Search Results
All Results
Characters
Compendium
Spells
Items
Monsters
Vehicles
Forums
Returning 35 results for 'before barely deciding captives rules'.
Other Suggestions:
before barrel deciding captives rules
before bare deciding captives rules
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Quests from the Infinite Staircase
Setting the Adventure Lost to time and sand, Cynidicea is barely a memory to the lands where it once prospered. When deciding where to place Cynidicea, consider the following suggestions: Dragonlance
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
The Middle Path Many DMs find that using a combination of the two approaches works best. By balancing the use of dice against deciding on success, you can encourage your players to strike a balance
between relying on their bonuses and abilities and paying attention to the game and immersing themselves in its world. Remember that dice don’t run your game — you do. Dice are like rules. They’re
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
session and for creating situations that facilitate fun. Improviser. A big part of being the DM is deciding how to apply the rules as you go and imagining the consequences of the characters’ actions in a
way that will make the game fun for everyone. Referee. When it’s not clear what ought to happen next, the DM decides how to apply the rules. Storyteller. The DM crafts adventures, setting situations in
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
session and for creating situations that facilitate fun. Improviser. A big part of being the DM is deciding how to apply the rules as you go and imagining the consequences of the characters’ actions in a
way that will make the game fun for everyone. Referee. When it’s not clear what ought to happen next, the DM decides how to apply the rules. Storyteller. The DM crafts adventures, setting situations in
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything
Chapter 1: This Is Your Life The character creation rules in the Player’s Handbook provide all the information you need to define your character in preparation for a life of adventuring. What they
experience before deciding to become an adventurer? What were the circumstances of your birth? How large is your family, and what sorts of relationships do you have with your relatives? Which people
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sage Advice Compendium
things they don’t. In a typical D&D session, a DM makes numerous rules decisions—some barely noticeable and others quite obvious. Players also interpret the rules, and the whole group keeps the game
The Role of Rules Why even have a column like Sage Advice when a DM can just make a ruling? Rules are a big part of what makes D&D a game, rather than simply improvised storytelling. The game’s rules
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sage Advice & Errata
typical D&D session, a DM makes numerous rules decisions—some barely noticeable and others quite obvious. Players also interpret the rules, and the whole group keeps the game running. There are times
The Role of Rules Why even have Sage Advice when a DM can just make a ruling? Rules are a big part of what makes D&D a game, rather than simply improvised storytelling. The game’s rules are meant to
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
their late teens and live less than a century. Size. Humans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium
HUMAN TRAITS
If your campaign uses the optional feat rules from chapter 6, your Dungeon Master might allow these variant traits, all of which replace the human’s Ability Score Increase trait
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Out of the Abyss
establish telepathic communication to allow everyone to speak freely. The guards aren’t observant enough to notice. You might wish to consult the social interaction rules in the Dungeon Master’s Guide
way the adventure unfolds. The characters can learn the following things from talking with their fellow prisoners, some of who have been captives of the drow for a tenday or two: There are nineteen
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
rescued prisoner, pleading for mercy from an orc chieftain, or persuading a talkative magic mirror to show a distant location to the adventurers. The rules in part 2 (especially "Using Ability Scores" and
characters and other creatures swinging weapons, casting spells, maneuvering for position, and so on—all in an effort to defeat their opponents, whether that means killing every enemy, taking captives, or
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
it has several different abilities, but simply deciding that an item is always active or can be used a fixed number of times per day is easier to manage. Power Level If you make an item that lets a
column suggests an appropriate bonus based on the item’s rarity. Attunement Decide whether the item requires a character to be attuned to it to use its properties. Use these rules of thumb to help you
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
Approaching the Fortress To get to Xardorok’s fortress, the characters need to negotiate the Spine of the World. Use the rules in the “Mountain Travel” section to simulate the perils of getting
hewn from the rock leads up along one side of the wall.
The steps leading up to it are barely 5 feet wide and climb 150 feet to a frost-covered shelf that adjoins the main entrance (area X1). Difficult
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes
here. Residents also include captives that the githyanki have taken on raids.
Law and Order. Warriors patrol above the streets in astral skiffs to keep the peace. Githyanki who cause unwarranted
equivalent of a labor camp. The glathk district, named after the Gith word for “farmer” — a term of derision — is where githyanki are taken when they violate society’s rules. Punishments are nonlethal
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse->Turn of Fortune’s Wheel
Angels in the Outlands CoupleOfKooks “If you think you’re prepared for the ultimate struggle between good and evil, the deciding contest between all that is righteous and all that is foul, then to
is called Spireball. The modron happily explains the game’s rules, its stakes, and the two teams, all of which are detailed below. Good versus Evil Two teams—the Noxious Stampede and the Righteous
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
; now roll damage,” “11 points,” and “OK, now we’re to Initiative count 13.” Instead, use the rules and your knowledge of the scene to help your narration. If 18 is barely a hit, but the 11 points of
Narration in Combat Although it’s important that the players understand what’s going on in terms of the rules, the game can get dull if everyone uses only “gamespeak”: “That’s an 18 to hit,” “You hit
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
involved.” Sometimes the rules allow for any one of two or more proficiencies to apply to a check. When deciding what check a character should make, be generous in determining if the character’s
each ability is used for. (Constitution checks are rare, as tests of a character’s endurance are usually passive or reactive, making a saving throw more appropriate.) Proficiency When the rules or a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Spelljammer: Adventures in Space->Astral Adventurer’s Guide
-foot cube Gargantuan 20-foot cube A creature that needs to breathe will exhaust the air in its personal envelope in 1 minute. Since this is barely enough time to get anywhere, most creatures travel
121, and the foul air turns deadly 120 days later. Deadly air is unbreathable. Any creature that tries to breathe deadly air begins to suffocate (see the rules on suffocation in the Player’s Handbook
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
Halaster’s gates (see “Gates”). Carved into the arch’s keystone is a hand-shaped indentation with a sigil representing magic scribed into the palm. Its rules are as follows: Casting the mage hand
until the item is washed. The stench is not as potent as a troglodyte’s Stench trait and imposes no conditions on those who catch a whiff of it.
The drow mage is deciding whether to kill the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
embellishments shouldn’t change the actual effects of spells or magic items. Prison of Souls Everyone among the Domains of Dread is a prisoner. The Darklords number among the most prominent captives, but
supernatural means, it realizes that its spirit is trapped within the Mists, likely forever. Using the rules for “Fear and Stress” from chapter 4, the creature gains a new Seed of Fear. If a being with a soul
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player’s Handbook
grown shoddy with the passage of years. A blazing fire in the hearth barely gives any warmth to the room. You see a man behind the counter, methodically cleaning glasses. Three older women huddle
action in the rules glossary.
Russell: “Yeah, whose seal is it?”
Jared: “The Devil Strahd.”
Amy: “Sounds like a pleasant fellow.”
Jared: “No! He is the vampire lord of Castle Ravenloft and a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragon Delves
, the character finds the amulet. G16: Overgrown Garden Tall pillars decorated with painted reliefs are barely visible through curtains of ivy that climb toward the vaulted ceiling. Low shrubs and trees
the Captives of the Mirror table. If one of the Green Hags from G15 confronts adventurers here, the hag activates the mirror and frees the Hydra to create as much chaos as possible. Given the chance
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
chambers are connected by vertical or steeply sloped tunnels that the beholder carves out of the surrounding stone, each passage barely large enough to admit the beholder’s body. Enemies that are too big
chamber to hold captives that it chooses not to kill. The simplest kind of prison, easy enough for a beholder to create, typically consists of 20-foot-deep holes disintegrated into the floor
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation
city, patrol its streets, and send raiding parties into the surrounding jungle. Ras Nsi rules over them, but traitorous priests plot his downfall. Salida’s Treachery. One of the guides presented in
barely aware of the kobolds’ existence. Red Wizards of Thay A group of Red Wizards entered the city a couple of days prior to the characters’ arrival. They camped in the ruined compound at area 2, but
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
those conventions. Players and Inspiration. Remember that a player with inspiration can award it to another player. Some groups even like to treat inspiration as a group resource, deciding collectively
your campaign is one where you let the dice fall where they may. It’s a good option for gritty campaigns or ones where the DM focuses on playing an impartial role as a rules arbiter. Variant: Only
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation
71. Lair of the Sewn Sisters Green smoke billows out from a bronze cauldron in the middle of this twenty-foot-high vaulted hall. Barely visible through the haze are three rocking chairs, several work
charm on that character. Each doll can bestow its charm once. These charms are similar to the ones described in chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide and follow the same rules. Strawbundle’s Charm
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
reach a steep, snow-covered incline dotted with jagged rocks. Lying facedown in the snow, barely conscious, is a humanoid in bloodstained cold weather clothing.
The figure in the snow is Garret Velryn
characters until they return to Ten-Towns, then parts ways with them after deciding that her adventuring days are over. Against one wall, hidden under the shattered remains of a dogsled, is a mess kit, an
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Lost Mine of Phandelver
feet (spending half their speed to do so—see the “Being Prone” section in the Basic Rules). They pursue any characters they see, attacking until destroyed. The eastern half of the building is the old
Basic Rules for the effects of being restrained). A snared creature can take an action each round to attempt to break free with a DC 12 Strength check, or it can try to cut its way free by using a light
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Vecna: Eve of Ruin
of the characters’ reaction to this revelation, learning it counts as a secret for the purposes of the Power of Secrets rules. At your discretion, if the characters help Naxa return to her sister and
troops fighting elsewhere, and Jallizanx is deciding how to give directions the dim-witted kakkuus can be reasonably expected to convey. When they see the characters, the kakkuus rush into melee while
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Netheril’s Fall: Tales of Terror, Treasure, and Time Travel
, oversees the coliseum’s operations and approves all combatants bound for the arena. The pitmaster is constantly seeking new and creative contest rules for the coliseum battles, and she often awards
such as sabotaging powerful mages or freeing prisoners and captives. Frozen Goods. Secret chambers in the center of the warehouse contain precious eggs of icy monsters, forbidden substances, and even
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation
second fragment of gold, so thoroughly hammered that it’s barely recognizable. These keys once unlocked the door to the treasury (area 6) and are beyond repair; so little of them remains that not
you breathe. You can, however, barely make out what looks like a lantern farther back in the smoke.
These linked caverns are the lair of two smoke mephits. What the characters perceive as a dim
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse->Turn of Fortune’s Wheel
spacefaring pirates in the Astral Sea. The rules are as follows: Each participant’s player chooses any number of d6s (known as “bones”) and shakes them in a cup. You choose any number of d6s as well
Bounty. Named after a god of revelry, this game is played on a long table embroidered with a flat pattern of an unfolded, twenty-sided die. The game’s dealer is also its deciding piece: a spectator
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Keys from the Golden Vault
casino’s boats load and unload passengers at a pair of wooden docks. Two tiefling attendants (commoners) help patrons into and out of the boats. Patrons are expected to abide by the casino’s rules
, which are posted on placards near the docks. The placards read as follows: RULES IN THE AFTERLIFE:
Stay out of the River Styx.
Don’t cheat. (Cheaters never prosper.)
Don’t accost or threaten other
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated
players and the DM. Group Design When selecting a feature, the characters must make decisions together — meaning the players must do the same. Deciding on the features of a headquarters should be a team
the rules in this book should be treated as a high magic campaign, with the DM and the players understanding that the difficulty of encounters and other tasks might need to be ramped up to offer a real
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Princes of the Apocalypse
slippery. (See chapter 5, “Adventure Environments,” in the Dungeon Master’s Guide for rules on extreme cold and slippery ice.) For every minute the characters spend here, there is a cumulative ten
takes sadistic delight in torturing captives. It guards the outer reaches of the Howling Caves against intruders. Prisoners. The prisoners here are in poor condition. Each one is incoherent and has 1
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Storm King's Thunder
a giant raven, attack the characters. Rules for mounted combat appear in chapter 9 of the Player’s Handbook. Suggested Encounter (Night) Characters who explore Raven Rock in the dead of night
vengeance. The reigning king of Ruathym is First Axe Vok Dorrg (CE male Illuskan human priest), a blind and vindictive old man who worships Valkur, a lesser god of the sea. The king rules from the Hall of






