To be fair, there isn't much that approaches the level of BlackFlyme's DM.Well, WaffleHouseMillionaire's DM was maybe a tier below this one. That Guy [Kills All Psions]'s playergroup could be considered the player equivalent of BlackFlyme's DM, I guess, too.
Neon-- Alcohol is itself a poison. Point this out to somebody trying to cast "Detect poison", and use the intoxicating effects of the beverage itself to dull their senses so that they roll heavily hobbled saving throws.
If they agree to let you DM, they have already agreed to play by your rules, if they won't do so, get a better group.
I love players who roll with anything.So in essence, you don't actually want players to have any agency at all.
I would never believe that you, Neonivek, is a filthy railroading type of DM, obsesses about controlling your players in spite of their wishes, yet your responses in this thread seem to leave no doubt about it :-\I love players who roll with anything.So in essence, you don't actually want players to have any agency at all.
Tell me, in this case, why do you even need players? Could you not tell the story you want to tell by yourself? Maybe what you actually want is to be a writer?
No, never, that isn't how I run my games, period.
Yes, mostly like that, but without any big over-arching goal, just events like in the real world. I've run a few plot based games, and they mostly just fall flat for me, the badguy I envisioned just isn't enough for the story, the events don't have the impact I need, the people are too artificial, so I stopped doing it fifteen years ago, and have never looked back.
My games run for years Neo, unless I am specifically doing a 'cannonball' adventure, my games invariably last between two and four years. I have on occasion had as many as five games with overlapping groups running at once.
Back on the subject of NPCs, does anyone here encourage or get involved in romance, sex, and family obligations in their games? (I do, but I don't consider my style to be normal.)
I admit to my own views effecting my use of the family card, if your family is threatened regularly then they become a serious detriment to long-term enjoyment of the game, but if I as the DM use the family card in an extreme situation, I can get the players moving with serious impetus (in the above mentioned example, I pretty much expected the player to try a daring rescue, and was very surprised when he called in every favor he had to assemble a multi-million ship strong fleet of starships and carved a path of burning worlds through the hostile empire.)Whoa, holy crap. What sort of game was this?
I really think that we (Bay12 forum goers) should arrange a skype or IRC based Pen and paper time slot. We already do roleplay type things in the subforums anyway with the community fortress type things.
I really think that we (Bay12 forum goers) should arrange a skype or IRC based Pen and paper time slot. We already do roleplay type things in the subforums anyway with the community fortress type things.Check the Forum Games and Role-Playing board. There's plenty of games doing this already :P
I really think that we (Bay12 forum goers) should arrange a skype or IRC based Pen and paper time slot. We already do roleplay type things in the subforums anyway with the community fortress type things.Check the Forum Games and Role-Playing board. There's plenty of games doing this already :P
well, I personally wouldn't participate in an online D&D game, but if you guys want to give it a try I'd be happy to help with worldbuilding and serve as a sounding board fro handling situations etc.
I like high-fantasy for the monster's/PC's but I also implement a lot of low fantasy challenges... like wading through a swamp and contracting boot rot.
I suppose I'd be mid-fantasy then? Magic and neigh-super power levels of swordsmanship but you are still totally mortal bodies.
Does not railroad plot, and permits players to spin their wheels in futility chasing geese around, if that is their wish-- but at least makes said goose chasing entertaining, and thus still enjoyable for the group. Part of a good setting for the plot is an evocative, and alluring environment that begs to be explored, after all. Not all exploring is going to advance the plot, but exploring is part of what makes a good game session fun and entertaining. A good DM is not afraid of "irrelevant bullshit", as long as it is setting appropriate, and not just players being shits. (The story equivalent of drawing dicks on everything, just because they can. A good DM would let somebody do that, then have the offender arrested by the city guard for vadalism and lewd public displays, and conjure up a new mini-plot device about getting ShitPlayer out of jail.)I'll agree with this in general terms, but I'll say you shouldn't be too enthusiastic about punishing players. Certainly let players do as they wish, but if they're being disruptive and annoying, it's better to deal with that out of game than dragging your game down to teach the problem player a lesson, which may not even work.
Does not produce consequences that are bullshit. Produces consequences that are sensible, rational, and fitting to the story and setting.
Does not try to murder offensive player characters; instead, "encourages" better behavior through appropriate application of consequences.
NOT a rule book beating puritanical tyrant.
I really think that we (Bay12 forum goers) should arrange a skype or IRC based Pen and paper time slot. We already do roleplay type things in the subforums anyway with the community fortress type things.Check the Forum Games and Role-Playing board. There's plenty of games doing this already :P
Also good luck finding them :P
It is why I think a recruit section and a "actually play the game" section should be separate.
On the subject of worldbuilding, do you guys like high-fantasy or low fantasy? Realistic worlds or fantastical worlds? Why?
Does he just take PnP too seriously good out of game or something?
DM: You stab him in the fac-
Me: I'm wielding a hammer...
DM: You stab him with your hammer.
Does he just take PnP too seriously good out of game or something?
transistors??
DM: You stab him in the fac-
Me: I'm wielding a hammer...
DM: You stab him with your hammer.
>Half naked, obviously starved bard comes out and is made to sing. DM says we are fine with it again.
>Bard does not sing well enough for regent's liking. Backhands her, and has guards strip her and start whipping her to make her sing better.
>All the lawful characters are forced to applaud by the DM.
Ah, the laptop must have screwed me over. What I intended to say was 'Does he take PnP games too seriously and is a good guy outside of them or something?'
Does he just take PnP too seriously good out of game or something?
transistors??
Ah, the laptop must have screwed me over. What I intended to say was 'Does he take PnP games too seriously and is a good guy outside of them or something?'
Claw. Your thinking of a claw hammer.No, I'd say the thing chaoticag posted is almost definitely a Lucerne hammer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucerne_hammer).
Same kind of thing that killed Verne Miller!
It varies. He can be funny at times, but if someone is on steam the same time he is, he usually tries to force them to play with him.
He always demands we log into an mmo and join a party with him so he can skip queue times. He refuses to play anything other than dps because he likes hitting for high numbers.
He also gets us to join in an online chat program, but we usually just sit in silence anyways.
I wasn't responding to him, I was responding to Bohandas:Claw. You're thinking of a claw hammer.No, I'd say the thing chaoticag posted is almost definitely a Lucerne hammer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucerne_hammer).
Same kind of thing that killed Verne Miller!
DM: You stab him in the fac-
Me: I'm wielding a hammer...
DM: You stab him with your hammer.
It could work with a large headed foe and a small headed warhammer, or with a regular construction hammer turned backward so the nail remover thingy is pointing forwards
>Everyone was calling bullshit, as the DM had given the golem levels in rogue
Because a Golem having Rogue levels make sooo much sense, what with their small nimble hands and graceful bod-Oh.
Still, that campaign seems significantly better than the current one.
Right, but it also wouldn't be able to use Rogue Tools, and so forth. (Its hands would be too big and clunky if they weren't modified.)
Your DM has a noticeable hard-on for Succubi and Bards.
Well this is bad :PMy advice, write a text block to get the scene set and then just wing everything else... I am sure we will spend most of the session drinking/smoking and just talking to each other.
I have to prepare for my game on Saturday and I am frozen with anxiety and procrastination.Quote>Everyone was calling bullshit, as the DM had given the golem levels in rogue
I consider that... fair.
Yeah, you couldn't possibly do as bad as Flyme's DM. Hopefully.Well this is bad :PMy advice, write a text block to get the scene set and then just wing everything else... I am sure we will spend most of the session drinking/smoking and just talking to each other.
I have to prepare for my game on Saturday and I am frozen with anxiety and procrastination.Quote>Everyone was calling bullshit, as the DM had given the golem levels in rogue
I consider that... fair.
Though somehow the bard never knew about his brother's location, even though he helped seal him.
Good move by the player. Even without the first part. Trying to stick to the RAW is already a losing battle, but sticking so hard to a houserule is just crass.
>"Sorry, nothing I can do. It's what the book says."
[SNIP]
>Player points out that only negative constitution kills, not strength.
>"Sorry, my game, my rules. In my games any negative stat kills."
>Player gets mad, leaves.
Punishing a creative *AND* realistic defense.
>Summoner drops a fire wall, so ropers won't reach through it.
>"Bullshit, I'm not letting my monsters take damage for reaching through the fire!"
W-what? The entry clearly says that each rope is destroyed by ANY slashing damage (AC 20).
>Are you shitting me? Each rope has its own health pool.
Good move by the player. Even without the first part. Trying to stick to the RAW is already a losing battle, but sticking so hard to a houserule is just crass.
>"Sorry, nothing I can do. It's what the book says."
[SNIP]
>Player points out that only negative constitution kills, not strength.
>"Sorry, my game, my rules. In my games any negative stat kills."
>Player gets mad, leaves.
Good move by the player. Even without the first part. Trying to stick to the RAW is already a losing battle, but sticking so hard to a houserule is just crass.
>"Sorry, nothing I can do. It's what the book says."
[SNIP]
>Player points out that only negative constitution kills, not strength.
>"Sorry, my game, my rules. In my games any negative stat kills."
>Player gets mad, leaves.
Well, technically, 0 or less STR should also kill. Without muscles, you can't breathe anymore.
Good move by the player. Even without the first part. Trying to stick to the RAW is already a losing battle, but sticking so hard to a houserule is just crass.
>"Sorry, nothing I can do. It's what the book says."
[SNIP]
>Player points out that only negative constitution kills, not strength.
>"Sorry, my game, my rules. In my games any negative stat kills."
>Player gets mad, leaves.
Well, technically, 0 or less STR should also kill. Without muscles, you can't breathe anymore.
Even then you'd use he rules for suffocation
(person) doesn't know how alignments work, nor how LG can mean two different things in two different countries.
Yeah, being lawful doesn't mean that you have to respect every law in the world. He said he planned to anticipate every possible option we could make in his campaign, but didn't expect for our almost all good party, three characters of which worship gods whose domains include freedom, to say slavery is bad.
There is the thought that it may have been partly to railroad us, but he is bad with alignments. I believe that I have mentioned the time he tried to force pvp in a different campaign that he was not even DM of. I gave our shaman permission to use an aoe spell that I was in the way of. He then jumped up and exclaimed that as a lawful character, I would be intolerant to friendly fire, and tried to force a fight.
Quote(person) doesn't know how alignments work, nor how LG can mean two different things in two different countries.
Edited for PC
Anyhow... Lawful Good can mean different things within the same country.
Yeah it is more then possible a Lawful Good person could be fully 100% in support of Slavery... It is also possible you wouldn't like it.
I personally think that Good can fight other Good on issues. The difference is that Good usually tries to avoid it.
psay
allow it but with AB/Feat nerfs
Actually naryar, the ride-by attack feat may allow to charge every round in open space, by simply going far enough behind the target and running again next round.
There are RARELY ways to get a person to leave behind their mount... such as when they need to climb (but ALL cavaliers get their horse boots of spiderclimb)
some weird damn system where two x2 become x3This is coming from someone who doesn't play these games but this makes sense. With x2, you're adding 1 to the multiplier of x1. x1+1 = x2. When you're adding two x2's, you're adding to multiplier modifiers together. x1+1+1 = x3. Does that make sense?
Also, Naryar, I said no alignment discussion in the OP and I seriously mean it, if it comes back up I'm locking and calling the Toad.
Heck add in that Lance is a Reach weapon (and how being mounted works is you can treat yourself as if you were in any square your mount takes up) and you got quite the recipe for damage.
>_<
This is going to be utterly insane and ridiculous.
Though I can at least understand not implementing waves rocking a ship all the time, as no one would want to play a caster if they had to roll concentration every single time they want to cast a spell.I'd say that's reasonable, unless the circumstances are severe.
some weird damn system where two x2 become x3This is coming from someone who doesn't play these games but this makes sense. With x2, you're adding 1 to the multiplier of x1. x1+1 = x2. When you're adding two x2's, you're adding to multiplier modifiers together. x1+1+1 = x3. Does that make sense?
I'm surprised pikes are not in D&D already. Also that bracing is for some reason, bracing against all directions.5e has them, though they're basically just the same thing as longspears from previous editions. A proper pike should grant more than 5 feet of extra reach, but then again I'm not sure how you'd be expected to use and maneuver a 10-25 foot long weapon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_(weapon)) in most dungeons.
That means that you could possibly bring 5 weapons and brace them in the different cardinal directions, excluding down. That actually sounds kinda cool in a way, like a human porcupine of anti-cavalry death.
As for being able to brace against all directions, that's an effect of not using facing, though you could probably rule that people can only set a brace weapon for one direction of attack.
Naryar: The point is that the alignment debate is a loaded topic, everywhere I have seen the subject brought up has turned into a very aggressive argument very quickly, so it is not an acceptable topic in this thread
That means that you could possibly bring 5 weapons and brace them in the different cardinal directions, excluding down. That actually sounds kinda cool in a way, like a human porcupine of anti-cavalry death.
As for being able to brace against all directions, that's an effect of not using facing, though you could probably rule that people can only set a brace weapon for one direction of attack.
Ok so I noticed somethingYour NPC(s? Only seen the one) are great. I'm fairly certain we all like him OOC. IC, however, the party hates him.
I seem to roleplay ALL my NPCs in a way that makes them rather unlikable.
I mean usually it is on purpose... but I always make sure they never give straight answers, and never tell things straight out.
I like him in character, anyone who is actually shocked that I'd side with a murderer if they paid me more is usually a good paying client later.Ok so I noticed somethingYour NPC(s? Only seen the one) are great. I'm fairly certain we all like him OOC. IC, however, the party hates him.
I seem to roleplay ALL my NPCs in a way that makes them rather unlikable.
I mean usually it is on purpose... but I always make sure they never give straight answers, and never tell things straight out.
My current plan is to coup-de-grace him in his sleep and use his bloodied corpse as our ship's new ram. I need to think up something worse in case he tries to kill my familiar again.Yeah as I recall his reason for that was really shitty too. You definitely have plenty of solid justification for that course of action.
THAT reeks of opportunity to screw him back..
And he wants me to serve as a reference as he's trying to get into my workplace.
Cool, have fun.Indeed.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Awesome session last night, During the return trip from escorting her majesty (18 year old 9th level mage, single, father recently murdered (not politically motivated)), the party 'leader' (char data: 27 year old fighter 3/mage 2, single, recently inherited lands and title from an uncle) is awoken in the middle of the night by sounds outside of the officers' tents. He goes out to investigate and spots a figure moving away from the encampment, follows said figure into the nearby woods to a small waterfall and stream, and of course the figure turns out to be the queen taking a midnight bath unescorted. He barely manages to avoid doing really stupid shit, follows her back when she's done (out of an actual sense of obligation, his unit is part of the queens personal army, The Hounds.) Two nights later he gets woken up again, same deal. When they get back to the capital some promotions and awards are handed out, and during the ceremony her majesty makes a faux pas and kisses said leader on the cheek instead of the forehead. Later that night during the party as the now captain is making the rounds and being sociable and visible, he finds himself slow-dancing with the queen, after a brief exchange of words, he makes a fairly major faux pas, realizes it immediately, takes off and goes on a full-bore rage bender tearing up a large section of the palace cellars and dungeon. Meanwhile the party thief (15 year old daughter of a countess, married to the company CO) becomes best friends with her majesty, and finds out that the dear queen has been harboring a crush on party leader since she was fourteen and enrolled in the nations magic academy. All of this wouldn't be a massive problem excepting that the party leaders back story is that he's the black sheep of his noble family and was a sergeant in the capital city guard where he murdered his CO while drunk. Needless to say, the amount of 'Oh God' during the session was extreme and wonderful. On top of all this, the party paladin is going to be marrying a common girl in a few months. All in all a good night."A good night" was an understatement. As the perpetrator of said faux pas (I rolled a 1!) I was laughing so hard while still dreading the results of the DM's response roll.
From the sounds of it, the wizard was being random at least to annoy the NPC. Though it might make the floor difficult terrain at the very least. Basically though, this is the gamemaster's headache.
"What does my character even do now?" "Well you want to seek out temperate - no, warm marshes." "I'm ethereal""Well then you want to seek out ethereal warm marshes are you happy now?"
Oh wow thank you for that, he's actually wearing one (level 15, now 16). Thanks to you, his familiar took the headband off and put it back on, we're assuming maybe it works like that. It might not have been necessary but this makes the narrative most consistent.If he was still a hydra he could wear multiple headbands of intelligence.
Oh wow thank you for that, he's actually wearing one (level 15, now 16). Thanks to you, his familiar took the headband off and put it back on, we're assuming maybe it works like that. It might not have been necessary but this makes the narrative most consistent.If he was still a hydra he could wear multiple headbands of intelligence.
Even so, the GM could possibly fudge it to be nice to the player, since he's just trying to... not be a mentally deficient hydra any more. :PTangentially relevant,. (http://drawception.com/viewgame/kfhryjTpq8/get-up-on-the-hydras-back/)
Pathfinder is definitely a lot kinder to under water battles when you don't have some way to breathe instantly than 3.5 is.
Still... I think water is a cool avenue for adventurers.
My guess would be two stacks of difficult terrain (water resistance and the muddy bottom of the lake) so quarter speed.That makes sense. But if it was at the bottom of a canal or other man-made waterway it would just be half, or maybe I don't know shit about canals and they also have mud on the bottom.
Actually unless Pathfinder dramatically alters magic item usage, no, being a hydra does not allow you to gain stacking benefits from headgear. You've got two ring slots, one amulet/decorative item, one piece of headgear, one set of eyegear (glasses, lenses, whatever), one set of gloves/gauntlets, one set of footwear, one cloak/cape, one suit of armor, one robe, one vest/shirt, one set of bracers/bracelets and a belt.
No, there would still be advantages to having the adamantium golem possess a shield. Specifically, it would permit it to deflect attacks that would alter its temperature. Otherwise, thermal expansion stresses could theoretically weaken the golem through microfractures in its matrix.
EG, glass cannon wizard duo 1-2 punches the golem repeatedly with cone of cold and fireball. That of course, assumes the DM is going to allow "physics related effects" for mythical substances, like adamantium.
It's also a potentially enchantable item, permiting the golem to possibly have additional magic resistance buff added to its innate physical resistance.
Wait, can those 'cool metal' and 'heat metal' spells work on adamantium?
Plus, if you make an adamantium golem, what do you use to smelt the form? A directed nuke in order to melt it?
Then how did the golem get made out of it, and how do smiths work with it?
...Well the thing is, Adamantine golems have natural magic immunity. Y'all are gonna have to straight up conjure those extremes, any magical heat or cold won't work.
So sure, rapidly transporting it between the elemental plane of fire and the quasi-elemental plane of ice will work, but heat metal and chill metal won't work, seeing as spell resistance applies to those.
...Well the thing is, Adamantine golems have natural magic immunity. Y'all are gonna have to straight up conjure those extremes, any magical heat or cold won't work.Well, what does an admantine golem look like? Does it look human, just a bit clunkier and made out of a nigh indestructible material? How strong is it? Can it cast magic itself? Could you even enchant an adamantine golem even with a good effect spell (like giving immunity to heat and cold)? Does the flaming grass from a fireball spell still count as indestructible? Could something like grasping hand still grapple it? What about burying it? Could that work? I mean, gods could bury it under miles upon miles of crust and mantle.
So sure, rapidly transporting it between the elemental plane of fire and the quasi-elemental plane of ice will work, but heat metal and chill metal won't work, seeing as spell resistance applies to those.
Level zero adventures, anyone tried or heard of them? I find the idea stupid, even if it's something like "play an npc class for a few levels before you become an adventurer proper".I've heard that the standard character creation process of Dungeon Crawl Classics involves rolling up 3 level 0 characters, and any that survive can be used to make your level 1 character.
Someone I know had the brilliant idea of creating an actual level zero. No skills, proficiencies of any kind, or even anything remotely resembling a feature. They would only get 1d6 health, and had to roll it. No automax at first level as usual.
Ridiculous. No one would survive the first encounter, since no one would have any armour and would have to take a -4 on every attack due to lacking proficiency.
*Snip*I must say, I'm sort of morbidly interested in that game now.
Now, I'm going to throw this caveat out there as well, the 0th level characters are severely restrained by their stats, far more so than any other character, if they lack the intelligence to come up with a good plan, they are dead, unless the DM gives no fucks about actual role-playing and lets them do anything the player can imagine regardless of lack of character knowledge or imagination.Yeah, early D&D is very different from modern D&D, in that they emphasize the game part a lot more than the roleplaying. It originally evolved from wargames, but it departed them in using means other than combat to resolve problems. The story of Braunstein (http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/104/braunstein-the-roots-of-roleplaying-games/) probably best illustrates this.
-snip-The idea of playing level 0 characters has merit, if done right, but this is just wrong. So very wrong.
Is this dnd 3.5/4/5 or pathfinder?
Since it's pathfinder I would strongly reccomend making a ranger instead of an archer fighter then. You get more skill points, better feats (because you can skip pre-reqs with some of the ranger talents) and just in general will be more of your 'strong, good all around' type of dude.
Er. I don't think there's an argument on whether or not a druid is a "quasiclass". It's its own tree of magic, with many spells being unique to it. It's not like the druid is to the cleric as the sorcerer is to the wizard; they've been a staple since (at least) AD&D.
Technically we really did use a hydra - our transmutation wizard - as an improvised weapon.
Ugh I just made a session too silly again.Saved is maybe a too liberal word there, we bought the orphanage mostly with the goal (at least for me) of getting apprentices who are endlessly thankful to us. Exceptionally devoted trainees with no parents to tell them not to do what you say is a god send to the slightly grey-er morally inclined.
I am sure someone else can tell this story better
But the goal of the session was that the players were going to hunt down the families of those who got killed and make amends by mostly... giving them money if they need it.
I kind of was like "Well... why is this a whole session?" given that this could have been done as an aside or by a post. So I created Drama.
So basically they just saved an Orphanage from debt and the children were so happy they sang like a heavenly choir that even made the birds in the sky happier.
Anyway, the reason I came here was to share a cool set of hex map templates (https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/2z1q4x/hex_map_templates_based_on_5e_dmg_with/) made to work with the guidelines of the Province, Kingdom, Continent maps mentioned in the 5e DMG. It's not the exact size specified the DMG, (this set (http://blogofholding.com/?p=6751) is the right size, although it doesn't have any sort of numbering on the hexes for reference) but it's the right scale and should work just as well for the purposes. You may or may not want to increase the amount of stuff you put on there, but, then, that's also true of the official setup (http://blogofholding.com/?p=6741).
Since I'm sharing Blog of Holding stuff, I figure I might as well also mention this nice random encounter chart template (http://blogofholding.com/?p=6808) he made that encourages you to use random encounters that are more than just monsters.
Also, since I'm sharing hex map stuff, I figure I should share this thing that can make numbered hexes in any size you want, outputting it as SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format. That same site also has a GIMP script (http://axiscity.hexamon.net/users/isomage/gimp/hexgimp/) that will let you make pretty TSR-style hex maps in GIMP, and a random generator (http://axiscity.hexamon.net/users/isomage/wildgen/) that will output such a thing randomly. At it also has other things that aren't really related to hex mapping.
Moving on, we have Welsh Piper's hex templates (http://www.welshpiper.com/hex-templates/) which aren't made for the 5e DMG scales (especially since it came out several years before 5e), but it's a set of numbered hex templates, so it's within the theme here. And, anyway, he has a nice guide for making hex map terrain and such. (Part 1 (http://www.welshpiper.com/hex-based-campaign-design-part-1/) and Part 2 (http://www.welshpiper.com/hex-based-campaign-design-part-2/))
Literally the only thing that sounded remotely like DnD in that entire paragraph was 'monk'. The rest is either a fever dream or bad greentext. :P
Indeed. I dont recall ever seeing a "Solid diamond dildo" in ANY DND source book...
(But I wonder if that's what Mario found (http://media.tumblr.com/d36f2643a449680bb4c1e3d61e51665a/tumblr_inline_mwe926oiYW1r3nvvr.jpg)...)
Her chamber maid sure does freak out when you find it, that's for sure!
Indeed. I dont recall ever seeing a "Solid diamond dildo" in ANY DND source book...
Unfortunately, we don't have any IC reasons to know where to find you...Last thing I said to you was I was having dinner with Aurel... Must've been a crazy night then...
Oh, yeah, and for next session I could use some help in a WIFOM loop.
We've got two options in the form of two trees: A bright, leafy tree with shining red apples, and a dead grey tree with vivid blue apples. We have to, as a group, choose which one we will partake of. We've been told outright that one of them will hatch any remaining white dragon eggs among our diamonds, but we don't know which one. We also don't know which is which, just that one is the Tree of Life and the other is the Tree of Knowledge.
We do know where we're headed after that, though. We got our choice of Asgard, Shangri-la, Mount Olympus, or El Dorado. No guesses as to which the party of bank robbers, jewel thieves, and shortsighted petty criminals picked.
Also, last session I lost out on $50k because I wasn't willing to inject that mystery serum into a sleeping platypus.
(stuff)
...
The group is pushing for me to make the first step and apologize, so we can play on...
...
Yeah sometimes being the bigger man means taking the blame or the indignity of apologizing for something that isn't your fault.
What was your barbarian's alignment?
Regardless, I think that the guy deserved more than that. Hell, if I was playing a chaotic neutral barbarian or an evil aligned one, I would've actually kicked him off the cliff. Otherwise, as a barbarian (and treated like a rabid animal) you would probably attack the enemy first. Also, why are they putting it on you when the others could have just as easily went and saved the guy as well? I think buddy is over reacting a bit.
I had a character like that where he treated half of the party like shit, and he even hit me in the head with a mordenkrag twice for almost setting a building on fire... WITH DAILY POWERS. I have the HP to take it since I was a berserker, but I said in character, I deserved the first hit, ubt the SECOND ONE was uncalled for, and I even said if he did it again, I'd fucking kill him. Throw in the fact I was regenerating and I can do more damage to drop him before he could get a third hit in and still have plenty of HP left over, I could have killed him easily, but for the sake of him being a player I didn't. Ten minutes later, he beats another player to near death, and we all decide to kill his character.
Some people take RPing too seriously, and not only need to be toned down to remember there are other players who are playing
Guys, I very literally just effing told you not to discuss Alignment. No alignment discussion, it's in the effing OP rules. Don't do it again.I hate to be this guy, but you need to follow your own addendum 2.
(Our own Neonivek is hosting a Pathfinder campaign, and I think there might be a slot or two open if you ask him.)I'll ask neon as I am playing terraria with him atm, but there probably is as we started with 6, went down to 5 players and then a couple don't show frequently. I may also need to drop out due to new found work so there is that.
Guys, I very literally just effing told you not to discuss Alignment. No alignment discussion, it's in the effing OP rules. Don't do it again.
Gonna start running my very own pathfinder game probably starting next week. the prime material plane is comprised of a chain of islands much like oceania stamped across it. There's a north and a south but an infinite east/west. And no other planets. That would be strange.I don't have any tips, but if it's play-by-post I'll join up.
Any tips for a first-time GM? I have a few adventure ideas lined up, one shamelessly ripped from the web and some homebrew ideas as well. The campaign itself is establishing a new colony on a distant-ish island. Lots of risen and fallen civilisations over the span of millenia in the game, plenty of chance for more modern tech, but their civ is gunpowder. No steam -quite- yet.
My advice would be to be ready to wing it. Even the best prepared scenario can fall apart at short notice, so you have to be able to move the story along despite it. Don't be afraid to say no to something (character design, unworkable plan, excessive cheese), you are the final arbiter of your game, it works according to your needs (and those of the players but you are the one who decides where the cutoff is.) If you have to cheat, cheat in favor of the group, not against them. Also, your setting sounds like a lot of fun, I hope you and your players enjoy yourselves.
Guys, I very literally just effing told you not to discuss Alignment. No alignment discussion, it's in the effing OP rules. Don't do it again.
Seventh, don't be afraid to push your characters in the right direction, but don't hold them by the hand. Give them a clue if they can't figure out what to do, or drop an NPC group talking about something.
That too. Or have the seer see something. That works. Worse comes to worse, madmen with maps usually workSeventh, don't be afraid to push your characters in the right direction, but don't hold them by the hand. Give them a clue if they can't figure out what to do, or drop an NPC group talking about something.
Or straight-out have the cleric's god appear to them in a dream or give them a sign something.
If you want your players to get something, it's best to give many clues. Three is a good rule. (http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule)Seventh, don't be afraid to push your characters in the right direction, but don't hold them by the hand. Give them a clue if they can't figure out what to do, or drop an NPC group talking about something.
Or straight-out have the cleric's god appear to them in a dream or give them a sign something.
That's a great story highmax, thank you for sharing it with us. I like your characterization as well (I don't really like evil characters, but well played characters are great no matter what.)I put a lot of detail into my characters. Sadly, a little TOO much. This is actually one of the shorter backstories I made for a character. My first character had a 6 page story with him, Olon the artificer had a 4 page one, the elf berserker had one that was 2 pages, Storm has the shortest, and then this guy with what I showed. I'm not counting ones I made for NPCs in my other games, but some of them do have some reaching stories on them (those that are recurring, etc.)
Why do we need 80 different threads? I mean, DnD was 80% of the tabletop thread.
Which, after having the DnD removed from it, has died.
Now where will I post my warhammer junk?
Strangely, you were the only one bothered by it.
The rules for mythic/epic monsters are kinda lack luster and there is not very many of them all things considered. I think at that point your only real challenge is hunting down gods/demi-gods/greater demons of hell.
And yet the Cavalier in my game kicks that thing's butt with a typical attack of 6d4+57 or the much more likely 2d10+38It's not quite that high... for our level it's high but yeah. On that note I wonder how you are gonna cope with me now bypassing everything but epic level dr hahaha.
I am thinking of an evil plan.
As for things that could stand up to us hitting them, slimes, high ac creatures and high hp creatures are all things we could fight that would be dangerous but not 'kill you in two hits' dangerous.
My game had guys who were dead accurate and hard hitters. So I made a guy to fight them with 600+hp. He lasted only 4 rounds, but still 4 rounds more than the other bosses
yeah doubling or tripling an enemy's hp is decent for making a boss. Just as long as he isn't also a -one shot the pc's- type dude.
Also that demon fight would of gone more interestingly if they had gotten summons, boss with a couple lackies is always a nice fight. so far it seems to be consistantly 1-2 really rediculously strong creatures alone or ton and tons of weak dudes.
The hilarious thing is that, as far as I am aware, cantrips improve with character level, not class level.
Its major weakness is that for the most part that d10 is all it is going to get unless the class gets something that allows them to apply more damage to it.This, pretty much. The only build that improves it beyond 1d10 direct damage is going to have much better options for blasting. If you're in it for optimizing and want a cheap ranged attack UXLZ already underlined the typical method.
Whereas anyone who uses a dex score can turn that crossbow into a damage machine.
So in my current campaign the third major 'event' has occurred, and my players failed to pick up on it, so I actually had to inform them that there was more going on than they were realizing (I'd have thought that the blatant 'apocalypse prophecy' that has popped up several times would have been more important to them, live and learn.) Other than that things are going well, the major stumbling block to the team 'leader' courting the queen is about to be removed, the twitty thief has realized there is more to life than petty theft and is now in position to actually facilitate some important story stuff, and the paladin hasn't had any real problems getting into his role in all of this, but he hasn't yet found out what his real purpose is. All told things are moving towards the meat of the content I've got, we'll see how long things stay on course, or if they decide to go off on some random tangent, either way things are in motion that cannot be stopped.
So my party's bard just became a werewolf willingly. Now they have to fight a werebearI no longer can even imagine what sort of world you are playing in when you went from getting shot by cat gangsters to fighting werebear via application of singing werewolf.
Well, that's an opinion certainly, but I have found over the years that I have played and run that being at the table has a positive impact on the group as a whole, and leads to tighter focus. I'm also really good at on the fly, to the point that I have no set in stone elements in my game other than basic history and geography. Slow paced games are anathema to my style, as I do my best work in the moment.
Pathfinder game had my party dealing with catfolk that are stereotypical Italian mobsters. I also realized looking like a Viking makes me stick out like a sore thumb amongst a lot of people wearing suits.
Also what is a Poe like? (Spelled police) like guards apparently but get paid to do sh%#, as the officer told me.
I also apparently slashed a high end mobster with flametongue and my sunblade. And proceeded to get shot six times
Why do we need 80 different threads? I mean, DnD was 80% of the tabletop thread.Agreed. Despite having no interest in TCGs or w/e I really don't see any need for a separate thread.
Which, after having the DnD removed from it, has died.
Now where will I post my warhammer junk?
Sorry guys but I just don't like your MTG Thread with guest appearance from DND.
So this 5e game on bay12 I'm playing on has the most fucked up system of law I have ever seen in any game.
If you're charged with theft, and found guilty, death penalty.
If you're part of a crime organization and caught being part of one but have not done anything wrong yet in this town, you're free to go.
If you openly admit to being part of a crime group and admit that you tried to kidnap a child, but don't actually have the child, you're free to go.
If you're a red tiefling and you're the only one in the area, it's ok to shoot him because he's a red tiefling on a wanted poster that isn't even for this town or this continent.
If you're a guardsman, you can kill anyone as long as you have proper reason for it. Even if they are proven innocent or free to go.
What accounts for 'proper reason'?
Is it something like 'I was annoyed by this person'?
Is there a way to anti-burn yourself out as a GM?
I've been fighting some rather painful burn out from these games for a bit...
Is there a way to anti-burn yourself out as a GM?
I've been fighting some rather painful burn out from these games for a bit...
What if you temporarily switched to a less rules and preparation heavy game like Toon or something
Also note to self
In spite the story being the Wizards are "overpowered" because their cantrips do 1d10 damage at 120 feet... (note I am being sarcastic)
Well Diplomacy has two major weaknessesThe second part's a good point! So it's like an extraordinary Charm Person, and only if you can hit a DC of 45 (Hostile to Friendly with a -10 for using 1 round instead of 10). Under 3.5e, anyway, PF really nerfs it. So it has most of the weakness of Charm Person, in that they're still just as hostile to your friends. But still could be useful, particularly since a t
1) The target needs to listen to you
2) The target is only more friendly towards you
Diplomacy as a Jedi Mindtrick is like Free parking rule in Monopoly... it is a house rule so prevalent that people will swear it is in the actual rulebooks.
And thats something I hate about pathfinder: diplomacy checks and most magic spells are broken, to the point my friend told me he can convince my guy, regardless of what his save was, because he had this stupidly high diplomacy bonus, of stripping naked and giving him all his stuff.It's pretty screwy that diplomacy rolls are unopposed, but they can only be used against NPCs (PF and 3.5e). Oh huh, in PF they do get slightly tougher from the target's CHA mod... That's a good idea but much too little.
Jesus weeps for walls of text
paragraphs, man
Highmax, convince your DM to do an online campaign so I can join it. :vHe doesn't do online campaigns. Sadly, I'm pretty sure most of his campaign ideas would never work outside a RL environment.
Well Diplomacy has two major weaknesses
1) The target needs to listen to you
2) The target is only more friendly towards you
Diplomacy as a Jedi Mindtrick is like Free parking rule in Monopoly... it is a house rule so prevalent that people will swear it is in the actual rulebooks.
How do you mate goblins and orcs safely?I assume the same way the made Uruk Hai. Magic and other bullshit. They had over 1000 years to figure this shit out
Polling interest more than anything but would anyone want to do a roll20 game of either DnD 5e or pathfinder (or a handful of other rp games but this is the dnd thread) on any of Mon-Thurs, starting 10:00am est to 7:00pm est and ending no later than 11:00pm est?
Polling interest more than anything but would anyone want to do a roll20 game of either DnD 5e or pathfinder (or a handful of other rp games but this is the dnd thread) on any of Mon-Thurs, starting 10:00am est to 7:00pm est and ending no later than 11:00pm est?
Is be interested, but I can't say for sure until you settle on a time as I'm all the way over the ocean.
Pathfinder's Occult Adventures came out, which I was pretty hyped for. Getting to play a kineticist is something I have been looking forward to.
Not so hyped for the Advanced Race Guide errata that came out today. Nerfs everywhere. Some got hit harder than others.
Kineticists scale off of it. But they also take a type of damage called 'burn' to fuel their powers, so having a high Con is necessary.Fetish favoritism at work, maybe? :P
But this actually really boosts half-orcs, since they can qualify as both orc and human, and thus can take the archetype. They can potentially have an effective starting intelligence of 22, as the archetype lets you treat your intelligence as though it was two points higher.
Also, some races had their life-spans changed to match humans. Aasimar, tieflings, etc. Oddly enough, not changed for Fetchlings or the elementals, such as Ifrits, Sylphs, etc.
Oddly, Kitsune enchanters haven't gotten hit.
I cannot see how someone thought making a class scale off Consitution would be a good thing to begin with.
In other news, I have been trying to figure out how effective cohort levels for monsters work, but I can't seem to figure it out. Anyone else have an idea of how it works?
@Neonivek
I always assumed (I made a point of not reading the DMG as a player) that monsters could be dynamically advanced in HD to boost their HP and BAB. I based that on how certain monsters get larger if their HD reaches a certain amount, labelled as their "advancement" in the d20srd. I assumed that monsters without that property could also advance in HD/BAB, they just wouldn't gain size.
Well actually Barbarians in 5e use Constitution for their AC along with dexterity. But that is to allow them to go armorless.
Strength, Dexterity, and Con can be used as a "casting stat" but it would have to function differently then normal.
I can picture a Con caster as being a sort of tank.
Oh, yeah. Unhouseruled 3.5 Monks were basically worthless, and PF didn't get them right the first time around either. Low-tier HD and no full BAB on a melee combatant says to me that someone was drunk when they designed the class, never mind the issues with proficiency and weapon enhancements for Unarmed Strike.
Damage reduction / common thing
Is probably something that has always rubbed me the wrong way.
In 5e at LEAST damage reduction/magic is something that could conceivably pop up (and as such they REALLY improved it)...
But in 3.5 unless you were at incredibly low levels... you had a magic weapon.
It made it feel very pointless.
I actually liked Damage reduction / Blank. The monster was resistant to weak blows and could conceivably shrug off minimal rolls.. as well in 4e they had multiple ways to get through damage reduction.
Damage Reduction/Magic really might as well not exist... the ONLY things that proxy that are physical spells.
In 5E monks are sort of a utility class as well. I mean, Tongue of Sun and Moon and immunity to aging is cool, but unless the DM often uses languages the party can't speak, or the campaign goes for 40 years, they're... Pretty much totally useless.
They also get some nutso stuff though for combat. Empty Body is INSANE.
"Oh, hey, guys, you know that 50'000 gold you've been saving up for three months to buy that airship with?"Replace the 50,000 gold airship with 250,000 gold as it seems to stand right now. Party won't lose THAT much at a time, but they'll notice it enough. Probably like 15-30 gold at a time, maybe more when they finish that side quest.
"Yeah, what about it? We've been looking forward to that, and we're almost there, so hopefully next encounter will give us enough."
"Weeelll, most of it sort of vanished. You now have 500."
They're gonna like that.
Damage reduction / common thing
Is probably something that has always rubbed me the wrong way.
In 5e at LEAST damage reduction/magic is something that could conceivably pop up (and as such they REALLY improved it)...
But in 3.5 unless you were at incredibly low levels... you had a magic weapon.
It made it feel very pointless.
I actually liked Damage reduction / Blank. The monster was resistant to weak blows and could conceivably shrug off minimal rolls.. as well in 4e they had multiple ways to get through damage reduction.
Damage Reduction/Magic really might as well not exist... the ONLY things that proxy that are physical spells.
Another is that building your kineticist in the wrong way can potentially cripple you. If you were to choose electricity as your first simple blast, earth as your second, and cold as your third, you would never be able to do a composite blast, as there are no composite blasts that include electricity and earth, electricity and cold, or earth and cold.(I have no idea how kineticists work, and I also hate options in RPGs that turn out to be horrible. There should be warnings.)
I disagree with Thunder being a damage type, for the most part
Please explain the meaningful differences between Water and Earth damage?
The leader will prove too strong for the party when they face him, and he will absolutely decimate them in one round, especially on his dire boar mount. But a DM character I introduced who flirts with the party bard often and tries over and over to woo her over, comes in and manages to take him out, but is slain by the warlord as his mount charges away in panic (pulling a part out of Megaman X here sort of). The party will hopefully defeat him and then the results of the fight will happen.Nothing quite like NPCs strolling in and defeating the enemy boss for you. :I
I think highmax meant the NPC takes out the boss' mount, not the boss, making him beatable.The leader will prove too strong for the party when they face him, and he will absolutely decimate them in one round, especially on his dire boar mount. But a DM character I introduced who flirts with the party bard often and tries over and over to woo her over, comes in and manages to take him out, but is slain by the warlord as his mount charges away in panic (pulling a part out of Megaman X here sort of). The party will hopefully defeat him and then the results of the fight will happen.Nothing quite like NPCs strolling in and defeating the enemy boss for you. :I
The leader will prove too strong for the party when they face him, and he will absolutely decimate them in one round, especially on his dire boar mount. But a DM character I introduced who flirts with the party bard often and tries over and over to woo her over, comes in and manages to take him out, but is slain by the warlord as his mount charges away in panic (pulling a part out of Megaman X here sort of). The party will hopefully defeat him and then the results of the fight will happen.Nothing quite like NPCs strolling in and defeating the enemy boss for you. :I
I think highmax meant the NPC takes out the boss' mount, not the boss, making him beatable.
Honestly? Knowledge (planes)I brimstone isn't just from hell though. I think it would be a knowledge geography, as its usually associated with volcanic areas or perhaps a profession or craft check if you have some sort of job dealing with it.
Ehh yeah but why would a *person* smell like sulfur? Only knowledge (Planes) can answer that. I'd accept a knowledge (geography) for "This person smells like sulfur, that's unusual".Honestly? Knowledge (planes)I brimstone isn't just from hell though. I think it would be a knowledge geography, as its usually associated with volcanic areas or perhaps a profession or craft check if you have some sort of job dealing with it.
In other editions, go history, investigation or similar
I'd personally say a Craft Alchemy check to know sulphur, otherwise sulphur just smells like rotting eggs to anyone who doesn't know what it is. Maybe Knowledge religion at a high DC to know what sulphur is.Honestly? Knowledge (planes)I brimstone isn't just from hell though. I think it would be a knowledge geography, as its usually associated with volcanic areas or perhaps a profession or craft check if you have some sort of job dealing with it.
In other editions, go history, investigation or similar
Elemental sulfur (brimstone) doesn't actually smell like rotten eggs though. You're confusing it with hydrogen sulfide.
Which is completely irrelevant, because the smell they (and anyone ever) are referring to when saying "smell of sulfur" is the smell of rotten eggs.
I'm trying to think of a way to run a game set in the Witcher's universe, but the only ruleset I can think of that might fit is some sort of unholy combination of DnD 5E and Dark Heresy. Got any other suggestions for what might work?I don't suppose it's going to be a Play by Post game here, is it?
Sounds quite literal, really.
Antitoxin, counters poisons. Antidisease, counters disease.
Don't see the problem.
Sounds quite literal, really.
Antitoxin, counters poisons. Antidisease, counters disease.
Don't see the problem.
Yes but what IS it?
Though in Pathfinder, the Alchemist class's alchemy is literal magic. It's why their extracts only work for them; they imbue it with their own magic essence.
Whether secreted away in a smoky basement laboratory or gleefully experimenting in a well-respected school of magic, the alchemist is often regarded as being just as unstable, unpredictable, and dangerous as the concoctions he brews. While some creators of alchemical items content themselves with sedentary lives as merchants, providing tindertwigs and smokesticks, the true alchemist answers a deeper calling. Rather than cast magic like a spellcaster, the alchemist captures his own magic potential within liquids and extracts he creates, infusing his chemicals with virulent power to grant him impressive skill with poisons, explosives, and all manner of self-transformative magic.
Role: The alchemist's reputation is not softened by his exuberance (some would say dangerous recklessness) in perfecting his magical extracts and potion-like creations, infusing these substances with magic siphoned from his aura and using his own body as experimental stock. Nor is it mollified by the alchemist's almost gleeful passion for building explosive bombs and discovering strange new poisons and methods for their use. These traits, while making him a liability and risk for most civilized organizations and institutions of higher learning, seem to fit quite well with most adventuring groups.
True.Penicillin isn't magic, either, when alchemy is.
It still is impressively ridiculous in concept to me (especially since frankly... even Penicillin isn't anywhere close to that good)
But honestly beyond "What the wackado is this?" I don't have much else of a opinion.
Alchemy isn't magical :P
It literally is modern medicine.
Alchemy isn't magical :P
It literally is modern medicine.
Yeah. Golems don't show up under detect magic either.Damn, that's a good point. But the casting to create a golem (wish or miracle, plus other stuff) does. I couldn't find any sign (3.5e) that the alchemy process shows up as magic. The only thing linking it to spells is... kinda weird. You have to be a spellcaster. Not sure if 1 level of ranger counts, I assume you have to actually unlock a spell level. Your caster type(s) or levels don't affect your alchemy at all.
I may explore that in one of my settings in the future myself. I've already got one where kobolds are actually offshoots of dragons (extremely distant offshoots), so I might use 'cobalt' dragons as the breakaway point.
I may explore that in one of my settings in the future myself. I've already got one where kobolds are actually offshoots of dragons (extremely distant offshoots), so I might use 'cobalt' dragons as the breakaway point.
I forgot to mention, this sounds really cool!
I wonder if you could do something with cobalt itself. Maybe kobolds know the trick of coaxing it from the rock, leading to some very distinctive glassware and weapons. As far as I can tell, cobalt-alloy weapons wouldn't be particularly great... or blue... But this is fantasy after all. Maybe mine spirits (kobolds in the original since) stick with the material and give it properties.
Your entire lives, you have lived comfortably in the Home. It has shielded your family for generations from the demons that ruined the world outside. Carved from stone and filled with all sorts of magical brilliance, the Home had everything you needed. Food, water, shelter was all at your fingertips.
Was being the most important word.
The crops failed this year. Failed horribly. The soil was barren and empty. The only thing you could rely on was the meat producer and even that rarely worked out correctly.
You have to leave your Home. You've found your way to the exit and, although you've been warned your entire lives that there's nothing more than a broken fiery wasteland outside, you must leave in order to survive.
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This is a campaign where players start out as a milling crowd of level 0 civilians and hopefully turn into something that can survive. Imagine a magical Fallout and you'll start to get the right idea.
We'll be playing Dungeon Crawl Classics and each player will get 4 0 level characters to play with. They'll probably die, so don't get too attached. They are, however, your lives. Protect them, as it'll be rare for anyone else to turn up to join you later on.
If you want a campaign where exploration of a new world, deadliness around every corner and grey shifting morality is key, join Mundus Mutatis today!
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If possible, I'd like to run more than once a week and I'm extremely flexible on what times I can play (at least up until mid September). Please apply if you are the same. Don't not apply if you're not, just something to keep in mind.
Well, now I know I definitely wouldn't play in that campaign. Nothing I can see that's really problematic or that seems massively overdone, but it just doesn't sound much like fun.
Still, I hope you and your players enjoy yourselves.
The short rest span might be nerfing a few classes to hell and back... Given that a short rest is pretty much meant to be a breather as opposed to an outright nap.
I'd never touch Warlocks under that ruleset... The entire gimmick of that class is that it basically is back up to full strength during each and every short rest.
Sounds kinda... overdone, really. The system is pretty solid as is, and I'm not convinced of the benefits of some of the changes.
Elves are considered Slaves in way of social standings
Here's a taster of some of my upcoming campaign's rule set. Tell me if anything seems a bit extreme or overdone. I'll be trying to make stuff more concise when it actually goes up, of course (for instance, Gritty Realism and Slow Natural Healing could probably be in the same spoiler.)Seems like pointless complication. You've already got the random element built into the system, changing proficiency to a die roll rather than a flat number just means that players' supposed core abilities are less reliable and more inconsistent. Why is this necessary? What purpose does it serve?Spoiler: Proficiency Variant (click to show/hide)Is this supposed to be CoC? Basically what you're saying is that you're going to throw encounters at players that they aren't going to be able to defeat, attach an arbitrary and unknown DC to it, and then nerf a lot of their means of escape if they fail. Moreover, you're eliminating player agency by using a condition which forces them to flee using whatever resources they have.Spoiler: Fear And Horror (click to show/hide)
Worse, you add the same situation, but then in addition to removing agency in the short term, you also arbitrarily inflict semipermanent debuffs on players' characters because you decided to throw them at an encounter they had no chance of beating without even giving them the chance to flee. I haven't read the rest, but I suspect/hope this section is going to be the worst. This sort of thing is the type of houserule a control-freak killer DM would use to prevent his players from having fun or making their own decisions. It's not always bad to present players with hooks that lead to an encounter that they really shouldn't attempt, but they should have the option of confronting it despite the warning signs, and the chance, however slim, of pulling out a victory if there's even the slightest mechanical possibility of such.Not terrible in a void, but given that the rest of the rules sound like you're going to be flooding players with encounters they're not ready for, it doesn't exactly look good. At least you followed up with a semicoherent reason for it. Smells like "muh realisms" to me. Why is it a flat "You cannot heal" rather than reduced healing?Spoiler: Slow Natural Healing (click to show/hide)Read the PHB more thoroughly before you houserule. As has already been pointed out, this heavily nerfs several classes for no good reason. No, "But muh realisms" doesn't count as a good reason.Spoiler: Gritty Realism (click to show/hide)Dice pools are sometimes a good system to use. This case isn't one because of the way you're using it. It's going to average out at mediocre rolls every single time, and it's going to feel boring as hell. The second part is reasonable.Spoiler: Initiative (click to show/hide)More of the same killer DM muh realisms crap from before. You're arbitrarily removing player agency and crippling characters because you want to.Spoiler: Lingering Injuries (click to show/hide)See above re: Removing agency and killer DMing.Spoiler: System Shock (click to show/hide)Workable enough, but if you really want a low-magic setting, ban casters and use few/none as enemies and NPCs instead of nerfing half the classes in the game.Spoiler: Dude, Where's My Spells? (click to show/hide)This is a massive red flag for any player. Even if you are honestly just trying to focus on roleplay, the way this will come off to any player ever is that you're a killer DM who doesn't want his players to notice him fudging rolls. If a DM ever said this to me when I joined their group, I would walk out laughing at them. Among other things, it also removes vital information from the players; if they fail a check, not knowing what they rolled for it means that they don't know if it's worth their time to keep trying.Spoiler: The Iron Curtain (click to show/hide)Again, muh realisms and killer DMing.Spoiler: Dying is Easier... Sorta (click to show/hide)DID YOU NOT EVEN READ ABOUT 5E BEFORE YOU WROTE THESE? THIS LITERALLY ALREADY EXISTS IN THE SYSTEM. http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/41852/what-is-inspiration (http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/41852/what-is-inspiration)Spoiler: A Little Fate Goes A Long Way (click to show/hide)
All you'd need to do is tweak it slightly.
But no. I've never seen a DM hide players' rolls like that. If someone rolls Investigation to search for clues in a room, they'll see what they rolled, and even if they didn't they'll be able to get the general gist of their roll from the DM's description (unless the DM is one of the lazy types that just says "You find nothing," if you don't pass the DC).
I think the biggest element to making the game more gritty/real has more to do with consequences than difficulty. For instance the actual fight might be over in a moment, but the effects can be very disproportionate.
If you're going to remove Darkvision from some racial choices (even if they actually represent humans) remember to add something back in to make up for it.Spoiler: Summary (click to show/hide)
Critical multiplier is only a thing in 3e/Pathfinder, and I don't think 5e really does ability damage, though lowering max HP and possibly giving permanent Disadvantage on Constitution saving throws works just as well.I think the biggest element to making the game more gritty/real has more to do with consequences than difficulty. For instance the actual fight might be over in a moment, but the effects can be very disproportionate.
To implement something like that, what if you made critical hits deal constitution damage equal to the weapon's critical multiplier.
EDIT:
This could also help alleviate the traditional problem of wizards being more powerful than fighters, (especially if the constitution damage is in addition to rather than instead of the normal extra damage) as critical hits for spells are extremely limited.
Oh, and I also forgot to mention that everyone gets the regular human lifespan, but that's basically a non-issue.Really, if death by old age becomes an issue, either you've been playing too long or allowed someone to play to old a character.
Characters with low-light vision have eyes that are so sensitive to light that they can see twice as far as normal in dim light. Low-light vision is color vision. A spellcaster with low-light vision can read a scroll as long as even the tiniest candle flame is next to him as a source of light.
Characters with low-light vision can see outdoors on a moonlit night as well as they can during the day.
There's also something I've encountered in the magic system. Between the miscellaneous nerfs and those done by way of the new Concentration mechanic, and a vastly smaller set of spells, there are actually relatively few spells worth taking. In 3.5/PF my usual problem with casters is narrowing my options, not digging up enough spells that aren't mehworthy or complete crap.
Wizards got changed to basically how sorcerers used to work, didn't they?
You sure are Harvest Mooning there NeyvnHarvest Mooning ??????? Nooooooooooo............. Yeah ok I was... 'Fantasy Life' is next for the other professions they want to do :P Basically. I was trying to figure out what the Secondary Tool for Farmer would be and just stuck with Watering Can. Mainly to represent caring for the crops as they grow while the Primary Tool is there for the Planting and Harvesting parts. I couldn't really think of any other system other then using one that was already designed and worked well...
I am not QUITE sure what a watering can is made of really matters... I mean if each level determines what kind of irrigation system you are using.
QuoteThere's also something I've encountered in the magic system. Between the miscellaneous nerfs and those done by way of the new Concentration mechanic, and a vastly smaller set of spells, there are actually relatively few spells worth taking. In 3.5/PF my usual problem with casters is narrowing my options, not digging up enough spells that aren't mehworthy or complete crap.
Quite a few of them are better then you would think due to how the system differs (Charm is a big one)
But the "I have to select the useful spells" comes from the fact that Wizards and Sorcerers aren't super duper broken.
Which is kind of the thing. You no longer are surfing through a sea of "Now how do I want to utterly trump this encounter" spells... or Spells that do more damage then the entire rest of your party combined... or spells that kill the entire enemy party instantly... or spells that make you immune to the encounter (hey Rope Trick).
I'll put it this way... 3.5 was built off of trying to negate the Wizard at all times. All bosses had to have magic resistance and any enemy worth his salt had magic immunity.Wizards got changed to basically how sorcerers used to work, didn't they?
Wizards are still wizards but they are Wizards who can cast like Sorcerers.
If spells were as broken as they were in 3.5... Then goodness they would break the game over their knee.
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I will say that Wizards in many ways feel "not as powerful" but I have no idea how they could have fixed that without just jumping back into 3.5s "Ha ha ha! my level 1 spell destroys you CR 100 encounter!"
Then again higher level Wizards are extremely powerful... So the fact that Wizards start off not feeling all that amazing and end up raining death down to the battlefield... Might actually work better.
But I never got to see a high level wizard.
In otherwords I feel like FlyingDice is right, but I think 3.5 did Wizards worse (they are fun! don't get me wrong. It just isn't fun to be the fighter standing beside a Wizard or the GM knowing that an encounter revolves entirely around a wizard). So the solution would have to be between 3.5 and 5e... Wizards feeling potent and powerful without being weak.
Honestly having Wizards have spells that take multiple rounds would be an elegant solution. As well Wizards could have had two levels of concentration... "Concentrate" and "Sustain" that way some spells could have been "sustained" without fear of them suddenly not working, while still not letting you stack a metric ton of spells.
For example... Spiderclimb? Sustained, making it concentrate weakens it vastly. Expeditious retreat? Concentration, it fits the moves theme since it is meant for you to retreat in.
I never did quite get input on if it was reasonable to hide skill check rolls from the players. (In particular Insight, Perception, Sleight of Hand and Deception.) I've decided that obfuscating attack rolls, damage rolls and the like is a bit unfair, but I do believe there is good reason for at least those four skills. Most of the others there's no real point - even if your exact roll for an athletics check was hidden the results are still immediate and obvious.Herp forgot to send it. I'd be more circumspect, but frankly it's a rare out-of-print third party supplement published by a now-defunct company. >.>
Also, where's 'dat Critonomicon stuff FD? :v
Neo, FD, just a friendly remainder because this hasn't gotten out of hand yet, please refrain from comparing various editions on this thread.Apologies regardless, I was just trying to clarify and that conversation ended up traveling a bit far from where it began.
Again, this is purely a friendly reminder, and you guys are fine, but version comparison is outside of this threads' scope.
What edition, Sirus?Call it 3.5. I'm guessing it's what Flying Dice was working off of, and it's the only edition I have easy access to monster stats for anyway.
I was knocking an idea around in my head for a one-shot "campaign" in which a Big Bad monster is approaching a city and the only available defenders are fairly low-leveled. My hope was that the verdict would be "doable, but difficult and at the cost of many characters' lives".I hope not to much effort needs to be put into character creation?
Carapace (Ex)
The tarrasque’s armorlike carapace is exceptionally tough and highly reflective, deflecting all rays, lines, cones, and even magic missile spells. There is a 30% chance of reflecting any such effect back at the caster; otherwise, it is merely negated. Check for reflection before rolling to overcome the creature’s spell resistance.
I was knocking an idea around in my head for a one-shot "campaign" in which a Big Bad monster is approaching a city and the only available defenders are fairly low-leveled. My hope was that the verdict would be "doable, but difficult and at the cost of many characters' lives". I went with the tarrasque because I was under the impression that it was a potentially world-ending beastie.I sent you an idea for it by PM. I think it fits your criteria nicely. You may share it if you wish, or if you wish to keep it to yourself to spring on your players you can. That's why I sent it via PM. :P
So if the tarrasque can be so easily brought down, what might be a better candidate?
Immune to that spell.
There are spells that can trump the Tarresque but that isn't one of them.
If getting exp for setting of traps annoys you, couldn't you just house-rule it out if you're the DM, or mention it to the DM if you're a player? I've always seen the rules in these sorts of games as a general guideline more than set in stone.
Pit Trap
CR 1/4
XP 65
Type mechanical; Perception DC 15; Disable Device DC 20
EFFECTS
Trigger location; Reset manual
Effect 10-ft.-deep pit (1d6 nonlethal falling damage); DC 20 Reflex avoids; multiple targets (all targets in the trap’s area).
This pit trap is not intended to harm its victims. There are a host of hidden pit traps scattered throughout the room. To lessen the danger, a mound of pillows has been placed at the bottom of each pit to cushion the fall of anyone who gets caught in one. Probing for the pits with a pole or weapon grants a +4 circumstance bonus on the Reflex save to avoid falling into a pit.
Prison of Blades CR 16
XP 76,800
Type magic; Perception DC 35; Disable Device DC 35
EFFECTS
Trigger visual (true seeing); Reset automatic (5 minutes)
Effect spell effects (forcecage, windowless cell, DC 20 Reflex save or be trapped inside for 13 rounds), two mage’s sword spells shaped to look like ranseurs attack anyone inside the cage for 13 rounds (Atk +19 melee [4d6+3/19–20]); multiple targets (all targets in a 10-ft. cube)
If the characters overcome a combat encounter where a trap or hazard presented a threat during the encounter, give them XP for the trap or hazard even if they didn’t disable or neutralize it
But the key is you didn't try and you expended no effort.
Sounds less like overcoming obstacles and more like accomplishing great deeds, which I am all in favor of. Rather than be encouraged to make things harder on themselves, or kill every single living thing in a dungeon like some sort of obsessive-compulsive sociopaths, players should be encouraged to think up creative ways to solve their problems, without having to worry that they might miss out on XP because they didn't encounter some pointless trap or monster. That's why I'm fond of early D&D's XP-for-gold system over the later emphasis on defeating monsters: it rewards results instead of adhering to a specific process.But the key is you didn't try and you expended no effort.
A good rule to check whether you should award XP for bypassing an obstacle (that is, if adventurer cred is the ruling interpretation of XP) is whether the bypasser could brag about the achievement afterward and impress somebody reasonably common without bending the truth. It covers a whole lot of categories of problem solving - through cleverness, toughness, strength, quickness, dumb luck and what have you.
For instance, if you get narrowly missed by a glass skull full of ravenous demonic worms that fell from the ceiling due to your incredible reflexes, you can tell as much to a man in a tavern and he'd be like 'good reflexes, mate'. If the skull hits you, but the worms fail to penetrate your rock-hard pectorals in their path to your heart before you scour them from your body, that's perfectly fine to tell people as well. But if the skull hits you, you get a demonic worm infestation and the entire party takes a short rest while you get dewormed by the cleric, that doesn't reflect well at all on you. So no XP in the latter case. Same thing if a set of demonic worms burrow through your eardrums and lay eggs in your brain, causing you to slice the wizard in half with your greataxe because he looks like a monster suddenly - not something you can brag about in a tavern, that.
Isn't XP generally assigned to everyone in the party? The cleric or group deserves credit for healing that. Even just surviving it in the first place is impressive...But the key is you didn't try and you expended no effort.
A good rule to check whether you should award XP for bypassing an obstacle (that is, if adventurer cred is the ruling interpretation of XP) is whether the bypasser could brag about the achievement afterward and impress somebody reasonably common without bending the truth. It covers a whole lot of categories of problem solving - through cleverness, toughness, strength, quickness, dumb luck and what have you.
For instance, if you get narrowly missed by a glass skull full of ravenous demonic worms that fell from the ceiling due to your incredible reflexes, you can tell as much to a man in a tavern and he'd be like 'good reflexes, mate'. If the skull hits you, but the worms fail to penetrate your rock-hard pectorals in their path to your heart before you scour them from your body, that's perfectly fine to tell people as well. But if the skull hits you, you get a demonic worm infestation and the entire party takes a short rest while you get dewormed by the cleric, that doesn't reflect well at all on you. So no XP in the latter case. Same thing if a set of demonic worms burrow through your eardrums and lay eggs in your brain, causing you to slice the wizard in half with your greataxe because he looks like a monster suddenly - not something you can brag about in a tavern, that.
Isn't XP generally assigned to everyone in the party? The cleric or group deserves credit for healing that. Even just surviving it in the first place is impressive...
Also, using an accomplishments based system adds in a unique way to put in more time pressure. Since you're going by overall impressive accomplishments rather than just beating an encounter, it makes sense that being able to beat a dungeon or whatever quicker than you'd expect would make the accomplishment more impressive. So an idea I had for when I run is that there'd be a certain amount of quickness XP for beating the dungeon, and that would go down each day. So when the spellcasters are down a few slots and say they want to rest for the day, I can say, "Sure, you can do that, it seems pretty safe right here. But that means you'll lose 5% bonus XP. Are you sure you don't want to press on a little while longer?"
Well, I mean it's one way to put in time pressure, especially if you're doing an open world game or something where it feels forced to put in a time pressure in the setting. And even if you have natural time pressures, it's good to have a resource to limit rests other than rations (which quickly stop being a worry after, like level 1, if even then).Also, using an accomplishments based system adds in a unique way to put in more time pressure. Since you're going by overall impressive accomplishments rather than just beating an encounter, it makes sense that being able to beat a dungeon or whatever quicker than you'd expect would make the accomplishment more impressive. So an idea I had for when I run is that there'd be a certain amount of quickness XP for beating the dungeon, and that would go down each day. So when the spellcasters are down a few slots and say they want to rest for the day, I can say, "Sure, you can do that, it seems pretty safe right here. But that means you'll lose 5% bonus XP. Are you sure you don't want to press on a little while longer?"
"What? You mean you plopped yourselves down on the cave floor and rested for nine bloody hours while the necromancer was squatting down the hall doing the same? You damn muppets! That's not how real heroes do it! You have to charge in, show them who's boss! Steamroll those fools!"
Also, using an accomplishments based system adds in a unique way to put in more time pressure. Since you're going by overall impressive accomplishments rather than just beating an encounter, it makes sense that being able to beat a dungeon or whatever quicker than you'd expect would make the accomplishment more impressive. So an idea I had for when I run is that there'd be a certain amount of quickness XP for beating the dungeon, and that would go down each day. So when the spellcasters are down a few slots and say they want to rest for the day, I can say, "Sure, you can do that, it seems pretty safe right here. But that means you'll lose 5% bonus XP. Are you sure you don't want to press on a little while longer?"
"What? You mean you plopped yourselves down on the cave floor and rested for nine bloody hours while the necromancer was squatting down the hall doing the same? You damn muppets! That's not how real heroes do it! You have to charge in, show them who's boss! Steamroll those fools!"
You also have to leave any bags of holding outside.
Note: It is hazardous to create an extradimensional space within an existing extradimensional space or to take an extradimensional space into an existing one.
It's a vague warning at the very least. Errata confirmed that the only things that explode are bags of holding and portable holes. Other extradimensional spaces simply stop working when inside another e-d space.Quote from: From the text of the Rope Trick spell (3.5e SRD version)Note: It is hazardous to create an extradimensional space within an existing extradimensional space or to take an extradimensional space into an existing one.
Ropetrick is its own demiplane :P
When this spell is cast upon a piece of rope from 5 to 30 feet long, one end of the rope rises into the air until the whole rope hangs perpendicular to the ground, as if affixed at the upper end. The upper end is, in fact, fastened to an extradimensional space that is outside the multiverse of extradimensional spaces (“planes”).
---snip---
Note: It is hazardous to create an extradimensional space within an existing extradimensional space or to take an extradimensional space into an existing one.
Not to mention that it can't really be used as a Get Out of Encounter Free card, considering that you have to leave from the same place you entered eventually. If the enemy had anyone capable of knowing what you did, that's reason enough for the DM to have had them set up traps and prepared to ambush the party when they left.
Negate them... how? Can't cast across the border, which means the traps are just as deadly as any other traps. The rogue has to partly leave the hole to attempt to disarm, becoming vulnerable (and visible).Not to mention that it can't really be used as a Get Out of Encounter Free card, considering that you have to leave from the same place you entered eventually. If the enemy had anyone capable of knowing what you did, that's reason enough for the DM to have had them set up traps and prepared to ambush the party when they left.
Open up the rope trick hole, see the traps, negate them... leave harmlessly... all thanks to a single spell.
Besides think about what you are all saying. In order to balance ONE spell you have to overwhelmingly put the entire dungeons resources against him, have creatures with full encyclopedic magical knowledge (Which only a select few have), masterful trap making skills capable of laying magical traps in meer hours (Which none have... Where traps come from are often a DM fiat), all for one wizard that could have half-assed his training. Even ancient dragons couldn't pull off what you are referring to.Fireball from a rope trick is very iffy. I know fireballs and other evocations bypass spell resistance, but it's still casting a spell across the border. Shouldn't work in my opinion.
If anything you are proving just how overpowered it is by saying the exact requirements to stop a single spell.
Remember Rope Trick doesn't "Just end" they can look out the hole... along other things ("Ohh look they are making traps, Fireball... Sorry still in perfect safety!")... honestly I am not even trying to break the system, this is just a single spell. I haven't even got into combinations or some of the other little tricks wizards have.
Basically I'll put it this way...This much is pretty true! Rope trick is not a great example though.
The game doesn't attempt to negate Fighters, Barbarians, Rogues, Clerics, Druids, Bards, Rangers, or monks (Rogues are negated because... well 3.5 doesn't do rogues well)... The only characters 3.5 guns for, where at least half the monsters in existence are geared towards dealing with... are Wizards... And even then Wizards STILL can easily anti-negate... Any Wizard worth his salt ignores spell resistance and can defeat spell immunity.
Even Order of the Stick makes jokes about it.
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All in all my experience with Wizards is that players who use them, and know them well enough, are intentionally trying not to break the game. All the while knowing exactly how to break the game, unless the DM intentionally makes things up to prevent that ("Ohh the villain is a super wizard, or the villain has a magic castle that blocks you")
Remember Rope Trick doesn't "Just end" they can look out the hole... along other things ("Ohh look they are making traps, Fireball... Sorry still in perfect safety!")... honestly I am not even trying to break the system, this is just a single spell. I haven't even got into combinations or some of the other little tricks wizards have.
Basically I'll put it this way...
The game doesn't attempt to negate Fighters, Barbarians, Rogues, Clerics, Druids, Bards, Rangers, or monks (Rogues are negated because... well 3.5 doesn't do rogues well)... The only characters 3.5 guns for, where at least half the monsters in existence are geared towards dealing with... are Wizards...
Yeah, the whole "equitable exp for solving encounters without murdering everything" exists for a reason, namely giving players tangible incentive to not be murderhobos.
There are plenty of monsters who are more then willing to be bribed or even fed over having an actual fight. Heck quite a few would rather let you go then have a fight.
At least if you read the monster manual entries and extra editions as closely as I do.
Xorns would be more then willing to avoid a fight for 10,000 gold for example. Goblins don't usually want to fight at all as it is as evil as they are... The same often applies to Kobolds and even Orcs aren't against negotiation.
Most DMs just tend to treat monsters as killing machines, heck even I do way too much.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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If the players are only killing everyone to try to scrape up exp... Obviously they haven't heard that actions have consequences... or aren't roleplaying.
Meaning you either have bad players or a bad DM :P
Did I miss something NFO? When XP should be rewarded seems like a fairly pertinent topic, or was it the 3.5 references?
I like the sound of your way, though.
If I took this to its natural conclusion
He kept his phylactery nearby? It's like he didn't even want to be a lich (which I guess he wasn't, anymore, once you killed him and smashed his phylactery). Hiding your phylactery somewhere secret and hard to reach is lichdom 101.I once designed a Lich that didn't even realize that he had become a Lich, more that a Necromicon knockoff tricked him into making himself a Lich and it itself was his Phylactery, BUT cause the book was alive it kinda had the ability to Teleport itself and so forth. Was planning on using him as a reoccurring villain that allowed me to drag the players to a new area. BUT that game ended after people left for Uni...
The bestiary also introduced three new playable races, but only one seems to be meant for players.
or else go the opposite direction and emphasize their inhumanity in some way, like having them hiding out in a village, and you don't know who is a cultist and who is innocent.
there is a new type of lich introduced in a recent Pathfinder bestiary called a Psychic Lich. Their phylactery is a book/scroll/readable-thing that contains the lich's complete life history.
...and pantheons are also one of the easier things to DIY.
The only hard part is that dnd deities for the most part are irredeemably evil... cartoonishly evil. It is IMO the worst and weakest part of the dungeons and dragons pantheons.
They want to do evil, they will do evil, and it doesn't matter who you are they will do evil to you. They have no altruism, no gregarious nature, any reward they give is only so you may do another task... and they REALLY don't hide this fact.
Besides, it doesn't say anywhere that you can't have an evil cult devoted to a good god. Or a good cult devoted to an evil god
Then say that gods don't automatically obliterate anyone who tries to worship them with a different alignment.
-snip-....Simply put, if you're GMing, you can dictate otherwise. The sourcebooks are guidelines at most, and if you can't work with something there, you are allowed to alter it.
-snip-....Simply put, if you're GMing, you can dictate otherwise. The sourcebooks are guidelines at most, and if you can't work with something there, you are allowed to alter it.
My argument about cults is based on the fact that cult leadership and followers tend very strongly towards zealots. Zealots are miserable characters, they have no real independent motivation, are incapable of reason, and will do anything to further their causes. So generally a cult makes for a waste-of-time level group of badguys. I can and do create much more meaningful and effective antagonists without ever pulling the 'evil cult up to mysterious shit' card.I'm not saying evil cults are the best thing ever. I'm just positing that they can be done right, even if most people use them wrong. It's like when chefs try to reclaim ingredients or dishes that are poorly regarded. I think I read or heard about one who did something with imitation crab, using actually good imitation crab rather than the kind most people are used to and making a soup or something. The point is, sometimes it's nice to challenge yourself by making something people thing is bad into something good. Like when people make scrap sculptures.
I've got all these ideas for plot arcs and setting details and characters but I'm too ADD to properly DM a game (and don't have enough IRL friends who like D&D anyway)
...That's...that is just...I don't even know where to start, so I'm just going to say: What. The. Hell.
I've got all these ideas for plot arcs and setting details and characters but I'm too ADD to properly DM a game (and don't have enough IRL friends who like D&D anyway)
Damage seems a bit high, why not go for 3D4?Their used by Benevolent Barry's "Bashful" Bodyguard and Bankguards. It's to deter a chaotic-stupid character from doing anything too stupid.
There's nothing in any world that will do that. I'm simply saying that stupid, uh... finds a way.Damage seems a bit high, why not go for 3D4?Their used by Benevolent Barry's "Bashful" Bodyguard and Bankguards. It's to deter a chaotic-stupid character from doing anything too stupid.
The saying goes, 'Only death cures stupidity', so at my table player receive one warning that what they are doing is incredibly stupid, then the dice kill them.
Damage seems a bit high, why not go for 3D4?Their used by Benevolent Barry's "Bashful" Bodyguard and Bankguards. It's to deter a chaotic-stupid character from doing anything too stupid.
Also, I'm assuming that I'm addicted to alliterations.
Generous Jenny's General Store
Sultan Sully's Sullen Cemetary
Sam Smith's Smithy
Bearded Bard's Bar
Ambassador Anthracite
Runner Rodney Rodgers
Captain Carl Cuxi
I'm sure, but then the 'cure' happens, and people start paying attention. I've only actually had to kill three characters like this, maybe I'm lucky, but generally the threat of irrevocable punishment seems to put players in the right mindset.It's probably related to the quality of the DM and the density of the idiot -- I recall playing with one guy who would happily create character after character to do the same stupid things.
Something I've been wondering about since I came up with a stupid character idea: How do you do point-buy when the creature-type you are creating doesn't have a certain ability score?
For example, there is a Pathfinder race called a Wyrwood, which is a small-sized construct, and thus does not have a constitution score. Do you just leave the score at 10, and not raise or lower it? Does it automatically go to zero, and give you a massive amount of extra points? I highly doubt it's this second one.
Why would a construct not have a CON score?
Why would a construct not have a CON score?
Presumably because they feel no pain and have no biological processes, just like undead. Undead, if I recall correctly, used their CHA for hit points or something like that and always had a d12 for HD when they had class levels.
Quote the actual rule to that asshole and tell him that people on the internet don't like him.What's his name? Dave?
storyline wise, I would stay dead."It's such a shame X isn't with us anymore."
It reminds me of when I wanted a Chaotic Monk, but when I thought of it I obviously was thinking of something that would be drastically different (because obviously... One cannot withdraw from the inner mastery and still even remotely be a monk) rather then just say "Ohh yeah, it is just the monk except chaotic".Complete Warrior (I think) had a pugilist or brawler class which was basically an alignment-unlocked scummy monk. Since monks do punch, of course, but primarily they're supposed to be about discipline and purity.
While the Anti-Paladin is the opposite of a Paladin in everyway... but somehow still has the same powers and abilities colored black without any of the real features that actually made Paladin special.Oh, you're talking about paladins of slaughter (Chaotic Evil). Yeah they're... probably the iffiest variant, I agree. But, he doesn't protect others:
So an Anti-Paladin isn't really devout (as is the nature of chaos) but has the benefit of being devout. Doesn't believe in anyone but himself (yet has the power of protection).
Basically the way to become an Anti-Paladin is to become such a monumental ass that a Dark Deity basically hands you the Paladin's powers except against good.Personally I feel like paladins in particular should/can draw from the primal alignment forces instead of a god. Technically clerics can do so, but paladins are even more alignment-centric.
Though I also found out that my initial issue with the Anti-Paladin of "Not really being able to fit in normal society" is kept. They are not allowed to be secretly evil (as befitting the champions of evil)Yeaaaah, the codes of the evil paladin variants are pretty awkward to work around. Even worse than the default LG paladin's.
Yeaaaah, the codes of the evil paladin variants are pretty awkward to work around. Even worse than the default LG paladin's.
Nope Rolan, anti-paladins are a thing since 3.0 (and kinda before, but not really), they were initially a prestige class, then WotC decided to make them a main class (oh how I hate the class bloat.)
Nope Rolan, anti-paladins are a thing since 3.0 (and kinda before, but not really), they were initially a prestige class, then WotC decided to make them a main class (oh how I hate the class bloat.)I don't doubt the 3.0 thing, but they aren't in the openSRD except as the (slightly different) Paladin of Slaughter.
Nope Rolan, anti-paladins are a thing since 3.0 (and kinda before, but not really), they were initially a prestige class, then WotC decided to make them a main class (oh how I hate the class bloat.)I don't doubt the 3.0 thing, but they aren't in the openSRD except as the (slightly different) Paladin of Slaughter.
Unless they were republished in a 3.5 book, I'd say they were supplanted by the 3 variant paladin classes which are in the 3.5 openSRD. Which I assume are in the 3.5 Players Handbook, but I really don't know...
Of course a lot of 3.0 content can be used in 3.5 (took me forever to realize that the Book of Vile Darkness was 3.0. And maybe the BoExaltedDeeds, but maybe not?? whatever). It ought to be discouraged when there is a close 3.5 equivalent, though, to be considered an update.
Noooo no no, Blackguard is a specific thing which is ACTUALLY the opposite of a paladin. Paladin of Slaughter, or "anti-paladin" as it's called, is just a paladin with a different alignment. A blackguard is one who has forsaken alignment. Paladins who fall can get bonuses for becoming blackguards, but I think technically anyone can do it.Nope Rolan, anti-paladins are a thing since 3.0 (and kinda before, but not really), they were initially a prestige class, then WotC decided to make them a main class (oh how I hate the class bloat.)I don't doubt the 3.0 thing, but they aren't in the openSRD except as the (slightly different) Paladin of Slaughter.
Unless they were republished in a 3.5 book, I'd say they were supplanted by the 3 variant paladin classes which are in the 3.5 openSRD. Which I assume are in the 3.5 Players Handbook, but I really don't know...
Of course a lot of 3.0 content can be used in 3.5 (took me forever to realize that the Book of Vile Darkness was 3.0. And maybe the BoExaltedDeeds, but maybe not?? whatever). It ought to be discouraged when there is a close 3.5 equivalent, though, to be considered an update.
I think the Blackguard was traditionally also referred to as an anti-paladin
This may be what is meant
, like the normal paladin isn't a champion of good but more of a champion of the gods and faith.
3.5 didn't though. The variant versions, including chaotic ones, are core.
A paladin who breaks their oath should become a blackguard or other class, not a paladin of an opposing alignment. They've failed in their commitment.
Fakedit:Noooo no no, Blackguard is a specific thing which is ACTUALLY the opposite of a paladin. Paladin of Slaughter, or "anti-paladin" as it's called, is just a paladin with a different alignment. A blackguard is one who has forsaken alignment. Paladins who fall can get bonuses for becoming blackguards, but I think technically anyone can do it.Nope Rolan, anti-paladins are a thing since 3.0 (and kinda before, but not really), they were initially a prestige class, then WotC decided to make them a main class (oh how I hate the class bloat.)I don't doubt the 3.0 thing, but they aren't in the openSRD except as the (slightly different) Paladin of Slaughter.
Unless they were republished in a 3.5 book, I'd say they were supplanted by the 3 variant paladin classes which are in the 3.5 openSRD. Which I assume are in the 3.5 Players Handbook, but I really don't know...
Of course a lot of 3.0 content can be used in 3.5 (took me forever to realize that the Book of Vile Darkness was 3.0. And maybe the BoExaltedDeeds, but maybe not?? whatever). It ought to be discouraged when there is a close 3.5 equivalent, though, to be considered an update.
I think the Blackguard was traditionally also referred to as an anti-paladin
This may be what is meant
It's kinda like a druid, but you're not championing the world. You're just fed up with alignment and basically serve your self. Some of the interesting characters in our campaign were blackguards.
Ok, in the Eberron campaign setting, it's stated that the Lord of Blades considers itself male (page 190 of the original 3.5e campaign book), but doesn't that run directly counter to it's radically construct-supremacist philosophy?
The D&D 5e campaign I'm about to join includes a gay penguin and a human ex-cleric called Hardo Ferkids.
Fuck.
Why are plant creatures (at least in 3e/3.5e) immune to poison? That doesn't make sense to me? Haven't they ever heard of Agent Orange? or Roundup? are these creatures all products of Monsanto?
I would imagine most poisons aren't herbicides. Having a poison that congeals the blood won't do much if you don't have blood, etc.
The casualty of being forced to sum all poisons under one effect. Doubtless some supplement somewhere has a poison that is noted to kill plants.
psycho magic pinnochioArguably a complete Avengers rip-off too.
psycho magic pinnochioArguably a complete Avengers rip-off too.
One thing I am wondering is why outsiders are the only creature type that has full martial proficiencies right off the bat. Additionally, why are proficiencies racial traits, and not racial features, thus not requiring any racial hit-dice? Technically, as written aasimars and tieflings and such can swing a sword before they can walk.
On a similar note, I have a bit of confusion over Improved Unarmed Strike. There are classes that spend their whole life training with many different types of weapons, and yet they can't seem to be able to throw a proper punch. Unless they wear a cestus or some thick leather or metal gauntlets.
I've also looked a bit into Ranger traps. Pretty good for battlefield control, but their damage is fairly poor at best. I was hoping for a Rogue archetype that gave traps though. Three ideas with one character. But only one archetype gains traps, and it is kobold specific. Worse, you give up about half your sneak attack progression.
Oh, they can literally be disarmed.
Well, I mean... Yeah. If you punch a dude and you're wearing a big metal gauntlet it is going to do more than bare knuckles. A cestus is pretty much the same, being a similar sort of battle glove.
Both are better than bare flesh. It's why knuckledusters were ever a thing.
Oh, they can literally be disarmed.
Upon a roll of natural 20 (followed by a successful roll to confirm the critical hit), the weapon severs the opponent’s head (if it has one) from its body. Some creatures, such as many aberrations and all oozes, have no heads. Others, such as golems and undead creatures other than vampires, are not affected by the loss of their heads.
About trapfinding: since trapfinding is both the ability to detect and disable traps of DC 20+, I think it would be mire fitting to the class theme if it only got the finding half of it.
I'm not seeing what this character does in combat. How would this class contribute at level 5 vs. a Troll? At level 10 vs. a Fire Giant?
My level 9 Pathfinder Wizard got a rod of lesser maximize, and I've decided the most horrible thing I can do with it is to learn Explosive Runes. Prep 3 pieces of paper per day with it during downtime, then when we go adventuring use Summon Monster III to summon 3 small air elementals using maximized 1d3 Summon Monster II. Give them the notes and tell them to go over to the enemy and read them. Optionally order them to scream "Death to America!" while they do so.
Addendum: It's a "mundane" setting, in that the only magic is psionic. No extraordinary or supernatural abilities will function unless they're psionic.
Just curious as to what people make of the mechanics. Personally, I'm a little skeptical... Though the outcome depends on the players, and the DM is great.
Is there even a reason for the (Ex) ability tag to exist, from a rules perspective? Because things like weapon proficiency and a rogue's sneak attack and even the monk's perfect self feature don't have any tags associated with them (at least according to the SRD). Is there a point to this other than pointing out that they're cool emphasizing that they can't be dispelled and still work in antimagic fields (just like armor proficiency)? Is there anything elsewhere in the core rules or in a later supplement that actually builds on or references (Ex) abilities in any way?
Is there any particular reason he keeps walking into the Wall of Flame? Just because you can take several hitpoints worth of damage without consequence doesn't mean you should.I beg to differ. My wizard regularly stops arrows with her face during the surprise round simply because she has an ungodly amount of hit points and it saves the party worrying about spending valuable time and resources trying to find hidden enemies.
Is there any particular reason he keeps walking into the Wall of Flame? Just because you can take several hitpoints worth of damage without consequence doesn't mean you should.
Okay, but that still doesn't explain why you keep walking into it.Is there any particular reason he keeps walking into the Wall of Flame? Just because you can take several hitpoints worth of damage without consequence doesn't mean you should.
The wall itself is a fire elemental that is connected to Pyros. Unless I had failed my will save to commune with Pyros, he wont get burned.
Bought copies of Planescape: Torment and the complete Krynn trilogy on Good Old Games a couple of days ago when they were on sale.
Well, it mostly boils down to motivation, when you use diplomacy the important thing is always if someone got what they wanted from an exchange (even a simple question) or not. When you deal with it in a non-abstracted fashion (minimal dice rolling) you just need to know what the NPC the player/party is dealing with wants, and have them act accordingly.This precisely. It's just as with any other story: figure out what motivates the various characters, have them act according to those motivations and their personalities, and allow things to develop from there.
What.
Visit your local boardgame or comic store. If they don't host a group of some sort, they'll probably know someone who does.Ah thanks, there is a boardgame store near where I live, I go check the next time I am there
If you're a uni student, your school will almost certainly have a tabletop club.
yes
just...
yes
Cohort character concept:Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The barbarian gave the necklace to his girlfriend, at which point she started acting by gollum. He tried to use his 16 strength to remove it, but apparently it was unbreakable or something and that ended messily.
I made it up, haha. It was Hades. The bugs were giant bombardier beetles. He was a cool old guy who gave the group Coinpurses of Holding. Held 100,000 of each coin and weighed only a pound.
82. A garishly robed Wood Elf falls to his death from the sky.Followed by a human, a dwarf, and an orc who had Scrolls of Feather Fall, and a dragon.
I think it's implied.I'm checking, because I don't know whether it's supposed to be or not.
Then maybe that's the main plot line?
I'm checking, because I don't know whether it's supposed to be or not.
Personal Habit... or is it?ftfy
No. No its not. :PPersonal Habit... or is it?ftfy
Sounds good.
Why does that end with an ellipsis, though? It sounds like there's supposed to be an "Or do they?" in there...
Help me come up with 101 interesting random wilderness encounters!
Help me come up with 101 interesting random wilderness encounters!
Alternatively:Help me come up with 101 interesting random wilderness encounters!
93.) A boat is half buried in the dirt far from any body of water
101. The party stumbles across another party. Made up of dopplegangers of themselves. Claiming that they're the real ones.101b: Flip a coin. On a tails, the dopplegangers are telling the truth.
Alternatively:Help me come up with 101 interesting random wilderness encounters!
93.) A boat is half buried in the dirt far from any body of water
95) The party spots a ship sailing across the sky, using clouds as "waves".
That was fun guys, and really creative.If I get some more time I'll compile those and add them to the OP. Added to the OP, with credits to the participants.
Has anybody here ever tried to roleplay a legit mute character? How did/would you go about it?
I tried grunts, gestures and writing crookedly on paper for all of a half-hour, and then reverted to bullshit like 'through his awesome pantomime skills, Franz communicates this ridiculously complicated idea in minute detail', only using less cheaty methods for flavor.
E: Sir Bearington doesn't count. He's a distinguished gentleman who can speak, as we all know.
Has anybody here ever tried to roleplay a legit mute character? How did/would you go about it?
I tried grunts, gestures and writing crookedly on paper for all of a half-hour, and then reverted to bullshit like 'through his awesome pantomime skills, Franz communicates this ridiculously complicated idea in minute detail', only using less cheaty methods for flavor.
E: Sir Bearington doesn't count. He's a distinguished gentleman who can speak, as we all know.
That was fun guys, and really creative.If I get some more time I'll compile those and add them to the OP. Added to the OP, with credits to the participants.
One thing to bring up about that though: they were wildreness encounters, not adventure ideas
Read this as "refused to speak to angels and demons". And elementals I think?Has anybody here ever tried to roleplay a legit mute character? How did/would you go about it?
I tried grunts, gestures and writing crookedly on paper for all of a half-hour, and then reverted to bullshit like 'through his awesome pantomime skills, Franz communicates this ridiculously complicated idea in minute detail', only using less cheaty methods for flavor.
E: Sir Bearington doesn't count. He's a distinguished gentleman who can speak, as we all know.
A guy I played with a couple of times played a deep dwarf that refused to speak to outsiders. I think he passed notes of anything he wanted to say to the guy playing his brother (symbolising muttering in another language), who would then read them out. If there's someone who knows sign language in the party, you could do that. If there isn't, well.
Does anybody have any particular suggestions for an archer build (from level one) in Pathfinder? I'm thinking human fighter with point-blank shot, precise shot, and rapid shot, but I'm not sure.
The particular campaign also has a meta goal of exploring the combat system to as full an extent as possible, which I guess is partly why I'm posting here instead of going for a basic set up.
61)There is a rain of small bits of wood and stone and a few unidentifiable fluids.FTFW.
The Alchemists' Guild has exploded. The surrounding area. Again.
In that case sirs and ladies, help me come up with 101 interesting random city encounters!
I tried the Archer (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/fighter/archetypes/paizo---fighter-archetypes/archer) archetype for the fighter once. Going without an archetype is better, I think. Especially with the new Advanced Weapon Training (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/fighter#TOC-Advanced-Weapon-Training) abilities, if your DM allows it.
General progression is to get the almighty Precise Shot ASAP, which requires Point Blank Shot. Once you are able, grab Improved Precise Shot to ignore partial concealment and partial cover. Point Blank Master stops you from provoking attacks of opportunity in melee when you use your bow.
Also of note is Rapid Shot and Manyshot, for more arrows per turn. Cluster Shot so that all your arrows only apply against Damage Reduction once. The Snap Shot line of feats allows you to threaten squares adjacent to you. First only those directly adjacent to your square, then you threaten out to ten feet. Or fifteen, depending on whether your DM uses the nerfed version of not.
There's probably more feats I'm forgetting. Other than Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization, I can't think of any.
Some people also swear by the Zen Archer (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/monk/archetypes/paizo---monk-archetypes/zen-archer) archetype for the Monk, but you will have to balance your Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom, so it would depend on your stats.
In that case sirs and ladies, help me come up with 101 interesting random city encounters!
59. A loud concussive blast breaks all the windows in the street. The alchemist's guild has exploded. Again.69.) The wizards' guild has accidentally teleported their headquarters into the middle of the street. Again.
101 wilderness encounters from the Bay12 hivemind:Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Really, half of those could be sidequest plot hooks.Wouldn't it be wonderful if you played a game where, instead of 1d4+2 goblins for a random encounter, you were introduced to a potential sidequest plot? I know that would be far more interesting for me as a player, especially if you're already on some important quest and you have to choose between finishing it or racing off to explore this new interesting thing. I can foresee a trail of half completed quests behind me as my character gets distracted by some new curiosity.
100) A local magistrate's carriage explodes as he is walking toward it from his house.103) Two rival gangs of bards face off in the streets, dancing and snapping their fingers in unison at each other.
101) You see a carriage speeding down the street in your direction. Shrouded figures all wearing robes of the same color lean out the sides, brandishing wands of fire.
102) Two gangs of local toughs, numbering about three dozen on each side, seem to be about to initiate combat in the streets, though neither side appears to be quite up to charging the other. Their leaders keep yelling unconvincing taunts at one another.
54. You come across an abandoned flying carpet. It is completely inert.
It was a flying carpet.
The dragon proceeds to close the fissure / come out and murder everyone once it realizes it's being Enervated.
It does seem that a plan that is relying on a dragon, a power sorcerer in addition to a very physically powerful creature not finding a way in eight hours to do anything to you is a bit suspect.Maybe you can hit it while it's sleeping?
Enervation is just a standard action.Oh cool, glad they clear that up. You'd need Spellcraft (20+spell level) to identify the spell effect in 3.5e, and an easier roll for identifying the casting itself.
I don't know about D&D, but in Pathfinder, developers have stated that you know when offensive magic has been cast on you, even if you make the save. It doesn't give you any specifics beyond feeling uneasy, though.
I wish spells had an indicator for whether the target is automatically aware of being affected. Or maybe there's some general rule? Since it seems implied that Charm Person and other mind-effecting enchantments can be applied secretly.
2. After resting, I repeat the same attack sequence,
67.) A brass dragon invites the PCs into its lair to rest. It becomes passive-aggressive when they go to leave (but never becomes violent)67a) The brass dragon admits, with little prying whatsoever, that it's just lonely. The PCs are given an artifact that can whisk them to the dragon's lair any time they wish and they reluctantly promise to return sometime.
Assuming that the artifact will also return the party to whatever place they were at before, I would happily take something like that. Free eject button for when encounters go poorly!67.) A brass dragon invites the PCs into its lair to rest. It becomes passive-aggressive when they go to leave (but never becomes violent)67a) The brass dragon admits, with little prying whatsoever, that it's just lonely. The PCs are given an artifact that can whisk them to the dragon's lair any time they wish and they reluctantly promise to return sometime.
Sounds like great dinner conversation to me. Party heals up and has some food while everyone shares their stories.Assuming that the artifact will also return the party to whatever place they were at before, I would happily take something like that. Free eject button for when encounters go poorly!67.) A brass dragon invites the PCs into its lair to rest. It becomes passive-aggressive when they go to leave (but never becomes violent)67a) The brass dragon admits, with little prying whatsoever, that it's just lonely. The PCs are given an artifact that can whisk them to the dragon's lair any time they wish and they reluctantly promise to return sometime.
I'm 95% sure that fabric is infertile.To OOCQ with ye!
"Half-dragon" is an inherited template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature).
Well, at least they have to be a living corporeal creature. I can imagine the horrors of a half-dragon tree.
I don't see why not. Do you have an example?
Yeeeaaaahhh, EB, they don't exactly have to be living organisms, per se, they just have to be living, and magic can apply the living attribute to... well, things like cars. Blocks of iron, clothes, whatever.
I like how somehow the comments manage to be worse than the video...
Also 10/10 discussion on where half-dragons come from. I think the book of erotic fantasy clarified the issue... Obviously the worst part of that book.
I assume that unless the air itself is alive, then no, you can't have a half-dragon atmosphere.Air elementals are alive and don't have the incorporeal subtype.
YEAH! I just turned all the Wizard Cantrips into monsters! :PYou're joking, but it's actually a thing. MM3, "Living Spell" template. Turns spells into oozes. Technically, there's no rules specifically for Cantrips, but I don't see why they wouldn't work.
After a bit more research I've decided to revise my attack plan. I'm going to try purchasing 6-8 doses of Cockatrice Grit (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/c-d/cockatrice-grit) and having my summoned monsters toss them at the Dragon instead. With no save on 1d4 Dex damage vs. its touch AC of 8, it should be over after about 1-2 rounds of combat.
Just like poison effects, even if you make the saving throw in subsequent rounds, the damage that's already occurred still remains. Dexterity damage would stack perfectly well per the rules, so no trouble there either. The item text specifically says "each round that follows, the victim can attempt a DC 17 Fortitude save at the start of its turn" which means the initial 1d4 Dex damage has no saving throw, just requiring you to hit the touch AC with the attack roll (which will be all but impossible to miss for this thing).
Since the average loot for a CR 14 encounter is 15,000 gp, investing 12,000-16,000 gp into killing this thing without any risk will return approximately 24,000 gp of loot due to the triple standard treasure effect for dragons. Not bad for a day's work, especially since I happen to have a sack of 25,000 gp sitting back at my home base not doing anything particularly useful right now.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/c-d/cockatrice-grit
Ok I am going to do the stupid, the insane... and make another game... >_<WOOOOOO!!!
I don't see why not. Do you have an example?
an animated companion cube?
But Companion Cubes might be peeeeeooooppppllleeeee.I don't see why not. Do you have an example?
an animated companion cube?
Animated objects aren't considered alive. No constructs are. Even the warforged are only partly living.
Dead bodies are also not considered alive.Alive people.
Not when Chell got though with them.Dead bodies are also not considered alive.Alive people.
Dead bodies are also not considered alive.And yet there is a vampire bloodline.
alternatively, the family of the dragon decides to get a big revenge against you and everyone related to you.
or the dragon turns out poor and you lost money.
or the hoarde is trapped and next time you try to withdraw from your portable hole, you blow up.
before doing such exploits, be sure your GM will like them, or be prepared for consequences. Also, always remember the rule 0, that can get in the way of such brilliant schemes sometime. ( it can also help them however. In a campaign I played in, we used gaseous poison to clear a mine from kobolds, in a way that I am sure is not exactly as written in rules. sadly, the poison turned out to be permanent, requiring gas masks. but that was a nice flavor and appropriate penalty for skipping the challenge)
Globular Hoard
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Effect: One collection of objects up to one 5-ft. cube/level
Duration: 1 day/level
Saving Throw: Will negates (object)
Spell Resistance: No
This spell bonds all unattended objects that are touching one
another within the spell’s effect. The hoard is considered one
item, with a total weight equal to the combined weight of
every affected object. A globular hoard is often difficult (if
not impossible) to move, since a large collection of items can
easily weigh several hundred pounds. It is likewise difficult to
place the hoard in any container, including magical containers
such as bags of holding , as its total size is usually larger than
the container’s opening.
You can force an individual object free from the hoard
by making a DC 32 Strength check. Once an object has been
removed, it is no longer affected by this casting of the spell—
another casting is required. All objects to be affected must be
in contact with one another when the spell is cast. Thus, you
must cast this spell twice if you want to protect two piles of
objects, or if you want to add an object (such as a magic item)
to an existing globular hoard .
Dragons developed this spell to secure their hoards when
they must leave for extended periods of time. This spell can be
made permanent with a permanency spell.
Material Component: 250 gp worth of gold dust,
encased in gum arabic.
Well, easy enough to answer. Apparently vampires can breed with humanoids (and giants), but not dragons, for some bizarre reason. So really, just bang in some vampire blood, then add dragons for as many generations as it takes for the offspring to count as a dragon, and then it has a vampire (and a human) bloodline! Bing bang bosh jobs a donen.Dead bodies are also not considered alive.And yet there is a vampire bloodline.
And an elemental bloodline
It's not the same as "half" but it raises many questions.
Oh yeah, I love elementals and they're absolutely alive and pure.(http://i.imgur.com/tpw9ujW.png)
Just... good luck boning a rock or a fire or *freakin air*
The man who buggers a fire burns his penis
Hey, if the dragon's family wants some action, bring it. Same trick would work on them too. I'll carpet my home base in red dragon leather.I don't really know the circumstances of your game, but who's to say you're actually meant to fight the dragon? If there was a 100 foot tall frictionless pole in your path, would you complain that you can't climb it, or would you just go around it? I agree it's bullshit when a DM insists you must fight an impossible fight, but when you have other options, it's reasonable that some things are beyond your powers.
Ultimately the strategy is exploiting the two glaring weaknesses of dragons: low touch AC and low Dexterity. Now, typically it's not a problem since most effects that inflict Dexterity damage or drain are either poisons with a fortitude save before they work, or spells that are subject to the dragon's extremely good SR. It just so happens that this one item manages to bypass both defences completely. I'll most likely get a pass on this strategy for the current encounter for creativity, then there'll be a houserule that it's banned from future games.
Frankly, I see it as fair turnaround for the DM throwing a creature at us that's 5 CR levels higher than the party average. It's pretty much expected that we'll have to find some loophole to defeat it, since there's zero chance of us surviving a straight up fight. If the intention was for a balanced encounter that involves standard combat, we should have been given a monster that was level appropriate. It's certainly not like I haven't investigated alternative methods of completing the encounter. I initially approached the dragon diplomatically, offered it a 1,000 gp tribute, stroking its ego and doing the best I could to attempt to have a nice peaceful chat. It demanded all my character's equipment instead, then tried to fry me with dragonbreath when I declined. So now we're at the point where only one of us is walking away alive, and I intend for that to be me and my party.
As for traps at the end, if the DM wants to play sore loser and screw us over on the loot, that's not something I can control so I'm not gonna worry about it. I'll still have the rogue check the horde over for traps and give it a good old scan with Detect Magic before we loot the thing though, because you can never be too paranoid.
Howzabout desert encounters next?
I don't really know the circumstances of your game, but who's to say you're actually meant to fight the dragon? If there was a 100 foot tall frictionless pole in your path, would you complain that you can't climb it, or would you just go around it? I agree it's bullshit when a DM insists you must fight an impossible fight, but when you have other options, it's reasonable that some things are beyond your powers.Fine, I've decided to give the dragon a fighting chance and not cheese the encounter with Cockatrice Grit.
And it seems like you probably have other options, considering the fact that you seem to be able to go out and buy several doses of some obscure magic poison, so it doesn't sound like you're trapped there. (And, reasonably, you should have trouble trying to buy enough cockatrice grit in a short enough timeframe to do the job, but it sounds like your DM isn't one to limit abuse of magic marts).
And if you do try to go up against the dragon, no one here is saying you have to face it in a fair fight. But the opposition is more to you exploiting the system, rather than exploiting the current situation. Anyone can run Pun-Pun with a sufficiently lenient DM, but most people would consider any victories gained by such a character to be cheap. A good plan should be something that, even if DM doesn't allow it or it doesn't work, makes people think, "That was a pretty cool plan". The retelling of the story of how you implemented your plan should ideally require very little rules explanation for anyone who doesn't know the system.
Finally, something that bothers me a little personally is that your plans don't seem to really involve the rest of your party at all. If this is a recurring theme for you, I would discourage it, not only because most people don't like it when they have to sit back while someone else does all the cool stuff, but you lose a lot of strength when you make a plan as a member of a team and only count on your own.
Fine, I've decided to give the dragon a fighting chance and not cheese the encounter with Cockatrice Grit.
Instead, I'll just go solo toe to toe in melee with my wizard. Macho man, drop down, knock out, winner takes all.
Pre-fight: Mage Armor, Heroism, Protection from Evil, Shield, Reduce Person, Long Arm, Resist Energy: Fire, Protection from Energy: Fire, Fly, Maximized Mirror Image, Haste, Displacement, Extended Calcific Touch (cast using Dweomer's Essence (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/c-d/dweomer-s-essence))
Surprise Round: Dimension Door 10 ft. away from Dragon, surprise round action Calcific Touch attack vs. Dragon.
Round 1 onwards: Move Action Fly until 10 ft. away from Dragon, Standard Action Calcific Touch vs. Dragon, Swift Action Shift (Su) school ability 25 ft. away from Dragon.
Combat should take a maximum of 6 rounds with this strategy. I predict an opening blast of fire breath for 0 damage as it's absorbed completely by Protection from Energy, then a bite attack in round 2 with 1/8 chance of hitting due to mirror image followed by 1/2 chance due to Displacement, etc. If combat goes poorly, I'll Dimension Door away, buff back up and return. I plan to keep an extra casting of Protection from Energy and Maximized Mirror Image available. All legitimate, rules legal, no funny tricks used, straight up fight.
Sadly my party is completely incapable of dealing any significant damage to the beast, with a Rogue/Shadowdancer, Oread Monk and a Rogue/Fighter being the remaining members of the party. They'd have to roll 15 or higher to hit this thing's AC, and even then they'd die from more than two melee hits from it.
Howzabout desert encounters next?
out of curiosity, why do you need to fight that dragon?Its lair is in a mountain near our base, as well as close to several villages nearby. It's apparently just woken up from a long nap and decided to snack on the surrounding countryside.
Howzabout desert encounters next?
99.) A cake sits out in the open on a small table, looks edible enough. Dessert in the Desert.
99a.) Upon touching the cake, a pure energy golem appears. It simply says "The cake is false," and the cake reveals itself to be an illusion cast by the golem. The golem gives the party [# of party members] x 100 gold each and then leaves.
100.) A cake sits out in the open on a small table, looks edible enough.
100a.) This cake is actually real cake.
99.) A cake sits out in the open on a small table, looks edible enough. Dessert in the Desert.99a.) Upon touching the cake, a pure energy golem appears. It simply says "The cake is false," and the cake reveals itself to be an illusion cast by the golem. The golem gives the party [# of party members] x 100 gold each and then leaves.
100.) A cake sits out in the open on a small table, looks edible enough.
100a.) This cake is actually real cake.
99b / 100b) Anyone who eats a slice no longer needs to drink for a full year, their thirst quenched by how delicious and moist the cake is.
Alright, that's enough desert encounters, though people are of course free to come up with more. So for the next encounter table, I propose dungeons:
1) You meet a goblin, who offers to show you a secret passage in exchange for a bit of gold.
2) Troll stampede! (Or whatever kind of monster DM prefers.)
3) You come across a supply shop. Don't try anything funny.
4) You find an underground lake, which may or may not contain a giant squid.
5) You discover some sort of dungeon town or city, with houses made of scavenged bits and monster parts.
7a.) The party wizard can, should they have the right History knowledge, convince the orc bandit that pro wrestling is actually fake. The orc concedes he knew, and just really wanted to try out his pro wrestling moves.7b ) The Orc merely pretends to concede; in actuality his wrestling gear is enchanted so that he can effortlessly pull off the acrobatics required to perform pro-wrestling moves while inflicting real injuries on his foes.
7aa.) Should the party pro wrestle him after the knowledge check, he kicks their ass into the goddamn ground and then gives them a sick greatsword after.
A lot of these sound more like cave/underdark encounters
17.) An orc, a dragon and an elemental are all sitting in a room with a suspiciously soft flooring. They are none too happy to see the party... at first. Their advances are clear but polite.
A lot of these sound more like cave/underdark encountersI dunno how it is in official material... I always thought that Underdark creatures had a tendency to pop up in deep dungeons though. Even though they just live nearby, not inside the dungeon like orcs and oozes and things. Dunno though.
A lot of these sound more like cave/underdark encountersI dunno how it is in official material... I always thought that Underdark creatures had a tendency to pop up in deep dungeons though. Even though they just live nearby, not inside the dungeon like orcs and oozes and things. Dunno though.
Jokes are fun. Taking a good idea and running with it is fun. Combining the two is hilarious but also a massive derail, please remain on topic.Generating random encounters is off-topic?
Muh build's unviable. I thought that with each Dragon Totem Rage Power (http://archivesofnethys.com/BarbarianRagePowers.aspx) I took, I would gain 2 Damage Reduction and elemental resistance equal to double my DR. Turns out that's not what it means that each totem adds 2 DR. It means that it counts as 2 higher for the purposes of determining elemental resistances.
For a game with so much focus on the wording, the books don't seem to work that way. I learn more from the official messageboards than the actual books.
Now how am I gonna cheese my way to 30 DR? But seriously, a lot of my plans get shut down by dubious wordings.
Yeah it is fun but it is just becoming a huge derail and I am all for temporary derails, I think conversations move and evolve, but this is reaching for complete derail territory.
36) You come across a large wall-sized mirror, big enough to see your whole party in at once. Suddenly, you notice that one or more of your party member(s) is missing, but their image is still reflected by the mirror.
Jokes are fun. Taking a good idea and running with it is fun. Combining the two is hilarious but also a massive derail, please remain on topic.Generating random encounters is off-topic?
Can't comment on the adventure paths, but there are plenty of magic items in the DMG - about 75-100 pages iirc.
On the monster manuals, it's somewhat lacking on higher level monsters, but 5e is very much a low powered game I feel, and with bounded accuracy and a touch of Tucker's kobolds you can still make challenging encounters fairly easily.
Seriously 5e two thingsA. We must have different definitions of the number 2.
1) Higher level adventure paths
2) MAGIC ITEMS DANG IT!!!
3) Monster Manual 2
Just started running a D&D 5e game. All new players...except for one experienced player who decided to play a Chaotic Neutral barbarian. ::)is this bad?
So I was creating a TON of Living spells
I kind of hit a snag as I realized they actually increased in damage WAY WAY faster then they increased in HP (I might redo them and give them a update... maybe Con = 10 + Circlex2)
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Also what are you doing 5e?
You have ONE Monster Manual... you have four adventure paths soon to be 5 (Might have miscounted) and they are ALL for levels up to 10. Of those only ONE had substantial monsters of their own.
You actually have more hypothetical stat blocks for creatures you don't even fight in the adventure path (sort of) which is awesome if you got to level 20... ohh wait :P
Seriously 5e two things
1) Higher level adventure paths
2) MAGIC ITEMS DANG IT!!!
3) Monster Manual 2
Just started running a D&D 5e game. All new players...except for one experienced player who decided to play a Chaotic Neutral barbarian. ::)is this bad?
As Immaterial said they want everyone to play the adventures they tell them to and no one to make up their own stuffThat's not what I said.
Any additional material hurts this causeBecause... why? I'm legitimately interested in why you think this. I think I understand why, but I'd like to hear your reasoning.
He said it's a 5e game, so yeah.Seriously, the funniest thing I've heard today.
I'd say too much material can potentially hurt play.I'm not contesting that, and neither is WOTC. There’s a “World of Warcraft” model Wizards is using: they want to release a mammoth, not a bunch of mice, and would rather wait for a year or two for each big release. This allows time for people to experience it and give feedback on it for future releases. The lead story designer said this, and, while I used it before, it's really good, and I'm going to use it again: “We don’t sell products so that 5% of our audience can use 5% of it. We’re now trying to sell products that 100% of our audience might use and they’ll use all of it.”
Power Creeping from the countless books that used to be pushed out, and from the countless other third party publishers/homebrewers.
Homebrew can conflict with established setting canon, an such.I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here. Am I right in assuming that you're trying to say that WOTC doesn't like homebrewed games because it conflicts with the established canon? Because, frankly, the established canon of FR is stupid on so many levels.
Conflicting or redundant abilities or rules.In 5e? What? Really? What? Do you have an example?
That sounds amazing.
There's an Adventure Path where you travel through time and space to go punch Rasputin in the face during the ass-end of World War 1.
Though some people can be pretty uppity if you touch their precious lore, no matter how little sense that lore makes. Like Pathfinder, where high-fantasy can meet the Cthulhu Mythos, and aliens, robots, high-tech weaponry, steampunk stuff, etc.That sounds really awesome, actually.
There's an Adventure Path where you travel through time and space to go punch Rasputin in the face during the ass-end of World War 1.
I haven't played 5e, but I have seen examples in Pathfinder. Paizo, who owns PF, puts out at least two splatbooks a month. I've seen a few feats that are basically clones.That's one of the things that really turned me off Pathfinder; the bloat. Too many options, I found, was a bad thing. 5e has released one splatbook, AFAIK.
5e has released one splatbook, AFAIK
If pathfinder didn't have so many feats, we wouldn't have experienced the glory that is sacred geometry! (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/sacred-geometry)Holy shit it's the Final Fantasy Tactics mathematician class
If pathfinder didn't have so many feats, we wouldn't have experienced the glory that is sacred geometry! (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/sacred-geometry)
Another thing. I want to convert/run the original Keep on the Borderlands in 5th Ed. Anyone have any tips for attempting this?
This sort of thing is never a helpful response.Another thing. I want to convert/run the original Keep on the Borderlands in 5th Ed. Anyone have any tips for attempting this?
Yes, play an OSR variant instead.
Another thing. I want to convert/run the original Keep on the Borderlands in 5th Ed. Anyone have any tips for attempting this?You may find this helpful. (http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-osr-rosetta-stone.html)
This sort of thing is never a helpful response.
But were you the one talking about OSR stuff before? Is there any you'd recommend.
Any additional material hurts this causeBecause... why? I'm legitimately interested in why you think this. I think I understand why, but I'd like to hear your reasoning.
He said it's a 5e game, so yeah.Seriously, the funniest thing I've heard today.
Sounds like someone's salty.
Would you like to elaborate on that?
This sort of thing is never a helpful response.
But were you the one talking about OSR stuff before? Is there any you'd recommend.
It is the best advice, though. It's best to run an OSR campaign using OSR rules. Modern rules just don't hold the same feeling and weight to them.
What the heck is OSR?
What the heck is OSR?
What the heck is OSR?
As far as I understand, a remake of classic D&D.
I do have the option of just running KotB with 1st ed AD&D rather than converting it to 5th
What the heck is OSR?
As far as I understand, a remake of classic D&D.
I do have the option of just running KotB with 1st ed AD&D rather than converting it to 5th
I'd say too much material can potentially hurt play.I'm not contesting that, and neither is WOTC. There’s a “World of Warcraft” model Wizards is using: they want to release a mammoth, not a bunch of mice, and would rather wait for a year or two for each big release.
Power Creeping from the countless books that used to be pushed out, and from the countless other third party publishers/homebrewers.
I'm not really seeing a legitimate point here. All I'm seeing is "People are making things for a thing I don't like, and I don't like that."Because then they have a less severely limited toolset to craft their own stuff with.Any additional material hurts this causeBecause... why? I'm legitimately interested in why you think this. I think I understand why, but I'd like to hear your reasoning.
Pathfinder is the true successor to D&D 3e. Official D&D is little more than a crazy steward throwing live people onto funeral pyres.Pathfinder is like the western Roman Empire during its fall, bloated, and falling into decadence. :P The problems of power creep and complexity that 3e had are only magnified by Pathfinder's bloat.
To speak more seriously, new editions seem to be coming out more frequently and I think it's a cash grab. Plus the BS with 4e put me off of WoTC forever. 5e may very well be better than 4e, but then Castro was better than Stalin. It won't last anyway even if it is good; WoTC is a subsidiary of Hasboro and whenever Hasboro makes anything good they always do something later to ruin it.I respect where you're coming from, but it's important to remember the context of 5e in its relationship to 4e. 4e was panned. Across the board. This, we can all agree on. It was a Hasbro cash grab. Then, they realized that people weren't interested in a tactical boardgame labeled D&D. So, 5e was the apology game. They reached out to players, and said, 'hey, what do you want D&D to be like?' If 5e was a cash grab, then we would be seeing far more splat books for it. We wouldn't be seeing an SRD or the Basic Rules packets. We'd be seeing splatbooks every month or two.
It won't last anyway even if it is good; WoTC is a subsidiary of Hasboro and whenever Hasboro makes anything good they always do something later to ruin it.Hmm? Oh, yeah, I totally remember how 3.5 was a cash grab by Hasbro. I mean, have you seen how many source books there are for that game? Have you ever used half of the ones they wanted you to buy?
So now even their business model is stolen from World of Warcraft?A. It's an example. B. It works. C. I could make a joke about how Paizo stole their business model from mobile games' microtransactions, but I won't, despite the fact that I just did.
1) You meet a goblin, who offers to show you a secret passage in exchange for a bit of gold.
2) Troll stampede! (Or whatever kind of monster DM prefers.)
3) You come across a supply shop. Don't try anything funny.
4) You find an underground lake, which may or may not contain a giant squid.
5) You discover some sort of dungeon town or city, with houses made of scavenged bits and monster parts.
As for the number of magic items the biggest limitation that turns it from "a lot" to "deceptively little" is the fact that there are a thousand magic weapons for swords but none for say... A throwing dagger or Pikes beyond just "Magic weapon".
Personally, I'd say Living Spells are fine as written. I'd treat their placement more like a trap than a monster though. It's essentially a high damage effect that's pretty easy to bypass if you're prepared. Use them as support for other monsters. A wizard looking to defend himself would probably pair a Living Fireball with an Iron Golem, for example, or a Living Lightning Bolt with a Flesh Golem.
Once you reach a certain level, a wizard can commute to and from a dungeon, though. That's pretty much what the Teleport line of spells are for. So you bring the party along to deal with random encounters on the journey, find the big boss and Teleport away in retreat, rest until you're fully prepared and then Teleport back in to ruin his day. Adventuring becomes a day job, and you commute back home whenever you're finished.
Aside from DM fiat 'nope, doesn't work because of some kind of plot device,' you've got extraplanar adventures where a Plane Shift functions pretty much the same, or locations that are subject to spells such as 7th level Teleport Trap or 8th level Dimensional Lock. Of course, both of these effects are subject to good old level 3 Dispel Magic. Any Wizard worth his spellbook should have detected the presence of those spells and countered them long before they're a problem.
because it makes winning easier.
Then you're just handwaving away the issue? Disappointing. At the end of the day, Rule 0 gets used because the DM can't handle players using core game rules as written. Why not simply ban the teleportation school of magic too? Or say that nobody's allowed to play a spellcaster? Doesn't sound like much fun to me, but every table's different. At our table, we're all 100% for playing the game within the written rules. The DM rolls his dice in the open, and if that means your character eats a critical when they're on low hp, you'd better have prepared your backup PC. By the same token, if there's a class feature that's part of your character's build, it's considered bad form to say you're banning it simply because it makes winning easier.
It probably depends on the group. Personally, I like the story side of the game much more than the rules crunching.
But if Jimmy likes playing rules as written 100% and exploiting them all the way.... it is a viable way to play the game, as long as everyone in the group agrees on it. Although I imagine it is not the most common school of thought considering comments here.
It is because it can get really cheap and very anticlimactic. Kind of destroying the story aspect immediately.
"And then the heroes were presented with a horror beyond any they have ever experienced before, a entity that is beyond good and beyond evil a cosmic horror that melts the very fabric of space and time... and he was just kind of destroyed between meals by the wizard. Ok everyone go back to sleep Captain Cheapo Wizard destroyed another adventure"
Is the worst case scenario :P
Now THAT is a very good idea Nullbolt
Spellcasters get crazy. People who know nothing about how to use spellcasters, or are really good at them, are unpredictably crazy.
I think I mentioned this before, but there was a campaign I did not take part of where the party rarely got any loot because the sorcerer's response to everything was "blow it up".
Yes, even locked chests.
Because full spellcasters don't really need gear and destroying things was fun, I guess.
There's a guide to Pathfinder Wizards that have a recurring tongue-in-cheek theme of 'spellcasters are gods, and any non-spellcasting class is just there for your manipulation', but more than a few people actually take it seriously.
Either that or disappearing for six hours let's them organise in a way you just aren't expecting.
Does anyone know any systems (other than RuneQuest) which would support Elder Scrolls-style mixing and matching of classes? So having like a spellsword is actually viable and doesn't require you to pick that class from the start? Also, preferably everyone knows at least a little bit of magic along the way.
Does anyone know any systems (other than RuneQuest) which would support Elder Scrolls-style mixing and matching of classes? So having like a spellsword is actually viable and doesn't require you to pick that class from the start? Also, preferably everyone knows at least a little bit of magic along the way.
If you use pathfinder, this site (http://davidvs.net/hobbies/pathfinder-beyond.shtml) has classes-as-feats and a bunch of other really cool things.
Such as a simplified (and useful!) grapple flow, poison crafting, and optimised teamwork-and-pet shenanigans.
I think if you're looking to play a game where eldritch abominations beyond mortal comprehension are fearsome and awe inspiring, you're using the wrong system with D&D or Pathfinder.
That's why there's a hundred different ways to deal damage but just a single Diplomacy skill.
And their example is wrong.If pathfinder didn't have so many feats, we wouldn't have experienced the glory that is sacred geometry! (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/sacred-geometry)Holy shit it's the Final Fantasy Tactics mathematician class
as a FEAT
And maybe slightly less OP, though who knows
Just started running a D&D 5e game. All new players...except for one experienced player who decided to play a Chaotic Neutral barbarian. ::)That guy/gal sounds like a legend.
Hmm. I kinda want to play/run a campaign with that system in place, but it looks like it's incomplete. If someone wanted to take all the core classes and get all their abilities and archetypes statted out as feats this way, it would be awesome; organized so that basic [class] training feats were at the front, and then further feats are organized into blocks in the same order as the basic class feats.Does anyone know any systems (other than RuneQuest) which would support Elder Scrolls-style mixing and matching of classes? So having like a spellsword is actually viable and doesn't require you to pick that class from the start? Also, preferably everyone knows at least a little bit of magic along the way.
If you use pathfinder, this site (http://davidvs.net/hobbies/pathfinder-beyond.shtml) has classes-as-feats and a bunch of other really cool things.
Such as a simplified (and useful!) grapple flow, poison crafting, and optimised teamwork-and-pet shenanigans.
That's actually almost a good way of playing Pathfinder, thanks.
Does anyone know any systems (other than RuneQuest) which would support Elder Scrolls-style mixing and matching of classes? So having like a spellsword is actually viable and doesn't require you to pick that class from the start? Also, preferably everyone knows at least a little bit of magic along the way.I don't know how well it fits your criteria, but Talislanta (http://talislanta.com/?page_id=5) in all editions allows players to learn new skills by spending xp, and pretty much everyone --except races that are barred from it-- can learn learn magic in the same way. And the Paths in 5th edition Talislanta are pretty analogous to RuneQuest Professions, in that they mostly just provide skills at the start of the game (and a few other things). The only thing is, there's some limits on the paths you can take depending on your race.
To be fair, the diplomacy skill specifically is pretty absurd (3.5e, I think PF improved it somewhat).Not really. A while back, I made a fifth level character with a +24 to diplomacy. (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=219166)
Chaotic Neutral barbarian is kinda obvious and can be problematic :/
I mean in good hands it could be good, but it's also a recipe for "Player bored, character punches people".
Sorry, I meant to point out that it's absurdly powerful RAW (though I'd rather call it "broken" or "unfinished")To be fair, the diplomacy skill specifically is pretty absurd (3.5e, I think PF improved it somewhat).Not really. A while back, I made a fifth level character with a +24 to diplomacy. (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=219166)
I think a lot of DMs fail to realize that the rules aren't just there to penalize the players. The DM has the most control out of the entire group, picking what challenges the PCs face, how NPCs respond to their actions, and setting the entire tone for the game world. By contrast, the players have only one thing they control: their character. Using the rules to give their character an advantage is pretty clearly a good thing in my books.
Plus, I'll take winning a difficult encounter through clever use of the rules over losing the encounter and causing the death of the entire party any day. I'd much rather preserve the story progress and interpersonal history between the characters than throw it away because some might call my strategy exploitive.
I think if you're looking to play a game where eldritch abominations beyond mortal comprehension are fearsome and awe inspiring, you're using the wrong system with D&D or Pathfinder. You'd be much better off with something like Call of Cthulhu, where you're expected to solve the encounters through strategy and stealth, and combat is typically fatal. In D&D, the typical character and the typical CR appropriate monster are built with the expectation that you're going to kill it and take its stuff. That's why there's a hundred different ways to deal damage but just a single Diplomacy skill.
Plus frankly, I can't see my character getting a reputation as a dragonslayer to be anything but good for business. Let word get around that our adventuring company can deal with the biggest baddest nasties on the block, and hopefully we'll start getting some good adventure hooks out of the deal. Not to mention, it'll likely do wonders for my Leadership score.
Hmm. I kinda want to play/run a campaign with that system in place, but it looks like it's incomplete. If someone wanted to take all the core classes and get all their abilities and archetypes statted out as feats this way, it would be awesome; organized so that basic [class] training feats were at the front, and then further feats are organized into blocks in the same order as the basic class feats.You definitely should. If you manage, I'll probably run a campaign using it.
I might get started on this on the weekend, if I find the time. My unfamiliarity with pathfinder not-withstanding; I can supplement the gaps with my 3.5 knowledge.
I don't know how well it fits your criteria, but Talislanta (http://talislanta.com/?page_id=5) in all editions allows players to learn new skills by spending xp, and pretty much everyone --except races that are barred from it-- can learn learn magic in the same way. And the Paths in 5th edition Talislanta are pretty analogous to RuneQuest Professions, in that they mostly just provide skills at the start of the game (and a few other things). The only thing is, there's some limits on the paths you can take depending on your race.
I can't comprehend how the BBEG having a reinforced anti-teleport zone around his Fortress of Doom and Razorblades is somehow "unfair" if you want to use teleport to jump back to his throne room, beat him up, 'port out, rinse, repeat.
I can't comprehend how the BBEG having a reinforced anti-teleport zone around his Fortress of Doom and Razorblades is somehow "unfair" if you want to use teleport to jump back to his throne room, beat him up, 'port out, rinse, repeat.
Because your limiting the Player's options.
I can't comprehend how the BBEG having a reinforced anti-teleport zone around his Fortress of Doom and Razorblades is somehow "unfair" if you want to use teleport to jump back to his throne room, beat him up, 'port out, rinse, repeat.
Because your limiting the Player's options.
You're limiti the players options to not let them build a nuclear warhead too, or when you tell them that they should stop being Dockyard Mafia and go stop BBEG before he blows a continent off the planet, or when the noble they beat up sends assassination squads after them, or when they want to go wenching and you point-blank refuse.
In fact, the DM really has two roles.
First, to structure the game world to provide something for the players to do
Second, to limit what the players can do in order to make the game more fun for the players.
I can't comprehend how the BBEG having a reinforced anti-teleport zone around his Fortress of Doom and Razorblades is somehow "unfair" if you want to use teleport to jump back to his throne room, beat him up, 'port out, rinse, repeat.
Because your limiting the Player's options.
You're limiti the players options to not let them build a nuclear warhead too1, or when you tell them that they should stop being Dockyard Mafia and go stop BBEG before he blows a continent off the planet2, or when the noble they beat up sends assassination squads after them3, or when they want to go wenching and you point-blank refuse4.
In fact, the DM really has two roles.
First, to structure the game world to provide something for the players to do
Second, to limit what the players can do in order to make the game more fun for the players.
I can't comprehend how the BBEG having a reinforced anti-teleport zone around his Fortress of Doom and Razorblades is somehow "unfair" if you want to use teleport to jump back to his throne room, beat him up, 'port out, rinse, repeat.
Because your limiting the Player's options.
You're limiti the players options to not let them build a nuclear warhead too1, or when you tell them that they should stop being Dockyard Mafia and go stop BBEG before he blows a continent off the planet2, or when the noble they beat up sends assassination squads after them3, or when they want to go wenching and you point-blank refuse4.
In fact, the DM really has two roles.
First, to structure the game world to provide something for the players to do
Second, to limit what the players can do in order to make the game more fun for the players.
1. False equivalence. D&D has clearly delineated rules for teleportation &c., and scry-and-fry is a classic tactic for half-decent wizards. That's nothing at all like the party in the fantasy adventure managing to assemble a functioning nuclear warhead with medieval or Renaissance-era tech. If the BBEG is a high-level spellcaster? Sure. But if it ain't, why the fuck does he have defenses appropriate for one other than "bluh blah I'm too lazy to deal with consequences of my own planning".
2. Not the same thing. That's you railroading the players into something they don't want to do rather than telling them flat-out that some of their skills are worthless because you said so.
3. That's a natural consequence of player actions. Likewise, not the same thing.
4. Also not at all the same thing. Unless it was genuine and non-creepy, but we all know how likely that is. Stopping magical-realm bullshit is well within any DM's reasonable purview.
The last bit I agree with. Except that you seem to be laboring under the misconception that what you/DM wants is what the players should want as well, and if they don't agree you should force them, even when there's no reason beyond "oh, that would make work for me because I planned out the entire adventure ahead of time without allowing for any deviation from the prescribed path through the narrative".
Actually, are there any spells in D&D that would let you safely store a horde in a hoard? Seems like exactly the sort of thing a high-level evil wizard would keep around as a backup plan.
Bag of Holding?
Not if your horde is undead.
I can't comprehend how the BBEG having a reinforced anti-teleport zone around his Fortress of Doom and Razorblades is somehow "unfair" if you want to use teleport to jump back to his throne room, beat him up, 'port out, rinse, repeat.
Because your limiting the Player's options.
Say, for example, you've got a nomadic barbarian warlord leading an army of tens of thousands on an invasion through known lands. Why would they have thick magical protections on wherever they happened to be encamped beyond "because DM says they do"?
Yeah, and that's a plausible interpretation. But it doesn't mean that every barbarian warlord ever had a pet wizard. A certain level of metaplay is inevitable, but treating a D&D world like a video game where everything has a full set of counters for every equivalent-tier threat is pretty stupid.
Honestly, if you're going to hamfistedly bar your players from certain tactics, at least have the decency to tell them so at character creation so that nobody ends up with a character who can't do shit because they're oriented around a particular role which you've decided after the fact/behind the scenes that you don't want to allow. It's like letting someone make a sneak attack oriented Rogue and then two sessions in reveal that the BBEG and all of their minions are undead or some shit.
Okay, what's the most optimized bullshit character you've ever designed?In that same game, I made a Truenamer with a +110 to Truespeak, and... (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=483325)
Then try to justify how the character got to that point in the context of the campaign and why it wasn't a horrible abuse of your position as a player.Oh.
Way to distort the point. I was talking about how it's not reasonable to set things up so that the party is always forced to do what the DM wants. If the BBEG's living in a big ol' tower I suppose it's also okay for the DM to say, "sorry, it's made of pure adamantite and permanently levitating" when the party tries to undermine it and set up an explosive charge to trigger a collapse?Yeah, and that's a plausible interpretation. But it doesn't mean that every barbarian warlord ever had a pet wizard. A certain level of metaplay is inevitable, but treating a D&D world like a video game where everything has a full set of counters for every equivalent-tier threat is pretty stupid.
Honestly, if you're going to hamfistedly bar your players from certain tactics, at least have the decency to tell them so at character creation so that nobody ends up with a character who can't do shit because they're oriented around a particular role which you've decided after the fact/behind the scenes that you don't want to allow. It's like letting someone make a sneak attack oriented Rogue and then two sessions in reveal that the BBEG and all of their minions are undead or some shit.
"Level 20 BBEG trying to end the world cannot be scried and died in his evil fortress of doom and electric chairs" -> "Level 10 BBEG nomad barbarian has court wizard -> "2 sessions in invalidating a character build"
That was some impressive polymorph, in only two posts. Impressive.
Oh, I remember that guy. :POkay, what's the most optimized bullshit character you've ever designed?In that same game, I made a Truenamer with a +110 to Truespeak, and... (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=483325)Then try to justify how the character got to that point in the context of the campaign and why it wasn't a horrible abuse of your position as a player.Oh.
Oops.
:P
That's sort of what I was saying earlier--some BBEGs can be expected to have defenses like that, but it's illogical for them all to unless you're treating it explicitly as a game that you need to balance such that the players can only do what you want them to rather than a living world. Say, for example, you've got a nomadic barbarian warlord leading an army of tens of thousands on an invasion through known lands. Why would they have thick magical protections on wherever they happened to be encamped beyond "because DM says they do"?Why would they not?!
Yeah, and that's a plausible interpretation. But it doesn't mean that every barbarian warlord ever had a pet wizard. A certain level of metaplay is inevitable, but treating a D&D world like a video game where everything has a full set of counters for every equivalent-tier threat is pretty stupid.
Honestly, if you're going to hamfistedly bar your players from certain tactics, at least have the decency to tell them so at character creation so that nobody ends up with a character who can't do shit because they're oriented around a particular role which you've decided after the fact/behind the scenes that you don't want to allow. It's like letting someone make a sneak attack oriented Rogue and then two sessions in reveal that the BBEG and all of their minions are undead or some shit.
I'm amused watching those who get upset over one encounter, thinking I'm doing it wrong. Play how you want to play. I had a great time tonight, and it was a nifty challenge to overcome. Now that it's out of the way for now, of course, I can continue to provide Haste and tactical support to the party instead of going toe to toe with the big boss. I'd much prefer a good dungeon crawl where you fight enemies in a 10 ft. by 10 ft. corridor, have the rogue scouting for traps, and kick open the door to see what horrible creature's on the other side.You had a great time, but did the rest of the party?
Okay, what's the most optimized bullshit character you've ever designed which:Vitalist thrallherd who was essentially a lucky anime harem character. So all his thralls were girls between the ages of 16-30 and his main thrall was a tsundere barbarian. He didn't know he was a psionic mind-rapist and all his powers were based around "Nakama" and "Ganbaru!".
1. Was intended for an actual game.
2. Didn't get DM-veto'd.
3. Had a backstory/character identity that couldn't be summarized in one line.
You need to accept the fact people might enjoy playing games in different ways than you, and that's no big deal, and stop making assumptions about how people you've never met or interacted with feels about those kind of games.
nullBolt, please be calm, this thread is for discussion of player and DM experience. Every table is different, and some groups really, really, like powergaming to the nth degree. While I personally don't approve of that, I do expect their perspective to be respected in this thread.
Honestly you seem to be doing the most misunderstanding. He's not said, or even implied, that his group has an issue with his playstyle, you (and others) keep seem to automatically assume it and then start berating him for no reason.
Please. ::). It's not "avoiding the question" if the dude didn't happen to respond to you. And even then, frankly your posts to Jimmy are some of the most arrogant and insulting things I've ever actually seen on bay12. I'm surprised he's respond to you the amount he has.
He's answered nothing else. He's literally not posted on the forum since before you asked the question of him. Your standards are ridiculous.
He's not even logged on since you asked.
You had a great time, but did the rest of the party?
You had a great time, but did the rest of the party?
As far as I can tell this is the first time you've actually made any effort to understand his groups expectations instead of just arrogantly assuming they are the same as your own and implying he should quit D&D for not playing to your standards.
Sadly my party is completely incapable of dealing any significant damage to the beast, with a Rogue/Shadowdancer, Oread Monk and a Rogue/Fighter being the remaining members of the party. They'd have to roll 15 or higher to hit this thing's AC, and even then they'd die from more than two melee hits from it.
Doesn't size dictate damage? Like slam and bite attacks are 1d6 for medium creatures and Claws and tailslaps are 1d4's? There's a table for scaling size somewhere
So as you all know I've been making monsters for 5th for fun (and to use later)
One thing I haven't been able to get a handle on how much damage anything should do...
Well I found a bit of it. 2d10 is the damage one receives from being struck by lightning... Which is oddly... less then the Lightning Bolt spell O_oThere's a joke about how it's balanced because of how far away the gods are shooting it from, and something something Firebolt is OP, Wizards are broken, etc. :P
Why are all of those AC values negative? :P
Why are all of those AC values negative? :P
Yeah. That's like some kooky edition hybrid notation
Are they by any chance also extremely formulaic?
I guess what I mean is
If I want my Spider to be a better wizard in game... It should wear a Monocle for every level of Wizard it has.
I guess what I mean is
If I want my Spider to be a better wizard in game... It should wear a Monocle for every level of Wizard it has.
Is that show still running? I can't even remember what it was called.
I meant 'are the monsters themselves formulaic?'.There are formulas for things like DCs, but they're never called out, IIRC. You are free to disregard them.
That was starting to become an issue even in 3e. With many stats being determined, via a one-size-fits-all formula, from other stats of questionable relevance, so that - for example - any two creatures with the same hd and constitution score will have the same exact save dc for any breath weapon they may have (despite any differences they may have and even of one has a dex score of 1 and can barely aim it's weapon), and giants receive skill points from hit dice meant to represent sheer immensity.
The GM just needs to stop having enemies behind the door.
It's an adventure path. Not the DM's fault that every door is shut. We're retaking an entire citadel by ourselves, and apparently no-one is supposed to care that we aren't subtle.
More than a few APs are like that, unfortunately. Despite being in areas completely filled to the brim with hostiles, some APs even note that leaving to rest and heal has no effect on the enemy's placement or tactics.
(The Epic Level Handbook mentioned something about powerful magic organizations issuing transferrable IOUs for spellcasting in lieu of cash, but why wouldn't they simply use scrolls)A lot of reasons. A scroll can't be broken down into fractional parts. A scroll has one use, and can't be redeemed for more than one spell. Scrolls cost gold, time and XP to make.
Oldest trick in the book: Cast the Mount spell, sell the horse, book it out of town before the spell duration expires.
Diamond dust is intrinsically the same. Per RAW, diamond dust, as a gem, is a trade good and can be sold for full value. Other options include 100 gp pearls suitable for the material component of the Identify spell, and given it's used to identify every magical item in 3.5e, must be fairly widespread.
One thing always bothered me: How do shopkeepers identify whatever magical crap you're pawning? Unless they've got spellcaster ranks and are burning the cost of the identification out of their own pocket, it seems a little strange.
Idk... Healing is one thing that might actually make sense for it to be free. At least in 3.5 clerics of good alignment can spontaneously swap out their spells for healing anyway, catch them at the end of the day and they might as well heal you, at that point it's use it or loose it. Although certainly in big cities or w/e there's probably more wounded people then clerics to heal them, but certainly some of the time, and especially from good aligned clerics, I could certainly see that being given away for free.
Not in 3.5e it's not.Oldest trick in the book: Cast the Mount spell, sell the horse, book it out of town before the spell duration expires.
False. It's actually stated that the "horse" is spectral in form, and thus easily recognizable as not actually a horse.
Coins can be broken down into fractionals, or even just melted down for the gold.
Why's it out of control? Magic items are like, super expensive in D&D. Even the cheap ones typically cost an order of magnitude more then the pearl.
8.) Oil of Bigger Spear: When applied liberally to the shaft of a weapon, causes the weapon to grow one size category for the duration of one encounter.
9. Meleegra™ pills. These tiny blue pills are supposed to enlarge your weapon and make you be able to attack for hours on end without tiring. You're not sure how a pill could affect your weapon, but they seem to work. +1 damage for four hours.Heh, is that the one from Kingdom of Loathing?
Yeah, I couldn't help but steal it. It was too great.9. Meleegra™ pills. These tiny blue pills are supposed to enlarge your weapon and make you be able to attack for hours on end without tiring. You're not sure how a pill could affect your weapon, but they seem to work. +1 damage for four hours.Heh, is that the one from Kingdom of Loathing?
1d4-1 can equal 0..Yup.
1d4-1 can equal 0..Yup.
1d4-1 can equal 0..Yup.
IIRC usually that ususally has to be specified actually. Otherwise everything is rounded up to 1
I'm just walking into this thread right now to ask if anyone has any upcoming pathfinder games I could join.Where are you at? I don't have any upcoming games but I know yhere's at ;east one other person in my area whose looking for a game, so if you turned out to be in the same area as me and him we'd only need one or two more people to have enough.
I'm feeling somewhat deprived right now, having not played it for a good long period.
If you're open to 5e, Neonivek is running a game with one slot left.Hrrg, I want to join, but between new job and ongoing grad school I just know I'd neglect it, so I won't. :x
It isn't PBP, if that changes anything, but good luck with the new job!If you're open to 5e, Neonivek is running a game with one slot left.Hrrg, I want to join, but between new job and ongoing grad school I just know I'd neglect it, so I won't. :x
Hrrg, I can't find the copy of the 5e PHB...Here's the SRD in its full, if that helps. (http://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/SRD-OGL_V1.1.pdf)
This (http://www.5esrd.com) site is pretty helpful, but some of the other things you'll need to go to other places for. so basically google "d&d 5e [whatever you need]" like i've been doingwhat the actual fuck is this shit (http://www.5esrd.com/races/3rd-party-publisher-races/silver-games-llc---races/pony)
Hrrg, I can't find the copy of the 5e PHB...media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/playerdndbasicrules_v0.2.pdf
This (http://www.5esrd.com) site is pretty helpful, but some of the other things you'll need to go to other places for. so basically google "d&d 5e [whatever you need]" like i've been doingI can't believe how many races there are for pony characters on that site. There's more ponies than non-ponies O_o
what the actual fuck is this shit
I can't believe how OP the Unicorns are. Advantage on a Skill, replacing Str with Int and a threatened area of 30 feet?This (http://www.5esrd.com) site is pretty helpful, but some of the other things you'll need to go to other places for. so basically google "d&d 5e [whatever you need]" like i've been doingI can't believe how many races there are for pony characters on that site. There's more ponies than non-ponies O_o
I found their website. They're selling a pony-campaign setting for $40.what the actual fuck is this shitA Third-Party-Publisher race. If it helps, there is a rework (http://paizo.com/products/btpy979q?Ponyfinder-Campaign-Setting) of the Pathfinder system that runs along a similar theme. Probably because it is the same publisher.
I can't believe how OP the Unicorns are. Advantage on a Skill, replacing Str with Int and a threatened area of 30 feet?This (http://www.5esrd.com) site is pretty helpful, but some of the other things you'll need to go to other places for. so basically google "d&d 5e [whatever you need]" like i've been doingI can't believe how many races there are for pony characters on that site. There's more ponies than non-ponies O_o
But that said, that Gearforged race has some awesome flavor. Different publisher, though.
Oh, and the 30' isn't just your threatened area . That's also the range for your free unlimited telekinesis. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLFrom what I see, there's no reason you can't make a Attack of Opportunity from that range. Sure, the distinction between "Reach and the Telekinesis is there, but it could be made to work.
OhArmokandtheEmperorPURGETHISHERESY.
OhArmokandtheEmperorPURGETHISHERESY.
Is said friend in the UK to start off with? If not, then it's no bueno.I'm just walking into this thread right now to ask if anyone has any upcoming pathfinder games I could join.Where are you at? I don't have any upcoming games but I know yhere's at ;east one other person in my area whose looking for a game, so if you turned out to be in the same area as me and him we'd only need one or two more people to have enough.
I'm feeling somewhat deprived right now, having not played it for a good long period.
Oh I am saving this.OhArmokandtheEmperorPURGETHISHERESY.(http://i.imgur.com/B6I9a88.gif)
I think the point is that you don't need to try to hit something important when smashing a halfling with a mace the size of a car.If you're spreading the blow across most of their body, you shouldn't get a "precision" bonus. Rather the opposite.
Which basically means you can have a PHD in smashing people piecemeal with the sides of a sword, but still not realize you can stab things with it?
Larger creatures are naturally stronger, thus they tend to hit harder in general. A critical is a strike in a specifically vulnerable place.
I've always thought it was super weird that you need a special feat to use dexterity on light weapon attack rolls. Like not only is everyone clubbing each other with their swords (purely using STR and feats to determine damage, dexterity not a factor) but being dextrous doesn't even make them more accurate. Being *strong* makes you more accurate. Even with a pair of daggers, or a rapier, unless you take a special feat.
I do kinda get it for non-light weapons, since redirecting a heavy sword swing isn't like picking a lock. And maybe... Oh, okay, 5th edition did fix this pretty much.
(Though you can still brute-force a finesse weapon, which is amusing. Basically punching people while holding something sharp)
I do kinda get it for non-light weapons, since redirecting a heavy sword swing isn't like picking a lock. And maybe... Oh, okay, 5th edition did fix this pretty much.
(Though you can still brute-force a finesse weapon, which is amusing. Basically punching people while holding something sharp)
To speak more seriously, new editions seem to be coming out more frequently and I think it's a cash grab. Plus the BS with 4e put me off of WoTC forever. 5e may very well be better than 4e, but then Castro was better than Stalin. It won't last anyway even if it is good; WoTC is a subsidiary of Hasboro and whenever Hasboro makes anything good they always do something later to ruin it.I respect where you're coming from, but it's important to remember the context of 5e in its relationship to 4e. 4e was panned. Across the board. This, we can all agree on. It was a Hasbro cash grab. Then, they realized that people weren't interested in a tactical boardgame labeled D&D. So, 5e was the apology game. They reached out to players, and said, 'hey, what do you want D&D to be like?'
22.) Gripping Gloves: These gloves provide a +1 resistance bonus to avoid being disarmed (faint transmutation; CL 3; Craft Wondrous Item, stick or resinous tar or mage hand; Price <100 gp)Locked gauntlets cost 8gp and provide +10 to being disarmed.
23.) Semi-Wand: A wand that duplicates one, and only one, of the effects of the prestidigitation spell one time per charge. One such wand could clean items in a 1 foot cube with each charge, and another could flavor one pound of food per charge, and yet another one could conjure one cheap flimsy replica (that disappears after an hour) per charge, and still another could create little puffs of wind once per charge, and another could conjure faint low-quality sound; etc. None could do more than one of these things however. (faint aura varies by effect; CL 3; Craft Wand or Craft Rod Or Craft Wondrous Item, prestidigitation; Price ~19sp-37 gp [each can produce only about one tenth of the possible effects of prestidigitation, and can only invoke it a tiny fraction of the number of times])
Wouldn't be the first time a pair of items with misaligned costs and benefits became a noob trap. Yeah, Glove of Storing and Glove of the Master Strategist, I'm looking at you.
Which is odd because there are already gloves that are entirely mundane that make it nearly impossible to get disarmed. (And a TERRIBLE magic version that costs a ton for something that the game already does.)Yeah, that's already been pointed out - the locked gauntlets that provide a +10 vs disarming.
TBF the magic glove doesn't chain your hand together, so you could drop whatever's in your hand for something else when you needed.
But what if your character is a hook-handed pirate who needs a wank right now? :P
(And a TERRIBLE magic version that costs a ton for something that the game already does.)
Actually, it makes you wonder. If the locked gauntlet is so cheap and easy to make, why does anyone at all in most D&D settings have sub-par replacement hands/arms? Seems like they could make pretty good prostheses purely with smithcraft and mechanics, never mind magical stuff.Well, a gauntlet still needs a hand in it.
22.) Gripping Gloves: These gloves provide a +1 resistance bonus to avoid being disarmed (faint transmutation; CL 3; Craft Wondrous Item, stick or resinous tar or mage hand; Price <100 gp)
I'd just say they add +1 to climb checks, rather than making it a 50% chance. That seems a little odd. It's not a huge bonus by any means.22.) Gripping Gloves: These gloves provide a +1 resistance bonus to avoid being disarmed (faint transmutation; CL 3; Craft Wondrous Item, stick or resinous tar or mage hand; Price <100 gp)
Ok, revised version
22.) Gripping Gloves: These gloves provide a +1 resistance bonus to avoid being disarmed and to any fortitude or reflex save to avoid dropping an item and have a 50% chance to add +1 to any climb check involving the user's hands (faint transmutation; CL 3; Craft Wondrous Item, stick or resinous tar or mage hand or spider climb; Price = cost of substrate gauntlet + 8 gp )
For the price it's not bad. Standard masterwork item gives +2 bonus for 50 gold, so, +.5 for eight gold is pretty good on top of the minor disarm thing, also it's apparently an untyped bonus, so, double bonus.
So I was creating a TON of Living spells
I kind of hit a snag as I realized they actually increased in damage WAY WAY faster then they increased in HP (I might redo them and give them a update... maybe Con = 10 + Circlex2)
---
Also what are you doing 5e?
You have ONE Monster Manual... you have four adventure paths soon to be 5 (Might have miscounted) and they are ALL for levels up to 10. Of those only ONE had substantial monsters of their own.
You actually have more hypothetical stat blocks for creatures you don't even fight in the adventure path (sort of) which is awesome if you got to level 20... ohh wait :P
Seriously 5e two things
1) Higher level adventure paths
2) MAGIC ITEMS DANG IT!!!
3) Monster Manual 2
As Immaterial said they want everyone to play the adventures they tell them to and no one to make up their own stuff
Any additional material hurts this causeJust started running a D&D 5e game. All new players...except for one experienced player who decided to play a Chaotic Neutral barbarian. ::)is this bad?
He said it's a 5e game, so yeah.
Well, assuming he has the Paladin Selective Perception Field (mandatory for any paladin working with typical adventurers) turned up high enough to filter out the barbarian's transgressions, what little filters through might seem like high comedy.
or a paladin of not knowing a bad character
Ok, here's something I've been thinkong about. I think that it would make sense for populations of the longer-lived races to be heavily skewed toward the more highly trained NPC classes - ie. Adept, Expert, and Magewright - and to have very few commoners. They have, after all, more time to learn trades than many humans live, if after all that time they're just turning out commoners that just makes them seem stupid.
I like to imagine that longer lived races have a subjectively longer maturation cycle. Elves, being the classic example, would still be considered children even if they're 30 years old. Adventurers of these races, who typically gain levels far faster than NPCs, would likely be doing so as a result of rubbing shoulders with other races that develop and mature so much faster.
Sure about that? Elves have a listed age for adulthood at 110 years, whereas half-elves are a mere 20 years, at least according to the 3.5e SRD. As for in character maturity, that essentially depends on the player. You might have a character sheet that lists intelligence in the high thirties, but if the player doesn't roleplay that, it's pretty meaningless.
Sure about that? Elves have a listed age for adulthood at 110 years, whereas half-elves are a mere 20 years, at least according to the 3.5e SRD. As for in character maturity, that essentially depends on the player. You might have a character sheet that lists intelligence in the high thirties, but if the player doesn't roleplay that, it's pretty meaningless.
Ok, here's something I've been thinkong about. I think that it would make sense for populations of the longer-lived races to be heavily skewed toward the more highly trained NPC classes - ie. Adept, Expert, and Magewright - and to have very few commoners. They have, after all, more time to learn trades than many humans live, if after all that time they're just turning out commoners that just makes them seem stupid.
Now I just want to play an elf that spent the last century living in his mom's basement and finally got kicked out.My first real character was a level 1 druid elf who was 300-ish years old, IE in the third age category (elves start rolling to die at 350, venerable).
As for elves, don't the background materials go into the idea that elves have a natural curiosity and wanderlust to them? It might be less that they're lacking in ambition and more that they don't tend to focus on things enough to get really good at something quickly.
Ok, here's something I've been thinkong about. I think that it would make sense for populations of the longer-lived races to be heavily skewed toward the more highly trained NPC classes - ie. Adept, Expert, and Magewright - and to have very few commoners. They have, after all, more time to learn trades than many humans live, if after all that time they're just turning out commoners that just makes them seem stupid.
Not really.
D&D lumps basically everything real people do for a living into 'commoner'. You could be the world's best plumber, potter or civil engineer, with people traveling from far-off countries to consult you. But the DM is going to class you as 'commoner' because your profession isn't useful to adventurers and you aren't a story-important NPC that needs to survive dealing with PCs.
I would think that longer-lived races would spend time perfecting their profession and hobbies - which may or may not include a 'class' as D&D recognizes them.
Whelp just two more days until the deadline for the sheet hand in and I am nervous.URGH FINE ILL FINISH IT TONIGHT
AAAAAA ESSAYS AAAAAWhelp just two more days until the deadline for the sheet hand in and I am nervous.URGH FINE ILL FINISH IT TOMORROW
We'll come up with 101 ideas for cheap magic items!
Sailors, craftsmen, apothecaries, and so on... are easily commoners. Likewise a farmer and herder could easily be an expert.
The difference between a Expert and a Commoner is the difference between Healer and a Doctor.
It isn't so much their jobs it is how far they are and willing to take them.
Or another way of putting it is the difference is the same as between the Warrior and Fighter. A Warrior is a fighter who lacks the discipline and drive, or rather where fighting is just a hobby.
Well "Trained and Talented" could easily be based upon level as well.
But the difference is that a fighter will wake up and do 1000 sword reps, but a Warrior won't.
Which is more the quality of their training and talent then amount.
Sailors, craftsmen, apothecaries, and so on... are easily commoners. Likewise a farmer and herder could easily be an expert.
The difference between a Expert and a Commoner is the difference between Healer and a Doctor.
It isn't so much their jobs it is how far they are and willing to take them.
Or another way of putting it is the difference is the same as between the Warrior and Fighter. A Warrior is a fighter who lacks the discipline and drive, or rather where fighting is just a hobby.
It's about how trained and talented they are. A warrior's a fighter who isn't particularly skilled at his job.
Are there any dnd versions, where players are mix of ,, bad guys ,, like liches, demons or that kind of stuff and try to ruin the world for everyone / some shrine with healing fountain / nuke paladin order headquarters ?We accomplished most of that in our campaign, though it didn't start that way. At one point my character was a demon, one of the first characters was a mummy, three of the later ones were ogres... We were still sorta trying to fix the world, for the most part, but along the way we did slaughter a Church of St Cuthbert (they were being dicks, and we got paid!), mainly worked for an ancient vampire (in our defense, he was mounting a coup!) and eventually helped one of the lich emperors ascend to godhood (My character had 3 int at that point, there wasn't much I could do. I think we justified it as "he agreed to help stop the others, and gods tend to chillax in their realms". That event did kinda break the world even more than before though.)
Are there any dnd versions, where players are mix of ,, bad guys ,, like liches, demons or that kind of stuff and try to ruin the world for everyone / some shrine with healing fountain / nuke paladin order headquarters ?
all evil / chaotic neutral party, only non-good racesAre there any dnd versions, where players are mix of ,, bad guys ,, like liches, demons or that kind of stuff and try to ruin the world for everyone / some shrine with healing fountain / nuke paladin order headquarters ?
Reverse Dungeon
This increase is always active, even while the barbarian is raging.
@Flabort:Don't think I'll be able to finish it without some help, though. :P Especially with my other project right now, and my life too.
Wow, I'm glad I gave that to you! That list is awesome. I might run it through LaTeX and .pdf it once it's done so it's nice and portable, and so the hyperlinks actually work :P
Man, I want to convert the DFA over to Pathfinder but I don't know where to start. I remember seeing a guide on how to convert classes somewhere though?
Coins can be broken down into fractionals, or even just melted down for the gold. Everyone uses gold. Kings, peasants, wizards. Gold is a currency that anyone can use.
...no, I haven't?Coins can be broken down into fractionals, or even just melted down for the gold. Everyone uses gold. Kings, peasants, wizards. Gold is a currency that anyone can use.
You've got it backwards. Gold is a currency that no one can use. Not in that sense at any rate. Only spellcasters can make direct practical use of scrolls, true, but nobody can directly make practical use of gold; they can only trade it for things that are useful.
I disagree. Gold Pieces are the universal magical currency. The Identify spell cannot be cast unless you have pearls worth exactly 100 pieces of gold.
I disagree. Gold Pieces are the universal magical currency. The Identify spell cannot be cast unless you have pearls worth exactly 100 pieces of gold.
Or if it's 3rd ed, large lump sums are needed to create magic items.
I disagree. Gold Pieces are the universal magical currency. The Identify spell cannot be cast unless you have pearls worth exactly 100 pieces of gold.
It's DND 3.5 though. Only spellcasters do useful things :PI disagree. Gold Pieces are the universal magical currency. The Identify spell cannot be cast unless you have pearls worth exactly 100 pieces of gold.
Or if it's 3rd ed, large lump sums are needed to create magic items.
That's to buy equipment. The items aren't made through some kind of reverse-alchemy.
And in any case even if it was it's still something that's only useful to spellcasters
...no, I haven't?Coins can be broken down into fractionals, or even just melted down for the gold. Everyone uses gold. Kings, peasants, wizards. Gold is a currency that anyone can use.
You've got it backwards. Gold is a currency that no one can use. Not in that sense at any rate. Only spellcasters can make direct practical use of scrolls, true, but nobody can directly make practical use of gold; they can only trade it for things that are useful.
I'm not talking about using the gold as a material. I'm talking about using it as a currency, because that's what we were talking about.
And gold is used in at least one process to do with magic, so I'd argue that gives it a practical use, but that's beside the point.
It's a property of intrinsic vs. extrinsic value. A scroll has intrinsic value in that it can create an effect for an appropriate spellcaster. It has an inherent value defined by the cost of creation too, which is a static amount.
Gold is, by and large, valuable only for what it can be traded for. Thus, its value is extrinsic, excepting a few specific spells using it as a material component.
In a real world situation, you'd run into issues of inflation, economy of scale, etc. However in the game setting that's not a feature of the core rules. After all, even if your character's background has them as the scion of a noble house, a princess or the damned king of the country, if you're level 1 you still have a set Wealth by Level.
Thus, it doesn't matter whether or not it would be more logical for your fictional fantasy setting to use scrolls as de facto promissory notes. The rules say the standard currency is a piece of gold, so that's how you play it unless you're using house rules to make it slips of paper, colored rocks or toenail clippings.
Pennies cost more than a penny to make, but pennies still exist.The reason Canada canceled the penny is because of that very reason: they cost too much to make.
Not in Canada, though.
Pennies cost more than a penny to make, but pennies still exist.Pennies have a specific role in the currency system, though. They provide a physcial representation of the smallest denomination of monetary value. Scrolls don't have a similar role when things like the Favor exists. Using a scroll would be like like trying to buy a house with a car.
Trading scrolls wouldn't translate well to poorer areas where a low-level scroll could be worth the town's monthly production value.I think the premise of the discussion is that the party is purchasing expensive things.
Pennies cost more than a penny to make, but pennies still exist.Pennies have a specific role in the currency system, though. They provide a physcial representation of the smallest denomination of monetary value. Scrolls don't have a similar role when things like the Favor exists. Using a scroll would be like like trying to buy a house with a car.Trading scrolls wouldn't translate well to poorer areas where a low-level scroll could be worth the town's monthly production value.I think the premise of the discussion is that the party is purchasing expensive things.
Pennies cost more than a penny to make, but pennies still exist.Pennies have a specific role in the currency system, though. They provide a physcial representation of the smallest denomination of monetary value.
Dunno if this is any help, I know little about 4th edition and nothing about kineticists, but 3.5e's Complete Divine has the "Shugenja" which uses the 5 elements like that. With some mostly-minor abilities, mostly just sensing sources of their elements.
We'll come up with 101 ideas for cheap magic items!
Sounds like your party is having fun at least, mine are currently freaking out about how to deal with an irate dragon and a plot to assassinate the queen. At least I'm enjoying that.
Here we go I made a new game this time.Blegh. Of course I'd miss this.
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=156131.0
If your free Sunday or Saturday then give it a look. Glad to have whoever can make it aboard!
Unchained isn't allowed by the DM.
The Unchained Rogue gets Dex to damage at level three. That's considered broken. Plus they get Dex-and-a-half with Estocs, Elven Curved Blades, and Elven Branched Spears.
Signature Skills are also very powerful. Plus this DM considers Pathfinder Unchained to be a preview of Pathfinder 2.0, and as such won't allow it since it is for another game system, or something.
[quote\]
Fair enough.
Though the reason Signature skills are so powerful is because they took away their previous non-optional signature skills and went "What if they were optional?"
Also, "sorry, the bees" means what?
Like I said, you get less out of Strength than Dex, and if you don't need Strength in the first place, why focus on it when you could pump Dex and gain much better benefits?
Revenant:
Undying Soul – You are considered undead for creature type. However, you are immune to effects that would harm you for being undead, such as turn/destroy undead. When you are knocked to 0hp, you do not fall unconscious right away, and instead fall unconscious at the end of your next turn.
Past Life – Select a race other than Revenant. You were this race in your past life
Ability Score Increase - You get a +1 to dexterity
Darkvision – You gain darkvision 60ft
Proficiencies/Languages/Skills – You gain all proficiencies that you had in your past life
Revenant Variants: Select Fury from Beyond the Grave or Duty from Beyond the Grave. Your size and Speed depend on which one you selected.
- Fury from Beyond the Grave – You were wronged in your past life and seek revenge against your foes. You have one year after you awaken to get revenge against a target (which can be a single target or a group). These Revenants, returned to the mortal realm by the god Bhaal, look exactly as they did in life, regardless of the body they took in death, including all wounds and scars with an undead demeanor on them, making them much more intimidating than they were in life. Unlike the Duty from Beyond the Grave Revenants, they remember everything from their past life, including every single wrong done to them. These Revenants are made when their living souls died and the will of their soul desired murderous revenge more than anything, and/or Bhaal had a desire for more bloodshed
o You know the distance and direction to your closest target at all times and what plane of existence they are on
o Size: you are whatever size you were in your past life
o Speed: You have the same speed as whatever you were in your past life
o When you die, your body crumbles to dust like the disintegrate spell (your belongings remain where you were) and you reawaken after 24 hours in a random corpse on the same plane that you died on. In this time, someone can force your soul to go to the afterlife if they use a wish spell. You cannot be revived through the powers of the resurrection or revivify spell, even to revive your revenant body
o If you fail to kill your target within a year, or all of your targets are killed, you turn to dust as the disintegrate spell, though your belongings remain and you cannot be revived
o You gain a +1 charisma
- Duty from Beyond the Grave – You are inclined to fulfill an action that was something you either failed to do in life or the Raven Queen has sent for you to do. You only remember snippets of your past life, and at certain points (DM’s discretion) you may remember more of your past life, especially when someone or something from your past life comes into effect. You also have more raven-like features, which may include, but not limited to, feathers on certain parts of your body, talon-like fingernails, raven-like feet, and others (Speak to your DM in regards to this), and you show very little features of what you looked like in your past life. These Revenants rise when a duty that needed to be fulfilled in life outweighed their desires of a peaceful afterlife and/or the Raven Queen decides that you have a task that needs to be done
o When you die, you can be revived by spells such as true resurrection and revivify, but you return as a revenant instead of your body in your past life. If you are not revived, you are brought back in a new body within a year’s time (minimum of 1 day). You retain all memories you had during your life as a revenant. Just like the Fury from Beyond the Grave Revenant, during this time, your soul can be forced to the afterlife if a wish spell is cast on you during your time of vulnerability, but before the halfway mark
o Size: you are size medium
o Speed: 30ft
o Once per day, you may maximize a hit die roll during a short rest equal to your proficiency bonus per day. You can only use the maximize effect once. When you use this maximized heal effect, you can re-attach severed limbs
o Gain a +1 to constitution
Wizard/Barbarian?Isn't that what a bloodrager is?
Wait, aren't we still talking about having Dex-to-damage here with the Unchained Rogue?
I don't see many situations where high Strength would be especially useful for a Rogue (but this is coming from my sleep-deprived self at 1 am EST, so..)Thanks. Mostly wanting to know if I went a bit over the top with anything
Carry weight is an issue? Load some gear onto the Paladin; they won't mind.
Thinking you might be climbing/swimming/etc often? Athletics proficiency.
Not a lot of damage getting through? You're not a damage class anyway.
@HM: Looks pretty cool.
A strength rogue gets it all.
Kinetic blasts count as a type of weapon for the purpose of feats such as Weapon Focus.
Meanwhile, we are playing a Gestalted Mythic campaign. We are way OP even without optimization.Kineticist is fantastic by itself. I'm playing a fire one and I just harass the fuck out of everyone with touch attacks. Sadly, I'm pretty much Saitama from One Punch Man; everything dies so quickly that I just lose interest.
Mythic Champions basically get an extra move action at Tier 3 with Fleet Warrior, which allows you to make a Full-Attack-Action, while still being allowed to move up to their speed before or after.
I'm just wondering if their are any silly class combinations that would still work well mechanically. My Kineticist's Barbarian half isn't that great. Not much would go well with a Kineticist though, due to their playstyle.
What is the main stat of a Kineticist?Guy already said it, but what's also cool about them is they're unique with their elements. There is the standard 4 elements, fire/air/earth/water that do element things, aether, which is a telekenetic, void, which is negative energy based, and wood, which is completely terrible.
Your acting like a strength rogue loses out on sneak attack damage.Nope, no personal feelings here, just comparing notes on character builds.
A strength rogue gets it all. If a Strength rogue wants to be a sneaky SOB, he easily can.
Can I have a "Taking this personally" check? I have a feeling this is getting heated.
Load it into a ballista and you'll be fine.
Come to think of it, a ten-foot sphere of complete obliteration would be invaluable in a siege scenario.
As for the two weapon thing, rogues can dual weild and get two sneak attacks off, can't they? I read in a rogue build somewhere that it was the most viable option because it's hard to do an archer rogue and get sneak attack off in pathfinder (whereas in 4e and 5e, you get sneak attacks almost every time you attack. It's nuts).Looking at the SRD's for 3.5 and Pathfinder, it seems like like you actually can get sneak attack with every hit. That seems weird to me, since in 4e and 5e you can only do it once a round (well, 4e is limited to once a round, 5e is once a turn, so you could technically get off another sneak attack on an opportunity attack, but those are a lot more rare in 5e since they're basically only when someone tries to move out of your reach, or something like a Battlemaster Fighter maneuver that lets you attack on someone else's turn). But, then, as highmax mentioned, you usually will get to use sneak attack every round in those games, since sneak attack has no limits on targets and your attack modifier is going to be pretty much the same as everyone else so long as you're all maxing your relevant ability scores.
Didn't they release a blackguard subclass for paladins? It was called Oath Breaker, but it was basically blackguard.I differenciate blackguard and anti-paladin only because the playstyle was different. It was the difference between the Dark Knights in final fantasy III and Cecil the Dark Knight in final fanasy IV. Both similar, but have some differences.
I thought Rogues only got Sneak Attack once per target per round. Seems the Official Pathfinder Messageboards say otherwise. At least, the threads I did read into do. If true, the Rogue is much better than what I've heard others claim.Skalds are aimed for melee in 4e. The one I had ran around with a spear and used the reach effect to keep herself distanced from the others but still buff her allies.
I also remember a thread where people were desperately trying to convince the devs to allow Paladins and Antipaladins to be any-Good/Evil, respectively. As a compromise, we got an Antipaladin archetype that can be any-Evil, but is weaker than a normal Antipaladin.
And Skald is awesome in Pathfinder, but effectiveness requires party co-ordination. A Pathfinder Skald can't really help a party of mages that well compared to a party of martials.
Yeah, in Pathfinder Sneak Attack applies to every attack roll that qualifies for its prerequisites. That means if you have 1 extra attack per round from TWF, you get to deal all those extra d6 sneak attack dice on that extra hit. This is why TWF on a Rogue can be a viable strategy. The downside is that Rogues suffer from lower BAB from the outset, and then you stack penalties on top of this for using TWF. All those extra d6 don't mean a thing if you can't beat the target's AC. Plus this requires a full attack, meaning you're left standing in melee range of the enemy afterwards. That's another major reason why investment into AC on a Rogue isn't meaningless. Whilst still important that you aim for bonuses such as Concealment, if you want to use a Full Attack you're going to be finishing within melee range, and on the enemy's turn they can take a Full Attack against you too.Two words:
As for the two weapon thing, rogues can dual weild and get two sneak attacks off, can't they? I read in a rogue build somewhere that it was the most viable option because it's hard to do an archer rogue and get sneak attack off in pathfinder (whereas in 4e and 5e, you get sneak attacks almost every time you attack. It's nuts).Looking at the SRD's for 3.5 and Pathfinder, it seems like like you actually can get sneak attack with every hit. That seems weird to me, since in 4e and 5e you can only do it once a round (well, 4e is limited to once a round, 5e is once a turn, so you could technically get off another sneak attack on an opportunity attack, but those are a lot more rare in 5e since they're basically only when someone tries to move out of your reach, or something like a Battlemaster Fighter maneuver that lets you attack on someone else's turn). But, then, as highmax mentioned, you usually will get to use sneak attack every round in those games, since sneak attack has no limits on targets and your attack modifier is going to be pretty much the same as everyone else so long as you're all maxing your relevant ability scores.
Also, the whole, "is a Rogue getting to use DEX for damage overpowered?" thing seems weird from the 4e/5e perspective, since in those games a Rogue uses DEX for attack and damage by default (in 4e because those are what its powers use, and in 5e because they can only use finesse and ranged weapons for sneak attack, both of which use DEX for attack and damage by default). It's possible there might be some combinations from that that might be broken in 3.5/Pathfinder that I don't know about, but, as has been said, sneak attack does more damage than you get from Ability bonus, and 3.5/Pathfinder have higher damage ceilings than 4e/5e, so I don't really understand what the big fuss is about.
Nah, it's fine. If True Strike is being added to a weapon attack, per the Magic Items creation rules, the effect costs the bonus squared times 2,000 gp. Thus a constant True Strike enchantment would cost 800,000 gp and take 800 days to add.Enchantment for true strike blade is actually Cheap. My headband of vast intelligence was more expensive
Truestrike would be something like a +5 enchantment at the least, if such a thing existed.Again, +1 enchantment because it's effectively using a permanent level 1 spell effect on a weapon. It's because of the level 1 spell effect is why the enchantment is so cheap. I think the same works for a permanent gravity bow effect, which just increases the damage dice as if it was from a size large weapon.
What level are you fighting AC40 creatures at?
Use the Correct Formula: One item people frequently ask me about is a ring oftrue strike. The spell provides a whopping +20 insight bonus on attack rolls and negates miss chances arising from concealed targets. It's only 1st level, however, because it is a personal range spell with a duration of 1 round. That means you can normally manage one attack every 2 rounds when using the spell. Also, you can't bestow it on an ally (except for a familiar or animal companion) because of its personal range.
Assuming such a ring worked whenever it was needed and has a caster level of 1st, it would cost a mere 2,000 gp by the formula for a use-activated spell effect (in this case, 1 x 1 x 2,000 gp). Sharp-eyed readers will note that any continuously functioning item has a cost adjustment of x4 (see the footnotes to Table 7-33), which bumps up the ring's cost to 8,000 gp. That's a real bargain for an item that provides so much boost to a user's combat power. Much too great a bargain.
So, what would our example ring of true strike be worth? Insight bonuses aren't included on Table 7-33, but a weapon bonus has a cost equal to the bonus squared x 2,000 gp, so a +20 weapon would cost 800,000 gp. One can argue that the ring isn't quite as good as a +20 weapon because it doesn't provide a damage bonus. That, however, ignores the very potent ability to negate most miss chances. Also, the ring's insight bonus works with any sort of attack the wearer makes. On top of all that, the insight bonus stacks with any enhancement bonus from a magic weapon the wearer might wield. Still, 800,000 gp is a lot of cash and the lack of a damage bonus is significant, so some price reduction is in order. A 50% reduction might be in order, or 400,000 gp for the ring.
Would you pay 400,000 gp for a ring of true striking? I would if I could afford it. At a price of 400,000 gp, our mythical ring of true strike is something only an epic-level character could afford. That's fine, because epic play is where the ring belongs.
Pathfinders magic item creation rules explicitly state that magic effects that do what weapon and armor modifiers do are outright disavowed and specifically states True Strike as an example of what isn't allowed.Can you do me a massive favor and bring up a link to where it says that? I SO want to rub it in my rules lawyer's face.
I'm not totally sure if this is what Neonivek is talking about, but here on the pathfinder SRD they say that you should compare a items abilities to similar items. Specifically calling out truestrike as deserving to cost 200,000. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items#TOC-Magic-Item-Gold-Piece-Values) ((Which I guess means they think it's worth a +10 enchantment bonus. I'd personally say +1 to hit is worth more then +1 damage, so maybe that's a bit incorrect, but it does make sense.))I think his logic is:
And then enjoy the bashing you get afterwards.I HAVE THE ENTIRETY OF BAY12 AT MY SIDE! Who needs a rules lawyer when I have you madmen (and women)?
There are custom weapon creation rules. I can't seem to find them at the moment. Though they shouldn't be allowed in a sensible campaign.The medium was from a wolf-lord or pack lord or something. There's a page on the SRD that had it, but I don't have it on hand right now.I feel like I've said that a few times already.
But the worst you can get is a 1d2 weapon with a crit range of 18-20 for a x3 crit. Or a range of 19-20 for a x4 crit.
The max you can ever get within the rules is in Mythic, with Mythic Death From Above, at a x6 crit.
There is a Spirit ability for the Medium that allows you to auto-roll a Nat20, but it requires you to use the Trickster Spirit, you need to be level 17, it only functions once a day, and even then, it can only be used on skill checks.
In 5E? I'd let you do it if you could kill him in one round of attacks. (IE: Have you do all your attacks, if it kills them, then sure, flavor it as as ripping his head off.) I wouldn't allow you to just do it with a strength check. I'd give you advantage on your attacks (and probably take away his dex bonus to ac) since he's unaware of you, but I don't think anything past that.I have a +11 to damage right now, and I use a greataxe. I've dropped dropped most enemies thus far with my teeth being a longtooth shifter, and even successfully made a hardened dwarf soldier walk up a corner, look at me mauling his buddy with my teeth, immediatley turn right around and walk the other way. The other soldier watched me bite the guy through a window and pull him out and heard the screaming, walked up to me and because my DM knows they have never seen a shifter (or a werewolf, which I said with the flavor and the fact of backstory, I'm a pure-blooded werewolf that was cured of his disease, so I am considered a shifter) and I proceeded to make that one try and stab at me but he missed and proceeded to vomit. When I screamed at him, he ran away, and the other dwarf who noped, jumped into the building, smashed through the door and bumped into said fleeing dwarf who was running from me and then shits his pants and passes out.
Regarding the decapitation question, I'd rule it as a coup-de-grace attack, usable only in the same situations that you could normally deliver one.Our rules checker says there is no such thing as that in 5e, but I think he's full of shit
5e removed coup de grace.Which is sad, because I had so many moments where I could have done so in several spots...
According to the Google.
So, my group got a Pathfinder game on Roll20 off the ground last night.Its always the simple looking guys who you have to worry about.
First off, I'm impressed with Roll20. It's actually a far more streamlined experience than playing in person, although that's helped by a few other circumstantial things like most of our players being experienced. The only issue was that it seemed to be willing to just roll over and accept its fate if the streams failed to connect on the first try, which eventually led to us switching to the Google Hangouts plugin, which worked perfectly.
Second, the session was awesome and hilarious. We knew we were going to be fighting mites, and probably at least one swarm pet, but the wizard assured the rest of the party that he could handle any swarms. Everyone took him at his word, since none of us had reason to doubt it.
We entered the room, and things started out pretty well. The mites got the jump on us, but the two darts they threw/shot at us didn't deal any damage. The paladin and I then shish-kebabbed one each, between a very good roll from the paladin and my ranged attack bonus, the sorceror stunned the other two, and the wizard moved to intercept where he thought the swarm would come from.
Then the swarm emerged and reduced him to one hitpoint in its first round. He tried to burning hands them, and... rolled a one.
Shenanigans ensued, as the sorceror tried to use colour spray on the swarm (not the player, the character :P), the wizard dropped below 0 and barely stabilised while the sorceror dragged him towards the door, and eventually my character ended up saving the day by driving the swarm back with a torch and following it up with a flask of some kind of alchemical fire brought in when we called for help.
Mainly, I find it funny 'cause my character is literally just some guy. He works a day job as a bowyer and takes shifts in the town guard sometimes. Meanwhile, the wizard is all mysterious and finely-dressed, the sorceror is all dark and edgy and finely-dressed, and the paladin is some kind of religious fanatic warrior.
Whenever I actually get connected to a game, I've been considering running a character who's basically just a redshirt mass-infantry soldier with a pike and plain gear, only experienced enough to reach player-levels.They're the best kind of characters because they'll be fighting a dragon or something terrifying and they just sit there like "man... This isn't what I expected to be doing..."
whatPathfinder, ladies and gentlemen, where nothing ever makes sense. Especially the duregar wizard who deliberately acts like a stereotypical black dude and has been fisted or anally penetrated by about 5 or more different things, including an elephant's trunk, a robot, and a dracolich horn.
One day I am going to make my squad based 5e game.I know it would be virtually impossible on bay12, but I would love to play a game like that
Basically instead of having a character you control a squad that you hire.
You then pit them up against monsters and try to eek out victories.
This is pretty much only possible in 4e and 5e... but the most fun in 5e
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Sigh... I need more dnd friends I can discuss dnd with and consult on DMing matters.
It would flat out NEED a lot of work to get off the ground and for additional assets to be made.Isn't that what Shield Master does? Or is it just for them?
For example a Shield Bearer whose ability is that they protect units behind them from AoE.
I think it's a Shield Master for other party members.I mean the feat in 5e
I think it's a Shield Master for other party members.I mean the feat in 5e
I know. I understood his intention to be a character who could apply that effect, or something similar to other party members.I think it's a Shield Master for other party members.I mean the feat in 5e
I think a slight overhaul or additions to feats would work. Shield master could add that effect for exampleI know. I understood his intention to be a character who could apply that effect, or something similar to other party members.I think it's a Shield Master for other party members.I mean the feat in 5e
Two people didn't show for today's session. Including the DM. He didn't let anyone know until about five minutes before the session was supposed to start.This sounds like a weird party... Remind me what Strix are?
So we started a new campaign. Again. Hell's Rebels. Not spoiling anything. Four of us, thirty point buy.
We have a Half-Elf Arcanist, whose background is that of a court advisor, who dreams of building his own Deity so that he may worship it, and is feeling very useless as a level one spellcaster.
We have a Human Swashbuckler, from a noble house.
We have a Lizardfolk Cleric, with the Strength and Destruction domains, whose deity's favoured weapon is a greatsword, though the lizard is much more effective with his natural bite and claws.
I am a Strix Unchained Monk. I wanted to be a Ninja, but Strix have a Charisma penalty. I've looked into some of the UC Monk's abilities, and some are actually weaker than the Core Monk's.
This sounds like a weird party... Remind me what Strix are?
Eh, in my book the choice between straight monk vs. archetype is kind of like the choice between a turd burger or a shit sandwich.Monk is one of the best classes if you know what you're doing. There's a fighting style feat for them that allows them to counter attack before the opponent gets a hit in, and it's kinda broken...
I am proud to be associated with this nowSpoiler: Nobody tosses a dwarf! (click to show/hide)
Doing my part for linking good shit.
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/paizo-pathfinder-bundle
Like 15 dollars for a LOT of pathfinder stuff. A dollar something more if you want the other teir too. The pathfinder core book by itself is worth more than the total cost of this.
Since they're only giving away PDF files, it's little use to me. I prefer having the physical rulebook at the table, since I try to encourage avoiding too much technology use while gaming. Having people playing with their phones or browsing the net is poor manners.I agree on this. Plus, when you have to clear up some shit with specific party members (aka buying shit, selling shit, downtime stuff, etc.) it gives the players something to do that still pertains to the game by looking through it, rather than having your laptops open or whatever.
I basically have entire charts on the back of my character sheet so I don't have to go looking through books each time we level.The problem I have with that is Pathfinder, to me, is difficult to do that with because there are SO many abilities to look at. Like the barbarian for example, has rage powers, which prevents me from playing it because there's just so many... Fighter is a similar deal too. There is just so much happening with everyone, I don't evne know where to begin. Throw on top of that the effects of spells and other stuff and you've lost me.
It helps to plan out your entire leveling progression as well. Makes it easier to go over everything at once without relying on memory, and changes can be made as needed, so long as you haven't reached the changed level yet.
Rays can use Precise and Point-Blank shot feats, so I don't see why not.Pyrokineticists also get to target touch. Blue flame blast is the only one that has composite blast damage that still targets touch AC.
And since Strength is definitely not our strong suit, so Weapon Finesse is pretty much mandatory for Bladers who don't use Elemental blasts. Elementals get to cheat by targeting touch.
Kinetic blasts count as a type of weapon for the purpose of feats such as Weapon Focus. The kineticist is never considered to be wielding or gripping the kinetic blast (regardless of effects from form infusions; see Infusion), and she can't use Vital Strike feats with kinetic blasts.
The adventures of Launce Aroys, ordinary guy extraordinaire, continue. After the surveyor and wizard for kicked out of the suspected smuggler's shop, I struck up a conversation with the guards (I was posing as hired muscle at the time) and managed to work out that he was a slaver.This so chaotic confusing that I wish I was there to witness it
That was about the most successful anyone was the whole session though, as we then discovered the best climb modifier in the party to be -1, and put six arrows into a lemure in the span of about ten seconds for a total of one damage. We didn't realise it was there, since we assumed the wizard's familiar had just flown into a window.
Got a quick question for some of you guys, and this is something that I talk to a few people about in RL, but not much elsewhere.
What are you looking forward to/expecting in 5e?
I'm waiting until they release more races from 4e like Revenant, Goliath, Mul, and others
Oh, nad that reminds me. Does standing up provoke Sentinel? If it does, does it stop them from standing up?No, though if they tried to move away, that would provoke and opportunity attack, and, if it landed, that would set their speed to 0, preventing them from standing up. A more reliable method of keeping a prone person down is to use your action to grapple them, as this also sets their speed to 0 (which can also be used as an Attack action, if you have some form of Extra Attack, as can shoving someone prone, so with a good Athletics score you can pretty reliably have someone prone and and unable to get up or move at all with a single round of effort.)
I agree on the artificer class. It didn't feel like it fit artificer, at least in the 4e sense, very wellOh, nad that reminds me. Does standing up provoke Sentinel? If it does, does it stop them from standing up?No, though if they tried to move away, that would provoke and opportunity attack, and, if it landed, that would set their speed to 0, preventing them from standing up. A more reliable method of keeping a prone person down is to use your action to grapple them, as this also sets their speed to 0 (which can also be used as an Attack action, if you have some form of Extra Attack, as can shoving someone prone, so with a good Athletics score you can pretty reliably have someone prone and and unable to get up or move at all with a single round of effort.)
As for the original question, what I'm most looking forward to in 5e is material for Eberron, hopefully a sourcebook for the setting at least comparable to the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. Things needed for this are probably some improvement to the Warforged race presented in Unearthed Arcana, definitely a proper implementation of the Artificer class (it doesn't work as a Wizard tradition, and I don't know why they thought it would), and likely some adjustment to the base assumption of magic item distribution.
As for something I'd like that may not ever come to fruition, I'd really like some official Spelljammer support. Even just an Unearthed Arcana somewhere down the road would probably make me pretty happy.
The adventures of Launce Aroys, ordinary guy extraordinaire, continue. After the surveyor and wizard for kicked out of the suspected smuggler's shop, I struck up a conversation with the guards (I was posing as hired muscle at the time) and managed to work out that he was a slaver.This so chaotic confusing that I wish I was there to witness it
That was about the most successful anyone was the whole session though, as we then discovered the best climb modifier in the party to be -1, and put six arrows into a lemure in the span of about ten seconds for a total of one damage. We didn't realise it was there, since we assumed the wizard's familiar had just flown into a window.
Any recommendations for when you have a bunch of feats/class abilities to choose from, but don't really need or want any?Bonus wild talent is always an option for kineticist feats. As for other classes, it doesn't hurt to look at endurance/die hard. It NEVER hurts to have that extra turn to live. I could have gotten to use it if it wasn't for a x3 crit insta-killing me on my ranger.
Some classes just don't need a lot of feats to do their job, and I have no idea what to do with the empty slots. It doesn't help that what feat options there are for Kineticists are sub-optimal.
Not that I have many potential options anyways. This DM bans things very haphazardly. Sometimes doesn't even look into what he bans, just declaring it sounds broken, so it isn't allowed.
The DM needs to learn to say "Yes, but." Clearly, he knows how to say no and yes, so that's the next step.
...Hm. So I put on a cursed ring, just cause.
Turns out I can no longer hold metal. However, my Ring of Sustenance is still on my other hand because I took it off.
This has... Interesting implications as the party's tank. Metal simply passes through my fingers, at least. We ended the session on this. Next week will be, I think, testing of this strange and wondrous property. Good thing I'm a soul blade and my weapons and armor aren't actually metal.
He's gonna be stripped of power soon.
If there was a chance to revive his family, it wouldn't be so bad. BUT TO FUCKING MAKE SURE THEY CANT BE REVIVED EXCEPT BY A GOD? FUCK YOU!
Sounds like he got the tarrasque's special regeneration.
Rules question: Do any of the underwater fighting rules specify that aquatic creatures ignore the penalties for fighting underwater? I can't see anything that says a water elemental, for example, doesn't deal half damage with its Slam attack when submerged.
Rules question: Do any of the underwater fighting rules specify that aquatic creatures ignore the penalties for fighting underwater? I can't see anything that says a water elemental, for example, doesn't deal half damage with its Slam attack when submerged.Using:
I just realized I messed up when I crit last session. I took the burn as if I had used composite blasts, but only dealt damage as though I had attacked with a regular blast.I just never stop using composite blasts. Blue flame is too good to not be used.
I should have rolled twice as many dice.
I learned the hard way on my homebrew of my own version of a kineticist translated into 5e involved me doing one blast which ended up with me actually knocking myself out by turn 3 because 5e lacks the stats and the HP increases to actually cater to the burn effects. I still need to work on it, but preventing that lethal damage is essential in my books.Have you considered using the Exhaustion mechanic?
...Hm. So I put on a cursed ring, just cause.The last time I played Pathfinder, my half-orc character was coerced into marrying a goblin princess (on pain of death- I asked the DM if she was even partway hot by greenskin standards, turns out she had a face like the back of a bus), and the druid, who I believe was either conducting the ceremony or acting as best man, used a cursed ring out of our loot bag as my wedding band. >.>
The base rules are pretty much a classless version of D&D Basic Set (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_Basic_Set) with three types of saves like the kind introduced in 3.5, but renamed (so Fortitude is Hardiness, Reflex is Evasion, and Will is Spirit).Since it's come up, I'll mention Demigods Story (http://imgur.com/a/pnWYj#9jPhO2M). I found that in the comments section of the Godbound Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1637945166/godbound-a-game-of-divine-heroes) (which I've backed), given as an example of the sort of story that game could emulate.Cheers, that was a fine story and one I'd not read before. I'll keep an eye on this new game coming out; before I get more into it, what's it like mechanically?
An explanation of the game: it's basically like Exalted or the Immortal part of BECMI, but relatively simple rules that make it possible to challenge such high-level characters. It's by the guy who made Stars Without Number (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/86467/Stars-Without-Number-Free-Edition), and, similar to that game, there will be a free version that has all the rules you need to play and a deluxe version (which is what the Kickstarter provides) with 40 pages of extra optional content. These include things that help people wanting to add more of an Exalted feel to their game, such as Godwalkers (basically Warstriders, but non-copyright infringing), divine martial arts, and rules for theming characters as various Exalted types.
Here's the link to the beta files (https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4qCWY8UnLrcRGxjSmFqSWEyMk0&usp=drive_web), which the author has explicitly allowed backers to share.
Though that's just the basic framework of the system, and can easily be replaced. The real meat is in the Gift system, in which you gain a number of powers from what is basically your godly domains, and these are either constant benefits or require you to Commit Effort. This means you must temporarily spend a point of Effort (a resource pool you gain more of as you level up) to gain the effect of a Gift, and you can't use that Effort point again until you reclaim it. Generally you can reclaim Effort at any time, which ends the effect, but, if the Gift says, "Commit Effort for the scene" or "Commit Effort for the day", you can't reclaim it until then, even if the effect is much shorter than that.
Then there's the Influence and Dominion system, which are used to change Facts (kind of like Fate system Aspects) about the world, with more points required depending on the size of the change (the table starts at Willage level and ends at Realm level, or "the whole world") and a multiplier for the plausibility of the change. Influence is much like Effort, a finite but reusable resource (which, like Effort, increases as you level up) which only has effect so long as it's committed. Dominion can be used for more permanent change, though it gets used up when spent, but it's much more renewable, as it's gained like experience points (and, in fact, a certain amount of Dominion must be spent to level up) or from the worship of followers.
Also, like in one of the creator's other games, Scarlet Heroes (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/127180/Scarlet-Heroes), while enemies do damage to the players' hitpoints, against anything other than other Godbound, players will do damage directly to hit dice. And, once a round, players can roll something called a Fray Dice, which can be used to deal extra damage against foes with less hit dice than the players. To keep things for going overboard, even though normal D&D damage dice are used, the amount of damage is actually less because it's compared to a chart that goes from 0-4 for each dice rolled, unless, in the case of some Gifts, the damage is meant to be read straight (in other words, don't use the chart and just read what the dice says).
You forgot to mention that the rats (some of them, anyway) are lycanthropes and we have very little silver or energy to use against them effectively :PNah. These ones are regular rats, you'll be fine
For fire resistance / immunity, I'd recommend... Well, a ring of that. I think gaining the fire subtype (via buffs/equips) should help?I need immunity, not resistance, sadly. 30 damage reduced from 139 damage isn't gonna cut it, sadly... I'm tempted to say fuck it and when they're immune to fire, switch to plasma and hope to god that I have a high enough bonus to hit to actually do something.
Or the mythic shadow demon that played me like a puppet. Normal shadow demons have a DC 19 for their Magic Jar. This one has a higher Charisma, the Ability Focus feat for their SLAs, plus whatever the DM did to alter it. And it's still alive! He gave it a quickened teleport, and it fled the second it was booted out my half-dead ass.If you had a cleric/wizard, you could just enchant your stuff.
This DM doesnt like fights that arent always near a TPK. There's a half-fiend chimera you are supposed fight at one point. He replaced it with a mythic adult red dragon. We were level 7. The paladin was the only one that could hurt it, and still had a terrible time actually getting a hit in.
Thankfully, a cloak is very cheap, and most of us have taken the legendary item mythic ability, so we can actually get item bonuses. He let us sell loot, but not actually buy anything. But you can still upgrade a legendary item with just gold.
So having a pyrokineticist become a god *and then kill [the rule lawyer's character] with an insanely powerful blast before taking on the party? It would be disgusting...
And I can't help but get the feeling that the Base Summoner isn't going to ever get anything new, since the Unchained Summoner has received much more love since it came out. U-Summoner even has specific archetypes the Base one doesn't have access to. Much more flavourful, as well, with its eidolon subtypes.
My DM's rationalization is that the Unchained book is actually a sneak-peek for Pathfinder 2.0
And because Rogues getting Dex to damage is beyond broken, apparently.
Isn't Unchained just Paizo's response to 5e? They needed to keep people interested in their product, so, a few months before 5e released, they announced Unchained.
It's more to address the common complaints people make about the four classes altered in the book.Wasn't that a thing from South Park? The multiple butt things?
Some Barbarian/Rogue talents were poorly worded or weren't worth taking. People complain that the Rogue is underpowered, and the Barbarians tend to die when Rage runs out, since their Con buff didn't count as temporary HP. Part of the Rogue issue is people not realizing they can get Sneak Attack on every hit, not just once per round.
The Summoner had a spell-list better than other 0-6 casters, and Eidolons were very powerful with the sheer number of Evo Points they got. Every Eidolon tended to reach end-game as, to paraphrase the developers, a beast with ten tentacles and two butts.
The Monk is the Monk. A frontline fighter with only decent HP and BAB and didn't actually have proficiency with Monk Weapons.
So knock the enemy prone, then summon an elephant on them?
It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it.So, nope :P
Yeah, it's clear that the designers intended you not be able to summon a dire rat inside someone's chest cavity and have it eat its way out. Likewise, no summoning a whale mid-air and dropping it on your enemies.
Monks can get pretty decent with grappling. Shame most encounters end before they are in a position to do much with it.For clarification, he tried to mount the manticore while we were having a derpy air battle. And almost fell to his death. Dude just really wanted a mount. Luckily for him we found two griffon eggs.
Monks also have few ranged options, so attempting to mount the Manticore and Gryphon while they were grounded may have been the only option.
You know, thinking about it I wonder if someone should make and maintain a list of people looking for games like D&D, pathfinder or some other tabletop game, just so that people starting a game can send PMs to potential players if they wanted to.That would be useful.
Yeah, that's a pretty good idea for sure. I know I've missed a few games I'd have loved to play in because I don't check the forums religiously enough hahYou know, thinking about it I wonder if someone should make and maintain a list of people looking for games like D&D, pathfinder or some other tabletop game, just so that people starting a game can send PMs to potential players if they wanted to.That would be useful.
Every time I think I got a good idea, I run head first into a wall.So... what's the problem here?
Monk/Kineticist won't work. I took it to have a way to bypass DR. By my math, I don't even need to worry about DR with the damage output I can pull off with just one empowered blast. And it's even more damaging than a flurry of blows, assuming all punches hit. At least I get permanent Freedom of Movement at level 13 with this archetype. And evasion is nice, too.
Welp, our rogue is dead. Long live the rogue!He probbably needs to rewrite it so it reads ""+2 gloves, +4 dagger, 300 gp ruby", rather than "Alan's dagger, Daves glove, jJacks 300gp ruby."
After two deaths in a row, he's decided to retire the character and roll a new one. All will be happy to know I looted his corpse upon learning this.
Annoyingly the player of the rogue in question has failed to respond to any emails requesting his character's current item list. Bah.
That was a fun read.Its a huge leap in pathfinder into 5e. You have to have a DM that knows the edition well enough to actually do it. Its like a better version of 4e, but its still watered down. I'm playing a wizard as stated earlier, and I lack the control spells that the 4e wizard had and the God spells that pathfinder has.
Some of my friends wanted to play a 5e campaign, so I'm playing a warlock - it's one of two classes that doesn't feel like I've played a lot, feel very samey, or have stuff that I really hate 5e's take on (if you're a fighter, you're a walking weapon shop. Also, if you're an archer you wear leather). The other one is cleric, but the party is short on blasting power.
We initially were going to use 4d6 drop lowest for ability scores, but the rest of the group was dissuaded from this when I produced 16/15/14/14/13/4 and was going to build into MAXIMUM GLASS CANNON. We did a regular point buy after that. :P
So far, it's really showing that the DM is new and the party is pretty new. :-\ Between that and the fact that I am not convinced of 5e, I'm kind of torn. On the one hand, I don't want to ditch them, but on the other, I don't know if I want to invest too much time in a not-that-fun campaign.
I'm sure it's not helping that I'm playing a Pathfinder campaign with a great DM on the side...
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
(if you're a fighter, you're a walking weapon shop. Also, if you're an archer you wear leather)Okay, you're going to have to explain what you mean by these. For the first one, I'm guessing you're saying fighters can use any weapon pretty well (though fighting-style tends to make people focus on a specific type in my experience). And nothing about playing any archer-build restricts you to wearing leather, except maybe if you're a pure rogue.
I want to try running a pathfinder game with my real life friends. I have all the pdfs from that humble bundle, but there's an issue in the way of 'How the fuck do I get them to my friend's house in a room without a computer and without me or my friends owning a laptop'I don't know very much about *Apple* mobile devices, but I'm seeing indications that you could use a cheap SD card. Though you might need a USB SD card reader, it wasn't obvious.
Anyone got any ideas? Printing's a little out of the picture, given the absurd size of the 'books' (Wish to God I could have got them in book form instead, but I guess that would have been expensive), and with the number/size of the files I'm not convinced we have enough room on our ipad.
Alternatively, the Fallen One is actually imprisoned by the first generation of fey because their current ruler hated him for whatever reason you come up with. The Fallen One thanks the party for freeing him, explains the situation, and disappears (because the bindings of the room bound his magic too), which possibly allows him to show up in disguise in a later plot. He says all the loot is theirs, etc.I was thinking that or the guardian IS the fallen one, and all other aspects of him, save for the hidden boss form, was just him using the magic radiating to control hte party along, which is why he was unkillable in the first fight because it wasn't a physical form.
OR, the Fallen One doesn't exist. It was all a trick to keep everyone but the most dedicated adventurers from getting their hands on the treasure, explained helpfully by the guardian.
I love some of your ideas, though as a DM I usually try to make sure any kind of effect has a basis in the core rules instead of hand-waving it away and saying that 'some strange magic stops you doing that' to prevent PCs using a trick to bypass the challenge.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
...Him and most of the NPCs in the village are nigh unintelligible for whatever reason, but we still manage to scrape enough plot off of them to move on...
(if you're a fighter, you're a walking weapon shop. Also, if you're an archer you wear leather)Okay, you're going to have to explain what you mean by these. For the first one, I'm guessing you're saying fighters can use any weapon pretty well (though fighting-style tends to make people focus on a specific type in my experience). And nothing about playing any archer-build restricts you to wearing leather, except maybe if you're a pure rogue.
(a) chain mail or (b) leather, longbow, and 20 arrows
(a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial
weapons
(a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or( b) two handaxes
(a) a dungeoneer's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
My first session as a GM in a while (last time I played was in .. 2011) is coming up. Nervous ._.No pressure :P
5e is a much needed step forward for Dungeons and dragonsNo DnD edition is perfect, but I do believe 5e is a step in a better direction than 3.5e, even if (or perhaps because) it has less superfluous material.
But is also a major step back.
Unlike 4e which was a misstep with many good qualities. It feels like 5e was a great step with many negative qualities.
I still love you 5e *hugs*
No DnD edition is perfect, but I do believe 5e is a step in a better direction than 3.5e, even if (or perhaps because) it has less superfluous material.
What do you mean, on rails?No DnD edition is perfect, but I do believe 5e is a step in a better direction than 3.5e, even if (or perhaps because) it has less superfluous material.
In many ways because. I like that you don't NEED a Rogue, heck you could get away with not having a Cleric.
The only major issues is the lack of customization. The fact that your character is on rails doesn't help.
I think he means the fact that there isn't much in terms of customization compared to other editions. For example, once you're a valor bard, you're stuck one, etc.What do you mean, on rails?No DnD edition is perfect, but I do believe 5e is a step in a better direction than 3.5e, even if (or perhaps because) it has less superfluous material.
In many ways because. I like that you don't NEED a Rogue, heck you could get away with not having a Cleric.
The only major issues is the lack of customization. The fact that your character is on rails doesn't help.
I try....Him and most of the NPCs in the village are nigh unintelligible for whatever reason, but we still manage to scrape enough plot off of them to move on...
I started laughing here. Bravo, good sir.
It just grates with me. Starting with a budget and buying equipment just seems a lot cleaner and achieves the flexibility they're trying to get at without the weird interactions they get by trying to make it streamlined. Fundamentally, my issue is that by making it more accessible, they've taken the depth out, unless there is a 3.5 esque starting set up rule somewhere.Try the first page of the equipment section. There's a "starting wealth by class" table, which can be used instead.
It just grates with me. Starting with a budget and buying equipment just seems a lot cleaner and achieves the flexibility they're trying to get at without the weird interactions they get by trying to make it streamlined. Fundamentally, my issue is that by making it more accessible, they've taken the depth out, unless there is a 3.5 esque starting set up rule somewhere.Try the first page of the equipment section. There's a "starting wealth by class" table, which can be used instead.
Reading the new Ultimate Intrigue book for Pathfinder. There are rules for Verbal Duels.Thats awesome!
You can literally Rap Battle someone.
'I'm gonna get mauled by a bear!'He's probably very happy about that
- Gary Graver, party arcane trickster.
Amazingly, he proceeded to pass his acrobatics check and not get mauled by a bear.
'I'm gonna get mauled by a bear!'He's probably very happy about that
- Gary Graver, party arcane trickster.
Amazingly, he proceeded to pass his acrobatics check and not get mauled by a bear.
So how about a forum game of FATAL, everyone?You just, but I would play. I tried to run a game of it once here, but it didn't go so well.
How did it not fall afoul of the forum rules?So how about a forum game of FATAL, everyone?You just, but I would play. I tried to run a game of it once here, but it didn't go so well.
Can I get a definition of PnP?
How did it not fall afoul of the forum rules?
NFO did just ask us not to talk about it...How did it not fall afoul of the forum rules?So how about a forum game of FATAL, everyone?You just, but I would play. I tried to run a game of it once here, but it didn't go so well.
Or perhaps that was the not going so well.
DeadEarth
I'm waiting until they release more races from 4e like Revenant, Goliath, Mul, and othersThey just released Revenant as a subrace in the latest Unearthed Arcana.
Pokemon tabletop united. It's a fan made pokemon D&D style game. It's pretty cool.It's also really hard to run, sadly. Lots of work for the GM
Quotable and meta as hell. Well, fun if fun, so I guess it doesn't matter
The one Pokemon game (i think it was PTA) I did play one time long ago was pretty fun and had lots of promise, but the GM stopped after a while :(Its hard for them, so I can see why.
You could run a round of DeadEarth character generationThat sounds good to me, let's do this.[/list]for an almost-playable experience.
In the hyper-realistic post-apocalyptic Parisian mountains, you too can become mutated into a "Mad Whack Voodoo Ninja"
Pros over FATAL
- Not FATAL
- Almost playable
- Characters can die in character generation
- Weird, exploding-die mutations
- Authentic realism
- Immature about women and sex, rather than horrifying
- not FATAL
That Monk sure likes hugging things. Is there not enough space in the carriage for the gryphs?Wow, that has a magical girl archetype.
Ah, and for those who want to check it out, the new Vigilante (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/vigilante) for Pathfinder is now up on D20PFSRD. Most of it, anyways.
Your mount also has a secret identity, for some reason.
For weight, I roll 5d6 and consult a chart (?), getting 15. The book isn't very clear, but I think that I multiply my height by this to get my weight in pounds.https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/deadearth-figure-c1/
This would make my character (Who I've decided to call Fragile Francis) weigh... 1080lbs?! I don't american weights, so I have no idea how well this conforms to the brutal reality of the deadEarth.
Actually, this doesn't seem to be how you do it. There's a chart here, but it's... blanked out? Whatever, I'll pick a weight myself for maximum minmax (Vital to the realistic atmosphere.) I'll take 260lbs. This gives me +2 resiliency and +1 strength (score!)
Next, 93: Ultimate Irony, wow, just... Just read the mutation yourself, and give me a minute to reroll all of my stats.
Okay, done, I'm not gonna be remixing every health point for every part of my body because screw that noise, but at least I have a few positives now, time to continue on my path of stupidity.
Here's a link to the unofficial deadEarth resources page (https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/downloads-games/deadearth-resources/). I advise using the spreadsheet in "unofficial resources"It's the first link, but for sanities sake, it's a winding bunch of little irritating changes, like switching resilience and notoriety or whatever it's called, rerolling the health every limb (And the limb system is far too complex than it needs to be) and a bunch of other bullshit, like shuffling my mutations, not rerolling them, either, just... Shuffling the order.
Here's a link to the character sheet. Bask in an entire page of unarmed moves. (https://www.scribd.com/doc/19873452/DeadEarth-Character-Sheet)
Yeah this really does seem like FATAL chargen except with mutations instead of immature, disturbing themes. Good choice, much better entertainment (:No, it's more than than. It's that it's a much better designed game overall! So many fewer stats that affect other stats! So much easier to modify! Actual control over anything! It's amazing!
Yeah this really does seem like FATAL chargen except with mutations instead of immature, disturbing themes. Good choice, much better entertainment (:No, it's more than than. It's that it's a much better designed game overall! So many fewer stats that affect other stats! So much easier to modify! Actual control over anything! It's amazing!
So you're a gambling man that goes mad at the sight of violence and will attempt to join the fray.It said body of water (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_of_water), not contact with any water at all. I assume this means he has super drowning ability, though it would be funny if he dipped his toe in a lake and, suddenly, out of nowhere, a ninja appears and stabs him to death.
You also die within 3 days due to dehydration.
Anyways, this is supposed to be realistic? Between this and FATAL, I feel that 'realistic' in these guys minds means 'It has lots of dice rolls'
Looking at the deadEarthing, I really hope it turns into an actual campaign. At least, for science. It'll probably die in a week from everyone literally dying.Yep. We'd need a GM to volunteer, though, and a thread to play in.
Roleplaying in the game is not a core component.
There's a new Worst GameTM on the block. (https://1d4chan.org/wiki/VTNL)Oh, come on. It can't be that bad.
OH LORDY I THINK IM COMING DOWN WITH A CASE OF THE VAPORSQuoteRoleplaying in the game is not a core component.
The author claims he hasn't played in any tabletop RPGs because they would interferer with his artistic vision.TURN BACK! TURN BACK BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
Yeah, I briefly considered mentioning FATAL there, but decided it wasn't really in the same league. Like, in terms of badness from "best-worst" to "plain old bad", the scale is probably something like FATAL -> deadEarth -> Synnibarr -> uh, SenZar maybe? -> VTNL, with HYBRID floating somewhere in the void between dimensions.You forget RaHoWa in there. :P
Still though. The game literally instructs the GM to give dialogue like video game shopkeepers. You've gotta admit there's something just kind of charmingly stupid about how the author expects the players to enjoy following the barebones rules to the letter with the mindset that the players wouldn't even dare break the rules as set forth in theHeh. You certainly have a point.player's guideinstruction manual.
Cannot find 1d4chan article on deadEarth.Iiiit appears to not exist.
DeadEarth is entertainingly bad simply because it could conceivably be fun to roll characters and try to survive. I'd house-rule natural ability/disability rolling out, but aside from that, it's just bad.You still have the radman roulette if you gain too much radiation in-game, though.
FATAL is abysmal in content and ruleset. Where deadEarth is misogynist, FATAL is subhuman.
I think you need a d100 for that if it's bad enough that you need a dice rollFATAL is just dice rolls all the way down, really. I don't think there's much actual game, you just roll dice until your d20s become d1sThat's because it's super realistic. Super realistic in tabletops seems to mean 'dice rolls for. Fucking. EVERYTHING.
'Why do I need to know how many inches my anus can expand when I'm taking a massive shit!?' 'Because the dice says so. Roll a D20.'
May the dice be with you.Always.
The DM is currently making NPCs right now, so those are random as well. I'm actually expecting some far realm stuff to take place with all the chaos going on...
Reminds me of 4e Forgotten Realms...The DM is currently making NPCs right now, so those are random as well. I'm actually expecting some far realm stuff to take place with all the chaos going on...
A land of malformed entities assembled from incomplete fragments of a more coherent world? Sounds like Far Realm material to me.
In what sense?Reminds me of 4e Forgotten Realms...The DM is currently making NPCs right now, so those are random as well. I'm actually expecting some far realm stuff to take place with all the chaos going on...
A land of malformed entities assembled from incomplete fragments of a more coherent world? Sounds like Far Realm material to me.
Because every time a new edition comes out, WotC takes a hammer, smashes the Forgotten Realms to pieces, then tries to shoehorn the broken fragments of it into their new edition's shape.I do admit, the 4e forgotten realms was horrible. Spell Scars and the fact several rifts to the underdark were around really fucked it up.
I've hand-built every world I've run since I was twelve, the first worlds were silly and inconsistent, but the feeling of creating a setting and filling it with things for people to enjoy has always been my favorite part of being a DM/GM.It's enjoyable to me when I don't have visuals. I have some very detailed worlds by description alone. But as soon as I try to give it flesh, it doesn't look right
Bombs are bombs.(http://i.imgur.com/ZOcSWwy.gif)
This Vampire game sounds like something I'd really like to play.Aye...
Don't suppose there are any interested GMs out there looking to start a forum game?
-jewish vampirism-
My view is that minmaxing should be avoided unless you're going to be playing some sort of high-power campaign that requires specific levels of capability. If you have a minmaxed god-wizard in a party where everyone else is merely decent (or even above-average), then the GM is either forced to make encounters that might challenge the main party but the god-wizard can solve with ease, or make encounters that can challenge the god-wizard but are virtually impossible for everyone else. The power disparity makes for un-fun gameplay all around.
Don't run the char as evil, leave the alignment and concept as is, but treat the char as basically neutral unless confronted with the target of his bigotry. That way he/she/it seems fairly normal and can function in either an evil or non-evil party without difficulty.Not treating an evil character like a one-dimensional stereotype used as an excuse to grief and make your friends hate you? What heresy is this?
JakeTheEar: Jake was stonefaced as he tossed the chemicals. Striding out of the cloud, he turned and fired a single bullet into the "receptionist" struggling with his beclawed compatriot. The dame, missing an arm and several internal organs, didn't have the common sense to give up. One of her desperate shots passed straight through Kayla's unnatural body, smoldering on the ceiling. Blood streaked along the wall, the matter resolved.
So, honest question. Decrying minmaxing is pretty universal among non-munchkins, but is that a kneejerk reaction for people, or is it something you actually think about?
I just always prefer to roll for stats. As soon as point buy comes in it's a huge turn-off for me.
Dissuaded them from rollstats or point buy?
Yeah, we don't roll either since we've got one of those guys who is renowned for getting extremely lucky when he needs to; I literally watched him roll two sets of stats in a row, with my dice and right in front of me, where his lowest attribute both times was at a 16. After which his character went on to make half the party relatively worthless because even with their skill proficiency he still had an even or better chance of success than they did. The takeaway for us was that while rolling can be fun for a wider character spread, it's something that you might want to avoid when playing with the guy who is the type to regularly cross out other columns on his score sheets because he rolled "too many Yahtzee's" or goes to jail two turns in a row by rolling three sets of doubles... successively. :PHOW?!
I prefer rolling, personally. Although that's because I like above-average characters, in general.
Also, our telekineticist seems to enjoy picking up turtles and hurling them at enemies, which is a good running joke.If he paints them red, do they become homing missiles?
I'd almost say that's a reason not to roll, you can have a high point buy to produce strong characters, but a roll, especially a roll where you keep the stats in the order rolled like you seem to be saying, is a great way to produce very weak characters. Not to say it's not a perfectly legitimate way of playing the game, just that your stated reason for liking it seems to be largely the opposite of reality.
Why don't people play as LE characters?People do.
Why don't people play as LE characters?Lawful Evil is the only Evil I ever play as, and the most common Evil I see played. NE is undriven or ineffectual, and CE is like wearing a button that says "I'm a muderhobo."
huhWhy don't people play as LE characters?NE is undriven or ineffectual
Pretty sure Nullforce doesn't want alignement discussions in here.Aye.
Pretty sure Nullforce doesn't want alignement discussions in here.
Here's my tips:
1. Keep combat dynamic. If the player doesn't know what they're doing this round, skip their turn and move to the next person. They'll be prepared next time.
2. Offer bonus experience for people who keep their characters focused and play well. If they're on their mobile phone playing time waster games during combat, reduce their bonus experience since they're not involving themselves in the game.
3. Allow actions off turn. Typically I let my players shout advice as an immediate action during combat even if it's not their turn.
To return to the previous conversation:
Yeah, I find 5e in general to be really good - there's minimal need to optimise as it's almost impossible to make a broken character without actively trying, but it still allows some room for those who enjoy it, just not enough to overshadow the rest of the party.
And to ask a question I've been wondering about:
I've noticed one of the biggest issue I have as a DM is maintaining player engagement in combat. About half my players tend to lose focus when it's not their turn, even when turns are running quickly or planning is going on. Is this an issue other people have, and id=f so, how does one rectify it? Within/outside the rules of 5e (even just homebrew rules or stuff)?
3. Allow actions off turn. Typically I let my players shout advice as an immediate action during combat even if it's not their turn.Talking is already a free action though.
but reciting a soliloquy isntPC1: I say, 'Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well, but I really wish he had chosen to flank the beast so as to draw attention from our poor half-dead healer, upon whose leg said beast was chewing. Whether tis nobler to suffer the fangs and natural abilities of a CR 20 monster than to never level at all.' as a free action!
/me hnnnnnnngs on several levelssoliloquyAlas poor Yorick, I knew him well
Talking is a free action. Free actions can typically only be taken on your turn. Changing this to an immediate action allows other characters to talk without it being their initiative turn.3. Allow actions off turn. Typically I let my players shout advice as an immediate action during combat even if it's not their turn.Talking is already a free action though.
1. Keep combat dynamic. If the player doesn't know what they're doing this round, skip their turn and move to the next person. They'll be prepared next time.I'm not doing this right now since my group has some newer players in it (and thus they sometimes need a bit more time), but a adding a simple 30 second sand timer for "turn decision time" (including other player's advice talking) can sometimes really help keep the ball rolling by making people decide what they are going to do quickly or pass (we generally would say if you didn't decide in time you just automatically took the "dodge" action, but if you wanted to be a little harsher you could just say that their character stood there dumbfounded or something :P).
2. Offer bonus experience for people who keep their characters focused and play well. If they're on their mobile phone playing time waster games during combat, reduce their bonus experience since they're not involving themselves in the game.
3. Allow actions off turn. Typically I let my players shout advice as an immediate action during combat even if it's not their turn.
How does that even work? Like, as in the individual arrows? Do you hold a fistful of of them and aim them all different directions on the bow?What kind of bow would allow you to do that? So far I'm imagining a big ring with a spiders web of strings, and you held it with your feet while lying on the ground, prone, to aim your shot.
How does that even work? Like, as in the individual arrows? Do you hold a fistful of of them and aim them all different directions on the bow?
Just nock four arrows at once and let them go one at a time. :PI was I was an artist, even a crap one.
Alternatively:Lol. +1 Throwing Compound Shortbow of Returning.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Ew. DMPCs. Especially one that actually does things. :-\Yeah. Ew.
DMPCs should be extremely useless (but not to the point of being detrimental) in combat guides and nothing more.Well, maybe a healer if none of the players wanted to play one, too.
our campaign generally has DMPCs because we trade off DMing and it doesn't make a lot of sense to have the current DM's character sit around and do nothing. I also like to run one but they usually end up on the back burner. Definitely not soloing dragons and shit.
I would like to point out (as an addendum to what I said about minmaxing), that when players roll up a character for my games, I'm not a leave them as they lie (rolled in order and set in stone) DM, I let my players apply their rolled stats as they see fit, and I will allow them to roll multiple sets of stats (sets must be used cohesively), it tends to lead to characters who are good at their jobs as well as something (or things) other than that job.
I don't take issue with a player who sets themselves up to be a good ____, I take exception to players who abuse the system, a player who just sets themselves up to be effective is not a minmaxer, a minmaxer is abusing the rules to 'win' or 'be the best' by doing everything they can to have their chosen field at maximum possible (or impossible, but munchkins are a different story) values.
And as an aside, point buy is evil, and should never be allowed due to the hideous things players create with it (yes, I've done it too.)
It is why stats matter in Tabletop. Don't got the stats, don't get the roleplay. No one gets to play Frollo Baggins on tabletop.
Our socialite vampire decided that instead of feeding off someone, she'd just drank 3 gallons of pigs blood.
She got 1 vitae back from it- Requiem is very severe about feeding from animals and from stored blood.
I was laughing my ass off with everyone else, but my character felt sick and left for a while. Being Jewish. And also it was 3 gallons of freakin pig's blood.
Our socialite vampire decided that instead of feeding off someone, she'd just drank 3 gallons of pigs blood.
She got 1 vitae back from it- Requiem is very severe about feeding from animals and from stored blood.
I was laughing my ass off with everyone else, but my character felt sick and left for a while. Being Jewish. And also it was 3 gallons of freakin pig's blood.
that's pretty amazing considering the normal human stomach capacity is a bit more than one gallon
Wait, what? Don't you have a chance of the trap triggering whenever you try to disable it?Sure, if you use Disable Device to attempt the check right next to the trap, instead of setting it off by using a Summon Monster spell, or throwing something heavy on the pressure plate. If the trap doesn't reset, you can then just walk past.
If not, dammit roguelikes, why?
My group's been playing for a few months, and nothing's ever come up that only a rogue could handle. Admittedly, our DM is very good.
I definitely agree that fighters are a lot better in PF.
Having your soul sucked out by a wall.
Even then, pretty much any trap should have some way to prevent/circumvent it bar 'roll disable trap', especially if immersion is the issue. A clever rogue-less group should be able to bypass most if not all traps with some effort.
Well, that depends on the book - in 5e they very much say the opposite :P
But yeah, only owning the 5e books I can't comment on the other systems, bar that different systems work differently with different groups - some more mechanically minded players would enjoy the 'reward' of being able to disarm the traps because they brought a rogue, though I don't personally see it. To try and get a system to fit any party, DMs essentially have to break the rules to fit the group.
Yeah, I run 5e for a reason. Might I ask why you did, as well, just from curiosity?
Why you promised to stop GMing, if you want to. Seems a little bizarre :P
There's really only one skill that is lacking, and that's Disable Device. A Rogue gains Trapfinding, which enables them to use Disable Device to disarm magic traps. Note that this is disarm, not detect, the trap. Any character that meets the trap Perception DC roll can see the magic trap before it's set off.
No Neo, a good DM expects the players to solve the situation with intelligence, custom tailoring makes the game worse, because the party never has to think outside the box.
I'm not sure how it's possible to solve something that you're literally not allowed to see with intelligence. There's a difference between "you need to get creative" vs "this is impossible for you because the character you thought would be fun to play is inappropriate for this". Challenges that actually need to be thought though are all well and good, but just throwing impossible shit at the party isn't fun for anyone. A good GM can tell the difference, and as Neonivek says, balance the game.
There is no such thing as impossible, if it was created by intelligence it can be solved by intelligence (or a ridiculous display of luck or brute force)
I am saying that if a situation exists then a good DM makes it possible to solve through ingenuityI'm saying this is the opposite of what you said before, or possibly that you just didn't understand before? You're saying that a GM makes a encounter solvable. But before you said
custom tailoring makes the game worse
only including those that the current party can deal with
Making the situation solvable by application of intelligence
We mostly took care of traps with Detect Magic, Dispel Magic, and sometimes Break Enchantment when things went wrong. But I don't think we were playing that right.
only including those that the current party can deal withMaking the situation solvable by application of intelligence
These are one and the same generally. Well, not everything solvable by intelligence is is something a party can deal with, I'd say probably the hardest part of gming for me is trying to figure out if the players are going to be able to read my intentions and such with puzzles, but... Yeah. Generally that's the same thing.
Like honestly you could say "Only including things that the current party can deal with purely with their mechanical abilities with no thought" and then what you're talking about would make sense, but at the same time no one ever claimed that was how good gms act anyway.
It appears that I miscommunicated this point however, so one last time: If you are creating challenges based only on numeric and game rules, instead of based on intelligence and interactivity, you are engaging in bad GM practices.
Thinking about why we're having more fun in WoD than DND (and even that's not entirely true, we had a *lot* of fun in 3.5e)...Yeah, one of the big advantages of non-class-based systems is that you can just pick up cool new things without worrying about it slowing down your progression too much. Though it's possibly to incorporate this sort of thing in a class-based system, too, as I've seen in Talislanta, where you have something of a class in pretty much all editions, but you can spend xp to learn various skills and techniques.
When we started the DND campaign, which was essentially 1 single campaign for 3 real-life years, we were noobs. As a child I had run a few games with my brother and a friend which I think were... first edition? Possibly advanced? Honestly we were very young and we ignored most of the rules, it was practically Roll To Die without the dying. Very free-form.
Later on me and my best friend had separately tried a few systems like GURPS and CoC, but via text. Not voice, at least for me and I think him. Short affairs. Whereas our DM had played DND 3.5e before and was teaching us... But it was his first time DMing.
My point is that the three of us (the fourth player dropped fast) were basically new to 3.5e and were trying desperately to learn the system. And that made us focus on the rules, and optimizing. A lot. We didn't actually need to, it was just that we were all worried about pulling our weight and demonstrating competence. It was... not Ravenloft-grimdark, but a pretty harsh setting. I think maybe we (particularly I) panicked and rushed things.
Anyway. With this new system, we had a fresh start. It's kinda relaxed, because we know what became tiresome in the last campaign (again, 3 years!). I spent two sessions worth of XP on Auspex 2 so I could read auras... So I could tell that the evil renegade gangrel who tells us to murder people is, in fact, a dangerous dude. And my only regret was that I failed to save up the 4 session's worth for Obfuscate 4 that'll help me atone for a past sin (and also be useful, of course. It's a level 4 discipline). Keeping in mind that mechanically, this atonement will do nothing for my struggle with Jake's beast. It just makes for a good story.
I can "waste" XP on that because I no longer feel like we're in a race. We're all pretty good in combat without any specialization, and we can shore up our weak spots relatively cheaply due to the quadratic XP costs. But infiltration is just as important, and social situations are... well, significant.
So actually I don't know whether we're just more comfortable starting fresh, or that the new system mechanically emphasizes something other than combat. Either way, this is great.
If not for the game actually being on the forum, i'd ask for advice related to a Pathfinder character.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
do I wanna know why he's called the rape DruidSomehow I doubt it.
do I wanna know why he's called the rape DruidSomehow I doubt it.
Druids do it like animals.I love this
Rogues do it from behind.
Clerics do it on their knees.
Sorcerers do it spontaneously.
Rangers do it with their pets.
Monks do it with their fists.
Paladins vow never to do it.
I said this in an earlier post, but I'll give you the deeds he's done since he last post as well. He has the tendency to distract enemies by making out with them or groping them (or both). One time a guy got charmed and he just kept going at it until the group fighter kills the guy to "put him out of his misery" (because no one wants to be forced to do stuff like that via charm spell and then be forced to remember that you just unwillingly got raped by a rock man). He also has publicly masturbated, caressed a dwarf who was crying because he had his arm torn off (thanks to my barbarian) while whispering into his ear "shhhhh... It's gonna be ok" (and the player made it sound like a psychopath said it), and tearing off his clothes and rolling around in snow in the middle of a captured fort while the prisoners were watching (he thought he was on fire).do I wanna know why he's called the rape DruidSomehow I doubt it.
Pretty much. There are only two real answers.
ah, alright
[looks around at my entourage of hunky orcs] [hugs them protectively] fantasy racism is bad, scum
Though 3.5 probably did the same thing.
That's really more of a worldbuilding question, then. You can add certain reasons for people to be prejudiced against tieflings in-setting for that. Like being very good conduits for demon summoning (or devil summoning, for that matter) and other fiendish rituals, or just the way they can naturally perform shitty demon pranks on anyone they like, which is ample grounds for being chased out of a village for sure.
I guess you could have stuff like Tieflings always detecting as Evil and being treated as Evil in terms of spell effects, given that the essence of Evil literally runs through them. Even if they're Lawful Good Paladins, which would presumably make 3.5 encounters between tiefling paladins and other paladins rather funny.
That's really more of a worldbuilding question, then. You can add certain reasons for people to be prejudiced against tieflings in-setting for that. Like being very good conduits for demon summoning (or devil summoning, for that matter) and other fiendish rituals, or just the way they can naturally perform shitty demon pranks on anyone they like, which is ample grounds for being chased out of a village for sure.
It just kind of feels like a lost opportunity to have a race with natural dark impulses and inclination towards evil that they have to fight against (though not overwhelming, so a tendency towards Chaotic Neutral).
Yes. We Are For You Now. Yes? You Help Us Now. We Like You. We Help You Later. Yes? We Need Item From The God Monsters. They Stole It. It Was Ours And They Killed Us. We Want It Back. Cup Of Judas They Call It. To Us It Is Chalise Of Ages. Gives Us It. Jaun Vouched For You. DO NOT DISSAPOINT OR IGNORE. -TheOneInTheWell
Feel free to PM me if you want input, I'm fairly familiar with Pathfinder's system and I'm happy to make suggestions.Sent.
big story that could have been prevented with adequate tanks and guns
Apperantly 5e agrees with you and made Tieflings completely unaffected by their devil/demon heritage thus they are just humans with tails. Since heaven forbid that there be some nuance with that race.[rant]I've never liked Tieflings as they are, especially in 4e and 5e. They just don't make a whole lot of sense: I don't really buy your average person being okay with doing business with someone with giant horns and tails. At the same time, making them all having an actual evil tendency runs into the same problem of making all orcs naturally evil, but this is getting into alignment discussion, so I'll stop.
Though 3.5 probably did the same thing.
I thought the Tiefling Paladin that one game had all those effects. Like, a Tiefling racial feat or something?I think you're talking about one of my characters. Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (which I cannot send you a PDF of, so don't PM me and ask me for it, if you understand what I'm saying, wink wink) introduced variants for Tiefling racial traits, like no shadow/reflection, cloven hooves, or the smell of brimstone, which is badass, because it made the idea of a tiefling fresh again. You didn't have to have giant horns, you could just be a normal person who's just a little off. I used it to create a giant buff Tiefling who was mostly normal, but just tweaked a little. It was the first time I'd ever actually enjoyed playing a Tiefling.
Maybe you can homebrew them to be more demon-y or something.
They just don't make a whole lot of sense: I don't really buy your average person being okay with doing business with someone with giant horns and tails.
There are at least 24 solars.
Forgot how long it took to retrain a character. Goodbye, matchstick. Hello Druid. You'll be here for quite a while in in-game time. At least the Paladin/Ranger didn't attend this session. Always went first, and always ended up solo-ing most encounters before anyone else gets to act because everything is Evil and his Favoured Enemy. Also because he paces his shots in a way I don't feel he should be allowed to. After every attack roll, he rolls damage, asks if the damage dealt would kill the enemy, and if so he would switch targets for the next attack roll. I don't feel that that makes sense.
Anyways. Enter cave. Half-Fiend Minotaurs. Then more of them. Then weird Aberration Crab-Spider-Spellcaster things. Nearly ended us because we all stood in a line as they cast lightning bolts on us.
Get to last room. An Elvish looking woman asks us to kill the master of the dungeon so that she doesn't have to keep working for Demons. Says she'll reward us with a single Wish to be shared amongst the whole party if we agree. So we did. And as she is casting the Wish, our Oracle blurts out that he wished that the lady would be Chaotic Good. She was pissed, as it turns out she was a Demon in disguise. And failed her save against the Wish.
Kek.
and Mythic Manyshot
Mythic flat-out breaks action economy once you get an extra Standard action each round for only one use of Mythic Power.
A good DM will find ways around any niche build.
I dunno at a certain point it becomes excessive and silly.
"Ok this enemy is specifically resistant to Arrows and is immune to smite... but not anyone elses abilities"
Paizo is releasingThis will either be incredibly awesome or incredibly dumb. There is virtually no middle ground.Pathfinder In SpaceStarfinder in August 2017. (http://paizo.com/starfinder/)
Why not Coursefinder?
spelljammer 2: electric boogaloo?
Bravo.This guy is a legendary DM. Unforutnatley, despite killing this world's version of Red Skull, the nazis still managed to invade most of the world. If it wasn't for the Orcs joining the humans, dwarves, duregar and gnomes, the elves would have won the war. In the end, a surrender term was given, since the allies couldn't get into the elven lands and the elves were beaten back, and they were that the elves were to keep their lands, their leader, though stepping down, was to go with full pardon, and a few other things I don't remember.
All D&D campaigns should have a fight against Elf Nazi Godling at some point
So there's a new 5e adventure scheduled for September.Runepreist confirmed.
[urlhttp://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/06/03/storm-kings-thunder-explained-video-transcription/]A summary of the announcement.[/url]
It's giant themed, with apparently the potential to become a giant yourself, as well as rune magic becoming an official thing.
The bit that really caught me was what's queued up after - another monster book, with both new monsters and a load of lore on some of the classics apparently, which should be cool :)
My players have just received a quest hook to go explore the ruins of an ancient dwarven outpost called Koganusân.HehehehehehehahahahahahHAHAHAHAHAHA*hack**cough* Hairball.
That's right, motherfuckers. Welcome to Boatmurdered.
This Boatmurdered?I forgot that was mentioned.
I never posted in that thread, but I watched quite a bit of it. Part of why I tried DnD on the forum, actually. Although sadly all games I've been in have died shortly after beginning.This Boatmurdered?-snip-
My second campaign on here is going, but slowly due to how shitty my hours are. I've been getting yelled at by one player to step down as DM, but that's impossible since everything is in my head and not written down.I never posted in that thread, but I watched quite a bit of it. Part of why I tried DnD on the forum, actually. Although sadly all games I've been in have died shortly after beginning.This Boatmurdered?-snip-
Who the fuck.My second campaign on here is going, but slowly due to how shitty my hours are. I've been getting yelled at by one player to step down as DM, but that's impossible since everything is in my head and not written down.I never posted in that thread, but I watched quite a bit of it. Part of why I tried DnD on the forum, actually. Although sadly all games I've been in have died shortly after beginning.This Boatmurdered?-snip-
I'm not able to disclose that without sending hate towards that player's wayWho the fuck.My second campaign on here is going, but slowly due to how shitty my hours are. I've been getting yelled at by one player to step down as DM, but that's impossible since everything is in my head and not written down.I never posted in that thread, but I watched quite a bit of it. Part of why I tried DnD on the forum, actually. Although sadly all games I've been in have died shortly after beginning.This Boatmurdered?-snip-
Kinda the point.I'm not able to disclose that without sending hate towards that player's wayWho the fuck.My second campaign on here is going, but slowly due to how shitty my hours are. I've been getting yelled at by one player to step down as DM, but that's impossible since everything is in my head and not written down.I never posted in that thread, but I watched quite a bit of it. Part of why I tried DnD on the forum, actually. Although sadly all games I've been in have died shortly after beginning.This Boatmurdered?-snip-
I have the correct idea of who the fuck.Who the fuck.My second campaign on here is going, but slowly due to how shitty my hours are. I've been getting yelled at by one player to step down as DM, but that's impossible since everything is in my head and not written down.I never posted in that thread, but I watched quite a bit of it. Part of why I tried DnD on the forum, actually. Although sadly all games I've been in have died shortly after beginning.This Boatmurdered?-snip-
Turns out it wasn't who I thought it was. Nevermind.I have the correct idea of who the fuck.Who the fuck.My second campaign on here is going, but slowly due to how shitty my hours are. I've been getting yelled at by one player to step down as DM, but that's impossible since everything is in my head and not written down.I never posted in that thread, but I watched quite a bit of it. Part of why I tried DnD on the forum, actually. Although sadly all games I've been in have died shortly after beginning.This Boatmurdered?-snip-
Go for the gusto, string him along, have the story work against him and screw him over subtly?
Go for the gusto, string him along, have the story work against him and screw him over subtly?If you guys paid attention, they're fghting a legendary snake that's too strong for them.
I am actually watching the thread, but I'm scared about what we might face if subtle =\= giant snake.Go for the gusto, string him along, have the story work against him and screw him over subtly?If you guys paid attention, they're fghting a legendary snake that's too strong for them.
I think he's gonna have his arrogance screw him over. There's no way he's gonna deal with an altered CR10 "world boss" at level 2
The party got a random d100 roll if they found something along the way to the swamp they're going. They fumbled the roll and got the worse possible thing to come after them, which was the White Serpent, The King of the Giant Woods, Ouroboros. He's pretty much gonna one shot them if they don't book it... I felt bad about it, but it gives them context on why they need to be careful in the Giant Woods
If you guys paid attention, they're fghting a legendary snake that's too strong for them.
I think he's gonna have his arrogance screw him over. There's no way he's gonna deal with an altered CR10 "world boss" at level 2
Might well be worth splitting the encounter tables up into separate events if you're struggling for cards. Would also streamline things a little. Hell, you could even split the shore/shallows/deep up, and dispose of the clear sailing cards entirely - just have them only take effect in the relevant area. Though that would risk some spoilers perhaps (though no more so than having an event for each on the same cards).
DM wants everyone to have an exact copy of their character sheets for him to keep, and for us to make new ones to give to him every session thereafter. So he can adjust the campaign's balance as needed, supposedly.
More likely, he's concerned about cheating. Possibly my fault for constantly changing my mind as to what I want for my character, and it being too much for people to remember. Or he's concerned about people using disallowed materials. Such as pretty much every book for Pathfinder.
A lot of things sound great. How about some LowMagic events as well. Not just monsters and magic.Have you played Sunless Sea? I think you might find some inspiration there.
Not This Guy. He'll happily have his DMPC wipe an encounter by himself. He had a side story all about how this DMPC is destined to destroy an ancient immortal Prismatic Dragon.Most i had for a DMPC was the party's first NPC ally who eventually became guildmaster of the local thieves' guild. It was obvious he was getting absurd amounts of wealth because after some sidetracking, he returned to the party with a lot of magical gear, and went from wearing basic leather armor and common clothes to the best he can possibly get as a 5e rogue and elegant travel clothes.
This is the bad DM/Problem Player I've been complaining about again, and again, and again, and etc.
Seriously though, he'll ban stuff, but still use it for himself. Or without actually checking if it is as broken as he claims.
The only player who is truly overpowered, other than the DMPC, is the Ranger/Paladin. The only other characters that can clear an entire room by themselves are the DMPC and the Wizard/Arcanist if he gets good damage rolls on his Fireball.
The secret is every plot has the same villain and the same PCs, with the villain resetting time whenever the PCs stop them and the PCs only vaguely remembering the previous plot.
I had that as an idea, with a book granting the holder the ability to warp back to the pint they received the book, and then the previous holder, who gave the book to the party, would warn them of the world ending in a set time, and the party member who takes the book would have to pretty much pull Majora's mask and try to figure out everything with just the warning the dying woman gave them. The book also lays a curse on the party member so they cannot be revived if slain (mostly to add more tension and to prevent more context from being given). If you're slain carrying he book, you're returned to the point you got the book but you have twenty seconds to pass it on or the book stop existing.The secret is every plot has the same villain and the same PCs, with the villain resetting time whenever the PCs stop them and the PCs only vaguely remembering the previous plot.
That... actually sounds interesting.
To be honest, not massively.The secret is every plot has the same villain and the same PCs, with the villain resetting time whenever the PCs stop them and the PCs only vaguely remembering the previous plot.
That... actually sounds interesting.
You fail to consider other reasons for why the villain would be restring time, or using a different plan every time, or not just killing the heroes outright, Gig.Such as?
There's a few Vigilante Talents that go well with that. You have to take the Avenger specialization for them though.I managed to find ways to constantly use the bonus damage as a stalker avenger. While I don't get the heavy striker damage that the avenger vigilante gets, I get some nice abilities. Up Close and Personal is probably going to be my main source of damage being level 11. Plus, Twisting Fear is REALLY nasty with that bonus to intimidate Incredible Renown gives you, plus its even more insane when you add social grace to intimidate checks as well.
Fist of the Avenger gives Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat, and adds bonus damage equal to half your level (maximum +5 damage) when using an unarmed attack or attacking with a gauntlet-type weapon. Another Talent, Sucker Punch, adds an additional 1d6 when attacking nonlethally, and adds another 1d6 at levels 6, 12, and 18.
Lethal Grace is also good. Can be taken by any Vigilante, and adds half your level to damage when using Weapon Finesse with a melee weapon, so long as you are using Dexterity for your to-hit chance and your Strength for damage. Paizo seems to want to reel in Dex-to-damage a bit.
Vigilante is cool, though it takes a certain type of campaign to really get much use out of the social abilities. Plus some people complain about how your Renown works. Even an Evil Socialite/Vigilante is still beloved in their area of renown, which some people dislike. Or how a Social Identity can be an absolute nobody, but still famous somehow.
The Brute is pretty cool, but having a poor Will save on an archetype that requires the save in order to not attack your allies was a terrible design choice. Especially with a relatively high DC of 20 plus your Vigilante level.I find it interesting to note though how intimidate is one of their primary skills that they use, because it normally does get overlooked. Why do it when you can drop a fear spell? And there are a few things that are immune to fear effects, so it can potentially cripple their appearance abilities.
The Gunslinger archetype isn't even as good as the actual Gunslinger is. Sidenote, the Maverick archetype for Gunslinger introduced in the same book ain't bad.
The one with the animal companion is just funny, since your pet has a secret identity, too. Your animal cannot benefit from the quick-change abilities, either.
The Cabalist is alright, for a blood-mage-type character, though I would just merge it and the Warlock, since they share a handful of abilities and a spell-list/casting stat. Just choose whether you'd want the bleed damage or the rather terrible Mystic Bolts. The playtest had much better scaling, with you getting 1d6 plus your level, rather than 1d6 plus one-fifth your level.
The Magical Child archetype is very meh. Good concept, but the Summoner spell list isn't great. I'd choose any other 0-6 caster than the Summoner. Though the familiar's ability to shift between different Improved Familiars is really neat. The DM said that Magical Children should get Sorcerer spellcasting abilities, and do in his games, since he really wants to play one. And I am surprised to be able to say that the Magical Girl trope has already been done in Pathfinder before, in the Chosen One (http://archivesofnethys.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Paladin%20Chosen%20One) Paladin archetype. I find that hilarious.
Wildsoul is a cool concept that allows you to impersonate some memorable superheroes, but the abilities just come online too late for the arachnid and the ursine. Poor Bear-man, always ignored.
And Zealot's a sort of Paladin/Inquisitor, without as many alignment restrictions. I haven't any complaints about it.
I don't think I understand. Via Libris Mortis you were a vampire, but it was basically a prestige class you were forced to advance. I think the "forced to advance" part was detrimental, players should have had a choice, but eh.https://1d4chan.org/wiki/vampire#Vampires_in_4E
What's it like in 4e? The default vampire template in 3.5e grants some extreme bonuses, so it had to cost a few levels to be at all balanced.
Ohh so Libris Mortis used the broken Savage Species system... That couldn't have been good.Savage Species isn't the sort of content you bring to a serious game. It's nacho cheese. You don't bring nacho cheese to a nice classy dinner with your SO's friends, you bring it to watch the game with the guys. You bring brie, or a nice camembert. But, if you bring fancy cheese to the Superbowl party, you're going to get strange looks.
CREATING VAMPIRE SPAWN
A living humanoid slain by a vampire lord’s blood drain power rises as a vampire spawn of its level at sunset on the following day. This rise can be prevented by burning the body or severing its head.
A living humanoid reduced to 0 hit points or fewer—but not killed—by a vampire lord can’t be healed and remains in a deep, deathlike coma. He or she dies at sunset of the next day, rising as a vampire spawn. A Remove Affliction ritual cast before the afflicted creature dies prevents death and makes normal healing possible.
DARK GIFT OF THE UNDYING
In the unholy name of Orcus, the Blood Lord, you transform another being into a vampiric creature of the night.
Level: 11 (caster must be a vampire lord)
Category: Creation
Time: 6 hours; see text
Duration: Permanent
Component Cost: 5,000 gp per level of the subject
Market Price: 75,000 gp
Key Skill: Religion
This ritual can be performed only between sunset and sunrise. As part of the ritual, you and the ritual’s subject must drink a small amount of each other’s blood, after which the subject dies and is ritually buried in unhallowed ground. After the interment, you invoke a prayer to Orcus and ask him to bestow the Dark Gift upon the subject. At the conclusion of the ritual, the subject remains buried, rising up out of its shallow grave as a vampire lord at sunset on the following day. (See the Dungeon Master’s Guide, page 181, for rules on creating new vampire lords.) This ritual is ruined if a Raise Dead ritual is cast on the subject or if the subject is beheaded before rising as a vampire lord.
Performing the ritual leaves you weakened for 1d10 days (no save).
I'd imagine that a Vampire would be immune to vampirism.I thought it was a shot at Revenants and Shifters?
Similar note, Pathfinder will be getting a horror book, aptly named Horror Adventures, some time after July. It will be revamping lycanthropes, vampires, and other creatures of the dark, as well as ways for a character to willingly become one. It will also include new rules for sanity and madness, which are fairly lacking as-is. There is also the usual collection of class archetypes, items, and spells, which will also be horror themed.
It will be interesting to see how that will turn out. Especially since I thought that Paizo's answer to playable vampires and were-beasts were the Dhampir and Skinwalker races.
Well, long story short, it doesn't work that way in 4e. There are two ways to create a vampire: creating a vampire spawn or preforming something called the Dark Gift of the Undying, which is easily the stupidest name for a dark ritual that I've ever heard. There's no disease of vampirism, and no way to 'contract' it. Frankly, I don't much like that system, it lacks drama and is clearly setup for set-pieces instead of emergent storytelling.We had a player who was a warlock in one of our games, and there was the opportunity to deal with a vampire lord. He wanted to contact vampirism the whole time, but we never got that far (at least, I didn't because I had to leave to go to rehab) but the DM allowed it.QuoteCREATING VAMPIRE SPAWN
A living humanoid slain by a vampire lord’s blood drain power rises as a vampire spawn of its level at sunset on the following day. This rise can be prevented by burning the body or severing its head.
A living humanoid reduced to 0 hit points or fewer—but not killed—by a vampire lord can’t be healed and remains in a deep, deathlike coma. He or she dies at sunset of the next day, rising as a vampire spawn. A Remove Affliction ritual cast before the afflicted creature dies prevents death and makes normal healing possible.QuoteDARK GIFT OF THE UNDYING
In the unholy name of Orcus, the Blood Lord, you transform another being into a vampiric creature of the night.
Level: 11 (caster must be a vampire lord)
Category: Creation
Time: 6 hours; see text
Duration: Permanent
Component Cost: 5,000 gp per level of the subject
Market Price: 75,000 gp
Key Skill: Religion
This ritual can be performed only between sunset and sunrise. As part of the ritual, you and the ritual’s subject must drink a small amount of each other’s blood, after which the subject dies and is ritually buried in unhallowed ground. After the interment, you invoke a prayer to Orcus and ask him to bestow the Dark Gift upon the subject. At the conclusion of the ritual, the subject remains buried, rising up out of its shallow grave as a vampire lord at sunset on the following day. (See the Dungeon Master’s Guide, page 181, for rules on creating new vampire lords.) This ritual is ruined if a Raise Dead ritual is cast on the subject or if the subject is beheaded before rising as a vampire lord.
Performing the ritual leaves you weakened for 1d10 days (no save).
I thought it was a shot at Revenants and Shifters?
Horror Adventures includes:
- Corruptions that can turn your character into a monster, from a blood-drinking vampire to a savage werewolf. The only cost is your very soul!
- Character options to help heroes face the forces of darkness, including horror-themed archetypes, feats, spells, and more!
- Rules for sanity and madness, giving you all the tools you need to drive your characters to the brink and beyond.
- Tips and tools for running a scary game, along with expanded rules for curses, diseases, haunts, and fleshwarping to bring your nightmares to life.
- New templates to turn your monsters into truly terrifying foes, from creatures made from living wax to the stalker that cannot be stopped!
- …and much, much more!
The powergamer in my just sat up, and leaned into take a closer look. He likes free power boosts.QuoteCorruptions that can turn your character into a monster, from a blood-drinking vampire to a savage werewolf. The only cost is your very soul!
Funny note, Werebears are Lawful Good. The only Good lycanthropes. I can't imagine how it works when the full moon is out, and you lose control over your character.
Werebears in humanoid form tend to be stout, well-muscled, and hairy. Their brown hair is thick, and males usually wear beards. They may have reddish, blond, ivory, or black hair, matching the color of their ursine form. They dress in simple cloth and leather garments that are easy to remove, repair, or replace. In their animal form, werebears are moody and grumpy. They desire only their own company and seek out evil creatures to slay.
Werebears are powerful lycanthropes with the ability to temper their monstrous natures and reject their violent impulses. In humanoid form, they are large, muscular, and covered in hair matching the color of their ursine form's fur. A were bear is a loner by nature, fearing what might happen to innocent creatures around it when its bestial nature takes over.
When a werebear transforms, it grows to enormous size, lashing out with weapons or claws. It fights with the ferocity of a bear, though even in its bestial forms, it avoids biting so as to not pass on its curse. Typically, a were bear passes on its lycanthropy only to chosen companions or apprentices, spending the time that follows helping the new lycanthrope accept the curse in order to control it.
Solitary creatures, werebears act as wardens over their territory, protecting flora and fauna alike from humanoid or monstrous intrusion. Though most werebears are of good alignment, some are every bit as evil as other lycanthropes.
In their humanoid forms, werebears tend to be muscular and broad-shouldered, with stark facial features and dark eyes. Their hair is usually red, brown, or black, and they look like they are used to a lifetime of hard work. Though by far the most benign of common lycanthropes, werebears are shunned by most normal folk, who fear and mistrust their animal transformations. Most live as recluses in forested areas or in small family units among their own kind. They avoid confrontations with strangers but do not hesitate to drive evil humanoids out of their territory.
Some werebears are angry and violent, because of either temperament or a lifetime of harassment from others, and these mean ones aren’t afraid to put an axe in a trespasser’s face or eat someone who pushes them too far. Cool-headed werebears don’t like to speak of these individuals with strangers.
Even more so than werebear-kin, werebears are natural protectors of the wilderness, and they often associate closely with druids and clerics of nature deities. Although they prefer solitude even more than werebear-kin do, they feel compelled to ensure others benefit from their guidance and magic. Werebears are loners much of the time, but often form small, temporary family units when rearing children. Werebears generally think of all their kin as family, including werebear-kin, and most keep in touch with all family members for security and to share their experiences.
Werebears normally avoid adventure, so adventurers of this species tend to break the mold in more than one way.
Most often, they are restless wanderers who think of the world as their home or failed guardians who survived the destruction of their homes and seek a new purpose or atonement for failure. Others seek out rival lycanthropes in an attempt to reform and support them or, failing that, end the threat they pose to humanity and nature alike.
Wow, the release of Exalted 3rd edition really snuck its way out there fast.Looking at it, it is possibly the most expensive new RPG book I've seen (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/162759/Exalted-3rd-Edition), and quite massive, weighing in at 659 pages, just look at this thing:
Funny note, Werebears are Lawful Good. The only Good lycanthropes. I can't imagine how it works when the full moon is out, and you lose control over your character.
Similarly, Wereboars are Chaotic Neutral. Every other lycanthrope is some shade of Evil.
Gorgeous, just beautiful. Orphans are overused in D&D but you sold me when you used the term 'grassroots.' Bravo sir.Funny note, Werebears are Lawful Good. The only Good lycanthropes. I can't imagine how it works when the full moon is out, and you lose control over your character.
Similarly, Wereboars are Chaotic Neutral. Every other lycanthrope is some shade of Evil.
A man wakes up on the leafen forest floor, naked and dew covered and shivering from the cold. With no memory of how he git there he fears for the worst, thinking of his near and dear and what he might've done to them, envisioning in his head one dreaded scenario after another, each more twisting of his guts with horror than the last. He slowly finds his way back to the town where he lives, hurrying to his house through the back alleys and unseen places, only to find out when he gets there that the truth was worse than his even wildest imaginations.
During the night, had had not only turned his house into a nonprofit orphanage-school for homeless children, but also started and organized a grassroots neighbourhood association of volounteers with the goal of person-level improvement and beautification of the town environment.
His hope faltered. The shame. The shame.
Gorgeous, just beautiful. Orphans are overused in D&D but you sold me when you used the term 'grassroots.' Bravo sir.
The fucking taxi driver (and the other guy riding shotgun) are... I'm going to guess, fucking hunters.Hunters, as in "Hunter: The Vigil" kind of hunters?
Seriously, why don't people here GM WoD games? >_>Because no GM wants to keep up with all the scheming, rules, and fishmalks.
Same with shadowrun. It seems not many people want to run it. I tried getting a group together, but we got nothing but players and a GM who didn't know what he was doing.
Its sad, really
Ehh, a bit of Battletech's problem is that it can very quickly become an expensive hobby (right about the time that players decide they need the nice pewter 'mechs instead of cutouts.) And making maps is serious overhead for people who just want to game on the weekends or something.
Seriously, why don't people here GM WoD games? >_>
I'd give WoD another shot if I didn't have to vomit hours of plot and meta-plot built into the game to new players before we even do character gen.
Firstly, I've never GM'd anything. Secondly, I have absolutely no experience with WoD (unless Vampire the Masquerades: Bloodlines counts).Seriously, why don't people here GM WoD games? >_>
They do every now and then. There's two kinds.
First, the play-by-post kind that runs for 1-5 updates and immediately collapses under its own prose.
Second, somewhat rarer actual ones, of which the only one I've personally witnessed is Fniff's rather splendid 19th century Ireland game.
Beyond that you could always start your own. I'd be into more WoD at the very least, and rules-light stuff tends to be relatively simple to GM.
Going to be 100% honest and say that if we ran Genius: The Transgression on the forum I wouldn't hesitate to join.
Then they get put into the same bin as the fishmalks.Going to be 100% honest and say that if we ran Genius: The Transgression on the forum I wouldn't hesitate to join.
It would probably break down as EVERYONE would want to play Rick.
I have a confession to make.Tell your group and find out what they remember beforehand.
I had to find a new place to live, and somehow I've managed to lose my campaign notes. My party isn't meeting for 2 more days so I have some more time to find them, and worst comes to worst I think I can reconstruct enough to get through an evening, but I feel like a really crappy GM. Argh moving. >:(
You're assuming Shadowrunners have a choice. You get a dragon telling you you're going to do a job or else, you damned well do the job and screw the consequences.If it's a Mr Johnson, generally, turning down a job isn't as bad as getting caked up to Sadr Kruup (I butchered that) HQ and getting the job right from one of the higher ups. I doubt, in any case, the dragons themselves would offer it. They're usually too busy being a dragon to worry about stuff like that...
I can't speak for Pathfinder, but in 3rd and 3.5 firearms were positively overwhelming, only high-level magic outperformed them. So (unless Pathfinder handles it differently) firearms will probably be the staple weapons of the setting.They're really good. The only reason why my vigilante uses swords is a story reason. Even then, he has revolvers.
Asking here because I can't be bothered to dig up the Tabletop Games thread (and they usually seem to be focused on non-D&D/Pathfinder games anyway.)Ooooooh boy. This looks fun. </nonrelevant>
I'm going to start up a Pathfinder PbP game here for the first time, and my first tabletop game play-by-post in quite a while; I've taken the time to see what went wrong with most of my other games (mostly a paper-thin plot and running about a thousand games at once giving me no motivation to advance the game), and I've put a lot of thought into this one to avoid those mistakes.
But anyway, my question is: I've taken inspiration from fiction set in the late 1800s, and the setting I've written is probably best described as steampunk,except with magic instead of steamwith magic on the side. Because of this setting, I need to know; do the Advanced Firearms rules shatter the balance? I can see that they shift the balance toward guns to some degree, but I can't quite tell how much. I honestly don't mind it if the players ditch swords for guns--it makes sense in such a setting, after all--but I want to know to what degree they'll replace the more traditional weapons.
Bumping this because its already starting to get lost in the D&D talks (and it will get swallowed by the WOD people before sunrise my time...). I really do want to at least try and see if we can get a one off to get going. I know people are interested in PLAYING, but not many people know how to run it.You're assuming Shadowrunners have a choice. You get a dragon telling you you're going to do a job or else, you damned well do the job and screw the consequences.If it's a Mr Johnson, generally, turning down a job isn't as bad as getting caked up to Sadr Kruup (I butchered that) HQ and getting the job right from one of the higher ups. I doubt, in any case, the dragons themselves would offer it. They're usually too busy being a dragon to worry about stuff like that...
Just a thought, would anyone want to run a shadowrun game at all, even if it's a one off to just show how the game is played? I have almost all of the books for the previous edition, and I really wanted to try it, but the only person who would have been able to show me anything stopped being my friend when he did something I'm not willing to repeat...
Shadowrun sounds really cool.Join the club.
If you do start a thing, I'm interested, although I would be a complete n00b.
I tried making a character and I ended up making a drug addict Technomancer who carries a pair of... Either machine pistols or some sort of light SMG that he dual wielded with a shotgun that he hardly used, and he always hoped to god he hit something. He was hooked on BTLs (ironically), lives in a little better than dingy apartment, and his safehouse was a cellar on his ex's property. Guy had some decent stats, but other than his gear, most of his money was devoted to buying BTLs (I literally got the minimum for things I needed and bought as many BTLs as I could. Needless to say, I bought a lot), since he was REALLY hooked on them. He also pissed off a few dealers because he's USUALLY broke, so he had a few enemies right off the bat...
Never got to use him and I'm pretty sure I lost the sheet
It's pretty impressive if you were a more stoned version of biker. He's already on acid or something in the first with the funky colors and he's plastered in the second game when you meet himI tried making a character and I ended up making a drug addict Technomancer who carries a pair of... Either machine pistols or some sort of light SMG that he dual wielded with a shotgun that he hardly used, and he always hoped to god he hit something. He was hooked on BTLs (ironically), lives in a little better than dingy apartment, and his safehouse was a cellar on his ex's property. Guy had some decent stats, but other than his gear, most of his money was devoted to buying BTLs (I literally got the minimum for things I needed and bought as many BTLs as I could. Needless to say, I bought a lot), since he was REALLY hooked on them. He also pissed off a few dealers because he's USUALLY broke, so he had a few enemies right off the bat...
Never got to use him and I'm pretty sure I lost the sheet
Ah, reminds me of my only Shadowrun game (5th edition if I recall correctly). Played a street samurai with augmented muscles, a combat axe and a lot of edge, ran him like a more stoned version of the Biker from Hotline Miami (with even better results). Those were good times.
Shadowrun is really fun. I'd certainly love to play again if someone runs a game in a good timeslot.
I can provide insight here. I'll throw down a quick pros and cons list.Roll20 has it on their list of things you can have on it. I have a game on there that I probably won't try and run for a long while. I got one gym leader, and two or three of his team done. Its a loooong process, but the automated stuff makes it a liiiitle easier
Pros
- Most, if not all Pokémon are viable and to some extent unique. Given some love, even Bidoof can shine.
- A wide variety of trainer archetypes are available to play as, mostly in the vein of Trainer Archetypes, Support/Crafter Archetypes, and Direct Combat Archetypes. If you really want to, you can throw a punch or a draw a knife on anyone.
- Lots of different ways to run it campaign wise. It's got splat books to cover the past, present, and future. It also has support for treatment of Legendary Pokémon, be they forces of nature or gods on earth.
- There is a relative in-game balance as far as how strong certain strategies are. While imperfect, it does a good job of regulating itself outside of a few outliers. (EX. Early game Technician Meowths are monsters at doing damage.)
- As far as systems go, it's pretty open to homebrew and fakemons. If dedicated, it wouldn't take too much work to splice elements from other games and insert them into a campaign.
Cons
- Number crunchy as shit. However, if you enjoy tossing out big numbers, by all means! (Google Sheets can help out with this by the way. Certain fantastic members of the community have made it much easier to actually build a functioning sheet. I can provide an example of one if necessary.)
- Battles can take a long time if you're not used to them. For the love all things holy, be prepared to have a cheat sheet on you.
- Rules can be a bit finicky in some places until you're used to them. This contributes to the point up above.
- EXP can also a persnickety bitch as far as awarding too much or too little goes.
- Having a lot players isn't really an option. Things tend to slow down to the pace of molasses if you have more than four players, especially if you're a newer GM.
Beyond that, if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them.
I pulled a kratos on what I thought was my DM's attempt at a shoggoth, but it seems to just be some watcher in the water stuff. I crit a strength check when it tried to devour me while I was size large (he was gargantuan) and I tried to pry his mouth open and hold it open so my allies can kill it. Instead, I SNAP ITS JAW AND ON MY NEXT TURN, PROCEED TO DO A SECOND CRIT, KILLING THE MONSTER AND RIPPING ITS HEAD OFF AND FLINGING IT INTO A WALL, splattering eldritch blood and gore everywhere. I took an eyeball as a trophy, which is as big as my torso, and I'm a 5'11" barbarian shifter normally.
We then got to work and found this lady who we were supposed to report to, and she proceeds to use some sort of ability to make the rape-Druid paranoid of everyone but her, and the entire time, to disguise my voice, I make it sound raspy and under a helmet (which I hated). I discern that she's not an elf like she looks, because she has nothing inside her mouth; no teeth, no tongue, no no flesh, nothing. We head to the keep, since we have to get audience with the king (who we are trying to kill so his son can take over and the Order of Leon be ousted from the city) and she proceeds to interrogate us. Cliff, my barbarian, gets upset at the lack of hospitality after about a dozen questions and says that the party is hurting, smelly (we were in a sewer and I was jumping on the horror that used sewage as a second layer of skin), hungry and tired, as this was closing in on the evening and we fought an entire war in about a week and took about 5 rests during our crusade. She proceeds to try and deny she's an elf and, despite criting on her deception check, it doesn't work if you know the truth. I grab her, and due to how strong my character is, he ends up CRACKING HER FACE SOMEHOW. Our wizard casts mending, and apologized for me, and she comes out and says she's the equivalent of an android. Rape-Druid proceeds to try and seduce her and she hands him a shard of her face, which is porcelain (he's a Genasi and he has a dick that's, literally, solid stone). He just goes batty for her the rest of the time and we're invited to eat finally, and we are given the chance to eat with the king, and we do, despite stinking of sewage (the 15-16 year old NPC rogue wasn't too thrilled about going into the sewers). We find out the porcelain lady's sister, who's more of a warrior than an "entertainer" like the one we dealt with. We find out they represent the Order of Leon (whom my character hates with a passion) and I try reaaaally hard not to smash them both.
Session ended with a bath and a long rest. Thankfully, despite the rape-Druid telling everyone about our exploits against this King, we're still managing to keep a low profile. I'm expecting a bloodbath at some point where I go hulk by downing a giant strength potion, shifting, raging and my party wizard casting enlarge person on me, and just ripping everyone apart with my axe. Mostly because the consensus is the people follow their leader, and the King likes the order.
Considering last session, I soloed three low inquisitors (second or third lowest rank, but pretty much the corporals of their army) and did it hotline Miami style by booting in the door and just insta-killing one of them, they have something to fear for once. My goal for once the king is dealt with is to rout or kill any order in the area, driving them out of the region. I've already killed one of their higher ranking soldiers (a high inquisitor, which for context, is a custom paladin that is the lowest of their elite soldier units and in a 1v1 fight with a level 4 barbarian, the barb almost died in 3 turns while raging... I needed backup, but with backup, they're like a mini boss) I'm pretty sure we can send them packing.
Stone =/= sand you fool
AHHH! The rules for Battletech is so dense!Which version?
How the freeken heck will I ever create a game for this?
AHHH! The rules for Battletech is so dense!Which version?
How the freeken heck will I ever create a game for this?
Basic, Extended, Starships or RPG?AHHH! The rules for Battletech is so dense!Which version?
How the freeken heck will I ever create a game for this?
The new one.
I've all but given up at this point.
Extended AND StarshipWhat problems are you having?
The RPG rules sure would be nice... if they were compatible with the actual game... Which I honestly have no idea why they aren't.
Extended AND StarshipWhat problems are you having?
The RPG rules sure would be nice... if they were compatible with the actual game... Which I honestly have no idea why they aren't.
Extended AND StarshipWhat problems are you having?
The RPG rules sure would be nice... if they were compatible with the actual game... Which I honestly have no idea why they aren't.
Just priming it for an actual game. Especially since the rules are all over the place.
For example... hypothetically... How much does it cost to create a base of operations?
How much does it cost to train and field megasaur riders? (as they don't seem to give a cost for them)
Heck how do I get the HP of creatures?
There are rules on infantry and their equipment such as armor... But there is a second set of rules that aren't as stringent (for example for a flat fee I can apply armor to a troop)
(Also I am aware that beast riding troops are usually locales as the cost to transport animals is usually FAR greater then their actual usefulness. Though I am surprised they didn't list the dinosaur stats... I'd think they would be one of the prime types)
Consider: all of that, but there's no sacrifice or anything. The villagers just have way too much stuff and incredible generosity.
Alternatively, a village that only tries to be nice with over-bearing hospitality could be interesting. Shower the party with gifts in a bid to never let them leave. Roll out the red carpet. Praise them for heroic deeds they never did. Offer them wives and fine feasting, fattening them for the great Sun Ceremony where they shall ascend like Gods into the sky upon chariots of fire!
Wrong thread?Very wrong thread. Whoops
Rolan, that campaign is like a train wreck of infinitely long trains and every train is loaded with a mix of horror, badassery and idiocy and the lady from futurama is reporting live and cackling unendingly.yes
3. Don't use a DM NPC. I know it's tempting to have an awesomely powerful NPC that helps the characters with their quests. Don't. Just don't. Anything helpful or useful to the players should either be in the form of loot, weak NPCs that would die to a single strike of the fighter's blade, or vaguely helpful NPCs that end up causing the players more trouble than it's worth.
Is there ever a place for DM PCs or are they just universally awful?1) If you have a small group/ never get to play and just play him like a regular PC. Be careful though
3. Don't use a DM NPC.
Is there ever a place for DM NPCs or are they just universally awful?
That method screws up the process of awarding experience, though. I use the Pathfinder experience tables to award XP based on the CR of the encounter or trap, with my players aware that some optional challenges will award experience higher than average for higher CR monsters. I agree it's a flawed system in that a CR 10 Wizard is vastly more challenging than a CR 10 Commoner, but overall it's a decent rule of thumb, especially for pregenerated monsters. Their AC, hit points and saves are usually within the reasonable range for a party of the appropriate level, with only NPC character classes being outliers depending on the DM's investment into their customisation.
How does one "find out a CR" for PF?
Huge D&D monsters are really, really tiny.
I was considering the size of Monster Hunter monsters (http://www.capcom-unity.com/dubindoh/blog/2014/12/05/mh4u-infographics-highlight-how-big-the-monsters-really-are) and thinking about how large they'd be in a D&D game when I realized that in D&D the maximum size for a creature, Colossal, is 30 feet by 30 feet. D&D ancient wyrm dragons are half as long as a steam locomotive. This is not right. Taking a closer look, a lot of stuff is really, really off; D&D tyrannosauruses should be over twice as long, going by one of the graphics in the linked page, seeing as in D&D they're a mere 15 feet long for some reason.
This is probably just for gameplay--it can't be easy fitting a 12-inch-by-12-inch miniature onto your tabletop--but it doesn't seem right that the Tarrasque is smaller than a train car.
E: It's especially weird considering D&D dungeons are designed with excessively large rooms in mind. Nobody in D&D builds a normal-sized room, they're all like fifty feet by forty feet because a 10x10 room is too small for a fight.
what about jhen mohran
As for the T-Rex... Given that they take up a 15ft square and have a 10ft reach... Nope it is all fine.Hm. I didn't think of factoring in reach. Factoring it in both ways... I guess that's about right. Gives the T-rex 35 feet of reach, and I'd be willing to bump it up a size category or so for bigger ones. I suppose that puts great wyrm red, silver, and gold dragons in a better position (~70 feet).
I'd still have to invent a size category if I were to put the Mohrans or Dalamadur in,
After a certain point of size, your players shouldn't really be able to damage them.
Oh, you stabbed the island sized turtle in the fin? Congrats, your sword sank up to the hilt and gave it the equivalent of a mosquito bite. It might even have noticed.
Yeah I don't know why it is about mic sessions but where by text I give a lot of description...3-4 years ago I only knew text RP. But I've adjusted to voice. Recently I tried to show a friend NWoD and was stymied because I couldn't convey via text like I used to. It felt awkward, just as voice chat felt incredibly awkward at first.
By voice I skip a lot of it... To admit a LOT of it is nervousness and I end up skipping details I wrote long in advance.
If he's based off of the Mule, why not make him a court jester instead?
If he's based off of the Mule, why not make him a court jester instead?Well, it's harder for a jester to manipulate the party than a wise old wizard :V
Well, it's harder for a jester to manipulate the party than a wise old wizard :V
I'd have to go all the way and frame the king as evil from the start, which is eh. I sort of want to hint at a conspiracy for a little bit before I reveal even a "fake" villain.
If he's based off of the Mule, why not make him a court jester instead?Well, it's harder for a jester to manipulate the party than a wise old wizard :V
Why not have the court wizard and the jester be the same person? I mean wizards can specialize in things that aren't evocation. A grand illusionist could make for a pretty impressive arch-villain due to the sheer level of mind-buggery that he could get up to.
Now where did I see this before? Ohh right :P Quest for Glory
Why not have the court wizard and the jester be the same person? I mean wizards can specialize in things that aren't evocation. A grand illusionist could make for a pretty impressive arch-villain due to the sheer level of mind-buggery that he could get up to.Well, the idea of being a jester is that it makes the villain someone who escapes notice. If magic is prevalent enough that an illusionist wizard fits that description, that's fine, though wizards are known to be smart, so he probably can't easily play the part of the (in this case, literal) fool.
What if the jester is an illusion? Or a simulacrum or something. I guess at that point there's no reason for them to specifically be a jester except that one might be fun to have around. (any maybe a literally disposable jester could do ridiculous Evel Knievel capers? I dunno.)Why not have the court wizard and the jester be the same person? I mean wizards can specialize in things that aren't evocation. A grand illusionist could make for a pretty impressive arch-villain due to the sheer level of mind-buggery that he could get up to.Well, the idea of being a jester is that it makes the villain someone who escapes notice. If magic is prevalent enough that an illusionist wizard fits that description, that's fine, though wizards are known to be smart, so he probably can't easily play the part of the (in this case, literal) fool.
Unless you're saying he should be a secret illusionist? Because, yeah, when I said he should maybe he should be a court jester, I didn't mean he should put all his levels in some sort of jester class or something. He could easily be a wizard disguised as a jester, because, as far as I know (I'm almost certain someone will correct me on this) there isn't anything in D&D that will easily reveal someone as a magic user if they aren't actively casting spells.I think in some editions a cleric or paladin will have a strong aura of their god's alignment, but I don't think magic users are intrinsically obvious in D&D, no. As long as they leave their spellbooks and items of phenomenal cosmic power at home, anyway.
Eh, having a not-Evil antagonist doesn't seem that great of an idea for my first campaign :P Evil antagonists are safe, because at the end of the day you can still smash their face, no matter how the adventure goes.Well, it's harder for a jester to manipulate the party than a wise old wizard :V
I'd have to go all the way and frame the king as evil from the start, which is eh. I sort of want to hint at a conspiracy for a little bit before I reveal even a "fake" villain.
You could have the villains not be Evil. Maybe the wise old wizard is actually Chaotic Good. It's just that he really wants to become a god to do more good in the world. And then you can pile up evidence about his secret ambitions to become a god that he feels incredibly awkward and suspicious talking about because he has had experience with that very conversation.
EDIT: Better yet, have the king cover for him with stuff like "nonsense, this man has been my trusted loyal friend since you were but a gleam in your father's eye - I trust completely in his good intentions" when the players try to push him on it with dire warnings when the wizard's goal becomes clear to the party. Have the king be neutral. And maybe let the players eventually sway him into turning on his old friend when the evidence starts to pile up, at which point the wizard presumably makes a dramatic escape.
"basically Gandalf" was what I was tending to anyway. But that sort of jester seems like it would lean pretty close to some sort of spymaster, which then is a pretty obvious villain candiate.If he's based off of the Mule, why not make him a court jester instead?Well, it's harder for a jester to manipulate the party than a wise old wizard :V
I dunno, a jester could be both surprisingly well-informed and harmless. If you played up the comedy a little without getting on the player's nerves, he could come across as just this friendly, harmless guy who works really closely with the king. That gives him a good excuse to now all the juicy rumors, and if you can get across the idea that a jester exists to be helpful foil to the king they might believe he's trying to do good by the kingdom in ways a regular courtier couldn't. Basically the total opposite of the classic vizier, power behind the throne wizard.
Another alternative is to make him basically Merlin, Gandalf, or Dumbledore. If he's goofy and supportive, it might be less obvious he's going to stab you in the back while sucking on a werther's original.
the entire idea for the campaign is various ideas ripped from various places stitched together. i stole the plan of the antagonist from fullmetal alchemist.Why not have the court wizard and the jester be the same person? I mean wizards can specialize in things that aren't evocation. A grand illusionist could make for a pretty impressive arch-villain due to the sheer level of mind-buggery that he could get up to.Now where did I see this before? Ohh right :P Quest for Glory
but then again, the easiest idea seems to be to just make him a wizard outright. he doesn't even have to use magic, just dress like a wizard and have people refer to him as a wizard (e.g. gandalf for the first half of lotr), and friendly mentor wizard is a trope my players are probably familiar with.Why not have the court wizard and the jester be the same person? I mean wizards can specialize in things that aren't evocation. A grand illusionist could make for a pretty impressive arch-villain due to the sheer level of mind-buggery that he could get up to.Well, the idea of being a jester is that it makes the villain someone who escapes notice. If magic is prevalent enough that an illusionist wizard fits that description, that's fine, though wizards are known to be smart, so he probably can't easily play the part of the (in this case, literal) fool.
Unless you're saying he should be a secret illusionist? Because, yeah, when I said he should maybe he should be a court jester, I didn't mean he should put all his levels in some sort of jester class or something. He could easily be a wizard disguised as a jester, because, as far as I know (I'm almost certain someone will correct me on this) there isn't anything in D&D that will easily reveal someone as a magic user if they aren't actively casting spells.
this is probably going too deep. i don't need *that* many layers of "all according to keikaku" in my campaign :vWhat if the jester is an illusion? Or a simulacrum or something. I guess at that point there's no reason for them to specifically be a jester except that one might be fun to have around. (any maybe a literally disposable jester could do ridiculous Evel Knievel capers? I dunno.)Why not have the court wizard and the jester be the same person? I mean wizards can specialize in things that aren't evocation. A grand illusionist could make for a pretty impressive arch-villain due to the sheer level of mind-buggery that he could get up to.Well, the idea of being a jester is that it makes the villain someone who escapes notice. If magic is prevalent enough that an illusionist wizard fits that description, that's fine, though wizards are known to be smart, so he probably can't easily play the part of the (in this case, literal) fool.
QuoteWhat if the jester is an illusion? Or a simulacrum or something. I guess at that point there's no reason for them to specifically be a jester except that one might be fun to have around. (any maybe a literally disposable jester could do ridiculous Evel Knievel capers? I dunno.)this is probably going too deep. i don't need *that* many layers of "all according to keikaku" in my campaign :v
When DMing I always make sure to have a reason prepared for a doppelganger to infiltrate any of the major organisations just in case I get caught short :PQuoteWhat if the jester is an illusion? Or a simulacrum or something. I guess at that point there's no reason for them to specifically be a jester except that one might be fun to have around. (any maybe a literally disposable jester could do ridiculous Evel Knievel capers? I dunno.)this is probably going too deep. i don't need *that* many layers of "all according to keikaku" in my campaign :v
Nonsense! there's always room for more keikaku. When in doubt, make the dog the mastermind.
Everyone but the player characters are doppelgangers, and the culmination of the adventure is that they too are in fact doppelgangers.
...I'd have had a blast if those were my players in that game. Actually having a plan other than 'roll for initiative and hit it until it stops moving' would be a refreshing change.
So, in summary, not the most competent.
Everyone but the player characters are doppelgangers, and the culmination of the adventure is that they too are in fact doppelgangers.Y'know, I reckon this could actually work pretty well. A doppelganger prison in which they're mindwiped to believe they're their current forms. Shit starts to get muddled up with different guards playing different parts and slowly cluing the party in to everyone else being doppelgangers before the big reveal. Bonus points if you can get them to kill anyone who tries to help them escape out of sheer paranoia.
He also mentioned wanting everyone to take a turn DMing, every once in a while. Another thing I've never done, and wouldn't know where to start. Creating an entire world would be the hardest part, probably. I have a bunch of random DF stories I could convert, I guess. My Necromayor is still my favourite DF mishap, and would be pretty easy to turn into a side-story.My D&D group does this. The most important things are having good communication and being able to accept the things other DMs add to the world (or at least reach some kind of consensus). Some problems are that there might be some differences in how different DMs run things (you'll probably agree on some kind of houserules, but there will always be differences at least in how different DMs make rulings), you might be tempted to change some things another DM added on your turn (but you have to remember that, even though you're the one currently running it, it's not just your game or setting. You should confer with the other DM before changing it), and timing (other DMs need to know when their turn is coming up so they're prepared. In some ways I feel like this makes our campaigns feel rushed, as we're always asking how long until the current one is finished.)
Any reason the child was in the spider cave?
Reward with a friendly contact in town perhaps? Or some kind of story hook if you can work one in? After all, child adopted by spiders could lead to an interesting plot :PWell, if someone runs a game on the forums here, I know what kind of character I'd make for it.
It was gonna be the small village respects the party more and they get 50 silver a piece (5 gold because this is a poorer town).Any reason the child was in the spider cave?
Adopted by wolf spiders.
Would be pretty funny to actually see a giant wolf spider carrying a human child on its back amid a whole mess of attached spiderlings. Also an interesting challenge for PCs to potentially navigate.
Nice going Highmax! That's a lot of spiders, did one of the rangers have Favoured Enemy: Vermin by any chance? Any reason the child was in the spider cave?The two weapon ranged actually found out his favored enemy was beasts (which counted for spiders) and he forgot about it until after the other ranger died and the wizard kicked the shit out of the big spider.
My group of players fell for my mimic encounter hook, line and sinker. They still beat the CR: 7 equivalent encounter at APL: 4 without too much difficulty, so I think I'm fine to keep throwing higher than average monsters at them for the time being. The samurai loves his new set of mithral full plate too, though I've said that until he gets it properly resized, it will count as being donned hastily for the penalty to wear it (AC and ACP 1 worse than normal).
when you're not smashing land-based creatures' faces in, you have literally nothing to do.
Rangers have to rely on their pet and spells to make up the difference... I'd include favored enemy but Fighters get the equivalent of favored enemy bonus on all enemies all the time.
Then again I have no idea why people keep insisting that Rangers are better than Fighters at two weapon fighting OR Ranged fighting when Fighters just flat out shut them down. Ignoring that fighters eventually get more feats... they also have access to Fighter feats that are leagues better.
Quotewhen you're not smashing land-based creatures' faces in, you have literally nothing to do.
Could always go Archer as a Fighter...
Roleplay doesn't necessarily mean roll-play using your skills, it means being an interesting character who does interesting things and plays well with the group dynamic.
My fighter is moderately useful out of combat purely by being Average Joe and thus able to fraternise with random guards and stuff to extract information.
A bit disappointing being a Big-Dumb-Fighter in a roleplay-heavy campaign.
I have no skills with which to make the rolls needed to roleplay. Every roleplay opportunity just leaves me sitting there saying "Hello, I am birb".
We had to crash another fancy nobleman's dinner party, and all my Strix could do was gorge himself on food, and make rolls to avoid eating to the point of nausea. All but one of my Charisma checks failed horribly.
Things brightened up when I got to start punching faces in.
Incidentally the degree of rolling in games tends to vary wildly from gm to gm. In my games, diplomacy can usually be done by actually talking and bargaining with the person, while Intimidate usually requires a roll. Some GMs strictly use diplo, bluff and intimidate rolls all the time, and others never.I tend to have people roll for everything you technically should according to the rolls. (cha skills, ect ect) but then change the DC they need to hit in accordance with what they are actually doing/saying. Of course, that leaves room for crit failures which is indicative of real life anyways, since a lot of people will occasionally stumble right over what they are trying to say despite what they intended to say.
Rangers have to rely on their pet and spells to make up the difference... I'd include favored enemy but Fighters get the equivalent of favored enemy bonus on all enemies all the time.
Then again I have no idea why people keep insisting that Rangers are better than Fighters at two weapon fighting OR Ranged fighting when Fighters just flat out shut them down. Ignoring that fighters eventually get more feats... they also have access to Fighter feats that are leagues better.
Because unlike Fighter feats, Ranger bonus feats allow you to ignore prerequisites, so you can go pure-strength and still get all Two-Weapon Fighting feats. Much less useful once Dex-to-Damage became a thing, though.
And Favoured Enemy Bonus is much stronger than Weapon Training in Pathfinder. It gets up to 10 to-hit and damage at cap.
Edit: Whoops. Did not mean to double-post. Thought I hit Modify, not New Post.
Incidentally the degree of rolling in games tends to vary wildly from gm to gm. In my games, diplomacy can usually be done by actually talking and bargaining with the person, while Intimidate usually requires a roll. Some GMs strictly use diplo, bluff and intimidate rolls all the time, and others never.I tend to have people roll for everything you technically should according to the rolls. (cha skills, ect ect) but then change the DC they need to hit in accordance with what they are actually doing/saying. Of course, that leaves room for crit failures which is indicative of real life anyways, since a lot of people will occasionally stumble right over what they are trying to say despite what they intended to say.
This is why I like 5e's backgrounds, as they allow you to pick up skills you wouldn't ordinarily get with your class, which is how I ended up playing a merchant barbarian. Theoretically you could do something similar in 3e/PF by giving free class skills, though fighters and other martial classes have such anemic skill points that you'd have to do a bit of adjusting to make it work.
There are so many traits in Pathfinder, you can easily build characters with skills and abilities they might never possess otherwise, or buffed versions of their existing powers. It's actually really cool (unless you hate that sort of thing I guess).
There are so many traits in Pathfinder, you can easily build characters with skills and abilities they might never possess otherwise, or buffed versions of their existing powers. It's actually really cool (unless you hate that sort of thing I guess).
Best of all, the GM can allow as many traits as they want (such as 4 or so instead of the regular 2) if they'd like something as powerful as 5E's backgrounds.
What the fuck (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jrralls/rpgs-are-evil-dark-dungeons-the-movie)
No seriously
What the actual fuck (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qc9JiIiOSQ)
Not... exactly... though I'd get into it but then I'd have to talk about campaign specific traits.
Besides, if ever there was a time to get into campaign-specific traits, how is this not it? Unless there's something deeply objectionable about ones that aren't blatantly OP like Finding Your Kin, you mean.
The problem is, I have no skill points to spare for Charismatic skills, and no Charisma modifier, so it's always a flat D20 roll. There is a penalty for failing these Charisma checks.
In both of the roleplay banquets, we have to collect points by passing some rather difficult rolls, and failure subtracts points. It's crucial to the Adventure Path to get as many points as possible. The Adventure Path is literally penalizing any party that does not fully consist of Faces.
???
Sounds boring as all hell. And why would you need Knowledge just to eat?
???
Sounds boring as all hell. And why would you need Knowledge just to eat?
???
Sounds boring as all hell. And why would you need Knowledge just to eat?
Don't double dip. That costs you points.
And yeah, that's not so much your fault as just the adventure path being shittily designed. Smacks of "NO YOU CAN'T DO THAT SIDDOWN AND FOLLOW THE RAILS" business.
5th edition is unfortunately a diamond in the rough having so many great ideas that would immediately make it one of the best dungeons and dragons to date...Yeah, like, I like that they made feats more powerful for the fact that you don't get them very often, but miss the fact that there are small things you can get to affect your character. That's why I'd like to move to a mostly point-buy system, or maybe some sort of class system where you can swap out parts of your character to adjust how it plays.
But while it is the most balanced it is also overbalanced... removing what is essentially character creation to retain balance.
DM said it's the most roleplay-heavy adventure he's seen. And absolutely everyone must participate in these events.
It is Hell's Rebels, for those wondering, which is an official Paizo book. I've been told it gets less roleplay-heavy after the third or fourth book.
The first banquet is for getting a nearby city to agree to help you in your rebellion. The second banquet is held by the big-bad. The first banquet's consequences either result in the noble happily joining you to dominating or outright killing the party and taking control of the rebellion herself. We don't know what the second banquet's point system does yet.
Thankfully our Orc player/Problem Player is gone. He has been purposely fucking up every social encounter we've had. He claimed to be Chaotic Neutral, but has literally been a typical Chaotic Evil "Murder, Pillage, and Rape" type Orc. The nicest thing the Orc's done is spit on our Swashbuckler, who went to say hi when we met him. Attacked random people just for getting too close to him, and has literally sexually assaulted every female NPC we come across. And random wildlife when we were camping in the wilderness. Made jokes about how he spent each night jerking off to the campfire and wearing chipmunks as nipple-clamps.
I mean, from what I understand of the path, the big bad is at least a devil of some kind, so having a shitty party makes some sense there (since a devil is essentially the worst boss you've ever had, but with all the worst bits turned malignant and cancerous). But why the hell would a noblewoman decide to help you based on whether or not you know how to eat oysters properly?
why is this thread so far backWhy does it worry you that their following RAW?
I'm going to my first real session at college tomorrow. The DM hasn't done this before, and it seems like he's following the rulebooks verbatim which worries me just a bit. Any tips before I head off?
This is 5e in case that matters.
why is this thread so far backWith 5e going by the book verbatim still leaves loads of room for cool stuff, unless you mean they're only letting you do things specifically mentioned in the book. But yeah, first session, all will go to hell, but just try not to get too concerned and just enjoy it, and it should pick up soon enough.
I'm going to my first real session at college tomorrow. The DM hasn't done this before, and it seems like he's following the rulebooks verbatim which worries me just a bit. Any tips before I head off?
This is 5e in case that matters.
Yea thats what I'm worried about, just considering how we did character creation.-snop-...unless you mean they're only letting you do things specifically mentioned in the book...
After pursuing the idea of raiding a necromancer's abandoned tower for the last four sessions, the group abandoned their quest when they found out the area was off limits by royal decree. Bah, all that prep work wasted!
Yep, you gotta be careful about any chaotic neutral characters you see submitted as a DM. It often means the character actually wants to play neutral evil, or at least chaotic stupid.The saddest thing is that CN is pretty much spot-on for rogues, barbarians, and similar played straight, but it's practically in the pit next to CE thanks to murderhobo fetishists.
Yep, you gotta be careful about any chaotic neutral characters you see submitted as a DM. It often means the character actually wants to play neutral evil, or at least chaotic stupid.The saddest thing is that CN is pretty much spot-on for rogues, barbarians, and similar played straight, but it's practically in the pit next to CE thanks to murderhobo fetishists.
So just so I understand you're new to this game, the gm is new to this game, you're annoyed that he wasnt letting you make dnd jedi for the first session?Yea thats what I'm worried about, just considering how we did character creation.-snop-...unless you mean they're only letting you do things specifically mentioned in the book...
nah, its just that it feels like its gonna be a generic adventure, since he let us do whatever with whatever races and whichever classes and he didn't give us any context or anything to help us create our characters. I mean it'd probably make sense, since this is erryone's first time playing, but I'm just getting the feeling its gonna be railroaded a certain way.So just so I understand you're new to this game, the gm is new to this game, you're annoyed that he wasnt letting you make dnd jedi for the first session?Yea thats what I'm worried about, just considering how we did character creation.-snop-...unless you mean they're only letting you do things specifically mentioned in the book...
What do you mean? No Variant Human, Feats, and/or Multiclass? Core only? Or just you talked about various character abilities and they said they'd be interpreting them RAW? Because, as others have said, when you're just learning to play the game this is a good way to go.Yea thats what I'm worried about, just considering how we did character creation.-snop-...unless you mean they're only letting you do things specifically mentioned in the book...
If no one's played before, genericness is a big plus IMO. RPGs require you to break some habits and make others, and a good generic adventure can be good practice. Plus there's very little stopping a generic adventure turning into something with quite strong themes and plot, which can be tailored to the group far more easily than going from the start.nah, its just that it feels like its gonna be a generic adventure, since he let us do whatever with whatever races and whichever classes and he didn't give us any context or anything to help us create our characters. I mean it'd probably make sense, since this is erryone's first time playing, but I'm just getting the feeling its gonna be railroaded a certain way.So just so I understand you're new to this game, the gm is new to this game, you're annoyed that he wasnt letting you make dnd jedi for the first session?Yea thats what I'm worried about, just considering how we did character creation.-snop-...unless you mean they're only letting you do things specifically mentioned in the book...
....Indeed :P
>they drugged my laudanum
That's kinda the point. ;P
-snip-That all sounds pretty cool. I especially like how you get to explore how your vampire has changed from when they were human and getting to visit the past without having to worry about paradoxes.
I'm running a game in my highschool. I introduced a druid with an appearance similar to Terraria's Dryad, and the party full of underdeveloped teens started giggling and trying to gain her favor. So far, she's the only female character I've introduced and it's the second session.
I'm running a game in my highschool. I introduced a druid with an appearance similar to Terraria's Dryad, and the party full of underdeveloped teens started giggling and trying to gain her favor. So far, she's the only female character I've introduced and it's the second session.Become Pavlov.
Harmless flirting is harmless but it soon becomes disrespectful.It immediately became disrespectful, the Aarakocra in the group decided to fly up and perch on her shoulders while she was addressing some soldiers and hunters. She then blinked away and scolded him for his actions. Later, the Druid turned into a burrowing animal and started running away as soon as the party got into a fight, after saying that she must do something. Most of the party then regarded her as a coward, and the player of the Aarakocra said he's gonna try and get the druid in bed with him.
Be careful how you handle this problem, your response has to be measured, you actually can't afford to go overboard. Handing out some consequences for the party's behavior is warranted, but if it goes beyond consequences and into retribution, you are abusing your position as DM.
Keep in mind that the group is there to have fun, not to blindly follow the story you have created. This occasionally turns into situations like you have here, your job in these instances is to try to keep things flowing, not mete out punishment. The simplest solution here is to have the druid leave. There are many adventurers after all, and the players are being disrespectful, so take away the target and move them on to something else.
I'm pretty sure that my party would easily out-dumb the "incompetent" party, and there's little-to-no cohesion within the party, either.
Yeah, pretty much this. Have the druid be looking for other adventurers (generate a party of NPCs with NPC classes, for example, that are more than willing to work for a reduced rate, but are also blisteringly incompetent once they get down to the actual job for hilarity).
I'm pretty sure that my party would easily out-dumb the "incompetent" party, and there's little-to-no cohesion within the party, either.
but if it goes beyond consequences and into retribution, you are abusing your position as DM.
roll a Fortitude save, which only a natural 20 can cure them of the effects
I support actions having consequences.
For example, in my current game an alchemist was offering a thousand gold to every person who accepted an experimental brew he'd created. Of course two of the players jumped at the offer of a thousand gold. Each day they now have to roll a Fortitude save, which only a natural 20 can cure them of the effects, and if they fail to cure themselves, a random symptom occurs, with a 25% chance it causes a detrimental effect.
Plus, it turns out the alchemist in question robbed the alchemist's guild to fund his unlicensed research project, so now the group has gained enemies within the guild. Seriously, if you get told the gnome NPC is named Tanstaafl, you should really take the hint and think twice about making easy money.
Slaves to Armok: God of Blood: Chapter III: Dwarf Fortress: The Tabletop Game?I did that by having my part run through Necrothreat, which was an abandoned dwarven fortress. Party fought undead and then the equivalent of husks and thralls as they got deeper. The final battle was against a necromancer who could control living shadow as well as the undead, and he summoned every deceased party member as well as clones of party members who were still alive.
All things considered, it can be a relatively calm setting.
I kind of thought of doing a campaign based on Dwarf Fortress stories, actually. More like a mini-module, actually. But I have no experience in world-building, and am a bit lazy in making a shit-ton of NPCs.
D&D games pop up in FG&RPing all the time, a vast majority of them die off almost immediately, but some of them stick around for a while (and a rare few actually last for a substantial amount of time). If you stick around and check every once in a while you'll see em.
Wish I could do some DnD or similar, but... D'you suppose there'd be any DnD going on at a small town's high school's Game Club? Alternatively, a PnP going on in the FG&RP that's easy to get into?I just ended mine because it was hard to manage with class and such. If you find a devoted GM and a good group, you'll find yourself having fun. I recommend gathering people for a roll20 game. Its not my cup of tea since everyone in my group is in a different time zone (and by that, most of them are in Europe and I'm in Canada, and I don't know where in the world one is...) but if you're lucky, you'll find people willing to do it.
My players are really going to flip when they discover said Werewolf Troll is wearing a lesser ring of resist fire. No stopping regeneration with torches, and alchemist's fire only works just over 8% of the time.
Playing fantasy Green Arrow is always incredibly fun. Especially if you get the feats that let you fire 4+ of those specialized arrows in a round. Nothing quite like bleeding, entangling, lighting on fire, and poisoning all in one round.
I don't even know what Palladium is.A game system
I don't even know what Palladium is.A game system
I don't even know what Palladium is.
Yup, it was also a system I was deeply invested in before I discovered how much better Mutants and Masterminds is.I don't even know what Palladium is.
RIFTS, Robotech RPG, Palladium Fantasy RPG, Macross II RPG, Splicers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other strangeness RPG, After the Bomb, Heroes Unlimited, Dead Reign, RIFTS Chaos Earth, RECON, and several other games, the majority of which fall under Palladium's blanket set of mechanics (with RECON being the prime exception.) Kevin Siembieda is the main author/editor/egomaniac, as well as owner of the company, he is well known to be a power-tripping lawsuit freak.
This is super late, but... I've had this post quoted in a reply for at least a few weeks now. It's hilarious.I'm running a game in my highschool. I introduced a druid with an appearance similar to Terraria's Dryad, and the party full of underdeveloped teens started giggling and trying to gain her favor. So far, she's the only female character I've introduced and it's the second session.Become Pavlov.
When female characters are around, make bad stuff happen, but don't link it to them directly. Like, maybe the Dryad comes to talk to them and the party is attacked by bandits. Or they go to meet the Lady of the town when SUDDENLY ASSASIN. Done correctly, this will train your players to fear the consequences of female interaction and guarantee you D&D sessions for years to come.
Some say that stunting the emotional growth of your peers to permit more tabletop is immoral. I believe its positively delightful compared to what we do to dwarfs.
Beware the rabbit-hole of 3rd party archetypes. That way madness lies.
Gathering power creates an extremely loud, visible display in a 20-foot radius centered on the kineticist, as the energy or matter swirls around her.
Please tell me the wizard's name was Dio.No, but the NPC who is the adopted son of the questgiver is named Derrik Brandon (and also relevant to the next quest)
For those who play IRL instead of online, how often do you use physical player handouts at your table?I sprayed my players with water, I have handouts planned for random encounters, drawings for things I can't make, and I literally threw a mask on the table when they found it.
I've tried giving players a handout of letters with clues in them before, and I'm considering making a map handout for use too. I think it's more exciting when your players can point to a piece of paper and use it as a prop, or draw plans on it.
For those who play IRL instead of online, how often do you use physical player handouts at your table?
I've done a game by candlelight before and we ended up just turning on the lights, since nobody could see their dice or read their sheets. Still, good stuff here, I'm gonna use it! Anyone else come across cool stuff that brings physical objects into a game about imaginary worlds?
I've done a game by candlelight before and we ended up just turning on the lights, since nobody could see their dice or read their sheets. Still, good stuff here, I'm gonna use it! Anyone else come across cool stuff that brings physical objects into a game about imaginary worlds?You need a lot of candles for that. I tried it and we managed to do it.
We're in a trailer park, watching a cult lead by FUCKING AZRAEL, which has a LITERAL FUCKING HELL-PORTAL in its basement.Heh, we ended up sparing that cultist. But he smashed my camera on the way into the church, so after we finished doing diplomacy... We kinda broke his legs and torched his truck. We actually cleared this petty revenge with his demonic-children cultmates first.
Almost all the clergy being children
And they're basically hinting that they have a problem with werewolves
So they opened a gate to hell which is attempting to fray our sanity
I know what side I'm on, a different cult, but basically we're all clutching our heads and sighing.
And also planning to murder one particular guy who we won a race against.
*fweeee-thunk* Message for you, sir! /pythonNeverwinter Nights 1 Complete is free on GOG's Winter Sale (https://www.gog.com/) thinger, offer expires in ~47 hours.
I see so many people making Dragon Ball Z games... But goodness the rules for those games are always sooo very bad...Now I kinda want a competition where everyone makes their own ruleset/mechanics to see whose is best.
I feel like the only way there is ever going to be halfway decent mechanics for those games is if "I" the greatest person in the world... Make them myself.
Tried for years. Lost cause.I see so many people making Dragon Ball Z games... But goodness the rules for those games are always sooo very bad...Now I kinda want a competition where everyone makes their own ruleset/mechanics to see whose is best.
I feel like the only way there is ever going to be halfway decent mechanics for those games is if "I" the greatest person in the world... Make them myself.
I think something to keep in mind is that DBZ is a lot like if a D&D game reached its finale after doing levels 1-15 (which would be Dragon Ball), only to just keep on going toward 20 and beyond, until at the end they're making up post-level 30 progressions and shit. It'd be in keeping with what I know of high-level D&D combat, even. So if you're going for the DBZ feel you either want to start high-level in a system, or alternatively adapt a system that's already meant to be high-powered (something like Exalted, I guess).
I think something to keep in mind is that DBZ is a lot like if a D&D game reached its finale after doing levels 1-15 (which would be Dragon Ball), only to just keep on going toward 20 and beyond, until at the end they're making up post-level 30 progressions and shit. It'd be in keeping with what I know of high-level D&D combat, even. So if you're going for the DBZ feel you either want to start high-level in a system, or alternatively adapt a system that's already meant to be high-powered (something like Exalted, I guess).
I think something to keep in mind is that DBZ is a lot like if a D&D game reached its finale after doing levels 1-15 (which would be Dragon Ball), only to just keep on going toward 20 and beyond, until at the end they're making up post-level 30 progressions and shit. It'd be in keeping with what I know of high-level D&D combat, even. So if you're going for the DBZ feel you either want to start high-level in a system, or alternatively adapt a system that's already meant to be high-powered (something like Exalted, I guess).
for a DBZ game you probably want to use Exalted, and if you have Shards of The Exalted Dream, The Burn Legend rules for pure kung fu action.
Exalted is extremely arbitrary.Having never watched DBZ, isn't that the point of DBZ and every other long running show? That things eventually break down and become extremely arbitrary?
Extremely arbitrary. Extremely arbitrary. As in "I punch you into a duck." As in "I punch you into the form of a duck." Or "I hide underneath your teacup."
Extremely arbitrary. Extremely arbitrary. As in "I punch you into a duck." As in "I punch you into the form of a duck." Or "I hide underneath your teacup."
Sounds like you should either be sleeping in shifts, or take a race that only meditates rather than sleeps.
Of course you shouldn't need to do that sort of thing in a friendly city at all, but still...
SLA?
I hear you, but I'm really only doing it because I think it's a cruel twist. Any meaning deeper than "haha, you got tricked into murdering innocents" is beyond me. :P Plus I don't think they're going to want to cast it on the militia leader and I planned to get them straight into kobold murdering anyway, without a lot of time for deliberation.
If anyone is interested in joining or following along with the game, let me know and I'll make a thread for it with more details/story in the coming weeks. Playtime would likely run 2-4 hours, either weekly or bi-weekly and my hopes is to have the story over and done in 10-20 sessions, so you have an idea what sort of commitment it would be. What time of the day we play is very open to discussion as I don't work at all in the winter, and the one dedicated player I have works nights (in USA east) so he said he'll wake up/stay up for any time of the day.
Normally I'd agree, but I'm not so keen on making a character only for it to run 10-20 sessions. Gimme something more long-running.
I wanna run one of those play-by-post Pathfinder games I'm infamous for but I've gotten stuck in worldbuilding: part of me wants to do a game in the vein of Beowulf or Sigurd the Volsung where the players are Norse-ish warriors of incredible skill in fictionalized Viking Age Scandinavia and part of me wants to do a game where the players are pirates in the fictionalized Golden Age of Piracy Caribbean Sea. I've done a lot of research to create rules and restrictions to make the Viking setting more accurate but something seems more captivating about the idea of a pirate setting.As someone who's run a pirate setting, pirate games are really focused around player freedom. If the players can do whatever they want, the setting is better. It's great for open ended, sandbox-esque games, and really not fun for either the player or the DM if the DM goes for a more linear experience. The players are going to want to run around, spend an undue amount of time and gold customizing their ship, and basically growing their ego as much as possible.
Bluntly, which one sounds more fun?
If players really want to make money capturing prize ships, they'll need to get some sort of letters of marque.Unless, of course, they have some source of reliable, trustworthy, cheap labor. If they start capturing ships, but the DM doesn't let them sell them, they'd start building a fleet, until each character has a small armada.
Bluntly, which one sounds more fun?
From the outset I want a few things clear, DO NOT engage in 'version X is better than version Y' discussion/argument, I will lock down the thread and report the parties responsible. (Even if it's me.)
[12/9/2016 8:28:33 PM] [Chad]: What'd I miss Wednesday goys
[12/9/2016 8:47:41 PM] [Sean]: Well its hard to explain
[12/9/2016 8:49:15 PM] [Sean]: Basically Chicago sucks
[12/9/2016 8:50:07 PM] [Me/Brian]: (nod)
[12/9/2016 8:50:14 PM] [Sean]: Oh wait let me just paste in my exp log summery
[12/9/2016 8:50:22 PM] [Sean]: Jen got kidnapped to a rape dungeon, but she got better. [Sean] Did terrible horrible awful shit and passed all my morality checks. Healed all my aggervated damage by eating hearts and doing demotic rituals involving making someone kill their brother and burning a living cat. Handed out cursed items to people and made more possessed.
[12/9/2016 8:50:43 PM] [Me/Brian]: Oh good that's an actual summary yeah
[12/9/2016 8:51:40 PM] [Me/Brian]: Your character ought to be our moral compass now except Sean still has 6 humanity after literally a dozen checks, some of them on 1 die
[12/9/2016 8:52:14 PM] [Me/Brian]: Brian's down to 2 but no insanity except for fear of children, which is kinda reasonable after helping turn a bunch into demons
[12/9/2016 8:55:36 PM] [Me/Brian]: But yeah Chicago sucks, particularly now that we're done with it, and also tomorrow (or tonight?) in-game Captain Murphy is going to ride in on a stellar eclipse or something. (Brian had a dream, it was great)
I wanna run one of those play-by-post Pathfinder games I'm infamous for but I've gotten stuck in worldbuilding: part of me wants to do a game in the vein of Beowulf or Sigurd the Volsung where the players are Norse-ish warriors of incredible skill in fictionalized Viking Age Scandinavia and part of me wants to do a game where the players are pirates in the fictionalized Golden Age of Piracy Caribbean Sea. I've done a lot of research to create rules and restrictions to make the Viking setting more accurate but something seems more captivating about the idea of a pirate setting.Both? Viking setting inherently contains raiding and piracy, so you could quite nicely make a piratical viking game.
Bluntly, which one sounds more fun?
Good to see world of darkness is still world of darkness.Updated. And when he says Jen "got better", maybe I can clarify a *little*... She convinced another captive to go for the guard's gun. The other woman lost an arm, but Jen got the guard's shotgun, then shot her way out. Especially once she got an SMG.
I wanna run one of those play-by-post Pathfinder games I'm infamous for but I've gotten stuck in worldbuilding: part of me wants to do a game in the vein of Beowulf or Sigurd the Volsung where the players are Norse-ish warriors of incredible skill in fictionalized Viking Age Scandinavia and part of me wants to do a game where the players are pirates in the fictionalized Golden Age of Piracy Caribbean Sea. I've done a lot of research to create rules and restrictions to make the Viking setting more accurate but something seems more captivating about the idea of a pirate setting.Mystery in the City of Starlight.
Bluntly, which one sounds more fun?
I second this.I wanna run one of those play-by-post Pathfinder games I'm infamous for but I've gotten stuck in worldbuilding: part of me wants to do a game in the vein of Beowulf or Sigurd the Volsung where the players are Norse-ish warriors of incredible skill in fictionalized Viking Age Scandinavia and part of me wants to do a game where the players are pirates in the fictionalized Golden Age of Piracy Caribbean Sea. I've done a lot of research to create rules and restrictions to make the Viking setting more accurate but something seems more captivating about the idea of a pirate setting.Mystery in the City of Starlight.
Bluntly, which one sounds more fun?
Oh yeahI second this.I wanna run one of those play-by-post Pathfinder games I'm infamous for but I've gotten stuck in worldbuilding: part of me wants to do a game in the vein of Beowulf or Sigurd the Volsung where the players are Norse-ish warriors of incredible skill in fictionalized Viking Age Scandinavia and part of me wants to do a game where the players are pirates in the fictionalized Golden Age of Piracy Caribbean Sea. I've done a lot of research to create rules and restrictions to make the Viking setting more accurate but something seems more captivating about the idea of a pirate setting.Mystery in the City of Starlight.
Bluntly, which one sounds more fun?
Viking Game! You get all the pirate stuff, but also easier avenue for different stuff. Like some lite politics with our Town, and summer cow raiding, for more cows.Could we sacrifice those cows to our gods?
YESViking Game! You get all the pirate stuff, but also easier avenue for different stuff. Like some lite politics with our Town, and summer cow raiding, for more cows.Could we sacrifice those cows to our gods?
While wearing eyepatches?YESViking Game! You get all the pirate stuff, but also easier avenue for different stuff. Like some lite politics with our Town, and summer cow raiding, for more cows.Could we sacrifice those cows to our gods?
In secret Ninja enclaves?
I still can't get over that Paizo included viking ninjas in their lore. Renaming them Frozen Shadows doesn't justify it if they still use katanas and other weapons that they shouldn't even know exist.
is real life an animeIn secret Ninja enclaves?
I still can't get over that Paizo included viking ninjas in their lore. Renaming them Frozen Shadows doesn't justify it if they still use katanas and other weapons that they shouldn't even know exist.
Fun Fact! Vikings, did the folding steel technique that the Japan did. They had similarly shitty iron deposits, and had to do the folding technique to gain a reasonable amount of strength.
In secret Ninja enclaves?
I still can't get over that Paizo included viking ninjas in their lore. Renaming them Frozen Shadows doesn't justify it if they still use katanas and other weapons that they shouldn't even know exist.
Fun Fact! Vikings, did the folding steel technique that the Japan did. They had similarly shitty iron deposits, and had to do the folding technique to gain a reasonable amount of strength.
Japanese iron deposits are not shit, and neither are those of Viking lands, the folding technique further aligns the atomic lattice of the iron, trapping a greater amount of carbon and increasing its strength. The reason the Japanese used it is that smiths were only allowed a small allotment of iron from the deposits (which are among the highest purity on Earth) so they couldn't afford to waste any on failed blades. The Vikings used it because a Viking broadsword that had high carbon content was massively more durable than the lower-grade steel used by those they raided and conquered. This fucking lie perpetuated by uninformed internet trolls need to die in a goddamn fire.
Now take your steel discussion out of my D&D thread.
Heh, should know better than to make broad statements about metallurgy and smithing on the DF forums, Null.
Getting back to the real topic, what sort of fun loot ideas do you think would be interesting to place in an ancient necropolis of lizardfolk and kobolds?
Give them a culture, make the players feel a sense of loss that the Lizardfolk and kobolds lost something.
Yeah Japan both had very little iron... and the iron they had was typically of low quality.
The folding technique was absolutely necessary to turn that low quality iron and turn it into high quality steel.
Later on the Europeans would invent a way that would completely outdate any need to use the folding technique and create high-grade steel at a uniform level at higher grades then even the folding technique... Yet this process would come at the very end of the medieval period.
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Honestly the more interesting part about Japan and its lack of metal isn't really the Folding technique or Katanas... but rather how armor evolved.
For example they would sometimes forgo shields and instead use smaller weapons for deflection (Something that goes FREEKISHLY unheard of in fiction).
Helmets often had metal bits instead of being completely armored.
And their armor was often thick layers of cloth.
Trouble is, I've already set up a bunch of undead kobolds and lizardfolk guarding the necropolis. Story so far is that lizardfolk kept the kobolds as slaves. Mainly went with this since we have a gnome in the group, and that means he gets to add his racial bonus against reptilian subtype creatures.One thing you could do, is have some of the regular corpses enchanted with a permanent speak with dead spell. Turn the entire necropolis into an unliving repository of ancient knowledge, spoken purely in lizardspeak/draconic so the chances of the party getting any more than 'hissssss HIIIIISSSS' out of any questions they ask is minimal! Heck, make hissing sounds anytime any of the party askes a question at all, whether they want it or not heheh.
Your knowledge of metal deposits must not be very complete, the iron sands have exceptionally high purity.
1 ) I told people to get this steel discussion out of my thread, then you immediately post something flatly fallacious and that displays no actual knowledge of Japanese historical smithing.
2 ) That statement is flatly fallacious and shows no actual knowledge of Japanese historical smithing, a subject that I actually do know more than a little about as I have and do study the subject. Also, you'll forgive me if I take the word of my wife, who is a geologist, chemist, geochemist, and is currently earning a PhD in soil science over internet noise based on false data. The iron sands of Japan are one of the best deposits of iron on the entire planet. End of line.
Now get this uninformed discussion out of my thread. LAST WARNING.
Tamahagane, as a raw material, is a highly impure metal. Formed in a bloomery process, the kera of sponge iron begins as an inhomogeneous mixture of wrought iron, steels, and pig iron. The pig iron contains more than 2% carbon. The tamahagane has about 1 to 1.5% carbon while the hocho iron contains about 0.2%. Steel that has a carbon content between tamahagane and hocho iron is called bu-kera, which is often resmelted with the pig iron to make saga-hagane, containing roughly 0.7% carbon. Most of the bu-kera, hocho iron and saga-hagane will be sold for making other items, like tools and knives, and only the best pieces of tamahagane, hocho iron, and pig iron are used for swordsmithing.( Emphasis Mine )
The various metals are also filled with slag, phosphorus and other impurities. Separation of the various metals from the kera was traditionally performed by breaking it apart with small hammers dropped from a certain height, and then examining the fractures, in a process similar to the modern Charpy impact test. The nature of the fractures are different for different types of steel. The tamahagane, in particular, contains pearlite, which produces a characteristic pearlescent-sheen on the crystals.[22]
During the folding process, most of the impurities are removed from the steel, continuously refining the steel while forging. By the end of forging, the steel produced was among the purest steel-alloys of the ancient world. Due to the continuous heating the steel tends to decarburize, so a good quantity of carbon is either extracted from the steel as carbon dioxide or redistributed more evenly through diffusion, leaving a nearly eutectoid composition (containing 0.77 to 0.8% carbon).[23][24] The edge-steel itself will generally end up with a composition that ranges from eutectoid to slightly hypoeutectoid (containing a carbon content under the eutectoid composition), giving enough hardenability without sacrificing ductility[25] The skin-steel generally has slightly less carbon, often in the range of 0.5%. The core-steel, however, remains nearly pure iron, responding very little to heat treatment.[25] Cyril Stanley Smith, a professor of metallurgical history from MIT, performed an analysis of four different swords, each from a different century, determining the composition of the surface of the blades:[26]
"Stay on topic" is not a new rule. You have been asked repeatedly and by several people not to continue this line of discussion. This thread is not the place for it.
Speaking of samurai, our group's samurai sword saint is seriously wiping the floor with anything I throw at him. Gonna have to figure out a way to keep it challenging without risking wiping out the rest of the party. He made mincemeat out of my skeletal champion gallowdead last night, though technically skeletons don't have any meat so I suppose the simile doesn't really make a huge amount of sense. Then again, neither does walking skeletons wielding spiked chains like they're helicopter blades.
The samurai has a resolve ability that lets him roll twice and take the better result for any Will or Fort save. Reflex saves are generally just hp damage, without anything majorly debilitating tacked on.Then make it a toughie.
Gonna have to figure out a way to keep it challenging without risking wiping out the rest of the party.
How about flying/ranged attackers to counter the Samurai's melee?
Ghosts also work.How about flying/ranged attackers to counter the Samurai's melee?
Definitely flying, or anything that can use phasing/flicker (stuff that can only be magically damaged, requiring enchanted weapons or spell-flinging)
5th Edition and these enemies have 20AC and over 500hp
One thing I've noticed is that 5e encounter difficulty is whacked. In the last one-off I ran, two 3rd level PCs almost got their asses handed to them by 5-6 goblins.
One thing I've noticed is that 5e encounter difficulty is whacked. In the last one-off I ran, two 3rd level PCs almost got their asses handed to them by 5-6 goblins.
Wait, when do you double XP amounts?One thing I've noticed is that 5e encounter difficulty is whacked. In the last one-off I ran, two 3rd level PCs almost got their asses handed to them by 5-6 goblins.
At low levels you do have to be careful. The game actually makes note that some monsters while they have a low CR, are more then capable of defeating low level characters.
However looking at the calculations... Yet that is how it should have went.
Goblins are worth 50exp each,... 5-6 of them double their exp value... 500
A hard encounter for a 3rd level character is 225 exp each for a total of 450.
It WAS a hard encounter with a party that had limited resources.
Wait, when do you double XP amounts?Maybe it was because I had only 2 players? IDK.
Wait, when do you double XP amounts?Maybe it was because I had only 2 players? IDK.
Wait, when do you double XP amounts?Maybe it was because I had only 2 players? IDK.
It is because you had 5-6 monsters in that encounter who "Significantly contribute to that encounter"
Yeah, I didn't read that. :PSo you didnt read the rule, then surprised that you nearly killed your party?
*shrug* Sue me, I was too busy contacting any friend who was still in town, and might be interested in joining a one-off. I think I asked like 7 different people, only two of which showed up, and one was my roommate.Yeah, I didn't read that. :PSo you didnt read the rule, then surprised that you nearly killed your party?
Yes, in the one-off. It was a boss that got buffed the longer the PCs fought its much smaller (after their poor performance the first time) retinue. It was a bit more of a fair fight, but they still were able to focus it down, and easily take it out.
My players had just had their ass handed to them by five goblins. Take a guess. :PYes, in the one-off. It was a boss that got buffed the longer the PCs fought its much smaller (after their poor performance the first time) retinue. It was a bit more of a fair fight, but they still were able to focus it down, and easily take it out.So it had 3 legendary actions and 3/day legendary resistance?
Also did it have Lair actions? :P
So then it was a stripped down boss. So you havent actually used an encounter properly yet, then jab at it, that 4e did it better.My players had just had their ass handed to them by five goblins. Take a guess. :PYes, in the one-off. It was a boss that got buffed the longer the PCs fought its much smaller (after their poor performance the first time) retinue. It was a bit more of a fair fight, but they still were able to focus it down, and easily take it out.So it had 3 legendary actions and 3/day legendary resistance?
Also did it have Lair actions? :P
Can you explain this better? I think something got lost hereSo then it was a stripped down boss. So you havent actually used an encounter properly yet, then jab at it, that 4e did it better.My players had just had their ass handed to them by five goblins. Take a guess. :PYes, in the one-off. It was a boss that got buffed the longer the PCs fought its much smaller (after their poor performance the first time) retinue. It was a bit more of a fair fight, but they still were able to focus it down, and easily take it out.So it had 3 legendary actions and 3/day legendary resistance?
Also did it have Lair actions? :P
So then it was a stripped down boss. So you havent actually used an encounter properly yet, then jab at it, that 4e did it better.Yes, it was. However, since it had never been used before, and was based around a gimmick mechanic that also had never been used before, it was difficult to tell how to use it properly.
And saying that the party "nearly died" is RPG speak for "the party was inconvenienced slightly." :PI can't dispute that. :P
Never underestimate something overwhelmingly stupid in overwhelming numbers.And saying that the party "nearly died" is RPG speak for "the party was inconvenienced slightly." :PI can't dispute that. :P
So then it was a stripped down boss. So you havent actually used an encounter properly yet, then jab at it, that 4e did it better.Yes, it was. However, since it had never been used before, and was based around a gimmick mechanic that also had never been used before, it was difficult to tell how to use it properly.
My remark about 4e was in reference to the way that power economy and party composition worked in a very specific way. Your controller has access to powerful AOE, so a fight against 5-6 goblins is suddenly a lot easier. Boss battles can now be deadlier, but at the same time, easier, as you now feel okay about spending Daily powers. The intensity gets ramped up in an interesting way naturally, while I find myself having to work much harder to find ways to develop that intensity in other editions.
I'm not trying to start an edition fight, I'm just comparing the two edition's boss/gang fights. I love 5e to death, and have a grudging respect for 4e as a fantasy tactical game. It does that well, if nothing else.
At one point, I didn't know how CR worked and thought that FOUR monsters with a CR of the party's level was an appropriate challenge.
Thoughts on Curse of Strahd?
I want to run it from how ProJared keeps talking about it but I don't know if that's because he had a good DM or if it's because it's actually good
This is why I love playing spellcasters, especially summoner classes. A huge amount of monsters are statted to have "nope, nope, fuck nope!" abilities that work in melee range. Let some other chump take the saving throws. Die for me, my minions!
I'm sold. Ill pick it up tomorrowThoughts on Curse of Strahd?
I want to run it from how ProJared keeps talking about it but I don't know if that's because he had a good DM or if it's because it's actually good
You REALLY REALLY need players who want to roll with the punches.
Because that thing can be very easy or cripplingly difficult depending on how lucky (yes lucky) the players are. It is actually hilarious how easy victory can be if luck is on the player's side and how hilariously bad it can be if they are unlucky... I want to reveal more but I can't.
ALSO! Unlike some adventures this one requires you to sort of keep who knows what inside your own head and invent it... Because, unlike what I would have suspected, the scenario doesn't tell you what each NPC knows.
It is a lot like the elemental adventures book where it requires YOU the player to actually design the sessions yourself. You CANNOT run the session from the book inspite that being the point of these :P
So my party pulled the stupidest shit tonight.I forgot to mention, the party skipped not only like 2/3 encounters and a big encounter I had planned for them, but they also managed to skip the dungeon I had planned for them leading to the big bad because they can fly to the top of the tower where the boss's coffin is
The mystic told a giant boss to jump off a cliff into a river, and he missed the river. The height of the cliff caused the damage to be 97 damage total.
THEN. The most ridiculous thing ever happened.
The party had to traverse an area without mounts, which wouldn't do for the party wizard. So she says:
"Why don't I just attach the carriage to my nightmare?"
My first mistake was letting the wizard be able to tame it with an animal handling check (which she crit because she asked if she could, and a DM never says no).
My second one was underestimating the creativity of the girl I'm dating and her friend.
The cleric whips out a flying carpet and says "We can have him work with this!" And it ended up with the party taking off the wheels and the canopy of the carriage, making it much lighter, essentially making it a sled.
So they jury rig with a lot of rope and over things, a carriage stretched to a flying carpet, with both being pulled by a nightmare.
Being the dead of winter in world, I made a joke saying:
Barely even a month after the winter solstice, over the elvish woods, people saw a man driving a flying sleigh being pulled by some strange horse-like creature that led them through the cold with its reddish glow. Something was also being pulled as well, but some say it was four people huddled, others say it was a bag of goodies.
And that, my friends, is the beginning of the story of how Santa Claus was born
My party warlock said "so we're essentially acting as Santa while hunting an undead menace known as vampirism...
Aaaargh
Woud love to join but I'm at work during the sessions. Hope you folks have fun!
The only drawback is it takes fucking forever.
I mean D&D tends to take a long time too. Maybe not 5e, I don't have much experience with it, but I remember 3e combat taking a few hours for two or three turns.5e can be fast, but it boils down to luck. Turns themselves are pretty fast, though. Roll to hit. If you hit, roll for damage. That's it.
I have no idea what is stopping me from freeken making my Dragon Ball RPG system brainstorm thread... It is like I am physically incapable inspite having an ok layout.If you want inspiration piecewise toyed around with an interesting martial arts system a while back here (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=135964.0).
For example instead of Ki being directly MP... Instead characters have very little... Their Ki stat determining how much they recover every turn (as well as there being a maximum)... And regardless you don't start battles at full Ki either. What I am working with is a recovery of 1 ki a turn, and starting with 3-5 out of 10.
Next is the fact that in spite no one being a "physical" character in the series, everyone wants to make one anyway. Yet what is the point of non-ki using attacks? To break the opponent's defense and create damage opportunities.
Then there is technique and what it does is lower the ki cost of abilities, to an extent. But let me explain that.
Skills, transformations, and the like all are put together with pieces. Low, Medium, and High damage modifier is essentially free (2, 4, and 8 respectably). You can add modifiers and either pay for them with Ki or with technique, assuming it is available (Only some can.)
This is because "creating your own skills" is always considered one of the most important parts of any Dragon Ball RPG. It is something I'd like to retain. If you gain a level of technique then BOOM! you can modify all your skills (just like Krillin does)... In fact you can make modified techniques if your transformation includes an increase in technique.
Now Transformations are a bit trickier and include things like permafusions, Oozaru, Super Saiyan, and even King Kai Fist. The idea I have for them is they put a drain on your Ki recovery and have a buy in level (You don't start a fight transformed... unless that is its ability) you have to reach.
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The techniques themselves are a huge problem with most games as they have to represent the large breadth of possible options and often bump into issues. A big issue is, for example, Destructo Disk. So what is Destructo Disk for this game?
It is a medium sharp attack. Sharp attacks deal their damage if they penetrate a character's stability (A buffer before they take damage).
Kamehameha is a Low Continuous attack. Continuous attacks don't deal their full damage immediately but rather after they strike a hit the user has an option to spend Ki to increase the damage. It is a safer alternative.
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The issue I am hitting is how to make player's stats a bit more spread out... AND how to stop players from just wracking up overpowered combinations.
A Shadowrun priority system might help... OR putting skills into categories (Maybe Technique is a derived stat).
I think Exalted would be the best system to do dragonball Z in.
You're gonna have to do a better job of describing what you mean because I have no idea what you're saying there.
What are you playing? I hope it's a video game, cause that sounds like a horrible slog in real life.
To be fair, crypts and necropoli are kind of the expected enviroment for necromancers. Not like they're going to be hanging out on the chicken farm unless they're weaponising zombie poultry.Hope. Might be that there isn't a suitable thing to cremate bodies in. Might be that you lose the ability to do X, or if they cremate the bodies the soul won't make it to their gods afterlife.
The real question is why cremation isn't more popular, what with the aforementioned necromancers. Not like anyone but adventurers and the elite of society will ever afford a resurrection.
There are a few reasons (Heck even when we in real life believed people could come back as zombies or vampires... we still burried bodies)Some people did believe in zombies and skeletons, but the thing is that people didn't *actually* come back as zombies. Sure, people believed it sometimes happened, but cities were never actually invaded by the living dead. I bet all it would take is a single major incident in a country before burials stopped happening and mass cremation became the norm, not only legally (as the crown wouldn't like necromancer invasions or lesser necromancers going around causing trouble) but also morally (as people wouldn't want their loved ones to be turned into zombies, and I have little doubt that the Church would not be a fan of it either).
Respect for the dead, religious practices, the creation of ghosts... That the ashes of the dead can come back to life as an even worse undead abomination... As well there are plenty of ways to prevent undead without burning them... As well burrying bodies is less expensive then burning them.
That and necromancers aren't that common... it is more of a narrative causality thing that you pretty much never go into a crypt unless undead or a necromancer is in there.
The burning of bodies during a plague or to prevent a plague was considered a nessisary evil... and even Vikings who famosly burned bodies didn't even do that the majority of the time.
See, the secret is to only perform sky burials. That way you only get skeletal undead and those get only half the HD of zombies.Funny you say that. I am actually working a setting at the moment in which sky burials are very important. If the vultures don't eat you when you die, enough life clings to you in the flesh you'll rise again as a zombie, but skeletons don't arise naturally.
There are a few reasons (Heck even when we in real life believed people could come back as zombies or vampires... we still burried bodies)I think it's safe to say undead are probably still a lot more common in typical d&d settings than real life. The occasional vampire scare can't match up to actually having a genuine risk of vampires.
Respect for the dead, religious practices, the creation of ghosts... That the ashes of the dead can come back to life as an even worse undead abomination... As well there are plenty of ways to prevent undead without burning them... As well burrying bodies is less expensive then burning them.
That and necromancers aren't that common... it is more of a narrative causality thing that you pretty much never go into a crypt unless undead or a necromancer is in there.
The burning of bodies during a plague or to prevent a plague was considered a nessisary evil... and even Vikings who famosly burned bodies didn't even do that the majority of the time.
Also, why would an adventurer go into a crypt if there wasn't a necromancer, assuming they aren't just tomb robbers? Unless you're planning to pillage either the bodies or the burial goods, there's not a huge amount of reason to go down there.
I had to play a game of chess for my character's soul. It wasn't sure exactly how...Well, that's certainly a way to enforce method acting for the roleplay part :P
First thought was an in-game skillcheck, which would have been masterfully easy, but no.
Secondly I expected a game of chess between our Fallen London characters. Which... I *think* the odds would be for me, but horribly slightly.
And, to be fair, I did make a solid argument by the rules that my character was very much alive.
No... I had to play Chess against the DM. And I don't play chess much. Occasional games against my father, which are... Mm.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I'm curious, in 5e just how unfeasible is a melee wizard?
If I ever play a game I'm sorely tempted to give it a go for laughs.
I'm curious, in 5e just how unfeasible is a melee wizard?WOTC ressurected a kit from the 2e Book of Elves called Bladesinger which is pretty cool if you're an elf.
If I ever play a game I'm sorely tempted to give it a go for laughs.
I'm curious, in 5e just how unfeasible is a melee wizard?
If I ever play a game I'm sorely tempted to give it a go for laughs.
Just armour you aren't proficient in, so you can take mountain dwarf and get medium armour if you're willing to neglect dex.Is SCAG something free, or a splatbook?
But yeah, ultimately the spells and subclass in SCAG would be your friends here.
Is SCAG something free, or a splatbook?Sword Coast's Adventurer Guide. It's a book. That said, some of the class options in that book also appeared in the Unearthed Arcanas, which are free.
Across two sessions, we've cleared an angry mob of citizens, a tavern, the smithy, four different houses full of orcs, the town park (which was set ablaze so we couldn't see and had to make checks to avoid suffocating), the tower with the Skald and his 'roid-raging minions, and three waves of orcs with the help of the NPC at a gatehouse. In those waves were bombardiers, and we had little room to maneuver from behind the barricades. 10ft radius bombs, too.
Fuckers all have Ferocity, so they take forever to go down.
By the way, we're still level three.What did you do to your DM to make them hate you so much that they'd run this?
It gets better later, I've been told.Is it worth it?
It gets better later, I've been told.Is it worth it?
Aye.I mean, not counting war caster, that's two feats to start just to get what mountain dwarf has at level 1 plus 2 more AC. And even with Variant Human, you'll be stuck with just light armor until level 4. And if you want to use melee weapons, you're stuck with simple weapons, whereas the dwarf has access to battleaxes and warhammers (granted, weapon attacks lose effectiveness past level 5 unless you have Extra Attack (which, among Wizards, only Bladesingers get, and they can't use medium armor and/or shields without interfering with Bladesong anyway), have some sort of damage boosting ability, or are using one of the weapon-based cantrips from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide).
If you were willing to sacrifice some points for a couple feats you could grab moderately armoured and war caster instead of mountain dwarf, which'd let you use shields as well and cast somatic spells even with weapons & shields, as well as a few other nice bonuses. Increase survivability a nice amount.
I'm curious, in 5e just how unfeasible is a melee wizard?As to the question of what subclass to use for a melee wizard, I'd say Abjuration is pretty good. It lets you effectively have the hitpoints of a more combat-focused class, and you get to replenish those pseudo-hitpoints whenever you cast an Abjuration spell, such as the very useful Shield spell (+5 AC for the rest of the round; triggers if an attack would hit you, which you can block if you needed no more than 5 more AC, and completely negates Magic Missile). Later on you become very good at just noping enemy spellcasters with counterspell, or just being able to take a spell head-on.
If I ever play a game I'm sorely tempted to give it a go for laughs.
Vampire dies screaming as he falls off the balcony
Personally, I got suspicious with "the boss, who's in this room with his coffin, breaks out and attacks the party, who throws a bunch of daggers in a cone at them".Vampire dies screaming as he falls off the balcony
JOJOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I already said a few posts earlier this campaign was based on the first arc of Jojo.Personally, I got suspicious with "the boss, who's in this room with his coffin, breaks out and attacks the party, who throws a bunch of daggers in a cone at them".Vampire dies screaming as he falls off the balcony
JOJOOOOOOOOOOOOO
then detect magic would GO FREAKING CRAZY when the airship went overhead.
Quotethen detect magic would GO FREAKING CRAZY when the airship went overhead.
Oddly enough it wouldn't. In fact if it levitated due to some sort of magical engine... It wouldn't even go off if the person was on the levitating ship.
Detect magic has a few rather stark limitations.
Another limitation is that Detect magic only has a range of 60ft. So even if the entire ship radiated magic... if it was 61ft away from the person using detect magic... it wouldn't detect magic.
Yeah, there's precisely zero rules written to say how airships function as a magic item (Caster Level, feats required, spells required etc.) so it's all at the DM's discretion. Plus there's weirdness in any magic world. Who's to say the way the airship functions isn't as a completely mundane ship that just so happens to be constructed of wood that's lighter than air?
Yeah, no offense meant at all. I've been reading Jojo recently, and I keep thinking it'd make an interesting RPG. (Also Kill Six Billion Demons which has a PbtA RPG, and some explicit Araki influences.)None taken. Everything gets lost in here, and most of you folks just do as I do and post and not read the others
I have a potential plot arc for you--I like that idea if we're going with an elemental plane powered vessel. The Djinn are one of my favourite planar races (in Pathfinder, though Githyanki are my absolute favourite from WotC), and I actually already have a background with an Efreeti that the players freed holding a grudge against the party.
If it's a military (or some other big, nasty organization with big, nasty opposition) ship, I'd be more concerned with military-grade magic detection. You can't cast it non-stop, but if you own a castle and are (reasonably) concerned with invisible, flying ships, you can probably spring for a higher grade of divination.Yeah, Eberron used the Lightning Rail and other magitech stuff like Elemental Airships from House Cannith. It's what I originally based my ideas upon, though a small portable portal into the elemental plane is probably far more convenient than an intelligent creature that wants to get out.
I'm not super familiar with the setting, but "lightning-powered air ship" sounds like something from Eberron. I'm not sure how much they get into the mechanics of that beyond X gold and Y ft/round, but you might find some useful things there. I think the maguffin there is using bound elementals to power their magipunk air ships and trains and the like. That could give you all kinds of conjuration effects if you wanted to go that way -- like subduing minor elementals to restore various subsystems.
You could honestly lift a lot of Star Trek style malfunction shenanigans, however the rest of the ship works. That might give you stuff for the less magical/mechanical party members.
Yeah, but then races such as half elves get to choose a proficiency or two.What?
You can, but then you're missing out on magic feats, which would probably serve you better.Yeah. If you're wanting free armour proficiencies seperate from class, it's beards and beer for you, my friend, because you're going dwarf.You have feats that give you armour proficiencies, though. So you can get a heavy armour wielding wizard THAT way.
Craft Alchemy is technically entirely separate from spellcasting, and you can make various odds and ends with it that way. If you have a forgiving DM you could probably find many more applications for it than just what the rulebook recipes would imply, though I don't think you get access to Brew Potion and thus miss out on useful stuff like potions of Mirror Image (on the other hand if you have decent UMD you can use scrolls for that, which I'm fairly sure are cheaper). Can still do smokesticks and sunrods and tanglefoot bags (oh dear, do look into tanglefoot bags - great to have a thing where the saving throw decides whether you're screwed or screwed worse, and as a Small rogue you should be great at ranged touch attacks).Sorry Harry, check the fine print in the table (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/craft.htm). In 3.5e you have to be a spellcaster to craft alchemical items.
Sleepy cry for help! DND 3.5e. Level 5 halfling rogue-or-similar, but meek due to oppressive reeducating police state. (Eternal Christmas campaign, long story)So you have a few options here, none of which are ideal and honestly depends on your DM.
Is there a way to do alchemy without any spellcasting levels? Generally they're required, of course, but surely there's another way...
If anyone knows Complete Scoundrel or other rogue-based books, I'd love your suggestions... Not sneak-attack-optimization so much, but ways to be interesting and stay hidden. I'm going to be the skill monkey by far, but it's a three person party - I should do *something* in battle, even if it's something stupid like throwing potions into friends.
Is that a thing? Been playing Final Fantasy Tactics a lot.
So I'm gonna be doing a Pathfinder game, in particular the Carrion Crown module stuffs. The GM is letting us Outsider (Native) for making character. RP13.RP stands for Race Points (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/creating-new-races), a system by which each ability of a race is given a numerical value to represent its strength. It's also totally broken by a sufficient min-maxer, so let's not go down this rabbit-hole. Essentially it means you can choose Outsider races such as Oread (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-oread), Ifrit (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-ifrit), Sylph (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-sylph) or Undine (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-undine) which are in the 6-7 RP range, or a Tiefling (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-tiefling) which has a 13 RP rating and is arguably stronger than the other four. It also means you can't pick Aasimar because they're 15 RP and therefore over the DM's arbitrary limit.
My question is what does the RP mean? I cant seem to google it.
Dear gods, your DM better hope nobody plans to munchkin this offer, because he's just opened up a world of pain for himself if he's giving you access to the Race Building rules.Our group doesnt do too much of that. And I think its the stock races, or Outsider Native .
Are you locked into the Outsider type or can you go with Humanoid for 0 RP as your base? Any plans for your class?
Assuming you want to be the special snowflake of your group:
Type:Humanoid (0 RP)
Size: Large (7 RP)
Speed: Slow (-1 RP)
Abilities: Mixed Weaknesses (-2 RP)
Language: Standard: (0 RP)
Defense: Lesser Lucky (+2 RP)
Advanced Movement: Flight (+4 RP)
Advanced Offense: Reach (+1 RP)
Senses: Darkvision (+2 RP)
Total: 13 RP
Congratulations, you're a Giant with 10 ft. reach, +2 Str, -2 Dex, +2 Wis and -4 Cha. You have a 20 ft. land speed but can fly at 30 ft. speed instead. You've got a +2 racial bonus on saving throws and can see in the dark too. Looks like a damned good option for a big stupid fighter type if you're into that.
But what if you flew through the enormous power of your legendary farting abilities? It'd explain the hefty charisma penalty too.That is the worst thing I have ever seen you post on this website
Aww, you're making me blush. I didn't even know you cared!But what if you flew through the enormous power of your legendary farting abilities? It'd explain the hefty charisma penalty too.That is the worst thing I have ever seen you post on this website
No self-respecting DM allows this kind of critical thinking though
If DND obeyed reasonable rules
If DND obeyed reasonable rules
. . . . .and DnD, as long as your DM allowed it.
That's basically how I handle it, real world knowledge and rules apply, if the characters have a reasonable expectation of possessing that knowledge (so all the advanced chem stuff is out unless they are practicing alchemists, and even then there has to be in-world justification, such as personal observation.)
This whole thing reminds me of when I ran the Castle Forlorn module in Ravenloft, and the very first thing one player tried to do was construct a hand grenade right there on the spot, to throw into a suspicious lake. Essentially trying to "blow up" Loch Ness so they can see the monster swimming around. Started rattling off all these compounds he could potentially scrounge from the environment.
His intelligence was 12. I think he was a fighter.
Or the guy who maintained he simply didn't believe in ghosts, even after one aged him 25 years or so. He signed up to play a gothic horror version of D&D, and then went with "I don't believe in ghosts, in game or in real life, because science."
Some people are dead set on trying to take the fun out of gaming.
In reality he is playing something like an offensive southern stereotype, not believing in simple fact because it gets in the way of a printed out doctrine of beliefs.Whew lad :P
I mean... Ghosts are kind of an established scientific fact... and to go "I don't believe in ghosts because of science!" kind of makes you an idiot in continuity :P
A significant part of Ravenloft, as I understand it from TheSpoonyOne is...This whole thing reminds me of when I ran the Castle Forlorn module in Ravenloft, and the very first thing one player tried to do was construct a hand grenade right there on the spot, to throw into a suspicious lake. Essentially trying to "blow up" Loch Ness so they can see the monster swimming around. Started rattling off all these compounds he could potentially scrounge from the environment.To be fair, someone in denial about the existence of ghosts in a game that very definitely contains ghosts could be amusing.
His intelligence was 12. I think he was a fighter.
Or the guy who maintained he simply didn't believe in ghosts, even after one aged him 25 years or so. He signed up to play a gothic horror version of D&D, and then went with "I don't believe in ghosts, in game or in real life, because science."
Some people are dead set on trying to take the fun out of gaming.
Sometimes the idea is really half-baked but they are expecting full results.
Like tying up a dragon in nylon rope... I don't QUITE think it will work out for you!
Sometimes the idea is really half-baked but they are expecting full results.
Like tying up a dragon in nylon rope... I don't QUITE think it will work out for you!
Which when you tell the group the grenade they just spent 20 table minutes trying to make is little more than a glorified smoke bomb......yeah that doesn't go over too well with anyone.
Clearly we needed to emulate the bosmer and brew meat with special bacteria into a toxic, mind-blasting substance.
Oh wait lutefisk
I tend to be overly cautious when doing scenarios. If there is a keyhole, I will peek first. If there is a door that can be cracked open instead of just brazenly opened, I will do that first and look through the crack, etc.The door opens inward. Bam.
A whirlwind would be immediately apparent upon cracking the door, because there would be suction against the door. (it would actively resist opening due to the low pressure)
Can someone explain to me why, in curse of strahd's level 1-3 dungeon, there is a LITERAL BAG OF SHIT that the party can loot!?
Loving everything I found so far but this... This is SOOOOOOOO messed up
Also there is a fairly good reason for there to be a bag of poop in Strahd's dungeon...No no no. This is in the death house optional dungeon.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Can someone explain to me why, in curse of strahd's level 1-3 dungeon, there is a LITERAL BAG OF SHIT that the party can loot!?Wait, was it just regular old shit or bat guano? Because bat guano is one of the material components of the fireball spell, along with sulfur (which is likely a reference to the recipe for black powder (though there should probably also be some charcoal in there)).
Loving everything I found so far but this... This is SOOOOOOOO messed up
Ideas time!After being exposed to it for a while, you might have them roll for mutations from the Metamorphica (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/115703/The-Metamorphica-Classic-Edition). Or you could use before that but have the mutations have a limited duration. Either way, you might want to give them a Fortitude saving throw to avoid, and possibly have the DC scale up every time the effect is triggered.
So my players last session have gained the aforementioned airship by passing a series of fairly easy skill checks to gain control of the unmanned craft. Part of the charm of it will be its umbrite shadow engine, harnessing the power of an ethereal rift to power the vessel through passage through the Plane of Shadow.
As part of this, the characters will be exposed to an encounter risk involving primal magic (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/variant-magic-rules/primal-magic).
The rules on this page have a recommendation to strike out one result and add a new one when it's triggered, so I'm sourcing ideas from the community to build on this table.
Any thoughts for some effects of magic gone wrong?
I had an idea for a universe some time ago. I even made up some simple subject materials, dreamed up how the world works mechanically, how seasons work on it (because it is a VERY strange world), and a few other things.As someone who cares about you simply as a fellow human being, I must advise you not to do a Kickstarter. They take an inordinate amount of effort to pull off, probably won't succeed unless you happen to have a huge social media presence, and, even if you do make your goal, you'll likely be left with burdensome financial obligations unless you plan very very carefully.
I had no idea I could do kickstarter type things, I was going to make it for free, and just see if anyone wanted to try it out. I live in BFE, and dont have a local gaming group, so I have nobody to test it on/with.
Perhaps I will dedicate the effort to finish it, and the sample campaign.
I find it weird that there is a growing trend of Pen and Paper RPGs with absolutely no character customization.Are you talking about Powered by the Apocalypse-type games? Because in those they are made that way to help convey the themes of the game (and yes, also make it easy for someone to pick up a character and play without having to use pre-mades).
Preset character only RPGs... Sure you can change their name, gender, and appearance... but by large they are already made for you.
character generation takes for freaking ever, and kids today are impatient.
that's why premade chars/classes are popular
I find it weird that there is a growing trend of Pen and Paper RPGs with absolutely no character customization.Are you talking about Powered by the Apocalypse-type games? Because in those they are made that way to help convey the themes of the game (and yes, also make it easy for someone to pick up a character and play without having to use pre-mades).
Preset character only RPGs... Sure you can change their name, gender, and appearance... but by large they are already made for you.
Yeah, I guess I didn't read the post too closely, and now I have absolutely no idea what it's referring to.I find it weird that there is a growing trend of Pen and Paper RPGs with absolutely no character customization.Are you talking about Powered by the Apocalypse-type games? Because in those they are made that way to help convey the themes of the game (and yes, also make it easy for someone to pick up a character and play without having to use pre-mades).
Preset character only RPGs... Sure you can change their name, gender, and appearance... but by large they are already made for you.
Not sure what you mean -- PBtA tends towards simple character customization (pick your stats, pick your starting moves, make any choices those moves call for, repeat when you level up), but you do have mechanical choices.
We came across a Dwarf in a makeshift arena, fighting off Direbears with a skillet. Not just any skillets though; it was the greatest of skillets. +1 Mithril Skillet. It's a thing. Why is it a thing? Fuck if I know. The book says it be what it is, so it do. No idea why Orcs had enchanted kitchenware. It being Mithril alone meant it's non-stick, so why would you go the extra mile to enchant the fucking thing?...Is that somehow actually a thing? Mithril being easy to clean? It *sounds* right.
Interesting session, to say the least.Agreed! Weird module, sounds like.
As with other mithral cookware, food rarely sticks to a mithral waffle iron.
Honestly... I know I should have other commentary but...I doubt it. Aluminum camping cookware is very light by design, and it works well.
I am just wondering if Mithril would even be a good material for a Skillet.
I mean, I guess it has the same or similar heat conduction that Steel/Iron/Lead does... But would its super light weight be a detriment?
I find it weird that there is a growing trend of Pen and Paper RPGs with absolutely no character customization.In 3.5e and Pathfinder, character creation is a minigame unto itself. I'm lucky enough to have a group that enjoy this aspect of the game. However if you're running a one-shot campaign or a game-store PUG it's easiest to simply have sheets ready to go on the fly.
Preset character only RPGs... Sure you can change their name, gender, and appearance... but by large they are already made for you.
SnipWould you be willing to ask your friend if he'd be willing to pass on the ruleset/setting? It sounds like the sort of game that's been floating around my head for a while.
Looking at the Giantbane feat, and realizing how little it costs to permanently minimize a halfling, I'm now possessed of the bizarre urge to run a tinies campaign.7th level party, with three Fighters who all have Giantbane, and a Cleric to cast Freedom of Movement to escape grapples. Then, you can just buy Reduce Person off a 9th level wizard for 2590 each, and badabing, badaboom, you're Tiny. If you want to go even further, you can get a ring of Reduce Size for another 4000, and you're now Diminutive. And that's still well within WBL. That said, you're now only doing 1d3 damage with a longsword, so you'll probably have to try and get Weapon Finesse.
The idea of a party of cat sized drop marines riding around in an airship made from folded paper and candles is hilarious while also managing to be absurdly dangerous.
SnipWould you be willing to ask your friend if he'd be willing to pass on the ruleset/setting? It sounds like the sort of game that's been floating around my head for a while.
So how many folks lost character sheets when Mythweavers FUBAR'd?
/me raises his hand with tears rolling down his face
snipThat's really awesome! If he's ever looking for outside playtesting, I'd love to try it out!
snip
I'm digging that Oath of Chivalry. Puts me in a Paladin style mood again. My second favourite class after Conjuration Wizards.
Quick question - I'm sure it's an obvious answer, but I just want to check.
In 3.5, if you're using Metamagic (say to Empower something, thereby using up a spell slot 2 higher than the usual required one), can you substitute in an even higher slot than should be required? Like if I want to cast Empowered Magic Missile, but I'm out of level 3 slots, can I use a level 4 spell slot?
A spellcaster always has the option to fill a higher-level spell slot with a lower-level spell
Numbers be scary, yo.Pfft, that's what Great Cleave is for! *fighterflex*
So I am gearing up to run a Delta Green game, with it new spiffy edition. The players requested it set in the 80s. I'm done with that. I was thinking of running it in Southern California. Outside of LA, So Cal looked surprisingly different. Like there were still famrs. Orange Farms in Orange COunty. There was an Alligator Farm next to Knotts Berry Farm. My SO Suggested Hawaii. WHich sounds cool. Lots of options to get isolated, a good reason to be in nature. Dark scary oceans. It would also give me a reason to bone up South Pacific Mythology, as I dont know a lot about it.
Also Lilo and Stitch!
"And then a singing crab attacks you with a very lame musical number"And then complains that if they where Jamaican they wouldn't still be on their back after everything else is over.
Now the other simple solution would be to play Burning Wheel, Symbaroum, Dungeon World or some other system that's easily compatible with more explicitly low-magic adventures. But those can be hard to get a hold of at the best of times.Well, at least Dungeon World, like Pathfinder, has a free online SRD (http://www.dungeonworldsrd.com/) (at one point I also picked up a free no art version PDF of the rules, but I can't find it anywhere online anymore). Also, all the rules the players need are in the playbooks (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3269630/dwdotcom/Dungeon_World_Play_Sheets.pdf)(pdf link), which can be downloaded from their website (http://www.dungeon-world.com/).
E6 rulesOh man, this is absolutely perfect. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
This low-magic game you're talking about, is it the same one you mentioned a few months ago? About being Vikings?Ja.
Style. No two GM/DMs will run the game the same way, they will have different dice conventions, character creation allowances, reliance on miniatures, reliance on maps, and the list of things that vary from DM to DM just goes on and on. So the reason you don't find much in the way of 'how to run the game at the table' guides is due to the fact that no one runs the table the same way, and the differences are just to big to cover effectively. The best you can get are some general pointers and maybe some suggestions.Yeah.
Style. No two GM/DMs will run the game the same way, they will have different dice conventions, character creation allowances, reliance on miniatures, reliance on maps, and the list of things that vary from DM to DM just goes on and on. So the reason you don't find much in the way of 'how to run the game at the table' guides is due to the fact that no one runs the table the same way, and the differences are just to big to cover effectively. The best you can get are some general pointers and maybe some suggestions.Yeah.
What's worked for my GMing is that I play in a game that I like and copy what I think the GM did right in overall style and gameplay.
Beyond that, you can look up stuff like The Angry GM or something similar. Here's (http://theangrygm.com/a-plot-b-plot/) a column on how to sort your plot threads, for instance, handy stuff that makes you think a little bit.
A post, just keeping it here to refer to Harry Baldman's post.
As for that last bit about Dusk City Dwellers, have you considered Blades In The Dark? It's like a Powered By The Apocalypse game,except good! It's also got a lot of mechanics in place for exact rewards and an excellent grasp of making pacing as easy as possible.
But I'll check it out. Blades in the Dark?
If it can pull off heist games with a social-fu bend... along with a sort of "presence" it might be gold...
Why are "Actually running the game" guides so uncommon?Perhaps this could help. It's got some interesting stuff on game design, adventure design, and other design related issues. (http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/p/index.html) His Quantum Ogre series is, IMHO, required reading. (http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/2011/09/on-how-illusion-can-rob-your-game-of.html)
I am aware the DM can run the game anyway he wants... but GOODNESS some hints sure would be nice.
The rules and the flow are two entirely different things.
Not sure if anyone's linked it before, but my brother showed me a d10000 wild surge chart (http://www.traykon.com/pdf/The_Net_Libram_of_Random_Magical_Effects.pdf), which includes such amazing things as "You appear behind the nearest king with a knife in your hand" and "You can only bark in the presence of royalty"
Not sure if anyone's linked it before, but my brother showed me a d10000 wild surge chart (http://www.traykon.com/pdf/The_Net_Libram_of_Random_Magical_Effects.pdf), which includes such amazing things as "You appear behind the nearest king with a knife in your hand" and "You can only bark in the presence of royalty"The wording of that bugs me. Does that mean that the caster is incapable of barking for whatever reason until they are in the presence of royalty? Or does it mean that the caster can do nothing except bark in the presence of royalty? Probable first answer: "yes" or "both".
8939: All trees within 60 yards decide to form a government.It's almost literally my favorite Rush song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnC88xBPkkc)
Which makes you an excellent detector of royalty.Not sure if anyone's linked it before, but my brother showed me a d10000 wild surge chart (http://www.traykon.com/pdf/The_Net_Libram_of_Random_Magical_Effects.pdf), which includes such amazing things as "You appear behind the nearest king with a knife in your hand" and "You can only bark in the presence of royalty"The wording of that bugs me. Does that mean that the caster is incapable of barking for whatever reason until they are in the presence of royalty? Or does it mean that the caster can do nothing except bark in the presence of royalty? Probable first answer: "yes" or "both".
Okay, so we got (Su) teleportation effect since no concentration when grappled?
High Stealth isn't too bad. Get some form of non-standard enemy detection like Scent, Tremorsense or the like. Anything that works against Invisible should be fine.
Sneak Attack while flat-footed? If you're playing Pathfinder, any form of long term flight will stop that nonsense. You are not considered flat-footed while flying. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/fly/#TOC-Avoid-Falling-After-Being-Attacked)
Most of those are tricky at level one. Also flying is a no-go in cramped tunnels anyway. :P
Sneak Attack while flat-footed? If you're playing Pathfinder, any form of long term flight will stop that nonsense. You are not considered flat-footed while flying. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/fly/#TOC-Avoid-Falling-After-Being-Attacked)
It seems somebody forgot "flat-footed" isn't being literal.
It seems somebody forgot "flat-footed" isn't being literal.
I think that's what the wording is there for, it's so an asshole GM can't go like "nuh uh, your feet are totally not moving so you get a sneak attack you flying bastard". What's meant is that you're not flat-footed while actively flying, not while you're all like hovering in place and what have you.
Does pathfinder allow you to be caught flat footed while swimming?If it doesn't, that rule didn't make it onto the swim page (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/swim/). The whole of the description from the conditions page honestly makes this more confusing.
A character who has not yet acted during a combat is flat-footed, unable to react normally to the situation. A flat-footed character loses his Dexterity bonus to AC and Combat Maneuver Defense (CMD) (if any) and cannot make attacks of opportunity, unless he has the Combat Reflexes feat or Uncanny Dodge class ability.Like, nothing in that says anything that implies flying would make you flat-footed, right? So the only thing that seems like it would inspire a specific ruling in the fly rules is an asshole DM like Baldman said.
Characters with Uncanny Dodge retain their Dexterity bonus to their AC and can make attacks of opportunity before they have acted in the first round of combat.
Does pathfinder allow you to be caught flat footed while swimming?If it doesn't, that rule didn't make it onto the swim page (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/swim/). The whole of the description from the conditions page honestly makes this more confusing.QuoteA character who has not yet acted during a combat is flat-footed, unable to react normally to the situation. A flat-footed character loses his Dexterity bonus to AC and Combat Maneuver Defense (CMD) (if any) and cannot make attacks of opportunity, unless he has the Combat Reflexes feat or Uncanny Dodge class ability.Like, nothing in that says anything that implies flying would make you flat-footed, right? So the only thing that seems like it would inspire a specific ruling in the fly rules is an asshole DM like Baldman said.
Characters with Uncanny Dodge retain their Dexterity bonus to their AC and can make attacks of opportunity before they have acted in the first round of combat.
...aaaaaaand we're done! Friday night session is complete, and the winner is...Players have a tendency to go against what the GM wants. As an example, in my last D&D session, the players, myself included, manage to defeat the overpowered enemy general and his army despite our GM wanting us to be captured as part of his adventure hook. Instead we pretended to surrender and unleashed all our strongest magic point-blank on the general.
NOTHING!!!
Seriously, the players didn't go for any of the adventure hooks. Honestly guys, what's hard about this? Someone needs a group of murderhobos to go kill stuff and take their magic things, and you're not fucking interested?!
Yeah, I'd say one rule of thumb for D&D is never have a plot that involves the players getting captured. It will almost never work out. And definitely don't try to keep them anywhere against their will, unless you're willing to just pull excuses out of your ass about why their escape attempts won't work....aaaaaaand we're done! Friday night session is complete, and the winner is...Players have a tendency to go against what the GM wants. As an example, in my last D&D session, the players, myself included, manage to defeat the overpowered enemy general and his army despite our GM wanting us to be captured as part of his adventure hook. Instead we pretended to surrender and unleashed all our strongest magic point-blank on the general.
NOTHING!!!
Seriously, the players didn't go for any of the adventure hooks. Honestly guys, what's hard about this? Someone needs a group of murderhobos to go kill stuff and take their magic things, and you're not fucking interested?!
Ok I have to say this...
There is this old Order of the Stick skit where a Wizard asks his assistant to go out and buy a ruby for him.
So he does and finds that they are half off... At which his master is furious with him because he needed a Ruby worth a certain price... But because they are half off, they are worth have as much.
Which I know is kind of pedantic and funny but... when I think about it. It is kind of magical and not a terrible idea for a system.
The Jewels have no inherent value as far as magic is concerned, it is only their value to the one casting it, what one had to exchange to obtain one... That is the actual source of magical potency.
A lot different then Gold being the literal magical exchange rate... enforced by the laws of physics.
Encountering Axiomites makes no sense, as they are Lawful Neutral outsiders dedicated to crafts in a Choatic Evil land full of giants and orcs. They have no reason to be here or be aggressive to us, so the DM just made them a group who've lived in the land for centuries, and just don't feel like leaving. They even set up a small blacksmithy, in case we want to buy anything. The campaign is a bit light on merchants.
We fought a pair of Stone Giants, eight Fire Drakes, a Land Shark, an Adult White Dragon, a gargantuan stone statue Animated Object, three Axiomites, a Fire Giant, three Frost Giants, and two Vampires with four thralls. I might be forgetting more.
The Axiomites are interplanar lawyers here to serve a subpoena for blatant RAW violation by one of the PCs. Their trial is conducted immediately, the PC is found guilty by the court, and they're sentenced to death.
Been looking over various Natural Attack builds, and now I'm wondering. Are there actually any creatures out there that are not proficient with Natural Weapons? I've seen proficiency with Natural Attacks mentioned more than a few times in Pathfinder, so potentially it could happen. Yes, I know I'm hunting for something that doesn't exist. Not the first time.
I'm still looking for the creature with DR/Gold mentioned in the Rare-Metal Infusion for the Geokinetist.
The trick is really to just go with what your players want.
I'd also not worry too much about the macro details. Build parts of the world as needed, or you'll end up wasting large amounts of effort as the players do something you'd never have guessed.
So uh....how much exactly does 5e cut out from character options ?
and that's enough information for me to never touch 5th Edition ever.So uh....how much exactly does 5e cut out from character options ?
Skill ranks and prestige classes are gone, feats and multiclassing are optional features (mostly replacing them is a set of 2-3 archetypes per class in addition to supplemental materials), spells are mostly the same but less powerful since caster level isn't a thing anymore, attributes are now all-important instead of super important.
That is, if you're wondering in relation to 3.5. I couldn't possibly comment about 4E.
and that's enough information for me to never touch 5th Edition ever.So uh....how much exactly does 5e cut out from character options ?
Skill ranks and prestige classes are gone, feats and multiclassing are optional features (mostly replacing them is a set of 2-3 archetypes per class in addition to supplemental materials), spells are mostly the same but less powerful since caster level isn't a thing anymore, attributes are now all-important instead of super important.
That is, if you're wondering in relation to 3.5. I couldn't possibly comment about 4E.
From the outset I want a few things clear, DO NOT engage in 'version X is better than version Y' discussion/argument, I will lock down the thread and report the parties responsible. (Even if it's me.)
Having come from solely 4e, the battles aren't as spectacular and are actually like 3.5 where battles are "glass cannons roll on their turn, big stupid fighter gets punched in the face, casters win and make the battle seem like the non-casters won". But everything else outside of combat is better (although gear is all over the place...).So uh....how much exactly does 5e cut out from character options ?
Skill ranks and prestige classes are gone, feats and multiclassing are optional features (mostly replacing them is a set of 2-3 archetypes per class in addition to supplemental materials), spells are mostly the same but less powerful since caster level isn't a thing anymore, attributes are now all-important instead of super important.
That is, if you're wondering in relation to 3.5. I couldn't possibly comment about 4E.
Ultimately there is a LOT in 5th edition that they do right and many times better than Pathfinder. Such as character and monster balance (You can finally make monsters without HUUUUUGE guess work like you need in Pathfinder). Yet the very limited character creation and character advancement hurts the game.Pathfinder is a clusterf*** of what happens when 3.5 elitists decide they can make a better 3.5 and then let other people throw their ideas into he mix. There really isn't much on balancing.
Pathfinder I feel... really needs a version 2... a clean slate.
Then again I think they are planning on making a Pathfinder 2, just call it a hunch... what with them playtesting certain... alternatives.
although I'm not keen on the fact every class can now be divine based... Even the barbarian...
Because even if I accept that 5e is worse then 3.5haha no
and pathfinder
Pathfinder is a clusterf*** of what happens when 3.5 elitists decide they can make a better 3.5 and then let other people throw their ideas into he mix. There really isn't much on balancing.
I thought about it.Is that "never say 'no you can't do that'"?
The most important rule that new DMs typically overlook... in the DM book...
Rule Zero
I hate DMing pathfinder because nothing is easy. Enemies have feats and hit dice!? What is this none sense!? who said I can't have a boss monster with 1000hp because the party drops enemies in one turn from how much damage it does?Because even if I accept that 5e is worse then 3.5haha noand pathfinder
no, can't even muster haha for thatQuotePathfinder is a clusterf*** of what happens when 3.5 elitists decide they can make a better 3.5 and then let other people throw their ideas into he mix. There really isn't much on balancing.
I"d play 3.5 with Epic6 to deal with the unbalanced power-curve, but I'd never play PF again.
In other news, I'm getting ready to run a Mutants and Masterminds game set a few years after a multiversal conflux that scrambled the dimensions together and then haphazardly separated them again. If you want to be a superdude in a setting where martians and demons team up with Montezuma to form a Legion of Doom, come by and let's make something happen (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=163264.0)
What would you guys say are the most important things a new DM should know/prepare before launching a campaign?
Used without restraint, a sap is totally lethal though. It can cause very deep tissue damage, much the same as soap in a sock can. But hey, the people who crafted that rule wanted a specifically "safe" non-lethal attack, they just didn't do good research.
What would you guys say are the most important things a new DM should know/prepare before launching a campaign? Are there any important mechanical details that are easy to miss if you don't read the DM's guide front to back? If I'm planning a more story based campaign rather than a sandbox, what story beats should I have written out beforehand? Should I even plan that far ahead in the first place?
Sorry if I'm being a bit general, I have some time before all my players are able to get together and I want to make sure everyone has enough fun that they want to play again.
The funny thing about Rogues is that even though everyone builds them with Dexterity.Turns out I really want to chat about rogues, apparently?? I just finished playing a ranger so I guess martial stuff is in my head.
They benefit greatly from strength builds.
That is until Pathfinder created the Unchained Rogue... Which most DMs don't allow because they don't understand the Unchained classes (which are essentially the Pathfinder creators attempting to create a superior version of the original class)
If you're really worried about your strength bonus to damage on top of the other giant bonuses you get, you can just get weapon finesse.
Part of the problem we're running into here is that 3.X is awful and broken and will never be balanced.
Part of the problem we're running into here is that 3.X is awful and broken and will never be balanced.We *just* dodged an edition fight, come on :P
I guess spot/listen could be dumped
but maybe they don't have a paladin or bard to be party-face. Or maybe the rogue might need to talk their own dang self out of some things ::)
Is it an edition fight if we all agree?
Is it an edition fight if we all agree?
Evil campaigns are odd. There's still the push in the back of your mind to be a hero.
The subtleties of alignment
Lex Luthor stole forty cakes
Actually that's a really good story! I especially like how your group's actions (even if they did have self-serving reasons for doing them) ended up making a significant difference to the path your character took in their story.I don't see anything requiring the men and women to be married to each other.
I'm looking forward to the next few sessions of my campaign. The group's about to head into a nation devoted to worshipping Asmodeus. They know that slaves are common, but they don't yet realise how hard life will be for them when they're not worshippers. Obviously the guard keep Law and Order by forbidding outsiders from carrying weapons. They forbid carrying holy symbols of other deities. They forbid unlicensed arcane magic. They forbid all poisons, including alcohol. They forbid sexual relations except between married men and women, and only marriages conducted by a priest of Asmodeus are recognised as legitimate.
Any other suggestions to really make this place a draconian dystopia of Lawful Evil?
Spoiler: NO PEEK, GROUP (click to show/hide)
So if it just says proficiency bonus, add the proficiency bonus because it doesn't mean a particular proficiency bonus?
Well, the first part is right, though I will say it doesn't matter what your class is; if you're a level 5 anything, you have a +3 proficiency bonus (there's a table near the front of the PHB that gives the proficiency bonus per level, and also in the class by level table for each class). Even if you're multiclassed, you still have the same proficiency bonus per level as everyone else.So if it just says proficiency bonus, add the proficiency bonus because it doesn't mean a particular proficiency bonus?
Ok here is how it works... Let us take a Wizard and assume it is level 5
Level 5 wizards have a +3 proficiency bonus
They also have a: Intelligence and Wisdom proficiency
Anytime they would make a Intelligence or Wisdom check... they get a +3 ontop of whatever their attribute bonus is.
If a wizard had to make a dexterity check... they do not gain this proficiency bonus.
So if it just says proficiency bonus, add the proficiency bonus because it doesn't mean a particular proficiency bonus?
I finally got that game up and running. (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=163390.0)Awesome.
And now he must address every opponent as 'Mister Anderson' while adjusting his shades.That's certainly true whenever he's running his favorite personality-chip which I bought. He's not addicted... yet.
Oh dear.You're not wrong.
Well, it isnt like reading an RFID card discretely is terribly hard. You dont need super advanced kit for that. Basically a cellphone and a driven antenna down a pant leg.
How would you guys recommend designing the first dungeon/adventure? I'm not sure how many enemies or encounters there should be to challenge a group of four newbies without overwhelming them. I'm also wondering how to make a non-violent solution feel challenging when it's possible in the first place.This is 3.5e/Pathfinder, right? If so, three to four encounters of increasing difficulty is a good ballpark, though it depends.
How would you guys recommend designing the first dungeon/adventure? I'm not sure how many enemies or encounters there should be to challenge a group of four newbies without overwhelming them. I'm also wondering how to make a non-violent solution feel challenging when it's possible in the first place.
wizards and clerics come armed with bash weapons though. Admittedly, those are players that shouldnt really be doing such activities... just saying they come with equipment that is useful, and if the group plays well, letting the fighter borrow that craptastic quarterstaff for a bit can save the day.
You would have to be some special kind of short bus challeneged to short STR on a fighter.I mean, unless you're playing a dex fighter.
Just to clarify, I'm running 5E. How much of that advice is still applicable? I'm not sure how much has changed between editions. Oh, and if it helps, the party comp is one rogue, one monk, one paladin, and one sorcerer.
Just to clarify, I'm running 5E. How much of that advice is still applicable? I'm not sure how much has changed between editions. Oh, and if it helps, the party comp is one rogue, one monk, one paladin, and one sorcerer.In 5e, rogues have very few limitations on sneak attack. It works on any creature, and to use it they either need advantage on the attack roll or they need an ally right next to the creature when they make the attack (the rogue can even do this from ranged). About the only limitation it has that the 3.5 rogue didn't is that they can only use their sneak attack once per turn (but not per round, so it can be used if they hit with an opportunity attack).
Just to clarify, I'm running 5E. How much of that advice is still applicable? I'm not sure how much has changed between editions. Oh, and if it helps, the party comp is one rogue, one monk, one paladin, and one sorcerer.5E more or less avoids most of the problems with undead. General structure of the game should still be the same. Expanding on Kadzar slightly, kobold fight club is awesome, but be wary of leaning too heavily on the CR system. In my experience it's not a brilliant representation (it's more or less optimised for lower levels with a number of monsters equal to the number of party members in my experience). That said, until you get some experience under your belt there isn't much else to go off :P Just don't be afraid to scale up/down future encounter based off how the current one's going.
So we did a one shot today of Star Wars, edge of the empire. It was a printed adventure, where we were running away from Temo the hutt and trying to get a space ship.
And that was the most murder hobo, I have been in a long while. We just solved everything with liberal amount of murder, and the only thing that boned us, was that we didnt apply enough murder.
I'm in an EoTE campaign and I can confirm that murdering people is very mandatory, unavoidable, and profitable.
I am seriously considering acquiring a pair of maces for my dex barbarian. As little sense as it makes, weapon finesse applies to light maces and the way the campaign is going, I really want blunt damage for killing skeletons.
"All the power in the world doesn't matter if you can't hit something with it." Me, paraphrasing something, right now.
"All the power in the world doesn't matter if you can't hit something with it." Me, paraphrasing something, right now.
Well the reason why "It works with Weapon Finesse?" is because it is counter to the idea of weapon finesse.
Which is more about wrist movements and careful movements. Moving your skill through delicate dexterous movements instead of shows of might.
Using Light Maces with Weapon Finesse gives me the hilarious image of wielding them like they were drum sticks. Which while hilarious I think is canonical to how you are actually pulling it off.
No, neo's got the right of it here, the 'finesse' method of fighting with light maces would look a lot like using a percussive instruments' sticks. Minimal arm motion, quick flicks and rapid, repeated motions. Tonfa are more often used for rapid thrusts and trapping maneuvers (at least in every demonstration I've ever seen.)
Well, a little less like traditional western drumsticks, more like other percussive hammers, still his analogy was rather apt, all things considered.
Make it "use collapsible batons that way", and you have a real winner.Huh. Neat idea, though hard to balance maybe. It did get me thinking about similar options that exist within (or near) the rules.
Now I want to try making a purely fantasy weapon class of "contact" wand weapons. Basically a magic wand that does not do ray damage, or area damage. Instead, the tip of the wand has a concentrated spell effect, akin to a hot poker-- but with any effect you can accomplish with magic. That way, finesse "drumming" somebody with one could be damned leathal. (I pokey the petrification wand RIGHT HERE, and BAM-- guy is dead instantly.) It is not how hard you hit, it is that you hit at all, and where you hit. Those would be true DEX type magic weapons. Imagine "pinpoint" application of a spell effect, on contact. (If it helps the imagination, a petrification wand of this type would have a small curl of falling dust falling off the end, as the tip of the wand interacts with the air in the room, turning it into stone- etc. Only the material that comes into literal contact with the tip of the wand gets affected.)
I suppose something similar already exists for special poisons on a shortblade, but that still requires actual penetration, which means dealing with armor. This would have the 'on contact' type effect of a touch range spell effect, but not require a magical proficiency from the user, just a weapon class proficiency. (Wands have a fixed effect, and number of contact charges. They are "just on", so dont need active channeling from a spellcaster. When they run out of juice, they need recharging though.)
Probably a silly idea though. The whole idea is that while they do very little damage on touch, they are dex weapons, and can be used to touch repeatedly and precisely. (Think-- drummer doing a highspeed drumroll on somebody's head, but using these as drumsticks. That's several hundred strikes in one action point.)
Light mace (qualifies for weapon finesse)
Enchanted with Brilliant Energy for 4, basically making it use touch attacks
Enchanted with some combination of flaming, frost, and shock for +1d6 damage each.
Stack on some plain magical enhancement to further increase bonus damage per hit, and hit chance.
To make it more baton-like, use ironwood.
Make two and dual-wield... It's going to be hard to miss most targets. Hell, pick up some extra arms from savage species if possible.I'm just waiting for them to finally clarify what interaction traps have with Perception (1 check per 10 ft. square or 1 check per line of sight).
Doesnt that defeat the purpose of clairvoyance? EG, you can see it without your damned eyeballs-- it would need to be hidden magically to defeat, no?
The trouble is Pathfinder rolled Search and Spot and Listen skills into one big Perception skill ball, so you use the same skill to search for traps as you do to determine things you spot with the naked eye.
There's a huge table variation because of this, with some using 3.5e rules for a full round action per 5 ft. square, some using one check per 10 ft. cube, and some using one check and applying distance modifiers for the penalty up to line of sight.
Speaking of Pathfinder releases, apparently PF Spelljammer came out a little while back.
They're calling it Starjammer, after the D&D version I guess. Basically fantasy shenanigans IN SPACE.Speaking of Pathfinder releases, apparently PF Spelljammer came out a little while back.
That Starfinder thing?
They're calling it Starjammer, after the D&D version I guess. Basically fantasy shenanigans IN SPACE.
the Shifter.
the Shifter.
HNNNNNNNG
Oh my god i can't wait until November. The shifter from 3.5 was my favorite prestige class and now it might be a base class!?
I'm too hype.
A new 20-level base class, the shifter, puts animalistic powers into the hands—or claws—of player characters and villains alike, with a host of new class features derived from animalistic allegiances
The shifter, a new character class that harnesses untamed forces to change shape and bring a new level of savagery to the battlefield!
I've been thinking of creating a sort of monster collection pen and paper RPG
But as I was thinking about it more and more I kind of realized how antagonistic that format is to actual roleplaying.
Dragon Ball RPG was an easier concept to get off the ground because at least I could externalize a lot of the things people have issues with and then simplify the rest.
Yet it just doesn't work that way with monster collection... even with my alternate idea that instead people create up to three monsters and stick with them.
I either have to think of a clever solution to this issue or think of something else.
I mean I GUESS I could... do... what The Last Remnant did... and instead monsters fight all at once as a group.
Goodness a Last Remnant game would be awesome with people being generals... and their skills and equipment in many ways are their extra party members.
CHV (GM): rolling 3d6+6
(4+5+6)+6
= 21
I know that I probably shouldn't ask because I can't expect a satisfactory answer from you, but alas, curiosity. What did you find particularly broken about it? I've played it a fair amount, and I gota say, in comparison to most rpgs I've played it's a lot more mechanically sound. I have some issues with it, particularly in experience point gain, but to be fair I've not played a single pen and paper rpg yet that's had a satisfactory character advancement scheme out of the box. Other then that it's not perfect, but certainly solid. I'd put it at around 5e level of "ease of play" at least.
I wouldn't even call it broken.
and also all rpgs are broken
The ability to break a game doesn't make it brokenThen why would you use that as an example of how a game is broken?
Neo, by the definition you just posted every single pnp RPG would be 'broken'. Because as the PCs gain power they gain the ability to bypass things that would have been mandatory at lower levels (through assorted means, intimidation, spells/abilities that allow flight/teleportation/invisibility etc.)
Neo: I did not stawman you, your post is entirely too vague to get anything from it beyond: Players gain power and the game changes, and that is broken. If you don't want to be misinterpreted, be more detailed when posting on a subject.
RIFTS is badly done in so many other ways it would take hours, or possibly days, to cover them all. The game is straight up broken, with broken abilities, classes, races, setting, and on and on.
When the words you posted are very literally: "Most broken games are relatively fine at the start... it is only once characters start growing in power that things start to sort of fall apart." And I just copy pasted that from your post so don't gripe about being misquoted.
That is much better, now you are conveying meaning.
Okay, I've got a couple of points here
Point no. 1: If the game breaks down through organic play then there is a fundamental flaw in either it's balance or rules, this flaw (or flaws) may not be visible on even a comprehensive read-through, and may only become apparent during play.
Point no. 2: If the game is flawed in such a way, then it is 'broken' as per my definition up above, through fundamental imbalance or mechanical failure.
Aw man, sorry for your loss. I feel your pain. I'm playing Amiri the iconic Barbarian in a Pathfinder game this Friday, and I'm sincerely hoping I don't end up with the same fate. I've got a Wand of Cure Light Wounds for her and a bunch of other survival gear, so I'm hoping I can face whatever comes up, but at level 1 all it takes is a lucky crit. Still, with 17 hp when raging it'd take more than 32 damage to take her permanently out of a fight.QuoteCHV (GM): rolling 3d6+6
(4+5+6)+6
= 21
Glorious melee combat with four-armed enemies is a hell of a drug. RIP Temurdai, you tanked some hits that would have one-shotted other party members even harder.
On the plus side, he went out the way any barbarian would want to: Enlarged, Raging, Blessed, and Flanking. 1d8+4 and 1d8+2 at a +7 to hit each. And he did even get to use the slightly ridiculous +11 acrobatics modifier more than once! No attacks of opportunity against this man.
Finally, the statement “You are not considered flat-footed while flying” means that flying (unlike balancing using Acrobatics or climbing) doesn’t automatically make you flat-footed or force you to lose your Dexterity bonus to AC; it doesn’t mean that flying makes you immune to being caught flat-footed.
Maybe consider a Warpriest (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/warpriest/). The blessings have an awesome amount of low level buffs, and you have access to the Cleric spell list up to 6th level spells. You also use 2nd level Fervor to get a swift action heal for yourself in combat. Destruction, Nobility and War are awesome team buffs, and Protection and Strength have great stuff for yourself. It's a compromise between pure Paladin and Cleric, without the MAD (multiple attribute dependency) that plagues Paladins and with more martial ability compared to pure Cleric.
Or just play a summoner of any flavour. Summoned monsters don't give a damn about your low character stats.
I remember us talking about flying creatures "not being flat-footed",QuoteFinally, the statement “You are not considered flat-footed while flying” means that flying (unlike balancing using Acrobatics or climbing) doesn’t automatically make you flat-footed or force you to lose your Dexterity bonus to AC; it doesn’t mean that flying makes you immune to being caught flat-footed.
Oh, hai giant flying genie! Your desc says you weigh almost a ton, yet you magic-fly so high my arrows can't reach? I use the the equal of a flashbang to stun you at range, (with a lucky/loaded roll), which paralizes you momentarily. Guess what now? You fall down, go boomboom, cause magic flight works the way it does! (Trollface)
Oh, hai giant flying genie! Your desc says you weigh almost a ton, yet you magic-fly so high my arrows can't reach? I use the the equal of a flashbang to stun you at range, (with a lucky/loaded roll), which paralizes you momentarily. Guess what now? You fall down, go boomboom, cause magic flight works the way it does! (Trollface)
I do have to wonder if the same applies to psionic flight. Kind of the whole point of psionics is that you don't need somatic or verbal components, right? Just keep yourself afloat with the power of your mind (in which case I guess if you're stunned you fall, whereas if you're paralyzed you do not, opposite for flight by propulsion?).
I think only rule sticklers would follow such stupid RAW for that, Wierd.
-snip-This could make a really good Apocalypse World or Dungeon World playbook (basically Powered by the Apocalypse-type games' version of classes). My first thought is that you could base the design somewhat on Apocalypse World's (http://apocalypse-world.com/ApocalypseWorldBasicRefbook2ndEd.pdf) Chopper, so like building your own gang you have the option to choose a couple options for your summon, and one of them would be a loyal parent+child relationship, which would work like making your gang well-disciplined (which makes it so you don't have to roll to control them, if I remember correctly), or you can instead skip that option to instead invest more points in its fighting ability, at the cost of it being potentially dangerous to you. And, if later you want to become loyal to you, you can use an upgrade to take that option.
You know what I am going to take the plunge and actually TRY to design a setting (or pieces of a setting) based entirely off African history and African nations... HOPEFULLY ignoring the whole White Slavery thing MOSTLY (mostly because... that is so cliché that not doing it actually gives you originality points)
Africa is so fascinating and yet I learned almost NOTHING about it other than "White people enslaved Africans here be" (Though... a group of people who start and end as victims with little-no other defining features is typical school history affair... Like Women's history!)
One of the big things about any kind of 'fantasy' Africa, is the low population density tends to prevent the formation of large political entities (yes, there have been large entities in Africa's past, but most of them failed rather quickly.) This would probably make it difficult to define anything other than generalized 'cultural regions'. It also makes 'higher learning' and 'developed industry' extremely rare, Dark Sun might have some useful pointers for you.
Hey guys, if you had, theoretically, a 3-level racial class with full BAB that ends up with the ability to shape into a size large wolf (trip on bite included) with type magical beast, what class would you pick?You could also be a monk, that way your natural weapons will eventually end up with all the abilities to overcome damage resistance. It would probably be the best way you could scale as a large wolf in terms of damage efficiency.
I decided to go hunter with boon companion. I lose out on BAB but sharing teamwork feats like tandem trip with another thing that can trip means I can mess up some folks pretty bad.
We also have access to Path of War, so a Broken Blade Warder might be another deliciously viable choice.
Egypt and Carthage, are more Mediterranean and Mesopotamian then Africa.
If you're going to talk about awesome long lasting African empires. There is Mali Empire. Ethiopia. Well, may not that one. There been lots of countries mostly in the same region called Ethiopia but I am not sure how much continuity exists between them.
Carthage is far more of a Mediterranean civ than an African one, and Zulu was a coalition of tribal peoples, Egypt is an outgrowth of Nubia, which may have been the largest ancient African nation, and I will admit to not actually being up on Ghana's history.The Zulu are several tribes conquered by Shaka. That's like saying Greece isn't Greece because Athens and Sparta are two different peoples, even though Alexander conquered them and unified them
Taking all that into account you still run into the same hurdle, low population density and lack of organized nations leads to 'low-tech' and probably 'low-magic' (not intended as the current fantasy trope, but instead to indicate that magic is unlikely to have a large degree of sophistication, and would probably be dominated by divine spellcasting/shamanism.)
Taking all that into account you still run into the same hurdle, low population density and lack of organized nations leads to 'low-tech' and probably 'low-magic' (not intended as the current fantasy trope, but instead to indicate that magic is unlikely to have a large degree of sophistication, and would probably be dominated by divine spellcasting/shamanism.)
Oldest know ruins of a city are in South America and are over twenty thousand years old, so while Egypt has some serious clout as an ancient civ, it isn't even close to being THE oldest. Hell Nubia is closer, with some data indicating it being upwards of fifteen thousand years old.
You know what I am going to take the plunge and actually TRY to design a setting (or pieces of a setting) based entirely off African history and African nations... HOPEFULLY ignoring the whole White Slavery thing MOSTLY (mostly because... that is so cliché that not doing it actually gives you originality points)I kind of wonder if Spears of the Dawn is close to what you're going for. Though even if it is (I haven't read it myself), your idea is still worthwhile, since there is a dearth of good African-themed fantasy settings.
Africa is so fascinating and yet I learned almost NOTHING about it other than "White people enslaved Africans here be" (Though... a group of people who start and end as victims with little-no other defining features is typical school history affair... Like Women's history!)
Incidentally, I love the power glove. It's so bad.The previous Johnson was a dumbass.
Meanwhile a special someone drove up to the security gate. He passed a special RFID card to our Decker (still working the gate). She had him wait while we [figured out the decking rules] copied the data off, then gave it back. Mission technically accomplished.
Much laughs and such were had over a job well done. Until someone drove up to the gatehouse with a note, which I received (I took hir place).
The game had changed.
One of the big things about any kind of 'fantasy' Africa, is the low population density tends to prevent the formation of large political entities (yes, there have been large entities in Africa's past, but most of them failed rather quickly.) This would probably make it difficult to define anything other than generalized 'cultural regions'. It also makes 'higher learning' and 'developed industry' extremely rare, Dark Sun might have some useful pointers for you.
-Zulu
One of the big things about any kind of 'fantasy' Africa, is the low population density tends to prevent the formation of large political entities (yes, there have been large entities in Africa's past, but most of them failed rather quickly.) This would probably make it difficult to define anything other than generalized 'cultural regions'. It also makes 'higher learning' and 'developed industry' extremely rare, Dark Sun might have some useful pointers for you.
Axum stood from the 2nd century until the tenth; after about three centuries of kerfuffling, the Solomonic dynasty ruled the Ethiopian Empire until the Cold War era. It was considered a major power on a level with Rome, Persia, and Carthage in the classical era.
The Ghana Empire stood from the 5th to the 13th.
The Mali Empire only stood from the 13th to the 17th or so, but it produced some significant architectural wonders and the Timbuktu University, a major centre of learning for centuries. Mansa Musa is a pretty well-known figure as a result of his diplomatic ties to nations all over the world.
African history is a fascinating subject that far too many people ignore completely or have only misinformation on.-Zulu
The Zulu Kingdom was hardly ancient. Shaka, the founder, was born in 1787. The kingdom was more-or-less fully formed in terms of territory by about 1825. Then colonisation happened, of course.
Note that Sub-Saharan Africa is practically a different continent to North Africa because of the difficulty in crossing the Sahara, IIRC. I don't think any major empires formed in that region, not on a level with something like Mali. There's stuff like the Great Zimbabwe ruins, but I don't think very much is known of their precise history.
Is it just me or is the warpriest just a strictly worse cleric? I mean, they get a d8 HD and a medium BAB, a soulknife mechanic and a variation on turn undead? Am I missing something?
Is it just me or is the warpriest just a strictly worse cleric? I mean, they get a d8 HD and a medium BAB, a soulknife mechanic and a variation on turn undead? Am I missing something?They have some really amusing combos since their weapons do damage based off of their class and not the weapon itself. For example if you had a whip with lunge and whirlwind attacks as your feats. You suddenly get the ability to do an attack against every enemy around you in a 20 foot radius assuming you are a medium sized creature that does substantial damage despite being a whip since it's using sacred damage (Plus whatever enhancements you throw on top.)
@milo: I kinda wanna play that.
Failing that I kinda wanna make a game based on that.
Any tips or comments for a GM who's mostly run things online and mostly on forums before? I'm having a ton of fun with all this.
The problem is that I have this awesome idea for a setting, but no real knowledge of how to write good rules or run a game, and even worse, no one to play with (I know exactly 0 people who would be interested in an RPG).Two words: Forum game.
Heck do a forum game with a pre-existing rules system if you want to take out even more work for yourself, I'd recommend pathfinder since it's rules database is free if it would fit your setting.Pathfinder would not fit this setting without significant houseruling.
It might be fun (heck, I would love to), but I only have internet access for a few hours a day, twice a week (can't get it at home, so I drive to the nearest library).Oh sorry to hear that. Well then, bide your time and scheme for your future time as a game master!
Maybe someday.... For now I will watch. (but the day is coming)
Speaking of Pathfinder forum games, I'm still looking for applicants for Valhalla-Bound (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=163390.0), a play-by-post low fantasy Norse-themed Pathfinder game. No offense to the people working on sheets already, but they're, er, certainly taking their time with it, and I'd like to have an array of charatcters to pick from.I do not appreciate this public shaming ;~;
Were-chickens are best lycanthropes.
A thing that is not a werewolf are best werewolves.
Were-chickens are best lycanthropes.
To my knowledge only Half-lings and gnomes could be a Were-Chicken.
Apparently the new-ish Pathfinder Adventure Path, Ironfang Invasion, included Were-Raptors. Not like Dinosaur-Lycanthropes, but Bird-Lycanthropes.Man, for a second you got my hopes up for were-feathered-raptors.
Apparently the new-ish Pathfinder Adventure Path, Ironfang Invasion, included Were-Raptors. Not like Dinosaur-Lycanthropes, but Bird-Lycanthropes.Man, for a second you got my hopes up for were-feathered-raptors.
A thing that is not a werewolf are best werewolves.
I beleived they got rid of that rule in 5e, but damn, is it funny to see a 3' tall gnome with pink hair turn into a size large bear-lady and destroy everything. I had the player roll to have after-effects of the transformation, such as stretch marks, baggy skin, etc. but thanks to being a barbarian, she never had it happenWere-chickens are best lycanthropes.
To my knowledge only Half-lings and gnomes could be a Were-Chicken.
Yea, gotta be within one size category of the animal, last I checked. That would require either a massive chicken or an extraordinarily small man.
Now for a Stone Giant Were-Roc.
I had to google to see if werechickens were done before. Apparently there was an episode of the animated Ghostbusters cartoon involving a werechicken.
Here's an image of the new Lycanthrope.:PSpoiler (click to show/hide)
The rule is still there in Pathfinder though.I don't really care about pathfinder to be honest. Its 3.5 after it took a shot of speed, and despite some of my most fun sessions being in pathfinder, I really dislike it. Most classes are rendered obsolete very quickly, meaning half of the classes are not even viable for play if you plan on going more than level 8/9. I think pathfinder needs the right GM and the right players to really make it fun. Throw in one powergamer in a more laid back campaign, and its just not fun because every encounter is "struggle to stay alive while the powergamer obliterates everything".
Here's an image of the new Lycanthrope.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I know, and I wasn't blaming you?
Uh oh did my joke not get joked properly? It was a joke oh no.
What's wrong with roll20? If there's something better I am not aware of for weekly over the internet games I'd love to know.I don't tihnk people on bay12 like taking time out of their schedule to use it.I can't put away time for roll20, especially since every game tends to be saturday afternoons
I actually like roll20, but unless a game is on the weekend and relatively early in the afternoon I simply can't ever guarantee being able to attend sessions.Case in point.
Roll20 once ran into my room brandishing a machete, swinging, and screaming obscenities.My friend uses tabletop sim for his games and then screen shares via Skype. He doesn't use music often because his fantasy music library is only dark souls, and it doesn't fit the more nonsensical game he has... Except when my character goes into a berserker rage, and then it becomes a theme song for myself as I slaughter enemies
Might have been a dream though.
I've had glitches in Roll20 but even if I multiplied the negatives of Roll20 there isn't anything that comes close to it in terms of quality and usability.
One of the only programs that could have competed with Roll20 is far too expensive (it needed to have GM and Player versions) and far too difficult to modify for the average user.
*MC sits in his tiny play-by-post corner by himself*
I am doing a Play by Post soon... I just need to do a interest check and then a write up.What system is it?
The problem is how to hype it... hmmm
I've heard pathfinder is 90% 3.5 dnd, 10% reballancing of the classes, 10% modern-themed homebrew; yes, I know that adds up to 110%. That said, never had the opportunity to look at in in depth myself or to play it.I am doing a Play by Post soon... I just need to do a interest check and then a write up.What system is it?
The problem is how to hype it... hmmm
It seems everything these days uses Pathfinder, and I don't know jack about that system.
And since I don't have a computer, I can't look it up. The site that most people link to won't load on my DS
Sounds more like a boardgame than a legit RPG, but what do I know.
The DM said the encounter table is really weird. Lots of stuff that wouldn't fight you
I'm not super familiar with DnD - is the encounter table meant just for combat encounters? Seems to me you could do a lot of interesting stuff with that. Maybe the dragon wants something from you - maybe it's looking for something and comes to interrogate you, not to eat you... unless you piss it off. Would make a nifty social encounter, maybe a plot hook for the future too. Or maybe it's under a curse or obligation (are silver dragons Lawful?) and can't engage in its usual evil behavior.
Wait, aren't metallic dragons good in DnD? How'd your DM even justify it attacking you?
neo, no alignment discussions.
I'm not super familiar with DnD - is the encounter table meant just for combat encounters? Seems to me you could do a lot of interesting stuff with that. Maybe the dragon wants something from you - maybe it's looking for something and comes to interrogate you, not to eat you... unless you piss it off. Would make a nifty social encounter, maybe a plot hook for the future too. Or maybe it's under a curse or obligation (are silver dragons Lawful?) and can't engage in its usual evil behavior.
Wait, aren't metallic dragons good in DnD? How'd your DM even justify it attacking you?
Reasonable solution. Dragons love gems, dragons do not hate or care for you.
Seriously Null. You're your own worst enemy with this. You start more fights than anyone in this thread and then get upset when people call you out for it.neo, no alignment discussions.
You just broke your own rule!
I didn't break it, you did! It wasn't a discussion until you put your 2 cents in right now.
So stop it before you ban yourself from this topic!
This is actually interesting. Is this in the draconomicon or is this solely just in the Monster Manual?Reasonable solution. Dragons love gems, dragons do not hate or care for you.
Interestingly enough, and not used enough, each dragon actually has preferences of treasure they enjoy.
and when I say not used enough... I mean... for example one dragon actually prefers to collect seashells and coral. Wouldn't that be an interesting stash to get?
Planar Dragons?
I was going to say that!
5e desperately needs bloat, as silly as that sounds.Define bloat in this case.
I know I am someone who can never have enough bloat... but come on! there is such a thing as too little.
5e desperately needs bloat, as silly as that sounds.Define bloat in this case.
I know I am someone who can never have enough bloat... but come on! there is such a thing as too little.
Also, what we need for 5e is the return of the elementalist. So much potential now!
Lots of monsters to play around with is always nice, though there's always the risk of ending up with creatures that no-one ever uses.
*MC has only ever read the PHB for 5e*I highly recommend a read through Volo's Guide to Monsters if you can find a readable version online.
I need to actually find things...
I recall unearthed arcana being a bunch of ridiculous bullshit in 3.5.*MC has only ever read the PHB for 5e*I highly recommend a read through Volo's Guide to Monsters if you can find a readable version online.
I need to actually find things...
the unearthed arcana is on their site
I recall unearthed arcana being a bunch of ridiculous bullshit in 3.5.*MC has only ever read the PHB for 5e*I highly recommend a read through Volo's Guide to Monsters if you can find a readable version online.
I need to actually find things...
the unearthed arcana is on their site
Did they make it playable this time?
...I need a computer...
Personally I suspect we're not going to get a PHBII, but bits of content scattered through other books like the subclasses in SCAG or the monstrous races in Volo's.They have too much playtest material due to releasing one new UA every week a month or two ago. Had new stuff for every class, plus a few other things.
But yeah, UA is a tad hit and miss regards balance, which is kinda the point to be fair :P That said, there's also some really cool stuff for inspiration in there.
They have too much playtest material due to releasing one new UA every week a month or two ago. Had new stuff for every class, plus a few other things.Fair point. Still, to rephrase, I imagine any PHB2 would be quite a while off yet given the big UA push has only just come to a close.
It will more than likely be a PHB2; too much content for how little the Sword Coast Adventute Guide holds
before the DM realized that spikes do not insta-kill.
Tomb of Horrors is only chock-full of instant death items that RAW actually kill you.
I'd criticize the DM but the tomb of horror is chalked full of total bs like that.
to be fair, the original Tomb of Horrors had a demilich in the treasure room as the final trap.
Disturb the bejeweled skull, fight a monter that could only be killed with an adamantine vorpal longsword.
And to think my girlfriend still wants me to run a tomb of horrors game translated to 5e...
And to think my girlfriend still wants me to run a tomb of horrors game translated to 5e...
I'd mention Tales of the Yawning Portal but I suspect Tomb of Horrors gets less lethal every time it's updated to a new edition.
Shadowrun is a very mixed bag of systems, with a balance that can be... schizophrenic to say this least. (Granted, I'm remember this from some old books, so newer editions probably fix many issues.)
After 70 years of mostly menial service, and a disastrous clusterfuck of a first mission, I was judged worthy of commanding a squad (by dint of selfless loyalty and, barely, surviving) (also, the local Invictus are clearly getting desperate). A WW2 medic, a Southern Belle, and a blind kung-fu mistressEleanor's sire went off (taking the car) presumably to duel his kismesis. But not before giving her orders to attack an identified hunter stronghold and, specifically, kill them all.walk intoknock politely at the door of a hunter conspiracy. "Is this some kind of a joke?" [snip]
It turned out that that region was overrun because my ancient sire never plugged in his phone, so he failed to keep in touch with his nemesis (the Mekhet primogen). This was all a failure to communicate. Still, risking the lives of neonates over trivial nonsense is kinda how neonates advance... Beats 70 years of maid-work.
Eating rats is fine, though. Eleanor likes being a cat.
Vigibro
That sounds like the sort of insane shit that happened in my highschool D&D group. :PExplains why chaotic good players always tend to be the bane of my existence in most of my games I'm a player in.
It's fun when you're playing as a Lawful Evil cleric and somehow wind up as the moral compass of the party, simply by virtue of being the only sane one surrounded by a bunch of chaotic "good" dumbasses with poor judgement.
I miss that.
Made me realize the chaotic good and lawful evil are basically the same alignment, it's just that one is being honest about wanting the world to burn.
Yes, or at least, they should be able to get some very strong hints.
Should players be allowed to make skill checks to solve riddles? I mean like "twins standing at crossroad, one leads to hell, one to heaven, one tells only truths, one lies" type riddles, not like a teleport puzzle.
I personally think they shouldn't, even if people claim "my character has higher intelligence than I do"
Yes, or at least, they should be able to get some very strong hints.
Should players be allowed to make skill checks to solve riddles? I mean like "twins standing at crossroad, one leads to hell, one to heaven, one tells only truths, one lies" type riddles, not like a teleport puzzle.
I personally think they shouldn't, even if people claim "my character has higher intelligence than I do"
If someone has to make a performance check to play music, you don't expect them to have to play sick riffs on a guitar in real life.
I'm personally shit at riddles, but that doesn't mean all my characters have to be.
Victory is meaningless if there's no chance of failure.
This isn't a paintng we're talking about. This is a riddle, and its either you get it right or you get it wrong.Victory is meaningless if there's no chance of failure.
Ok this isn't a counter argument to your sentiment just of this line.
There is "flourishing". An Artist will always be able to paint a canvas, there is no chance they will fail at that. Yet the real challenge is how good you can paint it.
I disagree, only because when it comes down to it, riddles aren't just "memorizing the answer". The riddle about one tells truths and the other lies is clearly a logic riddle. But most other riddles, like the ones Gollum gives in the hobbit, aren't all based on smarts. This is why in Norse Mythology, Odin seeks WISDOM, and he does so in some cases by asking and answering riddles.Yes, or at least, they should be able to get some very strong hints.
Should players be allowed to make skill checks to solve riddles? I mean like "twins standing at crossroad, one leads to hell, one to heaven, one tells only truths, one lies" type riddles, not like a teleport puzzle.
I personally think they shouldn't, even if people claim "my character has higher intelligence than I do"
If someone has to make a performance check to play music, you don't expect them to have to play sick riffs on a guitar in real life.
I'm personally shit at riddles, but that doesn't mean all my characters have to be.
This. You're just gonna make your player frustrated if you force them to solve something they're not good at. I can imagine them feeling humiliated, too, if others treat it as obvious. Not a great situation to put a group in. Plus even if they're good at that sort of thing, they might be coming to the game so they can turn that part of their brain off.
Building cool puzzles, riddles, etc. is fun and all, but no-one's going to like them if they feel forced down your throat.
I'm more or less with Jimmy on this one. If you want your puzzles solvable with a skill check, you need to throw the player-side challenge somewhere else. Personally I just let INT checks give hints, but never a solution, but try to ensure there's always another option than actually solving the puzzle.I agree; the players do need to interact with it a bit and start making ideas on it before I drop a hint or two, but I won't outright give them the answer (which is what I should have clarified my statement was on...)
That said, for my group at least, they'd almost always find a way to bypass my puzzles other than what I'd planned. It's worth remembering that just because something isn't 'the solution' it can still be a solution and should be rewarded as heavily (ie. the careful application of high explosives to the riddle locked door :P )
EDIT: For me, it's about player involvement: if the players don't have to meaningfully interact with the puzzle to get past it, why even have it there at all.
This isn't a paintng we're talking about. This is a riddle, and its either you get it right or you get it wron
*out of curiosity, what is the consensus on the dumb character with a smart player in situations like that? Would you expect them to do as I would and bite their tongue since their character wouldn't figure something like that out? Should they answer anyway because this was a player challenge rather than a character challenge? Deploy the idiot-savant trope? Genuinely curious here, not trying to use it to make a point - I don't have a huge amount of RPG experience these days so I'm not sure what the common view is (or if there even is one).I'd argue that they should be able to talk about it OOC, and suggest it to the player of a smarter character: the player making tactical decisions may not be the professional soldier, the most charismatic player doesn't have to be the dashing bard.
Personally I'd be in favour of stat checks for at least hints to riddles and puzzles (and I'm not entirely opposed to outright solutions) because I view my character as very much separate from myself - I want my successes and failures to be at least as much about my character's capabilities as they are about my own as a player. Give the players a chance for their own personal victory sure, but if they're struggling, especially if they're getting frustrated, let the characters' strengths come into play (and hey, the character might still fail the stat check).I have a player who plays everything with a negative to int all the time. Their int is so low, they can't even READ
Coming at the question from the other direction, if I were playing a really dumb character I'd deliberately answer the riddle wrongly (or maybe just not answer) even if I as a player had it figured out in seconds - and I'd continue to do so if my fellow players also couldn't figure it out, even though it meant the party failing.*
But as said, it depends on the style of game and the types of players and GM. Personally I'm not heavily looking for a players-pitting-their-wits-against-the-GM type of challenge (and to the extent that I am, I generally get that from combat, and wider scope mental challenges like the mysteries and plot twists in the story), but others most certainly will be.
*out of curiosity, what is the consensus on the dumb character with a smart player in situations like that? Would you expect them to do as I would and bite their tongue since their character wouldn't figure something like that out? Should they answer anyway because this was a player challenge rather than a character challenge? Deploy the idiot-savant trope? Genuinely curious here, not trying to use it to make a point - I don't have a huge amount of RPG experience these days so I'm not sure what the common view is (or if there even is one).
I'm pretty good at riddles, but I make my characters do dumb stuff all the time. If there's an IC reason my character might be able to figure it out, I'm happy to play off that, but you're not going to find the 8-int Barbarian effortlessly outfoxing a Sphinx.As stated, its better when players discuss it. That's what D&D is all about; sitting around a table, playing with other people, and working together to solve challenges of all kinds. Without it, its just dice rolling
What I will do is discuss it OOC with other players, as a representation of their character being as smart as all of us combined. :P
I think the proper response for an 8-int (human normal, under most rule sets?)A commoner in 5e has ten (+0) on all stats, as I recall.
8 is the basic score you get for not putting any points on in the point buy system, probably what he was getting atI think the proper response for an 8-int (human normal, under most rule sets?)A commoner in 5e has ten (+0) on all stats, as I recall.
Getting the pacing of play by post is proving difficult to me. I hope nothing goes wrong because of the way I am handling things, but you never know when your just learning.I think you're doing fine.
Ran my first session of Eclipse Phase yesterday, had to stop early because one of the players was out of town and had a bad internet connection, hoping to continue later today.
Their goal was to infiltrate a ship and steal a supposed TITAN artifact. I put up a bunch of mercs and drones to discourage a frontal assault. So they try it anyway, and succeed because one of them had 80 in interfacing, rolled 0 (which is excellent), and hacked everything. They were about to go into the ship itself when we were forced to stop.
Bit of a late reply, but eh. Didn't manage to continue it on sunday, so it'll happen today. The catch to the whole WMD thing is that there are two red herrings and they're not the only ones after it. Not that they know that.Ran my first session of Eclipse Phase yesterday, had to stop early because one of the players was out of town and had a bad internet connection, hoping to continue later today.I adore Eclipse Phase. I'm currently running a game on saturday in meat space. It sounds like you were doing 'Dont Mind the WMD'.
Their goal was to infiltrate a ship and steal a supposed TITAN artifact. I put up a bunch of mercs and drones to discourage a frontal assault. So they try it anyway, and succeed because one of them had 80 in interfacing, rolled 0 (which is excellent), and hacked everything. They were about to go into the ship itself when we were forced to stop.
I think the proper response for an 8-int (human normal, under most rule sets?)
This is a link to a discord server about elcipse phase.Bit of a late reply, but eh. Didn't manage to continue it on sunday, so it'll happen today. The catch to the whole WMD thing is that there are two red herrings and they're not the only ones after it. Not that they know that.Ran my first session of Eclipse Phase yesterday, had to stop early because one of the players was out of town and had a bad internet connection, hoping to continue later today.I adore Eclipse Phase. I'm currently running a game on saturday in meat space. It sounds like you were doing 'Dont Mind the WMD'.
Their goal was to infiltrate a ship and steal a supposed TITAN artifact. I put up a bunch of mercs and drones to discourage a frontal assault. So they try it anyway, and succeed because one of them had 80 in interfacing, rolled 0 (which is excellent), and hacked everything. They were about to go into the ship itself when we were forced to stop.
Apparently there's going to be a video game based off of Pathfinder's Kingmaker Adventure Path (http://paizo.com/paizo/news/v5748eaic9voe?First-CRPG-Pathfinder-Game-in-Development-by).Sounds interesting. Also reminds me of that MMO they were making. What ever happened with that?
Also lots of salt because of a new Core book. Lots of different types of salt as well. It's great.
You can add things to core? Doesn't that automatically make it not core?
You can add things to core? Doesn't that automatically make it not core?
Sounds interesting. Also reminds me of that MMO they were making. What ever happened with that?
For the unaware, what are these "Kingdom Building" rules?I tried to use those rules in the game I ran and failed because Apiks forced down my throat to run a game like that. I couldn't make it work, plus I find 3.5e and Pathfinder DMing more of a chore than actually being fun (despite what my IRL friend told me)
Does your DM have something against Wizards?Wizards tend to be the people who try and powergame, so I think it's instinctual to take the opportunity to blow up the wizard when you can.
Does your DM have something against Wizards?
Our group was discussing random nerd stuff like old UIs and counting in trinary, and I had a nice little spiel about Mathematicians in FFT and how OP they were. Someone came back with this madness:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/sacred-geometry/
I love it, abstractly. But if anyone actually tried to *use* it...
NEEEEEEEEEEEEERDSenjoy getting killed by literally any caster with the ability to ensnare you
Surely there is something to prevent abuse of this type, right?
Ok, I have a serious question now...I try to avoid learning about PF (my group still plays 3.5 occasionally, it's similar enough to be very confusing) and the Paizo forum was surprisingly anti-helpful. I was initially just trying to confirm that metamagic could be used in wands, and *most* of the posts I found implied it wasn't RAW but sounded fine. Or just claimed it was fine with no explanation. It is fine, of course:
The "sacred geometry" feat listed earlier could be employed to tremendous effect, if paired with item creation, since metamagic effects can be imbued into magical items. If used exclusively with item creation, (and taken several times), a very successful player character (has lots of money to burn) could create some pretty absurd magical items that technically only consume a low level spell slot. (eg, create wands with stacked metamagic effects without exceeding the wand's low level slot reqs.)
While item creation costs are handled in detail below, note that normally the two primary factors are the caster level of the creator and the level of the spell or spells put into the item. A creator can create an item at a lower caster level than her own, but never lower than the minimum level needed to cast the needed spell. Using metamagic feats, a caster can place spells in items at a higher level than normal.
The creator must have prepared the spell to be stored (or must know the spell, in the case of a sorcerer or bard) [...] The act of working on the wand triggers the prepared spell, making it unavailable for casting during each day devoted to the wand’s creation. (That is, that spell slot is expended from the caster’s currently prepared spells, just as if it had been cast.)That wording indicates to me that the spell isn't actually cast at creation, the slot is merely expended. Sacred Geometry specifically takes place when the spell is cast. If item creation did explicitly involve a spell being cast and "stored" (which I think might be how the "spell storing" enchantment works in 3.5) then it'd be pretty broken/questionable to have it multiplied 10 or 50 times. But this is a different process, which simply expends the slot and a pile of materials (and several hours).
they have to find a way to limit abuse.Simple.
Sorry. Can't really help. I never played a witch, so I wouldn't know how any of it works.Only in very minor roles.
Unrelated, but do other DMs here being recurring characters from game to game? I'm sure it happens but not many seem to really talk about it
So that's one vote for Herb Witch. Does anyone else have some more immediately useful input?To be contrary I'd vote Hedge Witch.
Maybe I should just sit down one day and crank out a couple fun lists of things that could be cooked up using just a tea kettle and some wild plants some time, and leave it as a community source book. Unless you need to use gold as a reagent, I really don't see a valid reason to require GP expense on potion creation-- aside from if you need to pay somebody to do some ingredient gathering, or to perform some of the process steps for you. It should be mostly be initial equipment costs, (you DO need some specialist equipment to brew the more interesting potions from dark age literature), and encumbrance from carrying that stuff around.That just sounds like a overly finicky pain in the ass, to be honest. Deeper simulation isn't always better.
I get a little annoyed with some of these games' rules sometimes. (Yes, I understand the gold requirement is to stop you from brewing shitloads of potions and generally ruining the DM's day. Personally, I think that same effect can be obtained by forcing the PC to buy the required bottles to hold the potions in, and forcing them to have to lug equipment around. Abuse of potion would be more interesting to deal with by adding consequences to misuse, such as the side effects, and effects of heavy use, like the potion mentioned above. Not all potions can be stored in clear glass bottles, as some degrade from exposure to light, and need to be in dark brown glass- others can react with metal oxides in colored glass bottles, so that's a very reasonable requirement for some potions right there that would naturally limit abuse. Adding encumbrance for empty bottles, and having the skill tree to make glass bottles not be included in potion maker classes would also naturally limit it in a more organic and less contrived way. Basically, I really think this can be handled much better, and the game rule makers are either covering for ignorance, or are just being lazy.)
Unrelated, but do other DMs here being recurring characters from game to game? I'm sure it happens but not many seem to really talk about it
Sometimes, I have a stable of NPCs who see frequent use in my RIFTS games, but I generally roll whole new sets for D&D (but then, I'm usually creating a whole new setting when I run a new campaign in D&D).Reason being I tend to have an overarching story that is woven into every world i make. Eventually, players who I deemed strong enough to try it could start to look more into it, and it goes into a large quest where even the strongest and grandest of players feel as if this is bigger than they are.
I don't usually allow players to 'port' their characters to a new game, as I often advance time by a large margin between campaigns set in the same world (and I don't allow existing characters to be used in a new setting).
As for why people don't talk about it, imagine how someone acts when they talk about their favorite character, then multiply it by the number of NPCs. It gets old real quick.
Unrelated, but do other DMs here being recurring characters from game to game? I'm sure it happens but not many seem to really talk about it
I find that rather silly, personally-- but that is just me exercising some domain knowledge.I'd personally be interested in such rules, since I'm currently running a campaign that features magical drugs to some extent, and I'd like some more rules for them. I originally tried looking up for some ideas about how to handle dosage, but apparently most game designers seem to think that addiction is the only important aspect of drugs and don't have rules for how someone could unintentionally overdose.
(Learned all kinds of fun stuff when I studied magical practice as an independent study of anthropology. One of the avenues I explored was creation of tinctures, potions, poultices, and the like.)
Some very effective "Speed buffing" potions can be brewed very inexpensively IRL, if you dont mind the side effects. Take for instance, a slight bit of a toxic mushroom (Amanita Muscaria), added to a tea made from Ephredra. Dark age speed in a bottle right there. Side effects include euphoria, and hallucenations. Routine use can lead to heart and liver damage.
This is exactly the kind of thing I would expect an herbalism specialist witch to know. As such, I consider the "Cure alls only" restriction absurdly out of touch with the archetype they are going for there. But hey, their game, not mine.
Maybe I should just sit down one day and crank out a couple fun lists of things that could be cooked up using just a tea kettle and some wild plants some time, and leave it as a community source book. Unless you need to use gold as a reagent, I really don't see a valid reason to require GP expense on potion creation-- aside from if you need to pay somebody to do some ingredient gathering, or to perform some of the process steps for you. It should be mostly be initial equipment costs, (you DO need some specialist equipment to brew the more interesting potions from dark age literature), and encumbrance from carrying that stuff around.
I get a little annoyed with some of these games' rules sometimes. (Yes, I understand the gold requirement is to stop you from brewing shitloads of potions and generally ruining the DM's day. Personally, I think that same effect can be obtained by forcing the PC to buy the required bottles to hold the potions in, and forcing them to have to lug equipment around. Abuse of potion would be more interesting to deal with by adding consequences to misuse, such as the side effects, and effects of heavy use, like the potion mentioned above. Not all potions can be stored in clear glass bottles, as some degrade from exposure to light, and need to be in dark brown glass- others can react with metal oxides in colored glass bottles, so that's a very reasonable requirement for some potions right there that would naturally limit abuse. Adding encumbrance for empty bottles, and having the skill tree to make glass bottles not be included in potion maker classes would also naturally limit it in a more organic and less contrived way. Basically, I really think this can be handled much better, and the game rule makers are either covering for ignorance, or are just being lazy.)
Full BAB
Does the class cap at 9th level spells? 1/2 BAB.
Does the class cap at 6th level spells? 3/4 BAB.
Does the class cap at 4th level spells? Full BAB.
Seems fair to me.
I think my misunderstanding was thinking that the cast and the touch were a single standard action.That luxury is in 4e and beyond. Mind you, casting in 5e doesn't provoke Attacks of opportunity.
And yeah, I know about ranged touch spells. With those it makes *sense* to stay away from the baddies while casting :P
Cast-move-touch is in at least 3.5e and beyond: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/actionsInCombat.htm#touchSpellsinCombatI think my misunderstanding was thinking that the cast and the touch were a single standard action.That luxury is in 4e and beyond. Mind you, casting in 5e doesn't provoke Attacks of opportunity.
And yeah, I know about ranged touch spells. With those it makes *sense* to stay away from the baddies while casting :P
Not cast-move-touch, the cast and touch was one action and only provoked AoO once. Plus, aren't AoO only once per round unless you have a feat?Cast-move-touch is in at least 3.5e and beyond: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/actionsInCombat.htm#touchSpellsinCombatI think my misunderstanding was thinking that the cast and the touch were a single standard action.That luxury is in 4e and beyond. Mind you, casting in 5e doesn't provoke Attacks of opportunity.
And yeah, I know about ranged touch spells. With those it makes *sense* to stay away from the baddies while casting :P
I don't think we even noticed that trick though, my cleric usually made the fairly generous concentration checks to "cast defensively" and avoid AoO. Also tried to start fights with a held touch attack in addition to the standard buffs (thanks to high spot/listen we usually had a couple rounds).
Many spells have a range of touch. To use these spells, you cast the spell and then touch the subject, either in the same round or any time later. In the same round that you cast the spell, you may also touch (or attempt to touch) the target. You may take your move before casting the spell, after touching the target, or between casting the spell and touching the target. You can automatically touch one friend or use the spell on yourself, but to touch an opponent, you must succeed on an attack roll.
You may take your move before casting the spell, after touching the target, or between casting the spell and touching the target.And yeah, typical enemies can only take one AoO per round unless they have Combat Reflexes.
There's a variant which gives humans back the skill bonus (proficiency) and feat, but I compared it to default half elves:
"They give up a second proficiency, +2 CHA, darkvision, immunity to sleep, and advantage vs charm... for one feat"
In other news, I found a copy of D&D Basic Rules Cyclopedia and I'm laughing at how weird this gets.That's cool. I don't have direct experience with older D&D versions, but I have read a lot about them online.
Why is wizardry a spell? Why can clerics only cast it? Why doesn't it show up in the spell list!?This I spell I haven't heard much about. I don't have a copy of Rules Cyclopedia, but, if Dark Dungeons, which is based off of it, is any indication, it seems to exist so that clerics can use wizard equipment, so there wouldn't be much point in wizards being able to cast it. As for why it doesn't show up in the cleric spell list, my guess is poor editing.
Why is ELF a class and can only level up to 10 when other classes level to 36?As Basic D&D was intended to be a simpler version, it did away with the idea of characters having both race and class, and made it so that non-human races were their own class. And it was intended that demihumans were supposed to be more powerful than humans but with less potential, so they start off strong but eventually reach their limit before humans do (many people argued on forums that this wasn't much of a limit, and in most games people ignored racial level limits one way or another).
Why are clerics only able to heal at second level?I don't remember if I found a good answer for this. Many people said it was to do with old-school D&D being harder, though it's curious that this rule is present only in Basic D&D, and not Advanced D&D, which was supposed to be the more hardcore version.
Why are there only 3 alignments!?This has to do with the original inspiration of D&D alignments, in which they were not moral proclivities, but, rather, Law and Chaos were basically two factions (though it might be just as proper to describe them as forces of nature) that waged war across the universe. In some D&D versions there were even alignment languages that everyone of a particular alignment knew, because they were all on the same team.
It's random stuff like this that makes me laugh hysterically.Awesome! Though, fyi, Basic D&D isn't technically first edition. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editions_of_Dungeons_%26_Dragons) It was published at the same time as 1st Edition AD&D as an introductory version. Also, there were actually several versions of Basic D&D, though the Rules Cyclopedia is basically a compiled version of all of them except the Immortals rules, which many people didn't like anyway.
The goal is to study up on it and run a one off adventure wth my two groups of friends working together to try and get through the bullshit that is first edition.
Honestly I liked how Hackmaster spoke about racial level limits.
"Yeah, demihumans can only get to such and such level, but don't worry about it, your character will probably die before it even becomes an issue."
Honestly I liked how Hackmaster spoke about racial level limits.That's what I'm guessing on. Especially since what I'm planning is gonna be a one off.
"Yeah, demihumans can only get to such and such level, but don't worry about it, your character will probably die before it even becomes an issue."
My favourite part of AD&D is that Monks aren't allowed to use oil. There's no explanation of what this entails and no other class is limited in this fashion. There's a table with an Oil column that says "Yes" for all the other classes and "No" for Monk.
*For reference, the Baleen Whaleman starts Large, with +8 Str, +4 Dex, +4 Con, +4 Wis, and +9 Natural Armor. There are no penalties, unless you count being large as a penalty. I'm pretty sure someone was high when they penned in LA+0. Aside from a constant need to stuff one's face with krill, they don't really have much of a drop side, or a decent reason why they haven't conquered the world with their bulging whale pecs.
I would say 5e personally would be best. Nothing to ridiculously stupid to throw you off your game and its a good starting point. Plus, roll20 has specific stuff put for 5e already, so thats nice.
If you do go with bay12, I suggest NOT doing roll20, as I've noticed people on bay12 can tend to drop off and never talk to you again (no idea why, but it happens).
Just be aware that running an online D&D game gets ridiculous in some cases. I've actually had a lot of problems in the online game I played because the DM brought in online friends he never met and it turned from a motley group of 4 mercenaries running a small guild, to a group of 5 bandits and rogues plus one do-gooder who are stuck saving the world because a world ending power got mad at them. And thats just from players coming and going. If you get a good group together, you're good.
So it's clearly not one-to-one, but the only thing I can picture there is some kind of terrible typo. Or possibly nobody really pays attention to miscellaneous races anyway (since the only thing they're really good for is NPC fodder since those don't give a shit about LA to begin with).
Basically, I have two people who are pretty much guaranteed to continue, one more who will if the time schedule works for him (he moved to Japan), and a couple others who may, or may not, keep playing. I'd ideally love to get a group of 5 players, because five is a good number, and thus I can cherry pick my players pretty well. *Maniacal Laugh*
I'm really digging the Roll20 game I'm in that Fniff is DMing, but that's both a function of a good DM and a system that lets you forget you're using a system most of the time. PBP I've done quite a bit of, but it doesn't lend quite the same rapid-fire that you get in live chat games.
Sadly, this is not the case. There are a half-dozen other anthropomorphic races from savage species with CRAZY GOOD stat bonuses in exchange for LA+0. Most of them have a few penalties as well, but table A-58 of that book is a Munchkin's dream (You want am LA+0, +10 starting Dex bonus? We've got it!). Hell, even Apeman, which you'd think would be mostly baseline human, gets LA+0, +2 Str, +6 Dex, and +4 Wis.
Don't even get me started on wolverines having a CHA bonus. Truly, the Wolverine is the most charismatic of animals.
I'm convinced.Don't even get me started on wolverines having a CHA bonus. Truly, the Wolverine is the most charismatic of animals.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
On one hand 5E is easier to run and probably a better system overall once you learn to play fast and loose with it (easier to do theater of the mind with it as well).Yeah, 5e is probably the modern (by which I mean post-WotC era) edition for just winging it, what with the more simplified ruleset and balanced classes, though I do sometimes feel a desire for better character customization. Not even more classes or archetypes, really; I just wish there was more room to define characters in minor ways, like more smaller feat-type things.
On the other hand oh my god I can't bear the itch to play in a good 3.5 game, I've got so many concepts that aren't possible in Pathfinder!
Or take something weirder, like Dungeon World or something. You can theoretically do anything in a Powered By The Apocalypse game and they're pretty good for off-the-cuff bullshit.
Oh, and while you can occasionally get good randos, you definitely want people you know as a significant part of your group. Reliable folk are hard to find sometimes, but when you have them, try to use them when possible.
Well, today's Eclipse Phase session was... something.
The players were basilisk hacked, becoming exsurgents. Woke up on mars from their backups (one bouncer, one hypergibbon, one ruster), were told something went wrong and that they had to undo their fuck-up. They managed to deduce exactly where their exsurgent selves were going, in this case Uranus, sold their new body and transport for mad cash, and egocasted all the way to Oberon. There, they stole two synthmorphs (one with a ghostrider), and made friends with the collective responsible for defense of the hab (and one of the players ended up starting a sort of romance with a dolphin). They spent a bit too long doing so, however, and their exsurgent alter-egos managed to land. Two of them went through the Pandora Gate, and the session ended mid-fight due to time issues against the tankiest of the group.
So whilst one of the players is away, another of my players is going to run a Stars Without Numbers game, which is essentially a pulp fiction space RPG. I've decided to go with a backworld character, and the following is my concept:I survived Stars Without Number!
Name: Ilmenster the Mage, Sage of Shadows, The Great Overspacorceror, Doombringer of Mysteries, Old Stinkbeard, Put That Pipe Out That Tank's Filled With Pure Oxygen
Race: Human
Age: Venerable
Class:PsychicSpace Wizard
Hey guys. I'm a very new DM and i'm scheduled to take over our group soon. Our game is Pathfinder.What are your players' classes and levels?
I have DM'ed a few encounters before and my opponents always feel very underpowered. I mean VERY. I need advice on making actual deadly encounters. And I dont just want to shove harder enemies at them because the problem is not game balance, it's because I feel I'm not really using my orcs/goblinoids/drow/what-have-you up to their best.
Anyone have advice or a link or something that can be shared?
Hey guys. I'm a very new DM and i'm scheduled to take over our group soon. Our game is Pathfinder.
I have DM'ed a few encounters before and my opponents always feel very underpowered. I mean VERY. I need advice on making actual deadly encounters. And I dont just want to shove harder enemies at them because the problem is not game balance, it's because I feel I'm not really using my orcs/goblinoids/drow/what-have-you up to their best.
Anyone have advice or a link or something that can be shared?
Take advantage of verticality as well and don't hesitate to put enemies well above the players on a perch or a roof and let loose hellish retribution.
Thanks for the help guys!
Everyone in the group is new to the game. We wanted to play but we knew no DM or anything so I just took it upon me to do it.
It's a low level campaign, fighting goblins and stuff, doing some side quests to understand their power level before actually putting up a big story arc.
I think i can see where I'm going wrong... My fights are always on bright areas, the terrain is never dangerous and my guys never have cool stuff on them like tanglefoots or potions or anything.
It really makes sense. The players are still enjoying their stuff but these kind of fights are not taking us far. Better ramp up the difficulty before it gets boring.
Outfitting the drow with useful things, like magic tattoos (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/item-creation-feats/inscribe-magical-tattoo-item-creation/) (which cannot be looted, because well-- they are part of the drow's skin!) gives the drow in question the equivalent of having wondrous items equipped, without actually having wondrous items to loot.
For my own part, I'm having trouble with my setting. On the one hand, I like the general concept of a world where the Heroes of Prophecy fucked up their jobs royally more than two centuries ago, and thus left most of the continent in the hands of an Alienist* Dracolich and his pet Necrocracy.
*Every time I go back and read the Lords of Madness extension, I am struck by how terrible this prestige class is.
Terrible as in overpowered, or terrible as in shit?
Eh, you missed the biggest benefit from alienist. Full spellcasting.
T1 tbh. Everything else is gravy.
For my own part, I'm having trouble with my setting. On the one hand, I like the general concept of a world where the Heroes of Prophecy fucked up their jobs royally more than two centuries ago, and thus left most of the continent in the hands of an Alienist* Dracolich and his pet Necrocracy.
On the other hand, it runs into one of the larger problems I have in campaigns: giving people impossible problems. See, I like giving people horrible snarls of brambles that no human could ever escape from, because I want to see what people DO in those sorts of situations. Still, it's a problem, and I've been told that I have a bad habit of making the early encounters so impossibly horrifying that most people try to abandon their respective quests and go farm goats on a secluded mountain.
Things are usually okay once they get rolling, but... Well, I'm leery of creating a setting that is, at it's core too dark and dreary.
Bah. Still working on it. Intros are hard, and for some reason this one is bothering me more than most. Hell, maybe I'll just go back to my Smalls campaign idea...
At 9th prestige level you get a copy of the Druid's timeless body, remember kids, druids only get this at level 15, so if you're perfectly optimal you can get it one whole level sooner!
I'm looking forward to doing weird shit to my players soon. I've thrown orc children allips at them before, which got into some seriously disturbing nightmare fuel images, but they're about to run into a stronghold of kytons on the Shadow Plane if they're going to continue pursuing this current adventure path.Want some inspiration? (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?116836-The-SilverClawShift-Campaign-Archives)
In Pathfinder, kytons aren't just a chain devil like in 3.5e. They're actually an entire subrace of lawful evil outsiders native to the plane of shadow who're into extreme body modding. My players are about to get dipped face-first into a kyton Flesh Forge, where mortal slaves with magical talent are carved into weapons of mass destruction.
...
A few of the longer lived (or simply immortal) species might still burn with resentment, but their numbers are few, and culled quickly when they show signs of organized resistance. Most people are happy enough to eke out a living- evading the Blood Tax as best they can, and protecting any who they love in the same manner. The Necrocrats, by and large, are not wantonly cruel masters, and they are perfectly happy to allow the more useful members of the mortal species to serve them well in exchange for continued life. Ennui is a perpetual problem for the bloodlords, forbidden as they are from making open war on one another, and an interesting mortal is a wonderful way to wile away the years. There are always more mortal cattle to feed upon, and there are always those willing to exchange their own blood for a pampered life of luxury as a pet.
Describing the lower caste as cattle who survive by selling their blood brings up a question from me: Does the original base of the economy (IE: most people farming I guess in a generic medieval setting) still exist and this blood tax lays on top, or has that been supplanted somehow, leaving this massive glut of unskilled labor that has no where to turn other then selling their blood?
Describing the lower caste as cattle who survive by selling their blood brings up a question from me: Does the original base of the economy (IE: most people farming I guess in a generic medieval setting) still exist and this blood tax lays on top, or has that been supplanted somehow, leaving this massive glut of unskilled labor that has no where to turn other then selling their blood?
I imagine a necropolis is like a medieval city - while it benefits very directly from the excruciating system of farming required to feed all of its living citizenry, no farming goes on within the city itself. And since serfdom was pretty horrible historically even without being run by undead monsters, you can only imagine what it'd be like in service to a necropolis.
In this hypothetical setting, would it be illegal to be a mortal wizard specializing in studying living flesh / performing horrible magical research on cultured tissues?
I ask that, because the obvious way to get rich quick is to produce an abomination in a vat that produces copious amounts of blood. Say, cultured from the wizard's own flesh, just for this purpose.
Which is why I could definitely see a very valuable market for vivomancers. (Specifically, people who create (and maintain) a soulless husk-copy of you in a tank, fed on garbage and refuse, for the exclusively sole purpose of providing blood for the tax.)
When you can literally create something that "shits gold", it throws a big monkey wrench in the economy though-- so I also see where it would be forbidden to anyone but the elite.
It need not even be a complete copy of you to suffice either-- whole blood is produced from bone marrow. A big tank filled with twisted, gnarly-unnatural bone tissue filled with bone marrow cranking out biologically identical blood to your own would suffice.
It might be part of the glue that binds old-economy (tank abberations need foodstuffs to produce blood) with new economy (ever increasing populations of lich lords and rewarded underlings need ever increasing supplies of blood to survive).
Oh! Animate Dead requires black onyx as an obligatory material component, 25 gps worth per HD of the undead created - this makes 1 HD skeletons about half as expensive as 2 HD (the lowest they can go) zombies. So that's a constant source of onyx required to sustain a fully undead peasant force, and quite a lot of it at that.
Oh, and wierd: this is D&D, so vivomancy isn't actually a thing for the most part (there is a fleshwarper prestige class, but that's all about grafting things to yourself and others for fun and profit). That is, unless you adhere to the Nethack interpretation of Stone to Flesh.
Ah, but the catch is that Vampires are not just carnivores. I honestly don't remember if this is my own head-canon or real D&D canon
Quite, farming is needed to bring in food to feed the cattle (and everyone who doesn't eat cattle). Thus you can think of farmers as a very extended set of tenders. Skeletons are excellent picks for a great deal of dumb labor, given their speed, durability, and simplicity, but they're still useless without direction. Since most Vampires would rather set their heads on fire than learn how to farm, that puts a substantial portion of your work force in the hands of more-mortal instruments. Talent clerics/wizard/sorcerers capable of raising and controlling undead are certainly employed, but even they usually have to be advised on the finer points of agriculture.
Onyx can be produced synthetically. Unless there is a requirement that it be NATURAL onyx, simple mineral quartz and a few other ingredients can be used to mass manufacture it, under the right conditions.
Onyx can be produced synthetically. Unless there is a requirement that it be NATURAL onyx, simple mineral quartz and a few other ingredients can be used to mass manufacture it, under the right conditions.
Re: vivomancy-- it noted that I did not know what game system he was using, but that SOME systems did use it as a magic school. Since this is a home-brewed scenario, he can homebrew that in too, since the society would naturally favor the emergence of something like it, simply due to economic pressures.
Draignean:
Easy enough-- Collect the old, who have a large reserve of life experiences, or the very young who have a high blood debt, but high vitality-- and instead of simply insanguining them, put them into the vats, and artificially sustain them. When they can no longer be sustained, their corpses become the raw material for the farming labor industry. If you want added horror, say they are alive and conscious through this entire process.
It wouldn't matter anyway, since in D&D undead creation is tied directly to the material value of the catalyst. If you start mass producing onyx, your spells will soon need more and more of the stuff. To the point where you're jamming their skulls full of handfuls of the stuff, filling their chest cavities with rocks, and eventually having to grind up massive onyx boulders to bathe the bones in their dust!
Truely woe to the necromancer who thinks he might find a way to improve the efficiency of his craft.
I'm sure a society like this one would have no problem raiding and pillaging for onyx. Undead hordes, vampire nobles, and I guess a few human guards as well... perhaps not the best large-scale raiders, however. Besides, if power is tied to the value, won't onyx get more valuable, and hence more powerful, as it gets scarcer?
Alternatively, trade for onyx could be carried out, perhaps by nobles who have learned crafts to impossibly masterful degrees out of boredom. Or by a skilled human class. Naturally, the latter might seek to take their goods and services directly to the buyers, other kingdoms that care about things apart from death and blood, but the heavily restricted roads would prevent them from doing so. Open country, you say? Fifty thousand semi-controlled undead beg to disagree.
I kinda like the use of Method#1 above though.
If you throw in some kinks-- To use a parcel of land to create artificial gemstones, you need:
1) The spell perk, obviously (House rules, so can be NPC only)
2) A parcel of land who's value is greater than the value of the mineral load you intend to create on it.
3) Refined raw materials to sew into the parcel of land, from which to precipitate the gemstones, who have a high cost value, due to the labor involved in their manufacture/purity.
4) A sum of gold to pay for administration fees, and servicing fee for the geomancer doing the dirty work.
5) Once created, the value of the load of gemstones, minus the costs of the raw material and admin fees, are permanently subtracted from the land parcel's value, in the form of ecological damage. (meaning the land's value permanently drops if you cheese it on the materials or fees paid, which means if you try again later, you cannot produce as many gems, as your land parcel's value is permanently reduced from your mismanagement)
This will invariably create a potentially infinite supply of gemstones, as long as you supply the needed cashflow, without reducing the value of the resulting products. (The resulting products are used industrially, and their demand is tied to that industrial use-- they are consumed by the process that uses them, so the market cannot become saturated. The cost naturally incorporates all prior cost centers, (admin fees, processing fees, wages, etc.), so the synthetic onyx will be more expensive than imported natural stone-- just more available in bulk.
It wouldn't matter anyway, since in D&D undead creation is tied directly to the material value of the catalyst. If you start mass producing onyx, your spells will soon need more and more of the stuff. To the point where you're jamming their skulls full of handfuls of the stuff, filling their chest cavities with rocks, and eventually having to grind up massive onyx boulders to bathe the bones in their dust!On the other hand, if onyx isn't being mined or magically created by the Necrocracy, it quickly becomes scarce and exceedingly valuable. Which mostly solves the problem... right? Maaaybe. The spell (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/animateDead.htm) does call for "a" gem for each corpse, so an ounce or two of powder might be too fragmented to work. To my dorfy shame I'm not that good with mineral science, but I'm getting the impression that thin "wafers" of onyx wouldn't be practical either.
Truely woe to the necromancer who thinks he might find a way to improve the efficiency of his craft.
Ah, well, as stated. It's a fun setting to think about, I'm just paranoid that the players will go 'but everything is horrible!' and bug out to the nearest not horrible place. Granted, that's only happened once, but the character with the plot macguffin was the one who buggered off and left everyone else to die in a hopeless battle.I mean, it at least seems a lot better than Ravenloft, where no one is allowed to enjoy themselves and there's only one guy in charge who you can't ever kill permanently. At least in your setting there's room for political intrigue. Yours sounds like a setting I'd like to play in, whereas I'd probably only want to go back to Ravenloft to finish the campaign I was in.
Worth considering: you need to create lots of skeletal workers, but all you have is a pile of fresh corpses! Skeletons are cheaper and faster than zombies, and probably much less likely to spread nasty diseases among the living. So naturally there would be an industry devoted to stripping the flesh from corpses, leaving only the bones to be raised as cheap labor.
Well, corpse defilement is usually a thing you do post-battle rather than during it, with some possible exceptions.I got for telefragging. I tend to let my players do this after they kill enemies, but never when they're alive. Ask Mastahcheese; it was his calling card
What is the difference vwrqween a true vampire and an untrue one?
Looks cool. Sadly for me, that time is sorta an unreliable time for me at the moment, so I probably can't join. Out of interest though, what are the rules for becoming a necropolitan? Since they come up a lot in the setting I'd think there'd be interest in playing them. But starting the game as one has a bit of a questionmark on what the effect on your character would be (since the exp drain is something someone could reasonably have made up for by level 6 or so anyway.)
though it isn't quite clear what the PCs are actually going to do... that might be intended, I dunno.
That looks like a way fun game and I'm interested! I've never played 3.5 before though, so I'd probably not end up with a very mechanically complex character.
Sounds incredibly fascinating, though there are always details that could be elaborated on. Shame I won't be able to join due to roll 20. I'm assuming it's 5E edition since you don't seem to have rules for making necroplitans?
I'm way the fuck up for that, I've been pumped to make a 3.5 character for a very long time now. Got so many ridiculous ideas for 'em. That LA rule in particular makes me terribly interested.
The level 6 starting point is cool too, though I can't say I'd also not be very interested in starting from level 1 just to see how an ambitious and talented group of rathe managed to become truly great at what they do.
You might want to make a Discord for it though, since you're bringing in people from other places as well. Helps in coordinating character creation.
EDIT: Also, er, might want to be a bit careful with those links there Draig.
...
We've recently discovered that Darth Vader in the recent Star Wars RPG is basically Cthulhu. He is nigh unbeatable by the players and consumes 1d6 rebel scum per turn.God forbid you find something worse
We've recently discovered that Darth Vader in the recent Star Wars RPG is basically Cthulhu. He is nigh unbeatable by the players and consumes 1d6 rebel scum per turn.
He's not exactly the weakest, either. In the timeframe when the Jedi are nearly extinct and the Sith rule the galaxy?What if Obi-Wan has the high ground, though? He could beat Darth Vader no problem then, the only reason he loses in A New Hope is because they're fighting on a level surface.
...yeah, he kinda is at the top. Better than any PC Force-user could be, anyway. The only canon Force-users that could be considered more powerful than him after the Clone Wars would be Yoda (not a PC) and the Emperor (also not a PC). Obi-wan would be an edge case.
He's also much older than Vader. Also keep in mind, Vader was not defeated by the high ground at any other point in the OT. When Luke got above him, he just threw his lightsaber instead of trying anything stupid. He learned his lesson.He's not exactly the weakest, either. In the timeframe when the Jedi are nearly extinct and the Sith rule the galaxy?What if Obi-Wan has the high ground, though? He could beat Darth Vader no problem then, the only reason he loses in A New Hope is because they're fighting on a level surface.
...yeah, he kinda is at the top. Better than any PC Force-user could be, anyway. The only canon Force-users that could be considered more powerful than him after the Clone Wars would be Yoda (not a PC) and the Emperor (also not a PC). Obi-wan would be an edge case.
He also dies in the process and sorta loses any ability to directly defeat Vader at that point, so...
Usage of the high ground is a skill available only to Obi-Wan. By having the high ground, his skill increases such that any fight with him (especially with people who were his brother) is over by the time he has the high ground.He's also much older than Vader. Also keep in mind, Vader was not defeated by the high ground at any other point in the OT. When Luke got above him, he just threw his lightsaber instead of trying anything stupid. He learned his lesson.He's not exactly the weakest, either. In the timeframe when the Jedi are nearly extinct and the Sith rule the galaxy?What if Obi-Wan has the high ground, though? He could beat Darth Vader no problem then, the only reason he loses in A New Hope is because they're fighting on a level surface.
...yeah, he kinda is at the top. Better than any PC Force-user could be, anyway. The only canon Force-users that could be considered more powerful than him after the Clone Wars would be Yoda (not a PC) and the Emperor (also not a PC). Obi-wan would be an edge case.
So was IUsage of the high ground is a skill available only to Obi-Wan. By having the high ground, his skill increases such that any fight with him (especially with people who were his brother) is over by the time he has the high ground.He's also much older than Vader. Also keep in mind, Vader was not defeated by the high ground at any other point in the OT. When Luke got above him, he just threw his lightsaber instead of trying anything stupid. He learned his lesson.He's not exactly the weakest, either. In the timeframe when the Jedi are nearly extinct and the Sith rule the galaxy?What if Obi-Wan has the high ground, though? He could beat Darth Vader no problem then, the only reason he loses in A New Hope is because they're fighting on a level surface.
...yeah, he kinda is at the top. Better than any PC Force-user could be, anyway. The only canon Force-users that could be considered more powerful than him after the Clone Wars would be Yoda (not a PC) and the Emperor (also not a PC). Obi-wan would be an edge case.
Also I was joking
If there are 10 tiers of Jedi/Sith... Darth Vader would be a 7.At a time when most users of the Force are generally Force-sensitive at best, that is more than enough.
I think considering most Jedi in that era are dead, I think it makes him automatically a 9...If there are 10 tiers of Jedi/Sith... Darth Vader would be a 7.At a time when most users of the Force are generally Force-sensitive at best, that is more than enough.
I think considering most Jedi in that era are dead, I think it makes him automatically a 9...If there are 10 tiers of Jedi/Sith... Darth Vader would be a 7.At a time when most users of the Force are generally Force-sensitive at best, that is more than enough.
I've heard of sith casually popping stars and such, so if you're rating on an all-time scale vader is a 1 or 2.
Every instance I've ever heard of Force-users destroying stars or the like was done using the aid of ancient superweapons, or the efforts of many Force-users, or both.
In any case, none of these things are in play during Vader's time and are thus irrelevant to the game in question.
Personally, my first reaction to any player who says they've killed a dragon (especially an ancient wyrm) is, "Not if your DM was playing it properly."
It really depends on what dragon and how old they are.
snip
There's no Symbols of Insanity traps, for starters. What traps that are there aren't on an endless trigger loop, going off every damn round either. Some of the monsters we fought aren't even mentioned in the books, either.
I think he just wants to kill players. He's sure chewed quite a few up already.
On the subject of stat-blocks and codifying magical things into easy to understand data, I often wonder if giving ancient dragons and gods defined stats was a bad idea on TSR's part. Any opinions?
It's a no-win situation NFO.
If they had not done so, there would have been wailing and gnashing of teeth that players could not challenge the gods, and then punch them in the face enough times to cast them down.
Since they DID do so, there are not people lamenting that you can punch them in the face enough times to cast them down.
There can 100% be a Symbol of Insanity trap! There is nothing that suggests there cannot be.
Most symbol traps have a duration listed in minutes which means that until they deactivate they hit every single round.
On the subject of stat-blocks and codifying magical things into easy to understand data, I often wonder if giving ancient dragons and gods defined stats was a bad idea on TSR's part. Any opinions?
Well often gods are both a manifestation AND the concept itself.
To re-rail (somewhat, there are Star Wars PnP RPGs, so if someone wants to start talking levels and stats this conversation is good to go), how do people here generally handle dragons in their games?I use them as a boss fight. My players are cunning, so even if I drop a CR 9 dragon on a party of level 3's, they'll find a way to kill it (and they did), so I can't use them as powerful entities as you put them.
Personally, my first reaction to any player who says they've killed a dragon (especially an ancient wyrm) is, "Not if your DM was playing it properly."
I use dragons as world-shaking events, entities that are so hideously powerful and intelligent that their very movements shape the flow of history. Hell, I've got a setting where dragons are worshipped as gods, and as a result have actually become gods. Tho' to be fair there are all of like fifteen dragons on that entire planet.
The game's for the players, not the DM. It's a DM's job to tell a good story and throw tough but fair fights at the players to overcome. The players are supposed to be the stars of the show...
I'm suggesting that player characters are not.
but letting them overpower something like that through main force just seems to cheapen the very concept.
I haven't banned any topics accept alignment and racism (and the stupid steel debate, because it has nothing to do with D&D and has no place here)
My buddy wants to do a shadowrun game where we're just some thugs pulled off the street and grouped up under a crime lord who's ultimate goal is to gain enough resources by doing a bunch of other jobs to, eventually, rob one of the corporation buildings. He's heavily inspired by payday and Boondock Saints for what he's told me.QuoteI'm suggesting that player characters are not.
Well as far as dungeons and dragons is concerned they are one of the few people whose souls have the power to defy and shape fate itself. They grow in power quickly and frighteningly. As well in their hands lies the fate of nations.
As far as dnd is concerned the players are special.
Now in Fantasy Warhammer (AKA: We hate the player RPG) or in Call of Cthulhu you do play an ordinary person.
In Shadowrun you play "The Best of the Best". In Scion you play a child of destiny.
That description of wizards makes them sound like the classic competitive game tryhard."Ugh, noob paladin."
"Instantly immolating my enemies isn't a bug! It's tech, and it takes a very precise input sequence and timing. Instead of whining about it in the town square, why don't you get good and learn to counterspell? I bet you're a fighter, ugh."
this reminds me violently of melee fanboys and i'm upsetlevels don exits
Divine magic is channelled from the gods through you. You ask nicely, they allow you some of their power, you fire the spell. It roughly the same relationship as with Warlocks and their masters. Divine Souls differ from Clerics and Paladins through not needing to ask nicely first, they innately have the ability/allowance to use their deity's power.
Arcane magic involves the manipulation of magic energy itself. I'm not entirely sure how it is in generic DnD or other settings, but in Forgotten Realms this is done through manipulating the Weave, which is a metaphysical construct created by Mystra, goddess of magic. This differs from divine magic in that if casting a spell is like travelling to a destination, then divine magic is getting a ride or a taxi there, while arcane magic is like looking at a map and driving there yourself.
Negative and Positive Energy are not inherently divine. There's nothing singularly arcane about matter, space, and time.
If a cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, he still selects two domains to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities. The restriction on alignment domains still applies.A Chaotic Good cleric can choose to worship, say, travel and good. Devotion and insight (WIS) somehow lets them channel the power of these raw concepts into spells. I imagine it's like an 80's cartoon hero learning the true meaning of friendship, and believing in it so strongly that the evil villain's fireball/hypnosis/whatever just fails.
Wizards and Bards use Intelligence because their power is achieved through academic formula.what
All these questions about the nature of magic and the universe in D&D are ultimately going to boil down to "it depends on the setting." There's not actually an answer to them for D&D in general since literally every game of D&D takes place in a different universe where the answer might be different.Pretty much.
On the topic of how gods get to use divine power since they're the actual power themselves, I've always thought of it as a positive feedback loop. Worshipping a god gives them power, souls of mortal faithful give them even more power.
DM hates us confirmed.Why not call your DM on it?
What was supposed to be a bunch of Rogues became Horselord Cavaliers that could crit on a 12.
We also ran into a dozen CR 8s with mythic tiers. They are not in the book.
Don't want to cause a scene.Ask him which book.
Others aren't enjoying this either. I don't know if they know the DM is messing with the books. He says everything is by the book when asked.
Don't want to cause a scene.Ask him which book.
Others aren't enjoying this either. I don't know if they know the DM is messing with the books. He says everything is by the book when asked.
The problem is him, not the books. I've read the books. He's making them much harder, while claiming that the books are the problem when we complain that the encounters are too much.
He's also changing the story in ways, though I can't tell why yet.
Paladin Unicorns
Does it get a feat called "Emit posterior Rainbow" that illuminates 30 ft, and does a fascination/hypnosis attack?That gives Color Spray a whole new meaning...
Centaurs cavaliers.
Actually they were riding additional centaurs.Centaurs cavaliers.
Please tell me they where Centaurs rising horses.
Actually they were riding additional centaurs.In MY Christian household? Lewd.
"Why is our centaur riding a different centaur?" "Because I am a master tactician." (http://www.awkwardzombie.com/index.php?page=0&comic=060313)
DM got us all on Discord today to announce that he has decided that all our characters are dead.I'm completely serious here: Get a new GM. Or talk to your GM about why killing the entire party without warning is fucked up, with the rest of the group present. If he doesn't come around, get a new GM.
We get assaulted by literally hundreds of Ice Devils and all die. Supposedly this is a required part of the books.
We are to have new characters next week.
Fuck him.
Do it. Give 'em the books.This. Lay it all out for the party, then, as a group, come up with an ultimatum. If you're all on the same page, it'll be really powerful. If you decide to leave if he doesn't fix his shit, do it as a group. If you decide to abandon Pathfinder, do it as a group. Once you've got everyone onboard, confront the DM.
If you decide to abandon Pathfinder, do it as a group.
That was in reference to the guy who was talking about quitting Pathfinder. I don't think you should, but my point was that everyone should be united in the ultimatum.If you decide to abandon Pathfinder, do it as a group.
I'm not planning on abandoning Pathfinder because of a sadist GM lying about Paizo to rile everyone up.
on the other it may actually work...Oh it's working. I am Inspired; while not recreating the character in my avatar exactly, since no back-stories and that character is 3 UNIVERSES old, I am creating a character with a similar appearance. Definitely not the same power level, though.
At this point...yeah, I'm thinking playing online might be your best bet. Sounds like your real-life group(s?) are just way too toxic to be enjoyable.
In my case, if someone isn't showing up it's usually because they're out of town.I tend to give them diseases or something, but nothing that will kill you right away.
In response, I eat all their snacks, and give their character some embarrassing reason they're unable to continue adventuring.
Explosive diarrhoea is always a good one.
I don['t think it's so much railroading as it is obvious railroading that bothers players. They like to have the illusion of choice in their games, even if it's so heavily railroaded there's only one possible ending to the whole shebang.
I don['t think it's so much railroading as it is obvious railroading that bothers players. They like to have the illusion of choice in their games, even if it's so heavily railroaded there's only one possible ending to the whole shebang.
I don't think that's railroading as much as being a poor DM.I would imagine that such an impact could also trigger any traps the door might contain.
We're allowed to hack down all the doors we like in our campaign. It's just really noisy and time-consuming!
I don't think that's railroading as much as being a poor DM.I would imagine that such an impact could also trigger any traps the door might contain.
We're allowed to hack down all the doors we like in our campaign. It's just really noisy and time-consuming!
If you can't kill it, run far away!
One of my bloodbound NPC ghouls gave the abomination some Dora The Explorer DVDs.
Our Nosferatu argued for the things existence, but with less and less conviction.
As Alder of the Invictus, commander of this Nosferatu mercenary, I insisted that this was my call, and I'd take full responsibility.
Our Nosferatu stood aside.
The child turned toward me as I entered the room, and explained the concept of Dora the Explorah. In some detail.
Using an understanding of human-like interaction I gained by draining life from two poets, I expressed interest as well.
I took aim for three rounds of Dora The Explorer, and staked her.
One the way out, one of my ghouls asked why we did this thing!
Said nosferatu intimidated the impetuous ghoul with a vicious tirade, ironic given her earlier reluctance for this plan. The poor ghoul dropped the bag of starbursts she was bringing for the kid. She had brought the Dora DVDs also, earlier.
We located a box in our mansion large enough, and loaded the staked vampire-kid.
We went to the Bank of America building.
Hey all, a question here.
I'm making a class for a Pathfinder game on Mythweavers. It's essentially Falloutfinder (Dungeons and Fallout?), being sort of an alternate continuity where the Great War happened a little differently because of a giant portal to Basically Hell. All the Pathfinder stuff came about from latent magic and whatnot. He's using a few rule variants like Piecemeal Armor, Stamina, and P6, but most importantly - it's Gestalt.
I really want to do a Witch/Wizard, preferably Herb Witch, but I'm open to other things. GM says Paizo only unless you run it by him first. Any suggestions for archetypes I could use?
There are magical effects (and items) that work quite a bit like a tranditional satchel charge, or bomb.
Lobbing one at most doors you would expect in a fantasy setting would throw them off their hinges in little woody bits, or bits of stony shrapnel.
Most DMs dont like this kind of thinking though, and want to use the door for encounter control purposes. Really creative problem solving for many of these kinds of encounters could totally bork many DM's carefully laid plans.
Take for instance, a setting predicated on sending the group to take care of some local goblin or orc filth that has been causing trouble, at the cave-centered base of operations for said filth. It's a cave. It has at least one opening to the outside, and is an enclosed space. You have some options that are not normally considered, and would be heavily frowned upon by the DM:
A geomancer can cause an earthquake. This will collapse the cave, killing all the goblin/orc filth inside. At the very least, will collapse the opening, trapping them inside, and side-stepping the entire fun-ride the DM had planned.
https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Geomancy_(5e_Archetype) (level 8 spell)
An alchemist can create a powerful deadly vapors based approach, and gas the entire cave complex from the door. (In order for the cave to NOT suffocate the orc filth inside, there MUST be a draft-- so just having really noxious vapors wafting through and waiting at the door will either result in the orcs barrelling out to escape the gas, or their being gassed inside the cave. If they barrel out, they are restricted by the opening, allowing mass kills.)
Failing that, a hydromancer could simply flood the cave, and drown them all inside.
If the DM wants to say "you cant do that, the rooms are watertight", that leaves the question-- how do the inhabitants not asphyxiate?
Creative problem solving can be a DM's nightmare, which is why some DMs will nerf plans like that. Others will permit them, then exact vengance for derailing the script later.
Why not do an Alchemist/Witch instead? If it's P6, Herb Witch takes away 50% of your total hexes, and that's really not something you want as a Witch. Alchemist gets you a lot of witch-brew goodies and you can also throw bombs (or trade those in for Vivisectionist sneak attacks, depending on what kind of witch you'd like to be). Imagine grabbing the flight hex and doing bombing runs on unsuspecting fools at level 5 from the back of your broomstick!Well, part of the point of being Witch/Wizard is that I don't have to worry about running out of spells. :P And there's already an Alchemist applying; I'm worried enough about my chances right now without a lot of overlap.
I am starting to think Railroading is the faux-satan of Roleplaying.I will say that there's a difference between giving direction and outright railroading, the difference between a suggestion and an imperative. But it can exist on a spectrum, and I will agree that some groups don't mind railroading and will feel lost if you ask them what they want to do. Though that's still more a difference between agency of motivation versus agency of action, in that many players have trouble coming up with goals, but most will probably object to you saying what they're trying to do won't work without giving a reasonable explanation of why.
It is constantly made out to be this HORRID demon, this horrible beast! Yet... Outside niche groups most players prefer to be railroaded to a moderate extent and even more are completely lost if they are not even if they are given hints.
As soon as I stepped outside the hardcore roleplayer minority... BOOM! All of a sudden my player base wanted more direction, more story for them to explore along the way, and to simplify what they have to do. I was incredulous and it was kind of weird going from having my players being so hardcoded against railroading that they outright advocated against time advancing (YES REALLY! That if a evil overlord exists, they he must sit on his throne until the players are good and ready for him), to players actually saying "Hey, probably be best of you railroad for a bit. I need to catch my bearings".
This fucking Samurai. Beyond the blatant overpower of the 3pp class, this roleplaying is antagonistic.That's not really true. it was only if they insulted them that they were allowed to kill people. also the generally didn't because lords get angry when you murder their tax payers and most people are not psychopaths.
All Samurai in real life hunted and tortured peasants for fun, apparently, so it's okay for him to kill quest givers. Peasants are not even human, he says. His character doesn't even consider us other players worthy of his respect, and is just waiting for us to slip to get an excuse to execute us. Worse than the Orc whose alignment is Orc.
I'm definitely gone after this session.
it was only if they insulted them that they were allowed to kill people
He just drowned a merchant's horses for not giving him free shit, so I don't think he cares what real Samurai did.
Lawful and Good Party my ass.
Edit, he said he's specifically doing stuff he knows will piss us off.
Yeah. Save any nice player you can and go.I hope there are some.
On the way out, one of my ghouls asked why we did this thing!I was so busy being drunk and conflicted that I didn't realize the significance of this.
Said nosferatu intimidated the impetuous ghoul with a vicious tirade, ironic given her earlier reluctance for this plan. The poor ghoul dropped the bag of starbursts she was bringing for the kid. She had brought the Dora DVDs also, earlier.
I'm not a huge fan of D&D Basic so far. Maybe the actual gameplay is better but character creation is garbage x_xI played one of the D&D basic video games and its much easier playing it than character creation (most of the work is done for you too...). It DOES take some getting used to. I'm nowhere near ready to run a game in real life of this, which is why I'm getting practice in... Sadly, you're gonna be my test subjects :P
Yeah, the issue with Shadowrun is the deckers, overall. They fuck with the flow of the game a whole lot.
... I still wanna play it.
... I still wanna play it.Same
New discussion point!Yes! ...Aw, must we choose?
Science-fiction, fantasy, modern, or other? Possibly even some combination thereof?
I really enjoy both sci-fi and fantasy role-play, though I favor sci-fi in particular. I love creating new and interesting technologies based on current science, they're still fantastical and off in la-la land, but it feels fun to have it be based on 'real' concepts.
literally the most boring way to handle hacking: spend points to have it happenYeah, the issue with Shadowrun is the deckers, overall. They fuck with the flow of the game a whole lot.
... I still wanna play it.
I'd almost want to do it by instead giving the PCs "Decker points" that they can spend on hacking of their choice.
literally the most boring way to handle hacking: spend points to have it happen
I'd rather just cut sessions up, or something along those lines.
literally the most boring way to handle hacking: spend points to have it happenYeah, the issue with Shadowrun is the deckers, overall. They fuck with the flow of the game a whole lot.
... I still wanna play it.
I'd almost want to do it by instead giving the PCs "Decker points" that they can spend on hacking of their choice.
I'd rather just cut sessions up, or something along those lines.
Why not just let the whole party participate? So when a decker initiates a hack, the whole party gets sucked into cyberspace.Because no one other then the hacker is going to have the ability to meaningfully contribute in cyberspace. (Heck, for the mage even implanting themselves with the ability to access this stuff is probably going to permanently weaken their ability to do magic.) Stuff happening in the astral world has some of the same issues, in that no one but the mage can normally even do anything there, and if you do suck them in, most of them are going to be worse then useless.
The main beef I have with fantasy settings and rpgs is that most are artificially locked to this "medieval stereotype" tech level. Hell, if you have magic, why not have magic trains instead of everyone walking/riding everywhere? Why not have teleporting stations, if wizards are all over the place? And so on.
New discussion point!I prefer fantasy for one, cynical reason: out of the three, it's easiest to world build. There's a set formula, with lots of tropes to pull from, and you don't have to deliver on a certain set of authenticity that the others demand. SciFi is more difficult to world build, because you can't just say "Dwarven stronghold here, Elven outpost here, human city here, bbeg here." You need to make alien races, exotic tech, etc. And I find modern settings the hardest, because I have a fetish in my work where I have to be highly accurate or authentic, so I end up struggling with them.
Science-fiction, fantasy, modern, or other? Possibly even some combination thereof?
I really enjoy both sci-fi and fantasy role-play, though I favor sci-fi in particular. I love creating new and interesting technologies based on current science, they're still fantastical and off in la-la land, but it feels fun to have it be based on 'real' concepts.
Apologies for derailing the discussion, but I need some advice. On August 5th I plan on running a DnD game with two of my buddies (I'll be GM), and I have no idea what to do. Currently I have an idea of what the quest will be about (it will be about trying to kidnap an exotic beast from an elven wildlife sanctuary to sell it to the circus), but that's it. What else should I have ready?If none of them speak elvish, then give them the creature's name, but not what it looks like, so they have to do some detective work.
My current vampire was almost at peak human resilience even when she was human, and now she's a relatively long-lived vampire with supernatural resilience. But three nurses (quasi-vampire... things) attacked her one round, cutting around her dodge and armor, and nearly took her out of commission in one round. They weren't even super lucky! It's just that in such settings, you're expected to avoid getting stabbed with scalpels.A little more on this...
Apologies for derailing the discussion, but I need some advice. On August 5th I plan on running a DnD game with two of my buddies (I'll be GM), and I have no idea what to do. Currently I have an idea of what the quest will be about (it will be about trying to kidnap an exotic beast from an elven wildlife sanctuary to sell it to the circus), but that's it. What else should I have ready?If none of them speak elvish, then give them the creature's name, but not what it looks like, so they have to do some detective work.
Pull out an old story book, or find a mythology website for some unique monster ideas. I recommend https://abookofcreatures.com
Have some interesting zookeeperesque characters to round it out for interesting NPCs.
I should probably clarify, this is my first time ever running a DnD game and I'm super nervous. I've read the rule books but I don't know how to set things up.
I'd really love to run or play in a cyberpunk game, especially Shadowrun (currently playing through the recent CRPGs), but the rules for such tend to be overly-complicated, or you otherwise find rules-light games that don't give you enough gear to or anything to be satisfying.Why not just let the whole party participate? So when a decker initiates a hack, the whole party gets sucked into cyberspace.Because no one other then the hacker is going to have the ability to meaningfully contribute in cyberspace. (Heck, for the mage even implanting themselves with the ability to access this stuff is probably going to permanently weaken their ability to do magic.) Stuff happening in the astral world has some of the same issues, in that no one but the mage can normally even do anything there, and if you do suck them in, most of them are going to be worse then useless.
Anyway, the parallel gaming is honestly only one of the issues of shadowrun. To me, the bigger issue is how poorly made the game itself actually is. At least, in 5E (I heard later editions super simplifed it some, which might help this.) but basically the game itself is really poorly made, fiddly, contradictory, and just sorta crap. Cool setting. Awful designers.
I should probably clarify, this is my first time ever running a DnD game and I'm super nervous. I've read the rule books but I don't know how to set things up.AH.
None, it's going to be everyone's first game. I want to start at level 1 but I can change that if you think it's a good idea (Nobody's starting with magical items though. My players will only be reading the handbook). Session can be as long as it needs to be, I'd say 3-6 hours.
Well, you can start at level 1, just be sure to make sure they level up immediately after the first session.
None, it's going to be everyone's first game. I want to start at level 1 but I can change that if you think it's a good idea (Nobody's starting with magical items though. My players will only be reading the handbook). Session can be as long as it needs to be, I'd say 3-6 hours.
Well, you can start at level 1, just be sure to make sure they level up immediately after the first session.
Though it'd also be helpful to know which edition we're talking here.
Why make sure to level up immediately after the first session?
Currently I'm torn between 3.5 and fifth edition (I know, very helpful). I would normally choose fifth edition, but the only book I have is a phb that my friend lent me for a previous DnD game that never materialized. While for 3.5, I have all the core books. One of my friends insists I can just run DnD with just the phb, but I'm not so sure about that.
I haven't been paying much attention to 5E, but is it still stuck at the basic classes, basic races stage? I like having plenty of options when creating characters.
I haven't been paying much attention to 5E, but is it still stuck at the basic classes, basic races stage? I like having plenty of options when creating characters.
Also, each class has a bunch of "packages" that can be picked at levels 1, 2 or 3 (depending on the class). They can change things around quite a bit. For instance, Nature Domain for clerics turns you into a mini-druid. Meanwhile, sorcerers can act as if they're dragon disciples if they pick the right origin.I haven't been paying much attention to 5E, but is it still stuck at the basic classes, basic races stage? I like having plenty of options when creating characters.I prefer it when the first session's character gen is a contest to see who can bring the most bizarre adventurer.
I haven't been paying much attention to 5E, but is it still stuck at the basic classes, basic races stage? I like having plenty of options when creating characters.While there aren't many classes, unearthed arcana released so many archetypes over the past year last year that they had about a new thing every week for a bit.
Speaking of "interesting" characters I'm playing a game where I have a cleric of RNG, complete with a holy d20. It's awesome...I like it! Reminds me of the Goblins comic where the cleric's deity is the DM. I'm assuming your cleric worships RNGesus and his domains are madness and luck?
Is Stars Without Numbers that game where you can die during character creation?
The player's guide for the new Pathfinder Adventure Path is up, if anyone's interested.Those Reaper minis looks pretty sweet. How've they been on delivering projects previously?
http://paizo.com/products/btpy9uir?Pathfinder-Adventure-Path-Ruins-of-Azlant-Players-GuideSpoiler: They're pretty up front about what it's about. (click to show/hide)
I'm more excited for Starfinder. There's also a new miniature kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-4-mr-bones-epic-adventure) from Reaper.
Is Stars Without Numbers that game where you can die during character creation?
What's Absalom like this time of year?The reason I'm asking is, there's this free entry, casual Pathfinder game happening in this town at the comic store today, that I was thinking of going to, and it's apparently based in this Absalom place.
What's Absalom like this time of year?The reason I'm asking is, there's this free entry, casual Pathfinder game happening in this town at the comic store today, that I was thinking of going to, and it's apparently based in this Absalom place.
-snip-Those Reaper minis looks pretty sweet. How've they been on delivering projects previously?
If you're familiar with the Forgotten Realms, basically take Waterdeep, slap a new name on it and call it a day.What's Absalom like this time of year?The reason I'm asking is, there's this free entry, casual Pathfinder game happening in this town at the comic store today, that I was thinking of going to, and it's apparently based in this Absalom place.
Well, it's like a more mundane, softer-edged Sigil or Rock of Bral (in the sense that it's big and neutral and relatively open), but it's also got that labyrinth that turns you into a god in the middle.
You're likely thinking of Traveller
Is Stars Without Numbers that game where you can die during character creation?
You're thinking of classic Traveler.
Is Stars Without Numbers that game where you can die during character creation?
Nah, that's Traveler. SWN takes a bit of inspiration from Traveler, but fortunately not its byzantine and hostile character creation process (even if you use the optional lifepath mechanics from Sandbox they're a lot friendlier than Traveler's own bits). You don't even need an auxiliary flowchart to figure out what you need to do!
Oh. I see.
There's something inherently attractive to me about a game where you can die before you even begin playing. Even if I know that would be annoying as fuck if I actually was making a character.
Later versions of Traveler nerfed character gen's deadliness. In the mongoose Traveler copy I have worst that can happen is you get maimed and lose a limb or something, but not quite outright death.
If you want, it's still possible to buy Classic Traveller (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/4/Game-Designers-Workshop-GDW/subcategory/21_4767/Classic-Traveller) (I actually picked the basic rules for free at one point, but it seems like that offer is no longer available).I rolled up 3 deadEarth characters once. I think one was a roboticist who had a 33% chance of dying daily due to the common cold, one died in some incredibly mundane way, and one was a middle-aged woman made of stone who hacked people to bits with dual swords.
If you want a free game where you can die, there's always deadEarth (https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/downloads-games/deadearth-resources/), though I make no guarantees about actually being able to play the character you make.
Later versions of Traveler nerfed character gen's deadliness. In the mongoose Traveler copy I have worst that can happen is you get maimed and lose a limb or something, but not quite outright death.
This is ignoring that there is a very good chance you will probably end up with a character you won't want :P
Makes me think the future is rather dystopian
If you want, it's still possible to buy Classic Traveller (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/4/Game-Designers-Workshop-GDW/subcategory/21_4767/Classic-Traveller) (I actually picked the basic rules for free at one point, but it seems like that offer is no longer available).I rolled up 3 deadEarth characters once. I think one was a roboticist who had a 33% chance of dying daily due to the common cold, one died in some incredibly mundane way, and one was a middle-aged woman made of stone who hacked people to bits with dual swords.
If you want a free game where you can die, there's always deadEarth (https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/downloads-games/deadearth-resources/), though I make no guarantees about actually being able to play the character you make.
I wonder if I'm still legally barred from rolling up more...
Later versions of Traveler nerfed character gen's deadliness. In the mongoose Traveler copy I have worst that can happen is you get maimed and lose a limb or something, but not quite outright death.
This is ignoring that there is a very good chance you will probably end up with a character you won't want :P
Makes me think the future is rather dystopian
Random is random
Carrying a suitcase stuffed full of Zimbabwe dollars.So about 50 bucks.
Prettyboy charcoal-skinned evil(ish) elves with white hair and red eyes that KICK ASSYessss
Uh, hello? Where's the Mongrelfolk love? You're half Human, half Drow, half Halfing, half Orc, half Dwarf, half a lot of other things. It's the best of all the worlds.
I dont know about most editions, but Command only works for single-word orders in D&D 5E
Also, if Command works in that interrogation setting, why blow it on a petty insult, instead of, you know "Let me go and forget you ever saw me." or something similar?
I dont know about most editions, but Command only works for single-word orders in D&D 5E
I have no idea why a Zone of Truth would prevent you from casting Command though. There's no lie or obfuscation involved, you're just telling someone "apologize".
Hm. Might look into that, I dig space RPGs.That's a good word for it. It's not science fiction by any stretch; it is literally a fantasy RPG in space. Maybe people will like that.
It's not science fiction by any stretch; it is literally a fantasy RPG in space. Maybe people will like that.You mean like Spelljammer-
It's not science fiction by any stretch; it is literally a fantasy RPG in space. Maybe people will like that.You mean like Spelljammer-
Frick, ninja'd!
Iron Gods adventure path
No dwarves, elves, or other standard fantasy fare at launch for player races. Instead, we specifically see a very strong focus on Paizo IP races. This is despite the lore ostensibly occurring within the same universe as the Pathfinder series.I'm not a fan either, but there are some Pathfinder core races in the core book. Page 506+, in the bit about making Starfinder work with Pathfinder.
Your GM let you fluff your Rogue as a Kineticist? Nice.
The Dungeon World game, I was running came to an ending not too long ago. They were finally going to go meet Moana Loa. The Great Old Dragon that rules over the island of Hawaii, the kobold pirate haven. The volacno is named for her, not the other way around. And I've been telling them for a few sessions, they can't kill the million+ old dragon that made the hawaii islands.
And she near like a god really.
One of the players decide to try and get free stuff from her anyway. I was rolling with it. Originally I had planned for it to be something like Smaug and Bilbo kinda of thing, as they were looking for Death's saddle, bit and briddle for his pale horse.
But no. Wanna to see if the Dragon would be down with making him into basically the villian.
And he failed his roll, and the dragon killed all them.
GG.
GG.
So now I'll be running Red Markets, a game which isn't even technically out yet. Its a post apocalyptic economic horror game. The goal is for your character to retire. To stop being a player character. West of the Mississpii, has been overran with zombies. And everyone that didnt make it out to the Recession is not only presumed dead but was legally declared dead. The problem is, well, most of the folks that were on the west coast are now dead and undead, there is still a none trival number of folks left behind. And they can't go over the mississppi river without being shot. They've formed Enclaves, little city states.
And the players are Takers. They do ad hoc big risk big reward jobs out in the wasteland. You need to get a bank of a servers from a data center in a city? You hire a taker crew to take it. You need escort to get to the next Enclave? Takers. And Enclaves dont really like Takers. Takers aren't working the fence to keep the zombies at bay, they aren't farming to provide food. They just take.
I've never play barbarian outside of Diablo games. But I always wanted to try the Rage Mage prestige class in 3.5, which combined an arcane spellcasting class and barbarian, and allowed spellcasting in rage mode. It was probably a terrible class (like most interesting stuff in 3.5), but I just loved the class name. RAGE MAGE.
I've never play barbarian outside of Diablo games. But I always wanted to try the Rage Mage prestige class in 3.5, which combined an arcane spellcasting class and barbarian, and allowed spellcasting in rage mode. It was probably a terrible class (like most interesting stuff in 3.5), but I just loved the class name. RAGE MAGE.
There's a similar Sorcerer Barbarian in Pathfinder. A sorcerage? It's called a Bloodrager iirc, because of the sorcerer bloodlines. Maybe Bloodbarian?
Depends on how into classic PC games your players are. Me, I like to think I'd realize right before character creation when you told me the available classes.
Finished making my Charisma Barbarian. Character has 20 charisma. At first level. Oh yeah.
Or maybe he used a +2 racial bonus.
Just make everyone roll 3d6 for all stats, no rerolls or deciding what goes where. ;)
Anyone know a Good XCom-esk system?Also, do you want an RPG or wargame? Because you'll get two very different answers. A skirmish wargame will probably suit your tactical combat needs better, but a RPG could be a more robust experience.
I have a few players heading off to Boot Camp soon (Good on them for being recruited) but don't want to continue the story and they are interested in a new side game like XCom.
You need better players.
For us, it has been the DM having "real life intervenes" that keeps ruining our sessions. :( Even if the players want to, we cant without our DM.
From the looks of things though, one of our sessions will happen when I am visiting at a friends house. It will work, he might actually like listening in to the voip session.
Anyone discuss Starfinder yet?
We've got a group who're about to play a game of it and it'd be cool to chat about it.
I'd say the ruleset is different enough to make it worth the difference, call it 2e if you want.
GM: "As you approach the temple of the goddess of beauty, you're greeted by a man and a woman. The man is wearing a breastplate over a very short-sleeved shirt that shows off his muscles, while the woman's breastplate actually has the shape of the breasts and other curves forged into it to make a rather sexist armour."
Me: "Do they look more like warriors standing guard or strippers?"
Player 2: "I...think they may be both. It's the goddess of beauty after all."
Player 3: "Stripper warriors...I have a new character concept."
Player 2: "Not new. Those are called barbarians."
Tanking with a non-tank class can sometimes happen. I mentioned a while ago the game I was in where I was a spellcasting-focused cleric sharing a party with a rogue, bard, sorcerer and wizard. I shared the damage-sponge role with the rogue. Tried to convince the player to go for Arcane Trisckster so we could have an all-caster party, but she opted for assassin instead.
I've just built my third of Seven Sons of Sin for my weekly Pathfinder game. This one's an alchemist with a solid 40 AC, five bomb attacks per round for 6d6+11 damage, and eight minions.
So, uhm.. which sin is that?You got their names in one go!
(reference...)
luxuria / Lust.
gula / Gluttony.
avaritia / Greed.
acedia / Sloth.
ira / Wrath.
invidia / Envy.
superbia / Pride.
If he is greed (alchemy -> creating gold for profit, at least historically), wouldn't it make more sense for him to use some kind of sick get rich quick type thinking in how to dispose of your adventurers? :P
There's a creature called a Cambion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/demon/demon-cambion/) which is basically a tiefling, but born in the Abyss.
Yeah, I figure if WotC can pull a klingon forehead switch on their own creatures, Paizo can be forgiven for redacting Cambion lore from Hell to the Abyss.
If they make it through, the twist ought to come when they're suddenly attacked by the eighth Son of Sin,DespairHope.
Sounds fun. Makes me wonder if I should do a Halloween-themed session for my game. I think it's still spring in-game, but that could be this world's version of time. Also, they'll probably encounter vampire spawn soon, so that kind of works.
If a Half-Orc and a Half-Elf have a child, what race will the child be?A human with light green skin and knife ears.
Also, is it possible for me to be a paladin to Hades, True Neutral god of death?Though some people try to be restrictive with the classic idea of the Paladin as a LG zealot, any "warrior of divinity" concept works for the class. A Paladin of Hades would attempt to serve the martial needs of Hades on the mortal plane, whatever those may be.
This seems like the place to ask.There's a non-official book which tries to answer questions like that. It has this SFW chart:
If a Half-Orc and a Half-Elf have a child, what race will the child be?
Also, is it possible for me to be a paladin to Hades, True Neutral god of death?Sorry but... no. Hard no, in my opinion. (3.5e)
This seems like the place to ask.There's a non-official book which tries to answer questions like that. It has this SFW chart:
If a Half-Orc and a Half-Elf have a child, what race will the child be?
http://i.imgur.com/9npPEjh.jpg
I don't have it handy, and even then it's non-canon, but I'm pretty sure the answer is they cannot. Mostly on the grounds that elves and orcs cannot have children. If it did work, I'd expect either or both the non-human natures to be purged, which sounds crazy hard to survive.
Depends on the GM/setting though, of course.
Well, that sucks. My paladin was going to the son of a half-Orc and a half-Elf.
That may work. I could have originally been the child of one of their victims, then they adopted me. That could give an Inigo Montoyo reason for why I suddenly became a paladin and vowed to save their kingdom from them. I had found out the fate of my birth parents.Well, that sucks. My paladin was going to the son of a half-Orc and a half-Elf.
Well, you could always forestall any questions of fantasy genetics and just be their adoptive son.
That may work. I could have originally been the child of one of their victims, then they adopted me. That could give an Inigo Montoyo reason for why I suddenly became a paladin and vowed to save their kingdom from them. I had found out the fate of my birth parents.Well, that sucks. My paladin was going to the son of a half-Orc and a half-Elf.
Well, you could always forestall any questions of fantasy genetics and just be their adoptive son.
Well, that sucks. My paladin was going to the son of a half-Orc and a half-Elf.Dunno if this is too late, but I think that's a pretty neat concept. That book isn't even canon, so yeah.
Yeah, the answer to the Paladin question is to (a) play a class that's not the Paladin class and (b) roleplay calling yourself a Paladin.If you need Complete Divine, PM me, I know a place with good deals.
There's a lot of fun to be had in subverting your group's expectations. Playing a battlecleric as a paladin, for example.
I like how the Dragon column is all "yes", the horny bastards.Mechanically it's probably the racial ability to shapechange, but the blue-orange morality and immortal perspective don't hurt.
You need not take our word as law. The only word of law is that of your GM, everything in the "real" rules is there to be a readymade structure which is known to be stable.This too
Also note the "without the use of magical means". There's totally room for some magical fuckery there.Owls. And. Bears.
I feel like you should be able to have paladins of any alignment, though a lot of them would probably work differently to LG ones. There are gods for every alignment, and any god could want to have a few holy warriors knocking around.
Agreed. Classic LG paladins act the way they do because they're serving gods who want LG followers. It's circular to say that there just shouldn't be paladins for every other kind of god because it's that way, especially when no other class does this. It's a lot like the crazy 2nd edition requirements to class into bard, opening that up made the class better, not worse.
t I'm pretty sure the answer is they cannot. Mostly on the grounds that elves and orcs cannot have children. If it did work, I'd expect either or both the non-human natures to be purged, which sounds crazy hard to survive.When you said this, what exactly does "both the non-human natures to be purged" mean? Being able to mate with orcs, elves, demons, Devils, and Angels hasn't purged the human natures, has it? And what exactly do you mean by the word "nature"? Did you you just mean cultures, and say natures?
And apparently the people I'm going to be playing with are playing 5E, so factor that into your arguments.
In that same post you just quoted I said that the paladin I'm working on now is not the one of Hades. Also, Hades is True Neutral, not Evil.
Another rhetorical question related to the first rhetorical question, can I be LG paladin of a neutral God? I recall that in 3.5 a cleric could be two steps alignment-wise from his God, but I don't know about paladin's in 5E.
I am totally going to take the Oath of Vengeance. Can I choose to smite evil tyrants such as my paladin's half-elf dad?
EDIT: @ half elf or half orc discussion. I’ll go into this in more detail when I get back to my computer, but a half orc and half elf coupling roughly have a 25% chance for a human baby, 25% chance for half-elf baby, 25% chance for a half-orc baby, and a 25% chance for a miscarriage. I don’t want to break out the cladogram just yet but, just trust me on this.This is pretty much what I meant, but I'm less optimistic. I was implying that the orc "genes" and elf "genes" would be in conflict. They might cancel each other out, or one might win, but the result would *probably* be a miscarriage. And it's even harder to imagine the child surviving with both elf and orc genes, which is usually considered impossible.
It's fine, I just looked over my explanation and realized that I was completely wrong. Cladograms are meant for individual alleles, they aren't meant for entire genomes. There is going to be some mixture of elf and orc genes no matter what and assuming that is what causes the problem, then a miscarriage is likely going to happen.
One more thing about 5e paladins: they're not even necessarily linked to a deity. They're powered by faith and Charisma, but that faith can also be for causes, concepts and people.
What are your thoughts on the Pathfinder Vigilante + archetypes?You might be just in time to sign up for a Pathfinder game I'm running--one of the players quit today. Whether it'll continue at all is kind of up in the air at the moment, but if it fails I a backup idea I've been wanting to try out.
Also, anything on Bay I can sign up for?
PM me details.What are your thoughts on the Pathfinder Vigilante + archetypes?You might be just in time to sign up for a Pathfinder game I'm running--one of the players quit today. Whether it'll continue at all is kind of up in the air at the moment, but if it fails I a backup idea I've been wanting to try out.
Also, anything on Bay I can sign up for?
(That steampunk game died, though. Sorry about that :v)
How useful is acrobatics?It depends on the DM, but generally you should try to have at least one of Athletics or Acrobatics, as they're used to defend against some special attacks, such as grapples and shoves. Acrobatics is also good for climbing and other clever methods of running away, should the need arise. Sleight of Hand is very situational unless the campaign involves a lot of thievery and other trickery.
The lack of weight, and low cost of soap and candles appeal to me. What can I do to use 150 soap, and 300 candles? Can I use the soap like ball bearings?You can have a super-relaxing bath!
Soap in a sock shouldnt be overlooked as a fun makeshift weapon though.ftfy
So, as a human with 14 intelligence, How many total languages do I get? Common, one extra from race, maximum two from background, and two from intelligence?
No, candle is a fantastic torture device.Don't threaten me with a good time.
Stake the torture victim down on the ground spread eagled, and strip them of their clothing. Place a single candle on their chest, and light it. It will slowly dribble hot wax onto them
Don't forget the ball gag and leather gimp suit.No, candle is a fantastic torture device.Don't threaten me with a good time.
Stake the torture victim down on the ground spread eagled, and strip them of their clothing. Place a single candle on their chest, and light it. It will slowly dribble hot wax onto them
So, the group's spent the night in the extraplanar dragon's castle, but the dragon's got a hard-on for sexing the party cleric. I plan to have him try to bluff the group that she decided to stay in the castle to enjoy his library, but anyone else have ideas for other fun shenanigans I could pull on the group too? Assume the dragon has access to 5th level Sorcerer spellcasting and 75,000 gp of wealth in various forms such as items. System is Pathfinder.
Baleful polymorph on some lesser summoned being, to make it look exactly like your cleric, then use some kind of mind control on the cleric. (or just knock her out for awhile, hoping the adventurer party leave before the ruse is discovered)
A cursed item that makes people think it's a ring of three wishes, but it's only an illusion, and NPC's are immune to the illusion?
Unfortunately, the DM wants to institute a rotating DM schedule...I'm not really sure how or if that's going to work, and it doesn't help that she's already eyeing me as the most qualified second. Anybody ever successfully do this in their games?One of my groups does this. We have 2 (3 next week) campaigns running simultaneously, each run by a different person and in a different system, and we switch generally after every adventure (or at another natural pause point after a month or so if it's a long one). Haven't had any problems with it, although it does require each of the GMs actually wanting to run their games.
Unfortunately, the DM wants to institute a rotating DM schedule...I'm not really sure how or if that's going to work, and it doesn't help that she's already eyeing me as the most qualified second. Anybody ever successfully do this in their games?My group does this. We basically switch off when we reach the endpoint of an adventure (which can take a long time. I think I've been DMing for a bout six months now, though it could be more).
Well, that sucks. So a 2nd level paladin always has only 2 spell slots? That sucks.
I'm not proficient in two-weapon fighting and there's no reason for me to use a rapier when I've got a +1 shortsword.You don't need to be proficient in two-weapon fighting to use it (also, two-weapon fighting isn't really a proficiency, it's a style. You can really only be proficient with weapons, skills, tools, and saving throws). Anyone can use two weapons to fight so long as both weapons have the "light" property and you use your bonus action for the second attack. You just won't get to add you ability modifier to the damage of the second attack unless you have the Two-Weapon Fighting fighting style.
I should note that my limitations with sneak attack are partially DM imposed. She's of the opinion that a Sneak Attack ought to be a surprise attack. I've barely argued her down to being allowed to sneak attack prone people in combat. Haven't even brought up the five-foot rule or the synergy with assassin advantage. In fairness, I would probably slaughter everything she threw at me if I could use it as written. I mean, did you see that shit up there ^? 5d6 surprise attack, with advantage, at level three! Only our boss enemies so far could tank max damage from that.
Not just an extra d6. One from standard damage, two from sneak attack at level 3, one from being a crit because assassin makes all surprise attacks crits, and one from the half-orc racial bonus on crits. And advantage against anybody I beat initiative on, which then means automatic sneak attacks. Assassin is fucking nuts.Is this e5? Cause in e5, sneak attack, not about finding suprising your oppenent. Its hitting them when their distracted, and cant property defend against you. Its become a much more active skill. Great for a flanking rogue.
I'm not proficient in two-weapon fighting and there's no reason for me to use a rapier when I've got a +1 shortsword.
I should note that my limitations with sneak attack are partially DM imposed. She's of the opinion that a Sneak Attack ought to be a surprise attack. I've barely argued her down to being allowed to sneak attack prone people in combat. Haven't even brought up the five-foot rule or the synergy with assassin advantage. In fairness, I would probably slaughter everything she threw at me if I could use it as written. I mean, did you see that shit up there ^? 5d6 surprise attack, with advantage, at level three! Only our boss enemies so far could tank max damage from that.
Yeah, the rules for Sneak Attack from 3.5e days were pretty simple.
Is the opponent flat-footed or denied Dexterity to AC? You get sneak attack.
If not, are you flanking? You get sneak attack.
Pretty simple, though they then screwed it up with a heap of monsters gaining immunity to the ability. Pathfinder at least made an effort to fix this, giving Sneak Attack back on all but a few types of creatures.
In 3.5, by SRD not splat, you can make a rogue who gets fighter bonus feats instead of sneak attack.
In 3.5, by SRD not splat, you can make a rogue who gets fighter bonus feats instead of sneak attack.
Parts of the SRD come from books outside of core. Idk if you'd call them splat books, but... They kinda are. So parts of the SRD kinda are splat.
That all seems reasonable to me.
Taking this to the correct thread...
So I'm thinking life is probably going to stabilize a bit now. Some sources of personal drama are gone. Vehicles that were total'd are repaired or replaced. We are moved into our new house. Work is settling after the big re-structure of the office. And I'm likely to start working from home soon for reals, which will enable me to cut back on some responsibilities and hours. Goddamn what a fucking ridiculous year it's been.
And now that I'm here, I really want to find a weekend game to join up with. I miss role-playing so much. I don't think I'm likely to find anything local among friends. Anybody got any good leads before I start randomly stumbling about the internet looking for one?
Going to try and avoid D&D/Pathfinder.
Taking this to the correct thread...
So I'm thinking life is probably going to stabilize a bit now. Some sources of personal drama are gone. Vehicles that were total'd are repaired or replaced. We are moved into our new house. Work is settling after the big re-structure of the office. And I'm likely to start working from home soon for reals, which will enable me to cut back on some responsibilities and hours. Goddamn what a fucking ridiculous year it's been.
And now that I'm here, I really want to find a weekend game to join up with. I miss role-playing so much. I don't think I'm likely to find anything local among friends. Anybody got any good leads before I start randomly stumbling about the internet looking for one?
Going to try and avoid D&D/Pathfinder.
Well, if you can, Paranoia just got a re-printing. That would be hilariously fun to play.
Not really familiar with Paranoia. Had seen the name a few times, but that's it. Just looked it up. I want to get into a serious campaign with some longevity. Paranoia doesn't read like it lends itself too well to that?
Not really familiar with Paranoia. Had seen the name a few times, but that's it. Just looked it up. I want to get into a serious campaign with some longevity. Paranoia doesn't read like it lends itself too well to that?
Burning Wheel and Eclipse Phase are the two games I most want to get into. Burning Wheel because I'm enamoured with the mechanical design. Eclipse Phase because I'm enamoured with the flavor and setting.
Anybody here ever play GURPS: Transhuman Space? Eclipse Phase is clearly drawing inspiration from it, but it seems like it has easier crunch.
Spoiler: This is my RPG bookshelf (click to show/hide)
Unrelated: Our wizard just referred to the Underdark as the "deep web"99% of people won't spread this phrasing...the 1% who do are blessed by Lolth.
I can't believe
I've never heard this
Wooooah there's a Chronicles of Amber roleplaying game?? Personal note to check *that* out later! Is it any good? We're playing 3.5e right now, but I'm kinda due to run another game sometime.But yeah, it's Zelazny! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Diceless_Roleplaying_Game
(I might need to reread some, though... I read the books so long ago, and I think I only read the first... 3? I stopped on a pretty apocalyptic and explanatory note, but there were more books apparently.)
Wooooah there's a Chronicles of Amber roleplaying game?? Personal note to check *that* out later! Is it any good? We're playing 3.5e right now, but I'm kinda due to run another game sometime.
(I might need to reread some, though... I read the books so long ago, and I think I only read the first... 3? I stopped on a pretty apocalyptic and explanatory note, but there were more books apparently.)
Wooooah there's a Chronicles of Amber roleplaying game?? Personal note to check *that* out later! Is it any good? We're playing 3.5e right now, but I'm kinda due to run another game sometime.I think the Chronicles of Amber was gurps. I think it had an original system sometime in the 80s, but I think its newest incarnation is gurps.
(I might need to reread some, though... I read the books so long ago, and I think I only read the first... 3? I stopped on a pretty apocalyptic and explanatory note, but there were more books apparently.)
And then you play. And everything's basically resolved by common sense. In a straight contest, the higher ranking will win, with as much flavor depending on the disparity in attributes as the players/GM would like. But of course, circumstances and maneuvering always play a part. Benedict is the best fighter in the Amber universe. Period. But Corwin could still draw a fight out with him on the defensive long enough to lure him into a trap. Amber's a world of intrigue and power plays. You can't be stupid.Thanks so much for this in-depth and fascinating explanation (particularly cool part quoted). I really might DM this for my friends sometime... Probably not for a month or two, but still. My understanding of the setting has rusted a lot, but I feel like I still have the key factors (based on the Corwin cycle) and they shouldn't be hard to teach. I'll likely make up a lot of stuff to fill in the setting, aheh, which I think sometimes works better than strict adherence to an established setting (As Spoony talked about in his Babylon 5 game. He intentionally modified several events and NPCs so that players couldn't study the show's plot for meta-advantage).
Technology seemed underutilized in the Corwin cycle, though the setting does mostly explain why. And, heh, there were exceptions.
I think the Chronicles of Amber was gurps. I think it had an original system sometime in the 80s, but I think its newest incarnation is gurps.
Also Truenamers are hilariously broken in so many ways.
Also Truenamers are hilariously broken in so many ways.
Which is so sad. One of the first characters I came up with (which, thankfully, didn't see any play) was a Truenamer. So many forms of fantasy media feature the "words have power" trope that I usually enjoy.
There are a few overhauls floating around the internet that might be worth looking into, if you ever plan on statting one up.
Meanwhile in DND, I continue to be bewildered by reserve feats. Our necromancer player found me a feat that practically lets me keep a summoned elemental around constantly. There's lots of caveats, I just have confusing feelings about "free" casting (like cantrips in PF or 5th or whatever). Like, Complete Arcane has something similar which requires you to outpace the spell by 7 spell levels. This is just one spell level.Spoiler: Amber videogame stuff (click to show/hide)
To clarify, this is Summon Elemental from Complete Mage (not Complete Arcane, some weird other thing). It lets me reserve a 4th, 6th or 8th level summoning spell in order to summon a small, medium or large elemental. It only lasts 4 6 or 8 rounds and has to stay within 30ft, but yeah, free casting.
This is fairly groovy since, as a Shugenja, I'm only *allowed* to summon 1d3 elementals anyway. We get oddly limited versions of Summon Monster like that - currently just "Summon Monster 4, but it has to be 1d3 small elementals". Small elementals are still garbage in combat, but this gives me a 100% expendable assistant instead of having to burn uses of my current highest spell slot.
Sweetening the pot, necromancer-player also found a feat that's like Augment Summoning... Except instead of having Spell Focus (Conjuration) as a painful feat tax, Augment Elemental only works on summoned elementals. This certainly isn't OP, but it sure fits with my limitations and lets me influence the battlefield helpfully.
I can probably actually get these next session by trading out feats I haven't used. Sudden Maximize is 1/day and meh, and I've never remembered to apply Greater Spell Focus (Water). Probably because I have like 1 water spell which requires a save. In my defense, my class granted the standard Spell Focus, and I assumed I'd take more water attack spells (ice, mostly).
Also Truenamers are hilariously broken in so many ways. We don't have one in our party, we've just been chatting about it.
Also Truenamers are hilariously broken in so many ways.
Which is so sad. One of the first characters I came up with (which, thankfully, didn't see any play) was a Truenamer. So many forms of fantasy media feature the "words have power" trope that I usually enjoy.
There are a few overhauls floating around the internet that might be worth looking into, if you ever plan on statting one up.
In my opinion, the ne plus ultra of the "words have power" trope is probably Ars Magica. The rest of the system takes steps to accommodate players having alts and downtime that can complicate the mechanics, but having a set of nouns and verbs to make magic happen flexibly is spot-on for encouraging creativity and just feeling like a wizard for once.
I just found out a way to get a 5th level character to pass a DC 20 Persuasion check with a die roll of 2.We've got a guy like this in our Pathfinder Society game. He's running a Vigilante with an absolutely ridiculous +10 on his Diplomacy rolls, as a 1st level character. Auto-wins any social encounter for our group.
Right now I'm looking at a modifier of +16+1d4+1d8. That's only if I can prepare beforehand, and only once before a short rest, but that still means I can pass a DC 40 Persuasion check without a natural 20.I just found out a way to get a 5th level character to pass a DC 20 Persuasion check with a die roll of 2.We've got a guy like this in our Pathfinder Society game. He's running a Vigilante with an absolutely ridiculous +10 on his Diplomacy rolls, as a 1st level character. Auto-wins any social encounter for our group.
We've got a guy like this in our Pathfinder Society game. He's running a Vigilante with an absolutely ridiculous +10 on his Diplomacy rolls, as a 1st level character. Auto-wins any social encounter for our group.
The only trouble is that nobody can pronounce his damned name. Serously, who calls their character Yrren? Mostly just gets pronounced as "urine".
I was pretty sure this was impossible, but then I took a look through my new copy of Xanathar's Guide:Right now I'm looking at a modifier of +16+1d4+1d8. That's only if I can prepare beforehand, and only once before a short rest, but that still means I can pass a DC 40 Persuasion check without a natural 20.I just found out a way to get a 5th level character to pass a DC 20 Persuasion check with a die roll of 2.We've got a guy like this in our Pathfinder Society game. He's running a Vigilante with an absolutely ridiculous +10 on his Diplomacy rolls, as a 1st level character. Auto-wins any social encounter for our group.
Are there additional things beside Guidance, Bardic Insipiration, and Enhance Ability that would help with a Persuasion check that a 5th level party would have access to?
Unrelated, Can one take Dash as a regular action, and a bonus action?
If so, do you move 3x, or 4x your speed?
In case it is not clear, I'm talking about 5E Dnd.
I thought that one wasn't out yet?It's available early from game stores as of the 10th.
I was pretty sure this was impossible, but then I took a look through my new copy of Xanathar's Guide:Yes, I am. I don't have Xanathar's guide, though. I just took it directly from Unearthed Arcana. Is the final product different than the Unearthed Arcana version?Spoiler (click to show/hide)
One more question, can I dash as both a bonus and regular action in the same turn, and what would my speed be for that turn be if I can?
It said that it doubles your speed, so I thought it would maybe quadruple.The description for the Dash action makes no use of the word "double" or anything related to multiplication. It says it you gain extra movement equal to your speed. Movement is not the same thing as speed. Movement is how fast you are going, whereas speed is the baseline of how fast you can go. (https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/834503511819685888) So usually your movement is equal to your speed, but, since Dash gives you additional movement equal to your speed, it's not actually doubling but an addition equal to a variable that happens to equal the variable that you're adding to.
Does Cunning Action give you options for your bonus action, or does it give you an additional action that can only be used for Hide, Dash, and that third option?It gives you uses for your bonus action. You only get one, unless you have some kind of feature or spell that explicitly says you gain an additional bonus action.
Does Action Surge also give you an extra bonus action? The wording is a bit strange."Action Surge grants one action, not a bonus action." (https://twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/537628565379219456?lang=en) The wording of "possible bonus action" refers to the fact that bonus actions are things that can only be used when you have a spell or feature that lets you do something as a bonus action, so you might not always have a bonus action to use.
Thanks for answering my questions.I don't know of any such weapon, and I doubt such a thing exists. Finesse and bludgeoning aren't exactly complementary concepts.
Anyway, I'm going to raise my paladin's Dexterity so he can eventually get the second highest nonmagical AC of 22, but in order to use Dexterity as my attack stat, and also use Warrior of Reconciliation, I need to wield a Simple weapon that deals bludgeoning damage, and it needs to have finesse. I don't think the 5E player's handbook has such a weapon.
Is there one in a supplement?
Two more questions, does the Xanathar's Guide version of the Redemption Paladin have differences between itself and the original Unearthed Arcana version?Looking at it, it looks like Xanathar's Guide dropped the Armor of Peace and Warrior of Reconciliation features, changed some of the Oath spells, and the Channel Divinity features are a bit better (the bonus to Persuasion checks now lasts 10 minutes instead of one and can be used with all checks made at that time, instead of just one. The other one can now be used on any enemy in range who dealt damage to someone other than you, rather than just ones that made melee attacks). And for Aura of the Guardian, damage you take on other player's behalf can't be reduced in any way, and the range that it can be used at increases to 30 feet at 18th level, like most paladin auras.
Is taking 3 more levels of Rogue so I get an ability improvement one level sooner worth it?Probably not for its own sake. Usually when people talk about ability score improvements and multiclassing, their concern is more about losing out on them because they took a break on one class at such at time that they would almost get an ASI from that class and it would be a while until they got one from the other. If it's only one level, it's probably not a big deal, and you should be more worried about delaying paladin class features. That said, rogue has some nice class features of its own, so it somewhat depends on what you're going for, exactly. Usually, though, you only want a few levels in one class and then all the rest in your main class.
I don't know of any such weapon, and I doubt such a thing exists. Finesse and bludgeoning aren't exactly complementary concepts.
Looking at it, it looks like Xanathar's Guide dropped the Armor of Peace and Warrior of Reconciliation features, changed some of the Oath spells, and the Channel Divinity features are a bit better (the bonus to Persuasion checks now lasts 10 minutes instead of one and can be used with all checks made at that time, instead of just one. The other one can now be used on any enemy in range who dealt damage to someone other than you, rather than just ones that made melee attacks). And for Aura of the Guardian, damage you take on other player's behalf can't be reduced in any way, and the range that it can be used at increases to 30 feet at 18th level, like most paladin auras.Well, sounds like if I use the official version, I don't need a finesse simple bludgeon. No Armor of Peace? Damn it, no 22 AC for me...
Just the oath spells and the channel divinity features, which did seem like a nerf from Unearthed Arcana, but it seems like all the paladin subclasses follow that same format.Looking at it, it looks like Xanathar's Guide dropped the Armor of Peace and Warrior of Reconciliation features, changed some of the Oath spells, and the Channel Divinity features are a bit better (the bonus to Persuasion checks now lasts 10 minutes instead of one and can be used with all checks made at that time, instead of just one. The other one can now be used on any enemy in range who dealt damage to someone other than you, rather than just ones that made melee attacks). And for Aura of the Guardian, damage you take on other player's behalf can't be reduced in any way, and the range that it can be used at increases to 30 feet at 18th level, like most paladin auras.Well, sounds like if I use the official version, I don't need a finesse simple bludgeon. No Armor of Peace? Damn it, no 22 AC for me...
What does it have instead of Armor of Peace, and Warrior of Reconciliation?
Also, in response to the comment above, why did they give it extra 3rd level features in the Unearthed Arcana version, then?I can't speak for designer's intent, but Unearthed Arcana is meant to be playtest material and isn't intended to be as well-balanced as officially published material. It's more about putting stuff out there and seeing what people think of it. It might even be that it was dropped because a lot of players thought it was over-powered.
I have just realized that the scorpion is horribly under-represented as a sci-fi tank/mech design. I must now stat scorpion-bots up for RIFTS, thankfully it has an existing design that I can use as a template for my own hideous eight-legged abominations.
Let the scorpioning begin!
Bugs are cooler than people anyway.[CITATION NEEDED]
Actually, the height of the center of mass is pretty irrelevant to artillery and tank design, the real issue is footprint, which you want to be as wide and deep as is reasonable in order to prevent it's weight (which is how it actually offsets recoil, though spreading the force also helps) from causing it to sink. That said, it could be argued that by increasing the footprint you are effectively lowering the center of gravity, but that isn't completely true.
Six legs would probably be optimal for legged artillery, but four (with a wide enough stance) would probably work for an AFV.
As ridiculous as it sounds, there are some reasonable arguments in favor of a two-legged gun carriage unit, narrow profile, variable firing height and vantage, some terrain advantages. Not really enough to offset the massive expense and complexity, but still good points.
Honestly, tanks can go over terrain pretty well, and likely much, much faster than any legged vehicle could manage. If your setting involves mecha, I'd not be worrying about the physics behind it, because the point is clearly more about the GIANT ROBOTS WITH GUNS.
Clearly the most optimized mecha is some sort of scorpiod centaur.Actually, the height of the center of mass is pretty irrelevant to artillery and tank design, the real issue is footprint, which you want to be as wide and deep as is reasonable in order to prevent it's weight (which is how it actually offsets recoil, though spreading the force also helps) from causing it to sink. That said, it could be argued that by increasing the footprint you are effectively lowering the center of gravity, but that isn't completely true.
Six legs would probably be optimal for legged artillery, but four (with a wide enough stance) would probably work for an AFV.
As ridiculous as it sounds, there are some reasonable arguments in favor of a two-legged gun carriage unit, narrow profile, variable firing height and vantage, some terrain advantages. Not really enough to offset the massive expense and complexity, but still good points.
Center of mass matters a great deal for movement. The lower the center of mass, the higher an incline a vehicle of equal footprint can handle without tipping; since one of the most frequently parroted arguments in favor of mecha is that legged vehicles can handle rougher terrain, it makes sense to go as low as possible with the drive unit in light of the guns to be put on its back. Of course, you can just make the vehicle longer or wider, but that means stressing the legs more with the additional mass and needing wider paths down which to travel.
I've always had a soft spot for the Red/Blue series, since I played it as a child. I heard there's a PnP RPG out there, but that it's a total slog for the GM to prep stats for encounters.
One thing I'd love to see would be a Nuzlocke style PnP RPG version of the Kanto game. I already have my own headcanon for it too (not posting unless under request to avoid derail).
I have realized that the Battle Master's Commander's Strike can allow assassins another critical hitting attack. If that assassin had already hit with his sneak attack his last turn, does he get another one if the Strike hits? And does the supiority dice also double/triple in a crit?
And unrelated, does Mage Armor/Draconic Resilience/Armor of Peace stack with unarmored defense?
Commander's strike only requires that the recipient be able to see or hear you, so theoretically the fighter could be a relatively large distance away (such that the target hasn't recognised them as a threat) or around a few corners. Or they could be a rogue/fighter multiclass, and if you have two rogue/fighters then you'd be able to get 4 sneak attacks.
My battle master PC is an archer, so he actually might make some stealth checks.
By the way, this probably works even better with a Half-Orc assassin with Dual-wielder.
He gets to to stab for 3d8+6d6+4, then 3d8, then 5d8+6d6+4. Although, you have to remember that Commander's Strike uses up one of the Commander's attacks, so they can't both hit someone at the same time if they are both assassins.
Half Orc Assassin: I swing Eminem first then Ice Cube...
Don't rapiers count as light weapons for the purpose of feats, though?My battle master PC is an archer, so he actually might make some stealth checks.
By the way, this probably works even better with a Half-Orc assassin with Dual-wielder.
He gets to to stab for 3d8+6d6+4, then 3d8, then 5d8+6d6+4. Although, you have to remember that Commander's Strike uses up one of the Commander's attacks, so they can't both hit someone at the same time if they are both assassins.
Yeah, sadly for the cause of exploitation two assassins shouting at each other for large amounts of damage to the poor bastard caught in between is not rules legal (sadly dual wielding takes a bonus action to do, otherwise you could drop the second attack for the Commander's Strike). An archer deciding not to shoot but instead telling the assassin to stab harder, however, looks to be perfectly in keeping with the rules, so that's pretty good.
And yeah, suppose dual wielding does give half-orcs a bit of an edge, though it won't be a 3d8 because rapiers aren't light weapons. At best it'd be a scimitar or shortsword for 3d6, I think.
I suppose that makes sense, but why did you say the max is 15 at that point? The max at that point is 18. And it would deal 3d8 extra damage for being a half-Orc, as he attacks thrice. And that extra 1d8 damage is every time he crits, which with two attacks is about 1/10th of the time. Admittedly, it is only worth it if you get a lot of opportunity to surprise people.
Don't rapiers count as light weapons for the purpose of feats, though?
Again does a PC with racial flight get extra flight speed from being a monk/barbarian?Yes
So any suggestions for an eldertich knight fighter in 5E? Like spell or strategy wise?Here. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?479532-Bellator-Arcana-The-Eldritch-Knight-s-guide)
I'm not at all familiar with the Mystic UA, but skimming it I think you'd "only" get 30ft reach max, as Ogre Form and Giant Form both appear to be concentration.An 11th level mystic can use the special psi points to concentrate on multiple stuff at a time, as long at it comes to only 9 psi points total, and Ogre Form and Giant Form come to 9 psi total.
And thats why multiclassing is explicitly suggested as shouldn't be allowed with UA stuff.I suppose, but the munchkin in me refuses to care that most DMs wouldn't allow it.
why is this crossed out?the gm can always say “you aren’t allowed to do that”
Yeah, it's always weird when people talk about how specific items/weapons/spells/class abilities (iron fucking heart surge) are """overpowered""" when literally all the GM has to say is "No, you can't stack seven +5 bonuses to the same skill." and you're done.
And thats why multiclassing is explicitly suggested as shouldn't be allowed with UA stuff.I've thought about this some more, and no multi-classing UA stuff is required.
And that's why no dm should ever allow psionics in their game.Uh, the only thing the Mystics were doing in my last post is the 35 reach. The passive perception of 37, and the Persausion check of 64 have nothing to do with psionics.
And that's why no dm should ever allow psionics in their game.
Harry, I think I finally know what your avatar is. It is the most horrible of beasts, the Thought Eater, right?
Yah, that's definitely the thought eater from AD&D Monster Manual.
No, it's explicitly a Thought Eater. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_eater)Harry, I think I finally know what your avatar is. It is the most horrible of beasts, the Thought Eater, right?Yah, that's definitely the thought eater from AD&D Monster Manual.
I think it's a Duck from Dragons and Demons:Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I didn't even know RuneQuest was anything else than the mmo actually.You're mixing it up with RuneScape (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuneScape). The two are unaffiliated, though it is slightly suspicious that both have character advancement that involved leveling-up individual skills by using them, rune magic that anyone can use, and similar names. But surely that's just coincidence.
I didn't even know RuneQuest was anything else than the mmo actually.You're mixing it up with RuneScape (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuneScape). The two are unaffiliated, though it is slightly suspicious that both have character advancement that involved leveling-up individual skills by using them, rune magic that anyone can use, and similar names. But surely that's just coincidence.
I had a lot of fun last session. The group found a magical McGuffin artifact that was in the shape of a twisted metal key made of iron and gold, DC 25 Use Magic Device check to activate, which opened a magic door. The door led to a nexus of infinite portals to any and every place on any dimension, but they had no way of knowing which door led where. They also had a book that gave them eleven locations they could know in advance.
The catch of course was that the method of identifying the door was hidden in the third page of the book, which I'd written, printed and gave them as a handout. I had a great time laughing with evil glee as they glossed over the handout and started arguing about just trying doors randomly.
Spoilered text of book for those interested. I think I did a great job of making it both completely accurate yet entirely mind-numbingly boring.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
we should probably also address the fact that time stops for as long as you keep talking. Opening up the possibility of some sort of combat filibuster.Watch any anime with any sort of combat, sport or other physical conflict. It happens all the time.
A half-troll like what you'd want would normally be way too spicy to put into a regular party, no way that it doesn't give you some serious LA and no way it lets you actually regenerate (which is what I assume you mean with the limb removal thing - limbs fight on and that sort of thing). Like here's a homebrew example for 3.5 (http://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/templates/halftroll.shtml) and here's one for 5E (https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Half-Troll_(5e_Race)).
It's a template in the fiend folio, got in hand right now, it's on page 92.
I'm pretty sure the fiend folio wasn't released under ogl, so naughty website probably. But there's a lot of stuff around marked as "homebrew" to avoid getting hammered down I guess.
I was thinking of giving the Mr Meeseeks the stats of a sentient wax golem (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/constructs/golem/golem-wax/). On summoning it gains Int 10, 8 skill ranks, and two feats (usually skill focus feats), with skills determined by the task it was summoned to perform. Thus a Mr Meeseeks summoned to assist a Craft check would have a +7 bonus from 4 ranks and a skill focus feat. It would function in all other ways as the Unseen Servant spell, unable to attack or take any offensive actions in combat.
For the backfire risk, I'd thought I'd add a 1% cumulative chance every hour after summoning one that it goes berserk unless it's fulfilled the request it was summoned to perform, gaining the benefits of a barbarian's rage, regeneration 5 that cannot be removed, and an uncontrollable desire to kill it's summoner, after which it disappears. Thus, summoning one for a day would have a 24% chance of mental break.
If you summon more than one at a time, I'd figured their chance of going berserk stacks, so having ten active means a cumulative 10% chance of them going berserk after one hour, or 100% chance after 10 hours.
Edit: Also, this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKBbUdfvwrU).
Got a question for the hive-mind tabletop players here: How badly as a player could you break a game if you were given a box that summons a humanoid creature on command?I think there's a massive risk that you're ignoring which is bigger than any mechanical concern, which is that the players will realize your inspiration and the rest of the session will go down the toilet as the party devolves into a mess of shitty referential humor and talking about shows. The Monty Python problem, as it were.
Basically, I'm thinking of adding a Mr Meeseeks box to my Pathfinder game, but I wanna anticipate how badly things could go wrong beforehand.
The Monty Python problem, as it were.Hehe, clever reference. I should bring that up at DND Saturday- oh no it's memetic
I don't know the source material, but couldn't you just have it be a classic genie, instead of a wax golem, without the possibly game-devolving reference?Got a question for the hive-mind tabletop players here: How badly as a player could you break a game if you were given a box that summons a humanoid creature on command?I think there's a massive risk that you're ignoring which is bigger than any mechanical concern, which is that the players will realize your inspiration and the rest of the session will go down the toilet as the party devolves into a mess of shitty referential humor and talking about shows. The Monty Python problem, as it were.
Basically, I'm thinking of adding a Mr Meeseeks box to my Pathfinder game, but I wanna anticipate how badly things could go wrong beforehand.
Apparently, according to the errata, a Pact of the Chain warlock must use his reaction if heNormally the familiar from Find Familiar is not allowed to attack (from the spell description: "A familiar can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal"), the Pact of the Chain is an exception to that.
wants his familiar to attack. Why should this be weaker than a regular wizard's Find Familiar spell? After all, the errata doesn't state the Find Familiar spell is changed.
So, my players for my D&D campaigns are definitely becoming more and more evil.
All but one of their ship's crew got slaughtered by some weird red goo ship that created creatures out of said red goo. How do they respond?
"Lets cut off some of this ship. Oh look, it's turned into red goo! I know, time to force-feed the survivor (who has literally voided themselves in fear) this goo and see what happens!"
They... had a bad time. Then because it's totally not a protomolecule expy, their corpse started to behave rather weirdly. So they tied it to the ship and watched what happened. It eventually exploded into a "spore" (really some weird large hairy seed/spore things) cloud, so they captured some spores with plans to either:
A) Test them on unwitting victims
B) Release them when they're getting pissed off by a person
This kind of shit will catch up with them, mind. At this rate they're likely to wind up victims of the goo and spend an eternity as a consciousness contained inside it unable to die and living in mute horror.
One of them started chaotic neutral, they've become evil. The other one started off evil, so it's hardly a surprise.
They also managed to piss off an eldritch-lite living island by setting a chunk of it on fire. They managed to forget they'd been told it was alive in some weird way, and figured that setting a building on top of it on fire by using a large bottle of absinthe and a lot of office supplies was a good idea.
Stars Without Number: Revised Edition (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/226996/Stars-Without-Number-Revised-Edition?manufacturers_id=3482) has been released, along with a free version (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/230009/Stars-Without-Number-Revised-Edition-Free-Version?manufacturers_id=3482), just like the original version had.
Does Calm Emotions end barbarian rages? Should it?Yes (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/calmEmotions.htm)
Commonplace Guns: While still expensive and tricky to wield, early firearms are readily available. Instead of requiring the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat, all firearms are martial weapons. Early firearms and their ammunition cost 25% of the amounts listed in this book, but advanced firearms and their ammunition are still rare and cost the full price to purchase or craft.because pike & shot warfare doesn't really mesh with the "wtf is a gun" mentality of Emerging Guns:
Emerging Guns: Firearms become more common. They are mass-produced by small guilds, lone gunsmiths, dwarven clans, or maybe even a nation or two—the secret is slipping out, and the occasional rare adventurer uses guns. The baseline gunslinger rules and the prices for ammunition given in this chapter are for this type of campaign. Early firearms are available, but are relatively rare. Adventurers who want to use guns must take the Gunsmithing feat just to make them feasible weapons. Advanced firearms may exist, but only as rare and wondrous items—the stuff of high-level treasure troves.but I'm not sure how well-balanced Commonplace is. I was thinking of reducing the discount and removing the availability of advanced firearms; thoughts?
Well, back then the difference between shotguns and other firearms back then were how many and what size bullets you put down the barrel.
Paper cartridges have been in use since the 14th century, though integrated cartridges were invented in 1800s.
Similiarly, multi-chambered firearms have existed for a lot longer than you think. Such as:Spoiler: Detail of an 8-chambered matchlock revolver (Germany c. 1580) (click to show/hide)
Personally I'd let people have them. They're rare, and they might need to commission a gunsmith or buy them off a specialist, but players are exceptional characters by nature. No harm in letting them have them.
Pathfinder has a early firearm revolver, the pepperbox. It's a 6-shooter that works similar to a flintlock. As for a shotgun, no such luck per the Pathfinder rules, although if you're in the market, you can get the Taurus Judge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_Judge) five-shot revolver that shoots shotgun shells, because of course you can get a bloody huge hand-cannon in the USA.
I mean, one could argue that a sawn-off shotgun is converted into a pistol. It's certainly used for the same sort of reasons and often falls under the same laws.
Thanks for the link Rolan7!
Ultimately, I think if this was ever a real class, it'd be a cheap way to dip Charisma to AC for tanky pajama builds. This of course assumes the gentleman's uniform is not classed as light armor, which isn't explicitly mentioned. I can see something like a Monk 2/Gentleman 1/Fist of the Forest 1/Stuff to get Wis, Cha and Con to AC.
At this point, I'm wondering why you even bother with it. Palladium doesn't sound very fun at all, and you seem to have nothing but complaints about the system.
The Aasimar cop's player sounds like a dick.She is, but I think its because she wanted to be mafia but has gone too far to change it
I imagine only poisons applicable through injury can be applied to weapons and have an effect.
Unless you convince someone to lick your sword or something.
I imagine only poisons applicable through injury can be applied to weapons and have an effect.I mean, nothing in the rules mention that only certain poisons can be used. Hell, the "Applying Poisons" section only mentions using the stuff on weapons and says nothing about, say, setting traps or poisoning food.
Unless you convince someone to lick your sword or something.
Poisons have four categories, based on how they reach the target: contact, ingested, inhaled, or injury.So you have four categories of poisons.
Contact: These poisons are delivered the moment a creature touches the poison with its bare skin. Such poisons can be used as injury poisons. Contact poisons usually have an onset time of 1 minute and a frequency of 1 minute.
Ingested: These poisons are delivered when a creature eats or drinks the poison. Ingested poisons usually have an onset time of 10 minutes and a frequency of 1 minute.
Inhaled: These poisons are delivered the moment a creature enters an area containing such poisons and do not usually have an onset time. For most inhaled poisons, 1 dose fills a volume equal to a 10-foot cube. A creature can attempt to hold its breath while inside the area to avoid inhaling the toxin. A creature holding its breath receives a 50% chance of not having to make a Fortitude save each round. See the rules for holding your breath and suffocation. If a creature is holding its breath and fails the constitution check to continue doing so, rather than suffocating it begins to breathe normally again (and is subject to the effects of the inhaled poison if still in the area).
Injury: These poisons are primarily delivered through the attacks of certain creatures and through weapons coated in the toxin. Injury poisons do not usually have an onset time and have a frequency of 1 round.
Contact: These poisons are delivered the moment a creature touches the poison with its bare skin. Such poisons can be used as injury poisons. Contact poisons usually have an onset time of 1 minute and a frequency of 1 minute.Contact and injury poisons can be applied to weapons and will influct poisoning on a successful hit. Inhalation and ingested will not because it doesn't say they can and explicitly does for the other kinds.
One dose of poison smeared on a weapon or some other object affects just a single target. A poisoned weapon or object retains its poison until the weapon scores a hit or the object is touched (unless the poison is wiped off before a target comes in contact with it).So applying a contact poison to an object affects the first person to touch it unless it gets wiped off, which I assume covers your traps.
...It would work for darts. Contact poisons can be used as if they were injury poisons, so they can be applied to and delivered via darts just fine.
I'm running a 5e campaign for some friends, which I'm doing almost entirely off-the-cuff right now. I have a couple of things for the Bay12 hivemind!If you haven't heard of it already, I'd recommend Kobold Fight Club (http://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-builder). It lets you search for monsters by several parameters, including type (in this case it would be Fiend. You can also search for chaotic evil or lawful evil depending on if you want to narrow it down to demons or devils) and create random encounters from the filtered creatures (though, unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to create random enounters from multiple search parameters at once, so, for example, if you want to mix together fiends and humanoids, you'll have to add one of the two types manually.)
1) What are some neat demon/devil themed encounters you have for a party of three 3rd-level characters played by beginners? I'm reasonable at playing encounters by ear and tweaking them on the fly if things are going terribly wrong, but it feels very unscientific.
2) Is it just me, or does 5e feel really, really polar? I have players kicking out up to 3d10 damage per turn, but only having ~20 hitpoints. Something that's actually going to stay standing for more than a round against them has to have 30-40 hitpoints, but I'd associate that with also dealing a decent bit of damage. If it rolls more than say, 1d8+(2-3) or so, it runs good odds of killing or incapacitating a party member in that time and then it's all downhill.5e monster building guildlines split up attack and defense CR, then average them out (and, unfortunately, don't keep those numbers around for use), so it's entirely possible for monsters to either be very good at defense or very good at attack.
What cuts? I assume I'm doing something terribly wrong, or maybe I just have a really glass cannony party (wizard, monk, cleric), but it feels really weird to have such an imbalance between damage dished and damage taken.
But, also, I don't know how any character can consistently put out 3d10 damage per turn at 3rd level, so they are likely using some sort of once-per-day or at least once-per-short rest resources to do so. You probably need to put in a few more (weaker) encounters to use those up.This, very much this. My Pathfinder players are 15th level right now, and they have the resources and abilities to teleport in, dump their biggest daily abilities in one encounter, then teleport out again.
Yeah (https://www.pentadact.com/2018-02-02-pitch-tactical-breach-wizards/)
Fantasy SWAT sounds like a fantastic idea for a campaign, by the way.
Suggestion for Digital Hellhound. You want the players to smash the status quo?
Have them create their own artifacts(eventually, low-level characters still shouldn't get to do this.), instead of finding ones made by others.
You can still have a quest to find the materials, and the long-lost knowledge how to make them in the first place.
Is it possible the monster's existence is based on its own willpower, and thus such a surprising event(an enemy just bopping it a bit) caused it to explode as it forgot to keep existing?
Otherwise I have no idea.
Any clue what is up with the 1 punch kill http://willsaveworldforgold.com/?p=2522 ? There's probably some sort of DnD joke there involving monks. Context is that Tuvi (red headed dwarf) is a level 3 monk and the rest of the main cast are level 7 or 8.My guess is it's a reference to One Punch Man (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-Punch_Man), for the fact that she killed it in one punch and then turned bald.
Dwarves can mate with humans, right? If so, why aren't there half-dwarves in the core books?Popularity and tradition. Half-dwarves of various sorts, including muls and dwelves, have never been as popular and thus ended up being relegated to the realm of splat. Of course, since half-elves have also been around since OD&D and thus had access to the core books that half-dwarves haven't attained, some of that lack of popularity is also due to obscurity: how many non-Dark Sun players have heard of muls? Ultimately, it probably stems from Tolkien's influence at the start; humans and elves bred true (Elrond and Elros, for two), but humans/elves and dwarves did not.
Also, whilst I won't derail on a rant over my personal quibbles with the book, Ultimate Wilderness has an interesting section of rules for milking poisons out of animals. For example, a Witch with a greensting scorpion familiar could prep a few doses of poison from it each day, free of charge.This is somewhat late, but funnily enough I actually thought about this independently, completely by accident.
Huh. Wonder what that will be like.
It sounds like they're heavily influenced by 5th ed dnd?so dnd 5.5?
so dnd 5.5?[witty reply that insults dnd]
Well, DND is very crunch and mechanics heavy, and not really designed for social roleplay.I get that, just making a dumb joke
DND 5 does seem better than 3.5 in that regard, though. Assuming your group is tied to DND, which is understandable. We've really only done 3.5, New World of Darkness, and a few one-session experiments.
Well, DND is very crunch and mechanics heavy, and not really designed for social roleplay.
DND 5 does seem better than 3.5 in that regard, though. Assuming your group is tied to DND, which is understandable. We've really only done 3.5, New World of Darkness, and a few one-session experiments.
An armet weighs 15lbs? What is it made from, lead?
That'd be this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secrete_(helmet)I wrote up a big description for it, actually, with perception check DCs and everything! That helmet warmed my heart. It's the exact kind of weird pseudo-experimental weaponry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol_sword#/media/File:Wheel-lock_daggers.JPG) I love from the 1600s.
Tawa, if you're not changing the price of that one, maybe give it the ability to be worn under a hat or hood. Might not justify the price, but it'd certainly make it more appealing to those that use light armor and want to wear hoods or hats or whatever.
An armet weighs 15lbs? What is it made from, lead?Will cut down on the weight. I figured that going heavy on the weight would be alright because the base game tends to overestimate the full weight of a suit of armor, but that is pretty weighty for an armet.
The two light armor helms seem rather pricey, especially since the stats are a lot closer to the gambeson and buff coat than the comparable priced medium stuff. Also, the costs for the morion and secrete seem flipped.Morion and secrete weights are intentional, but thanks for pointing out the issue there. I tried to account for various combinations, but I had a habit of only comparing to the "best" armor in each category (e.g. chain shirt). The fact that I adapted it from a confusing system where your armor type was dependent on how many pieces of each type you were wearing.
If I were one of your players, I’d probably skip the light armors entirely and get the burg-net and half cuirass. Course that’s before making any class considerations.
-snip-I read this, understand what you're saying, and like your ideas, but I couldn't think of a good way to respond outside of this meta-response (and I didn't want to make it look like I skipped your post) :v
The dude was a genius of warfare,
A.E.G.I.S: Arcane Eerie Guard InsatsStyrkW.A.R.D. is probably the best so far.
W.A.R.D: Weaponized Arcane Reinforcement Division
Unlike a DND critfail, it only happens when someone attempts a roll where they would get 0 or less dice.Actually, a player (or ST) can also have a dramatic failure voluntarily in place of a regular failure. Doing so nets them a beat (partial experience point) and, well, makes the story more dramatic. I highly recommend doing it at least once per arc, especially when you find plan A working too often.
Well, generally spider silk is considered "strong as steel" for its tensile strength vs density, so if this huntsman can spew out steel cable-thick string, it'll be fine.It depends on the type of silk. Species matters as well. The "strong as steel" stuff is dragline silk, used to make the primary framework of a proper web, and thus it's not something a huntsman spider would use regularly (if at all).
In the game, however, they have a lot of web-related abilities that imply that the giant ones, in fact, can.Of course, this is a fantasy spider with fantasy abilities, so....yeah, silk could probably be used for rappelling.
You don't know these guys. You don't. They wouldn't accept that, they'd force him to make it under threat of death, and failing that, probably under torture. Or they'd just say "Fuck it" and force him to chug some of the not!Protomolecule and try to work out another way.Them attempting to use those methods to get something out of and alchemist seems like a wonderful opportunity to teach your players that it doesn't matter how sociopathic you are, you can't always get what you want using threats and violence. Say, he agrees and gives them the formula. But they're not alchemists, they don't know what it does. When they give the formula to their spider, the spider explodes, covering everything nearby in deadly acid. If they survive that and decide to go back for revenge, they've got a prepared alchemist, probably with allies to deal with.
One of them has proficiency in alchemy, so...
Regrowing out of life energy could be cool. Maybe since it’s totemy magic, it could get stronger as he uses his powers, so anything he wields with that hand gets +1 damage?
-A spirit-hand that looks like glowing mist. Might have the power to interact with spirits, souls, the ethereal realm, etc, could nullify or resist magic, might allow them to call up supernatural mists or point and gensture of its own accord to divine information.
-A spirit-hand that looks like glowing mist. Might have the power to interact with spirits, souls, the ethereal realm, etc, could nullify or resist magic, might allow them to call up supernatural mists or point and gensture of its own accord to divine information.
At the cost of not being able to interact with anything physical with that hand? Gotta balance it somehow.
And if they raise it as a zombie, it'll work for a bit. Once the spinnerets start rotting...
Is there any chance that a gnome with the "mounted Combatant" feat in 5E, if given a piggyback ride, would give the piggyback giver Evasion and be able to take hits for him?
Oh, that would be so awesome. But aren't they more Tiny sized? Or is six inches only Small?
And if they raise it as a zombie, it'll work for a bit. Once the spinnerets start rotting...
So, I think I've come up with a solution to the spider problem. And by "I've come up with" I mean "You lot did and I've slightly altered things"
Basically, yes, the spider can produce silk they can rappel down. The thing is the spider's not easy to "Tame". It's a spider after all, the thing runs almost on pure instinct.
So, in order to get it to work, they'll need to produce some kind of potion that basically turns it into a braindead meat-to-silk machine. The guys get weird attachments to various things, so it may (emphasis on may, like I said the attachments are weird.) present a moral issue: Do they effectively kill Boris to make their SWAT dreams come true, or do they let Boris live out her days as a disabled spider mascot?
And if they raise it as a zombie, it'll work for a bit. Once the spinnerets start rotting...
Thanks for all the treasure suggestions guys! Definitely using these.Is that going to the treasure for Greed? 'Cause it actually sounds really appropriate for Pride.
I've also come up with a great set of items to add into my treasure room. Namely, a belt that adds +6 to all physical scores, and a headband that adds +6 to all mental scores. Both are cursed, however. Created by a gnomish illusionist archmage in order to protect his property, the belt acts as a girdle of opposite gender, and the headband as a crown of blindness, unless the wearer states that their name is that of the item's creator before wearing it. From then on, if they name themselves as any name other than that name, the items immediately cease to function until removed for at least 24 hours.
So, what ludicrous gnomish name shall we decide to have my unfortunate players adopt?
Oh, that would be so awesome. But aren't they more Tiny sized? Or is six inches only Small?
Gnathan Gnorris
I've also come up with a great set of items to add into my treasure room. Namely, a belt that adds +6 to all physical scores, and a headband that adds +6 to all mental scores. Both are cursed, however. Created by a gnomish illusionist archmage in order to protect his property, the belt acts as a girdle of opposite gender, and the headband as a crown of blindness, unless the wearer states that their name is that of the item's creator before wearing it. From then on, if they name themselves as any name other than that name, the items immediately cease to function until removed for at least 24 hours.But how is the doubly-enchanted belt cursed? :P
So, what ludicrous gnomish name shall we decide to have my unfortunate players adopt?
Yeah, Any power gamer would prefer the +6 than being their original gender. And a girdle of opposite gender is just great for a transgender person.I've also come up with a great set of items to add into my treasure room. Namely, a belt that adds +6 to all physical scores, and a headband that adds +6 to all mental scores. Both are cursed, however. Created by a gnomish illusionist archmage in order to protect his property, the belt acts as a girdle of opposite gender, and the headband as a crown of blindness, unless the wearer states that their name is that of the item's creator before wearing it. From then on, if they name themselves as any name other than that name, the items immediately cease to function until removed for at least 24 hours.But how is the doubly-enchanted belt cursed? :P
Do you have a plan for how they can learn the proper activation sequence?The name is Gnome Ann. Gnome Ann can use this device!
Finally, the treasure room will include a scroll of Analyze Dweomer, which will automatically identify the curse if they use it to examine the items.
So I'm rejoining a 5e campaign I had to leave for a dozen sessions or so. --So apparently the GM had had a demon disguise as my previous character after I'd left and the party was on to the deception almost immediately, pondering whether I was playing another demon or a doppelgänger. After they figured out there was an illusion, they even guessed that my character didn't exist at all. I had the character reveal himself after they suggested using torture instead of, say, Dispel Magic. Apparently playing the damsel in distress card doesn't work on this party anymore. I did earn inspiration for it, though, meaning it was probably all worth it.
So, does anyone have any ideas for factions that could spring up from this, aside from your bog standard guilds, colleges and such?
Ah, in that case, how about ones that seek to revive their own god? Say, because they also hope it'll repair the material plane, because they hope to gain power as the facilitators of this revival, or from the divine side, because the god itself pulled a Bhaal and made plans to arrange matters in the event of their demise. This could play interestingly with the ones that want to create a new god or use their power without ascending, too, as well as those who hated the gods for the damage their wars wrought. It'd kind of be an archetypal villain set, though I suppose you could give it a twist by making their goal to revive one of the gods who would be considered "good" in a conventional setting.A faction that wants to explore past the outerlands?
A sort of reality-police that prevent breaks and portals with an iron fist?
A faction trying to find a way to kill all gods and prevent any more ever arising permanently?
A faction trying to reclaim the original world, either by manipulation of reality or mutation to survive there?
Appreciate the ideas. Though the third one's not really feasible since all the gods are dead.
In this setting, clerics work not by worship, but by basically siphoning minuscule amounts of divine power straight from the corpses of the gods. Since the gods aren't actively holding onto the power, they're able to get away with it.
Clerics are generally viewed as something of a necessary evil. On the one hand, they use the power that destroyed the world. On the other, they do all sorts of healing stuff.
Thing about this is that it's basically a case of "The age of the gods has passed". There's no divine recovery. Any attempts are doomed to failure (except possibly the guys that want to make a supergod that is all the gods combined into one, and if that happens it's beyond the scope of the campaign). The gods have come back numerous times, though records generally get dodgy around then. Some adventuring party thinks "Maybe we should take the power of the gods...", take them, and then become the gods, right down to the hatred of one another. Another war occurs, though since it's in the material plane it has minimal effect, and they all die again.
Hmm. Perhaps I could make some faction that's actively attempting to repress adventurers to stop this, for fear of it one time spilling into the Outerlands.
And the gods aren't good. They were at first, but as time went on they basically became uncaring. When they nearly wiped out the sentient races, it wasn't out of malice. It was simply because they didn't care that they were literally driving them extinct.
Thing about this is that it's basically a case of "The age of the gods has passed". There's no divine recovery. Any attempts are doomed to failure (except possibly the guys that want to make a supergod that is all the gods combined into one, and if that happens it's beyond the scope of the campaign). The gods have come back numerous times, though records generally get dodgy around then. Some adventuring party thinks "Maybe we should take the power of the gods...", take them, and then become the gods, right down to the hatred of one another. Another war occurs, though since it's in the material plane it has minimal effect, and they all die again.
Hmm. Perhaps I could make some faction that's actively attempting to repress adventurers to stop this, for fear of it one time spilling into the Outerlands.
And the gods aren't good. They were at first, but as time went on they basically became uncaring. When they nearly wiped out the sentient races, it wasn't out of malice. It was simply because they didn't care that they were literally driving them extinct.
As a GM, I always value having a physical hardcover copy of the rules.
So much harder to bludgeon my players with electronic versions.
You know... I kinda wonder how thick an unabridged "3.5E Core + all expansions + all official splatbooks" sewn-spine bound book would beNot including 3.0 or setting specific books I have 47 of them on my computer. So it would likely be thicker than tall or wide. I can't see such a production being practical. If you add the setting books I have then that's another 33, and I am sure there are a significant number of those that I haven't retrieved. I've also used 5 of the 3.0 books (thanks grandfathering), but I'm sure there are a few more of those that still have useful things that never got 3.5 versions.
Okay, but it still seems like the most powerful 9th level spell, At least of the ones I can think of at the moment. What else can potentially one-hit-kill the Tarrarasque?The Tarrasque has Magic Resistance and Legendary Resistance, so actually having it fail its save against True Polymorph can be hard. Still, other spells that can one-hit-kill-or-otherwise-defeat it include but are probably not limited to Wish, Imprisonment, Dominate Monster, Plane Shift. Plane Shift is 7th-level, so you don't even need to get that high-leveled for it.
Also, if you use it on your dead friend, does you friend have control of the 9 CR creature?Not on your dead friend, as a creature target must have at least 1 HP. However, the spell states that the creature retains its personality, so RAW the player stays in control, but that's probably subject to GM approval. Also note that using it on a PC causes them to lose all of their class features.
QuoteAlso, if you use it on your dead friend, does you friend have control of the 9 CR creature?Not on your dead friend, as a creature target must have at least 1 HP. However, the spell states that the creature retains its personality, so RAW the player stays in control, but that's probably subject to GM approval. Also note that using it on a PC causes them to lose all of their class features.
Sounds like a great story hook, to be honest.
The king is dead, but the court wizard has claimed to revive him! Uncover the mystery of the new power behind the throne.
There is all manner of room for shenanigans though.I'm not sure object-to-creature has any real implications for a lich. While it's in/controlling the body it's considered a creature (at least, skeletons and zombies are considered creatures) so no object-to-creature until you 'kill' it, turning it into a regular corpse (or pile of bones). At that point its mind/will has vacated the premises and is away starting the reforming process, so I wouldn't expect anything you did to the remains would affect or involve it anymore.
Take your typical lich for instance. The body is not the vessel for the soul; that is phylectory. The body is just a puppet, which is why it can be destroyed, and can reform over and over again.
So, say somebody abuses object-to-creature on a lich. What happens? GM will probably say "Needs to have been 'destroyed' first (eg, it is bits of bony stuff on the floor), but that still has the same problem. Whence the lich reform from? What controls the reanimated body? etc.
Thing about this is that it's basically a case of "The age of the gods has passed". There's no divine recovery. Any attempts are doomed to failureJust because you know that doesn't mean all of the people in your setting do.
What LoD do you want? I've had decent results from Bryce3D+Photoshop and some other goodies.My main problem is drawing good land masses, rivers, and roads. You now how land masses aren’t perfectly smooth curves? Well I want to figure out how to give it that proper jagged look.
So, making another map and I've discovered that I cannot draw mountains for shit.
Looked up guides for map making online, everything's fine except mountains. No matter how much I follow guides for them, I just cannot draw any remotely satisfactory looking ones.
EDIT: Or just draw teeth instead of mountains and see if your players question it.
My personal recommendation for mountains: if you want the kind of map you could get in the early 1500s, go for a Carta Marina (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Carta_Marina.jpeg) sort of look and make the mountains basically a big pile of rocks sticking out of the ground. As a general rule of thumb, maps looked kinda shitty until the 17-1800s or so; the realistic look a lot of fantasy maps go for when drawing terrain features is a pretty new thing. If you're making a political map, it could be a good idea to omit geographical features entirely (a la Paradox games.)
I had this same problem and decided to just draw my own map. It's hardly professional looking, but at least gives players an idea of where they can go adventuring. Took a few hours over a couple of days to draw the map, colour it, label the towns and add a bit of texture, but I'm no professional artist.You are way too modest my friend. Perhaps I just speak from inexperience, but that looks incredible. It's lacking in detail in many places, but that texture! It would take me a long time to learn how to draw something like that.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Sadly I don’t have photoshop.you could use pastels for a physical map like this (will be time consuming but can look good)
Sadly I don’t have photoshop.
Forge Cleric
Lore Bard
Divine Soul Sorcerer
Mastermind Rogue
Some kind of Paladin
Some kind of Wizard
Monster Hunter Ranger
Way of the Shadow Monk
Celestial Warlock (one of the rotating GMs; he's running next week)
and one more who I forget who she plays (exact wording)
Does anyone else do IRC games? I thought it worked out fairly well, aside from the difficulty in adapting the game to be without directions and distances, since we were playing without a map.
So I joined a D&D group. D&D is better than no gaming at all, I suppose.A low-intelligence NG Tiefling Paladin of Conquest who didn't actually understand the oath s/he took?
Let's do a quick rundown of the party makeup that was PMed to me.Quote from: ohgodwhyForge Cleric
Lore Bard
Divine Soul Sorcerer
Mastermind Rogue
Some kind of Paladin
Some kind of Wizard
Monster Hunter Ranger
Way of the Shadow Monk
Celestial Warlock (one of the rotating GMs; he's running next week)
and one more who I forget who she plays (exact wording)
Since there's probably not going to be meaningful RP, I was considering just making a "for the lulz" character. Halflling (or other small race) college of swords bard, lizard person druid who either summons or shapeshifts into various lizards and has the goal of going back to his roots (aka learn to summon/shapeshift into a triceratops), gnome zealot barbarian or some shit.
Ooh, or remake Krod the rogue.
What year is it again? Iirc it was the 30 years war, so intelligence and spies for each of the armies (whoever is important). They wouldn't have names of course, but I'm sure intelligence networks existed.
I can't remember if the Witch Processes were over by this time, but if they weren't, or you're okay with stretching them, Inquisition. Doesn't have to be Catholic, iirc some of the weirdest, shittiest stuff went down in Protestant German states.
she???
He probably thinks your picture is in british
Thanks for the suggestions!she???
He probably thinks your picture is in british
Often you can figure it out by looking at the person's profile. ;)
Or do like Wizards of the Coast and switch between male and female pronouns in 3.5, supposedly randomly.It's actually not always random. Each race and class has an "iconic character" of a specific gender that they use when talking about it. Similarly, the DM is assumed to be female and the players male, when talking about out-of-character interactions. Still, when talking about more general matters, it's pretty random.
After the ones I mentioned, I added the Unity of the Brethren as a kind of catch-all for clandestine Protestant organizations across Europe. Afterward, I added a kind of generalized "Sufi Orders" society with the implication that any player who picks this would select an order for themselves, and a society titled "The Scientists of Europe" representing the interconnected web of early modern alchemists, astronomers, physicists, and various other early scientists. Would've just used the Royal Society, but it's about 32 years too early for that :PWhy not call it the Invisible College (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_College)? It's more a conceit than a real institution, but if you want a secret society of scholars, it fits well. 1628 even comes a mere 3-4 years after the masque that inspired it, meaning the players could even be founders. First time actually meeting in 1645? Pish posh, that's just the cover story. ^_^
I should never be allowed to DM. For a long time I've had the idea for the party to come across a magical garment made by an almighty but fairly insane mage, which is revealed to be a leather jerkin +5 vs. landsharks.Trouble is that it can also be pronounced "boo-LAY" (https://annarchive.com/files/Drmg093.pdf) (p. 25).
And thus the saga of the world's first bulette-proof vest would begin in earnest.
I should never be allowed to DM. For a long time I've had the idea for the party to come across a magical garment made by an almighty but fairly insane mage, which is revealed to be a leather jerkin +5 vs. landsharks.Trouble is that it can also be pronounced "boo-LAY" (https://annarchive.com/files/Drmg093.pdf) (p. 25).
And thus the saga of the world's first bulette-proof vest would begin in earnest.
I should never be allowed to DM. For a long time I've had the idea for the party to come across a magical garment made by an almighty but fairly insane mage, which is revealed to be a leather jerkin +5 vs. landsharks.Trouble is that it can also be pronounced "boo-LAY" (https://annarchive.com/files/Drmg093.pdf) (p. 25).
And thus the saga of the world's first bulette-proof vest would begin in earnest.
so I'm going to be DMing for a group of friends that have never played D&D before, I can't lend them my copy of the player's hand book since they live in different states. any tips?Tell them to google '[edition number] srd'
I personally like to use Legos for minis, but I will admit it gets hard to get ones that fit more nonstandard races like kobolds and dragonborn.
The Bible surprisingly had a lot more humans than it had kobolds.I personally like to use Legos for minis, but I will admit it gets hard to get ones that fit more nonstandard races like kobolds and dragonborn.
If a dude can recreate all the stories of the Bible in LEGO, I'm pretty sure you can finagle some kobolds.
The Bible surprisingly had a lot more humans than it had kobolds.I personally like to use Legos for minis, but I will admit it gets hard to get ones that fit more nonstandard races like kobolds and dragonborn.
If a dude can recreate all the stories of the Bible in LEGO, I'm pretty sure you can finagle some kobolds.
Which is why it is obviously an inferior source book to DnD.Yeah, really. Talk about RAW vs. RAI...
I am torn.. I live so far out in the boonies, in hickville. I would love to play in meatspace, but know nobody in meatspace who plays.
The best I could do would be to drive 40+minutes to the major town, and hit up one of the game stores; but that is how you get the "cliche" players.
Anyone here who's watched Stranger Things? Anyone else who got a bit exasperated with the DnD elements portrayed therein?
What makes these better than just printing front and back views of the monster, one inverted over the other, and folding them into a triangular prism? Because that's always what I've done.
These need less tape, and would have more image area per paper used? (two small tabs of doublestick cellotape, get pretty much the whole 1x.5 rectangle)
I also added provisions for stiffening beads, if you feel inclined. (Use a credit card to push into the folded edge to invert it into a stiffener. That will keep the tile from being floppy.)
So, I am trying out for an actual play podcast for shadowrun, called 'Without a Net'.
OK, how do I do a forest, and without colour. My map's going to be in greyscale since I lack a particularly large assortment of coloured pencils and I can't draw for shit online.
Whatever that is, it isn't loading.OK, how do I do a forest, and without colour. My map's going to be in greyscale since I lack a particularly large assortment of coloured pencils and I can't draw for shit online.
There's quite a few ways, this (http://photobucket.com/gallery/user/stonegiant96/media/bWVkaWFJZDoxOTQyNzc4NA==/?ref=) is an okay reference if you want to make a reasonably simple and legible map, which is ultimately what you want in a game. Not sure if there's much more to say beyond "use lots of circly things".
Anyone ever have an encounter subverted; accidentally or otherwise?I had this happen with a boss encounter. The (heavily pregnant) high priestess cultist of Lamashtu was supposed to sacrifice their life and that of their unborn children to their god at the end of the fight in order to power a summoning ritual to bring forth a big bad demon. However, my group decided to deal her nonlethal damage to simply knock her out instead of killing her. Luckily one of my players decided to stab her unconscious body right in her big belly, upon which I had her spirit rise as a vengeful ghost, complete the summoning, and get grabbed and consumed by a demonic arm that shot out of her belly wound, then ripped her open from the inside as it emerged into the room.
The boss we fought tonight was supposed to resurrect as some sort of undead once they dropped to -1, but nonlethal meant they just got knocked unconscious instead. Rather thankfully, as two players were blind and one was outright dead.
I'm sure that at this point the GM and me are going to make a half-troll from scratch.Sounds hawt. And kinda painful.
finished that campaign a few months ago, it was really fun playing as a half-troll bardI'm sure that at this point the GM and me are going to make a half-troll from scratch.Sounds hawt. And kinda painful.
Stuff I put in dungeons and potato celars and in my LotFP campaignI feel like that last one is... Kinda lackluster. Getting the current hitpoints of something is generally only going to be situationally useful at best, and all depending on how the downside is handled, it's either a non-issue or prohibitively debilitating.
If any of my players stumble over this: turn around, foolsSpoiler: HAMELUNG (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Black-Glove (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Eye of the Gallow-god (click to show/hide)
Bedroll of Deep Slumber: Nothing says you can’t pull them out of the bedroll and then stab them.Sure it does. When they fall asleep on the bedroll, they're immune to harm for 8 hours. Getting moved off the bedroll, fired out of a cannon and falling into an active volcano doesn't change that. So long as you fall asleep on the bedroll, you gain its benefits. What happens after you're asleep is the !!FUN!! part.
<implies bards are useless>
What makes you think I implied bards are useless?
What if the goal is to get the monster to drag home more than it can chew?
We release the monsters behind the grate, and spam area effect spells through the door until they all die horribly.
What is BFE?
Spoiler: Bedroll of Deep Slumber (click to show/hide)
Yeah, he said ‘as long as they usually sleep’ without giving a specific time limit. I suppose the first question one might ask is, can they be physically interacted with (in the context of the snakes, obviously) or if it’s like a typical cryosleep chamber where you’re completely enclosed.
Bedroll of Deep Slumber: Nothing says you can’t pull them out of the bedroll and then stab them.Sure it does. When they fall asleep on the bedroll, they're immune to harm for 8 hours. Getting moved off the bedroll, fired out of a cannon and falling into an active volcano doesn't change that. So long as you fall asleep on the bedroll, you gain its benefits. What happens after you're asleep is the !!FUN!! part.
Perform coma inducing brain surgery on the bedroll. Transform all manner of woodland creatures into eternally slumbering and invincible building materials.
Sure, the success rate isn't going to be great, but you need to spike snakes to make the great space snekavator.
Perform coma inducing brain surgery on the bedroll. Transform all manner of woodland creatures into eternally slumbering and invincible building materials.
Sure, the success rate isn't going to be great, but you need to spike snakes to make the great space snekavator.
I think surgery is included in the ‘immune to physical damage’ part. While it wouldn’t likely involve hit points anyway, if you can’t stab the sleeping critter with a sword, it makes sense that a scalpel wouldn’t do anything either.
I asked my D&D group to reroll as centaurs so we could have a centaur tower. No one did so.
Also, check out the thumbnail for DawnforgedCast's review of that particular UA. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz9ZH2RwA_M)
I asked my D&D group to reroll as centaurs so we could have a centaur tower. No one did so.
Also, check out the thumbnail for DawnforgedCast's review of that particular UA. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz9ZH2RwA_M)
Well, if they're not going for it it's your obligation to throw one against them to demonstrate what they're missing.
You could always find centaurs and stack them, lol. If your DM lets you anyway.
You could always find centaurs and stack them, lol. If your DM lets you anyway.
Only PC race centaurs can be stacked, normal centaurs are unstackable.
Seems really arbitrary.
That is the main complaint about PC centaurs being medium and NPC ones being large. :P
Presumably because not everyone makes centuar-accessible tombs and they want to keep the hallways uncomfortably tight for normal-sized critters, where you'd have to leave any larges outside.
Other than that? ...probably as much reason as any other D&D decision.
Don't know anything about 5E other than that it apparently has Kendar, but I thought that there at least used to be feats that gave special abilities or buffs to the mount the player is riding on.
...or maybe I'm just mixing it up with Incursion again. Incursion had some great mounted combat feats. Overrun was just ridiculous (every attack the mount makes is given a free trip chance. Combine with a special mount that has a three-attack natural sequence, and nobody gets to stand up).
It's a can not must scenario, so it can probably go as high up the stack as the stack wants, or it can only go as high as the first because he's not eligible for his rider to force it target him depending on how you interpret the wording.Personally, I would rule that the attack can only be re-directed as far as the weapon's reach. A guy with a sword on the ground isn't going to be able to hit the rider at the top of a centower without some serious acrobatics.
It's a can not must scenario, so it can probably go as high up the stack as the stack wants, or it can only go as high as the first because he's not eligible for his rider to force it target him depending on how you interpret the wording.Personally, I would rule that the attack can only be re-directed as far as the weapon's reach. A guy with a sword on the ground isn't going to be able to hit the rider at the top of a centower without some serious acrobatics.
Well, same deal. A rider atop a centower that is, say, 50 feet tall would be safe from a spell with only a 30ft range, as an example.It's a can not must scenario, so it can probably go as high up the stack as the stack wants, or it can only go as high as the first because he's not eligible for his rider to force it target him depending on how you interpret the wording.Personally, I would rule that the attack can only be re-directed as far as the weapon's reach. A guy with a sword on the ground isn't going to be able to hit the rider at the top of a centower without some serious acrobatics.
Makes sense for melee attacks, but what about ranged or magic attacks that aren’t multi-target or otherwise AoE?
So, found an interesting map on the DnD subreddit. Someone saw some art made from coffee mug stains, and chose to use the same idea to make a city.
https://imgur.com/KwMng4C
Has anyone ported various animals from Dwarf Fortress to 5e?"The Dungeons & Dragons 5e Monster Manual addendum: Gibbons"
I decided to make an evil area on my map (Because alignment-oriented areas are a thing in my world), and porting over some evil bits and bobs would be nice.
And, speaking once more of centowers, each centaur would have to hold the weight of every centaur above it, so infinite towers are impossible, without infinite carrying capacity.Realistically, sure, but unless that's a new addition I don't think that there's such a mechanic in the books themselves. It's just a matter of size.
Kraken Dice cracked 1 million on their kickstarter with only half an hour left! I'm gonna enjoy the fuck out of these dice when they arrive months from now goddamn it I need it.
In non-D&D news, I'm reviewing an ancient system straight out of Norway over on RPG Geek. The more I review, the more I realize that some things should just stay in the past.I have a feeling I know which system you're talking about. Is it the one where you, ahem, direct movies?
Is it the one where you, ahem, direct movies?
after a few months, I finally helped my players with their character sheetsTime to go All Guardsmen Squad on them, then!
(because we don't know how mounted combat works in 5e, heh)With an unintelligent mount and a rider without the Mounted Combatant feat, things don't change a lot:
Our 5e paladin just earned his mount, and we're still in a dungeon, so he chose a riding lizard. He didn't use it yet (because we don't know how mounted combat works in 5e, heh) but it has a climbing speed and can attach to ceilings...
Wow, it's funny you say that, because we're probably starting Star Wars (Edget of the Empire) next session. I don't remember mentioning that...Our 5e paladin just earned his mount, and we're still in a dungeon, so he chose a riding lizard. He didn't use it yet (because we don't know how mounted combat works in 5e, heh) but it has a climbing speed and can attach to ceilings...
Is it that yipping bird-lizard from Kamino? ;)
Are you talking about a varactyl (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Varactyl)? They're actually from Utapau.
Not sure what games to go with, though... there are tables for 5th Ed, AD&D, Vampire the Masquerade and something called Genesys in a 40k setting.
I had kinda hoped "Genesys" was some new 40k RPG I hadn't heard of (because dang, their rulesets are great), but the organiser just got back to me and apparently it's just a generic d20 system. Oh well.
Have you considered d) making one yourself? It sounds like a fun idea. I guess the thing you should be worried about is the players being too detached from the action. If their feedback consists of dry reports, it might not be engaging enough. Could write narrative things and little stories detailing the adventures of their agents and so, if that’s your kind of thing. Dunno if that’d work for your idea or group though.
As for 40k... Wrath & Glory is supposed to come out at Gen Con. That's a bit far for an Aussie to just go do for a weekend but it'll be available on DriveThruRPG so there's that. Here's a webcomic, if that's your kind of thing. (https://www.ulisses-us.com/comic/wg-example-p1/)Oh man, attending Gencon has been pretty much a lifelong dream of mine.
I think I'll probably stick with the old games, with decent mechanics, haha.
Appropriate DM response to the above pedantry:
"Magic is not physics, it has its own rules, and they are written right there for everyone to see."
That line should very neatly resolve any arguments, if it doesn't, just employ rule zero.
And rule zero is... 'there are no rules'?
They clearly interact, though -- and more importantly, if the players care enough to invent some cockeyed scheme to move an expensive mid-level spell around, that's an excellent opportunity for things to go entertainingly wrong. Shutdown by DM fiat isn't nearly as much fun as letting them have all the rope they could ever need to hang themselves with.
Maybe it's just a quirk of having a gaming group full of scientists who all find this sort of thing fun and engaging to think about, but I've found that some of the most memorable moments in our games have been the result of the creative application of player pedantry
And rule zero is... 'there are no rules'?
Rule Zero is "DM fiat overrides rules."
Applying the fine-grain knowledge of our world to a fantasy world does not make sense.
It SUPERFICIALLY works like ours. Clearly, it does not work like ours under the hood, because it has magic, and incorporeal beings in it.
However, structured experiments for the player to discover how it works under the hood, then applying those discoveries, should not be forbidden.
you've just got a bunch of individuals playing make-believe.
@Mephisto: Who the hell said anything about stripping out everything that makes it D&D?If you read what I said, you'll see that I'm not the one that said that either.
5th ed isn't all of D&D, neither is 4th, 3.5, 3rd, second or AD&D, and in most of those the kind of abilities you're talking about and the class you named flat out didn't exist. Not everyone is playing the game the same way. Hell, they aren't necessarily playing the same GAME.You still haven't said what you're playing, so I'm going to assume GURPS. Yeah, the magic system in GURPS is way different. Now I understand why my D&D assumption was falling flat.
I mean, if you take D&D, strip out everything that you don't like from the book, and call the result D&D, I have no other words to describe it. It's basically an unpubished fantasy heartbreaker at that point.
@Mephisto: Who the hell said anything about stripping out everything that makes it D&D?If you read what I said, you'll see that I'm not the one that said that either.Quote5th ed isn't all of D&D, neither is 4th, 3.5, 3rd, second or AD&D, and in most of those the kind of abilities you're talking about and the class you named flat out didn't exist. Not everyone is playing the game the same way. Hell, they aren't necessarily playing the same GAME.You still haven't said what you're playing, so I'm going to assume GURPS. Yeah, the magic system in GURPS is way different. Now I understand why my D&D assumption was falling flat.
Snowflake world? How about a world that literally takes place on a plane in the shape of a snowflake....
Snowflake world? How about a world that literally takes place on a plane in the shape of a snowflake....
How about a Rime Western setting about the edges of such a snowflake world, which are constantly expanding out into the nothingness as more water is frozen, creating a neverending frontier for people to exploit?
This particular discussion began with a comment from weird regarding applying a scientific model to magic in general, it wasn't (specifically) aimed at any setting or ruleset.
His comment is in specific response to a D&D spell, but my response was generalized.
"luck" is the perceived anomaly of success over failure an individual appears to have.
If a person is very perceptive, even unconsciously, they can evade a dangerous situation because they perceive the danger. This can be expressed as a bonus on the saving throw, etc-- which is how the book does it.
Likewise, that same perceptivity will allow them to make connections or to intuit relationships that others do not realize or see. EG-- the halfling might be better at poker, because he can pick out unconscious facial expressions in the other player's poker faces.
"Luck" is the final, apparent product of the features cited-- Halflings get bonuses to a lot of things, because they are small, fast, good with their hands, and very perceptive.
Yep. I agree with everything in the above statement, and I think we pretty much ironed out where we each stand on the subject.
Anyway, scriver, I expect a full workup on that setting on my desk by Monday, get to it. : p
Just out of curiosity, what specific spell are you referring to that needs dried peas or somesuch?Solid Fog (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/solidFog.htm). Or maybe Acid Fog (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/acidFog.htm).
In all seriousness, if anyone does want to draw up a setting for public consumption, I'd be happy to put a link in the first post for them.
@smjjames: pretty sure you got it the first time, rime is just a term for ice/wintery things.
Just out of curiosity, what specific spell are you referring to that needs dried peas or somesuch?Solid Fog (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/solidFog.htm). Or maybe Acid Fog (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/acidFog.htm).
Yes-- but what is it ABOUT the peas that makes them so fundamental to spell? Surely, some other thickener, like flour, could be substituted if it is merely a sympathetic magic component-- etc.
Yes-- but what is it ABOUT the peas that makes them so fundamental to spell? Surely, some other thickener, like flour, could be substituted if it is merely a sympathetic magic component-- etc.Maaaybe? And maybe any small bit of tinder could replace bat guano for a fireball?
---
Snowflake world:
Like nearly all cosmologies, it would gloss over the "primordial" misty air as "having always been", from which a shard of order spontaneously grows, and from which their world is born. :P
Yes-- but what is it ABOUT the peas that makes them so fundamental to spell? Surely, some other thickener, like flour, could be substituted if it is merely a sympathetic magic component-- etc.
The casting gremlins consume the final products you throw in, and they have little DNA receptors on their tongues so if you use a thickening agent that did not come from a pea plant, they throw fireballs at you instead of casting mist.
Yes-- but what is it ABOUT the peas that makes them so fundamental to spell? Surely, some other thickener, like flour, could be substituted if it is merely a sympathetic magic component-- etc.Maaaybe? And maybe any small bit of tinder could replace bat guano for a fireball?
---
Snowflake world:
Like nearly all cosmologies, it would gloss over the "primordial" misty air as "having always been", from which a shard of order spontaneously grows, and from which their world is born. :P
But not in the thick of combat, I'd say. A DND spell is about memorizing a very specific formula. If you replaced flour with dried peas in a stew, it'd be a different stew, and in bread it simply wouldn't work right. Unless you tweaked the formula ahead of time, with research.
Besides, people say "pea soup", not "floury fog". Spells could be determined by common language/memes, heh.
Yes-- but what is it ABOUT the peas that makes them so fundamental to spell? Surely, some other thickener, like flour, could be substituted if it is merely a sympathetic magic component-- etc.
The casting gremlins consume the final products you throw in, and they have little DNA receptors on their tongues so if you use a thickening agent that did not come from a pea plant, they throw fireballs at you instead of casting mist.
Nanomachines, or perhaps micro.
Yes-- but what is it ABOUT the peas that makes them so fundamental to spell? Surely, some other thickener, like flour, could be substituted if it is merely a sympathetic magic component-- etc.
The casting gremlins consume the final products you throw in, and they have little DNA receptors on their tongues so if you use a thickening agent that did not come from a pea plant, they throw fireballs at you instead of casting mist.
Nanomachines, or perhaps micro.Yes-- but what is it ABOUT the peas that makes them so fundamental to spell? Surely, some other thickener, like flour, could be substituted if it is merely a sympathetic magic component-- etc.Maaaybe? And maybe any small bit of tinder could replace bat guano for a fireball?
---
Snowflake world:
Like nearly all cosmologies, it would gloss over the "primordial" misty air as "having always been", from which a shard of order spontaneously grows, and from which their world is born. :P
But not in the thick of combat, I'd say. A DND spell is about memorizing a very specific formula. If you replaced flour with dried peas in a stew, it'd be a different stew, and in bread it simply wouldn't work right. Unless you tweaked the formula ahead of time, with research.
Besides, people say "pea soup", not "floury fog". Spells could be determined by common language/memes, heh.
Needing to memorize a certain formula is certainly a reasonable argument against changing it unless the character did the research and prepared it beforehand. Plus you may not always want to try an untested experiment in a tough battle.
Some mages would positively leap at the chance to test their pet spell changes in the thick of combat.
Son.Yes-- but what is it ABOUT the peas that makes them so fundamental to spell? Surely, some other thickener, like flour, could be substituted if it is merely a sympathetic magic component-- etc.
The casting gremlins consume the final products you throw in, and they have little DNA receptors on their tongues so if you use a thickening agent that did not come from a pea plant, they throw fireballs at you instead of casting mist.
Nanomachines, or perhaps micro.
In fluff, DND wizards cast (or "prepare") all their spells in the morning... Except for a final triggering step. That is why (in 3.5) they're able to apply metamagic so much easier than spontaneous casters: They've already done all the work, so the final step for a typical spell isNeeding to memorize a certain formula is certainly a reasonable argument against changing it unless the character did the research and prepared it beforehand. Plus you may not always want to try an untested experiment in a tough battle.
This is an argument revolving around the disparity of rote memorization, and actual knowledge.
A person with rote memorization can regurgitate that division by 0 is undefined. The mathematician knows why, and what that means.
This is an argument revolving around the disparity of rote memorization, and actual knowledge.
A person with rote memorization can regurgitate that division by 0 is undefined. The mathematician knows why, and what that means.
Again, I would personally make it as painless for everyone as possible with a couple simple mechanics:
Borrow heavily from what you need to make a potion-- Materials, mental energy in the form of experience points, a place to work that is controlled, and a time slot to do it in.
Since wizards have to spend the night mentally prepping themselves to have a spell ready in their slot before bed, it automatically means either doing the experiment, or prepping their spell slots. It also would come at material and experience costs.
I would further require a basic outline of the experiment in written form from the player, with a well stated hypothesis, based exclusively on already established information exclusively from that world.
In all seriousness, if anyone does want to draw up a setting for public consumption, I'd be happy to put a link in the first post for them.
@smjjames: pretty sure you got it the first time, rime is just a term for frost and has been sort of generally applied to wintery things.
Anyway, scriver, I expect a full workup on that setting on my desk by Monday, get to it. : p
Sir yes sir! I'm mostly imagining lots of grim, grizzled people in heavy winter coats squinting at each others as their wintry breaths hang thick in the air and numbing fingers fumble for their revolvers.
The way I saw it, was that the world is a sheet of ice, expanding into a sea of liquid-phase water as things gradually get colder. The reason why you live in the cold parts of the world is that where it's not cold, there's nowhere to stand...
And sea monsters, of course.
Don't ask me how you grow food or whatever on a landmass that's literally just a really big ice sheet. I'm sure something could be worked out.
Well, the basis for my idea of there being habitable and non-frozen interior regions, with new land gradually 'thawing' as the world expands, is to justify the frontier nature of the Rime. To have a frontier, you need a part of the world that's not frontier. If the whole world's just one ice sheet, you're not talking about a frontier setting anymore, but a sort of... survivalist setting? You move from frontier towns and steadily expanding civilization to nomads just trying to survive.
I like underwater crops and sea cattle as ideas, though, so I dunno. You could merge the two.
cast
/kɑːst/
an object made by shaping molten metal or similar material in a mould.
"bronze casts of the sculpture"
So there is this style of tabletop play informally called West Marches (https://knightssemantic.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/the-west-marches-a-style-of-dd-campaign-for-large-groups/) that I've been somewhat eager to try out running in some fashion or another - while it was coined for D&D play, the general concept seems easy to adapt to almost any theme, setting or system (which highly appeals to me as I'm not really into the idea of running D&D, 5e or otherwise).
The major difference here is that it would be more of a soft sci-fi/space opera campaign, as opposed to a high fantasy one.
Essentially, there's a relatively large group of people (as many as are willing to participate, basically) who organically explore the setting by picking where to go, who to go with and when to go, returning to the town (or space station, or whatever it might be) afterwards, and sharing the loot with the group, both tangible and intangible (rumors, areas to explore further etc.).
Basically, Darkest Dungeon but with (far) less eldritch horror.
"But River, how are you going to run a space campaign in D&D?", you may ask.
I don't, is my answer.
What I want to use instead (tentatively, at least) is either Open Legend (http://openlegendrpg.com/) or Genesys (https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/genesys/), though I'm somewhat leaning towards the former as I actually have played it a bit already, and the legally free rules reduces the barrier to entry, and my conscious! Also makes it easier to run the game on something like roll20...)...Or even GURPS, but that seems like a recipe for disaster.
(The reason why I want to go with something generic like OL or GURPS as opposed to say, Starfinder, Star Wars or Stars Without Number, beyond the fact I have no experience with any of those systems and don't feel particularly compelled to try them, is to have greater flexibility, both for players' sake and my own. I'm not the biggest fan of crunch-heavy games, which might be in a bit of a contrast with some of the demographic on here...Maybe?)
On that note, what I wanted to do is use the forums for updates and general OOC stuff, but run the actual sessions in roll20 (if only because I think it'll be better for actually keeping me accountable, and make things progress a bit faster - but also make things like rolling be a bit more fair since I don't know how people usually do rolls when playing PBP games).
Would there be any interest here in such an endeavor?
Space campaign? Isn’t that what Spelljammer is?
You're on the USS Fubar, on a mission to explore the unknown. Every week, your ship encounters a new planet that needs to be explored. Maybe it's got unexplained phlebotinum waves, maybe there's a distress signal, maybe ~handwavy technobabble~.
Players decide if they want to explore. Those who say yes by the cutoff point go on the mission. They get full credit and whatever rewards would be appropriate. No one says yes? It's handled "offscreen", the bare minimum of info is phoned home to Starfleet Command, and no one gets anything.
Next week, new location with new problems.
In the aftermath of the war with the extragalactic invaders, a good chunk of the Milky Way is in disrepair and chaos. Pirates run rampant, there's wrecked ships and stations everywhere, contact with entire worlds and colonies has been lost. You were sent to this war-ridden region of the galaxy to cleanse it of pirates and leftover invaders alike, rebuild it, and bolster its defenses, to make sure it does not suffer the same fate again.
Each week, a number of distress signals will be broad from across the region to your home station. Some will have pretty clear goals/requirements, others will be more vague and require more investigation. Difficulty might vary, and not every mission might be equally easy to handle - but more difficult emergencies will yield greater rewards.
You can choose to respond to them and send a number of people on the mission, or let some other group handle the situation instead. You may or may not also end up encountering said groups on your missions, choosing to either ally with them or compete, gaining new friends and enemies this way.
The grand finale of Tomb of Annihilation is tomorrow. We are very badly underprepared.We freaking won. We had some plot armour that we didn't know about before the fight. Nobody died, except an NPC, and our fighter even managed to get through the entire campaign without dying.
So, what is the limit of Find Steed allowing you to cast any of your spells cast only on yourself also on your steed? Can I cast Sunbeam, and have two beams for the price of one?Only spells that target only you. Sunbeam can target as many creatures as are in the line.
So, what is the limit of Find Steed allowing you to cast any of your spells cast only on yourself also on your steed? Can I cast Sunbeam, and have two beams for the price of one?Only spells that target only you. Sunbeam can target as many creatures as are in the line.
If they die, they die.
If there's no risk there's no point even bothering with combat.
If they die, they die.
If there's no risk there's no point even bothering with combat.
So, what is the limit of Find Steed allowing you to cast any of your spells cast only on yourself also on your steed? Can I cast Sunbeam, and have two beams for the price of one?Only spells that target only you. Sunbeam can target as many creatures as are in the line.
Sadly, the infinite tower of centaurs cannot be used to create a synthetic sun.
You erroneously conflate a lack of PC death with a lack of risk. Provided you can make them care about something other than their own lives, threatening that thing gives you a motivating risk without the attendant paperwork and player idleness of PC death.
How do people rate giving a PC plot armor in a campaign?
I wonder if I should allow a deus ex machina in the event of a TPK?
I kinda dislike how 4th and 5th make it near impossible for characters to actually die. They may fall in combat, but they never stay down. And then they pop back up like loony tunes when the encounter ends.
How do people rate giving a PC plot armor in a campaign?
I doubt every fight can threaten all that they hold dear but not their own lives without getting really, really contrived.Oh, it's easy: mind control their friends and families and make them fight against them. Make it so that they're able to save some persons and/or valuables from a burning building, but not all. Or even use the simple but classic hostage situation.
Again: every fight and it's going to get really contrived.
I'm not saying it can't be done. Quite the opposite. But not every battle can have their friends and family kidnapped, mind controlled, or stuck in a burning building.
Sometimes when a skeleton stabs you to death, you're just stabbed to death by a skeleton.
I kinda dislike how 4th and 5th make it near impossible for characters to actually die. They may fall in combat, but they never stay down. And then they pop back up like loony tunes when the encounter ends.
4th, maybe. I only played a few sessions.
5th? Most definitely not. If the DM lets the party take an uneventful short rest in the middle of a dungeon after every boo-boo, that's on the DM, not the game.
As I said before, the job of the DM is to cause the characters grief and pain in order to keep them interested in bettering themselves and the world.
If you don't inflict pain on your players at every opportunity, there's no point even bothering to DM.
As I said before, the job of the DM is to cause the characters grief and pain in order to keep them interested in bettering themselves and the world.If you don't inflict pain on your players at every opportunity, there's no point even bothering to DM.
I know I'm on Bay12 which is home to the most sadistic gamers on planet Earth, and maybe I'm just bad at picking up sarcasm, but to me that feels like a surefire way to completely desensitize your players to all that "pain and suffering" and actually make them stop caring.
You really need thes ups and downs, a sense of ebb and flow if you want to avoid that sort of burnout IMHO. Easy victories and low-risk periods have as much of a reison d'etat as periods of struggle and stress. There's a reason most movies, stories and games which try to make you care about the world and characters don't put you through constant pain and suffering at literally every opportunity - some do it more than others, yes, and that helps set their tone, but even they give you some respite before proceeding to the ass-kicking.
I kinda dislike how 4th and 5th make it near impossible for characters to actually die. They may fall in combat, but they never stay down. And then they pop back up like loony tunes when the encounter ends.
4th, maybe. I only played a few sessions.
5th? Most definitely not. If the DM lets the party take an uneventful short rest in the middle of a dungeon after every boo-boo, that's on the DM, not the game.
This is very important in my opinion. Short rests after every encounter should be discouraged, especially during more dangerous areas/important times. Don't harass them constantly, but if they try to take a nap after combat in a densely-populated dungeon then have the dungeon inhabitants take the fight to them instead of quietly waiting in their boxes for their turn
snip'd
How do the ranchers herd aquatic creatures?
I like the receding sea level too though. There's a lot you can do with that. If the Mer build structures, there would be probably be all kinds of previously submerged structures dotting the landscape, and not everybody would have been willing to stay behind and take care of those. Instead of artificial canals, or in addition to those, you could have deep cracks in the land that also provide water passage further inland. You've clearly thought about the cowboy aspect, but you might consider trappers too. Everybody needs fur, and from what I remember of history class (which was longer ago than I like to think about), trapping brought a lot of people to the Canadian frontier. You could borrow a lot from mountain men and the fur trade in addition to just cowboys. Actually, just stealing from Canadian, American, and Mexican history, there's a massive amount of inspiration available. Not to mention all the movies, songs, and books. Actually, I'm a little bit mad now that there aren't more rpg's set in frontiers like this.
I imagine the sea cows (who deserve an actual name)
What about a reason for the falling sea levels? Like an advancing ice age? Could be another reason for the expansion to new lands since they're getting pushed out by advancing glaciers.
When I was talking about trapping, I was actually picturing giant beavers, and imagined them building huge dams in the trenches. Of course, the big problem with that is that there probably aren't massive forests in this formerly underwater tundra.
Maybe I'm too worried about the ecology and environment, but I was playing with the idea of a bounty hunter who's philosophy is that the environment is a much more dangerous opponent than any outlaw. Also, I imagine he looks like the old bounty hunter in Hateful 8.
Speaking of things getting weird, I've started a local "weird RPGs" group. First session won't be for a few weeks.
For an intro to the weird, I was thinking Shard RPG. I've talked about it a few times around the forums.Spoiler: What is Shard? (click to show/hide)
It's one thing to have 5 pistols, but that sugar glider should figure out a way to wield them all at once, or else they just seem like dead weight to get in the way of gliding to me.
Those are the most magnificent breasts I've ever seen a frog endowed with.
It's not particularly evident in the pictures I shared but Shard is very Asian-themed and it's set on a world where the base physics only superficially resemble reality. He'll be fine.Isn't that just a greater reason to learn to quintuple-wield?
Speaking of things getting weird, I've started a local "weird RPGs" group. First session won't be for a few weeks.If you're looking for weird RPGs, I can offer some suggestions:
For an intro to the weird, I was thinking Shard RPG. I've talked about it a few times around the forums.Spoiler: What is Shard? (click to show/hide)
Or maybe I should go with something more "traditionally" weird?
Barbarians Versus - play as barbarians. Reptile aliens abducted people and forced them to work in the mines. You've got to go kill them for honor and loot.
Exiled in Eris - schizotech sci-fi western Indiana-Jones sword-and-sorcery. How's that for word salad?
Speaking of things getting weird, I've started a local "weird RPGs" group.If I had the time and logistics for that I would round up my most hardcore friends and run a HYBRID one-shot.
I said weird RPG, not bad RPG. I'm going to run the players through silly shenanigans, not run them off with the standard entries of a "worst RPGs ever" list.Rolling up deadEarth characters, then playing them in an actually good system is always fun.
Wait what
Now, a parody RPG that purports to be FATAL-like in setting
Are all animals anthropomorphic, or is it a Pluto-goofy situation?
Anyway, if it is slavery, the "used" part scares me.
By the way, the cow-sized bugs can be milked. How does anatomy work? Seems like everything has mammaries.
Why is it that when all animals is Anthropamorphic, anyone who does not want to deal with carnivore's morals act as if fish are the only non-sentient? Are we all fishist?
Don't even need to get that complicated about it. Its just easier to anthropomorphize something that actually has legs and doesn't need gills to breathe. And that way you don't have to deal with questions like "How do the fish communicate with the non-aquatic creatures?"Why is it that when all animals is Anthropamorphic, anyone who does not want to deal with carnivore's morals act as if fish are the only non-sentient? Are we all fishist?
Probably some kind of cultural hangover from religions that distinguish between fish and other meats.
Its just easier to anthropomorphize something that actually has legs
Why is it that when all animals is Anthropamorphic, anyone who does not want to deal with carnivore's morals act as if fish are the only non-sentient? Are we all fishist?
Probably some kind of cultural hangover from religions that distinguish between fish and other meats.
Its just easier to anthropomorphize something that actually has legs
I guess they got around that hangup with the snake races by giving them legs.
Its just easier to anthropomorphize something that actually has legs
I guess they got around that hangup with the snake races by giving them legs.
And four arms and curved swords and electricity shooting spells.
Curved. Swords.Its just easier to anthropomorphize something that actually has legs
I guess they got around that hangup with the snake races by giving them legs.
And four arms and curved swords and electricity shooting spells.
They use curved swords?
Why is it that when all animals is Anthropamorphic, anyone who does not want to deal with carnivore's morals act as if fish are the only non-sentient? Are we all fishist?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W8_GXmu2e0
I actually love systems that can roll... bad or dead characters, mongoose's version of traveller for one is awesome for making characters who feel like real people. I'll have to check out deadEarth, does it have any sort of character generator I could just mess around with?
So, I have reconciled the fact that another PC killed a child with my character's belief in heroes and such, without resorting to trying to kill the guy.
I hoped it wouldn't come to this, and the other character would keep quiet about the child killing, but it turns out that an ex-PC's character was spying on them at the time and revealed this information.
Guy got arrested and due to prejudice shenanigans, got off with a slap on the wrist. First thing I did when I saw him was throw the nearest object at him (which happened to be a bread bun). Then we got into a Mexican standoff where I was prepping to throw a bottle at him, everyone else was prepping to do magic at whoever moved first, and the kiddie killer was ready to eldritch blast me. He than laughed and walked off to the bar, and since my character had no idea how to deal with a situation where an obvious bad guy wasn't doing something obviously evil, he just kind of put down the glass and kind of ambled about.
I did get into PvP with the guy later, but that was more a kind of grudge match thing. I rolled pretty abysmally, but still dropped them to 10hp before they dropped me in spite of that.
Anyway, if I'm in a situation where I can save him and nobody else is around, and if I don't he dies... My character will have no issue letting him die. Unless he starts being good again (In my character's eyes, that is), which will require one hell of a lot of good behaviour.
Also, since your group seem to enjoy this kind of stuff, have you heard of the Swedish 1991 rpg Kult (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kult_(role-playing_game))? I haven't played it myself, so I only know it by hearsay, but it seems like something you or your friends might be interested in and I feel obligated to mention it it as a Swede. There's an official English translation so no need to worry about that.Oh sorry, I almost missed this! This does look right up our alley, heh. I'm under-informed on Gnosticism but, based on this description, it's similar to stuff in our games. Seems like the inspiration for a lot of "occult" stuff, heh.
As a bonus, if you are a Paradox fanboy like I am, it was originally published by what would eventually become Paradox.
MY OC DO NOT STEAL
So they're perfect to fill in the gaps of a small party. And yet, their party-wide buffing is basically expected for a large party.
Nearly time for the release of Pathfinder 2.0 and it's looking... different. Certainly gonna give it a shot, but I dunno if it's gonna click for me. Anyone else doing the Playtest?
Managed to get the file but it's midnight so I'm gonna read up on my weekend instead.
Greatorder, are you sure you're reading the wording of the Command spell correctly? If this is 3.5e or Pathfinder, the spell doesn't let you force someone to answer a question. The spell text clearly lists the options, which are to approach, drop, fall, flee, or halt. Nothing about talking in there.
5th edition allows for any one-word command.Yep. Those are given as examples. It's important to note that they can respond in certain ways. For example, if you command someone to run, and you meant run away, they may decide instead to run at you. In addition, they won't do anything that harms themselves, so you can't command someone to commit suicide.
Ohmigod it is taking forever.Of course, it makes them give an answer - but it doesn't mean they have to tell the players anything.Managed to get the file but it's midnight so I'm gonna read up on my weekend instead.
Greatorder, are you sure you're reading the wording of the Command spell correctly? If this is 3.5e or Pathfinder, the spell doesn't let you force someone to answer a question. The spell text clearly lists the options, which are to approach, drop, fall, flee, or halt. Nothing about talking in there.
The spell lists those as examples, but also says any one-word command is sufficient. So "answer" is technically acceptable.
PPE: Nope looks like I was wrong! Good thing I looked before looking like an idiot.
"Answer!"It's an answer, but is it true? Or self-contradicting? :P
"I refuse to tell you anything." is an answer, and true, but doesn't tell the players anything of note.
You could have pulled the classic "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth" where the interrogatee just won't. stop. talking. The correct code is probably somewhere amidst the code to his locker, his bank pin number, his phone number, his mom's phone number...
After all, the Command was to 'answer' didn't specify a question.
You could have pulled the classic "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth" where the interrogatee just won't. stop. talking. The correct code is probably somewhere amidst the code to his locker, his bank pin number, his phone number, his mom's phone number...And then the interogatee starts spilling the secrets of Life, the Universe, and Everything, and you have to evacuate and quarantine the planet because what he says is just too terrible to hear...
After all, the Command was to 'answer' didn't specify a question.
Got the Pathfinder Playtest PDF, and I've been screwing around with character building. The multiclassing system is lots of fun!
I've built a Barbarian/Cleric multiclass build up to level 9 so far, and I'm calling it the Acolyte of Rage.
I thought FATAL would be at the bottom of that barrel tbh. DND 4E is a hilariously gross thing.
Last session was so intrigue-heavy that a gas station survived, and I was a little sad when I realized.Sidequest time!
I, meanwhile, have built a barbarian for the Pathfinder Playtest that will probably multiclass to wizard. I interpreted the dragon totem as being possessed by one rather than merely worshipping it, and well, this barbarian will have a very cold rage as the green dragon takes over. This leaves ample room for scholarly pursuits to satisfy one's greed and pride, so wizardry seems inevitable.
5e doesn't really have kender, it's just that every race had a paragraph about what said race was called in other systems, and the misguided know-nothings who wrote it insulted halflings everywhere by saying that the most bestest race of all was the same as kender in the dragonlance system.This gives me a mightier irritation than just adding "Annoying little fucks" as a new race... I shall now choose to disregard this fact.
Which is just plain wrong.
It's a no go.
You just don't.
*Delivers shiny presents to the needy little kleptos at .99c**Delivers Kender to village, offers exorbitant Kender removal services*
You could create a heavy metal bardbarian. Nothing in the rules stops you from using your bardic inspiration while raging. Then just homebrew an axe that is also an axe, pick a suitably metal race, practice your viking accent and you're set.Pretty sure everyone in the group is of nordic heritage, myself included. Not entirely sure how well pushing the pop-viking aspect would go...
Pretty sure everyone in the group is of nordic heritage, myself included. Not entirely sure how well pushing the pop-viking aspect would go...Make it a realistic viking, then. Or play it even further with a Swedish Chef accent.
Really though, I only know one other character in the group, so I haven't the foggiest what type of niche might need filling. With a batch of 8 people, I can't imagine there are too many areas left uncovered.With 8 characters, there's bound to be overlap in party roles, unless you invent silly new ones or go for rarer archetypes like mounted combat. And since it's 5e, don't worry about party composition so much.
If you start at least 6th level, how about a strength based blade singer;Sneak attacks must use a ranged or finesse weapon, so while you can use str with a rapier, no great sword sneak attacks, alas.
or a strength based rogue at any level?
A rogue is actually surprisingly susceptible to being strength based. Nothing requires you to use dexterity to sneak attack.
You create a nonmagical trinket or a hand-sized illusionary image. It lasts until the end of your next turn.
I've used it in the past for keys, mainly. They can't be stolen from me because they last long enough for me to lock or unlock the object and then disappear, and I don't need to possess the original object.There's no cantrip with an actual cost.Odd, there are a couple cantrips listed here with material costs... Things like Dancing Lights, Mending, and Message. Or are low-level materials like that just considered as "covered" by a component pouch without having to specifically get them?
I wouldn't agree that you could use it to polish something to almost frictionless either, since that doesn't fit the definition of cleaning. You're magically removing the dirt from something, not actually scrubbing it down.The difficulty comes when the object you're cleaning can itself be considered something that would be cleaned away... Such as "cleaning" a patch of dirt. Do you let someone dig a hole until there is no more dirt, or do you let them be more specific and define what dirt is dirtying the other dirt?
I mean, if your group is okay with those kinds of munchkin shenanigans go ahead, but if they aren't then all a character like that does is wreck the game for everyone. Not a judgment against you for wanting to play that way, just an observation of standard group dynamics.Well, I mean, there's munchkinning and then there's munchkinning... Like, I of course want to make an effective character who can hold their own in a fight, but I also don't want to just make Minmax the Warrior to stomp upon all comers, because that gets boring.
Any component without a listed gold cost can be substituted with a component pouch or spellcasting focus. If it does list a gold cost, you need the actual component.There's no cantrip with an actual cost.Odd, there are a couple cantrips listed here with material costs... Things like Dancing Lights, Mending, and Message. Or are low-level materials like that just considered as "covered" by a component pouch without having to specifically get them?
As Biowraith said, a component does not have a material cost listed (e.g Augury, which requires specially marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens worth at least 25 gp) then it is considered covered by a component pouch or arcane focus.
Odd, there are a couple cantrips listed here with material costs... Things like Dancing Lights, Mending, and Message. Or are low-level materials like that just considered as "covered" by a component pouch without having to specifically get them?
Of course, I suppose it's possible that this page is just willfully misleading, because after all, "We're not the PHB".
The difficulty comes when the object you're cleaning can itself be considered something that would be cleaned away... Such as "cleaning" a patch of dirt. Do you let someone dig a hole until there is no more dirt, or do you let them be more specific and define what dirt is dirtying the other dirt?The spell could just fail. Neither of those outcomes is really cleaning something.
Furthermore, unless specifically noted, you don't lose the materials upon casting the spell. So if you only need a piece of copper wire for your Message, you probably don't need a full component pouch.As Biowraith said, a component does not have a material cost listed (e.g Augury, which requires specially marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens worth at least 25 gp) then it is considered covered by a component pouch or arcane focus.
Odd, there are a couple cantrips listed here with material costs... Things like Dancing Lights, Mending, and Message. Or are low-level materials like that just considered as "covered" by a component pouch without having to specifically get them?
Of course, I suppose it's possible that this page is just willfully misleading, because after all, "We're not the PHB".
A piece of copper wire? That's a neato reference. Or injoke. Or whatever you want to call it.Who even knows, man... I mean, this is 5e, with the "let's make things cyberpunk!" BookLoadable Content extension.
Furthermore, unless specifically noted, you don't lose the materials upon casting the spell. So if you only need a piece of copper wire for your Message, you probably don't need a full component pouch.Huh. See, for some reason I was used to the thought of it consuming said materials under normal circumstances. Not sure if that's actually the way it was in earlier versions, or if that's just something I misinterpreted, but there you have it.
The spell could just fail. Neither of those outcomes is really cleaning something.Sure they are, all depending on how you define "cleaning". There are more solid, non-dirt layers in soil composition, and there are significant differences between a tended patch of dirt and a non-tended patch of dirty. Hell, I've personally seen shiny, slippery floors that were composed entirely of mud... All it really comes down to is how much your DM feels like interpreting/arguing.
Heh, copper wire for Message and Sending was a thing in 3.5 too. Probably earlier. A lot of spells have amusing components/focii like that... At first I thought they were just jokes, but I think it's a nod to sympathetic magic.A piece of copper wire? That's a neato reference. Or injoke. Or whatever you want to call it.Who even knows, man... I mean, this is 5e, with the "let's make things cyberpunk!" BookLoadable Content extension.
... I just thought that the inscribed turnips were somehow more free than usual.
... If everyone gets "free" turnips, then I suppose that broadens the shenanigan spectrum now doesn't it?
I was under the impression that a cantrip could cause literally ANY effect, but it was always a *WORTHLESS* one.
So the tome pact is basically just getting access to more cantrips from potentially off-limits lists?
I don't know why, but since the very first time I read the word "cantrip", my mind has always tried to read or interpret it as "turnip"... Which makes no sense beyond just ending in '-ip', especially since Neverwinter Nights doesn't even have turnips in it.turnipsI love this.
Initially yes, but tome pact also opens up an Invocation that lets the warlock add spells above cantrip level (spell level up to half their warlock level) from any spell list to their tome, so long as the spell has the Ritual tag. They can only cast those spells as rituals though (doesn't use up a spell slot, adds 10 minutes to the cast time).Yeah, rituals invocation looked interesting, even without knowing how rituals worked... But having rituals also be slot-free sounds particularly lovely. Actually, come to think of it, can't you just pick/learn Find Familiar, stick it in the book and have ghetto Chain Pact?
I'm playing a paladin (Goliath though, not Aasimar) in a game right now and I've been thinking of a similar build, although celestial warlock is flavorfully cool, I find it a bit hard to justify taking it over more sorcerer levels. Eldritch Smite, Lifedrinker and Radiant Soul are cool, but don't compared well to all of sorcerer and paladin spellcasting (which is conviently upgraded by sorcerer levels so long as you have 2 paladin levels first) especially when thirsting blade doesn't stack with green flame blade and you can use those high level spell slots from sorcerer to empower your smites fairly freely (Of course, warlock can smite even more freely, although less powerfully...) as you quicken out multiple high level smites a turn.
Yeah, rituals invocation looked interesting, even without knowing how rituals worked... But having rituals also be slot-free sounds particularly lovely.It's maybe worth noting (in case you weren't already aware) that Wizards, Druids, Clerics, and Bards can all ritual cast by default in the same way (slot-free, +10 minute cast time). They all need to have the spell prepared/memorised, except the Wizard who just needs it to be in his spellbook. But unlike Tome Warlocks they're restricted to their own spell lists and apart from Wizards can't scribe new spells they come across in their travels. On the other hand they all tend to have a lot more spell slots available for non-ritual casting (if we're still looking for maximum magical tomfoolery).
Actually, come to think of it, can't you just pick/learn Find Familiar, stick it in the book and have ghetto Chain Pact?Pretty much, yes. Weaker familiar and more restrictions on how you interact with it, but yeah you can definitely do that. Similarly anyone with enough Int or Wis could take the Ritual Caster feat for ghetto Tome Pact (only one spell list, though it doesn't need to be Warlock, only able to ritual cast spells from the feat, and obviously uses up a feat/ASI pick)... and via that also get Find Familiar.
Also, seriously, someone thought cantrips are all useless? Guidance, even with all its limitations, can give free +1d4 to any ability check, so your Faces have better Persuasion, your thieves better trap detection and disarming, your wizard better History and Arcana.Your hamster better butt-kicking...
Elk Totem Attunement: While raging, you can use a bonus action during your move to pass through the space of a Large or smaller creature. That creature must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC 8 + your Strength bonus + your proficiency bonus) or be knocked prone and take bludgeoning damage equal to 1d12 + your Strength modifier.
I think Fallen Aasimar sounds fine, they're basically mortal Fallen Angels.
It's for when tieflings aren't edgy enough, and your DM won't allow Drow.I think Fallen Aasimar sounds fine, they're basically mortal Fallen Angels.
I would like them to be nothing of the sort
Or people pick it because it's fun.
Like the guy in my party. Light-hearted fun-German-accented (less Third Reich, more... gay German, I guess?) aasimar paladin. Then shit goes down, he wades into the middle of a group of enemies, and goes emo for a few rounds, and returns to his happy-go-lucky self.
Here we go... Air genasi druid: Levitate yourself, then transform into a shark or whale or something and have someone shove you towards the enemy so you can bite them. Genius!A giant squid can hold its breath to survive in air and has lots of health and good attacks.
Now, question regarding wild shape... It says "You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them if the new form is physically capable of doing so.", but how does one define "physically capable of doing so"? Like, does a bugbear druid get to keep its powerful build and extra 5' reach?A bugbear's reach comes from its long arms, which the new form probably doesn't have. It probably goes down to GM ruling, but consider whether the feature or ability requires specific equipment or anatomy and you'll have a general picture. A barbarian's rage probably works but a rogue's sneak attack needs a finesse weapon and a dragonborn's breath needs whatever organ produces it.
Yeah, but I just enjoy the imagery of making a one-man sharknado... Even if the sharks aren't really all that great combat-wise.Here we go... Air genasi druid: Levitate yourself, then transform into a shark or whale or something and have someone shove you towards the enemy so you can bite them. Genius!A giant squid can hold its breath to survive in air and has lots of health and good attacks.
Anyways, between the lack of size rules and wild shape's limitation to 1 hour per use, 2/rest, I'm not sure shapeshifting is gonna be the thing for me in 5e... It's a shame, shapeshifting has almost always been a source of magnificent shenanigans. Not to say it's without uses, of course, but y'know...
I'll say about shapeshifting the limit is a lot less harsh then it might seem. (Also it's per short rest, which are a lot easier to come by then long rests). Shapeshifting might not be the practically unlimited amount druids could get in previous versions but, and especially at lower levels, it's still very strong, especially as Circle of the Moon druid. 2/short rest is enough in my experience to stay in a big tanky form for most fights (although the game seems to be balanced around some weird fight structure, actually following that structure narratively seems practically impossible to me imo, so even though you're only limited to 2 uses, I think most of the time you'll be able to go though multiple fights per hour.) at low levels which can totally just overwhelm the cr appropriate enemies for a couple of levels.Certainly, especially considering some of the beefcakes that are ranked as CR 1 (I'm level 2 now? Yeah, I'll just turn into a giant hyena and go full rage mode). However, for out-of-combat uses the hour restriction starts biting a bit more. Things like turning yourself into a beast of burden or Druid Airways First Class Seating to handle more logistical tasks is hampered more than flopping into battle as some horrific titan and blasting everyone with over-the-top multiattacks. And without mostly-harmless shenanigans to fall back on, how can I validate my munchkinnery in such an event?
Yeah, most race-specific traits aren't kept since they're literally due to your physiology. Class abilities tend to be kept, however, so sneak attack, spell casting, rage, performances (if possible; you could sing or dance but likeloy not orate or play an instrument) are all kept.See, this is where the communication kind of falls apart, because Wild Shape expressly says "You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source[...]", with the only caveats being "[...]if the new form is physically capable of doing so.", and no sensory abilities (darkvision) unless the new form also has that sensory ability.
Dont get me started on bearbarians. My GM threw an awakened grizzlybear with 10 levels of barbarian at us at level 13 and it took us an hour to put it down it had so much health.Wilson? Is that you?
Do psionics even exist in 5e yet? Edit: I see, looks like there's a single UA for a psionic class. Interesting.Yes, and it's... I don't know, maybe I'm the only one thinking it's somewhat muddled.
Psionic talents:
- You can never use your psychic focus on a talent.
Psychic AssaultThere doesn't seem to be any generic "expend focus to do X", you can only burn your focus on certain feats that specifically mention that you use up your focus when doing so. So... Is it supposed to mean that you can't apply passive focus effects to talents? But then there's a passive focus effect that only applies to talents.
Psychic Focus effect: While focused on this discipline, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with psionic talents that deal psychic damage.
There doesn't seem to be any generic "expend focus to do X", you can only burn your focus on certain feats that specifically mention that you use up your focus when doing so. So... Is it supposed to mean that you can't apply passive focus effects to talents? But then there's a passive focus effect that only applies to talents.
Totemic AttunementEver been so angry that you just fucking achieve liftoff?
- Eagle: While raging you have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed. This benefit works only in short bursts; you fall if you end your turn in the air and nothing else is holding you aloft.
I had too look up the sound barrier to see if they broke it but unfortunately they are nowhere near it :(*Yelling*
A murder most fowl doubles as a crow/raven pun btw.Triples as one, even.
Anyone got any ideas to kind of differentiate them from the bog standard artefact of doom? Presently I've settled on their appearance being that of some colour-changing, fluctuating, writhing mass (Or, rather, that's how people interpret it. It's a knot in reality, if people could really perceive it for what it was their brain would break trying to understand how the fuck such a thing could exist, leaving them either amnesic of the thing or a gibbering lunatic), but beyond that I've not got a lot.A 4-dimensional tesseract?
the god of water a small stone basin of water, that sort of thing.Or just a chunk of ice, if'n you really wanna get primordial.
Anyone got any ideas to kind of differentiate them from the bog standard artefact of doom? Presently I've settled on their appearance being that of some colour-changing, fluctuating, writhing mass (Or, rather, that's how people interpret it. It's a knot in reality, if people could really perceive it for what it was their brain would break trying to understand how the fuck such a thing could exist, leaving them either amnesic of the thing or a gibbering lunatic), but beyond that I've not got a lot.
All I need is two cantrips and then a whole bunch of anger.If all you need is two cantrips, consider taking the Magic Initiate feat rather than multiclassing fully.
Man... I really want to play a muscle wizard now!
But, would any self-respecting DM actually Allow that kind of pure premium bullshit? LOL
Don't think it'd need a separate thread unless you're really serious about genning a custom class, but as a simple brainstorming exercise, I'd suggest perhaps a method of disease transferal through magic?
For example, the class/prestige gets access to a Spell-Like Ability to cast Inflict Light Wounds or higher level variants, usable a number of times per day equal to the number of active diseases the character is currently carrying. As part of the saving throw to resist the spell, if the target fails their save, they immediately contract one of the player's diseases.
Yeah, no magic class adds Con to anything other than bonus spells per day, at least from 3.x edition. There's the Tome of Battle Swordsage which uses martial maneuvers that work kinda like spells, and Insightful Strike adds your Concentration check (which is Con based) instead of your normal modifiers to the melee attack. There's also a bunch of ways to get Con to AC and Reflex/Will saves too.The CON replacements on the great X To Y thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?125732-3-x-X-stat-to-Y-bonus) are pretty limited or defense-oriented for all classes. Probably because it's such a vital stat for any character's survivability. Even "single attribute dependent" classes like most spellcasters need CON, arguably more than DEX. Making it a spellcasting stat would be... hard to balance.
Back in 4th ed our group had a sorcerer that keyed his spells off of strength.
We called him the "flex mage", whose somatic components were just him striking poses and flexing his muscles really hard.
Like someone does this and a lighting bolt shoots out of his handSpoiler (click to show/hide)
Book of Vile Darkness. Which also has the most pointless alternate human ever.
I would say they are worse than the not-poison poisons.Ah yes, for when you want to have Chaotic Stupid as not only an alignment, but as a race as well!
The Vashar as I think they were called are fluffed as originating from the first version of humanity made by the gods. The first man was a psychopath and tried to kill the gods, who then tried to destroy him but he was saved by a demon lord and sired children with a succubus giving rise to the Vashar. All Vashar are EVIIIIL and they are all born from rape, because apparently sociopaths never have consensual sex. They murder, steal and enslave constantly and basically impusively do evil stuff without much cause 24/7. Their main goal as a society is to kill the gods.
Mechanically they're identical to normal 3.5 humans, except instead of a bonus feat that can be taken from any feat in the game they meet the prerequisites for, Vashar can only take a bonus Vile Feat they meet the prerequisites for. They get the same exact thing normal humans do, but worse since normal humans can also take Vile Feats with their racial feat.
So... Bugbear, Primeval Guardian 3 / Mystic (any flavor) X. Use a reach weapon, take the Giant Growth psionic discipline. While focused and using the Guardian Soul ability, you'll have a melee reach of 25'. You can activate the first branch of the discipline for 2 PP to get another 5' on top of that, for 30' total in limited bursts.At mystic level 11 you can use Ogre Form and Giant Form at the same time, for 40 reach.
If you decide to build more mystic levels, 9th level will let you use the second branch of the discipline and get a bigger boost of 10', in case you wanted to pick someone's nose from 35' away.
In our very first campaign, where almost every enemy (and most NPCs) were undead due to lich apocalypse, they were extremely handy. Since undead are usually immune, they're basically the intended target.Book of Vile Darkness. Which also has the most pointless alternate human ever.
Can't be worse than Book of Exalted Deed's "Poisons but totally not really poisons"
Hmm... So, talkinggrapplersluchadores, what do you prefer? A winged tiefling who can (slowly) lift people up for the ultimate slam and potentially grab the barbed skin feat for constant, guaranteed damage...
Or the bugbear brawler with ludicrous lift/drag weight capacity, higher strength and a 10' grappling range to stealthily piledrive enemies via sneaky+surprise attack?
There is a variant tiefling with +1 Str instead of +1 Int. Zariel Tieflings from page 23 of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes are +2 Cha/+1 Str and get different spells from normal tieflings.I thought variant tieflings could only get the Feral attribute replacement, which is +2 Dex +1 Int? I mean, that's still generally better for someone who gets stuck in a lot, but it's no Str increase.
Look, the DnD world does not have Tinder or Craig's List Personals ok?
How do you expect a randy demon lord, in his unholy, enormous visage-- to successfully hook up with human or elven women? It sure as shit isnt a video dating service. :P
Look, the DnD world does not have Tinder or Craig's List Personals ok?
How do you expect a randy demon lord, in his unholy, enormous visage-- to successfully hook up with human or elven women? It sure as shit isnt a video dating service. :P
The solution is, as always, Sending (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/sending.htm).
Extremely *hawt* lord looking for casual encounter. Come to Desolation's Parallax at mid-winter when the third moon is gibbous to see my enormous castle.
There, a 25 word sending that's sure to get the attention of all the ladies.
Been playing Darkest Dungeon lately, and it got me thinking: With present 5e rules, is there anything akin to the Flagellant? Someone that becomes more powerful the less health they have, either through exploiting some feats, class features, or anything of that nature?
Also, anyone looked at the Lore Mastery magic tradition for wizards in Unearthed Arcana? Seems a wee bit broken at first glance, honestly.
You also get double proficiency on four different skills, can use INT to roll initiative (!), can freely change the damage type of any spell to make it particularly effective against whatever foe you're up against, can change the type of saving throw required for a spell (!!), trade out a 1st-level slot for a whole 2d10 extra force damage against every target with no save, turn yourself into a goddamn magical catapult by swapping a 2nd-level slot to make a 30' range spell have a range of one mile instead, and of course the ridiculous ability to just cast a spell from any spell list and treat it as a wizard spell (!!!).Also, anyone looked at the Lore Mastery magic tradition for wizards in Unearthed Arcana? Seems a wee bit broken at first glance, honestly.
Doesn't look too broken to me. You're still using slots (possibly at a much quicker rate, if you're fond of augmenting every single spell with Alchemical Casting; Yay +2 DC...) and paying material costs.
Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
Your an earth genasi. Unfortunately, your quirk was being made out of porcelain.Qin Shi Huang would like to have a word with you.
Luckily it would be over rather quickly. :P
Of course, it's a big advantage of play-by-post that you can change whatever you want before hitting post. If it's evident that the stats that you've come up with are unreasonable, go ahead and change them. It's just preferable that you do so before rolling. To me, rolling the dice is signing a contract that you'll accept whatever the result is, even or you don't like it.
Edit: Oh yeah I meant to ask for advice! We each get a "+1 book" to pick from, like in the official games. Anything we should know about? A potent low-level abjuration, or a way for paladin to heal better? Anything like that.Depending what level you start and are likely to reach, I'd personally be very tempted by Xanathar's Guide to Everything, purely for Find Greater Steed (level 4 spell) for a flying mount (or a rhino). Also a couple more oath options and potentially the Prodigy feat (+1 skill prof, +1 tool prof, +1 language, and expertise in 1 skill).
(since it's 5e, maybe actually? It's so hard to die in this unless the healer's down)
It's starting at level 1
I only learned about it from Googling. Basically in "official" games you generally get the players hand book "plus one" other book. Like Volo's guide to monsters (if you want to play a weird race, IIRC) or xanthumgum's guide to everything.
Even in casual games, it's poor form to show up with a wheelbarrow full of books, claiming they're all necessary to play your character. The Adventurer's League rules are meant to create a "simple" character.I only learned about it from Googling. Basically in "official" games you generally get the players hand book "plus one" other book. Like Volo's guide to monsters (if you want to play a weird race, IIRC) or xanthumgum's guide to everything.
Can you do like the Bible and choose a compendium of several books?
Authenticity and immersion demand that all players play human fighting-men, 3d6 in order, no "magic" nonsense, and you have to roll to determine what permanent disabilities you have developed before the age of 21.Sooo... WHFRP?
What is this, kindergarten? I only play the finest zine-derived systemless settingless diceless numberless wordless settings written by neo-Nazi Discord servers.Authenticity and immersion demand that all players play human fighting-men, 3d6 in order, no "magic" nonsense, and you have to roll to determine what permanent disabilities you have developed before the age of 21.Sooo... WHFRP?
Oh, F.A.T.A.L. then.What is this, kindergarten? I only play the finest zine-derived systemless settingless diceless numberless wordless settings written by neo-Nazi Discord servers.Authenticity and immersion demand that all players play human fighting-men, 3d6 in order, no "magic" nonsense, and you have to roll to determine what permanent disabilities you have developed before the age of 21.Sooo... WHFRP?
Authenticity and immersion demand that all players play human fighting-men, 3d6 in order, no "magic" nonsense, and you have to roll to determine what permanent disabilities you have developed before the age of 21.
Could be RaHoWa, I guess. Dunno if that's diceless or not but it has the neo-Nazi stuff down pat.There's also Sigmata, if you want 80s-punk X-men of the left-leaning jackbooted thug variety. I'm sure it's not hipster enough, but I've heard it's very clunky.
I've still yet to see a more entertaining character creation than that of Gamma World. Shame it's apparently a massive bitch to GM for; as being on the player side, even for the extremely short period that I got to experience it, was quite fun.My only experiences with Gamma World were laughing at chargen, mucking about a bit, and getting into a teamfight over literally nothing resulting in the deaths of all but one player. I'm not sure what part of it would be painful to GM.
On that note, I love their ammo system. It's so elegant: You can use a gun once per encounter without issue. If you use it twice or more, it runs out of ammo at the end of the encounter."Alright, weapons check... How much ammo you got left?"
Anyone know of a published (web or otherwise, third party or not, any system) adventure that involves an earthquake, mining operations, plumbing, or related activity uncovering ruins, a dangerous cave system, <x> under the PCs' base of operations?
What is all the rage about?Barbarians.
Is it about stabbing? Stab Simulator 2000 was a pretty decent rpg system, is it anything like it?
Yeah, you play as a crew of scoundrels in a city which is a mishmash of 1870s London, Venice and Prague (so there's trains, rudimentary electricity, guns, the sorts), with some fantasy magic and magitech (powered by demon whale blood, of all things!) and ghostly shenanigans thrown in for good measure.
There's heisting, there's assassinations, there's smuggling, there's turf wars, there's faction relationships, and mechanics which help cut down on the boring parts - like planning no longer needs to take an hour by itself! And it's all presented very nicely as well, with a well-formatted rulebook and a bunch of useful printables like character sheets (which state what all the abilities and stuff do) and rules references.
But are there Apache Knives?
But are there Apache Knives?
Not really the question you're asking, but my very vague recollection was that equipment was very abstract and vague. Like, I think you literally said you were "heavily" encumbered and that meant you could pull out 3 useful items at whatever point you wanted, and they could be whatever you needed for that moment, without having said what they were before hand.
The game overall looked interesting, but playing as criminals didn't appeal to me much and the one time our game group tried it, it didn't work out so great. That was due to group dynamics much more than the game itself though.
You might also need to roll for your action in the flashback, so there's a chance of failure. As for planning, you do have to provide one key detail (usually how you get to/approach the target) - after that... well, your characters have done the planning and you just get to choose what it was, retroactively, in flashbacks and gear choices.
My budding career as a controversial game review guy has begun.I guess I can say the same? I've been doing the Pathfinder Playtest for their new system, though it's likely a far bigger field of reviewers putting up their experiences than yours. It even has standardized feedback forms.
Things I've done thus far:
4. Caused the guy to throw a tantrum and double all of his prices
Dear purchaser, it is with great regret I inform you K&L prices went up due to some folk misusing the launch sale to deliberately attempt to smear the game's image. As some of you may already know K&L was a the fruit of 3 years of hard labor and had the goal of being that quality RPG for only a few bucks. Unfortunately there won't be any sales anytime soon. Sincerely - Felix
I like that there's also a barbarian kit that lets people resurrect you for free. That seems appropriate.This is old, from the first page of my new replies, but... at first I read that as "lets you resurrect people for free" and was picturing an enraged barbarian just shaking and screaming at any slain teammates at the top of his or her lungs until they got the message and came back to life.
I like that there's also a barbarian kit that lets people resurrect you for free. That seems appropriate.This is old, from the first page of my new replies, but... at first I read that as "lets you resurrect people for free" and was picturing an enraged barbarian just shaking and screaming at any slain teammates at the top of his or her lungs until they got the message and came back to life.
...2d6? As in you roll 2d6 and then percentile to determine if they wake?It's magnified duodecimal form, where 12 is a full score equal to 100 in the traditional centumal form.
Blades in the Dark is kinda sounding like Old Man Henderson: The RPG.
My copy of Shadows Over Sol: Siren's Call is supposed to arrive today. I've got about half a group put together at the moment. Excitement! I hope it works out for once.
Blades in the Dark is kinda sounding like Old Man Henderson: The RPG.
Well, I don’t know. In what sense? You’re free to run a more grounded kind of game with it. It’s just that the majority of my group’s adventures and missions end with everything on fire and corpses everywhere, whatever the system or setting.
My copy of Shadows Over Sol: Siren's Call is supposed to arrive today. I've got about half a group put together at the moment. Excitement! I hope it works out for once.
I've never heard of this. I'm guessing it's science fiction?
My copy of Shadows Over Sol: Siren's Call is supposed to arrive today. I've got about half a group put together at the moment. Excitement! I hope it works out for once.
I've never heard of this. I'm guessing it's science fiction?
Yes. Shadows Over Sol is meant to support sci-fi horror (the full name, in fact, is Shadows Over Sol: Science Fiction Horror Roleplaying). It's also just a good hard SF system in general. It's received an award (http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/sealofapproval.php) for having tech that doesn't outright break the laws of physics.
So, the first sizable supplement comes out - Siren's Call: Interstellar Colonization Roleplaying. Experience a different kind of horror - alien beings on an alien world, realizing you'll never see Earth again and anyone you left behind is dead, making hard decisions when it comes to managing your colony.
Want to run a D&D campaign at uni. I have one friend that's interested. I tried the society but it was awkward as fuuuuuuuuuuck. Not because they were necessarily bad at socialising so much as it was their type of socialising and mine were pretty damn incompatible.
Siren's Call: Interstellar Colonization Roleplaying. Experience a different kind of horror - alien beings on an alien world, realizing you'll never see Earth again and anyone you left behind is dead, making hard decisions when it comes to managing your colony.
Sounds pretty cool! Does the colony managing partpretty cool! Does the colony managing part mean it also features managetorial aspects?
Flavia: floating pink blossoms
drift down, waft through the air
leave a pretty corpse
Cassandra: cherry blossoms bloom
three magical girls in hell
it's snowing on mt fuji
caulk the ice barrel and float across
Not the Tactical Breach Wizards?i'm reminded of Eldritch Arsekicking.
It's what made Henderson as powerful as he was, he had an "in-character reason" written down that gave him access to every skill or item he could need on a whim.Honestly, this is how playing an older character should be. You only get old by living for a while first. Hand waving that as "and then he slaved away in a dead end job for thirty years" is not a great way to build an adventurer. Even ignoring the "then why is this a PC" question (which mythos-oriented games can answer easily) it's just not how humans work. Everyone finds something to keep them going psychologically, and if it's not work it's something else.
I'm a fan of a good backstory as much as the next person but I'd never allow it to just arbitrarily give you skills, knowledge, and equipment like in the Henderson story. It's at that point where the rules of the system get thrown out the window and he's not even playing the same game as the other players anymore.
What's the rule of thumb for Perception checks in tabletop games? One per player, one per situation?Cool guys don't roll Perception for AoE blasts.
*Most traps are the equivalent of sticking landmines on your front path, inconvenient and liable to kill friendlies more than they'd stop a determined invader.And yet we build them in forts all the time...
I don't exactly use traps either, in particular because a lot of standard traps don't exactly fit a sci-fi setting (in particular, a spaceship)
I don't exactly use traps either, in particular because a lot of standard traps don't exactly fit a sci-fi setting (in particular, a spaceship)
But advanced technology makes for so many great trap possibilities!
You know what else can't be interrogated? Bulettes. They don't need orders, they don't remember faces, they just kill everything. They also make an excellent unwanted visitor disposal.Unless you're wearing a certain jerkin...
You know what else can't be interrogated? Bulettes. They don't need orders, they don't remember faces, they just kill everything. They also make an excellent unwanted visitor disposal.
IE, the owner of the dungeon knows all about the trap. It is there for adventurers that he does not want to deal with personally. (think, arrogant mage type.) He does not want to hire minions, they cost money and ask questions. Instead, he can just keep dangerous creatures down there, and the fact that they are starving with no way out just makes them all the more interested in eating whatever falls down the chute. Bonus if the creatures are smart enough to actively hunt adventurers that fall down there, AND are impervious to asking or being asked questions, since then adventurers could not ask them or compel them to divulge any way in or out other than the chute.F'rex, the gelatinous cube, because there's always room for Jell-O. A gelatinous cube down the 10'x10' pit is a classic example of adventurer and waste disposal all in one. Need to clean around the tower? Free-range gelatinous cubes will keep your corridors spic and span, as long as they span 10'. A gelatinous cube over (or under, but the mental image of a suspended gelatinous cube is funnier) the front door will solve all your problems with solicitors, and as long as you have acid immunity, they make handy carry-alls: just plop whatever (inorganic) thing you need inside of them until you need to pull it out. Best of all, if you're the sort of anti-social or hoity-toity sort that doesn't want to see the hired help, they're transparent enough that you need an appropriate skill check (based on edition) to even see it.
This would be a trap that is for a more hard-core group though. Kinda like the rouge-like of pen and paper sessions.
If you wanted to make Artix von Krieger (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5_z3N3liEA) in DnD 5e, would you be able to do so? If so, how?
If you wanted to make Artix von Krieger (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5_z3N3liEA) in DnD 5e, would you be able to do so? If so, how?A Paladin of Devotion with a few levels in Shadow Sorcerer. "Warrior fighting against his destiny to cast the world in darkness" is a completely valid character concept. It's actually pretty easy to make something resembling him, but in 5e, the classes aren't as customizable as in earlier editions and Pathfinder, so a mechanically perfect match would require homebrewing.
It's actually the other way around for skeletons. They have no resistances, but they're vulnerable to bludgeoning. So a sword would do just fine, but a mace would do better, though it's not required.If you wanted to make Artix von Krieger (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5_z3N3liEA) in DnD 5e, would you be able to do so? If so, how?
Well, first up, (since he is clearly fighting skeletal mages here) you are going to have to arm him with something OTHER than that pig sticker he is waving around. Bladed weapons do half-damage to skeletal enemies. I would personally suggest a mace of disruption, but that's just me.
I love how these systems overlook the obvious;
In a universe where these creatures are so powerful, and their food so weak in comparison, there is no check or balance against a vampire hegemony, or a werewolf superpack (lol) running the whole damn world.
Since humans manage to somehow stay on top, there *HAS* to be an elite caste of human, otherwise the narrative structure lacks sufficient tension to have suspension of disbelief.
So, where is the "super human" demographic in these universes?
*crickets*
Aren't humans way less powerful in general than vampires? Aren't werewolves like, scary powerful compared to vampires?Though it's up to the storyteller *shrug*
Now, if there are bullshit magical predators out there eating humans all the time, that naturally means that said humans will experience some form of selection pressure. People with habits that get them munched by vampires die, and fail to spread those habits. Maybe innate magic works in a similar way, and Hunters are basically an adaptation to deal with the predators. This means that as vampires continue to kill normal humans are a rate faster than hunters (cause it's easy), the number of hunters will gradually increase until all of humanity are hunters.This presumes a relationship of natural predator and natural prey. Whereas a relationship of shepherd and cattle, well... The tasty sheep haven't died out yet from all the eating.
I wouldn't make him a vampire. I'd make him some sort of body-snatching spirit that possesses someone else in the state whenever he dies. The protagonists can temporarily inconvenience him, but cannot easily defeat him completely: as long as there is a Florida, there is a Florida Man.Run it. I'd play.
YissI wouldn't make him a vampire. I'd make him some sort of body-snatching spirit that possesses someone else in the state whenever he dies. The protagonists can temporarily inconvenience him, but cannot easily defeat him completely: as long as there is a Florida, there is a Florida Man.Run it. I'd play.
vampires are almost always smarter than humans but are, crucially, weighed down by their hubris as a wholeSSSHHHHH! Don't let them know that we know!
There's actually a book for Slashers. If they die but you take your eye off the body, they can come back :-XNo, Slashers are Hunters who have gone bad, and they can even have a positive Integrity if there are lines even they won't cross. Regular mortals can hit 0 Integrity, but they'll just be irredeemably evil and deranged, no stronger than usual.
It's basically "Humans can't generally reach 0 morality. what if they could though"
It's sorta like a vampire reaching 0 humanity and surrendering to the beast, except there is no beast, it's just a human so evil they gain traditional horror movie powers.
I could retry running a game if there was enough interest and the times matched, but that's a difficult goal to reach.YissI wouldn't make him a vampire. I'd make him some sort of body-snatching spirit that possesses someone else in the state whenever he dies. The protagonists can temporarily inconvenience him, but cannot easily defeat him completely: as long as there is a Florida, there is a Florida Man.Run it. I'd play.
I could retry running a game if there was enough interest and the times matched, but that's a difficult goal to reach.YissI wouldn't make him a vampire. I'd make him some sort of body-snatching spirit that possesses someone else in the state whenever he dies. The protagonists can temporarily inconvenience him, but cannot easily defeat him completely: as long as there is a Florida, there is a Florida Man.Run it. I'd play.
No, there was definitely an entire sourcebook on Slashers as horror movie villain humans, people who went so bad the WoD seeped into them and gave them powers. The term was just also used for hunters who went off the deep end.That sourcebook is named World of Darkness: Slasher, but it is in fact a supplement for Hunter: the Vigil and explicitly names the movie villain -type slashers as Hunters who've lost it worse than usual. Though I suppose the same event that drives a mortal into taking up the Vigil could also be the event that drives them to take up an Undertaking.
I don't suppose anyone has a handy list of WoD material, do they? I have a...source...of RPG rulebooks but the WoD section is absolutely massive and I have no idea which are game books, or if there's a basic core book that all the different games run off of, or what.
If you're seeking ill-gotten booty obtained on the high seas, keep it to PMs please. No links in the thread.Don't worry, I wasn't intending to throw up links to anything like that in public.
and a flute."This one time, at bard camp..."
and a flute."This one time, at bard camp..."
Looking at a Tempest Cleric grappler. There are a few things you can do here, but it's all going to be pretty feat-intensive...
The class itself has some fun things to offer the overall grappler archetype. There's heavy armor proficiency from the get-go, a reactive shock ability that uses a DEX save (meaning that if you've taken the Grappler feat you can restrain someone and force them to make such saves at a disadvantage), Destructive Wrath is a pretty decent usage of CD in general (and pretty hilarious with Call Lightning), and you can apply 1d8 (later 2d8) thunder damage to any weapon attack, which technically includes kicking (https://twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/951895470967672832?lang=en) one of the two grappled opponents you're keeping your hands full with. Additionally you get the option when dealing lightning damage to shove the target 10' away from you, which can be useful when you've dragged someone to within 10' of a precipice or just want enemy number 3 to piss off.
Clerics also get the lovely Enhance Ability spell to make strength checks at an advantage, Spiritual Weapon to smack whoever you've cornered, and more tasty bits.
The problem of course is that you'd like to have War Caster as a minimum, and both Grappler and Shield Master would be great to have on top of that. There's also no clean way of getting Expertise, but I suppose if you wanted to focus on single-target stuff you could dip into rogue and pick up sneak attack so you could grab 'n' stab someone with a thunderous rapier after grappling and shoving them to get advantage. It'd be lovely to have something like Create Bonfire (if/when you're not using Enhance Ability) to use with Grappler, since you could just pin someone in the fire to make them keep taking disadvantaged DEX saves while being toasted like a Manmallow (and you can keep attacking them with other things so long as you maintain concentration!)... But that would involve dipping into probably Druid, since the Magic Initiate feat is yet another feat.
Ah, hell, let's do it (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=172460.msg7876896#msg7876896).I could retry running a game if there was enough interest and the times matched, but that's a difficult goal to reach.YissI wouldn't make him a vampire. I'd make him some sort of body-snatching spirit that possesses someone else in the state whenever he dies. The protagonists can temporarily inconvenience him, but cannot easily defeat him completely: as long as there is a Florida, there is a Florida Man.Run it. I'd play.
I'm always interested, and iirc if you're Finnish and I'm Swedish so there's a good chance of compatible timezones.
No. If you remove a part of your body, it's no longer a part of "you". D&D magic isn't particularly sympathetic, bar a couple specific spells.Yeah, and 3.5 potions can only contain spells of third level or less (though they can be of high caster level, which helps duration or potency usually)
In 3.5e and Pathfinder, if you want to affect someone else with a self-range spell, the solution is to craft a potion with the effect. In 5e, there aren't any particularly deep rules for crafting so it requires homebrew.
The same Perfectly-Balanced Table-Top Rpg. Game Module but Summarized-Up and not Wholly there and Left with a Lushful Camp@ign Maneuver and Flash-Backs of Parts of The Game with Spaces for Beautiful Art done by You and/or a Friend as a Picturesque/Pretty Hobby Collection of Perfectly-Balanced Aspiring Campaigning Imagery for your FanningI have zero idea what this person is trying to say.
It has rules, a summary of a game module, a campaign with gratuitous flash backs, and loads of blank paper to draw on. I think?QuoteThe same Perfectly-Balanced Table-Top Rpg. Game Module but Summarized-Up and not Wholly there and Left with a Lushful Camp@ign Maneuver and Flash-Backs of Parts of The Game with Spaces for Beautiful Art done by You and/or a Friend as a Picturesque/Pretty Hobby Collection of Perfectly-Balanced Aspiring Campaigning Imagery for your FanningI have zero idea what this person is trying to say.
Actually, personal range spells can't be brewed as potions.No. If you remove a part of your body, it's no longer a part of "you". D&D magic isn't particularly sympathetic, bar a couple specific spells.Yeah, and 3.5 potions can only contain spells of third level or less (though they can be of high caster level, which helps duration or potency usually)
In 3.5e and Pathfinder, if you want to affect someone else with a self-range spell, the solution is to craft a potion with the effect. In 5e, there aren't any particularly deep rules for crafting so it requires homebrew.
If a warlock's spell slots cap out at 5th level, and to cast a spell you need a slot whose level is at least the same level of the spell...https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Warlock#toc_12
Why are there 9th-level spells on the Warlock spell list?
Actually, personal range spells can't be brewed as potions.Derp you're right, I was sorta wondering about that but I was posting busy. That's why you can't make a potion of 3.5's True Strike or some other useful things, self-spells are exclusively for casters (or wondrous item effects, in specific cases, probably).
Creating Potions
Source (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm#creatingPotions)
Ah, of course, the "spells that are not spells but are still spells". I'd completely forgotten about those.If a warlock's spell slots cap out at 5th level, and to cast a spell you need a slot whose level is at least the same level of the spell...https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Warlock#toc_12
Why are there 9th-level spells on the Warlock spell list?
If a warlock's spell slots cap out at 5th level, and to cast a spell you need a slot whose level is at least the same level of the spell...https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Warlock#toc_12
Why are there 9th-level spells on the Warlock spell list?
Each one.If a warlock's spell slots cap out at 5th level, and to cast a spell you need a slot whose level is at least the same level of the spell...https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Warlock#toc_12
Why are there 9th-level spells on the Warlock spell list?
Does it mean I can only use one of these spells per day, or each one if these spells once per say?
We're doing another official Forgotten Realms module that was originally 2nd edition, these classics are fun! We're more used to homebrew settings so it's still a little strange, both for the players and our GMs. They really do plan for a lot of player actions.Are you sure it's a 2nd edition module? Because it sounds a lot like Waterdeep Dragon Heist, the newest 5th edition module (at least until it's sequel, Dungeon of the Mad Mage, comes out). Granted, your DM could be inserting a lot of 2nd edition material for all I know.
Even what she should mechanically take as a feat. Still leaning towards Tavern Brawler - even though it's dumb, oOoO, I should probably take 20 CHA instead~It's dumb, oOoO, you should probably take 20 CHA instead.
It's made of ironwoodDruids do it best.
the only thing a druid will do is give you horrible woodland stdsNot if they're level 10 or higher!
Remember; never have sex with anyone who isn't 10 yet.
EDIT: It's a shame that Conjure Animals is a concentration spell... Otherwise you could just summon 24 squirrels
At base level, Conjure Animals summons 1/2/4/8 animals depending on CR. Cast using a 5th level slot the number doubles, cast at 7th (which is what I'd been planning around in my head, because I was trying to think of one druid doing all this and for some reason I was treating Animal Shapes as a level 9 spell... It's complicated, I don't pretend to know how my mind works) level it triples, and cast at 9th it quadruples. Using a 7th level slot for 3x the animals, 3 x 8 = 24. Although you're right, if we're going all out, we might as well use a 9th level slot for 32 animals.Remember; never have sex with anyone who isn't 10 yet.
EDIT: It's a shame that Conjure Animals is a concentration spell... Otherwise you could just summon 24 squirrels
Your level 10 squirrel golem idea needs a bit of work. Assuming they're 1/4 cr, you're still 4 below.
How the fuck do four 1st levels defeat a pack of Velociraptors?They're size Tiny, so I think DnD velociraptors are actually compsognathuses... At best.
How the fuck do four 1st levels defeat a pack of Velociraptors?They're size Tiny, so I think DnD velociraptors are actually compsognathuses... At best.
Still though.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Vraptor-scale.png)How the fuck do four 1st levels defeat a pack of Velociraptors?They're size Tiny, so I think DnD velociraptors are actually compsognathuses... At best.
Still though.
How the fuck do four 1st levels defeat a pack of Velociraptors?They're size Tiny, so I think DnD velociraptors are actually compsognathuses... At best.
Still though.
I'm looking (http://chisaipete.github.io/bestiary/creatures/velociraptor) at the stats right now. They're no pushovers, tiny or not. Each of them can have as much HP as a level 1 fighter, and if at least two can gang up one guy that's four +4 attacks with advantage. Should have no problem blending up the party one at a time.
Never doubt a bird's capacity to be an asshole.How the fuck do four 1st levels defeat a pack of Velociraptors?They're size Tiny, so I think DnD velociraptors are actually compsognathuses... At best.
Still though.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Giant death beast they ain't
Keeping in mind the difficulty exp scaling from multiple enemies, three velociraptors would be considered a "hard" encounter for 4 first level party members (an assessment I'd agree with). Two would be considered an easy encounter (once again, I think I could agree with that.) For how strong they are on the offense they'll go down to an attack or two. If they get the drop on the party it could be dangerous if they go after the squishier members first, but the tougher and harder hitting members like a fighter or barbarian will make pretty short work of them. If the party strikes first the raptors are fucked as they get blasted away by ranged attacks and even melee with their relatively slow speed meaning the melee PCs can close and attack on the same turn.
Keeping in mind the difficulty exp scaling from multiple enemies, three velociraptors would be considered a "hard" encounter for 4 first level party members (an assessment I'd agree with). Two would be considered an easy encounter (once again, I think I could agree with that.) For how strong they are on the offense they'll go down to an attack or two. If they get the drop on the party it could be dangerous if they go after the squishier members first, but the tougher and harder hitting members like a fighter or barbarian will make pretty short work of them. If the party strikes first the raptors are fucked as they get blasted away by ranged attacks and even melee with their relatively slow speed meaning the melee PCs can close and attack on the same turn.
So, would you say it's still reasonable for a 5th-level character to be able to summon 8 of them, twice a day?
A 5th level could fireball 8 of them about twice a day.Okay, so 8 giant bats instead. Gotcha. 4d10 hitpoints, 60' flying movement and 16 DEX.
Realizing that DnD has fairly accurate, small velociraptors and remembering that XKCD makes me suddenly really want to run a campaign about dinosaurs. Dammit brain, I already have too many roleplaying concepts to choose between!Perfect campaign for a grappler!
[xkcd /]
Realizing that DnD has fairly accurate, small velociraptors and remembering that XKCD makes me suddenly really want to run a campaign about dinosaurs. Dammit brain, I already have too many roleplaying concepts to choose between!
[xkcd /]
Realizing that DnD has fairly accurate, small velociraptors and remembering that XKCD makes me suddenly really want to run a campaign about dinosaurs. Dammit brain, I already have too many roleplaying concepts to choose between!
It better feature dino riding. Throw out the rules from whichever supplement adds dino races. Create your own, including people riding velociraptors around like minibikes.
[xkcd /]
Realizing that DnD has fairly accurate, small velociraptors and remembering that XKCD makes me suddenly really want to run a campaign about dinosaurs. Dammit brain, I already have too many roleplaying concepts to choose between!
It better feature dino riding. Throw out the rules from whichever supplement adds dino races. Create your own, including people riding velociraptors around like minibikes.
Dinosaurs seem to be a part of the regular monster manual in 5e, actually. Some of them in the "generic wildlife and such" section.
It better feature dino riding. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpuhLkh358Y)
So Compy was roughly 1m in length (snout to tail tip), Velociraptor was 2m, and Deinonychus (which was apparently also what was being described in the book with the wrong name, and the film just kept the fraud going for source accuracy) is 3m.
Seems like a pretty good Tiny, Small, Medium progression to me.
So, would you say it's still reasonable for a 5th-level character to be able to summon 8 of them, twice a day?
Hmm. This bestiary reference I'm using seems to have listed the Stench Kow's stink aura DC as being 26. I'm not sure how that happened.
That's definitely not the kind of DC you'd expect to see on a CR 1/4 beastie...
Hmm. This bestiary reference I'm using seems to have listed the Stench Kow's stink aura DC as being 26. I'm not sure how that happened.
That's definitely not the kind of DC you'd expect to see on a CR 1/4 beastie...
Volo's Guide to Monster includes about 6 more, including the Stegosaurus, Deinonycus, and Velociraptors.[xkcd /]
Realizing that DnD has fairly accurate, small velociraptors and remembering that XKCD makes me suddenly really want to run a campaign about dinosaurs. Dammit brain, I already have too many roleplaying concepts to choose between!
It better feature dino riding. Throw out the rules from whichever supplement adds dino races. Create your own, including people riding velociraptors around like minibikes.
Dinosaurs seem to be a part of the regular monster manual in 5e, actually. Some of them in the "generic wildlife and such" section.
EDIT: Okay, looking at the book I was wrong about them being generic wildlife, but there are six dinosaurs in the manual. All big ones, so not velociraptors. Allosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Plesiosaurus, Pteranodon, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus.
That would certainly explain how the Hulking Crab's multiattack lets it use its tentacle attack three times as an aboleth, and how when it's hiding in its shell you need to pass an intelligence (Nature) check in order to discren[sic] its true nature.Hmm. This bestiary reference I'm using seems to have listed the Stench Kow's stink aura DC as being 26. I'm not sure how that happened.
That's definitely not the kind of DC you'd expect to see on a CR 1/4 beastie...
I think I found your source, and all of that data appears to have been entered by hand.
One of the 5e official campaigns has dino racing, don't know if it has dino riding though.Yup, that's Tomb of Annihilation, though it's gambling rather than your character as jockeys. Our DM promised that if we finish the quest successfully, he'll homebrew rules so that we can race ourselves. He did. I could ask him for them, if you're interested?
You haven't dumped your discren skill right? Discrening is one of the most important abilities of an adventurer.It is! It can even give you a situational bonus to your intit- your invititive... initiv- the intert-... Fuck it.
that would be a gripster thank youI am undone.
I was more responding to one of the other guys who was asking about that. I imagine it involves Animal Handling though.One of the 5e official campaigns has dino racing, don't know if it has dino riding though.Yup, that's Tomb of Annihilation, though it's gambling rather than your character as jockeys. Our DM promised that if we finish the quest successfully, he'll homebrew rules so that we can race ourselves. He did. I could ask him for them, if you're interested?
Honestly, that sounds like a pretty cool monster: A huge crab that can disguise itself as a rock or whatever when it goes in it's shell and also has tentacles for some reason.That would certainly explain how the Hulking Crab's multiattack lets it use its tentacle attack three times as an aboleth, and how when it's hiding in its shell you need to pass an intelligence (Nature) check in order to discren[sic] its true nature.Hmm. This bestiary reference I'm using seems to have listed the Stench Kow's stink aura DC as being 26. I'm not sure how that happened.
That's definitely not the kind of DC you'd expect to see on a CR 1/4 beastie...
I think I found your source, and all of that data appears to have been entered by hand.
Curses, what is this confounded appeal of grapplers? I need to play a proper character instead of immediately hop on the hipster options.
Every game needs dino racing, so I'd certainly be interested.One of the 5e official campaigns has dino racing, don't know if it has dino riding though.Yup, that's Tomb of Annihilation, though it's gambling rather than your character as jockeys. Our DM promised that if we finish the quest successfully, he'll homebrew rules so that we can race ourselves. He did. I could ask him for them, if you're interested?
If everything goes well, sure. But in order to optimize for those situations (getting advantage on strength checks, getting double proficiency bonus, getting enough health and AC to not die when plugging yourself directly into two enemies, etc.) is a tricky bastard that happily will devour several feats and multiple split levels that don't really come online until at least CLevel 10+...Curses, what is this confounded appeal of grapplers? I need to play a proper character instead of immediately hop on the hipster options.
You can immobilize two creatures, knock them over so that they get disadvantage to hit in melee and allies get advantage to hit them. If something is both grappled and prone, they can't stand up from prone because being grappled makes their movement 0. You can drag people to cliffs and throw them off.
Just so you know... Theoretically, chicken racing satisfies that requirement.Cast Reduce on the gnome and try to get him to win the race before the time runs out and he squashes his mount? Sounds like a fun time!
Make a fighter/rogue/druid/bard, Kagus. For old times' sakeAh, the MAD old days...
If everything goes well, sure. But in order to optimize for those situations (getting advantage on strength checks, getting double proficiency bonus, getting enough health and AC to not die when plugging yourself directly into two enemies, etc.) is a tricky bastard that happily will devour several feats and multiple split levels that don't really come online until at least CLevel 10+...Curses, what is this confounded appeal of grapplers? I need to play a proper character instead of immediately hop on the hipster options.
You can immobilize two creatures, knock them over so that they get disadvantage to hit in melee and allies get advantage to hit them. If something is both grappled and prone, they can't stand up from prone because being grappled makes their movement 0. You can drag people to cliffs and throw them off.
Which is exactly the dilemma I've been wrestling with for the past few days. Trying to find archetypes that don't require too much fiddling/luck/stats or that don't have quite so many dead levels before they start doing what they're supposed to... Without actually having any kind of experience with how a 5e battle or campaign tends to play out, so I really don't recognize how much survivability or offense I need to do things well enough, and I'm instead obsessing over getting the best in everything... Which requires a lot of levels and some funky building, heh.
Nah, think I should focus on a bog standard druid or wizard or something to get started with, at least for my first time. Doing a blasty sorcerer would also be fun, but that might be slightly awkward as I'm fairly sure someone else in the group is either going for that or has just recently been completely gushingly enamored with her character which was a dragon sorc.
Or make a nice healer to fall back on in case nobody nabs a healer.
Fuck.
Yes! They would almost certainly need to be dead first. Maybe a sarlacc could try to justify using it on a living person... But that'd be between that living hole with teeth and its gm.
However! Raise dead and Resurrection (the T1 and T2 bringing back to life spells respectively) don't cure magical diseases or poisons. (T3, True Resurrection does) Purify food and drink doesn't specifically say it doesn't cure magical poison and disease, so arguably it does cure them. So if you died to mummy rot or whatever and can't be rezzed because they can't cure the damn thing, maybe they can take a nibble, cure the rot, then bring you back.
Do prions count as disease? Hoof and mouth disease?I'd imagine they should... Inasmuch as they're actually modeled...
Then again, a pedantic GM could have Purify Food and Drink also sterilize away all their gut microbiota on the grounds that they're a disease by virtue of getting other people sick....and therein lies the rub. Hence the firm rooting of this question inside the "philosophical" realm, due to the subjective definitions of "food" and "disease". Or even "poison" for that matter... Cast Purify Food and Drink inside a candy shop, and all the chocolate disappears because it's toxic for dogs/gnolls.
I now want to see a dinosaur summoning druid or a dinosaur focussed campaign.Tomb of Annihilation is set on an island with dinosaurs. My ranger in that campaign had a deinonychus companion (drop the multiattack and it's on par with the standard options), and my bard routinely polymorphed his allies into quetzalcoatluses (flying, big enough to be ridden by several allies) and tyrannosauruses (great in combat, and makes fucking amazing scenes like that one time when the enemy was an undead tyrannosaurus).
Awakened Allosaur druid that summons velociraptor packs.
Right, so, thinking my options for the potential newbie campaign are either straight Fighter focusing on being a nuisance with Polearm Mastery and Sentinel, or a straight Life Cleric for healsies (even though bards can apparently "do it better" with a Life Cleric 1/Lore Bard++ because they can pick up a Paladin's Aura of Vitality at level 6 and then apply Life Cleric's 2+spell level ability to the heals made by the aura... Bards even get Healing Word in their base spell list).
Should probably also have a Rogue archetype ready in the odd event that there aren't any unlocky/trap-disarmy people in the group, but I'm a little torn on how best to build that up...
I played a polearm push-away master. Pretty fun unless your enemy has reach.Theoretically, you should be able to do some dickery like 1) Hit opponent with an opportunity attack when they enter your reach [via Polearm Mastery], 2) Apply Trip Attack maneuver to the hit and, with some luck, knock the opponent prone, 3) Reduce opponent's speed to 0 for the rest of "the turn" [Sentinel].
So, question... How ridiculous are mounted rogues using the presence of their mount to qualify for dealing sneak attack damage?
It does allow them to charge around and perform hit-and-run (thanks to the "free" disengage of the mount) sneak attacks on their own, however. It's mostly just ridiculous in the sense of saying "yes, this is my horse, he is your enemy" and then stabbing someone while they're distracted by the threatening equine.Doesn't Mounted Combatant work on melee weapon attacks? Also, doesn't something have to fall more than 10 feet to take falling damage?
And now for something completely different: Mounted Combatant feat states that you get advantage on melee attack rolls against anything smaller than your mount. You should, then, be able to fly over the battlefield on a giant bat or something (those damn bats again...) and launch Thorn Whip on someone down below. It's a melee spell attack, but it just happens to be delivered up to 30' away (60' if you've got Spell Sniper). Advantage on the attack roll, a hit pulls the creature up to 10' towards you (upwards in this case) without a save if they're Large or smaller. Free extra 1d6 damage, and fun for the whole family!
Yeah, pretty stupid and situational, but the mental image is great.
Terry Crews strikes again.'Tis the fellow from the first advertisements; Other Black Man (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Mustafa).
Or is it the other guy I'm thinking of?
[Animal House 2: The Real Party Animals]There are also a few oddballs that don't necessarily need Comprehend Languages. Certain more "noble" critters like the Giant Owl, Giant Eagle, and Giant Elk are listed as being able to natively understand Common, Elvish and Sylvan, although they lack the ability to speak these languages.
That is a problem.
Can dominate creature be used to force a creature that does not itself know a ritual, to perform a ritual that the dominating wizard DOES know? That was the other suggested means to initiating the process (since Comprehend Languages is SELF.-- The creature must either use it as a potion, or perform the ritual.)
Dominate Monster
You attempt to beguile a creature that you can see within range. It must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be Charmed by you for the Duration. If you or creatures that are friendly to you are fighting it, it has advantage on the saving throw.
While the creature is Charmed, you have a telepathic link with it as long as the two of you are on the same plane of existence. You can use this telepathic link to issue commands to the creature while you are conscious (no action required), which it does its best to obey. You can specify a simple and general course of action, such as Attack that creature, Run over there, or Fetch that object. If the creature completes the order and doesn't receive further direction from you, it defends and preserves itself to the best of its ability.
You can use your action to take total and precise control of the target. Until the end of your next turn, the creature takes only the actions you choose, and doesn't do anything that you don't allow it to do. During this time, you can also cause the creature to use a reaction, but this requires you to use your own reaction as well.
Each time the target takes damage, it makes a new Wisdom saving throw against the spell. If the saving throw succeeds, the spell ends.
At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell with a 9th-level spell slot, the Duration is Concentration, up to 8 hours.
-snip-Would they be able to perform the verbal/somatic components of the ritual though? And presumably a Sorcerer's sorcery points are an inherent attribute that they as an individual possess, so you probably wouldn't be able to metamagic a subtle casting of it that way around.
So there's probably no official way to play a psychotically bouncy Deinonychus rogue riding a Trex then? Just enhanced familiar stuff?Well... Moon Druid/Rogue?
If the wizard has total and precise control over the animal, he can puppeteer it through the ritual, theoretically. Since this is a non-combat round, there shouldnt be any outside interferences.
Well.. If you can increase its CR so that it meets your plucky saurian archetype, then True Polymorph with held duration could get you what you want?Ah, but True Polymorph replaces all your class levels and abilities with those of the thing you're polymorphed into. In order to do your sneak attack then, you'd need to somehow earn Rogue levels (from "level 0") while a deinonychus.
-snip-Would they be able to perform the verbal/somatic components of the ritual though? And presumably a Sorcerer's sorcery points are an inherent attribute that they as an individual possess, so you probably wouldn't be able to metamagic a subtle casting of it that way around.So there's probably no official way to play a psychotically bouncy Deinonychus rogue riding a Trex then? Just enhanced familiar stuff?Well... Moon Druid/Rogue?
EDIT: So there's the spell Glibness, but Xanathar adds the Mastermind subclass which gets a similar permanent ability at level 17. Both of these effects make lie-detecting magic indicate that you're telling the truth, and the Mastermind's ability even specifically states that you cannot be forced by magic to state the truth either.
The question is, then... How easily would you be able to fool a Solar? They have a "Divine Awareness" ability that lets them automatically know if they're being lied to (rather, the writing says "when they hear a lie", but I doubt you'll be allowed to get around that with sign language/writing/telepathy), and presumably they know that they'll know when they're being lied to... Which means that if you lie to them and their buzzer doesn't go off, they should believe that you're telling the truth. I mean, they'd know if you weren't, wouldn't they?
Damn, three replies while I was editing my last post... Whoops.Well.. If you can increase its CR so that it meets your plucky saurian archetype, then True Polymorph with held duration could get you what you want?Ah, but True Polymorph replaces all your class levels and abilities with those of the thing you're polymorphed into. In order to do your sneak attack then, you'd need to somehow earn Rogue levels (from "level 0") while a deinonychus.
Damn, three replies while I was editing my last post... Whoops.Well.. If you can increase its CR so that it meets your plucky saurian archetype, then True Polymorph with held duration could get you what you want?Ah, but True Polymorph replaces all your class levels and abilities with those of the thing you're polymorphed into. In order to do your sneak attack then, you'd need to somehow earn Rogue levels (from "level 0") while a deinonychus.
This is true, but you could trade that weakness for another if you give it a permanent antimagic aura. Then the abjuration would not be able to hit.But then the antimagic aura would cancel the magical effect of being polymorphed, ending in the same result: Mighty unmorphing power raptors.
Spells and other magical effects, except those created by an artifact or a deity, are suppressed in the Sphere and can't protrude into it. A slot expended to cast a suppressed spell is consumed. While an effect is suppressed, it doesn't function, but the time it spends suppressed counts against its Duration.
The "or a diety" part could be backstory-abused as well. "Oh no, I'm a dino given sentience and damned by a trickster god to question why, oh god why!?"Or...
Also, doesn't something have to fall more than 10 feet to take falling damage?So far as I know, falling exactly 10' should deal the 1d6 of damage... I think. There are at least two random people on the internet who agree with me, so there.
Absuing anti-magic in this way though is very dangerous.Sure, but a healer's kit can be used to restore 1d6+4(+total number of hit dice) once per short rest with the appropriate feat, and the Inspiring Leader feat's temporary hitpoints are presumably also considered nonmagical... Difficult to say, though. Goodberries are considered magic items, so they probably wouldn't do anything.
Healing becomes problematical. :P
Then I'd have to figure out the bonuses and maluses of being a dino. Slowly we draw closer to me writing up Deeno the DeinonychusBonuses:
I don't understand why you guys are bothering with True Polymorph shenanigans when you can just have use Awaken (http://5e.d20srd.org/srd/spells/awaken.htm) on a deinonychus. It's instantaneous, so it can't be dispelled, and all you need to do it is have a level 9+ druid and an agate worth 1000gp.Except that Awaken can be cast on beasts and plants that have an INT score of 3 or lower.
Ah, I see. That makes it a little bit trickier, but doable with a 15+ level wizard casting Feeblemind (http://5e.d20srd.org/srd/spells/feeblemind.htm) on it beforehand or putting an intellect devourer next to it so it can devour it's intellect and reduce it's intelligence to 0, and stopping it before it jumps into the deinonychus's skull and takes control of its body.I don't understand why you guys are bothering with True Polymorph shenanigans when you can just have use Awaken (http://5e.d20srd.org/srd/spells/awaken.htm) on a deinonychus. It's instantaneous, so it can't be dispelled, and all you need to do it is have a level 9+ druid and an agate worth 1000gp.Except that Awaken can be cast on beasts and plants that have an INT score of 3 or lower.
Deinonychus, being a clever girl, has 4.
Or you could just say that a rare more powerful version of Awaken was cast on you.Or, even better, you just happened to be dumber than the average deinonychus, allowing the spell to be cast...
We don't actually have to be able to cast it ourselves.
Buncha druids probably took pity on you... Or were just stoned on divination herbs and figured they had to jump at the chance to finally elevate a dinosaur.
I've been mulling over this very solid advice, thank you! I'm not trying to optimize but there are some good ideas here regardless, particularly the Martial Adept options for chearleading.Even what she should mechanically take as a feat. Still leaning towards Tavern Brawler - even though it's dumb, oOoO, I should probably take 20 CHA instead~It's dumb, oOoO, you should probably take 20 CHA instead.
The grappling parts of Tavern Brawler aren't even that good from a grappling perspective, and are completely useless to a non-grappler. The unarmed damage die upgrade is nice if you plan on punching people a lot, which is the real reason grapplers might pick the feat up, but if you're not an extremely punchy character it's not going to do much either.
As for proficiency with improvised weapons, you already have proficiency with improvised objects that resemble weapons you're proficient with. I mean, this is technically a "GM's option", but I'm going to go ahead and assume that your particular GM isn't the kind who would say you can't use a lump of wood or table leg as a club (which you are proficient with) because it's not exactly the kind of lumpy wood that a club is designated as being.
One thing is trying to argue that the cool rock you picked up should be treated as a double-bladed scimitar, it's entirely another to say "this whacking stick is a whacking stick".
Basically the only thing you'd directly get out of that is proficiency with using specifically your lute as a weapon, and as a dabbling musician I can only scream silently at such a decision.
EDIT: If you really want to drive home the "cheerleader" role, you could potentially take something like Martial Adept and pick up a superiority die. There's no stat bonus attached to the feat (and 20 CHA really is quite nice), but you get access to things like Commanding Strike or Maneuvering Strike, which would let you play fangirl to the Dragopal by giving them more things to do with their reaction (there's also Rally, but it's a piddling amount of temporary hitpoints and temp HP doesn't stack with any other source of temp HP, of which there are many). As far as bar room brawl applicability is concerned, most maneuvers require only a "weapon attack", which includes unarmed strikes and throwing rocks/mugs at people.
Is a bard automatically revealed by playing a song?Bardic Inspiration works with any sort of artistic performance, including pantomime. The requirement is that the target see you or hear you, after all.
What about smell? Could you do a bardic smell performance?Introducing Horvid, the Horrible Dwarven Flatulist!
I want a bard that performs exclusively flag-based acts, like the guys onoldships and air fields
I want a bard that performs exclusively flag-based acts, like the guys onoldships and air fields
They still do that.
I want a bard that performs exclusively flag-based acts, like the guys onoldships and air fields
They still do that.
What ship today even has a place to look at another place on another ship where a flag person might be waving at them? Seems easier to just use radio.
I want a bard that performs exclusively flag-based acts, like the guys onoldships and air fields
They still do that.
What ship today even has a place to look at another place on another ship where a flag person might be waving at them? Seems easier to just use radio.
I want a bard that performs exclusively flag-based acts, like the guys onoldships and air fields
They still do that.
What ship today even has a place to look at another place on another ship where a flag person might be waving at them? Seems easier to just use radio.
All of them. Especially most navy vessels. Iirc the USN often practices flag signalling to prepare for the possibility of downed communication or radio silence.
Been fiddling around with the idea of a Monk with the Magic Initiate feat picking up Hex from the Warlock list.Note: Hex doesn't give disadvantage on saving throws, only ability checks (which does include skill checks).
Originally the idea was to inflict disadvantage on saving throws
Dramatic semaphore, you say? (https://youtu.be/kqiUGjghlzU?t=63)I'm playing a conjuration wizard currently. It's still early levels, but I think Minor Conjuration is a pretty interesting ability, though I'm definitely not using it enough. I think I need to talk with my DM about how whether or not I could conjure several tiny objects of the same kind (probably not, but, now that I think of it, I could probably make a bunch of caltrops that are tied together), or if I can conjure substances (which could get crazy broken if that means I can conjure up valuable poisons). I think a lot of my problems also come from running into it's size and weight limits (so I can't conjure up hunting traps, because they're too heavy, and, while I could create some kind of cover for myself, being a halfling and therefore under 3 feet tall, I don't know how hard of a cover it could be at only 10 pounds). What I'm really looking forward to now, though, is getting to 6th level and getting free teleports.
So, what kind of wizard specialties do y'all like? Divination seems pretty snazzy, and Evocation has got some crazy nonsense as well (including a curious buff to save-based cantrips, which is uncommon but intriguing)...
Been fiddling around with the idea of a Monk with the Magic Initiate feat picking up Hex from the Warlock list.Unfortunately, hex doesn't give disadvantage on saving throws, only ability checks, which are basically skill checks (but also includes things like initiative and counterspell and dispel magic rolls). If you do want to give disadvantage on saving throws, you'll need bestow curse (http://5e.d20srd.org/srd/spells/bestowCurse.htm), though unfortunately that's a 3rd level spell, so not usable with Magic Initiate. Though it's not quite disadvantage, bane (http://5e.d20srd.org/srd/spells/bane.htm) achieves something similar, and also, nicely, works off a charisma save, which most things don't have much defense against, and it can be cast on multiple targets at once.
Originally the idea was to inflict disadvantage on saving throws versus the avatar Monk's elemental abilities, as well as the obvious synergy with Flurry... Buuut, really; even with disadvantage on the save, the bender abilities don't seem particularly great for how much they cost (level-wise and ki-wise). I'm thinking a better fit would probably just be Open Hand and giving them disadvantage on the DEX save to not be knocked prone during a flurry.
Monks having low CHA doesn't mean much since Hex is a no-save, no-roll spell. As for the two cantrips, you can go for similarly stat-independent things like Mage Hand or Prestidigitation (...or Blade Ward).
Ach! Indeed, I seem to have misread that one. Might've mixed it up with Bestow Curse or something... Hex is still pretty baller, even without imposing saving throw disadvantage. Guess that pushes the focus for Hex-dipping even further away from Elemonk, eh?Been fiddling around with the idea of a Monk with the Magic Initiate feat picking up Hex from the Warlock list.Note: Hex doesn't give disadvantage on saving throws, only ability checks (which does include skill checks).
Originally the idea was to inflict disadvantage on saving throws
-snip-I dunno, for me Conjurer primarily seems to be about A) conning merchants with a limited-time-offer lump of pure gold, and B) being able to retain concentration on conjuration spells regardless of taking damage.
oi lads pitch me some suggestions for what pact i should pick as a 5e warlock, i'm leaning towards the Blade pactDepends. Which books are you running with? With Xanathar's, a Bladelock can do just fine with the Hexblade subclass, getting up to some pretty funny damage potentials all depending on how you run with it. Pretty squishy, but at higher levels you can stack damage boosts for some good times.
Pssh, people are far too small to be able to be seen from one space ship to another!Oh, but you don't need to see the person, only the flags. Petition to make 100 km-wide semaphore flags standard equipment on spacecraft now!
Pssh, people are far too small to be able to be seen from one space ship to another!Oh, but you don't need to see the person, only the flags. Petition to make 100 km-wide semaphore flags standard equipment on spacecraft now!
we're using all the books available (i am an undying warlock)Without the Hexblade's ability to use CHA for attack/damage, Blade pact loses a lot of its shine unless you're neglecting CHA in favor of your physical stats. So, if you are dropping CHA, then I guess you might as well go Blade pact. You'll be able to use your spell slots for smiting, since your offensive spellcasting won't be particularly great (lots of buffs still work fine with low spellcasting stats though, so there's that). I'd recommend picking up Devil's Sight in any case and laying down the odd Darkness here or there. Darkness doesn't care about CHA, and that combo is one of the few really good/useful things warlocks have a claim on besides just pew pewing eldritch blast. ...and your pew-pewing of eldritch bolt won't be optimal, so, yeah.
I've got fairly solid Cha- it's my highest- but I thought I already could use it as my attack stat without being a hexblade? I'll check again, but alasNope, that's actually Hexblade-specific. Seems like it should be something native to the pact itself, doesn't it? But eh. Might be able to swing your DM around to letting you do that anyways.
oi lads pitch me some suggestions for what pact i should pick as a 5e warlock, i'm leaning towards the Blade pact
Edit: a few minutes of searching didn't turn up a specific wargaming thread, must have an unusual title if there is one.*cough*Tacticus?
Transmuters have their own niche. The signature ability of changing materials seems weak with its limited duration and short list of possible targets, but it has some interesting tricks: turn part of a ship's hull to iron before a battle. Turn a silver ingot into wood and carve it into shape. Use rocks as firewood. Break through a stone door by turning it into wood. Weaken or strengthen a bridge's supports. Wood is definitely the material to use with Minor Alchemy.Ah yeah, Transmuters... Had forgotten about them. They popped up in the Grappler's Manual as something to keep an eye on, but primarily at high levels.
The Transmuter's Stone has its own interesting effects, but it's hard to use cleverly with its strict list of uses.
Or, provided you didn't have it meld into your new form, you could even do it to yourself.Nope, Polymorph requires concentration and thus might break when you get hit. Casting it on an ally is the better use.
True, but with 20+ CON from your new form and potentially Warcaster, you stand a reasonable chance of passing most of the checks.Or, provided you didn't have it meld into your new form, you could even do it to yourself.Nope, Polymorph requires concentration and thus might break when you get hit. Casting it on an ally is the better use.
(something which is only very slightly less common in more experienced groups).
I can't wait to see how much worse it can get for them.Who needs a BBEG when you've got players willing to do the job themselves? Efficiency.
That too, yeah.(something which is only very slightly less common in more experienced groups).
I believe that you mean only slightly more common.
I actually had an entire encounter planned for my city guard game where the group could summon a devil and bind it in a contract to fight for them in exchange for a pint of blood per combat (1 Con damage per pint).
Sadly they just looted the room and destroyed the circle. Not sure why I expected anything different, to be honest.
six 1st level guardsOkay
swarmsNow what in tarnation
Oh, I've got a PhD in DM bullshittery, but I still like to be prepared in case by some miracle the plot doesn't jump off the rails, catch on fire and plough through an orphanage.That build sounds pretty buggy.
Anyway, we'll see whether the team of six plucky 1st level guards can stand up to a 4th level mite druid summoning swarms down on them while his dragonfly animal companion eats their faces off.
AH HAH--
https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/helm-of-comprehending-languages
BINGO.
That one seems to be in the base DMG item list. :D Put that sucker on the critter, and ask them politely to read the +2 int buff book.
(Or, put it on the creature, dominate them with dominate creature, then command them to activate the helm and read said book, in that order.)
The resulting animal will not be able to speak though, only understand and read. I will find a way for them to speak as well... give me a bit.
Linguist
You have studied languages and codes, gaining the following benefits:
Increase your Intelligence score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You learn three languages of your choice.
You can ably create written ciphers. Others can't decipher a code you create unless you teach them, they succeed on an Intelligence check (DC equal to your Intelligence score + your proficiency bonus), or they use magic to decipher it.
Clearly, we must train the dog until it attains one level ofbarkbard.
Then the dog can act as an intermediary between us and the raptors.
You could hit them with Tongues instead of Dominate Monster.Well, if we're assuming our hypothetical caster can convince an animal to spend eight hours a day doing memory and logic exercises (absent the puppeteer mode of Dominate Monster), then they may as well use Speak with Animals, which is a 1st level spell. Activating the helm is presumably a small task.
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Tongues#content
Does not grant ability to read, but the helm does. While under the influence of Tongues, its barking is magically intelligible to intelligent creatures. (so, it can speak, after a fashion.) It can then understand the request to activate the helm.
That is only a 3rd level spell.
Also, we really only need 1hr a day, since we have several WEEKS we can spend, and still satisfy the requirements for the book with time to spare.
I would think similar rules for playing an outsider, or a monster (like a mind flayer) could be used for playing a more mundane animal, at least to get it some character levels in a profession.That'll take at least 4th level, since RAW the only way to get a feat before then is to be a Variant Human. However, there are other options.
Once it gets a few levels, it can take a standard feat, like linguist, and then bob's your uncle.
Gives you 3 languages straight up (and should thus grant ability to talk), and 1 int.QuoteLinguist
You have studied languages and codes, gaining the following benefits:
Increase your Intelligence score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You learn three languages of your choice.
You can ably create written ciphers. Others can't decipher a code you create unless you teach them, they succeed on an Intelligence check (DC equal to your Intelligence score + your proficiency bonus), or they use magic to decipher it.
The helm is a gateway drug. :D
Which one might that be? The only long running game tales I'm aware of at the moment are Steelshod and the All Guardsman Party.I'm reading "Memories of a Stone Wall", which starts off at least somewhat pretending to be an in-character account of a Legend of the Five Rings campaign. It becomes fairly obvious fairly quickly that it's just an exceptionally long fictional greentext.
Deinonychus Cavalier 1/Ranger 1/ Druid 10It has to be at least Cavalier 3, since Fighter can't pick up archetypes until 3rd level, but otherwise good. Honestly, the Deinonychus stats are even pretty good for these classes, and you'd only have to bump up the wisdom 1 point to make it work with multiclass rules.
Tyrannosaurus Wizard 10
Deinonychus Cavalier 1/Ranger 1/ Druid 10It has to be at least Cavalier 3, since Fighter can't pick up archetypes until 3rd level, but otherwise good. Honestly, the Deinonychus stats are even pretty good for these classes, and you'd only have to bump up the wisdom 1 point to make it work with multiclass rules.
Tyrannosaurus Wizard 10
Teen Sex: The Movie!"Just a heads up for everyone: this is not a real movie; do not Google this phrase if you're at work or whatever.
Do you live anywhere even close to a big city?I live smack in the middle of one of Norway's larger cities, and I'm about 40 minutes out from the capital. It's possible there are some more spots catering to P&P in Oslo, but I'm honestly not that familiar with the area. Around here it mostly just seems to be bookstores that sideline in Settlers of Catan and Monopoly, and I certainly can't remember seeing any handbooks in those stores... At least not any relating to topics outside of knitting and camping.
Wichita hardly counts by most global standards, but it has at least 5 of them that I know of for sure.
I live in a small city (125k)
Neat but goofy thing I saw pointed out over on Giantitp. The Warforged Envoy subrace for D&D 5e can have one integrated tool of it's choice, in 5e one of the entries in the tools table on page 154 is 'Vehicles (land or water)'. So you could technically make a warforged who is also a boat or a wagon.(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/yugioh/images/8/8c/Yusei_Duel_Disk.jpg)
Honestly probably less problematic for balance than most other tools, but I imagine it could cause issues with doorways.
It can also have one of the gaming sets integrated into it, which begs questions about how integrated dice or cards work.
Problem there is the vehicles is just attached to one arm, it doesn't tuck away or get hidden or anything. It's just a boat attached to an otherwise normal warforged arm. :PI see no problem with this.
how integrated dice or cards work.
What if the chosen tool is brewer's supplies? I'm imagining that the warforged's torso is a barrel, with an appropriately placed tap...
In 5e, would you say that the ranger's/druid's favored terrain: Coast would count while the party is out at sea? Say, on a boat? It's not technically a "coast" as such, but coastal terrain seems like an extremely limited biome compared to the others, so I don't exactly see that little allowance being overpowered.
In 5e, would you say that the ranger's/druid's favored terrain: Coast would count while the party is out at sea? Say, on a boat? It's not technically a "coast" as such, but coastal terrain seems like an extremely limited biome compared to the others, so I don't exactly see that little allowance being overpowered.Seems to me, if you're in sight of land it's basically coastal sailing. I'd consider extending it beyond that to be houseruling. As for whether it's OP, depends on your campaign. If you're doing a super salty sea dog pirate campaign that only comes on land to bury treasure or exchange gold for rum, yes it's OP. If most of the adventure is on land and boats are only for transport, then definitely not OP. If you're doing a Voyage of the Dawn Treader type thing, then it depends how much the importance of terrestrial content is compared to marine encounters, but it should be fine since you can still use magical phenomena if you have something cool that requires the party to be temporarily lost.
I've been trying to limit myself to basic PHB for theorycrafting lately.There is literally no reason to do this.
Rangers aren't particulary good in PHBYeah, don't use the PHB version. They were revised for a reason.
You could probably also do a coast-favored druid of the land and flavor it as some sort of sea-witch, but that's sea-witches and not pirates.Sea witches and pirates go together at least as well as land witches and adventurers.
What about sandwiches and desert raiders? Bringing some food on a long, hot journey seems smart to me.
There is if you're feeling around for character ideas for a campaign that's only running PHB. Like, yeah, I could be using the expansions to think something up, but I'm not in a position to use any of those character concepts. Might as well keep myself in the "zone" of PHB-compatible design for the time being.QuoteI've been trying to limit myself to basic PHB for theorycrafting lately.There is literally no reason to do this.
Seems to me, if you're in sight of land it's basically coastal sailing. I'd consider extending it beyond that to be houseruling. As for whether it's OP, depends on your campaign. If you're doing a super salty sea dog pirate campaign that only comes on land to bury treasure or exchange gold for rum, yes it's OP. If most of the adventure is on land and boats are only for transport, then definitely not OP. If you're doing a Voyage of the Dawn Treader type thing, then it depends how much the importance of terrestrial content is compared to marine encounters, but it should be fine since you can still use magical phenomena if you have something cool that requires the party to be temporarily lost.
Basically, Favored Terrain: Cat.
a campaign that's only running PHB.Subtly and respectfully tell the GM not to be such a fucking grognard.
Forest, grassland, mountains, swamp, all of those are standalone environments that can be easily plopped into the path of the party.I mean, not really. Maybe it you're in a big karst mess like in south China, but even then it'll be weird to justify much.
Coast isn't really an environment, it's a transition between two environments.All environments are transitional. Forests exist between valleys, with water tables too deep to sustain trees through dry seasons, and peaks, without soil for their roots. Mountains are the transitions, usually, from one plate to another. Swamps transition between land (or channelized river) and lake. Grasslands transition between forests and deserts.
A coast It'd be like if you had a "foothills" favored terrain and got a bonus in the region between mountains and grassland, but not in either of those places on their own... Except foothills would probably still cover a larger area than "coast". In and of itself, favoring coast terrain basically means you're really good at traversing the beach. Not the ground above the beach, and not the water beyond the beach. Which is extremely limiting as far as what you can do with it.Foothills would be a fine zone, it's probably not included because they'll pretty much always be either grassy or forested, and because nobody really wants to adjudicate exactly where the foothills end and the mountain begins.
Would following a river count as "coast" terrain? That would help give it some use elsewhere, but that doesn't really seem to make sense with the name. Presumably you could count the coast of a large freshwater lake and not just be locked to saltwater transitions...That would be a house-ruled addition, since it's "coast" and not "coastal, lacustrine, and riparian". Potentially appropriate for a non-coastal campaign, although then one wonders why you'd want that favored terrain in the first place.
If we consider "coast" as also applying to journeys at sea, then it's in the same boat (ha) as the Underdark specialization: It's either massively useful because the game spends a lot of time in that terrain, or it's useless because the campaign doesn't deal with that area at all. It's not really something the DM can just "slip in" on the normal route to give the ranger a chance to be useful before moving on with the scheduled programming.I don't think it's at all unreasonable for it to be usable in coastal waters but not open ocean. Especially in a roughly medieval context before transatlantic voyages (and then even transpacific) became commonplace, taking your ship away from the coast would have been both rare and dangerous, making the ranger (who is presumably the ship's navigator) roll survival in that case is perfectly reasonable without invalidating his ability to navigate under normal circumstances.
a campaign that's only running PHB.Subtly and respectfully tell the GM not to be such a fucking grognard.
Does he know about 5etools.com?a campaign that's only running PHB.Subtly and respectfully tell the GM not to be such a fucking grognard.
Iirc it's as fresh dm. I'm getting he wants it that way for simplicity.
It doesn't show literally everything by default, and I don't see any way the information could be presented more simply than in lists.
For older editions I'd agree, but 5e only has between a fifthnand a third (depending on option type you look at) of its current content outside of core anyway.It doesn't show literally everything by default, and I don't see any way the information could be presented more simply than in lists.
The issue is more the volume than the presentation.
As for pirate types, I completely forgot another important option... Roll up a monk and play the ship's cook!That's good, because that's one of the classes that I had trouble coming up with a good idea for.
Yeah, GM's new and is feeling a bit overwhelmed keeping PHB details in his headThere's really no need to memorize all of the game's options. Even mechanics can be looked up as needed, though all of those aside from a few optional UA things are core anyway
A monk of the way of the Shadow is practically a ninja, perfect for a pirate campaign.
If you're weird and think a ranger riding a giant crab isn't awesome, you can grab a raven and call it a parrot, and also do that with any character that gets a familiar. A blood hawk also makes an interesting option. Look to the flying companions as well as the aquatic.
I'm currently playing Exalted with a Tyrant Lizard familiar (T-rex) It spits poison and has 6 limbs, but someone pointed out we're hitting a power milestone soon, at which point I'll be able to give it wings, and then I really will have a dragon as a pet.Suddenly and in no way at all related to the quoted post I am interested in Exalted.
I'm currently playing Exalted with a Tyrant Lizard familiar (T-rex) It spits poison and has 6 limbs, but someone pointed out we're hitting a power milestone soon, at which point I'll be able to give it wings, and then I really will have a dragon as a pet.what's the point of a T-Rex with six limbs? They've already got twice as many as they really need with just the four.
Depends on the limbs, I suppose... If you get to pack on a couple powerful legs on it, it'd look pretty awkward, but can't very well say no to a kicking T-Rex now can you?I'm currently playing Exalted with a Tyrant Lizard familiar (T-rex) It spits poison and has 6 limbs, but someone pointed out we're hitting a power milestone soon, at which point I'll be able to give it wings, and then I really will have a dragon as a pet.what's the point of a T-Rex with six limbs? They've already got twice as many as they really need with just the four.
Suddenly and in no way at all related to the quoted post I am interested in Exalted.
The ventrue-malkavian, thinking herself to be an ancient Babylonian named Lilith, wrote those character in blood using 6 people as canvasesClearly complete madness as no such person of that name ever existed, this can be safely redacted from your post.
Depends on the limbs, I suppose... If you get to pack on a couple powerful legs on it, it'd look pretty awkward, but can't very well say no to a kicking T-Rex now can you?I'm currently playing Exalted with a Tyrant Lizard familiar (T-rex) It spits poison and has 6 limbs, but someone pointed out we're hitting a power milestone soon, at which point I'll be able to give it wings, and then I really will have a dragon as a pet.what's the point of a T-Rex with six limbs? They've already got twice as many as they really need with just the four.
I tried looking it up, but what I found was a little confusing. Looks like that's the Chronicles of Darkness book? It also looks like there are quite a few settings / spinoffs of the World of Darkness setting and system, but is Chronicles of Darkness its own thing?Basically, Chronicles of Darkness is the new name for the second edition (which totally redid the fluff), since they made a new version of the old edition, which is now seeing active support. It used to be that people just said new World of Darkness or old World of Darkness, but since that could be confusing to new players, they went ahead and made it even more confusing.
Did White Wolf HAVE a marketting department?They sure as hell didn't have an editing department.
the new one seemed too Twilight/New Blood soap opera'y from what I read of itBut then, the old one is all Anne Rice and bodice rippers. You're not going to get a vampire RPG inspired by high literature, no matter what you do it's gonna be inspired by vampire fiction.
I looked at the chechnya thing and I don't understand the fuss, I feel like they might have been overwhelmed by ignorant American university students that don't actually know just how serious the stuff out in the world that happens outside outside the sanitised version they get from CNN or whatever, religious hitsquads (some of them following Islam, some Christianity, all over the world this kind of thing happens, it just so happens that Islam is the only one that has religious officials, the Mutaween, SERIOUSLY ACTIVELY ENDORSING AND HAPPENING RIGHT NOW witch hunting and murder with the aid of Iran government etc at this moment in history) hunting down lesbian gay bisexual trans ETC people to kill is very much a thing, and instead of sticking heads in the sand and sweeping uncomfortable truths under the rug because we're too scared to look at them, what was made world of darkness so amazing, is that it never used to shy away from turning a grisly light on the monstrous aspects of real humanity, that was the whole depth to it, the Greek tragedy of it all that ultimately the vampires in their inhumanity are all acting in ways that reflect on humanity itself. That's the real message behind it all I think and what's GOOD about it, in that it lets people look at things they might otherwise be uncomfortable to think about, experience, talk about - safely.
I appreciate that you have an opinion on these topics, but I have stated multiple times that all of these outside issues do not belong in the PNP thread, we have functional politics threads for politics, this one is for games. I also appreciate that you tried, poorly, to tie your statement to the subject, but this is not where that conversation will happen.1. Hi I'm new, I didn't know someone was shutting down discussion about that, I replied after someone else brought it up, that's a shame because these kind of things are really important to talk about, awwh. Sometimes avoiding talking about things leads to a situation where it comes to the point no one can, humanity loses...
What? No, I'm well aware of the political situation in Chechenya. I assumed there was something involving White Wolf/World of Darkness that I didn't know, however. That's why I asked for a pm instead of taking up more space in this or another thread (and making another one for just this thing seemed unnecessary).Googling "White Wolf Chechnya have me a pretty good article on it. The short version: They used the whole LGBT persecution thing as game lore by sticking vampires into it and people got mad. Also they used the word "controversial" even though it's pretty well verified, which implies that they show at least a partial support for Putin's denial in the face of the evidence. Personally, I think amateurish fucking around with modern politics is pretty on-brand, but then it's still not necessarily a good look.
I appreciate that you have an opinion on these topics, but I have stated multiple times that all of these outside issues do not belong in the PNP thread, we have functional politics threads for politics, this one is for games. I also appreciate that you tried, poorly, to tie your statement to the subject, but this is not where that conversation will happen.I don't agree that game lore, or even opinions of game lore, are "outside issues" with regards to role playing games. I also don't agree that game lore or White Wolf's choices in that arena would be on-topic in the political thread, and I don't think there's any real justification for that claim. Talking about the reality of the issue they based their event on might belong there, but nobody was doing that.
1. Hi I'm new, I didn't know someone was shutting down discussion about that, I replied after someone else brought it up, that's a shame because these kind of things are really important to talk about, awwh. Sometimes avoiding talking about things leads to a situation where it comes to the point no one can, humanity loses...
2. I appreciate you tried, poorly, to be insulting and patronising in your reply here, and imply, laughably, that I was not genuine in talking about the subject which is impossible to separate from talking about real world censorship, from a high horse that you have shown little but unwarranted self-importance (with an anime avatar, really) for a reason to talk down to people though. (No, I don't, that was really obnoxious and a great example of why the position of gatekeeper over discussions often often leads to megalomania.)
Monks have been pretty badass for a while, I saw some vanilla 3rd ed builds that were completely broken into OP nightmares, I'm not current tho' because I haven't tried 5th and have no plans to start.Oddly, that runs squarely counter to what I'd always heard about Monks. I.e., that they were squishy, underpowered, lacked good abilities, and (for those who care about such things) were a bit of a token dash of Eastern mysticism in a generic Western setting.
They've kind of always been superb evasion tanks, all the way back to AD&D.
So as I've been playing a Monk in our B-Side campaign, I've come to a certain realization: I am goddamn invincible and only getting more so with every new level. Is Monk actually the most defensive class in 5e? I wasn't expecting it but I haven't had anybody land an attack roll on me in three sessions.Monks are quite survivable in 5e, indeed. Dodge as a bonus action, Evasion and proficiency in all saving throws in the base monk path. If you're Open Hand, a touch of healing as well.
My monk definitely does not have subpar AC. I'm at 19 at level 4, and the potential for up to 23 without any magic. My damage output isn't great, but I can just stand there in a crowd of attackers burning their rounds while the rest of the party works.
Yeah, Monks got improved significantly from 3.5 to 5th. I find it odd that someone claimed they're poor against Mages, because with evasion, prof in Dex saves/high Wisdom, and their multiple attacks and mobility, they're really good at getting in close in without taking damage and then disrupting concentration.
As I recall Truenamer needed to pass a skill check to use it's powers on targets, which got harder each time they tried on the same enemy. So they were a 'caster' class who could only cast on one foe so much, made worse by the skill DC being really high to start with so even with max skillranks they often couldn't do much, and this scaling got worse as levels went up.
My monk definitely does not have subpar AC. I'm at 19 at level 4, and the potential for up to 23 without any magic. My damage output isn't great, but I can just stand there in a crowd of attackers burning their rounds while the rest of the party works.Oh? What's your stats and build like?
My monk definitely does not have subpar AC. I'm at 19 at level 4, and the potential for up to 23 without any magic. My damage output isn't great, but I can just stand there in a crowd of attackers burning their rounds while the rest of the party works.Sounds like a duel welding Kensei? They certainly have better ac then most monks.
Oh? What's your stats and build like?Lizardfolk Acolyte
Yeah, that one just doesn't make sense. Natural shouldn't stack with armor of course, but I'm not wearing armor to begin with.
Yeah, it's more of a game design decision than a realistic one. Hence why I said if your DM is okay with it you're fine.
Yeah the way AC works in 5e makes the various sources of higher AC unstackable by making them different calculations, not bonuses.Yeah, I need a different way to start my posts.
Actually 3 and 3.5 at least had a clear statement that like bonuses did not stack, so you could have only one of those two Con in the equation. I can clearly see why they would change that further, as it still leads to obscene total values.
Yeah, that one just doesn't make sense. Natural shouldn't stack with armor of course, but I'm not wearing armor to begin with.
I believe I saw a fully book compliant build that got 25 AC at level 1, forget exactly what the combination was. Apparently that one is the limit for starting AC.Damn dude. That's without a Shield spell, right?
This only emboldens my belief that NA and UD should stack. Look at that and tell me stacking is what's OP.Because that 21/22 AC is with magic - there's a cost to it, and they won't gain Evasion or proficiency in all saves either.
Personally I think a simulation of reality is a Sisyphean task and not really why I play RPGs with dwarves and talking rats.
I can understand the appeal to represent some kind of consequence for suffering near mortal injury, but honestly I'm happy to just accept that it's a game and lump it in the same box of weird that lets people shoot fire by wiggling their fingers properly.
No love for Dark Heresy/WFRP's wounds and armor system?
No love for Dark Heresy/WFRP's wounds and armor system?
The critical hit system does stand out in my mind, but how did the normal damage and armor work? If I remember, it had a damage threshold based on your toughness, right?
No love for Dark Heresy/WFRP's wounds and armor system?
The critical hit system does stand out in my mind, but how did the normal damage and armor work? If I remember, it had a damage threshold based on your toughness, right?
I don't remember how it scaled in those games explicitly, but I do know a few systems where that tends to end up making your body count for as much or more for damage reduction than armor.
Not that you can't melt their heads or whatever. It's just unnecessary.
This gives some benefit to hitting both tracks - in 3.5 DnD, it felt pointless to do anything but focus on either track.
In 3.5 D&D nonlethal damage knocks you out when it goes above your current hp,
That's really ambiguous though.They're dying, because they have -5hp and 1 nonlethal.
Say I (impotently) punch somebody in the face in the attempt to knock them out (nonlethal damage) and do 1hp of nonlethal.
Then, Dark Paladin SkullCrusher McSledgehammer comes in, and crushes their skull with his mighty hammer of darkness, and does 65hp of damage. (REAL damage)
They have 60hp of total health. Are they dead, or unconscious?
That's really ambiguous though.
Say I (impotently) punch somebody in the face in the attempt to knock them out (nonlethal damage) and do 1hp of nonlethal.
Then, Dark Paladin SkullCrusher McSledgehammer comes in, and crushes their skull with his mighty hammer of darkness, and does 65hp of damage. (REAL damage)
They have 60hp of total health. Are they dead, or unconscious?
"firing the arrows backwards"Jesus, the handwaving at your table is something. This wouldn't pass muster even in manga.
Did nonlethal damage in 3.5 have to be melee or could they be ranged?If the weapon ordinarily dealt lethal damage, it had to be a melee weapon to substitute nonlethal damage in general per RAW. Specific rules overrule that if a weapon had the option or explicitly only could deal nonlethal damage: I found the boomerang in Sandstorm and blunt arrows in Races of the Wild on a cursory run-through, though I don't think there are too many options out there. There's also a feat for spells called "Nonlethal Substitution" (Book of Exalted Deeds and Complete Arcane) that let you replace any energy type to deal nonlethal damage instead.
In our first 3.5 campaign, one of our players voiced similar complaints about an archery feat which allowed pinning people to hard objects by their clothing. This person was using playing an ogre built around attacks of opportunity, often making 6 or more attacks in each 6 second round."firing the arrows backwards"Jesus, the handwaving at your table is something. This wouldn't pass muster even in manga.
Yeah I was just about to add that with craft (fletcher) I was allowed to make nonlethal (blunt) and slashing-type arrows alongside piercing damage.Yeah if I had been playing an actual ranger or something, I would have custom nonlethal arrows handy.
Preferably with a (highly-anachronistic) boxing glove on the front, because sometimes you just need to punch someone from across the room.Yeah I was just about to add that with craft (fletcher) I was allowed to make nonlethal (blunt) and slashing-type arrows alongside piercing damage.Yeah if I had been playing an actual ranger or something, I would have custom nonlethal arrows handy.
Rangeru PUUUUNCH (https://youtu.be/1Fu6Ot9IJKI?t=4)...I'm suddenly entirely too curious if one can build a Mazinger Warforged, because reasons.
I mean, at least those things are theoretically possible.In our first 3.5 campaign, one of our players voiced similar complaints about an archery feat which allowed pinning people to hard objects by their clothing. This person was using playing an ogre built around attacks of opportunity, often making 6 or more attacks in each 6 second round."firing the arrows backwards"Jesus, the handwaving at your table is something. This wouldn't pass muster even in manga.
I could also bring up the core feat Manyshot, which isn't *explicitly* notching two arrows at once... But it's a single action and they share a single attack roll :P
it's fantasy
I could also bring up the core feat Manyshot, which isn't *explicitly* notching two arrows at once... But it's a single action and they share a single attack roll :P
it's fantasy
No, you're drawing (heh) an arbitrary line. Firing two arrows such that they fly together is just as absurd as knocking the arrowhead against the bowstring. They're both "theoretically possible", but completely unrealistic.In our first 3.5 campaign, one of our players voiced similar complaints about an archery feat which allowed pinning people to hard objects by their clothing. This person was using playing an ogre built around attacks of opportunity, often making 6 or more attacks in each 6 second round.I mean, at least those things are theoretically possible.
I could also bring up the core feat Manyshot, which isn't *explicitly* notching two arrows at once... But it's a single action and they share a single attack roll :P
it's fantasy
Oh, a level 11 ranger is expected to fire 4 times a round (3 from BAB, plus one from Rapid Shot). That sounds like what you're describing, holding several arrows and firing them in very rapid sequence. But they all get different attack rolls. A Manyshot attack sends two (or more, it actually scales) arrows at exactly the same place, whether that's a miss or hit...Hitting something (as an attack of opportunity or otherwise) once or more per second doesn't strain credibility that much. Shooting one target with two arrows from the same loose of the string is hardly a likely course of events, but it still has the possibility of occurring. If you tried to nock an arrow by its head, you'd just cut the drawstring. Even if you used a modern dull target shooting arrow (at which point, why not shoot it the right way around?) fletching exists for a reason. It's a line, but it's not that arbitrary, and even if it was there's a vast gulf there that could fit countless many lines.No, you're drawing (heh) an arbitrary line. Firing two arrows such that they fly together is just as absurd as knocking the arrowhead against the bowstring. They're both "theoretically possible", but completely unrealistic.In our first 3.5 campaign, one of our players voiced similar complaints about an archery feat which allowed pinning people to hard objects by their clothing. This person was using playing an ogre built around attacks of opportunity, often making 6 or more attacks in each 6 second round.I mean, at least those things are theoretically possible.
I could also bring up the core feat Manyshot, which isn't *explicitly* notching two arrows at once... But it's a single action and they share a single attack roll :P
it's fantasy
One of my examples is a 10ft tall ogre abusing reach mechanics and combat reflexes, I guess that wasn't clear.
No, you're drawing (heh) an arbitrary line. Firing two arrows such that they fly together is just as absurd as knocking the arrowhead against the bowstring. They're both "theoretically possible", but completely unrealistic.
Especially if you throw out stupid "non-lethal" damage and just implement HP as one's ability to still fight rather than an exact measurement if one's health, as suggested above. Shoot your enemy to 0 HP? You didn't pierce his skull, you just put an arrow straight through his knee and ended the fight.Putting an arrow through someone's knee is still pretty bad, especially if they've been taking a lot of damage earlier in the fight.
Yeah, if someone wanted to do that in a 5e game I ran, that's probably how I'd handle it
Yeah, if they want to go for ranged disabling on a regular basis, they should try to acquire some of that stuff. But barring that, the goal is to allow players to have a chance to disable folks from range, but making it somewhat risky to do so.Yeah, if someone wanted to do that in a 5e game I ran, that's probably how I'd handle it
Drow poison would work more reliably, if more expensively.
Or, in my experience in shadowrun, if you want to take someone down with a nonlethal attack, just shoot them in the head with a relatively low caliber bullet. They'll basically just shrug the lethality of it off and only take stun damage.
Head on over to Shadowrun for the best in nonlethal takedowns. All you need is a load of capsule rounds, industrial quantities of DMSO, an equal amount of narcojet (or for more fun/less realism, DMSO says "any compound"; go with LSD instead), and an automatic weapon.
Or sub the capsule rounds and automatic weapon for a supersoaker.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I think my big issue isn't the idea itself, just that the breaking point for bullet immunity isn't high tech armor but more along the lines of going to the gym for 2 hours a week.
Or, in my experience in shadowrun, if you want to take someone down with a nonlethal attack, just shoot them in the head with a relatively low caliber bullet. They'll basically just shrug the lethality of it off and only take stun damage.
I've never played Shadowrun, but this reminds me of a character I made for a Docwagon game that never happened. The character was a pilot for some kind of Osprey that had some kind of nonlethal ammo in its machinegun / autocannon mount. The idea was pretty hilarious, although if I recall it did so much nonlethal damage it somehow (sensibly) became lethal damage.
I guess if trolls were real things we could try and find out.
Shadowrun is a setting where it's totally reasonable for someone to put a gun to your head after you've soaked lethal damage into stun and gone down. You're not soaking that hit, chummer.
But you're saying to me that if I shoot a dude in the chest with a pistol a good 4-5 times that's the sorta thing he'll walk away from without any need for medical attention? Sure, we can survive gunshots in real life, and you can survive lethal damage in shadowrun. But we don't just get bruised and quickly recover from gunshots in real life.
Eww. That would smell horrible.
Eww. That would smell horrible.
And that's the beauty of it. Once the capsule rounds are filled and you've capped off your barrel of fun juice, the smell should go away. Shoot a valuable target. Even if they run some distance away, you can use your robonose to locate them.
Shadowrun's level of scientific accuracy was a source of much mirth for my old college group. Cargo cult science is a staple of *punk, of course, but Shadowrun in particular tries so hard to contrast its overt fantasy elements with serious-sounding technical jargon that you can't help but like them for trying -- and, of course, it helps that they aren't actually aiming for actual scientific accuracy.Yeah, the best science is the bit where everything that can work by real science does, but anything that doesn't is explained by magic instead. One of my favorite ideas I've seen is a space opera where the artificial gravity was simply done by enchanting the ship.
It's just a nice middle ground between the people loudly insisting that their games are so realistic and accurate (Eclipse Phase, for example) and Star Trek whateverino gibberish. Parts of it are plausible enough to suggest how they might work, and most of the rest is either explicitly supernatural or at least doesn't distract from things.
That, and it's exploitable as all get out if you play with a bunch of engineers.
I've been looking at Shadow of the Demon Lord, a dark fantasy RPG that seems to be a bit of a grab bag mechanics-wise: 4 attributes, numerous characteristics derived from those, dice rolling involved d20s and d6s, also tracks both Insanity and Corruption. It takes place in a world on the verge of Armageddon, with the titular Demon Lord causing the world to become more and more craptastic as he/she/it gets closer.
I'm hoping that someone here has tried it, and can offer their insights on how well it works. Or doesn't work.
I like that character idea! So long as the rest of the party's on board with a character that doesn't contribute in combat, it offers a really cool option for roleplaying.Well, to be fair, he can give advantage to attacks, and make his allies better at Athletics/Acrobatics. So, he's still contributing, just less contributing to damage.
So far, it's pretty much everything I hate about 3.PF.The players?
I mean, that is a pretty consistent 3.PF problem.So far, it's pretty much everything I hate about 3.PF.The players?
I like that character idea! So long as the rest of the party's on board with a character that doesn't contribute in combat, it offers a really cool option for roleplaying.Well, to be fair, he can give advantage to attacks, and make his allies better at Athletics/Acrobatics. So, he's still contributing, just less contributing to damage.
Actually, why is he a rogue, instead of a bard who's instrument is criticism and has a bunch of spells based around criticism? He could still take 3 levels of Rogue for Mastermind if you wish.
I hear they're working on patching players out of the next edition, which is going to provide the most streamlined tabletop gaming experience to date!I mean, that is a pretty consistent 3.PF problem.So far, it's pretty much everything I hate about 3.PF.The players?
I mean, that is a pretty consistent 3.PF problem.
It's roughly proportional to the popularity of the system, in my experience. When playing obscure systems, I've had great groups made from just whoever showed interest online, whereas D&D takes years to filter through people or just playing with your existing group. Of course there can be exceptions either way, but that's the tendency in my experience.I mean, that is a pretty consistent 3.PF problem.
It's a system agnostic problem. After years of seeing this problem in action, I've come to believe that the less players in a game, the better. The one-on-one games I've done over the years have frequently been among my favorites.
But I can imagine the problem is particularly significant in D&D and derivatives.
It's roughly proportional to the popularity of the systemI mean, that is a pretty consistent 3.PF problem.
It's a system agnostic problem. After years of seeing this problem in action, I've come to believe that the less players in a game, the better. The one-on-one games I've done over the years have frequently been among my favorites.
But I can imagine the problem is particularly significant in D&D and derivatives.
if you want what 5e is, but better in every conceivable fashion, you should play 13th Age
and it's bothering me that unless I choose to run, I'm going to have to play 5e.
Running into that issue myself. I'm considering whether to run a second game just to try some of these more esoteric systems out.
I was actually part of a group that was going to try out an online game of 13th Age because the DM recommended it. I started reading a little bit about it, and that's when the trouble began.
I wasn't a fan of the "What is your obvious plot hook?" Field of the character sheet. I ended up getting into a small fight with the DM about what to put there.
Then I read about "Roll to disagree with the DM" and I was already mostly lost. The DM was also pissed with me not digging the blatant plot-hookery, and that added to a bunch of other issues happening at the same time so the game ended up never getting started.
And that was my 13th Age experience! An argument about stew...
Running into that issue myself. I'm considering whether to run a second game just to try some of these more esoteric systems out.If you're looking for a fun system, I actually had a lot of fun with the Stars Without Number: Revised Edition that came out in 2017. Of course, I went the zany route, playing a backworlder who claimed he was a Wizard, lobbing grenade 'fireballs' at anything remotely threatening and getting kneed in the crotch by just about every female we came across.
To put it simply, it's like DnD except you only have like 5 HP at level 1You sound like someone who doesn't roll their first hit die and just takes maximum, like a chump.
As for 5th, I dunno... I haven't really formed a proper opinion of it yet. Sure, there's a bit of heavy-handed streamlining in places, and spellcasters are at least as broken as they've always been, but I think my main gripe so far is just how much is left intentionally vague/up to the DM.
To put it simply, it's like DnD except you only have like 5 HP at level 1You sound like someone who doesn't roll their first hit die and just takes maximum, like a chump.
REAL role-players would be playing a CON 3 Barbarian. The worse your character's stats, the better you are at RPing.
To put it simply, it's like DnD except you only have like 5 HP at level 1You sound like someone who doesn't roll their first hit die and just takes maximum, like a chump.
I was actually part of a group that was going to try out an online game of 13th Age because the DM recommended it. I started reading a little bit about it, and that's when the trouble began.I haven't played 13th Age, but, looking at the rules, it seemed like someone took D&D 4e and tacked on some narrativist rules, which really doesn't seem like it would work well.
I wasn't a fan of the "What is your obvious plot hook?" Field of the character sheet. I ended up getting into a small fight with the DM about what to put there.
Then I read about "Roll to disagree with the DM" and I was already mostly lost. The DM was also pissed with me not digging the blatant plot-hookery, and that added to a bunch of other issues happening at the same time so the game ended up never getting started.
And that was my 13th Age experience! An argument about stew...
A new supplement came out for it recently called Codex of the Black Sun (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/259700/The-Codex-of-the-Black-Sun-Sorcery-for-Stars-Without-Number) that let's you play an actually wizard. Technically, you could play one in base Revised with a part of the Deluxe rules, but that was more a conversion guide to let you transfer spell list from older D&D and OSR games.Running into that issue myself. I'm considering whether to run a second game just to try some of these more esoteric systems out.If you're looking for a fun system, I actually had a lot of fun with the Stars Without Number: Revised Edition that came out in 2017. Of course, I went the zany route, playing a backworlder who claimed he was a Wizard, lobbing grenade 'fireballs' at anything remotely threatening and getting kneed in the crotch by just about every female we came across.
Fair warning that Stars Without Number is an OSR game so it's still heavily related to Dungeons and Dragons. To put it simply, it's like DnD except you only have like 5 HP at level 1, skills are based on 2d6 instead of 1d20 (although combat is still d20s), and the AC system is more like precursors to DnD than modern versions where your AC goes down with better armor. I remember we houseruled the death rules so people didn't drop like flies, but hitting 0 HP was a very high likelihood of dying, without 10 HP you have below 0 in 3.5. Combat is very, very dangerous at level 1.Revised edition works with ascending AC, though most of the rest of your comments still apply. Also, it has foci, which are like feats, but actually very powerful and character-defining, one of which can make you basically unkillable.
Of course, being heavily related to DnD in its mechanics might make it an easier sell to game groups who are used to that. The revised edition stepped away from some of that though, I think, but I only have experience with the original.
I'm going to have a chance to try out a modern version of Traveller soon, and I can see that SWN took some inspiration from it. This should be fun, since its game mechanics are actually fairly different from the D20 system.
I think that's pretty much working as intended. One of the basic concepts of the game is that, if you happen to get into a fair fight of any sort, something has gone horribly wrong, and at that point it's the Warrior's time to since it's the only class actually made for combat.REAL role-players would be playing a CON 3 Barbarian. The worse your character's stats, the better you are at RPing.To put it simply, it's like DnD except you only have like 5 HP at level 1You sound like someone who doesn't roll their first hit die and just takes maximum, like a chump.
To be fair, that is pretty much how I played / am playing. I knew what I wanted to play going in* and just let the dice fall where they would. Ended up with a negative Constitution modifier and 4 HP at level 1, if I recall. Warriors have a special ability that lets them ignore the first hit in each combat, which is the only reason my character is still alive. That's actually kind of brokenly good. I feel bad for anyone who isn't a warrior though. Experts and psionic characters should stay away from bullets and lasers.
* There's a long story behind this but I actually wanted to play an engineer (Expert class) and let my stats tell me if I should play a warrior instead. I rolled crappy physical stats that said I should play the engineer, but another player wanted to so I caved and played a warrior instead. It worked out anyway. She lost an arm to space rabies zombies and I didn't.
So, this sent me on a little exploration of Finnish culture, and two things were revealed unto me:Yep, this is probably the most famous thing about Finnish culture. They also beat themselves or each other with brush from the woods. And I've talked to one guy who has done it with barbed wire, which just goes to show some people are crazy even by Finnish standards. But yeah, saunas are great. I recommend non-Finns try it too. It's not nice at first but after being in and out a few times it is.
1) The Finns REALLY love saunas. Apparently one of the first things the Finnish soldiers erected in the UNMEE was a sauna, a WWII field manual said that 8 hours is all that's needed for a battalion to erect saunas and make use of them, and there are no ranks in saunas.
2) Following on from the love of saunas, I found out why there are so many videos of them jumping into snow butt naked. It's traditional, once you get too hot (Saunas are apparently between 80 and 110 degrees celsius without taking into account the humidity, so I imagine it's pretty frequent) to jump into a river, lake, have a shower, or, during winter, dive into the snow.
So, this sent me on a little exploration of Finnish culture, and two things were revealed unto me:
1) The Finns REALLY love saunas. Apparently one of the first things the Finnish soldiers erected in the UNMEE was a sauna, a WWII field manual said that 8 hours is all that's needed for a battalion to erect saunas and make use of them, and there are no ranks in saunas.
2) Following on from the love of saunas, I found out why there are so many videos of them jumping into snow butt naked. It's traditional, once you get too hot (Saunas are apparently between 80 and 110 degrees celsius without taking into account the humidity, so I imagine it's pretty frequent) to jump into a river, lake, have a shower, or, during winter, dive into the snow.
If you've got any suggestions for other stuff to think about, I'd appreciate it.
I'm surprised you missed perkele; it's usually one of the first things people run into.
Wondering if anyone's got any ideas as to... well, anything given this setting.Have you considered magic yet?
Instead of using filthy coinage, convert the world's economy over to a nobler currency of meat chunks and wooden fox traps.
I believe several native American nations regarded bears as being the closest relatives of humans as well, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. I suppose there aren't that many other forest critters that regularly stand on two legs...
Nonetheless struck by their entreaties, the Heavenly King personally intervened to give each a bundle of mugwort and 20 cloves of garlic, saying that if they remained in a cave for 100 days with no company and no sunlight eating only those things, they would become human.I really hope he gave them some mouthwash as well. I'm pretty sure that you could kill people by breathing on them after living on mugwort and garlic for over three months.
QuoteThere's also evidence that they had more native iron smelting than you'd think, but that's down to local ore availability anyway.It's more a paucity of weaponry, tools, and armour specifically for fighting other people. Spears are commonplace because they can be easily used to kill animals of various kinds. Axes and knives are commonplace too, because they're very useful tools and using them as a weapon isn't all that difficult.
Also as mentioned, decent swords and such require more skill. And yeah, bog iron's gonna be damn near everywhere that there are bogs.
- Nalle: a human first name (worth noting: in modern Finnish, nalle refers to a teddy bear)
Other dangerous animals also had euphemisms, such as 'metsänkissa', "cat of the woods" for the lynx or 'paskasilmä', "shit-eye" for the wolf, but those weren't as widely used.
Also, perhaps, "(the) Glutton" for wolverine, maybe? I've thought lingered on how Unreal Word calls it that.Ahma, 'glutton', is in fact the proper Finnish word for the wolverine, not a euphemism. It's so in several other languages as well, and even its scientific name: Gulo gulo.
FAKE EDIT: aand IcyTea says all that and more while I’m writing. ’Karhu’ isn’t the taboo though I’m pretty sure, just one of the euphenisms that survived.
and building orphanages.With their bear hands?
Tarot cards are things that exist. Few games use them. I think you could probably count the number of games using a legit tarot deck on one hand even if it were missing two fingers.
So if you were going to experience a game making use of tarot cards, how would you like them to be used? Simply another funky randomizer? Special mechanics for each of the major arcana, maybe bonuses/penalties for the minor arcana based on what you're doing? Maybe an entire "solo" mechanic based around a fake tarot spread?
Something like Deadlands Classic's unified card mechanic, I think. It was never explicitly identified as such, but mad science and hucksterism's many flavors all ran on the same mechanic under the hood, using poker hands as the basic determinant of how good a card you got with special effects for jokers. Expanding that to cover all the non-numerical tarot cards would work well.
I mean, the Deck of Many Things is effectively a tarot deck...
There was an old lovecraftian RPG that dabbled quite a bit in cards, but if I remember correctly that was mostly just using wands/cups/swords/etc as character stats and difficulty ratings for challenges.
Game was actually quite intriguing, had a lot of potential to it... shame no one ever heard about it and the company went tits-up.
I think you could probably count the number of games using a legit tarot deck on one hand even if it were missing two fingers.Don't underestimate the plethora of obscurity. I imagine even if you limit it to published games, there's more than that rotting away on obscure corners of DriveThruRPG or collecting dust on forgotten shelves in European warehouses.
I would make use of the tarot for their intended purpose;allegory for what is next in the scenarioplaying games
http://www.crypticcomet.com/games/OC/Occult_Chronicles.htmlQuoteThere was an old lovecraftian RPG that dabbled quite a bit in cards, but if I remember correctly that was mostly just using wands/cups/swords/etc as character stats and difficulty ratings for challenges.
Game was actually quite intriguing, had a lot of potential to it... shame no one ever heard about it and the company went tits-up.
That sounds interesting. Do you happen to recall the name? I can probably find it myself eventually, if not.
Cool, thanks. For some reason, I was thinking you meant a tabletop RPG. Anyway, I'll definitely check it out.Yeah, my wording was rather ambiguous, but my brain hung up its coat for the weekend a few hours ago. I was lucky enough to get something that was even legible, let alone understandable.
I would make use of the tarot for their intended purpose;allegory for what is next in the scenarioplaying games
Cartomancy using tarot decks came like 3-4 hundred years later.
Tarot cards are less than 100-150~ years old.
First of all, the text for Entangle indicates that the grasp-and-hold proc only occurs once, when the spell is cast. If you weren't in the initial casting zone, break free, or otherwise don't get bound by the first blast, you'll never get grasped by that casting of Entangle. Concentrating on the spell only keeps current bindings (those who failed their original strength save and every successive save on the turns after), and maintains the area as "difficult terrain". I feel sad.Entangle is still damn good on the first casting. Most of the time you cast it, one turn is enough.
But looking beyond that, I see that the description of Wild Shape doesn't seem to make any mention of restrictions on size or Multiattack. So... A level 2 Moon Druid could just shift into a brown bear and start slinging out a Multiattack of 1d8+4/2d6+4 every round. At level 2. Twice every short rest.Brown bear has great damage, but if your DM is worth their salt, opponents will prioritize you and it doesn't really have the stats to tank hits. If you're playing with a melee character Dire Wolf is better.
Throw in 2 levels of fighter, and you can action surge for two Multiattacks in one turn, once per short rest.
Seems a wee bit crazy, if'n you ask me... Certainly crazier than Tempest Cleric 2/Mountain Land Druid 5 and maxing out a lightning bolt every so often.
Wildshape isn't even a per day though. You get 2 per short rest. Its okay without the Moon Druid subclass, but with the Moon Druid, its insanely good. I'd never multiclass into Fighter as a Moon Druid though, or at least, not before Level 10.
Actually they use a reaction, don't they?Yes, yes it does.
I was just reading a little bit about the Nocebo Effect on TV Tropes, and I have to say, it sounds like quite the thing for a Deception skilled rogue/bard to do.For as much as I love this, I wasn't aware that diplomancers needed a buff.
"The first symptoms of the poison is horrible nausea, which should be starting soon." *Deception roll*
Here's a somewhat particular question for you all:So as a disclaimer, I haven't run or played Crownfall, but here's my two copper pieces on the matter.
Some of my colleagues have approached me about running an intro Pathfinder module to pass the time during an upcoming work excursion. Of the two who have already definitely indicated their interest, one has previously played a bit of D&D and the other has vague memories of hearing about it.
We've got nine hours of transit time to kill each way, so I wouldn't mind something intended to last more than a session, and as both of them are keen Game of Thrones fans I had thought of running Crownfall. How bad an idea is that?
-snip-So as a disclaimer, I haven't run or played Crownfall, but here's my two copper pieces on the matter.
First, the main author of the scenario is Thurston 'Thursty' Hillman, who's awesome. I've run many of his other written scenarios, specifically the Pathfinder Society modules which are made for organized play, and they're always top notch. Thursty has a solid grasp of melding game mechanics with good storytelling, and I've never been disappointed with any of his published works.
Crownfall is almost universally praised for its story arc and gameplay. The premise is a good one, with royal intrigue, although if you're not a huge fan of Golarion lore you might not get as much out of the scenario.
However, if you only have two nine hour sessions, I don't know how far you'll get through it, especially if you're building characters at the table instead of prior to the game. Also, if you're spending time explaining rules to new players, that'll slow down the game too. Also, you mentioned you're in transit, so I don't know how well you can play without a tabletop to use for minis and dice.
I dunno. I can apparently get the core books for $1 (it's a little unclear on the Humble page as to which books are rulebooks, and which books are adventures or "philosophical supplements"), but... Eh?
Numenera may be a bit light in the rules department, but emotional play? No. I dislike Jenna and her Morans as much as the next person who is capable of describing a game without using the same four buzzwords again and again but, as far as Cypher games go, it's patently false.
The stats of a bear with the abilities of a big cat should do.
Wolverines are much much smaller then bears, even a small black bear is going to be an order of magnitude larger.
And Santa is definitely not a twink, so, logically...
I'm not as up on my LGBTQXYZ+ terms as I should be. Whoops. I hang my head in shame.LGBT is fine.
On the other hand, how do you know that the popular image of Santa is accurate?
I have been reading a touch of FATAL and Friends (https://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/), most notably checking up on 13th Age to see if maybe I was just biased about something the first time I was introduced to the system, and that maybe I was being unreasonable.
Nope. Still looks absolutely abhorrent to me. Time to calm my mind by reading this lovely review of the "It's Not All About Yiffing" (It Is Definitely All About Yiffing) Fursona supplemental to Pathfinder.
I have been reading a touch of FATAL and Friends (https://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/), most notably checking up on 13th Age to see if maybe I was just biased about something the first time I was introduced to the system, and that maybe I was being unreasonable.
Nope. Still looks absolutely abhorrent to me. Time to calm my mind by reading this lovely review of the "It's Not All About Yiffing" (It Is Definitely All About Yiffing) Fursona supplemental to Pathfinder.
Let me play my Kitsune in peace >:(
Shame there's no entry about Gamma World... would've liked to know more about it than "character generation is pretty great".Well, if you're willing to settle for Gamma World crossed with Basic D&D, there's always Mutant Future (https://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/ratpick/mutant-future-revised-edition/).
Getting just a bit off topic.I've had similar thoughts of running a short campaign about rescuing enslaved elves who are being forced to work in sweatshops manufacturing materials for a giant dwarf known as The Toymaker.
I've been drawing up a campaign for a few years that features the prophetic return of an ancient lich who once terrorized the world by using his dark magic to deliver toys to children each year on a particular night. Someday I'm going to run it during November and December to exemplify just how much of a grinch I really am.
Getting just a bit off topic.I've had similar thoughts of running a short campaign about rescuing enslaved elves who are being forced to work in sweatshops manufacturing materials for a giant dwarf known as The Toymaker.
I've been drawing up a campaign for a few years that features the prophetic return of an ancient lich who once terrorized the world by using his dark magic to deliver toys to children each year on a particular night. Someday I'm going to run it during November and December to exemplify just how much of a grinch I really am.
One of my players wants to make a goblin hoarder that’s a blacksmith who just welds pots and pans to himself whenever he finds moreGobbomari DnDamacy?
God help me...
One of my players wants to make a goblin hoarder that’s a blacksmith who just welds pots and pans to himself whenever he finds more
God help me...
Anyways, there's a FATAL and Friends writeup about Numenera! It's even worse than the first Numenera review I read!I was kinda interested in this review, given that I've played Numenera a little bit, and was interested to see the perspective of someone going in determined to hate it, as opposed to me, who, since I knew I'd be playing it anyway, went in determined to try to like it a bit at least but found myself not liking a lot of it. This post is kinda turned into my review of this guys Numenera review, idk if it was worth it, but here.
Presumably we're not speaking English anyway and it's close enough.
The author of this review complaining about it is completely ignoring the context of it to complain about it not having context. Pretty classic sign of a review that was written with an objective already in mind instead of actually trying to review a thing (just like the review I'm writing here!)That reminds me of an RPG.NET review (https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/15/15458.phtml) a guy did of the original version of Stars Without Number where he was so focused on how it's not exactly like Traveller that he somehow completely missed the starship rules (when people pointed this out in the forum comments, he somewhat backtracked by saying there were no prebuilt starships, which people pointed out he was also wrong about).
I found a review on FATAL & Friends for a game called Spellbound Kingdoms (https://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/nifara/spellbound-kingdoms/)*Looks at front cover
...in a complete coincidence, Facebook just threw out an ad for a Norwegian restaurant called "NIKKERS".Honestly my first thought was a raunchy restaurant like Hooters ("boobs"). Though I guess "knickers" ("underpants") is a British word...
The downside is the Goddesses Head sense her vision of possible the futures.
"Nikk" is actually a word in Norwegian, meaning "nod". So "nikker" means "nodding", as in "that person is nodding". However, even if you were to assign a plural to that ("nodders"?), -s isn't the suffix used for plurality... Possessive, maybe? Norwegian doesn't use an apostrophe with possessive 's'es, so maybe it was established by someone named "Nikker". Or, maybe this is just... Someone's fun name for a restaurant....in a complete coincidence, Facebook just threw out an ad for a Norwegian restaurant called "NIKKERS".Honestly my first thought was a raunchy restaurant like Hooters ("boobs"). Though I guess "knickers" ("underpants") is a British word...
That "FATAL & Friends" is a nice archive! It's nice hearing the thoughts hear about systems I haven't played, and I particularly enjoyed reading there about the Dune RPG. Not because it's particularly good, apparently... The writer of the review mostly complains about inaccuracy, then goes into "brief" explanations of the actual canon of Dune. I learned a lot about the setting, with bad RPG mechanics as comic relief. I might have weird tastes.Yeah, they kind of remind me of the old WTF, D&D!? articles (https://www.somethingawful.com/dungeons-and-dragons/) (which isn't too surprising, since they both come from Something Awful), in that they might be somewhat exaggerated and you should probably take them with a grain of salt, but they give a decent enough impression of systems you may not be familiar with.
I... I actually kinda wanna play FATAL now, if such a thing is even possible. If only to attempt to urinate and then fail my skill check.
How does a DBZ RPG even workSessions end mid-combat
Shouldn't it take like four sessions to do anything
Players yell at each other for several hours then the GM arbitrarily decides on a winner. Repeat.So, a politics simulation.
Why would she? Mirrors isn't the only way to beat Medusa. Sticking a fork in her heart works just as well, and now she's also vulnerable to sunlight, so now you can also defeat her by using your mirror to shower her with sunlight.Yeh, but just try and stick a fork in someone's heart without looking at them. It's "Pin the Tail On the Donkey: Ironman Mode".
Technically mirrors aren't even a way to defeat Medusa. Perseus just used his shield as a mirror to see where to swing his sword without getting turned to stone. Then, too, vampires' reflections are only supposed to not show in silver, so a polished shield would still work.S'pose that's true, unless the shield was silvered for some reason... Was gonna make a comment about trying to see usable reflections in something like bronze, but then we've got Bob Munden over here shooting targets via the reflection in an engagement ring... So eh.
Or a non-silvered mirror (which is, IIRC, what most mirrors are nowadays). :pNowadays, yes, but that kind of technology wasn't really big in her days.
Yeah, I personally don't see the appeal of playing an objectively terrible game. I'd much rather play a game like deadEarth or World of Synnibarr, where, sure, the rules are terrible, but the core idea sounds fun.Just started reading about Synnibar, I've only just gotten past the class review of the Alchemist and how 80% of its abilities don't work. I'm digging the fact that a half-decent roll can apparently put you into a strength class that lets you "throw a 370 pound object at 243 miles per hour a distance of 6,660 feet, and the object will take its weight in pounds in damage". But I dunno, it doesn't seem quite as inherently bogged down as FATAL with unnecessary skills and checks, at least not yet...
I'm digging the fact that a half-decent roll can apparently put you into a strength class that lets you "throw a 370 pound object at 243 miles per hour a distance of 6,660 feet, and the object will take its weight in pounds in damage".
How does a DBZ RPG even work
Oh hey, on the subject of obscure RPGs, I would recommend looking up Sailor Moon's take. It's surprisingly robust.
I don't believe the whole "only silver mirrors" thing anyway. Sounds 110% like a factoid that gets spread around because everybody loves to be a betterknower.Sounds to me like something somebody wrote into their setting because they thought it was super elegant, and in-setting said something to the tune of "nobody knows this but it's super true" and then readers thought that was a general statement outside of the game, or just spread it because they also think it's elegant. It's hard to imagine that myths from a time when everything was silvered would specify that. Especially since silver isn't a super common theme in vampire mythology to begin with.
I don't believe the whole "only silver mirrors" thing anyway. Sounds 110% like a factoid that gets spread around because everybody loves to be a betterknower.Sounds to me like something somebody wrote into their setting because they thought it was super elegant, and in-setting said something to the tune of "nobody knows this but it's super true" and then readers thought that was a general statement outside of the game, or just spread it because they also think it's elegant. It's hard to imagine that myths from a time when everything was silvered would specify that. Especially since silver isn't a super common theme in vampire mythology to begin with.
The main thing I took away from it, which was surprisingly good and necessary advice for me over the years, is that you can't run a game for both good guys and bad guys at the same time. Honestly, I'm surprised the game even floated the idea of running games for characters from the Negaverse (or whatever it was called) at all.
I don't believe the whole "only silver mirrors" thing anyway. Sounds 110% like a factoid that gets spread around because everybody loves to be a betterknower.Sounds to me like something somebody wrote into their setting because they thought it was super elegant, and in-setting said something to the tune of "nobody knows this but it's super true" and then readers thought that was a general statement outside of the game, or just spread it because they also think it's elegant. It's hard to imagine that myths from a time when everything was silvered would specify that. Especially since silver isn't a super common theme in vampire mythology to begin with.
Well, in a way, vampires weren't super common in vampire mythology to begin with, at least not in the sense that we're familiar with them now; the common traits of vampires (undead, sucks blood, looks like an attractive human under certain circumstances) weren't all really found in the same mythological creature prior to Dracula. Probably the antecedent of the silver thing was the use of silver coins soaked in blood to repel the Albanian shtriga, although these were blood-sucking witches, and interestingly the dhampir, from the same region, lack a shadow.
On another note, anyone have experience with Atlantis: The Second Age?
Knowledge of the orcish tribes and their history as a species would let you use that historical and biological knowledge when applicable, as well as granting a deeper understanding of their essential banes, letting you tailor a word of power to specifically target (and thereby have greater effect on) those sorts of orc, avoiding "friendly fire", so to speak.There's your answer: knowledge of enemy weaknesses to boost the output of the entire party, and a palette of varied magics to exploit those weaknesses. Make the knowledge skill use into a support ability and you get a useful class that can't nevertheless end encounters on its own.
EG- "Fire domain knowledge", "Lightning domain knowledge", ... etc with say each being a gradient from 0 to 10. For each spell to be learned, give them a requisite domain requirement. (EG, "Needs 10 fire, 5 matter, and 2 lighting domain knowledge to learn.") Maybe spice it up with a general "Applied channeling" domain as well, so you can overload spells safely. You could tie intrinsics like INT to gaining additional domain knowledge points as you level up. (EG, "No, you can't up fire to 10, because your INT is too low to get to that tier.", etc.)
-snip-Atlantis: The Second Age's mechanics sound remarkably a lot like Talislanta's.
EG- "Fire domain knowledge", "Lightning domain knowledge", ... etc with say each being a gradient from 0 to 10. For each spell to be learned, give them a requisite domain requirement. (EG, "Needs 10 fire, 5 matter, and 2 lighting domain knowledge to learn.") Maybe spice it up with a general "Applied channeling" domain as well, so you can overload spells safely. You could tie intrinsics like INT to gaining additional domain knowledge points as you level up. (EG, "No, you can't up fire to 10, because your INT is too low to get to that tier.", etc.)
Isn't that basically how Mage: The Awakening worked?
While idly perusing some Numenera supplements, I settled in to read Into the Outside. Found an artifact that I figured some of you might get a kick of.
Since there's no kill quite like overkill, I'd like to present the Existence Knife, an artifact that is level 10 (4 above max) and has a blade on it. You decide this dude needs to die. Not only do you want him to die but you want his line to end before it started. If the dude you stabbed isn't of a higher level than [max_level+4], the knife does timey wimey stuff and stabs one of his ancestors instead. You're in the year a billion. I know humans weren't around for the entirety of that, but there are still a gaggle of ancestors to choose from. Better hope it doesn't accidentally snag genetic Adam or Eve. Better also hope you're not distant relatives.
Cut the Existence Knife out of your character sheet with a real knife.What if your character sheet is in a digital format?
Cut the Existence Knife out of your character sheet with a real knife.What if your character sheet is in a digital format?
Cut the Existence Knife out of your character sheet with a real knife.What if your character sheet is in a digital format?
sed -i '/the Existence Knife/d' *
Cut the Existence Knife out of your character sheet with a real knife.What if your character sheet is in a digital format?
sed -i '/the Existence Knife/d' *
But what if they use windows? Do you expect them into install the ubuntu subsystem just to use command line driven string editing tools? :P
Heh, if only Numenera had blindness mechanics... Or exhaustion levels.
Or damage dice.
Heh, if only Numenera had blindness mechanics... Or exhaustion levels.
Or damage dice.
Know how I can tell you've never read the book?
4. DO NOT MESS WITH TIME. You appear and steal the Existence Knife out of your own hands before vanishing. That was a close one. You will regain the knife only when you reach this part of your repaired future.
You sound as if you expect everyone to already know about it.
What happened?
RPGs don't exist in a vacuum.Uhh, Spelljammer?
Not so! There are mentions of Spelljammer ports in Planescape AD&D materials. I see your spaceships from my multidimensional not!Victorian London.RPGs don't exist in a vacuum.Uhh, Spelljammer?
But... they're in space.Not so! There are mentions of Spelljammer ports in Planescape AD&D materials. I see your spaceships from my multidimensional not!Victorian London.RPGs don't exist in a vacuum.Uhh, Spelljammer?
So we can put Jimmy down as a solid "let the discussions of expanded matters run mostly free."
Chris Fields, of course, is exclusively a force for good in the universe.
Chris Fields (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?author=Chris%20Fields)Dammit, I knew I should've included the "A for Abomination"... Curse you generically-named people and your shared names!
Select your character’s species from one of 44 distinct choicesHoly fuck. First you had my attention, now you have my consternation.
You know, on the point of violence vs. heroism, it's kind of funny but I rarely run a game of D&D where killing is even common. It happens but rarely is it as straight forward as: there is an orc, it is evil, kill it for xps. Far more often my players end up fighting humans (or elves, maybe gnomes) with different goals to their own, not because they are evil. They do sometimes come up against 'savage' humanoid enemies, but they only occasionally have to kill them, often they can disable a few key guards and sneak by. Every once in a while tho' they'll have to unload on a large group of hostiles (often in the form of ambush) and there will be substantial bodycounts. I tend to think of that as being more 'realities of conflict" than good or evil. Sometimes those acts are good or evil, but that is rarely obvious to the players.
RIFTS, on the other hand, generally devolves into straight up overblown ultra-violence. Eventually the collateral reaches idiotic levels and you just have to accept it.
I wonder if removing gold as XP and NPC morale checks makes more killing in newer D&D than AD&D.
oh no we're not talking about zak are we
Speaking of osr anybody played boot hill before? Gygax made a western about the same time as D&D and the 3rd edition is back in print. Great shootout mechanics and a fun minimalist campaign system, thinking about running an outlaw campaign for my irl group, i know they like westerns
Octobook offers them as a PC race? That makes a bit more sense as to why they had a book dedicated to octopuses...Spoiler: Kagus SpiderMan (click to show/hide)
Can you build Bob Munden as a character?
Speaking of osr anybody played boot hill before? Gygax made a western about the same time as D&D and the 3rd edition is back in print. Great shootout mechanics and a fun minimalist campaign system, thinking about running an outlaw campaign for my irl group, i know they like westerns
Would you recommend either of those for a Space Western campaign?
More like space opera western, not set on our Earth. Just a far future where there just happen to be oddly close historical parallels to the Wild West.
Quote from: Vexith RPGSelect your character’s species from one of 44 distinct choicesHoly fuck. First you had my attention, now you have my consternation.
Also, one of my D&D friends, when I mentioned possibly running a Stars Without Number cyberpunk oneshot, mentioned that he'd really be interested in a cyberpunk game that accurately captures the essence of William Gibson's Neuromancer. Not having read the book myself, does anyone know of a game that might work for this?
In unrelated news, it looks like I'll be playing Call of Cthulhu with some of my regular D&D group this weekend. I'll be playing a 48 year old archaeologist from either Yorkshire or Liverpool (not nailed down, whichever accent I like better) who's good at punching and shooting pistols (and also some other skills that are less useful for archaeology) and has like 13% skill in photography (he's passionate about it but not very experienced).We played tonight, and I decided to make my guy Canadian in the end, calling him Vancouver Steve. Because the trait or whatever I rolled said I believe in science first and foremost, I decided that, even though he has a decent understanding of the occult, it's purely an academic understanding, and he doesn't really believe in the stuff.
Technoir is pretty cool but I think in style is really more noir than tech. I guess it depends on how the campaign is run on what you emphasize, but the rules are really designed to facilitate noir adventures in a high-tech setting.
I think there's a list, but you're free to come up with logical adjectives, with the key word being logical. The GM is allowed to challenge adjectives that don't make sense or are outside the scope of the action (and players are allowed to challenge the GM if he places an excessive or illogical adjective). You can give dead to henchman-type characters on your first adjective, but tougher characters and players need a longer path to putting that adjective on them, and killing them puts them on the plot map (the main selling point of the game. instead of adventures they publish "transmissions," which is some exposition about the adventure venue and a 6x6 grid of characters, locations, objects, factions, etc. and you generate the plot during play by rolling dice on that table, so even the GM is learning about the conspiracy as the game goes). So you kill a corrupt cop but then he ends up on the plot map and connections are drawn, which creates new consequences for doing so.
Also because presumably everyone is interested in creating a fun story, not exploiting ambiguities in the rules to win automatically, and if that's what your players want to do you can shunt them off to the nearest pathfinder table.
I think there's a list, but you're free to come up with logical adjectives, with the key word being logical. The GM is allowed to challenge adjectives that don't make sense or are outside the scope of the action (and players are allowed to challenge the GM if he places an excessive or illogical adjective). You can give dead to henchman-type characters on your first adjective, but tougher characters and players need a longer path to putting that adjective on them, and killing them puts them on the plot map (the main selling point of the game. instead of adventures they publish "transmissions," which is some exposition about the adventure venue and a 6x6 grid of characters, locations, objects, factions, etc. and you generate the plot during play by rolling dice on that table, so even the GM is learning about the conspiracy as the game goes). So you kill a corrupt cop but then he ends up on the plot map and connections are drawn, which creates new consequences for doing so.
Also because presumably everyone is interested in creating a fun story, not exploiting ambiguities in the rules to win automatically, and if that's what your players want to do you can shunt them off to the nearest pathfinder table.
If they wanted a fun story they'd be reading books, not playing games.
I apply the the adjective "flummoxed" on Cthulhu
I think there's a list, but you're free to come up with logical adjectives, with the key word being logical. The GM is allowed to challenge adjectives that don't make sense or are outside the scope of the action (and players are allowed to challenge the GM if he places an excessive or illogical adjective). You can give dead to henchman-type characters on your first adjective, but tougher characters and players need a longer path to putting that adjective on them, and killing them puts them on the plot map (the main selling point of the game. instead of adventures they publish "transmissions," which is some exposition about the adventure venue and a 6x6 grid of characters, locations, objects, factions, etc. and you generate the plot during play by rolling dice on that table, so even the GM is learning about the conspiracy as the game goes). So you kill a corrupt cop but then he ends up on the plot map and connections are drawn, which creates new consequences for doing so.
Also because presumably everyone is interested in creating a fun story, not exploiting ambiguities in the rules to win automatically, and if that's what your players want to do you can shunt them off to the nearest pathfinder table.
If they wanted a fun story they'd be reading books, not playing games.
I apply the the adjective "flummoxed" on Cthulhu
Who hurt you, Scriver? Who applied persistent "abused gamer syndrome" to you?
I'll play a chef and apply the fat adjective to any npc I encounter.
Yeah, I'd say that the system seemed abusable, but there doesn't really seem to be much of a system to abuse in the first place.
Narrative-heavy systems are not for everyone or every group. If you look at the game as a contest against the DM that you have to win, of course you’ll find ways to abuse it. You don’t have to force yourself to play these kind of games if they’re out of your comfort zone - I like DnD and crunchy RPGs a lot too, maybe more than narrativeish games, but I can dig both.
Crikey. No. Hard pass, no.
More pages doesn't necessarily mean more value, it typically just means worse editing. Especially if that's for the core system.Crikey. No. Hard pass, no.
But that's 10 cents per page!
And since it's Monte Cook, it'll somehow manage to be bizarre without being interesting.
Hey, in a world where there are goblins, elves, dwarves, and kobolds, but humans don't exist, what words would they use instead of "humanoid", "humane", Etc?
Note that, while kin means family, this does not necessarily mean that the races get along like they're related. Unless your family is particularly prone to violence, I suppose.Well, I mean... Whose isn't?
Yeah, this is pretty basic as principles of narrative design go. Throwing someone off the deep end is a very risky tool to begin with, and there needs to be relatable elements that resonate with the audience to form a foundation for deviation. Although in my opinion, Monte Cook's settings also have the issue that his changes and details just aren't that emotionally engaging to begin with. Like, I peaked at his "How to Play Invisible Sun" video (which takes twenty minutes to tell you anything about how to play Invisible Sun) and his path of suns concept is cool, the idea that the sun changes the nature of reality, but then he describes it and it's basically just planeshifting, and they're all generic, even from the first most foundational one sounds basically like just the city of Kekkai Sensen (Blood Blockade Battlefront) with the numbers filed off. And that was only ever supposed to be an almost cartoony backdrop to a very street level type story. Compare it to something like the Tattered Realms (Song of Swords setting) which is basically opposite; on the face of it, it's a medieval type setting but with elves and dwarves and stuff. And then you look at every detail and every detail is strange. From little things like the dwarves (They drink a lot. Why? Because it dulls the sound of the drums. What drums? The drums in the deep. The drums that call them to dig deeper and deeper, even setting aside food and sleep as they get deeper and it gets louder. Who plays those drums? Why does it pull the dwarves downward? How did dwarves get here in the first place, since they're not chaos and they're not offshoots of the basic human/elf race? Those are all questions to explore in play, all from the basic idea that dwarves drink a lot.) to the fact that the Sun, who is a god, takes a day off every month to hang out at his Ziggurat in the not!Roman empire with his paladins, who are saintly dudes that respawn and then his divine light isn't protecting the world and things can get in. Of course, that's a setting that was a labor of love for over half a decade, but still, something that's going to be heavily weird and interesting needs that solid foundation.And since it's Monte Cook, it'll somehow manage to be bizarre without being interesting.
Having read the preview, that's more or less what we've got: it just throws weirdness at you until you go numb to it, then brags about how cool and surreal it is, but it never quite hits the mark because there's nothing normal to contrast it with. It's all so alien that it becomes boring -- and that's a huge problem in an RPG, because it means the players are deprived of common reference points to figure out what they can do in the game.
See, if you were to sit down at my table and I handed you a sheet and said "You're playing an archer. There's a dragon attacking the town you're in. What do you do?" you have at least some existing sense of what you can do; there's buildings to take cover in, the thing flies and breathes fire, and your best bet for fighting it is probably with a bow. It may not be clear mechanically how to take cover or draw a bow, but there's at least a clear starting point for what you might want to do in the narrative. If, on the other hand, I tell you you're playing a vislae who's had their vertula kada misaligned from their Crux Qualia by the !8'^_^'@#-287 [a dozen other new terms] you're going to need explanations of all of those before you can figure out if that's even good or bad, let alone what to do about it. That's going to suck up time like crazy, and the explanations here only raise more questions -- which sounds great, but it's still just me talking. There's no gameplay yet.
EDIT: Incidentally, the physical version costs $252. It has a statue in it. I have no earthly idea who needs 30 pounds of stuff to play an RPG. I also don't want to know who needs to spend $216 more to have a campaign written for them (well, "customized" for them.)Yeah, it wouldn't be a terrible price if it was the pie in the sky collector's edition for people who want everything. But as the lowest level of potential buy-in, it's ridiculous. Even by the standards of board games it's ridiculous; that physical version is a hundred bucks over Gloomhaven, itself already criticized for a high cost at launch, and that gives you a similar number of tokens and bits of paper, and far more models and handouts, the only thing it has less of is required reading, since Monte Cook apparently couldn't sum his rules up in less than 600 pages. And that's for a board game, RPG players are accustomed to be able to buy in at a minimal level and spend on improving the experience or not as they go along.
Kin (and Pillars of Eternity's 'kith') are also fair options.I don't really agree. Kin would normally refer to someone you can draw a clear line of blood to, not someone as distant as being a whole nother species, even if you share ancestry from a phylogenetic perspective. I guess it can be used in a metophorical sense ("that race is kin to ours" but that's the same way that you might refer to a country next to your own as a neighbor; it only makes sense in specific usage cases) and "kith" just means people you're close with in a non-blood sense, so if you have enemies or rivals of your same species, it wouldn't apply to them, and even in a sense of everyone banding together against the world, it really doesn't make sense to include all sapient races together in this regard. I like "folk", especially if there's some reason to contrast it to critters or inanimate things, but just going with "people" seems the most straightforward choice.
Seems a bit too close to slurry memery in my opinion. Words like "whiteoid" may mostly be used banter in real life but they're still edgy enough that I wouldn't be surprised to hear about people getting offended by them. It's also not that far from the old pseudo-biological classifications of "negroid" and "mongoloid", which have a more substantial history of discrimination.Hey, in a world where there are goblins, elves, dwarves, and kobolds, but humans don't exist, what words would they use instead of "humanoid", "humane", Etc?
[race doing the classifying]oid, presumably. Elfoid, dwarfoid, etc.
Hey, in a world where there are goblins, elves, dwarves, and kobolds, but humans don't exist, what words would they use instead of "humanoid", "humane", Etc?That's not what "humane" means. It means similar to humans specifically in the sense of having human decency or compassion, it which regard it is opposite to "bestial" or "animalistic" but perhaps most directly opposite to "ogrish". One of those common errors, like confusing "moral" with "morale".
Kin (and Pillars of Eternity's 'kith') are also fair options.I don't really agree. Kin would normally refer to someone you can draw a clear line of blood to, not someone as distant as being a whole nother species, even if you share ancestry from a phylogenetic perspective. I guess it can be used in a metophorical sense ("that race is kin to ours" but that's the same way that you might refer to a country next to your own as a neighbor; it only makes sense in specific usage cases)
Seems a bit too close to slurry memery in my opinion. Words like "whiteoid" may mostly be used banter in real life but they're still edgy enough that I wouldn't be surprised to hear about people getting offended by them. It's also not that far from the old pseudo-biological classifications of "negroid" and "mongoloid", which have a more substantial history of discrimination.
Yes... How did I cause you to think I did not know what humane meant? After all, you are right now admitting that it has roots in the word human, so why would a world without humans have that exact word?Hey, in a world where there are goblins, elves, dwarves, and kobolds, but humans don't exist, what words would they use instead of "humanoid", "humane", Etc?That's not what "humane" means. It means similar to humans specifically in the sense of having human decency or compassion, it which regard it is opposite to "bestial" or "animalistic" but perhaps most directly opposite to "ogrish". One of those common errors, like confusing "moral" with "morale".
Apparently, a master tailor, relationship therapist and cook, since I keep rolling super high when I really don't need to.Oh yes, a fighter in a past campaign I played had this happen as well. Despite having only an average intelligence, she kept rolling twenties in all sorts of "lore" rolls, knowing intricate details about the many magical beasts we met in our journeys. The player wrote this in to her backstory by saying that she owned a creepy mask that only she could hear talking in her childhood and it told her "bedtime stories". Apparently, a hag had decided to be her godmother for Oghma knows what reason.
While you're raging, having 0 hit points doesn't knock you unconscious.
If damage reduces you to 0 hit points and fails to kill you, you fall unconscious.
--
When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, the attacker can knock the creature out. -- The creature falls unconscious and is stable.
loopholeThe loophole to that loophole is to have a friendly deal the "killing" blow on you, reducing you to 0 hitpoints before the Tarrasque can. Because this is a sensible system.
Here's the loophole to that:I am pretty sure the Tarrasque would be too rage-filled for that. Also, I don't see how that is a loop hole. Both of those are dependent on having 0 hit points being able to knock you unconscious, which they can't do to the zealot. This just seems like munchinistic examination of the wording of rules, but in the other direction.
"Intrigued by this seemingly-infinite source of delicious blood, but annoyed by your pointy stick, the Tarrasque decides to subdue you for further study. It plinks you with its massive claw. As it reduces you to 0 hit points, it decides to knock you out. As you fall unconscious, your rage ends just before the Tarrasque strikes another curious claw into you..."Quote from: Zealot rulesWhile you're raging, having 0 hit points doesn't knock you unconscious.Quote from: Damage rulesIf damage reduces you to 0 hit points and fails to kill you, you fall unconscious.
--
When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, the attacker can knock the creature out. -- The creature falls unconscious and is stable.
The former is a state-based effect, the latter is a move by an actor. The real question is whether or not the Tarrasque is intelligent enough and not too rage-filled to consider dealing a knockout.
Green Text as in, the "I told a story" type pages seen on Reddit and pals. It commonly gets used to tell interesting yarns from tabletop RPGs, and this would be a very interesting one indeed.In addition to what Kagus said, most of those stories aren't even in a greentext format.
Example:
https://imgur.com/gallery/eJCr7
Picky picky.You might as well just say "it'd make a good story". It would. An epic barbarian biting his way out of a tarrasque would be a great story, if told well.
The actual point was not the green text nature, but that it was a story one would expect to find in such a venue. Focus people, focus.
I've got a character concept rolling around in my head that I felt like jotting down.
Basically I wanted to create as close to a stereotypically Canadian 'nice guy' as I can. I figure a Lawful Good something or other with a habit of dressing in red check flannelette shirts, whose father is a lumberjack 'up north,' who cooks treats for the party such as pancakes and bacon for breakfast, apologizes regularly for inconveniencing people, and constantly ends his sentences in 'eh?'
I think that'd be a fun stereotype to explore in an RPG.
In a somewhat sinister spin, their creed is all about following and adapting to the laws of the land, so they might liberate slaves in one abolitionist kingdom only to enslave them right back again if they crossed into the lands of a tyrannical and evil slaver empire.Be warned, that alignment is also known as Lawful Stupid and may lead to the other players (not characters) yelling at you.
In a somewhat sinister spin, their creed is all about following and adapting to the laws of the land, so they might liberate slaves in one abolitionist kingdom only to enslave them right back again if they crossed into the lands of a tyrannical and evil slaver empire.Be warned, that alignment is also known as Lawful Stupid and may lead to the other players (not characters) yelling at you.
Were it the hero dudes or the veggies that died?
about dice sacrifice
https://imgur.com/gallery/eJCr7
Here’s a good discussion prompt: What’re some of favorite one-liners you or your group memebers have spouted?
Mine would probably be:
“Gee, thanks, but I’d rather not be in the employ of the god of the MENSTRUAL CYCLE”
-My Lawful Evil Warlock, after being offered a position at the side of the BBEG who was attempting to become the god of blood. I was very quickly focused down in the ensuing fight.
Or maybe:
“My Cleric can beat up your Cleric”
-Me, a War Cleric, to the Healbot Cleric’s player.
Actually even more than that, as there's now only one "kit" per class still listed, all the others have been removed despite appearing in the core book.That's because there's only one subclass per class in the 5e Open Gaming License.
Ah well. I guess there's been a bit more cracking down on copyright stuff.
I hate swingy combat. Four hero dudes VS. 10 veggie bois. 45 minutes later, they're all dead. Every roll was sub 10, except for my one 18 in the previous fight that missed because AC 20 lel.How low is your attack bonus that you can't hit a 20 on a roll of 18? Sounds like a personal problem to me.
Every hit took a vegeboi down, but the hits were few and far between.
I've got a character concept rolling around in my head that I felt like jotting down.Adam Koebel (an actual Canadian and co-creator of Dungeon World) basically played that character in a Dungeon World one-shot last Christmas (https://youtu.be/MgWbDhgOt0g).
Basically I wanted to create as close to a stereotypically Canadian 'nice guy' as I can. I figure a Lawful Good something or other with a habit of dressing in red check flannelette shirts, whose father is a lumberjack 'up north,' who cooks treats for the party such as pancakes and bacon for breakfast, apologizes regularly for inconveniencing people, and constantly ends his sentences in 'eh?'
I think that'd be a fun stereotype to explore in an RPG.
I hate swingy combat. Four hero dudes VS. 10 veggie bois. 45 minutes later, they're all dead. Every roll was sub 10, except for my one 18 in the previous fight that missed because AC 20 lel.How low is your attack bonus that you can't hit a 20 on a roll of 18? Sounds like a personal problem to me.
Every hit took a vegeboi down, but the hits were few and far between.
That's awesomegreats, but wouldn't it be hard for the player to read the dice after swallowing?
trust our GM.Im sorry, what did you just say? I'm afraid I don't understand this random collection of letters in that post.
Hey, that reminds me, can a True-Polymorphed person use the Legendary Resistance, Legendary Actions, and Lair Actions of his new form?No
Question. Can druids shapechanve into say elves or dwarves?In 3.5 at least (dunno about 5e druids), no. Wild shape only includes animals (and eventually, elementals). And in DND terms humanoids are not animals :P I kinda bet there's a splat-book solution, though, since I'm pretty sure Book of Exalted Deeds puts some magical beasts on the list (with a feat).
You make yourself—including clothing, armor, weapons, and equipment—look different. You can seem 1 foot shorter or taller, thin, fat, or in between. You cannot change your body type. Otherwise, the extent of the apparent change is up to you. You could add or obscure a minor feature or look like an entirely different person.I'm not entirely sure what they mean by "body type" there, considering what is specifically allowed, but it's probably "race". In the DND sense- I assume you can change skin color. It seems like an odd restriction on a spell which physically morphs your entire body *and your equipment*, that you can't extend your ears a bit, but w/e. I have to wonder whether gender is considered "body type" too.
Question. Can druids shapechanve into say elves or dwarves?In 3.5 at least (dunno about 5e druids), no. Wild shape only includes animals (and eventually, elementals). And in DND terms humanoids are not animals :P I kinda bet there's a splat-book solution, though, since I'm pretty sure Book of Exalted Deeds puts some magical beasts on the list (with a feat).
3.5 stuff5e is similar for most of this, at least with Circle of the Moon subclass Druids. Except in 5e its Alter Self instead of Disguise Self and they get it at 14th level.
If you use the sorcerer's Twinned Spell when casting True Polymorph, are both of them turned into the same thing, or could you turn yourself into a red abishai and someone else into a ancient white dragon?I'd imagine so, but your minimum level is 20 to be able to do that.
Technically, only your targets need to be that level. You just need to be 17th level (and it's possible the abishai only needs to be 19th).If you use the sorcerer's Twinned Spell when casting True Polymorph, are both of them turned into the same thing, or could you turn yourself into a red abishai and someone else into a ancient white dragon?I'd imagine so, but your minimum level is 20 to be able to do that.
True Polymorph is not a Sorcerer spell, so you need to go 3 levels into Sorcerer and then 17 into Bard or Wizard to Twin it. You'll also have to give up some spell slots to have the sorcery points to do it.Technically, only your targets need to be that level. You just need to be 17th level (and it's possible the abishai only needs to be 19th).If you use the sorcerer's Twinned Spell when casting True Polymorph, are both of them turned into the same thing, or could you turn yourself into a red abishai and someone else into a ancient white dragon?I'd imagine so, but your minimum level is 20 to be able to do that.
I would personally rule that the same spell can't have two different effects if it's twinned, but I've got the feeling this an edge case that doesn't pop up very often.So if a sorcerer twinned Chromatic Orb, you would rule they had to do the same type of damage on both targets? Its your table, but I don't really see what the benefit of doing that is.
True Polymorph is not a Sorcerer spell, so you need to go 3 levels into Sorcerer and then 17 into Bard or Wizard to Twin it. You'll also have to give up some spell slots to have the sorcery points to do it.
IIRC, Chromatic (everythings) are random in their effects... There being different effects for 2 targets is kinda expected. Polymorph requires the caster to make a choice in the outcome, which chromatic (anythings) do not.Chromatic Orb specifies that the caster choose the damage in 5e. It may have done something different in other editions though.
That's the real question here. Can they make two elective choices, with 2 targets-- OR-- must they make a single choice, applied to both targets?
The multiclassing rules beg to differ and specifically rule that out.True Polymorph is not a Sorcerer spell, so you need to go 3 levels into Sorcerer and then 17 into Bard or Wizard to Twin it. You'll also have to give up some spell slots to have the sorcery points to do it.
The way that gaining wizard spells is worded is that your first wizard level gets you a bunch of 1st level spells, and every level after you can gain 2 new wizard spells that you have spell slots for. So all you really need is 17 total levels in pure caster classes, at least 3 of which are in sorcerer and 2 of which are in wizard.
So go ahead and have 12 levels in cleric and cast a twinned True Polymorph. It's all good.
A quick google search indicates that the game designer agrees with that interpretation.
Here you go (https://www.sageadvice.eu/2017/11/28/twinned-spell-chromatic-orb-can-you-pick-another-damage-type-for-2nd-target/). I found it by looking up the chromatic orb example, which is probably why you couldn't find it.A quick google search indicates that the game designer agrees with that interpretation.
Can you link to this? I agree with your interpretation but my googling failed to find something quickly (and I don't really have time to keep looking)
QuoteYou make yourself—including clothing, armor, weapons, and equipment—look different. You can seem 1 foot shorter or taller, thin, fat, or in between. You cannot change your body type. Otherwise, the extent of the apparent change is up to you. You could add or obscure a minor feature or look like an entirely different person.I'm not entirely sure what they mean by "body type" there, considering what is specifically allowed, but it's probably "race". In the DND sense- I assume you can change skin color. It seems like an odd restriction on a spell which physically morphs your entire body *and your equipment*, that you can't extend your ears a bit, but w/e. I have to wonder whether gender is considered "body type" too.
Re: dnd5e wiki purge.Yeah, that's because Grappler is the only feat in 5e SRD and the wiki editors were told by Fandom to remove any non-SRD content (https://dnd5e.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:Foxwells/We_Have_a_Problem_(Fate_of_the_Wikia)) from it.
So the "Feats" page, which previously contained every feat from the PHB, SCAG, Mordenkainen's, the Planeshift thingies, and even a few UA feats, has been tidied up a bit.
It is now a list over one single feat.
That feat is Grappler.
I'd certainly be amused and interested by an adventure about Ms. Frizzle: Jumanji Edition, but it'd have to be pretty goddamn magical to consider paying for.
That got me thinking that there's maybe a market for adult adventures using knockoffs of other children's programming properties.Boy, have I got news for you about a show called My Little Pony.
I'd certainly be amused and interested by an adventure about Ms. Frizzle: Jumanji Edition, but it'd have to be pretty goddamn magical to consider paying for.
This is my view as well. It's a funny idea, but having gotten a laugh out of it for $0 I don't feel any need to go pay money for a longer joke with the same punchline and maybe some ancillary references I'm already perfectly capable of imagining.
You are the hunter gatherer descendants of Miss Frizzle's class, you have lived many generations in the dangerous and strange world known as Ralphie, hunting the mighty white blood cell, gathering food from the small intestine and battling the invasive forces of bacteria.I'd read that
Spoiled potions, defective magical items, monsters borne from discarded magical items in late stage decay, "Anomalous areas" caused by such items decaying, poor people picking through the refuse, fires, corpses (including zombies), that sort of thing.
My group's about to encounter the final series of battles in their current scenario, having tracked the local goblin menace to the city's dump.The first few minutes of Alita are in a refuse pile. Imagine what might have been thrown away.
Any suggestions for cool crap they might stumble across when exploring a fantasy refuse pile?
They could stumble across Common Decency and Dignity, tossed in with the rest of the refuse.
Isn't that the system that gave us the "Revenge of Darth Janitor" story? Or is that another Star WaRPG?
Isn't that the system that gave us the "Revenge of Darth Janitor" story? Or is that another Star WaRPG?
Hey, everyone. I've been invited to take part in a Star Wars: Age of Rebellion campaign. Nobody but the GM has played FFG Star Wars before, and as it'll be her first time GMing she is, per our mutual friend, somewhat nervous about it. Unfortunately, having never played myself, I don't really know what things to avoid as being mechanically annoying, so I'm worried I'm going to build around something that's going to cause a huge headache down the road without either of us realizing it ahead of time. Are there any skills/talents/weapons that are notoriously broken in Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion or just weird to deal with?Advise your GM that auto-fire weapons can put out tremendous amounts of damage, both to groups and individuals. It'd be hard to ban them entirely, but maybe limit how often they are used against the players and try to avoid handing them out like candy.
The Rule of Two was regularly broken by the Sith by the OT time period in both canons. The Sith were strict about making their master/apprentice follow the rules, but were generally down with breaking them themselves until getting caught by their colleague. See all the secret apprentices littering continuity during the Clone Wars/Galactic Empire time period.
Hey, everyone. I've been invited to take part in a Star Wars: Age of Rebellion campaign. Nobody but the GM has played FFG Star Wars before, and as it'll be her first time GMing she is, per our mutual friend, somewhat nervous about it. Unfortunately, having never played myself, I don't really know what things to avoid as being mechanically annoying, so I'm worried I'm going to build around something that's going to cause a huge headache down the road without either of us realizing it ahead of time. Are there any skills/talents/weapons that are notoriously broken in Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion or just weird to deal with?Advise your GM that auto-fire weapons can put out tremendous amounts of damage, both to groups and individuals. It'd be hard to ban them entirely, but maybe limit how often they are used against the players and try to avoid handing them out like candy.
Also, Force-users have the potential to completely overshadow non-Force users. Be careful not to unbalance a group too badly.
So I just finished my second game of Call of Cthulhu. My character, the Canadian archaeologist Dr. Steve "Vancouver Steve" Stevens, is no more, gunned down by gangsters.We had our third session yesterday. Due to a re-reading of the rules, the GM informed me that my last character technically wouldn't have died, so we agreed that he would have been captured instead, like the detective who was with him.
In his place, his illegitimate daughter, Ophelia Cordova, will appear, trying to find out his whereabouts and likely getting involved with some eldritch horrors in the process.
Isn't that the system that gave us the "Revenge of Darth Janitor" story? Or is that another Star WaRPG?
I think that's the West End version.
This'un. (https://www.reddit.com/r/gametales/comments/5nm027/sith_janitor/)Isn't that the system that gave us the "Revenge of Darth Janitor" story? Or is that another Star WaRPG?
I think that's the West End version.
The best version, quirks and all. The Force was broken and an unarmored human could be as tough as a land speeder, not to speak of wookies, but I loved this system.
I haven't heard of this story though, so I need to track it down.
Supposedly the Lucky feat combined with disadvantage becomes super advantage.Spending a luck point lets you roll an additional d20, then choose the die you want to use, no matter how many dice are involved in the roll. The extra die you roll isn't the second die from advantage or disadvantage, but something separate. So you roll twice for disadvantage; spending a luck point gives another d20. You then choose which of those three you want to use.
How is this supposed to happen?
Wouldn't you roll disadvantage then roll lucky and choose the highest; or roll disadvantage and reroll the lowest, but still have disadvantage?
It's good for a comedy game, or using the character generation rules and making up your own game.
It's good for a comedy game, or using the character generation rules and making up your own game.
Is that really an endorsement?
IME I kinda hate the sheer amount of plot I had to dump on the players before we could really even do character gen. All the different factions and how they hate each other but particularly this faction, all the different ways you coulda became special and what that means, what the moral meter is and what that means, yadda yadda yadda.Psst... Hey, hey kid...
Granted, it was genius the transgression, but I don't see how its much better with the actual powers.
Granted, it was genius the transgression, but I don't see how its much better with the actual powers.
IME I kinda hate the sheer amount of plot I had to dump on the players before we could really even do character gen. All the different factions and how they hate each other but particularly this faction, all the different ways you coulda became special and what that means, what the moral meter is and what that means, yadda yadda yadda.Our solution for Vampire was that the city was ruled by Invictus, so we mainly worked for/with them. A few sessions later we were sent to work with quasi-allies the Lancea Sanctum. Carthians were played for a joke, occasionally showing up at Elysium parties acting like that one guy who's evangelical about Bitcoin. We eventually learned more about them, but only after several months (they just weren't powerful in the city).
Granted, it was genius the transgression, but I don't see how its much better with the actual powers.
Notable: WoD loves specifying things too much, and ends up with hilarious results like "vampires are 1/100,000 people" because half of the types of vampires aren't allowed to take powers that let them feed secretly, so they're just kidnapper/murderers, combined with "there are 13 types of vampires, each type has factions, and some of those have subfactions with a dozen ranks with multiple vampires in them per town." Which is fine, as long as your city has (quick calculation) at least 150 million people, give or take.Heh, yeah there's some of that. But not every weird bloodline or faction has to exist in every city. It wouldn't make sense logically, but it'd also be a ridiculous narrative to try to fit them all in at once. I don't think Seattle has many Brujah, now that they're a Mexican biker gang. And a landlocked city probably doesn't have that bloodline based around drowning. (Or maybe it does, because vampires are sneaky that way! Depends on the story.)
Ooh, drowning bloodline? Why do I suddenly want to write a deep south baptist vampire campaign
Finally read the Sith Janitor story, and that was pretty great. I can also totally see how that could cause a ton of butt hurt among the players so I'd never try it myself, but it was still a fun read.
Ooh, drowning bloodline? Why do I suddenly want to write a deep south baptist vampire campaign
Somehow based around the "original sin" of ol Cain?
So, they cause agricultural blight everywhere they go (God's curse on Cain was that the earth would never again yield a bounty to him; So, if these vampires are associated with that, then every plant they come across must wither up into nothing.), have a clearly visible mark on them, and anyone that strikes them down will suffer a divine curse?
It's good for a comedy game, or using the character generation rules and making up your own game.
Is that really an endorsement?
Monk lets you catch and return projectile attacks, Booming Blade is a cantrip that damages enemies that move, Blur is a second-level spell that is pretty similar without being disrupted when hit.Drunken Master monks also get an ability that allows them to redirect a missed attack from an opponent into another enemy.
Blur is a second-level spell that is pretty similar without being disrupted when hit.Uh, avoidance, not displacement. Avoidance is pretty much Evasion, but better.
This is a moot question as the game was a long time ago but what's the best build for a sneaky Doppelganger that doesn't suck in a sword fight?What doppleganger? The Eberron changeling? If so, how sneaky we talking? If you are okay not being that sneaky, a dex-based Battle Master Fighter would probably work. If you want to be really sneaky, a bard of swords or valor may be what you want.
That's why I never call my groups of evil wizards a "Circle". We're the Hexagon of Evil, or the Nonagon of the Nine Hells, or <insert other named 2d shape here>.Why 2d? Why not the Dodecahedron of Darkness or the Tesseract of the Transplanar Travails?
The Mobius Strip of Wizards have transcended good vs. evil, because there is only one side.Actually, there's some Aberrations from the Far Realm on the other side of the Mobius Strip.
That's why I never call my groups of evil wizards a "Circle". We're the Hexagon of Evil, or the Nonagon of the Nine Hells, or <insert other named 2d shape here>.Why 2d? Why not the Dodecahedron of Darkness or the Tesseract of the Transplanar Travails?
Warlocks have at-will flight? You must be tallking about a different edition than 5e, because they don't get at-will flight in 5e.That's why I never call my groups of evil wizards a "Circle". We're the Hexagon of Evil, or the Nonagon of the Nine Hells, or <insert other named 2d shape here>.Why 2d? Why not the Dodecahedron of Darkness or the Tesseract of the Transplanar Travails?
Easier if they're warlocks (for at-will flight) or necromancers (for the never-tiring workforce capable of constructing scaffolding). Otherwise the spell slot tax for constantly-prepped fly spells, while it does result in a suitably evil looking formation a la the Death Stranding trailers, is a bit too high.
Except... I'm not sure how disadvantage meshes with portent dice. Do you swap out the die that gets used, or just one of the two dice before prompting the player to pick the lowest of the two?
So, uh... Diviner, right? Prophecy dice and all that jazz... Those count as natural rolls, right? So if you supplant a die with a pre-rolled 1 or 20, it's treated as a crit fail/success?Yeah, theoretically if you roll a 20 you could do that. Course that's just a 1 in 20 chance for each die, plus that's just for one hit. So you should make it a pretty big hit. I think the one time I've seen someone do that they used it to cast a 5th level chromatic orb.
Theoretically then, if you've got a loaded 20 up your sleeve, you (or someone else nearby) could use a big unwieldy weapon that they're not proficient in... And still get a critical success on that attack, despite all the negative modifiers on the attack.
Except... I'm not sure how disadvantage meshes with portent dice. Do you swap out the die that gets used, or just one of the two dice before prompting the player to pick the lowest of the two?If you use Portent, you don't roll any dice. No advantage, no disadvantage, you just announce you're using it before the target has rolled and it becomes their roll to which they apply their modifiers.
Sure, but critical hits are a big deal because they're unpredictable, and since you can't count on them you can't plan around their massive potential. If you've rolled a portent 20 for the day, you know you've got that in your back pocket and can pull it out whenever you feel the time is right.So, uh... Diviner, right? Prophecy dice and all that jazz... Those count as natural rolls, right? So if you supplant a die with a pre-rolled 1 or 20, it's treated as a crit fail/success?Yeah, theoretically if you roll a 20 you could do that. Course that's just a 1 in 20 chance for each die, plus that's just for one hit. So you should make it a pretty big hit. I think the one time I've seen someone do that they used it to cast a 5th level chromatic orb.
Theoretically then, if you've got a loaded 20 up your sleeve, you (or someone else nearby) could use a big unwieldy weapon that they're not proficient in... And still get a critical success on that attack, despite all the negative modifiers on the attack.
Sure, but critical hits are a big deal because they're unpredictable, and since you can't count on them you can't plan around their massive potential. If you've rolled a portent 20 for the day, you know you've got that in your back pocket and can pull it out whenever you feel the time is right.Crit portent dice are pretty awesome. But if you play a character for that, you're going to be disappointed, because portent dice don't make them any more common. The vast majority of the time you'll have like an 8 and a 13 to use, and you'll just be using them to guarantee a hit or a failed save. Which is very good, but not as cool as crits.
And yeah, 14d8 elemental damage is probably a better choice in general, but you can't deny the coolness factor of the scrawny wizard hefting up the dropped greatsword and carving into the back of the big bad by surprise while he was taunting the rest of the group.
How do these portent dice work, exactly? Do you just roll a couple of d20s at the start of each day and save them for later?
How do these portent dice work, exactly? Do you just roll a couple of d20s at the start of each day and save them for later?Pretty much. You can use one of the portent dice in place of any skill, attack, or save roll made by you or anyone you can see. No save/resist to have your roll replaced. You keep the dice until you use them or you have a long rest. At level (13? I think?) you get a third portent die to roll every day.
Crit portent dice are pretty awesome. But if you play a character for that, you're going to be disappointed, because portent dice don't make them any more common. The vast majority of the time you'll have like an 8 and a 13 to use, and you'll just be using them to guarantee a hit or a failed save. Which is very good, but not as cool as crits.It's not about playing a character for that reason, it's just good to clarify exactly what kinds of tools you have in your little bag of tricks. Especially when the rules get a little bit finicky or difficult to understand... And no, portent rolls aren't any more likely to be crits than any others, but it's the fact that you know ahead of time what the roll is going to be that makes portent crits better than standard crits. Because if you do have a portent crit, you know exactly when and where that crit is going to take place.
And no, portent rolls aren't any more likely to be crits than any othersNot true. A roll's probability of critting is inversely proportional to how believable it is for the character to succeed. It is very believable for a divination wizard to get good portent dice, ergo they are less likely to be crits.
Why is a blowgun a martial weapon when a sling outclasses it in every way other than using it as an improvised weapon without ammo?Because blowguns aren't common weapons that everyone knows how to use, at least in the standard setting of Forgotten Realms.
Also, if a Tavern Brawler (has the feat) tosses an oil flask at someone, does he deal 1d4+Dex damage?It deals 1d4+Str (not Dex, as it is thrown and doesn't have finesse), even without the feat. The feat lets you add your proficiency modifier to the attack roll.
And does oil work on all fire damage rolls for the minute, or only the first?The rules are ambiguous and left partially up to the GM. I'd rule that it burns out after the first damage. It's lamp oil, not napalm. Use alchemist's fire (which is napalm) if you want a longer effect (though its price of 50 gp per flask is a ripoff).
Uh... Ranged attacks are Dex-based. Thrown attacks can be Str-based, but all ranged attacks can be Dex-based, Thrown or not. Finesse is only for melee.QuoteAlso, if a Tavern Brawler (has the feat) tosses an oil flask at someone, does he deal 1d4+Dex damage?It deals 1d4+Str (not Dex, as it is thrown and doesn't have finesse), even without the feat. The feat lets you add your proficiency modifier to the attack roll.
For example, if you throw a handaxe, you use your Strength, but if you throw a dagger, you can use either your Strength or your Dexterity, since the dagger has the finesse property.
how does one play a coward without making it annoying?
Is there a roleplaying guide to playing a paladin of redemption somewhere?Do it in the kind of game that doesn't revolve around combat.
And how does one play a coward without making it annoying?
Convince your GM to put in encounters with strong enemies that would be impractical for the party to beat, forcing either tactical prudence or awesome heroics.Neither of those are cowardice.
And how does one play a coward without making it annoying?Fight, Flight, Freeze. Realistic fear is characterized more by uncertainty and stress reactions.
If gods play chess, then their game certainly does not have only two colors of piece.
I'm of the opinion that alignment should always depend on setting. Good and evil can be a big deal in a Faerûn type land, and order and chaos are very Egyptian, but if we look at world myth in general, the good vs evil paradigm is very much a west Asian (and, by extension, Abrahamic), and law/chaos is sort of a combination of that with a civilization vs wilderness theme that's more common in African traditional religion, although it notably also sort of cropped up independently among some late 18th century protestants. And this is before getting into Eastern works, which besides yin and yang often portray people and beings with an elemental affinity that runs a lot deeper than just having a couple specific "elemental" critters. And I'm sure there's plenty of other examples that I can't reference off-hand.
How often does your game touch on anything close to that, anyway? Either very rarely and that's wasted space on the character sheet, or almost exclusively and you're missing out on all of the other stories you could be creating.
Why, exactly, would the dividing line be Law/Chaos, when most of Dnd has a more evil/good divide?
Why exactly would a nice person work with a nasty rapist just because the rapist is Lawfully-aligned?
Alignment is not meant to be a restriction anyway, at least in 5e, merely a shorthand how they act.
I still like that idea I saw one time of a sword that causes emotional wounds.
https://reclaimthewild.net/Interesting indeed. I have a pdf that contains 5th Edition versions of Hylian races, but a proper LoZ tabletop game could be very cool.
This is a Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild tabletop game. I have not read much of the manual, but what I have seems interesting.
In case it's not obvious, its free.https://reclaimthewild.net/Interesting indeed. I have a pdf that contains 5th Edition versions of Hylian races, but a proper LoZ tabletop game could be very cool.
This is a Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild tabletop game. I have not read much of the manual, but what I have seems interesting.
Yeah, I've been looking over the core book. It looks rather nice, especially for a fan project, and the mechanics don't look half bad either.In case it's not obvious, its free.https://reclaimthewild.net/Interesting indeed. I have a pdf that contains 5th Edition versions of Hylian races, but a proper LoZ tabletop game could be very cool.
This is a Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild tabletop game. I have not read much of the manual, but what I have seems interesting.
At eighth level, the Arcane Trickster can select any Wizard spell, instead of just an Enchantment or Illusion spell.
Also, the Reduce spellcaster, the Arcane Trickster, and the gnome do not need to be the same character, they could be three different characters.
Yes, but this is a discussion over Arcane Trickster casting this spell, and this is one level above when you get the your 2nd level spell slot. This is an intrinsic part of this conversation, disregarding that the game doesn't want you over fifth level, as that isn't really part of this conversation.At eighth level, the Arcane Trickster can select any Wizard spell, instead of just an Enchantment or Illusion spell.
Also, the Reduce spellcaster, the Arcane Trickster, and the gnome do not need to be the same character, they could be three different characters.
Yeah, but D&D doesn't like you to get above level 5, because some people are still hitting things with pieces of metal while others can summon angels or fly or turn invisible. I think the solution in recent editions has been to make it so you can't buy nicer pieces of metal to hit things with, because that's the one where you get "too good."
Yes, but this is a discussion over Arcane Trickster casting this spell, and this is one level above when you get the your 2nd level spell slot. This is an intrinsic part of this conversation, disregarding that the game doesn't want you over fifth level, as that isn't really part of this conversation.At eighth level, the Arcane Trickster can select any Wizard spell, instead of just an Enchantment or Illusion spell.
Also, the Reduce spellcaster, the Arcane Trickster, and the gnome do not need to be the same character, they could be three different characters.
Yeah, but D&D doesn't like you to get above level 5, because some people are still hitting things with pieces of metal while others can summon angels or fly or turn invisible. I think the solution in recent editions has been to make it so you can't buy nicer pieces of metal to hit things with, because that's the one where you get "too good."
Uh, don't think the arcane trickster hand is stronger or faster or anything like that.Starting at 3rd level it's invisible, can do more things (like pick pockets/locks), and you can use your Cunning Action to control the hand.
If you can command the hand to touch yourself, then go wild.Intentional double entendre?
OK-- Now, imagine that the netting is tied into a continuous "Loop", like a conveyor belt. Embedded into the net are the rods. The rods on the "bottom" are activated, and supply the support. The net moves along over the top of the "wheels" (big stone cylinders), and the rest of the "car" is supported on the extending axles protruding from the sides of the cylinders, as shown.You've just invented a tank tread. Considering the amount of immovable rods you'd need would be impractical, both for cost and for the hassle of carrying them around on the off-chance that you happen to want to rig this up, I reckon a sky tank is a much more interesting direction to take this line of thought. On the other hand, once you've got flying tanks, what more do you need?
OK-- Now, imagine that the netting is tied into a continuous "Loop", like a conveyor belt. Embedded into the net are the rods. The rods on the "bottom" are activated, and supply the support. The net moves along over the top of the "wheels" (big stone cylinders), and the rest of the "car" is supported on the extending axles protruding from the sides of the cylinders, as shown.You've just invented a tank tread. Considering the amount of immovable rods you'd need would be impractical, both for cost and for the hassle of carrying them around on the off-chance that you happen to want to rig this up, I reckon a sky tank is a much more interesting direction to take this line of thought. On the other hand, once you've got flying tanks, what more do you need?
Also, "Congratulations for winning" sarcasm applies to ALL fantasy role play. If you are going to go there, you dont belong in this thread, IMO.
Could also point out "item type is 'adventuring gear', not 'magic (or wondrous) item'."Minor nitpick: Magic items are considered adventuring gear. Wondrous items are a subset of magic items. and the full list for the immovable rod is adventuring gear (rod), and rods are are also a subset of magic items.
Does it help any that I see this kind of thing being created by a gnome?
It takes an action to PURPOSEFULLY activate the rod.I mean, a DM could do that, but there's a lot of easier ways to do this that don't require saying someone accidentally disabled the rod without using an action.
Since it is activated via a simple application of pressure to the sensitive end, this is an OBVIOUS DM "gotcha". "oops, that carefully oriented immovable rod you suspended in the air, in the path of the rampaging hell beast, so that it would act as an impromptu lance, held in place by 8000lbs of resistance? yeah-- you had the button end facing the monster. On impact, the button got pushed."
We are abusing this same kind of logic:
Now, why would worn and carried items be arbitrarily granted greater resistance to a spell's effect? Illogical!Because it's attuned to a soul.
As an aside, one of my favorite DM trick traps has always been the Invisibility spell.https://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/asimo/grimtooths-traps/
I'm assuming 90% of players have only ever looked at the spell as a means of stealth to bypass enemies. But there's actually a big bag of tricks that you can use with casting it on objects.
One of my all time best was a sheet of invisible iron halfway across a pit trap, hanging down from the ceiling. The player tries to jump across the 10 ft. wide pit? Bang! Straight into the iron, then splat! Down the hole.
Inform the delvers that they sense magic coming from the corridor ahead of them. A detection spell will reveal a pit beneath the floor, hidden from view by an illusion spell. The delvers, not wishing to be surprised by whatever lurks in the pit below, will probably cast some sort of magic to dispel the illusion. Lurking inside the pit is a gorgon...
"nominally"
Many of Oglaf's pages (especially the early ones) are basically porn. It's NSFW with the occasional non-NSFW thrown in for flavor.
“In some ways – especially in tabletop, because we have 45 years of history – it’s kinda fun to have someone smart who’s not you say: ‘you should consider changing this’.”He's aware that roleplaying games are actually played and iterated on by a substantial a community of people some of whom are smart and all of whom aren't him, right? Wasn't getting these people's feedback half the point of the big open playtest? Do D&D team members not swing by major gaming forums to test the waters occasionally?
Mearls acknowledges there were “a lot of unchallenged assumptions” made during the design of fifth edition, which “we just implemented. But this is why it’s fun to be extending out to the gaming audience, growing our audience, getting more perspectives, and new channels of feedback. It’s been pretty exciting.”Then what the hell was the point of the playtest at all?
So it seems possible DnD 6th Edition might end up being 4th Edition 2: Electric Boogaloo. (https://www.pcgamesn.com/baldurs-gate-3/dungeons-and-dragons-6th-edition)I'm not really getting what you're getting n this, I don't think 4e's design philosophy will ever again grace a major D&D game - at most it might be a white wolf type thing where they do a 4e anniversary edition.
For those of you who hasn't followed BG3 interviews, another thing that Swen thinks is bad about DnD is to hit rolls, because missing is boring.
Also, isn't Mearls the guy in charge of lore/fluff for 5e and its Crawford who is in charge of mechanical stuff like spell slots?Unless something has changed, he's still the big boss. He may focus more on the fluff on a day to day basis, but something as significant as replacing the spell slot mechanic would definitely involve him heavily in the decision making.
I have for a while suspected that Powered-by-the-Apocalypse games might translate better than most systems to Play by Post, since they don't use initiative and are instead more a matter of action-reaction, though that conjecture is entirely unsupported by any actual data and may in fact be entirely false.
The Forgotten Reals are just drab and devoid of... anything. Lowest rung of mindless genre settings.I see you've forgotten Dragonlance was a thing. Probably for the better.
I think a real problem with official adventures these days is, at least with pathfinder if not D&D, they're built from the ground up for pathfinder society/organized play. Not that I hate PC/OP in-and-of itself but it does force a certain design paradigm for adventure, I imagine. It needs to be fairly boilerplate or straightforward for the average DM to run with little improv needed on their part, it needs to be fairly easy, at least to avoid character death, and the whole thing needs to be more-or-less doable in one night.I don't know that really describes most D&D 5e modules (though I haven't run them myself), but it does describe the Adventure League (5e organized play) modules pretty well. Hell, I could probably stand that "doable in one night" thing for the regular modules, since it sometimes gets kind of tiresome having to play through the same adventure week-after-week, or your character having reached high level and spent all that time on single adventure that lasted maybe a couple weeks at best.
If anything, forgotten realms was raped pretty hard with the retcon dildo from 4th onward in order to be the defacto default setting, as now you need to figure out how the new default races and such suddenly fit into forgotten realms. Even old fans of forgotten realms hate forgotten realms now.It was already pretty well out of fashion before that, at least by what I know – that was the height of the opposition to DMPCs and the idea that the important things to do in a setting designed for tabletop play should be available to the PCs to do, or else it doesn't serve a purpose. That mindset clashes heavily with FR's complex and elaborate network of pantheons and high level canon characters.
There should be a retroclone that is intentionally designed to bring out and encourage the worst grognard player instinct. All the races have bad traits like the kender. Your alignment is a rulebook you have to follow. You can force other PCs to do things with skill checks. Paladins get more powerful the more lives they end. All major artifacts are sapient and played by other players.
Look, what's the point of having a character that can cling to a wall, and roll up it, if you don't do it!?If stairs count as difficult terrain, I wouldn't be surprised if there are plenty of climb speed builds where taking the stairs is inconvenient and slow in comparison. Which actually potentially makes sense, now. I'm thinking about it.
I mean, sure-- there's STAIRS-- but that's what people WITHOUT special powers use! :P
Look, what's the point of having a character that can cling to a wall, and roll up it, if you don't do it!?If stairs count as difficult terrain, I wouldn't be surprised if there are plenty of climb speed builds where taking the stairs is inconvenient and slow in comparison. Which actually potentially makes sense, now. I'm thinking about it.
I mean, sure-- there's STAIRS-- but that's what people WITHOUT special powers use! :P
Maybe Shadow of the Demon Lord, which is a dark fantasy game based around an impending apocalypse (the eponymous demon lord's return). I haven't read the book, but I think it has mechanics for the escalating disaster as the demon lord gets closer.Kind of. Although it's a selling point, it's barely more than a plothook generator really. I was hyped for the design when I heard about it, thinking it was something more like you'd get in a board game where it leads inevitably to the demon king doing his thing, but instead the demon king is characterized as an eternally looming threat outside of creation, not something that ever comes directly into play. The progress of the demon king's influence doesn't even modify corruption roles, which conceptually is like a gimme.
I've been finding myself thinking about how to make a Bloodborne RPG again. I keep thinking the period leading up to the burning of Old Yharnam and the beast plague becoming widespread knowledge could be a really good time for a game, but I've no real idea what would serve as a good system to use as the basis.
And it was already done way better with the Sign mechanics from 3.5 Elder Evils, especially because you can actually fight the elder if it manifests and even still win, but then have to switch to a Dark Sun-inspired homebrew because the whole planet is ruined by it's arrival.Maybe Shadow of the Demon Lord, which is a dark fantasy game based around an impending apocalypse (the eponymous demon lord's return). I haven't read the book, but I think it has mechanics for the escalating disaster as the demon lord gets closer.Kind of. Although it's a selling point, it's barely more than a plothook generator really. I was hyped for the design when I heard about it, thinking it was something more like you'd get in a board game where it leads inevitably to the demon king doing his thing, but instead the demon king is characterized as an eternally looming threat outside of creation, not something that ever comes directly into play. The progress of the demon king's influence doesn't even modify corruption roles, which conceptually is like a gimme.
Ebrietas at least seems somewhat sinister. She's cooperating with the Choir and providing them with her blood to experiment on attempts at ascension with despite the fact it seems to involve insane levels of human suffering. I think it was implied her main motivation is loneliness, which isn't a great reason to work with mad scientists who turn people into mewling mutants.But not a malicious or even uncaring reason. The great ones don't appear to fully understand the consequences their actions have on humanity. They're bizarrely innocent entities who have an alarming tendency to do whatever a human asks them to do, once contact has been achieved. In fact, the most aggressive of them is the Orphan of Kos, partly human.
w*****ds
The answer is obviously "Wizzerds".Quotew*****ds
My mind is having trouble filling in the blanks.
I counted those asterisks like five times God damn itWell there's your problem; you should've only counted them four times.
In other news, I've decided a future campaign for my group of intrepid guardspersons in my Pathfinder homebrew will be investigating a murder-mystery soon. It'll be set in a VIP brothel featuring expensive services for upper-class patrons desiring the unique and varied companionship of creatures not native to the material plane. I'm particularly proud of the planned name for this establishment: The Starving Succubus.
bearded dwarven women
Additional note: A Tempest Cleric 2/Mountain Druid 5 can launch a 1/day guaranteed max-damage lightning bolt at CLevel 7, something an Evoker Wizard would have to wait until CLevel 14 to do.Actually its 1 per short rest.
[Illusion fuckery]
Ah, yes, my mistake... So actually more often than the CLevel 14 wizard, unless you feel like eating 2(+)d12 irresistible necrotic damage.Additional note: A Tempest Cleric 2/Mountain Druid 5 can launch a 1/day guaranteed max-damage lightning bolt at CLevel 7, something an Evoker Wizard would have to wait until CLevel 14 to do.Actually its 1 per short rest.
what would happen if you were playing something immune to necrotic damage?Ah, yes, my mistake... So actually more often than the CLevel 14 wizard, unless you feel like eating 2(+)d12 irresistible necrotic damage.Additional note: A Tempest Cleric 2/Mountain Druid 5 can launch a 1/day guaranteed max-damage lightning bolt at CLevel 7, something an Evoker Wizard would have to wait until CLevel 14 to do.Actually its 1 per short rest.
what would happen if you were playing something immune to necrotic damage?
Just use Wish to cast standard spells with parameters like that removed and destroy the whole prime material in short order.
For one thing, the SRD says a goblin (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/goblin.htm) is around 40-45 lbs and kobold (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/kobold.htm) around 35-45 lbs, on average. You'll likely need a crash diet or a very young PC to accomplish it with a mage hand, even with the weight reduction.
Now, an awakened housecat, on the other hand...
EDIT: Oh, sorry, a 12lb total weight limit means it isn't D&D 3.5e or Pathfinder.
Mage Hand
Cantrip Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V S
Duration: 1 minute
Classes: Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
A spectral, floating hand appears at a point you choose within range. The hand lasts for the duration or until you dismiss it as an action. The hand vanishes if it is ever more than 30 feet away from you or if you cast this spell again.
You can use your action to control the hand. You can use the hand to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item from an open container, or pour the contents out of a vial. You can move the hand up to 30 feet each time you use it.
The hand can’t attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds.
3e SRD:Mage Hand
This material is published under the OGL
Mage Hand Transmutation
Level: Brd 0, Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, S
Casting time: 1 action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: Nonmagical, unattended object weighing up to 5 lb.
Duration: Concentration
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
The character points a finger at an object and can lift it and move it at will from a distance. As a move-equivalent action, the character can move the object up to 15 feet in any direction, though the spell ends if the distance between the character and the object ever exceeds the spell's range.
Also 5e says it only lasts 1 minute. Better be quick on recasting it!That doesn't really matter unless you want the hand to activate you, which sounds like something you probably shouldn't be doing in public anyway.
and is a wizard really nonmagical?
Again, S component needs one hand pointed at the mage hand to control it. That also limits what spells you can cast. Some need both hands.Except controlling the hand does not take an S component. Only casting the spell requires an S component.
3e SRD:Mage Hand
This material is published under the OGL
Mage Hand Transmutation
Level: Brd 0, Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, S
Casting time: 1 action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: Nonmagical, unattended object weighing up to 5 lb.
Duration: Concentration
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
The character points a finger at an object and can lift it and move it at will from a distance. As a move-equivalent action, the character can move the object up to 15 feet in any direction, though the spell ends if the distance between the character and the object ever exceeds the spell's range.
Reduce Person
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One humanoid creature
Duration: 1 min./level (D)
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
This spell causes instant diminution of a humanoid creature, halving its height, length, and width and dividing its weight by 8. This decrease changes the creature’s size category to the next smaller one. The target gains a +2 size bonus to Dexterity, a -2 size penalty to Strength (to a minimum of 1), and a +1 bonus on attack rolls and AC due to its reduced size.
A Small humanoid creature whose size decreases to Tiny has a space of 2½ feet and a natural reach of 0 feet (meaning that it must enter an opponent’s square to attack). A Large humanoid creature whose size decreases to Medium has a space of 5 feet and a natural reach of 5 feet. This spell doesn’t change the target’s speed.
All equipment worn or carried by a creature is similarly reduced by the spell.
Melee and projectile weapons deal less damage. Other magical properties are not affected by this spell. Any reduced item that leaves the reduced creature’s possession (including a projectile or thrown weapon) instantly returns to its normal size. This means that thrown weapons deal their normal damage (projectiles deal damage based on the size of the weapon that fired them).
Multiple magical effects that reduce size do not stack.
Reduce person counters and dispels enlarge person.
Reduce person can be made permanent with a permanency spell.
Material Component
A pinch of powdered iron.
Didn't this discussion already happen... oh, a month or two ago?Longer than two months, but yeah, we've discussed Mage Hand and Enlarge/Reduce before.
But it is not called Enlarge/Reduce, which suggests Scourge was talking about 5e. Otherwise he would instead call it Reduce Person or something like that.
And Protection from Extraplanar Creatures doesn't exactly have the same ring to it.Protection from Outsiders?
I disagree that its "barely related". The 5e version of the spell does basically the same thing as the 3.5 spell using 5e mechanics, so there's disadvantage instead of +2 to AC, and the immunity to charm and possession is still there, with frighten added in as well. And with the exception of elementals which tend to be mostly neutral or evil alignment, most of the creature types on the list tend to lean towards good or evil alignment (with the possible exception of fey).You have a good point, I was a bit confused because they folded compulsion magic (or at least Dominate Person) into a charm effect with special rules tacked on, for simplicity. A lot of +2 bonuses became advantage, amidst a very complicated rebalancing that I definitely have enjoyed the end result of.
And Protection from Extraplanar Creatures doesn't exactly have the same ring to it.
I'd take either, but yeah.And Protection from Extraplanar Creatures doesn't exactly have the same ring to it.Protection from Outsiders?
Anyone can put on a suit of armor or strap a Shield to an arm. Only those proficient in the armor’s use know how to wear it effectively, however. Your class gives you proficiency with certain types of armor. If you wear armor that you lack proficiency with, you have disadvantage on any ability check, saving throw, or Attack roll that involves Strength or Dexterity, and you can’t cast Spells.
You use shields not just for protection but also for offense. You gain the following benefits while you are wielding a shield:
- If you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to try to shove a creature within 5 feet of you with your shield.
- If you aren’t incapacitated, you can add your shield’s AC bonus to any Dexterity saving throw you make against a spell or other harmful effect that targets only you.
- If you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half dam - age, you can use your reaction to take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, interposing your shield between yourself and the source of the effect.
Proficiency with a weapon allows you to add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll for any attack you make with that weapon. If you make an attack roll using a weapon with which you lack proficiency, you do not add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll.
The target must be no more than one size larger than you and must be within your reach. Instead of making an attack roll, you make a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the ability to use).
You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only monk weapons and you aren't wearing armor or wielding a shield:
'monks can use a shield as long as they're not holding it like a frisbee' is the author's intentExcept they can't, because that would be wearing armor. We've already established that a shield is armor, so wearing a shield would be wearing armor. Therefore, the distinction in that passage between wearing armor and wielding a shield makes it clear that this is a case of holding shields like a goddamn frisbee.
I think RAW and RAI are insufficient to describe this situation. It's more a case of RAITDRTVHABTST: Read As If They Didn't Really Think Very Hard About This Specific Thing...
Having a shield means you can, in one turn, take a single opponent and:
Immobilize them
Render them prone, providing disadvantage on all their attacks and advantage on all attacks against them
Prevent them from getting back up
Damage at that point is just icing, they're already taken out of the fight. You can also drag them around if you want to do that. There's not much they can do even if they do succeed at breaking your hold while lying down, since they still need to stand up before they can move anywhere.
As for building a grappler, a shield is actually just about the best thing you can have, strictly because of Shield Master's bonus action shove. Grappler as a feat is highly disappointing, and Tavern Brawler is similarly a bit lackluster. And the two feats don't play well together, since both Tavern Brawler's grapple and Shield Master's shove require the bonus action.Having both Shield Master and Tavern Brawler gives you more options, which isn't a bad thing. Or you can skip Shield Master entirely and just go Battlemaster with Trip Attack. Although if I played Captain Faerun, I'd pick it up later for the other two benefits of the feat, which are the real reason to get it. As for feats being pricey, that's another reason to go Fighter and/or Variant Human.
Also worth remembering that this isn't 3.5, and feat slots are extremely fucking pricey...
Yeah, its pretty damn bad Munchkinry to say wielding a shield is not using it as armor. It specifically says "wielding a shield increases your Armor Class by 2."Tavern Brawler is mainly for proficiency with improvised weapons. And since anyone calling themselves Captain Faerun should be using their shield as a frisbee/improvised weapon, that's pretty useful to have unless your DM allows your shield to be considered something else.
Persus, what benefit would Captain Faerun get from the Tavern Brawler feat? Keep in mind that it only allows a bonus action grapple on a 1d4+Str damage hit. I'm pretty sure if you're going for a grappler, there's better things to do than wear a shield.
And, yeah, I agree that actually making him a class that's supposed to be strong would be best, and those have shield proficiency anyway.
Damage at that point is just icing, they're already taken out of the fight.Until you start fighting spellcasters, that is.
'monks can use a shield as long as they're not holding it like a frisbee' is the author's intentExcept they can't, because that would be wearing armor. We've already established that a shield is armor, so wearing a shield would be wearing armor. Therefore, the distinction in that passage between wearing armor and wielding a shield makes it clear that this is a case of holding shields like a goddamn frisbee.
THis would all be solved if we stopped playingmodernD&D.
'monks can use a shield as long as they're not holding it like a frisbee' is the author's intentExcept they can't, because that would be wearing armor. We've already established that a shield is armor, so wearing a shield would be wearing armor. Therefore, the distinction in that passage between wearing armor and wielding a shield makes it clear that this is a case of holding shields like a goddamn frisbee.
what no
The distinction is there because a shield is not armor. Every reference to armor and shields describes them separately. If you're gonna come up with weird rules-lawyery netbuilds, at least make them based on real rules. There's no distinction between "wear" and "wield" a shield, you can't use it like a frisbee to do shield maneuvers.
THis would all be solved if we stopped playing modern D&D.
The difference between wear and wield is the sort of thing that only matters for builds on paper, because if you try to bring that logic to your table, you're just going to get laughed at.
Not related to y'all's topic but I just got into a pathfinder game with my usual group and I wound up so far down the character building rabbit hole. It's like when I used to read 3.5 splats cover to cover back in high school.
Setting
The game's main setting is an immense, futuristic city called Alpha Complex. Alpha Complex is controlled by The Computer, a civil service AI construct (a literal realization of the "Influencing Machine" that some schizophrenics fear). The Computer serves as the game's principal antagonist, and fears a number of threats to its 'perfect' society, such as The Outdoors, mutants, and secret societies (especially Communists). To deal with these threats, The Computer employs Troubleshooters, whose job is to go out, find trouble, and shoot it. Player characters are usually Troubleshooters, although later game supplements have allowed the players to take on other roles, such as High-Programmers of Alpha Complex.
The player characters frequently receive mission instructions from the Computer that are incomprehensible, self-contradictory, or obviously fatal if adhered to, and side-missions (such as Mandatory Bonus Duties) that conflict with the main mission. They are issued equipment that is uniformly dangerous, faulty, or "experimental" (i.e., almost certainly dangerous and faulty). Additionally, each player character is generally an unregistered mutant and a secret society member (which are both termination offenses in Alpha Complex), and has a hidden agenda separate from the group's goals, often involving stealing from or killing teammates. Thus, missions often turn into a comedy of errors, as everyone on the team seeks to double-cross everyone else while keeping their own secrets. The game's manual encourages suspicion between players, offering several tips on how to make the gameplay as paranoid as possible.
Every player's character is assigned six clones, known as a six-pack, which are used to replace the preceding clone upon his or her death. The game lacks a conventional health system; most wounds the player characters can suffer are assumed to be fatal. As a result, Paranoia allows characters to be routinely killed, yet the player can continue instead of leaving the game. This easy spending of clones tends to lead to frequent firefights, gruesome slapstick, and the horrible yet humorous demise of most if not all of the player character's clone family. Additional clones can be purchased if one gains sufficient favour with the Computer.
The Paranoia rulebook is unusual in a number of ways; demonstrating any knowledge of the rules is forbidden, and most of the rulebook is written in an easy, conversational tone that often makes fun of the players and their characters, while occasionally taking digs at other notable role-playing games.
"halfway viable character" is missing the point. Playing with faulted characters is how you actually get enjoyment out of overcoming obstacles in the campaign.
The game really isn't supposed to be "Group of murderhobo mary-sues destroy world while saving it." It's really supposed to be "Wow, that was hard! But we WON!"
Min-maxed characters are mary-sues. They are designed to have nothing but perks, and every conceivable source of weakness eliminated or patched over with rule-lawyer armor.
The common counter-argument is that "Yeah, but dying is no fun bro."
I contend that it COULD be VERY fun. See for instance, the many Pen and Paper games out there, like Paranoia. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoia_(role-playing_game)) In that game, death is integrated as a basic mechanic, since player characters are controlling a replaceable cloned avatar.Quote from: wikiSetting
The game's main setting is an immense, futuristic city called Alpha Complex. Alpha Complex is controlled by The Computer, a civil service AI construct (a literal realization of the "Influencing Machine" that some schizophrenics fear). The Computer serves as the game's principal antagonist, and fears a number of threats to its 'perfect' society, such as The Outdoors, mutants, and secret societies (especially Communists). To deal with these threats, The Computer employs Troubleshooters, whose job is to go out, find trouble, and shoot it. Player characters are usually Troubleshooters, although later game supplements have allowed the players to take on other roles, such as High-Programmers of Alpha Complex.
The player characters frequently receive mission instructions from the Computer that are incomprehensible, self-contradictory, or obviously fatal if adhered to, and side-missions (such as Mandatory Bonus Duties) that conflict with the main mission. They are issued equipment that is uniformly dangerous, faulty, or "experimental" (i.e., almost certainly dangerous and faulty). Additionally, each player character is generally an unregistered mutant and a secret society member (which are both termination offenses in Alpha Complex), and has a hidden agenda separate from the group's goals, often involving stealing from or killing teammates. Thus, missions often turn into a comedy of errors, as everyone on the team seeks to double-cross everyone else while keeping their own secrets. The game's manual encourages suspicion between players, offering several tips on how to make the gameplay as paranoid as possible.
Every player's character is assigned six clones, known as a six-pack, which are used to replace the preceding clone upon his or her death. The game lacks a conventional health system; most wounds the player characters can suffer are assumed to be fatal. As a result, Paranoia allows characters to be routinely killed, yet the player can continue instead of leaving the game. This easy spending of clones tends to lead to frequent firefights, gruesome slapstick, and the horrible yet humorous demise of most if not all of the player character's clone family. Additional clones can be purchased if one gains sufficient favour with the Computer.
The Paranoia rulebook is unusual in a number of ways; demonstrating any knowledge of the rules is forbidden, and most of the rulebook is written in an easy, conversational tone that often makes fun of the players and their characters, while occasionally taking digs at other notable role-playing games.
The deal is that people get so hung up on having "THE *PERFECT* character!" that they cannot abide that character's death. There's ways that this could be overcome, if a streamlined chargen process was used, and combined with the plot narrative.
say for instance, you could use a mechanic like the Dungeon Master computer game: There's "altars of VI" you can put dead player characters into, and it resurrects them with re-rolled stats, but keeps their class template. GM Fiat is totally a thing, after all. If instead of trying to create "the perfect character" gussied up to the hilt in rule-lawyer armor, you create a very solid template formula, then such "reincarnations" wouldn't be that big a deal. The best part is, since it's the same character's "soul" just getting re-fleshed via magic, they would have good reason to remember all the traps and travails of the dungeon they just got killed in, and their old incarnation's body would still be there for them to loot their gear from. Death of their character just means their stats get rerolled, and maybe some new randomly picked (using a weighted list and random selection and filter against base stat reqs) feats. It could add a lot of fun to a session. You just have to let go of the notion of having "MarySue, The immortal and untouchable fantasy vehicle for wish fulfillment" as your character.
Off topic, but my brother and I think we've worked out a 5e Orc that can run a mile in one minute with the assistance of a magic item or spellcaster.The Elk totem rage part only works if you're being attacked or attack each round to maintain your rage. On the other hand, if someone casts Longstrider on you, that's an additional 10 feet of movement.
Orc Monk 15/Barbarian 5, Mobile feat.
Base move 30, Monk levels give +25 movement, Barbarian plus +10, Elk Totem rage for another +15, get Haste cast on the Orc to double movement, Dash to double movement again, racial Bonus Action to move towards an enemy.
Movement speed while raging is 80 feet.
Double for Haste brings us to 160.
Double again for dash to 320.
Move twice, once as a Movement Action once as a Bonus Action to cover 640 feet in one round.
6 second rounds leaves us with a speed of 106.7 feet per second, or 72.7 mph.
We came to look into this after I pointed out to him how absurdly slowly things like horses move in D&D. A dashing horse in 5e moves 1/4 the speed of a real horse sprinting, and an unbuffed orc moves faster than a non-dashing horse when using it's racial Bonus Action move.
"halfway viable character" is missing the point. Playing with faulted characters is how you actually get enjoyment out of overcoming obstacles in the campaign.
The Elk totem rage part only works if you're being attacked or attack each round to maintain your rage. On the other hand, if someone casts Longstrider on you, that's an additional 10 feet of movement.
I'm not suggesting people need to stay in very narrow ruts-- You just cant go nuts with a hyper-specific build.
EG, let's say you have a fantastic barbarian with a natural 8 on STR, CON, DEX, and WIS, but abysmal CHA, and barely enough INT to be able to talk intelligibly. Say 4 and 3, respectively.
I mean, you don't have to be an orc to bonus action dash, you just need to spend a ki point as a monk. You can add another 5 feet that way by going wood elf. I think there's other races that get a higher move speed bonus too.
"halfway viable character" is missing the point. Playing with faulted characters is how you actually get enjoyment out of overcoming obstacles in the campaign. [...]I get where you're coming from, but this isn't what 3.x is good for. You're gonna be better off with an OSR game than WotC's D&D. And that'll also make writing a script a lot easier.
The deal is that people get so hung up on having "THE *PERFECT* character!" that they cannot abide that character's death.I don't know if there's some specific experience with problem players that you're remembering but in a general sense, this isn't necessarily a minmax thing. For people who go for a more role-play oriented game, it can be very frustrating to have a storyline ended early by the whims of the dice; in this case disappointment is understandable.
Of course, this position disregards the inherent fun that is present for a certain type of person in the mini-game of character creation.Yeah, that's what I was talking about. I had a good time over a couple days trawling through many types of options, figuring out how they work and when they differ from 3.5 (which I was already more than passingly familiar with) and how they fit together. And besides mechanics, fluff as well – since it's a game set in canon Golarion, I was searching the races and languages and religions and everything else of all the different regions where my character might draw ancestry from, which the game doesn't require and which hinders minmaxing rather than supporting it (I wound up with a trait that doesn't really benefit me just to justify an unrelated mechanical choice and provide a plot hook for later, for example). Making characters is just a fun thing to do, if there's enough to it.
Making characters is just a fun thing to do, if there's enough to it.It can also inform part of the character backstory too.
Does the Universal Horizons title have some sort of meaning in the system, or is it just something to sound cool?
I don't even want to ask what genre something like Shadowrun would be.Soykaf.
Is it wrong to want to run a campaign where the antagonists are two necromancer brothers from Kara-Tur, just so you can prove that two Wongs can make a wight?That is very, very wrong. In the best way.
"It is very difficult to phone people in China, Mr. President," said the Postmaster General, "The country is so full of Wings and Wongs, every time you wing you get the wong number."
Bah. BattleTech has nothing on Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands. Is it even an RPG if you can't seduce your enemies out of their mechs?
Ultimately he was satisfied, but felt it has ignored advancements the market has made. Fun, but bulky and slow.I mean. That's what Pathfinder is supposed to be yes? D&D but eternally 3.5ish?
May have to pick this up. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1689960671)The weirdest part is that this implies Billings is a place worth setting a game in.
Debating crossposting to the WTF thread as well.
(Seriously, this would not be a chuck tingle product unless every random encounter involved butt sex.)Or at least be defined by being a non-butt sex encounter.
...Do polymorphed creatures retain their sense of self? A sofa-turned-cow would be interesting, always trying go get into people's houses and have people sit on themCreatures polymorphed into other creatures do retain their alignment and personality, so I could see that.
Creatures polymorphed into other creatures do retain their alignment
Just wait until the additional character options supplement for Tingleverse comes out. The author claimed that he'd like to do rules for Living Objects. You don't have to be a sofa that was turned into a person. You could be a literal sofa that is legally a person.
swords and wizardry
Reminds me of werebears. Every full moon you turn into a Lawful Good bear, going out building orphanages and rescuing damsels in distress.And every other day of the month you fill the orphanages and distress damsels.
any ideas on how to steer a comedic group toward a serious story?
First, I wonder what you all tend towards, and second, any ideas on how to steer a comedic group toward a serious story?My current group is relatively serious and quite roll-heavy. It's not necessarily my preference, but it's the gestalt tendency of the group. We did recently try to start a more roleplay-oriented game, and we've spent a significant portion of the time sneaking around, framing people, starting untoward rumors about the orc and the necromancer, arm wrestling, and making fun of a dude's name. And also being imprisoned, causing major problems, getting drunk, and brawling with NPCs who think they're tough, which were all things we already did a lot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y688upqmRXo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y688upqmRXo)
As for how to steer the group, just discuss it with them.
I'd posit the illusion is merely acting on the viewer's perception of what they are viewing, rather than the appearance of the actual person.Disguise Self was a glamer-type illusion in previous editions, meaning that it did in fact change the caster's appearance. There are no distinct subschools in 5e, but I don't think it has become a figment or a phantasm in the interim.
Would you mind explaining that for me?
In this case, "silence, brand" is a completely appropriate response to this thinly-veiled attempt for Wendy's to get itself Pop Culture Coolness Points with the public, because there is literally no other reason for Wendy's to design an apparently competent tabletop game system and release it for free than to make younger people think it's cool and not a soulless corporate brand bent on getting as much of their money as humanly possible.Eh, the fact that they're letting their PR dudes do silly fun stuff like this is definitely preferable to the alternative, and they did it properly without being patronizing or stupid, which would be the original application of that.
It might be good. It seems to be cribbing some from 5e but using its own stuff for other elements, the stats are 4d4 down the line which is unusual but I appreciate, down the line is always the best stat array. The adventure looks pretty big, dunno how well-made it is or if it's just a sequence of scripted encounters.I also approve of the fact that it's not just using the classic six D&D stats without thinking about it, but does its own thing instead.
I've mainly heard that its an off brand 5e.It's not. It's d20, but it takes from OSR and mid-decade fantasy heartbreakers as much as it takes from 5e or any other source, and some of it seems original or at least the source is obscure enough that I don't know it. In some regards it reminds me more of PF2e than anything, but it's definitely a worthy system within the d20 world in its own right.
Don't ask questions, just consume product and get excited for next product.
Anyway. Enough fast food and politics in the elfgame thread, I suppose.
I feel like this game and the main thing you're concerned about are different.Anyway. Enough fast food and politics in the elfgame thread, I suppose.
How about weirdly meta game design criticism, then? I don't mind Wendy's making a reasonably competently executed pnpRPG if that's how they want to spend their ad budget, although I would like the writers to be properly credited, but I do worry that it's accelerating the trend of pnpRPGs being art first and art generators later. The constant Wendy's puns just make it a little more blatant that the game was designed to be talked about rather than played. If normal RPGs are a sandbox with a list of rules to keep from kicking everyone else's castles over, this new form of game is a lot more like a theme park ride: you sit down, strap in, and an experience is generated while you watch. Invisible Sun has a similar problem of presentation, as does Blades in the Dark, in that both project this idea --and in the latter case at least, the fans amplify it obnoxiously -- that these are Well Designed Games with Elegant Mechanics and if they don't do what you want then what you want is bad and you should feel bad. (Jenna's Morans tend to exude this kind of smugness too, but they're after something different entirely.)
I just worry that, as RPGs become more about the books and less about the fun the books let you craft, we're moving toward this idea that a game can be good in this rarified objective sense that has nothing to do with how fun it is to play. That feels like a loss to me, and RPGs that exist primarily to be remarkable, like this one, feel like they're accelerating that.
(-snip-)
I do agree that there's an idea of a "good game" that doesn't relate to how fun it is to play, but that's hardly the issue here. The Wendy's game is designed like an OSR-type game, in that it focuses on D&D-style play without caring about the fact that d20 doesn't let you stick your nose quite so high in the air as other systems.
Just realized something.It's a disguise that moves with you when you walk. I don't see why it wouldn't move with you when you wave your arms. I don't think it would be a very effective disguise if it just made you glide around in a T-pose or something.
If your GM is one that realizes that NPCs know you're casting a spell when casting one with components, you can cast Disguise Self earlier, and then hide Somatic hand movements in the illusion.
I don't think it would be a very effective disguise if it just made you glide around in a T-pose or something....and now I'm imagining a T-Rex gliding across the floor, stubby arms spread like a Jurassic Jesus.
I don't think it would be a very effective disguise if it just made you glide around in a T-pose or something....and now I'm imagining a T-Rex gliding across the floor, stubby arms spread like a Jurassic Jesus.
Gonna play 5e Curse of Strahd tonight as a Scourge Aasimar Paladin 2.
Yeah, I'm pretty much fucked.
Has anyone here ever been hired to take a princess back from a dragon's tower, when she had actually run away from her abusive home alongside her draconic lover?
5e trap idea:I am an inherently damaged individual, and interpreted this the wrong way first time around.
Not sure. Magical items, perhaps? I double checked polymorph and technically, the elephants would probably be alive after being stepped on...
The velociraptor was about the size of a big chicken. If you want those things from Jurassic Park, look at the stat block of the deinonychus.I know, but that's still a very large spider/scorpion/frog. And also coconut crabs are apparently the norm for crustaceans.
And, getting carried away with creature lists, I see that stirges are just considered "beasts", so a high-level druid can burn a 9th level slot on Conjure Animals to summon 32 of the fuckers at once.
The Urge to Stirge
Animals Shapes allows you to turn every ally within 30 feet into Large or smaller beasts with a challenge rating of 4 or lower, and you can use an action to turn them into new beasts.
Just cram as many peasants into the 30 foot radius as possible, then turn them all into flies. Then they can all go take up enough space for you to turn them into giant scorpions.
Every turn, you can turn them all into a giant snapping turtle or back, raising their beast hp back up each time.
This is the best spell if you are spearheading a peasant's rebellion, since it doesn't require the targets to already be powerful for good results.
The druid should probably hide somewhere for the 24 hours so their concentration is not broken.
You don't need to deal with skittish peasants, anyone will do, including hardened veterans.I mean, the game isn't really designed around that. If you want grand political adventures, ACKS is arguably your best bet.
I just thought a large amount of peasants would be much easier to get, plus this is pretty much the only case where a peasant uprising is better than the PCs just fighting the evil vizier on their own.
EDIT: Also, if you somehow got willing targets of insects, you could turn each and every one of them that fits into the 30 foot radius into a giant scorpion as well.
You don't need to deal with skittish peasants, anyone will do, including hardened veterans.I mean, the game isn't really designed around that. If you want grand political adventures, ACKS is arguably your best bet.
I just thought a large amount of peasants would be much easier to get, plus this is pretty much the only case where a peasant uprising is better than the PCs just fighting the evil vizier on their own.
EDIT: Also, if you somehow got willing targets of insects, you could turn each and every one of them that fits into the 30 foot radius into a giant scorpion as well.
Two kinds of people in the world... Some talk about mind-controlling termites into an unstoppable slave army, some think how easy it'd be to trick a bunch of children into turning into elephant bombs.Who said anything about children?
Nobody said anything, but that's just the solution my head was coming up with when I read about the termite approach.Two kinds of people in the world... Some talk about mind-controlling termites into an unstoppable slave army, some think how easy it'd be to trick a bunch of children into turning into elephant bombs.Who said anything about children?
Though, that is a good idea, more children can fit into the spell radius.
Also, Animal Shape can't turn anyone into elephants. They are Huge, not Large.
Spoiler: They're tiny though (click to show/hide)
Ahh yeah, forgot the size requirement... That thing always messes me up because it also says "of CR 4 or lower", but there aren't any CR 4 beasts that are smaller than huge. Welp.A Giant Coral Snake from Ghosts Of Saltmarsh is apparently a large CR 4 beast, and the spell could also theoretically work for homebrew creatures as well.
Wait, Wild Shape can make you invisible?Bacteria is definitely classed as Beast.
Except the size category stops at tiny... Which is the same size as a housecat or a fairy.I'm not sure how you forgot about diminutive and fine, given that someone mentioned the fine size category literally two posts prior.
Mechanically, the D&D world has some very large creatures in it.
(But if you don't want to be a germ, due to needing to be able to see it, you COULD pick a tardigrade instead. Those are both sufficiently large to be seen with the naked eye (about the size of a printed full stop), practically invincible, and small enough to hide anywhere with full cover.
But again, mechanically the size of a cat, because "tiny" is as small as it gets.
Wait, Wild Shape can make you invisible?The Archdruid NPC's Wild Shape ability is different from the player ability in a couple of different ways, including allowing them to become an Invisible Stalker.
Doesn't 5e usually operate under "rules for this thing supersede rules for something vaguely related"?Exactly. Wild Shape has no domain here because its a specific player ability, and again, familiars are not beasts.
Meaning, the ring says any creature may cast spells. Looking at the rules for Wild Shape and applying them to the ring would be incorrect.
And then the GM is free to come along and say "no that's dumb, of course your familiar can't have a magical mount".
While wearing this ring, you can cast any spell stored in it. The spell uses the slot level, spell save DC, spell Attack bonus, and Spellcasting Ability of the original caster, but is otherwise treated as if you cast the spell. The spell cast from the ring is no longer stored in it, freeing up space.You're performing the Cast a Spell action using someone else's stats. Cast a Spell is an action that requires you to provide the spell's components (which many beast shapes can't) and that can't be performed while raging.
@MephistoCasting spells from the ring follow the normal rules for casting spells from a magic item, but use the original caster's stats. So you'll need to do any verbal and somatic components, but the material components are covered by the ring (and were used by the initial caster). So yes, by that logic, barbarians cannot cast ring spells while raging.
Wait, when casting the spell from the ring, don't you still need to do the S, M, and V components?
And isn't that why Wild Shaped druids can't cast spells, because the components can't be done?
Also, by your logic, can a barbarian cast while raging using the ring?
@Persus13: Sure they're not beasts, but they have the form of them. Other than the aforementioned warlock familiars and the crawling hand, obviously.Having the form of beasts doesn't matter. Beast bond, Animal Friendship, anything that affects beasts would not affect a familiar or a steed.
It's an interesting thing, by the way, that rage only prevents you from casting spells; bardic inspiration isn't a spell. Thus, if you're multiclassed, you can still sing clearly and dexterously strum your instrument if you wish, but somehow can't speak weird words and gesture arcane finger-pointings.
I think the issue for wizards is not trusting the lower class, its trusting literally anyone.But especially anyone who can't even bother to accomplish the most basic task in learning even a single lock/unlock spell!
I think of complicated door opening mechanisms the same way as traps, if you actually use the area then the inconvenience easily outweighs the security, and if you don't use the area then why bother having it.
Most magical beings can be kept at bay with intangible protections, wards, circles, hallowing and so on. Anything that actually has to step through a door is more efficiently kept at bay by a well made mundane lock and a sturdy door bar than with some convoluted puzzle.
I think of complicated door opening mechanisms the same way as traps, if you actually use the area then the inconvenience easily outweighs the security, and if you don't use the area then why bother having it.
More intruders have entered the complex, masterI don't even want to admit how familiar that phrase is with me...
Incredible.I've run and played a couple of the 5e HCs, but not Dragon Queen. In terms of the 5e HCs, it doesn't have the best reputation, but that doesn't mean you and your party won't enjoy it. If you're running for 2 players, I'd get them out of being squishy level 1s as soon as you can reasonably do it (preferably their first long rest). You can slow down leveling to be by chapter later on.
Anyone have experience with pre-made modules for DnD? I've never run one and only played one for about 3 sessions (a nightmare in 3.5 with 8 players. Took about 20 minutes to get back to my turn in combat.)
I just ran the first session of Horde of the Dragon Queen for my cousin and his wife. They're playing a fighter and a rogue and are competent players. According to the rules, they've hit level 2, but far before the end of chapter 1 (actually just entered the keep, if you know). Not sure if I should just go level per chapter or let them boost themselves a bit because they're doing this 4-6 players adventure with only 2...
I've run and played a couple of the 5e HCs, but not Dragon Queen. In terms of the 5e HCs, it doesn't have the best reputation, but that doesn't mean you and your party won't enjoy it. If you're running for 2 players, I'd get them out of being squishy level 1s as soon as you can reasonably do it (preferably their first long rest). You can slow down leveling to be by chapter later on.
The main thing about HCs is that they can sometimes make prep time easier, but you still need to have read the HC through before running anyway, so you know the big picture of what's going on.
Yeah, I think part of the reason I let them take a lot of time getting to the keep was because I was reading ahead at the same time. Like I said, it kind of just came up.Definitely agree with you with regard to the people playing DnD for different reasons and taking those expectations to the HCs. I like this article's (https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/5774/roleplaying-games/strip-mining-adventure-modules) quick rebuttal of the crowd of people who disdain pre-written adventures on principle. But despite that, HotDQ is still the one I hear the most criticism about, probably because folks were still figuring out how the new edition worked. A lot of the early HCs were contracted out to third party companies, and once Wizards started doing the HCs inhouse, with Curse of Strahd and Storm King's Thunder, the quality improved a bit (not to say everything before that was trash, or everything after was perfect).
I hear very mixed things for the modules - and can't tell how objective any of it is. Especially when you consider the very obvious fact that people play DnD for vastly different reasons. I will say, the fact the book says something like "this monk objects and doesn't want to go with the part, but is too weak to resist," but then assumes the party takes them with you is pretty messed up. I've heard they're planning to re-release the Tyranny of Dragons books with a pile of modifications.
One of the issues with 5th edition is it's kind of designed for play from levels 3-6. That's why Adventure League restarts each season. Characters are all more-or-less balanced between each other within that band, but it's a narrow band.That has not been an issue in my experience. Also, Adventure League does not restart each season.
Yeah, I think part of the reason I let them take a lot of time getting to the keep was because I was reading ahead at the same time. Like I said, it kind of just came up.
I hear very mixed things for the modules - and can't tell how objective any of it is. Especially when you consider the very obvious fact that people play DnD for vastly different reasons. I will say, the fact the book says something like "this monk objects and doesn't want to go with the part, but is too weak to resist," but then assumes the party takes them with you is pretty messed up. I've heard they're planning to re-release the Tyranny of Dragons books with a pile of modifications.
I disagree also, I think railroading kills the soul of D&D, it undermines the most fundamental elements that make D&D specialDepends on if they bought tickets or are tied to the track.
A campaign is one as well, in my mind. If you, the GM, are pushing a pulling threads the whole time to make sure the party sees the final scene you have in your head, isn't that a railroad? Even if the players don't see it?
QuoteA campaign is one as well, in my mind. If you, the GM, are pushing a pulling threads the whole time to make sure the party sees the final scene you have in your head, isn't that a railroad? Even if the players don't see it?
That is a railroad, but I don't do that. I do envision possible ways a situation could go, but I never force them to happen, and often the the actual path the players take through my scenario is something I never even considered.
This doesn't preclude a story, but a story is something you create in-game with the players. DM prep is about creating a situation, sketching out all the moving parts of what's going on, the NPCs and their relationships, their goals, the locations they pursue those goals and the resources they use to accomplish them, and then move those pieces in response to what the players do. You don't write the story, the players write the story by interacting with the situation you've created.
First step in any improvisation is to delay so you have time to plan. I do this by playing up the local geography. I've already researched a bit of the background of the city, and I know a few facts from the setting.
I think it's important to have the ability to wander the fuck off and enjoy a game about selling conjured fryingpans or something, but obviously people play games for different reasons! :P
My GM seems to have a plot in mind but has also told us that we're free to do whatever we want within the world. And that's fine by me.
but if they're travelling overland and their choice is "take the north road" you may skip ahead a day or longer before something that matters happens.
If I were a GM and had spent X amount of hours to come up with an adventure for my fellow players I would feel disrespected if my players just ignored my plot hooks and decided to go do random stuff. I would feel as if I had spent the whole afternoon cooking up a dinner for them and then when they came over they'd just go "I feel like pizza. Let's go order pizza!"
Is there some fantasy proud warrior race/civilization that was started with a dragon attack? After all, all the strongest things are forged of dragonfire.Half-dragons. ::)
It's fantasy fulfillment. That can either be a positive place for us to be imaginative, expressive, and put ourselves in others shoes, or it can be a place where those born strong rule and you can be openly racist because you're roleplaying.
Oh wait do you mean in-fiction?
Nobody will remember something like that in ten years.
Despite being a full caster in 5e Bard is the least full castery of the spellcasters.I would argue that Paladin and Eldritch Knight are less full castery, but I think I get what you actually mean.
I'd call that an easy argument because neither paladins or eldritch knights are full casters at allDespite being a full caster in 5e Bard is the least full castery of the spellcasters.I would argue that Paladin and Eldritch Knight are less full castery, but I think I get what you actually mean.
He didn't say they were the least full castery of the full casters. But we're just quibbling over terminology here, the point is his point makes sense to me.I'd call that an easy argument because neither paladins or eldritch knights are full casters at allDespite being a full caster in 5e Bard is the least full castery of the spellcasters.I would argue that Paladin and Eldritch Knight are less full castery, but I think I get what you actually mean.
.We counting Warlock there? And how do you define "full caster"? 'Cause Bard technically has the largest potential selection, and certainly more slots than Warlock, and also attack cantrips, sooo... I dunno man.
Despite being a full caster in 5e Bard is the least full castery of the spellcasters.
I would argue that Paladin(2nd level min) and Warlock are pretty decent Barbarian multiclasses as well.Barbadin is probably the most common I've seen
What should their portmantau be?
Barbladin? Palarian? Wararian? Barblock?
And yeah, mountain dwarf wizard is a good combo for wading into melee. SCAG cantrips for melee, good access to buffs and some of the subclasses for wizard are not too shabby for getting up close and personal.Yeah, this is pure vanilla, but I'm trying to build up a repertoire of "non-optimal" characters for the event I get into a casual DnD group and don't want to tilt the power level too much. So dwarf with max strength and good con, but just somewhere around 14 int. Stack up buffs and other stuff that doesn't check spellcaster stat, then wade into melee with a warhammer for funtimes
I must say, I greatly approve of the new Unearthed Arcana (https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/fighter-ranger-rogue) that came out yesterday. Such fun concepts they're playing with!I originally thought you were being sarcastic, but I just started reading and haven't really made my mind up yet. Also, as with any good UA, I'm already seeing stuff that's imba as fucking fuck!
Contagion is very good even without the dis/advantages.Its alright when you're not trying to kill the person you're hitting with it. Otherwise combat is usually over before it does its job.
You magically attract a swarm of fey spirits that look like Tiny beasts of your choice.
Okay, so I started reading the Swarmkeeper section and immediately thought it was this:Wait, are those target-able by Animal Shape?Spoiler (click to show/hide)
...but then I kept reading, andQuoteYou magically attract a swarm of fey spirits that look like Tiny beasts of your choice.
Tiny beasts. Tiny. Beasts. We just had this discussion!
Cat. CR 0. Unaligned. Tiny beast.
Wait, are those target-able by Animal Shape?Nope, they're not actually creatures. It's just an indistinct "swarm" with an undefined number of individual members.
they are flying velociraptors.
with teeththey are flying velociraptors.
So
Birds?
with teeththey are flying velociraptors.
So
Birds?
"So how 'bout that local sports team?"
SoPredictable!
Geese?
Swarm ranger except the swarm is fish and we're on land.Piranha 4: This time, they've brought a friend
So I pass notes. Lots of them. But I'm planning an improv session -3 for a game I'm running and I need random notes. Market sale prices, local gossip, arrogant braggart talk, anything to fill note cards. Player tension is a goal of mine due to plot stuff, so note passing helps keep them on edge."Did you hear that Marisha was cheating on John with a tiefling?"
Help me Bay12, you're my only hope.
Ah, you want "they say" type rumours? Look no further than Nethack's lists of true (https://nethackwiki.com/wiki/Source:NetHack_3.6.1/dat/rumors.tru) and false (https://nethackwiki.com/wiki/Source:NetHack_3.6.1/dat/rumors.fal) ones.How many of those would a DnD character say, though?
How many of those would a DnD character say, though?Surprisingly many.
83. I wouldn't advise playing catch with a giant.
173. They say that Juiblex is afraid of a wand of digging.
254. They say that monsters never step on a scare monster scroll.
361. You might be able to bribe a demon lord.
73. Floating eyes (beholders) can't stand Hawaiian shirts.
165. The longer the wand the better.
257. They say that if you sleep with a demon you might awake with a headache.
348. They say that you should never introduce a rope golem to a succubus.
So I pass notes. Lots of them. But I'm planning an improv session -3 for a game I'm running and I need random notes. Market sale prices, local gossip, arrogant braggart talk, anything to fill note cards. Player tension is a goal of mine due to plot stuff, so note passing helps keep them on edge.
Help me Bay12, you're my only hope.
You suddenly remember you are a fictional character played by [Player name], but then you forget.So I pass notes. Lots of them. But I'm planning an improv session -3 for a game I'm running and I need random notes. Market sale prices, local gossip, arrogant braggart talk, anything to fill note cards. Player tension is a goal of mine due to plot stuff, so note passing helps keep them on edge.
Help me Bay12, you're my only hope.
"Don't look, but they're plotting against you."
"They're onto you."
"You suddenly remember the first meatball sub you ever ate."
I noticed something interesting that happens if you use RAW with Heat Metal.
It only affects creatures in contact with the metal, so someone wearing clothing under all their armor is completely unaffected by the spell, and their clothing is unaffected as well.
But if the targeted armor wearer grapples with someone, that creature will take the damage if they are in contact with the armor at all.
Also, what precisely is unmanufactured metal? The spell doesn't target that.
EDIT:Additional thought. What is the maximum size of something you can target with the spell? Would an entire metal castle count?
For the purpose of these rules, an object is a discrete, inanimate item like a window, door, sword, book, table, chair, or stone, not a building or a vehicle that is composed of many other objects.No size limit is assigned to Heat Metal, so you might be able to heat one of the walls if your GM is feeling generous.
I suppose it makes sense in a Dnd context, since touch spells can be cast while wearing full armor, but what exactly is physical contact then?Presumably its a blanket term for holding, wearing, or touching the object in question.
A castle would not be an object.
So, I can't heat metal the entire city of Dis?I don't think that would change a lot, considering where Dis is and who lives there...
The definition of object is: a material thing that can be seen and touched, which is actually pretty unhelpful for fantasy or sci-fi because then something invisible ceases to be an object, but still, under that definition, a castle counts as an object, a city counts as an object, basically anything made of metal counts as a metal object, it's a really poor definition, but it's the one Google gives me so eh.The definition given by the game, however, is specific in saying a building is not an object but a collection of discrete objects like doors, walls, windows, etc.
When characters need to saw through ropes, shatter a window, or smash a vampire's coffin, the only hard and fast rule is this: given enough time and the right tools, characters can destroy any destructible object.
Use common sense when determining a character's success at damaging an object. Can a fighter cut through a section of a stone wall with a sword? No, the sword is likely to break before the wall does.
For the purpose of these rules, an object is a discrete, inanimate item like a window, door, sword, book, table, chair, or stone, not a building or a vehicle that is composed of many other objects.
but a thing is an social constructile meeting between parts to air grievances and work out disagreementsNo, a thing is an ancient alien found in antartica that destroys a research station
Speaking of which, how much damage do you need to put out to be an effective siege weapon?Siege weapons in 5e generally deal damage in the ballpark of 2d10–8d10. In earlier editions, anything capable of dealing over 30 points of damage in one hit could eventually break even adamantine, so it sounds about right as long as you have enough projectiles and don't care about them breaking before the castle does.
What if I want to knock down the barracks before the soldiers can come out?Speaking of which, how much damage do you need to put out to be an effective siege weapon?Siege weapons in 5e generally deal damage in the ballpark of 2d10–8d10. In earlier editions, anything capable of dealing over 30 points of damage in one hit could eventually break even adamantine, so it sounds about right as long as you have enough projectiles and don't care about them breaking before the castle does.
Speaking of which, how much damage do you need to put out to be an effective siege weapon?Siege weapons in 5e generally deal damage in the ballpark of 2d10–8d10. In earlier editions, anything capable of dealing over 30 points of damage in one hit could eventually break even adamantine, so it sounds about right as long as you have enough projectiles and don't care about them breaking before the castle does.
I think the equivalent in 5e would be 10-20 low-level hirelings with bows. Sure, only half of them hit, but that's still more damage than you'd get for that amount of money in any other way.A hireling's 1d8+2 damage longbow isn't going to do a lot against a stone wall. Effectively attacking objects requires a lot of damage per hit, not over several hits.
Okay, but what if I want to do this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR48a1kLx0w)?
Okay, but what if I want to do this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR48a1kLx0w)?
Bahubali is fun in general.Okay, but what if I want to do this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR48a1kLx0w)?
That... was hilariously stupid. Thank you.
Okay, but what if I want to do this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR48a1kLx0w)?
I've been quite pleased, lately, with Dreamscarred Press's third party additions to Pathfinder, and particularly Art of War, their take on the Tome of Battle. It doesn't lean on using the environment or group maneuvers like that, but I can hardly imagine how one would begin to write features that would encourage that anyway, it's more like a freeform thing that would be based around skill checks or otherwise open ended mechanics.Okay, but what if I want to do this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR48a1kLx0w)?
Then you'd best be playing Earthdawn. Because most systems forbid you to do interesting things if you aren't a magic-user.
I've been quite pleased, lately, with Dreamscarred Press's third party additions to Pathfinder, and particularly Art of War, their take on the Tome of Battle. It doesn't lean on using the environment or group maneuvers like that, but I can hardly imagine how one would begin to write features that would encourage that anyway, it's more like a freeform thing that would be based around skill checks or otherwise open ended mechanics.Oh, I absolutely agree. Spheres of Power (and Might, but we ain't talkin' wizards right now) is so good for making martials less boring.
Presumably the wizard could use the already existing alignmentsAlignment is not a story thing. It only matters with Rakshasas and Pixies, otherwise Alignment is only a short hand for a PC's general morality.
Alignment is not a story thing. It only matters with Rakshasas and Pixies, otherwise Alignment is only a short hand for a PC's general morality.
Moving into not allowed territory a bit here, please avoid discussions about the merit of the alignment system, there is a thread linked in the OP for that topic.Sounds like something a filthy lawful would do!
It really is an elfgame. Grognards always identify with dorfs but having a lifestyle that allows you to spend all your free time playing obscure games and perfecting the art of painting tiny figurines is extremely elven.Did Critical Role ever use grognards as a pun? Because if not that is sad.
The party I'm running for is a tiefling, hill dwarf, kobold, and minotaur (half-orc reskin), so they all have darkvision. It's a different experience.Huh. My group actually runs with darkvision races so much that often the non-darkvision races usually end up with Goggles of Night to make up for it.
I played a Triton GOO Blade Pact warlock for a bit. The main thing is you're squishy, but having a barbarian and a cleric should help him out there.The time I played a blade pact warlock before Hexblade was released, I played a half-elf Feylock. It is nice when you get to 6th level and can just teleport away and turn invisible when you feel like you've taken too much damage. I also started with a level of fighter so I could have heavy armor, which is good if you want to fight in melee and don't want to worry about having to escape eventually (though I could if I needed to). I mostly fought in melee with the character and saved spell slots for utility use, like turning people invisible or casting Seeming on them.
I used Armor of Agathys a lot (temp HP and cold damage when hit in melee is great, especially since it scales up), as well as crowd control spells like Darkness, Hold Person, and Hunger of Hadar (GOO also get Dissonant Whispers) to protect me from being hit. I tried using Hex and it was helpful, but I got hit often and lost concentration too many times to get maximum usage out of it.
I also recommend seriously considering starting or MCing at least one level into Fighter as well. Second Wind, Medium or heavy armor, and Defense will help a lot. (If he ends up not like blade pact warlock but wants something similar, he might like Eldritch Knight or Valor Bard).
are limited in damage and combos they can pull off by only being able to use finesse and ranged weapons for sneak attack.To be fair that just effectively means they don't have two handed weapons. They don't lose any damage over anyone else using 1h weapons since a rapier is 1d8.
Kobold talk - it really showed what WotC thought of the race. In a world where every single race gets a total of +3 to various attributes and some neat abilities, kobolds get +0 and they can cower real good. Oh, and sunlight sensitivity, a thing that pretty much only drow had til that point.
I just realized Kobolds are the Waluigi of DnD and now I love them even more. (My reasoning is that the general community loves them, wants them to be better/more included, but the company involved really seems to dislike them and refuses to listen to what the community wants for them (kobolds: better, Waluigi: Included in Smash/Getting his own game))
Amusing as the imagine of sneak attacking using a maul would be.
And kobolds are great, because you're too busy with their traps
We just did a homebrew kobold thats basically a halfling, since the 5e stats are so lame. I kind of hate kobolds, they have a very certain, uh, appeal, and going by the fluff descriptions wizards is aware and catering to it.what exactly are you implying here...
Which is whatever, do your thing you know, its just weird to be reading the book and it offhandedly mentions they don't have a gag reflex. I'd like to see kobolds as just little dog people. Like corgis, shetland sheep dogs, pugs, little anthropomorphic dog people. They dont talk, they just scurry around digging holes, not for any particular purpose. Some wizard's experiment gone awry
I do think its kinda sad that once the new Eberron book comes out, Kobolds will be the only 5e race with negative racial stats.Not true: orcs are also crap with -2int, though they still have a net increase of +1 to their stats overall.
Is sunlight sensitivity just about sight? As I understood it it was also about being under the sun in general.That's generally how I've understood it as well.
I know about orcs, but that doesn't mean my statement is false. The 5e Eberron book coming out in 2 weeks will have a new version of orcs without the -2 Int penalty.Ah, I see.
Is sunlight sensitivity just about sight? As I understood it it was also about being under the sun in general.It is about sight, yeah.
You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of the attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.
You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.
Mammalian kobolds > Reptilian koboldsI like armadillo kobolds. Both furry and scaly. Both cute and unsettling. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
What are these Eberron kobold stats? What do they get to counter the lost attribute values?Eberron won't have new kobolds, it has new orcs that are less dumb.
Why? I don't know Eberron. Why are orcs there special?What are these Eberron kobold stats? What do they get to counter the lost attribute values?Eberron won't have new kobolds, it has new orcs that are less dumb.
I thought of kobold-dillos too. Or kobold-pangolins. Adorably horrifying.
From my understanding, kobolds are reptilian because of their draconic ancestry, and thus don't have a necessity to reflect modern knowledge of dinosaurs.
Sooo...It costs sorcery points, and another Sorcerer level, but yes.
Variant Human Warlock 2/Sorcerer 2... Spell Sniper feat, Eldritch Spear invocation, Distant Spell metamagic...
Is that eldritch blast with a range of 1,200 feet?
Nope, you need a third level of sorcerer for that.Ah right, of course... Forgot you get sorcpoints a level before you get metamagic.
...Cept it's temporary. I had to recast it a couple times when I used it to disguise my identity.Just go to the bathroom once every 50 minutes and cast it there.
From my understanding, kobolds are reptilian because of their draconic ancestry, and thus don't have a necessity to reflect modern knowledge of dinosaurs.
Depending on the edition, you can usually stick Alter Self on a magic item to make it indefinite, especially if you're only interested in a single particular form.Medallion of Enhancement +3(inches)
At least that one only has to last for four minutes
Suggestion: A room filled with mimics, and one actual chest.Borderlands 2 did it.
Suggestion: A room filled with mimics, and one actual chest.
I forget which edition we were doing, but one of the (very few) times I've actually played D&D was on IRC with a few people from here. Our plucky party assembled outside of a cave, and the game started with us entering into the cave to explore.
Piercers. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piercer_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons))
Really dig through the old D&D books.
You peek through the open doorway. At the far end of the room is a chest positively overflowing with gold, gems, and equipment. Against one wall is a bed. In a corner is a cloak on a coat rack. There's a decorative rug in the middle of the room.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
But seriously don't do mimics. They're shitty creatures that only exist as a take that. "I shoot every chest I see with an arrow from the other side of the room" is definitely a personality quirk but in no universe is that fun.
It's not just about frequency. If it's completely without warning, once is likely too much. On the other hand, you can have a whole mimic dungeon if it's clear enough that this is the mimic dungeon and in most dungeons there won't be mimics.Really dig through the old D&D books.
You peek through the open doorway. At the far end of the room is a chest positively overflowing with gold, gems, and equipment. Against one wall is a bed. In a corner is a cloak on a coat rack. There's a decorative rug in the middle of the room.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
But seriously don't do mimics. They're shitty creatures that only exist as a take that. "I shoot every chest I see with an arrow from the other side of the room" is definitely a personality quirk but in no universe is that fun.
Don't do mimics too much ;)
Regardless, I'd rather like a clash between the PCs and Baphomet and/or Yeenoghu, possibly at the same time in a 3 way
That and I have a dozen or so Heroclix maps I might be able to press into service now, too.
If someone says they love a food, can you use Suggestion to make them marry it?
So, presumably since Polymorph replaces all the target's attributes with those of the chosen form, including mental, if you polymorph someone into a beast and then cast Awaken on them, they won't keep the 10 Int after changing back...
But a druid's Wild Shape lets them keep mental attributes, right? So if your druid has a bad case of the dumb, they can shift and then you Awaken them for 10 Int and a bonus language (possibly)? Plus 30 days of being charmed, but that's just the fine print... No need to worry about that.
If a druid has Polearm Master and casts Shillelagh on a quarterstaff, that would presumably just be d8/d4 instead of d8/d8, right? Since PM's bonus attack technically isn't "part of the weapon", it's just "This attack's damage die is d4".
Shame about there being so few touch spells in the PHB... Plenty of warlock familiar shenanigans that could've been had, what with the at-will invisibility and all. I mean, you can still cast Darkness on a pebble and give it to your imp to fly around with, but c'mon... Shenanigans.
Sure, you could take Magic Initiate (or just level in sorc, I guess) for Light and Shocking Grasp, but that hardly counts as proper shenanigans.
So I'm planning out a world with some rather extensive homebrew-- sort of a post-magical-apocalypse steampunk thing, with floating islands and lots of weird arcane abominations roaming the mage-blasted wastelands. Trolls will be figuring heavily in all this, and with that in mind I'd like to set up a half-troll player race. A quick Google search turned up this piece of 3rd-party material, (https://www.5esrd.com/races/3rd-party-publisher-races/kobold-press-races/races-3rd-party-publisher-races-kobold-press-races-trollkin/) and I've been rewriting bits and pieces of it to better fit the fluff I've got in mind.Strange refluff aside: does this thing balance OK with existing races? If not, what would I need to change to bring it in line?Spoiler: Trollkin (click to show/hide)
But a druid's Wild Shape lets them keep mental attributes, right? So if your druid has a bad case of the dumb, they can shift and then you Awaken them for 10 Int and a bonus language (possibly)? Plus 30 days of being charmed, but that's just the fine print... No need to worry about that.I don't think so, no. Assuming this is about 5e:
Your game Statistics are replaced by the Statistics of the beast, but you retain your Alignment, personality, and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores.You keep your int when you're wildshaped.
If a druid has Polearm Master and casts Shillelagh on a quarterstaff, that would presumably just be d8/d4 instead of d8/d8, right? Since PM's bonus attack technically isn't "part of the weapon", it's just "This attack's damage die is d4".Afaik, yeah, it'd be 1d8/1d4.
The lips thing is very odd, but hey, whatever floats your boat.
I think this doesn't raise any major flags for balance. The Hit Die heal is nice. I'd note these things, though.
- The Wildling subrace sounds like it should have a wisdom boon rather than charisma. Which would suggest druids and clerics, most likely - which I think makes sense with the whole healing part of trolls. It'd make monks more likely as well, which would make the unarmed attacks useless.
- One advantage per long rest is a very weak ability. To keep it, I'd bump it up to a short rest.
-Thick Hide is fine, but most racial natural armor is portrayed as an AC plus dex instead. Basically free armor - Tortle have 18AC, and Draconic Sorcerers get like 12+dex.
...The lips thing is pretty bizarre, yeah. I was trying to lend the race an alien sort of feel-- inhuman and strange-- it may not have worked quite so well as I hoped. ::)
- I'm looking to build the wildling subrace with wild-magic sorcerers in mind; hence the Charisma boost rather than Wisdom... I could perhaps retool the subrace ability tho. I can certainly bump it up to a short-rest recharge!
- That's a good point about the natural armor. I'm thinking... what, 16 AC? Does that sound about right?
I've never played or properly read through Earthdawn, but every time I hear about it, it seems quite excellent. Or as the kids say, based and red pilled. Your description only furthers that impression. Kind of makes me wonder why it never took off to a greater degree.
Kind of makes me wonder why it never took off to a greater degree.
Kind of makes me wonder why it never took off to a greater degree.
I suspect it's the same reason that pretty much none of the other crunchy systems made it big. Huge books (3XX pages isn't too bad but the most recent two editions had 6XX and 10XX respectively if you combine GM and player books), chart references to determine how many/which dice to roll, generally bad-ish mechanics overall.
Very true. That's like hitting a gumball two football fields away.With a washing machine!
So, I'm a little bit enamored with the concept of a war priest with a bow. If we're allowing feats, a variant human with 16 dex would be able to, at level 2, shoot something 600 feet away for 1d8+13 damage with +10 tohit.If you're playing in Eberron, that's a pretty good concept for a cleric of the Silver Flame, since they're pretty big into bows.
I mean, sure, it's once per short rest... But that's still kinda funky fresh, I'd say.
Yeah, the great distances afforded by sniping allow you to trivialize many enemies in 5e, provided your DM is letting you snipe from across a great distance and they have no recourse (such as go inside) other than to run at you. Pretty rare in most games, but when it does happen it's a strong point in favor of bows.Yeah, I sometimes see people talking about how significant attack ranges like this are overpowered, and it makes me think they don't really play or never go into dungeons, because, in my experience, most fights happen in rooms that are within the normal range of a shortbow, or at the very least the normal range of a longbow. And even if you are outside, you can probably at least find some cover or something.
Call it the wizard killer. Mage murderer. Sage slayer.
And even if you are outside, you can probably at least find some cover or something.That's why the Sharpshooter feat is kinda silly... Not only does it let you utilize the full range of the weapon without disadvantage, it also lets you ignore half and 3/4 cover. So... Basically anything that isn't full cover, and full cover prevents the enemy from seeing or interacting with you as well.
Y'know I've never met anyone else who bothers to bring manacles and chains on any adventures, or climbing gear, or wants to bring a wagon and horses.One of the very few and very short-lived campaigns I've actually played via IRC, someone played a character that basically amounted to "The dwarf with the wagon"... Which, in their mind, earned them more than a double share of the loot. Despite never having stepped foot inside the dungeon or contributed to the interactions in any way.
Y'know I've never met anyone else who -- wants to bring a wagon and horses.
Well, in a game I played in there was a character who insisted on bringing a a cart full of bags of beans instead of standard trail rations, as well as enough gunpowder and lead ball to outfit an army. The others brought food and ammo for ten days, not ten weeks. We returned to town two days later.
And in another, the GM even started the one-shot with "you left your mules outside and stepped into the dungeon", even though none of the character sheets mentioned pack animals. To him, it was unthinkable for anyone to go out adventuring without something to carry the loot, so he didn't even ask if we wanted any.
Unless I want to buy half a tonne in barrels of lamp oil I doubt I can come near the capacity of a wagon without having far more rope and chains than even my characters can reasonably use.
Why beans of all things? ???Dried beans are extremely dense in nutrition. A bag of beans feeds you longer than a bag of hardtack and keeps malnutrition away better.
Why beans of all things? ???Dried beans are extremely dense in nutrition. A bag of beans feeds you longer than a bag of hardtack and keeps malnutrition away better.
Yeah, but in 5e you can just move out of full cover, shoot, and move back into cover. They probably won't be able to hit you back as well out to that range, and after the first time you'll likely wise up and hold your action to shoot them when they pop out, but it is an option. Or, depending on their objectives, they can just wait behind cover until you come to them or leave.And even if you are outside, you can probably at least find some cover or something.That's why the Sharpshooter feat is kinda silly... Not only does it let you utilize the full range of the weapon without disadvantage, it also lets you ignore half and 3/4 cover. So... Basically anything that isn't full cover, and full cover prevents the enemy from seeing or interacting with you as well.
Hm, can't you still ready an action to fire when they leave cover?I meant to say "ready your action to shoot", but for some reason my brain got messed up into using previous version verbiage. I think I also sometimes also use "minor action" when I mean to say "bonus action".
I'm not sure how readying actions is supposed to work. We usually roughly play it as delaying the character's turn until the trigger occurs, but for a situation like that we'd probably be allowed to interrupt the opponents turn with an attack (or attack sequence?).
Well, you also got to bother with the local lords or whatever knowing there's some random asshole wandering around with an army of goblins and other assorted nasties. Probably up to no good with that.
Better send a party of adventurers to go deal with that.
So I'm still poking away at mercenary bands and similar armed groups and the expenses involved, which has ultimately brought me to the races like goblins and ogres for whom money isn't of any real value, but consistent good food, warm fires and well made bedrolls are.
So I was looking at the costs of alcohol and spices and things to pay for military service with basic comforts. Couldn't find drugs on any kind.
Ale is pretty cheap, a 40 gallon barrel is 2.8 gold, and 2 gold of that is the barrel. Common wine works out about the same.
Then I looked at saffron, it's 15 gold for a pound. Doesn't tell me much, so I need to know how much saffron you actually need when cooking. A 'pinch' does about 4-6 servings of stew or soup, ok, better, but how much is a pinch? Turns out it's twenty threads. How much does a thread weigh? Anyway long story short, that pound of saffron is enough to season 68000 servings of food. Throw in ginger, cinnamon, pepper, cloves and salt as things you can buy and keeping tasty food on the table seems easy if you can access a half decent field cook.
A chicken is just 2cp and should give about 3 pounds of meat, a goat is 1gp for about 40 pounds, a cow is 10gp for about 430 pounds, so meat isn't too expensive. Flour is cheap at 2cp a pound.
If you find soldiers that will work for bed, board and luxuries it seems quite practical to keep them happy for months or even years with pretty low expenses. I'm sure more than a few ogres and hill giants would be willing to work for all the delicious meat stew and spiced bread they can eat, all the ale they can drink and a soft warm place to sleep. The inevitable brawls would be an issue, but plenty of races in D&D get them to work for them without much issue and they just pay them in raw meat, beatings and the occasional captive to torment.
Finding enough work for them to earn their keep is probably the hardest part of maintaining a band of soldiers, but hey, most D&D settings are rife with problems that can be solved by violence.
So the 5e game I'm currently working on PC ideas for starts at level 9 and we've been given a budget of 4500gp to spend on gear, magic items to be assessed by the GM, and I've had a list of magic items I was interested in before. But now I'm sitting here with a spreadsheet open calculating how much I can buy in terms of practical supplies, hirelings, vehicles and so on in order to make a mercenary platoon led by a PC because I'm on a logistics kick now.
Real trouble is looking to be practical transport of gear and supplies. Wagons are a must. Oxen can drag twice as much as draft horses, but draft horses seem more appropriate for the job since they can be used as mounts in an emergency. I'm hitting against the rocket fuel problem a tad, in that food/water weigh a lot, so I need more capacity to carry enough for any reasonable trip, which means more horses which means more food/water.
It turns out 4 horses will need a barrel of water a day between them. A full barrel weighs 395 out of their 1080 pound dragging capacity, so finding water regularly is a necessity because there's no way to carry more than a few days worth.
Not done working things out, but supplies for 30 soldiers including everything from tents to food, to spare clothes and soap, paper and ink for writing messages/drawing maps, cases to keep important ones dry, a chest for valuables, chains and manacles to take 10 captives and so forth all comes up to under 2k so far, which would leave 2500+ gp to spend on a little personal gear and daily wages. Skilled hirelings cost 2gp* a day, so that's only enough to pay them all for one and a half months, which isn't all that long to hit on paying work for a band of thirty soldiers in.
I am looking at four full wagons and eight draft horses just to carry cargo. Everyone not manning a wagon would be walking. I dread to think of how much extra baggage would be needed to feed enough riding horses for the 20 or so walking people.
*The basic cr1/8 Guard probably doesn't justify that price, but cr3 Veterans or Knights would be frankly cheap at that rate.
That's so dumb - it must happen. The fear stuff is very cool, but hard to exploit.
Unfortunately, the AoE fear from their Oath gets a save every turn, and from Dragon Fear gives a save if damaged, so...every turn if in the aura. Still, it's a wasted turn for several enemies.
Remember, Logistics and Dragons is best when everyone (DM possibly as well, YMMV) is on-board before the game. Also, if you're playing a math-based wizard, or huckster bard, or illusionist who makes things appear much more valuable than they appear.
Well, you also got to bother with the local lords or whatever knowing there's some random asshole wandering around with an army of goblins and other assorted nasties. Probably up to no good with that.
Better send a party of adventurers to go deal with that.
You could also dip fighter for the Protection fighting style, which lets you impose disadvantage on an attack on something within 5ft of you as a reaction.
Second question relates to a concept for a butler/bodyguard character, using a monk to fit the unarmed/unarmored/still competent bill. I'm not finding many specific rules on the topic, so I figured I'd ask how likely y'all think it is that a DM could be convinced to let you use a reaction to jump between your master and a projectile attack fired at them? Presumably it'd ask a bit too much to be able to use the monk's Deflect Missiles on top of that, since that specifically requires a reaction, but at least some form of actually protecting your charge would be nice.
You could also dip fighter for the Protection fighting style, which lets you impose disadvantage on an attack on something within 5ft of you as a reaction.*requires the use of a shield
I’m hosting a D&D session on friday, and while most of the Dungeon they will be entering is finished, I still have one problem: puzzles.
The gimmick of the Dungeon is that it’s an ancient abandoned Magitech Dragoborn Laboratory built in a massive stalegtite over a seemingly bottomless saltwater lake, all of which is at the lowest level of the Underdark. Things came out of a pit, the Draginborn dissaproved, so first they threw in rocks, and more things came out, then they threw in magma, and more things came out, then they started emptying desert’s worth of sand into the pit and still stuff came out, so they dug a massive pipe to the ocean and filled it with saltwaypter. On the one hand, it definitely isn’t bottomless if tpit could be filled with saltwater, on the other hand, no-one ever went down to find out. Things still came out, but lesser things, at least comparatively, so they built 5 laboratories around the Lake to study it. They were connected to the rest of the underground Kingdom via magitech trams. In the end, they despcided to pack up and leave for reasons unknown.
(Tl;dr: lab built over lake of evil gribbles is abandoned because of reasons)
None of that really matters, though. What matters is that the doors have tow levels of securitym a key, and a puzzle. The key is so that only a few People can get in. The puzzles are so as if the keys are stolen, they still can’t get in. The puzzles can’t involve massive amounts of magic, and they need to be obtuse, with no available hints. Instead, the Players will be given a few notes belonging to a dead Scientist which essentially amount to password hints. The idea is that first they figure out what the hint means, then they figure out how it relates to the five chains, a wheel and an engraving of a frog with a beard that’s on the door. This is all really important for plot reasons, but so far not a single place I have gone looking for ideas in has given me more than one or twosolid ideas. I’m getting desperate, and my own mind is turning up blanks, and I’ve lost my old Professor Layton games at some point over the years. Pls help.
In the chamber plain
A swaddling babe
sleeping lay
while dark things crept
from the waters deep below
I need ideas for both, because my mind just keeps on drawing blanks. A door might, for example, have a keyhole and five chains, with the hint being a paragraph of gibberish with four lines, and five words in each line, the answer being to pull the fourth chain five times.
Well to use that idea a simple one would be if each sentence corresponded to a single chain pull.
So four words, three words, two words, four words, five words so the combo is just 43245.
That used to be real shit. Back when the point of thr game was amassing treasure adventurers were like dungeon locusts, they'd cut tapestries down and pull out the mummy's gold teeth, strip the dungeon bare..
That kind of thing is why i try not to overthink puzzles. A lot of players (me included) get a kick out of finding weird ways to traverse a puzzle, its the d&d equivalent of getting into an arra you're not supposed to by climbing over a low spot in the level geometry
Dont get attached to your puzzles, players like to smash them
I've actually linked quite a few events to a necromancer outside the city (paying criminals for corpses, attempts to steal a spellbook, wandering undead in the nearby woods) but several of these add both to the mystery and to the strangeness of the town.Pretty sure that's Goodie Martin's laundry, actually, but I suppose it's ambiguous. Perhaps we're both wrong and it's referring to ethnicity and in fact the UN council has sent the adventurers to investigate allegations of eugenics.
Goodie Martin's teeth especially...
Cheers wierd - keep that mind of your just as strange forever.
somebody needs to invent a pop-o-matic-bubble that you can open and insert whatever number or kind of dice into.
I've seen videos of people that surgically extracted the one from a Trouble!(tm) board game, but fitting the correct numbers and types of dice inside for each situation is not really doable with that solution.
One with pop-off cap on top would be ideal if it was large enough. (high level chars can have absurd numbers of hit dice, so lots of room inside is needed.)
somebody needs to invent a pop-o-matic-bubble that you can open and insert whatever number or kind of dice into.
I've seen videos of people that surgically extracted the one from a Trouble!(tm) board game, but fitting the correct numbers and types of dice inside for each situation is not really doable with that solution.
One with pop-off cap on top would be ideal if it was large enough. (high level chars can have absurd numbers of hit dice, so lots of room inside is needed.)
How about taking a hamster ball and gluing a flat piece of cardboard to the bottom, opposite the cap?
How is that better than just shaking the whole thing, though, particularly when you may well have dice piled on top of each other?
Character suggestion: A tabaxi who is a human otherkin (To clarify, it is a tabaxi, but it identifies as human). Probably shaves its fur.
If you're tricky, you can stack your dice in those cups. It's just harder.How is that better than just shaking the whole thing, though, particularly when you may well have dice piled on top of each other?
Nothing? It's a conversation about dice towers, which are the most difficult way to keep people from controlling the dice rolls. Those old felt-lined cups were the best solution, and always will be. We're just looking for a particularly complicated type of lesser solution.
Edit: Someone create a Rube Goldberg gimmick account, I've got an idea...
I personally am of the opinion that if its unintentional, it's not blackface at all. Blackface is a caricature after all, so if you're not intending to mock blacks, not even subconsciously, it's not blackface.Character suggestion: A tabaxi who is a human otherkin (To clarify, it is a tabaxi, but it identifies as human). Probably shaves its fur.
If tabaxi have breeds like real cats do and there's a tabaxi-sphynx, is this basically unintentional blackface?
Character suggestion: A tabaxi who is a human otherkin (To clarify, it is a tabaxi, but it identifies as human). Probably shaves its fur.
For reasons I'm still not entirely able to articulate to myself, I really want to play in or GM for a game where the PCs are colonists/scouts from MtGs New Phyrexia sent to another plane to spread the philosophy and corruption of Phyrexia, but the machine that was used to send them breaks and strands them as the first and only wave of phyrexian invaders, forcing them to start and direct the process of phyresis themselves.
Something pleases me about the idea of a party having to find ways to spread their contagion in ways that either let it become publicly accepted or even endorsed to undergo completion, or that keep it secret so it isn't burned away before it can take root and grow.
I'd be willing to bet most nobles would know Animal Messenger is a spell that exists in the world, at least, in most of the D&D worlds I tend to run around in.
On an unrelated note, since it can be used to emulate speech and doesn't have a verbal component, can Kenku just use Minor Illusion to speak complete non-mimicked sentences (thereby ruining the fun for everyone)?Not easily, because they've also been cursed with a lack of creativity. Spontaneously coming up with a fresh sentence is difficult, though maybe something like making a previously heard sentence in someone else's voice could happen.
"Note to self: Remember meeting with the baron's wife tonight; don't forget to take those potent herbs from the healer! We don't want another incident like last time."
In the medieval period, if the King wanted the baron's horse for any reason, he would simply order the Baron to give it to him."Note to self: Remember meeting with the baron's wife tonight; don't forget to take those potent herbs from the healer! We don't want another incident like last time."
Right idea, not salacious enough.
No no.. Not the barnoness, no no. Now, reminding him that he needs to bribe the baron's stable hand to get unfettered access to the baron's horse-- now THAT's salacious!
In the medieval period, if the King wanted the baron's horse for any reason, he would simply order the Baron to give it to him."Note to self: Remember meeting with the baron's wife tonight; don't forget to take those potent herbs from the healer! We don't want another incident like last time."
Right idea, not salacious enough.
No no.. Not the barnoness, no no. Now, reminding him that he needs to bribe the baron's stable hand to get unfettered access to the baron's horse-- now THAT's salacious!
And having sex with a horse is not actually that weird for a medieval king. It would not hurt his reputation that much.
It at least wouldn't effect him that much, since anyone who tries to insult him who isn't the fool will be executed.
I admit I didn't think of things like that.In the medieval period, if the King wanted the baron's horse for any reason, he would simply order the Baron to give it to him."Note to self: Remember meeting with the baron's wife tonight; don't forget to take those potent herbs from the healer! We don't want another incident like last time."
Right idea, not salacious enough.
No no.. Not the barnoness, no no. Now, reminding him that he needs to bribe the baron's stable hand to get unfettered access to the baron's horse-- now THAT's salacious!
And having sex with a horse is not actually that weird for a medieval king. It would not hurt his reputation that much.
It at least wouldn't effect him that much, since anyone who tries to insult him who isn't the fool will be executed.
You aren't thinking about it the right way. Intrigue is a convoluted, and complicated web of concepts.
1) Yes- the king can demand basically anything, and his subjects are compelled to comply. However, politics is all about image. If a king feels there is nothing wrong whatsoever with being a horse fucker (or being fucked by a horse, as the case may be... I intended this latter), he will be open about it and inform the baron openly that he is a fine judge of horse-flesh, and that he wants the use of the horse for the night.
That is NOT what we are establishing here, with the message.
Firstly, the reminder is to bribe the stable hand; This immediately asserts that the king himself views the act as disfavorable, and something to be concealed. Secondly, it asserts that the king is willing to use covert and illicit means to secure something he finds disfavorable for himself. Thirdly, it asserts that the baron's estate has untrustworthy staff, and that the king is exploiting this to his clandestine advantage, and fourthly, he is doing this knowing full well that the baron will disapprove, and is doing it ANYWAY. (thus showing open disdain for the baron.)
This is in addition to the obvious slight against the king's mental health, by brightly spotlighting that he is so forgetful or mentally infirm that he must remind himself of his clever schemes throughout the day, and that he is so far down that road, that he also must remind himself not to set reminders that others will hear.
Actively seeking a very... unique... form of sexual gratification, and doing so clandestinely, fits neatly with the theme of nascent mental illness (and thus inability to properly rule), much more than more ordinary lust (such as for the baroness.)
That is why it is more salacious.
Do they have much evidence that the guy is more dangerous than some commoner?Yep, I took a Lampadarius Kyton (https://aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Lampadarius), gave it the Monk template (https://aonprd.com/MonsterTemplates.aspx?ItemName=Monk), and introduced it at the very start of the scenario. They fought him, learning about his permanent 20% concealment, his 75% damage taken from weapons and spells, his spell resistance, and his special Strength ability damage attack. After his minions were destroyed, he used his shadowstep ability to teleport away and escape.
If they didn't learn more about vampires, you can make her completely different from vanilla vampires.Do they have much evidence that the guy is more dangerous than some commoner?Yep, I took a Lampadarius Kyton (https://aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Lampadarius), gave it the Monk template (https://aonprd.com/MonsterTemplates.aspx?ItemName=Monk), and introduced it at the very start of the scenario. They fought him, learning about his permanent 20% concealment, his 75% damage taken from weapons and spells, his spell resistance, and his special Strength ability damage attack. After his minions were destroyed, he used his shadowstep ability to teleport away and escape.
For a team of six 3rd level characters, it's a tough but beatable CR 6 boss with a bunch of high defenses. Unfortunately, the vampiress is a CR 5 encounter herself, with an at-will dominate against humanoids. Between the two creatures and their abilities, it's unlikely that the group can beat both at once.
They knew the kidnapper would visit the vampiress, had a full day to prepare, and spent the entire time holding in character arguments instead. Despite knowing they'd be fighting a vampire, nobody tried to learn more about defending against them either.
Well, time for actions to have consequences.
Kyton (https://aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Lampadarius)Oh, a cenobite.
That's why I think you should start with the target's organization and resources, and likewise the rivals'. That stuff will always be useful and if you know what it is ahead of time you can just move the stuff around in response to what players do.
Not quite. They shuttered FFI, the digital game division. Last I heard, they also fired the RPG people and some office staff. The board game division will probably be fine, possibly owing partly to their owner, Asmodee.
Speculation at the moment is that any future RPG work will be wholly done by freelancers.
So... Magic Missile. Curious spell, isn't it? What with apparently using just the one damage roll for every dart, meaning that just that little d4 can be responsible for a damage variance of up to 33 points.
Which, coincidentally, means that the evocation specialist's level 10 ability can add a potential 55 damage to a target.
Now, sure, those big numbers are just if you use a 9th level slot to cast Magic Missile, and 9th level has some other really big fun stuff that you'd probably rather be casting... But even as a 1st level spell, that's a bonus +15 damage, no save, no attack roll. Not too shabby.
That's assuming they intend to continue in this market at all; they may not.
Let's pray they don't alter itThat's assuming they intend to continue in this market at all; they may not.
Star Wars are fairly profitable for them. Although, if Disney has altered their deal or taken away the rights, that's different.
Congrats! I've been Pathfinding for several years now, and having a blast. You doing their new 2nd edition or the classic "3.75" 1st edition Pathfinder?
Many modules are designed for a 15 point buy 4 man team, so if you're exceeding this baseline, it can be fairly simple. Especially if you've got a group talented at optimizing their characters.Man, I'm in a game where there's six of us at 25 pb and using optional rules and third party content that increase power level further and yesterday we still wound up with two PCs going below 0 hp and one (not entirely by coincidence, mine) would have died entirely if not for an astounding and entirely un-earned but of luck. And although this was a particularly spectacular session, it was by no means the first time.
Getting geared up for a Shadowrun interlude while DnD is on hiatus. I'm GMing, which I've never done before. I've played a handful of times and it's pretty much the only game that I've read the novels of.
Any advice for GMing? The players are new to SR and newish to gaming (6 months experience each in games)
Shadowrun character creation (and equipping of characters) can be a bit overwhelming, don't be afraid to suggest your players use the pre-rolled characters of the rulebook (if there are any) if they want to.
Two players in 5e. An adept (focused mostly on mobility and infiltration) and a rigger (focused on recon and using drones to give debuffs to enemies).
I'm setting it in our local area, will take some published stuff to appropriate.
I'm doing an easy early adventure to explain the mechanics for everything as best I can. Not looking forward to keeping track of debuffs.
That would depend on the gnome's level of metaphysical awaregness.Gnome's not obviously metaphysical, eh?
Cheers, Iduno. Partly we are doing Shadowrun because one of our players only solve problems with violence and escalation and we want a game that's not condusive to that.
Further list extension into Tiny creatures? Are there even any Tiny humanoids?
Ahh, that just reminded me of the Goblin race splatbook for Shadow of the Demon Lord... Where, given a couple (un?)lucky rolls, you would end up with a character whose height was measured in negative inches.
The cat was starving. Its owner hadn't fed it all night and it was getting desperate. It heard things. Things it couldn't understand but did. It accepted the deal that it was presented with.
And that's where the GoO warlock kitty came from. The GoO patron has regretted it ever since.
So, you are saying Dex-Starr, but as a warlock? I think Fiend would make more sense as a Red Lantern anologue.The cat was starving. Its owner hadn't fed it all night and it was getting desperate. It heard things. Things it couldn't understand but did. It accepted the deal that it was presented with.
And that's where the GoO warlock kitty came from. The GoO patron has regretted it ever since.
If it works for DC comics...
Also, why would the GoO patron regret it? Cats and humans are about the same intelligence to a GOO's perspective.
Perhaps some Cats just talk. Perhaps there’s an underground network of long-lived talking Cats.
So, you are saying Dex-Starr, but as a warlock? I think Fiend would make more sense as a Red Lantern anologue.
Or maybe some kind of Barbarian would be even better. Zealot, maybe?
Also, why would the GoO patron regret it? Cats and humans are about the same intelligence to a GOO's perspective.
I just liked the idea of Cthulhu coming to regret its choice to offer patronage to a particularly annoying kitty cat.
Cheers, Iduno. Partly we are doing Shadowrun because one of our players only solve problems with violence and escalation and we want a game that's not condusive to that.
How did the run go?
You say that, but my friend met several people (including her ex and her current boyfriend) in chat groups for movie-watchers.
In other news, it's annoying coming up with an idea for a character that you'd like to play, but fully realize would be much better off as an NPC than as a PC.
I can only see two party hats in that last panel. *shudder*
I have a weird, probably stupid, idea for a Shadowrun campaign. Well, several, but one that's on my mind.I would think that you wouldn't have plotline, you'd just have a list of random events.
In Shadowrun, you are cybered- or magiced-up mercenaries try to use your above-average skills to solve problems and get through missions to make money, but you never really do enough exploring of the world or the themes (probably true with most systems). I'd like a campaign where you make one or two skill rolls to see if you succeed at the mission, or how well you succeed/fail. Then you actually play the downtime between missions. Mostly stupid mundane BS that you'd deal with living in a huge city as a (legally) non-person in a terrible apartment (because you can't rent a nice place if you don't have ID or credit), but maybe getting up to stuff as wild as getting the rigger's van back after it gets towed. I'm not sure what the plotline would be (even for the background plot between the missions your character is running off-screen), but it feels like an interesting idea.
Just make sure your players are well-acquainted with the idea first, if everyone wants to do that then it's good, but I wouldn't.
I have a weird, probably stupid, idea for a Shadowrun campaign. Well, several, but one that's on my mind.I would think that you wouldn't have plotline, you'd just have a list of random events.
In Shadowrun, you are cybered- or magiced-up mercenaries try to use your above-average skills to solve problems and get through missions to make money, but you never really do enough exploring of the world or the themes (probably true with most systems). I'd like a campaign where you make one or two skill rolls to see if you succeed at the mission, or how well you succeed/fail. Then you actually play the downtime between missions. Mostly stupid mundane BS that you'd deal with living in a huge city as a (legally) non-person in a terrible apartment (because you can't rent a nice place if you don't have ID or credit), but maybe getting up to stuff as wild as getting the rigger's van back after it gets towed. I'm not sure what the plotline would be (even for the background plot between the missions your character is running off-screen), but it feels like an interesting idea.
You roll, see which event happened in your mundane life, deal with it with roleplay, maybe do a few mission rolls to get more money, maybe do a bit more roleplay, repeat.
BBE: The landlord. *Shudder*
My first reaction is to wonder if a Blades in the Dark hack of some kind might work well for this. I guess maybe you'd need to expand downtime with more rules and randomness and give it rewards.
paladins are so good ... if they cheat.
...can still move... ...blind.I now picture a limp body just sort of quickly sliding along the ground, bumping into walls and stuff as it tries to navigate.
Round 1: Thiefbarian rages, moves to enemy, recklessly attacks for 1d8+7+9d6 damage at +11 tohit with advantage.
Or there's the reverse-centaur.Wouldn't a reverse centaur have hooves for hands?
(https://www.esquireme.com/sites/default/files/styles/full_img/public/images/2019/10/24/bojackhorseman.jpg?itok=rkRgdi8j)
Wouldn't a reverse centaur have hooves for hands?
What happens if you Speak With Dead a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?
Speak with Animals allows you to speak with creatures that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages if they are an animal. That's what the spell does explicitly. Nothing in Speak With Dead suggests it allows you to understand you, but it doesn't suggest they don't either.What happens if you Speak With Dead a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?What happens if you speak with animals a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?
Edit: Because I would assume it's the same answer.
Speak with Animals allows you to speak with creatures that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages if they are an animal. That's what the spell does explicitly. Nothing in Speak With Dead suggests it allows you to understand you, but it doesn't suggest they don't either.What happens if you Speak With Dead a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?What happens if you speak with animals a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?
Edit: Because I would assume it's the same answer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBtnLznwZW4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBtnLznwZW4)Is there a similar spell to Speak with Dead, though?Speak with Animals allows you to speak with creatures that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages if they are an animal. That's what the spell does explicitly. Nothing in Speak With Dead suggests it allows you to understand you, but it doesn't suggest they don't either.What happens if you Speak With Dead a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?What happens if you speak with animals a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?
Edit: Because I would assume it's the same answer.
Well, if the rules are unclear, try comparing it to a similar spell.
It's explicitly mentioned it only knows what languages it knew in life, so if you don't share a language, it wouldn't be able to understand you. It doesn't gain any new methods of understanding like new languages.
You grant the semblance of life and Intelligence to a corpse of your choice within range, allowing it to answer the questions you pose. The corpse must still have a mouth and can't be Undead. The spell fails if the corpse was the target of this spell within the last 10 days.
Until the spell ends, you can ask the corpse up to five questions. The corpse knows only what it knew in life, including the Languages it knew. Answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive, and the corpse is under no Compulsion to offer a truthful answer if you are Hostile to it or it recognizes you as an enemy. This spell doesn't return the creature's soul to its body, only its animating spirit. Thus, the corpse can't learn new information, doesn't comprehend anything that has happened since it died, and can't speculate about future events.
I have found myself in a Dungeon Fantasy (Powered by GURPS) game set in the Darkest Dungeon universe. My favorite joke GURPS character, stripped of the jokes, should fit right in.
Arise, Food Mage MKII.
I have found myself in a Dungeon Fantasy (Powered by GURPS) game set in the Darkest Dungeon universe. My favorite joke GURPS character, stripped of the jokes, should fit right in.
Arise, Food Mage MKII.
I've been trying to run a GURPS Dungeon Fantasy game for some friends, but it's been difficult to get off the ground. Depending on how strictly you track things like supplies, a food mage could be pretty useful.
Ugh, my group is hitting a snag. The finale of a section is coming up and nobody wants to do it with somebody missing, but very rarely is everybody free, even on scheduled days. And they all have terrible computers that are constantly broken or missing parts.I know what this is like. Two of my five players were sick and we had to call off the game last Friday. I'm really hoping nobody flakes out on me this week, because the previous game had one player away, and resulted in the near-death of a character due to their lack of backup.
I don't want to be the one to suggest it since we're already a few weeks off-schedule, but at least one person has offered that they'd be okay if we did it without them.
All of my ideas are probably too close to current events at the moment to be fun.
Thanks a lot! I downloaded the bunch because why not.you're talking about the suggested price? My personal view is that I wouldn't have bothered with the system otherwise, and, if I do like it, I might buy supplements or whatever. As it is, I'm just using this as an opportunity to check it out, since I've heard it bandied about occasionally.
Well, except the Dark Eye. Damn Germans passive aggressively saying it's free and then trying to guilt trip you anyway. Not today, Hermann
While off-topic, some steam games like Darkest Dungeon are 75% off now.
Thanks a lot! I downloaded the bunch because why not.you're talking about the suggested price? My personal view is that I wouldn't have bothered with the system otherwise, and, if I do like it, I might buy supplements or whatever. As it is, I'm just using this as an opportunity to check it out, since I've heard it bandied about occasionally.
Well, except the Dark Eye. Damn Germans passive aggressively saying it's free and then trying to guilt trip you anyway. Not today, Hermann
I've never actually played or ran a play-by-post game. I ran a very short-lived RTD, but that barely counts because I didn't know what I was doing and lost interest before page 3.
Well, the pandemic has precipitated the death of my weekly game night. One of my players has confirmed contact with a COVID-19 carrier and is in isolation. Another one recently traveled overseas. The others don't want to do face-games until the worst is over.Consider using voicechat (Discord is currently the preeminent supplier) and coupling it with Roll20 if you want a setup more elaborate than theater of the mind. Although it can be a hassle to transition to it if you've got all your stuff in the realm of physical reality, it's very handy for this sort of situation.
Ah well.
Well, the pandemic has precipitated the death of my weekly game night. One of my players has confirmed contact with a COVID-19 carrier and is in isolation. Another one recently traveled overseas. The others don't want to do face-games until the worst is over.Consider using voicechat (Discord is currently the preeminent supplier) and coupling it with Roll20 if you want a setup more elaborate than theater of the mind. Although it can be a hassle to transition to it if you've got all your stuff in the realm of physical reality, it's very handy for this sort of situation.
Ah well.
Yeah, but if you're able to do it live, it's not really play by post anymore.Neither of the posts you quoted mentioned PbP, so they should be fine.
Roll20 has some issues, or at least the premade Pathfinder package my DM uses does. Besides that, I get the feeling that some in my group, despite being good players, aren't very computer-savvy and that sometimes slows down the pace of play. I'd still take it over not playing at all in a heartbeat.VTT is great if there's a lot of map based combat, but Discord with a dice bot is pretty good otherwise.
Roll20 has some issues, or at least the premade Pathfinder package my DM uses does. Besides that, I get the feeling that some in my group, despite being good players, aren't very computer-savvy and that sometimes slows down the pace of play. I'd still take it over not playing at all in a heartbeat.
Yeah, but if you're able to do it live, it's not really play by post anymore.Neither of the posts you quoted mentioned PbP, so they should be fine.
That's sort of the point.Well, the pandemic has precipitated the death of my weekly game night. One of my players has confirmed contact with a COVID-19 carrier and is in isolation. Another one recently traveled overseas. The others don't want to do face-games until the worst is over.Consider using voicechat (Discord is currently the preeminent supplier) and coupling it with Roll20 if you want a setup more elaborate than theater of the mind. Although it can be a hassle to transition to it if you've got all your stuff in the realm of physical reality, it's very handy for this sort of situation.
Ah well.
Yeah, but if you're able to do it live, it's not really play by post anymore.
Roll20 has some issues, or at least the premade Pathfinder package my DM uses does. Besides that, I get the feeling that some in my group, despite being good players, aren't very computer-savvy and that sometimes slows down the pace of play. I'd still take it over not playing at all in a heartbeat.What issues? Maybe I know how to work around it. I and many other people have had trouble with that separate script for showing cones and stuff, but the native Pathfinder stuff has always worked fine for me, even if it only explicitly supports core content, and non-core you have to type in or figure out yourself.
The biggest issue was that for a long time, one of our party's character sheet was bugged and wouldn't do the automatic rolls; that player had to manually type in everything. We got around it by just recreating the character on a new sheet, but now the GM is starting to have that error sometimes.Weird. All automatic rolls on that sheet? I and my group must have been through something like 30 characters without encountering this, and not in other games either.
Roll20 has the potential to massively simplify your game but everyone has to give a shit. I love being able to click a button to cast a spell and then click a different button to see if hit hits before clicking another button to do damage and include damage type modifiers. One of my fellow players is fine typing in /roll {3d6, 0d0}k1 all day every day.I spent years not using any automatic rolling features and just reading my character sheet then rolling manually the same as you would for tabletop of IRC-with-bots, until we got a new (to the group, but not the system) player who was so annoyed by what apparently was grandfatherly technical ambivalence, and set the macros up for me. That was 4e though, the Pathfinder sheets are a lot easier.
Maybe we just don't know the system as well but it was even simpler when I was playing Fantasy Grounds - I could select a specific enemy and it would figure out ranges, resistances, and so on automatically.
Start up a shadowrun session if you want to see what's wrong with Roll20s character sheets. They include everything, amd it's the rare player who uses 40% of what's there.
*snip for length*
The wizard goes into a magic shop
Hopefully we won't spend the whole session there, but I can try to play it at the start.*snip for length*
Nice! The soundtrack for the next session will be Alice In Chains's "Down in a Hole".
That reminds me of an idea I had of a vendor who sells some food that no one really likes, but which magically compels them to think that other people they know would really like it.The wizard goes into a magic shop
Idea: A Magic shop that doesn't sell magic items but is magical. Everyone who enters it is compelled to buy 1d4 items. All the items available are cheap tourist/gift shop nonsense.
It reminds myself of my idea of a magic ring that makes its wielder and his companions think it's a working Ring of Three Wishes.That reminds me of an idea I had of a vendor who sells some food that no one really likes, but which magically compels them to think that other people they know would really like it.The wizard goes into a magic shop
Idea: A Magic shop that doesn't sell magic items but is magical. Everyone who enters it is compelled to buy 1d4 items. All the items available are cheap tourist/gift shop nonsense.
Idea: A Magic shop that doesn't sell magic items but is magical. Everyone who enters it is compelled to buy 1d4 items. All the items available are cheap tourist/gift shop nonsense.
I think today marked one of the most mundane mysteries I've ever uncovered in a tabletop RPG. My character tailed some suspicious people who had introduced themselves as Canadians last session. It turns out they speak with a Southern twang when they think he isn't around. That's the whole mystery, the end of their suspicious activity is that they lied about their nationality. It raises the question of why, but I suppose there are several reasons why an American wouldn't want to admit to being one in this day and age...That sounds more like a mystery hook than the actual mystery.
There's a murder mystery afoot in town. Strong suspicions of undead involvement. We have a witness at the crime scene, but he's clammed up and not talking to us. Our cleric is a bit miffed after having to dig through undead flesh, so I'm the first one to try a Diplomacy check despite not having any ranks in it.That sounds more like something you say to a new werewolf instead of a witness.
Natural one.
"So, I know your body has been undergoing some changes lately..."
In 5e, a Thief with the Healer feat can bring people to 1 hit point from 0 with a bonus action, which makes them a more expensive but theoretically more short-term sustainable way to keep people in the fight than a cleric, paladin or druid.Eh...
Although, there is that one overpowered 2nd level spell that might be better, but I don't remember its name so I can't look it up.[/quote]
Question, is the second bullet of the feat, where you use an action to heal people also made into a bonus action by the Thief feature?By RAW, yeah.
Is it though? Technically it's a feat ability, not an item ability, and the Thief perk lets you "use an item" as a bonus action.It does. Feat ability is not a defined term, so that has no impact on rules interactions. You're using a Healer's Kit item to do something that requires an action for its use, which is considered the Use an Object action, which Thief Rogues can do as a bonus action.
So I'd say it's a matter of being able to stabilize with a bonus action (as per the healer kit), then heal with an action (as per the Healer feat).
Is it though? Technically it's a feat ability, not an item ability, and the Thief perk lets you "use an item" as a bonus action.You are using an item to heal, much as you're using an item to stabilise.
So I'd say it's a matter of being able to stabilize with a bonus action (as per the healer kit), then heal with an action (as per the Healer feat).
As an action, you can expend one use of the kit to stabilize a creature that has 0 Hit Points, without needing to make a Wisdom (Medicine) check.vs the feat
As an action, you can spend one use of a healer's kit to tend to a creature and restore 1d6 + 4 hit points to it, plus additional hit points equal to the creature's maximum number of Hit Dice.
As an action, you can spread a single bag of caltrops to cover a 5-foot-square area.
The funny thing is that Healing Spirit literally just got errataed to not be overpowered anymore.Oh? What's the change?
It would be fun to play a setting with no magical healing where rogues are the main healers, IMO.You'd just have to rest after each combat, since you can only heal a person once per rest with the feat.
Ideally the players shouldn't always have the option of long resting after each and every fight. Though that might make things way too hard if medkits are 1/long rest. Maybe you could make it cost Hit Dice or something along those lines.It would be fun to play a setting with no magical healing where rogues are the main healers, IMO.You'd just have to rest after each combat, since you can only heal a person once per rest with the feat.
You can still stabilize as long as you have healer's kit uses though, and unless you can heal a lot, bringing back people from 0 is the most important healing thing in combat.It would be fun to play a setting with no magical healing where rogues are the main healers, IMO.You'd just have to rest after each combat, since you can only heal a person once per rest with the feat.
Uh... Do you mean they shouldn't have the option of short resting after each fight?Ideally the players shouldn't always have the option of long resting after each and every fight. Though that might make things way too hard if medkits are 1/long rest. Maybe you could make it cost Hit Dice or something along those lines.It would be fun to play a setting with no magical healing where rogues are the main healers, IMO.You'd just have to rest after each combat, since you can only heal a person once per rest with the feat.
Having a giant termite for an animal companion sounds like a great way to find yourself a solo adventurer ;)
No giant termites or sniper cactus for me.But you could have a sniper wolf! Or a decoy octopus - well, squid.
I named my animal companion Swiftfoot, despite being a bird.It makes sense if you make the bird a ostrich, but then it becomes strange if it can fly...
A bird.
Named Swiftfoot.
It was a bit of a snap decision at the end of the session, there are other options that might have been more interesting but I figured at the time that a flying creature would have the most utility. I didn't want to pick something so cliche, but the subset of animal companions available to a ranger is almost all cliches. No giant termites or sniper cactus for me.
I'm sure I'll grow to love him, once I have the required in-character downtime to teach him the tricks he's actually capable of.
An ostrich, particularly one that I could ride, would be dope.
An ostrich, particularly one that I could ride, would be dope. He's just an eagle though, and our fighter gets to keep lording is brand-new warhorse over the rest of us.
This count as good?An ostrich, particularly one that I could ride, would be dope.
Like on atari?
Edit: I couldn't find a single good picture of the Joust Ostrich.
This count as good?An ostrich, particularly one that I could ride, would be dope.
Like on atari?
Edit: I couldn't find a single good picture of the Joust Ostrich.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/4hn0NN3TDGh7itGWUd6epClpQ5Q_lL85PLYPXb8-EHkAFJf0n1rYoAEegjMqjkgF3XSjxjjAbozIoQsOx2cSyVKpQCETQ-FuJqnG5s-MshTVFLeYXmtEky4skElzB_IOXe3g8TLr)
What determines if a creature is able to use a weapon or not? If you had a primate animal companion, could it use a bow or scimitar?I don't think 5e RAW has anything on this, so probably the GM determines it.
What determines if a creature is able to use a weapon or not? If you had a primate animal companion, could it use a bow or scimitar?
I don't think it would be too unrealistic for a monkey to wear a bowNow that's some haute fucking couture...
I think that was a powerful 3.5 build - monkey familiar with a short sword.I was trying to work in a Journey To The West reference, but got distracted by the idea of a monkey with an immovable rod. I think there was a prestige class about aerial movement with immovable rods, but a monkey would practically have that naturally.
That would also work as an at-will transformation for werebeasts, right? So long as they're out in the sun, at least.Am I misremembering, because I thought 5e werewolves have at-will transformations even in the day-time if they embrace the curse?
Could actually make for a fun plot, about a werewolf which somehow attacks during the day.
That would also work as an at-will transformation for werebeasts, right? So long as they're out in the sun, at least.Am I misremembering, because I thought 5e werewolves have at-will transformations even in the day-time if they embrace the curse?
Could actually make for a fun plot, about a werewolf which somehow attacks during the day.
Or am I thinking of other werewolves?
The stat blocks I can find don't mention any restriction on transformation at least.
Yeah drop it here, I could spare a few minutes or two. Also how do you guys do goblins? /tg/ DMs general rule of thumb is never let your players give the goblins names. The moment they have names the entire campaign becomes derailedI reckon this only really applies if your goblins are goofy and zany, as in Pathfinder, Warcraft, and to a lesser extent things like M:tG and Warhammer, which have a slightly subtler sense of humor. If you don't treat a goblin as a free ticket to chaos, then they're just an ordinary race. The problem is a lot of people see anything smaller than a dwarf as a mandate to veer of into lolsorandumb shitpost type behavior, and that has a tendency to undermine games.
Yeah drop it here, I could spare a few minutes or two. Also how do you guys do goblins? /tg/ DMs general rule of thumb is never let your players give the goblins names. The moment they have names the entire campaign becomes derailedI reckon this only really applies if your goblins are goofy and zany, as in Pathfinder, Warcraft, and to a lesser extent things like M:tG and Warhammer, which have a slightly subtler sense of humor. If you don't treat a goblin as a free ticket to chaos, then they're just an ordinary race. The problem is a lot of people see anything smaller than a dwarf as a mandate to veer of into lolsorandumb shitpost type behavior, and that has a tendency to undermine games.
I wouldn't consider hirelings and cohorts to be a derail in the first place. Or a slave, which I reckon is an accurate blanket term for the kind of mascot/pet that doesn't fall into those categories. It's a plothook as you say, but can also be a tool if the character has some skills or magic that the players lack. Mind you, my group isn't afraid to put NPCs in danger except in the campaign where we went "let's be good for once" in which case refugees are to be delivered to safety, not used as slave soldiers, so I can't say that I have a ton of experience with cherished mascots.Yeah drop it here, I could spare a few minutes or two. Also how do you guys do goblins? /tg/ DMs general rule of thumb is never let your players give the goblins names. The moment they have names the entire campaign becomes derailedI reckon this only really applies if your goblins are goofy and zany, as in Pathfinder, Warcraft, and to a lesser extent things like M:tG and Warhammer, which have a slightly subtler sense of humor. If you don't treat a goblin as a free ticket to chaos, then they're just an ordinary race. The problem is a lot of people see anything smaller than a dwarf as a mandate to veer of into lolsorandumb shitpost type behavior, and that has a tendency to undermine games.
I think there's also a worry about the players adopting them. Since they're usually trash mobs for early adventurers, they're not a threat at higher levels, and they're usually intelligent to a degree that belies "always chaotic evil" or similar moral handwaves. That they are often ugly cute is a further inducement to try to redeem them and/or keep them as pets.
My players have historically been addicted to this kind of thing, and I've learned to turn it into a plot hook. If the players are still too unimportant for the BBEG to intervene in their affairs, their adoptees can trip over the plot (sometimes literally) and get lost trying to follow it, at which point the party will hare off looking for them; if, on the other hand, they've been derailed from an extant plot, it's easy enough to have a plot-relevant villain arrange for their mascots and adoptees and other hangers-on to be kidnapped "to send a message." The party will naturally chase after them as before, only now you can have them discover the horribly mangled remains of the aforementioned cute monsters at an appropriately climactic moment, accompanied by some indication that they were casually tortured to death for whatever reason will infuriate the party most. (You might be tempted to have the villain have the adoptees turned into suicide weapons. While having their wards run happily towards the party only to explode mid-tearful-reunion-hug is certainly impactful, in my experience it leads into trying to get them raised first and foremost. Turning them into undead is somewhat safer in this regard, if you can pull off the reveal.)
In any event, the party will almost certainly carry on through to final victory out of revenge at that point. Problem solved.
It's a little more difficult for the chaotic goblin, but the same premise can be figured out."Alright, I'm going to spend the next month in this ditch figuring out how far up I can pick my nose. Thanks, I really appreciate your help"
You know, I wonder what a party could do with a cloak of invisibility that is only itself invisible, it doesn't make anything else invisible.Do you mean a shroud they have to hide behind?
You know, I wonder what a party could do with a cloak of invisibility that is only itself invisible, it doesn't make anything else invisible.Go streaking in the arctic.
It's a little more difficult for the chaotic goblin, but the same premise can be figured out."Alright, I'm going to spend the next month in this ditch figuring out how far up I can pick my nose. Thanks, I really appreciate your help".
So important that the international community assigned 70 million people to research it for four years around the beginning of the last century.It's a little more difficult for the chaotic goblin, but the same premise can be figured out."Alright, I'm going to spend the next month in this ditch figuring out how far up I can pick my nose. Thanks, I really appreciate your help".
That's important research and someone's got to do it.
The movie discussion thread has given me the terrible idea to have a series of NPC hackers in the same way Spinal Tap had a series of drummers.Augmented Reality (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/202175/Augmented-Reality-The-Holistic-City-Kit-For-Cyberpunk-Games) should help you with that, in addition to most other cyberpunk random table related needs you might have.
What's a light game between Lasers and Feelings and DnD? I'm planning to introduce gaming to my girlfriend, and think a ruleset between those two would be ideal.
Dungeon World, maybe?
Also, dungeon design. As someone who homebrews a lot of content, making interesting maps is hard! Especially when working with a 2D surface and whiteboard markers. For all its faults, one of the things I admire about Bethesda is their map design teams. Some of the locations in Fallout 4, suitably reskinned, would be awesome as a dungeon map. They use a lot of vertical space and layering of features to accomplish a lot within their levels. The real difficulty is translating this into a 2D surface.
Also, dungeon design. As someone who homebrews a lot of content, making interesting maps is hard! Especially when working with a 2D surface and whiteboard markers. For all its faults, one of the things I admire about Bethesda is their map design teams. Some of the locations in Fallout 4, suitably reskinned, would be awesome as a dungeon map. They use a lot of vertical space and layering of features to accomplish a lot within their levels. The real difficulty is translating this into a 2D surface.
It's probably easiest to start with where her interests lie, and find a game like that. Much easier to get into roleplaying when your imagination is already engaged. Fantasy? Space? Heists? Knock-off X-men?
Gloomhaven or something similar might work if the storytelling part is difficult.
I'm thinking back to the way they implemented the skill system in 3rd edition, and the range of DCs for Diplomacy, for example, was 1-50. That's way into the realm of "you must be this tall to ride."
I'm thinking back to the way they implemented the skill system in 3rd edition, and the range of DCs for Diplomacy, for example, was 1-50. That's way into the realm of "you must be this tall to ride."The Diplomacy skill is quite OP RAW, particularly if you're using the Book of Exalted Deeds recommendations about full XP for negotiating a combat. As the creator of Order Of The Stick points out, it's essentially an uncontested and unmodified mind control roll in most situations (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?172910-Articles-Previously-Appearing-on-GiantITP-com).
Yeah my understanding is that the engine doesn't support overhangs, so Doom levels map very well to a 2D map. Even when they simulate multiple floors using teleporters, the floors are actually alongside each other map-style.
Far Realm anthropologists who are very bad at hiding due to visual spectrum differences but will be increasingly upset if the party acknowledges they can see them.Those are all absolutely amazing
Haunted statues who eat failed skill checks in their presence, becoming more animate and akin to the party as they feed. Place these in inconvenient areas to encourage skill checks. They are jealous of the party's softness, which as statues they can never imitate.
There's a pit fiend here, but he's on vacation. He acts exactly like how you'd think a lawful evil tourist would. Colorful fireproof shirts.
The most annoying puzzle of all time, the Towers of Hanoi. This one is too large to be realistically finished before the heat death of the universe, but don't tell the party that. They're actually supposed to just open the door, which is incredibly imposing and made of solid steel but unlocked.
Meta-monster inside the dungeon wall space, doesn't like the players rather than the characters and inflicts confusion or stun on characters to separate them from the players if encountered. Uses this time to reseal the wall.
Libertarian vampires who are compelled not to violate the NAP and thus try to contract the party's blood, or else provoke them into violating the NAP first. Believe strongly in the right to bear arms and as such are heavily armed and armored, which they lose if they turn into a bat or mist.
Dozens of normal cows enchanted to be invisible except to each other, kept in a large underground barn. The bulls have an average amount of aggression. One of the cows is a stunningly perfect cow, just real instant prizewinner-tier, if you could see it.
An ornate treasure room with a permanent Heat Metal spell on it and no ventilation, just below the melting point of gold.
Currently I'm designing a dungeon full of incredibly lethal things that will kill you if you try to fight them, but are otherwise nullified/bypassed/exploited with the right foresight. Right now I've got basic stuff like floor lava and a monster that will always shuffle towards you but will otherwise never run, as well as two undead soldiers who can be convinced you are their superior officer with the right uniform & performance. What else are some fun dungeon ideas that would be fun to beat as a player? I'm thinking things like a sphynx, where yeah you can fight them, or you can solve their riddlesThe Sensorium of Exquisite Experiences tests your five senses (taste, sight, touch, smell and sound) to bypass a barrier leading to their treasure hoard. (Imagine a sphere of darkness and silence where you have to unlock a lock by touch, or putting disgusting objects into your mouth to taste them and see if they match the opposite object. Creative skill or ability checks or saving throws might be required to pass the test.)
Cursed magic ranged weapon. After first being fired, the wielder is rendered permanently blind unless cured with a Remove Blindness or Remove Curse spell. Their sight returns when the weapon is loaded with ammunition, but from the perspective of the ammunition instead. Once an attack is resolved or if the weapon's ammunition is removed from contact with the weapon, their blindness returns.If you manage to uncurse the ranged weapon, you can voluntarily take the perspective of the bolt while firing it, which can be useful for reconnaissance especially if no one in the party can cast Find Familiar.
The melee weapon sounds like the DF adventurer mode technique of hitting people with a coffin, then putting all your victim's corpses inside of it so that it becomes heavier and does more damage. So pure awesome and not a curse at all.Except simply being heavier is not a good thing for your weapon in DnD, unlike DF.
Wouldn't it be more fun if it dealt more damage, though? Don't tell me that a straight sword which weighs as much as a fully grown large half-orc wouldn't do some real damage if you were strong enough to use it.But how strong should you have to be able to wield that?
I actually like that idea for a separate custom magic item!There should probably be a max damage, or your player could eventually do 75d4 damage just so long as it's used in battle once a day. As stated, it doesn't even need to kill anything during that time, so spar once a day, and in times of war get a ridiculous amount of damage.
Scythe of Heavy Deeds
This +1 scythe always deals a base of 2d4 damage and weighs 10 lbs, even when sized for larger or smaller creatures, but grows heavier with the burden of use. Each time the scythe strikes a killing blow against a living creature with an intelligence score of 3 or greater, the scythe's weight increases by 1 lb. Every 5 lbs of additional weight increases the damage dice of the weapon by an additional 1d4 damage. If the scythe remains unused for more than 24 hours, the weight resets, and the additional damage dice are lost.
Cursed magic ranged weapon. After first being fired, the wielder is rendered permanently blind unless cured with a Remove Blindness or Remove Curse spell. Their sight returns when the weapon is loaded with ammunition, but from the perspective of the ammunition instead. Once an attack is resolved or if the weapon's ammunition is removed from contact with the weapon, their blindness returns.If you manage to uncurse the ranged weapon, you can voluntarily take the perspective of the bolt while firing it, which can be useful for reconnaissance especially if no one in the party can cast Find Familiar.
I actually like that idea for a separate custom magic item!
Scythe of Heavy Deeds
This +1 scythe always deals a base of 2d4 damage and weighs 10 lbs, even when sized for larger or smaller creatures, but grows heavier with the burden of use. Each time the scythe strikes a killing blow against a living creature with an intelligence score of 3 or greater, the scythe's weight increases by 1 lb. Every 5 lbs of additional weight increases the damage dice of the weapon by an additional 1d4 damage. If the scythe remains unused for more than 24 hours, the weight resets, and the additional damage dice are lost.
Yeah, poorly worded. My intent was that if the scythe doesn't take a life in 24 hours it resets, not that you can keep the bonus by sparring.That's still overpowered, but means have extra incentive to kill every being you can find that you don't find morally wrong to kill.
The workshop of Jymbro the muscle wizard houses a range of large, arcane torture tools. It's said those who can correctly endure their use may gain temporary boons to their abilities, though for most trying them, it merely ends in sweat, pain, tears and low self-esteem.Not gonna lie, I've been waiting for an excuse to force my players to endure the passion of the crossfit, where they must absolutely blast their abs for the sins of mankind
Honest Relaet's Curse Free Magic Item Dungeon Shoppe! (No Refunds)All good, though for cursed range item I'd swap it for a boomerang that always comes back to you when thrown (but it will always hit you on the back of the head. Always).
Also, LordWhispers how about adding a very strong creature that is sworn to kill all men and never kill a woman, or something like that?One of my players is playing a PC Paladin who will no doubt successfully argue that the monster is just being incredibly rude by assuming they are all men based off their appearance, so I think this will fit perfectly
In order to get around it all the men in the party have to have an illusion over them, or cross-dress and hope the creature doesn't notice that they're men.
Let's hope libertarian vampire merchant doesn't overhear.Also, LordWhispers how about adding a very strong creature that is sworn to kill all men and never kill a woman, or something like that?One of my players is playing a PC Paladin who will no doubt successfully argue that the monster is just being incredibly rude by assuming they are all men based off their appearance, so I think this will fit perfectly
In order to get around it all the men in the party have to have an illusion over them, or cross-dress and hope the creature doesn't notice that they're men.
Throw in the ancap memes for good measure so he's got a roomba that is powered by the souls it has vacuumed withinAre anarchocapitalists known for their tendency to vacuum up souls?
It's free real estateThrow in the ancap memes for good measure so he's got a roomba that is powered by the souls it has vacuumed withinAre anarchocapitalists known for their tendency to vacuum up souls?
It's more uploading the souls of their children into roombas so they may be served for all eternity without violating the NAPThrow in the ancap memes for good measure so he's got a roomba that is powered by the souls it has vacuumed withinAre anarchocapitalists known for their tendency to vacuum up souls?
Non-Aggression Pact?It's more uploading the souls of their children into roombas so they may be served for all eternity without violating the NAPThrow in the ancap memes for good measure so he's got a roomba that is powered by the souls it has vacuumed withinAre anarchocapitalists known for their tendency to vacuum up souls?
Has anyone ever used the concept of Hospitium/Guest Rights in a game?That's basically the premise of every game that involves a noble's ballroom dance or social party. Nobody's allowed to kill each other and must follow the rules of society.
You have to make it a party at some Fey Lord's mansion. And then have a murder mystery.Fey Lord: Wait a second. This isn't my address! This isn't my house! It's a mimic!
Spoiler: The murderer is the mansion itself
The twist: It wasn't a murder at all, just some poor sap who ended up killing themselves in a terrifically gruesome manner by accident.
Speak With Dead.The twist: It wasn't a murder at all, just some poor sap who ended up killing themselves in a terrifically gruesome manner by accident.
Interesting twist, but I'm not sure how the players would ever be able to determine that.
The question is more, how do you keep them from immediately using the spell, while eventually letting them do so?Speak with Dead requires that the corpse has an intact jaw. Simply make the death gruesome enough that they need to go on a scavenger hunt for bone fragments if they want to solve it that way.
The question is more, how do you keep them from immediately using the spell, while eventually letting them do so?
* The respect from hosts to guests. Hosts must be hospitable to guests and provide them with a bath, food, drink, gifts, and safe escort to their next destination. It is considered rude to ask guests questions, or even to ask who they are, before they have finished the meal provided to them.Naturally I wondered whether this applied to those of lower status - but as I learned recently, the Greeks had the same stories as the Norse did about the Gods taking the form of vagrants or even beggars!
* The respect from guests to hosts. Guests must be courteous to their hosts and not be a threat or burden. Guests are expected to provide stories and news from the outside world. Most importantly, guests are expected to reciprocate if their hosts ever call upon them in their homes.[3]
Y'know, I used to think that Enchantment was kind of a silly Wizard specialization, since I didn't think their school perks really matched up against some of the others like Evocation or Transmutation... But rereading and reconsidering things, I believe I was grossly mistaken.
An important question about enchantment which I don't remember seeing in the rules is how creatures react to being enchanted. Even if they fail the spellcraft check to identify the spell (however *that* works in 5th edition) are they able to notice their altered behavior after the spell ends? I don't remember the spells stating that they don't notice. What would be a reasonable response to that?The level 14 ability of specialist Enchanters (the ability to prevent one creature from noticing it's been charmed when casting a spell that charms one or more creatures) would somewhat imply that it's common to notice and react to charming magics, but in some light skimming I've only found two spells that directly state that the victim is aware after the fact: Friends and Charm Person. Friends explicitly states that the target becomes hostile to you and will act according to their demeanor in regards to such, but Charm Person simply states that the individual is aware that you've used enchantment magic on it.
I just had a thought. Would a bathtub full of water count as one object including the water, two objects, or one object excluding the water which doesn't count?I was going to break into a whinge about permanent castings not being a thing and how you'd therefore have to deal with DM fiat and homebrew rules and whatnot, but then I reread the spell description and realized you can make a permanent non-concentration version of the spell by just casting it at 6th level instead of 4th. Which is honestly more than a little bit ridiculous, once you think about it for a moment.
Depending on the answer, 14th level Illusionists can take a bath anywhere without spending spell slots except the first permanent casts of Major Image.
Illusory RealityWhich part of this suggests you can't re-real a spell? It says nothing about being used once a spell, and you can use it while a spell is ongoing. I suppose you might have to wait until it's un-real to re-real it though, in which case you might as well just use thaumatergy.
By 14th level, you have learned the secret of weaving shadow magic into your illusions to give them a semi-reality. When you cast an illusion spell of 1st level or higher, you can choose one inanimate, nonmagical object that is part of the illusion and make that object real. You can do this on your turn as a bonus action while the spell is ongoing. The object remains real for 1 minute. For example, you can create an illusion of a bridge over a chasm and then make it real long enough for your allies to cross.
The object can't deal damage or otherwise directly harm anyone.
Dude, you can't be both edgily faux-rationalist about how "it's only a dead body lol" and then turn around and be moralist about the autonomy of people's minds, pick one camp and sit in it ;)You absolutely can. I don't know about your religious beliefs but actually it is relatively common to consider that the mind or soul is an ephemeral thing and is the true essence of a person, while the body is only a temporary vessel and not intrinsically valuable. Notably, this is the theological basis for Quakers and many related groups considering people to be inherently equal despite corporeal differences like race and sex.
What do they think about Enchantment thoQuakers aren't strictly sober but they appear to value temperance. Along with other vaguely remembered bits about their practices, I think they take a dim view on *fucking with people's minds*.
Yeah... I *was* being intentionally edgy, but I also found such a disconnect in your (Scriver) response that I figured it wasn't worth arguing!
I've always found it amusing that Charm Person is the basis for pretty much all the D&D love potions. Just add a dash of Rohypnol for that perfect date!I... don't see how it's amusing.
Were they actually casting date rape spells on each other in the medieval period?I've always found it amusing that Charm Person is the basis for pretty much all the D&D love potions. Just add a dash of Rohypnol for that perfect date!I... don't see how it's amusing.
That is exactly what the date rape drug of the medieval era should have as a basis, the date rape spell.
Succubi and incubi gotta come from somewhereWere they actually casting date rape spells on each other in the medieval period?I've always found it amusing that Charm Person is the basis for pretty much all the D&D love potions. Just add a dash of Rohypnol for that perfect date!I... don't see how it's amusing.
That is exactly what the date rape drug of the medieval era should have as a basis, the date rape spell.
No not actually AFAIK, but plenty of medieval tales have such spells and potions in them, which is what I was referring to.Were they actually casting date rape spells on each other in the medieval period?I've always found it amusing that Charm Person is the basis for pretty much all the D&D love potions. Just add a dash of Rohypnol for that perfect date!I... don't see how it's amusing.
That is exactly what the date rape drug of the medieval era should have as a basis, the date rape spell.
Sorry for not replying sooner- I wasn't criticizing your post. I observed a cultural disconnect where you find dead bodies sacrosanct, and I don't. I dropped the issue since I had no hope or desire to change your mind.Yeah... I *was* being intentionally edgy, but I also found such a disconnect in your (Scriver) response that I figured it wasn't worth arguing!
What's disconnectant about it?
It makes for interesting thought experiment about the creepiness of the different schools of magic.
There already are many people who in their last will and testament agree that their body can be used for spare parts. Would organ donation be any different from instead allowing your entire body to be raised and used for work?
the Necrovites
I assume the process was more like "they're necromancers so we should use "necro" to make them easy to remember. To make them a faction or creed, -ite is an appropriate suffix. "Necroite" is weird to pronounce and looks like it could have multiple different readings. What do you guys reckon is the spookiest consonant?"Quote from: IcyTea31the Necrovites
So, Paizo, what are you gonna call your faction of necromancers?
Hmmm... How about the Death-Lifes? No, too on the nose... gotta spice it up in some way...
Z. It's like an even more intimidating hissing sound.I assume the process was more like "they're necromancers so we should use "necro" to make them easy to remember. To make them a faction or creed, -ite is an appropriate suffix. "Necroite" is weird to pronounce and looks like it could have multiple different readings. What do you guys reckon is the spookiest consonant?"Quote from: IcyTea31the Necrovites
So, Paizo, what are you gonna call your faction of necromancers?
Hmmm... How about the Death-Lifes? No, too on the nose... gotta spice it up in some way...
Were they actually casting date rape spells on each other in the medieval period?I've always found it amusing that Charm Person is the basis for pretty much all the D&D love potions. Just add a dash of Rohypnol for that perfect date!I... don't see how it's amusing.
That is exactly what the date rape drug of the medieval era should have as a basis, the date rape spell.
Now introducing: The NecrobeesActually, I've already modded those into DF.
Were they actually casting date rape spells on each other in the medieval period?I've always found it amusing that Charm Person is the basis for pretty much all the D&D love potions. Just add a dash of Rohypnol for that perfect date!I... don't see how it's amusing.
That is exactly what the date rape drug of the medieval era should have as a basis, the date rape spell.
Considering magic doesn't actually work, possibly.
I seem to recall reading about a historical figure (pre-medieval period) who, while hosting an attractive female dignitary, over-salted his guest's food so that she became intensely thirsty during the night to the point where he could extort sex from her in exchange for water.Oh cool, he invented cinema food
It was a popsci publication though, so {citation needed}, but people were definitely dicks enough to try any sort of underhanded tactics they felt were plausible for getting their dickishness moistened.
So, conversion Warlocks... Characters that use their high CHA to persuade others into serving their patron, shaping cults and earning boons for their service in providing more followers.This sounds a lot like those semi-Christian YHWH cults that pop up in the Americas from time to time. On that basis I would be inclined to lean towards GOO. Although that kind of thing could also be represented by celestial, fire and radiance aren't really the most relevant parts of the YHWH setup to your concept.
What's your preferred patron?
First will be our Halfling Druid Barber. Basically, I need more puns for an order of Barber-druids. Riding the straight-razor edge between city life and the wild deserts.Ah, a Bushmaster! Lashing freely into any hairy situation, unshaken by even the closest of shaves! Charging headlong into any tangle, and emerging victorious through razor wit or shear luck! Shedding all unnecessary trappings and cutting straight to the chase; the braiding together of the civilized and uncivilized worlds into a unique weave of culture and primalism... Doing away with the locks and trappings of over-sophisticated pomposity, while narrowly avoiding the rat's nest of outright savagery!
Any thoughts?
UA being broken is a feature, not a bug. And Twilight Circle becoming official is highly unlikely for a number of reasons. That new barbarian is pretty great though.Speaking of UA being broken, I just looked up Lore Master again... Good lord, that thing is some staggeringly pungent cheese (also I realized it has a funny interaction with Telekinesis, in that you can just slowly lift someone up into the air 30' at a time, up to "the reach of the spell"... Which, since TK has an actual range of 60' and not "Self", means the Lore Master can extend it to one mile).
So, conversion Warlocks... Characters that use their high CHA to persuade others into serving their patron, shaping cults and earning boons for their service in providing more followers.I am planning one character who is an actual clown serving an arch-fey who gave him his powers because it is a right laugh. I wanted to do an actual clown, not an edgy killer clown or court assassin jester, so he never uses combat abilities or any spells which do damage. Literally just maxing out on charm spells and illusions to make a clown that goes around recruiting enemies for his hijinks
What's your preferred patron? Archfey has the Fey Presence thing (which honestly seems a little tricky to maneuver properly), and the spell list has stuff like Calm Emotions and eventually Dominate Beast/Person. There's also the 14th level ability, but that's more for getting one particular individual over to your side than convincing or addressing a larger group.
Fiend actually has some utility with Dark One's Own Luck letting you add 1d10 to an ability check or saving throw, for example when attempting to persuade a group of prospective followers of the wisdom in embracing your patron's guidance. I also think it'd be funny to use Fiendish Resilience along with burning/poisoning yourself in an act to prove the protection your lord provides you. Command on the spell list is nice too, plus they actually get Hallow should you finally pull a proper cult together and want to have some fun with that.
GOO has some nifty stuff in the spell list, plus telepathy can potentially let you have a little "voice of god" moment with people. I imagine speaking from inside someone's head should do a number on convincing them of supernatural power. Thralls at 14th are fun too for those particularly difficult nuts to crack.
I've got no idea what Twilight's background is for special circumstances regarding it not going official (other than usual brokenness, which can always be tweaked). Wild Spirit barb just... Just... Uggh.The main reason you're unlikely to see Twilight becoming official is its 4 years old and the druid circles in the same document were released 3 years ago. Also if you've seen Wild Soul in action, using your rage near the party is fine 95% of the time and does a negligible amount of damage to them the rest of the time. The spell slot recharger is the perfect example of a UA ability that needs a few tweaks before it sees the light of day, which is exactly why they put out UA in the first place.
Say goodbye to using your rage anywhere near your party, except as a means of recharging someone's spell slots. Which I'm sure is eminently exploitable with feedback loops provided someone has some decent healing capabilities, but at least force damage is difficult to gain resistance to...
Ah, a Bushmaster! Lashing freely into any hairy situation, unshaken by even the closest of shaves! Charging headlong into any tangle, and emerging victorious through razor wit or shear luck! Shedding all unnecessary trappings and cutting straight to the chase; the braiding together of the civilized and uncivilized worlds into a unique weave of culture and primalism... Doing away with the locks and trappings of over-sophisticated pomposity, while narrowly avoiding the rat's nest of outright savagery!
...yeah, that's all I've got for now.
What classes can have a/several candiru that they order around?Well, Druid is an obvious pick, alternatively Bard using Magical Secrets to pick up Conjure Animals... Or you could dip into UA and theme a Swarmkeeper Ranger as being surrounded by the little fishies.
What classes can have a/several candiru that they order around?Well, Druid is an obvious pick, alternatively Bard using Magical Secrets to pick up Conjure Animals... Or you could dip into UA and theme a Swarmkeeper Ranger as being surrounded by the little fishies.
However, you may be disappointed to learn that... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candiru#Alleged_attacks_on_humans)
How to annoy everyone at the table by rolling a gazillion goddamn dice: Fighter 2, Vengeance Paladin 4, Sorcerer 14 (subclass doesn't really matter, but might as well be red draconic for a little extra damage).
Turn 1: Fighpalerer closes to within 10' of target, uses bonus action to Channel Divinity into Vow of Enmity. Casts Scorching Ray at 8th level (as per multiclass rules, a Sorc14/Pal4 will have an 8th level slot) with Empowered Spell metamagic. Action Surge. Casts Scorching Ray at 7th level with Empowered Spell metamagic.
So that's 16 attack rolls with advantage, or 32 d20 rolls. 2d6 gets rolled 16 times, plus (up to) 10 rerolls off of the two Empowered Spell metas. If you're a Tiefling using Xanathar's guide, you can also pick up the feat that lets you reroll any 1 on a fire damage roll once.
However, you may be disappointed to learn that... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candiru#Alleged_attacks_on_humans)
Meh. Guess it's my turn to start becoming disillusioned with Sage Advice rulings. What with the Twinned Dragon's Breath (https://www.sageadvice.eu/2018/12/22/is-is-possible-to-twin-spell-booming-blade/) tomfoolery (which apparently even got errata'd (https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/downloads/SA-Compendium.pdf)), and another not-entirely-thought-through comment that would seem to imply that the extra action provided by Haste can be used to cast spells (https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/09/23/action-surge-spell-2/) (which it quite definitely cannot). The wording on that last one is vague and therefore doesn't directly imply that effect, but it is confusing.Dominate and Haste could still be Twinned under that criteria since the issue is not with multiple rolls but a singular roll affecting multiple creatures. Fire bolt has always been unable to be twinned by a strict reading of the spell, and Hex, Hunter's Mark and Heat Metal were always not eligible (doubly so for Heat Metal since it doesn't target a creature)
Also, interpreting the official errata document, Twinned Spell cannot be used on:
- Fire Bolt (can target obects)
- Haste (the extra action can be used for a variety of things that would cause multiple rolls)
- Hex/Hunter's Mark (can be redirected if a target dies during the spell, affecting more than one creature)
- Heat Metal (heated object can come in contact with multiple creatures)
- Dominate Beast/Person (dominated target can be made to do something that affects multiple targets)
And, due to the wording of the errata, there is of course some more interpretation to be had here... Making things very clear indeed, yes. Or not.
any suggestions for a budding DM???
I mean, there's sleds.
No, I didn't mean like in the books, I meant like in general. Also I meant sleds for people. As in pulled by people. It's what people used to use.
Of course there a no reason it couldn't be a handcart either. I guess I just thought "what else is there besides carrying stuff on your back" and thought of sleds and then thought hey you don't need horses to pull sleds unlike a cart and then I linda just thoughtlept over the notion that at that point you might as well use a small person-sized cart rather than a horse cart since you've obviously got wheels anyway.
Meh. Guess it's my turn to start becoming disillusioned with Sage Advice rulings. What with the Twinned Dragon's Breath (https://www.sageadvice.eu/2018/12/22/is-is-possible-to-twin-spell-booming-blade/) tomfooleryThis made me realize that you can twin-spell booming blade, and it stands to reason that you can also quicken it and also twin-spell that if need be. Combine this with the Mobile feat, and you have a pretty good pseudo-disengage action that puts the hurt on anyone trying to run after you.
Booming Blade with Swashbuckler doesn't even need Mobile.Yep, I've played this build before. You don't even need to multiclass, since you can take the Arcane Initiate feat for Booming Blade and another cantrip and 1st-level spell of your choice (Find Familiar is a good choice in my opinion). Did you know that even though it's a Cast a Spell action and not an Attack action, Booming Blade's attack can be a sneak attack?
Agragogigaogogog
Dominate and Haste could still be Twinned under that criteria since the issue is not with multiple rolls but a singular roll affecting multiple creatures. Fire bolt has always been unable to be twinned by a strict reading of the spell, and Hex, Hunter's Mark and Heat Metal were always not eligible (doubly so for Heat Metal since it doesn't target a creature)Well, "singular roll affecting multiple creatures" is technically one of the things the errata doesn't like, but that's besides the point I was trying to make... Dominating an enemy can make you force that dominated creature to perform some sort of action on another creature that would require a saving throw (say, grappling), thus causing that spell to force multiple creatures to make saving throws. Same goes for Haste, the haste action can be used to force saving throws on multiple things, or even used in an attack by someone with the Sweeping Attack battle maneuver to "make a roll of any kind that affects more than one creature".
Also being Hasted to be able to Dodge, Disengage or do other stuff so you can spend your normal action to cast a spell is extremely helpful.
Twinned Spell test: can the spell affect only one creature at the spell's current level, and is its range not self? If yes, TS works.
Only if I can play Hagrid with Agragogigaogogog
If you want to screw yourself out of twin spells by claiming a spell causes a butterfly effect, that's on you. But when none of that stuff is listed in the spell, the spell doesn't cause it, so that's not an issue.Dominate and Haste could still be Twinned under that criteria since the issue is not with multiple rolls but a singular roll affecting multiple creatures. Fire bolt has always been unable to be twinned by a strict reading of the spell, and Hex, Hunter's Mark and Heat Metal were always not eligible (doubly so for Heat Metal since it doesn't target a creature)Well, "singular roll affecting multiple creatures" is technically one of the things the errata doesn't like, but that's besides the point I was trying to make... Dominating an enemy can make you force that dominated creature to perform some sort of action on another creature that would require a saving throw (say, grappling), thus causing that spell to force multiple creatures to make saving throws. Same goes for Haste, the haste action can be used to force saving throws on multiple things, or even used in an attack by someone with the Sweeping Attack battle maneuver to "make a roll of any kind that affects more than one creature".
Also being Hasted to be able to Dodge, Disengage or do other stuff so you can spend your normal action to cast a spell is extremely helpful.
Now, this is up to interpretation of the intention of what qualifies as within the scope of the spell or not... A dominated creature isn't using any supernatural skills or abilities, it's just using what it could always use on targets of your discretion. Dragon's Breath, the spell this errata was aimed at resolving, grants affected creatures a special action that's described as part of the spell itself, and is therefore "spell-ier" than something a dominated creature would do... But then again, so does Haste.
One could argue that Haste is still allowed because everything included within the limits of the hasted action are things the creature would be able to do normally, whereas characters normally cannot use a breath weapon as in the case of Dragon's Breath. ...but, then, is it allowable to use it on Dragonborn, who can use breath weapons normally?
That's an awfully strict interpretation of Fire Bolt though, and one I doubt is shared by much of the community considering the general consensus seems to be that twinned Fire Bolt is legit... Or at least was. It's now definitely in the bin though; along with Levitate, Enlarge/Reduce, Otiluke's etc.That's fine, but the only community consensus that matters when playing an RPG is what the players and DM agree upon at a single table. And some of those always didn't allow it. Have you actually found a 5e game yet? I highly recommend you actually get in a game of 5e when you can, so you can actually see what its like, because white paper D&D builds and such online are very different from actually playing the game.
That's fine, but the only community consensus that matters when playing an RPG is what the players and DM agree upon at a single table. And some of those always didn't allow it.
Rules are nice, but most tables I've been at where the players and the DM disagreed on which rules/game system they were using ended poorly.That's fine, but the only community consensus that matters when playing an RPG is what the players and DM agree upon at a single table. And some of those always didn't allow it.
That seems like the sort of thing that rules are for in most game systems.
Q: Are the spiders in the Forbidden Forest uninterested in Harry Potter?Are you sure they aren't your pal, Gog-Agog (https://killsixbilliondemons.fandom.com/wiki/Gog-Agog)?
A: No. They are agog.
One thing I like about Stars Without Number is how the author frequently emphasizes that rules only need to be balanced for your table, rather than some hypothetical ideal. So while, hypothetically, a certain combo could cause a problem, if it's not a problem for your table then it isn't a problem. If it is, or if something not disbarred by the rules is a problem, then you should talk about it and do something to resolve that problem.Rules are nice, but most tables I've been at where the players and the DM disagreed on which rules/game system they were using ended poorly.That's fine, but the only community consensus that matters when playing an RPG is what the players and DM agree upon at a single table. And some of those always didn't allow it.
That seems like the sort of thing that rules are for in most game systems.
Rules are nice, but most tables I've been at where the players and the DM disagreed on which rules/game system they were using ended poorly.That's fine, but the only community consensus that matters when playing an RPG is what the players and DM agree upon at a single table. And some of those always didn't allow it.
That seems like the sort of thing that rules are for in most game systems.
If you're looking for a game of 5e DnD and you find a group and get to the table only to discover that they're rolling under d100s for skill checks and using a deck of playing cards as an extra resource then you'd probably feel a bit confused and uncertain about what else you don't know about this game that you thought you knew how to play. So yes, community consensus on what the core rules are supposed to mean is important, even though it's perfectly reasonable (and even common) to play a long and successful game with a table consensus of something completely different.
It's not a matter of me trying to "screw myself out of" particular spells, it's a matter of trying to understand what the Sage Advice "rule clarification" is intended to mean, since that's supposed to apply to the core rules people should be familiar with as a foundation (or rather, in this case, trying to show why I feel the errata could be seen as unreasonable or be interpreted in such a fashion). And when Crawford gives incomplete or confusing "clarifications" to the core rules, including ones that seem to drastically change what was presumed to be the initial intent, that's when I feel like I'm becoming disillusioned with SA.The thing is, every RPG system I've ever played with different DMs has had a different feel or style, and that includes how they run the rules. Rule variation is going to happen no matter how tightly you build your system (unless your system is one page of rules, but that's a different kettle of fish), and you're going to find it no matter what table you go to. There's also a big difference between rolling d100s instead of d20s and talking to your DM about whether you can twin a spell.
If you're looking for a game of 5e DnD and you find a group and get to the table only to discover that they're rolling under d100s for skill checks and using a deck of playing cards as an extra resource then you'd probably feel a bit confused and uncertain about what else you don't know about this game that you thought you knew how to play. So yes, community consensus on what the core rules are supposed to mean is important, even though it's perfectly reasonable (and even common) to play a long and successful game with a table consensus of something completely different.
As for finding a meatspace game to play in; I'm not sure if anyone's noticed, but there's a pandemic on at the moment.Most of the people I know are playing more D&D, not less because of the pandemic, they've just moved online.
Online rpg loses about 50% of the joy of it though
Online rpg loses about 50% of the joy of it thoughIts definitely a different experience, but most folks I know are still having a blast with the switch. Personally I'm slightly biased though because a lot of my games have been online.
Mine too, that's why I'm biased against it ;)I can definitely understand that.
Online rpg loses about 50% of the joy of it thoughIts definitely a different experience, but most folks I know are still having a blast with the switch. Personally I'm slightly biased though because a lot of my games have been online.
white paper D&D builds and such onlinedid not in fact include "playing online" in the "and such online". I thought you were including online chat/forum games in the list of invalid experience.
And the listing of criteria doesn't disqualify haste or dominate person.In your interpretation and opinion, sure. And I can definitely see how that could be a valid conclusion to make.
"rules as that one flaky dude with a Twitter account says they should be this week."
Here's a good article on prepping (https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/39885/roleplaying-games/smart-prep). Prep less, prep smarter.
Some general tips I try to abide by:
1. It should take less time to prep a given amount of material than it takes to play it at the table.
2. Do not use published adventures as a model for what your own content should look like. No one else will use your prep.
3. Anything you'll remember at the table without a prompt should not be written down
4. What you do write down should be in whatever minimum shorthand is necessary to job your memory. No complete sentences.
5. Never ever ever ever ever ever ever do choose-your-own-adventure style plotting. (e.g. if players do A, X happens, if they do B, Y happens). It's a gigantic waste of time.
6. Mapping out NPC relationships, goals, and resources for achieving those goals is much more value-added. You can get the same dynamic effect of a fully plotted CYOA without prepping all that shit, you just reference the map to see how NPCs respond to the players' activities.
Don't plan a ton. No plan survives contact with the players. Do as little as possible to run a good game. Some wasted prep is inevitable, so prep the stuff that will always be useful.
A but wouldn't the doorman upon returning to flesh immediately go into shock, die, and rot?Gentle Repose is your friend.
Let's go further. Let's build as house man.
The walls are giants. The roof tiles are gnomes.
The floor plates are kender, because they suck
GOO has some fear effects - I guess you could mix the two for a more "dark woods" origin.
I might be coming into a lot of freetime in June and July. Anybody here interested in a mini-campaign for like...4 session across a month?
If you want some added authenticity, place names in Chinese are very geographical and descriptive. Horsetown, for example, might be more like Brown Horse (Town). The cardinal directions, descriptive colors, and physical traits are the go to for generic naming.
Guangzhou (Wide Area)
Shanghai (Above Sea)
Shenzhen (Deep Ditch)
If you want some added authenticity, place names in Chinese are very geographical and descriptive. Horsetown, for example, might be more like Brown Horse (Town). The cardinal directions, descriptive colors, and physical traits are the go to for generic naming.
Guangzhou (Wide Area)
Shanghai (Above Sea)
Shenzhen (Deep Ditch)
I was going to suggest that the Jungle of Incoherent Savages definitely was the result of bad anthropology degrees, but I see that's been taken care of.Yeah there's degrees of chauvinism inside the Imperial Court. Celestial Draconic is the Court's only recognized language which requires understanding of celestial and draconic to understand. Common is a descendant of draconic, with each city having their own dialect. The further away from SE Capital the more the dialect reflects local languages, with the SE Capital common almost being identical to draconic, whilst the people in the mountains / jungles / far grasslands speaking their relatively uninfluenced / completely uninfluenced native languages of tiyenese, conglish and fanpanese respectively.
Winelake and Meatforest should be their appropriate colors.
Tell me of the Spicy Ocean and its secrets.Honestly I haven't fleshed it out well. I feel like the name and mystery is better than anything I could come up with. If I had to give it form, I'd say it's a place where the ocean is split into shelves of oceanic civilisations living in an actual spicy ocean. The ocean here is made spicy by its unusual spicy salt content, which is sourced from a spicy vent in the Rempah Trench. Various spicy fauna grow beneath, on and above the waves. Dense underwater jungles of sargasso saffron wave about, schools of coriander fish swimming between. The mermen tend to their crops of kelpmint, whilst above archipelagos are inhabited by countless mangroves of spicy spices - cinnamon, cardamon, white, red, black and green pepper. Magical spices like holy moly, devil's root and Jain's tears all provide a taste of what is on offer.
Now that I'm thinking about it, weather manipulation is probably one of the most OP powers a preindustrial civilization could have. The harvests are on-time all year, every year. And probably also incomparable ecological devastation around the rest of the planet, which might go a long way to explaining the rebel grass and rainwater, but still man, those harvests. Which probably also means that if The Party were to fuck with the control towers that they could easily kill millions of people and permanantly destroy this civilization without even meaning to!Literal Heaven's Mandate. If the rivers flood, if the rains dry, if the storms blow - the government and the Emperor are directly accountable and failure demands a change in administration. So in times of peace the weather is idyllic all year round, in times of chaos the adventuring party has to start stocking up on storm/heat/cold protection, as nature tries to restore a natural cycle in a realm where the seasons are on a government schedule
These monetary laws speak to the existence of a hardcore gold standard-based rebel organization who will not submit to the tyranny of fiat currency, and that scares me.HOIST THE GOLD STANDARD HIGH
If you want some added authenticity, place names in Chinese are very geographical and descriptive. Horsetown, for example, might be more like Brown Horse (Town). The cardinal directions, descriptive colors, and physical traits are the go to for generic naming.Brownhorse is a great one, which I think I'll use. Cardinal directions I feel are mandatory for naming ever since I found out Beijing means north capital, Nanjing south capital and Dongjing east capital. That is functional and adorable naming, whilst a lot of generic naming is easily forgotten in the UK (off the top of my head, cheapside, southbank, westminster, newcastle, portsmouth, innsmouth, london bridge, wessex, essex, sussex, middlesex, a lot of the x-woods). Literal descriptions of the local area / landmark sounds very natural when you say it in one word, and I think it's even more immersive than if I gave everything dwarvish/elvish/draconic names, because the players read the names as if they were locals instead of outsiders
Guangzhou (Wide Area)
Shanghai (Above Sea)
Shenzhen (Deep Ditch)
Yeah, but I think the idea was that the players aren't supposed to realize it's actually Asia, and naming it in non-English might give it away.My favourite ones are the ones where it's just Earth but flipped upside down, or the land and ocean have been inverted. In the latter case it took me three years to realise the sea I was looking at looked suspiciously like the British Isles coastline
Same as when FASA named the forest in Earthdawn the Wyrmwood instead of Wormwood (in the local language), and carefully cropped the map so the Black Sea wasn't easily recognizable.
My favourite part is the weather regulation. Is it true or just propaganda? Who knows, it's great either way.When the system runs as intended, the government uses the six capital towers to cast control weather (https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Control%20Weather), which normally has a 5 mile radius. So they use these gargantuan towers sprinkled across Tiyen Sha to spread their control across most of the country
My punk band in this setting would be called the Little Wayward Cloud PuffCan I add the Wayward Cloud into my setting? It's a fucking great name, I can totally imagine a bard group running around with such a name
Anyway it looks great LW. I was going to say I noticed the bigdong but I see you brought it up yourself in at the end. I'm hoping there's aYep, the Riverlands is full of hills and mountains, I think I can include that. I love the idea of the locals getting defensive if they refer to it as a hillmountainreally big hill (but the locals insist it is a mountain) called Bigdong Mountain in the area.
How do a meat forest look, exactly? Both in real life and in-game? Is it a fake thing like a normal wood that's continuously decorated with meat by human hands, or is it a real (as in self-growing, if through magical means) forest where bone trees and meat fruit grow? Do they have to continuously employ adventurers to deal with their constant goblin infestation problem?In real life it was said to be a collection of trees covered in skewers of roast meat. I like to envision it as a more stylistic version of a meat drying rack.
My favourite part is the weather regulation. Is it true or just propaganda? Who knows, it's great either way.When the system runs as intended, the government uses the six capital towers to cast control weather (https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Control%20Weather), which normally has a 5 mile radius. So they use these gargantuan towers sprinkled across Tiyen Sha to spread their control across most of the countryIt gets less reliable the further away from a tower you get, and the further away from the radius you get. This is why the Warlords of Jiyang June get autonomy / protectorship over the Cliffs of Amber, why the inhabitants of the jungles of incoherent savages / cannibals can get away with paying no taxes and openly ignoring the Emperor's sovereignty, and why the Empire hasn't bothered trying to change the desert of bad prices.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
If even one of the six towers of elemental regulation are damaged or destroyed, the whole system could shut down. Each of the towers, including the relay towers, needs incredibly high level druids/clerics/wizards to function. As these boys and girls can be counted with fingers and toes, losing them to assassination, retirement or industrial action could be devastating if it occurs at the same time. In addition, the towers are garrisoned by elite troops loyal to the capital. However, corruption, demoralization, rebellion can all occur, with the Lonely Tower a particular hotspot for trouble, and local lords wielding great influence over nearby towers.
This is basically to explain narratively why rebellions are so rare (the government controls the weather and can turn your rebellion into a nightmare of storms), but when they do occur, it quickly devolves into regional warlordism (the government foolishly empowers local polities to raise armies and take control of their local towers in order to put down the rebels, ignoring the fact that this makes the local polity immune to hostile weather actions and gives them control of the local weather, making them the de facto sovereign of their demense).
If all goes well, the campaign should have a nice progression of:
1. Everything is working as intended, but there are signs of weakness in the land (players have to deal with corrupt officials from time to time, peasants request their help dealing with problems the government normally deals with, like wild boars raiding their farms and menacing their village. It's Imperial Examination season, and the players are going to get the option of taking the exams - if they succeed, they get promoted.
2. Everything is not working exactly as intended, but things are still fine for now. Players are tasked by local magistrates to locate an isolated zombie plague outbreak before it reaches the megacities. They can retake the Imperial Examination, but whatever their success/failure, they will be demoted, as the Court employed too many civil servants. A trainee-graduate warlock accidentally made a pact with an enemy of the state (the fiddling fiend), and needs the party's help tocheatpass the Imperial Examination without being discovered (they now have devil horns and a tail, and also show up as evil in detect spells).
3. Shit's about to go down. Someone murdered the Weather Wizard of the Lonely Tower, and in the 30 minutes the Lonely Tower was unmanned, a raincloud full of seditious rainwater made it over the wall. The players can either try clean up the puddles of seditious water / contaminated tea leaves, or go after whoever assassinated the weather wizard. Either way, the players will discover rumours that a Gold Standard is being raised high.
4. Oh fuck it's all fucked. Plague, storms, unregulated weather, rebellions, local warlord factionalism, armies from beyond the wall, apocalyptic rumours and the Shah mountain is erupting. This is when I get to throw all sorts of high level critters at my players :]
I'm trying to set it up so that no matter what my players want to do, they get a feel of how things should be and get emotionally invested in some characters, before things get dark and full of terrors. Also I'm using the horde template some legend homebrewed to greatly streamline hundreds of soldiers and peasants running around, so can roll 1 dice for 1 horde instead of 120 dice for 120 peasants. I'm trying to stay away from railroading, so I hope my skill for improv and off the shelf bullshit will serve me well. Any tips on off-rail DMing is appreciated though ;D
My punk band in this setting would be called the Little Wayward Cloud PuffCan I add the Wayward Cloud into my setting? It's a fucking great name, I can totally imagine a bard group running around with such a name
Anyway it looks great LW. I was going to say I noticed the bigdong but I see you brought it up yourself in at the end. I'm hoping there's aYep, the Riverlands is full of hills and mountains, I think I can include that. I love the idea of the locals getting defensive if they refer to it as a hillmountainreally big hill (but the locals insist it is a mountain) called Bigdong Mountain in the area.
How do a meat forest look, exactly? Both in real life and in-game? Is it a fake thing like a normal wood that's continuously decorated with meat by human hands, or is it a real (as in self-growing, if through magical means) forest where bone trees and meat fruit grow? Do they have to continuously employ adventurers to deal with their constant goblin infestation problem?In real life it was said to be a collection of trees covered in skewers of roast meat. I like to envision it as a more stylistic version of a meat drying rack.
In game I want it to be a bit more fantastic, with the meat forest being a magical invention of one of the more decadent Dragon Emperors. In times of peace the meat forest looks like a bunch of plants, only meatier. Instead of green leaves, the leaves are skin, and you can see the veins underneath. If you cut them they bleed, and the trunks of meat trees have a continuously growing spine in the middle, flesh and fat in the outer layers and incredibly tough hide for the outermost layer. Eating one of the meat plants is a decidedly unpleasant experience, unless you enjoy raw meat. When it is harvest season however, the pseudoplants produce branches that ripen into dried meats good to eat for most humanoids. If left alone, these branches break off and form a new meat tree, meet bush or meat grass. The meat pseudoplants are incredibly inactive to conserve energy, and are omnivorous, feeding from root mouths (that look like lamprey eel mouths). They are tended to by stewards of the meat forest, who keep all of the fauna well-fed with vegetables and kitchen waste.
Low-level threat ideas include packs of wild wolves, small bands of meat bandits
Mid-level threat ideas include the camp of the meat bandits
High-level threat ideas include the stewards going AWOL, and as a result, the meat forest becoming hungry
So, non-evil humanoids killed by a shadow's strength drain attack, they rise 1d4 hours later as a new shadow...Rogue simulacrum army (https://www.enworld.org/threads/attack-of-the-clones-simulacrum.427095/)
Are there any other good examples of self-propagating monsters? Like, for the sake of a city rapidly being torn apart by an infestation that gets more powerful the longer it's left unchecked.
It's just that it's a bit difficult to barricade the door against shadow attacks, but I guess that'd make them spread and become a problem that much faster...
Many thumbs up! I'm using thumbs horde rules, so I only have to raise one but it means 120 thumbs!120 finger guns to you
Of course you can it's not like OH WAIT ORIGINAL CHARACTER DO NOT STEALIt's ok, I have my own original name instead, Cold Wayward Cloud Rain, completely different OC
Have you seen The Man Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain? Or read, I think it was a book first.Reading the synopsis, it really feels like the make Pluto a planet again campaign. Symbols are important
Presentation idea - encourage them to travel through the meat forest early on while the realm is still calm so they experience that first. Then if they spend the night in the forest, have them roll perception -- if anyone fails, have them wake up with a foot dragged into a mouth hole :DI told my players there will be two mandatory quests at the start, one being find the plague patient 0, the other being find the pig. The pig has been terrorizing local farms and will almost certainly be taking a detour through meat forest >:D
Just to show that the forest isn't all nice and dandy. Then if they return when shit has hit the fan the effect of how it has changed will have greater impact :D
Honestly I haven't fleshed it out well. I feel like the name and mystery is better than anything I could come up with. If I had to give it form, I'd say it's a place where the ocean is split into shelves of oceanic civilisations living in an actual spicy ocean. The ocean here is made spicy by its unusual spicy salt content, which is sourced from a spicy vent in the Rempah Trench. Various spicy fauna grow beneath, on and above the waves. Dense underwater jungles of sargasso saffron wave about, schools of coriander fish swimming between. The mermen tend to their crops of kelpmint, whilst above archipelagos are inhabited by countless mangroves of spicy spices - cinnamon, cardamon, white, red, black and green pepper. Magical spices like holy moly, devil's root and Jain's tears all provide a taste of what is on offer.I am strongly about this aesthetic and will make my trade upon the spicy crystal waters of this paradise, where presumably butter is rarer and more illegal than gold.
HOIST THE GOLD STANDARD HIGHthis will be good for magecoin
THE GOLD TURBAN REBELLION WILL PREVAIL
I am strongly about this aesthetic and will make my trade upon the spicy crystal waters of this paradise, where presumably butter is rarer and more illegal than gold.Pirates will inevitably inquire regarding your butty
this will be good for magecoinMagecoin is a scam, invest in roguecoin
you, a foolish imperial paperfucker: "b-b-but you can't measure the value of currency based on how many shadows the Rogue Standard can hide in on a midday sun, that's stupid!"this will be good for magecoinMagecoin is a scam, invest in roguecoin
you, a foolish imperial paperfucker: "b-b-but you can't measure the value of currency based on how many shadows the Rogue Standard can hide in on a midday sun, that's stupid!"Imagine investing all your capital in a coin that can be tracked with an arcana check
me, a glorious fiscal dissident and scientific value-scholar: "ha ha darkness printer go [REMAIN SILENT]"
Imagine investing all your capital in a coin that can be tracked with an arcana check
Only roguecoin is a truly decentralised currency programmed using the thieves cant programming language, rendering it untraceable
Has something happened with the "But-but... Haha, [Thing] go [Brrr]" meme recently?you, a foolish imperial paperfucker: "b-b-but you can't measure the value of currency based on how many shadows the Rogue Standard can hide in on a midday sun, that's stupid!"this will be good for magecoinMagecoin is a scam, invest in roguecoin
me, a glorious fiscal dissident and scientific value-scholar: "ha ha darkness printer go [REMAIN SILENT]"
It was such a stupid joke that everyone knew would never catch on, so they made more jokes with the format to prove how it could never be a meme.Has something happened with the "But-but... Haha, [Thing] go [Brrr]" meme recently?you, a foolish imperial paperfucker: "b-b-but you can't measure the value of currency based on how many shadows the Rogue Standard can hide in on a midday sun, that's stupid!"this will be good for magecoinMagecoin is a scam, invest in roguecoin
me, a glorious fiscal dissident and scientific value-scholar: "ha ha darkness printer go [REMAIN SILENT]"
I've seen it a lot more times recently.
Has something happened with the "But-but... Haha, [Thing] go [Brrr]" meme recently?you, a foolish imperial paperfucker: "b-b-but you can't measure the value of currency based on how many shadows the Rogue Standard can hide in on a midday sun, that's stupid!"this will be good for magecoinMagecoin is a scam, invest in roguecoin
me, a glorious fiscal dissident and scientific value-scholar: "ha ha darkness printer go [REMAIN SILENT]"
I've seen it a lot more times recently.
meat bandits
by the waymeat bandits
Some call me the meat bandit
Some call me the gangster of körv
I like the Accident.6 miles per tile
Since I don't like counting, what scale is that map in per tile?
Are those walls 24 miles long?Probably somewhere around 20 miles thick, as I interpret the white space on the wall tiles as being the same as their surroundings (so full of houses in this case). The Middle Kingdom historically was the only warring state that was strong enough to resist the first Dragon Emperor in open warfare; they joined the Empire willingly when the Dragon Emperor confirmed the privileges of the Kingdom. It's also why they're still legally a Kingdom, and why their walls are large and extra thicc
Also that's a lot of peopleYeah each big house represents at least 600,000 people living in a significant structure complex, the smaller house clusters represent 480,000-500,000 people a tile, so the capital city is around 80,000-100,000 people per sq. mile. The Worldheart City has a population density of 1,000,000 people per square mile, whilst the Oldtown Residential Area has a population density of 5,000,000 people per square mile. Additionally, no one knows how many people live in the Black Lotus Inn. People who check into the Inn rarely leave, and the Inn appears to never have issues accommodating an ever-increasing roster of guests - despite being a fairly small building to outside observers, the Black Lotus Inn likely contains a few billion people. The Southeast Capital has even higher population density than the Middle Kingdom Capital, which should be a fun experience once my players are higher level. There will be regular checks to see if players are capable of moving upstream/downstream of foot traffic, whether players are frightened of the gargantuan urban sprawl and crowds, and if players are able to find which way they need to go. If they can get flying transport or a reliable local transport willing to work on retainer, they'll be able to move much safer and much faster.
Too many people
Welcome to 1000 consecutive years of perfect harvestsOver 4,000 years so far, with very few plagues, civil unrest, wars or natural disasters
DO NOT TOUCH
That's gonna go real bad real quick, huh?All I'm gonna say is I'm greatly enjoying the stat blocks for peasant hordes, zombie hordes, skeleton hordes and army hordes
-snip-Yeah that math is about right. I calculated the size and population based off of real life cities present and past, but kept adding 0's and multiplying factors afterwards to make it a more unreasonable quantity of people. Easy nutrition, healing, people who don't die of old age and construction methods do help create literal oceans of bodies.
Additionally, no one knows how many people live in the Black Lotus Inn. People who check into the Inn rarely leave, and the Inn appears to never have issues accommodating an ever-increasing roster of guests - despite being a fairly small building to outside observers, the Black Lotus Inn likely contains a few billion people.The Census Office of this city surely began fielding its own armies thousands of years ago, but this place is surely for the Census Black Ops or the elderly Census-Archmages suiting up for One Last Ride.
One is considering making an anarchist druid who resents central control of nature.I Can't Believe It's Not Posadism
Currently one of my players is undecided. One is considering making an anarchist druid who resents central control of nature.
Hah, I'm guessing you took some inspiration from Kowloon Walled City then. Boy howdy.yeaaa boiiiii
My interest is very much piqued. How does life on the roofs/top of the buildings differ from the situation at the bottom of the stack?People who live in the Worldheart City get to enjoy a city that was actually made with central planning in mind, as such it's very spacious per person, even for the menial servants. Lots of verticality, as the Worldheart City is actually a gargantuan Fortress that was converted to house the Middle Kingdom's subjects, way back when the outer walls didn't exist and the metropolitan area was still a series of villages.
The Census Office of this city surely began fielding its own armies thousands of years ago, but this place is surely for the Census Black Ops or the elderly Census-Archmages suiting up for One Last Ride.Please report to the Not Secret Police Tourism Office for your tourism brochure. You appear to be very well-informed of state secrets, and the state would like to reward you with a holiday package at the Black Lotus Inn
You might find this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k07cDMepfU) OSR supplement interesting and relevant, it details magical innovations causing the end of the world, one of which is this kind of space expansion scenario. At the highest stages, what was formerly a city becomes an impossible labyrinth of hallways, warehouses, and backrooms magically expanded beyond any reason or control which soon enough draws in the entire population.That's pretty good, I love the bits about encouraging a slower pace and non-combat spell interactions. In my campaign I made it so there are lots of state holidays, weekends off, long rests are a week and short rests are 8 hours - so combat is few and far between, interactions are far more common, and when fights do happen they are very spicy.
If he makes his character a druid called Malthus and breaks the weather control system I am giving him a free featQuoteOne is considering making an anarchist druid who resents central control of nature.I Can't Believe It's Not Posadism
There's a heartbreaking moment in Bilennium where a dude discovers a whole, unused room. One where he can stretch his arms out and not touch a single wall. He invites one of his friends to share the room, then their friend brings a friend, then they bring their old parents, and they start setting up privacy walls...Currently one of my players is undecided. One is considering making an anarchist druid who resents central control of nature.It's hard when all you want is to be a lonely hermit in your meagre hovel in own little isolated corner of the world when population density is such that everywhere you go the every single isolated corner has to house at least a hundred people
What is the ‘Acident’?A long time ago there was a potion seller, who made potions. His potions were too strong for anyone to drink, his potions would kill a dragon let alone a man. In fact, his potions were so strong, people wondered who he made his potions for, or if indeed he ever sold any potions. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIQVbxMJWgM) The potion seller never stopped creating stronger and stronger potions, until one day his workshop and everything around it for miles around disappeared, leaving behind only a gargantuan potion spill. All of the scholar-spellcasters and alchemists of the Kingdom have been stumped trying to remove the potion spill, but so far have only succeed in containing it. As the potion spill is only harmful if someone comes into contact with the potion spill, the bureaucrats decided to just build a wall around the accident until a permanent solution was discovered
Please report to the Not Secret Police Tourism Office for your tourism brochure. You appear to be very well-informed of state secrets, and the state would like to reward you with a holiday package at the Black Lotus InnIf that one upset you, I can't imagine how angry you'll be when you find out I know there's an entire renegade branch of the census office contained within the Black Lotus Inn, slowly becoming numerically ascendant in it's Nth-dimensional walls and plotting a Final Count of our limited directions and times.
I'm also tempted to recycle the Black Lotus Inn as its own setting. A hotel that detached from its own Universe to become a new Universe. Their idea of a pre-apocalyptic society is so up my alley you can find it in the cityThis would be a good backup if the party fucks up the game world beyond recovery. Even after the city has collapsed to the bedrock upon 100,000 concurrent disasters...there stands the Black Lotus Inn, as if it were always meant to be. Those doors could lead anywhere...
If he makes his character a druid called Malthus and breaks the weather control system I am giving him a free featSummon Terrible Weather 1/day
A long time ago there was a potion seller, who made potions. His potions were too strong for anyone to drink, his potions would kill a dragon let alone a man. In fact, his potions were so strong, people wondered who he made his potions for, or if indeed he ever sold any potions. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIQVbxMJWgM) The potion seller never stopped creating stronger and stronger potions, until one day his workshop and everything around it for miles around disappeared, leaving behind only a gargantuan potion spill. All of the scholar-spellcasters and alchemists of the Kingdom have been stumped trying to remove the potion spill, but so far have only succeed in containing it. As the potion spill is only harmful if someone comes into contact with the potion spill, the bureaucrats decided to just build a wall around the accident until a permanent solution was discoveredKill a dragon, eh? I wonder...what a drop of that potion...might do for our dear Emperor?
It should be noted that there’s actually a location a bit like that in established D&D lore, the World Serpent Inn. (https://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/World_Serpent.pdf) Not perfectly what you’re talking about, of course, it’s more like a mini-Universe between other Universes, the doors of which occasionally show up and let you head to somewhere else outside your dimension/plane/universe/crystal sphere.QuoteI'm also tempted to recycle the Black Lotus Inn as its own setting. A hotel that detached from its own Universe to become a new Universe. Their idea of a pre-apocalyptic society is so up my alley you can find it in the cityThis would be a good backup if the party fucks up the game world beyond recovery. Even after the city has collapsed to the bedrock upon 100,000 concurrent disasters...there stands the Black Lotus Inn, as if it were always meant to be. Those doors could lead anywhere...
If that one upset you, I can't imagine how angry you'll be when you find out I know there's an entire renegade branch of the census office contained within the Black Lotus Inn, slowly becoming numerically ascendant in it's Nth-dimensional walls and plotting a Final Count of our limited directions and times.M8 you're gonna get turned into a statistic by statistic ninjas at this rate. That is knowledge only an arch-statistician could know, should know, or needs to know
This would be a good backup if the party fucks up the game world beyond recovery. Even after the city has collapsed to the bedrock upon 100,000 concurrent disasters...there stands the Black Lotus Inn, as if it were always meant to be. Those doors could lead anywhere...You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave
Kill a dragon, eh? I wonder...what a drop of that potion...might do for our dear Emperor?I'm thinking it'll be a wild magic table on steroids, with a very high chance of taking out dear leader with vigour
That aside, spell WMDs are overdone but potion WMDs, now there's an idea with potential.Plus it's not a megacity without an industrial accident. Potion spillls have been known to have long term environmental effects that the big potion lobby doesn't want you to know about. Many a fisherman was beaten to death in a barfight by a seaabass after a coastline was polluted with potions of strength
It should be noted that there’s actually a location a bit like that in established D&D lore, the World Serpent Inn. (https://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/World_Serpent.pdf) Not perfectly what you’re talking about, of course, it’s more like a mini-Universe between other Universes, the doors of which occasionally show up and let you head to somewhere else outside your dimension/plane/universe/crystal sphere.They're almost the same, could be the same institution just gone through some localisation branding ;P
Coming up with some new monster concepts... How about a psionic brain-eater with a permanent silence effect on it? I'm thinking of calling it the Mime Flayer.
Interplanar travel is just traveling to another ring rotating around the sun
Magic is just magic, sci-fi can have little a magic, as a treat.
Cultured horde of Orcs - the Shaking Spears Theatre Company
Armour Class - 12 (grandiose costumes, medium armour), Damage Reduction -1
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
22 12 16 7 11 10
+6 +1 +3 -2 +0 +0
Skills:
Performance +6
Intimidation +6
Athletics +6
Proficient in the use of military drums, horns, pipes, strings, makeup and costuming (+2 to disguise checks made with costumes or disguise kit)
Condition Immunities: charmed, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, prone, restrained, stunned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages Common Draconic, Orcish dialect
Challenge 7 (2900 XP)
LW, you're a genius.Perhaps not, I completely forgot to add their HP
44 = "Hey you, you're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right?" a man asks you, as you are sitting in a cart riding to a destination unknown.Damn it, now I got the urge to go Skyrim.
"Wake up, we're here. Why are you shaking? Are you ok? Wake up. Stand up... there you go. You were dreaming. What's your name?"44 = "Hey you, you're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right?" a man asks you, as you are sitting in a cart riding to a destination unknown.Damn it, now I got the urge to go Skyrim.
"Wake up, we're here. Why are you shaking? Are you ok? Wake up. Stand up... there you go. You were dreaming. What's your name?"44 = "Hey you, you're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right?" a man asks you, as you are sitting in a cart riding to a destination unknown.Damn it, now I got the urge to go Skyrim.
Ahhh yes. We've been expecting you.Shame on you sweet nerevar - teleportation or plane shifting of any kind no longer works in a 60ft radius. No recall or intervention can work in this place, there is no escape!
sounds hotwhat happens in Orcbants stays in Orcbants. So if you leave Orcbants, it is tattooed in infamy forever
Although 12 orcs sin't much of a hordePoetry slam is a great name for an attack. Also I don't think low level players can handle a true horde of orcs, so a flash mob of orcs will do.
More of a mob
or a poetry slam
If you didn't already have so many (excellent) Shakespear puns I would insist on making the Quivering Spear the deity of theatre/poetry/banterNow is the Winter of your Discontent [cone of cold]I think there's room to replace some attacks with play puns -
The Tempest (area of effect swirling attack)
The Restraining of the Shrew
Midsummer Fight's Dream
Measure for Measure (reaction damage return)
Absolutely amazing list. Beyond quality. Full marks to you for such a creative set of drunken hijinks outcomes.Much thanks, when I've got more time I'm gonna turn it into a more graphically pleasing chart
Granted, now I have the perfect idea for introducing the combat. The players enter a marketplace full of orcs. Once they start perusing the goods, one Orc begins dancing, then another, then another, until the whole flash mob is dancing in unison. Roll for initiative.
That's it, I'm moving to LondonNot before nandos and spoons are open, otherwise it's not werf it
Also in regards to the drunken morning after, there's a Reddit thread about 100 carousing results (https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/3uunbt/the_bigger_badder_longer_uncut_d100_carousing/) that might be just what your players need.I nabbed a few of those for my d50 one (like the devil sandwich, I just reversed who was giving the sandwich as I don't like players being forced to make offscreen devil pacts), but on second look there are a few good ones I could probably nab still. Number 94 is a really good one. I like the idea of players receiving a note from a long lost family member or friend detailing how well they are keeping up the legacy (or not), especially since one of my players is doing a wholesome character who was inspired to follow in the footsteps of her mediocre wizard grandpa.
Also this isn't quite DnD but I saw this and needed to share it and I don't know where else to put it: Dinosaurs of the Wild West (http://imgur.com/gallery/95AlMcS)Fat allosaurus mayor was my favourite
Tavern Mimic: largely immobile, astronomical hit points and defences, entices and digests players, capable of blocking entire streets. Easily defeated via contacting your local planning authority.I'm thinking of also adding the mimicnomicron or just a shit ton of neat environmental hazards to also change things that way (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/dungeon-masters-only/18708-the-mimic-book-of-mimics). I like the idea that the players start reading the mimicnomicron and it promises to tell them where the nearest mimic is. They flip to the next page and it just reads "HOUSE"
Mimic buildings are nothing new, but I think they'd fit in quite well with this setting.
Also I simply must have a scene where they all shrink to a tiny size on a beach or desert oasis and have to help a sand kingdom defeat a normal sized enemy crab (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYRu6MwmFYE) in order to return to normal
Some random person in a massive city is planning on destroying it.Before long, the players uncover a plot that they are being used by domestic security services to justify inordinate spending on a domestic war on terrorists who don't pose a threat to the city
Go find that guy.
DoesYes, but then you have to deal with the big rip cultists
Does stopping them stop the heat death of the universe?
A doomsday cult plans to destroy the universe. Their chosen method? Heat death. In truth, they're just a gang of slackers who gather weekly for a 'sermon' that mostly involves watching a movie, playing video games or another sedentary activity.Ah, so this is where demon cults come from. I always wondered.
I'm now imagining this "create cultists to justify the security bureau" scenario going so far and the engineered cultists so harmless that they end up arming them with an actual fucking doomsday device and panicking.Reminds me of how in the UK, we used to have these special branches of undercover police whose jobs it was to infiltrate extreme groups which had the potential to destabilize government or hatch terrorist plots. The problem was, these undercover police officers were selected from amongst some of the best police, being highly trained and highly motivated. Thus once they infiltrated the gangs, groups and organisations, it wouldn't be long before they were put in leadership, administrative and logistical roles - where undercover police often complained their effective skillset was being used to make the group way more effective and threatening than if they had just been left alone.
A doomsday cult plans to destroy the universe. Their chosen method? Heat death. In truth, they're just a gang of slackers who gather weekly for a 'sermon' that mostly involves watching a movie, playing video games or another sedentary activity.
Orcs became monstrous creatures that live in woodlands and hunt those who enter without offering them a sacrifice first. They look like large wild boar, with humanlike hands where their hooves would be.
Good stuff, Grim! I like the Boarcs a lot.
Orcs became monstrous creatures that live in woodlands and hunt those who enter without offering them a sacrifice first. They look like large wild boar, with humanlike hands where their hooves would be.
Especially the back hooves, right?
Good stuff, Grim! I like the Boarcs a lot.pOrks
Also does anyone here have a decent grasp of chemical hazards? I'm trying to implement a dungeon whose entrance is a lake of mercury the expedition has to sail across, full of occasional mercury oozes that devour gold/silver. Yet I'm trying to think how far I should go when it comes to implementing mercury exposure poisoning, as I assume an underground lake of mercury is also going to have lots of airborne mercury too
I assume I can just handwaive it with protective charms / decontamination showers though
Shouldn't be a lot of vapors, unless someone chucks a fireball.Random encounter: fire elemental.
Elemental mercury is so dense that you might not be able to sail across it per se - the ship won't sink and thus could tip over.Build your ship out of tungsten carbide.
You'd probably want a wide raft or something, to distribute the weight of you and all your stuff.Catamaran or an outrigger would also do
Elemental mercury = vapors are dangerous, passes skin but very slowly, ingestion actually is not very dangerous because your digestive system won't pick it up.mega noice
Ethylmercury = Thimerosal (the vaccine preservative) metabolizes into this, otherwise rare. Neurotoxic, but not overly dangerous because it doesn't bio-accumulate.
Methylmercury = Nightmare chemical. Heavily bio-accumulative, and hence is the kind they warn you about in fish even though it's not much present in the water. Any significant concentration will dissolve your nervous system and kill you horribly, as one scientist infamously found out - it took her two years to die as I recall. Penetrates rubber gloves and skin.
Elemental mercury is so dense that you might not be able to sail across it per se - the ship won't sink and thus could tip over. You could theoretically walk across a sea of it, sinking partially depending on your density and that of your equipment.
Mercury poisoning is cured by chelation therapy - this is not very effective against methylmercury, though. As far as I know it works fine on elemental mercury. Materials used for chelation are liable to kill you if you don't measure it proportionate to what is being removed.
A good summary of chemical hazards can be found by searching for an appropriate Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). Here's one for elemental mercury. (https://www.fishersci.com/store/msds?partNumber=M1416LB&productDescription=MERCURY+MTL+INST+GRD+REAG+6LB&vendorId=VN00033897&countryCode=US&language=en)
Build your ship out of tungsten carbide.I already have one player who is champing at the bit to make orbital tungsten bombardment a reality, I feel like such a thing would have unintended consequences
*Drow sign language* "Excuse us but what the fuck"Build your ship out of tungsten carbide.I already have one player who is champing at the bit to make orbital tungsten bombardment a reality, I feel like such a thing would have unintended consequences
I had that one as a kid. They used to be pretty common, especially in payphone booths. Every once in a while you'll find one left in some conspicuous place, on top of public bathroom dryers is the usual spot. A rare surprise now though. Also bumper sticker people. People would show up at public events in parks like baseball games with religious bumper stickers all over their cars and lurk around the bleachers, and if you went to look at the bumper stickers they'd show up and give you a chick tract. I got one like that before I learned my lesson, it was this one though (https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=0001).Lmao I can't think of a hell worse than St. Peter reviewing your internet history
One of the things we lost with the march of time, I'm nostalgic now.
I had that one as a kid. They used to be pretty common, especially in payphone booths. Every once in a while you'll find one left in some conspicuous place, on top of public bathroom dryers is the usual spot. A rare surprise now though. Also bumper sticker people. People would show up at public events in parks like baseball games with religious bumper stickers all over their cars and lurk around the bleachers, and if you went to look at the bumper stickers they'd show up and give you a chick tract. I got one like that before I learned my lesson, it was this one though (https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=0001).Lmao I can't think of a hell worse than St. Peter reviewing your internet history
One of the things we lost with the march of time, I'm nostalgic now.
Funny you would mention that... (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/LeftBeyond)Reminds me of that /int/ post apocalyptic setting where the Christian fundamentalist terrorists are fighting to try and blow up the reality anchor that is slowly tearing God apart
a guy in full plate with a greatsword is more dangerous than a guy in rags with a knifeAnybody who's witnessed a single Sneak Attack will know this isn't true. Fun fact that I found out the hard way: A crit Sneak Attack will one-shot most player classes if they are the same level as the attacking rogue.
I dunno if a hill giant would accept being controlled by goblins, at least overtly, but they might be playing wormtongue. I'd think they wouldn't live very long in that grouping.
Modern gnolls are basically killmonsters, they have no motivation beyond tearing shit up.
Honestly, the big problem is morale is just absent after like 2nd edition. There's no system in place to justify monsters fleeing battle so generally everything fights to the death, and on the flip side encounters are generally set up so players should win, so they don't flee either.
That's an interesting point. Presumably, the Monster Manual's entries teach us enough about how a monster hunts (i.e., by inslaving you, going by 90% of monsters). It'd be awesome if Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma gave us some sort of formula for how different monsters would interact in a conflict.
A hill giant, two goblins, and a gnoll have teamed up to wreck havoc on the country-side. Perhaps the giant is the presumed leader, but is actually being controlled and coaxed by the goblins, while the gnoll is only loyal until a fight looks to be going south.
Yo, now I want to play as a barbarian all dressed up in wizard robes, with a greataxe disguised as an arcane focus.And take the mage initiate and ritual caster feats so they can cast loadsa magic and make a name for themselves as a magic user
Yo, now I want to play as a barbarian all dressed up in wizard robes, with a greataxe disguised as an arcane focus.
Yo, now I want to play as a barbarian all dressed up in wizard robes, with a greataxe disguised as an arcane focus.
Given the earlier discussion of fighting dirty and combat-as-war, I was more thinking of a sneaky bastard clever barbarian rather than your typical deluded Lethal Joke character. They know full well that they're a marial warrior, not a spellcaster. They just disguise themselves as a spellcaster for a tactical advantage.Wild Soul barbarian would be very convincing as a wizard, given the sheer potential to throw out loads of wild magic and pretend it was all intentional. Otherwise I think ritual caster / mage initiate are the ways to go, or even just proficiency in using arcana to utilise magic tools and scrolls to provide enough convincing evidence that your barbarian, is in fact a squishy wizard. Wizard robes and hat won't discount unarmoured defence, so it all works out exceptionally well. As for weapons, warhammer, club, sword, spear - I think all of these things could be wizardly weapons
Re: enemies using guerilla tactics.
There's theory on whether combat in roleplaying games should be run by the philosophy of sport or of war.
Combat-as-sport is the self-contained room with set number of level-appropriate monsters that might sometimes fight intelligently, but never "unfairly". The player characters are expected to return the favour with kick-in-the-door tactics and direct combat. Kill the one healing the others first. Have the paladin force the tough one into a duel while the rest of the party deals with the flunkies. Cast your own Fly spell to negate the enemy's advantage from the same.
Combat-as-war is the dungeon as a whole built as a defensible fortress designed to kill intruders with maximal efficiency and minimal defender casualties. If faced in direct combat, the player characters are extremely likely to fall. Instead, they are expected to play just as dirty. Build a huge bonfire and flood the dungeon with smoke, choke the kobolds out. Poison the trees with Agent Orange to leave the drop bears with nowhere to hide. Ambush the enemy's camp and destroy their food supply with a long-range Fireball, then get out before they can react.
There isn't a right or wrong way to play a roleplaying game, but it's essential to have everyone on the same page about what sort of combat is expected in the campaign. The philosophies are tools: combat-as-sport easily creates a classic fantasy story of good and evil in honourable direct conflict, while combat-as-war leaves things ambiguous in its verisimilitude. How can you be sure your opponent is evil if all you know of them is artillery targeting data?
I take monster XP for defeat rather than kill.This is the default for 5e. Not sure about other other systems though.
If they scare them off, trick them into a pit, or get them a part time job and a new lease on life, they've earned the XP.
Yeah, XP isn't some magic energy that pops out of dead creatures.
monster zoo
is using one illusion spell to lure the enemy into a trap and killing him really worth his full XP? Hmmm? I dunno? But in old school 90% of the XP comes from treasure recovered, so it perfectly supports and even encourages being unconventional.
How do you guys determine the personalities of your characters?
Step 1: Develop gimmickI'm really tempted to make for my next DM's campaign an artificer that is secretly 5 fairies piloting an 8ft tall armour suit. Tell the other players that they're just a blessed Knight who's sworn an oath to never doff their armour. Currently I'm playing an Elf that's pretending to be a Dwarf who's become best friends with the party's only human - who has consistently *almost* seen through their really poor disguise
Step 2: Work backwards and try to find some sort of explanation for gimmick
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit!
A zealot barbarian would indeed be the answer, being completely unkillable until they've been whittled down to 0 HP and their rage ends (as the moths can't grapple a level 20 barbarian even with a nat 20).Ah, but that's the beauty of it... Barbarians get unlimited rages per day at level 20. So the rage never ends since you can always just extend it.
So, in essence: Sumdood is bad at game design and should feel bad.
In my current Pathfinder game, my group of intrepid city guards are investigating the death of a wealthy merchant. They've learned that his wife is thirty years younger than him, married him three years ago, and had two husbands die on her before him, though they haven't found out she's sleeping with the gardener yet. Also, they've learned his eunuch butler is a talented alchemist, has a secret shrine to the god of murderers hidden in his room, and appears to have sliced a piece of flesh from the merchant's corpse and placed it on the altar.
I can't wait to introduce the future cast of characters in this murder-mystery scenario. A sleazy tiefling lawyer, a violent drunken sell-sword step-son, a half-orc mobster business rival, a greedy ex-business partner nobleman, and a mysterious one-eyed bravado lurking in the background monitoring the group's investigation. Care to guess who dunnit?
I have a feeling the author doesn't know what a Legendary Action is. As written, a swarm of Soldiers could defeat even a 20th level party if they do well in initiative, simply because they can all pile in and attempt the instakill move as soon as one of them succeeds in a grapple. They likely have advantage in the grapple check (as long as they do it directly and not via the bite attack), too, since they can restrain the entire party as a reaction (which calls for checks and not saves so even a high-level character only has about even chances to dodge it).
The soldier "legendary action" is fucked, but even with removing that, the DM could just make the enemies attack downed foes and give them failed saves, considering the numbers this guy is throwing out, that shouldn't be an issue.
If I'm understanding this guy correctly, let's imagine the fight for a moment.
6 PCs vs. "between 50 to 100 workers, 25 to 40 Soldiers and 3 to 7 Queens."
Queens have an ability that means workers and soldiers take hits for her. As written, that means you need to kill off all the workers and soldiers before you can stop the queen. The queen can summon between 3-10 (10% chance of zero) units per legendary action, of which she could have 6 per round. Players would need to be killing an average of 10 units per turn to be making progress in this fight, if you only allow one queen to have legendary actions. If all of them can take legendary actions - that's potentially 70 new units per player turn, possibly including a queen, up to 420 new units in a round. Low estimate is still over 100 per round.
That sounds exceptionally not fun.
Also, I think the recharge thing is written wrong.
Anyways, have some more discussion salad from the same fellow:Spoiler: The illusory trap of... What? (click to show/hide)
...what does that even mean?
Does he realise the bard jokes are not jokes because people find the joke-bard funny?It's getting better.
A buddy of mine is obsessed with the Gloom Stalker class. I'm trying to find synergies with other classes. Darkness doesn't work since no one can see through it. Is there a good way to get surprised condition on people?It's not technically a condition, but the standard rule to surprise is to initiate combat without your enemy being aware of you, which is generally a contested check of Dexterity(Stealth) versus Wisdom(Perception). After a surprise round, a creature is on guard and can't be surprised again (though you can still use the Hide action to momentarily disappear and gain advantage for attacking from outside your enemy's sight).
Does he realise the bard jokes are not jokes because people find the joke-bard funny?It's getting better.
He's just stated that from the looks of it, all the other characters are "nerds", so his character will "definitely feel that they need him to spread their legend around", since the concept he's going with is the "unreliable narrator" role of someone who wants to write an autobiographical epic. "Think Watson mixed with Gilderoy Lockhart", and "as a Chaotic Neutral, he'll definitely think of himself as the best and most important so he will probably be really cheeky and introduce the party to others as '[Bardname] and His Band of Idiots'"
EDIT: Okay, I voiced some concerns and he might be toning it down a bit, he says he just got excited. That gives me hope!
You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them if the new form is physically capable of doing so. However, you can't use any of your special senses, such as darkvision, unless your new form also has that sense.
Anyone listen to the System Mastery podcast? They're less entertaining than they think they are (I did say podcast, right?), but they have some decent ideas.
One of the players asked for a Knowledge roll to see if they could identify the great gnome Anne.hhhhhhh okay you win, that's good.
I told them she was a master Transmuter Wizard, renowned for her advances in spellcraft and discoveries. However, what was to be her greatest work ever ended in disaster, as during a complex transmutation ritual she inadvertently transformed herself into a massive stone monolith that crashed into the ocean, becoming a new feature among local sailors.
Alas, gnome Anne is an island.
Yeah but you could use a longsword or something and just get advantage.Which isn't a heavy weapon however, meaning it cannot be used with GWM
Yeah but you could use a longsword or something and just get advantage.Which is why I said fun, not optimal.
Oh man, one of my friends first-time DM'd. They intentionally told us all different versions of what the campaign was going to be, with the end result being they broke a cardinal rule of DMing; make sure you're running the same campaign as your players.
D&D has historically caught a lot of criticism from the far-right as being influenced by satanic forces and looked down on as being a game for social outcasts. Ironically, this has resulted in the game attracting and supporting a large variety of gender spectrums, religious groups, disabilities, races and peoples of colour, welcoming differences at the gaming table. Really, who cares if you've got slightly darker skin or speak with an accent when you're everything from an elven wizard slinging fireballs to a dwarf swinging a battleaxe?
I liked how in 1e the only benefit to playing a dwarf was that you had an instinctive ability to detect a subtle incline plane, used to defeat what was apparently a common DM trap at the time of tricking the players into going to a deeper level then they thought they were on, which would then "allow" the DM to use stronger monsters. Weird stuff, the 1e culture.
Poultergoose? Poultrygeist.Poultryghast?
Beware the jub-jub bird, and shunBeware the flower heaths where the bansheep graze,
The frumious gandersnatch
I liked how in 1e the only benefit to playing a dwarf was that you had an instinctive ability to detect a subtle incline plane, used to defeat what was apparently a common DM trap at the time of tricking the players into going to a deeper level then they thought they were on, which would then "allow" the DM to use stronger monsters. Weird stuff, the 1e culture.
Edit: I've also been thinking about AD&D's weird 18/% strength thing, where certain classes got an improved strength rating at 18, with bonuses to the things you'd normally get from strength. It at least allowed fighters to be good at the one thing they did. And also the wizard spell (5th spell level ish?) that turns you into a fighter for a while, with full strength bonus etc.
Force them to collectively compose a rhyming account of what they did that day. If they do more things, demand more verses?Have them give up a class feature for a day, e.g. an extra attack, bonus action thing or something
Unless your group would hate that, which some people would.
Not sure what you mean by "borrow a feature"?
Emo-sphinx asks the characters all pay her toll in a happy memory. She either takes the memory away from them or borrows it for a day. In case of the latter when they get the memory back they remember it as if she was there all along.If your players are good roleplayers, you could go double with the standard fey folk payment: one joyful laugh and one sorrowful tear, collected at an unspecified time in the future. Save these for something major and dramatic, and then explain that the character only feels hollow. They know they should be happy or sad, but are so unable to express their emotions that they start doubting themselves. For bonus points, make sure it happens in public.
Emo-sphinx asks the characters all pay her toll in a happy memory. She either takes the memory away from them or borrows it for a day. In case of the latter when they get the memory back they remember it as if she was there all along.This one is fucking amazing. Also now there's two sphynxes because I like the idea of a sphynx couple, each with different personalities, so they can ask different things from the players.
Sphinx demands toll on the form of a sacrifice of courage. The character who sacrifices his has disadvantage on rolls against fear effects (or similar) for a time. Use when you think your players are going to go up against spooky things. Or don't if that would be unfair.Literally going to sick the four ducks, geese and swans of the apocalypse on them afterwards :D
Sphinx demands a letter from their names. No givebacks,Cruel and hilariousFrank
Sphinx demands magic. You have to pay her a spellslot/use of a spell for that day.I like the last one a lot, could turn it into a skill challenge where they all have to teach the sphynx something valuable
Sphinx demands life. You have to give up one of your hit dice that you can use to regain health at short rests for a day.
I just realised I've assumed the sphinxcounter would take place right next to other encounters. Duration of sacrifices will probably have to be changed if not.
Sphinx has lost her wings and wants to fly. Druid has to temporarily give up a use of their wildshape.
Sphinx is having a little gettogether with her fellow sphinxes and wants manticore casserole recepies. Or maybe she wants their advice on how to best prepare a person?
Perhaps the sphinx could reward the group with a riddle-based ability of some sort? I'm picturing something where they ask a riddle in combat to get, I don't know, temporary advantage by distracting the foe.Could do. This is a beach episode though so I already planned to have environmental buffs, and they hate riddles (or rather, one player loves riddles whilst the rest turn their brains on idle at the hint of a puzzle)
My group *loved* riddles, so much that we always spared the "riddle ogre" we kept encountering while traveling. Apparently the encounter chart called for a random ogre to show up and attack, and our GM thought that was boring. He swears we rolled it fair and square the latter 3 times (between basilisks and other less memorable encounters). I guess it would have tried to eat us, except that we're decent at riddles between the three of us. Good times!
If your players are good roleplayers, you could go double with the standard fey folk payment: one joyful laugh and one sorrowful tear, collected at an unspecified time in the future. Save these for something major and dramatic, and then explain that the character only feels hollow. They know they should be happy or sad, but are so unable to express their emotions that they start doubting themselves. For bonus points, make sure it happens in public."No I'm not the murderer, I'm just dead inside"
In a funeral: "Hey! That guy doesn't look sad! He must be the murderer!"
All right: sphynxes
What is the best thing a sphynx can do to enact a toll upon players whilst still being fun? Riddles are a bit painful for my group, but I'm thinking of having the sphynx ask them for a story about some theme / to borrow a feature for a day. Yet it seems like either way it'll be a brief interaction, which is a shame
Cis
Some really interesting ideas, tho' I'm not sure why a sphinx is being attributed these kinds of world warping powers, did fifth ed make them genie level beings?Wizards capable of casting spells up to 5th level. Quite limited reality warping, but powerful enough for some interesting tricks.
Philoso-sphinx poses riddles with no answer, from koans to trolley problems, and demands you show enlightenment, such as answering with one of your own.I can't believe I've never included a trolley problem situation in a DND dungeon yet
Some really interesting ideas, tho' I'm not sure why a sphinx is being attributed these kinds of world warping powers, did fifth ed make them genie level beings?I'm fairly arbitrary when it comes to following the materials DND provide, in that I modify everything I touch. It keeps things fresh and also keeps it interesting for my players, two of which regularly DM and so know a lot of the stuff DND source material has
Demands to be shown a human quality it has never seen before; and it must be transcendent in nature.
That is a fun and silly sounding magic item table, I hope your players enjoy the items as much as I enjoyed reading those descriptions.Thanks, I hope so too
You got Count Duckula?I sense a powerful background rivalry with the Gandervamp and Count Duckula
Demands to be shown a human quality it has never seen before; and it must be transcendent in nature.
Tentacle hentai.
Demands to be shown a human quality it has never seen before; and it must be transcendent in nature.
Tentacle hentai.
This is not the time to bring up cat girls!
Being a rakshasa, Pigeon Pilate may be difficult to permanently defeat if the PCs don't have any planar travel ability. Watch as they kill him once, only to be ambushed by him a month later.Seems fitting too, I think Pigeon Pilate seems like one of the sins most likely to have others fight its battles for it. I like to imagine as well that Pigeon Pilate will attack players in other ways, like trying to get an entire city to deny them basic services
What if your magical realm is happy players
I'm not into high fantasy.What about low fantasy campaign where the only magic allowed is ritual casting
Guilded Age (webcomic) had a version of that where the Sky Elves used conjuration to feed and supply their mysterious flying cities. Eventually the other peoples figured out that conjuration doesn't make, it takes.
And now my inner min-maxer is constructing mental images of massive fetus factories producing millions of souls for the purpose of buffering the surrounding population, and all the theological implications of that method on identifying when a soul forms.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Current, living humanity versus the dead.Living humanity wins, but is betrayed by dead (inside) gang at the final hour
All 100+ billion of them.
Current, living humanity versus the dead.
All 100+ billion of them.
Especially the fat people, who to them would probably appear as the apex of all humanity could create.This part struck me: WOULD they, though? Sure, the idea that plumpness was seen as a correlate of economic power is a trope, though scholars still dispute it, but, more importantly, the morbidly obese we have today would fall completely outside the scale of anything the majority of history's humans had ever experienced — they may not even recognise them as human. At that point it's a tossup between "HAVE MERCY, NEW ROUND GODS" and "Oh, what an exciting new kind of prey animal for me to spear."
Speaking of undead, here's one I've been wanting to do. The players have to go to an ancient ruined city to retrieve a mystical artifact, the usual shit. When they get there, it's guarded by undead, bound to protect the artifact until the fated heroes prove their worth in the vault's deadly trials and retrieve the artifact, the usual shit.
Complication, they don't know they're dead. There's thousands of skeletons, all still thinking they're alive, still doing normal city shit. Chances are the players' reaction gives the game away and the city goes apeshit. Riots in the streets, political upheaval, factions coalescing around differing approaches to the "holy shit we're skeletons what the fuck" revelation. Worse, if the players complete their quest the spell will be broken. Some people are still friendly to the heroes, some are hostile to these dickheads who turned their society upside down, some just want to die for real, some are trying to sabotage the trials and preserve their immortality, players have to survive a city in chaos and navigate cutthroat skeleton politics while deciding what to actually do about the macguffin.
Speaking of undead, here's one I've been wanting to do. The players have to go to an ancient ruined city to retrieve a mystical artifact, the usual shit. When they get there, it's guarded by undead, bound to protect the artifact until the fated heroes prove their worth in the vault's deadly trials and retrieve the artifact, the usual shit.I'm doing something similar for a quarantined city, but they're all bodaks. The outside gov has just sealed all the gates into and out of the city until they can figure out how to actually deal with millions of powerful, replicating undead. Complete with doomsday style magic sunlight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR_TQZjMCbo) to keep the bodaks away from the walls at night. The bodak city folk don't understand why the whole world has turned on them, and are desperately working day and night to break free.
Complication, they don't know they're dead. There's thousands of skeletons, all still thinking they're alive, still doing normal city shit. Chances are the players' reaction gives the game away and the city goes apeshit. Riots in the streets, political upheaval, factions coalescing around differing approaches to the "holy shit we're skeletons what the fuck" revelation. Worse, if the players complete their quest the spell will be broken. Some people are still friendly to the heroes, some are hostile to these dickheads who turned their society upside down, some just want to die for real, some are trying to sabotage the trials and preserve their immortality, players have to survive a city in chaos and navigate cutthroat skeleton politics while deciding what to actually do about the macguffin.
Dare you enter my magical realm?If you have to ask the answer is no.
Consider: A bard lich as an eternal coked-out 70s rockstar, unable to die from their bad habits and thus having escalated them all the more.
Behold the Chamber of Groupies! Dare you enter my magical realm?
What do you people use to make maps of continents? I've only done location maps and paint has been enough for me.
That map is terrible. Norway is nearly as big as Sweden on it.
I'll admit to being one of those terrible players when the GM came out with his hand-crafted map of his world. I immediately went and took the party off the edge of the map, completely bypassing the wonderful lore he'd created.Hahaha my players tried that, choosing the map edge that seemed the most boring. They chose the Ocean of Irrelevance, UNLEASHING MY UNSPEAKABLE NAVAL CAMPAIGN
This is why you start your campaign at the first dungeon. There's a difference between giving players freedom and letting them walk all over you. There's a social contract to D&D and I enforce it the same way I enforce the NAP, with short-range ballistic missiles.I take a different approach, running it like DF. I prepare loads of stats for various NPCs and critters, then improv different names, fluff and motivations on the fly. Then I throw my players in a dynamic situation and let them run with it, at that point I'm not fighting to beat the players onto my path, I'm just facilitating the RP
Got it, get wasted and draw a map of europe with my eyes closed.
Of interest might be the FFG setting Midnight, who's premise is essentially to be Middle Earth a thousand years after Sauron's (mostly) final victory.That sounds pretty dank. Does it have wizard Saruman?
The 5e spell Major Image says touching the Image reveals it to be an illusion if you touch as you pass through it, but what if you make an Image of something that can be reasonably passed through, like fog, smoke, or yourself saying "Bwahaha, you can't hurt me now that I'm ethereal!"?I'd give the usual Investigation check to "spot the thread" and disbelieve an illusion in that case. After all, real fog and smoke still react to air currents, real ethereal things interact with light, and so on. You could argue that the spell can replicate those effects, but that's where the spell save DC comes in: it takes a good wizard to make it believable.
They kind of just sound like sentient golems in that case.
Up to ten berries appear in your hand and are infused with magic for the duration. A creature can use its action to eat one berry. Eating a berry restores 1 hit point, and the berry provides enough nourishment to sustain a creature for one day.
The berries lose their potency if they have not been consumed within 24 hours of the casting of this spell.
A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations.
Rations (1 day) = 2lbs.
Every other food item mentioned = N/A lbs.
I'm still a big fan of Dark Sun's water rules, particularly the one where it explicitly turns your alignment off if you get too thirsty.That does still give me chills, and I only heard stories second-hand.
The Goodberry thing got me curious about food and water rations in general (in addition to the fact that the campaign I'm currently in seems to be taking an exceptionally forgiving stance on such logistics), and... Um.Quote from: BookA character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations.Quote from: Also BookRations (1 day) = 2lbs.
Every other food item mentioned = N/A lbs.
And that's just the start! "A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier (minimum of 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion. A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero."
So, apparently characters actually only need to eat once every 4th day or so. And that fasting period is completely reset with a single pound of food.
To make matters worse, there's even a mention of "making food last longer" by eating half rations, where each day eating half rations only counts as half a day spent not eating. ...you may be seeing a slight issue here.
Full rations: 1lb of food per 1 day:
*8 days = 8lbs of food, starvation counter at 0
Half rations: 1/2lb of food per 1 day:
*8 days = 4lbs of food, starvation counter at 4 (a character with no positive Constitution will now have to eat a full pound in order to reset the counter and avoid exhaustion)
Vogue diet = 1lb of food per 4 days:
*8 days = 2lbs of food, starvation counter at 0
And that's for someone with no positive CONMOD, it only gets nuttier the more Constitution they have (which does make sense in a way, except the final result is still silly).
Don't get me started on the water requirements and associated containers...
EDIT: As an unrelated aside, wew... Who could have foreseen that the Chaotic Neutral Halfling Bard player might actually be a little bit of a problem element in our game? Talking over other players, talking over the DM, derailing the narrative, telling other players what to do with their chars, trying to fudge details to benefit himself... Woof.
Jesus Christ why are tiefling players always so fucking horrendous. Every time I give the benefit of the doubt I always come to regret itWhat are they doing?
No hard life for you, no misunderstood hero for you, congratulations, nobody cares that you've got red skin and horns.Oh, that. So far, without at all intending it, my solution has quite consistently been insisting on having all players be actual for-real-guilty criminals.
Jesus Christ why are tiefling players always so fucking horrendous. Every time I give the benefit of the doubt I always come to regret it
What are they doing?Every fucking time I let any of them play a tiefling they start filling out a bingo card of the worst characteristics possible. It's like something about the race just opens the floodgates to every single stupid idea that should never have been allowed to flood the poor town of carefully constructed campaign sessions.
I'll play a tiefling with you. He's looks exactly like an ordinary human but every time he farts it smells of rotten eggs. He's very embarrassed by it of course, like any normal person would be, so he tries really hard to avoid gassifying food. He keeps in contact with his childhood sweetheart, and both his parents are alive (he writes to them often), and he visits his completely unburntand unpillaged home village where he was raised by his uncle as often as he can although not as often as he would want -- standard grown up responsibilities and the like of course.
I'm attempting to short circuit the tiefling problem in general with my campaign, in that it's recently post-chaos-invasion and demonic corruption is like radioactive fallout. A generation out almost 10% of the population is tieflings and by necessity it's become normal. No hard life for you, no misunderstood hero for you, congratulations, nobody cares that you've got red skin and horns.Lmao this might be the only way. Trick my player into thinking they're playing an actual person instead of a walking stereotype
No demonic parents, demons aren't interested in such things and don't have the capacity anyway, demons are a single entity that occupies the void between the planes and grows bodies around itself when it penetrates into realspace. Devils can make tieflings, but devils aren't evil so hopefully less allure there. Devils are dicks, but they perform necessary soul hygiene to keep reincarnation going.
My associations with the race are just as being the second biggest Mary Sue bait behind Drow, but not necessarily "problem players" beyond that minor little hiccup...Incidentally in the game they're DM'ing, we're currently being herded from Drow city to Drow city in what was supposed to be a "grimdark" campaign. What that means is we started off as slaves herded on a sky prison, to fugitives herded to the desert, to railroaded away from the desert into the city full of slavers we just avoided, to being pursued by the entire city, to becoming gladiator sacrifices - then getting attacked for no reason by the high priests who just tried to have us sacrificed. So many people have tried to kill us and we are yet to learn the single name of a single character. Despite that, the DM keeps telling us out of character how killing that one drow, or that one drow, or that one drow has dramatically altered the world lore.
Everyone's a lone wolf who only works alone until they run out of paper in the loo
Why that particular class combo, if I might ask?
Would probably be Barb 3 for the subclass then straight Sorc.Unless you really feel a need to have 9th level spells or an extra metamagic option, I would probably advise to stay until 5th level so you can pick up Extra Attack.
I say spell fizzles if the targeted matter is destroyed by being split up or phase changed. Because that's the lame way to rule it and DnD spell tend to favor those.
The wizard: "I use Portent!" The d20 (or d20s with adv./dis.) is rolled. Portent replaces the resulting die.
Presumably I'm not the only one who feels this way about Guidance, so I'd like to hear people's thoughts on how to handle it gracefully
Presumably I'm not the only one who feels this way about Guidance, so I'd like to hear people's thoughts on how to handle it gracefully
I played a heavily homeruled game at one point that limited guidance use to spellcaster ability mod uses per day in order to solve this problem. Realistically still a VERY strong cantrip, but you can't use it for absolutely everything and need to put some thought into it's use. I think it was an okay idea, although the game didn't last long enough to really get a great feel on it.
I only have a problem with Guidance when people spam cast it every minute.Precisely, but the nature of the spell means that you're either doing exactly that or you're specifically handicapping yourself for the sake of "not being annoying". And that can be a tricky balance to strike for some players, either leaving it as a dead cantrip just taking up a slot, or overusing it and slowing the game down. I'd rather either have some sort of mechanical limitation that makes it a bit more sane and takes that responsibility off the players, or just exclude it entirely and have them take a different cantrip with other uses instead.
Portent you effectively don't need to roll, but you still replace the die roll. Another scenario where that could matter is the creature making the roll doesn't always know portent got used, so they use something to give themselves advantage.
The Lucky disadvantage thing isn't a Crawford ruling, its how Lucky is worded, Crawford just acknowledged that that wording allows that.
I like rolling dice!
I'm talking about people trying to get the 1d4 on initiative. I'm actually fine with people using it whenever someone's making an ability check because its a team game. If you feel like you or the folks using it are doing it too much, not taking it is perfectly fine! But most people I've played have been reasonable about knowing when they can reasonably use the cantrip to help someone else's roll. And its not all that different from people asking if they can work together with another person to give them advantage.I only have a problem with Guidance when people spam cast it every minute.Precisely, but the nature of the spell means that you're either doing exactly that or you're specifically handicapping yourself for the sake of "not being annoying". And that can be a tricky balance to strike for some players, either leaving it as a dead cantrip just taking up a slot, or overusing it and slowing the game down. I'd rather either have some sort of mechanical limitation that makes it a bit more sane and takes that responsibility off the players, or just exclude it entirely and have them take a different cantrip with other uses instead.
You don't need to roll the dice, but because the wording of the ability is it replaces the roll, that implies a roll still gets made. The vast majority of the time you don't need to roll, but its still part of the order of operations of resolving stuff. Also, you realize you can use a portent on another creature's roll right? So you can replace a roll being made by someone else, not just you, and there's nothing in the game requiring you to tell that creature or player that you used portent. You could have two cards and pick one before each roll if you really wanted to.Portent you effectively don't need to roll, but you still replace the die roll. Another scenario where that could matter is the creature making the roll doesn't always know portent got used, so they use something to give themselves advantage.
The Lucky disadvantage thing isn't a Crawford ruling, its how Lucky is worded, Crawford just acknowledged that that wording allows that.
Well sure, that's kinda the whole thing though. You don't effectively need to roll the dice, so why would you? Your rolling the dice has no say on whether or not an ingame creature is aware of your premonitions, and as far as meta knowledge goes you have to declare Portent usage before a roll is made anyway. I'm thinking it's just some odd language use from Crawford, but I really don't understand why he seems to be saying you should have to roll dice that have already been invalidated.
As for ruling versus not-ruling, I'm not entirely sure I understand what you mean... I found (https://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/05/21/lucky-explained/) a couple (https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/sageadvice_feats/) places where he seems to specifically state that that's how the feat is supposed to function (and then an earlier one (https://twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/526089494177382401?lang=en) that directly contradicts the other statements) rather than just a potential interpretation, so I'm unsure what constitutes a ruling in that sense and what doesn't.
Make sure you upcast it so you can roll even more dice!I like rolling dice!
casts fireball
I'm talking about people trying to get the 1d4 on initiative. I'm actually fine with people using it whenever someone's making an ability check because its a team game. If you feel like you or the folks using it are doing it too much, not taking it is perfectly fine! But most people I've played have been reasonable about knowing when they can reasonably use the cantrip to help someone else's roll. And its not all that different from people asking if they can work together with another person to give them advantage.
You don't need to roll the dice, but because the wording of the ability is it replaces the roll, that implies a roll still gets made. The vast majority of the time you don't need to roll, but its still part of the order of operations of resolving stuff. Also, you realize you can use a portent on another creature's roll right? So you can replace a roll being made by someone else, not just you, and there's nothing in the game requiring you to tell that creature or player that you used portent. You could have two cards and pick one before each roll if you really wanted to.Okay. I feel like we're talking past each other again. I'm not asking about how Portent works. I'm not confused about the conventional or normal usage of Portent. What I'm confused about is the tweet from the lead rules designer of 5e where he appears to state that the intention of the rule is to still roll the dice even though their result gets overridden.
My point on rulings is that you can just read the actual text of the rules and draw your own conclusion instead of searching for tweets, and in this case, Lucky calls out that you choose which d20 to use, which overrides the regular adv/disadv rules. There is nowhere in the 5e rules that says tweets are an official rules source and Crawford would literally be the first person to tell you that. His tweets are either 1. The thinking behind a particular rule. 2. How he interprets that rule or 3. How he runs his own D&D game. Which certainly can be useful, but isn't required for any table, or any theory crafting.
1. The thinking behind a particular ruleso that we can have a better understanding and interpretation of that baseline, which may then be modified or exchanged as necessary.
1. The thinking behind a particular ruleor
2. How he interprets that ruleappears to make no sense or contradicts other such explanations, then it doesn't serve to clarify the issue so much as just muddle it even more.
I like rolling dice!
casts fireball
Okay. I feel like we're talking past each other again. I'm not asking about how Portent works. I'm not confused about the conventional or normal usage of Portent. What I'm confused about is the tweet from the lead rules designer of 5e where he appears to state that the intention of the rule is to still roll the dice even though their result gets overridden.The dev's tweet is explaining the order of operations that things happen. Rolling the dice is still part of the order of operations. Why does this matter? Because the original response was asking about advantage/disadvantage, which happens when the roll is made, and the dev was explaining that Portent comes into play after that. At no point in that tweet is the developer saying you have to actually roll the dice, they are just explaining the order of operations of how the ability works in a hypothetical scenario to better explain their point.
And yes, I am absolutely aware of Portent being usable on other creatures. That's both how I normally tend to use it, and also entirely not the point. Portent must be announced before a roll, which means that A) The DM controlling the creature you're using it on is aware that you're using it, or B) The player you're using it on is aware that you're using it. Meta, everybody knows. The only way they wouldn't is if you're doing some sort of distanced PvP thing with separate tables and an intermediary DM connecting them or something. Which means that the only way "not knowing about Portent" is going to come into play is if the controller willfully ignores it for the sake of them not knowing about it in-character, in which case rolling the overridden dice anyway makes no difference.
So the movie Karate Cop has this random scene that involves a seedy, post apocalypse dive bar called "Jackass Junction", and that's totally going into the next Gamma World game I'm never going to play.
Got an idea in my head for a introduction to a game involving kobolds (the traditional gnome-like ones, not the small lizard people) stealing a farmer's chickens and the PCs being village youths paid a few silver to stay up late and keep watch.That’s honestly brilliant. It’s so hard to make satisfying adventures at level 1, especially when your players insist that their characters are as badass as Geralt even though they shouldn’t have even been in a real fight yet.
There's rustling in the chicken coop, some confused 'bwerks' from the hens, and if the PCs pop their heads in to look there's a terrified kobold thief with a monobrow so bushy it could be used to polish shoes who panics briefly and then tries to pretend he's a chicken.
I also imagine a kobold bolting while holding a chicken above it's head and making various whooping noises.
So the movie Karate Cop has this random scene that involves a seedy, post apocalypse dive bar called "Jackass Junction", and that's totally going into the next Gamma World game I'm never going to play.
Will the bartender be david carradine?
I've really only briefly skimmed Tasha's Cauldron, so no surprise if I missed it. What combo allows that?
Possibly. Although most games are a LOT lower-level. For sheer "can kill someone much higher-level" effect, the 3.x edition Launch Item (a level 1 version of the cantrip) Can put any object 400 + 40 * level feet away in any direction, with a limit that it weight 10 lbs or less. That puts it into the category of objects that weigh at least 1 lb, where the falling damage was 1D6 for 70 feet, plus d6 per 10 feet after that. The cantrip version had a reduced range and the best I saw was 8 silver for a gargantuan crossbow bolt (4d6 damage), or better with eschew materials feat.Which 5e is this? Because if this D&D, that's not how that ability works at all.
Or the 1st transmuter power (5e) that allows you to turn anything into anything else, including water into purple worm poison. That requires someone be able to coat the team's weapons, but +46 damage per hit is nothing to sneeze at.
Um. So... These Tasha's subclasses bring up some... Curious questions. Multiclassing questions.I'm interested in hearing this actually, although I'm guessing this involves Order of Scribes and Wildfire Druid in some capacity.
If I'm reading all these things correctly, and we're using Crawford's intended calculations for Magic Missile, one could potentially (with a horrific 5-way multiclass split)... Gimme a second...
1d4+1, +1d8, +11, x21...
So, between 294 and 504 damage in one turn, no save or attack roll (requires one extra action as setup from a previous turn, but it's okay because it lasts for an hour at a time without concentration and can follow us around where we go).
To one target, and it's fire damage soooo... Yeah :P
x21Which multiclass combo gives that high multiplier? Did you remember that multipliers work additively, e.g. three 2x multipliers become 4x?
I'm interested in hearing this actually, although I'm guessing this involves Order of Scribes and Wildfire Druid in some capacity.
I don't think you'll be able to get a 9th or 8th level fire damage spell with that setup. The calculation for what spells you can learn uses each class separately.
Criptfiend and Egan are correct.For someone insistent that people make their own interpretations of the rules, you seem rather definitive in this statement :P
Your build idea did make me think that a Tempest Cleric/Scribes Multiclass would be kinda fun actually. I don't know if it would work super well with magic missile, and there's not too many spells that deal thunder/lightning damage, but it seems like a fun alternative to the Tempest/Storm multiclass.Personally I'm a fan of the Tempest 2/Land druid (mountain) 5 combo, since it's SAD and I've already gone to the trouble of working up a backstory skeleton that explains the multiclass :P
If you want Kagus, you can drop the druid and sorcerer and just take an evocation wizard anyway, looses 94 damage from the 1d8 but is still at a respectable 254, and that's force damage, which I think at level 20 in a lot of cases you'd rather do 254 force instead of 349 fire.
welcome to goodberry home of the goodberry may I take your order
Presumably a great deal of houseruling/homebrewing involved?If you're talking about the build, nah no houseruling or homebrewing needed. There's some Unearthed Arcana multiclassing involved but you could get rid of the UA classes if your DM doesn't like them and just use players handbook classes like wild magic sorcerer, divination wizard, any cleric to get an identical effect. Lucky feat is also frankly broken (in the sense that there is no benefit/opportunity cost to taking it, whatever your character is) and the only feat I consider banning whenever I DM. I only use it now with a clean conscience because it's all part of the unbelievable fortune theme
It's a horrendous confluence of numerous design choices that make for nice dungeon crawling and bad campaigning. So if you use DND to play with dungeons and dragons, great. If you try to use it for a campaign... You're in the hands of the DM.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
uhhhhhhhhhhh.... Does that... No... uhhhhhhh... Yeah uhhh can I get a goodberry with the goodberry special?welcome to goodberry home of the goodberry may I take your orderYeah I'll have the uhhhh...
If you're talking about the build, nah no houseruling or homebrewing needed.
Any time before you regain the use of this feature, the DM can have you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher. You then regain the use of this feature.
However, the Dungeon Master can consider allowing other spellcasting classes opportunities to learn a handful of dunamancy-themed spells as rewards. Perhaps the characters uncover a cache of magical contraband, among which is a couple of spell scrolls, or a traveling acolyte takes some downtime with a friendly cleric character and opens their mind to some of the stranger secrets of the universe, unlocking a spell or two.
Probably shouldn't be asked to roll investigation for searching a body thoroughly, unless you're in a hurry (IE, have to get it done in a single round cause the cops are after you) or the item you're looking for is particularly well hidden. Though, if the GM disagrees with that notion, what can you do? :v
Actually yeah, 3.5e has rules for this! You can take 10 on actions when you aren't distracted or threatened, and it doesn't even take more time. It's perfect for situations where your modifiers are good enough that you don't need a great roll.
Taking 20 takes 2 minutes for full-round actions, codifying that you can totally keep trying most (obviously not all) skill checks. It suggests that it does work for escape artist, open lock, and search.
Looks like that was all dropped for 5e :(
Actually yeah, 3.5e has rules for this! You can take 10 on actions when you aren't distracted or threatened, and it doesn't even take more time. It's perfect for situations where your modifiers are good enough that you don't need a great roll.5e does have taking 10 for Passive checks, the issue there is people like to roll dice and forget passive checks exist for stuff that's not Perception.
Taking 20 takes 2 minutes for full-round actions, codifying that you can totally keep trying most (obviously not all) skill checks. It suggests that it does work for escape artist, open lock, and search.
Looks like that was all dropped for 5e :(
If anybody here manages to get their hands on a copy of Cyberpunk RED, I'd be interested in hearing an in-depth review.
Not interested in the seizure simulator, just the tabletop which is apparently deeply sold out.If anybody here manages to get their hands on a copy of Cyberpunk RED, I'd be interested in hearing an in-depth review.
There's a thread on it in other games.
Actually yeah, 3.5e has rules for this! You can take 10 on actions when you aren't distracted or threatened, and it doesn't even take more time. It's perfect for situations where your modifiers are good enough that you don't need a great roll.5e does have taking 10 for Passive checks, the issue there is people like to roll dice and forget passive checks exist for stuff that's not Perception.
Taking 20 takes 2 minutes for full-round actions, codifying that you can totally keep trying most (obviously not all) skill checks. It suggests that it does work for escape artist, open lock, and search.
Looks like that was all dropped for 5e :(
But yeah, taking 10 is a thing I'd like to see more of vis a vis 5e... Or at least something along those lines, such as requiring proficiency/expertise with particular tools to be allowed to do "X" outright, without a roll, rather than just making proficiency a thing that gives you a very slightly higher chance of rolling to do the thing that apparently anyone can do.
3.5 may have been a bit of a clusterfuck, but I do appreciate some of the things it did with skills.
d20 in general I'm not a huge fan of, extremely swingy. I like dice pools, or just 2d6 systems, where things follow a more bell-curve distribution
What do you mean by thief of five fates?
Thief of Five Fates
You can cast Bane once using a warlock spell slot. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.
Isn't that a bit like a multiclass wizard/any spellcaster being able to record spells they have spell slots for, but being unable to cast any of them if it doesn't have wizard spell slots to prepare them?
(image fixed)Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Conjuration as a barred school? Even before teleportation, it had all of the good cloud attack spells (better versions of fireball), summons, and spells for tactical combat. I mean, grease is great at level 1, even if it isn't flammable anymore.
Yeah it's an odd pick. I heard it was specifically to keep V from having teleport, a spell which generally makes travel unnecessary in 3.5, as pointed out in that comic. But there's a lot of Divination that could also disrupt the narrative if V chose to use it more.
I guess that actually comes up a few times, with epic magic like Xykon's warding keeping the suspense alive.
Outside of divination and illusion, which are very GM-dependent, evocation would probably be the easiest to do without, with necromancy a close second?B-but but, Fireball!
Unarmed Combat is whatever. It's a thing you can take if you want, and it's not like most fighting styles are that great anyway.
The really stupid thing is taking Superior Technique with the Fighting Initiate Feat, because it only gives you one maneuver and nothing else, whereas if you took Martial Adept you could have gotten two.
So I've been hanging out around the highly entertaining Goblin.bet arena, and been absent-mindedly thinking about D&D combat mechanics as a result.
Particularly, the idea that any amount of advantage cancels out any amount of disadvantage strikes me as... Well, it can lead to some odd situations. Like, if you're using the full range of a longbow and don't have Sharpshooter, you'll be firing at disadvantage since it's long range... But if the target doesn't see you (which is reasonably easy to accomplish at 300' away), then you get advantage on the attack. These two cancel each other out, and you fire normally.
And then you can close your eyes, and still have the same odds of hitting the target because Blinded can't provide any more disadvantage on the attack roll.
Is this RAW? Pretty much, yeah. Is the DM gonna let you get away with it? Probably not. Maybe.
So I've been hanging out around the highly entertaining Goblin.bet arena, and been absent-mindedly thinking about D&D combat mechanics as a result.
Particularly, the idea that any amount of advantage cancels out any amount of disadvantage strikes me as... Well, it can lead to some odd situations. Like, if you're using the full range of a longbow and don't have Sharpshooter, you'll be firing at disadvantage since it's long range... But if the target doesn't see you (which is reasonably easy to accomplish at 300' away), then you get advantage on the attack. These two cancel each other out, and you fire normally.
And then you can close your eyes, and still have the same odds of hitting the target because Blinded can't provide any more disadvantage on the attack roll.
Is this RAW? Pretty much, yeah. Is the DM gonna let you get away with it? Probably not. Maybe.
Yeah, the rules are meant to sort of make sense and cover some situations, but even they don't really have guidelines for when the rules work or don't. Weirdly, it's a magical world, but they're incredibly resistant to just saying "yeah, it works that way because magic" and not having to worry about what is or is not realistic. I'd respect it a lot more if they'd give one set of rules, explore what that means for the game (like you did here), and either decide the rules need something else or just say "yep, you got elf eyes/a magic bow/your family's black arrow/are just that good, now let's roll and see if you can land the shot." Much better than "well, sometimes the rules, but also sometimes not the rules?".
/me adds witchy stuff to his planned wildfire druid stuffCould also go pyromancy & grab polymorph. Same feel as druid but with less encumbrance from fire resistance
/me adds witchy stuff to his planned wildfire druid stuffCould also go pyromancy & grab polymorph. Same feel as druid but with less encumbrance from fire resistance
...Would centaur wear horse shoes or normal shoes? Would they consider horse shoes denigrating?Probably horseshoes, unless they're willing to go through the hassle of buckling shoes on and off every day. Don't think it'd be denigrating, any more than most human cultures that developed bodymod jewelry or nail adornments. It would probably elevate the status of farriers in society though, as skilled farriers would have demand from much higher paying and much more demanding clients than the usual horse. Like IcyTea says they'd probably not use nails, especially since hoof sandals & boots predate nailed horseshoes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipposandal). I could definitely see a disparity in the cultural acceptance of horseshoes amongst centaurs that travel between civilisations (high road travel, access to farriers, probably use horseshoes with nails as a prestige symbol), centaurs that roam the wilderness (no shoes at all, views them with disdain) and those in between (horse boots, no strong feelings either way).
"Let me just go slip into something a little more... comfortable..."Time to infiltrate the mansion sneaky like
...*CLANG*
*CLANG*
*CLANG*
*CLANG*
Wouldn't satyrs have cloves, though?
A Hitman campaign would probably be fun.
Actually it's kind of a shame the secret agent genre of roleplaying games died so long ago with Top Secret.
Any suggestions from the community what's inside the crate?
- You learn the Mage Hand cantrip. You can cast it without verbal or somatic components, and you can make the spectral hand invisible. If you already know this spell, its range increases by 30 feet when you cast it. Its spellcasting ability is the ability increased by this feat.
Conjuration cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 minute
A spectral, floating hand appears at a point you choose within range. The hand lasts for the duration or until you dismiss it as an action. The hand vanishes if it is ever more than 30 feet away from you or if you cast this spell again.
I can't believe the silly Americans named a subclass "Phantom". I am never not going to think of the Phantom when I see it.
Oh man, one of my friends first-time DM'd. They intentionally told us all different versions of what the campaign was going to be, with the end result being they broke a cardinal rule of DMing; make sure you're running the same campaign as your players.Lmao
Needless to say I wasn't very amused when my wholesome non-combat character, made for a wholesome social campaign - who had not killed a single thing in three campaigns, was pitted against the God of Pestilence.
the vorpal muffin.
I'm sure there are RPGs where you can play saiyan-like characters...
Wondering how his char meant for a low level city campaign about mid level crime and respect was supposed to deal with the Mugabe inflation thousand armed Shakti world devouring gods coming after him, each one more powerful than the last.
"We're gonna need a bigger blast"Wondering how his char meant for a low level city campaign about mid level crime and respect was supposed to deal with the Mugabe inflation thousand armed Shakti world devouring gods coming after him, each one more powerful than the last.Eldritch Blast
"We're gonna need a bigger blast"Wondering how his char meant for a low level city campaign about mid level crime and respect was supposed to deal with the Mugabe inflation thousand armed Shakti world devouring gods coming after him, each one more powerful than the last.Eldritch Blast
The Goblin-Lithuania Commonwealth will reign supreme
something something local noble insteadWe choose a Hob-Jagobllion instead
So one of my players is saying you can swap out racial feats for ANY feat. They're citing Tasha's where I know you can swap racial ABIs for any equal ABI (e.g. an elf could put their +2 racial DEX to +2 STR instead or something) or a proficiency for a proficiency (e.g. Dwarven proficency in warhammers swapped for proficiency in animal handling or sea vehicles). What they've done is swap Drow Weapon proficiency for Eldritch Adept.That's 100% not how it works in Tasha's yeah. Going by Tasha's they can swap out Drow Weapon Proficiency for proficiency in different weapons or tools.
Is this haram or halal? My gut says haram. I'm of the opinion that if your character needs some feat to RP better I'll give it to you for free; it's silly if your Halfling Chef doesn't know how to cook because it doesn't have an ABI yet. But this player in particular is a min-maxer whose mind is full of videogame meta and yet to learn how to RP. We have only just managed to get him to actually be able to answer who his character is rather than how many dice his character can roll and by Armok willing we will make an RPG player of him yet.
But I digress; surely this feat blending is ultraharam? Do I need to issue a fatwa or not?
Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll.
Since familiars are generally incapable of attacking, I'd lean on that and say that it's you who's making the attack.
Sounds like a convoluted way to avoid using Distant Spell metamagic. :)
If somebody at my table said his quasit could use touch attacks without breaking invisibility cause technically he's making the attack, I would slap him so hard his birth certificate disappears.
I dunno if I could make a whole campaign out of heroquesting though, but it's certainly an angle.
A real shaman or a fake ass new wave shaman though
That doesn't really give us much to go on. COC design principles aren't much different from D&D stuff, though the focus on mystery can be tough. I'd do the same thing I do with D&D adventures, especially less combat-focused ones, and start with a timeline of what will happen if the players never show up, from whatever point their plot starts to its completion with whatever bad shit going down. Once you've got that you can start to figure out what levers the players have to interact with the situation and what you need to flesh out in more detail.
Object retains its kinetic energy between transformations, turning from a fast moving pebble into a relatively slow moving boulder which deals around the same amount of damage, maybe a little less due to a wider surface area.
Of course, this just means that you should get the barbarian or whoever's strongest to yeet a lead bowling ball as hard as she can, and then convert it into a very thin and light 5' wide monomolecular obsidian blade which is now moving extremely fast.
Object retains its kinetic energy between transformations, turning from a fast moving pebble into a relatively slow moving boulder which deals around the same amount of damage, maybe a little less due to a wider surface area.
Of course, this just means that you should get the barbarian or whoever's strongest to yeet a lead bowling ball as hard as she can, and then convert it into a very thin and light 5' wide monomolecular obsidian blade which is now moving extremely fast.
Kobold's are my favorite race to play.
(I forget adamantine's weight in dnd, I like to picture DF's feather light but very sharp weave)
That sounds very fun.
I'd just split the entire party income as XP across the entire party equally, regardless of who's physically carrying it much less spending it. Much like they worked together to kill that troll and would get equal XP from it, they 'worked together' to earn that loot paycheck today.
On 2), if anything in classic D&D leveling was a lot slower. Keep in mind most all monsters offered pitiful XP rewards for killing them. A goblin in 1st ed is worth maybe 15xp, split across the entire party, where in 3rd ed he's worth up to 100. A 1st ed Ogre Magi is about 437xp, in 3rd its around 2,400 (if met at 8th level like CR suggests). Consider also that more monster abilities, especially poison for example, were more save-or-die, so that was another reason to maybe avoid combat.
Also, more XP was needed per level up, and each class leveled up at a different rate. Thief was the fastest at about 1,500 for level 2, while wizard was much slower.
What should you do if your friend is hopeless addicted to Mugabe inflated numbers? He is torturing another one of my friends to death by exposing him to a campaign where everything is overpowered to the point where the DM has to employ more fiat currency than Zimbabwe to stop the 500HP gigapeasants from annihilating his minmaxed Sorcerer/Paladin/Hexblade Warlock. The two of them are forming some kind of lichen colony where their mutual toxins combine to produce a horrifying blob which is worse than the sum of its parts, and the numbers just don't stop inflating
maybe the imf can help this underdeveloped fantasy realm :)Mr Mugabe austerity measures now¬
Potions are already double-price scrolls usable by any class, so I'd use that price calculation instead (spell level * caster level * 50 gp). Undead Anatomy IV is a good comparison, since though the effects are random, they also have a longer duration. Going by minimum caster level, a potion of the spell would cost 6000 gp. Throw in the standard 20% discount for being an adventure reward and we get to 4800 gp per dose. If we read it as a 7th-level effect instead for the randomness and the weaker effects, the same calculation places the price at 3640 gp per dose.
Of course, there aren't official rules for high-level potions and you may decide to give a greater discount for the reward, so selling it at 1500 gp isn't out of the question, but I know that as a player I'd use it all the time for that price.
Potions are for keeping in your inventory, not for drinking! If you want to drink, get a waterskin!
True Light in the roof to make plant farmable indoors :D
Can't they use the grain they get from the harvest like they did in the olden times? Or do you mean because it won't get pollinated (if they require that, I don't know off hand) because there are no inside bees?
Bored for short periods of time at work, so I'm checking old 3.x spells for fun. http://dndtools.org/spells/ and http://dndsrd.net/wizardSpells.html will get you most (all?) of them.Depends. Do you count metamagic that technically adds trivial amounts of damage? One traditional solution that's (a) definitely a stupid idea and (b) definitely takes advantage of permissive rules is the Locate City bomb:
Anyone know of fun ways to do way more damage than expected/damage at all from non-damage spells? Knocking someone out and coup-de-grace is greatly effective, but I'm thinking of stuff like making a wall that is shaped like a cylinder, on its side, at the top of a hill with enemies below. Just stupid ideas that were possible because the rules were permissive.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Does anyone have any campaigns they'd love to play/run?
Is it wrong to want to run a campaign where the antagonists are two necromancer brothers from Kara-Tur, just so you can prove that two Wongs can make a wight?:P
or get stabbed
Flesh of Theseus (Sustained): The Pritchman cuts off a piece of a marked victim and devours it, then cuts off the equivalent piece from his body and attaches it to the victim, which blends into the victim’s body shortly and gives them at least one Corruption Point (more may be appropriate for larger body parts at the gamemaster’s discretion). His body part quickly grows back and looks reminiscent of the victim’s body part. This functions like Horror Thread (Gamemaster’s Guide, p. 464), but there are no additional costs and it is always successful. However, The Pritchman can only control that affected piece of the victim’s body—this allows him to see out of their eye, listen from their ear, use their hand, etc. The Pritchman’s mark can never be removed or sequestered once this power is used.Gonna yoink this one for my NPC fleshcrafter who offers "upgrades" in exchange for "downgrades"
I think this is the blog of one of the current Earthdawn developers, sort of working on ideas or as a place to store stuff that doesn't quite fit with the game. It's a description of one of the Horrors (something like demons from the spirit realm that return when magic is powerful enough in the world to feed on any suffering they can cause). This one leans more into the horror elements of the game than the adventuring bits, and is entertainingly wtf.Great stuff there! I'm currently running a kyton-heavy scenario, and something like this is great material for a bit of flavour to the scenes I'm developing.
https://pandagaminggrove.blogspot.com/2020/10/earthdawn-4e-anatomy-of-horror-13.html (https://pandagaminggrove.blogspot.com/2020/10/earthdawn-4e-anatomy-of-horror-13.html)
I think this is the blog of one of the current Earthdawn developers, sort of working on ideas or as a place to store stuff that doesn't quite fit with the game. It's a description of one of the Horrors (something like demons from the spirit realm that return when magic is powerful enough in the world to feed on any suffering they can cause). This one leans more into the horror elements of the game than the adventuring bits, and is entertainingly wtf.Great stuff there! I'm currently running a kyton-heavy scenario, and something like this is great material for a bit of flavour to the scenes I'm developing.
https://pandagaminggrove.blogspot.com/2020/10/earthdawn-4e-anatomy-of-horror-13.html (https://pandagaminggrove.blogspot.com/2020/10/earthdawn-4e-anatomy-of-horror-13.html)
Yes! This is the stuff I like. (https://twitter.com/lindseybieda/status/1396459760069791749)
Range 60 feet, and the z-axis isn't forbidden. Excellent.
Also, it's a level 3 spell, so it's affected (in 3.x) by a minor rod of metamagic, like extend (1.5x all numbers, including distance and number of animals summoned).
Got more of my setting notes I want to bounce off people. This time focusing on gods and spirits.Two demon mothers were squabbling over a human child, when they were brought before the demon Yaghannic King.
To start with there's Yahg the Primordial and the demons.
I really like the concept of the Witch Gods. The other stuff is good too but especially those.I wonder if you could find some community where they aren't considered malevolent and people practice socially sanctioned or even endorsed sacrifice. Whether sacrifice of enemies/slaves like the Aztecs or voluntary matyrdom sacrifice like the Roman Christians
I really like the concept of the Witch Gods. The other stuff is good too but especially those.I wonder if you could find some community where they aren't considered malevolent and people practice socially sanctioned or even endorsed sacrifice. Whether sacrifice of enemies/slaves like the Aztecs or voluntary matyrdom sacrifice like the Roman Christians
What's the opposite of Dungeons & Dragons? "Friendly environment and Even Enemy?"
Stupid idea, which has almost certainly been done before: Boblins.
Stupid idea, which has almost certainly been done before: Boblins.
Could do a pokemon running gag and have all taverns be run by an extended family of identical bobs.
On a more serious note, I have an idea for an alternate magic item system that I need to flesh out, but I'd like to bounce the basic idea off people here.I've just looked over the posts you've made for your setting, and I rather liked them. Your approach to avoiding DnD tropes does remind me of Glorantha. The ritual suicide of Elves is kinda like a worse version of Dragonnewts.
So the gist of the idea is that all magic items must incorporate items with attuned or associated with magic, with the type of objects added determining what powers the item can have. I'm thinking all items get 3 slots, and different ingredients attune the item to one or more lists of powers the item can have. Some powers are limited to items with 2 or 3 attunements of the same type. So you can make a sword with lvl1 water, fire and poison powers, or you can make a sword with lvl1 water and fire powers, and a lvl2 fire power, or a weapon with a lvl1,2 and 3 fire power. Higher level powers would probably be quirky more than outright powerful in a bigger numbers sense.
For the ingredients themselves I'm thinking various monster parts like manticore tails or dragon's teeth, items you'd see in folkloric magic like teeth and nails and hanging rope, stuff associated with higher grade mythical stuff like blood iron, meteorite iron, the shadow of a mountain and so on.
So for a specific weapon idea, a bow made of wood from a tree that grows in a graveyard, with the hair of a murdered man's widow and the fibres of a rope used for hanging someone spun into the bowstring. The resulting item would be attuned to Death magic, with powers drawn from options to do with fighting the undead, slaying mortals, animating the dead, so on and so forth.
Alternatively, a sword made from iron taken from smelted church icons, quenched in holy water and with a sapphire set into the hilt would draw on water and holy themed magic.
I was thinking up some character ideas for 5e and i thought of making a Variant Human Blood Hunter character designed specifically for fighting spellcasters after the Sorcerer in our party decided "I'm sorry my son" and vaporized my Goblin Rouge, do any of you all have any ideas on how i could make him able to combat most spellcasters?
Is this some kind if weird door fetishist thing?
Gotta leave something for the other players :P
Is this some kind if weird door fetishist thing?
In other news, I realized that a gnomish barbarian has advantage on 5/6 saving throws against spells they can see while raging (and proficiency in the one without advantage). Moustache of antimagic indeed.Up there with Yuan-Ti Paladin for "dear god why"
Important question: When using the Order of Scribes ability to change a spell's damage type in order to cast Magic Missile with bludgeoning damage, is it more appropriate to call it Magic Mace-ile or Mace-ic Missile?I CAST FIST
Important question: When using the Order of Scribes ability to change a spell's damage type in order to cast Magic Missile with bludgeoning damage, is it more appropriate to call it Magic Mace-ile or Mace-ic Missile?I CAST FIST
EDIT: Why is there a Rogue subclass that Rangers better than a Ranger does?Because rangers and monks both live in the shelf for classes that are supposed to be jacks of all trades but actually end up being overly specialised whilst terrible at their specialisation. Whereas things like rogues and wizards are are supposed to be specialists but actually masters of all trades
their shtick is just 'is pretty handy in a few chosen environments.'
I wouldn't say 5e rangers are terrible at their specialisation, it's just a really specific and boring specialty to have.I suppose there's also the problem of monks and rangers needing DM assistance to shine. Not much point being a ranger if your party always exclusively goes outside your favoured environments and you never even touch the wilderness. I will remember fondly the time where my monk character really got a rare chance to shine when our whole party was put in prison; suddenly unarmed fighting, catching arrows & fall damage negation came very in handy
Shooting things, stabbing things, having a pet, spellcasting, being mobile, none of those are actually the ranger's shtick, their shtick is just 'is pretty handy in a few chosen environments.' Predictably this turns out to be rather dull in practice, and the same general character ideas can be better represented with another class or by a multiclass.
Nine times out of ten I'd rather be a rogue, fighter or bard even if I want to play a character who hangs out in forests and generally acts 'rangery'.
fall damage negation came very in handy
Weird train of thought. At what point does a creature polymorphed into a loaf of bread turn back?All of those would probably be 0 HP. DnD benchmark for damage is that everything >50% HP is the character doing their best to avoid danger. Everything <50% is when a character starts accruing injury, things like cuts, scrapes and bruises.
Bread is an object, and objects have HP, so logically it turns back at 0 HP like normal for 5e polymorph. But at what point is bread at 0 HP?
Does cutting a slice off put the loaf at 0? Does it hit 0 when fully sliced? Does it have to be eaten or burnt to hit 0? What if it gets covered in mold and rots into mush?
Building a rogue.
Top of the magic item wishlist is Gauntlets of Ogre Power.
Yeah, this looks right.
Building a rogue.
Top of the magic item wishlist is Gauntlets of Ogre Power.
Yeah, this looks right.
"Rogues are ogre-powered"
"Don't you mean overpowered?"
"What?"
That always bugged me though. I get the idea and it's generally a good one I think, but say you're at 45/50 hp and drink a potion, that's basically gatorade at that point right? Just restoring lost energy and pepping you up to survive another attack. But if the same guy is at -3 hp and drinks a potion suddenly it's livesaving healing.I think it still works. A bit like how bandaging your feet after a marathon and bandaging your wound after a stabbing do different things with the same thing
I really want to piece together the Popsicle Wizard with Prestidigitation and Shape Water, but that "simple shapes" limitation is kinda being the hurdle between "handing out dozens of popsicles an hour" and "handing out one colossally huge popsicle an hour"
I really want to piece together the Popsicle Wizard with Prestidigitation and Shape Water, but that "simple shapes" limitation is kinda being the hurdle between "handing out dozens of popsicles an hour" and "handing out one colossally huge popsicle an hour"
Look, a single dragon is a more important friend than 100 commoner...
The accuracy of this statement depends on whether the DM allows use of the Peasant Railgun.
Also depends on the dragon, and the .. ahem... nature of the "Friendship."Dragon riding high elves of Caledor just want one thing and it's disgusting
Why wouldn't you want to make it a thematically hellish campaign?
18d20 sounds like casting fireball with extra steps.
Can you reroll those dice to maximise the rolling?
The widowed mother (not of the royal line) of the deceased king, and their only immediate living relative. A decent politician and broadly liked, but a woman in a patriarchal succession system. Backed by what could be termed as loyalists who see her as a vestige of the old regime they can cling to.
A devil who was declared the heir of the realm in the event the royal family dies out by one of the recently deceased monarch's recent ancestors as part of a pact. Barely any backing from the nobles or clergy, but has fiends and cultists insisting that a deal is a deal.
I could see a bandit king or similar rallying a bunch of peasants to their cause, not a nice person by any means, but not necessarily any worse than anyone else in the running.YELLOW TURBAN REBELLION IS IN FULL SWING BABY
Which works in mundanity too. In my eyes, Lovecraft insanity is this. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDB0LRuhbkY) Or more generally, someone is insane when their worldview makes them unable to function in normal society. Like, finding out Cthulhu is real doesn't mean you suddenly have schizophrenia, but when your PC kills a bunch of people and burns down a building and tells the police "i had to do it, they were secretly a cult trying to summon cthulhu, which is a giant monster under the ocean that wants to wipe out humanity" what are they gonna call you in the newspapers? Yeah.Ah yea, that's the way to do it. Helps to isolate player characters too from civil society
This is why i LOVE the idea of a "raised with chronic exposure to mythos beings" character taking SAN damage from normal suburbia, such as a trip to the mall, but being just fine when having a chat with a starfish-headed elder thing about the finer points of bbq.Reminds me of a dark heresy game where one of our acolytes started acting "crazy" because he was trying to warn us that there was a demon which hunted after everyone which knew it existed, but he couldn't communicate that without also making us aware of the demon which was after him, and he refused to allow us to discover what was going on lest the demon seek us too. "Nothing's after me! Nothing!"
How experienced are they with ttrpgs?
I'm fond of a family feud boiling over and needing de-escalation by some adventurers (or a love triangle where two people are fighting each other for the affections of a third) - great way to tie them to the place - let the players come up with past events and friendships with some of these characters.
I'm fond of a family feud boiling over and needing de-escalation by some adventurers (or a love triangle where two people are fighting each other for the affections of a third) - great way to tie them to the place - let the players come up with past events and friendships with some of these characters.
Three youths are hanging around outside the tavern. Enthralled by your status as adventurers, they implore you to leverage your adventuring savvy (and older age) in getting them some swords so that they too can begin their careers as mighty heroes! Also some beer while you're at it, as they're not allowed to buy that yet either. They've scraped together the funds for both.
This was a "quest" in Baldur's Gate 2 that had a few different mostly-irrelevant outcomes depending on what you chose to do. Obliging them on both counts resulted in running into them when you go to explore the local cave, where they're faced off against a lone gibberling but are too drunk to recognize what it is and promptly flee in intoxicated panic from the "dragon".
, and believes that he can't use Divine Smite anymore since he has "swapped it out for" Eldritch).
It tickles my funny bone when I think of the silly things you could pull off with RAW. Things like vertical distances not mattering; a roper that is 5ft away from you horizontally but 1,000,000,000,000 ft away from you vertically is perfectly fine in pulling you across the galaxyWell that's not really RAW. Its just diagonals that don't matter RAW.
, and believes that he can't use Divine Smite anymore since he has "swapped it out for" Eldritch).
...what?
I don't trust anybody who uses the term RAW, they're always gonna try to pull some goofy bullshit that doesn't even work by their own standards
Yeah, it could be he's just making a conscious decision and is expressing it in a very odd way, but he keeps saying he's "Swapped out" his divine smite with eldritch smite. And certainly, he has yet to use a normal smite a single time, instead opting to spend a pact slot on adding +1d8 to his attack.While this sounds like he's just confused himself, I think you could steal this for another character who swaps out their patron for their pact master. Thematically betraying their deity
Frankly, it would not surprise me in the slightest if he thinks he has somehow upgraded/exchanged his paladin's smite with the warlock's invocation, he is very easily confused by... Most things.
Could potentially go a few levels into some flavor of Warlock and pick up not only Beast Speech but also Pact of the Chain for a more permanent animal buddy who can even have an easier time doing things on their own thanks to invocations and the pact's quirks. If that's a direction you'd be interested in going.
Archfey patron's Fey Presence can let you actively charm urban critters so they'll actually listen to you when you talk beastily to them. Otherwise not a lot of obvious thematic patron choices, if you even want to acknowledge the patron.
Depending on how bitter and cynical she is about the upper classes and the status quo, could potentially explain "teaming up" with a patron of some sort to ruffle a few feathers.
Banishment also wouldn't work, as it's not from another plane so it would just return. Gate or plane shift would work, but only for a while because it would eventually find a portal back, even if it took a few centuries.Gate would be a nice one. Could really lean into it being a grim dark heroic martyrdom without the consequences being so unstoppably grim
*EDIT
One possible alternative which I think would be a worthy system, would be instead of having a caravan of stellar objects, have a chain of suns and moons, but they turn off and on depending on the time it's supposed to be on the ground. So the suns are fixed objects in the sky but appear to be just one sun moving
Oh, so more like those xmas lights that turn on and off in patters so they look like they're moving. I was imagining it was the same time everywhere, and the suns just dimmed in the evening, then the moons took over. I suppose part of knowing exactly what is there would be the question 'Why?'. Whoever created the system did so for a reason, so they must have set things up to serve that purpose. That also leaves the option that things that aren't actually useful for that purpose could be done just well enough that most people wouldn't question it. After all, they haven't experienced anything else, so how would they know it's different. Kind of like the planet in HHGTTG with no stars.Lmao having the suns just dimmer switch off from a fixed grid makes a lot of sense. Could even have some pretty gnarly imagery where solar eclipses are pretty common whenever the local moon fills like it's not getting enough attention. But I think having the idea of a "direction" like you say, introduces some interesting questions. Scholars would probably be arguing for milennia over why exactly the sun is ordained to rise eastwards and set westwards when it takes much more effort than a fixed position sun with a dimmer switch. Whole exploration fleets would probably disappear over the endless horizon trying to find the answer of what lies beyond that sunny shore
You also might be able to look up some of the old Planescape stuff to see if they have weird descriptions, because a lot of that took place on infinite planes.Most of that stuff is fairly barren by design; a framework for DMs to come up with their own realms, and what stuff they do provide is just... Empty
You also might be able to look up some of the old Planescape stuff to see if they have weird descriptions, because a lot of that took place on infinite planes.Most of that stuff is fairly barren by design; a framework for DMs to come up with their own realms, and what stuff they do provide is just... Empty
"So the para-elemental plane of smoke, right? The air's smoke, the ground's smoke, the inhabitants are smoke, the fuck am I supposed to do with an entire realm of smoke?""YOU CANNOT KILL ME MAJOR LAZER!" - Weed Elemental (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEy5e-ksApM)
"You smoke it"
I just realized my character is the only good character in my party.
I can't help but think of the scenario where every member of that party thinks that :PMy good stranger, mi amigo the party consists of a CE Bugbear Barbarian, a CN Goblin Wizard who thinks he's a Gnome, an actual Gnome Artificer who can't trust anyone for R E A S O N S. Oh and the High Elf Rogue at least she is NG, and then me the Half-elf Bard who do the sword shit.
I can't help but think of the scenario where every member of that party thinks that :P
*Morality obviously being subjective, though D&Ds internal morality is basically an illogical version of Kantian morality, but generally speaking some of the broad strokes can be consistently agreed on.
...buuuut then I checked the roster, and it looks like someone else is playing a paladin. And I don't really wanna step on any toes.
Check the math
Man I sure am ignorant to have not noticed a DND thread on these here forums.
... flat elf samurai? do they mumble something about justice as they murder things?Goteem
... flat elf samurai? do they mumble something about justice as they murder things?"I'm looking for the justice. I'm told you'd know where to find them.'
Inb4 the mercenaries try subcontract their work to the players
You choose an area of water that you can see within range and that fits within a 5-foot cube. You manipulate it in one of the following ways:If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have no more than two of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.
- You instantaneously move or otherwise change the flow of the water as you direct, up to 5 feet in any direction. This movement doesn’t have enough force to cause damage.
- You cause the water to form into simple shapes and animate at your direction. This change lasts for 1 hour.
- You change the water’s color or opacity. The water must be changed in the same way throughout. This change lasts for 1 hour.
- You freeze the water, provided that there are no creatures in it. The water unfreezes in 1 hour.
Thousand year old vampire looks pretty cool, getting ready to try a game. Solo artsy RPG, kind of frou-frou but a really interesting premise, you're a vampire and you're immortal but your brain's still a human brain and wasn't designed for immortality. Over centuries your memories fade, get stored in journals, get lost when you're forced to abandon your lair, vaguely persist in mementos and tokens you still carry long after you forgot what they used to mean to you, get ground to dust by eternity until there's nothing left of you but a shambling pile of disconnected thoughts. Interesting concept, and a way of doing vampires I haven't seen before. Everywhere at the end of time but you're a vampire.[ oppressive BOM BOM BOM BOM BOM BOM starts playing ]
That reminds me of this one vampire movie called Byzantium where two vampires are running around contemporary times, being hunted down by some nefarious gangsters. At first it presents the first vampire as being ancient for being born in the 19th century, with all the film taking place around the Byzantium Hotel. The film was all right, bit lacking in some areas, but the ending where one of the gangsters pulls out a curved sword and mentions off-hand it was a sourvneir from Byzantium was one of the coolest vampire moments I've seen on the picturesMy first time playing Vampire was as a newly-embraced otherwise-human young adult with his own human life he was desperately trying to hold on to. Sure he was "dead" or whatever, but he kept up with his anarchist-hacker friends (at night) and managed to feed them intel and even got our coterie to do a nonlethal site-op to free some information.
-snip-Thanks for sparing the time to write that up, the characters really shone through your prose
We'll see if they learned their lesson or not.Narrator: they did not learn their lesson
We'll see if they learned their lesson or not.Narrator: they did not learn their lesson
What's a better name then Dungeons and Dragons?Pathfinder jkjkjk but really there are very good names in older TSR products my favorite being Dragon Quest (not the video game it has no relation)
All flesh must be eaten?That's what the lizardfolk keep telling me yes.
All flesh must be eaten?That's what the lizardfolk keep telling me yes.
Hey! Creature! Eating a human bone!All flesh must be eaten?That's what the lizardfolk keep telling me yes.
How can you expect any pudding, if you don't eat your meat?
All flesh must be eaten?
That's what the lizardfolk keep telling me yes.
All flesh must be eaten?
Special mention to the wuxia expansion, with all sorts of crazy 'martial arts' moves like zombies making their ribs stick out horizontally and spin like a buzzsaw.
GMs (and, to a lesser extent players): share your weird ideas for games you've spent more time than reasonable thinking about.
random generation charts.
Pirate ships and sunken dungeons - this will be my first attempt at an aquatic campaign and it will come with 0 landmass. The only solid footing will be the ocean's floor (and the dungeons that litter it) Still figuring out details and waiting on the party creation session this weekend.
A fully oceanic campaign sounds like it could have some very interesting peculiarities to it!
I'm starting a godbound campaign. It's a very sandbox type of game, partly because that's what the creator likes to do, and also because the characters are demigods and it's kind of impossible to constrain them without flagrant railroading. Gotta be more creative and make the challenges interesting and complex without just noping their hilariously direct and overpowered solutions, the classic "i want to do a plague story but we have guys who can just cure diseases instantly" except it's for everything. Orc army led by a dragon-riding epic warlord isn't a campaign, it's like half a session before they nuke his army and the might/sword/alacrity godbound grabs his dragon by the tail and beats him to death with it.
I have a couple vague ideas for a starting point, considering starting them off with a directed mission but then again maybe building a small-scale sandbox area would be better for getting them into the spirit of the game. The trouble is giving them some grit for their wheels to grip onto but also not getting them into a linear situation they'll have trouble breaking out of.
The current mission idea is a merchant prince in the lawless archipelago region lost a convoy to pirates and has to make an example of them or other groups will get ideas, so he asks them to stow away on a bait ship and deal with them in flashy demigod fashion. In the process they learn the pirates worship a giant sea monster (envisioning like a giant lobster with humanoid claws instead of pincers and an octopus head), giving them something longer term to deal with if they want.
Actually, I know what I'll do now. Start in Raktia, which is like Transylvania/the witcher, with scholomance style dark academies and monsters everywhere. A sage recruited his nephew to help him break into an old tomb for magical treasures, and the kid took a cursed helmet. It's a modification of the artifact armor in the book, while he wears it he can redirect any damage he takes to willing targets within 100 feet. The curse is that he becomes increasingly arrogant and reckless and at the same time it demoralizes the people around him into accepting his crazy bullshit and letting him give them his damage, feeling like it's hopeless to resist him. The helmet can't be removed while he lives, if they want to save him they'll have to find a way to break its enchantment. Potentially a decent-sized quest if they want to save him, potentially very short if they just drag him somewhere far away and chop his head off. The sage will reward them if they save his life. Other than that I'll add some various other small interesting things in the area.
Not sure if I would keep it being pregnant like Kos from Bloodborne was, but it's certainly a good way to emphasise the real horror of the scholars when one tries to cut a pregnant god open to study the foetus they can pull from it in search of a way to become a god themselves....Some say kosm
Warhammer Fantasy rules or Dark Heresy rules would be neat fits for a bloodborne RPG where mortality, insanity and mutation is high. It wouldn't take very much tweaking at all to just switch all references of Chaos to the Old BloodNot sure if I would keep it being pregnant like Kos from Bloodborne was, but it's certainly a good way to emphasise the real horror of the scholars when one tries to cut a pregnant god open to study the foetus they can pull from it in search of a way to become a god themselves....Some say kosm
Aye, that would be an easy enough conversion, but I'm not sure it would even be necessary. Assuming the PCs are not interested in pursuing enlightenment then they wouldn't necessarily be at risk of going insane or mutating.
A modified Warhammer RPG or World of Darkness would be my go to's for trying to get the authentic Bloodborne experience, but I think a lot of the material would work in most RPGs as long as the players aren't super powerful in a 'rewrite reality to save everyone,' kind of way. The primary vibe is horror, and while some RPGs don't do horror well a very large part of it comes down to presentation more than it does mechanics.
Like, the intersecting lines of horror I see here come from the fact there is no good choice.
The Great One is innocent, acting without malice and maybe even without control, but her mere presence has ramifications for others. Terrible ramifications.
The fishing hamlet haven't done anything wrong, they were just keeping to themselves, but now they are twisting and warping. Some of them are in great pain and could be in need of euthanasia, some of them have become dangerous to others through no fault of their own.
The scholar has done a lot wrong, but for arguably good, albeit selfish, reasons. The eldritch and mystical unrestrained does terrible things to people, but only through understanding can it be controlled and harnessed. Enlightenment at any cost is arguably preferable to expectant mothers being consumed from within when their foetus turns into a hive of carnivorous eels because the Stars are Right.
No matter how hard you swing a sword or how much fire you can conjure in your hands this situation remains horrible, because there are only horrible ways to fix it.
Hugh's Hue Hewer. The magical sword that grants protection against spells like Chromatic Orb and Color Spray. Or maybe casts them, I haven't entirely decided yet
Probably you'd want to go with a system that could handle the monsters and NPCs well. And also combat that isn't unpleasant to run (whatever that means for this group). The intricate combat from the game might be very long at a table with multiple people playing, and might make character death more common.
I guess also make sure you have a plan for dealing with character death: some horrible curse where they can't leave until a solution is arrived at, or a continuous shipment of new recruits. Either one seems like it'd be easy to make add to the horror feeling of the game.
Play Call of Cuthulu if you want to RP wimpy scholars who run instead of fight.Well if you fight an Elder God usually you lose, running is the only smart decision in CoC.
Play Call of Cuthulu if you want to RP wimpy scholars who run instead of fight.Well if you fight an Elder God usually you lose, running is the only smart decision in CoC.
I just need to plug this cute little game I found and fell in love with during Steam's demo-showcasing week (still going on as of now): Small Saga (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1320140/Small_Sag)
It's basically a classical jrpg-style (pastiche?) game about mice living below the streets.
It got my attention from the start just because of this awesome concept art: (https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/40616084/6a863f04e47a9bcfb40acec73de1e4b35557d351_960x311.png)
That first picture looks a lot like Mouseguard. Although, while trying to look up the name I found like a half dozen other mouse-themed TTRPGs, so there might well be several valid influences.
Swiss army mouse is such a cool idea
"I'll just make a couple of minor changes to the history of the Warhammer World."
Been lately thinking of running a Warhammer Fantasy RP (1st ed) campaign, and decided to do some changes to the history. Well, as things tend to go, small changes begin to swell, becoming huge changes. So, now I'm at the point where I've reworked (or made a draft) the ancient history to the point that many things are significantly different from "canon" (doesn't really matter, though, as I was basing the lore more on 1st edition stuff before all the WFB retcons and edgy WFRP 2nd ed stuff). The original idea I had for the campaign has been ditched, and now I'm more thinking of some Bronze Age swords & sandals style Warhammer (or Bronzehammer, if you will).
I'm pretty sure this project will end up being scrapped when I realize I'm putting too much of my time into it, but hey, at least I've had a good excuse to read more about ancient Mesopotamia, Africa and such.
Warhammer was uh heavily influenced by English Imperialsim and Thatcherism. I'm curious how a modern take with the old systems would work.
Idea for an evil spirit, which I am nicknaming Darklings for the moment.
Darklings are malicious predatory beings, which appear as fanged mouths on serpentine necks, which dissapear into darkness too thick to see into. They can only manifest in conditions of little or no light, they dissapear like the shadows they call home when exposed to bright light. Darklings are unable to physically affect any living being that has not killed another person, but they can be seen like any other creature and speak to anyone they wish.
Darklings know everything, and can only speak the truth. In theory this would be of great benefit to mortals, but the darklings speak in riddles and half-truths, only telling the full truth of any subject when it will lead the listener towards acts of violence against other mortals. Darklings willingly appear before the paranoid, the frightened or the angry, whispering to them of the things that will drive them deeper into dark emotions, hoping to drive them to acts of murder, after which the darklings can feast upon their pawn at will, slithering from the shadows to burrow into flesh and feed on the heart.
Darklings like to convince people their friends are conspiring against them, that their loved ones are having affairs, that business rivals seek to murder them, and other dreadful things. Sometimes the darkling is even telling the whole truth, it matters little to them. They delight in the mental anguish of their victim confronting betrayals real or imagined, supping upon every misinterpretated word, each misunderstood gesture.
Should the victim ultimately take their own life as a result of the darkling's words, rather than that of another, the darkling is able to infest their body. The possessed victim is returned to a half-life for a brief time, which the darkling uses to spread more mental anguish, writing letters from the deceased to the living, or bringing their host to a location where their body might be interpreted as a murder victim. Very rarely a darkling is able to truly possess their victim, restoring them to full life and taking up root in the back of their soul, guiding and influencing them for the darklings own sadistic pleasure until their body meets it's end once more.
I *really* need to get an Earthdawn game together.
I *really* need to get an Earthdawn game together.
Not familiar with Earthdawn, have they already done the idea?
In the aquatic campaign I'm running, I've dolled out two curses and the party are loving it. (I tend to go for physical, non-mechanical curses, such as appearing to be a little gorilla) Got any curse ideas that I can toss on the pile? My party has pretty easy access to removing curses, and that's beneficial for the plot (returning to the central hub).
Currently: one party member got turned into an NFT gorilla, and got it cured, but passed on a curse of Not Enough T(estosterone) to give another player disadvantage on checks to flirt.
1st level Conjuration (ritual)
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Target: An unoccupied space of your choice that you can see within range
Components: V S M (A drop of mercury)
Duration: 1 hour
Classes: Wizard
An improved version of Tenser's Floating Disk, after one wizard realized that there is no reason they shouldn't be able to use it to locomote more comfortably.
This spell creates a circular, horizontal plane of force, 3 feet in diameter and 1 inch thick, that floats 3 feet above the ground in an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see within range. The disk remains for the duration, and can hold up to 500 pounds. If more weight is placed on it, the spell ends, and everything on the disk falls to the ground.
You may command the disk to move at the same speed as you are while you are on, or touching, the disk. Otherwise, the disk is immobile while you are within 20 feet of it. If you move more than 20 feet away from it, the disk follows you so that it remains within 20 feet of you. It can move across uneven terrain, up or down stairs, slopes and the like, but it can’t cross an elevation change of 10 feet or more. For example, the disk can’t move across a 10-foot-deep pit, nor could it leave such a pit if it was created at the bottom. The disk is not slowed down by difficult terrain.
If you move more than 100 feet from the disk (typically because it can’t move around an obstacle to follow you), the spell ends.
e: have one of them sweat butterflies. Not sure how it'd work underwater, but you could figure it out. Someone leaving behind a trail of drowned bugs as they swim would be amusing :V
Idle thought, a setting where the only humans are vampires and other similar ancient undead. For metaphysical reasons, and a bit of fantasy racism, only humans can become true free willed undead, and all humans have long since either done so or died.That has good prequel potential, too.
The mortal races, elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins and so on don't have records that predate the current state of affairs, so they don't actually know what humans are. They just call the species 'vampires,' because almost every extent human is a vampire and the others are barely recognisable. This in turn leads to weird conclusions about the origins of their own races, the possible origin of vampires and so on.
Elves point to the broad, brutish features and say that cleardy vampires originated from the same stock as dwarves and orcs, or are a crossbreed of the two.
Dwarves point to the tall, lanky bodies and violent ways and say clearly they're of elvish and orcish stock.
A rare few scholars theorise that the mortal races are descended from vampires, citing the presence of vampire-like skeletons in ancient ruins and artwork scattered throughout the world.
Ah, I do love the '40k but you're so low on the pecking order you don't even know what the Imperium is,' premises. Have two of them myself (one for Dark Heresy one for Black Crusade,) which I will hopefully get to run one day.What've you got in the pipeline?
It might be worth having rare relics from the ancient past of from the far-away, that can be used to communicate with the Voice Beyond, scattered throughout shrines and military posts in the larger settlements. Which is to say simple and crude vox units, usually barely functional, that can be used to contact a rather indifferent Administratum adept in one of the orbital stations who's job is technically to send supplies down to the planet's government and PDF, but because the locals barely understand what the vox even is, or lasguns, water purifiers and so on, so the job is basically to sit in a chair, shuffle paperwork and occasionally send a box of corpse-starch down when someone asks the Voice Beyond to help with a famine. Technically they could dump enough shoddy lasguns and budget flak armour vests to supply a few thousand local soldiers, but the locals are rather obtuse about learning to use far-tech and the Imperium doesn't care enough to actually teach them, so there's a bunch of supplies that have been mothballed for four millennia.Just imagining a fat quartermaster with his mouth full of biscuits startled awake, asking "who is this?" As he finally gets a request for something impractical from the locals. They ask for some miracles and he does his best to figure out what exactly their problem is and whether he should send medicine, rations or bayonets.
Okay, I can see that.My thought was one station belonged to the mechanicus, as Magoses are pretty high ranking in the organisation structure and can call on some crazy resources, whilst the other station belongs to the Navy and hosts the Ordo Xenos presence which is largely there to spy on the Mechanicus and/or the planet
Another question: are both stations owned by the same faction? I'd assume normally the imperial navy would just build one and call it a day. The planet commands little to no surface presence, although the imperium could be wary of some outside presence. It wouldn't surprise me if the mechanicus needed/wanted a separate station, though. It could also be a beaucratic mishap, somehow the military built one station here, twice.
One station could also be some sort of civilian trade depot of some sort, it just happens to be large enough to be visible, 40k scaling and all that.
What've you got in the pipeline?
You lift your head to look at it. Sharp pain blossoms in your eyes, blood trickles from your nose across your lips, you taste it. Harsh, metallic. Your teeth itch. For an endless moment you see it, wood rots to mulch and then dries to dust, life bursts forth and cascades into decay, impossible geometries fold in upon themselves as time and space recoil. The moment ends, you are looking at the floor again, drops of your blood dripping from your nose and chin to spatter the ground with crimson red.
"I'll just make a couple of minor changes to the history of the Warhammer World."
Been ruminating on how to describe looking at an eldritch being as a GM, I have a few plot ideas that involve Lovecraftian things-beyond-comprehension, and the key to them is always presentation, and presentation can require forethought.Two ways about it imo
I'm thinking avoiding the usual imagery, tentacles and eyes and so on, might be a good idea. I'm thinking instead focusing on more abstract ideas and the way it makes the person looking at it feel.
Something along the lines of the following.Perhaps then you could twist it a bit, so instead of focusing on a rational, biblical "be not afraid" response to witnessing something arcane and terrifying, it is described as the players feeling things entirely at odds with the stimuli. So you get the physical description of something which provokes fear for life, but instead it engenders a sense of warmth and familiarity for exampleQuote from: Me, just nowYou lift your head to look at it. Sharp pain blossoms in your eyes, blood trickles from your nose across your lips, you taste it. Harsh, metallic. Your teeth itch. For an endless moment you see it, wood rots to mulch and then dries to dust, life bursts forth and cascades into decay, impossible geometries fold in upon themselves as time and space recoil. The moment ends, you are looking at the floor again, drops of your blood dripping from your nose and chin to spatter the ground with crimson red.
The Food of the Angels, a bland, nutritious and filling paste, which is mildly addictive, said to be eaten by the greatest warriors of the Sky People. It is lightweight, can be eaten straight from the container, stays edible for years and takes up less space than conventional food. It is in fact guardsmen grade corpse-starch paste rations with some mild chemical enhancements to encourage guardsmen to actually eat the stuff.
What's something obvious you don't see in D&D?Player deaths. I've played with 3 DMs who played DnD exclusively, and without exception all of them were incredibly loath to actually kill players. This was especially painful with one DM who was incredibly murderous but never followed through - so we'd be cornered by beezelboss the infinite mega death uzumaki ouroboros muffin seller who'd clearly have us all dead to rights, and just before they killed any one of us they'd just walk away. The other one only let my character die after they got one-shot by a disintegration beam after I insisted my char be allowed to die, but then brought my char back to life anyways despite the death being a balls to the walls awesome heroic sacrifice. The third one actively hates Dwarf Fortress players because every DF player she has ever met has insisted on letting the dice fall and taking the story that follows, whereas she prefers to make the story that the dice follows. I was honestly surprised that I was not even the first DF player she had played with tbh, so there are more of us out there in the wilds
...so we'd be cornered by beezelboss the infinite mega death uzumaki ouroboros muffin seller who'd clearly have us all dead to rights, and just before they killed any one of us they'd just walk away...
Player deaths. I've played with 3 DMs who played DnD exclusively, and without exception all of them were incredibly loath to actually kill players.
For parties which include Small characters, or perhaps are forced to escort a convoy of gnomes or something, why not put in some predators who will just grab one of the little guys and then run?
This might have something to do with murder being considered illegal in many countries.Murder yes; killing no. All's fair on the table
...I'm not sure if I could just kill my hypothetical player-characters without seeming like an asshole...
I'm not seeing any dread cults of Necoho, chaos god of atheism, in here.There would be a cult for Necoho, but they don't believe in him
I actually committed a sin similar to this very recently in a GURPS horror game I'm running. I ended up with the singular monster in a cramped corridor with the two PCs, where one of them had a laser pistol. Either party could kill the other in a turn or two because of how deadly GURPS is, so I was afraid to get to this point too early in the game. The armed PC was on the ground next to it, which is really bad in GURPS in this situation, so the monster really should have tried to kill her. But... if I let the fight keep going either the monster or both PCs were going to end up dead and the game would be over. So... I had it run away since they shot it in the face for some minor damage the previous turn.
I guess it could be worse. It at least had some excuse to run once it realized what it was up against, but a psycho killer robot probably should have taken the risk of clobbering its victims even at its own peril.
-snip- wolfwereThe only thing I would add is, is there any pattern to the people killed? Does the wolfwere do anything in its human form that it couldn't do as a wolf? E.g. is the wolf figuring out which humans are responsible for urban development, and is trying to reverse the spread of human settlements on wolf territory by redirecting them to bear territory?
-snip-That is a pretty robust monk idea, I wouldn't even say it's a gimmick because of how solid it would be in many many situations. Another fun one would be taking Kensei and walking around with a fake wooden sword whilst RP'ing as a pacifist. By investing just 1 ki point you can then use it as if it were a regular magic sword. Then you can start rambling about the philosophy of the ultimate swordsmen killing with a blade of grass e.t.c.
Presenting: The Wood Elf Drunken Master
-snip- wolfwereThe only thing I would add is, is there any pattern to the people killed? Does the wolfwere do anything in its human form that it couldn't do as a wolf? E.g. is the wolf figuring out which humans are responsible for urban development, and is trying to reverse the spread of human settlements on wolf territory by redirecting them to bear territory?
The motivation still seems a little unclear or uncompelling. Maybe it just really likes the taste of human flesh. Maybe the human form engages in cannibalism? That sounds interesting to me.I think I like how alien the motivation is. The underlying question is: What would a wolf do if it could occasionally infiltrate human society?
BTW, does anyone else find Bearded Devils look really goofy in all their art?I am fond of chain devils too. Both are a little goofy if you don't have a character on the line.
Please tell me you could pull that off with a boat oarI'd hope so, that'd be terribly oarsome
So targets for human killings; watchmen and sentries, local officials, the residents of noble estates including staff, especially staff if the noble is not currently in residence at that property. It is not quite smart enough, or just doesn't care, that killing nobles who aren't strictly local will draw lots of attention, and it hates people who hunt in it's forests anyway, which is what the landed gentry are likely to be in the area to do. While it is basically impossible to kill without preparation, it won't necessarily kill everyone in a given household in one night, but will generally kill almost everyone over the course of one full moon and then move on to a new household for the next one.Everyone is arguing over who assassinated the Crown Prince. Some people think it's the King's daughter, or the secondborn son. Others think it is the rival Kingdom, or the King's first captain. Actually it's the dreaded wolfwere, who remembers the Crown Prince stole his hunt one time
BTW, does anyone else find Bearded Devils look really goofy in all their art?Mostly, but not goofy enough. I love me goofy, scary devils with heads for groins
I think I like how alien the motivation is. The underlying question is: What would a wolf do if it could occasionally infiltrate human society?Eat apples and learn about economics apparently
The motivation still seems a little unclear or uncompelling. Maybe it just really likes the taste of human flesh. Maybe the human form engages in cannibalism? That sounds interesting to me.
Random thought: A medusa infected with vampirism would be the ultimate foe, as you wouldn't be able to look at them directly and wouldn't be able to see them in mirrors.Until you've got a delta green squadron with camera lens visors or a blind swordsman who fights without seeing
I thought vampires couldn't show up on cameras either.
Specifically, does this mean a giant threadsnake could exist?While I'm sure something like that could definitely find a niche in the ecosystem, I feel like predation by adventuring parties for the creation of huge novelty hats might drive the species to extinction... Which is why we're left with those beasts that develop more pointy means of defending themselves; such as the purple worms. :P
When you attack a target that you can't see, you have disadvantage on the roll. This is true whether you're guessing the target's location or you're targeting a creature you can hear but not see. If the target isn't in the location you targeted, you automatically miss, but the DM typically just says that the attack missed, not whether you guessed the target's location correctly.Emphasis mine.
Dumb thought.
Fantasy settings often have giant invertebrates, spiders and centipedes and ants and so on.
Does this mean that there are also giant version of the animals that eat them?
Specifically, does this mean a giant threadsnake could exist?
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/97/4a/67/974a67e902ecc313deb59dcfa03fb886.jpg)
Imagine it, a giant, toothless blind serpent with no teeth that just wants to chow down on giant ant eggs and larva. It pays no heed to anything else, other than being scared of light, it just wants to slither around like a giant derpmonster eating giant bug eggs.
The Blind vs Blind thing is what makes Devil's Sight Warlocks with Darkness a strong combo. Casting Darkness has basically no downsides in combat for anyone but ranged characters, and a DS warlock gets advantage to hit and disadvantage to be hit.
I've always liked the idea of giant earth worm/snake creatures that instead of being Dune- or Tremors-like arch-predators they're just whale-like, tranquil giant things that peacefully makes their way through the desert sustaining themselves of off something miniscule like sand plankton
an "adversarial" DM? The DM is a manufacturer of adversaries, their director, but never an adversary themselves. To smother imagination out of a desire for stability is a crime but I ask you, bard, do you not share in this social contract? No, I will not let you have a katana
Faerun... what could make Fae runthreat of cold iron enema
cold iron golem
wait, does that mean celestials have blue skin due to silver overdose
wait, does that mean celestials have blue skin due to silver overdose
It's the only thing that makes sense.
worldbuilding-ish idea? A spacewarping dungeon with multiple entrances across the continent. Due to this and wide corridors suitable for driving a wagon through, it's sometimes used as fast travel by merchants and messengers in a hurry. But it does constantly shift its layout and refill with monsters which can reliably be dealt with by good enough adventurers but would pose trouble for most people. As such, if you want to get through you'll need to hire an escort to kill the monsters and find the way.
Imagine how livid some faery prince would be if they found out you were using their sacred interdimensional grove as a shopping route
I'm thinking of canning my dark heresy campaign. So far everything had been going good, the one shots I did had gone superbly, but in the aftermath of some drama around a friend's campaign also being killed over drama, I am now being buried in drama contagion and I just want it all to stop
All I did was ask them to stop metagaming but it has since become something beyond my mere comprehension -_-
I've always renamed all insanity point systems to stress anyways, even if mechanically they were the exact same. For some reason calling it insanity points always made half of my players turn into Jared Leto whenever they saw a squid or a dead body whereas if you call it stress they understand perfectly that they are still to continue acting like a human being rather than an insulting caricature of mental illness
Shame about the Dark Heresy campaign by the by, drama is no fun at all... And it does like to have wide-reaching effects now doesn't it?Yeah there is no containing it. Friendships shall be broken, games shall be shaken, ride to ruin, ride for Rohan, ride for the game that never ends! DEATH! DEAAAAAAAATH!!!! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmTz7EAYLrs)
This is one reason I hate GMing. Most games I've run had a ton of drama and it takes all of the fun out of an already thankless job.In my case it's just a communication/empathy problem
People as a whole are entirely too childish.
My high-seas party has made their way to the Elemental Plane of Fire - for all of them, this is the first time they've felt dry air in 50 years, if not their whole life.
Any recommendations of silly fire things to encounter?
My high-seas party has made their way to the Elemental Plane of Fire - for all of them, this is the first time they've felt dry air in 50 years, if not their whole life.
Any recommendations of silly fire things to encounter?
Also, hi all. I play D&D and pathfinder. I also make terrainGreetings greetings
My high-seas party has made their way to the Elemental Plane of Fire - for all of them, this is the first time they've felt dry air in 50 years, if not their whole life.The salamancer (pyromancer who is a lizard wizard about the size of your palm)
Any recommendations of silly fire things to encounter?
...huh.Oof, I might have to be a sourpuss about this. Putting aside RAW and rule of cool, I feel like it breaks "my immersions" unnecessarily. How can someone donate their vital energy when they have none to spare?
Okay, how would y'all consider the interaction between Life Transference (take 4d8 damage, one creature of your choice gains healing worth double the damage you take) and a Half-Orc's Relentless Endurance (when are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead)?
[...] For example, a cleric with a maximum of 12 hit points currently has 6 hit points. If she takes 18 damage from an attack, she is reduced to 0 hit points, but 12 damage remains. Because the remaining damage equals her hit point maximum, the cleric dies.
Btw how are the VtM rules? I'm thinking of giving them a try. However, with carefully picked players.Ooh ooh pick me pick me! :D
Btw how are the VtM rules? I'm thinking of giving them a try. However, with carefully picked players. I seem to be getting the worst luck with players, whether in vidya or ttrpgs.
Btw how are the VtM rules? I'm thinking of giving them a try. However, with carefully picked players.Ooh ooh pick me pick me! :D
X the Y-ening always seemed like a session 0 exposition vomit in order for the players to understand the 10 or so factions, why they all hate each other yet not hate enough to not form a rag-tag player party, all before the players can even start about character gen or whatever.
What format? Lotta people dislike the slowness of play by post but I think that the alternative of trying to find meetup times for a bunch of internet randos is even worse.
H-... How do you lose your penitent engine?He's got a serious talent for it. He's in the past played an airship captain who lost his ship, a paladin sworn to no oath, he wanted to play a rogue trader captain who had no ship, penitent engine pilot with no engine, and most recently suggested playing the mother of a martyred sister repentia - even though the sisters of battle almost recruit exclusively from the schola progenium, who are orphans. He plays captains with no ships, mothers with no daughters, orphans with mothers, clerics with no gods, paladins with no code, and I swear next one'll be a CEO with no company. He's addicted to the subversion
"It's true... For my heinous crimes against humanity, I have been sentenced to live out the rest of my days in this gibbet."
"...what gibbet?"
"Oh, I forgot it at home."
And ah yes, the intricate multi-layered scheming of feral worlders... I believe Machiavelli himself was one!To be fair there is a fair bit of room for scheming feral worlders; the first character they met was the King's eunuch who was a sneaky breeki kinda politics type guy. But there's different flavours of multi-layered scheming you know? There's "go Perseus, go forth and bring us the medusa's head" and "welcome to this episode of the CIA destabilises a nation for drug money again"
Ooh ooh pick me pick me! :DIf I ever get around to it, I'll defo post a link here as a call to arms. But I'm not going to be doing anything of the sort for at least the next month, as I'll be travelling around a lot :<
Lots of mechanics to do with not being entirely in control of the characters, and accompanying mechanics to encourage players to go with the flow of their inner beast from time to time.Well now I have to give it a look. I liked the rules for Mage: The Wizardening so I am optimisting about Vampire: The Secret Gothening
It's very much a game about playing psychologically damaged people with super powers and a vulnerability to addiction.
Pitch 2 was them being Byzantine vampires in the lead up to the Fall of Constantinople, facing the approach of the Ottoman army and the vampires of the Ashirra (Muslim vampire organisation essentially, as opposed to the more Christian Camarilla.) Idea was more of a focus on politics, looking for ways to assure their own survival and the safety of their assets and freedoms in the event the city falls, but without looking like traitors in the event that the city doesn't fall.Secret ending B: Turkic Vampire and Byzantine Vampire continue their 1,000 year war from their neighbouring apartments in Germany
Then they resurrected my char ;[
Would people still be interested in trying to arrange a game with forum members?
Personally have an idea for a Black Crusade (40k chaos rpg) game I've really been wanting to run.
-featured magical things rarely
-had more player mortality/risk, but not "punishingly" so
-started off the chars as weak, scaling them up to great power, but stopping just short of mythic martial prowess
-similar enough to DnD that it is not a far departure from what he and his players are familiar with (d20 system, same attribute system & class system)
-different enough to DnD that it does not suffer from the usual issues surrounding spell lists, HP bloat, non-combat RP support, (no spellcaster classes or restricted)
In short he wanted DnD... But not DnD
And I seem to have actually found one called Low Fantasy Gaming, which as the name suggests, is all about Low Fantasy Gaming. I've yet to see it in try or try it myself but this >very specific niche< has apparently been filled
Then they resurrected my char ;[
Ressurection is one of my pet peeves with D&D. It undercuts basically all the possible drama that comes from what should be an important moment.
If a character dies, be it a heroic death, a tragic one or even a stupid one, it should generally be permanent or only able to be undone at great cost.
I'd much rather my character just be dead than rezzed, unless bringing them back is going to leave a permanent mark of some kind.
Really the only 'resurrection' mechanic I think I've ever liked is cyber-resurrection from Dark Heresy. You take a recently dead or nearly dead character, and fill them with cybernetics to get them back on their feet, at the cost of severe damage to their mind and humanity. It basically turns you into a bionic zombie, and for some characters is a fate worse than death.
I'd actually like it if D&D treated proper resurrection magic as much harder to do, instead making the readily available option be necromancy. Your character dies and gets the option of being brought back as an undead with their previous class levels intact kind of thing.
I've never been in a dnd campaign where we were high enough level to cast any of that shit regardless. Must be nearly an irl year of meeting regularly and killing tons of monsters to get a cleric to that point by the default rules and I can't imagine that kinda game actually happens.
For 5e at least, following the reccomended number of encounters and exp gains it takes about four sessions to hit level 5 from level 1The recommended number of encounters per session is absurd unless you're both a well oiled wargaming machine of a group AND don't care about anything but fights. It's not how things actually play out with any group I've played with.
Ressurection is one of my pet peeves with D&D. It undercuts basically all the possible drama that comes from what should be an important moment.Yeah it completely broke my investment in the campaign. Hard to really care when a char is brought back from the dead and the party reaction is essentially "cool now where were we"
If a character dies, be it a heroic death, a tragic one or even a stupid one, it should generally be permanent or only able to be undone at great cost.
I'd much rather my character just be dead than rezzed, unless bringing them back is going to leave a permanent mark of some kind.
Really the only 'resurrection' mechanic I think I've ever liked is cyber-resurrection from Dark Heresy. You take a recently dead or nearly dead character, and fill them with cybernetics to get them back on their feet, at the cost of severe damage to their mind and humanity. It basically turns you into a bionic zombie, and for some characters is a fate worse than death.One of my favourite resurrection mechanics also came from dark heresy; it was a chaos artifact that could bring someone back to life if you put their corpse in the machine. Only, being a chaos artifact that draws souls from the warp, it was an object of high value to multiple factions, and your radical colleagues would no doubt try to kill you to steal the artifact, whilst your puritan colleagues would try to kill you and destroy the artifact, and in addition to taking corruption for using it you'd have a fair chance of being declared a traitor or heretic. To top it all off, once you went through the trouble of finding the artefact - using the artefact, there was a good chance the corpse resurrected would be a demonhost. So you'd then have to contend with the demonhost with all the skills of your dead comrade. If you managed to then capture the demonhost, and exorcise the demon, without causing so much damage that you killed the host - the player char would now be usable again, and this time they would gain all the benefits of being an exorcised character. You get to have resurrection, fight up hill every step of the way to triumph over life or death, and establish several good reasons why it's not worth it to try it carelessly.
I'd actually like it if D&D treated proper resurrection magic as much harder to do, instead making the readily available option be necromancy. Your character dies and gets the option of being brought back as an undead with their previous class levels intact kind of thing.There are a few background descriptions for characters which are "revived". Like the "rogue/revived" and the "reborn" race, so there is definitely the framework for it, and it's easy to homebrew
Unfortunately, the chaos 40k is probably the one I'm not particularly interested in playing, personally. I don't really have an idea of BC games goes though. But I'd be worried of it being too "edge for the edgy throne" if you know what I mean.I'm of two minds about BC. The mechanics heavily heavily reward aligning your character with one of the four chaos gods in everything. Skills, talents AND most of all, roleplay & actions. So a Khornite character gets rewarded infamy for making a charge towards a bunker over open ground armed only with an axe in hand. The kind of characters that worship chaos undivided like the Word Bearers, seek to master it like the Black Legion, or hold chaos in contempt and look at it as just another tool like the Iron Warriors or rogue inquisitors, generally have a much harder life. I remember having this discussion with some anon about how I was annoyed that characters sliding towards chaos were usuallly very interesting characters. But the moment they achieved victory and reached apotheosis, they became living incarnations of just BLOOD or SCHEMING or POO POO or DICKS. They pointed out very correctly that it's almost like they were called the ruinous powers for a reason. And on reflection, I thought that Black Crusade had actually succeeded greatly in creating a system where the roleplay lore and mechanics matched up wonderfully. Because as you reach closer and closer to apotheosis, you resemble more and more your patron deity in action, body and values. If you choose to walk a path undivided, it is naturally going to be much harder because all the gods are pulling at your soul and all of them are trying to make you fail or choose them. So it's a double-edged sword, because if you try to RP something outside the spectrum of ALL CAPS PHILOSOPHY, it's going to be much harder. So it's more satisfying when you pull it off, but can bring its own problems, e.g. misaligned chaos players are expected to work against each other but not every group has the experience (or the maturity?) to pull off inter-player competition
That is the largest niche that exists among people looking for a game that isn't D&D.The problem is not that he wanted all of those things, it's that the game he described wanting to play... Was DnD. But he didn't want DnD. It's like someone describing how they want bacon in between two slices of bread but they don't want a bacon sandwich
Encounters is supposed to include things like traps and social interactions. Convincing someone that they should sell you stuff at a discount, gate guards that they should let you pass, or fording a deep river for example.I thought it was 5-8 combat encounters at a same CR as the party to exhaust your long rest resources & HD
Did you consider simply saying "No, my character wouldn't want to come back."? Spells like Raise Dead generally specify that the soul needs to be willing to return.Ressurection is one of my pet peeves with D&D. It undercuts basically all the possible drama that comes from what should be an important moment.Yeah it completely broke my investment in the campaign. Hard to really care when a char is brought back from the dead and the party reaction is essentially "cool now where were we"
If a character dies, be it a heroic death, a tragic one or even a stupid one, it should generally be permanent or only able to be undone at great cost.
I'd much rather my character just be dead than rezzed, unless bringing them back is going to leave a permanent mark of some kind.
Did you consider simply saying "No, my character wouldn't want to come back."? Spells like Raise Dead generally specify that the soul needs to be willing to return.It's hard to retroactively withdraw consent based on a reaction you didn't anticipate
The player can basically lose the ensuing fight by either dying to it or, if they're idiotic, they refuse to resist and wind up being integrated into it.Is there any chance you saw some of the drawings about this exact concept? I know there were two anons years ago who drew undead centaur-capture things, and some WHF art where the centaur was just the vascular system and muscular system of one person
Now I've no idea what the fuck made my brain come up with this while I was asleep. I don't think I'd have thought up of something like that in my waking hours, but apparently my brain goes full original gore-horror once my eyes are closed.
Possible, but if I did I don't remember it.
Actually I think I pinned down the dream-inspiration. There's an SCP, I assume based on the nuckelavee, which are centaur-like things that search battlefields and target wounded people. Some part of it is the diary of a WWI soldier talking about them, finally mentioning his friend disappeared and he saw one that looked like him.A dark fantasy WWI setting where all the dead horses, cavalrymen and porters start getting fused in the trenches is really brutal and metal
"The spasmodically squirming, braying, and snorting half-corpses were heaped each upon the other, until at last I was rid of them. The warrens had become a landfill of snout and hoof, gristle and bone - a mountainous, twitching mass of misshapen flesh, fusing itself together in the darkness."Actually I think I pinned down the dream-inspiration. There's an SCP, I assume based on the nuckelavee, which are centaur-like things that search battlefields and target wounded people. Some part of it is the diary of a WWI soldier talking about them, finally mentioning his friend disappeared and he saw one that looked like him.A dark fantasy WWI setting where all the dead horses, cavalrymen and porters start getting fused in the trenches is really brutal and metal
"The spasmodically squirming, braying, and snorting half-corpses were heaped each upon the other, until at last I was rid of them. The warrens had become a landfill of snout and hoof, gristle and bone - a mountainous, twitching mass of misshapen flesh, fusing itself together in the darkness."'Oh yeah the papers always liked to rile everyone up with big tales of the trench beasts, but really it was no big problem. You just kept your lanterns lit and your bayonet sharp, and a few prods and the thing would scurry away. They're scavengers looking for an easy meal. They don't like resistance.'
That's what the flamethrowers are for.
You know, now I'm wanting some sort of game or book series or something set mid-WWI where just overnight there was some sort of utterly undirected supernatural invasion. There's no major intelligence behind it or anything, just the world, all geared up to be killing one another suddenly rediscovering the fear of the lion on the savannah.
Only these lions are unnatural monstrosities with significantly more body parts than they have any right to own.
Don't liches need access to their souljars in order to feed by cramming other people's souls into it? Which they need to do in order to remain "sane"?This is the kinda thing I was sorta wondering about. I never heard that though, not when I was playing. We didn't have any liches after we switched to 5e though, so maybe?
Don't liches need access to their souljars in order to feed by cramming other people's souls into it? Which they need to do in order to remain "sane"?
Don't liches need access to their souljars in order to feed by cramming other people's souls into it? Which they need to do in order to remain "sane"?
That was something new added to D&D 5e, prior to that liches didn't need anything to maintain their phylactery. One big unspecified evil act to create it, but no evil required to maintain it. Now it's an evil act to create it, and regular human(oid) sacrifice to maintain it.
Given that 5e decided to make the evil race/monsters more inherently evil than prior editions, the change was probably largely to make liches always be a legitimate target for 'good' characters without the potential for moral ambiguity or subtle cunning.
being evil and owning it.
Sounds like a rare opportunity to go full barbarian
I find myself in an introspective mood, and I wonder why so many groups I've been in reject the concept of just being evil and owning it. Almost every PC I've ever encountered was fundamentally evil and self serving, willing to knife a guy for a handful of coins provided they didn't like him, defile bodies, loot from temples, break deals, flout cultural norms, belittle the superstitious and prejudiced to their faces, manipulate, steal and lie.
About the only thing I can say was consistently good about the PCs I've seen was that they were all anti-child cruelty and (mostly) pro-equality. Still casually violent and greedy, the desire to protect children and minorities (including fantasy one) being about the only redeeming quality.
Why have we never just gone 'fuck it' and overthrown a monarchy to implement our own regime of tight leather and spiky metal armour? We always just meander along picking up breadcrumbs with personal goals that we have little agency to achieve. I want to see more PCs with personal goals like 'fabricate a claim to the throne and start a civil war,' or 'use sectarian violence and rabble rousing to propel myself into a position of high office in my city.'
I once had a dark heresy campaign go up in flames. There were many reasons for its death, but one of the hilarious ones was a player who was tasked by the Inquisition to assassinate some Tau officials who were slowly working towards annexing an Imperial world. They kept confiding in the other players that the Tau were obviously hiding something sinister and evil, behind their thin facade of religious tolerance, alien pluralism, social progress and imperial federalism. Only, there was no sinister plot (from the Tau).
They had gone into this Inquisition campaign on the assumption that everything they did would be justified and all the aliens they exterminate are evil, but the first thing I told him was come into this with no assumptions, and in the Inquisition the first thing you realise everything you "know" is a lie. I had to deal with this same player who complained that my Inquisitor NPCs were not exterminating worlds, heretics and aliens on sight as "unrealistic" was now tasking them assassinating "nice" aliens.
Does he seriously think all the "heretics" deserved it too?
FML.
Though admittedly it's my fault for not seeing it coming, they also saw their actions as morally justified when defending the concentration camp government in one of my friend's campaigns. Such players make me smash my head against the wall / can only run games where you have to kill the Dark Lord and his legions of mindless brutes who all deserve terrible fates :|
And here I am with character concepts like 'is literally a religiously motivated zealot who killed someone with a car bomb for political reasons' (40k frateris militia character) or 'one of the last surviving servants of an old dark lord, looking to collect the missing relics needed to bring him back' or 'a knight who's in love with Tiamat and wants to free her from Hell, regardless of the cost to himself or others,' or 'a cultist of Baphomet who believes that the relationship between predator and prey is sacred above all else and hunts people for sport.'Yeah these kinds of character concepts that are simple, have a clear identity and avoid novelty tend to make the most memorable characters. Because the emphasis is always on "who" they are and not "what" they are. It's why I think lots of people are scared of DnD players, because they are accustomed to making things and not chars. I'll never forget one of my player's hilarious introductions when they were asked who they were.
Or of course the ones I've actually played like the man eating lizardfolk shaman, the bounty hunter who wanted to drag bandits back to town in manacles so they could be publicly hanged rather than just shanked in the woods and was openly in favour of burning magic users at the stake for witchcraft, various amoral scientists, sorcerers (40k ones, so chaos dabblers), a dark eldar exile, a chaos marine, an early 1900s weirdo occultist.I've always wanted to run a DH campaign where the Inquisitor in charge speaks in Alex Jones and Darkest Dungeon ancestor quotes. I'm interested in how you RP a DE Exile though. Chaos Marines are pretty fun and easy to RP because they often come with their own value codes already (e.g. aligned with one of the 4, worships the 4, or just uses the 4 as a means to an end). I always find it hilarious but difficult to balance an alien being a party with humans whilst still retaining that alien core... Especially since a lot of Dark Eldar values like betrayal do not mesh well with players who are not expecting betrayals
Ha, the Dark Heresy campaign sounds like they suffered from "Designated Hero" syndrome. Everything they did was justified because they're the main characters, so it has to work out in the end and it has to turn out good.Yeah, it is an important expectation to set. I feel gutted it died because I did make it clear that they would be "another guy" amidst a sea of peoples getting things done, not the "main character" around which the world revolved. It was one of the few things my players said I did well, which I appreciate, that all of the characters had their own agendas and didn't stop existing when the players stopped interacting with them. I think games where the players are the heroes who will save the world are fun, I think games where the players are just people living in a world are fun, but getting everyone into the same boat when words fail is soul-wrenching
I've always wanted to run a DH campaign where the Inquisitor in charge speaks in Alex Jones and Darkest Dungeon ancestor quotes. I'm interested in how you RP a DE Exile though. Chaos Marines are pretty fun and easy to RP because they often come with their own value codes already (e.g. aligned with one of the 4, worships the 4, or just uses the 4 as a means to an end). I always find it hilarious but difficult to balance an alien being a party with humans whilst still retaining that alien core... Especially since a lot of Dark Eldar values like betrayal do not mesh well with players who are not expecting betrayals.
DE would work in DH as well.You're not gonna believe me, but I planned on having one of the radical inquisitors they were chasing after be someone who had struck a deal with DE to raid defenceless imperial planets dry - said imperial planets being in the way of a tyranid splinter fleet. The radical inquisitor would get sick DE tech out of the deal, DE allies, whilst depriving the nids of biomass. Counterpoint: evil as hell, doesn't even try to defend the worlds
In DH it's not beyond the pale that a radical inquisitor might strike a bargain with a kabal or wych cult, allowing them to prey upon some worlds or imperial guard regiments in exchange for equipment and 'specialists'. Firmly stamps the party on one side of the radical/puritan divide, but it's not an unworkable idea. There might be some treachery at points, but mutually beneficial business is not something to be cast aside without thought.
The DE would absolutely refuse to be branded with the mark of sanction, but wearing it on their helmet or something would probably be fine.
Or you could spend a whole grueling quest fighting against something insurmountable only for the government to show up and turn the eldritch god into a battery.Gubmint can be a good source of mundane horror in these settings… there’s a bit of that in the Southern Reach trilogy, where the Anthropocene horror entity/zone is under investigation by an organisation controlled by a group only known as Central. Works quite well as cosmic horror often uses a kind of literalness or mundanity (the Old Ones are beyond comprehension but sometimes you just encounter literal giant piles of sea-flesh) alongside the eldritch stuff.
Or if you want to preserve the specialness of the cosmic entity, maybe just have the government be the ones poking around in it, perhaps even forcing it on the village Tuskegee/MKUltra style. Blood borne sort of did that, but hey.A corpse... should be left well alone.
But necromancy.Or if you want to preserve the specialness of the cosmic entity, maybe just have the government be the ones poking around in it, perhaps even forcing it on the village Tuskegee/MKUltra style. Blood borne sort of did that, but hey.A corpse... should be left well alone.
But what about scientific experimentation?But necromancy.Or if you want to preserve the specialness of the cosmic entity, maybe just have the government be the ones poking around in it, perhaps even forcing it on the village Tuskegee/MKUltra style. Blood borne sort of did that, but hey.A corpse... should be left well alone.
DnD advice: At a loss for a last-minute holiday gift for your players? Pick them up a book they've never read. I'm getting each of my players one titled "Player's Handbook."https://twitter.com/nat1advice/status/1473329931727749126
This one wounds on a philosophical levelQuote from: Bad DND Advice @nat1adviceDnD advice: At a loss for a last-minute holiday gift for your players? Pick them up a book they've never read. I'm getting each of my players one titled "Player's Handbook."https://twitter.com/nat1advice/status/1473329931727749126
I'm finally getting to play in a campaign again. It's been years since I wasn't DM. I will admit, though, to missing being at an actual table. Discord is wonderful, but just not the same.
Last night was the final session of a nine month long campaign. Whew, feels good to actually finish a story for once.
I'm in a similar boat. Got the Core Rulebook on a sale awhile ago, but haven't been invested enough to read the whole thing yet. A sci-fi setting based on a utopian futuristic version of Native American cultures sounded interesting enough on a broader scale, but when I skimmed a few pages I didn't see something smaller scale to hook me deeper.
You all hear about the new OGL update? Hasbro is trying to make the 1.0 obsolete using an update clause to declare the 1.0 no longer authorised, in an impressive move of legal quantum abrogation which probably is illegal but the courts will decide most like
Finally all my dnd wiki entries will become official contentthe 5e furry class is now canon
I cast Yiff!Finally all my dnd wiki entries will become official contentthe 5e furry class is now canon
Content already released under 1.0a will also remain unaffected.and fortunately OSRIC (http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/osric/s1.html)
Terms used herein are as defined in the OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
Okay ye this OGL nonsense is bsNow Hasbro lost >40,000 subscribers after news was leaked they were planning to do a >$30 subscription service
We already had that in 3.5.Okay ye this OGL nonsense is bsNow Hasbro lost >40,000 subscribers after news was leaked they were planning to do a >$30 subscription service
You know what your tabletop needs?
DLC
The furthest I've looked into food stuff was when I was considering running a game where food would be scarce. I didn't find any official rules on starvation, but I did find one that was, I think, you get CON modifier days for "free" (minimum of 1) before starvation sets in. Every two days you get a level of exhaustion that can only be removed by an equal number of days fully fed.
Otherwise I've basically ignored it. I did like Pathfinder 1e having the specialised rations that add extra bonuses after eating them for so long but they're more expensive in turn. Don't know if that's a feature from 3e they ported over or what.
A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a charcter automatically suffers one level of exhaustion. A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.
I find that odd, as The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings place frequent and heavy emphasis on eating and food; when the characters aren't eating, they're talking about food, how delicious it would be to have some taters, rejoicing when they get some rabbit to make stew, and one of the lowkey best items they get from Galadriel is some Elven lembas, which is delicious and filling and never goes bad.
What I was considering for making food important in 5E was using the rule variant where 8 hours is a short rest and 7 days is a long rest, which makes hit dice a more scarce and valuable resource. Then, eating better food will regain hit dice. Possibly other benefits as well for high quality food, letting you have more hit dice than your maximum or passive buffs and such.Perhaps you could wind it into a more general quality of rest sort of thing.
If you hit a creature with an attack roll, the creature takes an extra 2d6 damage if it hasn’t taken a turn yet in the current combat.
I think even action surge won't let you cast more than one leveled spell on your turn?
Spur a Redemptionist style cult. Something like House Cawdor from Necromunda, the Flagellants from WHF, the Cult of the Pure form and so on. Have some zealous lunatic style preachers crop up as NPCs and have baying hordes of penitents be willing to die for the Sororitas' mission in some sessions. Any suggestion of someone being an enemy to these guys results in them trying to tear them limb from limb, even if the players don't actually want that to happen.I can already imagine some interesting scenarios where the administratum is desperately trying to coax the flagellants back into being farmers because since everyone started these cults of redemption no one wants to produce food or collect raw materials anymore. They're too busy flagellating.
So... Changeling vigilante who targets murderers while wearing the faces of the victims that were killed.I've seen that in writing before, somewhere or another. Can't even a little remember where, but it's a concept someone thought was good enough to publish.
I think the concept could have some merit. Could even tie it in as a side plot thingy by luring the party in with talk of undead activity being spotted... But of course the only people who have seen these "undead" are themselves killers, and probably not too keen on revealing why/how they know the "deceased".
Sounds like a cool idea. You’ll probably have to hold the reveal to the very end though. I’m pretty sure if the party figured out the truth, they’d side with the vigilante.
I don't remember the name right now
Moorcock, scriver?
Y'know... Nearly every campaign I've been in has been sorta... Hipstery, I guess. Counterculture. Trying to spice the "old, drab, routine" fantasy settings and playstyles, because that's what the industry is made of and what we've all experienced a hundred times before.
But that's just it... I haven't actually had those experiences. So now they're the fresh and appealing idea in my eyes.
I'd like to play a campaign sometime that's full-on classic fantasy nonsense. Full cheese. Sword and Sorcery, with a bit of Saturday morning cartoon thrown in. Just revel in the cliche and live it up.
...or maybe I've just been out of a game for so long that I'm starting to get weird abstinence-spawned delusions.
But, of course, the characters would be humans from our world that slipped through a portal, because...hipster I guess.
Y'know... Nearly every campaign I've been in has been sorta... Hipstery, I guess. Counterculture. Trying to spice the "old, drab, routine" fantasy settings and playstyles, because that's what the industry is made of and what we've all experienced a hundred times before.It might be the cultural influence of popular 5e streams like CritRole or arguably even a product of 5e's ruleset being used for anything that isn't dungeon crawling. E.g. I had this same experience in my own gaming groups where anyone who used 5e, no matter what they were trying to go for, essentially ended up producing the exact same gaming table. I've played with DMs who wanted something obscenely grimdark, who wanted something epic fantasy, who wanted monster of the week power rangers, who wanted high power fantasies or down to earth sleuthing - it all pretty much always ended up being the same game. Hipstery table where people are making wise-quips, character deaths are nigh impossible and no one cares if they die as they'll be back, very little in the way of playing a role - characters are basically just video game avatars for the IRL person playing them.
But that's just it... I haven't actually had those experiences. So now they're the fresh and appealing idea in my eyes.
I'd like to play a campaign sometime that's full-on classic fantasy nonsense. Full cheese. Sword and Sorcery, with a bit of Saturday morning cartoon thrown in. Just revel in the cliche and live it up.
...or maybe I've just been out of a game for so long that I'm starting to get weird abstinence-spawned delusions.
If you end up getting sent into the astral plane or some other bizarre dimension... Couldn't you just cast Banishment on yourself to go back?
I mean sure, there's a CHA save and no specific wording that you can choose to fail it, but... Still seems a fair bit easier than some of the other options.
Yeah, but if you're about to be eaten by an astral whale, that's a problem for you 5 minutes from now.
A true DM.Yeah, but if you're about to be eaten by an astral whale, that's a problem for you 5 minutes from now.
*lands in the middle of ocean next to killer whales*
Players: "Orcas! We're saved!"Ahab the storm herald barbarian
GM: "Think more Captain Ahab"
Got a system in mind?
Not sure where you got the idea that Call of Chtulhu is d20, since its a d100 system like the 40k FFG RPGs. I think it has had at least one d20 conversion, but its primarily d100.
Since you seem to like d100, might be worth checking out the Delta Green RPG, which is a spin off of Call of Cthulhu where you work for a secret government agency/conspiracy dedicated to keeping the mythos contained and secret in the modern day. It also cites X-Files as an inspiration, so its probably easily hackable.
Another possibility might be Modiphius's Achtung Cthulhu. Haven't played that one myself but its a bit more pulpy and definitely has Nazi supernatural stuff.
Found a conversation which has lead me to a... semi-useless item idea. Useless if the PCs have no idea what it does. And it depends on the setting.Unless you activate the immovable rod and discover your world is flat or motionless. Even better if it is flat and rotates so at the true northernmost point, activating it produces a relativistic stripper pole
A True Immovable Rod.
It's stationary compared to the universe's frame of reference. On Earth, for example, we can base that off of the CMB. So you activate it and, from the players perspectives, it suddenly whizzes off at 370km/s, possibly straight through the planet depending on where it was activated.
You probably haven't heard of it since the full rules aren't even out yet. The quickstart was released a few months back and the full rules come out in October.
Pretty much all I know about it is that its produced by the Critical Role folks and its an investigative horror rpg in the vein of stuff like Call of Cthulhu.
To be fair to your friend, there's a good chunk of games you can get pretty far running with just the quickstart rules for. A lot of RPGs can fit the important rules in like 4 pages if pressed.You probably haven't heard of it since the full rules aren't even out yet. The quickstart was released a few months back and the full rules come out in October.
Pretty much all I know about it is that its produced by the Critical Role folks and its an investigative horror rpg in the vein of stuff like Call of Cthulhu.
That would certainly explain why, yes :P And given that description I can see why my friend wants to run a game of it; she's a bit of a CR fangirl. Also somewhat excitable in general, so leaping to collect players for a system that's not even out yet seems in character.
I believe that's exactly what the immovable rod did in certain SS13 branches; start rapidly flying through the map and annihilating everything in its path.And if two rods collide they produce a singularity
At least until someone suplexes it into a potted plant.
It is also possible for a defendant to win her case on merit, only to suffer condemnation to the Nine Hells on unrelated grounds if her corruption score or obeisance score (see page 30) equals or exceeds 9. Much diabolical laughter then ensues.Currently I think they're fine- the corrupt act would have been allowing the devils to run amok. They... didn't play along :P
Cleanse your corruption by atoning sincerely for cheating hell, which naturally causes more corruption itself. :DOoh this is why I enjoyed reading the Fiendish Codex 2 just for lore stuff. Devils are LE yeah, and theoretically their reason for existence is to enforce the law... but not to promote the law. They want mortals to break the law because that's how they get souls, and souls mean personal advancement in the devil hierarchy.
Actually, how *would* cheating at hell cause corruption and bring you closer to the LE plane? Lying to bad people for good reasons is literally CG.
Probably some of that and some of the fact that D&D cosmology depends on which setting your running.
Probably some of that and some of the fact that D&D cosmology depends on which setting your running.That and I think even the Fiendish Codex 2 implies that the devil story isn't the *whole* story. It's a legend in-universe. I doubt it's entirely untrue, since Asmodeus was there and allows devils to tell it, but... I mean it frames devils as noble guardians, wrongly vilified, essentially responsible for all of existence. How convenient :P
One possible addition you could do as a little side-quest is demand a jury of their peers. Whether that means kidnapping mortals from other planes or choosing devils and demons most alike the party in personality could be up to them.
Devil prosecutor: "The defendants stand accused of breaching the terms of their contract and assaulting servants of Keresiar with intent to cause mortal harm,"
Yugoloth on jury duty: "Haha, nice. Fuck you Keresiar,"
An Egyptian scales of Anubis type thing would also be neat. So they could weigh up the morals of your players and the more lawful-evil they are the more the court will look favourably upon them as a respectable mortal with a nice, dark and diabolical future career ahead of them
And one inconsequential detail, that I just think is flavourful. It'd be nice if you have in the background a devil-clerk who is a living book, who keeps writing down all of the proceedings as a court transcript in their own internal organ-pages
I love these. I think I could even them choose someone for the jury if they can justify their choice as being a peer - one of the party is hosting the essence of a god, so that could get interesting. The kind of weighing up morals could be nice, though they'd still have to clear the charges - it'd be more of a character witness kind of thing.Does it count as a conflict of interest if you get a shard of a god to sit in the jury judging a host of another shard of the same entity?
Book devil will be screaming horrifically from pain every time they transcribe something with the locals just smiling along. Alternatively, the devils could be using the flesh of still-living damned souls as their parchment.
I also just realized one of the party has a devil they almost took up a pact with in their backstory. They'll definitely offer to sponsor the defense!Get the best defence lawyer money can't buy!
I can imagine the jury using jury nullification and the devils just sitting there absolutely dumbfounded because nobody's ever done that to them."We maintain that any devil who can be swindled and cheated in contracts is no devil at all, therefore no crime has been committed"
I also just realized one of the party has a devil they almost took up a pact with in their backstory. They'll definitely offer to sponsor the defense!Get the best defence lawyer money can't buy!
For sure. They can get Sul Skewertongue, falxugon master defense attorney, to help them with their case. I'm going to try to re-enact this scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByeXMGqapnU) in an infernal courtroom. I've a mind to have him suggest the 'cheat at the trial (so we get corruption points on you)' thing - he'll immediately proceed to reveal the cheating before the court, but only to argue that such accomplished and daring cheaters should be embraced as the future pride of Hell and thus cleared of all charges for the time being. Because you absolutely should not trust your devil lawyer, even if they win you the case.That's all in the game yo, right? I got the hex mark, you got the pact tome (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3i36ybA8Ms)
I would have gone with a Lionel Hutz inspired Imp for their attorney myself. An incompetent lawyer, other than being a source of levity, puts more of the onus on the players to find their own argument for why the case should be thrown out or ruled in their favour.
What she wants is a Strahd campaign where the players don't feel like they can just rush headlong into any challenge or encounter and expect to come out with nary a scratch. The party warlock had his imp hurl a severed penis into Strahd's carriage as it was passing by, because they feel like that's absolutely something they can get away with since they apparently feel they've been given no real reasons to fear him yet. And, given what the combat and challenge encounters to date have been, that's accurate. Because she simply doesn't know enough about combat to know what would make it challenging or not.
Given how they're already many sessions into the campaign and she's barely comfortable with 5e, let alone any other TTRPG, I'm not sure major changes to the system or application thereof are really the preferred solution in this case...
Going over to "gritty realism" resting could be entertaining, particularly for the potential coffeelock in the party, but would again be a very significant change to a campaign that's already established and well underway. And, again, when it comes to raw mechanics she needs as much structure and help as she can get, so making the on-the-fly adjustments needed to patch over some of the more unsavory parts of that conversion would be even more stress than she's already subjecting herself to.I wouldn't even describe it as gritty realism resting. It's not like GURPs resting or warhammer resting. It's just that DnD 5e is designed for exploring dungeons, assuming characters won't spend more than one or two days in the dungeon. So everything is balanced on the assumption that player chars will go through 5-8 encounters between long rests, gradually losing hit die, HP, ability charges, spell slots e.t.c. before reaching the dungeon boss
Really, this is mainly about helping a burgeoning DM learn about the combat system and mechanics so that she can put actual challenges in the path of the players, and have a better understanding of what would and would not be a challenge. It's not something she's used to thinking about. ...but yes, I do absolutely agree that DnD lethality is a, uh, peculiar beast... At best.5e is an impenetrable mess for new DMs to learn how to appropriately place challenges for players, especially when they're doing sweaty rule-bending metagaming. For the sake of their sanity I strongly advise against trying to pit a DM on training wheels against people who make coffielocks, not characters :P
"Gritty Realism" is specifically the term used in the DMG to describe the "short rest is a day, long rest is a week" rest variant :P So yes, it's 5e's concept of what gritty realism is... Which, yes, is rather telling.Oh god I forgot about that cursedness
As for swapping systems, she doesn't exist in a vacuum... While it might be entirely possible to convince her that swapping systems is the best bet, her players are also predominantly 5e players who would need to be convinced of the move. And, more likely than not, rebuilding all their characters again. I've little doubt that she'd be happier in a different system more suited to her inherent DMing style, but I'm not really sure this current group (of personal friends and acquaintances, not expendably faceless randos) would allow her to switch with them remaining onboard.Yeah I faced the exact same problems with my group, 3/4 of whom were 5e onlies. At some point you just have to bite the bullet - either accepting 5e power stronk overwhelming chars and monster HP bloat or switch systems
I don't think I've ever even seen a group that manages to fit in the expected rate of encounters into a D&D 'adventuring day,' most D&D combat is tedious as hell, traps are trivially bypassed with no resources 90% or more of the time, and it takes long enough just to cover the actually relevant exploration and social scenarios. It always winds up with one or two small fights that are basically jokes, or one big fight that's actually hard but still leaves us with so much magic that we can splash it about on trivial nonsense. D&D 5e is very dumbed down and simplified towards the goal of white room bonk the enemies to death and move on to the next room in the dungeon type of play, not that the other editions were ever great at other things either.I once had one cursed game where our DM went utterly overboard with the encounters to the point where there were goblins behind us, goblins to the right, goblins to the left, crossing the road were goblins, going through the warehouse was goblins and goblins are paradropping from the sky. Then we got attacked by a level 28 god of pestilence even though we were level 5 lol
On that note I nearly cried yesterday because I told a player who wanted to join my table to read the rules and make a character sheet... And they did the fucking madman
Absolute insanity! Things were much more reasonable here; with me having to carefully walk two STEM professionals through the delicate process of adding your proficiency bonus and stat modifier to things! Although as a side note, the way 5E handles stats is completely nonsensical and I don't blame them in the slightest for getting confused by it.I had a player who graduated 1st class biochemistry and had an MBA tell me that calculating degrees of success was too complicated
And so she did. ...and then she also went and printed out THE ENTIRE SRD to have a copy of the rules with her. Has she read through it? Goodness no. But the paper is there, which is just as good obviously.It's like a bible. You just use it to slap demons and inspire confidence in the soul
Because of this, I am now getting bombarded with questions about why isn't it Faerûn, how many continents are there, is it mostly land or water, how many cities are in the country we're in, what are they all called etc... So there's been a lot of "Does your character know? No? Then shut yer gob" as I hastily try and patch together something resembling the city which they are going to be arriving in next session.I remember once one of my DMs had pure suffering when he set up some open world sandbox campaign that started with a cool prison break from a skyship prison. When we crash-landed, we had the option of going West (the place half the party was enslaved in) North (to the place the other half of the party was enslaved in) or East (the place we were being sent to and now fugitives from). So we all agreed it was the best choice to go south, into the deserts, where at least we would only have to worry about dying of thirst instead of being constantly on the run.
At least I've made some progress on the main thing; which is getting a basic gist of how things can potentially move forward from the variety of options that will be available to them once in the city.ya always about presenting interesting choices for players. If it's not an interesting choice I just give it as free description
...crap, still need a name for the world at large :P Ah well.Dlrow is a classic. Maybe fancy it up a bit so it looks more like a word, or just roll with it :P
I'm a staunch member of the "a given piece of content should take less time to prep than it does to run" but that can take a while to get into. It's mandatory for sanity though. I know the critical role guy says the opposite but DMing is his job so his situation is entirely different.Yeah, or at the very least if you're taking the time to prep it have it be something you would enjoy regardless of the outcome. It can't be helped that sometimes you come up with some gordian knot mystery and the players find some way to cut straight through it
I'm kind of variable on giving players freedom. On one hand yes you have to that's what D&D is, but I think there's an unwritten social contract here and one end of it is not making the DM's job impossible. I will occasionally tell my players "okay I don't have anything prepped for that avenue so put a pin in it for the moment and we can come back to that later."I just see it as running one of three types of games
Though that can also be a problem. I've played with a lot of people who, for various reasons, take the DM's presentation of the world as a coded message on what they're supposed to do. And will never do things out of the ordinary. Or will even openly discuss my description of the situation like they're trying to figure out what I want them to do. Or even ask me! Very few things get me as salty/discouraged as a player just openly saying "so we're supposed to do X right?" Last game I actually explicitly forbid my players from asking me that and wouldn't even reply.1 trillion percent in agreement. I've had two players do this and both were used to DMing 5e on their own tables where they had solutions players were supposed to find, things players were supposed to do, and were not accustomed to RPing as a character - more like moving pieces
It's not against the rules to say "don't do that yet please" if they ask to do something completely outside what you're prepared to run.Hahaha I once asked my players "I don't mind if you exterminatus the entire planet but in character and out of character, have a great reason to do it before you do it. Otherwise all of my notes go up in nuclear fire without anyone seeing it."
As far as designing what you are prepared to run goes I like to design a sort of toolbox rather than a story. Defining all the characters, their goals and resources for achieving those goals, the important locations, etc. And a rough timeline of what will happen if the players never get involved (which should always be one of the worst possible outcomes, because otherwise there's no need for heroic intervention). Then it's like...This is all how I do it, with two additions. 1. Interesting choices, 2. Interesting fights.
1. Trigger inciting event/situation that hooks the players.
2. Players respond to the inciting event and then go about interacting with your situation.
3. Consider how this affects your timeline, how the major NPCs' goals are advanced/hindered
4. Decide their response to this. Do they seek the PCs' help? Do they try to manipulate them, or try to neutralize them?
5. If the NPCs' have new goals, figure out how they go about achieving them using the resources they have
6. Adjust your timeline accordingly (I did say rough right? Keep the timeline rough because every player action will alter it)
I always recommend this. (https://thealexandrian.net/gamemastery-101) Adventure writing is a complicated balance between giving the players freedom to chart their own path while at the same time not driving yourself insane or making the game aimless. Those articles all give a lot of good advice on balancing it properly.
I've played with a lot of people who, for various reasons, take the DM's presentation of the world as a coded message on what they're supposed to do. And will never do things out of the ordinary. Or will even openly discuss my description of the situation like they're trying to figure out what I want them to do. Or even ask me! Very few things get me as salty/discouraged as a player just openly saying "so we're supposed to do X right?" Last game I actually explicitly forbid my players from asking me that and wouldn't even reply.I got some related questions/comments around last session... "Man, we're probably going WAY off the main plot now", and "So how far off the main plot are we?"
I did an dnddid u win
As with the random American gun-nut looking for an excuse to blast a would-be mugger with their handcannon, there are both plenty enough defenseless people for the desperate muggers to hope they hit instead of said gun-nut, and almost certainly ways for the trained eye to tell the difference.See, the problem with this mentality is it assumes the people vanish after.
Just because there are significant risks involved with a given method of procuring wealth doesn't mean they can always stand up to the desperation inspired by the certainty of starvation if you don't.
...also in this case the shake-downers were PCs, who as we all know are agents of unabashed chaos. First one just tried to pretend that they were a duke from the capital and would reward him handsomely upon their arrival if they received help. So the alchemist gave a free sample and offered lower prices on the remaining bottles.
...but then the sorceress noticed that "hey, this guy has free potions of healing", and made the argument that had it not been for them then the alchemist would've certainly been another casualty of the ambush, and still could be... Then the dragonborn decided they wanted a pot too, so they dragonborned.
A short while later they stared menacingly at him again to make him cough up his personal defense molotovs, leaving him not only without wares but also defenseless, and with not so much as a dirty penny to show for it.
The true win was the fun we had along the way, right? Otherwise no all my dudes got killed :(TPK? Story time?
I'm playing over table for the first time and also DMing for the first time. I'm running Lost Mines of Phandelver (I've played it as a player before and thought it was pretty good). I think I might have done well for a first time, at least it didn't go as bad as I had feared it might ;)
Y'know, that made me realize that if anyone knew how to make splatter proof/resistant varnish/coating/whatever, it would be a fantasy alchemist... and they'd probably know how to make something that encouraged splatter, too.You've been struck down by the dread el bandito forma del teflon
That plus something like, yes, polymorphine, and you're dealing with liquid hell you're not going to get out of with a dodge check. Turning bucket over door pranks into adventurer killers, just add bounce slime.
The true win was the fun we had along the way, right? Otherwise no all my dudes got killed :(TPK? Story time?
I'm playing over table for the first time and also DMing for the first time. I'm running Lost Mines of Phandelver (I've played it as a player before and thought it was pretty good). I think I might have done well for a first time, at least it didn't go as bad as I had feared it might ;)
No, no, my dudes was the bad dudes they were supposed to die. The parry despite being down two planned members did very well and avoided any death, though I did go easy on them in the Bugbear encounter as I thought that 2d8+str is a bit unfair to level 1 characters to begin with and even more so as a boss fight when they've likely to have been wounded going up there, so I changed it to just 1d8+str.Ye that was merciful of you. I would've just kept it at 2d8 or described the bugbear being a particularly young/old/injured one. Lots of ways you can add more story to a fight even when you're just doing an off the wall nerf to stop players getting hit by a brick wall that might be ~too~ unfair, especially for a TTRPG with class levels where there is the expectation that fights should at most be players+1 instead of players+5. It ties into the whole "combat as a sport" vs "combat as a war" philosophy. If it's a sport, players should expect fair enough fights, in which case you can describe how your players aren't fighting an aboleth. They're fighting a dehydrated aboleth. Why is it dehydrated? Who did this to the poor fish? Will they give it the precious hydration it seeks? Maybe the bugbear is missing an arm.
I probably also were a bit nice to them with the stealth/ambush/surprise rules since I had trouble remembering them clearly and didn't make the chain-maily player roll with disadvantage. But it makes sense to me that in a cave where hearing is explicitely nulled by waterfall you should only have to roll stealth for visibility, not sound.Adapting the rules to fit the context is the greatest strength of a good GM
Did they miss the meeting too in the end?
Mostly magical, the guys going around batting stuff with warhammers aren't going to leave too many long-term effects.I mean, you might be surprised with that one. If they're swinging hard enough to crack dimensional boundaries and whatnot things can get weird! Basic conceit behind a fair amount of martial arts fantasy subdimensions, really.
I love lost tech, so maybe a few autoboats that run on something no one knows how to make anymore and are just slowly dying out. Could be transportation across a otherwise unnavigable river/highly desired as yachts for rich nobles.Ngl, my brain initially missed the relevant A with that one, but, like. Autobots as random ferry service would be kinda' neat. Best trick is seeing how little you can paper over what you're doing before people actually notice, heh.