Normal PC behavior |
128 More Downtime Activities Chapter 8, “Adventuring,” of the Player’s Handbook describes a few downtime 01–10activities to fill the void between adventures. Depending on the style of your campaign and the particular backgrounds and interests of the adventurers, you can make some or all of the. The 5e DMG has a short section on “handling mobs:” it has a chart for approximating, out of a group of attacking monsters, how many monsters hit. It’s pretty simple: subtract attacker’s hit bonus from the target’s AC. Cross-index that number on the chart. Jan 25, 2019- This Pin was discovered by Madison Lutz. Discover (and save!) your own Pins on Pinterest. Jan 25, 2019- This Pin was discovered by Madison Lutz. Character Questions Dungeon Master's Guide Dnd Stats Dnd Classes D&d. Dungeons And Dragons Rules Dungeons And Dragons Homebrew Dnd Monsters Tabletop Rpg Tabletop Games Dnd 5e.
Make it RainRain down bullets in a target location dealing 80/115/150/185/220 +80+ bonus AP over 2 seconds and slowing targets hit by 28/36/44/52/60% for 0.25 seconds. Ultimate 6000 dmg mf build. NEVER use it to poke enemies as the mana cost is pretty high and doesn't really do much damage as it scales from AP. The slow is refreshed if an enemy stays within the target location.This is mostly used for the slow or to check brushes instead of facechecking. It can be used to close a space between you an an enemy or to run away.
Now, I have played in games where we didn't receive gold. The organizations we worked for (guilds, crusades, etc) paid for our expenses, or the good we did for others was enough to make sure we always had enough favors to call on that we could use to stay alive. But that also isn't an interesting choice. Besides, adventuring for gold is so ingrained in modern players, from video games, novels, and even RPG experience. Players expect cool treasure.As I laid out last week, the allure of cool magic items at high costs can certainly give a player something to save up for, to forego their usual routine of hoarding gold or just buying health potions and ten-foot-poles until their backpacks explode.
But what if you have a low-magic campaign setting?
Goals for Gold
It's accountancy that makes the world go 'round |
But in a low-magic campaign, you can still use the idea of a distant goal to encourage long-term planning. This should be a similar mindset to how players look forward to gaining new abilities and deciding if they should multiclass. If they know about how much gold they can squeeze out of a dungeon, that gives them a timeline before they have their own sword of sharpness. That makes them want to keep playing.
So even if magic items and wizards everywhere isn't your bag, you can still create a world that asks characters to engage with the economy and make big choices.
Living Expenses
The only thing he can afford is a generic surly Scottish accent |
First, living expenses as a low-level character suck. If every weekend you go out dungeon-hunting and earn 100GP, then 10 GP of living expenses is the difference between an extra healing potion and nothing. It can be difficult to track, but we're setting up a bigger picture here: that gold is necessary in the world, and that at higher levels players might be able to break out of that cycle.
Second, living expenses can represent much, much more that a paltry 1GP per day. Perhaps the cleric in the party is required to tithe 10% of his share to his temple, or the place will fall into ruin and he will be ousted from the church. Perhaps the fighter has a family back home that he sends care packages and gold to. Even the classic 'orphan urchin' adventurer has to have a bond to something or someone. Fellow urchins, people who helped them (such as an orphanage), or even charities could be linked to the character and require occasional monetary support.
Is 10% too much? 5 out of 5 greedy players say yes |
The point of all this is to give players a regular way to interact with their gold, and set up challenges when it comes to saving up for the bigger items.
Home Sweet Home
Not pictured: your players |
Well, let's fix that. Here are some ideas for the benefits granted by each of the Strongholds listed in the DMG. I've also included the businesses listed in the 'Maintenance Costs' table (DMG pg. 127), since a business whose only purpose is to generate more gold is no better than the other strongholds listed.
- Abbey: no longer must pay tithe, personal center for historical and magical research, open to many faiths, can house a brewery run by monks, can cast abjuration spells and divination spells at higher levels or as rituals
- Farm: living expenses cut in half due to food provisions, garden provides herbalism components, stables can house horses and other mounts, pens can hold livestock for bonus on business rolls
- Guildhall: living expenses cut in half once you gain 50 guild members, skilled hirelings available for small tasks at no cost or large endeavors at half cost, armory/arcane lab/poisoner's room available based on type of guild
- Inn, rural: living expenses cut in half, starting rumors takes half regular time, small quests can be found immediately
- Inn, town: living expenses covered, starting rumors takes half regular time, well-paying quests can be found immediately
- Keep: living expenses covered, barracks for hirelings, thick walls and guards, personal jail cells, might include library/smithy/docks, renown increases, stables can house horses or other mounts
- Lodge: Living expenses halved, hunters and wilderness guides available for no cost, stables can house horses or other mounts
- Noble Estate: wealthy living expenses covered, barracks for hirelings, thick walls and guards, personal jail cells, might include library/smithy/docks, renown increases significantly, garden provides herbalism components, stables can house horses or other mounts, personal graveyard for fallen friends, noble cartographers can help map world/plan journeys, personal armory, free hirelings up to small squad
- Outpost: living expenses cut in half, barracks for hirelings, thick walls and guards, personal jail cells, hunters and wilderness guides available for no cost, stables can house horses or other mounts
- Palace: requirement to rule a city/ country, aristocratic living expenses covered, barracks for hirelings, thick walls and guards, personal jail cells, includes library/smithy/docks, renown increases significantly, garden provides herbalism components, stables can house horses or other mounts, personal graveyard for fallen friends, noble cartographers can help map world/plan journeys, personal armory, starting rumors takes half regular time, well-paying quests can be found immediately, free hirelings up to small militia
- Shop: items shop sells have price cut in half for personal use, starting rumors takes half regular
- Temple: no longer must pay tithe, personal center for historical and magical research, open to one faith, can automatically gain inspiration from performing services, can cast divination/conjuration/necromancy spells at higher levels or as rituals
- Tower: half living expenses covered, barracks for hirelings, thick walls and guards, personal jail cells, might include library/smithy/docks
- Trading Post: living expenses cut in half, items shop sells have price cut in half for personal use, starting rumors takes half regular
And still not enough room for the greedy characters.. |
Old School Cool
Finally, you might consider a classic method for using gold in very old-school D&D: Gold as experience.
Let's see if you survive this next one |
In that way, players are paying for their levels. The key here is making enough gold available. Use a creature's experience point value as a guide to how much gold they might have on their person. If it seems like a monster wouldn't carry that much gold (what would a ghost do with 1,100GP?) then redistribute the gold into quest rewards, treasure hoards of more appropriate monsters (the necromancer who raised the ghost might have a chest laden with gold), or simply have the players find the gold in chests or dusty corners over the course of the adventure.
If you decide to do this route, I would either give the players more gold than they need or have them only able to buy experience with it. Each of these options presents a different playstyle that could suit a group better.
- If you give the players extra gold, they may resort to living a squalid lifestyle just to level up more efficiently. Remember to use real-world consequences for such actions. Nobles will not give them quests, guards who need bribes will not allow them to access certain places, and other adventurers may look down on them.
- If you only allow players to use gold on experience, I would either set aside a list of magic items that each player receives upon leveling up (as part of the 'cost' of leveling), or place more magic items in your dungeons to make sure the PCs can also have the gear they need at higher levels.
This picture is just too good. Is it going out or in? Does it matter? |
Thanks for reading! More older/unfinished roguish archetypes…
COURTESAN
While most rogues and thieves' guilds concentrate on coin, gems, and other forms of wealth, some choose to walk a different path. Courtesans are more concerned with the value of flesh, the whispered secret from a lover, or the ease with which a knife can sink into the back of a trusted lover. Courtesans, unlike the more pampered concubine, live on the streets and accept -- and perhaps enjoy -- the ever present danger that exists in the alleys far removed from perfumed chambers of their more delicate courtesan cousins.
Courtesans excel equally in the arts of seduction and combat, leaving not only a trail of lover's tears, but sometimes one of cooling bodies.
Saving Throws. Some of your features require your target to make a saving throw to resist the effect. The saving throw DC is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier.
ALLURING HINDRANCE
Starting at 3rd level, either through your exceptional attractiveness or magnetic personality, your enemies are loathe to harm you and tend to pull their blows. While you are not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Charisma modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.
Once per short rest, as a bonus action, you can intensify your allure such that a single creature you select that attempts to harm you with an attack or a spell must first make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature must choose a new target or lose the attack. This effect lasts for 1 minute or until you make an attack or cast a spell that affects the creature.
Additional Option: If your campaign uses an Appearance or Comeliness attribute, consider allowing the use of a disguise kit to add to this attribute for 24 hours. The DC is chosen at the time of application; DC 10 to add a +2, DC 15 for +3, and DC 20 for +4. Three failures consumes the disguise kit.
SEDUCTIVE ARTSWhether it’s just stunning physical appearance, enthralling personality, or another ethereal quality, you stand out from the masses. Beginning at 3rd level, you can use an action and attempt to charm a humanoid that you can see within 30 feet. The victim must make a Wisdom saving throw, and does so with advantage if you or your companions are fighting it. If it fails the saving throw, it is charmed by you for 1 hour or until you or your companions do anything harmful to it. The charmed creature regards you as a friendly acquaintance.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your to your proficiency bonus minus 1 before needing a short rest.
Additionally, once per long rest, using a bonus action, you may choose to spurn a creature that is currently charmed by your Seductive Arts. The targeted creature must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature suffers an amount of psychic damage equal to your sneak attack dice and is stunned until the end of your next turn. On a successful save the creature suffers half the damage with no stun effect.
A Tempter can maintain a comfortable lifestyle at no cost during downtimes if they spend their time practicing their 'art'. A 'grittier' campaign (or DM with a cruel streak) might require a DC 10 Constitution saving throw after each downtime spent working to avoid contraction of diseases. It might also be within reason to always apply the results from the roll of 31 - 40 on the carousing table (DMG, Pg. 128).
PILLOW SECRETSStarting at 9th level, your ability to seduce and sway emotions leads many lovers to spill their deepest secrets. When you are faced with needing a bit of local knowledge or the answer to a particular question, you may ask the DM a single question concerning a specific goal, event, or activity that occurred or is planned to occur within 30 days.
You must be located in the town or area relevant to the question and spend 48 hours working your network of contacts. The DM will offer the facts in regards to the question, though the reply might be a short phrase, a cryptic reference, or technical in nature.
If you use pillow secrets two or more times before finishing your next long rest, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance for each use after the first that you recall the wrong or misleading information. The DM makes this roll in secret.
PROFOUND BETRAYAL
Dnd 5e Dmg Pg 128 9
At 13th level, you are able to twist and destroy those who trust and love you the most. If you choose to attack a creature that is under the effects of your seductive arts, your sneak attack damage for that attack is doubled. Attacking a creature charmed by seductive arts in this manner immediately breaks the effect.
In addition, your knowledge of emotional manipulation renders you immune to charm effects.
ENTHRALL
At 17th level, as a bonus action, you can attempt to deepen your hold over a creature that is under the sway of your Seductive Arts. The creature must be within your sight and able to hear you and is allowed a Wisdom saving throw to resist this additional effect. On a successful save, the charmed condition from seductive arts remains in effect.
On a failed save, you can issue commands to the creature, which it does its best to obey. You can specify a simple and general course of action, such as “Attack that creature,” “Run over there,” or “Fetch that object.” If the creature completes the order and doesn’t receive further direction from you, it defends and preserves itself to the best of its ability. This effect lasts for 1 hour.
You can use your action to take total and precise control of the target, carefully controlling and manipulating it with subtle body cues and verbal commands. Until the end of your next turn, the creature takes only the actions you choose, and doesn’t do anything that you don’t allow it to do. During this time you can also cause the creature to use a reaction, but this requires you to use your own reaction as well.
You can choose to end the enthrall effect early (and abruptly) causing the creature to become confused (as per the spell) for one round.
You may use enthrall once per long rest.