Dread Elemental Domains

[doctor-evil]

Re: communities

For the dread realm of grave, have a look at the old "Monster club" movie for a great depiction of what could be a ghoul community. Also read the "graveyard book" by Neil Gaiman.

For Pyre - it would be difficult to sustain a city perhaps within a dread plane. Paridon is mentioned as having every scrap of public parkland dug up to provide food for the populace. However a river with a relatively reliable trade to other realms might help to bring food into the city, perhaps from plantations in the plane of blood (although there is the danger of the plane becoming too much like Souragne). But it would perhaps be better if the burning city "suddenly turns up" and is very empemeral and short-term, rather than a regular part of the plane. In the blazing forest concept, there might be the possibility of druids/witches (having escaped burning) having pockets of forest protected against flames by their magic, and having a small sustainable community.

For Mist - it QtR there is a description of mist elves, which I love. These could perhaps be native denizens of a plane of mist that resemble a cloud forest (which survive just fine in the real world).

[A G Thing]

Wow I just thought that maybe the Mists Domain might be attached to that one Ghost undead themed Campaign Setting Ghostwalk... It had alot of interesting ideas that could be adapted and it would be nice to connect all the worlds of d&d even if just in passing. Not saying it cannot be native just saying part of it might have been pulled in for the Darklord from that land!

I don't have the book though I am looking for it but if anyone does that might be helpful!

[ewancummins]

Re: communities

For the dread realm of grave, have a look at the old "Monster club" movie for a great depiction of what could be a ghoul community. Also read the "graveyard book" by Neil Gaiman.

For Pyre - it would be difficult to sustain a city perhaps within a dread plane. Paridon is mentioned as having every scrap of public parkland dug up to provide food for the populace. However a river with a relatively reliable trade to other realms might help to bring food into the city, perhaps from plantations in the plane of blood (although there is the danger of the plane becoming too much like Souragne). But it would perhaps be better if the burning city "suddenly turns up" and is very empemeral and short-term, rather than a regular part of the plane. In the blazing forest concept, there might be the possibility of druids/witches (having escaped burning) having pockets of forest protected against flames by their magic, and having a small sustainable community.

For Mist - it QtR there is a description of mist elves, which I love. These could perhaps be native denizens of a plane of mist that resemble a cloud forest (which survive just fine in the real world).

As noted earlier, my idea for Mists was a city of ghosts or ghostlike-beings. The misty stuff of which the city is composed is solid for the ghosts, but yields to the bodies of ordinary material creatures.

[ewancummins]

I like the cloud forest concept, Dr Evil. In which QtR may we find Mist Elves?

Ghostwalk is pretty cool, A G Thing.

[doctor-evil]

I like the cloud forest concept, Dr Evil. In which QtR may we find Mist Elves?

QtR 13, p. 130

I modified their stats for use in pathfinder - here's my home brew version:

Racial Traits: Mist-elves posses all of the racial traits described in the Pathfinder Handbook with the following exceptions:
• +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma: Mist-elves have the typical elven grace, agility and intelligence. But there is something disconcerting about mist-elves that puts other ill at ease.
• +2 racial bonus on Stealth checks – Mist Elves are silent and stealthy.
• -2 racial penalty on Sense Motive checks. Mist-elves are not particularly empathic and have difficulty assessing and discerning the emotions of others.
• +2 racial bonus Bluff checks. Mist-elves are hard to 'read' with muted body language and expression.
• +1 racial penalty to Outcast Rating. Mist elves are unnerving and even less trusted than typical elves.

I also suggest the "silent hunter" ability is substituited for "elven magic"

[ewancummins]

I like the cloud forest concept, Dr Evil. In which QtR may we find Mist Elves?

QtR 13, p. 130

I modified their stats for use in pathfinder - here's my home brew version:

Racial Traits: Mist-elves posses all of the racial traits described in the Pathfinder Handbook with the following exceptions:
• +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma: Mist-elves have the typical elven grace, agility and intelligence. But there is something disconcerting about mist-elves that puts other ill at ease.
• +2 racial bonus on Stealth checks – Mist Elves are silent and stealthy.
• -2 racial penalty on Sense Motive checks. Mist-elves are not particularly empathic and have difficulty assessing and discerning the emotions of others.
• +2 racial bonus Bluff checks. Mist-elves are hard to 'read' with muted body language and expression.
• +1 racial penalty to Outcast Rating. Mist elves are unnerving and even less trusted than typical elves.

I also suggest the "silent hunter" ability is substituited for "elven magic"

I like Pathfinder, except for the power creep. They just can't turn it off. They did slow down level progresssion in a sensible way, at least.

Your conversion looks pretty good.

[Galeros]

I am still here, I just forgot I had two tests tomorrow and thus have spent the past two days and will spend tonight studying for them.

Never fear, the write up for the Domain of Grave will be delivered!

[Galeros]

I have finally begun doing the writeup for the Dread Elemental Domain of Grave. I hope to have it delivered by tomorrow.

[Galeros]

Here it is, please let me know where I need to make improvements. This is a rough draft, I just finished typing it. I have yet to do the game stats write up, but I will do that tomorrow.

Dread Elemental Domain of Grave

The Dread Elemental Domain of Grave is known to few in the Land of Mists. It is always found underneath the earth. It sometimes only appears if one delves deep into the earth, other times it can be found just digging a shallow hole. The domain itself is a seemingly endless field of graves and mausoleums, with a few dead trees every few hundred feet. Gravelights can sometimes be seen floating above some of the graves. This domain is the only place other than Darkon where gravelights can be found. Packs of Ghouls and other undead roam the massive graveyard. This domain is also the home of all Dread Earth Elementals that are summoned in the Land of Mists. The sky is pitch black with no stars in sight, this is because the “sky” is actually tons of rock that make up the surface of the Land of Mists.

This domain’s origins lie in the realm of Darkon, about a century or so back, during the 6th century in the Land of Mists. In that realm there was a man named Adros Janol who was quite an adventurer. He traveled all throughout the land, braving the Mists and the dangers that lurked within to win glory and riches. He did all of this alone as well, facing down horrors that would send even hardened adventurers running. His adventuring career proved quite profitable and he enjoyed it immensely for a decade. To him, it seemed as if none of the horrors that lurk throughout the land could truly threaten him. This all changed when on one of his journeys in Darkon he ran afoul of a powerful and hideous creature of the mists. He refuses to speak of the encounter, but it is known that he nearly died and that afterwards he quit his adventuring career.

He also had a younger sister, Serisia Janol. She would stay at home in the town of Maykle while Adros was off exploring. She always envied her brother for his journeys, but she also knew that he would never permit her to go with him, as he was far too protective of her. Still, despite this, she decided to one day ask him if she could go with him on his travels. He refused to take her with him, as she expected. It was shortly after this that he had his brush with death and returned home. Serisia noticed that he stayed at their home for an unusually long time after he came back that one time and asked him why he was not leaving to explore the land like he always did after he had stayed for a while. He responded that the adventuring life was not is anymore, and that he would be staying with her at home. She was disappointed at this, as she always loved to hear tales of his heroics. One day she decided to ask him if she could travel the land if he went with her (she was unaware of his near death experience, as he never told her about it). He refused and told her that it is not safe to travel far in the Land of Mists, and that is best for her is she stays home. Despite his warnings, she chose to set out one night when he was asleep. She took some of his old adventuring gear, food, and some money she had saved up, figuring she could buy more appropriate weapons and armor for herself when she reached a major city.

Adros awoke that next morning to find his sister gone and some of his old equipment missing as well. He did find a note left for him that said she was going to go traveling for a while, and that she could handle herself. Adros was furious with her and ripped up the note in anger. He chose not to pursue her, figuring that she would come back after a day at most, but a day passed and she did not return, then a week, and then a month and a month became a year. At this point he had convinced himself that she would be coming back soon, even though he had said the same thing to himself months ago. He eventually decided to set out after her, he feared he had let too much time pass already, and that he would not be able to find out where she was. He set out from their home and as he passed through small communities he asked if anyone had ever seen a young woman who matched the description he gave of her. At first he found no one who knew who she was, he feared he may have to leave Darkon to find her, but while he was traveling down a road one day, he ran across a rather strange group of individuals, a Human man who wore the symbol of Ezra in the form of an amulet around his neck, an Elf who wore a colorful robe, and a Halfling who carried a multitude of weapons on his small frame. When he spoke to them and asked about his sister, much to his surprise, they said they had seen her, but that she was also no longer among the living. She had joined up with them and had helped deal with a number of problems, such as helping them exterminate a nest of undead that were causing trouble for a small community. She also helped them fight of a band of lycanthropes that attacked them in the wilderness. They told him that she had died fighting off a Human Necromancer; the Necromancer used a spell that instantly slew her. They were able to kill the Necromancer, but because of the nature of the spell the Necromacner used on her, the Priest of Ezra was unable to even attempt a resurrection, and he knew of no one else who could try. They had entrusted her body to a local small community and went on their way. They told him that they were sorry for his loss, but that there was nothing they could do. They did give him the name of the small community so that he might go and see her grave.

Adros left them in a daze and decided to go and find her place of rest. He found the community that the group had told him about, but when he talked to the people who lived there they said that they had never seen anyone who matched his sister’s description in the past year. Adros insisted that she must be buried in the community’s small graveyard. He went to look himself, but could find no tombstone with her name on it. He asked if maybe she had been buried without one, but the locals told him that everyone who is buried in town, even outsiders, have a tombstone made for them as a sign if respect. Adros left the community thinking that perhaps he had the wrong town and continued looking for his sister’s resting place. His search eventually took on a dark side as he began sneaking into graveyards at night and digging up bodies to see if they belonged to his sister. At this point he began to believe someone or something was hiding her from him, and so he figured that this entity that was hiding her had put her in a grave that was also someone else’s. He began hiring unscrupulous people to help him with his task, but he knew he had to silence them as graverobbing often carried a severe punishment in Darkon because of the fear of the disrespected dead rising to attack the living. So he murdered every person he hired and simply tossed their bodies in the graves they had dug up and left town the next day.

One night when he was performing his task of searching through graves, he and the people he had hired to help him came across a mausoleum in a cemetery. He had a feeling his sister had to be in the mausoleum, so he and his hirelings went in and began searching through the remains of the people inside. However, the mausoleum was enchanted to seal itself up and not open up again until a certain word was spoken outside its doors. Trapped, Adros and his companions tried to figure a way out, but no matter where they looked or what they tried, they found no route of escape, whoever knew the word to open the mausoleum was either long dead, or perhaps they had forgotten about the mausoleum and did not come to check on it anymore. Eventually hunger and thirst began to set in. Adros decided to silence the men he had hired at this time both because he had been planning to do so anyways, and so he could have a food source. He managed to kill the two men had had brought with him without much trouble, and he feasted on their flesh. After he did this, he heard a rumbling sound, and looked to the doors of the mausoleum. He was astonished, and horrified to find them opening. He thought it was whoever maintained the cemetery coming to see why the mausoleum had sealed itself off. Instead, he found no one was at the doors. He tentatively stepped outside and noticed that the cemetery he was in was much larger than the one he had entered the mausoleum in. He also noticed that the sky was pitch black and the air was completely still. He did not take many steps out of the mausoleum when he felt his entire body being enveloped in excruciating pain and he fell to the ground crying in agony. He writhed on the ground for what seemed like hours, and when the pain finally subsided he looked at his hand and noticed the flesh was now desiccated, he felt his face and felt his skin drawn tightly over his skull, his teeth were also much larger than they had been before. He ran back into the mausoleum and shot the doors and curled up into a ball and tried to cry but he could not. He closed and opened the doors to the mausoleum again, hoping that he would emerge back in the cemetery he had been in before, but he only saw the endless field of graves and the pitch black sky. He was now trapped in this dead realm for eternity.

[ewancummins]

It looks good. I like the general outline, the desrciption of the domain, and the names. The gravelights are a nice touch.

It needs a good proof-read and edit job. That's mostly for minor stuff, like 'is' fior 'his.'

We might want to elaborate on the closeness of the two siblings, so that Adros' later obsessive search really makes sense. We they close as children? What about their parents? More on the family background would be good.

I like the ghoulish transformation, but perhaps it should be more gradual? Maybe he should develop certain cursed traits before his final damnation as a darklord. Give him a chance to turn back, but at the cost of abandoning his search. He makes the wrong choice, rejecting his last slim hope of even a partial redemption in favor of pursuing his obsessive goals. Then he does his final horrible set of crimes and is damned.

[Galeros]

It looks good. I like the general outline, the desrciption of the domain, and the names. The gravelights are a nice touch.

It needs a good proof-read and edit job. That's mostly for minor stuff, like 'is' fior 'his.'

We might want to elaborate on the closeness of the two siblings, so that Adros' later obsessive search really makes sense. We they close as children? What about their parents? More on the family background would be good.

I like the ghoulish transformation, but perhaps it should be more gradual? Maybe he should develop certain cursed traits before his final damnation as a darklord. Give him a chance to turn back, but at the cost of abandoning his search. He makes the wrong choice, rejecting his last slim hope of even a partial redemption in favor of pursuing his obsessive goals. Then he does his final horrible set of crimes and is damned.

Yeah, I need to elaborate more on Adros and Serisia's relationship.

I will think on the more gradual ghoulish transformation. I like the one I have now, but maybe a gradual transformation could work too. It would have to be subtle things though, like maybe his skin starts to feel kind of odd at first, and then he notices his teeth seem a bit larger and sharper, but dismisses them.

[ewancummins]

Yeah, I need to elaborate more on Adros and Serisia's relationship.

I will think on the more gradual ghoulish transformation. I like the one I have now, but maybe a gradual transformation could work too. It would have to be subtle things though, like maybe his skin starts to feel kind of odd at first, and then he notices his teeth seem a bit larger and sharper, but dismisses them.

Yes, subtle is the way to go if you are using a gradual slide.

The main thing, I think, is to give the villain a final moral choice. Being trapped in the mausoleum is a wonderful scene- but it's not that vital moment of decision. Ardos' last choice (before becming a creature of Ravenloft/a darklord) ought to be compelled by his obsessive drive, not in good part driven by the merely physical circumstances of being trapped in a vault without food. Whether he kills and eats the men or not, he's stilled entombed. I would argue that he must be damned before he enters the vault. The vault is a symbol of his damnation, and his final murders and man-eating are essentially nails in the coffin lid.


Keep the vault scene intact (it is great stuff), but go back a little bit and elaborate on what came to pass before he goes through the magically trapped doors.

YMMV, as ever. I hope my contributions and advice are helpful.

[Galeros]

Yeah, I need to elaborate more on Adros and Serisia's relationship.

I will think on the more gradual ghoulish transformation. I like the one I have now, but maybe a gradual transformation could work too. It would have to be subtle things though, like maybe his skin starts to feel kind of odd at first, and then he notices his teeth seem a bit larger and sharper, but dismisses them.

Yes, subtle is the way to go if you are using a gradual slide.

The main thing, I think, is to give the villain a final moral choice. Being trapped in the mausoleum is a wonderful scene- but it's not that vital moment of decision. Ardos' last choice (before becming a creature of Ravenloft/a darklord) ought to be compelled by his obsessive drive, not in good part driven by the merely physical circumstances of being trapped in a vault without food. Whether he kills and eats the men or not, he's stilled entombed. I would argue that he must be damned before he enters the vault. The vault is a symbol of his damnation, and his final murders and man-eating are essentially nails in the coffin lid.


Keep the vault scene intact (it is great stuff), but go back a little bit and elaborate on what came to pass before he goes through the magically trapped doors.

YMMV, as ever. I hope my contributions and advice are helpful.

All right, I will have to think about it some and I will alter it to fit.

[Galeros]

All right, I have done some alteration, but I am having trouble coming up with something that can damn him before he enters the mausoleum. Here is the altered version.

Dread Elemental Domain of Grave

The Dread Elemental Domain of Grave is known to few in the Land of Mists. It is always found underneath the earth. It sometimes only appears if one delves deep into the earth, other times it can be found just digging a shallow hole. The domain itself is a seemingly endless field of graves and mausoleums, with a few dead trees every few hundred feet. Gravelights can sometimes be seen floating above some of the graves. This domain is the only place other than Darkon where gravelights can be found. Packs of Ghouls and other undead roam the massive graveyard. This domain is also the home of all Dread Earth Elementals that are summoned in the Land of Mists. The sky is pitch black with no stars in sight, this is because the “sky” is actually tons of rock that make up the surface of the Land of Mists.

This domain’s origins lie in the realm of Darkon, about a century or so back, during the 6th century in the Land of Mists. In that realm there was a man named Adros Janol who was quite an adventurer. He traveled all throughout the land, braving the Mists and the dangers that lurked within to win glory and riches. He did all of this alone as well, facing down horrors that would send even hardened adventurers running. His adventuring career proved quite profitable and he enjoyed it immensely for a decade. To him, it seemed as if none of the horrors that lurk throughout the land could truly threaten him. This all changed when on one of his journeys in Darkon he ran afoul of a powerful and hideous creature of the mists. He refuses to speak of the encounter, but it is known that he nearly died and that afterwards he quit his adventuring career.

He also had a younger sister, Serisia Janol. She would stay at home in the town of Maykle while Adros was off exploring. Adros deeply cared for her and would take care of her and see to any need or want she had. He would bring her gifts back from distant cities and towns he had visited. She also loved him dearly for taking care of her and for being so kind as to bring her gifts. There is no account of their parents, and it is not known if they were living or deceased during this time. She always envied her brother for his journeys, but she also knew that he would never permit her to go with him, as he was far too protective of her. Still, despite this, she decided to one day ask him if she could go with him on his travels. He refused to take her with him, as she expected. It was shortly after this that he had his brush with death and returned home. Serisia noticed that he stayed at their home for an unusually long time after he came back that one time and asked him why he was not leaving to explore the land like he always did after he had stayed for a while. He responded that the adventuring life was not is anymore, and that he would be staying with her at home. She was disappointed at this, as she always loved to hear tales of his heroics. One day she decided to ask him if she could travel the land if he went with her (she was unaware of his near death experience, as he never told her about it). He refused and told her that it is not safe to travel far in the Land of Mists, and that is best for her is she stays home. Despite his warnings, she chose to set out one night when he was asleep. She took some of his old adventuring gear, food, and some money she had saved up, figuring she could buy more appropriate weapons and armor for herself when she reached a major city.

Adros awoke that next morning to find his sister gone and some of his old equipment missing as well. He did find a note left for him that said she was going to go traveling for a while, and that she could handle herself. Adros was furious with her and ripped up the note in anger. He chose not to pursue her, figuring that she would come back after a day at most, but a day passed and she did not return, then a week, and then a month and a month became a year. At this point he had convinced himself that she would be coming back soon, even though he had said the same thing to himself months ago. He eventually decided to set out after her, he feared he had let too much time pass already, and that he would not be able to find out where she was. He set out from their home and as he passed through small communities he asked if anyone had ever seen a young woman who matched the description he gave of her. At first he found no one who knew who she was, he feared he may have to leave Darkon to find her, but while he was traveling down a road one day, he ran across a rather strange group of individuals, a Human man who wore the symbol of Ezra in the form of an amulet around his neck, an Elf who wore a colorful robe, and a Halfling who carried a multitude of weapons on his small frame. When he spoke to them and asked about his sister, much to his surprise, they said they had seen her, but that she was also no longer among the living. She had joined up with them and had helped deal with a number of problems, such as helping them exterminate a nest of undead that were causing trouble for a small community. She also helped them fight of a band of lycanthropes that attacked them in the wilderness. They told him that she had died fighting off a Human Necromancer; the Necromancer used a spell that instantly slew her. They were able to kill the Necromancer, but because of the nature of the spell the Necromancer used on her, the Priest of Ezra was unable to even attempt a resurrection, and he knew of no one else who could try. They had entrusted her body to a local small community and went on their way. They told him that they were sorry for his loss, but that there was nothing they could do. They did give him the name of the small community so that he might go and see her grave.

Adros left them in a daze and decided to go and find her place of rest. He found the community that the group had told him about, but when he talked to the people who lived there they said that they had never seen anyone who matched his sister’s description in the past year. Adros insisted that she must be buried in the community’s small graveyard. He went to look himself, but could find no tombstone with her name on it. He asked if maybe she had been buried without one, but the locals told him that everyone who is buried in town, even outsiders, have a tombstone made for them as a sign if respect. Adros left the community thinking that perhaps he had the wrong town and continued looking for his sister’s resting place. His search eventually took on a dark side as he began sneaking into graveyards at night and digging up bodies to see if they belonged to his sister. At this point he began to believe someone or something was hiding her from him, and so he figured that this entity that was hiding her had put her in a grave that was also someone else’s. He began hiring unscrupulous people to help him with his task, but he knew he had to silence them as graverobbing often carried a severe punishment in Darkon because of the fear of the disrespected dead rising to attack the living. So he murdered every person he hired and simply tossed their bodies in the graves they had dug up and left town the next day. During the time he was doing these dreadful tasks he sometimes would notice that his skin would feel a bit strange, it would feel cold and lost its color a bit, other times it itched fiercely. He also noticed that his teeth appeared to be just a little bit larger and sharper than normal. He quickly dismissed the oddities with his skin to having perhaps rubbed it on some poisonous plant by accident. He dismissed the slightly larger and sharper teeth to be his imagination, he was sure his teeth had always been like that and he had just never noticed before. He also started to take any valuable he found in the graves he dug up; they would be gifts for his sister, even though she could no longer enjoy them.

One night when he was performing his task of searching through graves, he and the people he had hired to help him came across a mausoleum in a cemetery. They had already dug through all of the other graves that Ardos suspected might have contained his sister’s body (He never had any real explanation for why he chose to dig up certain graves and not others, perhaps he had some sort of secret criteria he chose by). He had a feeling his sister had to be in the mausoleum, so he and his hirelings went in and began searching through the remains of the people inside. However, the mausoleum was enchanted to seal itself up and not open up again until a certain word was spoken outside its doors. Trapped, Adros and his companions tried to figure a way out, but no matter where they looked or what they tried, they found no route of escape, whoever knew the word to open the mausoleum was either long dead, or perhaps they had forgotten about the mausoleum and did not come to check on it anymore. Eventually hunger and thirst began to set in. Adros decided to silence the men he had hired at this time both because he had been planning to do so anyways, and so he could have a food source. He managed to kill the two men had had brought with him without much trouble, and he feasted on their flesh. After he did this, he heard a rumbling sound, and looked to the doors of the mausoleum. He was astonished, and horrified to find them opening. He thought it was whoever maintained the cemetery coming to see why the mausoleum had sealed itself off. Instead, he found no one was at the doors. He tentatively stepped outside and noticed that the cemetery he was in was much larger than the one he had entered the mausoleum in. He also noticed that the sky was pitch black and the air was completely still. He did not take many steps out of the mausoleum when he felt his entire body being enveloped in excruciating pain and he fell to the ground crying in agony. He writhed on the ground for what seemed like hours, and when the pain finally subsided he looked at his hand and noticed the flesh was now desiccated, he felt his face and felt his skin drawn tightly over his skull, his teeth were also much larger than they had been before. He finally realized what his cold and itchy skin and larger, sharper teeth had been of, they were warnings for him to turn from the path he was taking, warnings that went unheeded. He ran back into the mausoleum and shut the doors and curled up into a ball and tried to cry but he could not. He closed and opened the doors to the mausoleum again, hoping that he would emerge back in the cemetery he had been in before, also hoping that he would be restored to normal, but he only saw the endless field of graves and the pitch black sky. He was now trapped in this dead realm for eternity.

[ewancummins]

I like it, Galeros. You've expanded on the relationship between the siblings. His motivations seem very clear to me now. The sister seems a little more fleshed-out, as well.

It's interesting that you write that there is 'no account' of their parents. This can only mean an in-game world account or lack thereof, yes? No account known to whom? Is the darklord's past a subject of travellers' tales or bardic lore? That might be cool.

Do you intend for his background to be obscure to most people in-game; so that the real world reader of your article is getting an insider's view of things?


I will try to help fine-tune the last part. Whatever happens shortly before the final entombment is going to be crucial, I think.