Tag: Dungeons & Dragons

Monster of the Month: Scorpent

Posted onAuthorBrendan Hainline

Each month, we’ll give you a new monster to use in your 5e game. This month, we give you the Scorpent. You can download the description and stat block of the blood tree here.

Scorpent

A scorpent is truly a terrible sight to behold – the long, twisting body of a large desert viper with the unsettling additions of a giant scorpion’s claws and poison stinger.

Despite this unusual and seemingly cumbersome anatomy, these creatures able to move remarkably quickly, slithering while also propelling themselves forward using their claws.

Relentless Predators

A scorpent is a formidable hunter and an effcient killer. t attacks with a relentless flurry of fang, claws, and stinger.

The true danger of a scorpent is its poisons. Scorpents combine the venomous bite of a snake with the poison sting of a scorpion. These poisons working in tandem can quickly overwhelm a scorpent’s victim.

Fury of the Wastes

A scorpent is the bane of desert travelers, especially caravans. t strikes quickly and leaves ruin in its wake. This creature has a cruel savagery, and will often go out of its way to attack mounts and beasts of burden. Then, even if the guards are able to drive the scorpent off, the caravan is stranded in the desert – and the scorpent will return once the people have been weakened by hunger and thirst to claim its prize.

Dark Worship

Cultists and fanatics who dwell in the deserts often revere a scorpent as a gift sent by their god. Some cults might even try to domesticate it and feed it sacrifices. A scorpent cannot truly be domesticated, but it will put up with the cultists as long as it remains well-fed.

Favored by the Gods of Poison.
Being a combination of two poisonous creatures, scor- pents are often held in reverence by cults dedicated to deities that hold poison in their portfolios. Such deities include Talona, Zehir, Pyremius, Echidna, Achlys, and Seth.

Scorpent

Large monstrosity, neutral evil

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)

Hit Points 113 (15d10 + 30)

Speed 50 ft.

STRDEXCONINTWISCHA
15 (+2)18 (+4)15 (+2)4 (-3)10 (+0)3 (-4)

Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 10

Languages ––

Challenge 8 (3,900 xp)

Actions

Multiattack. The scorpent makes four attacks: two with its claws, one with its bite, and one with its sting.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8+2) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 14). The scorpent has two claws, each of which can grapple only one target.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8+2) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d10+2) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Magic Item of the Month: Bulwark Baby Björn

Posted onAuthorBrendan Hainline

Each month (eh, most months?), we’ll give you a new magic item to use in your 5e game. This month, we give you the bulwark baby björn.

Bulwark Baby Björn

Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement by an infant)

This magic item was created by a bard whose “downtime activities” resulted in them being the caretaker and guardian of a baby. The bard wanted to ensure that the baby remained safe even while they explored dangerous dungeons.

This magic harness holds the baby on the wearers chest and also provides the baby inside with magical protection.

While inside, a baby attuned to the baby björn has three-quarters cover (+5 to AC and Dexterity saving throws) and resists all damage. Additionally, whenever the baby in the björn takes damage, the adult wearing the baby björn can transfer all of the damage dealt to themselves, so that the baby takes no damage.

The Iceberg of Rime and Ruin

Posted onAuthorBrendan Hainline

Strange creatures with draconic traits have been attacking travelers along the northern Sword Coast between Luskan and Ironmaster, both on land and at sea. The creatures were first sighted after a mysterious iceberg, constantly shrouded in a cold fog, appeared off the coast near Fireshear several ten-days ago.

A call has gone out for brave adventurers to investigate the iceberg and discover what the connection is between it and the strange creatures that are being called “the dragon-blooded”.

This is the first part in what is intended to become a series focusing on the remnants of the Cult of the Dragon after their failed attempt to bring Tiamat into the world in Horde of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat. One branch of the cult has a new strategy to gain power: they are magically infusing creatures with the blood of dragons. They call these new creatures “dragon-blooded.”

This adventure is intended for a standard-sized party (3-5 players) of 3rd-level characters and is set in the Forgotten Realms™️ campaign setting.

The Iceberg of Rime and Ruin is available now on the DMs Guild.

New Supplement: Humanoid Swarms

Posted onAuthorBrendan Hainline

Humanoid foes such as goblins, orcs, and kobolds are iconic enemies in Dungeons & Dragons. They pose a challenge to a party at lower levels, but as the player characters become more powerful, these foes can only threaten a party when encountered in very large numbers. The party facing off against a horde of aggressors is a great narrative, but unfortunately running a large number of monsters has a side effect of greatly slowing down and complicating combat.

One way around this problem is to adopt the already-existent swarm rules for these humanoid foes. The rules for swarms allow for faster but still challenging encounters while still making use of quintessential humanoid enemies. This new supplement features statistic blocks for ten different types of humanoid swarms.

The Humanoid Swarms supplement can be found on the Dungeon Master’s Guild.

Monster of the Month: Blood Tree

Posted onAuthorBrendan Hainline

Each month, we’ll give you a new monster to use in your 5e game. This month, we give you the Blood Tree. You can download the description and stat block of the blood tree here.

Blood Tree

Blood trees are horrifically strange aberrations against nature. They look like coniferous trees, but instead of green leaves, their branches are covered in bizarre, blood-red pustules.

When an adventurer encounters a blood tree, many questions come to their mind: What is this thing? How did this thing come to be? But mostly, why is this a thing at all? Trees just aren’t supposed to be the color of blood.

Branches of Blood

The abnormal foliage of the blood tree can suck the blood out of creatures that get too close, even from a distance. It is the blood of its victims that gives the blood tree its freakish color. This eerie pigmentation makes the blood tree frightening to look at for all of those with sane and sound mind.

Unnatural Origins

No one knows where blood trees come from originally. Although they have a form that resembles trees, they are not plants. They are perversions of what trees should be, and whatever will or whim brought them into existence defies all attempts at comprehension.

Dark Decorations

Blood trees are often used as decorations at ungodly holidays and festivals by cultists, hags, witches, and others who worship and revere unholy powers. Blood trees are a dark, twisted reflection of festal trees used by goodly folk at more wholesome jubilees.

Blood Tree

Large Aberration, neutral evil

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)

Hit Points 45 (6d10 + 18)

Speed 0 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
18 (+4) 8 (-1) 16 (+3) 3 (-4) 10 (+0) 6 (-2)

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from non-magical weapons

Damage Immunities necrotic, poison

Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, poisoned

Senses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 10

Languages –

Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Unsettling Appearance. Any creature that starts its turn within 60 feet of the blood tree and can see the blood tree must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of the blood tree until the start of its next turn.

Actions

Blood Siphon. Ranged Spell Attack: +5 to hit, range 30 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d6) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken, and the blood tree regains hit points equal to that amount. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.

Magic Item of the Month: Bag o’ Bones

Posted onAuthorBrendan Hainline

Each month, we’ll give you a new magic item to use in your 5e game. This month, in the spirit of Halloween, we’re giving you an extra spooky magic item, the bag o’ bones.

Bag o’ Bones
Wondrous Item, Uncommon

This magic bag is just a bag of holding. However, some cruel necromancer filled the bag with 20 skeletons. See the Monster Manual for the skeletons’ statistics. An identify spell reveals this item to be a bag of holding.

When a creature uses their action to put something into or pull something out of the bag, one skeleton climbs out of the bag and attacks the nearest creature (usually whoever opened the bag). On each following round on the skeletons’ initiative count, another skeleton emerges from the bag and attacks the nearest creature. A creature can use their action to close and latch the bag. This prevents any more skeletons from emerging until the bag is opened again.

Once a skeleton comes out of the bag, the total number of skeletons remaining in the bag is reduced. After all 20 skeletons have climbed out, the bag is a regular bag of holding that can be used as normal.

Magic Item of the Month: The Oracle of Gorthmar

Posted onAuthorBrendan Hainline

Each month (eh, most months?), we’ll give you a new magic item to use in your 5e game. This month, we give you the oracle of Gorthmar, which was most recently featured in our podcast How The Quest Was Won, in the episode “The Wedding of Angelica Bane, Part 9 – The Oracle of Gorthmar”.

The Oracle of Gorthmar
Wondrous Item, Legendary

This object is carved from black stone into the shape of an orc skull with the crown of the head removed, creating a hollow basin to hold liquid.

To activate the oracle, one must sacrifice a humanoid creature in a bloodletting ritual that takes one minute and drains the victim’s blood into the basin in the skull. At the end of this time, the oracle will answer the first question that is asked in its presence. The oracle answers truthfully and directly, providing just enough information to be accurate, usually only a sentence or two. Only the oldest or most magically protected secrets are unknown to the oracle. After the question has been answered, the blood magically drains from the basin.

Monster of the Month: Storm Elemental

Posted onAuthorBrendan Hainline

Each month, we’ll give you a new monster to use in your 5e game. This month, we give you the Storm Elemental. You can download the description and stat block of the ice elemental here.

Storm Elementals

Storm elementals are the manifestations of thunderstorms, monsoons, and tempests. Their bodies are made of thick, dark grey clouds, rippling with bolts of electricity. The coming of a storm elemental is heralded by flashes of lightning and the peals of thunder.

Storm elementals are usually encountered on the Material Plane in areas where there is already heavy precipitation or bad weather, such as storm- battered seas or tropical rainforests. They are encountered more frequently during certain times of the year, such as summer afternoons or, in certain climates, the yearly rainy season.

Stormbringer

A storm elemental affects the weather patterns of whatever area that it is in, bringing rains and wind. This can create dangerous conditions, but at least the storm elemental can’t sneak up on anyone.

Thunder and Lightning

A creature facing a storm elemental has to be wary of two dangers. Just like a thunderstorm, each of a storm elemental’s lightning strikes is followed by a wave of booming thunder.

The Other Elements

Most adventurers know about the four most common types of elementals: air, earth, fire, and water. In some worlds, however, there are more than four elements. Storm is one of these other elements, together with other things such as ice, wood, metal, or even time.

Some multiverses might have a separate Plane of Storms from which storm elementals come. In others, a demiplane of storm exits where the Planes of Air and Water touch. If you introduce storm elementals into your game, consider their origins relative to the
four common elementals.

Storm Elemental

Large Elemental, neutral

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)

Hit Points 102 (12d10 + 36)

Speed 0 ft., fly 90 ft. (hover)

STR

 DEX CON INT WIS CHA
14 (+2) 18 (+4) 16 (+3) 6 (-2) 10 (+0)

7 (-2)

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from non-magical weapons

Damage Immunities lightning, poison, thunder

Condition Immunities exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, unconscious

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10

Languages Primordial (Tempestan)

Challenge 5 (1,800 xp)

Storm Form. The elemental can enter a hostile creature’s space and stop there. It can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.

Stormy Weather. When the elemental is outside, weather in a 1-mile radius acquires light wind and light rain. If there was already light ind, it becomes strong wind. If there was already light rain, it becomes heavy rain.

Actions

Multiattack. The elemental makes an attack with its lightning strike and then an attack with its thunder burst.

Lightning Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) lightning damage.

Thunderburst. Every creature within 20 ft. of the elemental must make a DC 13 Constitution save. On a failure, the creature takes 2d8 thunder damage. On a success, the creature takes half damage.

Magic Item of the Month: Heart Tree Bloom

Posted onAuthorBrendan Hainline

Each month, we’ll give you a new magic item to use in your 5e game. This month, we give you the heart tree bloom, which was featured in the podcast How The Quest Was Won in the episode “The Heart of the Forest, Part 5 – The Fang of Iron”.

Heart Tree Bloom
Wondrous Item, Common

This small flower is from a heart tree, a magical tree that is connected to the life energy of all the creatures in its forest. When this flower is in your possession and you fail your third death saving throw, the bloom is consumed and that failed death saving throw is turned into a success.

Magic Item of the Month: Tipping Tankard

Posted onAuthorBrendan Hainline

Each month, we’ll give you a new magic item to use in your 5e game. This month, we give you the tipping tankard.

Tipping Tankard
Wondrous Item, Common

This metal tankard is engraved with dwarven runes around its rim. The tankard can never be knocked over. If it is tipped, it wobbles until it magically rights itself. If it is dropped or thrown, it always lands right side up on its base.

Additionally, once an alcoholic beverage has been poured into the tankard, it cannot be spilled. Even if the tankard is held upside down, the liquid will stay in the inside the tankard. The only way for the drink to leave the tankard is to be consumed.