Page 128 - DnD 5e - Xanathar's Guide to Everything

Carousing with the upper class requires 250 gp for the Lower-class contacts include criminals, laborers,
workweek and access to the local nobility. mercenaries, the town guard, and any other folk who
A character with the noble background can mingle normally frequent the cheapest taverns in town.
with the upper class, but other characters can do so only Middle-class contacts include guild members, spell-
if you judge that the cha racter has made sufficient con- casters, town officials, and other folk who frequent well-
tacts. Alternatively, a character might use a disguise kit kept establishments.
and the Deception skill to pass as a noble visiting from a Upper-class contacts are nobles and their personal
distant city. servants. Carousing with s uch folk covers formal ban-
Resolution. After a workweek of carousing, a charac- quets, state dinners, and the like.
ter stands to make contacts within the selected social Once a contact has helped or hindered a character,
class. The character makes a Charisma (Pers uasion) the character needs to carouse again to get back into the
check us ing the Carousing table. NPC's good graces. A contact provides help once, not
help for life. The contact remains friendly, which can in-
CAROU S I N G fluence roleplaying and how the characters interact with
them, but doesn't come with a guarantee of help.
Check
Total Result You can assign specific NPCs as contacts. You might
decide that the barkeep at the Wretched Gorgon and
1- 5 Character has made a hostile contact.
a guard stationed at the western gate are the charac-
6- 10 Character has made no new contacts.
ter's a llied contacts. Assigning specific NPCs gives the
11- 15 Character has made an allied contact. players concrete options. It brings the campaign to life
16- 20 Character has made two all ied contacts. and seeds the area with NPCs that the characters care
21+ Character has made three allied contacts. about. On the other hand, it can prove difficult to track
and might render a contact useless if that character
Contacts are NPCs who now share a bond with the doesn't come into play.
character. Each one either owes the character a favor Alternatively, you can allow the player to make an
or has some reason to bear a grudge. A hostile contact NPC into a contact on the spot, after carous ing. When
works against the character, placing obstacles but stop- the characters are in the area in which they caroused,
ping s hort of committing a crime or a violent act. Allied a player can expend an allied contact and designate
contacts are friends who will render aid to the character, an NPC they meet as a contact, assuming the NPC is
but not at the ris k of their lives. of the correct social class based on how the character

CHAPTER 2 I DUNGEON Ml\STER'S TOOLS