ChrysalianTraits

Characters with the chrysalian heritage share a variety of traits in common with one another.

Fey Lineage. You are suffused with the vibrant energy of the Dreaming. In addition to being humanoid, you also have the fey creature type.

Age. Chrysalians age faster than humans, reaching maturity at 12 years and typically living to be 60–75 years old.

Size. Chrysalians are usually 2–3 feet tall and weigh no more than 20 pounds. Your size is Small.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Antennae. You have a pair of antennae that are either sleek or feathery. You are able to distinguish scents keenly and gain an expertise die on Perception and Investigation checks involving smell and to other rolls where scent is important.

Glorious Wings. You have a fly speed of 30 feet. While flying, your carrying capacity is reduced to twice your Strength score. You cannot fly if you are wearing armor that has a Strength requirement or if you are currently encumbered. You may, however, utilize magical items that increase your Armor Class and use light shields if you are proficient. If your movement speed is reduced to 0 or you are incapacitated, you fall at a rate of 30 feet per round. Additionally, the Narrator may rule that minutes of sustained flight require you to make a Constitution saving throw as though you were making a forced march.

Hovering

Chrysalians are practiced fliers who typically spend as little time on the ground as physically possible, and are even capable of hovering in place for brief periods of time. Their endurance on the wing is not unlimited, however. You may hover in place for a number of consecutive rounds equal to your Constitution modifier. If you continue to hover past this point, you incur a level of fatigue for every consecutive round thereafter.

Chrysalian Gifts

In addition to the traits found in your chrysalian heritage, select one of the following gifts.

Aerial Ace

Though all Chrysalians are graceful fliers, you have mastered your skills on the wing. You may double your movement on your turn if you are using your fly speed. You may not use this ability again until you have spent at least one turn where you do not expend any movement.

Healing Touch

You are imbued with the inherent calm of the Dreaming’s eternal twilight. As an action, you may touch a creature and restore to it a number of hit points equal to your level. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest .

Perplexing Riddle

Every fey being loves a good riddle. You may use your action to pose a riddle to one creature you can see within 30 feet. The creature must be able to understand you. That creature must then succeed on a Wisdom saving throw versus your passive Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score (whichever is highest) to try an answer the riddle. On a failure, it is rattled until the end of its next turn. Creatures that have an Intelligence score less than 4 or are immune to being stunned are unaffected by this trait. You may use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest .

Chrysalian Paragon

When you reach 10th level, you become a better chrysalian and gain one paragon gift from the following list.

Debilitating Cloud

You have learned how to weaponize the miniscule scales on your wings, turning them into an airborne powder that can incapacitate your enemies. As an action, you can flap your wings, expelling a cloud of scales in a radius of 30 feet. All creatures within range make a Constitution saving throw versus your maneuver DC. On a failure, they are stunned until the start of your next turn. Creatures that do not need to breathe or are immune to the stunned condition are unaffected. You may use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest .

Technicolor Vision

Your eyes are able to discern colors and light patterns that most humanoids cannot see, granting you improved sight. You can see invisible creatures and objects and gain darkvision to 60 feet. If you already have darkvision, it increases by 60 feet. Additionally, you have advantage on ability checks to recognize or see through visual illusory effects within 30 feet, such as major or minor image, as well as on saving throws against spells or effects that utilize visual illusions, such as the fear spell.

Winged Champion

You have truly mastered flight and endurance beyond what most chrysalians are capable of. Your fly speed increases to 40 feet. Additionally, you may now wear armor that has a Strength requirement, provided that you meet the requirements necessary to wear the armor normally. The rules for hovering still apply.

Chrysalian Culture

Chrysalians have a unique life cycle that mirrors those of butterflies and moths, though unlike these insects, they reproduce asexually. Babies are hatched from eggs and spend the first 10 years of their lives as caterpillar-like larvae. Largely sedentary in this stage, young chrysalians are nameless, genderless, and spend the majority of their time eating and absorbing knowledge from the more active adults. Upon reaching their 10th birthday, they enter into a trance-like state and spin cocoons around their bodies. These cocoons are kept in sheltered places beneath the dense canopies of the Dreaming’s forests and are fiercely guarded by the adults. It is during this time—called “rebirthing”—that the adolescents metamorphose into their adult form. This process takes two years, after which the adult chrysalian emerges from their cocoon and takes their first flight. Upon landing, they declare their name and assign a gender to themselves, if they so choose. Their concept of gender and identity remains fluid throughout their lives, however, and it is not unusual for a chrysalian to swap their proclaimed gender frequently and at will.

While young chrysalians consume plant material, adults have specialized dietary needs. Because they lack mandibles or teeth to grind solid food, they instead rely on a liquid diet that is slurped through their proboscis-like tongue. Their favorite food is what they call ambrosia—a thick, sweet liquid distilled from the nectar of flowers. However, ambrosia is often difficult to come by outside of their communities within the Dreaming, leading many chrysalians in the Waking world to rely on sugar-water or fruit juice for sustenance while they are away. Many of them hold a particular affinity for fermented fruit juices, claiming that it most closely approaches the flavor of the ambrosia from their homeland.

Chrysalians encountered in the Waking are usually solitary creatures, but in the Dreaming they are often found in large colonies nestled in the neverending forests and fields of wildflowers. These colonies—called “kaleidoscopes” for their beautiful, colorful inhabitants—are often a sight to behold, especially when they take flight. Some of these kaleidoscopes are itinerant, moving from place to place within the Dreaming in large swarms, while others remain nestled amongst the forest in vast, treehouse-like villages. More than a few chrysalians have installed themselves among the Unseen Court over the years, serving as spies and silver-tongued servants of the courtly lords and their frightful Great Hunt. Most chrysalians, however, are content to live in pastoral whimsy, far removed from cunning whispers and backstabbing machinations.

Those in the Waking who have experience with the fey are often suspicious of chrysalians, and while there certainly are some who are as sly and duplicitous as the fey’s reputation commands, many chrysalians who make the pilgrimage to the Waking often do so out of earnest curiosity or the pursuit of knowledge beyond their own borders. They delight in wordplay and riddles as much as anyone from their home plane, but to them it is often simply a game and not a way of ensnaring one in a potentially unsavory deal. And indeed, their natural way with words, combined with either their fey charisma or their treasure trove of knowledge, make them indispensable members of noble courts, guildhalls, and adventuring bands. Because of their natural inclination to gather in large groups, once a chrysalian’s trust is earned, they are stalwart companions who will often follow their adopted group anywhere.

Suggested Cultures

While you can choose any culture for your chrysalian character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: circusfolk , dreaming wilds , eladrin , fey court , itinerant , lunar chrysalian , solar chrysalian .

ISSUE 4 (JUNE 2022)

• Ways to be Fey || Dreamborn (heritage) | Dreaming Wilds (culture) | Fey Court (culture) | Fey Servant   (background)
• Lone Rangers || Monster Hunter (archetype) | Partisan (archetype) | Skilled Survivalist (archetype)
• Battlefield Horrors: Cadaver Gorgers || Blood Maggot | Misery of Blood Maggots | Corpse Fly | Scourge of Corpse Flies | Gorger Zombie | Gorger Zombie Horde | Blood Maggot Infestation (disease)
• Well-Equipped: Items of Intrigue || Armored Corset | Bouquet of Wisdom | Brighella's Guitar | Butterfly Clips | Chariot a la Calabaza | Cravat of Strangling | Dancing Shoes | Fan of Whispering | Fool's Hat | Harlequin's Cards | Heartbreak's Dagger | Letter-Lift Paper | Ring of the Vengeance Seeker | Mask of Anonymity | Parasol of the Blade | Secret-catching Pearls | Signal Rings | Unparalleled Pianoforte

ISSUE 3 (MAY 2022)

• Those of the Web || Spiderfolk (heritage) | Ethereal Scout (culture)
• Paths of Courtly Intrigue || Courtier (rogue archetype) | Court Magician (wizard archetype) | Militarist (fighter archetype) | Tranquil Master (adept archetype)
• Cunning Curses || Ring of Battered Courage | Cipher Sword | Glory's Glaive | Circlet of the Apprentice | Crown of the Crystal Sovereign
• Mount Jino
  • Exploration Challenges || Sucking Bog | Crumbling Masonry
  • Monsters || Rock Troll | Canicore | Aracnecore

ISSUE 2 (APRIL 2022)

• Avenging Archetypes || Charging Shield (fighter archetype) | Fantastic Fletcher (ranger archetype) | Quickstepper (adept archetype) | Mutant (warlock archetype)
• Well-Quipped: Steampunk Gadgets & Gear || Defensive Umbrella | Bicycle Bell of Flight | Murderous Straight Razor | Spectral Camera | Spirit-Trapping Camera | Useful Top Hat
• Living at the Edge of Night || Cursed (background) | Haunted (background) | Slayer (destiny) 
• I Heard You Like Monsters || Trapped Sarcophagus (exploration challenge) | Fouled Sluice (exploration challenge) | Stuffed Crab (monster)

ISSUE #1 (MARCH 2022)

• Fateholder (monster)
• Foretold Prowess || Lore Weaver (bard archetype) | Defiant (berserker archetype) | Bladeseer (fighter archetype) | Revoker (herald archetype)
• Weaving Prophecy || Spinner Cult (culture) | Prophecy (destiny) | Ring of Inspiration Storing
• The Fellspire 
  • Exploration Challenges || Festering Sewer Tunnels | Fellspire Gloaming
  • Magic Items || Bloodiron Band | Gloam Bread | Mindblade  
  • Monsters || Askwise Keeper , Earless Hungerer , Sewer Walker

More powerful spore thralls can be created by applying the Zombie Template (see Zombies in Monstrous Menagerie ) with the following changes.

Type. The spore thrall's type is plant. It does not require air, sustenance, or sleep.

Ability Scores. The spore thrall’s ability scores are reduced to the following, unless they’re already lower: Dex 6 (–2), Int 3 (–4), Wis 8 (–1), Cha 4 (–3).

Saving Throws. The spore thrall loses all saving throw proficiencies.

Speed. Any speed the creature has is reduced by 10, or to 30, whichever is lower.

Skills. The spore thrall loses all skill proficiencies.

Immunities. The spore thrall gains immunity to poison damage, fatigue, and the poisoned condition.

Senses. The spore thrall gains darkvision out to a distance of 60 feet.

Languages. The spore thrall understands the languages it knew in life but can’t speak or take any action requiring vocalization.

Traits. The spore thrall loses all traits, but gains Sporous Resilience

Actions and Abilities. The spore thrall loses all spellcasting abilities and any actions that create magical effects.

Actions. The base creature gains the spore thrall’s Spore Bite attack instead of the zombie’s Bite attack if it has the capacity to bite. The DC for Spore Bite is equal to the base creature’s proficiency bonus + its Strength modifier. It otherwise functions as listed in the Zombie Template .

Eltare’s malaise can be contracted by breathing in spores or being bitten by a spore thrall. An infected creature is lethargic, prone to oversleeping, and rapidly loses cognitive function. Many recover fully, but the unfortunate die, becoming spore thralls themselves.

A creatures is afflicted for a number of days equal to 1d10 – its Constitution modifier (minimum 1 day). While afflicted, it has disadvantage on initiative rolls, and if it falls asleep it remains unconscious until it takes damage or another creature uses an action to shake or slap it awake. Additionally, at the end of each  long rest , its Intelligence decreases by 2 (1d4) as spores grow inside its brain. If the creature’s intelligence is ever reduced to 0, it dies. If a humanoid dies while suffering from this effect, it becomes a spore thrall in 1d4 hours. If a beast, dragon, giant, or monstrosity dies from this effect, it gains the spore thrall template (see spore thrall ). Spells like gentle repose prevent this reanimation.

Once the disease passes, at the end of each long rest a creature recovers 1d4 intelligence until back to their starting value.

Lesser restoration cures the disease and restores 1d4 Intelligence, with any remaining deficit returning as described above. Greater restoration ends the effect and immediately restores all lost Intelligence.

Deep in the Underland lies the Forest of Davek’dran: a vast cavern many miles across, filled with thousands of fungi in every color and shape imaginable. Scorers of ondari mushrooms, giant fungi with stalks like tree trunks and undersides that glow with a warm golden light, dominate the view. The sections not obscured by fungus or rockfall reveal perfect angles to its construction, suggesting deepdwarven architecture to those familiar with the craft. The gentle sound of water dripping can be heard echoing through the cavern, and the chittering of bats is a soft constant. An inviting, spongy moss covers the floor of the cavern; however, scattered amongst it are bones and scraps of metal armor, a clear signal this place is not as idyllic and peaceful as it first appears.

This article introduces exploration challenges, magic items, and monster variants that can be used together or individually in your games to add fiendish horror to any. Those who wish to see more of the horrors and wonders the Underland have to offer should consult the Dungeon Delver’s Guide, as well as “Underland Ranchers: The Cuberos” in Gate Pass Gazette #12.

• The Forest of Davek'dran || Soporific Spores (exploration challenge) | Unseen Gateways (exploration challenges | Eltare's Malaise (malady) | Paper Armor (magic item) | Valency's Essays (magic item) | Swarm of Sickle Bats  (monster) | Spore Thrall (monster)