Dungeon Master: Scroll Wizard

I mentioned previously some ways that scrolls can be used to make things more varied. It inspired me a bit to create a wizard that mostly used scrolls in order to present a threat to the players (stats wise, they are quite poor). This way, a threat can be provided but there is still a lot of room for randomness and spell failure. If defeated quickly, the players become in possession of spells above their level.

Stats

Level 2 Wizard

Ability	Score
Strength	10
Dexterity	10
Constitution	12
Intelligence	7
Wisdom	10
Charisma	10

Hit points: 12 (using averages)
Skills: Arcana, Insight, History, Persuasion

Proficiency Bonus: +2

Armor Class: 10 without mage armor, 13 with mage armor

This wizard doesn't know much magic beyond cantrips. The main way they use magic is through spell scrolls (their spell save DC is low with their own spell) since their spellbook was lost or destroyed (or never had one?). To succeed the wizard must meet or exceed 10 + the spell's level.

Pick a few scroll such as:

Magic Missile (1^st level)

Comprehend Languages

Protection from Good and Evil

Thunder Wave (1^st level) DC 13

Acid Arrow (2^nd level) DC 13 *

Scorching Ray (2^nd level) DC 13

Shatter (2^nd level) DC 13 *

* These spells are particularly dangerous to a 1^st level party. Scorching ray is less so since it can be split up between 3 targets to prevent one shot kills.

Note: Above all found in SRD.

Playing Them

Having so many spells to choose from due to the spell scrolls, there is no shortage of the kinds of character that can be played. They can be cowardly. They can be cocky. The level can also be adjusted in order to make them last longer in combat (lacking a spell book, there's not much else). High level spells have high DCs to beat in order to cast the spells, so there is a bit of a risk/reward system. I find that spells in the middle, especially at low level, are the ones to watch out for. A level 1 wizard has a high enough chance to cast a fireball or shatter that it really heavily threatens a level 1 party (fireball does a lot of damage for that level) unless an appropriately low intelligence score is also used (it's why I used 7 for which gives a -2 that is balanced out against a +2 proficiency for a net of +0). Disintegrate, while devastating if cast, has a far lower chance of succeeding.

Scrolls like this also allow a lower level wizard to challenge a high level party if needed. In this case, the DCs won't be a problem. I'd recommend not treating these wizards like a regular NPC for experience purposes. The use of these scrolls like this makes them more of a challenge than their CR will imply. Be careful since using scrolls in this way (to make a weaker character stronger instead of an asymmetrical character) since it may make them feel weak if used to often. It is still an easy way to put scrolls in the hands of the party spellcasters.

Something I find is important, however, is describing the effects of a failed spell well. I remember very clearly how in one case, the Dungeon Master decided to describe the fireball flying towards the feet of our party but when it hit the ground, it didn't explode like it should have. Instead, it went out. While this should not be used every time, used sparingly it can create a real sense of suspense as they wait to see the damage that results and are instead greeted with no damage at all.

A multiclass NPC or martial class with limited magic use can also be used instead and provide for more opportunity (Eldritch Knights benefit extremely greatly from scrolls like this while also having better AC and health).

Conclusion

Having played against these kinds of wizards, the tension that can result from the possibility of failing to cast a spell is something I greatly enjoyed, especially since I knew the devastating effect it could have if it worked. Hopefully this wizard provides some fun in your games too.  

Dungeon Master: Scrolls

By now it should be obvious that I tend to write about things I don't see used very often in the games I play. Keeping with the theme, I am going to be talking about spell scrolls and why they are a very useful tool for the Dungeon Master. As always, feel free to comment and add to what I say.

Different Economy

The beauty in these kinds of scrolls is that they are a one-time use thing. They don't nearly have as big an impact as a wand or staff that allows continuous casting of the spell. Instead, it's a single casting. In the case of Dungeons & Dragons 5^th edition, the wizard could choose to learn the spell instead of casting it. However, this is not a valid strategy if the spell is already known by the wizard. It may also be better to keep the high level spell than learn it (great, learned the 6^th level spell due to a lucky roll but can't cast it for weeks).

Extra Firepower

You can continue to give challenges to the players that are at the level expected. However, more experienced or daring groups might want a bigger challenge. In these kinds of cases, spell scrolls and magic items provide exactly what they might need to face their powerful enemies. Since a lower level character can cast spells they don't know from a scroll (in most systems I can recall including Dungeons & Dragons, anyway), a weak party could use it to even the odds. A fireball in the hands of a 1^st level party allows for completely different threats to be thrown their way. It also provides a difficult choice for the wizard since they only get one use from the scroll.

Extra Castings

When a game has some kind of scroll mechanic or limited casting, it is typically balanced around some time period. However, wizards are not always lucky enough to be able to rest and prepare. When they aren't, the party is significantly weakened. A way to get around this problem is through spell scrolls. The result is that the wizard has more spell slots or castings of their spells than they normally would. I'd be careful in these cases since a clever party could keep these scrolls for later and turn important encounters into a joke. Having said that, it's a possible situation that can come up during play and clever play should be rewarded. It can also allow for story opportunities and tension that is otherwise not possible (maybe they can challenge the big bad early, create a setback for the big bad they wouldn't otherwise, or get out of an impossible situation). Just don't forget to consider the possibility and don't forget to factor scrolls into future combat encounters.

Unpredictable Enemies

A powerful hostile wizard with spell slots changes the nature of the encounter dramatically. It also allows a higher chance of spell failure than otherwise possible and can make an unpredictable encounter (especially when used with the miscasting rules in the Dungeon Master's Guide). The danger with this approach is that the players could kill the enemy early and obtain quite a few more scrolls than intended by the Dungeon Master. Planning for this (you would generally assume a scroll or two would be left and needed) may need to be called for. You could also decide to simply reward the players for their luck and or thinking (if they thought of a great ambush, maybe the final fight should be easier?).

Completely Different Spells

Spell economy is a difficult subject. There could in theory be some spells that are so powerful you don't even want a level 20 wizard to have access to it during combat readily. In these cases, you could let a wizard spend significant resources and time to create a single scroll. Unlike normally, where spells may be cast per day or other period, this allows you to have spells that could take weeks or even years of preparation before being cast. It also allows for some special spells that the players may only get the chance to cast once or twice in the entire length of time they play. As a tool for the Dungeon Master, these kinds of spell scroll allow for break from the normal spell system and allow for some interesting situations for the players. In fact, I'd say that using scrolls is one of the most powerful ways to make changes to the spell casting system (more spells, new spells, etc.) without actually changing the normal spell casting system (all of the original mechanics are kept intact).  

Dungeon Master: Orb of Foresight

The surface of the orb, beautifully white and seemingly polished, seems to fill with smoke as it is held. The blackness takes different shapes and forms as it is held until finally, it seems to hold a form. Three people seem to stand in front of a building. The building is unmistakable. The stained glass and shape gives it away. The party easily recognizes one of the people too...

Orb of Foresight

A perfectly white orb that easily fits into the hand of a grown person, an orb of foresight is a rather interesting item. It remains perfectly white and clean until activated. Sometimes I've seen this happen by asking questions out loud but I have also seen how it can be used by mere thought. When activated, a question about the future is answered by the form that black swirling, almost like smoke, takes. Sometimes this answer is in the form of a still form. Sometimes, though more rarely, the form moves and acts out a soundless scene. The clarity and quality of the image can greatly range based seemingly on the question asked but also based on the orb. In my studies, some orbs were mentioned to have very crude representations where others more commonly displayed clearer images, even when asking the same question. They are very rare; so much of my work was based on old manuscripts mentioning these artifacts.

The orb also has some other odd properties. If dropped or thrown, the orb does not roll or bounce. Instead, it falls straight down after hitting an object and it stays where it landed until picked up. It also does not seem to transfer heat or cold through it. Even if held in a flame or ice, it keeps it's temperature constant.

Mechanics

Viewings can only be done through the orb after attuning to the item. Pick a dice. Another viewing can only be made that many days later (I suggest a D10 or D20).

The result of the viewing is displayed by a black smoke or liquid shape that takes from on the orb. It disappears when desired by attuned creature or when it is out of reach of the attuned creature.

Since the future is influenced by the actions of creatures and can have wide reaching effects, the visions of the orb are not guaranteed to come to be (though your players may not be aware of this at first). Choose a DC and roll a D20. On a success the correct events will be shown and on a failure an alternate course of events is shown instead (on some failure, not less than 5 for example, nothing may be shown instead).

Variant

Instead of a time delay, roll a dice (I suggest a D10, D6 or D4). This is how many questions will be answered by the orb. After the last question is answered, the black smoke doesn't fully retreat from the white surface of the orb. Where the smoke stays, cracks form and the orb falls apart in the hands of the user.

Variant 2

This orb, a cursed version, only shows incorrect versions of the future no matter how many times asked. A creature may remove curse of similar magic cast to be free of the cursed orb. While it is cursed in this way, nightmares alternate futures fill its dreams. When performing a saving throw, roll a D20. On a 16 or higher, the creature has disadvantage on the saving throw. This curse only occurs once per long rest.

Variant 3

This defective orb either shows nothing or shows the complete opposite of what is really true.

Notes of Caution

Putting this kind of item in the hands of your players or NPCs will obviously have a great effect on the campaign. Before putting this item into your game, make sure you understand how big an effect knowledge of the future will have. As the Dungeon Master, you control the knowledge obtained by the orb so it is not necessarily game breaking but it may also be needed for plot reasons (to provide information of the villains plans, where to find the villain and how to stop them).  

Dungeon Master: Using Languages

Languages are an element of the game I see very little use of. In some cases, I've even seen groups completely forget about the languages they chose at character creation. However, I think there are a couple of things that can be done by using this feature of tabletop role-playing games. I'm hoping that having them written down will help people but also help me think of a few other things to do with them, since it is such an infrequently used element from my experience.

Ancient Tombs May Be in Different Languages

Languages tend to change over time and as a result something previously understandable may become cryptic. Keeping this in mind can add a great deal of atmosphere to an old dungeon. If there are old books, they could be in a form that will require the party to spend time or money on interpreting the texts they found. It could also be in a completely different and now dead language, which could make things harder.

With unknown, dead, or old versions of languages misinterpretation could be a real concern. If this is the case, checks can be made based on linguistics (insight I'd say) or based on previous knowledge of the material. In the case of a failure, a mistranslation will occur for that particular piece of knowledge (a letter may have a location and a description of the item). You may even decide that you need more material in order to properly translate, leading to another quest. Of course, translating things and doing linguistics as the aim will take a special group but it can still be used as an element of a larger story.

Dungeons May Be in Areas with Different Languages

If players go far enough and have holes in their languages, they may eventually find themselves in areas where they cannot speak the language and know very little of the culture. In these kinds of cases they could try to learn it ahead of time or, more likely, they can hire a guide. I'd consider a guide who can speak the party's language and the local languages a skilled hireling if it is uncommon (normal people don't know both languages but some special adventurers or learned individuals might) and unskilled otherwise (they may speak draconic and their own local language in the area and the dragonborn character can understand draconic).

Creole Languages

It is possible that creole languages develop in some areas with multiple linguistic and cultural influences. In order to understand this language, the interpreter will need to know most of the languages that helped inspire the creole language.

Accents and Differences

Though not necessarily tied to language, you may decide that certain areas have a certain special feature that makes it distinct from another. It could be certain slang, certain pronunciation of sounds or certain grammatical constructs unique to a certain area. If used sparingly enough, it can help give locations a feeling of identity but I find it's also quite hard on the Dungeon Master to remember all of the accents and differences while in the heat of role-playing. Still, I think it deserves mention.

Don't Want to Bother?

Everyone knows common. There, problem solved. However, I feel you might be missing out on some elements, particularly if the party travels far away into a vastly different culture.  

Dungeon Master: Dead vs. Empty

It should be fairly obvious at this point that I'm generally a fan of using undead. However, the location that undead are used in is also important for establishing the mood of a session. As I result, I'll be talking about some key things to consider in such a case and focus on the difference between a location that is empty and a location that is dead.

How Is Dead Different from Empty?

The difference between these two words and their meaning is important, particularly when dealing with a location that was hit by a catastrophe (large undead typically result from a catastrophe). If a place is empty, it feels like no one was there before. That sounds obvious, but it is distinctly different from a location being dead. A dead location was once alive and there should be evidence that suggests what the place looked like in life. Depending on the location (even the amount of time passed since the catastrophe occurred), the impression and approach will be different. If the city has been abandoned for centuries, the grandeur it once could be gone and torn away by looters. On the other hand, an area hit by a fresh catastrophe could look exactly the way it looked before but lacking characters. Each of these will lead to a different mood and overall different feeling game.

Empty

I don't have anything against the idea of a location being empty. A small area hit by a catastrophe (giant magic accident, maybe?) could have been abandoned by even the animals that would normally be there. Such a situation can be very eerie for the players, especially if they are used to bustling cities. Another example could be a mostly empty and difficult to inhabit place (extreme desert or arctic). The emptiness in these cases would make finding something that much more exciting, even if the find is rather mundane by the standards of a city (e.g. finally seeing an animal or a person).

How to Create a Dead Location?

If you want to make a location that feels like it was once alive but then died, I feel that you have to consider what it was like in life. The easy way in such a case is to create the location as if it was alive and then go through the steps that lead to its death. A city that died from disease may look completely different from a city that died due to an undead army, a regular army or simply fell into disuse. The process that would be applied to the city in each of these cases would most likely be different. It will take more work than just coming up with the final product but doing so helps me come up with more details as well as flesh out the location. It's important to do the same with special rooms. Is the dust even or are there rather fresh footprints and drag lines when entering an old room in a tomb? Are there scorch marks from torches on the wall? What's the smell like? Are there nicks in the wall from furniture that was moved? Scratches in the floor? Broken pieces of pottery on the floor (broken during quick looting)? Are the people who lived there still there (body in the corner or as skeletons)? Are there the broken remains of 4 bunk beds but only 3 skulls on the ground?

Applies to Characters Too

The same kind of approach works for characters too. If you have an evil character, I find I achieve better results if I start with a character that is good or neutral and then apply a process. This way, I'm forced to write the backstory and really think about the character. I also like to do this for characters that are older.  

Dungeon Master: Describing Environments

A good Dungeon Master is able to bring a location to life. An important part of doing so is to provide details on locations. However, especially for new Dungeon Masters, it can be a challenge. For that reason I hope to cover a few basic tips that should help make bring locations to life and make them memorable.

Other than Sight

I tend to fine just about every Dungeon Master I've played with is able to describe the visuals of an area. There may be some details left out that would have really helped to bring the location to life, but the visuals of a location will still be explained. However, I find that sound and smell are often left out. Temperature can be very important too but I find this is usually handled brought up when dealing with extremes but not mentioned when going into an underground cavern.

How Much to Describe?

You don't want to spend too long describing a room because the game has to keep rolling. Also, keep in mind that the players can ask you questions about the location. However, I try to make sure the visual aspects of the room are described (if you use miniatures, the grid and map layout help greatly) because they are incredibly important to combat considerations. Light and obscurement are also important here so that you and the players don't forget about any bonuses or penalties they may have from these factors (these factors also don't appear on the board if you forget). However, I also try to describe noteworthy sounds or lack of them as well intense smells. These other elements are extremely important when they act as a warning to the players (noises and a foul smell coming from the other side of the door).

Forgetting to Describe Changes

One problem I've seen is that certain senses will get attention in a certain room (rotting smell) but won't be addressed when you move into another room. In my case, my players understand that if I don't change my description, the sound or smell is still present unless it doesn't make sense (if you travel away from town and into the forest, you won't hear crowds anymore). However, your players might also assume that if you don't describe a sound or smell, it is neutral. It's important that the Dungeon Master understands what their players assume and treats them accordingly. For me and my players, having to think through this can break immersion. It's also generally good to establish an understanding with your players so that they realize sometime you may forget and they should ask if they aren't sure.

Transitions

One of the most memorable things for my players is transitions. How does the room come to life when the light of their torches peels back the dark? Does something reflect the light back (reflections can create uniqueness by themselves)?

Aim for One Unique Thing

I try to make sure that one part of my dungeon or session is something unique my players will remember. There can be obvious parts such as a shocking plot development or a challenging fight. However, it can be a weird and unique room that captures their imagination. One example I can think of recently is that there was a room we entered that was brightly lit but where nothing cast a shadow. It's those kinds of descriptions and unique details that can etch themselves into the memories of your players.  

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition OGL and SRD Thoughts

This last week has been an important one for D&D 5^th edition. We have an OGL and SRD for this new edition of D&D. We didn't have one for all of 4^th edition but now have one fairly early for this edition. We also have the release of the Dungeon Master's Guild. Though it's early, I hope to give a few of my thoughts.

Dungeons & Dragons 5^th Edition OGL

I would have preferred something like this at launch (to help clear up the legalities of non-Wizards of the Coast content) but better late than never. As it is, it's quite impressive. Even if you have no intention of making any content at this moment, it provides rules for many classes that up until now were only available in the Player's Handbook (sorcerer, paladin, etc.). It also includes many more spells, monsters and races (if you wanted to play a tielfing without buying the Player's Handbook, now you can).

There are some limitations. It only provides one archetype per class and duplicates some content from the basic rules. However, if you intended to use this as a search-able PDF for 5^th edition, it mostly works. There is content such as backgrounds that are not fully replicated in the SRD. As a result, you will need to flip through multiple books. Not all of the spells are included either and based on twitter posts I've seen so far, it is largely limited to things that were previously published in a SRD but for the current edition. Monsters seem a bit odd to me. If you wanted to get as many monsters as you can for free, you would have to look through the basic rules, the SRD and the free supplements for the currently published adventures. I kind of wish all the content in the SRD was also included in the basic rules so that almost everything could be found in one place (I'm not sure if they could roll in the monsters and other material from the free adventure supplements).

Dungeon Master's Guild

It seems that the main difference between normal publication using the OGL and using the Dungeon Master's Guild is access to the special Dungeon Master's Guild store, possibly having material incorporated in the current edition as well as using Forgotten Realms properties. There has already been quite a good amount of images and map material provided on the website to be used by authors. I could be missing something, but that seems to be the main thing (the author gets 50% of revenue).

So far, there seems to be quite a lot of material already coming in. I'm really happy to see it, but I mostly love adventures and I haven't seen too much of that besides the Adventurer's League ones Wizards of the Coast has put online for sale (it's nice to see that normal people can buy these now, though be aware they are of the same quality as we have seen in Dungeon+). It's nice to be able to search in one place. I'm hoping we get a tag just for the new OGL soon as well to make searching the rest of DriveThruRPG easy.

Increase in Content

The above should help increase the amount of content published for this edition of D&D (now that the legality is handled) and make it more accessible. I'll also be doing my best to review and comment on material when there isn't officially published stuff to review. Hopefully it'll be a help to all of you who read this (if there are any).