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.