Dungeon Master's Guide

Recommendations

Info

an everyday occurrence, as magical flying ships and trains carry travelers from one great city to another. Gods Inhabit the Land, or Are Entirely Absent. What if the gods regularly walk the earth? What if the characters can challenge them and seize their power? Or what if the gods are remote, and even angels never make contact with mortals? In the Dark Sun setting, the gods are extremely distant-perhaps nonexistent-and clerics rely instead on elemental power for their magic. Gons OF YouR WoRLD Appendix B of the Player's Handbook presents a number of pantheons (loose groupings of deities not united by a single doctrine or philosophy) for use in your game, including the gods of established D&D worlds and fantasy-historical pantheons. You can adopt one of these pantheons for your campaign, or pick and choose deities and ideas from them as you please. See "A Sample Pantheon" in this section for an example. As far as the game's rules are concerned, it doesn't matter if your world has hundreds of deities or a church devoted to a single god. In rules terms, clerics choose domains, not deities, so your world can associate domains with deities in any way you choose. LOOSE PANTHEONS Most D&D worlds have a loose pantheon of gods. A multitude of deities rule the various aspects of existence, variously cooperating with and competing against one another to administer the affairs of the universe. People gather in public shrines to worship gods of life and wisdom, or meet in hidden places to venerate gods of deception or destruction. Each deity in a pantheon has a portfolio and is responsible for advancing that portfolio. In the Greyhawk setting, Heironeous is a god of valor who calls clerics and paladins to his service and encourages them to spread the ideals of honorable warfare, chival ry, and justice in society. Even in the midst of his everlasting war with his brother Hextor, god of war and tyranny, Heironeous promotes his own portfolio: war fought nobly and in the cause of justice. People in most D&D worlds are polytheistic, honoring deities of their own and acknowledging pantheons of other cultures. Individuals pay homage to various gods, regardless of alignment. In the Forgotten Realms, a person might propitiate Umberlee before setting out to sea, join a communal feast to celebrate Chauntea at harvest time, and pray to Malar before going hunting. Some individuals feel a calling to a particular deity's service and claim that god as a patron. Particularly devoted individuals become priests by setting up a shrine or helping to staff a holy site. Much more rarely, those who feel such a calling become clerics or paladins invested with the responsibility of true divine power. Shrines and temples serve as community gathering points for religious rites and festivals. Priests at such sites relate stories of the gods, teach the ethics of their patron deities, offer advice and blessings, perform religious rites, and provide training in activities their deities favor. Cities and large towns can host several temples dedicated to individual gods important to the community, while smaller settlements might have a single shrine devoted to any gods the locals revere. To quickly build a pantheon for your world, crea~e a single god for each of the eight domains available to clerics: Death, Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Tempest, Trickery, and War. You can invent names and personalities for these deities, or borrow deities from other pantheons. This approach gives you a small pantheon that covers the most significant aspects of existence, and it's easy enough to extrapolate other areas of life each deity controls. The god of Knowledge, DAWN WAR DEITIES Deity Asmodeus, god of tyranny Avandra, goddess of change and luck Bahamut, god of justice and nobility Bane, god of war and conquest Corellon, god of magic and the arts Erath is, goddess of civilization and invention Gruumsh, god of destruction loun, goddess of knowledge Kord, god of strength and storms Lolth , goddess of spiders and lies Melora, goddess of wilderness and the sea Moradin, god of creation Pel or, god of the sun and agriculture Raven Queen, goddess of death Sehanine, goddess of the moon Tharizdun , god of madness Tiamat, goddess of wealth, greed, and vengeance Torog, god of the Underdark Vecna, god of evil secrets Zehir, god of darkness and poison Alignment LE CG LG LE CG LN CE N CN CE N LG NG LN CG CE LE NE NE CE Suggested Domains Trickery Trickery Life, War War Light Knowledge Tempest, War Knowledge Tempest Trickery Nature, Tempest Knowledge, War Life, Light Life, Death Trickery Trickery Trickery, War Death Death, Knowledge Trickery, Death Symbol Three triangles in tight formation Three stacked wavy lines Dragon's head , in profile, facing left Claw with three talons pointing down Eight-pointed star Upper half of a clockwork gear Triangular eye with bony protrusions Crook shaped like a stylized eye Sword with a lightning bolt cross guard Eight· pointed star with a web motif Wavelike swirl Flaming anvil Circle with six outwardly radiating points Raven's head, in profile, facing left Crescent moon Jagged counter-clockwise spiral Five-pointed star with curved points T attached to a circular shackle Partially shattered one-eyed skull Snake in the shape of a dagger 10 CHAPTER I I A WORLD Of YOUR OWN
for example, might also be patron of magic and prophecy, while the god of Light could be the sun god and the god of time. A SAMPLE PANTHEON The pantheon of the Dawn War is an example of a pantheon assembled from mostly preexisting elements to suit the needs of a particular campaign. This is the default pantheon in the fourth edition Player's Handbook (2008). The pantheon is summarized in the Dawn War Deities table. This pantheon draws in several nonhuman deities and establishes them as universal gods. These gods include Bahamut, Corellon, Gruumsh, Lolth, Moradin, Sehanine, and Tiamat. Humans worship Moradin and Corell on as gods of their respective portfolios, rather than as racial deities. The pantheon also includes the archdevil Asmodeus as god of domination and tyranny. Several of the gods are drawn from other pantheons, sometimes with new names for the gods. Bane comes from the Forgotten Realms. From Greyhawk come Kord, Pelor, Tharizdun, and Vecna. From the Greek pantheon come Athena (renamed Era this) and Tyche (renamed Avandra), though both are altered. Set (renamed Zehir) comes from the Egyptian pantheon. The Raven Queen is akin to the Norse pantheon's He! and Greyhawk's Weejas. That leaves three gods created from scratch: Ioun, Melora, and Torog: OTHER RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS In your campaign, you can create pantheons of gods who are closely linked in a single religion, monotheistic religions (worship of a single deity), dualistic systems (centered on two opposing deities or forces), mystery cults (involving personal devotion to a single deity, usually as part of a pantheon system), anjmistic religions (revering the spirits inherent in nature), or even forces and philosophies that don't center on deities. TIGHT PANTHEONS In contrast to a loose pantheon, a tight pantheon focuses on a single religion whose teachings and edicts embrace a small group of deities. Followers of a tight pantheon might favor one of its member deities over another, but they respect all the deities and honor them with sacrifices and prayer as appropriate. The key trait to a tight pantheon is that its worshipers embrace a single ethos or dogma that includes all the deities. The gods of the tight pantheon work as one to protect and guide their followers. You can think of a tight pantheon as similar to a family. One or two deities who lead the pantheon serve as parent figures, with the rest serving as patrons of important aspects of the culture that worships the pantheon. A single temple honors all members of the pantheon. Most tight pantheons have one or more aberrant gods-deities whose worship isn't sanctioned by the priests of the pantheon as a whole. These are usually evil deities and enemies of the pantheon, such as the Greek Titans. These deities have cults of their own, attracting social outcasts and villains to their worship. These cults resemble mystery cults, their members strictly devoted to their single god, though even members of aberrant cults pay lip service in the temples of the tight pantheon. The Norse deities serve as an example of a tight pantheon. Odin is the pantheon's leader and father figure. Deities such as Thor, Tyr, and Freya embody important aspects of Norse culture. Meanwhile, Loki and his devotees lurk in the shadows, sometimes aiding the other deities, and sometimes working against them with the pantheon's enemies. MYSTERY CULTS A mystery cult is a secretive religious organization based on a ritual of initiation, in which the initiate is mystically identified with a god, or a handful of related gods. Mystery cults are intensely personal, concerned with the initiate's relationship with the divine. Sometimes a mystery cult is a type of worship within a pantheon. It acknowledges the myths and rituals of the pantheon, but presents its own myths and rites as primary. For instance, a secretive order of monks might immerse themselves in a mystical relationship to a god who is part of a broadly worshiped pantheon. A mystery cult emphasizes the history of its god, which is symbolically reenacted in its initiation ritual. The foundation myth of a mystery cult is usually simple and often involves a god's death and rising, or a journey to the underworld and a return. Mystery cults often revere sun and moon deities and agricultural deitiesgods whose portfolios reflect the cycles of nature. DIVINE RANK The divine beings of the multiverse are often categorized according to their cosmic power. Some gods are worshiped on multiple worlds and have a different rank on each world, depending on their influence there. Greater deities are beyond mortal understanding. They can't be summoned, and they are almost always removed from direct involvement in mortal affairs. On very rare occasions they manifest avatars similar to lesser deities, but slaying a greater god's avatar has no effect on the god itself. Lesser deities are embodied somewhere in the planes. Some lesser deities live in the Material Plane, as does the unicorn-goddess Lurue of the Forgotten Realms and the titanic shark-god Sekolah revered by the sahuagin. Others live on the Outer Planes, as Lolth does in the Abyss. Such deities can be encountered by mortals. Quasi-deities have a divine origin, but they don't hear or answer prayers, grant spells to clerics, or control aspects of mortal life. They are still immensely powerful beings, and in theory they could ascend to godhood if they amassed enough worshipers. Quasi-deities fall into three subcategories: demigods, titans, and vestiges. Demigods are born from the union of a deity and a mortal being. They have some divine attributes, but their mortal parentage makes them the weakest quasi-deities. Titans are the divine creations of deities. They might be birthed from the union of two deities, manufactured on a divine forge, born from the blood spilled by a god, or otherwise brought about through divine will or substance. Vestiges are deities who have lost nearly all their worshipers and are considered dead, from a mortal perspective. Esoteric rituals can sometimes contact these beings and draw on their latent power. """' CHAPTER 1 I A WORLD OF YOUR OWN TI
Page 2 and 3: CREDITS D&D Lead Designers: Mike Me
Page 4 and 5: INTRODUCTION T'S GOOD TO BE THE DUN
Page 6 and 7: KNow YouR PLAYERS The success of a
Page 9: OUR WORLD IS THE SETTING FOR YOUR C
Page 13 and 14: FORCES AND PHILOSOPHIES Not all div
Page 15 and 16: SETTLEMENTS The places where people
Page 17 and 18: _ lost settlements are agricultural
Page 19 and 20: each is ruled by a council of drow
Page 21 and 22: 11ARPER5 ORDER OF THE GAUNTLET EMER
Page 23 and 24: dedicated to preserving the natural
Page 25 and 26: CREATING A CAMPAIGN The world you c
Page 27 and 28: PuTTING EvENTS IN MoTION -------- W
Page 29 and 30: • Describe or name the creature t
Page 31 and 32: Who or what is to blame for the los
Page 33 and 34: times of day. And some holy days ar
Page 36 and 37: CHARACTER NAMES Part of your campai
Page 38 and 39: Characters who reach 20th level hav
Page 40 and 41: DARK FANTASY Vampires brood on the
Page 43 and 44: HAPTER 2: CREATING A MULTIVERSE lHE
Page 45 and 46: "PLANAR PORTALS • aistlin's] eyes
Page 47 and 48: dead god or other chunks of rock dr
Page 49 and 50: ETHEREAL CURTAINS d8 Plane Color of
Page 51 and 52: S HADOWFELL • iven stood in the u
Page 53 and 54: wt of clashing energies and collidi
Page 55 and 56: PLANE OF FIRE Fire represents vibra
Page 57 and 58: ·cinder Wastes ,, ' '" THE EM ENTA
Page 59 and 60: -=:;.·.,.,-,
Page 61 and 62:
O PTIONAL RULE: INTENSE YEARNING -e
Page 63 and 64:
that figure into the schemes of the
Page 65 and 66:
Stygia is also home to its previous
Page 67 and 68:
have the celestial type and are alw
Page 69:
I' A
Page 72 and 73:
USEFUL MAPS A good adventure needs
Page 74 and 75:
O""i'Mi:.'i\ C.o~"L~ dl2 Goal Seize
Page 76 and 77:
ongoing plan to commit more crimes,
Page 78 and 79:
Suspects might be obvious or could
Page 80 and 81:
on the characters. A love interest
Page 82 and 83:
COMBAT ENCOUNTER DIFFICULTY There a
Page 84 and 85:
medium, hard, and deadly encounters
Page 86 and 87:
CHECKING FOR RANDOM ENCOUNTERS You
Page 89 and 90:
CHAPTER 4: CREATING NONPLAYER CHARA
Page 91 and 92:
BOND In a sentence, summarize the p
Page 93 and 94:
protecting lower-level NPC party me
Page 95 and 96:
o1 LL AIN 1 S METHODS d20 Methods M
Page 97:
H A NNEL DIVINITY: TOUCH OF DEATH :
Page 100 and 101:
eholder·s disintegration eye ray h
Page 102 and 103:
after door and killing whatever lie
Page 104 and 105:
(Perception) check. To set an appro
Page 106:
WILDERNESS Between the dungeons and
Page 109 and 110:
STRONGHOLDS Strongholds provide the
Page 111 and 112:
THIN leE Thin ice has a weight tole
Page 113 and 114:
RANDOM BUILDINGS Pulse-pounding cha
Page 115 and 116:
~~ I , " ,.. /
Page 117 and 118:
determining exhaustion. Swimming fo
Page 119 and 120:
AIRBORNE AND WATERBORNE VEHICLES Sh
Page 121 and 122:
actively looking for a trap can att
Page 123:
15 Dexterity check using thieves' t
Page 126 and 127:
To keep players from straying, save
Page 128 and 129:
MoRE Do-\\~TIME AcTn~TIE Chapter 8,
Page 130 and 131:
individuals interested in buying ma
Page 133 and 134:
CHAPTER 7: TREASURE DVENTURERS STRI
Page 135 and 136:
250 GP ART OBJECTS dlO Object Gold
Page 137 and 138:
TREASURE HOARD: CHALLENGE 0-4 CP SP
Page 139 and 140:
i cursed. Most methods of identifyi
Page 141 and 142:
Dwarves might make items usable onl
Page 143 and 144:
WHAT MINOR PROPERTY DOES IT HAVE? d
Page 145 and 146:
MAGIC ITEM TABLE c dlOO Magic Item
Page 147 and 148:
MAGIC ITEM TABLE G dlOO Magic Item
Page 149 and 150:
MAGIC ITEM TABLE I dlOO 01-05 06-10
Page 151 and 152:
APPARATUS OF K W A LISH ANIMATED SH
Page 153 and 154:
BAG OF 110LOING dlOO Effect 01 Sd4
Page 155 and 156:
The belt of stone giant strength an
Page 157 and 158:
BooTs o• STRIDING AND SPRINGING B
Page 159 and 160:
CLOAK OF THE MANTA RAY C I RCLE T O
Page 161 and 162:
The tower is made of adamantine, an
Page 163 and 164:
CHAPTER 7 I TREASURE
Page 165 and 166:
~t il the start of your next turn,
Page 167 and 168:
DR IFTGLOBE DusT OF DISAPPEARANCE E
Page 169 and 170:
Eves OF THE EAGLE SERPENTINE Owe FI
Page 171 and 172:
FLAME ToNGUE GAUNTLETS OF OGRE PowE
Page 173 and 174:
HAMMER OF THUNDERBOLTS Weapon (maul
Page 175 and 176:
1oLv AvENGER I MMOVABLE Roo 110RN O
Page 177 and 178:
A stone has AC 24, 10 hit points, a
Page 179 and 180:
JAVELIN OF LIGHTNING KEOGHTOM'S OIN
Page 181 and 182:
To create a golem, you must spend t
Page 183 and 184:
NINE LIVES STEALER Weapon (any swor
Page 185:
P I PES OF liAUNTING PiPES OF THE S
Page 188 and 189:
POTIONS OF HEALING Potion of ... He
Page 190 and 191:
RING OF ANIMAL INFLUENCE FREE ACTIO
Page 192 and 193:
RING OF P ROTECT ION RING OF SPELL
Page 194 and 195:
Rose oF Eves The eyes on the robe c
Page 196 and 197:
slots, up to a maximum of 5th level
Page 199 and 200:
RoPE oF ENTANGLEMENT by the rope ca
Page 201 and 202:
successfully copied. Whether the ch
Page 203 and 204:
equal to 16 x the number of charge
Page 205 and 206:
STAFF OF THE WooDLAND S STAFF OF WI
Page 207 and 208:
TALISMAN OF THE SPHERE TALISMAN OF
Page 209 and 210:
Vecna watches anyone using this tom
Page 211 and 212:
AND OF LIGHTNING BOLTS -land, rare
Page 213 and 214:
dlOO Effect 54-58 You cast darkness
Page 216 and 217:
A LIGN MENT A sentient magic item h
Page 218 and 219:
when it wants to communicate someth
Page 220 and 221:
MAJOR DETRIMENTAL PROPERTIES MINOR
Page 222 and 223:
Blessings of Moradin. If you are a
Page 224 and 225:
psychic damage, and each non-evil c
Page 226 and 227:
SwoRD OF KAs Wondrous item, artifac
Page 228 and 229:
A character should receive only a b
Page 230 and 231:
more·concerned about doing right b
Page 232:
BooN OF CoMBAT PROWESS When you mis
Page 236 and 237:
Have another player run the missing
Page 238 and 239:
CONTESTS A contest is a kind of abi
Page 240 and 241:
For example, imagine a wizard is ru
Page 242 and 243:
• RESOLUTION AND CONSEQUENCES You
Page 244 and 245:
TRACKING Adventurers sometimes choo
Page 246 and 247:
Also, characters and monsters with
Page 248 and 249:
ogres, each of which has 59 hit poi
Page 250 and 251:
launch a lightning bolt (100-foot l
Page 252 and 253:
OPTIONAL RULE: DIAGONALS The Player
Page 254 and 255:
Characters can create their own com
Page 256 and 257:
SIEGE TOWER Gargantuan object Armor
Page 258 and 259:
and is poisoned for 24 hours. On a
Page 260 and 261:
LONG-TERM MADNESS dlOO Effect (last
Page 263 and 264:
CHAPTER 9: DuNGEON MASTER's WoRKSHO
Page 265 and 266:
Honor measures not only a character
Page 267 and 268:
A character who uses a healing surg
Page 269 and 270:
PLOT POINTS Plot points allow playe
Page 271 and 272:
Initiative Modifiers. Modifiers mig
Page 273 and 274:
Instead of using the effect describ
Page 275 and 276:
adjust the challenge rating uggesre
Page 277 and 278:
STEP 9. DAMAGE VuL "ER..'\BILITIES,
Page 279 and 280:
The Monster Features table list \·
Page 281 and 282:
Name Light Sensitivity Magic Resist
Page 283 and 284:
The NPC Features table summarizes t
Page 285 and 286:
The simpler your approach. the easi
Page 287 and 288:
Age. Aasimar mature at the arne rat
Page 289 and 290:
SPELL POINTS BY LEVEL Class Level S
Page 291 and 292:
DOORS Whenever a table roll indicat
Page 293 and 294:
DUNGEO N: LAIR d20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8-
Page 295 and 296:
GENERAL DUNGEON CHAMBERS d100 Purpo
Page 297 and 298:
I / d20 2 4-8 9-12 13-14 15 16 17 1
Page 299 and 300:
AIR dlOO 01-60 61-70 71-80 81-83 84
Page 301 and 302:
CONTAINER CONTENTS dlOO Item dlOO I
Page 303 and 304:
Monsters Challenge Rating (XP) Brow
Page 305 and 306:
UNDERDARK MONSTERS UNDERWATER MONST
Page 307 and 308:
Half-ogre Harpy Hippogriff Imp Kuo
Page 309 and 310:
CHALLENGE 11 (7,200 XP) Vampire Mum
Page 312 and 313:
APPENDIX C I MAPS
Page 314 and 315:
APPENDiX C I MAPS
Page 316 and 317:
APPENDIX D: DUNGEON MASTER INSPIRAT
Page 318 and 319:
creating a wi lderness, 14, El emen
Page 320:
shipwrecks, 118 structure (ad ventu
show all

Dungeon Master's Guide

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?