Races of Wild

CHAPTER 8CAMPAIGNS INTHE WILD178THE SETTINGA campaign focusing on one of the races covered in thisbook is likely to feature wilderness locales far away fromcities. Adventures will take place in secluded valleys, amongtrackless forests, and along long, lonely roads. Urban andunderground adventures might prove rare. This sort ofcampaign will impact play in several ways.Regional Scope: The action in the campaign probablywill focus on an entire region rather than on one settlementor dungeon. Characters will make long overland treksfairly often as they pursue adventures in widely separatedlocales. Most of their best friends and worst enemies willbe far away from wherever the group happens to be at anygiven time.Slower Pace: Encounters may occur several days apartwhen the PCs make a long wilderness trek, allowing themample time to recover their strength between challenges.Individual encounters can be tougher (and often should be)because the PCs can start them with full hit points and fullcomplements of spells and class features.On the other hand, it could be days or weeks before theycan replenish their supplies. Groups that run out of potions,scrolls, alchemist’s fire, silvered arrows, or other exhaustiblesupplies may find otherwise easy challenges more difficultthan usual. A long adventure undertaken with inadequatesupplies can be a real struggle for groups that don’t planadequately. Even groups gifted with good foresight mighttake days or weeks to complete simple tasks. The DM mustset the pace of events accordingly (at least until the partygains access to teleportation magic or some other means ofrapid travel).Sprawling Encounters: Most encounters will take placeoutdoors. Indoor and underground encounters are confinedwithin the bounds of chambers and halls, and fighting takesplace at close range, with little time or room for maneuveringbefore the two sides close to melee.Outdoors, however, encounters can take place at distanceslimited only by the extent of vision, which can be considerableindeed. Ranged combat is common, and both sidesusually have ample time and space to maneuver and use theterrain to advantage.DEMOGRAPHICSChapter 5 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide provides guidelinesfor randomly generating communities of various sizes.However, the communities described there are designedto mirror average communities throughout a campaignworld and therefore favor humans as the most numerousmembers of any community. To create racial communitiesthat feel different from human communities, use thefollowing guidelines.ELF COMMUNITIESElves rarely form big communities. They crave open spacesand try to minimize their impact on the land. As such, elfcommunities are generally smaller and farther apart thanhuman communities. Such communities also usually havea nearly homogenous population. The exceptions are majorpolitical, religious, or scholastic centers—places that cannotfunction well without a large number of people.Elf communities have the normal gold piece limit forpurchases. However, the gold piece limit when purchasingspecial items of elven manufacture (such as elven harps andcloaks of elvenkind) is 50% higher than the indicated value.The same increase applies for items that elves use often(both magical and mundane), including projectile weapons,ammunition, light armor, scrolls, and potions.Elf communities use the general guidelines for determiningpower centers, power center alignment, and highest-levellocals given in Chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, exceptas noted here.Table 8–1: Random Elf Community Generationd% Community Size Population 1 GP Limit 201–15 Camp 20–80 40 gp16–30 Outpost 81-400 100 gp31–50 Village 401–900 200 gp51–70 Small town 901–2,000 800 gp71–90 Large town 2,001–5,000 3,000 gp91–95 Small city 5,001–12,000 15,000 gp96–99 Large city 12,001–25,000 40,000 gp100 Metropolis 25,001 or more 100,000 gp1 Adult population. The number of nonadults in anelf community ranges from 1% to 10% of the adultpopulation.2 Add 50% for projectile weapons, ammunition, lightarmor, scrolls, potions, and special items of elven make.Table 8–2: Racial Mix of Elf CommunitiesIsolated 1 Mixed 1 Integrated 198% elf 90% elf 60% elf1% halfling 2 6% halfling 2 20% halfling 21% other races 3% gnome 3 15% gnome 31% other races 5% other races1 Typically 85% of elf communities are isolated, 14% aremixed, and 1% are integrated.2 Most often tallfellows.3 Most often forest gnomes.HALFLING COMMUNITIESHalfling communities are generally smaller and farther apartthan communities of other races.Halfling communities use the general guidelines fordetermining power centers, power center alignment, andhighest-level locals given in Chapter 5 of the DungeonMaster’s Guide.Permanent halfling communities usually have a mercantilebase; the gold piece limit for purchasing items is doubled insuch communities.