Greyhawk Monsters: The Dry Ones

Well met Greyhawk denizens! Today I offer you another 5E monster design of my creation. If you haven't seen my previous entries, check out the Best of Greyhawkery section above. The Dry Ones are based off the quite popular "Drowned Ones" zombies from Greyhawk Adventures. Where they are created by Nerull, these bad boys have another unholy creator. Naturally, these creatures can appear in any arid land of your choosing, but I made them with the Dry Steppes and Ull in mind. Particularly because they are a favorite threat associated with the infamous necromancer-elementalist Abi-Dalzim. whose Horrid Wilting spell surely inspired this new undead. Beware and enjoy!

DESERT ZOMBIE (“DRY ONES”) (5E)

Legend has it the Dry Ones were created by Incabulos, god of droughts, to spread terror on the steppes and deserts where they roam at night. Desert zombies appear to be typical humanoid undead though instead of rotting bodies, they are gaunt and leathery, unnaturally preserved by the arid environment. In fact, a Dry One can often be mistaken for a normal creature either stumbling around in the dark or laying half-buried in sand during the daytime. Dry Ones are slow but silent and cunning for they are drawn to living creatures with an insatiable need to consume all liquids from their bodies. A creature slain by such unholy desiccation rises as a new Dry One the following night.

DESERT ZOMBIE (“DRY ONES”) (5E)
Medium undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 11
Hit Points 37 (5d8 + 15)
Speed 20 ft.

STR 14 (+2)
DEX 12 (+1)
CON 16 (+3)
INT 5 (-3)
WIS 6 (-2)
CHA 5 (-3)

Saving Throws Wis +0
Damage Immunities poison
Damage Resistances cold
Damage Vulnerabilities thunder
Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8
Language understands the languages it knew in life but can’t speak
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the zombie to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the zombie drops to 1 hit point instead.

Turning Defiance. The desert zombie has advantage on saving throws against effects that turn undead.

ACTIONS

Multiattack. The zombie makes two attacks: one slam attack and one desiccating bite attack.

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit. Reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage.

Desiccating Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit. Reach 5 ft., Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) necrotic damage.

All About Manzorian the Archmage

Hail Greyhawkers! To coincide with a Legends & Lore discussion on Tenser and Mordenkainen, I decided to break out the old Paizo Age of Worms AP and see what was going on in that module with Tenser aka Manzorian. I am still flabbergasted that WotC made Erik Mona and company genericize much of Greyhawk's proper names in this series. Greyhawk was the defacto setting in 3.5 D&D and Paizo made highly detailed conversion articles for Forgotten Realms and Eberron. So....yeah. Anyhow, this post is a look into some of the material written about Manzorian, mainly from The Spire of Long Shadows by Jesse Decker in Dungeon #130. I hope you enjoy my commentary. Let's get into it!

Archmage Manzorian (LG male human wizard 16/archmage 5)

Manzorian is an interesting wizard name that definitely has more of a Greyhawk feel than an Ed Greenwood Realms name. Hm, Manzorian's Floating Disk? If I had never heard of the name Tenser, then Manzorian would be suitable. Also, I noticed the root name "Manz" is found in Living Greyhawk Journal #1 for a Count Ignaz Manz who is a 16th level fighter. Coincidence or some deep lore connection? Even though Jesse Decker wrote the module, I can imagine Erik Mona had a hand in renaming this important NPC.

One more thing, Tenser/Manzorian's level in previous products ranges up to 20th. I see in this timeline he got a bit more experienced. More on that later. Let's look at Manzorian's neighboring village, Magepoint.

"A community shaped and defined by the presence of an archmage, the village of Magepoint offers myriad portals to adventures of surprising breadth and difficulty, a result of the many visitors seeking Manzorian's advice...Magepoint has grown considerably in recent years, its growth spurred by a combination of untapped economic potential, readily available land, and the safety that comes from living within the shadow of Manzorian's power."

"After all but one of his clones were destroyed by a treacherous ally several years ago, the archmage's return to Magepoint has ushered in a time of prosperity for the village."

The latter part is a reference to Rary the Traitor killing Tenser and Otiluke before the Great Signing to end the Greyhawk Wars. Manzorian's return means the events of Age of Worms are chronologically meant to take place after the module Return of the Eight. Get this classic module for more info on Magepoint and the Fortress of Unknown Depths.

"Archmage Manzorian is a tremendously powerful character - in fact he's one of the most powerful NPCs the characters are likely to encounter...Handle him with care. You don't want the PCs to come to depend on him too much, but his presence shouldn't be downplayed."

The module goes to great lengths to show Manzorian is too busy to get directly involved, but the PC's quest is too important to ignore. He has agents and allies who can intercede for him if necessary.

"When the PCs first arrive in Magepoint, Manzorian is not present - he's finishing off important business on another plane. Anyone in town can tell the PCs this..."

"Manzorian returns from his travels to Arcadia..."

What was Manzorian doing in the plane Arcadia following his return from death? Was he getting his memory or abilities restored? Clones are just save-points after all, so he probably missed out on a few years. Since Manzorian is one level higher than Tenser was in RotE maybe he was on a divine quest for more power? The only Greyhawk deity I know who resides in Arcadia is Saint Cuthbert. Hmm. 

Two of the notable Magepoint citizens are long time agents of the archmage, Cymria of Celadon (13th level elven fighter-mage) from the module Vecna Lives! and clerical ally Agath of Thrunch (19th level) from the module Isle of the Ape.

Manzorian's Fortress of Unknown Depths (and to a lesser extent Magepoint itself) sits atop a mysterious well-spring of arcane power...The origins of this power are known only to a few, but many reap its benefits...even Manzorian himself has not yet mastered its full potential."

The origin of this power is called Oerthblood. For more info on this mystery read Return of the Eight or Dragon #351, Irongate: City of Stairs by Denis Tetreault and Gary Holian. For AoW however, all arcane spells cast within 1000 yards of the Fortress of Unknown Depths can potentially gain effects of metamagic feats Enlarge Spell, Extend Spell or Empower Spell without having to increase the spell's caster level. That's pretty cool and definitely makes Magepoint a place wizards would want to visit.

"Manzorian knows a fair amount about the Age of Worms and Kyuss."

"A former companion of mine, a wizard named Balakarde, made an extensive study of Kyuss and his ways. You might even say he was obsessed with Kyuss...When Balakarde learned Kuluth-Mar was the likely location of Kyuss' divine apotheosis, he could barely restrain himself. I cautioned him against going to investigate the ruins. One does not simply teleport into an unknown region without doing some research."

Oh, like when Mordenkainen sent you to Halmadar the Cruel's tomb in Vecna Lives? Tsk tsk Manzorian. This is the part of the adventure where Manzorian starts dumping lore on the players. It's really good stuff and even if you never intend to play Age of Worms, get it just for the lore. He continues: 

"I intended to try to track him down, but unfortunately, other events conspired to take my attention away. I suspect he is dead now. Or worse."

Again, if not for a botched Circle of Eight mission in Vecna Lives, a subsequent cloning, followed by Rary zapping him dead then his next clone being turned into a dretch, and a trip to Arcadia that couldn't wait, he would've totally gone after his friend. Sure, Manzorian, sure. For those who haven't read AoW, Balakarde is actually Bucknard of the Everfull Purse fame. It's silly that besides his famous purse, this is perhaps the first time the NPC has been utilized in some useful lore and he had to be renamed. Ah well, let's see what other lore Manzorian is dispensing...

"The Age of Worms prophecy predicts that several major magical artifacts shall surface in the months before the end...I know of several that have surfaced of late; the Black Blade of Aknar Ratalla, the Tome of the Black Heart, the Obsidian Eye, the Dread Forge, the Bindings of Erivatius, and...a fragment of the Rod of Seven Parts."

What are all these delicious artifacts? I mean, we all know the Rod of Seven Parts, and the Tome of the Blackheart I know from Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure, and the Maure Castle Dungeon #112 megadungeon. I had to do some searching for the others, but it looks like the Paizohawk crew was slipping in easter eggs via Manzorian. For instance. Dungeon #119 has a generic high-level adventure, Tomb of Aknar Ratalla by Jack Flynn. Then Dungeon #120 has a module named The Obsidian Eye by Nicholas Logue and Brendan Victorson. The Bindings of Eritavius is from the epic level module Quicksilver Hourglass in Dungeon #123 by Anson Caralya. Erivatius is the Lord of Inertia, a demigod of aging and death and would be just as bad freeing as Kyuss. I couldn't find a reference to the Dread Forge but based on the others I am 100% certain it's from a Dungeon adventure. If anyone recalls the reference let me know in the comments.

"When the PCs are ready to go, Manzorian directs their attention to the numerous paintings on the walls - to one in particular. These paintings are of significant locations of historical import throughout the world, and each is imbued with divination magic to aid in teleportation."

As I mentioned before, there is supplemental articles on how to port Tenser/Manzorian in other game worlds. In Eberron, Age of Worms suggests that Magepoint is a haven for dragons, and that Manzorian is actually a dragon in human form (LG wyrm gold dragon archmage 4). In the Forgotten Realms, it is suggested the Fortress of Unknown Depths is called the Tower of Twilight and is inhabited by a family of wizards. Manzorian here is even MORE powerful and goes by the name Malchor Harpell, a NG Illuskan wizard 20/archmage 5). This seems unnecessary since Tenser was already recast, but he does get a more Realmsy name this way, I guess. 

Manzorian meets the PCs again before the climatic end of the adventure in Dungeon #135, Dawn of a New Age by Tito Leati. No spoilers, but ol' Manzorian counsels and finds a way to help the PCs battle Kyuss without getting directly involved of course. Check out that issue for some epic level information. That's all for now. Until next time!

Greyhawk Deity: The Earth Dragon

Greetings Oerthian loremasters! Today I present a treat from my epic 3.5e campaign vault. One of my favorite books from this era is the 3e Deities & Demigods. Not only does it cover the core Greyhawk gods, it gives extensive stats on them, much like 1e did back in the day with the original Deities book. Mind you, hardly anyone ever bothered to fight deities, but this book started an interesting deity rank system (0 is quasi-deity, 1-5 is demigod, etc), and it goes into delightful description into salient divine feats and rules on remote communication. These alone can make running a cult of Vecna or Nerull scarier. For example, if you are in Vecna's temple, he sees you, if you have his eye or hand, he knows it, or if you even say his name out loud, he hears you! Good stuff for roleplaying.

All this leads to my ill-fated, but very fun epic campaign. This is a long running campaign that me and my friends still reminisce and argue about to this day. The top characters ended in the 30th-level range, and a few may have even attained 0-5 divine ranks. One such adventure during this campaign led the players to take on the Slave Lords (as presented in the 2E sourcebook Slavers) albeit a more epic version of this power group. The end boss of course was the Cult of the Earth Dragon. But this is an epic campaign, so yes, despite all rationality, I also made the PCs fight the actual Earth Dragon in Mt. Drachenkopf.

I don't recall if they won or ran away, it doesn't matter, but in order to facilitate this epic encounter, I had to build the Earth Dragon from scratch using Slavers, and the 3e Deities & Demigods. Disclaimer, I'm not an expert at D&D monster creation, so my math may not check out. It's been two editions ago though, so do what you can with this stat-block. So without further ado, here is my 3E Earth Dragon. Enjoy!

EARTH DRAGON
Wyrm of the Hills, Earth Lord, Serpent of Stone
Demigod
Symbol: Coiled Dragon
Home Plane: Oerth (Mt. Drachenkopf)
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Portfolio: Earth, weather, hidden treasure
Worshipers: adventurers, slavers, humanoids, ogres
Cleric Alignments: any non-good 
Domains: Earth, Evil, Law
Favored Weapon: Bludgeoning weapons

"The Earth Dragon is an ancient deity of the Flanaess, a remnant of an era when spirits of nature were worshiped as gods. Unlike most of the gods of Greyhawk, the Earth Dragon is not a part of a sophisticated theology. It is just the spirit of Mount Drachenkopf, although it long ago spread its influence to all of the Drachensbrag Hills."

"The Earth Dragon most commonly manifests its power as an earthquake to indicate the god's displeasure. It also may cause avalanches, rains of stone, and rarely, volcanic eruptions. The Earth Dragon may manifest itself as a mottled serpent or a gargantuan dragon formed of variegated stone lcaed with precious ores."

Colossal Dragon
Divine Rank: 3
Hit Dice: 40d12+400 (660 hp)
Initiative: +4 (Improved Initiative)
Speed: 40 ft., burrow 180 ft.
AC: 61 (-8 size, +3 divine, +48 natural, +8 deflection)
Attacks: Bite +54 melee (+57 if foe touching the ground), 2 claws +49 melee (+52 if foe touching the ground) 
Damage: Bite 4d8+17/19-20, claw 4d6+18 (+3 additional damage if foe touching the ground)
Face/Reach: 30 ft. by 70 ft. /20 ft
Special Attacks: Breath weapons, crush, tail sweep, spell-like abilities, domain powers, salient divine abilities.
Special Qualities: Divine immunities, SR 35, fire resistance 23, DR 38/+4, understand, speak, and read all languages, godly realm, teleport without error at will, planeshift at will, scent, darkvision, water breathing, tremorsense (30 ft), divine aura (30 ft, DC 21).
Saves: Fort +35, Ref +25, Will +33
Abilities: Str 45, Dex 10, Con 31, Int 26, Wis 27, Cha 26
Skills: Jump +40, Diplomacy +27, Sense Motive +27, Intimidate +27, Knowledge (dragonkind) +20, Knowledge (religion) +20, Knowledge (history) +20, Knowledge (the planes) +20
Feats: Awesome Blow, Blind-fight, Cleave, Move-by Attack. Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (bite). Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Sunder 
Breath Weapons (Su): The Earth Dragon produces one of two breath weapons. 
A cone of sharp rocks and stones 70 feet long; creatures within the cone take 24d10 points of piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning damage.
A line of flensing sand 5 feet high, 5 feet wide, and 140 feet long; creatures within the area of effect take 24d6 points of piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning damage.
Each of the Earth Dragon’s breath weapons allow a Reflex saving throw (DC 40) for half damage.
Once the Earth Dragon breathes, it must wait 1d4 rounds before it can breath again.
Crush (Ex): The Earth Dragon can jump and land on foes as a standard action, using its whole body to crush them. Crush attacks are effective only against Large opponents or smaller. A crush attack affects as many creatures as can fit under the Earth Dragon’s body. Creatures in the affected area must succeed at a Reflex save (DC40) or be automatically pinned, taking 4d8+20 points of damage each round until the Earth Dragon moves. The Earth Dragon can maintain the pin as a normal grapple attack.
Tail Sweep (Ex): As a standard action, the Earth Dragon can sweep its tail in a half-circle with a 40-foot diameter. Medium-size or smaller creatures within the tail sweep automatically take 2d8+20 points of damage and must succeed at a Reflex save (DC 40) to avoid being knocked down.
Divine Immunities: Ability damage, ability drain, acid, cold, death effects, disease, disintegration, electricity, energy drain, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stunning, transmutation.
Salient Divine Abilities: Alter Size, Divine Earth Mastery, Power of Nature
Domain Powers: Cast evil spells at +1 caster level; cast law spells at +1 caster level; 3/day turn or destroy air creatures, or rebuke or command earth creatures. 
Spell-like Abilities: The Earth Dragon may cast any domain spell that it can grant. The Earth Dragon uses these abilities as a 13th-level caster (except evil and law spells, which it uses as a 14th-level caster). The save DCs are 21 + spell level.
The Earth Dragon can control weather, temperature, and shake the earth, as the earthquake spell at will, in a radius of three miles. These effects last as long as the Earth Dragon concentrates and for up to 3 minutes afterward, unless ended as a free action.
The Earth Dragon has complete control over all things made of earth (including stone and metal). It can alter the form of any amount of earth, as a free action. It can also transmute any object made of earth, stone, or metal into a different kind of earth, stone, or metal - such as changing a silver coin into gold. It can affect any object it can see, but no more than one object per round.
Other Divine Powers
As a demigod, the Earth Dragon may take 10 on any check. The Earth Dragon treats a 1 on an attack roll or saving throw normally and not as a failure. It is immortal.
Senses: The Earth Dragon can see (using normal vision or darkvision), hear, touch, and smell at a distance of three miles. In addition, it has blindsight to a range of 3 miles. As a standard action, it can perceive anything within three miles of its worshipers, holy sites, objects, or any location where one of its titles or name was spoken in the last hour. The Earth Dragon can extend its senses to up to three locations at once. It can block the sensing power of deities of its rank or lower at up to two remote locations at once for 3 hours.
Portfolio Sense: The Earth Dragon can sense any time 1000 or more creatures work to affect the earth.
Automatic Actions: The Earth Dragon can use Knowledge (the planes), Knowledge (dragons), Knowledge (history), or Knowledge (religion) as a free action if the DC fpr the task is 15 or lower. It can perform up to two such free actions each round.
Create Magic Items: The Earth Dragon can create bludgeoning weapons, scale mail armor, as well as items related to elemental earth or law, as long as the item’s market price does not exceed 4500 gp.
Godly Realm: The Earth Dragon controls a lair deep beneath the earth. Within a 300-foot radius, it can change the temperature and environment at will.

 

New Greyhawk Sword: Hawksteel

Well met Greyhawk enthusiasts! I have a treat for you today. This is a custom magic item from my own "silver age" 2E campaign, a sentient sword named Hawksteel. To bring Hawksteel into the present. I've converted it to 5E rules. Those who use other systems will easily be able to port this item over to your game though. Now, as some of you grey beards like myself will gather, this sword is an homage to some of my favorite childhood swords. It's foremost a nod to the Mind-Sword from Hawk the Slayer, as well as a tip of the cap to the Sword of Omens from Thundercats. It's much more however. 

While my friends Jayson and Brian weren't busy conquering the world with their high-level PCs (see my Greyhawk Wars campaign), we had secondary campaigns. Brian who played a wizard much of the time, was usually looking to play a cool fighter with a bad-ass magic sword. I shrewdly granted that wish to his new character Logan Konig a relative of Jayson's PC barbarian dynasty (who claimed all 5 of the Blades of Corusk). Logan finds a sentient sword in the lair of a linnorm somewhere in the Corusk Mountains. What followed was a very short lived storyline that had Logan battling renegade barbarians working for a mysterious foreign warlord who turned out to be Kas the Terrible (think Vlad the Impaler). I had greater plans for Logan and Hawksteel, but never finished the story arc. Fortunately I kept these notes. Perhaps the mysterious Hawksteel will see new life in someone's campaign. There may be more to come as well...

Note: Hawksteel is a very roleplay intensive magic item. For 5E players, I refer you to page 216 of the DMG for rules on running a sentient weapon conflict. However, whichever system you use for sentient weapons, read up on them before adding this sword to your game. Enjoy!

 
HAWKSTEEL
Weapon (longsword) legendary (requires attunement by a creature proficient in longswords)
 
Also known as Keenblade or Shadowkiller, Hawksteel was created by one of the fabled Mages of Power during the Baklunish-Suloise Wars. Crafted from star-fallen metal obtained from beyond the western seas, it is said the enchanting of this sword was so difficult that several Suel wizards enlisted to aid the Magi died in the process.
The sword was first wielded by the champion and personal bodyguard of the Suloise emperor. During this tumultuous time, Hawksteel foiled several assassinations and likewise dispatched many of the emperor’s worst political threats. Eventually fearing the power of the sword might be used against him, the emperor turned his champion loose on the Baklunish Empire as his new chief assassin.
As fate would have it the bearer of Hawksteel, still on a mission, went missing during the Twin Cataclysms. It is suspected the sword migrated eastward into the Flanaess, passing from one bearer to another until it was lost. Until now.
 
You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. The blade always scores a critical on a roll of 19 or 20. If you score a critical hit with it, the target takes extra 7 damage. It has the following additional properties.

    Light and Dark. You can speak the sword’s command word to cause the blade to shed bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10-feet, or alternatively darkness in a 15-foot radius. Speaking the command word again or sheathing the sword puts out either effect. It has the following additional properties.

    Mind Over Matter. If you are attuned to this weapon, you can use a bonus action to call the weapon to your free hand if it is within 30 feet.

    Sight Beyond Sight. While you are holding the sword, you can use an action to cast clairvoyance or clairaudience. Once you cast either spell, you can’t cast it from the weapon again until the next dawn.

    Shadow Jump. While you are holding the weapon, you can use a bonus action to teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. Both the space you teleport from and the space you teleport to must be in dim light or darkness. Once used, this property can’t be used again until the next dawn.

    Sentience. Hawksteel is a sentient chaotic neutral weapon with an Intelligence of 16, and a Wisdom of 14. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet.
The weapon communicates two ways. One is through magical runes that slowly appear on the surface of the blade which anyone can see. These short messages are never longer than 7 words, and are always in a language that the bearer can read. Rune messages fade within a minute of being read. The weapon also communicates with its owner through dreams and visions when it needs to communicate at length. Anytime during a long rest, or when there is a conflict of purpose, the sword can reach out to the bearer. The manifestation of these dreams varies according to the many personalities of the sword.

    Split Personality. Hawksteel has many personalities, each with competing purposes. Each month, a new prime personality directs the weapon (this can be rolled randomly or chosen by the DM). During dream communication, multiple personalities may clash for attention, but only the prime may try to take control of the wielder in a conflict. These are the known personalities of Hawksteel.

    1-2) Seductive Warrior (Charisma 18). Its purpose is to seek adventure and glory. It will not retreat from a fight.
    3) Insulting Shadow-form (Charisma 10). It believes the bearer is a fool. Its purpose is to find a more worthy owner before the sword becomes lost again. It may suppress powers in protest.

    4) Calm Voice in Darkness (Charisma 16). Its purpose is to gain power and influence. To this end it pushes the wielder to attain magic, followers, and property.

    5) Angry Blood-form (Charisma 10). Its purpose is to kill all enemies expediently. It refuses to be used with another weapon or shield.

    6) Articulate Floating Sword (Charisma 16). Its purpose is to protect the sword. It will attempt to take control of the wielder and flee if it feels a battle is too dangerous.

    7) Paranoid Ball of Light (Charisma 14). Its purpose is to keep the bearer alive. To this end, it will give frequent warnings real or imagined.

    8) Echoing Flame-eye (Charisma 14). It has no purpose of its own, believing the wielder’s goals are predestined. Conflict only arises when others try to influence the bearer away from a goal.

5E Greyhawk: Four Magic Keys

Greeting Greyhawkers! I don't know how I got on this subject, but after some ample research I think I succeeded in my goal of converting a classic artifact, the Silver Key of Portals to 5E rules while also expanding on the theme a bit. Your main sources for the Keys is of course Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure/Maure Castle and Return of the Eight. It seems the Silver Key got more powerful from AD&D to 3rd Edition, and the Bronze Key of Portals, seems like a slightly less powerful version, so much so the authors didn't even bother giving the Bronze Key stats. If anyone else has converted keys like this to 5E I'd be keen to see how mine compare. Until then, enjoy Dalt's work!

SILVER KEY OF PORTALS
Wondrous item, artifact (requires attunement)

The Silver Key of Portals was first found in an abandoned chapel during the early adventures of the mage, Mordenkainen. Since this discovery, Mordenkainen learned the Silver Key was created by Dalt, god of portals and locks. He also surmised that Dalt wanted him to find the Silver Key as the god is known to grant boons to those he favors (he has also correctly deduced that Dalt created other keys like this one). The Silver Key is one of Mordenkainen’s most cherished belongings, but following Dalt’s example, he too is known to loan the artifact out to adventurers. If not returned however, there is nowhere in the multiverse to hide from the archmage. 

Random Properties. The Silver Key of Portals has the following random properties.
·        1 minor beneficial property
·        1 minor detrimental property
 
Properties of the Silver Key. While you hold the Silver Key of Portals, at will, you can use an action to cause the artifact to function like a chime of opening when it is touched to a non-magical object such as a door, lid, lock, or shackles. On each action, one lock, latch or portal will slowly swing open.
 
Spells. The Silver Key has 7 charges and regains 1d4+3 expended charges daily at dawn. If you control the Key, you can use an action and expend 1 or more charges to cast the following spells from it: passwall (1 charge), etherealness (3 charges), or word of recall (2 charges). You can also automatically dispel any arcane lock by touch (1 charge).
 
Destroying the Key. The Silver Key is light (1 lb.), but is impervious to most physical damage, including magical spells. A disintegrate spell or a strong blow from a legendary or greater weapon is sufficient to destroy the key however.
 
BRONZE KEY OF PORTALS
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)
 
Rumor has it the Bronze Key of Portals was created by the archmage Tenser in the style of the more powerful Silver Key of Portals. Others including Mordenkainen believe differently, that this key was actually created by the god Dalt for its own special purpose long before Tenser came to possess the Fortress of Unknown Depths.
 
The Bronze Key has 10 charges and regains 1d4+3 expended charges daily at dawn. While you hold the Bronze Key of Portals, you can use an action to cause the key to function like a chime of opening when it is touched to an object such as a door, lid, lock, or shackles. For each charge, one lock, latch or portal will slowly swing open. Magical wards like arcane lock are only suppressed for 10 minutes. Additionally, you can use an action to expend 1 of its charges to discover and open one secret door within 30 feet of you.
The Bronze Key of Portals is specially attuned to the Fortress of Unknown Depths. As such, using the powers of the Bronze Key does not expend charges there.
 
OTHER KEYS OF DALT
 
The Suel deity Dalt is barely known in the Flanaess today, but when not pursuing his personal quest to locate and free his imprisoned brother Vatun, the god of portals is methodically spreading awareness of his religion. Dalt is always looking out for strong allies to his cause, even among mortals, and one way he does this is by subtly loaning out his magical keys. Those who have possessed a Key of Dalt never take it for granted because Dalt can take his Key back as easily as he leaves it. No one knows how many keys or variations Dalt has created. Here is two more Keys that have not seen circulation in Flanaess to date.
 
BRASS KEY OF PORTALS
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)
 
The Brass Key has 10 charges and regains 1d4+3 expended charges daily at dawn. While you hold the Brass Key of Portals, you can use an action to cause the key to function like a chime of opening when it is touched to an object such as a door, lid, lock, or shackles. For each charge, one lock, latch or portal will slowly swing open. Magical wards like arcane lock are only suppressed for 10 minutes.
Additionally, you can use an action to cast the following spells from it: passwall (2 charges), or dimension door (1 charge).
 
COPPER KEY OF PORTALS
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)
 
The Copper Key has 10 charges and regains 1d4+3 expended charges daily at dawn. While you hold the Copper Key of Portals, you can use an action to cause the key to function like a chime of opening when it is touched to an object such as a door, lid, lock, or shackles. For each charge, one lock, latch or portal will slowly swing open. Magical wards like arcane lock are only suppressed for 10 minutes.
Additionally, you can use an action to find and automatically disarm mechanical traps (1 charge), or find and automatically dispel harmful glyphs and runes (2 charges).

Greyhawk News and Links

Howdy Greyhawk maniacs. It's that time of the week I throw out a few links to help promote Greyhawk content in the community. I'm sure you've seen most of these items already, but help me by boosting the signal. We need to keep awareness of the setting high in this new golden age of D&D fandom.

First and foremost is the exciting news that old-school publisher Goodman Games gets to do another 5E adaptation of a Greyhawk classic in OAR#6: The Temple of Elemental Evil. This is not an homage, or a mere reprint, but in the spirit of previous releases like Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and the Into the Borderlands, this is a full 5E adaptation alongside a reprint of the original AD&D super-module T1-T4. These books end up pretty weighty, but in my opinion it's a must have. Goodman's press release says this will be out late 2020 or early 2021. I'm guessing it'll be in time for Gary Con 2021, which is where I will snag a copy!

Next, over at the blog Hall of the Mountain King, my fellow Legends & Lore historian, Jason Zavoda has been putting out posts galore. Zavoda is famous for his Greyhawk Index of course, but when he stopped indexing years ago, the content didn't stop. Since he has been more active in the community, Jason has been indexing Greyhawk references in both recent products like the Saltmarsh Encounters and relatively older ones like Dungeon Magazine #148 which featured Spinecastle.

Jason has also tirelessly been posting regular updates on his Blackmoor, Land of a Thousand Witches, a campaign in this region unlike any you've seen before and the final chapter in his ongoing fiction The Hill Giant's Chief: Nosnra's Saga. Tune in daily to see what tidbit JZ posts next on his blog!

Lastly, speaking of Legends & Lore, this Wednesday, Jay Scott, Anna Meyer and myself will be hosting special guests from former Living Greyhawk's Sultanate of Zeif region. Even after having many members of Living Greyhawk on the show previously, I cannot wait to hear how there people played and developed their stories in the Baklunish lands. Also, I cannot wait to mercilessly taunt them about my homeland of Ull! See you there, or if you can't make the live show see the replay through LordGosumba's regular channel.

D&D: Alternate Vision Rules

Hey there Greyhawkers! Today is an off day for me, because I want to discuss D&D instead of setting lore. Strange I know, but this issue popped in my head recently and has been a concern of mine for a very long time I imagine, but has only become more pronounced in recent 5E rules. I am talking about playable races with darkvision. I apologize in advance if you've read a rant like this on other blogs years ago, it's caught up to me finally.

I will not get into a lengthy comparison with previous editions for expedience sake. I know AD&D had varying degrees special sight like infravision, later low-light vision, etc. I am going to assume the nine presently playable races in the PHB have traits consistent over their D&D history. Okay, my gripe is that darkvision (seeing normal in dimly lit conditions or seeing dim in darkness) is an easy crutch for D&D games to get around pesky things such as lanterns and torches. Sure, human and halfling characters still need to use these devices, but can easily circumvent this need through simple spells or magic items. Why is this important to me? Because as a DM, having a party that is either intentionally or unintentionally comprised of characters entirely with darkvision takes an entire tool out of your storytelling tool bag; fear of the dark. For a game that is traditionally built on dungeon crawling and cave exploration, PCs venturing into the darkness is part of the challenge. If this challenge is nullified easily by the game itself, then the DM may as well provide ample lighting for the PCs and move on.

Quick note: yes, magical darkness can be used to nullify superior PC vision, but if it's used too much it becomes obvious and personally directed at the players which isn't cool either.

Out of nine playable races in the 5E PHB, only three do not have darkvision. That means if a group of five players randomly picked their race at character creation, there would 3.33 heroes with darkvision at start. If the number leans to 4 out of 5, from my experience, that one outlying player is immediately pressured to make up for this visual deficiency somehow or become a burden to his night-sight allies. In my opinion, an option to remove this mechanical advantage, is to leave darkvision to creatures or races that live a majority of their life underground, which is logical, and give them a more personalized vision trait. Now let's examine these six races with darkvision and what can be given alternatively.

Side note: why don't Dragonborn have darkvision? Intuitively, being related to dragons you'd think they would! I saw this as the designers realizing that there were too many races with darkvision and made the unfortunate choice to exclude this new race from the club. Moving on...

Dwarves: Most PC dwarves are either hill or mountain. Sure, they work in dim conditions at home, but do they not have lighting in their stone halls? Of course not! Now the subrace Duergar deserve DV being a true Underdark culture. For those dwarves who tend to spend most of their time in the light I'd instead give them Expertise in Investigation skill (double proficiency bonus to checks) based on their years of detailed crafting in dim conditions. I'd also give dwarves, a martial culture Blindfighting, a trait which will negate the disadvantage of combat in darkness.

Elves: Again, elves who are an above-ground race are assumed to be superior to humans in every regard. This is summed up in the Keen Senses trait which gives them advantage to Perception checks. This is huge on its own because perception is all the senses, not just sight. So the fact they have DV is overkill. Drow, like Duergar deserve it because they are a true underdark culture. Instead of DV I'd give elves as a whole the ability of Telescopic Sight, so they suffer no range penalties and give them advantage on a single aimed shot per round (think Legolas archery in LotR).

Gnomes: Deep Gnomes, Underdark, yadda yadda. Rock gnomes however, more so than dwarves I gather, tinker in dim places so their eyesight should be ideal for up close things. This is why I suggest Keen Senses on Investigation (advantage on all checks).

Half-Elves: Not totally cool like parent elves, these characters still deserve some good eyesight, but certainly not full on darkvision. Let's make them resilient since they are typically outcasts by giving them Keen Senses on Survival (advantage on all checks). Think Tanis in Dragonlance.

Half-Orcs: Okay half-orcs have darkvision, why? Cause orcs like to raid at night, might be sensitive to light, I don't know, but that shouldn't make these characters on par with drow or duergar or heck plain elves! Let's scale them back with Expertise in Perception (double proficiency bonus on checks) and Blindfighting like above.


Tieflings: The newest, popular entry to the PHB, these characters have fiendish heritage. They are not necessarily from the Underdark, but neither are they from the Abyss either (I'm sure all demons and devils have DV). Let's make Tieflings unique by giving them Infravision, a trait that gives them Keen Senses on Insight (advantage on all checks), to spot lies and read people's intentions and Expertise on Perception (sight only) to locate creatures who are hidden, based on the ability to see faint heat signatures. Obviously this only works on living creatures.

How's these house rules look? Got a better idea or tweak? Let me know in the comments!

New: Faiths of the Flanaess

Greetings Greyhawk faithful I hope everyone has been staying healthy in these trying times. Keep Incabulos at bay! And speaking of deities and faithful, it's time to promote Joseph "Greyhawk Grognard" Bloch's last and best 5E adaption of Greyhawk material. His book, Faiths of the Flanaess covers an amazing 69 deities with all the requisite game info you need to steep your 5E clerics in Greyhawk lore. Go follow Joe on Patreon so he keeps making more quality publications like this, and then if you haven't already, go back and download the other 5E books in his collection plus a host of many Greyhawk themed works. Enjoy!

1E Unearthed Arcana

Howdy Greyhawkers, it's been a lazy week for this guy and with Legends & Lore on hiatus till the Fall, I need to get back into writing some content for you fans. Speaking of the Greyhawk Channel, they have another big line up of new live games scheduled for Fall. Starting times will vary of course and I will try to promote them soon.

So as  was perusing my game shelf for something topical, I pulled down my old AD&D Unearthed Arcana. For anyone who has never owned this book, it was sort of a follow up on both the Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide. It has never classes, spells, deities, rules and most interestingly to me, new magic items! D&D has tried to replicate the feel of this book in later editions either in print or in digital articles, but in my opinion, nothing is like the original UA. That's why I'm sad I didn't utilize it more often back in the day. Today I'm going to feature some Greyhawk themed magic items from this book that need an update (5E or otherwise). Enjoy...

Zagyg's Flowing Flagon: There are plenty of items in UA that have kept up with the times like the Quiver of Ehlonna and Hewards Handy Haversack. This is one I don't think got an update. It's a well-made silver wine container with a toast etched on its side. Whenever it is read the flagon fills with a potent potable. Each time the magic is used to refill, the alcohol content gets stronger. A good item to give players to create a rowdy, drunk game night. Probably an uncommon item.

Ring of Boccob: This fancy ring does not radiate magic, and indeed any magic item that strikes the wearer of Boccob's Ring has to make a save or become nonmagical! Basically Mordenkainen's Disjunction by touch? This would be a mean item to give to a villain. I'll say its a rare item.

Wand of Force: This would have to be very rare. It's a wand that has a few functions, One creates a 4' long blue-white energy blade to appear equal to a sword +5! It's a freaking light saber! Second, it can create Wall of Force. No-brainer there. The third creates other planes of force. What's neat about this wand? It drains other force spells, like Bigby's Forceful Hand or Mordenkainen's Sword to recharge it. It's awful specific in its applications, but cool sounding.

Mantle of Celestian: Black clothing that's main function is protect from the cold of outer space. (Like we all were doing that in AD&D back in the day?) The Mantle also provides food, drink and storage pockets. Bonus, if you are a cleric of Celestian (rare enough) then you can also see people's auras. More like an Insight check rather than detecting alignment though. I'd say this one is in the very rare category if made in 5E.

Shoes of Fharlanghn: Magic shoes that never wear out and cause the wearer to never fatigue when walking. Suitable for the god of travel. Furthermore for neutral/neutral good types the shoes make the wearer more sure-footed in hazardous or trapped conditions. Like above, if the person "attuned" is a worshipper of Fharlanghn then you can never get lost or surprised. You gain jumping and movement increases, and climbing/balancing is significant easier. Very rare again!

That's all. After having mused over these items, it makes me want to create some original items based off other Greyhawk gods or notable NPCs. You know something like Nystuls' Magical Net or Hextor's Hellish Halberd or Telchur's Fur Vest. Run with that if you want. Until next time...

Update 06/25/2021: Updated link to YouTube archive. L&L has moved on to LordGosumba channel.

My Ghosts of Saltmarsh Review

Ahoy, Greyhawkers! I don't review just any D&D product as you know. I often promote them, but I'll only dig into them if there is a really good Greyhawk angle to discuss. Well, Ghosts of Saltmarsh is really good and as you've heard it's VERY grounded in the World of Greyhawk.

First, it bears repeating here that Ghosts' "Greyhawk pedigree" is amazingly good given the path of classic adventures that comprise the book. The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, Danger at Dunwater and The Final Enemy are all firmly located in the Keoland/Hool Marshes area. The Styes by Richard Pett was made with Prymp in mind and Tammeraut's Fate by Greg Vaughan is set in the south coast of Nyrond. Mr. Vaughan is a stalwart having written many Greyhawk themed adventures in Dungeon back in 3.5E. Salvage Operation is by Mike Mearls, the head-honcho of D&D, but also an avid Greyhawk fan.

Saltmarsh is perfect for a coastal setting book of course, not because it's big and iconic like Waterdeep, but because it's remote and generic. These traits are often why Greyhawk is the setting to turn to for D&D campaigns. Needless to say the ship sailing rules are effective and easy, building upon info already presented in previous 5E books, not superseding them. I am also jazzed about the ship upgrades in Ghosts, because it can get boring for one sailing vessel to pretty much be identical to the next one. This book also gives players some new character backgrounds that tie wonderfully into a nautical themed campaign, and then update familiar ones from the PHB to also work best with Saltmarsh's region.

A fun feature of Ghosts is the three factions which fit neatly into the setting. Traditionalists like the way things are in Saltmarsh and have been there a long time. Loyalists are fairly new to the town or favor bringing the region back under control of the Kingdom of Keoland, and then the Scarlet Brotherhood faction is well, the Scarlet Brotherhood we all love, sneaking and spying! This Saltmarsh is clearly set in the pre-Wars era because otherwise the backdrop of this book would look difficult, not to mention, most of these modules were written before the publication of Greyhawk Wars anyhow. I personally approve of this early part of the time line for it is has a high emphasis on adventures and exploration, less so on pointless war and destruction. Indeed it's the era that I've based my Hold of the Sea Princes campaign upon and will continue to now that this book is in play.

Ghosts really does emphasize the Greyhawk setting. Maps in this book are done by Dyson Logos and Mike Schley. The section on geography is a huge boon to anyone wanting to learn more about the setting because there is info on the town of Burle and Seaton. The Dreadwood and Hool Marshes are heavily detailed, along with encounter charts. The Azure Sea is even given some good encounter charts, including my favorite bit, a few unique pirates of the region. When I say unique, I'm not kidding either. You won't find these crews in any pirate movie you've seen before!

Furthermore, Ghosts offers DMs many, many wonderful charts to help create mysterious islands, ocean dangers, random ships to keep the campaign going beyond the adventures presented in between. This is a must own book whose usefulness can go beyond 5E rules.

Lastly, go check out DMsGuild now and you'll see Saltmarsh is an approved "Story Line" for 5E authors. Indeed, there is already several new Saltmarsh publications on the site which I have yet to check out. At any rate, sorry folks, according to WotC staff it's not a true setting, but yes you can write about, uh, let's just call it the "World of Saltmarsh" perhaps? Just be sure to keep your Greyhawk references coming from a Ghosts of Saltmarsh perspective. I mean if Procan (in the book) is worshiped in Saltmarsh, why not nautical deities Osprem and Xerbo as well? Oh, and those priests brought the religions to the port town from across the Azure Sea (in the book) in the neighboring Sea Princes (in the book) port called, um let's see, I got it, Monmurg. Meanwhile, here's a bunch of useful NPCs from Monmurg who are visiting Saltmarsh (some could be Scarlet Brotherhood spies, shh), and hey you already finished the six modules in Ghosts, well these guys have heard of some other places to adventure very close to Saltmarsh like Beyond the Crystal Cave, the Sentinel or Baltron's Beacon. See, I can do this all day. Come on Wizards, open up Greyhawk to the fans!