Dungeon Master's Guide®

Dungeon Master’s Guide® ROLEPLAYING GAME CORE RULES James Wyatt CREDITS D&D® 4th Edition Design Team Graphic Designers Rob Heinsoo, Andy Collins, James Wyatt Keven Smith, Leon Cortez, Emi Tanji D&D 4th Edition Final Development Strike Team Additional Graphic Design Bill Slavicsek, Mike Mearls, James Wyatt Karin Powell, Mari Kolkowski, Shauna Wolf Narciso, Ryan Sansaver Dungeon Master’s Guide Design James Wyatt Concept Artists Rob Alexander, Dave Allsop, Christopher Burdett, Dungeon Master’s Guide Development Adam Gillespie, Lars Grant-West, David Griffith, Lee Moyer, Andy Collins, Mike Mearls, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, William O’Connor Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert Interior Illustrations Dungeon Master’s Guide Editing Rob Alexander, Steve Argyle, Wayne England, Jason Michele Carter, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Julia Martin Engle, David Griffith, Espen Grundetjern, Brian Hagan, Ralph Horsley, Howard Lyon, Lee Moyer, William O’Connor, Dungeon Master’s Guide Managing Editing Wayne Reynolds, Dan Scott, Ron Spears, Chris Stevens, Kim Mohan Anne Stokes, Eva Widermann Additional Design and Development Cartography Richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Logan Bonner, Bart Carroll, Mike Schley Michele Carter, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Bruce R. Cordell, Jeremy Crawford, Jesse Decker, Michael Donais, Robert D&D Brand Team Gutschera, Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel, Peter Lee, Julia Martin, Liz Schuh, Scott Rouse, Sara Girard, Kierin Chase, Kim Mohan, David Noonan, Christopher Perkins, Martin Durham, Linae Foster Matthew Sernett, Chris Sims, Ed Stark, Rodney Thompson, Rob Watkins, Steve Winter, Chris Youngs Publishing Production Specialists Angelika Lokotz, Erin Dorries, Moriah Scholz, Director of R&D, Roleplaying Games/Book Publishing Christopher Tardiff Bill Slavicsek Prepress Manager D&D Story Design and Development Manager Jefferson Dunlap Christopher Perkins Imaging Technicians D&D System Design and Development Manager Travis Adams, Bob Jordan, Sven Bolen Andy Collins Production Manager D&D Senior Art Director Cynda Callaway Stacy Longstreet Building on the Design of Previous Editions by Cover Illustration E. Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson (1st Edition and earlier); Wayne Reynolds (front), Brian Hagan (back) David “Zeb” Cook (2nd Edition); Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, Peter Adkison (3rd Edition) Special Thanks to Brandon Daggerhart, keeper of Shadowfell Dedicated to the memory of E. Gary Gygax 620-21750720-001 EN U.S., CANADA, ASIA, PACIFIC, EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS WIZARDS OF THE COAST, BELGIUM 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 & LATIN AMERICA Hasbro UK Ltd ’t Hofveld 6D First Printing: June 2008 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Caswell Way 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden ISBN: 978-0-7869-4880-2 P.O. Box 707 Newport, Gwent NP9 0YH Belgium Renton WA 98057-0707 GREAT BRITAIN +32 2 467 3360 +1-800-324-6496 Please keep this address for your records DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, d20, d20 System, WIZARDS OF THE COAST, Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, D&D Insider, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Wizards characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events included herein is purely coincidental. Printed in the U.S.A. ©2008 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.WIZARDS.COM/DND contents 1: HOW TO BE A DM ............. 4 Outdoor Terrain ...............66 9: THE WORLD .................148 The Gaming Group ................6 Light Sources ..................66 The D&D World ................150 The Players ....................... 8 Vision and Special Senses .......67 Civilization .....................152 The Dungeon Master .............12 Sample Fantastic Terrain .......67 Mapping a Settlement .........154 Table Rules ......................14 Teleportation Circles ..........156 5: NONCOMBAT ENCOUNTERS 70 The Wild .......................158 2: RUNNING THE GAME ........16 Skill Challenges ..................72 Weather .....................158 Preparing ........................18 Running a Skill Challenge .......74 Environmental Dangers .......158 Getting Started ..................19 Opposed Checks ...............74 Starvation, Thirst, Chronicling a Game ............19 Interrupting a Skill Challenge . 75 and Suffocation .............159 Modes of the Game ..............20 Sample Skill Challenges ........76 The Planes ......................160 Narration ........................22 Puzzles ..........................81 The Gods .......................162 Pacing ...........................24 Using Puzzles ..................81 Artifacts ........................164 Props ...........................25 Designing Puzzles ..............82 The Axe of the Dispensing Information ...........26 Traps and Hazards ...............85 DwarvishLords .............165 Passive Skill Checks ............26 Using Traps and Hazards ........87 The Eye of Vecna ..............167 Informing Players ..............26 Sample Traps and Hazards ......87 The Hand of Vecna ............168 Rituals ........................27 The Invulnerable 6: ADVENTURES .................94 Improvising ......................28 Coat of Arnd ...............170 Published Adventures ............96 Ending ..........................29 Languages ......................171 Troubleshooting. 30 Fixing Problems ..................98 Teaching the Game ...............33 Building an Adventure ...........100 10: THE DM’S TOOLBOX .......172 Quests .........................102 Customizing Monsters ...........174 3: COMBAT ENCOUNTERS .....34 Encounter Mix ..................104 Increasing or Combat Fundamentals ...........36 Adventure Setting ...............106 Decreasing Level ............174 Monster Readiness .............36 Setting Personality ............108 Adding Equipment ............174 Surprise .......................36 Setting Details ................110 Templates ....................175 Roll Initiative! ..................38 Furnishings and Features ......111 Functional Templates ..........176 Running Combat ...............40 Mapping the Site ..............112 Class Templates ...............182 When Is an Encounter Over? ....41 Outdoor Settings .............114 Creating Monsters ..............184 After an Encounter .............41 Event-Based Adventures .......115 Monster Design Steps .........184 Additional Rules .................42 Cast of Characters ..............116 Elite and Solo Monsters ........184 Actions the Rules Don’t Cover . 42 Allies as Extra Characters ......116 Creating NPCs ..................186 Cover .........................43 NPC Design Steps .............187 7: REWARDS ....................118 Forced Movement and Terrain . 44 Level Bonus and Experience Points ...............120 Aquatic Combat ...............45 Magic Threshold ............187 Quests .........................122 Mounted Combat ..............46 Creating House Rules ............189 Milestones ......................123 Flying .........................47 Rules Design 101 .............189 Treasure ........................124 Disease .......................49 Example House Rules .........189 Monetary Treasure ............124 Poison ........................50 Fumble ....................189 Gems ........................124 Critical Success and Failure . 189 4: BUILDING ENCOUNTERS ....52 Art Objects ...................124 Random Dungeons ..............190 Monster Roles ...................54 Magic Items ..................125 Random Encounters .............193 Encounter Components ..........56 Awarding Treasure ............125 Encounter Level ................56 Treasure Parcels ..............126 11: FALLCREST. 196 Target XP Reward ..............57 The Town of Fallcrest ............198 8: CAMPAIGNS ..................130 Encounter Templates .............58 The Nentir Vale .................206 Published Campaigns ...........132 Battleﬁeld Control .............58 Involving the Players ............209 Campaign Theme ...............134 Commander and Troops ........58 Kobold Hall .....................210 Dragon’s Den ..................58 Super Adventures ...............138 Double Line ...................58 Campaign Story .................140 COMBAT CARDS ...............220 Wolf Pack .....................59 Beginning a Campaign ...........142 Encounter Settings ...............60 Starting at Higher Level ........143 INDEX ...........................221 Terrain Features ...............60 Running a Campaign ............144 BATTLE GRIDS .................222 Terrain and Roles ..............62 Tiers of Play ....................146 Sample Mundane Terrain .......64 Ending a Campaign ..............147 CHAPTER 1 How to Be a DM Most games have a winner and a loser, but the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Roleplaying Game is fundamentally a cooperative game. The Dungeon Master (DM) plays the roles of the antagonists in the adventure, but the DM isn’t playing against the player characters (PCs). Although the DM represents all the PCs’ opponents and adversaries—monsters, nonplayer )characters (NPCs), traps, and the like—he or she doesn’t want the player characters to fail any more than the other players do. The players all cooperate to achieve success for their characters. The DM’s goal is

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