Page 126 - DnD 5e - Xanathar's Guide to Everything

MARINA'S PLANS CHELDAR'S PLANS
Element Description Element Description
Event Rats become a noticeable problem in the streets, Event The grand festival of Pholtus fills the streets
with swarms sighted in rundown neighborhoods. with somber worshipers, who maintain a day-
Folk demand that action be taken. long torchlit vigil. They offer food, drink, and
Action Caravan raids by goblinoids become more com- shelter to all in the temple of Pholtus.
mon, and folk talk of gathering a militia. Marina Action Cheldar, along with a small group of followers,
contributes generously to the effort. appears in a tavern frequented by adventurers
Action Warehouses are overrun with rats, ruining thou- and seeks converts. A few NPC adventurers join
sands of gold pieces worth of goods. Marina his cause.
blames the city for a lax effort in pest control. Action In a public address in the town square, Cheldar
Action If the characters interfere, Marina sends her as- rails against the forces of chaos, laying blame
sassins against them. for recent troubles on adventurers who are med-
Event A sudden storm creates minor flooding, washing dling in things best left alone.
dozens of dead, bloated, diseased rats from the Event The characters find that all adventurers in town
sewers. Terror over the plague rips through town. receive an icy reception at best.
Action Marina fans the flames of panic, spreading ru- Action Cheldar demands that the city levy enormous
mors that the characters or other rivals in town taxes on adventurers, claiming that they must
are responsible for the disease. pay their fair share to keep the city safe.

EXAMPLE RIVAL: HIGH PRIEST CHELDAR DOWNTIME ACTIVITIES
The temple of Pholtus, god of the s un, seeks to bring
Downtime activities are tasks that usually take a work-
as many folk as possible under its sway. Though it has week (5 days) or longer to perform. T hese tasks can in-
been in town for only two years, the temple is already an clude buying or creating magic items, pulling off crimes,
influential force because of the determination and the and working at a job. A character selects a downtime
brilliant oration of Cheldar, its high priest. activity from a mong those available and pays the cost
Goals. Cheldar wants to ma ke the temple of Pholtus
of that activity in time and money. You, as DM, then fol-
the most popular religion in town by bringing about low the rules for the activity to resolve it, informing the
peace and security for all. He believes keeping adventur- player of the results a nd any complications that ensue.
ers in check or driving them out of town is an important
Consider handling downtime away from the game
step in that plan.
table. For example, you could have the players pick their
Assets. The charismatic high priest has his oratory downtime activities at the end of a session, and then
skill, divine spellcasting ability, and a few hundred com- communicate about them by email or text, until you next
mon folk recently converted to the temple's cause. see them in person.
Plans. Cheldar is stern but fundamentally a good per-
son. He tries to win support by providing charity, pro- RESOLVING ACTIVITIES
moting peace, and working to enforce law and order. He The description of each activity tells you how to resolve
is skeptical of the characters, however, convinced that it. Many activities require an ability check, so be sure to
they are troublemakers who will undermine the peace. note the character's relevant ability modifiers. Follow
He wants only officials of the town or the temple to be the steps in the activity, and determine the results.
involved in handling any crises that arise. He strongly Most downtime activities require a workweek (5 days)
believes in his goals, yet he might still be made into an to complete. Some activities require days, weeks (7
ally by good-hearted characters. days), or months (30 days). A character must spend at
least 8 hours of each day engaged in the downtime activ-
ity for that day to count toward the activity's completion.
The days of an activity don't need to be consecutive;
you can spread them over a longer period of time than is
W~<"' -i"'iO"'l 'OW'< ~c;d-t {row- required for the activity. But that period of time should
be no more than twice as long as the required time;
<; -issio"', 10-•ti ..... u l l<"'J.
otherwise you should introduce extra complications (see
below) and possibly double the activity's costs to repre-
sent the inefficiency of the character's progress.
S~ofr"'~ ii t~ii t~i"'~ w~<r<
COMPLICATIONS
""'"'io"'i ~iv< c;wc;i t~<ir st'-'{4 to The description of each activity includes a discussion
ot~<r f'ofl•, c;"'). ot~•r f •ost· ~iv< of complications you can throw at the characters. The
consequences of a complication might spawn entire
t~•- J.i{4 <mJ it...f-l.
adventures, introduce NPCs to vex the party, or give the
characters headaches or advantages in any number of
other ways.

C HAPTER 2 I DUNGEON MAST.ER'S TOOLS