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• 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.

• May 16, 2023

  Let's Read Nevertwinter: Heir of Delzoun

  

  Delzoun was the ancient dwarven empire that flourished at around the same time as the other ancient empires of the region. Being underground, it managed to survive the fall of Netheril relatively unscathed and last a few more centuries.

  They had several underground cities in the area, but their grand capital of Gauntlgrym was the most majestic and famous. It started out as a mining complex. Eventually its workers Delved Too Greedily and Too Deep, and found a slumbering primordial: Maegera the Inferno.

  Luck was on the dwarves’ side, and they managed to avoid waking Maegera up. Some time later, Delzoun’s leadership would make a deal with the archmage who ruled over the city of Illusk, founded by Netheril survivors. Combining their technical and magical expertise, they built a geothermal power generator around Maegera’s prison, using her as the heat source. This brought both civilizations great prosperity, for a time.

  Eventually, Illusk was razed and Gauntlgrym suffered the fate of all dwarven fortresses, falling to an orcish invasion. Over the following years the orcs would be displaced by humans, the humans by mind flayers, and then the city would fall out of history and into myth. Today, Gauntlgrym is seen like a sort of dwarven Atlantis - no dwarf alive knows where it was located, but many dream of finding it and unearthing its riches.

  A few years ago, though, an incredible event happened: a number of dwarves throughout the world started receiving visitations from ghosts clad in the ancient garb of Delzoun. The ghosts warned these distant descendants of theirs that a great and terrible beast (spoiler: it’s Maegera) was about to awaken in the site of ancient Gauntlgrym, and that this must not be allowed to pass. They plead with these descendants to find the city and prevent the awakening. This provoked a sort of “gold rush” to find the city, which died down after a few more years of no one finding it.

  The PC is one of the dwarves visited by the ghost of their ancestor, one who hasn’t given up the search. They dream of finding their city, reclaiming their ancient birthright, and elevating their family name to its rightful place among their people’s legends. Oh, and of preventing the world-ending disaster that would happen if this mysterious beast awakens. Strike the Earth!

  There are no class prerequisites here, but as a true heir of Delzoun the PC must be a dwarf. The associated background skills are Dungeoneering and History.

  Features

  These generally make you dwarfier than your typical dwarf.

  Your starting feature makes you even more resistant to poison, granting you (5 + half level) poison resistance.

  At level 5, you gain an extra healing surge.

  At level 10, you gain a +4 bonus to Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidate when interacting with other dwarves.

  Optional Powers

  These continue the theme of the features, making you tougher or more skilled in dwarven lore.

  Scholar of Ancient Ways is a level 2 encounter power that lets you roll a History check in place of any other INT-based skill check, or a Dungeoneering check in place of any other WIS-based skill check. Because all things are like dwarf fortresses if you look at them the right way.

  Noble Indomitability is a level 6 encounter power that works as an interrupt. When you’re subject to forced movement, you can use it to spend a healing surge and completely negate that movement.

  Body Over Mind is a level 10 encounter power that can be used when you fail a saving throw. It lets you spend a healing surge to succeed at that throw instead.

  Impressions

  These powers and features are excellent for all types of defenders, but they can help a dwarf of any class become even more survivable. I know this is one of the themes that locks you into a single ancestry, but it would be quite funny to have a non-dwarf PC who is a true heir because they were adopted into a dwarven family that can trace their line to Delzoun. If I was trying to make Carrot Ironfoundersson as a 4e PC, I’d give him this theme.

  Story-wise, this is probably the best way to involve your party in the search for Gauntlgrym. It’s easy to justify multiple PCs having it, and you could build a campaign around an all-Heir party.

• May 13, 2023

  Let's Read Neverwinter: Pack Outcast

  

  This is the other half of the barbarian plotline!

  The Gray Wolf are another Uthgardt tribe. They share a lot of the same base culture, but also have several important differences. Namely, they’re werewolves! The condition has been with them since they were Netherese refugees, and by now it’s quite well-integrated into their culture. Until very recently, they behaved like your typical Uthgardt tribe: violent, yes, but turning that capacity for violence only towards those who invaded their territory.

  This changed with the latest generation of leaders, which have been taking the tribe in a more aggressive direction. They’ve become raiders, killing for material gain and sometimes even for sport. This got worse when a bunch of mysterious shadow-people approached those leaders and filled their heads with dreams of glory and of becoming part of a reborn ancient empire. The Grey Wolf have stopped fighting for themselves and have begun fighting for lost Netheril. They’ve kind of become a neo-fascist gang.

  A PC with this theme is a member of the Grey Wolves who took a stand against this early in the process, and was exiled. Rumors have reached them that the leaders of the Grey Wolves have switched to executing dissidents, and this has driven the PC to act. Their goal is now to drive the shadows of Netheril from the region and cleanse the tribe of their influence, getting them back on the right track. They see the other PCs as a “temporary pack” that will help them achieve this goal. Lone wolves are a myth, after all.

  The Pack Outcast can belong to any class. The Gray Wolves also dislike arcane magic, but there was no one around to prevent the outcast from learning it if they so choose. Still, melee weapon users are going to benefit much more from it.

  Most Grey Wolves are either humans or shifters.

  Features

  You’re a werewolf!

  At level 1, you gain Body of the Wolf. This is an at-will power that lets you turn into a wolf (or back) with a minor action. When you transform, you can also shift 1 square. The character retains their stats, and gains a +1 bonus to Speed. All equipment melds into their form and provides its passive benefits (unless it’s a shield). The character can’t use item powers or access containers, but gains a wolf bite attack and becomes proficient with it. This counts as a melee weapon with a +3 proficiency bonus, 1d8 base damage, and the same magical enhancement as the character’s primary weapon.

  This bite is much better than the one the Dead Rat Deserter gets at level 10! Its main advantage is counting as a magical melee weapon instead of being a specific power. This lets the PC use any of their weapon powers while in wolf form, meaning anyone that relies on this type of power benefits from it. This means all melee martials both from the PHBs and from Essentials material, as well as characters like wardens, barbarians, paladins, and even the Warpriest (Essentials cleric).

  The bite is still useless for characters who rely on implements, and the book doesn’t say anything specific about whether implements work while melded to the animal form. A generous GM might interpret “You continue to gain the benefits of the equipment you wear” to say that they do work, giving you a spellcasting wolf.

  Starting at level 5, enemies adjacent to you grant combat advantage to you and to all allies who are also adjacent to those enemies. You don’t need to be in a flanking position, any adjacent space will do. Also, you get CA even if you’re the only PC adjacent to the enemy. This is super useful for melee combatants.

  At level 10, you gain a +2 power bonus to Athletics and Intimidate, which is kinda underwhelming after the two other skills but can still be useful.

  Optional Powers

  You can get even more werewolf-y!

  Bite of the Wolf is a level 2 encounter power that can be used when you hit an enemy that grants combat advantage to you with a melee attack. This knocks the enemy prone. Despite the name, you don’t need to be in wolf form to use it. And remember that after level 5 every adjacent enemy will grant you CA.

  Blood of the Wolf is a level 6 daily power that can be activated with a minor action and gives you regeneration equal to (1 + CON Mod) while you’re bloodied. Like a werewolf’s regeneration, it shuts down for a turn if you’re damaged by silver.

  Soul of the Wolf is a level 10 daily power that lets you assume a hybrid form. You retain all of your equipment, armor and weapons, and can use them normally. You also gain the same bite attack as in the level 1 power, temporary HP equal to (10 + CON Mod), and a +2 power bonus to Speed, Fortitude, Athletics, Intimidate, and damage!

  Impressions

  If there’s a Dead Rat Deserter in the party, they’re going to spend most of their time looking with envy at the Pack Outcast. This is a theme that greatly boosts melee weapon users and has a spectacular level 10 power. Even if such a character already has something equivalent to one of its features and powers, they’re unlikely to have all of them, so there’s something here for everyone. Plus, you get to say you’re a werewolf!

  The Pack Outcast and the Uthgardt Barbarian are going to get along like a house on fire, and having both in the same party will let you “speedrun” the first couple of milestones of the barbarian investigation plotline. And just like that other theme, this one can also be used for multiple PCs without any convoluted explanations. An all-Pack Outcast game is a Werewolf: The Forsaken campaign using 4e rules.

• May 11, 2023

  Let's Read Neverwinter: Uthgardt Barbarian

  

  The Uthgardt are the barbarians of this Frozen North, more Conan-like than Viking-like. They’re one of the many people descended from the citizens of the human empire of Netheril, which scattered in a lot of different directions when that empire fell overnight. The ancestors of the Uthgardt stayed in the region when one of the Netherese flying islands fell here, and learned how to live off the land. They take their name from Uthgar, a mythical ancestor who was so badass he ascended to godhood and became one of the exarchs of Tempus, the FR god of war. There are many Uthgardt tribes today, each one named after a different kind of animal they admire and try to emulate. All of them venerate Uthgar along with a series of tribe-specific primal spirits, and don’t pay much attention to other gods.

  A PC with this background belongs to the Thunderbeast tribe, who lives in the High Forest way to the east of our regional map. A bit before the campaign started, the tribe engaged in their annual custom of the Runemeet, when all of them travel to their ancestral holy site to worship the spirits and perform several important rites. The Thunderbeast’s site is a burial mound in Neverwinter Wood, the resting place of one of Uthgar’s companions. The skeleton of a great thunderbeast (which I guess is a type of dinosaur?) rests atop this mound.

  Or at least it used to. This year, the tribe found the mound dug up - whoever did it carted off both the skeleton and the contents of the tomb beneath. The PC was supposed to perform a sacred hunt as their coming-of-age ceremony, but the elders decide to change their plans and charge the PC with a different quest: find out who did this, make them pay, and restore the mound.

  The tribe returns home, but the PC stays to await the return of the Grey Wolf tribe, who lives nearby and who left for their own Runemeet elsewhere. They should know who the desecrators are… and if it turns out they are the desecrators, then the PC has another target for their hunt.

  The Uthgardt disdain arcane magic, so most Uthgardt PCs will belong to martial, divine, or primal classes. Still, there are no hard restrictions and you could be a secret arcanist if you want added complications. The same goes for characters who worship anyone other than Uthgar and the primal spirits.

  Similarly, Thunderbeast Uthgardt are all human, and you need a good reason to be something else (i.e, you or one of your parents was adopted into the tribe).

  Features

  At Level 1, they gain the Thunderbeast Stomp encounter power. Stomping is a minor action, and the resulting shockwaves act as an aura (2) that prevents enemies inside from making opportunity attacks. It lasts for a turn, which is enough to let the character run right past a defender line and charge the enemy squishies.

  At level 5, the PC gains a +4 to Perception checks made to find tracks, and a +4 to Insight when dealing with beasts and other Uthgardt. The bonuses are specific, but also untyped, which is good.

  At level 10, the character’s reputation as a barbarian hero gives them a +3 power bonus to Intimidate.

  Utility Powers

  These powers center on communion with primal spirits.

  Spiritual Guidance is a level 2 daily power that lets the PC reroll a Nature, Religion, or History check they dislike with a +5 bonus. The spirits of the ancestors chime in to help you.

  Strength of the Beast is a level 6 daily power that gives the PC a +4 power bonus to Athletics and Strength checks until the end of the encounter. Good for skill challenges or feats of strength during combat.

  Spirit Swarm is a level 10 power that directly summons the PC’s ancestor spirits to help in combat. This minor action creates a zone in a Close Burst 2. Enemies inside the zone cannot regain HP or gain temporary HP. Allies who enter or end their turns in the zone gain 5 temporary HP.

  Impressions

  This theme can make characters of any class feel like Barbarians, and any actual Barbarians will be Barbarier-than-thou. There’s little to aid in combat here, but the skill bonuses will go a long way in the appropriate campaign.

  Looks like the typical Uthgardt has a hard time relating peacefully to people outside their culture, so a PC in a mixed party is a somewhat atypical individual by definition. Multiple PCs could easily take it in the same party with the simple explanation that the tribe left behind a team instead of an individual. A party where everyone has this theme would be extremely uninterested in the fate of Neverwinter, and would single-mindedly pursue their quest.

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