Using This Book

Wretched Hives is divided into eight chapters.

Chapters 1-4 are about spending time in cities, joining factions or creating your own, and how to run inter-faction conflict. It includes information on the major activities adventurers can engage in, as well as the boons they gain for joining a faction and maintaining a good standing. It also includes the rules for creating their own faction, if they so choose, with a step-by-step guide on how to build one. Lastly, it includes rules to help govern or inspire conflict between factions.

Chapters 5-6 include new adventuring gear and customization options to help players realize their characters. It adds many new weapons and armor, including new properties, as well as all sorts of new adventuring gear, tools, and trade goods.

Chapters 7-8 include the rules for enhanced items and tools, including how to implement them in your game and give tools more weight.

Tiers of Proficiency

In addition to the two tiers of proficiency present in the Player's Handbook—proficiency and expertise—Wretched Hives introduces four new tiers of proficiency: trained, mastery, high mastery, and grand mastery. Additionally, the six tiers of proficiency now form an established hierarchy, from trained to grand mastery. Progressing from one tier to the next is not a given, however; if you're proficient in a skill, and you gain that proficiency again from another source, you do not automatically gain expertise. Instead, in these instances, you can choose another proficiency of the same type, as discussed in Chapter 4 of the Player's Handbook.

Trained

Trained lets you add half your proficiency bonus. Certain features, such as the Led by the Force class feature, grant this tier of proficiency. A character can be trained in skills, tools, saving throws, and weapons.

When a character becomes proficient in a skill or tool, they can instead choose to become trained in two skills or two tools, respectively. If a feature or feat would grant expertise in a skill or tool in which you are proficient, you would instead become proficient in the two skills or tools in which you became trained.

Proficient

Proficient lets you add your proficiency bonus. Proficiency can be obtained in skills, tools, saving throws, and weapons.

Expertise

Expertise lets you add twice your proficiency bonus. Expertise can be obtained in skills, tools, and saving throws.

Mastery

Mastery lets you add twice your proficiency bonus. Additionally, you always have advantage with mastery. Mastery can be obtained in skills, tools, and saving throws.

High Mastery

High mastery lets you add twice your proficiency bonus. Additionally, you always have advantage with high mastery, and when you make a roll with advantage at this tier of proficiency, you can reroll one of the dice once. You must use the new roll. High mastery can be obtained in skills, tools, and saving throws.

Grand Mastery

Grand mastery lets you add twice your proficiency bonus. Additionally, you always have advantage with grand mastery, and when you make a roll with advantage at this tier of proficiency, you can reroll each of the dice once. You must use the new roll for each die. Grand mastery can be obtained in skills, tools, and saving throws.

Critical Saving Throws

This book introduces a new mechanic that enables saving throws to crit, both in a creature critically failing or succeeding on the saving throw. Natively, creatures cannot critically fail or succeed on saving throws; instead, certain features or items enable this capacity.

Critical Failures

When a creature critically fails a saving throw against an effect that would deal damage, they treat the effect's damage as if it had rolled the maximum.

Critical Fail Range. The critical fail range of an effect determines on what d20 results a creature critically fails a save. Typically, effects have a critical fail range of 0, meaning a creature can't critically fail a saving throw. A critical fail range of 1 would mean a creature critically fails on a saving throw if they roll a 1, while a critical fail range of 2 means a creature critically fails a saving throw if they roll a 1 or a 2. A critical fail range cannot exceed 4, causing creatures to critically fail on a 1-4.

Certain effects, such as Explosives Style, cause creatures to take maximum damage if they roll a 1 on the saving throw. Such effects should be treated as a critical fail range of 1.

Keen Critical Saves

Weapons with alternate fire modes, such as burst or bright, don't benefit from the keen property. Consider extending the benefits of the keen property to the critical fail range for those weapons.

Critical Successes

When a creature critically succeeds on a saving throw against an effect that would deal damage, they treat the effect's damage as if it had rolled the minimum.

Critical Success Range. A creature's critical success range determines on what d20 results that creature critically succeeds on a save. Typically, a creature has a critical success range of 0, meaning a creature can't critically succeed on a saving throw. A critical success range of 1 would mean a creature critically succeeds on a saving throw if they roll a 20, while a critical success range of 2 means a creature critically succeeds on a saving throw if they roll a 19 or a 20. A critical success range cannot exceed 4, causing a creature to critically succeed on a 17-20.

Variant: Rolling 1 or 20

In addition to critical failures and successes, you can consider adding the following rule as well. If the d20 roll for a saving throw is a 20, a creature automatically succeeds on the saving throw, even if the result of their save would not meet or exceed the save DC, and they treat the save as a critical success. If the d20 roll for a saving throw is a 1, a creature automatically fails the saving throw, even if the result of their save would meet or exceed the save DC, and they treat the save as a critical failure.

Crafting and Blueprints

If crafting is intended to be integral to your game, your player's characters should start with—and learn over time—the blueprints to craft enhanced items over time. All characters with proficiency in a tool know how to craft all unenhanced items that are governed by that tool. Additionally, a character with proficiency in a tool knows a number of blueprints equal to half their level (rounded up). A character with expertise instead knows a number of blueprints equal to their level. Whenever a character gains a level, they can exchange one blueprint they know for another one. A character can only know standard blueprints at 1st level, but can learn higher rarity blueprints as they gain increase in levels. A character can learn premium blueprints starting at 5th level, prototype at 9th level, advanced at 13th level, legendary at 17th level, and artifact at 20th level. As GM, you can allow player's to choose their own blueprints, or you can choose for them. If a character has proficiency in multiple tools, they determine their known blueprints for each tool separately.

For instance, a 3rd-level character with proficiency in armstech's implements knows how to create all unenhanced blasters and vibroweapons, as well as up to two enhanced blasters or vibroweapons of standard rarity. A 5th-level character with expertise, however, can know up to five enhanced blasters or vibroweapons of premium rarity or lower.

Careful Checks

When you spend at least 10 minutes performing an activity that requires an ability check, that check has consequences for failure, and you don't have disadvantage on the check, you can choose to make that check carefully, colloquially called "taking 10". If you do so, you treat the check as if you had rolled a 10 on the d20. For instance, if you are crafting an item, during resolution you make an Intelligence check with the appropriate tools to determine your d100 Roll Modifier. Instead of rolling the d20, you can make a careful check and take 10, treating the check as if you'd rolled a 10, adding your Intelligence modifier and proficiency bonus, if you are proficient with the tools.

If you would have advantage on the check, you can instead take 15.

Engineers

Many engineer archetypes are built around modifying a specific item. For instance, armstech engineer is focused entirely on modifying and upgrading blasters and vibroweapons. If you have any of these engineers at the table, while using this book, you'll want to include the following rules:

• Engineer's class-specific chassis are not restricted to using mods of a certain rarity. For instance, if a 4th-level armstech engineer comes across an artifact rarity blaster modification, and they are skilled enough to install it, they can benefit from it.
• Engineer's class-specific chassis are not restricted to only one of each modification, but if that modification adds a bonus, such as +1 to attack rolls, or the keen 1 property, the total of that bonus across the item can not exceed half the engineer's proficiency bonus (rounded up).
• Engineer's class-specific chassis can include a number of augments up to half their proficiency bonus (rounded up), which count towards their total modifications. For instance, a 4th-level engineer, with a proficiency bonus of +2, can have only one augment in their item.
• Engineer's class-specific chassis only ever count as one attunement, regardless of the rarity of the modifications inside it.