Fantasy Heartbreak Workshop

Originally written in response to: Can a PC be a Lich in D&D 5E? An actual lich would be pretty powerful for a typical player character to be at lower levels. So, probably successfully becoming a lich would make one an NPC in most games.  Instead I suggest a compromise for those wanting to play a walking skeleton: The Hedge Lich Sometimes wizards try to become a lich when they just aren't well studied enough to pull off the appropriate ritual. Other times a mage creates a ritual attempting to resurrect someone, a gift which only divine power can truly provide. Often the result is simply failure, but occasionally the caster creates a lesser form of free willed undead sometimes referred to as a "Hedge Lich". The flesh of a hedge lich gradually rots away leaving only an animated skeleton. A hedge lich has the same ability scores they had in life as well as any classes, skills or proficiencies. However, they lose any racial abilities except those which are inna...

Someone on Quora had asked  How would you stat a wendigo in D&D 5e? And I kept thinking there were already stats for a Wendigo, or something like it. But digging through, the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition official sources, I couldn't readily find them. So, with minimal research and a little brainstorming, came up the ideas below. Wikipedia  says of wendigos: The wendigo is described as a monster with some characteristics of a human or as a spirit who has possessed a human being and made them become monstrous. Its influence is said to invoke acts of murder, insatiable greed, cannibalism and the cultural taboos against such behaviors. ... Basil H. Johnston, an Ojibwe teacher and scholar from Ontario, gives a description of a wendigo: The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tightly over its bones. With its bones pushing out against its skin, its complexion the ash-gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets,...

Awhile back now, Ann (of DIY & Dragons ) and I were chatting about Traveller RPG character creation, specifically the fact that players can roll a result that ends in character death during creation. Traditionally, at that point one starts the character creation process over again. But what if, we speculated, you did not start with a new living character?  What if rolling death merely changed the focus of the game? A series of adventures with undead astronauts in a dark secondary universe took place? We were both intrigued by the idea, but (to me at least) it seemed like the sort of thing that could take a lot of work and an entire setting to flesh out. And, at the time, due to other commitments, didn't find much time to pursue it further. But every now and then I'd jot down a couple notes about the sort of elements one might find in such a basement-universe setting. The results gradually became influenced probably less by Traveller and more other favorite space o...