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Let's Read: Volo's Monsters
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<blockquote data-quote="Charles Rampant" data-source="post: 7022567" data-attributes="member: 32659"><p>The <strong>Xvart</strong> are another obscure humanoid race from prior editions, though I understand that they had a lot more traction than most of their peers, as far as general awareness goes. They remind me of the kind of race that would turn up in <em>Farscape</em> or <em>Star Trek</em>: the Weird Race of the Week.</p><p></p><p><img src="http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/0/0c/Xvart_4e_.png/revision/latest?cb=20151015014252" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>The image for the Xvarts is fun. They’re just standing there, showing the slight but noticable differences between the members of the race, and it is one of the images that pays a lot of attention to their equipment, with both having different but equally odd clothes and weapons.</p><p></p><p>The bulk of this long entry is devoted to describing the demigod Raxivort, his theft of a magical macguffin from the Demon Lord Graz’zt, and his subsequent creation of the Xvart as a form of body-double. It’s highly entertaining, and I think would make for a fine adventure in your campaign; perhaps the players actually meet Raxivort, while travelling through Pandemonium, or perhaps they are contracted to find the macguffin from him, which might involve dealing with the Xvarts. The sterile and artificial creations of a petty and greedy individual, the Xvarts are created in the shape of their creator, mental flaws and all. They’re wee creepers, basically, fearful of humans and other races, and generally driven only by the need to eat and a desire for shiny things. </p><p></p><p>The Xvarts regard their creator with inappropriate awe, but who can blame them really, and as a result they tend to assume that all the downturns they experience are due to his anger. To placate him, they’ll try collecting giant bundles of treasure, which mainly serves to make him turn up and collect it, without doing anything in return. This is both hilariously sad, and also a definite way for your players to meet him; a tribe of Xvarts could be easily bribed or tricked into summoning him, if enough treasure is provided. After all, what else is money for in 5e? Raxivort also sometimes is summoned by a particularly covetous individual who exchanges treasure for warlock power. </p><p></p><p>I’m going to digress briefly to comment on Warlocks and patrons. You might question how the Demon Lords or other individuals - who are distinctly killable - could really give that much power. In the <em>Brimstone Angels</em> series, we see a Cambion (CR 5) granting quite a lot of power to a Warlock, and it is definitely implied that the Warlock in question could actually defeat her patron, were they to fight. The explanation behind all of this is apparently that the patron is not granting their own power, but instead acting as a conduit between the Warlock and the plane - the sixth level of Hell for the Warlock in <em>Brimstone Angels</em>, Pandemonium for the Xvarts - and thus the patron’s ability to be killed doesn’t matter. However, the patron does matter somewhat - <em>Brimstone Angels</em> also mentions that some poor Warlocks get tricked into making a pact with an Imp or other weakling, and suffer from a distinct bottleneck in the conduit of power. What all of this means for Warlock patrons like Undead and Kraken, I don’t know; perhaps you could suggest that they are drawing on the Negative Energy Plane, the Feywild, the Far Realm and the… plane of Water?</p><p></p><p>The statblocks for the Xvarts are fairly standard; we get a CR 1/8 Xvart who looks a lot like a Goblin, albeit with less combat ability, and a CR 1 Warlock with what seems to be a minor variation on the Typical Warlock Spell List (<em>Burning Hands</em>, <em>Eldritch Blast</em>, <em>Invisibility</em>, <em>Expeditious Retreat</em>, and <em>Scorching Ray</em>, for example). Both have a pair of shared traits, namely the ability to speak to vermin (good way of explaining their combat minions) and <em>Low Cunning</em> for bonus-action disengages.</p><p></p><p>I’m quite taken with these guys because they come with a lovely build in storyline, with them and their demigod having lots of potential for a slightly comedic plane-hopping adventure.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charles Rampant, post: 7022567, member: 32659"] The [b]Xvart[/b] are another obscure humanoid race from prior editions, though I understand that they had a lot more traction than most of their peers, as far as general awareness goes. They remind me of the kind of race that would turn up in [i]Farscape[/i] or [i]Star Trek[/i]: the Weird Race of the Week. [img]http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/0/0c/Xvart_4e_.png/revision/latest?cb=20151015014252[/img] The image for the Xvarts is fun. They’re just standing there, showing the slight but noticable differences between the members of the race, and it is one of the images that pays a lot of attention to their equipment, with both having different but equally odd clothes and weapons. The bulk of this long entry is devoted to describing the demigod Raxivort, his theft of a magical macguffin from the Demon Lord Graz’zt, and his subsequent creation of the Xvart as a form of body-double. It’s highly entertaining, and I think would make for a fine adventure in your campaign; perhaps the players actually meet Raxivort, while travelling through Pandemonium, or perhaps they are contracted to find the macguffin from him, which might involve dealing with the Xvarts. The sterile and artificial creations of a petty and greedy individual, the Xvarts are created in the shape of their creator, mental flaws and all. They’re wee creepers, basically, fearful of humans and other races, and generally driven only by the need to eat and a desire for shiny things. The Xvarts regard their creator with inappropriate awe, but who can blame them really, and as a result they tend to assume that all the downturns they experience are due to his anger. To placate him, they’ll try collecting giant bundles of treasure, which mainly serves to make him turn up and collect it, without doing anything in return. This is both hilariously sad, and also a definite way for your players to meet him; a tribe of Xvarts could be easily bribed or tricked into summoning him, if enough treasure is provided. After all, what else is money for in 5e? Raxivort also sometimes is summoned by a particularly covetous individual who exchanges treasure for warlock power. I’m going to digress briefly to comment on Warlocks and patrons. You might question how the Demon Lords or other individuals - who are distinctly killable - could really give that much power. In the [i]Brimstone Angels[/i] series, we see a Cambion (CR 5) granting quite a lot of power to a Warlock, and it is definitely implied that the Warlock in question could actually defeat her patron, were they to fight. The explanation behind all of this is apparently that the patron is not granting their own power, but instead acting as a conduit between the Warlock and the plane - the sixth level of Hell for the Warlock in [i]Brimstone Angels[/i], Pandemonium for the Xvarts - and thus the patron’s ability to be killed doesn’t matter. However, the patron does matter somewhat - [i]Brimstone Angels[/i] also mentions that some poor Warlocks get tricked into making a pact with an Imp or other weakling, and suffer from a distinct bottleneck in the conduit of power. What all of this means for Warlock patrons like Undead and Kraken, I don’t know; perhaps you could suggest that they are drawing on the Negative Energy Plane, the Feywild, the Far Realm and the… plane of Water? The statblocks for the Xvarts are fairly standard; we get a CR 1/8 Xvart who looks a lot like a Goblin, albeit with less combat ability, and a CR 1 Warlock with what seems to be a minor variation on the Typical Warlock Spell List ([i]Burning Hands[/i], [i]Eldritch Blast[/i], [i]Invisibility[/i], [i]Expeditious Retreat[/i], and [i]Scorching Ray[/i], for example). Both have a pair of shared traits, namely the ability to speak to vermin (good way of explaining their combat minions) and [i]Low Cunning[/i] for bonus-action disengages. I’m quite taken with these guys because they come with a lovely build in storyline, with them and their demigod having lots of potential for a slightly comedic plane-hopping adventure. [/QUOTE]
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