I wanted to compile a list of optional party roles. Basically, it’s something that gives the player a purpose in the party and helps delegate responsibilities in and out of the game world. You can use some or all of these roles, depending on how many players you have and which roles your group actually needs. I’ve divided them into Party Roles, Exploration Roles, and Combat Roles.
Party Roles
These are roles that players can take outside the game world. These are roles to help make the game session run more smoothly.
Cartographer: The map maker. While you might collect vague maps of the world or countries with some landmarks, there are things that are often not mapped that you will need to map yourself. The most common are dungeons and cities. The DM can describe the layout of a city as you explore it or inquire of NPCs where to find certain establishments and people. In the dungeon, I use a game mat that isn’t particularly big, meaning that often I will have to keep erasing rooms as the players progress. If a player is mapping out the dungeon, players will be able to backtrack through it and know where they are in the overall layout at any given moment, no matter how many rooms that I erase.
Leader: Another highly optional role that lends itself to players that are chaotic and all over the place. If someone is distinctly assigned as the leader, that player will give the final say to the DM about what the group is doing. Players can still make their own decisions, but nothing progresses in-game until the leader informs the DM.
Initiative Tracker: Normally, the DM is in charge of initiative. But the DM has a lot of things to keep track of! Instead, consider delegating this duty to a player who is only controlling one character (instead of several monsters). This puts less pressure on the DM and can engage players in planning. When the players know when their turn is coming up, they can plan ahead, making combat go quicker. The only times this can get iffy is when fighting creatures with legendary actions or when there is an unknown creature that the players aren’t supposed to know about (for instance, a hidden or invisible enemy). The Leader can sometimes take this role as well.
Quartermaster: If you have a lot of players, the Treasurer role can be split into the Quartermaster, who keeps track of things like rations, equipment, and items that the party has, rather than treasure.
Scribe/Historian: This role is the one that’s the easiest to leave out if players take tons of notes already. If your group does not take the best notes, someone delegated to do so can be a godsend. Players forget things all the time, especially from a made-up fantasy world. Having all the notes in one place instead of scattered throughout the team is very efficient. The ideal method of taking notes, I feel, is having a binder (so you can add pages to different sections). Then make a section for each unique location, plus one for the overall story. Then simply take notes in chronological order, so you can approximately know how far back you need to go to find a note.
Treasurer: The treasure-keeper. Their job is to write down all of the treasure that isn’t being worn or kept by a character. They don’t need to keep track that the barbarian is holding the Vorpal Longsword, but the Cloak of Elvenkind that isn’t attuned to anyone could be sold or used later, so the treasurer writes it down. The treasurer might be the one who holds the Portable Hole or Bag of Holding for the group to carry all their treasure. They should keep track of how much each treasure is worth, and potentially be the one with the highest INT or most useful tools for appraisal (like a jeweler’s kit). They can also keep track of rooms where there was treasure too large to carry.
Exploration Roles
These are in-game roles for characters to take when they aren’t in combat. This make exploration more consistent whether in the city or in the wilderness.
Creator: While it isn’t overtly a part of exploring, it is a non-combat downtime role. The creator is a spellcaster that uses some of the party’s funds to create useful magic items like Potions of Healing or sometimes even greater items. Remember that others can help you reduce the construction time of magic items, as some take a long time. The best creators have access to lots of spells so they can create a variety of items, like a druid, cleric, wizard, or sorcerer. Warlocks can also fill this role but they have less spells to choose from.
Face: The person with the highest social skills, usually the bard, rogue, sorcerer, warlock, or paladin since they tend to have lots of charisma. They are the first people to talk to a new NPC. First impressions are important, after all.
Investigator: This player is usually the rogue, bard, or wizard with the highest Investigation check. They are the ones to search for traps or investigate suspicious objects.
Lookout: This role is for the player with the highest Perception, often the ranger, druid, or monk. This player is the one who is always keeping an eye out for danger in dungeons, on the road, and in cities.
Muscle: The role for the barbarian, paladin, fighter, monk, or ranger. The de facto Athletics check for breaking down doors and moving boulders. Usually they are reserved for combat on the front lines, but sometimes their brute force comes in handy.
Pathfinder: This role is the one that makes all the Survival checks in the wilderness and helps prevent the party from getting lost. The best role for a ranger, but some druids, barbarians, or fighters might instead have skills for Survival.
Sage: Whoever has the most or best knowledge skills like Arcana, History, Nature, and Religion. Usually reserved for the wizard, cleric, druid, warlock, or sorcerer.
Scout: Combines the Pathfinder and Lookout duties into one role if you have a smaller party. The scout walks ahead of the party to search for danger. One person is harder to spot than a group of people.
Combat Roles
These roles are strictly for combat situations. Most classes already sort of know what they are useful for, but identifying these roles can let players manage spells and abilities more carefully and keep everyone alive.
Controller: The control character has some way of, well, controlling the battlefield. They can either hold down a dangerous creature so the team can take care of weaker creatures first, or restrict the movement of a larger force of enemies so they can be dealt with at a slower pace. Sometimes they have ways of moving themselves or others around the battlefield. Usually this belongs to the wizard, with access to plenty of control spells, or the druid, who has lots of movement-restricting spells.
Defender: The tank. This role tries to be the target of the majority of attacks as they tend to be the most resilient. They are aided by the party’s support and control to keep their health up and enemies off of them. Meanwhile the damage-dealer keeps up their damage from a safe position. Barbarians, fighters, and paladins make the best defense roles, though a monk can sometimes fill this role through evasive action.
Striker: The damage-dealer. They must be careful not to invoke the ire of a powerful enemy as they often are very weak. Intelligent enemies might see their threat and focus them. The best damage roles are the sorcerer, warlock, ranger (unearthed arcana version is a bit better though), monk, and rogue.
Support: The support character either protects the defender character or provides aid where needed. This can refer to healing, but can also be enhancing buffs to increase armor, health, saves, or skills. The bard, druid, or cleric usually fills this roll.
Use this series of tables to come up with random potions! You can use this as a DM to describe an unidentified magic potion that you give your players. As a player, you can use this when you create potions as a spellcaster or someone proficient in Alchemist’s Tools. Use this with the Alchemy Profession Guide!
Every potion has to be held in something! Roll on the following tables to generate a container for your potion including its material, shape, and its seal or stopper.
Roll on the following tables to create a random liquid! If you want your potion to be identifiable, try adding a telling ingredient to float in the potion. For instance, a Giant’s Strength potion can have a giant’s toe inside, while a Potion of Fly might have an angel’s feather within. A healing potion might have some medicinal herbs floating inside.
Potion Color
Potion Smell
Potion Taste
How it’s Made
Randomly describe how to create the potion. Roll twice or more on the Ingredients table. Then roll once for each ingredient beyond the first on the Alchemical Processes table to determine how each ingredient is added to the first ingredient. It might be mixed in a special way or treated in a unique way before it’s added.
I should note this is for D&D fluff and narration and is not based in science. Dissolving Aqua Fortis and Mercury in alcohol will not make a healing potion so do not drink it!
Ingredients
Alchemical Process
Potion Effects
There are many existing potions, but I feel like a lot of existing spells could be made into potions. So, I added some. I based them loosely on spell scrolls but tried to move the better ones to higher rarities because potions are objectively better than scrolls (anyone can drink a potion, only casters can use scrolls).
If you roll for a potion randomly as part of a treasure hoard, be sure it’s of an appropriate rarity for the players.
Okay, before I get into this huge megapost about social rolls let me explain what I think about rolling for social actions:
I think rolls for social skills are good. A player might not fit a GM’s assumption of a “convincing” or “charismatic” person, but their character might be just that. Not letting the player who’s spent their character resources on getting that sweet proficiency bonus and expertise on Persuasion and a huge Charisma bonus is just bad form.
Having said that, there’s a false dichotomy that usually pops up when the idea of rolling for social actions is brought up. That social rolls are simply used to fast forward through role-playing. That is not what I’m proposing.
Having run and played lots of PbtA game I’ve tried to bring the principle “to do it, do it” over. You first describe what your character is doing, then you roll the dice. You don’t say “I roll to Persuade,” because that does not describe what you’re doing. In doing that you’re skipping an important step.
There’s no need to get overtly verbose here either: some players enjoy speaking with the voice of their character, assuming an actor stance; others prefer to describe their character’s actions in broad strokes from the third person, in a directorial stance. Either way is perfectly fine to me. “I say, ‘What ho watchman, wouldst thou grant us passage?” is equally valid as “I request the guard for passage.” Now, in my mind neither of those would warrant a social roll yet. You’ve just described your intent. The GM might say that the guard grants you passage, no need to roll. Or the GM might describe the guard telling you that his orders are not to let anyone in, at which point the negotiation starts.
So, now that it’s clear what you want and it’s time to make your case, how do we go about making a social roll?
Simple: you describe what you do or say to convince the person. The GM sets the difficulty, the player rolls, and then we see what happens.
This is usually when things get messed up. The player might have rolled poorly and now you’ve just put a roadblock on the way of the players: like a locked door, only requiring a Charisma check to get through instead of using Dexterity to pick the lock or Strength to break down the door.
In some cases a failure at a social roll might have very clear and immediate consequences arising from the nature of the attempt being made: a failed Intimidation check might result in the guard calling backup, turning the social scene into a fight scene. But most of the time it doesn’t really make sense to just escalate things because of a failed social roll.
The words “No, but” are your friend here. “No, I won’t grant you passage, but there’s something you might do for me to make me look the other way.” Failure might mean paying a bribe, doing a favor, or having some other cost. Failure shouldn’t mean a roadblock: it should represent a new branch in the action.
Now let’s talk about setting the DC and other such stuff.
If the players know the person in question wants something or has a particular vice or desire, that might be worth Advantage if the player weaves that into their roll. If the player doesn’t know any such thing, an Insight roll can be used to get a read on a person. If the person is a drunkard, making a distraction by offering them a drink might work, represented by Deception with Advantage. If the person has a noble streak, arguing that letting you through in spite of their orders would be in service of the greater good might allow for Persuasion with Advantage. If the person has some person or thing they really like, using that as leverage might allow for Intimidation with Advantage.
If you haven’t thought of an NPC personality trait in advance, here’s the perfect opportunity to put all those random personality trait charts you have to good use. Heck, you might even want to roll on an appropriate Background chart almost as if you were rolling for a PC’s Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws randomly.
So, how do we set the DC? Well, the baseline DC should be 15. In a system adapted from Strike!, the DC will move up or down based on two things: the person’s attitude towards you, and whether the thing you’re asking from them is in their interests.
NPC attitude might sound familiar, because it’s a holdover from previous editions that makes sense even in the context of 5e: Hostile, Unfriendly, Indifferent, Friendly, and Helpful. The baseline DC of 15 assumes an Indifferent person, and every step towards Helpful decreases the DC by one step (all the way down to Very Easy for Helpful NPCs) and every step towards Hostile increases the DC by one step (up to Very Hard for Hostile NPCs). Whether the thing is in their interests or not is a simple thing: either the thing you’re requesting is in their interests (decrease DC by one step), it’s against their interests (increase DC by one step), or it’s not really something they’re actively for or against (DC stays the same).
So you might get the DC all the way up to 30 if you’re asking a Hostile NPC to do something against their interests, which is fine: the player should still be able to roll, albeit with a high chance of failure unless they’ve really pumped all their resources into that thing, in which case they deserve their success.
But what happens when you ask someone Helpful to do something in their interests? Well, then we hit the Secret DC That Nobody Wants You to Know About. DC 0.
DC 0 is rarely used because it’s one of those “You really shouldn’t even be rolling for this” things. For an example, walking around would be a DC 0 check. You don’t ask for players to roll for walking around, because even by the rules of Passive checks they really can’t fail no matter how low their Dexterity is. It’s not an explicit rule in the game, but it’s one that I’ve taken as an implicit thing.
In most cases a DC 0 check is an automatic success: most characters won’t have enough penalties where they might even fail such a roll. But in the rare case that a Charisma 3 character tries to negotiate, even though all the odds are stacked towards them, there’s still a chance for failure. Why? Because just like we want to reward the player who spent all their resources on being the best at negotiaton, the character who has dumped their Charisma has to feel the effects of their low Charisma should they run into a situation where they have to negotiate.
If you’d like to plug in one more thing from Strike! that I like, you could take into account Reputations. A single character in the group or the whole group might have a Reputation. A Reputation is either specific to a certain faction or location, but they might become broader in play.
Reputations shift specific NPC attitudes by one step. The three reputations are:
Famous: Treat Indifferent people who your Reputation applies to as Friendly.
Feared: Treat Unfriendly people who your Reputation applies to as Neutral.
Admired: Treat Friendly people who your Reputation applies to as Helpful.
For an example:
Black Leaf the Rogue has spent a few adventures in a city. She’s already got her future advancement planned and wants to become a Mastermind, specifically a criminal mastermind with a globe-spanning criminal empire. To this end she’s already looking to make some contacts and find out about the local Thieves’ Guild.
Black Leaf spends some downtime looking for a beggar she knows has ties to the Thieves’ Guild and is about to ask them for the basic scoop on the Guild. The beggar is Indifferent towards Black Leaf, but since Black Leaf has already gained quite a reputation within the city’s criminal underbelly for a few heists she’s pulled she counts as Famous, so the beggar is treated as Friendly. However, giving information to strangers about the Guild is against the beggar’s interests, so the DC is still a 15.
Black Leaf doesn’t like those odds (with her +2 proficiency bonus and +2 Charisma it’d be an even 50/50 split) so she decides to try an Insight check to get a read on the beggar. Successful, she gets a read that the beggar’s Ideal (determined randomly on the spot by the DM) is “Redemption: There’s a spark of good in every one.” Black Leaf spins a yarn about how she used to be a bad person who stole only for her own gain and she now wishes to put her skills to good use stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, and she thinks the Guild might be the way to do it. She thus gets to make a DC 15 Deception roll with Advantage.
Note: Edited some things; while writing the example I apparently decided in the middle of it to change the name of Black Leaf the Rogue to Sheila the Thief because my pop culture references are a strange mess.
I wish I could remember what Dragon Magazine it was, but there’s an article out there somewhere about Charisma. Including the art of persuasion and negotiation. It could be worth a look for anyone interested in adding a bit of omph to social encounters, and (if I remember right) goes into the whole “No, but” and comprimises thing for failed roles.
Do you remember what era of Dragon it was? I’d really like to look for this article. Reblogging also in case one of my followers knows what’s up.
It would have been either AD&D 1 or 2. I’ve got a little horde of Dragon pdfs that I’m gonna end up going through, cause it’s in my brain now
If you can find it, let me know! I love discovering stuff like this through reading old issues of Dragon.
I think I may have found it! Dragon #243, page 40, He’s Got Personality; or How Can You Hate a Guy with an 18 Charisma?
That’s it! I know 5e doesn’t really do numerical modifiers like 2e, but itd be super easy to turn those around as modifiers to the dc. And even without all that, the rest of the article is still a good read for various ways of using your Charisma in social situations.
And on a slightly related note, when I was looking for the article, I came across one in Dragon 233 called Going to Court. It might be worth a read for anyone into games with a lot of politics, social interactions, and rubbing elbows with the lords and ladies. Again, even if you don’t use the mechanics, the advice is still sound and it lists a ton of scenarios for people to play around with.
I get a lot of questions about homebrewing so I decided to make a big ole list of things to look at when making a subclass or even a class for D&D 5e. I’ve learned a lot from making my own brews and getting critique from others and reworking my own work, and I think everyone can benefit from these. As you are going through your finished homebrew, check for these:
Players get several different types of actions each turn: movement, an item interaction, a bonus action, a reaction, and an action. There are several potential problems when it comes to assigning abilities to these different types of actions. On one hand, you could put too many options on one action type. If every feature in a subclass costs one action, the player has potential bonus actions and reactions it isn’t using. Also, if this is a subclass, be aware that you are competing with other features of the base class.
A rogue subclass that has a ton of bonus action features won’t be able to use them if it’s using its Cunning Action every turn. The rogue also has its Uncanny Dodge taking up its reactions. This leaves very few actions to deal with as far as a subclass goes, which is why the book’s subclasses either offer passive features or spells (for the trickster).
The competition for actions can also be a good thing, but try to limit it to two distinct options. Players shouldn’t have to choose between a hundred options each round when you could give them two choices. In the case of the rogue, “do I use my reaction for this attack of opportunity, or wait in case I need Uncanny Dodge later?” Two very different options for one action that can lead to very different outcomes.
Ability Score Economy
Keep an eye on how many ability scores your class cares about. A good class really should only care about two of them. If you introduce a third one, make sure it’s tertiary and does not require as much effort to make it good, yet not breakable if the player ramps up to 20 in that stat. For instance, my Commander fighter subclass during fighter week was really reliant on CHA for a class that needs STR and CON to be good. When this was pointed out to me, I have since reworked the class entirely to not need saving throws, and instead gains a number of uses based on WIS plus a flat number. This means that even a fighter with no WIS still gets to use the abilities, but rewards the player for having a few extra points. Since the features no longer have saves, the player isn’t punished for having a low tertiary score.
Compare Similar Mechanics
The most basic way to check your classes is to compare it to other existing mechanics, but some people forget to do this. There are a few classes I made that essentially gave other classes a ranger’s animal companion. To do that, I made sure to look at the ranger’s companion feature when making those classes.
Compare Average Damage
Compare the damage output against the damage of similar classes. What matters most is damage per round, which you should usually assume takes place over 1 minute. You can use this link to calculate damage per round for fighting classes, as compiled by Kryx. There are some parts of the tables I still don’t understand, but in general this is very helpful.
It doesn’t contain spellcasters (except for the bladelock) but I have a quick way I judge a caster’s damage output. A spellcaster ideally will be frontloading its most powerful spells with some cantrips between. Assume that the class in question casts its highest level damaging spell once followed by a cantrip the next round, then the next-highest level damaging spell the next turn, then a cantrip, etc. until 1 minute (10 rounds) passes. Use the average damage for each spell and cantrip. Add all those averages together and divide by 10 to get the average damage that the character did over that minute. Overall, spellcasters tend to have a higher average damage than fighting classes, but they become balanced thanks to their limited number of slots each day. Simply because a creature has access to Cone of Cold doesn’t mean it can cast it every single round. Bear that in mind and compare to existing classes.
Check Drawbacks
Honestly, I dislike drawbacks in homebrews unless it’s for a thematic reason. There shouldn’t be a downside to something to gain an upside that is far beyond what another similar class could accomplish. Instead, that upside should simply be balanced appropriately for the situation. Drawbacks can always be negated somehow, so make sure they either can’t be worked around or ensure the effect is fully balanced. For instance, paying health can simply mean spending hit dice during a rest unless you also reduce their hit point maximum.
I was making a class that gave offerings for magical power, so I had it apply effects similar to a sorcerer’s metamagic to their spells in return for a sacrifice of gold each time. However, a player’s wealth very much depends on the DM. I ended up using a chart based on a character’s average wealth as they leveled based on treasure hoards to help choose how much gold it should cost. In the end, I decided that it should probably cost no more than a typical Potion of Healing but the effect applied to the spell shouldn’t be too much more powerful than a sorcerer’s abilities. Even if the character did have limitless wealth to use the effect on every spell, it shouldn’t be enough to break the game.
Make sure your wording is detailed and specific, and yet short and succinct. Keep an eye out for sentences that could be interpreted in a different way. Ensure the antecedent is clear. I recently noticed a spell I made referred to “creatures on the side of the wall you designate.” I meant for the caster to choose a side of the wall, not choose which creatures get affected, but it could have been interpreted both ways. Careful wording helps prevent players from absolutely busting your homebrew.
Being concise also helps overly wordy things become easier to understand. I guarantee that few players will actually read through your entire homebrew if it’s too wordy and doesn’t get the point across quick. In my future edits of my classes, I have since removed a lot of the different options that were available for things like the Xammux wizard from my wizard week, which wanted to be a hundred different classes complete with evil flesh grafting rules. Distill your class down to its essence.
What also doesn’t hurt is summarizing a feature with a sentence before defining the rules, cluing players into why the rules are that way. “A bright streak flashes from your pointing finger to a point you choose within range and then blossoms with a low roar into an explosion of flame.” Okay so it deals an area of fire damage. Got it.
Check Syntax
Try to use similar terminology that Wizards uses in their classes. I still sometimes use terminology from 3rd edition because that’s what I grew up with. For instance I will sometimes say Handle Animal instead of Animal Handling when referring to the specific skill. Just as well, I often refer to skill checks when they are technically ability checks that just happen to use a skill. I should be saying Strength (Athletics) check, not just an Athletics check. Even though it’s easier to say out loud or in-game, and on Tumblr posts I will often do so to make things easier for myself, it’s not technically correct. Look at similar existing spells and class features to figure out your wording.
It is difficult to always run numbers and playtest if you are working mostly by yourself (like me), but there are some intense examples you can test your class against to see if it can be easily integrated into the game. Imagine each of the following for your class:
Imagine the whole party was composed of this class. Would its features still be balanced or is there a way to break them? Has the damage become absurd or awful?
Imagine the class in the ideal party, with a cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard. Have your class replace any one of them and see if the party can still function. If it can’t, the class might still need balancing to be useful.
Imagine someone is multiclassing into this class after 5 levels of Fighter, or some other class that grants an Extra Attack by then. Basically, does your class become unbalanced if you give them an extra attack? Keep in mind that 5 levels is still an investment, so it usually won’t be a problem, but if the class has an extremely powerful ability that gets even MORE powerful if you can attack more than once in a turn, it might need balancing.
Imagine another class multiclasses by dipping a few levels into your class. While you usually want the class’s earliest ability to be their “schtick” that they use very often, you have to make sure it’s not so powerful that other classes can become overpowered by taking only 3 or so levels in your class. For instance, during Sorcerer Week I made a swarm hivemind subclass that essentially became a swarm, granting it resistance to physical damage. It made sense flavorfully, but someone pointed out that if a Fighter or other combat class dipped into it, they would suddenly have the resilience of a barbarian for almost no cost, in addition to all those spells. I tried fixing it and left it up but in the book compilation I’m making I actually ended up removing it to replace it with a new class.
Try thinking of other ways to test the limits of the homebrew. Chances are someone out there will want to be able to min-max your class so you have to be ready for anything.
Self-Playtest
While it’s unfeasible to playtest every single thing you make in large focus groups with detailed data collection, especially if you are by yourself and make a bunch of it like I do, you can always run through a self-playtest. All you have to do is play the class or mechanic in question in turn order against enemies of an appropriate challenge rating. Use turn order and run through the mechanic precisely as you wrote it. Check what happens if a check is failed OR succeeded to cover all your bases.
For the spells that I make, I will imagine the entire process of the spell from casting to effect (usually more for spells with a duration). Use props for minis if it’s easier. This helps the distinctions for “start of turn” and “end of turn” effects become more clear. For instance, if I have a disabling spell that requires an initial save and then give the creature a new save at the start of each of their turns, the creature might fail their initial save but then pass their start-of-turn save, meaning they will never have a single round inhibited by the spell! I might get rid of the initial save or change the recurring saves to happen at the end of the creature’s turns, so the creature will at least lose one turn on a failed save.
image source: Narsil the Broken Blade (Lord of the Rings trilogy)
I’ve always loved the bookkeeping aspects of D&D. Knowing how many rations I have on hand, realizing that swords can chip and rust easily without regular care, and being careful that my scrolls aren’t exposed to the elements. But sometimes, this sort of thing is annoying to keep track of in a campaign. So for groups that don’t want to bother keeping track of rations and how many lockpicks they have left but still want the roleplaying aspects of visiting the cobbler when their shoes have worn out, here’s a way to handle the group’s “upkeep” in a more narrative way with less actual bookkeeping until something actually needs repair.
Upkeep Roll
Whenever the players take a long rest, roll d% for the group. There is a 5% chance +2% per day traveled beyond the first that the players’ equipment or supplies need attention. If the players have been in 3 or more combat encounters since their last long rest, the chance increases by 5% that day instead of 1%. You can roll randomly to determine the nature of upkeep required:
Roll 1d100:
(01-30) Rations Low: The party’s rations have become low and they will need to make Wisdom (Survival) checks each day to hunt or gather more food or else purchase food from a merchant.
(31-40) Weapon Damaged: A weapon has become dull, rusty, chipped, cracked, or otherwise damaged but still usable. The damage of a random character’s
nonmagical
weapon is reduced by 1 until the weapon is treated by a blacksmith. A character proficient in Smith’s Tools can repair the weapon with a DC 13 Wisdom (Smith’s Tools) check. A Mending spell cannot treat the weapon due to the nature of the damage.
(41-45) Weapon Broken: A weapon has broken, becoming unusable. One nonmagical weapon belonging to a random character becomes broken. A character proficient in Smith’s Tools can repair the weapon with a DC 16 Wisdom (Smith’s Tools) check. If the break is minor (50% chance), a Mending spell can completely fix it. If the break is major (50% chance), a Mending spell only returns it to a damaged state (see Weapon Damaged).
(46-55) Armor Damaged: A character’s armor has become damaged, perhaps from rust, cracks, broken straps, or broken rivets. Leather armor could also suffer from water damage or stretching. The armor is still usable but not as effective. The base AC of one random character’s
nonmagical armor is reduced by 1 until the character has the armor treated by a blacksmith or leatherworker. A character proficient in Smith’s Tools or Leatherworker’s Tools can repair the appropriate armor with a DC 13 Wisdom (Smith’s Tools/Leatherworker’s Tools) check. A Mending spell cannot treat the armor due to the nature of the damage.
(56-60) Armor Broken: A character’s armor has been completely totaled, becoming unusable. One nonmagical set of armor belonging to a random character becomes broken.
A character proficient in Smith’s Tools or Leatherworker’s Tools can repair the appropriate armor with a DC 16 Wisdom (Smith’s Tools/Leatherworker’s Tools) check.
If the break is minor (50% chance), a Mending spell can completely fix it. If the break is major (50% chance), a Mending spell only returns it to a damaged state (see Armor Damaged).
(61-70) Clothing Worn: One random character’s nonmagical clothing has become worn out. It might be torn or have holes worn into it. Their footwear might be wearing out from travel. Travel, adventuring, and even sleep can become exhausting when your clothes aren’t cushioning you. The character has 1 level of exhaustion as long as they wear the worn-out clothing. This fatigue cannot be removed by resting (further levels of exhaustion are removed as normal unless otherwise stated). Magical means can remove the exhaustion, but it returns after 8 hours of activity in the clothing. There is a 50% chance that a Mending spell will be able to fully repair the clothing damage.
(71-75) Spell Components Low: One random character that uses spell components chooses a random spell they can cast that uses spell components. The character cannot cast that spell until they replenish their supply of spell components for that spell. This can either require a visit to a magic components shop or some gathering in the wilderness, depending on the components.
(76-90) Equipment Broken: Choose a random tool kit or nonmagical piece of equipment belonging to a random character. The item or tool kit cannot be used until it is repaired, refurbished, or replenished. This may require paying for the cost of the item/kit or a fraction of its total cost for minor problems.
(91-00) Potion or Scroll Ruined: Choose a random potion or unprotected scroll among the party. The magic item becomes unusable. Perhaps the potion spilled or the vial cracked or something else got mixed into the potion. A scroll not in a scroll case may have been burned by a spell or damaged by water or gotten torn. A potion or scroll has a 50% chance of being salvageable. A character with proficient with Alchemist’s Tools or Arcana can save a salvageable potion with a DC 14 Intelligence (Alchemist’s Tools/Arcana) check. A character with proficient with Calligrapher’s Tools or Arcana can save a salvageable scroll with a DC 14 Intelligence (Calligrapher’s Tools/Arcana) check.
Once players start acquiring more magical items, they will have understandably less chance of some of their items breaking. This is fine. If you randomly choose a character who doesn’t have any nonmagical armor/weapon to break when the party failed their upkeep check, then the players dodged a bullet. The regular wear and tear that would have gotten a regular weapon/armor didn’t affect them. This also makes upkeep less necessary at higher levels when it is merely an inconvenience.
I really like the D&D 3e Ruby Knights as a concept but I really didn’t want to remake the wheel with the Tome of Battle’s stances and maneuvers. Therefore I decided to put my own spin on the class and make a sort of fire-necromancy-illusion arcane paladin. A very sneaky gish class.
The Ruby Knights are an order of paladins that serve Wee Jas, the Ruby Sorceress and goddess of magic, death, fire, and vanity. The Ruby Knights are the weapons of the church with their own brand of both ruthlessness and stealth. The church can call upon the Ruby Knights to undertake missions that cannot be fulfilled by the clergy that might need a strong hand.
The Witch Goddess is a deity of law and protector of the dead, so she requests that her knights do the same and never disturb the dead. At the same time, Wee Jas is a deity of magic, including necromancy, and condones the reanimation of the dead provided it is done lawfully. A Ruby Knight has earned their own jurisdiction and can reanimate those that have they have slain or slain enemies of Wee Jas once they have access to the Animate Dead spell.
Ruby Knights are paladins and champions of their lawful faith. They are taught to never allow their morality and personal ties to distract them from laws of their church. This is not to be confused with honor, as Ruby Knights have no qualms about an unfair fight if it means it will bring justice to enemies of the church.
The holy symbol of Wee Jas is either a skull in front of a flame or a stylized red skull. Other symbols include skulls, bones, rubies, and magically-created fire. Most rituals involving Wee Jas involve magical fire, so Ruby Knight learn to wield this as a weapon alongside their necromantic powers.
Ruby Knight Vindicator
Tenets of the Ruby Knights:
Unwavering Law: Do not let your morals and personal ties impede your dedication to the laws of the land and laws of magic.
Death’s Guardian: Never unlawfully disturb the resting places of the dead.
Death’s Champion: You can reanimate dead that have you have slain or those slain in the name of Wee Jas.
Arcane Reverence: You observe the wisdom of those who have dedicated their lives to studying magic and respect the power and danger of magic.
Oath Spells:
3rd level: False Life, Witch Bolt
5th level: Silence, Mirror Image
9th level: Animate Dead, Fireball
13th level: Fire Shield, Greater Invisibility
17th level: Immolation, Passwall
Channel Divinity: At 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options:
Control Undead:
As an action, you target one undead creature you can see within 30 ft. The target must make a WIS saving throw. On a failed save, the target must obey your commands for the next 24 hours, or until you use this Channel Divinity option again. An undead whose challenge rating is equal to or greater than your level is immune to this effect.
Witch Walk: You use your action to turn invisible for up to 1 minute. While invisible, you are affected by magical silence and do not produce noise. You are also immune to fire damage while invisible this way. If you cast a spell or make an attack while invisible, the ability ends.
Ruby Blade: Beginning at 7th level, whenever you make a melee attack, you can use your bonus action to make a glowing red duplicate of your weapon that attacks simultaneously. With your enemy distracted, you are poised to make a devastating blow. Your attack gains advantage and you deal a bonus 1d8 damage with the attack if it hits. You have a number of uses of this ability equal to 3 + your CHA modifier. You replenish all expended uses whenever you complete a long rest.
Witch Step: Starting at 15th level, immediately after you are hit by an attack,
you can use your reaction to turn invisible and teleport up to 60 feet to a spot
you can see. You remain invisible until the end of your next turn or until you
attack, deal damage, or force a creature to make a saving throw. Once you use
this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.
Will of the Ruby Sorceress: Beginning at 20th level, you can use a bonus action to radiate a red aura out to 30 ft. for 1 minute. You and allies in the
aura take half damage from magical effects and gain advantage on saving throws
against spells. You and those allies also deal 1d8 bonus fire damage on each
of your melee attacks while in the aura.
Religions have many different aspects that should at least
be given thought if not careful consideration. Use these to guide your creative
process when developing new religions and deities.
Key Aspects
Deity/Pantheon: Your religion does not need to necessarily
have a deity, and it can even have an entire pantheon. I would venture that
while a trained priest might perhaps specialize in one deity, a religion can
have many.
Dogma: What are the principles and teachings of your religion? What does the deity implore of their worshippers? What is and isn’t allowed? What are the ethics of the religion? Why must we follow these principles?
Symbols: As important as the religion’s dogma are its symbols. How is your religion recognized on flags, tabards, armor, weapons, artwork, and holy symbols? Does your religion have a holy color or color scheme that they could use for their priestly robes?
Temples: Where are the religion’s places of worship? They could be secluded and secret or in/near cities. What do they look like? Are they merely household shrines or grand cathedrals? Do they have any distinguishing features?
Religious Practices
Rites and Rituals: What sorts of special ceremonies do the
clerics of your religion practice? Are there any special material components
that have meaning for the religion, deity, and ceremony? How long do ceremonies
take and what is supposed to come from them? Rituals always serve a purpose,
even if that purpose is merely affirming your faith. Rituals are useful as
story elements as well as for players to perform.
Affirming Faith: telling your god you’re there
and in prayer. It can be as simple as a daily prayer or weekly ceremony or more
in-depth like a monthly or yearly ritual.
Proving Devotion: proving your faith to your
god, usually meant for those who might be in doubt or who have wavered.
Initiation: rituals for new members to the
religion.
Induction: rituals for new clergy members or
clergy moving up in hierarchy.
Satiation: your deity demands sacrifice of
something valuable to you or to it.
Boon/Blessing: the ritual seeks something of your deity,
perhaps a bountiful harvest or victory in battle.
Magic: a ritual might be held to cast certain
spells or perhaps to increase the power or scope of a spell. These can also be
used in creation of magic items.
Healing: rituals for performing healing magic.
Funerals: ceremonies for the dead.
Marriage: ceremonies for binding
individuals together spiritually
Holy Days: Often rituals can coincide with special days or
times of the year. Holy days can be predicted and often signify important seasonal
or historic events. Harvest, springtime, solstice, and equinox holy days are
common, as are those commemorating the deaths of martyrs or important dates in
the religion’s history.
Myths/Legends: Are there any stories or parables that your religion teaches? What stories of the gods do they tell? Do they have any specific myths relating to things like the creation of the world, the creation of elements, the invention of everyday things, or perhaps the invention of morality?
Prayers/Sayings: To help you roleplay priests of this
religion, you can come up with some common greetings, farewells, and blessings
that might be associated with the religion. “Pelor shines upon you” and
whatnot.
People
Titles/Hierarchy: What are the ranks of the clergy and do they have any special titles? Are there any notable NPCs in the religion’s hierarchy? For instance, those that worship Mammon, the archdevil of greed are often called Covetors.
Clergy: Do the clergy perform any services for the rest of the population? Usually this involves healing or holding ceremonies, but they could have a broader scope in a theocracy or a narrower scope if secluded or unpopular. What do the clergy look like and wear? Do they favor certain classes other than clerics?
Worshippers: What sort of people are drawn to the religion? Are there certain races, classes, or kingdoms that worship them? What convinces them to follow the religion’s dogma? Is it out of fear, necessity, protection, comfort, or prosperity?
Relations: Does this religion have allies or enemies? These could either be allied or rival churches, deities, or religions. Furthermore, certain kingdoms or people could ally with or oppose the religion. Think of how each faction and religion in your world sees this religion.
Culture
Art: How does your religion express itself? Define your
religion’s art, architecture, fashion, and songs and how they compare to
other religions and cultures.
Relics: What sorts of holy relics belong to your religion?
These can be body parts or objects belonging to important martyrs or high
priests or heroes that champion the religion. These might be kept in temples or may have been lost to time. Perhaps some are magic items being used by chosen (or unscrupulous) adventurers.
Hey there, any advice on how to make a gladiator style boss rush not feel bland? Like players are fighting for their lives in an arena. I feel like after a few rounds it'll get old and that's the last thing I want to do to them
So I reached out to @eagererudite for more context. This situation involves an actual gladiatorial arena with spectators and judges. Also, they’re using D&D 5e.
First, a brief aside on game design and the intent of combat in D&D:
There’s two equally valid ways to approach combat in general, old school and new school.
In old school games (OD&D, AD&D, OSR), combat is treated like a puzzle to be solved through improvisation, cooperation, player skill, and creative thinking. Most PC’s are at a mechanical disadvantage when up against monsters; they don’t have the hit points or the attack bonuses to make straightforward “let’s hit each other with swords until one of us falls down” combat a tenable solution. You have to be crafty, or your character will most likely die.
New school games (D&D 5e, Pathfinder, DW, etc) levels the playing field between PC’s and monsters. More mechanical combat options are available to all characters, not just fighters. Encounters are typically balanced to be “fair” or “equal”. Just straight up fighting enemies is no longer an un-winnable situation, because the focus is shifted from “player skill” to “avatar skill”.
I bring this up because my advice is rooted more firmly in the old school approach. I think its application is better suited to life or death arena combat.
So how do you present arena combat as being interesting in a D&D game?
Well, I think it’s best to go all in on what a gladiatorial fight involves:
Games where combatants must fight each other under specific circumstances.
Opponents from all walks of life: slaves or prisoners just trying to survive, ex-soldiers trying to make it big, and celebrity gladiators who’re at the top of their game.
Games pitting unarmed or disadvantaged fighters against exotic beasts or animals.
A wild and rowdy crowd, cheering on their favourites and booing the losers, reacting to what the fighters do.
Rough, bloodstained terrain filled with obstacles, traps, and cover.
A capricious judge (or judges) who listens to the crowd before making the final judgment whether a contestant lives…or dies!
The players should be at a disadvantage here. This isn’t their home turf, and they shouldn’t (immediately) have their usual weapons or spell components. You need to be clear with them: Life is cheap in the arena. If they don’t improvise or fight smart…they WILL die.
My advice is to have the encounters focus less on back and forth fighting and more on the realities of the situation and surrounding environment. Ask your players “what they want to do” and remind them of what’s around them at their disposal:
Their environment: pillars for cover, sand or dirt, small stones, corpses with discarded weapons or armour. Maybe slanted walls to run or slide across. Pits with spikes maybe. Each of these things should provide a tangible advantage when used (bonus to damage or AC).
Their opponents: Gladiators are seldom dumb brutes. They’ll team up with one another, make hasty bargains or truces, and single other fighters out. Even in one on one fights, they can be chatty…and can be intimidated. A character’s skills can be used here.
Beasts and animals: They can be distracted, or befriended, tamed, or ridden. Beasts only attack if they know they’re guaranteed a kill.
The crowd: Brave actions impress them, and cowardly actions annoy them. Their cheers or their boos can provide either inspiration (advantage) to fighter’s next action, or disadvantage. Rallying or grandstanding for the crowd can be an action (contested Charisma checks) that grants advantage on the next thing they do.
The judge(s): Ideally, a judge’s temperament and tastes can be ascertained from the arena. What kind of actions that excite them. Do they prize cunning, or bloodlust? Mercy, or revenge? A popular arena fighter pleases the crowd, but a smart arena fighter pleases the judge. Their life is ultimately in the judge’s hands.
This setup is designed to promote improvisation, which will make every round of combat more dynamic. Remind your players to engage with the environment and characters, rather than look to their character sheets for all the solutions (Some solutions will absolutely come from their skills/spells).
When possible, don’t have these confrontations be one-on-one. While that can be dramatic and tense, it leaves other players out of the action. Throw everybody into the arena. Gladiator matches should be wild and messy, becoming more straight forward as the body count climbs.
Finally…have surrender be an option. This may be a life or death confrontation, but depending on the feedback of the crowd, fighters might be spared so they might can again. A judge that spares the life of a fighter now owns them. That might seem harsh, but it keeps the game moving forward. Don’t discount it.
For inspiration, watch or rewatch scenes from Gladiator (2000). See the arena fight scene in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones before all the lightsabers come out. Watch the pit deadite fight scene in Army of Darkness (1992) or the fighting pit scenes in season 5 of Game of Thrones.
All of this stuff is available on YouTube, and will help inspire you when you’re designing terrain and gladiator characters.
100 more common magical items, since the first one turned out well. This time, I included a numbers column, so that it’s more usable. Have fun!
(Note: These range from common to uncommon. In general, their cost can be higher than what it says on the sheet (about as much as 500 gp, for more powerful objects or settings where magic is rarer). They are intentionally vague at times, so that the DM can fill in whatever details are appropriate.)
Psionics and odd energy mess with sorcerers, so why not Druids and wildlife? In a pinch, it could also be used to create hybrid animals. This template is pretty experimental, so it might be updated as time goes on.
Arctic undead, because I had lots of fun with the botanic undead. These are a bit simpler, and I don’t have any lore for them, but hopefully they’ll still find a use.
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