| Ariadne |
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Since I started playing my Jade Regent Campaign in 2021 it got quicky very obviously, that the original Caravan Rules are a mess on higher levels and become unfair for the party. Sadly, I really liked this second game mechanics, so I startet to adjust the Caravan rules. Now my campaign nearly comes to an end and I can say, those rules are playtested now and at least for my group: they worked!
I made them a combination of the original Caravan rules, threads I found here and homebrew (feel free to use those, they worked up to level 18 – until the Caravan was left at Seinaro Heikiko (I used the “fast” XP track for the AP)).
Hot tip: Don’t invest in AC, at higher levels the monsters hit the caravan anyway, invest in hp of the caravan (via masterwork wagons, number of wagons, wagon reinforcements and “Caravan Toughness” feat), in attack and damage (buy “First Strike” and “Increased Damage” feats plus invest in masterwork Ballista (at least two, better four) and create magic weapons out of those [+1 flaming for example] (see below)). Max out Security first and Resolve second: this will help you in most situations.
Caravan Rules:
- A caravan has its own statistics: It has primary statistics: Offense (inflict damage), Defense (withstand damage), Mobility (navigate terrain) and Morale (attitude and loyalty). The starting primary statistic is 1, the highest value 10. With the “Enhanced Caravan” feat this value can be raised to a maximum of 15, roles add without a total maximum. Those primary statistics influence derived statistics: Attack (1d20 + Offensive + bonus granted by travelers, equipment, feats, wagons and other sources), Armor Class (1d20 + Defense + bonus granted by travelers, equipment, feats, wagons and other sources – armored and masterwork wagons add their bonuses to the caravan AC up to a maximum of +12 ); Security (1d20 + Mobility + bonus granted by travelers, equipment, feats, wagons and other sources) and Resolve (1d20 + Morale + bonus granted by travelers, equipment, feats, wagons and other sources)
- A caravan has the level of the highest PC. On every level up, the caravan improves as following :
- * choose one new feat,
- * +1 to one primary statistic (Offense, Defense, Mobility or Morale),
- * add +1 damage on every level,
- * add +1d6 damage on any odd-numbered level beginning at 3rd,
- * add +1 on Repair checks and Trade checks (see below)
- A caravan can have up to 5 wagons (“Extra Wagons” feat -increases that maximum by two up to three times to an overall maximum of 11 wagons)
- All passengers can do one job per day (can be switched once per day): Cook, Driver, Entertainer, Fortune-Teller, Guard, Guide, Healer, Hero, Passenger, Spellcaster, Trader or Wainwright. They have to fulfill requirements (see original rules). Hero is for PCs only (up to 4) and does not count as a job, to choose the “Spellcaster” role, the person must be able to provide spells fitting to the copied job. Persons with an Item creation feat can craft items, but at full speed only, if the caravan is resting 24h, otherwise half speed, if the caravan is moving and the person has no other caravan job or ¼ speed alongside a caravan job (1/2 speed, while the caravan is resting 24h and they have still a caravan job - see rules for adventuring and crafting)
- No caravan can move without a driver, without a fortune-teller the caravan suffers a -2 penalty to all Attack rolls, Security and Resolve checks. (Maybe you should add: “Without a guide, the caravan suffers a -2 penalty to Security and Resolve checks. This improves to -4 on High Ice and -8 within the Boreal Expanse (or -6 in wastelands, as you wish).” - otherwise recruiting Ulf makes no sense at all)
- A caravan can only carry the maximum of the indicated traveler or cargo capacity
- Fatigue: -2 penalty to all rolls and base speed halved
- Exhaustion : -6 penalty to all rolls and cannot move
- A caravan moves 12 hours and rests 12 hours. If it moves longer, it automatically is fatigued and roles 1/ hour for exhaustion (DC 15 Security check +1 per check)
- Every complete day resting far from of some kind of settlement, a lost horse train or wagon, a killed traveler or if the caravan is reduced to 25% of its hp potentially produces Unrest (roll a Resolve check DC 20 + caravans current Unrest score). Unrest: see original rules
- The caravan costs consumption per day: 1/ passenger (including companions, but not familiars) + the number noted under “wagons”/ wagon + possible bonuses or penalties (Stores: 5 gp/ Unit)
If a Caravan doesn’t provide enough food to cover the consumption, it takes 1d6 damage and is fatigued. The caravan can’t be repaired until enough food can be provided. Otherwise, the caravan takes damage twice per day until either enough stores are available or the hp reach zero (effectively destroying the caravan). The caravan can be fed magically by casting the following spells (10 units provisions = 1 cargo unit stores) – all magically created rations must be consumed on the day the spell was cast:
- * Goodberry (1 unit provisions)
- * Create food and water (1 unit provisions/ 2 caster level)
- * Bountiful banquet (1 unit provisions/ caster level)
- * Hero's feast (1 unit provisions/ caster level + additional effects)
- * Mending (does not function on the caravan)
- * Make Whole (+1 to a Caravan Repair Check and heals the result +1d6 hp)
- * Minor Creation, Make Whole, Greater or Wood Shape (+2 to a Caravan Repair Check and heals the result +2d6 hp)
- * Fabricate or Major Creation (+3 to a Caravan Repair Check and heals the result +3d6 hp)
- * Hammer of Mending (+5 to a Caravan Repair Check and heals the result +1d6/ 2 caster levels hp)
- * Common Trade Goods: 10 gp/ cu --> Trade Check Result x1 (purchase: any Settlement, max. to Base Value)
- * Uncommon Trade Goods: 25 gp/ cu --> Trade Check Result x2.5 (purchase: Village+ only, max. to Base Value)
- * Rare Trade Goods: 50 gp/ cu --> Trade Check Result x5 (purchase: large Town+ only, max. 10 cu/ Settlement)
- * Exotic Trade Goods: 100 gp/ cu --> Trade Check Result x10 (purchase: Large City+ only, max. 5 cu/ Settlement)
- * Very Exotic Trade Goods: 500 gp/ cu --> Trade Check Result x50 (purchase: Metropolis or special only, max. 1 cu/ Settlement)
- * Treasure: varies by treasure (50 pounds = 1 cargo unit) (purchase: none)
- Settlements which are famous for some kind of goods can differ from the model above.
Example: Ravenmoor: Village, but famous for exquisite wine. There can be bought: up to 10x Ravenmoor vintage wine (rare), up to 5x Ravenmoor superior quality wine (exotic) and/ or (DMs decision) up to 1x Ravenmoor select berry harvest (very exotic).
- Money, that was gained via trade or evening shows belongs to the caravan, not to the PCs. The money has to be spent on hirelings, to maintain the caravan (including buying stores, repair materials or trade goods), for new wagons or upgrades first. If still enough money is left, it can either be distributed as a dividend (include PCs and major NPCs evenly) or buy some kind of group resources (a diamond worth 5000 gold to raise a party member or major NPC later, for example).
- * Handy Haversack (2.000 gp, 5 lb.): too small, 0 cargo units
- * Bag of Holding (type I, 2.500 gp, 15 lb.): 1 cargo unit
- * Bag of Holding (type II, 5.000 gp, 25 lb.): 2 cargo units
- * Bag of Holding (type III, 7.400 gp, 35 lb.): 3 cargo units
- * Bag of Holding (type IV, 10.000 gp, 60 lb.): 4 cargo units
- * Portable Hole (20.000 gp, 0 lb.): 5 cargo units
- * Corsair’s Coffer (24.000 gp, 250 lb.): 8 cargo units
- * Captain's Locker (30.000 gp, 150 lb.): 4 cargo units + +50% cargo capacity of the attached vehicle
- Bags of Holdings or Captain's Locker cost 1 Cargo Unit / 50 lb. weight – Portable Holes have theoretically no maximum. Anything stored in an extradimensional space can’t provide bonuses to the caravan --> don’t store extradimensional space within an extradimensional space
CR 3 (attack +6, damage: 3d6+6, AC 15, hp 30);
CR 4 (attack +8, damage: 4d6+2, AC 17, hp 40);
CR 5 (attack +10, damage: 4d8, AC 18, hp 55);
CR 6 (attack +12, damage: 4d10, AC 19, hp 70);
CR 7 (attack +13, damage: 6d8+3, AC 20, hp 85);
CR 8 (attack +15, damage: 10d6, AC 21, hp 100);
CR 9 (attack +17, damage: 8d8+4, AC 23, hp 110);
CR 10 (attack +18, damage: 7d8+4, AC 24, hp 130);
CR 11 (attack +19, damage: 10d8+5, AC 25, hp 145);
CR 12 (attack +21, damage: 10d8+10, AC 27, hp 160);
CR 13 (attack +22, damage: 12d6+10, AC 28, hp 180);
CR 14 (attack +23, damage: 12d6+21, AC 29, hp 200);
CR 15 (attack +24, damage: 12d6+36, AC 30, hp 220);
CR 16 (attack +26, damage: 5d8+50, AC 31, hp 240);
CR 17 (attack +27, damage: 7d8+50, AC 32, hp 270)
--> some monsters have a special attack, see there
Encounter Treasure : Animals/ Magical Beasts/ Dragons:[/] CR 2-5: 1 cargo unit hide, furs or provisions (hide/furs worth 200 gp); CR 6+: 1 cargo units hide, furs and/ or provisions per 40 Points of damage dealt (hide/furs worth 250 gp/ unit). [i]Goblins/ Ogres/ Trolls/ Giants/ other weapon using Monsters: CR 2-9: 1 cargo Unit Treasure (worth 250 Gold) per 40 Points of damage dealt; CR 10+ 1 cargo Unit Treasure (worth 500 Gold) per 50 Points of damage dealt (round down). This treasure belongs to the caravan, not the PCs.
One of my major Caravan changes was the introduction of masterwork wagons (see below) at Losthome made of Darkwood harvested in the Grungir Forest. I used the caravan encounter of Book 6 as a template and reworked all wagons as a masterwork version.
- * Darkwood Armored Wagon: Cost: 6,400 gp; hp 80, Traveler Capacity: 6; Cargo Capacity: 6; Limit: none; Consumption: 1; Benefit: +4 bonus to caravan AC
- * Darkwood Covered Wagon: Cost: 1,200 gp; hp 40, Traveler Capacity: 6; Cargo Capacity: 6; Limit: none; Consumption: 1; Benefit: +1 bonus to caravan AC
- * Darkwood Fortune-Teller’s Wagon: Cost: 1,200 gp; hp 60, Traveler Capacity: 2; Cargo Capacity: 6; Limit: 1; Consumption: 1; Benefit: +1 bonus to caravan AC
- * Darkwood Supply Wagon: Cost: 1,000 gp; hp 40, Traveler Capacity: 2 Cargo Capacity: 14; Limit: none; Consumption: 1; Benefit: +1 bonus to caravan AC
- * Darkwood Ballista: Cost: 1,000 gp; Limit: 1/ wagon; Cargo Unit Cost: 2; grants a +2 bonus to caravan attacks and can be enhanced using the Create Magic Arms and Armor feat.
- * Darkwood Prisoner Wagon: Cost: 4,700 gp; hp 60, Traveler Capacity: 6; Cargo Capacity: 4; Limit: 2; Consumption: 1; Benefit: +3 bonus to caravan Security
- * Darkwood Royal Carriage: Cost: 3,200 gp; hp 60, Traveler Capacity: 4; Cargo Capacity: 4; Limit: 1; Consumption: 1; Benefit: +6 bonus to caravans Resolve
Example of a Darkwood Wagon
Yoska Musat’s „Prachtstück“ (available at Kalsgard – Oak Quarter): Darkwood Armored Wagon (masterwork with additional metal plates), has the “Enhanced Undercarriage” and “Wagon Reinforcements” bonus equipment. Has appliances (and include) a Heatstone (center) and two Everburning Torches (left and right) in the ceiling. Two bunk beds with mattress and curtain in the upper part of the caravan which can be fold to the wall; two additional beds in the lower part, also useful as a chest and couch. Further a foldable table at the end of each bed, an extra secret storage in the subfloor (1 CU, can hold up to 2 Bags of Holding Type II – not included) and another extra storage in the back part (with board for a hitched chamber pot). --> perfect use of the room with maximum possible comfort:
“Prachtstück” statistics: Reinforced Armored Wagon: 90 hp, +8 miles/ day, Traveler Capacity: 6, Cargo Capacity: 6-1=5, Consumption: 1, benefit: +4 bonus to caravan AC --> on demand with foldable Darkwood Ballista attached to the roof (+1.000 gp, CU -2) = 8.720 gp complete with Ballista (Cargo Capacity: 3 left)
| Ariadne |
Here is a list of possible trade goods using the trade good model above. Feel free to adjust or expand it as you like:
- Magnimar: Trade hub: it is possible to purchase rare and exotic trade goods (particularly from Absalom, Cheliax, and Osirion), with luck a very rare exotic trade good may be purchased
- Sandpoint: high quality glass-blowing (may be purchased in rare and exotic quality)
- Galduria: polished wooden figurines (may be purchased in rare quality)
- Wolfs Ear: exotic furs (may be purchased in rare or exotic quality)
- Ravenmoor: excellent vine (may be purchased in rare, exotic and very exotic quality)
- Riddleport: noting special, apart from drugs (these may be purchased in rare or exotic quality, but on the black market only)
- Jol: exotic furs (may be purchased in rare, exotic or very exotic quality), leather goods (uncommon)
- Tomgruv: Copper (rare) and leather goods (uncommon)
- Delmon’s Glen: exotic furs (may be purchased in rare or exotic quality), gnome art (rare or exotic)
- Losthome: Darkwood and exotic furs (may be purchased in rare or exotic quality)
- Trollheim: gems and jewelry (may be purchased in rare or exotic quality); with luck very exotic gems can be purchased
- Kalsgard: metropolis, nearly everything can be purchased, Special: Kalsgard special honey and mead (may be purchased in rare and exotic quality), Iceferry schnaps (exotic)
- Aaminiut: Ice Peppers (may be purchased in exotic quality)
- Ashuvit: (self-designed elven town on the high ice): elven ice whine (may be purchased in exotic quality)
- Jaagiin: Buriyiim pearls (may be purchased in exotic quality)
- Ketskerlet: Wall of Heaven Salt (may be purchased in exotic quality)
- Ordu-Aganhei: Trade Hub: nearly everything can be purchased. Special: silk, porcelain, tea and the fur of the corsac fox (exotic); cloaks made of corsac fox (very exotic)
- Muliwan: Darkwood and Darkwood Items (may be purchased in exotic quality)
…after that the caravan didn’t trade anymore
| Ariadne |
The Caravan Encounter List
A note first: I used the fast XP track and a 25 PB standard in this AP. If you use a slower XP track, adjust it, as you need it.
Originally, I used the in the AP presented Encounter list and rolled 1d2 for 1: PC-Encounter and 2: Caravan Encounter (as a second table I let them roll weather). I used the Encounter chance “10 % + 10 % per day without encounter” already in Book 1. The counter was set to zero after an encounter or by reaching a settlement. This encounter mechanics worked very good to the end.
The half PC and half Caravan encounter mechanics worked good up to the Land of the Linnorm Kings. Later I started to adjust the monsters (usually raising the rollable number or adding the “advanced” template). The Crown of the World had its own mechanics, so here I only needed to adjust the combat encounters. Here and then I added some not-so-random-Encounters.
My half Caravan and half PC Encounter system started to fail in Tian Xia, so I had to adjust it.
Here I first merged all Caravan Encounters from Book 4 to Book 6 into one list to have a larger variety (plus Caravan Encounters in Book 6 make no sense any more – if they aren’t used earlier, they’re lost).
Caravan Encounter Table for Tian Xia
- 1-7: Hangman Grove (CR 11)
- 8-12: Monsoon (CR 11, raised the Resolve and Security checks to 27)
- 13-22: Oni Assault* (CR13 – See Caravan Encounter Statistics)
- 23- 29: Colony of Giant Tarantulas (CR11 – See Caravan Encounter Statistics)
- 30-37: Ninjas** (90% while camped; CR 12 – DC 28 Security Check or 5d8 extra sneak damage)
- 38-45: Courious Villagers (CR 0; DC 25 Security check for ½ speed)
- 46-54: Landslide heightened to CR 14, see below
- 55-62: Nogitsune Bard* (CR 12; Uncovering DC 30 Resolve Check, later DC 35 Security Check)
- 63-70: Ronin Maurauders (CR 13)
- 71-76: Forest of Statues (CR 1, once, after the first time use Tiefling Magi** (CR 14))
- 77-82: Origami Crafter (CR 1; once, after the first time use Tiefling Magi** (CR 14))
- 83-89: Earthquake (CR 12; DC 30 Resolve Check)
- 90-95: Company of Hobgoblins (CR 15 – Use Caravan Encounter Statistics)
- 96-100: Imperial Dragon (CR 17 – Use Caravan Encounter Statistics, otherwise DC 30 knowledge (arcana, history, local or religion check))
1d100
Landslide (CR 14): After several days of rain, the winding trail the caravan is following along a mountainside gives way as part of a massive landslide. In the first round of the mudslide, the caravan must make a Security check, and may take damage as a result as determined by the table below.
- 15 or less 10d6
- 16–20 8d6
- 21–25 6d6
- 26–30 4d6
- 31–35 2d6
- 36+ No damage
Result Damage
One or more wagons may also be stuck in the landslide, as determined by a Resolve check using the table below.
- 15 or less All wagons stuck
- 16–20 4 wagons stuck
- 21–25 3 wagons stuck
- 26–30 2 wagons stuck
- 31–35 1 wagon stuck
- 36+ No wagons are stuck
Result Stuck Wagons
If a wagon is stuck, freeing it requires a DC 34 Resolve check and 10 minutes of work. Each stuck wagon requires 12 creatures to work toward freeing it. (If a smaller group of caravan members work on a wagon, they take a –2 penalty on their resolve check for every 2 members they are short of 12.) If the check fails by 5 or more, the efforts cause another landslide, requiring a new Security check to determine damage dealt to the caravan. Special efforts by PCs may gain bonuses to these Security spell that seems likely to help grants a bonus on a single check equal to half the level of the spell. Skills or special abilities that seem likely to help, such as appropriate Knowledge checks, each grant a +1 bonus on a specific check.
Ey, WOW – this landslide let level 17 players sweat, but they never lost a complete wagon or worse.
Masked creatures with horns appear within the caravan, throwing scorching rays and flying from wagon to wagon (attack +23, damage: 12d6+21, AC 29, hp 200). In addition to the normal combat each round, the caravan must make a DC 30 Security check each round or take 5d8 points of damage from spell combat used to disable caravan guards. No magi bodies are found after the attack, even if the caravan wins the battle. If the caravan does win, there is a 50% chance the Tieflings attack again the next night, though this time they flee after taking 50 hp of damage. After the second attack, the caravan must make a DC 35 Security check to find magic traps the magi placed during their feinted attack. If the check is failed, the camp takes a –4 penalty on all attacks in its next encounter, as the ninja traps distract and disable members of the caravan.
Second, I reduced the chance of a PC-Encounter from ½ to 1/3, after there were too much “how-cute-can-we-keep-that” Encounter (Kirin, Foo Lion, Baku, Tanuki) on one hand and “Boring-I-slay-that-in-one-round” on the other. If there still was a PC Encounter, I increased the “not-so-random” Encounters with a CR matching to the party.
This adjusted system worked until the Caravan wasn’t used anymore (End of Book 5). Because the PCs traveled by (greater) teleporting (without the seal) or by Wind Walking (with seal) after abandoning the Caravan, the PC Random Encounters decreased to nearly zero in Book 6.
| John Mechalas |
- All passengers can do one job per day (can be switched once per day): Cook, Driver, Entertainer, Fortune-Teller, Guard, Guide, Healer, Hero, Passenger, Spellcaster, Trader or Wainwright. They have to fulfill requirements (see original rules).
I would change this.
Spellcaster is not really a job. It is a trait that lets you qualify for other jobs.
Wainwright is not a job. It is only needed when something breaks. There's no point to making it a job, much less a daily job that burns someone's job slot.
Trading is not a daily job. You only need a trader when you are at a settlement. See above.
Caravan Combat
I would just dump caravan combat entirely and replace it with regular encounters. Nothing can fix the fact that caravan combat is boring. There are no tactics, no strategies, no unique abilities. It's just one PC rolling attack and damage dice each round.
| John Mechalas |
Note that the Hero job is not actually a job. Per the original rules:
Only PCs can serve a caravan as a hero, but doing so does not count as a job role—a PC can effectively serve as a hero and any one other job.
Eliminating Caravan Combat also makes the job of managing the caravan easier. You can drop all of the combat-related feats and statistics.
The players can then concentrate on making the caravan survive the journey across the Crown of the World by allocating their resources towards making it faster and more efficient (the two most important factors that drive total consumption and, in turn, the number of provisions they need to take with them).
| Ariadne |
Quote:- All passengers can do one job per day (can be switched once per day): Cook, Driver, Entertainer, Fortune-Teller, Guard, Guide, Healer, Hero, Passenger, Spellcaster, Trader or Wainwright. They have to fulfill requirements (see original rules).I would change this.
Spellcaster is not really a job. It is a trait that lets you qualify for other jobs.
Wainwright is not a job. It is only needed when something breaks. There's no point to making it a job, much less a daily job that burns someone's job slot.
Trading is not a daily job. You only need a trader when you are at a settlement. See above.
I know, what you mean. No one ever had "trader" oder "wainwright" as a daily job, indeed only, if something broke/ something had to be traded. Any other ideas?
I think, this mechanic was intended to limit the persons, who can repair/ traide in one day. Not that bad idea IMO.At levels higher than 5 "Spellcaster" was nearly obsolete anyway: every player character and NPC had at least one rank in nearly any caravan releated skill. The only exception was "healer", but in my caravan combats only the caravan got damage, never a player character or NPC.
Caravan Combat
I would just dump caravan combat entirely and replace it with regular encounters. Nothing can fix the fact that caravan combat is boring. There are no tactics, no strategies, no unique abilities. It's just one PC rolling attack and damage dice each round.
Yes, you are right, but this won't matter at higher levels that much. Most regular rolled random encounters, the DM doesn't adjust, are boring as well.
Wizard: "Chain Lightning." DM: "OK, combat finished."You get the point? Maybe caravan encounters had no tactics, but my group was buisy for a few rounds and sweated, that the caravan didn't get too much damage (the caravan never was destroyed).
If you want exciting random encounters at higher levels, you only have two options: adjust them to "not-so-random-encounters" or skip them entirely. Caravan Combat will be obsolete in both situations.
In JR AP are a lot regular combat encounters, especially Book 4 (last part) and Book 6 (well, nearly the whole book), but also Ravenscrag or Brinewall. To be honest, if random encounters are a pain, no one will miss them.