D&D 5E Ideas for a smart City Watch

[SuperTD]

So I've been thinking recently about high magic worlds, and how to make them feel sensible. In the Forgotten Realms there are magic users running all over the place, especially in large cities. This could cause real trouble for the Watch, particularly if they're not trained to deal with it. So, I assume that guards in places such as Neverwinter or Waterdeep will be taught about the basics of magic in their jobs and training. They need to know how to deal with it so that when a criminal turns invisible or pulls some other fancy trick, they don't just stand around scratching their heads as seems to be the default assumption in many games. I'm looking for ideas on what sort of tricks the Watch could feasibly be aware of, and how they would respond.

Invisibility - Someone in a patrol carries a flour pouch or something similar that can be thrown to fill a room, helping in revealing hidden creatures.

Communication - Someone in each patrol carries a sending stone, which is linked to another back at base in order to request reinforcements when needed. (Maybe too expensive to be viable)

Healing - Guards need to understand how healing works, in the sense that you can't just knock someone down and ignore them. In the world of D&D, 1 hit point is as good as full when it comes to fighting, and people who are healed will spring back up to fight on.* I'd consider some sort of house rule that an enemy can attack a dying creature who is unconscious in order to make it fail death saves, but only with the consequence of them not being able to be healed back up immediately and woken up. Instead they would be healed, but remain out cold.

What other ideas can you think of to simulate a smart, well organised and trained guard force in a major city? I'm mainly looking for things to counter cheap low level tricks that wouldn't be ridiculously expensive or convoluted for a city to implement. I'm not a fan of guards being bumbling buffoons who don't know how the laws of physics/magic work in their universe.


*Healing is also an interesting thing to talk about. People always say that smart enemies will ignore downed combatants to focus on the ones still fighting - but in D&D 5e, the actually smart thing to do (assuming the players have a healer and the NPCs are aware) is the force failed death saves on them to take them out for good. Not sure how my players would feel about this though...

 

[jasper]

It would vary with how big the town is. Think Mayberry vs New York City.
Caltrops, ball bearings, would come in handy.
Handcuffs would become finger cuffs or the like so mages can't wiggle their fingers. Ball gags or scold cages would be standard equipment as well.
If an arrest was made, near naked perp to make sure no magic items, hold out weapons, lock picks, spell focus etc would be paraded down the street.
The patrol would be prepared to run away.

 

[SuperTD]

The patrol would be prepared to run away.

I think this is key - guards would be taught how to recognize when something is above their pay grade, and who they should call to sort it out.

 

[Jaelommiss]

Hire retired adventurers. Have them give presentations to your new recruits on what they've learned about their foes, their allies, and their own capabilities. Keep them on standby in case of trouble with more capable people.


Are guards able to gain XP and levels? If so it's pretty easy to advance. If not, why?

Two guards, each worth 25 XP, spar at the end of their shift before heading home for the night (where they will take a Long Rest and fully heal). It takes 12 victories to reach level 2. After a maximum of 23 matches one of the pair will have won enough to advance. Call it a month to account for days off, accidents, and emergencies that prevent it happening. After one month of training half of your guards are level 2. Another 24 victories (another month against a default guard or two months against an equal opponent, assuming they are still only worth 25 XP) will get them to level 3. These guards are strong enough to deal with the local bandits and goblins and wolves in relative safety, and some of them might have even picked up magical capabilities. 25 XP per fight with one fight per day and a 50% win chance gives us 4562 XP. After four years it'll be over 18k, bringing the average guard up to level six. A particularly powerful (75% win rate) guard could reach level ten in less than a decade.

Daily training seems excessive over such a long period. Maybe we'll start them with a three month training period. This'll create a backbone of level 2-3 guards, mostly fighers and barbarians and rogues, to handle day to day patrols and security. Later on we can add an intensive month long course (complete with healing from the local clergy to allow more frequent and dangerous training) that covers more advanced on magic and tactics. There will also be training from adventurers here so that the guard can specialize in a field they are best suited to. This will be offered to the best guards (level 3, plus demonstrated capabilities in the field for a year or so), bringing them up to level five and opening up the rest of the classes. On top of your couple hundred level three guards you've now added everything from advanced tracking (rangers), unarmed experts (monks), healers (clerics), magical experts (wizards), and tier two martials. These stronger guards will act as reinforcements for regular guard, stepping in to handle more serious situations. They'll also be able to support missions outside of town, such as handling goblins and bandits and wolves. This will minimize losses and promote development at all ranks. These hands on assignments will also provide practical knowledge in handling dangerous or magical situations that seminars and lectures cannot. I'm sure that there will be the occasional threat that is too much for the regular guard. If a CR 6 wyvern moves into the area it will take a group of those stronger guards to deal with it. The best of them, working together repeatedly in these situations, will continue to get stronger.

What I'm getting at is that the best way for the town guard to be able to combat adventurers and their shenanigans is to train them like adventurers. If you take a group of farmers and hand them a bunch of chainmail and spears, you've still got a bunch of farmers. If you take those farmers and train them into capable soldiers, then you'll have capable soldiers. In a world where such radical advancement is possible, it makes no sense at all for the guards to not have advanced themselves.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I think this is key - guards would be taught how to recognize when something is above their pay grade, and who they should call to sort it out.

Borrowing the concept from Simon Greene's "Hawk & Fisher" stories, that would be Special Wizardry And Tactics.


(Or The Ghostbusters, depending on campaign style...)

 

[SuperTD]

Hire retired adventurers. Have them give presentations to your new recruits on what they've learned about their foes, their allies, and their own capabilities. Keep them on standby in case of trouble with more capable people.

I like this idea.

What I'm getting at is that the best way for the town guard to be able to combat adventurers and their shenanigans is to train them like adventurers. If you take a group of farmers and hand them a bunch of chainmail and spears, you've still got a bunch of farmers. If you take those farmers and train them into capable soldiers, then you'll have capable soldiers. In a world where such radical advancement is possible, it makes no sense at all for the guards to not have advanced themselves.

I do think the basic guards are too weak. In Volo's guide it gives an archer stat block which is the closest I can find to a standard trained soldier. Now, I expect them to be tougher than the city watch but it gives a benchmark to start from. I'd say those archers might equate to about a level 5 fighter adventurer (much more HP, fewer fancy tricks), so I'd see a beat cop in the watch at around level 2-3. This would rise based on rank.

 

[Bladecoder]

I think that the best solution to this peoblem is simply implementing low-level wizards in guard patrols, I mean as you have stated "Spellcasters are everywhere, especially large cities." If this is the case, and it is in most high fantasy realms, then I think it is fairly reasonable to assume that a young spellcaster would join a city watch in order to fund their studies.

This means that you would suddenly have guards weilding tomes who can solve these simple issues that are being addressed.

Just a thought.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

A Watchwizard able to cast a couple magic missiles would be an effective chase ender in most mundane cases. Even moreso if he has a wand of that spell. Too concerned about the lethality of that spell vs most targets? Perhaps the local watch has a non-lethal version of the same spell.

Sleep? Perfect for quelling a small crowd, or at least taking down the loudmouths stirring them up.

 

[jasper]

A...Sleep? Perfect for quelling a small crowd, or at least taking down the loudmouths stirring them up.

Andy to Barney...... Darn it Barney. This the fifth time this month you brought Dannyalcatraz in.
Barney, "ANNNNNNNNDDDDYYYYYY. I think Danny just like Sleeping it off in the cell. Maybe we should serve Pumpkin Spice coffee and waffles as breakfast?"

 

[Horwath]

Hire retired adventurers. Have them give presentations to your new recruits on what they've learned about their foes, their allies, and their own capabilities. Keep them on standby in case of trouble with more capable people.


Are guards able to gain XP and levels? If so it's pretty easy to advance. If not, why?

Two guards, each worth 25 XP, spar at the end of their shift before heading home for the night (where they will take a Long Rest and fully heal). It takes 12 victories to reach level 2. After a maximum of 23 matches one of the pair will have won enough to advance. Call it a month to account for days off, accidents, and emergencies that prevent it happening. After one month of training half of your guards are level 2. Another 24 victories (another month against a default guard or two months against an equal opponent, assuming they are still only worth 25 XP) will get them to level 3. These guards are strong enough to deal with the local bandits and goblins and wolves in relative safety, and some of them might have even picked up magical capabilities. 25 XP per fight with one fight per day and a 50% win chance gives us 4562 XP. After four years it'll be over 18k, bringing the average guard up to level six. A particularly powerful (75% win rate) guard could reach level ten in less than a decade.

Daily training seems excessive over such a long period. Maybe we'll start them with a three month training period. This'll create a backbone of level 2-3 guards, mostly fighers and barbarians and rogues, to handle day to day patrols and security. Later on we can add an intensive month long course (complete with healing from the local clergy to allow more frequent and dangerous training) that covers more advanced on magic and tactics. There will also be training from adventurers here so that the guard can specialize in a field they are best suited to. This will be offered to the best guards (level 3, plus demonstrated capabilities in the field for a year or so), bringing them up to level five and opening up the rest of the classes. On top of your couple hundred level three guards you've now added everything from advanced tracking (rangers), unarmed experts (monks), healers (clerics), magical experts (wizards), and tier two martials. These stronger guards will act as reinforcements for regular guard, stepping in to handle more serious situations. They'll also be able to support missions outside of town, such as handling goblins and bandits and wolves. This will minimize losses and promote development at all ranks. These hands on assignments will also provide practical knowledge in handling dangerous or magical situations that seminars and lectures cannot. I'm sure that there will be the occasional threat that is too much for the regular guard. If a CR 6 wyvern moves into the area it will take a group of those stronger guards to deal with it. The best of them, working together repeatedly in these situations, will continue to get stronger.

What I'm getting at is that the best way for the town guard to be able to combat adventurers and their shenanigans is to train them like adventurers. If you take a group of farmers and hand them a bunch of chainmail and spears, you've still got a bunch of farmers. If you take those farmers and train them into capable soldiers, then you'll have capable soldiers. In a world where such radical advancement is possible, it makes no sense at all for the guards to not have advanced themselves.

This!

whenever I think about any NPC, I think in PC classes.

city guard rookie is most probably 1st level fighter or ranger/barbarian in more rural area. Maybe rogue trained as an informant.

wizards and clerics could be magic support but I would have more training for them and put them "in service" at lvl2 minimum. Clerics could be put at lvl1 maybe.


As you said, best way to deal with PC adventurers are NPCs with PC class abilities.