Adventures are usually about events taking the heroes away from home. But this series explores possibilities when taking a character back home. What troubles lurk in a PC’s hometown? What manner of curse, bogeyman, disease, or nuisance was part of their upbringing? How does it now become part of the party’s greater story?
Each post in Hometown Hazards addresses a different PC heritage from the Tales of the Valiant Player’s Guide, focusing on ready-to-go concepts for what “home sweet home” might have looked like (and what imperils it).
Wildlands Heritage: Primordial Communities
In remote places far removed from civilization, there are stretches of verdant, unspoiled wilderness where the “stuff” of nature magic and worlds of the Fey—Primordial magic—has seeped into the region. In wildlands like these, nature reigns with raw power and capricious whims.
Home to intelligent and magical beasts, beastkin, and occasional druids and Fey creatures, wildlands regions can be confusing and dangerous to outsiders. In these insular and guarded communities, the normal rules of the world don’t always apply.
Wildlands settlements (and some can barely be called that) are as variable as anything in nature. An aerie in the mountains or a marshy bog village wreathed in giant mushrooms are as typical wildlands settlements as treehouses in a primeval forest. Remoteness to the outside world flavors them all, however, making homecomings rare—few natives ever leave.
On the occasion that major threats or diplomatic needs demand it, some do venture out, only to be confronted by a world very different from their own. Coming home can be a culture shock for the prodigal beastkin as much as it might be for any new friends they bring.
In these primordial enclaves, even simple animals can think and speak, and thoughtless actions have unexpected power and consequences.
BEASTHEART
Curse
Violating the unstated and sometimes capricious laws of the Wildlands can have magical consequences. Inhabitants in the area seldom need to enforce such laws. The magic within the land itself serves its own justice.
One of the better-known laws is to show respect and graciousness to the native beasts of the wildlands. To offer unprovoked cruelty, rudeness, or violence to wildlands creatures is to invite a transformative curse revealing the offender’s own beastly nature.
Trigger: When a creature directly harms an intelligent or magical beast while in a wildlands area without showing repentance or respect, this curse is levied against the offending creature. “Harm” includes directly attacking or killing a beast without provocation, but could also mean deceiving, intimidating, or stealing from the creature, at the GM’s discretion.
Effects: At the end of each long rest, the cursed creature takes in a wildlands area, it must succeed on a DC 14 CHA save or manifest a bestial feature. These features are largely cosmetic but difficult to hide and can pose a hindrance, such as needing clothes to accommodate a tail or being unable to wear magic boots on cloven feet.
Traits often develop in accordance with the cursed creature’s personality or actions: a liar might develop foxish eyes and ears, while a brute grows wolf fangs and sprouts fur. Each failed save manifests a new bestial feature. Once the creature has failed three of these saves, it transforms into their matching beast form, as polymorph, permanently.
Resolution: If the creature hasn’t fully transformed, leaving the wildlands area prevents continued saves for the curse. After 24 hours, a remove curse spell or similar magic removes one bestial feature per casting. Otherwise, the curse can only be lifted by atoning to the beast the creature originally harmed, if possible, or by atoning to other beasts of its type. This atonement likely requires performing a task for the beast or a meaningful offering or sacrifice. At GM’s discretion, a successful atonement could also allow the transformation to continue, but into an appropriate beastkin instead of an animal. A cursed creature that has fully transformed can’t be restored except by a wish spell or similar magic.
WILDMAZE
Hazard
Wildmazes are hazardous terrains within wildlands regions where dense, unfettered growth has taken over and absorbed so much Primordial magic into the land that it has adopted a capricious nature. These tangled and perplexing areas shift and change so subtly that travelers often don’t realize what’s happening until they’re already lost. Hapless wayfarers can spend days traveling in circles while their destination lies hours or minutes away.
Trigger: When a creature enters wildmaze terrain, it suffers the effects of the hazard. A creature native to the local region is unaffected by a wildmaze if traveling alone or with other locals. If traveling with outsiders, the wildmaze doesn’t spare the native. A wildmaze isn’t detectable until a victim is already in it.
Effects: The surrounding terrain is affected by potent illusions and subtle mind-affecting magic. The affected creature is in a constantly changing maze of false trails, obscured paths, and maze-like passages of trees and natural formations. A successful DC 14 INT (Nature) check allows a victim to recognize it for what it is. While in a wildmaze, WIS (Survival) checks to avoid becoming lost are made with disadvantage. Items left unattended in a wildmaze disappear once out of sight.
Resolution: An affected creature can leave the wildmaze at any time by deliberately abandoning a specific destination and traveling in any random direction. Within a few minutes, the creature emerges from the wildmaze at a random edge. A creature attempting to reach their intended destination must succeed on three total DC 20 WIS (Survival) checks to escape. A creature loses a day of travel for each failure.
An affected creature can also ask the intelligent or magical beast inhabitants of the wildmaze for directions. Asking politely and succeeding on a DC 14 CHA (Persuasion) check convinces the beast to grant directions to a nearby path. With this help, a victim can find the path easily, and is no longer affected by the wildmaze unless it re-enters with a new destination. Once out of a wildmaze, any items left behind can be found strewn about near the exit.
Did this peek into the magical perils of the wildlands give you a wild idea or two? Pass them on in the comments, and thanks for reading! We’ll be back next time for more close-to-home danger!
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