#and I can almost add the “human” weapon flavor of service to this list too

[rain-harmonia]

Thinking about Kael’thas and how his entire life was defined by service. Service to his people, to Illidan, to Kil’jaeden

It’s the way that he loved the belves with everything in him and was willing to do everything for their survival, and it’s the way that Kil’jaeden used that (and his pride and paranoia I guess) to twist him to his will

I really love Kael’thas Sunstrider ok

#world of warcraft #kaelthas #he makes me so sad #and then he died #and denathrius went 👀 #and I can almost add the “human” weapon flavor of service to this list too #if I was not so tired I would say so much about this funky little bitch

[el-smacko]

Homebrew Downtime with Xanathar's Guide

If you're doubting whether you should get Xanathar's Guide to Everything, you should know that it made me appreciate the Player's Handbook and DM's Guide at least twice as much as I did before. The thing I loved most was its DM resource on downtime, but I really felt like it didn't go far enough/didn't manage time well/left critical things out. So I spent about 15 hours straight homebrewinng and thought I'd share some stuff. This is going to be a LONG POST.

Time Management

It made most activities take an entire workweek and that didn't quite make sense for a lot of stuff because you could conceivably do them for just a day. For instance, why should it take a week to gamble or engage in pit fighting once? Additionally, players might not want to spend several weeks without adventuring because desired actions in town take weeks at a time.

So, I divided downtime activities into Work, activities that take most of a day, and Freetime, activities that one can perform after completing a workday. A player may perform one (1) Work activity AND 1 (one) Freetime activity, or three (3) Freetime activities per day.

Work activities include pit fighting, relaxation (ironically--the idea of relaxation is to spend the whole day avoiding strenuous work for the purpose of recovery), crafting, research, training (skills/tools), work (not redundant--this involves plying one's trade), and carousing (middle or upper class).

Freetime activities include carousing (lower class), gambling, light crafting, finding a buyer for a magical item (buyers for common consumables are found as easily as any other store), crime/casing a crime, performing a religious service, light research, training (language), finding a magic seller, and general shopping.

Crime

<200gp crimes suffer no complications.

Add +1 to the success DC for every 10gp more after 50, up to 100.

Add +1 to the success DC for every 20gp more after 100, up to 200.

200gp crimes take 1 day of casing, costing 10gp

Add +1 to the success DC and 1 day of casing for every 160gp more after 200, up to 1000.

1000gp crimes take 1 week of casing, costing 20gp

Add +1 to the success DC and one day of casing for every 200gp after 1000.

Gambling

Player characters may cheat.

They may replace 1 check with a Sleight-of-Hand check, adding +10% complication chance.

They may gain advantage on any of the checks, adding +10% complication chance each.

PCs may attempt to find an underground gambling ring. Here, the base complication chance is 20%. 0 successes force a complication and the character loses 300% of their bet. 1 success gives a +50% return; 2 successes give +100% (double); 3 successes give +200% (triple).

Pit Fighting

A player character may spend a hit die (for recovery) to enter a pit fight, up to 5 hit dice per day or 10 per week.

0 successes cost another hit die. 3 successes return a hit die.

After 20 wins (fights with 2 or 3 successes), the PC gains a manager and earns +50%, with a minimum of 25gp.

Other PCs may bet on the fighting character, using their successes for the gambling outcome table.

+10% complication chance per week or per time the PC cheats to gain advantage on a check.

Player characters may attempt to find an underground fighting ring. Here, everything goes, so the PC gets no advantage for cheating. Fights are to the death, so on 0 successes, the PC loses 4 extra hit dice (maximum 5) and is forced to make death saves. The character earns double what they normally would for winning. After 20 wins, the player gains a patron with high standing in a crime organization, gaining the same benefits that a manager would provide. Other PCs may bet on their fights using the underground gambling table. The complication chance is 20% per week.

Finding a magic item seller

A town's size determines its maximum quality of magic item seller. The largest or most magical city in a region has no maximum quality.

Middle class allies may add +2 to the quality check and nobles +5, up to a maximum of +10.

They added all these common items but didn't update the fucking Magic Item Tables in the DM's Guide to include them. Instead, add Magic Item Table Z: roll d100 for the common items list on page 140 of XGtE, re-rolling 53+ since there's an awkward 52. Number each item or mark every 5 items for ease of reference.

Most towns should have an easy-to-find curiosities seller, who rolls d8 times on Magic Item Table Z, each item having a 1-in-2 chance of being fake (although, for flavor, fakes may still have a quirk or minor property, discussed below). Really talk up fakes. Buying from them incurs no complications.

In addition to the stock of any other seller, roll d8 times on Magic Item Table Z.

In addition to the inventory of sellers stocked with items from Magic Item Table B or higher, add 1d6 rolls on Table A.

To determine the spell on a spell scroll, roll 1d6 to determine spell list:

Bard

Cleric

Druid

Sorcerer

Warlock

Wizard

Then, to determine the specific spell, roll 2d20 on the appropriate list and level, adding the XGtE spells at the end, starting back at the top if the value of the roll exceeds the number of items on the list.

Tedious, yes, but I guarantee it's quicker than looking through both books to find all the spells of a particular level yourself (WHICH THEY HAVE STILL FAILED TO LIST) and then trying to determine one yourself (BECAUSE THEY STILL HAVEN'T MADE A TABLE).

Not every item needs a quirk or minor property, but some should! Roll a d20 to determine if the item has a quirk or a minor property, adding one for every roll of a 1.

When rolling for a minor property, for every roll of 10-13, roll to determine its creator to specify languages, enemies, material etc.

When rolling for a quirk, re-roll rolls of 1-3 because those are stupid. For every roll of 6 or 8, roll for a creator to determine language (for 6, only if the loud noise is a shout).

When rolling for a creator, re-roll 2-4 because humans are too general. On a roll of 20, roll a d6 to determine the past life of the undead:

Dragon or Draconic

Drow

Dwarf

Elf

Giant

Gnome

Research

Finding the materials to craft a magic item require research, unless they are scrolls or common/uncommon potions.

Light research takes a week but suffers no complications.

Because libraries were generally privately owned in medieval settings, middle class allies may add +2 to a check and nobles +5. Because churches and monasteries were huge repositories of knowledge, favors add +5.

Sages may be found while upper class carousing, in which circles they are valued for their wealth of knowledge if not for their material wealth. You may determine if they discount their services or make them entirely free as an ally.

Buying/selling/crafting magical items, including spells & potions

Common and uncommon items incur no complications.

Scribing a spell scroll

(This actually involves a rework of spell scrolls in general. A miscast variant is suggested in the DM's Guide, but the rest might be... controversial. Feel free to ignore.)

When a creature casts a spell using a spell scroll, they roll a d20. On a 20, the spell is cast without consuming the scroll. On a 1, the spell fails to cast and they must re-roll; if the re-roll is another 1, the scroll is consumed. If the character using the scroll cannot cast at least one spell, the scroll is automatically consumed.

Player characters may upgrade a scroll for which they know the spell or have it prepared, spending time and gp equal to the scroll's new level, one level at a time. They do not have to be able to cast the spell at this level; they only have to be able to cover the cost to make it.

Cantrips may be upgraded in this way, but they go up a tier for every spell level above 0, as if the character were the level required to cast the next most powerful version.

When a character casts a spell for which they also have a spell scroll, they may expend the scroll to cast the spell at a higher level equal to the spell slot level used + the spell level of the scroll (provided, of course, that the spell may be cast at higher levels). They may increase a cantrip's tier in the same way, adding +1 for the 0 level non-slot (for instance, a cantrip augmented by a 1st level spell scroll would be cast at the 3d tier--0 + 0 + 1--, which is usually 3x damage).

Characters may also upgrade a spell scroll to decrease the chance of it being consumed by 1 by spending the time and gp normally used to upgrade the spell to a higher level. This can be done any number of times, but upgrading the scroll to a new spell slot level resets the preservation upgrades.

You may notice that after enough time and money, a PC would essentially gain the ability to cast a spell for free. However, this is balanced by the fact that the cost, both material and labor, of making even a 1st level spell free in this way is prohibitively high for lower-level players at 4750gp and 9&1/2 weeks. A 2nd level one would cost 9500gp and take almost half a year (19 weeks). Lower-level players might discover that they can make a cantrip scroll that they may use to cast the spell at 2nd tier (usually for 2x the damage) for 475gp in only 3 weeks. This is hardly game-breaking and rewards players for ingenuity.

Shopping at a smithy

If there is a high-enough quality smithy and if the materials are available in the region, they may offer mithril or adamantine weapons and armor.

Armor costs 2d6x150gp, or at least double what it would cost at a magic shop because of its increased availability.

Weapons cost an additional 500gp on top of weapon price.

Only melee weapons may be adamantine (mithril is too flexible) and they crit on 19s (if the wielder is proficient).

Only ranged weapons may be mithril (adamantine is too rigid) and they crit on 19s (if the wielder is proficient).

Optionally, you can get adamantine ammunition for mithril weapons at 20 per quiver. Rules for ammunition recovery apply as normal.

Optionally, you can add an Indian whip-sword called the urumi, which I highly recommend you look up. One-handed and made of mithril with a d6 damage die, it has a reach of 10ft. and crits on a 19, but the wielder must have proficiency in whips and all swords, or it acts like a steel greatsword.

Favors may be used to silver a weapon for 100gp at the temple of a god of forging.

Training

PCs may buy a manual from a trainer for 1000gp.

Manuals can be read in 70 days, minus a number of weeks equal to your Intelligence modifier, minimum 7 days.

Manuals may be read during a long rest, subtracting 1 day. If a PC manages to maintain an Intelligence modifier of +9 or higher during a long rest (requiring a minimum score of 28), subtract 1 week.

If a manual is read during an hour-long short rest, a PC may make a DC 15 Intelligence check (for languages) or a DC 20 Intelligence check (for tools, skills) to subtract 1 day. If the player manages to maintain an Intelligence modifier of +9 for the duration of the short rest, automatically pass the check.

#dnd #dnd 5e #xanathar's guide to everything #xgte #player's handbook #dungeon master's guide #dm's guide #dnd homebrew #d&d #d&d 5e #d&d homebrew #wizards of the coast #dm tips #dungeon master tips