D&D 5E [Let's Read] A Life Well Lived: A Series of Character Development-Based Subsystems

It is unlikely WotC will go into the depth the Cubicle 7 is doing with there supplements. I mean, "A Life Well Lived" alone is 144 pages. I don't expect 144 pages in the DMG devoted to downtime and bastions. Not to mention "Uncharted Journeys" is another 294 pages (IIRC). So those two books are bigger than the 2024 DMG!

They will still have space in peoples shelves who want more crunch than WotC will provide
Absolutely. But I can certainly imagine someone saying "well, I'm already about to drop $120 on core books; I'll hold off on getting a book to build player bases until I see the final version of the bastion rules in the DMG."

I definitely think there's an audience for these books -- I've got Uncharted Journeys myself -- but they might take a dip for now.
 

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This chapter brings the concept of a Base into 5th edition, a stationary dwelling for PCs to rest at and commit to various projects.​
Have you read Matt Colville's Strongholds and Followers, and if so, what are your thoughts on how this stacks up against that? (You may have reviewed Colville's book; I don't remember.)
 

I have read Strongholds & Followers, but haven't reviewed it. It's been a long enough time that I don't remember the rules off-hand. so I can't make a detailed comparison at the time.

But as a skim-through comparison...

S&F is much more detailed for creating PC dwellings, rather than being a single chapter. It's much more useful if base-building and domain management is a major part of your game.

S&F is also more expensive during the initial purchases. Even the most meager Strongholds run into the thousands of GP just to buy, and much more when upgrading them. Additionally the time progression in S&F (for building and upgrading) is measured in explicit days, while for A Life Well Lived Downtime Periods are the major time unit. As a Downtime Period is about 3 weeks and there are no explicit details for building a Base from scratch (the only real prerequisite is buying it with gold or obtaining it as a reward) it's more suitable for campaigns where the PCs may not be sitting around for years between adventures and progression.

The main bonuses Bases provide are in the form of Features and Rooms, usually simple things like advantage on certain tests, regaining more Hit Dice during a Long Rest, gaining free or bonus uses of consumable equipment, and the like. Nifty little things, but no big game-changers in terms of balance. S&F can really up the personal power of PCs, such as granting them lair actions while in the same hex/province as their Stronghold, gaining NPC retainers, and blatant improvement to core class features. Additionally, individual Strongholds are strongly tied to class and theme, while a Base can easily be multi-purpose for various PC roles and abilities based on the Rooms and Features.
 

Yeah, I found Stronghold & Followers to be really tied into that 1E idea of each character building their own stronghold and gaining benefits based on that class, as group play fragments at higher level. I found this not so useful for my games where characters wanted to get a group homebase they could all benefit from equally - so I ended up homebrewing my own version based very loosely on S&F. This book strikes me as more potentially useful based on this review.
 

A Life Well Lived, much like Uncharted Journeys, is full of inspiration and half-baked rules systems.

I want to like it a lot more than I do.

Consider this Campcraft activity:
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So, does this mean that you can give a fellow fighter training in the Longsword, so they get an additional +4 or similar to all "to hit" rolls?

I love the idea of this book. I find some of it very good - but over and over again, I find problems like this.

Cheers,
Merric
 

I believe that the intention is that the person undergoing the training isn't proficient, and thus it doesn't add two different Proficiency Bonuses together if both teacher and apprentice are proficient. But yes, that Activity could be much better worded.
 

Yeah, I found Stronghold & Followers to be really tied into that 1E idea of each character building their own stronghold and gaining benefits based on that class, as group play fragments at higher level.
Doesn't S&F give wizards the ability to have two concentration spells at one time? That feels ... problematic.
 


So, does this mean that you can give a fellow fighter training in the Longsword, so they get an additional +4 or similar to all "to hit" rolls?

I love the idea of this book. I find some of it very good - but over and over again, I find problems like this.

I believe that the intention is that the person undergoing the training isn't proficient, and thus it doesn't add two different Proficiency Bonuses together if both teacher and apprentice are proficient. But yes, that Activity could be much better worded.

As Libertad said, it could be better worded, but it is only a problem if you let it be one. It is pretty clear what they meant. I am not making an excuse for the poorly worded rule, but I also don't think stuff like that is a dealbreaker by any means.
 

As Libertad said, it could be better worded, but it is only a problem if you let it be one. It is pretty clear what they meant. I am not making an excuse for the poorly worded rule, but I also don't think stuff like that is a dealbreaker by any means.
It's one of a number of really badly thought out rules. And Uncharted Journeys had a core system that didn't integrate into 5E play well at all.

The ideas are great, don't get me wrong, but there's a lack of system mastery that is very apparent from the designers.

Cheers,
Merric
 

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