Riddlehouse Vol. 1

1
CREDITS
Designer: Anthony Qualkinbush
Writer: Anthony Qualkinbush
Illustrators: Anthony Qualkinbush, Deckydraws, Fukamihb
Acknowledgments: A huge thank you to my wife and daughter for inspiring me to do and be better every single day and for putting up with me tapping away on my laptop all this time.
MATURE CONTENT WARNING
The adventures contained within this collection explore elements of horror that some may find uncomfortable or offensive. Please be sure to consult your players' comfort levels with playing games that include these horror elements. Some players may not be comfortable with references to harm or death involving children. Some players may have an issue with incorporating rules for trauma and resulting disorders described in the madness system adapted and modified from the system reference document. It is important to read the adventures and discuss issues that your players may have.
If your players are uncomfortable with these elements of horror it is suggested that you alter the adventure to minimize or eliminate these particular elements. If this is not an option, consider running one of the other adventures included in this book. Ultimately it is up to you and your players to communicate and understand what your preferences and limits are when it comes to roleplaying adventure games.
Some art from this publication was sourced from the collection Chamomile Has Illustrations. The art from Chamomile Has Illustrations is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The following artists have contributed to the pack:
Deckydraws: https://www.fiverr.com/deckydraws
Fukamihb: https://www.fiverr.com/fukamihb
The art from Chamomile Has Illustrations was originally commissioned for the tabletop RPG Dark Lord: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/347930/Dark-Lord
You can discuss the art included at Chamomile's Discord: https://discord.gg/25hmzuX
Some assets included in the creation of the maps in the atlas section were provided by Essendi and released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters, deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously been designated as Open Game Content or are in the public domain are not included in this declaration.)
Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the game mechanics of this Crimson Terrain game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Gaming License version 1.0a Section 1(d). No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form without written permission. Riddlehouse vol.1 is published by Crimson Terrain under the Open Game License version 1.0a.
Copyright 2021 Anthony Qualkinbush, Crimson Terrain. All Rights Reserved.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Credits .................................................................................... 1
Table of Contents.................................................................. 2
Introduction .......................................................................... 3
How to use this book ............................................................. 3
Group Patron......................................................................... 4
Introduction ................................................................................. 4
The Organization ................................................................... 4
How to use This ........................................................................... 5
Relax, We’ve Got This ................................................................. 5
Become Somebody…or die trying ....................................... 5
Get Paid .................................................................................... 6
Secrets of Riddlehouse ............................................................... 7
Not So Simple Questions ...................................................... 7
The Zombie Baron ................................................................ 8
Adventure Hooks.................................................................... 8
Entering the complex ............................................................ 8
A Moral Dilemma ................................................................... 9
The Blind Prince .................................................................. 10
Adventure Hooks.................................................................. 10
Winterhall ............................................................................. 10
In the End ............................................................................... 11
The Golden Oracle ............................................................... 12
Adventure Hooks.................................................................. 12
The Temple of the Golden Oracle ..................................... 12
Forbidden Cavern ................................................................14
Adventure Hooks.................................................................. 14
Cavern of the Fire Titan ...................................................... 14
Be Aware ................................................................................ 15
In the End .............................................................................. 16
Behind Closed Doors ........................................................... 17
Adventure Hooks.................................................................. 17
The Knight Owl ..................................................................... 17
Opening The Doors .............................................................. 18
Magical Oddities ................................................................. 22
Diseases ....................................................................................... 22
Curses & Blessings .................................................................... 22
Conditions ................................................................................... 22
Traits ............................................................................................ 22
Items ............................................................................................ 22
Spells ............................................................................................ 26
Random Tables ................................................................... 27
Madness .............................................................................. 28
Madness Effects ................................................................... 28
Progressive Madness .......................................................... 29
Curing Madness.................................................................... 30
Bestiary ................................................................................ 31
Riddlehouse .................................................................................31
Auran Ramoux .......................................................................31
Giyana .....................................................................................31
The Zombie Baron ..................................................................... 32
Crypt Guard Skeleton .......................................................... 32
Hidden Dead .......................................................................... 32
The Heir ................................................................................. 33
Drowned One ........................................................................ 33
Zombie Baron ....................................................................... 34
Raging Flesh Render ........................................................... 35
The Blind Prince ........................................................................ 36
Way of the Unseen, Monk .................................................. 36
The Blind Prince .................................................................. 37
The Golden Oracle ..................................................................... 38
Golden Cultist ....................................................................... 38
Golden Cultist, High Priest ................................................ 38
Golden Cultist, Initiate ....................................................... 39
Noble Sycophant .................................................................. 39
Common Sycophant ............................................................ 40
Raine ...................................................................................... 40
Seer .......................................................................................... 41
Golden Oracle ........................................................................ 41
Forbidden Cavern ...................................................................... 42
Mimic ..................................................................................... 42
Coin Mimic ............................................................................ 42
Swarm of Coin Mimics........................................................ 43
Talkid Nysfyire ..................................................................... 43
Aurantia Sporeling .............................................................. 44
Infected Rat .......................................................................... 44
Aurantia Ratling .................................................................. 45
Fungal Horror....................................................................... 46
Behind Closed Doors................................................................. 47
Glapir ..................................................................................... 47
Mouse Knight ....................................................................... 47
Jeremy Wrinklebreath ........................................................ 48
Scritcherscratch ................................................................... 48
Miscellaneous Creatures.......................................................... 49
Bottle Thief ........................................................................... 49
Husk ....................................................................................... 49
Sila Djinni .............................................................................. 50
Minitaur ................................................................................. 51
Fleep ........................................................................................ 51
Adventure Scaling............................................................... 52
Encounter Scaling ..................................................................... 52
Monster Scaling......................................................................... 52
Zombie Baron ....................................................................... 53
Raging Flesh Render ........................................................... 54
The Blind Prince .................................................................. 55
Golden Oracle ....................................................................... 56
Fungal Horror....................................................................... 57
Glapir ..................................................................................... 58
Scritcherscratch ................................................................... 59
Roleplaying Cards ............................................................... 60
Goal: Intelligent NPCs .............................................................. 60
Printable Cards ...........................................................................61
Atlas ..................................................................................... 64
Compound .................................................................................. 65
Winterhall ................................................................................... 66
Temple ........................................................................................ 67
Fire Titan Cavern ....................................................................... 68
The Inn ........................................................................................ 69
Handouts ............................................................................. 70
Message from Whitehaven...................................................... 70
Missing Poster ............................................................................ 71
Unexpected Letter ..................................................................... 72
Request for Aid .......................................................................... 72
TPK-1020 Form ......................................................................... 73
Magical Exemptions Form ...................................................... 74
Requisition Order ...................................................................... 74
Expense Log ............................................................................... 75
Flyer ............................................................................................. 76
Business Cards ........................................................................... 77
Special Thanks .................................................................... 78
License .................................................................................. 81
3
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Riddlehouse! I am Auran Ramoux, and I will be your “hauntingly” handsome guide and handler for however long you are in the company of Riddlehouse. We employ a select few adventurers looking for frequent opportunities to visit unique locales and kill meet interesting peoples. Oh and of course discover powerful artifacts for which you will be most handsomely rewarded. Assuming you have signed all the appropriate forms and waivers, that TPK-1020 and the ID-10T form are especially important, let's dive in and get accustomed to how we do things around here.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
The following collection of adventures is designed to be dropped into any game with virtually any number of party members of any level or combination of levels. They are designed to be short adventures completed in as little as a single session of play. Each adventure will come with an adventure hook or two to provide the group a compelling reason to take on the challenge; or to act as the request order, if you choose to utilize the Riddlehouse as a patron, for sending your players into new and exciting dangers.
Speaking of using the Riddlehouse as a patron for your players I have included a Group Patron at the back of this book detailing how you can fully implement the Riddlehouse patron as well as the introductory details of the campaign or adventure series surrounding the secrets of Riddlehouse which will be explored over the length of this series of books.
These adventures when used in conjunction with the
Group Patron runs very similarly to a “monster of the week” type of game similar to many of our favorite science fiction and fantasy tv shows.
The encounters have been designed to be easily scaled to the level, ability, and number of your players. A simple guide to this system is available in the back of this book in the Adventure Scaling chapter. This encounter scaling system and Bestiary includes creatures with adjustable stat lines and abilities to offer you and your players the most tunable encounters possible. Do be aware that the implementation of these systems while designed to be simple and intuitive can, if misapplied, result in a quick and painful end to your game.
TIP: EMBRACE PLAYER AGENCY
You will likely notice quickly that I have a tendency to lean into a narrative writing style throughout this book. This becomes particularly apparent in the adventures. I want to be perfectly clear. I do not expect, nor would I suggest that you hold absolutely to these portions of the adventures as it will likely end up being to the detriment of your players or your own creativity and enjoyment of the game.
This is your and your player’s game. What I have provided to you should be seen as a playground rather than a ride. I write in this way to help provide an idea for how I originally envisioned these adventures flowing. To help you understand the characters, their motivations, and plans as best as I can.
I really want to make sure that you do not allow my writing style to influence your game to the extent that you place your campaign on rails. Doing so will often stifle the creativity that so often fuels our enjoyment of this game. Try not to force the game to follow any specific path or outcome regardless of the suggestions I have made.
I have attempted to include supports, where I could, to help you possibly anticipate and support the players in coming up with a different approach to the issues that have presented in the adventure. This is not to give you ways to circumvent their approach but to help you embrace it and hopefully still reach an enjoyable conclusion to the adventure.
Most Important: Read the adventures ahead of time, from start to finish, before you play them. Do this to be familiar with all of the important information during the adventure. This will help you to be best able to adapt to your players.
4
GROUP PATRON
INTRODUCTION
So, you want to enter into permanent employment with Riddlehouse. I suppose I should give you a little background information on who we are and what we do assuming you aren’t already familiar with our organization. We specialize in solving problems. If you have a problem that requires more than your local town guards can offer then call out to Riddlehouse and then Relax, we’ve got this. ™ <SMILE>
If the rewards are right, we dispatch one of our adventuring crews to correct your wrongs and collect any powerful dangerous artifacts that may be threatening the sanctity of your home. We are an organization built to handle the dangers of an uncertain world and protect people unable to protect themselves. We also collect a substantial fee which we use to fund the operations and pay our members. We collect dangerous artifacts and sources of magic to be kept from those who might use them poorly.
THE ORGANIZATION
The actual physical location of Riddlehouse is fittingly a bit of a mystery. Any correspondence intended for Riddlehouse will be delivered through magical means by simply burning it in any mundane fire. Those who are invited to Riddlehouse will find that it appears to them just beyond a stand of trees at dusk. The building itself is constructed of dark wood and stone and is relatively small for what it represents. Behind the house is a body of water that has no business being here, not that any of this does as it certainly was not present prior, it stretches out into the darkness seemingly forever.
INSIDE THE HOUSE
Stepping inside Riddlehouse you will immediately find yourself in a small, clean, yet slightly shabby, room. Just past the entrance is a large front desk, with a tarnished bronze plaque with the word “CENTER” on it, the desk is occupied by a very see-through Face of Operations, one Auran Ramoux. Auran runs everything customer and employee-facing. He is one of only two Riddlehouse representatives that anyone will meet outside of its various adventurers and couriers.
Beyond the desk, a hallway leads off to the left to a singular dull metallic door. One other visible door lies directly behind the desk beyond a medium-sized sitting room with simple yet abundant seating options. This door lies in stark contrast to the other constructed of what is clearly high-quality hard woods it is warm and inviting with a well-used bronze handle. Above the handle is a set of 13 key holes. Each key corresponds to one of thirteen locations in the known world, intended to help adventurers move quickly to any accepted jobs. It is known as the Well-Worn Door among Riddlehouse employees, and its use is a coveted perk for obvious reasons.
The only other member of Riddlehouse that anyone has any contact with is the Head of Operations, Giyana. She is a tall and powerfully built, dark-skinned woman. She has a very severe and down to business attitude and has little time for anything not strictly necessary. Nothing of her background is known to anyone within Riddlehouse. She is seemingly completely agoraphobic never leaving Riddlehouse, and Riddlehouse provides her a safe place to utilize and exercise her significant intellect and critical thinking skills and on extremely rare occasions a chance to stretch her wings, figuratively speaking, she can on very rare occasions have the opportunity to utilize her physical prowess in service of Riddlehouse.
5
HOW TO USE THIS
The first thing you need to consider when making use of this or any group patron is where you are in your campaign. Are you in the midst of a multi-year campaign looking for something to spice things up? Have you had a couple sessions but not really established any primary purpose yet? Or have you not yet begun?
Any of these scenarios will work just fine. However, I do believe that the absolute best way to utilize a group patron is to discuss their use in your session zero. What’s a session zero? If you’re not already familiar with the concept of a session zero, I’ll give you a quick and dirty run down.
One of the best things about Group Patrons is they act as a unifying element for players and their characters. A group patron allows for a source of adventure that can always be available to the party to keep the game moving and not allow everything to stagnate. This should not however be overused to the point that you end up railroading the party. They should always have the option of turning down an offer and pursuing their own goals.
However, if you are going to make use of a group patron in your game, I recommend you find a way to tie some of the players' backgrounds or personal development goals to the adventures and quests you offer from the group patron. This will ensure that the quests never feel like just some random diversion without any real bearing on the players’ journey.
RELAX, WE’VE GOT THIS
BECOME SOMEBODY…OR DIE TRYING
Deep down I think we all want to matter in the world and your characters are no different. They want people to notice when they’re gone, they want to make a difference or acquire the power of a different sort. Maybe what they really want is to just figure out what in the world is really going on here. To find out what is happening to all of these powerful artifacts, people, and creatures that get brought to Riddlehouse so regularly. Whatever reason the characters have for taking part in this madness, this is how they RISE.
GAINING RENOWN
You probably already know about renown. Basically, it’s social currency. It’s not a real physical thing, you can’t touch it. But it can certainly be just as valuable as the rarest gem. As the party completes assignments, they will gain renown as determined by the GM.
It’s up to you to decide if you want to make renown something the players are aware of or if you want to keep this secret. I prefer and suggest tracking renown in secret as this allows the parties advancement to feel more natural and less mechanical. However, some groups might prefer and benefit from knowing exactly how much their actions are worth to Riddlehouse. Ultimately, it’s up to your group whether or not you want to enable this level of metagaming knowledge.
I have suggestions in the table below for how much renown you can reward for various activities, but these are by no means a hard and fast rule and you can certainly grant more or less renown with Riddlehouse for your party’s actions.
LOSING RENOWN
Characters having disagreements with individuals within the organization is not enough to lose renown with the organization as a whole. To actually lose renown with Riddlehouse the party would need to directly act against the interests of Riddlehouse or act in a way that would damage their reputation.
If the party loses enough renown to no longer qualify for a specific rank within the organization, they will be demoted to the appropriate rank and will lose any perks associated with the prior rank. If any rewards have a rank requirement the organization may seek to recover them, or
SESSION ZERO
This is an opportunity for your group to get together and discuss what everyone should expect from the campaign. To establish what kind of world you’re playing in, what everyone wants from the game, what kind of characters everyone is thinking about playing, any concerns about proposed content and to go over everyone’s comfort levels with different concepts.
A Major part of session zero can be establishing rules especially any variants, optional rules, homebrew, or third-party publications (like this one!) It is also an opportunity to talk about what will motivate your various characters to form an adventuring party in the first place, such as a fancy Group Patron like Riddlehouse. All of this can help players get over those first session jitters and help ease everyone into their new roles.
RIDDLEHOUSE RANKS
Renown
Title & Description
1
Probationers – You are very new and are operating on a probationary level until you prove yourself.
5
Greenhorns – You are beginning to show promise but still have a way to go before being trusted with the big jobs.
10
Bona Fide – You have proven yourselves capable and begin to have access to greater challenges and rewards.
25
Specialists – You have accomplished great things for the organization and against all odds have managed to survive long enough to continue to do so. Giyana may take meetings with you.
50
Peerless – You have seen and conquered terrible things. The greatest challenges and horrors have not bested you. You have access to the best of the best and are trusted beyond compare.
EARN RENOWN
Renown
Activity
1
Turn over a very rare or higher item.
2
Complete an assignment from Riddlehouse.
3
Deliver a unique artifact, creature, or magic.
6
they may cease to function through some magical security feature.
NOT JUST FAMOUS…INFAMOUS
If the party manages to drop below 0 renown through actions against Riddlehouse the organization may begin to actively discredit, thwart, or interfere with the party. If the situation becomes severe enough, they may actively seek their destruction. Big Bad anyone?
GET PAID
This is why you’re here right? As adventurers prove themselves, they gain access to new and better privileges. They earn more money from the treasures they collect and get better discounts. Eventually, they gain access to Riddlehouse Experts, these are NPCs that do one thing and do it very well. They are not free and are usually not cheap, but they offer a unique talent.
RIDDLEHOUSE EXPERTS
These Adventurers have found themselves possessed of unique talents and short of an adventuring party; as such they have taken on a new role within the organization. They now offer their unique talents to Adventurers who have established themselves within the organization as being capable and reliable assets.
Experts that go out into the field with adventurers will only perform their specific role and will not take part in any other way. They will take care of themselves for the most part, but the party is expected to account for any travel and lodging they require when working out the details of such things, as they are a person and have all the same needs as anyone else. I strongly suggest you adjust the prices in the table below based on your players' wealth and the economy of your world. If your players can never reasonably afford these services, then they really are not in the game, are they? At the same time, we don’t want to make them so cheap as to trivialize their use.
CONSEQUENCES TO BE BEING INFAMOUS
Renown
Description
-10
Begin to spread rumors about the party’s activity.
-25
Begin to interfere with party, send competition or create additional obstacles.
-50
Actively attempt to eliminate the party, capture/kill
RANK PRIVILEGES
Rank
Privileges
Probationers
Paid 30% of the value of all treasure.
Provided discounted Healing Potions. 10% off.
Greenhorns
Paid 50% of the value of all treasure.
Provided discounted Healing Potions. 30% off.
25% of justifiable expenses covered. *
Access to the Well-Worn Door.
Bona Fide
Paid 75% of the value of all treasure.
50% of justifiable expenses covered. *
Uncommon Items available for loan. **
Access to Riddlehouse Experts.
Specialists
Riddlehouse Experts will provide a 10%discount.
Rare items available for loan. **
Peerless
Riddlehouse Experts will provide a 25% discount.
Very Rare items available for loan. **
*Does not include spell materials, potions, weapons, or armor.
**25% Deposit Required.
RIDDLEHOUSE EXPERTS
Name
Talent Provided
Cost
Doorman Dan
Opens doors. Seriously, he will open any door, no need to risk your neck in that dungeon let Doorman Dan get that for you. * Can open any non-magical lock with a DC 15 or less. He will recognize traps and inform the party of the trap before he opens the door.
200g
Fiona Carrin
Transport anything. The best courier in Riddlehouse. Fiona has some magical ability to transport any item of any size and weight. ** Just send her a message along with payment and she’ll come to you and deliver your item anywhere in the known world in two days or less.
100g
Pách (selkieman)
Fabricator. Do you need a copy of something made? Need to falsify some documentation. Pách creates forgeries and fakes that require a DC 20 Investigation check to detect. They are nearly perfect, and his prices reflect this.
800g
Rockmaster Xong
(kobold)
Trapper. An expert trap designer and builder. Can construct and install traps and lures for practically any creature. Capable of making traps requiring a DC 20 Identification check to notice and identify. Traps built by Xong require a DC of 17 to disarm using thieves’ tools.
750g
Nissa Nightwish
(Sprite)
Psychiatrist. Those in the employ of Riddlehouse often encounter horrors that would shatter the minds of lesser mortals. Nissa helps adventurers recover from trauma and madness. Nissa is capable of administering any necessary medications or spell work needed to recover from nearly any madness. Rest and Downtime required is reduced by 50%.
250g***
* Party is responsible for covering all expenses, including but not limited to the use of healing potions, antidotes, and resurrection materials.
**Fiona cannot be expected to carry that castle home for you. Dragon heads yes, buildings no.
***250g for short term madness, 500g for long term, 1000g for indefinite.
7
SECRETS OF RIDDLEHOUSE
Lurking at the heart of Riddlehouse is a significant mystery. What is happening to all of the artifacts, monsters, samples, and dangerous people that are being brought to Riddlehouse? In addition, there is another pressing question. Who or what is really in charge of this place?
Giyana and Auran clearly receive instruction or guidance from a superior of some kind. Questions that dig into anything related to what happens to all of these things will be answered with they are handled by the center. Creating yet another question. What is the CENTER? Who is Giyana how did she end up in charge of this place and why does she never leave?
NOT SO SIMPLE QUESTIONS
Players should absolutely not be made aware of any of the following information at all without very serious direct actions designed to find it. The only way to find out would be to discover it through breaking into areas that the players are not allowed to access or being told by Auran or Giyana; which they would absolutely never do under any reasonable circumstances. Players would not be able to manipulate them through magical means into answering since, as described in the ID-10T form, “Unauthorized magic use within Riddlehouse is strictly prohibited and as such has been blocked from functioning. To receive a permit, submit a Magical Exemption form to Auran Ramoux.”
All of the questions and their answers will be fully explored in follow-up volumes of Riddlehouse with more adventures and adventures specifically designed to explore these questions and their implications.
KEEPING THE ANSWERS SIMPLE-ISH
Who is Giyana?
Giyana is a Nephilim. The product of a celestial being having a child with a human. Her parents are unknown, even she doesn’t know who they are. As a Nephilim, the gods, celestials, demons, fiends, devils, zealots, and cultists all hunt her seeking to subjugate her or destroy her. She found her way to Riddlehouse or Riddlehouse found her, the details are fuzzy. Either way, her unique talents made her the perfect candidate for running things and she does her best to make sure everything involved is treated carefully and steered toward the greater good.
Who or what is in charge of this place?
CENTER is responsible for all activities beyond the management of adventurers.
Who is CENTER?
This answer is up to you. I have two answers for you depending on the context of the world in which you are placing this patron and these adventures.
The first option is as I have designed it for my campaign world Erde. The entity in charge of Riddlehouse is in fact an ancient artificial intelligence whose actual purpose is not fully understood. CENTER stands for Continually Existing Network for Training, Enrichment, and Research. It mostly seems interested in collecting and studying powerful things, including creatures. What it intends to do with the information it gathers or all of the power it has amassed is known only to itself. Its name likely holds many clues to its purpose. Giyana’s primary role is the management of AI and its desires. She largely functions as a moral check on its activities as she is able.
If ancient AIs seem a bit too science fiction for your world, and I imagine it is for most, then the simplest solution is to replace the word Artificial with Disembodied, Ancient, or Alien. It is an intelligence that has seemingly merged itself with the physical building its activities, desires, and relationships remain unchanged.
What happens to all of these powerful things?
At this point it is already somewhat explained what is going on with everything that is collected by Riddlehouse. However, we can cover some of the realities of this scenario. First everything is kept beyond the plain metal door. It leads to a single secure clean room used for applying initial safety measures to the objects, people, or monsters that are brought in. From there everything is stored in an extradimensional warehouse of sorts accessed via stairs or enormous freight elevator if you want to keep some science fiction elements with the AI version of CENTER.
8
THE ZOMBIE BARON
black-market merchant baron's underground complex was flooded as part of an attack upon his organization. It would have been exceedingly successful except for the fact that the Baron had recently procured a magical artifact that upon his death resurrected the Baron allowing him to retain his mind and free will. Everyone who died within the complex would become newly risen undead under the Baron's command. He has used his newfound unlife and small army of undead to continue to amass power and wealth. He has become a cause for great concern within the realm and among his fellows. His army appears to be growing despite there being no further assaults on his complex.
ADVENTURE HOOKS
THE LORD’S WORK
Works best with the Riddlehouse Patron.
The local lord has grown concerned with the continually growing undead force under the Baron’s control. Their guards have noted an increase in reports of grave robbing and the local beggars have all but vanished from the surrounding area. They have offered your group a great reward for resolving this issue.
LET ME INN
Rumors of undead roaming after dark taking the poor and the recently deceased to whereabouts unknown fly freely in the local Gulp and Groan. Late into the night, a terrified bloodied man, Nel, crashes through the doors to the tavern shrieking of zombies taking their child. They claim to have followed them to an underground complex but barely managed to escape. They need help to rescue their child before something terrible happens…
ENTERING THE COMPLEX
Depending on what lures the players here the complex may or may not be on alert already. If they are on alert a number of Crypt Guard Skeletons should be standing just beyond the entrance to the crypt. Regardless of why the party members are here a small number of Hidden Dead should be protecting the area leading up to the entrance. If the party is approaching the area without signs of aggression you can choose to have the Hidden Dead not attack the party and instead utilize The Heir as an emissary greeting the party at the door accompanied by two Crypt Guard Skeletons. This will allow the party to pursue a social-based encounter rather than combat to enter the complex if they are so inclined.
1. THE ENTRANCE
The Doors of the complex lead directly down into the earth. The entrance leads to a 15ftx20ft. stone room with 9ft. ceilings, which is still covered in a shallow layer of stagnant water which has been difficult to remove due to the underground nature of the complex. There are torches on the walls next to the doors, though none of them are lit. The door on the wall to the right is simple and constructed of stone much like the rest of this room and is locked with a simple key lock. On the Wall directly across from the entrance door is a crudely painted image of a giant skull, wearing a black top hat, atop a pile of bones and gold. (This is the new symbol the Zombie Baron has adopted) There is a hidden false wall to the left of the entrance which leads to another room.
2. THE MOUND
Inside this, secret, 20x25ft. stone room with 8ft. ceilings is a literal mound of bodies, bones, and humanoid parts. The floor is partially covered with water. Some of the bodies appear to be waterlogged. Positioned along the walls are sconces filled with smoldering incense to cover the putrid smell of decay. All of these bodies and bones are in fact undead zombies and skeletons which will rise to meet the demands of the Zombie Baron. If the players enter this room before taking control of the artifact or dealing with the Zombie Baron, four Drowned Ones will rise from the mound and assault the party.
3. THE GUARD ROOM
The stone door opens to a narrow 5x15ft stone hallway, with 8ft ceilings, which leads to a 15x15ft stone room with 8ft. ceilings. The room and hall are mostly covered in an inch or two of standing water. In the room is a slightly damaged wooden desk positioned just past the door which would have served as the primary security station before allowing visitors into the rest of the complex. As the party enters the hall and begins to move along it a Hidden Dead will step out from a body-sized nook at each end of the hallway to confront the party. Sitting at the desk seemingly
A
9
working on writing some document (a passive perception of 12 will reveal their quill is dry and there is no paper on the desk) is a Crypt Guard Skeleton. On the desk is a pile of incense slowly smoldering away in an attempt to mask the ever-present odor of decay. A locked, ornately carved, wooden door with gilding along its edges, that opens in the center as two separate door panels, leads to the next room. The key to this door is kept in a well-hidden drawer in the desk DC13 suggested for whatever skill you deem appropriate to find it. Optional: Add some items from the Odd Items table in the Magical Oddities Chapter to the desk or mobs.
4.RECEPTION ROOM
This room is 15x20ft with 9 ft ceilings and appears to be primarily utilized as a reception room or common room of sorts. It is well furnished with comfortable seating options though many of them are damaged from what appears to be signs of past combat. The room is made of stone like the other rooms, but the floor appears to be carved to give the appearance of laid tile and the walls are worked with more detail than before having sconces for torches built into the stonework. In some of the sconces, there are torches but in most, there are once again smoldering incense somewhat covering the smell of rot. In and amongst the furnishings there are a few wooden children’s toys cast about. On the wall opposite the entrance door there are two paths one blocked by a stone door to the right, and the other, on the left, by an iron gate system that appears to rise and lower into the floor. There is a lever just visible beyond the gate. The bars are separated by a gap of approximately 6 inches.
5.THE BEDROOM
The stone door leads to a 15 ft narrow hallway and a 15x20ft stone room with overlapping fine carpets covering much of the floor. On the far-right wall, there is a large finely crafted bed and a 5ft x 10ft metal cage separated by a small well-made bedside table. On the table is a small stuffed toy bear. Inside the cage is a young child clearly terrified huddled in the furthest corner of the cage. Next to the cage on the far wall is an iron gate identical to the one found in the previous room with a lever positioned just beyond. On the left side of the room is an open door leading to the Baron’s Throne Room.
6.ZOMBIE BARON’S THRONE
This is a 15x15ft square room with 10ft ceilings. On the far-left side of the room is a raised platform upon which sits a large ornate chair best described as a throne. Seated upon it is the Zombie Baron. A set of wooden blocks can be seen arranged in the form of a small castle near the foot of the throne The Heir is either playing with them when the party enters and moves back behind the throne or walks over to resume playing with them after leading the party inside. At the side of each primary entrance to the throne room stand Crypt Guard Skeletons ready to fling themselves in the face of any threat to the Baron or the Heir.
A MORAL DILEMMA
When facing the Zombie Baron within the throne room the baron will not immediately attack the party, instead, he should make an attempt to explain the full story of what happened here and why he is building himself an army of undead. Essentially, jealous rivals attacked and killed his entire family while they slept in their beds at their home in a nearby town.
He and his youngest child (son or daughter your choice) happened to be here, in what he thought to be his secret underground safe house, where he conducted his most sensitive business. As they were going through the inventory and handling various matters they were assaulted. The attackers used magic to flood the complex drowning everyone inside, except for his child who the baron was able to seal inside a watertight chest when he realized what was happening. The Baron is not seeking revenge for the horrors done to his family he only wishes to protect his last remaining child and heir. The child he has in the cage is intended to keep The Heir company, they had played together a few times before the incident, they are growing terribly lonely here in the underground complex. What the adventurers choose to do from here is up to them, the adventure could branch off in a myriad of unexpected directions depending on the party’s choices. THE LIE The Baron’s child did not in fact survive the assault. They suffocated within the chest before the waters drained away and they could be rescued. The Heir has been convinced that they are in fact alive, and the Baron has employed numerous magics in order to restore the child’s mind. However, the baron has also hidden a secret within their child meant to act as a failsafe against his enemies. Within the child is a magical bomb of sorts which when triggered, by the child being struck down by magic or mundane means, will erupt forth transforming the child into a Raging Flesh Render, utilizing the many body parts stored in the secret room. Which will attempt to destroy every living thing in sight. The child who the Baron has stored in the cage is intended to act as a new body for the soul of The Heir once a means of transference has been procured. THE ARTIFACT The source of the Zombie Baron’s power over the undead and his own unnatural life is a small bone-white pyramid-shaped object with what appears to be a living disembodied eye at its core that can move to see out from any side of the artifact. See the entry in the Magic Items chapter for details on the item. OTHER TREASURES Being that the Baron’s primary profession is that of a black-market merchant there are going to be some oddities and treasures kept here consisting of the mundane, illegal, and magical in nature. These items are primarily contained within a storeroom accessed by a trap door hidden below the throne. Much of the Baron’s goods and wealth were destroyed by the assault, however, and he has not fully replenished his supplies, so It’s not exactly a dragon’s hoard at this point. Roll on the Black-Market Goods Table in the Loot Tables section of the Magical Oddities Chapter.
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THE BLIND PRINCE
Prince beloved,
May no rude shock, thy earthly peace disturb. Vanish before these machinations of deep and dark conspiracy. Like thy prosperous fire, assassination's poisoned dart, that spares not thy virtuous self. Defy, the brittle knife of blind insanity.
—Unknown, Devotion to the Prince
alamity has struck the village of Winterhall. Its origin is unknown. Those who have escapedthe village babble incessantly, speaking strange words in a language of which none are familiar. All of them have torn the eyes from their own skulls. The village has gone quiet now, but no one dares investigate. The yellow flames that leaped from building to building were extinguished. The screams abated.
ADVENTURE HOOKS
A HERO LIKE YOU
The lords of Whitehaven seek the service of an adventuring party. The horrors that were heard and the state of the survivors have convinced them that some terrible evil has awoken and taken up residence in Winterhall where their family home resides. They are offering great rewards to have your party find and destroy the evil that has defiled their ancestral home.
ORDER OF THE UNSEEN
A monastic order of blind monks has managed to seal a great evil, known as The Blind Prince, within a small building in the village of Winterhall. They seek the aid of a capable adventuring party to banish the entity from this world, it is taking all of their resources to maintain its imprisonment and they will not be able to keep it contained indefinitely. They can provide some information on how to combat the being. First and foremost you must shade your eyes with blue lenses or obscure your vision with an opaque cloth if not temporarily ruin your sight altogether. To look upon the beast with naked eyes is to succumb to madness. Second, it cannot be harmed by mundane weapons or flame.
WINTERHALL
The village is utterly ruined. The streets are littered with rubble and the charred and broken bodies of those whose horrors tore them apart with clawed hands. One solitary building near the center of town still stands. Its walls scorched as black as any other with strange otherworldly yellow symbols seemingly carved into them. At the door stand three Way of the Unseen, Monks who, as you draw near, are visibly blind. Their Arms are stained yellow from fist to elbow from the battle that seems to have taken place here before your arrival. They sense your presence and bid you stop where you are. They will inquire as to your presence here. If the party has arrived by order of the lords of Whitehaven, they will consult with the party about the entity that is being contained within and its current state, and the necessary precautions involved in combating it. If the party is unprepared, They will be able to hold the beast for at least three days before they will have used up their available resources.
If the party is ready to enter, They will allow you inside to confront the horror. If the party needs to retreat to prepare one of the three monks will be gone for each day that they take. On the third day, no one will be guarding the door.
1.WRITING ON THE WALLS
At the entrance of the Building, everything inside is destroyed. No furnishings remain in the room. Magical runes, these of a much more orderly style than those on the exterior of the building, cover nearly every inch of the walls throughout the room and from what can be seen of the rooms inside the building. There is only one interior door left standing. Though it is unlikely a door such as this was original to the structure. It is a large, heavy, dark silver, thing with images of closed eyes standing in relief of the surface. The door is not made of silver or iron but some far sturdier and denser material. Someone knowledgeable in metals may identify it as Tungsten. A dull blue glow shines from the open doorway on the opposite side of the room.
2.EVERY BODY DIES
Entering this room, it is much the same as the previous. No furnishings remain. There is one open doorway to another small room probably used for storage. Inside that space is a small chest with no clear mechanism for opening it. A dull blue glow seeps out from the small gaps around the lid. Opposite of this doorway is a sealed Glass door that is somehow melded into the wall as if it grew into place
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there. Peering into the room you can see a solitary monk suspended in midair seemingly in some sort of trance. All around them blue flames threaten to consume them. An astute observer will notice that for brief moments yellow flames will appear and seem to reach for the monk before being replaced by a blue flame. The longer you watch this the slower the blue flame is in replacing the yellow. If it has been three days, they will witness the replacement of the monk as they enter the room instead of having someone walk in behind them.
Suddenly one of the remaining monks will enter the room and stand before the glass and as if on cue the yellow flames erupt throughout and consume the one inside it is terrible to witness, though possibly worse is the monk willingly walking through the glass wall and taking up his brother’s position. The dance begins anew.
As this transition takes place a bright white light will emanate from the strange chest in the opposite room. Perhaps the monk’s spirit is at least protected and kept safe within somehow.
3. IT WAS ALL YELLOW
The door while exceptionally heavy opens easily. Inside in the center of the room is a very out-of-place well filled with what can best be described as yellow liquid fire but in truth, this is just the best your brain can manage to interpret what you’re seeing. It appears to be almost dashing itself against an invisible force keeping it trapped inside. Surrounding the well the floors are scorched black like everything else you have seen. However, the rest of the interior of this room and the connecting one are immaculate. Perfectly clean and appears to have suffered no ill effects from the calamity that has befallen the rest of the village.
In the adjoining room is an obsidian throne, with a very tall back that appears to have broken off at an odd angle. Seated upon it is a being out of children’s nightmares. If it is viewed The Blind Prince would appear to be lounging somewhat morosely upon the throne head resting in hand while it reads from a book. What one would call its face contains no features whatsoever no eyes, no mouth, nothing other than the two gigantic horns which stick out in opposite directions from the top of its head. The horns resemble the blades of a scythe in their appearance. Their skin is pale gray to white and their long legs end in cloven hooves. They wear a black cloak that drapes loosely over their body. Yellow liquid appears to drain from open wounds that run the length of their inner forearms.
Normal attempts to communicate with the being will go unheard. It is not so much ignoring your presence as it is just infinitely unaware of it, much like you are unaware of bacteria on the sole of your boot. If someone plays a sad song it will close its book momentarily to listen. It looks to be interested in poetry as the book it is reading seems to be a collection of poems and stories by someone called Poe. A very persuasive and gifted artist could by some miracle perhaps influence the being through such talents. DC 25 Charisma check at minimum.
If the party attacks, two wicked, yellow, liquid blades form in its hands from the slashes along its forearms. Its movements are so fluid to say it moves like a dancer or like water would not do it justice. The Blind Prince is art made form, strangely beautiful to behold, as it moves to remove you from its presence as you would a common house fly.
If the party fails to reduce him to 0 health and banish him from the material plane, by the end of the 10th round of combat, the monk will be consumed by the yellow liquid fire and the prince will be restored to full strength at which point his form will return to its fully unintelligible state and anyone in the room who is not blind (filters or lenses will not work to resist this effect) will be cursed with Blind Madness. At this point, The Prince will speak one word in Common. DOOM. The roof will tear free from the building and the prince will vanish into a strange iridescent portal in the night sky.
IN THE END
If the party defeats The Blind Prince and successfully banishes him from the material plane the remaining monk(s) will ask your party to transport the chest of souls to their monastery to allow their brethren to be reincarnated. The party will have a choice to make on whether they deliver this chest to the monks or to Riddlehouse for their rewards as it is clearly a uniquely powerful artifact.
Alternatively, there remains some small amount of the yellow fluid in the basin that could be collected.
If the party was brought in by the Lords of Whitehaven and were not contracted by the Riddlehouse organization. They would pay them in a moderate sum of gold though without any proof of what transpired they would not be inclined to pay well.
If the party failed to banish The Blind Prince any remaining monks would ask for assistance as before or if none remain the party will have access to the chest of souls which currently contains the 30 souls of the Monks belonging to the Order of the Unseen to handle as they see fit.
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THE GOLDEN ORACLE
Any seek the Oracle for her wisdom, her judgment, or her sight. The Golden Oracle is but a young child no more than 9 years of age, yet she knows much more than the most wizened elder. She is the latest in a long line of Golden Oracles stretching back thousands of years. She inherits her abilities and the experiences of all the prior Oracles through a secret ritual. Her power is great, and she can do much for those who she deems worthy of her gifts.
ADVENTURE HOOKS
WHEN IT RAINES IT POURS
The current Oracle has grown ancient and the time for the transfer ritual to take place and usher in the next Golden Oracle is here. Unfortunately, Raine the young woman who has been trained since she was very young to be the next Oracle has decided that she does not want to be an Oracle. She has sent a message in secret to Riddlehouse asking for their help. She has promised to deliver the secret of the ritual transference in exchange for her freedom.
SAY WHAT NOW?
You have decided to make the long journey to visit the Golden Oracle seeking her blessing or gifts of foresight. Your reasons are your own but only the Oracle knows what those gifts may cost.
THE TEMPLE OF THE GOLDEN ORACLE
The temple of the oracle is constructed upon the highest peak of a great mountain in the heart of its range. Upon nearing its entrance, you find that it is constructed from pure white stone. Gold accents many of the decorative features of the structure and clouds swirl around the structure and some sections of the temple stick out precariously over the abyss below.
1. TENSIONS RISING
The entrance is flanked by two stone statues of young women with gold hair falling about their form and their faces raised to the heavens their eyes wide. There are no other guardians at the door. When you place your hand upon the door, the statues speak to your mind and ask you why you seek the oracle. If you choose to lie you must succeed in a DC 15 Wisdom Save to convince the spell that you believe what you say. Anyone who is found to wish harm on the Oracle will find the door will not open.
Once inside the entrance, the foyer is covered in luxurious hand-woven carpets and decorated quite lavishly. The air is thick with the scent of Dulling Incense. Players must make a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw as they enter each room to resist the dulling effects of the incense. On a failure players will suffer a disadvantage on all saving throws until they are no longer breathing in the smoke from the incense. On a successful save the effects are resisted and the player gains a +1 bonus to their future saving throws to resist the dulling effect. Incense smolder in various burners throughout the complex, at least one is present in every room.
There is one door to the south of the entrance leading to the next room. And one secret door directly to the west which cannot be opened from this room.
2. GREETINGS
This room is much like the entrance covered in handmade carpets and tapestries finely decorated and thick with dulling incense. Players must once again make a Wisdom saving throw to resist the effect. Here the players will be greeted by a Steward of the Golden Oracle. They will inform the party that the oracle is accepting requests in the chamber today. They will also remind the party that anyone desiring an audience with the oracle must make a donation before they will be able to take a seat. The donation should be something of value either monetarily or personally. Only 2 seats are remaining to be filled anyone else wishing to see the oracle will have to wait until tomorrow but are welcome to take a seat along the wall of the chamber. The steward will lead the party down the hall to the west through both doors to the oracle’s chamber.
3. AUDIENCE WITH THE ORACLE
An ancient woman with silvery-white hair sits at the center of a podium surrounding her are 8 chairs 6 of which are currently occupied. Surrounding the walls are a few servants with wines and small bites of food available for those present but not speaking with the oracle. Cushions line the walls offering places to rest and observe. The room is, like the others, thick with the dulling incense and all who enter will need to make a Wisdom Saving throw as before.
The chairs appear to be spiked with a round bowl around them. Anyone wishing to make a request must place their donations in the bowl. A servant sits just beside each chair and will inform the character that they can tell them a secret known only to them, give something of monetary value equal to 15,000 gold, or place your hand upon the spike and sacrifice a year of your life (permanently subtract 1 hit dice from the characters max hit points). Once the donation has been made the device will transform into a simple stone chair.
Those who speak with the oracle will have an opportunity to make a request of their choosing. The oracle can grant a Wish spell up to 8 times per day if the seeker can convince her their desires are worth fulfilling, she will do so. GMs will need to run this encounter as they see fit, she will not kill anyone, requests that are too self-serving, like riches or titles, are often subverted.
Anyone not involved in the audience with the oracle will be handed a note in secret by one of the servants. The note
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is from Raine in it she asks that the party help her as her life is in danger, Included are instructions to head down the hall to the south in the room outside the audience chamber, on the wall there will be a slightly discolored white brick when pressed it will open the door to her tower.
4. SECRETS REVEALED
Once inside the tower, Raine will approach the party and explain that she is the next in line to become the golden oracle. The transition is set to happen tonight. Raine will then inform the party that the Golden Oracle is more than what she seems. There is a parasitic being called a Seer that has lived for thousands of years by infecting and controlling a humanoid host.
The Seer has taken on this role as the Golden Oracle as it allows it a devoted cult and a never-ending supply of humanoid girls to extend its life. Most do not know of the Seer, as only the most devoted tend to the Seer during the transference ritual. Running away is not an option as the Seer possesses magic that is far too great to allow Raine to escape. The only chance she has is if someone interrupts the transference ritual and captures or kills the Seer before it infects Raine.
If the party agrees to help, Raine explains that there is a hidden chamber that connects to the entrance of the temple. She believes it can only be safely accessed by initiating a teleportation mechanism in another hidden chamber entered by pressing an amulet of the Oracle to the wall. She will provide an amulet. She is uncertain of exactly how the mechanism is triggered. She asks that the party hide here at the bottom of her tower among some boxes of gifts and such that have been given to her by visitors and devotees to the oracle. She will assist their efforts to remain hidden with a simple charm that should keep the drug-addled servants from noticing them when they come to retrieve Raine. After she is gone, the party should be able to make their way to the teleportation chamber and the transference room to interrupt the ritual.
5. DESPERATE PLANS
At this point with the transference ritual about to take place, all outsiders are banned from the temple. Anyone found roaming the building will be immediately met with violence. Those not attending to the ritual itself are unaware of the details of the process but have each been tasked with patrolling and guarding the temple against outsiders. They have been instructed that the Oracle is vulnerable during this time to outside interference.
Each room in the temple other than the teleportation room should have at least two guards you can choose to have them be made up of one of the following, Golden Cultist, Golden Cultist Initiate, Noble Sycophant, or Common Sycophant. The patrols should all be made up of Golden Cultists and Initiates. The first time through room 2 after leaving Raine’s tower there will be no guards present. After this any time the players enter a room other than the tower or room 5 there should be guards and after each encounter, there should be a chance for a patrol.
To get to the transference ritual room, they will need to solve a puzzle to initiate the teleportation mechanism in this room. There are 10 pedestals all are unlit except one. They must activate one additional pedestal per creature being transported, and then place the amulet into the bowl that was already lit, to teleport everyone. Each pedestal contains a small bowl on each one there is a serpentine-like creature depicted hovering over each bowl it has a mouth full of many rings of sharp teeth.
Each bowl requires a sacrifice. If a creature places its finger in the mouth, it will clamp down and draw some of the creature’s life force. Doing so will permanently drain one hit die from the creature's maximum hit points.
If the players are unable to solve the puzzle or unwilling, they will need to access the ritual room through the door that connects to the entrance using the same amulet they used to access this room.
6. DESPERATE MEASURES
This room can be accessed in two ways. One is through the teleportation chamber. Alternatively, the party could follow the group leading Raine to the ritual and use the medallion to enter through the secret door in the entrance as indicated on the map. This door uses the same medallion that was already provided to the party.
Once inside the characters should find that the ritual is being prepared or in progress, Raine is secured to a large flat altar and the previous Golden Oracle is lying on an adjacent identical alter. Also in the room is the High Priest and two Golden Cultists (adjust the numbers of cultists present and add or swap in one or more initiates) who are busying themselves with the necessary preparations.
The alters have images carved into them depicting the transference ritual in detail. It shows a high priest leading a ritual followed by an elderly woman with shining golden light radiating from her. It then depicts the elderly woman in greyed tones and a great worm-like creature painted gold giving off light between the elderly woman and a young woman depicted in a full spectrum of color though using more muted tones. The next image is of the young woman alone now shining with the radiant golden light previously depicted emanating from the elderly woman.
Unless the characters have prepared for their arrival using some kind of illusion magic or invisibility device, they will be immediately noticed by those in attendance. The progress made toward the completion of the ritual should be determined by how many encounters occurred between the conversation with Raine and the adventurers’ arrival in the chamber. There are 3 stages to the ritual as depicted on the alters. Arrival, Transition, Completion. Each encounter can allow for one of these events to occur.
TIP: COMPLETING THE ADVENTURE
The following all assume that the party chooses to go along with Raine’s plan. If they decide to interfere sooner or are somehow discovered before Raine leaves the tower, then the rest of this adventure is going to be heavily improvisational. If things proceed in some way very different than described below base the location of everyone and their attitudes, on what is already established here.
They may wish to flee with Raine to save her or confront the oracle before the ritual or possibly use their knowledge of Raine's deception for their own gain. Roll with it, support their player agency. But the player group should all be on board don’t let one player derail everyone else’s plans.
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FORBIDDEN CAVERN
he Fire Titan which once occupied this cavern is long since dead. Having been vanquished by some forgotten heroes the locals were freed from generations of servitude. However, the locals still hold a strong fear and superstition surrounding the caverns. It has long since been forbidden to enter for any reason and no one dares enter to this day. Recently a group of young children has disappeared. It is believed that they may have ventured into the cavern and become lost or worse. One child was recently found wandering a short distance from the cavern cold, wet, and near the brink of exhaustion. The child has not spoken a single word, clearly too traumatized by their experience to speak. The child has exhibited other strange behaviors as well, avoiding the warmth of the fire being chief among them.
ADVENTURE HOOKS
FOR THE CHILDREN
The locals have put together every coin they can spare as a reward for bringing the children home or at least bringing closure to their families by finding out what happened to them and ensuring that it does not happen again.
COLLECT AND DISINFECT
Works best with the Riddlehouse patron.
A small village attempted to hire adventurers to find a group of missing children and deal with whatever danger led to their disappearance. The adventurers never returned from the cavern. Riddlehouse has taken notice of the situation and believes there is something powerful and dangerous within the cavern. You have been contracted to investigate the situation collect and secure any powerful artifacts or anything particularly strange or dangerous.
CAVERN OF THE FIRE TITAN
The cavern complex when viewed from the outside has three strange towers with no openings to the world. Their purpose is long since forgotten. Perhaps they once functioned as gateways to the elemental plains? The Cavern interior is damp and musty. It smells of earth, stone, and fungi. There is still a vague smell of fire long since doused. The cavern floors and walls are carved stone the floors are worn from hundreds of years of use from times long past.
1. IT IS FORBIDDEN
The cavern opens into a long hall with 15ft high ceilings. An open door lies at the end of the hall which leads into a large room with 8 stone pillars. Propped up against one of the pillars is a dying halfling. He is a member of an adventuring party that came before you in an attempt to find the children. He breathes his last breath as the party approaches him. As he breathes out his last raspy breath a faint orange cloud of spores appears like smoke. Spores spread out and anyone within 15ft must make a DC 15 Constitution save or take 10 (3d6) Poison damage and be infected with Candida Aurantia. Further examination of the halfling will reveal orange blisters all over his body. He is clearly infected with something. There is little else of note in this room. The halfling will be carrying a small amount of gold and will have basic adventuring equipment including a silvered short sword. Anyone who touches the halfling will trigger a burst of spores from 2 (1d4) of the 6 (1d12) Everyone within 15ft. must make a DC 15
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Constitution save or take 10 (3d6) Poison damage and be infected with Candida Aurantia.
2. AIN’T IT CRATE
The next room is empty walking down a narrow hall leads to an open door which opens into a medium-size, square room with a few broken crates and a few that are unbroken. One crate, among a group of three crates, is in fact a Mimic (it would be unusual to have more than one mimic in an area so if you need to adjust the difficulty higher scale the monster rather than the encounter) and if the players attempt to touch or break it, it will attack the nearest player. Leading away from this room is a room that is partially covered in a couple inches of water and a long narrow hallway. Fungal Traps line the walls in the hallway.
3. FUNGUS AMONG US
The long winding hall that leads up to this room contains many secrets. There are signs of ruined Fungal Traps in several places. A secret door in the partially flooded section of the hall can be found here. A Passive Perception of 11 should allow someone to notice that the orange fungal growth that has spread its tendrils throughout much of this section of the structure has grown in and outlined the top right corner of a secret door. Applying inward force to the door will cause it to slide in slightly but will jam up due to the fungal growth. A Strength Check with DC of 13 will break the door free. Inside a macabre scene will be revealed. A long-decomposed humanoid will be suspended in the center of the room by a thick tangle of fungal growth. It appears to have grown through the unfortunate creature giving special focus to its brain.
Further down the hall sitting propped against the wall is a Dragonborn Warrior, named Talkid Nysfyire, in severely damaged armor. She is clearly on the brink of death and suffering from a severe infection. She will reveal to the party that she has managed to trap some sort of Fungal Horror behind a hidden door just behind her. She will warn the party that the only thing that seems to be capable of harming the creature is silver and intense fire. She has been repeatedly cutting herself with her silvered dagger in an attempt to stem the advance of the infection. She will also inform you if pressed further that the thing seeks to consume other life and seems to be gaining more and more intelligence as it does so.
She will finally further reveal that there is a room that can be accessed by a portal hidden within the large fountain in a nearby room. The room it leads to contains a devastating flame mechanism. Their research on the cavern leads her to believe it is the Fire Titans' chamber. Her party attempted to lure the creature in to destroy it but were overwhelmed before they could do so. You will need to acquire a Mote of Elemental Flame, at least one should be hidden somewhere further in the complex. If pressed it can be revealed with a suitable Intimidation or Persuasion check that she has one on her person but intends to find her halfling friend who is also infected and destroy their bodies by breaking the mote, which should collapse the entrance to the complex in the resulting explosion, before they can spread the infection to others or become some terrible horror themselves.
Finally, the room that these halls lead to contains a staircase that leads up to one of the towers that rise up out of the cavern, labeled on the map with the number 3, it is completely flooded up to the entrance landing. The ruined stairs lead down into the water where a faint orange glow can just be made out from the depths. There is a sealed doorway that exits the flooded tower into room 7, which will open upon removal of the mote from its center.
BE AWARE
At this point in the adventure, the party has several choices available to them. It is clear the remaining missing children and adventurers are dead, consumed by the Fungal Horror. The decisions they make with the information they have been provided will drastically alter the path this adventure takes from this point.
• They can attempt to seal the creature away in the cavern by collapsing the entrance.
• Retrieve a Mote of Elemental Fire and use it to power the Fire Titan’s Chamber (8), somehow luring the Fungal Horror into the portal to the chamber.
• Enter the room beyond the Warrior and Confront the Creature. At this point it is capable of speech and rational thought, perhaps it can be reasoned with? Access to silvered or magical weapons and Fire will be crucial if combat ensues.
• Obtain a Mote of Elemental Fire to keep for themselves or to give to Riddlehouse if set to this task by the organization.
4. A FOUNTAIN?
This room is partially flooded by an inch or so of water. In its center is a fountain. This is the fountain that if entered will transport you to the titan’s chamber. There is a fist-sized depression in the center of the fountain with a flame carved into it. If a Mote of Elemental Fire is placed here the fountain swirls with elemental fire and the chamber (8) will be filled with the same elemental fire once meant to sustain the Fire Titan here on the material plane.
5. WELL ISN’T THAT SOMETHING
This room is also partially flooded. At its center is a small well filled with water. A Secret door on the wall leads to the bottom floor of one of the strange towers. Embedded in its floor is one of the powerful motes. If you attempt to remove the mote a group of Infected Rats will attack.
6. COULD GET STEAMY
This room is flooded to a depth of several inches on the wall without a door is a series of elemental flame jets. If a Mote of Elemental Fire has been placed in the fountain the jets will be active super heating the water and generating a constant flow of extremely hot steam that will literally melt the flesh from bone. Making it impassable without some clever solution by the party. If it is not activated, however, there is no danger here and the party can move through the room without issue.
7. I WOULDN’T OPEN THAT
This room has water that appears to be slowly trickling in from one of the walls. An investigation check with a DC 10 will reveal a secret door activated by pressing the door inward A score of 13 or higher or a separate DC 12 Insight check will reveal the probability of a flooded room beyond the door. If it is opened the room will flood with water battering the party members inside everyone will take 1d6 bludgeoning damage from the resulting water blasting through the now opened door. The door leads to the tower labeled (3).
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8. WHERE TITAN’S SLUMBER
This is the Titan’s Chamber. The only way into the chamber is through the Portal hidden within the fountain. If the Mote has been placed within the fountain the room is flooded with Elemental fire from wall to wall. A door leads back into the empty room beyond the pillared entrance and functions as an exit only when there is no fire within the chamber. To enter this chamber while it is lit is certain doom unless precautions similar to those required to enter the elemental plain of fire have been taken.
IN THE END
How this ends, is very much up to the many different ways your players could decide to react to the information available to them. As such you will need to think on your feet to wrap this adventure up. The village is not particularly wealthy, but they would be inclined to reward the heroes if they destroy /contain the creature. They would be further inclined to reward the party if they simultaneously healed the infected child assuming they haven’t already done so.
If they are working for Riddlehouse there are several acceptable targets that they would be interested in. Any trace amount of the Fungal Horror, including its sporelings or an infected creature or person, would be very valuable to them. A Mote of Elemental Fire is clearly a unique and very powerful artifact as well for which the party would be rewarded for relinquishing to the organization.
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BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
he monster beneath the bed has haunted children for millennia. It is a universal fear that crops up in practically every culture in one incarnation or another. As it turns out, this is for good reason. The monster is real, and it feeds on your lifeforce through nightmares.
ADVENTURE HOOKS
INN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
The adventurers stumble upon an isolated inn, late in the evening, located along an otherwise largely uninhabited region during a long journey. The Knight Owl as it is called appears to be a well-cared-for establishment with high but not extortionate prices. Tired and road-weary the party finds that surprisingly there is only one vacant room which thankfully is large enough to accommodate everyone more or less comfortably.
WHAT GOES BUMP IN THE KNIGHT?
A request for assistance with a rogue court jester who has managed to cause quite a lot of mayhem in the kingdom. A knight in the kings employ Sir Hudd the Dreamer has requested to be met at the Knight Owl. A somewhat isolated inn just beyond the borders of the kingdom.
THE KNIGHT OWL
An isolated inn located on a lonely stretch of road with few other options available. The owners seem to think being the only option makes their inn positioned in a prime position to meet the needs of the weary travelers. Apparently, they are right as they only have a single room left vacant. Though there are no guests within the common area. The inn is quiet and well maintained. The prices are high but there really aren’t any better options for miles.
1. GOOD KNIGHT
Having rented the available room for the evening the party finds that it can accommodate everyone reasonably. Everyone should rather quickly fall into a dreamless sleep. Those who do not normally sleep will find that they experience sleep on this night. Everyone wakes in the morning feeling unrested.
Once everyone leaves the room, they find themselves standing in a hallway that was not there the night before. In front of them are three closed doors. The hallway extends into darkness at either end to the left and right. Behind the party is the door to their room. If they open it and go back it is still the same room. If they leave the room they are once again in the same hallway. If the adventurers walk down the hallway beyond the three doors, they will find that they somehow appear heading back toward the three doors and the previous room they left but coming from the opposite direction as if they had walked in a circle.
2. HOW TO RUN THIS ADVENTURE
The party will have to choose a door from the three available options. Each door leads to a unique room. When the party leaves the next room, they will find themselves once again in the same hallway looking at 3 doors on the opposite side of the hallway. Behind them will be the room they last left. Any attempts to use teleportation or plane shift-type magics will only result in the adventurers being transported back into the hallway facing a new set of doors. Each time the players exit a door for the first time generate a new set of 3 doors from the provided table or from rooms of your own design.
Each room should offer a unique experience. It could be a social encounter, or it could be nothing at all. The options are truly limitless. They could find themselves standing in the middle of a desert surrounded on all sides by high mountain peaks or they could be standing in the most innocuous completely ordinary room ever which just so happens to be one of the most insidious traps ever created.
So how do they escape? This is truly up to you. You can have them run a random route through the inn until it feels like it has gone on long enough and then give them an encounter with literally any messed-up dreamland version of a creature from this book or any other source.
You don’t need to give them new abilities, just describe them in a fun new way. Make a wolf Huge and purple with green stripes or maybe its legs and tail all end in a trail of yellow smoke. Don’t be afraid to play with altering them with new abilities though as that could be a ton of fun as well.
SHORT SESSION GUIDE
1-hour play session: no more than 3 rooms chosen and completed with a final room being an exit room. When they escape the nightmare, they wake up in the real world. Or do they?
A 2-hour play session or more: 4-6 rooms chosen with the final room being the room where they spent the night. Inside they find their own still sleeping bodies. Just visible peeking out from under one of the beds is the real Scritcherscratch. The party should then wake as they have startled the creature, causing it to release them from the dream. The party can attempt to fight the creature, but it should always try to avoid combat in the real world and escape. To end with a more focused combat encounter, use the Scritcherscratch exit room instead.
If you are running a longer campaign and don’t require this to be a single session, then run as many rooms as is required to hit one of the predetermined exit routes, or just use your best judgment and provide an exit room when it feels right. If this is your plan do not take away the adventurers’ long rest, they will need it.
T
TIP: RESTED OR NOT?
You can literally not grant the party a rest or if this would leave them too resource thin perhaps just roleplay this aspect instead.
TIP: SIZE MATTERS
I very sincerely recommend that you do not place the party in a large open space. The rooms should be limited to a space that can be explored in no more than 10-20 minutes of real-time. You will find that each room provided in the table below adheres to this idea in some way.
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WHAT LIES BEHIND CLOSED DOORS?
OPENING THE DOORS
The following section will give a brief essentials focused description of what is found in each of the rooms provided in the table above. Some include instructions, others are left open for you to decide how to best use them in your game.
THE INNOCUOUS ROOM - EXIT
The contents of the room should be described to your players in your best perfectly calm and steady, soft, but clear voice.
You enter a room and don’t notice anything, it has furniture, but nothing stands out. The walls are somewhere between cream and beige, a medium-colored hardwood floor. A rug somewhere between pastel blue and light grey.
Most of the room is taken up by the bed. The bedding is a mix of creamy beige and bluish-grey. The rest of the furniture is two bedside tables a dresser and a rocking chair all painted eggshell white. A plain tallow candle sits on one of the tables. The other table has a clock but it’s mostly silent. Knickknacks placed on the various surfaces in the room are all on white doilies.
They are all just ceramic things, dogs, cats, mushrooms, and such; not too big and not too small. There is a jewelry box on the dresser with nondescript jewelry inside, but it plays music when opened. It reminds one of ballet music though it can’t quite be placed.
A look through the drawers will find clothing that is modest but not too conservative. It’s mostly made up of beiges and creams a few blues, greys, and even a few green articles. Not too bright or garish. The closet is filled with much of the same plus a few board games; checkers, cribbage, backgammon, and the like. The bedside table contains an innocuous feel-good book.
The whole room is innocuous, there are no bad feelings about the room, nothing is jarring, nothing too bright or dark, nothing that would make anyone feel uncomfortable. It's not warm and inviting exactly but far from harsh and cold. The calmness is almost enough to make you forget that you can’t find the door anymore. That behind the drapes is just a bare wall. There is a simple handwritten note which reads, Enjoy Your Stay.
Adventurers can exit the dream by going to sleep in the bed, vanishing from sight. Teleportation or plane shift-
ROLL A ROOM TWICE, ROLL AGAIN.
related magic will send everyone to the hallway to continue with new doors.
IN MEMORIA
One character's worse memory from their backstory is played out for everyone present to witness. When it ends the door will appear in the scene allowing the party to leave the room.
THE CHANCERY
A bakery. 50/50 odds of being Pleasant or Rotten. Roll 1d4 1-2 pleasant, delicious baked goods. 3-4 rotten hellish pastries made from humanoid corpses. D 15 Wisdom saving throw on failure gain short term madness. If not using madness rules, then make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw on failure vomit and take 2 (1d4) acid damage.
THE ARENA - EXIT
A circular arena with a 60ft. radius. A sandy floor and walls that rise up over 50 feet. There is a faceless crowd in attendance. Scritcherscratch sits in a box far above everything. Here the adventurers can face any challenge that you feel like throwing at them be it from this book or another. When they win the fight, they exit the dream. If they lose, they die.
SHRINKING ROOM
Enter a normal-looking room similar to the one you just slept in. When players turn to leave, they have shrunk one size. Medium – Small – Tiny. They will then be confronted by a Mouse Knight; this can be the one and only Jeremy Wrinklebreath or a generic mouse knight. Defeat the creature to leave the room and return to normal size.
VICIOUS GREENHOUSE
A greenhouse filled with vicious plants. A great opportunity to throw a fungal horror or pack of aurantia ratlings at the party or some other deadly plant life.
TWINS PLAYROOM
Two twin children stand across from one another in an otherwise empty room. They toss a colorful ball between themselves. Any attempt to interact with the children is ignored. If you take their ball, you will take 3 (1d6) psychic damage, they will continue to go through the motions of throwing and catching as if the ball had not been
d100
Result
d100
Result
01-05
The innocuous room – Exit Room
59-64
Nothing
06-13
In Memoria
65-74
Padded Room
14-19
The Chancery
75-78
The Pit
20-22
The Arena – Exit Room
79-80
Shallow Grave – Exit Room
23-27
Shrinking Room
81-83
The Dining Room
28-42
Vicious Greenhouse
84-85
Nursery
43-44
Twins Playroom
86-92
Scritcherscratch – Exit Room
45-53
Volcano Room
93-94
The Library
54-56
Poker Table
95-96
Walled Garden
57-58
Hedge maze – Exit Room
97-00
Your Room – Exit Room
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intercepted. Eventually, it should become apparent that they do not blink. A further observation should reveal that they also do not appear to breathe.
If you touch them a piercing high-pitched tone rings in your ears causing 3 (1d6) psychic damage. The children cannot be moved and do not appear to feel your presence or anything else that may be done to them. Attempts to physically interact with the children in any way result in the adventurers taking ever-increasing amounts of psychic damage. Starting at 1d6 and increasing by 1d6 each time (1d6, 2d6, 3d6, and so on).
VOLCANO ROOM
The party upon entering the room finds themselves standing at the base of an actively erupting volcano. Lumps of flaming rock and ash rain down from the sky, or ceiling of the room as it turns out. They are still in a room it is just incredibly large accommodating this natural disaster within its walls. Molten rock flows toward the adventurers. The door that the party entered through slams shut and vanishes. A short distance away close to the volcano is a small shed with a familiar-looking door.
Have the characters make a series of survival, athletics, or acrobatics saving throws to reach the door and leave the room before they are overwhelmed by the disaster. Failed saving throws should result in the party suffering 2d8 bludgeoning and 2d6 fire damage after every 3 failed saving throws the party should have to make a constitution saving throw. Failure results in the party taking 3d8 poison damage as the room fills with toxic gases. Do adjust the total dice used in these failure penalties to better align with the characters' level of play.
POKER TABLE
A group of clowns dressed in drab multicolored garb, many missing various appendages, are seated in the middle of a dimly lit smoke-filled room playing poker. They do not appear to be gambling with currency however, they are instead gambling on body parts. Some are already detached from their owners. Others are being “freed” directly at the table. Fingers, ears, noses. The more “important” the greater the value. The party is invited to join the game but they are not in any way required or pressured to do so.
HEDGE MAZE - EXIT
A literal hedge maze. Players can be periodically assaulted by small groups of Minitaurs inside. Allow players to make a series of Wisdom, Investigation, or Survival checks with increasing DC’s make 3 successful checks and escape the maze. Each failure results in combat with groups of Minitaurs.
NOTHING
This room is literally empty of everything. No light, not darkness, literally no particles of light exist within this space, so vision of any kind is impossible. No sound travels within this space. It is pure emptiness. Nothing, including air. Somehow the adventurers are not immediately frozen or torn apart by this vacuum. But they will begin to immediately feel some effects of this nothingness. Make a Constitution saving throw at the start of each character's turn. Each character can make one action, this includes investigating, attempts to communicate, and any attempts to move, cast a spell, etc. The party drifts 10 ft away from the door each turn. This fact is not declared until the party looks to the door or makes an attempt to leave.
PADDED ROOM
A sterile white padded room. Even the floor is covered in padding. The door seals, with a slight sucking sound, as the characters enter the room. The room appears to be completely empty. On the ceiling is a thick slightly transparent surface. Beyond this surface, characters can just make out the blurred and indefinite shapes of strange figures dressed in white coats observing the room below intently. Some take notes as the characters do anything.
Characters will find that magic does not function within this room. I suggest that the door be opened if the characters specifically ask for the beings to “open the door”. I would be somewhat specific with the words used, but if the players are getting truly frustrated take this as your cue to have the observers begin to mill about and file out of view. As you describe this event note that the door opens behind them with a slight sucking sound.
THE PIT
There is no room only a 2000-foot drop into a dark pit. The first player to enter the room must make a Dexterity saving throw to prevent themselves from falling, followed by a Strength saving throw by the next player in line either to grab and hold on to the first player saving them or to save themselves from the others entering behind them pressing them into the emptiness. The third player in line can make a Perception or Survival saving throw to avoid themselves and anyone else behind them falling into the pit.
A fall from this height provides the adventurers with 4 turns, if they fall in, to find their way out of their predicament. Magic or innate flight ability is the only likely solution to save them from this. You can also allow that if any character or player specifically speaks aloud that they “wish they hadn’t fallen in this hole” or that they “wish they hadn’t opened this door” or something to that effect, will immediately transport that character back into the hallway (just this once, we’re going to consider the player speaking as the character having had the thought and since this is a dreamworld, it responded to this obviously earnest desire). If the player says it and not the character, then obviously the character will say nothing and suddenly just appear back in the hallway instead of falling.
Any unfortunate souls that fall into the pit but manage to survive are likely to be traumatized. If using the rules for madness in this book gain, succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom
TIP: RULES FOR FALLING
At the end of a fall, a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it fell to a maximum of 20d6. The creature lands prone unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.
When you fall from a great height, you instantly descend up to 500 feet. If you’re still falling on your next turn, you descend up to 500 feet at the end of that turn. This process continues until the fall ends, either because you hit the ground, or the fall is otherwise halted.
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saving throw, or gain the Indefinite madness Acrophobia, essentially an intense fear of heights greater than 20 feet. This can manifest even by thinking about heights.
SHALLOW GRAVE - EXIT
When they open the door, the players immediately find themselves lying on their backs inside what appears to be a wooden box large enough to accommodate the whole party. An astute observer, historian, or someone well versed in religions might recognize this box as a coffin, intended for the internment of a giant. The characters are buried alive under 3 feet of earth.
The characters must make a Strength check to break through the box followed by a series of Strength, Survival, or Dexterity checks to dig their way out of the grave. A failed check results in no obvious progress and does not count toward the total needed to dig themselves free. Each successful check results in 3 inches of progress and each character should make an attempt on their turn.
Once the characters dig beyond 1 and a half feet (6 successful checks) of soil the collapsing earth and their expended efforts have caused the air to run thin. They are now considered to be suffocating and must break free to the surface before they drop to 0 hit points and die.
If the characters break through to the surface, they find themselves waking from sleep covered in dark loose soil. Anyone who has not failed all of their death-saving throws before this time is now able to breathe and is considered stabilized but unconscious.
Surviving this encounter would undoubtedly be traumatic. If you are using the rules for madness included in this book each character should make a Wisdom saving throw DC 18, on failure they suffer one Long-Term madness. I suggest that the characters suffer from Claustrophobia, an extreme fear of confined spaces if you want to choose the effect rather than roll on the table.
THE DINING ROOM
A long dining table much like you might find in a palace or exceptionally well-off noble's home sits in the middle of the warm and welcoming room. The fireplace at one end of the room is lit and provides a warm inviting glow. The windows on the opposite side of the room reveal a friendly-looking snow-covered village beyond.
The table is set and covered in piles of the most delicious food you have ever seen. Even a king would be in awe of the quality, portions, and variety of dishes on display. A chair sits pulled back from the table, one for each member of the party, as if to invite and welcome the adventurers to sit and enjoy the feast. The door to leave the room remains unlocked and can be exited at any time.
If the characters partake of the food, they will find that at first everything is as wonderful as it appears, any character that takes a bite of the food receives 4 (1d8) points of healing. If the characters continue to eat more of the food, they will again be healed for 4 (1d8) points of healing. As if the room possessed some nefarious intelligence it seems to use this to encourage everyone to participate in the feast.
Once it is clear that any who are going to eat has begun to do so they will each find that the food has turned to ash in their mouths. The room becomes sullen and grey, as the light and warmth leach from the room. Skeletal figures covered in cobwebs now occupy the once empty seats at the table, rotting food lies in heaps on the table and upon the plates. Outside the window, the world is an image of destruction.
The once charming snow-covered village lies blackened and in ruins. Instead of snow, it appears to be covered in a thick layer of ash.
The characters who have eaten must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or take 11 (2d10) poison damage and be poisoned, on success characters take half as much damage and resist being poisoned.
NURSERY
A dark room with a figure on the far side of the room sitting in a chair rocking a cradle. The floorboards are very squeaky, so any steps made into the room make noise. If the players make a sound the figure will quietly and calmly shush the group. A second sound and the figure will tell the players to hush in a sterner but still quiet voice. If the players make yet another sound the figure will let out a terribly shrill and horrible scream. Yellow flames will erupt from the cradle casting a dark and terrible shadow upon the wall. If the party investigates the cradle, it is empty except for the deep yellow flames and there is no sign that there ever was anything or anyone else, let alone a child, inside.
If anyone touches the screaming figure or attempts to interact with it with a spell or item, it will dissipate from the room as if it were made up of the blackest of smoke. Otherwise, once the characters check the crib the flames go out and the figure will dissipate at roughly the same time. The room is empty and no explanation for what the characters experience can be found.
SCRITCHERSCRATCH - EXIT
An ordinary-looking room like any other, very similar to the room the adventurers stayed in. Leering from under the bed is Scritcherscratch. In the dreamworld the creature has no need to be afraid and as such will not attempt to flee but will use its invisibility to its advantage during combat. When defeated the characters will find themselves waking up in the room they checked into. Physical evidence of their ordeals should lie scattered about the room and on their person. The real creature will have made itself extremely scarce before the adventurers wake.
THE LIBRARY
A large library filled with books, all of which are innocuous coffee table drivel. Nothing of any importance or value can be found on any of the shelves. If the players explore behind the librarian’s desk at the front of the room, they will find a small statue, and resting in its hands is a small book. Characters with a sufficient arcana check can determine that it is a book of spells. The book is written in Celestial or Infernal, your choice. The book itself is magical and can act as a spell focus. It is spelled against being read through magical means. Even using spells that allow you
TIP: SUFFOCATION, NO BREATHING
When a creature runs out of breath or is choking, it can survive for some rounds equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum of one round). At the start of its next turn, it drops to 0 hit points and is dying, and can’t regain hit points or be stabilized until it can breathe again.
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to understand any written language will not work correctly when attempting to read the book.
WALLED GARDEN
A small walled garden with a pond at its center. The water is absolutely still appearing nearly black due to its mirrorlike surface. The door to leave the room lies on the opposite side of the pond. A stone path encircles the pond and leads to the door. There is an ornate sign just a foot or so away from the water that reads “Don’t Walk On The Grass!”. If a character steps on the grass nothing happens. If they look into the water, they will see a perfect reflection of themselves.
Well, it looks perfect at first, but something is off about it. If a character continues to investigate the reflection it will beckon them to come closer. If the character comes closer, the reflection will seem to shift away from them ever so slightly.
If a character touches the water, they will change places with the reflection and be trapped inside the mirror realm. Tell the player in secret that they are trapped in the mirror realm and that they should continue to play their character but to add the following flaw to their character sheet and incorporate it into their play.
“I am an aberrant reflection of CHARACTER NAME. I am driven to and find great satisfaction in killing random people and will attempt to do so whenever I believe I can get away with it.”
YOUR ROOM - EXIT
The characters find themselves standing in the room they fell asleep in last night. Their bodies lie in their beds seemingly asleep. If anyone has perished, they will be dead in their bed rather than sleeping. The characters must come into contact with their sleeping forms to wake back in the room.
At this point, you can have Scritcherscratch available for the party to attempt to find and confront or it can have already gone invisible and fled the building. Base this decision on how much of the characters' resources have already been used and their overall condition. It should never be the case that you seek to pit the party against a fight that they simply cannot win. Remember though that Scritcherscratch does generally flee if at all possible and as such it could be safe to allow the party to confront the creature and have it work to escape above all else. Though if cornered or trapped the creature will of course fight so this can be a risky play.
TIP: MORE ADVENTURES TO BE HAD
If the party managed to endure this adventure. Don’t be afraid to play it again with some obvious tweaks to how their run-in with Scritcherscratch takes place. Also, don’t reuse rooms if you can help it unless it would be important to the narrative purpose for revisiting. Although it could be a good way to resolve some of the potential issues that crop up in this dream world.
Also, that second adventure hook can be totally legit. Sir Hudd could be waiting in the common area when the party comes down in the morning with a very real issue and brand-new adventure for the party to pursue.
One additional note. The fine folks at the Knight Owl are completely unaware that their establishment has been playing host to this creature or at least that’s what they will claim. Just a little something more for you to feel free to riff on.
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MAGICAL ODDITIES
DISEASES
CANDIDA AURANTIA
A strange parasitic fungus that infects hosts via spore dispersal. The disease lies dormant for 3(1d6) days showing no signs of its presence within the host. After this time has passed the host begins to lose much of their ability to think and function on their own. The infected exhibit an aversion to fire and silver, stop talking and no longer eat though they will continue to drink.
After 3(1d6) days the host develops orange blisters and becomes increasingly weak. They will seek to be near as many others as they can at all times. After some days equal to their Constitution bonus, the host will die. With their last breath, they will blow out a cloud of spores which can infect any viable host within 15 feet of the body. After 2(1d4) hours the body is animated by the fungus, and after finding a suitable location it begins to produce a fruiting body which will grow into the new Aurantia Sporeling.
CURSES & BLESSINGS
SEER’S LEGACY
Transference of memories and abilities from the line of the golden seer. Some might consider the mechanism of this transference more a curse than a blessing. To transfer this power and knowledge one must accept becoming host to a parasitic creature. A Seer is in fact a worm-like organism that must possess the minds and bodies of others to survive the final larval stage of their lives. Unless the host is particularly strong-willed, succeeding on a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw, the parasite is the one in control for the majority of the host's life. The parasitic Seer must leave the host of its own accord. Some poisons can possibly be consumed by the host to drive the creature out of the body, but it risks the lives of both the host and the Seer to use them.
If you succeed on the wisdom saving throw gain access to all of the Golden Oracle’s abilities and maintain control.
SYCOPHANT ANIMUS
Cursed to follow the first being they consider better than themselves. They will do anything this person requires as long as they believe they can benefit from doing so, if they no longer believe this the curse will end. Alternatively, to break this curse one must truly realize the value of success based on their own merit rather than the favor of others or through the use of curse-breaking magic.
ORACLE’S BLESSING
In exchange for something of great value, the Golden Oracle will bestow a blessing upon a creature. A Wish will be granted, and the creature will gain a +2 bonus on all saving throws for the next 24 hours.
BLIND MADNESS
You have laid eyes upon the raw form of the Blind Prince. An otherworldly being from beyond comprehension. As a result, it has driven you mad causing you to tear the eyes from your own face. Every time you attempt to speak for the next 1d6 days it will come out in an unknown language. Unable to cast spells with verbal components. Can be cured with a greater restoration spell. Even if your eyes are healed your mind is broken permanently on some level and will not be able to process vision the same as you did before. Characters who have their eyes restored will gain the Ruinsight trait and lose any other traits associated with vision.
CONDITIONS
DOOMED
Creatures affected by this condition have disadvantage on death saving throws and a -2 penalty on all attacks, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.
TRAITS
RUINSIGHT
Your eyesight has been ruined beyond any repair. Even with functional eyes, the brain is unable to fully utilize the information being transmitted. This can only be removed through a wish or divine intervention.
A character with Ruinsight can see up to 30 ft in any light level as if it were dim light and has no color vision, they see only in shades of black and white. A character with Ruinsight has -5 to passive perception checks.
ITEMS
ARTIFACTS
Artifacts are, usually, singular objects of extraordinary origin and power. Often ancient relics of civilizations long since lost to the unremitting flow of time or created by those possessed of exceptional power. If you see one you will likely never encounter it again.
Riddlehouse in particular specializes in locating, securing, and studying such objects. Adventurers who find themselves in the employ of such organizations should expect to encounter them with unprecedented frequency.
EYE OF SEKNAPHET
Artifact, attunement (requires attunement)
A small bone-white pyramid-shaped object with what appears to be a living disembodied eye at its core that can move to see out from any side of the artifact. Little is known about the history of this object other than it is rumored to be a death cult’s symbol of devotion to their god. The eye is supposedly freely given by the high priest of the cult in sacrifice to honor their god.
• If you are reduced to 0 health while in possession of the Eye, make a Wisdom saving throw DC 15 to resist the call of the void. On success revive as if you have taken a long rest. You are now attuned to the Eye. On a failure, you are dead and cannot be revived by any means other than a wish or divine intervention as your soul is now in the possession of the death god. If you attempt to attune to the eye before dying you will immediately die and need to make the same saving throw as if you died by other means.
• Take control of any uncontrolled undead within 500 feet of you. For five minutes any humanoid creature
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that dies within 100 feet of the Eye will resurrect as an undead creature. This ability can be used once and resets after a long rest.
• As a bonus action, you can give any number of the undead under your control basic commands which they will attempt to complete until given another command.
• The attuned being must collect the essence of life from, non-evil, living humanoids once every 5 days to maintain the Eye’s Interest. Failure to do so will drive them insane and after 7 days result in the artifact abandoning them to wander the land as a soulless undead Husk.
The Artifact can be destroyed by piercing the eye with any magical blade. The Eye will attempt to protect itself by immediately abandoning its current master, if it has one, reaching out to the one attempting its destruction. It will telepathically offer its powers to them; it desires to continue existing. This happens in a fraction of a moment, seeming to stop the flow of time itself; during this exchange, no one else will be aware of what is happening.
CHEST OF SOULS
Artifact
A magical chest filled with Soul Sand, capable of containing up to 325 sentient creatures’ spirits within the chest. Souls can be transferred to the chest at the time of their death. Devils, Demons, Celestials, Fey, any who market in souls would covet such an item indeed.
MOTE OF ELEMENTAL FLAME
Artifact, consumable
A fist-sized red gem with swirling flames visible within. It gives off a noticeable but not uncomfortable amount of heat. It contains raw elemental fire. When smashed or broken it explodes dealing 28(8d6) fire damage and 20(8d4) force damage in a 20ft radius sphere.
CURIOSITIES
MESSAGE BOTTLE
Wondrous item, uncommon
Write a message and place it in the bottle then cast it into any body of water. The bottle and its contents will vanish and appear within view of the intended recipient. Whether or not they notice is another matter entirely. Roll 1d20 to determine if they investigate the bottle. A result of 1 has the bottle get picked up by a Bottle Thief as soon as it appears, which runs off with it, roll 2-5 and the target does not recognize it possibly thinking it trash or that it has always been there. A result of 6 -19 and they notice the bottle right away. A result of 20 has the bottle strike them on the head rendering them unconscious for 1d4 minutes, they will be very aware of the bottle after this. Anyone expecting such objects to appear will always notice but are still subject to the results of a 1 or 20.
SOUL SAND
Wondrous item, rare
A type of sand found in very few locations. One such place is a particular shore found within the Celestial Realm where the souls of those of particular devotion to the beings that reside within may find themselves arriving upon their death.
UNIVERSAL KEY
Wondrous item, uncommon
A key that can open any lock exactly once at which point it snaps in half inside the lock rendering the mechanism useless until repaired.
CLEANING CLOTH
Wondrous item, uncommon
This cloth is capable of cleaning any liquid-based mess, up to 2 gallons. The cloth will appear perfectly clean but will cease to clean anything else for 1 day.
VOODOO DOLL
Wondrous item, uncommon
If bound with a scrap of something personal to a humanoid creature, the doll grants the owner the following benefits:
• Advantage on Charisma-based checks and saving throws against the bound target.
• Can inflict 3d4 psychic damage to bound target up to 2 times per day.
• Can send a one-way message to the bound target up to3 times per day.
POWDERED UNICORN HORN
Wondrous item, very rare
A rather horrible thing. The powdered horn of a unicorn. Some people will pay a lot of money for such things.
MAGIC MIRROR
Wondrous item, uncommon
Once per day the mirror will allow the user to view and hear a particular creature or location of your choosing that is on the same plane of existence as you. The effect lasts for up to 10 minutes. You can hear but not see any creatures not targeted by the spell. How much, far, or well you can hear others is up to the GM due to variations in the environment and competing noise and volume levels of the source. The target is always perfectly clear regardless of environment speaking level or effects that would otherwise obscure their voice.
TIP: HOW TO RUN THIS EVENT
This can be played in a few different ways. You could interpret this as the player choosing to attune to the eye or the eye could act as a conduit for the death god themselves, resulting in forming a warlock style deal with them, part of which would be not destroying the eye and delivering it to the Riddlehouse, if using the organization, or some place of the god’s choosing; the reason for this location is known only to the death god.
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MAGICAL MINITAUR FIGURINE
Wondrous item, very rare
Figurine carved from Jade. At first glance, it seems to be a miniature figurine of a minotaur. However, upon further inspection, it is in fact a miniature figurine of a mini minotaur or a Minitaur as they have come to be known.
Can be used to summon a Minitaur familiar. Can be summoned at will as long as you have the figurine in your possession. If the creature takes damage that would reduce it to 0 health it cannot be summoned again for one full day.
POTIONS & POISONS
VIAL OF FROZEN BLOOD
Poison, rare
Target takes 3 (1d6) Cold Damage, and their Movement speed is reduced by ½ until the end of their next turn.
BOTTLED JOY
Potion, rare
Target is overwhelmed by sheer joy and has disadvantage on their next saving throw.
POTION OF CLEAN DEATH
Potion, rare
If the target reaches 0 health before their next turn, they must immediately make a death save on failure they fail all saves and die, on success their health is set to 1.
VIAL OF HALLUCINATION
Potion, rare
Target sees their most terrible fears and suffers from fear until they take damage or the end of their next turn.
POISONED FRUIT
Poison, common
When consumed target must make a DC 15 Constitution Save. On failure, the target takes 10(4d4) poison damage and falls unconscious for 7(2d6) days, and suffers 10(4d4) poison damage each day unless cured.
VIAL OF MOSTLY HEALING
Potion, common
Frequently created by amateur or dubious alchemists. This potion will mostly heal those who consume it. Sometimes it may have a different effect.
Roll a 1d6 on 3-6 heal for 9(2d4+4), on a 1-2 you notice a Minitaur who will attempt to angrily attack your ankles while spewing obscenities at you.
QUIRKY WISDOM POTION
Potion, uncommon
Make a DC 15 Wisdom Save. If successful reduce your wisdom total by 5 on failure increase your wisdom to 20. This effect lasts for 1 minute.
BOTTLED BLADE
Potion, very rare
Temporary Magic Sword, Random Potion effect when the target takes damage. The blade can be any common bladed weapon, determined at the time the potion is created and carries the standard type, damage, and properties of that weapon with the addition of it counting as a magical weapon. The weapon lasts for 3 minutes.
POTION EFFECTS
D4
Name
Description
01
Vial of Frozen Blood
Target takes 3(1d6) Cold Damage, and their movement speed is reduced by ½ until the end of their next turn.
02
Bottled Joy
Target is overwhelmed by sheer joy and has disadvantage on their next saving throw.
03
Potion of Clean Death
If the target reaches 0 health before their next turn, they must immediately make a death save on failure they fail all saves and die, on success their health is set to 1.
04
Vial of Hallucination
Target sees their most terrible fears and suffers from fear until they take damage or the end of their next turn.
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VIAL OF STRANGE SENSE
Potion, uncommon
“Vial of Strange Scents” might be more accurate but who would buy that, right?
Detect the presence of Fey, Fiend, Aberration, and Monstrosity type creatures via a magically enhanced sense of smell within 60 feet of you. This sense can penetrate most barriers but is blocked by 1 ft of stone, 1 inch of metal, burning incense or sage, or 3 ft of wood or dirt.
FETID ELIXIR
Poison, common
Make a DC 20 Constitution Save, on failure creature, will vomit and suffer 5(2d4) poison damage. On a successful save do not vomit and take ½ damage.
VERVE DRAUGHT
Potion, very rare
Filled with unrivaled energy and enthusiasm. Gain Haste immediately and heal for 3(1d6) at the end of your turn for the next 3(1d6) rounds.
SHIFTY POTION
Potion, common
A rather shifty-looking potion frequently found on the black market. Its contents seem to have ever-changing properties.
Roll on the table below to determine its effect when consumed.
POTION EFFECTS
D4
Name
Description
01
Quirky Wisdom Potion
Make a DC 15 Wisdom Save. If successful reduce your wisdom total by 5 on failure increase your wisdom to 20. This effect lasts for 1 minute.
02
Vial of Strange Sense
Can detect the presence of Fey, Fiend, Aberration, and Monstrosity type creatures via a magically enhanced sense of smell within 60 feet of you. This sense can penetrate most barriers but is blocked by 1 ft of stone, 1 inch of metal, burning incense or sage, or 3 ft of wood or dirt.
03
Fetid Elixir
Make a DC 20 Constitution Save, on failure creature, will vomit and suffer 5(2d4) poison damage. On a successful save do not vomit and take ½ damage.
04
Verve Draught
Filled with unrivaled energy and enthusiasm. Gain Haste immediately and heal for 3(1d6) at the end of your turn for the next 3 rounds.
EQUIPMENT
QUIETED BOOTS
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)
Soft leather boots treated with special oils and lined with fine silky-soft Fleep’s wool dyed a rich umber.
While wearing the boots, you gain the following benefits:
• +2 on stealth checks
• Your Dexterity score increases by 1, to a maximum of 20.
THIEVES’ UTILITY BELT
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)
The kit is often worn by the best members of the Thieves’ Guild. It’s got practically everything! If it’s not on this belt you probably didn’t need it anyway. Features some of the finest implements of thievery in the realm. The pouches on this belt are lined with extra soft material which quiets the contents.
While wearing this belt, you gain the following benefits:
• Advantage when picking locks.
• Your Dexterity score increases by 2, to a maximum of 20.
• Counts as thieves’ tools, disguise kit, and forgery kit.
The belt contains the following:
• 10 feet of string
• small silver bell
• 20 Caltrops
• 1 hidden extradimensional pocket requiring a DC 20 Investigation or Perception check to discover. Can hold a single object weighing no more than 5 lbs.
JANGLY WIZARDS HAT
Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)
Cloth hat with a wide brim. Small silver bells run all the way around the rim of the hat. It is pointed but the point flops over in the middle due to the weight of a colorful tassel that is attached to the tip of the hat.
You have disadvantage on stealth checks while wearing the hat. You can change the color of the hat, at will, once per day.
While wearing the hat, you gain the following benefits:
• Your Charisma score increases by 2, to a maximum of 20.
• You can cast the Alarm spell, at will, up to 3 times a day.
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SPELLS
CLERIC
TWISTED FORTUNE
4th-level necromancy
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60ft
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
The golden skeletal hands of fate take hold of and twist the strings of fortune tied to one creature you can see within range. Wounds once healed reopened, their pain suffered anew. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. The target takes 6d10 necrotic damage on a failed save and cannot regain hit points until the end of its next turn, or half as much damage on a successful one. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs.
HAND OF FATE
2nd-level necromancy
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
Place your hand upon a target creature and the hands of fate will grasp and crush their life force. Make a melee spell attack against a creature you can reach. On a hit, the target takes 18 (4d8) necrotic damage plus 5 (1d8) psychic damage.
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RANDOM TABLES
I have included a few Random Tables for determining things that may be found when looting various places and things. Roll the necessary die or just choose from the list as you see fit. Some of the items could function to extend your adventures in new and exciting directions.
STRANGE THINGS FOUND IN A MIMIC
D20
Strange Thing
Description
01
Mimic Teeth
Harvest 1d12 Mimic Teeth
02
Sealed Tin of Fish Eggs
Some people pay good money for it
03
Partially Eaten Adventurer
Poor Bastard…Maybe identifiable?
04
Rusty Half Shield
Snapped clean in two…rusty
05
Slime
Some digestive slimes
06
Bag of Gold, Mimics
1d20 Gold Coin Mimics
07
Bronze Key
Just a key made of bronze…
08
Mimic Tongue
Cook it?
09
Surprisingly an Egg
Hatches in 1d4 days into something?
10
A Ruined Spell Book
It’s totally wrecked
11
Leg Bone with boot
That is…just…wow
12
Torn Adventurers Pouch
1d12 gold coins left inside. Sweet?
13
Satchel of Potions
1d4 Shifty Potion inside
14
Empty Crystal Bottle
It’s a very nice bottle
15
Diamond
Oooh Shiny. It’s a Diamond
16
Puzzle Box
Solving it could be its own adventure
17
Set of Silver Utensils
Carefully kept in a leather roll
18
Tangled length of rope
40ft. 1d4 hours to untangle it
19
Gold Ring
Could be plain maybe an insignia
20
Slimy Golden Lamp
Rub it, you know you want to. Genie maybe? Sila Djinni
ODD ITEMS
D10
Oddity
01
Vial of Mostly Healing
02
Cleaning Cloth, it cleans itself too
03
A horn made from a large Conch shell
04
Strange Coin Necklace
05
Humanoid Skull with strange runes carved all over it
06
Set of tarot cards with a skeletal theme
07
Universal Key, only works once
08
Amulet depicting a strange one-eyed god
09
Fetid Elixir
10
A Top Hat that does not want to be worn and falls off randomly.
BLACK MARKET GOODS
D12
Goods
01
Shifty Potion
02
Soul Sand
03
Bottled Blade
04
Vial of Mostly Healing
05
Quieted Boots
06
Thieves Utility Belt
07
Voodoo Doll (Unbound)
08
Magical Minitaur Figurine
09
Powdered Unicorn Horn
10
Poisoned Fruit
11
Magic Mirror
12
Stolen Jewelry
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MADNESS
I title this section Madness and use this term throughout this system for the sake of brevity and ease of reference as well as to adhere to the original concept which is heavily borrowed from and adapted throughout. However, rather than thinking of this as madness or insanity, I encourage you to view this material as dealing with Psychological Trauma as it is a more genuine way of viewing what is taking place within the game when these rules are in effect.
Adventurers in the employ of Riddlehouse will often have the unfortunate privilege of finding themselves in the presence of horrors or artifacts beyond the norm even for them. As a result of these extraordinary experiences, it is not uncommon to experience occasional psychological trauma and find themselves descending into madness.
It is advised that before playing with such effects the group has a discussion about their feelings surrounding these subjects and whether or not they are ok with playing with the very real possibility of dealing with psychological trauma affecting their characters. It is ok not to play with these effects and no one should be pressured into doing so against their wishes.
If a player becomes uncomfortable with these themes stop playing and discuss what is bothering them about it, if they are not open to discussion, be understanding, and please eliminate these concepts from your game. Continue play once everyone is ready and comfortable again.
You will find that I repeatedly reference the seriousness of this topic of play throughout this section. I do so because I want to emphasize the potential issues these topics can cause for players. That’s not to say that you can’t have a great time with these rules or that you should be all work and no play about them either. There is great humor to be found here if everyone feels safe and comfortable taking part. These optional rules can add a ton of variety to your game and take your adventures to unexpected and fantastic places
MADNESS EFFECTS
Madness can be short-term, long-term, indefinite, or permanent. Most experiences will leave adventurers with a short-term bout of madness lasting just a few minutes. More horrific or cumulative experiences have been known to have more lasting effects.
A character afflicted with short-term madness is subjected to an effect from the Short-Term Madness table for 1d10 minutes.
A character afflicted with long-term madness is subjected to an effect from the Long-Term Madness table for 1d10 x 10 hours.
A character afflicted with indefinite madness gains a new character flaw from the Indefinite Madness table that lasts until cured.
A character with permanent madness is now under the control of the DM and becomes an NPC and should be assigned new effects from the Indefinite Madness table. It is not suggested to surprise the players with these effects, you should be sure to discuss these possible events before play begins; while this is not quite character death, mechanically their time playing as this character has reached an end all the same. Not everyone is going to be ok with losing their character in this way or the alteration of their characters permanently through the application of these effects and what that means.
We should always remember that this is a game. If we are not enjoying ourselves, we need to consider why that is and what we can do to correct this error.
SHORT-TERM MADNESS
D100
Effect (lasts 1d10 minutes)
01-20
The character retreats into his or her mind and becomes paralyzed. The effect ends if the character takes any damage
21-30
The character becomes incapacitated and spends the duration screaming, laughing, or weeping.
31-40
The character becomes frightened and must use their action and movement each round to flee from the source of the fear.
41-50
The character begins babbling and is incapable of normal speech or spellcasting.
51-60
The character becomes incapable of identifying friends from foes and must use their actions each round to attack the nearest creature.
61-70
The character experiences vivid hallucinations and has disadvantage on ability checks.
71-75
The character does whatever anyone tells them to do that isn’t obviously self-destructive.
76-80
The character experiences an overpowering urge to eat something strange such as dirt, slime, or offal and must spend their movement and action attempting to consume the strangest thing they can see in the area.
81-90
The character is in complete shock from what they are experiencing. The character is stunned.
91-100
The character can no longer handle what they are experiencing and faints, falling unconscious.
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LONG-TERM MADNESS
D100
Effect (lasts 1d10 x 10 hours)
01-10
The character experiences an intense fear of confined spaces and will go out of their way to avoid confined spaces such as closets, tunnels, and other spaces large enough to only fit one or two medium-sized people.
11-20
The character experiences vivid hallucinations and has disadvantage on ability checks and saving throws.
21-30
The character suffers extreme paranoia. The character has disadvantage on Wisdom and Charisma checks.
31-40
The character regards something (usually the source of madness) with intense revulsion as if affected by the antipathy effect of the antipathy/sympathy spell.
41-45
The character experiences a powerful delusion. Choose any potion with lasting effects, like giants’ strength, invisibility, or shrinking. The character imagines that they are under the effect of that potion. Be Creative for maximum fun!
46-55
The character becomes attached to a “lucky charm,” such as a person or an object, and has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws while more than 30 feet from it.
56-65
The character is blinded or deafened. Roll 1d4 to determine which condition. On a 1 the character is blinded, a result of 2-4, and the character is deafened.
66-75
The character experiences uncontrollable tremors or tics, which impose disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws that involve Strength or Dexterity.
76-85
The character suffers from partial amnesia. The character knows who they are and retains traits and class features but doesn’t recognize other people or remember anything that happened before the madness took effect.
86-90
Whenever the character takes damage, they must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom Saving throw or be affected as though they failed a saving throw against the confusion spell. The confusion effect lasts for 1 minute.
91-95
The character is in shock due to what they have experienced and have shut down. The character loses their ability to communicate via speech, writing, or any other means. They are unable to cast spells with Verbal or Somatic components. Feats or abilities that remove these components still apply.
96-100
The character becomes can no longer handle the stress of this experience and becomes catatonic (can stand but has no willpower or interest of their own; may be led or forced to perform simple actions).
INDEFINITE MADNESS
D100
Flaw (lasts until cured)
01-15
“Being drunk keeps me sane.”
16-25
“I believe that I am an animal, such as a cat, dog, or squirrel and I behave as such.”
26-30
“I try to become more like someone else I know – adopting their style of dress, mannerisms, and name.”
31-35
“I must bend the truth, exaggerate, or outright lie to be interesting to other people.”
36-45
“I have a red spot on my face, no one else can see it but it’s there, and I must get rid of it.”
46-50
“I find it hard to care about anything that goes on around me.”
51-55
“I am compelled to repeat a specific activity obsessively, such as washing hands, touching things, praying, or counting coins (roll 1d20 to determine the number of times it must be done).”
56-70
“I have an intense fear of heights. Even thinking about tall things leaves me terrified and will cause me to have difficulty taking action.”
71-80
“I am convinced that powerful enemies are hunting me, and their agents are everywhere I go. I am sure they’re watching me all the time.”
81-85
“There’s only one person I can trust. And only I can see this special friend.”
86-95
“I can’t take anything seriously. The more serious the situation, the funnier I find it.”
96-100
“I’ve discovered that I really like killing random people and will attempt to do so whenever I believe I can get away with it.”
PROGRESSIVE MADNESS
The following optional rules are made available to implement a system of progressive madness. “Small” traumas can only occur so many times within a period before the mind gives way to more serious and long-lasting symptoms. As with any of the madness-related systems I urge you to please have a discussion with the players before beginning any content that could include such rules and effects in your play. The players must be open to playing a game featuring these topics.
I also want to reiterate that if a player becomes uncomfortable with these themes to stop play and discuss what is bothering them about it, if they are not open to discussion, please eliminate these concepts from your game and continue when everyone is ready and comfortable again.
If a character suffers 3 short-term madness effects before taking a short rest, all future madness effects should be rolled on the Long-Term Madness table.
If a character suffers 2 long-term madness effects before taking a long rest, all future madness effects should be rolled on the Indefinite-Madness table.
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If a character suffers from an additional indefinite madness effect before being cured of the original indefinite madness effect, they suffer permanent madness.
CURING MADNESS
The following spells and abilities can be used to cure, prevent, or ease the effects of madness. If you so desire, you can choose not to use these options and find your own way to have players remove madness. However, I believe the following options to be the best compromise between allowing magic to deal with madness and maintaining the danger and impact of the madness rules.
For short-term madness, characters must take a short rest in addition to any ability, spell, or other effects that would remove the effects of madness.
For long-term madness, characters must take a long rest in addition to any ability, spell, or other effects that would remove the effects of madness.
For indefinite madness, characters must spend one week of downtime recuperating from their experience in addition to any ability, spell, or other effects that would remove the effects of madness.
The order in which the rest or downtime and spell(s), abilities, or effects are used does not matter as long as the character does not take on additional madness effects in the interim.
SPELLS & ABILITIES FOR CURING MADNESS
The following effects are achieved in place of their normal effects unless otherwise stated.
Calm Emotions: This spell cannot directly remove any madness, but it can temporarily mitigate the effects of short-term, long-term, and indefinite madness. While the spell is in effect, the target acts calmly and ignores behavior changes caused by short-term, long-term, or indefinite madness. This spell has no effect on those suffering from permanent madness.
Heal: In addition to its normal effects, heal removes short-term and long-term madness. You may choose to allow this spell to remove one indefinite madness per casting, in addition to its other effects. This also applies to the mass heal spell.
Mind Blank: While the spell is in effect, the subject automatically succeeds at all saving throws against madness.
Miracle: This spell can remove all madness. Miracle even heals permanent madness. This effect should be viable even in a campaign where magic does not normally affect madness.
Greater Restoration: If the caster chooses, greater restoration can remove all short-term and long-term madness, one indefinite madness, or permanent madness, rather than the normal effects of the spell.
Lesser Restoration: If the caster chooses, lesser restoration can remove all short-term madness or long-term madness instead of its normal effects.
Wish: This spell can remove all madness including permanent madness. This effect should be viable even in a campaign where magic does not normally affect madness. The source of the wish should still impact the overall outcome of the wish though it should achieve its indicated effect with any twist being added in addition to rather than instead of.
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BESTIARY
The creatures, beasts, and monsters found in this section have been sorted by adventure and order of encounter, typically, to enable the quickest access to this information while running your games.
RIDDLEHOUSE
The following entries cover the known members of the Riddlehouse organization as of the time of this books’ publication. The organization is deeply mysterious and very few have met anyone other than an adventuring party in their employ. Thus, their inclusion in this tome.
AURAN RAMOUX
Auran is quite obviously dead, or undead in fact. He is a ghost. His history is not something he likes to speak about funny enough, considering just how much he likes to talk about himself. He is known to be quite charming for a dead guy. Auran is the “face” of Riddlehouse. He is the most likely person you will meet if you ever communicate with the organization directly. He is the liaison between Riddlehouse and the world, including the adventurers they employ.
GIYANA
Head of Operations at Riddlehouse. She is a tall and powerfully built, dark-skinned, seemingly human, woman. She has a very severe and down to business attitude and has little time for anything not strictly necessary. Nothing concerning her background is currently known including where she was born who her parents are or anything that would give any other indication than she simply sprung into being as a fully formed adult person.
She is in fact a Nephilim though only one other person other than me that is aware of this fact and they’re dead.
Like all Nephilim, she has been hunted since the moment of her conception. Somehow, she has managed to make it to adulthood and now finds refuge and fulfillment in the employ of Riddlehouse.
Medium Undead Lawful Neutral Armor Class 11 (natural armor) Hit Points 45 (10d8) Speed 30ft., fly 40ft. (hover) STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 7 (-2) 13 (+1) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 14 (+2) 17 (+3) Damage Resistances Acid, Fire, Lightning, Thunder; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks Damage Immunities Cold, Necrotic, Poison Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 14 Languages Common, Elven, Dwarven, Gnomish, Giant, Ancient Challenge 4 (1100 XP) Ghostly Senses. Auran can see and hear in the Ethereal Plane when on the Material Plane, and vice versa. Barely Here. Auran is capable of moving through solid objects and makes no sound when moving. He has advantage on attempts at stealth and hiding. Essence Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 17 (4d6+3) necrotic damage. Possession. One humanoid that Auran can see within 5 feet of it must succeed on a DC 13 Charisma saving throw or be possessed; He now controls the body but doesn't deprive the target of awareness. Access to host stats & abilities, no memories. On success target can’t be possessed for 24 hours. Medium Humanoid (Nephilim), Chaotic Good Armor Class 20 (ancient armor) Hit Points 95 (10d8+50) Speed 30ft., fly 50ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 21 (+5) 13 (+1) 20 (+5) 17 (+3) 18 (+4) 10 (+0) Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks Damage Immunities Poison Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Grappled, Poisoned Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 16 Languages Common, Sylvan, Celestial, Abyssal, Ancient Challenge 16 (15000 XP) Celestial Heritage. All weapon attacks by Giyana are magical and do an extra 18 (4d8) radiant damage. In addition, Giyana has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Innate Spellcasting. Giyana’s innate spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 18). It can cast the following spells innately, requiring no material components. •At will: disguise self, detect evil and good, light, darkness •3/day: protection from evil and good (self), invisibility (self) •1/day: zone of truth, counterspell Hidden Wings. Giyana can summon wings of pure energy and gain the ability to fly. Multiattack. Giyana can make three Zweihander attacks. Zweihander. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit 14 (2d8+5) slashing damage. Sweeping Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, 10ft. cone. Hit 14 (2d8+5) slashing damage. Parry. Add +5 to Giyana’s AC against one melee attack that would hit Giyana.
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THE ZOMBIE BARON
CRYPT GUARD SKELETON
Crypt Guard Skeletons are typically great warriors in life who when resurrected into undead servitude retain some semblance of their prior skill. As such it is common practice to outfit these skeletal guardians with effective armor and weaponry. It is not unusual to find them outfitted in Half Plate or Scale Mail. They commonly carry enormous Tower Shields allowing them to provide cover to their masters and effectively obstruct paths, halls, and doorways at a cost to their maneuverability.
Whether it is a side effect of the magics used to raise these once great warriors or a sign of their prior prowess any weapon in the hands of a Crypt Guard Skeleton becomes magically imbued. This is only effective when the skeleton is wielding the weapon, however, and anyone hoping to score powerful magical weaponry from their shattered remains will be disappointed.
HIDDEN DEAD
This undead creature is adept at remaining hidden until a creature wanders within striking distance. What allows this particular behavior is as of yet unknown. The level of patience this creature displays is disturbing as it suggests a greater than usual intelligence.
The ritual involved in this creature’s creation appears to be a closely guarded secret and was unable to be discovered in any of the ancient libraries or countless texts that I have been able to gain access to. Any necromancer that knows the secret of creating this particular form of zombie has not revealed the method.
Medium Undead Lawful Neutral Armor Class 13 (Armor Scraps) Hit Points 9(2d8) Speed 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 10 (+0) 18 (+4) 10 (+0) 8 (-1) 14 (+2) 5 (-3) Damage Vulnerabilities Bludgeoning, Radiant Damage Resistances Piercing Damage Immunities Poison, Necrotic Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Poisoned Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 12 Languages Understands languages it knew in life but can’t speak Challenge 2 (450 XP) Jump Scare. Has advantage on attack rolls against any creature it has surprised and is able to move an additional 10ft toward a surprised creature. Frantic Assault. When Hidden Dead grapples a creature make two Tooth and Nail attacks. Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the hidden dead to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the hidden dead drops to 1 hit point instead. Tooth and Nail. Melee Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 8 (1d6+4) necrotic damage. Gotcha. Melee Attack: reach 5ft., one target. Grapple target surprised creature. If target is not surprised, they can make a DC 13 Strength saving throw to escape the hold. Target can make a DC 13 Strength saving throw to break free on their turn. Medium Undead Lawful Neutral Armor Class 20 (Well Armored) Hit Points 32 (7d8) Speed 25ft STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 16 (+3) 13 (+1) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 12 (+1) 7 (-2) Damage Vulnerabilities Bludgeoning, Radiant Damage Resistances Fire, Piercing Damage Immunities Poison, Necrotic Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Poisoned Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11 Languages Understands languages it knew in life but can’t speak Challenge 2 (450 XP) Tower Shield. Has half cover when wielding a Tower Shield. (+2 AC already added.) Shield Mastery. If subjected to an effect that allows it to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, can use a reaction to take no damage if it succeeds on the saving throw Arcane Weaponry. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 12 (2d8+3) slashing damage. Magical Weapon. Shield Wall. Take cover behind their Tower Shield for one turn gaining Total Cover and providing three-quarters cover to everything in a direct line behind them. Shield Push. Reach 5ft., one target. Force target creature in range 5ft away from Crypt Guard Skeleton. If space is occupied has no effect. Make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone.
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THE HEIR
The youngest, and only surviving child of the Zombie Baron. They are between the ages of 5 and 7. They are wholly innocent of any wrongs or crimes that may have been committed.
DROWNED ONE
This wretched creature is a zombie spawned from the corpse of a humanoid who suffered a terrible death by drowing. The body has remained in the water long enough to become bloated and waterlogged. Truly hideous the putrid waters inside their body can be heard sloshing within as they shamble about in search of someone to enact their vengeance upon.
If struck foul waters spray from their bodies. The waters are filled with all maner of horrific substances. Woe to any who allow the putrid waters of their flesh to fall upon them. Their bloated condition causes them to have particular difficulties navigating their environment. As a result they tend to lie very still waiting for their targets to come near before using the element of surprise to compensate for their decreased mobility.
Any necromancer that raises such a creature has truly embarked upon a truly shameful endeavor as these creatures undeath is believed to be particularly miserable as they slowly putrify due to the circumstances of their death.
small undead, unaligned Armor Class 0 Hit Points 1 Speed 20ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 5 (-3) 8 (-1) 10 (+0) 12 (+1) 8 (-1) 14 (+2) Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 9 Languages common Challenge 0 (0 XP) Medium Undead, Lawful Neutral Armor Class 11 Hit Points 27 (5d8+5) Speed 25 ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 15 (+2) 8 (-1) 12 (+1) 4 (-3) 10 (+0) 4 (-3) Damage Vulnerabilities Radiant Damage Resistances Fire Damage Immunities Poison, Necrotic Condition Immunities Fear, Charm, Poison Senses Passive Perception 10 Languages Understands languages it knew in life but can’t speak Challenge 1 (2,900 XP) Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the Drowned One to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the Baron drops to 1 hit point instead. Putrid Spray. When attacked eject a spray of putrid water in a 5ft radius centered on the Drowned One. Any creature in the are of effect must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 5 (2d4) necrotic damage, or half as much on a successful one. Tooth and Nail. Melee Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 5 (1d6+2) necrotic damage.
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ZOMBIE BARON
A powerful black-market merchant baron, rumored to be a half-giant, in life. He has become some sort of powerful undead being thanks to the power of an ancient artifact belonging to a death god. He continues to practice his trade, amassing his fortune and an army of undead.
Large undead, Lawful Evil
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 84 (8d10+40)
Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
22 (+6) 15 (+2) 21 (+5) 17 (+3) 13 (+1) 18 (+4)
Damage Vulnerabilities Radiant, Fire
Damage Immunities Poison, Necrotic
Condition Immunities Fear, Charm, Poison
Senses Passive Perception 14
Languages Common, Thieves’ cant, Giant, Sylvan, Undercommon
Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)
Legendary Resistance (1/day). If the Baron fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed on it instead.
Magic Resistance. The Baron has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Innate Spellcasting. The Baron’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 15, +7). It can cast the following spells innately, requiring no material components.
•At will: Chill Touch, light, darkness
•3/day: Tongues (self), Enthrall, Illusory Script
•1/day: Finger of death
Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the Baron to 0 hit points, he must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the Baron drops to 1 hit point instead.
Multiattack. The Baron can make two Cane attacks.
Cane. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (1d8+6) bludgeoning damage.
Crush. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5ft, one creature. Hit: Target creature is grappled and takes 28 (5d8+6) bludgeoning damage
Hidden Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 9 (1d6+6) piercing damage.
The Zombie Baron can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Zombie Baron regains spent legendary actions at the beginning of his turn.
Command Undead. Command an undead creature, that the baron can see, to move up to its movement speed and to attack, with advantage, using their reaction.
Bribe (Costs 2 Actions). Target creature must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the end of their next turn. Target charmed creature believes the Zombie Baron to be its ally and will accept any command that would not harm itself.
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RAGING FLESH RENDER
Medium Monstrosity, Chaotic Evil
Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 42 (5d8+20)
Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
21 (+5) 17 (+3) 18 (+4) 8 (-1) 10 (+0) 4 (-3)
Damage Vulnerabilities Radiant
Damage Resistances Fire, Cold, non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing weapon damage
Damage Immunities Poison, Necrotic
Condition Immunities Poison, Blind, Fear, Charm, Exhaustion
Senses Blindsight 60ft., Passive Perception 10
Languages All
Challenge 6 (25,000 XP)
Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the Raging Flesh Render to 0 hit points, he must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the Raging Flesh Render drops to 1 hit point instead.
Magic Resistance. The Raging Flesh Render has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Blood Frenzy. Raging Flesh Render has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn’t have all its hit points.
Multiattack. The Raging Flesh Render makes up to two attacks.
Tooth & Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) slashing damage plus 4(1d6+1) poison damage.
Stab. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (2d6+3) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) necrotic damage.
Rage. Raging Flesh Render can move up to its speed toward a creature it can see and attacks with Tooth & Claw if it gets into melee attack range.
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THE BLIND PRINCE
WAY OF THE UNSEEN, MONK
An ancient order whose members stand guard against the inevitable arrival of an ancient eldritch being. If left unchallenged the being known as the Blind Prince will unlock the way forward for its elders. Ancient elder gods are often referred to as Great Old Ones or Eldritch Horrors, some say they are aspects of chaos or the nature of the multiverse. Whatever they truly are, their arrival certainly spells the end of everything we know and hold dear.
Each member is permanently blinded as part of a ritual meant to prepare them for the coming battle. They then spend much time learning to see without seeing. Their ritualized training allows them to eventually see into the unseen.
The unseen is a strange and little-known realm that exists as part of, yet separate from, the material world. Very few people are aware of the existence of the unseen let alone have actually visited it. I hope one day to explore and study this realm.
Medium humanoid, Lawful Good Armor Class 15 Hit Points 65 (10d8+20) Speed 40ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 11 (+1) 16 (+3) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) Skills Acrobatics +6, Perception +5, Stealth +6 Senses Blindsight 60 ft., Passive Perception 15 Languages Common Challenge 5 (1,800 XP) Unarmored Defense. While the monk is wearing no armor and wielding no shield, its AC includes its Wisdom modifier. Multiattack. The monk makes two attacks. Debilitating Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8+3) force damage, and if the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be blinded/deafened and stunned. Body Blow. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8+3) force damage, and if the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone. Through the Unseen. The monk vanishes into the unseen and moves up to 30 feet away reappearing in an unoccupied space. This ability does not enable attacks of opportunity. Deflect Missile. Monk can use their reaction to deflect or catch a missile when hit by a ranged weapon attack. Reduce damage taken by 14 (1d10+8). If damage reduced to 0 can catch the missile and make a ranged weapon attack. Missile considered a monk weapon, and the monk has proficiency. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 20/60ft., one target. Hit 5 (1d4+3) piercing damage. Slow Fall. The monk can use their reaction to reduce fall damage by 25.
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THE BLIND PRINCE
The Blind Prince. Herald of Horrors. Little is known about this being other than he is prophesied to enter our material world opening the way forward for the Elder gods. Thus, he is instrumental in bringing about the end of everything.
It is said that to gaze upon his form would drive even the most powerful beings to absolute madness. Having your mind broken may be preferable to the horrors that would be unleashed simply through his presence in our universe. Something so wrong and out of synch with the material world shall certainly cause madness and its spawn to rise and consume everything it encounters.
REGIONAL EFFECTS
• Aberrations follow the prince into the material plane tearing their way into reality in a one-mile radius of The Blind Prince.
• Darkness envelops the world in a five-mile radius surrounding The Blind Prince.
Large aberration, Lawful Neutral
Armor Class 19 Eldritch Armor
Hit Points 351 (54d10+54)
Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
11 (+0) 24 (+7) 12 (+1) 18 (+4) 18 (+4) 10 (+0)
Damage Resistances Psychic, non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing weapon damage
Damage Immunities Poison
Condition Immunities Unconscious, Blind, Fear, Charm, Deafened, Exhaustion
Senses Truesight 60ft., Passive Perception 14
Languages All
Challenge 20 (25,000 XP)
Horrifying. If a creature sees the prince with the naked eye suffer Blind Madness. If a creature views the prince via blindsight or through blue filtered vision, make a Wisdom or Charisma saving throw DC 17, on failure suffer short term madness. After three failures suffer long term madness.
Legendary Resistance (3/day). If The Blind Prince fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed on it instead.
Magic Resistance. The Blind Prince has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Magic Weapons. The Blind Prince’s weapon attacks are magical.
Palingenesis. When The Blind Prince is reduced to 0 hit points or killed, only his physical form is destroyed. It will reform at a later date.
Multiattack. The Blind Prince makes two Plasma Blade attacks, or two Expel attacks, or one Expel and one Plasma Blade attack.
Plasma Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 33 (5d8+10) slashing damage plus 4(1d6) fire damage.
Expel. Ranged Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 40ft., one creature. Hit: 28 (5d6+10) piercing damage plus 4(1d6) fire damage.
Flurry of Blades (Recharge5-6). Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5ft, make 3 attacks on any combination of creatures in range. Hit: 33 (5d8+10) slashing damage plus 4(1d6) fire damage.
The Blind Prince can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Blind Prince regains spent legendary actions at the beginning of his turn.
Doom (Costs 2 Actions). The Blind Prince casts its gaze upon a creature and speaks one word Doom. Target creature within 30 ft. must make a DC 20 Constitution saving throw. On a successful save target is immune to this effect for 24 hours. On a failed save target suffers the Doomed condition.
Recharge (Costs 1 Action; Only usable once per round). The Blind Prince can attempt to recharge Flurry of Blades if it is currently uncharged.
Be Gone (Costs 2 Actions). The Blind Prince banishes the targeted creature or object to the Far Realm until the end of their next turn. Target creature or object will be transported to the Far Realm, while there they take 18(4d8) psychic damage. When the effect ends the creature or object returns to the space that they previously occupied. If the space is occupied return in the nearest unoccupied space.
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THE GOLDEN ORACLE
GOLDEN CULTIST
Cult of the Golden Oracle. Its members have pledged their lives to the service of the Golden Oracle. They view her as their god. Their numbers are few and they seldom leave the oracle’s temple. The members of the cult often exhibit unparalleled devotion. If simply asked they will give their very lives in service of the oracle with no explanation needed.
Many start out as sycophants hoping to use the favor of the Golden Oracle to rise to some wealth and power or otherwise improve their social or political status. The cult accepts any that would worship the oracle and as such is made up of a varied collection of peoples.
The members are required to give up everything from their previous lives, they must cease all contact with friends and family. Cultists are required to renounce all others. Upon being initiated into the cult they must relinquish any and all wealth to the Oracle.
GOLDEN CULTIST, HIGH PRIEST
Officially referred to as the High Priest of the Golden Oracle. This is the highest position within the cult that one can achieve. They speak with all of the authority of the oracle herself and have been personally blessed by the Oracle, gaining the power to manipulate their own fate thanks to her blessing.
Medium humanoid Lawful Neutral Armor Class 12 Hit Points 18 (4d8) Speed 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 11 (+0) 12 (+1) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 11 (+0) 12 (+1) Skills Deception +2, Religion +2 Senses Passive Perception 10 Languages common Challenge 1/4 (50 XP) Radiant Devotion. The cultist has advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened. Gleaming Flail. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 10 (2d8+1) radiant damage. Medium Humanoid, Lawful Evil Armor Class 13 Hit Points 44 (8d8+8) Speed 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 7 (-2) 13 (+1) 12 (+1) 12 (+1) 14 (+2) 17 (+3) Skills Deception +5, Persuasion +5, Religion +3 Damage Resistances Radiant, Psychic Damage Immunities Poison Condition Immunities Poisoned Senses Passive Perception 12 Languages common Challenge 4 (1100 XP) Cult of Personality. The cultist has advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened. Their spellcasting ability is Charisma, and they have a spell save DC 13. Seers Blessing. The cultist has a +2 bonus on all saving throws. Alter Fate. Reroll one dice roll made by the High Priest once per day. Multiattack. The High Priest can make two attacks one with its Aureate Staff and one with its Twisted Fortune. Aureate Staff. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 17 (4d6+3) radiant damage. Twisted Fortune. Ranged Spell Attack: range 60ft, one target. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. The target takes 6d10 necrotic damage on a failed save and cannot regain hit points until the end of its next turn, or half as much damage on a successful one. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs.
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GOLDEN CULTIST, INITIATE
An initiate into the Golden Oracles cult. They act as little more than base servants performing many of the menial tasks required to operate the temple.
NOBLE SYCOPHANT
A Noble who has fallen victim to their own ambitions and desires. The Golden Oracle has cursed them for their folly to serve those they feel are above themselves. They most often serve the Oracle herself but sometimes fall into the service of one of the Golden Cultists or the High Priest.
Medium humanoid, any alignment Armor Class 15 (Breastplate) Hit Points 9 (2d8) Speed 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 11 (+0) 13 (+1) 11 (+0) 12 (+1) 10 (+0) 18 (+4) Skills Deception +6, History +3, Persuasion +6 Condition Immunities Charmed Senses Passive Perception 10 Languages common Challenge 1/4 (100 XP) Servitude. Cursed by the Oracle to serve they have advantage on saving throws against being frightened. Multiattack. The Noble Sycophant can make two attacks one with its Smallsword and one with its Dagger. Smallsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8+1) piercing damage. Dagger. Melee Weapon Attack. +3 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 3 (1d4+1) piercing damage. Can also be thrown, for a Ranged Weapon Attack. Range 20ft. Deflect Strike. The Noble Sycophant can deflect a melee weapon attack as a reaction reducing the damage by 8 (1d8+3). Medium Humanoid Neutral Armor Class 11 Hit Points 9 (2d8) Speed 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 10 (+0) 12 (+1) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) Senses Passive Perception 10 Languages common Challenge 1/4 (25 XP) Group Think. Initiate has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of its allies are within 10 feet of the Initiate and are not incapacitated. Multiattack. The Initiate can make two attacks with its Dagger. Shiv. Melee Weapon Attack. +3 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 3 (1d4+1) piercing damage. Can also be thrown, for a Ranged Weapon Attack. Range 20ft.
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COMMON SYCOPHANT
A commoner who fell victim to their ambitions, cursed by the Golden Oracle to serve their perceived betters every whim.
RAINE
Raine has been raised by the cult. How she came to be in their possession is largely unknown, though it is rumored that her mother relinquished her firstborn daughter in exchange for the oracle’s blessing. Raine has been trained and educated to be the next Golden Oracle as the current oracle is reaching the end of her significantly extended life.
She has lived a life of seclusion rarely allowed to leave the temple. Much of what she has learned about the outside world has come from her studies and brief interactions with travelers who have come to seek the Oracle’s aid.
Medium humanoid, any alignment Armor Class 10 Hit Points 4 (1d8) Speed 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) Condition Immunities Charmed Senses Passive Perception 10 Languages common Challenge 1/8 (25 XP) Servitude. Cursed by the Oracle to serve they have advantage on saving throws against being frightened. Knife. Melee Weapon Attack. +2 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 2 (1d4) piercing damage. Can also be thrown, for a Ranged Weapon Attack. Range 15ft. Medium humanoid, Chaotic Neutral Armor Class 15 Hit Points 44 (8d8) Speed 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 10 (+0) 14 (+2) 12 (+1) 18 (+4) 16 (+3) 15 (+2) Saving Throws WIS +5, CHA +4 Skills Insight +5, Persuasion +4, Religion +5 Condition Immunities Charmed Senses Passive Perception 10 Languages common Challenge 4 (1,100 XP) Oracles Blessing. Raine has a +2 bonus on all saving throws. Dagger. Melee Weapon Attack. +4 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) piercing damage. Can also be thrown, for a Ranged Weapon Attack. Range 15ft.
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SEER
A wholly alien worm-like creature. They strongly resemble a leech or eyeless lamprey with a hooked barb at the end of their body. Who can say what horrible pit such a being has crawled from? A consummate parasite, it must live out its life within a host humanoid. This relationship can be entered into willingly, but the seer will usually completely dominate the host. This leaves the host to suffer a life of pain and horror as they will be conscious of everything that happens to them and their actions but will have no influence on their life.
Some may take the risk. They do this in the hopes of gaining great power. Whichever creature manages to establish control over the host's body will have access to the combined knowledge and power of both beings. Whatever the outcome of this battle of wills, the host will gain greatly improved longevity and vitality.
Outside of a host, the Seer is immensely vulnerable. They are physically weak creatures. For some reason, they are unable to call upon any of the innate powers that they possess when joined with a humanoid host. Their only strength lies in their speed and ability to burrow through all but the strongest of materials thanks to their ability to generate a powerful acid.
GOLDEN ORACLE
Medium Humanoid, Lawful Evil
Armor Class 17 (Blessing of Fate)
Hit Points 44 (8d8+8)
Speed 30ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
8 (-1) 10 (+0) 13 (+1) 18 (+4) 24 (+7) 15 (+2)
Saving Throws WIS +7, CHA +4
Skills Insight +7, Persuasion +4, Religion +6
Senses Passive Perception 17
Languages common
Challenge 10 (5900 XP)
Legendary Resistance (3/day). If the Golden Oracle fails a saving throw, they can choose to succeed on it instead.
Magic Resistance. The Golden Oracle has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Blessing of Fate. While the oracle is wearing no armor and wielding no shield, its AC includes its Wisdom modifier. In addition, they have a +2 bonus to all saving throws and attack rolls.
Fortune’s Gift. Allies, including the Golden Oracle, within 30 ft. gain an additional 5 (1d8) necrotic damage on all of their attacks and heal 7 (2d4+2) hit points at the start of their turn.
Multiattack. The Golden Oracle can make two Hand of Fate attacks, or one Hand of Fate attack and one Twisted Fortune attack.
Hand of Fate. Melee Spell Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 23 (5d8) psychic damage plus 9 (2d8) necrotic damage.
Twisted Fortune. Ranged Spell Attack: range 60ft, one target. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. The target takes 44(8d10) necrotic damage on a failed save and cannot regain hit points until the end of its next turn, or half as much damage on a successful one. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs.
The Golden Oracle can take up to 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Golden Oracle regains spent legendary actions at the beginning of their turn.
Sycophant Animus (Costs 2 Actions). The Golden Oracle places a powerful curse upon a target creature within 30 ft. must make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until they take damage. On a successful save target is immune to this effect for 24 hours.
Oracle’s Favor (Costs 1 Action.) The Golden Oracle can alter fortunes and force one creature that it can see, other than itself, to make every attack roll, damage roll, saving throw, and ability check at either advantage or disadvantage until the end of their next turn.
Tiny aberration, Lawful Evil Armor Class 17 (Evasive) Hit Points 5 (2d4) Speed 15ft., 30ft. (burrowing) STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 6 (-2) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 18 (+4) 20 (+5) 3 (-4) Skills Perception +7, Stealth +5 Senses Blindsight 60ft. (blind beyond), Passive Perception 15 Languages Telepathy 60 ft. Challenge 1/4 (25 XP) Parasitize. Seer attempts to enter the body of a target creature within 5 ft. and take control of its mind. Target can make a DC 15 Dexterity save to prevent the Seer entering its body. On a failed save, target creature must make a DC 20 Wisdom save to retain
42
FORBIDDEN CAVERN
MIMIC
COIN MIMIC
The coin mimic is a strange and rarely encountered creature. Unlike its more common relatives, they seem to possess a greater intelligence and a desire to reproduce and gather together. They will often spend a great deal of time in the bags and pockets of humanoids without ever revealing themselves preferring instead to bide their time and replicate until they can form a swarm.
The coin mimic seems to feed on scraps of food it can pilfer from the unfortunate beings they have found themselves with. This is in fact one of the best ways to detect their presence among your valuables. If you notice that small amounts of your food are going missing continuously with no explanation, it could very well be that you have a slowly growing population of coin mimics among your possessions.
Coin mimics are capable of taking on the form of any tiny object though they have earned their name through a proclivity for taking the form of coins. This is another avenue through which they express their increased intelligence as they seem to do this for one of two reasons. They are taking this form either because they believe it gives them the best opportunity to be spread across the lands or in an attempt to be gathered and hoarded giving them the time they need to replicate and swarm.
They seem to reproduce exclusively through fission. This would indicate that their desire to form swarms is solely for the purpose of improved survivability and the capture of larger prey.
Medium Monstrosity (shapechanger), neutral Armor Class 12(natural armor) Hit Points 58 (10d8+20) Speed 15ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 17 (+3) 12 (+1) 15 (+2) 5 (-3) 13 (+1) 8 (-1) Skills Stealth +5 Damage Immunities Acid Condition Immunities Prone Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11 Languages N/A Challenge 4 (1100 XP) Shapechanger. The mimic can use its action to polymorph into an object or back into its true, amorphous form. Its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies. Adhesive (Object Form Only). The mimic adheres to anything that touches it. A Huge or smaller creature adhered to the mimic is also grappled by it (escape DC 13). Ability checks made to escape this grapple have disadvantage. False Appearance (Object Form Only). While the mimic remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an ordinary object. Grappler The mimic has advantage on attack rolls against any creature grappled by it. Ambusher The mimic has advantage on attack rolls against any creature is has surprised. Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 7 (1d8+3) bludgeoning damage. If the mimic is in object form, the target is subjected to its Adhesive trait. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 7 (1d8+3) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) acid damage. Tiny Monstrosity (shapechanger), neutral Armor Class 14 (evasive) Hit Points 8 (3d4) Speed 20ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 13 (+1) 14 (+2) 11 (+0) 10 (+0) 13 (+1) 8 (-1) Skills Stealth +5 Damage Immunities Acid Condition Immunities Prone Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11 Languages N/A Challenge 1/4 (50 XP) Shapechanger. The Coin Mimic can use its action to polymorph into an object or back into its true, amorphous form. Its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies. Replicate (Object Form Only). The Coin Mimic can make a copy of itself once every 3 days. If 30 Coin Mimics occupy the same space, they become a Swarm of Coin Mimics. False Appearance (Object Form Only). While the Coin Mimic remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an ordinary object. Ambusher The Coin Mimic has advantage on attack rolls against any creature is has surprised. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 4 (1d4+1) piercing damage plus 3 (1d4) acid damage.
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SWARM OF COIN MIMICS
A Coin Mimic on its own is not much of a threat, but when they swarm, they are suddenly capable of overwhelming even the most experienced adventurer. A swarm consists of at least 30 individual coin mimics who when gathered in these numbers begin to think and act as one. This kind of swarming behavior is not commonly seen in normal mimics, who in general prefer to stay away from others of their kind.
TALKID NYSFYIRE
Medium Monstrosity (shapechanger), neutral Armor Class 13 (evasive) Hit Points 67 (15d8) Speed 20ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 17 (+3) 12 (+1) 11 (+0) 10 (0) 13 (+1) 8 (-1) Skills Stealth +5 Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing Damage Immunities Acid Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, Prone, Restrained, Stunned Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11 Languages N/A Challenge 11 (7200 XP) Shapechanger. The Swarm of Coin Mimics can use its action to polymorph into an object or back into its true, amorphous form. Its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies. Adhesive (Object Form Only). The Swarm of Coin Mimics adheres to anything that touches it. A Huge or smaller creature adhered to the Swarm of Coin Mimics is also grappled by it (escape DC 13). Ability checks made to escape this grapple have disadvantage. False Appearance (Object Form Only). While the mimic remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an ordinary object. Swarming Grappler. The mimic has advantage on attack rolls against any creature grappled by it. While adhered or grappling a creature, the Swarm of Coin Mimics takes only half damage dealt to it (rounded down, and the other creature takes the other half. Ambusher. The Swarm of Coin Mimics has advantage on attack rolls against any creature is has surprised. Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature's space and vice versa, the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny insect. The swarm can't regain hit points or gain temporary hit points. Multiattack. The Swarm of Coin Mimics can make three Bite attacks. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 0ft., one target. Hit 8(1d8+3) piercing damage plus 5 (1d8) acid damage. Medium humanoid (dragonborn), Lawful Good Armor Class 18 (Plate) Hit Points 65 (10d8+20) Speed 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 17 (+3) 8 (-1) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 10 (+2) 17 (+3) Saving Throws WIS+2, CHA +5 Skills History +2, Insight +2, Intimidation +5, Persuasion +5 Damage Resistances Lightning Senses Passive Perception 12 Languages Common, Draconic Challenge 6 (2300 XP) Inspiring Presence. Allies within 15 ft. gain a +2 bonus on all saving throws. Martial Advantage. Once per turn, they can deal an extra 10 (3d6) damage to a creature they hit with a weapon attack if that creature is within 5 feet of an ally of Talkid that isn’t incapacitated. Multiattack. Talkid can make two Greatsword attacks or two Silvered Dagger attacks, and one Lightning Breath attack. Greatsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 10 (2d6+3) Slashing damage. Silvered Dagger. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 6 (1d4+3) Piercing damage. Can be Thrown, range 20ft. Lightning Breath. Talkid unleashes a bolt of lightning in a 30-foot line that is 5 feet wide. Each creature in that line must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw taking 10(3d6) lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
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AURANTIA SPORELING
Despite being the clear result of the grizzly Candida Aurantia disease, these creatures are largely peaceful in nature forming small communities and usually going completely unnoticed as they break down organic refuse. It is only when they are threatened that they seem to become a problem.
If killed a sporeling will release a thick cloud of spores which will infect any nearby creature with the Candida Aurantia disease. This act of parasitism is both the end and the beginning of their life cycle. The infected creature ultimately results in new sporelings being created and allows for them to be propagated to other areas.
The use of spores does not seem to be the creature’s preferred method of reproduction. They have been observed to sacrifice their own mobility spreading a fungal root system throughout collected organic material breaking it down and using it to nourish themselves and support the development of new fungal fruiting bodies which eventually develop into new individual sporelings.
INFECTED RAT
A rat in the aggressive stages of the Candida Aurantia infection. They are incredibly aggressive and frequently attack in groups. Their bite is capable of spreading the Candida Aurantia fungal disease. This combination of characteristics makes them incredibly dangerous and capable of rapidly spreading the disease across the lands.
Due to their infectious and aggressive nature, they are to be exterminated with extreme prejudice. They are vulnerable to fire as a side effect of their infection and will avoid heat and areas with higher temperatures as a result.
Rats are a prime target for Candida Aurantia infection as both organisms favor similar environments. Choosing to spend the majority of their time in dark and damp places like sewers, caves, and long-abandoned structures.
Medium Plant, Neutral Armor Class 13 (natural armor) Hit Points 37 (5d8+15) Speed 20ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 11 (+0) 12 (+1) Skills Perception +5 Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks that aren’t Silvered Damage Vulnerabilities Fire Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Poisoned, Blinded Senses Blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 15 Languages -- Challenge 2 (450 XP) Connected. Aurantia Sporelings are connected via a psychic and physical fungal network to any creature within 200ft and can communicate with them instantly using a system of images and chemical signaling. Budding. Aurantia Sporelings are capable of reproducing by taking root in non-living organic material, producing a fungal network which will produce 3 (1d6) new fruiting bodies which will then mature into new Aurantia Sporelings. Process takes 7 days to complete. Multiattack. Aurantia Sporeling can make two Pummel attacks. Pummel. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 11 (2d8+2) bludgeoning damage. Release Spores. When Sporeling is reduced to 0 hit points they release a cloud of spores, all creatures within 10ft. of the Sporeling must make a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or be infected with the Candida Aurantia fungal disease. On a successful save, the creature cannot be infected for 24 hours. Small beast, unaligned Armor Class 12 Hit Points 9 (4d6) Speed 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 7 (-2) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 2 (-4) 11 (+0) 5 (-3) Damage Vulnerabilities Fire Senses Darkvision 60ft., Passive Perception 10 Languages -- Challenge 1/4 (50 XP) Pack Tactics. Infected Rat has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of its allies are within 10 feet of the Infected Rat and are not incapacitated. Infectious Bite. Melee Weapon Attack. +3 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing damage. Creature must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be infected with the Candida Aurantia fungal disease. On a successful save, target cannot be infected for 24 hours. Aggressive. Infected Rat can move up to its speed toward a hostile creature it can see.
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AURANTIA RATLING
An Aurantia Sporeling that has taken on the form of an enormous rat-like creature. How they come to take on this form is entirely unknown. The processes behind the transformation from the odd little fungal being, previously referred to as a sporeling, into this monstrosity has not been observed by any known persons. Any who did witness such an event would likely find themselves coming to a rather horrible end.
The Aurantia Ratling has patchy grey or brown fur often with a greenish tint. The green is the result of molds and mosses that have taken root in the creature due to its preference for dark and humid environments. They are also covered in orange pustules that seem to contain millions of spores which they can seemingly release at will to infect creatures around them.
The Ratling is entirely blind, possessing no eyes. Indeed, there is no sign that the need for eyes was ever considered during the formation of this monstrosity. It possesses rather large and sensitive ears though it is capable of locating prey even if it remains completely silent. Indicating that some sense of smell or other more alien sensory system is clearly at work.
In addition, the ratlings seem to be in some sort of state of halted decay. Frequently exhibiting bones that poke through their flesh. Though there are no actual signs of decay in the creature beyond this, suggesting that whatever aspect of the fungal creature that allows them to mimic this form has based itself on a deceased and partially decayed rat. Though this statement should certainly be taken as conjecture rather than, a conclusion, based on proper observation and research.
Medium Monstrosity, Neutral Armor Class 15 (natural armor) Hit Points 38(4d8+20) Speed 30ft., climb 20ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 12 (+1) 17 (+3) 14 (+2) 8 (-1) 13 (+1) 5 (-3) Skills Perception +5 Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks that aren’t Silvered Damage Vulnerabilities Fire Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Poisoned, Blinded Senses Blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 15 Languages -- Challenge 2 (450 XP) Pack Tactics. Ratling has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of its allies are within 10 feet of the Ratling and are not incapacitated. Multiattack. Ratling can make three Infectious Bite attacks. Infectious Bite. Melee Weapon Attack. +5 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (2d6+3) piercing damage. Creature must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be infected with the Candida Aurantia fungal disease. On a successful save, target cannot be infected for 24 hours. Aggression. Ratling can move up to its speed toward a hostile creature it can sense. Spread Disease. Ratling releases a cloud of spores all creatures within 10ft. of the Ratling must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 7 (2d6) poison damage and be infected with the Candida Aurantia fungal disease. On a successful save, creatures take half as much damage and cannot be infected for 24 hours.
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FUNGAL HORROR
This creature appears to be some sort of intelligent plant. It is a little-understood branch of the Aurantia Sporeling life cycle. Not true fungi like the Aurantia sporelings and all other known sporelings, this creature is a unique organism known as a slime mold. The conditions that led to this creature’s development are unknown at this time. It seems to grow both in size and intelligence as it consumes living creatures.
Less interested in spreading spores and much more interested in consuming intelligent organisms. It appears to form some sort of psychic connection with those that it does infect and can use them as a lure for other life forms. The intricacy of how it utilizes this ability is wholly related to how intelligent it has managed to become.
Once it reaches a large enough size it can be communicated with as it seems to leach some specific knowledge and memories from those it consumes. Its intentions have proven to be nothing like the sporelings to which it is related, and it should be destroyed on sight. Fire is its only true weakness, but silver can help fight its infection and silvered weapons do appear to give the wielder some advantage.
LAIR ACTIONS
On initiative 20, fungal horror uses a lair action to cause one of the following effects (can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row):
• Summon 3 aurantia ratlings to their location.
• A Cloud of Spores fills an area with a radius of 15ft that the horror can see. Creatures in the target area Make DC 16 Constitution saving throw taking 7 (2d6) poison damage or half as much on a successful save.
Large Plant (slime mold), Chaotic Evil
Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points 125 (10d10+70)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
19 (+4) 12 (+1) 25 (+7) 10 (+0) 8 (-1) 4 (-3)
Damage Vulnerabilities Fire
Damage Resistances Psychic, Cold, Thunder, Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks that aren’t Silvered
Condition Immunities Unconscious, Blind, Fear, Charm, Deafened, Exhaustion, Poison
Senses Blindsight 60ft., Tremorsense 120ft., Passive Perception 9
Languages Common, Undercommon
Challenge 9 (5,000 XP)
Sporangium. When the fungal horror is hit it releases a cloud of spores. All creatures within 5ft. of the fungal horror must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or take 14 (4d6) poison damage and be infected with the Candida Aurantia fungal disease. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage cannot be infected with Candida Aurantia for 24 hours.
Amorphous body. The fungal horror can manipulate its body to fit into spaces that a small creature could pass through and shape and control up to four appendages at any one time.
Spider Climb. The fungal horror can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Unbreathing. The fungal horror doesn’t need to breathe.
Multiattack. The fungal horror can make up to four attacks. A grappled creature reduces the total possible attacks by one.
Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8+4) bludgeoning damage plus 3(1d6) necrotic damage. Target must make a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be grappled.
Consume. The fungal horror attempts to consume any creature that is grappled. Target grappled creature takes 18 (4d8) necrotic damage at the start of its turn, the fungal horror is healed for each point of damage received in this way, until the grappled creature reaches 0 hit points or breaks the grapple. If the grappled creature reaches 0 hit points it is consumed by the creature and its body is destroyed, no death saving throws can be made. Only one creature can be targeted with and under the effect of consume at one time.
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BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
GLAPIR
The Glapir, or Questing Beast, as it is commonly referred to, is a very large, monstrous, creature with the head of a serpent, the body of a leopard, the feet of a deer, and the tail of a lion. The Glapir is often heard long before it is seen. It makes a sound that is best described as the baying of some thirty hounds. Its horrid shriek has been known to kill those unworthy of challenging it instantly.
The beast has appeared throughout history and legend alike. It is fabled to be a creature of prophecy. Appearing as a sign of some impending doom or appearing to someone who has committed a terrible act. It is a creature meant to challenge and prepare heroes for what they must now face.
MOUSE KNIGHT
Large Monstrosity, unaligned Armor Class 15 (natural armor) Hit Points 105 (10d10+50) Speed 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 19 (+4) 13 (+1) 20 (+5) 10 (+0) 15 (+2) 8 (-2) Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks Damage Immunities Poison Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Poisoned Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 16 Languages -- Challenge 9 (5000 XP) Legendary Resistance (3/day). If the Glapir fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead. Magic Resistance. The Glapir has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Horrid Shriek (3/day). The Glapir lets out a horrific shriek, creatures of the Glapir’s choice within 30 feet must make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or suffer 16 (4d6+4) psychic damage and be frightened for 1 minute. Putrid Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 15 (3d6+4) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage. Make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until cured by magic or antidote derived from the creature’s fangs. Tiny Fey, Lawful Good Armor Class 16 (Breastplate) Hit Points 28 (8d4+8) Speed 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 11 (+0) 18 (+4) 13 (+1) 12 (+1) 14 (+2) 17 (+3) Skills History +3, Persuasion +5 Condition Immunities Charmed Senses Passive Perception 12 Languages common, fey Challenge 4 (1100 XP) Keen Smell. Has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. Innate Spellcasting. The Mouse Knight’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma. It can cast the following spells innately, requiring no material components. •3/day: misty step Multiattack. The Mouse Knight can make two attacks with its Smallsword. Smallsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d8+5) piercing damage. Deflect Strike. The Mouse Knight can deflect a melee weapon attack reducing the damage by 8 (1d8+5).
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JEREMY WRINKLEBREATH
An elite mouse knight. His talent in a duel is unparalleled, at least according to him. His strange sense of honor requires that he challenge any creature that carries a weapon in his presence to a duel.
SCRITCHERSCRATCH
The monster under the bed. Feeds on the energies created by creatures’ nightmares. Not a particularly robust creature but possessed of unique magical abilities. Including the ability to vanish at a moment’s notice and disappear into the night. It is one of the more elusive monsters that I have had the displeasure of encountering. It prefers to flee if confronted outside of its constructed dream world.
I do not have all the details of this creature’s origin, lifecycle, or much else for that matter. As far as a description is concerned it has been observed to be rather small, barely larger than a house cat with extra-long arms and long sharp claws. It has enormous yellow eyes that take up the majority of its head.
Tiny Fey (mouse knight), Lawful Good Armor Class 16 (Breastplate) Hit Points 35 (10d4+10) Speed 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 11 (+0) 20 (+5) 13 (+1) 12 (+1) 14 (+2) 18 (+4) Skills History +3, Arcana +3, Persuasion +6 Condition Immunities Charmed Senses Passive Perception 12 Languages common, fey Challenge 5 (1800 XP) Keen Smell. Has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. Arcane Duelist. Has advantage on Dexterity saving throws during combat. Also has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects Innate Spellcasting. Jeremy’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma. It can cast the following spells innately, requiring no material components. •3/day: misty step Multiattack. Jeremy can make four attacks with its Smallsword. Smallsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d8+5) piercing damage. Quick Step. Jeremy can use disengage as a bonus action. Deflect Strike. Jeremy can deflect a melee weapon attack reducing the damage by 8 (1d8+5). small monstrosity, Lawful Evil Armor Class 13 (natural armor) Hit Points 45 (10d6+10) Speed 30 ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 11 (+0) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 20 (+5) 18 (+4) 8 (-1) Damage Resistances Psychic Damage Immunities Poison Condition Immunities Unconscious, Fear, Charm, Exhaustion Senses Darkvision 120ft., Passive Perception 14 Languages All Challenge 4 (1,100 XP) Dreamer. Scritcherscratch can transport any creatures that are asleep within 60ft of Scritcherscratch into a dreamworld created by Scritcherscratch. Magic Resistance. Scritcherscratch has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Multiattack. Scritcherscratch makes up to three attacks. Intrusive Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) slashing damage plus 7 (1d4+5) psychic damage. Fitful Sleep. Ranged Spell Attack: +7 to hit, reach 60ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (1d4+5) psychic damage and the target must make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be cast into a restless sleep. Vanish. Scritcherscratch and anything it is wearing or carrying becomes invisible until it attacks.
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MISCELLANEOUS CREATURES
BOTTLE THIEF
An odd little fey. Possibly related to pixies or brownies. They are terribly mischievous. As their names would suggest they are most commonly encountered stealing bottles. They are particularly attracted to bottles that contain messages, secrets, treasures, or potions.
It is believed that if you attempt to send a message in a bottle and no one ever receives it then a bottle thief has surely stolen it before your intended recipient ever had the opportunity to see it. The bottle thief fey is dreaded, and blamed, by alchemists, tavern keepers, and shop owners across the land.
HUSK
The result of necromancy gone terribly wrong. The spirit of the person is still trapped within this undead nightmare, unable to impart their will upon their own body. The only indication of their presence is the terrible horror and rage often heard within their screams. If one were to have the opportunity to enter the mind of the creature, they would find the original being very much aware of what they have become and likely driven utterly insane thanks to the experience.
They are creatures driven by unspeakable rage and insatiable hunger. Incredibly fast and powerfully strong. They fight by cowering their targets in fear with their screams as they charge attempting to latch on and begin to rip and tear into the unfortunate creature that has crossed their path.
Small fey, Chaotic Neutral Armor Class 12 Hit Points 14 (4d6) Speed 40 ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 8 (-1) 16 (+3) 10 (+0) 14 (+2) 6 (-2) 12 (+1) Skills Stealth +3 Senses Passive Perception 8 Languages Common, Sylvan, Celestial Challenge 1 (200 XP) Sprightly. The bottle thief is small and incredibly quick. Faster than nearly any other, they always go first in initiative order. Barely Here. The bottle thief is capable of moving through solid objects that are less than 5ft thick that are made of any material other than metal. A bottle thief makes no sound when moving. They have advantage on attempts at stealth and hiding. Cut and Run. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5ft., one target creature. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) slashing damage. After attacking the bottle thief can use the disengage action and may move up to half its movement speed away from the target. Run and Hide. The bottle thief can move up to 10ft and take the hide action without triggering an attack of opportunity. Medium Undead, Chaotic Evil Armor Class 12 (natural armor) Hit Points 45 (10d8) Speed 40ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 17 (+3) 15 (+2) 10 (+0) 6 (-2) 8 (-1) 4 (-3) Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks Damage Immunities Cold, Necrotic, Poison Damage Vulnerabilities Fire Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Poisoned Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11 Languages -- Challenge 6 (2300 XP) Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the husk to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the husk drops to 1 hit point instead. Damage Transfer. While grappling a creature, the husk takes only half the damage dealt to it, and the creature grappled by the husk takes the other half. Horrific Scream. Each non-undead creature of the husk's choice within range must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. Rip and Tear. While grappling a creature attack twice. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 0ft., one grappled target. Hit 12 (2d6+5) necrotic damage. Latch On. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 17 (2d6+5) necrotic damage. Target must make a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be grappled by the husk. Aggressive. The husk can move up to its speed toward a hostile creature it can see.
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SILA DJINNI
Shapeshifter Genie-Kind can transform into a man, woman, or beast. Commonly found within the realm of fairy. They are the most frequently encountered Djinni on Erde. They revel in trickery and causing chaos, though they are not typically aggressive except when bound to a lamp or other form of magical containment.
Being bound magically to the servitude of a master is a terrible fate for the Sila as they are natural wanderers and explorers. Sila Djinni prizes freedom above all, as a result, they tend to become somewhat malicious when bound. They will attempt to twist any wish made in such a way as to cause the most disruption and chaos to everyone. If not kept under control they may lash out at humanoids other than their master.
As a result of this tendency, Sila Djinni is commonly seen by people as being far more dangerous and malicious than they truly are. After all, most people will never knowingly encounter a Sila and those that do are usually meeting them during one of the worse periods of the Sila’s lives.
Truly Sila are far more common than anyone would ever suspect. However, most who encounter them have no idea as they spend much of their lives taking the form of different creatures to experience the world in new and exciting ways. Reveling in the opportunity to experience life from a new perspective is a universal truth for all Sila.
Humans have got it in their heads that Sila will seduce and feed on the life force of men and women. This myth has them behaving much like a succubus except instead of killing their target they leave them tired and old. This is said to account for their near-immortality, youth, and power. In truth, this myth is likely the product of the frequency with which Sila has generated offspring with humans.
While not a particularly common experience, there are usually a handful of half Sila Djinni children born in each generation. This is all part of the Sila’s propensity for enjoying new perspectives on life and seeking unique experiences. Many Sila will spend a significant amount of time living as various peoples. Some stick around and raise their children though this is often unsuccessful as the child’s heritage will inevitably reveal itself and thus the parent’s true nature.
large elemental, Chaotic Neutral Armor Class 17 (natural armor) Hit Points 161 (14d10+84) Speed 30ft., fly 90ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 15 (+2) 21 (+5) 22 (+6) 17 (+3) 18 (+4) 20 (+5) Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks Damage Immunities Lightning, Thunder Condition Immunities Senses Truesight 60ft., Passive Perception 14 Languages All Challenge 12 (8400 XP) Elemental Demise. If the djinni dies, its body disintegrates into leaves carried away on a cool breeze, leaving behind only equipment the djinni was wearing or carrying. Shapechanger. The Sila can use its action to polymorph into a creature or back into its true, form. Its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies. Innate Spellcasting. A Sila’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: •At will: detect evil and good, detect magic, plane shift, thunderwave, •3/day each: wish, create food and water, wind walk, wind wall •1/day each: conjure elemental (air), creation, gaseous form, invisibility, major image, enlarge (self) Multiattack. A Sila Djinni makes three scimitar attacks. Scimitar. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 12 (2d6+5) slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) lightning or thunder damage. Create Whirlwind. A 5-foot-radius, 30-foot-tall cylinder of swirling air magically forms on a point the djinni can see within 120 feet of it. The whirlwind lasts as long as the djinni maintains concentration (as if concentrating on a spell). Any creature but the djinni that enters the whirlwind must succeed on a DC 18 Strength saving throw or be restrained by it. The djinni can move the whirlwind up to 60 feet as an action, and creatures restrained by the whirlwind move with it. The whirlwind ends if the djinni loses sight of it. •A creature can use its action to free a creature restrained by the whirlwind, including itself, by succeeding on a DC 18 Strength check. If the check succeeds, the creature is no longer restrained and moves to the nearest space outside the whirlwind
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MINITAUR
A miniature minotaur. All of the attitude none of the size. This creature is not a naturally occurring being. Created by an eccentric wizard who had grown tired of losing their way and becoming lost. They, by some strange logic, decided to create a minotaur, of all things, to ensure that they never became lost again and act as an effective bodyguard to boot.
The wizard then decided to bind them to a miniature sculpture of a minotaur. This was apparently done to establish control of the creature and to enable them to be summoned and dismissed easily. Not to mention the small size would be far more convenient to carry. The wizard’s apprentice would later reveal that this decision came very quickly to his master after the beast nearly gored him to death and had to be summarily annihilated with a fireball.
For reasons that no one has yet been able to determine creating a minotaur that was bound to this miniature version of itself yielded a very curiously minuscule minotaur that has been quickly dubbed the Minitaur. There have been a few strange reports of Minitaurs appearing and harassing the desperate creatures that quaff a rather dubious concoction sold as a mostly healing potion.
FLEEP
I’m not sure what series of events could have possibly created this creature. It looks very much like a flamingo, pink with long slender legs. It has the same body shape as any ordinary flamingo the same long delicate neck, wings, everything you would expect to find on such a bird. With two very clear exceptions. It has a distinctly mammalian face and its feathers are exceptionally fluffy.
The feathers appear to be made of something resembling that of most birds’ downy feathers, most commonly seen when they are chicks or kept next to the body under regular feathers in birds from cold climates. These feathers however are far softer than any down or the wool that they seem to be replicating. They also have a marvelous ability to block out not only the cold but also heat. The face looks exactly like a smaller than normal sheep’s face with the distinct exception being that it is very pink.
I cannot begin to imagine what sort of environment could have naturally produced this creature and as such can only conclude that it must be a product of magic wielded by an absolute lunatic. That this creature not only continues to exist but seems to thrive is beyond my ability to comprehend.
Tiny Monstrosity, unaligned Armor Class 11 (natural armor) Hit Points 22 (9d4) Speed 0ft., fly 40ft. (hover) STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 12 (+1) 12 (+1) 11 (+0) 6 (-2) 16 (+3) 14 (+2) Skills Perception +7 Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 17 Languages Abyssal Challenge 1/8 (25 XP) Charge. If the minitaur moves at least 10 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a Gore attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 2 (1d4) piercing damage. If the target is a small or tiny creature, it must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 5 feet away and knocked prone. Labyrinthine Recall. The minitaur can perfectly recall any path it has traveled. Reckless. At the start of its turn, the minitaur can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls it makes during that turn but attack rolls against it have advantage until the start of its next turn. Miniature. The minitaur can occupy the same space as another creature and vice versa. When they occupy the same space as another creature that creature has disadvantage when targeting the minitaur. Miniature Great Axe. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 0ft., one target. Hit 3 (1d4+1) slashing damage. Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (2d4 + 1) piercing damage. Medium beast, unaligned Armor Class 10 Hit Points 9 (2d8) Speed 30ft., fly 40ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 12 (+1) 13 (+1) 10 (+0) 2 (-4) 10 (+0) 17 (+3) Damage Immunities Cold Senses Passive Perception 10 Languages -- Challenge 1/8 (25 XP) Insulated. Fleep do not get hot or cold and can safely spend their time in practically any environment. Foot Rake. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 3 (1d4+1) slashing damage. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 1 point of bludgeoning damage.
52
ADVENTURE SCALING
The scaling system I recommend is one based on adjusting encounters by matching the Party Rating of your group to an appropriate Challenge Rating. For most encounters, this is primarily going to be based on adjusting the number of creatures facing your group. However, I have also developed a system for scaling the individual monsters up and down in difficulty. Which should be implemented when altering the number of enemies no longer makes sense. I do my best to provide some guidance on when this should be the case.
Do keep in mind that when scaling encounters and creatures I can't test every possible scenario and scaling should be performed with the knowledge that it is possible to create encounters that are far too easy or decidedly too deadly for your group.
Do not be afraid to recognize that an encounter is too powerful for your group and make adjustments on the fly. The best way to make these adjustments is to adjust the monsters you included using the monster scaling tables included for each monster in this book. It is perfectly acceptable to recognize you made an error designing an encounter and adjust the creatures’ statistics during the encounter. You just want to be sure that it was you who made the error and not the players simply playing poorly. Poor play can and arguably should result in difficult and even deadly encounters. Proceed With Caution.
ENCOUNTER SCALING
Determine your party level by finding the average level of the party. In most cases, the party will all be on the same level, and this will be very simply just the level that they all are. The PR is more complicated as such I have provided a table to match your PL to the appropriate PR based on the number of players in the party. I have taken this table to a maximum of 7 players as this is a very large party and most games will struggle with even this many players in a single group let alone more.
The PR of your party should roughly match the combined CR of the enemies in any given combat encounter. The PR can also be used to increase or decrease the CR and subsequent scaling of the scalable creatures found in the Monster Scaling section of this book.
Do keep in mind that when balancing encounters that the encounter should be considered of average or medium difficulty when the PR and combined enemy CR are equal. A PR vs CR table has been included below to act as a guide for comparing PR to CR to help with balancing encounters as you don’t generally want to throw too many medium difficulty encounters at your party.
Take note of the jumps in PR that occur throughout the Party rating table as levels increase. These mark murky regions in the difficulty scaling.
MONSTER SCALING
As previously recommended in the Encounter Scaling section, proceed with caution. While I have done my best to provide a balanced system for adjusting the challenge of individual creatures it is not possible to anticipate all of the factors involved in knowing how well the players in your game will manage the options provided beyond this paragraph. Player skill and experience as well as character statistics will play a major role in determining the outcome of encounters with modified creatures.
That said I hope you will find the assortment of scalable creatures and the flexibility it brings to your adventures as exciting as I do. To properly utilize the Monster Scaling system, as designed, simply utilize the same system from the Encounter Scaling section to determine your Party Rating. Once you have the party's PR use the PR vs CR table to find the difficulty you want to achieve and make the necessary changes as indicated on the creature’s Scaling Guide.
For the creature scaling, I have set up a range of power levels that I feel are most appropriate for each creature. While this does limit the total scalability of each creature somewhat, I think this is preferable to giving an exhaustive list of every possible CR and keeps the creatures maintaining a more authentic presence. The standard CR is highlighted on each stat table.
PARTY RATING TABLE (#S ON TOP = PLAYERS IN PARTY)
PL
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
PR ⅛
PR ¼
PR 1
PR 1
PR 1
PR 3
PR 3
2
PR ¼
PR ½
PR 1
PR 2
PR 3
PR 4
PR 5
3
PR ½
PR 1
PR 2
PR 3
PR 4
PR 6
PR 7
4
PR 1
PR 2
PR 4
PR 4
PR 5
PR 8
PR 9
5
PR 1
PR 2
PR 4
PR 7
PR 6
PR 12
PR 12
6
PR 2
PR 3
PR 5
PR 7
PR 8
PR 13
PR 14
7
PR 2
PR 4
PR 6
PR 8
PR 9
PR 15
PR 16
8
PR 3
PR 5
PR 7
PR 9
PR 10
PR 16
PR 17
9
PR 3
PR 5
PR 8
PR 10
PR 11
PR 17
PR 18
10
PR 4
PR 6
PR 9
PR 11
PR 13
PR 19
PR 20
11
PR 4
PR 7
PR 10
PR 12
PR 14
PR 20
PR 21
12
PR 5
PR 8
PR 11
PR 13
PR 15
PR 21
PR 22
13
PR 5
PR 8
PR 12
PR 14
PR 16
PR 21
PR 22
14
PR 6
PR 9
PR 13
PR 15
PR 17
PR 22
PR 23
15
PR 6
PR 9
PR 14
PR 16
PR 18
PR 23
PR 23
16
PR 7
PR 10
PR 15
PR 17
PR 19
PR 23
PR 24
17
PR 7
PR 10
PR 16
PR 18
PR 20
PR 24
PR 25
18
PR 8
PR 11
PR 17
PR 19
PR 20
PR 25
PR 25
19
PR 8
PR 12
PR 18
PR 20
PR 21
PR 25
PR 26
20
PR 9
PR 13
PR 20
PR 21
PR 22
PR 26
PR 26
PR VS CR DIFFICULTY TABLE
PR vs CR
Difficulty
CR -2
Trivial – hardly worth the effort. Cannon fodder.
CR -1
Easy – little risk few resources used.
CR =
Medium – some damage may use healing
CR +1
Hard – possible death, heavy resources, risky
CR +2
Deadly – TPK possible, all resources, tactical combat
53
ZOMBIE BARON
SPECIAL TRAITS
BONUS ACTIONS
ACTIONS
LEGENDARY ACTIONS
CR
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
HP
AC
Attack
Prof.
PP
HIT
DC
5
18(+4)
11(+0)
19(+4)
17(+3)
13(+1)
18(+4)
73(7d10+35)
13
+4
+3
14
+7
15
6
19(+4)
11(+0)
20(+5)
17(+3)
13(+1)
18(+4)
73(7d10+35)
13
+4
+3
14
+7
15
7
21(+5)
11(+0)
21(+5)
17(+3)
13(+1)
18(+4)
73(7d10+35)
13
+5
+3
14
+8
15
8
22(+6)
12(+1)
21(+5)
17(+3)
13(+1)
18(+4)
73(7d10+35)
14
+6
+3
14
+9
16
9
23(+6)
12(+1)
22(+6)
17(+3)
13(+1)
18(+4)
92(8d10+48)
15
+6
+4
14
+10
16
10
24(+7)
12(+1)
23(+6)
17(+3)
13(+1)
18(+4)
92(8d10+48)
15
+7
+4
14
+11
16
11
24(+7)
13(+1)
24(+7)
17(+3)
13(+1)
18(+4)
100(8d10+56)
15
+7
+4
14
+11
17
12
25(+7)
14(+2)
24(+7)
17(+3)
13(+1)
18(+4)
125(10d10+70)
16
+7
+4
14
+11
17
13
25(+7)
15(+2)
25(+7)
17(+3)
13(+1)
18(+4)
125(10d10+70)
17
+7
+5
14
+15
18
14
26(+8)
16(+3)
25(+7)
17(+3)
13(+1)
18(+4)
125(10d10+70)
18
+8
+5
14
+15
18
15
26(+8)
17(+3)
26(+8)
17+3)
13(+1)
18(+4)
135(10d10+80)
18
+8
+5
14
+15
18
All Levels
Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the Baron to 0 hit points, he must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the Baron drops to 1 hit point instead.
Legendary Resistance (1/day). If the Baron fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed on it instead.
Magic Resistance. The Baron has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Innate Spellcasting. The Baron’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 15, +6). It can cast the following spells innately, requiring no material components.
• At will: Chill Touch, light, darkness
• 3/day: Tongues (self), Enthrall, Illusory Script
• 1/day: Finger of death
From CR 9
Legendary Resistance (2/day). If the Baron fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed on it instead.
From CR 11
Legendary Resistance (3/day). If the Baron fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed on it instead.
From CR 6
Hidden Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 8 (1d+5) piercing damage.
From CR 10
Hidden Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 14 (2d6+7) piercing damage.
All levels
Cane. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 9 (1d8+5) bludgeoning damage.
Crush (recharge 3-6). Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5ft, one creature. Hit: Target creature is grappled and takes 27 (5d8+5) bludgeoning damage
From CR 6
Multiattack. The Baron can make two Cane attacks.
From CR 11
Cane. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 16 (2d8+7) bludgeoning damage.
From CR 13
Crush (recharge 3-6). Melee Weapon Attack: +15 to hit, reach 5ft, one creature. Hit: Target creature is grappled and takes 37 (6d8+10) bludgeoning damage
From CR 15
Cane. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 26 (4d8+8) bludgeoning damage
All levels
The Zombie Baron can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Zombie Baron regains spent legendary actions at the beginning of his turn.
Command Undead. Command an undead creature, that the baron can see, to move up to its movement speed and to attack, with advantage, using their reaction.
Bribe (Costs 2 Actions). Target creature must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the end of their next turn. Target charmed creature believes the Zombie Baron to be its ally and will accept any command that would not harm itself.
From CR 9
Summon Undead (Costs 2 Actions). Summon a Skeleton, in an unoccupied space the Baron can see, it can have either a shortbow or a shortsword ready. Summoned skeleton immediately takes its turn and assumes this position in the initiative order.
54
RAGING FLESH RENDER
SPECIAL TRAITS
BONUS ACTIONS
ACTIONS
CR
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
HP
AC
Attack
Prof.
PP
HIT
DC
3
18(+4)
10(+0)
18(+4)
8(-1)
10(+0)
4(-3)
42(5d8+20)
15
+4
+2
10
+6
13
4
19(+4)
10(+0)
18(+4)
8(-1)
10(+0)
4(-3)
42(5d8+20)
15
+4
+2
10
+6
14
5
19(+4)
10(+0)
18(+4)
8(-1)
10(+0)
4(-3)
42(5d8+20)
15
+4
+3
10
+7
15
6
21(+5)
10(+0)
18(+4)
8(-1)
10(+0)
4(-3)
42(5d8+20)
15
+5
+3
10
+8
15
7
21(+5)
10(+0)
20(+5)
8(-1)
10(+0)
4(-3)
57(6d8+30)
16
+5
+3
10
+8
15
8
21(+5)
10(+0)
22(+6)
8(-1)
10(+0)
4(-3)
63(6d8+36)
17
+5
+3
10
+8
16
9
22(+6)
10(+0)
22(+6)
8(-1)
10(+0)
4(-3)
63(6d8+36)
17
+6
+4
10
+10
16
10
23(+6)
10(+0)
22(+6)
8(-1)
10(+0)
4(-3)
63(6d8+36)
17
+6
+4
10
+10
16
11
24(+7)
10(+0)
22(+6)
8(-1)
10(+0)
4(-3)
73(7d8+42)
17
+7
+4
10
+11
17
12
24(+7)
10(+0)
22(+6)
8(-1)
10(+0)
4(-3)
73(7d8+42)
17
+7
+4
10
+11
18
13
26(+8)
10(+0)
22(+6)
8(-1)
10(+0)
4(-3)
73(7d8+42)
17
+8
+5
10
+13
18
All Levels
Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the Raging Flesh Render to 0 hit points, he must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the Raging Flesh Render drops to 1 hit point instead.
Magic Resistance. The Raging Flesh Render has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
From CR 4
Blood Frenzy. Raging Flesh Render has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn’t have all its hit points.
From CR 10
Acidic Flesh. Raging Flesh Renders attacks deal an extra 5 acid damage.
All Levels
Rage. Raging Flesh Render can move up to its speed toward a creature it can see and attacks with Tooth & Claw if it gets into melee attack range.
All Levels
Tooth & Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 14 (2d8+4) slashing damage plus 4(1d6+1) poison damage.
Stab. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (2d6+4) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) necrotic damage.
From CR 5
Multiattack. The Raging Flesh Render makes up to two attacks.
From CR 8
Multiattack. The Raging Flesh Render makes up to three attacks.
From CR 10
Stab. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10ft., one creature. Hit: 20 (4d6+6) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) necrotic damage.
From CR 12
Tooth & Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 14 (4d8+7) slashing damage plus 4(1d6+1) poison damage.
55
THE BLIND PRINCE
SPECIAL TRAITS
REGIONAL EFFECTS
ACTIONS
LEGENDARY ACTIONS
CR
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
HP
AC
Attack
Prof.
PP
HIT
DC
13
10(+0)
21(+5)
10(+0)
13(+1)
18(+4)
10(+0)
213(39d10)
16
+7
+5
14
+10
18
14
10(+0)
21(+5)
10(+0)
13(+1)
18(+4)
10(+0)
228(41d10)
16
+7
+5
14
+10
18
15
10(+0)
22(+6)
10(+0)
13(+1)
18(+4)
10(+0)
243(44d10)
17
+8
+5
14
+11
18
16
10(+0)
22(+6)
11(+0)
14(+2)
18(+4)
10(+0)
247(45d10)
17
+8
+5
14
+11
18
17
11(+0)
22(+6)
11(+0)
14(+2)
18(+4)
10(+0)
258(47d10)
18
+8
+6
14
+12
19
18
11(+0)
23(+6)
11(+0)
14(+2)
18(+4)
10(+0)
273(50d10)
18
+8
+6
14
+12
19
19
11(+0)
23(+6)
12(+1)
15(+2)
18(+4)
10(+0)
337(52d10+52)
18
+9
+6
14
+12
19
20
11(+0)
24(+7)
12(+1)
15(+2)
18(+4)
10(+0)
351(54d10+54)
19
+10
+6
14
+13
19
21
12(+1)
24(+7)
12(+1)
15(+2)
18(+4)
10(+0)
364(56d10+56)
19
+10
+7
14
+14
20
22
12(+1)
25(+7)
13(+1)
16(+3)
18(+4)
10(+0)
378(58d10+58)
19
+10
+7
14
+14
20
23
12(+1)
26(+8)
13(+1)
16(+3)
18(+4)
10(+0)
423(65d10+65)
20
+11
+7
14
+15
20
All Levels
Legendary Resistance (1/day). If the Baron fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed on it instead.
Magic Resistance. The Baron has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Innate Spellcasting. The Baron’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 15, +7). It can cast the following spells innately, requiring no material components.
• At will: Chill Touch, light, darkness
• 3/day: Tongues (self), Enthrall, Illusory Script
• 1/day: Finger of death
All Levels
Aberrations follow the prince into the material plane tearing their way into reality in a one-mile radius of the Blind Prince.
From CR 16
Darkness envelops the world in a one-mile radius surrounding the Blind Prince.
All Levels
Plasma Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 30 (5d8+7) slashing damage plus 4(1d6) fire damage.
Expel. Ranged Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 40ft., one creature. Hit: 25 (5d6+7) piercing damage plus 4(1d6) fire damage.
From CR 15
Multiattack. The Blind Prince makes two Plasma Blade attacks, or two Expel attacks, or one Expel and one Plasma Blade attack.
From CR 17
Flurry of Blades (Recharge5-6). Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 5ft, make 3 attacks on any combination of creatures in range. Hit: 31 (5d8+8) slashing damage plus 4(1d6) fire damage.
From CR18
The Blind Prince can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Blind Prince regains spent legendary actions at the beginning of his turn.
Doom (Costs 2 Actions). The Blind Prince casts its gaze upon a creature and speaks one word Doom. Target creature within 30 ft. must make a DC 20 Constitution saving throw. On a successful save target is immune to this effect for 24 hours. On a failed save target suffers the Doomed condition.
Recharge (Costs 1 Action; Only usable once per round). The Blind Prince can attempt to recharge Flurry of Blades if it is currently uncharged.
From CR 20
Be Gone (Costs 2 Actions). The Blind Prince banishes the targeted creature or object to the Far Realm until the end of their next turn. Target creature or object will be transported to the Far Realm, while there they take 18(4d8) psychic damage. When the effect ends the creature or object returns to the space that they previously occupied. If the space is occupied return in the nearest unoccupied space.
From CR 23
Be Gone (Costs 2 Actions). Add: Suffer short term madness.
56
GOLDEN ORACLE
SPECIAL TRAITS
ACTIONS
LEGENDARY ACTIONS
CR
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
HP
AC
Attack
Prof.
PP
HIT
DC
5
8(-1)
10(+0)
11(+0)
16(+3)
19(+4)
15(+3)
36(8d8)
14
+1
+3
14
+4
15
6
8(-1)
10(+0)
11(+1)
16(+3)
20(+5)
15(+3)
36(8d8)
15
+1
+3
15
+4
15
7
8(-1)
10(+0)
12(+1)
17(+3)
21(+5)
15(+3)
44(8d8+8)
15
+1
+3
15
+4
15
8
8(-1)
10(+0)
12(+1)
17(+3)
22(+6)
15(+3)
49(9d8+9)
16
+1
+3
16
+4
16
9
8(-1)
10(+0)
13(+1)
18(+4)
23(+6)
15(+3)
55(10d8+10)
16
+2
+3
16
+5
16
10
8(-1)
10(+0)
13(+1)
18(+4)
24(+7)
15(+3)
55(10d8+10)
17
+2
+4
17
+6
16
11
8(-1)
10(+0)
14(+2)
19(+4)
25(+7)
15(+3)
65(10d8+20)
17
+2
+4
17
+6
17
12
8(-1)
10(+0)
15(+2)
20(+5)
25(+7)
15(+3)
65(10d8+20)
17
+2
+4
17
+6
18
13
8(-1)
10(+0)
16(+3)
21(+5)
24(+7)
15(+3)
75(10d8+30)
17
+3
+4
17
+7
18
14
8(-1)
10(+0)
17(+3)
22(+6)
24(+7)
15(+3)
75(10d8+30)
17
+3
+5
17
+8
18
15
8(-1)
10(+0)
18(+4)
23(+6)
24(+7)
15(+3)
85(10d8+40)
17
+4
+5
17
+9
18
All Levels
Legendary Resistance (1/day). If the Golden Oracle fails a saving throw, they can choose to succeed on it instead.
Magic Resistance. The Golden Oracle has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects
Blessing of Fate. While the oracle is wearing no armor and wielding no shield, its AC includes its Wisdom modifier.
Fortune’s Gift. Allies, including the Golden Oracle, within 30 ft. gain an additional 5 (1d8) necrotic damage on all of their attacks and heal 7 (2d4+4) hit points at the start of their turn.
From CR 7
Legendary Resistance (2/day). If the Golden Oracle fails a saving throw, they can choose to succeed on it instead.
Blessing of Fate. While the oracle is wearing no armor and wielding no shield, its AC includes its Wisdom modifier. In addition, they have a +1 bonus to all saving throws and attack rolls.
From CR 9
Legendary Resistance (3/day). If the Golden Oracle fails a saving throw, they can choose to succeed on it instead.
From CR 10
Blessing of Fate. While the oracle is wearing no armor and wielding no shield, its AC includes its Wisdom modifier. In addition, they have a +2 bonus to all saving throws and attack rolls.
From CR 12
Fortune’s Gift. Allies, including the Golden Oracle, within 30 ft. gain an additional 18 (4d8) necrotic damage on all of their attacks and heal 16 (4d4+6) hit points at the start of their turn.
All Levels
Multiattack. The Golden Oracle can make two Hand of Fate attacks
Hand of Fate. Melee Spell Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 23 (5d8) psychic damage plus 9 (2d8) necrotic damage.
From CR 6
Multiattack. The Golden Oracle can make two Hand of Fate attacks, or one Hand of Fate attack and one Twisted Fortune attack.
Twisted Fortune. Ranged Spell Attack: range 60ft, one target. The target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. The target takes 38 (7d10) necrotic damage on a failed save and cannot regain hit points until the end of its next turn, or half as much damage on a successful one. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs.
From CR 10
Twisted Fortune. Ranged Spell Attack: range 60ft, one target. The target must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw. The target takes 44 (8d10) necrotic damage on a failed save and cannot regain hit points until the end of its next turn, or half as much damage on a successful one. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs.
From CR 14
Multiattack. The Golden Oracle can make two attacks.
From CR 8
Golden Oracle can take up to 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Golden Oracle regains spent legendary actions at the beginning of their turn.
Sycophant Animus (Costs 2 Actions). The Golden Oracle places a powerful curse upon a target creature within 30 ft. must make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until they take damage. On a successful save target is immune to this effect for 24 hours.
Oracle’s Favor (Costs 1 Action.) The Golden Oracle can alter fortunes and force one creature that it can see, other than itself, to make every attack roll, damage roll, saving throw, and ability check at either advantage or disadvantage until the end of their next turn.
57
FUNGAL HORROR
SPECIAL TRAITS
REACTIONS
ACTIONS
CR
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
HP
AC
Attack
Prof.
PP
HIT
DC
4
15(+2)
12(+1)
25(+5)
10(+0)
8(-1)
4(-3)
68(8d10+24)
13
+2
+2
14
+4
14
5
16(+3)
12(+1)
25(+5)
10(+0)
8(-1)
4(-3)
76(9d10+27)
13
+3
+3
15
+6
14
6
17(+3)
12(+1)
25(+5)
10(+0)
8(-1)
4(-3)
76(9d10+27)
13
+3
+3
15
+6
15
7
18(+4)
12(+1)
25(+5)
10(+0)
8(-1)
4(-3)
85(9d10+36)
13
+4
+3
15
+7
15
8
19(+4)
12(+1)
25(+5)
10(+0)
8(-1)
4(-3)
95(10d10+40)
13
+4
+3
15
+7
15
9
19(+4)
12(+1)
25(+7)
10(+0)
8(-1)
4(-3)
125(10d10+80)
13
+4
+4
16
+8
16
10
20(+5)
12(+1)
27(+8)
10(+0)
8(-1)
4(-3)
135(10d10+90)
13
+5
+4
16
+9
16
11
20(+5)
12(+1)
29(+9)
10(+0)
8(-1)
4(-3)
159 (11d10+99)
13
+5
+4
17
+9
17
12
21(+5)
12(+1)
30(+10)
10(+0)
8(-1)
4(-3)
186(12d10+120)
13
+5
+4
18
+9
18
13
23(+6)
12(+1)
30(+10)
10(+0)
8(-1)
4(-3)
201(13d10+130)
13
+6
+5
19
+11
18
14
25(+7)
12(+1)
30(+10)
10(+0)
8(-1)
4(-3)
214(13d12+130)
14
+7
+5
19
+12
18
All Levels
Sporangium. When the fungal horror is hit it releases a cloud of spores. All creatures within 5ft. of the fungal horror must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or take 14 (4d6) poison damage and be infected with the Candida Aurantia fungal disease. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage cannot be infected with Candida Aurantia for 24 hours.
Amorphous body. The fungal horror can manipulate its body to fit into spaces that a small creature could pass through and shape and control up to four appendages at any one time.
Spider Climb. The fungal horror can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Unbreathing. The fungal horror doesn’t need to breathe.
From CR 14
Sporangium. When the fungal horror is hit it releases a cloud of spores. All creatures within 5ft. of the fungal horror must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or take 14 (4d6) poison damage and be infected with the Candida Aurantia fungal disease. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage cannot be infected with Candida Aurantia for 24 hours.
Fungal Horror is now a Huge creature.
All Levels
Consume. The fungal horror attempts to consume any creature that is grappled. Target grappled creature takes 18 (4d8) necrotic damage at the start of its turn, the fungal horror is healed for each point of damage received in this way, until the grappled creature reaches 0 hit points or breaks the grapple. If the grappled creature reaches 0 hit points it is consumed by the creature and its body is destroyed, no death saving throws can be made. Only one creature can be targeted and under the effect of consume at one time.
All Levels
Multiattack. The fungal horror can make up to four attacks. A grappled creature reduces the total possible attacks by one.
Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8+4) bludgeoning damage plus 3(1d6) necrotic damage. Target must make a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be grappled.
From CR 13
Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) bludgeoning damage plus 3(1d6) necrotic damage. Target must make a DC 18 Strength saving throw or be grappled.
58
GLAPIR
SPECIAL TRAITS
BONUS ACTIONS
ACTIONS
CR
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
HP
AC
Attack
Prof.
PP
HIT
DC
4
15(+2)
12(+1)
16(+3)
10(+0)
14(+2)
8(-1)
68(8d10+24)
13
+2
+2
14
+4
14
5
16(+3)
13(+1)
16(+3)
10(+0)
14(+2)
8(-1)
76(9d10+27)
14
+3
+3
15
+6
15
6
17(+3)
13(+1)
17(+3)
10(+0)
14(+2)
8(-1)
76(9d10+27)
14
+3
+3
15
+6
15
7
18(+4)
13(+1)
18(+4)
10(+0)
14(+2)
8(-1)
85(9d10+36)
14
+4
+3
15
+7
15
8
19(+4)
13(+1)
19(+4)
10(+0)
14(+2)
8(-1)
95(10d10+40)
14
+4
+3
15
+7
15
9
19(+4)
13(+1)
20(+5)
10(+0)
15(+2)
8(-1)
105(10d10+50)
15
+4
+4
16
+8
16
10
20(+5)
14(+2)
20(+5)
10(+0)
15(+2)
8(-1)
115(11d10+55)
16
+5
+4
16
+9
16
11
20(+5)
14(+2)
21(+5)
10(+0)
16(+3)
8(-1)
126(12d10+60)
16
+5
+4
17
+9
17
12
20(+5)
14(+2)
21(+5)
10(+0)
18(+4)
8(-1)
136(13d10+65)
16
+5
+4
18
+9
18
13
20(+5)
14(+2)
22(+6)
10(+0)
18(+4)
8(-1)
149(13d10+78)
17
+5
+5
19
+10
18
14
22(+6)
14(+2)
22(+6)
10(+0)
18(+4)
8(-1)
126(13d10+60)
17
+6
+5
19
+11
18
All Levels
Magic Resistance. The Glapir has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Legendary Resistance (1/day). If the Glapir fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
From CR 6
Legendary Resistance (2/day). If the Glapir fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
From CR 8
Legendary Resistance (3/day). If the Glapir fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
From CR 14
Vicious Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 19 (3d8+6) slashing damage.
All Levels
Putrid Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 12 (3d6+2) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage. Make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until cured by magic or antidote derived from the creature’s fangs.
From CR 6
Horrid Shriek (3/day). The Glapir lets out a horrific shriek, creatures of the Glapir’s choice within 30 feet must make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or suffer 16 (4d6+4) psychic damage and be frightened for 1 minute.
From CR 13
Putrid Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 19 (4d6+5) piercing damage plus 10 (3d6) necrotic damage. Make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until cured by magic or antidote derived from the creature’s fangs.
59
SCRITCHERSCRATCH
SPECIAL TRAITS
BONUS ACTIONS
ACTIONS
CR
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
HP
AC
Attack
Prof.
PP
HIT
DC
2
11(+0)
14(+2)
10(+0)
20(+5)
18(+4)
8(-1)
35(10d6)
12
+2
+2
14
+4
13
3
11(+0)
15(+2)
11(+0)
20(+5)
18(+4)
8(-1)
35(10d6)
13
+2
+2
14
+4
13
4
11(+0)
16(+3)
12(+1)
20(+5)
18(+4)
8(-1)
45(10d6+10)
13
+3
+2
14
+5
14
5
11(+0)
18(+4)
12(+1)
20(+5)
18(+4)
8(-1)
45(10d6+10)
14
+4
+3
15
+7
15
6
11(+0)
18(+4)
14(+2)
21(+5)
18(+4)
8(-1)
60(11d6+22)
14
+4
+3
15
+7
15
7
11(+0)
19(+4)
15(+2)
21(+5)
18(+4)
8(-1)
60(11d6+22)
14
+4
+3
15
+7
15
8
11(+0)
20(+5)
15(+2)
22(+6)
18(+4)
8(-1)
66 (12d6+24)
15
+5
+3
15
+8
16
9
11(+0)
20(+5)
16(+3)
23(+6)
18(+4)
8(-1)
84(13d6+39)
15
+5
+4
16
+8
16
10
11(+0)
22(+6)
17(+3)
23(+6)
18(+4)
8(-1)
84(13d6+39)
16
+6
+4
16
+10
16
11
11(+0)
22(+6)
17(+3)
25(+7)
18(+4)
8(-1)
91(14d6+42)
16
+6
+4
16
+10
17
12
11(+0)
22(+6)
18(+4)
26(+8)
18(+4)
8(-1)
105(14d6+56)
16
+6
+4
16
+10
18
All Levels
Dreamer. Scritcherscratch can transport any creatures that are asleep within 60ft of Scritcherscratch into a dreamworld created by Scritcherscratch.
From CR 4
Magic Resistance. Scritcherscratch has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
All Levels
Vanish. Scritcherscratch and anything it is wearing or carrying becomes invisible until it attacks.
All Levels
Multiattack. Scritcherscratch makes up to three attacks.
Intrusive Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d4+2) slashing damage plus 7 (1d4+5) psychic damage.
From CR 4
Fitful Sleep. Ranged Spell Attack: +7 to hit, reach 60ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (1d4+5) psychic damage and the target must make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be cast into a restless sleep.
From CR 6
Intrusive Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 9 (2d4+4) slashing damage plus 7 (1d4+5) psychic damage.
From CR 7
Intrusive Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 9 (2d4+4) slashing damage plus 10 (2d4+5) psychic damage.
From CR 10
Multiattack. Scritcherscratch makes up to four attacks.
60
ROLEPLAYING CARDS
Roleplaying cards can be used as handy methods for using Non-Player Characters (NPC) in your game. They can assist you as the GM to keep track of the numerous different characters you need to play throughout the session. Included in each roleplaying card is all the information you need to play the part of each NPC. You will find their Name and Title at the top of each card. Next, you will find their Gender, Race, and Alignment followed by a short description of the character. Finally, you will find the details of the GOAL: Intelligent NPC system outlined below to assist in using it yourself. Some blank NPC cards have been included for your use in creating new NPCs of your own.
GOAL: INTELLIGENT NPCS
GOAL is a system designed to assist with running any NPC with very little preparation. Properly utilized GOAL will allow you to always know exactly how an NPC should respond to their environment, events, and Player Characters. By understanding the five elements of GOAL you can improvise any character.
The first question you need to answer is, “what do they want?” this answer is the primary desire of the character it need not be related in any way to the PC or your adventure. The more sense the goal makes for the character the more real they will feel. The character’s goal can be as simple as “Find food” or as complex as “overthrow the empire and become king” it all depends on the situation.
Now we get to the meat of the system, G.O.A.L. what does it stand for? Simply it stands for Gravity, Opinion, Attitude, and Life. Each question helps determine the actions the NPC should take. So, what do they mean?
Gravity is simply how much their goal means to them, it’s importance. How much are they willing to sacrifice for it or how difficult it might be to convince them to ignore it. For this particular question, I have included a small table to help guide your answers. When creating your own NPC keep the answers to these questions simple and short for the best result.
GRAVITY: SCALE OF IMPORTANCE
Importance
Description
Vital
Cannot be ignored may threaten life…
Devoted
Very invested unlikely to turn away from this goal
Important
It means a lot to them but it’s not everything
interested
They desire it but are not committed to the idea
Neutral
They aren’t overly invested either way, personally
Detached
Can easily walk away for a better opportunity
Against
Revise the Goal, detached is already very removed
Opinion is next and this can only be determined at your table and is the most fluid aspect of the system as it is highly dependent on how your players interact both with the world and this NPC. By default, if they have not heard of the characters, had any personal experiences with them, or have any knowledge that would lead them to have their opinions influenced then refer to their Attitude for how they initially respond to the characters. The Opinion response should be changed to keep up with the effects of players' actions.
Attitude is describing the general demeanor of the character. This should be a short, generalized description of their personality. For example, they might be bubbly and cheerful but warry of strangers. They might be quiet and brooding but also generous. This can also be fluid but should take a long time and significant experiences to change.
Life should describe succinctly how they live their life. Their job, strongest influence, or how they spend their time. Remember to keep this and all other responses simple. Complexity is the enemy of improvisation. Too many details will leave you bogged down and indecisive. This is why the system is designed as it is. I believe this combination of simple core attributes provides the best means for easily picking up an NPC and placing yourself in their head to take actions that make sense.
61
PRINTABLE CARDS
Goal: Protect Giyana
G: Important
O:
A: Charming
L: Represents Riddlehouse, all desires met.
Male, Ghost. Lawful Neutral.
Quite obviously dead, or undead in fact. He describes himself as “hauntingly handsome” and is quite talkative for a dead guy. He speaks with a genteel accent, common in his era. Works as the “face” of the Riddlehouse organization.
Goal: Revenge
G: Vital
O:
A: Trusts no one.
L: wealthy, few needs, merchant.
Male, Undead. Lawful Evil.
Once he was simply a highly successful black-market merchant. He loved his family above all else. His rivals took his family away from him in an attempt to kill him and everyone he loved. He was resurrected and made into a sort of semi-lich. He has one surviving child.
Goal: Improve the life of his child.
G: Devoted
O:
A: Never met a stranger
L: unskilled worker, poor but not desperate
Male, Human. Lawful Neutral.
A roughly middle-aged man with unkempt brown hair. He is typically clean but not well dressed. He speaks with a tendency to eliminate letters from words. He is not a skilled laborer but spends his time seeking honest work.
Goal: Protect the world from CENTER.
G: Vital
O:
A: Stoic
L: highly skilled, very wealthy
Female, Nephilim. Chaotic Good.
A dark-skinned human appearing female. Well dressed, very professional appearance. Hair is kept short. She is very strict and disciplined almost always maintaining a stoic exterior. She is the head of operations at the Riddlehouse organization.
62
Goal: Live forever.
G: Vital
O:
A: Divine Serenity, always scheming
L: Doted upon, immense wealth & power
Female, Human. Lawful Evil.
Outwardly an elderly human female with long golden hair. Dressed modestly in Gold and white. Truthfully, they are controlled by a parasitic creature. The being on the outside is more or less a shell. They have lived for thousands of years. Incredibly powerful magic user.
Goal: Escape the cult
G: Vital
O:
A: Reserved, hopeful but afraid.
L: educated, most wants met, cloistered
Female, Human. Chaotic Good.
A young woman, quite beautiful by most standards. Long bright red hair. Typically dressed in minimalist but highly fashionable gold and white gowns. Raised by the cult of the golden oracle. She has lived in seclusion most of her life.
Goal: Protect the world from Elder Gods.
G: Devoted
O:
A: Stoic
L: ascetic, cloistered, all basic needs met
Humanoid. Lawful Neutral.
Blind but still able to perceive their world in a sort of greyscale. Life spent training to face a threat to the universe itself. Prepared to sacrifice themselves and others in order to conquer the threat.
Goal: Help their father.
G: Important
O:
A: Well mannered, but reluctant to trust.
L: Wealthy, all needs met, being educated.
Humanoid child. unaligned.
The young child of the Zombie Baron. Heir to his holdings. From the moment they could talk they have been educated so that they can take over and manage everything. They are well dressed and very well taken care of. They spend any spare moment at play.
63
Goal: Be worthy of her ancestor’s sacrifice.
G: Devoted
O:
A: Protective and driven
L: highly skilled warrior, austere life.
Female, Dragonborn. Lawful Good.
A great warrior and leader with well-kept bronze scales. They have spent their life in the pursuit of finding and overcoming challenges. Always looking to help others in the process. Their adventuring party are like her family.
Goal: Grow & Evolve
G: Vital
O:
A: Aggressive, superior
L: hidden, consuming organisms as it can
Non-binary, Plant. Lawful Neutral.
An alien intelligence, a type of slime mold. Growth appears to be everything to it. As it consumes intelligent creatures it gains their intelligence.
Goal: Spread & fruit.
G: Vital
O:
A: Unresponsive.
L: average village child, needs mostly met
Male, Human. unaligned.
A young child. Unfortunately, their life has been cut short taken over by the fungal horror. They have no desires or ambitions of their own.
Goal: Share his life with his beloved.
G: Vital
O:
A: Romantic, self-assured, noble, truly sad
L: moderate wealth, highly skilled duelist
Male, Fey. Lawful Neutral.
A fey creature with the form of a bipedal mouse. He dresses in a medium armor designed for mobility. His life revolves are the sport of dueling. He has devoted every spare moment to the practice. He only has one greater love, and she is sadly beyond his reach.
64
Goal:
G:
O:
A:
L:
Goal:
G:
O:
A:
L:
Goal:
G:
O:
A:
L:
Goal:
G:
O:
A:
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65
ATLAS
A collection of detailed maps of each adventure location.
COMPOUND
66
WINTERHALL
67
TEMPLE
68
FIRE TITAN CAVERN
69
THE INN
70
HANDOUTS
Handouts for each adventure and more!
MESSAGE FROM WHITEHAVEN
71
MISSING POSTER
72
UNEXPECTED LETTER
REQUEST FOR AID
73
TPK-1020 FORM
74
MAGICAL EXEMPTIONS FORM
REQUISITION ORDER
75
EXPENSE LOG
76
FLYER
77
BUSINESS CARDS
LETTERHEAD
78