This week — Rocky Adventure Hooks, and a New Character Feat

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Let’s brainstorm some fun!

Happy Friday! As promised, I’m done with locomotion, (for now!), and instead have created some adventure hooks and a fun (IMHO) feat.

If you try them in your game, please let me know how they play.

Thanks for reading!

As I was writing these, I noticed they all included an element of stone, and you know I love a theme, so I leaned into it to create some rocky hooks for your game.

A call for help has gone out from the town of Fairmorgan. Almost a month ago, a strange, ancient-looking stone tower appeared overnight in the center of town. It has no doors or windows, but every night at midnight strange lights and bestial roars erupt from the top of the structure that can be seen and heard for miles.

If you travel through the woods north of the river, and see a stone arch of moss-covered stones, don’t walk through it. The last fool who did so, a brash young trapper named Morta Rivryn, was a madman just a ten-day later — emaciated, covered in filth, and raving about footsteps that followed him everywhere.

The distraught priests of the largest and grandest temple devoted to Gond, god of crafting and smithing, are considering abandoning the temple. When it was built hundreds of years ago, the stone edifice of the temple was decorated with intricate, awe-inspiring bas relief carvings by the greatest stone-workers of the age. A few weeks ago, the largest and most detailed carving over the entrance— a stylized, geometric portrait of Gond’s muscled, bearded smith avatar — began speaking! Unfortunately, it only shouts incredibly graphic, rude insults at anyone who enters or exits the temple.

Feat design is tricky — there have been hundreds over the history of D&D, so trying to find white space that hasn’t been covered before is difficult. Finding a sweet spot of power and balance can also be tough. That said, I like the flavor of this one, even if it’s not perfect in its details yet.

General Feat (Prerequisite: Dexterity 14 or higher)
Through hours of practice you’ve become proficient at prestidigitation with cards, coins, scarves and other small items, and can perform beguiling tricks to amaze friend and foe alike.

You gain the following benefits:
Ability Score Increase
Increase your Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum 20.

Nimble Fingers
You gain proficiency in both Sleight of Hand and Performance, or gain Expertise if already Proficient.

Perform a Distraction
As an Action, you may target a creature within 5’ and perform close-up magic to distract it. You make a Performance check, and the target makes an opposed Wisdom or Intelligence save, (your choice). If the save fails to match or beat your Performance check, you may impose one of the following effects on the target until the start of your next turn:
• The target has disadvantage to the next ability check or saving throw it makes
• The target must make a Concentration check, (the DC = half your Performance roll), or break concentration
• The next ally that attacks the creature does so at Advantage

You probably already know about the folks below, who are real inspirations to me, but if not, do yourself a favor and check them out.

The Arcane Library — masterpiece adventures, and Shadowdark, too!
https://www.thearcanelibrary.com

The Angry DM — so angry….so many great ideas….
https://theangrygm.com/

DMDave — on point analysis of D&D rules, and a ton of fun ideas
https://bsky.app/profile/dmdave.bsky.social

RPGBot — whip smart critique and explanations of 5e rules
https://rpgbot.net/

Sly Flourish — a DM’s best friend who is also a better DM
https://www.slyflourish.com/

Treantmonk — years of helpful advice and clever ideas
https://www.youtube.com/@TreantmonksTemple

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