Making Gems Fun

I like to make finding gems an exciting experience for the players in my campaign, and here are some tools to help you accomplish this.

Gem Tokens

Download the PDF below, print a few copies on card stock, and cut out the gem tokens as needed.  I keep a stack of the lower base value tokens handy, and cut out the higher base value tokens as needed.

Gem Tokens PDF

Finding Gems

When PCs discover gems as part of a treasure, determine how many they find, and the base value level of the gems.  Use your discretion as DM.  If they're in a low-risk environment, the base level would be 10gp.  Deeper in the dungeon, the base level would be higher.  As a reminder, the base gem value levels from the DMG are:

10gp
50gp
100gp
500gp
1,000gp
5,000gp

Randomize

Have someone in the party roll a number of d6's equal to the number of gems found.  For each 1 rolled, that particular gem goes down by 1 base level (if it's above 10gp).  For each 6 rolled, that gem goes up 1 base level (if it isn't already at 5,000gp).

These 1's and 6's are exploding dice.  For example, if a player found a 10gp base gem, and rolled a 6 for it, the value is bumped up to a 50gp base.  They then roll that die again.  Another 6 means another bump up to 100gp, and keep going until a 6 is not rolled.

Distribute the Loot

Reach into your gem token stacks and give them a gem token for each gem found.

Using Gems for Rituals

This is a completely optional house rule that I instituted for my campaign.  I felt that there was not enough cost to performing rituals (basically a time cost only).  So I established that you need 50gp worth of gems per spell level to cast a spell as a ritual.  The gems are consumed in the process.

Appraising Gems

Players can visit a gem shop in a settlement to appraise, cash in, and exchange gems.  During this process, the gemologist might determine that an individual gem is worth less, or more than its base value.  The cost for the service is 1gp per gem.  Have the player roll 1d10 for each gem being appraised.

If a die comes up a 1 or 10, consult the tables below.  Roll on the Gem Flaws table for 1's, and the Gem Bonuses table for 10's.  Then, roll that die again, repeating the procedure, until a 1 or 10 is not rolled.  You might wind up with an unusually large, finely-cut, exceptionally clear garnet that's worth more than a diamond.

Gem Flaws - d4
1. Smaller than normal, value halved
2. Cracked, value halved
2. Flawed, value quartered
3. Unusually cloudy, value quartered

Gem Bonuses - d4
1. Larger than normal, value increased by half
2. Exceptionally clear, value increased by half
3. Striking color, value doubled
4. Unusual and exquisite cut, value increased by 100-400%.

Do it Yourself

Any PC with proficiency in Jeweler's Tools can spend a Short Rest or longer appraising gems themselves.

Using Equipment Cards in D&D 5e

I use small cards to represent gear and other physical items that the PCs possess in my game.  I found that a standard index card cut in half is the perfect size for a gear/item card.

On the card I write the item's name, some important stats, such as attack and damage if it's a weapon, or it's illumination range if it's a torch or lantern.  If the item has multiple instances, like a group of torches or pitons, I write a number of circles on the card.  The player scratches out a circle as they consume an item.

On the bottom right hand corner of the card I write the item's weight.  This makes it easy for players to total up their weight for purposes of calculating encumbrance.  You'd be amazed at how quickly the weight of gear adds up, especially if you're using the Encumbrance Variant rule from the PHB.  All of the PCs in my game are at -10 speed.  A backpack can mitigate this, and I'll detail how I use this lowly piece of gear in a future post.

Now in my games, a PC doesn't have something unless they have the card.  This can really make the players feel the sting of losing items.  It's more painful to give up a physical card than it is to erase something from a character sheet.  The system makes it easy for players to exchange items (just swap cards), or to store their gear in a common pool in their wagon (throw all the common cards in a plastic baggie).

I also took advantage of this system when an NPC in the party started stealing from the group.  Whenever this thief succeeded at his DEX(Sleight of Hand) roll contested by the PC's Passive Perception, I surreptitiously removed the gear card(s) from their stacks between sessions.  Fortunately for the party they eventually caught the thief NPC red handed and quickly put an end to his shenanigans ... by killing him.  When they went through the slain NPC's gear cards, there was quite a laugh when they saw all of the items that he'd pilfered from them.

Making Passive Perception more Fun

I've had a love/hate relationship with D&D 5e Passive Perception since I first read the rule.  On the one hand, it's nice to have a simple way to resolve whether or not the PCs notice something without tipping your hand as a DM and calling for a WIS(Perception) Check.  On the other hand, the static nature of the Passive Perception takes some randomness out of the game that I miss.

When I design a dungeon, I don't want to know that the PCs will notice a secret door with a DC of 15 because of the highest Passive Perception in the party.  I still want there to be a chance that they don't notice the door.  On the other hand, I also want there to be a chance that they do notice a door that they normally wouldn't based on Passive Perception.

My solution is to pre-roll a number of WIS(Perception) Checks.  Each PC gets a row on an index card, and I first write their name and their WIS(Perception) modifier.  Then I partition the card into a number of columns, make some dice rolls, and write down the results.  When I need one or more Passive Perception values during play, I look at the next result on the card.  Once I use a value, I scratch it out.

In this way, I can keep the suspense of Passive Perception, and still have the uncertainty that a die roll brings to the situation.

Charismatic Combats

Abstract

Sometimes a D&D battle is a back and forth of hack and slash, the only interaction between combatants expressed in cold steel.  But often DM's can spice up combat by building in chances for social interaction to influence the outcome.  It's easiest to do this in urban encounters, like the example I'll describe now.  After running a few encounters like this, your PCs might be wishing they hadn't used Charisma as a dump stat!

Background

The encounter takes place at a posh inn.  Three of the PCs are hiding in a cart near the stables.  The last PC (disguised as a Cultist) is escorting 2 evil Cultists to the cart, where the rest of the group plans to ambush them.

Setup

In the diagram below, 3 of the PCs are hiding in the cart.  The last PC is leading two Cultists (C) to the back of the cart.  The other letters represent townspeople NPCs that might enter the encounter.

NPCs

I created a simple table to control when and if an NPC joins the encounter.  At the start of Round 2 I will roll 1d2 to see which NPC enters.  Next round 1d3, followed by 1d4, then 1d6.  If I roll the same NPC twice, then no one enters that round.

NPCs

1. Stable Boy 1
2. Stable Boy 2 (Commoners, the Stable Boys will run to the inn's main entrance to get help)
3. Gnome (Commoner, will keep to the fringes, darting in to steal from anyone who goes down)
4. Knight (will attempt to keep order, and will join the fight if hostilities continue)
5. Noble (will pompously demand that everyone throw down their arms, and call out the Knight if they don't listen)
6. Handyman (Commoner, will run and grapple combatants, trying to restrain them until more help can arrive)

Play Through

Here's how it played out.

Round 1

Surprise - Since the PCs were hidden, the 2 Cultists are surprised, losing their actions in the first round.

Monk - Jumps out of the cart and stabs one of the Cultists with his short sword, making a Melee Attack and killing him outright.  Now, the Monk tries to make this a non-lethal blow.  My house rule for this is that the PC needs to roll a DC 10 INT (Medicine) Check to see if they can make the blow non-lethal (advantage if using bludgeoning weapons).  The Monk fails, so the Cultist is slain.  The Monk then uses his Flurry of Blows to make 2 Unarmed Strikes against the second Cultist, getting one good strike that takes out half the Cultist's hit points.

Wizard - Points a Sleep spell up in the sky, trying to position it so that he catches the Cultist and not the Monk.  I rule that since it's a tricky prospect, he needs to roll a DC 15 WIS (Perception) Check to avoid catching the Monk.  He fails, so the second Cultist and the Monk slump down asleep.

Paladin - Starts to tie up the sleeping Cultist with a rope.  He asks if he can complete this in one round.  I think for a moment, and decide it's a long shot.  I create a ruling that will let the Paladin make a DEX Check at DC 20 this round, 15 next round, etc, and complete the job when he succeeds. Lo and behold, the Paladin rolls a 20 so ties up the Cultist lightning fast (everyone cheers)!

At this point the players asked if we can drop out of initiative, thinking the encounter was over, but I keep us in initiative.

Round 2

One of the Stable Boys walks out of the stables, a look of shock on his face at seeing drawn swords and a bloody body.  He calls out for his friend to get out here and see this!

Warlock - Approaches the Stable Boy and successfully casts Charm Person.  Tells the Stable Boy to call his friend off, and tell him he was only joking.  I roll a CHA (Deception) Check for the Stable Boy, and he succeeds.  His friend complains a little, but keeps working in the stables.

Round 3

I make a roll to determine if a new NPC approaches, but none does this round.  But our heroes are getting the idea that they need to control and clean up this situation quickly.

Warlock - Starts escorting the charmed Stable Boy toward the inn's main entrance.

Paladin - Shakes the sleeping Monk awake.

Wizard - Starts to drag the sleeping Cultist into the cart.  Wonders if this will wake him up.  Good point!  I have the Wizard roll a DC 10 DEX (Sleight of Hand) Check.  He fails, so the Cultist is roused awake, and promptly screams for help!  This brings Stable Boy 2 out to investigate.

Round 4

My random rolling determines that the Knight enters the encounter.  He strolls out of the inn's main entrance, decked out in plate mail, wondering what the screaming and ruckus is all about.

Monk - Walks over to Stable Boy 2 and tries to reason with him, telling him that these are dangerous cultists they're dealing with here that need to be stopped.  I have him make a CHA (Persuasion) Check, contested by SB2's Wisdom.  The Monk fails, and SB2 goes dashing toward the inn's main entrance to get help, past the Warlock and the Knight.  I remind the Monk that he can make an opportunity attack, and he gets the d20 ready.  But another player interrupts him, reminding him that killing a poor stable boy might not reflect the Monk's alignment.  The Monk considers this, and decides not the take the opportunity attack.

The tied up Cultist tries to stand up.  Since he's tied up, I roll a DC10 DEX Check for him, but he fails so he stays put this round, prone.

Warlock - With quick thinking, excitedly tells the Knight to grab that Stable Boy, he just stole something from her!  I have the Warlock roll a CHA (Deception) Check, which she passes easily, and the Knight does his chivalrous duty and turns to run after the thief.  I award the Warlock a point of Inspiration for this brilliant move.

At this point, the encounter is effectively wrapped up, as I describe the Knight grabbing the poor Stable Boy by the collar inside the inn and slapping him around.

Wrap-up

Instead of a boring exchange of attacks, this encounter became its own vibrant story, with an outcome that I could have never predicted.  It turns out there were only 3 Attack Rolls made, and 8 Ability Checks.

Consider throwing NPCs like this into your combat encounters, especially in urban settings.  It will lead to unpredictable but fun outcomes that can liven up the session dramatically!

Every Roll has Consequences

Getting ready to kick off a D&D 5e campaign, I am going to bring in many of the principles that I learned from running Dungeon World.  One concept from DW that really stuck with me is that every roll has potential consequences.

Too many times, when the party wants to make a Check, if one PC fails, someone else chimes in, "I'll try it."  The player must be thinking, "After all, why not, there's no risk in failure so I might as well try too."

In Dungeon World, every roll can result in a success, a partial success, or a failure.  A partial success leads to a hard bargain or tough decision.  A failure means that the GM can make something bad happen.  That means, the player needs to think twice before they flippantly decide that they want to make a roll.

In practice, this led to interesting developments in my previous Dungeon World game.  One of the characters rolled to explore some ruins, and another character decided to roll to aid them.  The aiding player rolled a failure.  In D&D this usually just means, too bad, you couldn't help.  In Dungeon World, it meant that the player suffered a debility as he sprained his ankle trying to navigate some difficult terrain while he tried to help.  After that experience, the player didn't offer to help again.

These consequences add tension and *decision making* into the game.  It makes it a decision whether to make a roll or not, rather than a "why not."

In the D&D Next playtest packets, there was even an optional mechanic that formalized this, the Hazard rule for Ability Checks.  If you rolled a certain number below the required DC, something bad happens.  I hope that this optional rule survives in the DMG!

I'll be adopting the Hazard rule for 5e.  If the player fails a Check by more than 5, something bad will happen.  For example, if they're exploring a swamp and someone makes a Knowledge Check, and fails by 6 or more, the party might here some loud croaking sounds in the distance.  This foreshadows the presence of Giant Toads in the area.  This is akin the the Signs of Doom advice from Dungeon World.

Consider using a "Hazard" style rule in your games to keep the tension level high, and make each roll a DECISION and not a "why not".

Using Google Translate to Obfuscate

Here's a little trick you can use to slightly obfuscate notes, journals, or any text that PCs might find in another language.

• Paste the text of into Google Translate
• Pick a foreign language and translate it
• Copy the translated text and paste it back in
• Translate this back to your native language

The resulting text will contain cool little quirks that will lend it an exotic and non-human feel.  Perfect for that note that the PCs find written by the Orc commander.

Example

Here's a note that the PCs in my D&D Next campaign might find:

My Lord,
We secured site.
Tenants under control.
Glaragula located book.
Magic stone is here, funnels power.
Ritual maybe only works here.
Many living dead ones still here.
We made four already.

I translated this to Arabic, and then the Arabic back to English, and this is what I now have to give to the players:

Lord,
We are securing the site.
Tenants under control.
The book is Glaragula.
Magic Stone is here, and the entrances to power.
Rituals may only work here.
Many of the dead who live here so far.
We made four already.

The gist is the same, but somewhat less clear.  Imperfect information.  Translation errors.  Great stuff!

Bean (or coin) Counting

I love resource management in D&D. Enforcing limited resources on the PCs provides tension to the game, and often forces them into situations where they have to make tough choices. The more interesting choices a player has to make in a game, the more engaged they become.

Types of Resources

There are many resources specified in the rules that are inherently limited, and thus subject to resource management. Some that come to mind are: money, hit points, hit dice (D&D Next), rations, arrows, torches, spells. In order to avoid having the game degenerate into a tedious session of bookkeeping, we need tools to help us manage these resources in game.

Physical Props

What I do to help alleviate the tedium is to use physical props to manage some of the more mundane resources I want to track. For example, I use poker chips to represent coins. When a PC has to hand over physical coins when paying for something, it's a much different feeling than erasing a number on their character sheet and writing a new one in. It's far more immediate and creates a feeling like they're actually spending money.

For money, I use red poker chips to represent copper, white for silver, and green for gold. I also use a black sharpie to write denominations like 5, 10, 25, etc. on the chips to make this easier to manage. Since I use a silver standard in my games (see below) copper is relevant.

I use black poker chips for hit points, toothpicks for arrows, and glass beads for rations. The players appreciate that they don't have to constantly scratch out or erase numbers on their character sheets.

I have another approach for gear, weapons, and other items the PCs carry. When someone gains an item, I quickly write it down on a half index card. I write down the item's name, it's weight, and any important properties it has, like damage for weapons, then hand the card to the player. A PC doesn't have an item unless they have the card! If the item has a number of uses, like vials of oil, I draw little circles on the card that the player can check off as uses are expended. When a PC loses an item, they really feel the loss because they have to hand that card back!

The Silver Standard

In previous campaigns, copper had always become somewhat of a worthless denomination, since prices are mainly expressed in gold. Players would even ignore any copper pieces found in treasures. That's why I adopted a silver standard in game. Basically, any book price listed in gold is actually silver, and any price listed in silver is actually copper. If a price is listed in copper, I make it 1 cp, or allow the copper piece to be physically split into quarters. But I hint that using quarters is for the poorest folk only, so the PCs always round up to 1 cp minimum.

Now, the PCs actually care about finding copper in treasures, and you should see their eyes light up when the find those elusive gold pieces, not to mention platinum!

Summary

Using physical props like poker chips provides a tactile element to the game that can produce more of an impact on a player when their PC gets wounded or spends money or other resources. For the resources that you as a DM feel are relevant and worth tracking, this technique can make resource management more painless, and even fun.

Make Looting Fun

One of my favorite parts of Warhammer Quest was the Gold Treasure card. The card instructs the player that they can roll as many d6's as they like to see how much gold they find, but if any of the dice come up a 1, there's no gold at all.

I use this little trick all the time when PCs loot bodies and find small treasure stashes. It's a perfect "tough decision" that plays their fear against their greed. I can almost see the wheels spinning in the players' brains as they agonize over how many dice to roll.

The more interesting choices you can throw into your game for the players, the more the game will hold their interest. This little Loot Roll is a great way to inject some tension into an otherwise static part of the game.

You tell me "What's in the Room?"

When I create dungeons and other adventure locations for D&D games, I write sparse descriptions of the rooms.  I allow the players to help flesh out the details of what the rooms contain.  This frees me from having to painstakingly detail every little item in the room, and lets the players feel more involved because they're participating in world creation. Note that this option will allow players to locate mundane items only that might realistically be expected to be in that environment.  A player won't be able to suddenly discover a Vorpal Sword in a toilet.

World Building Example

I might describe a store room with barrels, crates, shelves of nails, tools, and other building materials.  At this point, one of the players might ask "Is there any rope here?"  At this point, I'll assign a DC based on likelihood of such an item being in this room.  There's a good chance that this storage room would contain rope, so I'd set the DC at 10.  Then, the player would roll a WIS check to see if the item in question is present.

No "Me Toos"

If it's one thing that I dislike about the ability check mechanic, it's when one player fails a roll, then all the other players chime in and say "I'll make that check too".  For purposes of world building, only the player who asked about a certain item is allowed to make the check.

Diminishing Returns

It's assumed that the longer the players look for things in a room, the more difficult time they'll have finding them, because you'd think they'd be able to spot most mundane items right off the bat.  To represent this, subsequent world building checks in the same room by the same player are made at a Disadvantage.

Consequences of Failure

If one of the WIS checks results in a Hazard (the player rolls 10 or more below the DC) then something bad has happened.  Maybe they made too much noise and alerted a guard patrol.  Maybe they disturbed that patch of Yellow Mold.  This should keep the players from abusing this option.  The more "out there" items they look for in a room, the greater the chance of a Hazard.

Tap into the Players' Creativity

Allowing the players to help build the details of the world not only takes a burden off the DM, but also hopefully makes them feel more invested.  Who knows what kind of twists the adventure can take with the combined imaginations of all participants involved?  I'll find out after my first D&D Next playtest, which is scheduled for tomorrow!