TTRPG: The Sundering:
Characters: Dahven Nightsbane

| nation | prose | characters | live plays | audio | buy books now

The Sundering is set in a domain called The Zwari Nation, itself an island ripped off the side of a continent and dropped on to a different world. There are many varied personalities who inhabit the Nation. Here is a sampling, with more to come in the upcoming sequel NPC compendium, The Sundering: It's Nation Time.

DESIGNATION: Personality, Retired Adventurer
RACE: Drow.
LEVEL/CHALLENGE RATING: 20
HIT POINTS: 212 (20d6+82)
ARMOR CLASS: 20 (runic protections)
SPEED: 30 ft.
ABILITY SCORES: STR 10, DEX 10, CON 12, INT 20, WIS 18, CHA 18
SAVING THROWS: STR +0, DEX +0, CON +1, INT* +11, WIS* +10, CHA +4
SKILLS: Acrobatics +0, Animal Handling +4, Arcana* +11, Athletics +0, Deception +4, History* +11, Insight* +10, Intimidation +4, Investigation +0, Medicine +4, Nature +5, Perception* +10, Performance +4, Persuasion* +10, Religion +5, Sleight of Hand +0, Stealth +0, Survival +4
SENSES: passive perception 20, superior Darkvision 120 ft.
AGE: 364 years.
FEY ANCESTRY: Advantage against on saving throws against being charmed, cannot be magically put to sleep.
TRANCE: Dahven can get a long rest from four hours of semi-conscious trance instead of eight hours of sleeping.
SUNLIGHT SENSITIVITY: Attacks and perception rolls are at disadvantage when under direct sunlight.
ARCANE RECOVERY: Dahven can regain spell slots totalling 10 levels [max. 6th level] after short rest once per day.
MASTER TRANSMUTER: Dahven can use his action to consume the reserve of transmutation magic stored within his transmuter's stone in a single burst. When he does so, he can choose one of the following effects. His transmuter's stone is destroyed and can't be remade until he finishes a long rest.
Major Transformation. He can transmute one nonmagical object – no larger than a 5-foot cube – into another nonmagical object of similar size and mass and of equal or lesser value. He must spend 10 minutes handling the object to transform it.
Panacea. Dahven removes all curses, diseases, and poisons affecting a creature that he touches with the transmuter's stone. The creature also regains all its hit points.
Restore Life. Dahven can cast the Raise Dead spell on a creature he touch with the transmuter's stone, without expending a spell slot or needing to have the spell in your spellbook.
Restore Youth. Dahven touches the transmuter's stone to a willing creature, and that creature's apparent age is reduced by 3d10 years, to a minimum of 13 years. This effect doesn't extend the creature's lifespan.
SHAPECHANGER: Dahven can add the Polymorph spell to his spellbook, if it is not there already. He can cast Polymorph without expending a spell slot. When he does so, he can target only himself and transform into a beast whose challenge rating is 1 or lower.
Once he casts Polymorph in this way, he can't do so again until he finishes a short or long rest, though he can still cast it normally using an available spell slot.
SPELLS: Dahven Nightsbane is a 20th level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 19, +11 to hit with spell attacks). The following list represents Dahven's typically prepared spells: Cantrips: Light, Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost, Control Flames, Friends
1st Level (4 slots): Mage Armor, Magnify Gravity, Detect Magic, Fog Cloud, Faerie Fire, Expeditious Retreat
2nd Level (3 slots): Alter Self, Spider Climb, Misty Step, Darkness, Levitate, Scorching Ray, Wristpocket, Dragon's Breath
3rd Level (3 slots): Fly, Haste, Fireball, Blink, Clairvoyance, Dispel Magic
4th Level (3 slots): Polymorph, Greater Invisibility, Dimension Door, Vault of Amber
5th Level (3 slots): Animate Objects, Bigby's Hand, Far Step, Scrying, Telekinesis, Modify Memory
6th Level (2 slots): Disintegrate, Flesh to Stone, Chain Lightning, Arcane Gate
7th Level (2 slots): Reverse Gravity, Finger of Death, Teleport, Sequester
8th Level (1 slot): Control Weather, Incendiary Cloud, Feeblemind, Antimagic Field
9th Level (1 slot): True Polymorph, Shapechange, Meteor Swarm, Power Word Kill, Time Stop
SPELL MASTERY: Dahven can cast Expeditious Retreat and Levitate at will, no spell slot needed
EQUIPMENT: Staff of the Magi, Potion of Superior Healing, Lil Papa's License (medallion), Boots of Speed, Bag of Holding (items within)
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Neutral
LANGUAGES: Common, Undercommon, Elvish, Draconic, Celestial, Infernal
PROFICIENCY BONUS: +6
STAFF OF THE MAGI: Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 1d6+3 bludgeoning damage. (If used two- handed in melee, does 1d8+3 damage.)
TRAITS: Secretive and somber.
IDEAL: To excel in his field and gain his father's regard.
BOND: Dahven has a secret alliance.
FLAW: Black sheep of the family, has a reluctance to disclose details about his past.
MERCHANT'S LICENSE: As a licensed merchant of the city of Lethesport, Dahven has received a blessing from the dwarven god of commerce Lil' Papa and has advantage on all saving throws against spells or magical effects. As well, three times per round as a legendary action after another character's turn, Dahven can "clapback," or cast "counterspell" at fifth level. Finally, the blessing of Lil' Papa makes the enchantment on the medallion Lil' Papa's License work, so that any devoted to the art of commerce under the dwarven god's blessing will receive 100 temporary hit points every time they lose 100 hit points as long as they are within 100 feet of their place of business.
LEGENDARY RESISTANCE: Three times a day, if Dahven fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed.
BACKSTORY: Dahven Nightsbane is the second born son of the fearsome Luther Nightsbane, lord commander of the protectors of Iubi, the Midnight Suns. Unlike his older brother Wellok, Dahven showed a passion and aptitude for the arcane, studying apothecary science and spellcasting. This led to a rift between Dahven and his family that only widened after the death of his mother Natica one hundred and fifty years before the Sundering. Dahven left the northern Drow city and headed south out of the Karma region, working as a freelance adventurer and problem solver, falling in and out of a number of adventuring parties and spending a couple of decades at the Summit, where he is rumored to have made just the right friends. He emerged with seed money and a license from the Congress of Spells to take the potion making business out of the Lethesport Arcane College gift shop and set up his own store, called I'd Like To Know Where You Got The Potion.

The Sundering is an insultingly inclusive fantasy world with intricate politics, economics and of course adventure. One of the very few Black-owned offerings in the Fifth Edition TTRPG space, this work was created by Hannibal Tabu and Damion Poitier and published by Laguna Studios.
Artwork by Moonie and Quinn McGowan.