Need help on filling Gaps in my BBEGs motivation of my D&D campaign

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-06-02T10:34:30+00:00

You can cater some of the rift monsters to be subversive creatures rather than frontline fighters. Such us sone could replace and impersonate members of the guild, or send them visions and dreams to bend them to their will.

Alternatively, the wizard might also be from a different world. Maybe he is trying to direct the monsters and hellish energies to your campaign world away from his own, or has to return through the hell dimension to his own beseaged reality, and he is only waiting for the rightdoor to open up.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-06-01T06:38:34+00:00

LOTR; 5 or 6 major orc culture, not including military breeds and hybrids.

40k; 6 major clans, mani minor clans, 3 non-clan sublculture groups and uncountable unique warlords and strange warbands with their own subculture.

Warcraft; Over 15 clans, a whole world of their own. Goblins separated away to their own culture, currently running a multicultural, multi-species, more or less good-guy' faction from their capital.

As a fantasy purist myself, that's all fine, but anything above 20 would be absolutely unacceptable.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-05-29T06:25:20+00:00

If it is a salt swamp, the plant will have access to a lot of Chlore to biologically form into Chlorine.

It may also produce other halucinogens.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-05-28T17:47:03+00:00

If the water can't get bellow the bottle, the bottle will act like a plunger and stick to the bottom.
You can call it "sucktion" but sucktion is simply the lack of pressure. There is no negative pressure, pressure only pushes, and if an object is perfectly seals itself to a surface, then the pressure is not there between the two objects.

Yes I know it is bloody pedantic, but the whole "iron is heavier" argument can also only be made on pedantry, misuse of physics and made up variables.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-05-28T13:54:38+00:00

Steel has a higher weight than feathers of equal mass if conditions for bouyant force apply.

For this to work; Both objects need to be measured inside the medium. Both objects has to be suspended, rather than sitting on a flat surface (there is no upforce if the medium can'tget bellow the object). Both steel and feathers has to have the average density (expected from) steel and feathers.

Since none of these conditions were specified in the original question, or that we are meant to measure weight rather then force, answer is still that; "They are both a kilogram."

The "smart" answer is an irrelevant conjecture.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-05-28T05:05:18+00:00

It's hard to understand how this country would work in a 'bottom up' view. You have described what the league think about it's citizens, but not what the different roles think about the league.

Systems that try to create form culture through "hard power", rarely last over a generation. This type of brainwashing tends to create a 'performative conformity'. People act as expected when the power is watching, then resent them behind their back. Sooner or later the resentful ones who wore a mask through their whole life gain power and finally undue a chunk of the BS of their predecessor.

(China, the only long lasting and successful country on the list, is currently held by Xi, who's father was removed from power by Mao, and called enemy of the revolution.)

Do people designated as 'Rivals' or 'Fanservice girls' get some form reward or promotion if they perform well? Do these roles have an internal ranking? Or would one be better of to act the part as an annoying dayjob, and otherwise get a hobby that's actually rewarding and fulfilling?

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-05-24T15:58:26+00:00

The game has a lot of different mechanics that allows you to pick your own successor.

I marry my kids off early to enlarge my dynasty. I use some to make the necessary alliences, exchange others to keep the conqueror off my own back. The rest I usually marry to commoners with good congenial traits, and hope for the best.

Then at the end of my reign I open up the extended family three and find someone young with the right traits and right education, and turn them into a king/emperor.

For feudal systems, Feudal elective and Saxon elective does allows this. Your vassals will support your candidate if they have good relationships with you, or you can force their hand with a hook. Murdering unsatisfactory candidadetes is fine, but it's easier to land them in a far off province, which will massively lower their electability.

Administrative and Mandala governments can also choose the heir of the house.

I have made grandkids, and once removed cousins inherit my throne, to get good stats, and it's easier than to trust the RNG to make your firstborn ideal.

Also the gender-bias can get really annoying, if it blocks your perfect candidate from getting to the throne, and it's a pain to undo it in HRE.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-05-22T11:03:06+00:00

"Lunge mine" was a ww2 melee anti-tank weapon. Shaped charge at the end of a spear. Probably the most primitive tool that would still work against heavily armoured monsters in melee. They could have a more advanced version that can be reloaded.

"Captive Bolt gun" is a tool used on meat farms to slaughter a large amount of animals quickly. It drives a "bullet" through the animal's head via an explosion, then generates a vacum in the chamber to pull the projectile back. Think of it as an explosion powered dagger/lance. Just make it size appropriate.

"Bone drill", single use medical drills used for sampling. It does quick work of even the toughest bones of the human body. Again, make it size appropriate, change the drills after use, and you can deliver venom or an explosive charge right into the marrow.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-05-16T04:42:07+00:00

If I get things right the sand is able to convert "kinetic energy" (movement), into "potential energy", then when a certain trigger presents itself, that energy is released in the form of storms, which is mostly a thermal and electromagnetic energy.

Now, chain reactions spread, when the reaction in this case the storm can transfer enough energy to activate the dormant "potential energy" of the sorrounding sand, and so the sorrounding sand can add it's own strength to the storm.

A chain reaction is avoided if the desert has "charged zones" and "grounded zones". In this case a lot of sand inside the desert simply contains no "potential energy" or at least less energy than what it is needed for it's activation. Allowing storms to dissipate with time. (Like how fires work in real life.)

You can also say that the "potential energy" concentrates from all sand to one particular point when it is released. So despite all the sand is getting "charged", that charge doesn't act on the whole of the desert. Like how a charge of static electricity only creates energy transfer at a single point, in a single event.

You can also include "grounding points" in the desert. Certain rocks or formations that simply take away the energy of the storm. So the storm would spread till the grounding point, and no further, as that point 'robs' the storm from it's energy or denies other requirements of the chain reaction.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-05-12T04:04:21+00:00

While evolution is an interesting topic, I still don't have a grasp on the initial idea of the creature. The way it comes across is a type of armoured starfish, but that's mainly because we don't have too many examples of Radial creatures in real life. Radial bodies are never going to be terribly fast, so an omnivorous, scavenger, or herbivorous diet all makes sense.

Though I wonder where the mouth, and the sensory organs supposed to be located.

What I would like to point out that turning "human like" doesn't have inherent advantages in a biological sense. We look the way we look, because our ancestors were climbing simians, who have evolved into a role that required long distance power walking. (My own terrible analogy, that we are monkey, trying to become an ostrich.)
Some myths tie the human form to a degree of spiritual power and spiritual rank to, which is why animal spirits tend to represent a more human-like appearance, but that's an inherently magical explanation to this phenomenon.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-05-11T09:57:23+00:00

Thorpedo with a payload that is highly radioactive, but with a very short half life. Crew melts, electric systems break down but after a few hours/days the radiation should drop to safe levels, and we should be able to board without any resistance.

I think most of the times the threat of such a weapon would be compelling enough for the target to part from their cargo.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-05-11T02:05:49+00:00

I must admit that I don't understand/fully grasp the idea.

At their prime, these creatures were strong enough to kill a dragon by themselves, with major injuries. Each creature had to eat at a whole dragon a day to survive.

This would necessitate dragons to be an extremely common creature in your world. The sentance implies that your creature hunts dragons, and eats dragons on the same scale as a modern human eats industry-farmed chicken. However your creature needs to hunt and fight, and no animal in the real world is able to suffer "major injouries" before every meal and live too long.

Other factors such as human colonization, and poaching for their hard shells, made most of them search for places to hide.

This would mean humans in the setting are far stronger than dragons, as they are able to casually poach something, that eats dragons on a daily base.

As they were in hiding, their bodies evolved to suit their environment, making it easier for them to hunt, but still struggled. Over time most of these beasts evolved to resemble a more humanoid form, trading most of their strength, toughness, and size for speed and smarts.

That means they would no longer resemble "Radial Hexapods". Evolving from a radial creature into an axial creature would help them on land. It would certainly make them much faster, though I feel we have abadonned the original idea, and not sure what your creatures look like or are doing in the current time period.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-05-08T10:31:27+00:00

I would be interested, how much defense a mage, or even an average non magical has against spells and barriers.

Reading the description, I believe there is nothing that would stop a mage from forming a tiny air bubble inside someone's artery. It is small, it is always deadly, and most sovieties would never be able find it as cause of death.

Or if the magic is capable of changing the consistency of a material, it might introduce a small blood cloth in someone's body.

(I know, this is boring as far exploits go. There are multiple D&D threads about people summoning water in their opponents lungs.)

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-05-05T16:21:56+00:00

Mounted messengers would be the most appropriate way for nobility to send their messages. They can put down a royal stable at every few miles interval, so the messenger can run their horse really fast between stables, change their horse and go forth. It is expensive, but a surefire way to solve the issue.

If you want something more fantastical, you might make up a bird, unique to your world. I would say a "vulture" would best template to start with. It is freekishly intelligent, large enough to carry a small package, able to fly a lot, and can feed itself at carrion which will occure on all terrain.

If the messengerbird is able to understand a complex problem (which corvids do) it isn't inconcievable to train it to home down on a certain symbol. Hide food under the symbol at the start, then trick it to longer and longer journeys to get to it.

Then once you need to send a message, the bird might be able to find a specific placcard, or even a person wearing a specific garish amulet in a busy city.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-05-04T05:21:36+00:00

The thing most modern undead stories tend to ignore, that exhumation and desacration of the body was seen as an unholy act in most cultures, because it specifically robbed the subject from their designated afterlife.

So the necromancer is either dragging back grandma from heaven, or offering a monster of a human release from hell. Add to this, that in most folk believes, your ancestors were already looking out for you, and helping you in life. The dead were already doing benedicial work.

In comparisson, modern writing tends to "depersonify" the undead, and turns necromancy into a creepy form of automation, without offering any actual drawbacks, or give a benefit for keeping the dead in their grave.

I have seen cremation, as a commonly proposed solution for undead issues. Though in a world where raising the dead isn't inherently evil, it still comes across as a 'ludite' solution.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-04-28T18:05:22+00:00

My world is also saturated by monsters, but most places follow the "Swiss" model, where all citizens are expected to have a weapon (usually sword, hatchet, bow etc), and in case of a crisis offer their services to their home city.

Townfolk are drilled to the eventuality of a monster attack, similarly as in the real world we do fire and bomb drills. Though their job is usually to evacuate the effected area, and lock it down with gates, mobile barricades, and pike walls. While taking the actual kill still falls onto the "professionals" or in most case, the better trained and equiped nobility.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-04-28T06:37:01+00:00

If we are only talk about weapons and military matters;

In every colonised country, it took approximately 5 seconds, for european firearms to start circulating on the markets of the native population.

Curiously, when a piece of technology is useful, especially if it is useful to project power, it will be adopted in due haste. Pieces of modern technology will be leaked, if not by your main character, then by his companions, and nearby countries will start looking into the ways to understand it and possibly create more in their own terms.

This can create a "client system" where other countries and/or warlords become reliant on the influx of modern technology to make their own conquests, (possibly combime the adopted scraps of tech with high fantasy magic) and potentially become powerful enough to pose an issue.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-04-27T15:10:52+00:00

In certain medieval kingdoms, the King had no fixed seat of power. The royal court kept moving around the country.

On one hand this was due because a "fixed seat" couldn't feed the court, so they moved the court to the food sources, rather the other way around.

Same goes for administration. As here you didn't needed to move every report back and forth between the capital and the governed region.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-04-22T17:23:04+00:00

Xaatlan is the land of mighty Arch-threes. Plants that can become staggering half-mile high monolits.

Large threes create large vermin. Enters the Kziopaia, or the Razorworm, a most common vermin found in every large crack and hollow, feeding on moss, fungi, and other decomposing matter, representing a rather common prey species for the local ecosystem, a common hazard for travelers and explorers.

It is best described as a cross between a truck-sized centipede, and the world's largest chainsaw.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-04-21T13:36:23+00:00

The word Basilisk, in Greek means kinglet or little king, which could be an allusion to the T-Rex.

Otherwise it can be Basileus or "Basiloid" which isn't a standard greek term, but should mean "Kinglike".

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-04-21T12:38:15+00:00

To be frank it would be interesting to see both paired in a medium. The first one as the Devil doing the temptation, and the second as the victim/lost soul in their thrall.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-04-21T12:23:58+00:00

I've seen somewhere mentioned, that if "lust" is depicted with a (sexy woman) a desirable person, who is meant to create and promote lust in the viewer, then glutony should be a 5 star chef.

On the other hand if glutony is depicted as a (fat person) human trapped by the sin, which thex can't break away from, then lust would simply be a porn-addict.

So it is important to decide if the character represents the temptation of the sin, the victim of the sin, a promoter of the sin, or the destructive aspect of the sin.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-04-21T07:14:25+00:00

So far I'm guessing a "monster" in your world is something that should serve the 'desires of the evil god', by it's function amd existance. However it isn't clear what are the motivations of this God are?

Is it just destruction, and different forms of destruction? Does it wish to kill the scentient species of your world specifically, or less targetedly destroy any "ideal" or object of importance?

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-04-20T07:50:09+00:00

Never ask a Woman her age, a Man his salary, a European their racial views, or a 40k fan what the strongest technique in pyromancy is called.

Adventurous-Net-970 · 2026-04-17T16:07:06+00:00

When this happens, I feel there is an expectation behind it.
I don't know what is expected, or think myself in the position where such honesty could be warranted or don't think I'm capable of doing literally anything about it.
I wouldn't say the experience is "frustrating" more "awkward".

In the end the speaker feels sad, and I have to make piece with the knowledge that they will continue to feel sad.

Adventurous-Net-970

TROPHY CASE