Introduction

Hello, and welcome to my Compendium of Cruelty. In these pages, you will find monsters, cursed artifacts, ancient lore, new classes and subclasses, house rules, new systems and much more. A word of warning however, this compendium contains many things of a more adult nature, from gratuitous violence and gore, to mentions of sexual assault and other unpleasantries. So be forewarned, and step carefully forward into this collection of carnage, callousness and creepiness.

Godspawn / Spirits

The Godspawn are creatures born from the essence of the gods or from the innate power of the earth. They are also sometimes called spirits and they tend to have a strong link to some natural place, feature, or event.

Dryad

Dryads are beautiful nature spirits, spawned of Vaelniv. They are mostly female in form, though some are masculine. A dryads skin is made from bark and their hair is made from leaves or vines. They protect their forests with thorns and brambles, in addition to some nature magic. Some dryads will also use bows or other weapons. When a new dryad is born, their mother plants a tree and the type of tree determines the appearance of the new dryad as it grows. This tree will live as long as the dryad lives and will die if the dryad dies. The shock of loosing their tree will normally kill a dryad, but some are instead driven mad and go on murderous rampages, killing everything that comes before her.

As dryads grow older they grow more powerful, and their trees grow larger. Eventually a dryad will become a matron, her tree becoming a meeting place for other dryads. A matron will form a court, consisting of the other powerful dryads in the area, called handmaidens. A handmaiden or matron will often seduce human or elven travelers in order to have children to continue the next generation of dryads.

Dryad Handmaiden

Medium Spirit, Chaotic Neutral

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• Armor Class 16 (Natural Armour)
• Hit Points 58
• Speed 40 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
15 (+2)	16 (+3)	10 (+0)	13 (+1)	18 (+4)	16 (+3)

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• Skills Perception +7, Stealth +6
• Damage Vulnerabilities Fire, slashing
• Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 17
• Languages Common, Sylvan
• Challenge Challenge and Xp

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Plant Stride. The Handmaiden can move through any living plant material and also cannot be slowed or damaged by plant based difficult terrain.

Tree Stride. Once on its turn, the Handmaiden can use 10 feet of its movement to step magically into one living tree within its reach and emerge from a second living tree within 60 feet of the first tree, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the second tree. Both trees must be large or bigger.

Actions

Multiattack. The Handmaiden makes either two bramble attacks, casts entangle, or uses Charm.

Bramble. Ranged Attack: +7 to hit, 60 ft. Range, one target. Hit: 1d10+4 piercing damage

Entangle Spell Attack: +7 to hit, 120 ft. Range, one target. Hit: 2d8+4 Bludgeoning damage. The target must also make a DC 14 strength save or be restrained by vines for a minute. As an action, the restrained creature can make a DC 14 Strength check, escaping from the vines on a success. The effect ends if the vines are destroyed. The vines have AC 10, 5 hit points, and vulnerability to fire damage.

Charm. The Handmaiden selects one target within 120 ft. that can see it. The target must succeed on a DC 16 wisdom save or be charmed by the Handmaiden for an hour. This charm ends if the Handmaiden harms the creature in any way. If the charm ends at the end of the hour, the creature must succeed on a DC 16 wisdom save or be charmed permanently by the Handmaiden. Once permanently charmed, the target may attempt to break free once per month.

Dryad Matron

Medium Spirit, Chaotic Neutral

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• Armor Class 17 (Natural Armour)
• Hit Points 104
• Speed 40 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	16 (+3)	14 (+2)	14 (+2)	21 (+5)	18 (+4)

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• Skills Perception +9, Stealth +7
• Damage Vulnerabilities Fire, slashing
• Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 19
• Languages Common, Sylvan
• Challenge Challenge and Xp

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Plant Stride. The Matron can move through any living plant material and also cannot be slowed or damaged by plant based difficult terrain.

Tree Stride. Once on its turn, the Matron can use 10 feet of its movement to step magically into one living tree within its reach and emerge from a second living tree within 60 feet of the first tree, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the second tree. Both trees must be large or bigger.

Innate Charm. The first time a creature attacks the Matron, the Matron can target it with the Matrons Charm ability as a free action.

Actions

Multiattack. The Matron makes either three bramble attacks, casts entangle and makes a bramble attack, or uses Charm and makes two bramble attacks.

Bramble. Ranged Attack: +9 to hit, 60 ft. Range, one target. Hit: 1d10+5 piercing damage

Entangle Spell Attack: +9 to hit, 120 ft. Range, one target. Hit: 2d8+5 Bludgeoning damage. The target must also make a DC 14 strength save or be restrained by vines for a minute. As an action, the restrained creature can make a DC 14 Strength check, escaping from the vines on a success. The effect ends if the vines are destroyed. The vines have AC 10, 5 hit points, and vulnerability to fire damage.

Charm. The Matron selects one target within 120 ft. that can see it. The target must succeed on a DC 16 wisdom save or be charmed by the Matron for an hour. This charm ends if the Matron harms the creature in any way. If the charm ends at the end of the hour, the creature must succeed on a DC 16 wisdom save or be charmed permanently by the Matron. Once permanently charmed, the target may attempt to break free once per month.

Nymph

Nymphs are to creeks and rivers what dryads are to forests. They are often cruel and capricious, often seeking to drown all but elves who try to befoul their sacred waters. Nymphs are born from water and return to water when they die. They are all female in form.

Nymphs can control the waters in which they live, dragging people underwater, or washing away bridges or those who stand too close to the edge of the water. Most people know where the nymphs live and avoid those areas or make sure to take offering to the nymph in order to gain safe passage.

Nymphs enjoy human(oid) food, or other luxuries. They enjoy fine silks even if there are quickly ruined in the water. Some nymphs will accept a promise for something, or a kiss if the traveler is particularly handsome or charming.

Some nymphs are kind, in contrast to the majority. These nymphs have been known to save children who fall in the river, or aid lost travelers.

Nymphs are known as great beauties among the gods and other spirits and are greatly desired as wives and consorts.

River Nymph

River nymphs are the most common sort of nymph and appear as young women for the most part.

Lake Nymph

Lake nymphs appear as older women and are more likely to be kind to passers-by, though they can be just as cruel as any. They have another form, that they take when angered, a large fish scaled woman.

Corrupted Nymph

Sometimes a nymph will fall in love with a being that is evil or unobtainable. In this case the nymph will be corrupted, turning dark and bloody, and trying to drown anyone they can, no matter what offerings they give.

Nereid

Daughters of Tyrius who dwell beneath the ocean. Spirits like the dryad and the nymph, though less human than the others. Nereid are normally only spotted during storms, where they rise to the surface and ride the waves, singing for their lost lovers, the Odei. Sailors dread to hear this sound, because it speaks ill of the strength of the storm that they find themselves in.

Odei

Spirits of the storm, they ride the winds and rains of powerful thunderstorms, they are the male counterparts of Nereid.

Landvaettir

Spirits of the land, landvaettir nourish the surrounding nature. They are usually tied to rock formations or caves but can exist anywhere. They are kind to those who are kind to nature but when their lands are threatened, they can grow hateful and angry, attacking anyone who enters their spaces. Landvaettir are genderless and are born from the tears of Aria as she is dragged back to the land of the dead each winter.

Landvaettir resemble a large human shaped figure made up of whatever land they are tied to. Some are made of earth and trees while others are mostly rock and stone. No matter what they look like they can control nearby plants and animals in order to defend their lands.

Valkyr

These female spirit warriors usher the souls of brave warriors to the land of the dead. They also serve as guards for the gods and their realms, and soldiers in the war against the daemons.

Inexorare

These spirits hunt down those who break magical promises or contracts. There are 5 different types, deployed depending on the nature of their target’s transgression.

Inexorare are only deployed when transgressions are serious, numerous, or done in a way to offend the gods.

• Blasphemare – These Inexorae chase those who blaspheme against the gods.
• Inquisitare – These Inexorare chase those who break magical contracts or oaths.
• Excarcere – These Inexorare chase those who escape divinely ordinated imprisonment.
• Disthanotare – These Inexorare chase those who cheat death.
• Adultare – These Inexorare chase those who betray their partner(s)'s trust in a major or public way.

Inexorare are strange constructs, part spirit, part daemon, part metal and bone. They are tireless pursuers, never resting until their targets lie dead or are captured.

Sleipnir

Giant winged wolves, these creatures are the messengers of the gods. They are amazingly fast and have an excellent sense of smell, which allows them to find the recipients of their divine messages.

Ailu

A winged red panda, servant of the gods. They have the power to heal the body and mind, as well as provide healing sleep.

Sleep of the Gods As an action, the Ailu can send up to twelve willing creatures within 120 ft. into a deep and restful sleep. The sleep lasts for one hour, and restores all hit points, spell slots, and any other abilities that recharge on a long or short rest. This sleep also restores all hit die, and counts as a long rest for any other purpose. In addition, any sanity healing is doubled, and the creature gains resistance to sanity damage for the next 24 hours.

Ixian

Ixian are fire spirits. They appear wherever a fire is large and hot, normally in bushfires or in blessed forges. They dance in the flames, spurring them to greater temperatures before fading with the flame. Sometimes an Ixian will survive the death of its fire and go on a rampage, burning everything that they can find.

Daemons

Daemons are spirits descended from the chaos that existed before the gods. Some live there still, in cities of mind bending architecture. Others live in the material world, some disguised as people or animals, while others wander the world in their true forms, terrorising, or tricking people they encounter. Other daemons possess people or animals from their home in chaos, only able to enter the material world under specific circumstances.

Broadly speaking there are three types of daemons.

Wendigo

The wendigo is a daemon who can possess those who willingly eat the flesh of another sentient creature. The persons fingernails elongate into claws and teeth into fangs. They are consumed with a hunger for the flesh of the still living and can only be killed with fire.

Wounds caused by the wendigo’s claws do not heal through natural means, and if a creature is wounded by a wendigo and subsequently dies, they have a chance to return to life as a wendigo.

Over time, a wendigo's form will shift even further, eventually loosing all signs of humanity and becoming a gaunt, primal being of hunger.

Persona

This daemon has a blank face and 4 malformed arms. It collects the faces of those it kills as a trophy, which it leaves hanging around its belt. The persona is completely immune to magic and can only be harmed by holy water, or weapons coated in holy water.

The persona can use the faces of those that it kills to mimic the persons appearance and mannerisms, though their face is oddly blank, and their eyes remain perfectly still at all times.

The persona attacks with vicious claws and magic that slows time around itself, causing attacks to miss and its enemies to become trapped in time.

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Persona

Medium Fiend, Chaotic Evil

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• Armor Class 19
• Hit Points 142
• Speed 30 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
14 (+2)	22 (+6)	14 (+2)	25 (+7)	19 (+4)	12 (+1)

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• Saving Throws Constitution +6, Wisdom +8
• Skills Perception +8
• Damage Vulnerabilities Weapons dipped in holy water or otherwise blessed with holy magic.
• Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing Damage from silvered Weapons, Radiant
• Damage Immunities Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing, Fire, Lightning, Poison, Necrotic, Force, Thunder, Acid
• Condition Immunities Grappled, Restrained, Prone, Paralyzed, Poisoned, Charmed
• Senses passive Perception 18
• Languages Understands and speaks all Languages
• Challenge Challenge and Xp

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Near Magic Immunity The persona is immune to any magical effect that it does not want to be affected by aside from spell that deal radiant damage or spells of at least 8th level.

Magical Mimicry The persona can perfectly mimic the appearance, voice, and mannerisms. However, the persona's eyes remain blank and lifeless. Any creature can spot the eyes with a DC 15 perception check.

Actions

Multiattack. The Persona makes either three claw attacks or uses Chronomatic aberration and one claw attack.

Claw. Melee Attack: +10 to hit, 10 ft. reach, one target. Hit 1d12+6 Slashing or Necrotic damage. if the target of this attack is under the stunned effect of this spell, the target is frozen in time for 1d6 rounds, during which time it can take no actions, cannot be moved, effected or damaged in any way. No spell or effect other than wish can undo this effect.

Chronomantic Aberration. Two creatures within 60 ft. of the Persona must succeed on a DC 16 wisdom save or be effected as if my the slow spell until the end of their next turn. If the save is failed by 5 or more, they are instead stunned until the end of their next turn.

Kaedra

The kaedra is a forest dwelling daemon with a deer skull for a head and the body of a tall humanoid. Kaedra hunt those who have broken promises or murdered someone. Sometimes a kaedra will go mad and hunt all who enter its forest. This is usually in response to people not respecting the forest in some way.

Kaedra are fast, their long legs giving them immense speed. They fight with shadowy magic and brawn, able to overpower most who enter their domains.

Kaedra and dryads are fiercely opposed, despite sharing similar goals. A kaedra will hunt down the heart trees of any dryads in its forest and uproot them to kill the dryad. In response the dryads will attempt to kill any kaedra which enter a forest guarded by dryads.

Succubus / Incubus / Nonccubus

The succubus is a feminine daemon who feeds on lust and desire. Succubus can only enter the material world when summoned or through portals to chaos. They drain a creatures lifeforce through intimate contact, either just a kiss or through sexual contact.

The incubus is the masculine form of the succubus.

A nonccubus is a genderless daemon who feeds on lust and desire, in the same way as the succubus and incubus. A nonccubus can appear a little more feminine or masculine depending on the individual and the desires of the creature it wishes to drain the life of.

All love daemons have two forms, a true demonic form, and their illusionary form, which changes depending on the sexual preference of whoever sees them. If a creature has no preference for the type of love daemon (a gay man looking at a succubus or an asexual person looking at any of the love daemons) they see an ordinary (if beautiful) person.

Multibrausedrome

The multibrausendrome is an eight-armed mage daemon that disguises itself as a human by hiding its extra arms under its robes. It infiltrates universities and mage schools in search of knowledge and bright young minds to corrupt. It has many purposes to its search for followers, including, but not limited to, protection, willing subjects for experimentation, willing souls to use for sacrifice, and reproduction. The multibrausendrome sleeps with a human woman and impregnates her with a multibrausendrome child. The resulting childbirth is almost always fatal for the mother.

Multibrausendrome are excellent at mind controlling magics, using them to control its followers and ensure their loyalty.

A multibrausendrome learns the spells of those it charms.

Octoheros

The octoheros is to the multibrausendrome what a priest is to the mage. They feed off holy magic and infiltrate churches and temples to corrupt young priests for exactly the same foul purposes that the multibrausendrome infiltrates places of arcane learning.

An octoheros learns any divine secrets that those it charms knows.

Special Mind Blank The octoheros is immune to any mental damage or any effect that targets the mind or reads the mind. Instinctive Enthrallment As a free action, any creature that the octoheros wishes to enthral within 500 ft. must make a difficulty 16 Mental Save or be enthralled for 24 hours. While enthralled in this way the octoheros can use a bonus action to read the surface thoughts of the creature and absorb one secret from the target. This is a free action. If the creature passes the save by 10 or more, they are aware the octoheros attempted to charm them. If the target is a spell caster, any spell they cast for the next week has its cost increased by 1. Whenever they cast a spell the octoheros heals 1d6 defence or 1d3 intelligence points spent on its own spellcasting.

Mystradecae

Mystradecae are daemons with batlike wings and clawed arms instead of legs. They hunt in packs and can stun people with a vicious scream. If given the chance they will pick up their enemies and drop them off cliffs.

Keres

A keres is a daemon who is summoned when a person meets an unusually violent or cruel end. The daemon haunts the area where the person died, trapping their spirit there until the daemon is slain. The body of a soul trapped by a Keres is raised as Keres Raised Body.

The actual daemon takes the form of a ball of red energy that hides itself near the site of the persons death.

The trapped soul has the persons face attacked to a swirling mass of darkness. It stays near the reanimated body, sometimes hiding inside the corpse.

Hook Daemon

These daemons are used as soldiers by more powerful evil daemons when they have a chance to invade the material world. They are tough and fast, with bladed hooks instead of arms as well as a barbed tail. The bladed hooks are able to cut through most armour, and the hook daemons own body is well protected with stone like skin.

Array

This daemon is a circular mass of arms and legs around a crystal centre, it possesses the unique ability to generate portals to chaos, as well as see everything around it. Arrays are used by those who wish to bring daemons into the material world.

Time Eater

This daemon is tall and wears a dark cloak. It eats time, making its enemies age fast and using the time taken against them.

Imp

These true daemons are small, about the height of a small cat or large bird. They are brightly coloured and have batlike wings. They are cowardly and rebellious and are used by other daemons as servants and scouts. They can throw fire, ice, or lightning, depending on their type, or attack with claws or bites. Their bites are venomous.

Imps can use magic to make themselves look like small animals, though they always have glowing eyes that reveal their true nature.

Lesser Daemon

The lowest true daemons aside from imps, lesser daemons are varied and numerous, fulfilling many different functions in the realms of the daemon lords, from basic soldiers, to entertainers.

Tsuchigumo

Tsuchigumo are shapeshifting spider daemons who inhabit forests and mountains. They take great delight in fooling travellers into revealing their secrets before devouring them and stealing their faces. The true form of a Tsuchigumo is a massive spider, as tall as a human and twice as big as a large horse. They have a spider face and a human face, which swap constantly. The Tsuchigumo can also take the form of anyone they have killed, mimicking their voice and mannerisms, before contorting to show how they died. A Tsuchigumo cannot be harmed by anything except magic and steel, even silver weapons glancing harmlessly off it. A line of salt around a campfire at night or along the windowsills or across the door will prevent it from harming you while you sleep.

Aeterumbras

This daemon takes the form of a dark armoured woman with black hair. She uses powerful shadow magic and can stun an enemy and made a shadow clone to attack them.

Oni

These ogre-like daemons have bright red skin, at least one horn and wield large iron clubs.

Millioculus

This woman shaped daemon wears a mask that looks human enough. However, when she takes her mask off, she reveals a thousand eyes that blink and gaze around individually. These eyes drive her prey to madness and allow her to control the minds of those who gaze upon her thousand eyes.

Bloodgetter

This daemon has a humanoid body and a strange head with 6 eyes and a large proboscis. The blood that the bloodgetter gathers through this proboscis goes into a fleshy tube through its head and into a large sack on its back. No one knows what it uses the blood for.

Blade Master

This daemon has four arms and four swords, which it uses with deadly speed.

Anubite

Anubite are jackal headed daemons who roam the deserts in search of people to kill. They can jump extraordinary distances to close in on their prey. Anubites are vicious and will hunt anything that strays into their territory. Jackals act as scouts for the anubites in return for a share of flesh once the slaughter is finished.

Legend states that the anubite were formed when a jackal headed god was slain in in the desert by a jealous sister. The blood dripped into the sands and the anubites rose from the spilled blood. Anubite Blood Tattoo You gain +5 jump.

Kishi

Two faced daemon. A kishi has an attractive human man's face on the front of its body and a hyena's face on the back. Kishi are said to use their human face, as well as smooth talk and other charms to attract young men and women, who they then eat with the hyena face. The hyena face is said to have long sharp teeth and jaws so strong they cannot be pulled off anything it bites. Kishi Blood Tattoo You gain +2 on all charisma skills.

Bell Ringer

This daemon, with 8 arms and 10 legs, rings the bells to herald the arrival of powerful daemons, or to urge other daemons on in battle.

Nicharvon

Nicharvon are spiderlike daemons that infest humanoid creatures, replacing their mouths, lower jaws, throat, and vocal chords with the daemons body. They then control the humanoid, forcing them to lure more victims for the daemon to impregnate with eggs. The victim is left alive and the wound is often not noticed, and they enjoy a week of freedom before the egg migrates to the throat and hatches, eager to continue its parents work in a new location.

Salaif

The salaif is a shadow daemon who takes the form of a pretty girl with dark skin, glowing white eyes, and long black hair. It lures people into shadows and then reveals a maw of sharp teeth before eating them.

Special Unnatural Beauty A creature that is sexually attracted to women has disadvantage on any attack rolls against the Salaif unless she has attacked them.

Kelpie

Kelpie are shape shifting water daemons who can appear as either horses or humans. They take people into the water to eat and throw their entrails to the bank. To protect yourself against a kelpie attack you must wear a crown made of seaweed and walk slowly, this will trick a kelpie into thinking you are also a kelpie.

Bakeneko

The bakeneko are shapeshifting cat daemons who live in cities. They protect children who become lost. They will not harm anyone unless that person is attempting to harm a child.

Dream Daemon

This daemon takes the shape of whatever the dreamer fears the most. It feeds on fear and pain and any injuries it deals in the Field of Dreams is carried over into the real world.

Special Shapeshifter Any creature that sees the dream daemon instead sees whatever it fears most in the world. If multiple creatures can see it, they each must make a difficulty 15 Mental Save and the dream daemon takes the form of the creature with the lowest save. Any creature that fails the save is frightened of the dream daemon. Mar the Fearful Any creature that is frighten of the dream daemon takes an additional 3d8 damage.

Chaneque

Daemons that take the form of children with the faces of old people in order to scare people to death.

Tsirisison

The Tsirison is a daemon with the head and claws of a praying mantis. It can change the colour of its skin and uses that to camouflage itself in order to ambush its prey.

Bayaif

The bayaif appears to be a young girl with strangely blank eyes. She will pretend to need help before turning into a swarm of carnivorous butterflies and attempting to kill anyone she can. Any young girls she finds will be reborn as Bayaif, to continue the spread of death.

Faceless Hunter

The faceless hunter is a weaker daemon who appears in a humanoid guise but with a blank, masklike face. It carries a bow and stalks its prey from afar.

Jorōgumo

Another spiderlike daemon, spawn of Nyrha. It takes the form of a beautiful woman, dwells in the ponds under waterfalls, and if it cannot convince her prey into the water through her beauty, she will drag them in with a sticky web.

Kyoira

This daemon possesses the bodies of humanoid creatures who kill themselves and takes revenge on anyone who wronged the person in life. It contorts the body into a monstrous spider-like shape which can climb on walls and fit through any gap. Once the daemon has taken its revenge it will take the body and soul back to chaos.

Special Daemonic Form A Kyoira is immune to normal weapons and necrotic damage, and strong against steel weapons, elemental and magic. Its speed cannot be reduced by any means. Eternal Revenge A Kyoira that is destroyed before it has killed its targets returns to life the next midnight. It can only permanently be killed if its targets feel true remorse for their actions.

Attacks The Kyoira makes a horrific charge or uses insane flurry. Horrific Charge +10 to hit, 10 ft reach, 3d8+6 damage on a hit. When charging, the Kyoira can move up to double its movement speed. Any creature that sees the Kyoira use this ability for the first time must make a difficulty 18 mental save or take 1d8 sanity damage. If the target is killed with this attack all creatures who see it have disadvantage on this save. Insane Flurry The Kyoira makes one attack against every creature within 10 ft. of it. +10 to hit, 10 ft. reach, 1d8+6 damage. If the Kyoira hits at least 4 creatures with this ability each target must make a difficulty 18 mental save or take 1d4 sanity damage.

Elementals

Elementals are daemons linked with a specific element. There are hundreds of types of elementals. To create a new elemental, use the stats presented here and adjust the spells and damage immunities to make something that makes sense.

Common Elementals: Fire Water Earth Stone Air Lava Mud Lightning Arcane Steam Plant Metal Ice Snow

Monsters

Gorgon

Gorgons are women with snake hair and scaly skin, anyone who gazes upon a gorgon is turned to stone. Gorgons were some of the first daughters of the goddess Nyrha and when the other gods discovered this existence, they cursed them with their petrifying gaze. Gorgon Blood Tattoo You are immune to petrification.

Gorgonae

The half-blood offspring of a gorgon, the gorgonae are vicious beasts who use their snake hair and snake bodies to kill for no reason other than to kill. They lack the petrifying gaze of their mothers, and indeed lack eyes entirely, relying on echolocation to see. Unlike gorgons, gorgonae can be male or female, though they cannot reproduce themselves.

##Hydra Hydra are giant snake-like creatures with many heads. When their heads are removed, they grow back two in the decapitated heads place. Burning the wound with fire will stop the regrowth.

The hydra can breathe poisonous gas and even their blood burns the skin on contact. Hydra Blood Tattoo During a long rest you can heal any one wound without requiring a medicine test.

Heads A hydra begins its life with 5 heads. When a hydra takes a major or mortal wound, one of its heads is cut off. When the hydra uses its regeneration trait it can regrow two heads in the place of the one that was cut off, increasing its wound limit by 1.

If the wound that cuts off a head was fire damage, or an attack deals fire damage to the hydra before the head regrows, it cannot regrow the head.

A hydra can take as many actions outside of its turn as it has heads.

False Hydra

The false hydra is a strange being that exudes an area of forgetfulness while it sings. It lives underground and burrows towards populated settlements. Once there it burrows its head through a street and begins to sing. Any creature that can hear the false hydra singing has its mind turned against it. Its vision glides over the false hydra and it cannot remember seeing it. Eventually the false hydra eats someone, and that person is added to the false hydra’s memory wipe. People are forgotten, and the minds of those who knew them adjust memories to account for the disappearance. However, while the false hydra eats it is vulnerable, for it ceases to sing for the few minutes while it eats.

Eventually the false hydra grows additional heads, each increasing the range of its song. False Hydra Tattoo For one hour per day you can activate the false hydras memory blank ability.

Kraken

The kraken is an enormous sea creature with many barbed tentacles. It is large enough to destroy entire ships, plucking the crew out of the water to eat whole. Kraken Blood Tattoo You cannot be grappled.

Special Monstrous Form The Kraken is immune to damage from ordinary weapons, psychic damage, poison, paralysis, poisoned, stunned, restrained, confused and any instant death effect. It takes half damage from acid, fire, necrotic, holy, and lightning damage. Silver has no additional effect on a hydra.

Grootslang

The Grootslang is an enormous elephant snake that lives underground and protects precious minerals.

Manticore

The manticore is a monster with the body of a lion, the head of a human and a tail of a scorpion, which is lined with venomous spines which it can shoot as its prey.

Mohawk

The mohawk is a monstrous humanoid lizard with a crest of sharp bladed spines along its head and back, which cut into creatures that try to attack it. It stalks its prey through its marshy home and claws them apart to eat.

Special Defensive Spines Any creature that attacks the Mohawk in melee must make an Avoidance Save with a difficulty of 15 or take 2d6 piercing damage.

Attacks The Mohawk makes two rending claw attacks. Rending Claw +7 to hit, 5 ft reach, 1d6+4 damage. Any creature hit by this attack has their base armour class from armour, shield, or natural armour reduced by 1. A set of armour or shield which loses all bonus to its armour class to this ability is destroyed.

Dracaenae

Dracaenae are dragons with the upper bodies of giant women. They share the greed of their dragon ancestors and often work together to guard large hoards of wealth. Very rarely, dwarven or human kingdoms will hire them to protect treasure vaults. These agreements often end badly, for as soon as a Dracaenae believes itself to be strong enough to take the treasure themselves they will do so.

Lamprey

The lamprey is a horrifying creature that forms an unwilling symbiotic relationship with its unfortunate host. The actual creature resembles a three tailed leech approximately as thick as a human neck. The lamprey finds sleeping creatures to infest, attacking quickly and quietly, before attempting to remove the creatures head.

Once it has done so the lamprey attaches itself to the body and takes control. They body becomes stronger and mutated, often growing spines and natural armour. The lamprey will then stalk other creatures of the same type of its host body, seeking to capture them and infect them with lamprey eggs. These eggs burrow to the heart of the creature over the course of a week and then consume the creature from the inside out, hatching out as a fully-grown lamprey that then goes to search for a host. Making a Lamprey Host The host gains +4 strength, +2 dexterity, +4 ac, +2 DR and a claw attack that deals 1d8 damage.

Gamayun

Gamayun are birds with the heads of old women. They can see the future and will tell people fortunes in exchange for wine or spirits. Their fortune-tellings focus on death, strife, and love affairs. Gamayun Blood Tattoo Once per day you can reroll both dice of a 2d10 roll. You can decide to do this after seeing the roll but before the GM announces the result.

Special Fortune Knower Any creature that targets a Gamayun always has disadvantage on the attack, no matter how many sources of advantage they have. In addition, when a creature attacking a Gamayun rolls with disadvantage, they must roll 4 dice and take the lowest two.

Foretelling of Doom One creature within 60 ft. must make a difficulty 18 mental save or be cursed with bad luck. Whenever they roll a 10 on an attack roll or test, they must reroll it and use the new result. The curse ends if the new result is a 10 and the attempted action is a success.

Isonade

Giant fish monster. Rams boats with its massive bulk and eats the survivors.

Chaos Whale

These giant whales, with 6 flippers, 14 eyes and flames and chaotic energy trailing behind them, are remnants of the last daemon war. They are rare sights, usually flying high above the clouds. Occasionally they will come down to feed, leaving vast swarths of the country side burned and infested with the many daemons that crawl on their backs.

Swarm of Nyhra

When viewed from a distance, this swarm looks like a massive spider, but as it approaches it becomes clear that it is in fact formed from an enormous mass of centipedes that work together to create the spider-like form.

When the swarm attacks, the centipedes break off from the swarm, burrowing inside the victim to lay eggs beneath the target's skin. Thus, even if the swarm is defeated, it can reform when the newly hatched centipedes burrow from inside the affected creature a few days after the fight.

Giant Spiders

Nyrha, the goddess who created most of the world’s monsters, greatly admired the shape of the spider, and as such there are many types of giant spiders in the world, from smaller spiders the size of large dogs to enormous monsters that can topple cities.

Stlipflar

Stlipflar are eight armed giants with the lower body of a snake. It dwells in thick snow-covered forests where it hunts those who become lost in the snow. They are solitary, often fighting each other for territory. Once every hundred years they will search for a mate, the females often killing the males after they finish mating. They give birth to two children, one male, one female, who immediately leave their parent to fend for themselves. After a hundred years they are fully grown and can mate.

Coracos

Coracos are humanoid creatures with bird like beaks, three fingered, clawed hands, and goat like hooves. They hunt in packs of up to twenty coracos. They grab their prey with their claws before driving their beaks deep into the targets body. Once they have eaten the internal organs the coracos brood mother will lay a clutch of eggs in the body that eventually hatch into tiny coracos larvae. These larvae can fly and while many of them starve to death a few will manage to bring down a large enough creature to gorge themselves on enough to gather energy to make a cocoon and grow into a full sized coracos.

Nothric Striders

Nothric Striders are large bug-like creatures with eight legs that roam snowed forests in search of prey. They exude a cold mist that slow its prey so that the slow strider can catch up and consume its prey. They stun their prey with a mind-altering scream.

Ophiotaurus

A half-bull, half-snake. It eats people. The Ophiotaurus lives in mountains and rocky lands, where it can hide before charging out at people, its snake head grabbing at its foe if they are not trampled or gored by its horns.

Beast of the Hunt

The original beast of the hunt was once an elf, who hunted other elves for sport. He was cursed into a beast like form and exiled. His form is large, with long fur and a wolf like head. He and his kin still roam forests and plains at night, hunting humanoids. They grow stronger with the moon and are thought to be the progenitors of all lycanthropes.

Butterfly Swarm

These swarms of carnivorous butterflies eat dead bodies on battlefields, growing in number with every consumed corpse. When the swarm grows large enough it will begin to attack the living when it cannot find the dead.

Mimic

This monster takes many forms in order to attract prey to it. Some take the form of chests or doors, while others are large enough to mimic entire rooms or small buildings. The largest mimics can take the form of hills or small islands.

Other mimics can take the form of living creatures. A wounded woman crying for help. A small child sobbing in the darkness. A man being attacked by a wild beast. The only limit to the mimic’s form is the imagination of the beings that create them.

A mimics true form is a mass of writhing flesh covered in mouths. There are many other types of mimics however, such as mimic spiders, tentacle mimics, and many others.

Spidren

Spiders with the faces or bodies of humans. They live underground or in forested mountains where they build enormous webs to ensnare their prey, including any travellers unfortunate enough to wander into their hunting grounds. Some spidren have embraced seafaring lives, ships with silk spun sails that trap other ships so the spidren can devour the crew.

As spirdren age they continue to grow in size, and they do not die of old age, leading to spidren the size of small mountains in rare occasions where they have plenty of prey.

Female spidren eat the males after mating.

Lesser Spidren - Spiders with the faces of humans, these dumb creatures are used by spidren as shock troops or cannon fodder. 80% of spidren that hatch are lesser spirdren.

Sphinx

Sphinx have the lower body of a lion and the head and torso of a human. They are fortune tellers and great lovers of riddles and secret knowledge. Some sphinx guard ancient ruins or lost libraries while universities or private collectors employ others to guards stores of knowledge or other valuable things.

Special Knower of Truth The Sphinx always knows when it hears a lie.

Stymphalian Birds

Stymphalian Birds are man-eating birds with beaks of bronze and sharp metallic feathers they launch at their victims. The metal from the stymphalian bird’s feathers can be used to make hard and light metal equipment.

Forest Walker

These creatures stand nearly 20 ft. tall, with strange formless bodies, legs that end in spikes and three legged hands with long reaching fingers.

The Forest Walker hunts by stabbing its prey with its legs before grabbing it with its hands to eat it whole.

Shryke

The shryke are a species of humanoid birds, cruel and jealous. They organise themselves into organised legions who live on the march, raiding and pillaging all they need. Shryke are also prolific slavers, capturing all they can to use as labour or as a meat shield during large fights.

Basilisk

The basilisk is a hideous giant serpent whose gaze can instantly kill. It also possesses potent venom and its hide cannot be pierced by most weapons. Gaze of Death At the start of the Basilisks turn it can choose one creature who can see it to make a difficulty 30 Resistance Save or instantly die. Basilisk Blood Tattoo Once per downtime you can spend a turn and force once creature who can see you to make a difficulty 20 Resistance Save or die.

Sea Serpent

Sea serpents are giant snakes that live in coastal cliffs or islands. They vary in size but even the smallest can eat a human in one bite. They hunt anything they can, but they have a special fondness for magic users because of their special ability to consume magic. Magic Reduction Sea serpents have magic reduction 10 and have advantage on saves against spells. Any damage absorbed by its magic reduction is added to its defence. Magic Eater When a sea serpent hits a being that can cast magic the attack also deals 2d6 damage to that beings casting ability score, as if they had cast a spell of that cost. The sea serpent heals a wound or regains 5 defence for ever point absorbed in this way.

Myrmidons

Myrmidons are warriors created from ants by the gods to fight in an ancient war. Those that survived still roam, searching for their ancient enemies.

Ahuizotl

The Ahuizotl is a doglike monster, with a hand on its tail, which grabs its victims to take them below the water to eat.

Voirin Beast

This massive white skinned monster hunts in the forests and jungles of the world. It has a head with a blank face lined with tentacles that detect movement in the air. If it finds prey it attacks with its 4 arms with razor sharp claws.

Beastfolk

Beastfolk are a collection of bestial people, often descendants of Vaelniv. Beastfolk are widely regarded as vicious and dangerous and are not allowed in most civilised settlements, with the exception of some Satyr and Centaur.

Yuan-ti

The Yuan-ti are a race of snake people that are the corupted children of the snake god Malinalxochitl. She gave them longer lifespans and immunity to disease and poison in exchange for eternal servitude. She rules the Yuan-ti through her emisaries, the foul Naga. The Yuan-ti cover the range between mostly human looking creatures to almost entirely perpentine beings who claim to be the most pure blooded of the Yuan-ti.

Many Races in One

The goringen are the most common of the beast races, they have cousins in the ungoringen, weaker, un-horned goringen. The goringen are led by sovengor, centaur-like beings that share the bestial heads of the goringen, though they have at least 4 horns. The last beings are the enigmatic ushorgor these beings lead the goringen spiritually, acting as druids and shamans for the herd.

Goringen (Gor)

The most common of the beast herds, the goringen are strong and quick. They have the legs of goats and cloven hooves. With the head of a goat and 2 or more horns they are a terrifying sight to behold. They wear some furs though are well adapted to colder environments without them. There is not much difference between males and female, though the females have noticeable mammary glands and slightly higher pitched voices.

The goringen use javelins and axes and have the ability to magically move through trees making them deadly ambush fighters.

Ungoringen (Ungor)

Smaller and weaker than the goringen the ungoringen lack the large horns and the impressiveness of the goat like heads of the goringen. The goringen treat the ungoringen as servants and slaves. In return they prove safety and food for the smaller beings.

Sovengor (Centigor)

Large centaur-like beings with the heads of goats, the sovengor lead the herds of goringer and ungoringer. They are strong and smart and can use some magics to support and heal their herds.

Ushorgor

The strangest looking creature of the herds the ushorgor has large elk antlers, is covered in green and brown fur and feathers, clawed feet and three eyes, one human, one birdlike and then last eye completely black. They are masters of druidic magic and can call forth beasts to aid the herd.

Giantfolk

The giantfolk are a collection of gigantic humanoids.

Magical Beasts

Hellhound

Hellhounds are multi headed dogs. There are many types, from two headed dogs that live in the material world, to the three headed dog that guards the gates of the underworld.

Phoenix

This bird, made of pure flame is a messenger of the gods, earning the trust of one grants you powerful magic and use of its healing tears. When a phoenix dies it is reborn the next day from its ashes.

Adarna

Adarna are birds with healing powers, their cry can either put people to sleep or turn them to stone.

Giant Turtles

These gentle giants can grow large enough to have entire islands on their backs, though living on them may prove risky when it comes to mating season. Giant turtles have a point on the back of their shell where one can meditate and speak with the memories of others who have done the same. This meditation is an important part of many island cultures across the world and as such, the giant turtle is a sacred animal to those cultures.

Strix

Strix are flesh eating owls. They are born from the graves of people killed for crimes they did not commit. They are weak by themselves but can reproduce quickly if they can feed on small children or the elderly.

Magical Plants

Undead

Undead are the most common evil that most people will face, their forms are varied and diverse. Most undead are either bodies raised from the dead, or souls that have refused, or are unable, to pass on. Undead are often created by daemons or mages as servants or weapons.

Undead fall into a number of categories. Sentient or mindless. Corporeal or incorporeal.

Zombies

Zombies are undead that can pass on their condition with a bite. A zombie infection can rapidly grow in size if not kept in check. Individual zombies are weak and slow, though hard to kill. The real danger of zombies are their numbers.

Ghouls

Ghouls are semi-intelligent undead who seek bodies to eat. They are crafty and quick, able to paralyse their targets with their poisoned claws.

Rusalki

The spirits of those who drowned themselves to escape unhappy relationships, marriages, or other things. They entice people into the water to drown them.

Drowning One creature within 300 ft must succeed at a difficulty 15 Mental Save or believe that they are drowning for 1 minute. They must hold their breath and are slowed.

If the creature runs out of air it is knocked unconscious for an hour or until woken by a creature using its main action to move up to its movement speed and wake it.

At the end of each turn the creature can attempt the save again at disadvantage, ending the effect on a success.

Skeletons

Skeletons are either undead that have had their flesh rot away or were animated once the flesh was already gone. They are hard to damage with most weapons, only bludgeoning weapons being fully effective. Skeletons can be armed and armoured with a variety of equipment.

Garum Skeleton

These skeletons are between 9 and 10 ft tall and have an extra set of arms.

Fate Eater

This long necked, three headed, hag, thing eats people. Fate Eaters are born when mages die alone in the dark or in the cold, their magic forcing their soul into consuming itself in order for the magic to survive.

Vampyr

Vampyr are beings who, through magical means or otherwise, have gained immortality. However, this act comes at a cost. A vampyr will die if it cannot drink the blood of sentient creatures. There are many types of vampires.

Vampyr Lord

The oldest vampyrs, able to raise the victims of their bite as undead servants. As these vampyr get older they lose their supernatural beauty and become withered husks. Cursed Vampyr These vampyr are born when the transformation to a lich fails.

Botchling

A botchling is the soul of an unnamed baby that dies after being born. It will haunt the location where it died until it is given a name or destroyed.

Will-o-wisp

A will-o-wisp is a soul that died in a marsh. It tries to lure others to the same fate by appearing as a lantern light that hovers over the bog.

Enchanting Light

When a sentient creature sees the will-o-wisps light for the first time it must make a difficulty 13 Mental Save or be fascinated by it. On each turn they must move towards the light while fascinated in this way. Another creature can use a turn to shake the affected creature from its fascination.

Drowned Men

Undead who drowned at sea, they roam the ocean floor, grabbing at any foolish enough to swim down into the depths.

Lich

A lich is an intelligent undead who has performed a ritual to bind their soul in an object to live forever. The object must feed on souls in order to sustain the lich.

Chained Undead Giant

In ages past, the bodies of giants were used to create powerful undead servants. However as the necromantic magic faded, they became impossible to control and were often chained up, so they do not cause havoc.

Failed Birth of An Elder God

This unique undead is the remnants of an Elder God who died as it was born. As Elder Gods cannot die it was left in a half-alive state. It is sleeping eternally, though still poses an immense threat to anyone who comes across it.

Ghosts and Wraiths

When a person dies, their soul remains in their body for a week before passing into the land of the dead. Sometimes a soul will not pass on, either because they chose not to, or because some force forces them to remain. When a soul choses to remain, or remains by accident, they are known as a ghost. When it is forced to remain, it is called a wraith, though there is not much difference between the two.

Hag

A hag is a witch who dies while their soul is sworn to a daemon. They remain alive and in service to the daemon until the debt is paid off.

Stitched Mass

The result of an attempt to make a new form of undead, the stitched mass is a number of bodies stitched together before reanimation. Stitched Mass

Blade Skeleton

These ancient giant skeletons have sharpened their arms into long swords, which they use to kill their enemies.

Bone Spiders

Bone spiders are horrific undead that take the shape of spiders made of bones. They can form when undead bodies are left together without being burnt.

Ahaebas Hag

An Ahaebas Hag has a tiny body and an enormous head, decorated with the heads of the children she devours. She can climb walls and squeeze through any gap, no matter how small. She sneaks into children’s rooms and eats their body, keeping their head alive through magic, but not allowing them to make any sound. Once she has finished her meal, she attaches the still living head to her hair, where it resides, forced to watch as the hag devours more children.

When threatened, she can use the heads as a defensive mechanism, allowing them to scream in pain and terror in order to frighten and confuse her attacker.

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Ahaebas Hag

Medium Undead, Neutral Evil

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• Armor Class 16
• Hit Points 82
• Speed 40 ft., 30 ft. climb

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18 (+4)	20 (+5)	17 (+3)	15 (+2)	18 (+4)	8 (-1)

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• Saving Throws Dexterity +8, Charisma +2
• Skills Acrobatics +11, Stealth +8, Perception +7
• Damage Vulnerabilities Fire
• Damage Resistances Poison, Necrotic, Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing
• Damage Immunities Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing from non-magical weapons
• Condition Immunities Grappled, Restrained, Prone
• Senses Dark vision 120 ft., passive Perception 23
• Languages Understands any language that any of its heads know.
• Challenge Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)

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Enlarge The Ahaebas hag can cast enlarge on itself at will as a bonus action.

Head Collection The Ahaebas Hag can see through the eyes of any head in its collection, granting it advantage on all perception checks involving sight and it can see in all directions. In addition, any creature that's head is in the collection cannot be brought back to life by any means unless the Ahaebas hag is destroyed.

Actions

Multiattack. The Ahaebas Hag makes two slashing claw attacks and then uses horrific scream if available. Instead of its two slashing claw attacks, it can instead use Evil Eye.

Slashing Claw. Melee Attack: +8 to hit, 5 ft. reach, one target. Hit 2d8+5 slashing damage. If this damage reduces a target to 0 hit points, the targets head is removed and added to the Ahaebas Hag's collection.

Evil Eye. One creature of the Ahaebas Hag's choice within 60 ft. that can see the hag must succeed on a DC 15 wisdom save or become cursed until the end of the Ahaebas Hag's next turn. While cursed, the creature has disadvantage on all attacks and all attacks have advantage against it. In addition, its movement speed is halved.

Horrific Scream (Recharge 5 or 6). The Ahaebas Hag allows its head collection to scream. Every creature within 60ft. of the Ahaebas Hag must succeed on a DC 15 wisdom save or take 6d6 psychic damage and be stunned until the end of their next turn. On a successful save the targets take half damage and are not stunned.

Sanity

If you are using my sanity system, the Ahaebas Hag's Horrific Scream Ability also deals 1d6 sanity damage on a failed save.

Blood Skeleton

These skeletons are infused with fresh blood every month in order to boost their strength.

Bone Mantis

These creatures live in swamps and bogs and are formed from a collection of bone which the creature gathers from bodies it finds or from the bodies of those it kills. They wait under the water until a creature passes by before jumping out in a vicious surprise attack.

Squirmhound

Necromancers create these undead hounds to capture their foes. Their heads are split open to create a large mouth, and their entrails are exposed to act as grasping tendrils to further ensnare foes.

Deep Ghoul

These undead are the remnants of those who die deep underground. They roam the caves in which they died, seeking the flesh of the living. They are blind but use hearing to find their prey. They are deathly afraid of fire.

Undying

Undying are a subset of undead, though they have a number of differences. Undying are granted a long life, either in physical or incorporeal form by gods or spirits. They are often a beacons of holy light and goodness and are the anathema of normal undead.

Moon Saint

Moon saints are moon elves blessed by Kalma. They do not age, and eventually fade away, becoming wraith like apparitions of her will. They protect their people with their powerful magics and weapons imbued with the power of the moon.

Honourbound

Honourbound are beings whose duties or sworn promises keep them anchored to the world of the living past their natural deaths. They remain in the world until their duty is complete.

Lycanthropes

Lycanthropes are beings infected by the curse of the moon. During full moon they turn into a wild animal. Some beings can learn to control the transformation, able to harness their curse into a fierce fighting power.

Automata

Automata are artificial creatures, made by other creatures.

Living Statue

Living statues are statues, often of gods or great heroes that are imbued with a semblance of life, normally by a god or other powerful being. They range in size from small statues barely taller than halflings, to massive statues the size of giants.

Eldritch

Before even the chaos was formed there was the empty space between time. In this space lives terrible evils called the elder gods. Sometimes their servants slip through the gaps in the universe and enter the world. These beings are worse even than the monsters and the most murderous of daemons, as their very presence corrupts the landscape and the animals, plants and people who live there. There are a number of more active elder gods who have been named by the peoples of the world. These elder gods often take on aspects of creatures or phenomena of the material world, though this is purely the mind attempting to rationalise the unrationalizable and failing utterly.

Several things can protect against eldritch horrors, including large regions of fresh water such as lakes. Different horrors have different weaknesses, and what protects against one may not protect against another.

Drowner of Hope

This elder god and its minions often take aspects of the sea and various marine life due to its proclivity for underwater portals. It is one of the most awake elder gods and has the most numerous followers.

Asegath the Devourer

Throughout history, when the stars align, and the circumstances are right, Asegath the Devourer begins to stir in the deeps. This being is the herald of the Drowner of Hope, and when it stirs, the Drowner of Hopes minions grow in numbers across the world, striking out with greater ferocity. In this chaos, the followers of the Drowner of Hope begin calling Asegath to full awakening. Once this is complete, Asegath walks the mortal world again, moving towards a point in the ocean in order to open a portal large enough for its master to cross the void between its home and the mortal world.

Throughout history, Asegath has been defeated each time he threatens to destroy the world, either before he even wakes, or twice, as he makes the journey to the portal location.

Chomper

A humanoid eldritch horror that hunts in packs. It has a grey skinned human body, hair made of tendrils and a shark like face and mouth. It has a fantastic sense of smell and can track its prey over massive distances.

Fallen Elves

Monstrosity

These were once elves.

dex save +6

wis save +6

ac 15

+6 to hit, grapple restrain and 2d8 psychic damage

HP 35

Labelan Toad

Fae

This toad like fae vomits out swarms of tiny flesh eating faeries that then return the nutrients to the toad. It can be placated by cutting off body parts and offering them to the toad.

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Fiend

The woman with the spider body looks like a drider, but is actually a different species. You can tell by the malformed body. It is a powerful type of blood daemon, very powerful magic, can charm straight men, lesbians, and other people who like the female form. Drinks blood to fuel magic, can also teleport through blood, and track anyone whose blood she possesses.

???

Young Caesilian Hydra

Fae

"This one, with the strange snakelike protuberances is a fae daemon hybrid. A Caesilian Hydra, though before it pupates and becomes still. Exceedingly dangerous, though I read once that some of the fae courts will give a handsome reward if you bring them the location of a Caesilian Hydra. Can petrify with gaze, like a medusa, and can teleport through shadows to surprise people. This last part is less well researched, but two accounts mention that it is possible to turn one away from the path of shadow and instead reject its daemonic heritage and become just a person, free to chose her own path, though that sounds highly fanciful to me."

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Fiend

AC 16

HP 184

+8 to hit

claw 2d8+5

tail 2d10 +5 + 4d6 and start of turn con save vs paralysation DC 15

+6 wis save

+3 dex save

Immune to forced movement

???

Con save +4

Dex save +3

Sword +7 to hit, 1d10+4

Dagger +7 to hit, 1d4+4

Bite +7 to hit, 2d4+4

Furious Charge, double move, one sword attack, if hit, str save vs prone

???

+8 attack, 2d10+5 damage

possesion immune to everything besides force an psychic ac 17 1 hp

?? Lanky Skeletons

76 hp

ac 15

+5 dex

+8 to hit, 1d10+5 damage

Thanalae

Laeline of Necromancy

Brain Explosion

DC 18 int save, 8d8 damage, half of what the target takes to everyone within 15ft dex save, half the half on a pass. Main target is stunned on a failure.

Grasping Dead

3 targets within 120 ft.

Target must make a DC 18 str save or be restrained by skeletal hands that burst from the ground. Bones have 12 ac, 12 hp.

???

Each monster has an odd blank face, and 6 spider like legs that cling to the cliff easily.

+6 to hit, 1d6+4 damage, 2d6 extra psychic damage on a wis save

36 hp

14 ac

con save +4

??

Claw, +12 to hit, 2d12+8 damage

spearing strike, +10 damage, 1d8+6 damage, grapples the target, pulls them to the ???

Bite, +12 to hit, can only target grappled targets, 6d12+8 damage and swallows the target, dealing 8d8 damage at the start of the targets round.

wis save + 9

advantage on saves against spells

AC 15

350 hp

Tentacle Head

In areas corrupted by eldritch evil, some people are themselves infested with the horrific energies. Their heads are replaced with a writhing mass of tentacles that attempt to destroy any living thing around them.

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Tentacle Head

Medium Aberration, Chaotic Evil

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• Armor Class 13 (Natural Armour)
• Hit Points 42
• Speed 30 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18 (+4)	12 (+1)	16 (+3)	5 (-3)	12 (+1)	6 (-2)

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• Saving Throws Constitution +5
• Skills Athletics +6
• Damage Vulnerabilities Fire
• Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from non-magical weapons, lightning
• Damage Immunities Psychic
• Senses Blindsight 30 ft., passive Perception 11
• Languages None
• Challenge 2 (450 X P)

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Writhing Tentacles. When a creature starts its turn within 15 ft. of the tentacle head or enters within that distance for the first time on its turn, it must succeed on a DC 14 strength save or be grappled by the tentacle head. While grappled in this way the creature takes 1d6 piercing damage at the start of the tentacle head's turn and is restrained. The creature can escape the grapple by succeeding on a DC 14 strength check as an action.

The tentacle head can grapple up to 6 creatures in this manner at a time.

Actions

Multiattack. The Tentacle Head makes two tentacle attacks.

Tentacle. Melee Attack: +6 to hit, 15 ft. reach, one target. Hit 2d6+4 bludgeoning damage and the target has disadvantage on the save against Writhing Tentacles on its next turn.

Tentacle Horror

Sometimes, when a tentacle head consumes enough mass, it will transform into a cocoon like being as it slowly becomes something far worse.

This cocoon is known as a tentacle horror and resembles a large mass of pulsating flesh and body parts with tentacles spread around the edge of its body. Tentacle Horror Large, Eldritch, Corporeal Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha 22 14 16 16 20 0 (+6) (+2) (+3) (+3) (+5) (-5)

Defence: 32 Wound Limit: 6 AC: 16 DR: 2 Movement Speed: 10 ft.

Mental Save: +7 Resistance Save: +5 Avoidance Save: +2

Special Tentacles The tentacle horror has 5 tentacles and loses once each time it takes a major or mortal wound. Ponderous The tentacle horror cannot move more than twice its movement in its turn and cannot charge or withdraw. Attacks The tentacle horror makes as many tentacle attacks as it has tentacles remaining. It can give up two tentacle attacks to either use consume or cast agony. Tentacle 20ft reach, +6 to hit. 2d8+6 damage. On a hit the target is grappled. A tentacle can be targeted separately from the rest of the tentacle horror. It has half the remaining defence of the tentacle horror and if it takes a major or mortal wound then the grappled creature is released. Consume One creature the tentacle horror is grappling must make a difficulty 18 Avoidance Save or be pulled into the centre of the tentacle horror. On a failure the creature takes 4d6 damage and the tentacle horror grows one tentacle, increasing its wound limit by 1. Agony A creature the tentacle head can touch must make a difficulty 17 Mental Save. On a successful save they take 1d3-1 minor wounds. On a failure or take 1d4 minor wounds. In addition, if the save is failed the target has disadvantage on all attack rolls, ability tests and saves while the creature has a wound caused by this spell.

Devourer of Stars

This elder god exists in the cold vacuum of the space that surrounds the world. It sends chunks of its flesh down from the heavens to corrupt where it lands.

Lesser Avatar of The Worm That Walks

The Eternal Nightmare

This Elder God is asleep deep within the field of dreams. In this sleeping state she sometimes visits the material world in many strange forms.

The Abyss

This being lives in the very bottom of the Land of the Dead, its sleeping form trapped by the gods. Souls who commit terrible acts in life are fed to the Abyss to keep it asleep. The Abyss is one of the oldest Elder Gods, and one of the most powerful. It spreads its corruption through servants that go from the land of the dead back to the land of the living. It is this spreading corruption that makes the gods so strict about beings returning to life.

Other Eldritch Creatures

Beard Weird

This scaled creature has a mass of beard like tendrils beneath its beak like mouth. These tendrils can detect the presence of magic and track mages in order to eat their hearts.

Blade Face

This creature has a blade for a face. The blade is sharp. It enjoys stabbing people with its blade face.

Cthuloid

First Speaker of the Deep

Faceless Hive

The faceless hive begins its life as a child-like human form with a head that resembles a tear shaped walnut. From this hive, the faceless hive releases eldritch bugs that consume matter around the hive and bring it back to eat. As a hive lives and feeds, it grows in size, becoming large enough to climb over walls and tower above the tallest buildings. Once it reaches a certain size it attempt to ascend to the field of dreams, dragging a large portion of the material world with it into the nightmare. Once here it joins the Eternal Nightmare in its slumber, awaiting the time to reawaken at full strength.

The Thing with the Goat Skull and the Body made of Tentacles

An intersection of witchery and eldritch magic, The Thing with the Goat Skull and the Body made of Tentacles can cast powerful witchery magics and can learn to summon daemons and other powerful beings.

Mage Eater

When a mage begins to push on the edge of their magical limit a mage eater can smell them. They latch on, forcing the mage to use the last of their strength to burn away their physical essence so the mage eater can devour them.

Teratoma

A teratoma is formed when the eldritch energies that surround the Elder Gods or their spawn wreaks havoc on a living creature, transforming them into a mass of random tissue. Victims of a teratomic curse have teeth growing in their skin or eyes, extra limbs or fingers, additional eyes, hair in strange places or any number of mutations.

The living creature effected by this remains fully aware of their surroundings but often loses control of their body, which will eventually fall into a murderous and hungry rage. They will eat their friends and family while remaining fully aware and unable to prevent their body from acting.

Unknowable Dread

This invisible creature wraps attaches itself to the back of its targets neck and causes a slow build-up to intense dread. Often a creature with the Unknowable Dread attached to it will go mad or kill themselves.

Caller of the Void

This being looks like a hooded humanoid at first glance but when it attacks it reveals a mass of tentacles tipped with sharp barbed spikes.

Cat

Cats are 4 legged, furry mammals, with sharp teeth and claws. They are agile climbers and excellent hunters. They mostly coexist with humanoid creatures.

Special Cat Reflexes A cat is immune to any ill effects from falling. A cat takes no damage if it passes an Avoidance Save and it would normally take half damage. Perfect Vision Cats can see perfectly in the dark, can see through all magical disguises or shapeshifting and can see any invisible creature or object.

NPCs

Errigan

(Mostly) Cursed Armoury

Everyone loves cursed items. Picking up a dagger only to have it force you to murder your friends. Having a powerful sword that drains the blood of your enemies but starts to drain your blood if you don't feed it. These items grant boons and buffs in equal measure, and removing the curse can be a fun side quest.

Belt of Power

Wonderous Item, Very Rare (Requires Attunment)

While wearing this belt you can increase one ability score by 2 points and another by 1 point. You also must select an ability score to reduce by 2 points. You can change which abilities are affected by the belt at the end of a long rest.

Once per day while wearing the belt, you can double your highest ability score until the end of your next turn.

Black Mask

Legendary Artefact (Requires Attunment)

This polished black mask grants the wearer to see invisible creatures and see the souls of the dead. Once per short rest the wearer of the mask can use an action to activate the mask and cause a living, sentient creature within 60 ft that can see the mask to have to succeed on a DC 22 wisdom save or be paralysed for a minute. The target can repeat the save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. While paralysed in this way, the creature takes 4d6 psychic damage at the start of each of its turns. If the creature can no longer see the mask, the effect ends.

If a creature is killed by the mask, the mask gains 1 soul point. These soul points can be used to cast the following spells, at a cost of 2 soul points per spell level. Spells can be upcast by spending more points as usual.

• Shield
• Animate Dead
• Create Undead
• Circle of Death
• Disintegrate
• Simulacrum
• Wish

Casting wish with this mask has a one in three chance of also eating the casters soul.

A soul point can also be spent to deal an extra 2d6 damage on a weapon attack or cantrip.

Statue of an Unknown Woman

Wondrous Item, Rare

This stone statue radiates a strong aura of menace, making its owner more vicious. Critical hits dealt by the creature who carries this statue have their dice explode. (Exploding dice are rolled again if they roll the maximum value, adding the new roll to the total.)

Lightning Stone

Wondrous Item, Uncommon

This stone can be thrown by hand or by a sling. On contact it explodes in a burst of lightning. All creatures within 20ft of the stone must succeed on a DC 15 dexterity save or take 6d6 damage, half damage on a successful save. Once they explode, the stones must be left outside during a thunderstorm before they can be used again.

Ancient Brass Telescope

Wondrous Item, Very Rare This telescope can be used to see the true nature of the stars. Use with caution.

Potion of Harm

This potion looks identical to a healing potion, but when ingested requires the drinker to pass a DC 20 constitution saving throw or take 12d8 necrotic damage, half damage on a successful save. If this damage would reduce the drinker to 0 hit points and the drinker failed the save, the drinker dies instantly.

Potion of Wailing Bane

Drinking this potion grants the drinker the ability to kill with the scream of a banshee. For one minute after drinking this potion, the drinker can use an action to use wailing bane. Every creature that is not an undead or construct within 30 ft. that can hear the drinker must succeed on a DC 13 constitution save. On a failure, the creature drops to 0 hit points. On a success, the creature takes 10 (3d6) sychic damage.

Whistle of Calling

Wondrous Item, Rare (Requires Attunment)

This whistle can be used as an arcane focus, and when used as such, grants a +1 bonus to spell attacks and save DCs.

In addition, the whistle can be used to cast the following spells once per day.

• Sending
• Find Steed
• Summon Lesser Demons
• Summon Greater Demons
• Planar Ally

In addition, when you cast sending, you can ask a creature to come to you, and if they are willing, they will be teleported to your location.

Curse. This Whistle is cursed. Whenever you use the whistle to cast a spell, an unknown entity can feel the casting and listen in or change the spell. For example, when you cast sending, the entity can hear it, and potentially change minor details of the messages sent. Likewise, it can change the creatures summoned by the summoning spells to creatures that are more aligned with its interest.

Warding Amulet.

Wondrous Item, Rare (Requires Attunment)

The wearer of this amulet has a number of temporary hit points equal to their constitution modifier times their level. These temporary hit points are regained at a rate of 1d4 points per round.

Compass of Longing

Wondrous Item, Rare (Requires Attunment)

This compass always points to whatever the holder wants the most.

Blade of the Martyr

Weapon (Longsword), Rare (Requires Attunment)

This +1 longsword deals an extra d8 damage on a hit while the wielder is below half health, this damage must have been inflicted in battle.

Deathball

Wondrous Item, Rare (Requires Attunment)

This one foot diameter sphere is made of a strange dark metal and has three strange symbols on one side. Pressing the symbols in the correct order will annihilate everything within 20 miles. It will destroy up to a mile of solid ground, buildings, stone, or metal.

• Any creature within 5 miles dies instantly.
• Any creature within 10 miles takes 20d6 damage.
• Any creature within 15 miles must succeed at a DC 30 constitution save or take 14d6 damage. On a pass it takes half damage.
• Any creature within 20 miles bust succeed at a DC 20 constitution save or take 6d6 damage. On a pass it takes half damage.

If the buttons are pressed in the wrong order the creature dies instantly.

Abyss Blade

Wondrous Item, Rare (Requires Attunment)

This +3 blade totally ignores any bonus to armour class from armour, damage reduction, and anything else that would reduce its damage in anyway.

Curse. The Abyss Blade is cursed. Attuning the Abyss Blade extends the curse to you. If you fall to 0 hit points while attuned to this blade, the blade decides that you are not worthy to posses it, killing you instantly before returning to the Abyss. If the blade leaves you in this way, you can never wield it again.

Cursed, Infinite, Flintlock

Artifact, Legendary (Requires Attunment)

This +3 pistol was used to kill a great daemon. It does not need to be loaded.

Curse If the user wishes to spare a life, they must instead kill whoever they wished to spare.

The Crest of Annihilation

Artifact, Legendary (Requires Attunment)

This crown like object can only be used by an undead. When activated as an action, the user can select any number of creatures within 10 miles. Each selected creature must succeed on a DC 30 constitution save or take 12d10 necrotic damage. Any creature killed by this effect is raised as a skeleton under the user’s control.

Unpickable Lock

Artifact, Legendary (Requires Attunment)

This lock cannot be picked by any lockpicks or otherwise opened in any manner besides the matching key.

Murasame

Artifact, Legendary (Requires Attunment)

This + 3 katana causes death to anyone who is cut by its blade. At the start of a creatures that has been cut by the blade they must make a DC 15 constitution save or die. Each turn the difficulty for this increases by 5. The curse can only be ended if the wounded body part is removed.

Dusk Blades

Artifact, Legendary (Requires Attunment)

These twined blades can transform themselves into any bladed weapons. When used individually they are +1 weapons that deal an additional 1d8 necrotic damage on a hit. If the wielder of the blade is selfish/evil, they gain an additional +1 bonus to hit and damage.

If both blades are used together, the bonus if evil increases to +2 and the wielder gains the Dual Wielder feat if they do not already posses it as long as they use both blades. The user’s AC is also increased by 2 while they are using both blades.

Amulet of Spiders

Artifact, Legendary (Requires Attunment)

This choker with a spiderlike black gem at the front grants the wearer a +2 bonus to armour class. If the wearer wearer if a spell caster, they can cast one spell per long rest without using a spell slot. The wearer also gains a +2 bonus to all charisma checks.

Blackstone Shard

Wondrous Item, Very Rare

Carrying this shard grants a +1 bonus to saves, AC, spell DC, and proficiency.

Curse This shard is cursed. Carrying the shard draws creatures of evil to you, increasing the likelyhood of random encounters. In addition, if you enter a blackstone ruin, you have disadvantage on all saving throws while inside the ruin, until you return the blackstone shard to wherever it belongs.

Twinned Spellblades

Shortswords, Legendary (Requires Attunment)

These paired +2 shortswords grant the wielder a +2 bonus to armour class when dual wielded. In addition, the wielder can cast spells while both hands are full with the sword and can cast the following spells once per long rest.

• burning hands
• feather fall
• misty step
• blink

Shield of The Sun

Armour (Shield), Legendary (Requires Attunment)

This +2 shield also grants the wielder advantage on saving throws against spells.

As an action, the user can cause the shield to either glow with bright light up to 120ft and dim light another 120ft, or flash with a bright light, forcing every creature with eyes within 120ft to make a DC 15 con save or be blinded for an hour.

Mask of the Forbidden Pool

Artifact, Legendary (Requires Attunment)

This mask is curiously blank, with no decoration besides the two eye holes. It will resize to perfectly fit the wearers face and grant a number of powers. More powers are unlocked as the mask grows in power.

• When the creature would die, it instead regains 1d8 hit points. This effect can only happen once per round.
• Any spells casts by the creature wearing the mask are counted as being cast one level higher than normal.
• (Power Level 1) The wearer has truesight to a distance of 120 ft while wearing the mask
• (Power Level 1) The wearers mind cannot be read, and the wearer is immune to any charm effect.
• (Power Level 2) The creature can use a main action once per long rest to regain 1d4 spell slots of any level.
• (Power Level 3) Whenever the creature wearing the mask deals damage it deals an additional 2d8 damage.
• (Power Level 3) The creature learns ancient and secret spells.

However, this mask is also cursed.

• When a creature equips this mask, they must make a DC 20 wisdom save or have the mask permanently attach to their face. As the mask grows in power it grows across the creature’s body, fusing with more skin. If forcible removed the wearer suffers the following effects.

• When the mask prevents the wearers death, the wearer takes 2d8 sanity damage. This damage cannot be reduced in any way.
• Whenever the creature regains spell slots through the mask, they take sanity damage equal to the total number of spell levels worth of slots.
• Each long rest the wearer must make a DC 20 wisdom save or take 2d8 sanity damage at the end of the long rest. The creature cannot regain sanity if it fails this save. On a successful save the creature takes no sanity damage and can regain sanity as normal.
• Whenever the creature wearing this mask suffers a break from reaching 0 sanity the mask grows in power, reaching its next power level.

Bow of the Last Hero

Very Rare Shortbow, Requires Attunment

This +1 shortbow grants the wielder the ability to never attack at disadvantage while in sunlight. In addition, the bow can deal an additional 1d6 radiant damage on a hit twice per short rest as long as it is in sunlight.

While in shadows, the wielder of this bow gains advantage on stealth checks and can cast invisibility at will, targeting only themselves, requiring no components or concentration.

Spear of the Forgotten Legion

Rare Spear, Requires Attunment

This +1 spear or glaive has 8 charges. When thrown, the spear returns to the wielder once it hits its target or misses as a free action. The wielder can use 1 charge (no action) to gain advantage on an attack roll, 2 charges (no action) to deal an additional 2d10 damage on a hit, 3 charges as a bonus action to summon a Lost Pikeman or 5 charges as a bonus action to enter a battle stance that lasts for 1 minute. During this battle stance, all incoming bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage is halved, and the wielder deals an additional 1d6 damage on every hit with the spear.

The spear regains 1 charge each day at dawn.

The Orb of Elemental Power

Legendary Artifact

This Orb constructs a dungeon and splits itself into four parts, hiding them within the dungeon. Finding all four parts and combining them grants the following blessing:

• Temporary hit points equal to double its proficiency bonus that stack with other temporary hit points. If lost, these temporary hit points are restored at the end of a long rest, or when targeted by a healing spell, regaining points equal to the level of the spell.

• An extra spell slot of a level equal to half their highest level slot, that is recharged whenever the creature normally regains spell slots. If a creature has no spell slots, it gains a single first level spells slot and a single first level spell, chosen from any first level spell.

• Once per long rest, as a reaction, the creature can use a reaction to gain immunity to fire damage until the end of their next turn.

• Whenever the creature hits a critical hit, they deal an additional 1d6 fire damage.

• Whenever the creature is knocked unconscious from reaching 0 hit points, they can immediately roll a death save at advantage, ignoring the result if they wish.

• The creature heals half of its hit points instead of 1 on a natural 20.

Once the blessing is granted, the orb vanishes, teleporting elsewhere to make a new dungeon to sequester itself within.

Wand of Wands

Legendary Wand, Sometimes Requires Attunment

Whenever this wand runs out of charges it turns into another magic wand.

Diamond with a Tarrasque Locked Inside it for Some Reason

Who even knows

Someone locked the mythical tarrasque (not the 5e one, the 3.5 one) in this diamond. Someone should break it.

Ring

Legendary Ring, Requires Attunment

This ring is a magical ring. It is not cursed.

Curse This ring is cursed. While a creature it attuned to it it deals double damage whenever it deals damage to anything. Whenever the creature takes damage, it takes twice as much damage, and it automatically rolls a 1 on any death saving throw. If the creature dies while attuned to the ring, it cannot be brought back to life by any means.

Dagger of Bones

Very Rare Dagger, Requires Attunment This +1 dagger deals an additional 2d8 necrotic damage on a critical hit. If this damage reduces a creature to 0 hit points, the wielder can use a spell slot to raise the body as a skeleton.

Carved Raven

Rare Wondrous Item, Requires Attunment The holder of this item can turn into a raven as a bonus action. (As per the druids wild shape feature). They can also turn back into their original form as a bonus action.

Arrow of Daemonsbane

Rare Wondrous Item

This arrow dealths an extra 4d10 to daemons

Ring of The Ranger

Legendary Ring, Requires Attunment by a ranger

This rings grows in power with its wearer.

Bow of the Last Hero

This +1 shortbow grants the wielder advantage while in sunlight. In addition, the bow can deal an additional 1d6 radiant damage on a hit twice per short rest as long as it is in sunlight.

While in shadows, the wielder of this bow gains advantage on stealth checks and cast invisibility targeting themselves, requiring no components or concentration.

Shadowplate of the Heretic

Rare armour (full plate), requires attunment by a heretic

This black steel armour grants advantage on stealth checks while not in bright light. In addition, it is half the weight of normal plate armour. The armour has 5 charges, which can be used to grant advantage on an attack. If a charged attack hits, it deals an extra dice of damage.

Regains 1 charge at dawn.

Amora Statue

Uncommon Wondrous Item If you have a long rest with someone you are currently romantically or sexually involved with, you heal an extra hit dice worth of hit points for free.

Sylvia's Golden Helm

Rare Helmet, Requires Attunement

This helmet grants the wearer a +1 bonus to armour class and emits a bright golden light that illuminates everything within 200ft of the wearer and dim light 200ft beyond that.

The helmet has 10 charges and recharges 1 point at dawn each day. The wearer can use an action to cast one of the following spells.

Light (0 charges)

Daylight (5 charges)

Fireball (6 charges)

Wall of Light (8 charges)

Deathstrike Repeating Crossbow

Very Rare Heavy Crossbow, Requires Attunement

This +1 crossbow deals 1d12 damage on a hit and automatically makes an additional attack on a critical hit. In addition, it does not have the loading or ammunition properties, as it magically reloads and creates it's own crossbow bolts, which vanish one minute after being fired. This crossbow deals an additional +1 damage for every shot it has fired this turn.

Circlet of the Hidden Mage

Very Rare Circlet, Requires Attunement

This circlet grants the wearer a +1 bonus to spell DC and spell attacks and allows them to cast non-detection at will and invisibility targeting self only once more short rest.

Sword of Storm and Sea

Legendary Scimitar, Requires Attunment This +2 scimitar grants the wieldier advantage on checks involving boats or sea travel. In addition, any water or lightning/storm based spells deal an extra dice of damage.

The weapon becomes a finesse longsword, that can also be used as a spell focus for any class.

You can cast lightning bolt once per long rest.

In addition, you gain control of the ship "The Visage of Fate", and its crew. You can summon the ship to any sufficiently large body of water by speaking the command and the ship will take you to a destination of your choice on that body of water. The ship can carry up to 8 additional people, but has no food or water.

Choker of Vampirism

Rare Wondrous Item, Requires Attunement

While attuned to this choker, you gain the following abilities:

• Your melee attacks deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage, and you heal hit points equal to the extra damage dealt. You may also deal this damage with a touch.
• You may cast vampiric touch once per long rest without expending a spell slot.
• Advantage to persuasion on targets who find you attractive.
• Normal magical healing is half as effective as normal on you.

Cursed You cannot unattune to this item.

Gem of the Sharpshooter

Very Rare Wondrous Item, Requires Attunement

While attuned to this gem, it floats around your head, granting you advantage on perception checks. In addition, weapon attacks at long range no longer have disadvantage.

Cursed This gem grants nightmares and terrible dreams, requiring the attuner to succeed on a DC 17 wisdom save at the end of every long rest or take 1d6 sanity damage.

Sapphire of lightning

Rare Wondrous Item

While holding this gem, any spell you cast that deals lightning damage deals an extra dice of damage. In addition, the sapphire has one charge, which can be used to cast lightning bolt. This charge can be regained by leaving the stone out in a storm.

Assassin Coin Spider Construct

Curse Every long rest one of your ability scores (determined randomly) is reduced by 2.

Bloodshards

These strange shards of blood-like crystal glow with a faint flicker of dark magic. You can use an action to activate it, either consuming it, or breaking it on bare flesh. You regain 3d8 hit points but take 1d4 sanity damage.

Nightmare Statue

Rare Wondrous Item, Requires Attunment While attuned to this statue, you gain the following abilities, each useable once per long rest.

• As a bonus action, you can increase your speed by 10 ft. for 1 minute. During this time, your melee attack deal an additional 2d4 fire damage.
• As an action you can enter or exit the ethereal plane.
• You can cast fireball at 3rd level.

Cursed Whenever the user casts fireball, if two or more 6s are rolled for damage, a Nightmare is summoned wherever the fireball was targeted.

Crown of Death

Legendary Crown, Requires Attunment The wearer has advantage on death saving throws. Once per short rest when reduced to half hit points you can release a burst of 3d8 necrotic damage that can be halved with a con save with a DC equal to your normal casting DC.

The helm has 5 charges. You can use a number of charges equal to the spell level to cast the following spells.

Inflict Wounds Blindness/Deafness Vampiric Touch 30 ft, and one charge at midnight

Murder Blades

Rare Shortsword, requires attunement This +1 shortsword deals an extra 1d6 damage on a critical hit. If both murder blades are attuned by the same creature, they only take one attunement slot and both the base damage dice and the bonus critical dice increase to a d8 as long as the wielder is using both swords.

In addition, while using both swords, the wielder can cast haste targeting themselves once per long rest, requiring no concentration.

Boon of the Undying

Legendary Boon When you are reduced to 0 hit points or killed outright you instead drop to 1 hit point. You also can immediately take one full turn outside the normal turn order. You can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest.

Dark Iron Sickle

Cursed, requires attunement

You have a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon.

Once per day, when you hit with the Dark Iron Sickle you may deal an additional 3d8 necrotic damage.

Cursed You can no longer regain sanity on a long rest.

Circlet of the Rapids

Rare Circlet, Requires Attunement

This circlet is decorated to look like flowing water, and seems to shift when not looked at directly.

Whenever the wearer gains temporary hit points, their movement speed increases by 10 ft. and they cannot be targeted by opportunity attacks until the end of their next turn.

The wearer also gains a swim speed equal to their movement speed.

Hotarumaru

Legendary Sword, Requires Attunement by a Monk

This +1 longsword, which counts as a monk weapon, deals double damage on the first round of combat as long as it was drawn from its sheath on this turn. In addition, whenever you spend a ki point you increase your base movement speed by 5 ft. until the end of your turn.

Shield of the Hero

Rare Shield, Requires Attunment

This +1 shield grants the wielder the ability to become immune to damage for until the start of their next turn as a reaction to the moment before the start of any damaging effect. Once this ability is used, it cannot be used again until the end of a long rest.

If this shield is used to protect another from damage, the ability can instead be used to grant invulnerability to another creature, with the same duration as normal.

Lifestone

Rare Wondrous Item

The creature holding this stone has the spell death ward cast on them at midnight, and the duration is increased to 24 hours. When the spell is triggered, all friendly creatures within 30 ft. regain 3d6 hit points, and any undead take that much damage.

Blessing of Pae

Legendary Blessing

Once per short rest you can use a reaction to cause a creature damaged by any ability or attack of yours to take an additional 1d8 radiant damage that cannot be resisted or otherwise reduced.

Pae's Tear

Legendary Artefact, Requires Attunement by a worshiper of Pae

You max sanity is increased by 4.

This golden sunflower shines with a bright light up to 60 ft. and a dim light another 60 ft. past that. The holder can turn this light on or off as an action.

The holder gains the following benefits.

• All creatures of your choice within 60 ft take 1 less sanity damage from any source of sanity damage.
• All creatures of your choice within 60 ft have resistance to necrotic damage.
• All creatures of your choice within 60 ft. gain advantage on wisdom saves.

Circlet of Boundless Intellect

Very Rare Circlet, Requires Attunement

The wearer of this circlet increases their intelligence score and maximum intelligence score by 2. In addition, they can select two knowledge skills to gain proficiency with, if they select a skill in which they are already proficient, they instead gain expertise.

Jade Skull

Rare Wondrous Item, requires attunement

The holder of this jade skull can cast a spell into the jade skull, storing it in the skull. The holder can then release the spell as a free action, casting it as if the caster had just cast it. Up to three spells can be held in the skull at any time, though more and powerful spells are more unstable.

Cursed The Jade Skull is cursed, and houses a powerful being that occasionally eats the spells cast into it, often when it can cause the most harm to the wielder. If wish is ever cast into the Jade Skull, it will use it to break out of the skull and attempt to destroy the world.

Tinkering

A great many wonderful devices can be made through tinkering. When combined with glyphs or other magics they can be far more effective.

Potions

Cauldron Concoctions

The following potions can only be created by a witch with a cauldron.

Poisons

Akkamora

Jihiro

Child of Pae and Rao. Their domains are Civilisation and Order.

Jihiro was born from the union of Pae and Rao. Pae himself bore the child and gave birth to them from his head. Jihiro is genderless and governs civilisation and order.

Hira, Lyra, Mira, Visyr

Children of Coeus and Eshael

Othrin

Son of Pae and Torridae. God of stone and earth. Creator of the dwarves.

Othrin, along with his brother Ori, and sisters, Alda and Erla, care for the dwarves and the mountains, hills, and caves in which they live.

Anulin

Son of Vaelniv and Torridae. Jackal headed God of vengeance. Killed by his sister.

Anusil

Daughter of Vaelniv and Torridae, Crow headed goddess of murder. Killed Anulin.

Invere, Daughter of Coeus

Goddess of Invention and Innovation. Invere was born when Coeus dreamed of a great invention, and the idea was taken by Invere as she was born.

She became the goddess of invention and innovation and the patron goddess of many an inventor and engineer. She works with her sibling, Haeledact, to educate the peoples of the world.

Alayse

Daughter of Anulin and Maya. Goddess of Cats and Stealth

Faela

Daughter of Kalma and Kwaeth. Goddess of Thievery

Aerys

Son of Errigan. God of happiness.

Aerys was born after a one night stand with a mortal. Errigan gave him full godhood after seeing him smile after being born, declaring him the God of Happiness. He took to his role with great gusto, earning the admiration and love of the other gods. He eventually fell in love with Amora and had three children with her, Siith, Elara and Foldun.

Siith

Goddess of prostitutes.

Elara

Foddess of infidelity and elopement.

Foldra

Goddess of marriage and commitment.

Tedegra

Son of Kwaeth and Fela. Messenger of the Gods

Tedegra was born after Fela disguised herself as Aria in an attempt to sleep with Kalma for a dare. Unknown to her, Kwaeth had disguised herself as Kalma in order to try to seduce Aria and they slept together, both unaware of who they were really banging. The child born of this union was Tedegra, who would become a trickster god before being forced into being the messenger of the gods as punishment for a prank played on Pae and Rao.

Haeledact

Child of Coeus. Their domains are Education and Logic

Kyra

Child of Anulin and Anusil. Owl Headed Divine of Mystery.

The child of the animal headed twin gods Anulin and Anusil

Maloch

Child of Eshael and the Drowner of Hope. Trapped in the land of the dead by the gods.

Calaelra

Daughter of Pae and Faela, Goddess of Kindness

Corvina

Daughter of Faela and Maya. Goddess of Assassination

Kaylin

Daughter of Kalma and Aria. Goddess of Blood and Murder

Cherek

Son of Pae and Torridae. God of Tyranny and Conquest

Amira

Daughter of Luna and Tyrius. Goddess of the Tides

Ixi

God of Fire and Destruction. Son of Pae and Torridae.

Cassavarus

Goddess of horses and horsemanship. Daughter of Heraph and Tyrius.

Spirits

Many things in the world have spirits, the more powerful spirits are the children of the new gods, such as the dryad and nymphs.

Other spirits are older or less powerful and less aware than the Godspawn. Some are the children of the old gods or powerful daemons, while others are just the manifestation of the earth.

Other Divine Beings

Old Gods

The old gods ruled the earth before the gods were born. While a great many of them were destroyed some still roam the earth or joined the ranks of the new gods.

Material World

The ‘real’ world where humans, elves, dwarves and halflings live, along with animals, monsters, and a great many other things.

The material world is a round, flat disk, mostly covered in water that flows off the edge into chaos. The gods draw rain and storms from chaos to provide rain for the world.

There are 3 main continents on the disk, as well as the Maesan Archipelago.

History

Anasi

Parliamentary Meritocracy

Head of State: Lady Shin (Elected Official)

Majority Race: Human

Major Exports: Fish, Iron

Ain Ghi

Tyranny

Head of State: Lady Essen (Tyrant)

Majority Race: Human

Major Exports: Fish, Copper, Steel, Slaves, Ships

Viin

Republic/League of City States

Head of State: Council of 5

Majority Race: Humans (Significant Populations of Elves and Halflings)

Major Exports: Mercenaries, Slaves, Gold, Art, Music

Note: The city state of Gelen is home to the Gelenesse Legion, the most famous sell-swords in the world.

Alkasarhi

The second largest continent, past the Aptic waste. It contains many island chains. The main continent is mostly forested, with three mountain ranges dividing up the continent.

The island nation of Behashi has a capitol here, led by President Alexi.

Floating Islands

Scattered across the world are strange floating islands made of oddly buoyant stone. Some are covered in ruins of an ancient civilisation, others are home to terrible monsters, and a few have towns or cities built upon them, still inhabited.

Some of these islands are anchored to the ground while others float free, drifting across the disk wherever the winds take them.

The Fae

At the far edges of civilisation, in the deepest forests and the furthest valleys, are special places removed from even the reaches of the gods. In these places, an old people rule, descendants of the oldest of the old gods. These beings were born long before the gods first walked the earth, but never were close to rivalling their power. They were content with their homes in the wilds, drawing parts of them into a realm that shared their name, The Fae.

Land of the Dead

The land of the dead is accessible through a few different paths. There are three rivers that flow from the material world to the land of the dead. There are also a number of caves, pools and portals that offer access. No matter the path, the traveller soon finds themselves at the gates of the underworld, guarded by a three headed dog.

Once past the dog, the traveller finds themselves in the court of Kalma and her consort Aria. Here the dead are judged for their actions in life and sent to the sections of the land of the dead that they are deserving of. Great warriors are sent to feasting halls, murderers to burning pits. Some souls are granted special protections by their gods, and are taken into the god's own realms, to the disgust of Kalma.

Heavens

The realms of all the major gods besides Kalma. Each god has their own realm, suited to them, filled with their followers and servants. Many of the gods’ realms touch onto the material world at certain places, and many also claim sections of the material world as extensions of their realms. Each realm also touches onto the land of the dead.

Chaos

The matter from before the world was made, and where many daemons reside. Within chaos daemons create realms of their own and fight wars between themselves.

Chaos is divided up into three rough sections.

Death

When a sentient creature dies, their essence either fades away, lingers, or passes into the realm of the dead. A creature must choose this path upon their death. If they chose to linger, they can become a shade, ghost, spectre or other undead. They may not be brought back to life and if they are killed, they cease to exist. If they fade away their essence returns to the universe becoming one with the universe. This takes a great deal of spiritual enlightenment. If they choose to pass into the realm of the dead, they are judged for their actions in life. According to legend to bring someone back from the dead, you must go to the land of the death and petition for their soul to be returned. You must then walk them out of the land of the dead without looking back until both of you have passed back into the land of the living.

Spirits of the dead can visit the land of the living under certain circumstances. When family or friends visit the grave or shine to the dead, the dead can see those who visit, and hear their words. Spirits of particularly powerful, or good natured people can even grant visitors some sense of thoughts or wisdom or bless them for a challenge ahead.

Once a being resides in the land of the dead they remain there until either their crimes are fully punished, or until they are ready to pass on and re-join the universe. Most dead will choose to pass on when no-one in the material world remembers them.

Marriage

When two willing people get married their souls are bound together even after death. This ensures that their souls will remain in the same region of the land of the dead or in the realm of the same gods.

Elves of course do not hold to such nonsense but do form similar bonds with close friends or lovers, ensuring that their friendship continues after death.

It is possible to have such a bond with multiple people.

Cults

History of The Universe

There are many histories of the world. There are those told by men or elves. There are those told by the gods. But none of those are true. Before the gods walked the earth there were other beings, who told their own histories. But even these beings, born soon after the beginning of the world, did not know the true shape of things. For before everything else, there were beings beyond the comprehension of even the gods. And before them, there were ancient beings that existed outside of time and outside of all reality.

In the beginning there was nothing, no time, no space, not even a void in which something could exist. In this lack of void some beings came to be.

Elder Gods

The elder gods came after. These beings were formed of divinity and matter and took incomprehensible forms. They built the world from stone, filling it with cities and many marvels. They also built worlds elsewhere, smaller constructions made in the worlds image. They left behind ancient ways of transport between these worlds, locked away in their ancient cities. They created slave races, of matter and soul, and artefacts of great power.

The Underworld

These slaves were the first beings to have souls, and their relentless tortured screaming upon death led the Elder Gods to create the Land of the Dead, a place for souls to go after death. They were trapped here for eternity, far from the thoughts of their creators.

Soul

Souls flow in an endless loop. When a creature is born a soul is formed from the void. When that creature dies its soul travels to the underworld, where it resides until all memory of it is erased from the living world, at which point it fades and the remnant of it returns to the void. Special or powerful souls are reincarnated instead, sent back to the world of the living to be born again.

Fall of the Elder Gods

But eventually the Elder Gods fell, to war, or some other catastrophe, and left a vacuum in their wake. From this vacuum came chaos, and in this chaos was born the first daemons, made from the souls of the slave races the elder gods had drawn into being. Chaos teemed with the relics of the Elder Gods power, hidden, and locked away within it.

Daemons and Chaos

Things continued like this for an eternity. Daemons fought and struggled in chaos, scaring the ancient ruins left by the elder gods with magic. They established hierarchies and organisations, and out of these hierarchies the first gods were born.

At this point, the underworld, earth, and chaos were the same, both a home for daemons, and linked in every place. The daemons feasted on the souls of those who had passed that way and grew strong.

The Old Gods

The first two gods were Earth and Sky. They pulled chaos back, and Sky acted as a barrier between Earth and Chaos. Between them grew the world tree, strong enough to hold up the sky. Alongside Earth and Sky were hundreds of other gods, who populated the world with trees, seas, plants, and animals.

These gods breathed life into beings that populated the world, living in the ruins left by the elder gods, or building new empires across the earth. They fought great wars, learning powerful magics and raising armies of undead to do battle.

These new beings also had souls, and in an effort to not allow the daemons unending supplies of souls, the old gods separated the underworld from chaos, creating a space for the souls of the dead to reside for a time. It was at this point, that it was decreed that once a soul was forgotten in the world above, it would fade back into the void, to re-join the cosmic energy.

Light and Dark

There was no sun at this point, and no moon. There was day and night, however, and stars filled the sky when the bright light of Sky’s burning torch was put away during the night-time.

Hyrenge

The Hyrenge were a race made from silver and stone. They were 16 ft. tall and were powerful mages and necromancers. They lived for thousands of years and build their cities deep underground.

Kaltuk

Kaltuk were beings who resembled eagles that walked on two legs. They build their cities on islands that floated high in the air and were the first beings to summon daemons to the new world, bypassing the protections made by the Sky. For this their cities and entire race was nearly wiped out by terrible storms sent by the old gods.

Nevertheless, some of their knowledge survived, and the secrets of daemonic summoning were never fully forgotten.

Garum

Garum were 10 ft. tall humanoid beings, with purple skin and black markings which they could use to channel magic. They built their homes and cities in the stone near the surface and are the most common source of ruins found in the world.

Elves

The first of the elves were made now as well, though they were taller and stronger than they are now, and even the elves do not remember this period of their history. These elves lived in secluded valleys and glades, hidden from the rest of the world and its wars and disasters.

An Age of Darkness

This old world was brutal and wild, the old gods fought against each other, and routinely sent devastation across the world. This culminated in a war that continued for hundreds of years and left the Hyrenge and Garum completely extinct, and even nearly wiped out the elves. It was in response to this devastation that the Sky and the Earth created a new generation of gods.

New Gods

Nyrha was the first of the new gods to be born, created from the constant contact between the Sky and Chaos beyond. She wandered the world, content for now.

The next of the new gods were born of Sky and Earth. Pae, Kalma and Tyrius were stronger than the old gods that came before them, and with Nyrha’s help they slew most of the old gods, taking their divinity for themselves. It was at this time that Pae, searching for old gods to consume, found his lover Rao. Rao joined them in the war and soon nearly all the old gods were dead or in hiding. The new gods, having taken dominion, set about restoring the world.

Pae took dominion of the domains of Light, Justice and Law. His lover Pae took the domains of Peace and Joy. Tyrius took charge of the oceans and, upon hearing the prayers of the elves who had begun to build boats and sail the seas of the world, also took the domains of navigation and seafaring, accepting their sacrifices in exchange for safe passage across the oceans.

Kalma took no domains. Instead she became the patron god of the elves, protecting them from death and despair.

Elvish Empires

The elves took advantage of this new world. They spread out of their hidden places and began building empires again. Aware of the fates of the people before them, they made sure to honour the new gods, building the first great temples and cathedrals. Many of these were built in honour of Kalma, who had taken a great liking to the elves.

Kalma took a special interest in death, ferrying the souls of the elves that died back to the world of the living to be reborn. Elves regained the memories of their old lives as they grew up and soon there were elves with memories stretching back tens of thousands of years.

More Gods

The gods began reproducing. Pae and Rao gave life to Vaelniv, Torridae and Eshael, who took their places in the new pantheon.

Vaelniv took dominion over nature and wilderness, taking care of plants and animals.

Torridae was tasked with protecting the world from daemonic invasion, and trained elves in the arts of warfare. It was at this time that she created the dragons, who would share a close kinship with elves forever after.

Eshael became the goddess of family and safety among the elves, blessing families and farming. The Rape of Eshael Things were calm for a long time, until suddenly disaster struck. From beneath the ocean The Drowner of Hope emerged. They had slumbered in a hidden tomb since the age of the Elder Gods and had awoken once more. It came to the realm of the gods, stole fair Eshael and dragged her to the depths. The other gods searched for her, scouring the inky blackness but to no avail. After many years she returned, wounded and pregnant. She never spoke of her imprisonment.

The Concord

The daemons make a pact with the gods. Never again will they return in force. In exchange some daemons will be allowed to live in the material world and foolish creatures who promise their souls to the daemons will have their souls consumed. A large group of daemons, having switched sides near the end of the war, offer their services as divine punishment for those who anger the gods, which the gods agree to.

New Gods

Once the war is over the gods continue procreating. Pae and Kalma lie together and Kalma gives birth to Luna, the new moon. Pae also fathers Cherek by Torridae. Tyrius and Luna soon become lovers, and forever after the tides are influenced by the moon. The daughter of this union is Amira, goddess of islands and mother to the Neirid.

Eshael soon gives birth to Phoebus, Heraph, Laeda and Vae. Vae is stillborn and joins Kalma in the underworld.

Pae and Torridae create Othrin, Ori, Alda, and Erla. These new gods create the dwarves.

In a drunken stupor, Torridae rapes Eshael, who then gives birth to Aria who joins her sisters, the spirits of the seasons.

With the promise of hidden knowledge, Nyrha managed to trick Coeus into the depths of the Land of the Dead and rape him. After a long time of being trapped in the darkness, Coeus brings his child Maya to the surface.

Torridae and Vaelniv become lovers for a time and have twins, Anulin and Anusil.

Coeus and Eshael also become lovers and have Hira, Lyra, Mira, and Visyr.

Faela drugs and rapes Pae, soon giving birth to Calaelra.

Birth of Humanity

Pae and Errigan create humans and halflings. They spread across the world rapidly, having an even greater love of exploration than the elves. They clash with the dwarves and elves before the gods broker a peace that develops into a lasting civility.

More Gods

The gods continue to reproduce, Kweath and Feala lie together and Faela gives birth to Tedegra. The incestuous twins Anusil and Anilin have Kyra. Then Anusil and Maya become lovers and Maya gives birth to Alayse. Soon after, Anusil kills Anulin in a jealous rage.

Aria is kidnapped by Kalma to become her wife and soon gives birth to the muses and the goddess Kaylin.

Faela and Maya also become lovers for a time and Faela gives birth to Corvina.

It is in this time that Errigan lies with a mortal and gives birth to Aerys. Aerys is so beloved of the other gods that he is granted divinity. With his new godhood he lies with Amora and she has triplets, Siith, Elara, Foldun. Each taking domains related to the newly created humans.

They are the last new gods to be born. From here on, the history is that of the material world, not of gods.

History of the Mortal World

Places

Species of the World

One Hundred and Ten Thousand Years Ago

Before the Old Gods first took shape, before the mountains were raised again and the oceans were remade, before the world tree burned and before the first stones of Melegard were placed upon the rocks, there were the Titans. These Titans were not daemons or gods, though they rivalled their powers. The creator gods were gone, and their divine sparks would not return for thousands of years. The Titans shaped the world, great kraken that spread oceans, great stone beings that raised new mountains. It was these beings that shaped the world as it exists now, and the most powerful of them was Agni, the Titan of Flame. Agni was the most powerful, but also the most jealous, for he could not create as the other titans did. Where he passed, great forests burned, and mountains melted into lava, flowing away into nothingness, and oceans boiled away. Agni eventually settled in a valley and asked the other titans to raise lofty mountains around him, to bury his heat, and soon he sank below the ground, where he resides still. All volcanoes are his children, and many of the strange creatures made of fire and lava are his creations.

Fire giants sometimes worship Agni as a god and as a father, though he never possessed a divine spark and there is no indication that the fire giants are his children.

The Elder Gods

The first of the Elder Gods existed alone. The first beings were long dead, their spirits dispersed across the universe. The First contained within it, three great energies, which were also great souls, collected from the wall of souls. These souls sought to escape The First, and destroy each other, so The First build a realm of imprisoning light, where it placed The Three for what it hoped would be all eternity. Soon the first gave birth to The Second, and this event ruptured the universe, breaking it into eight parts. The Second was also damaged, leaking divine essence into each part of the universe. Souls, torn loose from the wall of souls by the birthing, clumped together in the divine essence, giving birth to thousands of Elder Gods. The only part of the universe that was undivided was the eternal prison, where the First still sat, ruler of that space.

The new elder gods spread across all eight universes, building realms for themselves and multiplying through millions of years. However, soon they realised something. Each of these universes was finite. Eventually the Elder gods reached an edge, beyond which there was nothing, and beyond which nothing could pass. All of their infinite power and infinite intelligence could not pass this border, and thus they began to covert the space owned by others. It did not take long for two Elder Gods to come to an arrangement and attack another together. They struck quickly and without warning, and soon an Elder God was dead, for the first time in existence. Its divine essence was free for the taking, as was the realm it had claimed. The two who had killed it both dove upon the remains, fighting over the spoils, and the news travelled in an instant across all the universes. Alliances were formed and, in an instant after the first death, the First War broke out.

New Elder Gods were born from this conflict, more powerful and more violent than their predecessors. Vast regions of space were utterly destroyed, spheres of death and nothingness that consumed all who entered them, created by these new Elder Gods. Some Elder Gods split themselves into armies of lesser beings, hoping that numbers would prevail where singular might had not. Others withdrew from the eight universes, studying the original splitting to create new, smaller universes in which to live, hidden from the sight of any lesser Elder Gods. Others fled to the Eternal Prison, pledging themselves to The First in return for safety. It was these servitors to The First that formed the first pantheon, with ranks and assigned duties within the Prison.

None of the multitude of factions attacked the Eternal Prison during the first war, and after thirteen billion years, it ended. Leaders from every faction bar one met at the Eternal Prison and declared peace. The one faction that did not attend fled the Eight Universes and were never seen or heard from again. Combining their powers, the Elder Gods created a web of gates and portals between their realms and universes, which would last, in some form, forever.

The second war followed soon after, this time starting when an entire universe attacked another one, seeking to steal space from them. This war was much shorter, only lasting seven billion years, during which only five of the eight universes formally took part, though not a single universe was exempt from the devastation. It was during this war that the first of the Fuinnvardi were created. These lifeless warriors, made from living metal and stone served as the Elder Gods armies, lead by Avatars of their gods, fighting through the realms of the Elder Gods.

This war ended when The First and their followers seized the gateway network and prevented passage, backed up by their own legions of Fuinvardi. The First prevented all passaged between universes and the conflict ended quickly, as stranded attacks were cut off from reinformcements.

However, it did not take long for the Elder Gods of all eight universes to grow tired of The First’s meldling and all turn upon The First. This war was short and decisive. After only two million years, the First was dead, and their beleagured pantheon was pushed back into The Eternal Prison. However, the fight over the powerful essence of The First was the most destructive event that had, or would ever, occur, and when it was over, there were only three universes remained in any stable form, and every Elder God was either dead or damaged to such a degree that they were a shadow of their former power. The divine sparks were split and scattered across all the universes and demi-universes, where they were corrupted by the destruction, slowly twisting and turning in the sea of souls that was left after the last, and final, war between Elder Gods.

Daemons

From this twisting sea of souls and divine essence, a new class of creature was born. Though infinitely weaker than the Elder Gods, these new beings were still strong enough to exert pressure on the universe around them, and they began to create new realms for themselves. These were the Daemons, and most stuck to a hierarchical structure, in which a daemon had a singular master and a number of servants. Each daemon gave away a portion of its power to its master, in return for servants of its own, and its masters protection. Soon the daemons began to war, though not with the same scale of the wars before them. The daemons who had the most servants became known as Daemon Lords and, while they almost never took part in the battles themselves, were the singular cause of conflict within the chaotic remnants of the universes. The daemons thrived in regions were the fabric of reality was damaged, for there it took less power to exists, and thus the daemons had more power for other activities, and thus the daemons left the most stable parts of the universe untouched. Here and there, in these spaces, new life arose. Some was born from wandering free daemons, while others was dreamed into being by the sleeping elder gods. These beings were prey to the daemons, who raided their realms and fed upon their souls when they died.

After millions of years of waring, the thirteen most powerful daemons came together and formed the council of thirteen, bring an end to many of the wars. Conflicts from this point onwards were heavily regulated affairs, where groups fought over predetermined areas and all battles were observed by watchers selected by the council. This council also created the first of the hunting laws, rules that daemons had to abide by when hunting for souls to consume in order for daemonkind as a whole to have a sustainable source of sustenance.

Free daemons, who had no lords or servants, were excluded from the council or its protection, and soon they were hunted by the other daemons, and a great number of them began to gather into a coalition. Eventually they performed a great rite, which one of their number had discovered on a journey into The Eternal Prison. This rite transformed the very nature of these daemons, removing their need for the soul’s sustenance, and replacing it with a need for worship. These new beings, these new gods, began planning their great work, a region of the universe that would be free of daemons. They spread apart and hid, most becoming gods of the strange people that the daemons preyed upon. Here, they built up strength until they could begin.

After more than a million years they were ready, while many of their number were dead, or had become so used to their status as gods that they refused the summons, the remaining creator gods tore a section of one of the universes away from the rest, creating an empty space which they could fill. In this space they created suns, the first suns ever, great balls of light that would provide warmth and light for the worlds they would build around them. These worlds began as empty spheres of rock, but the gods created servants to shape and form them, and then new life to grow and spread across the surfaces. The creator gods made 22 stars, each with between 3 and 12 planets orbiting them. One of these planets was the world.

Recent History

Two hundred and ninety-seven years ago, in a small hut near the border of Actura and Deumus, a queen gave birth. On a diplomatic trip and expected to return long before going into labour, the arrival of Eris was a surprise to everyone, not the least of all the farmer who suddenly had a king knocking on the door to his hut asking if the queen could give birth somewhere out of the rain.

Lady Eris’s childhood was extremely odd, from her repeated long bouts of illness, to her firm friendship with the court necromancer, who taught her in secret the magic of necromancy. She was nineteen, her father and mother were assassinated, and she took the throne. She immediately began expanding Actura’s military and forging alliances with the surrounding nations and within the first year of her rule, concurred three neighbouring kingdoms, disposing weak kings and queens with ease. It was during one of these campaigns that her scouts uncovered an ancient temple of Kalma, in which she discovered ancient tomes filled with powerful spells and rituals.

Sacrificing nearly a thousand of camp followers and enemy slaves, she cast the ancient ritual and became the first lich in two thousand years. With her newfound power and newly raised army of the dead, she turned on her allies and seized control of massive swaths of land. She declared her new conquests the Acturan Empire and named herself Lady Eris, Empress of Death.

Her armies, comprised both of living and dead attacked any kingdom or city that did not surrender to her, and slowly headed north to the coast, where she began to construct a fleet, the largest the world had seen since Queen Ullendivar in ages past. This show of direct hostility was the push the northern nations needed to unite, and together, their fleets attacked, and, at the battle of Ellenda Strait, Eris’ new Empire had its first major defeat. The alliance navy pushed onwards and burned the new dockyards to the ground. Eris was furious, but the harsh terrain and skilled warriors of the north meant that without her fleet, she would have to turn elsewhere. Her armies marched south and west, annexing every nation to south all the way to the border of the Great Desert and west until she once again approached the sea.

Her armies also took a substantial portion of Eabrin before the horse lords managed to bring their full army of cavalry to bear and force the empire to withdraw.

The Beginning

In the beginning there was nothing.

No Time. No Matter. No Soul. No Divine Spark.

Then Something happened. There was a Space in which Thought could exist but there was no Thought.

Energy left over from the Something still acted upon this Space, eddying through the essence, until after a long Time The First Thought was thought.

The First Thought was only ever known by itself, but this Thought thought more thoughts, and some of those Thoughts became the First Soul. This Soul was the only soul, and it was filled with Infinite Thoughts, but it had no Spark, and it had no Matter to move within.

Half of the Thoughts echoed the other Thoughts and died.

The dead Thoughts met the living Thoughts and annihilated each other.

From this came the first Spark.

The first spark had only dead souls.

The first spark had only living souls.

The first spark had nothing.

The first spark had everything.

The spark exploded.

And the Universe was Born.

Sanity

Sanity is a representation of how well your character deals with the stress of adventuring, contact with alien entities or other horrors. As you adventure you will take sanity damage.

Each character starts with a sanity score of 10 + their wisdom modifier or their intelligence modifier and gains an amount equal to 1d6 + your wisdom modifier or intelligence modifier whenever you gain a level.

When you reach 0 sanity you suffer a sanity break, and suffer an effect determined by the table below. While experiencing a sanity break any additional sanity damage that you take causes an additional sanity break. Once all effects of all sanity breaks are complete, your maximum sanity is reduced by 2 points for each break suffered.

Major Madness

Major madness is much more severe than minor madness, and always has some mechanical effect.

Supreme Madness

Lasts until removed. Each extended downtime has a 10% chance to remove it.

At any point you can attempt to ignore the penalties of your madness. Roll a difficulty 25 Mental Save. On a pass you can act normally for a minute. On a fail you take 2d6 sanity damage.

Losing Sanity

The following effects drain sanity.

Your GM may create more sanity draining effects and monsters will often do sanity damage.

Regaining Sanity

You can regain sanity by resting. A long rest in a safe place regains 1 point of sanity.

You also regain one point of sanity when you score a critical hit on an enemy.

Hardcore Mode

Hardcore Dungeons and Dragons is the most fun you can have with a D20. It ups the stakes and makes every hit count. I present the following changes to the rules of DnD to make your players fear every encounter, take great joy in every kill and feel great accomplishment at every day survived.

Permanent Injury

When you become stable you must make an aditional death save. On a failure, you are permanently wounded.

Changes to Rests

This is a variant on the Gritty Realism rest variant in the DMs guide.

Changes to Drowning

If a creature enters water willingly it can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to its constitution modifier before it starts to drown.

If a creature is grappled while holding its breath it must make a constitution save with ac DC of 10 + it’s attackers athletics bonus to continue to hold its breath.

Once a creature starts drowning it must make a DC (5 + (5 x (number of rounds it has been drowning -con mod) save at the start of its turn or start making death saves. These death saves are at DC 10.

Changes to Specific Abilities and Feats

Paladin and Rangers

Due to the extreem shortage of spell slots both these classes gain an ability that allows them to regain spell slots equal to one fith of their level on a short rest every second short rest.

Sorcerer

Sorcerers regain a third of their sorcerery points on a short rest.

Wizard

Arcane Recovery can be used every second short rest.

A Note on Balancing

With this mode comes new challenges for a DM. Your players will be squishier than normal and certain classes will become more powerful than other. I would defiantly recommend reducing all monster hit points. When you players can die in one or two turns it's important to allow your players to kill monsters in a similar timeframe. This will have a few effects. Firstly, area of effect spells will be significantly more powerful, allowing players to instantly wipe out large numbers of enemies. Luckily most AoE spells are from classes that require lost rests to regain spell slots so it remains balanced but some classes may be able to repeatedly cast such spells, for example warlocks.

Classes that regain most abilities on a short rest are more powerful as are classes that excel at range. Be sure to reward characters for picking non-optimal classes by providing slight buffs, or magic items specific to them to ensure that all players can feel effective.

House Rules and Rule Variants

Miscelanious Rule Changes and House Rules

Chages to Spells

Classes and Subclasses

The Witch

The very first spellcasters were witches, mastering magic long before the first druids or wizards. Their magic is similarly ancient, though modern witches make some use of newer magics.

Witches have a familiar, a much more useful companion than that of other spell casters, able to be sent over vast distances and deliver messages or watch the witches enemies.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Witch of the Woods

At 20th level you gain a level of mastery over nature and your magic. You can speak to and understand all animals and plants, and they do their best to obey your commands. You always know what the weather will do up to a week in the future and you can cast any divination spells available to you without expending a spell slot.

Witchery Paths

There are as many different types of witchery as there are witches, but most can roughly be grouped into the following paths.

Fortune Telling

When you select this path at 3rd level, whenever you cast a divination spell, you can either double its duration or range. In addition, you learn augury and this spell doesn't count against your spells known.

At level 6, you do not need any material components to cast divination spells aside from the items in your starting gear, and in addition, you can replace these on a long rest for free, as long as you have access to animal bones, wood to carve, or something similar.

At level 11, when casting a divination spell with a casting time of 1 minute, you can ask the DM for one sentence of clarification on any answer you receive from such a spell. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it until you complete a long rest.

At level 17, you gain true sight at all times, and can always tell if someone is lying to you.

Necromancy

When you select this path at 3rd level, you can cast animate dead once per long rest without expending a spell slot.

At level 6, any undead creatures you summon gain a number of hit points equal to your proficiency bonus + your intelligence modifier.

At level 11, whenever you cast a spell that summons undead, the spell counts as being cast at the highest level for which you have spell slots.

At level 17, whenever any undead creature under your control dies, you heal hit points equal to twice their challenge rating.

Potion Brewing

When you select this path at 3rd level, you can brew a single potion of healing per day, as long as you do not already have one that you brewed through this ability. This potion ceases to function if it is ever more than 60 ft. away from you and cannot be sold or traded.

At level 6, you learn to make potions of remove curse and can brew one of these instead of your potion of healing for the day.

At level 11, your healing potions heal twice as many hit points.

At level 17, you can create up to 3 potions using your potion brewing ability per day.

Witch Spell List

5th Level

• Animate Objects
• Awaken
• Cloudkill
• Commune with Nature
• Contact other Plane
• Cone of Cold
• Conjure Elemental
• Contagion
• Control Winds
• Dominate Person
• Dream
• Geas
• Greater Restoration
• Hold Monster
• Immolation
• Infernal Calling
• Insect Plague
• Legend Lore
• Maelstrom
• Modify Memory
• Reincarnate
• Scrying
• Seeming
• Transmute Rock
• Tree Stride
• Wall of Stone
• Wrath of Nature

6th Level

• Bones of the Earth
• Chain Lightning
• Circle of Death
• Conjure Fey
• Create Undead
• Disintegrate
• Eyebite
• Find the Path
• Flesh to Stone
• Harm
• Heal
• Investiture of Flame
• Investiture of Ice
• Investiture of Stone
• Investiture of Wind
• Magic Jar
• Primordial Ward
• Soul Cage
• Transport via Plants
• True Seeing
• Wall of Thorns

7th Level

• Finger of Death
• Fire Storm
• Plane Shift
• Power Word Pain
• Regenerate
• Resurrection
• Symbol
• Whirlwind

8th Level

• Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting
• Animal Shapes
• Control Weather
• Demiplane
• Dominate Monster
• Earthquake
• Feeblemind
• Maddening Darkness
• Maze
• Mind Blank
• Telepathy

8th Level

• Astral Projection
• Gate
• Imprisonment
• Mass Polymorph
• Power Word Kill
• Psychic Scream
• Shapechange
• Storm of Vengeance
• True Polymorph
• True Resurrection
• Wish

The Trickster

The grinning elf runs away from the guards chasing him and leaps into a swiftly flowing stream. At the crest of the jump his form shifts and transforms into that of a fish that lands in the water with a splash. The guards try to find him but he has already swum far away.

A human female strikes at bandit chief with her travelling staff, knocking him down in one swing. She then spins to confront the rest of his gang and laughs as they flee in terror.

A Halfling stands at a large stone door attempting to pick at the lock, he turns and becomes invisible as a handful of guards turn the corner. They pass without incident and he resumes his lock picking.

Class Features

As a trickster you gain the following class features.

Luck of the Trickster

Starting at 5th level, glimpses of the future begin to press in on your awareness. When you finish a long rest, roll one d20 and record the number rolled. You can replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or a creature that you can see with one of these foretelling rolls. You must choose to do so before the roll, and you can replace a roll in this way only once per turn. Each foretelling roll can be used only once. When you finish a long rest, you lose any unused foretelling rolls.

You gain an additional dice at 14th level.

Subtle Spell Casting

Beginning at 9th level you have mastered the of stealthy spell casting art and can cast any trickster cantrip or spell gained from a Secret without any verbal and somatic components.

Master of Many Faces

Beginning at 15th level you have learned to change your own form without taking that of an animal. You can cast the alter self spell at will.

Nine lives

At 20th level your luck manifests itself into nine lives. The first eight times you suffer a death effect, fail a final death save or die through some other means, you do not die and regain 1 hit point. Once you have run out of lives you die as normal. The number of lives cannot be changed by any effect, even a wish will not give you more lives though resurrection magic functions as normal.

Paths of the Trickster

Trickster Secrets

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Level 6

Level 7

Level 8

Secrets of the Mind IV

You are the master of manipulating people’s minds. You can cast Feeblemind once per long rest.

Level 9

Spell List

Spells

General Feats

Traits and Drawbacks

This is an optional system to add more flavour to characters at character creation. When creating a character with this variant, your DM will instruct you to pick one of the following options (or make up her own):

1. Pick two traits in addition to selecting a background. Then select any number of drawbacks, for each drawback you select, you may pick an additional trait, up to a maximum of 4 traits.
2. Pick any two skills to be proficient in, and then pick traits and drawbacks as above.
3. Only pick traits and drawbacks to represent your background. Pick one additional trait for a theoretical maximum of 5 traits.

Many of the traits refer to crafting, check with you DM if they are using a different crafting system before selecting them.

Lost Love

Once upon a time you had a lover who you cared for deeply. Though time or fate has separated you, you still draw solace from your time together. You have advantage on wisdom saves against fear.

Orphan

Your fates or your own actions have determined your call to adventure. You gain +1 on attack rolls or spell attack rolls.

People Person

You are charming and amicable. People tend to like you and people who like you tend to charge you less when buying goods or services.

Performer

You have learned how to play an instrument and can perform to cheapen your cost of staying in towns or cities.

Quick

You gain a +5 ft. bonus to movement speed.

Rare Language Learner

You learn one language from the very rare language list.

Religious Garb

You can wear symbols of your religion over your armour. This indicates you as a religious warrior and you do not get charged extra for wearing armour.

Sailor

You know how to sail a ship and navigate dock areas.

Shelter of the Faithful

You have spent time in a church or temple and can seek refuge with such organisations.

Skill Training

Select one skill, you gain proficiency in this skill.

Soldier of Fortune

You know where to find bounties or mercenary work.

Supportive Family

You have a family back home, who loves and supports you. You regain 1d6 extra hit points whenever you regain any hit points during a rest. You gain a +1 bonus on wisdom saves.

Survivalist

You find twice as much food and water when foraging.

Tough of Body

You gain an extra 2 hit points.

Tinkerer

You can create small mechanical items. You count as proficient for checks for crafting such items.

Well-Travelled

You learn 2 more languages, from the common or rare list.

Young Start

You have started your adventuring life much younger than usual.

You cannot take more than 2 starting traits, including this one.

You take a -2 penalty to strength, constitution, and wisdom scores but a +2 bonus to dexterity and charisma scores.

Drawback List

Sickly

Your body is frail, and you get sick easily. Your constitution score is reduced by 2.

Stupid

Your brain does not work as well as other peoples. Your intelligence score is reduced by 2.

Ugly

You are staggeringly unpleasant to gaze upon. Your charisma score is reduced by 2.

Voices

You hear voices in your head telling you to do things. This voice could be the voice of a god, your own delusions or something more sinister. Consult your GM.

Wanted

You are wanted by a group of people. Work out details with your GM. This group of people will attempt to hunt you down.

Weak to Magic

A childhood curse or arcane accident has left you vulnerable to magic and magical effects, you have disadvantage on saves against spells and other magical effects.

Weak Willed

You are not as strong willed as other people. Your wisdom score is reduced by 2.

Stage Fright

You suffer disadvantage on charisma and wisdom tests when in or in front of large crowds.

Phobia

You have an intense fear of a certain creature or effect, for example: fire, spiders, heights. When confronted with the object of your phobia you must make a DC 15 wisdom save or take 1 irresistible sanity damage and be frightened for a round.

Lack of Confidence

Whenever you fail a skill check you have a -5 penalty on that skill for an hour.

Forgetful

Whenever you stay at a location for more than an hour you must make a difficulty 10 Mental Save or leave an item behind, such as a few coins, a small dagger or similar. If you critically fail this test you might instead leave an important weapon or piece of information instead.

Dark Mark

You have a symbol of an evil god or other dark entity burned into your flesh. You have disadvantage and a -2 penalty on all charisma checks with decent people.

You are charged double for all goods and services.

Hedonist

Each day you do not spent at least an hour in pleasurable activities you must make DC 15 wisdom save or have disadvantage on initiative and perception checks for the next day.

Slow on the Uptake

You have disadvantage on initiative checks or perception checks to spot hidden enemies or traps.

Alternate Skill System

In this system, characters gain an additional 2 skills + a number of skills equal to their intelligence or wisdom modifier, whichever is higher to make up for the massively increased number of skills. In addition, whenever a character selects a knowledge skill, they can immedialy select another knowledge skill to be proficient in.

Gather Information

Charisma

Allows you to gather information in towns and cities.

Insight

Wisdom

Insight is used to gauge people and tell if there are honest or lying. It can also be used to gauge someone’s emotional state or see if they are under the effect of a mind-altering effect.

Intimidation

Charisma

Intimidation is scaring someone into doing what you want or causing them to flee.

Investigation

Intelligence

Investigation is the searching for something or understanding how something works. It is used to search for traps or hidden doors, or to spot patterns or other things that do not purely rely on the senses to see.

Jump

Strength

The jump skill determines how far and high you can jump as well as your accuracy when jumping onto tricky targets.

Knowledge

Intelligence

Knowledge skills are your knowledge of a specific subject. There are a number of different knowledge skills, and your GM might add or remove them to fit with the type of game they are running.

Leadership

Charisma

Leadership is the instruction and command of others. It is mainly used to command hirelings or other followers.

Medicine

Wisdom

Medicine is mostly used to mend wounds or identify wounds, diseases, or poisons.

Perception

Wisdom

Perception is a measure of how observant you are. Perception is used both to see or hear far of sounds, or to hear or see close details. Perception tests are used to spot traps or hidden doors, or to spot people or items that are hidden.

Performance

Charisma

Performance is used to hold people’s attention, to perform instruments or give speeches.

Ride

Dexterity

Ride is your skill with handling and riding animals, mainly horses. If you have a total bonus to ride equal or higher than 10, you can mount an animal without losing movement.

Ride is used to avoid falling off a mount, keeping control of a wounded or spooked mount or performing tricky feats of horsemanship.

Sleight of Hand

Dexterity

Sleight of hand is used to conceal your actions of your hands, pickpocketing, palming a dagger, etc.

Smash

Strength

This skill determines how easily you can break things like doors, chests, trees, and people’s arms.

Spellcraft

Intelligence

Spellcraft is the knowledge of magic in a practical sense. It includes knowing how to counter magic, as well as modify it.

Stealth

Dexterity

Stealth is a measure of your stealth. It covers moving silently, avoiding peoples gaze, or disappearing from sight altogether in some conditions.

Survival

Wisdom

Survival covers wilderness survival skills, such as navigation, foraging, and tracking. It can also be used to harvest defeated foes or learn basic information about plants or animals, though without the accuracy of Knowledge (nature)

Swim

Strength

The swim skill represents both speed of swimming and the ability to swim in tight spaces or against strong currents.

Alternate Equipment Rules

Trick Weapons

These rare weapons are designed to be a combination of two other weapons, or to have some hidden property. They are rare and often difficult to use.

Alternate Rules

Spells