And, like all other games, you get to build and develop these characters by leveling them up, equipping the best gears, and through promotion.The idea of running a business and making extra money during downtime is pretty appealing. Shimenawa’s Reminiscence is a self-serving set that doesn’t fit too well on a Sub-DPS, but if you’re looking to maximize Aloy’s own Normal Attack DMG, it works perfectly.Anyway, instead of doing something ridiculous, like review an entire book, I’d like to focus on one specific element I found interesting, the rules for running a business during your downtime!All these Disney Arena characters have unqiue skill abilities that make them different from each other. This effect has a maximum of 5 stacks and will not be reset if the character leaves the field, but will be reduced by 1 stack when the character takes DMG.The four-piece bonus for this set drains 15 Energy from a character when they cast an Elemental Skill but boosts Normal Attack DMG by 50. Some suggested ideas include things like a limp, a funny hat, a tattoo, or bad breath.The D&D Dungeon Masters Guide is out now, and it’s a very cool resource filled with lots of new rules for treasure, magic items, world building, new downtime activities, and optional rules! Also, my name is in the play-tester credits, so that’s pretty fun :).Every 4s a character is on the field, they will deal 6 more DMG and take 3 more DMG. The DMG suggests that DMs give each NPC some kind of quirk a personality trait or something visually unique that will make them more memorable. Today the Q is for Quirk as we look at ways to make characters more memorable and interesting.Your upkeep can range from 5SP a day for a farm to 10GP a day for a trading post. Running a big business is less profitable than running a small business: If you look at the table for running a business, you’ll see that lower results penalize you by forcing you to pay some percentage of your upkeep every day you spent running a business. Conversely, if it doesn’t really make you any money, why even bother? Sure, running an Inn sounds cool, but if it’s not profitable, maybe you’re better off spending your character’s time elsewhere.The folks at Wizards of the Coast gave running a business a decent shot that may work for casual play, but unfortunately it suffers from a few serious flaws when you dig into it: You probably don’t want it to be TOO profitable, or else your PCs will be scratching their heads, wondering why they ever go on adventures. For example, maybe some mysterious cloaked figures show up at your Inn, clearly wounded and seeking shelter for the night, OR maybe a group of bumbling first level adventures meet up for the first time, planning a raid on a dragon lair that will surely result in their deaths!However, running a business is a tricky mechanic to get right.So on the surface, running a business for 30 days seems like it gives you a big advantage. If you spend one day running a business, you get a +1% to your roll, where as if you spend 30 days running a business, you get a +30% to your roll. You make more money per day if you run a business for one day compared to 30 days: You get a bonus to your roll for every day you spend running a business. So a small farm makes the same profit as a large inn, but since the large inn has an upkeep that is 20 times larger, you’ll end up making a lot less money overall since it will hurt a lot more when you roll poorly and need to pay that upkeep. This profit is in the same range no matter the size of your business. What is pretty counter-intuitive, however, is that if you roll higher on the table, you roll a set amount of dice to determine your profit.
If you run that same Inn for 30 days, you should expect to make about 26GP on average. For example, if you spend one day running an Inn, you should expect to make about 13GP on average. Sure, you make more money, but not enough to justify all the extra time spent. In such a campaign, the PC would spend 10GP on upkeep for every day spent adventuring and would make about 13GP for every day spent running their Inn. That doesn’t seem too unusual. Imagine a campaign where the PCs spend half their time in downtime and half their time traveling and going on adventures. The property still needs to be maintained, and you’re going to need staff to keep everything running, but having this requirement means that for most campaigns, owning a business is a money losing proposition. You pay upkeep on your business while you are away: On the surface, this isn’t too surprising. Is bootcamp for mac any goodSuddenly, the PC is losing A LOT of money running that Inn. Now, they are only spending 1 day out of every 4 in downtime. Now, imagine a campaign where the DM is constantly putting challenges in front of the PCs, forcing them to adventure frequently and travel across the world fighting evil. This effect is cumulative, so if you fail to pay your upkeep two times, you take a -20 on the roll, and so on. As per normal rules, if you roll poorly and are required to pay upkeep but elect not to do so, subsequent rolls take a -10 penalty until you pay your debt. If you only spend a few days running the business during the week, you get a +1% bonus for every day you spent running the business (so it’s much more efficient to dedicate an entire week). If you spend a week of downtime running your business, you get a +10 bonus on your roll that week. Replace the 61-80, 81-90 and 91+ results with the following:61-80: You cover your upkeep and make 100% of your upkeep each day in profits (since businesses make a roll every week, you are multiplying your upkeep times 7).81-90: You cover your upkeep and make 200% of your upkeep each day in profits.91+: You cover your upkeep and make 300% of your upkeep each day in profits. Alternatively, if an important rival is eliminated or a lucrative trade deal is established, the DM may grant a +5 or +10 bonus to rolls as long as that bonus remains in effect (which could be indefinitely).If you crunch the numbers on these house rules, you’ll find that, absent any other factors, all businesses are profitable even without direct management. Or maybe a plague hits the town, and so the DM gives a -10 penalty. For example, perhaps one week there is an important festival in the town, and so the DM grants a +10 bonus. The DM may grant other temporary or permanent bonuses or penalties to these rolls as makes sense for the story. As long as the manors and castles the PCs build or acquire come with the lands and rights to taxation appropriate to their station, you can factor in their upkeep and treat them like running any other business. In D&D terms, this may seem rather slow, but hey, there is SOME prestige to owning your own Inn or Trade-post, and you can always sell the property at a later date to get your money back (assuming you can find a buyer).These rules can also be applied to running a barony or even an entire kingdom. A single -10 modifier from an unpaid debt or unfortunate turn of events (perhaps goblins are attacking nearby trade routes) will turn a marginally profitable business into an unprofitable one, so PCs must remain vigilant to protect against any threats that arise through the course of play (or the DM’s whim).If PCs are buying their businesses outright instead of, say, inheriting an Inn, they’ll find that absent direct management, they’ll recoup their investment within 4-5 years, which feels about right and isn’t too far from what you’d expect running a 7-11 in the real world! If they run the business non-stop or secure bonuses in other ways (such as lucrative trade deals), they can easily cut this time in half. Of course, one wrong turn can send a business spiraling into the red. I’d love to hear how it works for you, dear reader!Gygax rationalized ridiculous equipment costs by describing the town near the dungeon as a gold-rush economy where you’d spend a dollar for an egg or something.
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