Ecology of the Cult of Cthulhu

Since mind flayers are product identity, I decided to replace them with some open content substitutes. The Cult of Cthulhu are the offspring and avatars of the Great Old One Cthulhu. All of the various freaky psychic tentacle monsters from monster manuals, bestiaries and third party products are different varieties of the Cult. UPDATED 10/30/2017

Defining life in a magical cosmology

I stated before that my cosmology runs on fantasy physics rather than real physics. There's no separation of magic and nature, the magnetic/solar/fundamental fields are the magical fields, etc. One thing that is of relevance is the definition of life. In real life, there are a few different criteria for determining whether something is alive. For example, living things require sustenance and reproduce themselves. In fantasy this definition is complicated by the existence of demons, elementals, constructs and undead, among other things.

Ecology of the Catoblepas and Metallic Bulls

Because of a mistake by Edward Topsell in his 1607 zoological text, The Historie of Foure Footed Beasts, the monster manuals labeled the Catoblepas a "gorgon" and conflated it with the Bronze Bull of Greek mythology. Later monster manuals would introduce a "catoblepas" as a separate creature with little in common with the catoblepas of medieval bestiaries. For those of you who remember gorgons as snake-haired women, here are some alternative ways of representing the catoblepas, metallic bulls and similar creatures. UPDATED 10/26/2017

Good liches and bad liches

After reading The Lords of the Night: Liches and Dweomercraft: Lich, I was inspired to incorporate those portrayals into my developing campaign setting. This gives liches of varying shades of morality on opposing sides.

That monster's name does not mean what you think

Many of fantasy gaming's monsters originate from mythic, legendary, folkloric and literary sources. In many cases their portrayal in mangled in the process. For example, a number of monsters have name which had completely different meanings before being co-opted by fantasy gaming.

5e has not fixed the martial/caster disparity, because it was about utility not damage

I often hear 5th edition being commended for solving the martial/caster disparity. This patently false and misunderstands the disparity argument in the first place. Here's why...

Ecology of the minotaur

D&D has a history of taking singular monsters from Greek mythology and turning them into an entire race, which typically act contrary to their mythological origin. D&D also has a history of giving mythological and medieval monsters ecology that loosely mimics real world animals or is needlessly convoluted. I am going to list different varieties of the minotaur that include unique individuals, demigods, divine blessings, curses, playable races, etc and try to fit them all into a cohesive narrative.

Alternatives to Turn Undead

Turn Undead is a class feature of all clerics with situational usefulness. How often do you fight undead? How often do you fight humanoids?

Yeah, I thought so.

No such thing as a "male dryad," unless you count satyrs and curetes

In Greek mythology, nymphs are female in both gender/sex and grammar. The word nymph itself translates to "maiden" in English (i.e. a girl of marriageable age). In Greek mythology, nymphs have multiple male counterparts: satyrs, panes, potamoi, tritons, even centaurs (as the mother of all centaurs was a cloud nymph). Of course, that did not stop Paizo from including a male dryad in their Pathfinder comics.

Building fantasy counterparts of Earth?

A common trope in fantasy is modeling the fantasy world's geography and cultures after those of Earth's history. While there is nothing wrong with this besides being uninspired, it is rather arbitrary that this planet specifically resembles Earth and this setup needlessly constrains possible stories. Tolkien's Middle Earth set the standard for fantasy settings (even grimdark settings like the Warhammer World and Planetos are not immune) and after the umpteenth time it has become really stale.

Ecology of elemental verms, weirds and wyrds

Weirds, also called wyrds and verms, are elementals characterized by their serpentine forms, dependence upon pools of their element, and being in touch with fate itself. Weirds come in the classical elements of air, earth, fire and water, as well as esoteric substances like acid, blood, frost, fungus, ice, lava, lightning, magma, mud, ooze, smoke and snow.

Heroes and ordinaries

Earlier editions of D&D used to relegate most NPCs to "zeroth level." While they could have high proficiency in whatever skills they were expected to have, this did not translate to combat. Even the king of a country could be limited to zeroth level, meaning he would die to a single sword slash. Not all editions were like this.