D&D: New Monsters And Magic Items Found In Wildemount
Wildemount offers a lot for players and DMs alike. Come get a glimpse of the new monsters and magic items lurking in the new book.
Here we go folks, once more into the Wildemount. Matt Mercer is back to talk through some of the new monsters and magic items that DMs might make use of in the upcoming Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, the new Critical Role D&D book that makes Exandria, the world of the show, canon and opens the doors to an adventure set in the primary region of Campaign 2: Wildemount.
The monsters of Xhorhas are remnants from a deific battle known as the Calamity where the peoples of Exandria went to war against the Betrayer Gods (evil gods who just loved to party down and be murdery and evil) which culminated in a massive cataclysmic battle that reshaped the world itself and devastated whole civilizations. The last battle occurred in Xhorhas, and fiendish creatures who fought on the side of the Betrayers are left to roam the wilderness. And since that time, other great and terrible monsters have spread out.
Whatever their origins, the monsters of Critical Role are a unique bunch. Here’s a taste of what awaits:
- Udak – A great four-armed gorilla-like demon beast that hunts the wasteland for whatever it can scavenge
- Swavain Basilisk – A sea-going basilisk that secretes oil that turns creatures nearby it to stone
- Buried constructs and arcane experiments left by a vanished society
But that great cataclysmic battle is also when the collective deities removed themselves from the world and separated from the world they helped bring life to. This is an event known as the Divergence. And the Vestiges of Divergence are powerful magical artifacts that were the weapons and tools of the champions of the deities or the most powerful artifacts forged by the mages and artificers of the Age of Arcanum. When the world Diverged, these Vestiges fell into memory and became dormant.
This is important because the Vestiges of Divergence are weapons or other magic items that level up along with you. If you want a system for weapons that can level up alongside your character, this is it. There are three tiers: dormant, awakened, and exalted. It’ll be curious to see how this system plays with D&D 5th Edition’s bounded accuracy rules–but the gist of it is, these are weapons that grow in power as you do. You might unlock more abilities for your weapon as you level up, meaning you don’t have to constantly trade in that amazing sentimental sword you found at level 2 because you just found a +3 mace and your swordmaster has been struggling against enemies until now.
What do you think of the new monsters and magic items? Let us know in the comments, and happy adventuring!
