Not QUITE a TPK...

But you could see one from there!

I know my players read these, so I'm going to try to avoid campaign spoilers.  But there will be some.

Last night the party, currently made up of: Loria the elf Ranger, Arnik the half-elf sorcerer, Merrin the halfling cleric, Wrenaldo the half-orc paladin and Morwen the half-elf druid, ventured into a swampy valley to try and track down the "shape-shifting creature" that has been dwelling there and spooking the local gnomes.

They agreed to do this in lieu of helping the gnomes with their bounty hunter problem, which is what they promised the local Gnome druid, Stump, in exchange for his help.

They scouted the valley and explored fairly carefully, using Locate Plant and Animal rituals to find
the most likely hostile beasts.  They also encountered a strange web of corruption affecting some of the creatures, leading back to the location where they scryed a giant spider lair.

As they approached the lair, I felt like things got a bit weird.  First, they made almost no attempt at stealth.  Several of the characters are very sneaky, but no stealth or scouting was done.  Next, there was no shapeshifting/scouting from the druid.  They've used that in the past to good effect, but not today.

The result was that they stumbled into the "welcoming committee" without any sort of advantages or setup.  First, they were charged by an enormous, corrupted wolf.  Good positioning and a lucky roll meant they slowed it and weren't overwhelmed by it's charge, and they started hitting on it, aided by a Faerie Fire spell.

It became obvious pretty quickly that the wounds they inflicted were rapidly closing - the thing regenerates swiftly.  Then a strange magical effect hit the ranger, filling her lungs with swampy water.  She saved, then inexplicably dropped her bow and headed into combat range with her short swords against the regenerating wolf-beast.

Rich Longmore

She has low AC and few HP, so that was dangerous and it was also notable that, after an initial missed Flame Bolt, nobody tried to use any fire-based effects on the regenerating wolf-thing.

It was also a bit odd that, despite a magical effect filling somebodies lungs with swamp water, everybody stayed pretty close to the edge of the slough. Which turned out to be a mistake, as the horrible animated swamp-corpse undead scrambled out, clawing the everliving FUCK out of the cleric (Crit #1).

The ranger and the paladin kept pouring futile physical attacks into the regenerating wolf until the wolf landed a max-damage bite that one-shotted the ranger to less than 0.  The NPC fighter failed her CON save, so she started to drown, but luckily everyone else made their save.

Then the swamp-corpse smashed the cleric another one (Crit #2) and he ALMOST just straight died from damage.  He was at -20 with 21 base HP.  So now we have 3 members of the party making death saves, the paladin at very low HP and the sorcerer and the druid right next to a very nasty undead.

Then they got a bit of luck.  The sorcerer finally brought the wolf-beast to 0 hp using something OTHER than physical damage, so it stopped moving.  The druid dropped some heavy Radiant damage on the undead thing with Moonbeam, and the Paladin smoked it with his enchanted glaive, so the undead broke for the slough and escaped under the water.

Then the ranger rolled a 1 on a death save, the NPC failed a second death save, and the players who were still upright did some healing and bandaging to keep everyone alive, followed by an "ahem" strategic withdrawal.

It was odd, though.  After so many sessions of careful planning, scouting, avoiding danger,  they walked into this session without much of that and JUST. GOT. CREAMED.  I'm fascinated to see what they do next...

D&D With Kids Part 2: The Gates of Karak Norn

When we left our intrepid band of kid D&D players in the first episode of D&D With Kids, the party, Kriv the dragonborn fighter, Foxy the human druid and Adrak the elf rogue, along with their animal friend, Scruffy the wolf, were just entering the lower entrance complex of the dwarven city of Karak Norn.

They encountered a handful of goblin sentries (more on that later) and defeated them handily, so the second session started in one of the main halls.

Right away I ran into a bit of an issue.  Iris' friend Julius, who is 6, wanted to play too.  I didn't want to spend a bunch of time making a character, so I was initially stumped, but then I ran upstairs, printed a Beast Card for Scruffy.  I forget where I got those, but whoever made them did a great job!

So Julius had a fairly simple character, and played Scruffy to great effect.

Dyson's Darking Depths

I used one of +Dyson Logos excellent maps for the entrance complex.  They had reached the diamond-shaped chamber in the center.

I decided that I didn't want this to turn into a combat-heavy dungeon crawl, so I was thinking about ways I could make sure that didn't happen.  I decided (nebulously) was to have factions - the goblins, a dwarven guardian of some sort, and some kind of animals.  Also I figured on incorporating some way the kids could scare off the goblins.  Little did I know they already had me covered!

When they explored the diamond-shaped chamber, they found that the two attached rooms on the north walls contained working dwarven ballista, used for room defense.  They investigated them but didn't do much else, then moved on to the large chamber to the north.

The Dwarf Guardian
I decided that this room would have the dwarven guardian.  The central area looked like a statue, so I put a huge dwarven golem on the plinth.  When they entered and I described it, the thief, Adrak, immediately headed over to touch it, despite Kriv's warning that it looked dangerous.

The golem awoke, and after a short conversation, offered them a deal.  Get rid of the goblins - don't care how, and the golem will open the gates to the city.  They agreed, then headed off to find the goblins.

I made it clear at this point that there might be a lot of goblins, and if they attacked mindlessly, I would kill their characters.  It sobered them, so they came up with a plan.  Kriv and Foxy manned the two ballista in the entry hall, and Adrak volunteered (with Scruffy's help) to lure out the goblins so they could shoot them with the ballista.  Not a bad plan...

The Goblin Chief
Adrak entered the room to the right of the diamond-shaped chamber, which proved to be a dwarf boot-room, and encountered 3 goblins, one of whom had an alarm gong and mallet.  Adrak doesn't speak Orcish or Goblin, so he didn't understand when the goblins asked him who he was and why he was there and where the sentries (amember them?) were.  He didn't make any hostile moves, so they went and got Grung, their chief - you could tell he was chief because he wears the BIG HAT.

Grung!

Grung spoke enough common to negotiate, and the kids got a real kick out of my goblin voice.  After
much laughter, Adrak negotiated with Grung that the goblins would leave and meet the party on the other side of the mountains, whereupon the party would give the goblins 25% of the treasure they found inside the dwarf city.  Grung didn't understand %, but agreed when Adrak explained that meant "most of it".

Adrak told Grung that the sentries were "asleep" and "wouldn't wake up", but panicked a bit when Grung headed off to yell at the sentries for sleeping on the job.  Grung yelled at them for a bit, but they didn't wake up, since they were dead, and Grung started to get mad, but turned and realized that two huge crossbows were pointed at him.  He immediately surrendered unconditionally.

Kriv speaks Orcish, so it was lots of fun to have Grung switch from broken Common to fluent Orcish.  The kids all laughed when he went from "No KILL GRUNG!" to "Ah, you speak a civilized language.  There is no need for bloodshed, I surrender unconditionally."

Faced with the threat of the crossbows, the Goblin chief agreed to leave, especially once Adrak confirmed that the "most of it" deal was still in effect.  About 50! goblins filed out, driving home the point that fighting would have been a baaaaad idea.

Couple of notes on running games with kids here.  First, they can come up with some pretty great plans.  Second, funny voices and accents go over really well.

The party then returned to the golem, who confirmed that the goblins were gone and opened the gate to the dwarf city.  It warned them that the city was long abandoned, and that it had no idea what they would find.

God of Fish
Beyond the gate they found a large cavern full of water, with a number of large square stone columns emerging from the water.  It appeared to be an ancient bridge that had been taken down by the dwarves.

The water was deep and dark, and the columns were too far away to jump to.  They discussed several different ways of bypassing the water, but having Scruffy with them made everything harder.  I reminded them that Foxy can change into animals, including possibly a fish.  Foxy immediately jumped into the water.  She wanted to change into a goldfish, but I reminded her that if there was anything dangerous in the water, it might be nice to have teeth, so she changed into a giant pike instead.

Probably RAW (Rules as Written) this wasn't something she was allowed to do, but when you play D&D with kids Rule of Cool ALWAYS wins.

I stole this next part from Matt Colville's excellent Youtube series on D&D.  Stealing cool ideas for your game is good.  You should do it more.

Swimming through the water, Foxy soon encountered a small, shiny fish with lots of pointy teeth - a subterranean quipper (basically a piranha).

Foxy decided she wanted to talk to it, so she cast Speak with Animals.  Again, not rules as written, but a great idea, so she was able to talk to it.

It seemed surprised...  "Are you good to eat?"  it asked immediately.  "No," replied Foxy, "I taste terrible and am poisonous."  The fish then yelled into the darkness "NO GOOD TO EAT."

"Awwwww..." chorused hundreds of other quippers from the darkness all around...

Foxy was roundly congratulated for a good answer by the rest of the group.

The fish then asked "Are you God of Fish?"  They had never seen a fish so huge before, nor a fish that could speak quipper.

"Yes." answered Foxy promptly.

Foxy got another round of congratulations for that answer.

The quipper swarm assembled and then intoned in unison "What would you have of us, Oh God of Fish?  Do you desire offerings?"

Foxy then instructed the fish that, yes, she would desire offerings and that they should not eat anyone on or in the water for the next day.  The fish agreed, and began bringing coins and treasure up from the depths of the pool.

I described this like a scene from a disney movie.  Fish darting about, banging into each other, carrying treasure, one fish inside a helmet swimming into the wall, 10 fish dragging a sword back and forth because they were all swimming in different directions.  Disney scenes and physical comedy are all good when playing D&D with kids.

I also had the fish ask if the should "bring up the chain" since I wanted to give them a way to bypass the water.  Turns out I shouldn't have bothered, but Foxy said yes, so the fish brought up a chain that, when pulled from above, ratcheted up a set of climbing chains that would allow people (short people) to climb between the stone pillars.

LOOT!
Then I did some random treasure rolling, and they found:  110 gp, a +1 Longsword of elvish made, a Helm of Elvenkind (as boots, but a helmet - cause I described a helmet in the fish scene), a Brooch of Shielding and a Ring of Water Walking.  After some discussion, they decided Kriv should take the longsword, Adrak the helmet, Foxy the brooch and they tied the ring to Scruffy's collar.

Kriv's new sword

Doing a quick image search on your phone and showing the kids pictures of what their new items look like is a great way to build enthusiasm.  But if they want to describe it themselves, keep that description!

Into the Deeps
Using the chains and the now water-walking wolf, they crossed the water and explored a bit, finding a small dwarven temple, then a tunnel leading deeper into the mountain.  The tunnel led several hundred yards, then ended at a square vertical shaft, with metal cables hanging from the middle.  The kids immediately recognized it as an elevator shaft.

Kriv had the great idea of dropping a rock to listen for the distance to the bottom, and the brief length of the fall convinced them they could climb down.  Adrak and Foxy are both quite agile, so they had no problem climbing down, but Kriv volunteered to carry Scruffy down, and managed to roll well too.

Julius asked if he could roll, too, so of course, he could, since everybody else was rolling dex checks.  He had a little trouble, but made it.  Good general rule - try to make sure everybody has a chance to roll dice.

At the bottom of the shaft they found an elevator platform, a large tunnel with a stone pipe along the side, and a complex-seeming piece of machinery with a lever that did not seem to do anything other than produce a gurgling noise. Deciding to check on the destination of the pipe, they followed the tunnel as it slowly sloped upwards.

They noticed as they went that the large stone pipe did not angle upwards, and so it slowly receded into the floor as they continued.  Finally, at the point where the pipe was level with the tunnel, the tunnel opened out into a huge cavern containing an underground lake.  The pipe stuck out into the lake water some distance.

We hadn't actually had any combat in the session so far, so I decided to put a fight down here.  A fight and a puzzle, actually, but definitely a fight, since Kriv's player is very combat-oriented and it gives everybody a chance to roll some dice.

The first thing they noticed was a number of tall, pale-skinned creatures standing on top of the pipe, apparently fishing with long bone spears.  Kriv immediately threw a javelin at them.  Since this was designed as a combat encounter, I ruled that was fine, and gave the party surprise.  Kriv threw the javelin, Adrak and Scruffy charged forward and Foxy used her Thorn Whip spell to grab one of the creatures (Grimlocks) and haul it off the pipe into the water.

Next round, Kriv charged with his battle axe, Scruffy pulled one of the Grimlocks to the ground, and Adrak stabbed another.  Foxy, though, couldn't really decide what to do.  Knowing that she had one use of her animal shape left, I suggested, "You could change into a bear and attack them."

The result of that suggestion

Grizzly bears are... really tough.  3 attacks, lots of HP, high damage.  Also Foxy had new dice and was rolling pretty well.  So yeah, Grimlock butt got kicked.  She was so effective that I'm actually a little worried that Kriv is going to be unhappy about no longer being the party asskicker.  I'll have to look at that.

Letting each kid have a real chance to shine, and making sure that those opportunities really come up are critical when you are playing D&D with kids.  Adrak's player likes sneaking around and being athletic.  Foxy's player likes animals and interacting with them, Kriv's player likes BATTLE.  Knowing this and factoring it into adventure design is really important, and I foresee a potential problem considering how effective a Circle of the Moon druid can be at handing out the the hurt.

Within a few seconds the few remaining Grimlocks (these are aquatic Grimlocks) were swimming away under the water.  The party realized the pipe was blocked with rubbish, and decided to clear it to see if that would cause the lift to start working.  As they worked, Scruffy started growling and Adrak noticed white shapes moving in the water.

Suddenly, a huge, albino crocodile with several Grimlocks clinging to it lunged out of the water, and another battle began.  Foxy was still in bear form, and grabbed the albino gator by the head, shaking it lifeless and tossing it into the wall.  General mayhem (atten-hut!) followed, and the defeated Grimlocks fled.

With the pipe unblocked, the party returned to the strange machine.  They couldn't really figure out what to do at this point, so I had them make Int checks to see if they could figure out the machine.  They succeeded, opened the valve, threw the lever and the platform began to rise, taking them up into the darkness of the abandoned dwarf city of Karak-Norn.

I set up the machine to be a fairly simple puzzle, but I think it was made more difficult because I just described things. If they had a model, I'm sure they would have figured it out easily.  The machine is basically 4 parts:  A tube to bring water, a valve to shut off the water, gears to turn the crank, and the crank that raised the platform.  They had to clear the tube and open the valve, then throw the lever that activated everything.

At the end of the session Kriv and Foxy went up to level 3, Adrak is a little ahead in XP, so he stayed level 3, and now I have to figure out a way for a wolf to go up levels, because Julius would like Scruffy to go up levels too!

It will be a while before our next session, but hopefully we'll get more gaming in the new year!

5e Content: Trade Aspect of Mael

For my 5e game, I nabbed a bunch of additional Domains from +Samwise Seven RPG.

http://samwise7rpg.blogspot.ca/2014/10/cleric-domains-for-dungeons-dragons-5e.html

http://samwise7rpg.blogspot.ca/2014/10/cleric-domains-for-5th-edition-dungeons_23.html

Personally, I feel like Gods having a single Domain is a bit too simplistic, and doesn't really reflect how gods were worshipped historically.  In the Greek/Roman religions, gods tended to have a lot of regional variation and different aspects, which were venerated depending on the location, season and activity that you were engaged in.

So in my campaign, most Gods have 1-3 different Aspects, and a player can choose which Domain they want to follow for that God.  The more powerful/popular a god is, the more aspects he/she/it has.

One of the players in our game is a priest of Mael.  Mael has 2 (and sometimes 3) aspects.  His primary aspects are Trade and the Sea.  Yes, I stole Mael from Steven Erikson.  Shameless theft is an Improvisational Building Block too.  Also Mael is one of the best characters in the books.

Some not-so-nice folks also worship Mael (or seek to placate him) in his aspect of the Storm.

My player worships Mael in his aspect of Trade.  Temples of Mael are all over the Colony, and Mael is one of the greater gods of the Empire, since it is a ship-based neo-colonial power.

I did encounter a couple of issues with the Trade Domain as presented by +Samwise Seven RPG, so here is my modified version:

Trade Domain

Priests of Mael in his aspect of Trade are one of the most important priesthoods of the Ruywick Empire.  Most cities of any size have a temple of Trade, where the priest provide legal advice, accounting and bookkeeping services, scribes and magical contracts.  They advise rulers and masters of business, and act as adjudicators with legal authority to resolve trade and contractual issues.

As you would expect, the Church of Mael is incredibly rich and powerful, with influence in all parts of the Colony and the Empire.

Priest of Mael in his less-fancy robes.

Cleric Level	1st Domain Spell	2nd Domain Spell
1st	Charm Person	Expeditious Retreat
3rd	Enhance Ability	Suggestion
5th	Calm Emotions	Protection from Energy
7th	Dimension Door	Guardian of Faith
9th	Dominate Person	Teleportation Circle

1st Level – Bonus Cantrip. You gain the Prestidigitation cantrip.

1st Level – Skills of the Trade. You can choose two of the following skills: Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion.

2nd Level – Channel Divinity: Barter. You gain advantage on all skill rolls associated with making a deal or trading.

This one was a little bit hard to adjudicate initially because the initial version contained "or getting yourself out of a “jam.”".  That meant quite a bit more leeway on what exactly you could use this skill on, but really, it adds too much flexibility.  Cutting it down to just deals and bartering makes it more manageable.

6th Level – Channel Divinity: Binding Contract. You can create a magical contract. Any intelligent creature that understands and willingly agrees to the terms laid out in the contract is effected by a Geas spell enforcing the terms of the contract until the conditions laid out in the contract are completed. The psychic damage dealt by this contract is non-fatal, but intensely painful, and can trigger up to 1/day.

The contract can be destroyed by the priest who created it, and if the contract is broken by any party (including the priest), then all parties are immediately aware that the contract has been broken, and by who.

This one is a complete replacement for the initial power, which was "create counterfeit coins" that disappear in a few hours.  How fucking up the economy and making people not trust currency is a God of Trade thing completely escapes me, so I yanked it and we replaced it with this, which is much more interesting and has a bunch of in-game ramifications.

8th Level – Words Are Greater Than the Sword. Once per Long Rest you can convince a creature not to attack you. You can do this twice at 14th level.

I'm probably going to have to replace this one too, but level advancement is slow in this game, so we'll get to that in a year or two.

DM Lessons: Improvisation Building Blocks

Sometimes, you can really force yourself to think on your feet if your players decide to do some investigating and look deeper than the surface of things.

In our last Over the Seas and Far Away session, one of the players went off to his temple to inquire if they have any work. As the DM, I want to remind players of the horrible system of oppressive slavery and corruption that the party is working around the edges of. So he does have a job, alright.

Job is: escort these clearly innocent virtual slaves to their new life of hard labor in a logging camp. Temple is getting paid to transport them.

Player winces, but hey, might be something interesting here, so he does some investigating as to why these prisoners haven't been moved already. "Let me see their paperwork".

Instantly, he's getting paid a bunch more because this shit is shady. Also there are about 50 of the prisoners.

So now as the DM, I have to think up several things.

1. Why haven't the prisoners been moved?
2. What makes this shadier than usual?
3. How can I make this scenario more interesting?

One of the keys to running an effective campaign (sandbox or otherwise) is to have done enough worldbuilding that you have components to put together to flesh out a scenario like this. I improvised thusly:

The prisoners haven't been moved because there are a lot of them, they are dangerous, and the company that contracted for them hasn't sent anyone to get them.

This is shadier than usual because the prisoners aren't from the usual prisoner's channel, and everyone knows it, but are being paid to ignore that.

How can I make this more interesting?  The prisoners are of the same persecuted minority as one of the characters.

I need to put this all into context now, so I start pulling worldbuilding from my back pocket. In the Empire, the half-orcs are a persecuted minority, and lots of them live on the fringes of the Empire.

Transported are only supposed to be convicted criminals, but the amount of labor needed in the Colony has created a thriving secondary market for "off-brand" Transported.

Half-orcs are strong and tough, making them more dangerous than standard prisoners.

So now the party has to transport 50 or so angry half-orcs a hundred miles through fairly dangerous forests and deposit them in the same sort of logging camp they LITERALLY just rescued 50 people from. Irony is fun.

Now, this is a really important DM tip: if you set up a scenario, don't get at all tied to YOUR solutions. Just sit back and see what your players come up with.

In this case, one of the players is a half-orc, so make friends is the answer. They spent hundreds of sp getting them blankets, food and clothes, and promised to free them from the logging camp after delivery. The prisoners were suspicious, so Wrenaldo, the half-orc in question, accepted their offer to temporarily join the coffle and get rescued with the rest of them.

Happy day! At least for me. Not sure they're going to enjoy this.

D&D With Kids: Into the Northern Wilderness

D&D with Kids! Session 1: Adventures in the Northern Wilderness.

The daughter and nephews are now all old enough to play D&D. So the 7, 9 and 14-year olds sat down with me on the weekend to play full-on 5e for the first time.

We made characters first. The oldest played a Dragonborn Noble Fighter named Kriv, the younger nephew played his old character, a Wood Elf Rogue named Adrak, who used to be a librarian, and my daughter created a Human Druid who was raised by wolves named Foxy.

The game started with Adrack finding an old book that described a hidden temple in the Great Northern Forest that supposedly contained a great treasure. He recruited Kriv and Foxy to go with him to recover the treasure.

The group left from Port Tanner on the Black River and headed north to Shale Pass, the only route through the northern mountains.

They decided not to travel on the road, and Foxy's skill in the forest led them easily through the wilds. On the 3rd day, they encountered and Owlbear trying to raid a wolf den. The party helped the wolves defeat the Owlbear, then Foxy healed the wolves (and Kriv), and cast Animal Friendship on the alpha female. The female detached a young male (quickly named Scruffy) to accompany the new member of the pack and make sure she didn't get into trouble. They also got an Owlbear pelt.

The following day they encountered a camp of the Ulthar tribe, locals who proved friendly. They traded the Owlbear fur for some amber necklaces, and when Leos, the leader, offered them work, they took it. Apparently a huge beast-man has been attacking Ulthar hunters, and Leos offered them more amber to kill it.

They were guided first to the Ulthar village, then to the valley containing the lair of the creature. A critical success on Foxy's scouting roll meant they discovered the creature (a Yeti) came to the same spot each night to drink from a stream, so the group set up an ambush.

Using Kriv's high strength, they positioned a boulder above the pool, then Foxy and Adrak worked together to track down a mountain goat, which they killed and placed as bait.

When the Yeti came down to drink, it was lured under the rock by the goat, but the plan almost failed when Kriv couldn't move the rock. Adrak raced to his aid, and they dropped the boulder on the Yeti, then quickly finished it off before it could get back up.

They then plundered the Yeti's cave, finding some jewelry and a magical pendant (a Periapt of Wound Closure). They also found a strange engraving far back in the cave, a map leading to "the gates of Karak-Norn".

Returning to the Ulthar village, they got more amber in payment, and also got more jewelry made by the tribe, a spiked collar for Scruffy and Yeti-horn and tooth necklaces. The shaman identified the pendant for them, and they learned that the mountain shown on the map was about 3 days travel east.

The party decided to check out the map location instead of continuing through the pass to the temple. They travelled to a mountain pass where they discovered and opened the gate to Karak-Norn, an ancient dwarven city.

They explored into Karak-Norn, encountered and handily beat some goblins, and we called it for the day. They all leveled up, and fun was agreed to have been had. Then my daughter and the younger nephew headed off to the basement to continue to play make-believe as their characters.

Success!

Things I learned:
1. Simplify the character sheets. I used simple 5e sheets and they worked OK. None of the kids are super readers/writers yet, due to age and some learning disability, but they are good enough if you make things simple.

2. I'll be adding spell cards, animal form cards and probably equipment cards to the game for the next session. Should make it easier for everyone.

3. When making characters, if kids are having trouble picking, let them flip through the Players Handbook until they find something they like, then make that. Iris liked the female druid on page 67. Art directors, take note.

4. Framing choice of action and possible benefits/repercussions is CRITICAL. Kids can easily make decisions if you spell out the possible results of different courses of action. Give them a reasonable number of options and their sagacity will surprise you.

5. Give them help. I added Scruffy the wolf to the group so I could have a kinda-sorta DM PC, but not one they could ask for advice. He warns them of dangerous situations by growling or showing reluctance, which makes them thing about what they are doing.

6. Go with it. If it's fun for them to spend half an hour designing jewelry for the local tribesfolk to make them, that's a good use of time. Further, have them draw the jewelry on their character sheet.

7. Be generous and kind. More magic items are good. Levelling is very good. Their plans succeeding is awesome. Listening to them tell their grandparents about their characters and the game is immensely rewarding.

Dwarves! 5E: Session Summary - Jailbreak Episode 1

This was a big session, so I split it into 2 parts:

The jailbreak is a classic trope, and it’s usually a fun one.  Putting the players in a situation where they are at a disadvantage, and have to juggle stealth, timing and speed in an environment specifically designed to hinder them.

So when we left off last time, the party was in the custody of the Splinterbeard clan, acting (allegedly) on behalf of King Ironhammer, and were being transported to the king’s private dungeon.

The party decided that it was too risky to make a move while being transported, so they hung tight while during the trip.  They were marched underground, first along the major tunnel between High Grass and Goldenhills Hall, but then turning south under the mountains on the southern edge of Goldenhills territory.  Luckily, Korrum’s background is as an Underdark Guide, so he was able to get a good idea of where they are.

The trip ended at an unremarkable section of corridor.  The escort moved a concealed panel of stone aside, revealing a narrow stairwell.  The guards hustled the party through a small complex of rooms, clearly barracks of some sort, then into a room with a heavy stone slab, raised by a heavy winch and pulley.  Under the slab was another narrow stairway, leading further down.

The lower level proved to be a series of circular rooms, joined by narrow corridors.  The guards

escorted them to one of the circular rooms with a 5’ hole in the floor.  They lower a rope ladder and down the party goes, into the dark. The dark proves to be a dirt-floored cell – beehive-shaped and about 20 feet deep, with the access hole at the very top.

But these are CHARACTERS, so they don’t sit there very long.  Well, for a while.  Couple of hours or so.  Just to let things quiet down.  Then Wanderer, who has managed to keep a dagger, some thieves tools AND his magical chain (change self and sleight of hand are wonderful), is on the case.  A very brief session of lockpicking results in everyone out of their shackles.  From there, it’s a matter of getting up to the top of the hole.

They decide on a Hilbo-assisted jump-launch – which goes somewhat awry.  Wanderer’s luck and dexterity keep him from crunching on the stone ceiling, and he manages to catch the lip of the hole.  He rolls out, and quickly discovers that there are several guards close by, and manages to get out of line of sight before he is spotted.

Using one of the magical powers of his enchanted chain, Wandered slips into the Fey and slides around the guards into another corridor.  He finds more locked doors and sees an odd-looking metal wall at the far end of one corridor.  Deciding that continued exploration is risky, he goes full Changeling.

Shifting himself to look like one of the guards that brought them down to the dungeon, he turns right around and walks into guard chamber.  Slickly convincing the guards that he’s been sent down to get a rope ladder, he strolls into the guardroom, gets a rope ladder and goes back over to the hole where the rest of the party are trapped.  Critical success on Deception rolls are handy.

However, the hole is still in direct sight of one guard, who is himself in direct sight of two other guards, so Wanderer has more thinking to do….  Illusions are your friend here.  Wanderer steps out of sight, creating an illusion of “himself” falling over into the pit.  Inspired.  A guard comes to help, and gets kicked into the pit.  Wanderer (still looking like a guard himself) motions the third guard over, and Slie (from in the pit) starts shouting “I’m OK, but I need help getting out” and doing a damn fine job of sounding like the first guard.

The third guard turns his back on Wanderer and takes a dagger in the throat for being dumb, and shortly thereafter (aided by a Silence spell from Korrum and a nasty shot with a hand crossbow by Wanderer) there are 4 dead guards and no alarm raised.

So now the party really gets into it.  They liberate their gear, find a number of imprisoned servants who inform them that the King is maybe insane, and has imprisoned them for “trying to poison me,”  “plotting to murder me,” and “stealing the thoughts from my brain”.  They also release an elven Expeditionary from Leagrove, who has been missing for 6 months and a dwarf, Dorren Eigar, apparently a cousin of their friend Khidre.  Wanderer notices that Dorren’s “street clothes”, which they found in a chest near their own equipment, conceals considerable hardware in the form of hidden daggers, garrotes and poisoned darts.

Next up: Guards!  Guards!

5e Dwarves: Talking 'bout mechanics

The session summary reports provide me with reference material as I move the campaign forward, and put the events of the game in narrative form, but they don't really give me the chance to talk about the session from a mechanical or DM perspective.  I personally find this kind of information really interesting to read about, but it makes for a really long post if I include it in the main summary.

This session was a chance to try out Lair Powers.  I set up several of them for the Purple Worm - an effect that knocked everyone prone if they failed Dex checks, a rocks falling from the ceiling damage effect, a caustic slime burning anyone attacking the worms effect and a swarm of tiny wormlings swarming everyone effect.  I didn't want these effect to be overwhelmingly powerful, but on reflection, I could have probably bumped them up a bit.

There aren't stats for a Purple Worm in the materials available yet, so I grabbed some different powers from existing creatures, and tried to make a CR 8 monster.  The party is level 6, but there are 5 of them, so I thought this would be a good challenge. 

Lesser Purple Worm

Gargantuan Monstrosity , unaligned 

Armor Class 11

Hit Points 135 (10d20+30) 

Speed 30 ft., burrow 40 ft. 

STR 20 (+5) DEX -3 CON +3 INT -2 WIS +3 CHA -4

Senses Tremorsense 60 ft., passive Perception 13

Challenge 8 (4000 XP) 

Amphibious. A lesser purple worm can breathe air and water. 

Actions 

Multiattack: The Lesser purple worm can make one bite and one sting attack per turn

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (2d10 + 8) piercing damage plus 5 (1d10) poison damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 13). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the worm can’t bite another target. 

Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one creature. Hit: 7 (1d10 + 2) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Swallow. As a bonus action, the worm can make one bite attack against a Medium or smaller target it is grappling. If the attack hits, the target is swallowed, and the grapple ends. The swallowed target is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the toad, and it takes 15 (3d10) acid damage at the start of each of the worm’s turns. If the worm dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse using 5 feet of movement, exiting prone.

On reflection, Str and Con should have been higher, and damage probably should have been higher across the board.  I was also thinking about adding an automatic "Overrun" attack for anyone close to the worm.

For the wormlings, I just used the Giant Toad stats.

Couple of notes from the combat:

The Eldrich Blast knockback is pretty powerful, although houseruled that it doesn't effect the Mama worm on the fly.  Sure, nothing in the description says that there are size restrictions on the knockback - but as I said in the session "That's why I'm the DM."

I ruled that the rogue couldn't sneak-attack the Purple Worm, since the worm has tremorsense and knows exactly where everyone is at all times.  Once Hilbo engaged it in melee, I allowed a sneak attack, but I'll have to review exactly how that works.

My basic policy as a DM is that if a rules questions comes up, I make a fast ruling that keeps things going forward.  If somebody knows the rule, I listen, decide if it makes sense, then make the call.  At the end of the session, if anybody has an issue with the ruling, we discuss, check the book, and decide on how to run it going forward.

In the case of the sneak attack and knockback calls, nobody seemed too bothered by them, so we didn't re-address.

Now comes the BIG THING.  Hilbo used his magical item, his action surge and the -5 attack/+10 damage ability.  That gave him 4 attacks at +5 to hit (+5 from str, +3 from proficiency bonus, +2 from his magical maul, -5 for power shot), each doing 2d6 +17 damage (+5 from str, +2 from maul, +10 from power shot).  He hit 3 times in the first round.  When the worm attacked, he used a Riposte and hit, then he got 2 attacks the next round, hitting with both.  He did 124 points of damage total.  Whoof.  So if somebody bitches about fighters being underpowered, cordially invite them to shut the fuck up.

Of course, the worm is a classic brute - low AC, high hp, and this is an attack pattern basically designed to work against it, but still - very effective strategy.

The rest of the wormlings weren't much trouble - Hunger of Hadar and the difficult terrain formed by the dead Mommy worm made them come in stages, and the Eldrich bolt knockback pushed them back into the Hunger area.

The worm only got 2 lair effects off, the knockdown and the caustic slime attack, and the one attack it got off that hit didn't do too much damage, as dwarves have resistance to poison damage and advantage on poison saves.

All in all, the combat ran smoothly and quickly.  The Roll20 app is much improved in terms of speed of use, and the Initiative tool is handy for keeping track of init.  Each character got 1050 xp, which brings Korrum and Hilbo near level 7.

The rest of the session was pure role-play, which was great.  I ruled that Wanderer, who has minor illusion magic and sleigh of hand proficiency, was able to keep his thieves tools and a dagger on him, as they weren't stripped to the skin, and Sinder can summon his sword at-will.  So we'll see how they do with a classic prison escape scenario next session.

5E Dwarves Session: Worm Juice and Treachery

When we left off last week, the party was just about to enter what they suspected was the lair of a purple worm. Likely one of the two that escaped during the Siege of Greatview Hall.

Upon entering the cavern, they noticed several slightly steaming pools of water, and a strong, caustic stench. The area proved to be a raised section of the cavern, with cliffs on two sides and a steep slope dropping toward the center of the cavern. In the cavern area below, they saw a thick stream of greenish slime running into a crack in the wall.

Slie immediately identified the smell and slime as likely indicators of a purple worm nesting ground. The worm (each worm is hermaphroditic) lays eggs in a pile of loose rubble, then wraps itself around the pile, secreting greenish slime that keeps the eggs moist and helps them mature. When the eggs hatch, the wormlings need to be submerged in water until they are about as long as a human, emerging only to feed.

Advancing cautiously, Wanderer approached the huge pile of loose rock in the lower area of the cavern, unaware that the worm could feel his every footstep through the stone…

Mama worm was not impressed by the interlopers, and surged off her egg pile to crush the intruders. The larger wormlings also lunged from the pools, closing in to devour the delicious meaty tidbits.

The titanic convulsions of the approaching mother worm threw Sinder and Slie off their feet, but the other party members managed to keep their balance. Slie began throwing bolts of arcane energy at a nearby wormling, knocking to backward and allowing him to get back to his feet. Sinder and Korrum closed on another wormling, and Wanderer, after firing a single arrow, seemed to tune out for the rest of the battle (as Kasper had to leave for work).

Hilbo believes that a good offence is the best defense, so he rushed the worm-mother. Triggering his magical belt of Bull’s Power (temporary 20 Str for 1 round), he hammered at the worm with his maul, sacrificing accuracy for power and using his energy recklessly (action surge). Three of his blows struck the worm with tremendous force, and the power of his magical maul, Earthshatter, enhanced the blows.

Despite the horrific damage the hammer caused, the worm snapped at Hilbo, but he stepped aside and riposted with the weapon, smashing the worm’s jaw. It’s stinger lashed down, stabbing into Hilbo’s leg, but his dwarvish resistance to poison kept the worm’s venom from having much effect.

A gout of caustic icor also poured from the massive wound, covering Hilbo with acidic ooze that burned his skin and hair. Undaunted, he continued his attack, pulverizing the worms innards. Two more titanic blows crushed the last life from the enormous creature.

After that, it was a simple matter of destroying the remaining wormlings (Hunger of Hadar helped

quite at bit), crushing the eggs with a shattering blow from the magical maul, and cutting out the worm’s gullet, which contained 900 gp worth of polished gemstones. They also found a dwarven round-shield, shining undamaged despite being submerged in the slime of the worm lair.

Having ensured the safety of the mines, the party returned to Greatview Hall, rested, provisioned, and headed back to Goldenhills Hall by way of Gnollshead.

All was in order as they passed through Gnollshead, with trade increasing, settlers building houses, and fishing and prospecting starting around the fort. A 1-day hike across the Twisted Pass brought them to High Grass, the main ranching settlement of Goldenhills Hall.

There, the party was told by the gate-guards that a messenger from the king awaited them in the main barracks, and that he would send a runner ahead to let the messenger know that they had arrived. The party headed to the fort, and upon entering the barracks yard, were confronted by a double-rank of cocked crossbows pointed at their faces.

A smirking dwarf with a braided red beard, clearly the commander, told the party to drop their

weapons and surrender immediately, on the order of King Ironhammer. Reluctant to face off with 25 dwarven warriors, the party laid down their weapons and surrendered. The smug commander ordered them stripped of weapons and armor and chained, informing them that they were “guilty of treason against the King”. He also asked about the location of Hakoah Ironbeard, and seemed quite angry that the “Oathbreaker” was not with the rest of the party.

That night the party was kept under guard in the barracks storage rooms in High Grass, then marched to the underground Greatway . The commander of their escort proved to be Baron Algron Splinterbeard, a member of the clan supposedly betrayed by Hakoah’s Ironbeard clan.

Slie’s pet “kitty” is able to move around completely unseen, and can listen to and relate conversations back to Slie. “Kitty” was able to discover that the Splinterbeard Clan are working for the King, that the King has decided to strike back against the “traitors and scum” in the kingdom that oppose him, specifically the Eigar clan and the Redhammer clan, as well as Paths Command, many officers in the Goldenhills Guard, and some of the lesser clans. Capturing the PC’s is apparently the first step in this campaign.

“Kitty” also overhears that the party is being taken to the kings private dungeon, somewhere in the caverns below Goldenhills Hall itself. Korrum is able to cast a Sending spell to their friend Khidre Eigar, the heir of the powerful Eigar clan, telling him of their capture. Khidre responds that he is also in hiding from the king’s forces, and will contact the powerful Redhammer clan to see if he can arrange help.

So as we left off, the party were stripped of their gear, manacled hand and feet, chained together, and closely guarded and being marched off to the private dungeon of a king who increasingly seems to be either completely irrational or utterly mad. Good times!

5e Dwarves Session Summary: September First

After taking the summer off, the old Playtest Group reconvened to kick the Dwarves! campaign off in full 5E style.  There have been a number of character changes, of course, but they have managed to maintain a dwarf-majority party.  However... one of the member of the party is now an elf...  An elf spellcaster, to boot!  Horrors.  How will the intrepid dwarves deal with this arcane point-ear in their midst?

Pretty well, as it turns out.  Of course, +Torben Schau, who plays the point-ear, couldn't make the session, but other events make me optimistic that he will eventually be accepted by the xenophobic, er, intrepid

Hilbo says "Hi"

dwarves.

The current adventurers are:

Hilbo Huggins, the dwarf soldier Battlemaster, played by +J Malfair

Korrum Kargonil, the dwarf guide turned Cleric of Moradin Foehammer (Martial aspect of Moradin), played by +Greg Pierce

Wanderer, ostensibly a dwarf Arcane Trickster (secretly a changeling) played by G+'s very own +Kasper Blomdell.

Slieyronourmous Troves, a dwarf (well, duergar, really) wizard (well, warlock, really), played by +Perry Jones

Sinder, an elf guild merchant Arcane Knight, played by the aforementioned +Torben Schau.


We did quite a bit of stuff via email before the first session started, so when we did get going, the immediate problems were well-established:  lack of food, a damaged hold and freed slaves from hostile races.

The slaves were the first issue addressed.  Specifically, the hobgoblins, orcs and goblins.  Knowing that
hobgoblins are almost pathological about honoring bargains, Hilbo negotiated a mercenary contract with Fear, the leader of the group.  They agreed to work for the party patrolling near Gnollshead Hall in exchanged for regular gold, any loot they take, and the rights to camp in the old fort that the cult of Doresain abandoned.  The hobgoblins will also be paid a bounty for gnoll tails (lots of gnolls in those hills) and are allowed to trade for supplies at Gnollshead Hall.

Next, the duergar.  These slaves were in a near-catatonic state due, it was revealed, to the worms that were eating their brains.  Apparently duergar all have brain-worms that they take drugs to prevent from lobotomizing them.  Slie was able to give them a concoction that killed the brain-worms, but they didn't come all the way back from that, and now the dwarves have them doing simple labor - probably for the rest of their lives.  But it beats the alternative.

Then, the drow.  The two slaves, Verraki and Verrakath, were discovered to be members of House Inncon'eal, a minor, male-run house which provides mercenaries and guards for more powerful houses.  They agreed to bring a message to the head of their house in exchange for freedom, which the dwarves granted.  Surprising leniency for the party, which bodes well for Sinder!

On to the food and repairs.  Despite the dwindling food supplies, the dwarves got right to work, cause, hey, dwarves!  Wanderer and Korrum took a bag of money north to Gnollshead Hall to purchase supplies, and Hilbo, Slie and Sinder stayed behind to supervise rebuilding.

Wanderer and Korrum had a small run-in with Ogres, but were able to secure a good-sized herd of Ahten cattle, getting them back to Greatview before starvation really began to bite.  Fortunately, the fortifications, forges and fungus farms were all repaired as well.  The only wrinkle as found during the clean-up of the upper mines.

A 10-foot wide hole, coated with purplish slime.  Looks like one of the duergar Purple Worms is still hanging around the area.  Following the worm tunnel deeper into the mountain, the party comes upon a large cavern filled with pools of greenish, steaming water and a strong caustic stench...

ACKs Domain Stats: Gnollshead Hall

Back when the party was about level 4, they were instrumental in defeating an evil cult worshiping Doresain, the White Hand, King of Ghouls.  The cult was based in an old fort, and were using Ghuls, Wendigo, Perytons and gnolls to raid and enslave the local Ahten nomads.

The party attacked their fortress, cleaned out the upper levels, then retreated, called in military help from

from www.elfwood.com by Jay Javier

Goldenhills Hall, then defeated the gnolls and cultist-raised zombies in a battle, luring them into an ambush with the aid of Ahten allies.

The Ahten, for their part, were happy to accept aid from the Dwarves, and allowed the party to claim a chunk of land along the river, the site of an old gnoll camp.  Using their dwarf warriors as labor, they constructed a fortified trading post in a motte & bailey style.  Since that time, dwarf traders and settlers have moved into the area around the new fort, and the Ahten trade there regularly, eager to exchange their furs and meat for dwarven tools, metal goods and weapons.

Gnollshead Hall is currently a borderlands domain attached to the dwarven Kingdom of Goldenhills Hall.  Since the characters who established it are not high enough level to have a domain, it is being administered by a castellan appointed by Duke Arkask Redhammer.  When (if) one of the original party members (currently Hilbo Huggin - Fighter 6 and Korrum Kargonath - Cleric 6 remain), they will be able to take Gnollshead Hall over as their domain.  Otherwise, it will eventually be gifted to a dwarf noble.

Gnollshead Hall
The Ahten allowed the dwarves to claim 1 6-mile hex (32 square miles).  Any further land expansion will have to be negotiated with them, as it lies in a valley traditionally claimed by the Crow Clan of the Ahten.  The Crow are semi-nomadic, and allied to the dwarves, though.

There are 110 families (550 dwarves) living in the domain.

Current morale is +1.

Gnollshead Hall is a Class VI market.

It is in a borderlands area, and the revenue is 6 gp/family. The river valley where the fort is built flood occasionally, and has very fertile soil.  It is good growing land for crops and grazing for animals, which are highly sought-after by Goldenhills Hall.  There is also some gold panning in the river, and salmon runs in the fall.

Stronghold: Gnollshead Hall

Wooden drawbridge: 250 gp

400' wooden palisade: 500 gp

400' dry moat: 1600 gp

100' earth rampart 2500 gp

40' stone tower 22500 gp

2 stone buildings (one is buried in the berm) 6000 gp

2 wooden buildings 3000 gp

Stronghold Value: 36,350 gp

Garrison. The garrison is composed of Goldenhills Hall regular troops.  There are also 2 heavy ballistae mounted on the tower.
25 dwarven heavy infantry (battleaxe, shield, chainmail): 450 gp
25 dwarven crossbowmen (arbalest, dagger, chainmail): 525 gp

Settlement Revenue: 

Land: 6 gp/family. 660 gp/month

Services: 4 gp/family.  440 gp/month

Taxes: 2 gp/family.  220 gp/month

Total revenue:  1320 gp/month.

Settlement Expenses:
Garrison: Minimum 330 gp/month.  Current garrison value 975 gp (the difference paid by Goldenhills Hall)
Stronghold Upkeep: 182 gp/month

Taxes: 264 gp/month
Tithe: 132 gp/month
Festivals (110*5*4/12): 183 gp/month
Total expenses: 1091 gp/month.

Income:  229 gp/month.

Growth:  Base growth 15%

Rolled growth 3d10 (morale)

Rolled reduction 2d10.

Right now the party is negotiating to hire a number of hobgoblin mercenaries (with orc auxiliaries) to patrol the area north of Gnollshead Hall. They won't technically be part of the garrison, as the party are paying them separately.  We'll see how that turns out.

ACKs Domain Stats: Greatview Hall

Originally from a picture called City of Galastan.

Greatview Hall is an independent domain. It was once the center of a much more prosperous domain, but
has suffered greatly from several lost wars.

It currently takes up 1 6-mile hex (32 square miles) in claimed territory, but realistically claims very little land other than the Hall itself and the adjacent mines and farm caves.

Unlike many domains, Greatview Hall is currently only an urban settlement, which incorporates the stronghold (the Citadel) and all the population.

There are 180 families (approx 900 dwarves) living there.

Current morale is +2.

Normally, a town this size would have a Class VI market, but since the hall is very self-sufficient, and dwarves are very crafty, it has a Class V market.

It is in a wilderness area, and the revenue is 7 gp/family.  They mine gold, silver, iron, coal and gemstones in Mt. Yronfang, and farm cavern fungus in the caves below.  There is very little opportunity for outside trade at this point.

Greatview Hall was once part of a much more powerful domain, the Old Kingdom, and as result, it was heavily developed - more so than it's current population would expect.

Citadel:
Barbican (38,000)
200' 30' high stone walls (15,000)
200' battlement (1,000)
Square Keep (75,000)
40' high tower (30,000)

Total value: 159,000 gp

There has also been 100,000 gp in urban investment done.  Originally it was higher, but the city has sustained considerable damage from the recent battles, and deterioration from lack of upkeep.

Settlement Revenue: 7 gp/family, or 1260 gp/month

Settlement Expenses:
Garrison: 360 gp/month minimum (covered by followers)
Stronghold Upkeep: 795 gp/month
Urban Upkeep: 180 gp/month
Tithe: 126 gp/month
Festivals (180*5*4/12) 300 gp/month
Total expenses: 1401 gp/month.

Garrison. The garrison is composed of the followers of the old leader.  They have families and kin in the hall, so they remain.  If they required pay, they would have a garrison value of 1975 gp.
75 dwarven heavy infantry (battleaxe, shield, chainmail): 1350 gp
25 dwarven crossbowmen (arbalest, dagger, chainmail): 525 gp
10 dwarven scouts (arbalest, handaxe, studded leather): 100 gp

Currently, Greatview Hall is in a tough position.  The cost of upkeep for the Citadel, which was built for a much larger population, is making it hard to cover all the costs.   Cancelling festivals or not paying the tithe to support the Temple might be options, but it will have a negative effect on morale pretty quickly.

Moreover, since Greatview Hall does not currently have an agricultural area supporting it, food is a real problem.  If they can get the mushroom farms, market gardens and terraced farms around the hold up and running again, they can be self-sufficient, but that will take months of work - and the current supply of food is limited.

Further Thoughts on the 5E Economy

Should I just call it 5Economy?

In any event, after being called out on my math, I settled down to think about the world-building ramifications of the crafting rules a bit more.

The basic math leads me to some conclusions which - fortunately I think - replicate (in a rule-of-thumb, simplified for gaming way) the sort of conditions you'd expect in a faux-medieval economy.

1) Limited Supply

This is the really big takeaway.  If, as a craftsman, you have to pay 50% of the cost of an item upfront in materials (or even 25%, really) the item represents a loss to you personally until it sells.  The bigger the ticket item, the more you'd have to plowed into it.  A suit of plate mail represents 2 YEARS of living expenses for a tradesperson in materials...

Plate mail is a bad example here, because it is, by it's nature, a very limited-demand item, but even something like a longsword (15 gp) represents a lost week's wages (at 1 gp/day) until it sells.  So only a well-established blacksmith can keep much inventory - it costs too much.

It also means that local blacksmiths, who presumably make their money just "practicing the craft" and maintaining a modest income, don't get many opportunities to sell big-ticket items like this, so they are unlikely to have much stock.  Sure, they'll make it - but only if somebody wants it.

The upshot here is that it doesn't make much sense to be able to get expensive equipment in small towns or villages unless there is some other reason for it to be available.  Sure, you can get it made, but there won't be much/any lying around.

2) Pay up front and expect to wait.

If it costs a smith 50% of the finished good (or even 25%) to make something, they are gonna want a deposit.  Probably for the entire materials cost.  Unless you're a local and he knows where you live and whatnot.  Transient murderhobos get no credit.

If the smith is solo, divide the cost by 10 to figure out how many days it will take.  If he is part of a team, multiply the team by 10, then divide by that.  Minimum 1 day.

Example:  Longsword - 15 gp.  Cost you 7 gp up front (15/10) - wait a day and a half.

3-man team for Plate Mail - 1500 gp - cost you 750 gp up front (1500/30) - wait about 2 months (50 days)

This math would break down differently if things are less than a gold piece, I think.  But unless the total cost of all the items exceeds 10 gp - the answer is "one day".

3) Some parts need houseruling/handwaving.

Darts.  They cost 5 cp, or 1/20th of a gp.  If you can make 5 gp worth of materials/day, then you can make 100 darts a day.  Again, if you are paying 50% of the cost as materials, maybe you are just gluing the fins on and screwing on the pointy bit?  Still seems fast.

There is some weirdness in the sense that a gold dart would presumably take much longer to make than a normal one, that sort of thing can mostly be handwaved (or not really worried about)

4) Any smith can forge anything.

There is only one "smith tools" set/skill, so technically speaking any smith can forge any item.  The materials cost is clearly a limitation, but presumably not if you are putting down a deposit.  Realistically (or as much realism as possible in elfgames) you might want to require larger cities for smiths with the skills to make highly specialized/expensive items, like spyglasses or plate armor. Even swords (heck, especially swords) had very specialized skills associated with making them.

5) Scale up for Art Objects.

Time/cost is determined by end value. If you want to make a really beautiful, valuable item, just pick how much you want it to be worth (or ask the DM), pay the materials cost (meteoric steel is pricey) and get to forging.

Hopefully the DMG will have some magic-item creation rules, but until then, requiring that you start with a very valuable item is pretty common.

Obviously, PC's won't be looking at using crafting to make money, but a PC (or ex-PC) with some capital, contacts in the sword-swinging community and knowledge of blacksmithing has a pretty good retirement plan available.

So the house rules I'm going to start with on crafting are "Pay anywhere from 10% to 50% for materials" and "You can make an item a work of art by paying more in materials/crafting time".

That's all for smithing, although it looks like performance might need a look, too.

5E Dwarves "Downtime" Summary

Our 5E Dwarves campaign is set to restart shortly. When we left off, the party had reached the dwarven city of Greatview Hall, returned the undead dwarves of the High Guard to the Temple of Moradin Dawnbringer, and met with the Elder Council.

(I set up and played out a wargame scenario for the Siege of Greatview Hall with my friend Craig - he beat me like a rug, so that's the result we'll use. Craig is a wargame designer. Lucky, lucky you.)

Colored for wargame use.

 

Based on those results, here is what happened during the downtime:

Upon the return of the High Guard to the Temple of Moradin Dawnbringer, the undead warriors are returned to life by the blessing of Moradin, but cannot leave the temple grounds.

Following the warning from Stalagtite, you scramble into action. After a quick discussion, it is determined that fortifying the Temple of Moradin is the best course of action, as the High Guard can assist with the defense, and it is near the center of the city - making it convenient for getting all the civilians and troops together.

Moving as quickly as you can, you gather the civilians and militia troops in the upper city, leaving a small group of militia and the elders in the upper citadel (mostly on their insistence). Sending messengers to the army commanders, you also start moving the various dwarven units towards the Temple.

By acting quickly and decisively, you manage to gather most of the civilians, militia and military units in the Temple of Moradin and fortify the temple grounds with barricades and rubble walls, just as the Duergar assault troops begin smashing their way up from below.

Massive purple worms mounted by twisted, robes duergar sorcerers lead the assault, followed by squads of armored minotaur and troops of duergar warriors. The first group arrives in the lower city, trapping some of the dwarven militia, along with a number of workers from the Forge Quarter. The militia manage to throw off the first assault, and Hilbo, Hakoah and Wanderer lead a relief force, catching the duergar in a vice and smashing the troop.

A second and third assault group appear in the lower city, but on opposite sides of the Temple of Moradin. Both attach the fortifications, but are thrown back, one group is savaged so badly that the survivors flee back down the holes, and the second is crushed by a counter-attack.

The fourth and final assault group breaks into the upper citadel, slaughtering the defenders and elders. They also destroy a section of the upper city, but retreat back into the tunnels when they realize the other attach groups are defeated.

The final cost of the attack is 75 dead dwarves and much of the lower city and upper city seriously damaged. Over 300 duergar bodies, 50 mintotaur and 2 purple worms are dead in the field, one wounded worm escaped into the tunnels after it's handler was killed, and about 100 duergar in the last assault group escaped.

Wanderer's scouting into the tunnels reveals that in the lower halls the duergar army is preparing to retreat, It seems that about 1000 duergar remain, along with many minotaurs and a menagerie of frightful beasts. They also have many captives, including several hundred dwarves.

Hoping to free the slaves, you launch a raid on the slave camp, freeing most of the slaves and fending off the duergar forces that pursue you.

It is now 2 days after the assault. The rubble of the battle is still smoking, and supplies are low.

One of them had an iron collar on.

You have:

100 dwarven soldiers (The Cliffwatch Guard and the Dawnbreak Guard)
Led by Commander Gorin "Short-Fist" Rungnisson

50 Resurrected High Guard

High Priest Faragrim Silver-vein.

225 civilians - mostly elderly, children and the infirm.

350 militia - pretty much all the men and women who can swing an axe or sword.

200 freed slaves - 150 dwarves and 50 assorted races, including orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, a couple of drow, some duergar and an elf. The slaves are in pretty rough shape.

There are about 10 days worth of supplies (enough to feed 900 people) left in the city granaries and storehouses, you are out of medicines, although there are several priests with healing spells still alive.

The 5e Economy

In older versions of D&D, the economics were weird and often nonsensical.  Especially considering that PC’s do not inhabit the “normal” economic system.  They operate more like gold rush prospectors than shopkeepers.  High risk, occasional massive payout and long stretches of downtime.

And where do magic items (sale and purchase) fall into the economy?  3e just normalized it – you could buy/sell magic items, and were expected to.  4e ignored it, mostly.  You sell magic items for half their worth, buy them for full cost and just shut up and kill stuff.

And then there is crafting.  Where does it fall into the economy – it has to be less profitable to stay home and craft than to go on adventures – otherwise, who would go adventuring?

I think it should be useful/interesting to be able to do crafting.  Players like to have their characters build things, create things, to leave a mark on the world other than by killing.  Plus, as a DM, it’s nice to have an underlying economy that makes a bit of sense – that you can build off of in a consistent, interesting way.

I’m going to start digging into the 5e crafting economy, looking at its links to the larger economic structure implied by the lifestyle and hireling rules, and see if it all hangs together.

Hellz yah Ron Perlman

Case Study 1:  Blacksmithing.

Historically, Blacksmithing was a high-skill, high-prestige occupation.  Ideally, that will also be the case here.

According to the rules, it takes the average person 250 days to learn to use a Smith’s tools, and the cost is 1 gp per day to do so, assuming they can find a teacher.  The tools themselves cost 20 gp (I assume this is for a travelling blacksmith, rather than the cost of setting up a forge).

Based on the lifestyle expenses, this is a fairly expensive proposition – essentially it is the cost of a year of modest lifestyle, so a reasonably high barrier to entry, consistent with a high-skill occupation, and requiring an apprenticeship period.

Now, let’s assume that the blacksmith has the skills – the crafting rules state that they have to pay ½ the cost of the item in “raw materials”.  My initial thought is that this is too high a raw materials cost, but if we suppose it covers the overhead to set up and run the forge, or to use somebody else’s forge, it might be doable.

The example they use in the book is 3 people working on a suit of plate mail, so let’s look at the economics of that and see if crafting actually pays.

We’ll start with the numbers.  A suit of plate mail costs 1500 gp.  So it will cost 750 gp in raw materials.  Let’s assume that means all the leather, coal, metal, tools and facilities you need to build the suit of armor.  In practical terms, this means that only a well-established, experienced blacksmith could even attempt this – the materials cost is too high, unless you are being fronted by the client.  But let’s assume this is an experienced smith who has the resources to do this project.

The remaining 750 gp worth of labor needs to happen at 5 gp/day, or 150 days worth of labor.  Remember that the smith can maintain himself at Modest level (1gp/day) for that time period.  If he does it all himself and lives modestly, he makes 750 gp profit, plus the 150 gp in living expenses.

*Edit* I messed this up.  I assumed that the profit was all they got back - but it isn't - they recoup their initial investment as well.  So this part below is all wrong.

So here is a big problem – if he starts the same project over again, he’s back to 0 – making nothing but plate mail (or anything else, by extension) means he never makes profit.  He has to plow all his profits back into materials for the next set.  

Of course, he is paying for a modest living for himself, so that is something.

Now let’s assume he has 2 helpers.  The helpers also earn 1 gp/day while helping, and they cut the time down to 50 days of labor.  Great – 750 gp profit for 50 days of work, plus the "lifestyle income" of 150 gp.

If he has a family– let’s say 3 gp/day for a family of 4.  So it’s costing him 2 gp/day to work on this – if the kids are the helpers, then just the forge work pays for itself, and he's still making 750 gp in 50 days.  Which is pretty good.

So these rules work (sorta) for PC crafting, since I guess the raw materials (this is really just materials, not raw materials) cost assumes that the PC doesn't
want to do most of the work themselves, and has the scratch to pay for steel, chainmail, leather and soforth.

So blacksmithing – it’s a decent living, and it doesn't really seem to matter what you are building - the 5 gp/day structure ensures that you can make a pretty good living at it, assuming you start with the matching 5 gp for raw materials.

I would like to give it more flexibility though, so say that you can put in UP TO 50% in raw materials, with a 10% minimum.

Let's try that suit of plate again with these rules.

The blacksmith puts in 25% in raw materials cost - 375 gp.  He has to do 1125 gp worth of work, or 225 days of labor.  He has 2 helpers, who just get paid the 1 gp/day modest living salary.  That means 75 days of work for the three of them.  At the end of that time, they clear 1500 gp for the suit.  Takes longer, but the basic math is the same.

Of course, if I was being detailed, I'd modify the raw materials cost and final product cost based on material availability and technology levels in an area, but that's for another day.