Out of the Abyss Svirfneblin and Derro NPCs

Art by Russ Nicholson from
AD&D 1st Edition Fiend Folio

 I’ve written up the following stat blocks for Svirfneblin and Derro NPCs who are tougher, more capable or more talented than the average of their race. 

Deep Gnome Svirfneblin

The basic Svirfneblin stat block is from the 5E Monster Manual (2014) and these are my variants. 

The Burrow Warden and Burrow Warden captain are the elite soldiers and guards of deep gnome society. Although now few in numbers in Blingdenstone after the drow attack, they are recruiting new members. 

The Stonespeaker and Elder Stone Speaker are the clerics of the deep gnomes and in Blingdenstone most of them follow Entemoch. 

Svirfneblin Burrow Warden

Small Humanoid (Gnome), Neutral Good

AC 16 (Chain Mail), HP 21 (3d10+6), Speed 20ft, Base Profic Bonus +2

Str 15 (+2), Dex 14 (+2), Con 14 (+2), Int 12 (+1), Wis 10 (0), Cha 9 (-1)

Skills: Investigation +3, Perception +2, Stealth +4

Senses: 120ft Darkvision, Passive perc 12

Languages: Gnomish, Undercommon, Terran

Challenge 1 (200xp)

Stone Camouflage: Svirfneblin has advantage to Stealth checks when in stony terrain

Gnome Cunning: Svirfneblin has advantage to Intelligence, Wisdom & Charisma saves vs magic 

Innate Spellcasting: Svirfneblin can cast the following 

At Will: Non-Detection (self only)

1/day: Blindness/Deafness, Blur, Disguise Self

Gear: Chain Shirt, War Pick, Dagger, 2 poisoned darts

Actions: 

War Pick, melee attack at + 4 to hit for 1d8+2 piercing damage

Poison Dart: missile attack (range 30ft/120ft) at +4 to hit for 1d4+2 piercing and target must make DC 12 Con save or be poisoned for 1 minute

Bonus Actions: 

Second Wind. The svirfneblin burrow warden can regain 1d10+2hp, usable 1/day 

Dagger, melee attack at +4 to hit for 1d4 +2 piercing damage (offhand) 

Svirfneblin Burrow Warden Captain

Small Humanoid (Gnome), Neutral Good

AC 16 (Chain Mail), HP 52 (7d10+14), Speed 20ft

Str 15 (+2), Dex 14 (+2), Con 14 (+2), Int 12 (+1), Wis 12 (+1), Cha 10 (0)

Skills: Investigation +3, Perception +2, Stealth +4

Senses: 120ft Darkvision, Passive perc 14

Languages: Gnomish, Undercommon, Terran

Challenge 3 (700xp)

Stone Camouflage: Svirfneblin has advantage to Stealth checks when in stony terrain

Gnome Cunning: Svirfneblin has advantage to Intelligence, Wisdom & Charisma saves vs magic 

Innate Spellcasting: Svirfneblin can cast the following 

At Will: Non-Detection (self only)

1/day: Blindness/Deafness, Blur, Disguise Self

Gear: Chain Mail, War Pick, Dagger, 2 poison darts

Actions: Multi-attack - burrow warden Captain can attack twice per turn with war pick

War pick, melee attack at + 5 to hit for 1d8+2 piercing damage

Poison Dart: missile attack (range 30ft/120ft) at +5 to hit for 1d4+2 piercing and target must make DC 12 Con save or be poisoned for 1 minute

Bonus Actions: 

Second Wind. The burrow warden captain can regain 1d10+6hp, usable 1/day 

Dagger, melee attack at +5 to hit for 1d4+2 piercing damage (offhand) 

Svirfneblin Stonespeaker

Small Humanoid (Gnome), Neutral Good

AC 15 (Chain Shirt), HP 16 (3d6+6), Speed 20ft, Base Profic Bonus +2

Str 15 (+2), Dex 14 (+2), Con 14 (+2), Int 12 (+1), Wis 14 (+2), Cha 9 (-1)

Skills: Investigation +3, Perception +2, Stealth +4

Senses: 120ft Darkvision, Passive perc 12

Languages: Gnomish, Undercommon, Terran

Challenge 1 (200xp)

Stone Camouflage: Svirfneblin has advantage to Stealth checks when in stony terrain

Gnome Cunning: Svirfneblin has advantage to Intelligence, Wisdom & Charisma saves vs magic 

Innate Spellcasting: Svirfneblin can cast the following 

At Will: Non-Detection (self only)

1/day: Blindness/Deafness, Blur, Disguise Self

Clerical Spellcasting, using Wisdom (Save DC 12, +4 to hit with spells):

(spells here are the default and can be changed to other clerical spells as needed

1/turn Cantrips: Guidance, Sacred Flame, Light 

1/day 1st level: Cure Wounds, Bless, Create Water

Gear: Chain Shirt, War Pick, 2 poison darts, holy symbol

Actions: 

War Pick, melee attack at + 4 to hit for 1d8+2 piercing damage

Poison Dart: missile attack (range 30ft/120ft) at +4 to hit for 1d4+2 piercing and target must make DC 12 Con save or be poisoned for 1 minute 

Svirfneblin Elder Stonespeaker

Small Humanoid (Gnome), Neutral Good

AC 15 (Chain Shirt), HP 33 (6d6+12), Speed 20ft, Base Profic Bonus +3

Str 15 (+2), Dex 14 (+2), Con 14 (+2), Int 12 (+1), Wis 14 (+2), Cha 9 (-1)

Skills: Investigation +3, Perception +4, Stealth +4

Senses: 120ft Darkvision, Passive perc 14

Languages: Gnomish, Undercommon, Terran

Challenge 2 (450xp)

Stone Camouflage: Svirfneblin has advantage to Stealth checks when in stony terrain

Gnome Cunning: Svirfneblin has advantage to Intelligence, Wisdom & Charisma saves vs magic 

Innate Spellcasting: Svirfneblin can cast the following 

At Will: Non-Detection (self only)

1/day: Blindness/Deafness, Blur, Disguise Self

Clerical Spellcasting, using Wisdom (Save DC 12, +5 to hit with spells):

(spells here are the default and can be changed to other clerical spells as needed)

1/turn Cantrips: Guidance, Sacred Flame, Light 

1/day 1st level: Cure Wounds, Bless, Create Water

2nd level: Hold Person, Prayer of Healing, Silence

3rd level: Dispel Magic, Daylight, Meld Into Stone

Gear: Chain Shirt, War Pick, 2 poison darts, holy symbol

Actions: 

War Pick, melee attack at + 5 to hit for 1d8+2 piercing damage

Poison Dart: missile attack (range 30ft/120ft) at +5 to hit for 1d4+2 piercing and target must make DC 12 Con save or be poisoned for 1 minute 

Derro

Derro don’t really have a society, more of a mob mentality twisted by various forms of insanity. The basic derro is described on p224 of Out of the Abyss, and their sorcerous spellcasters, the Derro Savants, are on p225. The Derro Stabber and Derro Murderer here are talented in stealth and ambush tactics rather than sorcery, and will try to sneak attack any opponents. They have no formal training, but hone their vicious skills by trial and error, and by killing anyone they think they can get away with. 

Derro Stabber 

Small Humanoid (derro), Chaotic Evil

AC 13 (leather armour & dex bonus), HP 13 (3d6+3), Speed 30ft, Basic Profic Bonus +2

Str 9 (-1), Dex 14 (+2), Con 12 (+1), Int 11 (0), Wis 5 (-3), Cha 9 (-1)

Skills: Stealth +6

Senses: Darkvision 120ft, passive perc 7

Languages: Dwarvish, Undercommon

Challenge: ½  (100xp)

Insanity: Derro has advantage on saves vs charmed or frightened

Magic Resistance: Derro has advantage on saves against spells & magical effects

Sunlight Sensitivity: Derro has disadvantage on attack rolls and perception checks while in sunlight

Sneak Attack: Once per turn if derro stabber has advantage on to hit roll or an ally of the derro is within 5ft of target and the derro stabber does not have disadvantage, it can do extra 2d6 damage (same damage type as weapon being wielded), 

Gear: Leather armour, shortsword, light repeating crossbow, 10 bolts

Actions:

Shortsword: melee attack at +4 to hit for 1d6 +2 piercing damage

Light Repeating Crossbow: Ranged attack (40ft/160ft) at +4 to hit for 1d8 +2 piercing damage

Bonus Action: Cunning Action. Derro stabber can take a bonus action to make a dash even if in combat, or to Disengage. 

Derro Murderer

Small Humanoid (derro), Chaotic Evil

AC 14 (leather armour & dex bonus), HP 27 (6d6+6), Speed 30ft, Basic Profic Bonus +3

Str 10 (0), Dex 16 (+3), Con 12 (+1), Int 11 (0), Wis 5 (-3), Cha 9 (-1)

Skills: Stealth +9

Senses: Darkvision 120ft, passive perc 7

Languages: Dwarvish, Undercommon

Challenge: 2  (450xp)

Insanity: Derro has advantage on saves vs charmed or frightened

Magic Resistance: Derro has advantage on saves against spells & magical effects

Sunlight Sensitivity: Derro has disadvantage on attack rolls and perception checks while in sunlight

Sneak Attack: Once per turn if derro murderer has advantage on to hit roll or an ally of the derro is within 5ft of target and the derro stabber does not have disadvantage, it can do extra 3d6 damage (same damage type as weapon being wielded) , 

Gear: Leather armour, shortsword, light repeating crossbow, 10 bolts

Actions:

Shortsword: melee attack at +6 to hit for 1d6 +3 piercing damage

Light Repeating Crossbow: Ranged attack (40ft/160ft) at +4 to hit for 1d8 +3 piercing damage

Bonus Action: Cunning Action. Derro murderer can take a bonus action to make a dash even if in combat, or to Disengage. 

The Shadowdeep and the Underdark

Out of the Abyss

 After my last gaming group ceased I am now gathering a new band of adventurers and hoping to start a new campaign at our local boardgames cafe. This time rather than Descent into Avernus, I am going to run Out of the Abyss, another 5E hardback book for a campaign that should take the PCs from level 1 all the way up to high level (enough to take on demon lords at the end). This adventure combines two well-known aspects of D&D - the Underdark and demons. 

Out of the Abyss starts with the characters as prisoners of the drow, along with a motley crew of fellow prisoner NPCs with their own backgrounds and motives. The first half of the adventure is about escaping the drow and the underdark and making it back to the surface while realising that demon lords are being summoned to the underdark and wreaking havoc. A bit like Descent into Avernus, I get the impression that the book contains the framework and major plot points of the adventure, but as the DM I will probably be fleshing out a lot of the encounters and obstacles along the way. I might be posting some of my homebrew stuff for Out of the Abyss in a similar way to my Descent into Avernus posts: we'll see how things turn out. 

The Underdark 

Although man-made dungeons (or at least humanoid-made) have been part of D&D since its inception, and smaller natural caves and caverns likewise, the idea of the Underdark, a sprawling network of natural caves miles deep beneath the surface containing races and monsters that have never seen the light of the sun really started with D1: Descent into the Depths of the Earth, written by Gary Gygax and set in Greyhawk. That series of modules introduced the kuo-toa, the svirfneblin and drow (technically making their first appearance in G3: Hall of the Fire Giant King but really making their presence known in D1). The authors of the Forgotten Realms picked up that idea and ran with it, particularly R. A. Salvatore and his novels about Drizzt Do'Urden (I remember reading and enjoying the Dark Elf series, especially Homeland, which gives Salvatore's dark and gothic view of drow society in Menzoberranzen). Since then it has been a regular feature of D&D through the years. 

There have been numerous products that have looked at the underdark. Off the top of my head and from my own bookshelf, I would list

• 1st Edition AD&D D1: Descent into the Depths of the Earth
• 1st Edition AD&D D2: Shrine of the Kuo-Toa
• 1st Edition AD&D D3: Vault of the Drow
• 1st Edition AD&D The Dungeoneer's Survival Guide
• 2nd Edition AD&D The Night Below (boxed adventure)
• 2nd Edition AD&D Drizz't Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark
• 2nd Edition AD&D Menzoberranzen boxed set
• 2nd Edition AD&D The Drow of the Underdark (FR sourcebook) 
• 3rd Edition D&D The Underdark (FR sourcebook)
• 3rd Edition D&D City of the Spider Queen

And of course there are plenty of fan projects and products

I may be speculating here, but I think it scratches a particular itch for exploration in a truly alien and dangerous environment. Real world caves are still a dangerous place to go if you are inexperienced and unprepared. And they do have ecosystems of sorts, from bats and bears near the surface to blind fish and albino insects much deeper. The ancient civilizations (Greeks, Meso-Americans and others) knew of these caves and thus began the idea of the mythic underworld, leading to the realm of Hades. It is no coincidence that many depictions of Hell from the real world place it deep underground. 

The D&D Underdark is a mythic underworld of sorts, albeit codified and statted out for game rules. In a way it is the ultimate megadungeon - no party can hope to clear it out or even explore it entirely. For the most part the PCs will be away from safety, supplies and other benefits of towns and cities. It requires an expeditionary mind-set with preparation, plenty of supplies and an awareness of the challenges. Light is almost entirely absent, navigation is very difficult, food is hard to find and sometimes even the air one breathes cannot be taken for granted. Combine that with the psychological effects of isolation, claustrophobia, the threat of underground hazards such as cave-ins and chasms and it becomes clear why the Underdark takes on a reputation of being one of the most hostile environments a D&D adventurer can enter. 

Mystara's Shadowdeep

Does Mystara have an underdark like Oerth or Toril? Yes, although it is generally refered to as the Shadowdeep. A while ago I posted Tilphon's Journal of the Shadowdeep, the account of an Alphatian explorer starting his journey in the Shadowdeep beneath Brun. It has not yet received a part 2, but I think that is more because I am not used to the in-world journal style that I had a go at with that post rather than the environment being explored - I nearly always write from a DM's point of view not that of a character.

Nonetheless, in my version of Mystara the Shadowdeep is there, albeit one of the least explored aspects. One of the things I have drawn upon is issue #14 of Threshold Magazine. Threshold is an amateur magazine put together by members of the Vaults of Pandius and its associated Mystara forum on The Piazza. 

Another important source has been the Gazetteer books, particularly Gaz13: The Shadow Elves. There are hints of underground realms in Gaz2: Emirates of Ylaruam, Gaz7: The Northern Reaches, Gaz4: The Dwarves of Rockhome  and quite a lot in Gaz10: Orcs of Thar. Nonetheless, the Shadowdeep is a lot less developed than Faerun’s Underdark, probably because Mystara and B/X D&D has a vastly smaller audience than the Forgotten Realms and whatever the current edition of D&D is. The bad news is that this means more work for DMs wanting to run Shadowdeep adventures and campaigns. Good news is that the DM has a much more free hand in what they want to put there. And of course just because something in the gazetteers is canon, it doesn’t mean the DM has to stick to it in their campaign. If they want to replace shadow elves with drow or have drow as rivals to the shadow elves, that’s really up to them.

Having said that, I feel it is a good thing to keep the Shadowdeep distinct from the Underdark. I do not intend to bring drow, mindflayers, duergar, svirfneblin and the like to Mystara in this blog - the Shadowdeep is its own thing. To be honest I have mentioned kuo-toa in a post involving fish-folk. Although amusing at the time, I am not sure if it was sensible in the long run. A long time ago I did  a similar post about my homebrew world of Kaelaross and its possible underdark, but I really didn’t come up with anything concrete or playable. And it is a big topic (and geographical volume) to explore and develop. 

My current view is that it is something I can work on in various blog posts. I have a tendency to flit between realms and topics on this blog - Karameikos one week, Norwold another, then new spells, then a homebrew mini-adventure. So I’m not going to make a grand commitment to produce a new quasi-gazetteer, but I’m leaving the Shadowdeep open for me to visit in later blog posts. 

My Experience of D&D through the Editions

 

art by Jeff Easley

This post is my opinion based on my own experiences and is not intended to be a definitive history. 

I have recently gotten hold of a PDF of the Holmes Basic edition of D&D. For those that don’t know, this was the edition that was intended to smarten up and clarify Original D&D (the three white books), then encouraged players to move on to Advanced D&D, yet was also the direct ancestor of Moldvay Basic D&D, which is the set I first had and was my introduction to this hobby. I was going to write about just Holmes Basic and what can be borrowed from it in my B/X D&D Mystara campaign, but I’ve ended up thinking about all editions of D&D. 

My Feelings on the Matter

I think a lot of people can get defensive and close-minded about editions. In my 40 years in the hobby I have seen a number of edition wars, waged in the Forum pages of Dragon Magazine, the early Usenet forums on the nascent world wide web and of course other online places like Reddit, EN World and various blogs. One thing that irks me is when people decide quite arbitrarily what is or is not “proper” D&D. This is often based on what edition they grew up with and played with their friends when they were discovering  the game. I think it’s quite normal and natural to have a favourite edition, and that is probably going to be influenced by nostalgia. I myself wrote this blog because I wanted to get back to Moldvay Basic D&D, which I was given for Christmas 1982. It still is my favourite edition. But I try not to confuse nostalgia with being the “correct” edition, especially when talking to others. 

I have always acknowledged that D&D is always changing. It has ever since it was first published. There are those who denounce the the three supplements to the white booklets, Supplement 1: Greyhawk, Supplement 2: Blackmoor & Supplement 3: Eldritch Wizardry as deviating from “proper D&D” which should be the three booklets (Men & Magic,  Monsters & Treasure, Underworld & Wilderness Adventures) and nothing else. Thieves? Variable damage dice for weapons? Different hit dice for classes?  Bah! Newfangled nonsense!. And I believe the game will continue to evolve. 5.5E probably won’t be the final edition. That doesn’t mean I will definitely play 6th or 7th edition if and when they are published, but I’ll try to have an open mind about them and not be bitter about WotC abandoning MY edition, or resentful to those who play the new ones. Players and DMs who prefer the older editions can still continue with the books they already have - the two downsides are that firstly WotC (or whatever publisher) won't be putting out more support for that edition; secondly new editions will split the fan base and a large number of players will move along to the new edition, reducing the number of potential players for the old edition. 

I also think it is quite reasonable to like or dislike rules and mechanics within each edition. Some will veer towards the crunch-heavy side (5E and 3.5E spring to mind) while others will go for as rules-lite as possible (OD&D or its OSR imitators).  Rules vs Rulings is often a matter of taste rather than objective quality. Sometimes the size of the books is more dependent on the options available rather than explaining the underlying mechanics - new races, feats, classes, subclasses, prestige classes, kits, spells, equipment, magic items and the like can all add to the page count.  And I have seen lots of discussions (sometimes heated) about the pros and cons of different mechanics and rules, usually on the internet. 

WotC can piss people off. And as a big corporation they have made some bad business decisions. That Pinkerton incident (yes I know it was about Magic the Gathering, not D&D, but it is still the same corporation) will haunt them for a long time. Good - they deserve to be reminded of it. And that attempt to rewrite the OGL did not go down well with anybody else. But I don’t think we should look at TSR through rose-tinted glasses either. Gary Gygax’s treatment of Dave Arneson, Lorraine Williams ousting of Gary in turn, TSR’s ferocious approach to amateur D&D work on the early web all show that big businesses will behave like big businesses. I remember on the Usenet forums before TSR went bankrupt it was regularly referred to as T$R, and some players were regularly advocating piracy as T$R didn’t deserve their money. Despite all these corporate shenanigans I have not been put off from buying TSR or WotC products as long as I am interested in the actual product. Other people can boycott WotC if they want, and I’m not going to argue with them. But I don’t have to join in either. 

My personal experiences with D&D Editions

OD&D (Gygax & Arneson, 1974): I do have the PDFs, but I have never actually played it. Seeing as I don’t have Chainmail rules, I don’t think I’ll even try as it looks like a disorganised mess. But I do know that other people still play it and that retroclones of it have done well. 

Holmes Basic D&D (Eric J Holmes, 1977): Like I said earlier, I have recently acquired the PDF. It is interesting and is the branching point for B/X from AD&D. I probably won’t use anything in it but it is nice to read as an important part of D&D history. The presentation and explanation has greatly improved from OD&D.  

B/X D&D (Moldvay, Cook, Marsh, 1981): The first rules I owned (the magenta Basic D&D box with Keep on the Borderlands), and the rules I played with in prep school (ages 10-12). Very formative years, and lots of nostalgia. I still like the relative lightness of the rules even if I have sometimes found the race-as-class idea somewhat restrictive. 

BECMI D&D (Frank Mentzer, 1983): I was given Mentzer's Expert boxed set rather than the Cook/Marsh one, with the Larry Elmore cover. I reckon BECMI is so close to B/X that they are effectively the same edition though with very different presentations - perhaps Basic D&D 1.5. I also have the Companion rules and the Masters Rules (though the Masters Rules are only as a PDF). Honorable mention goes to the Rules Cyclopedia, the most complete game in one book that I own, and it is often the D&D book  I take on holiday. Incidentally this is the edition I used to play D&D with nephews and nieces a long time ago (we had a week's holiday together and they were between 8 and 12 I think - the oldest is now 26). 

1st Edition AD&D (Gary Gygax, 1977+): This is what I started playing at boarding school, particularly the earlier half (age 13-15). Again lots of nostalgia during formative years. I had nearly all the hardback books.  The fact that it was Advanced, not Basic, made us feel more grown-up.... There are things about this edition that I still enjoy and refer to, such as the appendices in the back of the DMG. 

2nd Edition AD&D (David Zeb Cook, 1989): The later years of boarding school (age 16 to 17) saw the introduction of 2E and my D&D friends and I switched. There was of course the assumption that newer is better, but we ended up playing a mash-up of 1E and 2E, with older modules, assassins, monks and half orcs making their appearances in our 2E games.  I still like how 2E clarified the rules, improved the Ranger and Bard classes, actually had a consistent mechanic for surprise and was a little less arbitrary than Gary’s 1E. However, it was also somewhat less flavourful and played it a bit too safe (I was disappointed at the initial lack of devils & demons, though they were brought back later). I bought more 2E books at university (including Dark Sun, Planescape and lots of Forgotten Realms books) but at university I never really found a group I was comfortable playing with. 

3rd Edition D&D (Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Jonathan Tweet, 2000): I bought a lot of the books but I didn't get to play much - this was definitely a dry period, where I spent a lot of time world-building and dreaming of creating great adventures and supplements but never getting them further than my hard drive. There were some things about this edition I really liked, but others I was less enthusiastic about. One of the great things was the Open Game License which allowed all sorts of third-party products including adventures, settings and even whole games based off D&D, which led to retro-clones and the OSR. The thing I least liked about this was the increasing complexity  - the skills system, calculating monster XP, the massive bloat in terms of feats and prestige classes. A lot of my world building and unpublished adventurers ended up summarising NPCs as race, class & alignment rather than doing proper stat blocks, which could get really big for high level characters. 

4th Edition D&D (Rob Heinsoo, James Wyatt, 2008): I skipped this one. I did actually buy the three core books but on perusing I decided I didn’t like it. I didn’t even get to try the mechanics - I was put off by the radical changes to things like races, alignment, adding new classes & races, dropping established ones and telling players and D&Ds  “Don’t bother trying to convert your old campaign to 4E, just start a new campaign with these new classes, races & cosmology”. And I just went “Nope.” The best thing that 4th Edition did was to push me towards the OSR (Old School Revival) where I found retroclones such as OSRIC, Swords & Wizardry and of course my favourite, Labyrinth Lord, which led me back to Basic D&D. To be fair there wasn't much opportunity for actual play during this period either. However, I became more active on the internet, including joining EN World,  Dragonsfoot and the now-defunct Goblinoid Games forum. And of course I started my blog during this period. 

5th Edition D&D (Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, 2014): I bought the core books fairly early on, soon after each one was released, but I didn’t get to play until a few years ago at a board games cafe. Since then I’ve played more 5E than almost any other edition. The current edition always has a competitive edge over out-of-print editions, and although I was hoping to run a B/X game, the demand was for 5E. It turns out to be a pretty good, decent system - the campaign would not have lasted 2 years if I thought the rules were complete crap. It is more rules-intensive than B/X or AD&D, but not intolerably so. The campaign I have been running has recently ended unexpectedly. This is sad, but I do not regret the time and effort I spent running it. The two years or so DMing the campaign has meant I have gotten used to 5E and perhaps even some confidence in running it. Beforehand I had the books but really didn’t know what it felt like to play: Now I do.