En5ider Reactions Issues 9-11

In issue 9, Circles of Power, by Mark Kernow, provides three druid subclasses. The first is the Circle of the Birds and Beasts. This class is similar in theme to the circle of the shepherd, but focuses on controlling animals in it's powers. They are very utility focused, but not necessarily combat effective. Not my favorite subclass, and reflective of some very early and quirky 5e design.

The next subclass, the Circle of the Elements, reminds me of a bender from Avatar the Last Airbender. Again, kind of odd design. The final class, the Circle of Life, has similar oddities, including a change to spellslot recovery that references the wizard's arcane recovery feature. Referencing another class or ability generally strikes me as bad design because it requires consulting another source rather than making the subclass ability standalone.  Overall, not my top article from En5ider.

Issue 10, by Carl Heyl, focuses on creating puzzles for your game that are actually fun. This brings up an issue I've often had with puzzles—challenging the players, instead of their characters, can be frustrating for them rather than a fun game experience. Additionally, there’s an inherent danger in putting anything important behind a puzzle because your players may not figure it out. While interesting, this article still didn’t quite crack the nut for me on this subject.

Issue 11, Winterheart, is a brief adventure by Esper. Spoilers from here out. And content warnings for self-harm, familial death, racism, and sexual assault. I'd recommend you just pass on this adventure if these concern you.

It contains some problematic tropes that diminished my interest at the beginning. It begins as a bit of a Romeo and Juliet story, but rapidly we find that Juliet (named Katina in this case) dies with her father while fleeing her lover's family. Her younger sister is captured and given to the Romeo character (named Aldric Sangellion) as a "war trophy" by his father. The objectification of this character (her name is Chryssa) bothers me. If I were to run this adventure, I'd treat her as a prisoner, rather than using the language of implied enslavement and elements of potential sexual assault currently conveyed. There is certainly enough material to turn Chryssa into a non-helpless captive too, as the core tension of the story (there are a few too many plot threads) seems to be that if she remains captured, the trauma of losing her family will drive her to commit suicide and unleash her nascent winter magic to create an eternal winter (a la super dark version of Frozen, and thus the title of the adventure). As is, Chryssa's depiction follows the trope of the young maid in the tower (and the room she is in is noted to be Aldric's bedchambers--which further reinforces the negative and potential sexual violence mentioned above). There's also some elements of motivation for the two families, driving their conflict, which involves a magic tree, and the racial tension from one faction being humans and the other elves.

You might be able to rectify some of the problematic elements by removing the more problematic language used to describe Chryssa's capture and imprisonment. The old tropes and other problematic themes could also be broken up by gender swapping characters, and not grounding the conflict in a racial difference. 

The dark, tragedy elements of the story are compelling to me, and I think provide reason not to toss out the whole thing. There's also a lovely little regional map that I think is a good tool to facilitate an adventure. But as I mentioned above, I certainly understand completely passing on this adventure. It's interesting to see how much EN Publishing has adjusted its content (similar to others like Kobold Press) to reflect a more inclusive view of the hobby. It's just unfortunate that it's really only been the past four or five years. I imagine there may be other adventures with these themes in the next several dozen issues.

Lore Book: Battle of the Field of Blood

This lore book was written for my ongoing Ptolus game, but also establishes some of the lore regarding the mortal understanding of fiends in my own setting.

This battered, black leather book relates both a series of lists of commanders and troops in a battle said to have been waged “upon the fields of blood in the circle of envy.” The unnamed author’s descriptions decline in clarity until the latter pages which descent into utter gibberish—perhaps the last ravings of a broken mind.

The initial entries praise the “lords of the entropic hosts,” lauding the “great vision and glory” of their commander, the “cambion son of the great ascended Gnasher of Endless Bones,” a balor said to have slain “a thousand devas of the ill-begotten chorus of wailers.” 

The account of the battle lists “a hundred war chiefs of a thousand legions of the blessed hosts of chaos” arrayed against “the ill favored armies of the infernal pit.” The fallen angel, Dalferion, is noted as the head of this force, with the hell knights “Flegthas, Naras, and the dread knight Karcius” as her lieutenants at the head of these “endless, ant like hordes.”

Lore Book: The Ebon Binding

The following lore book was written for the players in my ongoing Ptolus campaign to provide some in-game lore to the players on the cult of the Ebon Hand, one of the chaos cults operating in Ptolus. 

This large tome of battered leather, with metal reinforced corners and spine seems to contain the book of scripture of the “Ebon Prince.” It speaks of an ancient ritual undertaken to “bring the Ebon one into the world that the darkness might blot out the light” and that the “holy tenebrous city might be exalted once more with tithes of blood and skulls.”

The hand of the Ebon Prince is said to have been cut off when the portal to the “realm beyond understanding” was shut by “the Iron Spike.” The only further mention of this person or entity is a reference to them being placed upon a black spike on the walls of the “desolate city thrown down in lasting shame.”

Scrawling in the last few blank pages of the book includes the words “Crimson Coil” and “Tolling Bell.” The rest is indecipherable.

Kickstarter Spotlight: Beyond the Woods

I don’t often showcase products in development or crowdfunding, but Beyond the Woods strikes me as a product worth highlighting via my abet limited reach. I want to note that I don’t know the creators, and they aren’t providing me any compensation.

This project just started its crowdfunding campaign two days ago and has already reached and exceeded its goal. This article from Polygon provides a great overview of the project, along with some interview questions with the principal creator behind the project, Emmet Byrne. This also bodes well for the project, as Byrne was a lead designer on multiple highly successful products from Cubicle7–including Broken Weave, a 5e setting I absolutely adore (I am in process of writing perhaps the most in depth review of that product on the internet, so stay tuned for it to drop once I have time to finish it!)

Inspired by Irish myth and legend, Beyond the Woods certainly looks interesting, and beautiful based on the artwork already shared. You can take a look at all of this with their free QuickStart product, which provides an overview of new mechanics and an adventure for you to try out yourself.

But what really intrigues me about this product? Sorry to bury the lead—is the codified and robust hexcrawling system Beyond the Woods provides, along with unique inventory management and resource mechanics. There’s plenty of good hex crawl resources, like those from Justin Alexander. But this strikes me as an extremely polished, 5e-tailored system. This system is setting agnostic, allowing it to be ported to any setting or campaign. I think it would be a wonderful addition for Tomb of Annihilation, or other campaigns using hex crawls without a robust or detailed accompanying system. Along with pointcrawls facilitated by Cubicle7’s excellent Uncharted Journeys, this provides a great framework for my sandbox campaigns and adventures in the future. I think you could seamlessly use this alongside the aforementioned title to have long distance pointcrawls and also have hexcrawls in frontier and exploration areas. 

I’m also taking the time to highlight this project because it is a small publisher—I think this is an outstanding project, but I worry about the book being available for interested GMs in the future. So I hope their crowdfunding success continues so they are able to print a large run of copies and be successful in sharing their content and getting it onto our shelves, into our PDF libraries, and most importantly: playing at our game tables!

Ptolus Campaign Starting Session Concept

Browsing at the time I began this article, I found a great post from Gnomestew on starting your next campaign with a wedding. And I thought: that would be a great way to start a Ptolus campaign that includes political intrigue. So we come to this post. It has been several months since I started the campaign, but I offer it up to you as an example of applying a highly structured campaign technique—having a social event.

First I wanted to establish connections and stakes. So players were basked to either come up with their own reason for knowing about or being involved with the event.

d8 Reasons Your Character is at the Wedding

1       They are a distant relative of the bride or groom

2       They are a former love interest of the bride or groom

3       You fought in the wars on the continent with someone invited to the wedding

4       You have long been fascinated by the upper crust    and finally finagled your way into a noble wedding

5       You are impersonating a minor noble

6       You are a cleric officiating the ceremony 

7       You have helped transport and guard an extravagant gift on a long journey to the event

8       You have been hired to assist with the logistics and service of the ceremony

Party Planning

To plan the event for the session I’ll be using the following directions from Justin Alexander:

1) Creating a location with multiple areas to congregate. 2) Make a list of characters attending. 3) Come up with some events for the event, and finally 4) create topics of conversation.

Location Design 

I love this map from DysonLogos for a large estate with a ballroom, gardens, and nearby sitting rooms. (Note this map is not commercially licensed, but it’s available for personal use from DysonLogos’ blog—if you can please show Dyson some support on Patreon too!)

The opening social will happen as guests enter the house and check their coats, then move to the garden. The ceremony occurs in the rear gardens, then the party comes inside the ballroom, with hors d'oeuvres served, for the reception prior to the dinner. Some guests may linger in the garden, or even escape to the hedge maze for more private liaisons. The dinner is served on tables around the edges of the ballroom, and later on the first dance occurs. Throughout, a library just to the right of the ballroom provides a smoking room and socialization area with a piano that some guests may use too.

The property is located near the main Erthuo Estate on Three Princes Street.

Guest List

Valimar Thornborn: The count of Fardunfell, a county on the continent. He is the groom set to marry Avarilor Erthuo in the wedding ceremony. Valimar is a high elf, renowned more as a scholar than as a warrior. (Noble stat block).

Avarilor Erthuo: The bride of this event, Avarilor is a half elf, the daughter of Lord Galif Erthuo, and Lady Lithalin Erthuo. Galif is one of the titled members of House Erthuo, and the manor the event is occuring at belongs to him. (Noble stat block)

Lord Galif Erthuo: A half elf noble and scholar, Galif has little time or interest for politics, instead focusing on his own interest in the astronomical and astrological, along with their magical adjacent fields of study. Lady Lithalin is his wife. (Noble stat block)

Lady Lithalin Erthuo: An elf, Lady Lithalin is a poised beauty, and extremely intelligent. She is more interest in maintaining her family's social status than her studious husband. (Noble stat block)

Lady Peliope Erthuo: Head of House Erthuo. Galif is her nephew. Though she maintains the neutrality of her house, Peliope is engaged in a torrid long-term affair with Lord Renn Sadar. (Noble stat block)

Lady Enis Sadar: Wife of Lord Renn Sadar. Influencial in the Church for patronizing the Order of Dayra, supporting the poor and orphaned. (Aristocrat stat block)

Naephos Worldsea: Proxy of Lord Renn Sadar of house Sadar. Charismatic and well-mannered. Knows of the secret affair between Lord Renn and Peliope Erthuo. Male elf. (mage stat block)

Camren Khatru: Son and scion of the head of House Khatru. Camren is a soldier born and bred. He has lately returned from the continent, where he has fought in the civil war. It is rumored he was called back to be married and secure the future of the house. He is overconfident in his abilities and arrogant (knight stat block).

Raule Kath: A renowned singer and songwriter. He is directing the musicians playing for the wedding ceremony and the ball afterwards. He is a bit of a foppish young dandy, and gets quite familiar with people of all types when he's had a drink or two. Nephew of the head of House Kath. (Performer stat block)

Nicalon Regelis: Actually Navanna Vladaam, in this guise she appears to be a dark skinned human man. Nicalon Regelis is a member of the Knights of the Chord, an knighly order of bards associated with House Kath. Nicalon speaks out against the Vladaam to learn what enemies have to say. (Assassin stat block)

Kalbir Rau: Male human scion of House Rau. Maintains close ties to the Longfingers Guild and the Balacazar crime family. (Page 98 for stats).

Captain Nigel Blazehorn: A dwarf captain of the city guard, Nigel represents the comissar at the event, although he is a personal friend of House Erthuo. (City Watch Captain stat block, Tome of Beasts I).

Captain Pharis Noldstrom: Second in command to the Commissar over the Commissar's men. He and a small group are acting as bodyguards for the Commissar's daughters, Therese Urnst and Marie Urnst, who are attending the wedding. Noldstrom is taciturn and serious, but extremely focused on his duties. He has a dark secret in that during his him at the imperial academy under the influence of alcohol and drugs he murdered one of his instructors and covered it up. His career will be ruined if it comes to light. (Veteran Stat Block with Defenders)

Marie Urnst: the second of Commissar Urnst's daughters, Marie 

Therese Urnst: The eldest of the Commissar's daughters, 

Ms. Fraulia Hall: The head organizer for the event, managing the help and those doing logistics for the wedding. (Commoner Stats)

Events

The program will follow the events above, but of course this is an adventure. A complication must ensue! Upon commencement of the event the GM rolls 1d4 + 1 to determine when during the program a group of Vai assassins will strike at the event.

1. Opening socialization 

2. Ceremony 

3. Reception & Receiving Line

4. Celebratory Dinner

5. First Dance

The Vai assassins will include one Assassin NPC, and two Cultists disguised as stewards. Their target is Camren Khatru. 

Topics of Conversation 

• Barbarians are said to be massing in the far East—perhaps they will devastate the fractured lands of the Empire or sack the capital again.
• Lord Zavere and Lady Rill are so insulting. They were invited as a courtesy but never responded, and did not deign to leave their “Castle Shard.” (Others may disagree, finding the pair magnanimous and kind).
• That madman, Helmut Itlestein, and his republican rabble are becoming more outspoken about Ptolus becoming a republic governed by the people. People say they plan to have a rally in front of the Administration Building in Oldtown.
• There is rumor that many delvers who go into the depths and operate out of Delver’s Square in Midtown are getting rich from their exploits. These people frequent the inns and businesses near Midtown for their equipment and lodging. They even have a guild.
• A number of nobles are wearing crimson Blood Hawk feathers on hats or pins. Anyone asked notes that it’s a new fashion that’s all the rage—you should get one! Send a servant to the market district and they'll surely find you one.
• Ratmen who live in the sewers are growing bolder or more desperate in their raids on the surface. The Holy Emperor has issued a bounty of three gold pieces per ratling tail turned in.
• The Tragedy of Narthius, the Wise Emperor, is opening next week in the Crown Theater. The Church has called for a boycott—so it must be good!
• Someone known only as Shilukar has broken into several homes in the Nobles’ Quarter and has stolen valuables of all types. Some say he has strange hyena men working with him.
• Sea-bound trade has suffered in recent months due to the predations of a group of pirates. It's said the leader is calling himself the Sea Lord and commands a fleet of three ships.
• The most extravagant gift has been bought by Lord Erthuo for his new son-in-law; a magic scriptorium, allowing one to shift between books very rapidly and scribe your thoughts by speaking. It is very large, and massively expensive. It was escorted overland all the way from Uquance, the City of Mages.

Review: The Book of Fiends

Today we’ll be discussing one of my favorite bestiaries, and one of the earliest books I acquired for 5e. The Book of Fiends, from Green Ronin Publishing. Written by Robert Schwalb, in collaboration with Aaron Loeb, Erik Mona, and Chris Pramas. The original Book of Fiends was published for 3e, and contains much of the same lore, but this review will focus on the most recent version of the book.

Content Warning: Please note that this product is for mature readers and deals with themes including death, violence, and other topics that may not be comfortable or appropriate for all readers.

Coming from the same author who designed the roleplaying game Shadow of the Demon Lord, this tome features vivid description, interesting stories, and beautiful—but at times gruesome or genuinely disturbing artwork. For those who choose to read it, the book offers a variety of fiends, beings of true evil from the lower planes where true evil lives. Beyond just the monsters, the are dozens of fiends of legend, such as demon or devil lords, each of which has its own description that include information on their cultists and their evil portfolio. Each of these entities could almost be spun out into their own campaign, or if you are looking at an adventure with plenty of intrigue about evil cults and their struggles to bring about their own apocalyptic vision of the future (like in Night of Dissolution) each of these could be used as a distinct cult to be investigated and fought.

One of the amazing things about this book is that the monster stat blocks in its second chapter and the rules in the third chapter (the character options) are designated as open content under the OGL. 

Now for a few warts, like some of the creatures within. One major criticism I have is the organization of the Book of Fiends. It has three chapter, which makes sense. The first chapter outlines the three major lower planes. It outlines them in alphabetical order: first the Abyss, then Gehenna, and finally the Hells. Then chapter two orders its topics alphabetically by type of fiend, with daemons, demon, and devils last. Perhaps this is a personal thing,  but I found it extremely confusing on my first read through that the locales were not presented in the same order as their denizens. If I were to offer advice, I’d say to nest the monsters under the location descriptions for easier reference and better flow.

Overall though, I highly recommend checking out the Book of Fiends if it sounds interesting and you can fit it in the budget. It is an outstanding resource for 5e monsters, along with plot points you could tie into any TTRPG campaign.

Mercenary Campaign: She Who Sees Beyond

She Who Sees Beyond (The White Necromancer) 

Appearance: Pale woman, with elvish features. High cheekbones and eyes like glass with faint bluish green coloring. She is tall and slender. 

Roleplaying: 

• Speaks often about her vision of a world made safe for all people through ending chaos.
• Rarely smiles or shows emotion.
• Stands too still. She lacks the swaying of a normal pulsing, living being. DC 12 Wisdom (Perception or Insight) to determine something is off, DC 18 to identify that she does not move except when she chooses to.

Background: She Who Sees Beyond is a powerful leader, of ancient days. She is an exceptional necromancer and is secretly an immortal lich. She rarely feeds souls to her philactery, instead subsisting off the feelings of fear and dread she invokes in those who see her, leading to one feeling that “a part of them is missing” after seeing her. This also impairs their memory of the event. This is from a portion of their soul literally being siphoned away. She consorts with bound demons, who loathe her as they serve her efforts toward law. She also works with devils, and is a master negotiator to have avoided being double crossed by the emissaries of the Hells. 

Key Info: 

• Secret lich.
• Rules a domain and desires to conquer the world. She has an eternity to do it.
• Potential patron for the characters—especially if they decide another foe is more dangerous and decide to ally with her, or are tricked into a contract.

Stat Block: Lich (A5E SRD)

This campaign concept is for a sandbox campaign, so I can’t be disappointed if the players completely avoid this plot hook, but if I’m running a Black Company inspired game then I may as well lean in, right? The White Necromancer is an essentially immortal spellcaster, who has raised an army of both mortals and undead, including powerful champions who act as her generals. She seeks to control the lands of the faltering Imperium, acting as an outside contender. Her true nature is unknown. The company might be her enemy, or might find itself in her service.