Tag Archives: RPG

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Solo Roleplaying Is Easy. And Cheap. You Don’t Need Apps, Books, or AI.

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Solo roleplaying is easy! And cheaper than swamp dirt.

But it doesn’t always feel easy. I’ve played a lot of PC games because it felt easier to load up a game than grab my dice. Which should be ridiculous, but it makes sense. Roleplaying takes space and, I thought, my own creative energy. Or, barring my own imagination, a book, tool, or app to provide the creative energy. I was wrong.

Solo roleplaying can be as creative and collaborative as regular roleplaying sessions, generates its own creative energy from the process, and you don’t need tools to make solo roleplaying evocative and fun.

Mystery Dice Featured Image

My Solo Roleplaying Toolkit

When I’m on the go, my solo roleplaying kit includes a set of dice, a pencil with an eraser, and a character sheet. At home I add rulebooks and, if I want to get fancy, maps, tiles, and my growing collection of miniatures.

That’s it.

No apps. Zero books. No tables or funky story dice. And certainly no AI. AI has its place, but not at my table.

The Secret to Solo Roleplaying

My secret is nothing fancy. All I try to do is mimic what happens in a regular roleplay session around a table, or in kids’ games of imagination. My solo roleplaying trick looks like this: invent a character, put an obstacle in their path, then figure out how they overcome the obstacle.

Character + Obstacle + Resolution = Story

In a kid’s game, the progression looks something like this: “I’m Spider-Man. Look, it’s Doc Ock.” Then the kid runs around shooting imaginary webs at the eight-limbed evil scientist. Character. Obstacle. Resolution.

If it’s a movie? Meet Daniel LaRusso. Character. He gets beaten up by some punks. They’re the obstacle. To overcome the punks, Danny Boy learns karate and kicks one of them in the face. Resolution. That’s The Karate Kid (1984) on fast forward, but you can break the movie into parts using the same pattern. For example, Daniel (character) meets a row of unpolished cars (obstacle). Daniel overcomes the obstacle of polishing cars by polishing cars. Wax on. Wax off. Resolution reached.

What You Don’t Need for Solo Roleplaying    

You don’t need to journal your adventure. I track important bits, like NPC and place names and events, but a few bullet points in a notebook are enough. Do it however you like, but the key is to stick to what we do best as roleplayers: use your imagination, the rules, and the dice, to tell a story. Don’t let accounting and note-taking get in the way of the process.

You also don’t need prompts. What is the greatest challenge for a nerdy kid from out of town? Making friends. A bunch of boys, who could have taken Daniel in and shown him around, instead became his enemies. The dungeon has a dragon at the end because a dragon is the most ferocious, challenging threat a party of adventurers could face. Let expectations inspire your story. If your hero is a pyromaniac, put them in charge of the village matches and fuel stores. If they’re a coward, send them into the ghost house.

Creating Interesting Solo Roleplaying Stories Is All About Character

Creating your character is not only about the character sheet. A solo character needs depth that includes their wants and needs, as well as their flaws. Frodo needed to keep the Ring away from Sauron and Gollum, but he heads straight for Sauron’s lands with Gollum in tow. Frodo’s need was under constant threat. Similarly, Sam was a friend who made up for Frodo’s flaw of wanting to go alone. Flaws and needs are your adventure hooks, and they’re recyclable.

You’ll find that this form of solo roleplaying relies heavily on your ability to craft stories. It’s a good thing. For one, you can learn from any form of storyteller. Novel writers, script writers, game designers, movie makers, and other GMs can all help you grow your solo roleplaying skills. Secondly, because of its inherent nature of building on the elements within the story (the flaws and needs), solo roleplaying creates its own energy. You don’t need random tables because the existing elements inspire your choices.

Why Didn’t I Think of That Before

There’s not much more to be said, really. The process works because it remains true to the core of roleplaying. You might tweak it for some systems, such as calculating Challenge Rating to keep fights manageable in Pathfinder or Dungeons & Dragons, but keep your game manageable. You know your limits and abilities better than most.

But there is one more ingredient to this secret sauce. You. Give our simple solo roleplaying tip a go by creating one obstacle based on a character’s flaw or needs. It can be any character, from novels, books, or games. Let us know what you came up with in the comments below. You’ll see how simple and fun solo roleplaying is.

Art Credits: IronThunder

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Alignment Is Dead: The Birth and Death of an RPG Staple

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Oh spoot! We all know that religion, money, and alignment are the three topics to avoid in polite conversation, and I’ve just mentioned the third. Well, since I’m being rude, I might as well go all out and say that alignment is dead. Isn’t it?

A Short Bro History of Alignment

Michael Moorcock is probably the inventor of alignment. Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné was an agent of Chaos, and he turned to Chaotic powers to fight against Chaos so that Law would return some modicum of balance to the force world. Moorcock also invented the eight-pointed Chaos symbol, which Games Workshop stole appropriated for Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000. And, since sword and sorcery was an important inspiration for Dungeons & Dragons, it’s not hard to blame Gary Gygax for stealing appropriating Moorcock’s idea about Chaos and Law for D&D.

Fibonacci, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons

But I don’t think Moorcock intended Law or Chaos to define a person in the same way alignment defines a character. Elric fought on the side of Good and of Law, but he was a murdering psychopath who killed friends and lovers while in the throes of his bloodlust. Yes, an evil sword was involved, but if Elric was Lawful Good, he’d never have picked up the sword in the first place.

What About Religion?

I don’t believe people are intrinsically good. Or intrinsically evil, in the way we commonly understand evil to include a willingness to murder, rape, and steal. But we are susceptible to temptation. We lie, and then lie to ourselves that the lie was only a white lie. If lying is evil, then, by lying, we become evil.

No. Some deep theological understandings need unpacking to fully understand this concept, but I believe we’re better off describing ourselves as broken sinners. Only God is good. Humans rock the needle on the Good-Bad sensor so wildly back and forth that using Good or Bad as an indicator of character is useless. My proof is every role model out there who has ever fallen from public opinion.

A Better Solution or No Solution At All

Alignment is useful in the same way icons on a phone are useful. They’re a simplification. For a game, that’s all you need. Alignment gave us nine ways to define a character, and it worked. Mostly. There were many arguments.

One of the many things I love about Pathfinder Second Edition is that alignment vanished, and we got evil and good baked into traits like holy and unholy. This isn’t alignment. This isn’t a feeling. We can finally have morally gray characters.

I think alignment still has its uses. When I build characters or monsters, I often give them an alignment even if it isn’t going to be published or on the character sheet. It’s a cue for me. But those cues are becoming less meaningful, especially as I work to create better-rounded characters.

General

Make Scary RPG Monsters for D&D or Pathfinder to Challenge Your Players

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How do you build scary RPG monsters for D&D or Pathfinder? How do you give your players the heebies and the jeebies with fresh monster designs?

Fear comes from building tension. It’s the anticipation of something terrible, like a jump scare, that evokes feelings of dread.

Cruel Trinkets

I love birds, and some of my best memories are of bird watching with my family. But put me near a pigeon and I’ll sweat boulders. And it’s not that I’m scared of birds. What scares me is the expectation that they’ll start flapping and swoosh past my head. My ornithophobia only turns on when I expect a bird to launch itself toward me.

We can use the same principle to scare the pants off our players. Metaphorically speaking. Strip D&D isn’t sanctioned by WotC. Yet.

Making Monsters for Science and Fear

To illustrate, let’s build a scary unicorn for Pathfinder Second Edition. The fear of balloons popping (globophobia) will give us a surprising twist, so let’s start there.

I like the idea of a cute unicorn floating aimlessly around, and cute can be scary. When it takes damage, our uni sucks air in with an angry pout. And, as it inflates larger and takes more damage, this air mine becomes more volatile. Fear the boom!

Make scary RPG monsters of your own, like the unipoof.

Filling a forest glade with floating unipoofs and then having adjacent unipoofs make horn attacks against each other to set off a chain reaction is a low blow, but I’ll endorse you. Great idea!

For exploration encounters, tweak the Ready to Pop ability so that checks happen every half hour instead of every round. Escorting a unipoof through a trap-filled dungeon now becomes a tense adventure with higher stakes.

It’s Your Turn to Make Scary RPG Monsters

What phobia can you turn into scary RPG monsters? What mechanics will you design to build tension over time?

You can use our D&D monster builder or the great Pathfinder Second Edition monster builder at monster.pf2.tools to make your creatures. Both apps will help you keep the maths solid. Post your monster link and a description in the comments!

General

Tea-Inspired Plot Hooks for your D&D or Pathfinder Game

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Tea! A hot cup of bliss. Writing fuel. Gaming fuel. I can’t GM without it, and now I’ve discovered all sorts of inspiration from the humble beverage. Let’s look at some tea-inspired plot hooks for your game.

Throughout real-world history, the humble tea plant has inspired human determination and greed. Kingdoms have sent men to fight and die to secure their control over the tea trade. Fortunes have been made, and lost, under the hot sun as plantation workers, and slaves, coaxed the tea crop to grow. Add a magical element to the intriguing history of tea and you’ll find plenty of inspiration for your campaign. Below are some ideas.

The Smugglers’ Ring

Tea is a valuable resource. However, tea doesn’t grow naturally in many kingdoms, and some lands don’t have a suitable climate to grow the crop. Consequently, these countries are at the mercy of traders and pay high prices for imported tea. This situation is ripe for enterprising fortune-seekers. The illicit trade of tea supports a vast black market that extends to the highest power in the land. But this shady economy was created by pirates, bandits, and smugglers. Those people daring or desperate enough to risk their lives to capture armed trade ships and caravans, and make off with their cargo. Unsurprisingly, kingdoms with both the climate and a domestic tea plant go to great lengths to protect their tradeable tea harvest. So, it falls to the smuggler to keep the tea flowing.

Teaboys are handy, dayo!

Cargo for Coin

Smugglers mainly move captured cargo, but also traffic plants. A rival plantation owner or a kingdom may see a single seedling as the key to their future empire. The powerful are willing to pay handsomely for such opportunities—provided their involvement remains a closely guarded secret.

The party might be involved on either side of a tea-smuggling plot, as smugglers or investigators. Involve the player characters further by binding them to the tea trade. It’s not just a job. Must they carry tea plants across mountains and rivers, through orc lands, to pay the ransom for their village? Does the loss of their village tea harvest — taken by bandits — threaten their livelihood?

A smuggling ring can have many tiers, and dealing with each might take many sessions. Who do the smugglers work for? Is the smuggling ring one of many? Is the tea plot the first incursion of a great war between nations? Add a fantasy twist and you might have a vampire queen building her kingdom’s dominance through the tea trade. Or a lich who uses his smugglers as scouts, probing for an initial invasion of his undead hordes.

It’s hard for us to imagine tea’s value when it’s readily available in our modern economy. In a fantasy world, where growing and moving crops might face other problems, such as dragons or magical catastrophes, tea might be even more valuable and hard to come by than it was in our real-world history. Consider the realities of the tea trade in your fantasy world and you’ll add an authenticity that helps your shared story come alive.

The Magic of Tea

Does lemon and ginger tea really help to cure the common cold? Does tea truly have health benefits? While modern science cannot confirm the miraculous properties attributed to tea, in the realm of fantasy, the possibilities are boundless. Is tea an important component of resurrection magic? Has one of the heroes died? Are tea leaves difficult to obtain? You can control the importance of tea in your campaign by dialing up the usefulness of hot beverages, while making tea rare. If a cup of tea is the only way to restore mana, your players will go to great lengths to secure a personal tea crop.

There are means to tie nonmagical characters to tea. Clerics might incorporate tea into sacred rituals, alchemists may seek to distill its essence for potent brews, and rogues could be hired to pilfer rare tea leaves or exquisite silver tea sets. The infusion of magic into these scenarios adds further depth and intrigue.

Supplement these tea-inspired plot hooks by making tea evocative. The champion’s cup of chai exudes an aroma that evokes faraway lands. It reinvigorates her with power drawn from the very earth. It holds the warmth of life. Then, just maybe, she connects to her god through the deep magic of tea.

The Politics of Tea

Tea grows in the dirt, yet kingdoms, with their centers far from those fields, depend on that crop. As we’ve seen, the business of tea is as important to a king as it is to the muddy worker who sewed and harvests it. The heroes begin their story as modest farm hands, at level 1, and through facing monsters and deadly quests grow to become tea barons and baronesses by level 20. Throughout this progression, the heroes’ progression is indelibly tied to the tea harvest and its trade.

Teahouse Leshy for Tea-Inspired Plot Hooks
Teahouse leshys consider tea an art form. #DrinkTea

At first level, the party might defend their harvest from goblins, those little fiends who love setting fields ablaze. Goblins never need a good reason for arson. At second level, the harvest is collected and taken to market and will need an escort. At third level, a trader bargains for the entire harvest and stout hearts to accompany it to his ship. Perhaps the trader has a decree from the queen and drafts the party into the kingdom’s service. Can the party navigate the dangerous river voyage to bring their cargo of supplies (including that tea) to the besieged allies of their monarch?

That same tea cargo might cross many more kingdoms and oceans before its journey is done. With the party traveling with it, there will be plenty of opportunity for intrigue and adventure. When the party finally returns to their fields, they do so as champions of the kingdom, with wagon loads of treasure creaking along behind them.

Join Us for a Cup!

The Magic of Tea is our latest supplement for Pathfinder Second Edition, and it contains a bunch of treats for your campaign. It’s a perfect addition to these tea-inspired plot hooks. The book includes:

  1. 18 new spells inspired by tea. Another cup, anyone?
  2. Tea Master background
  3. Brewpot Dragonet and the Teaboy creatures

You can find The Magic of Tea on DriveThruRPG and Itch.IO.

Two sugars for me, please.

General

Yomi, The Japanese Land of the Dead

Yomi is the Japanese land of the dead. It was mentioned in the ancient Kojiki, a collection of myths and legends purportedly composed in the 8th century. In Yomi, the dead live out a muted, eternal existence, regardless of their past deeds.

RPG Blog Carnival

It’s Orktober… ahem… October, and that means time for another RPG Blog Carnival. This month’s carnival is hosted by our good buddy Kim, over at Beyond the Horizon Games (he also plays Orks). The topic for October is “Worldbuilding“, which is serendipidious since that was exactly what we were looking at in our latest edition of the newsletter.

Campaigns in Yomi

We must always be respectful when setting games in places that are significant to others. We must go as respectful travelers, realizing that we are journeying into a land that others understand better than we do. This short guide can only introduce you to the world of Yomi, but its lore is truly vast, so it might be the perfect inspiration for your own campaign.

Yomi is more like Limbo or the Shadow Plane in Pathfinder than Hell. People do not go there because of their sins or lack of faith, they go there because it is the next step of their journey. People do not usually return from Yomi after they have feasted in Yomi, but that probably won’t stop your players from trying.

Yomi is both a land of shadows and corruption. You might find people covered in maggots or pass through a stranger like a ghost. Yomi is as cold as a tomb, but its residents seem only dimly aware of the cold. The rain hardly ever falls on crops unless it floods the land, the wind never moves ships unless it throws them against the rocks, and the sun is forever pale and powerless.

The responsibilities you had in life might remain in death, but they are no easier. A farmer might work a field that grows only rotting rice, or a baker might put bread into an oven that never gets hot enough for cooking. Emperors still reign, but they too must suffer the entropy that pervades Yomi, as their kingdom falls apart no matter what brilliant decrees they might enforce.

Travelers wandering through Yomi navigate by landmarks rather than distances. While two places might be considered “close” to each other, their true distance is in constant flux. A journey might take a day or a month, and a traveler that strays from their course is doomed to wander aimlessly until they discover a known landmark.

NPCs from Yomi

The Tetsuakuto and other NPCs will appear in the Grimdark Pamphlet.

Tetsuakuto (Iron Bandit)

Encased in black iron plate, tetsuakuto wear hideous menpo face masks bearing octopus designs.

The Tetsuzaku, or Iron Bandits, were feared outlaws that menaced major trade routes throughout the Empire. When they were finally captured they were boiled alive in their iron plate before being offered to a kami of the ocean cliffs. Through some occult bargain, they returned from Yomi to plague those who live near the sea, before returning back to the lands of the dead.


Tetsuakuto

Medium undead, lawful evil

Armor Class 18 (plate)
Hit Points 76 (8d8 + 40)
Speed 30 ft.
  STR
  DEX
  CON
  INT
  WIS
  CHA
  18 (+4)   12 (+1)   16 (+3)   10 (+0)   14 (+2)   12 (+1)
Saving Throws Con +5
Skills Athletics +6

Damage Immunities cold
Condition Immunities frightened
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Common
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the tetsuakuto to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the tetsuakuto drops to 1 hit point instead.

Actions

Multiattack. The tetsuakuto makes two attacks with its naginata.
Naginata. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8 + 4) slashing damage. On a successful hit, the target must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity save or fall prone.

Reactions

Spike Rake. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4 + 4) slashing damage.

Three Stone Stories: Solo Narrative Roleplay is here!

Three Stone Stories Cover

Your Greatest Tale

Three Stone Stories is a solo narrative role-playing game where you’re the Storyteller.
Tell heroic tales using your own imagination, these rules, and three regular six-sided dice.

Roll the Stones,
Determine the Will of the Dice,
Choose your Destiny.

It’s Your Story

The full 64-page book, including several adventure chronicles, tips for getting the most out of the game, and D6 generators is available wherever we sell the game, and you can get it from Drive Thru RPG for 20% off using this coupon code.


General

Mini Monday #15: Painting Yochlol

It’s Mini Monday, where I share customizing, scratch building, kitbashing, and miniature painting projects for your roleplaying table. This week we’re painting Yochlol from Dungeons & Dragons: The Legend of Drizzt Board Game.

Mini Monday Logo

We’ve already painted a few minis from this great game, and we’ll be painting loads more in the weeks to come. Yochlol is a pretty simple model, but it’s also perfect for highlighting a few techniques that we’ll come back to in the next few projects. Today is all about washes! (No, not handwashing, though you should be doing that too.)

Step 1: Clean and Basecoat

I base coated Yochlol white. I used to love black as a base coat, but white is nice and bright and, in this case, it’s a perfect base for step 2…

Step 2: Mellow Yellow

I painted the entire model yellow (Flash Gitz Yellow), except for Yochlol’s eye.

Painting Yochlol 1
Custard Monster!

Step 3: Flesh Wash

Paint the entire mini with Flesh Wash.

Painting Yochlol 2: Flesh Wash
A little definition goes a long way.

Flesh Wash isn’t available from GW anymore, but Coat d’Arms still sell the original Citadel Flesh Wash, now called Ink Wash: Flesh. It’s a terrible wash for skin tones, but I discovered a bunch of great uses that make this is a great paint to add to your collection. Yochlol is our first test subject.

Flesh Wash pools in the recesses of the mini and gives a nice contrast with the yellow. If too much wash pools in one spot, just use a dry brush to mop up the excess. When you’re happy, leave the mini to dry.

Step 4: Details

Paint the eye white. When that’s dry, add a little blue to your white and paint a line along the top edge of the eye. This provides a slight shadow. Paint the whole pupil and iris black. When that’s dry, paint the iris orange, being careful to paint within the “lines” or edges of the iris you painted black before. Lastly, paint the base to fit the rest of your collection.

Painting Yochlol 3: Detail
Here’s Looking at You.

Step 5: Varnish

Varnish with gloss varnish. Two coats works best. The gloss gives Yochlol a wet, slimy look. You can use a matt varnish on the base to create some variety.

That’s it, you’re done!

Painting Yochlol 4: Finished
Done!

Yochlol is a quick and easy model to paint, which also makes it perfect for trying out new things. This was the first time I’d found a good use for Flesh Wash, and the techniques I used on the eye were a first for me too. Overall, I’m very happy with the results.

Home Alone? Here’s a Free Solo Adventure!

Can’t get out to roll dice and smack skeletons? We’ve got you covered! Here’s a free copy of one of our top-selling solo adventures for D&D 5e. Please like and share.

Use the coupon code “HAPPYSOLO”

 

Stay safe out there everyone!


General

Adventurer, Take This… — RPG Blog Carnival

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RPG Blog Carnival

‘Tis the season to be jolly
To deck the halls with boughs of holly
Then loot the corpses for lots of lolly!

This month’s RPG Blog Carnival is all about the players and their characters. The theme is “Adventurer, take this… ,” we hope it will inspire you to join in the fun and post an article on the subject. Here are some ideas to spark your creativity:

  1. An adventure idea based around a magical item, such as an evil ring of invisibility or a magical sword from a lake.
  2. New magical items, gear, weapons, vehicles, or spells.
  3. A look at the role magical and mundane items play in a campaign.
  4. How to deal with overpowered items and the ramifications they can have on your campaign.
  5. An article aimed at the most important people in our games: the players.
  6. A miniature painting tutorial aimed at player character figures.
  7. A devious trap based on a magical item or bit of loot.
  8. A review of a player-focused RPG supplement.
  9. An article appropriate to the season of giving and related to RPG player characters.
  10. A discussion or rules for crafting items or in-game economy.

Adventurer, take this - RPG Blog Carnival
Adventurer, take this…

Be sure to put a link to your post in the comments below. Because of spam moderation and holidays, please allow 48 hours for your post to go live. I’ll post a summary of all the articles at the end of the month, to take us into the new year, on Rising Phoenix Games’ birthday! Let’s end the year with a bang!

If you’re travelling this season, travel safely. Have a Merry Christmas, a happy festive season, and a Happy New year, and we’ll see you next year for more adventures in the worlds inside our heads.

Till next time, play good games!



General

The Horde is Coming! — Take a Sneak Peek

Horde is a hack and slash game for 1–4 players. Stand against masses of enemies without lucky dice rolls to save you. Horde’s rules emphasize the need for clever tactics to stay alive long enough to protect the Flame of Life and defeat the deadly hordes.

Horde includes two modes: Defender, for a shorter game, and Dungeon, for a full dungeon crawl through caverns teeming with enemies.

Horde is currently in playtesting, and I’m hoping to release it by the end of the month. Here’s a peek at the cover:

Horde Cover Concept

Horde’s Concept

I wanted a game where you play a powerful hero wading through masses of enemies, where dice rolls didn’t determine the outcome of attacks, but tactics meant everything. I wanted to use as much of my growing collection of fantasy miniatures as possible and put hordes of figures on the board. Horde is my answer to that.

Playtesting Horde
Playtesting Horde

The game also had to be playable solo, quick to set up, and — most importantly — loads of fun.  Horde is checking all those boxes in playtesting, and I’m excited to share more about the game with you, soon.

Horde is being created for the A Game By Its Cover game jam, inspired by the Youkai Project famicase cover art done by Yowan Langlais.

Winter Is Coming

Aurora’s Whole Realms Catalogue was a second edition D&D book for the Forgotten Realms, and we’ve brought it back for fifth edition. Aurora’s Whole Realms Winter Catalogue is out now:

Aurora's WHole Realms Winter Catalogue Cover
Aurora’s Whole Realms Winter Catalogue

You can find the Summer and Autumn catalogues on the Dungeons Masters Guild.

Print Books Coming Soon

We’ve done print cards for a while now, mainly for maps and dungeon tiles. Now we’re adding our first print on demand (POD) titles, which will be available from Drive Thru RPG in a few months time. The first two books we’re setting up are Griffins — A Field Guide (D&D) and Anaximander’s Adventuring Studies (Pathfinder). Going forward, new titles will be available in POD, if the platform allows it.

Rodney Sloan
Rising Phoenix Games

Check out our store, subscribe to our newsletter for monthly updates, and visit us on our blog, our Facebook page and on Twitter.

General

Undersea Fantasy Names, the Ultimate Guide

We’re busy putting the finishing touches on our first Undersea Sourcebook (that’s a big reveal),  which will be a player’s guide to undersea adventures in Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition (that’s two big reveals). The guide features loads of races, each with a list of names like in the Races chapter of the Player’s Handbook. Here are a few undersea fantasy names, to help you name your next underwater character.

Undersea Fantasy Names
Photo credit: Nsey Benajah

Merfolk Names

Merfolk parents choose names for their children that reflect the nature of the sea, invoke images of the ocean, or signify freedom or purpose. Merfolk also have a tribal name, which they’ll use when dealing with merfolk from another tribe. Merfolk rarely use their tribal name around other races, and then only if they have significant reason to do so. Even among friends, merfolk regard mentioning their tribal name as an unnecessary vanity.

Male Names: Adrian, Aegir, Aukai, Bellerophon, Calder, Celsion, Clarion, Dorian, Dover, Drake, Ezeel, Kai, Lachlan, Marlowe, Merrick, Oceanus, Poseider, Ridley, Rio, Tritonis, Zale, Zander

Female Names: Adrianna, Aeriel, Athena, Azure, Azurine, Coraline, Diana, Dione, Doriana, Echo, Eldoris, Fontanne, Galiana, Lana, Madison, Marinella, Nerio, Oceana, Pearl, Ria, Umiko, Undina, Ursula

Tribal Names: Aquillon, Deepfin, Gaion, Laviathon, Moontide, Moray, Nautilon, Neptune, Oceanor, Titanus, Waverider

Naiad Names

Naiads choose their own names when they come of age, and prefer names that are lyrical in nature. They have no clan or family names, though they may name themselves after the body of water they have recently bonded with, such as Khev of Dessarin and Loreley of Lac Dinneshere.

Male Names: Akdish, Bhom, Dakdoov, Dashion, Dhegor, Dhev, Dibam, Ebdordon, Embohz, Ghaaja, Jenjor, Khaav, Khajon, Khev, Memendev, Nagnesh, Naash, Omden, Shevshin, Vahz, Vanvin, Vor, Zekovion

Female Names: Ahni, Avya, BaIrafen, Basheena, Bura, Cerenya, Cini, Faadhi, Felfe, Ferrafin, Fifavi, Hamnaa, Laffuuna, Lidyh, Loreley, Lyrdu, Merdimy, Mirizan, Phibi, Rulfaya, Semfe, Welladuuna, Weni

Selkie Names

Selkies often adopt names similar to those of the people who live near to their colonies. As such, selkie names vary greatly from region to region, though they almost always prefer shorter names. Selkies have no clan or family names, and may refer to the region their family inhabits when introducing themselves, such as Runn of Boatscrape Cove, from Waterdeep.

Male Names: Albi, Coll, Conn, Bhim, Blake, Brenn, Brian, Bert, Des, Don, Dylan, Finn, Harper, Jock, Kay, Kel, Lloyd, Mort, Neal, Rhone, Rob, Runn, Ted

Female Names: Ada, Adele, Celeste, Ceridwen, Cordelia, Enid, Fiona, Gail, Gioga, Kay, Kaylen, Loreley, Lynn, Moon, Muriel, Myfanwy, Nadine, Ondine, Raine, Sapphira, Saraid, Thora, Ursilla, Varona

Make Your Own Undersea Fantasy Names

If you’re looking for more ideas for you own undersea fantasy names, I found loads of inspiration on fantasynamegenerators.com. Start there, find a name you like, then change it to suit your needs. Look for shorter, easier to pronounce names, since those are more memorable and far easier to use while roleplaying.

More Undersea Adventure

If you enjoyed this, you might enjoy the free monster preview available on the Dungeon Master’s Guild:

Till next time, play good games!

Rodney Sloan
Rising Phoenix Games

Check out our store, subscribe to our newsletter for monthly updates, and visit us on our blog, our Facebook page and on Twitter.

 

General

Path of the Slayer (Barbarian Primal Path)

Since pirates took over, I haven’t been allowed to blog much, but I managed to sneak this barbarian archetype past those black-hearted scoundrels. This archetype is compatible with the 5th edition SRD. If you like it, give it a play and let us know what you think in the comments below.

The line between bravery and stupidity may seem razor-thin to some, but to barbarians of the Path of the Slayer, bravado is a powerful tool for destroying even the most deadly monsters.

You may choose this primal path at 3rd level instead of another primal path, and gain its features at 3rd, 6th, 10th, and 14th level.

Fearless

At 3rd level when you choose this path, you become immune to fear and cannot be frightened.

Bravado

At 3rd level, while raging, if you are adjacent to an enemy that is larger than you and not adjacent to any of your allies, you gain a 1d6 Bravado die at the end of your turn. You may spend your Bravado die in the following ways:

Dodge. As a reaction, you can spend your Bravado die to roll it and add it to a saving throw.

Parry. You can, as a reaction, spend your Bravado die to roll it and add it to your armor class against one attack.

Dig Deep. You dig deep into your strength reserves and, as an action, spend up to two Bravado die. You heal hit points equal to the roll of the die.

Slaying Strike. You can spend any number of Bravado die before you make a melee attack roll. If you hit your target, roll the Bravado die and add it to your weapon’s damage roll.

You lose any unused Bravado die when your rage ends.

Your Bravado die changes when you reach certain levels in this barbarian primal path. The die becomes a d8 at 6th level, a d10 at 10th level, and a d12 at 14th level.

Belly Ripper

Starting at 6th level, when a creature at least two sizes larger than you attempts to hit you with a bite attack, you can, as a reaction, make a Dexterity saving throw. The DC for this saving throw depends on the creature’s CR, as given in the table below.

If you succeed at this saving throw, you jump through the creature’s jaws and down its gullet. On your following turns, while inside the creature, all your attacks have advantage and any hits are treated as critical hits. You gain Bravado dice and may spend them while inside the creature, even if you are not raging.

If you fail at the saving throw, and the creature successfully hits you with its bite attack, it automatically scores a critical hit against you, regardless of the number shown on the die.

While inside the creature, you cannot avoid any breath attacks it makes and you cannot breathe. If the creature is destroyed, you are able to cut yourself free on the following turn as an action. Creatures without a discernible mouth, such as most oozes, are immune to this ability.

Belly Ripper

CR Dexterity saving throw DC

0–3: 13

4: 14

5–7: 15

8–10: 16

11–12: 17

13–16: 18

17–20: 19

21–23: 20

24–26: 21

27–29: 22

30: 23

Slayer’s Armor

Beginning at 10th level, you gain proficiency with heavy armor and can rage while wearing heavy armor.

Goad

Starting at 14th level, when a Large or larger creature within 5 feet of you makes a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature. If your attack hits, the creature’s next melee weapon attack is with disadvantage.

Did you enjoy the Path of the Slayer? You can find the updated version of this path in the Undersea Sourcebook: Race & Class Guide, or in Kim Frandsen’s Keeping it Classy: the Barbarian.

Till next time, play good games!