Crafting
Players may craft magic items using the 2024 DMG rules p. 220, with the following additions:
- Proficiency: As stated, you must have proficiency in the appropriate tool and Arcana to craft an item. Medicine, Nature, Religion, or Survival may be substituted for Arcana when crafting items thematically appropriate to that Skill. For example, Survival might be used to craft a Potion of Water Breathing, while Medicine may be used to craft a Periapt of Health. Players should clear these substitutions with the DM before proceeding. Especially high skill levels, including Expertise, may confer additional minor properties to items.
- Reagent: You must have an appropriate magical reagent for the enchantment you wish to imbue. The heart of a fire elemental might be required to make a flametongue weapon, while a vial of troll’s blood might be needed to craft a Ring of Regeneration. The type of reagent needed will often not be available directly for purchase, and crafting uncommon or rarer items may require a side quest in and of themselves; however, finding a high-quality reagent might also count towards the overall GP cost of crafting the item.
- Spell: To enchant a spell into an item, you must have access to that spell. This may include an ally with access to that spell that aids you throughout the entire crafting process.
- Substrate: To craft a magical item, one must have some sort of mundane item to enchant. A magical sword requires you to first have a sword worth enchanting, while a flying carpet requires you to have said carpet available. Particularly appropriate or high-quality substrates might count towards the overall GP cost of an item.
- Workshop: To craft an item, you must have access to a workshop with the appropriate tools capable of crafting it. While Common items may be crafted in the field with basic artisans’ tools, uncommon or rarer items require a dedicated space for you to be able to craft them. Workshops in the campaign each have a Tool proficiency associated with them and a Rarity rating, indicating the types of items and relative Rarity that characters may create there. For example, a Rare smithy may be used to craft Common, Uncommon, or Rare metal weapons and armor, but not Very Rare. Seeking out a more powerful workshop to borrow, rent, or capture, or the tools needed to upgrade one’s own personal workshop, may constitute a side quest in and of itself. Particularly high-quality workshops may imbue additional benefits or minor properties upon items crafted there, or further ease the crafting process.
Development Writing
Players may write short stories, backgrounds, downtime activities, NPC profiles, gazetteer entries to enrich the world and their character’s role in it. Development writing should focus away from current events and missions, and should avoid providing direct resolutions to quests and conflicts PC’s are actively pursuing.
Each week, any player that posted development writings may choose one of the following rewards reflected by their story:
- Gold: Gain Character Level x 1d6 GP, gained during the next downtime.
- Quest: Put a quest on the Quest Log with an objective of your choosing.
- NPC: Create an NPC ally, servant, Bastion staff, enemy, contact, etc. that someone might need to interact with.
- Location: Create a location on or off Quinternia that someone might need to visit.
- Vendor: Create an in-game vendor that specializes in buying and selling of specific items.
- Bastion Action: Have your Bastion take an action (you may take this option in addition to one other option on this list.
Death In the Planes
The Planes are dangerous. Even those that think themselves ready can take a wrong turn, dive through the wrong portal, and quickly find themselves in over their heads. Whatever you’re after, it’s valuable, and others know it as well. Adventurers that don’t know when to fight versus flee could quickly find themselves dead.
In the Planescape, however, Death is not always, or even usually, the end, and those that wander the planes know this. Someone with good reason to return and good friends to make it happen might just do so, so long as their soul is free to return.
Out-of-Character: Characters are more powerful in 2024, but the monsters may be even more so. Not every encounter will scale with the party. As the DM, I will plan encounters and story hooks appropriate to level, but if you go to Ba’ator to pick a fight with a Lord of the Nine, that’s exactly what you’ll get. In addition, some random encounters may not be beatable in a straight up fight, and may require finesse or flight. I will do my best to telegraph when your characters could be in over their heads, but Death is a part of the game. At the same time, characters might have access to no less than four spells that can bring someone back from the dead, and travelers of the planes might just be able to find out where a friend’s soul ended up.
Dying
A dying character, when dramatically appropriate, may briefly retain consciousness, allowing them to observe their surroundings, say a few parting words, or utter a brief cry for help. They still retain all the other effects of the Unconscious condition. This may last until a few moments after the end of an encounter; however, if they’ve failed their final death save, their body is too far gone for any amount of healing to prevent their demise; their soul just doesn’t know it yet.
Blaze of Glory
A character that begins their turn Dying may choose to ignore the Unconscious condition and take their turn. They may not recover any HP. At the end of their turn, they die.
Resurrection
Spells that resurrect a being work as written, with the following exceptions:
- A soul that is explicitly owned by another entity, as with a divine oath or infernal contract, cannot be resurrected. Any attempt to do so fails, consuming the spell slot but not the material components.
- An unwilling soul may make a Wisdom saving throw to avoid resurrection. On a success, the spell fails, and the spell slot is consumed but not the material components.
- An individual that has been dead for more than an hour must be called back. During the casting of the spell to resurrect it, the caster must make a Religion check, DC 10. On a success, the target is resurrected as normal. On a failure, the spell fails, the spell slot is consumed (but not any material components), and the DC to resurrect them permanently increases by 1. Additional participants in the ritual that knew the individual may make additional skill checks while participating at the DM’s discretion; success lowers the DC of this role by 2; success increases it by 1. Each time a target is successfully resurrected, the base DC to resurrect them in the future permanently increases by 1.
- True Resurrection or Wish bypass all of these restrictions, unless their soul is truly destroyed or in the possession of a deity.