FfH D&D 5e

hmm well the relationships thing in dimensions is quite abstract and seems like something that a cleric would convey through their role play, more than the class features

A similar thing could be said for the anarchism aspect of chaos. i just cant think of any mechanics that might fit those aspects :/
 
Quest 2: Where the Wild Things Are

Encounter 1

It’s been 17 days since the Salty Lass departed from the Lanun sea haven of Aylesbury. The route taken didn’t bring them too close to other shipping traffic as they plotted the quickest route possible. Another reason they didn’t encounter any other ships could be that there aren’t many brave enough to trade with the Doviello. Some may have wondered about how the barrels of bananas would fare over the long voyage, but the further north they went the lower the temperature dropped, and the cold preserved the cargo. The mood of the crew has became bored of late as the voyage took its toll. They are currently content, but have yet to see the riches Captain Dagfin promised them at the end of their last voyage. There boredom, however, ended today as land was sighted, when Howard up in the crow’s nest shouted “Land, ho!”

What little is known of the Doviello has become the talk of the crew, with rumors swirling. Some say they are backwards barbarians copulating with animals. Some say they’re already so bestial that they can turn into animals. Some say they’re cannibals. All are quite curious to see the truth of the matter.

There was no port to be seen. After a couple of hours sailing along the coast, there was no harbor. The map clearly shows there’s should be a town near here called Ildelver, however, after close inspection of the map it turns out that the town is not quite on the coast. The Doviello must call it a port city because its the closest one to shore. Looks like this delivery had to be continued on land. Luckily, that strange dwarf they shanghaied left a mule and cart aboard the ship.

The heroes haul one barrel of their cargo a couple of miles inland, through tundra and wilderness. Going through a particularly icy canyon, the icicles suddenly came alive - Frostlings hiding and waiting for easy prey. After a difficult time of putting down the elusive critters, they later crossed paths with a traveller by name of Dumannios, a man with a small but rugged framed dressed in furs and a helmet. It turned out he was heading in the same direction, and Quimby offered him a ride. Dumanios identified himself as a priest of winter, having once lead the largest of illian tribes, he was defeated by Auric Ulvin, who he said is Mulcarn reborn. Dumannios was charged by his risen god to alleviate his shame by spreading the word of the new god of winter. He wasn’t much of talker, but answered all of Quimby’s questions.
 
Encounter 2

It was late in the afternoon when the Doviello village came into view. It sits atop an easily defensible hill and surrounded by woods. Smoke could be seen rising from the chimneys of many longhouses. A multi-story lodge sits at the hills highest point. As the heroes walked through town the women gathered up their children from the streets, and headed inside. The few merchants stalls closed up shop. In the distance the clash of metal could be heard echoing in the wind. In the village center, tall and muscular warriors fight with such intensity they seemed to have forgotten they’re practicing. A few of the injured sit to the sides tending to their own various wounds as best they can. An old man wearing heavy furs and a helmet made of bone sits in a wooden throne beside the fighting ring, he is missing his left hand. Most of the warriors stop what they’re doing when you come into view. A few grab their weapons. One barechested hulking brute steps forward. He holds a battleaxe over his broad shoulders and says, “I love it when the prey wanders into the wolf’s lair.”

He introduced himself as Ulfgrad, leader of the tribe. Ulfgrad was aggressive and taunted the heroes mercilessly. When the heroes brought up their trade goods, Ulgrad said,
“I did not make this deal. You speak of my father, who wishes to trade our labor for comforts that breed weakness. I made no such deal, and I will not make deals with prey.” They asked what happened to Ulfgrad's father, he replied, “My father, that old fool, I have beaten him in single combat and claimed the right of leadership by combat. I rule now.”

Dumannios stepped in. “I am not with these men foreign to winter’s soil. I bear a message from Auric Ulvin, the king of the Illians, Mulcarn reborn, and the new god of winter. The time is at hand for you to reclaim your former glory. All the tribes of winter flock to his banner. Join Lord Auric and earn your share of the glory to come. Witness the power of winter.” The priest raised his hands, and frostlings scamper out from between the buildings and surround him in a circle.

Ulfgrad said, “My forbears swore allegiance to Mulcarn. They were little more than his dogs. My father had us worshipping Kilmorph, to toil for out meat. Under my rule the wolves will return to their true nature. We serve none but ourselves. When we want something we take it. When we see weakness we crush it. When we wish to fight we find something to kill, and I feel like fighting. Kill them all.”

The heroes were then chased by 30 Doviello warriors through the woods. It was a desperate struggle, but they managed to lose the wolf pack and head to a poor village in a neighboring valley. Instead of well crafted longhouses this village was made up of mostly earthen huts. No one was outside. No smoke can be seen coming from fireplaces in any of the buildings. An older hunter with short white hair is not too far off bowhunting for small game. He looked like he’d been giving a beating recently. “You look like you’re running from something. Be careful. Wolves love to chase their prey.” He then goes back to hunting. His name was Olgrad, and when the heroes pressed him further he told them his tale. "Long ago a wise chieftain led their pack. Then he died and his bloodthirsty son took over. He was a foolish man, starting feuds with other tribes for ‘honor’ and ‘glory’. All he really did was get his warriors killed. Then Olgrad challenged him, won in personal combat, and took his right hand. Instead of killing a helpless opponent, he saw no honor in it, he banished him. Apparently his youngest and last surviving son, foolhardy as well, has been in contact with the exile. He twisted my son’s mind, turning him against me. He even got him to disparage his honor by challenging me for leadership, and the exile rules through Ulfgrad. The others who live here are the elderly who stood with Olgrad. He agrees to trade the stock of furs of their tribe if his son can be defeated, without killing him, and the exile dispatched. He knows of only one that can help them accomplish such a task. There is a hag in the mountains. Olgrad asked the heroes to go to her and ask for her to undo the exiles magic over his son. He would go himself, but she would not bargain with him.
 
Encounter 3

The heroes climb the mountain and at its peak found the cave. They warily entered expecting the worst, but found a beautiful women sitting by a fire. She offered them a deal: retrieve the particular corpse from an ancient barrow, intact, and she would lift the curse on the old chief's son. They set off after Howard attempted some awkward flirting.

It wasn't hard to find, as the 'hag' gave them clear directions to follow. Upon entry they noticed the room was warm, too warm. Hundreds of skulls gazed coldly back at them, set in niches in the walls in a checkerboard pattern. Flickering flames danced behind the eyes of each skull, as if someone had taken the time to light hundreds of candles. It made the shadows seem to move. Two reliefs of giant skulls dominated the the western wall, carved from the stone. No light shone from them. Below it was an ancient script carved into the wall, which the heroes identified as old Patrian:

Here lie the heroes of the War of Succession. They liberated us from the tyranny of the evil mages, and lead us through the first generation of the Age of Ice. May their rest be warm. Beware to those who would disturb this holy place, for Bhall protects it.

Howard investigated the skulls closely, discovering there were no candles in the skulls but candle-sized flames floating inside them. Dull red gems peaked through the stone behind the skulls, spread sporadically about the wall. Only fire mana could cause such phenomena. This place was a vein of raw mana crystals. Howard foolishly tried to pry a skull from the wall in an attempt to get at the mana deposit, but the skulls were enchanted from exposure to the mana. Gouts of flame shot forth, giving Howard severe burns.

The Captain decided it was time to continue the exploration. In the next room they discovered what was once a beautiful shrine to Bhall. Finely carved stone pews before an exquisite statue depicted a most attractive woman, larger than life. However, someone defaced the work of art. Part of the sculpture’s face had been knocked off, and the flaming sword she wielded was broken in half. Knicks were found all over her flowing robes. On the woman’s breasts were crudely carved symbols of Camulos, god of chaos and war. They were glyphs of warding and were triggered when Quimby read inspected them, resulting in his being hexed. Finding nothing of value nor the object of their quest, they delved deeper.

A short passage led to a mostly bare room with a large stone table, most likely where corpses rested while prepared for burial. It looked like the place had been lived in recently. In the center of the room sat a makeshift fire pit, equipped with a pot and a spit. The corner had some makeshift bedding, mostly blankets and straw, and crude markings on the wall. The markings seem to be a bunch of check marks, a calendar.

On the other side of a doorway was a hall. A door at its other end and one at its middle. On the left side of the hall, niches were set into the wall within which stood clay urns. One was been shattered, and its contents spilled onto its shelf and the floor. Amid the ash it held were blackened chunks of something that might be bone. The middle door bore writing in the same language at the entrance:

Here lies Saint-General Marcus Stratus Decimus. His passion for our lady was only matched by his passion for battle. Pray he finds peace.

The heavy stone door was locked and wouldn’t budge. The locking mechanism was an inset gap shaped to match an odd shape. Differing recessed layers in the gap made this no ordinary lock. Not quite sure how to get in, the heroes moved on to the end of the hallway.

The room the found was a tomb. Stone sarcophagi were placed in private alcoves, each carved with the visage of a warrior lying in state. Flickering lights dance through the miniscule gap between each lid and sarcophagus. The carvings on the wall were magnificent, a symphony in stonework -- but given the themes represented, it might be better described as a requiem. Scenes of death, both violent and peaceful, appeared on every wall.

The heroes opened the closest sarcophagus, ready for anything. A zombie set on fire rose up and attacked. After suffering several burns they were able to dispatch the monster, but when it was destroyed the creature exploded. Howard was severely hurt, and lay dying. The explosion triggered the other sarcophagi to open and more pyre zombies to come forth. The rest of the heroes backed away, hoping the zombies would attack them instead of the easy prey lying unconscious. Their gamble failed, and the zombies began feeding on Howard and tore him apart. Making sure to stay far enough away from the zombies so that when they died the resulting explosions wouldn't reach them, the heroes used their range weapons to take down the threat. Sadly, it was too late to do anything for Howard.

Inside each sarcophagus they found a polished red crystal with a faint glow to it. Each crystal was shaped into a hand-sized disc, with each depicting a different symbol, a snowflake, a skull, a shield, and a dragon. The heroes figured out that one of these was the key to the generals chamber, and rightly guessed the dragon symbol was the correct key, avoiding the magical fire trap and opening the general's tomb.

A rusted portcullis stood just beyond the door. Looking into the room, the heroes saw a sarcophagus too large for any ordinary sized humanoid. The portcullis was welded shut. It took Quimby some time to force it open, but when he did they found four blackened skeletons dressed in aged clothing and rusting armor laid on the floor in against the walls. They seemed to be in poses of rest rather than violence. The first thing Quimby did was to take all the feet from the skeletons and run them back to the other tomb, locking them in a sarcophagi. Then they inspected the skeletons more closely. These were skeletons of dragonborn. Further investigation determined that the bodies were moved from where they died, and stripped of anything of value. The floor was covered in ash, and the ash had been disturbed. Quimby shed a tear for his fallen fellows, as the others went to collect the general from his place of rest.

The sarcophagus had more ancient patrian glyphs on it. Journey managed to piece it together and read the inscription. It read:

Most Devout of our lady, General Decimus the Bhall-Orc lies here entombed. He is risen.

However the inscription turned out to be an incantation which raised the general. Suddenly a fist punched through the stone lid of the sarcophagus. The general, was clearly devout to Bhall in life, as were his followers. During Bhall's fall from heaven, he and his followers were transformed into the savage races. Having been a large man in life, the general was transformed into an ogre. The skeletons tried to rise, but Quimby's quick thinking earlier kept them from being a threat. The heroes now faced a quandary. They needed to defeat the ogre zombie without destroying the corpse in order to fulfill their bargain with the hag. Using a variety of explosive spells, and hacking at the monster only when the needed to the heroes were able to fell the creature. They made sure to collect every piece of him.

A secret chamber contained what must have been the general’s most prized possessions: his personal armory. Rusty armor and weapon racks lined the walls. Most were unusable, and covered in rust. A variety of useful and ornately worked pieces were salvaged: five jewel encrusted daggers, maul, pike, great axe, gauntlets of ogre power, splint armor, and breastplate. In addition there is a chest containing 400 electrum pieces, 200 gold pieces, 5 platinum pieces.
 
Encounter 4

The heroes brought the general’s body to the hag. Most pleased, she fulfilled her end of the bargain and lead the heroes on a short trek into the Doviello’s village. They strode through to the training yard in the village center, all the warriors in their path stepped aside for her. When she reached the Ulfgrad she dispelled the curse upon him with a wave of her hand. The shaman used his magic to attack the hag with a large ball of fire, which she easily dispelled. Ulfgrad, free of the beguiling influence turned on the shama and decapitated him. His next act was to send for all the elders to return. After thanking the heroes, Quimby asked if the Doviello has seen any others of his kind, to which Ulfgrad responded he had seen a white creature like his self and mentioned he was travelling southeast to Amurite lands. The Captain was finally able to finish the trade with the Doviello, and depart for a fairer climate.
 
My take on the Necronomicon as an artifact in 5e. (If you're planning to play in an FfH campaign as a player don't read this.

The Necronomicon
Spoiler :
Wondrous item, artifact (requires attunement)

This book is a grand compilation of the mad works written by the Undertow religion’s most gifted dreamers. Its leather cover is made of human skin. A creature attuned to the book must spend 80 hours reading and studying it to digest its contents and reap its full benefits. The creature can then freely add to the book’s contents, provided that those modifications spread madness in the world and expand the lore already contained within.

Whenever a non-chaotic, non-evil creature attunes to the Necronomicon, that creature must make a DC 17 Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, the creature’s alignment changes to chaotic evil. If you die while attuned to the book, an evil entity claims your soul. You can’t be restored to life by any means while your soul remains imprisoned. In a number of days equal to your hit dice, your body will rise as a ghoul under the permanent effect of a water-walk spell.

Curse. Attunement to the Necronomicon can not be broken voluntarily, except by casting a greater restoration spell. When the book is attuned to a creature, anyone attempting to read the Necronomicon who is not attuned gains a form of short-term madness, and cannot attune to the book.

Properties
  • All undead you create are permanently under the effects of a water-walk spell.
  • Each day you are attuned to the book, roll a d20. On a 1, the chaos magic of the book surges forth. Roll on the Wild Magic Surge table to create a random magical effect.
  • When you become attuned to the artifact, you gain a form of indefinite madness that can’t be cured as long as you are attuned to the Necronomicon.
  • While attuned to the artifact, you must drink six times the normal amount each day.
  • While attuned to the artifact, all holy water within 10 feet of you is destroyed.
  • While attuned to the artifact, other creatures can’t take short rests while within 300 feet of you.
  • You have true sight.

After you spend the requisite time reading and studying the book you can use the following abilities:
Drown. As an action, you hold up the Necronomicon, and each hostile creature within 30ft of you must make a Constitution saving throw. A creature takes cold damage equal to 2d10 + your cleric level on a failed saving throw, and half as much damage on a successful one. Creatures you cannot see are unaffected. Any creatures that can breathe underwater automatically succeeds on its saving throw. You can’t use this property again until the next dusk, but if you are a cleric with the Sea Domain you may use this property after each short or long rest.
Forbidden Knowledge. Once after each long rest, you may learn a new spell of any spell level you can cast, from any class’s spell list. Each time you do so, your Wisdom decreases by 1. You may undo this effect with the greater restoration spell, but you lose the new spell in addition to the Wisdom score reduction.
Lord of the Undead. While attuned to the artifact, you can use an action to cast animate dead or create undead. After you cast the spell, roll a d6. If you use this ability to cast animate dead, on a roll of 1-2, you can’t use this ability again until the next dusk. If you use this ability to cast create undead, on a roll of 1-5 you can’t use this ability again until the next dusk. If you are a cleric with the Sea Domain, you gain these two spells as domain spells.
Nightmare. Each time you take a long rest, the dream spell is cast with the book acting as a spell focus. Choose the target of the spell. You enter a trance state, acting as the messenger in the target’s dream.
Destroying the Book. Any damage to the pages or the writing in the book is magically undone at dusk. If the book is destroyed entirely it reappears within 5 feet of the one it was last touched by at dusk.
 
Hey all, have some great news! Since the campaign has been going so strong (9 awesome quests and counting) I've done a lot research on DMing to improve my FfH game. Because of this, I've learned a lot and want to share. Within the next couple of weeks I'll be launching a blog about my journey DMing in Erebus. Been busy creating content so there'll be plenty to chew on when it goes live. When the site is ready to launch I'll be back to let you know.
 
I am starting a 5e game in my own custom world (using the orbis modmod)

the lore for the age of dragons/magic/ice remains the same, but i used the mod to generate the lore for the age of rebirth.... (this should make my questions easier)

The party is starting in grigori controlled territory, so none of them decided to be clerics, but one of them wanted to be a paladin on the oath of vengeance and we were having trouble choosing a god (i know they're technically angels) for him to worship. The obvious choice is junil, but with party members ranging from all walks of life, i see it as nearly impossible for a paladin of junil to work well with a thief or warlock... since he's thinking of being a dwarf i thought of kilmorph, but kilmorph is more a goddess of protection, whereas he wants to take the oath of vengeance... (for now i have said that there are a few of kilmorph's followers who take a more direct approach towards the threat of hyborem and the infernals) but i want your imput on which dieties would fit the various paladin oaths, or should there be custom oaths for each god?
 
sorry for the double post, but in my game i took away the dragon blooded sorcerer class because since dragons in FFH are so rare (usually entering late game) it wouldn't make sense for them to sire a whole bunch of children, not to mention they can't (as far as i know) take human form.

so i was thinking of making a custom tweak as the heirs of kylorin (or something) which is sorcerers who got their powers because they are the distant children of Kylorin's students... i also want to get a mind sorcerer who is the distant relative of perpentarch and completely insane
 
Orbis is awesome. Using an FfH game as the campaign map is the same set up I used, too. It's pretty cool to fast forward a turn or two and see a barbarian attack or an event pop up, which gives me an endless source of new ideas for quests.

In my game, one of my players is a vengeance paladin as well and didn't want to pick a god. In the FfH mythos, people don't have to be devoted to particular god knowingly to be claimed by a god. Even though I would have liked my player to be devoted to Junil he kind of created his own religion, one that worships dragons, and I dropped in the game as a subsect of the Cult of the Dragon. Junil would fit vengeance nicely, but you don't have to assign paladins a god. Though, new oaths for each god would be cool. There's a great blog (Hack & Slash) which has made a few new Oaths. I think those could be some good examples for making new ones.

I think heirs of kylorin would be a really cool idea if you're willing to make that, just keep an eye towards balance and try to have abilities reflect things established in core books where you can. That was my approach to the new domains.

I wouldn't take away any options in the PHB, but adapt them. Like that Vengeance paladin I mentioned is a dragonborn, but there's no concept of dragonborn in FfH. Instead I've developed a secret as to why it exists, which in my game they are the leftovers of an experiment by one of Kylorin's students, Leucetios (the life mage). With all the wizard experiments going on in the age of magic, I went with dragonborn as the attempts to create a supersoldier. The lizardmen were the first stage but not good enough for the mage, and dragonborn were the result. However, I've decided dragonborn can't reproduce and the mage couldn't figure out a way around that so he abandoned the project. Randomly a couple of dragonborn are hatched a few generations by lizardmen, and are treated as blessed by whatever the lizardmen gods are. All the player knows is that he's a superior breed of lizardman, and doesn't know why he is different. Every few quests he discovers a new piece of the puzzle. This way I've adapted dragonborn into the FfH mythos in a friendly way without limiting player options.

If a player wants to be a dragon blooded sorcerer, maybe he's not the offspring of a long line of descendants of a dragon, but maybe he has some kind of link to Eurabatres. Or maybe another dragon has found a way to escape the Realm of Myth, if in spirit only. This way you don't limit your players and have a great secret for your players to unravel.
 
I allowed dragonborn, but they are mostly chaotic evil warlocks (orbis adds a lizardman civ, and the leaders are high priests and dragon cultists [which i decided would be warlocks] since they created ashen veil and old ones (octopus overlords) as well as completing the infernal pact... i decided that since they are powerful dragon cultists they have gained aspects of the dragon. (still super limiting, but not completely nonexistant)

1 question about content... i dissallowed certain class features (like the dragon blooded sorcerer) and your opinion was helpful for balancing/integrating this class option into the campaign, so... how did you integrate the fey pact warlock? are they worshippers of cernunos? also monks (who fight with their fists instead of weapons) seem really rare or nonexistent in the ffh lore, what did you do with those?
 
Monks are easy: Elohim. Tell your players that any monks they make are from there, and to come up with a reason why they left there order to adventure. Or maybe your monk is a student of a tradition that broke away from the Elohim. Also, the Elohim are the guardians of holy places, so any unique feature in Elohim or an allies' lands or even the wilderness might have some elohim monks guarding it.

For the Fey pact I would go with it being granted by one of Cernunnos' angels, or a sylvan spirit of the forest. Pacts don't have to come from gods, just powerful beings, and just because its a fey pact it doesn't mean the being has to be a goody two shoes either. It could be a malevolent forest spirit. Lots of possibilities.
 
cool thanks... yeah i went with elohim monk, especially since the elohim border the grigori in my game... that's something i didn't think of with the forest spirits tho... good idea
 
While this is almost certainly thread-necromancy, your Vengeance-Paladin seems like he would have been Bhall's before she fell. However, as your game seems to be post-fall, she's not an option. To quote from the Book of Magister:
Junil was very close to Bhall before her fall, and has largely stepped in to fill her role. Holy warriors now tend to be driven more by duty than by passion, but the effect is largely the same. The return of the resiliency Sphere of Life would help make up for the loss of the determination of the sphere of Fire.
 
it's only 3 days after the initial post so not really necromancy... he decided to go with paladin of devotion and worship kilmorph, with aspirations of becoming a stonewarden, and there is a paladin of Lugus doing path of vengeance. (which makes sense since the city of Dis appeared in the middle of Malakim lands, and they have led an aggressive campaign to stop the infernals, unsuccesfully)
 
yeah... i was thinking of making custom paths for various classes to fit the character's backgrounds (stonewarden for the dwarf paladin of Kilmorph, maybe vicar/ecclesiastic for the paladin of lugus... maybe even add dragonslayer for the fighter).... anyways yeah.... but one of my characters is a warlock with Hastur Lord of Nightmares as his patron, so he will be getting all kinds of secrets (he isn't a member of OO, but he may become one... it should be interesting to see what he decides to do with Hastur leading him)

don't forget to link ur blog once u get it up, i would love to see how you integrated FFH themes into your game

edit: instead of creating separate paths for each civilization's special units, i think i am going to make it similar to an order that the party members can join to gain special abilities... for example a fighter could join the grigori dragonslayer's guild and become a dragonslayer, and a paladin/cleric could become a stonewarden after spending time among the people as a thane of kilmorph (or otherwise proving their worth to society)... another thing about secrets is that none of my players are familiar with ffh lore, so even though i say that i am plagiarizing everything, they have been really impressed with all the depth i've been able to throw into the world.
 
Here it is everyone! Just launched my new blog called Off the Rails (www.railsoff.com). It's about how to run RPGs with open sandbox play instead of railroads. Also wrote up a free PDF for mail list subscribers. It has lots of content for my current Fall from Heaven campaign setting including a bunch of new feats and domains for D&D 5e. I'd love to hear anyone's ideas on it, feedback, or suggestions for new content.
 
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