#Tales from dnd

[leftsidebonfire]

The Close Call of a Close Friend

A very pivotal point in the latest arc of our campaign. Here we see my character Unaek, the druid, holding the body of one of her closest childhood friends, Bok Zaji, a lizardfolk paladin. Beside them is Titus, a Leonin warlock blacksmith, who grew up alongside them. Bok and Titus are like brothers, and consider themselves as such even if they are not the same species.

After already losing one member of their adventuring party, Oxen, a minotaur, only hours prior, Bok takes a deadly strike to the face while fighting a demon. Unaek, the healer, the support character for this party, who has spent the entire adventure helping, healing, and making the party perform to the best of their ability, completely breaks down. She feels like she is slowly failing her friends one by one as Bok lay dying in her arms. She holds up his head while Titus gives him a healing potion, and she comforts him as he wakes up.

He survives, though just barely, and they are able to muster the strength to continue.

Unfortunately this also leads to the near-death of Titus only minutes later, which Unaek also is quick to save him from. This will be an art piece for another time, however.

More accurate version, with the party covered in blood, under cut:

[krowthewarlock]

Almost dying???

I'm currently on an adventure thing at the moment, basically I'm a curse-holder, there's a few of us, we had to go to this tower with a dragon and an (ex) party member stole a scale from a baby dragon and almost caused an all out war between dragons and the rest of the realm.

This same party member tried being the hero and decided to let the equivalent to a nuke off in an enclosed space, giving me radiation poisoning. Two members basically died and are now undead and the cause of this whole problem walked away basically unscathed. I almost died. I had no concept of mortality before then. Shits scary, dude.

So anyways we had to travel through the literal underworld (a story for another time), and almost got thrown into the river Styx, eventually, we found a spirit in the underworld who managed to heal me from my affliction but I'm pretty sure I gave her a piece of my soul - I can't remember, I was really out of it.

I had accepted death by the time I was cured already so I was gonna just swan-dive into the Styx. I was, however, an anchor, so I couldn't do that or I'd have fucked everyone who was in the underworld with me.

Shit's been fucked since I got this stupid ass mark on my hand. ON TOP OF ALL THAT MY PATRON IS GETTING MAD AT ME BECAUSE I'M NOT CAUSING ENOUGH CHAOS.

[aroacesetitoff]

not romantic not platonic but a secret third thing (in the same adventuring party)

[caemidraws]

---

[tales-from-the-aether-ttrpg]

Something thats always bugged me about dnd and pathfinder’s gods is that… they are basically monotheism in polytheism wrapping AND there is no actual religion present. The lore is so obsessed with these beings as people with their extensive histories and active presence in the setting that they completely forgot to actually create religions surrounding them.

What does casual worship look like for any of these gods? Could you tell me? What does prayer actually look like? Is there specific times of the day in which you must pray for certain gods? Is there certain attire you must wear to show your faith? Are there certain foods you cannot eat? Are there certain foods that are elevated above the rest for your faith? What kind of offerings are expected everyday? Do they expect offerings everyday or on a certain day of the week? Do they expect physical offerings at all? Do they ask for sacrifices of material goods, animals, people? Why? Why do you worship this deity? How does that actually affect ur daily life? How is worship different for a cleric, paladin, priest, or casual believer? What kinds of swears, curses, exclamations, etc are associated with this religion? Are there certain activities that are banned within your religion? How strictly does the religion police its worshiper’s actions? What kind of philosophies do they preach or disavow?

These and many more are the elements that form real world religions and are absent in most fantasy “religions” including popular ttrpgs. I cant even call these faiths religions because they really arent. One god in these settings should have 20 different religions built around them that all disagree on how the god’s domain, history, and personality should be interpreted. Maybe 2 or 4 of them would be main stream but there should be more than just one monolithic faith surrounding a god. And stop calling it polytheism. Please for the love of everything. Polytheism is a type of religion that worships multiple gods at once. Faith in dnd and pathfinder is largely monotheistic because the players choose one god they like and ignore all the rest.

I am not trying to put the responsibility of creating all these religions on gms - im pointing out that the creators of these ttrpgs did all of us a huge disservice. Religion is such an expansive and fascinating and diverse concept in the real world that it infuriates me to see it reduced to choosing a god you like and thats it. And im agnostic irl!

I was talking to my cowriter about this for the lore in my ttrpg and it got me really rilled up XD Religion can be beautiful or terrible or a mixture of both. It can save people from the world’s darkness or bring out their own inner darkness. It deserves more than a cliff-notes table of deities to choose from and half baked lore about the gods without examining the actual faith they inspire in others :/

[lunarifie]

This came to me while i was brushing my teeth

Og under cut

[elorasaurus-gaming]

I'm a Stinker for some memes...

[shrillvoices]

[sincomyy]

TEAM BUMBUM !!

Tales from the Stinky Dragon has been my current obsession for months now and I just love it so much!

I did this sketch during the second listen-along on the patreon discord and colored last week

[profmadscientist]

Happy Halloween, how about a costume change.

[rennybu]

Adra and Talee moment that will live in my mind forever. Did your paladin just admit to feeling some kind of way about you? Uno reverse. Kiss her knuckles. While underwater

(Adra is played by @boss-saarebas and Talee is @justbooker !! from @jawsandbones homebrew campaign <3 <3 <3)

[leftsidebonfire]

Last night's D&D was intense. It was a whole new side of Unaek I've never gotten to play before. Protective, feral, angry Unaek.

See, I have built Unaek as the ultimate support. She is there to give enhancements to her friends and heal them when they need it. But last session, she was helping as a creature. (As a druid, she can transform into animals and other creatures.)

She turned into a basilisk and was using her power to petrify the enemies into stone. However, while doing that, she cannot use any healing or enhancement spells. Because of this, one of the party members, Oxen, was killed. (The player purposefully killed off his character because he wanted a new one, but obviously we wouldn't know that In-Game.)

As soon as the fight ended, Unaek ran over, huddling over his body, trying to cast Revivify. But it can't restore body parts, and his head was smashed in. She's sobbing over her dead friend, begging the spell to work, feeling like she failed her friends because she wasn't doing what she was supposed to. If only she had given him healing, given him enhancements, he could have done better.... she was supposed to support her friends, and she didn't, and that led to his death. It's all her fault. Of course, it's not her fault, and she DID help her friends immensely, but she doesn't see it like that. She sees it as her greatest failure because she was unable to help like she was supposed to.

So last night's session was interesting.

We picked up where we left off, Unaek on mourning and blaming herself, but we're in the middle of a cursed mansion and there's nothing we can do but move forward. The next fight continues, and one of her closest friends since childhood, a lizardfolk Paladin named Bok, gets annihilated. The creature blasts Bok in the face, nearly killing him. He is thrown back, face busted, covered in blood, and unconscious.

Unaek sees this, and she screams, immediately transforming into a young red dragon and going into a protective rage-filled plight. She flies at the creature who attacked her best friend, breathing fire and clawing at his face. As he teleports away, she picks up Titus (her other childhood friend, basically Bok's adopted brother) and together, they attack. She flies him over to the enemy and drops him on him, letting Titus smash him to death with his Warhammer.

Unaek, even seeing that the creature is beyond dead, still doesn't let it end there. She lands on the enemy's broken body and tears him apart, blasting fire in his face before she breaks down sobbing, transforming back into her scared self and running over to Bok, cradling him in her lap and helping him with as much care as she can manage. She sobs onto him, holding him protectively as he comes back to consciousness, and she promises that she just lost one friend, she won't lose another. Not like this. Not as long as she can help it.

A whole new side of Unaek. Self loathing, guilty, and protective, going to be the best support she can damn well be.

[luckiandkryii]

"This makes me happy."

[prince-less]

Some dnd au concepting + misc doodles <3

[doctorwyvern]

baby kydelius we love you forever

[tales-from-the-aether-ttrpg]

Have you ever been playing dnd and found yourself wishing you could experience the full immersion of mechanics for brewing potions, charting maps, picking locks, or enchanting items that were more than simply chucking a d20 and hoping for the best?

In addition to an expansive combat system that favors player exploration and expression, Tales from the Aether encourages players to explore more facets of the fantasy and adventuring genre. Some fun examples are the Chef’s Tools and Climbing Tools mechanics.

Chef’s Tools

These tools are used to make delicious and nutritious meals that are far superior to simple rations. In order to make a nutritious meal that last the whole adventuring day, you must use at least 4 lbs of food stuff such as meat, vegetables, or roots per individual you wish to feed.

You gain a number of d6s equal to your Nature or Knowledge score. You only need to roll one dice to make a successful meal but can gamble for additional bonuses. If you roll doubles on anything other than 1s, your meal grants an additional bonus. Any effects granted from the meals lasts until your next long rest.

If you roll anything other than a 1, the meal is a success and grants a temporary increase to Hit Point maximum equal to your Nature or Knowledge score.

If you roll a 1, the meal is just an average meal with no additional benefits.

If you roll multiple 2s, the meal grants a +1 Bonus to Stamina.

If you roll multiple 3s, the meal grants a +5 to Speed.

If you roll multiple 4s, the meal grants a +1 Bonus to Awareness and Security checks.

If you roll multiple 5s, the meal grants a +1 Bonus to Diplomacy, Deception, Intimidation, and Performance checks.

If you roll multiple 6s, the meal grants double the increase to Hit Points.

Climbing Tools

Climbing long distances is a dangerous sport and can be nearly impossible without the proper tools. With these tools, a misstep may lead to a minor panic attack, not a fall to one’s death.

You gain a pool of 5 dice (1d4). For every 100 feet you climb, you must use these dice to reach a DC of 10. If you fail to meet this DC, you gain 10 points of Stress but make the distance.

The dice you get to roll is increased depending on your Skill Rank. Novice grants a 1d6, Apprentice a 1d8, Journeyman a 1d10, Expert a 1d12, and Master a 1d20.

If you are climbing with multiple people, you can share your dice to help your companions out. For example, if one member of the group is an Expert and passed the DC with 2 dice, they can share their last 3 dice with members of the group that are less skilled in Agility or Strength.

This is just a taste but there is much more to be found. If such exploration of different mechanics interests you, give a follow to keep up to date with Tales from the Aether’s progress! I may be inviting more people to the discord to take a look at the 250+ page document once its V1.2 is completed ;p