Candle'Bre has lots of different ways that players can buff and improve their characters. Training is always one option, but training can be expensive, and as your stats increase, it can become increasingly difficult for characters to find experts who are smart, wise, fast, strong, charming or robust enough to help them take their skills to the next level.
Another option then, is finding ways for the character to test him or herself. To push past limitations and really see what the character is made of.
One very good way to do that in Candle'Bre is to go whitewater rafting.
The river is impartial. The river doesn't care. Do well, and you'll be rewarded. Screw up, and you stand a good chance of dying.
There are a number of rivers in the Candle'Bre basin and several of them have runs of rapids at various points along their lengths.
If you've never done it before, let me start by saying that I personally love it, and the rules you'll find here are drawn from my own whitewater rafting experiences, gamified to make it a cool experience for players in your campaign.
The Basic Framework of the Rules
As much as possible, I stuck to real world conventions when writing these rules. For example, there really are five categories of whitewater (Class I thru Class V) and I created my baseline DC's along those lines (5* difficulty class), so:
- Class I Rapids (DC 5) (this is the kind of stuff you tube down)
- Class II Rapids (DC 10)
- Class III Rapids (DC 15)
- Class IV Rapids (DC 20)
- Class V Rapids (DC 25)
These are survival skill rolls, but anyone who has taken the Athlete feat gets a +2 on his/her roll.
Runs of rapids aren't usually just a single die roll, either. Each run of rapids has some number of "checkpoints" to navigate all the way through. Typically, it's 1 checkpoint per class (so Class II rapids will usually have 2 checkpoints, Class III rapids will normally have three checkpoints, etc.). There can be variances from this, but that's the baseline.
Just like actual runs of rapids, each checkpoint has a name. Usually, they're named after people who have hurt themselves or died rafting that particular leg of the run before (like "And this rock formation coming up is called Bergman's Nose" because Jim Bergman flipped his raft and broke his nose right here." - That kind of thing.
Sometimes though, a checkpoint is just named descriptively, like, "See how the river narrows and plunges down right there? Yeah, we call that The Chute."
So that's how the names of the checkpoints typically go.
Each checkpoint has 2 or more possible approach choices. For example - a big rock jutting up out of the middle of the river ("Bergman's Nose."). You can either try to go left around it, or go right.
There's always a right and a wrong answer. If Bergman's nose was on a run of Class III rapids, the Baseline DC would be 15. Going right around the rock formation gives you that baseline, but going left is hellabumpy. The DC is 17 and all players in the boat have to roll Strength Checks to keep from getting pitched out.
On rivers with rapids, I'll create at least one run per river, fleshed out. This will give DMs a starting point to flesh out additional runs as they need them.
Modifying Rolls At Checkpoints
Every whitewater raft has a skipper. He calls the ball. "Team - row left!" "Team - row right!" He's the one surveying the path ahead and making the calls, and he's the one making the rolls. Obviously, you want someone proficient in survival in this role.
- The other folks in the raft can help though. For every other person in the boat who's paddling, the Skipper gets to add +1 to all rolls.
- If there's an Athlete in the boat and paddling, add another +1 for each Athlete.
- If there's another person in the boat with Survival proficiency, you get Advantage on all rolls for the run.
- Anyone in the boat can use Spirit Points to increase the Die rolled, but using Spirit Points automatically forfeits any AP award you might get for completing a run (you may still get other perks, see below).
Running The Rapids
Treat this a lot like you would an RP encounter. DM describes the rapids, describes the upcoming checkpoint and outlines the relevant choices, something like,
"The rock formation known locally as Bergman's Nose rises out of the riverbed, towering before your tiny raft - your crew can try to cut left or right around the formation - what'll it be, Skipper?"
Give them six seconds to decide or roll it randomly. Rafting isn't a pursuit where you have the luxury of endless debate about the pros and cons. Decide or the river decides for you.
Die Roll Results
So, at each point, the party is engaged in the very fast decision-making process and the skipper makes the roll, modified as outlined above.
- A success means they get through that checkpoint unscathed (a particularly nasty checkpoint may still cause 1 point of structural damage)
- A failure by 1-2 means everybody with paddles rolls a Strength check to see if they lose their paddles (making subsequent checks harder). Depending on the checkpoint, this may be upgraded to Str. Checks to avoid being pitched out of the boat altogether. Boat suffers 2 points of Structural Damage.
- A failure by 3-4 means the boat goes into an uncontrolled spin (will require a new roll to try and right it before the next checkpoint – if this fails, then they’ll have Disadvantage on the next checkpoint). Boat suffers 3 points of Structural Damage and will automatically take at least 1 point at the next checkpoint if the spin isn't corrected before the checkpoint is reached).
- A failure by 5 or more means the boat capsizes and now the party is in serious trouble. They’re going to need to try to swim to shore, salvage anything they can (probably not much) and either walk around the rest of the rapids or (assuming they could save the boat), rest up and try again. Boat suffers 4 points of structural damage.
- Finally, a roll of a Natural 20 grants the “We Got This!” bonus, which grants either Advantage or a die improved one step (Skipper's choice) for the next checkpoint roll.
Rewards
Rewards are usually reserved for completing Class IV and V rapids in the blind (i.e. - not buying a run map from a local guide).
Completing a Class IV run without capsizing the boat will give every member of the team still in the boat at the end +1 AP to spend on any ability score improvement, because Whitewater Rafting requires the use of all your skills (Intelligence and Wisdom to "read" the currents, Strength, Dexterity and Constitution to physically navigate the challenge, and Charisma to lead the team, so any boost would be valid)--Max. 20.
Completing a Class V run without capsizing the boat will give every member of the team who didn't get pitched out of the boat +1 AP to spend on ability score improvements--again, Max. 20. Characters will also typically gain either 2 new levels of proficiency in Survival (max Mastery), or their choice of a small subset of Feats provided by the DM (for instance, completing the "ArmaGheddon Run" along the River Rushing, grants the player's choice of either Resilient, Tough, or Athlete).
If a character gets pitched over the side, that character will have to make swimming checks every round to try and get to shore. Every round, whether the check succeeds or not, the character will suffer 1 Exhaustion level and take damage as outlined below:
- Class I rapids - No damage
- Class II rapids - 1d4 Bludgeoning
- Class III rapids - 2d6 Bludgeoning
- Class IV rapids - 3d8 Bludgeoning
- Class V rapids - 4d10 Bludgeoning
A character who is pitched over the side and rolls a Natural 20 on his swim check to get to shore gains a permanent +1 bonus on all future Swimming checks (cumulative, so over time, you may get multiples of these).
Buying A Raft Built For Whitewater
This is a custom order. It requires the skill of both an Artificer and a Shipwright. These are highly specialized rafts and expensive, with a base cost of 10 gold (remembering the Candle'Bre is on the Silver system).
Every raft has a baseline 10 structural points, and (see above), a run of rapids can, and often will damage the boat. If the boat drops to 0 Structural Points, it sunders, breaking apart on the rocks and sending everyone into the drink.
All of the cities on the shore of the Loch have people with the skills needed to build such a raft, and some smaller towns do as well (typically, those located on rivers near rapids, but this will be listed in each town's details, on the sidebar).
Also note that Masterwork rafts are a thing! It's up to the DM what benefits this provides, but as a baseline, a Masterwork raft has 15 Structural Points and may provide some other perk as well (+1 to all checkpoint rolls, for example).
A Mending cantrip will repair 1 point of Structural Damage per casting.
Whitewater rafting can be fun, but it can also be lethal. In some cases, braving the rapids may be the only way to reach an adventure destination...
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