An Alternate Character Interpretation of Celestials 2

Last post I talked about a plethora of celestials, offering an earthly and heavenly origin for each of them. Today, I will be talking about more celestial Celestials-- those whose fundamental nature is heavenly. I will cover Angels, and how a god might use each kind of angel, and Empyreans, who are the celestial statblock that represents demigods.

Angels

As a general description that also covers the other angels on this list, angels in D&D are ‘shards’ of deities. They have effectively perfect moral compasses and cannot deviate willingly from that compass. This recalls descriptions of advanced AI and androids—machines capable of moral reasoning who are nonetheless compelled to act in a certain way. To such beings, physiological demands and psychological demands are one and the same, as they are compelled to act in a certain way much as we are compelled to breathe. Treating angels as divine robots can help inform your roleplaying of these characters as well as allowing you to predict logical places to provide them as enemies and allies. This may be related to their method of creation, if angels were not created at the ‘beginning of time’, they may be forged by deities out of astral diamond for a specific purpose, which to them is as natural as drawing breath is to us. If you wish to have more moral complexity in your angels, you have a lot of options. You can use the idea of ‘fallen’ angels as angels that are deviant from their programming, which don’t necessarily need to be evil. These angels will likely act erratically or strangely but will likely have the same selfless purpose-locked behavior of their unfallen brethren, just with a bizarre or variant twist. or take the idea that angels are fundamentally aligned with their god to mean that gods of non-good have angels that are non-good. I’ve had some success with this, giving my party angels of evil gods as enemies, and gods of neutral gods as roleplaying encounters. Typically, angels possess a strong sense of superiority, fundamental duty, and lawfulness, no matter who they serve.

The Deva is the babyest angels, a ‘mere’ CR 10, they can fairly fight a high-level PC one-to-one and a mid-to-low level party stands a good chance of defeating one in favorable circumstances. They are unique amongst the angels in their ability to shapeshift, so they can potentially fill some of the roles I described the Couatl filling last week in the “heavenly” section, if you need a bit more punch. They have fewer amazing powers than basically anyone on the list so if you need a humble-feeling celestial that still packs a punch, this does the job. They are described as the messengers of their gods in the Monster Manual and their statblock suggests this well. Gods will send a Deva if they like you, but you don’t need help that a flying Paladin can’t provide—or if they need to spy on you! As a result, their personalities will seem most ‘down to earth’ of all the following angels. They are most adept at talking to mortals as any sort of equal and may be the most capable of deviating from their ‘programming’, if you interpret angels in that way. They may use their abilities to further their own conscience or their own personal mission, which while closely tied to their deity’s mission, is not one and the same with it. Other, ‘greater’ angels may look down on Devas as being inherently more corruptible than them, which may be true, as per their greater freedom of action. However, that freedom also means they have the greatest potential to actually love their deity, rather than mechanically obey, making them their god’s most earnest proponents.

The Planetar is the middlest angel, acting as a sort of middle ground between the ‘common’ Deva and the singular Solar. These are the angels that a deity sends when things get serious and subtlety is no longer required. The Planetar can’t shapeshift like the Deva, but it is faster, a size category larger, hits harder, has a host of offensive spells, and has truesight to boot. This implies a harsher creature that is fonder of battle, which the Monster Manual doubles down on, describing them as a god’s warriors. A deity would treat them thusly. While Devas may be given some leeway in how they accomplish their missions and may spend some time cavorting amongst mortals, Planetars are likely to be deployed briefly and lethally. If you want to make them distinct RP-wise, you can grant them the same lingo you may grant a soldier or warrior. If you want to be particularly glib, you can use the same language you’d use for an airstrike. An alternate interpretation may follow the ‘non-good’ deities route, and simply may them reflective of a god’s wrath, whatever that may be. If you wish a more complex alternate interpretation, you could treat them as far more robotic than their Deva allies. Devas are scouts, diplomats, and infiltrators. Planetars are weapons. Whatever the exact interpretation, while Planetars are highly intelligent and wise, and even possess a strong will, their will and their god’s will are likely very closely aligned. This suggests a sort of ‘hive mind’ behavior whenever two or more Planetars interact—the fact that they are telepathic also helps with this! Their ability to innately detect lies combines with all these other factors to suggest that you are very unlikely to hear a Planetar speak at all! This is tragic, as a group of like-minded immortals who can communicate telepathically are likely to share many amazing inside jokes.

The Solar is the oldest angel of the bunch—as they are both the largest and could be the first to be created, as the mouths and hands of their deities, depending on your personal interpretation of the lore. The Monster Manual describes that there are potentially ‘only 24 in existence’. I take that to mean that each god should have but a single Solar at their command (if your pantheon has a King God, give them 2, if there are a bunch of minor deities, indicate this by not giving them a Solar). This Solar should reflect their personality of their god, potentially to an uncanny degree. If you have a ‘distant gods’ cosmos, where deities don’t make themselves manifest amongst the people of the world, these Solars may be the way they communicate directly with the world. Otherwise, their Solar may act as their ‘lieutenant’, managing affairs the god finds uninteresting (which probably varies greatly based on the deity) and allowing the god to manifest its powers in two places at once. Whatever you exactly choose for their place in the world, a Solar is as close to you can get to meeting their god without actually meeting them. This might imply that a Solar’s personality is nearly identical to that of their god, which is a perfectly appropriate analysis. However, you might also interpret their relationship as potentially familial—spousal (with deities having Solars that are of a compatible gender), parental (with either the god or the Solar acting as the parental figure, depending on the god’s level of maturity), or that of a sibling (with gods usually occupying the elder role). In this case, it’s usually more comfortable for the Solar and the god to have the same source of origin. Whatever the exact source of the relationship, it can be a great way to make Solars distinct from their smaller angelic cousins.

Demigods

The last of the eight Celestials in current D&D 5e canon, Empyreans are the children of gods. They are typically considered to be ‘demigods’, which are typically created when a god mates with a mortal. It doesn’t have to be this way—it could simply be a protogod that has not yet become fully formed or the child of two gods that does not yet possess its full set of powers. Its parents, if it has them, may treat them as anything from a gift to a nuisance to a curse. One thing is important, however— ‘baby god’ implies a level of potential shenanigans that I think the Monster Manual describes insufficiently! My alternate interpretation for these creatures is that they are proto deities that act as children of whatever age you find most appropriate. A very young Empyrean would make for an excellent subject in the classic ‘babysitter’ plot, where the party would come across a practically newborn Empyrean and have to get them back to their parent while avoiding a host of their deity’s foes who seek to pounce upon the ‘helpless’ child. As the party grows in power, the Empyrean would too grow, allowing them to access some of the creature’s great powers. If you take inspiration from Greek myth, perhaps the parent and the enemies are close relations, and the party’s goal is to keep this baby demigod safe from the wrath of a vengeful spouse! Unlike other celestials, the Empyrean’s alignment is listed as potentially evil! I lean into this as a sort of ‘teenage rebellion’, where they act in rebellion against whatever alignment they are ‘supposed’ to be. This can manifest in the typical good-evil divide, but can also be lawful-chaotic, war-peace, or as esoteric as a child of an agriculture deity falling in love with clockwork and machines. Perhaps this is a passing phase, perhaps it is the rebellion of a demigod, or perhaps this is how new gods are born? This is dependent on how you run your world! As for their behavior, I would treat an Empyrean that’s old enough to make decisions as being quite naïve about worldly things, while possessing an unnaturally keen insight into the mystical and magical. Whatever their ‘natural’ inclination, their ability scores suggest that they are capable of mastering whatever they put their mind to. This would mean any limitation possessed by the Empyrean would be one of attitude, not capability—if they don’t know something, it’s because they are either totally new to it or are completely disinterested in the topic. Lean into the childish god angle—there’s plenty of good media to use!

If you want to add some mechanical variation to your Empyrean demigods or want to create demigods with more variation in their powerset, you can use the Divine Soul Sorcerer subclass to either grant Empyreans access to a greater variety of powers or to apply a divine flavor to another creature you want to flavor as a demigod. Humbler CRs for demigods might make them interactable for lower level PCs. I intent to make a more extensive post covering how to integrate player classes with the world you’re building, maybe when I’m done with Monstrous Humanoids.

(Originally published on reddit on July 31, 2019)

An Alternate Character Interpretation of Celestials

Celestials! Perhaps the least common monster type (tied with oozes, maybe), they nonetheless play a key role in the roles of certain players and in stories featuring the gods. They’re one of the monster categories that I wish were better fleshed-out, and I’m here to take a crack at it! Normally, I do these in batches of five, but give that there are only eight RAW Celestials in D&D 5e thus far, I figure I’d do four, then four for the next post! I will provide a summary of the creature, then offer two different interpretations of the creature—an ‘earthly’ interpretation for placing the creature in a normal fantasy world, and a ‘heavenly’ interpretation that is tied to the celestial heavens. This doesn’t necessarily mean one interpretation will be more grounded than another!

The Pegasus: Just A Flying Horse?

 The Pegasus is the most ‘common’ of these ethereal and godlike creatures, possessing no special abilities compared to a horse besides intelligence and flight. If you have a high-level paladin or some other way to access the spell amongst your PCs, you’ll encounter it if they choose to take it as their steed when casting the Find Greater Steed spell. Otherwise, it exists in your world at your leisure.

Earthly
Let us begin by asking a question; why would a flying horse be as intelligent as a human and understand four languages? There are plenty of valid answers, but I have one that I personally find quite elegant—a Pegasus grazes upon dreams as a normal horse grazes upon grass. It is rare to see a Pegasus not because they are uncommon, but because they only ever touch the ground to drink water or have their young. They sleep amongst the clouds and graze far above population centers. The only large creatures that would ever be near them would be potential predators, so they are extremely skittish around anything larger than a bird. Due to their skittishness, one could only be kept as a mount if it were captured at birth, but there is the additional problem that they will quickly starve to death unless they can graze in the skies which they call home. When a Paladin calls upon a Pegasus to be their mount, they call upon the power of their oath—the only dream so potent it can convince a Pegasus to willingly land and be mounted! This version of the spell would imply that the mount is called, not summoned. In this interpretation, Nightmares would happen when a Pegasus is poisoned by too much ill-will in dreams. Such Nightmares would be a dangerous phenomenon that would add additional chaos to a terrible event like a war or natural disaster. Such an encounter could be a good way to give a low-level party something useful to do when a terrible event beyond their abilities occurs.

Heavenly
Do pets go to heaven? It’s a long-asked question, and the Pegasus could be part of the answer. If good-aligned humanoids can rise to heaven, perhaps their mounts can do so as well? Many humanoids have close relation with horses—the two species depending on each-other for survival. Such a symbiosis could extend to the heavens. You could treat Pegasi as basically horse angels, potentially giving your paladin’s mount a long history the moment it’s summoned! Perhaps the Paladin’s mount is was once the servant of a great knight that served their order, and now returns to serve again. You could vary up their languages and say the languages they know were learned in service to the knights they fought with when they were alive. You could even make celestial versions of tressym and blink dogs if you don’t want to leave cats and dogs out of the fun! A potential quest could involve a Pegasus trying to get the party to lay the ghost of the knight it once served to rest—a task made more difficult because the Pegasus cannot speak! If horses can go to heaven, can they go to hell? A Nightmare might be a mount that ‘betrayed’ their rider during a time of great strife, by balking at danger and trying to flee or refusing to obey critical commands, leading to their death. It may also simply be a loyal mount of an evil rider, willing to follow them into hell itself if that is where they travel.

The Couatl: The Snake Among Us

I would best describe a Couatl as a ‘starter angel’, though they are not true angels. They possess many of the traits associated with true angels but are only CR 4. For those interested in using them as enemies—be warned! They are totally immune to non-magical weapon damage, have high AC, and put creatures asleep on a successful attack. Against an unprepared or weapons-heavy party, they hit far above their weight class, so tread carefully! Another place you are likely to see them is if you have a high-level cleric in your party—the 7th level spell Conjure Celestial will normally conjure a Couatl.

Earthly
Couatls are as old as the world—created along with it, with missions to match their age. They are capable of breeding, but rarely do, for they have no purpose besides their mission. They have a variety of abilities that allow them to mask their presence and know the unknowable and will use them for impossible lengths of time if necessary. The society I imagine of them is a group of individuals as old as time that all know each other well, each willing to assist the other if it would not detract from their own mission. They blend into society, like changelings or doppelgangers, but instead of living large off stolen identities, every action is taken with their created purpose in mind. They only breed when they feel they need to have offspring to fulfill their mission, which may make for an interesting way to introduce Aasimar characters, if you accept that the Couatl could breed while shapeshifted. While Couatls might not be humorless (and indeed may be quite jovial in the right context), they are entirely mission focused, with an eye for the long game. A location a Couatl was supposed to protect may end up conquered, and if it cannot be retaken, the Couatl may wait centuries for the group inhabiting it to move on. They may end up assisting with their end, if they can manage it. If it is overtaken by monsters, the Couatl will play the ‘mysterious person in the corner of the tavern’ for as long as it takes in order to round up a group to restore the place to balance. This could make them long-term allies of the party that cleared it out, as they are not dishonorable creatures, and a lifetime to a humanoid is but a moment to a Couatl. However, if a person or group earns their ire, beware, for the long-term planning of a Rakshasa may be crueler, but it has nothing on the cold calculus of a creature whose lifetime is equivalent to the world it lives on.

Heavenly
The Couatl is the humblest of the agents of heaven, but it has its place. While other angels act as the messengers, warriors, and mouthpieces for their deities, the Couatl has a dirtier job that is no less important—the spy. These agents of the divine may not be able to smite their foes with a single blow, but they are immune or resistant to nearly all forms of detection. These creatures would be sent down to the worlds their gods oversee to accomplish tasks that a mighty smiting angel either cannot be spared for or simply could not accomplish. The missions of these divine spies vary based on the deity. A nature deity may command their agents to infiltrate a logging company to encourage sustainable forestry. A life deity may have a Couatl attempt to preempt a conflict before it begins in earnest. A war deity may infiltrate a city guard to either start a war, or simply encourage proper professionalism amongst its forces, depending on the deity’s preferences. A trickery deity would likely favor these humble but clever servants over their mightier angelic ones, sending them across the world to spread confusion and mischief. Couatls like this make great starter mentors and great starter villains, as whatever their mission, their capabilities for direct action are limited, forcing them to find agents in the field who can do the dirty work that the Couatl simply cannot do alone. Whatever their agenda, their intelligence and cunning are significant, allowing their plans to be both complex and reliable. A ‘low-priority’ area between two rival deities may be home to two dueling Couatls who may not even know of the other’s presence, utilizing catspaws and minions to accomplish tasks and spending much of their time donning various disguises. These sort of spy games would be a great challenge for a low-level party that favors social interaction over dungeon crawling.

The Unicorn: Only the Pure of Heart

The Unicorn is one of the lowest CR monsters with lair effects, though it lacks lair actions and legendary actions. This suggests that unicorns should be used as location-specific creatures, and much of the Monster Manual lore suggests this. As such, the unicorn makes a great creature to include in a hexcrawl game, where monster lairs and locations are of major significance.

Earthly
Unicorns of this type may have a celestial origin, but they are creatures of the firmament like any other. They are the masters of their territory, and beasts, monsters, and humanoids alike challenge them at their peril. Unlike an apex predator, the unicorn does not hunt from its domain. It instead is a browser (unlike its grazing horse cousins) that eats the finest of its domain, leaving the rest to the others who reside in it. A unicorn will tolerate no predators in its domain, and if faced with stiff competition from other herbivores, will use its keen mind to find the greatest threat to the ecosystem, whoever it may be. It will then use its great skill in battle and magics to ensure that the threat is exiled, peacefully if possible. The unicorn is like few other creatures this way—it is an apex herbivore that dominates whatever environment it chooses for its home. It is known to tolerate humanoids that it believes it can trust, especially those of a trusted bloodline, but is always wary of betrayal and predation. Unicorns are unaging and rarely breed, but when they do, such courtship rituals can take decades, as the two celestial beasts gradually intertwine their territories, eventually merging them to raise their family, then separating again when the task is finished.

Heavenly
These unicorns are divinity untamed—untouched by practicalities and compromise. Unicorns will seek out those who share their purity of heart and purpose, those who have been untouched by the evils of the world and have not been forced to compromise their behavior in the face of practical realities. A good deity’s unicorns may seek out the ‘pure of heart’ in a traditional sense—those who are pure good. Such people are often children, or those others would label sheltered or naïve, but the unicorn senses a similarity of heart. These unicorns will protect and serve these people if their hearts remain pure. For those gods who are not traditionally ‘good’, what qualifies as purity can be quite strange and interesting. A nature deity’s unicorns may prefer someone whose love for nature is more Thoreau and less hunter-gatherer. A treachery deity’s unicorns would prefer a wannabe supervillain over a veteran assassin. A warrior deity’s unicorns would likely prefer a warrior-in-training over an experienced one. Whatever their allegiance, these unicorns display untempered passion for whatever aspect they focus on, fighting fiercely to protect any who represent that pure ideal and fighting to keep that pure idea pure. It is a losing battle, but most know this, rarely staying with a single person for long periods of time.

The Ki-Rin: Horse Dragons with Rad Pads

The Ki-rin is the most powerful creature on this list, possessing both strong physical attacks and the powers of an 18th-level cleric, along with legendary actions and lair abilities. They are basically a unicorn, but amped up to 11, with the addition of a fly speed. They can be treated much as an adult or ancient dragon, as powerful creatures capable of shaping the fates of nations if they so desire.

Earthly
Indeed, the Ki-Rin shares many mechanical traits with dragons. Many have dragon-like physical characteristics as well. In fact, if you’re willing to bend some rules (and I always am), the Ki-Rin could be a ‘radiance dragon’, acting as a counterpart to a Shadow Dragon, if you wish to make such things independent entities. If you so desire, you can give the Ki-Rin a breath weapon equivalent to a dragon, dealing something like 10d10 radiant damage in a 60-foot cone. You can keep the Ki-Rin’s description as-is or change it to something more draconic, depending on flavor. If we are to take an alternate character interpretation of these creatures like the posts I made about dragons, it could be said that the Ki-Rin hoards valor. They can create illusions with their major-image ability that immortalize heroes they find worthy and can bestow powerful boons upon them in life. Indeed, they can even raise the dead, and may do so if they believe that their preferred ‘lost cause’ has failed where they could have succeeded. Such Ki-Rin may be compassionate about their gifts or may few such mortal affairs as a mere game to be played for amusement—it varies from creature to creature. They would still reside amongst the clouds, hunting monstrous creatures who they consider too craven or underhanded to be worthy of life.

Heavenly
This version of the Ki-Rin leans more into the horse element. The gods seem to love their horses—we’ve talked about both the Pegasus and the Unicorn, but neither seem worthy of carrying a deity. The Ki-Rin, on the other hand, seems as though they would be so worthy. The Ki-Rin has both the divine power of a cleric of that deity as well as the physical speed and power to physically carry them. As both the steed and number one fan of their deity, a Ki-Rin steed will go out of their way to promote the virtues and myths associated with their god. Their lairs would likely be either near the holy places of their god or one-and-the same. While gods are busy ruling their heavenly homes, Ki-Rin have wanderlust, and will travel across the world to impose their god’s message upon the world. If you’re interested in comedy, you could have them be a little too obsessed with their deity. Woe betide one who slays a Ki-Rin, for many gods will never stop hunting you for such an insult. An exception may be a god who savors battle, for their Ki-Rin may be willing to hurl themselves into a deadly fight, with the knowledge that they will likely be resurrected, and even if not, it shall be a worthy death. Despite their blind spot for their deity, a Ki-Rin is ancient and wise, and will often be sent to help someone who calls out for aid from a deity that respects them. Their physical and divine powers are more than enough to solve most mortal problems, and even if not, they have friends in high places.


That's all for this week! I hope you folks find this useful and I hope it’s as fun to read as it was to write!

(Originally published here on July 25, 2019)

An Alternate Character Interpretation for Warfare

Warfare, despite being a major component of fantasy fiction, often seems too complicated to bother with in a game of D&D. This post exists to help rectify that. Warfare can be simple to run, and more importantly, it can be character focused. This post breaks down character participation in warfare into a ‘score’ which tracks the progress of a battle or war, which each encounter (starring a PC or important NPC) impacts positively or negatively. Generally, battles should start out with a negative score (indicating a defeat) which the PCs can gradually turn into a victory if they succeed at their encounters. Exact numbers are unimportant—if you need a guide, simply define a battle or war as an adventure, with 6-8 encounters required for victory! If you want to simulate the battle or war with a more in-depth system, that’s great—these roles can simply grant bonuses (like advantage) to units in that simulation—but they don’t require it! PC roles can be divided into six possible categories: Champions, Saboteurs, Sages, Leaders, Spellcasters, and Officers. I’ll go through each role one by one:



The giant-blood orc called out to the defenders of the meager fortress for a champion, one to face her in single combat. A single stout dwarf in thick plate armor emerged from the fortress to meet the challenge. Wordlessly, the sized each other up, the orc towering over her dwarven foe. Their axes clashed, bouncing off stone-like hide and dwarven steel alike. It was a stalemate—the battle continued for the better part of an hour, exhausting both beyond their capacity for fury and technique. Finally, the dwarf used a lull in the action to pour a bottle of an acrid substance on his axe. He swore he wouldn’t use it, but oaths meant little now. The next blow of his axe was but a nick to the massive stone skinned orc, but it was enough for the venom to begin to work, and the stone behemoth tottered and fell, grasping her chest. Her children, crying foul, swarmed the exhausted warrior and tore him to bits, but it was too late. Without their leader, the warband could not keep the siege up. The dwarf had lost his life and his honor but saved his people.
 
Champions are the mightiest warriors in their armies, often facing each other in either formalized duels or impromptu brawls on the battlefield. To many soldiers, the sight of their champion keeps them in the battle, granting them influence beyond their physical ability to fight. A champion encounter is a simple brawl, possibly with the twist that the if either side’s champion falls, even if they are raised or healed, it means that side loses and the other wins. This grants a victory condition for the fight besides annihilating the enemy—keep your champion on the fight and take out theirs. Champions can be of any class or subclass, but typically they are bombastic, pyrotechnic, or unsubtle in their fighting style, like a Swashbuckler Rogue, an Evoker Wizard, or a Berserker Barbarian. In a more in-depth system, Champions should grant some sort of buff to allied units as a once-per-battle effect, as the champion’s duel represents the height of a battle (or a violent prelude).



This was the fifth stable the halfling had visited today, and the one with the heaviest guard. Evidently, word of her exploits had reached the general’s ears. It mattered not. In and out, quick as a wink, she slipped past guards to seize her prize. Not gold, nor blade, nor magic, but something far more valuable. By the time the night arrived, her pack was full, and she retreated into the night, dumping her cargo into the deep river. A cacophony of clangs in a silent forest was the only evidence of her deeds. She thought about the old saying and smiled as she slipped away— “For want of a horseshoe, the kingdom was lost”. Well, they would want dearly indeed.

Saboteurs are the silent workhorses of generals, acting as spies, scouts, and secret agents to spoil the plans of their enemy. Though unknown to the armies, the actions of saboteurs can lay ruin to a general’s schemes or enable them to reach new heights of audacity. A saboteur encounter is usually a stealth and/or social encounter, depending on the specific method used by the saboteur. The victory condition may require the saboteur’s work remain undetected, or it may be as simple as an assassination mission, where stealth is simply an optional aid. Saboteurs can be of any class or subclass, but typically they are skilled at infiltration with either stealth or social subterfuge, like an Assassin Rogue, an Illusion Wizard, or a Shadow Monk. In a more in-depth system, Saboteurs may either grant some sort of debuff to a single unit or a small group of the PC’s choice or simply negatively impact some out-of-combat modifier, like supplies or morale.


“They’ll make a night attack.” Karnus said. “Why do you say that?” Gallus asked. “They’re elves. It’s their specialty.” Karnus replied. “It’s our specialty as well! We both see well in the dark. Besides, they can’t use their bows effectively at range. They’d be at a disadvantage, not an advantage.” Gallus declared. “No. We rely on our cohesion to win the day. We have no cohesion at night—no long-range communication. We also need sleep—elves don’t. Besides, these are Greenvale elves. They favor blade over bow. They are at their greatest advantage at night.” Karnus deduced. “Then I will prepare accordingly. I knew there was a reason I kept you alive, old friend.” Gallus concluded. The other hobgoblin simply curled up and went back to sleep, chains clinking around his feet.

Sages are the experts of war, offering knowledge and insight to their commanders and directly to armies. A sage encounter is typically a skill challenge or social challenge, involving things like research, prayer, interviews with locals, or even prisoner interrogation. Typically, there is no combat, though it’s possible to make a sub-adventure of it, as the sage is sent on a minor mission by a creature with knowledge, like a sphynx or an angel. Sages can be of any class or subclass, and often have their status determined by either their specific skill proficiencies, or their background (like the Sage background, for example). In a more in-depth system, Sages may grant some useful knowledge (like enemy troop count or HP) or grant some buff to a single unit or small group of the PC’s choice.


Their leadership had been slaughtered in the initial attack—the throne and the royal retreat had been attacked simultaneously. The demon lord Halkonath’s fiendish minions had entered through portals, evidently created by the court mage, who they had some how compromised. There had only been one survivor, and not even the demons considered them a threat. Nonetheless, they were the one who had rallied the knights from the border marches, who had raised an army off funds donated by the local burghers, who had given the accumulated forces a speech that had brought even the most hardened knights to tears. Though this survivor did not command the battle, they were heralded by all as the reason it had found victory, and songs are still sung to this day of how the terrible Halkonath had been brought low by a court jester.

Leaders are not necessarily the generals that command the battle, though they certainly can be. Leaders are the locus around which an army forms and without which it is simple military machinery. Leaders need not even participate on the battlefield at all and may simply act to rally the home front towards victory! A leader encounter is typically a social challenge, though for players that enjoy wargaming, you may grant them direct control over a battle as well. Typically, the class or subclass of the Leader matters less than the influence they have over their troops, but charismatic characters are beneficial, as are characters that have experience in warfare, like Battle Master Fighters. In a more in-depth system, Leaders may either directly command the battle or grant some sort of minor buff to all allied units (or both).


The roar of the beasts deafened the meager army assembled to face it. The militia only had to hold their foe in place for enough time to allow the Arch-Evoker to do what she had promised. Spear and shield met tooth and claw and the battle quickly turned into a rout. The massive beasts were barely slowed by their foes, but their presence did cause them to push more closely together, into a single great mass. This was what the Evoker was waiting for. Calling upon the powers of flame, stone, and sky, she cast her evocation, the flames illuminating her wizened face. As the beasts stared up into their doom, they had a moment of ancestral memory. The dinosaurs would meet their end by meteor yet again.

Spellcasters are a special category, split into two subcategories— battle casters and support casters. Battle casters are limited by the scale of the battle, how many battles they can participate in, and by the relative power of the spellcaster. In a small battle, with units that represent a dozen soldiers, even a spell like Burning Hands or Shatter can qualify. In a larger battle, it may require Fireball, and in one larger still it may require Circle of Death. A spellcaster encounter typically involves enemy champions attempting to prevent the spellcaster from getting into position to cast the spell. You can run this as a “king of the hill” type battle, where you mark a point or line as the “optimal position” for the spell to be cast from, and have getting to that place and casting the spell as the victory condition for the side with the spellcaster. Support casters are simpler to adjudicate. Spells like Scrying can offer critical information for one side and can often be foiled by other spells, like Nondetection. You can adjudicate this as if they were a Sage or Saboteur, judging success by the way the use their spells. In a more in-depth system, you may want to ‘average’ the amount of damage a battle caster would do to the portion of the unit it can affect, and adjudicate from there, while adjudicating more specific information or effects with support casters. Remember, you can make things more complex without trying for a perfect simulation!


“Lieutenant Candis was the best officer I’ve ever had. Brave, loyal, all that crap, but more than anything, he was smart. He saw the way the battle was going before anyone else noticed. He tried to send a runner to the general, but if she even got through, the general didn’t do anything about it. He made a fateful decision—retreat and save his soldiers. Some say it cost us the battle. It cost Candis his neck. I think it won us the war. That battle didn’t matter—our folks got away just fine— but if we hadn’t been there at Calcustree, there to lift the siege, we might have lost the whole damn war. That’s commanding, in my opinion, for all it’s worth. Here’s to him.”

Officers are another special category that could apply to an entire group of PCs in addition to these other roles! Officers are characters that are put in charge of a specific unit and make decisions for that unit. With officers, you can’t rely on the simple ‘score’ system as much and may want to simulate the battles using one of those ‘more in-depth systems’ I have mentioned. In that case, simply treat ‘units’ in a battle as identical to the creatures they’re composed of. You may need to do some tweaking with ranges, but ultimately, this works well. Officers aren’t ‘for’ every campaign, but if you’re running a military campaign themed game, with the same units in many battles, synchronizing PC abilities and unit abilities can help may the players feel as though their character creation decisions matter.
I hope you folks find this useful! There are a lot of guides on how to run warfare in D&D, so I figured I’d focus this post on things that people who don’t go as hard in for wargaming as I do would find useful. Frankly, if you’re into wargaming already, you don’t need my help!

(Originally published here on July 17, 2019)

An Alternate Character Interpretation for Monstrous Humanoid Races 2

Last week I talked about Elementals, and this week, I’m going to return to a topic that I’ve let lie fallow for far too long—monstrous humanoids! As before, my goal is to try to world-build plausible, morally ambiguous civilizations that your players can interact with in a way besides stabbing, but your players still won’t feel too bad about stabbing. I’ll offer ‘dark’ and ‘light’ interpretations for each concept, as well as ways to homebrew some mechanics to match the flavor. Remember—I’m doing this to inspire, so I encourage you to take what I’ve written and run with it however you please!

GNOLLS 
Gnolls are portrayed as evil humanoids that make D&D orcs look like elves—demon worshipping monsters who slay all they come across and are a general blight on the land. Now, that’s all well and good (as I said before), but if you want a more complex interpretation, consider looking at their animal inspiration. Hyenas are both hunters and scavengers and combining those two concepts gives you a group of creatures that prey on foes that are weak or dying already. We could amp this up—maybe they prey on whole kingdoms that are suffering from a chronic or acute weakness. Other societies may view the arrival of gnolls as the ultimate bad omen—a sign of inescapable doom. This would make ‘go fight some gnolls’ a portentous and fearsome mission, instead of just a random kill quest. To do so would indicate that their home is in a poor state indeed!

Brighter Gnolls would have a role that is more associated with cleansing, rather than predation on the weak. Perhaps they have a ‘natural’ role in the destruction of the undead. Having them arrive to help the players clear out an army of undead would probably cause the players to like them! Associating them with the grave domain of clerics or having them clean up dead bodies after battles are similar ‘good’ factors you could apply to them.

Darker Gnolls would be a lot like their canon counterparts, except they would be much more discriminating in their targets (attacking the weak, as stated above) and would be more proactive in the creation of valid targets—sending their agents to sow strife and discord amongst nations that are already suffering! It’s entirely possible for a ‘complex’ interpretation of gnolls to have both their ‘bright’ and ‘dark’ interpretations be valid alongside my stated interpretation. After all, there are good and evil humans that live in the same society—why not have this be the case for the monstrous races?

LIZARDFOLK 
Lizardfolk are typically the ‘neutral’ monstrous humanoids—creatures that are close to beasts and have no interest in complex morality, just surviving off the land and killing to eat. This is the sort of thing I usually try to hunt for with my ‘alternate character interpretations’, so I have to be a bit creative to deviate from it without ignoring its value. Consider the ‘primeval’ nature of lizards—what if the lizardfolk were the first intelligent humanoids to walk the world? Consider their swim speed and skill at creating simple but effective goods with the resources they have at their disposal. What if they used these skills to become an ocean-going culture, travelling the world on simple but effective ships fashioned from whatever they find? This would dovetail nicely with their tendency towards cannibalism—you eat whatever you can on the open ocean. These lizardfolk would look down upon the rest of the world, viewing their technology as unreliable and bizarre. Traditionally lizardfolk are awed by magic—what if they had their own storm magics that carried them across the seas? These two concepts would explain their culture’s rejection of the technology of other humanoids.

Brighter Lizardfolk could be elves by another statblock—ancient and wise creatures who are much closer to nature than other humanoids. This could free up elves to fit another interpretation without worrying about their traditional niche remaining unfilled. Alternatively, they could be ancient companions of the elves—perhaps being rivals who view their interaction with nature and magic in a wholly different light than the elves. These enigmatic creatures would likely possess a connection to druidic magic instead of the storm magic I mentioned earlier.

Darker Lizardfolk in this interpretation would descend without warning on hapless coastal communities to raid them for food and supplies. These primitive pirates would be as the Vikings were—deadly river raiders that possess superior mobility and a host of surprising technological innovations despite their dearth of traditionally civilized traits!

YUAN-TI 
Yuan-Ti have been explored extensively in Volo’s Guide, but despite the many cultural details being supplied, their morality remained as flat as a board! If you want to have morally complex Yuan-Ti, take some of their traits and look at ways they would manifest in ways not associated with confrontation. Yuan-Ti have a strong association with lies and deception—perhaps that manifests in a way besides evil infiltration? These Yuan-Ti may have a strong bardic tradition and may lie a lot for no sinister reason—acting more like pranksters or braggarts than cold, calculating infiltrators. Their larger monstrosity cousins are typically portrayed as acting in lockstep with their ‘common’ pureblood humanoids—what if they didn’t? What if the monstrosity versions of the Yuan-Ti were created to fight some long-passed apocalyptic war, and now that the war is passed, nobody knows what to do with them? These monstrosities may use their powers to rule over their former brethren. They may be renegades, unwilling to stop fighting a war that has long ended. They may be outcasts, treated the way that veterans are all too often treated once the fighting has stopped—an unpleasant reminder and an economic liability. After all, it’s hard to work a trade with hands that are vipers (WTF Yuan-ti Malison Type 2). These questions suggest a highly troubled culture, but not one without humanizing qualities.

Brighter Yuan-Ti could be in the middle of an internal crisis. Their former evil ways have backfired spectacularly (perhaps due to the players) and now their culture is in crisis. The pureblood ‘infiltrators’ have defected to a society that gives them agency in their own lives and their monstrous cousins are tired of being living weapons. A revolution is either brewing or in full swing, with their old caste focused on world domination having failed one too many times. This isn’t traditional ‘brightness’, but it can be a very satisfying way to end an arc with the Yuan-Ti as more traditional villains!

Darker Yuan-Ti that still try to keep some of the interpretations I mentioned above would be full-blown slavers, using their mind-control powers and super-soldier monstrosities to ensure that no Yuan-Ti must work a day in their lives. This would be a great way to make the Yuan-Ti villains while still allowing them to have a thriving inner life that doesn’t involve taking over the world. After all, there are plenty of human civilizations that have relied on coerced labor that were admired by their peers and by civilizations of the future!

KENKU 
The canon Kenku have ‘cursed by a wizard’ as their backstory, which is never something I’ve found terribly compelling. If you like that interpretation, no problem, but another one that works with the ‘artificially lost voice’ theme is one of failed self-improvement. Once a race of masters of the sky and magic (you can make them former Aaracokra if they are a major part of your world), they attempted to perform a ritual that would let them cast spells without verbal components, speak any language, and cast certain spells at-will (Thunderclap, Silence, Shatter, and others like it make good options). A decent interpretation for this ritual was that it was part of a world domination attempt, but if that’s too cliché for you, no big deal. It could be the result of some grand conspiracy (maybe there’s one super-Kenku who stole all that power), an attempt at transhumanism (if you like a sci-fi spin on your D&D), or maybe it was just because being super-powerful is neat! Their actual society would likely be pretty similar to that listed in the Monster Manual—mostly living a hidden urban life.

Darker Kenku may still be trying to take over the world! Perhaps their leaders have the power of all those stolen voices—maybe they’re the ones who stole them. This would make them fearsome spellcasters and would make them perfect enemies for a PC Kenku!

Lighter Kenku may act as guardians of magic, preventing mad mages from repeating the terrible event that struck down their species! These Kenku may have items or special abilities that make them powerful foes of mages (like the Mage Slayer feat). These could make them powerful allies of the party—or powerful enemies!

Thanks to /u/tsarnickolas1914 for his ideas on Kenku!

BULLYWUGS 
These froglike humanoids are typically treated as jokes in their ‘canon’ portrayals, and I don’t intend to lose too much of that flavor, but I think they can be reinterpreted in a more robust way without losing that sense of fun. Ultimately, three aspects of bullywugs stand out—they can move in swampy terrain and water without difficulty but are otherwise slow, they put a strong emphasis on the acquisition of wealth and trinkets from other civilizations, and they put a strong focus on hierarchy as enforced through over-the-top titles and pageantry. In my interpretation, bullywugs sate their desire for wealth and retain a tactical advantage by controlling critical junctions on river routes, like swamps and deltas. While some will simply raid any passing traveler, the clever amongst them will quickly rise to the top by realizing that there’s more to gain from simply extracting a toll from each traveler. The proactive amongst them may even accept payment as guards or mercenaries as an opportunity to kill their rivals. This sort of political maneuvering could dovetail nicely into a tendency to develop arcane and unnecessarily complex titles for their leadership, like “Arch-Vice-Regent of the Northern Territory of Blackmire”. I don’t know what that means, and neither do you—just know it means something to the bullywugs! These trade-route-adjacent locations not only give the bullwugs a chance to acquire that sweet, sweet gold, it also gives them a chance to indulge in their other favorite pastime—cargo cults! Bullywugs are known for their love of cultural artifacts from other cultures that they are often loathe to attempt to understand, kinda like an American guy who gets a tattoo in Chinese of their takeout order. These bullywugs would refer to any behavior that isn’t part of their culture as a ‘superstitious ritual’ and develop absurd theories about their purpose. This is by no means necessary, but it can be a lot of fun in a sillier campaign!

Brighter Bullywugs would require a more serious take on their culture besides greed and cultural misinterpretation. They would likely be less greedy and fairer in their rule over their swamp. Associating them with druid magic may be a good way to pull this off. Another change would be to make them respectful and genuinely curious about others, instead of dismissing them out of hand. It’d make the players like them more as well!

Darker Bullywugs wouldn’t necessarily involve making them more evil, but instead making them more competent. A sense of superiority over others is a lot more dangerous when it’s backed up by actual power. This could be accomplished by making them quite wealthy due to their control over critical trade routes—powerful enough to hire mercenaries and mages to impose their will outside their mires.

TL;DR Gnolls as scavengers of dying civilizations, Lizardfolk as ancient seafolk, Yuan-Ti as people who aren’t wholly focused on world domination, Kenku as victims of hubris instead of wizards, and Bullywugs as river toll booth operators.

(Originally published here on July 10, 2019)

An Alternate Character Interpretation of Elementals

Elementals! They’re one of the iconic monsters of D&D, common summons for PC and NPC mage alike, and one of the easiest creatures to slot into a setting or encounter. They are also, from a lore perspective, simple. Perhaps too simple. They have a bit more than half a page of text dedicated to them in the Monster Manual, most of which is dedicated to describing their combat tactics and the rest to describing how they have “no society and culture, and little sense of being”. Now, there’s nothing wrong with laconic, but if you wish to play these creatures with any character at all, you need more than that. Additionally, they require the existence of an Elemental Plane, which some creators many not want. I intend to solve these problems with five different possible alternate character interpretations that you can use in your campaign!

Genius Loci
The knight rounded the corner and raised his sword to strike the hulking figure that was waiting there. It bounced off the figure—an enormous behemoth of cobblestone and mud. As it raised a massive fist in retribution, the knight sincerely wished the city council had paid for that urban restoration project.

These elementals are derived from local spirits—the spirits present at a crossroads, a pond, a charcoal pit, or a hillock. Their appearance should vary based on the location they derive from, so an earth elemental summoned in a city will look like brick or cobblestone, one summoned in a field will look like sod covered in grass, one summoned in a mine may look like animate ore, and one summoned in a desert would look like walking sand. They will behave differently based on the location as well—a region that is sanctified (like a druid’s grove) may spontaneously animate benevolent elementals, while a blighted region would produce corrupted elementals.

Combat behavior should vary—some elementals may willingly join if its summoners are one with the land. In this case, they will not attack their summoner if released from conjuration, instead they may fight on or (more likely) return to their peaceful slumber. If enraged, they will prefer targeting ‘defilers of the land’, like undead or evil mages. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can even give special abilities to these special elementals. This can range from casting certain spells (like a Cure Wounds from a benevolent elemental) to modifying stats (like cold resistance for elementals from an arctic tundra).

This interpretation fits well with an animist worldview, where everything has a spirit, and can be tweaked slightly to interpret them as ‘minor gods’, like the river nymphs of Greek mythology. In this case, the Circle of the Moon druid’s ability to transform into elementals would take on a whole new meaning, beyond that of a mere power up, and the wrath of an unwillingly summoned elemental could extend beyond a CR 5 foe. You may want to increase their Intelligence and Charisma scores if this is the case.

Magical Hunter-Killer Machines
The elementals swarmed over the fortress like flies over a corpse. Many swarmed the forge, still lit to forge the artifact of last resistance. Most devoured the stone and metal, armoring themselves with the weapons wielded to slay them. Some harvested the air itself—the last unpolluted winds for a thousand miles. One, however, feasted upon the artifact itself, created to prevent their summoning in the first place. As it was transformed, it could feel the effects of its enemies upon the timescape. As it activated its newfound power, its singular thought remained the same singular though that had coursed through its mind since its creation—SURVIVE.

These elementals are magical super-weapons—beings that devour magic to reproduce and destroy everything they encounter. You can give it a sci-fi spin by making the actual essence of the elementals a microscopic cloud of arcane machines that interact with the elemental forces around them. You can give it a post-apocalyptic spin by having the ‘summoning’ of the elementals be reconstituting the long-since dispersed creatures. Whatever their exact interpretation, these elementals would be seen by societies as a severe threat with the potential to wipe out whole civilizations, so their summoning would be regarded with the level of severity usually applied to fiends and undead.

The combat behavior of these elementals is the place you have the best chance of selling them as a threat. They should act utterly relentless in their pursuit of their target (if controlled) or defense and reproduction (if uncontrolled). They will wipe out whole villages if given half a chance and will swarm targets with the most powerful magic items, shattering them and doubling their numbers if given half a chance. This version has a strong potential for horror, and could conceivably make an Elder Elemental the main villain of a particular campaign!

Psychometric Echoes
The druid touched the rock as the pyromancer approached, searching for a memory. “Do you intend to douse me with stones?” The pyromancer asked, mockingly. The druid’s hands swept over a familiar helix shape, and the memory of a primordial sea flooded into her mind. “Yes.” The druid replied, her form turning to water as her spirit called upon a dead ocean to aid in her battle.

These elementals are echoes of an ancient past (or far future, potentially). They should be described as appearing somewhat ghostly, and that their appearance suggests a depth that is not possible (like being able to see an entire ancient ocean through the transparent form of a 10 ft by 10 water elemental. Behaviorally, they will tend to act in an arbitrary manner when uncontrolled. An earth elemental, for example, will walk towards old mountains and attempt to pile them with stones to ‘restore’ them, while a water elemental may attempt to re-flood an old lake or ocean. They won’t be deliberately hostile, but their behaviors will not be convenient for life that’s still alive!

Energy Beings
“You wish me to do what?” The living flame asked. “Fight my enemies!” The mage answered amid the hurling of spells. “Are you sure you didn’t get the wrong person?” The flame asked. “You’re a fire elemental! What else would I ask of you?” The mage retorted. “Well, back home I’m a secretary. I assumed you wanted me to get you a cup of coffee.” The flame responded.

These elementals are, for lack of a better word, people. Their Intelligence and Charisma scores should be increased to 10 to indicate this. Their behavior will also default to non-violence, unless they feel particularly put out by their summoner. They may be totally unwilling summons from an alternate elemental world, or they may be drawn by the power summoners use to conjure them in the first place, acting as a sort of ‘free food’ bribe to encourage their arrival and participation. This version has the greatest comedy potential, I think, as the mental image of summoning a random office worker into the middle of a magical shootout amuses me. This may require more work from a GM than a default elemental but has the potential to turn a generic summon into a memorable interaction!

“Ecology of the Elemental”
Well, it’s kind of cheating to say ‘five’ and only supply four, but I think Fortuan has a perfectly acceptable alternate interpretation in their ‘Ecology of the’ post on Elementals. It doesn’t go into combat tactics, but it seems that these elementals would have superior mental stats to their Monster Manual versions and would be unlikely to fight outside of self defense or for some enigmatic reason that only they understand. Indeed, they may be valuable sources of lore!

(Originally published here on August 23, 2018)

An Alternate Character Interpretation for Alignments

Alignments are nearly as old as D&D and might be the most contentious topic associated with them (for people who actually PLAY THE GAME, sit down Satanism), acting as a constant source of arguments both online and in real life! There have been a ton of riffs on the idea from video games to other table top games to D&D homebrew, and a lot of them are interesting in their own right. There's nothing wrong with those systems, and indeed, they can often feel more appropriate to a specific setting than the standard D&D good/evil and law/chaos axis. D&D is your game to control!

That being said, D&D wouldn't be the same without a lot of its old systems, and playing with these sorts of constraints can lead to fun and interesting gameplay. So, why not riff on the old system and see if we can come up with an interesting mixture of old and new. I call it...

THE MORAL COMPASS

When creating a character using The Moral Compass, you should first determine five things about the character:

Their Oath, corresponding with the Lawful side of the law/chaos axis, should be some sort of self-imposed restriction. Examples include "always follow the law of the land", "never turn down an invitation to duel", or "never disobey an order from a superior officer".

Their Whim, corresponding with the Chaotic side of the law/chaos axis, should be some sort of natural short-term impulse. Examples include "stop and smell the roses", "try to make people happy", or "value shiny objects".

Their Conscience, corresponding with the Good side of the good/evil axis, should be something you consider to be a 'good tendency'. No need to systematize it! Use your best judgement and be honest. Examples include "protect my family", "be as fair as possible", "be merciful to the helpless".

Their Temptation, corresponding with the Evil side of the good/evil axis, should be something you consider to be an 'evil tendency'. Like above, use your best judgement! Examples include "torturing people is OK when they deserve it", "all elves are bastards", and "stealing isn't wrong".

Their Goal, corresponding with general neutrality, should be a rational medium-term or long-term objective. Examples include "become rich", "sire a family", and "avenge my father's death".
When you've determined all 5 for a character, choose 2 of them (or just their Goal) as the character's focus, which determines their alignment, as well as their character's behavior. All five are important to the character, but one or two are the most important!

HOW IT'S DIFFERENT
So, how is this different from just choosing an alignment on the chart?

Well, first of all, it helps contextualize the morality in terms of in-game behavior. So, your elf isn't Lawful Evil because you wanted to play an evil character but one that isn't THAT evil, she's evil because she's a loyal soldier who swore an Oath to defend the forests of elvenkind, but is evil because she has a Temptation to use lethal violence against those she suspects of disloyalty. Is this something only this system could develop? Hell no! People come up with this stuff all the time without any systematic help. What this system does is synergize in-game behavior with mechanics. It provides real meaning to the words 'Lawful' and 'Evil'.

Second of all, it allows for more natural alignment transitions (especially if they are magically compelled). So, a goblin-slaying paladin wouldn't suddenly become a goblin-lover if they switched from Lawful Good to Chaotic Evil, they'd just be a goblin-killing a-hole.

Third of all, it creates characters that feel flawed or redeemable. Maybe that murderous thug has a soft spot for his fellow thugs? Maybe that otherwise decent paladin is highly distrustful of halfings? This doesn't mean the thug is secretly good or the paladin is secretly evil-- they are just three dimensional characters simply by filling out the five categories.

Finally, it puts to bed the idea of thinking in grandiose terms of the struggle of the forces of Good versus the forces of Evil, at least for humanoids. It's possible that two traditional Lawful Good paladins could fight each-other, if they both had something they were defending. Similarly, it would make the cooperation of good and evil characters a lot more plausible-- they simply are pursuing similar goals and can each use all the help they can get.

FUN THINGS TO DO WITH THIS MECHANIC
So, now that you have it, what can you do with it?

Inherently Evil Creatures like Fiends or some Undead can lack Consciences (and their Whim/Oath if they are Devils or Demons respectively). This could lead to creatures that feel truly heartless-- creating a distinction between everyday evil (bandits, raiders) and Ultimate Evil. You can do similar stuff with creatures of pure Good, Law, or Chaos-- they are elementally aligned with a certain alignment. This can lead to cosmic entities that literally can't comprehend certain types of behavior, like a demon that is confused by a paladin's nobility, while a mortal criminal may think it to be simple naivete.

Fun With Alignment-Switching was something I mentioned before, but it bears repeating. Now, players that have their alignment switched no longer have to feel like their character has been eroded. It can similarly provide inspiration to players who want to change alignments mid-game. Magic items that impose an alignment shift voluntarily can provide new roleplaying opportunities for players, giving them a chance to explore elements of their characters that were mostly left ignored.

Fewer Alignment Based Arguments are less of a fun thing and more a bad thing to be avoided. Here, Chaotic Neutral actually corresponds to behaviors the player has to write down beforehand instead of acting as a catch-all for being allow to act like a random number generator. Similarly, evil characters can be tolerated if they have temptations that don't cross the wrong lines (those lines are up to you).

TL;DR Assign actual character traits to each point of the alignment compass (as well as the center), and it will enable more natural character play and less arguments about the exact definition of Chaotic Neutral!

Hopefully this helps inspire some DMs. I'm sure you guys have opinions about this (LOTS of opinions). Feel free to comment below (just don't be a tool)!

I made some other posts like this here, here, and here!

(Originally published here on August 23, 2018)

An Alternate Character Interpretation for Monstrous Humanoid Races

Orcs! Kobolds! Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears! Matt Colville pointed out in his wonderful video on the subject that these monsters make up common threats faced by low level parties and indeed are part of what makes the wilderness feel threatening at lower levels. Unlike bandits or other criminals, these races are nearly always used as enemies in the D&D canon (if such a thing even really exists)-- if you come into contact with one, it's almost certainly going to fight you or try to flee from you. There are other such creatures, and I'll cover them in a later post because this one got enough traction.

There are fundamentally two different interpretations of 'monstrous humanoids'- the "Tolkien" interpretation and the "Blizzard" interpretation, based vaguely after the interpretations of Orcs in Middle Earth and Azeroth, respectively. For the uninitiated, 'Tolkien'-style monster men are clearly subhuman, irredeemably evil, and often the direct creation of an evil intelligence which still controls them. 'Blizzard'-stlye monster men are equals to humans in their capabilities (more or less), about as morally grey as humans, and if they were controlled or created by an evil intelligence, this is no longer the case or is only the case for some of them. I will seek a compromise with the two ideas, as much as I can, with suggestions on reinterpretations that lend themselves to one or another interpretation because I LIKE THAT MORAL AMBIGUITY MMMM CAN'T GET ENOUGH!

This is the third in my series of Alternate Character Interpretations for 5e monsters. If it continues to be reasonably popular, I will continue it as a series. Here are the first two posts, for reference. I will offer my interpretation for each of the monster types, and offer sub-interpretations that are Darker and Lighter, offering examples of how these monsters can be used as badder villains or morally grey or heroic NPCs. I will also offer suggestions on potential homebrewing opportunities presented by my reinterpretation! If you have suggestions or requests for this format, please speak up! ENOUGH BABBLING LET'S GET TO THE POST! 

ORCS-- The Suicidal Daredevils, or Even Orcs Hate Orcs
"Oi! You hear how Varn got offed? 'E tried to gank some priest, and he hit the priest so hard that he died from his own attack!"
"That's nothin. You hear how Marp died? Fought a half-dragon to a standstill! The same half-dragon who killed off all of Hag's crew!"
"Hella Ka way to go!" "Hella."

Orcs are difficult to develop an original idea for, simply because they've been reinterpreted so many times! Ultimately, what I have isn't the most original, but hopefully it provides a useful lens to reinterpret them!

Orcs are described as devoted to their deities and to the idea of strength, and I decided to emphasize the self-destructive nature of their behavior. These orcs seek death-- seek to find the deadliest foes they can and do battle with them or the greatest obstacles and try to best them. The better they do, the more likely they are to be held in esteem by their god. An orc's existence is a brutish and unpleasant one. As such, it doesn't seem too absurd that they would seek a glorious death-- death is the best thing that will ever happen to them. Their one-eyed god even provides an example of such behavior for others to emulate! They'd retain their violent raider lifestyle, but it would be justified with an understanding that while death is an inevitability, a glorious death is a goal to be accomplished.

Brighter Orcs would be almost samurai-like, seeking honorable combat and a good death through meaningful. They may be rather fun to be around when they're well fed and convinced not to fight-- acting kind of like metalheads, bikers, or Klingons. These could may valuable allies for adventurers, if they could be convinced! These may make fun possibilities for Orc PCs, though they may be rather short-lived.

Darker Orcs would interpret the 'suicidal' aspect in a miserable and deadly direction. They would see no value in life, fighting to the last and taking no prisoners. They wouldn't be cruel, simply violent and fatalistic, accepting each injury as their natural lot in life and seeing no evil in inflicting these injuries on others. These creatures could be an apocalyptic threat if presented in sufficient numbers, or simply a depressing annoyance if marginalized enough-- it depends greatly on tone. Perhaps they're spontaneously created as low-level minions of the heralds of the end of the world?

Potential Homebrews would include granting orcs the half-orc Relentless Endurance ability, allowing them to always go down swinging. 4e's Savage Demise ability for orcs (granting a free attack when they died) would also be appropriate here.

KOBOLDS-- The Ascended Vermin, or Dragons Turned Vermin Into Tiny Versions Of Themselves
We knew so little when we first crawled over the Master's egg. Mistaking its warmth for a source of food, we hibernated, and we changed. We took on the blessings of our master, appearing more like their divine visages. Our minds grew and came to know purpose. The purpose to serve.

Kobolds, more and more, have been described in relation to dragons. Even their appearance has changed-- moving from doglike creatures in earlier editions to draconic creatures in later editions. I've chosen to emphasize this in this interpretation. Here, the shifting appearance of Kobolds is folded into their history. While Kobolds can reproduce like any other race, they are created spontaneously when vermin like bugs or rats bathe in the energies of a dragon's egg. They morph into draconic forms, often retaining aspects of their former natures, and gain a compusion to defend their new draconic masters. This compulsion may fade over time, but it becomes the defining purpose of Kobold tribes.

Brighter Kobolds would emphasize their caretaker roles. They may act as the guardians and teachers of young dragons who grow up without a sire to parent them. This could lead to a very close relationship between a kobold tribe and a dragon, eventually leading to an inversion of the relationship, as the powerful dragon cares for their hapless kobold minions. Hunting down a lost dragon wyrmling could provide a great plot hook for a kobold PC!

Darker Kobolds may add some sort of ritual required to awaken and empower their draconic master-- preferably involving blood sacrifice. This would provide a potential set up for a Kobold dungeon with a Wyrmling boss fight at the end. If you want the Kobolds to be more threatening, you could make the process industrial in scale, feeding their master's clutch with dozens of kidnapped victims in the sewers or catacombs beneath a city.

Potential Homebrews would involve some sort of synergy between dragons and their Kobold minions (maybe the minions gain advantage when near the dragon and grant advantage to attacks made against foes they're surrounding). Powerful dragons could even conjure Kobolds out of thin air (or from insects or rodents scurrying around their lair or from jars or something) as adds during boss fights! 

GOBLINS-- The Crawling Folk, or Basically Literally Rat-People
We assumed it was just rats. We should have suspected otherwise when gold started disappearing along with the cheese. We should have known better when the ratcatchers were found face first in a river. We must have been fools to not notice that the skittering beneath our feet was a few octaves too low. Now it's too late. All hail the goblin king, lord of the sewers.

Goblins are very, very common foes. They're described as pathetic, groveling, and cruel, and their abilities reflect this, with a skill at stealth and an ease at escaping dangerous situations. One could describe them as similar to rats in this capacity-- common vermin that are annoying to pin down and can be threatening to the weak and isolated. So, why not make them a LOT more like rats! Have them swarm like rats, and disappear en-masse if threatened. Have them steal from food cupboards and kidnap the young and weak for additional snacks! Have them act like very smart vermin-- vermin capable of picking locks and setting ambushes with metal weapons, but vermin nonetheless. They lack a true culture or identity, being easily intimidated by strongmen, but not easily herded, disappearing swiftly into crannies you didn't know were there.

Brighter Goblins would lack the brutality of standard D&D goblins, only fighting when they must and preferring to steal with stealth rather than with force. Kind of like Nott from Critical Role, an excellent example of such a Goblin PC.

Darker Goblins would emphasize the swarmlike element of rats, rising from the underground to overwhelm opponents with numbers. Such creatures could be deadly threats even to relatively high level PCs, if they attack with enough numbers while the PCs are caught unawares.

Potential Homebrews would allow Goblins to squeeze through spaces that would normally only fit Tiny creatures, allowing them to appear from nearly anywhere. Pack Tactics would emphasize their swarmlike nature to the extreme, making them threats to even well-armored foes. Treating them as swarms against high-level PCs would help greatly with bookkeeping! You may even consider adopting some of the rules of Cranium Rat Swarm to grant them bizarre powers when acting as a unit. A Goblin King may even be a mass of goblins fused together by their high population (like a Rat King), preventing movement but granting powerful spellcasting abilities. 

HOBGOBLINS-- The Colonialist Conquistadors, or Let's Hate On Settled Cultures For A Change
When the Great Ships came, I assumed it was the baggage train of the divine host, and those who emerged were of an unearthly countenance. I welcomed them as guests, as any good king should, but they betrayed me and slew my court with their bizarre weapons. Now my nation lies in ruins and all hope is lost!

Monstrous Humanoids are often portrayed as 'savage', which has some unpleasant implications. That being said, I think they make interesting enemies, so I have no problem including them! That being said, Hobgoblins are the exception to this, and I seized upon this opportunity to present a unique opportunity for the 'savages' to be the good guys for once!

The scenario I went with would be a version of the New World scenario, though the truth is, it can represent any time a more 'civilized' empire decided to beat on comparatively innocent 'savages' (funnily enough, the Aztec treatment of their vassal states would make another good example). These Hobgoblins would wield more advanced weapons than the home nations of the PCs and already have an established militaristic empire from which to force-project. They may have a complex church, potentially with great powers of summoning, allowing the DM to vary up the monsters faced by higher level parties. This sort of empire could act as a background note, looming threat, or even the focus of an entire campaign!

The Hobgoblin mastery of Goblins could be tied to the way that Old World sailing vessels brought rats to the places they visited-- the Hobgoblins pay little attention to Goblins, but they benefit from the havoc they wreak on the locals.

Brighter Hobgoblins would emphasize their 'civilized' nature. They would be more Lawful than Evil, focusing on imposing their version of civilization on the wilderness, whatever the wilderness thinks about it. PCs from this society would not need to wholly reject it to be good guys-- they may simply refrain from practicing the less scrupulous aspects of their culture.

Darker Hobgoblins would represent the end of the world to the nations of the PCs, carrying D&Dified versions of the plagues that wiped out much of the population of the New World. Demonic possessions and swarms of undead would ravage the countryside, seemingly ignoring the hobgoblin society that would sweep in to impose their rule beind them. Are they behind it or simply lucky benefactors? That's up to you!

Potential Homebrews would give their army gunpowder weapons, using the either a homebrew Gunslinger class or the gunpowder weapon rules in the DMG. Powerful Hobgoblins may have Artificer abilities and the like. 

BUGBEARS-- The Sneaky Slashers, or Jason Voorhees As A Goblinoid
The hulking brute emerged from the shadows with impossible quietness. The heads of its previous victims hung around its neck as gruesome trophies. It wasted no time, lunging at the doctor with a massive mace, crushing her skull in an instant. The third expedition to the Silent Woods would end in failure, and the bugbear would feast well tonight.

Bugbears are a bit paradoxical. They're big bad monster men who get benefits towards stealth and ambushes. Who else possesses those traits? Classic slasher villains, of course! These Bugbears don't have a complex society-- they're loners by nature. The Goblins that they may surround themselves with would almost act as omens of their presence, which would only become known in short violent bursts. They would steal and kill all with leaving as little a trace as possible. The relatively low CR of the Bugbear would allow low-level PCs to feel like real heroes in stopping these killers that posed such a threat to isolated communities.

Brighter Bugbears would act less like slasher villains and more like cryptids (Bigfoot). They'd be very shy, but potentially violent if confronted, making their livings far from civilization. These could potentially be even scarier than their eviler comrades, simply by building up a legend around them. Nothing is scarier, after all!

Darker Bugbears would ignore all possible logic or justifications for their action and simply look to make them as evil as possible. Perhaps these versions of Bugbears don't naturally reproduce, instead being created from Goblins and Hobgoblins that go mad or cannibalize their kin (like Wendigos).

Potential Homebrews amplifying the fear-factor could move these low-level menaces into the major leagues. Bumping their HP is a no-brainer, as is Multiattack, but more clever solutions may involve granting at-will spells that allow silent or stealthy movement (e.g. Misty Step, Invisibility) and amplifying their sneaky attacks to involve more damage or forms of crowd control. A way to generate fear may also be the ticket. 

END
As usual, these are just interpretations-- not intended to replace anything (unless YOU want them to).

TL;DR Orcs ignore risks, Kobolds are tied to dragons from birth, Goblins are like rats, Hobgoblins are colonialists, and Bugbears are slasher villains

(Originally published here on February 20, 2018)
 

An Alternate Character Interpretation for Metallic Dragon NPCs

Everyone seemed to love my post on alternate character interpretations for Chromatic Dragon villains when I posted it on reddit, so I'm making a sequel! Heck, I made a series out of this. These posts are really fun!

Next up on the docket, the cousins of the Chromatics-- Metallic Dragons. These shiny serpents don't get nearly as much press as their colorful comrades, mostly because Good monsters aren't nearly as relevant to the needs of DMs. Most monsters exist in the context of foes for PCs and most PCs are either Good or Neutral, so the need for Good foes is limited. However, they're still pretty iconic and a move towards moral ambiguity and complexity in recent years has expanded their usefulness for DMs (because now PCs can kill them without feeling bad, yay murder!).

So, here are my attempts to reinterpret the Metallic dragons for use in your game. Like my Chromatic post, my goal is to introduce an interpretation that both stays somewhat true to the intent of the designers of the monsters while providing an interpretation that's somewhat novel. It's totally valid to just make stuff up about these creatures if you're the DM (as long as you're consistent), but I want to try and stick to the 'traditional' interpretation of the monsters, so the post is as accessible as possible. Unlike in the previous post, I'll be shifting the moralities a bit grayer, but like the previous post, I'll offer sub-interpretations that lean Evil and Good.

Note that you can also apply some of these concepts to Chromatics and some of the Chromatic concepts here. Use your imaginations!

BRONZE-- The Noble Conqueror
Talax wept. She wept because she had bested the orcs of the Shattered Wood. She wept because she united the warring brother nations of Alazar. She wept because she alone had been able to bring peace to the dread Medusa at the heart of the Lover's Maze. She wept because she had stormed the lair of the great and terrible Bonelord and found his forces wanting. But more than all, Talax wept because there were no more worlds for her to conquer.

Bronze dragons are the 'warriors' of the Metallics, seeing to 'oppose tyranny'. This can easily be stretched to assume that they would want to take on the mantle of conquest themselves, seeking to bring 'just rule' to any who they can. This may involve overthrowing rulers they see as corrupt, uniting nations locked in a civil war under their rule, or simply killing enough bandits and raiders until they have effectively become the law of any given reason. If taken to an extreme, they may rule entire continents as ancient warlords whose massive armies are formed from the nations they conquered. If on a small scale, they may seek to eke out a small fiefdom in an otherwise wild land. Whatever scale, they see conquest as both a moral duty and a job that doesn't end when the tyrant falls dead.

A lighter sheen of Bronze takes a generous view of war and conquest. This is mostly a matter of context. Skilled warriors can bring peace to lands that have warred for centuries-- a fully Good Bronze Conqueror may replace petty warlords with a republic, swearing their absolute fealty (and the fealty of their armies) to any properly elected government, like a Cincinnatus, showing no desire to rule themselves. They may gain the loyalty of orcish warbands and forge them into an army of mercenaries that refuse to loot or pillage out of fear of judgement from their Bronze commander.

A darker sheen of Bronze uses their opposition to tyranny as a casus belli for war against the whole world. Unlike conquering Chromatics, this war isn't to fuel an ego or to assemble a horde-- it's out of a misplaced and perfectionist sense of justice. They can be interpreted as hypocrites that fail to see their own tyrannical ways or those who are merely too fanatical and controlling to accept the imperfections of mortals.

COPPER-- The Uninvited Guest
The Copper was never invited to this party. The Copper was never invited to any parties. They didn't understand why. They had plenty of japes-- more than anyone else! Their arsenal of jokes and riddles were second to none! They had yet to be bested in a game of wits! And yet, no invitations were sent. They came anyways, and in spite of all the screaming, they were the last guest to leave. Mortals are so rude.

Honestly, parts of the way Copper dragons were described in the Monster Manual made them seem rather irritating, and I decided to amplify this aspect of them. These Coppers are pests with no standards. They are attention seekers, always looking for a new way to get a rise out of someone. In spite of their great power, their ambitions are rather small, seeking to be treated as a star and always seeking validation. This can lead them to violate social norms, which they didn't really care much about to begin with, given that they're FUCKING DRAGONS. Basically, YouTube vloggers in giant lizard form.

A lighter sheen of Copper may be a prick, but this one's actually funny and directs their attention-seeking humor to prank people who actually deserve it. They may even recruit the players, offering powerful artifacts in return for their assistance in pulling off daring pranks. Consider-- coloring a Lich's wardrobe pink, putting chili powder in the tank of an Elder Brain, breaking into the lair of a Red Dragon, doing nothing, and waiting for the mental breakdown-- the possibilities are endless!

A darker sheen of Copper is probably the most annoying threat the players will ever face. This lizard isn't a worldwide threat, but a general lack of empathy, failing to view mortal lives as particularly valuable, and a singular lack of anything better to do could lead to a few individuals having very miserable (and perhaps short) lives. These dragons will literally kill for fun, and claim they never did anything wrong, punctuating the battle with cries of "IT'S JUST A PRANK, BRO".

BRASS-- The Eternal Mayor
Mayor Brackle claimed to be a new politician for a new era. Gods know that Dunesend needed new blood after the long reign of the late Mayor Starlight. She was plenty competent, but her decades-long mayorship seemed like a repeat of her predecessor, who himself felt like a retread of the policies of the town's founder. Still, it's clear that Brackle was a townie through and through. He even had the traits that all mayors since the founding had shared-- locks of blonde hair, a bronze complexion, and love of jewelry. Heck of a coincidence.

Brass dragons really really love company, so, why not seek it? Worries about security, of course. Well, here's a solution-- if you're the law in a town, you don't need to worry about security and you can have all the friends you want. That being said, dragons tend to attract a lot of attention. I've got a solution for that as well-- Shapeshift! The Brass simply disguises themselves as a mortal, and swap disguises when that mortal 'dies', using illusions to smooth the transition. These Brass Dragons rule over a location (village, town, city, whatever) for as long as they want and nobody's the wiser!

A lighter sheen of Brass uses this power for good, acting as a benefactor for the village as it grows first into a town and then a city! These Brass are basically the player in any city-building game (except for the sadism, most of the time), always seeking to improve the lives of their citizens as an invisible hand of progress.

A darker sheen of Brass amplifies the paranoia of this scenario. These dragons act as the Big Brother of this town, treating their subjects less as people and more as cattle. These could be used as the secret villains of city-focused games, acting as the masterminds behind every power in the city.

SILVER-- The Cultish Ascetic
The outside was dangerous. The gods alone could protect you from its corruption. These were the lessons taught by the Silver Protector, Archon of Frosthold. The Sanctum had no entrance or exit. The Silver Protector had destroyed the passes that allowed their foes to reach it long ago. Those within the Sanctum claimed this would prevent escape if attacked from the air, so the Silver Protector dug a great cave to protect us. Truly, they are a blessing from the gods.

These silvers take their (relative) humility and desire to protect the 'little folk' to a Puritanical extreme. They are deeply religious or at least have very strongly held beliefs, and see the world as a source of corruption for both themselves and their dependents. So, they find a frozen shelter from the world, a cave or high mountain town, and seal it off from the rest of the world. They can use their magics and flight to bring supplies to the town without ever leaving, keeping themselves isolated, but also keeping their dependents completely dependent and completely isolated.

A lighter sheen of Silver may do this for an essential reason (this Silver could oversee a post-apocalyptic 'vault') or may only bring those who are similarly minded (act as the leader of a monastery, whose members all chose to live in isolation). This character would make a useful mentor figure for an Acolyte or a source of lost knowledge. They'd still probably be skittish about the outside world and may not allow those who leave to return.

A darker sheen of Silver is a cult leader, seeking to brainwash their followers into believing that they are the only valid source of truth in a world full of lies. They aren't likely to be very dangerous (they're very isolated) but gods forbid you have to enter their sanctum. Prepare to be jumped by dozens of crazed cultist halfings.

GOLD-- The Gentledragon Thief
"It's the damnedest thing, Sarge. We swear we had him dead to rights! That bastard's been making fools out of us for weeks now, knocking out our men and slipping away into the night, and we had him! Suddenly, he grew wings! Wings, out of nothing, and flew away into the night! What the hell are we supposed to do against that?!"

Gold dragons eat gold and disguise themselves on the regular. "Classy Thief" then seems like a potential reinterpretation that could be very fun to play with. These Golds seek to sate their appetite and spit in the face of the proud. This behavior not only makes them an interesting Rogue contact or rival, but a natural enemy of Chromatic dragons, even without knowledge of their identity. The pride of the Golds would manifest in the form of calling cards and taunts to guards, daring those who will to stop them, and only revealing their natural abilities when forced to.

A lighter sheen of Gold would steal from the rich, give to the poor, and have a few snacks on the side. They'd make an enigmatic mentor figure to other Chaotic Good type characters and a massive pain in the ass to evil parties who have (had) a windfall of wealth. They may even oppose other dragons on this list, like the darker interpretations of a Brass or Bronze.

A darker sheen of Gold would be a selfish criminal who seeks to spit in the eye of law and order. They'd make an excellent villain for any characters that represent the law in large cities and a potential rival for other immoral master thieves. If your party has grown used to dealing with regular thieves, throw one of these their way. They'll definitely be surprised (unless they've read this post)!

END
Thanks to all the positive feedback on reddit to the previous post! Like that one, these interpretations are not intended to replace the existing concepts of dragons. Some would even be rather bizarre as 'canonical' interpretations of an entire caste's behavior. They are intended to provide useful content for DMs trying to fill their world with unique characters. I hope that I have helped do this!

TL;DR Bronze Dragons as Alexander the Great, Copper Dragons as tasteless pranksters, Brass Dragons as the secret leaders of cities, Silver Dragons as monkish creatures that hide their dependents away, and Gold Dragons as daring and classy thieves of gold and wealth

(Originally published here on February 13, 2018)