Half-Gnoll

Half-Gnoll.
The vicious gnoll, the hyena headed monster of the desert and plains. Through rape, or demonic ritual they have spread their seed into human hosts, the results being the chaotic half-gnoll.
half-gnoll traits
Ability score increase: +2 strength
Alignment: a half-gnoll tends toward chaos and evil though some strive to exemplify the opposite traits
Size: half-gnolls are relatively the same size as humans if not a little differently proportioned, your size is medium
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet
Darkvision: your gnoll heritage grants you 60 feet of darkvision, you see in dim light as if it is normal light and darkness as if it is dim light. in darkness you cannot dicern color

Languages: you can speak common and gnoll, gnoll is a guttural language with varied barks and noises, it is written in dwarvish script

Half-gnoll sub-races

Pack Lord Heritage

You are descended from a gnoll chieftain, this gives you increased endurance and more command in battle
Ability Score Increase: +1 constitution
You gain proficiency with martial weapons.

Fang of Yugoth Heritage

You are decended from a Chosen of Yugoth, this gives you better ability to commune with others and grants you some magical prowess
Ability Score Increase: +1 charisma
Yugoth's blessing: Yugoth's blessing on you grants one warlock cantrip of your choice,
charisma is your spellcasting ability for it.

The Gods

The surviving deities of the godswar.

Aray: The lawful good god of justice.
Domain: War

One of the oldest gods in existence, he ascended at the same time as civilization.
He is the one who gave laws and a sense of justice to the world. He battles the forces of Belo and Arom in the Cosmos, and works to keep another godswar from happening again.

Aray betrothed to Sereneth, the goddess of healing and life and is allies with Nem, god of knowledge.







Arom: The lawful evil god of war and subjugation.
Domain: War

The brother of Aray, Arom seeks but one thing, power. His goal is to be the undisputed ruler of the pantheon. In pursuit of that goal, he has enlisted the service of Belo, the goddess of murder and assassins.
He is powered by strife, and turmoil, and human misery.

He is allied with Mykeheth, the god of death.





Belo: The chaotic evil goddess of murder and madness.
Domain: Death

The unwanted daughter of Mykeheth and Sahran, Belo is as insane as she is murderous. She covets both of her parents domains and places in the pantheon, and she will do anything to usurp them, even to work with her Uncle Arom.

She was the most visible during the godswar, teleporting to random locations and villages, killing hundreds with dagger and spell, and corrupting the ones she thought would be the most humorous. A halfling village; an abbey of Serenethi clergy, she sows chaos in her wake.





Eadros: The neutral god of time and water
Domain: Nature

Nobody knows just how ancient Eadros actually is. Depicted as a whirling mass of tentacles, eyes, waves, and clocks, the deity is uncaring, and cares only about the circle of existence turning. Any deviation from the time stream, and it knows.

It is not above enslaving mortals and hurtling them through time to correct a mistake or transgression.

Sages say Eadros always has been, and always will be, a fixed point in time. Whenever anyone communicates with it (on any plane, at any time), it is the same moment for Eadros.



Mykeheth: The neutral evil god of death
Domain: Death

Twin brother of Sereneth, Mykeheth is death incarnate. He enjoys it, and will often hum or sing to himself while he culls souls. He plots to snuff out the living, and will grant prayers to any cleric who shares his goal. He is the god of necromancers, the god of the undead.

He often visits the material plane in the form of a crow, and sits on or near battlefields, soaking in the power of death.









Narahara: The chaotic neutral goddess of decay and renewal.
Domains: Death and Life and Nature

More Archfey than goddess, she nevertheless grants prayers. Not much is known about Narahara, only that she is neither part of the Summer or Winter Courts of the Fey.

She may just be the most powerful deity in the pantheon, but it seems like she just doesn't care about politics, or anything at all. She is often depicted as a hedonist, drinking, smoking, and having relations with multiple partners as beings die and others come to life behind her.

She is goddess of the cycle of life.




Nem: Lawful Neutral god of Knowledge.
Domain: Knowledge.

The god of libraries, of tomes, of learning, and knowledge. He is the one who introduced reading, writing, even language the moral races. Without him, Aray could never have created the laws and ideals of justice.

He is not afraid where knowledge leads, and finds censorship abhorrent.









Ost: The neutral god of magic.
Domain: Knowledge

Ost was the son of Bahumat, patron god of dragons. He is the keeper of the tapestry that keeps all magic flowing. Without him, magic would unravel, the world would crumble, and crystallize.

He is depicted as a humanoid dragon, and the dragonborn look up to him as their creator. He is not, of course, but he is far too apathetic to correct them.

He grants spells to any cleric of any alignment, granted they can cast arcane spells.








Sahran: The chaotic good goddess of trickery.
Domain: Trickery

The mother of Belo, and the goddess of bards, rogues, and tricksters and good natured liars everywhere. She is ashamed of her birthing of Belo, but more importantly the trickery she pulled to bed Mykeheth, just to prove that she could.

She could.

Since then, she has done everything in her power to thwart the plots of Mykeheth, Arom, and Belo. She is the patron goddess of forest elves and gnomes.






Sereneth: The neutral good goddess of life and light
Domans: Life and Light

The twin sister of Mykeheth, she is bethrothed to Aray. She actively works against Mykeheth and Arom.

She is the one who created the Aasimar race, as she saw that tieflings were entering the world through the wombs of the clergy of Mykeheth and Belo.

She is kind, good natured, and slow to anger, though she burns with the fury of a hundred sons when her temper is lost.

Heldren and the Feral Halflings

During the godswar, Beloquin (known here as Belo) the goddess of Murder and Madness descended upon the idyllic halfling village of Heldren. In the waning days of the chaos, she corrupted them utterly. The entire village is now a roiling pit of violence and depravity, any being foolish enough to venture near the town is killed, raped, skinned, and eaten, not necessarily in that order.

Many of the citizens are barbarians, though it is rumored that some warlocks, beholden to some fiend, walk among them.

The town is chaotic, with no central government, and travelers are warned off by signs of carnage and some sun bleached wooden signs, erected by those who narrowly escaped death at the hands of this child-sized murderers.

Most of the halflings file their teeth into sharp points, and make weapons out of the bones of their human victims. Elven females are prized as a delicacy.

Warpaint, made of the abdominal blood of their victims streak their foreheads and cheeks, and they dress in human leather armor.

A Brief History

                                                            A Brief History:
                     (All years coincide with the Calendar of the Asandari Republic)

Dzyun

815- Explorers from Asandar discover a new landmass, and found the first colony of Dasaran.


820- Skirmishes against the orcs and gnolls of the Lusin Desert increase. The god Arom grows in
power with the conflict.


821- The colony of Meghadrel is founded. The Dwarves are discoverd. There are brief battles, but then trade is established.

825- Dazhan is founded as a unified human and dwarven city.

830- Dataran is founded on Lake Nar. It is pronounced as Jewel of the Arryut. Argav is fouded as a wizard college.

840- Dasaran pushes the orcs back into the desert, the orcs retaliate by performing a ritual that rains fire from the sky, turning much of Dasaran to ash. Orc necromancers chain the spirits of the citizens to the ruins.

842- Aghet is founded on the southern coast of Lake Nar.

845- Elves make themselves known in Mihrwood. Seeing this, the gnomes also emerge from hiding, introducing humans to the worship of Sahran.

850- Orcs finally subjegate the goblins and gnolls, amassing an army. Five towers of onyx are erected in the Lusin Desert, burning with eldritch energy.

851- Tsurak, a half orc eldritch knight rises as a new warlord of the orcs, backed by a cabal of of orc warlocks and clerics. They march to war, several villages in the Otsmater Hills are quickly torched.

852- What comes to be known as simply the Orc War begins.

859- The Orc War ends with the deaths of Tsurak and his council. Arom snatches Tsurak's soul and reshapes him as His Herald.

870- Khurmastan is founded.

875- Dataran is pronounced as capital of the new landmass, delcares independence from the Asandari Republic.

878- A warlock and wizard begin to investigate Dasaran. The warlock, Gerezmon declares himself the King of Ghosts. The wizard, Dzyun, begins enslaving the ghosts of Dasaran for his master.

880- Khurmastan becomes famous for its wines and fruits.

888- Gerezmon and Dzyun make a pact with the remaining orc necromancers. Thousands of gnolls and goblins are killed, and then raised as ghulls (zombies).

890- The Lusin Desert's sand turns gray with necrotic energy. Wizards of Agrav go to investigate.

892- The god Aray makes himself known to a warrior. The first Paladin is made.

894- The Order of the Argent Flame is created, a group of Paladins of Aray and clerics of Sereneth. Their influence spreads quickly.

895- A base of operations is erected by the wizards of Argav on the border of the Lusin Desert.

903- Dzyun randomly teleports hundreds of goblin ghulls into Dataran, Dazhan, Khurmastan, and Meghadrel. They are eventually destroyed, but the casualties are high.

904- The Order of the Argent Flame and wizards of Argav join together to form the Silver Dawn and erect a fortress in the Lusin Desert. A group of Paladins, Clerics, and Wizards set out to find the necromancer responsible for the massacre of 903.

905- The battle of Dsaran ends with the death of Dzyun. Gerezmon secretly raises him as a wraith.

907- The godswar begins with the Second Coming of the Serpent.

930- The godswar ends when the god Bahamut sacrfices itself in the Vaskar Forest. The goddess Belo (known as Beloquin in the Asandari Republic) corrupts a village of halflings. They are now know as feral halflings, or simply as "the feral".

950- The wraith Dzyun has an underground citadel built beneath Dasaran. It searches for the ancient text The Mysteries of the Worm, a book authored by the mad mage Asmed. Aasimar, Dragonborn, and Tieflings, along with sorcerers begin to be born across the land.

960- Gerezmon disguises himself as an old wizard of Asandar and sets up himself up as an advisor to King Aeldrid of Meghadrel.

970- King Aeldrid, driven mad by Gerezmon and Gerezmon's patron begins a reign of terror.

972- Dataran sends troops to Meghadrel. Aeldrid is slain. Gerezmon escapes but in secret transforms Aeldrid into a Death Knight.

975- Meghadrel is abandoned. The cults of Mykeheth and Belo quickly move in.

980- An ancient black dragon awakens in the Vaskar. This is followed by other dragons awakening.

985- Dragonborn of evil intent flock to the Chromatic Dragons, while good aligned Dragonborn feel only revulsion.

1003- Current year.

Aasimar

 

Created from the divine fires of the godswar, the Aasimar are paragons of justice and virtue. Born almost exclusively to priests and priestesses of Sereneth and Aray, they are a newer race, and along with the dragonborn, the genasi, and the tieflings, there is much debate if this is the way the world is going.

Ability Score Increase: Your Wisdom score increases by 1, and your Charisma score increases by 2.
Age: Aasimar mature at the same rate as humans but live a few years longer.
Alignment. Due to their celestial heritage, aasimar are often good. However, some aasimar fall into evil, rejecting their heritage.
Size: Aasimar are built like well-proportioned humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Thanks to your celestial heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Celestial Resistance. You have resistance to necrotic damage and radiant damage.
Celestial Legacy. You know the light cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the lesser restoration spell once with this trait, and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Once you reach 5th level, you can cast the daylight spell once with this trait as a 3rd-level spell, and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Celestial.

The Genasi

 

Born of the elemental turmoil of the godswar, Genasi come in five distinct subraces. Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and Void.   

Ability Score Increase: Your Constitution score increases by 2. 

Age: Genasi mature at about the same rate as humans and reach adulthood in their late teens. They live somewhat longer than humans do, up to 120 years. 

Alignment: Independent and self-reliant, genasi tend toward a neutral alignment. 

Size: Genasi are as varied as their mortal parents but are generally built like humans, standing anywhere from 5 feet to over 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium. 

Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Primordial. Primordial is a guttural language, filled with harsh syllables and hard consonants. 

Subraces: 

Air Genasi 

As an air genasi, you are descended from the djinn. As changeable as the weather, your moods shift from calm to wild and violent with little warning, but these storms rarely last long. Air genasi

typically have light blue skin, hair, and eyes. A faint but constant breeze accompanies them, tousling the hair and stirring the clothing. Some air genasi speak with breathy voices, marked by a faint echo. A few display odd patterns in their flesh or grow crystals from their scalps.

Ability Score Increase: Your Dexterity score increases by 1. 

Unending Breath. You can hold your breath indefinitely while you’re not incapacitated. 

Mingle with the Wind. You can cast the levitate spell once with this trait, requiring no material components, and you regain the ability to cast it this way when you finish a long rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for this spell.  

Earth Genasi 

 As an earth genasi, you are descended from the cruel and greedy dao, though you aren’t necessarily evil. You have inherited some measure of control over earth, reveling in superior strength and solid power. You tend to avoid rash decisions, pausing long enough to consider your options before taking action. Elemental earth manifests differently from one individual to the next. Some earth genasi always have bits of dust falling from their bodies and mud clinging to their clothes, never getting

clean no matter how often they bathe. Others are as shiny and polished as gemstones, with skin tones of deep brown or black, eyes sparkling like agates. Earth genasi can also have smooth metallic flesh, dull iron skin spotted with rust, a pebbled and rough hide, or even a coating of tiny embedded crystals. The most arresting have fissures in their flesh, from which faint light shines.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 1. 

Earth Walk. You can move across difficult terrain made of earth or stone without expending extra movement. 

Merge with Stone. You can cast the pass without trace spell once with this trait, requiring no material components, and you regain the ability to cast it this way when you finish a long rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Fire Genasi 

As a fire genasi, you have inherited the volatile mood and keen mind of the efreet. You tend toward impatience and making snap judgments. Rather than hide your distinctive appearance, you exult in it. Nearly all fire genasi are feverishly hot as if burning inside, an impression reinforced by flaming red, coalblack, or ash-gray skin tones. The more human-looking have fiery red hair that writhes under extreme emotion, while more exotic specimens sport actual flames dancing on their heads. Fire genasi voices might sound like crackling flames, and their eyes flare when angered. Some are accompanied by the faint scent of brimstone. 

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1. 

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. Your ties to the Elemental Plane of Fire make your darkvision unusual: everything you see in darkness is in a shade of red. 

Fire Resistance. You have resistance to fire damage. 

Reach to the Blaze. You know the produce flame cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the burning hands spell once with this trait as a 1st-level spell, and you regain the ability to cast it this way when you finish a long rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Water Genasi 

The lapping of waves, the spray of sea foam on the wind, the ocean depths—all of these things call to your heart. You wander freely and take pride in your independence, though others might consider you selfish. Most water genasi look as if they just finished bathing, with beads of moisture collecting on their skin and hair. They smell of fresh rain and clean water. Blue or green skin is common, and most have somewhat overlarge eyes, blue-black in color. A water genasi’s hair might float freely, swaying and waving as if underwater. Some have voices with undertones reminiscent of whale song or

trickling streams.

Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1. 

Acid Resistance. You have resistance to acid damage. 

Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. Swim. You have a swimming speed of 30 feet. 

Call to the Wave. You know the shape water cantrip  When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the create or destroy water spell as a 2nd-level spell once with this trait, and you regain the ability to cast it this way when you finish a long rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Void Genasi

Born from the entropic energy of the Forogtten One, Void Genasi have inherited a corruption from the vacuum. Those touched by the void tend to be impartial towards others, but hedonistic and selfish, taking any advantage and pleasure given to them. Void genasi have dark black, almost jet black, skin, smoky hair that seems to float of its own accord. In some rare cases, runes of black light etch their skin.

Ability Score Increase: Your Dexterity score increases by 1
Empty Mind. You have advantage on saving throws against psychic attacks, and you have resistace against psychic damage.
One with Nothing: When you are dealt damage, you can use your reaction to enter the void until the beginning of your next turn. While within the Void, you cannot take any actions and cannot be targeted. At the beginning of your next turn, you return to your position before you entered the Void, or as close to it as possible. Once you use this feature, you cannot use t again until you finish a long rest.

The Shifter and the Changeling

The Shifter:

Shifters are descended from humans and lycanthropes. Although they cannot fully change to animal form, they can take on animalistic features by a process they call shifting.
As a shifter, you have the following racial traits. 
Ability Score Increase: Your Dexterity score increases by 1. 
Size: Shifters are about the same size as humans. Your size is Medium. 
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.  
Darkvision: Your lycanthropic heritage grants you the ability to see in dark conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. 
Shifting: On your turn, you can shift as a bonus action. Shifting lasts for 1 minute or until you end it on your turn as a bonus action.  While shifting, you gain temporary hit points equal to your level + your Constitution bonus (minimum of 1). You also gain a feature that depends on your shifter subrace, described below.  You must finish a short or long rest before you can shift again. 
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan. 
Subrace: Several subraces of shifter exist, each with its own animalistic features. Choose one of the options below.

Beasthide: As a beasthide shifter, you are especially tough and persistent in battle.  Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1.  Shifting Feature. While shifting, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
Cliffwalk: Your cliffwalk heritage grants you the agility of a mountain goat.  Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.  Shifting Feature. While shifting, you gain a climb speed of 30 feet.
Longstride: Longstride shifters are fleet and elusive.  Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.  Shifting Feature. While shifting, you can use the Dash action as a bonus action.
Longtooth: As a longtooth shifter, you are a ferocious combatant.  Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 1.  Shifting Feature. While shifting, you can make a bite attack as an action. This is a melee weapon attack that uses Strength for its attack roll and damage bonus and deals 1d6 piercing damage. If this attack hits a target that is your size or smaller, the target is also grappled.
Razorclaw: As a razorclaw shifter, you make swift, slashing strikes in battle.  Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.  Shifting Feature. While shifting, you can make an unarmed strike as a bonus action. You can use your Dexterity for its attack roll and damage bonus, and this attack deals slashing damage.
Wildhunt: Your wildhunt heritage makes you a consummate tracker and survivor.  Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.  Shifting Feature. While shifting, you gain advantage on all Wisdom-based checks and saving throws.

The Changeling: 

Changelings are subtle shapeshifters capable of disguising their appearance. Their ability to adopt other creatures’ guises makes them consummate spies and criminals.  As a changeling, you have the

following racial traits. 
Ability Score Increase: Your Dexterity and Charisma scores increase by 1. 
Size: Changelings are built much like humans, but a little leaner. Your size is Medium. 
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet. 
Duplicity: You gain proficiency in the Deception skill. 
Shapechanger: As an action, you can polymorph into any humanoid of your size that you have seen, or back into your true form. However, your equipment does not change with you. If you die, you revert to your natural appearance.  
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice




Reprinted here without permission. http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/unearthed-arcana-eberron

Common Creatures

Welcome

The Verdant Blight
A Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Path

 

The Mihrwood has stood for ages. 

Housing ancient cities of elves and gnomes, it has provided shelter, lumber, and food for countless generations. No longer. The forest, or some entity in it, is fighting back. 

Hunters have gone missing. Fruit, once plentiful and delicious is deadly poison. The trees and roots themselves hunger for blood. 

At the heart of it all seems to be the fey.