[Accessory] [9496] Van Richten's Guide to the Vistani.pdf

9496

Cr t di t s

Design: David Wise

Editing: Jonatha Ariadne Caspian

Product Coordination: Harold Johnson and Steve Miller

Cover Art: Scott Burdick

Interior Art: Stephan Fabian

Art Coordination: Peggy Cooper and Paul Jaquays

Graphics Coordination: Sarah Feggestad

Electronic Pre-press Coordination: Tim Coumbe

Typographer: Nancy J. Kerkstra

This book is affectionately

d to the Demi

201 Sheridan Springs Road

Lake Geneva

120 Church End

Camblridge CB1 3L~5

United Kingdom

Introduction ......................... .4

A Confession .......................... .4

An Old Tale Retold ................... .5

The First Glimmer of Hope ............. .6

Chapter I: History and Legends ......... 8

The Vanquished Conqueror .... ... 9

The Tale of Vistan .......... . .10

The Forlorn Wanderer. ... . . 10

The Splintering ... . .11

The Spiteful Gods. ... . .11

The War forAll Time. . ... ..... 12

Chapter 11: Vistani Life ................. 13

Rituals ...............................

The Coruara .........................

.56

The Manusa. ..............

.... 57

Attitudes and Behavior. ...

.... 59

.... 61

Beliefs Concerning Time . .

Specific Powers ....... .... 61

The Defining Craft .... 62

The Canjar.. ......... .... 63

TheZarouan ................... .... 66

Conclusion. .......................... .68

Chapter IV Curses and the Evil Eye. ....... 70

Curse Types. ................... .... 70

TheScar .............. .... 71

The Poisonous Carrot. .... .... 71

Doombringer ......... .... 72

Alienation ........... .... 73

Torture and Terror .... 73

Focus Items ......... .... 74

Breaking a Curse ..... ...... .75

The Evil Eye. ........ ...... .75

Known Effects ...................... .77

Chapter V Salient Abiities and Vulnerabilities. . 78

Prescient Sight. .......................

.....

Setting and Striking Camp. .....

.... .15

. .15

The Prastonata .........

.....

. . 16

The Doroq. ............

. .I7

Moon Rituals . .

Tribal Organization. ..

. .19

Adoption ........

. .20

Exclusion. .......

. .21

Everyday Life. .........

. .22

Living Off the Land .....

. .22

.78

The Tribal Seer ......................

Love and Marriage. .....

. .23

Death and Funeral Rites. ....

. .23

.... 79

The Legend of the Dukkar.

...

A Key Weakness ........

.... 80

..... 25

Nomadism ..............

...........

.... 81

The Vardo ............

.... .26

Mist Navigation

.... 82

No Trace of Their Passing ...

. .27

Tracking Magic. ...........

Slowing the Prey ...........

Vista-chiri and Other Minions .....

.... 82

.... 83

Powers Over Monsters ...... .... 83

Static Burn. .... 85

Conclusion .... 87

The Last Steps. ....................... .87

A Final Farewell. ...................... .90

Appendix: Vistani Player Character Kits. .... 91

Character Background .................. .91

Public Image

Dark Neutrality. ..........

.... .27

Law and Justice. .........

.... .28

Punishment .....

. .30

Banishment.. .

. .30

............

Exile ........

. .31

Communication . .

...

. .31

........... .32

The Patterna .....

Tralaks. .........

........... .33

Paaterns. ...........

........ .33

......

.... 91

Conclusion ..............

.... .33

- - -. .34

Chapter 111: The Tasques ...

Alignment ........

.... 92

Overview ............

. .35

Race ............

.... 92

Universal Abilities. .......

.... 92

The Kaldresh .............

... 36

. .37

. .38

Universal Drawbacks .....

.... 92

Attitudes and Behavior. .....

Beliefs Concerning Time ....

Tribal Abilities ..........

.... 93

Kamii ............

.... 93

Specific Powers ........

. .38

The Defining Craft ...

..... 39

Equaar. ....

.... 93

Vatraska.. ..

.... 93

The Kamii ..........

..... .40

Naiat ......

.... 94

The Equaar ......

.. .42

Corvara ....

.... 94

The Vatraska.. ......

..... .45

....

.... 94

..... .49

The Boem. ............

Canjar.

. . 50

.... 95

Attitudes and Behavior. ..

Zarovan ....

Conclusion ............

.... 95

Beliefs Concerning Time ....

. .51

Glossary. ..............

.... 96

Specific Powers ...........

. .51

The Defining Craft. .....

. .52

Evil Eye Check Modifier Table ...

The Naiat.. ......

... 53

.7"

sfe upon the solid rock the ugly

houses stand:

Come and see my shining palace

built upon the sand!

-Edna

through some crucial omission of fact, some

subtle failure to report the whole truth about

one of those monsters? How many of my own,

precious comPades have suffered-perished-

as I collected data for my infamous

guidebooks? Was there ever so ignominious a

scholar as myself?

St. Vincent Millay

For more than three decades, now,

1 have undertaken to investigate

- and expose creatures of darkness

to the purifying light of truth and

knowledge. “Hero” I am named in

some circles; “sage” and “master

hunter” I am called in others. That

I have survived countless

supernatural assaults is a marvel

among my peers; my name is

spoken with fear and loathing

among my foes.

It matters little that my beloved friends and

comrades-at-arms entered freely into my

company. Small compensation that many of

them have expressed a profound sense of

fulfillment in aiding my cause, even in the

midst of their premature death throes. The

indisputable fact remains that 1 am ever

awash in their blood, drowning in guilt, surely

lost to redemption for my part in their

demises.

Without doubt, to accept my company is to

embrace doom, and 1 cannot deny awareness

of that fact. From the very beginning of my

quest to destroy creatures of evil, I have carried

Death itself with me like a virulent disease,

infecting all who dared to walk with me!

In truth, this “virtuous” calling

beaan as an obsessive effort to

destroy a vampire who murdered

my child, and it has become for

me a tedious and bleak career.

Perhaps Lord Azalin enjoys the

mantle of nobility as he sits at Castle

Avernus, but that quality is an albatross upon

my own neck, which grows heavier and more

rank each passing day. Even as my life

hunting monsters began, I felt the weight of

time upon my weary shoulders. Today I am a

man who has simply lived too long. Like a

regretful lich, I find myself inextricably bound

to an existence I sought in madness and,

seemingly, must now endure for all eternity.

Of course I shall die, but whether I shall ever

rest in my grave haunts my idle thoughts, and

torments me in my dreams.

By now, I can consider myself an expert on

vampires, ghosts, liches, lycanthropes, golems,

mummies, fiends, and all their ilk. Much have I

written concerning these evil creatures, and

many of them have been properly expunged

from the world as a result. Yet I do not believe

that this land of Mists is any purer for my

efforts. And 1 must wonder: How many brave

young heroes have sought glory, armed with

my research, and met unspeakable ends in

spite of it? How many have died (and worse)

A Confession

:xpect that those who think me a hero will

:hange their minds when they know the

vhole trulh about my life as a hunter of the

unnatural. Nevertheless, I must reveal, here

and now, that 1 have been the indirect yet

certain cause of many deaths, and the loss of

many good friends. Mistake me not! I do not

merely feel sorry for myself. Rather, I come to

grips with a devastating realization:

Though I would not at first acknowledge

it, and for quite some time could not even

concede the possibility, I now see that I am

the object of a baneful Vistani curse. More

tragically, the nature of this hex is such that

I have not borne the brunt; instead, far

worse, those who surround me have fallen

victim to it!

Let me go back to the beginning, to the day I

became an unwitting tool of darkness, and

enhance the reader’s perspective with the

whole truth, withheld until now.

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