#inspired by forgotten realms

[pixiemoonmagic]

Two dwarven adventurers enjoy some well-deserved respite. ⚔️💞🔮🪄

Inspired by Forgotten Realms & Lord of the Rings.

(5/11/2024)

[chronurgy]

Reading forgotten realms lore is just like [standard fantasy worldbuilding] [standard fantasy worldbuilding] [standard fantasy worldbuilding] [something really unique and interesting] [standard fantasy worldbuilding] [standard fantasy worldbuilding] [EXTREMELY WEIRD SEX THING] [standard fantasy worldbuilding] [standard fantasy worldbuilding]

Except for when it's like [standard fantasy worldbuilding] [EXTREMELY WEIRD SEX THING] [EXTREMELY WEIRD SEX THING] [EXTREMELY WEIRD SEX THING] [EXTREMELY WEIRD SEX THING] [EXTREMELY WEIRD SEX THING] [standard fantasy worldbuilding] [EXTREMELY WEIRD SEX THING]

[steamclouds]

Tar-like darkness swallowed any sliver of light, except for one. Across the room, lounged and with a dagger that stared back in shades of ruby and scarlet, two gray eyes found their way to any who dared cross their path.

close-up below:

[aldanil]

There was this chapter in Starless Night where Drizzt meet a unicorn and is all in awe about it, so I wished to draw it

Sweetest moment before the gloom

[banished-away]

[paradoxical-ataraxy]

Protect your energy.

[rollingtablesiguess]

Bad Bardic Results Rolling Table

When the bard fails to perform, something's gotta happen.

[shithowdy]

when your OC is both an artist and also a simp for an NPC you may someday find yourself having to do high-effort pieces solely for The Bit

(slightly fixed)

[inkboundsoulwhisper]

a goddamn illiterate

[void-botanist]

Sharran AU: The Gods Part 1

In this AU (which I will probably come up with a better name for later, but I'm really excited to share it) I'm reconstructing the gods and the storyline of Baldur's Gate 3. I think the gods of the Sword Coast should be weirder, and the storyline should really make use of that. This first post is for the most important gods in this AU, which also happen to be the most important ones in BG3, for the most part.

This post contains vague spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3 below the cut.

Shar: the goddess of shadow, loss, darkness, night (and sleep), forgetting, shades, and opportunity. (Why opportunity? When one potential path is lost, another opens. To gain, you must sometimes lose. Without that loss, how can you find your way?) Unlike her twin sister Selûne, she is frequently seen in human form, which is why her temples are full of statues of her. She is often considered a petulant, petty goddess, which is true. But she is not particularly cruel or evil, no more than her sister. Despite her misgivings at the beginning of the world, she's come around to the idea of having living beings about, and isn't interested in getting rid of them anymore. Instead, she provides them aid that Selûne could never give them, such as taking away their painful memories of loss, which she then integrates into herself. People often turn to Shar when Selûne's so-called "healing" fails to address their emotional and spiritual ills. All Sharrans have had some memory removed—they get to choose which ones. They also all have scar-like markings on their bodies that represent their commitment to forgetting, and what kind of thing they forgot.

Selûne: the goddess of the moon, the sun, the stars (and navigation), heat, light, lycanthropes, and commitment. (Why commitment? In the real D&D lore, one of her past domains was marriage. But drawing from this classic post about the moon and Earth, I think it makes more sense to have her be the goddess of steadfast commitments of all kinds. The only exception is commitments to other gods, because she will not interfere with those processes.) Though she is sometimes represented in human form in art, her natural forms are strange to most mortals, and she has found that they'd rather not see her real human form. Eyes alone are enough, hence the way she is represented on her crest. Many consider her a peaceful, stable goddess, and her personality trends that way, but her power can equally be used for harm: heat and light can be extremely dangerous, the sun can damage mortals irreparably, and there are many bad commitments to be made in life. Selûnite clergy and Selûne's favored have golden cracks on their bodies, but all of her faithful develop cracks here and there.

Ievaal: known as Bhaal in D&D lore, Ievaal is the god/dess of murder, the hunt, and ritual killing. She has three forms: the Slayer, a humanlike form that wears the raw flesh of its enemies as clothing; the Hunter, a velociraptor-like form that always catches its prey; and the Priest, a gnarled form that vaguely resembles a human but is unknowable under its cloak. His believers, who double as clergy when needed, typically follow one of his three forms, and he has two Chosen: one to bring together the clergy, and one that is best at killing and his favorite. Ievaal considers their gender to be shapeshifter, which is to say all genders, and none of them. It is most often called a deity, but god/dess is also acceptable. Those who follow her are granted the ability to shapeshift, though many can only master one or two forms.

Myrkul: the deity of souls, bones, and the liminal space between life and death. They are not the deity of death as a concept—that's Kelemvor's domain—but of death as a process, of something that happens to most beings eventually and requires the collection of their souls. Their most common form is a lavishly decorated assortment of bones of all kinds formed into a loose humanlike shape. Most claim that the bones change every time they take this form, and they neither confirm nor deny it. They are more withdrawn from the affairs of mortals than Bane and Ievaal, but counts them among their staunchest allies. They are not worshipped so much as remembered.

Bane: the god of power and tyranny. He generally appears as a figure of shadow with two ruby and black crystal gauntlets. Because of this, much to Shar's chagrin, he is sometimes called the Lord of Darkness. He has no fully corporeal form and is known to possess mortals to do his bidding, granting them magical armor crafted of his own shadowy essence. His primary goal in life is to cause trouble and sow discord to put himself at the top, something his right hand Ievaal is only too pleased to assist with. His rigidly structured clergy can be recognized by the red teardrop shapes on the backs of their hands.

Mystra: the goddess of magic. She acts as a conduit between the Weave, the substance of magic that permeates the universe, and spellcasters, partly to prevent them from casting magic that is too dangerous and partly to prevent them from being overwhelmed by the Weave. Her normal form looks like a human-size doll, held together at the joints with shifting threads of magic that weave together—the Weave itself. She boasts a wide variety of clergy and adherents, who are gifted slightly increased access to the Weave that tends to make their eyelashes or fingernails turn Weave-like.

Riodda: known as Oghma in D&D lore, Riodda is the deity of learning, ideas, knowledge, and bees. Her main form blurs the line between human and insect—she has the fluffy clawed arms of a bumblebee, but ten of them, as well as a set of compound eyes set next to her human ones and two long antennae. Bees of all kinds, but especially bumblebees, are considered her messengers that report new information back to her in her study. She, too, is always busy learning something new or playing music. Her faithful typically have six dots on one or both ears, representing both the six feet of a bee and the necessity of listening.

Lathander: the god of the dawn and beginnings. He typically appears as a human, though the details of that human have changed through the ages. The one thing they all have in common is that they are very tall and have a laugh that can be heard for miles. He frequently does not bother to mark his faithful because they do that themselves, adorning themselves with gold jewelry and tattoos in his image.

Jergal: the god of fate and the end of everything. He has always looked impossibly old and lich-like. For the most part, he has no adherents, and is not even considered to be a god by most, not since the ascension of the Dead Three, Ievaal, Bane, and Myrkul. He's still kicking, though, and those he resurrects slowly acquire a set of tally marks along an arm. Enough deaths and resurrections would lead to a full body's worth of tallies.

Aylin: a goddess in her own right, but she focuses on being Selûne's Chosen rather than ruling over a domain and believers. She is the daughter of Selûne and Shar, though she rarely acknowledges Shar's parenthood. She was created in the midst of one of Shar and Selûne's early fights when Selûne used a bit of her own essence to knock out a bit of Shar's essence, and that combined essence formed into Aylin. Aylin chose her first mother as her true mother and deity, though she can't deny she has aspects of Shar as well.

bg3 taglist: @multi-lefaiye @theskeletonprior @kk7-rbs

[tabletopresources]

by Andrii SHAFETOV

Check out Tabletop Gaming Resources for more art, tips, and tools for your game!

[sunflower-bardic-inspiration]

Everyone at the table choosing classes: "Bards? Pfft, just jokes and seduction."

Meanwhile, my bard:

Level 2: Sweet-talked a socially awkward necromancer into freeing her friend, an elven sorcerer who accidentally got trapped in the soul stone because of curiosity (argh, mages!). Not a single weapon drawn😌

Level 5: After surviving cannibals’ attack and rolling a 29 Performance check (+10 modifier😁), strolls up to one of them. The dude looks like he's about to faint.

DM:They're convinced you are demonically possessed now.

Next turn:

DM: Okay, your turn. What do you do?

Me: (Holding a piece of their dead friend's brain, hissing and coughing, with illusory tentacles decorating hair and ears): “Fooood… Eat it.”

Cannibal: sobs with scared eyes, then eats it anyway.

[sanctamater]

fantasy canada beloved when is ur release date

[steamclouds]

Tell me all you've ever known, and when you believe there's no more, tell me again. Let me know you like you know the universe.

my arcane trickster tav Voradras and Gale, sharing a moment of magic

[eelslippers]

I so desperately want to run a fall out inspired oceanfaring campaign set in a world based on 1950's scandinavia with some eldritch horrors inspired from terraria

[inspirational-places]