned.

Keen Sight.

The lightning serpent has advantage on wisdom (perception) checks that rely on sight.

Actions

Bite.

Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d4+1) piercing damage, and discharge if the creature was polarized.

Polarize.

The lightning serpent targets one creature it can see within 40 ft. of it, causing it to become polarized. The creature is aware it is polarized (hair standing on end, etc.) but it does not necessarily know what this effect does, nor the cause of it. This effect ends at the end of the lightning serpent's next turn, if the creature is affected by discharge or if the creature drops is able to touch an object made of metal that is in contact with the ground.

Monday, January 18, 2016

Cinder Lizard

The cinder lizard is a large reptile native to the rocky badlands, resembling a stone alligator. When motionless, which it always is, it is almost indistinguishable from a long flat boulder due to the interlocking stone plates that line its back. Under the lizard's tongue is a deep bed of white-hot cinders that it uses to kill its prey and cook its food.

Cinder Lizard

Large beast, unaligned

Armor Class

16 (natural armor), or 12 (natural armor) if its underbelly is exposed.

Hit Points

60 (7d10 + 21)

Speed

30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
17 (+3) 9 (-1) 16 (+3) 2 (-4) 8 (-1) 7 (-2)

Damage Immunities

fire

Senses

Stealth +1, passive Perception 9

Languages


Challenge

3 (700 XP)

Camouflage.

The cinder lizard has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks while in rocky terrain.

Fiery Maw.

Any creature grappled by the cinder lizard's bite takes 10 (3d6) fire damage on each of the lizard's turns, unless the lizard's fire has been extinguished. When its mouth is open, the lizard sheds dim light in a 20-ft. radius.

Soft Underbelly.

The cinder lizard's AC is reduced by 4 while it has a target in its mouth, or while it is grappled, incapacitated, or restrained, as it is unable to maneuver to prevent attacks against its vulnerable underbelly.

Actions

Bite.

Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6+3) bludgeoning damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 13) and affect by the lizard's fiery maw, taking 10 (3d6) additional fire damage. Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and is affected by the fiery maw on each of the cinder lizard's following turns as long as it remains grappled. While a creature is grappled in this way, the lizard can't bite another target, and its soft underbelly is susceptible to attacks.

Tail.

Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target not grappled by the lizard. Hit: 8 (1d8+3) bludgeoning damage.