By Kobold Staff Apr 1, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
The Free City’s austere feudal history explains the city’s current freedom‑loving citizenry. After suffering under the long, harsh reign of the aristocratic Stross family, the people of Zobeck have little love for nobles or the institution of feudalism. They have vowed to never again accept a lord’s yoke. Instead, commerce and the ability of every man and woman to grab life’s wealth with gusto rule the Zobecker spirit. Free to make their way in...
By Kobold Staff Mar 25, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
This slight creature resembles a goblin, but its blue skin and the icicles hanging from the tip of its long nose speak to the chilling truth. The fraughashar are a race of short, tricky, and cruel fey who inhabit cold mountainous regions. Fraughashar have light blue skin, short pointed ears, and needlelike teeth. Delighting in mayhem, they always seem to have devilish grins on their faces. Sacred Rivers. They view cold rivers and river gorges...
By Kobold Staff Mar 18, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
An enormous bronze and iron statue filled with fire towers above the ring of chanting, frenzied worshipers. Tophets are used by worshipers of fire gods, who toss sacrifices into their flaming maws to incinerate them. A tophet has a large opening in the front where the flames can be seen; sometimes this is an enormous mouth, and at other times it is a large hole in the tophet’s belly. Horns and expressions of anger or wide‑mouthed laughter are...
By Kobold Staff Mar 4, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
The druids of the Northlands tend to more than the land. Some see to the health of the spirits. Druids of the Circle of the Stones build immense circles of standing stones where they commune with both the spirits of the land and the souls of the departed. SPIRIT GUIDE Starting at 2nd level, you gain the service of a minor spirit guide. You can cast find familiar as a ritual. As long as you and your spirit guide (familiar) are within 100 feet of...
By Kobold Staff Feb 25, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
Twin Gods of Passion, Fertility, Magic, and the Living World, Lord and Lady of the Vanir, Gods of Beauty, Patron of Farmers and Patroness of Shield Maidens, the Twins of Wine Freyr Divine Domains: Life, Nature Freyr Domains: Animal, Charm, Earth, Healing, Lust, Plant, Water Freyr Subdomains: Caves, Decay, Fur, Growth, Resurrection Freyja Divine Domains: Tempest, War Freyja Domains: Charm, Magic, Plant, War, Weather Freyja Subdomains: Arcane,...
By Kobold Staff Feb 18, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
This tattered skeletal humanoid resembles a monster from a nightmare. A dream eater’s natural form is mostly human in appearance, though with vestigial skeletal wings with a few feathers, small horns, sharp teeth, and cloven hooves. Most often they use magic to disguise themselves as attractive members of a humanoid race. Drawn to Sin. Dream eaters are dedicated to lust, gluttony, and greed, and they make their lairs in casinos, brothels,...
By Kobold Staff Feb 11, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
The Clanking Legion is a legendary mercenary company, composed of roughly half gearforged and half beings of flesh and blood. CLANKING MERCENARY (FIGHTER) Fighters who emulate the Clanking Mercenary archetype see the flexibility of flesh in steel and the strength of metal in their own bodies and minds. CLANKER’S CRAFT Beginning when you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with your choice of blacksmith’s tools or tinker’s...
By Kobold Staff Feb 4, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
Midgard is surrounded by a god made flesh, the great World Serpent, a monstrous beast that defines the edge of the world and that contains—and some say, created—the entire world. This serpent, biting its own tail, creating the tides through his breathing and storms through his snorting and sneezes, is well known to the Northlanders and the Mharoti and less well known in other places. Hugely powerful, he is an indolent, even lazy, god who rarely...
By Kobold Staff Jan 28, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
The water leaper is a frogheaded, legless creature with wide batlike wings and a gaping maw. Its shrieks resemble those of a hawk. Its long, sinuous tail tapers and ends in a venomous barb. Gliding Wings. The creature has no legs or arms, but sports a pair of wide, membranous wings. It uses the wings to glide beneath the water, as well as to soar through the air. Scourge of Waterways. Water leapers plague fresh lakes and rivers. The creatures...
By Kobold Staff Jan 14, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
The doom croaker tradition originated among the Northlands ravenfolk and spread from there to the northern dwarves. Doom croakers follow the teachings of Wotan to gain glimpses into the infinite knowledge he was granted while hanging from the branches of Yggdrasil. DOOM CROAKER (WIZARD) Common folk regard doom croakers with a mixture of fear and awe. The doom croakers carry the power of Wotan’s runes, and though people cautiously seek out...
By Kobold Staff Jan 7, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
To the west of the black wood where the shadow fey dwell lies a great pit in the Shadow Realm’s landscape. A series of deep depressions gouge the dark earth, diving deep into thick shadows and darkened tunnels. To a shrewd scholar of Midgard geography this mighty crevasse takes on a sinister meaning, for it exists in the corresponding location of the dwarf heartland, the Ironcrag Cantons. In these Black Iron Depths thrives an exiled arm of the...
By Kobold Staff Dec 31, 2018 | Articles, Midgard |
These small, winter faeries are vicious and deadly. With their pale skin and translucent wings, they blend perfectly into their snowy environment; only their beady black eyes stand out against the snow and ice. These malevolent ice-sprites are a plague upon the people of snowy climates, ambushing unwary prey with icy arrows and freezing spell-like powers. Servants of the North Wind. Known as “patzinaki” in some dialects of Dwarvish, the beli...
By Kobold Staff Dec 17, 2018 | Articles, Midgard |
Of the smaller races, the kobolds have adapted best to the changing world. Enslaved long ago by reaver dwarves, kobolds quickly carved a niche for themselves as miners, scouts, and tinkerers: small enough to be useful, and also small enough to be dismissed as a threat. At first they were tolerated, then largely ignored. As a result, the shadows of dwarven society are rife with kobold rogues and entrepreneurs (many of them secret worshippers of...
By Kobold Staff Dec 10, 2018 | Articles, Midgard |
South of the Reaching Mountains and east of cyclopean Jotunheim, a fertile forest teeming with vibrant flora and fauna is sheltered from the worst excesses of cold and wind. Trollheim’s inhabitants are cunning hunters, fearless explorers, and fearsome raiders. Whether human, dwarf, or troll, few embrace the culture of the North as fiercely. They farm, brawl, raid each other, toast the gods, and consider themselves the best of all peoples. Most...
