#d&d 2e

[oldschoolfrp]

Powerful and immortal, a vampire often rules over mortal lands with an exceptionally strong ego and sense of self-importance. (Denis Beauvais cover for AD&D 2e Ravenloft supplement RR3: Van Richten's Guide to Vampires, TSR, 1991.) Vampires often wear clothing that resembles their bat form. The blood vessels in the cape here are a particularly fine touch of evil elegance.

[inbarfink]

[universe-in-the-void-in-the-cube]

D&D and Pathfinder RPers tell me what you think.

[manyworldspress]

Clyde Caldwell, Allisa of the Mists, 1990. Cover illustration for Forgotten Realms Adventures, by Jeff Grubb and Ed Greenwood (TSR, 1990). Oils, 17 x 22.5 inches.

__________________________________________________ Our shop: https://bookshop.org/shop/manyworldspress

[missrosiewolf]

Found the elf life stage chart

[badragonplays]

DragonFinds I got a real DND treasure today. I found the original Council of Wyrms DND2e boxset today. this complete box is one I have fond memories of though we had the book instead.

[probablyfunrpgideas]

"You. Must. Identify. Yourself." "Oh, of course. My name is the last seven thousand digits of pi" (10d4 psychic damage)

Idea: there are a few high-ranking modrons who work with the faction known as the Fraternity of Order. In exchange for the modrons' insight into the nature of reality, the universal laws of physics and morals, the Guvnors are condensing popular logic puzzles and recursive loops into simple math that can be programmed into modron minds like a logic vaccine. This think tank might not be a very exciting place for adventurers to hang out, but perhaps your PCs will be hired by the Fraternity of Order to protect it, or join the spontaneous alliance of the Xaositects and Anarchs who are trying to destroy the mathematicians and their research.

Morons can be flashbanged by using circular arguments or double negatives

Anonymous asked: I meant to write Modrons

[oldschoolfrp]

Dragons of Greyhawk: Cloud Dragon, Greyhawk Dragon, Mist Dragon, and Shadow Dragon (Mark Nelson, AD&D 2e Monstrous Compendium 5: Greyhawk Adventures Appendix, TSR, 1990)

[moms-home]

i just think it’s neat

[missrosiewolf]

We start our journey with...well, we're going alphabetically (for now). So Araleth, step on up. The spotlight is yours.

Araleth Letheranil is a Lesser God of Light and he is also called the Prince of Stars and The Twilight Rider. His symbol is a Shaft of Light (really creative there, my guy). He makes his residence in Arvandor in the House of Glowing Stars, a welling that is beset by drifting, glowing stars. Since he is a god of light, naturally he is also considered to be a god of moon, sun, and stars. Just as naturally, because he is a god of light he is opposed to darkness. In fact, he will encourage his followers to battle evil, especially if that evil is darkness-loving creatures. I was not surprised at all to find that the prime targets are, well:

- "The Elfin Gods," Dragon Magazine #155, p. 20

Like I said, not at all surprised. The Seldarine do not like Lolth and they do not like drow. Surface elves do not like Lolth and do not like Drow. It's a...I want to say 'kill on sight' kind of thing, almost, if a drow is spotted on the surface and while it sucks big time (for a good drow), it is and understandable reaction considering all the terrible things [evil] drow have done on the surface and to surfacers, especially surfacer elves. You don't know if this drow you saw some miles outside your village is a scout for a raiding party or something much worse.

On the Seldarine side, they have a long-standing enmity with Lolth and it's mutual too. She's done a lot of things to get the pantheon angry at her (Sehanine does have quite a few reasons to hate her guts. There's the Lolth whole seduce Fenmarel thing too, which they've never forgiven each other for). So, it makes sense that Araleth would consider drow elves to be prime targets when fighting evil. Because drow, under Lolth's influence, have done a lot of things. A lot of bad things. But it's not just that. As the god of light, he is opposed to evil. He is constantly fighting against darkness and evil.

There is also the fact that Lolth personally injured Araleth:

Before the god knew what had happened, Lolth jumped at him and sank her fangs into his shoulder, pumping venom into the wound. He cried out and plunged his magical sword into her abdomen.

and...

Araleth still bears a dark scar on his right shoulder where Lolth wounded him, and he uses it to remind his followers of the need to destroy evil.

- (p. 22)

After reading that, I wonder if the oppose darkness and destroy evil tenet has become a tad more personal to Araleth after being dealt a serious wound that left a permanent scar on him. For him, it reminds him of how he could have died, how Lolth could have killed him and won the battle. For him, it's a reminder that the powers of darkness and forces of evil cannot be allowed to grow, to gain a foothold, that they must be destroyed no matter what.

It makes me wonder if Lolth and her drow, in Araleth's eyes (especially after this conflict), are sort of a symbol of this is what happens when you don't stamp out evil, this is what happens when you do nothing to stop darkness from growing. You get Lolth — twisted, petty, whimsical, evil Lolth — and her drow, who suffer under her thumb but do whatever they have to in order please her and earn her favor.

When drow come up from the underground, he does not wait around for them to cause problems. He goes after them.

- "The Seldarine Revisited," Dragon Magazine #236, p. 13

Something of note is that in both #155 and #236, Araleth's aggressive stance makes him a favorite choice of adventurers (especially elven and half-elven).

- "The Elfin Gods," Dragon Magazine #155, p.20

- "The Seldarine Revisited," Dragon Magazine #236, p. 13

I can see why, especially if the adventure(s) in question is dedicated to fighting / eradicating some kind of evil, whatever that evil may be (physical or magical, big or small, world-ending or a threat to a small part of the world, etc). If you're chasing down evil, then yeah. Araleth would probably be a favorite pick for a deity — especially for an adventurer who is also a paladin or cleric.

Other gods, outside of the Seldarine, that he associates with are:

Seker

Frey

Xan Yae (WG)

Selune (FR)

Celestian (WG)

Seker and Frey, he associates with because they have similar objectives. I don't know who either Xan Yae or Celestian are because I don't read much of Greyhawk — I might have to come back to fix this part later after some more research. Selune, I'm guessing it's because they are both deities associated with the moon, but that might be bit of a stretch.

Also, something that I think is interesting is:

- "The Elfin Gods," Dragon Magazine #155, p.20 

It states here that he "frowns at any unnecessary usage of darkness spells." This isn't an odd stance for him to have because it actually makes sense since he is a god of light and as a god of light, he is naturally opposed to darkness — as I've stated before.

What's interesting though is that there seems to be an unspoken using a darkness spell is okay if it's (absolutely) necessary. My takeaway from that is Araleth might be understanding if a darkness spell is used in a situation that is dependent on someone dropping a darkness spell, a situation where it is absolutely necessary and vital that a darkness spell be used. Outside of that, not really. He will be displeased if a darkness spell is used all wily-nily, without good reason.

That's...actually pretty reasonable. It reminds me almost of Corellon's stance on the Shadow Weave — that it's too corrupt for elves — but not quite. Because Corellon gets angry if an elf so much as experiments with the damn thing while Araleth only seems to get angry if the use of a darkness spell is unnecessary. Again, this makes sense. It's understandable. This isn't either of them being a dick (I can't believe I'm saying that about Corellon). For Araleth, it's all about his opposition to darkness. For Corellon, it's because the Shadow Weave is literally a corrupting, harmful force of magic.

- Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd Edition, p. 57.

Corrupting, dangerous form of magic do not fucking touch.

With that bit of information? Yeah. Yeah. I think Corellon's anger in this instance is understandable.

Unlike the Shadow Weave, a darkness spell is not going to corrupt and/or injure the person casting it. At least I would hope not.

Moving on so that this doesn't become a tangent.

- "The Seldarine Revisited," Dragon Magazine #236, p. 13

Araleth is already doing infinitely better than Tethrin. Araleth gets his own holidays, unlike poor Tethrin.

Anyway. Reading this, I'm reminded of Corellon's holy days because Corellon's worshippers are also sacrificing objects of great beauty. The major difference is that this holy day happens monthly (it's a quarter moon holy day) whereas Araleth's (or at least this particular holy day) happens every spring equinox. It begs the question: is this common throughout the Seldarine? Does each and every one of the Seldarine have a holy day where beautiful items are sacrificed to them? That'd be kind of an interesting and I hope that eventually as I write more and more Seldarine-related posts I'll have the answer.

Curious. The text mentions that Araleth's clergy prefers to start their prayers at dusk because that's just about the time they can feel Araleth's presence in the heavens. I wonder if that's due to him being the Prince of Stars and The Twilight Rider. Or if it's something to do with him being a god of light in general.

That's just me speculating and trying to read between the lines beucase the article doesn't really say why.

Also is it only on his holy day(s) or just a general thing wrt to them feeling Araleth's presence in the heavens at dusk? I'm not sure but I'm going to hesitantly and cautiously choose the former. I don't know why but the former makes somewhat sense to me.

Furthermore, on holy days and when confined to the church, there seems to be some kind of dress code. The clergy is required to wear robes of white. However, outside of those time, they are free to wear whatever they want just as long as it isn't something dark in color:

- "The Seldarine Revisited," Dragon Magazine #236, p. 13

God of Light. Makes some kind of sense. Him and darkness doen't mix and that apparently extends to dark-colored cloth.

Good to know.

[internetreferenceibrary]

I played a pixie in a 2e campaign and they remain one of my favorite characters at all time. Yeah monster races weren't what you'd call "balanced" or "fair" but they had cool abilities that felt properly inhuman. Polymorph at will Invisible at will Three cantrips a day That's the 2e pixie ability set. I can still recite it over a dozen years later. Fuck yeah 2e.

yes it is true i have been dungeons and dragons DM for over three decades and still only play second edition. had great time talkin to RASCAL NEWS about the big time campaign i run and my thoughts on what makes a good role playing trot

[herecomesthementalmeltdown]

[artwheat]

getting to play the sequel to one of my favorite homebrew campaigns soon I’m sooooo excited

[fantastictalesofadventure]

When those PCs have low perception scores...

[probablyfunrpgideas]

The Sign of One is a wise and powerful faction of Sigil and they have operations across the infinite planes beyond. They are diplomats, fortune-tellers, translators, builders of great architecture - but not often explorers. You see, the Signers believe that they're imagining the universe into existence, so if they don't know about a place it must not exist, and if they do know about it, there's no point going there.

But strange times call for strange deeds. The Sign of One needs to beat their rivals, the Bleak Cabal, to a certain coordinate point on the Paraelemental Plane of Ice. There's something frozen there, the essence of a concept distilled and trapped in the glacier. Sources have conflicting ideas of what it might be, but they agree that the Signers aren't messing around. They've commissioned two drilling machines, built by the Doomguard and pulled by ice rhinos, to make this expedition possible. And to ensure that negative thoughts don't doom the crew, the craft are named S.S. Jollygood and S.S. Nicetime.

the royal navy was like for real though its fucking baller and not ironic at all that we sent these ships named [ancient god of darkness] and [most severe form of fear] to check out the last unexplored bit of a place that eats ships and doesn’t have sun for half the year i’m sure nothing bad will happen to them

[sitaart]

The Botanical Bestiary is a project I had the honor of being the artist for. It's a bunch of leshy miscreants who will try to destroy you, or possibly be adopted into your party as family. It's a bit of a toss up

The Botanical Bestiary is for Pathfinder 2e and D&D 5e. It contains: 

65 leshy monsters

10 leshy heritages  You can find it on DriveThruRPG here