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Crit Academy discusses Warcraft Heroes Handbook! A 5e supplement that lets you bring the world and characters from the world's greatest MMORPG, World of Warcraft, to Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. This fun and free supplement is brought to you by lead designed Jih on GMbinder. Venture into Azeroth on your next campaign!
Armies and factions have always defined the Warcraft world, and two of the most powerful factions on Azeroth today are the Alliance and Horde. Most players belong to one or the other faction, although anomalies do exist. Which side will you choose?
Segment: Crit Nation Feedback: Let’s talk about Blank!
M Gregory Burdick:
How would you set up stats for the Fortress of Solitude with gifts on Superman’s birthday? They find him catatonic, with an alien plant wrapped around his body. The alien conqueror Mongul reveals himself, explaining that the plant - the “Black Mercy” - has incapacitated Superman while it consumes his bio-aura, feeding him a realist dream based on his heart’s deepest desire. In his catatonic state, Superman dreams of a normal life on his long-destroyed home planet of Krypton, happily married to Lyla Lerrol with children, but for a D&D Game.
Modular dungeon tiles are an easy way to create your own beautiful digital maps. The Arcania lets you make dark, shadowy dungeon map, rich with the fumes of arcane secrets.
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Segment: Main Topic: Warcraft Heroes Handbook!
Warcraft Heroes Handbook lets you bring the world and characters from the world's greatest MMORPG! World of Warcraft! This fun and free supplement is brought to you by lead designed Jih on GMbinder. Venture into Azeroth on your next campaign!
Armies and factions have always defined the Warcraft world, and two of the most powerful factions on Azeroth today are the Alliance and Horde. Most players belong to one or the other faction, although anomalies do exist. Which side will you choose?
Alliance: The Alliance have proven themselves to be fierce combatants, often giving their lives when called for. The faction is not a uniform governmental body, but is a coalition of mutual military and economic aid. Diplomacy is key within the Alliance and decisions are traditionally made by being voted on by the Alliance's most influential members.
Horde: The Horde makes no compromises when it comes to excellence, and the power and ferocity of their warriors is legendary. Misunderstood by many as evil, the Horde possesses a strong code of honor and strict laws for disobedience. All members of the Horde have to swear a blood oath to join the faction and are thus obligated to follow the warchief's commands and support the warchief in war if the warchief calls upon them for aid.
Races: Races of Note
Humans: Notable Trait Increase an ability score of your choice by 2 and another by 1.
Draenei: Gift of the Naaru. As an action, you can touch a creature and cause it to regain a number of hit points equal to your level. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Worgen: Two Forms. Using 1 minute, you can transform yourself into a human. While human, you appear as you did before getting affected by the worgen curse. You always appear as the same human when you transform. You can transform back into a worgen as a free action on your turn. As a human, you lose all worgen form traits. If you make an attack, cast a spell that affects an enemy creature, or try to use an ability only available in worgen form, you imme-diately revert into your worgen form.
Forsaken: Cannibalism. Using 1 minute, you can cannibalize the corpse of a humanoid that has been dead for less than 1 hour. When done, you regain a number of hit points sequal to your level + your Constitution modifier. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short rest.
Troll: Regeneration. For each Hit Die spent at the end of a short rest, you add twice your Constitution modifier to it.
Goblin: Time is Money. As a bonus action you can shout at an ally and command them to move. That creature can use it's reaction to move up to its speed without provoking opportunity attacks. You can't use this feature again until you finish a short or long rest.
Classes: Heroes are extraordinary people, driven by a thirst for excitement into a life that others would never dare lead. They arc heroes, compelled to explore the dark places of Azeroth and take on the challenges that lesser women and men can't stand against.
Shaman: Shamans are mortal mediators between the elements themselves. Often a spiritual guide in their community, these mystical figures may commune with ancestral spirits and weave elemental powers into their spells. Both to strengthen and heal their allies, and to strike down on the battlefield with devastating force. Shamans can imbue their weapons with the elements, smite their enemies with storm and fire, and summon forth elementals to their aid.
Death Knight: No matter their past calling, death knights serve the powers of death, wielding weapons infused with runes of power. They are ruthless and practical warriors resurrected by the powerful val'kyrs and granted the powers of the revered death knights of the Ebon Hold. Although these warriors seem dead at a glance, they are very much alive.
Hunter: From an early age the call of the wild draws some adventurers from the comfort of their homes into the unforgiving primal world outside. Those who endure become hunters. As masters of their environment, hunters are able to slip like ghosts through the trees and lay traps in the paths of their enemies. These expert marksman drop foes dead in their tracks with flawless shots from a bow, crossbow or rifle.
This supplement contains a multitude additional options that we will just touch on briefly:
Personality traits and backgrounds for the players to choose from or the DM to use with NPCS.
Unique weapons and a new take on shields with new AC calculations and a variety of firearms.
Feats of Note:
Faction Grudge: Faction Grudge
Prerequisite: Any race
You have a deep hatred for a particular member of the opposite faction. Choose two races of the opposite faction to bear the burden of your wrath (each race includes all of it's sub-races). You gain the following benefits:
Increase your Strength, Constitution, or Wisdom by 1, to a maximum of 20.
During the first round of combat against your chosen foes, your attack rolls against them have advantage.
When any of your chosen foes make an opportunity attack against you, it makes the attack roll with disadvantage.
When you make an Intelligence (Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion) check to recall information about your chosen foes, you add double your proficiency bonus to the check, even if you're not normally proficient in the skill.
Battlemage
Prerequisite: The ability to cast at least one spell
You have improved you technique with spells in the heat of battle, you gain the following benefits:
You learn two cantrips of your choice from the mage spell list.
When you make a ranged spell attack, you do not suffer disadvantage on the attack roll if you are within 5 feet of the hostile creature.
Before you cast an instantaneous spell that requires a spell attack and are unable of hitting more than a single target, you can choose to take a -5 penalty to the spell attack roll. If the spell hits, you add +10 to the spell's damage.
A masked menace terrifies the region, raiding villages to fund her devious plan. Unknowingly, the adventurers stumble into her most recent evil scheme: the kidnapping of a famous performer known as Devon Artis. Their mission is to deliver a ransom and collect Devon. Though, as in most cases, not all goes as planned.
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Segment: Unearthed Tips and Tricks! (We give you creative content for your next adventure)
Character Concept:
Intelligent Brute
A human grappler barbarian background who took the feat tavern brawler with the sage background to represent the time he went through mage school with a wrestling scholarship who majored in Biology who graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science with a focus of Human Anatomy who double majored in Psychology and Pain.
For his high school science project he personally demonstrated to the judges how many foot pounds it takes to break each type of bone in an average human body. He won.
He's a chiropractor for his day job.
Monster Variant:
Dwayne “The Rock Golem” Johnson - by PanoramicPanda
Origin Monster: Stone Golem
New Features:
Carved our of flawless granite, Dwayne "The Rock Golem" Johnson is the perfect representation of a flawless man. From his impeccably chiseled face, to a body that lays the smack down on anyone who looks at it, there is not a single blemish on this magical construct of a man.
Beyond being the most electrifying rock in sports entertainment, Dwayne "The Rock Golem" Johnson is the cornerstone in a series of adventures best described as fast and furious.
The Rock Bottom. On a successful grapple, The Rock wraps one arm around the target's upper body. He mugs to everyone visible, and then lifts the target high into the air and slams them into the ground dealing 4d8+6 bludgeoning damage. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone.
The Pebbles Elbow. As a bonus action, The Rock strikes a self-assured pose over a prone target. With a high degree of flair, he bounces off objects around the battlefield, leaps high into the air, and comes down from the sky to smash a rocky elbow into the target's ribs, dealing 6d8+6 bludgeoning damage.
Encounter:
The characters enter a new room in a tomb or dungeon and suddenly find themselves in the presence of a majestic sphinx. Read or paraphrase the following:
You enter a room at the base of a short staircase, with tall walls on either side of you. After ascending the stairs, you emerge into a sandy arena, dimly lit by torches burning with blue flame. Before you stands a majestic sphinx, her long and unruly mane decorated with splendid golden finery. A raucous wave of cheering and jeering erupts around you, and you see nearly a dozen manticores sitting in amphitheater-style seating all around the room.
“Welcome, tomb-robbers,” the sphinx purrs. “I am Kalakia. Behind me is the treasure you seek, yet I have been tasked by the gods to not relinquish it unless I am bested.” She yawns loudly and crosses her paws. “But I have stood vigil here for an eon, and I grow bored. Perhaps being bested in a game of riddles would be suitable to release me from my charge?”
Kalakia stamps a paw and the blue flames illuminating this room grow brighter, revealing innumerable bas relief carvings all along the walls of this chamber. The carvings depict gods, mythic locales, monsters, spells, and artifacts wielded by mighty heroes.
Kalakia’s Riddles
Kalakia has five riddles she wishes to ask of the adventurers. She only allows the party to answer each riddle once; if someone confidently blurts out an answer, she takes it as an attempt to answer the riddle. If a character answers incorrectly, some of the manticores in the stands attack (see “Incorrect Guesses,” below). If a character answers correctly, she gleefully assures them of their success and grants them a reward (see “Correct Guesses,” below).
If the characters don’t guess any of the riddles correctly, she asks the first riddle again and starts over, granting them another chance at solving her puzzle.
The riddles are:
Riddle 1: A magic beyond mortal hands am I, a tool of divine knowledge that reveals myths and tales forgotten to time. What am I? (Answer: legend lore)
Riddle 1 Checks: “Legend Lore”
DC 10: It sounds like this riddle is describing a spell.
DC 15: This spell is probably a divination spell, likely a very powerful one that reveals information that has passed out of mortal memory.
DC 25: You recall that clerics who worship gods of knowledge are often granted a spell called legend lore, which cryptically reveals lore that has been lost to time.
Riddle 2: A weapon that made by mortals in homage of the gods am I, a spear with the power to split the sky. My lowborn cousins are thrown by athletes and warriors alike, but I am crafted from more magical stock. What am I? (Answer: javelin of lightning)
Riddle 2 Checks: “Javelin of Lightning”
DC 10: This is likely a magic item, perhaps a throwing weapon enchanted with the power of lightning.
DC 15: Whatever this is, it was wielded by both warriors and athletes. Javelins are weapons used in both war and sport.
DC 25: You have heard stories of javelins that transform into bolts of lightning, created to emulate the lightning bolts thrown by the great god Zeus (Keranos, if playing in Theros). These are called javelins of lightning.
Magic Item:
Animated Chest Wondrous, Uncommon (Attunement) At a glance this piece of luggage may seem perfectly ordinary, right up until the moment it suddenly sprouts legs and follows whatever creature it acknowledges as its master. It allows its owner to store items inside itself and will protect its contents by having its lid slam down on anyone not attuned to it that tries to reach inside must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 3d6 bludgeoning damage. It possesses a move speed of 30 ft and will do it’s best to avoid danger to itself.
Dungeon Master Tip:
Oh...... you thought THAT was the final boss?
In the sense of when going through a dungeon or an adventure, what have you. I think players tend to hold onto a lot of abilities until the confrontation of the BBEG at the end of the adventure and then just unload on them. Consider putting something that could be easily mistaken as the BBEG, but in fact isn’t. What will they do when they’ve used all their trump cards?
Player Tip: Don’t be a Dick
Arcane Studies: Disguise self and Friends spell combo
Cast disguise self first to change your appearance. Then cast friends to influence an enemy. Right before friends is over, turn a corner and dispel disguise self so the angry enemy doesn’t know it was you who cast friends.
You can also combine disguise self with fog cloud. When enemies attack, cast fog cloud first, then cast disguise self to look like one of the enemies, or minor illusion to create an object to hide in. A great low-level escape plan.
If you have any feedback, unearthed tips and tricks or topics you would like us to discuss, please send them to us. You can email them to us at critacademy@gmail.com or find us on twitter and facebook @critacademy.
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