Fading Memory

Aesithas, a D&D 5e Experiment by Fading Memory

@karamonnom I mean, in a broad sense it makes sense that an artisan could craft things. I'm open to rereading the Downtime Crafting rules from Xanathar's guide, if you're fine with hunting down materials being less an issue of gold and more an issue of Questing and Adventure :)

Aesithas, a D&D 5e Experiment by Fading Memory

Decided to go 'simple' with my Languages thing, listed here are the native tongues of the races of Aesithas.

Languages of Aesithas

In the interest of simplicity, I will be narrowing things down and really keeping it light in this regard. Almost all the races will speak the 'Common' tongue; The Dale Tongue (Common). It's the language of the Humans, the most plentiful and bountiful of the peoples.

The Kin of Du'Eld originate from the Dale Folk through Du'Eld, thus the Dale Tongue is their native language as well.

The Zephyrites speak Primordial, the tongue of the Old Nimbus, but often learn Common as well. (Zephyrites gain 'Primordial' as a Language)

The Noctem speak Noctish, which is a language that is expressed heavily through their long limbed and fingered gestures and motions- functionally a kind of sign language assisted by vocalized intonations-- but they usually know multiple languages, including Common. (Noctem gain 'Noctish' as a Language)

The Wooden Ones's native tongue is Sylvan, the tongue of the Everbloom, but they tend to live such long lives they eventually learn the other tongues of Aesithas. (Wooden Ones gain Sylvan as a Language)

The Behemoths learn the Dale Tongue to maintain relations with the rest of Aesithas, but their native communication with one another relies as much on pheromone and scent as it does expression and sound. Behemoths may communicate emotions nonverbally so long as they can smell one another, and express limited basic ideas without speech whatsoever. For example, they can express 'fear' without any indication besides feeling it, and with certain gestures of their tail or ears they can express 'we should flee' without ever saying a word- it's just that only other Behemoths will comprehend this, and it makes Behemoth communication with other races often a slow process as they try to express themselves verbally. (Behemoths gain 'Behemoth Speech' as a Language).

It is worth noting that remarkably few individuals in Aesithas are literate. Few Dale Folk can read or write outside the clergy, nobility, or merchant classes, and while most Noctish can read/write there is no written form of their native tongue so they are forced to use the Dale Tongue for their written word. The Kin, Behemoths, and Wooden Ones have little need for the written word in their societies besides as a means to deal with the influential and powerful amongst the Dale Folk societies. Zephyrites are usually literate, but those whose Pods drift away from the Cloud Kingdom can struggle to learn if not taught in their highly formative youth.

This will be added to Post 0.

@XxFellsingxX Yo, patience hasn't even been hit yet; you said you're newish, and I'm changing the foundation of the game on you, you're doing great. Your AC would be 18 with the heavy armor + shield, and your dex saving throw seems to be too high; I think you added proficiency to it instead of your Wisdom saving throw. Otherwise, seems solid.

Aesithas, a D&D 5e Experiment by Fading Memory

@Guardian Angel Haruki

As for yours, I think my 4 AM assessment was correct; I don't think I see anything mechanically unsound with it. Amaryllis is fine, when I get some finalized world info done I'll hit you up about the hermit discovery.

Aesithas, a D&D 5e Experiment by Fading Memory

@XxFellsingxX

lemme walk you through it then, I knew some small headaches would pop up with the behemoth natural weapons, I'd rather they have come up early than later.

I'm just gonna remove the reaction, I forgot how many of the fighting styles were reaction oriented when I made it that way. That's just something I'm gonna #Patch_Note right now; if a behemoth makes a shield, they just get the +2 AC like everyone else.

With that cleared up, here's how the Natural Weapons work (I'm gonna try to simplify my own dense wording here);

You get two 'slots' for a weapon. These slots aren't anywhere physical on your body, they're purely a mechanical 'slot'.

You can't make a Ranged weapon that isn't Thrown. (No Crossbow, yes dart/javelin/dagger/spear etc; ammo functionally unlimited.)

If you make a Heavy/Two Handed weapon (Such as a Greatsword or Maul) it takes both slots.

You may make a shield in one of those slots.

So your 'legal' pairs are...

Two-Handed/Heavy Weapon (Which could be any kind of flavor you want, bladed forelimbs was just an example; it could be a Monstrous Bite, a serrated tail, 'my whole body', whatever you want). This is a Pike, Greatsword, Maul, Halberd, etc.

One handed Weapon + Shield/Other One Handed Weapon. This is where you could do, say, 2x Scimitars, or 2x Longswords, or a Sword+shield, or a Flail+Javelin, or whatever else- just flavored as different natural weapons on your body.

your natural weapons would count as the relevant weapon for the purposes of any given fighting style. If you choose Interception, it would work with any combination of natural weapons conceivable because you just need to have a shield OR any kind of weapon to do it; if you did Protection, you'd need to use 'Shield' as one of your 'Slots', then you could use any other one handed weapon in the other 'slot'.

If you wanted to use a greatsword or a maul or something, then great weapon fighter would work as a fighting style for you; if you wanted to focus on being a javelin tank, Archery would work; etc etc.

If this isn't helpful to you let me know, I tried to keep the Behemoth clear, but this is why I wanted to test this stuff out on the forum! :)

Aesithas, a D&D 5e Experiment by Fading Memory

You could do any weapon you’re proficient with; I’m just making sure you’re specifically wanting a club instead of a mace or morningstar or warhammer or flail, etc.

And would you prefer the shield to be a reaction that becomes better than a normal shield long term, or the normal shield bonus? The Behemoth is a wily thing for me to get into 5e terms due to its beastlike nature and I want you to enjoy the experience.

Aesithas, a D&D 5e Experiment by Fading Memory

@XxFellsingxX

- Protection. When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.

I had to go back and double check, but it appears you didn’t actually choose a shield as one of your two ‘slots’ for gear; on top of that, I noticed you did a greatsword example + a club. The greatsword would take ‘both’ equipment slots; i.E it and nothing else.

If you wished to use a shield, I can remove the Natural Armor reaction so you can freely use Protection as a fighting style, and thus you’d get the normal +2 AC instead.

Aesithas, a D&D 5e Experiment by Fading Memory

@XxFellsingxX

Woops! Forgot to give the Behemoths ‘+1 to a different stat of choice’. Cheers, happy bonuses.

Aesithas, a D&D 5e Experiment by Fading Memory

Also, don't know if you're ready for us to be posting our CSs, but I've almost finished mine... aside from the name xP

@XxFellsingxX

Also, yo, feel free to drop sheets. The more folks can chat about things the cooler.

Added the Naming Conventions to the original post.

Aesithas, a D&D 5e Experiment by Fading Memory

@Exit Yep! So far you’re person 5 to say hello, 6 is my soft cap before I begin to think about having to tell people no. So far folks have discussed all the races except Humans and the Kin of Du’Eld!

Aesithas, a D&D 5e Experiment by Fading Memory

In broad strokes people can be named whatever, but I do have some conventions if people are interested. By no means is it required to follow these;

Noctem Names tend to be apostrophe based with O and E as an initiator representing feminine; O’Sovoka. E’Lellyr. O’Okosa. Etc. masculine tends towards A and I; A’Soros. I’Rideta. U and Y are for Neuter, and they often take Stage Names; Prospero The Muse is a Noctem.

Behemoths have simple names that are often plays on words with other meanings. Tyrania, Tyranar for example off the word Tyrant. Nobili and Nobu a spin on noble, etc. sometimes they take a direct word that they feel they represent; Power, Strength, Grace. Their names can be varied but try to focus on meaning in convention. They consider it the first step in being respected to have a good name.

The Kin of Du’Eld follow a whimsical convention of slapping two monosyllabic sounds next to each other with a hyphen or apostrophe. Du’Eld. Bo-Hur. Yen’Ka. Vo’Tur. Hra-Sho. There seems to be no distinction between masculine and feminine names.

The Dale Folk use antiquated old english style names.

The Zephyrites take a common name based on their color, but their true names are often complex words hard to pronounce featuring little used letters like Z, X, and Q. Zentar, Quizzya, Xonyz, Qerys, Zaroq, Xixxy, etc. no distinction for gender as it’s a personal choice for them.

The Wooden Ones follow pure whim; some use names of deeper heritage and significance like an ancestor or following the customs of a non Wooden One parent, while others take names following the example of the Everbloom that are reflected in nature. Brook, Babble, Seralyssa, Boulder, Soft-moss, Iskander, driftwood, etc.