WHAT TO DO, WHERE TO GO

Welcome to the city! Now you’re surrounded by dozens of adventure sites, thousands of NPCs, and a concentration of wealth that beggars the hoard of the greediest dragon. Urban adventuring can be overwhelming—compared to dungeons, there’s just more of everything.

Succeeding in a city is often a matter of knowing how to extract what you want from the teeming multitude of choices available.

Accommodations, Temporary: The city’s many inns offer various levels of comfort for the weary traveler. A fl eabag costs 2 sp per night, something clean but austere costs 5 sp, and a nice private room in an inn can cost 2 gp per night. Elegant accommodations might run even more.

Accommodations, Permanent: Not much building space exists within the city walls, so most who want a permanent home must purchase or rent an existing residence. Choices range from warrenlike tenement apartments (1d4 gp per month to rent, 1d4×100 gp to buy) to larger apartments above shops or freestanding cottages on the city outskirts (1d4×10 gp/month to rent, 1d4×1,000 gp to buy) to noble villas and manor houses (2d8×10 gp/month to rent, 2d8×1,000 gp to buy).

In addition to buying or renting a residence, characters might wish to purchase a business or other building in a city. A poor shop (for trades or services) typically costs 2d4×100 gp, including rough shelves, a sales counter, and a back room for storage. An average shop costs 2d4×1,000 gp, including polished wood fl oors, handsome shelves, a picture window, and glass cases. A fi ne shop costs 4d8×1,000 gp and has marble fl oors, locked display cases, leather chairs, and various other luxuries.

A character who is determined to build her own home usually must purchase, then demolish a structure. Even so, the city government has the authority to prevent the construction of a building it would fi nd threatening or out of place. Just because you buy a tenement and summon an earth elemental to destroy it doesn’t necessarily mean you can build a massive wizard’s tower in its place.

Banking: Government-affi liated banks or powerful merchant guilds offer basic banking services, holding money and valuables for later withdrawal. Individuals generally can’t get loans unless they have connections to the nobility (and thus have vast tracts of land as collateral). Most lending takes place between big institutions such as guilds, governments, and churches. (And D&D isn’t a game of interest rates and return on investment.) But if the PCs need a safe place to keep their wealth, the city’s major guilds are a good place to start.

Carousing: A trip to the local tavern is covered in the interlude on pages 44–45. Drinks cost anywhere from 4 cp for a tankard of ale to 10 gp or more for a bottle of fi ne wine. Most lower- and middle-class taverns cost nothing to enter (although some might charge a silver coin if they offer live entertainment). The social clubs of the upper classes, on the other hand, can cost 1 gp or more just to get in the door, or they might require the purchase of “memberships” for hundreds of gold pieces.

Companionship: You’ll never be so close to so many NPCs from all walks of life as when you visit the big city, and you’re likely to try befriending some of them for one purpose or another.

Most city residents have an initial attitude of indifferent. If you improve their attitude to friendly by means of a Diplomacy check (PH 72), they converse pleasantly with you and are otherwise sociable as they go about their daily routines. If you improve an NPC’s attitude to helpful, you’ve forged the beginning of a friendship that will last beyond your initial meeting. All sorts of circumstance modifi ers might apply to this interaction, based on the techniques we all use to judge others: dress, perceived social station, and demeanor, for example.

Delivery/Messenger Services: A letter or small parcel can be delivered to any address in the city for a fee ranging from 1 sp, if you don’t mind a street urchin as your letter carrier, to 15 sp for a liveried messenger.

Dining: Quick food from a street vendor can cost as little as 10 cp, or 15 cp if you want to wash it down with cheap ale. A hearty meal and a tankard of decent ale can be had at a variety of inns for 30 cp. For those with heavy pockets, a fancy dinner costs 1 gp or more, including wine.

Education: If your campaign uses the rules for training to learn skills and feats (DMG 197), characters can find tutors in the city. Academic skills such as Knowledge and Profession are taught in universities and guildhalls, while skills such as Forgery, Hide, and Bluff are learned from less savory sources.

Children who live in middle- or upper-class neighborhoods typically attend some sort of community school or take part in a general apprenticeship with a guild. Those in poorer districts learn basic arithmetic and literacy from their parents.

Entertainment: Bawdy, vaudeville-style variety shows can be found in many lower-class neighborhoods that can promise visitors at least a modicum of safety. Five coppers will get you entrance into such a show, although an actual seat isn’t guaranteed.

Middle-class neighborhoods often have small theaters for dramatic works, while music is performed largely as entertainment in taverns. A typical play costs 3 sp (but at least you get to sit down). Music can be had in taverns either for free or for a token admission price.

Operas, large-scale orchestral works, and dance performances are the province of upper-class neighborhoods. Admission ranges from 5 sp to 1 gp, or even more for particularly gifted performances.

Most cities receive periodic visits from traveling carnivals and circuses. General admission is inexpensive—a few coppers at most—but specific performances and areas within the carnival cost extra.

Guides: You can hire a local to show you around, warn you about dangerous neighborhoods, and otherwise make it easier to fi nd things in the city. Hiring a 1st-level commoner for this task costs 1 sp per day. Be warned: Some of these “guides” actually work for the local thieves guild and look for rich marks to fl eece. And almost all of them steer visitors toward favored shops and inns in exchange for kickbacks from the proprietors.

Legal Aid: It’s possible that a PC will wind up imprisoned by the city watch. Hiring a competent barrister or equivalent guide through the city’s court system costs 1 gp per day. Hiring a really good lawyer can cost 10 gp a day or more.

Shopping, General: For staples such as food, most cities have large public markets full of wagons, carts, and tents selling local and imported wares. Crafted goods such as clothing and furniture are the province of small shops. The quality of the neighborhood is usually (but not always) an indicator of the quality of the wares for sale.

Shopping, Rarities: For masterwork weapons and armor, magic items, and other esoteric purchases, you’ll want to fi nd an exotic store or magic shop of some kind. Their wares are valuable enough that they don’t need to advertise, but a decent Gather Information check might get you directions to one.

Shopping, Black Market: Forged papers typically cost between 10 gp and 100 gp, depending on the skill of the forger and the diffi culty involved in getting a real example. Depending on the legal environment of the city, contraband items such as poisons might be available as well—often for much more than the prices given in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Spellcasting: The general rule for hiring an NPC spellcaster is 10 gp × caster level × spell level, plus more if the spell has an expensive material component or an XP cost. Spell casters above 12th level are generally found only in large cities and metropolises, and only the most massive urban centers in your campaign have spellcasters above 15th level.

Table 2–1: Cost of City Services

Service	Cost
Cheap inn	2 sp/night
Average inn	5 sp/night
Fancy inn	2 gp/night
Stabling	2 sp/day
Rent cheap apartment	1d4 gp/month
Rent cheap apartment	1d4 gp/month
Rent average apartment or cottage	1d4×10 gp/month
Rent cheap apartment	1d4 gp/month
Rent villa or manor	2d8×10 gp/month
Buy cheap apartment	1d4×100 gp
Buy average apartment or cottage	1d4×1,000 gp
Buy villa or manor	2d8×1,000 gp
A night of cheap drinking	4 sp
A night of average drinking	3 gp
A night of fancy drinking	30 gp
Letter or package delivery	15 sp
Cheap meal (including drinks)	15 cp
Average meal (including drinks)	30 cp
Fancy meal (including drinks)	1 gp
Skill/feat training	50 gp/week
Cheap entertainment	5 cp
Average entertainment	3 sp
Fancy entertainment	1 gp
City guide	1 sp/day
Good barrister	1 gp/day
Expert barrister	10 gp/day
Forged papers	10 gp–100 gp
Spellcasting	10 gp × spell level × caster level, plus material component/XP cost