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Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)
A Leveled Up Bestiary
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<blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 8681865" data-attributes="member: 6915329"><p>Level Up cosmology doesn’t really include all the different planes of the Great Wheel D&D cosmology. And sadly, the new planes introduced in T&T (Time, Life, Space, Death) aren’t as fleshed out as they should be. (Hint, hint, design team: let’s see a planar book!) Anyway, the <strong>mapmaker</strong> is a planar creature originally from Pandemonium. As someone who <em>much </em>prefers the Lower Planes that aren’t the Abyss or Hell, I always love new monster specifically for those planes.</p><p></p><p>This monster also required me to dig out 1e psionics rules to figure out what its abilities actually are. The answer is: damage resistances and condition immunities.</p><p></p><p>Also, apologies may be in order: this is the <em>third </em>monster I’ve created with the Chaotic alignment. I’m sure I’ll eventually find some interesting Lawful monsters to convert.</p><p></p><p>This monster also comes with a fun magic item!</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]252679[/ATTACH]</p><p><span style="font-size: 15px">Artist: Dave LaForce</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 22px"><strong><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)">Mapmaker</span></strong></span></p><p>Creatures from elsewhere, Dragon Magazine #47</p><p>Created by Patrick Amory</p><p></p><p>A mapmaker can be described as being a cross between a frilled lizard and a weasel, roughly humanoid in form, with bulging eyes, an extendable lamprey-like mouth, and a pair of fan-like wings. They smell strongly like fresh hay. They come from other planes of existence that have impossible, chaotic geography. As a result, their thinking process is bizarre and seemingly disjointed and even deranged at times.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Cartophile.</em></strong> As their name suggests, mapmakers have an unrivaled passion for maps. They make them, collect them, and frequently steal them. The maps they make are typically intricate and beautifully drawn, as if all the chaos in their minds becomes order once spilled out onto a page. But these maps often completely inaccurate and reference places that don't seem to exist. Nobody, including the mapmaker, knows if these places exist only part of the time, existed when the mapmaker made the map but have since vanished, are a complete fabrication designed to mislead people who try to follow the map, or exist only in the mapmaker’s mind.</p><p></p><p>Many mapmakers get a thrill in stealing travelers’ maps and then basking in the confusion and chaos the lack of map engenders in their victims.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Solitary Travelers.</em></strong> Mapmakers travel the multiverse alone and go out of their way to avoid others of their kind. Once every 25 years, however, they gather in their homeland, a plane of labyrinthine tunnels, for a great meet-up. There, they tell stories of their travels, exchange maps (the only time they will willingly give up a map), and reproduce. It’s not clear <em>how </em>they reproduce, but they only ever do so at these meet-ups.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Legends and Lore</span></strong></p><p>With an Arcana check, the characters can learn the following:</p><p></p><p><strong>DC 10.</strong> Mapmakers have a passion for maps and always carry at least one. They are willing to beg, buy, or steal a map whenever and wherever they find one.</p><p></p><p><strong>DC 15.</strong> Mapmakers carry a magical stick—an item coveted by many cartographers—that can write on any surface.</p><p></p><p><strong>DC 20.</strong> The maps a mapmaker produces are beautiful works of cartographic artwork—but also often reference landmarks and destinations that don’t actually exist. Many of these maps are totally accurate in all ways, but a few are complete fabrications.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Mapmaker Encounters</span></strong></p><p><strong><em>Terrain:</em></strong> Abyss, caverns, ruin, sewer, Shadowfell, tomb</p><p><strong>CR 5</strong> 1 mapmaker, mapmaker with porter and pack animal.</p><p><strong><em>Treasure.</em></strong> 1d8 maps, consisting of local maps (20 gp each), distant maps (75 gp each), frontier maps (200 gp each), or planar/deific domain maps, which include the locations of portals to that plane from the Material (1,000 gp each), and 1 compass or a <em>finder gremlin.</em></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Signs</span></strong></p><p>1. Spilled ink.</p><p>2-3. A lost group of travelers; their maps were stolen.</p><p>4. Cartography markings written in black ink on a surface that shouldn’t be able to take ink.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Behavior</span></strong></p><p>1-3. Drawing a map</p><p>4. Approaching the party to ask if they have any maps for sale. If so, they will offer a pittance and then try to steal the party’s map.</p><p>5. Looking over their collection of maps.</p><p>6. Investigating an area for a planar portal that they sensed.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Names</span></strong></p><p>Avrotrix, Jetriatlipse, Kymalmain, Saiwildisla, Saidoron, Vetterled,</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)"><span style="font-size: 26px">Mapmaker</span></span></strong></p><p><strong>Medium aberration (fiend)</strong></p><p>Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)</p><p><strong>AC</strong> 17 (natural armor)</p><p><strong>HP</strong> 85 (10d8+40; bloodied 43)</p><p><strong>Speed</strong> 40 ft., fly 60 ft.</p><p></p><p><strong>STR</strong> 14 (+2) <strong>DEX</strong> 20 (+5) <strong>CON</strong> 14 (+2)</p><p><strong>INT</strong> 16 (+3) <strong>WIS</strong> 15 (+2) <strong>CHA</strong> 16 (+3)</p><p></p><p><strong>Proficiency</strong> +3</p><p><strong>Maneuver DC</strong> 15</p><p><strong>Skills</strong> Arcana +6, Perception +5, Sleight of Hand +8, Stealth +6, Survival +5 (<em>+1d4</em>)</p><p><strong>Damage Resistances</strong> psychic</p><p><strong>Condition Immunities</strong> confusion, charmed, rattled</p><p><strong>Senses</strong> darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 15</p><p><strong>Languages</strong> Abyssal, Deep Speech, Common, Mapmaker, Undercommon</p><p><strong><em>Chaotic.</em></strong> The mapmaker radiates a Chaotic aura.</p><p><strong><em>Magic Resistance.</em></strong> The mapmaker has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.</p><p><strong><em>Measurer.</em></strong> The mapmaker gains an expertise die (<em>+1d6</em>) when using cartographer’s supplies or navigator’s tools.</p><p><strong><em>Pandemoniacal .</em></strong> The mapmaker has advantage on Strength checks and saves to avoid being knocked back or prone, on saving throws to avoid being blinded or deafened, and on saving throws against effects that would cause it gain levels of strife. Additionally, magical darkness doesn’t impede the mapmaker’s darkvision.</p><p><strong><em>Sense Portal.</em></strong> The mapmaker knows if there’s a planar portal within 100 feet of it, and if it is natural or created. It doesn’t know the portal’s exact location, merely its existence.</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Actions</u></strong></p><p><strong><em>Multiattack.</em></strong> The mapmaker attacks twice: once with its tail and once with its mapmaker’s stick or with its bite.</p><p><strong><em>Mapmaker’s Stick. </em></strong><em>Melee Weapon Attack:</em> +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. <em>Hit: </em>8 (1d4+6) force damage.</p><p><strong><em>Bite. </em></strong><em>Melee Weapon Attack:</em> +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. <em>Hit: </em>7 (1d4+5) piercing damage.</p><p><strong><em>Tail. </em></strong><em>Melee Weapon Attack:</em> +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. <em>Hit: </em>8 (1d6+5) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on DC 13 Strength saving throw or be moved 5 feet towards the mapmaker.</p><p><strong><em>Psychic Pandemonium (Recharge 5-6).</em></strong> The mapmaker targets a creature it can see within 60 feet of. That creature must succeed on a DC 14 Intelligence saving throw, taking 18 (4d8) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. In addition, a creature that fails its save is stunned until the end of its next turn and must use its reaction to move 10 feet in a random direction determined by the Narrator.</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Bonus Actions</u></strong></p><p><strong><em>Scintillating Frill.</em></strong> The mapmaker spreads its wings and frill, which shimmer with metallic, ever-changing colors. Each creature within 30 feet of the mapmaker that can see it must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature becomes charmed for 1 minute. While charmed, the creature is incapacitated and has a speed of 0. A charmed creature may make a new saving throw at the end of each of its turns, and whenever it takes damage, ending the effect on itself on a success.</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Reactions</u></strong></p><p><strong><em>Parrying Tail. </em></strong>If the mapmaker can see their attacker, they add 3 to their AC against one melee attack would hit them.</p><p><strong><em>Reactive Bite. </em></strong>The mapmaker makes a bite attack on a creature it has dragged towards it with its tail.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Combat</span></strong></p><p>Mapmakers start off combat with their Scintillating Frill to incapacitate attackers, then using Psychic Pandemonium on a target that wasn’t affected by its frill. They flee when bloodied.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Faolyn, post: 8681865, member: 6915329"] Level Up cosmology doesn’t really include all the different planes of the Great Wheel D&D cosmology. And sadly, the new planes introduced in T&T (Time, Life, Space, Death) aren’t as fleshed out as they should be. (Hint, hint, design team: let’s see a planar book!) Anyway, the [B]mapmaker[/B] is a planar creature originally from Pandemonium. As someone who [I]much [/I]prefers the Lower Planes that aren’t the Abyss or Hell, I always love new monster specifically for those planes. This monster also required me to dig out 1e psionics rules to figure out what its abilities actually are. The answer is: damage resistances and condition immunities. Also, apologies may be in order: this is the [I]third [/I]monster I’ve created with the Chaotic alignment. I’m sure I’ll eventually find some interesting Lawful monsters to convert. This monster also comes with a fun magic item! [ATTACH type="full" width="333px" alt="1656960445626.png"]252679[/ATTACH] [SIZE=4]Artist: Dave LaForce[/SIZE] [SIZE=6][B][COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)]Mapmaker[/COLOR][/B][/SIZE] Creatures from elsewhere, Dragon Magazine #47 Created by Patrick Amory A mapmaker can be described as being a cross between a frilled lizard and a weasel, roughly humanoid in form, with bulging eyes, an extendable lamprey-like mouth, and a pair of fan-like wings. They smell strongly like fresh hay. They come from other planes of existence that have impossible, chaotic geography. As a result, their thinking process is bizarre and seemingly disjointed and even deranged at times. [B][I]Cartophile.[/I][/B] As their name suggests, mapmakers have an unrivaled passion for maps. They make them, collect them, and frequently steal them. The maps they make are typically intricate and beautifully drawn, as if all the chaos in their minds becomes order once spilled out onto a page. But these maps often completely inaccurate and reference places that don't seem to exist. Nobody, including the mapmaker, knows if these places exist only part of the time, existed when the mapmaker made the map but have since vanished, are a complete fabrication designed to mislead people who try to follow the map, or exist only in the mapmaker’s mind. Many mapmakers get a thrill in stealing travelers’ maps and then basking in the confusion and chaos the lack of map engenders in their victims. [B][I]Solitary Travelers.[/I][/B] Mapmakers travel the multiverse alone and go out of their way to avoid others of their kind. Once every 25 years, however, they gather in their homeland, a plane of labyrinthine tunnels, for a great meet-up. There, they tell stories of their travels, exchange maps (the only time they will willingly give up a map), and reproduce. It’s not clear [I]how [/I]they reproduce, but they only ever do so at these meet-ups. [B][SIZE=5]Legends and Lore[/SIZE][/B] With an Arcana check, the characters can learn the following: [B]DC 10.[/B] Mapmakers have a passion for maps and always carry at least one. They are willing to beg, buy, or steal a map whenever and wherever they find one. [B]DC 15.[/B] Mapmakers carry a magical stick—an item coveted by many cartographers—that can write on any surface. [B]DC 20.[/B] The maps a mapmaker produces are beautiful works of cartographic artwork—but also often reference landmarks and destinations that don’t actually exist. Many of these maps are totally accurate in all ways, but a few are complete fabrications. [B][SIZE=5]Mapmaker Encounters[/SIZE] [I]Terrain:[/I][/B] Abyss, caverns, ruin, sewer, Shadowfell, tomb [B]CR 5[/B] 1 mapmaker, mapmaker with porter and pack animal. [B][I]Treasure.[/I][/B] 1d8 maps, consisting of local maps (20 gp each), distant maps (75 gp each), frontier maps (200 gp each), or planar/deific domain maps, which include the locations of portals to that plane from the Material (1,000 gp each), and 1 compass or a [I]finder gremlin.[/I] [B][SIZE=5]Signs[/SIZE][/B] 1. Spilled ink. 2-3. A lost group of travelers; their maps were stolen. 4. Cartography markings written in black ink on a surface that shouldn’t be able to take ink. [B][SIZE=5]Behavior[/SIZE][/B] 1-3. Drawing a map 4. Approaching the party to ask if they have any maps for sale. If so, they will offer a pittance and then try to steal the party’s map. 5. Looking over their collection of maps. 6. Investigating an area for a planar portal that they sensed. [B][SIZE=5]Names[/SIZE][/B] Avrotrix, Jetriatlipse, Kymalmain, Saiwildisla, Saidoron, Vetterled, [B][COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)][SIZE=7]Mapmaker[/SIZE][/COLOR] Medium aberration (fiend)[/B] Challenge 5 (1,800 XP) [B]AC[/B] 17 (natural armor) [B]HP[/B] 85 (10d8+40; bloodied 43) [B]Speed[/B] 40 ft., fly 60 ft. [B]STR[/B] 14 (+2) [B]DEX[/B] 20 (+5) [B]CON[/B] 14 (+2) [B]INT[/B] 16 (+3) [B]WIS[/B] 15 (+2) [B]CHA[/B] 16 (+3) [B]Proficiency[/B] +3 [B]Maneuver DC[/B] 15 [B]Skills[/B] Arcana +6, Perception +5, Sleight of Hand +8, Stealth +6, Survival +5 ([I]+1d4[/I]) [B]Damage Resistances[/B] psychic [B]Condition Immunities[/B] confusion, charmed, rattled [B]Senses[/B] darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 15 [B]Languages[/B] Abyssal, Deep Speech, Common, Mapmaker, Undercommon [B][I]Chaotic.[/I][/B] The mapmaker radiates a Chaotic aura. [B][I]Magic Resistance.[/I][/B] The mapmaker has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. [B][I]Measurer.[/I][/B] The mapmaker gains an expertise die ([I]+1d6[/I]) when using cartographer’s supplies or navigator’s tools. [B][I]Pandemoniacal .[/I][/B] The mapmaker has advantage on Strength checks and saves to avoid being knocked back or prone, on saving throws to avoid being blinded or deafened, and on saving throws against effects that would cause it gain levels of strife. Additionally, magical darkness doesn’t impede the mapmaker’s darkvision. [B][I]Sense Portal.[/I][/B] The mapmaker knows if there’s a planar portal within 100 feet of it, and if it is natural or created. It doesn’t know the portal’s exact location, merely its existence. [B][U]Actions[/U] [I]Multiattack.[/I][/B] The mapmaker attacks twice: once with its tail and once with its mapmaker’s stick or with its bite. [B][I]Mapmaker’s Stick. [/I][/B][I]Melee Weapon Attack:[/I] +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. [I]Hit: [/I]8 (1d4+6) force damage. [B][I]Bite. [/I][/B][I]Melee Weapon Attack:[/I] +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. [I]Hit: [/I]7 (1d4+5) piercing damage. [B][I]Tail. [/I][/B][I]Melee Weapon Attack:[/I] +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. [I]Hit: [/I]8 (1d6+5) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on DC 13 Strength saving throw or be moved 5 feet towards the mapmaker. [B][I]Psychic Pandemonium (Recharge 5-6).[/I][/B] The mapmaker targets a creature it can see within 60 feet of. That creature must succeed on a DC 14 Intelligence saving throw, taking 18 (4d8) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. In addition, a creature that fails its save is stunned until the end of its next turn and must use its reaction to move 10 feet in a random direction determined by the Narrator. [B][U]Bonus Actions[/U] [I]Scintillating Frill.[/I][/B] The mapmaker spreads its wings and frill, which shimmer with metallic, ever-changing colors. Each creature within 30 feet of the mapmaker that can see it must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature becomes charmed for 1 minute. While charmed, the creature is incapacitated and has a speed of 0. A charmed creature may make a new saving throw at the end of each of its turns, and whenever it takes damage, ending the effect on itself on a success. [B][U]Reactions[/U] [I]Parrying Tail. [/I][/B]If the mapmaker can see their attacker, they add 3 to their AC against one melee attack would hit them. [B][I]Reactive Bite. [/I][/B]The mapmaker makes a bite attack on a creature it has dragged towards it with its tail. [B][SIZE=5]Combat[/SIZE][/B] Mapmakers start off combat with their Scintillating Frill to incapacitate attackers, then using Psychic Pandemonium on a target that wasn’t affected by its frill. They flee when bloodied. [/QUOTE]
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