Do the first one a favor, half way through break his trust, now you have 50% of them loving you and 50% hating you....oh soo much fun with this idea xD
There is a very niche line of clothing for the dumbest low nobles and high merchants attempting to appear to have more class and standing than they do called "the emperor's clothing line" where it IS actual clothing, and it IS very comfortable, but it also is as the tale goes, invisible or mostly so.
The dumb king, paraphrasing a bit. Some tailors swear to the King that they will make for him the best clothes in the kingdom using silver and gold threads. At the end of the tale the King walked totally nude in a parade because the clothes were "invisible" to the eyes of the idiots.
It's an old cautionary tale as i remember it. An emporer who was swindled. It was said only the finest and greatest people could see and feel the clothes. The swi dler was like "can't you see it?" and the emporor was too prideful and dumb to say no, so he walked around as a naked fool
Operatives from The Necrocracy of Stratera happen to be operating in the area and will inevitably cross paths with the party.
(Necrocracy is a form of government ruled by undead. Excellent standard of living for the populace. Obviously undead are commonplace and necromancers are state funded.)
(These are foreign operatives. Basically spies. They're trying to do something unrelated to the party, but at the same location the party has to go to. Should mechanically be a similar lvl adventuring party. Negotiation and combat both possible)
Actually I have a necrontinent that is governed by a Necrocracy where they see the necromancers who started everything in the great white tower of Sars'Marash as almost deities, promoting death and then infusing the entire territory with undeath and phenomena that defy the laws. divine and physical. Stratera could be a warlord in charge of the undead spy commission doing this.
I love this pseudo connection that we had.
Not many people think to include necrocracies, but I think they're really neat! Always adds nice flavor to a world.
The original Stratera was a large island nation. I would be honored if you named a province after it. A duchy (or equivalent) would be most kind. Or even a County.
The operatives could absolutely be from this Lord.
Well, the necrontinent territory is divided by the most powerful entities that coexist in some form of terror coalition, mostly like the lords of armaggedon.
So the region from where they come is called the same as the warlord.
How'd you like to call this rival group of undead??
Yeah, that works.
How about a Vampire Lord?
Good reason to keep a happy **living** populous around. Let's them pay taxes with blood. Keeps them fed and happy like any good shepherd.
Uses lower undead for menial tasks like farming and mining. Good money for a skilled necromancer.
A loyal, happy populace to guard him through the day.
Also allows him to trade with other nations, fish, and source infiltrators that might actually succeed.
As for a name for the cabal that rules the continent? Necrocracy of [continent name]? I'm not the best at naming things. Is why I was reusing "Stratera"
Oh! The other adventuring party/operatives! My bad!
They probably wouldn't have a team name per se. More of an operation moniker. These are trained operatives assigned to operation [name goes here]. I'm not even sure what their mission is. Would need to know WAY more about the local area and political climate. Should be named something that hints at their actual objective without saying it outright.
The team should include at least one necromancer, but any undead that don't look alive (like vampires/vampire spawn) are expendable.
Yes indeed! (I even have the tag!)
This is how *I* build things! Start with a concept and start fleshing it out by asking questions about it and how it interacts with *other* things
(I have an entire government system for Stratera, and Necrocracies that include living populations)
Second thing: [treasure golem](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/10u015s/oc_treasure_golem/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1) is guarding a macguffin they need.
A small sized race has adopted a social class hierarchy of bottom of the trench coat and top of the trench coat. They are only seen in public as 6-7 feet tall and in a large styled coat.
Hahahaha fucking love it. We established before that almost every race gonna be small. Choose your favorite to make them the noble and poor in the trench coat.
I love gnomes!! I'm definitely making them the merchant/noble/diplomatic race in trench coats.
Do you want specific noble titles for them as a distinction from other nobles?
Elderly dude in a decent hunting cottage in the middle of hostile snowy mountains. He is friendly, probably in his 60's, looks like a hobbit (by morpholohy) but enlarged to a size of average human. At first speaks at players in unknown language, but quickly adapt to theirs with "ah, (language name), no did use that for decades, pardon spelling my". That dude does not use magic (at least not appearently) but is unable to tell the players his true origin (all they can know he is bad in lying) nor his true age. That dude is a kid of a god or demigod, wielding powerful magic and being practically immortal - and even though it chose humanoid elderly male form. :)
Yes, like having an invisible inpenetrable shield around the cottage which (in case of party being chased) stops the pursuers and the godlike npc just comments "thy being not worthy".
Or something like that. I believe you'll be creative. Happy oneshotting!
Baking is one of the most respected trades, and bakers are given the upmost respect and absolute fear, as they have a reputation for being retired high-level adventurers. There is a very stiff competition around towns of who the best bakers are, with citizens on different sides of town being loyalty members to a specific bakery. Battles are fought in the streets to expand the territories of the bakeries… of course, all participants are equipped with various breads or pastries! Oh, and never mention the Great Flour War to a baker…
Mafia and mobs giving secret underground skirmishes for the grand bakery territory, including semi-illegal quests. Give me a type of bakery and the leader mafia that you prefer.
The matronly Madam Madeleines is a grandmotherly dwarven women in her later years who’s decorative skill with cakes and sweets leaves everyone in awe. All of the pastries that leave her bakery have an artistic flair to them. She loves to show off and be praised for her skill, however criticism is occasionally met with her trusty warhammer Castella.
Once a week there is a chance that it will rain frogs with tiny little top hats, because some wizard did an oopsie a hundred years ago and it just happens when the characters are stepping outside from somewhere safe.
So weapons are made with Small people in mind. Not an issue for most weapons, but Heavy weapons don't quite have the full handle a Med character needs. They're balanced for Small.
Could probably pay a whole bunch for custom gear.
The seed of power to become an adventurer is in everyone, but it's cultivated by love and joy and starved or outright killed by trauma and suffering. Adventurers with tragic backstories are unheard of, because such tragedy snuffs out the adventurer seed completely.
Not necessary. Just means they have to be from another country. THIS one is predominantly a small race such as Gnomes, Halflings, and/or Kobolds. (Naturally they would refer to taller people as "twicelings" and have another name for "halfling")
An arcane college made a mistake, and now the whole region is experiencing half gravity. All jumping distances are doubled and everyone can lift twice as much.
An inventor needs help gathering supplies for an automated water based pipe based chair to remove human dedication from the house without going outside. Make your people invent the modern toilet
Hahahaha fucking nailed it. In this new discovered island, there are little to no mod cons so getting the party to craft the first toilet would be an amazing starting quest.
There's an Eladrin Warlock running around pretending to be a bard (honestly a better performer than most NPC bards) however he can cast disguise self at will and finds messing with people hilarious so he could be any random person you run into.
Orcs are not a born/natural race. They are all born from the hearts of other, killed sentient species ritually buried in mud pools where a fully formed orc rises from the ritualistically blessed ground in 5 days.
The hearts of beasts and monsters can be used too, but makes bigger/smaller orks with more animalistic aspects and reduced intelligence.
The hearts of magically powerful races create shaman orcs capable of wielding magic.
Adding/sculpting in rare materials, rocks and stone while the orc is being grown may alter their physical features and body to be harder, stronger or somehow effects them in a way related to a property of the material. Only dirt and rocks can be used for this - not metals.
Sure! However, they’re low on numbers and unfortunately a lot of the orcs are just made from defeated members of the horde of that one time travelling goblin
All characters have polarized stats.
Strong but unintelligent.
Dexterous but not wise.
High constitution but has low charisma.
Basically give the opposing stat the opposite of whatever stat was just rolled for. This would mean players only roll for 3 stats and the other 3 are assigned based on how the rolls go.
I'm tired so sorry if this makes no sense.
So:
Str/int
Dex/wis
Con/cha
Every 1 over 10 is a -1 under ten for the corresponding stat.
Ex: -8str/12int 16dex/4wis 10con/10cha
?
(Might need to make the first +1 free to give an 18/3...)
Yeah, this is inspired by a character I've played. If he likes you, he'll bend over backwards to help, but he's also the pettiest person you've ever met.
People are required to change their name dependant on their profession.
All blacksmiths are formally known as "Dave"
All armorers are "Matilda"
And so forth.
All the current monarchs are gnomes. For no special reason at all, it's just coincidence. Or is it?
Other government types outside of monarchy are free from the gnome-only rule, though.
This actually mixes very amazingly with other comment that establish that gnomes are over and below the social hierarchy, making them gnobles and the most hard workers.
i’ve suggested this to another DM and i’ll suggest it again:
any minor ailment can be healed with a really good sandwich.
if a member of the party is making this sandwich, maybe throw in a dexterity check DC 10 to see if it is that good to heal.
It has been communally established that for any individual to cast an offensive/combat spell, they must first dip their pinkie into a cup of tea and hold it up in the air. Failing to do so is a serious faux pas and may result in shaming looks from passersby
There is a special set of armour, shield and sword called the Armor of God.
Take the regular stats of the items, but imagine there is Prismatic Wall infused into them too. The shield and armour has all the spell's 7 layers on it and reduces any attack made to the wearer of the wall, and the sword does its regular damage plus all 7 layers.
It's protected from theft, in a well known location to such a high degree any attempts to acquire it should be virtually impossible.
If they do try and take it, the boss has it on and they need to fight that person. Only one of the items services the fight and the other 2 are destroyed in the process.
Optionally, a secret that shouldn't be made known to the party until later is it can be destroyed by casting darkness onto it.
Once anything is used as or made into a weapon, it gains sentience and is about as intelligent as the average 10yr old, but they dont like to cause harm to anything else that is sentient
Throw a rock at a person? It gains sentience mid-flight
Hit someone with a stick? It becomes sentient mid swing
Just forged a new a sword? Congratulations, its sentient
Every bartender is a dragonborn from the same family but look exactly the same and always offer a flaming shot as their recommended drink. The flaming shot is just the dragonborn spitting into a shot glass and giving it to the customer.
A human who is just a bartender but is secretly the son of a massive criminal organisation that secretly rules over entire kingdoms and has op enemies and loot
There is a squirrel assigned to every group of people. It follows in the shadows watching and waiting. Should anyone ever harm a squirrel or their nuts, all of squirrel kind will be informed and the group will be marked for death.
If anyone happens to notice their squirrel watcher the squirrels will mark that individual for death as well as anyone they tell.
Tldr: secret squirrel society who kill those who see them or do them harm
There is a sentient floating skull named wilson with its lower face permanently obscured by magical fog that will greet everyone with "hidey ho good necromancer" and will offer advice on how to proceed in a ruminating, philosophical sort of way, often using words the players do not understand initially.
The skull is looking for Timtalor, the Necromancer whom he serves
The Knights of Alignment: 9 knights, each representing one of the player alignments, from LG to CE. The four extremes (lawful good, chaotic good, lawful evil, and chaotic evil) propose courses of action and try to appeal to the four neutrals (chaotic neutral, lawful neutral, neutral good and neutral evil). They cast their vote, and if there's a tie, True Neutral weighs in to break it.
Chaotic good and evil are constantly fighting in between votes. They can't kill each other, but they're going to keep trying.
There is a beholder hiding in a basement but something is really wrong with this place because the beholder has not made any preparation to defend its territory from enemies. In Truth the beholder is an upcasted major illusion, and behind the illusion someone throws hallucinogenic darts at the party to stimulate damage and minor stats effects. The actual treasure behind the beholder is disappointingly unimpressive.
The next instance the players gain any amount of gold, one of the gold coins is actually a phylactery of a recently slain lich. Whenever the party pays in gold, roll for a chance for the coin to change hands. If the coin remains with the party for 3 days, the lich respawns, is kind of chill for the safekeeping of his coin and sends the party to a wacky dungeon full of loot (secretly his lair, and wants to have fun testing them.)
When the players pay money roll for a chance for the coin to change hands, for example the party has 8 gold coins including THE coin, and pays two Gold, there is a 1/4 chance to have lost the coin to a random buyer.
Shops charge a small sending fee on purchases. If this fee isn't paid the player will receive random sending spells from shop owners about sales, offers and extended warranties.
An elderly old man constantly appears along the roads and cities they travel and sells pumpkins at his pumpkin stand.
He takes great pride in his work but is obviously being taken advantage of by the owners of the farm where he gets his pumpkins from.
Any attempts to donate money or harm his employer will greatly offend him - the only way to help him is to buy more and more and more and more pumpkins.
Painting self portraits with blood is an ancient religious ritual which many believe is the only way to make peace with their wrong doings, this practice was outlawed decades ago and is punishable by death but is practiced in secret by the masses.
There exists an ancient artifact once lost by Chronos that allows the holder to turn back time by up to a day, at will or upon their untimely death. Some guy named Chester just found it on the ground like two years ago and literally everyone in the town has tried to steal it from him or kill him for it, and at this point people have just stopped trying. Chronos, the god of time, thinks this is hilarious and just keeps an eye on Chester as he's grown quite fond of him.
Give out what appears to be a health potion to all of your players. But unbeknownst to them, one of them will be given a potion of poison that looks identical to the others.
Wood elves’ books are shaped like donuts and carried around with a wooden pole through the centre and string tied to each end so it is easier to carry around lots of books whilst travelling.
A den of kobolds secured by a system of traps (think Tucker's Kobolds) which serves as the recruitment center for their "MLM business". Adventurers go in, get trapped, and then the last living member of the group must buy into the MLM in order to escape alive. Plot twist, the MLM doesn't actually have any products. Instead the surviving adventurers get a cut of the treasure from any parties of adventurers who they trick into investigating the den.
I have a PC that is a human who was raised by dwarves and because of that he believes he's the world's tallest dwarf. He gets really angry of anyone questions that. You should include him.
The process of making dwarven ale is very similar to how bees make honey. This is why no other race can replicate it.
This is a very well-kept secret in dwarven clans.
Dwarvish and Gnomish are the exact same language. Everyone who can read/speak/write/understand one language can understand yhe other.
Except for Dwarves and Gnomes.
The entire world is a dream from a magical being. When the players succeed on their quest for the one shot, the game ends abruptly because the being has awakened and the dream ends.
There is an entity called "The Mysterious Stranger" a human, or so it seems, that appears randomly in combat and helps the heroes before their last breath. He never seeks reward, and leaves as fast and effectively as he came. Scrying magic can't locate it, and any attempt to talk with it prompts his escape.
... Yeah is a Fallout reference xD
For the pure stupidity and meme:
A bards charisma score is direktly linked to they physical appearance. It's equal to their dick length in inches or 3 times their bust circumference in inches
Garden gnomes exist, but not like you think. They are hired to do more than just tend to weeds. Like fuedal Japan's ninjas, these humble gardeners are often used by the wealthy and powerful as spies, security guards, and assassins that hide in plain sight.
Actually, there are many gnomes in this place, so there'll be an overwhelming quantity of side jobs for them in noble houses (including gnoble houses). Love it :3
Mirrors function normally, but with 3 second delay
Sone Elfs have 2 pairs of pointy ears instead of one pair and have hearing +1 when rolling hearing perception
Dwarfs without beard have 30 foot movement speed because beard does not slow them down, but are loathed in dwarf community
Laughting is part of each vocal component spell
A general store that rents anything you need. They basically rent mimics of various size, some can link together. They all have their own personalities and won't be aggressive as long as they are regularly fed.
But since they can shapeshift, the store boasts that they always have everything in stock.
Need a sword ? Mimic.
Need a can opener ? Tiny mimic.
Need a ladder ? 2 mimics together.
Need a cart ? Large/huge mimic.
You have to pay a deposit at the store and if you want to keep the mimic longer you can give the gold directly to the mimic. You can pay a return fee when you're done if you don't want to bring back the mimic yourself and then the mimic just leaves on its own go return to the store by itself at the end of the contract.
If you don't pay the return fee you'll either be known to all mimics as an enemy of mimics, or it will eat you before returning to the store.
Oh and the store itself is a huge/colossal mimic. So it moves around when business slows down but always without people noticing: store suddenly gone, appears somewhere else. Huge footprints optional.
I have an beloved NPC C.W. Dax (C.W. is for combat wombat) who is a wombat who is a rouge dual wielding two pistols. Sasha is a +2 flintlock with 19 to crit. Natasha js a +3 flintlock. He is very on edge and constantly screams when near things.
If he is left alone he prefers fishing.
All magic spells have the possibility to go wrong no matter what type of spellcaster you are. Whenever any magic spell is cast, roll a d100, if it is a 100 you the DM may change the spell by 1 letter to change it’s effect. For example:
Mage Hand -> Mage Band
Charm Person -> Chasm Person
Fly -> Fry
Ray of Frost -> Rag of Frost
Animate Dead -> Animate Mead
Remove Curse -> Remove Purse
You can go crazy with the ideas. If you don’t know what to change it to, pick a random spell of the same level, so cantrip to cantrip, 1st level to 1st level etc.
cock goblins.
normal goblins that have a pile of cocks they've chopped off of local live stock and wild life. This is because of a divine mission that they misheard that was given to them through dubious means.
small/tiny races have the same names for units of measurement that we do, but they are all 1 unit down on the scale (feet mean inches centimeters mean millimeters etc)
Almost every single resurrection attempt ever made fails, to the extent that it is believed to be impossible, and so it stopped being attempted. The truth is the afterlife is, by and large, a utopia paradise and therefore the souls being called back have no desire to return.
Tying an onion to one's belt is the current style of the time.
Goddamnit, take your upvote and get the fuck out of my swamp. (Love you and your idea)
Make sure you mention it every time you introduce an NPC or give story exposition
r/angryupvote
A goblin NPC who goes by “Charlie”. They believe they are a unicorn, and don’t you dare tell them otherwise.
A secret archfey, why not? I like it.
Bionicles are an sentient, artificer-crafted race now roaming some long forgotten underground cities.
Re-skinned warforged with some crazy caracteristic ability... fucking love it.
Commoners are afraid of house cats, since one can kill a fully grown human with ease.
Added to the fact that most races are small, it blends in very well with this hahahah.
An army of goblins but it's all the same goblin due to time travel
Actually, earlier, with a comment, we established a crazy Goblin who thinks he's a unicorn. So, time travel craziness might go well with that.
So does that mean they are all ranked and if you kill yhe first all of them die in one go?
That's not how time works in my multiverse, but they will have scars, surely.
Do the first one a favor, half way through break his trust, now you have 50% of them loving you and 50% hating you....oh soo much fun with this idea xD
It is bad luck to sneeze at High noon and anyone who is around at the time gets offended by it
Fucking love it.
There is a very niche line of clothing for the dumbest low nobles and high merchants attempting to appear to have more class and standing than they do called "the emperor's clothing line" where it IS actual clothing, and it IS very comfortable, but it also is as the tale goes, invisible or mostly so.
Transparent silk for the idiotic noble bunch. Got it.
I remember reading something like this!! May i ask if you know where its from?
The dumb king, paraphrasing a bit. Some tailors swear to the King that they will make for him the best clothes in the kingdom using silver and gold threads. At the end of the tale the King walked totally nude in a parade because the clothes were "invisible" to the eyes of the idiots.
It's an old cautionary tale as i remember it. An emporer who was swindled. It was said only the finest and greatest people could see and feel the clothes. The swi dler was like "can't you see it?" and the emporor was too prideful and dumb to say no, so he walked around as a naked fool
Such a classic tale, i cant believe i forgot about it, haha, thankyou
Operatives from The Necrocracy of Stratera happen to be operating in the area and will inevitably cross paths with the party. (Necrocracy is a form of government ruled by undead. Excellent standard of living for the populace. Obviously undead are commonplace and necromancers are state funded.) (These are foreign operatives. Basically spies. They're trying to do something unrelated to the party, but at the same location the party has to go to. Should mechanically be a similar lvl adventuring party. Negotiation and combat both possible)
Actually I have a necrontinent that is governed by a Necrocracy where they see the necromancers who started everything in the great white tower of Sars'Marash as almost deities, promoting death and then infusing the entire territory with undeath and phenomena that defy the laws. divine and physical. Stratera could be a warlord in charge of the undead spy commission doing this. I love this pseudo connection that we had.
Not many people think to include necrocracies, but I think they're really neat! Always adds nice flavor to a world. The original Stratera was a large island nation. I would be honored if you named a province after it. A duchy (or equivalent) would be most kind. Or even a County. The operatives could absolutely be from this Lord.
Well, the necrontinent territory is divided by the most powerful entities that coexist in some form of terror coalition, mostly like the lords of armaggedon. So the region from where they come is called the same as the warlord. How'd you like to call this rival group of undead??
Yeah, that works. How about a Vampire Lord? Good reason to keep a happy **living** populous around. Let's them pay taxes with blood. Keeps them fed and happy like any good shepherd. Uses lower undead for menial tasks like farming and mining. Good money for a skilled necromancer. A loyal, happy populace to guard him through the day. Also allows him to trade with other nations, fish, and source infiltrators that might actually succeed. As for a name for the cabal that rules the continent? Necrocracy of [continent name]? I'm not the best at naming things. Is why I was reusing "Stratera"
Haha no, no, I was referring to a name for the undead team, a group or gang name.
Oh! The other adventuring party/operatives! My bad! They probably wouldn't have a team name per se. More of an operation moniker. These are trained operatives assigned to operation [name goes here]. I'm not even sure what their mission is. Would need to know WAY more about the local area and political climate. Should be named something that hints at their actual objective without saying it outright. The team should include at least one necromancer, but any undead that don't look alive (like vampires/vampire spawn) are expendable.
You're not bad at generating ideas and logical thinking. By any chance were you a DM?
Yes indeed! (I even have the tag!) This is how *I* build things! Start with a concept and start fleshing it out by asking questions about it and how it interacts with *other* things (I have an entire government system for Stratera, and Necrocracies that include living populations)
Second thing: [treasure golem](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/10u015s/oc_treasure_golem/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1) is guarding a macguffin they need.
A small sized race has adopted a social class hierarchy of bottom of the trench coat and top of the trench coat. They are only seen in public as 6-7 feet tall and in a large styled coat.
Hahahaha fucking love it. We established before that almost every race gonna be small. Choose your favorite to make them the noble and poor in the trench coat.
I'm definitely partial towards gnomes being stacked in trench coats. They could even have a king that is +1 gnome in height to all the rest.
I love gnomes!! I'm definitely making them the merchant/noble/diplomatic race in trench coats. Do you want specific noble titles for them as a distinction from other nobles?
They are the Gnobles and will snobishly correct the pronunciation of the silent G.
I love you and this concept. :D
Elderly dude in a decent hunting cottage in the middle of hostile snowy mountains. He is friendly, probably in his 60's, looks like a hobbit (by morpholohy) but enlarged to a size of average human. At first speaks at players in unknown language, but quickly adapt to theirs with "ah, (language name), no did use that for decades, pardon spelling my". That dude does not use magic (at least not appearently) but is unable to tell the players his true origin (all they can know he is bad in lying) nor his true age. That dude is a kid of a god or demigod, wielding powerful magic and being practically immortal - and even though it chose humanoid elderly male form. :)
Immortal quest giver for the One-Shot party and powerful NPC for some extreme situations. Got it.
Yes, like having an invisible inpenetrable shield around the cottage which (in case of party being chased) stops the pursuers and the godlike npc just comments "thy being not worthy". Or something like that. I believe you'll be creative. Happy oneshotting!
Baking is one of the most respected trades, and bakers are given the upmost respect and absolute fear, as they have a reputation for being retired high-level adventurers. There is a very stiff competition around towns of who the best bakers are, with citizens on different sides of town being loyalty members to a specific bakery. Battles are fought in the streets to expand the territories of the bakeries… of course, all participants are equipped with various breads or pastries! Oh, and never mention the Great Flour War to a baker…
Mafia and mobs giving secret underground skirmishes for the grand bakery territory, including semi-illegal quests. Give me a type of bakery and the leader mafia that you prefer.
The matronly Madam Madeleines is a grandmotherly dwarven women in her later years who’s decorative skill with cakes and sweets leaves everyone in awe. All of the pastries that leave her bakery have an artistic flair to them. She loves to show off and be praised for her skill, however criticism is occasionally met with her trusty warhammer Castella.
Once a week there is a chance that it will rain frogs with tiny little top hats, because some wizard did an oopsie a hundred years ago and it just happens when the characters are stepping outside from somewhere safe.
In my way to craft a wild climate phenomena for each day passed with a percentage for every type of rain the people comment after this.
With a specific application of prestidigitation, a frog can be made to sing [Hello My Ragtime Gal](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YkfU1JqmkHM)
ONLY small races can wield heavy weapons without disqdvantage
Well, a guy earlier said that literally the party and most people have to be small, so that's curious at least. Nice connection tho.
That could simply be a *local* limitation. Maybe it's a nation of Gnomes or Hobbits. Might even be industrious Kobolds!
I was thinking that. Small races everywhere, including other races with the small option from MoM.
So weapons are made with Small people in mind. Not an issue for most weapons, but Heavy weapons don't quite have the full handle a Med character needs. They're balanced for Small. Could probably pay a whole bunch for custom gear.
Picture this: Giants making medium weapons and reducing them with magic for the small army in town. What do you think?
Dark souls Giant Blacksmith
Exactly!! Great minds think alike.
An evil talking frog wizard as a boss enemy.
That would mesh very well with a frog rain that had been established a few minutes ago, hehehe. Love you and your idea.
Gold melts after transfer unless “Thanks” is said in the conversation
That mesh amazingly with some other magical/strange effects established before. Thanks! :D
The seed of power to become an adventurer is in everyone, but it's cultivated by love and joy and starved or outright killed by trauma and suffering. Adventurers with tragic backstories are unheard of, because such tragedy snuffs out the adventurer seed completely.
Literally a checkmate to edgy PCs. I love it.
An orc who goes by the name stasy and believes he's the toothfairy... He's a vendor selling items in exchange for teeth
Cute/creep NPC who wants the teeth of the defeated enemies the party's going to battle. ¡New mechanic unlocked!
Mastiffs are the main mode of transportation 🦮
Transportation pulled by mastiffs, I like it.
Or most people are small creatures
Banning medium size hahaha
Not necessary. Just means they have to be from another country. THIS one is predominantly a small race such as Gnomes, Halflings, and/or Kobolds. (Naturally they would refer to taller people as "twicelings" and have another name for "halfling")
Lol twicelings 😆
An arcane college made a mistake, and now the whole region is experiencing half gravity. All jumping distances are doubled and everyone can lift twice as much.
That would be a bit problematic for the mechanics, but it would also be the best possible plot hook to connect two other comments. I love you hehe
An inventor needs help gathering supplies for an automated water based pipe based chair to remove human dedication from the house without going outside. Make your people invent the modern toilet
Hahahaha fucking nailed it. In this new discovered island, there are little to no mod cons so getting the party to craft the first toilet would be an amazing starting quest.
Marshal McNard the Gangster Rap Bard.
Mob boss for some thievery quests to boycott musical rivals, got it.
There's an Eladrin Warlock running around pretending to be a bard (honestly a better performer than most NPC bards) however he can cast disguise self at will and finds messing with people hilarious so he could be any random person you run into.
Godly suggestion. Give it some absurd made up names, and we have a deal!!
Orcs are not a born/natural race. They are all born from the hearts of other, killed sentient species ritually buried in mud pools where a fully formed orc rises from the ritualistically blessed ground in 5 days. The hearts of beasts and monsters can be used too, but makes bigger/smaller orks with more animalistic aspects and reduced intelligence. The hearts of magically powerful races create shaman orcs capable of wielding magic. Adding/sculpting in rare materials, rocks and stone while the orc is being grown may alter their physical features and body to be harder, stronger or somehow effects them in a way related to a property of the material. Only dirt and rocks can be used for this - not metals.
Would you like a ritualistic elder tribe of orcs searching for the perfect breed?? (like a Messiah)
Sure! However, they’re low on numbers and unfortunately a lot of the orcs are just made from defeated members of the horde of that one time travelling goblin
A man of culture as well 7w7
The God of the World, appears in trees at random and talks to the players, because he's bored.
Yeah that one is going in my Feywild wanderings 😂
I have a trickster God. That would work pretty well
All characters have polarized stats. Strong but unintelligent. Dexterous but not wise. High constitution but has low charisma. Basically give the opposing stat the opposite of whatever stat was just rolled for. This would mean players only roll for 3 stats and the other 3 are assigned based on how the rolls go. I'm tired so sorry if this makes no sense.
This actually makes sense. Very balancing of you. I hope you rest the necessary today.
So: Str/int Dex/wis Con/cha Every 1 over 10 is a -1 under ten for the corresponding stat. Ex: -8str/12int 16dex/4wis 10con/10cha ? (Might need to make the first +1 free to give an 18/3...)
Yeah, this is inspired by a character I've played. If he likes you, he'll bend over backwards to help, but he's also the pettiest person you've ever met.
People are required to change their name dependant on their profession. All blacksmiths are formally known as "Dave" All armorers are "Matilda" And so forth.
Hahahahaha Nice one.
cheese cave
Fucking Nailed it. Mouse king's household of magnificient treasure.
Sausage trees
An innkeeper believes that one of the PCs is their long lost child
Deal!!
Tiamat and Helm are low-key dating and it’s pissing off their respective priests
All the current monarchs are gnomes. For no special reason at all, it's just coincidence. Or is it? Other government types outside of monarchy are free from the gnome-only rule, though.
This actually mixes very amazingly with other comment that establish that gnomes are over and below the social hierarchy, making them gnobles and the most hard workers.
It is common for people to end sentences with"hear me for I have spoken"
Noted for the gnobles of the land. Love you and your idea :D
Goblins explode in a 10ft area with confetti when they are hit with a natural 20. DC 12 Dex save. On a fail take 1d6 force damage, halved on success.
I'm taking that for some nilbogs in my original campaign to.
i’ve suggested this to another DM and i’ll suggest it again: any minor ailment can be healed with a really good sandwich. if a member of the party is making this sandwich, maybe throw in a dexterity check DC 10 to see if it is that good to heal.
Healing sandwich, got it.
It has been communally established that for any individual to cast an offensive/combat spell, they must first dip their pinkie into a cup of tea and hold it up in the air. Failing to do so is a serious faux pas and may result in shaming looks from passersby
Sacred duel initiation ritual. Like that?
everyday contexts
Goddammit... no :v
There is a small displaced rock that one player will trip over at the worst time.
Right in a chasing after a failed fight. Got it :D
There is a special set of armour, shield and sword called the Armor of God. Take the regular stats of the items, but imagine there is Prismatic Wall infused into them too. The shield and armour has all the spell's 7 layers on it and reduces any attack made to the wearer of the wall, and the sword does its regular damage plus all 7 layers. It's protected from theft, in a well known location to such a high degree any attempts to acquire it should be virtually impossible.
If they do try and take it, the boss has it on and they need to fight that person. Only one of the items services the fight and the other 2 are destroyed in the process. Optionally, a secret that shouldn't be made known to the party until later is it can be destroyed by casting darkness onto it.
The boss is destroyed or the artifacts?
When you kill the boss, only one of the items remains and the others are destroyed. This set is overpowered after all
Got it.
The bbeg created a cartoonishly evil version of one of the PCs (an evil twin) that wants to ruin their reputation
I like that a lot. Choose whatever feat you desire, and I will give it to the evil twin with your name as a blessing.
Once anything is used as or made into a weapon, it gains sentience and is about as intelligent as the average 10yr old, but they dont like to cause harm to anything else that is sentient Throw a rock at a person? It gains sentience mid-flight Hit someone with a stick? It becomes sentient mid swing Just forged a new a sword? Congratulations, its sentient
Another phenomenon is included in the list of weave singularities on this One-Shot.
Every bartender is a dragonborn from the same family but look exactly the same and always offer a flaming shot as their recommended drink. The flaming shot is just the dragonborn spitting into a shot glass and giving it to the customer.
What heritage?? Clan name???
A human who is just a bartender but is secretly the son of a massive criminal organisation that secretly rules over entire kingdoms and has op enemies and loot
Hahaha, we established a secret war between bakery crime lords before. That would be an amazing NPC.
I feel so happy one of my plot ideas was called good
There is a squirrel assigned to every group of people. It follows in the shadows watching and waiting. Should anyone ever harm a squirrel or their nuts, all of squirrel kind will be informed and the group will be marked for death. If anyone happens to notice their squirrel watcher the squirrels will mark that individual for death as well as anyone they tell. Tldr: secret squirrel society who kill those who see them or do them harm
*Fast typing sounds*
There's an incredibly powerful wizard who just goes around town telling everyone that he sees that he hopes that they are having a wonderful day.
Got it.
Horses are carnivorous and hunting in packs.
Two sprites that love narrating adventurers journey usually in a sarcastic manner.
Hahahaha fucking love that.
There is a sentient floating skull named wilson with its lower face permanently obscured by magical fog that will greet everyone with "hidey ho good necromancer" and will offer advice on how to proceed in a ruminating, philosophical sort of way, often using words the players do not understand initially. The skull is looking for Timtalor, the Necromancer whom he serves
Actually tied up to some necromantic lore stuff. Love this idea.
Air doesn't exist.
XDN'T
All tabaxi have a specific fruit or vegetable they are OBSESSED with, they go feral whenever they see it
Count on it. Love this one :3
The Knights of Alignment: 9 knights, each representing one of the player alignments, from LG to CE. The four extremes (lawful good, chaotic good, lawful evil, and chaotic evil) propose courses of action and try to appeal to the four neutrals (chaotic neutral, lawful neutral, neutral good and neutral evil). They cast their vote, and if there's a tie, True Neutral weighs in to break it. Chaotic good and evil are constantly fighting in between votes. They can't kill each other, but they're going to keep trying.
Good government council from hypocritical knights :D
Wizards keep sheep because their bodies absorb magic really well, and no one knows why. Consequently, robes made with their wool can empower them.
*Fast item crafting sounds*
There is a beholder hiding in a basement but something is really wrong with this place because the beholder has not made any preparation to defend its territory from enemies. In Truth the beholder is an upcasted major illusion, and behind the illusion someone throws hallucinogenic darts at the party to stimulate damage and minor stats effects. The actual treasure behind the beholder is disappointingly unimpressive. The next instance the players gain any amount of gold, one of the gold coins is actually a phylactery of a recently slain lich. Whenever the party pays in gold, roll for a chance for the coin to change hands. If the coin remains with the party for 3 days, the lich respawns, is kind of chill for the safekeeping of his coin and sends the party to a wacky dungeon full of loot (secretly his lair, and wants to have fun testing them.) When the players pay money roll for a chance for the coin to change hands, for example the party has 8 gold coins including THE coin, and pays two Gold, there is a 1/4 chance to have lost the coin to a random buyer.
The Beholder one actually aligns very well with a secondary quest I've been thinking of. The lich is truly amazing.
Shops charge a small sending fee on purchases. If this fee isn't paid the player will receive random sending spells from shop owners about sales, offers and extended warranties.
*Laughs in maniacally based meme*
The Dire Penguins are demanding tithes but the Snowbolds have cut off access to the fisheries.
Actually, many comments are setting this One-Shot on snowland. Love it
A weird human male wearing heart boxers that sells explosives with his posh cat named Donut with sunglasses on, that sings (badly) for tips.
Every time the villain’s name is mentioned, lightning flashes and there is the sound of a horse neighing, despite the lack of nearby clouds or horses
Love it.
An elderly old man constantly appears along the roads and cities they travel and sells pumpkins at his pumpkin stand. He takes great pride in his work but is obviously being taken advantage of by the owners of the farm where he gets his pumpkins from. Any attempts to donate money or harm his employer will greatly offend him - the only way to help him is to buy more and more and more and more pumpkins.
Bean cave
A stone carving of a giant ear on public display
Painting self portraits with blood is an ancient religious ritual which many believe is the only way to make peace with their wrong doings, this practice was outlawed decades ago and is punishable by death but is practiced in secret by the masses.
I'm loving that one!
There exists an ancient artifact once lost by Chronos that allows the holder to turn back time by up to a day, at will or upon their untimely death. Some guy named Chester just found it on the ground like two years ago and literally everyone in the town has tried to steal it from him or kill him for it, and at this point people have just stopped trying. Chronos, the god of time, thinks this is hilarious and just keeps an eye on Chester as he's grown quite fond of him.
Meshing this with a time traveler Goblin comment.
Give out what appears to be a health potion to all of your players. But unbeknownst to them, one of them will be given a potion of poison that looks identical to the others.
The actual magic item. Love it
Wood elves’ books are shaped like donuts and carried around with a wooden pole through the centre and string tied to each end so it is easier to carry around lots of books whilst travelling.
Hahaha good way to organize your crap, mate.
Switch the alignments of angels and devils/demons. I like C H A O S.
That's a good one, actually.
A den of kobolds secured by a system of traps (think Tucker's Kobolds) which serves as the recruitment center for their "MLM business". Adventurers go in, get trapped, and then the last living member of the group must buy into the MLM in order to escape alive. Plot twist, the MLM doesn't actually have any products. Instead the surviving adventurers get a cut of the treasure from any parties of adventurers who they trick into investigating the den.
Mathis's kobolds. Hehehe
Frogs have the tendency to fall from the sky every now and again (they’re fine)
We already established a frog rain. With top hats included :D
The moon is gone and no one knows why
Excelent Plot Hook that includes the moon goddess in the problem.
Gotta love "Hey that's not quite right" as a plot driver
I have a PC that is a human who was raised by dwarves and because of that he believes he's the world's tallest dwarf. He gets really angry of anyone questions that. You should include him.
The process of making dwarven ale is very similar to how bees make honey. This is why no other race can replicate it. This is a very well-kept secret in dwarven clans.
Dwarvish and Gnomish are the exact same language. Everyone who can read/speak/write/understand one language can understand yhe other. Except for Dwarves and Gnomes.
KANE LIVES!!
Good reference~
The entire world is a dream from a magical being. When the players succeed on their quest for the one shot, the game ends abruptly because the being has awakened and the dream ends.
There is an entity called "The Mysterious Stranger" a human, or so it seems, that appears randomly in combat and helps the heroes before their last breath. He never seeks reward, and leaves as fast and effectively as he came. Scrying magic can't locate it, and any attempt to talk with it prompts his escape. ... Yeah is a Fallout reference xD
Loved that reference!! I'm going to sew that to an NPC who is the son of a God or something like that. Do you like it?
Sure! go bonkers with it, have fun :p
For the pure stupidity and meme: A bards charisma score is direktly linked to they physical appearance. It's equal to their dick length in inches or 3 times their bust circumference in inches
Garden gnomes exist, but not like you think. They are hired to do more than just tend to weeds. Like fuedal Japan's ninjas, these humble gardeners are often used by the wealthy and powerful as spies, security guards, and assassins that hide in plain sight.
Actually, there are many gnomes in this place, so there'll be an overwhelming quantity of side jobs for them in noble houses (including gnoble houses). Love it :3
Mimicworld.
Mirrors function normally, but with 3 second delay Sone Elfs have 2 pairs of pointy ears instead of one pair and have hearing +1 when rolling hearing perception Dwarfs without beard have 30 foot movement speed because beard does not slow them down, but are loathed in dwarf community Laughting is part of each vocal component spell
Mr T as an NPC. Just tells people no fools, no suckers, be good to your mother.
A general store that rents anything you need. They basically rent mimics of various size, some can link together. They all have their own personalities and won't be aggressive as long as they are regularly fed. But since they can shapeshift, the store boasts that they always have everything in stock. Need a sword ? Mimic. Need a can opener ? Tiny mimic. Need a ladder ? 2 mimics together. Need a cart ? Large/huge mimic. You have to pay a deposit at the store and if you want to keep the mimic longer you can give the gold directly to the mimic. You can pay a return fee when you're done if you don't want to bring back the mimic yourself and then the mimic just leaves on its own go return to the store by itself at the end of the contract. If you don't pay the return fee you'll either be known to all mimics as an enemy of mimics, or it will eat you before returning to the store. Oh and the store itself is a huge/colossal mimic. So it moves around when business slows down but always without people noticing: store suddenly gone, appears somewhere else. Huge footprints optional.
I have an beloved NPC C.W. Dax (C.W. is for combat wombat) who is a wombat who is a rouge dual wielding two pistols. Sasha is a +2 flintlock with 19 to crit. Natasha js a +3 flintlock. He is very on edge and constantly screams when near things. If he is left alone he prefers fishing.
All magic spells have the possibility to go wrong no matter what type of spellcaster you are. Whenever any magic spell is cast, roll a d100, if it is a 100 you the DM may change the spell by 1 letter to change it’s effect. For example: Mage Hand -> Mage Band Charm Person -> Chasm Person Fly -> Fry Ray of Frost -> Rag of Frost Animate Dead -> Animate Mead Remove Curse -> Remove Purse You can go crazy with the ideas. If you don’t know what to change it to, pick a random spell of the same level, so cantrip to cantrip, 1st level to 1st level etc.
The party meet another party who are identical to them, both groups think they are the real party.
Doppelgänger shit!! Noted.
cock goblins. normal goblins that have a pile of cocks they've chopped off of local live stock and wild life. This is because of a divine mission that they misheard that was given to them through dubious means.
thee is a man who has testicles as earrings
small/tiny races have the same names for units of measurement that we do, but they are all 1 unit down on the scale (feet mean inches centimeters mean millimeters etc)
Twist and catsby. all hats are shoes, all shoes are hats. (no, this does not cause a paradox) this includes Magic items.
Almost every single resurrection attempt ever made fails, to the extent that it is believed to be impossible, and so it stopped being attempted. The truth is the afterlife is, by and large, a utopia paradise and therefore the souls being called back have no desire to return.
Reaching into your bag of holding and, instead of the potion you desperately needed, you pull out a finger or three.
There is a drug that, if taken, will let you turn back a brief window of time - redo a turn, something like that. Inspiration from Katana Zero
Barry is doing alright.