nothic 5e – Halfling Hobbies & Trinkets

If your players are looking to make some money, you can bet they will be looking for a "job board." Essentially a D&D Fiverr, job boards can often be found at taverns, near the city gates, or posted by guard barracks. At Job Boards, potential employers post parchments listing jobs and where to find out more. These are often very short "teasers" and may or may not be entirely forthcoming. Job Boards are the perfect place to put up teasers for side quests and they pretty much guarantee your players will take your hooks. A good job board should have a mix of easy and difficult tasks for the player level. The more difficult the task, the better the reward players should earn for completing it. However, this can be a problem, especially if you didn't know they would be looking for a job board. You, DM, have to come up with all those teasers, NPCs posting them, and side quest. That is a lot of work! Especially when you don't know which one they are going to pick! What if you do all that work and they decide not to do any of them! That is frustrating. That's where I come in! Here are some tried and true side quests for parties of level 1-4 that you can post on your job boards! (Big shout out to DM Joeseph and Dungeon Master Lidia for collaborating with me to make this list!) Below you will see individual job postings you can pick from along with graphics of the posting that you can print out and let your players look at. Alternatively, download the .png and text them to your players so they can all see them and keep them for later! Additionally, if you want a super cool miniature to pull out each time your players go searching for a job board, I recommend WizKids "Bounty Board!" If you have been here long, you know I love to support local! And I do not partner with Amazon. We choose instead to partner with Noble Knight Games (a brick-and-mortar store in Wisconson!) the picture below will take you to their online shop, always support local if you can! (Also, this purchase helps support Halfling Hobbies! Double Win!) Easy Difficulty Jobs Adventurer's Needed to Retrieve Materials Location: Shield Breaker Smithy NPC: Female Fire Genasi, Rosette Emberstrike Reward: 5 gold per ore and a +1 sword or bow Quest: Rosette Emberstrike has been commissioned to create the ceremonial daggers for the prince's (or other noble's) coronation (or birthday celebration). However, the designs she proposed where based on ore that she doesn't have, in fact, she has never even seen it before. She has only read about it in her father's journal. This material is said to possess natural protection magic and emits a faint, deep purple aura, perfect for royalty/nobility. This material is rare, VERY rare, and the only deposit her father mentioned is guarded by strange tree men that wouldn't let her near it. She makes swords, but she doesn't use them. Rosette needs adventurers to retrieve the ore, in whatever way they see fit, and bring it back immediately so she can begin construction on the daggers. The more ore, the better. Rosette has never worked with this material before and isn't sure how much she will need. She also would prefer to have enough to not be afraid of making a mistake. The party needs to bring her a minimum of 5 ore chunks, but she will pay them for as many as they can find. Encounter: Twig Blights (Monster Manuel p. 32) Twig Blights are the weakest of the Blights. They like to take root near campsites and forest paths and wait to ambush unsuspecting adventurers. While motionless, they look like leafless, woody shrubs. When attacking, Twig Blights pull up their roots and take the shape of a humanoid figure. Twig Blights like to huddle in groups, and your party, fully rested, should be able to handle between 6-8 Twig Blights. If you are having trouble knowing exactly how much your party can handle, check out this post on Creating Balanced Encounters. Twig blights are a great way to make even low-level parties feel powerful. Even a level one party can handle a horde of twig blights and the fact that they are indistinguishable from other bushes makes for great descriptions! Like the quest but not the encounter? Check out these monster options for low-level parties! 10 Terrifying Monsters for Your Level 1 Party. Adventurer's Needed for "Kitchen Help" Location: The Hearth & Pot Tavern NPC: Butch Marcle, Male Half-Orc Reward: 20 gold plus room & board Quest: Butch is former Sergeant turned tavern owner. He prides himself on running a clean and respectable business. (This should be surprising to players based on how dirty his job posting was! Turns out that the posting has been up for a long time.) For the past few months, Butch has been under attack. Something is sneaking into his kitchen nearly every night, stealing food and making a mess! The place is locked up tight each night. There is no way anything is getting in through the doors or windows. Butch has set traps, waited up, and even hired other adventurers, but nothing has worked! If word gets out he has a...*gulp*...pest issue, it would ruin him! If you can find whatever it is and put an end to its late-night foraging, Butch will gladly give you 20 gold and a free place to stay when you visit the city! The Encounter: A Rogue Kobold (Monster Manuel p. 195) While one Kobold is no threat to even a level one party, such a creature can make for a really fun encounter through role-play! This kobold has been separated from its clan (either as a punishment or because the clan was killed) and has chosen to live under the Hearth & Pot Tavern. The kobold has created an entire lair under the tavern with a tunneling system that spans nearly the entire town! It has been sneaking in and stealing from all the taverns in town, collecting a tiny hoard of odds and ends. The kobold has an entrance to Butch's kitchen from a tunnel under a loose stone slab on the floor (DC 15 Investigation/Perception). This tunnel is small, easy for the kobold to move through, but difficult for larger creatures. Options! For this quest the party has some options. They can choose to: Kill the kobold Convince the Kobold to join them and leave to find a new clan Convince the kobold it is wrong to steal and he should help Butch out to pay for what he takes This job allows the party to do whatever it is that they do best! If they are murderhobos, murder away! If they are kind souls, they can help two people at once. This is a great role-playing job option for low-level parties! Something in the Fields Location: Morrowvale Village NPC: Village Elder Marc Barrenthorn Reward: 250 gold and a horse and cart Quest: Morrowvale is a peaceful farming village. They primarily raise milo (a tall grain much like corn, only with red tops). They keep to themselves and live a modest life on the outskirts of the city. However, recently, there have been strange things happening in this small village. Animals have been found slashed to pieces, but not eaten. Even one man who went into the fields alone was found cut apart. No animal noises have been heard when the attacks happen. There are no footprints and no witnesses. The Elder knows something is lurking in the fields. No one is allowed to go out on their own and children are kept close. Barrenthorn has no clues that might help the adventurers, but says they can talk to anyone in the village to see what they can find out. Here are the clues based on who the party talks to: An old man found his prize goat sliced to pieces, the only thing out of the ordinary was some straw on the ground leading into the fields (DC 10) A woman says she doesn't like to walk by a certain scarecrow because she feels like she is being watched, its probably just in her head though... (DC 13) One child swears he saw a scarecrow turn its head and watch him walk by (DC 18) The Encounter: A Scarecrow (Monster Manual p. 268) Scarecrows are already creepy, but if you bind them to a dead evil creature or spirit, they are terror embodied. This encounter is terrifying and your players won't ever forget it! When and evil creature dies, its spirit is sometimes bound to a scarecrow by a hag or witch. This gives the once inanimate scarecrow both mobility and purpose. The Scarecrow seeks to do its master's will and if its master dies, the spirit will continue to do the last command it was given, or seek revenge on whoever killed its master. You can make this encounter more difficult by adding another scarecrow, but be careful! Scarecrows are resistant to piercing, slashing and bludgeoning damage and, at this level, that is likely all your players will have. This makes Scarecrows more difficult to kill than other monsters of the same CR. Once the party finds and kills the Scarecrow, I dub them, "The Heroes of Morrowvale!" and have the village throw them a huge party! Any time the players come back to this village, you can bet they will be treated well! Looking for miniatures for these quests? Check out our partner, Noble Knight Games! They have a HUGE selection of miniatures at discount prices! A DM's dream come true! Click the banner below :) Medium Difficulty Jobs These jobs will be more difficult to complete but they will also pay significantly more. There still shouldn't be any danger of the anyone dying but they will certainly need a long rest or two afterward! Strange Sounds: Location: Temple of (whatever you want) NPC: Father Jesep, a very, VERY old human male who mumbles and shuffles. Reward: 500 gold Quest: Father Jesep has been the head of the temple for longer than just about anyone can remember. Some even say he has a touch of Elf blood in his veins, that's wait helps him live so long. Father Jesep is sloooooooow. Speaking in a quiet, slow mumble and walking with shuffling feet. Mostly, his assistant, Friar Morgan, speaks for him. The Temple is in charge of maintaining the catacombs. Friar's go down daily to offer prayers for the day and make sure there is no foul play. There haven't been any problems for years, but lately, Friar's have begun to hear strange noises coming from the oldest parts of the catacombs where the great wizards of the past are housed. Some Friars investigated but ran out when they saw a singular green eye staring at them in the darkness. No one has been to that area since. They have gated that section off and warded the area, but they can't simply leave whatever it is down there forever. If the adventurers can investigate and find out exactly what they are dealing with, the Temple will pay them 250 gold. If they can eliminate the problem, the Temple will pay an additional 250 gold (500 total). The Encounter: Nothic (Monster Manuel p. 236) Cursed archaists who strive to obtain godhood and fail can become nothic. Nothics do not remember their past lives, but they are still drawn to magical knowledge and weapons by impulses they don't understand. Usually, nothics are content to watch creatures it encounters, weighing and measuring them with their strange insight. However, when attacked, it can use its one eye to rot the flesh of its adversaries. This nothic has been drawn to the catacombs by the tombs and weapons of the ancient wizards buried here. It has opened all the tombs and taken out the wizard tomes and items, collecting them together to pour over them. Nothics can be bargained with, often exchanging magical secrets for magical items. In this case, your party can try to bargain with the nothic or slay it. Slay the Monster Location: The woods outside the city/village NPC: Generic Barrack Guard Reward: 1000 gold Quest: Several citizens in the surrounding around have encountered a monster in the woods to the north. This monster has been eating livestock, destroying fences and causing havoc. Some soldiers from the village and some adventurer's were sent to slay the beast, but they have not be heard from since. This is a classic monster hunt! Track and find the beast and kill it! Make sure your party is prepared! The Encounter: A Cockatrice (Monster Manuel p. 42) Hideous and furious, a cockatrice is not a creature you want to encounter. Normally, cockatrices' are no threat, eating berries, small animals, and nuts. However, if they sense any threat of danger, they attack immediately. Even the slightest scratch from a cockatrice's beak will turn flesh to stone. As your party investigates the area looking for the monster, you can describe scattered stone statues in different positions, wearing guards armor. Potentially Deadly Job Clear the Goblin Lair to the South Location: An abandoned mine south of the city NPC: Lucile Stonecarver, Leader of the Merchant's Guild, Female Dwarf Reward: 3000 gold and a letter of recommendation from the Merchant's Guild Quest: There are always Goblin bands that will, occasionally, steal a shipment or two from the guild. But this particular band has gone too far. They have stopped every shipment of goods from the south for the last 3 months! Enough is enough. The Guild will be happy to pay anyone who can clear out the Goblins and bring back the head of their leader, Bree-yark. This is a dangerous quest and many have attempted to do so and failed. If you succeed, Lucile is happy to pay you a large sum of gold and give you a letter of recommendation, which will give you discounts from any merchant in the guild! The Encounter: Goblin Lair (Monster Manuel p. 166) This classic dungeon dive encounter is best for a party of level 4. Will goblins are not particularly tough enemies, they always attack in large numbers. Their lairs are also trapped, whittling down enemy health before they ever even encounter a goblin. Lay traps, plan for a large encounter, and a final boss fight. This is a potentially deadly encounter, but also so much fun! Looking for a pre-done map like the one above for this encounter? Check out Miskas Maps! (no affiliation, just awesome stuff!) Want More? Looking for even more side quest and job board ideas for higher levels? Make sure to join the DMs League and I will send you FREE pages just like these each month! Subscribe to the DMs League * indicates required Email Address * First Name There is nothing better than a job well done. I hope you and your players enjoy these as much as my own players have. Until next time, May your game have advantage, my friends! -Halfling Hannah Want to Support Halfling Hobbies? Consider purchasing some of our trinkets and liking and subscribing to us on YouTube and Pinterest!