In this series, we'll be expanding on the work begun in our supplement of fairies and fariy tales, Fey Folio, by extending the world building, exploring additional mechanics, and fleshing out the Fey's fantastical world. Join us as we embark Into the Wilds.
I find writing this article without wholesale writing a map and diving into the worldbuilding neck-deep challenging. We've been carefully considering how to make the Feywild itself live up to its reputation of splendor, magic, and strangeness, and we've got some fun ideas.
May 22, 2019
Way of Sumo
Monastic Tradition
Comments from the Finger: I've been stewing on this for a while, tinkering with the mechanics to get a working set of features. The monk is designed with a wuxia bent in mind, so even though sumo wrestlers are without a doubt monks, they'll have to refrain from using the patently absurd monk abilities, like Step of the Wind and their greatly expanded movement speed to roleplay this type of character correctly.
This post has next to nothing to do with Hero Club's new season Here There Be Monsters, but you should go listen to that anyway!
Way of Sumo
Sumo is the ultimate contest of might, a bout where two enter a ring and only one remains within it seconds later. The Way of Sumo teaches its students to stand their ground and maintain perfect discipline and form to meet whatever challenge they face. In contrast to other monks, who are typically lithe and nimble, sumo wrestlers are rotund and rippling with muscle, a necessity for grappling with the mightiest contenders of the sport without surrendering any ground.
Comments from the Finger: I've been stewing on this for a while, tinkering with the mechanics to get a working set of features. The monk is designed with a wuxia bent in mind, so even though sumo wrestlers are without a doubt monks, they'll have to refrain from using the patently absurd monk abilities, like Step of the Wind and their greatly expanded movement speed to roleplay this type of character correctly.
This post has next to nothing to do with Hero Club's new season Here There Be Monsters, but you should go listen to that anyway!
Way of Sumo
Sumo is the ultimate contest of might, a bout where two enter a ring and only one remains within it seconds later. The Way of Sumo teaches its students to stand their ground and maintain perfect discipline and form to meet whatever challenge they face. In contrast to other monks, who are typically lithe and nimble, sumo wrestlers are rotund and rippling with muscle, a necessity for grappling with the mightiest contenders of the sport without surrendering any ground.
May 18, 2019
Races of the Fey | Into the Wilds
In this series, we'll be expanding on the work begun in our supplement of fairies and fariy tales, Fey Folio, by extending the world building, exploring additional mechanics, and fleshing out the Fey's fantastical world. Join us as we embark Into the Wilds.
The many and varied creatures that make up the broad category of 'fey' provide ample inspiration for settings, adventures and -- of course -- player characters. That’s why it makes sense to know going into this Into the Wilds series about fey creatures: who they are, how they fit into the world, and why we’re representing them the way we are.
May 13, 2019
Cursed Coins
Magic Items
The new season of Hero Club, Here There Be Monsters, which is an imaginative high-seas romp with anthropomorphic races and some hilarious characters, has got me thinking about cursed treasure. It's a staple of buccaneering adventures -- even Hero Club's new season seems to have some evil treasure at the center of its plot -- so I thought it'd be fun to experiment with some cursed coins for your party's next treasure chest.
After all, sometimes treasure chests are buried for a reason -- nobody should touch these coins.
Gold Coin of Greed
Wondrous item, uncommon
Whenever you spend this coin, it magically returns to you 1 hour later.
Curse. This coin is cursed; picking it up extends its curse to you. Whenever you spend the coin, lose it, or discard it, the coin not only returns to you, but it multiplies when it does so, first becoming two coins, then four, etc. Moreover, whenever you spend gold pieces, the coin magically replaces one of the coins spent, ensuring that its number doubles.
Soon, the number of mass of coins on your person can slow or crush you. If the coins double 11 times, your speed is halved. If they double 12 times, you have disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks, and if they double 13 times, you are crushed to death under their weight.
Breaking the curse with the remove curse spell or similar magic causes all duplicates of the coin to vanish and allows you to safely discard the coin.
The new season of Hero Club, Here There Be Monsters, which is an imaginative high-seas romp with anthropomorphic races and some hilarious characters, has got me thinking about cursed treasure. It's a staple of buccaneering adventures -- even Hero Club's new season seems to have some evil treasure at the center of its plot -- so I thought it'd be fun to experiment with some cursed coins for your party's next treasure chest.
After all, sometimes treasure chests are buried for a reason -- nobody should touch these coins.
Gold Coin of Greed
Wondrous item, uncommon
Whenever you spend this coin, it magically returns to you 1 hour later.
Curse. This coin is cursed; picking it up extends its curse to you. Whenever you spend the coin, lose it, or discard it, the coin not only returns to you, but it multiplies when it does so, first becoming two coins, then four, etc. Moreover, whenever you spend gold pieces, the coin magically replaces one of the coins spent, ensuring that its number doubles.
Soon, the number of mass of coins on your person can slow or crush you. If the coins double 11 times, your speed is halved. If they double 12 times, you have disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks, and if they double 13 times, you are crushed to death under their weight.
Breaking the curse with the remove curse spell or similar magic causes all duplicates of the coin to vanish and allows you to safely discard the coin.
May 10, 2019
Faerie Courts | Into the Wilds
In this series, we'll be expanding on the work begun in our supplement of fairies and fariy tales, Fey Folio, by extending the world building, exploring additional mechanics, and fleshing out the Fey's fantastical world. Join us as we embark Into the Wilds.
Most DMs, when they run games with fey elements, tend to stick to the traditional fey courts -- seelie and unseelie, seasonal themes, etc. -- which is all well and good, but we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't offer people some more... creative options. After all, you can find plenty of information about Titania and the Queen of Air and Darkness from material that's already been published by others. If you're wanting to broaden your horizons beyond that, read on!
Major Courts of the Feywild
In the Fey Folio, we wrote:
The most powerful fey creatures sometimes claim the title of archfey. These legendary individuals are the equals of the demon princes of the Abyss or the archdevils of the Hells―they are the closest thing fey creatures have to gods. Typically, archfey occupy their time with courtly politics. There are dozens of Faerie Courts in the Feywild, each with their own agenda and policies, which serve as the main vehicles of social advancement, friendship, rivalry and organization in the realm.Seven of the most powerful Courts are detailed below.
Fey do not believe in borders or territories; land in the Feywild cannot be owned or traded as it is in the Material Plane. Therefore, fey society is not organized into kingdoms, states or countries, but is instead structured according to bonds of personal loyalty. Every fey creature, down to the lowliest shimmerling, relates to others according to sworn oaths, pacts of friendship, and more or less formal agreements, to the extent that a Court could be seen as a kind of loyalty tree.
The pacts that bind the members of a Court are not seen as permanent, however, and allegiances can and often do shift from time to time. Sometimes, the machinations of powerful archfey can cause entire Courts to merge or split apart, thought this is less common. Most fey creatures live long lives, and betrayals are not easily forgotten, so the ancient lords of the Feywild only make such major moves when there is a very good reason to.
May 8, 2019
Oath of Charity
Sacred Oath
Comments from the Finger: This paladin comes to you on behalf of an Extra Life charity stream run my Nathan Wilson, one of oursexy, powerful Discord moderators, to help fund his local children's hospital.
The stream will be running on May 11th, 2019 and will run for 21 hours, starting on 2:00 PM (CST). Join us as we play games (and talk D&D) in support of a great cause! I myself, as well as many of the other Digits will participate and I encourage you to donate a dollar or two!
Link here!
Oath of Charity
The Oath of Charity is an arduous path. Paladins who undertake it swear to give away all they can -- their wealth, their work, and their time -- to help others. After all, there is little change one can wrought by slaying evils alone; someone must do the difficult work of helping those in need. The place of an Oath of Charity paladin is not in the dungeon, but in the temple or in the streets, where one can aid those in need.
Yet many paladins who swear the Oath of Charity are not ignorant to the causes of inequality and poverty. When a petty despot would steal wealth for themselves or crime run rampant in the streets, they command the full force of their divine fury to redress the balance.
Comments from the Finger: This paladin comes to you on behalf of an Extra Life charity stream run my Nathan Wilson, one of our
The stream will be running on May 11th, 2019 and will run for 21 hours, starting on 2:00 PM (CST). Join us as we play games (and talk D&D) in support of a great cause! I myself, as well as many of the other Digits will participate and I encourage you to donate a dollar or two!
Link here!
Oath of Charity
The Oath of Charity is an arduous path. Paladins who undertake it swear to give away all they can -- their wealth, their work, and their time -- to help others. After all, there is little change one can wrought by slaying evils alone; someone must do the difficult work of helping those in need. The place of an Oath of Charity paladin is not in the dungeon, but in the temple or in the streets, where one can aid those in need.
Yet many paladins who swear the Oath of Charity are not ignorant to the causes of inequality and poverty. When a petty despot would steal wealth for themselves or crime run rampant in the streets, they command the full force of their divine fury to redress the balance.