The Secrets of Heroes: Campaign Hook #2

And here is Campaign hook #2 for the IRL game crowd.


The Secrets of Heroes

“Over two hundred years ago, on the plains of The Greenfields, a great battle was fought.  The Prince of Beasts, Baphomet, carved open a gateway between planes.  His forces erected a metropolis in their dark master's honor and from it, their terror spread.  Until, that is, the great Archmage Ardath Krell came and felled the forces of Hell.  Legend has it, he fought Baphomet atop the great brass tower in the center of the labyrinthine city and threw down the Demon Lord.  Once the stain of darkness had been purged from the land, Ardath himself lay down on a small island in the heart of The Greenfields.  As his life flickered out, the Archmage simply... faded away.  A memorial was erected on the spot.  In time, a small town grew where Ardath left this world.  Ardath's Rest, they call it.

And I believe I've found something; a secret Ardath went to his grave keeping.  If I'm right, I'm going to need some... specialists... to assist me.  Whatever we find, we'll split evenly as partners.

Are you in?”  -  Sage Setra Blackhands

An expedition with the promise of ancient treasure becomes a race to uncover the source of a festering evil in the heart of The Greenfields.

Campaign Hook #1 - The Province of the Damned

Posting the Campaign hooks for a pair of games I'll be running soon.  Here's the first.

The Specialists: The Province of the Damned

“Guards, why don't you give us a little privacy? Eh? Thank you.

All right, I'm just going to lay it out for you rotter. The Emperor has promoted me, ME, to Duke of Hulder, Warder of the High Pass. You know that means? It means he wants me dead and doesn't have enough evidence to have me hanged me instead. Hulder's a shitpot that's seen its ten last Dukes all die or vanish within seven years. I'm not about to be the next one.

I need specialists, not soldiers. People that aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. The last Duke to be appointed hasn't replied to any messages in over a month. I don't even know for certain that he is dead. That's why I've come to you. Sign up and I'll see that you're well paid and that you receive a full pardon for your crimes... whether or not you committed anyway. If not, well, I hope the hangman's noose isn't tied too tight.”

Earn your freedom in the service Duke Edvard Alexsander as he takes control of Hulder Province, the most lethal stretch of territory the Empire has ever seen.

Of Monsters and Encounter Design

For those wondering, this is a follow-up my earlier post on the subject of lethality in DnD Next.

This time I’m discussing how to bring a little more of 4E into in 5E for those who are still new DMs and not used to tweaking full encounters or wanting to ramp up the “badassness” of the PCs.

If, for instance, we take the entry for an NPC “Bandit” from the Basic DMG pdf.  A Bandit has an AC of 12, 11 HP (2d8+2), has a +3 To Hit, and deals either 4 damage (1d6+1) in close combat or 5 damage (1d8+1) in ranged. They have no skill proficiencies by default.

Experienced DMs will immediately notice that three of our five main stats have an average number to use while also giving us a range. Some simulationists will want to roll each bandit’s HP and their damage, while making sure they wisely use both of their weapons.

That method, however, isn’t the subject of our discussion.  Let’s instead take a moment to refresh our memories concerning the stat blocks of 4E.  Each monster was labeled with a role (Skirmisher, Lurker, Artillery, Brute, Soldier, et al), as well as a possible classification such as Minion, Elite, or Solo.  These roles help DMs organize and plan for the proper creatures for their encounters.

Now, with 5E, determining a monster’s role as Lurker, Artillery, etc. is a little trickier than previous.  Each monster, by default, will have a limited number of useful roles given its stat block.  For now, we’ll leave our HP at 11.  Our Bandit could fulfill a Skirmisher or Artillery role easiest. We could simply denote each Bandit (Sk) or (Ar) as we design our encounter. Think of this as programming instructions. Our (Sk) Bandits will choose to fire a volley at foes before engaging in melee combat. Meanwhile, our (Ar) Bandits will choose to only fire from a distance until directly engaged or out of ammo (if you’re playing that way.)  We can make a Bandit into a Soldier by swapping their crossbow out for a shield. This increases their AC by 2 and increases their lifespan a bit further.  To create a better Lurker, we’ll note that our Bandit has a +3 to Stealth (They come equipped with a +1 Dex bonus). Now, to make our Brute we have a couple options. We can give the (Br) Bandit a more dangerous weapon, increasing their damage to (1d8+1) or (1d10+1) while dropping their ranged weapon.  Or, rather than changing their inventory at all, we can simply adjust our (Br) Bandit’s damage average to 5 or 6 instead of 4.  This will depend on your style of play and whether you prefer to roll all damage or use fixed damage for monsters to speed up combat.

Now, we’ve covered the main basic roles that our Bandits can easily play. (Controller and Leader are both technically doable but sort reaching for a Challenge 1/8 NPC.)  Now to address Minionizing, Elitifying, and (gasp) turning a Bandit into a Solo Boss Monster.

Minionizing is the easiest by far. Our Minion Bandit has minimum HP and should only hit for the average damage.  If you care to have your minions roll damage, cap their damage at the average. They should weaken your PCs while letting your players feel like badasses. If your Minion Bandit can kill a PC by accident, you’re doing it wrong.  Now, that being said, if you want your players terrified by a neverending swarm of bandits or kobolds, by all means, Minions are great for that option.  Dropping a dozen enemies and still having countless eyes shining in the darkness can absolutely spook a player. (Note: This works even better when using full narrative play as opposed to grid play for these moments. If a player asks why they can’t use the grid, simply tell them that you don’t have enough minis for what’s coming. Works like a charm.)  So, to recap, minimum HP for Minions, cap damage at average.  (Optionally, you can drop their HP to 1 and make them take no damage on a miss. That’s 100% 4E for you. I prefer the first method to keep the 3E/5E feel but YMMV.)

Moving on to Elites.  These foes are also quite easy to build.  Take your Bandit, give her maximum HP, a +2 to AC, and either raise her constant damage to 3/4 of the max damage or make the average her minimum damage if you roll damage. Now, your Bandit is hitting in a much more lethal range for many characters, is harder to hit, and takes more time to bring down.

Finally, the Solo.  Sounds easy right? Just keep pumping up the numbers, right? No. Absolutely not. Our real task here isn’t to just keep throwing higher numbers at the players. That increases the likelihood that someone will fall in combat, certainly. However, that does not help us create a more interesting opponent.  Instead, we’ll take the Elite template and do the following: increase HP to 1.5x normal maximum, and then find a monster (or monsters) of high enough Challenge and XP that it would be appropriate for your party. Steal two abilities from their stat block and graft onto your creature. In our instance, I’m stealing two abilities. One from the NPC Berserker (Reckless - Gain Melee Advantage for the turn, but all attacks against you have Advantage as well), and Multi-Attack (giving our Bandit two attacks per turn.) This raises our Bandit from being fairly dangerous to being downright lethal and hard to kill. Perfect for a Solo fight.

Now, the last question is concerning the quantity of XP to give for each enemy.  Our Bandits with roles will give standard 25 XP. Minions I recommend giving 1/2 XP for (13 XP in this case) because of their squishiness.  Elites should give x1.5 XP (38 XP) as they are significantly more potent than normal.  Solos should give 4x the normal XP rate (100 XP here) as they are intended with this method to challenges to parties of opponents.

Now, a word of warning.  Before you start trying to make Elite or Solo versions of creatures READ ALL THE MONSTER ENTRIES.  5E operates on “bounded accuracy” so that monsters that are Solos at level 2 will become Minion material at higher levels.  This doesn’t mean that you can’t make a pair of Solo Ogres (with a magical artifact or two even!) to teach your Level 6 or 8 PCs some humility, but these shenanigans will be harder to manage the higher in level you go.  Pay attention to abilities and how they interact with other monsters in your encounter. Few things are less fun than accidentally killing your PCs in an ambush meant to move the story along.

I hope this has been helpful. Good gaming, and remember, go have fun. That’s the point of a game.

DnD Next Beast List and Recommendations

Name (size, armor class, hit points, movement modes, skills, senses (PP=Passive Perception), special abilities (if any), attacks (damage and damage type))
Baboon (Small, AC:12, HP:3, Spd 30 Climb 30, Skills: None, Senses: PP11, Pack Tactics, Bite +1 (1 prc))
Badger (Tiny, AC:10, HP:3, Spd 20 Burrow 5, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP11, Keen Smell, Bite +2 (1 prc))
Bat (Tiny, AC:12, HP:1, Spd 5 Fly 30, Skills: None, Senses: Blindsight 60ft. PP11, Echolocation, Keen Hearing, Bite +1 (1 prc))
Blood Hawk (Small, AC:12, HP:7, Spd 10 Fly 60, Skills: Perception +4, Senses: PP14, Keen Sight, Pack Tactics, Beak +4 (4 prc))
Boar (Medium, AC:11, HP:11, Spd 40, Skills: None, Senses: PP9, Charge, Relentless, Tusk +3 (4 slash))
Cat (Tiny, AC:12, HP:2, Spd 40 Climb 30, Skills: Perception +3 Stealth +4, Senses: PP13, Keen Smell, Claws +0 (1 prc))
Crab (Tiny, AC:11, HP:2, Spd 10 Swim 20, Skills: Stealth +2, Senses: Blindsight 30ft PP9, Amphibious, Claw +0 (1 bldgn))
Deer (Medium, AC:13, HP:4, Spd 50, Skills: None, Senses: PP12, Bite +2 (2 prc))
Eagle (Small, AC:12, HP:3, Spd 10 Fly 60, Skills: Perception +4, Senses: PP14, Talons +4 (4 slash))
Flying Snake(Tiny, AC:14, HP:5, Spd 30 Fly 60 Swim 30, Skills: None, Senses: Blindsight 10 PP11, Flyby, Bite +6 (1 prc + 7 poison))
Frog (Tiny, AC:11, HP:1, Spd 20 Swim 20, Skills: Perception +1 Stealth +3, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP11, Amphibious, Standing Leap, no attacks)
Giant Badger (Medium, AC:10, HP:13, Spd 30 Burrow 10, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP11, Keen Smell, Multiattack Bite +3 (4 prc) Claws +3 (6 slash))
Giant Centipede (Small, AC:13, HP:4, Spd 30 Climb 30, Skills: None, Senses: Blindsight 30 PP8, Bite +4 (4 prc + DC11 Constitution of 10 Poison + Special))
Giant Crab (Medium, AC:15, HP:13, Spd 30 Swim 30, Skills: Stealth +4, Senses: Blindsight 30 PP9, Amphibious, Claw +3 (4 bldgn + DC11 Grapple))
Giant Fire Beetle (Small, AC:13, HP:4, Spd 30, Skills: None, Senses: Blindsight 30 PP8, Illumination, Bite +1 (2 slash))
Giant Frog (Medium, AC:11, HP:18, Spd 30 Swim 30, Skills: Perception +2 Stealth +3, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP12, Amphibious, Standing Leap, Bite +3 (4 prc + DC11 Grapple, Swallow Attack))
Giant Poisonous Snake (Medium, AC:14, HP:11, Spd 30 Swim 30, Skills: Perception +2, Senses: Blindsight 10 PP12, Bite +6 (6 prc + DC 11 Constitution or 10 poison))
Giant Rat (Small, AC:12, HP:7, Spd 30, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP10, Keen Smell, Pack Tactics, Bite +4 (4 prc))
Giant Weasel (Medium, AC:13, HP:9, Spd 40, Skills: Perception +3 Stealth +5, Senses: Darkvision PP13, Keen Hearing/Smell, Bite +5 (5 prc))
Giant Wolf Spider (Medium, AC:13, HP:11, Spd 40 Climb 40, Skills: Perception +3 Stealth +7, Senses: Blindsight 10 Darkvision 60 PP13, Spider Climb, Web Sense, Web Walker, Bite +3 (4 prc + DC11 Constitution or 7 Poison + Special))
Goat (Medium, AC:10, HP:4, Spd 40, Skills: None, Senses: PP10, Charge, Sure Footed, Ram +3 (3 bldgn))
Hawk (Tiny, AC:13, HP:1, Spd 10 Fly 60, Skills: Perception +4, Senses: PP14, Keen Sight, Talons +5 (1 slash))
Hyena (Medium, AC:11, HP: 5, Spd 50, Skills: Perception +3, Senses: PP13, Pack Tactics, Bite +2 (3 prc))
Jackal (Small, AC:12, HP:3, Spd 40, Skills: Perception +3, Senses: PP 13, Keen Hearing/Smell, Pack Tactics, Bite +1 (1 prc))
Lizard (Tiny, AC:10, HP:2, Spd 20 Climb 20, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP9, Bite +0 (1 prc))
Mastiff (Medium, AC:12, HP:5, Spd 40, Skills: Perception +3, Senses: PP13, Keen Hearing/Smell, Bite +3 (4 prc + DC11 Strength or Prone))
Mule (Medium, AC:10, HP:11, Spd 40, Skills: None, Senses: PP10, Beast of Burden, Sure Footed, Hooves +2 (4 bldgn))
Octopus (Small, AC:12, HP:3, Spd 5 Swim 30, Skills: Perception +2 Stealth +3, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP12, Hold Breath, Underwater Camouflage, Water Breathing, Tentacles +4 (1 bldgn + Grapple), Ink Cloud
Owl (Tiny, AC:11, HP:1, Spd 5 Fly 60, Skills: Perception +3 Stealth +3, Senses: Darkvision 120 PP13, Flyby, Keen Hearing/Sight, Talons +3 (1 slash))
Panther (Medium, AC:12, HP:13, Spd 50 Climb 40, Skills: Perception +4 Stealth +6, Senses: PP14, Keen Smell, Pounce, Bite +4 (5 prc) Claw +4 (4 slash))
Poisonous Snake (Tiny, AC:13, HP:2, Spd 30 Swim 30, Skills: None, Senses: Blindsight 10 PP10, Bite +5 (1 prc + DC10 Constitution or 5 poison))
Pony (Medium, AC:10, HP:11, Spd 40, Skills: None, Senses: PP10, Hooves +4 (7 bldgn))
Pteranodon (Medium, AC:13, HP:13, Spd 10 Fly 60, Skills: Perception +1, Senses: PP11, Flyby, Bite +3 (6 prc))
Quipper (Tiny, AC:13, HP:1, Spd 0 Swim 40, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 60 PP8, Blood Frenzy, Water Breathing, Bite +5 (1 prc))
Rat (Tiny, AC:10, HP:1, Spd 20, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP10, Keen Smell, Bite +0 (1 prc))
Raven (Tiny, AC:12, HP:1, Spd 10 Fly 50, Skills: Perception +3, Senses: PP13, Mimicry, Beak +4 (1 prc))
Scorpion (Tiny, AC:11, HP:1, Spd 10, Skills: None, Senses: Blindsight 10 PP9, Sting +2 (1 prc + DC9 Constitution or 4 poison))
Sea Horse (Tiny, AC:11, HP:1, Spd 0 Swim 20, Skills: None, Senses: PP10, Waterbreathing, no attacks)
Spider (Tiny, AC:12, HP:1, Spd 20 Climb 20, Skills: Stealth +4, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP10, Spider Climb, Web Sense, Web Walker, Bite +1 (1 prc + DC9 Constitution or 2 poison))
Stirge (Tiny, AC:14, HP:2, Spd 10 Fly 40, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 60 PP9, Blood Drain +5 (5 prc + blood drain)
Weasel (Tiny, AC:13, HP:1, Spd 30, Skills: Perception +3 Stealth +5, Senses: PP13, Keen Hearing/Smell, Bite +5 (1 prc))
Wolf (Medium, AC:13, HP:11, Spd 40, Skills: Perception +3 Stealth +4, Senses: PP13, Keen Hearing/Smell, Pack Tactics, Bite +4 (7 prc + DC11 Stength or prone))

Read more: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?358676-Beast-Master-Ranger-List-of-Animal-Companions#ixzz3Dd8nvfEZ

This is an important list for anyone who likes to play a Ranger with an Animal Companion and all thanks should be given to Moorcrys on the ENWorld boards for compiling it.  The current rules for Ranger only allow Beasts that are Medium or smaller with a Challenge of 1/4 or less.  Now, as your Beast Master grows in levels, you gain better abilities to control your companion as well as having them grow in HP and gain the use of your proficiency bonus. I also recommend considering buying barding for your animal companion (if your DM allows it) as soon as you can afford it to extend the life of your companion.  Some, like the Giant Crab won’t need barding (Giant Crab is a nice option for the ability to Grapple two targets at once also) but you should always keep these sorts of things in mind.

Beast Masters are regarded as the “worst off” of the sub-classes and rightfully so.  All of their class bonuses are tied up in making their pet shine.  That said, understanding your Beast Master’s role in group is very important.  Your pet will dictate how you fight and what role you are capable of filling.  A Gnome riding the back of a giant badger that has multiattack and burrow will play very differently than a Drow stalking through the shadows waiting for their giant wolf spider to pounce.

DnD Next: Lethality - Warm-Up

Disclaimer: This is a short version of a discussion that will happen in greater length farther down the road.  This is based purely off the monsters in the first two adventures, the free basic Dungeon Master’s Guide, the Player’s Handbook, and the downloadable preview pages.

Well, DnD Next continues to throw around some pretty groovy flavor in its initial offerings.  Here’s the thing to know though: If you REALLY REALLY liked 4th Edition, you may want to stick with it. Next takes some of the smart things 4E did and applies them directly to 3rd Edition. This results in monsters that can absolutely turn you into paste at 1st and 2nd levels.

For example, a preview monster released is the Intellect Devourer. These little nasties have always given players a case of the heebie jeebies if they knew what was good for them. This hasn’t changed. In fact, it’s gotten worse. Now considered a Challenge 2 Monster (450 xp), the Intellect Devourer can feasibly kill a character in two rounds by reducing their Intelligence to 0 (essentially making them comatose) and then stealing their body by teleporting inside their head and eating their brain.  A fighter with an Intelligence of 10 will get turned comatose roughly 1/3 of the time with the probabilities at hand. If turned comatose, the Intelligence contest between the ID and the target to have their brain eaten is very hard to win if at Int 0.

That being said, a lot of emphasis has been placed that #1: Challenge is not the old standard of CR and #2: That XP is the proper way to build an encounter.  With this in mind, if we look at the ID’s XP value of 450 and compare it to the Encounter Building section of the Basic DMG, we find that for a party of four, the Intellect Devourer is in the “Hard” encounter range, damn near the “Deadly” mark. This should be the DM’s warning that while this large housecat sized brain may be eminently squishy, a game of rocket tag might just get underway if not handled carefully. Further, this creature, at level 2, could well be the entire point of a short adventure.  At this level of XP, it is a boss monster or at least a plot pusher.

So, what does this mean? Taking into consideration some of the other monsters at low Challenge Ratings (Allosaurus, Ogres, Cocktrices) high lethality is back. It can absolutely be circumvented through teamwork and DM’s are being reminded time and time again to not be sadists, and instead to be enablers of fun.  With these two points in mind, this should be a great edition for gaming.  Just don’t be surprised if player characters do get picked off on occasion. (And don’t you DMs out there be the dickhead who revels in TPKs either. You make us all look bad.)

Whirling Dervish of Halfling Fury

I said I was going to put together some Dungeons and Dragons: Next characters and I meant it. I have several sheets but tonight I saw someone talk about one of their favorite class/race combinations and I decided to give it a go. So, without further ado, Portia Gallowsgreen, Stout Halfling Barbarian.
Now, with DnD Next, I have some options. First level characters don’t always get to choose their class specialization right off the bat. That typically happens at third level. As such, we’re just going off customizing a Level One PC (player character). We already know we want a Halfling Barbarian, so let’s get the class/race features down first.

A Note on Terms: Advantage means you roll a d20 twice and take the best number. Disadvantage means roll twice and take the lowest number. You may take one Bonus Action per turn if you have abilities that allow such a thing. Resistance means you take half damage from that kind of damage. Proficiency means you add your level’s Proficiency Bonus to your roll. At level one, this is a +2.

Halfling

• +2 to Dexterity Ability Score
• Small size
• 25 ft. walking speed
• Lucky: You get a single reroll of any die that comes up 1. You have to keep the second roll.
• Brave: You have Advantage on all rolls to resist Fear.
• Nimbleness: You can freely move through the space of any creature a size larger than you.
• Languages Known: Halfling and Common

Now we choose sub-race. Halfings can choose between Stout and Lightfoot. Stout are tough, Lightfoot are naturally charismatic and sneaky. We’ll be going Stout. So we also add to our features list

• Constitution +1
• Poison resistance (half damage) as well as Advantage on poison saving throws.

Barbarian

Now, we’ll add our Barbarian 1st level goodies into the mix.

• Our Hit Die is a d12. (We’ll roll one of these every time we level up and add it to our hit points. Also, our initial HP is equal to our Hit Die max (12) + our Constitution modifier. One more reason to be Stout.
• You’re proficient in Light Armor, Medium Armor, and Shields.
• Also proficient in all Simple and Martial weapons. (Essentially the entirety of our starter weapons catalog.)
• You have no tool proficiency.
• You have proficiency in both Strength and Constitution saving throws.

Now we get to pick two skills from a list of six: Animal Handling, Athletics, Intimidation, Nature, Perception, and Survival. We’ll pick Perception and Intimidation. We don’t normally get any social bonuses other than this for our Barbarian and so Intimidation could save our butt. Also, Perception is a relatively difficult skill to gain proficiency with and is very important.

Now, for starting equipment, we get to choose between a Greataxe or any other Martial weapon. We’ll take a Warhammer instead. Halflings, being Small in size, have Disadvantage when wielding Heavy weapons. Warhammers can at least be wielded two-handed for d10 damage. Not a bad deal and we’re still proficient in it. We also get to choose between having two handaxes or any simple weapon. The two handaxes will work fine. Dual-wielding in this edition is very easy. It lets you take a Bonus Action to make a second attack once per turn. There are Feats and Fighting Styles that can make it even more effective, but that’s beyond our scope here. They do 1d6 slashing damage and we can use them as throwing weapons that can be thrown 20 ft. without penalty or 60 ft. with Disadvantage. We also get an Explorer’s Pack (bedroll, rations, 50 ft. rope, etc.) and four javelins that do d6 Piercing damage and can be thrown 30/120.

As a Barbarian, we can Rage. Rage lasts for one minute at level one, gives us Advantage on all Strength checks and saving throws. It also gives us Resistance to all Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage. Finally, it adds +2 to all our Damage rolls. We can Rage twice before needing a long rest (8 hours) to regain our capacity for Raging.

We also have Unarmored Defense. Our AC (Armor Class, or the number someone has to roll higher than to hit us) is equal to our Dexterity Ability Modifier + Constitution Ability Modifier + 10. Don’t glaze over yet. There’s a handy table to help us. Right now, we’re just trying to dodge the math.
So, with all this in mind, let’s summarize. We have a Halfling who is strong and tough, has a warhammer that looks like a buster sword when she carries it, a pair of axes with dried blood on the handles, and a propensity for Hulk-smashing.

Ability Scores

Now, let’s choose her Ability Scores. We could roll them by rolling four six sided dice per score and dropping the lowest die. We could get into complicated math and point buy our scores. For this, we’re keeping it easy and going with the recommended method of standard deviation. We have a 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and an 8 to assign our Halfling in each of her six Abilities; Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. The score limit (without serious advancement) caps at 20 for player characters. Every two points up or down, your modifier changes. i.e. 10-11 you get no bonus or penalty. 12-13 you have a +1 to relevant rolls, 8-9 you have a -1. So, we’ll go down the line in order of importance. Portia is a physical person that likes to smash opponents into a fine paste. We’ll give her a 15 in Strength. Next, we’ll give her that 14 in Constitution because she’s tough as nails. Her Stout Halfling heritage raises that to 15 for her. 13 goes into Dexterity, where she gains a +2 from her Halfling heritage as well, bringing the total to 15. With all 15s in these physical scores, she has +2 as her modifier in each. Recalling her Unarmored Defense, that means she has an AC of 14. Not too shabby for not actually wearing armor.

However, we’re now left with the weaker stats to distribute between Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. As a Barbarian, living off the land, we’ll guess Portia has decent “common sense” and perception. Thus, we’ll give her the 12 in Wisdom for a +1. Now, we can choose between her being less intelligent or less charismatic. Since we know she’s spent some time refining her ability to scare the pants off of people with Intimidation, we’ll put her 10 in Charisma (for a +0) and her 8 in Intelligence (and a -1 penalty. So, while she isn’t book smart, she can thrash you soundly if her frightening demeanor didn’t warn you to back off already.

Backgrounds

Now, the last bit of fun. Backgrounds. Backgrounds let us choose a bit of history, and if we want, randomly pick a personality for our character. We can choose from Acolyte, Charlatan, Criminal, Entertainer, Folk Hero, Guild Artisan, Hermit, Noble, Outlander, Sage, Sailor, Soldier. While I would normally pick something like Outlander or Folk Hero for a Barbarian, let’s have some fun and assume our Halfling Barbarian is actually a Charlatan; a con artist familiar with running scams and forging documents. How else would Portia wander through borders so freely?

Now, Charlatan gives Portia a second identity as well as the ability to forge whatever papers for that ability she needs as long as she has seen the handwriting and document type necessary before. She also gains proficiency in the skills Sleight of Hand and Deception, as well as disguise and forgery kits. She also has on her person a set of expensive clothes, a gaming set weighted for cheating or the signet ring of imaginary royalty, and other artifacts for pulling her con of choice, and 10 gold pieces.

Speaking of which, let’s roll a d6 and see what her preferred con is. Our d6 rolled a 1 meaning… Portia prefers to cheat at games of chance. Next, we’ll roll a d8 for her defining Trait, and well as three d6s for her Bond, Ideal, and Flaw.

d8 = 3. Her personality Trait declares that Portia prefers to try to use flattery to get what she wants first.
d6 = 4. Her Ideal states that she believes in creativity. She believes in never running the same con twice.
d6 = 5. Her Bond reveals that someone powerful killed a loved one of Portia’s and that she means to have revenge soon.
d6 = 2. Portia’s Flaw shows that she is always in debt. Her taste for decadent luxuries keeps her spending wealth long before she’s ever acquired it.

Now, we could go into further numerical detail on weapon attacks, Initiative, and exact damage numbers, but this is a pretty damn good example of what DnD Next excels at; giving you a character to play. After all, we’ve just met Portia Gallowsgreen, a Halfling gambler with expensive tastes, deceptive manners, an axe to grind, and enough muscle to back it all up. I’ll do my best to answer if you have any questions.