Crit Academy interviews Dmsguild best seller author Darrin Scott. He answers our questions on his new sequel to Versatile NPCs.
Versatile NPCs 2 includes over 60+ polished and customized similar to those found in the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual. These creations have a great emphasis on defining abilities and customizability, that they might be applied to humanoids of all types. Watch the episode to get a glimpse of this fantastic product.
Character Concept:
Patron Gabe:
Walker Tiefling Ranger
Make a Tiefling Monk/Ranger with the Folk Hero background. His fighting style is mainly roundhouse kicks, and people the world over tell folk tales about his legendary prowess and his manly beard.
Maybe his legendary prowess is told in the form of Chuck Norris jokes.
Walker Teifling Ranger sold his soul to Asmodeus for his rugged good looking beard and unparalleled martial arts skills. Shortly after the transaction was finalized, Walker roundhouse kicked Asmodeus in the face and took his soul back. Asmodeus, who appreciates irony, couldn’t stay mad and admitted he should have seen it coming. They now play demon dice twice a year together.
Monster Variant:
Ambushing Crawler
Origin: Giant Centipede
New Feature:
Ethereal Jaunt. As a bonus action, the creature can magically shift from the Material Plane to the Ethereal Plane or vice versa.
Existing Feature:
Bite attack that poisons and paralyzes enemies
Encounter: The Soiled Grove
Patron Durzo
The heroes discover a druid grove. The druids are upset with the paladin city upstream as the water flowing into the grove from the city is tainted. The druids believe the city is responsible. In addition, they’ve been growing ever more hostile as the city has destroyed more and more of the nearby forest.
The PCs investigate and learn that paladin’s are unsure of what the druids are talking about, as their water isn’t tanted. Investigation leads the heroes to a lake with a small fishing village. The source of the taint is a temple under the water in the lake. The temple was hidden due to a construct that patrols the temple and stirs up muk, keeping it hidden. The constructs job was to control the dark taint and prevent it from escaping its prison. A local fishermen managed to snap the construct and knocked it over. Preventing it from doing its job, leading to the spread of the taint.
Magic Item: Paralyzing Fog Vial
Very Rare, Consumable
As an action, a character can throw this vial at a point up to 60 feet away, on impact it releases a dense purple fog in a 20-foot radius sphere centered on the impact location. The sphere spreads around corners, and its area is heavily obscured. It lasts for 1 minute or until a wind of moderate or greater speed(at least 10 miles per hour) disperses it.
A humanoid who ends its turn in the area must succeed a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for the duration. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another Constitution saving throw. On a success, the target is immune to the effect for 24 hours. Creatures who don’t breath or hold their breath are immune.
Dungeon Master Tip:
Rob Taylor.
Anyone else keep a danger count?
Resting in the middle of an enemy fort/keep after a loud battle with magi and screams of dying is going to bring in some folks to check it out. Consider danger counts. I like to determine where the party is resting..on numerous orc bodies in a dungeon where the fighting lasted long enough to attract attention? Or perhaps the smell of fresh blood brings in scavenging monsters? Or are they on a well-traveled road? Try to account for their resting location and condition. This makes players much more aware of their spell slots and abilities so it's not a “blow everything every fight and recharge”.
Player Tip: Don’t be a Dick
Embrace and Explore Character Deaths
If a character dies, address it in-game. How does your character react to that loss?
Often times, since we perceive it as a game, it's just...well that sucks. Roll up a new character.
If your character liked that person, maybe help give closure, take their body home and bury them, or burn them on a funeral pyre. Make an effort to inform their loved ones of the death.
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