It’s February! So here’s a set of wallpapers for your computer, your smartphone, or whatever electronic device you’ve got. This month’s teases the upcoming release of Eldritch Lairs with a piece by the astounding Marcel Mercado.
This month, consider getting back into the important things in life—magic rituals!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Please, click on the image you want to download to expand it into a downloadable image.
At its surface, the College District is one of the city’s most ordered and well-kept of Zobeck’s districts. Below street level, however, there are abominations, history, and filth.
There are alchemical vaults, dungeon cells, moonshine pubs, secret libraries, and unnervingly sterile laboratories. These spaces intersect with Zobeck’s Cartways and sewers too, as well as natural formations such as an underground stream and colorful limestone cavern filled with unique formations. Old kobold tunnels meander here and there, but most of the shallow ones were filled in to support large buildings above ground. Deeper tunnels exist but go unmapped.
The ancient foundations of Zobeck’s first permanent settlements are accessible through subterranean fissures and, in places, are close to street level, just below the topsoil. In general, though, most shallow tunnels under the College District are utilitarian. Some have hissing tubes that snake along the ceiling. Inside them, leather carriers move scrolls and other objects, pushed by magical puffs of air initiated by maesters and scribes. Other tunnels channel a chunky effluent soup from the district’s kitchens, laboratories, laundries, privies, and stables while some are routes for small pipes. Fed by cisterns filled with clear rainwater, these pipes move clear fresh water around Zobeck.
There are numerous entrances to the Under College. Some are secret, and others are hidden in plain sight. These doors are located in the district’s tavern basements, college dorms, and the root cellar of at least one old building, but such entrances only permit access to the common area of the tunnel system and are for assassins, delivery boys, and smugglers.
The Arcane Collegium sits atop an underground complex called the Laboratorium. Passages orbit the Laboratorium in rings with security increasing as one moves from the outside ring toward the inner ones. Entrances to the outer ring of tunnels are barred, guarded, or plugged. Continuing deeper into the complex, there are inlaid runes that protect entrances as well as clockwork traps. Some traps help ensure that the Collegium has a fresh live catch of research patients while the traps that protect vital areas of the complex are lethal, possessing toothed clockwork death gears.
Rats are synonymous with the Under College. They are cat-sized, vicious, and transmit sewer plague. The college rats’ territory ranges from the levee at the River Derry to the undiscovered crystalline cave beneath the Temple of Celestial Dawn. The grey, greasy rats carry scraps of food and flesh back to their warren, a vaulted sewage tank by the Derry and throne room of the giant Rat Queen. A collapsing antechamber serves as the queen’s nursery where blind, squirming pups feed on anything they can sink their teeth into, including each other.
One hot night there was an outbreak of carrion crawlers from beneath Zobeck. The green monsters came up through building floors and street-level sewer grates. In the aftermath of the death and destruction when the last crawler was dead, it was determined that the infestation centered on the College District. Word among the kobold tunnel crew was that the crawlers were bred to provide poison and dispose of Collegium medical waste but had somehow gotten loose. The tunnel crew were most worried for their adopted otyugh Abby.
Raw taboo magic is unleashed in the Laboratorium, the “Lab.” It is within its salons that the dead regain their senses. There are also medical experiments conducted in the lab, procedures whereby such and such is removed and this or that is reattached or sown in. The experiments go horribly wrong more often than not but are always exciting and informative. Other lab salons are for the grim harvest—the tapping, siphoning, and storage of life energy—with even more rooms dedicated to autopsy, whether the patient be dead or not. The corridors are tiled, long, and featureless and the doors nondescript. There are illusions in place that make hallways seem infinite, and door numbers change at will. There are shadows too, and they move. Flickering blue soul-powered lamps provide the lab’s only light source, and underneath the eggy sulfur smell that permeates the complex, there is the coppery trace of blood.
In the northeast corner of the complex is a large stone foundation from an ancient temple discovered during excavation work. The big stone walls were incorporated in to the lab and became a holding area for the Collegium’s undead patients. Though the lab is relatively dry thanks to a buried clay rampart that keeps water from the nearby Argent out, riverbed ooze has popped the tiles off one tunnel and bleeds down its wall. In an especially rainy season, one of the lab’s deepest levels filled with the reddish-brown stuff. It took another season to shovel out the sublevel, which ended up used just for burials anyway.
The Laboratorium is where Master Necromancer Konrad von Eberfeld works. The Meister, as he is known to the Collegium, is an accomplished wizard and eldritch warrior. He is assisted by Nurse Hilde, who has long, black hair and a purple hue to her skin. She wears a stained miniskirt and top, revealing the scars of her patchwork body, and a leather garter holds her favorite operating implements. Besides Hilde, Rogi is always at the Meister’s side. Rogi is huge, scarred, ugly, and muscular, a worse-for-wear barbarian that does all the heavy lifting and chopping around the place. And at their disposal is a group of the Collegium’s finest acolytes, minions, and students.
Patients are paralyzed with crawler poison before orderlies restrain them on cold, squeaky gurneys. On their way to the operating table, they pass the squishy insides of countless creatures on display, including a mounted human nervous system (eyes and brain intact), and onward, where clockwork machines dissect the living. The machines probe and catalog tendons and muscles in use, immune to patients’ screams. One automaton specializes in opening chests and craniums, delighting in testing hearts and brains to see what makes people tick. This rather eccentric automaton has taken to covering its mechanical parts with skin taken from the most attractive patients it encounters. Right now, it wears the face of an elf, and its mechanical eyes stick through the empty eyeholes of the bloody facemask.
The Meister waits in the Laboratorium’s main operating theater, OR-1. He waits beside a grooved metal table lit by an articulating flood lamp. Nurse Hilde is at the Meister’s side and polishes his favorite scalpel on her torn stockings. Rogi is there too. He waits quietly in a corner with a cleaver in his hand. Several kobold assistants scurry about. They set up instruments and ready scrap buckets. One of the assistants kicks an old discarded chunk of flesh down a hole in the floor.
The garbage hole leads to the old crawler pen where kobolds and other small folk now have to cart off ever-growing piles of meat to a mechanical grinder. A sluice channels the emergent goo to the nearest drain. Several Collegium students stand against the walls of OR-1. They wear pink-stained white cloaks and wait patiently. Some clutch books while others hold empty organ jars. Everyone turns and stares when the patient rolls in. The Meister gets to work.
The Laboratorium offers students insight to the inner workings of Death, at its most fascinating and intriguing. Impressive as the archive of cataloged deaths may be, the library experience brings nothing to the table. To have something on the table, squirming and screaming, alive for the moment until delivered an academic death, well, that experience is irreplaceable. Below the College District, the Meister waits for you to explore and delve into research.
Von Eberfeld is tall and gaunt, a grey skinned educated aristocrat that displayed great manual dexterity, a propensity for the scientific method, and a talent for anatomical drawing. Known as the Meister of Death, he delights in discovering new biology. Von Eberfeld can cripple opponents, unleash terrifying area of effect spells on them, and escape in a pinch with dimension door.
Medium humanoid (human), neutral evil
Armor Class 12 (15 with mage armor)
Hit Points 84 (13d8 + 26)
Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 10 (+0) | 14 (+2) | 14 (+2) | 20 (+5) | 15 (+2) | 16 (+3) |
Saving throws Int +9 , Wis +6
Skills Arcana +9, Medicine +9, History +9, Persuasion +6, Intimidation +6, Performance +6
Senses passive Perception 12
Languages Common, others common to Zobeck
Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)
Spellcasting. Konrad von Eberfeld is a 9th-level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). Von Eberfeld has the following wizard spells prepared:
Razor. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack. +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.
Rogi used to be an adventurer, though his brutality saw him expelled from every party that he joined. He fell in with Zobeck’s criminal underworld, but even then his love of violence caused too many problems for that line of work. He’s found a home in the service of the depraved Konrad von Eberfeld, severing limbs, disposing of bodies, and unleashing his bloodlust on those souls misfortunate enough to intrude upon the Meister’s work.
Medium humanoid (half-orc), chaotic evil
Armor Class 15 (unarmored defense)
Hit points 60 (8d8 + 24)
Speed 40 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 16 (+3) | 14 (+2) | 16 (+3) | 8 (-1) | 12 (+1) | 8 (+1) |
Saving Throws Str +6, Con +6
Damage Resistance bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing (from Rage)
Senses passive Perception 11
Languages Common, Orcish
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)
Gas Mask. Rogi is immune to the effects of stinking cloud and similar gaseous or particulate matter.
Rage (2/day). As a bonus action, Rogi can enter a rage, granting him the following benefits:
His rage lasts for 1 minute or until he falls unconscious or ends his turn without attacking a hostile creature or taking damage.
Reckless. At the start of his turn, Rogi can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls during that turn, but attack rolls against him have advantage until the start of his next turn.
Multiattack. Rogi makes two melee attacks.
Giant Cleaver. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d12 + 3) slashing damage, or 11 (1d12 + 5) slashing damage during Rage.
Medium humanoid (human), neutral evil
Armor Class 12
Hit Points 51 (6d8 + 24)
Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 10 (+0) | 14 (+2) | 14 (+2) | 12 (+1) | 12 (+1) | 10 (+0) |
Saving Throws Con +4, Wis +3
Skills Medicine +3
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities poisoned, exhausted
Senses passive Perception 12
Languages Common
Challenge 4
Half-Undead. Hilde has immunities to poison, being poisoned, and being exhausted like an undead monster. She counts as an evil undead for features and spells that detect undead, though she counts as humanoid for features such as turn undead and divine smite.
Scalpel! Nurse Hilde handles supplies for von Eberfeld’s experiments and has a seemingly endless supply of sharp implements and vials of various liquids. She always has at least one knife on hand and can apply poisons as a bonus action. When she dies, her remaining vials are smashed and useless.
Knife. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for one minute.
Administer Healing Potion. As an action, Hilde can throw a healing potion to a target within 20 feet, which they can use their reaction to catch and consume immediately. The healing potion restores 7 (2d4 + 2) hit points on use.
Medium construct, lawful evil
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 26 (4d8 +8)
Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 10 (+0) | 14 (+2) | 12 (+1) | 10 (+0) | 10 (+0) | 10 (+0) |
Skills Medicine +2
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages Common
Challenge 1 (200 XP)
Dissection/Inspection Equipment “DIE.” Melee Weapon Attack. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.
Read more about the Undercity of Zobeck in Warlock #3, including Peter’s own “Under the Gullet” (which directly precedes the series you are reading).
Between the terrestrial realms of Midgard and the endless darkness of the Realms Beyond lie the stars. The stars of Midgard shine with power, sharing with their myriad servants and guardians. Among these are the star bearers and star elves, and these servants and others are often all that lie between Midgard and the consuming madness of the Endless Void. These celestial beings dwell in crystal cities and castles that orbit Midgard and nearby suns. The paths, portals, and magics the ancient elves used to travel beyond Midgard have been (mostly) lost to time. Still, some celestial magics and magic items have made it to the terrestrial realms, and a few examples are given below.
Wondrous item, rare, does not require attunement
This radiant dust is found in silver phials marked with celestial runes. When tossed on the crown of a humanoid’s head, the creature is granted an aura of vitality, as per the spell, for 5 minutes. If thrown in the face of a shadow-imbued creature or undead creature, it does 3d6 points of radiant damage. If the target creature makes a DC 15 Dexterity save, it takes only half damage.
Wondrous item, rare, does not require attunement
These small apple-sized globules are made from a highly reflective silver material and have a single golden rune etched on them. When the rune is spoken aloud, the bomb is armed, and when it then strikes a hard surface, it explodes and gives off a burst of radiant energy that does 4d6 radiant damage to any creature within a 10-foot radius. Any affected creature that makes a successful DC 15 Dexterity saving throw takes only half damage.
Wondrous item, legendary, requires attunement by a sorcerer, warlock or wizard
This silvered and gem-encrusted skull of an ancient star bearer grants a number of powers to an attuned spellcaster: You can counterspell any darkness spell cast by any creature that is not a deity without expending one of your spell slots, one time between each short rest. You can read any written language or rune. You can use one of the following powers for the length of your concentration between short rests: Darkvision, Ethereal Vision (see into the Ethereal Plane), See Invisible (each has a range of 30 feet). Once per week, between sunrise and sunset, you can use the skull to contact star bearer royalty and duplicate the effects of a contact other plane or commune spell (your choice).
Staff, legendary, requires attunement by a sorcerer, warlock or wizard
This 5-foot crystalline rod is covered with celestial runes and topped by a large amethyst. The staff has 10 charges and regains 1d3 charges every dawn. The wielder, once attuned, can use the following spell-like powers, expending the number of charges indicated: dancing lights, light or color spray (one charge each), continual flame or scorching ray (2 charges each), fire shield (3 charges), sunbeam (4 charges), prismatic spray (6 charges), sunburst or prismatic wall (8 charges). If all the charges are expended, the amethyst turns black, the staff shatters, and is destroyed forever.
Wondrous item, rare, does not require attunement
These filmy bubbles are each about the size of a large watermelon and are given to the terrestrial allies of Star Bearers They are designed to protect terrestrial mortals from the rigors of outer space. When placed on the head of a Small, Medium, or Large humanoid creature, the bubble spreads to cover the creature’s entire body with a thin, breathable layer of air inside the film. A creature so encapsulated can survive the vacuum of space, the depths of the ocean, and ignore the effects of toxic gases until the air inside is used up. The air lasts for up to 36 hours for a Small creature, 24 hours for a Medium creature, and 12 hours for a Large creature. The bubble also grants the protection of the mage armor spell while worn. After the air supply expires, the film and its protections dissolve into nothingness. There are very rare versions that have additional protections and enchantments, such as aura of life, continual flame, fly, or tongues. These versions require attunement.
Wondrous item, very rare, requires attunement
These large, clear, quartzite crystals are encrusted with minute celestial runes and allow an attuned wielder to summon a star bearer for up to one hour, once per day. Use the statistics of a spined devil, but lawful neutral instead of lawful evil. If the star bearer is killed, the crystal shatters and becomes useless. It is rumored that if one were to attach six or more of these together and cap them with an amethyst from a void dragon’s hoard, they would become a staff of the stars.
There’s a city not far from here, much like any other. On its surface, it’s full of life in the usual well-kept, mostly ordered snapshot of urban living you’re familiar with. But below its streets, there lies abominations, filth, and history.
Complete with alchemical vaults, dungeon cells, moonshine pubs, secret libraries, and unnervingly sterile laboratories, the spaces below intersect the sewers and various natural formations, such as an underground stream and a colorful limestone cavern filled with unique formations. Old tunnels meander here and there, but most of the shallow ones are filled in to support the large buildings above. Deeper tunnels exist but go unmapped.
The ancient foundations of the city’s first permanent settlements are accessible through subterranean fissures and, in places, are close to street level just below the topsoil. In general, though, most shallow tunnels are utilitarian. Some have hissing tubes that snake along the ceiling. Inside them, leather carriers move scrolls and other objects, pushed by magical puffs of air initiated by maesters and scribes. Other tunnels channel a chunky effluent soup from the district’s kitchens, laboratories, laundries, privies, and stables. Fed by cisterns filled with rainwater, the pipes move fresh water around the city.
It has numerous entrances: some secret and others hidden in plain sight. These doors are located in the district’s tavern basements and the root cellar of at least one old building, but such entrances only permit access to the common area of the tunnel system; this is where you’ll find assassins, delivery boys, and smugglers.
All of this sits atop the underground complex called the Laboratorium. Passages orbit it in rings with security increasing as one moves from the outside ring toward the inner ones. Entrances to the outer ring of tunnels are barred, guarded, or plugged. Continuing deeper into the complex, there are inlaid runes that protect entrances as well as clockwork traps. Some traps help ensure it has a fresh live catch of research patients while the traps that protect vital areas of the complex are lethal, possessing toothed clockwork death gears.
Rats are synonymous with the Laboratorium. They are cat-sized, vicious, and transmit sewer plague. The rats’ territory ranges from the levee at the river to the undiscovered crystalline cave beneath the temple district. The grey, greasy rats carry scraps of food and flesh back to their warren, a vaulted sewage tank by the river and throne room of the rat queen. A collapsing antechamber serves as the queen’s nursery where blind, squirming pups feed on anything they can sink their teeth into, including each other.
On especially hot nights, carrion crawlers emerge from beneath the city, through building floors and street-level sewer grates. Word among the tunnel crews is that the crawlers are bred to provide poison and dispose of waste, but they sometimes get loose. The tunnel crews were most worried for their adopted otyugh Abby.
Raw taboo magic is unleashed in the Laboratorium (or just the lab). It is within its salons that the dead regain their senses. There are also medical experiments conducted here, procedures whereby such and such is removed and this or that is reattached or sown in. The experiments go horribly wrong more often than not but are always exciting and informative. Other lab salons are for the grim harvest—the tapping, siphoning, and storage of life energy—with even more rooms dedicated to autopsy, whether the patient be dead or not. The corridors are tiled, long, and featureless and the doors nondescript. There are illusions in place that make hallways seem infinite, and door numbers change at will. There are shadows too, and they move. Flickering blue soul-powered lamps provide the lab’s only light source, and underneath the eggy sulfur smell that permeates the complex, there is the coppery trace of blood.
In the northeast corner of the complex is a large stone foundation from an ancient temple discovered during excavation work. The big stone walls were incorporated into the lab and became a holding area for the undead patients. Though the lab is relatively dry thanks to a buried clay rampart that keeps water from the nearby river out, riverbed ooze has popped the tiles off one tunnel and bleeds down its wall. In an especially rainy season, one of the lab’s deepest levels filled with the reddish-brown stuff. It took another season to shovel out the sublevel, which ended up used just for burials anyway.
The Laboratorium is where the Master works. He is an accomplished wizard and eldritch warrior and is assisted by Nurse Hilde, who has long, black hair and a purple hue to her skin. She wears a stained miniskirt and top, revealing the scars of her patchwork body, and a leather garter holds her favorite operating implements. Besides Hilde, Rogi is always at the Meister’s side. Rogi is huge, scarred, ugly, and muscular, a worse-for-wear barbarian that does all the heavy lifting and chopping around the place. And at their disposal is a group of the local magical college’s finest acolytes, minions, and students.
Patients are paralyzed with crawler poison before orderlies restrain them on cold, squeaky gurneys. On their way to the operating table, they pass the squishy insides of countless creatures on display, including a mounted human nervous system (eyes and brain intact), and onward, where clockwork machines dissect the living. The machines probe and catalog tendons and muscles in use, immune to patients’ screams. One automaton specializes in opening chests and craniums, delighting in testing hearts and brains to see what makes people tick. This rather eccentric automaton has taken to covering its mechanical parts with skin taken from the most attractive patients it encounters. Right now, it wears the face of an elf, and its mechanical eyes stick through the empty eyeholes of the bloody facemask.
The Master waits in the Laboratorium’s main operating theater, OR-1. He waits beside a grooved metal table lit by an articulating flood lamp. Nurse Hilde is at the Master’s side and polishes his favorite scalpel on her torn stockings. Rogi is there too. He waits quietly in a corner with a cleaver in his hand. Several assistants scurry about. They set up instruments and ready scrap buckets. One of the assistants kicks an old discarded chunk of flesh down a hole in the floor.
The garbage hole leads to the old crawler pen where small folk now have to cart off ever-growing piles of meat to a mechanical grinder. A sluice channels the emergent goo to the nearest drain. Several students stand against the walls of OR-1. They wear pink-stained white cloaks and wait patiently. Some clutch books while others hold empty organ jars. Everyone turns and stares when the patient rolls in. The Master gets to work.
The Laboratorium offers students insight to the inner workings of death at its most fascinating and intriguing. Impressive as the archive of cataloged deaths may be, the library experience brings nothing to the table. To have something on the table, squirming and screaming, alive for the moment until delivered an academic death, well, that experience is irreplaceable. Below the city, the Master waits for you to explore and delve into research.
The Master is tall and gaunt, a grey-skinned, educated aristocrat that displayed great manual dexterity, a propensity for the scientific method, and a talent for anatomical drawing. Known as the Master of Death, he delights in discovering new biology. He can cripple opponents, unleash terrifying area of effect spells on them, and escape in a pinch with dimension door.
Medium humanoid (human), neutral evil
Armor Class 12 (15 with mage armor)
Hit Points 84 (13d8 + 26)
Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 10 (+0) | 14 (+2) | 14 (+2) | 20 (+5) | 15 (+2) | 16 (+3) |
Saving throws Int +9 , Wis +6
Skills Arcana +9, Medicine +9, History +9, Persuasion +6, Intimidation +6, Performance +6
Senses passive Perception 12
Languages Common, others common to the region
Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)
Spellcasting. The Master is a 9th-level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). He has the following wizard spells prepared:
Razor. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack. +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.
Rogi used to be an adventurer, though his brutality saw him expelled from every party that he joined. He fell in with the city’s criminal underworld, but even then his love of violence caused too many problems for that line of work. He’s found a home in the service of the depraved Master, severing limbs, disposing of bodies, and unleashing his bloodlust on those souls unfortunate enough to intrude upon the Master’s work.
Medium humanoid (half-orc), chaotic evil
Armor Class 15 (unarmored defense)
Hit points 60 (8d8 + 24)
Speed 40 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 16 (+3) | 14 (+2) | 16 (+3) | 8 (-1) | 12 (+1) | 8 (+1) |
Saving Throws Str +6, Con +6
Damage Resistance bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing (from Rage)
Senses passive Perception 11
Languages Common, Orcish
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)
Gas Mask. Rogi is immune to the effects of stinking cloud and similar gaseous or particulate matter.
Rage (2/day). As a bonus action, Rogi can enter a rage, granting him the following benefits:
His rage lasts for 1 minute or until he falls unconscious or ends his turn without attacking a hostile creature or taking damage.
Reckless. At the start of his turn, Rogi can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls during that turn, but attack rolls against him have advantage until the start of his next turn.
Multiattack. Rogi makes two melee attacks.
Giant Cleaver. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d12 + 3) slashing damage, or 11 (1d12 + 5) slashing damage during Rage.
Medium humanoid (human), neutral evil
Armor Class 12
Hit Points 51 (6d8 + 24)
Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 10 (+0) | 14 (+2) | 14 (+2) | 12 (+1) | 12 (+1) | 10 (+0) |
Saving Throws Con +4, Wis +3
Skills Medicine +3
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities poisoned, exhausted
Senses passive Perception 12
Languages Common
Challenge 4
Half-Undead. Hilde has immunities to poison, being poisoned, and being exhausted like an undead monster. She counts as an evil undead for features and spells that detect undead, though she counts as humanoid for features such as turn undead and divine smite.
Scalpel! Nurse Hilde handles supplies for the Master’s experiments and has a seemingly endless supply of sharp implements and vials of various liquids. She always has at least one knife on hand and can apply poisons as a bonus action. When she dies, her remaining vials are smashed and useless.
Knife. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for one minute.
Administer Healing Potion. As an action, Hilde can throw a healing potion to a target within 20 feet, which they can use their reaction to catch and consume immediately. The healing potion restores 7 (2d4 + 2) hit points on use.
Medium construct, lawful evil
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 26 (4d8 +8)
Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 10 (+0) | 14 (+2) | 12 (+1) | 10 (+0) | 10 (+0) | 10 (+0) |
Skills Medicine +2
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages Common
Challenge 1 (200 XP)
Dissection/Inspection Equipment “DIE.” Melee Weapon Attack. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.
Art by Bryan Syme
Ever want to play a spell-using, kick-ass archer right from 1st level? Introducing the mystic archer, one of the 12 new and expanded Pathfinder Roleplaying Game classes in the recently released hardcover edition of the New Paths Compendium.
Dedicated to mastery of the bow, a mystic archer seamlessly blends the damage-dealing potential of the arcane with the deadly skills of an archer, using spells to enhance her natural abilities.
A mystic archer excels at ranged combat, able to strike distant targets with amazing accuracy and enchant her bow with a host of magical powers. Arrows fired by a mystic archer can be imbued with spells, can produce unique and startling effects on impact, and can even pass through solid objects.
Mystic archers are formidable combatants, using spell and bow to overcome virtually any obstacle. With their ability to rain magic arrows upon the enemy, they stand at the pinnacle of arcane archery!
The expanded, hardcover edition of the New Paths Compendium presents 12 new and expanded Pathfinder Roleplaying Game classes from level 1 through 20—plus new feats, new spells, and new archetypes.
“Anyway slug, stop staring at that picture and empty my chamber pot.”
Curious Locales presents quirky locations for GMs to drop into their campaigns. Free of class and level, they can be used in any fantasy RPG system.
Mistress Smedge has a dark secret. She has royal blood in her veins and is the bastard sister of the present queen, in fact—and unwanted by the crown. Her true name is Princess Angelina Gatiola Cremp. Or if you wish, she could be an important person belonging to a lesser, more local lineage. It doesn’t really matter. The fact is, she is older than the queen (or other ruler) and could contest the throne but does not wish for power and has been betrayed and lied to time and again, losing those she loved in the process. Eventually she decided that only escape and anonymity would resolve her fate without her death. She has therefore vanished into the wilds here, intent upon lying low for the rest of her days, but her very breeding make concealment difficult. She has to eat, however, and seeing begging below her, she took an opportunity when she bought her present home, using her last coins, from the landowner who owns the land. Sadly the owner was a drunkard and had also greedily sold the place to a passing merchant and crook—Strange—a few days later.
Unfortunately for Princess Cremp, the other “owner” refused to be a gentleman and back down when she arrived to find him already building, so she carried through her original plan of taking in sewing, doing tapestries and repair work to make coin, hoping to lie low and avoid detection.
Strange’s thriving business is ruining that chance. At first, she tried to be nice, but the walrus-mustachioed fellow fell in love with her—curse him. So she tried to scare him off: a minor fire here, stolen goods there, and an ill-fated pretend attack by actors dressed as orcs in the night (which luckily didn’t end in the orcs being killed or her secret use of them found out).
Strange refuses to give up hope of her affections; she does in some ways quite like his charms and stubbornness. He sends his customers her way for repairs to their clothes and such. Sadly her wonderful tapestries have been seen and talked about, and her talent—something that she is known for at court where she is wanted for treason—is spreading despite her best efforts to hide it. If only she hadn’t given Strange a trio of tapestries when she moved in. Now they hang in pride of place above his bar despite her best efforts to retrieve them. If anyone noble was to see them, their excellence could be her undoing. And each day, Strange’s ridiculous games make that more likely. Only last week, a passing group of knights came by to see what all the gaming was about. They could even now be telling the queen that her bastard unwanted elder sister is found!
You could run Strange and Cremp as a gentle love story with trouble around the corner. Perhaps the PCs are on hand when a group of knights recognizes her work as that of the missing royal and seek to make off with her—or do so and force Strange into action, hiring the PCs to help bring her back.
Do the PCs come into her confidence? Do Strange’s suspicions get raised by unwise questions and, learning the PCs talents for the outdoors, seek to get their help in spiriting her away into the wilds once more?
Are the PCs agents of the crooked ruler, offered a reward for capturing a traitor?
Whatever you wish, having the PCs briefly pass through the Tree House may spice up a part of an evening’s adventures.
To seasoned adventurers, the doom-laden chanting of priests and the cackling of evil wizards means only one thing: deadly peril and the chance for treasure! (Okay, that’s two things.)
Eldritch Lairs brings you eight complete 5th Edition compatible adventures for 4th‑ to 8th-level player characters, set in magic‑blasted wastes, dungeons, and deserts. Venture into the dark depths of the earth, through the twisted alleys of a town stricken with a supernatural plague, and beyond, to brave the dangers:
Eldritch Lairs—5E and Pathfinder—offers ready-to-go adventures full of magic and horror for your game, and player-friendly maps are also available for your VTT.
Since the rise of the “young” races, the boundaries of Faerie have waned and receded farther into the shadows. Once great powers and influences have been diminished or forbidden or forgotten. As the ancient traditions faded and the Old World separated from the New, some were compelled to depart along with it, by necessity or by choice or by force. Whether exiled wanderers or founders of new kingdoms beyond the veil, the fairest of Otherworld came to be called the sidhe and are wardens of the secret places, the forgotten ways, and the faerie roads. You’ll often find them near barrows and sacred oaks, near moonlit monoliths and other remnants of the old ways.
Here, however, we deal only with the fragmented aristocracy of the lords and ladies of the Seelie Court.
Defense of the downtrodden and protection of the weak, virtuousness and self-sacrifice, abstinence, charity, and humility—these things mean nothing to the Knights of the Seelie Court.
Valor and victory, courage and cleverness, glory, grace, and wit are the tenets upheld and understood by these shining and sumptuous sidhe. This and their fluid concepts of honor and justice have made them ever unlike any mortal counterpart. Whether abiding in dreaming kingdoms of their own or riding in summer service to the Seelie Court, the chivalry of the bright realms is represented largely by knighted nobles and landed gentry among the sidhe. Of these highborn fey, only the finest and most splendid in form and deed are chosen to join the Grande Cavalcades and transcendental tourneys, the heroic hunts and reckless revels of the Seelie Court.
She is Knight-Captain of Briarstone Keep, Marshal of the Moonscarred Road, and Warden of the southern Mistbriar. Lofty titles granted by a lofty lord, respectable titles of position and authority and responsibility… but not of glory. The Lady Urielle Snowthorn, once of House Glimmerwind, is now counted among the swordsworn of the Eastmarch—the elite order of sidhe knighthood that protects and oversees the Summerland’s mountainous, eastern frontier. Each of the Knights of the Eastmarch swear fealty and owe lands or title (for differing reasons) to the Alpine Prince, Lord Chelessfield, Marquis of the Eastward Marches and Lord-Protector of the Highland Reach.
It is no secret among whispering courtiers of the River Court and other gossips of the Summerlands that Lord Chelessfield desires the Lady Snowthorn for his consort, just as he once desired her ill-fated mother, the widow Yrshana Glimmerwind.
This might explain why Dame Urielle—who despite genteel birth, proven martial prowess, and years of dutiful service—is still quietly tucked-away in a rustic, frontier fasthold, far from the discerning eyes and silver tongues of more opulent and influential courts of the Summerlands. However, some discerning eyes search farther than others and some silver tongues ring cold and clear and seemingly without tarnish.
Medium fey (sidhe), chaotic neutral
Armor Class 19
Hit Points 111 (17d8 +34)
Speed 40 feet
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 14 (+2) | 20 (+5) | 14 (+2) | 15 (+3) | 14 (+2) | 19 (+4) |
Saving Throws Str +6, Dex +13, Int +7, Wis +6, Cha +8
Skills Acrobatics +9, Animal Handling +6, Investigation +7, Nature +7, Perception +6, Stealth +9, Survival +6
Senses darkvision 90 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages Common, Elvish, Sylvan
Challenge 9 (5,000 XP)
Fey Grace. Sidhe add their Charisma modifier to armor class, initiative checks, and Dexterity saving throws.
Magic Resistance. The Seelie Knight has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Spirit of the Summer Lands. The Seelie knight is immune to charm, paralysis and magical sleep, and has resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage, from weapons that aren’t magical, silver or made of (cold-forged) iron.
Spellcasting. The Lady Snowthorn is a 13th-level spellcaster who uses Charisma as her spellcasting ability (DC 16 + 8 spell attack). She knows the following ranger spells:
Flicker and Fade (30-feet/day). As a standard action, a sidhe may “leap” between spaces as if by dimension door. This magical “flicker” must begin and end within 30 feet of some discernible light source. A sidhe can “jump” a total of 30 feet per day in 10-foot increments (that is, 3 x 10-foot leaps or 1 x 30-foot leap per day). Using this ability with a faerie mount brings the mount along as part of the movement.
Frostfire Javelins (4/day). Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, range 30/120, one target. Hit: 16 (1d6 + 5) piercing plus (1d6) cold and (1d6) radiant damage.
Mantle of the Mist Lynx. A “gift,” from the Snow Queen, this cloak conjures up to 4 frostfire javelins per 24 hours and allows Urielle to cast fog cloud and gaseous form 1/day.
Moonthorn (Urielle’s Father’s Longsword +2). Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 12 (1d8 + 7), slashing, target and creature must succeed at a (DC14) Intelligence save to avoid lunacy, acquiring 1 random, short-term-madness. A target creature can only be affected by lunacy once per 24 hours. Constructs and undead are immune.
Multi-Attack. Dame Urielle makes two attacks per round.
Staghorn Shield. Another “gift” from Lady Snowthorn’s new friend, this is a menacing buckler of interwoven stag antlers. If Urielle suffers melee damage from a target she can see, she may use her reaction to counterattack, forcing a successful (DC 13) Dexterity save to avoid being disarmed, taking 11 (3d6) piercing damage.
We’ve previewed many of the 12 new and expanded Pathfinder Roleplaying Game classes in the recently released hardcover edition of the New Paths Compendium.
Next up—the theurge!
Some spend their lives poring over ancient tomes and texts. Others devote their lives to the gods, acting as emissaries of the divine. The theurge seeks to achieve a perfect balance between the divine and the arcane, blending both kinds of magic into a powerful and cohesive whole. Theurges revel in the unbridled wonders of magic, regardless of its source. They strive to refine their magical abilities and are often consumed by their quest to accomplish ever greater feats of spellcasting.
Although many theurges worship a specific deity, typically a god or goddess of magic, others choose instead to venerate personifications of magical forces or perhaps even magic itself. Theurges are obsessed with an unquenchable thirst to further their understanding and mastery of spellcasting and magic. Their strength lies in the ability to draw upon, combine, and manipulate the powers of magic in all its forms to overcome any obstacle or danger.
The expanded, hardcover edition of the New Paths Compendium presents 12 new and expanded Pathfinder Roleplaying Game classes from level 1 through 20—plus new feats, new spells, and new archetypes.
The world is full of adventure and intrigue, as well as those who seek both. These heroic few travel the world for glory, adventure, fame, and fortune. However, when they are not off saving the world or delving into dungeons and catacombs, they need a place to put up their feet and take off their boots. The Crossroads City offers such a place, a place of grandeur, a place where the newest of heroes along with the most experienced gather. Here they can find lodging, boast of adventures, find new ones, wager on fights in the Pit, and buy very expensive drinks. Welcome to the Lion’s Den!
Outside Description: This two-story, octagonal building has a golden, domed roof with white oak walls and darker support beams. The front of the building is unmistakable: an enormous lion’s head emblazons the front of the building with its mouth open. Two blue crystal eyes shine in the sunlight, surrounded by a yellow and white mane that covers the front of the building from roof to road. A small set of stairs rises into its gaping maw, flanked by several large white teeth lining the stairs to the entrance—two black wooden doors with gold rings. Large white fangs reach down toward the doors.
Ground Floor Description: As soon as you open the doors, a deep husky voice rings out, “Hazzaah, another round of drinks for the lot of us!” Standing in the open maw of the Lion’s Den, warm air rushes past you, accompanied by the smell of meat, ale, and wood smoke. The noise inside is overwhelming; shouting, laughter, and music fill the room. Looking around, you see peoples of all races gathered into one large area, conversing with one another. Various objects hang from the walls: animal heads, different weapons of combat, paintings, and tapestries of epic heroes doing battle. To your right, there is a large wooden board nailed to the wall with scraps of parchment posted to it. Beyond that by a few feet is a stairwell leading down into the stage and fighting pit area. Directly opposite where you stand and left of the bar, a stairwell leads to the second floor.
Lower Floor Description: The lower level of the Lion’s Den contains the main attractions. This floor is 100 feet long by 100 feet wide and 12 feet high. Directly to the right of the stairwell is the kitchen, which is a large enclosed area; the smells of meats and breads emanate from it. Halfway down the left wall is a 20-foot-long stage set against it, round tables and chairs are set before it. Along the right wall is the famous fighting pit of the Den. It’s 30 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep, surrounded by wooden posts and connecting ropes. Encircling the pit are wooden benches stacked at different heights to facilitate many observers. The rest of the open space is filled with finely crafted wooden booths with leather seat coverings, square and round tables with high back leather chairs.
Second Floor Description: The stairs ascend to a landing which diverges into hallways before you and to your right. Each of them has multiple doors leading into rooms where patrons stay. At the end of the forward hallway are large double doors that lead into a suite, furnished with a double bed, dresser, armoire, stand-up mirror, desk, and chair. Behind the other doors are smaller rooms, each furnished with a single bed, dresser, armoire, desk, and chair.
Owner and Barkeep: Murt Bartoq is a middle-aged human man. His long black hair is pulled back into a ponytail tight against his scalp. He is wearing a dark green shirt with a brown apron and black pants. He has an enjoyable demeanor and loves to make friends with all of his patrons the best he can. Murt does not tolerate violence among patrons; he has them tossed in the fighting pit.
Pit Fighting Bookie: Arlan Bartoq (Murt’s Brother) is only a couple years younger than Murt. He is of average height and slightly overweight. He wears a bowler hat on top of his balding head. His black and grey suit is slightly worn along with his brown leather shoes.
Jobs Board: This is used to post all sorts of jobs, including those beyond the gates of Zobeck.
The Band: The band Underground Rebels consists of a male human drummer (Ursk Brak), female elf singer (Vaeryllana Evesong), male gnome flutist (Topsie Riddle), and female kobold who plays the mandolin (Shyl Mot).
Adventure Hooks: The PCs overhear a couple of adventurous-looking men talking about an old mausoleum protruding from a cliff face on the eastern side of the Ironcrags.
GM Notes: Murt purchases all of his products from other expensive establishments. The current pitfighting champion is a human barbarian named Tormok Legbreaker.
Many frequent the Lion’s Den. It is a great place for PCs to find quests, get into a bar fight, join in the band, or make wagers on pit fighting.
Bringing you a taste from the dark pages of Warlock…
In the belly of the Dragoncoil Mountains lies an ancient and spectacular set of magma falls. The falls have many names but are most commonly known as the Firefalls of Ghoss. The story tells of a young dragonfolk sorcerer who, fleeing through the mountains from an angered nest of wyverns, discovered a wide tunnel leading to the falls. After descending into the mountain, he spied a ledge that looked out over the great flow of magma, and walking upon it, discovered a thinning of the veil between Midgard and the Eleven Hells. The sorcerer began to plot immediately.
Near the ledge in the heated stone walls around the magma flows, Ghoss built himself a fortress—hiring all manner of mercenaries, builders, and madmen to assist in its construction. The fortress housed Ghoss’ greatest hope—a magical focus built to harness the raw elemental energy that emanated from the falls and the infernal magic cast by the gateway on the ledge. But unbeknownst to the sorcerer, a great malevolence slumbered in the deep places below where the firefalls flowed into darkness. On the eve of the celebration of the fortress’s completion, a great wyrm imbued with magma and flame awoke to the sound of carousing and victory. Phosus, the dread wyrm of the falls arose and incinerated most of the celebrants in a single breath. “IT IS MINE,” the beast roared and with that took up residence in Ghoss’s fortress. The dragon found the focus and wrapped its fiery length around the stone and crystals, feeding on the stored magic.
As for the sorcerer, his life was spared, and he made a bargain with the wyrm. In exchange for five great magical treasures stolen from the temples of the gods, Ghoss could have access to the smoldering focus that Phosus now coveted. The dragon smiled and agreed, but upon the delivery of the final treasure, Phosus turned the sorcerer to ash.
Phosus prizes the following treasures above all others in its horde. Each was brought to the dragon by Ghoss, who acquired them through treachery, gall, and murder. The elders and high priests from whom the items were stolen are eager to have them returned. Fortunes await adventurers willing to risk the magma, smoke, and teeth of Phosus’ lair.
Weapons (Is [rapier], Suw [shortsword]), very rare (require attunement)
These twin swords are made from iced steel in the cold forges of the Northlands. Their blades are pale blue and translucent and when unsheathed shed dim white light in a 20-foot radius around their wielder. Their pommels are freezing to the touch to any save those who are attuned to them. The blades become shrouded in strange runes when exposed to temperatures below freezing; the runes float away from the swords and fade from sight after a few feet.
Each of the blades is a +2 weapon. The wielder may freely choose to have the swords do cold damage instead of their normal damage type. Once each day, as a bonus action, the wielder may invoke the following:
Frozen Wrath of Boreas. For one minute, creatures who take damage from both blades in the same round must make a DC 14 Constitution save or be restrained until the end of their next turn.
Helm, very rare (requires attunement)
This length of shimmering black silk is adorned with small skulls embroidered in silver thread and tiny pearls. Unless wrapped around the eyes of an attuned creature, Visios whispers incoherently to creatures within 60 foot of it. The whispers are both menacing and soothing. The first time a creature hears the whispers, it must make a DC 10 Wisdom save or be frightened for 1d4 hours, after which it is immune to this effect.
A creature who is attuned to Visios and wraps the blindfold around its eyes gains Devil’s Sight (as per the warlock’s Eldritch Invocation). Once each day, as a reaction to the death of a creature within 60 feet, the bearer of Visios may open their spirit to the following:
Truth in Death. Learn one secret about the dying creature from its spirit as it dies. The GM determines the nature of the secret learned.
Wondrous item (beer stein), very rare (requires attunement)
Made from lacquered sandstone and cherry wood, this festive-looking drinking stein fills the space its bearer occupies with pungent alcoholic mist. Anyone adjacent to the bearer can smell the aroma. The handle of Ales is carved wood and portrays a dwarven fertility symbol with lustrous yellow hair. The cap is made from sandstone and gold and does not flip open for any save Ales’s bearer. The stein is ever-filled with high-quality beer, and provided they drink from the stein each midday, the bearer gains +1 to Strength. The bearer of Ales may drain the stein once each day as a bonus action to gain the following:
Might of Nakash. For one minute, the bearer gains advantage on all Strength and Charisma ability checks. Additionally, creatures who take damage from a weapon attack of the bearer must succeed a DC 14 Strength save or be pushed 10 feet away from the bearer or knocked prone—bearer’ choice.
Read more on the dragon Phosus and Ghoss’s offerings—and read other great articles—in the upcoming Warlock, only on Patreon!
Art by Bryan Syme
The New Paths Compendium previews continue! Presenting the priest!
Priests are called to serve a divine power, much in the manner of a cleric. A priest’s connection to her deity forms the very core of her being—it is through this unwavering reverence that she receives her power and her strength. Unlike a cleric, however, a priest isn’t called to fight with force of arms. A priest enters the field of battle equipped only with the divine might of her god.
A true champion of her faith, a priest is utterly devoted to the teachings of her god and tireless in the quest to expand her deity’s influence in all things. Although most priests adhere to the hierarchy of their religion, every priest ultimately answers only to her god.
Priests use spells and divine abilities in combat, rather than weapons and armor. Perhaps even more so than with a cleric, a priest’s power derives from her faith. As such, all priests must focus their worship upon a specific divine source. Although most priests are associated with a church or a temple, many are called to actively spread their faith and thus spend more time out in the world than they do within the safety of church or temple walls.
The expanded, hardcover edition of the New Paths Compendium presents 12 new and expanded Pathfinder Roleplaying Game classes from level 1 through 20—plus new feats, new spells, and new archetypes.
This is Osvaud. What’s the first thing every wannabe dark lord does? Why, amass themselves a big ole nightmare army.
Today we are going to talk about why they are stupid.
Whether it’s a bunch of immoral orcs or crumbling skeletal legions, armies, for some reason, always seems to be step one of everyone’s three-part plan for world domination. Step two is usually marching the dread legions on the last spark of hope and light. Step three then usually gets interrupted by some hand-waved plot twist that probably only makes sense if you’ve been following the viewpoint of a half-dozen unwashed idiot protagonists. It’s like every hopeful bad guy hires the same crappy self-help guru instead of opening a freaking book.
I get the appeal. Who doesn’t want that moment where you walk out onto a balcony and a horde of terrifying minions chants your name? Plus, they seem economical on the face of it. Life is cheap in comparison to wands of fireball, and usually you get a lot of gimmicky discounts when you buy in bulk. You know, like, “Two free trolls with each hundred hobgoblins purchased!” The problem gets to be when you go overboard with it, and everyone always does because bigger sure does seem better.
Oh sure, I know what you are thinking (’cause I’m you, doofus). Undead! Just get a bunch of zombies and skeletons! Heck, then you can always raise the dead from among your enemies! Double army, woo!
Unfortunately, that is simply not how undead work. Zombie hordes are the rotting meat on the bones of clerics and necromancers who gotta keep the mindless morons in line. Plus, let’s face hard facts… everyone always knows to aim for the cackling jackasses in black robes surrounded by fell power.
Then giant armies also always lead to overconfidence, which means bad tactics. Oh sure, you outnumber the goody-two-shoes bastion 10 to 1, so why wait for a year to starve them out… when you can just take massive losses climbing sheer walls while getting shot by elves. So what! It saved time, and it is not like you actually care about the health and morale of a bunch of goblins.
It’s the same issue gamblers run into when they can’t stop tossing coins at a spinning wheel. They’ve already given up so much… so are sure to win. Unfortunately, one big battle doesn’t go your way, and suddenly your epic legion of shadow demons becomes a fond memory. Good luck taking them to the Abyss for a refund.
It’s not like the good guys are going to take prisoners or accept peace negotiations. Nope. They are going to march their pure and shiny butts to the front door of your volcano lair and slap you around.
Finally, having an army means you actually want to march around with them. Worse, in order to maintain your epic villain cred to the point where they don’t desert, you basically need to surround your black-robed cackling tailbone with fell power 24-7. As we’ve covered previously, everyone seems to get a lucky shot in 5% of the time. So even if you’re fighting an army composed of a bunch of venerable commoners with the blinded condition, you are still getting dropped in six seconds flat.
A weapon is more than the damage it deals. In combat, skilled warriors use their weapons to confuse, disorient, and disadvantage their enemies before moving in for the kill. Beyond Damage Dice ties unique maneuvers to weapons from both the core rules and the Midgard Campaign Setting, giving them a distinct impact on the battlefield. This article examines weapons haphazardly cobbled together by the kobolds of Zobeck’s slums.
The following maneuvers can be used by any character as long as they are wielding and proficient with the appropriate weapon. If a maneuver requires a creature to make a saving throw, the DC is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice). Unless specified, these maneuvers do not deal normal weapon damage.
| Name | Cost | Damage | Weight | Properties |
| Martial Melee Weapon | ||||
| Catchpole | 12 gp | 1d4 piercing | 8 lb. | Heavy, reach, two-handed |
The catchpole, also known as a man catcher, was once a popular tool of Zobeck’s constabulary for nonlethally apprehending criminals. This polearm has a circular two-pronged head instead of an axe or a spear tip. This pronged head allows the wielder to snap the loop shut around their target’s neck to entrap them or pull the target from a speeding horse, drag them to the ground, and pin them down. Versions of the man catcher were independently created in 18th century Europe, Edo-period Japan, and in pre-colonial Papua New Guinea.
The catchpole has fallen out of favor in recent years, and kobolds have seized upon massive stockpiles of the discarded weapons. As they were designed for human-sized gearforged police officers, catchpoles are too large for a single kobold to wield on its own. However, a group of two or three kobolds working in unison can use a catchpole to snatch unsuspecting passersby off the street—and then drop them in a back alley where dozens more of their warren wait with knives drawn.
Snag. When you hit a Medium or smaller creature with a catchpole attack, you can choose to grapple the target instead of dealing damage. While grappling a creature in this way, your speed is not reduced and you can make a Strength (Athletics) check to move the target a number of feet equal to the result of your check. This special grapple has an escape DC equal to your maneuver save DC.
Hurl. When you have a creature grappled in your catchpole (see “Snag”), you can end the grapple to throw the creature a number of feet equal to your Strength score. You can throw the first creature at another target as an improvised ranged weapon attack. On a hit, both the target and the hurled creature take 1d4 bludgeoning damage. On a miss, only the hurled creature takes damage.
Trip. As an attack while you are wielding a catchpole, you may sweep your opponent’s legs in an attempt to trip them. Make an attack roll against a Medium or smaller creature. If the attack hits, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or fall prone.
All kobolds know how to drop rocks on an unsuspecting target, but the most expert of kobold rock-droppers know that there are special techniques to letting a stone plummet atop a stupid gnome’s head. Winged kobolds make particularly good use of this technique, as their gods-given gift of flight lets them reach heights other kobolds can only dream of.
Dropping a heavy rock is a ranged weapon attack that deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage, plus an extra 1d4 damage for every 30 feet it falls, up to a maximum of 5d4 bludgeoning damage. Dropped rock attacks have disadvantage if the rock is dropped from more than 60 feet above the target. A dropped rock can only target a creature directly below you.
Bounced Rock. If a rock hits the ground hard enough, it can bounce when it hits the ground and potentially strike another nearby creature. When you make a dropped rock attack, you can declare that you are trying to bounce the rock. This attack has disadvantage, but if the attack misses, another creature within 5 feet of the original target must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d4 bludgeoning damage.
Spin Drop. By putting a spin on the rock before dropping it, you can target a creature not directly below you. The target can be up to 10 feet away from the space directly beneath you for every 30 feet the rock falls. This attack deals 1d4 less damage than a normal dropped rock attack.
If there’s one thing kobolds love, it’s jury-rigging explosives. If there’s one thing kobolds hate, it’s taking enough time to make sure they did it right. By using a small clay pot, 20 gp worth of black powder, a small fuse, and a strange assortment of other odds and ends, any kobold can make their own improvised explosive.
A bomb has a fuse that burns for 1 round. When it explodes, all creatures in a 5-foot radius of the bomb must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking 1d6 fire damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one. The bomb also has a random side effect, rolled on the table below.
| 1d4 | Random Effect |
| 1 | The bomb is a dud. It doesn’t explode and deals no damage. |
| 2 | Kobold incense within the bomb spreads the thick scent of patchouli throughout the area instead of the smell of black powder. |
| 3 | Sticky kobold goop within the bomb makes the bomb’s radius difficult terrain. |
| 4 | Kobold dung within the bomb forces all creatures within the bomb’s radius to make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw, becoming poisoned for 1 minute on a failed save. |
Art by Bryan Syme
Next up in our preview series on the New Paths Compendium classes—the trickster!
Utilizing cunning, magic, and deception, tricksters live lives of endless adventure. These crafty scoundrels combine a variety of useful, if questionable, skills with the science of arcane scholars and the natural might of innate casters. Tricksters are silver-tongued manipulators, stealthy combatants, and consummate explorers who covet dusty spell tomes and arcane knowledge as much as they do gold, silver, and gems.
The trickster’s forte ability allows you to customize the class to your liking—specialize on incredible feats of acrobatics, summon a magical familiar to act as an accomplice, beguile enemies, or steal spells as they’re being cast!
Tricksters excel at moving about unseen and catching foes unaware so they can attack with a well‑placed blade or spell. They are scholars of all things magical, constantly seeking out new spells and new items of magic. Outwitting opponents and out thinking obstacles is the trickster’s specialty, but one is equally capable of delivering a clever spell or a swift dagger in the back to solve a problem.
The expanded, hardcover edition of the New Paths Compendium presents 12 new and expanded Pathfinder Roleplaying Game classes from level 1 through 20—plus new feats, new spells, and new archetypes.
Welcome to the table. Weeks of investigation led the adventurers to the Farsight Estate, where a gathering of nobles provides a perfect opportunity to identify who wants them dead. During this session, the players experienced a new design for social encounters—one that required them to roleplay as the nobles from whom they wanted information. Let’s talk about player-controlled NPCs.
The sounds of soft music, gentle laughter, and the chimes of fine crystal filled the air. Dressed in fine evening attire, our adventurers stepped from the gilded black carriage and entered through fortified iron gates into Countess Farsight’s estate. Whoever had sent assassins to kill our adventurers was going to be at this party.
What is a player-controlled NPC? How can a GM implement these characters into their own game? How can player-controlled NPCs enhance the game?
Entering into the grand hall, the heroes split up, each planning to talk with a potential suspect to gather clues. There were five names on their list: Lord Burwick of the North, Abis Ullicher the Lady of Pearls, Duke Masteffen, Baroness Wessings, and Countess Farsight herself.
Player-controlled NPCs are designed by the GM with motivations, secrets, and goals. Every player is given a character description, and they alternate who plays the NPC and who plays their original character. As I gave each player a notecard with an NPC’s details, I explained that the players would try to discover a secret held by each NPC. These secrets, once gathered, would reveal who the villain was.
Strass made his way toward Lord Burwick of the North, an imposing individual with a finely maintained mustache who bore a long scar across his neck. Interrupting the lord’s current conversation, Strass began plying the noble with questions.
As the players started their conversations, some stood and moved to different parts of the room. As a result, the table began to feel like an actual gala. Playing the role as Countess Farsight, I could listen to each groups’ interactions and wait for players to interact with me.
For each note card, I provided the following categories: Personality Traits, Goal, Secret, and Clue. The personality traits help inform the players controlling these NPCs as to how they think, speak, and act. The goal is one or more things that the NPC will request of the player. Since this was an investigation, each NPC was also given a secret, which helped reveal who the villain could be. Finally, the clue should be information that helps guide players into asking about the secret in case the conversation should waver or get off track.
Lord Burwick was a strange man, who demanded that Strass take his son on a hunting trip during the winter. Strass agreed but only to prompt Lord Burwick into revealing details about the assassins. As Strass left the noble to find his friends, Lord Burwick’s words echoed in his head, “He has power in high places and many friends in the court.” Strass left the conversation to find his friends and compare information.
By transforming the play experience into a space where the party could talk more with one another than in front of an audience, I watched as some of my players took more risks with their roleplaying and decision making. The player that played Lord Burwick openly challenged Strass, a barbarian, with an imperious air—something that the player, a rogue, would normally never do.
Players may fail to discover a secret, or a conversation may go poorly and both characters can agree to end it. Providing an option for players to fail or lose an opportunity to learn a secret is important as doing so provides a consequence and sense of realism to the conversations the players are having. After each conversation comes to an end, I recommend asking the players to share the information they’ve acquired and any promises or requests the players may have accepted via the NPCs. In doing this, you can note which requests might serve as possible plot hooks in the future or which promises may have dire consequences.
Strass reconvened with Tyrash, and the two weighed their options. Lord Burwick and Countess Farsight did not hire the assassins, and the Abis Ullicher had no ties to the local syndicate. That left only Baroness Wessings and Duke Masteffen. As Tyrash scanned the room, he noticed Val chatting with the duke not too far away. Tyrash watched as the duke offered up two glasses of wine, a sly grin playing on his lips as he held one out to Val. A feeling of dread slowly crawled its way up Tyrash’s spine as he watched Val drink heavily from the goblet.
Player-controlled NPCs offer a fantastic way to break the usual pace of play at the table. By opening the table up, giving the party alternate characters to play within a social setting, the narrative is enhanced and players have an opportunity to engage in a social encounter in a unique way. While these opportunities can be novel and exciting, keep in mind that they may also require coaching and planning to go smoothly.
Let’s sum up:
Below, I’ve provided a template for the player-controlled NPCs. Feel free to use this at your own games, and let me know how it goes!
Personality Traits:
Goal: Abis wants the characters to help her smuggle some contraband out of the city. Alternatively, Abis will ask the characters to frame a member of the city watch.
Secret: Duke Masteffen often speaks about the adventurers, saying how annoyed he is by their antics. Lately, he’s said that he wished for the adventurers to be removed from the city.
Clue: One of the nobles has said a lot about the adventurers and their exploits.
See you at the table!
It’s March! So here’s a set of wallpapers for your computer, your smartphone, or whatever electronic device you’ve got. This month celebrates the new Midgard Worldbook with art by the late William O’Connor.
This month, consider getting back into the important things in life—dragons!
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Please, click on the image you want to download to expand it into a downloadable image.
Welcome to a world of dark roads and deep magic, where you can match wits with Baba Yaga, set sail for uncharted islands with minotaur corsairs, and face the fury of the giants in the icy north!
The Midgard Heroes Handbook for 5th Edition has everything you need to create a character for a 5th edition Midgard campaign, including full details on 11 new races and 4 variants on standard races. Roll up a trollkin barbarian, a ravenfolk fighter, a kobold rogue, and more.
You also get:
The shadow roads are open, and the World Serpent stirs in its sleep. Adventure awaits the bold!
“I’m back Master. Task completed.”
“You have the fifty I asked for?”
“Yes, oh Corpulently Nasaled One, with a note for each and every unusual one of them I met. May I ask why you assigned me this task, master?
“No. Now hand the list over, and go and oil the imp.”
Those of you with long memories may recall that in the (ahem) well-regarded publication Your Whispering Homunculus we had a table of 50 passing folk. These characters might be encountered on a street, walk up to the PCs and strike up a conversation, or be a bigger part in your adventures. When your NPCs have a certain something about them, it makes everything seem a little bit more believable or intriguing.
We here at YWH believe you can never have enough NPCs, so here for your gratification are 50 more passersby spread over two parts.
For more of Pett’s perilous puns and collected oddities from Your Whispering Homunculus, check out the collected Your Whispering Homunculus and More Whispering Homunculus.
Under the City presents opportunities to add new layers to your urban adventuring…
Lada’s Temple stands prominent among the city’s buildings, made all the more visible by a gilded marble statue perched atop its vaulted roof. The statue is of Lada, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. A sheaf of wheat is braided into her long hair, twisting as it flows down her body, modestly concealing her form, though parting to reveal her pregnant belly. The goddess holds a sun disc and smiles, welcoming petitioners gathered outside the temple’s grand oaken doors. The rising sun illuminates the temple’s pink granite walls, and the doors swing open. One of Lada’s priests emerges, opens his arms in blessing, and beckons the petitioners to enter. Inside, among golden pillars, Lada’s high priestess waits in full robes, splashed by color from the temple’s stained-glass windows.
It is known that Lada resides in Irij, the world of the dead, during winter. The goddess then returns to bless the world on the vernal equinox. The design of the temple is representative of this cycle. Its street-level main chamber—the cella—is offered to Lada as summer residence, and the sublevel is where she winters. The temple also provides spaces for public rituals, the internment of the high priestess, housing for Lada’s guards, their sergeants, and priests, and vaults that house varying scrolls and tomes. The temple’s non-public underground level is accessible via a series of secret doors in the hall as well as through chambers just off the cella.
Representing Irij, the lower level is centered on a large torch-lit room. At the center of the perfectly square room are statues of Lada and Veles, god of the Underworld. These substantial statues are surrounded by pedestal-mounted statues of an eagle, a deer, and a rooster. Cut sprigs of live cherry, dandelion, linden, and peony are scattered about them, accompanying grain-filled offertory jars and plates of fruits, vegetables, and a piece of beef. Large cones of cherrywood incense surround the statues and send wisps of smoke up to the temple through star-patterned holes bored in the room’s ceiling. A small grate in one corner of the room allows petitioners to drop offerings of coin and food from the temple above. At sunrise on the vernal equinox, a beam of light travels down a small shaft and shines on the statue of Lada, symbolically signaling Gerovit, the warrior sun god, to open the doors of Irij and let Lada free to bless the land.
Only two doors lead out of the central room (Irij). To the north lies a hallway with multiple doors. The first door opens to the spartan barracks of Lada’s guards. The barracks contain cots with wooden chests at their feet, bunkbeds, wash basins with running water, a wall rack holding heavy maces, and a large linen closet. Lada’s priests are afforded more comfortable, though equally spartan, dormitories. Humans are predominant among the guards and priests, so beds are sized accordingly. The next room along the hall is a guard room manned by two guards at one sergeant at all times to monitor traffic in the main hall. This room has a locked door that leads into a small passage lined with several locked vaults holding books, scrolls, and containers of all sorts. The main hall’s next door leads to the priestess’s quarters. A guard stands at attention here when the priestess is in residence. Just down the hallway is an arched opening that leads to a small mess hall with its adjacent kitchen, and the last door on the hallway opens to a narrow descending staircase that ends with a double privy stall. The high priestess has private access to such facility as part of her suite.
The southern door from the main room leads to a different hallway, less welcoming than the north passage. The hall’s first door appears as a simple wall to those who do not know how to open it, but offers secret passage to the temple’s ritual room to those who do. This public room is where petitioners are Cleansed in a ritual jump over a fire pit, ensuring fertility and protection from evil spirits. The ritual room is also connected to the temple upstairs by a long, ornate staircase and vents through a chimney. The ritual room can also be entered from the temple’s non-public lower level by secret door.
Though Lada’s temple was purposefully located at the intersection of three ley lines, her priests and high priestess are unaware of the crystal cave that exists directly beneath them. The cave is spherical and covered in iridescent-white crystal lattices. At its center, jutting straight up from the floor, is a single large green crystal. The cave collects the magnetic energy of the planet and generates current as the crystals crackle with energy, and blue bolts zap between crystals until the entire cave hums and discharges into the green one, making it glow. The inevitable rats gnawed their way in, though a scorched rat carcass lies mere feet from the foot of the green crystal, an effective warning to the rest of its kin. The small rat tunnels connect this cave with other under city works, and the temple’s occupants are unaware that the rats are close to digging into the temple’s lower level. Otherwise, the temple’s sewer connections have lethal clockwork rat traps labeled as such.
Medium humanoid (human), neutral good
Armor Class 13 (chain shirt)
Hit Points 49 (9d8+9)
Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 10 (+0) | 10 (+0) | 12 (+1) | 14 (+2) | 18 (+4) | 14 (+2) |
Saving Throws Wis +7, Cha +5
Skills History +5, Insight +7, Medicine +7, Religion +5
Senses passive Perception 14
Languages Common
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)
Spellcasting. Lada’s High Priestess is a 9th-level spellcaster. Her spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). She has the following cleric spells prepared:
Mace. Melee weapon attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage.
Medium humanoid (human), neutral good
Armor Class 10
Hit Points 9 (2d8)
Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 10 (+0) | 10 (+0) | 10 (+0) | 10 (+0) | 14 (+2) | 10 (+0) |
Skills Medicine +4, Religion +2
Languages Common
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)
Spellcasting. Lada’s priest is a 1st-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 11, +4 to hit with spell attacks). It has the following cleric spells prepared:
Mace. Melee weapon attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage.
Medium humanoid (human), lawful good
Armor Class 17 (breastplate, shield)
Hit Points 22 (4d8 + 4)
Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 14 (+2) | 10 (+0) | 12 (+1) | 10 (+0) | 12 (+1) | 10 (+0) |
Skills Perception +3
Senses passive Perception 13
Languages Common
Challenge 1 (200 XP)
Sacred Duty. The Temple Guard has advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
Warhammer. Melee weapon attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage.
Medium humanoid, lawful good
Armor Class 17 (splint)
Hit Points 52 (8d8 + 16)
Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 16 (+3) | 12 (+1) | 14 (+2) | 10 (+0) | 12 (+1) | 12 (+1) |
Skills Perception +3
Senses passive Perception 13
Languages Common
Challenge 3 (700 XP)
Sacred Duty. The Temple Sergeant has advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
Multiattack. The Temple Sergeant makes two attacks with its maul.
Maul. Melee weapon attack: +5 to hit, range 5ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage.
Radiance Bomb
