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R e q u i re s t h e u s e o f t h e D u n g e o n s & D r a g o n s P l a y e r ' s H a n d b o o k ,

T h i r d E d i t i o n , p u b l i s h e d b y Wi z a r d s o f t h e C o a s t

http://www.theothergamecompany.com

V1.1
Thanks to:
Our international group of playtesters, who had to make head and
tails of the game all by themselves during pretty much the whole
playtesting process, and who had to print out an insane number of
pages while doing it. Thanks for your praise and criticism. This
game would be very different without you, and your commitment
was amazing!

Game Design and Layout: Stefan Pietraszak


Additional Game Design: Alexander "Bjoern" Schoenbohm
and Rene Ganser
Editing: Thorsten de Jong and Anja Vollweiter
Artists: Melissa Cox and Sergio Villa Isaza
Cover Illustration: Sergio Villa Isaza
Playtesters: Sascha Baumanns, Samuel "The Rules Lawyer"
Blanger, Norman Elliot, Gabriel "The Needle" Bouffard,
Pierre "Lord Karnak" Bouffard, Michel "Gondolin"
Godbout, Yves "Elmondor" Godbout, Etienne Guinois,
Olivier "Jax" Jackson, Steffi Jordans, Kerstin Klein, Ralf
Mayenberger, Rick "Carnage" McCorley, Philippe
"Powerrongeur " Perreault, Seppe Schraenen, Dominik
Swinnen, Kevin Vanwinkel and Alain Vanhentenryck.

Table of Content

1. Introduction
What you'll need
Why d20?
The Chapters
Expanding the Game
Abbreviations & Glossary
Dungeon Bash in a Nutshell
2. Player Characters
The Adventuring Party
Races
Classes
Average Party Level
Character Sheets
Player Character Death
Animal companions, familiars and mounts
Skills
Feats
Spells
3. The Dungeon
The Quests
Quest Descriptions
Dungeon Generating
Dimensions
Terrain Placement
Exploration
Rule of the Last Door
4. The Adventure
Average Party Level and Encounter Level
Initiative Count Number
Turn Sequence
Random Encounter Rolls
Room Encounters
Combat
Surprise and Awareness

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Placement of Opponents
Treasure
Non-Player Characters
Traps
Non-Combat Actions
Resting
The Final Battle
Between Adventures
The High Costs of Living
5. Advanced Game
Advanced Dungeon Generator
Room Features
Customizing the Dungeon Generator
Customizing Encounters
Special Quests
Side Quests
Speeding up the Game
High-Level Play
The Dungeon Bash Campaign
6. Solo Play
Starting Equipment
Opponent Behavior
Armor Factor
Types of Opponents
Reaction Flow-Chart
The Unknown Opponent
7. High Levels
Spells and Abilities
Main Quests
High Level Quests
Advanced Reaction Flow-Charts
Creature (Re-) Sizes
High Levels without a GM
Appendix: NPCs

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2005/2006 The Other Game Company and Stefan Pietraszak. All rights reserved unless otherwise noted. Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons
Players Handbook, Third Edition, published by Wizards of the Coast. D20 System and the D20 System logo are Trademarks owned by Wizards of the
Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used according to the terms of the D20 System License version 5.0.
The Other Game Company, TOGC, the TOGC logo, and Dungeon Bash are trademarks of The Other Game Company. All rights reserved.

Dungeon Bash

Chapter 1: Introduction

Introduction

his game, Dungeon Bash (DB), is mainly aimed at players. In fact, using all its rules, you won't need a Game Master! That's right:
hack'n'slay entertainment, and nobody needs to play the victims. Nonetheless, Game Masters might find this book useful too, if they'd like to randomly generate a dungeon, or if they want to spice up their campaign with some free-floating dungeon crawl.
If it's action you crave for, this is the book for you. If, on the other hand, you're deeply into ROLEplaying, then stay away from this
book and find yourself a willing and able Game Master. Good luck with this endeavor ;)
Most of the player characters (PCs) from DB can be used just as is in your regular roleplaying campaign - at the GM's approval, of
course. One of the best ways to use DB in that regard is for kick-starting the campaign (if you want to start at a higher level, and don't just
want to say "Ok, you're all 8th level"), or granting characters the means to catch up of the others if they're behind on levels. In addition,
Dungeon Bash is great as an introduction to roleplaying, as you've got to deal with most of the rules, but not with the more "esoteric" issues
of role-playing.
We assume that you know the core d20 rules. This is not a stand-alone game. You have been warned. Now step into the dungeon and
proof yourself.

What youll need


While the use of miniatures or counters is only recommended for
the standard D20 role-playing, it's a necessity for DB. Whether
you use miniatures or counters is irrelevant, although playing with
miniatures (metal or plastic) is just that more fun.
Besides these, you will need a way to represent dungeon rooms
and corridors. Graph paper is a possibility. Dungeon floors on paper
stock would be better. There are even some three-dimensional room
pieces by various companies - these we recommend.
You can tailor your encounter tables and the system used to
generate the dungeon environment to the material at your disposal.
Later chapters (Chapter 5, to be precise) will give you the rules on
how to do this.
There are several pages you'll need to print out. If possible,
print out the rulebook as well, but if you can memorize all the rules,
you'll be fine without. The other documents will explain what
exactly needs to be printed out.
Furthermore, you'll need the usual equipment (character sheet,
dice, pencil and the like), but I guess you know that already. Small
character sheets (both single-page and half-page) are included with
this product, but you can also use any other character sheet you like.
Make sure to play DB on a large table - the larger, the better. If
at any time you run out of space, just map the dungeon you've
explored so far and remove any parts you don't need right now - if
you later need to back out of the dungeon, you can replace any parts
you've removed according to your map.

Why d20?
First, it's complex. While DB is, at its heart, a pretty simple game,
the d20 system offers plenty of ways to generate and improve
your player character, something that's not the case with other
games similar to DB. Second, there's a multitude of combat options
- flanking and sneak attack, more spells than you could throw a
stick at, special attacks like trip and corresponding feats, and so
on - so it's more than just hacking the monsters with your sword.
Third, balance is the key. Character levels and challenge ratings,

while not perfect, offer the basic means to evaluate the power of
an encounter.
But note that CRs sometimes are off. Most of the time, a single
opponents of CR 5 is easier to defeat than a group of opponents of
EL 5. True dragons are more powerful than other creatures of the
same CR. But that shouldn't stop us use the d20 rules, right?
Because not every challenge should be equally hard - as long as the
party has a fair chance to survive, it's fine.

The Chapters
At first glance, Dungeon Bash's structure might seem confusing , so
let's take a look at the chapters. After this introduction, we'll first deal
with the classes, races and
party composition in Chapter
2, because the adventurers
With Dungeon Bash, you can...
play the most important part
in DB. Thereafter, we need to
- Play the lower levels to start a
know why the adventurers
"real" roleplaying campaign
enter the dungeon, and what
- Play in a pub or similar estabthe dungeon looks like - both
lishment
of which is detailed in
- Run an entire "random campaign"
Chapter 3. After the stage is
- Inspire your next dungeon crawl
thus set, we delve into the
action in Chapter 4, the core
of the DB rules, where you learn how encounters work, how to start
and resolve combat, how the PCs can interact with NPCs, and so on.
For those so inclined, Chapter 5 explains how to customize your
game, and how to make the gameplay more complex.
All the rules you need to play are in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 Chapter 5 is entirely optional, so don't bother with it if you don't
want to. Speaking of optional, there's Chapter 6 - in this last chapter you'll learn how to run a game of DB without a GM. If you don't
plan to ever do that, you could ignore that chapter as well. But
frankly, the solo play rules were one of the main concerns in designing this game, and chances are they are one of the reasons that
lured you into purchasing DB. Lastly, Chapter 7 will help you run
the high levels, as youll need additional rules above 8th level.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Dungeon Bash

Abbreviations & Glossary


AF
APL

Armor Factor
Average Party
Level

Used to determine opponent's action in solo play.


The difficulty of the dungeon largely depends on
this number. Add up all PC levels and divide by
the number of party members. It is modified for
parties of more or less than four PCs.
Behavior Subtype
Used to determine an opponents (re-)actions in
solo play.
Behavior Type
Melee, ranged or caster. Used to determine an
opponents (re-) actions in solo play, and helps place
the opponents on the board in any game variant.
DB
Dungeon Bash The name of the game.
ICN Initiative Count Determines initiative order in non-combat
Number
situations and provides a means to randomly
select player characters if necessary.
GM
Game Master
In DB, that's the person generating the quest(s),
dungeon, encounters and treasures.
Main Quest
The party's reason to venture into the dungeon.
NPC Non-Player
In DB, this term is used for any encounter that
Character
doesn't necessarily involve combat.
Party
The group of PCs as a whole.
PC
Player Character One of the adventurers that ventures into the
dungeon to solve a quest.
Random Encounter
In essence, a random encounter means a
wandering monster shows up.
Room Encounter
Every room holds some kind of encounter:
opponents, traps, or NPCs.
Special Quest
An alternative main quest acquired with one or
more skill checks.
Sub-Quest
A small quest done in the same dungeon as the
main quest.
Total Party Kill
All of the PCs are dead or unconscious, so no
healing can be applied. The party has failed.

Expanding the Game


First and foremost, this is your game. Modify it as you like. If you
only want to fight different kinds of oozes, that's great (if somewhat
strange): design your own encounter tables for that. If you've got an
idea for a friendly unicorn NPC: design your own rules, based on
one of the NPCs already in the game. And so on. We'd love to hear
about any changes and additions you've made to the game.
Furthermore, at www.theothergamecompany.com/products/
bash.htm, the Dungeon
Bash product page, you'll
Rule 0.5
find more DB material:
If you dislike any particular rule of
more opponents, more
Dungeon Bash, substitute it with the
original d20 rule if appropriate, or
come up with a rule of your own.

quests and the like. For instance, currently, at the time of


writing this, we're designing some low-level goblinoid
quests, encounter tables and appropriate opponents and
NPCs. Thereafter, we'll do mid-level drows, and plenty
more - all in due course. And because these are web-enhancements, they're free.
Then, if there's demand, there will be full-fledged
expansions for the game. During development, we scrapped
many ideas that were either too complicated, or not important
enough for the basic game, or which would distract from the
main focus of the game (which is, as you might have guesssed, dungeon crawls). City and wilderness adventures, highlevel rules, and an expanded campaign play come to mind,
among other things.
If you want to see expansions (or suggestions for more
web enhancement quest like goblinoids or drow), just send
an email to Stefan, the lead designer, at stefan@theothergamecompany.com.
All expansions, once they're published, can be found on
our vendor page at RPGNow.com.
Additionally, we're developing a card-based system to
generate the dungeon and encounters. The dungeon cards
will feature illustrations of the rooms and corridors, so that
you instantly know which tiles to use. The encounter cards
give all the rules and statistics for the opponents, NPCs and
traps. As with our well-known card products (the Complete
Spell Cards for example) you'll need to print and cut these
cards yourself. This expansion will be a permanent addition
to DB for no extra charge.

Dungeon Bash in a nutshell

Choose a character (or make your own). Determine the quest.


Roll on the Dungeon Generator (see Chapter 3) once to
determine the entrance section of the dungeon. Place the
player characters any way you choose on the first board
section (the dungeon's entrance).
1. Roll for random encounters, and increase the chance of random encounters (see Chapter 4). If a random encounter does occur,
roll on the Random Encounter Table.
2. If in a fight, all characters act in order of initiative.
Otherwise, the highest initiative PC goes first (Initiative Count
Number 1 - see Chapter 4), then the next highest, and so on. If any
characters can see a part of the dungeon that wasn't previously generated, generate that part. If a character opens a door, roll on the
Room Encounter Table.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you've solved the quest and left the
dungeon (if appropriate - see Chapter 3 for quest details).

Dungeon Bash

Chapter 2: Player Characters

Player Characters

his chapter briefly describes how to build characters for DUNGEON BASH games. Although the standard d20 rules for character
creation are used, some word of advice is needed for this specific game, as it will be quite different to your usual roleplaying experience. For instance, as the main focus of DB is on combat - this need not be true for your normal roleplaying games - and the action
takes place underground, not in a city nor in the wilderness - some characters are more useful than others.
You should try to build groups of four characters, because the basic d20 system - and therefore DUNGEON BASH too - was balanced
with four characters in mind. Otherwise, the challenges provided by the encounter tables might prove too tough or too easy.
You'll find advice on all these questions in this chapter.

The Adventuring Party


Ideally, a party consists of four characters: one melee combatant (for
instance: a fighter), a character who can find and disable traps (a
rogue), an arcane spellcaster (a wizard or sorcerer), and a divine
spellcaster (a cleric).
You may slightly change the classes in the usual way. For
instance, you could substitute the fighter with a barbarian, or the
cleric with a druid. See "Classes" below for a more elaborate explanation.

Races
Every player race is suitable for DB. Other races like orcs or bugbears may also be suitable. The DMG gives more information on
this subject.
Our advice is that you start playing at character level 1; therefore it won't be possible to play most non-standard races because of
HD and level adjustment. But if you ever need to substitute a character (because of untimely death, for example), such races might be
playable. See this chapter under "Player Character Death".

Classes
Remember, this game is mainly about combat. Make sure that your
character can hold her own in a fight. Furthermore, the game is set
in dungeons, caverns and the like, so some skills and abilities will
be of little use. That said, future expansions (or your own house
rules, for that matter) may change this to some degree, and virtuallly every skill and ability already has SOME use in DB.
Conclusion: each party should consist of (exactly) one rogue
and a cleric as well as a fighter-type and another spellcaster (another divine or preferably an arcane spellcaster). That would make up
a standard party - any changes, and you're on your own. Don't blame
us if you don't get very far.
Let's take a quick look at the different basic classes:
Barbarian: Perfectly suited. Since he's not normally wearing heavy
armor, opponents might focus attacks on the barbarian (especially if you're using the rules from CHAPTER 6), and that's a
good thing as it keeps the opponents away from the weaker
party members.

Bard: Not recommended. Bardic Knowledge will be of little to no


use. Although the bard may be a substitute for a rogue, the
rogue is better on every account. On the other hand, a bard
might have enough roguish skills to substitute for one, and he
has some spellcasting abilities, and bardic music is always a
boon.
Cleric: Perfectly suited. In fact, every party should include a cleric.
It's the class with the best healing capability, and clerics can
protect themselves pretty well thanks to their proficiency with
heavy armor.
Druid: Not recommended. Too many of the druids skills and abilities
deal with wilderness.
Without that environMulticlassing
ment, the druid is little
more than a weaker cleYou can multiclass as usual, but
ric. Remember that the
keep in mind that while this allows
animal companion will
for greater flexibility, it also caps
most likely not feel at
the power level of each class - a
home underground. That
fighter/wizard will be a better fighsaid, the druid is the
ter than a pure wizard, but worse
arguably the second-best
than a pure fighter, and he can cast
healer, and shapeshifting
some, but less powerful spells than
gives him some melee
a pure wizard.
capability, so adding a
The same is not necessarily
druid as second spellcastrue for some prestige classes, so
ter (after the cleric) might
these may be viable for multiclassstill work.
sing. For example, if a prestige
Fighter: Perfectly suited.
class grants normal spell progressMay well be the archetysion for your wizard or sorcerer,
pical dungeon-basher.
that prestige class should work out
Versatile, tough and
fine (especially for sorcerers,
capable.
because except for spell progressMonk: Possible. Enhanced
sion they don't benefit very much
speed and mobility
from moving up to the next level).
might be a reason to take
this class, but more often
than not a straight fighter is the better basher.
Paladin: Suitable, although some abilities are of little use (notably
the paladins mount, but only to a lesser extent if you're using
the 3.5 rules, as they can now be summoned).
Ranger: May be used, although many skills on the rangers skill list
are of little use in a dungeon setting. Still, he might reap some
mileage out of survival (see skills, below). The rangers

Chapter 2: Player Characters

Average Party Level


The Average Party Level (APL) is used to determine encounter and
quest difficulty. Just add up the levels of all player characters, and
divide by the number of characters. Then modify the result as
follows in case the party has not exactly four members:
-2 for three PCs at character levels 7 or more
-1 for three PCs at character levels 1-6
+1 for five PCs at character levels 1-6
+2 for five PCs at character levels 7 or more
+2 for six PCs at character levels 1-4
+3 for six PCs at character levels 5 or more.
Note: If only one character
falls
into another category (one
Maximum character level
character of 7th level adventuTheoretically, you could play DB
ring with four 6th level characup to level 20 with the same chaters, for example), that categoracters - but that's not recommenry is used to calculate the APL.
ded. The standard dungeon enviA
few
ronment tends to break at midexamples: Four
levels, as spells and abilities that
characters, all
allow for few (if any) movement
at level 3,
restrictions, coupled with scrying,
would have an
could enable the party to find the
APL of 3. Four
quest room in an instant.
characters, levels
So beware when using PCs
3, 3, 3 and 4,
higher than level 8. The basic DB
would also have
rules will only support gameplay
an APL of 3
up to and including that level - for
(13/4=3.25, rounlevels above that, youll have to
ded down). Four
use the rules provided in Chapter 7
characters, levels
of this book.
3, 3, 4 and 4,
If thats what you want to do:
would have an
more power to you. In addition to
APL
of
4
Chapter 7, youll also need a good
(14/4=3.5, rounsuspension of disbelieve...
ded up). Five characters, levels 3, 3,

4, 4 and 4, would have an APL of 5 (18/5=3.6, rounded up to 4, plus


1). Six characters, levels 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, would have an APL of 8
(32/6=5.33, rounded down to 6, plus 2).
All in all, it's best if all characters have the same level, as this
not only makes the math very simple (the APL is equal to each character's level), it also allows all characters to shine, and no PC
should feel useless (and never, ever play with characters who are
more than one level apart.). Also, it must be said that the whole
APL/EL-system is fragile, to say the least, so tread with care.

Character Sheets
Special single-page and half-page character sheets are included (see
the Character Sheet PDF). For your convenience, we've made some
archetypical characters - half-orc fighter, dwarf cleric, human sorcerer and halfling rogue - of levels 1, 3, 5 and 10, so you can start
playing right away without the need to make your own characters
(which, as we all know, might take a while), and you can even start
at higher levels if you're so inclined (but take note of the sidebar
about maximum character levels).
You could of course use your own character sheets if that's
more to your liking. But, whatever the sheet you're using, make sure
to add the Initiative Count Number (ICN) and the Armor Factor
(AF) to the character sheet, if you're using these rules. Chapter 4:
The Adventure tells you why you'll need the ICN, and Chapter 6:
Solo Play explains the AF and its application.

Player Character Death


It could happen, and in fact quite likely it will happen: a player character dies. No doubt about it, adventuring is dangerous, and any
dungeon may be the last dungeon your character sees. This is true
for every d20 game, but goes double for DB.
New characters begin playing at a level equal to the APL, at
minimum experience points. At this time you may choose to play a
non-standard race with level adjustment.

Illustration: Sergio Villa Isaza

favorite enemy ability should be considered when designing


encounter tables (see Chapter 5: Advanced Rules), or else the
ranger may prove to be too weak.
Rogue: Suitable, and every party should include a rogue to deal with
traps, silently scout ahead, and open locked doors and chests (if
you use the rules from Chapter 5: Advanced Rules).
Sorcerer/Wizard: Perfectly suited. A wizard is better if you select
your spells according to the encounter tables. This isn't recommended, but it's perfectly reasonable to change spells once you're having a rest in the dungeon, of course.
Psionic characters: It's possible to use psionic characters too, of
course, and each class would fill out a certain role. For instance: psions and wilders could be substitutes for casters, psychic
warriors and soulknifes for fighter-types.
Prestige classes: There are way too many prestige classes to discuss
them all. But if you take the above advice to heart, it should be
pretty easy to judge if a certain prestige class is worth it. See
the sidebar on multiclassing.

Dungeon Bash

Dungeon Bash

Animal companions, familiars and


mounts
Animal companions: If the animal used as a companion isn't too big
- the size of a wolf or smaller - it should be possible to take it
with you adventuring. But beware: animal companions are
never as tough as the party's fighter, while at the same time they
have no ranged attack, so they might well be the first to die. As
noted under classes, above, those classes with animal companions aren't the fittest for a game of DB anyway.
Familiars: These animals are nearly useless in a fight - and what
small benefit they bring is offset by their fragility. That said,
they might make good scouts, but again, that's pretty dangerous.
Mounts: It would be pretty hard to take your horse or other mount
down into the dungeon - the ceiling might be too low, the entrance too steep, and so on. As a general rule, it's just not possible.

Skills
No skill is entirely useless in DB, but some skills will give you more
mileage per rank, and a few are only used under very specific circumstances.
Essential skills for any adventuring party: Disable device, open
lock, search.
Useful skills for any player character: Heal, listen, knowledge,
spot, survival.
Beneficial skills during or prior to combat: Balance, bluff, concentration, escape artist, hide, move silently, tumble, use magic
device.
Don't forget about social skills (diplomacy and intimidation),
because sooner or later you will encounter non-hostile NPCs. No
single skill is entirely useless, but some skills will only be of help in
some quests or sub-quest (see Chapter 4).
The following skills have additional rules or uses in DB, and
are presented here for your convenience. You can also find these
rules in the relevant chapters.
Appraise: Used to obtain some special quests (see Chapter 5).
Decipher Script: Used to obtain some special quests (see Chapter 5).
Diplomacy: If you meet an NPC (either unfriendly, indifferent, or
friendly; note: hostile creatures are never considered NPCs in
DB), you may try to influence the NPCs attitude with a succcessful diplomacy check using the usual rules: only one try per
NPC, and it either takes 10 consecutive full round actions or 1
full round action with a -10 penalty. Depending on the NPC in
question, a different attitude has different ramifications - see
Chapter 4 for details. Note: while there's a chance in every
round that a random encounter occurs, this might not be the
case in some rooms containing NPCs, as those room are considered a 'save haven'.
Disguise: Used to obtain some special quests (see Chapter 5).
Escape Artist: Used to obtain some special quests (see Chapter 5).
Forgery: Used to obtain some special quests (see Chapter 5).
Gather Information: Prior to an adventure you may try to Gather
Information on the dungeon you're about to visit. The DC is 15
plus APL. If you succeed, you've got a pretty good idea of
where the Main Quest Room is located - you start the game

Chapter 2: Player Characters

with a +1 bonus on finding the Quest Room. If you beat the DC


by 10 or more, you start with a +2 bonus on finding the Quest
Room. See Chapter 3 for details. Every PC may use this skill
only once prior to the adventure, and only the highest result
counts.
Hide: See Chapter 4 for the DB rules on surprise. Also used to
obtain some special quests (see Chapter 5).
Intimidate: Like Diplomacy, Intimidate can also help to influence
NPC attitudes. The standard rules apply. See Chapter 4 for
details.
Knowledge: As usual, you can use knowledge skills to identify a
creature's powers and abilities if using the rules from Chapter
6. Arcana (constructs, dragons, magical beasts),
Dungeoneering (aberrations, oozes), Local (humanoids),
Nature (animals, fey, giants, monstrous humanoids, plants, vermin), Religion (undead), The planes (outsiders, elementals).
See Chapter 6 for how this works in games without a GM. All
knowledge skills not listed here are only useful to acquire special quests (see Chapter 5).
Knowledge (dungeoneering): The synergy bonus for this skill
applies to survival rolls made to find and secure resting areas
(see Chapter 4).
Listen: See Chapter 4 for the DB rules on surprise.
Move Silently: See Chapter 4 for the DB rules on surprise.
Ride: Most dungeons are too small to take a mount with you, so ride
is not very useful under most circumstances. The paladin's
mount is an exception, as it can be summoned. Beside that, this
skill is used to obtain some special quests (see Chapter 5).
Search: In rooms with no other door beside the entrance door, you
can search for secret doors. The DC to find a secret door is
20+APL. Additionally, you can search any room without a
treasure chest (DC 20). If you succeed, you find APLx1d6 gp.
For every 5 points above 20, you find additional APLx1d6 gp.
Sleight of Hand: Used to
obtain some special
Earning money
quests (see Chapter 5).
Additionally, you may
You could use Craft, Perform or
try to rob NPCs, as per
Profession in the 'downtime' between
the standard rules.
adventures to earn some money (or
Spot: See Chapter 4 for the
craft some item for yourself, for that
Dungeon Bash rules
matter) as usual. For simplicity's
on surprise.
sake, consider a downtime of 1d6
Survival: A successful roll
weeks between each quest.
(DC 10+APL) subtracts 1 from the
Random Encounter roll when resting. For every 5 points you
beat the DC, subtract 1 from the Random Encounter roll. See
Chapter 4 for details on resting.

Feats
As with skills, most feats are usable, but some will prove better than
others.
Not so useful feats: any skill-buff feats (unless all the bonus
applies to one or more of the essential skills), far shot (as you

Chapter 2: Player Characters


virtually never will need to shoot that far in a dungeon), mounted
archery (it's nearly always impossible to take a mount into the dungeon, unless you're a paladin of sufficient level to summon your
mount) and other feats for mounted combat (mounted combat, rideby attack, spirited charge, trample).
Forbidden feat: Leadership. This feat is optional anyway, and
would be too much of a hassle to include.
The following new feats will only proof useful when playing
Dungeon Bash, and are of no use anywhere else, so stay away from
these feats if you're planning to take your character to a standard
d20 game in the future.

Expert Watchperson
When it's your shift to watch at night, this feat will make it very hard
for enemies to surprise you and your party.
Benefit: You receive a +5 circumstance bonus on spot and listen
checks during your guard shift while the party is resting.
Additionally, if you aren't surprised on a random encounter
when it's your guard shift, you can immediately wake all other
party members.

Light Sleep
You are aware of dangers even when sleeping.
Benefit: When the party gets ambushed while resting, your character is considered awake no matter whose turn to watch it is. See
Chapter 4 for the rules on resting. Note that you still need to be
awake on your own shift.
Normal: Only the guard on shift while the random encounter occurs
is considered awake.

Track
You are able to check your environment for tracks, and that helps
you to prepare against ambushes.
Benefit: As a standard action, you can make a survival check to find
clues on any creatures in the vicinity. If you succeed on a DC
25 survival check, you are aware of every creature nearby.
Additionally, when resting in the dungeon, you may add +2 to
your survival check.
Note: This isn't a new
Alignment
feat, but rather additioMost of the time alignment won't matter
nal rules for the existat all. All player characters are free to
ing core feat and ranger
choose any alignment they want - but the
class ability.
quests and opponents aren't geared
toward evil characters, so stay away from
those alignments. Furthermore, purely
Spells
neutral (in regards to good and evil) parties aren't fun - especially if these alignSome
higher-level
ments are only chosen because they don't
spells could cause
suffer from Protection from Good spells
problems when using
and the like - so as a rule of thumb at least
them in a standard dunhalf the party should be of good aligngeon crawl (see sidebar
ment.
on maximum character
Alignment may change only under
levels), and some divithe most extreme circumstances (if the
nation spells just don't
party starts killing NPCs, for instance).
make sense when the
whole adventure is

Dungeon Bash
randomly generated. The following spells of levels 1 to 5 are forbidden: Augury, Commune, Commune with Nature, Contact Other
Plane, Divination, Plane Shift, Scrying.
Some other spells may not have any beneficial effect, but they're not forbidden. For following spells of levels 1 to 5 special rules
apply in the context of DB:
Alarm (Brd 1, Rgr 1, Sor/Wiz 1): The audible alarm is so loud that
you need to roll for random encounters after your rest was disturbed (that's not normally the case - see Chapter 4). Still, this
spell might be worthwhile as all party members are at least sure
to wake up.
Arcane Eye (Sor/Wiz 4): You can use the arcane eye for scouting.
Treat the eye as a character for that purpose. Since the arcane
eye can't open doors, it needs enough space to enter - chances
are 50/50 (11-20 on a d20) that the eye can enter and therefore
is able to spy out a room.
Arcane Lock (Sor/Wiz 2): With this spell, you can secure a room for
resting, but keep in mind that it's still possible to break the door.
Therefore you'll still need to roll whether the rest is disturbed.
If the opponents don't get into your room, they'll wait for you
outside, enforced by another random encounter.
Blink (Brd 3, Sor/Wiz 3): While blinking, you could step through
walls, but only if there's a door in the same wall no more than
10 feet away. If you succeed, you enter the room beyond. If you
don't succeed, you always end up where you started.
Detect [Alignment] (Clr1): All walls and doors are thick enough to
block these spells. Note: these spells are particularly useful
when using the solo play rules (see Chapter 6).
Detect Magic (Brd 0, Clr 0, Drd 0, Sor/Wiz 0): All walls and doors
are thick enough to block this spell.
Detect Secret Doors (Brd 1, Knowledge 1, Sor/Wiz 1): Casting this
spells grants you a +5 circumstance bonus on search checks to
find secret doors (see Chapter 4).
Detect Undead (Clr 1, Pal 1, Sor/Wiz 1): All walls and doors are
thick enough to block this spell.
Dimension Door (Brd 4, Sor/Wiz 4, Travel 4): You may only use
this spell to transfer to a part of the dungeon that's already
explored, or around not yet explored corners, or behind not yet
opened doors.
Fire Trap (Drd 2, Sor/Wiz 4): A good way to protect the entrance of the room you're resting in. If your rest is disturbed, that
random encounters suffers the full effect of this spell first determine at random which creature opens the door and therefore is the target of this spell's effect. If a rogue is part of
the random encounter, she can try to find and disarm the fire
trap first.
Fly (Sor/Wiz 3, Travel 3): Chapter 5 describes optional rules on
how to determine the heights of the rooms and corridors. If you
don't use these rules, simply assume that all rooms and corridors have a height of 20 feet - or higher if any encounter tables
used for this adventure features creatures larger than this.
Glyph of Warding (Clr 3): See notes on the fire trap spell, above.
Locate Creature (Brd 4, Sor/Wiz 4): If one of your quests involves
finding a particular creature or NPC, you receive a +1 bonus on
finding the quest room. You may only cast this spell once per
quest.
Locate Object (Brd 2, Clr 3, Sor/Wiz 2, Travel 2): If one of your

Dungeon Bash

Chapter 2: Player Characters / Chapter 3: The Dungeon

quests involves finding a particular object, you receive a +1


bonus on finding the quest room. You may only cast this spell
once per quest.
Passwall (Sor/Wiz 5): You can only create passages close to doors
to the room beyond (see notes on the dimensional door spell,
above), or between two sections of the dungeon that aren't
connected yet (measure the distance using spare corridor sections).
Prying Eyes (Sor/Wiz 5): See notes on the arcane eye spell, above.
Rope Trick (Sor/Wiz 2): One of the best spells to secure the resting
period, as it makes resting 100% save in DB. There's a catch,
though: make a single random encounter roll when resting - if
a random encounter does occur, a group of opponents has

chosen to set up camp right below the party. These opponents


are not aware of the party.
Secure Shelter (Brd 4, Sor/Wiz 4): See notes on the alarm and the
arcane lock spells, above.
Stone Shape (Clr 3, Drd 3, Earth 3, Sor/Wiz 5): You can only form
doors if there actually is a room or corridor on the other side
(see notes on the blink spell, above).
Symbol [any]: See notes on the fire trap spell, above.
Teleport (Sor/Wiz 5, Travel 5): This is the quickest way to leave a
dungeon, of course. Apart from that, you may only use this
spell to transfer to a part of the dungeon that's already explored,
or to transfer around not yet explored corners, or behind not yet
opened doors.

The Dungeon

hile the Game Master is free to design her own dungeons anyway she chooses, this chapter describes the means to randomly generate the dungeon environment. It depends on whether you've got your own dungeon building material (for instance: a battlemap
or similar) or if you're are using the dungeon tiles coming with Dungeon Bash. The main rules in this chapter assume that you're using the basic Dungeon Bash floor plans. If not, Chapter 5 gives advice on how to design your own Dungeon Generator based on the
material you own, and offers a more complex generator too (named Advanced Dungeon Generator).
What you'll need first is the quest for the party. This sets the stage for the adventure, and may influence dungeon generating, as noted
under the quest description where appropriate. In this chapter you'll learn two things: first and foremost how to generate the dungeon, and
second why the characters venture into the dungeon in the first place. So let's start with the latter.

The Quests
The Main Quest is resolved in the "Main Quest Room". See
"Dungeon Generating" below for more details. Note: Chapter 5
expands this topic by introducing side-quests and special quest that
must be discovered by the PCs first.
Roll 1d100 on table 3.1 to determine your Main Quest.

Quest Descriptions
Fight the Warlord
Description: A new warlord has arisen in a nearby dungeon. The
mayor has hired the party to descend into the dungeon and smash
the evil warlord. Roll on the Quest Room Encounter Table to
find out who the warlord is (he's the most powerful (highest CR)
of all creatures in the Quest Room - if two or more creatures
have the same highest CR, determine the warlord among these
at random).
Rules: Use the appropriate encounter tables (either use the standard
tables or adjust them to fit the warlord). No need to back out of the
dungeon once the warlord has been defeated - the dungeon counts
as cleared out.
Reward: APL x 500 gp

Capture the Warlord


Description: A new warlord has arisen in a nearby dungeon. The
mayor has hired the party to descend into the dungeon and capture the evil warlord. Roll on the Quest Room Encounter Table
to find out who the warlord
is (he's the most powerful
(highest CR) of all creatures
Table 3.1: Main Quests
in the Quest Room - if two
d100
Main Quest
or more creatures have the
same highest CR, determine
01-30
Fight the Warlord
the warlord among these at
31-34
Capture the Warlord
random).
35-45
Monster Infection
Rules: Use the appropriate
46-52
Monster Hunt
encounter tables (either use
53-57
Treasure Hunt
the standard tables or adjust
58-60
The Wager
them to fit the warlord). No
61-64
Rescue Mission
need to back out of the dun65-70
Exploration
geon once the warlord has
71-76
A Race against Time
been defeated - the dungeon
77-80
Seek the Antidote
counts as cleared out. The
81-85
Know Your Enemy
reward will only be paid if the
86-89
Scattered Symbols
warlord survived the encoun90-94
Curse that Item!
ter (if he's unconscious but
95-96
Retrieve the Artifact
not dead).
97-100
Blow the Dam
Reward: APL x 650 gp

Chapter 3: The Dungeon

Dungeon Bash

Monster Infection

Rescue Mission

Description: A horde of creatures is troubling a town nearby, and the


party is hired to clear out their lair.
Rules: There's no Quest Room. You've got to fight 10 groups of
opponents (use a d10 or d20 to count them). Once all these groups
have been beaten, the dungeon is considered cleared and the objective is accomplished. There's no need to back out of the dungeon.
Reward: APL x 300 gp

Description: The daughter or son of the local king (roll 1d6: 1-3
princess, 4-6 prince) has been kidnapped and is held for ransom.
The party's job, of course, is to rescue the princess or prince.
Rules: The princess or prince is a noble (level = APL -3) and avoids
fights at all costs: never attacks, always makes a full move away
from an enemy if threatened - unless this would draw attacks of
opportunity, in which case she or he takes only a 5 ft. step. Only
HP (level * 4) and AC (10 + APL) are needed. All creatures in this
dungeon try their best to attack the prince or princess, but will only
deal nonlethal damage (-4 on attacks), as they're trying to capture
her or him back.
Reward: APL x 600 gp

Monster Hunt
Description: A terrible monster (or group of monsters) is roaming
the countryside by night. By day it retreats to its lair, and that's
where the party comes in: they venture to the creature's lair by day
and kill it. Choose any kind of creature with a CR at least 2 points
higher than the APL (exception: with APL 1, the creature's CR
should be 2), or roll on the Monster Hunt table.
Rules: There are no other creatures except for the monster(s) hunted
by the PCs in the quest room.
Reward: APL x 500 gp

Treasure Hunt
Description: Rumors of a great treasure in a nearby dungeon
abound, and the party goes after it.
Rules: Once the Quest Room is cleared of all opponents, the PCs
can open the four chests in it. Generate four treasures of a level
equal to the APL.
Reward: No additional reward besides the extra treasure.

The Wager
Description: A guy in a tavern is betting that the PCs won't survive
a nearby dungeon which he claims is far too tough for them. The
PCs can either bet up to APL x 500 gp or decline. If they decline,
generate another quest immediately.
Rules: This quest uses the same rules as "Monster Infection" (total
of 10 encounters, and so on), with the following additions: All
opponents in this dungeon are all naturally tough. Increase the natural armor bonus by 1 for each creature. If for any reason the party
should back out of the dungeon before they've cleared it, they've
lost their wager.
Reward: Twice the PCs wager.

Exploration
Description: The party is hired to map a cavern. Their job is done
once there aren't any unopened doors and unexplored corridors left.
Rules: Never place more than 1 door per roll. The "rule of the last
door" (see below) doesn't apply, but rather the party has mapped
the whole dungeon in that case. There is no Main Quest Room.
The party needs to back out once they accomplished their mission.
Reward: APL x 400 gp

A Race against Time


Description: The party needs to deliver a message to a kingdom on
the other side of a mountain range. There is an underground passsage which is the fastest way through the mountains - but it's dangerous. Time is of the essential.
Rules: No doors, no rooms, just corridors. No dead ends (if you
generate a dead end, substitute it with a section of corridor). A
"room encounter" occurs every time you generate 2 or more doors
at the same time. The dungeon is at least 14 sections long - once
you've generated 14 or more sections, the last section generated is
the exit. The party has 40 rounds to reach the other side to fulfil
their assignment (use 2d20 to track turns).
Reward: APL x 300 gp

Seek the Antidote


Description: A town is held hostage by a gang of monsters. The
monsters have poisoned the town's water supply, and most people

Monster Hunt
APL / d6

1 Boar

1 Dire Badger

1 Worg

2 Wolves

1 Dire Ape

1 Dire Wolf

1 Monstrous
Spider (large)
1 Hell Hound

1 Dire Boar

1 Dire Boar

1 Owlbear

1 Otyugh

1 Dire Lion

1 Manticore

4
5

1 Dire Lion
1 Megaraptor

1 Basilisk
1 Wyvern

1 Megaraptor
1 Dire Bear

6
7

1 Bulette
1 Behir

1 Manticore
1 Shambling
Mound
1 Chimera
1 Dire Tiger

1 Blue Dragon
Wyrmling
1 Red Dragon
Wyrmling
2 Dire Wolves
2 Otyughs

1 White Dragon
Wyrmling
1 Owlbear

1 Dire Bear
1 Gorgon

1 Behir
1 Bone Devil

1 Wyvern
1 Black Dragon
(Juvenile)
1 Tyrannosaurus
1 Vrock

1 Bone Devil

1 Vrock

2 Chimeras

2 Dire Tigers

2 Behirs

10

1 Red Dragon (Young)


1 White Dragon
(Young Adult)
2 Dire Bears

Dungeon Bash

are already dying. The monsters demand a ransom of 20,000 gp


for the antidote, but the villagers could not pay that much, even if
they wanted. The PCs are hired to get the antidote - through force!
Rules: The toughest (highest CR, determine randomly if tied) opponent in the main quest room has the antidote, and the PCs can take
it after they've defeated him. Thereafter, they need to back out of
the dungeon. If the PC who holds the antidote should ever be reduced to less than 0 HP and goes down, the nearest (if more than one:
the fastest) opponent grabs the antidote and moves back toward
the Main Quest Room. By the time the PCs get back to the Main
Quest Room there'll be reinforcements waiting for them - roll up a
random encounter.
Reward: APL x 600 gp

Know Your Enemy


Description: A new warlord has arisen in a nearby dungeon, but
most likely he's far too powerful for the party to confront him right
away. Their mission is not to kill or capture him, but rather to get
in, take a look at the warlord, and get the hell out.
Rules: Once the party reaches the Main Quest Room, roll on the
appropriate quest room encounter tables two levels higher than the
APL.
Bonus Equipment: Caltrops (3 bags per PC). This might help the
party cover their escape.
Reward: APL x 600 gp (if they actually manage to beat all opponents in the main quest room, they'll be awarded APL x 1000 gp)

Scattered Symbols
Description: The three royal symbols were stolen from the king and
queen by a bunch of thieves hiding in a nearby dungeon. The party's mission is to retrieve the symbols.
Rules: Every large room is a Quest Room (no need to roll) and holds
one symbol. Once they've found and retrieved all three symbols,
they need to back out of the dungeon. Quest rooms can have doors
(this is an exception to the usual rule).
Reward: APL x 700 gp

Curse that Item!


Description: One of the PCs (determined randomly) has picked up
a cursed item in a previous adventure. After consulting a sage they
learn about the only way to remove the item: bringing it to the
place where it was created. Roll a d6 to determine the cursed item
on the table below. If the PC in question can't use that item (for
instance: an arcane spell caster and the Armor of Arrow Attraction)
or does not usually use such items (for instance: a fighter and the
Bracers of Defenselessness), reroll and determine another PC as
the owner of the item. If none of the PCs can use it, reroll the cursed item. If only one PC can use it than he is the owner!
1. Armor of Arrow Attraction (+3 full plate, but -15 AC
against ranged attacks)
2. Boots of Dancing (when in or fleeing from melee combat,
wearer behaves as if irresistible dance was cast on her)
3. Bracers of Defenselessness (-5 to AC)
4. Ring of Clumsiness (as ring of feather falling, plus: -4 to
Dexterity, additional 20% chance of spell failure when
casting spells with a somatic component)

Chapter 3: The Dungeon

5. Stone of Weight (haves movement)


6. -2 cursed weapon (PCs favorite melee weapon; use the
rules of a -2 cursed sword)
Rules: The PCs is stuck with the item until she reaches the Quest
Room and all opponents in the room are defeated. Reaching the
Quest Room is the only way to get rid of the cursed item, no mattter what the rules of a particular item say. The PC already knows
about the curse, and it is already in effect.
Reward: The group gets rid of the cursed item.
Special: Ignore this quest and roll again on the Main Quest table if
this is the party's first adventure.

Retrieve the Artifact


Description: A mighty artifact was stolen from a local temple, and
the party is hired to retrieve it. Roll a d6 on the table below to
determine what artifact was stolen. That artifact is in the possesssion of a warlord (highest CR opponent in the main quest room,
determine randomly if tied).
1-2. Book of Infinite Spells
3. Hammer of Thunderbolts
4. Staff of the Magi
5. The Saint's Mace
6. The Shield of the Sun
Rules: On their way back out the PCs are free to use the artifact, but
once they're out, they're supposed to give it to their employer.
They may not deplenish any abilities of the artifact (for example:
they may not turn pages of the Book of Infinite Spells, they can
therefore only use the first random spell; they may not use any
abilities of the Staff of the Magi which use charges; and so on).
Reward: APL x 500 gp - this becomes a penalty of APL x 2,000 gp
if the party has depleted the artifact in any way.

Blow the Dam


Description: The mountain range nearby is infested by legions upon
legions of monsters. These creatures are now preparing to invade
the country. The only way to get rid of them is to flood the dungeon they live in. The party's job: Bring explosives to the Main
Quest Room, set it on fire and get the hell out! That'll cause the
lake above to flood the dungeon.
Rules: Count the number of sections from the Quest Room to the
exit and multiply that number by 4 - that's the time (in turns) before the explosives blow up. If the PCs don't get out in time they're
drowned , unless they don't succeed on a Fortitude save: DC = 10
+ (2x number of sections left to the exit). A successful swim check
reduces the save DC by 1 for every point above 15.
Reward: APL x 800 gp

Dungeon Generating
Each time one of the PCs moves around a corner to a section of the
dungeon not yet explored or opens a door, instantly generate the
new terrain on table 3.2: Main Exploration Table. Each time one of
the PCs opens a door that hasn't been opened before, roll on table
3.3: Door Opened From Corridor or table 3.4: Door Opened From
Room, whatever is appropriate.

11

Chapter 3: The Dungeon

Table 3.2: Main Exploration Table


d20

Tile

1-3
4-6
7-9
10-11
12

1 Section, Dead End, 1 Door


Corner, 1 Door
1 Section, Corner, 1 Door
T-Junction, 1 Door
1 Section, Intersection, Dead
End, 2 Doors
13
1 Section, Intersection,
Corner, 1 Door
14
1 Section, T-Junction, Corner
15
1 Section, T-Junction,
1 Section, Corner, 1 Door
16-17 1 Section, Dead End, 2 Doors
18-19 2 Sections, Dead End, 2 Doors
20
1 Section, T-Junction,
1 Section, Corner, 2 Doors

Dungeon Bash
See Chapter 5 for a
more detailed and complex
method.
Main Quest Room:
For each Large Room, roll
1d6, and add 2 for each previous large room already
explored - with a result of 6
or more it's the quest room.
A quest room has no additional doors, unless noted
otherwise in the quest's
description.
Notes: All doors are
exits (not counting any
doors - usually just one leading to this room).

Dimensions

Tables 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4 tell


you what floor tiles to
place. If you're not using the basic floor tiles, here's a quick guideline on the size of floor tiles:
Small room: 2 to 5 squares wide, 4 to 7 squares long (standard: 4x6).
Large room: 4 to 8 squares wide, 6 to 10 squares long (standard:
6x8).
Corridor section: 2 to 4 squares wide, 3 to 6 squares long (standard:
2x4).
Dead end, t-junction, intersection: as appropriate to the corridor.

Placement of Terrain
Place any tiles in such a way that they don't overlap. Should you
ever be unable to place a tile, choose a different one that fits (a dead
end, for example). Each roll on the exploration tables generates as
many tiles as the party can
see, so you need to place
Table 3.3: Door Opened from
them accordingly. For
Corridor
instance, on a roll of 10 or
d20
Tile
11 on the Main Exploration
Table, the t-junction must
1-6
Small Room
be placed so that there are
7-10
Small Room, 1 Door
11-12
Small Room, 2 Doors
two ways, one to the left
13-16
Large Room
and one to the right.
17-19
Large Room, 1 Door
Corridors: All tiles
20
Large Room, 2 Doors
form a straight line. For
instance: a result of 14 on
the Main Exploration Table
Table 3.4: Door Opened from Room means that you place a single section, followed by a td20
Tile
junction, followed by a cor1-6
Corridor (roll again on the
ner (example: illustration
corridor table)
3.1).
7-11
Small Room
Rooms: If in any
12-15
Small Room, 1 Door
doubt, place the shorter
16-17
Large Room
wall towards the entrance
18-20
Large Room, 1 Door
door. You should only place
the larger wall at the

12

entrance door if the room


doesn't overlap (example:
illustration 3.2).
Doors: No more than one
door per floor tile, unless the
floor tile is a room or if you
need to place more doors than
you've got floor tiles. In either
case, don't place more than
one door per wall segment.
When starting your
adventure, place a single corrridor segment - this is the
dungeon entrance. Then,
before placing the PCs, roll
once on table 3.1 and place
the terrain.

Exploration

Illustration 3.1: Placement of corridors

Each time a PC moves around a corner to a section of the dungeon


not yet explored, and each time a PC opens a door that has not been
opened before, you instantly generate the new terrain. This interrrupts the turn for that PC - she can continue once the terrain was placed. However, encounters still interrupt a PC's action (usually if you
open the door to a room). See Chapter 4 for details.

Rule of the Last Door


Rule of the Last Door: Once you've opened the last door (with no
other doors leading out of that room or corridor) you've found the
quest room. No matter what you generated, it's always a large room,
and always holds the quest room encounter.

Illustration 3.2: Placement of rooms

Dungeon Bash

Chapter 4: The Adventure

The Adventure

ow that you know what quest your characters are trying to accomplish, and how to generate the environment, it's time for some
action! As described in Chapter 3, the party of adventurers starts on a single corridor section functioning as entrance to the dungeon, the first tiles should have been generated before the actual adventure commences. Now all the PCs've got to do is make their
first steps, and start and finish their adventure. This chapter tells you how.

Average Party Level and Encounter


Levels
TheAverage Party Level (APL) determines how powerful opponents and traps are, because all encounter levels range from APL-2
to APL+3 (the latter is very rare - the highest encounter level, only
possible in the quest room - but still possible). So if, for example,
the APL of your party is 3, encounters will range from EL 1 to EL
6.
Each APL has its own set of encounter tables. There's a
Random Encounter Table for levels 1 to 8, a Room Encounter Table
for levels 1 to 8, and a Quest Room Encounter Table for levels 1 to
8 - see the included document named encounter tables.
In a single adventure, you'll only need those encounter tables
equal to your APL - and all three of them. Chapter 5 gives you the
rules on how to design your own encounter tables.

Initiative Count Number


An adventuring party in Dungeon Bash ideally consists of exactly
four player characters (see Chapter
2). Because characters act in turn,
you'll need the Initiative Count
Number (ICN) for all turns while not
in combat to quicken the game.
Here's what you need to do:
compare the initiative boni of all
party members. Highest bonus gets ICN 1, second highest ICN 2,
and so on. In case of a tie, you're free to choose who'll receive the
higher ICN, but once you've decied, you'll have to stick to that decision. When not in combat, the player characters always act in order
of ICN. ICN 1 goes first, then ICN 2, and so on. Plain and simple.
You'll also need the ICN for one other thing: if, for whatever
reason, you need to randomly determine which party member is the
target of a particular effect, simply roll a d4. Whose ICN comes up
on that roll is the target.

Turn Sequence
1. Random Encounter Roll and adjustment of the Random
Encounter Number
2. Actions (in order of initiative)

Random Encounter Roll


Once you enter the dungeon, you set the Random Encounter
Number to its starting position. In phase 1 of every turn, you make
a Random Encounter Roll: roll a d20, and if the score is equal to or
lower than the Random Encounter Number, a random encounter
occurs. In that case, roll once on the appropriate Random Encounter
Table (the table of your APL). See the companion document named
encounter tables for the standard tables.
You don't make a Random Encounter Roll under the following
circumstances:
a) The party has found the main quest roll. The final battle of the
adventure is tough enough, and further encounters would probably
end in total party kill.
b) Two hostile encounters (either two random encounters at the
same time, or one room encounter and one random encounter) are
already taking place and not yet resolved. More than two simultaneous hostile encounters also would have a high chance of total
party kill.
c) An NPC encounter is taking place. These encounters can take a
very long time (just making a diplomacy check usually takes 10

rounds), so the chance of random encounters would be very high,


and that doesn't make any sense. See Non-Player Characters below
for further details.
After you've checked whether a random encounter occurs,
increase the Random Encounter Number by one, unless the party is
interacting with one or more NPCs.
Note that the Random Encounter Number is adjusted before
and after combat, as indicated on the table. So once combat breaks
out, the chance for random encounters is set to a medium level, as
the sound of battle might attract more opponents (if the chance of
random encounters was previously low), while at the same time it's
not very likely that there are more opponents in the immediate vicinity (if the chance of random encounters was previously high). After
the combat, the chance for random encounters is pretty low again,
as all opponents in the immediate vicinity are already defeated.

13

Chapter 4: The Adventure

Room Encounters
While random encounters may or may not happen - in corridors or
rooms, while in combat or not - one thing is certain: every single
room holds some kind of encounter - be it opponents, traps, or NPC,
or several of the above.
As soon as you've placed the room and after you've checked
whether it's a quest room, roll on the Room Encounter Table or on
the Quest Room Encounter Table, if it's a quest room. See the included document encounter tables for the standard tables.
The Random Encounter Number is modified again if a combat
occurs. This modification is the same as after random encounters.
See Random Encounter Roll, above.

Combat
If, for any reason - be it a room or a random encounter, or an NPC
encounter gone wrong - a fight breaks out, the current turn (where
the PCs have been acting in
order of ICN) immediately
ends and initiative is rolled. If
A word on items
any of the PCs has not yet acted
Assume that each creature and
in that turn, her action is lost character, PCs and everybody
she can't postpone the action,
else, has the weapon with the best
but she may of course act as
attack bonus ready, and if that
normal during the fight.
weapon is a crossbow, at the
Actions are taken by the
beginning of the combat it's loacharacters and their opponents
ded by default.
(if any) in order of initiative.
PCs could state otherwise, of
Initiative is only rolled again
course, but if they don't, the
when are new opponents appeabove is assumed.
ar on the board where previously there were none. In every
other case (for example, if creatures generated by a random encounter enter the fray while the characters are already in combat), all participants are stuck with their
initial initiative roll.

Surprise and Awareness


Either side, the party or their opponents, might be surprised at the
beginning of the combat. This can happen in one of four ways:
- The PCs might surprise
their opponents when opening a
Buff Them Up
door into a room. Every PC less
than 20 ft. (4 squares) away
If spellcasting opponents get the
from the door opened must
chance, they'll use their spells to
make a Move Silently check
buff themselves and their allies.
opposed by Listen checks by
Of course they need to know that
the enemies. If the opponents
the party is approaching, so theysucceed on this check, they're
'll at least have to be aware of the
considered aware of the party
PCs. Assume that they had one
and aren't surprised. If they
turn to cast, plus one turn per 5
don't, then all PCs may act in
points that their group's Listen
the surprise round.
check has beaten the PCs Move
- If they're aware of the
Silently check.
PCs, all opponents who've got

14

Dungeon Bash
the hide skill listed in their stats block may try to hide themselves
(or, more precisely, actually already did so before the PCs opened
the door) by making a hide check opposed by the PC's spot checks.
There's enough furniture in every room for all creatures to hide
behind (but see Chapter 5 for alternative rules). Any creature that
wasn't spotted by at least one PC may act in the surprise round.
- The PCs might be surprised by random encounters. The opponents make a Move Silently check opposed by the PCs' Listen check.
Only those opponents with ranks in the Move Silently skill try to
sneak up to the PCs, and only those can get a surprise round that way.
If some opponents have ranks in the Move Silently skill, they'll lead
ahead and may act in the surprise round, and the other opponents
won't enter the board until the surprise round (if any) is over.
- If the PCs succeed on their listen check and there's a place to
hide (assume that there's room for only one PC to hide behind in an
average corridor section, and again: see CHAPTER 5 for alternative rules) they may try to do so by making a Hide check opposed by
their opponents Spot check. If successful, these PCs may act in the
surprise round.
Some opponents have special abilities that offer them a somewhat different approach to surprising the party. For instance, a gargoyle could use it's freeze ability if aware of the party, or a mimic
could appear to be an object like a chest. If an opponent has such an
ability, and if that opponent is aware of the party, that ability will
take effect, and if they succeed, the PCs are surprised.

Placement of Opponents
Opponents fall into different behavior categories: melee, ranged and
caster. The included document titled opponents lists the type of each
creature in their stats blocks. If you want to add different creatures
to the list of opponents, see Chapter 5. Note that some creatures
have behavior subtypes - these are only used in solo play (see
Chapter 6).
How to place opponents depends on whether it's a room
encounter or a random encounter, and whether the opponents are
aware of the party:
- If the opponents in a room are aware (no matter if they surprise the
party or not): place melee opponents within two squares of the entrance, ranged combatants two or more squares behind them, and
casters at the other end of the room (Illustration 4.1).

Illustration 4.1: Prepared opponents in rooms

Dungeon Bash

Chapter 4: The Adventure

Illustration 4.2: Unprepared opponents in rooms

- If the opponents in a room are not aware: divide the opponents by


type. Now place one of each category in turn, starting with melee,
then ranged, then casters. Place the first miniature in the second
row from the entrance, right in the middle of that row. Now place
an opponent from the next category in the row behind the first one,
and so on. After you've placed an opponent in every row except for
the first one, continue in the second row, then the third, and so on
(Illustration 4.2).
- If you roll a random encounter, the opponents first appear on the
board at the furthest visible squares at the closest corner no PC can
see around right now, explored or not. Marching order: melee, ranged, spellcaster (Illustration 4.3).
- If there's an additional encounter during a combat that has already
started or that was interrupted by a previous random encounter and
then continued, choose the corner second closest to the PCs from
those corners where none of the PCs can look around to place the
newly arrived enemies.
Of course, you as the GM may set up opponents any way you
like, but the above is the standard way in DB. These rules get much
more important if you're using the solo play rules (Chapter 6).

Treasure
Generating treasure in DB is pretty straightforward: roll once on the
treasure table for a level equal to the EL for every successful enemy
encounter. These tables tell you whether you need to roll again on
other tables (the Mundane Item table, for instance). See the companion document entitled treasure tables.
There's one exception: opponents with class levels should already be equipped with the proper items, so the treasure for such
encounters consists of all item that these opponents haven't used
up or depleted, plus any permanent item that has not been destroyed.
In addition to treasure gained from opponents, the party might
find treasure chests. There's one treasure chest in every trapped
room. Determine the contents of the chest as if rolling treasures for
a creature of a CR equal to the trap's CR. Note that the rules for
chests change if you're using the Advanced Dungeon Generator (see
Chapter 5).

Illustration 4.3: Random encounter

It's important to distribute treasures more or less equally among


party members. Keep count of every item's worth, and compensate
those PCs who have received less than others with the party's gold
treasure at the end of the adventure. Example: in a very short first
level adventure, the party has found 1200 gp, a potion of blur (300
gp), a hooded lantern (7 gp), masterwork thieves' tools (100 gp) and
a masterwork morningstar (308 gp), for a total treasure of 1,915 gp,
or 478.75 gp for each PC. The cleric takes the morningstar and 170
gp, the rogue takes the thieves' tools and 379 gp, the sorcerer takes
the potion and 179 gp, and the fighter takes the lantern and 472 gp.

Non-Player Characters
In DB, only creatures that aren't initially hostile to the PCs are considered Non-Player Characters (NPCs). When the party enters a
room, there's a certain chance that they'll meet NPCs. When they do,
the turn-based game immediately stops, and the party as a whole
decides how to interact with the NPC(s) - ignore, attack, intimidate
or, and that's the most likely and promising tactic, use diplomacy.
NPCs always start out as friendly, indifferent or unfriendly, as
indicated in the NPC's description. All NPC rules are also included
in the opponent document for your convenience. Note: the party
never gains experience points for interacting with NPCs, even if
they (have to) fight them.

Adventurers
Initial attitude: indifferent.
The party meets another group of adventurers (human cleric,
human fighter, human rogue, human wizard of a level equal to the
APL-1 (if less than 1, they're all human warriors 1) who've set up
camp here. Depending on the adventurers' attitude, the outcome of
this encounter may vary:
Hostile: The adventurers attack because they regard the party as a
threat.
Unfriendly: The adventurers leave the party, but secretly lure some
wandering monsters to the party. Increase the Random
Encounter Number by 3 units.

15

Chapter 4: The Adventure


Indifferent: The adventurers give some valuable hints to the party,
but demand to be paid (APLx25 gp): Add 1 to all further rolls
to find the Main Quest Room.
Friendly: The adventurers give some valuable hints to the party, but
demand to be paid (APLx5 gp): Add 1 to all further rolls to find
the Main Quest Room.
Helpful: The adventurers give some valuable hints to the party. Add
1 to all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room. If paid
(APLx10 gp), they'll distract the monsters in the area away
from the party: Decrease the Random Encounter Number by 3
units.

Eremite
Initial attitude: indifferent.
An eremite (Human wizard of a level equal to APL+2) has chosen to live in this dungeon. For some unknown reason, the creatures
wandering the dungeon don't attack the eremite. He can help the
party in various ways, depending on his attitude:
Hostile: The eremite attacks.
Unfriendly: The eremite points the party to the wrong direction.
Subtract 1 from all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room.
Indifferent: The eremite will identify one magic item for the party,
for a price of 160 gp.
Friendly: The eremite will identify one magic item for the party, for
a price of 120 gp.
Helpful: The eremite will identify one magic item for the party, for a
price of 110 gp. Furthermore, he gives some valuable hints to
the party: Add 1 to all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room.

Dungeon Bash
Ghost
Initial attitude: indifferent.
In the middle of the room, a ghost (hit dice equal to APL+1)
appears out of nowhere. It doesn't seem to notice the party at all, so
it's up to the PCs to either leave the ghost or try to interact with it.
Attempts to interact with the ghost suffer a -5 penalty on all diplomacy or intimidate checks.
Hostile: The ghost haunts the party. They can banish or turn the
ghost, or their Random Encounter Number is increased by 2
units and the minimum number is increased by 3 units for as
long as the ghost remains with them. It will not leave the PCs
until they exit the dungeon.
Unfriendly: The ghost haunts the party. They can banish or turn the
ghost, or their Random Encounter Number is increased by 2
units and the minimum number is increased by 3 units for as
long as the ghost remains with them. It will leave the PCs after
two random encounters.
Indifferent: The ghost continues to ignore the party.
Friendly: The ghost gives the party valuable information. Add 1 to
all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room.
Helpful: The ghost gives the party valuable information. Add 1 to all
further rolls to find the Main Quest Room. Furthermore, the
ghost will identify one magic item for free (the ghost actually
owned that item when he was still alive).

Injured Adventurer
Initial attitude: indifferent.
A single adventurer (human rogue of a level equal to APL) has
survived this dungeon, but the rest of his party has died. She's not
sure if she can trust the PCs, but it's in their best interest that she
does - she can provide them with valuable information. The adventurer is at -1 hp, slowly dying.
Diplomacy checks to influence the adventurer's attitude receive
a +10 circumstance modifier if the party heals the adventurer so that
her hit points are positive - if they don't, they can't interact with her.
Hostile: The adventurer sends the party away, but later lures the
dungeon's inhabitants their way. Increase the Random
Encounter Number by 4 units.
Unfriendly: The adventurer sends the party away.
Indifferent: The adventurer gives some valuable hints to the party,
but demands to be paid (APLx25 gp). Add 1 to all further rolls
to find the Main Quest Room.
Friendly: The adventurer gives some valuable hints to the party, but
demands to be paid (APLx5 gp). Add 1 to all further rolls to
find the Main Quest Room.
Helpful: The adventurer gives some very valuable hints to the party.
Add 2 to all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room.

Injured Inhabitant
Illustration: Melissa Cox

Initial attitude: unfriendly.


A lone goblin (rogue of a level equal to APL-2; if less then one,
he's a lv1 warrior) lies in a corner, barely conscious (0 hp).
Diplomacy checks to influence the goblin's attitude receive a
+5 circumstance modifier if the party uses healing magic on behalf
of the goblin.
Hostile: The goblin attacks if he's got more than 0 hp. Otherwise he
screams for help - a random encounter occurs.

16

Dungeon Bash

Chapter 4: The Adventure

Unfriendly: The goblin sends the party away.


Indifferent: The goblin gives some valuable hints to the party, if he's
first payed (APLx10gp). Add 1 to all further rolls to find the
Main Quest Room.
Friendly: The goblin gives some valuable hints to the party. Add 1
to all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room.
Helpful: The goblin gives some valuable hints to the party. Add 1 to
all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room. If paid (APLx10
gp) he'll scout ahead of the party but won't enter any rooms.
The next random encounter is prevented by the goblin, as he
leads that creature to a different part of the dungeon.

Mercenaries
Initial attitude: unfriendly.
These two mercenaries (Human Fighters of a level equal to the
APL) are exploring the dungeon for their own reasons, but nevertheless, they can be hired by the party . Their price is listed on the
table below, and each fighter has to be paid individually. They fight
a maximum number of battles for the party, depending on their attitude (Helpful: as often as they are paid. Friendly: 5 times.
Indifferent: 3 times. Unfriendly: Once). If they were intimidated,
they will always only fight once for the party.
APL

Unfriendly

Indifferent

Friendly

Helpful

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

4 gp
2 gp
1 gp
1 gp
8 gp
4 gp
3 gp
2 gp
16 gp
8 gp
7 gp
5 gp
30 gp
15 gp
14 gp
10 gp
60 gp
30 gp
28 gp
20 gp
100 gp
50 gp
47 gp
36 gp
220 gp
110 gp
106 gp
90 gp
400 gp
200 gp
195 gp
160 gp
Note that these prices deviate from the prices given in the
DMG, because the party hires these mercenaries under very special
circumstances.

Prisoner
Initial attitude: friendly
A human fighter of a level equal to APL -2 (if less than 1, he's
a 1st-level warrior, not a fighter) is chained to a wall. If the party
successfully frees him from his bounds (see the table below for the
DCs), his attitude changes to helpful. This attitude may be further
influenced (if intimidated, he provides the benefit listed below, but
the prisoner will leave the party afterwards, and they won't be able
to collect the reward).
APL

Open Lock DC

Break DC

1
20
18
2
20
19
3
20
20
4
22
20
5
22
21
6
22
22
7
25
23
8
25
24
Hostile: The prisoner refuses any help by the party and leaves.

Unfriendly: The prisoner refusSecret Doors


es any help by the party
and leaves.
As a standard action, dead ends
Indifferent: The prisoner refusand rooms without any further
es any help by the party
exits can be searched for secret
and leaves.
doors. The DC for this search
Friendly: Add 1 to all further
check is 20 + APL. There can
rolls to find the Main
never be more than one door per
Quest Room.
wall section, secret or otherwise.
Helpful: Add 1 to all further
rolls to find the Main
Quest Room.
The prisoner is at half his maximum hit points. If the characters
successfully guard the prisoner and bring him outside, he'll award
them APLx10 gp (if friendly) or APLx50 gp (if helpful).

Traveling Merchant
Initial attitude: indifferent.
A Human Rogue of a level equal to APL+1, guarded by two
Human Fighters of a level equal to APL is dealing with anyone she
meets.
Prices for wares : 150% (unfriendly), 100% (indifferent), 95%
(friendly), 85% (helpful). Diplomacy changes attitude. Intimidate
changes attitude for a single item, thereafter the attitude changes
to unfriendly. If the merchant turns hostile, she'll attack the party
(note that her wares are magically secured - should the merchant
die, her wares disappear to an unknown location outside of the
dungeon).
Generate treasures according to the following table. The merchant has these items on stock (if you're not interested in, for example, mundane items, you can skip those rolls).
APL

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Mundane

Minor

Medium

6
6
6
5
5
4
3
2

1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3

1
1
2

Traps
If a trap is rolled on a Room Encounter Table, the character who
opened the door can search for the trap and disable it (if she's able
to, of course). If the trap isn't disabled - either because it wasn't
found or because the Disable Device check failed - randomly determine which character takes the trap's effect (as always: d4 and ICN).
Only characters on the same or an adjacent board section are viable
targets. If the trap has an area of effect, that character is at the centre of the area, with the maximum number of other characters affected (Illustration 4.4).
Note: For the trap, the party receives experience points as
usual, but only if the trap is disarmed successfully.

17

Chapter 4: The Adventure


Leaving the Dungeon
The party can leave the dungeon
simply by reaching the exit (the
"open end" of the section they
started in). They may resume the
quest thus abandoned later on,
unless the quest description tells
otherwise.

Experience Points and Levels


It ain't possible to advance more
than one level per adventure. If
you gain more experience points
than necessary to advance a level,
you loose those extra experience
points.
Additionally, it'd be a good
idea to half any experience points
awards the party receives, so that
a PC is less likely to gain a new
level after every adventure.

Non-Combat
Actions
Even when not engaged in
combat, PCs still act in a way
similar to combat; meaning you
can either take a standard
action and a move action, or
two move actions, or one fullround action.
Standard actions: search for
secret doors (see Secret Doors,
below), use the survival skill to
find a suitable resting place
(see resting, below).
Full-round actions: All standard actions as above, but with
a +2 circumstance bonus to the
skill check.

Resting

Once in a while you can take a


nap, but it's risky. You can only
rest in rooms, and only if there
are enough trail rations and waterskins for all PCs. One trail ration
per PC is used up, and every waterskin can be used four times.
If you're resting, roll for random encounters twice. If a random
encounter is rolled, randomly determine the guard on whose shift
the ambush occurs (as always: d4 and ICN). No random encounter
rolls are made while the rest is interrupted.
If you dispose of the attackers within 3 rounds, your rest wasn't
disrupted significantly (compare it to waking up in the middle of the
night, drinking a glass of water and going back to sleep). You complete the rest and gain the usual benefits from it (heal 1 hp per level,
regain used spell slots). If you don't defeat your opponents within 3
rounds your rest was disrupted, and you'll need to start all over again.
Before resting again (after an undisturbed rest), you must at
least examine two additional rooms after your last resting period, or
else the rest will have no beneficial effect.
Remember that most characters won't
sleep in their armor, so if the party is
ambushed when resting, most PCs
will not be armored (unless the PC
has the endurance feat or similar
ability, or she doesn't mind starting the next day
fatigued).

18

Dungeon Bash
Illustration 4.4: Traps

PC 1 (the party's rogue) activates the trap, because he wasn't


able to disarm it. Only PC 1, 2
and 3 can be potential victims of
the trap, because PC 4 is too far
away (2 board section from the
character that triggered the
trap). The d4 roll determined
that PC 3 is affected (any roll of
4 would've been rerolled). As
the trap covers an area of 10
feet, PC 2 is also affected.
There are different means to secure a resting place. See CHAPTER 2 for the effects of certain spells when resting. Furthermore,
each character can make a Survival check. A successful roll (DC
10+APL) subtracts 1 from the Random Encounter roll when resting,
and for every 5 points extra you can subtract another point. The
Random Encounter roll can't be reduced to to less than 1.
As an alternative to resting in the dungeon, the party may leave
the dungeon and rest in the city. Note that some quests don't allow
the party to leave the dungeon without conceiving defeat.

The Final Battle


The final battle of the adventure (once the party has found the quest
room) is hard enough as it is - don't roll for random encounters once
that combat has begun. The quest description tells you what to do
after that combat is over.

Between Adventures
Shortly after the adventure is over and the party has safely exited the
dungeon, they arrive in the nearest city. Here they can look for new
adventures (roll on the quest table) and go shopping. Not all items
might be on sale, as indicated on the table below. Roll for each item
individually, and only once - either it's for sale, or it ain't. If it is for
sale and you want to buy the item more than once, you must roll
again for every purchase until
supplies have run dry.

Illustration: Sergio Villa Isaza

Dungeon Bash

Chapter 4: The Adventure / Chapter 5: Advanced Game

Item

d20

Mundane item
Masterwork item
Potion or scroll
Magic weapon (12,000 gp or less)
Magic weapon (12,001 gp or more)
Magic armor (8,000 gp or less)
Magic armor (8,001 gp or more)
Wand or ring
Staff or rod
Wondrous item

2+
4+
3+
7+
16+
6+
15+
10+
17+
11+

The High Costs of Living


Life isn't free, even for adventurers. The costs to sustain themselves
per day in the city is 10 gp multiplied by their level. If they can't pay

or don't want to: The lack


of suitable rest and the
somewhat unclean conditions cause that character to not enter the next
dungeon at full health.
The damage she takes
because of this equals
half her hit dice multiplied by half her level,
rounded down. For
instance, a 3rd level cleric would take 6 ((1/2*8)
* (1/2*3)) points of
damage prior to the
adventure.

Encumbrance
If using the DB Treasure Tables (and
not the standard ones found in the
DMG), don't count the weight of gold
coins. Normally, 50 coins weigh 1
pound. As some of the gold coins you
find would normally be platinum pieces or other types, or even gems or pieces of art, it wouldn't be fair to assume that all the character's wealth is kept
in gold pieces. You still need to track
the weight of the characters' equipment
though, as usual.

Advanced Game

he basic game as layed out in the previous chapters, while in itself complete, can be further enhanced in various ways. This chapter
expands the basic rules by adding more options (Side Quests and Special Quests, for instance), expands some game mechanics (the
Advanced Dungeon Generator), and gives advice on how to customize your game. All rules in this chapter are optional.

Advanced Dungeon Generator

Room Features

The Basic Dungeon Generator is pretty quick but not very versatile.
If you are so inclined, you could use the Advanced Dungeon
Generator - game play will be slowed down to some degree as you'll need to place additional objects like torches, pillars, barrels, and
so on.
Advanced dungeons are generated by rolling one d20 and one
d12 simultaneously. The d20 roll determines the room or corridor
shape and size as before, and the d12 roll determines room or corrridor features. Corridors may now be broad (standard: 2 squares
wide) or narrow (standard: 1 square wide). All corridors are broad,
unless noted otherwise. There's a new passageway: the conversion
piece. This changes all passageways behind the conversion piece
from broad to narrow or vice versa.
A new room type (tiny room - 10x10 feet) is possible, and a few
rooms now have non-standard shapes. The Advanced Dungeon
Generator gives reference numbers for every non-standard room
type (example: "Shape (1)") . It's a good idea to write the number of
the special shape room on the back of the floor tile for easy reference.
See the included Treasure & Dungeon document for the
Advanced Dungeon Generator tables, and see the floor tiles document for the non-standard room shapes.

All items with known measurements (for example: pillars, but not
torches) can be used to hide behind.
Place each item in a manner that makes sense - beds won't
stand in the middle of the room, but tables and chairs might, for
example. Torches are placed in a way that the illumination provided by them is maximized (where possible, lit areas won't overlap).
If only the length is
Illumination
given (for example: 10
The standard rules assume that each
long), the object reaches
room is illuminated well enough for
from one wall to the other in
all characters to act normally. If youa way that this object must
're using the Advanced Dungeon
be crossed by the PCs after
Generator, you'll have a means to
entering the room.
determine how many sources of light
Candle: Illuminates the
there are in a given room - if any. The
room (5 ft. shadowy).
PCs can carry their own light sources
Always stands on a
of course, and are indeed encouraged
table unless noted
to do so.
otherwise. If there are
Remember that shadowy illumionly prepared creatures
nation offers a means to hide.
with darkvision in this
room, the candles are

19

Chapter 5: Advanced Game


not lit. If you're not using the rules for illumination, ignore this
item.
Chasm: If the room has any exits, at least one is on the other side of
the room. If the chasm is placed in a corridor, it always cuts
through the first section that was just rolled, and all doors are
always placed on the other side of the chasm. Some chasms
come with bridges (5 ft. wide) or with beams (5 inches wide,
balance check DC 15). Some are filled with lava (20d6 points
of damage for each round in the lava, plus 10d6 points of damage for 1d3 rounds after leaving the lava-filled chasm). A chasm
is either 10 ft. (jump DC 10), 15 ft. (jump DC 15) or 20 ft.
(jump DC 20) long, as indicated. It's always 60 ft. deep.
Chest: Generate one treasure of the appropriate level (APL). If the
chest is locked, the relevant DCs for opening it are given in the
table.
Contaminated pool: As shallow pool (see below). Additionally, any
creature must make a fortitude save (DC 15) each round while
in the water. Failure means that the creature has caught the folllowing disease: Incubation 1 day, 1d4 Str and 1d4 Dex damage.
Dense Rubble: The ground is covered with debris of all sizes. It
costs 2 squares of movement to enter a square with dense rubbble. Dense rubble adds 5 to the DC of Balance and Tumble
checks, and it adds 2 to the DC of Move Silently checks.
Key: If there are any opponents in this room, one randomly determined opponent carries the key. If there aren't any opponents,
the key lies on top of one of the objects, or in a randomly determined corner, if there aren't any objects. The key can be used
to open the nearest locked door that the characters failed to
open otherwise.
Lantern: Illuminates the room (30 ft. bright, 60 ft. shadowy).
Always hangs from the ceiling in the exact center of the room,
unless noted otherwise. If there are only prepared creatures
with darkvision in this room, the lantern isn't lit. If you're not
using the rules for illumination, ignore this item.
Lava pool: As shallow pool, plus fire damage (2d6 points of damage per round, plus 1d6 points of damage for 1d3 rounds after
leaving the lava pool).
Light Rubble: Small chunks of debris litter the ground. Light rubbble adds 2 to the DC of Balance and Tumble checks.
Magic fountain: drinking from this fountain cures 2d8+2 points of
damage. Each magic fountain may only be used four times a
day - thereafter, the healing magic is depleted.
Secret doors: These must first be found. The DC given is the search
skill DC. Every character may only make one check to find the
door.
Shallow pool: It costs 10
Are you tough enough?
ft. (2 squares) of moveDungeon Bash is supposed to be a
ment to move 5 ft. (1
tough game and was designed to be
square) in a shallow pool.
challenging, but not unplayable. If it
Shape: This is not an
proves to be too tough for your liking,
object in and on itself, but
just set the APL to one point lower than
rather tells you about the
it actually is. That way, encounters are
non-standard shape of the
easier, but so are the rewards (experienroom, as described above.
ce points, treasures, and quest rewards).
Torches: Illuminate the
room (20 ft. bright, 40 ft.

20

Dungeon Bash
shadowy). Always attached to the wall, unless noted otherwise.
If there are only prepared creatures with darkvision in this
room, the torches are not lit. If you're not using the rules for
illumination, ignore this item.
Trash pile: Each trash pile covers one square (5x5). It costs 10 ft. (2
squares) of movement to move 5 ft. (1 square) through a trash
pile.
Uneven Flagstone: The floor of this room is so uneven that a DC 10
Balance check is required to run or charge across the surface.
Failure means the character can't move in this round. Floors as
treacherous as this should be the exception, not the rule.
Weapon rack: Generate 1d3+2 mundane weapons.

Customize the Dungeon


If you're not using the Dungeon Bash floor plans you'll need to adjust
the dungeon generator tables. Blank versions are provided in the DoIt-Yourself document. The ratio of rooms and corridors should
roughly remain the same; use the standard tables as an example don't deviate from these by more than 10%. Apart from that, you
may get as fancy as you want to - very wide corridors, very unusual
room shapes, and so on, depending on the terrain you want to use.
Besides meddling with the dungeon generator, there are some
other possibilities to influence dungeon generation.
1. Pre-Generated: Make all the rolls, including dungeon generating,
room encounters and treasures, prior to play. This results in fast
game-play and offers a chance to tweak encounters.
2. Generated on the fly: slower game-play, but full of surprise. Can
get ugly if the party's out of luck. This is the standard way (and the
only way if you're using the solo play rules from Chapter 6).
3. Mix: pre-generate the dungeon, but don't set encounters and treasure yet. This would both be reasonably fast and surprising.
It's a matter of personal taste. If you don't mind your game to bog
down a little while generating the dungeon, encounters and treasure
on the fly, go for this option - it's the default assumption.

Customizing Encounters
You can design your own encounter, treasure and room tables, using
the blank tables provided in their own document.
Use high CR opponents sparingly (if at all) at low levels. For
example, while an ogre (CR 3) would theoretically be a challenging
encounter for 1st level characters, one hit of an ogre could easily kill
off one of the PCs. At higher levels, this shouldn't be of much concern, as a single opponent arguably hasn't got the same staying
power as two or more opponets at the same EL, as the PCs can gang
up on a single opponent. All in all, the ratio for enemy groups and
single opponents should be 50/50.
See the DMG on how to translate CRs of more than one opponent into EL. Also, the blank encounter tables offer advice on the EL
for each level, and have special notes for the lower levels. Bear in
mind that some CRs are slightly off. For instance, dragons are very
powerful for their CR.
If you're adding opponents with class levels to the tables,
assign equipment right away (either randomly generate or buy).

Dungeon Bash

Chapter 5: Advanced Game

Special Quests
While side quests (see below) are accomplished during the same
missions as the main quest, special quests are alternative main
quests. You've got to earn access to these quests first. The basic DC
for all skill checks is APL+10. The DC is further modified as noted
in the table below.
Each character may try to acquire a single special quest between adventures. A failed roll means that the character hasn't found
a special quest. After all rolls for special quests are made and the
party has rolled once on the standard quest table, the party must
choose their quest from the options available.
Note that if the "Curse that Item!" quest is rolled, this quest
should be taken, or otherwise the PC is stuck with the cursed item.
If the party still chooses a different quest, they can always do the
"Curse that Item!"-quest later - and suffer from the consequences of
the curse in the meantime.
Any single special quest may only be undertaken once by the
same party. Only "Oh So Many Options" and "We are the Best" may
be chosen more than once, as these aren't quests themselves to begin
with.
Special Quest

Skills (DC mod.)

A Pirate's Treasure
Ancient Treasure
Be Quick Or Be Dead
Bounty Hunt
Covert Ops
Demon Incursion
Infiltration
Oh So Many Options
Sabotage
Save the Woods
Unexpected Treasure
We are the Best

Intimidate and Sense Motive


Decipher Script (+5)
Ride (+3)
Use Rope (+3)
Gather Information (+2) and Move
Silently (+2) and Forgery
Knowledge (planes) or Knowledge
(arcana, +2)
Escape Artist (+5)
Gather Information or Bardic Knowledge
Knowledge (architecture and engineering)
Survival (+2) or Knowledge (nature, +2)
Appraise and Bluff
Bluff (+8)

A Pirate's Treasure: A bloke in a bar introduces himself as an infamous pirate. After you've intimidated him into talking, he tells
you about his treasure - hidden in a nearby dungeon - and you're pretty sure that he's telling the truth. The main quest room of
that dungeon holds the pirate's treasure; generate four additional treasures at the APL. There's no further reward.
Ancient Treasure: On one of your recent adventures you've found a
very old book. After you've successfully deciphered most of it's
content, you finally learn of a fabled treasure in a nearby dungeon. The main quest room of that dungeon holds that treasure
- generate five additional treasures at APL+1. There's no further reward.
Be Quick or Be Dead: The heir to the throne has been kidnapped, and
your party is hired not only because they're capable of rescuing
him or her, but also because of your exceptional riding skills and therefore your ability to solve this quest within two days.
This special quest uses the same rules as the Rescue Mission
quest. The reward is APLx1,000 gp, but if you rest more than
once during this mission, the reward will drop to APLx600 gp.

Bounty Hunt: Hunt down a criminal and bring him back alive.
The criminal, hiding in the main quest room, is a human
rogue (level=APL), but he's not alone - roll twice on the random encounter table. If the party succesfully captures the criminal and brings him to town, they will be awarded with
APLx700 gp. If they kill the rogue, they'll be rewarded only
APLx100 gp.
Covert Ops: The party needs to infiltrate a stronghold and retrieve
crucial documents. The quest room is guarded by a single
human fighter (level=APL+3). If a single PC successfully sneaks into the room (two Move Silently checks opposed by the
fighters' Listen checks), steals the documents and substitutes
them with false ones, the
party can
leave the
Favorite Enemies
stronghold. Otherwise,
the fighter sounds the
Between 5 and 10% (1, or 2 entalarm: roll once on the
ries) of the opponents on a
quest room encounter
Random Encounter Table and 5%
table - these creatures
(1 entry) on the Room Encounter
arrive at the beginning of
Table should be favorite enemies
the second round of comfor each PCs with this class ability.
bat. If the party has to
fight the opponents in the
quest room, they'll be awarded APLx100 gp. If they successfully substitute the documents, they'll receive APLx1,000gp
instead.
Demon Incursion: A vile cult of demon worshippers has set up camp
in a local dungeon (special rule: all opponents are immune to
fear). If the party can beat their opponents in the quest room,
they can banish the demonic influence on the cult members,
some of which where unwillingly possessed. These members
will give the party APLx2d6x100 gp.
Infiltration: A local criminal organization is getting too powerful,
but nearly everything about this organization is a mystery. The
mayor who hires your
party wants them to pose
Too large to live?
as local nobles and get
kidnapped by the crimiCreatures larger than huge won't
nals. As the PCs awake
fit through the 5 ft. wide doors,
they find themselves in a
even when they squeeze. For that
small room, bound and
reason, if any opponent on any of
without their equipment.
the encounter tables used in this
They first need to free
adventure is huge or gargantuan,
themselves (one of the
only use doors that are 10 ft. wide
characters must succeed
(enough room for even a gargantuon an Escape Artist check,
an creature to squeeze through).
DC 18+APL), and open
The ceiling of a dungeon is always
the locked door (Open
high enough to allow all its inhabLock DC 15+APL, or
itants to at least stand up straight.
Break DC 15). Their
mission: escape from the
dungeon. The exit is in one of the corridors (sections only) roll a d6, and add 1 for each previous section; on a result of 8
or more, they've found the exit and escape. They'll receive
APLx800gp as a reward; their equipment was safely stored and
is returned to them.

21

Chapter 5: Advanced Game


Oh So Many Options: This isn't a
special quest itself, but rather
it enables the party to roll two
additional times on the stanMain Quest
dard quest table and choose
Fight the Warlord
one of these three main
Capture the Warlord
Monster Infection
quests.
Monster Hunt
Sabotage: As a known expert on
Treasure Hunt
architecture, it's your mission
The Wager
to sneak into a warlord's hideRescue Mission
out, find its weak spot, and
Exploration
blast it to pieces with explosiA Race against Time
ves. This special quest is simiSeek the Antidote
lar to the Blow the Dam quest,
Know Your Enemy
but there's no risk of the PCs
Scattered Symbols
drowning - instead, they need
Curse that Item!
to escape from the collapsing
Retrieve the Artifact
dungeon. Count the number
Blow the Dam
of sections from the Quest
Special: A Pirate's Treasure
Room to the exit and multiply
Special: Ancient Treasure
that number by 4 - that's the
Special: Be Quick or Be Dead
time (in turns) before the
Special: Bounty Hunt
explosives blow up. If the PCs
Special: Covert Ops
don't get out in time, they're
Special: Demon Incursion
crushed by falling debris if
Special: Infiltration
they don't succeed on a Reflex
Special: Sabotage
save with a DC of 10 + (2x
Special: Save the Woods
number of sections left to the
Special: Unexpected Treasure
exit). Failure means that character suffers 3d6 points of
damage. If at least one character isn't buried by this cave-in, that PC can free all buried PCs,
and they make it out alive (if they're not crushed right away, that
is). If all the PCs are buried, the entire party is dead. If they
succeed on their mission, they receive APLx800gp as a reward.
Save the Woods: The PC meets a lone druid who asks for help. If the
party clears the quest room and uses a special potion given to
them by the druid on a well located in the quest room, the druid
will award them with APLx300 gp and two additional treasures
(roll randomly).
Unexpected Treasure: The PC finds a very valuable vase (100 gp) at
sale for 1 gp from a petty merchant. The merchant then tells
them where he found that item as well as many more of them
- but he had to leave the dungeon because he was attacked. If
the party ventures into the dungeon they'll find not only opponents but also 1d6xAPL more of these vases in the quest room.
We are the Best: This isn't a special quest itself, but rather increases
the gp award for another quest (whichever the party actually
takes) by APLx100 gp, because the party is known for being
the very best for that kind of mission. If the quest hasn't got a
monetary reward, "We are the Best" provides no benefit.

Side Quests
You'll need to find not one, but two quest rooms. The rules for finding the main quest room don't change. The side-quest room is

22

Dungeon Bash

Side Quests
4

Petty Warlord
Petty Warlord
Minor Monster
Family Heirloom
Family Heirloom
Free the Prisoner
Petty Warlord
Petty Warlord
Minor Monster
Family Heirloom
Free the Prisoner
Family Heirloom
Petty Warlord
Minor Monster

Petty Warlord
Petty Warlord
Petty Warlord
Minor Monster
Family Heirloom
Minor Monster
Free the Prisoner
Family Heirloom
Petty Warlord
Petty Warlord
Family Heirloom
Family Heirloom
Petty Warlord
Petty Warlord
Family Heirloom
Minor Monster
Minor Monster
Free the Merchant
Free the Prisoner
Rumor of Treasure
Rumor of Treasure
Minor Monster
Minor Monster

Free the Prisoner


Free the Prisoner
Rumor of Treasure
Rumor of Treasure
Rumor of Treasure
Rumor of Treasure
Rescue the Merchant
Minor Monster
Petty Warlord
Rumor of Treasure
Free the Prisoner
Petty Warlord
Rumor of Treasure
Free the Prisoner
Family Heirloom
Rumor of Treasure
Petty Warlord
Free the Prisoner
Free the Merchant
Petty Warlord
Free the Merchant
Rumor of Treasure
Rumor of Treasure
Minor Monster
Rumor of Treasure

always a small room, so you need to roll a d6 for each small room;
add 1 for each previous small room - on a result of 6 it's the sidequest room.
You don't roll on the Standard Room Encounter Table in the
side-quest room, rather use the Quest Room Table. As the side quest
is likely not as tough as the main quest, subtract one from the result
(minimum 1). As for the main quest room, you don't roll for random
encounters while engaging the opponents in the side-quest room.
Depending on your main quest, roll a side-quest randomly on
the Side Quests table. A roll of 1-3 always indicates that there's no
side quest available.
Family Heirloom: An heirloom was stolen from a wealthy family. If
the party can retrieve it from the side-quest room, the family
will award them APLx100 gp.
Free the Prisoner: A noble is held for ransom in the side-quest
room. Use the rules for the Prisoner NPC, but increase the
award the party gets for freeing him to APLx250 gp. The noble
will behave like the prince or princess from the "Rescue
Mission" quest.
Minor Monster: A terrible monster is roaming the countryside by
night. By day it retreats to its lair, and that's where the party
comes in: they're supposed to venture to the creature's lair by
day and kill it. Choose any kind of creature with a CR of at least
2 points more than the APL, or roll on an appropriate quest
room encounter table until you generate a single creature.
Defeating this creature increases the reward by APLx200 gp.

Dungeon Bash

Petty Warlord: One of the creatures in the side-quest room is the


right hand of a local warlord. Defeating him increases the
reward by APLx200 gp.
Rescue the Merchant: A merchant is held for ransom in the sidequest room. Use the rules for the Prisoner NPC to determine
whether the party can free him from his bounds. If successful,
he'll sell them any items he has on sale in town (use the rules
for the Merchant NPC) at half the indicated price (merchant's
attitude: see Prisoner NPC).
Rumor of Treasure: The side-quest room holds a warlord's treasury.
After beating all opponents, generate three additional treasures.

Speeding up the Game


While DB already plays fast, there are different ways of speeding up
your game even more.
- Experience Points: Don't give out individual experience point
awards until after the adventure. Simply note down the CR of
every opponent beaten by the party and every trap overcome, and
calculate the XPs afterwards.
- Group initiative for opponents: All opponents move and act at the
same initiative order. If different opponents have different initiative boni, determine their bonus any one of the following ways: 1.
Lowest initiative bonus +3 (up to one lower than the greatest
bonus in the group). 2. Add and divide. While this is the most
accurate, it might take too long.
- Static Initiative: Never roll for initiative, simply compare the diffferent boni.
- Static Random Encounter Number: instead of adjusting the
Random Encounter Number after every turn, simply assume that a
random encounter takes place on a roll of 4 or less each time.
- Rolling Dice Pools: When rolling to attack, make all attack and
damage rolls at the same time, using different colored dice if
necessary (if you've got more than one attack, for instance).
- Group Skill Checks: Don't make skill checks (Move Silently or
Listen for instance) for individual monsters. Rather make one roll
for the whole group - either all the creatures make their check or
none at all. Use only the best check modifier of all opponents
evolved. In such a case, subtract -1 from the skill check roll for
every additional creature using that skill, and another -2 for each
creature that hasn't got any ranks in that skill. Beware that this
might still make it easier for opponents to sneak up onto the party.

High-Level Play
The d20 system gets complex pretty pretty soon, and the PCs and
their adversaries can do some very amazing things starting at midlevel, which might break the normal dungeon environment.
Therefore Dungeon Bash is best suited for levels 1 to 8, as already
stated. Chapter 7 has been added to the rules to help.
That said, you could play higher levels. First, you'll need to
design your own encounter tables (see above) for the levels you
need. Then, take a look at all new spells and abilities available to the
PCs at these levels: could any of these cause gameplay problems in

Chapter 5: Advanced Game

a dungeon environment? If the


More Treasure!
answer is yes, ban that spell or
ability from your game, or find
You can always use the treasure
a suitable workaround.
tables from the DMG when geneThe treasure tables alrearating treasure. This grants a gready go as high as level 14 - do
ter variety, but will take signifiyou need higher levels than
cantly longer.
this? If yes, design them using
the existing table as examples,
or simply use the standard treasure tables from the DMG.

The Dungeon Bash Campaign


A fun way to enhance a game of DB is to thematically link several
quests. The GM comes up with a story - as simple or as complex as
she likes - and selects quests that fit.
Simple example: The first adventure for our 1st level PCs is a
"Rescue Mission". The prince
of the local kingdom was kidTougher Dungeons
napped and they're hired to
free him. After they successIf adventuring seems too easy, just
fully rescue him, the king hires
keep rolling for random encounthem once again. As there are
ters in battles - don't stop after the
obviously unknown forces
first random encounter was rolled.
working against the crown, the
party must investigate further "Know Your Enemy". With news on the enemy, the party returns to
the king, who now sends them to "Fight the Warlord".
The party may deviate from this quests by acquiring special
quests. Furthermore, each of these quests could feature a side quest,
as detailed above. After they succeeded on all these mission, the
mini-campaign is over,
and the party
could start another campaign, or
just takes single
missions thereafter.
For an even more elaborated
way to design a DB campaign,
make a flowchart of
quests, taking into
account the possibility that the party
may fail on any
given quest.
All our (upcoming) web-enhancements will not only feature
new quests, opponents and
encounter tables, but also
one or more flowchart
campaign. Visit www.the
othergamecompany.com/
projects/bash.htm for details
and download.
Illustration: Melissa Cox

23

Chapter 6: Solo Play

Dungeon Bash

Solo Play

ur definition of solo play: a game of DB without a GM. Note that there still need to be four characters, and it doesn't matter (for the
rules, at least) whether there are four players, two players with two characters each, or just one who plays all four PCs. Most of the
rules for DB will work for both GM-controlled or solo play, so there's no need to change any existing rules. The rules in this chapter clarify the application of rules for solo play where necessary, but the basic game was designed with solo play in mind - everything you
learned in the previous chapters still holds true. For instance, opponents are still placed on the board the same way. The few exceptions are
noted below, as well as anything else you'll need to know about solo play.

Starting Equipment
Life without a GM is very harsh. To stand a chance of survival, a
party using the solo play rules receives one potion of cure light
wounds for free at first
How to determine opponent types level. If you start above
character level 1 you
don't receive that potion
Melee opponents are best at close quar- the treasure you receiters. If in any doubt, it's a melee
ve at game start is
opponent, as that is the most
enough to buy healing
straight-forward type. Class exampotions.
ples: most fighters, paladins/blackguards, barbarians, some rogues
(always with the sneak subtype). If
they've got any fancy abilities like
Opponent
the whirlwind attack feat or the abiliBehavior
ty to cast spells, they may be of the
special subtype.
When playing with a
Ranged opponents favor their ranged
GM, opponents react in
attack. In most cases that's because
what the GM believes
their ranged attacks are better than
to be a sensible manner.
their melee attacks. In some rare
But how do opponents
cases, it's because that opponent is
behave and act if there
specialized on ranged combat, altis no GM? Ideally, there
hough its melee attack(s) aren't too
shouldn't be much - if
shabby either. Spellcasting abilities
any - doubt about an
are marginal at best. Class examples:
opponent's next action,
rangers (many of the melee subtydepending on circumpe), some fighters (again, many of
stances. To help with
the melee subtype), some rogues
this, DB introduces a
(always of the sneak subtype, somenew characteristic calltimes of the melee subtype). If theyled Armor Factor.
've got any fancy abilities like the
Furthermore, all oppomanyshot feat or the ability to cast
nents are assigned to
spells, they may be of the special
different
archetypes
subtype.
which determine that
A caster has weak attacks compared to its
opponent's preferred
number of hit dice, and the ability to
action.
cast spells. Examples: clerics (nearly
Armor Factor
always with the defensive subtype),
druids (some with the melee subtyIf in any doubt, oppope), sorcerers/wizards (defensive,
nents will attack the
offensive or no subtype).
character wearing the
lightest armor. To help

24

you evaluate the amount of armor a PC is wearing - from the opponent's point of view - DB uses the Armor Factor (AF). It's best if you
note the AF on your character sheets for ease of reference. See
below for how AF affects an opponent's offensive decisions.
Calculate AF as follows: No armor (0), light (2), medium (4),
heavy (6), buckler (1), small shield (1), large shield (2). Don't count
dexterity modifier, rings of protection, bracers of armor or similar
items, spell effects or modifiers that grant a bonus to AC, unless it's
a clearly visible effect. In that case, add 3 to the AF.
Example 1: A fighter (Dex 13) in full plate (AC 8, AF 6) wearing a large shield (AC 2, AF 2) has AC 21 and AF 8.
Example 2: A sorcerer (Dex 14) wearing bracers of armor +4
(AC 4, AF 0 (effect not visible)), a ring of protection +2 (AC 2, AF
0 (effect not visible)) and an amulet of natural armor +1 (AC 1, AF
0 (effect not visible)) has AC 19 and AF 0.
Example 3: A rogue (Dex 18) wearing a +2 studded leather
armor (AC 5, AF 2) and a ring of force shield (AC 2, AF 3 (visible
magical effect)) has AC 21 and AF 5.

Types of Opponents
As already described in Chapter 4, opponents are categorized
as either melee, ranged, or caster. These distinctions are important,
as they determine how an opponent will react, as described under
Reaction Flow-Chart, below.
In addition to these three basic types, some opponents may
have been assigned a subtype (don't confuse that with a creature's
subtype - in this context it's only used to help determine an opponent's actions and not a game mechanic) that further defines their
behavior. A single opponent may fall into more than one subtype,
although that's unlikely for the low CRs. The possible subtypes are:
Offensive - A caster subtype. This creature is more inclined to
use its spell and spell-like abilities in an offensive (damaging, etc.)
way.
Defensive - A caster subtype. This creature is more inclined to
use its spells and spell-like abilities in a defensive (healing, buffing,
etc.) way.
Melee - A ranged or caster subtype. If such an opponent is attacked in melee, it becomes a melee opponent from then on.
Sneak - This opponent will move even when drawing attacks of
opportunity to make sneak attacks.
Special - This opponent has one or more special attacks which
it'll try to use. The names of these special attacks are given in
braclets for ease of reference.

Dungeon Bash

Chapter 6: Solo Play

All opponents in the opponents document list their type in


the first row of the stat-block.

Reaction Flow-Chart
There's a different flowchart for each basic type of
opponent, as melee combatants
will behave quite differently
from spellcasters. When it's an
opponent's turn to act, simply
consult the relevant flow-chart,
starting at the top and work your
way down by answering some
simple yes/no questions, until
you reach an action. Subtypes
are important for some options
on the flow-chart, and are asked for where appropriate.
To understand the flow-charts, some definitions may be in
order:
In range: Can the intended target be reached (spell or missile range,
or basic move distance), and can line of sight be established (if
necessary)?
In reach: Is there a player character adjacent to the creature or within melee reach?

Mortally wounded: An opponent


is mortally wounded if she
has only half her starting hit
points left, or less.
Save move: a move that doesn't
draw attacks of opportunity.
In addition to the flow-chart,
some general advice is necessa-

Notes on feats
The following feats need
extra rules, or otherwise they'd
bog down the flow-charts considerably.
Combat expertise: A creature
will use this feat to its fullest
if it'd fight defensively
without it.
Manyshot: if attacking the
character with the lowest or
second-lowest AF, the opponent will use the manyshot
feat (and not the rapid shot
feat); otherwise she won't.
Power attack: if attacking the
character with the lowest or
second-lowest AF, the opponent will use the power
attack feat to its fullest.
Otherwise, she won't use the
feat at all.
Rapid shot: if attacking the
character with the lowest or
second-lowest AF, the opponent will use the rapid shot
feat; otherwise she won't.
Spring attack: If possible, a
creature with the spring
attack feat will move away
from the character they attacked if they don't draw
attacks
of
opportunity
(which they never do from
their target, but possibly
from other characters).

25

Dungeon Bash

Illustration: Sergio Villa Isaza

Chapter 6: Solo Play

Unintelligent Creatures
Some opponents, notably many undead
and oozes, don't have an intelligence
score. These opponents just hack away
at the nearest PC (determine randomly), and keep attacking that character
until they kill her, or until they are killled themselves. If that PC moves away
from them, they'll choose a different
target (as before).
All opponents with an intelligence
score of less than 4 will act exactly the
same as unintelligent creatures.

Critical hits
Normally, opponents attack those characters with the lightest armor. That
still holds true, but there's one exception: if one of the PCs scores a critical
hit, that PC will for the rest of the fight
be the preferred target for that opponent
(until another PC scores a critical hit on
him).
Treat successful sneak attacks as critical hits for this regard.

ry: If the number of times


per round some opponent's ability can be used
is limited, (example: the
dodge feat) the opponent
will use it against the first
PC where he or she can
use it, at the first opportunity. If he's got an ability usable for free but for
a limited number of times
per day , the opponent

will try to (re-) activate that ability as


soon as possible (example: a barbarian's rage). If the use of the ability is
triggered automatically (the cleave feat,
if a PC is dropped, for instance) an opponent will of course use that ability.
Melee and ranged opponents favor the
character with the lowest AF, while casters prefer characters with the highest AF, unless they have to switch from casting to
attacking - in that case, they too prefer characters with the lowest
AF. Additionally, a caster's preferred target for a spell that grants a
fortitude save won't be a fighter or similar class - in that case, she'll
choose the second highest AF instead.
A caster will always use the highest spell levels first.

The Unknown Opponent

While you as a player know about the opponent's stats and abilities
because they're lying right in front of you, that
doesn't mean your character knows too. You've
got to make knowledge checks (of the approExamples: Preferred targets
priate type, see below) to change your tactic,
M1: Melee opponent. PC1: wearing full plate and a shield (AF 8). PC2: wearing a chain
and you - as a player - know when to make
shirt (AF 2).
these checks and when there's no point to them.
1: Pretty straight example. PC1 is unharmed,
The most common examples where this is
while PC2 is slightly hurt. Because PC2's
necessary are damage reduction, resistance and
armor is clearly lighter than PC1's, M1 will
vulnerabilities. To switch a weapon or use the
attack PC2. The grade of wounding is relemost appropriate spell for the occasion you
vant only for characters with near-equal
need to succeed on the knowledge roll as a free
armor.
action.
2: PC2 is a 5 foot step away from M1, and,
Once you've made an attack which dealt an
simply put, as a 5 foot step doesn't involve
amount of damage that was reduced or even
any danger for M1, he'll make that step to
reduced to zero by damage reduction, you're
attack PC2. If PC2 would be more than 5
free to try a different weapon or spell - but not
feet away and M1 would risk an attack of
the best possible; you still need to beat the
opportunity from PC1 he wouldn't follow
knowledge check DC for that. There's no way
up on PC2 - unless he's got the sneak subto switch to a certain weapon or spell to take a
type.
vulnerability into account, unless the check is
successfully made.

26

Dungeon Bash

Chapter 6: Solo Play

NPCs and Traps in


Solo Play
The way NPCs and
traps work in DB is already perfectly suited for
solo play, so there's no
need at all to adjust
these rules.

No check is necessary for creatures of a challenge rating two or


more points below your character
level. Your character is experienced
enough to know any strength or
weakness of that opponent.
The DC for these checks equals
10 + the monster's HD, as usual.
Each character may only try once for
each type of opponent in any given
encounter.

Knowledge skill

Creatures

Arcana
Dungeoneering
Local
Nature

Constructs, dragons, magical beasts


Aberrations, oozes
Humanoids
Animals, fey, giants, monstrous
humanoids, plants, vermin
NPCs
Undead
Outsiders, elementals

Nobility and royalty


Religion
The planes

Opposing Factions
Some of the creatures in the dungeon may not get along very
well with the other inhabitants. This could be a group of rivals,
or unintelligent creatures attacking anything in their sight. That
way, there's a chance that a random encounter will be directed
not only against the PCs but also against any other encounters.
To spice up potential random encounters , consider this
optional rule:
Mark these random encounters accordingly (an "H" for
hostile, for example), but no more than 20% (4 entries), on the
random encounter tables. Creatures marked that way will attack
every other creature that's not part of its own encounter roll, and
chooses its targets by the rules given above.
You may only raise encounters of an EL equal to the APL
that way. A maximum of six different encounters may be
declared hostile.

Morale

Illustration: Melissa Cox

Another optional rule, best suited for solo play, is morale.


Assume that opponents are frightened if they are (every single
one of the has been) reduced to a quarter or less of their starting
hit points. In such circumstances all opponents must succeed on
a Will save or otherwise they'll flee. The DC for this Will save
is 10, plus the number of opponents already defeated in this
fight, minus the number of opponents still conscious.
This is another rule that makes live for the PC easier, but
keep in mind that all opponents who successfully flee don't
leave their treasures behind. Additionally, in DB the characters
only receive XP for opponents they've actually beaten. For these
reasons, there's no need to adjust encounter difficulties, and if
truth be told: a fight where the opponents are forced to check for
morale is as good as over anyway.

27

Chapter 7: High Levels

Dungeon Bash

High Levels

s we've already detailed in the basic rules, playing DB into the high levels is possible, but not without certain difficulties, for three
reasons: First, the dungeon environment tends to fall apart the more power the PCs possess. Second, you'll need much more material (encounter tables, opponents, treasure tables) to run adventures from 1st to 20th level than from 1st to 8th. And third, opponents
of high CRs likely possess a multitude of abilities that make them harder to run in a quick dungeon bash - let alone a game without a Game
Master!
Nevertheless, DB includes tables and opponents suitable for all
levels from 1 to 20. This chapter was designed to help you with the
task of running high-level DB games. This whole chapter is optional - but if you're using it, you should use ALL of it, not just some
rules.
Note: High levels in DB means levels between 9th and 20th,
not epic levels. An epic level party on a normal dungeon romp
would be utterly ridiculous. Level 20 is the maximum level for any
DB character. Then again, if you absolutely need to have epic level
characters, theres always house rules.

Spells and Abilities


Some spells (and spell-like abilities) aren't suitable for a game of
DB, as detailed in Chapter 2: Player Characters. In short, this
includes all spells that wreak havoc on the dungeon environment, or
need a Game Master for interpretation. The list in that chapter only
includes spells of up to 5th level, because characters of 8th or lower
level (the "standard" maximum for DB characters) can't cast higher
level spells - and normally would only be able to cast 4th level spellls; the 5th level spells were added for good measure (and because
the level limit is somewhat artificial).

So this spell does WHAT?


Some other spells than the ones listed under "Spells and Abilities"
might cause issues of a different sort, so here's a small advice - not
just for the core spells, but any spells you deem worthy to add.
If a spell gives you any unexpected trouble while playing DB,
you either got a GM who can interpret the rules in a way they make
sense (that's part of being a good GM), or you don't. In the latter
case, take a look at the situation at hand: does the spell's effect make
sense in the DB context (taking the spells mentioned here and in
Chapter 2 as examples)? Doesn't it break the game in any way?
And, most important, is it fun? If all the answers are "yes", then you're ready to go. If, on the other hand, you think that this spell would
be too good in DB at that level, you've got three options:
a) If the spell's a greater boon to the players than it would be in
a standard (non-DB) game, assign it a higher spell level.
b) Think of an alternative use for the spell (again, taking the
spells here and in Chapter 2 as examples).
c) Ban the spell.
There's a fourth option: visit our message board and ask what
others (including the DB designers) think about the spell.

28

A note on planar travel: you can't actually reach other planes DB was made with the dungeon environment in mind, not other planes. That said, there may someday be an expansion for DB dealing
with planes. Until that day, only use planar travel spells to escape
from the dungeon, if at all.
The following spells of levels 6 or higher are forbidden:
Greater Scrying, Gate. These spells of levels 6 or higher have
special rules related to DB:
Discern Location (Clr 8, Knowledge 8, Sor/Wiz 8): While it's highly unlikely that you know the main villain or have access to
some of her items, you could use this spell in these instances to
give you a +2 bonus to find the main quest room if one of these
circumstances does apply (for instance, if you're playing a campaign you might've fought the same villain before). If your
quest involves an item to be recovered, you can always use this
spell. Multiple castings of this spell have no further effect.
Earthquake (Clr 8, Destruction 8, Drd 8, Earth 7): Treat the dungeon
as a "Cave, Cavern, or Tunnel" environment in regards to this
spell. This spell will block the corridor it is used in, so make
sure you can still reach the quest room(s) and the dungeon exit.
Ethereal Jaunt (Clr 7, Sor/Wiz 7): You may not use this spell to pass
through walls, unless there's a room directly behind the wall.
Additionally, you can't move through the floor or roof.
Etherealness (Clr 9, Sor/Wiz 9): see ethereal jaunt, above.
Find the Path (Brd 6, Clr 6, Drd 6, Knowledge 6, Travel 6): This
spell can be used to find the main quest room. After casting this
spell, add +2 to all rolls to find the main quest room. Note that
multiple castings of this spell won't increase the bonus.
Furthermore, the caster can bypass any pit traps for as long as
the spell's in effect: as long as she's the first character traveling
a room or corridor, the party is immune to all kinds of pit traps.
Greater Teleport (Sor/Wiz 7, Travel 7): This is the quickest way to
leave a dungeon, like teleport. Apart from that, you may only
use this spell to transfer to a part of the dungeon that's already
explored, or around not yet explored corners, or behind not yet
opened doors.
Guards and Wards (Sor/Wiz 6). If cast prior to resting, your party is
never surprised by an encounter that night.
Miracle (Clr 9, Luck 9): You may not spend XP when casting this
spell - therefore you're limited to one of the standard effects of
this spell.
Stone Tell (Drd 6): Using this spell in a dungeon reduces the
Random Encounter Number by 1, as the stone tells you of any
creatures nearby.
Transport via Plant (Drd 6): You may use this spell to escape the
dungeon - if you can find a plant: a successful Search Check

Dungeon Bash

Chapter 7: High Levels

(DC = APL+2) is required. You receive a +2


synergy bonus to this check if you've got 5 or
more ranks in Knowledge (nature).

Main Quests
The following table adds the necessary information to run the standard main quest titled "Monster
Hunt" (see Chapter 3) at higher levels. All other main
quests use the same rules as before.

Monster Hunt
APL / d6

2 Chimeras
2 Bone Devils
3 Vrocks (Demon)
Ice Devil (Gelugon)
Iron Golem
Marut (Inevitable)
Nightwalker
Marilith (Demon)

17

2 Horned Devils
(Cornugon)
2 Mariliths (Demon)
Balor (Demon)
4 Mariliths (Demon)

18
19
20

High Level Quests

1-2

9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Like special quests (see Chapter 5: Advanced Rules),


high level quests are alternative main quests, and you
need to make a level check to obtain them. Your party
must have an APL of 15 or more to start looking for high level
quests - if your APL is 18 or more, however, a check is mandatory.
To make a level check, roll a d20 and add the APL - if the result
is at least equal to the level check DC given in the table below, the
party has found access to that particular quest. The party - not individual characters - may try to acquire a single high level quest between adventures. A failed roll means the party hasn't found a high
level quest - or rather: no high level quest has found the party.
After the rolls for a high level quest, the special quests and the
standard main quest have been made, the party must choose their
quest from all their available options.
Note that if the "Curse that Item!" quest is rolled, this quest
should be taken or otherwise the PC is stuck with the cursed item.
If the party does choose a different quest regardless, they can
always do the "Curse that Item!"-quest later - and suffer the consequences of the curse in the meantime.
All high level quests may be taken more than once unless
otherwise noted.
High Level Quest

To Kill A Dragon
Draconic Negotiations
Source of Evil
Relic Hunter

3-4

5-6

3 Gorgons
2 Vrocks (Demon)
2 Vrocks (Demon)
Roper
Ice Devil (Gelugon)
Glabrezu (Demon)
Iron Golem
Nalfeshnee (Demon)
2 Glabrezu (Demon)
Marut (Inevitable)
Nightwalker
Horned Devil (Cornugon)
2 Maruts (Inevitable)
Marilith (Demon)
2 Horned Devils
2 Nightwalker
(Cornugon)
2 Mariliths
3 Horned Devils
(Demon)
(Cornugon)
3 Mariliths (Demon)
Balor (Demon)
Pit Fiend (Devil)
4 Mariliths (Demon)
2 Pit Fiend (Devil)
2 Balors (Demon)

Relic Hunter
Description: On one of your recent adventures you've found a very
old book. After you successfully decipher most of it's content you
finally learn of a fabled treasure in a nearby dungeon. The main
quest room of that dungeon holds that treasure - it's an artifact!
There's no further reward.

Level Check DC

28
30
34
36

Draconic Negotiations

Illustration: Melissa Cox

Description: A dragon in a nearby dungeon is causing trouble. Still,


the king thinks that the dragon can be reasoned with - given that
the negotiators are powerful enough.
Rules: Use the Dragon Table below to find out what kind of dragon
the party is up against - but add 1 to the APL for this purpose, as
the party's not supposed to fight the dragon, and neither should
they. Once the party has reached the quest room, the negotiations
may begin. The initial attitude of the dragon is unfriendly, and the
party needs to change this attitude into indifferent or better.
Should the attitude change to hostile, the dragon attacks.
Reward: APLx500 gp if the dragon is indifferent, APLx650 gp if
friendly, APLx1,000 gp if helpful.

29

Chapter 7: High Levels

Dungeon Bash

Rules: Roll a d6 and consult the


table below to find out what
artifact the party retrieved
after they've cleared the quest
room. Note: a single party
may only acquire this quest
once, but you may decline this
quest (and therefore keep looking for more Relic Hunts) if
you don't like the randomly
chosen artifact.
d6

Artifact

1
Book of Infinite Spells
2
Deck of Many Things
3
Hammer of Thunderbolts
4
Philosopher's Stone
5
Talisman of Pure Good*
6
Silver Dragon Orb*
* Notes: Talisman of Pure Good - The target always gains a DC 19
Reflex save. Silver Dragon Orb - The party can't be surprised by
dragons. All dragons are hostile to the party (no more Draconic
Negotiations!).

Source of Evil
Description: A breach in the planar fabric has caused a major demonic incursion, and the world's last hope is the party of adventurers.
If they can't seal the breach, the whole world will be sucked into

the nether worlds. Time is of the essence, and you'd better hurry.
You better don't decline this quest, or else all is lost - your player
characters included!
Rules: To solve this quest, the party must first find the side quest
room, where the eldritch scroll that'll seal the breach is hidden.
Once they found the scroll, they need to proceed to the quest room
and seal the breach. One spellcasting character needs to spend two
rounds sealing the gate without distraction - whenever she is dealt
damage she must make a concentration check as if casting a 6th
level spell. If that check fails, she must start anew.
Special rule: You may not rest more
than once, or else the quest is a failure
(with the above mentioned consequences). Random encounters occur normally and without limit while in the
Main Quest Room for as long as the gate
remains opened. This quest always has
the same side quest as mentioned above,
so you don't get to roll on the side quest
table. A single party may only acquire
this quest once.
Reward: APL x 2 pp, plus one randomly
generated major magic item.

To Kill A Dragon
Description: A vicious dragon
(or a group of dragons) is on
the prowl, and the king wants
your party to get rid of it once and for all. Use the
Dragon Table below to find
out what kind of dragon(s) the
party is up against.
Rules: Only the dragon(s) the
PCs are hunting is in the Quest
Room.
Reward: APLx600 gp (as if
the dragon's hoard wasn't
enough)

30

Dungeon Bash

Note: Don't forget that dragons are a


very tough encounter for their CR.
This shouldn't be that much of a problem if you plan accordingly - you
know that you'll be fighting a dragon,
so put that knowledge to good use.

Chapter 7: High Levels

High Level Side Quests


Main Quest

Draconic Negotiations
Relic Hunter
To Kill A Dragon

Creature (Re-) Sizes


Some potential opponents are too large under the standard d20 rules
to fit into a DB dungeon. Creatures larger than gargantuan are treated as gargantuan creatures without any changes to their stats. This
means that the space a creature occupies in DB is never greater than
20 ft., so they can always squeeze through the standard corridors.
If a creature needs to pass a door, assume that the door is as
wide as it needs to be, up to 10 feet (so huge and gargantuan creatures need to squeeze through).
If you're using the Advanced Dungeon Generator (Chapter 5),
some corridors may only be 5 feet wide - no creature larger than
large may move through it. If a random encounter indicates a creature of huge or larger size attacking the party, place that creature as
close to the party as possible, starting at the dungeon entrance. It
won't follow the party, but it'll wait there for them to leave the dungeon - unless it has some kind of movement-related special ability
(teleport, for instance). In that case, it'll wait for the party to leave
the narrow corridor and attack.
If the party retreats through a narrow corridor, creatures larger
than large won't follow them for obvious reasons. But the noise it
makes howling at the cowardly party
instantly draws another random encounter towards the party.
APL / d6

15

High Levels without a


Game Master
In Chapter 6: Solo Play you've learned
how opponents act if they're not controlled by a GM, and for the first levels
that's all you need. But when we're talking high levels, the sheer number of
options available to the character's
opponents makes the standard Reaction
Flow-Charts insufficient. It's okay if a
low-level opponent doesn't use one

16
17
18
19
20
21

Minor Monster
Minor Monster

Free the Prisoner


Family Heirloom
Free the Prisoner

Rumor of Treasure
Family Heirloom
Rumor of Treasure

(minor) special attack or


Final Advice
special quality of the
Read the creatures special attacks and
three at her supposal - a
abilities very carefully. While the creahigh-level opponent may
tures type may tell you which special
have dozens, and it'll hurt
attack it prefers to use (for instance: a
her combat prowess if she
dragons breath weapon), some of it
only uses a quarter of
abilities might be active all the time
these.
(for instance: a nightwalkers desecraTherefore,
more
ting aura).
detailed flow-charts are
needed. Let's call them
Advanced Reaction FlowCharts. To understand the flow-charts, some explanations are
necessary to define the different circumstances: See Chapter 6 for
explanations of "in range", "in reach", "mortally wounded", "preferred targets", and "save move". All other advice still holds true.
Note that you could use the Advanced Reaction Flow-Charts at
low-levels as well. While this initially might bog down your game
somewhat, it'll help you getting used to the charts in no time, and
thus speeding up your game at higher levels.

Dragon Table

1-2

3-4

5-6

Mature Adult
Green Dragon
2 Mature Adult
Blue Dragons
Very Old Black Dragon
2 Very Old White
Dragons
2 Mature Adult Red
Dragons
Ancient Green Dragon
4 Very Old
Black Dragons

2 Mature Adult
Black Dragons
Very Old Black Dragon

Very Old
White Dragon
Mature Adult
Red Dragon
Very Old Blue Dragon
2 Mature Adult Red
Dragons
White Dragon
Great Wyrm
3 Very Old Blue Dragons
2 Ancient
Green Dragons

2 Very Old White Dragons


2 Very Old Black Dragons
Ancient Green Dragon
White Dragon Great Wyrm
2 White Dragon
Great Wyrms

31

Appendix: Non-Player Characters

Appendix:

NPCs

Adventurers
Initial attitude: indifferent.
The party meets another group of adventurers (human cleric, human
fighter, human rogue, human wizard of a level equal to the APL-1
(if less than 1, they're all human warriors 1) who've set up camp
here. Depending on the adventurers' attitude, the outcome of this
encounter may vary:
Hostile: The adventurers attack because they regard the party as a
threat.
Unfriendly: The adventurers leave the party, but secretly lure some
wandering monsters to the party. Increase the Random
Encounter Number by 3 units.
Indifferent: The adventurers give some valuable hints to the party,
but demand to be paid (APLx25 gp): Add 1 to all further rolls
to find the Main Quest Room.
Friendly: The adventurers give some valuable hints to the party, but
demand to be paid (APLx5 gp): Add 1 to all further rolls to find
the Main Quest Room.
Helpful: The adventurers give some valuable hints to the party. Add
1 to all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room. If paid
(APLx10 gp), they'll distract the monsters in the area away
from the party: Decrease the Random Encounter Number by 3
units.

Eremite
Initial attitude: indifferent.
An eremite (Human wizard of a level equal to APL+2) has chosen
to live in this dungeon. For some unknown reason, the creatures
wandering the dungeon don't attack the eremite. He can help the
party in various ways, depending on his attitude:
Hostile: The eremite attacks.
Unfriendly: The eremite points the party to the wrong direction.
Subtract 1 from all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room.
Indifferent: The eremite will identify one magic item for the party,
for a price of 160 gp.
Friendly: The eremite will identify one magic item for the party, for
a price of 120 gp.
Helpful: The eremite will identify one magic item for the party, for
a price of 110 gp. Furthermore, he gives some valuable hints to
the party: Add 1 to all further rolls to find the Main Quest
Room.

Ghost
Initial attitude: indifferent.
In the middle of the room, a ghost (hit dice equal to APL+1) appears out of nowhere. It doesn't seem to notice the party at all, so it's
up to the PCs to either leave the ghost or try to interact with it.
Attempts to interact with the ghost suffer a -5 penalty on all diplomacy or intimidate checks.
Hostile: The ghost haunts the party. They can banish or turn the
ghost, or their Random Encounter Number is increased by 2
units and the minimum number is increased by 3 units for as

32

Dungeon Bash
long as the ghost remains with them. It will not leave the PCs
until they exit the dungeon.
Unfriendly: The ghost haunts the party. They can banish or turn the
ghost, or their Random Encounter Number is increased by 2
units and the minimum number is increased by 3 units for as
long as the ghost remains with them. It will leave the PCs after
two random encounters.
Indifferent: The ghost continues to ignore the party.
Friendly: The ghost gives the party valuable information. Add 1 to
all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room.
Helpful: The ghost gives the party valuable information. Add 1 to all
further rolls to find the Main Quest Room. Furthermore, the
ghost will identify one magic item for free (the ghost actually
owned that item when he was still alive).

Injured Adventurer
Initial attitude: indifferent.
A single adventurer (human rogue of a level equal to APL) has survived this dungeon, but the rest of his party has died. She's not sure
if she can trust the PCs, but it's in their best interest that she does she can provide them with valuable information. The adventurer is
at -1 hp, slowly dying.
Diplomacy checks to influence the adventurer's attitude receive
a +10 circumstance modifier if the party heals the adventurer so that
her hit points are positive - if they don't, they can't interact with her.
Hostile: The adventurer sends the party away, but later lures the
dungeon's inhabitants their way. Increase the Random
Encounter Number by 4 units.
Unfriendly: The adventurer sends the party away.
Indifferent: The adventurer gives some valuable hints to the party,
but demands to be paid (APLx25 gp). Add 1 to all further rolls
to find the Main Quest Room.
Friendly: The adventurer gives some valuable hints to the party, but
demands to be paid (APLx5 gp). Add 1 to all further rolls to
find the Main Quest Room.
Helpful: The adventurer gives some very valuable hints to the party.
Add 2 to all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room.

Injured Inhabitant
Initial attitude: unfriendly.
A lone goblin (rogue of a level equal to APL-2; if less then one, he's
a lv1 warrior) lies in a corner, barely conscious (0 hp). Diplomacy
checks to influence the goblin's attitude receive a +5 circumstance
modifier if the party uses healing magic on behalf of the goblin.
Hostile: The goblin attacks if he's got more than 0 hp. Otherwise he
screams for help - a random encounter occurs.
Unfriendly: The goblin sends the party away.
Indifferent: The goblin gives some valuable hints to the party, if he's
first payed (APLx10gp). Add 1 to all further rolls to find the
Main Quest Room.
Friendly: The goblin gives some valuable hints to the party. Add 1
to all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room.
Helpful: The goblin gives some valuable hints to the party. Add 1 to
all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room. If paid (APLx10
gp) he'll scout ahead of the party but won't enter any rooms.
The next random encounter is prevented by the goblin, as he
leads that creature to a different part of the dungeon.

Dungeon Bash

Appendix: Non-Player Characters

Mercenaries
Initial attitude: unfriendly.
These two mercenaries (Human Fighters of a level equal to the
APL) are exploring the dungeon for their own reasons, but nevertheless, they can be hired by the party . Their price is listed on the
table below, and each fighter has to be paid individually. They fight
a maximum number of battles for the party, depending on their attitude (Helpful: as often as they are paid. Friendly: 5 times.
Indifferent: 3 times. Unfriendly: Once). If they were intimidated,
they will always only fight once for the party.
APL

Unfriendly

Indifferent

Friendly

Helpful

1
4 gp
2 gp
1 gp
1 gp
2
8 gp
4 gp
3 gp
2 gp
3
16 gp
8 gp
7 gp
5 gp
4
30 gp
15 gp
14 gp
10 gp
5
60 gp
30 gp
28 gp
20 gp
6
100 gp
50 gp
47 gp
36 gp
7
220 gp
110 gp
106 gp
90 gp
8
400 gp
200 gp
195 gp
160 gp
9
740 gp
370 gp
360 gp
320 gp
10
150 pp
750 gp
735 gp
690 gp
11
280 pp
140 pp
137 pp
132 pp
12
540 pp
270 pp
264 pp
260 pp
13
1000 pp
500 pp
490 pp
470 pp
14
1920 pp
960 pp
950 pp
920 pp
15
3860 pp
1930 pp
1910 pp
1870 pp
16
7640 pp
3820 pp
3800 pp
3750 pp
17
15300 pp
7650 pp
7620 pp
7500 pp
18
28200 pp
14100 pp
14060 pp
13900 pp
19
53700 pp
26850 pp
26800 pp
26500 pp
20
99900 pp
49950 pp
49850 pp
49100 pp
Note that these prices deviate from the prices given in the DMG,
because the party hires these mercenaries under very special circumstances.

Initial attitude: friendly


A human fighter of a level equal to APL -2 (if less than 1, he's a 1stlevel warrior, not a fighter) is chained to a wall. If the party successsfully frees him from his bounds (see the table below for the DCs),
his attitude changes to helpful. This attitude may be further influenced (if intimidated, he provides the benefit listed below, but the prisoner will leave the party afterwards, and they won't be able to colllect the reward).

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Traveling Merchant
Initial attitude: indifferent.
A Human Rogue of a level equal to APL+1, guarded by two Human
Fighters of a level equal to APL is dealing with anyone she meets.
Prices for wares : 150% (unfriendly), 100% (indifferent), 95%
(friendly), 85% (helpful). Diplomacy changes attitude. Intimidate
changes attitude for a single item, thereafter the attitude changes
to unfriendly. If the merchant turns hostile, she'll attack the party
(note that her wares are magically secured - should the merchant
die, her wares disappear to an unknown location outside of the
dungeon).
Generate treasures according to the following table. The merchant has these items on stock (if you're not interested in, for example, mundane items, you can skip those rolls).
APL

Prisoner

APL

10
25
25
11
28
26
12
28
26
13
28
27
14
28
27
15
30
27
16
30
28
17
30
29
18
30
30
19
32
30
20
32
31
Hostile: The prisoner refuses any help by the party and leaves.
Unfriendly: The prisoner refuses any help by the party and leaves.
Indifferent: The prisoner refuses any help by the party and leaves.
Friendly: Add 1 to all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room.
Helpful: Add 1 to all further rolls to find the Main Quest Room.
The prisoner is at half his maximum hit points. If the characters
successfully guard the prisoner and bring him outside, he'll award
them APLx10 gp (if friendly) or APLx50 gp (if helpful).

Open Lock DC

Break DC

20
20
20
22
22
22
25
25
25

18
19
20
20
21
22
23
24
24

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Mundane

Minor

Medium

Major

6
6
6
5
5
4
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
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Legal Information

Dungeon Bash

Designation of Product Identity: The term Dungeon Bash (and other products published by TOGC), the name The Other Game Company, company logos
and layout are designated Product Identity.
Designation of Open Game Content: Unless noted otherwise (under Designation of Product Identity, for example), all chapters (1-7) are designated as Open
Game Content.

OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a


The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved.
1. Definitions: (a)"Contributors" means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b)"Derivative Material" means
copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition,
extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute"
means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d)"Open Game Content" means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over
the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including
translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) "Product Identity" means product and product line
names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations;
names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments,
creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) "Trademark" means the
logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open
Game License by the Contributor (g) "Use", "Used" or "Using" means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative
Material of Open Game Content. (h) "You" or "Your" means the licensee in terms of this agreement.
2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and
in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License
except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License.
3.Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License.
4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.
5.Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your
original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.
6.Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE
of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder's name to
the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.
7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another,
independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark
or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with
the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product
Identity.
8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.
9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License
to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.
10 Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute.
11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.
12 Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due
to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
13 Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.
14 Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors: Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy
Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Dungeon Bash Copyright 2005-2006, The Other Game Company (TOGC); Author: Stefan Pietraszak.

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