Trying to think of an idea for a party/adventuring base but having a bit of trouble.
Thought maybe an airship the group would need to repair but think it would lead to much skipped content. Thought pirate ship but they're pretty far from sea. Pocket dimension? Seems too MMO via instanced housing.
Also, leaning toward the Draconic Sorcerer inheriting a castle but that trope seems a bit over played.
Pretty back block trying to figure something decent out. Any ideas?
Guild base, or just an adventuring group's base? Guild base means they will be actively recruiting, and training, other members; hiring those members out on jobs, not to mention requiring quarters for everyone and probably a guild smithy, leatherworker, armorer, etc. Group base is just a semi secure location they can crash between adventures - usually near enough to everything they will need to regear, resupply, etc.
Anything goes, without some guidelines. So please specify some things to get a better suggestion from me (and most likely others)
1. City based / Outpost / Mobile If you play a city based campaign, you might want to move in a certain neighbourhood (artisan quarter, close to the market or the harbour). An outpost is on the edge of civilization, like a fort on the border to marauding tribes, a fortified inn or mill on a trade route between cities, close to some villages or perhaps a mining complex in the mountains. A mobile "base" could be a large caravan, composed of a dozen wagons, like a settler's train or traders on the "silk road". A large ship also works, if you have a naval based campaign and you are hopping from island to island.
2. Existing or newly build? The party could buy, win or take over an existing base, which would have implications on your neighbours, friends and enemies. They could also build something from scratch, like starting a caravan, fortifying a mountain pass on orders of the king.
3. Services and maintenance? Will the base service only the players (a player) or will it service the people around it too. In example, "Wayne Manor" serves as a living place and hideout for Bruce Wayne/Batman. Alfred is the "keeper" of the place and needs to be employed to keep everything in good shape while Batman is away. "Castle Black" servers as barracks for the Night's Watch, but also as a training ground for new recruits, has a small library, a rookery, depots and a smithy etc. There are constantly NPCs moving in and out of the place, no matter whether the players are home or not.
4. Should it be a major, long term thing in your campaign? Will you campaign and player activities be centred around he base or guild? They might want to invest a good amount of money and other resources into their base. Will they hire guards to keep their place safe or will they hire a cook to keep the inn running fro some revenue? Are all players on board with that idea, or is it just one person, that like to manage the guild base?
Shalrath's question definitely raises a clarifying issue. Are you saying the players are the "guild" in the way that other dnd groups will say "party?" Or is the guild an NPC entity/organization that the players may interact with and possibly join, such as an Elder Scrolls fighter, thieves or mages guild?
Regarding your examples. Pirate ship as a base I think is easily ruled out if your story is not centered around sea travel. You can still provide an opportunity for them to acquire one and let them decide if they want to be pirates/merchants/navy seals or whatever. A ship requires a crew, they need to be paid, there are sea monsters to contend with, booty to be plundered, whatever you like.
I don't think skipping missed content with an airship is as big an issue as you may think. The DM has a job of enticing the players to engage in the content provided. If the players have an airship, give them a reason to land it where you would like them to while also planning ahead in case they don't. You also have every issue relating to a pirate ship, just sky-based. Harpies or griffon-riders(sky pirates) may attack, thunderstorms, is the crew properly trained and being compensated for their work?
The consideration should be more along the lines of "At what level do the players gain abilities that serve the same function as the airship?" Your arcane spellcasters have access to teleportation circle at level 9. This does require that they know of and have access to an established teleportation circle, where they likely need to gain permission. At level 13 they get teleport, no need for a circle, just a chance of failure and mishap in case the destination is unfamiliar.
Teleportation magic raises the same concern you brought up regarding missing content, and even more so because it is instantaneous travel, whereas an airship still has to make the journey, even if it is faster than a horse and buggy. Getting an airship is a significant form of travel that you can compare/contrast with teleportation magic pretty easily. If I were to give an airship to my party I can imagine level 5-10 would be acceptable but with a lot of consideration for maintaining/funding that ship, especially if they have to rebuild it in order to acquire it in the first place. This is an old, used airship. Are any of the players' engineers or do they have to hire one? Then, when they finally do get teleportation circle, if they were to use that spell, how do they get back to their ship? All of these questions and more are great things to consider for the story.
I'll answer the pocket dimension similar to the airship. "At what level do the players gain abilities that serve the same function as a pocket dimension?" Magnificent Mansion is a 7th level spell. It is literally instant-housing. Do you want your party to have an at-will 7th level spell?
I do like the pirate/airship idea if your players have to earn/repair it, just do more with it than "Ok, you have it, go wherever you want." Consider the logistics of owning such a large vehicle that requires a trained, paid crew to travel and the environment in which they do travel. A pocket dimension gives them an at-will 7th level spell unless you enforce more restrictions regarding access. Personally, I do not think it is a good idea.
I always argue for your players "earning" over "inheriting." Any permanent structure you can think of that could be turned into a base qualifies for an adventure.
The local population is being oppressed by the duke of the lands. Wipe him out. Take his castle.
The old Windhelm Estate on the hill is haunted by ghosts. Wipe them out. Take their mansion.
Poison Ivy wants to eradicate the "civilized" population so plant life can thrive. Wipe her out. Take her treehouse.
Other permanent structures: An intricate cave system, a wizard's tower, the hollowed-out shell/carapace of a very large, extinct(?) creature, a private island, a floating island, a private floating island that can only be accessed by a rope bridge connected to the wizard's tower and upon which sits the hollowed-out shell of a very large, extinct(?) creature and below that is an intricate cave system which is actually the fossilized bowels of said extinct(?) creature. Also, why is it floating and attached to a wizard's tower?
How about something along the lines of magnificent mansion. While it is a higher level spell, you can make a lite version of it, closer to the size of a commoner house, and not fully decked out unless they buy the stuff for it. Also having them need to set something up, like maybe a circle ritual or some kind of structure or statue set up, can make it more balanced.
I’d just say be careful of getting too deep into maintaining whatever it is you give them. You don’t want to turn it into “carpentry & contractors.” A little bit of finding ways to improve/maintain the base can go a long way. But it can be useful as a way to siphon off resources if you’ve given them too much treasure.
Matt Coleville's Strongholds and Followers goes Way, Way in depth on building (or renovating) structures for the party (also has rules for the Barbarian Camp - a mobile base).
Something completely out of the ordinary for a party hideout would require a Druid be in the party: Befriending a Dryad and using a tree network as their "base."
Any "traditional" base, (tavern, castle, tower, etc) will require substantial coin investment in maintenance and upkeep (quite possibly after a badly needed renovation).
Befriending a trader family (similar to the Vistani) could provide occasional access to basic needs - and is mobile (though not reliable on where it will be & for how long).
In one campaign, I basically gave my characters their own demiplane to shape as they see fit as their base. They were able to populate it with unseen servants to keep it tidy and make food, etc.
The limitation was that they could only teleport in or out of the demiplane once per day. So they couldn't sleep there every night while adventuring.
well if you ask me a home base is strongly base off of what or ware the payers are in the world of the game there are playing like lest use these for example.
1: let say the party cleared out some old forgotten under ground base that is well hidden if the player put some time in to it that can be a good "secret" type home base.
2: if the party got a "magic key" that when use on any door will open to a place that can be use as a home base that will fall in to the "convenient" type home base.
3: if the party got a ship "ether the flying kind or the sea kind" / or any kind of cart that might be magically bigger on the inside than the out side these will fall in the "mobile" type of home base.
4: lastly any kind of castle / fort / mansion / house any thing that is 'normal' ware you don't have worry if some one goes to base and go "huu neat a hidden base might as well tell every one what i found here" that kind of base is what i like to call a "out in the open" type of base. (tho you might have a vault to keep you stuff from greedy thiff's)
Dumb idea, but you've say that the setting requires a lot of travel, you would prefer 'instanced' housing similar to an MMO, probably for house-keeping and to make it easier for the players to roam around and get to doing stuff, and you're concerned about an Air-Ship because it has the potential for players to literally fly over your prepared content.
Anyone else remember Baba Yaga's Chicken House?
Combine this with a Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion and the players have a home base that can move around to where your story needs them to go and where their actions send them to, but there needs to be a catch, because this is a significant benefit, a level 7th spell cast for them all the time. As @Korbin_Orion said ...
I'll answer the pocket dimension similar to the airship. "At what level do the players gain abilities that serve the same function as a pocket dimension?" Magnificent Mansion is a 7th level spell. It is literally instant-housing. Do you want your party to have an at-will 7th level spell?
I do like the pirate/airship idea if your players have to earn/repair it, just do more with it than "Ok, you have it, go wherever you want." Consider the logistics of owning such a large vehicle that requires a trained, paid crew to travel and the environment in which they do travel. A pocket dimension gives them an at-will 7th level spell unless you enforce more restrictions regarding access. Personally, I do not think it is a good idea.
Combine the 'mobile base' with the T.A.R.D.I.S. like abilities of the MMM's Spell and you've got a fairly potent, and abuseable scenario. That said, what if it is less that the players find and claim the 'base', but rather, it finds and claims them? You've said that one of the players is a Draconic Sorcerer. Maybe a potent Dragon-Mage, a Dragon who became unusually enamored with their own sorcerous potential decided to live amongst the mortals to gain access to study their ways, but like all Dragons, had a vicious need to hoard their treasure, and required a safe, secure and secluded lair in which to hold it.
Hence the mobile tower. Which is programmed to find the 'Master' where-ever they may be, and the Sorcerer is the closest thing the quasi-sentient Tower has detected in the centuries since the 'Master' left to the Outer Planes to continue their study, leaving the players with a desperately affectionate tower similar to the Galder's Tower spell that, once you enter the structure, has the capabilities of the Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion once inside. However, as the Tower is the quasi-sentient, has goals of it own, requires time to 'rest' (recharge its magical batteries) and may have picked up on some of it's masters Draconic tendencies and will get sulky and rebellious if the players do not refurbish its insides or share with it some treasure, which it might even eat as sustenance and might even be the reason why the Dragon-Mage abandoned the damn thing in the first place.
The interior created by the MMM spell might even be shaped to a Dragon's physique, forcing the players to expend resources to 'feed' to the tower ala the Mimic Ship from the Team-Four-Star D&D campaign to reshape and repurpose the dimensional space to suit their puny, mortal frames.
And yet, with good Role-Play and a sufficient expenditure of resources similar to what they would require to buy, staff, stock and maintain a more mundane base, the players have a mobile base that can run across the land, seal itself up tight and crawl across the bottom of lakes and scrabble across the mountains to get them where they need to go ... so long as they keep the Tower's primitive, eager-to-please but child-like mind happy and content.
Also the image of your players being chased across a field by something that looks like a affectionate giant stone beetle carrying a stone tower as it's shell because they haven't fed it gold in a few days and it can smell the loot puts a smile on my face.
Trying to think of an idea for a party/adventuring base but having a bit of trouble.
Thought maybe an airship the group would need to repair but think it would lead to much skipped content.
Thought pirate ship but they're pretty far from sea.
Pocket dimension? Seems too MMO via instanced housing.
Also, leaning toward the Draconic Sorcerer inheriting a castle but that trope seems a bit over played.
Pretty back block trying to figure something decent out.
Any ideas?
Guild base, or just an adventuring group's base? Guild base means they will be actively recruiting, and training, other members; hiring those members out on jobs, not to mention requiring quarters for everyone and probably a guild smithy, leatherworker, armorer, etc. Group base is just a semi secure location they can crash between adventures - usually near enough to everything they will need to regear, resupply, etc.
Anything goes, without some guidelines. So please specify some things to get a better suggestion from me (and most likely others)
1. City based / Outpost / Mobile
If you play a city based campaign, you might want to move in a certain neighbourhood (artisan quarter, close to the market or the harbour). An outpost is on the edge of civilization, like a fort on the border to marauding tribes, a fortified inn or mill on a trade route between cities, close to some villages or perhaps a mining complex in the mountains. A mobile "base" could be a large caravan, composed of a dozen wagons, like a settler's train or traders on the "silk road". A large ship also works, if you have a naval based campaign and you are hopping from island to island.
2. Existing or newly build?
The party could buy, win or take over an existing base, which would have implications on your neighbours, friends and enemies. They could also build something from scratch, like starting a caravan, fortifying a mountain pass on orders of the king.
3. Services and maintenance?
Will the base service only the players (a player) or will it service the people around it too. In example, "Wayne Manor" serves as a living place and hideout for Bruce Wayne/Batman. Alfred is the "keeper" of the place and needs to be employed to keep everything in good shape while Batman is away. "Castle Black" servers as barracks for the Night's Watch, but also as a training ground for new recruits, has a small library, a rookery, depots and a smithy etc. There are constantly NPCs moving in and out of the place, no matter whether the players are home or not.
4. Should it be a major, long term thing in your campaign?
Will you campaign and player activities be centred around he base or guild? They might want to invest a good amount of money and other resources into their base. Will they hire guards to keep their place safe or will they hire a cook to keep the inn running fro some revenue? Are all players on board with that idea, or is it just one person, that like to manage the guild base?
Shalrath's question definitely raises a clarifying issue. Are you saying the players are the "guild" in the way that other dnd groups will say "party?" Or is the guild an NPC entity/organization that the players may interact with and possibly join, such as an Elder Scrolls fighter, thieves or mages guild?
Regarding your examples. Pirate ship as a base I think is easily ruled out if your story is not centered around sea travel. You can still provide an opportunity for them to acquire one and let them decide if they want to be pirates/merchants/navy seals or whatever. A ship requires a crew, they need to be paid, there are sea monsters to contend with, booty to be plundered, whatever you like.
I don't think skipping missed content with an airship is as big an issue as you may think. The DM has a job of enticing the players to engage in the content provided. If the players have an airship, give them a reason to land it where you would like them to while also planning ahead in case they don't. You also have every issue relating to a pirate ship, just sky-based. Harpies or griffon-riders(sky pirates) may attack, thunderstorms, is the crew properly trained and being compensated for their work?
The consideration should be more along the lines of "At what level do the players gain abilities that serve the same function as the airship?" Your arcane spellcasters have access to teleportation circle at level 9. This does require that they know of and have access to an established teleportation circle, where they likely need to gain permission. At level 13 they get teleport, no need for a circle, just a chance of failure and mishap in case the destination is unfamiliar.
Teleportation magic raises the same concern you brought up regarding missing content, and even more so because it is instantaneous travel, whereas an airship still has to make the journey, even if it is faster than a horse and buggy. Getting an airship is a significant form of travel that you can compare/contrast with teleportation magic pretty easily. If I were to give an airship to my party I can imagine level 5-10 would be acceptable but with a lot of consideration for maintaining/funding that ship, especially if they have to rebuild it in order to acquire it in the first place. This is an old, used airship. Are any of the players' engineers or do they have to hire one? Then, when they finally do get teleportation circle, if they were to use that spell, how do they get back to their ship? All of these questions and more are great things to consider for the story.
I'll answer the pocket dimension similar to the airship. "At what level do the players gain abilities that serve the same function as a pocket dimension?" Magnificent Mansion is a 7th level spell. It is literally instant-housing. Do you want your party to have an at-will 7th level spell?
I do like the pirate/airship idea if your players have to earn/repair it, just do more with it than "Ok, you have it, go wherever you want." Consider the logistics of owning such a large vehicle that requires a trained, paid crew to travel and the environment in which they do travel. A pocket dimension gives them an at-will 7th level spell unless you enforce more restrictions regarding access. Personally, I do not think it is a good idea.
I always argue for your players "earning" over "inheriting." Any permanent structure you can think of that could be turned into a base qualifies for an adventure.
The local population is being oppressed by the duke of the lands. Wipe him out. Take his castle.
The old Windhelm Estate on the hill is haunted by ghosts. Wipe them out. Take their mansion.
Poison Ivy wants to eradicate the "civilized" population so plant life can thrive. Wipe her out. Take her treehouse.
Other permanent structures: An intricate cave system, a wizard's tower, the hollowed-out shell/carapace of a very large, extinct(?) creature, a private island, a floating island, a private floating island that can only be accessed by a rope bridge connected to the wizard's tower and upon which sits the hollowed-out shell of a very large, extinct(?) creature and below that is an intricate cave system which is actually the fossilized bowels of said extinct(?) creature. Also, why is it floating and attached to a wizard's tower?
Yeah. Misused guild. It's a party/adventuring base.
Map is pretty big with a lot of content/exploration.
How about something along the lines of magnificent mansion. While it is a higher level spell, you can make a lite version of it, closer to the size of a commoner house, and not fully decked out unless they buy the stuff for it. Also having them need to set something up, like maybe a circle ritual or some kind of structure or statue set up, can make it more balanced.
Also known as CrafterB and DankMemer.
Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.
I’d just say be careful of getting too deep into maintaining whatever it is you give them. You don’t want to turn it into “carpentry & contractors.” A little bit of finding ways to improve/maintain the base can go a long way. But it can be useful as a way to siphon off resources if you’ve given them too much treasure.
Matt Coleville's Strongholds and Followers goes Way, Way in depth on building (or renovating) structures for the party (also has rules for the Barbarian Camp - a mobile base).
Fortresses, Temples and Strongholds is a Pay What You Want item on DMSGuild.com
Argols Comprehensive Guide to Infrastructure is also on DMSGuild.com and is much less expansive than Matt Coleville's book.
Something completely out of the ordinary for a party hideout would require a Druid be in the party: Befriending a Dryad and using a tree network as their "base."
Any "traditional" base, (tavern, castle, tower, etc) will require substantial coin investment in maintenance and upkeep (quite possibly after a badly needed renovation).
Befriending a trader family (similar to the Vistani) could provide occasional access to basic needs - and is mobile (though not reliable on where it will be & for how long).
How much do you care about power level ?
In one campaign, I basically gave my characters their own demiplane to shape as they see fit as their base. They were able to populate it with unseen servants to keep it tidy and make food, etc.
The limitation was that they could only teleport in or out of the demiplane once per day. So they couldn't sleep there every night while adventuring.
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well if you ask me a home base is strongly base off of what or ware the payers are in the world of the game there are playing like lest use these for example.
1: let say the party cleared out some old forgotten under ground base that is well hidden if the player put some time in to it that can be a good "secret" type home base.
2: if the party got a "magic key" that when use on any door will open to a place that can be use as a home base that will fall in to the "convenient" type home base.
3: if the party got a ship "ether the flying kind or the sea kind" / or any kind of cart that might be magically bigger on the inside than the out side these will fall in the "mobile" type of home base.
4: lastly any kind of castle / fort / mansion / house any thing that is 'normal' ware you don't have worry if some one goes to base and go "huu neat a hidden base might as well tell every one what i found here" that kind of base is what i like to call a "out in the open" type of base. (tho you might have a vault to keep you stuff from greedy thiff's)
Dumb idea, but you've say that the setting requires a lot of travel, you would prefer 'instanced' housing similar to an MMO, probably for house-keeping and to make it easier for the players to roam around and get to doing stuff, and you're concerned about an Air-Ship because it has the potential for players to literally fly over your prepared content.
Anyone else remember Baba Yaga's Chicken House?
Combine this with a Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion and the players have a home base that can move around to where your story needs them to go and where their actions send them to, but there needs to be a catch, because this is a significant benefit, a level 7th spell cast for them all the time. As @Korbin_Orion said ...
Combine the 'mobile base' with the T.A.R.D.I.S. like abilities of the MMM's Spell and you've got a fairly potent, and abuseable scenario. That said, what if it is less that the players find and claim the 'base', but rather, it finds and claims them? You've said that one of the players is a Draconic Sorcerer. Maybe a potent Dragon-Mage, a Dragon who became unusually enamored with their own sorcerous potential decided to live amongst the mortals to gain access to study their ways, but like all Dragons, had a vicious need to hoard their treasure, and required a safe, secure and secluded lair in which to hold it.
Hence the mobile tower. Which is programmed to find the 'Master' where-ever they may be, and the Sorcerer is the closest thing the quasi-sentient Tower has detected in the centuries since the 'Master' left to the Outer Planes to continue their study, leaving the players with a desperately affectionate tower similar to the Galder's Tower spell that, once you enter the structure, has the capabilities of the Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion once inside. However, as the Tower is the quasi-sentient, has goals of it own, requires time to 'rest' (recharge its magical batteries) and may have picked up on some of it's masters Draconic tendencies and will get sulky and rebellious if the players do not refurbish its insides or share with it some treasure, which it might even eat as sustenance and might even be the reason why the Dragon-Mage abandoned the damn thing in the first place.
The interior created by the MMM spell might even be shaped to a Dragon's physique, forcing the players to expend resources to 'feed' to the tower ala the Mimic Ship from the Team-Four-Star D&D campaign to reshape and repurpose the dimensional space to suit their puny, mortal frames.
And yet, with good Role-Play and a sufficient expenditure of resources similar to what they would require to buy, staff, stock and maintain a more mundane base, the players have a mobile base that can run across the land, seal itself up tight and crawl across the bottom of lakes and scrabble across the mountains to get them where they need to go ... so long as they keep the Tower's primitive, eager-to-please but child-like mind happy and content.
Also the image of your players being chased across a field by something that looks like a affectionate giant stone beetle carrying a stone tower as it's shell because they haven't fed it gold in a few days and it can smell the loot puts a smile on my face.
Love the Tardis idea.