In addition to Catamaran, my South Pacific flavored 5E campaign, I run another more traditional 5E game without a cool codename. The easiest thing to call it is my County of Bataas campaign as the campaign takes place in the region of that name centered on the trade city of Bataas. I also refer to it  as my church game as my players are people I met through attending the local Unitarian Universalist church. It’s been running a bit more than two years now and the PCs are nearing 12th level.  It’s an interesting game as the group is two rogues, a paladin, a ranger, and a bard/warlock (and an unraveler NPC ally they’ve had for forever).  In combat they are brutal if they are rolling crits.  

In this game I’ve had two PCs develop what I call ties to the land.  The first was when the party bard asked me if I could give him a story reason for multiclassing into hexblade warlock.  This was accomplished by him becoming the Warden of the Duchess of Oaks, a fey lady of great power who for the length of  mortal memory has had a mortal agent in her service that carried a weapon of great power. The bard saw the previous Warden cut down by the minions of the PCs’ arch nemesis at the time, the alchemical genius Wilhelm Ark-Traser. The bard was called to pick up the fallen Warden’s weapon to carry on the fight.  Through the Duchess of Oaks the bard developed a connection to the forested mountains that were her domain.  He could draw power from it and it would affect him in turn if it suffered. Initially there were no mechanics to this, it was just some flavor to go with his warlock level. 

A short time later the Paladin in the party was ennobled by the Countess of Bataas as the Lord Marshal of the Eastern Marches.  This was because the County of Bataas was being invaded  and the PCs had been organizing the defenses so the Countess gave the Paladin a title to lend more weight to his orders. I’ve long been a fan of the idea of their being a mystical tie between nobles and the lands they rule.  That they affect each other and can draw power from each other.  The Paladin really leaned into these new responsibilities  and led the army to victory against the invasion.    

Both the Bard and the Paladin had an open attunement slot so offered them the option of attuning to the lands they were tied to (which luckily for me overlapped pretty much entirely).    These lands contained lots of places for adventure such that they remained in them without exhausting the options for over a year (levels 7-12) of campaign time and only left to get a character raised from the dead.   If I had a less centralized campaign I may relax the location limitations on these, but they worked well in my game.  

Warden of the Duchess of Oaks

Legendary (requires attunement)

While you are the warden of the Duchess of Oaks and within her territory you gain the following benefits depending on the season:

Spring:

• You have resistance to poison damage and advantage on saving throws against the poisoned condition.
• You can cast plant growth once as a 3rd level spell and regain the ability to do so on a long rest  
• You can cast goodberry once as a 1st level spell and regain the ability to do so on a long rest. 

Summer:

• You have resistance to fire damage
• You can cast speak with plants once as a 3rd level spell and regain the ability to do so on a long rest  
• You ignore difficult terrain created by plants including difficult terrain created by magic.
• You are immune to the effects of hot weather.

Fall:

• You have resistance to necrotic damage
• You are hidden from and can’t be targeted by divination magic. 
• You can cast pass without trace once as a 1st level spell and regain the ability to do so on a long rest. 

Winter: 

• You have resistance to cold damage.  
• You have darkvision with a 60 feet range.  If you already have darkvision it extends by 60 feet.
• You ignore difficult terrain caused by ice or snow including difficult terrain created by spells.
• You are immune to the effects of cold weather

If the lands of the duchess of Oaks are affected by any of the following you suffer the listed effects:

• Drought: You regain 2 less hit dice on a long rest.  
• Forest Fire: You are vulnerable to fire damage. This cancels out the fire resistance gained in the summer.
• Flooding: Your movement is reduced by 5 feet. 
• Hostile Foraging: You require 12 hours of rest for a long rest.  
• Over Logging: Your hit dice have a -1 penalty applied to them when they are rolled for healing. 

Lord Marshal of the Eastern Marches

Legendary (requires attunement) 

While you bear the title of Lord Marshal of the Eastern Marches  you gain the following abilities depending on the state of the Eastern Marches.  All of these abilities only apply while you are in the Eastern Marches.  You gain Noble dice that begin as a d8 and are spent o activate certain abilities.  You have a number of Noble Dice equal to your proficiency bonus and you regain your Noble dice on a long rest.  Each Week you do not see to the needs of your lands and its people your Noble Dice  decreases by one die step, decreasing to a d6, then a d4, etc.  Breaking the laws of the land or disobeying your liege the Countess of Bataas will also decrease your Noble Dice by one step. Any great deeds or sacrifices on your part for your lands and people can increase it by one die step to a maximum of a d12.   

Always: You may reroll hit dice and take the better result.  

During Times of War:

• You may as a bonus action add one of your Noble Dice to  an Intimidation check.  
• You are immune to fear
• You may as a reaction add one of your Noble Dice to saving throws made by you or an ally within 30 feet who can see or hear you.

During Times of Peace: 

• You may as bonus action add one of your Noble Dice to Insight and Persuasion checks. 
• You are immune to charm.
• When you take the Aid action you may add one of your Noble Dice to skill or tool checks made by the ally you assist.

If the Eastern Marches fall under any of the following conditions you suffer the related effects.  These are more concerned with the people than the land itself.  

• Banditry: You lose 3d10 gold worth of coins or goods from your inventory each short or long rest you take.
• Beset by Monsters: You suffer a -2 penalty to any hit dice rolled for healing.
• Famine: Any results higher than 6 on your Noble dive are considered a 4.
• Hostile Foraging: You require 12 hours of rest for a long rest.
• Plague: You surfer disadvantage on saving throws against disease.

My hope is to keep developing this idea over time enough to have a wide variety of different types of ties to the land; fey ties, elemental ties, noble ties, etc. I think there is a lot of meat to this idea, like making it more of two wat street so the land gets something when the PC is strong.