Acid Pezz wrote: My thoughts:
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3 What if a Safehold meant you could help equip your party before the dungeon starts? Especially useful for PUGs where people dont have a lot of tokens.
Level 1: in the coaching room you have your blacksmith sharpen one weapon (+2 to hit for one party member for the dungeon)
Level 2: in the coaching room you designate a warrior from your land to defend someone in your party (+2 AC for one party member for the dungeon)
Level 3: In the coaching room a cleric from your land casts protective magic before you depart (+2 to one save fort, ref, will, for one party member for the dungeon)
Level 4: In the coaching room a wizard from your land casts Thornskin on your party (all party members gain 2 retribution damage)
Level 5: Once per game you may call upon a cleric from your land to resurrect a party member.
You can use one ability per game and have access to any tier equal to or below your current safehold level.
Obviously there would need to be balancing for the abilities but I think it would be a great way to help newcomers and not have to drag around a binder full of extra tokens. A little more work for coaches in the starting room but no added stress for DMs except the Level 5 resurrect which could be switched out for another coaching room effect.
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I think something like this would be really cool, and I think somewhere earlier in the thread someone mentioned hiring NPCs to help you during an adventure. So what if you could "hire" different NPCs that would reside in your Safehold, and they would have some kind of limited effect or offer a hint to help the party before or during an adventure? The NPCs could even have different "levels" that you could invest in, and the higher the level, the better the boon they impart. You could spend resources (trade goods and/or gold) to level them up, and switch out the NPCs that you house, but the number of NPCs housed at your Safehold would depend on the level of the Safehold itself. I think that would mean that you would also have to limit the number of NPCs you could "hire" for each adventure, too (maybe also based on the level of your Stronghold, or the Player level or something like that). NPC examples:
Scout/Spy - Rumor Mill: A hint or clue that tells the party what they might encounter during the adventure so they know what kind of special or situational gear to equip. For example, "There are tales of travelers being attacked by some unseen foes," would hint that you should equip an item that helps against invisible or maybe incorporeal enemies. "Wildfires have been spreading through the lands, particularly odd for this time of year," could hint that you might be taking some fire damage in the battles ahead. The higher the level, the better the intel, or maybe you receive multiple rumors. A higher level Scout could give the party a clue (similar to Rogue's Clue) for puzzle rooms.
Alchemist - Brew a Potion: the party could draw a random potion from a pool of potions separated by rarity. Rarity pool that you get to draw from and number of potions you get would be based on the Alchemist's level (maybe 1 or 2 potions max per adventure) This would also be a way for TD to "recycle" potions and other consumables that are turned in during the runs.
Artificer - "Take this, it's dangerous": similar to Alchemist's Brew a Potion, but for consumable weapons like grenades, bullets, arrows, etc.
Blacksmith - Weapon Sharpening: Acid's idea of a boost to one party member's To Hit and/or Damage for the dungeon. Boost would depend on the Blacksmith's level. Perhaps a higher level blacksmith could sharpen multiple weapons to give a boost to multiple people. Or a Blacksmith would need to be a certain level to be able to Sharpen weapons of higher rarities (for example, a level 3 Blacksmith could sharpen Common, Uncommon, and Rare Weapons but not Ultra Rare Weapons).
Mercenary - Hired Help: Acid's idea of adding to a party member's AC by hiring someone to protect them. Maybe a higher level Mercenary could also get it's own puck to slide during combat? I imagine you would have to make this really easy for DMs, no stat card for the Merc, no bonuses, just simple hit or miss. Merc's weapon rarity could be limited by their level, and the weapon must be provided by the party of course... Maybe you can only hire a Merc if your party has less than 10 players?
Chef - Well Fed: Your party gets a boost to their max HP for the adventure. A higher level Chef gives you more HP. They could give the party "trail rations" in the form of a healing potion.
That's all I can think of right now, but there are SO many possibilities!
If people think that getting a couple extra consumable tokens from Safehold NPCs would upset the trade good/treasure economy, then they could "expire" at the end of the run. If you use it, great! If not, you turn it in at the end. If you forget to turn it in, it's marked (maybe the way old consumables were punched?) to indicate that it can't be mulched for trade goods.
Depending on the cost of the Safehold, I think most people will be pooling their resources to create one, so I think using the Safehold in a way that benefits the entire party makes the most sense. Perhaps it can also impart some kind of individual benefit as well, like admission to a special event every once in a while, but in that case, would the Safehold have to be a Soul Forged item (or whatever TD calls them)?
