By Duncan Thomson on
- The Id DM has previewed a couple of DMG pages! This is from the section on building NPCs. If you check out his site, he has some NPCs he created. Previous DMG previews: Magic Items Table, Villainous Classes, Table of Contents, Firearms, Explosives & Alien Tech, Eye/Hand of Vecna & Orbs of Dragonkind, Magic Rings.
- The outcomes then become -54, -18, -9, 0, 12, 18, 32 - Minus 19 gold in the long run. It's because your most negative outcome is twice as likely as your most positive. Yes, like the regular Running a Business section. The outcomes for 21-30 and 81-90 (for an average profit roll) are opposites of the same value.
- Dmg Dnd 5e Map Hex Mar 13, 2015 I've been reading about wilderness hex crawls (see also this), and I'm inspired to use a hex map for some wilderness exploration. I've never worked with hex maps before I'm trying to start by following the recommendations on page 14 of the 5th edition DMG: A single sheet of hex paper with 5.
'An awakened ankylosaurus speaks Common and is a respected oracle. They donate any gifts to a group of friendly local humanoids.'
Tables for Non-Combat Encounters, Quick NPCs and Hazards & Obstacles for ruins. Result is from Ruins Non-Combat Encounters.
Non-combat by terrain - jungle | road | ruins | sea | shadowfell
I have been kicking around creating a character that utilizes the siege equipment on page 255 of the 5e DMG. While I kicked around ideas, I kept running into a few rules issues that I would like some help with clearing up. If possible, I would like RAW answers and interpretations.
[Photo by Raph Howald on Unsplash]
Ruins Non-Combat, NPCs and Hazards
Combat isn't the only option at old ruins.. Merfolk may be very lost and ask for directions, or doppelgangers may try to sell them the ruins. Meet NPCs from a tattooed dwarf seeking a glorious death to a member of a local faction happy to show them around. Deal with choking dust or avoid fire-breathing statues, cursed shrines and cunning pits.
There is a 5e ruins random encounter generator at ChaosGen. And a separate tool for encounter locations including ruins.
There is also a pdf of these and more tables at the DM's Guild as Ruins Encounters.
Ruins Encounter Tables - creatures | locations | non-combat | complications
Ruins Non-Combat Encounters
| 1d8+1d12 | Ruins Non-Combat Encounters |
|---|---|
| 2 | A storm giant is making a diorama from debris. Needs inspiration. |
| 3 | A lonely wight is seeking a partner for a board game. Is very skilled. |
| 4 | A tribal warrior is spending a few days in the ruins as part of a ceremony (or rite of passage) |
| 5 | A few merfolk searching for a famous lake. Have a map but are lost. |
| 6 | A group of adventurers are surveying the area and creating a map. Two guards, an acolyte, a noble and a scout |
| 7 | A shield guardian(or iron golem) has been commanded by its master to direct humanoids to a nearby cave entrance |
| 8 | A mercenary veteran loves coming here to think about life and death |
| 9 | A few miserable kobolds(or goblins) have lost their home and seek somewhere new. Flee or surrender if shown any hostility |
| 10 | A pair of doppelgangers offer to sell forged deeds to the ruins |
| 11 | Several satiated stirges watch disinterestedly from the drained corpse of a giant lizard |
| 12 | A noisy owl tries to lead them to an undisturbed shrine of nature |
| 13 | A few distraught commoners are searching for a missing child |
| 14 | A mimic(Int 12, speaks Common) offers services in return for food |
| 15 | A mage is looking for components to help create a magical wagon |
| 16 | A bewildered noble in archaic clothing asks what year it is |
| 17 | A young black dragon(History +3) interested in old civilizations is trying to decipher or translate some inscriptions |
| 18 | A poet's ghost seeks audience for it's last ballad so it can find peace. |
| 19 | A sentient gelatinous cube(Int 8) wants to be friends. It communicates through images on one side |
| 20 | Several stone giants are performing repairs for a very rich patron |
Ruins Quick NPCs
Dnd 5e Players Handbook Pdf
| 1d4+1d6 | Ruins Quick NPCs |
|---|---|
| 2 | Scrag is a happy half-orc spy(or bard - VGtM) with many pouches and a mule. They travel the land as a herbalist. They heard of the exploits of at least one of the party and ask many questions about them. |
| 3 | Blizagrok the Hungry is a reckless half-ogre with a metal breastplate. They are an outcast and are desperate to help in any endeavor |
| 4 | Veit is a dwarf berserker(or gladiator) with bright hair and tattoos. They seek redemption for their past misdeeds by dying in battle against a suitable monster. Have heard of such a creature nearby. |
| 5 | Tessele is a contemplative bandit captain . They live nearby as a hermit but are wanted for crimes they committed over a decade ago |
| 6 | Drashk is an lazy tiefling guard(or thug) with a distinctive red hooded cloak. They are down to their last copper and looking for easy work |
| 7 | Aoth is an talkative wererat with colorful rings and several engraved bronze amulets. They are recruiting minions for a nearby villain |
| 8 | Sadira is a gaunt scout with a swollen nose. They watch over area for a local faction and are happy to show others around in return for a tale |
| 9 | Ara is a foul-mouthed elf cult fanatic with one ear. They heard rumors connecting fiends to the ruins and are currently waiting for someone |
| 10 | Stedd Anskuld is a grizzled priest(or diviner - VGtM) with a weasel called Stripe. They are a 'dungeon surveyor', worshiping a deity of stone. Studying nearby ruins and offers future services to the group |
Ruins Hazards and Obstacles
| 2 | A talking door (or fountain) which can cause a curse (or geas) |
| 3 | An area protected by forbiddance(or hallow) |
| 4 | Shrieking winds (Strong Wind - DMG pg 110) |
| 5 | A distressed creature caught in something. Makes a lot of noise if other creatures approach (attracting attention) |
| 6 | A rolling sphere trap (DMG pg 123) or sphere of annihilation (DMG pg 122) |
| 7 | A patch of Brown (or Yellow) Mold (DMG pg 105) |
| 8 | A collapsing roof (DMG pg 122) or locking pit trap (DMG pg 122) |
| 9 | Heavy rain (or snow) (Heavy Precipitation - DMG pg 110) |
| 10 | A fire breathing statue (DMG pg 122) or poison darts (DMG 123) |
| 11 | An area of thick webs (DMG pg 105) or razorvine (DMG pg 110) |
| 12 | A heavy (or poisonous) mist descends around party |
| 13 | Thunder and lightning or Swarm of Rot Grubs (VGtM) infesting a corpse |
| 14 | Large amounts of dust (or harmless insects). Disturbing causes light or heavy obscurement. |
| 15 | Several shriekers that attract other creatures |
| 16 | A cursed shrine surrounded by desecrated ground. Lingering attracts specters(or wraiths) |
| 17 | An area of wild magic (half of spells cast in area trigger a Wild Surge - as wild magic sorcerer) |
| 18 | An earthquake which causes collapses of structures in the area |
| 19 | An area of dead magic (functions as antimagic field) |
| 20 | A permanently open teleportation circle linked to a local dungeon |
More Encounters and Locations
There is also a pdf of these and more tables at the DM's Guild as Ruins Encounters.
These tables inspired my 5E ruins encounters generator at Chaos Gen.
You can get encounters tools updates on Patreon and find me on Twitter @duncanthom
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The 5e DMG has a short section on “handling mobs:” it has a chart for approximating, out of a group of attacking monsters, how many monsters hit.
It’s pretty simple: subtract attacker’s hit bonus from the target’s AC. Cross-index that number on the chart. If the number is 1-5, all the attackers hit; if it’s 6-12, 1/2 of them hit; etc., up to 1 in 20 of the attackers hitting on a 20.
I ran a big set-piece battle yesterday: 8 mid-level PCs and 10 gnomes against 20+ drow and other assorted creatures, including a drow spider chariot and a sinister angel. With a wizard and a sorcerer PC and two drow wizards, all slinging fireballs, the mob attacks weren’t much of a factor. With all those fireballs, what I COULD have used was rules for mob saving throws.
If I’d thought about it, I’d have realized that the same chart can be used for saving throws. Instead of subtracting attack bonus from AC, subtract saving throw bonus from DC, and use the chart as normal. For instance, a fireball save DC of 15, minus the drow dex save (+2) is 13, which, according to the chart, means that 1/3 of the drow succeed on their saving throw (and probably survive with 1 or 2 HP left).
In fact, this same chart can be used for ability/skill checks (how many orcs managed to climb the wall? DC minus skill bonus) or any other d20 roll.
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To me, it seems this is all you need to run fairly simple battles with dozens or hundreds of creatures per side. The amount of HP tracking is not excessive: for instance, in this unit of 50 ogres, 24 have 15 damage and the other 25 have 30 damage. (For ease of bookkeeping, assume that melee attacks always target the most-damaged creature.)
You might also care about the base size of big units. I assumed that a close-packed formation of 10 Medium troops took up the size of one Large creature. I’d say that 25 troops are Huge and 50 are Gargantuan.
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If we do any bigger-scale battles, I might find other rules that I need (after all, the Chain Mail rules are much longer than this blog post) but right now, this is looking pretty good for running big D&D skirmishes.