Steal this Setting: Vampires of Zendikar

The vampires in Zendikar have an interesting mechanical theme in that many of them get stronger when your opponent is at 10 life, 10 life being half the 20 life each player starts with in a game of Magic. Once I realized how similar that was to 4th edition’s bloodied mechanic, I realized that I [...]

Friends & Foes: He’s His Own Best Friend

Shadar-Kai Deathmaster
Level 13 Elite Brute

Medium Shadow Humanoid (shadar-kai)
XP –

Initiative +9
Senses Perception +10

HP 316; Bloodied 158

AC 27; Fortitude 28, Reflex 25, Will 29

Resist 10 necrotic; Vulnerable 10 radiant

Saving Throws +2

Speed 6

Action Points 1

M Shadowfist (Standard; at-will) ♦ necrotic

+16 vs. AC; 3d6+6 damage and secondary attack vs. same target: +14 vs. Fortitude; ongoing 7 necrotic damage and [...]

Peculiar Places: Marrowgrim, the City of Eternal Slaves

Marrowgrim is a fairly affluent city located where the Sinhe River and Yellow Peaks nearly run along-side each other. It started off as a small mining town, growing fat off the gold from which the Yellow Peaks take their names, and the river allowed for convenient shipping. It didn’t take long for a bustling trading [...]

Friends & Foes: The Skreed

Long ago, a tribe of humans mastered the arts of necromancy and used them to great effect. Zombies and skeletons served them at war and at home, as soldiers and servants. The gods punished the Skreed for their meddling in the dark arts by cursing them. The Skreed were banished to the Shadowfell and twisted [...]

Friends & Foes: The Friendly Necromancer

Algrecht is a sly little man, unassuming but clearly intelligent. He is courteous to a fault, though often seems to have a smirk as if something reminds him of a joke he once heard.
Algrecht befriends one of the PCs, the sneaky one who secretly fancies himself an assassin (there’s always one). He even gives that [...]

Friends & Foes: The Brothers in Exile

We, who seek to coexist peacefully and lawfully, and who through no fault of our own, but through birth, circumstance or affliction, are branded monster, must take it upon ourselves to improve our lot in this life, for there are none who would give us aid or succor in our times of need but we [...]

Friends & Foes: The Vampire City

For hundreds of years, the city of Rastonia has been under the de facto rule of three guilds of varying legitimacy: The Moneylenders, the Shadow Guild, and the Crafters’ Guild. Each of the guilds is headed by a vampire, the three of which make no attempts to hide their nature.
The Moneylenders is headed by Lord [...]

Races with Flavor: The Ravaged

all afflicted with the lazarus plague succumb to it. Whether they have some innate immunity or just an indomitable will to live, some continue living on despite it. Well, not living, so much, as persisting in a state between life and death.
Like all those afflicted by the plague, the ravaged wither and atrophy. However, their [...]