The Tome of Beasts and Freeport

For my past columns about using D&D Fifth Edition sourcebooks with Freeport: The City of Adventure, see the Freeport 5E Index. 

The Tome of Beasts is a collection of new monsters for D&D Fifth Edition published by Kobold Press. A diverse selection of monsters from that bestiary are showcased in the Book of Lairs from the same publisher. I first encountered the Book of Lairs in a used bookstore, and found it intriguing enough to seek out the Tome of Beasts. 

Tome of Beasts

At 430 pages, this creature collection is too large to give an in-depth treatment in a single blog post, but I wanted to highlight some content that seems especially appropriate for campaigns set in the World of Freeport. 

Several monster entries reference Kobold Press's Midgard campaign setting, but these monsters can be used in any D&D setting with minimal changes. For example, one of the new languages introduced here is Void Speech, which is spoken by creatures originating in, or influenced by, "the Outer Darkness." The sidebar about it suggests that any ancient language with an evil reputation can be substituted. This sounds a great deal like the Aklo language, spoken by aberrations and evil fey in the Pathfinder RPG, which is in turn drawn from Cthulhu Mythos literature--and, in fact, Aklo is a common language among Pathfinder's Lovecraftian monsters, just as Void Speech is among the Mythos creatures presented in the Tome of Beasts. Deep Speech fills a similar niche in the core 5E rules, but Void Speech is presented here as a distinct language.

Speaking of the Cthulhu Mythos, this book presents several creatures suitable for enhancing that element of the Freeport setting. Deep ones easily could be encountered in or near Freeport, having infiltrated the city or parts of the Serpent's Teeth. The folk of Leng are accomplished travelers, but would probably avoid Freeport in favor of its hated enemy Mazin due to their trade in slaves. More exotic monsters (gugs, mi-go, shoggoths, spiders of Leng, and star-spawn of Cthulhu) would be found in  more distant lands or other worlds, but are frequently sought out by the kinds of mad cultists who plague the City of Adventure.

The Tome contains numerous monsters that could be encountered in Freeport itself or the waters around it. Many new snakes and other reptiles--a defining feature of the Serpent's Teeth region--are included, and the Villain Codex appendix includes a variety of humanoid foes. GMs wishing to further explore The Ironjack Legacy will find a wealth of new constructs, including many types of clockworks. Fabulous aquatic creatures, such as sea dragons, krake spawn, and zaratans, are also well represented here.

Fey in the Serpent's Teeth are almost exclusively reptilian, but other types can be found in the wider World of Freeport, particularly in Rolland, the forest kingdom of the elves on the Continent. The shadow fey elves, and the fey lords and ladies who rule them, are most commonly encountered on the Plane of Shadow (known as the Shadowfell in official 5E sources). This plane likely has links to the Feywild and fey-touched regions of the Material Plane (such as Rolland). The legendary Lord Bonewrack, who dwells in Shadow Freeport, might very well be a powerful shadow fey elf.

This book also contains a wide variety of desert-dwelling creatures suitable for encounters in Hamunaptra (see Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra). Many of these even have a strong Egyptian flavor to them, such as the shabti, subek, and a few new mummy-like undead. In the World of Freeport, the Nurian language mentioned in those entries would correspond to the common tongue of Hamunaptra. 

Monsters inspired by Norse myths (einheriar, jotun giant, ice maiden, lindwurm, rattatosk, rusalka, and valkyrie) would be appropriate for the Viking-like land of Druzhdin, in the far north of the Continent.

The imperial ghouls might be a holdover of the power of the ancient Necro-Kings, driven (literally) underground following those undead warlords' defeat. (See the "Beyond Freeport" chapter in either The Pirate's Guide to Freeport or the Pathfinder edition of Freeport: The City of Adventure.) The ghoul god Mordiggian, mentioned in the "Lords Subterranean" sidebar, gets a chapter in Cults of Freeport.

Finally, some of these creatures can be used for converting monsters from past Freeport adventures or bestiaries, either as-is, or as a starting point:

• Bastet Temple Cat: Malkin (Creatures of Freeport, Freeport Bestiary)
• Blemmyes: Blemmyae (3rd Era Freeport Companion, Freeport Bestiary)
• Clockwork Abomination: Infernal Automaton (Hell in Freeport, Freeport Bestiary)
• Clockwork Beetle: Goldbug (Freeport: The City of Adventure, both editions)
• Dopplerat: Doubling Rat (The Lost Island)
• Gearforged Templar: Manikin (Hell in Freeport)
• Golem, Hoard: Treasure Golem (Black Sails Over Freeport)
• Ratfolk: Ratfolk (mentioned in Freeport: The City of Adventure, Pathfinder edition)
• Ravenfolk: Tengu (Return to Freeport)
• White Ape: White Gorilla (Black Sails Over Freeport)

Book of Lairs

This book contains two dozen monster lairs, arranged by increasing character level, from 1st to 15th. Each entry is 4 pages long, with one page being a full-color map of the lair. The lairs are a very diverse collection, including numerous dungeons but also city buildings, underwater spaces, forest camps, and a handful of truly exotic locations (stairs going miles up a steep mountainside; a citadel on the edge of space; and even the branches of Yggdrasil). All stand completely on their own, but a few form logical sequels to earlier lairs (such as the stairs and citadel just mentioned). A few of the inhabitants of these  lairs appear in the Monster Manual, but most are pulled from the Tome of Beasts, making that book necessary in order to use these short adventures, unless the DM wishes to repopulate the maps themselves.

A few of the lairs are set in cities, and could be adapted easily for use in Freeport. Others, such as The Pirate's Cove or Temple of the Deep Ones, could be hidden elsewhere in the Serpent's Teeth with little effort. 

Most of the other lairs would best be set on the Continent, or even further away. The forest lairs seem most appropriate to Rolland, while the desert lairs would fit Kizmir or Hamunaptra. The two ghoul adventures could be set almost anywhere in the Underdark, but the DM should give some thought to how the Ghoul Imperium fits into the World of Freeport (see my suggestion above about the Necro-Kings).

Overall, the lairs in this book seem to be interesting short adventures suitable for dropping into a campaign whenever the DM wants a brief change of pace from the regular campaign (or just shorter chapters in a campaign that is largely a series of modules). Most should be playable in a single session, though some higher-level adventures might take longer due to featuring more complex foes. 

My Starfinder Society Minis and Artwork

Zefira Lachlan (L) and Boomer (R)

Last month, I shared some updates to my artwork and LEGO minis for my Pathfinder Society characters, and this time I will present my Starfinder Society character's minis. I have only drawn portraits for two of these SFS PCs, so will include those here rather than splitting them off into a separate post as I did for my PFS artwork. The capsule descriptions below are roughly in the order that I started playing these characters.

Zefira Lachlan (current)

Zefira Lachlan is a daredevil operative with the ace pilot theme. She was the first SFS character I ever played, and is still the highest-level one (10th). She is human, a choice that I made entirely because she was an attempt to recreate my Serenity RPG pilot character in a new system. This Zefira's story has unfolded very differently in a universe that features easy FTL travel, widespread magic use, and hundreds of sentient alien species! She is still a hotshot pilot and a gambler, but has diversified into mastering other forms of movement, high-tech hacking and repair skills, and first contact encounters. 

Zefira started out with the lightest possible armor, so the first minis I built for her used Catwoman's costume and similar bodysuits. (The version at the top of this page uses the Jewel Thief from Minifigures Series 15.) Jessica Alba's look in Dark Angel was my photo reference for both Zefiras, so I gave her a light caramel head and long black hair. She has since upgraded to much better armor (though still light and maneuverable), and I've added a helmet now that she has a jetpack (the latter is Jango Fetts's, from the Star Wars theme). Her current body armor belongs to Proxima Midnight, from the Marvel Avengers line. In a recent column, I briefly complained about the tendency of female minifigures to be cartoonishly sexualized, but this armor's print job does a decent job of making her gender apparent without going overboard--precisely the balance I wanted for Zefira.

Boomer

B-M-R Mk II, known as "Boomer" among their fellow Starfinders, is a nonbinary android technomancer with the scholar theme. When not conducting astronomical surveys or performing repairs and maintenance on Society equipment, they work as a lawyer representing the Society's interests (and those of other androids). They have blue hair with some silver streaks, and some of the glowing blue circuits on their face form runes that serve as their spell cache. (This coloring might have been inspired by her faction leader, who is also a blue-haired android, but if so it wasn't deliberate--I only became truly familiar with Historia-7 much later, once I started GMing for SFS.)

I chose the Galaxy Patrol body (Minifigures Series 7; see the top of this page) because the dark blue with silver accents complemented Boomer's own coloring, and the torso has a tiny "WIZ" printed on its chest. The mini has the Cyborg's head and hair (Series 16), and a neck bracket that holds a 1x1 tile from a microscale Star Wars snowspeeder to suggest the jump jets installed in their suit.

Voran Eclipse

Voran Eclipse is a copaxi, an alien race whose individual members are each composed of a coral-like colonial organism. Because of this, Voran prefers "they" pronouns, but unlike with Boomer, the plural "they" is implied. They are a solarian with the xenoseeker theme, and manifest a solar weapon in the shape of a jagged blade of violet energy, which I've represented by a trans-blue and purple lightning bolt (Star Wars and other themes). Voran's body is a Berserker (one of Hela's minions; Marvel) with slightly spiky Ninjago shoulder plates added. Copaxi do not have faces, per se, so this alien's lightly textured head is turned backwards, with its fangs covered by Maleficent's headdress (Disney Minifigures). This last piece provides the distinctive antlers possessed by all copaxi. Since this picture was taken, Voran has started using a riot shield, for which I use a trans-cyan oval shield (like Qimok's, below) for a science fiction look. Voran actually wears heavy armor, but I prefer to emphasize their copaxi features for their mini.

Copaxi were originally made available for play through a boon earned from playing the scenario that introduced them, but three seasons later, this race is now available for play without a boon. I also earned the race boon for my skittermander Qimok (see below) before that race was made freely available to all. Tekeli-li and Euphemia (also below) belong to races that still require boons, either earned by playing certain scenarios (as I did) or purchased with Achievement Points.

Toknomonicon

Toknomonicon is a gnome envoy with the icon theme. He is a famous musician who uses his celebrity to help polish the Starfinder Society's image, and in return his missions inspire new compositions. As both a feychild gnome and a lay devotee of Shelyn and Arshea, Tokno prefers flamboyant clothing, decorated with feathers and sashes in many colors. He also dyes his hair to match. His mini's orange torso is from a LEGO Universe astronaut; the starburst makes a decent substitute for the Starfinder Society's compass rose. His headpiece is a version of Wyldstyle's striped hair with attached goggles (The LEGO Movie).

Toknomonicon and Tune-Bot 2000

I made Tokno a musician largely because of the "Toon-Bot 2000" boon, which gives him a robot that plays musical accompaniment. It's a largely silly but colorful boon, so despite the Tune-Bot having no stat block, I built one by adding transparent 1x1 pyramids to a boom box. A 1x1 cylinder atop a 2x2 radar dish makes it appear to hover.

Tokno on Wanda

Wanda (from the back)

On a recent adventure, Tokno successfully used his envoy abilities to befriend an alien animal used as a guard beast by the cruel jinsul, while traveling with another Starfinder who had an animal companion mount. This experience inspired him to acquire a companion of his own (and me to look up and learn the animal companion rules). Wanda is a wolliped, a large furry beast with eight legs, four eyes, and large tusks. She is a brick-built model, scaled to fit a 2" x 2" (6 x 6 studs) base. She has a space on her back for Tokno to sit, and a slope brick to suggest a saddle, but I was unable to build a deep recess like a riding animal minifigure would have. (Fortunately, Tokno has short legs!)

Tekeli-li

Tekeli-li is a kiirinta, a small moth-like fey species. He is a star shaman mystic and priest of Desna who tends to a small flock of her worshipers on Absalom Station. (The new "pretty space moth" portrait of Desna in Galactic Magic just makes this choice of god even more perfect for him!) Tekeli-li's head is from one of the insectoid aliens from the Galaxy Squad theme; his torso is from the Alien Trooper (Minifigures Series 13) and his wings are Butterfly Girl's (Series 17). His name's origin is explained here.

Qimok

Qimok is a skittermander soldier with the armor storm fighting style and the gladiator theme. He was trained as a gladiator, but his species' compulsion to help others led him to find work with the Starfinders as protection for the less durable members of a mission's team. Qimok's mini is built around the torso and back assembly from an Outrider alien (Marvel Avengers). This gives him the six arms of a skittermander, though the placement precludes putting second hands on his doshko (a spiked polearm) and laser rifle. He holds a shield in one hand, leaving his sixth hand free to grab, punch, or help, as needed. (Sadly, I forget the source of the head, as I bought it as an individual part, but I believe it is a Ninjago monster. The toothy grin seemed right for a skittermander.)

Euphemia Lasro

Euphemia Lasro is a pahtra, a feline humanoid species. She is an explorer operative and has the spacefarer theme, so is eager to explore new planets and systems for the Society, and is trained to survive in the wilderness. Euphemia was originally inspired by Captain Amelia from Treasure Planet, and I use some 3D artwork of that character for her token in online SFS games. I've only very recently started playing her, so had not built a mini for her until I was preparing for this column. My collection lacked a satisfactory match to Amelia's uniform (despite owning numerous Pirates, Armada, and Pirates of the Caribbean minifigs), but Zori Bliss's body (Star Wars) provided female light armor with enough gold accents to give a similar effect. I added epaulets as a final military touch. Her head is a Lion Tribe character (Legends of Chima) and her hair is a werewolf's (Minifigures Series 4). The rifle is a common Star Wars weapon.

The last three characters here are new, and have not yet debuted in Society play. They are in the wings for when I need to start playing a new 1st-level character, once Tekeli-li, Qimok, and Euphemia (all currently 2nd level) advance out of the lowest subtier. Because of this, their minis, like Euphemia's, are mere days old at the time of this writing.

(L to R): Glaukos, Z'Kar, Talgoth

Glaukos is a stellifera, a psychic cuttlefish-like species who can create a "hydrobody" around themselves for both protection and to allow them to use larger species' equipment (including armor and weapons). Glaukos is a mechanic with an experimental armor prototype and the sensate theme. I will probably give him the phrenic adept archetype at 2nd level, to enhance his race's inborn psychic abilities--which will make him my first Starfinder PC (for Society or not) with an archetype. His bulky space armor (a combination of the Toy Robot, Minifigures Series 6, and Space Miner, Series 12) is topped by a squid-like Alien Trooper head (Series 13), in an attempt to suggest that the Diminutive stellifera is occupying the "head" of a hydrobody wearing the armor. He wields a flame pistol, so I attached the hose from Hazmat Guy's sprayer (Series 4) to the stud on the back of his armor.

Z'Kar is a vesk vanguard. She has the stormrunner theme, so most of her skills are devoted to surviving the harsh climate of her home planet. Her entropic strike class feature makes a manufactured melee weapon less mandatory, so she spent most of her starting credits on the best (light) armor a 1st-level character could afford. She carries a cheap pistol, a few tools, and not much else. As a cave vesk, Z'Kar has pale scales, so I've used a white-skinned Ninjago pirate's head; the printed mask and the helmet help hide the fact that I don't have any better parts for a near-albino reptilian character. Her body is Falcon's (Marvel Avengers), and the "power blast" piece used to suggest her entropic strike's energy is Frozone's (Disney Minifigures, Series 2).

I created Talgoth as an exercise in building a PC with the new precog class in Galactic Magic. He is a half-orc with the cultist theme, hailing from the drow homeworld of Apostae, where he was raised by a blasphemous cult that attempted to sacrifice him to their patron. He should have died then, but instead had visions of the cult's god awakening, and manifested precog powers that allowed him to escape. He now tries to stay far, far away from the drow, and seeks an answer to how the doom he foresaw can be averted. For now, the Starfinder Society seems as good a place as any to do both. As a starting character whose most noteworthy abilities are ephemeral powers, his mini is very simple: light space armor (I forget the theme this torso is from), a LOTR orc head and hair, a hunting rifle, and a knife.

(Previous "Let Me Tell You About My Character..." columns are indexed here.)

TBT: Misuhiro Yoko, a character for BESM

The following Big Eyes Small Mouth character was based on a minor background character from Revolutionary Girl Utena. She was originally posted to a RPG-related LiveJournal group (that I have since lost the name of) back in 2004. 

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Possible Utena Character: Misuhiro Yoko

This character was inspired by the shadow-puppet girls in Revolutionary Girl Utena, with the UFO/alien theme being played up in the latest episodes I've seen (I'm up to #29). I don't know how well she would fit into an Utena game, but if I end up playing in the game a friend of mine plans to run, this is the character I'll propose first.

Note: Because I don't own the BESM Utena book, Yoko was built with BESM 2E Revised, using Teen Romance costs for skills.

Misuhiro Yoko, Ohtomi Academy student, Grade 8 (25 CP)

Stats: Body 4, Mind 7, Soul 4 (15 CP)
Derived Values: ACV 5, DCV 3, HP 40, EP 55, SV 8

Attributes: Appearance 1 (1 CP), Art of Distraction 2 (2 CP), Highly Skilled 1 (1 CP), Own a Big Mecha 2 (Flying Saucer, 25 MP) (5 CP), Personal Gear 1 (1 CP), Shape Change 2 (Change gender only) (3 CP).

Defects: Nemesis (Kiryuu Nanami) (1 BP), Skeleton in the Closet (Alien posing as human) (1 BP), Special Requirement (Lay an egg once a month) (1 BP).

Skills: Biological Sciences 1 (Botany) (2 SP), Disguise 1 (Make-up) (2 SP), Linguistics 2 (Alien [native], English, Japanese) (4 SP), Mechanics 1 (Aeronautics) (3 SP), Melee Attack 1 (Sword) (5 SP), Melee Defend 1 (Sword) (5 SP), Performing Arts 1 (Comedy; Dance) (5 SP), Physical Sciences 1 (Astronomy) (2 SP), Piloting 1 (Spacecraft) (2 SP).

OBM: Flying Saucer (25 MP): HP 60.
Attributes: A.I. 1 (Basic Remote Control: Egg) (1 MP), Extra Capacity 1 (1 MP), Flight 4 (16 MP), Heavy Armor 1 (4 MP), Space Flight 1 (2 MP), Summonable 1 (4 MP), Toughness 1 (4 MP).
Defects: Awkward Size 1 (1 MBP), No Arms (2 MBP), Poor Maneuverability 2 (2 MBP), Restricted Ground Movement (None) (2 MBP), Summoning Object (Egg) (1 MBP).

Personal Gear: fencing sword and protective gear; alien "egg" amulet (summons and controls OBM).

Yoko is a human-like alien who came to Earth about a year ago. She has no training at navigation, and her old, hand-me-down saucer is notoriously clumsy, so she soon crash-landed. She decided that enrolling in the school would be the perfect cover while she repaired her spaceship. She has managed to be assigned to a mostly abandoned building, with space to summon and work on her saucer; she has fixed the crash damage, but has not solved the ship's shaky handling, so dares not leave the relative safety of her new home.

Yoko is an excellent student, who has joined the theater and fencing clubs. She is fairly well-liked, in spike of Nanami-san tormenting her for being "weird"--but Nanami has yet to guess just how weird she really is! As an adolescent member of her alien race, Yoko lays a boldly patterned egg once a month; she can usually hide this process (and the resulting day or two of reduced energy) under the cover of "the monthly miracle." In Episode #27: "Nanami's Egg," Yoko may be responsible for the egg Nanami found; she hoped it would mess with her rival's gullible mind. The eggs are not fertile unless Yoko mates with one of her own kind, and she is not aware of any others currently living on Earth. Her saucer's remote is modeled after one of her eggs, but is far less delicate.

Yoko has one other alien power that she rarely uses, and never where she could be seen: Her species is able to switch gender at will (except when laying eggs). Her male form looks like a nearly identical twin, and she will claim to be her brother "Ryo" if seen in that form. (However, no "Misuhiro Ryo" is enrolled at Ohtori Academy, so "he" must vanish quickly if questioned.) She usually carries a boy's uniform in her duffel if she foresees any need to use this ability.

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I never did get an opportunity to play Yoko in BESM. However, she did form the starting point for a NPC I created for "Grey Angels," the long-running Buffy/Angel series that I joined soon after that original post. In that game, she was an international student from Japan, who was shy and awkward but a genius with math and science. Her secret was that she was a half-Byblos demon (a knowledge-seeking race from the Angel RPG) who had been stranded in this dimension and was trying to reestablish contact with her people. At one point, she managed to rope the superscientist player character into helping her traipse all over campus (and beyond), taking readings with some weird sensory apparatus of her own design, but I don't recall her story ever getting much further than that. 

Since that game, I've read Neil Gaiman's surreal short story "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" (and more recently, the Dark Horse comic adaptation). If I ever use Yoko in another game, I expect that story to exert some influence on her, too.

The current "reunion arc" of "Grey Angels" has allowed me to revisit Yoko's story indirectly: I have introduced an NPC who is the daughter that Yoko left behind when she left for parts unknown 13 years ago. Sakura Masterson has been fun to play so far, and will likely be one of my main PCs for the "next gen" game we've been bantering about as a way to continue using the setting after the current crises are resolved.

And yes, I did finish watching Revolutionary Girl Utena not long after I finished that original post above. It's a bizarre series that gradually builds up to one of the weirdest climaxes of any anime I've ever seen, but I recall enjoying it, even the inexplicable nonsense parts of it. My "Grey Angels" character Trick Tillinghast, a fencer with a pronounced romantic streak, was very much a fan, and even dressed up as Utena for her masquerade-themed high school prom. In retrospect, her strong affinity with that character should have been a clue--one of many!--that she was not quite as straight as both she and I originally thought. But, hey, it took Utena a while to get there, too, and both were happier once they did.

"Let Me Tell You About My Character..." (An Index)

Abe Sapien (used for my Buffy RPG character
Baz Olmstead when in Triton form)

The following pages are devoted to stories, artwork, and miniatures for my own player characters in various RPGs. They do not include the snippets of character info buried in my RPGaDay, Drawloween, and Inktober posts (except for those on Trick's personal index page), nor do they include PCs or NPCs from games I've GMed.

D&D 5E

Taphos (1/13/2016): Converted to 5E from a friend's homebrew RPG system.

Lendri (1/28/2016): Converted to 5E from a friend's homebrew RPG system.

Grey Angels (Buffy/Angel/Fate)

Nightwatch Dossier: Patricia "Trick" Tillinghast (started 4/17/2020): This page is an index for columns about my PC, Trick Tillinghast, and the "Grey Angels" campaign in general.

Pathfinder Society

How do you go about creating a character for play? (8/30/2018): Uses some of my PFS PCs as examples.

Cassilda Tillinghast (11/13/2018): Art, stats, and bio for my first psychic caster PC.

Pathfinder Iconics Minis (12/5/2018): LEGO minis of the iconic characters for each core class.

A Baker's Dozen of Pathfinders (2/5/2019): Artwork and capsule bios of my PFS characters.

Pathfinder Society LEGO Minis (3/16/2020): Minis for my PFS characters (including new additions since 2019).

"Clever" Character Names Often...Aren't (2/9/2022): Origins of a few of my PFS & SFS PCs' names.

Pathfinder Society Minis and Artwork Update (2/23/2022): Some new artwork, plus my PFS 2E characters' minis.

Pathfinder (other campaigns)

The "Dungeon Interludes" Party (11/3/2016): LEGO minis for one of my wife's campaigns.

Starfinder Society

"Clever" Character Names Often...Aren't (2/9/2022): Origins of a few of my PFS & SFS PCs' names.

My Starfinder Society Minis and Artwork (3/3/2022): Bios and LEGO minis for my SFS PCs to date.

Pathfinder Society Minis and Artwork Update

A few years ago now, I shared the portraits I'd drawn of my Pathfinder Society characters, along with capsule bios of each one. A year later, I shared photos of the LEGO minis I'd made for those characters, with a few new characters who had debuted since that previous post. I plan to do a similar article about my Starfinder Society characters sometime soon, but for now, I'm going to update two of those PFS First Edition PCs, then introduce the handful of PFS Second Edition characters I've created so far.

First Edition Pathfinder Updates

Very few of the minis for my 1E characters have required updating. K'Chaw's mini (tengu cavalier) has a new helmet, and Volutus's (sylph druid) has a new face, but only two PCs received substantial mini makeovers and/or new art. 

Cassilda Tillinghast

Cassilda Tillinghast (human mindblade magus) received a second portrait almost 2 years ago (see above). She can now manifest two psychic weapons at once, so I felt the need to depict that. I haven't updated her mini yet, but may do so whenever I get to play her in an in-person game again. 

Thanks to rapid advancement through two adventure paths, Falling Rock (Shoanti human ranger/fighter) soon surpassed my other characters in power, and has been retired at 19th level. (There is one more PFS scenario that we could legally play with those characters, taking them to 20th, but it's a multi-table special that can only be run at a con. And it's a fairly old one, so we may be waiting quite a long time before demand for it reaches critical mass again.) Falling Rock continued to get even scarier with his trusty earth breaker, and ended play with a +5 impact impervious merciful adamantine weapon. He also acquired mithral full plate very early in his career, which required a dramatic rebuild of his mini: he kept the old head, but he wears a Castle/Kingdom knight's armor, a Roman legionnaire's helmet (chosen to leave his face visible), and his new earth breaker is built around a fist/hammer piece from (IIRC) the Legend of Chima theme.

Falling Rock

I have also drawn a quick B&W sketch of Falling Rock in his new armor, charging forward with his weapon raised.

Falling Rock

Second Edition Pathfinders

I have played three characters in PFS 2E so far, and may be debuting my fourth in a month or two. I have not yet drawn portraits for any of them, but the active ones all have LEGO minis, and I built a mini for the newest character while writing this column. 

Thibdab (goblin redeemer champion of Sarenrae) has advanced several levels since he made an appearance at the end of my previous PFS minis column. He retains his original head (Goblin, Minifigures Series 13), sword (Prince of Persia), and shield (Wonder Woman), but now wears platemail (plain light gray breastplate, torso, and short legs).  Much like Falling Rock above, Thibdab's new samurai helmet was chosen because it leaves his face visible--he is, after all, a goblin champion, and should be identifiable as one. His first knight-master (K'Chaw, my 1E tengu cavalier) is from Tian Xia, so his headgear is a nod to that, too.

Thibdab has also acquired a wolf mount, which he named Kazaam! (the "!" is part of the name). The wolf started out Small, so was a more of a trained companion than a mount, but is now Medium and thus large enough to bear Thibdab into battle (though he's faster without a heavily-armored goblin on his back). Most of my time playing Thibdab has been online due to Covid, so I was able to use an image of a gray LEGO warg as his wolf's Roll20 token. The warg is far too large for in-person play, so I have a LEGO dog and a goblin microfigure for when Thibdab is mounted. A couple of 1x1 plates with clips hold a shield (from the Aztec Warrior, Minifigures Series 7) and sword (a non-LEGO scimitar), and the microfigure wears the magic helmet from the Heroica theme. 

Thibdab, afoot (L) and mounted on Kazaam! (R)

Millicent Velarno is a human sorceress with the hag bloodline. This photo inspired her look--all black, with a cloak and hood, and dramatic, spooky eye makeup--and still serves as her token on Roll20. I got a chance to play her in person at a local con last summer, so she needed a mini then. She wears a witch's black torso (Minifigures Series 2), plain black legs (more practical than skirts), a cloth Batman cape, and a black hood. Her head is Tonto's, from the very short-lived The Lone Ranger theme. Here, with only the makeup visible, Depp's highly controversial racial caricature has been repurposed for a more acceptable "goth witch" look. Since I built this mini, she has acquired a demon mask, which she wears constantly to make herself even more intimidating. I have a couple of monstrous Ninjago masks (the Thunder Keeper and the Omega oni) that I keep with her mini in case I decide the scary mask needs more attention.

Millicent Velarno (L) and Xathel (R)

Xathel is an elf investigator, with a bit of rogue. (I chose an elf heritage that allows a multiclassing archetype at 1st level, and rogue added even more to his long list of trained skills.) His body is that of a Mirkwood elf, but he has Bruce Banner's head (for the green eyes) and Zan/Jayna's hairpiece (The Batman Movie Minifigures). He wears a brown cape matching his elven garb, and wields a shortsword (Sting, from LOTR/Hobbit sets). 

My brand-new, unplayed 1st-level PC for 2E is Grazga, a half-orc summoner who belongs to the (mostly human) Sarkorian tribes, whose ancestral homeland was devastated by a demonic incursion. The resulting Worldwound has been recently healed (during one of the last adventure paths released for 1E), and now some of her people are working to reclaim those lands with help from the Pathfinders and other allies. Grazga is one of her tribe's spiritual leaders, known as "god-callers," who are bonded to eidolons considered to be minor divinities. Her companion is Dontorex, who looks like a feathered dinosaur. 

Grazga's mini uses one of the old "tribal warrior" bodies from the Old West theme, with the light brown hands and head from a Star Wars alien, and long, loose hair from a Hobbit theme dwarf. Her cape is red on one side and tan on the other, turned drab side out for camouflage. (Sadly, I forget the source for this piece, as it's one of the few non-monochrome capes I own.) I would have preferred a more brightly-colored, more dinosaur-like mini for Dontorex, but ended up compromising with a Vampire Bat torso (Minifigures Series 8), which comes with small wings attached to the arms. To preserve the color scheme, I used Bytar's head (a Constrictai Serpentine character from Ninjago). 

Grazga (L) and Dontorex (R)

LEGO Minifigures Series 22

 

(See Tim's LEGO Reviews for my reviews of past LEGO Minifigures series.)

Series 22 of the collectible LEGO Minifigures line was released at the beginning of this year, and I finally managed to acquire several earlier this month. As with Series 21, this set only totals 12 characters, rather than the 16 that most older series tallied. I currently own 9 of the 12; the other three are marked with asterisks below, and my comments on them will be briefer. 

Bird Watcher: This avian enthusiast seems a bit unassuming at first, but she has four pieces cast in multiple colors of plastic: a teal hat with black ponytail; a torso with short-sleeved black shirt; legs with dark brown boots and light brown pants; and the toucan (which, as far as I can tell, is cast in three colors: black, white, and yellow!). Her two-sided head is fairly typically "girly" and the torso has the usual printed arcs to suggest a narrower waist, but the shirt notably lacks any bust definition. Ever since the introduction of corset-clad wenches in the original Pirates theme, the designs of far too many female minifigures have suffered from a weird sort of fixation on the details of their chests. This character's more gender-neutral clothing is a welcome change--and it has pockets! 

The other female-presenting characters in this series also avoid being oversexualized. The two costume fans and the much younger groom don't even have the waist-narrowing arcs printed on their torso. The Night Protector does, but she's clad in armor that, while ornate, offers sensible coverage.

*Chili Costume Fan: This woman may be sweating from the bulk of her costume or from eating some hot chili peppers (or both), but she has a carton of milk to help offset the latter problem. Like the Banana Suit Guy in Series 16, the main costume piece won't have many uses other than a costume or as the actual fruit represented, so it's not very useful for parts for RPG miniatures.

*Figure Skating Champion: This character has a glittery blue and purple costume, a poofy blonde 'do, figure skates, and a trophy. His outfit matches his female counterpart's (from way back in Series 4) but hers was much more interesting. 

Forest Elf: This is easily the most adorable character in this series. The elf comes with short posable legs and a double-sided child-like face, and wears an acorn cap, an oak leaf-shaped cloth cape, and a torso printed to suggest a veined leaf. The printed belt (and fanny pack, under the cape) are also decorated with minute oak leaves and an acorn buckle. A walking stick and a smiling mushroom friend complete the look. This figure has many great parts for a druid or ranger character, and the mushroom is perfect for a fungus leshy (a variety of tiny plant-folk available as both PCs and familiars in Pathfinder Second Edition). Mine came with an extra red cap, and a white 1x1 cylinder will serve as a body just as well as the white fez that comes with the elf.

Horse and Groom: The short legs and braces (printed on the more widely-smiling of her two faces) make it clear that this groom is meant to be a young girl. She wears clothes suitable for working--jeans, a green flannel jacket, and a knit cap, and has a carrot treat for her horse. The animal is clearly a young colt, because it only comes up to her nose. This horse's small size make it very well suited to use as the pony mount of a microfigure attached to the stud on its back (a Small rider on a Medium mount, in game terms). I will need to acquire a few more, for that alone!

Night Protector: This character's light blue skin, teal hair, and silver freckles mark her as obviously non-human. Her armor is mostly light gray (or silver), with white and purple details that continue onto the sides of her arms and legs; it also has dark pink gauntlets and a printed pink jewel on the breastplate. She bears a transparent purple sword and shield; the latter is emblazoned with a crescent moon, which also appears on her belt buckle and the back of her cuirass (though her long hair hides that one). 

The Protector's head and hair could be used for an elf, gnome, or fairy, an aquatic species like merfolk, or even a Starfinder android or alien. The armor is very nicely done, and despite the illusory waist and pink details, would work beautifully for a moon-themed character of any gender. (Mine came with an extra sword. A friend of mine traded his troubadour's spare coin [see below] for his son's spare sword.)

*Racoon Costume Fan: This character appears to use the same parts as the fox costume in Series 16--including the sack--but in new colors and a with a new print job on the mask. She comes with a standard City trash can, which should make her easier to find by feel than many others in this series. 

Robot Repair Tech: This humanoid robot's bright yellow chassis is covered in a variety of hazard symbols to warn others to keep their distance while it's working. Its head is covered with a mask like a welder's, with two cartoonish smiling eyes displayed in pixels on the front. Under the helmet is a gray head covered in printed circuitry, and a battery charge indicator on the neck that shows even when the helmet is on. Its facial features are unfortunately a bit too dorky for my taste; a less cartoonish smile would have made it perfect for a Starfinder android. 

The robot tech comes with three different attachments for its right arm: a drill, a hammer, and a robot claw. It also comes with a small, brick-built robot buddy; printing on this sidekick is limited to the  large eyes, on two separate 1x1 tiles. This tiny red robot would work nicely for a Starfinder drone, or for a small-sized SRO ("sentient robot organism," a playable construct race).

Snow Guardian: This whiskered warrior is dressed in white furs with a dark blue cap, belt, and boots. Both the legs and arms are molded in two colors, with additional printing to cover the join line with a more interesting pattern. (Trying to disguise the casting joins feels a little weird to me, but I suppose  this method reduces the amount of paint that could be worn off of single-colored parts with extended play.) The fur trim of the hat and collar are carefully modeled to almost entirely fill the gap between them in the back, and convey the frigid climate of the guardian's home even more effectively than the large snowflake printed on his shield. His longsword is (I believe) a new design, with a simple but elegant cross-guard and pommel, and a fuller along the blade. Finally, the husky is the same as the one used in Arctic-themed City sets a few years ago, but this one has a paler gray patch on its head and back and sports the breed's distinctive blue eyes.

Space Creature: This pink-skinned alien wears a purple spacesuit with the classic Space logo, but there are additional details printed on the shoulders and legs. He wears a backpack consisting of a transparent globe (a minifigure head) with a printed warning label. It's unclear whether this is a scientific specimen, a life support system, or a weapon, but the creature's ray gun is capped with a 1x1 plate in the same bilious green color. The alien's head is double-sided, with larger and smaller open mouths. It's topped by a rubber headpiece was previously used to give antennae to a bumblebee costume (Series 10) and Killer Moth (LEGO Batman Movie Minifigures Series 2) but here it has been repurposed to give the creature eyestalks. This alien would be perfect for an osharu, a humanoid slug race in Starfinder.

Troubadour: This jolly, singing fellow wears striped blue medieval garb, with a matching hat (which sports a plume in a new color for this part). He strums a lute, which is very nicely detailed, even to the tuning pegs cast on its head. This instrument has a pin on the back that can be held by a minifigure hand, but it looks just fine held across the body for strumming, as shown below. This minstrel has received a couple of gold coins (printed tiles) for his performance, and should come with an extra (for a total of 3 gp).

Wheelchair Racer: This athlete comes with a three-wheeled racing chair formed of a single body piece onto which the wheels snap. (It also comes with a 1x1 clear cylinder brick for mounting it onto the baseplate for display without rolling around.) He has a very determined looking face, with a short scruffy goatee. His arms are cast in two colors to give him short sleeves, one of which has a logo matching the one on his back. This individual is very fit, as evidenced by the muscle definition on his torso, and the medal around his neck. 

The LEGO Group released its first minifigure-scale wheelchair in 2016 (Set 60134 Fun in the Park), but this new model is available as an individual minifigure rather than as part of a large set. That's a much more affordable price point, making it easier for interested builders--with and without disabilities--to acquire. A number of wheelchair-using characters have appeared in various RPGs in recent years, and this kind of representation matters, in both toys and games, as well as other entertainment media.

Unearthed Arcana and Freeport, Part 16: In Tasha's Wake

Welcome back to my ongoing series of capsule reviews of "Unearthed Arcana" with an eye for how to use them with the Freeport setting. This column covers UA articles from October 2020 to October 2021. (None had been released in 2022 at the date of this post.)

The book which I alluded to in my last UA & Freeport post (a year and a half ago!) turned out to be Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, which I have since acquired and reviewed (Part 1; Part 2). That book incorporated nearly all of the playtest material that I reviewed in UA & Freeport, Parts 10-15, except for "Subclasses, Part 4," which appears to have missed the cut-off date for inclusion.

Note that all of the new races (or lineages) presented in UA since Tasha's was released have referred the player to the "Customizing Your Origin" rules in that book rather than dictating ability score increases, languages, and tool proficiencies.

For my past columns about using D&D Fifth Edition sourcebooks with Freeport: The City of Adventure, see the Freeport 5E Index.

Subclasses, Part 5 (10/26/2020): This installment introduces just two new subclasses, both with a dragon theme. The Way of the Ascendant Dragon allows monks to do energy damage with their unarmed strikes, and also bestows a breath weapon. Higher levels gives additional draconic abilities. The Drakewarden ranger gains the ability to summon a small drake companion. The stat block for this drake includes the ranger's proficiency bonus for its AC, good saves, and attack rolls, using the same "+PB" notation used for summoned creatures in Tasha's.

The Way of the Ascendant Dragon is very appropriate for monks from the Eastern Empire. The drakewarden is most likely from the wilds of the Continent, though the Serpent's Teeth is also home to many reptilian monsters. 

Gothic Lineages (1/26/2021): This article presents three new races with Gothic horror origins. Each lineage has two creatures types to reflect its in-between status. The text points out that if an effect would affect one of their types, it affects the character normally (so a dhampir--humanoid and undead--would be healed by cure wounds).

The dhampir is part humanoid, part undead, with a vampiric bite and a hunger for blood (or some other manifestation of life force). The hexblood has ties to hags, making them part fey, with some innate magic and advantage against charm effects. The reborn represents a variety of characters unnaturally suspended between life and death, either through surgery or implanted machinery (making them a construct) or necromantic magic (undead). In both cases, being reborn helps the character resist disease, poison, and dying.

Freeport is a horror setting, so all three lineages are appropriate there, though all remain rare. The Pathfinder RPG has rules for dhampirs and hag-descended changelings, so the dhampir and hexblood would be useful for converting those races' abilities to 5E. (Offhand, I don't recall any examples of either in Freeport canon, but they are popular with some players.)

Folk of the Feywild (3/11/2021): This article presents four races whose origins lie within the Feywild. Fairies are a small race similar to pixies or sprites, but larger. They can fly (even without wings), and cast a couple of innate spells. The version of hobgoblins presented here gives an alternative to the race traits given in Volo's Guide of Monsters, which reflected a more militaristic world-view. Owlfolk are humanoid owls with winged flight, the ability to sense magic, and the night vision and silent feathers of their owl kin; they may be Small or Medium. Rabbitfolk are humanoids with hare-like senses and reflexes, and may also be Small or Medium. The choice of size has no effect on either race's traits, but will affect things such as the ability to use heavy weapons.

(The official versions of three of these races have already been released: The owlin in Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos, and the fairy and harengon in The Wild Beyond the Witchlight.)

One of the defining characteristics of the Freeport setting is that the native fey of the Serpent's Teeth are almost universally reptilian in nature rather than the elf-like creatures found elsewhere. That means that these four fey races would be very rare in the City of Adventure, and they would be highly unlikely to have come here directly from the Feywild. Freeport does have an enclave of hobgoblins, but these are transplants from the Continent, and most fit that race's stereotype of regimented military training (making the traits in Volo's more appropriate).

Draconic Options (4/14/2021): This article presents several new character options manifesting draconic magic, and was obviously meant as a companion piece to "Subclasses, Part 5," above. These include three variant dragonborn races (chromatic, metallic, and gem) that provide a more direct connection between the dragonborn and the dragon type matching their scale color. The chromatic and metallic races are only superficially different from the standard PH dragonborn, but the gem dragonborn gives access to more unusual breath weapon damage types, has innate psionic telepathy, and can briefly manifest spectral gem-like wings once a day. 

A new version of the kobold race is also included, which lacks the racial Strength penalty given in Volo's (a rarity among 5E races to begin with, and entirely dispensed with if you use the "Customizing Your Origin" rules in Tasha's). This variant leans into their draconic ancestry, rather than being the cowardly pack creature presented in the MM and Volo's.

Three new feats provide some abilities of chromatic dragons (energy-infused attacks and limited resistance), metallic dragons (cure wounds and protective wings), and gem dragons (a mental stat increase and a telekinetic counterattack). Finally, the article details seven new spells. The most noteworthy of these are probably draconic transformation (giving draconic senses, flight, and a force damage breath weapon), Raulothim's psychic lance (which adds a new psionic-themed spell to the handful in Tasha's), and summon draconic spirit (which follows the format of the new summoning spells in Tasha's).

All of these options could be used in a Freeport campaign. The new version of the kobold is particularly attractive as a more heroic interpretation of that race, and dragon-themed spells will appeal to a wide variety of casters.   

Mages of Strixhaven (6/8/2021): This article presents five subclasses appropriate to the Strixhaven plane from the Magic: The Gathering multiverse. These subclasses are probably most noteworthy for the fact that each was designed to work with two or three different spellcasting classes. Because classes gain their subclass features at different levels (and give different numbers of features), these subclasses' features have a minimum level required to choose them, rather than a set level. (To my knowledge, these subclasses were not used in the final Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos book, probably largely due to this more complicated implementation.)

A Mage of Lorehold is a historian who bonds with an ancient companion spirit inhabiting an animated statue. A Mage of Prismari infuses their own movements with elemental energy, and specializes with a chosen energy type at later levels. A Mage of Quandrix is a mathematician who can manipulate probability. A Mage of Silverquill channels their magic through their words, demoralizing foes and bolstering allies. A Mage of Witherbloom taps into the endless cycle of life and death.

Both the Magic-specific context of these subclasses and their unusual implementation make them difficult to adapt to a Freeport campaign. A GM who wishes to make use of them would probably want to  rename or reflavor the background somewhat to match a magical college in their setting. The only such organization that receives much attention in the Freeport product line is the Wizard's Guild, which has a much more secretive, even sinister, reputation than Strixhaven's more genuinely collegiate atmosphere. A school on the Continent (like the Arcane Blade Academy I mentioned in connection with bladesingers in Part 1 of "Tasha's Cauldron and Freeport") is likely a better choice, despite the lack of details.

Travelers of the Multiverse (10/8/2021): This installment presents six new races for 5E, all of which fit a planar traveler theme. Astral elves are descended from elves who left the Feywild to be closer to the homes of their gods. Autognomes are constructs built in their rock gnome creators' image. Giffs are tall, powerfully built humanoids with hippo-like heads. Hadozees are simians with feet that are as dexterous as hands, and gliding flaps between their limbs. Plasmoids are intelligent oozes who can mimic a humanoid form well enough to use other races' equipment. Thri-kreen are insectoids with telepathic and chameleon abilities.

Most of these races have appeared in past editions of the D&D game, though not necessarily as playable PC races. The hadozee and giff (and possibly autognomes?) originated in the Spelljammer setting, which has caused quite a bit of speculation about whether Wizards is planning a full setting book for this edition. Thri-kreen have been part of D&D at least since the the AD&D 2E Monster Manual II, and featured prominently in the Dark Sun setting. Three of the races have also reminded me of TSR's Star Frontiers game: the hadozee, plasmoid, and thri-kreen could easily be used to convert that game's yazirians, dralasites, and vrusk to D&D 5E.

Determining how many of these races are appropriate for a Freeport campaign depends in part how much travel between worlds and planes the GM feels is appropriate for their game. The 3E book Stormwrack presented the hadozee as a race most commonly found aboard ships, with all references to the Spelljammer setting removed. (It was this version that I allowed for one of the PCs in my last Freeport campaign, so I'm very pleased to see 5E stats for them.) The thri-kreen could be native to another continent--perhaps the forests of Rolland or the arid lands of Hamunaptra. The astral elf, giff, and plasmoid would probably be rare in a world without spelljamming ships or frequent planar travel. On the other hand, the giff have always been associated with firearms, and often find work as mercenaries, both of which provide reasons for encountering them as exotic troops passing through Freeport.

"Clever" Character Names Often...Aren't

If you've been a gamer for very long, you've probably come across quite a few players who have named their heroes after characters from literature, TV, or film--and likely been guilty of it yourself at some point! Many players, both old and new, are prone to obsessively recreating their favorite heroes as faithfully as they can with any new RPG's rules set they try out. For a host of reasons (inexperience with the rules, strict power caps on starting characters, clashing opinions about the character within the player group, etc.) many end up frustrated when it doesn't work out to their satisfaction. And along the way, they often end up annoying their fellow players with their presumption. ("Oh, sure, you're Alannon. And what level are you again?"*)

One problem with trying to slavishly trying to copy a fictional character is that you're not experiencing the full range of characters in the game. If you're hung up on the idea that your wizard has to be an old, mysterious know-it-all, just like Merlin, or Gandalf, or Elminster, then you'll miss out on all the other ways to play the class. And no matter how awesome those characters might be in their original settings, they might be a very poor fit for the campaign you've joined. Especially if you want to play the world's most powerful arch-mage, when you've joined a game that starts at 1st level! Instead, give some thought to playing the new kid on the block, who someday hopes to rub shoulders with those legends, and show us all how to do things differently than the predictable tropes of characters everyone knows.

There are times when it can be appropriate to use a name that copies that of an established fictional character, or that is a clever take-off of one. For example, players and GMs tend to be less strict about setting-appropriate names for one-shots or less serious games--and in deliberately silly games, anything goes, the punnier, the better. Less obvious homages can work in more serious games, particularly when the name or character are on the obscure side, and when the character is much more inspired by a fictional hero than based on one. 

In my own games, I do put up with a certain amount of silliness in names, because my players are there primarily to have fun, and to blow off steam from their busy lives. Their jokes are part of the price, and the joy, of having a loyal group of friends to game with. So, for example, my Pathfinder games have  featured animal companions and familiars named for Pokemon or dirty puns. If I ever tried to tackle a more historical game, I'd probably put more effort into policing names, but I'm also not sure that's really this group's kind of game in the first place.

Organized play is very much a crap-shoot when it comes to character names. For every serious, fantastic name that helps build immersion in the world, you'll have a Barbarella, a Harley Davidson, or  a Herlock Sholmes.**

In all fairness, I'll admit that not all of my Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society characters' names are entirely serious:

• I named my tengu cavalier "K'Chaw" as a joke, and only gave her a "real" birth name, and a story explaining the nickname, after playing her for a few levels. 
• My kitsune hunter/rogue is named Mumbly Peg, after the "game" played with knives. She usually just goes by "Peg," so her full name rarely, if ever, gets any comments.
• Nar-Lok, my creepy heavens shaman, gets his name from the Loc-Nar in the movie Heavy Metal.
• My kiirinta (a moth-like fey species) mystic is named Tekeli-li, after the sound that the shoggoth makes at the end of At the Mountains of Madness (which Lovecraft lifted from the giant albino penguins in Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym).
• My gnome envoy and musician is Toknomonicon, which was never meant to be anything more than a random mouthful of syllables. But once I had worked out that much, of course he had to be known for doing "Tokno remixes."

My mindblade magus, Cassilda Tillinghast, has a much more serious name, but it's still ultimately a pair of Cthulhu Mythos references. The surname comes from a past Buffy/Angel RPG character of mine, Patricia "Trick" Tillinghast, upon whom Cassilda was very loosely based. This surname was used by Lovecraft for the scientist in his short story, "From Beyond," because it was a historical New England family name. Because the game I played in was set in New England as well, I drew heavily on Lovecraft for my PCs' and their relatives' names (Trick's cousin is an Olmstead descended from Gilmans and Marshes, for example). The name Cassilda comes from Robert Chambers' "The King in Yellow" stories, where she is a central character in the cursed play that gives the cycle its name. I liked the sound of it, and it's obscure enough that you would need to have read Chambers or have played certain Yellow King-themed adventures (such as one of the later books of the Strange Aeons Adventure Path) to recognize it. Nobody who has seen me play my Cassilda has ever hinted at knowing anything about the other one yet. 

This is the kind of literary name that I like best: it alludes to a work of fiction, without copying any particular character too much (if at all). It's a cool name that stands on its own, with or without any explanation of its origin. And there's very little if any of that "Hey, see what I did there?" nudging and winking that the names that started me on this rant are shamelessly guilty of.

-----

* True story: One of the players in my college AD&D campaign named his wizard Alannon. I hadn't read any of the Shannara books at that point, but my roommate had, so he gave the the wizard's player serious side-eye for his choice of name. I let the player keep the name, but my roommate loved to rib him whenever "Alannon" spectacularly failed at an attempt to do something impressive.

** Real examples of character names I've encountered online, just in the past month or two!

Tasha's Cauldron and Freeport, Part 2: Everything Else

 For my past columns about using D&D Fifth Edition sourcebooks with Freeport: The City of Adventure, see the Freeport 5E Index.

Last time, I reviewed the new origin rules, the artificer class, 26 new subclasses, new feats, and other character options in Chapter 1 of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. This column tackles the rest of the book.

Chapter 2: Group Patrons

Patrons give a way to build connections between PCs through their shared relationship with a powerful organization or influential NPC. Having a patron grants a number of perks, and they can be the source of quests. This chapter also gives rules for being your own patron, for characters more interested in running a new organization themselves. Freeport has examples of every type of patron presented here, and the patron rules would be an excellent way to enhance a campaign centered around one of the city's institutions, whether a temple, guild, or syndicate.

Chapter 3: Magical Miscellany

Spells: A few cantrips presented here (booming blade, green-flame blade, lightning lure, sword burst) are reprinted from Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. Most of the others first appeared in Unearthed Arcana.

Psionic casters, like the Aberrant Mind, gain a few new spells fitting that theme, including intellect fortress, mind sliver, and Tasha's mind whip. The book's purported author also has two other spells in this chapter (Tasha's caustic brew and Tasha's otherworldly guise).

Several new summoning spells presented here come with a special stat block to use with that spell. The spell's level determines the summoned spirit's AC, hit points, and number of attacks. The caster chooses one of two or three options that determine some of its other stats; for example, a bestial spirit can be an air, land, or sea creature, with appropriate movement types. These spells provide an interesting alternative to the handful of summoning spells in the Player's Handbook, where the player needs to be familiar with the relevant Monster Manual entries. Summoning spells are frighteningly commonplace in Freeport, so using these spells could save the GM some effort when running summoner NPCs.

This section ends with a brief section about personalizing spells, which encourages players to get creative about the cosmetic manifestations of their spells.

Magic Items: This section presents a new type of magic item--magical tattoos--which take up an amount of space on the body determined by its rarity (from a few inches for common tattoos, or half your body for legendary ones). The sample tattoos presented include a variety of effects, from enhancing attacks to storing a spell to changing your appearance. Magical tattoos are highly appropriate for Freeport, where mundane tattoos are common among sailors, exotic martial artists, and other groups.

The other new magic items here include several artifacts, including Tasha's own Demonomicon of Iggwilv, and her adoptive mother Baba Yaga's mortar and pestle. Most of these artifacts are tied to a specific campaign world (the Crook of Rao belongs to Greyhawk, for example) so will need some adapting for Freeport campaigns not set in those worlds. Some, however, beg to be used in a high-level campaign that explores parts of Freeport's past, such as forging links between the Mighty Servant of Leuk-O and the Ironjack.

Other notable categories of new items include:

• Magic books could be found in the libraries of the Wizard's Guild or Temple of the God of Knowledge, or could be sought by those organizations, or by other lore-seekers. The atlas of endless horizons seems thematically appropriate for Freeport's mystic navigators.  
• Magical instruments of various types can enhance a bard's class abilities.
• Magical shards contain the essence of another plane, and give sorcerers the ability to add extra effects when using their metamagic options. 

Chapter 4: Dungeon Master's Tools

Session Zero: "Session zero" refers to the practice of using the first session of a new campaign to establish expectations, outline the group's social contract, and share house rules. Sometimes this also includes creating characters together, so that players will choose options that will useful in the campaign. 

Sidekicks: This section provides rules for sidekicks--creatures befriended by the PCs, who accompany them on adventures, and who improve by gaining levels alongside their PC friends. The sidekick must be CR 1 or less, but gains levels in one of three sidekick classes (warrior, expert, or spellcaster). Most of the class abilities are borrowed from PC classes, but are simplified. A few seem very powerful, and hard for even a PC to qualify for (such as the warrior's Improved Critical), but in general they seem to be in line with characters of their level. 

These rules seem overly extensive for someone who is essentially a henchman or follower. But these rules could be very helpful in providing stats to a knight's retainers, or a more robust animal companion for a druid or ranger. They also seem perfect for small groups of players who want to round out a party with more heroes, but still want to keep the focus on each player's primary character.

(Nitpicky rules note, because I'm "the errata guy": Creatures of CR 1 or less already have a proficiency bonus of +2, so that bonus will not improve until they reach 5th level in their sidekick class. That might not be obvious from reading the rules, but it is critical for preserving 5E's bounded accuracy.)

The urban setting of Freeport: The City of Adventure makes acquiring townsfolk as sidekicks rather easy to justify. (In some cases, perhaps too much so, if a new friend embodies the label "follower" too literally!) These rules could also be useful at sea, to detail a friendly ship's captain who helps the heroes out from time to time, or important NPC officers if the PCs have their own ship.

Parleying with Monsters: This section gives some ideas for adjudicating social encounters with monsters of various types. Of particular interest for long time players of other d20 System games is the Monster Research table, which lists suggested skills for learning more about monsters based on their creature type, with a DC based on CR. This kind of check is an integral part of the knowledge skill rules in D&D 3E and Pathfinder, but was conspicuously missing from the 5E core rulebooks.

Environmental Hazards: This section provides random tables of events that may happen in regions where the supernatural has a strong influence (such as haunted places, areas corrupted by the Far Realm, or a location with a powerful psychic aura). This is followed by rules for various kinds of magical phenomena, such as eldritch storms, enchanted springs, magic mushrooms, and even mimic colonies. A brief section on natural hazards introduces rules for a few new situations, plus a table suggesting spells to use to model other environmental effects or disasters.

Many of these hazards are well-suited to Freeport: the Far Realm and hauntings fit the setting's horror aspects particularly well, while travelers may have to weather eldritch storms or navigate unearthly roads, or simply survive falling into water on a not infrequent basis. 

Puzzles: Finally, the last section of the book presents some sample puzzles that can used as-is or as a template for your own puzzles. Suggestions are given for skill checks that will provide hints, which is a useful idea to remember when creating other puzzles. None of the examples strike me as being out of place in Freeport, but they will need some customizing to integrate them into the setting.

Tasha's Cauldron and Freeport, Part 1: Character Options

For my past columns about using D&D Fifth Edition sourcebooks with Freeport: The City of Adventure, see the Freeport 5E Index.

Tasha's Cauldron of  Everything introduces a slew of new character options, from subclasses to spells to feats, as well as a number of new magic items and several tools for the GM. Much like Xanathar's Book of Everything, a significant fraction of the content of this book appeared in playtest form in Unearthed Arcana, and thus I have commented on those earlier iterations in past installments of this blog. I'll be compiling and revisiting those comments here, as well as reviewing brand-new additions. And as with Xanathar's, I'll be splitting my review into two parts, with this first part devoted to just Chapter 1: Character Options.

As the book's introduction points out, everything in this book is optional. Use as much or as little of it as you see fit for your campaigns.

Customizing Your Origin 

These rules allow you to customize the ability score increases, languages, and proficiencies you receive from your race or subrace. This option allows for a greater diversity among the members of each race, and makes it easier to represent an upbringing that might be radically different from the stereotypical standard. A sidebar gives simple rules for playing a custom lineage instead of one of the game's races.  

The Freeport setting frequently plays up the typical racial stereotypes built into the game (dwarves are known for craftsmanship and warfare, elves for magic and stealth, half-orcs and orcs for rage and bloodlust). However, the City of Adventure is also home to many NPCs who very much play against expectations about their ancestry (such as a half-orc noble, a half-orc lawyer, and a goblin wizard) and is something of a melting pot as well, despite all its racial tensions. A party of adventurers could easily include PCs built with the standard race packages as well as PCs with customized origins.

(While strictly optional, the customized origin rules have become the default assumption for all new lineages presented in Unearthed Arcana.)

Artificer

Artificers are master crafters who use their tools to imbue objects with magical power. They may create magical elixirs, enchant armors or weapons, or build mechanical servants. Even their spells manifest as wondrous effects produced by their inventions, rather than traditional spellcasting.

This class has four kinds of specialists (subclasses): Alchemists create elixirs and enhance their spells using their alchemist's supplies. The Armorer creates a powerful bond with their armor, turning it into fully enclosed power armor. The Artillerist is accompanied by an eldritch cannon, and gain potent battle magic. The Battle Smith focuses on protective enchantments and crafts a defensive construct companion.

Artificers work very well with Freeport's unusual mix of eldritch magic and experimental technology. The Armorer seems especially appropriate for experimenters who blur the lines between man and machine, such as the Manikins (Hell in Freeport) or Ironjack (The Ironjack Legacy). 

Optional Class Features: Each of the next 12 sections begins with a selection of Optional Class Features for that class. Some replace a standard class feature, while others are available at the discretion of the GM. This might mean they're given for free, after a quest, or in place of a standard class feature, but no real guidance is given for determining that. The Unearthed Arcana article in which they originally appeared did provide more explicit instructions (typically, the character gave up a class feature of the listed level in order to gain the new feature), but much of that language was cut from the final print version. Players can be a greedy, pushy lot at times, so more explicit guidelines would have been welcome here.

Each spellcasting class is given an expanded spell list, which includes spells from the Player's Handbook as well as new spells from Chapter 3 of this book. Other options include:

• Replaced class features: The character trades away one class feature for a new one.
• Enhanced class features: The existing class feature is expanded to do a little more than before. (The following two items are specific kinds of enhancement.)
• Expanded options: Class features that require a choice from several options (fighting styles, metamagic, invocations, etc.) get new options.
• Retraining: The character can change one of their cantrips, maneuvers, or other class features more easily.

Barbarian

The Path of the Beast barbarian is a partial shapechanger who can grow natural weapons in combat. As they advance, they can adapt to new movement modes, and spread their rage to allies and enemies. This archetype is suitable for characters with a connection to lycanthropes, druids, or fey or animal spirits--of which there are many examples in Rolland and in the more exotic lands of the World of Freeport.

The Path of Wild Magic is a barbarian who is saturated with powerful magic, over which they have little control until later levels. It's very much a martial sibling to the Wild Magic sorcerer. (I'm not sure whether multiclassing between the two would be awesome or obnoxious--or both.)

Bard

Bards who join the College of Creation learn to use the esoteric power of music to manipulate the world around them, from summoning lingering notes that bolster inspiration, to animating a dancing item, to literally creating nonmagical objects out of nothing. The theme of this archetype reminds me of the Finnish creation myth in which the world itself emerges from a bard's song; DMs may wish to take that a step further and tie this tradition to the doomed world from which Lowyatar is the sole survivor (see Cults of Freeport).

The College of Eloquence gives a bard increased powers of persuasion, communication, and inspiration. The effects are less flashy than many other subclasses, but very well-suited to a silver-tongued bard.

Cleric

The Order Domain is designed for gods of law, civilization, and leadership. If you are using The Book of the Righteous with Freeport, then this domain is most appropriate for Maal (LN god of justice) and Asmodeus (LE god of tyranny). However, those two gods already have the Balance and Tyranny domains, respectively, which embody their own takes on law and order. 

The Peace Domain [renamed from the Unity Domain] emphasizes teamwork and emotional bonds. This domain would be an excellent way to translate the Community domain from Third Edition. (That is one gap that The Book of the Righteous did not fill.)

The Twilight Domain is a natural fit for heroes who brave the darkness to combat the dangers that it hides. Two examples in Freeport canon include Tagmata's dualistic light-based faith of Astrape, and the cult of Nut in Hamunaptra.

Druid

The Circle of Spores druid is attuned to mold and decay, gaining poison attacks and eventually the ability to temporarily raise its victims as zombies. These druids might operate in the jungle of A'Val or in the sewers below Freeport. 

The Circle of Stars for druids involves studying the night sky and channeling the power of starlight. Some of the features gained are tied to astrological foretelling, while others alter wild shape to take on a starry form tied to a constellation's power. The powers of this subclass are thematically appropriate for both the Order of Starry Wisdom and the Wanderer, though druids are not obvious candidates for either cult.

The Circle of Wildfire embraces both the destructive side of fire and the new growth that it makes possible. It's imminently suited for druids who live near volcanoes like the one on A'Val--but such a character is likely to inspire a great deal of terror in Freeporters due to painful memories of the Great Green Fire that ravaged the island a few years ago.

Fighter

The Psi Warrior [formerly Psychic Warrior] uses psionic energy to augment attacks and defenses that improve with level. In the World of Freeport, psionics are most common in Naranjan, the land of the Mindshadows setting. 

Rune Knights learn how to imbue their possessions with the power of giantish rune magic. In the World of Freeport, this archetype would be most common among the northern barbarian tribes of Druzhdin. or possibly the dwarves of Vorizar.

In addition to presenting new fighting styles and maneuvers, this class's section ends in a list of Battle Master builds, with suggested fighting styles, maneuvers, and feats for different types of warriors, such as archers, lancers, and pugilists.

Monk

Monks who follow the Way of Mercy tradition are both skilled healers as well as bringers of swift death to the evil and the ailing. Many wear masks to shroud their identities in mystery. These monks would be appropriate for followers of a god of medicine, or one who holds power over life and death.

The Way of the Astral Self provides a way for a monk to manifest their true form using their ki. This astral form is mastered a piece at a time, starting with extra arms that deal radiant or necrotic damage, then later a mask (visage) that enhances their senses. Later levels enhance both the offensive and defensive benefits of this astral self. This subclass seems best suited for an exotic, possibly psionic-flavored, monastic order, perhaps one started by a planar-traveling race such as the githyanki or githzerai.

Paladin

The Oath of Glory [formerly Heroism] is for paladins who are destined for legendary greatness, enhancing their own powers in a way that eventually can be used to inspire allies and frighten enemies.

Paladins who swear the Oath of the Watchers are guardians against extraplanar threats. This manifests as heightened vigilance and methods to punish unworldly foes. This archetype is very well suited to servants of the Inquisition and other champions who hunt the devils and demons who plague Freeport from time to time. 

Most Sacred Oaths suggest one or more alignments common to their members, but these two do not. In Freeport, that might mean these oaths are equally valid for both idealistic crusaders and their more jaded, corrupt associates. The Oath of Glory in particular seems more concerned with personal glory than the greater good, and that kind of egotism does fit Freeport just fine.

Ranger

The Fey Wanderer ranger archetype is a guardian of the borders between the Feywild and the material plane. They are imbued with fey magic that allows them to better negotiate with beings from both worlds, to resist some of the snares of the fey, and to bend the minds of others. This subclass is probably most common in the elven kingdom of Rolland, but might also be appropriate for rangers (human and otherwise) who have learned something about the strange, rare fey peculiar to the Serpent's Teeth.

The Swarmkeeper ranger archetype has a connection to a fey nature spirit that manifests as a swarm of tiny beasts sharing their space. As the ranger advances in level, this swarm can increase their weapon damage and enhance their movement. This subclass is rather bizarre and potentially offputting in social encounters, but could be appropriate to a wide variety of characters, from fey-bonded wood elves from Rolland, to worshipers of insect or plague gods from Hamunaptra, to weird outcasts who dwell in the sewers beneath Freeport.

This class's optional class features include an alternative to the Beast Master's animal companion. That original take has been much criticized for its poor action economy, and Primal Companions help improve that somewhat. (They also don't require the level of familiarity with the Monster Manual that picking a companion can sometimes entail.)

Rogue

The Phantom is a killer with a mystical connection to the dead. That connection gives them a bonus proficiency (which can be changed after a rest), and at later levels it can give them a little bit of the luck or knowledge of those who have died near them. When they sneak attack a foe, they can cause ghostly wails to damage a second target. This subclass would be ideal for the assassins of a death cult, or a haunted loner. It fits in admirably with the horror elements of the Freeport setting.

A Soulknife can create a blade of pure psychic energy, and at very high level, can target an enemy's mind directly. As with the Psi Warrior, Soulknives would be most common in Naranjan.

Sorcerer

The Aberrant Mind sorcerer has had an alien experience that warped their mind and body. This subclass gives them limited telepathy, psionic-flavored additional spells known, and (at higher levels) resistance to psychic damage. Higher levels also give the ability to transform into an aberrant form, and a destructive teleport ability. In Freeport, an Aberrant Mind might have acquired her powers through an encounter with servitors of the Yellow Sign or other eldritch horrors.

The Clockwork Soul is a sorcerous origin tied to Mechanus, the plane of ultimate order. The archetype's powers focus on warding magic and reducing the extremes of random chance (usually by denying advantage or disadvantage). The World of Freeport includes enough constructs (particularly in adventures such as Hell in Freeport and The Ironjack Legacy) that this subclass has a solid place there.

Warlock

The Fathomless is a powerful entity of the deep ocean, or the Elemental Plane of Water. In addition to an expanded spell list with water and weather-themed spells, this patron grants the ability to create spectral tentacles to attack your enemies. At higher levels, these appendages can help defend the warlock, and she can conjure more deadly manifestations of her patron's power. The warlock eventually gains some class features that make it easier to move through and survive in her master's watery domain. The Fathomless is perfectly suited to Yarash and Dagon's cults.

The Genie is an otherworldly patron from among the nobles of geniekind. Warlocks of this subclass actually take on some of the properties of their genie masters: they start with a genie's vessel, in which they can retreat from the outer world to rest. At later levels, they gain resistance based on their master's element, can take others into their vessel, and eventually gain some limited wish magic. Genie-binders are an established part of Freeport history, both in the construction of the Wizards Guild, and among the efreeti-blooded azhar, and this subclass offers an interesting inversion of that master-servant relationship.

Wizard

The Bladesinging tradition melds magic with martial prowess to gain enhanced AC, mobility, and concentration saves. At higher levels, they gain Extra Attack, and can sacrifice spell slots to absorb damage. This subclass originally appeared in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, where it was restricted to elves and half-elves. That limit has been omitted here, but in the World of Freeport, most Bladesingers would come from those races. One prestigious school for Bladesinging is the Arcane Blade Academy at Dragonmont, in Rolland (mentioned in True20 Freeport: The Lost Island).

A wizard of the Order of Scribes can create a magical quill at will, and instills some limited sentience in his own spellbook. At higher levels, they become expert spell scroll makers, and their spellbook gains new abilities. This subclass seems ideal for a lorekeeper at the Wizard's Guild or an archivist at the Temple of the God of Knowledge.

Feats

This section presents 15 new feats. Some grant a small taste of another class's abilities (Artificer Initiate, Eldritch Adept, Fighting Initiate, Metamagic Adept). Others enhance the use of a skill (Chef, Poisoner, Skill Expert). Two represent the influence of another plane (Fey Touched, Shadow Touched). Two give some cantrip-level psionic abilities (Telekinetic, Telepathic). The rest give advantages in combat, usually enhancing attacks (Crusher, Gunner, Piercer, Slasher). All of these feats are appropriate for Freeport, though GMs who don't want to use artificers or firearms in their game will need to restrict access to Artificer Initiate and Gunner, respectively.

Next up: Everything Else! (Chapters 2-4.)