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• Jun 1, 2023

  Let's Read Neverwinter: Bregan D'Aerthe Spy

  

  The first thing I learned about the Bregan D’Aerthe is that WotC’s authors really like them. This is an organization of mercenary drow led by this dude named Jarlaxe Baenre, a swashbuckler that’s basically a wittier and more morally ambiguous Drizz’t. Its members are all some sort of outcast from drow society, such as members of fallen houses and “houseless males” (in the words of the FR setting book). They can show up anywhere in the world and are always on the lookout for an opportunity to turn a profit.

  They started out as a ready source of sudden ninja attacks, but by 5e they seem to appear in every published campaign as one of the factions in play, and even as a possible patron for PCs. No matter where the story takes place, there’s always a smirking drow asshole hanging in the background, ready to send your PCs on cryptic missions and gloating that all went according to plan no matter what the result of those missions is. Sometimes it’s Jarlaxe himself, sometimes it’s another character.

  This might have been the book that started the trend, and it did so in a spectacular fashion: if you pick this theme, you are the smirking drow asshole with all the secret plans.

  Your story is pretty typical. You are a drow who survived the fall of your house (which as usual for drow involves a massive assassination spree). The Bregan D’Aerthe took you in and trained you, giving you a new chance to make a life for yourself.

  You’ve worked for them for decades, many of them here in the North’s surface. You took part in many of the schemes that helped Luskan’s fall along, and you witnessed the volcanic eruption. After that happened, the bulk of your Bregan buddies left the area, since the pickings had become slim. Jarlaxe personally ordered you to stay behind and keep an eye out in case the region started heating up again.

  Now that it did, you’re to look into everybody’s business, figure out what all the factions in the are are up to, and find out how the Bregan D’Aerthe can profit from their schemes. Jarlaxe is going to swing by some time to hear your report and give new orders. So yeah, you’re acting as the cryptic smirking drow “friend” to your fellow PCs while compiling a report for an even bigger cryptic smirking NPC.

  To be a Bregan D’Aerthe Spy, you must be a drow. You can be any class, however. Any gender too, despite the “houseless males” bit above. The background skills for this are Bluff, Dungeoneering, and Stealth.

  Features

  At level 1, you gain the Levitation encounter power, which is an innate magic power few drow manage to master. As a move action, you can fly up to 4 squares up and move 1 square horizontally. You keep hovering up there for a turn, after which you softly descend to the ground without taking falling damage. If something else boosts you past an altitude of 4 squares while you’re levitating, you fall to that altitude without taking damage after resolving the effect.

  At level 5, you gain Continuous Levitation, a daily power that when used gives you the ability to sustain Levitation until the end of the encounter. When you sustain it, you can move an additional 3 squares vertically and 1 square horizontally.

  At Level 10, when you grant combat advantage, enemies no longer gain the usual +2 bonus to attack you. They still gain other benefits from having combat advantage like extra damage or the ability to use specific powers, but their attacks will be no more accurate than usual.

  Optional Powers

  Sudden Stealth is a level 2 encounter power that lets you roll Stealth right along your Initiative roll if you have any cover or concealment at the start of combat.

  Fluid Steps is a level 6 daily power that uses a minor action and lets you shift 3 squares as a move action for the rest of the encounter.

  Spy Sight might familiar to players of the Assassin’s Creed or Arkham games. It’s a level 10 daily power that uses a minor action and gives you +5 to Perception and Insight for the rest of the encounter.

  Impressions

  I admit I’m predisposed to disliking the Bregan D’Aerthe, precisely because all those places where they appear seem to go out of the way to picture Jarlaxe as someone you’re supposed to love even when he betrays your party to make a few extra gold pieces. What a card, amirite?

  Still, I have to praise this theme for its willingness to peel back the curtain a little and put a PC in the role of the sneaky quest giver. Remove Jarlaxe from consideration somehow and it gets even better.

  Mechanically, this is going to lend a roguish flair to any PC, making them more mobile and stealthy. It works well for any mobile melee striker, but even defenders are going to love the protection from flanking or the ability to get up close and personal with those annoying fliers.

  Multiple Bregan Spies in a party are possible, but too many mysterious drow in one place can end up spoiling the mystery. A whole party of them would also end up sticking out and having a hard time moving around undetected, unless you rule drow make up a significant part of the general surface population in your campaign.

• May 29, 2023

  Let's Read Neverwinter: Spellscarred Harbinger

  

  The Spellplague was the big traumatic world event that switched Forgotten Realms from its Third Edition to its Fourth Edition state. It’s tradition for it to have one of those every edition change.

  It happened nearly a hundred years before our narrative present in this book, and it featured entire continents being pulled from a parallel dimension into this one, fundamental and traumatic changes to the way magic worked, and yes, a plague.

  The plague was caused by excessive exposure to those chaotically-changing magical energies, and it caused terrible mutations and curses in its victims. A lot of them died, some suffered permanent disfigurations, and a rare few got weird powers to go along with it. These people were known as the spellscarred. The major changes subsided long ago, but there are still occasional flareups of the Spellplague even today. Feel free to insert your favorite COVID mismanaging jokes here, though this was written a decade before the real-world plague.

  In any case, if you take this background, you are one of the Spellplague’s recent victims. You were lucky enough to be the kind that gains magical powers, but that’s scant consolation since their initial manifestation blew up your home and family. You spent a long time wandering alone and hiding your mutation, because people notice they tend to treat you like, well, a plague carrier. You’re not contagious, but good luck convincing them of that.

  Anyway, you were eventually helped by a priest of Ilmater, the FR god of compassion, who directed you to the city of Helm’s Hold. The god Helm died during the original Spellplague, but his temple there has been converted into a hospital and shelter for the spellscarred. You spent most of your journey there trying to figure out how you contracted the plague in the first place, without success. Now that you’re getting close to your destination, you started having nightmares again, about the night when you changed, and about the whole world being consumed in blue fire.

  (These are similar to the Faithful’s dreams, but there is no divine salvation at the end).

  Soon there will come a time when you can no longer hide your affliction. How will you act then? And can Helm’s Hold really help you?

  There are no racial or class restrictions for this theme. The plague is pretty egalitarian that way. The background skills for this theme are Arcana and Heal.

  Features

  At level 1, you get a spellscar - an obviously unnatural lesion or mutation such as a glowing blue scar, tentacle fingers, or other such features. This gives you a -2 penalty to defenses and saves from all Spellplague-related effects, including attacks from spellchanged and spellscarred creatures. It also lets you sense these creatures or Spellplague-afflicted areas if they’re within 5 squares.

  Yes, this does mean Spellplague monsters can sense you, but they also get that defense and save penalty against your attacks.

  You also pick one of these three abilities:

  • Dimensional Shift: Teleport 2 squares as a minor action once per encounter.

  • Twist Fate: Reroll a failed saving throw once per encounter.

  • Vanish: Once per encounter, become invisible for a turn as a minor action.

  At level 5, you can draw on your spellscar to boost your attacks, even though it hurts you. Spellscar Empowerment is a daily power that you can use when you hit with an attack. It dazes the enemy for a turn, and deals 5 + (half your level) damage to you. The price seems to be a bit steep even for a guaranteed daze.

  At Level 10, you get to pick a second power from the Level 1 list.

  Optional Powers

  The optional utility powers here represent an effort spent at mastering the chaotic energies contained in your spellscar.

  Plague Disruption is a level 2 encounter power that uses a minor action. It activates an aura 2 that lasts for a turn. Enemies inside have a -2 penalty to attacks and “disadvantage” on power recharge rolls (i.e, they must roll the d6 twice and take the lowest result).

  Torture Reality is a level 6 daily power. If you’re targeted by a melee or ranged attack you can use it as an interrupt to redirect the attack to a creature adjacent to you. This can be another enemy or even an ally with better defenses, but it can’t be the attacker.

  Morphic Recovery is a level 10 daily power that turns an enemy’s weakness into your strength. If you hit an enemy granting combat advantage to you and you have no encounter powers left, you can use this power to recover one of those spent encounter powers of level 7 or lower.

  The level restriction makes this less useful on paragon tier, since you’re going to start gaining higher-level powers and replacing your lower-level ones. This makes this power less useful outside of the Neverwinter campaign.

  Impressions

  I like this more than Devil’s Pawn, as it makes for a more party-friendly edgy secret. It’s even more FR-specific!

  Mechanically, it’s also useful to a broader variety of characters, though I guess each one will benefit less from it than an infernal warlock would benefit from Devil’s Pawn.

• May 27, 2023

  Let's Read Neverwinter: Devil's Pawn

  

  The North has always had a reputation as a hotbed for cultist activity, especially in these dark times, but this reputation is more than a bit exaggerated. In truth, most of those cults are groups of young nobles from minor families who get together to appear edgy, intimidate rivals, and have really wild parties. They start their meetings with some mock evil ceremonies for the lulz, then proceed to drink themselves into a stupor and leave a mess for their servants to clean.

  Choosing this theme means you were one of these “cultists” until recently. Though you come from a noble lineage, your family was never wealthy or very influential. You saw the cult as an opportunity to make useful connections and advance your own wealth and power. Also, the parties were really fun.

  One day, you were late for a meeting. And when you arrived you found all of your cult buddies dead, the room painted with their guts. In the center of the carnage, the brazier you used for your pretend “diabolic rituals” burned with an intensely hot flame that drew you in as if you were a moth. It lashed out and etched a brand on your chest, and the pain caused you to pass out.

  You woke up at home, but your hope that this had been just a nightmare faded when you noticed that the brand was still there. You somehow recognize it as a mark of Asmodeus. You fled your native Waterdeep in a confused panic, heading to a backwater where no one knew you: the ruined city of Neverwinter. You found allies and protection in the other PCs, though you are reluctant to share your dark secret with them, and haunted by dreams where you betray them all.

  This theme is the best choice for infernal warlocks who want to warlock twice as hard, but there are no hard class prerequisites. There are no racial prerequisites either, though since the PC is also from a minor Waterdeep noble family they are likely to be a human, half-elf, elf, dwarf, or eladrin. Tieflings with devil ancestors are also an interesting possibility (guess FR tieflings are more similar to old-school ones).

  The theme skills are Bluff and Religion.

  Features

  As mentioned above, these features let infernal warlocks go at it twice as hard, and they also lend an infernal “flair” to non-warlocks.

  At level 1, the devil’s mark allows you to use the Hellfire and Brimstone encounter power. This uses up a minor action and creates a zone in a Close Burst 2 around you. Creatures in the zone when it’s created take 5 fire damage (7 at level 11, 10 at 21). Anyone inside afterwards takes a -2 penalty to all attack rolls and defenses. The zone lasts for a turn.

  The damage from Hellfire and Brimstone feels a bit low, but it’s automatic. And the attack/defense penalty is useful for everyone at all levels.

  At level 5, you gain a +4 to Diplomacy to interact with devils, and people or creatures devoted to them (like diabolists or duergar). The brand exerts a pull on them and draws them to you, whether you want to or not.

  At level 10, you gain 10 Fire Resistance. If you already have fire resistance from other sources (such as being a tiefling) it increases by 5 instead.

  Optional Powers

  The fiction here is that you trade a bit of your soul to learn these powers (or to use the level 10 one), but that doesn’t have any more mechanical impact than other infernal warlock powers. All of them also grant you additional benefits if you’re an infernal pact warlock.

  Traitor’s Brand is a Level 2 daily power that can be used as a reaction when an enemy within 5 squares hits you. You cause all creatures adjacent to that enemy to take 1d6 fire damage. Add your Int modifier to this roll if you have the Infernal Pact feature.

  Int isn’t usually a high attribute for infernal warlocks, so the bonus is likely to be low. But hey, it’s automatic damage, so every point helps.

  Shielding Hellfire is a Level 6 daily power that uses a minor action. It’s a stance that envelops you in dark infernal flames. This gives you a +4 power bonus to Stealth and Resist 5 Fire. If you already have fire resistance, it increases that by 5 instead.

  If you have an Infernal Pact, whenever your Warlock’s Curse is triggered the stance also gives you a +4 power bonus on damage rolls from fire attacks until the end of your next turn.

  Pit Fiend Harbinger is a level 10 daily power that uses a minor action, and represents you fully embracing the power of your brand. In other words, you turn into Devilman: your skin hardens into blackened scales and you grow wings and horns. This gives you a +2 power bonus to AC, a fly speed equal to your ground speed, and fire resistance equal to 5 + (your level). As usual, if you already have fire resistance it gets increased by 5 instead.

  The downside of the transformation is that you can’t spend healing surges and you must make an attack on your turn each round or take damage equal to your level at the end of the turn. This damage cannot be prevented or reduced in any way. Warlocks already want to be attacking every turn anyway, but this could be a problem if the last enemy falls before they can attack that turn, or if an enemy prevents them from attacking somehow.

  All of this lasts for a turn but can be sustained with more minor actions. If you have an Infernal Pact, you gain 10 temporary HP every time you sustain the power, which neatly remedies or mitigates both downsides of this power.

  Impressions

  This feels like an ironic take on the “edgy but not evil” trope, since a PC with this theme thought they were that but then it turned out their pretend cult drew the attention of actual cosmic evil.

  You can still be an involuntary wielder of infernal magics if you stick with just the features, but by default there’s nothing “involuntary” about the optional utilities: they represent you willingly trading bits of your soul away for more power. And both the level 6 and 10 powers seem like a very tempting choice for an infernal pact warlock, be they full- or multi-class.

  I don’t think multiple PCs with this theme in a party would work out. The default inciting incident is very specific, which means all of the Pawn PCs would have been present there. Them being in the same party set ups an unsustainable tension between “no one must know!” and “this one knows!”.

  Also, the more Devil’s Pawns you have together, the higher the chance one of them would succumb to the temptation of embracing these powers, dragging the others down along with them. An all-Pawn party might start with the best of intentions, but it would turn into an evil campaign quite soon. I’m not sure I’d allow it in a group at all. If someone really wanted to play a warlock, I’d try to convince them to take the Fey Pact instead.

  There’s a bit of lore elsewhere that claims most PC infernal warlocks are following an esoteric tradition based on stealing power from Hell, which allows them to wield infernal powers without imperiling their soul and could explain why devils generally dislike the character instead of being drawn to them. Separated from its story bits, this theme could represent a warlock who gained their powers through the more traditional path of making deals with devils. They are more powerful than a theme-less warlock, but also more evil.

• May 21, 2023

  Let's Read Neverwinter: Scion of Shadow

  

  I’ve mentioned the Netherese several times already, and now it’s time to view the theme most directly connected to them.

  Okay, so we know that there was this ancient human empire named Netheril, that it was ruled by archmages, and that it really liked building flying islands. We also know that it fell overnight due to Shenanigans that caused its signature magic to stop working and caused all of those islands to fall from the sky. And we’ve also seen (spoilers!) that one of these islands fell on the Neverwinter Wood. This island is named Xinlenal and it happens to be the first one ever built.

  Now, I think that either in the 4e FR book or somewhere near the end of third edition, you had this metaplot event where the survivors of ancient Netheril started coming back. Turns out another one of their island cities survived the fall by crossing over into the Shadowfell, much like the eladrin did with the Feywild. They spent all this time there, and were mutated by the plane’s energies. Now they’re returning to the world bent on ruling it again, and are engaged in sinister conspiracies the world over. These people consider themselves heirs to Netheril and call themselves Shadovar. They’re fascists.

  And sure enough, there are Shadovar in the Neverwinter Wood, trying to repair Xinlenal.

  If you’re a PC with this theme, you used to be one of them. Your early education contained a lot of fascist drivel about how the Netherese were superior to all other peoples of the world, and how they were going to reclaim their rightful place at the top of the societal food chain once they returned. You were assigned a post in the first scouting expeditions into the world, and fell in love with all the warmth and sunlight you saw there. You also interacted with plenty of supposedly “inferior” people that quickly dispelled the bullshit put into your head by the Shadovar leadership.

  You volunteered for a post at the location farthest from the center of Shadovar power - Neverwinter. You managed to vanish shortly after arriving here, and now live in the city, keeping your past a secret. But lately you’ve been seeing signs and hearing rumors that tell you the Shadovar presence here is increasing. The only thing that would get them this riled up is a repairable flying city. If there really is one here (spoiler: there is) and they manage to make it fly, then this could become a new major center for the Shadovar, and you’d never escape them again. You need to stop them, if only to ensure you can live a peaceful life here.

  There are no class restrictions for this theme, but Scions of Shadow can only be one of human, shadar-kai, or shade. Those last two represent whose bloodlines were affected by the Shadowfell, or who were mutated directly. I think Shadar-kai get a full playable treatment in the Gloomwrougth supplement, and Shades appear in Heroes of Shadow. Even if you’re human, you’re still edgier than usual.

  The associated background skills are Arcana, Bluff, and Stealth.

  Features

  The features here are all about your heritage brings you closer to the shadows, even though you have chosen the light.

  At level 1 you gain Eyes of Night. This daily power gives you Blindsight 10 for a turn when used.

  At level 5, your healing surge value increases by 4 wherever you’re in dim light or darkness.

  At level 10, you gain a +2 power bonus to Bluff and Stealth checks.

  Utility Powers

  More shadow magic!

  Flitting Shadow is a level 2 encounter power that can be used when you reappear at the end of a teleport. The power makes you assume a shadow form for a turn. This gives you Insubstantial, Phasing and Vulnerable 5 Radiant, and lets you make checks to hide when you have partial cover or concealment from any source, including from standing behind your allies. Shadar-kai get a teleport encounter power, and classes like warlocks and swordmages can often teleport as well. If you can’t teleport easily, this is worthless to you.

  Binding Shade is a level 6 encounter power that can be used after you hit with an attack. After the attack is fully resolved, you gain partial concealment and combat advantage against its target until the end of your next turn.

  Dancing Shadows is a level 10 daily power that lets you teleport 6 squares when used. Until the end of the encounter, you can teleport 3 squares at will with a move action. In all cases, you must appear in a square of dim light or darkness. This also makes that level 2 power look a lot more attractive.

  Impression

  Very edgy. The Level 5 feature and Level 10 power are awesome in a party that doesn’t need bright light to operate.

  The Shadovar/Netherese are a little less horrible than the Red Wizards, but only a little. I wonder if you can capture their restored flying island and use it to fight the finished Thayan fortress in a giant robot magical structure battle.

• May 19, 2023

  Let's Read Neverwinter: Renegade Red Wizard

  

  Thay is an island nation located somewhere outside of our regional map. It’s ruled by wizards who like to wear red.

  Now, if you’re only familiar with them from the Neverwinter Nights games, like I am, you might have a somewhat ambiguous view of them. Sure, sometimes a Red Wizard of Thay will be involved in evil schemes elsewhere in the world, but #NotAllRedWizards are evil. There’s even a Lawful Neutral companion in NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer who will praise the orderliness of her nation while helping you save the world.

  I’m here to tell you that this view is wrong. The Red Wizards of Thay are basically Nazis. Their mechanical “thing” in 3e was that they overspecialized in a single school of magic, but the edition change made the mask fall all the way off and now nearly all of them pick Necromancy as their special school. So they’re necromantic Nazis.

  Thayan society values magic power above all else, so the Red Wizards are at the top. The use of undead labor is widespread. Their rulers are a council of liches led by one Szass Tam, one of those annoying epic villains the Forgotten Realms are famous for. Most of the population thinks this state of things is natural. Dissidents get zombified.

  If you are a PC with the Renegade Red Wizard theme, you too grew up thinking all of this was normal. You were pretty happy when your aptitude for magic was discovered and you were admitted into one of the island’s prestigious Red Wizard academies. You remained happy right up until your best friend made a tiny mistake during a ritual, and your teacher was so enraged that he killed your friend on the spot. Then he had the body brought in to be reanimated by your class as a group project. You were completely horrified, but you looked around you and saw that everyone else still thought all of this was normal.

  You ran away the first chance you got, as fast as your feet could carry you, and went as far as Neverwinter before you stopped and took stock of your situation. You decided to stick around and help the reconstruction of the city.

  And then you discovered the Thayans were here, doing something unspeakably evil somewhere in the Neverwinter Wood. You’re done running. Time to do something about these dang wizard Nazis.

  This theme has no ancestry restriction, but its features only make sense for the Essentials Wizard (also known as the Mage). The associated background skills are Bluff, Heal, Religion, and Stealth. That seems like a lot, but it’s still balanced because you still only get to pick one of them to boost or add to your class list.

  Features

  This theme has no optional powers, but it makes up for that with extra features. To understand how they work we must first know a bit about the Essentials Wizard (known as the Mage from here on out).

  Mages specialize in specific schools of magic as they level up. Heroes of the Fallen Lands has three of them: Enchantment, Illusion and Evocation. Each has an Apprentice, Expert, and Master feature, and a set of paragon-tier powers.

  At levels 1 and 4 the mage chooses an Apprentice feature for two different schools (one at each of those levels). At levels 5 and 8, they gain Expert features for these same schools. At level 10, they gain the Master feature for a single school and go on to pick paragon-tier powers for that same school as they level up even further.

  In olden times, Red Wizards were known for specializing in a single school to a greater degree than most others. Nowadays, they always pick “necromancy”, but the Renegade PC has used their basic teachings to pick something else. So one of their magic schools is Enchantment, Illusion or Invocation like a normal mage, but the other is replaced by the extra features of this theme. The other features usually relate to your experience hiding from and fighting your former compatriots.

  Starting from level 1, every time you attack from hiding with an arcane power and miss every target, you remain hidden. Enemies can still try to make Perception checks to find you, but you’re no longer automatically revealed.

  At level 4, you don’t get to make a second Apprentice choice. Instead, when one of your spells causes a save-ends effect, the target has a -2 penalty on those saves.

  At level 5, you can switch one of your prepared spells at the end of a short rest once per day, as long as its from your specialist school. Usually Mages can switch spells only at the end of a long rest. Spell-switching is less of an issue in 4e than it was earlier, in my experience, so this isn’t a very large benefit.

  At level 8, you don’t get your second Expert choice. Instead you gain a +2 bonus to Bluff and Intimidate. The bonus is untyped, which is the least they could to do compensate for the lack of another Expert magic feature.

  At level 10, you gain an extra +1 (untyped!) bonus to attack any Red Wizard or undead creature that grants combat advantage to you. As a ranged controller, you can’t get combat advantage quite as easily as a melee striker, but this is still pretty nice. Several of your spells should inflict conditions that make enemies grant CA.

  Impressions

  Out of all these features, I think the level 4 one is the best. Since wizards are controllers, a very large number of their powers are of the save-ends type, so a -2 penalty to all enemy saves is huge. The attack bonus against all undead is also pretty cool, but it comes in very late in the campaign.

  If a non-Mage picked this theme, I’d rejigger is so they still get the Level 1 and 10 features as written, but get the printed Level 4 feature at level 5.

  Now, about the story: As I mentioned previously, the Red Wizards are responsible for the volcanic eruption that half-destroyed Neverwinter. Their original intention was to fully destroy it and use the deaths to power the Super Necromantic Fortress they were building in the Neverwinter Wood. A band of novel protagonists foiled them 30 years ago, but now they have returned to the site of the incomplete fortress to try and finish the process. This is what the Renegade has found clues about.

  Therefore, I would be inclined to include an NPC Renegade if the party has none, just so they can point the PCs towards the Red Wizards. Punching them would as satisfying as punching Hellknights and Nazis.

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