Savage Toolkit for 5e
The following rules expansion adapts several mechanical systems for storytelling and resolution of combat and non-combat scenarios from Savage Worlds. Included are mechanics for:
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Chases & Vehicular Combat: Dynamic and thrilling chases through crowded streets, on the back of horse-drawn wagons, aboard airships, or dogfights between flying creatures.
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Dramatic Tasks: Tense scenarios in which a situation must be resolved in a timely fashion to avoid significant consequences.
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Quick Encounters: A fast and easy way to resolve fights, heists, or capers when pressed for time.
Disclaimer: Please note that this document draws inspiration from licensed Savage Worlds content, and as such is only for personal use and should not be shared publicly.
Getting Started
Each of these systems utilize a core set of mechanics adapted from Savage Worlds's rules and can benefit from a modular set of variant rules which augment 5e.
Core Rules
In adapting storytelling mechanics from Savage Worlds, there are several modifications to be made to 5E first - Savage Worlds's Bennies are adapted into Inspiration; Exploding Dice are used for ability checks; the concept of Critical Successes and Success at a Cost is introduced; characters gain a new action through Tests of Will.
Inspiration
In 5E, Inspiration is one of the most unused mechanics by both players and DMs. The onus is first on the DM to remember to award player's for having their character play to a trait or flaw, then on the player to remember to use the Inspiration.
With this modified rule, players gain an Inspiration token after each daily rest.
Especially important or exceptional NPCs and sentient monsters might also start with their own one or two Inspiration tokens that only they can use, similar to a PC.
Inspiration tokens do not roll over when you gain new ones - use them or lose them!
- Awards: The DM should occasionally award players for clever actions and roleplaying their characters (especially to any flaws, traits or ideals). Optionally, the DM can ask players to request Inspiration tokens themselves, or award each other. This method takes some of the onus off the DM's memory.
Using Inspiration
Instead of gaining advantage on a roll, Inspiration tokens can be used after an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw is made (but before success or failure is confirmed by the DM) to reroll. Inspiration tokens can also be spent to reroll damage dice, or affect a minor aspect of the story (with approval from the DM).
Exploding Dice
Using this rule, ability checks are open-ended, meaning that when a 20 is rolled on a d20 for an ability check, the die explodes, meaning another d20 is rolled and the result is added to the total.
Raises
The DM sets an appropriate DC for ability checks, sometimes lowered or raised depending whether the narration of the actions taken by the characters is appropriate. But sometimes, it's important to know just how successful an ability check was. Every 5 points over a DC is called a "raise."
For certain Savage Toolkit mechanics such as Chases and Dramatic Tasks, raises have mechanical importance, but sometimes the DM might include a narrative or mechanical benefit for achieving a raise even in normal gameplay.
Contents
Success at a Cost
If an ability check is rolled lower but within 5 of the DC, the DM may adjudicate a success, but impose a Complication or other narrative development or setback on the next character's turn.
Contests of Will
A ‘Test is an action involving a special opposed roll. Tests cover a variety of creative combat and swashbuckling scenarios, from taunting an opponent to making a called shot, and can be used out of combat as well. The player describes the action he would like to make and works with the DM to determine the most appropriate ability check to roll and skill proficiency, if any, to add to it. The defender opposes the skill roll with an opposing ability check. Tripping somebody could be athletics or acrobatics depending on how it is described, and the opponent would likely roll Strength or Dexterity to oppose the Test.
If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this ability can replace one of them. If the attacker wins the opposed roll, the opponent is made distracted or exposed (attacker’s choice).
- Distracted: The afflicted has a -2 penalty to all of his ability checks, attack rolls and spell DCs until the end of his next turn, with an additional -1 for a raise.
- Exposed: An exposed creature has a -2 penalty to AC and saving throws until the end of his next turn, with an additional -1 for a raise.
Dramatic Tasks
Dramatic tasks are a mechanic from Savage Worlds: Adventure Edition that are great for quickly resolving tense scenarios in which a situation must be resolved in a timely fashion to avoid significant consequences. Skill Challenges are a mechanic from DnD 4th Edition that accomplish a similar goal, and emphasize putting narrative power in the hands of the players. This conversion for 5E draws inspiration from both, and aims to allow fast and easy integration with existing 5E initiative-based sequences while incorporating the mechanical crunch from Savage Worlds that can contribute to heightened tension, options for players, and fun at the table.
The Basics: The characters make ability checks to dictate their actions in response to a scenario described by the DM; if enough successes or 'Task Tokens' accumulate, the event is resolved before time runs out.
Setup
The DM starts by figuring out what the task is, how long the party has to complete it, and how many Task Tokens they need for a positive resolution.
Single Person Tasks
Use these guidelines when only a single character can attempt the task each turn:
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Easy: Collect four Task Tokens in three rounds. Examples: Picking a simple lock in enemy territory, disengage a lightning rail cart, determine the mechanism of a booby trap, discern the meaning of a puzzle.
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Moderate: Collect six Task Tokens in four rounds. Examples: Determine the mechanism of a timed booby trap, complete a ritual to call back a fallen ally, guide a vessel through hazardous water with no corresponding proficiency.
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Hard: Collect eight Task Tokens in five rounds. Examples: Disarm a booby trap with false mechanisms inside a protective covering, pick a secure lock guarded by magical wards in a patrolled area, cast a large and powerful ritual.
Multi-Person Tasks
If more than one person can attempt the task at once, such as manning different stations in a sinking boat, the GM must set the number of rounds and tokens required for victory herself. Here are some guidelines.
Assume each player will average one Task Token accumulated per turn. Use that as a guideline if you want the task to be “fair,” and set the number of rounds from three to five as you feel appropriate. A party of five given three rounds to save a boat, for example, needs to accumulate 15 Task Tokens in three rounds. Increase or decrease the number of tokens to make it more or less challenging. Difficulty can be raised by either increasing the number of Task Tokens required or increasing the DC of the checks.
If the number of successful ability checks achieved is a measure of victory rather than a straight win/fail condition, such as rescuing victims from a fire or taking bags of gold from a bank before guards are alerted, simply set the possible number of Task Tokens that may be accumulated in the allotted time. Each Task Token gathered represents a person saved, a bag recovered, etc.
In another example, a resurrection spell might not be guaranteed to succeed in some settings, and a Dramatic Task could be used to see how successful contributions to the ritual are in pulling the spirit back into its corporeal existence. In this case, each Task Token accumulated could count towards lowering the overall DC of the final resurrection check, but the Dramatic Task could only last one round.
Don’t be afraid to let the party choose how many members will attempt the task either, especially if there’s something else going on at the same time. Deciding how many characters will attempt to find the mechanism to unbarring an escape route while they’re being attacked by monsters allows them to choose their tactics.
Performing the Task
Characters roll for initiative or continue in an existing initiative order as usual during a Dramatic Task. Those attempting the task make ability checks with relevant skill or tool proficiencies and accumulate a Task Token for each success or raise. Failure means no progress and a roll of 1 on the d20 removes a Task Token (if any Task Tokens have been acquired).
The skills that can be used to accumulate Task Tokens depend on the situation. They might be defined, such as Intelligence (Investigation) to uncover the mechanism by which a trap is set, or they might be open — a Barbarian might use Athletics to carry people from a burning building while a Wizard uses Intelligence (Arcana) to see if he can manipulate the Weave to extend a single casting of Feather Fall to affect more than one victim trapped on the roof.
Allowed Actions
Characters can do anything they can normally do during initiative during a Dramatic Task, but the focus is on skill checks. Each skill check requires an action. Generally, movement and free actions are abstracted, but may be necessary to resolve if only a portion of the party is participating in a Dramatic Task. Bonus actions can be used for appropriate class features like Bardic Inspiration.
Help: A character can use his action to attempt to support an ally with a task as per RAW.
Ready: A character can Ready his action(s) as described in the PHB if he wants to delay his turn until after another character's.
Spells, Magic Items and Class Features: Characters can use their limited spells, magic items and class features when narratively appropriate to accumulate Task Token without rolling that round.
Sometimes, there will be no roll required in the use of the class feature or spell, so characters can only gain one Task Token in this manner per use.
Certain narrative situations may justify the DM calling for or the player requesting a skill check in combination with a successful class feature or spell use in order to allow the game mechanics for the respective spell to be stretched to allow the possibility of accumulating additional Task Tokens. In the example further above, the Wizard's casting of Feather Fall on a victim of a burning roof counts as one Task Token gained. An Intelligence (Arcana) check could be rolled to see if the Weave can be manipulated such that the Wizard can save multiple targets with one casting, represented by additional Task Tokens accumulated.
Multiple Skills
The DM can break tasks down into steps if she likes, each of which might require different skills. In locating the mechanism to disable a trap, for example, the adventurers might first have to get two Task Tokens to trace the triggering mechanism of the trap around obstacles using Intelligence (Investigation), then three more Task Tokens using Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) or Wisdom (Sleight of Hand) to disable the triggering mechanism.
Requiring multiple skills throughout the task makes it more difficult since Task Tokens from one phase of the Dramatic Task don’t carry over to the other. In the trap example above, for example, tracing the trap's mechanism location requires two Investigation successes. Additional Task Tokens don’t carry over to the Sleight of Hand rolls needed afterward.
Complications
Most chases will involve obstacles or complications, whether caused by opposing forces or the hazardous environment being adventured in. These complications might be triggered at upon reaching certain intervals, or left to fate. After their turns, players might roll a d20 to see if a complication occurs. Rolling less than 5 or 10, depending on the typical hazards around, would mean the character on the next turn encounters a complication. Refer to the DMG (p253) for a complete description.
Worse, if a roll is failed during a Complication, the Dramatic Task fails — the trap is triggered, the guards are alerted, a victim cannot be saved, and so on. The character may choose not to attempt a roll on a turn he has a Complication — it just costs him precious time. Luck might also be on the character's side - they can remember to use Inspiration in such a situation.
Help: Characters assisting with the Help action suffer the Complication penalty, and roll an additional die at disadvantage if their initiative roll is less than 5! Critical Failure on their part just subtracts from the lead’s roll as usual, however, it doesn’t cause the entire task to fail.
Failure
Think carefully before designing Dramatic Tasks that might wipe out the entire party if failed. The threat of catastrophe should be very real, but you don’t want a couple of bad die rolls to end the entire game. Similarly, a failed Dramatic Task should not lead to a narrative dead-end - it simply means the adventurers will need to seek alternate means of progress.
Instead of total disaster, maybe the party has a moment to seek cover before a trap is triggered. They don’t perish, but later awake in the local healer's house, or are even captured and experience a new type of adventure.
Dramatic Task DC Table
| Tier of Play | Easy (C* + 1 Successes) | Moderate (C* + 2 to 3 Successes) | Hard (C* + 4 to 5 Successes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DC 14 | DC 16 | DC 18 |
| 2 | DC 16 | DC 18 | DC 20 |
| 3 | DC 18 | DC 20 | DC 23 |
| 4 | DC 20 | DC 23 | DC 25 |
C*: Number of participants multiplied by number of rounds
Chases
One of the most thrilling scenes in adventure fiction is the chase. Whether you are hunting down bandits through the tight alleyways of a city's underbelly, bearing down on a fleeing ship in the midst of a storm, or recreating a desperate dogfight between flyingg combatants, these expanded rules allow you to create highly mobile pursuits too large to resolve on a tabletop. Chase rules from the DMG (p252) are intended to be used optionally alongside these rules, and are mentioned here for convenience.
The Basics: Participants vie for position using "intervals" to track relative distance.
Maneuvering Skills
The following rules often call for maneuvering ability checks. Exactly what proficiency may apply to these checks depends on whether the character is on foot, mounted, or in a vehicle of some sort:
- Foot: Athletics
- Mount or Wagon: Animal Handling
- Ship: Navigator's Tools
Setup
To start a chase, section off a number of squares or hexes, or other markers in series on the tabletop (nine is a good number for most chases, add more as needed). Each square or hex represents one interval along the Chase tracker.
Now break all the participants into each group that will move and act independently. Everyone in the same ship, boat, or vehicle, for example, is one group. In a foot chase, each player character acts independently because they move independently. The horde of NPCs or monsters chasing them can be broken up into groups as the DM decides.
The Range is the number of intervals between participants times the Range Increment, which varies for the type of chase:
Range Increments
| Type | Increment |
|---|---|
| Foot, Mounted or Vehicular | 30' |
| Ship | 100' |
| Flying or Airship | 200' |
These are suggested ranges, with the goal of giving most ranged weapons the ability to fire at a few intervals distance and give longer ranged weapons an advantage. Melee attacks are only possible when combatants are on the same chase interval. Increase or decrease the Range Increment as makes sense for a situation.
Chase Rounds
Characters roll for initiative or continue in an existing initiative order as usual during a Chase. Participants then act in whichever order they choose as their initiative comes up, using the Ready action if they want to trigger their turn after another participant acts.
The participants can move along the track using the Change Position maneuver, closing on foes, running from them, or attempting to reach some objective.
The DM determines the length of each round, but it is usually a combat round in a foot or car chase.
Boarders: Characters in or on an enemy vehicle act on the same initiative.
Minimum Speed: The DM must decide who is allowed to participate in a chase. A kid on foot might be able to chase bandits in a wagon if the streets are very congested, but is left behind after a round on the open road.
Ending the Chase: A chase ends when one side gets away (disabling all pursuers, pursuers losing sight of their quarry, the Flee maneuver, etc.) or is forced to stop. Participants can always choose to stop if they want, either dropping out or stopping to engage their enemies.
A chase might also end after a certain number of rounds, if the rule for Dash-related exhaustion is used (DMG p252) or as one or more of those involved reach a certain interval along the track. Characters might be racing bandits across the roof a lightning rail in Eberron to reach an escape vehicle. If one side makes it to the end of the track, the Chase is ended.
Falling Behind: If one or more pursuers is significantly slower than the other pursuers, the individual lagging behind may lose track of the quarry. If at any time a pursuer is 2 or more intervals behind all other participants in a chase, they must make an appropriate DC 5 maneuvering check to keep track of the quarry. In many circumstances, this maneuvering check will involve Survival or Investigation to attempt to rediscover the other's tracks. The DC of the maneuvering check increases by 5 for each additional interval the pursuer falls behind.
In certain situations, such as when unintelligent creatures who do not hunt in groups are simultaneously following prey, the threshold for this check will instead be when there are 4 or more intervals between a pursuer and the slowest quarry.
Chase Actions
Participants in a chase can do most anything they’d normally do, such as use a Test of Wills, Help, use spells, or make attacks. The DM decides how close a character has to be to try a particular action. A defender must be able to see or hear a verbal Test of Will for it to be effective, for example. If the attacker and defender are connected vocally via magical device, distance might not matter for certain actions.
Maneuvers
Below are a number of special actions participants can attempt during a chase. Maneuvers may also be part of a Multi-Action if that variant rule is used. A navigator can Change Position and shoot his crossbow, for example, or say he attempts a Force if he gets close enough to another ship.
Grapple (Action):
Sailing ships use grappling hooks and planks to pull their prey close and board.
To grapple, the attacker and defender must be on the same interval. The two then make opposed maneuvering ability checks. If the attacker is successful, the two vessels are joined and his crew may board the enemy craft.
If defenders have been designated to repel boarders and weren’t being used for other purposes (such as sailing or crewing stations on a boat), they start with Readied Actions unless the attacker won the boarding roll with a raise.
Once a boarding action begins, the commander of the boarded vessel can only attempt to Change Position, which is made at disadvantage if grappling lines, or other restraints are involved. If she’s successful, her vessel is no longer grappled (though some of the boarders may still be on her ship!). With a raise, she breaks free and may move an interval in either direction.
Change Position (Action or Free Action):
A character or driver may change his position by making a maneuvering ability check as a free action. Success allows him to move up or down one interval, and up to two with a raise. The character may also Change Position as an action, gaining a +5 bonus to his maneuvering check for each multiple of the interval length his speed is. For instance, a creature with a 30 foot speed with the Expeditious Retreat effect active Changing Position with his action and bonus action would gain a +10 to his maneuvering check.
In the case of a foot chase, the Change Position action is interchangeable in nomenclature and effect with the Dash action. When large scale vehicles such as ships are involved, Dash is a situational action available to non-helmsman characters to move about a vehicle with speed.
Characters that have the ability to Dash as a bonus action can also Change Position as a bonus action in a foot chase. They can also expend both their action and bonus action on Changing Position.
Speed Bonus: If a rider, runner, ship, or vehicle’s speed is faster than the fastest of his rivals, he gains advantage to his maneuvering roll to Change Position, and a +5 bonus if he’s twice as fast.
Dropping Back: In a linear chase, a character may drop “back” one or two intervals without making a maneuvering roll. He may not Change Position further, either as an action or a free action.
Flee (Action):
A character or vehicle may escape the chase if there are at least two intervals between himself and the closest foe. If so, he makes a DC 25 maneuvering ability check and escapes if successful. The DC is by 5 for each additional interval of distance gained on between an escapee and his pursuers.
Shove (Action):
The attacker attempts to shove a rival away from his vehicle or into an obstacle. To do so, both must be on the same Chase interval and make opposed maneuvering ability checks. If the attacker wins, he forceably moves his foe to the next interval. A raise means the defender may have a narrative complication or other setback.
Complications
Any good Chase scene needs narrative development to keep it from being a dull affair. The DM can prepare what might kind of external factors might affect a chase scene in advance, or have characters roll after each turn to see if a complication develops. Refer to the Chase Complications table in the DMG (p253).
Quick Encounters
A one round skill challenge/dramatic task that replaces a combat sequence or more lengthy mechanical challenge. Typically, these are used for encounters that have little chance of narrative impact (or a 2nd or third combat in a session just doesn't sound interesting). Each PC negotiates with the DM an ability check to make to represent their action, adding relevant proficiency bonuses. DCs rise or fall based on the plausibility, effectiveness of the described plan and the deadliness of the encounter.
Degrees of Success
- TN + 3: No resource expenditure, and two positive developments (treasure discovered, clues found, or other narrative development helping PCs toward one of their goals)
- TN + 2: one positive development + 1 resource expenditure
- TN + 1: 1 resource expenditure: A level appropriate amount of damage rolled of the DMs hazard table, 2 short rest resources (or 1/2 of a pooled short rest resource like ki), 2 long rest resources (or 1/3 of a pooled long rest resource like sorcery points), or spell slots summing to your highest spell slot level (a spell caster with access to 5th level spells could burn a 2nd and 3rd level slot).
- TN: 2 resource expenditures
- TN - 1: 2 resource expenditures and one negative development
- TN - 2: 3 resource expenditures and one negative development
*Target Number = # of PCs in the party
Credits
This game references the Savage Worlds game system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group at www.peginc.com. Savage Worlds and all associated logos and trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Used with permission. Pinnacle makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or suitability for purpose of this product.
Savage Toolkit for 5E is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.