City of Salt in Wounds Campaign Setting for PF and 5e

The immortal, unkillable tarrasque has devastated country after country, civilization after civilization. The creature's rampage has been stopped few times in recorded history, only to rise from its grave to haunt a new generation long after its previous destroyers are dead.

But no longer.

The tarrasque has once again been defeated, but instead of killing the apocalyptic kaiju, it has been mystically bound - never dying, constantly regenerating, to empower and corrupt the ecology, economy, alchemy, magic, politics, and citizens of the metropolis called Salt in Wounds.

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The City of Salt in Wounds is one of the most original, dark, and creative settings I've ever read. Developed and expanded over the past year through JM Perkins' Patreon account, Salt in Wounds is now available to the wider world.

I can't recommend this setting highly enough, and at the $50 level you receive a treasure trove of goodies that include my own Alchemist for 5e. Alchemy plays a huge role in Salt in Wounds and I'm honored that JM has included one of my books in this Kickstarter.

Come catch a glimpse into the mind of JM Perkins, and the amazing creative team he's assembled.

You can check out Salt in Wounds in action on the Actual Play podcast, The GM's Showcase, and read tons of playtest material on www.saltinwoundssetting.com!

EDIT: As of the time of this posting, the Salt in Wounds setting is already 60% funded in just a few hours!

5th Edition Builds: Barbarian (Path of the Dragonwyld)

Like barbarians with spirit totems, those that follow the path of the dragonwyld tap into the primal spirit that gave birth to dragons. Dragonwyld barbarians can shrug off elemental damage, summon a breath weapon, project an aura of fear, and even fly for short distances.

Talking Aquatic Campaigns with the Dungeon Master's Block

Pop over to the Dungeon Master's Block podcast this week to hear DM Mitch, DM Chris, and Yours Truly talking about aquatic campaigns in fantasy and scifi RPGs of all stripes.

Tired of your grognards knowing the stats of every dragon, demon, and droid you throw their way? Want to see your new players push the edge of their roleplaying and tactical envelopes? Come find out why aquatic campaigns are the next great frontier of RPGs.

http://dungeonmasterblock.podbean.com/e/ep-19-under-the-sea/

5th Edition Builds: Rogue (Thug)

Not all rogues are either dextrous or smart. Some have learned the tough lessons of the street and turned to their strength and presence to stay alive. Commonly called a thug, this rogue archetype is the cornerstone of many a thieve's guild. Untrained in the fancy techniques of the fighter, the thug relies on brute force and cheap shots to get the job done.

Guest on the Dungeon Master's Block Podcast

Just finished recording a guest spot for DM Mitch and DM Chris at the Dungeon Master's Block podcast. Huge thanks to my wonderful hosts. Had a great time discussing aquatic campaigns from fantasy to scifi, plus classic D&D modules, cross-genre games, and more. I even snuck in some DC comics love; Mitch was very gracious letting a little DC into his Marvel world. :-)

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure why we didn't fold the superhero genre more into this discussion. Probably need to save that for its own podcast since Mitch and I may devolve into a Namor vs Aquaman debate.

The episode is due for posting on Sunday, Feb 1st. I'll update this post when it does.

5th Edition Class Builds: Alchemist (Pyromancer)

The Pyromancer is an archetype for the Alchemist class and is one of eight traditions, including Metamoporhs, Poisoners, Artificers, Reanimators, Herbwardens, and more. You'll need the core class presented in the original article and this to play the pyromancer.

Pyromancer

Bonus FormulaDespite their nom de guerre, pyromancers are experts in fireworks, explosives, and energy manipulation beyond simple fire. Sought after by royalty and warbands alike, both for their ability to entertain as destroy enemies en masse, the skills of a skilled pyromancer go for a high price and their names reach farther and wider than many wizards. 

The majority of mixtures created by pyromancers take the form of bombs, rockets, explosive vials, and empowered ranged weapons and ammunition such as sling bullets and crossbows. Many pyromancers devise their mixtures in the form of primitive firearms and cannons.

As with other alchemical traditions, pyromancers can create simple mixtures outside of explosions. Skilled pyromancers not only create fireball-launching mortars and melf's acid arrow firing crossbows, but healing mixtures and defensive devices such as potions of expeditious retreat, automated field defenses (shield), and force field projectors (mage armor).

For the full archetype, link over to Rich's Gameroom at: http://tribality.com/2015/01/19/richs-gameroom-the-alchemist-pyromancer/

5th Edition Aquatic Builds: Cacaelia

Art by riviel

The history of the cecaelias as a race is all but unknown to scholars of the surface world. Though some surface dwellers believe they are a subrace of merfolk, this race of cephaloids, and indeed the merfolk, would take great offense at the comparison. Most merfolk scholars attribute the race's origins to the Age of Aboleth, paralleling the race's creation to that of the tieflings of the surface world. The subrace of Deep cecaelia embrace the comparison, while the more social and civilized cecaelia found in tropical regions claim no such association.

Cecaelia are not nearly as wide-spread as the ubiquitous merfolk and rarely have direct contact with air-breathing cultures. Cecaelia live in small, nomadic family groups, living with their families until they reach maturity around age 10, at which time they may leave the family group and strike out on their own. Cecaelia settlements average a few dozen members, with any larger than a few hundred being extremely rare. Individual members are often found within the settlements of other sentient aquatic races, such as merfolk, sahaugin, and koa-toa.

Magical Weapons of Magnamund for 5th Edition

The lands of Magnamund were created by Joe Dever for the 1984 Choose Your Own Adventure novels of Lone Wolf, a Kai monk who finds himself the sole survivor of a massacre that killed his friends, colleagues and mentors. In the series, Lone Wolf travels the world, facing Dark Lords and retrieving the lost knowledge of the Kai monks of Sommerlund. Over nearly 2 dozen books, Lone Wolf encounters numerous magic items and in the later books crafts new items for the New Kai Order. Below you will find a range of items usable in your 5th edition games.

For more information on the world of Aon, the lands of Magnamund, and the Lone Wolf Adventure Gamebooks, including a Kai monk class designed for 5th edition, link over to "The Kai Monks of Summerlund". 

5th Edition Builds: The Kai Monks of Sommerlund

The Kai Monks of Sommerlund

The Kai monks of Sommerlund first appeared in the Lone Wolf Choose Your Own Adventure game book, “Flight from the Dark” by Joe Dever and Gary Chalk, published in 1984. Until that time, Choose Your Own Adventure novels told you who you were and what you could do, allowing you to choose which road to follow, what tunnel to explore, or whether to face a monster. What made the Lone Wolf series a fan-favorite was that you could create your own character, choose from a list of interesting powers, select your starting gear, carry items from book to book, and fight monsters using a combat system. Not only could you choose from ten different powers (called disciplines), you gained new powers for each book in the series you completed; effectively leveling up after each book. The Lone Wolf series allowed us to play a solo roleplaying game long before video games became the norm.

5th Edition Aquatic Races: Merfolk

The human equivalent under the seas, merfolk are far more than a single race. This highly adaptable race varies in size, coloration, features, culture, and religion across the world.

Merfolk Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity increases by 2, and two other ability scores increase by 1.
Age. Merfolk have lifespan similar to humans, reaching maturity by their early teens and rarely living longer than a century.
Alignment. Merfolk, like humans, tend toward no particular alignment. Many tribes have a balance of lawful and chaotic elements, so are often perceived as neutral.
Size. Merfolk come in a variety of lengths and weights, ranging from 5-7 feet in length, and from 100-300lbs. Your size is medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 feet and you are always considered prone. You have a swim speed of 30 feet.
Adaptable. Like humans, merfolk are adaptable to a wide range of environments and social structures. Merfolk may select any three skills, tools, or languages to become proficient in.
Amphibious. You can breath both air and water.
Languages. You speak, read and write Aquan as well as one other language (typically Common)

5th Edition Monstrous PCs: Thri-kreen

Along with the aarakocra, the thri-kreen are one of my favorite non-standard races to play. Unique and alien, thri-kreen provide for unusual roleplaying opportunities and unusual flavor at the table. The challenge? Thri-kreen are a powerful PC race (see Behind the Development below). Converting them to a standard PC race while maintaining their flavor and popular, race-specific powers was a challenge and even with this conversion DMs should consider before allowing them in their campaigns. If used, DMs and players should play up the thri-kreen's social disadvantages as much as possible, including limited communication and insight into humanoid motivations and feelings. Though I follow Monte Cook's design rule that "fluff does not balance crunch", if you have decided that thri-kreen are usable in your campaign, you can use these disadvantages to build interesting stories and roleplaying interactions while balancing some of their physical benefits. Remember, 5th edition emphasizes combat, exploration, and social interactions in equal balance.

Thri-kreen
Thri-kreen are nomadic, insectoid humanoids typically found in deserts and savannah. They communicate with a species-specific combination of clicks, body movements, and antennae waves, though it is suspected that pheromonal communication allows for more subtlety than most humanoids can decipher. Though non-thri-kreen can learn to understand the basics of thri-kreen communication, it's impossible to speak. Most thri-kreen understand Common with the same level of understanding. Unless a thri-kreen has spent signifiant time with non-insectoid humanoids, they make all Insight and Persuasion checks at disadvantage. The same is true of mammalian humanoids when dealing with thri-kreen.

5th Edition Class Builds: Alchemist (Artificer, Metamorph, Poisoner)

About the Alchemist
The alchemist for 5th edition includes a wide range of archetypse that build, treat, or transform objects or creatures to create magical or semi-magical effects. The alchemist class uses the standard spells from the Player's Handbook, though their special effects can be modified to represent the style and flavor of each alchemical tradition. Mordenkanin's faithful hound used by an artificer alchemist is more likely a clockwork creature than a beast made of force, and his mage armor could be a force-field belt or strips of hard but ultra-light metal held together by magnetism. An enlarge mixture created by a metamorph alchemist could make the target more bestial looking, while a jump effect may give them cosmetic insect-like qualities. A poisoner alchemist's circle of death is likely a cloud of lethal vapor that absorbs through the skin as well as the lungs, while their see invisibility may be the side-effect of a hallucinogenic berry that opens the mind to things the eyes can't normally perceive.

All alchemists have access to the same cantrips and 1st level spells (called formula), meaning that all alchemists can create minor damaging effects (ray of frost, poison spray), cure salves (cure wounds), and low-level physical and mystical enhancements. From 2nd level on, their list of formula become limited and each tradition has exclusive access to a very tight range of more powerful effects. Artificers create useful tools and helpful effects such as knock, mordenkanin's magnificent mansion, and arcane gate. Metamorphs transform themselves and their companions with effects like alter self, haste and regenerate. Poisoners not only create mundane poisons faster than other classes, they create blindness/deafness via toxins, cloud the mind with feeblemind, and even induce lethal terror in their victim's via phantasmal killer.

Though alchemists have 7th, 8th, 9th level slots, their highest level formulas are limited to the handful of bonus formula from their tradition list. They may still use these higher level slots to power lower level formula and often do. They may also use these slots to power specific tradition abilities like the artificer's Enduring Creations, metamorph's Beast Within, and poisoner's Blighter features.

In exchange for having a highly specialized list of spell effects and few higher level effects, alchemists are able to create mixtures that act as one-shot magic items usable by their party members. For example, an alchemist could use a 1st level slot to create a cure wounds mixture and give it to the party wizard to use later in the day. Mixtures can take many forms, just as an alchemist's specialized formula. A poison spray could be a perfume-like bottle, a bag of poisonous dust blown into a target's face, or a rod with a head like a spitting cobra that ejects the poison at the target's eyes. Players are encouraged to use their imaginations to describe their mixtures' special effects.

5th Edition Monstrous PCs: Lizardfolk

Lizardfolk

Lizardfolk are typically seen as primitive humanoids with minimal intellect and a brutal, highly territorial culture. Though that is true in many villages, lizardfolk honor intuition and wisdom in a way most civilized cultures cannot understand. Lizardfolk adventurers are rare. Those who are banished for real or perceived crimes may turn to mercenary or adventuring life in order to survive.

On some worlds in the Material Plane, groups of lizardfolk have split from their primitive ancestry and developed into more civilized cultures.

Lone Wolf Board Game and more

For those of you who grew up gaming in the 80s, Choose Your Own Adventure books were the cornerstone of the solo-gaming experience. Video games weren't sophisticated enough, or portable enough, to give us the roleplaying experience we wanted. Even then, the standard CYOA books told you who you were, what you could do, and how you could do it, providing only "Turn Left" or "Turn Right" options. Then came Joe Dever and Gary Chalk.

The Lone Wolf Adventure Book series was far more of a roleplaying game book than any other. Though you played the same character, you were allowed to select from a variety of equipment and a range of powers (called disciplines) that would give you different options in the story. You also performed combat with a simple random-number generator and two basic statistics, Combat Score and Endurance. Lone Wolf lives in the hearts of many an old-school gamer.

5th Edition Aquatic Builds (Sorcerer)

Sorcerous Origins (Oceanic)
Sorcerers draw their power from a variety of sources. Some powers are the result of an unusual bloodline (draconic), while others tap into powerful arcane or divine forces (wild magic). Sorcerers who manifest powers from an oceanic origin may have had their bloodline affected by a powerful creature such as an aboleth, bronze dragon, elemental, hag, or kraken, or may have learned to tap into the primal energy inherent to the most fundamental element of life.

Special Effects: In addition to the mechanics listed below, the special effects of numerous spells can be altered to appear watery in origin. For example, burning hands can instead be superheated steam. Shield may be a solidified disk of water. With the DM's permission, you could also alter the damage type of a spell to reflect this origin. For example, the waterwhip cantrip below is simply the thornwhip druid cantrip with the piercing damage changed to bludgeoning. Bludgeoning and cold are appropriate damage exchanges, but oceanic sorcerers also control weather, so wind-like effects, lightning and thunder are also appropriate. A cleric of Poseidon in my game altered the sacred flame cantrip to sacred lightning with little alteration. By taking the Magic Initiate feat and selecting sacred flame (lightning), a human oceanic sorcerer could start at 1st level with the same effect.

5th Edition D&D Subraces: Halfling (Kender)

Oh, Tasselhoff. What did you start?

Kender

Unlike other halfling races, kender are childlike and naive to the extreme. This childish innocence gets many kender out of trouble, though more often gets them into it.

ADDENDUM: I've recently been informed that though kender are effectively halflings, they have an odd origin in the Dragonlance universe (gnomes affected by the passing of the "grey stone"?).  As such, they are technically not halflings. This doesn't appear in any of the research I read for this post. I will make a few adjustments when I get time. Thanks for letting me know.

ADDENDUM 2: From reader, Ben Eastman: "It would appear that there are three possible explanations for kender, although the third came very late in the Dragonlance cycle (a novel from 2009). I think that designing kender as a halfling subrace makes perfect sense outside of Krynn, since they are halflings-but-not-hobbits. In Krynn, they would just be their own standalone race." I agree. Thanks, Ben, and others for letting me know.

From the Kender Wiki:

"Within the game world, kender names are chosen from a wide range of sources such as recent events, an existing relative, or from items found in kender pouches, such as Bearchase, Lockpick, and Fruitthrow. As children, they constantly ask questions and come to rely on family and friends for needs, and they begin to take part in community activities. As they age, kender children gain education by hearing stories, desiring to acquire new skills, and playing games. They also begin handling and wandering. As kender reach the adolescent and teen-aged years, they become more active participants in Kender Moots, social gatherings where the youth can show off their newly found skills in games and demonstrations. As they near adulthood, kender experience intense wanderlust and leave home.

"Most kender spend their entire adult lives wandering around the world. Most of the population of Krynn has been exposed to the adult variety of kender, and as such have adapted the word kender to mean thief, rogue, or cutpurse. Kender take great offense to these epithets, especially the last. The Annotated Chronicles cites the Dragonlance Adventures, which states, "Most Kender are encountered during wanderlust, a particular phase in a kender's life that occurs for most kender during their early 20s. Wanderlust may happen for many years ... and is responsible for spreading kender communities across the continent of Ansalon."

5th Edition Builds: New Feats (Advanced Healer, Martial Arts Training, Survivalist)

Artwork drawn from the Danish gaming site Mythtonia.
As always, please link over and check it out.

Advanced Healer
The Healer feat includes some basic skills that I feel should be included as a part of every healer's kit. As a house rule, any individual can use a healer's kit to stabilize a companion without medical training. If you have training in the Medicine skill, you gain the benefits listed under the current Healer feat (a stabilized character also regains 1hp; as an action you may expend one use of a healer's kit to heal 1d6+4hp, though I would remove the extra healing equal to HD). The Advanced Healer feat replaces the standard Healer feat.

If you do not wish to use this house rule, you may include the current Healer feat as a prerequisite to the Advanced Healer feat with no additional changes.

Behind the Screen: Talking 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons

I'm not the only one out there converting his little heart out. Check out these great sites for more thoughts on fluff and crunch for the newest version of the world's first roleplaying game.

Doug Easterly may be the most impressive, well-read and experienced gaming scholar I know. Check out his work over at www.swordsofathanor.blogspot.com.

Greg Johnston has graced my games since 1989--everything from D&D to Hero to WOD. Check out his stuff over at www.xhuul.blogspot.com.

I net-met Brandes Stoddard last year and have been following his fun and intriguing posts on Pathfinder, 5th Edition and the history of D&D, including a brilliant 3-parter on the evolution of the Ranger class from 1st ed to 5th. Check him out at www.harbinger-of-doom.blogspot.com. Brandes' wife also blogs on both tabletop and video gaming as well over at the awesomely named: www.deck-of-many-things.blogspot.com.

Love gaming with your kids? You should. Check out this older post including links to two of my favorite kid-friendly gaming blogs: Gaming with your Kids

I'll add more as I come across them.

5th Edition Builds: The Eldritch Archer

Original artwork by the incredible Jason Engle

The eldritch knight archetype for the 5th edition fighter can technically be used to create a version of the arcane archer, though its powers are more suitable to melee weapons than ranged. With a few tweaks, the eldritch knight can become an impressive ranged combatant, while still allowing the knight's melee advantages.

On the Table with 5th edition D&D: The Return of the King

For the past few weeks I've been a player in a 5th edition D&D game run by friend, colleague and designer, Doug Easterly. The game takes place in his fictional city of Estarion. The game is centered around a rat cult rising in a city that has been run by invading "Romans", known as the Aquilans, for nearly 100 years.

I wanted to play around with the new 5th ed system, but couldn't decide what PC to play. It's a rare occasion that someone else runs games in my group, so I wanted to make this PC worth the time. Of course, my friends joked I should play Aquaman (because I'm one of the 5 people in the world who freakin' loves him), so I set out to make that happen.

No way I could pass up the chance to wear armor like this!