STATUE

7th-level transmutation (bard, warlock, wizard)

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: Touch

Components: V, S, M (pinch of lime, water, and earth; and a small iron bar, such as a nail)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

You transform willing creature that you touch into stone, subjecting them to the petrified condition for the duration. While petrified in this way, the creature is a magical object, and it can be affected by divination spells such as detect magic and true seeing. Additionally, the creature is still aware of its surroundings and able to use its senses; and it is able to concentrate on spells. However, it is still unable to move, and its sense of touch is dulled.

If the creature is physically broken while petrified, it suffers from similar deformities if it reverts to its original state.

At any time during the spell’s duration, an affected creature can use their action to end the petrified condition and return to their original state or turn back into stone and become petrified again.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 8th level or higher, you can target up to three creatures for each slot level above 7th. The creatures must be within 10 feet of you when you cast the spell.

Converted from the Player's Handbook (3.5e)

this is actually a really fucking cool idea

For those who like examples, here's two nations using the same rolls:

Military Might (STR): 14

Infrastructure (DEX): 12

Public Health (CON): 7

Education/Magic (INT): 11

Economic Stability (WIS): 14

Diplomacy (CHA): 7

A small-ish nation that has recently asserted its control over all nearby valuable lands; extending its control to various chokepoints in the nearby mountains and its river crossing. A series of forts and watchtowers ensures that all the lands of the kingdom are safe and productive to continue providing supplies for the kingdom’s armies. This authoritative rule has been rough on the land’s populace as many are being worked hard and receive little in terms of care for injuries or illnesses. However, it seems unlikely to change as the King has been antagonizing weaker neighbors and also pushing to colonize the wild lands ruled by druidic tribes. One of the few aspects of the kingdom that has been bolstered, outside of the military, is the Royal Magic Academy where the King’s advisor is training up the future of spellcasters for the King’s armies.

__

Military Might (STR): 7

Infrastructure (DEX): 7

Public Health (CON): 11

Education/Magic (INT): 14

Economic Stability (WIS): 12

Diplomacy (CHA): 14

The valley is ruled by the Council of Mages, a group of relatively reclusive caster, concocters and magical researchers. The group primarily unites only to defend the valley itself from outside influence, especially those who wish to take control of the wizard’s tower away from the valley.

The populace who lives in the valley is relatively content with the current arrangement. The mages rarely ask for tribute or tax in any form but provide education to the magically and mentally inclined. Further any plagues or illnesses that threaten the valley’s towns and villages are quickly contained and countered by the mages who specialize in healing magics.

The valley is relatively remote and disconnected to other nations, with many of the passes only being safe to travel in the summer months. However, most nearby nations only take advantage of these passes to trade for valuable magical artifacts or to hire on of the mages for a period. Although the nearby Kingdom has been getting increasingly belligerent and the military weak, yet magically valuable, valley may prove a tempting target.

Terminate

9th level enchantment

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Duration: Infinite (requires concentration)

Components: V, S

Classes: Wizard

You sever the link between a creature’s mind and body. For as long as you concentrate on the spell, they are petrified, lose all senses, break concentration on all spells they are concentrating on, and are unable to form memories. At the beginning of each of their turns, the creature may make a Wisdom saving throw. If they do, make an Intelligence saving throw. If your throw is lower, you take 4d6 psychic damage.

The Wyrm's Garden

The Ekenäs castle of magical research

Process:

⚔️ 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺! 🗣️ Griff here: just a reminder that this was designed over a week ago, and its scheduled posting day here is entirely circumstantial. Tyrant’s End
Weapon (greataxe), legendary (requires attunement) ___ This blade is a grisly guillotine, whose edge was used to put an end to the tyrants of a broken age. You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon, which has the following properties. 𝙁𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙚. The blade of the axe is attached by a piece of its original rope. Once on each of your turns when you make an attack with the weapon, you can choose to fling the blade at a creature within 20 feet of you. Make a melee attack roll against the target. Hit or miss, the blade is then retracted back to the weapon immediately after the attack. If the target is no more than one size larger than you and you hit it, it is pulled with the blade to the nearest unoccupied space to you between you and the target. 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙩. Within the blade is Simon Livoel, the spirit of a revolutionary warrior who built the original guillotine. You can use a bonus action to shout the weapon’s command phrase (“Down with tyranny!”) and summon the weapon’s spirit. Alternatively, the spirit appears in your space when you’re reduced to 0 hit points. He uses the veteran stat block with the following changes: he is undead, he has darkvision out to a range of 60 feet, this greataxe replaces his longsword (+8 to hit, 1d12 + 6 slashing damage), and he has no other weapons. For the duration, you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, and Simon takes the same amount of bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage as you. Simon can’t otherwise be targeted or harmed by any attack or effect. On your turn, you can use a bonus action to command Simon to attack a target within the greataxe’s range, using his statistics. If you’re incapacitated, he’ll attack the nearest creature that is hostile to you on his own. Simon remains until he’s reduced to 0 hit points, at which point this property can’t be used again until the next dawn. …Sentience and Personality continued in the IG comments! ___ ✨ Patrons get huge perks! Access this and hundreds of other item cards, art files, and compendium entries when you support The Griffon’s Saddlebag on Patreon for as little as $3 a month!

Continued from instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQuKISJDC5R/

𝙎𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚. Simon’s spirit remains in the weapon’s blade, and his dim reflection can be sometimes seen in its scarred surface. “Tyrant’s End” is a chaotic neutral sentient weapon, with an Intelligence of 15, a Wisdom of 15, and a Charisma of 17. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮. Simon has beheaded hundreds of tyrants over the course of his life and the weapon’s existence. He is quick to call out the tell-tale signs of a tyrant’s rise to power. Otherwise, he is taciturn and thoughtful, speaking rarely and only when he feels he can push someone away from the mistakes he made in life. A creature that Simon considers to be a tyrant gains no benefits from this weapon.

𝗙𝗹𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁! In an open clearing, Freedom finally set down her heavy axe and set to making camp. As she worked, her blade—cleaned and polished as far as its aged iron would take—reflected the rough hues of its surrounding, although in place of the tiefling’s red skin and black leathers were the colors of a long-forgotten revolution. For a time the shape followed her motions exactly, until she directed a question towards it.

“Hey, Simon, y'there?”

The blade’s edge rang like a sigh and the form seemed to approach the metal, resolving into the vague reflection of a wiry man, revolutionary colors marred by bloodstains.

“Yes, what do you need?”

Freedom sat down beside the axe, matching Simon’s pose as she replied, “How’d you end up haunting that thing? Did it kill you?” Simon’s image smiled bitterly. “You know the saying ‘live by the sword, die by the sword?’”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to say something like 'violence begets violence, so put down the weapon and become a farmer,’ are you?” The revolutionary looked grave in the face of Freedom’s grinning flippancy. “No. I’m saying even tyrants have friends, or at least enemies too far away to care. And when I became a pattern, there were plenty who wanted my death to send an ironic message.”

“So, what? I should slow down, stop fighting evil any time I find it?”

“No, not at all. You shouldn’t give it space to breathe.”

萩原 卓哉／Hagihara Takuya

Archive

Settlement: Idisimar of the Deep Wells, The City Without a Prayer

Setup: To be king of the desert you must first control the water. This is the lesson learned by the many successive dynasties that have ruled the oft conquered city of Idisimar, each growing fabulously wealthy on the trade and agriculture that support the city, only to be picked off by an upstart rival looking to pinch a bit of the goodlife for themselves. 

The latest of these would be rulers are a pair of lovers:  The ruthless raider and blademaster Ni’mat and her husband, the guileful seductor Talib Dawngraced. Ten years ago in the heat of their youth and passion these two raised a bandit army and conquered the city, ousting the previous ruler and installing their plunder hungry followers as enforcers and minitractors along the many traderotues that the city serviced. 

For just over a decade, these two have held claim to the rich aquafers and vaulted cisterns of the city, which the the two set to protecting and developing the way another ruler might guard a vein of rare and precious ore. Where the previous rulers let the city’s infrastructure to crumble in favor of the riches it could provide, the lovers usurpation led to unprecedented development that has continued to this day, ensuring there is always plentiful work for builders and diggers as aell as the city’s numerous merchants. 

Recently however a dark pall has been cast over the city of deep wells: the lovers have banned all itinerant lriests from entering the city, amd have expressly forbid public servicies of faith, going so far as to even place dissenting sects under house arrest within their temples, having their army of desert cutthroats nail the buildings’ doors shut and throw supplies in utilizing a window.

Adventure hooks

Keep reading

So, about 13 attempts later Tumblr is graciously allowing me to post this. This was something desired I saw and I am a huge fan of the feywild. Can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. So, here you go. However, I don’t take requests for free. 

If you enjoy my work and would like immediate access to exclusive content, pledge to My Patreon!

Planescape: The Astral Dreamscape

Setup: As the feywild exists as a heightened form of the mortal realm’s vitality and emotion, and the shadowfell acts as it’s dark and ghastly inversion, the astral dreamscape takes its form from the cast off thoughts and imaginings of all conscious creatures.

It is the place where the dreaming mind ventures when freed from the body, where fancies become theories become thoughts before becoming forms. It is said to be the origin of all magic, as a mage shapes the impossible form of the spell with their mind before setting it lose in the waking world, a wave of creation taking form in the astral sea before breaking on the material shore.

When viewed in its natural state, the Astral dreamscape resembles an endless starry sky, filled with swirling fogs, auroras and nebula like gasses. Vast structures float directionless in the expanse, growing like coral heedless of any physical constraint.

Adventure hooks:

Random Encounter: Rift Events

Sometimes a the heroes fuck up catastrophically. They fail to stop the dark ritual in time, they sever one of the anchors of reality in the midst of a battle, they drop the doomsday artifact down a very long flight of stairs and it ends up breaking. You could end the campaign right there, improvising a hasty epilogue and send your party home for a couple weeks while you prepare to start from scratch.  Alternatively, you could use the narrative stakes you set up for yourself and do something interesting. 

One of the most important writing lessons I’ve learned as a DM is to ask myself “what happens if the party fails” as a means of giving my writing richer dramatic stakes, because unlike most forms of fiction a d&d campaign can’t have an ending predetermined by the author. To that end it’s a good idea to have some options in your back pocket for when your party goes so far off the map that you couldn’t have possibly prepared for this eventuality. Taking inspiration from the “Doomscars” of Kaldheim, a rift event represents a breach in the fabric of reality accompanied by a natural disaster, the result of either a catastrophic release of magical energy, the fracturing of fate, or planes smashing into eachother with the force of sizemic shifts. 

To quote Jason from The Good Place: “I’m telling you, Molotov cocktails work. Anytime I had a problem and I threw a Molotov cocktail, boom! Right away, I had a different problem.“ And that’s exactly the ethos we’re looking to bring to the table with a rift event. Whatever stakes your campaign had at the moment, whatever crisis your heroes were gearing up to face, they suddenly have a VERY different crisis which you can eat up the rest of the session ( or the session after a cliffhanger) with to buy yourself more time to figure out the long term implications of what your heroes have done.

Consider some options below:

Where's the African mythology?

The Kickstarter is live now!

I know I have close to zero Tumblr fame, which I normally appreciate, but I would love it if this made it into the world and got fully backed. You can even pledge to get the digital content and send a real copy to a school in Africa or to a HBCU or community library of your choosing!

Misusing my blog again so more people can see this then

Dungeon: The House of Want

Hooks:

Setup: Originally intended as a pleasure palace for the realm’s elite, the House of Want became a deathtrap after an illusionist, desperate to impress an ever demanding noble patron ended up suffusing the grounds of their estate with the stuff of dream itself.  The effect was wondrous: tables overflowing with food that delighted the tongue, long lost loved ones or distracting strangers appearing whenever they were called, every room filled with extravagance and luxtury beond the bounds of mortal wealth. 

The problem was none of it was actually real , merely a masterful illusion that bent the senses in whatever way the magic deemed the guest might most desire. Illusory food gave a satisfying sense of fullness but no actual nourishment, just as phantom fires provided illumination and warmth without actually sparing one’s bones from the mountainous chill. What’s more, after a few years of indulgent festivities and diversions the illusions started to turn hostile, with guests who bore guilty thoughts or repressed desires tormented with visions of what the house thought they “wanted” to see.  These events were mostly hushed up, until one fateful night when a grant ball held at the House ended in disaster: cloaked corridors and imaginary servants channeling guests to a dancefloor that just so happened to be hanging over a balcony, panicked screams of those who’d already tumbled over the edge hidden by the exact magic that’d led them there.

After that the House was shuttered, wards placed around it so that none could stumble in and fall victim to the increasingly dangerous magic that ruled its halls.

Keep reading

Adventure: The Dead March

Everyone knows the plains of Folly’s Prize are a haunted and sorrowful place, where exiles and suicides meet their end as feed for jackals and any attempt at settlement ended with poisoned wells and blighted fields. The land was the sole province of vultures and hopeless bandits, at least until thirty years before, when two great armies clashed there and seeded the land with innumerable bodies and blades. Now ghostly riders have been spotted trooping through the fields at night, supported by lurching footmen and marshalling for some unknown conflict. Each dusk they materialize out of thin air, and every dawn they fade, having marched a little closer to civilization.  No one knows why these tattered forces are rising, but with every passing day it seems they grow more solid, the light taking longer and longer to banish them.  

Hooks:

Apple Bottomjeans is a beautiful gname for a gnome

Boots Witherfur is a joyful gname for this gnome’s friend

Baggysweat Pants and Reebok Switherstraps are the two orcs that are hunting them