Professional Documents
Culture Documents
— Nerdarchist Dave
The Fifth Edition content this time around is inspired by a video from Nerdarchy the YouTube channel — Oasis of the Lost and
Forsaken. For this material we tried something new and playtested it for our monthly Patreon one shot. The players brought myriad
skills and abilities to bear discovering the secrets of the Forgotten Oasis and provided valuable insights to help make this content
ready to drop right into your game.
Credits
Writing: Megan R. Miller
Editing and Layout: Doug Vehovec
Cover Art: Ashkan Ghanbari
Interior Art: Nelson Vieira
Product identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a,
Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters, place names, new deities,
etc.), dialogue, plots, story elements, locations, characters, artwork, sidebars, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously been
designated as Open Game Content are not included in this declaration.)
Open Game Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the material in this Nerdarchy game product is Open
Game Content, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a Section 1(d). No portion of this work other than the material designated
as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form without written permission.
2
Magic, monsters and mysteries for Fifth Edition
The Forgotten Oasis An altar in front of the double doors is laden with
various offerings, though they all appear old and
with a thick layer of dust upon the lot.
Adventure Hooks
Included in this pile is a golden chalice worth 500
• A group of travelers went out into the desert and gold pieces, an ornate carved wooden box filled
went missing some months ago. That happens ev- with incense worth 250 gold pieces and loose coins
ery so often, and no one ever hears of them again. totalling 300 sp.
• If your party just so happens to be travelling in the Wooden pews line the area. Also in this room are
desert, the oasis can easily come to them. three desert echoes that will manifest themselves
and attack the party if they try to take anything
• Any travelers finding themselves weary and run- from the nave.
ning low on water tend to find themselves drawn in
to this place. 2 Southeastern Chamber
Oasis and the Poison This room appears to have been a supply closet for
this place when it was once a temple. There is a box
The oasis appears to travelers in the desert in with 6 potions of healing shunted into the back of
moments of great need. Those who are becoming one of the many wardrobes lining the walls here,
dehydrated and beginning to hallucinate might and a skeletal corpse lying face down on the floor.
summon it simply by force of their need for suste- The moment this room is breached, a tethered one
nance, and it does indeed prove to be an excellent will appear and fight the party.
place to rest to begin with.
There are many robes of the priesthood in this
room, all in good quality. The corpse is still lying
Palm trees stretch lazily over a lake with drinkable
there in its gear — good leathers, a quiver with 10
water. The immediate effect is to remove all levels
arrows strung across the back and a note tucked
of exhaustion from the person who drinks from it,
into one of the pockets with a coin purse.
but 1 minute later they must succeed on a DC 17
Constitution saving throw or be put to sleep and
“All right. Velinda’s making us write these ‘just in
pulled beneath the oasis.
case’ letters. You know. ‘Just in case we die’ letters.
I guess so if we go down there isn’t a fight over our
1 Nave gear. Which is stupid because doesn’t she know I’ll
live forever?
The party wakes in a 90 ft. by 90 ft. foot temple.
There are four wooden single doors, two on the But if it makes you feel better, Velinda, I’m doing it.
east side of the room and two on the west, and one Phoebe doesn’t care about money, so you can have
set of stone double doors on the north end. whatever coin I have on my person and Myr can
have my ring. As for her, just let Phoebe know…
The double doors are locked by magic, with no hells. I always had a bit of a thing for her. Tell her I
door latch or keyhole to be found. There are, how- liked the way she got dimples when she laughed.
ever, four animals scratched into the door with And tell that bastard Lurevai at the thieves’ guild I
sockets where their eyes should have been. The hate him.
animal images are of a desert fox, an eagle, a scor-
pion and a snake. -Alton”
3
A desert echo.
4
There is a plain golden ring on his finger — the ring 4 Chapel
of appraisal. The coin purse holds 20 gp and a small
fire opal worth 75 gp. This fits in any of the animal This room appears to have been for private prayer.
eye sockets, but its correct correspondence is with Beneath the smaller altar at the front of the room
the desert fox. there is a box containing 10 candles worth 50 gp
each. These candles are the very same ones re-
3 Library quired for the rituals described in the books in the
library. The moment this room is breached, a teth-
This chamber was once a library, the rounded walls ered one will appear and fight the party.
lined with shelves and stuffed with books. There
are both holy texts here and instructions on how to There is a skeletal corpse seated on one of the
perform some of the rituals once performed in this prayer benches, still wearing what are clearly a sor-
temple. cerer’s robes and with a pair of gold-rimmed spec-
tacles of the traveler dangling in front of empty eye
The moment this room is breached, a tethered one sockets. In one of the pockets is a spell component
will appear and fight the party. pouch, a pouch of coins and a note.
More skeletal remains lie in this room, clad in plate “To Whom it May Concern,
armor with a satchel tied at its hip and a greats-
word still clutched in one hand. A successful DC 12 I am Myr and if you are reading this, I am dead.
Wisdom (Medicine) check reveals this person went If it is a friend who reads this, help yourself to my
down fighting. things. I trust you to sort it out the way it will best
work. If it is an enemy who reads this, help yourself
There is a bracelet of trading on the skeleton’s wrist to my things. I can’t stop you now, anyway.
and a note tucked into the coin purse.
Regardless, I would request that my earthly remains
“My Dear Companions, be returned to the city of my birth. The location
should be written on the back of this letter. While
If you’re reading this it’s because I’ve fallen in the there remains no one who should care that I specifi-
line of duty. My brother is my next of kin and he re- cally have been taken out, the city will have a place
sides in a town called Silverside down by the coast. for me and they will be inclined to treat you kindly
His name is Kelithac. I want you to offer him half for my return, as I was one of theirs.
of whatever gold I have on me. You may split the
remaining half amongst yourselves. May you always have a place that regards you as its
own.
Phoebe may have my bracelet, as she has its twin.
She may give it to whoever she thinks it benefits the -Myr Ulthos”
most. Perhaps Alton. He tends to be up close and
personal when he has the option to do so. In the coin pouch there are 100 gp and an obsidian
We have had our ups and downs, my friends, but I gem worth 75 gp.This fits in any of the animal eye
love you each dearly. Mourn as you need, but keep sockets, but its correct correspondence is with the
going. scorpion.
6 Sanctum
7
Friend or Foe The Math of Language. If Digit is immersed in a
language and accumulates 12 hours of listening to
people speak it, he becomes able to speak it con-
Digit versationally as well. It is possible for some trouble
to emerge from this, as Digit will be more likely
Arithmetic Golem. Some constructs are made for to understand the literal meanings of the words
fighting and protection. Digit was created more as rather than their intentions.
a secretary than a bodyguard for one of the most
powerful lords in the desert. The Odds. Digit has an excellent understanding of
structure and probability; he can point out the weak-
One of his functions is as a calculator, but he is est point in a structure, reducing the DC of breaking
also very good at determining the weak points of it by at least 2. He can also assess a situation and give
structures and calculating the odds of surviving a the party an idea of how likely it is to kill them based
given encounter. on the information he already has. For example, if
there is a person in a room that he has yet to see fight,
Sunk in the Sand. While most of the sapients that he will have to base his information off of the last peo-
have found themselves trapped in this place have ple he has seen in action and the average of them.
died and become spirits, Digit does not require
food to sustain himself and just continued on here Actions
for lack of the rest of his caravan.
Power Surge. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit,
When they were dragged under, he allowed him- range 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (3d6) force damage.
self to be brought with them. Digit understands
that the lord he travelled with is gone and not Arcane Overload (Recharge 5-6). Digit overcharg-
even a ghost remains of him now, and he is more es his arcane core and lets out a pulse of magic.
than willing to leave if the party can find a way out Creatures within 10 feet of Digit must make a DC
of this place. 14 Constitution saving throw or take 22 (4d10)
force damage, or half as much on a successful one.
Digit will take no actions in combat except to de-
fend himself.
Digit
Medium construct, no alignment
Armor Class 15
Hit Point 46 (8d8 + 20)
Speed 30 ft.
Forgotten Acolyte
use your bonus action to issue a command. At the
You are versed in things ethereal. When you take this
end of the duration the soul dissipates and passes
patron at first level you become proficient with the
on. You cannot reclaim the soul a second time.
Religion skill. You have advantage on diplomacy checks
when dealing with ghosts that can understand you.
You may also use a bonus action to consume one of
the souls from your Medium’s Reliquary, healing a
Medium’s Reliquary
number of hit points equal to your Charisma modi-
At 1st level you are bequeathed an artifact called a fier + your warlock level.
Medium’s Reliquary as a token from the Forgotten
Goddess. This can look like any item through which Medium’s Reliquary Table
you can see a glow from the inside: a gem in an ele- Warlock Level Creature
gant necklace, a wrought iron lantern or an orb affixed 1st Shadow
to the end of a staff are all perfectly viable options. 6th Specter
10th Will-o’-wisp
The Medium’s Reliquary holds souls. Whenever a crea- 14th Banshee
ture you can see dies within 30 feet you can use your 17th Wraith
reaction to capture its soul before it can pass on. This
ability has no effect on undead or constructs. Your Nexus Miasma
Medium’s Reliquary can contain a number of souls
equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1). At 6th level, you harness the power of the Goddess’s
The souls inside your Medium’s Reliquary are safe, miasma and are able to put it to work for you. As an
and unaware of what is happening around them action, you emit a misty miasma of chaos in a 15 foot
within or outside. radius. Creatures you choose that begin their turns
within your miasma must succeed on a Wisdom saving
As an action you can release a soul from your Me- throw or become swayed by your chaotic emanations.
dium’s Reliquary. The soul manifests as a creature Whenever an affected creature takes the attack action
based on the Medium’s Reliquary Table. The crea- it must choose the target at random from among the
ture is under your control for 5 minutes and you can creatures it can see within range of the attack.
9
From the Silent Shore ghost form ends with you on the ethereal plane,
you are shunted back onto the material. In ghost
At 10th level, you may take a soul from your me- form, you do not have to breathe, and you have
dium’s reliquary and place it into another body. resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing
As long as that body is capable of life, the soul will damage from nonmagical weapons.
take root in it, and for all intents and purposes be
alive again. The creature has the same stats they Swarm of Souls
used to, but with the racial modifiers of their new
body rather than their old one. Starting at 14th level, you may surround yourself
with a swarm of souls for one round from your
Of Flesh and Soul and Malice medium’s reliquary, as well as pulling any from the
surrounding area. Any ghosts within 100 feet of
At 10th level, you gain the ability to take a ghost you are drawn to your side in a phantasmal vortex.
form. While in ghost form, you may use a bonus ac- Creatures you choose that you can see must make
tion to enter t he ethereal plane from the material a Wisdom saving throw or take 10d10 necrotic
and vice versa. When you are on the ethereal plane, damage. You may then regain that many hit points.
you can see 60 feet into the material plane and If the save fails by 5 or more the target also ages 1
vice versa. You can move through other creatures year per spirit in your vortex. You may then reverse
and objects as if they were difficult terrain. You your own age by that many years if you choose as
take 1d10 force damage if you end your turn inside you siphon the life from your targets. You may not
an object. You may maintain this for a number of use this ability again until you have completed a
rounds equal to your charisma modifier. If your long rest.
10
Mage Forge Bracelets of Trading
Wondrous item, rare, requires attunement
The sand lasts for one hour. For the duration of the
sand falling, that creature is in a state of suspend-
ed animation. It does not make any death saving
throws. You may turn the hourglass back over as
many times as you want.
11
Monster Menagerie Incorporeal Movement. The desert echo can
move through other creatures and objects as if
they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force
Desert Echo damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
Collected Souls. A desert echo is a gathering of Nexus Miasma. Any creature who starts their turn
the spirits of the wildlife that have died in the un- within 5 feet of the desert echo must make a DC
forgiving climates of the desert. They are typically 13 Wisdom saving throw or become swayed by
formed around any power nexus like old wizard the chaotic emanations of the desert echo and no
towers, ruined temples and lost cities being good longer able to discern friend from foe.
examples of such locations.
If the creature uses its action to make a weapon
The echo itself is a mix of the life force of the attack it makes the attack against a randomly
creatures who have died in the area and a little bit determined creature within its reach. If there is no
of awareness given by the nexus itself. A desert creature within its reach, the creature does noth-
echo cannot be removed from the location of its ing this turn.
creation.
Actions
Dozens of Faces. The desert echo appears to be
a conglomeration of many different deceased Withering Touch. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit,
creatures, brought and held together by the pow- reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (4d6 + 3) necrotic
er of the nexus that formed it. The center of this damage.
creature could be described as a writhing mass of
ghost flesh, out of which talons, paws, faces and Etherealness. The desert echo enters the Ethe-
tails sometimes emerge, distinct from the rest. real Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa.
It is visible on the Material Plane while it is in the
Desert Echo border ethereal, and vice versa, yet it can’t affect
Medium undead, any alignment or be affected by anything on the other plane.
Tethered One
Tethered One
Medium undead, any alignment
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 63 (14d8)
Speed 0 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover)
15
OPEN GAME License Version 1.0a The following text is the property of
Wizards of the Coast, LLC. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc 9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish up-
(“Wizards”). All Rights Reserved. dated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this
License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally
1. Definitions: (a)”Contributors” means the copyright and/or trademark distributed under any version of this License.
owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b)”Derivative Mate-
rial” means copyrighted material including derivative works and transla- 10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with
tions (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, every copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute.
correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation,
abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, 11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open
transformed or adapted; (c) “Distribute” means to reproduce, License, rent, Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written
lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; permission from the Contributor to do so.
(d)”Open Game Content” means the game mechanic and includes the
methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content 12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of
does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game
prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then
Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but
specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) “Product Identity” means prod- 13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to
uct and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of
dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termina-
elements, dialogue, incidents, Language, artwork, symbols, designs, tion of this License.
depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, pho-
tographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descrip- 14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforce-
tions of characters, Spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, able, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to
likenesses and Special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, make it enforceable.
Equipment, magical or supernatural Abilities or effects, logos, symbols,
or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark 15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wiz-
clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, ards of the Coast, LLC. System Reference Document 5.1 Copyright 2016,
and which specifically excludes the OPEN Game Content; (f ) “Trademark” Wizards of the Coast, LLC.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris
means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Perkins, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb,
Contributor to Identify itself or its products or the associated products Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original
contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) “Use”, “Used” material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
or “Using” means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate
and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) “You” http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/systems-reference-docu-
or “Your” means the licensee in terms of this agreement. ment-srd
2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that
contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be
Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to
any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or
subtracted from this License except as described by the License itself. No
other terms or Conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content
distributed using this License.
3.Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate
Your acceptance of the terms of this License.
7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity,
including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed
in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of
that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adapt-
ability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with
a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in
another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or
Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game
Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Encounters for 5th Edition you can drop right
Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content
shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity. into your game! OUT OF THE BOX puts 55
dynamic scenarios in your hands, ready at
8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly
indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open any moment to engage and challenge play-
Game Content. ers and their characters. Check it out here.
16