Legos & Dragons

Impressive

Eric C. Harshbarger

75" wide by 90" tall

D&D 5e Expert NPCs

I know a lot people did not like the D&D 3.x/PF NPC classes. I can understand why. Like a lot of things in D&D 3.x/PF it takes time to create them. But in certain situations I found some of them useful. The commoner and aristocrat I never used. I think I used an adept once. The expert and warrior I used quite a bit. I used warrior for veteran guards or military officers but didn't want all the extra baggage of a fighter. And I used the expert usually for artisan & craft people. An experienced weapon smith should be better at crafting a sword than the vast majority of PCs. 

D&D 5e has sample NPCs that could be modified and used in the role formerly handled by adepts and warriors. However, the closest thing to an expert is the commoner which has no proficiency bonus.

I want an NPC to have various levels of expertise in different skills/tools. So I'll be assigning one or more proficiency bonuses to one or more skills/tools for certain NPC to represent their expertise. I have three methods I'm playing around with.

Notes:

• This is an alpha version. More just writing down my thoughts on possibilities.
• These are only for non-weapon proficiencies. Maybe even crafting only.
• For crafting, this only applies to non-magical items. Avarin the world renown armorer could create you the most ornate & well crafted suit of plate*. But he's probably not going to be able to create a +1 magic chain.

*GM could rule that the armor has some minor benefits. Ex: lighter weight, quicker to don and doff the armor. 

Method 1

Just pick the bonus(es) for specific skills/tools. Simple and to the point.

However, I wanted to have a method that has some randomness and another that is completely random.

Method 2

In this method each NPC gets a random number of Expertise Points (EP) that are used to purchase proficiency bonuses for individual skills/tools. That's the random part. The non-random part is I decide how to spend those points.

First I need to know the size of the settlement the NPC is generally located or based. My thinking is the larger the settlement the more likely it would have more skilled individuals. The DMG divides settlement size into three categories. I prefer to have more granularity. So I'm using the Pathfinder categorization scheme. The size determines which dice to roll to find the number of EPs for that NPC.

Settlement Size Table

Settlement Size	Population Range	Expertise Points of NPC	Max Prof Bonus
Thorp	Fewer than 20	2d4	+4
Hamlet	21–60	d6 + d4	+4
Village	61–200	2d6	+5
Small town	201–2,000	2d8	+6
Large town	2,001–5,000	2d10	+6
Small city	5,001–10,000	2d12	+8
Large city	10,001–25,000	d20 +d12	+9
Metropolis	More than 25,000	2d20	+10

The Proficiency Bonus Cost Table

Prof Bonus	EP Cost
0	0
1	1
2	2
3	4
4	6
5	9
6	12
7	16
8	21
9	27
10	35

Yes, I'm well aware that a 20th level character only has a proficiency bonus of +6. But I want to be able to have world renown artisan that would outclass any PC in his given profession.

Spreadsheet for managing proficiency bonus purchasing.

Method 3

Again, first I need to know the settlement size. Based on the size find the Settlement Modifier. Pick a skill or tool, starting with one the NPC is most likely to have. Roll a d100 and a d20, adding the Settlement Modifier only to the d100.

Settlement Size Table

Settlement Size	Population Range	Settlement Modifier	Exceptional Die
Thorp	Fewer than 20	-40	-
Hamlet	21–60	-30	-
Village	61–200	-20	-
Small town	201–2,000	-10	-
Large town	2,001–5,000	0	-
Small city	5,001–10,000	+5	d8
Large city	10,001–25,000	+10	d10
Metropolis	More than 25,000	+15	d12

Find the modified d100 roll in the first column of the Proficiency Bonus Table. The corresponding second column is the proficiency bonus for the given skill. Should the modified d100 roll be greater than 100, then roll the dice from column four of the Settlement Size table. Look up that value on the Exceptional table.
Next determine if the NPC has another skill. Find the same d100 rolled before but without the modifier in third column. If the d20 fall within the range given in the fourth column, then the NPC has another bonus for another skill/tool. Choose the next most important skill/tool and repeat.

The Proficiency Bonus Table

d100 + Settlement Modifier	Proficiency Bonus	Unmodified d100	Has another skill? d20
<= 15	+1	<= 15	1-17
11-35	+2	11-35	1-14
26-50	+3	26-50	1-8
51-74	+4	51-74	1-6
75-89	+5	75-89	1-3
90-100	+6	90-100	1-2
>= 101	roll on Exceptional table	>= 101	1

Exceptional Table

Exceptional Die Roll	Proficiency Bonus
1-7	7
8-9	8
10-11	9
12	10

Of course it is quite possible to roll a virtually useless NPC, in that case re-roll or just add proficiency bonus using Method 1.

Analysis of Method 2 vs Method 3

If you're expecting methods 2 and 3 to create similar results, you'll be disappointed. You'll probably be less likely to get an NPC with an exceptionally high proficiency bonus.

Pre-roll initiative

I've heard/read this idea a couple times. I think I'll bring it up to the group in the next session and see how responsive they are towards it.

Have initiative pre-rolled for monsters and players before the start of the game.

I see a few benefits of this:

1. Combats will take less time (maybe not by much but definitely some).
2. The flow from description to combat will be smoother. If the characters enter a room where the occupant won initiative, I can say "You see two orcs in battered armor stand guard in front of a door at the opposite end of the hall and the one on the left hurls his spear at you."
3. Related to #2. The players won't be as jolted out of character immersion and into game mode, every time I say "roll for init".

Monsters

During prep, I roll initiative for each potential combatant or combatant group.

Players

Before the start of the game, I have each player roll a dozen or so initiative rolls with all modifiers. I'll write them down in order then randomly determine what element in the sequence I'll use for the first combat and then continue the sequence from there. I do this in order to prevent the players from knowing exactly the future order. 

Example

For simplicity sake let say I have the players roll six times. The players roll the following in the given order.

Element #	Char #1	Char #2	Char #3
1	6	1	15
2	8	11	9
3	14	6	2
4	4	16	18
5	13	19	16
6	17	5	9

To determine the starting element I roll a d6. Say I roll a 5. So for the first combat the characters will have the respective initiative rolls:  #1: 13; #2: 19; #3: 16. The second combat the characters will have: #1: 17; #2: 5; #3:9. For the third, I warp around to the first element: #1: 6; #2: 1; #3: 15

Now to really prevent the players from knowing exactly the future order I would randomly determine the starting element for each player individually. But that is probably too much effort for added benefit. 

Session #1 Report Part 2

Notes: 
Text in italics is out of character notes.
Text underlined denotes sarcasm.

While in Karlsburg gathering information regarding the Mount of the Red Doors, they were told by more than one person that they would not be able to enter the Mount, for there was kind of magical force that preventing anyone reaching the red doors let alone open them and enter.

Not only did not party not feel any force preventing them from climbing the stairs and reaching the red door. They were able to easily open the doors and enter. Upon entering, they were meet with short flight of stair going down into a room with six statues - one female and five males. Upon examination the party realized that the male statues did not have the original heads. Vrocensin Verth, the cleric, recognized that original male statues most likely represented the gods of Ezaos, Niysus, Sigmir, Midis, and Vadros. He did not recognize the female. Vrocensin was able to remove one of the heads from one of the male statues.

Anders Blackwood was able to hear voices coming from behind one of the doors. But not until the half-orc barbarian, Thagmar, listened did they recognize the language as being orcish. Behind the door were not orcs but 7 snorks - weaker cousins of orcs. Or as Thagmar put it "The red headed step child of the orcs." The snorks were easily dispatched. Here we see Dravin, the dwarf wizard, first use of what was to become a common staple of his, the Chill Touch cantrip. Or what was to be known as the "Darth Vader", used as both a noun and a verb. The snork was Darth Vadered.

In a deserted store room where Thagmar and Vrocensin were overcome with fit of coughing from ages of dust, the party discovered a 50 foot piece of hemp rope. And the party cheered for their new found wealth.

The party entered a circular room with five demonic looking masks hanging on the wall. Next to skeleton, laid a sixth mask. They were unable to determine the cause of death for the skeleton. After finding three traps connected to five of the masks, the party decided to leave the masks alone.

They discover two stone dwarves. Dravin, explains to the rest of the party that when a dwarf dies, within 30 minutes a dwarf's body returns to it's original form of stone. Even though the dwarves had decent quality chain and battles axes, the party decided to respect the dead and left the items.

After Anders was able to pick a locked door, the party entered a vault with chests and an unknown type of undead. After defeating the creature, discovered a plethora of semi-valuable trinkets and three magic items: a broach of shielding, a lesser wand of magic missiles (like a normal wand of magic missiles but it cannot be recharged), and a blade (longsword) of viled destruction. They also found a map to an unknown location in an unknown forest.

Next the party entered a room with six pillars and a marble altar. Upon entering the room 6 sets of bones appear to jump out of 6 sconces. Each set forming into a skeleton. After a quickly dispatching the skeletons, they party discovers a secret door hidden behind the altar. The secret door led to a treasury room with only a few bag remaining. In the bags were found some silver pieces, gems, and a carved marble head of the god Sigmir.

Later the party hears voice in Low Sulian talking about garrison duty and other military subjects. The party devises a plan to use the least threatening character Milo Tealeaf - the halfling bard - to lure what ever is behind the door out into the hall to be ambushed by the rest of the party. All the planning was for naught. For behind the door were four apparitions of soldiers that paid no attention to the party regardless of their actions.

Around the corner from the apparitions the party discovers a room with six pedestals. In front of each pedestal was an obvious pressure plate of a golden bronze like metal. They decide they want nothing to do with pedestal or pressure plates. Beyond the pedestals was a set of stairs leading further into the dungeon. This they too decide to ignore - at least for now. They suspect there is much more to explore on this level.

Later they discover a room with a steel-reinforced oak table with various stains. They suspect it might have been a lab table.

Next they discover a library with only four salvageable items, two books, a fragmented scroll for the spell knock, and a map of a region called The Exarchate of Theana. From terrain nearby on the map, they deduce it lies to the east of the City-States region they are currently.

The party enters a room occupied by 11 kobold-like creatures. With the Dragonborn fighter, Frocensin Verth's acid breath they quickly slay seven of the creatures. The creatures drop their weapons and the characters decide to grant them mercy. Before moving on, the party evicts the creatures out of the room and take a short rest. Taking the short rest would later prove to be essential.

In the next room they find three large brass boxes with knobs and dials. After discovering at least one of the boxes is warm to the touch and the floor near the boxes is charred, the characters decide it wiser to ignore the boxes and move on.

Next they reach what was to be the next to last room to be explored during the session. The room has a wooden door at the far side of the room. The room is empty except the floor near the opposite door is covered. Up till now the party has played it fairly cautiously. However, here they realize they have a conundrum - of what should be protected by their caution. Most members declare they should burn the oil. However, Anders the rogue, advises that doing so might damage what - treasure? - is behind the door. With visions of gold and items of wondrous power dancing in their heads they decide to brave the oil.

A second or two after opening the door, they realized listening to Anders in this occasion was a mistake. For flying at them were two flaming torches. The party was instantly in trouble. Kelyn Robinsworth, Frocensin's squire immediately succumbed (unconscious, not dead) to the flames. Shortly after Vrocensin would drop unconscious. Darvin was able to drag Kelyn out of the flames. And Anders was able to drag Vrocensin out of the flames.

Beyond the door in a cavernous room lie waiting ten more kobold-like creatures. While screaming no more mercy to kobolds, Thagmar rushes into the room where he is quickly surrounded. The players soon learned how effective a swarm of weak creatures can be due to my flanking advantage rule. The short rest allowed Frocensin to use his breath weapon again.

After this near TPK, party decided to head back to Karlsburg. But before they did, Vrocensin placed the marble head of Sigmir onto the correct statue in the first room they entered in the dungeon. This did something - but what? The party will have to wait till next time.

In-game date(s): Aprflos 5, 918

Session #1 Report Part 1

We had the 1st session of the Mount of the Red Doors campaign on Saturday April 11, 2015. I think it went very well. I certainly enjoyed myself. And I believe the players enjoyed themselves. (Players: if you didn't please let me know where I could improve.)

This post will cover aspects of the session except the event and story elements of the sessions. I'll post about that in my next post.

Players and Characters

Unfortunately one of the players could not attend due to unforeseen circumstances. Hopefully he will be able attend the next session. As a result we only had 3 players and so as described in my very first post, I wanted the party to have at least 4 Player Characters. So each player controlled two PCs. In random order:

Brian: Frocensin Verth and Vrocensin Verth (brothers)
Jeremy: Dravin Stormblood and Milo Tealeaf
Chris: Anders Blackwood and Thagmar     

Party was joined by Frocensin's squire Kelyn Robinsworth.

More about PCs

Setup

I have a collection of 3D dungeon tiles from dxContent. Jeremy brought over a collection of cool miniatures which was better than my paper figs. Unfortunately, I forgot to take some pictures at the session. I'll post some pictures at a later date that shows the combination of the miniatures and tiles.

I originally planned to just use the dxContent tiles, swapping tiles, in and out as needed. I had used paper tiles in the past. Even when I had organized the paper tiles before the session, swapping tiles became tedious and interrupted flow of the game. So I decided to use the tiles only for combat and used the Smart Image feature of Realm Works for exploration. And while there were interuptions in the game flow as I revealed each area of the map, I think it was better than swapping the tiles. Below is an image of the area of the Mount the characters explored this session.

The red letters were for convenience of reference. When players talked among themselves or to me they referenced an exit of the room they were currently located by letter. "Anders will listen at door B." When I added the letters, I made sure all exits were unique from a given room. Next time, I think I'll make each reference unique within an entire section of a map. As more of the map was revealed, there were a few occasions of confusion about what letter "A" was being referenced.

What didn't work

The most obvious was the audio recording. I had my mac laptop on my table running QuickTime player to record the audio of the session. When I went to stop the recording and save the audio, I got an error message and the app proceeded to close without saving. So I'm going to have to write everything based on memory.

Where I want to improve

I had created some tables for Inspiration Pad that would randomly generate sentences that described the result of combat kill hits - "After ducking your foe's attack, you slash your weapon into your foe's abdomen." I used it early on. However, by the end of the session I realized I returned to my default "he's dead." I want to keep the descriptions more interesting.

What to do at next session.

• Take pictures of my table setup and some of the combats.
• Have more than one recording device.

Opps! My mistake about disarming traps.

I had incorrectly stated that Investigation was used to disarm non-magical traps. This is not the case. Disarming non-magical traps is a Dex ability check. If you are proficient with Thieves tools, you may add your proficiency bonus.

First Gaming Session Scheduled

Saturday April 11, 2015

Expected Players

• Bill @ 11:00 to create PC
• Brian @ 11:30 to complete PC
• Chris @ 12:00
• Jeremy @ 12:00

Rule Clarifications and House Rules: Part II

Identifying Magical Items

Simply handling a normal magic item is enough to determine that it is imbued with mystical power. Detect magic is still useful to pinpoint magic items from a distance, or to detect auras from items that do not innately hint at their magical nature. You can spend a short rest studying a magic item to learn its abilities, during which time it's assumed that you experiment with the item and try to activate its magic. A character can inspect one item per short rest. (Potions are an exception to this rule. Simply sipping a potion reveals its properties.)

If an item requires attunement, you do not learn the risks and benefits of attuning after a short rest. You learn that you can attune to the item, but not what happens when you do so. Attuning to an item reveals its abilities. However, some of the benefits and drawbacks presented by an item might take time to reveal themselves.

If you are wary of attuning to an item, the identify spell reveals all of an item's properties and drawbacks. Though this spell is no longer necessary to learn an item's secrets, it does save you the risk of first attuning to an item and then learning what it does.

Karlsburg

Built during Sulian times to guard the trade route through the Wintertops, at the other end of which wlay Winterburg. Of relatively minor importance in those days, Karlsburg has grown considerably since the fall of the Empire. Now under the authority of the City-State of Adamas (2415), Karlsburg still guards the trade route (which is considerably less active than it once was), but its primary purpose is to keep an eye on the Mount and the adventurers and cultists that are drawn to the ancient citadel.

Buildings and establishments

• Gem Master
• General Store
• Inn
• Market
• Moneychanger
• Recruitment House
• Smith and Armory
• Tavern
• Temple of Juros
• Temple of Vadros

Rule Clarifications and House Rules

None of these are set in stone. Please feel free to discuss and/or ask questions.

Flanking Advantages

If you and at least one ally are all adjacent to the same enemy and all are attacking that enemy, then you and your allies each gain an advantage. However, the size of the advantage is not always a d20. The size of the advantage die depends on the number of allies that meet the above criteria.

# Characters	Dice Size
2	d10
3	d12
4	d16*
5+	d20*

The value in the # Characters column is the total number of adjacent and attacking characters, including your character. I realize a d10 may not help much unless your really good. And yes I do have a d16.

* This level is considered as granting Advantage for standard D&D 5e rules that require a character to have Advantage. 

Searches

Non-Magical Traps

I will assume that your characters are at least somewhat competent. When you move in an obviously dangerous area, such as a dungeon, it is assumed your searching for traps. In games terms I will automatically use your PC's passive Wisdom (Perception). In addition you may say you are actively searching for traps, doing so require 20 seconds per 10' x 10' area.

This does not apply to objects or places that you must interact with using your hands, such as a chest, doors or reaching into a hole in the wall. You'll have to state that you are performing a search Wisdom (Perception).

Intelligence (Investigation) is used to determine how a trap is setup or designed. Therefore this is the skill used to disarm traps.

Magical Traps

Magical traps are detected and disabled using Intelligence (Arcana). However, if a magical trap has a mechanical component such as a pressure plate that must have weight on it to activate it, Wisdom (Perception) can still be used to detect the mechanical component.

Intelligent Play

Note intelligent actions by your characters can detect and avoid the affects of traps. 

Hidden Objects

If an object is visible but difficult to detect, such as a secret door, and you move near it,
I will automatically use your PC's passive Wisdom (Perception). 

You may state you are searching. Doing so you must specifically state where you are searching. If search someplace where an object is located, no Wisdom (Perception) roll is required.

Locks

1. You have tools and you're proficient with them: 
1. roll Dex check with prof bonus.
2. You have tools and you're not proficient with them: 
1. roll Dex check
3. You don't have tools and you're not proficient with them: 
1. you have to get some improvising tools and roll Dex with disadvantage.
4. You don't have tools but you're proficient with them: 
1. you have to get some improvising tools but you know what will be the best for that job. you roll Dex check with prof with disadvantage.

Intelligence (Investigation)

When else does Intelligence (Investigation) come into play?

When trying to deduce something based on the information you already know. Example: searching a library for specific book. You could just sequentially search starting at front of the library but that would probably take a long time. Intelligence (Investigation) allows to deduce where the book might be based how the library seems to be organized.

Sometime, I will roll this secretly and say something to the effect "based on the tracks the creature has a limp". It's your "Sherlock Holmes" factor.

It can also be used in the place of Streetwise skill from other games.

The means of opening some secret doors may be discovered with a Intelligence (Investigation) check.

Magic Items

Certain magic items require a user to attune to them before their magical properties can be used. Attuning to a magic item requires that you spend a short rest concentrating on it (this can’t be the same short rest used to learn an item’s properties). Depending on the nature of the item, this concentration can take the form of prayers, weapon practice, or meditation. In any case, the concentration period must be uninterrupted. Once you are attuned to an item, you can use its magical properties.

An item can be attuned to only one creature at a time. A creature can be attuned to no more than three magic items at any given time, and you can attune yourself to only one item during a short rest. Your attunement to an item ends when the item has been more than 100 feet away from you for 24 hours or when you die. You can also voluntarily end your attunement to an item with another short rest.