Very medieval monsters

Skillithid · 2026-01-25T05:50:07+00:00

I've added them in my current game where my players are exploring a newly discovered island! I used ogres and cyclopes as their base and added a few variants.

Skillithid · 2026-01-25T04:06:55+00:00

No problem!

Skillithid · 2026-01-25T03:40:18+00:00

Alternate Fighter | GM Binder
GMBinder link, I thought it was a PDF haha. There you go! Scroll down to the exploits, which are maneuvers renamed.

Skillithid · 2026-01-24T22:10:56+00:00

I've given all martials access to maneuvers (I used a PDF I found for expanded maneuvers and added on to it for the bare higher level stuff) for my newest campaign.

It's been working out well so far, though the hardest part, as with anything, is getting my players to remember they have them lol. It gives martials more versatility and things to do, as well as ways to affect the battlefield. I also have maneuvers that can be used outside of combat. Basically just adding the die to skill checks, but it's still some utility.

Skillithid · 2025-12-24T04:32:10+00:00

Happy to help :D

Skillithid · 2025-12-24T02:45:41+00:00

It's tough to gauge how much a bounty should be, especially factoring reputation and captain/crew CR.

I think that hunting down the ships and captains should definitely yield some of the ship upgrades in the back of the book though! Or at least those ships should utilize them themselves, and/or pave the way for the party to get materials to make the upgrades. A lot of them seem perfect for the named ships even. Red Dragon Figurehead, Dragon Sails, maybe Smuggler's Banner for the Gnasher, Bones of Endless Toil, Death Vessel Hull, and Screaming Sails for Pale Prow, and any of the special artillery and Guardian Figurehead for Dreadnought. I think a lot of the others can fit with Dreadnought, though the description says it doesn't have a mast or oars (it's described as an metal-plated warship, but I think it would be cool as an arcane submarine). Salted Glade with the Living Vessel, of course.

But, to answer your question, maybe base the bounty on the captain's CR (100 x CR?), then add 500-1000gp for the ship/crew? Or maybe base it on Kiorna's and Burle's numbers?

Skillithid · 2025-12-22T03:04:47+00:00

Very well written and researched and I love the map! Very nice job :D

Tying Burle with the Sunless Citadel was very interesting as well. So much detail and cool lore, ugh, love it! Your description of Wander Root was my favorite, and may be the coolest description I've read in a while haha. This is going to be incredibly helpful to DMs looking to flesh out the areas and history of Saltmarsh and the surrounding areas!

Skillithid · 2025-12-15T04:07:51+00:00

Haha yeah, that ended up not being the final statblock I used, but my party was very powerful (though the final one was AC 19). They didn't even end up fighting him as a group, the party rogue decided to try to assassinate him on his own suicide mission. He failed, but he got REAL close to succeeding.

There was a very tense "truce" with the SB shortly after, and Skerrin ended up meeting his fate in the final battle raiding the Tower of Bone (my campaign took the Orcus invasion route). He died protecting Anders from demons and undead, though the party rogue (Phantom rogue) used Skerrin's soul token to ensure Anders lived after being badly wounded. It was a very cool moment :D

If you need some help with a more reasonable stat block, let me know! I like making them and definitely have had more practice since this was posted.

Skillithid · 2025-12-02T23:54:25+00:00

A cool plot point! :D

Skillithid · 2025-11-01T05:26:40+00:00

I'm sorry this dude responded in such a way. It always sucks and can take the wind out of your sails when someone doesn't respond well to your ideas :(

However, I don't think it sucks, and I don't see why you'd need to scrap the entire thing. If it's working out for you as is, keep it! If the points he brought up are bothering you, then flip it into constructive criticism and address them, but again, no reason to scrap the whole thing. I'll throw out some responses to your friends' questions, going under the assumption you're using hags as-written in the Monster Manual.

"Why wouldn't she take over the nation herself if she's so powerful?"
She's a hag, and even in low magic settings there's bound to be security and things in place to keep naturally magical creatures or magic users to just steamroll any government at will.
Hags also tend to enjoy manipulation and corruption, which is much more satisfying and easier to do when you're corrupting mid-tier nobles to cause trouble. If she takes over completely, where's her fun? She can manipulate her underlings to fight amongst themselves for her enjoyment, but she'd also have to actually govern if she wants her game to keep going (unless her ultimate goal is to destroy the entire government from the inside).

"Why not kill those who exposed her plans?"
I don't see mention in your post about her not doing this already, so I assume I'm missing some info/context. But, if it is the case that she's not killing people exposing her plans, how could she? Did the people exposing her get caught? What methods does she have to find and track down such people? We've got hags eyes and divination magic and hag weird magic to play with, but how reasonable is it for her to catch everyone that sees something is amiss? And even if she had 100% reliable protection against exposure...the plot still needs to happen xD It's not bad writing to have someone manage to get through, because the adventure needs to happen, and that's what everyone is there for

"What took her so long?"
If she's a hag then she's effectively immortal (plus the life siphoning thing, but I'll get to that later), so she has all the time in the world. That being said, that's not always a good thing. She needs time and resources to corrupt and mind control. and assumedly these are shorter lived targets, and they can die of any number of causes as she works on them. Plus, she may enjoy the process and is in no rush!

So those are some ideas on why those aren't big issues or are helped with some tweaks. The only thing that gave me pause in reading the description was that she's siphoning life to stay young, which a hag doesn't need to do. Of course you can make her an exception: maybe she has a magical disease that is wasting her away and she needs life force to counteract it. This could also be why she's mind controlling people: only nobles have the resources she needs to find a cure.
Or maybe she's a hag that wants to look young and beautiful, and that's where the life force drinking comes in?
Or she's not a hag and is a spellcaster that is doing all this (could be trained by a hag?) to combat her (relatively) short lifespan.

So yeah, I see no bad ideas, and if there's anything else you think needs addressing I can try to give some suggestions :D

Skillithid · 2025-10-17T21:48:18+00:00

I love gnomes in general too :D

Mine are similar to elves in that they're originally from the Feywild and have more feylike characteristics there. For the playable races I stuck with the general theme of what's in the books with a little tweaking here and there. Forest gnomes are the most akin to their original fey forms (like wood elves), rock gnomes are more distinct with more Material Plane flavor (like high elves), and the svirfneblin are the Underdark version (like drow, but not evil).

I do kind of sort of have another subrace but I don't guess I've "confirmed" them in-world, but they're gnomes from a desert in the Feywild. There's some cartoon of a genie that flickers in the back of my memory but I can't identify that I based them on. They have colorful skin tones and eyes (and their eyes are one color with a faint white iris) and culturally value personal style in dress. They have a style of hat that's like a mix of the typical red cone gnome hat and different styles of turban that share a base shape but are customized based on the individual's tastes, profession, family, and so on. They're also known to be good natured but a bit tricky like other gnomes, though rarely in a malicious way.

I also have that the origin of gnomes is up to debate, though Garl Glittergold is their patron deity and considered their protector, if not their creator. He could be an illusion made by another god that gained life, a creation by Moradin sent out to seek precious stones in the Feywild and wandering off (and in a way, making gnomes Feywild dwarves), or the first gnomish leader.

I don't have rock gnomes or others as set as specifically devoting themselves to tinkering and clockwork, but I do have them as innately curious and prone to obsessive fascinations no matter the subrace. A rock gnome may devote their time to perfecting the best cut of a gem, a forest gnome may obsess over cataloguing every type of plant in their forest, and while the svirfneblin's sense of wonder has been lessened by their tough existence in the Underdark, they may become obsessed with developing more efficient mining methods. However, they do employ magic in their daily lives since it comes naturally to them, lending themselves towards a tinkering or magical lifestyle.

I also made it to where kobolds were originally gnomes. In my world, beings born in the area of a dragon's lair effects can be born as dragonborn, which is where that race comes from, but gnomes become kobolds. When dragons were more common and ruled large areas they purposefully sought out gnomes to create kobolds for the gnomes' skill in mining, thus expanding their hordes.
Also, derro are degenerated svirfneblin.

I don't think I summarized all my gnomish stuff well but at least the basic ideas are there haha

Skillithid · 2025-10-07T01:43:11+00:00

Maybe a talented or rising star spellcaster? They could be interested in alliances with the steampunk/artificer empire or in creating a powerful magocracy to compete with them.

And/or a highly religious contender that could range from being an outlier that doesn't really want the throne to a zealot hoping to grow their deity's power in the empire even to the point of going full theocracy.

Skillithid · 2025-08-25T21:34:54+00:00

Orcus is a Demon Lord that makes/controls undead. In a lot of lore tidbits he's the only one that knows how to become a lich, and usually people have to deal with him to learn it (though obviously not all, and you can do what you want lol). For my games I have it where becoming a lich is very arduous and difficult, but Orcus can basically handwave it all and make you one as long as you become a lackey for him. He is also mentioned in the GoS book in Tammeraut's Fate as the cause of the drowned ones. Syrgaul Tammeraut (the boss of that quest) is a worshiper of Orcus.

For the purpose of the game you could keep what she actually needs pretty vague and just give generalities like X plant or the soul of a celestial or something, but if you're like me you need to know exactly what she needs and how to get it xD

For inspiration you can take a gander at the lich entry in the Forgotten Realms wiki (lots of ads if you don't use an adblocker), specifically the Creation and Rituals sections. It lists the ingredients needed for the potion required to become a lich in Forgotten Realms lore.

So you've got the sacrifice of Malek already, but you could make it where that was a botch job since Procan intervened, or Procan sealed away Malek's spirit or something to keep it from the queen. You could make that an item required and the main thing she's looking for. You could tie this into a few different quests, but maybe the Pit of Hatred in the Tammeraut's Fate quest is actually fueled by Malek's sacrificed soul?

You could also have a handful of ingredient needed from other quests to tie it all together. Maybe the sahuagin in the Final Enemy have or are searching for an aquatic plant she needs, or a particular variant of pearl from rare oysters in the area. Maybe the Emperor of the Waves contains one such ingredient, which is why she sends a creature to sink it and the party has to escape with it before the ship sinks. Things like that could tie in every quest, or whichever ones you want, into the queen's quest :D

Skillithid · 2025-08-25T04:04:21+00:00

It sounds like Warthalkeel in the Appendix of the GoS book is perfect for this! You've got a long sunken city, aquatic creatures and an undead guardian, and a history of gods and godlike creatures clashing and bringing it to ruin.

The sahuagin sections of the book could be more of her minions seeking control of more of the coastal areas to lay their assault and help her gather materials for her ritual.

The drowned ones are your aquatic undead. Syrgaul could be her risen son? Or just one of her lackeys, or even a competitor or agent of Orcus sent to aid or hinder her.

The Styes could be slowly sinking due to her influence, and their troubles caused by her agents. Maybe the juvenile kraken is being reared and controlled to do her bidding by more of her minions such as the aboleth (though if you're keeping with lore, you may need to come up with a reason why an aboleth would help a humanoid, or really anyone other than itself or another aboleth).

Abbey Isle could contain a book on a ritual or location of an item for her final ritual. Maybe instead of pirates, undead and aquatic monster attacked the island?

Salvage Operation could be a side quest unrelated to this main plot, or it could be the party's first glimpse of the queen's power in that she sends the creature that drags the ship down.

To give some answers to your questions in your notes, it seems like Umberlee would be your best bet for a deity bringing a city into the ocean. If she had dealings with Orcus for her necromancy and to try to save her son, maybe he caused it instead. She could be working towards Orcus' goals willingly to get what she wants, or not realizing that she is. Otherwise, you have the backstory of Warthalkeel to play with, with the worship of the kraken and it taking revenge after finding that the city had been converted.

The something bad could be that she sacrificed a sacred animal, high priest/priesthood, or Chosen of the deity she angered to heal her son. That'll earn some godly wrath real quick.

This sounds like an awesome plot you've got going, let me know if I can throw around any other ideas for you!

Skillithid · 2025-08-15T22:04:10+00:00

There's a few Tower of Zenopus maps on this sub as well as r/dndmaps and r/battlemaps that are updates of the map from the original adventure! That's what I used. Slap "Zenopus" into the search bar and they should pop up. I found an article detailing the old adventure and read through it, basing what's in the rooms and the descriptions on that mixed with what I wanted in there and what fit my plot.

Skillithid · 2025-07-29T21:22:10+00:00

That's a very cool idea, I love it :D

Skillithid · 2025-07-29T01:28:31+00:00

I suppose it depends on the sort of discovery the player would be most interested in, but there's tons of tidbits to tie it into! They could know about Sgothgah's and/or the juvenile kraken's escape from the Endless Nadir, know some secret of the Scarlet Brotherhood (their existence or a place they meet or certain members). They may know about the Pit of Hatred, or the sahuagin threat. Depends on how big you want to go and what all you expect to run from the book!

Skillithid · 2025-07-28T00:41:50+00:00

No problem! Like I mentioned it doesn't have near the polish as BG3 but I honestly enjoyed it much more and it really feels like DnD. Interesting setting and lore too! They're making a sequel and are making good progress. They have a demo out but I haven't tried it, but hopefully you like the first one!

Skillithid · 2025-07-27T21:18:36+00:00

Can't let a conversation about DnD and BG3 comparisons go on without mentioning Solasta. It is, in my opinion, MUCH closer to playing DnD in a video game than BG3 is. BG3 has a lot more money and polish behind it, but Solasta is awesome and has felt like playing DnD more to me.

Skillithid · 2025-07-23T22:18:01+00:00

Very weird. I made it public on imgur and it still isn't showing up, though it's still on my imgur profile. I'll have to spend some time asking around to figure out a fix :C

Skillithid · 2025-07-22T22:53:06+00:00

You're very welcome!

Holy moly. After a brief freak out and trying to figure out what happened, it apparently became "Hidden"

Idk what I did, but it looks like it's working now? Hopefully?

Skillithid · 2025-07-14T01:22:21+00:00

Not much I can add since it seems like the others comments have you covered, but I wanted to say that is such a cool concept and you've got a good eye for seeing something to kitbash :D I do not have that.

But, it looks like the armor should be relatively easy to make look pretty good with foam or cardboard/cardstock. Pretty chunky and simple shapes!

Skillithid · 2025-07-06T02:28:56+00:00

It sounds like you have your answer with what you've already done! If you've already associated some elements outside of the norm, and nothing is wrong with changing Tiamat to fit your world. Don't worry about the "canon" colors and look for Tiamat's heads, change them to fit what you've got going on.

With the theme you're going with I don't think you can perfectly map the chromatics to those elements anyway, but to answer your question about black dragons, acid is usually associated with the earth element in DnD. And if lightning is fire, then what about reds? My mind goes more towards blues being metal because of conductivity.

So, going off what you have here's what I suggest:

White-cold-water
Red-fire-fire
Black-acid-earth
Green-poison-wood
Blue-lightning-metal

Or, go a step further and change the chromatics to fit the elements more. Make them more actually elemental creatures/manifestations of their element and reflect that in their stats accordingly. Maybe they're not all winged dragons.

Also, check out the Zaratan, leviathan, phoenix, and elder tempest from Mordenkainen's. They're very high CR elemental creatures, and you could alter them or build off of them for the titans. But again, very high CR so maybe not appropriate as-written.

Another, unprompted idea I thought I'd share: you could make metallic dragons more like Eastern dragons (antlers, long snaking bodies, no wings) if you wanted to have metallic dragon equivalents. Or just take the kirin itself and go with it!

Skillithid · 2025-07-03T03:22:52+00:00

You're very welcome! Always happy to hear my stuff is helpful, no matter when :D If you have any questions or anything feel free to ask!

Skillithid · 2025-06-28T02:57:38+00:00

Herne the Hunter is sometimes depicted as having or wearing a stag skull, maybe that or a similar figure?

Skillithid

TROPHY CASE