=====Dungeon Master's Guide===== Note: I also have this in PDF and the actual book ===Contents=== Introduction 4 The Dungeon Master.............4 How to Use This Book... ,.4 Know Your Players______........._.,.6 Part 1 i Chapter 1: A World of Your Own... The Big Picture....... Gods of Your World...,.... Mapping Your Campaign, .„.... Settlements.....,,.,,......,.... Languages and Dialects.,.,.,.,. Factions and Organizations... Magic in Your World........ Creating a Campaign... Campaign Events...... Pl ay Style...... ...... Tiers of Play........ Flavors of Fantasy..... Chapter 2: Creating a Multiverse., The Planes —-. Planar Travel.... Astral Plane...... Ethereal Plane.. Feywild..... Shadowfell......... Inner Planes. Outer Planes. Other Planes...,, Known Worlds of the Material Plane Chapter 3: Creating Adventures Elements of a Great Adventure.... Published Adventures....... Adventure Structure...... Adventure Types...... Complications...... Creating Encou nters ______ Random Encounters.............. Chapter 4: Creating Nonplayer Characters........ Designing NPCs....... NPC Party Members...... Contacts...,............ Hirelings... Extras........... Villains....... Villainous Class Options... Chapter 5: Adventure Environments.,.99 Dungeons... Mapping a Dungeon.... Wilderness,.,. Mapping a Wilderness Wilderness Survival.... Settlements... Mapping a Settlement. Urban Encounters........ Chapter 6: Between Adventures....125 Linking Adventures...........125 Campaign Tracking,.. 126 Recurring Expenses...............126 Downtime Activities.......... 127 Chapter 7: Treasure,..,., .......,133 Types of Treasure.....133 Random Treasure... 133 Magic Items........_____135 Sentient Magic Items..,.. 214 Artifacts,... 219 Other Rewards...........227 Part 3 233 Chapter 8: Running the Game .235 Table Rules.....,......,.,..,,,.,,,. 235 The Role of Dice.........236 Using Ability Scores. 237 Exploration....2 42 Social Interaction.... 244 Objects..............,246 Combat_____,.__247 Chases..«...... 252 Siege Equipment.. 255 Diseases ... 256 Poisons...........257 Madness.... 258 Experience Points...... 260 Chapter 9: Dungeon Master's Workshop.. ..263 Ability Options. .263 Adventuring Options..... .........266 Combat Options.. 270 Creating a Monster...........273 Creating a Spell..................,,, 283 Creating a Magic Item .....284 Creating New Character Options......,285 Appendix A: Random Dungeons 290 Start i ng A rea......... 290 Passages... 290 Doors............291 Chambers —......... 291 Stairs........... 291 Connecting Areas. ......292 Stocking a Dungeon,.,... 292 Appendix B: Monster Lists 302 Appendix C: Maps 310 Appendix D: Dungeon Master Inspiration 316 Index 317 ===Introduction === ITS GOOD TO &E THE DUNGEON MASTER! NOT ONLY do you get to tell fantastic stories about heroes, villains, monsters, and magic, but you also get to create the world in which these stories live. Whether you Ye running a D&D game already or you think it s something you want to try. this book is for you. The Dungeon Master's Guide assumes that you know the basics of how to play the D&D tabletop roleplaying game. If you havenY played before, the DUNGEONS eP Dragons Starter Set is a great starting point for new players and DMs. This book has two important companions; the Players Handbook, which contains the rules your players need to create characters and the rules you need to run the game, and the Monster Manual . which contains ready-lo¬ use monsters to populate your D&D world. The Dungeon Master The Dungeon Master (DM) is the creative force behind a D&D game. The DM creates a world for the other players to explore, and also creates and runs adventures that drive the story. An adventure typically hinges on the successful completion of a quest, and can be as short as a single game session. Longer adventures might embroil players in great conflicts that require multiple game sessions to resolve. When strung together, these adventures form an ongoing campaign, A D&D campaign can include dozens of adventures and last for months or years, A Dungeon Master gets to wear many hats. As the architect of a campaign, the DM creates adventures by placing monsters, traps, and treasures for the other players’ characters (the adventurers) to discover. As a storyteller, the DM helps the other players visualize what's happening around them, improvising when the adventurers do something or go somewhere unexpected. As an actor, the DM plays the roles of the monsters and supporting characters, breathing life into them. And as a referee, the DM interprets the rules and decides when to abide by them and when to change them. Inventing, writing, storytelling, improvising, acting, refereeing—every DM handles these roles differently, and you’ll probably enjoy some more than others. It helps to remember that Dungeons & Dragons is a hobby, and being the DM should be fun. Focus on the aspects you enjoy and downplay the rest. For example, if you don't like creating your own adventures, you can use published ones. You can also lean on the other players to help you with rules mastery and world-building. The D&D rules help you and the other players have a good time, but the rules aren't in charge. You Ye the DM, and you are in charge of the game. That said, your goal isn't to slaughter the adventurers but to create a campaign world that revolves around their actions and decisions, and to keep your players coming back for more! If you Ye lucky, the events of your campaign will echo in the memories of your players long after the final game session is concluded. ===How to Use This Book === This book is organized in three parts. The first part helps you decide what kind of campaign you'd like to run. The second part helps you create the adventures— the stories—that will compose the campaign and keep the players entertained from one game session to ihe next. The last part helps you adjudicate the rules of the game and modify them to suit the style of your campaign. Part 1 : Master of Worlds _ Every DM is the creator of his or her own campaign world. Whether you invent a world, adapt a world from a favorite movie or novel, or use a published setting for the D&D game, you make that world your own over the course of a campaign. The world where you set your campaign is one of countless worlds that make up the D&D multiverse. a vast array of planes and worlds where adventures happen. Even if you re using an established world such as the Forgotten Realms, your campaign takes place in a sort of mirror universe of the official setting where Forgotten Realms novels, game products, and digital games are assumed to take place. The world is yours to change as you see fit and yours to modify as you explore the consequences of the players' actions. Your world is more than just a backdrop for adventures. Like Middle Earth. Westeros, and countless other fantasy worlds out there, it’s a place to which you can escape and witness fantastic stories unfold. A well- designed and well-run world seems to flow around the adventurers, so that they feel part of something, instead of apart from it. Consistency is a key to a believable fictional world. When the adventurers go back into town for supplies, they should encounter the same nonplayer characters (NPCs) they met before. Soon, they'll learn the bat-keep's name, and he or she will remember theirs as well. Once you have achieved this degree of consistency, you can provide an occasional change. If the adventurers come back to buy more horses at the stables, they might discover that the man who ran the place went back home to the large city over the hills, and now his n iece runs the family business. That sort of change—one that has nothing to do with the adventurers directly, but one that they'll notice—makes the players feel as though their characters are part of a living world that changes and grows along with them. Part 1 of this book is all about inventing your world. Chapter 1 asks what type of game you want to run, and helps you nail down a few important details about your world and its overarching conflicts. Chapter 2 helps you put your world in the greater context of the multiverse, expanding on the information presented in the Player's Handbook to discuss die planes of existence and the gods and how you can put them together to serve the needs of your campaign. Part 2 : Master of Adventures Whether you write your own adventures or use published ones, expect to invest preparation time beyond the hours you spend at the gaming table. You"II need to carve out some free time to exercise your creativity as you invent compelling plots, create new NPCs. craft encounters, and think of clever ways to foreshadow story events yet to come. Part 2 of this book is devoted to helping you create and run great adventures. Chapter 3 covers the basic elements of a D&D adventure, and chapter 4 helps you create memorable NPCs. Chapter 5 presents guidelines and advice for running adventures set in dungeons, the wilderness, and other locales, and chapter 6 covers the time between adventures. Chapter 7 is all about treasure, magic items, and special rewards that help keep the players invested in your campaign. ===Master of Rules === Dungeons & Dragons isn’t a head-to-head competition, but it needs someone who is impartial yet involved in the game to guarantee that everyone at the table plays by the rules. As the player who creates the game world and the adventures that take place within it, the DM is a natural fit to take on the referee role. As a referee, the DM acts as a mediator between the rules and the players. A player tells the DM what he or she wants to do, and the DM determines whether it is successful or not. in some cases asking rhe player to make a die roll to determine success. For example, if a player wants his or her character to take a swing at an ore. you say, "Make an attack roll" while looking up the ore’s Armor Class. The rules don’t account for every possible situation that might arise during a typical D&D session. For example, a player might want his or her character to hud a brazier full of hot coals into a monster s face. How you determine the outcome of this action is up to you. You might tell the player to make a Strength check, while mentally setting the Difficulty Class (DC) at 15. If the Strength check is successful, you then determine how a face full of hot coals affects the monster. You might decide that it deals ld4 fire damage and imposes disadvantage on the monster's attack rolls until the end of its next turn. You roll the damage die (or let the player do it), and the game continues. Sometimes mediating the rules means setting limits. If a player tells you, "1 want to run up and attack the ore/’ but the character doesn’t have enough movement to reach the ore, you say, “It’s too far away to move up and still attack. What would you like to do instead?"’ The player takes the information and comes up with a different plan. To referee the rules, you need to know them. You don’t have to memorize this book or the Player’s Handbook, but you should have a clear idea of their contents so that, when a situation requires a ruling, you know^ where to find the proper reference. The Player's Handbook contains the main rules you need to play the game. Part 3 of this book offers a wealth of information to help you adjudicate the rules in a wide variety of situations. Chapter 8 presents advice for using attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. It also includes options appropriate for certain play styles and campaigns, including guidelines for using miniatures, a system for handling chase scenes, and rules for madness. If you like to create your own stuff, such as new monsters, races, and character backgrounds, chapter 9 shows you how. That chapter also contains optional rules for unusual situations or play styles, such as the use of firearms in a fantasy setting. ===Know Your Players === The success of a D&D game hinges on your ability to entertain the other players at the game table. Whereas their role is to create characters (the protagonists of the campaign), breathe life into them, and help steer the campaign through their characters’ actions, your role is to keep the players (and yourself) interested and immersed in the world you’ve created, and to Let their characters do awesome things. Knowing what your players enjoy most about the D&D game helps you create and run adventures that they will enjoy and remember. Once you know which of the following activities each player in your group enjoys the most, you can tailor adventures that satisfy your players’ preferences as much as possible, thus keeping them engaged. Acting _ __ Players who enjoy acting like getting into character and speaking in their characters' voices, Rolcplayers at heart, they enjoy social interactions with NPCs. monsters, and their fellow party members. Engage players who tike acting by * giving them opportunities to develop their characters 1 personalities and backgrounds. * allowing them to interact regularly with NPCs. * adding roleplaying elements to combat encounters, * incorporating elements from their characters' back¬ grounds into your adventures. Exploring _ Players who desire exploration want to experience the wonders that a fantasy world has to offer. They want to know what's around the next corner or hill. They also like to find hidden clues and treasure. Engage players who like exploration by * dropping clues that hint at things yet to come. - letting them find things when they take the time to explore. - providing rich descriptions of exciting environments, and using interesting maps and props, * giving monsters secrets to uncover or cultural details to learn. Instigating _ Player’s who like to instigate action are eager to make things happen, even if that means taking perilous risks. They would rather rush headlong into danger and face the consequences than face boredom. Engage players who like to instigate by ... * allowing them to affect their surroundings. * including things in your adventures to tempt them. * letting their actions put the characters in a tight spot, * including encounters with NPCs who are as feisty and unpredictable as they are. Fighting Players who enjoy fantasy combat like kicking the tar out of villains and monsters. They look for any excuse lo start a fight, favoring bold action over careful deliberation. Engage players who like fighting by * springing unexpected combat encounters on them, * vividly describing the havoc their characters wreak with their attacks and spells. * including combat encounters with large numbers of weak monsters. * interrupting social interaction and exploration with combat. Opti mizing _ _ _ Players who enjoy optimizing their characters' capabilities like to fine-tune their characters for peak combat performance by gaining levels, new features, and magic items. They welcome any opportunity to demonstrate their characters' superiority. Engage players who like optimization by ,,, * ensuring steady access to new abilities and spells. * using desired magic items as adventure hooks. * including encounters that let their characters shine. * providing quantifiable rewards, like experience points, for noncombat encounters. Problem Solving Players who want to solve problems like to scrutinize NPC motivations, untangle a villain s machinations, solve puzzles, and come up with plans. Engage players who like to solve problems by ... * including encounters that emphasize problem-solving. * rewarding planning and tactics with in-game benefits. * occasionally allowing a smart plan to grant an easy win for the players. * creating NPCs with complex motives. Storytelling Players who love storytelling want to contribute to a narrative. They like it when their characters are heavily invested in an unfolding story, and they enjoy encounters that are, tied to and expand an overarching plot. Engage players who like storytelling by ... * using their characters’ backgrounds to help shape the stories of the campaign. * making sure an encounter advances the story in some way. * making their characters' actions help steer future events. * giving NPCs ideals, bonds, and flaws that the adven¬ turers can exploit. ===Chapte r 1: A World of Your Own === OUR WORLD IS T HE SETTING I OR YOUR CAMPAIGN, the place where adventures ha] j pen. Even if you use an existing setting, such as the Forgotten Realms, It becomes yours as you set your adventures there, create characters to inhabit it, and make changes to it over the course of your campaign. This chapter is all about building your world and then creating a campaign to take place in it. The Big Picture This book, the Players Handbook, and the Monster Manual present the default assumptions for how the worlds of D&D work. Among the established settings of D&D, the Forgotten Realms, Grey hawk. Dragon lance, and Mystara don’t stray very far from those assumptions. Settings such as Dark Sun, Eberron, Raven loft, Spelljammer, and Plane scape venture further away from that baseline. As you create your own world, its up to you to decide where on the spectrum you want your world to fall. ===Core Assumptions=== The rules of the game are based on the following core assumptions about the game world, Gods Oversee the World ♦ The gods are real and embody a variety of beliefs, with each god claiming dominion over an aspect of the world, such as war, forests, or the sea, Gods exert influence over the w T orld by granting divine magic to their followers and sending signs and portents to guide them. The follower of a god serves as an agent of that god in the world. The agent seeks to further the ideals of that god and defeat its rivals. While some folk might refuse to honor the gods, none can deny their existence. Much of the World Is Untamed, Wild regions abound. City-states, confederacies, and kingdoms of various sizes dot the landscape, but beyond their borders the wilds crowd in. People know r the area they live in w ell. They’ve heard stories of other places from merchants and travelers, but few know' what lies beyond the mountains or in the depths of the great forest unless they’ve been there themselves. The World Is Ancient. Empires rise and fal! t leaving few places that have not been touched by imperial grandeur or decay. War, time, and natural forces eventually claim the mortal world, leaving it rich with places of adventure and mystery. Ancient civilizations and their knowledge survive in legends, magic items, and their ruins. Chaos and evil often follow' an empire’s collapse. Conflict Shapes the World's History. Powerful individuals strive to make their mark on the world, and factions of like-minded individuals can alter the course of history. Factions include religions led by charismatic prophets, kingdoms ruled by lasting dynasties, and shadowy societies that seek to master long-lost magic. The influence of such factions waxes and wanes as they compete with each other for power. Some seek to preserve the world and usher in a golden age. Others strive toward evil ends, seeking to rule the world with an iron fist. Still others seek goals that range from the practical to the esoteric, such as the accumulation of material wealth or the resurrection of a dead god. Whatever their goals, these factions inevitably collide, creating conflict that can steer the world's fate. The World Is Magical Practitioners of magic are relatively few in number, but they leave evidence of their craft everywhere. The magic can be as innocuous and commonplace as a potion that heals wounds to something much more rare and impressive, such as a levitating tower or a stone golem guarding the gates of a city. Beyond the realms of civilization are caches of magic items guarded by magic traps, as well as magically constructed dungeons inhabited by monsters created by magic, cursed by magic, or endowed with magical abilities. ===It’s Your World === In creating your campaign world, it helps to start with the core assumptions and consider how your setting might change them. The subsequent sections of this chapter address each element and give details on how to flesh out your world with gods, factions, and so forth. The assumptions sketched out above aren’t carved in stone. They inspire exciting D&D worlds full of adventure, hut they’re not the only set of assumptions that can do so. You can build an interesting campaign concept by altering one or more of those core assumptions, just as well-established D&D worlds have done. Ask yourself, “What if the standard assumptions weren't true in my world?” The World Is a Mundane Place. What if magic is rare and dangerous, and even adventurers have limited or no access to it? What if your campaign is set in a version of our own world's history? The World Is New. What if your world is new, and the characters are the first of a long line of heroes? The adventurers might be champions of the first great empires, such as the empires of Nethenl and Cormanthor in the Forgotten Realms setting. The World Is Known. What if the world is completely charted and mapped, right down to the “Here there be dragons" notations? What if great empires cover huge stretches of countryside, with clearly defined borders between them? The Five Nations of the Eberron setting were once part of a great empire, and magically aided travel between its cities is commonplace. Monsters Are Uncommon. What if monsters are rare and terrifying? In the Ravenloft setting, horrific domains are governed by monstrous rulers. The populace lives in perpetual terror of these darklords and their evil minions, but other monsters rarely trouble people’s daily lives. Magic Is Everywhere. What if every town is ruled by a powerful wizard? What if magic item shops are common? The Eberron setting makes the use of magic an everyday occurrence, as magical flying ships and trains carry travelers from one great city to another. Gods Inhabit the Land, or Are Entirety Absent. What if the gods regularly walk the earth? What if the characters can challenge them and seize their power? Or what if the gods are remote, and even angels never make contact with mortals? In the Dark Sun setting, the gods are extremely distant—perhaps nonexistent—and clerics rely instead on elemental power for their magic. Gods of Your World Appendix B of the Players Handbook presents a number of pantheons (loose groupings of deities not united by a single doctrine or philosophy) for use in your game, including the gods of established D&D worlds and fantasy-historical pantheons. You can adopt one of these pantheons for your campaign, or pick and choose deities and ideas from them as you please. See “A Sample Pantheon h in this section for an example. As far as the game's rules are concerned, it doesn't matter if your world has hundreds of deities or a church devoted to a single god. In rules terms, clerics choose domains, not deities, so your world can associate domains w ith deities in any way you choose. Loose Pantheons _ Most D&D worlds have a loose pantheon of gods, A multitude of deities rule the various aspects of existence, variously cooperating with and competing against one another to administer the affairs of the universe. People gather in public shrines to worship gods of life and wisdom, or meet in hidden places to venerate gods of deception or destruction. Each deity in a pantheon has a portfolio and is responsible for advancing that portfolio. In the Grcyhawk setting, Beironeous is a god of valor who calls clerics and paladins to his service and encourages them to spread the ideals of honorable warfare, chivalry, and justice in society. Even in the midst of his everlasting war with his brother Hex tor, god of war and tyranny, Heironeous promotes his own portfolio: war fought nobly and in the cause of justice. People in most D&D worlds are polytheistic, honoring deities of their own and acknowledging pantheons of other cultures. Individuals pay homage to various gods, regardless of alignment. In the Forgotten Realms, a person might propitiate Umberlee before setting out to sea, join a communal feast to celebrate Chauntea at harvest time, and pray to Malar before going hunting. Some individuals feel a calling to a particular deity’s service and claim that god as a patron. Particularly devoted individuals become priests by setting up a shrine or helping to staff a holy site. Much more rarely, those who feel such a calling become clerics or paladins invested with the responsibility of true divine power. Shrines and temples serve as community gathering points for religious rites and festivals. Priests at such sites relate stories of the gods, teach the ethics of their patron deities, offer advice and blessings, perform religious rites, and provide training in activities their deities favor. Cities and large towns can host several temples dedicated to individual gods important to the community, while smaller settlements might have a single shrine devoted to any gods the locals revere. To quickly build a pantheon for your world, create a single god for each of the eight domains available to clerics: Death, Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Tempest, Trickery, and War. You can invent names and personalities for these deities, or borrow deities from other pantheons. This approach gives you a small pantheon that covers the most significant aspects of existence, and it’s easy enough to extrapolate other areas of life each deity controls. The god of Know ledge, Dawn War Deities Deity Alignment Suggested Domains Symbol Asmodeus, god of tyranny LE Tricke ry Three triangles in tight formation Avandra, goddess of change and luck CG Trickery Three stacked wavy lines Bahamut, god of justice and nobility LG Life, War Dragon’s head, in profile, facing left Bane, god of war and conquest LE War Claw with three talons pointing down Corellon, god of magic and the arts CG Light Eight-pointed star Erathis, goddess of civilization and invention IN Knowledge Upper half of a clockwork gear Gruumsh, god of destruction CE Tempest, War Triangular eye with bony protrusions loun, goddess of knowledge N Knowledge Crook shaped like a stylized eye Kord, god of strength and storms CN Tempest Sword with a lightning bolt cross guard Lolth, goddess of spiders and lies CE Trickery Eight-pointed star with a web motif Melora, goddess of wilderness and the sea N Nature, Tempest Wavelike swirl Moradin, god of creation LG Knowledge, War Flaming anvil Pelor, god of the sun and agriculture NG Life, Light Circle with six outwardly radiating points Raven Queen, goddess of death LN Life, Death Raven's head, in profile, facing left Sehanine, goddess of the moon CG Trickery Crescent moon Tharizdun, god of madness CE Trickery Jagged counter-clockwise spirai Tiamat, goddess of wealth, greed, and vengeance LE Trickery, War Five-pointed star with curved points Torog, god of the Underdark NE Death T attached to a circular shackle Vecna, god of evil secrets NE Death, Knowledge Partially shattered one-eyed skull Zehir, god of darkness and poison CE Trickery, Death Snake in the shape of a dagger for example* might also be patron of magic and prophecy, while the god of Light could be the sun god and the god of time* A Sample Pantheon The pantheon of the Dawn War is an example of a pantheon assembled from mostly preexisting elements to suit the needs of a particular campaign* This is the default pantheon in the fourth edition Players Handbook (2008), The pantheon is summarized in the Dawn War Deit ies table. This pantheon draws in several nonhuman deities and establishes them as universal gods* These gods include Bahamut, Corel Ion, Gruumsh, Lolth, Moradin. Sehanine, and Tiamat. Humans worship Moradin and Corellon as gods of their respective portfolios, rather than as racial deities* The pantheon also includes the archdevil Asmodeus as god of domination and tyranny. Several of the gods are drawn from other pantheons, sometimes with new names for the gods* Bane comes from the Forgotten Realms* From Greyhawk come Kord, Pelor* Tharizdun* and Vecna* From the Greek pantheon come Athena (renamed Erathis) and Tyche (renamed Avandra), though both are altered. Set (renamed Zehir) comes from Hie Egyptian pantheon. The Raven Queen is akin to the Norse pantheon's Hel and Grey hawk’s Weejas* That leaves three gods created from scratch: Ioun, Melora, and Torog, Other Reli gious Systems _ In your campaign, you can create pantheons of gods who are closely linked in a single religion, monotheistic religions (worship of a single deity), dualistic systems (centered on two opposing deities or forces), mystery cults (involving personal devotion to a single deity* usually as part of a pantheon system)* animistic religions (revering the spirits inherent in nature), or even forces and philosophies that don't center on deities. Tight Pantheons In contrast to a loose pantheon, a tight pantheon focuses on a single religion whose teachings and edicts embrace a small group of deities. Followers of a tight pantheon might favor one of its member deities over another* but they respect all the deities and honor them with sacrifices and prayer as appropriate. The key trait to a tight pantheon is that its worshipers embrace a single ethos or dogma that includes all the deities. The gods of the tight pantheon work as one to protect and guide their followers. You can think of a tight pantheon as similar to a family. One or two deities who lead the pantheon serve as parent figures, with the rest serving as patrons of important aspects of the culture that worships the pantheon. A single temple honors all members of the pantheon. Most tight pantheons have one or more aberrant gods—deities whose worship isn’t sanctioned by the priests of the pantheon as a whole. These are usually evil deities and enemies of the pantheon, such as the Greek Titans. These deities have cults of their own, attracting social outcasts and villains to their worship* These cults resemble mystery cults, their members strictly devoted to their single god, though even members of aberrant cults pay lip service in the temples of the tight pantheon. The Norse deities serve as an example of a tight pantheon, Odin is the pantheon's leader and father figure* Deities such as Thor, Tyr, and Freya embody important aspects of Norse culture. Meanwhile, Loki and his devotees lurk in the shadows* sometimes aiding the other deities, and sometimes working against them with the pantheon’s enemies. Mystery Cults A mystery cult is a secretive religious organization based on a ritual of initiation* in which the initiate is mystically identified with a god. or a handful of related gods. Mystery cults are intensely personal, concerned with the initiate s relationship with the divine. Sometimes a mystery cult is a type of worship within a pantheon. It acknowledges the myths and rituals of the pantheon, but presents its own myths and rites as primary. For instance, a secretive order of monks might immerse themselves in a mystical relationship to a god who is part of a broadly worshiped pantheon* A mystery cult emphasizes the history of its god, which is symbolically reenacted in its initiation ritual, fhe foundation myth of a mystery cult is usually simple and often involves a god s death and rising, or a journey to the underworld and a return. Mystery cults often revere sun and moon deities and agricultural deities— gods whose portfolios reflect the cycles of nature. Divine Rank The divine beings of the multiverse are often categorized according to their cosmic power. Some gods are worshiped on multiple worlds and have a different rank on each world, depending on their influence there* Greater deities are beyond mortal understanding. They can't be summoned, and they are almost always removed from direct involvement in mortal affairs. On very rare occasions they manifest avatars similar to lesser deities, but slaying a greater god’s avatar has no effect on the god itself Lesser deities are embodied somewhere in the planes. Some lesser deities live in the Material Plane, as does the unicorn-goddess Lurue of the Forgotten Realms and the titanic shark-god Sekolah revered by the sahuagin. Others live on the Outer Planes, as Lolth does in the Abyss. Such deities can be encountered by mortals. Quasi-deities have a divine origin, but they don't hear or answer prayers, grant spells to clerics, or control aspects of mortal life. They are still immensely powerful beings, and in theory they could ascend to god hood If they amassed enough worshipers. Quasi-deities fall into three subcategories: demigods, titans, and vestiges. Demigods are born from the union of a deity and a mortal being. They have some divine attributes, but their mortal parentage makes them the weakest quasi-deities. Titans are the divine creations of deities. They might be birthed from the union of two deities, manufactured on a divine forge, born from the blood spilled by a god, or otherwise brought about through divine will or substance. Vestiges are deities who have lost nearly all their worshipers and are considered dead, from a mortal perspective. Esoteric rituals can sometimes contact these beings and draw on their latent power. CHAPTER 1 A WORLD Ol YOUR OWN The cult’s ritual of initiation follows the pattern of its foundation myth. Neophytes retrace the god’s footsteps in order to share the god’s ultimate fate. In the case of dying and rising gods, the symbolic death of the initiate represents the idea of death to the old life and rebirth into a transformed existence. Initiates are born into a new life, remaining in the world of mortal affairs but feeling elevated to a higher sphere. The initiate is promised a place in the god’s realm after death, but also experiences new meaning in life. Monotheism Monotheistic religions revere only one deity, and in some cases, deny the existence of any other deity. If you introduce a monotheistic religion into your campaign, you need to decide whether other gods exist. Even if they don’t, other religions can exist side by side with the monotheistic religion. If these religions have clerics with spellcasting ability, their spells might be powered by the one true deity, by lesser spirits who aren’t deities (possibly including powerful aberrations, celestials, fey, fiends, or elementals), or simply by their faith. The deity of a monotheistic religion has an extensive portfolio and is portrayed as the creator of everything, in control of everything, and concerned with every aspect of existence. Thus, a worshiper of this god offers prayers and sacrifices to the same god regardless of what aspect of life is in need of divine assistance. Whether marching into war, setting off on a journey, or hoping to win someone’s affections, the worshiper prays to the same god. Some monotheistic religions describe different aspects of their deity. A single god appears in different aspects as the Creator and the Destroyer, and the clerics of that god focus on one aspect or the other, determining their domain access and possibly even their alignment on that basis. A cleric who venerates the Destroyer aspect chooses the Tempest or War domain, while one who worships a Creator aspect chooses the Life or Nature domains. In some monotheistic religions, clerics group themselves into distinct religious orders to differentiate clerics who choose different domains. Dualism A dualistic religion views the world as the stage for a conflict between two diametrically opposed deities or divine forces. Most often, the opposed forces are good and evil, or opposed deities representing those forces. In some pantheons, the forces or deities of law and chaos are the fundamental opposites in a dualistic system. Life and death, light and darkness, matter and spirit, body and mind, health and illness, purity and defilement, positive energy and negative energy—the D&D universe is full of polar opposites that could serve as the foundation for a dualistic religion. Whatever the terms in which the dualism is expressed, half of the pair is usually believed to be good—beneficial, desirable, or holy—while the other half is considered bad. if not explicitly evil. If the fundamental conflict in a religion is expressed as the opposition between matter and spirit, the followers of that religion believe that one of the two (usually matter) is evil and the other (spirit) is good, and so seek to liberate their spirits from this material world and its evils through asceticism and contemplation. Rare dualistic systems believe that the two opposing forces must remain in balance, always pulling away from each other but remaining bound together in creative tension. In a cosmology defined by an eternal conflict between good and evil, mortals are expected to take sides. The majority of those who follow a dualistic religion worship the deity or force identified as good. Worshipers of the good deity trust themselves to that god’s power to protect them from the evil deity’s minions. Because the evil deity in such a religion is usually the source of everything that is detrimental to existence, only the perverse and depraved worship this god. Monsters and fiends serve it, as do certain secretive cults. The myths of a dualistic religion usually predict that the good deity will triumph in an apocalyptic battle, but the forces of evil believe that the outcome of that battle isn't predetermined and work to promote their deity’s victory. Deities in a dualistic system maintain large portfolios. All aspects of existence reflect the dualistic struggle, and therefore all things can fall on one side or the other of the conflict. Agriculture, mercy, the sky, medicine, and poetry reside in the portfolio of the good deity, and famine, hatred, disease, and war belong to the evil deity. Animism Animism is the belief that spirits inhabit every part of the natural world. In an animistic worldview, everything has a spirit, from the grandest mountain to the lowliest rock, from the great ocean to a babbling brook, from the sun and moon to a fighter’s ancestral sword. All these objects, and the spirits that inhabit them, are sentient, though some are more aware, alert, and intelligent than others. The most powerful spirits might even be considered deities. All are worthy of respect if not veneration. Animists don’t typically pay allegiance to one spirit over the others. Instead, they offer prayers and sacrifices to different spirits at different times, as appropriate to the situation. A pious character might make daily prayers and offerings to ancestor spirits and the spirits of the house, regular petitions to important spirits such as the Seven Fortunes of Good Luck, occasional sacrifices of incense to location spirits such as the spirit of a forest, and sporadic prayers to a host of other spirits as well. An animistic religion very tolerant. Most spirits don’t care to whom a character also offers sacrifices, as long as they receive the sacrifices and respect they are due. As new religions spread through animist lands, those religions typically win adherents but not converts. People incorporate new spirits and deities into their prayers without displacing the old ones. Contemplatives and scholars adopt complex philosophical systems and practices without changing their belief in and respect for the spirits they already venerate. Animism functions as a large tight pantheon. Animist clerics serve the pantheon as a whole, and so can choose any domain, representing a favorite spirit for that cleric. CHAPTER 1 A WORLD OF YOUR OWN Humanoids and the Gods Forces and Philosophies Not all divine powers need to be derived from deities. In some campaigns, believers hold enough conviction in their ideas about the universe that they gain magical power from that conviction. In other campaigns, impersonal forces of nature or magic replace the gods by granting power to mortals attuned to them. Just as druids and rangers can gain their spell ability from the force of nature rather than from a specific nature deity, some clerics devote themselves to ideals rather than to a god. Paladins might serve a philosophy of justice and chivalry rather than a specific deity. Forces and philosophies aren’t worshiped; they aren't beings that can hear and respond to prayers or accept sacrifices. Devotion to a philosophy or a force isn’t necessarily exclusive of service to a deity. A person can be devoted to the philosophy of good and offer worship to various good deities, or revere the force of nature and also pay homage to the gods of nature, who might be seen as personal manifestations of an impersonal force. In a world that includes deities with demonstrable power (through their clerics), it’s unusual for a philosophy to deny the existence of deities, although a common philosophical belief states that the deities are more like mortals than they would have mortals believe. According to such philosophies, the gods aren't truly immortal (just very long-lived), and mortals can attain divinity. In fact, ascending to god hood is the ultimate goal of some philosophies. The power of a philosophy stems from the belief that mortals invest in it, A philosophy that only one person believes in isn't strong enough to bestow magical power on that person. When it comes to the gods, humans exhibit a far wider range of beliefs and institutions than other races do. In many D&D settings, ores, elves, dwarves, goblins, and other humanoids have tight pantheons. It is expected that an ore will worship Gruumsh or one of a handful of subordinate deities. In comparison, humanity embraces a staggering variety of deities. Each human culture might have its own array of gods. In most D&D settings, there is no single god that can claim to have created humanity. Thus, the human proclivity for building institutions extends to religion, A single charismatic prophet can convert an entire kingdom to the worship of a new god. With that prophet's death, the religion might wax or wane, or the prophet's followers might turn against one another and found several competing religions. In comparison, religion in dwarven society is set in stone. The dwarves of the Forgotten Realms identify Moradin as their creator. While individual dwarves might follow' other gods, as a culture the dwarves are pledged to Moradin and the pantheon he leads. His teachings and magic are so thoroughly ingrained in dwarven culture that it would take a cataclysmic shift to replace him. With that in mind, consider the role of the gods in your world and their ties to different humanoid races. Does each race have a creator god? How does that god shape that race's culture? Are other folk free of such divine ties and free to worship as they w ish? Has a race turned against the god that created it? Has a new race appeared, created by a god within the past few years? A deity might also have ties to a kingdom, noble line, or other cultural institution. With the death of the emperor, a new ruler might be selected by divine portents sent by the deity who protected the empire in its earliest days. In such a land, the worship of other gods might be outlawed or tightly controlled. Finally, consider the difference between gods who are tied to specific humanoid races and gods with more diverse followers. Do the races with their own pantheons enjoy a place of privilege in your world, with their gods taking an active role in their affairs? Are the other races ignored by the gods, or are those races the deciding factor that can tilt the balance of power in favor of one god or another? ===Maps=== When creating the world where your campaign takes place, you'll want a map. You can take one of two approaches with it: top-down or bottom-up. Some DMs like to start at the top, creating the big picture of the world at the start of the campaign by having a map that shows whole continents, and then zooming in on smaller areas. Other DMs prefer to go the opposite direction, starting with a small campaign area that is mapped at a province or kingdom scale, then zooming out as adventures take the characters into new territory* Whichever approach you take, hexes work well for mapping outdoor environments where travel can go in any direction and calculating distance might be important. A single sheet of hex paper with 5 hexes to the inch is ideal for most maps. Use a scale for your map that's best suited to the level of detail you want* Chapter 7 offers more information about creating and mapping wilderness areas. On a kingdom-scale map, each hex represents 6 miles* A map at this scale covers a large region, about the size of Great Britain or half the size of the state of California. That's plenty of room for adventuring. The first step of mapping a region at this scale is to sketch out the coastlines and any major bodies of water in the area. Is the region landlocked or on a coast? A coastal region might include islands offshore, and a landlocked area might include an inland sea or major lakes. Alternatively, the region could consist of a single large island, or an isthmus or peninsula w ith multiple coastlines. Next, sketch in any major mountain ranges* Foothills form a transition between the mountains and lowlands* and broad patches of gentle hills might dot the region. That leaves the rest of your map for relatively flat terrain: grasslands, forests, swamps, and the like* Place these elements as you see fit. Map out the courses of any rivers that flow through the area. Rivers are born in mountains or inland areas that see a lot of rainfall, winding down to the nearest major body of water that doesn't require the river to cross over higher elevation. Tributaries join rivers as they grow larger and move toward a lake or the sea* finally, place the major towns and cities of the region. At this scale, you don’t need to worry about small towns and villages, or about mapping every belt of farmland. Even so, a settled region this size might easily have eight to t welve cities or towns to put on the map* Continent Scale Province Scale __ For the most detailed areas of your world, use a province scale where each hex represents 1 mile. A full-page map at this scale represents an area that can be covered in one day s travel in any direction from the center of the map, assuming dear terrain. As such, province scale is a useful scale for mapping a campaign's starting area (see "Creating a Campaign/' later in this chapter) or any location where you expect to track the adventurers' movement in hours rather than days* The ground cover of an area this size will include broad stretches of one predominant terrain type, broken up by other isolated terrain types. A settled region mapped at this scale might have one town and eight to twelve villages or farming hamlets, A wilder region might have only a single keep, or no settlements at all* You can also indicate the extent of the cleared farmland that surrounds each city or town* On a province-scale map, this will show as a belt a few hexes wide surrounding each town or village. Even small villages farm most of the arable land within a mile or two. For mapping a whole continent, use a scale where 1 hex represents 60 miles* At this scale, you can t see more than the shape of coastlines, the biggest mountain ranges, major rivers, huge lakes, and political boundaries. A map at this scale is best for showing how multiple kingdom-scale maps fit together* rather than tracking the movement of adventurers day by day* The same process you use for mapping a region at kingdom scale works for mapping a whole continent, A continent might have eight to twelve large cities that deserve a place on the map, most likely major trade centers and the capitals of kingdoms. Combining Scales Whichever scale you start with, it's easy to zoom in or out on your maps. At continent scale. I hex represents the same area as 10 kingdom-scale hexes. Two cities that are 3 hexes (180 miles) apart on your continent map would be 30 hexes apart on your kingdom map, and might define the opposite ends of the region you’re detailing* At kingdom scale, 1 hex equals 6 province- scale hexes, so it’s easy to put the region covered by your province-scale map into the center of a kingdom-scale map and create interesting areas around it. Settlements The places where people live-hustling cities, prosperous towns, and tiny villages nestled among miles of farmland—help define the nature of civilization in your world* A single settlement—a home base for your adventurers—is a great place to start a campaign and begin your world building. Consider the following questions as you create any settlement in your world: * What purpose does it serve in your game? « How big is it? Who lives there? * What does it look, smell, and sound like? * Who governs it? Who else holds power? Is it part of a larger state? - What arc its defenses? - Where do characters go to find the goods and services they need? * What temples and other organizations feature prominently? * What fantastic elements distinguish it from an ordinary town? * Why should the characters care about the settlement? The guidelines in this section are here to help you build the settlement you want for whatever purpose you have in mind. Disregard any advice here that runs counter to your vision for a settlement. Purpose A settlement exists primarily to facilitate the story and fun of your campaign. Other than that point, the settlement's purpose determines the amount of detail you put into it. Create only the features of a settlement that you know youTl need, along with notes on general features. Then allow the place to grow organically as the adventurers interact with more and more of it, keeping notes on new places you invent. Local Color A settlement might serve as a place where the characters stop to rest and to buy supplies. A settlement of this sort needs no more than a brief description. Include the settlement's name, decide how big it is, add a dash of flavor (“The smell of the local tanneries never lifts from this town 1 *), and let the adventurers get on with their business. The history of the inn where the characters spend the night, the mannerisms of the shopkeeper they buy supplies from—you can add this level of detail but you dont have to. If the characters return to the same settlement, start adding these local features so that it begins to fee! a little more like a home base, albeit a temporary one. Let the settlement develop as the need arises. Home Base A settlement gives the adventurers a place to live, train, and recuperate between adventures. An entire campaign can center on a particular town or city. Such a settlement is the launching pad from which the characters go out into the wider world. Designed well a home base can hold a special place in the adventurers' hearts, particularly if they care about one or more NPCs who live there. To make a home base come alive, yoiill need to invest some time fleshing out details, but the players can help you with that work. Ask them to tell you a bit about mentors, family members, and other important people in their characters lives. Feel free to add to and modify what they give you, but you'll start with a solid foundation of the nonplayer characters (MFCs) who are important to the characters. Let the players describe where and how their characters spend their time—a favorite tavern, library, or temple, perhaps. Using these MFCs and locations as a starting point, flesh out the settlement s cast of characters. Detail its leadership, including law enforcement (discussed later in the chapter). Include characters who can provide information, such as sages, soothsayers, librarians, and observant vagabonds. Priests can provide spellcasting as well as information. Make note of merchants who might regularly interact with the adventurers and perhaps compete with one another for the party’s business. Think about the people who run the adventurers' favorite tavern. And then add a handful of wild cards; a shady dealer, a mad prophet, a retired mercenary, a drunken rake, or anyone else who adds a dash of adventure and intrigue to your campaign. Adventure Site A village harboring a secret cult of devil worshipers. A town controlled by a guild of wererats, A city conquered by a hobgoblin army. These settlements aren't merely rest stops but locations where adventures unfold. In a settlement that doubles as an adventure location, detail the intended adventure areas, such as towers and warehouses. For an event-based adventure, note the NFCs who play a part in the adventure. This work is adventure preparation as much as it is world building, and the cast of characters you develop for your adventure—including allies, patrons, enemies, and extras—can become recurring figures in your campaign. Size Most settlements in a D&D world are villages clustered around a larger town or city. Farming villages supply the town or city population with food in exchange for goods the farmers can't produce themselves. Towns and cities are the seats of the nobles who govern the surrounding area, and who carry the responsibility for defending the villages from attack. Occasionally, a local lord or lady lives in a keep or fortress with no nearby town or city. Village Population: Up to about LOGO Government: A noble (usually not a resident) rules the village, with an appointed agent (a reeve) in residence to adjudicate disputes and collect taxes. Defense: The reeve might have a small force of soldiers. Otherwise, the village relies on a citizen militia. Commerce: Basic supplies are readily available, possibly from an inn or a trading post. Other goods are available from traveling merchants. Organizations: A village might contain one or two temples or shrines, but few or no other organizations. Most settlements are agricultural villages, supporting hemselves and nearby towns or cities with crops and meat. Villagers produce food in one way or another— if : t by tending the crops, then supporting those who do by shoeing horses, weaving clothes, milling grain, and :he like. The goods they produce feed their families and s j pp 1 y trad e w i t h ne a rby se111 e men ts. A village’s population is dispersed around a large area f land. Farmers live on their land, which spreads them widely around the village center. At the heart of the village, a handful of structures duster together: a well, a marketplace, a small temple or two, a gathering place, and perhaps an inn for travelers. Town Population: Up to about 6.000 Government; A resident noble rules and appoints a lord mayor to oversee administration. An elected town council represents the interests of the middle class. Defense: The noble commands a sizable army of professional soldiers, as well as personal bodyguards. Commerce: Basic supplies are readily available, though exotic goods and services are harder to find. Inns and taverns support travelers. Organizations: The town contains several temples, as well as various merchant guilds and other organizations. Towns are major trade centers, situated where important industries and reliable trade routes enabled the population to grow. These settlements rely on commerce: the import of raw materials and food from surrounding villages, and the export of crafted items to those villages, ns well as to other towns and cities. A towns population is more diverse than that of most villages. Towns arise where roads intersect waterways, at the meeting of major land trade routes, around strategic defensive locations, or near significant mines or similar natural resources. City Population: Up to about 25,000 Government: A resident noble presides, with several other nobles sharing responsibility for surrounding areas and government functions. One such noble is the lord mayor, who oversees the city administration. An elected city council represents the middle class and might hold more actual power than the lord mayor. Other groups serve as important power centers as well. Defense: The city supports an army of professional soldiers, guards, and town watch. Each noble in residence maintains a small force of personal bodyguards. Commerce: Almost any goods or services are readily available. Many inns and taverns support travelers. Organizations: A multitude of temples, guilds, and other organizations, some of which hold significant power in city affairs, can be found within the city's walls. Tines are cradles of civilization. Their larger populations require considerable support from both surrounding villages and trade routes, so they’re rare. Cities typically thrive in areas where large expanses of fertile, arable land surround a location accessible to trade, almost always on a navigable waterway. Cities almost always have walls, and the stages of a city's growth are easily identified by the expansion of the walls beyond the central core. These internal walls naturally divide the city into wards (neighborhoods defined by specific features), which have their own representatives on the city council and their own noble administrators. Cities that hold more than twenty-five thousand people are extremely rare. Metropolises such as Waterdeep in the Forgotten Realms. Sham in Eberron, and the Free City of Grey hawk stand as vital beacons of civilization in the D&D worlds. Atmosphere What do the adventurers first notice as they approach or enter a settlement? The towering wall bristling with soldiers? The beggars with hands outstretched, pleading for aid outside the gate? The noisy hubbub of merchants and buyers thronging the marker square? The overpowering stench of manure? Sensory details help bring a settlement to life and vividly communicate its personality to your players. Settle on a single defining factor that sums up a settlement’s personality and extrapolate from there. Maybe a city is built around canals, like real-world Venice, That key element suggests a wealth of sensory details: the sight of colorful boats floating on muddy waters, the sound of lapping waves and perhaps singing gondoliers, the smells offish and waste polluting the water, the feel of humidity. Or perhaps the city is shrouded in fog much of the time, and you describe the tendrils of cold mist reaching through every crack and cranny, the muffled sounds of hooves on cobblestones, the cold air with the smell of rain, and a sense of mystery and lurking danger. The climate and terrain of a settlement's environment, its origin and inhabitants, its government and political position, and its commercial importance all have a bearing on its overall atmosphere. A city nestled against the edge of a jungle has a very different feel than one on the edge of a desert. Elf and dwarf cities present a distinct aesthetic, clearly identifiable in contrast to human-built ones. Soldiers patrol the streets to quell any hint of dissent in a city ruled by a tyrant, while a city fostering an early system of democracy might boast an open-air market where philosophical ideas are traded as freely as produce. All the possible combinations of these factors can inspire endless variety in the settlements of your campaign world. Government _ In the feudal society common in most D&D worlds, power and authority are concentrated in towns and cities. Nobles hold authority over the settlements where they live and the surrounding lands. They collect taxes from the populace, which they use for public building projects, to pay the soldiery, and to support a comfortable lifestyle for themselves (although nobles often have considerable hereditary wealth)* In exchange, they promise to protect their citizens from threats such as ore marauders, hobgoblin armies* and roving human bandits. Nobles appoint officers as their agents in villages, to supervise the collection of taxes and serve as judges in disputes and criminal trials. These reeves, sheriffs, or bailiffs are commoners native to the villages they govern, chosen for their positions because they already hold the respect of their fellow citizens. Within towns and cities, lords share authority and administrative responsibility with lesser nobles (usually their own relatives), and also with representatives of the middle class, such as traders and artisans. A lord mayor of noble birth is appointed to head the town or city council and to perform the same administrative functions that reeves carry out in villages. The council consists of representatives elected by the middle class. Only foolish nobles ignore the wishes of their councils, since the economic power of the middle class is often more important to the prosperity of a town or city than the hereditary authority of the nobility. The larger a settlement, the more likely that other individuals or organizations hold significant power there as well. Even in a village, a popular individual—a wise elder or a well-liked farmer—can wield more influence than the appointed reeve, and a wise reeve avoids making an enemy of such a person. In towns and cities, the same power might lie in the hands of a prominent temple, a guild independent of the council, or an individual with magical power. Forms of Government A settlement rarely stands alone. A given town or city might be a theocratic city-state or a prosperous free city governed by a merchant council. More likely, it s part of a feudal kingdom, a bureaucratic empire, or a remote realm ruled by an iron-fisted tyrant. Consider how your settlement fits into the bigger picture of your w r or]d or region—who rules its ruler, and what other settlements might also lie under its control. Forms of Government dlOO Government dlOO Government 01-08 Autocracy 59-64 Militocracy 09-13 Bureaucracy 65-74 Monarchy 14-19 Confederacy 75-78 Oligarchy 20-22 Democracy 79-80 Patriarchy 23-27 Dictatorship 81-83 Meritocracy 28-42 Feudalism 84-85 Plutocracy 43-44 Gerontocracy 86-92 Kepubhc 45-53 Hierarchy 93-94 Satrapy 54-56 Magocracy 95 Kleptocracy 57-58 Matriarchy 96-00 Theocracy Typical and fantastical forms of government are described below. Choose one or randomly determine a form of government for a nation or city from the Forms of Government table. Autocracy, One hereditary ruler wields absolute power* f he autocrat either is supported by a well- developed bureaucracy or military or stands as the only authority in an otherwise anarchic society. The dynastic ruler could be immortal or undead* Aundair and Karrnath, two kingdoms in the Eberron campaign setting, have autocrats with royal blood in their veins* Whereas Queen Aurala of Aundair relies on wizards and spies to enforce her will, Kaius, the vampire king of Karrnath, has a formidable army of living and undead soldiers under his command. Bureaucracy, Various departments compose the government, each responsible for an aspect of rule* The department heads, ministers* or secretaries answer to a figurehead autocrat or council. Confederacy. Each individual city or town within the confederacy governs itself, but all contribute to a league or federation that promotes (at least in theory) the common good of all member states. Conditions and attitudes toward the central government vary from place to place within the confederacy. The Lords' Alliance in the Forgotten Realms setting is a loose confederacy of cities, while the Mror Holds in the Eberron campaign setting is a confederacy of allied dwarf clans. Democracy. Citizens or their elected representatives determine the laws in a democracy, A bureaucracy or military carries out the day-to-day work of government, with positions filled through open elections. Dictatorship. One supreme ruler holds absolute authority, but his or her rule isn't necessarily dynastic. In other respects this resembles an autocracy* In the Grey hawk campaign setting, a half-demon named Iuz is the dictator of a conquered land that bears his name. Feudalism. The typical government of Europe in the Middle Ages, a feudal!Stic society consists of layers of lords and vassals. The vassals provide soldiers or scutage (payment in lieu of military service) to the lords, who in turn promise protection to their vassals. Gerontocracy. Elders preside over this society. In some cases, long-lived races such as elves or dragons are entrusted with the leadership of the land. Hierarchy, A feudal or bureaucratic government where every member, except one, is subordinate to another member. In the Dragon la nee campaign setting, the dragonarmies of Krynn Form a military hierarchy, with the Dragon High lords as leaders under the dragon queen Takhists. Kleptocracy, This government is composed of groups or individuals primarily seeking wealth for themselves, often at the expense of their subjects. The grasping Bandit Kingdoms in the Grey hawk campaign setting are prime examples* A kingdom run by thieves guilds would also fall into this category. Magocracy, The governing body is composed of spellcasters who rule directly as oligarchs or feudal lords, or participate in a democracy or bureaucracy. Examples include the Red Wizards of Thay in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting and the sorcerer- kings of Athas in the Dark Sun campaign setting. Matriarchy or Patriarchy. This society is governed by the eldest or most important members of one gender* Drow cities arc examples of theocratic matriarchies, for each is ruled by a council of drow high priestesses who answer to Lo!th, the Demon Queen of Spiders, Meritocracy* The most intelligent and educated people oversee the society, often w ith a bureaucracy 10 handle the day-to-day work of government. In the Forgotten Realms, scholarly monks preside over the fortress-library of Candlekeep, overseen by a master of lore called the Keeper, Militocraey* Military leaders run the nation under martial law', using the army and other armed forces, A militocraey might be based on an elite group of soldiers, an order of dragon riders, or a league of sea princes. Solamnia, a nation ruled by knights in the Dragon lance campaign setting, falls into this category. Monarchy . A single hereditary sovereign wears the town. Unlike the autocrat, the monarch’s powers are limited by law, and the ruler serves as the head of a democracy, feudal state, or militocraey. The kingdom l Breland, in the Eberron campaign setting, has both a parliament that makes laws and a monarch who enforces them. Oligarchy ; A small number of absolute rulers share power, possibly dividing the land into districts or provinces under their control, or jointly ruling together. A group of adventurers who take control of a nation together might form an oligarchy. The Free City of reyhawk is an oligarchy composed of various faction f-aders, with a Lord Mayor as its figurehead. Plutocracy ; Society is governed by the wealthy. The [ i te form a r u 1 i n g cou nc 11. pu rob a s e re prese n t at ton a t he court of a figurehead monarch, or rule by default "cause money is the true power in the realm. Many c ities in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, including Waterdeep and Baldurs Gate, are plutocracies. Republic . Government is entrusted to representatives if an established electorate who rule on behalf of the electors. Any democracy in which only landowners or ertain classes can vote could be considered a republic. Satrapy . Conquerors and representatives of another government wield power, ruling the settlement or region