Here, I’ll be posting some bare-bones RPG mechanics as samples of my work. For the time being, the only stuff I’ll have here is for the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons.
Wealdyrn
(I’m starting out with a race writeup, as this is one of my favorite aspects of fantasy game design. With the wealdyrn, I’m going for a sort of “horned hunter” vibe, for players interested in a primal hero, attuned to nature and its rhythms.)
Children of the some of the most primal expanses of the Feywild, wealdyrn hold to customs as ancient as those of the eladrin, though their ways are—to the thinking of most folk, anyway—perhaps somewhat rougher and more archaic. As the wealdyrn see things, however, they are simply more closely in touch with the essential nature of the Feywild, preserving ways long lost to those who consider themselves “civilized.”
Wealdyrn tend to be tall and lean, built for swiftness in the hunt. All, regardless of gender, sport antlers, and their hair (and facial hair, for those who can grow it) has the consistency and general appearance of long strands of moss—various shades of green for most, though some instead sport hue of orange, yellow, red, gray, blue, or purple—thick where it grows from the skin, becoming wispy as it gets long. Their skin color ranges from that of pale cut wood, to the deepest brown of bark, to the green of young leaves. Their eyes might be any of the colors found among humans or elves, though their irises have a pearlescent quality. It is also common for wealdyrn to adorn themselves with pigments, painting their bodies and faces with spirals and whorls, abstract figures of beasts and the hunt, or whatever else holds significance for them.
Wealdyrn Traits
Your wealdyrn character has the following racial traits:
Ability Score Increase When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one of those scores by 2 and a different score by 1.
Age Wealdyrn mature at roughly the same rate as humans and have lifespans comparable to dwarves.
Alignment Wealdyrn have a general tendency toward neutrality, and they specifically lean away from both evil and law, preferring a “live and let live” approach to existence.
Size Wealdyrn tend to be quite tall, standing between six-and-a-half and seven feet in height (even before their antlers, which can add another foot or more), with wiry, athletic builds. Your size is Medium.
Fey Your creature type is fey rather than humanoid.
Darkvision Hailing as you do from the deepest and most primeval forests of the Feywild, 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.
Primal Nature You know the druidcraft cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the hunter’s mark spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the summon beast spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells (choose when you gain this lineage).
Ways of the Wild You have proficiency in the Survival skill, as well as your choice of either the Athletics skill or herbalism kit.
Languages Your character can read, speak, and write Common and Sylvan.
Legacy of Acheron
(I’m a big fan of hobgoblins and I figured I’d like to see them get some love on the racial feats front. I created this feat specifically as an exercise in making something that seemed roughly balanced to the extant racial feats.)
Prerequisite: Hobgoblin
Your lineage is an old one among hobgoblins, once (and perhaps still) favored by Maglubiyet. You gain the following benefits:
● Increase your Strength or Charisma by 1, to a maximum of 20. ● You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill if you do not already have it. Additionally, you gain expertise with that skill, which means your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with it. (Note that you may not also benefit from a feature, such as Expertise, which doubles your proficiency bonus for Intimidation, either when you gain this feat or later.) ● You have resistance to cold and fire damage.
Littlest Dragon
(I love kobolds most of all among what’s traditionally thought of as the “monstrous” races of Dungeons & Dragons. I wanted to give them a racial feat of their own that plays to their strengths and makes them feel roughly as “draconic” as dragonborn. Naturally, nothing accomplishes that latter quite like a breath weapon, though I wanted it to feel at least somewhat distinct from the dragonborn’s breath weapon, so I figured I’d give it a little more flexibility [as a bonus action], while also making it significantly weaker [shorter range and d6 damage, rather than d10].)
Prerequisite: Kobold
You are small but fierce, a descendant of dragons. You gain the following benefits:
● The range of your darkvision increases to 120 feet. ● Once per turn, when attacking with advantage, you can reroll any roll of 1 on the damage dice, but you must use the new roll, even if it is another 1. ● As a bonus action on your turn, you can exhale a breath weapon of magical energy (inflicting one of the following forms of damage, chosen when you gain this feat: acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant, or thunder) that takes the form of either a 10-foot cone or a 20-foot line that is 5 feet wide. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus). On a failed save, the creature takes 1d6 damage of the type specified. On a successful save, it takes half as much damage. This damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6). You can use your Breath Weapon a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Statblocks
(These all come from my most recent 5e campaign, which was set in the Silver Marches of the Forgotten Realms. Some are modifications of existing statblocks, while some were more or less crafted whole-cloth.)
Gutsplitter Large giant (ogrillon), CE Armor Class 18 (scale mail and shield) Hit Points 120 Speed: 30 ft. Str 21 (+5) Dex 14 (+2) Con 17 (+3) Int 10 (+0) Wis 12 (+1) Cha 12 (+1) Saving Throws Str +8, Con +6 Skills Intimidation +4 Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11 Languages Common, Giant, Orc Challenge 6 (2,300 XP) Actions Multiattack. Gutsplitter makes three melee attacks: two with his battleaxe and one shield bash. Battleaxe. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8 + 6) slashing damage. Shield Bash (Recharge 5-6). Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d4 + 5) bludgeoning damage and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be shoved 10 ft. and knocked prone.
Living Shadow Blade Medium construct, unaligned Armor Class 15 (natural armor) Hit Points 15 Speed: 25 ft., fly 25 ft. Str 10 (0) Dex 12 (+1) Con 16 (+3) Int 3 (-3) Wis 6 (-2) Cha 6 (-2) Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks Damage Immunities psychic Condition Immunitiesblinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, grappled, poisoned, prone Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8 Languages -- Challenge 1 (200 XP) Amorphous. The living spell can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. Magic Resistance. The living spell has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Actions Magical Strike.Melee Spell Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) psychic damage. Spell Mimicry (Recharge 5–6). The living spell weaves together threads of shadow to create a sword of solidified gloom, which counts as a simple melee weapon with which the living spell is proficient. The sword deals 9 (2d8) psychic damage on a hit and has the finesse, light, and thrown properties (range 20/60). In addition, when the living spell uses the sword to attack a target that is in dim light or darkness, it makes the attack roll with advantage. If the living spell throws the weapon, the sword dissipates at the end of the turn.
Spellwarped Servant Medium humanoid (human), NE Armor Class 16 (continual mage armor) Hit Points 28 Speed: 30 ft. Str 14 (+2) Dex 16 (+3) Con 13 (+1) Int 10 (0) Wis 11 (0) Cha 10 (0) Saving Throws Wis +2 Skills Perception +2 Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12 Languages -- Challenge 1 (200 XP) Actions Eldritch Armament.Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) force damage. Reactions Arcane Chaos (Recharge 5-6). When successfully inflicting damage with a melee attack, the spellwarped servant inflicts an additional 3 (1d6) damage of a type determined by rolling on the chart, below: Spellwarped Servant Damage Type (roll for every attack) d10 Damage Type 1 Acid 2 Cold 3 Fire 4 Force 5 Lightning 6 Necrotic 7 Poison 8 Psychic 9 Radiant 10 Thunder
Velindrien Medium fiend (demon), CE Armor Class 16 (studded leather armor and natural armor) Hit Points 48 Speed 30 ft. Str 10 (0) Dex 16 (+3) Con 12 (+1) Int 14 (+2) Wis 11 (0) Cha 12 (+1) Damage Resistances cold, fire, lightning Damage Immunities poison Condition Immunities poisoned Senses darkvision 60 ft. Languages Abyssal, Draconic, Elven, Infernal Challenge 2 (450 XP) Actions Multiattack. Velindrien makes three attacks with his hellfire blade. Hellfire Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) fire damage. Reactions Infernal Retreat (2/Day). Once per round, when Velindrien is struck by a melee attack, he teleports up to 30 ft. Any enemies within 5 ft. of the square out of which or into which he teleports must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 6 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.
Warlock Patrons
(The potentially endless variety of warlock patrons strikes me as something that would be fantastic to explore in greater depth. Patrons can be a built-in source of personalized plot for a warlock PC, and all that really needs to be done to make them an [optionally] bigger presence is to provide some writeups for examples of the sorts of mighty entities which might impart a sliver of their power to a mere mortal. Below are some examples.)
The Archfey
The Prince of Games
All manner of esoteric competitions are of interest to the capricious Archfey known as the Prince of Games. In these entertainments, mortal lives are the primary pieces on the board, though the Prince certainly does not exclude other entities of great power as potential pawns—not even when acting against them (whether they know it or not) as rival players! To the Prince of Games, the only player whose position is sacrosanct is himself. So long as it is within his power to do so, all others can be freely maneuvered, manipulated, and even demoted from player to game piece, according to his wishes, alone.
Naturally, warlocks bound to the Prince’s will are some of his most valuable and formidable pieces, for he possesses a degree of direct control over their movements through his periodic dictates to them, enabling him to exert an unfair advantage over the rules of his various games. He does not care if a contest is fair, after all, anywhere nears as much as that it be interesting. Indeed, the Prince of Games much prefers that his diversions heavily favor his own victories, as he is not at all a gracious loser. Fortunately, most of his opponents never learn that they are playing, so the odds almost always insurmountably favor him.
Personality: The Prince of Games only cares for his own entertainment. For him, this involves competitions of such tremendously subtle and layered complexity that no mortal can truly understand them. At least, that is how the Prince chooses to represent his amusements to those who presume to ask about them. In truth, the rules of these games endlessly shift according to their own multi-tiered patterns of interlocking strictures, and the Prince of Games never shares the full truth about their maddeningly convoluted intricacies with his opponents, witting or otherwise, let alone the warlocks bound to his pact. That would surely take all the fun out of the thing.
The Celestial
Valagwainon the Golden
Dwelling amidst the untamed splendor of the Beastlands, Valagwainon, called the Golden, is a unicorn of surpassing magnificence, with coat, mane, and tail shining in the very hue of his sobriquet, while his spiraling single horn has the appearance of mother-of-pearl. An exalted lord among his kind, Valagwainon is known, now and again, to undertake a pact with a worthy mortal willing to champion the weak and the innocent in the pursuit of justice. He prefers to forge these bargains with those who have some investment in preserving the wild places of the world against excessive exploitation by the forces of civilization (and, of course, against the sorts of wanton despoilers who would destroy the wilderness out of nihilistic brutality).
To the end of finding suitable candidates for his pact, Valagwainon enjoys the support of certain unicorns of the Material Plane who act as his emissaries, sworn in fealty to him and capable of bringing a given mortal to his attention. Further, he sometimes travels away from his homeland in the interests of remaining in touch with the woodlands of realms more earthly than his own. Occasionally, while abroad upon such a sojourn, Valagwainon happens upon a person deserving of his good favor and gladly extends to them an offer to accept a small measure of his celestial power in exchange for helping him to maintain the balance of nature with honor and compassion.
Personality: Those who have dealings with Valagwainon the Golden must keep in mind that he is firm as he is kind, and does not particularly care for compromise—neither in his own actions, nor in the actions (or principles) of those upon whom he bestows his blessing. He can, in truth, be something of a taskmaster. A well-meaning one, to be sure, but nevertheless exacting and difficult to please. Having never known mortal limitation, he does not always take such shortcomings into account when giving direction to his warlocks, though gentle reminders that his power is significantly greater than that of his agents in the world can go a long way to mitigating his disappointment, which is born of high standards (and perhaps a touch of arrogance), rather than cruelty.
The Genie
Nalthrazeem
This noble efreeti commands a prestigious position within the City of Brass, acting as an extraplanar emissary to other beings of great power and import, such as empyreans, demon lords, and the like. As part of his duties for his sovereign, Nalthrazeem also keeps an eye on the affairs of the Material Plane, though he has rather less time to devote to such trifling matters. Thus, to fulfill his obligations, the efreeti regularly empowers warlocks to serve as members of his extended household within the mortal realm, representing his interests on the rare occasions he requires some service of them. Otherwise, he is quite content for them to use the gifts he bestows in whatever manner they see fit.
Nalthrazeem has a policy of devoting a few weeks or so out of every decade to canvassing the Material Plane for worthy prospects for his pact, though he also has agents of lesser power more regularly on the lookout for promising candidates. These minions pass along information as to their whereabouts and situations, so their master can make the most efficient possible use of his limited scheduled time among mortals. Indeed, the efreeti is unusual among patrons in that it is typically he who approaches a potential warlock, unbidden, to offer a bargain, rather than being sought out for power. Truth be told, he is altogether too busy to deal with summonings at inopportune times, and so prefers to choose the times and places of his pacts.
Personality: Nalthrazeem is, despite his harrowing schedule of commitments, always unfailingly formal, courteous, and collected. It would not do for lesser creatures to see him fazed by the immense pressures of his position within the City of Brass, or of the threats he continually faces in the course of his diplomatic missions to heavens, hells, and realms stranger, still. He responds well to politeness, and values even an honest attempt at good manners on the part of one who might lack the training to know how best to properly address him—the forms of civility are far easier to teach, after all, than the desire to be civil. Conversely, deliberate rudeness incites his formidable ire, though, weak as they are, he considers the destruction of most mortals, no matter how crass, to be a shameful act of pettiness, manifestly beneath his vast power and exalted station.
The Great Old One
N’gulthruunac, the Worm of Black Stars
Its earliest memories are of feasting on its fellow tadpoles within the brine of an elder brain that had somehow been incapacitated, while still retaining its powers of reason. However that feat was accomplished, or to what end, the unique neothelid horror now calling itself N’gulthruunac does not know. When it had exhausted its supply of fellow tadpoles, however, it turned to the elder brain, itself, and devoured its progenitor’s consciousness and intellect along with the savory cerebral matter that comprised its physical form. The immature neothelid fled into the depths of the Underdark, then, now clearly understanding that it must seek shelter and abide patiently to grow to the fullness of its strength, and that it must feed.
Long ages have passed since that time, and N’gulthruunac has only grown greater, and stronger, and ever increasingly vast, feasting on both the flesh and the minds of all manner of creatures, from insects to dragons. After endless millennia of consumption and growth in both body and mind, N’gulthruunac called upon its immeasurable psionic might to wriggle its way into the Far Realm through secret angles incomprehensible to beings of lesser cognition, embracing the mad allure of that monstrous otherworld, as though hastening to a voice calling from a long-forgotten homeland. There, it took up among a cluster of stars born dead, shining forth blinding black light. Sometimes, though, it hears distant echoes of whispering dreams from the Material Plane, tiny voices begging for power, and it takes heed, curious as to the goings-on among those worlds alike to the one on which it was born, so many eons ago.
Personality: N’gulthruunac is possessed of a colossal and, ultimately, very alien consciousness. While evil by the standards of most mortal beings, it now exists largely outside of any spheres in which it might actively do harm to lesser entities, and has little desire, in any case, to prey upon the comparatively small and limited minds of the Material Plane, these days. Still, it remains motivated by a sort of curiosity regarding creatures that deliberately reach out to it, though it cannot perceive their “stunted” intellects as anything other than the disjointed and illogical fancies of dreamers (for, surely, no waking mind would think in such oddly irrational and limited ways) and responds to these inquiries with the tiniest fragments of thought it can muster, hoping to be led through them to events and ideas that can truly hold its interest, even if only for a little while.
The Hexblade
The Sepulcher Kings
Somewhere in the remotest reaches of the Shadowfell, some believe, stands a nameless city with no reflection in the living world, having sprung into existence dead and rotting from the moment of its creation. Six sovereigns, collectively known as the Sepulcher Kings, rule over this lifeless domain, though they are surely things that never lived, rather than men, and “king” is a title of convenience, rather than a declaration of identity. The sages who delve into the lore of this lifeless-yet-undying city believe that each of the Sepulcher Kings holds dominion over one of the Shadowfell’s infamous blades of darkness, as a sort of symbol of office, and can choose to bestow that weapon upon a champion among the living.
According to the legends, every being slain by a warlock empowered by one of the Sepulcher Kings finds its spirit condemned to eternity within their grim and forever decaying metropolis. Why these lords of death desire more souls for their realm, none can say, though most theories are cause for trepidation, at best, and terror, at worst. In whatever case, however, they are either unwilling or (due to the strange and unnatural patterns of their thoughts) perhaps even unable to discuss the matter, whether with their warlocks or any others. All of them speak with a single chill, whispering voice, though Hexblades who serve under them often gradually begin to feel as though they gain a sense of when different Kings are speaking, based on attitudes and vocal mannerisms.
Personality: Most of all, the Sepulcher Kings hunger. They desire souls for their domain and evince little, indeed, in the way of concern for how such spirits come to them, or to whom those spirits originally belonged. If gods or devils want to contest the Kings’ dominion over what their warlocks slay, those beings are welcome to come to the decaying city under endless shadow and plead their cases, though the Kings have never once relinquished a claim. Outside of this, however, the motivations of the Sepulcher Kings are largely inscrutable, as they have never lived and they neither desire life nor truly understand what motivates those creatures who live (or have ever lived). As a rule, they issue commands through dialogue amongst their own and never explain themselves (in large part, because they wouldn’t truly know how to do so, even if they wanted to).
The Undying
An Tamah Yash
Technically, the millennia-old demilich known as An Tamah Yash is evil, though the passing of ages has made hers an evil of habit, rather than one of actively malicious intent. Since time out of mind, her foremost desire has been to accumulate all the knowledge in the multiverse, believing that she can thereby transform herself into some manner of overgod, presiding over an entirely new reality of her own creation. Of course, it is likely that the passing of the innumerable centuries since even the final dissolution of her undead body has driven her quite mad and that her ongoing quest is a doomed and endless folly of the most magnificently unattainable character.
That said, An Tamah Yash needs hands and eyes in the world to find for her new snippets of especially obscure information. The scope of a fact is unimportant—all that matters is that it be presently unknown to her. She is just as interested in the unrequited love of a farmhand toward the landlord’s daughter as she is in the secrets that pass between uneasily allied deities. Thus, the demilich gladly imbues warlocks with a fragment of her tremendous eldritch power, in exchange for their oath to seek out rare, unusual, or hidden truths, no matter how sublime or mundane. With no means of conveying herself from place to place, she relies on a single mindless undead to carry her skull in a modest padded chest, reasoning that its ramblings will eventually take her somewhere useful, as she has all the time in the world.
Personality: An Tamah Yash is cold, distant, and always somewhat distracted, as her consciousness, freed from the shackles of physical form, constantly whirls with esoteric concepts and arcane formulae beyond the imaginations of lesser minds. When she feels the need to communicate with others, she always does so slowly, having long since lost any slightest grasp of mortal urgency, and she is prone to wandering onto oft-incomprehensible tangents which her fellow conversationalists are well-advised to indulge patiently and without complaint, as she might feel compelled to manifest her displeasure upon those who evince any sort of rudeness or annoyance.