The Sundered Way - OOC

[Rodgeir]

Where is he? He can press more buttons I guess? That seems to be working or something?

[spiderwrangler]

He's on the platform, in the fog, so yes, he could press more buttons, though would be doing so blind.

[Rodgeir]

I really don't see anything else to do? Besides it seems like the sort of reckless lunacy Holger would get up to.

But please let others chime in , don't want the blame all to myself!

[M0rtimer]

I don't think he'd be risking messing things up when it seems like everything's going alright... Maybe he'll just be crying over his loss instead?

[spiderwrangler]

It's also possible that Theis will chime in before something is decided, but I don't know how long that might be.

So far we have:

• Keep monitoring magics (detect magic)
• Push more buttons at random
• Cry over not having any teeth
• Others? ((cast something? Cantrip attacks?))

Feel free to add options and/or vote for actions!

[Lurks_In_Shadows]

I could easily see Holger firebolting the barnacle bagpipes...if he knows it's there. It would be in his character to try to play the hero who saves the day. He just do it with one hand over his mouth.

[NotStickFigures]

Holger would not push buttons. He would cantrip attack and watch if the portal opens or closes more.

[Rodgeir]

Okay, outvoted. Catrip it is!

[spiderwrangler]

Alright then. Not sure if I'll get a chance to update tonight or in the morning, but if someone wanted to roll a d20 to hit for me you may.

[Lurks_In_Shadows]

Sure!

Holger attack (firebolt): 1d20+6 = [15] = 21

Firebolt damage: 1d10 = [10] = 10

Typical Holger! Showing off!

[spiderwrangler]

The cloud of fog trails off the platform, the deep purple drifting like smoke on the water.

Still mildly disappointed no one caught this a while back...

[BBvideo=600,400]https://youtu.be/ikGyZh0VbPQ[/BBvideo]

[spiderwrangler]

A third party Kickstarter I backed... If the party ever end up attracting followers and establishing a stronghold...

Just finished reading through it this morning, so here are my (rather extensive) thoughts and summary. If you don't want to read all of it, the short version is that the book provides rules for building strongholds and attracting followers, which allows for more military and political might for the owner. This is TOTALLY an opt-in thing, but I'm intending to allow it to be incorporated into our game. If you have no interest in building a stronghold, having followers, and commanding units in a large battle, it won't be taking the place of doing things with your character, it would just be in addition to.

What can this add to 5e D&D?
• Strongholds
• Followers
• Improved Class Features
• Warfare and Military Units
• Gemstone Dragons

Strongholds - buildings that characters may build/acquire/renovate to gain various benefits, and make them legitimate powers in the local political landscape. Strongholds can be upgraded from level 1 to 5, with more benefits being accrued at each level.

Generally speaking, the four types and their function are:

• Keeps - more military minded, help in raising and training Military Units. After the keep is built, it will attract military units, which can be used to defend the keep, impose the keep's owner's will on the surrounding land, etc. May also be abstracted to a barbarian camp or pirate ship (mobile 'keeps').
• Temples - help summon extraplanar allies, based on alignment/deity. Includes a rule-set for tracking "concordance", defined as how pleased your deity is with your recent actions. A percentile roll is made when you want to call upon your connection to higher powers to send aid, and your concordance is added (or subtracted) from the % roll. Higher rolls result in more powerful allies being summoned, where rolls below a certain threshold mean that you don't get an ally, and perhaps even annoy your deity by bugging them for help. This could be done by 'connected' characters even without a temple, but it accrues penalties to your concordance when you attempt it, and a week-long rest at temple is the only way to wipe those penalties.
• Towers - gives characters a place to research spells, essentially can create personalized, named versions of spells (similar to Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, etc.) that can be cast a limited number of times between downtimes. There are charts for rolling to add effect riders onto existing spells, after which they are able to be cast as a spell of one level higher than the base version (cantrips become 1st level, 1st becomes second, etc.).
• Establishments - information gathering and cash production (~1,000 GP per season per stronghold level). Can be flavored as a "front", a business that allows the gathering of information through a formal or informal network of agents. Checks can be made to gather intel on what's going on locally.
• Castle - a larger complex containing two or more of the above. Ends up costing more than the sum of its parts due to the complications of combining different functions under one 'roof'.

Each stronghold has only one owner, though an entire party could certainly stay there, just not all could benefit from being the owner. A bit easier if this was only a party of 4 people, but I also suspect that not everyone will be invested in building and owning a stronghold? If everyone in the party DOES want to own a stronghold and get the benefits of it, that would be possible, especially at higher levels when the party has reliable access to travel magics. Could have a castle on one side of the continent, at temple somewhere else, a tower a third place, etc.

Class Based Stronghold Features
Each class gets something different from their stronghold, which has a lot of similarities to the lair effects that legendary monsters get. The surrounding area may be affected by the presence of the stronghold, and the owner can take stronghold actions to affect the tide of battle. Each owner also gets a Class Feature Improvement, which can be used a number of times equal to the stronghold level before you need to take week-long rest at your stronghold to refresh it. Followers are also specific to each class, the people recruited will be different depending on class.

• Relevant Class Feature Improvements: - can be used limited times between extended rests
• Barbarian - when you reduce an enemy to 0 HP, you can choose to make an additional weapon attack or move up to your speed
• Bard - you can give a special inspiration that gives the ally +1 to their proficiency bonus while it is unspent
• Cleric - when you use Channel Divinity, all allies within 30 ft regain 3d8 HP
• Ranger - Your favored enemy has vulnerability to your attacks
• Rogue - After you hit with a Sneak Attack, you may become invisible until the end of your next turn, or until you attack or cast a spell
• Sorcerer - You gain bonus sorcery points equal in number to your stronghold level, that only refresh when you take an extended rest
• Warlock - You gain an extra spell slot, that you may use a number of times equal to your stronghold level
• Wizard - You can maintain two spells with concentration at once

Followers

Followers are rolled for based mainly on stronghold completion and upgrading, and fall in one of the following categories:

• Units - a military group which has varying levels of gear, training and experience, and could range from a dozen to a hundred or so

• Retainers - NPC adventurer of a lower level than the stronghold owner. Use a simplified statblock and fighting mechanic to streamline combat where they are fighting at your side. Can also be used as a lieutenant to run the stronghold while you're away, or be sent out to handle things on your behalf (eg, bandits been causing trouble the next town over, but the PCs need to be tracking down the BBEG and foiling their plot... send your retainers and units to troubleshoot the problem). The retainers generally are mapped out to the PHB class archetypes, but much simpler versions of them. In the event of character death, a retainer could also be 'promoted' to a PC, if you so wished.

•Artisan - skilled workers that can set up shop and bring various benefits to the stronghold. Shops can be upgraded levels 1-5.
Alchemist can make potions
Blacksmith can make special ammunition and weapons
Captain upgrades experience of units
Carpenter lowers cost to build and upkeep siege engines, and allows faster upgrading of stronghold
Farmer produces gold
Mason work a quarry and provide free stronghold repairs if needed, and decrease time to improve stronghold level
Miner improves gear of units and produces gold
Sage allows research of various benefits
Scribe makes crafting magic scrolls easier
Spy runs counter-intelligence on those attempting to spy on you, and allows modification of follower rolls
Tailor gives limited improved Charisma checks

•Ambassadors - from some other nation or race, allows for purchase of units of that ancestry, and is a contact point that may lead to political agreements or accords (eg, a lizardfolk ambassador may make it possible to hire a lizardfolk infantry unit to help protect your stronghold if it comes under siege).

•Special Allies - an entity often more powerful than the stronghold's owner. Can't be ordered around, but generally want to see the owner succeed. Outcomes based on owner alignment.

Warfare & Military Units

Warfare happens concurrently to the PCs engaging in combat under this system, ie the PCs fight the villains, while the units on each sides fight one another. In combat, positioning, number of individuals and damage are abstracted.

Each unit has Attack/Defense stats and Power/Toughness. The Size of a unit is represented by a d6, d8, d10, or d12 casualty die. During combat, a unit will roll a d20 and add their Attack modifier to see if they can overcome their target's Defense value. If they do, they roll another d20, this time adding their Power modifier, and seeing if they overcome the target's Toughness. If they don't, then the attack succeeded, but the enemy weathered it, perhaps some members of the unit fell, but not enough to decrease their effectiveness on the battlefield.

For example, the party's unit of archers fire on the necromancer's unit of skeleton infantry, which don't manage to get shields up in time, and skeletons throughout the formation drop sporadically, but they continue marching.

If the attacking unit's Power Check beats the defender's Toughness, then the unit size die is decreased by 1.

This time the archers fire, the arrows cutting swaths through the skeletons, and their d6 casualty die goes from a 6 to a 5.

The casualty die can represent members of the unit being killed, being too injured to fight, or becoming too frightened to continue battle, potentially running away.

Each unit also has a Morale modifier, and may need to make a Morale check in response to the abilities of other units, or in response to taking a heavy beating. An unit that is decreased to half it's size on the casualty die will have to make a Morale check each time it suffers another casualty, and if it fails, it immediately suffers another. A unit that reaches 0 on its casualty die is removed from battle unless it can make a DC 15 Morale check to rally.

There are a number of things that affect the stats of the unit:

•Ancestry - the various races get bonuses (or penalties) to Attack, Power, Defense, Toughness and Morale, and some have a special trait that allows them to modify the base rules of warfare in some way
•Experience - Ranging from Green to Super-elite, this represents how battle hardened the unit is, with bonuses to Attack, Toughness and Morale
•Equipment - Ranges from Light, Medium, Heavy, Super-Heavy, the equipment your unit has affects their Power and Defense
•Type - Levies, Infantry, Cavalry, Archers, Flying, and Siege Engines: Unit type may bring bonuses to Attack, Power, Defense, Toughness or Morale, and also determines which units can attack which on the field of battle. For example, Archers cannot be attacked by the other side's Infantry, if they still have Infantry of their own to protect them.

► Show Spoiler

Here's a quick mock-up of a unit card for the city guards who are helping with the portal stuff. Although, the mechanics don't quite work if the PCs and the units are on the same field of battle... but if the PCs were squaring off against some big nasty, the guards could be tangling with a horde of sea aberrations with their own unit card.

Simple Warfare: The book also includes a reduced ruleset for a simplified version of warfare that could be implemented either occasionally, or in place of the base warfare rules. In this version, the costs of the two armies are added up, and a % advantage calculated for the stronger army. Other strategic advantages or disadvantages may be applicable (eg, well rested, poorly supplied, etc.) to one or both sides, then each side rolls a percentile die and applies all modifiers. Who ever has the highest total is the victor of the battle, and the difference determines how each side applies casualties to the other. If both armies are still standing, another battle can follow, or one army can give up and retreat.

[M0rtimer]

Can we have some old gods as special allies?

[spiderwrangler]

Generally speaking, you're probably best they don't take too much interest in what you're doing...

Many of the special allies are giants or dragons, with celestials and fiends thrown in for the appropriate alignments.

[Rodgeir]

Dornikal would be very keen on founding a temple to the anenome god Dumathoin but it seems like something many levels away before he could afford something like that?

How long do the strongholds take to build?

[M0rtimer]

Why build one when you could... Acquire one?

[spiderwrangler]

Time depends on how much is being built, if you're renovating a ruin it takes less than building from the dirt up, and it takes even less if you're gifted one by the nobility. Building a stronghold that combines a temple, a keep and a tower would take longer than building all three separately to be able to get them all working together.

Dornikal definitely falls into a category that isn't neatly boxed by the rules as written, like you say, a temple is probably a better fit than a Barbarian camp/keep.

[Rodgeir]

No, a barbarian camp doesn't have much for him. Not even a gathering of similarly faithed zealots. They should be out proselytizing to those in need rather than hanging out together.

Dornikal would be very pleased to get some land/old buildings in a city that could be converted to a temple. He would prefer one where people are and commerce is happening (and some nearby mines)! That said just doing a simple renovation, getting priests in place and arranging supplies is far beyond his meager means. For now.

[spiderwrangler]

A Barbarian camp could also be flavored as a traveling caravan pretty easily, but yeah, it would take a bit of finagling to get it to fit his aesthetic. If it happens, might be a blend of Barbarian and Cleric/Paladin stuff.

[M0rtimer]

Place an temple on top of an old mine and pay people for mining and reap the profits?

Occasionally it's a bit of extra work as they dig into ancient crypts and we have to clear out all the monsters in there before they can resume work...

[spiderwrangler]

All kinds of possibilities. Realized I didn't mention the gemstone dragons. Essentially they are the neutral answer to the evil chromatic and good metallic. Gemstone dragons are psionic, and can manifest various abilities.

[Rodgeir]

Dornikal doesn't care about the profits but if there is a thriving mining and crafting community around/under the temple it only makes sense people would be making some coin, a portion of which can be tithed back to the temple and it's defenders...

Dornikal would be in total awe of a gemstone dragon. An emerald green on from his god, such a sign!

The cleric/paladin dip is a couple levels off, I will try and remember all this until then.

[spiderwrangler]

You are planning on dipping?

That would make it more straight forward, as multi class characters can choose which they want when building a stronghold.

[Rodgeir]

We discussed it a few months ago. It doesn't make an sense OOC for him to dip either but it would give him the greater spiritual connection IC.

Something to consider around level 7.

[Lurks_In_Shadows]

Definitely could see Randy setting up a keep dedicated to dealing with aberrations or the like. ( I suspect the next favored enemy is going to be aberrations after this little set to). The All Mother might get an offensive militant arm after all! Could be interesting running Randy as a Vicar General.