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Vistani

2023-06-17T03:30:41Z

2600:1700:13F1:A110:7117:D932:3CC5:FC4E:

[[File:Vistani 3e.jpg|thumb|right|300px|An exotic gypsy maid from the land of [[Ravenloft]].]]
Though [[Ravenloft]] is primarily inspired by [[Gothic Horror]], it owes just as much to the portrayal of that genre in Universal Horror and Hammer Horror films - particularly the latter. As such, when designing their setting, the writers at [[TSR]] felt that their setting also needed its own race of "morally ambiguous" magical [[Gypsy|gypsies]] to fit with the tradition.

Meet the '''Vistani''' (singular ''Vistana''), who were created to fill that niche. Foreign-looking humans who live as nomads, travelling the demiplane in caravans and making a living as entertainers, mystics and thieves, feared and hated by the sedentary people of the demiplane and looking down on the "Giorgio" right back in kind, smugly considering themselves superior to ordinary people and cursing them for their bigotry, even as they rob and manipulate those people whenever they see fit.

...Yeah, the Vistani do press a lot of 'Gypsy Stereotype' buttons. In their defense, they're not ''quite'' as bad as the Aperusa of [[Spelljammer]], who're slathered with a lot more of the negative parts of that stereotype, but still, there are people who find them kind of embarrassing.

Vistani are distinguished from ordinary humans by not only possessing more knowledge of the dark creatures roaming the demiplane, but by natural affinities for magic and the ability to break some of the "rules" of the demiplanes. Vistani mystics can see the future via the power they call The Sight, an art normally impossible in the Demiplane of Dread. While technically both male and female Vistani are capable of The Sight, it is far more common among women- in no small part due to the fact that any male Vistana with the Sight is fated to become a Dukkar, who is destined to seek the destruction of the Vistani as a whole. Their caravans can reliably travel from domain to domain within it, even against the wills of the Darklords. Furthermore, all Vistani can use powerful magical curses, collectively known as the Evil Eye. There's also drawbacks to this, mostly in the form of needing to regularly travel, or else they will permanently lose all of their magical abilities.

Narratively, Vistani serve pretty much the same role that [[Elminster]] is supposed to serve in-universe: a convenient deus ex machina. Need to get the party somewhere? A Vistani caravan can take them there. Need to give your players a smack with a clue-by-four? A Vistani fortune-teller can do it for you. Party desperately needs some macguffin or another? A Vistani caravan will helpfully provide it - for a price. Need to explain why this latest monster or villain is being a nuisance? A Vistani curse went horribly right, as they seem to always do.

In both 2nd and 3rd edition, Vistani were far too powerful to be used as a PC race, and so [[Half-Vistani]] were introduced instead; still with a dash of Vistani mysticism, but with some added [[Half-Elf|"you are alienated from your peers"]] and [[Half-Orc|"you were probably not conceived willingly"]] fluff. Ironically, [[Van Richten's Guide]] to the Vistani does actually include Vistani PC mechanics in it, although it explains that these are meant to help the DM create Vistani NPCs.

4th edition's designers thought that this was stupid, and so they redesigned the Vistani into a collective culture of mystical, but not necessarily inhuman, plane-travelling nomads in [[Dragon Magazine]] #380. This meant you could finally play a full-fledged Vistani, something that was immediately met with [[skub]].

It goes without saying, but the combination of ethnic stereotyping and hamfisted plot device makes Vistani a rather contentious aspect of the setting for [[SJW|some fans]]. The Vistani went back to their older concept in 5th Edition's ''[[Curse of Strahd]]'', but some fluff text for a magic item in ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything'', an artifact called Luba’s Tarokka of Souls, describes the Vistani as once again being more in-line with their 4E incarnation as a bunch of nomads who wander around the [[Shadowfell]] and accept members of other races into their bands.

==Tasques & Tribes==
Culturally, the Vistani are divided into three '''Tasques''', which can be thought of as representing different nations or subraces of the Vistani people as a whole. Each Tasque is then broken up into a number of different '''Tribes''', which are smaller subdivisions of the Tasques, usually revolving around distinct extended family lines.

===Boem Tasque===
Those Vistani who belong to the Boem Tasque are regarded as exemplifying the ideal of the Vistani as carefree wanderers. Their particular aptitude is an ability to temporarily charm and befriend others; whilst this near-supernatural charisma wears off once the Vistani leaves, the Boemians can reliably turn even the most hostile of initial greetings into a warm welcome. Notably Boemian tribes include the ''Naiat'' (traveling carnival performers) and the ''Corvara'' (masters-of-none, who tend to live down to the Vistani reputation as a bunch of lying, thieving, sneaky grey marketeers).

===Kaldresh Tasque===
Vistani of the Kaldresh are particularly known as skilled campfollowers, crafters, and traders. They particularly rely on trade, especially to the armies of other races, and Vistani of this Tasque seem to have a peculiar knack for not only homing in on places where people will need their mercantile skills, but for always having exactly what their future customers will need. Notable Kaldresh tribes include the ''Kamii'' (master smiths), the ''Equaar'' (master animal trainers and equestrians), and the ''Vatraska'' (expert healers).

===Manusa Tasque===
The Vistani of the Manusa Tasque are noted as naturally gifted with magic, even by the standards of the Vistani as a whole. The ''Canjars'' are all skilled wizards who always know what spell they need ahead of time and so can be prepared to cast it. One of their most famous member-tribes, the ''Zarovans'', have a "non-linear" relationship with time, meaning they do not exist in the standard progression of past-present-future like other beings do.

==Playing Vistani?==
[[File:Vistana MCAV2.jpg|thumb|"My crystal ball predicts my existence will become very problematic."]]

'''Officially''', you're not supposed to play Vistani; they're supposed to be this mystical, mysterious, magical race who exist for ambience and to help the DM railroad you. That's why the [[Half-Vistani]] exists. But D&D players are D&D players, and so there have been some... cheats.

===AD&D===
The topic of Vistani PCs is discussed in a massive sidebar at the end of Van Richten's Guide to the Vistani, which emphasizes that the [[Half-Vistani]] race and the [[Gypsy]] class exist to allow for you to play a Vistani without actually ''being'' a Vistani. But it does begrudgingly allow you the option to make a ''Mortu'' Vistani - a Vistani who has lost most of their racial powers due to remaining in one place too long and suffering their racial curse - by playing a [[human]] character with the following racial kit. These same mechanics can also be used to play a ''giamarga'', a [[Half-Vistani]]/[[Half-Elf]] hybrid, by applying the kit to the standard half-elf. What does it do? Well...

Mortu Vistani suffer -2 Intelligence; Giamarga gain +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, -2 Charisma.

Mortu Vistani must have be one of the Any Neutral alignments (Neutral Good, Neutral Evil, Lawful Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, True Neutral).

Universal Abilities:
::Can perfectly identify plants, animals and pure water, as per [[druid]].
::If the Vistani has the Fire-building proficiency, they never need to make proficiency checks to light a fire, even in high winds, with damp fuel or in rainy conditions.
::Giamarga have a 95% chance to successfully interpret the Patterna with an Intelligence check.
::Mortu Vistani can identify Paaaterns on a d6 roll of 1-4.
::All vistani can take Astrology, regardless of class.

Universal Drawbacks:
::Cannot take the [[Paladin]] clss.
::Vistani cannot take weapon specializations nor have extraordinary [[Strength]], even if they belong to a Warrior class.
::Vistani can only reach 10th level as [[Wizard]]s.
::If a Vistani or Giamarga takes the Specialist Wizard class, they can only be [[Conjurer]]s, [[Enchanter]]s or [[Illusionist]]s, unless they are female (adds [[Diviner]]) and/or a giamarga (adds [[Arcanist]]). No Vistani PC can ever be an [[Elementalist]].
::If the "pay-for-training" rule is used, the vistani must pay ''twice'' the usual amount.
::Vistani have a 75% chance of being treated as a suspected criminal, which can rise to 90% if unexplained trouble has occurred.
::Vistani, both mortu and half-breed, suffer from "moon madness". On the nights of the full moon, they are extremely agitated; they cannot regain HP by sleeping, and will suffer a -2 penalty to all saves until they get 8 hours of uninterrupted rest. Each night at midnight, they must make a Madness save, or suffer from that madness until either they pass the next night's Madness save or the full moon ends. Finally, there is a 1% chance at the start of the full moon period that they will feel an almost irresistable urge to slip away and cavort beneath the stars.

Once all of the abov e traits are applied, the mortu or giamarga then has to select which tribe they belong to, which gives them some other positive and negative attributes.

Kamii:
::Cannot take a Spellcaster class.
::Automatically start with Proficiency in Blacksmithing.
::Can instantly identify Vistani-made metalwork.
::25% chance to detect if a metal item is cursed.

Equaar:
::Automatically posseses Animal Lore and Land-Based Riding.
::Can buy Tracking for 1 NWP slot.

Vatraska:
::Automatically possesses Herbalist.
::Can buy Healing for 1 slot.
::Can identify poisons; use rules for [[druid]]s identifying plants.
::DM's Discretion: the Vatraska can create a cure-or-kill antidote for a natural poison; the imbiber must make a save vs. poison and is cured on a success and dies on a failure.
::DM's Discretion: By spending 1d6+1 days, the Vatraska can gather enough organic ingredients to make 2 doses of a sleeping-draught potion (imbiber must save vs. poison of fall asleep for 1d4 rounds); doses last for 1 week.

Naiat:
::Cannot take the [[Druid]] class.
::Free proficiency with Singing and Dancing.
::Can take Musical Instrument proficiency regardless of class.
::+1 bonus to encounter reactions (+2 if the player roleplays well).
::Regardless of class, a Naiat with a violin may influence reactions and inspire allies, as per a [[bard]].

Corvara:
::Only permitted classes are [[Fighter]], [[Thief]] and [[Wizard]].
::Free proficiency with Set Snares.
::Corvaran thieves gain +10% to Open Locks.

Canjar:
::'''Must''' take the [[Wizard]] class.
::Can leave a single 1st level and 2nd level spell slot "open", allowing the canjar to cast any spell of that level from their spellbook with that slot, at the cost of increasing its casting time to 1 round.

Zarovan:
::'''Must''' take the [[Wizard]] class.
::Zarovans exist partially out of phase with time itself; after initiative is rolled, the Zarovan rolls 2d10, adds the results and compares to the table below to determine what their temporal positioning is during this combat.

::2: -8 to opponents attack roll; doubled actions
::3: -4 to opponents attack roll
::4-5: -2 to opponents attack roll
::6-8: -1 to opponents attack roll
::9-13: No penalties or bonuses
::14-16: +1 to opponents attack roll
::17-18: +2 to opponents attack roll
::19: +4 to opponents attack roll
::20: +8 to opponents attack roll; no actions.

===3e===
Because monsters and playable races largely use the same chassis in [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]], it's technically possible to play a Vistani in 3e, as they have monster writeups in both the 3.0 "Ravenloft Campaign Setting" and the 3.5 "Ravenloft Player's Guide"... exactly ''why'' the '''Player's Guide''' for the setting has a chapter on monsters and the Ravenloft DM's Guide doesn't is... anybody's guess.

::Ability Score Modifiers: +4 Wisdom, +2 Charisma
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Vision: Normal
::Bonus Feat: Voice of Wrath (+4 to Curse checks)
::Curse Master (Ex): A Vistani can gain a bonus to Curse checks if they use a "focus item" for that curse. A simple effigy grants a +1 bonus, but an item belonging to the victim (or part of the victim's body) grants a +2 to +4 bonus, depending on their connection.
::Evil Eye (Ex): 3/day, as a standard action, a Vistani can make a Gaze Attack that inflicts one of the following conditions if the victim fails a Will save. The save DC against the Evil Eye is (10 + 1/2 Vistani's Hit Dice + Vistani's Charisma modifier) if used by a '''male''' Vistani and (12 + 1/2 Vistani's Hit Dice + Vistani's Charisma modifier) if used by a '''female''' Vistani.
:::Paralysis: 1d4+1 rounds. If the save is failed by 4 or higher, then the victim is paralyzed for 2 rounds and then goes into convulsions for 3 rounds, taking 1 damage per round, before having to make a DC 15 Fortitude save; if they pass tis second save, the victim merely faints, but if they fail, then they '''die''' outright.
:::Fear: 1d4+1 rounds.
:::Domination: 1d4+1 rounds.
:::Suggestion: Lasts for 1 day or until task is complete, whichever comes first.
::The Sight (Su): The Vistani ignore the normal rules affecting Divination spells in the [[Demiplane of Dread]], with the caveat that Vistani cannot use divination to directly foretell their own future, or divine their past. Not all Vistani have this power, but only female Vistani may possess this trait; males who develop the Sight are traditionally killed, to avert disaster.
::Mist Navigation (Ex): Vistani can freely travel the [[Demiplane of Dread]], entering the Mists and exiting wherever they desire, even in another plane. They can take travelers with them. This ability does '''not''' mean they are free of the risk of encountering random monsters whilst traveling to their destination.
::Magical Tracking (Su): Vistani can magically track any individual they wish from any distance away, so long as the target is not magically shielded from detection. Even then, the Vistani are skilled at tracking victims through indirect means and mundane methods of tracking.
::Static Burn (Su): The Vistani's magical nature comes at a price; they must constantly migrate. A Vistani that remains within 1 mile of any point for longer than a week falls ill; if they re not carried beyond the designated area within 1d6+1 days, then they lose all of their magical abilities, '''permanently'''. The mechanics for this are, unfortunately not explicit, but an easy way to handle it is to replace the Vistani racial traits (up to and including Ability Score Modifiers and the Voice of Wrath bonus feat, if you're feeling cruel) with the [[Half-Vistani]] racial traits.

Unlike Half-Vistani, Vistani do not explicitly gain tasque-specific racial abilities, but it would make sense to "backport" those traits onto them. The one exception are the Boemian tasque, who can mystically compel others to like them (DC 15 Will save each round; if failed, the victim ignores the Vistani's [[Outcast Rating]]... nevermind we aren't actually told how high that is... - other Boemians and people with a legit grievance against Boemians can ignore this effect if their first save is a success, and creature immune to [[Charm Person]] are unaffected by it entirely).

==Gallery==
<gallery>
vistani Realm of Terror.jpg
Vistana GH2.jpg
</gallery>

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Races]][[Category: Monsters]][[Category:Ravenloft]]

Ezmerelda d'Avenir

2023-06-17T03:28:52Z

2600:1700:13F1:A110:7117:D932:3CC5:FC4E: /* Controversies */

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[[Image:EZ D’AVENIR BRAVES THE MISTS.jpg|thumb|right|300px|]]

'''Ezmerelda d'Avenir''' is an [[Adventurer]] from the [[Demiplane of Dread]] introduced in the [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] adventure module [[Curse of Strahd]] and subsequently canonized in the 5e [[Ravenloft]] campaign [[splatbook]] "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft". She is a student of/heir to [[Van Richten]], a surviving member of the Radanavich family whom Van Richten massacred for selling his son to a [[vampire]] as its sexual slave cum offspring. She lost a leg in that incident, but gets around unimpeded due to using an enchanted wooden prosthetic.

==Controversies==
[[Curse of Strahd]] is full of [[skub]], at least if you look at the major camps of [[Ravenloft]] [[grognard]]s on one side and [[SJW]]s on the other. Ezmererlda is one of those elements that both camps attack, for different reasons.

Old-school fans dislike her because she snarls up the original established continuity for [[Van Richten]]... well, okay, Curse of Strahd does that for Van Richten in general, but Ezmerelda in particular messes up both Van Richten's greatest shame and his subsequent redemption when he came to terms with his racist attitudes towards the [[Vistani]] through interacting with Arturi Radanavich, the original sole survivor of the Radanaviches. Essentially, Ezmeralda at the very least basically retcons Arturi out of the setting entirely and takes his role, whilst also going a step beyond Arturi and becoming Van Richten's appointed heir and/or adoptive daughter... which kind of makes the [[Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins]] superfluous.

[[SJW|SJWs]] hate her for... well, a couple of things, but the biggest complaints are her connection to the Radanaviches, who are loathed for being highly politically incorrect (leading to their retconning into being ''Vistani Impersonators'' rather than an actual Vistani family in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft), the fact she is described with the traditional Vistani curse of needing to stay mobile to avoid losing her magic, and the fact she is described in the original Curse of Strahd as being ashamed of her prosthetic and so trying to hide that she has it.

[[Category: Ravenloft]]

Alanik Ray

2023-06-17T03:26:55Z

2600:1700:13F1:A110:7117:D932:3CC5:FC4E: /* 5e */

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'''Alanik Ray''' is a heroic NPC native to the [[Ravenloft]] setting of [[Dungeons & Dragons]], having debuted there back in the days of [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] 2nd edition. He is a male [[elf]] originally born as a wealthy merchant's son in the realm of [[Demiplane of Dread#Darkon|Darkon]], but left that locale as a youth after being expelled from his family home when he discovered his father made much of his wealth as a drug lord and black marketeer; when Alanik protested his father's crimes, the patriarch Ardal banished him. Disgusted, Alanik turned to crime fighting, joining the Neblus watch and using it to dismantle his father's criminal empire, after which he quit Darkon and moved to Mordentshire, where he set up as a private detective. That lasted until the year 747 BC, where he was invited back to Darkon to serve as the Chief Constable of the Matira Bay watch by newly appointed town mayor, Baroness Karimana Reldkasen... unfortunately, he fell afoul of the Kargat, and when Azalin vanished during [[Grim Harvest|the Requiem]], they moved to eliminate him and he narrowly escaped with his life. He fled to Port-a-Lucine in Dementlieu and opened up a new detective agency, where he has been found ever since.

Basically, Alanik Ray is the Sherlock Holmes of the [[Demiplane of Dread]]; a highly intelligent whose love of the finer things in life is equaled if not exceeded only by his passion for mystery and deduction. Though he normally is patronized by wealthy clientele, he has a particular fascination with crimes centered around "particularly cunning" villains or supernatural elements, and as such he is willing to waive his fees for cases that catch his intrigue, especially those brought to him by less-wealthy would-be patrons. For defense, he wields ''Goldenfang'', a +4 Dagger that looks like it was shaped from solid gold, and a number of pistols. He even smokes a hookah, although in his case it's an enchanted item called a ''Hookah of Truth'', the smoke of which produces a Zone of Truth.

Of course, every Sherlock Holmes needs a Dr. Watson, and for Alanik, his Watson is a human physician by the name of Dr. Arthur Sedgewick. Sadly, we know next to nothing about him beyond that he exists, he has saved Alanik's life with his medical skills several times, and he writes accounts of their cases which he has begun to publish, with two such compilations existing in-universe so far; ''The Life of Alanik Ray'' and ''The Casebook of Alanik Ray''. Alanik is also a correspondent of [[Van Richten]] and, after the events of [[Bleak House]], he's interested in pursuing the good doctor's mysterious disappearance.

Notable supernatural foes that Alanik Ray has faced include [[Rabel Utik]], [[Toben the Many]], and a prostitute-hunting green [[hag]] serial killer known only as "The Hag of Chateaufaux".

Although he has been statted up in both AD&D (10th level [[Rogue]]) and in 3rd edition ([[Rogue]] 4/Detective 6) in [[Champions of the Mists]] and [[Ravenloft Gazetteer]] II respectively, Alanik is ironically a very minor character; whereas the other NPCs from ''Champions'' had been the stars of official novels (because it was the 90s and novels were a thing that pretty much all D&D settings got), Alanik's only appearances to that date had been as a flavor-only character mentioned in two of the [[Van Richten's Guide]] books - the Guides to Ghosts and Hags, specifically. 3rd edition wouldn't treat him much better; he got mentioned in ''Van Richten's Arsenal'' due to his connection with the Hookah of Truth, and also name-dropped as a flavor character in a third VRG - the Guide to the [[Walking Dead]].

===5e===
Alanik Ray reappears as an NPC in the [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] Ravenloft campaign splat "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft". Here, there's more emphasis on his forming an informal monster hunter's alliance/network with [[Van Richten]], the [[Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins]] and the new character [[Ezmerelda d'Avenir]] from [[Curse of Strahd]]. Also, he's now wheelchair-bound, having broken his back after falling off a roof whilst pursuing a serial killer (cue "Wheels and the Legman" jokes). Also, since this is the 2020s and (alleged) subtext can just be actual text, he and Arthur Sedgewick [[SJW|are gay and married to each other]].
[[Image:Alanik3e.png|thumb|left|300px|Alanik in 3e, looking as haughty as you'd expect an elf version of Sherlock Holmes to be.]]
[[Image:Alanik Ray 5e.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Alanik as depicted in 5e. Also, fun fact; this is the ''only'' time that Dr. Sedgewick has been given art! Luckily, there are no stairs in Castle Ravenloft, [[Derp|oh wait...]]]]

[[Category: Ravenloft]]

Van Richten's Guide

2023-06-17T03:22:37Z

2600:1700:13F1:A110:7117:D932:3CC5:FC4E: /* Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft */

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'''The Van Richten's Guides''' are a series of monster-related sourcebooks written for [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and connected to the setting of [[Ravenloft]].

From an in-universe perspective, the Guides are, as their title says, treatises on monster-hunting written by the esteemed Dr. [[Van Richten]], the most prolific and well-educated monster hunter in all of the [[Demiplane of Dread]]. At some point, Van Richten disappeared, after which his legacy was taken up by the [[Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins]]. In addition to completing and publishing his own unfinished notes - the Guides to the Fiend, Vistani and Witch - they went on to create their own guides, which they published under the same name for legacy purposes and to ensure they would reach their target audience.

On the meta-level, each Guidebook examines a single creature type and expands upon it to make it both a better fit for Ravenloft's purported "Gothic Horror" goal (even if, in practice, it leans closer to [[Castlevania]] amongst most people who actually play it), providing an exhaustive examination of tactics that can be used to run that monster or fight that monster, variant "salient abilities", unique weaknesses, lore, and other aspects that flesh them out.

Van Richten wrote and published on his own the following books for the [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] system:
* Guide to [[Vampire]]s
* Guide to [[Lich]]es
* Guide to [[Ghost]]s
* Guide to [[Therianthrope|Werebeasts]]
* Guide to [[Fiend]]s
* Guide to the [[Mummy|Ancient Dead]]
* Guide to the [[Golem|Created]]
* Guide to the [[Vistani]]

These books were later reprinted in "collected editions" by the Weathermay Twins, known as the Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendiums. The third and last of these volumes also included the otherwise unprinted "Van Richten's Guide to [[Witch]]es", which, as the name suggests, examines [[Witch]]es, [[Warlock]]s and [[Hag]]s.

The Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins wrote two guides completely of their own for [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 3rd edition which saw print; one for the [[Walking Dead]] and a second for the [[Shadow Fey]]. A third guidebook, dedicated to "The Mists", which focused on anomalous and eerie entities born from the reality-binding vapors that wreathe the land, in addition to covering Outlanders (humanoids from other worlds brought amongst the ignorant natives of the [[Demiplane of Dread]]) and anomalous reality-zones that one might encounter whilst enveloped by the Mists, was completely written up... but, [[White Wolf]] lost the license before they could officially print and sell it. The PDF was set free onto the internet, and is now hosted on, amongst other things, the [[Fraternity of Shadows]] website.

Looking into adapting content found in these guides to later editions? Note that not everything written by White Wolf & Sword&Sorcery for 3-3.5e was converted entirely everything from the 2nd Edition, and- more intriguingly, the powers Liches are privy to in Guide to the Lich are still, 3.5 canon, such as the salient abilities Liches gain are in Monsters of Faerun, though only a small excerpt. Please note, that these make both liches and vampires essentially epic-level threats, whom are more dangerous depending on their personal holdings and age- a vampire patriarch for example, is essentially a demigod immune to sunlight, and probably only beatable if they gained additional weaknesses over their long-term existence, they can even fully heal themselves once per day through the use of their alternate form ability, which has an additional form of their choosing- essentially their second Castlevania Dracula Form- limited to no CR or cap or anything. They can even cheat themselves into becoming this strong. If you've ever heard of the epic-questline, the Quicksilver Hourglass in 3.5, a quest where you have to stop members of the Union of Eclipses using a deific artifact to age the world to death and rule the remainder, then failure would result in vampires like this popping up all over the material plane. Bullet dodged.

==Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft==
A book titled "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft" [[Dungeons_%26_Dragons_5th_Edition_Books|released on 18th May 2021]], serving as the complete [[Ravenloft]] setting book for [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]].

For players, this book offers mechanics for [[Dhampir]], [[Hexblood]] and [[Reborn]] "races", new "horror-themed" Trinkets, tips on altering backgrounds to a more horror motif, the new (or possibly reprinted from [[Curse of Strahd]]) Haunted One and Investigator backgrounds, the [[Occultist|College of Spirits]] subclass for [[bard]]s and the [[Undead]] patron for [[warlock]]s. A new mechanic in the form of "Dark Gifts" is also offered, replacing the [[Powers Check]]s of old.

Most of the book is dedicated to DMs, however. The second chapter is devoted to the topic of ''Creating Domains of Dread'', and provides advice on building darklords and their domains, and discusses the major genres of horror useful to a Ravenloft 5e game, which it breaks down as ''Body Horror'', ''Cosmic Horror'', ''Dark Fantasy'', ''Folk Horror'', ''Ghost Story'', ''Gothic Horror'' and ''Other''.

Chapter 3 is devoted to providing details on '''Domains of Ravenloft'''. Most of this is devoted to domains; seventeen of which are about four pages long, with most of that being [[Darklord]] related, and another dozen or so that are only a single paragraph long.

Still in chapter 3, it then provides major Ravenloft organizations (with particular emphasis on the [[Keepers of the Feather]] and the [[Vistani]]) and prominent NPCs native to the Demiplane of Dread:
* [[Alanik Ray]] & Arthur Sedgwick (the Ravenloftian <s>Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson</s> Wheels and the Legman)
* The Caller (obviously the [[Incubus]] known as the [[Gentleman Caller]])
* Erasmus van Richten (Dr. van Richten's previously dead [[vampire]] son, now a ghost)
* [[Ez d'Avenir]]
* [[Firan Zal'honan]]
* [[Jander Sunstar]] (heroic [[elf]] [[vampire]])
* [[Larissa Snowmane]]
* Dr. Rudolph [[van Richten]] (the iconic van Helsing expy)
* The [[Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins]]

Chapter 4 is short again, and is full of basic DM tricks, hence its title of '''Horror Adventures'''. Most of interest are new mechanics for curses, fear, stress, haunted traps, and survivors. There's also a short adventure set in the infamous House of Lament.

Finally, chapter 5 is all about the '''Monsters of Ravenloft'''. Whilst there are some new critters, most of these are actually returning beasties from old! A major detail, however, is that [[FAIL|none of the entries bother to list the creature's alignments]], so for all we know, that [[Berserker|Relentless Killer]] [[Trap|could just be a Neutral Good softie]]! This decision was made following accusations from several [[SJW|prominent bloggers and hobby websites]] that DnD was "[[What|racist]]" for making some monsters inherently evil.
* [[Doppelganger Plant|Bodytaker Plant]] (originally called the Doppelganger Plant, an expy of the pods from Invasion of the body Snatchers)
* [[Boneless]]
* [[Brain in a Jar]]
* [[Carrion Stalker]]
* [[Carrionette]]
* [[Death's Head]]
* [[Dullahan]]
* [[Gallows Speaker]]
* [[Gremishka]]
* [[Jiangshi]]
* [[Loup-garou|Loup Garou]]
* [[Necrichor]]
* [[Nosferatu]]
* Priests of [[Osybus]]
* [[Relentless Killer]]
* [[Star Spawn]] Emissary
* [[Strigoi]]
* Swarms (Maggots, Scarabs)
* Ulmist Inquisitors
* [[Unspeakable Horror]]s
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[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Ravenloft]] [[Category: Game Books]]

Loli

2023-06-17T03:13:28Z

2600:1700:13F1:A110:7117:D932:3CC5:FC4E: /* TLDR */

{{Cleanup}}{{sick|If you consider children - whether drawn or not - to be even remotely attractive, please consult your local Commissariat for a long, overdue Blamming.}}{{bad}}
{{skubby|What counts as Loli, and wat do about it?}}
[[Image:Yotsuba.gif|thumb|right|Yotsuba, mascot of 4chan. She is ''sacred''.]]

{{Topquote|In other news, children are getting sexier...and that's pretty cooooool.|Tom Tucker, Family Guy}}

The term '''loli''' is used on 4chan to refer to girls who appear to be prepubescent, aka "petite". The word is derived from ''lolicon'', a Japanese term which is itself an abbreviation of ''Lolita complex''. Within the [[anime]] fandom the term ''loli'' is often used to refer to any girl that meets the aforementioned criteria, regardless of sexualisation or lack thereof. A well-known example of such a loli is [[Yotsuba]], the mascot of 4chan.

Some people contend that using the term ''loli'' to describe a character always implies some level of sexual attraction on the part of the speaker, which is false to varying degrees. There are some who also claim that a character's given age can exempt them from loli status (for example, the character Konata from ''Lucky Star'', who is 18 years old but is generally seen as a loli due her design of being short, petite and having a [[DFC|delicious flat chest]]).

Loli is frequently used to also describe pubescent but still underaged girls which is, technically speaking, not correct but most people let it slide as there is no specific term for girls aged 13-17 in wide usage among the anime community (although there is one outside the weeb community: Jailbait). The fact that most artists can draw an adult or a child but many find making teenagers who don't look like either a small adult or a tall child kind of harder to do possibly contributes to this. Ultimately as far as American law is concerned, underaged is underaged whether you're fifteen or eight. Also under American law is that drawings of fictional characters aren't people, since they aren't real and all that (barring tracings). This does not apply in Canada where it's an excuse to be stalling assholes at customs, looking through every page of comics and artbooks to make sure they don't have any loli. 

The general rule of thumb is someone stops being a loli when they look mature enough to start being described as a woman.

Related to this is the slang otaku term "moe" (萌え, pronounced [mo.e]), which literally means "budding," and a pun on "burning" with passion or light or life. One of the possible origins is believed to be Moe, a loli from the anime ''恐竜惑星'' (''Kyouryu Wakusei'' lit. Dinosaur Planet) which is rather obscure. This originally described a sort of protective or paternal/maternal instinct invoked onto certain characters. These days it's either used by people to describe girls that are adorable and cute to the point that you want to take care of them.

The [[rule 63]] version of loli is shota, which is typically preferred by either women or extra, extra creepy men (or some very sad men who want to vicariously relive their adolescent fantasies of being ravaged by an older woman). Much like loli, the term shota is also often used to describe pubescent boys rather than just aged twelve and under kids. As with their female counterparts, the dividing line between a shota and a simply young looking man is based on whether you'd probably call the person a boy or a man.

How accepting /tg/ or 4chan as a whole has been of loli and shota has varied quite a bit over the years, though it's worth noting there's always been those who are ''really'' into them as well as those who think people into it probably belong in jail. Most of /tg/ falls somewhere between the spectrum with most just choosing to ignore it if they aren't into it. The fluctuations are often caused by the people who are into it migrating onto another image boards, predominately from /b/, /a/ or /c/ (though /jp/ occasionally gets in on the action as well). Though as /tg/ is a work safe board and as of late that has actually started being enforced you're going to be seeing far less loli and shota, at least not any that would warrant bans.

Overall as fetishes loli is certainly on the extreme [[skub]] side of things. Sure there are a lot of fetishes that are much more bizarre and esoteric in the [[/d/|"why would anyone think this is hot?"]] sense as anyone who's looked at /d/ can tell you, but none of them carry anywhere near as much baggage. (Well, aside from [[Furry|furries]], but that may not count as furries are historically detested for ''overlapping'' and ''overdoing'' not directly furry fetishes (e.g. scat, underaged, vore, among others), rather than or in addition to the "bestiality" argument, as well as just plain existing.)

Loli should not (and, indeed, cannot) be confused with [[Shortstack]], the fetish for an adult-figured woman who is much smaller than the typical human man, typically around the height of a child. Indeed, shortstacks often have exaggerated hips, buttocks and/or breasts, which makes them quite visually distinct. "Oppai Loli" is the arguably even-more degenerate offshoot of loli, as it takes a loli character and presents them with adult-sized (and usually exaggerated) breasts on their otherwise childish frame, much to the dismay of many fans of shortstacks.

==Dungeons & Dragons==
The Glantri [[Known World Gazetteer]] has very incomplete rules for a child spellcaster: When they cast a spell, they have to roll 4d4 and if the result is over their age, they suffer one of twelve catastrophes instead. If an NPC, they also gain a level for every 12 months of study to a max of half the parent's level. Nothing else about this is mentioned. It says this should be reserved for NPCs, but then immediately says it can be possible as a result of a PC's heir taking over after their death.

[[Eberron]] has the [[Lolipope]], but her stats block has nothing to indicate her age.

===d20 System===
Various d20 games, but not [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|the original]], have had rules and ways to play as a child character which will inevitably be used to play as a loli.

====d20 Modern====
''[[d20 Modern]]'' actually includes the ability to play as a child character in the core rules, tucked away in the same section covering playing an old one. This manifests as a -3 penalty to strength and constitution and a -1 penalty to everything else for those under 12 and no penalty for those 12-15. While playing a 12 year old loli seems tempting, they are literally [[Traveller|unable to complete character creation]] using only the core book without a high dexterity since every starting occupation but one (which has high ability score requirements) has, often bizarre, minimum age requirements and taking one is mandatory. Splat would fix this by introducing new occupations without an age minimum, and ''Critical Locations'' (a maps supplement of all things) would explicitly offer an alternative to occupations with no or low minimum age.

====Star Wars d20====
''[[Star Wars d20]]'' and its successor ''Saga Edition'' would retain the above mentioned aging rules of ''d20 Modern'', though there's no starting occupation to create problems. It's tweaked slightly by giving 12-15 (and its non-human equivalents) a -1 penalty to all ability scores (which also apply to those under 12 due to how the aging system works). Unlike its parent system, ''Star Wars'' RPGs actually encourage using these rules and state it's most likely a character that starts as a level 1 Jedi is underage, especially during certain eras.

====Pathfinder====

[[Pathfinder]] 1e has a number of rules that get tied up with the loli trope. The first is rules that let you play below the average adventurer's starting age, which are simultaneously utterly terrible (for requiring you play an NPC class) and OP (it briefly mentions, as a weakness, your ECL is actually lower for this so your [[Adept]] gets extra XP and eventually becomes higher level as a result). Another is the absolutely [[Skub|wonderful]] feat "Childlike" which lets Halflings pass themselves off as human children. The first book of ''Iron Gods'' includes rules for [[Android]]s that look like children but have adult minds. The [[Kitsune]] exclusive feat "Realistic Likeness" breaks many of the general rules of polymorph spells, which should allow impersonating a child.

There is also the class archetype "Magical Child" for the Vigilante class that makes your transformation into your superhero identity flashy, allows you to have a familiar but gives you a rather poor spell progression using the Unchained Summoner spell list. The rules don't say you ''have'' to be a child to take the archetype, but it is heavily implied.

Lastly, the iconic character for the Kineticist class is a young human girl named Yoon. Despite breaking the rules, Yoon is playable as a pre-gen in PFS games and actually one of the better first level pre-gens thanks to her high AC and HP (avoiding the issue of first level PCs going splat easily) and virtually nothing resisting fire at that level. If you want to make everyone at a public game awkward without actually doing anything of note yourself, play Yoon for credit toward a Dark Archives faction PC. Half the early scenarios for the faction have a side mission that a slutty baroness offers a faction member sexual favors for completing, and these offers are in player handout stuff so the GM can't change it on the fly.

With the release of Pathfinder 2e, the rules for playing young characters was only very briefly touched on. PF2e's answer is "it's a game, just do what you want." This means that your 9 year old barbarian can be just as strong and mighty as that 35 year old barbarian. The only real stipulation being "talk with others about it since some might not like playing with a young character," so just use your fucking common sense.

====Mutants & Masterminds====

[[Mutants & Masterminds]] explicitly supports playing as a child, due to a long history of child superheroes like Captain Marvel (the real one), Power Pack, and countless sidekicks. This has no inherent stats effect, Superboy is still super strong, but some trends (high power, low on skills) are suggested and it will count as at least one complication (adults treat you like a child) and generally is an excuse for more (personality flaws driven from various aspects of immaturity).

While the ability descriptions imply children should have attributes that are typically -2 and teenagers typically -1, the licensed [[DC Comics]] variant of 3E has the Marvel family and Stargirl use perfectly average stats when they lose their powers.

====Wardlings====

A 3rd party setting and ruleset for 5e, the game only permits child characters, each having innate magical abilities and a familiar. Each child adventurer's magic is fueled by their innocence and once you turn 18 you no longer get your magic. Oh, and no kid can die in-setting simce their familiar will use it's own magic to just poof the character to a safe location at the cost of aging the character one year.

====Anime 5e====

A recently launched BESM tie-in with [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|D&D 5e]] which aims to do what BESM d20 did in years past - cash in on a far more popular RPG franchise on the cheap. That said, one of the main conceits about BESM is being able to play weird character concepts such as magical girls or young mecha jocks, and since this appears to be a more-or-less redo of BESM d20 just for 5e, expect much the same.

==[[BESM|BESM 4e]]==

Playing children isn't directly supported with any specific rules but it does provide some guidelines, chiefly reducing the amount of [[Experience|Character Points]] a character has at character creation (it is assumed most characters will start with between 50 and 74 CP, children though being inferred to have between 0 and 24 CP). This can woefully weaken the character at the start of a game, though that makes sense since you are playing a child but also feels a bit out of place for a system that is meant to play a lot like your favorite [[anime]].

==Draculola==

Another RPG centered around playing lolis and shotas, this time in <s>Transylvania</s> Zitterstein. The characters are various classic Hollywood monsters like vampires, werewolves and creatures from black lagoons. Gameplay is focused around just being little monster kids wanting to make the place better apparently and actively encourages the game master to only use dice rolls sparingly and focus more on just talking about how and what the the characters are doing. If a dice roll does come up, it's a dice pool of d6s based on one of two ability scores (Kid or Monster), any powers or skills the character might have that could be used, any items said character might also have and any circumstance stuff the game master says comes up.

Characters are created by rolling 2d6 for an origin, another d6 for a "style" (more like a vague personality), a d6 for a skill, making up some Hollywood monster-like powers ("I'm a vampire so I can turn into a bat!"), something the character has difficulty with ("I'm way too curious"), then allocating 4 points between their two ability scores (start with 2 in each, may lower one to increase the other).
Lastly write down three things the character has.
It's a fairly simple system but may lean a little too hard on the narrative side of things for many people

==[[Eclipse Phase]]==

This is a rather unique case as the setting is one of "transhumanism" set in the future after a cataclysmic event rocked the solar system. In it many (if not most) people upload themselves into either android or cyborg bodies referred to as "morphs" and the process of going into a morph is called "sleeving". One of these morphs is called a "neotenic" and is meant to be child-sized if not outright child-looking. Some people sleeve into these neotenic morphs only to take up less space on spacecraft (where space is at a premium) but it's heavily implied many people who sleeve into them do so for less-than-savory reasons and people find this really gross and many locales actually have these morphs declared illegal. That said, if you're in an area where it's not illegal, go ahead and resleeve into one so you can be the little girl.

==GURPS==

Memes aside, [[GURPS]] does indeed have rules for playing lolis, almost all of which are drawbacks. So while you can, you're not given any incentive to do so except the points any disadvantage gives.

==Harry Potter and the Tabletop RPG==

It is what it says it is - a fanmade RPG for playing Harry Potter. [[Harry Potter and the Tabletop RPG|Now has a second edition as well]]. You roll up a character that is 11 and head off to Hogwarts to learn spells, kick ass and chew Hogsmeade gummies, ''and you're all out of gummies''.

There are a number of other Harry Potter style RPGs (even one other in this very list) and no doubt there will be until Harry Potter gets an official RPG this will be the case.

==Kids on Bikes==

Kids on Bikes offers the players three age ranges to play as, one being child (the others being teen and adult). Each age range gives two stat modifiers and some sort of bonus. Children, in this case, heal faster and are generally better liked. These adjustments and such don't change the largely narrative nature of the game though and based on how stats are allocated you could be stronger, smarter or otherwise better than an adult in many cases.

Also has its own board game called "The Snallygaster Situation."

====Kids on Brooms====

A spinoff of Kid on Bikes, Brooms is basically a Harry Potter system where the players take on the roles of the staff and students of a magical academy for kids and teens. The core of the system is very much the same but with plenty of additional rules for things like spellcasting and familiars.

Two big changes beyond just casting spells is the rules to make wands and to ride brooms such that there are a good selection of brooms to choose from and a variety of wands as well.

Instead of designing a town and "Power Character" for the party to live in/partially control, the group goes around the table and help design the school they will be attending/teaching at such as what is in the foreboding forest, who teaches the potions class and what the four houses the players could get sorted into are.

Overall it is a bit better than Kids on Bikes if only because character progression is more of a thing based on your grades and spells/potions learned.

====Teens in Space====

Another spinoff, this one is much more of a space pulp action game. The major conceit is that you're teens in space (duh) and the major connecting bit for the group is not a school nor a power character NPC but rather what kind of spaceship your group is in. Beyond that there is not too much of a difference.

==Konosuba TRPG==

Konosuba is one of the most popular [[Isekai]] franchises, already encompassing anime, a movie, manga, novels, spin-offs, crossovers, and enough merch to keep the franchise in the popular consciousness for several years now. A while back it also got a tabletop RPG made but the game was a fairly limited run and released only in Japan. That didn't stop some fans from outside of Japan from buying copies, scanning them and then doing translations for them.

One group of fans recently got the legal rights to make the game in English however. Coming from Yen Press, the game released in April 2022.

So why list it here? Consider that one of the main characters from the series, Megumin, was for a long portion of the series run considered by the main male lead of the series a loli because she was under the age of fourteen [[Original character, do not steal|and the game allows you to play characters incredibly similar to the main cast]], it seems to be pushing the idea that young characters are going to be incredibly normal in the game.

Oh, and Megumin's young sister Komekko is also canonically more powerful than even Demon Lords in the setting despite being only 6 years old and yeah, the setting has quite a few crazy, overpowered lolis running around.

==MAID==

A rules-lite RPG requiring only a small handful of d6s and with players rolling up randomly generated maids using a series of charts. On one chart, the player will roll twice to see what "Maid Type" they are, which ranges from things like "Cool" and "Sexy" to also including ones like "Boyish" and, of course, "Lolita." Interestingly, the game allows a doubling up of these traits so one could legitimately be a Lolita Lolita maid in the game, which is already a weird one wherein each maid is vying for the Master's affection, so if you roll Lolita then you can run around calling the Master "onii-chan" all you want until one of the other players bashes you upside your head with the book.

==Mekton Zeta==

A mecha RPG that has seen basically no update in decades but still one of the most played mecha games today. The system is incredibly modular [[Mekton|as it shows on their page here on the wiki]] but it's also flexible on what kind of character you want to play. Indeed, one of the character archetypes you can pick (if you don't want to do full character creation) is listed as "The Kid." Considering it's a common trope in mecha shows to have a kid be on the main team (whether as just a mascot who gets up to silly antics or as the main character) it fits pretty easily into the overall themes for the game.

==OVA==

Another anime-styled RPG, this one is even more open-ended than BESM but explicitly has rules for characters who are young or old in the "Ageism" weakness which has 3 ranks of severity. At rank 1 you are basically a young teen or someone past their prime, rank 2 you're a child (or simply look like one) or clearly and old ass, and rank 3 you're basically a kindergartner or someone so old they may well be on life support. These drawbacks tend to come up when you're dealing with people such as when you're trying to convince them of something like "there are monsters under the bridge." It's not exactly the best but the system is meant to be fairly open-ended so, like BESM, it works but could use some extra crunch to it.

==Pokemon==

The video games started the trend HARD of "are you a boy or a girl? Cool. You're 10 years old and here is a monster with unbelievable power. Now go out there and fight strangers with their own monsters." As such, every [[Homebrew|homebrew]] of the game has rules where it is implied or outright assumed you're a preteen or slightly older going on their adventure with their very own murderbeast.

The most notable fan game would be [[Pokemon Tabletop United]] which has rules for playing every Pokemon up through the most current video game generation as well as plenty of splats for altering the game's themes such as making it more like a classic fantasy RPG or making it a space-based sci-fi game.

==Savage Worlds==

In [[Savage Worlds]], Young is a major (8-12) or minor (12-17) Hindrance, depending on just how young you go. In addition to the social penalty, you also lose attributes and skill points, which is bad because one of the big reasons to take an Hindrance is to gain more of those. It does however give a free [[Action Point|Benny]] or two a session. The ability to trade a Benny for Power Point refill, and need for Edges (the other major reason to take a Hindrance) to know magic and improve it means loli characters can make very good spellcasters (or super science inventors, which is more or less the same as magic in Savage Worlds).

==[[Star Trek]] Adventures==

With a bit of a history of children getting into Starfleet (or at least getting caught up in the ongoing adventures of a ship or station as seen with Wesley Crusher, Jake Sisko and myriad of other kids/teens), it is no surprise that the core rulebook for this game had to make some passing mention of how old a character can be. The way they handled it? "As long as the character passes an exam to get into the Academy, they can be an officer." They do say the average age of a cadet is someone in their twenties, but they don't explicitly say you can't play younger either. So go out there and get a whole crew of rascals but beware any strange green energy beings telling you to murder all of the adults, okay?

With the release of the Player's Guide more concrete rules were finally presented for playing civilians, even kids. The rules cap their Attributes and Disciplines at a lower number (meaning it will be harder to succeed with tasks), and they lose access to a number of things adults would get during character creation. That said, they do have a few boons! First, they can add Threat to declare themselves at or very near where a scene is taking place (within reason, generally), and enemies have a somewhat harder time hitting/shooting them. They also get access to a talent that gives Threat if they fail at a task but gain Momentum if they succeed. Combine this with some teamwork talents and the ship will be swimming in Momentum in no time, but fail too much and shit could get rough. All in all, decent rules to use if you're on a Galaxy class or a space station but will be harder to integrate in earlier eras of the game.

==TLDR==
Loli is notably very '''very''' skubtastic and if anyone asks to play one (or their R63 counterpart) without the system being specifically made for playing them (such as Kids on Bikes listed above) you should really eyeball them and try to figure out why the fuck they are wanting to do so. If you get even a whiff of creepiness (beyond the typical aura most neckbeards give off, of course) or if they make anyone else uneasy with them, kick them the fuck out. You're playing a game together to have fun (hopefully), and nothing spoils fun like someone who makes other people at the table uncomfortable. This also applies double to anyone who starts being weird towards other people's child characters or child NPCs. You don't want that at your table, don't let it take root. Remember, just because they say "It's ok! She is a 2000 year old vampire!" Doesn't change that fact that it is drawn to look like a young child.

==See Also==
*[[Loli Daemonette]]
*[[Lolifex]]
*[[Lolicron]]
*[[DFC]]
*[[Lolipope]]
*[[shota|Rule 63 Loli]]
*[[Furry]]
*[[Noh]]

===Gallery===
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File:1197602511621.jpg
File:The-etymology-of-loli.PNG
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[[Category:Not related]]
[[Category:Weeaboo]]