Dragic Smagic’s Magic Shop

The first thing you will likely notice about Dragic Smagic is that he is a bird. Not that he has a hooked nose or he’s thin. He has actual feathers and actual wings and an actual beak.

He runs this shop in this harbor town because he wants to. He can enchant your items for a price. And the price is always odd. Four feather pillows. Three glass bottles and a bootlace. His reasons are his own.

If you are lucky enough to have what he wants, then so be it. Pay the bird and be on your way. If all you have are shiny coins, well... you have to make an offer. He does collect coins, so you might be able to strike a deal.

Beware using any items enchanted by this weird purveyor of the arcane. Any requests or descriptions will be taken very literally- to an almost malevolent degree.

Is he aware of his folly? Perhaps.

The first step

The figurative journey of a thousand metaphorical miles has begun.

This is the first step.

I am a fanatic for roleplaying games. I only figured this out when I got the Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition starter set in 2014. Being a DM was my introduction to the genre. Looking through the simple booklets, I was captivated by the idea of the "theater of the mind," a shared collective imagination project.

The starter set adventure- "The Lost Mines of Phandelver" - is still one of my favorites. I fully admit that nostalgia plays its part. But I have run the adventure for three groups, from first-time adult players, to a group of 10 year olds, to a group of veteran rpg players. Respectively, they: followed the adventure beat for beat, ignored five or six hooks trying to get them into the adventure and rampaged across the countryside, and finally, ignored the "grinding" levels and headed straight for the final dungeon.

The results were all pretty much the same. We had fun. We made memories.

Short Rest, Long Rest, Full Rest

Life is hard. We all get tired.

So why not rest? Take it easy.

In D&D 5th Edition, resting is an essential part of the adventurer's life. Short rest to regain some hit points. Long rest to regain all your hit points and spells. Roll a few times at night to see if anyone attacks you, then carry on with your adventurey business.

That's really boring and you know it.

It's really unsettling to think that anyone would barricade themselves in someone's home and just expect to be able to sleep the night without any disagreement from the owner. That is what dungeoneers do when they "spike the door" in the middle of a dungeon.

Also, have you ever tried to sleep in jeans? Have you ever tried to sleep in leather armor? Metal plate armor? I have. It's not easy. It's not possible.

All these little rules we overlook for the sake of "fun" ruin the challenge. No challenge, no game. No game, no fun... think about that, fool!

Regain all your hp overnight? Bah! I cut my thumb with a relatively sharp pocket knife and it didn't heal for a week.

What's the solution to these childishly simple mechanics?

Short rest, long rest, FULL REST.

A short rest is the same, roll hit dice, get hp. Spellcasters can use Arcane Recovery to get some spell power back.

A long rest still costs hit dice to heal. No automatic healing! A player has to roll up to their full amount of hit dice and gets back half their hit dice at the end of the long rest. Spellcasters get their spells back.

A full rest is required to achieve NATURAL HEALING, i.e. your body's own repair system.

Have you ever wondered what those "lifestyle" tables were for in the Player's Handbook? Me too. They're worthless. Or they were. NOW... they are part of the FULL REST mechanic.

Full Rest: at least 24 hours, taken in a safe place

Recuperating: You can use downtime between adventures to recover from a debilitating injury, disease, or poison.
Every three days of downtime spent recuperating, you can make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a successful save, you can choose one of the following results:

-End one effect on you that prevents you from regaining hit points.
-For the next 24 hours, gain advantage on saving throws against one disease or poison currently affecting you.

*Natural Healing: Characters naturally recover hitpoints at a rate of [Character level+ CON modifer + lifestyle bonus] per day. Characters may start a full rest unconscious (i.e. with 0 hitpoints) and characters may lose hp instead of recuperating. Fully healed characters who fully rest may gain temporary hitpoints up to 10% of their maximum and have advantage on all saving throws during the first combat encounter after a full rest.

Lifestyle Recovery Bonus

See Player's Handbook page 186

Lifestyle (PHB 157-158)	Cost/ day	HP recovery bonus / day
Wretched	-	-5
Squalid	1 sp	-1
Poor	2 sp	0
Modest	1 gp	1
Comfortable	2 gp	2
Wealthy	5 gp	5
Aristocratic	10 gp minimum	10 [+1 per each additional 5 gp spent]

A Reasonable Expectation of Death

If you are a Dungeon Master, you are responsible to give your players a gift: Let them die.

Let the players feel failure. Don't rescue them by manufacturing last-minute turns in their luck. The dice determine their luck. I have taken to rolling out in the open, not behind a screen, so they can see that, yes, their character was hit for 22 points of damage and whining about the unlikelihood of such a number won't matter.

What makes adventuring exciting? The ever-present danger, the joy of discovery, the possibility of failure, and the improbability of success.

The dice determine the winner. There are winners and losers in D&D. It may change from moment to moment, but there are those who succeed and those who fail. Sometimes the ones who succeed die. Sometimes the ones who fail still live to play another day. The measure of success is not who lives, but who plays well, who has fun, who makes memorable mistakes. The point of playing a role is to try things you wouldn't do in the real world. That's what makes it fantasy!

The Wyvern

The Wyvern is a wild beast, considered of the draconic family by most philogenies. It lacks the cunning and willful evil of a true dragon, but is possessed of a terrifying savagery that even the well-seasoned adventurer finds chilling.

To hear the wyvern's wail echoing through a rocky canyon where there is no open escape or to hear the call of this beast trailing to the ear from across an open plain is to know fear at its most primal.

The truly mad or the truly bold may find in the wyvern a grudging yet fearsome mount. Those who ride on the back of a wyvern are among the legendary lunatics of the land. If a mighty courser or stallion turns on its rider, the cavalier may be trampled or have his brains dashed inside his helmet. Such a fate would be desirable to the result of a failed wyvern wrangler.

The wyvern's claws and jaws are formidable, yes, beyond the fright of even a lion or bear. Its wings, of course, give it mobility and swiftness beyond most other natural hunters. But its tail, Oh! its tail- therein lies its greatest power. For in the tail of each wyvern, from hatchling to elder, is a sting of such potency as to fell a brigade of hardy troops. One sting from a wyvern's tail has laid dynasties to waste, toppled the heritage of many great houses. Even a strong knight would do best to steer clear of such venom!