From the Depths Archives - Tribality

Underwater Spellcasting for 5e

Shawn Ellsworth — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 22:17:38 +0000

This week on the Campaign Trail, I thought I’d look at casting spells underwater. The core rules don’t worry about casting spells underwater too much and the main debate on this topic usually focuses on if can you cast a spell while holding your breath underwater. The following article provides some optional rules and support for spellcasting in an aquatic campaign with adventurers who can handle being underwater for an extended period (naturally or with magic). Spellcasting Underwater Many spells […]

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The Devil of the Deep Blue Sea

Brandes Stoddard — Thu, 09 Sep 2021 12:00:19 +0000

One of the exciting things about writing an aquatic setting is that there are whole creature types that don’t have a single aquatic or swimming creature in the Monster Manual, VGTM, or MTOF. Fiends, for instance. There have been aquatic fiends in D&D – the 3.5e Fiend Folio has four – but they’re rare. To get the obvious thing out of the way, you can just bolt a swimming speed, the amphibious quality, and some gills and fins onto existing […]

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Noisy Person Cards (aka NPC) from Paracosm Press

Rich Howard — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 19:12:54 +0000

“Noisy Person Cards”, aka: NPC, is a “Cards Against Humanity”/”Apples to Apples” style game that offers a fun and funny game for everyone, while allowing improv actors, gamers, and just about any parent who reads to their child a place to practice a range of unique voices to add to their repertoire. Though NPC can be enjoyed by anyone who likes silly voices and classic fantasy tropes, we designed it as a tool for roleplayers. In the work we do on The […]

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Steam Lunar New Year Sale!

Rich Howard — Sat, 06 Feb 2016 06:01:41 +0000

With the announcement of the 5e OGL/SRD and some potential changes in my work life, I’ll be taking a short hiatus from The Game Room and From the Depths. Look for announcements on new projects, PDFs, and more coming soon! Until then, you don’t have to go without aquatic gaming in your life! This week, Steam announced a special Lunar New Year sale on aquatic-themed video games! Check it out here. Games on sale include: Bioshock 1 & 2 Subnautica The […]

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Faerie Tales: Naiads, Pixies, and Sprites for 5e

Rich Howard — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 13:00:15 +0000

A dear friend of mine asked me to run a 5e adventure for his kids over the holiday. It will be their first official D&D game, though since their dad is a video game designer they are more than familiar with the concept. His son wants to play a Merlin-like half-demon magician with a pet wolf. Tiefling wizard it is; with a wolf familiar because fun trumps rules. His daughter’s requests were a little more challenging: a faerie or a unicorn. I countered […]

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Aquatic Allies: Karkinoi (aka What Makes a Race?)

Rich Howard — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 13:00:05 +0000

There are a number of excellent blogs and podcasts about creating campaign worlds, from our own Shawn Ellsworth’s World Building series, to James Introcaso’s World Builder blog, and the Dungeon Master’s Block Creation and Inspiration episodes. Not long after joining Tribality I had a number of readers ask whether I’d be publishing my own aquatic campaign setting. My standard answer was to aim them at the brilliant Cerulean Seas from Alluria Publishing. Why reinvent the wheel, I thought? Then someone pointed out that there are scores, […]

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Novel Inspiration: Kaminoans for 5th edition

Rich Howard — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 13:00:11 +0000

The kaminoan species in the Star Wars universe played an integral role in the fall of the Galactic Republic and rise of the Empire. The victims of a near-genocidal flood after their planet’s most-recent Ice Age, the kaminoans turned to highly selective and brutally efficient breeding and genetic manipulation to survive. The long-term results of such environmental pressures were perfectionism, isolationism, and a lack of empathy for species that don’t strive for perfection. From the Wookiepedia: After the disastrous end of an […]

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Horrors of the Aboleth: Protoaboleth

Rich Howard — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 13:00:51 +0000

I love the aboleth. As a villain for aquatic campaigns there are few better, but when building up to an epic invasion or major climax there are few creatures easily accessible to the DM. Below is the protoaboleth, a Challenge Rating 3 creature rumored to be the ancestral line of the modern-day aboleth. Whether you use these creatures as low-level minions of an aboleth nation, ancestors in a time-travel campaign, or even potential allies, the protoaboleth can foreshadow the horrors […]

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Novel Inspiration: Sendrians for 5th edition.

Rich Howard — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 12:00:51 +0000

Sendrians are a sea lion-like sentient species from the Star Wars Expanded Universe (SWEU). An aquatic parallel to the centaur, the sendrians have a humanoid torso connected to a sea lion’s lower body. Effectively a marine mammal species, the most interesting aspect of sedrians is their society. From the Wookiepedia: Sedrian society was based on the worship of the Golden Sun, a communal Force-sensitive intelligence living in a coral reef. Golden Sun was kept in a dome in the Sedrian capital city of Fitsay, […]

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Natural Lycanthropes in 5th ed – Wereshark

Rich Howard — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 12:00:57 +0000

Whether an ancient race or the rare child of an inflicted parent, natural lycanthropes (as opposed to infected lycanthropes) can add a level of intrigue, fear, and drama to your campaign. Systems like Werewolf: The Apocalypse, settings like Kobold Press’ Midgard, and supplements like The Gaming Guide to Lycanthropes, flesh out these fascinating character options for a range of settings. With the exception of Southlands Heroes‘ werelion, the options for natural lycanthropes in 5th edition is almost non-existent. You can […]

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