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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9760535" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/pKYEtF0.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 601px" />This chapter covers the regional setting of Sands of Doom as a whole, looking at it from a big picture overview. Details and descriptions of particular areas are covered in later chapters proper.Lay of the Land talks about the geopolitical boundaries. Kirat is the name for the realm as a whole, spanning from the Dry Peaks of Tarakuir in the west to the Spire Mountains in the east. Kirat in turn is part of a larger region known as the Torn Lands, which encompasses the former Anubian Empire devastated by the Cataclysm, with Kirat being its westernmost edge. Crossing into the rest of the Torn Lands requires venturing past the perilous Sands of No Return, a desert spanning hundreds of miles inhabited by xenophobic centaurs who attack outsiders on sight. To the west of Kirat is the dwarven kingdom of Drek'Alor, which is entirely underground. We get a brief overview of recent history, most notably the Beastwars which ended a decade ago.When the tieflings first settled in the region, the beastfolk were ruled over by a tyrannical lamia named Lilith, taking on the title the Queen of Beasts. She wasn't loved by most, often playing beastfolk against each other to prevent them from unifying against her. She quickly allied with the tieflings, discarding the beastfolk, and the Kirati started building wells to sustain their city. When those wells started running dry, they started branching outwards to find other springs, which were all guarded by beastfolk who refused to share. Realizing that they couldn't take on the tieflings divided, the beastfolk united under the harpy Eurydice. Lilith was overthrown, forcing her into hiding. Eurydice's forces fired the first shots, raiding tiefling settlements, burning them to the ground, and attacking their caravans. The Kirati were outmatched and forced to draw back to the city of Al'Kirat, but eventually they won during the Battle of Deadrock. The tieflings seized defeat from the jaws of victory when Vizier Rashid used magic to summon gouts of flame in a canyon the tieflings and beastfolk were fighting over. As fire resistance was the one quality tieflings had over most beastfolk, they took the least losses, granting the Kirati control over a strategic location from which they gained access to nearby freshwater lakes. The beastfolk's morale was shaken, and most chose to retreat into defensive positions. The tieflings genocided the goblins, and the ogres were mass-enslaved on account of their naturally obedient and submissive nature. Beastfolk of other species were also enslaved, as Rashid and various Kirati oligarchs introduced the idea of using beastfolk PoWs as "labor reparations" to rebuild the city.While Kirat is technically at peace, it is not free of violence. Tieflings and beastfolk resent each other over the recent scars of war, and a few beastfolk slaves who earned their freedom have chosen to live within Al'Kirat's walls. Kenku, lizardfolk, and ogres are the most populous free beastfolk in the city, while minotaurs and harpies usually depart for their homelands as soon as they're released. Members of teh latter two species count the most belligerent forces of beastfolk raiders. Lilith is now the crime lord of the Veiled Syndicate, using jackalwere spies to sabotage proposed peace talks and enslave beastfolk as part of a larger plot to overthrow Al'Kirat's government. Lilith is remembered negatively by the beastfolk as a ruthless tyrant, and the common belief is that she was murdered during the power struggle with Eurydice.Thoughts: This is a short and sweet historical overview, brief enough to cover the most important points without overwhelming the reader with loredumps. Additionally, while the beastfolk are the losers and thus suffering the most, the narrative doesn't present any side in the conflict as in the moral right, as the beastfolk and tieflings initially had legitimate reasons for their actions (securing water to survive) which ended up spiralling into massacres and war crimes on both sides. While the tieflings ended up engaging in slavery and genocide, it's clear that a beastfolk victory would've been seen a grim fate befall the tieflings.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/OArbtt1.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 658px" />Peoples of Kirat details the major races/species of the region. Unlike most other settings, humans are a distinct minority in both the city and wastelands. Most tieflings live in Al'Kirat, where they are the majority at 80% of the population. Humans are not indigenous to the region, most hailing from northern kingdoms which are rife with civil wars, economic depressions, and demon worship. Up there, tieflings are second-class citizens at best. Said kingdoms often exile human criminals to Kirat as punishment, although many leave voluntarily in search of a better life.Beastfolk are the most numerous group outside Al'Kirat, and it's a catch-all term for all manner of anthropomorphic humanoids. The most common beastfolk include the harpies, who have the unique in-game ability to make creatures who smell their feathers fall asleep and can be delivered via a grapple attack; lizardfolk, who can rapidly evolve to adapt to any climate, including mentally to the point that their brains can forge entirely new personalities once a month; and jackalweres, who aren't made naturally but instead created by Lilith's demonic magic and are only known via odd sightings and rumors; kenku, who almost entirely live in close-knit, self-segregating communities in Al'Kirat and are often employed as living tape-recorders for legal and business meetings; and minotaurs, who now live side by side with harpies in the Dustwind Buttes and possess a strong spiritual tradition, where seers among their number can learn to communicate with spirits via observing changes in the natural world. All beastfolk are fluent in Thru'aan, a form of Abyssal which is intelligible by speakers of that language, and there are hundreds of regional variations. Most beastfolk are fluent in Common, but speak in Thru'aan when among others of their kind. We also get more detailed entries than the other races here for particular cultural features, such as how lizardfolk have the ability to fertilize or be fertilized and thus their society doesn't have the male/female gender binary. Or how the kenku language has words for nouns based on the most common sound an object makes; a cat would be called a "meow," for instance.Ogres are a common people in Kirat, with almost all of them living within the city of Al'Kirat. They are too simple-minded to survive on their own, and are traditionally ruled over by other species. Rulership they eagerly acquiesce to. This has made them the most popular type of slave in Al'Kirat, with even freed ones immediately looking for the next person to manage their lives.Orcs of the region have a kingdom of their own called O'grila, a land of jungles and plateaus. The Orcs managed to domesticate dinosaurs, fostering strong bonds between the animals and their caretakers to the point that trained dinosaurs can understand simple words in Orcish. Metal of all kinds is forbidden in O'grila, and bones of dinosaurs are used in their place. Orcs believe that upon death, the worthy ascend to a golden city called Ouro located on the highest plateau somewhere in their kingdom, and orcs dedicate their lives to proving themselves honorable enough to ascend.Lastly, most dwarves live in an underground kingdom known as Drek'Alor which is located to west of Kirat. Every city of theirs lairs within a massive mountain, all of which are connected by a network of tunnels. They used to be allies of the Anubian Empire, as both groups didn't desire to claim each other's territory. After the Cataclysm, the surviving Darakni insects remained underground, and still war upon the dwarves to this day. The latter are gradually losing, with four of their seven cities having fallen to the Darakni onslaught. Most dwarves in Kirat are refugees and the descendants of refugees from these cities. Dwarves also hold access to a potent mineral known as grimstone, which can be ground into an effective form of gunpowder. Most firearms take the form of single-shot pistols built for maximum damage, as grimstone is rare even among the dwarves. So they seek to make the most literal bang for their buck in their war against the Darakni.We even get stats for Grimfire Pistols. They are weapons that require special training in order to gain proficiency in as well as how to reload, and deal 4d12 piercing damage per shot with a range of 30/90 feet. Creatures within 10 feet of the target take 6d6 fire damage from an AoE, and the pistol can only be reloaded during a short rest. Satchels can hold up to 10 charges of grimpowder, which can be ignited to deal 1d6 fire damage to those within 20 feet. Grimpowder and firearms aren't given gold piece values, other than that "a pound of grimpowder is worth several times its weight in gold."Thoughts: This mixture of playable and non-plyable races is brief, yet presents just enough historical and cultural detail to give a player a good starting point for making a native character should they so desire. My main complaint is the characterization of ogres as being stupid and unable to take care of themselves make them a natural fit for slavery. This actually mirrors the justifications used by slave-holding societies across history and cultures against manumission. While I don't believe that this is Caballero's intent due to the overall anti-slavery stance of this book, it is something that grinds against the intended narrative grain. As for Grimfire Pistols, they are an extremely powerful weapon, with the intended balance being their rarity. And while this is the case, there is a point in the module where the party can potentially gain access to a lot of shots, which might bring in potential balance issues.Badlands of Al'Kirat is the westernmost part of Kirat, detailing 14 locations. Besides the city of Al'Kirat, there's also the Beastlands to the south. It's a rainforest region home to hundreds of beastfolk tribes, some being large enough to qualify as cities, with Shambala being the largest of them. To the north of Al'Kirat are the Shining Plains, a savannah traditionally inhabited by the minotaurs, and is home to various savannah-dwelling animals such as rhinoceroses, hyenas, and the like. To the south of the Beastlands beyond the map proper are the Scourged Lands, a realm of dark jungles feared even by the neighboring beastfolk. It is home to a deadly magical fog that turns the souls of those who die within it to quartz, and its native beastfolk are particularly vile and sadistic. The major tiefling settlements outside the city include the Breath of Life, whose strategic position near freshwater lakes is used to supply daily caravan trips to Al'Kirat, and the mining town of Tail's End is home to an intricate elevator system known as the Great Lift. The ruler of Tail's End is being blackmailed by the Veiled Syndicate to build hidden safehouses for smuggling purposes. The ruins of Kirati villages razed during the Beastwars are used as temporary shelters for patrolling tiefling soldiers, as harpy and minotaur raiders attack any refugees from the city who try to return home. Finally, the Dustwind Buttes is a 2,000-strong settlement of harpies and minotaurs who survive by foraging and raiding, trading loot with human bandits and lizardfolk.Thoughts: The entries are overall short and lacking in adventure hooks, being more useful in giving a "lay of the land." It is useful for detailing the major population centers outside Al'Kirat, although I do wish we got some more detail about Shambala.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/3AgidFe.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 776px" />The Wasteland is the largest part of Kirat, dominating the central and eastern portions of the region. Its hostility to life means that nobody has fully explored it, and it has taken the Kirati years to just survey only a small portion of it. The desert is littered with ruins of the Anubian Empire, most of which remains untouched for millennia. The region's dangers aren't just natural; an omnipresent malevolent force known as the Will of the Sands is spoken of in rumors, where coincidental and outright magical events conspire to cause death and suffering. People who sleep in the Wasteland suffer nightmares of being drowned in quicksand, and animals who live here become insane and more violent than usual. People who die risk being reanimated as a unique undead known as a Rustbone Skeleton, so named for a supernatural coating known as Rust. Rust forms when blood is shed in the Wasteland, which the ground immediately absorbs like a sponge absorbs water. In reality it pushes any water it contacts into contact with under itself, causing the water to burrow deep underground. The Will of the Sands has a mind of its own, and it can take control of non-sentient undead not under the control of another, magically alter the weather, and deliver messages via nightmares and whispers in the wind. Said messages are always maddening babbles related to death and blood.But of most relevance to adventuring PCs is that the Will of the Sands magically interferes with daily survival. Spells and magical effects that create food and water automatically fail, instead conjuring dust and sand, with magical food and water brought in from outside the Wasteland turning into sand after 24 hours. Extradimensional portals only last half their normal duration, to a maximum of 1 hour, and magic items with permanent portals like Bags of Holding are closed as long as they remain within the Wasteland. Creatures can sleep normally to remove Exhaustion levels, but otherwise cannot benefit from a Long Rest. The only way to get around these restrictions is while at an Oasis, a term for a place where the Will of the Sands holds no power due to its Rust being unable to penetrate the environs. On a metagame level, this is meant to encourage the themes of wilderness survival without using low-level spells and abilities to trivialize such challenges. Oases become safe havens for PCs to rest at. There's also an optional rule for failed death saves persisting until a character leaves the Wasteland, enters an Oasis, or is resurrected, to reflect how cheap life is under the Will of the Sands.Thoughts: The Will of the Sands is a good tool that emphasizes the natural dangers of the Exploration pillar. By default it's very easy for characters in 5th Edition to not worry about such matters, with magic such as Goodberry and Decanters of Endless Water. Furthermore, the restrictions on Long Rests further push gaming groups to hurry their business in the Wasteland, where tarrying outside an Oasis continually drains their resources in both class features and perishable supplies.Ecology of the Wastes and Settlements talks about what life can be found here, both animal and sapient. Natural animals consist of typical desert-dwelling creatures along with worgs, ankhegs, bulettes, and a higher than usual number of carnivorous plants. Undead are most commonly skeletons, as well as mummies who are the preserved remains of Anubians who entered status during the Cataclysm. Sand Spirits are a weak, incorporeal form of elemental who are innately drawn to water sources. These spirits can be useful sources of information to those who offer them water, which they constantly beg for in Terran, but those who refuse, are unable to give them at least 20 gallons of water, or feed them alcohol instead of water end up being harassed for 2d4 hours, having their sleeping interrupted and their travel hindered from various pranks such as them filling shoes and backpacks with sand.Most sapient creatures in the Wasteland are nomadic, moving from place to place in search of food and water, with the few sedentary societies located in the Oases as farmers and fishers. Humans and orcs living here are exiles from O'grila and the northern kingdoms respectively; lizardfolk live in deep caverns near aquifers pushed deep underground by the Rust; porcine beastfolk known as Swine live in thornweald patches that serve as natural barriers to outsiders; and a pair of Kirati settlements known as Zarai and Kunaten Keep are given more detail in the adventure path proper.Thoughts: I don't have much to say about the above, although the descriptions for lizardfolk and burrowing monsters does raise the question of PCs using underground tunnels for travel and shelter. Presumably they're not expansive enough to obviate the need for overland travel entirely, but a gaming group with the right spells and resources may very well resort to burrowing for shelter. Particularly when they find out that the Rust doesn't "drink" water, but instead pushes it underground, for there's actually quite a bit of subterranean aquifers untouched beneath the Wastelands.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/IFdDijs.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 680px" />Traversing the Wastes gives us a sub-system geared around wilderness survival. It is practically required for this adventure path, given how encompassing the Wasteland is and how many important adventure locations take place within it. This section has a variety of rules, especially negative consequences for poor supplies and preparation for natural hazards. Quite a bit of it is repeated from the core rules, such as rolling Constitution saves to avoid exhaustion if not appropriately-dressed for the temperature as well as rules for overland travel. But there's some new additions, such as two new Conditions known as Dehydrated and Heatstroke, which are 3 levels of exhaustion and being incapacitated at 0 speed respectively, until the afflicted receives an adequate amount of water.Sands of Doom simplifies tracking food and water by making them into a collective unit known as Supplies. Each Supply costs 1 gold piece and weighs 20 pounds, and is enough to sustain a Small or Medium size creature for 1 full day. A Hauler is a beast of burden (or very strong person, such as an ogre) who can carry 25 Supplies, or 50 pounds worth, and magic items and spells such as Tenser's Floating Disk or a Bag of Holding eliminate the need for one Hauler. A Hauler has the incapacitated condition and cannot participate in combat. Large-sized creatures count as 4 creatures for determining how much Supplies they consume per day, and Huge-sized creatures count as eight creatures and two Haulers. Tiny creatures and those who don't need to subsist on food and water (needing one of the two doesn't provide any reduction in cost) don't need to be calculated in this sub-system. Camels are extremely popular, as they can survive for months without food and up to two weeks without drinking any water.The Supply sub-system is deployed whenever the party is planning a new expedition to somewhere within the Wasteland. We get two tables for determining the number and cost of Supplies based on the number of creatures and days to travel, with each cell highlighted a certain color and containing a number. A second table determines the amount of Haulers for the expedition based on the cell color.The author explains that the design intent for the Supply sub-system isn't for micromanaging as the end goal, but encouraging players to be smart in how they prepare for adventures. It also encourages them to take more care of beasts of burden, as losing them (and thus precious Supplies) during an expedition can be a death sentence.Thoughts: While the sub-system looks straightforward to understand, it's the kind of thing that cannot be fully appreciated unless one makes use of it in live play at the table. That said, it is the kind of thing that the DM should bring up ahead of time, along with the magical restrictions of the Will of the Sands. These house rules can invalidate certain character concepts or make them less enjoyable. Races/species that don't need to eat or drink, such as warforged, are going to be very attractive options, and Large-sized races and companions are going to be a significant drain on resources if there's more than one in the party. For PCs with spells and features that make use of magical water, they may either work just fine if the water aspect is flavor only (they use sand instead), but if their specific mechanics require actual water then they'll be screwed for a good portion of the campaign.While it may go without saying, I do feel that a sidebar for DMs to give to players over what playable options will be unsuitable or require additional work would've been ideal to include in this book.Thoughts So Far: I like the world-building elements and overview of the Kirat region, and it sounds like a fun place rife with adventure potential even outside of the default campaign. I would've liked to see more detail on O'grila and the Beastlands, but as Sands of Doom focuses mostly on Al'Kirat and the upcoming Anubian invasion, I understand the need to focus on particular areas. The survival-based sub-system and Will of the Sands is an innovative set of house rules that sounds cool, but I cannot say how well it works in practice until I run this module.Join us next time as we begin the adventure path in Chapter 3: Prophecies in the Sand!</blockquote>

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