Here are some experimental attempts at starting up monsters from Fire on the Velvet Horizon, what do you think?



ABHORRERS

OLD-SCHOOL

Armour leather, Move 20', 8 Hit Dice, 48hp, bite 1d6 damage, Morale 12.

No law or social custom can be broken in the Abhorrers presence. No illegal harm can be done to an Abhorrer.

Treasure - Assume an Abhorrer controls wealth equivalent to at least a third-tier noble in the local polity. If no value can be derived, assume 100,000 total wealth with 50% available as cash and 20,000 in stealable form on its person or in its home.

5E

Abhorrer - AC 12, HP 50, Spd. 20ft, bite +1, 1d6 dm, xp = population of local metropolitan area.

S+0/D+0/C+0/I+6*/W+4/C+7*

An Abhorrer always has the best protection that money can legally buy. However, it is rarely required.

........................................



AESKITHETES

OLD SCHOOL

Armour as plate, Move 30', 6 Hit Dice, 36 hp, tentacles d4/d4 damage or as weapon, Morale 10.

Fearful Masks - On first sight save vs petrification or lose a round of action. In social situations, freeze and stammer before you can speak. If the masks are removed, the Aeskithetes real face is even more terrifying, in this case save or lose two rounds of action.

Vomit Bile - 2d8 acidic damage.

Disappear - If seriously deeply distracted, or at will, an Aeskithete may disappear. If they do, they will not return.

Dimensional Magics - Using dimensional magic is a full action for an Aeskithete and a living target may save against it. The more powerful an Aeskithete is the more of its limbs it can functionally control and the greater the range of its dimensional magics.

Limbs active,   Hit Dice, hp, mass affectable, size shift, distance teleport, time travel

2 limbs active, 6 Hit Dice, 36hp, 1 square foot, 100% + or -, 6 ft, 1 second.

4 limbs active, 8 Hit Dice, 48hp, 2 square feet, 200% + or -, 12 ft, 6 seconds.

6 limbs active, 10 Hit Dice, 60hp, 6 square feet, 300% + or -, 24 ft, 18 seconds.

10 HD Aeskithetes can cast Dermal Imprisonment in which a target is shrunk to microscopic size and imprisoned on their own skin.

Aeskithetes encountered randomly will be 6HD creatures, for every six present, one will be 8HD. 10HD Aeskithetes are only met with under special circumstances.


5E

Aeskithete - AC 18, HP 46, Spd. 30ft, TENTACLE +2, 1d4+1 dm, 600 xp

S+2*/D+0/C+3*/I+2/W+0/C+1

Fearful Mask - On first sight DC 15 Wis save or lose a round of action. In social situations, freeze and stammer before you can speak. If the masks are removed, the Aeskithetes real face is even more terrifying, in this case save or lose two rounds of action.

Vomit Bile - Range 10ft 1 target, DC 11 Dex save, 2d8 dm if fail, ½ if save.

Limbs active,   hp, DC if target live, mass affectable, size shift, distance teleport, time travel

2 limbs active, 46hp, DC 10 Int save, 1 square foot, 100% + or -, 6 ft, 1 second.

4 limbs active, 60hp, DC 13 Int save, 2 square feet, 200% + or -, 12 ft, 6 seconds.

6 limbs active, 72hp, DC 17 Int save, 6 square feet, 300% + or -, 24 ft, 18 seconds.

6 limb Aeskithetes can cast Dermal Imprisonment in which a target is shrunk to microscopic size and imprisoned on their own skin. DC 17 Int save.

This is me trying to turn the overloaded-as-fuck 5e stat block into something that doesn't make me want to vom.

As usual I am requesting that other people do my thinking for me.


..........


Casey G came up with the following stat lines;

Moktar - AC 13, HP 15, Spd. 30ft, greatclub +5, 1d8+3 dm, 100 xp
Aggressive - As a bonus action, a moktar can move its speed toward a hostile creature.
Sick rock poisoning - most moktars in the cave have 4 levels of exhaustion.

Spider - AC 13, HP 11, Spd. 40ft, stealth +7, bite +3, 1d6+1 dm+poison, 50 xp
Poison - DC 11 Con save, 2d6 dm if fail, ½ if save. If target reduced to 0 HP, the target is stable but poisoned and paralyzed for 1 hour, even if it regains HP.

Wolf - AC 13, HP 11, Spd. 40ft, bite +4, 2d4+2 dm+trip, 50 xp
Trip - DC 11 Str save or be knocked prone.


Which I like a great deal. But, (as he pointed out) "They’re missing the ability scores, any saving throw proficiencies, and skills. Thinking a single “bonus” entry might work. Bonus +5 that applies to any appropriate skill rolls or save. Or maybe Bonus +3/+5 one non-proficient and one proficient."


..........


Jeremy Murphy came up with this for stats;

"You can do all the stat in a single line by just putting in the bonus and a * if proficient.

S+1,D+2*,C0,W-1,I-2,Ch+1*.

That gives you all the info you need for initiative, save proficiency and skills."

And he's right, that is an elegant notation and I think you could work out almost all of what you need to know from it. The resulting entry would look a bit like this;

Wolf - AC 13, HP 11, Spd. 40ft, bite +4, 2d4+2 dm+trip, 50 xp
S+1,D+2*,C0,W-1,I-2,Ch+1*.
Trip - DC 11 Str save or be knocked prone.

Which is by no means offensive, BUT I hate it anyway, not because it's bad but because I fucking hate the idea of counter-referencing monsters stats while fighting them. Also I refuse to re-read the 5e rules before addressing this problem.

..........

So I came up with the following bullshit;

Wolf - AC 13, HP 11, Spd. 40ft, bite +4, 2d4+2 dm+trip, D 3d6, 50 xp
Trip - Str save or knocked prone and grappled.

The only really meaningful addition there is the 'D' number I just made up which are just the dice you roll whenever you need any other number.

This would come in four ranges depending on the kind of monster you were running.

Wieners                   - 3d4
Most things             - 3d6
Badass things          - 3d8
Uber-badass things - 3d12

So it would replace:

• Stealth
• Initiative
• Perception
• Saves
• DC values for powers

If you really want to model skills then maybe add a d4 for each skill.

You just roll it as and when you need that number and only then.

The excuse for this is that combat is chaotic and things are changing all the time so maybe this Orc is just having a really bad  or good day.

You lose a LOT of fine detail and perhaps rob monsters of some of their structural identity and makes in-game knowledge less meaningful, (i.e. certain monsters are tough with high CON but dim with low WIS etc)

The benefits are the customary OSR benefits of chaos, its always worth trying some nutso tactic because its just possible you might win, the bad guy might roll a 3 for its save, so it favours improvisation, invention and courage/risk taking over planning and careful knowledge.

Any 5e-experts (5xperts?) feel free to let me know how quickly this would go horribly wrong in the comments.

This is a boring-but-potentially-useful post, a list of the spells available to the 5e wizard with all the direct damage spells taken out.

(The direct damage spells are so boring in the 5e list that taking them out probably makes the wizard more interesting. I was thinking about using it with this post about the non-magical characters you can build in 5e, then PC's would be either firmly non-magical or magical-but-not-damaging. So I suppose its an attempt to restore old-school niche protection to 5e, if you give a fuck about stuff like that.)



Cantrips (0 level)

Blade Ward
Friends
Light
Mage Hand
Mending
Message
Minor Illusion
Prestidigitation
True Strike


1st Level

Alarm
Charm Person
Color Spray
Comprehend Languages
Detect Magic
Disguise Self
Expeditious Retreat
False Life
Feather Fall
Find Familiar
Fog Cloud
Grease
Identify
Illusory Script
Jump
Longstrider
Mage Armour
Protection from Evil and Good
Shield
Silent Image
Sleep
Tasha's Hideous Laughter
Tenser's Floating Disk
Unseen Servant



2nd Level

Alter Self
Arcane Lock
Blindness/Deafness
Blur
Continual Flame
Crown of Madness
Darkness
Darkvision
Detect Thoughts
Enlarge/Reduce
Gentle Repose
Hold Person
Invisibility
Knock
Levitate
Locate Object
Magic Mouth
Magic Weapon
Mirror Image
Misty Step
Nystul's Magic Order
Rope Trick
See Invisibility
Spider Climb
Suggestion
Web


3rd Level

Animate Dead
Bestow Curse
Blink
Clairvoyance
Counterspell
Dispel Magic
Fear
Feign Death
Fly
Gaseous Form
Glyph of Warding
Haste
Hypnotic Pattern
Leomund's Tiny Hut
Magic Circle
Major Image
Nondetection
Phantom Steed
Protection from Energy
Remove Curse
Sending
Sleet Storm
Slow
Stinking Cloud
Tongues


4th Level

Arcane Eye
Banishment
Confusion
Conjure Minor Elementals
Control Water
Dimension Door
Fabricate
Fire Shield
Greater Invisibility
Hallucinatory Terrain
Leomunds Secret Chest
Locate Creature
Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound
Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
Polymorph
Stone Shape
Stoneskin


5th Level

Animate Objects
Conjure Elemental
Contact Other Plane
Creation
Dominate Person
Dream
Geas
Hold Monster
Legend Lore
Mislead
Modify Memory
Passwall
Planar Binding
Rary's Telepathic Bond
Scrying
Seeming
Telekinesis
Wall of Force
Wall of Stone


6th Level

Arcane Gate
Contingency
Create Undead
Drawmij's Instant Summons
Eyebite
Flesh to Stone
Globe of Invulnerability
Guards and Wards
Magic Jar
Mass Suggestion
Move Earth
Programmed Illusion
True Seeing


7th Level 

Etherealness
Forcecage
Mirage Arcane
Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion
Plane Shift
Project Image
Reverse Gravity
Sequester
Simulacrum
Symbol
Teleport


8th Level

Antimagic Field
Antipathy/Sympathy
Clone
Control Weather
Demiplane
Dominate Monster
Feeblemind
Maze
Mind Blank
Power Word Stun
Telepathy
Trap the Soul


9th Level

Astral Projection
Foresight
Gate
Imprisonment
Prismatic Wall
Shapechange
Time Stop
True Polymorph
Weird
Wish

(This is just me thinking out-loud about what a full SAVAGES game would look like.)

You get XP for surviving. Every day you live, you get 100 xp.

If you have a thief in the party and they steal stuff, you all share the XP for that. But otherwise money has little real value. That’s why you leave it piled up in rooms. You take things that have use.

You start with no food and no water. The fatigue and food rules are the same as in 5e but moved to the front of the book as they are more important.

You begin in the middle of a map instead of on the edge. Maybe you need to explore the map or maybe you already know whats in it and played a part in creating it, still not sure about that one.

Around the edges of the map are single 'dark' hexes. These all hold different human communities. Each human group is based on a particular human archetype. Tang China, Conquistadors, Zulu Empire, Mongols, Crusaders etc. This gives each one different powers and abilities.

If you do nothing and no not attack each hex, they grow. Some grow fast, some grow more slowly and are more heavily fortified. Some, like the pseudo-Mongol one, move around quickly. 'Explorer' hexes can turn up randomly on river banks and shorelines.

You must attack them to stop them growing. Each culture works differently so you have to find out how to fight it. Some are highly centralised so if you take out the main guy then they fall apart and don't come back for a while. Others are faith-based so you have to destroy the religion. Whatever it is, you have to find a way to stop the culture growing.  (Just killing everyone should always work, but there are a lot of them.)

There is never enough time to stop them all.

In these situations, villages and fortifications take the place of Dungeons in a normal game. Like mission one is 'take down the village of Homlet'

Where would you attack first?

You get XP for retarding or removing human cultures, but they would have to be specific rewards for each culture so PCs were incentivised to think of cunning solutions for getting rid of them.

So your map ends up looking like the spokes of a wheel gradually infiltrating into 'your' territory.

To take out a human culture completely, or at least retard it for generations, you need to go for their capital city. That's like a level 20 mission. Orcs fighting a city is like humans fighting Cthulhu.

As well as fast-growing humans there are Elf hexes and Dwarf Hexes. These don't grow, they just stay in place and cause you trouble. They are hard to get rid of and provide a jumping-off point for Adventurers.

Burning Rivendell is a high-level mission.

If you have a Dungeon, its one the group creates themselves at start of play. Some kind of microscope-lite game, or a points-buy system. That way it bonds the players to the space, it becomes 'theirs' and they will want to defend it. Its somewhere you can go to be in *slightly less* danger but sometimes adventurers will try to come in and take your stuff and you need to trap and kill them.

A bunch of Orcs and Goblins trying to take down a high level adventuring party is a bit like humans trying to take down a Kaiju, you have to separate them, wear them down and take them out.

I am not sure what to do about the Dungeon 'Boss'. Having a scattering of individual high-level monsters around may make the forces of chaos too powerful, but it gives you someone to get missions and stuff from, and who will also threaten you and make you do stuff. Also, other peoples dungeons are not necessarily allied to you so you can still invade those and do what any normal D&D party would do.

Plus other tribes of non-humans are not necessarily friends so subverting, destroying, evading or commanding them could be a mission.

Also everything that is dangerous to adventurers, ie Trolls under bridges, spiders in the forest, is still dangerous to you, unless you know those particular Spiders or that particular Troll.

The whole thing should be kind-of inside-out from a normal D&D game. Instead of being free agents, you possibly have a boss. Or maybe at least one of you does. Instead of having some food and money and nowhere to stay, you maybe have a whole dungeon you can use that you know every inch of because your player helped to build it, but you have no money and no food at all so you are starving to death from day one.

Instead of starting from the edge of the map and going in towards the unknown centre, you start at the partly known centre and do stuff towards the edge. Instead of gradually getting a larger world and being able to explore more, you are gradually hemmed in as those black human hexes proliferate and work themselves deeper into the wilds.

You never stop having to get food and you never stop getting attacked but enemies are also food so that solves that problem.

Whole thing would be like a weird mix of Microscpe, Apoclaypse World, 5e and Blood Meridian.

I had a big whiney rant about what the D&D people should do with 5e. Reddit hated it, others pointed out that it was just World Of Darkness for D&D, which was kind of true.

Nevertheless, this is the (sort of) OSR! We are pledged to never give a fuck about what anybody says and to simply go straight ahead making  things without worrying too much about whether it would be any good or even if anyone cares.

So that is exactly what I have done.

Here are the experimental character generation rules for an alternate version of the free D&D 5e pdf where YOU PLAY THE MONSTERS*.

It is awkwardly hacked together and the Fighter and Thief class are pretty much just straigh rips from the free PDF. I ripped off guys who did the A5 condensed versions as well becasue I used them a lot.

(The Picture is by Scrap, click on it to get the PDF.)



*Except who are the monsters really hmmmm*?

*Still you. You fucking eat people.

MAN

You know of Man. The ant people. Those who come in many shapes and shades, and always dying. Others think them weak, because they are weak, slender, quick to starve or bleed, but you have been captured by them and escaped, or watched them carefully from the edges of their towns, or taken some and kept them, seeing what they do. You know there is a hideous strength in man. A beserk rage for 'order', like the armies of the ants, but vaster and more powerful. Men are weak but Man is strong.

Skills: History, Insight
Languages: Other than the group language and/or your tribal tongue, you may choose two human languages. You can also read;

Equipment:
A book (non-magical) of whatever subject you wish,
A plan of a particular human settlement, on human skin,
The holy symbol of a human faith,
The Toy of a human child.
A bag of human 'money' a handful, you don't know how much by their count. (Unless you roll 'Money' below.)

d8 Expertise. You have learnt a thing they do, and can do it too.

1 Religion. You know the creed of a human faith, enough to persuade the gullible that you are an unlikely convert.
2 Money. Apparently valueless things have meaning to them. You can ask the DM for the price in gp of objects you find.
3 Politics. Man-Tribes are big, but many. Sometimes they hate each other more than they hate you.
4 Families. They value the small ones. Bond-pairs value each other, sometimes enough to deal if you have one.
5 Tactics. They fight like they build, lots of little pieces making one big thing.
6 Strategy. Big man-tribes are like big animals. Sometimes you don't need to win, just make them tired and confused.
7 Magic. They get it from books, it runs out each day, if they can't sleep, or have no book, they have less magic.
8 Technology. You understand how a mill works and could take apart a lock.



Feature: Man-Tongue. You can talk like they do and understand them easily (though this is not the ability to mimic the sound of a human speaking, that requires a persuasion or performance roll.) You have some idea what they want and the inner logic of their actions. With the DMs consent, when dealing with any human thing relating to your speciality, you may add your proficiency mod to any roll. (Other SAVAGES find you talking like a Man very suspicious.)

d8 Personality Trait
1 I try to work things out carefully and explicitly into related chains of action before I act.
2 I sometimes speak knowledge that comes from dead paper. Others find this creepy and impressive.
3 I keep 'explaining' things or asking others to 'explain' what they mean.
4 I try to find things out even though the things are not useful.
5 I worry about the consequences of things that I do. Not just tomorrow, but many tomorrows away.
6 I wear fragments of human clothes and uniforms and am always adding to or changing the things I wear.
7 I wear fragments of humans and am always adding to or changing the things I wear.
8 I keep talking about places I have never seen and times I have never been.

d6 Ideal
1 Avoidance. If we avoid contact they will attack each other and forget us. Or something will kill them.
2 Fun. So much to destroy! And eat! And destroy!
3 Escape. We have to find some place they cannot follow us.
4 Cultural Theft. Steal their power and make it our own.
5 Enslavement. They will make good slaves once they are broken.
6 Genocide. They all have to die. All of them.

d6 Bond
1 I must preserve my tribe whatever the cost.
2 I must rule my tribe whatever the cost.
3 The Men know something that could destroy them, I must steal that knowledge and use it.
4 I must stop the men expanding their hives of stone and wood into the free lands. Not one inch more, they must burn.
5 They killed my people, took everything, I will teach them pain.
6 I need to keep this group of freaks together and alive as I have nowhere else to go.

d6 Flaw
1 I secretly cradle the fear that Mankind is somehow superior.
2 I am far too confident in my ability to understand them.
3 I can never stop with just one, I have to eat another one, then another..
4 I am obsessed with observing them without their knowledge.
5 I have dreams where I *am* one and they trouble me.
6 I am secretly utterly mad with a deep hatred for them which explodes unpredictably at the wrong times.

FIRE

You know fire. Maybe you were born in fire, burnt by fire, maybe it comes to you in dreams, or you just really really like fire. FIRE.

Skills: Investigation, Intimidation

Tools: Anything that makes fire;

Equipment: Six torches,
A big bag of kindling,
3 jars of stolen lamp oil,
Chunk of cauterised Troll Meat.
Tinderbox,
Either a simple weapon OR 3 flasks of Gunpowder.

d10 FIRST BURN.

1 A Druids grove, they tried to cut down the trees to save the rest. Failed.
2 An Elven tree village, they fell burning and lit the dry grass where they hit.
3 Forced herd of burning swine into a dwarven mine. It collapsed.
4 My own tribe while they slept. (Whoops, haahahaha.)
5 Crammed Halfling family into their own oven. Delicious.
6 A Temple full of Human Knights, barred the doors, baked them in their own armour.
7 Myself by mistake. Kind of messed-up looking now, still you live and learn!
8 The entirety of the plain to the south, got a little out of hand there. Dry season.
9 A wizards tower, piled up wood at the base and lit it like a match. The fireworks!
10 Boiled a pool full or water nymphs. Steam nymphs now!

Feature: You are really good at burning things! You can always add your proficiency bonus when trying to set things on fire. You are also resistant to natural non-magical fire. With the DM's agreement you can also add your proficiency bonus when dealing with things that are *on* fire. You like to set your weapons on fire and it doesn't always go that badly.

d8 Personality Trait
1 I judge people by how easily I think I could set them on fire.
2 If someone is in trouble, I’m always ready to lend help. So long as that help includes fire.
3 When I set my mind to burning something, I follow through no matter what gets in my way.
4 I like to cover myself in patterns made from the ash of things I have burnt.
5 Unusually, I prefer to cook my food, especially when it's still alive.
6 I'm spiritually worried, yet fascinated by, things that don't burn, like ice. Or teeth.
7 I like to wear burning tapers about my person to create an impression.
8 I get bored easily. But there's usually a solution to that nearby..

d6 Ideal
1 Combustion. It's getting as many things as possible *on fire* at the *same time*, gotta hit max burn.
2 Destruction. The maximum amount of material things destroyed, that’s what matters.
3 Ash. To reduce everything to that cold, grey plain. Silence, Peace and fragments of bone.
4 People. You only burn the house to get the people inside to run out. Then burn them. It's people that really matter.
5 Beauty. It's the impression the fire *makes* really, its an art form.
6 Justice. I should never have to face it. The most important thing is that I get away clean.

d6 Bond
1 I remember the burn for every scar I have, and am looking forward to more.
2 I'm really happy to find anyone willing to tolerate me and will try not to burn them alive.
3 I get flashbacks whenever I see fire, they're great.
4 I've always dreamed of seeing the greatest city on earth, and burning it down.
5 I really want to travel to the Plane of Fire.
6 It's change that matters in life. Everything has to change. Preferably into something smaller, and blacker, and deader.

d6 Flaw
1 I treat burning flames as NPC's, will listen to them when they 'speak' and will have relationships with them.
2 I really don't like travelling in the dark without fire, even thought I can see quite well.
3 I believe my soul is a fire inside me and am fucking terrified of water, especially large volumes.
4 If you leave me owning, or wearing, anything that *can* be turned into kindling, it *will* be turned into kindling.
5 I will totally do whatever I'm told by the first fire daemon, or fire elemental I see. I LOVE THEM!
6 I might be resistant to fire but I really believe I'm IMMUNE.

DUNGEON

Skills: Stealth, Intimidation;
Tools: One type of Gaming Set, Locks;

Equipment: A martial weapon, formerly human owned,
Keys to the doors of a certain underground place,
A set of dice made from human bone,
Chainmail with the sign of your Earth Lord,
A lamp with candle that burns slowly with a low, red flame.

d8 Your Former Boss. (You speak their language and they may even remember your name, or at least what you look like, maybe.)

1 A Wyrm Of The Sky
2 One Of Those Without Breath
3 A Maze-Minded One
4 A Man, burning in the flame of knowledge, driven out.
5 A Thief-King
6 A Soul-Taker
7 One Most Hungry
8 One-Ten-Strong

Feature: a Crew and a Womb. You have done service for an Earth Lord in one of the Wombs of the Earth. A Dungeon. There is a dungeon somewhere you know well. You are familiar with its guards and paths, they know you there. There is a reason you left, work with your DM to decide what it is. You know how far humans can see in the dark, less than you. You know how to stack outside a door before you break it down and that an area is never safe unless its patrolled on a regular basis. You also know to defend in depth, lure superior numbers into choke points and take them from the side.

d8 Personality Trait
1 I always obey the pecking order, and expect it to be obeyed.
2 I actually know what a schedule is, and can keep one.
3 I won't sleep without a sentry watching and get VERY ANGRY when they fuck up.
4 Nothing can bore me, I can wait and wait and wait.
5 I understand doors, locks, bars and chains. I like to be well protected from the outside world.
6 I get hyper-vigilance while resting and keep expecting someone to burst in.
7 I take prisoners, and I don't always eat them.
8 I kill the wizard first. KILL THE WIZARD FIRST!

d6 Ideal
1 Jobs. Do your fucking job and shut the fuck up about it.
2 Earth. Protect the earth from which we are made, stop the others getting into her.
3 Dark. Be the dark between the stars, light comes and goes. Darkness is eternal.
4 Place. Controlling places is good, know a place, make it yours.
5 Deep. Stay low, come from below, sleep in the earth, burn any structure above ground.
6 Master. Find the most powerful Lord, help them kill the rest.

d6 Bond
1 They stole a treasure from a place I protect. I will get it back.
2 They aced my boss, now I have his Phylactery and he won't shut up.
3 They killed my crew, I'm going to hunt them down, one by one.
4 Why should I not be the Earth-Lord, and rule my own maze?
5 Do to them what they did to me, break in, steal and kill. This time where they live.
6 I will eat the sun and make the world dark.

d6 Flaw
1 I can't hear for shit, even a battle taking place in the next room.
2 If something fails, I'll probably just try it again, and again and again and again.
3 I put way to much trust in anybody wearing a robe and a dramatic hat, waaaaay too much.
4 I get really confused if presented with more than one or two possible choices at a time.
5 I have a dangerous amount of confidence in my own plans and traps.
6 I found out about alcohol and I really really really really like it.

Race

Ok

Mmmaybe

Never

Class

Ok

Mmmaybe

Never

DREAMS

You know dreams are another world where many things can be seen and known. You pay attention 
to your dreams and remember what you do there. The knowledge will guide you in this world.

Skills: Insight, Arcana;

Equipment:
You have scratched on your skin a map of a place you saw in dreams. It is somewhere you will 
go.

A set of bones, which you believe will answer questions when thrown (counts as arcane focus)
OR a dream catcher made from human bone and hair (this prevents the Nightmare result).

A handful of poppy seeds. Enough to knock someone out if eaten or drunk.


d8 What kind of dreams do you have (You may roll each night if you wish.)

1 Violence
2 Journeys
3 Meetings with the dead
4 Another life as an animal or man
5 Flight
6 Nightmare
7 Other worlds
8 Magic

Feature: Sometimes you can learn real things in dreams. Once a game, if it makes sense with 
type of dream you had that night, you can sense a simple piece of nearby hidden information. 
A hidden motive, hidden door, the location of a object or some other simple thing. Major 
world-changing information will probably not be revealed.


d8 Personality Trait
1 I touch people when I wake up to make sure that they are real.
2 I always look for patterns in apparently random things.
3 I’m always afraid of ghosts and spirits, except while I'm actually looking at one.
4 I will ask you about your dreams, and talk about my own, at length
5 I’m always looking for a new stimulant or opiate.
6 I seem unfocused around important things and intense about minor matters.
7 I am followed by voices in wind, the rush of water or the buzzing of flies.
8 I’m convinced that people are always trying to steal my secrets.

d6 Ideal
1 Understanding. I would know why things are as they are.
2 Revenge. I see the faces of my dead people in the night, they call for blood. 
3 Oblivion. I want to lose myself.
4 Transcendence. I would step into full into the world of dreams in full.
5 Power. I have been shown a future where I rule, I will fulfil it.
6 Secrets. I will ferret out them all.

d6 Bond
1 If I dream a place, I must go there.
2 I have an ancestor calling me to find their bones.
3 I work to appease the spirit of a particular natural place or feature.
4 My life is dedicated to preserving the deep places, where dreams come from. (Dungeons.)
5 I’ve been shown my people’s survival depends upon a people not my own.
6 I dream of a particular face, when I see it, one of us will die. Then a new face will come.

d6 Flaw
1 I am extremely credulous when it comes to other people intuition.
2 I blame people I know for what they did in dreams I had.
3 I know this world is not the real one and does not truly matter.
4 I treat coincidence like magic and magic like mere trickery.
5 I talk in my sleep and spill both secrets and hidden opinions.
6 I won't turn left, I have to turn 270 degrees right to go 90 degrees left.

BEASTS

You have learnt something of beasts you know they are NOT JUST FOR EATING!

Skills: Animal Handling, Nature;
Languages: Of one natural beast;
Equipment:
A whip or goad,
A saddle and reins,


Feature: You have a beast.
If Orc a large Boar, if Gnoll a Hyenadon, if Goblin a Giant Spider, if Mantis Man a Friendly Swarm
Your food requirements are now TREBELED


d8 Personality Trait
1 I need to smell someones droppings before I know if I can trust them.
2 I whisper all my secrets to my beast.
3 I know beasts know more than me, attend to what they do and let them guide my path,
4 If hungry I will drink the blood or ichor of my beast, and sometimes if not hungry.
5 I 'talk' to animals I find by imitating their movements and sounds.
6 I refer to friends by the name of their spirit animal, which I can always sense.
7 I am obsessd with finding tracks and never leaving any of my own.
8 I must show beasts extra respect as death may watch me from their eyes.


d6 Ideal
1 Taming. To tame a beast, to make it answer as a limb answers, this is best. (Lawful)
2 Riding. Wind and speed! To fly like the falcon over the earth! This is best. (Neutral)
3 Knowing. To understand the beast, know it as you know yourself, this is best. (Lawful)
4 Becoming. To be it from within, its flesh yours, your blood its own. Yes! (Chaotic)
5 Stealing. A stolen beast is always better. Steal! Take the beasts you need and laugh! (Chaotic)
6 Hunting. To be poised like a spear in the hand, to know, to see, to strike! (Any)


d6 Bond
1 I know we are the Spirits Beasts, when one wishes to ride us, we must allow it.
2 I sleep, eat, live and die with my beast. If it dies I shall die next to it.
3 I will ride the fastest, the largest, the fiercest that there are! All will know me!
4 I know this beast is the spirit of an old friend.
5 I was raised by these beasts, I live for them, more loyal to them than my own kind.
6 I seek the Animal Lords, one day I will despose one and take its place.


d6 Flaw
1 I had other friends before this, but my beast was hungry, what could I do?
2 I secretly think I am a beast trapped in this flesh, I seek means to free myself and return to what I am.
3 I think my beast is my master and await its secret orders.
4 I harm my beast when I am angry.
5 I HateFear my beast, I control it becasue I fear it, as I fear them all.
6 I do things with my beast that no-one should do. No-one knows (yet).



Boar
Armor Class 10
Hit Points 22 (3d10 + 4)
Speed 50 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
16 (+3) 10 (+0) 16 (+3) 2 (-4) 10 (+0) 6 (-2)
Senses passive Perception 10
Languages —

Charge. If the Boar moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a ram attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 7 (2d6) damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Actions:
Ram. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one prone creature. Hit: 8 (3d4 + 3) slashing damage.



Hyenadon
Armor Class 12
Hit Points 19 (3d10 + 3)
Speed 45 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
16 (+3) 10 (+0) 13 (+1) 2 (-4) 10 (+0) 5 (-3)
Skills Stealth +2
Senses passive Perception 10
Languages —

Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 14 (2d10 + 4) piercing and slashing damage.



Giant Spider
Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 26 (4d10 + 4)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
14 (+2) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 2 (-4) 11 (+0) 4 (-3)
Skills Stealth +7
Senses blindsight 10 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages —

Spider Climb. The spider can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Web Sense. While in contact with a web, the spider knows the exact location of any other creature in contact with the same web.

Web Walker. The spider ignores movement restrictions caused by webbing.

Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature.
Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw, taking 9 (2d8) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. If the poison damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, the target is stable but poisoned for 1 hour, even after regaining hit points, and is paralyzed while poisoned in this way.

Web (Recharge 5–6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 30/60 ft., one creature. Hit: The target is restrained by webbing. As an action, the restrained target can make a DC 12 Strength check, bursting the webbing on a success. The webbing can also be attacked and destroyed (AC 10; hp 5; vulnerability to fire damage; immunity to bludgeoning, poison, and psychic damage).



Friendly Swarm
Armor Class 12 (natural armor)
Hit Points 22 (5d8)
Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
3 (-4) 13 (+1) 10 (+0) 1 (-5) 7 (-2) 1 (-5)
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, slashing
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, prone, restrained, stunned
Senses blindsight 10 ft., passive Perception 8
Languages —

Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny insect. The swarm can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.

Actions
Bites. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target in the swarm’s space. Hit: 10 (4d4) piercing damage, or 5 (2d4) piercing damage if the swarm has half of its hit points or fewer.

SHAMAN Class

HD: 1d6

WEAPONS: Any Wood, Bone, Teeth., Stone. No metallic. (Including arrow tips.)

Saves: INT, WIS;

Skills: 2 from: Survival, Nature, Insight, Performance, Medicine, Animal Handling

Equipment:
(a) a Jawbone Club or (b) a Flint Knife;
(a) a Component pouch or (b) An Enemies Shrunken Head (Arcane Focus); 
(a) Crazy Piercings or (b) Tricked out Mad Tattoos or (c) Disturbing Scarification


SPELLCASTING

When you sleep you go to where the spells are, you hunt the spells. The spells try to get away but you catch them pretty easily becasue you are a SHAMAN. Finding the right ones can be hard though. The longer you sleep the more spells you can hunt. The higher your level the deeper into that place you can go.





When you sleep or meditate to get spells, roll a d6. Go to that number at the bottom of the chart, this is where you start. A cantrip will be here with you. You can catch the catrip if you want, put it in your head, write it on your spell sheet.

For every hour you meditate or sleep, you can travel along one black dotted line to a place where a new spell is. Whenever you reach a new spell, you can put it in your head and write it on your sheet. When you wake up, you can use that spell whenever you want, then its gone back to the hunting ground. When you sleep, all of your spells escape and you have to look for more.

So if you sleep for eight hours, you can hunt eight spells.

BUT. There is a catch. Some spells don't like each other. If you have two spells in your head connected by a dotted line, thats right next to each other, then you have to roll on the Shaman Madness Table once for each line.

So if you go to sleep as a level one Shaman for eight hours and hunt eight spells, then you will have seven madnesses the next day. This is why Shamans are so crazy. You can avoid madneses by not having spells that are connected by dotted lines in your head at the same time. But this means you get less spells.

As you get better as a Shaman you can go deeper into the dream lands to hunt more powerful spells.

From levels 1-4 you hunt in the Plains. From level 5 you can also hunt in the Forest, at level 11 you can also hunt in the Hills and at level 17 you can visit the Mountain for the most powerful spells.

You always start at the bottom though, with a d6 roll.


Lvl 2: A number of times per day equal to your level, any spell you have caught may be cast as an illusiory version of itself.
Lvl 3: ---
Lvl 4: Ability Score Improvement.
Lvl 5: You may now hunt in the Forest.
Lvl 6: Your cantrips deal half Damage even on a Save.
Lvl 7: ---
Lvl 8: Ability Score Improvement
Lvl 9: ---
Lvl 10: add your Int Mod to your Evocation Spells'Damage.
Lvl 11: You may now hunt in the Hills.
Lvl 12: Ability Score Improvement
Lvl 13: ---
Lvl 14: You may halve the number of madnesses (rounding up) that you must take after hunting spells.
Lvl 15: ---
Lvl 16: Ability Score Improvement
Lvl 17: You may now hunt on the Mountain
Lvl 18: You can choose where you begin your hunt on the bottom row.
Lvl 19: Ability Score Improvement
Lvl 20: Instead of beginning on the bottom row, you may drop a d4 on the chart and begin where it lands.

So my four classes for SAVAGES were going to be Fighter, Thief, Hunter and Shaman. Fighter and Thief should remain relatively unaltered. Shaman is a mish mash of Cleric and Magic User. Here is my first attempt at a Hunter Class.


HD d8
ARMOUR Any non-metallic
WEAPONS Simple, Simple Ranged, Martial Ranged, Shortsword, Scimitar, Trident, Whip, Bolas.
SAVES WIS, CON
SKILLS Three from, Animal Handling, Insight, Nature, Perception, Stealth, Survival, Medicine

EQUIPMENT, choose either

a Net              or b Whip
a Mace           or b Trident
a Blowgun       or b Sling
a Hunting Trap or b Spyglass
a Manacles      or b Caltrops

A Trident or Whip can entangle if you use it. It requres an opposed roll between you and a hit target to maintain this.

Bolas, thrown (30/120) d2 Damage, entangles as net, one target only.


Tracking
In a natural environment you can track creatures. This is either a WIS or INT roll to which you add your proficiency bonus.

The total amount rolled is the distance you can see into the past. The first digit is the number of words  the DM must use to tell you what you have found. If you find anything at all the DM must always give you a direction.

So if some Orcs have passed in the last ten hours and you roll '13' the DM would simply say 'Orcs, North'. If you roll '35' the DM might say 'Five Desperate Orcs, North'. 


Trapping
When the environment allows it, you can build traps. Describle the actions it will take for you to build one to the DM. You roll using either yout INT or DEX, whichever is higher, plus your proficiency bonus.

The total of your roll is the difficulty for the target in spotting your trap.

The DC is 10+ the die size of the damage you would like the trap to do. So a d3 damage trap has a DC of 13. A d10 damage trap has one of 20. It takes minutes equal to the die size for you to build the trap.

Roll with disadvantage to trap anything at least two size catagories larger or smaller than you.

If you take the full time required you roll the DC check yourself. If you are cut short by any period, the DM rolls the check and does not tell you the result until the trap is triggered, spotted, or fails.


Lvl 1:  Tracking and Trapping.
Lvl 1: You count as having Stealth if you are in a natural environment, hiding and still. If you already have Stealth, take advantage on the roll under these circumstances.
Lvl 2: Birdsong. In a natural environment where birds are present, your passive perception check includes up to a mile radius if you have it in sight.
Lvl 3: Add an extra attack if at least one of the weapons you are wielding entangles.
Lvl 3: Climbing no longer costs extra movement.
Lvl 3: Add your DEX or STR Mod to the distance covered with a Running Jump.
Lvl 4: Ability Score Improvement
Lvl 5: Beastmaster. You gain the ability to tame and train the following creatures. If Orc - Boars & Dire Boars. Gnoll - Hyenas, Hyenadrons and Trolls. Goblin - Wolves, Worgs and Spiders. Mantis Man - Giant Insects. The creatures must be found, captured, tamed and fed in-game. You can naver have more than HD worth of creautures equal to your CHA bonus tame at any one time.
Lvl 6: Expertise. One more Proficiency.
Lvl 7: Entangler. Enemy saves against your entangling attacks with disadvantage.
Lvl 8: Ability Score Improvement
Lvl 9: You know what the weather will be like tomorrow.
Lvl 10: Ability Score Improvement
Lvl 11: Monster Language. Learn one monster language and add your Prof bonus to any test you ake to communicate with them.
Lvl 12: Ability Score Improvement
Lvl 13: You can now track incorporeal creatures like ghosts.
Lvl 14: Blindsense 10'
Lvl 15: Proficiency: Wis Saves
Lvl 16: Ability Score Improvement
Lvl 17: You can calm or tame any natural unintelligent creature with half your HD or less. Only one at a time. They may not obey but will not attack.
Lvl 19: Ability Score Improvement
Lvl 20: You can track Death. If Death has passed nearby you can follow her path and find those recently dead. Be aware, if you overtake Death and find the target alive, the real target may be you.

ORC
+2 CON 
SPEED 30
VISION, you have darkvision
SKILL(S) Intimidation
ADVANTAGE on any save caused directly by man.
WEAPONS Simple bludgeoning weapons
LANGUAGES Orc, Savage Common

CARNIVORE. You can farm beasts and prefer to eat those or hunted game.

FEATURE Hard to kill. You roll Death saving throws with Advantage.

Race Base Height Height Modifier Base Weight  Weight Modifier
Orc           4'8"               +2d6            110 lb.     × (2d4) lb.

You grow an half an inch and add d6 pounds every level. If you grow to over 8 feet high, change your size to Large,

AGE 3d6
Average lifespan 40 years

SUB RACES
    
You are  BRUTAL ORC (+3 STR)
You can never raise your INT by any means. It never go above what you roll in character generation.

You are CUNNING ORC (+1 STR)
You are proficient with Simple ranged weapons and have the Stealth skill.
You understand, but do not speak another common racial language. Orc, Gnoll, Goblin, Human Common, Elf, Dwarf or Halfling.




GOBLIN
+2 INT 
SPEED 35
SIZE Small
VISION, you have darkvision
WEAPONS Simple Light Melee Weapons
LANGUAGES Goblin, Savage Common

OMNIVORE. You can survive on almost anything.

FEATURE You can move through creatures one size larger.

Race   Base Height Height Modifier Base Weight  Weight Modifier
Goblin          2'7"        +2d4                   35 lb.        × 1 lb.

AGE 4d6
Average Lifespan 50 years.

SUB RACES

You are a CREEPY GOBLIN (+1 DEX)
You gain proficiency with blowguns, nets and whips.

FEATURE Hamstrings. If you inflict lethal damage on a humanoid creature  one size larger than you and are holding a bladed weapon, you may convert this into a slash that cuts their hamstrings, crippling them but leaving them alive.


You are a TRICKSY GOBLIN (+1 CHA)
You know two more languages of any race, and can imitate the voices of those races to a fair degree.
You are skilled in Performance and Deception.


GNOLL
+2 STR
SPEED 35
ADVANTAGE You roll against fear with advantage if a failure would mean letting down your group or exposing them to danger.
WEAPONS You are proficient with Polearms, Swords and Leather Armour.
LANGUAGES Gnoll, Orc, Goblin, Troll

CARNIVORE. You actually prefer eating intelligent creatures.

FEATURE Smell. You are skilled in Perception when it comes to smell. If you gain the Perception skill from any other source your bonus when you smell is doubled.

Race Base Height Height Modifier Base Weight  Weight Modifier
Gnoll     6'6"                +2d6               130 lb.     × (2d6) lb.

Average lifespan 35 years


SUB RACES

You are a HUNGRY GNOLL (+1 CON)
Like most Gnolls, you like eating more than you like killing
Your speed is 40. You are proficient with the longbow.
You have a Halberd OR a Longbow with 3d8 arrows.


You are MURDERING GNOLL (+1 INT)
Also called a 'Flind'. Unlike most Gnolls you like killing more than you like eating.

You have a Unique Gnoll weapon called a Flindbar, in which you are proficient. This is a pair of chain-linked iron bars which you spin at high speed. With this weapon you can attack twice per round for d4 damage. In addition any target of equal size holding a one handed weapon must make a DEX save or have their weapon torn from their hands.

This weapon is a sign of high status amongst Gnolls and other Gnolls will respect it, if not you.


MANTIS MAN
+2 DEX
SPEED 30

CARNIVORE You seldom hunt other intelligent races for food. You do find Elves utterly delicious though.

• You never wear armour.
• You never need to sleep.
• Your antennae mean you take no penalty for fighting at close range in darkness.If unarmed you can attack five times, four claw attacks and a bite attack.
• If holding a weapon you can attack with the weapon and a bite attack. You can only ever hold up to two weapons.

You always begin at two years old. As you get older more of your natural abilities become active. This happens as you age, not as you level up.

AGE  ARMOUR  CLAW/BITE DAMAGE    SPECIAL ABILITY
  2           13                         d2               
  3           13                         d3                                   leap
  4           15                         d3
  5           15                         d4                                venom
  6           17                         d4                           dodge missiles


LEAP You can leap 20 feet straight up or 50 feet forward. You cannot leap backwards.
VENOM This bite causes parylisation for rounds equal to the extent by which the victim failed their save.
DODGE You can dodge physical missiles by successfuly rolling your unmodified DEX against the To-Hit roll.

LANGUAGE Neither your strange mind or your insectile jaws are well constructed for understanding or using the language of others. In a time sensitive situation you must make a standard INT roll use or understand spoken language.

Race          Base Height Height Modifier Length Length Modifier Base Weight  Weight Modifier
Mantis Man     6'6"              +2d6              10             2d6               130 lb.         × (2d6) lb.

Average lifespan 35 years.