Setting Archetype Rules: Reclamation
Once-bustling worlds, now devoid of people, and stories of rebuilding civilization after apocalyptic catastrophe make up the bulk of the well-known Reclamation trope. This name is fitting in two distinct ways: the natural world has had time to reclaim the structures made by intelligent races, and the returning members of those races now seek to reclaim a place for themselves from the natural world.
The path that intelligent races must take is always full of hardships, including unknown monsters, a lack of resources, and inhospitable conditions in most of the reclaimed world.
Why Use Reclamation?
The Reclamation archetype is a tried and true one in the world of fiction. You might want to use this archetype for any of the following reasons:
- To simplify world design by relying on one home base or multiple bases that are very similar to each other.
- To put an emphasis on environmental dangers or impose a time limit on players whenever the need arises.
- To allow players to make decisions with big consequences from the very start of their adventure.
- To, over time, develop a settlement, city, or civilization by using input from players and their characters.
- To provide a reason for players to use cartographer's tools.
- To tell an original story that relies on this archetype.
Optional Rule Variants
The rules presented in this document are meant to provide a foundation for your own setting. As such, any rules can be changed or ignored at your preference. Similarly, the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons has multiple optional rules that work well in Reclamation settings:
- Alien Technology (DMG page 268)
- Encumbrance (PHB page 176)
- Level Advancement without XP (DMG page 261)
- More Difficult Identification (DMG page 136)
- Wands That Don't Recharge (DMG page 141)
Home Base
Embarking on an adventure in a reclaimed world means leaving the comfort of a home base in the hopes of returning with resources and information. In many settings, this base takes the form of a minimalistic outpost, an underground hold, or an expeditionary ship either on or near the reclaimed landmass. For further inspiration, see page 15 of the DMG.
Resting Away From Home
As adventurers continue to take on greater challenges, they will be expected to journey farther from their home base, for-cing them to sleep away from creature comforts as a result. When characters complete a long rest anywhere other than their home base, they do not regain any spent Hit Dice. Also, if they have one or more levels of exhaustion, their exhaustion level is not reduced upon completing a long rest. Spells that create safe, comfortable dwellings, such as Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, can be used to circumvent this rule.
Stone of Returning
To avoid the repetitive nature of backtracking, you can prov-ide player characters with a stone of returning, which bears a resemblance to a half-pound hemisphere of polished rock salt. When a passcode of your choice is spoken aloud, the flat side allows communication between the stone of returning and its paired stone, which is normally held by someone located at the home base.
As an action, a creature can shatter the stone, causing each creature and object within 10 feet of it to be teleported back to the home base that the stone of returning was linked to.
Reclamation Hazards
Unique environments have their own collections of effects and challenges, but Reclamation settings will often contain hazards that have spread across many natural biomes.
Reclaimed Food and Water
Consuming unprepared food or drink from reclaimed areas always comes with some risk. Whenever a character eats or drinks from a dubious source, roll on the table below to determine the consequence that befalls them:
| d8 | Consequence |
|---|---|
| 1-2 |
The character becomes afflicted by a random disease caused by the contagion spell until they complete a long rest. Additionally, they gain no nourishment from the consumed food or drink. |
| 3-7 |
The character must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC = 20 − the number rolled on the d8) or be poisoned for the next 1d4 hours. |
| 8 |
The source is safe; other characters can consume it without consequence. Reroll this option if a character has already suffered from consuming the same food or drink. |
A character with the Wanderer background feature can make a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check once per day to find reclaimed food and water that is safe to eat and drink.
Advanced Darkness
Once night falls, darkness in reclaimed worlds becomes advanced darkness, which reduces the effective range of darkvision by a factor of 3 (i.e., if a character's darkvision has a normal range of 60 feet, it effectively has a range of 20 feet in advanced darkness). The darkvision of creatures native to the reclaimed world is unaffected.
Light sources surrounded by advanced darkness can only shed dim light. For example, a torch, which normally sheds bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet, is only able to shed dim light in a 20-foot radius.
Outdoor camps are prime targets for monster attacks dur-ing the night, so players should make an effort to find an enclosed space to rest. Otherwise, combat is nearly assured.
Otherkin
Reclaimed worlds can have their own share of intelligent races that have changed and evolved with the land around them. For the most part, these otherkin will speak in alien tongues and be wary of or outright aggressive towards the adventurers that encroach on their territory. Sometimes, though, an otherkin might be of great help to the party even if communication with them is difficult or impossible.
Otherkin races are meant to provide interesting social interaction outside of the home base. Consider including one or more otherkin types in your own Reclamation setting if your players are easily bored by combat.
Example Otherkin Types
| d10 | Type |
|---|---|
| 1 |
A subrace of dwarves that are very similar to the ones that player characters are familiar with, but every word in their Common tongue seems to have a completely different meaning than usual. |
| 2 |
A collective of different humanoid races that share a common mutation, such as winglike protrusions, extra eyes, or carnivorous diets. |
| 3 |
A subrace of elves that only communicate by telepathically conveying concepts instead of using actual words. |
| 4 |
Tiny humanoids that can swarm together to create a Medium-sized humanoid shape if there are at least a dozen of them working together. |
| 5 |
A subrace of halflings that can turn all but their feet invisible at will. |
| 6 |
Your choice of lizardfolk, kenku, or tabaxi, but with disturbingly humanlike features. |
| 7 |
A subrace of humans with skin that looks as though it were painted on. Colors and patterns are seemingly random, but members of the subrace do not notice these differences. |
| 8 | An extremely intelligent subrace of bullywugs. |
| 9 |
A civilized collective of beasts that speak one exotic language listed on page 123 of the PHB. |
| 10 |
Your choice of goblins or kobolds, but with feathers. They can only fly as well as a chicken. |
Reclaimed Foothold
In Reclamation settings, the players' first job is to stake out a location for a foothold if there isn't one already. This foothold will usually become their new home base once it is built. It is suggested to choose a location as early as 2nd level and have the foothold's construction finish once the player characters reach their 3rd level.
There are a number of helpful buildings that can be constructed in the foothold, but exactly which ones are prioritized should be left up to the players. Plan to add a new building or improve the functionality of an existing one for every level that characters gain.
The blacksmith sells all manner of physical weapons and armor. As players upgrade it, the smith expands their repertoire and offers more items of the magical variety.
The landing is at the receiving end of a portal that allows people from the original home base, or far abroad, to come to the foothold and make a place for themselves. This building is highly optional, but useful if you or the people you play with like to interact with new characters or want to build a city with the foothold as its foundation.
The provisioner is essential. It functions as a general store at early levels and can provide characters with more stones of returning when needed. At higher levels, it can also double as a jail, stable, or tavern depending on the players' choice.
The research station provides players with a way to identify magical items in the absence of a magic-user. At higher levels, it provides a service that can tell characters more about a creature if they bring back a nice sample of it.
The shrine provides a channel to the setting's deities if they are willing to listen to mortals. In addition to providing restoration and healing to characters, it can also provide a foothold-wide effect from the hallow spell at higher levels.
The watchtower notifies the foothold of any nearby dangers and functions as the place of employment for scouts, which players can send out to discover more about the area surrounding the foothold. Scouts may even be willing to accompany adventurers as sidekicks.
In addition to these specialized buildings, the foothold should also contain homes, farms, and other appropriate structures for your setting.
Humble Beginnings
The reclaimed foothold should have at least a provisioner and watchtower, both at Tier 1 (see the information on tiers below), once it is constructed. No more than 2 of the other buildings (also at Tier 1) should be present.
Foothold Tiers
Just as D&D has tiers of play, the reclaimed foothold has tiers of sophistication. Until their 4th level, players only have access to the most basic Tier 1 buildings. Once they reach 5th level, they can upgrade buildings to Tier 2. At 11th level, Tier 3 becomes available. Tier 4, which not all buildings have, is unlocked when the player characters reach 17th level.
Night Attacks
Each night, the foothold is set on by various creatures from the reclaimed world. The adventurers are expected to help repel any attackers, but it is difficult to know when or where exactly they'll come.
Variant Rule: Relics
The Reclaimed Foothold allows players to influence an evolving settlement, but some players may have no interest to do so. For these players, it is recommended to have them collect a relic during each expedition.
Relics such as rare creature eggs, ritual instructions, broken technology, otherkin emissaries, and ancient tools can be brought to their relevant building or used to garner funding for it to be built. Once utilized, the building increases its tier without needing any input for the players. DMs should choose lore-friendly relics for their campaign and weave them obviously into the foothold itself if using this variant rule.
Blacksmith
Armor, weapons, and ammunition made on-site.
Tier 1. The blacksmith sells all basic weapons and armor that the DM allows in their campaign setting.
Tier 2. An apprentice enchanter is hired. For a small fee, they can make any weapon or ammunition magical. No other benefit is applied.
Tier 3. Custom smithing techniques allow the smithy to add new properties to existing weapons, within reason. For example, a character could have the thrown property added to their glaive for a moderate fee.
Tier 4. The enchanter can now work on armor for a high price, allowing it to grant the wearer resistance to one type of damage of the buyer's choice. The chosen damage type can't be bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing, however.
Landing
A mostly one-way portal to the foothold. Everything here can be considered optional in many campaigns.
Tier 1. Interesting NPCs enter through the landing every so often with news from the original home base and beyond. Some might even join the adventurers as sidekicks.
Tier 2. Processed materials from afar are now able to be brought into the foothold. The other buildings now have access to silver, mithral, adamantine, and gemstones.
Tier 3. Under specific conditions, the landing's portal can be used to reach the elemental and outer planes.
Provisioner
The most basic building for an outpost.
Tier 1. The provisioner sells all adventuring gear and tools that the DM allows in their campaign setting. Characters can also purchase stones of returning here for 50 gp each.
Tier 2-4. The Provisioner increases in size and gains an additional functionality from the options below:
Jail. The jail can hold up to 8 creatures of Medium size, and at least 3 guards are on duty at all times. It's generally only used for the most heinous of crimes.
Stable. The party can purchase mounts or board their own ones here. The stablehand is experienced and has enough general knowledge to handle animals they've never seen.
Tavern. Eat, drink, and be merry. A place to wind down for all weary adventurers. Entertainers may be enticed to come to the foothold if it has this improvement and a landing.
Research Station
Magical services at spellbinding prices.
Tier 1. The research station employs spellcasters who can cast certain spells at the rates listed below:
| Spell | Cost |
|---|---|
| comprehend languages | 10 |
| mage armor | 50 |
| Spell | Cost |
|---|---|
| create or destroy water | 1 |
| identify | 20 |
Tier 2. The spellcasters now sell scrolls containing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-level spells from the wizard spell list.
Tier 3. The research station can now be used to tell you a creature's resistances and immunities if you provide the researchers with an organic sample from it.
Tier 4. After painstaking analysis of reclaimed technology, the researchers can now create and sell wondrous items of common or uncommon rarity at the DM's discretion.
Shrine
Divine services at devilish prices.
Tier 1. The shrine employs priests and priestesses who can cast certain spells at the rates listed below:
| Spell | Cost |
|---|---|
| protection evil and good |
30 |
| lesser restoration | 100 |
| Spell | Cost |
|---|---|
| protection from poison | 70 |
| purify food and drink | 1 |
Tier 2. The priests and priestesses now sell scrolls with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-level spells from the cleric spell list.
Tier 3. The foothold is consecrated by the hallow spell with the extra effect of everlasting rest, which disallows corpses from becoming undead within the confines of the foothold.
Tier 4. Each player character can receive one blessing from the shrine (see page 227 of the DMG for information on blessings, including examples).
Watchtower
Necessary information and night protection.
Tier 1. Player characters can go here for clues on where to head on their next expedition. The foothold receives very little warning to attacks that come during the night.
Tier 2. The watchtower's employed scouts can now be hired as sidekicks or assistants on expeditions, and night attacks come 1 minute after a warning from the watchtower.
Tier 3. The scouts are now willing to perform more dangerous missions, such as securing samples of unknown creatures or venturing further afar for additional information.
Tier 4. The watchtower is now capable of fending off all but the most major night attacks on its own, without help from adventurers.
Credits
Original Homebrew Content by Acenm5.
Context: D&D 5th Edition by Wizards of the Coast, LLC.
Made using GM Binder.