Aftermath

And so winter has come and the murderhobos are waiting it out in Mamucium for spring and more importantly, when all us players have time again for a weekly game. For those who have been wondering where all the action took place. Mamucium is where Manchester is now, Deva is Chester and most of the wilderness action took place in what is now the nearby Peaks District. Ashrak resided at the Dark Peak and the stone giant at White Peak respectively.

Using real world locations and a loose interpretation of historical events gives players in-built knowledge from the get go without having to peruse what are often not very exciting screeds of lore for the game. The lore is there, the players knew where the towns were, what the Wall was, what people sort of dressed like and part of one of the underlying problems. The dwarves are abandoning Brittania and leaving the area ripe for chaotic incursions. Orcs, elves, aboleths, mind flayers and finally, humans. In other words, an ideal adventuring environment.

It seems we will be resuming in February. The cast may be a little different and so I present today the playable species. Note that no species except Tieflings have darkvision.

Dwarves: Abbathor’s children, the dwarves have established an empire analogous to that of Rome. Dwarves are Romans. Of course, the dwarven empire is in decline and beset by strife. The mountain dwarves are the military caste with hill dwarves being the commoners.

Elves: Correlon’s children. Literally for high elves. Each High elf is a special creation of Correlon with Wood elves being their subsequent descendants. High Elves are thus rare and often seldom leave Hibernia. They are the aristocracy of the elven courts, the most powerful and ancient being the fey lords themselves.

Low Elves (Half elves): It was said that elf and dwarf are incompatible and such unions cannot produce offspring. However in some forgotten time this somehow happened and their descendants muddied the waters further by being compatible with both elf and dwarf. Low elves typically retain mainly elven features but can be quite varied as the dwarven traits come to the fore here and there. Low elves are the most common people of Britannia, formerly a subject race, the decline of dwarven influence may mean a time where they can forge their own destiny.

Halflings. Yondalla's children and the first of the smaller sentient races.. Halflings have been shunted aside, displaced or enslaved by the larger peoples. It is their skill with agriculture and growing food that makes them tolerated at all, if only as slaves and serfs. Halflings are thus good at hiding and one may often find a halfling community tucked away in some forgotten, hard to reach area.

Orcs. The wild children of Gruumsh. They exist mainly to bring pain to the Elves although they will make war on others as they also delight in battle. Orcish by-blows abound in lands afflicted by them and orc blood can resurface at any time. Half orcs are everywhere.

Gnomes: Natives of Hibernia. Some say they were originally halflings that have changed from dwelling in the fey realms. Gnomes are strange, weird, little monsters. Many have not seen a gnome and will mistake them for a strange halfling.

Dragonborn and Tieflings: Somewhere in your family tree was either a fiend or a dragon and you are the strange monstrous result. People will fear and hate you. Or maybe worship you, thinking favour with you equates to favour with dark and draconic powers. Only dragonborn and tieflings have darkvision of all the races.

Hobgoblin: The exotic and martial peoples of the east. Hobgoblin society is Persian in nature. While the Dwarven and Hobgoblin empires are at war there is also trade and adventurers venture into each other’s lands. A Hobgoblin in Britannia is uncommon but not as remarkable as a Dragonborn, Tiefling or even a gnome.

Hobgoblin Characters
Languages: A hobgoblin adventurer will know Hobgoblin, Dwarven and one other language.

A hobgoblin is from a very militant society. Hobgoblins tend to Lawfulness and disdain Chaos.

Attributes: +1 to Str, Dex and Con. One of these is +2.

Martial training. Choose three weapons. You may be proficient in these weapons.

Armour training: Improve your armour proficiency by one step. All hobgoblins are proficient in shields.

Martial advantage: If an ally is using the same weapon as you, you are both proficient in the weapon and you are fighting the same opponent then you may claim advantage to the arttack roll.

Suspicious of magic: All hobgoblins fear the power of Mystra. Any known mage has advantage to intimidate them. Likewise they are at disadvantage to intimidate back.

Lizardmen: In many of the swamps and fens of Brittania dwell tribes of lizardmen. Whether they are the degenerate offspring of dragonborn or some strange species of a forgotten god is unknown. Lizardmen are unfamiliar with the trappings of civilisation but do excel in surviving where others do not.

Lizardmen Characters

Lizardmen are wild, swamp dwellers and primitive by the standards of the other species. 
Attributes: +2 Str, +1 Wis.
Heavy scales. A lizardman's natural AC is 12. If wearing armour then use the AC of the armour worn.
Survivors. Lizardmen have the Survival proficiency.
Bite Attack: Lizardmen may bite when in melee either as the main attack or as a second weapon. A lizard bite counts as a finesse weapon and does 1d6 piercing damage.
Languages: Lizardmen adventurers will know Draconic and Dwarven.

Ghouls: Dwelling beneath Deva is a society of Ghouls. They are dangerous, feral creatures but lucid and capable of reason and they may not eat everyone they meet. It goes without saying that all right thinking sentient beings will slay a ghoul on sight. Even a single ghoul is a potential extinction event. 

Ghoul Characters

Attributes: -2 Wis. -1 to one other characteristic.
Undead: A ghoul cannot be slept, frightened or poisoned. Being already dead they are resistant to necrotic damage but vulnerable to radiant damage. A ghoul need not breathe. A ghoul is also resistant to healing magic and the divinity providing the healing spell may flat out refuse to heal the ghoul.
Ghoulish touch. A ghoul may strike with it's claws or bite. Claws/Bite do d6 damage and may paralyse the victim as per the monster manual.
Ghoulish feeding. A ghoul may eat carrion. A good feeding equivalent to a human forelimb is sufficient to allow a ghoul to expend it's hit dice for healing. This is the only way for aghoul to recover hp using Hit Dice.
Already dead. A ghoul does not die when reduced to 0 hp unless felled by radiant or fire damage. It will instead fall unconscious.
Create ghoul. A victim slain by a ghoul's natural weapons may rise as a ghoul the next night. If not blessed the character makes a final Wis saving throw DC 13. If failed they rise as a ghoul.
Feared by all. Ghouls are at disadvantage to any social checks except intimidation.


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