Relationships

in Arcavios

As students, the characters have the opportunity to cement friendships, establish rivalries, deepen bonds, and otherwise develop relationships with student NPCs in this book’s adventures. Although these pursuits could be played out entirely with roleplaying, you can use the following Relationship rules to reinforce this aspect of the adventures.     These rules provide characters with benefits—or drawbacks!—based on their social endeavors, infusing their interactions with other students with rules weight, and making this integral part of student life a more significant part of the game.    

Using These Rules

The book’s adventures include Relationship encounters, featuring events during which characters can interact with one or more of the student NPCs in the “Fellow Students” section. When such an encounter begins, use the adventure’s read-aloud text to describe the scene. Then work with the characters one at a time until each has had a turn to interact with the student NPCs.     The character of each participating player gains 1 Relationship Point or more with student NPCs during Relationship encounters. A character’s number of Relationship Points with a specific NPC determines their status with that NPC.    

Relationship Points

The characters have opportunities throughout the adventures in this book to gain Relationship Points with student NPCs. At your discretion, in addition to Relationship encounters, other roleplaying encounters might also provide Relationship Points.     A character’s total number of Relationship Points with an NPC determines their status with that NPC, as described below. Relationship Points start at 0 and increase or decrease by 1 each time a character interacts with one of the NPCs covered by these rules, whether in a Relationship encounter or during another roleplaying scene.     When a character interacts with a student NPC, that character’s player decides which of the following categories they wish their response to fall under:     Friendly Response. A friendly response earns 1 Relationship Point. A friendly response is positive; it might take the form of showing warmth or providing affirmation and camaraderie, as the encounter dictates.     Rivalrous Response. A rivalrous response earns −1 Relationship Point. A rivalrous response is negative, and might take the form of being rude to the NPC, antagonizing the NPC, or taking similar unkind actions.     Each time a character’s number of Relationship Points changes for an NPC, the player should note that on their tracking sheet. The sheet can also be used to track other details about the Relationship.    

Making Friends and Rivals

While a character has 2 Relationship Points or more with a student NPC, that NPC becomes a Friend, and the character receives a Bond Boon from that person as long as the NPC is a Friend.     While a character has −2 Relationship Points or less with a student NPC, that NPC becomes a Rival, and the character receives a Bond Bane from that person as long as the NPC is a Rival.     Bond Boons and Bond Banes are noted in each NPC entry in the “Fellow Students” section. When a character makes a Friend or a Rival, the player should note it on their tracking sheet.     At any time during the adventures in this book, a character can end their friendship with an NPC, effective immediately. When they do so, that character’s Relationship Points with the NPC reset to 0.    

Deepening Relationships

Once a student NPC has become a character’s Friend, the character has the option of deepening the Relationship. The next time a Relationship encounter happens with the Friend, the character can express a wish for a deeper connection with that NPC. This might be a romantic pairing, a deeper platonic camaraderie, or a sibling-like bond. Before this encounter takes place, talk to the player to ensure a clear understanding of what sort of Relationship they seek with the NPC.    

Becoming Beloveds

If a player wants a deeper Relationship between their character and a Friend, the Friend can become the character’s Beloved if the character has 2 Relationship Points or more with the NPC. During the next Relationship encounter, they can deepen their Relationship and become Beloveds, in addition to the normal interaction the Relationship encounter allows.    

Beloved Inspiration

When a character has a Beloved, the character gains Beloved Inspiration at the end of each long rest. Beloved Inspiration functions like regular Inspiration (as described in the Player’s Handbook), except a character regains a number of uses of Beloved Inspiration after each long rest equal to the number of Beloveds they have, not to exceed a number equal to their proficiency bonus.    

Ending Beloved Relationships

A character can end a Beloved Relationship at any time. When that Relationship ends, the NPC no longer provides Beloved Inspiration to the character.     If the character’s Relationship Points with the NPC ever drop below 1, the Beloved Relationship ends immediately.    

Fellow Students

The student NPCs are described on the next few pages. Each NPC entry includes personal details and a short biography, along with the Extracurriculars and Job the character is involved in, if any. If an NPC becomes a character’s Friend, the character receives the Bond Boon noted in the NPC’s entry. If the NPC becomes a Rival, the character suffers the noted Bond Bane instead.    

College and Year

The academic year noted for an NPC is during the “Campus Kerfuffle” adventure in this chapter. College affiliations for first-year students are provided for flavor and for their subsequent years (students don’t join a college until their second year).     If you’re playing the adventures in later chapters, the NPCs noted as first-year students have advanced to be the same year as the player characters, and have officially joined their colleges. NPCs noted as second-year students are always a year ahead of the characters. During “A Reckoning in Ruins” in chapter 6, student NPCs who were in higher years when the characters started at Strixhaven are still around on campus as continuing students or recent alumni.