Search Results
All Results
Characters
Compendium
Spells
Items
Monsters
Vehicles
Forums
Returning 35 results for 'decide setting'.
Other Suggestions:
decide seeking
decide searing
Magic Items
Lost Laboratory of Kwalish
’s legendary powered armor.
Automatic Defenses. Unless Kwalish deactivates the suit’s automatic defenses, no one can approach the armor without setting those defenses off. Treat the
Power. Powered armor originally required energy cells to fuel it, but was adapted by Kwalish to be fueled by the life energy of the creature wearing it. You might decide that the armor can also draw
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Candlekeep Mysteries
might decide to seal the site away or take it over as a home base or stronghold. If the latter occurs, news of a group of powerful adventurers setting up shop in the ruins of Delimbiyran travels quickly
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn
deemphasize elements of the setting that don’t fit your campaign. With this approach, you highlight the aspects of the setting that are important to your story, and you let the rest of Faerûn’s
history pass by without comment. As an example, you might feel the Spellplague and Second Sundering—cataclysmic events that reshaped Faerûn—don’t suit your campaign. You can decide Faerûn has long since
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
campaign with a “session zero,” an initial gathering focused on creating characters and setting expectations, including topics to avoid as well as those to embrace. A session zero provides a great
opportunity to talk to the other players and the DM and decide whether your characters know one another, how they met, and what sorts of quests the group might undertake together.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
running list of ideas as you decide on other aspects of your setting. What Factions and Organizations Are Prominent? Nations, temples, guilds, orders, secret societies, and colleges shape the social
Campaign Setting Just like an adventure’s setting (as described in chapter 4), a campaign setting is an essential part of a campaign’s premise, shaping the kinds of stories that unfold there. As the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player’s Handbook
character illustrations in this book for inspiration. Session Zero
Some Dungeon Masters start a campaign with a “session zero,” an initial gathering focused on creating characters and setting
expectations, including topics to avoid as well as those to embrace. A session zero provides a great opportunity to talk to the other players and the DM and decide whether your characters know one another, how they met, and what sorts of quests the group might undertake together.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
perilous nature of the setting, or create fun roleplaying opportunities. You decide if and when random encounters occur. Use them judiciously. One or two per game session is usually enough. If you’re not
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn
How Epic Destinies Work To create an epic destiny, work with a character’s player to create milestones along the character’s journey, setting these milestones to specific character levels. As a
. Two detailed examples of epic destinies are provided below. An epic destiny is something the DM and player decide together. The character might reject their destiny, but the player knows what’s coming
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos
wherever it best fits the needs of your campaign. It could be in a world of your own creation, in a published D&D setting (such as the Forgotten Realms or Eberron), in the planar cosmopolis of Sigil, or in
an interplanar nexus that allows it to draw students from across the Material Plane or the entire multiverse. Whatever world you decide to place Strixhaven in, three elements of the wider world of Arcavios might have some impact on adventures in the school.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
action is up to you. You might tell the player to make a Strength check, while mentally setting the Difficulty Class (DC) at 15. If the Strength check is successful, you then determine how a face full of
hot coals affects the monster. You might decide that it deals 1d4 fire damage and imposes disadvantage on the monster’s attack rolls until the end of its next turn. You roll the damage die (or let the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
. This information can help you decide how old your character is at the start of the game. You can choose any age for your character, which could provide an explanation for some of your ability scores. For
. Relationships among subraces vary significantly from race to race and world to world. In the Dragonlance campaign setting, for example, mountain dwarves and hill dwarves live together as different
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
how long will that remain certain? The answers are for you to decide. THIS BOOK GIVES CHARACTERS NIGHTMARES
Ravenloft is a setting designed to bring nightmares to life—for characters, not for
don’t record a collectively remembered past, fictions spawn terrible facts, and sheltered villagers remain stubbornly ignorant about the world beyond. Ravenloft is a setting designed to cultivate
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron
Setting the Tone A Morgrave campaign is a coming of age story in a fantasy world. In between delving into ruins and uncovering demonic schemes, the player characters need to decide what to do with
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated
traditional adventuring. During any game session, the players can decide to focus on what the franchise staff are up to by setting assignments, giving orders, and making checks to determine the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mythic Odysseys of Theros
-faring, sci-fi adventure (where mundane operations often fade into the background). How much a story engages with course setting, provisioning, periods of inactivity, and other aspects of long ocean
journeys is ultimately up to you and the players to decide, but consider cleaving to what the group thinks is fun rather than stretching for unnecessary accuracy (whatever that might mean for a world
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
character’s bond is, “I’m trying to pay off an old debt I owe to a generous benefactor.” If that’s the character’s bond, you should work with the player to decide who that generous benefactor is and build
working with that player to come up with their character’s backstory, then let the player decide if they want the character to have a sidekick (see the “Sidekicks” section in this chapter). You might
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
hail from another D&D setting, a place of your own design, or a more mysterious homeland?
If you decide your character calls some corner of Ravenloft home, ask your DM which domains they could
Player’s Handbook or other sources. The domains of Darkon, Dementlieu, and Hazlik, for example, all feature particularly varied populations.
If you decide your character is from some other world
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron
If It Exists In D&D, There’s A Place for It in Eberron … But It May Not Be the Place You’re Used To. Eberron draws on the core elements of D&D. It’s a world of wizards and rogues, a setting with
that’s ever been suggested. Chapter 3 provides advice on adding new races to Eberron. Here’s a few other ways that you can add something into Eberron with minimal impact on the setting. It comes from
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
Adventure Setting Many D&D adventures revolve dungeons—interior spaces such as great halls and tombs, subterranean monster lairs, mazes riddled with traps, natural caverns extending for miles beneath
that book also includes tables listing the creatures commonly found within each type of terrain. Using that information, you can decide which creatures inhabit an adventure location within a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants
establish the setting of the adventure, or use them in a nonhostile capacity. For example, if you’re creating encounters for a 6th-level party, a fight against two storm giants would make for a dreadfully
one-sided battle. Instead, the characters could witness the giants in an altercation from a distance, foreshadowing a conflict that will threaten all the smaller folk in the region. Or you could decide
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
much food (in pounds) the character finds per day of the journey stage, then repeat the roll for water (in gallons). Do Players Need to Track Rations?
You might decide that tracking Rations is
course. You decide what this looks like: they might follow the wrong branch of a river, orient themselves to the wrong mountain peak on the horizon, or get turned around in the forest. As a baseline
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Ghosts of Saltmarsh
of Saltmarsh and begin to hear tales of the haunted house, after which they might seek more information about the house and its current state. If you decide so, they can speak to the poacher mentioned
ominous. PLACING THE ADVENTURE
The town of Saltmarsh is a small, respectable fishing town located in the Greyhawk campaign setting, in the southernmost part of Keoland. It is situated some twenty miles
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
injustices and discrimination Game-specific content, such as dangers, monster types, and setting details you might use Specific genres of horror, like those in chapter 2 If you’re not comfortable
are spooky romps not too different from typical D&D adventures. Others venture into more unsettling territory. You and the players should decide what level of intensity is right for your horror
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
The Grand Masquerade The horror of the Grand Masquerade focuses on the fear of discovery—being forced to interact with people in a setting where you don’t belong, and where the consequence of
mask costs 5 gp. But elaborate costumes are a status symbol, and shoddy costumes attract unwanted attention. Ultimately, the characters decide how much to spend (or the hags of the Three Odd Gables
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
a perilous quest. For example, a paladin could receive one before setting out on a quest to slay a terrifying lich that is responsible for a magical plague sweeping the land. A character should
provided below. The text of a blessing addresses its user. If you decide to create more blessings, consider this: a typical blessing mimics the properties of a wondrous item. Blessing of Health Your
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
region
6–7 Coins from a nearby contemporary culture
8–9 Coins from a local contemporary culture
10 Coins from another world
You might decide that all the coins in a dragon’s hoard
variety of contemporary and historical cultures in your game’s setting, it’s enough to tell your players that some of the coins are unfamiliar in their size, shape, or inscription—but their value is
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
own pantheons of gods. If you’re creating your own setting, you can use the list of Greyhawk gods in chapter 5 or build your own pantheon.
A simple way to build a basic pantheon is to create one god
plane, so Arcadia might be home to twin gods who are patrons of merchants and smiths.
Alternatively, you might decide that your world has only one god (who might be viewed differently by various sects
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
character needs either a higher score or proficiency to have a similar chance of success, whereas a hard task typically requires both to have a similar chance. If you can’t decide between two levels of
a 19 or 20 on the die roll to succeed at a task of this difficulty. If you’re setting the DC for a saving throw, don’t go lower than 10 or higher than 20. If a creature is the source of the effect
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants
. Flourishing Giants You might set your campaign in a world where giants still rule over smaller peoples—as Annam intended, the giants might say. This world could be the ancient past of a setting such as
patrons or adversaries. What’s the role of dragons? In the Forgotten Realms and Eberron, ancient giants warred with dragons for control over the young world. Maybe in your setting, giants won a similar war
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
, but their words are understandable. DM Option: Domain Languages. If you want to highlight the differences between domains, you can do away with Common and decide that the inhabitants of each domain
of true faith. Ultimately, any deity from the Player’s Handbook or any other setting might find followers among the Domains of Dread. By the same token, the Dark Powers breathe life into the beliefs
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
nearby stone surfaces
18 Manifests small signs of the breath weapon, such as exhaling smoke rings, setting arc lightning dancing over teeth, or blowing acid bubbles
19 Sighs restlessly, giving
. Consider these examples: Change Shape. You can decide that a dragon acquires this action at a younger age than usual, particularly if you want to feature a dragon in Humanoid form in your campaign. The
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Lost Laboratory of Kwalish
research into finding Daoine Gloine even after setting up his initial laboratory on the floating island. Using the notes and maps contained in the journal, the characters can find a route through the
which is worth 750 gp if the characters decide to shop it elsewhere) 515 cp, 11,215 sp, 1,925 gp, and 85 pp stored in various containers and coffers 425 tiny gemstones worth 1 gp each, 44 small
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Lost Laboratory of Kwalish
throughout the lab can access the armor’s controls given enough time. Even after accessing the controls, though, no one can approach the armor without setting off its automatic defenses. See the
unkindly to Kwalish’s cavalier attitude toward life, they might decide to confront and attack him. Kwalish first creates a distraction by releasing the mephits and the mind flayer in his lab as an action
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything
a frenzy. On the other hand, a monster might decide to flee if its spouse is killed, or a mistreated toady might be eager to surrender and betray its master in return for its life. d6 Relationship
ground can go a long way toward spicing up an encounter. Consider setting your encounter in an area that would provide challenges even if a fight were not taking place there. What potential perils or
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
allegiance to a dragon overlord in exchange for the dragon’s protection. The result might be a feudal society, where dragons fill the highest ranks of the aristocracy. In such a setting, characters
need to decide how they fit into this system of fealty. Some characters might swear allegiance to a dragon overlord and end up as important agents enforcing that dragon’s will in the world—perhaps even