5e 'Conan' Barbarian Primal Path

 Here's a quick take on the missing 'Conan' primal path from 5e. There's an implicit sexism to Conan, which I've incorporated into the design. So go ahead and be a female Conan and rescue some prince or something. In this sense, it works pretty well as a kind of Amazon.


Stranger in a Strange Land
At 3rd level, when you adopt this path, you choose 2 bonus languages which you have picked up to survive (including abilty to read and write in those tongues). You gain a bonus language at 6th, 10th and 14th levels.  Also, you are considered dangerous and strange by civilised men, gaining advantage on intimdation checks amongst them.

 Cat amongst the Pigeons.
At 3rd level, when you adopt this path, you may enter a state of savage, uncaring joy when you make a Reckless Attack. After a successful hit , you may keep attacking as long as you keep hitting. Each hit after the first costs d4 hp, then 2d4 hp, then 4d4, then 8d4...(representing your lack of care for your own safety and defence). This state ignores damage resistance provided by entering a rage.

Savage Allure
  Beginning at 6th level, you gain advantage on attempts to seduce or command. Civilised enemies tend want to capture you, rather than kill (probably to torture you to death).

 Stirred by Beauty
Starting at 10th level, you Crit on a 19 or 20 and apply an extra damage die to said Crit. This bonus only applies whenever you are attempting to protect, rescue or aid a member of the opposite sex.

Know, oh Prince...
At 14th level, you gain advantage on any stunt like manoeuvres when you rage. The stakes of a failed stunt, must always be high (DM's discretion) to qualify for this effect.

Dark Elves and the Second Sun

Here's another bit about elves in my campaign setting. The first is here. I'm obviously indebted to Zak S. and False Patrick, for initial inspiration. I personally see the Cult of Woe as a means to shoe horn dark elf/drow pcs into an otherwise more standard party, without resorting to endless Drizzt.

Woe is a black sun that is barely approaching Idios (Or your own campaign world, natch).

Sometimes it is invisible.  Sometimes it casts a green light at night.

Various apocalyptic cults have formed around the veneration of this foreign celestial body.  Some say it is the nemesis planet, destined to destroy the World. Some say it is the brother of Idios come at last to claim vengeance for his mutilation at the dawn of time. Others say it is the dead moon's husband, similarly inspired.

They are wrong. The Dark Elves know this. The Black Sun will take them home. Will erase the mistake they made of ever having tasted this world and its transient, mortal beauty.

(The black light and the white light fought a war when there was nothing else. The black light lost.)

Now the reversal is coming---when Woe will swallow Colossus & will burn anti-radiance across Idios.It will sweep the Dark Elves into its corona.

They came into our world because they loved the Dark. Their father was Yann, the Velvet Shroud. He broke himself up into all the Dark Elves.

But they did not know the Dark.

The Dark Elves came through to experience the Darkness, to taste its glory rather than admiring it as a concept from afar. To a god, everything is imagined, most especially the realm of flesh from which they are distinctly separate. At different times in history, gods have slipped across the Porous Borders and unless they have been very powerful, have found  themselves trapped, rendered in mortal flesh (essentially). So when those first Dark Elves truly felt the Dark...they were initially shocked. And after a time, it made them hate. They had seen the Dark from afar (aesthetically as gods experience things),  but not felt its bite, its cold, its relentless absence. And as it made their flesh, it forbade the upper worlds to them.

The majority of the undying 'elves' (as the mortals dubbed them) were forced to deal with their soulless natures (Gods, being pure spirit, are rendered pure flesh when they wander too far from the Porous Borders). Any elf that dies due to violence (they will never die of old age) will not pass into the Well of Souls. Instead its consciousness will persist in degraded, maddened form. A hateful imprint of an immortal super ego, denied both the flesh and transcendence.

The White Elves bind their dead into fetishes and tapestries woven from the spider silk mammary glands of their ancient Mother rulers. The Green Elf ghosts become one with the Witch Yews of the woods they inhabit (birthed by the great forest lord). The Moon Elves emerged only recently from moon debris (they are pieces of Her). The Dark Elves that die, are bound into bodies of lead called Cages, bodies built for war and slaughter. They wear lead pendants which will carry their essence for a short time (before the ghost escapes, stats as a Shadow). These pendants are collected for internment within Cages.

Since death for them is only the promise of one's worst aspects maintained within a hate forged shell of magic lead, most Dark Elves are content to sit and wait for the end of the 'others'. They avoid useless conflict, but utterly expunge anything that interferes with their precarious immutability. Eventually, everything else will die and they alone shall remain.

In this kind of climate, the worshippers of Woe are something akin to heretics. They believe in action. They know that the second sun is sending out a vibration to those most sensitive within the Dark. This vibration is almost information, but not quite, sitting uncomfortably upon the line demarcated 'instinct' and 'hallucination'. This vision says, that one day, Woe will arrive and it will upturn the order of Light and Dark which has existed since before there were gods; since, perhaps, before there was a multiverse. In this new light, some few Dark Elves imagine that they can reunite with their abandoned divinity or become something else entirely. 

To that end, these 'priests' of Woe have headed to the upper world to welcome the Black Sun. It must be granted purpose and power. A celebration or grand ritual, must happen upon the surface..in the hope that this will attract its attention granting the priests greater insight into its purpose, beyond the obscure glimpses unto which they have been made privy. Undoubtedly Woe is divine, since the power it grants its worshippers is inarguable. 

Ultimately, they know that Woe is coming regardless of the actions of the people of Idios and in order to placate its purpose (which will be sufficient to snuff out Colossus), certain mass scale geomantic alterations must be made to the surface. These alterations will form the nucelus of the celebration. A symbol must be shown to Woe, who will then reverse all things. Love will become hate, ice will become fire, the Dark will become a new Light.

This is how these few prophets understand the portents. The truth, is that there is very little known about Woe. Everything is interpretation. All is based upon the strong suspicion, that when Woe arrives, there will be no hiding for the Dark Elves, no outliving the perishable flesh. So these heretics have journeyed to the world above to see the Second Sun with their own eyes. To hear its song more fully. To pave the way.

In this land of old gods fallen; foreign tyrannical divinities and  the constant the threat of war and magical plague, the strange and charismatic followers of Woe seem to extend a lifeline to the people. They emerge from the wilderness, clad in black, faces goggled and hooded. They heal the sick. They feed the hungry.With these benevolent actions, their legend grows. People begin to talk.A fire is being lit in the hearts of the downtrodden. Woe promises one thing: change. And for many, that's the best deal they've heard in a long time.

Various disconnected Woe apocalypse cults wait for the picking; to be slowly organised under the aegis of the Dark Elf priests. How successful they will be, remains to be seen. One thing is for certain: hearts and minds must be won...a concept alien to many Dark Elves, whose hatred for the light dwelling mortal races is, commonly, infinite.

Woe's Domain

1st Protection From Evil/Good, Bane
3rd Continual Flame, Blindness/Deafness
5th  Daylight, Fear
7th Blight, Banishment
9th Commune (with Woe), Flame Strike

 1st Level

-Bonus proficiencies with heavy armour
-once per point of Wisdom modifier per day, you may command someone to change a given action to its exact opposite. This power may be used as a reaction. To avoid this compulsion, they are forced to make a Wis save.

2nd Level

-Once per day, per point of Wisdom bonus, you may cause any one spell cast with you or an ally as a target, to have precisely the opposite effect. Note that although this would cause a spell such as Inflict Wounds to instead Cure Wounds, if utilised against say a Fireball, it would create an anti-flame which would still cause damage,

6th Level

-You may swap HP totals (although not maximums) with any willing target. You may do this once per day, per point of Wisdom bonus. Wounds appear spontaneously, although remain bloodless for d6 rounds.

8th Level

-You may instantaneously swap locations with any one visible target. You may do this once per day, per point of Wisdom bonus. Target must make a Dexterity save. At this level, one of your senses becomes reversed. Roll randomly to see which one.

14th Level

-You may cause one environmental factor to reverse its effects upon your command. So one could now effectively hide in bright light, breathe underwater or freeze water with an open flame. This lasts no more than 10 minutes and may be performed once per day, per point of Wisdom bonus. A second sense becomes reversed.

17th Level

-You may reverse the nature and will of a mass of individuals, as many as you can see. A peaceful congregation might become an abatoir of cruelty, a market square could transform into a celebration of giving and sharing, a mass battle would produce a mass hug off and so on. This is a powerful effect and it may be utilised but once per year. Make one Wisdom save for the entire crowd. Whilst it occurs, the Second Sun burns brightly.

Weirder Dragon Born

A busy few weeks of gigging and production has come top an end, so I'm able to go back to my D&D comfort den,  perhaps with some extra insights gleaned from beating my brains a little. Or perhaps not.

At any rate,  I've been playing multiple games of my LotFP/D&D 5e hybrid since last Friday, with a couple of sessions on G+/Roll 20. It's been interesting to say the least, mainly because I've had the opportunity to develop a few ideas for my OSR community/homebrew setting---ideas which I think are not boring.

One of my players wanted nothing more than to play as Dragon Born. Frankly,  I was kind of horrified.  At best, they felt underwritten  and cartoony. At their worst,  they had a lame, B movie kind of vibe. Grotesque scenes floated before my third eye, scenes from a film, probably on the Sy-Fy Channel. I saw a rubber Dragon man stinking out the inn of ignorant goode folk. Just sort of looming there, waiting for his obligatory, stiffly choreographed fight scene and possibly , probably,earning a noble death, proving that the hero played by some 80s guy, was right to trust the big, dying lizard.

I mean, maybe you actually like the sound of that, I don't know. I mean, rubber heads definitely have their place. CGI heads, I'm still deeply unsold on. So think of those if you dig rubber.

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, they even seem a poor fit for high fantasy, unless it's the kind of high fantasy championed by the Forgotten Realms,which, personally, as a setting,  seems too much like a LARP gathering in an American gym hall (and yes,  I've witnessed one...a Vampire game,  like the weirdest PE lesson of all time and a definitely saleable spectator sport). The idea of Renaissance Fair villages full of Midwestern peasants, I find, indescribably cack. To me, Dragon Born fit into that milieu.

There's no sense of mystery to them.  No sense of what makes a Dragon special. We see reasonable cracks at this with the other races...their racial abilities go some way to describing them as a culture and a species. But to say that dragons are defined by the types of damage they deal and resist... well, could it get any more boring?

What kind of losers are Dragon Born anyway?  How would you deal with the inferiority complex?  By hanging around other losers of your own species?  Or by stinking out inns, standing at the back of adventuring parties,  contributing nothing but your breath weapon and your BIG RUBBER DRAGON HEAD?

Even so, my player was thoroughly enchanted with the concept...thus, the race had to be made acceptable to mine eyes. I succeeded, but let's check your sensibilities...

The Dragon Born

The Dragon Born, ironically enough,  are not born,  but created. They emerge, from suicidal devotion to ideas,desperate need to escape the tatters of  life,doomed efforts to understand that which cannot be understood...and even; on occasion; from the wrong needle, dug deep into a vein, seeking an escape only the opiates of Yoon Suin can provide.


There are ten venerable dragons,  shepherds of the creatures of flesh, stewarding and winnowing as they see fit. Their ultimate origin is unclear...that they are orders of magnitude more potent than mortal races is as obvious as their matter is alien. They seem to bear a kind of responsibility towards the creatures of flesh. But it is more accurately a commitment, to a terrible kind of eugenic omnicide.

Areas home to dragons, warp and twist in fashions apt to nature of the master of the land (where they live, they are always masters).  Their very proximity,  causes reality to bend towards a model in which the Dragon dominates and flourishes.

At some juncture,  their blood appeared in stoppered vials, circulating through the arcane underground,  such as it is.  How this blood had been obtained, was open to conjecture.

Some say that the blood was donated by these gargantuan doom lords, with intent and carried out by their servants.

The blood of the Dragon is highly mutagenic. If one injects the blood,  then a change occurs on a fundamental physical, mental and spiritual level.  In short, the subject becomes Dragon Born, their identity and matter, being overwritten by the power contained within the draconic blood.

No memories exist of the former individual. If the blood is injected,  a new level 1 being comes to exist.  This creature is entirely new, ageless and inquisitive.

Some perceive this as apotheosis.  Others as escape from a life of shame, crime,  illness or grave misfortune.  It is undoubtedly a kind of suicide.  Even so, all that hope to receive the intravenous mutagen, tell  themselves a trace of their old self will remain.  But it does not. Whatever was born human, is cast away irrevocably.

And yet a visual clue persists.  The Dragon Born can assume a humanoid shape for a few hours a day. The shape, the illusion, is the image of the former, abandoned identity.

They learn swiftly,  the benefits of surreptitious behaviour. Their true forms are too monstrous to be acceptable.  They find themselves hunted by Cube Knights and Monster Slayers, driven into wild places,  far from civilisation. And yet they are attracted to the lives of mortals, their strange ways their odd achievements. They also, are tempted to feast upon them. There exists a beast in the heart  of every Dragon Born, no matter how seemingly noble.

Some insinuate themselves back into society. Reptilian presences within the higher echelons of culture.  They are constantly seeking, wondering,  attempting to find purpose. The worst of them groom  and farm sentient life  so as have a ready larder of flesh. Some they say, are deep ensconced within the greatest aristocracies of the land.

Sometimes they dream and their dreams are atomic splendour. And remote.

Sometimes they receive thoughts from the one that spawned them. Sometimes they are imperatives.

Both The draconic and mortal experience, are open to them and yet they are neither. They can see through the illusions perpetuated by other Dragon Born. Sometimes they form alliances and secret societies,  though they are just as often loners.

The fleeting notion that they are part of a greater whole, never leaves them. They are obsessed with transformations and indeed,  many continue to seek physical metamorphosis throughout their seemingly endless lives.

The mysteries of existence never end. They see inside the inside of themselves and they are compelled to make it explicit. But it is a mirror looking into itself. There seems to be cessation of revelation.

A true and inimical Madness waits for many Dragon Born. Some say this madness leads ultimately to a strange city, all angles terminating in impenetrable Draco-Space. Finally, the oldest Dragon Born are here, building, creating something. The angles keep getting tighter. Can an angle exert something akin to gravity if it is acute enough? Acute through multiple spatial plateau?

Some scholars think so.



Every Dragon Born is saddled with a Draconic Temptation. Roll a d10. The Dragon Born has disadvantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma rolls whilst resisting the Draconic Temptation and able to satisfy it immediately.

1 Virgin Heads
2 The Fat of Children
3 The Flesh of Dogs
4 The Hearts of Lovers
5 The Skin of Saints
6 The Bones of Knights
7 The Eyes of the Holy
8 The Tongues of Fathers
9 The Blood of Mothers
10 The Unborn Whole and Crunchy



 
Every Dragon Born learns a Draconic Truth. They know one such Draconic Truth when they are created. They may learn a new one whenever they qualify for an attribute increase or whenever they find/persuade a Venerable Dragon to teach them.

1 Egg Rebirth: a dragon born can construct an egg from itself out of which it will be reborn. This costs 5000 xp to create the first time, doubling thereafter. It is a costly process. Invariably they emerge less human, gaining a new Draconic Temptation with each renewal.

2 See True Geometry: the Dragon Born can utilise space according to dragons. Once per day, per point of Wisdom bonus, it may Dimension Door. A DC 15 Wisdom save must be made to avoid passing into a different dimension for d6 rounds. Carcosa, say. They usually end up somewhere portentous.

3 Breather underwater/aether. Does what it says on the tin. Phlogiston would work just as well as Aether. Beware Aetherial Regrets, which are fascinated by Dragon Born. They also are now able to resist extremes of pressure.

4 Draconic Trans-mind. They can reach into a kind of Akashik Record, a draconic supra consciousness...a reptilian over soul. Roll 5 d20 and arrange in any order. These are the results of the Dragon Born's next 5 d20 rolls. Put this down to the fact that Draconic Trans-Mind knows the limits of neither time, nor space. This emanation is perhaps a side effect of the Strange City.

5 Envoy. The Dragon Born been chosen by a great dragon, to represent its interests amongst the lesser races. The Dragon Born gains advantage on persuade rolls with wise members of monstrous races (those who recognise the Envoy's crest). They become subject to random dragon missions and a gain a host of  new enemies. On the other hand, whenever a monster city is entered, the Dragon Born can rely on having the capability of drawing upon one contact, a being aware of their importance.

6 Stone Sleep. Can enter a stony encased hibernation trance appearing to be a foetal statue. This takes about 10 minutes. The Dragon Born is treated exactly like a petrified individual, but remains conscious and can re-flesh with a thought. DC 10 con save required, else cannot awake for d100 years without outside help. This help, involves the Dragon Born's favourite Draconic Temptation.

7 Mutagenic Blood. The Dragon Born's blood, creates more Dragon Born if injected intravenously. The transfused individual, is immediately level 1 in a new class. About a pint is required. The old person is completely gone. The new Dragon Born is a physical clone and will be favourable towards the one that made it.

8 Hoard Strength. GPs have powerful effects upon Dragon Born when slept upon. A minimum bed of 5000 gp, is enough to constitute a hoard.  Sleeping on it, will ensure the Dragon Born begins each morning inspired.  Furthermore,  the Dragon Born may make a DC 18 Insight check to know who was the last owner of any given GP in their collection.  A DC 18 Insight check will reveal their current location. Treasure must spend at least 2 weeks within   the lair of the Dragon Born to qualify for hoard status. The Dragon Born becomes trnasfixed by the notion of acquiring more wealth for its hoard.

The Dragon Born still possesses a breath weapon and a resistance. A d10 can be rolled to determine the Dragon colour of origin.

(I used the ten Venerable Dragons from Rafael Chandler's extremely fun 'Terratic Tome', as the basis for the breath weapon/resistance of my Dragon Born. You can use the normal ten if you wish. I don't really have much time for them, as written.)

Vermilion             Fire, 15' cone, resistance to poison or fire
Azuline                Lightning, 30' line, resistance to electricity
Porphyrous          Insects, 15' cone, resistance to piercing
Chlorochrous       Enchanted Cloud (force), 15'cone, resistance to force
Nacreous              Sulfur (fire), cone 15', resistance to poison or fire
Flavescent            Sonic Death (force) 30' line, resistance to force
Albicant               Cold, 15' cone, resistance to cold
Chromatophoric   Fire & brimstone (fire) 30' line, resist fire
Gamboge              Spores (poison), 15' vibe,  resist poison
Atrous                   Acid, 30' line, resist acid

Everything else, I'd keep as is. I recognise that I've certainly made the race more complex, but honestly, I think they needed that. Well...I needed that.