Daedra – The Firmament

20. Armory: Daedric Artifacts

Some of the most powerful magic items in the Elder Scrolls universe.

Armory

Daedric artifacts are a staple of Elder Scrolls games. They are powerful magical items with unique effects and varying degrees of sentience. Many of them can be easily converted into D&D; I did my best to do so following the guidelines I set for myself at the inception of this blog. For example, if there is an existing magical item whose effects fit a Daedric Artifact, I chose to use it (Mehrunes Razor – Nine Lives Stealer). Furthermore, I did not take effects from the video game and force-fit them into D&D, instead opting to create something flavorful and easily understandable. Lastly, simplicity and elegance of design are usually among my priorities. With the exception of Umbra, I don’t think I have any overly complex Artifacts.

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15. Bestiary: Atronachs

Stat blocks for the three most common types of elemental Daedra.

Bestiary

Here’s a quick post regarding atronachs. This term can be loosely translated as golem or elemental, and is used to refer to both elemental Daedra and humanoid constructs. This post will deal only with elemental Daedra, however, Atronachs are an integral part of the Elder Scrolls lore, to the extent having their own constellation and birthsign.

This post will cover only basic atronachs: flame, frost, and storm. These appear in Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, even though their design has changed through the games. The profiles below can be used to represent the atronachs from any of the games. Flesh atronachs have been left out as they can be perfectly represented by Flesh Golems from the Monster Manual.

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14. Character Creation: Exotic Races (Part 1/2)

Racial traits for exotic Daedric and Elven races.

Character Options

It has been over a month since my last post, but I hope to make up for it by making two posts concerning exotic races of Tamriel (and beyond). The first will be centered on Daedric and Elven races, while the second will deal with Human and Beast races. Each race comes with one or more of its own racial feats. The Elven races presented here can also pick the Elven Accuracy feat.

The Elder Scrolls setting features ten main races that are playable in Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim games. However, there are other races that are less commonplace for a variety of reasons. Some are not native to the material plane, some are extinct or presumed extinct, some are few in number and live in remote locations. If you wish to include the following races in your campaign, make sure you work out the character’s background and the campaign’s setting. Here are a few suggestions.

An Ayleid princess who wakes up from a 3000-year magical sleep.
A Dremora exile who was banished from his clan for sparing a mortal’s life.
A Chimer spellcaster who discovers that her teleportation spell had an unfortunate temporal dimension.
A Golden Saint beta male who would rather spend his time among mortals than be derided by his peers.
A Dwemer who went to a pocket dimension to finish writing a 15.000 page series of novels (The Symphony of Frost and Flame), only to find his race gone from the Material Plane.
A Snow Elf who is a time traveler from the future, when the Falmer have risen up and regained their former nature.

By setting the campaign at an earlier time in history (1st Era or even Merethic Era), you can make some of the races far more common, thus changing the dynamic of racial relationships. You can also run a campaign that has little to do with Tamriel and is primarily set in the Planes of Oblivion.

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