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[Let's Read] The Delver's Guide to Beast World
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8949047" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/FzYEDIF.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Tenebrines</strong> are raccoons and possums, Beasts who are traditionally active during the night. Their people can be found everywhere in appreciable numbers in the Beast World, but are the most common in Vinyot’s cities. They greatly prefer urban centers over rural areas, having an indescribable love for cities for which they feel truly alive during nightfall. Their main species has darkvision, are immune to diseases both magical and nonmagical, and when in a settlement of at least 10,000 people they can reroll an attack, ability check, or saving throw once per long rest. Raccoons have great tactile senses, having advantage on checks to open locks if they previously felt the teeth of a key used to open it and automatically open locks they successfully opened before, while possums can use their tails as a bonus action to knock a target prone with a contested Athletics or Acrobatics vs the target’s Strength save along with dealing +1d4 damage to prone opponents. Their homeland traits are in line with the large population centers of their region, such as Oric tenebrines being trained by War Mages. This gives them double proficiency when using Stealth to blend in with crowds, and attacks they make with daggers and shortswords while hidden and can delay their damage and the target noticing for 1 round.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts:</strong> The raccoon’s lockpicking bonus feels too situational to be useful, but the possum’s tail trip attack is really good for just about any build that relies on melee combat. They also have Darkvision, which makes them good scouts in dungeons and other light-poor environments. Their homeland traits are pretty situational and of limited utility save for certain kinds of adventures.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ursines</strong> are a strong people who have been divinely blessed with long memories. They are most common in Oria, and their culture places a high degree on honor and bringing pride to the family name via trophies and titles from great deeds and competitions. They are a single subspecies race, that being Bear. They have eidetic memories which allow them to accurately recall anything they’ve seen, and can commit spells they witnessed to memory which in the case of being used to copy what they witnessed into spellbooks can be done at a library or university within 7 days and an Arcana check. Their subspecies trait is more physical, allowing them to spend Hit Dice upon rolling initiative to add the results (not modified by Constitution) as temporary hit points for 10 minutes. Their homeland traits reflect how they committed their strong minds to use, such as Allemagnian usrine substituting their Intelligence in place of Charisma for Performance and Persuasion, and once per long rest can grant a nearby ally a second save vs charming effects via an encouraging word.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts:</strong> The ursine’s amazing memory is great for wizards, and their subspecies even has a +1 Intelligence bonus. Ironically none of their species or homeland traits are specifically combat-related, with Arneria being the exception (proficient with war picks and deal +2d6 piercing if you hit a creature during the first round of combat). This pushes them more into being brainy mages. Trading out Hit Dice for temporary hit points can be useful to extend their survivability if a short rest isn’t guaranteed.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/ixF4BWd.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Vulpines</strong> are tradewind (red) foxes and desert fennecs, their traditional homelands being Vinyot and Beylik respectively. Both people are known for their cleverness and seemingly-supernatural senses to monitor instances of cause and effect. The base species can discern the direction of north at any time, can make an Intelligence saving throw to extend a concentration spell beyond its normal duration with a newer, more difficult save every round after, and once per long rest can make an Intelligence check to gain information from the GM about the result of an action when presented with multiple choices. Tradewind foxes are capable of detecting illusions as a bonus action and have advantage on Investigation checks to suss them out, along with substituting an Intelligence save with a Dexterity save once per long rest. Desert foxes who don’t move for an hour can sense any creature within a 90 foot radius arriving in the area, and can choose to wake up upon such a creature’s arrival. Their homeland traits draw upon their innate senses and cleverness, such as a Vinyotian fox having a limited number of “emergency fund” gold pieces if unable to access their main source of wealth and can use any combination of ability and skill for the purposes of negotiating costs and services. An example used is a fox using Intelligence (Athletics) to give a merchant advice for a diet regimen in order to get a better deal on food.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts:</strong> The desert fox’s senses effectively act as a nonmagical alarm spell, and their Intelligence bonus pushes them towards being wizards, artificers, or eldritch knights/arcane tricksters. Their deduction abilities are broadly useful for just about any character concept, although several of their homeland traits are rather situational.</p><p></p><p><strong>Bats</strong> are the newest species to the Beast World, where one of their number against all odds managed to find said world afloat in the Astral Sea. Their existence has been of great curiosity to the other civilizations, for the Astral Sea isn’t known to have any quiet-minded bats, and the bats themselves were initially unaware of other gods and don’t worship any of their own. They’re the only willful species in that plane, and due to their natural talent at Astralcraft they do not want for space nor resources. So without having to spend much of their existence to survive, they prioritize the arts and shaping astra into aesthetically pleasing shapes and patterns. And while they can track time, bats don’t have a cultural concept of history, having skills passed down by parents and caring mostly about firsthand knowledge. Those bats who do go to the Beast World are curious explorers, arriving in a portal at the Junction in the city of Patrae.</p><p></p><p>Bats have no subspecies, and their only homeland trait is the Astral Sea. Those not in the Astral Sea have a cheiropocket, an extradimensional space connected to the membrane of their wings which they can use to store nonliving objects, and have a glide speed outside the Astral Sea but a flying speed while in it. A limited number of times per long rest they can create a supersonic shriek which in the Beast World causes creatures of the Astral Sea to be visible to them, but gain blindsense out to 120 feet while in the Astral Sea. Finally, their sole homeland trait lets them add their proficiency bonus to Astralcrafting checks, and they also know the Charles’ Chunk cantrip which basically lets them summon a piece of solid Arcana they can reshape to a limited extent.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts:</strong> Overall, the bat species is kind of underwhelming unless the DM makes heavy use of invisible extraplanar beings and adventures in the Astral Sea. The cheiropocket is the kind of thing that would be most useful in a game where encumbrance matters, although by the time the party gets a Bag of Holding (or can make one as an Artificer) it may peter off.</p><p></p><p><strong>Brethren</strong> are a new but incredibly populous race, comprising 33% of willful creatures in the Beast World.* Twelve years ago almost all of them lived in the Broken World, but after that the survivors were rescued by Pirhoua to relocate into the Beast World. The Brethren soldiers who fought in the Invader Wars were forced to labor for seven years as reparations, being given tattoos as a mark of shame and are colloquially known as Reparators. Although there are still old wounds of those dark times, most Brethren have integrated into the wider society of the Beast World with the younger generations having never known life in the Broken World.</p><p></p><p>*This makes me wonder how the continent’s resources were able to adequately handle this huge population explosion. The book does explain it as the Jackals helping them out with magic and new engineering techniques, but it’s still a notable amount.</p><p></p><p>Brethren use the traits of Variant Humans from the Player’s Handbook. However, their homeland trait is the Broken World, giving them a curio for free. Curios tend to be handheld objects with a technology level akin to 1990s Earth, although some more advanced curios exist such as a solar-powered toaster. Generally speaking, curios that mimic the effects of a cantrip can operate indefinitely, but ones that mimic a 1st-level spell can be used once before needing to be recharged by switching out batteries (which are known as acid buttons). Acid buttons are also renewable, recharging when plugged into a curio after 8 hours of exposure to sunlight.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts:</strong> Just like the core rules, Brethrens are a great option in terms of power and versatility. On top of their bonus feat, they also get what is effectively a bonus cantrip or long rest-based 1st level spell.</p><p></p><p><strong>Kobolds,</strong> particularly willful kobolds, are another of the newer guests of the Beast World, a lucky few having escaped notice of their draconic masters in the Ancestral Homeland. Generally speaking, a kobold is most likely to become willful when they gather in large numbers, as the mental enhancement of their minds coming together provides that special something to achieve self-awareness. There’s believed to be under a thousand named kobolds in the Beast World, and most others don’t know what to make of them or their simple-minded peers. In terms of stats kobolds are great at getting their hands on all sorts of things, letting them steal non-held objects from enemies in combat as a reaction to being attacked via Sleight of Hand. Additionally, they gain +1 to +5 on an ability check they don’t have existing bonuses on besides their ability modifier. This number is dependent on how many other kobolds are within 60 feet. Finally, they have no subspecies or homeland traits, instead having a lineage related to their draconic creators where they reduce damage taken from an elemental type chosen at character creation by 1d6 to 3d6 depending on their level.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts:</strong> Kobolds are rather underwhelming in that their most potentially powerful feature is one that really only works if you have a party of kobolds or kobold allies following you around. And even then, it won’t apply to checks you’re proficient in so it won’t be aiding the things at which you’re actually skilled. The damage reduction against a specific energy type probably won’t come up often unless you pick fire, and the “combat pickpocketing” may be highly situational in usefulness as it can’t be used to disarm an item the target is holding.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/y8TwUjC.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>The next two races are rather interesting in that they were explicitly made to be more powerful than the others, given that they have special places in the history of the Beast World. The book has a sidebar explaining to take caution with the power discrepancy, but also mentions doing lots of playtesting to ensure they don’t trivialize encounters either.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jackals</strong> are the rarest species in the Beast World, long believed to be mythical creatures. They made their existence known at the end of the Invader War, with hundreds of jackals appearing to help resettle millions of brethren into the new world. Although they have worked as envoys and engineers for doing this monumental task, much about their culture and even their home cities are still kept secret, shrouded in ancient illusions. Jackals have a reputation for acting slowly and for being exceedingly polite and formal. Still, they do have leisurely activities, and one of their more famous games that has recently spread to the Beast World is the Three Acres War, a cross between a tabletop wargame and LARP whose players (mostly Jackals) organize conventions to meet up and play.</p><p></p><p>Jackals have no subspecies nor homeland traits. They are unique among the species in that they have a net +6 to ability scores, with +2 in Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom. Their immortal natures make them immune to age-based effects, and have double proficiency in one set of artisan’s tools and one of the knowledge-based skills (Medicine and all Intelligence-based ones save Investigation). They also can treat one non-heavy martial melee weapon as having the finesse and thrown property. They also get some bonus spells reflecting their connection to the Arcana, gaining Eldritch Blast, two wizard ritual spells, and once per long rest can cast the Dream spell that can additionally make the target forget about the Jackal’s presence if they fail an Intelligence saving throw.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts:</strong> Being able to treat a single non-heavy weapon as finesseable really opens up a lot of options, and there’s a variety of useful ritual spells. Alarm, Find Familiar, Identify, and Unseen Servant are pretty good choices. While the free Eldritch Blast may look tempting for a Warlock dip, Agonizing Blast still explicitly calls out Charisma which is a downside. Their more powerful version of Dream is pretty good, as it can really mess with a target by interrupting their rest if they get unlucky on a save; not something of great use in traditional battles and dungeon crawls, but can be useful for more intrigue-based campaigns.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/PLJIilf.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Dragons</strong> come in two varieties. Those elder wyrms still in the Ancestral Homeland and those eldest who escaped are closer gamewise to Monster Manual dragons, and the descendants of those who resettled in the Beast World are a better representation of the playable options. While the latter may be Medium size, they still possess the might of the creatures that bear their name. Newborn dragons have translucent skin and become metallic or chromatic based on the moral choices they make in life, which are their subspecies. Their lineage is their homeland trait equivalent, which is based on the environment of their parents’ lairs.</p><p></p><p>In terms of stats dragons gain +2 to a single ability score of their choice, and have +3 to another ability score depending on their subspecies. They are the only species besides bats to have a natural flying speed, and unlike bats have no restriction on when it can be used. They have natural weapons and natural armor which make them formidable foes even without equipment, and the maximum for all of their ability scores is 22.</p><p></p><p>There are five subspecies, each of which have a metallic and chromatic type to which I assume most readers are familiar. Each subspecies grants +3 to a relevant ability score, proficiency in two skills or appropriate tools, and one 1st level spell at 1st level and a unique kind of dragon magic spell that only dragons can learn at 5th level. The subspecies are Monarch (all about impressing people with your sheer presence), Bulwark (bulky scales to better protect you), Dancing (agile movement and fine-tuned breath weapon shapes), Scholar (skills and spells for knowing and identifying stuff plus limited Metamagic options), and Whispering (social knowledge, can hear through stone and solid barriers and have venomous claws). The lineage options determine a dragon’s breath weapon, special movement modes beyond just flight, and what damage type they are resistant towards. The breath weapons are the most notable feature, being pretty powerful effects of various shapes and ranges whose uses per long rest are based on their proficiency bonus. Most breath weapons have a secondary effect beyond damage, such as a Glacier lineage’s cold breath being capable of creating solid cubes of ice, or Cove’s acid breath dealing half damage to targets adjacent to the primary target.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts:</strong> As the book says, dragons are really powerful. The most powerful species in this book, I might add. There’s enough subspecies and lineage combinations to make them good at just about every role, and their breath weapons are effectively free uses of powerful AoE damaging spells that scale with level. Add a fly speed on top of that and you really can’t go wrong in picking them.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> While it’s virtually impossible to do a holistic overview of every anthropomorphic creature type, this chapter did a good job at giving stats for the more popular species. I also like the separation between biological abilities and more cultural homeland traits, and the latter had several options which played against type so many of the animals aren’t pigeonholed into certain predetermined roles. The setting is rather mammal-heavy, and I feel that a few of the choices are a bit unbalanced. That being said, I felt that most of the “races” had some features and roles at which they could excel, and with 18 main species there’s more than enough options to not feel sparse.</p><p></p><p><strong>Join us next time as we explore new and existing options of might and magic in Chapter 11: Classes!</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 8949047, member: 6750502"] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FzYEDIF.png[/img][/center] [b]Tenebrines[/b] are raccoons and possums, Beasts who are traditionally active during the night. Their people can be found everywhere in appreciable numbers in the Beast World, but are the most common in Vinyot’s cities. They greatly prefer urban centers over rural areas, having an indescribable love for cities for which they feel truly alive during nightfall. Their main species has darkvision, are immune to diseases both magical and nonmagical, and when in a settlement of at least 10,000 people they can reroll an attack, ability check, or saving throw once per long rest. Raccoons have great tactile senses, having advantage on checks to open locks if they previously felt the teeth of a key used to open it and automatically open locks they successfully opened before, while possums can use their tails as a bonus action to knock a target prone with a contested Athletics or Acrobatics vs the target’s Strength save along with dealing +1d4 damage to prone opponents. Their homeland traits are in line with the large population centers of their region, such as Oric tenebrines being trained by War Mages. This gives them double proficiency when using Stealth to blend in with crowds, and attacks they make with daggers and shortswords while hidden and can delay their damage and the target noticing for 1 round. [b]Thoughts:[/b] The raccoon’s lockpicking bonus feels too situational to be useful, but the possum’s tail trip attack is really good for just about any build that relies on melee combat. They also have Darkvision, which makes them good scouts in dungeons and other light-poor environments. Their homeland traits are pretty situational and of limited utility save for certain kinds of adventures. [b]Ursines[/b] are a strong people who have been divinely blessed with long memories. They are most common in Oria, and their culture places a high degree on honor and bringing pride to the family name via trophies and titles from great deeds and competitions. They are a single subspecies race, that being Bear. They have eidetic memories which allow them to accurately recall anything they’ve seen, and can commit spells they witnessed to memory which in the case of being used to copy what they witnessed into spellbooks can be done at a library or university within 7 days and an Arcana check. Their subspecies trait is more physical, allowing them to spend Hit Dice upon rolling initiative to add the results (not modified by Constitution) as temporary hit points for 10 minutes. Their homeland traits reflect how they committed their strong minds to use, such as Allemagnian usrine substituting their Intelligence in place of Charisma for Performance and Persuasion, and once per long rest can grant a nearby ally a second save vs charming effects via an encouraging word. [b]Thoughts:[/b] The ursine’s amazing memory is great for wizards, and their subspecies even has a +1 Intelligence bonus. Ironically none of their species or homeland traits are specifically combat-related, with Arneria being the exception (proficient with war picks and deal +2d6 piercing if you hit a creature during the first round of combat). This pushes them more into being brainy mages. Trading out Hit Dice for temporary hit points can be useful to extend their survivability if a short rest isn’t guaranteed. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ixF4BWd.png[/img][/center] [b]Vulpines[/b] are tradewind (red) foxes and desert fennecs, their traditional homelands being Vinyot and Beylik respectively. Both people are known for their cleverness and seemingly-supernatural senses to monitor instances of cause and effect. The base species can discern the direction of north at any time, can make an Intelligence saving throw to extend a concentration spell beyond its normal duration with a newer, more difficult save every round after, and once per long rest can make an Intelligence check to gain information from the GM about the result of an action when presented with multiple choices. Tradewind foxes are capable of detecting illusions as a bonus action and have advantage on Investigation checks to suss them out, along with substituting an Intelligence save with a Dexterity save once per long rest. Desert foxes who don’t move for an hour can sense any creature within a 90 foot radius arriving in the area, and can choose to wake up upon such a creature’s arrival. Their homeland traits draw upon their innate senses and cleverness, such as a Vinyotian fox having a limited number of “emergency fund” gold pieces if unable to access their main source of wealth and can use any combination of ability and skill for the purposes of negotiating costs and services. An example used is a fox using Intelligence (Athletics) to give a merchant advice for a diet regimen in order to get a better deal on food. [b]Thoughts:[/b] The desert fox’s senses effectively act as a nonmagical alarm spell, and their Intelligence bonus pushes them towards being wizards, artificers, or eldritch knights/arcane tricksters. Their deduction abilities are broadly useful for just about any character concept, although several of their homeland traits are rather situational. [b]Bats[/b] are the newest species to the Beast World, where one of their number against all odds managed to find said world afloat in the Astral Sea. Their existence has been of great curiosity to the other civilizations, for the Astral Sea isn’t known to have any quiet-minded bats, and the bats themselves were initially unaware of other gods and don’t worship any of their own. They’re the only willful species in that plane, and due to their natural talent at Astralcraft they do not want for space nor resources. So without having to spend much of their existence to survive, they prioritize the arts and shaping astra into aesthetically pleasing shapes and patterns. And while they can track time, bats don’t have a cultural concept of history, having skills passed down by parents and caring mostly about firsthand knowledge. Those bats who do go to the Beast World are curious explorers, arriving in a portal at the Junction in the city of Patrae. Bats have no subspecies, and their only homeland trait is the Astral Sea. Those not in the Astral Sea have a cheiropocket, an extradimensional space connected to the membrane of their wings which they can use to store nonliving objects, and have a glide speed outside the Astral Sea but a flying speed while in it. A limited number of times per long rest they can create a supersonic shriek which in the Beast World causes creatures of the Astral Sea to be visible to them, but gain blindsense out to 120 feet while in the Astral Sea. Finally, their sole homeland trait lets them add their proficiency bonus to Astralcrafting checks, and they also know the Charles’ Chunk cantrip which basically lets them summon a piece of solid Arcana they can reshape to a limited extent. [b]Thoughts:[/b] Overall, the bat species is kind of underwhelming unless the DM makes heavy use of invisible extraplanar beings and adventures in the Astral Sea. The cheiropocket is the kind of thing that would be most useful in a game where encumbrance matters, although by the time the party gets a Bag of Holding (or can make one as an Artificer) it may peter off. [b]Brethren[/b] are a new but incredibly populous race, comprising 33% of willful creatures in the Beast World.* Twelve years ago almost all of them lived in the Broken World, but after that the survivors were rescued by Pirhoua to relocate into the Beast World. The Brethren soldiers who fought in the Invader Wars were forced to labor for seven years as reparations, being given tattoos as a mark of shame and are colloquially known as Reparators. Although there are still old wounds of those dark times, most Brethren have integrated into the wider society of the Beast World with the younger generations having never known life in the Broken World. *This makes me wonder how the continent’s resources were able to adequately handle this huge population explosion. The book does explain it as the Jackals helping them out with magic and new engineering techniques, but it’s still a notable amount. Brethren use the traits of Variant Humans from the Player’s Handbook. However, their homeland trait is the Broken World, giving them a curio for free. Curios tend to be handheld objects with a technology level akin to 1990s Earth, although some more advanced curios exist such as a solar-powered toaster. Generally speaking, curios that mimic the effects of a cantrip can operate indefinitely, but ones that mimic a 1st-level spell can be used once before needing to be recharged by switching out batteries (which are known as acid buttons). Acid buttons are also renewable, recharging when plugged into a curio after 8 hours of exposure to sunlight. [b]Thoughts:[/b] Just like the core rules, Brethrens are a great option in terms of power and versatility. On top of their bonus feat, they also get what is effectively a bonus cantrip or long rest-based 1st level spell. [b]Kobolds,[/b] particularly willful kobolds, are another of the newer guests of the Beast World, a lucky few having escaped notice of their draconic masters in the Ancestral Homeland. Generally speaking, a kobold is most likely to become willful when they gather in large numbers, as the mental enhancement of their minds coming together provides that special something to achieve self-awareness. There’s believed to be under a thousand named kobolds in the Beast World, and most others don’t know what to make of them or their simple-minded peers. In terms of stats kobolds are great at getting their hands on all sorts of things, letting them steal non-held objects from enemies in combat as a reaction to being attacked via Sleight of Hand. Additionally, they gain +1 to +5 on an ability check they don’t have existing bonuses on besides their ability modifier. This number is dependent on how many other kobolds are within 60 feet. Finally, they have no subspecies or homeland traits, instead having a lineage related to their draconic creators where they reduce damage taken from an elemental type chosen at character creation by 1d6 to 3d6 depending on their level. [b]Thoughts:[/b] Kobolds are rather underwhelming in that their most potentially powerful feature is one that really only works if you have a party of kobolds or kobold allies following you around. And even then, it won’t apply to checks you’re proficient in so it won’t be aiding the things at which you’re actually skilled. The damage reduction against a specific energy type probably won’t come up often unless you pick fire, and the “combat pickpocketing” may be highly situational in usefulness as it can’t be used to disarm an item the target is holding. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/y8TwUjC.png[/img][/center] The next two races are rather interesting in that they were explicitly made to be more powerful than the others, given that they have special places in the history of the Beast World. The book has a sidebar explaining to take caution with the power discrepancy, but also mentions doing lots of playtesting to ensure they don’t trivialize encounters either. [b]Jackals[/b] are the rarest species in the Beast World, long believed to be mythical creatures. They made their existence known at the end of the Invader War, with hundreds of jackals appearing to help resettle millions of brethren into the new world. Although they have worked as envoys and engineers for doing this monumental task, much about their culture and even their home cities are still kept secret, shrouded in ancient illusions. Jackals have a reputation for acting slowly and for being exceedingly polite and formal. Still, they do have leisurely activities, and one of their more famous games that has recently spread to the Beast World is the Three Acres War, a cross between a tabletop wargame and LARP whose players (mostly Jackals) organize conventions to meet up and play. Jackals have no subspecies nor homeland traits. They are unique among the species in that they have a net +6 to ability scores, with +2 in Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom. Their immortal natures make them immune to age-based effects, and have double proficiency in one set of artisan’s tools and one of the knowledge-based skills (Medicine and all Intelligence-based ones save Investigation). They also can treat one non-heavy martial melee weapon as having the finesse and thrown property. They also get some bonus spells reflecting their connection to the Arcana, gaining Eldritch Blast, two wizard ritual spells, and once per long rest can cast the Dream spell that can additionally make the target forget about the Jackal’s presence if they fail an Intelligence saving throw. [b]Thoughts:[/b] Being able to treat a single non-heavy weapon as finesseable really opens up a lot of options, and there’s a variety of useful ritual spells. Alarm, Find Familiar, Identify, and Unseen Servant are pretty good choices. While the free Eldritch Blast may look tempting for a Warlock dip, Agonizing Blast still explicitly calls out Charisma which is a downside. Their more powerful version of Dream is pretty good, as it can really mess with a target by interrupting their rest if they get unlucky on a save; not something of great use in traditional battles and dungeon crawls, but can be useful for more intrigue-based campaigns. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/PLJIilf.png[/img][/center] [b]Dragons[/b] come in two varieties. Those elder wyrms still in the Ancestral Homeland and those eldest who escaped are closer gamewise to Monster Manual dragons, and the descendants of those who resettled in the Beast World are a better representation of the playable options. While the latter may be Medium size, they still possess the might of the creatures that bear their name. Newborn dragons have translucent skin and become metallic or chromatic based on the moral choices they make in life, which are their subspecies. Their lineage is their homeland trait equivalent, which is based on the environment of their parents’ lairs. In terms of stats dragons gain +2 to a single ability score of their choice, and have +3 to another ability score depending on their subspecies. They are the only species besides bats to have a natural flying speed, and unlike bats have no restriction on when it can be used. They have natural weapons and natural armor which make them formidable foes even without equipment, and the maximum for all of their ability scores is 22. There are five subspecies, each of which have a metallic and chromatic type to which I assume most readers are familiar. Each subspecies grants +3 to a relevant ability score, proficiency in two skills or appropriate tools, and one 1st level spell at 1st level and a unique kind of dragon magic spell that only dragons can learn at 5th level. The subspecies are Monarch (all about impressing people with your sheer presence), Bulwark (bulky scales to better protect you), Dancing (agile movement and fine-tuned breath weapon shapes), Scholar (skills and spells for knowing and identifying stuff plus limited Metamagic options), and Whispering (social knowledge, can hear through stone and solid barriers and have venomous claws). The lineage options determine a dragon’s breath weapon, special movement modes beyond just flight, and what damage type they are resistant towards. The breath weapons are the most notable feature, being pretty powerful effects of various shapes and ranges whose uses per long rest are based on their proficiency bonus. Most breath weapons have a secondary effect beyond damage, such as a Glacier lineage’s cold breath being capable of creating solid cubes of ice, or Cove’s acid breath dealing half damage to targets adjacent to the primary target. [b]Thoughts:[/b] As the book says, dragons are really powerful. The most powerful species in this book, I might add. There’s enough subspecies and lineage combinations to make them good at just about every role, and their breath weapons are effectively free uses of powerful AoE damaging spells that scale with level. Add a fly speed on top of that and you really can’t go wrong in picking them. [b]Thoughts So Far:[/b] While it’s virtually impossible to do a holistic overview of every anthropomorphic creature type, this chapter did a good job at giving stats for the more popular species. I also like the separation between biological abilities and more cultural homeland traits, and the latter had several options which played against type so many of the animals aren’t pigeonholed into certain predetermined roles. The setting is rather mammal-heavy, and I feel that a few of the choices are a bit unbalanced. That being said, I felt that most of the “races” had some features and roles at which they could excel, and with 18 main species there’s more than enough options to not feel sparse. [b]Join us next time as we explore new and existing options of might and magic in Chapter 11: Classes![/b] [/QUOTE]
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