Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
This article is a part of a How-To series aimed at both players and DMs (or whatever equivalent works for you). You will find role-playing, worldbuilding, and storytelling tips for you to make the most of the kind of game you’d like to play.
If you’re only here to see whether there are game mechanics you can use directly, I’ll save you the time and send you right to the mechanics section.
Last time I presented a quickstart general guide to the setting with its various special features. This article will concentrate on one of the tribes of Lorwyn-Shadowmoor, the kithkin. These stocky humanoids are either the plane’s most hospitable all-around good guys, or its furtive distrusting weird little hairless ewoks. It all depends on which aspect of the plane we’re talking about, and to some extent the time period.
Before we get started I strongly suggest you do some reading both from official sources and this site. The summaries for each aspect of the kithkin – Lorwyn, Shadowmoor, and Eclipsed (the present-day state of the plane, after the fusing of its aspects) – are a good way to start. You can find a list of resources at the end of this article. To keep yourself informed of any further articles please subscribe using the form below:
Contents
1. Period
Let’s get this figured out first. When will your game take place? The period will determine a lot, both on the general level and regarding each tribe. We can divide the known history of the plane into the following periods:
- Pre-Maralen
- Old blocks
- Lorwyn block
- Shadowmoor block
- Post-Oona
- pre-Invasion
- Phyrexian invasion
- post-Invasion (=Eclipsed set)
The time before the Lorwyn block is to a large extent carte blanche. You should adhere to the general principles and laws of the plane, but otherwise you can put a lot of your own stuff into the game. Just don’t mess too much with the balance of the plane (and Oona). Great Auroras happen every 300 years and at any given time only one aspect, Lorwyn or Shadowmoor, is present.
If you choose to play during either of the original blocks, you should take the story into account, but you should be okay running a parallel storyline. Which block you choose makes all the difference, as Lorwyn and Shadowmoor are exact opposites. Characters, kithkin included, will differ dramatically between aspects. Some options will simply not make sense, or be available at all. A game in Oona’s time is actually more true to the original idea of a dual plane with only one aspect active. Is this a plus? That depends. All of the periods have their pros and cons.
Post-Oona the plane goes through some tough stuff, with the Phyrexian invasion of course the worst of it all. The Invasion changed the plane most dramatically, and for the kithkin it means there’s a third subspecies available, the nomads. Also things can get complicated when there are both aspects present at once. Lorwyn kithkin can interact with Shadowmoor kithkin (the latter not very willingly), and players should be ready to have their characters flip into the other aspect, should they go into the wrong part of the plane.
2. Game length
Do you want to run a one-shot, a single adventure, or a sprawling campaign over months of game time and years of real time? Kithkin are a good choice for all of those, because they are easily understood and relatable. Sure, they have thoughtweft and all, but they are still the most humanlike.
With kithkin you should be aware of one thing, and that’s their communality. Kithkin will have lots of relatives, acquaintances, friends, and kinsmen. For a one-shot you probably won’t have to think too much about it. In a longer campaign this might require work both on the player’s and dungeon master’s side. If you want to do it by the book. Which I assume you do, because you’re reading this guide.
3. Party setup
You have a lot of options regarding your party composition, when it comes to kithkin. It of course depends on the era and the aspect you have available, or are aiming to focus on. Your choices include:
- All kithkin – the default for Shadowmoor, viable in other eras/aspects, but you’re missing out on the diversity of the plane’s species
- Mixed natives with Lorwyn kithkin (or nomads) – the most traditional party setup
- Mixed natives and outsiders – possible for later eras, when travel to the plane from other planes gets easier
These three main options leave a lot of space to manoeuvre in. The only restrictive option is a Shadowmoor all-kithkin party, where you probably wouldn’t be able to pull off any deviations. Maybe having a gwyllion join could work, but it’s not easy with the little xenophobes.
A Lorwyn aspected party should be easier to play with, regardless of the party composition. It might get more complicated if you include outsiders (characters from other planes), but that really depends on what you bring.
Whatever the rest of the party consists of, as long as you have at least two kithkin, keep in mind they have the thoughtweft. The original supplement doesn’t provide any guidelines how to handle this, so you have to either improvise, or take some inspiration in my thoughtweft solution a few paragraphs below.
4. Genre and Themes
What genres go well with kithkin?
Kithkin, especially in their Lorwyn aspect, fit nicely into most genres. You can have your classic heroic fantasy, but also stuff like crime and mystery, or even some war epic. If you set your game in the time of the Phyrexian invasion, you’ve got yourself a solid base for a horror game.
Shadowmoor kithkin are special in their paranoia, and so lend themselves especially well to horror games. Imagine a game where something haunts the doun, or stalks your all-kithkin party through the forest. You can play it nicely with the horror in question being a bunch of mischievous fairies, or a particularly playful elemental incarnation.
What themes to include?
As for themes to explore with kithkin, there are few as pronounced as community and belonging. The kithkin are very communal, and they take it to eleven in Shadowmoor. So to portray them right you should have this in mind all the time. The kithkin know each other, and probably have ties of varying warmth with everyone in their clachan or doun. A strong motivation for a kithkin character should be the well-being of their friends, and in better periods this might include members of other species.
Shadowmoor kithkin have to be special again, because they have one additional theme to include, and that is fear. Fear of outsiders, in particular. They view the world in a very insular way, and this makes them very specific in a setting where everyone else interacts. They are very focused on their doun, but there’s not warmth inside their communities. There never is, when the members are gripped with fear and paranoia all the time. Doun above all, but the bonds are harsh and cold.
Regardless of the aspect of your kithkin, there are strong bucolic and rural motifs interwoven into all kithkin. The clachans/douns are canonically the size of really small villages, and the kithkin spend much of their time tending crops and caring for animals. Sure, that’s true for a lot of pre-industrial societies, but in Lorwyn-Shadowmoor kithkin are *the* rustic guys.
Last but not least, we have the kithkin nomads. I have only touched them lightly so far, but they are are not to be omitted. You will encounter nomads only in post-invasion era, i.e. if you’d like to bring Eclipsed to the table. As we know, the nomads are kithkin that severed their connection to the thoughtweft. This must come with a great sense of loss, even if it was to escape the horrors of the invasion. You could and should make use of this in your game, because the nomads aren’t to be simply “clanless” kithkin. They’re the ones who chose to lose their sense of belonging and identity to escape the shared pain.
6. Mechanics
We finally get to the part that you might’ve been waiting for the whole time. How to use kithkin in your D&D game. Sadly the official supplement doesn’t provide much. Or let’s rather say that the solution provided is really bland. But I won’t be reinventing the wheel, so we take the base halfling species and spice it up with some Lorwyn. Or Shadowmoor.
Lorwyn kithkin
For a Lorwyn kithkin create a small-sized character with ability score increases Dexterity +2 and Charisma +1, basic speed 25 feet. Make them Brave and Nimble, same as a vanilla halfling. Ditch the rest of the traits, because we’re getting thoughtweft.
Thoughtweft lets you feel intense emotions of any kithkin within a mile. You don’t know the location of the kithkin you feel, but you know whether it’s someone close to you (and who). Like a parent, child, sibling.
You can send and receive short sentence (three to four word) messages to and from kithkin within 30 feet of yourself. It is as if speaking out loud, so you can’t send and speak at the same time.
You also gain the Kithkin Ambidexterity trait. As long as there’s another kithkin within a mile of yourself, you get the Dual Wielder feat.
Shadowmoor kithkin
To create a Shadowmoor kithkin, you will make a small-sized character with ability score increases Dexterity +2 and Wisdom +1, basic speed of 25 feet. You still get the Nimble trait, but you won’t get the Brave trait. Instead you receive 60 feet Darkvision, and mindweft.
Mindweft works as thoughtweft on steroids. You still sense intense emotions of other kithkin in a one mile radius. You can send and receive messages to and from any kithkin within 30 feet, and for members of your doun the range is 100 feet.
You can also use the Help action to aid any kithkin within range (30/100 feet) for a number of times equalling your proficiency bonus each day. In combat this could mean sending information about the enemy from a different perspective, revealing their weak spots. Outside combat you’re like a phone-a-friend.
Shadowmoor kithkin also receive the Kithkin Ambidexterity trait, giving them the Dual Wielder feat whenever they’re within a mile of another kithkin.
Kithkin nomads
Nomads are also small-sized creatures, and for ability score increase get to choose between Charisma and Wisdom for the +1 bonus. They get the Dexterity +2 as well, and their speed is 25 feet. The rest of the traits depends on the aspect they find themselves in. In Lorwyn they get Brave and Nimble, while in Shadowmoor they retain Nimble and get Darkvision 60 feet.
The nomads severed themselves from the connection with other kithkin. Therefore they have neither Thoughtweft nor Mindweft, and they also lose the Kithkin Ambidexterity trait.
What they get instead is the Closed Off trait, which gives them resistance to psychic damage, and advantage on saving throws against being charmed.
Kithkin nomads, being On the Move most of the time, also receive proficiency in survival.
Aspect Changes
As you all probably know by now, there are two aspects to the plane Lorwyn-Shadowmoor. For most of the plane’s history one has been dominant, but after Oona’s defeat, the aspects can shift and their affected regions migrate.
If you decide to play in such a period and happen to cross into the opposite aspect, native characters change, unless they have the necessary relics to stay in their own aspects. The characters remember nothing of their time in the other aspect, and their personalities change as well. You should have this in mind and prepare at least a rough outline of what would your character be like in the opposite aspect.
Mechanically I would handle it like this: your character retains all of their ability scores, proficiencies, class features, etc. What changes are the character traits. So a Lorwyn kithkin undergoing Eventide would lose the Brave trait, gain Darkvision, and replace Thoughtweft with Mindweft. And vice versa.
Conclusion
There you have it, my guide to playing the kithkin of the dual plane Lorwyn-Shadowmoor. I’ve touched both the fluff and the mechanics, and I believe the guide would help you create a fun and lore-friendly character. If you have any questions you’re welcome to write them in the comments section. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you should consider subscribing, because this is not the last of my Lorwyn-Shadowmoor How To Play articles.
Links
- General Lorwyn-Shadowmoor info
- Planeswalker’s Guide to Lorwyn Eclipsed
- Lorwyn Eclipsed tie-in stories – browse the pages until you get to Lorwyn Eclipsed
- My Lorwyn: First Light review
- Lorwyn Kithkin
- Shadowmoor Kithkin
- Eclipsed Kithkin
The card illustrations were obtained on Scryfall and all rights to them are reserved to Wizards of the Coast and/or other respective owners.
The author is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast or any other party mentioned in the text.