Leylines

By Timothy Crumrine

Garik shaded his eyes as he looked out the door flap of his home and into the brightening morning sky. With a soundless yawn that briefly revealed his sharp yellowed tusks he stepped out into the city. In an unconscious motion, his arm reached out and grasped the leather harness that housed his battleaxe and slung it across his back as he crossed the threshold of his home and the ceremonial safety it represented. Around him a pack of children ran, playing a game with a rag stuffed ball that seemed to have no rules, or at least none that weren't changed from one instance to the next. One of the bigger of the pack, a full five feet tall at only two years of age, paused and charged the warrior with a happy grin and howling a mock challenge into the sky. Garik opened his mouth and returned the howl, a seldom seen smile on his stern features before being head butted in the chest by the exuberant youth. Garik's powerful legs flexed as the child struggled to push forward, and in reward to the youth's efforts, he slid back a few inches in the soft earth before Garik grasped the boy in a massive bear hug and swung him from side to side growling in mock ferocity.

By Scott Moore

The following dozen feats were created to offer more customization options for those wishing to play characters based on the fey and related races. Although primarily built around a fey theme, several of the feats are also appropriate for other character types or monster races as well. For those running a modern era fantasy campaign, many of these feats could also be utilized in the Shadow Chasers or Urban Arcana campaign settings for d20 Modern by Wizards of the Coast with little or no modification.

By Scott Moore

The latest incarnation of Unearthed Arcana introduced (or reintroduced, if you consider the original version of D&D) the concept of races as character classes. Now referred to as paragon classes, these optional character progressions allow a member of a particular race to focus on improving their natural racial abilities rather than dedicate their experience towards learning standard class-specific abilities.

In this installment of Leylines, we'll look at the sprite paragon class. Any sprite-related characters, such as those based on brownies, grigs, leprechauns, nixies, or pixies, may take levels in this class.

By Scott Moore

A few months back, we looked at the brownie, and its cousin race, the killmoulis. In this installment of Leylines, we look at the other Sylvan-speaking fey race mentioned briefly in the PHB, but not fully detailed anywhere in the core rules. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, let me present...the leprechaun, version 3.5!

By Timothy Crumrine

As was promised last time, we will now be taking a look at a sample mercenary company of my own devising. This company is fairly large and has an almost legendary status among other mercenary groups as it has never once lost a campaign. The structure of the company is slightly more militaristic than most, but still a good example of how to lay out a company so that your players are enmeshed within the story.

By Timothy Crumrine

Conscript, soldier of fortune, dog of war, mercenary, sellsword; these titles and others less pleasant to the tongue all are attributed to a warrior who takes pay in exchange for his sword skill on the battlefield. But what was a mercenary in truth? Some label them in history as shiftless animals that would turn on their comrades if they thought they could make a few coins more.

By Scott Moore

In this installment of Leylines, we're going to take a look at the column's namesake.

Ley lines, like latitude and longitude, are invisible lines that stretch for great distances across the planet. Unlike latitude and longitude, however, ley lines are not arbitrary designations used to specify one's relative location on the planet's surface. They are, instead, alleged to form patterns that follow specific paths aligned with the flow of natural energies within the planet. It is not unknown for ley lines to merge together at certain points or even to cross or overlap. What follows are some suggestions for introducing the effects of these natural energy "currents" into a campaign.

by Khur

I don't really hate brownies (of any type), that's a line from one of this small article's inspirations. Scott Moore's brownies and the classic fantasy film Willow got me enthused about this critter, so below is presented another brownie variant for your pleasure.

By Scott Moore

If you look at the Languages tables in the Player's Handbook (3.0 or 3.5, it doesn't matter), you'll notice that brownies are one of the typical speakers of the Sylvan language. If you look further into any of the three core rulebooks, or even at Monster Manual 2 or the Fiend Folio, you'll notice that brownies aren't detailed anywhere. Maybe it's their great knack for hiding. Or maybe it was just a minor oversight. Either way, since none of the main references from WotC has updated these fun fellows for use with d20, allow me to present, for your enjoyment and amusement, the updated brownie for use in d20 fantasy campaigns. Sans walnuts.

By Scott Moore

Welcome to my first contribution to Leylines. My intent for this and future pieces is to provide standalone articles introducing new fey-themed plot hooks, creatures, and/or items that can be incorporated into an ongoing fantasy game. Use the information contained herein as a building block, adding or removing any details as needed to make the content fit within the framework of your own campaign. Hopefully, you will find within these virtual pages some useful seeds for expanding your own game's plots and mythology.

The following text is excerpted from a collection of papers recently unearthed in the inventory of a curio shop in the village of Glendower. It is believed to be a fragment of the "Compleat Codex of Fey Folk" by Stephen the Sage, but as the few existent copies of that text are all held in private collections, its authenticity has not yet been verified.