Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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I have an event in my game where participants are required to swear an oath to, basically, be good guests (no fighting except in a mutually agreed on dueling area, no other types of hostile behavior, let people arrive and leave freely and safely, etc). While many participants would be expected to honor such an oath without specific enforcement, others would not.
Is there a spell or creature power that does this? I can invent something, but if there's an existing model it would be nice. There are devils involved so some weak form of an infernal contract is an option.
I would just let the players know that the social cost for breaking such an oath would be higher than they can afford. Tell them that they know enough about society (or have an npc inform them, if they're in a foreign court) that "to break the oath of hearth and table against a guest of the house is such a grave insult that not only the masters of the house, but their other guests and servants would be set against you" or something like that.
I am specifically interested in supernatural enforcement mechanisms (also, this isn't just restricting the PCs, it's also restricting various NPCs who might wish to murder one another and/or the PCs).
Something like a blanket geas to abide by the oath while on the grounds might work
Could also do something like have anyone breaking the oath be subject to a high DC banishment from some mysterious source until they "cool off", and then have an NPC get hit with it right after the PCs arrive so they can see the consequences
Active characters:
Edoumiaond Willegume "Eddie" Podslee, Vegetanian scholar (College of Spirits bard)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Peter "the Pied Piper" Hausler, human con artist/remover of vermin (Circle of the Shepherd druid)
PIPA - Planar Interception/Protection Aeormaton, warforged bodyguard and ex-wizard hunter (Warrior of the Elements monk/Cartographer artificer)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
this is literally just depending on house rules
So, my take would be to start from the point that you don't want to limit player agency. How then to get the player characters to uphold the oath and bring in consequences that would encourage them to do so?
Being unable to get a restful nights' sleep would be my chosen method. The player character gets nightmares specifically themed around not having upheld the oath. This means that the PC gains exhaustion (though I would allow them to get the health and spell slot recharges from a long rest).
The nightmares can be stopped by simply making amends. If a fight broke out, then maybe the PC has to serve as a bouncer for the tavern for a night or whatever. If tables or something else was broken, the PC must pay for the damage. Easy stuff, but it presents very real (to the character) consequences without limiting the PC's agency.
Exhaustion sucks, but isn't immediately life threatening to a PC...and gives them plenty of opportunities to right any wrongs. Just make the amends not require ability checks so that the making amends isn't impacted by the exhaustion effects.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
As a DM, I don't specifically care if the PCs uphold the oath. Rather, the situation is that the host would prefer that his event not turn into a bloodbath, and expects guests to swear an oath, and I'm just trying to figure out what he would use and what effects it would have. My fallback is probably an infernal contract of some sort.
Maybe something along the lines of the dwarven council chamber in Order of the Stick, where anyone who violates the terms is turned into stone until the meeting ends. Perhaps a mass contingency cast on the building itself that enforces a spell.
Above mentioned Geas is what fits what you want though.
He doesn't have much besides the skin on his bones. Me: I'll take the skin on his bones, then.
"You see a gigantic, monstrous praying mantis burst from out of the ground. It sprays a stream of acid from it's mouth at one soldier, dissolving him instantly, then it turns and chomps another soldier in half with it's- "
"When are we gonna take a snack break?"
The Grim Hollow Player's Guide has a spell called “Binding Oath” that lasts for ten days. If a creature breaks the promise, the other party automatically knows the promise is broken and knows distance and direction to the person who broke the promise.
Something like that, made with some kind of spirit that can hunt down the promise breaker, could also work and can add a bit of a survival element that Geas cannot. Frankly, I don’t like Geas for this kind of thing - the damage on it is minimal and only occurs once per day, so is hardly a real threat.
Yeah, despite the name, Geas is not great for use on PCs- by the time a PC is in late tier 2 or so, they can confidently tank the one jab, and beyond that it's the usual mess of how far Charmed will go for a PC. In general if you want an immediate penalty for breach of hospitality, it breaks down into three general categories. The first would be that the offender is paralyzed, petrified, or otherwise incapacitate to serve as an example either for the duration of the event or permanently. The second is the classic of being killed on the spot- naturally, this is less than ideal for D&D unless you're running a really hardcore "death around any corner" campaign- can also be downgraded to dismemberment or suchlike. The third is that you're bound to the host of the event, either for a duration- period of time, favor, repay per some criteria, etc.- or for life.
Exact scope for a campaign depends how much you want have something to hold over the PCs- presumably you're not looking for something truly permanent, it'd either be a save against being incapacitated or sent on a sidequest/saddled with some obligation or cut the save if you'd rather not have the risk of the effect whiffing.
Really, if you're good with working in soft long-term consequences into the campaign, it's better to keep this kind of thing in the social sphere- there's no direct punishment, but breaking the peace trashes the social credibility of you and anyone who came with you. Suddenly it's much harder for the party to get favors or face time with major figures until they can rebuild their standing.
Honestly, the goal is just that it significantly interferes with attempts at violence.
On reading it, symbol is actually close -- only triggering for oathbreakers seems like it might be a valid -- though you'd want it to also only affect oathbreakers (and by the way, 5th edition symbol is completely nuts, since it triggers every round for ten minutes).
Then depending on the nature of the host I'd suggest just a straight freeze in place/eject from the area/drop dead on the spot effect, if the point is just to explain why everyone is playing nice even if they'd rather no in other circumstances.
Regarding Symbol a) that's why it's 1000 gp per cast and b) while most of the effects are save or suck, the only one that ticks over every turn in an additive fashion is also the one that has no way to keep someone from Dashing out of the obvious AoE before they get hit by a second round of the effect. It's certainly disruptive, but takes some extra work to really nail an enemy.
The host has significant but finite power, and peace is mostly enforced by social means. He just wants enough of a barrier to encourage homicidal types to do it elsewhere. Anyway, I'm satisfied with a slightly modified symbol.
This reminds me of Lorne's bar in the Angel tv series (Buffy spinoff). Basically, people in the bar were actually incapable of doing violence to each other on a supernatural level.
I would think something like a blanket "Sanctuary" spell would work, although that won't RAW block AOE attacks.
I'm still not a fan of going the supernatural rout. I think it flexes too much power as the DM, and a better way is just to have all the guests check their weapons and spell components at the gate.
That still leaves people some wiggle room to wheel and deal and get creative with it, but mass, all-out combat is pretty much off the table.
The PCs were free to not agree. Also, the PCs are currently level 16 and involved in outer plane politics.
It's a balancing act; on the one had it's a fair point that hard and unavoidable "don't do this or else" consequences can step on player agency. On the other hand, most settings do have beings who are straight up "my plot powers mean PCs cannot affect me and I can affect them if I so choose"- the Lady of Pain is a classic example that has been iterated both in the last Planescape book, and got some mentions in the 2024 PHB and possibly DMG, all of which emphasized that she's leagues beyond PCs. Honestly, if the scene is intended to be social and it's also serving to explain why certain entities don't just step on the party, this seems like a reasonable application of hard DM fiat.
It's not even hard and unavoidable consequences. It's not even a plot point as such, I just wanted plausible mechanics because then if the PCs decide they want to figure a way around them, I can reasonably easily resolve the outcome.
Good point. This is what I get for trying to shoot from the hip this late in the evening...