All thanks to the Spelljammer supplement for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons 5e, Dungeon Masters are rushing to launch their adventuring party into Wild Space and beyond. And with new and updated stat blocks for monsters and🐻 spaceships, Wizards of the Coast has providꦓed fans with ample material to sculpt the perfect Astral campaign.
But even with all the provided content, crafting adventures in a place as turbulent and abstract as Wildspace and the Astral Sea can be daunting. Both locations are loosely defined in many ways, which is beneficial for creativity and originality, but it can be challenging to navigate narratively, from both player and DM perspectives. The best tool for this is to craft unique characters for players to encounter that represent different facets of the world they inhabit, enticing the players into one of the many corners of your table's final frontier.
7 💖 💯 Bounty Hunter
The vessel has only just made itself visible, but it's been following you for some time. There couldn't be a crew of more than five aboard, just by the size of the ship. Then you see a figure on the top deck, leaning against a ballista. Their armor looks expensive, unique, and seemingly ill-fitting for someone traveling by such meager means. Upon taking a closer look, you lock eyes with them, and they respond with a smile. They're happy to see you, but are you happy to see them?
A classic space-setting trope that can either work for or against a group of adventurers, the bounty hunter is a figure that can either pull characters into an adventure or send them packing. Perhaps the bounty hunter needs assistance with a particular target, and the players are the perfect people for the job! Or maybe it's just their faces on the poster.
6 🧸Salvage Collector
A massive floating hunk of metal drifts through Wild Space without any propulsion whatsoever, but as you pass, you see a person flagging you down from an opening on the heap. As you float over closer, you see a wily person with a devil-may-care look about them, excited to see a new 'customer,' although you quickly realize they're talking about your ship and not you.
Perhaps they are a member of a pirate faction local to this corner of the universe, or a hermit with wild ideas on how to magically enhance cannon fire. The salvage collector is a colorful character who can serve several purposes to a group of adventurers. Maybe the party has been itching for an exotic artillery upgrade, or they're looking for some extra coin and willing to pull off a risky salvage operation on a vessel yet to be decommissioned.
5 🥃 Man Overboard
Your ship passes along the border of an asteroid field that appears to have claimed its fair share of unfortunate vessels. Upon closer observation, the debris seems to be more than just lost cargo and bro𝐆ken crates. A person is floating amidst the of a crashed ship, barely clinging to life. There appear to be no other surviv⭕ors.
Players may pass up this gamble, perhaps hesitant to take on an unknown person aboard their ship, but players' morality is something a DM is most likely already clued into. What type of vessel does the crash site contain? Was it a large trade barge from a nearby port or a swift private vehicle out for a spin? How important is this person who's fallen overboard? Did they want to be rescued?
4 Plan💦ar Tourist
You're not tailing this ship you've been stuck behind, although whoever's piloting it is likely starting to think otherwise. They go to make a forty-five-degree turn in one direction, then quickly jostle the other direction before ultimately deciding to continue straight. Is it their Spelljammer's first time piloting? If you take a closer look at the back of their ship, it looks like they've even attached a few signs to the back of their craft. One such side reads, “If you can read this sign, your gravity plane is too close to mine!”
At first, someone touring a Wild Space cluster for pleasure may seem comical, but they certainly don't need to be a commoner. Plenty of setting are known to visit various planes to survey different landscapes and study life forms and magical anomalies. Perhaps this person has valuable information on the surrounding area or a map of a place the players are soon visiting. Could your planar tourist be in a “Rock of Bral” t-shirt and have taken a wrong left turn at Stardock? Yes. Could they be a twentieth-level spellcaster who never got the hang of piloting a ship? Yes. Could this person be both? Absolutely.
3 Alien Lifeform ꦛ 🍸
As you push towards the border of Wild Space and into the Silver Void, your ship is dwarfed by a moving mass within the swirling gray mists. The size of it is unfathomable, and there's no possible way you could steer away in time to avoid a collision. You close your eyes and hope for the best, preparing for what could be your final demise, but you instead pass through the monster, and your ship is left coated in a strangely colored mucus. A glob of it comes alive in your hand, sprouting a pair of eyes as if mimicking your appearance, before it falls asleep in your hands.
The Astral Sea's greatest wonder is the strange creatures native to it. The are believed to be manifestations of the Astral Plane itself, and their origins are still a mystery. Displaying this wild, malleable nature of the Astral Sea, where thought alone gives motion to a ship, is an exciting trait for players to discover. Allowing them to find something like a harmless, sentient ooze, whose origins are entirely unknown, informs them that beyond the Material Plane, anything is possible!
2 S꧒tranded Projectiꦯon
Flying through the fog of the Astral Sea is a gruff-looking barbarian, visibly frustrated by something. As soon as they spot your ship, they fly over to you, stumbling onto the deck of your ship, clearly without their “space-legs.” You spot from their back what appears to be a silver cord: they're an astral projection. The barbarian explains that their wizard was prematurely sent back to their body. Now, the barbarian is stranded as an astral projection without knowing how to return to their physical form. They hated magic before, but this is the final straw.
The is bound to be more popular now with the addition of the Spelljammer supplement. Though it requires a large amount of gold (and a powerful magic user), Astral Projection is a curious way to get around the Astral Sea without needing a Spelljammer ship. However, it has several rules, and some can lead to a silly encounter such as this. This may be an immediate puzzle for your players to solve or a hilarious addition to their adventuring party. And who knows, maybe this barbarian's wizard could handsomely reward you for returning their friend.
1 𓄧 Speeding Ticket ൲
You mind your own business, whizzing through Wild Space without a care in the world, heading to your favorite spaceport for a quick drink at the local tavern. Suddenly, you see a sleek-looking vessel zoom out of nowhere, tailing closely behind you. Before you have a second to think of why they're doing this, a person has already come onto the ship's outer deck, mentally linking with you, telepathically telling you to pull over. The Githyanki that recently took up residence in one of are really putting the “law” in lawful evil. They fine you three gold before letting you continue with your business.
Fun encounters with guard NPCs and other forces of “law” in Dungeons & Dragons are always an excellent addition to a “sandbox” setting (which the Spelljammer supplement lends itself to.) Maybe the players will balk at having to pay a fine, creating an unexpected combat encounter (and a long-term enemy), or perhaps they'll ask whom the enforcers represent, which could lead to an introduction of major “Big Bad.” Either way, this is sure to be a tense exchange.