A Dungeons and Dragons sideblog about group of four friends. Follow our wacky adventures as we storm through Barovia and other realms. Main is yradianydell.tumblr.com
New villain from the Van Richten’s Guide dropped- so here’s Alecio Metus, sibling of the Baron Alexandros Metus. Design of Alexandros courtesy of @cursestrahd
The Balance is a philosophy of the D&D multiverse which purportedly is a system of checks and balances between the forces of Good, Evil, Law, and Chaos.
The truth is, that it is much more complicated than that.
The Balance is a system that has one end goal- to stop threats to the Prime Material Plane that would disrupt the orbit of the planes and throw the cosmos into disarray. Whether that be devils, demons, modrons, celestials, or any kind of planar force that would sway the Material planes to any kind of absolutism.
But why?
In the deepest layer of the Abyss, there is a powerful entity imprisoned- the God of Entropy, Tharizdun. Sages say that this creature had consumed entire universes, leaving no being in its wake and snuffing out existence wherever it went. It took the will of every living thing in the remaining multiverse to imprison it in the corpse of a dead universe, the energies of the different planes acting as chains to keep Tharizdun imprisoned.
The Prime Material also acts as a central anchor and counter balance, keeping all of these “chains“ both linked and in place. It is believed that if any one of these planes exerts enough influence to subsume the Prime Material, that will weaken all of the other chains keeping Tharizdun imprisoned.
Followers of the Balance may seem untrustworthy or capricious to those who ascribe to ideas of strict morality or moral absolutism, or follow along with ideas of Good or Evil. Such concerns with common people and adventurers alike is that most people don’t even know that Tharizdun exists, and many sages prefer to keep it that way.
Many common people would scoff at the idea that there can be “too much Goodness“- but followers of the Balance realize that “good“ and “evil“ are arbitrary labels at best and promote a very simplified view of the multiverse that doesn’t allow for nuance or freedom of choice. So forces that many refer to as “Good“ are just simply Celestial in nature, and many forces that are considered “Evil“ are Diabolic or Demonic- which does little in the grand scheme of things, when acting to preserve the multiverse’s very existence.
The Blood War.
In the Dungeons and Dragons universe, there is an eternal war between Demons and Devils on the lower planes which will continue ad infinitum... and to keepers of Balance must continue ad infinitum.
The Blood War exists to keep those forces busy, so that again, none of those lower planes can usurp the other and keep Tharizdun imprisoned. Despite being a war between Demons and Devils, it isn’t actually uncommon to see Celestials siding with either one in the battlefield of Avernus, or other planar creatures either.
It becomes less a battle of Evil versus Evil, but one of Order versus Chaos that just happens to take place in the first layer of Baator.
Keepers of the Balance will do actions to keep either side from gaining the upper hand, perhaps favoring lawful victories one day, or chaotic ones the other. The Blood War is a big focus in the Dungeons and Dragons universe, simply because it is the most visible conflict that clearly involves the Balance.
Tenets of the Balance.
Followers of the Balance tend to follow a set of guidelines for understanding the multiverse, and the appropriate extent of their meddling.
Labeling things and creatures as inherently“Good“ and “Evil“ is a worthless endeavor, and limiting.
Every creature has a purpose, role, and place in the Multiverse. A demon has as much right to exist as a celestial, a goblin as much as a human, and so on and so forth.
Be aware of your biases. Everyone is going to have cultural backgrounds that influence their tendencies and decision-making, so be aware of them and take them into consideration before you make decisions that effect others.
Keep direct interference to a minimum. Most followers of the Balance take on observational roles and sage roles in order to guide those who have power to benefit the continued existence of the multiverse. Which can be achieved with a clue, a gift of a magic item, etc.
Be aware of the effect your actions will have.
There’s the idea that the keepers of Balance do nothing to improve the world, and in some instances, the belief that keepers of Balance actually actively keep the world from improving- and that isn’t the case.
There’s nothing to threaten all of existence in people making inventions to improve the quality of life, and the affairs of kingdoms and civilizations are best left to the people living in them, though it also wouldn’t be unusual for keepers of Balance to try to influence affairs where they live- such as foiling religious inquisitions, stopping demonic cults, preventing factions from usurping one another, or defending the settlements from other invasions.
Final Thoughts.
The Balance is an interesting tool and philosophy to help Player Characters actually step back and think about the effect that their actions have on the world at large, and how their actions may effect not only their world, but the planes and multiverse at large, remembering that in the end, there’s still something bigger, both in purpose and threats, but it is definitely more appropriate to use for campaigns with a larger scale of threats rather than just monster of the week or dungeon delving campaigns.
I usually use Mordenkainen as my agent of Balance because he is one of the most recognizable NPCs in the Dungeons and Dragons universe, and his presence anywhere outside of Oerth is a sure sign that there’s something cosmic going on.
Spoilers: Curse of Strahd and Descent to Avernus both have cameos of him, but to be fair, those modules do a very poor job of presenting the issue of Balance and do very little on their own, save to have him there for the cameo’s sake, requiring Dungeon Masters to do a lot of work to make the encounter worthwhile, in my opinion.
Curse of Strahd: Mordenkainen the Mad Mage came to Barovia a year ago and led an ill-fated rebellion against the vampire. Despite being really out of character to lead a front line assault when Mordenkainen is more of a background operator- it poses the question... Why? Is Strahd a threat to the multiverse, even if he is eternally trapped? Did something happen to Mordenkainen before leading the assault? Why is he here to begin with? Did he get abducted, did he come of his own free will? What does this have to do with Balance?
Descent to Avernus: Mordenkainen is in his Tower of Urm in Avernus using a simulacrum to deal with and hire yugoloths. He doesn’t do much for the PCs as written, only sending them away towards a “mage of no renown.“ Ok. So again, why is he here? Does he know what is happening with a big chunk of Prime Material plane being pulled into Avernus? Is he here to observe or is he a background operator? What is he doing here?
There’s a lot of work to be done, but I wish that there was more guidance for DMs because this is a lot of work and kind of a waste of an encounter.
All in all, the Balance is an interesting D&D philosophy of cosmic mindfulness that could be an interesting tool to workshop encounters.
Gonna strangle Wizards of the Coast. I get so incensed reading the Mordenkainen commentary in tome of foes
"I have heard tales of drow who have forsaken the evil ways of their kind. I give these stories no credit, though Elminster himself swears they have validity. Never trust a drow, or the word of an archmage."
Like... completely ignoring that Mordenkainen has a drow friend and confidant in Jawal Severnain in Greyhawk? Hello? Like I get that this is supposed to put the weird “Drizz’t is the only good drow“ thing out there but... I get so tired of WOTC casual racism guys.
And even beyond that, Mordenkainen doesn’t actually care about “good and evil“ in the D&D sense. Get that shit out of here, Mordenkainen belongs to me now.
Sees that Wizards is calling their reprint of Strahd “Re-vamped.“ -rolls my eyes because my campaign’s been called that for literally 5 years, and I am sure others have done the same.-
-sighs harder as they continue to get praise for doing the absolute minimum-
Maybe sometime I’ll fuck around and list all the reasons that I find Curse of Strahd to be a failure of a module- despite loving the Ravenloft setting.
Dragon’s Cough: The inflicted coughs fire (or similar breath related to different types of dragon, such as ice or lightning). It is unknown if contact with dragons actually causes this illness. In general, it is far more dangerous to those trying to treat the victim than it is to the victim themselves, so long as the afflicted avoids coughing on themselves (and can keep from burning their houses down…)
Sea Lung: Contracted largely by sailors. It’s believed to be caused from contact with aquatic beings. Many accounts suggest it’s a transmittable disease from having intimate relations with creatures such as merfolk. Symptoms consist of the lungs slowly filling with seawater and is quite deadly if not treated early.
Dryad’s Itch: Contracted from elemental sources in the wilderness. The afflicted begins having excessively itchy patches on the skin that slowly start to form as tree bark. A slow moving disease that, if left untreated, can lead to the victim’s body turning entirely to wood.
Death Rot: Contracted from contact with undead flesh or necrotic energies. The victim’s flesh begins to rot and turn necrotic as tiny particles of undead flesh infects the creature’s pores. If left untreated, the victim will degrade into a zombie over the course of a few days.
Gobnob: A disease said to have originated from men laying with goblins, Gobnob is now a common viral disease with one major symptom - large, ugly warts on the genitals (and/or mouth)
Flesh Sludge: Contracted from contact with oozes such as a gelatinous cube. This is less of a disease and more of a parasite. Tiny bits of caustic oozes infest the victim’s skin and begin to eat away at the flesh, similar to more mundane flesh eating diseases.
Bloodrust: Contracted usually from contact with rust monsters. The victim’s blood is attacked by the same bacteria that a rust monster uses to dissolve metals. The bacteria eats away at minerals in the blood, especially iron. Afflicted individuals appear drained, and many are mistaken for victims of vampiric draining or some form of magical energy draining.
Dream Fever: As some know, dreaming involves a person’s mind wandering into the shallows of the astral plane (or other dream plane as per your setting). This disease is contracted by your wayward mind that then becomes trapped in a dream state. During this time the individual is unable to be awoken through normals means and their soul becomes susceptible to dangers in the astral plane which can’t normally affect dreaming minds.
Primordial Pox: Believed to be contracted from contact with raw magic and magical entities. Small patches of skin turn into painful outburst of elemental energy. These consist of things like rocky growths, burning or freezing flesh, and plants sprouting from the flesh. The victim experiences extreme pain that worsens as the rash covers more of their body before they dissolve into a maelstrom of destructive elemental energy that eventually spurts out and all that remains is ash.
Mage’s Flu: Common amongst novice witches, wizards, and other users of the arcane magics. It’s believe to be contracted from individuals who aren’t well practiced or don’t fully understand the magics they’re trying to use, but can be seen in mages of all experience levels. Symptoms resemble that of a mundane cold, except that the user’s magical prowess seems to take a mind of it’s own and wild magic is let loose around the mage (usually made worse during sneezing or coughing fits). This can involve conjuring entities, animating or awakening things nearby, and other spontaneous eruptions of magical energies.
Planar Gout: A disease seen mostly in those who see frequent travel between planes. It seems that either the magics or foreign environments cause a reaction similar to mundane gout, causing severe pain in a creature’s joints.
Somatic Madness: Contracted from contact with aberrant creatures and creations from places like the far realm. It’s common knowledge that such unnatural horrors can break a man’s mind, but they can all sunder his flesh. Regardless of whether contact with such abominations have driven an individual mad, their flesh can be be afflicted by an aberrant disease where it no longer knows how to exist. A person’s flesh and bones will begin to twist and warp, at best leaving them hideously deformed and at worse turning them into an aberrant horror themselves.
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