Introduction

The Star Wars 5th Edition roleplaying game is about vast worlds populated by myriad sites and species. It shares elements with childhood games of make-believe. Like those games, SW5e is driven by imagination. It's about picturing the expansive marketplace and seeing the different people's living their lives, and seeing how they might interact with the player's characters.

This book is designed to add another significant layer to your SW5e experience. The rules are designed to work alongside the traditional SW5e ruleset, and so an experienced player should have no trouble jumping right into the book. For the less experienced-or more curious-player, this Introduction discusses the basics.

Game Master (GM): As you enter the teeming marketplace in a disreputable sector of Nar Shaddaa, you see merchants of all types peddling wares, trying to entice the flowing traffic. As you move further into the crowd, one of the vendors catches your attention as they hail you.

Rickey (playing Vinto): I'm going to check out what they have for sale.

Drew (playing Dash): I'm going to keep an eye on the crowd to make sure our things aren't stolen.

Erik (playing Kodo): ...

Unlike a game of make-believe, SW5e gives structure to the stories, a way of determining the consequences of the adventurers' actions. Players roll dice to determine whether or not they can haggle for a better price, or to try to entice a merchant to accept work instead of credits for their goods. Anything is possible, but the dice make some outcomes more probable than others.

Game Master (GM): OK, one at a time. Rickey, you're checking the vendor's goods?

Rickey: Yeah. Do I see anything cool?

GM: Make an Intelligence check.

Rickey: Does my Investigation skill apply?

GM: Sure!

Rickey (rolling a d20): Eight. I hate this die!

GM: You see many trinkets and baubles but nothing catches your eye. And Drew, Dash is watching the crowd?

Drew: Yup!

GM: Okay. Eric, what's Kodo doing?

Eric: ...

In the Star Wars Dungeons and Dragons game, each player creates an adventurer (also called a character) and teams up with other adventurers (played by friends). Working together, the group might join a faction, earning renown to increase their standing. They might become benevolent Jedi, malevolent Sith, ruthless bounty hunters, or scurrying scoundrels. If no faction catches their attention, they might instead create their own.

One player, however, takes on the role of the Game Master (GM), the game's lead storyteller and referee. The GM creates adventures for the characters, who navigate its hazards and decide which paths to explore. The GM might describe a populous city, and the players decide what they want their adventurers to do. Will they spend time buying and selling wares? Or will they look for work and entertainment in the city to make—or spend—their coin?

Then the GM determines the results of the adventurers' actions and narrates what they experience. Because the GM can improvise to react to anything the players attempt, SW5e is infinitely flexible, and each adventure can be exciting and unexpected.

The game has no real end; when one story or quest wraps up, another one can begin, creating an ongoing story called a campaign. Many people who play the game keep their campaigns going for months or years, meeting with their friends every week or so to pick up the story where they left off. The adventurers grow in might as the campaign continues. Each force defeated, each adventure completed, and each relic recovered not only adds to the continuing story, but also earns the adventurers new capabilities. This increase in power is reflected by an adventurer's rank in a faction, and the tier of the faction itself.

There's no winning and losing in the Star Wars Dungeons and Dragons game—at least, not the way those terms are usually understood. Together, the GM and the players create an exciting story of bold adventurers who confront deadly perils. Sometimes an adventurer might come to a grisly end, dispatched by a Sith lord. The party itself might meet its demise if it antagonizes a powerful and malicious faction. Even so, the other adventurers can beseech a powerful Jedi to revive their fallen comrade, or the players might choose (or be forced) to create new characters to carry on. The group might fail to complete an adventure successfully, but if everyone had a good time and created a memorable story, they all win.

One of the premier components of Star Wars 5th Edition, versus a traditional Dungeons and Dragons campaign, is the massive—almost overwhelming—number of planets. Each planet, and each city, hosts its own species, communities, factions, and traditions.

Each city hosts its own activities and factions. Players can choose to engage in these activities and join these factions if they so desire. Alternatively, players can instead form their own faction, recruiting other

members to span across multiple cities, planets, or even the galaxy itself.

But if your players want to explore cities more indepth, this book is designed to those ends.

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.

Wretched Hives is designed to be an in addition to rather than instead of. If you implement some—or all—of these rules, however, you create more powerful adventuring parties. The rules included here add an additional level of customization to characters. All of the rules work in conjunction with each other, but are generally not interdependent; use as much or as little as you like.