Dungeons and Dragons

[frail hull]

so one has to ask. Why is one of the metallic dragons being kept as a pet/ beast by these emperors?

[proud osprey]

well, there are actually three young bronze dragons at mollebourg palace, often taking human form, but largely avoiding human affairs

the practice is as old as men for them to consort with dragons where the opportunity arises

the crusade in kazmi led to the death of their emperor and the capture of his dragon companion

[frail hull]

so is the dragon being forced to compete, or is this more an exisibition type thing?

[proud osprey]

forced to compete. it’s an enemy of the state, and if it flees it will be shot down by the small army of crossbowmen on the top tier of the upper level of the colosseum

or perhaps “deactivated” by its magical shackles

[frail hull]

so is your world using the default of metallic dragons are generally considered good creatures?

[proud osprey]

generally yeah sure, but i don’t think that has to be universal

there are good chromatic dragons and evil metallic ones

[frail hull]

and is this one evil? I'm asking because in most lore, the idea that other dragon of the same type letting humans imprison or kill one of their kin is very, very rare. So the other 2 dragons being okay with this is odd.

although, I should not assume that this kingdom is that good of a place, So maybe having sentient creatures be forced to fight doesn't stand out that much.

[proud osprey]

these three are aligned with the cadric empire and their interests, and are also quite aloof; the other one is aligned with the kazmi empire and its interests, and is proud and will fight to the end

[proud osprey]

it’s not a great place. plus this is literally a bloodsport arena

[frail hull]

none of those names are familiar to me 🙂

[proud osprey]

they’re just the empires in question

[frail hull]

im going to laugh if it hits all 4 with it's sleep breath out the gate

[proud osprey]

incredible

well. all 5

plus the party of the Black Dogs

[frail hull]

well, it's only a 30 ft cone, but would still be historical.

[proud osprey]

incredible scenes

maybe i’ll pull that total wipeout on the enemy team

to both amuse but scare the players

[obsidian jasper]

oh yeah also one of my characters got turned into yuji and sukuna

lol

[proud osprey]

thinking about the trajectory of the plot

• setille, bandit trouble
• road to mollebourg and arrival
• summer festival arc

then i think maybe i give the druid a lead on his plot hook, where there’s a plague ravaging his home forest in the west

and he wants to find an alchemist or wizard or something to help there

[proud osprey]

thinking about the city ahead

the party will have to stay somewhere

need ideas for locations

thinking of trying to massage the narrative into position where they end up staying in the dwarf part of town

like little dóth

since that’s the name of the dwarf kingdom

“Wee Dóth”

[arctic yew]

Welp

Uh

Time to prepare for my players to dive into the infinite stomach of a Eldritch monster to recover a star they unwittingly fed to it

....man DND gets weird sometimes

[modest echo]

How do you accidentally feed something a star

[arctic yew]

Ok so basically

There's this cosmic horror creature that runs a interdimensional diner.

Ir cannot be reached with a map. the only way is to say "i know a shortcut",pick a direction and walk there. and walk until your legs give out. 3 miles from that point,you will find it

They travelled for 14 hours until they found it,and of course,there were no prices put anywhere,but it still demanded payment for their horribly ironic meals.

One of my players decided to run the "buy a star" scam on the creature

It accepted

Now there's a star missing on the sky

[modest echo]

Amazing

[worthy plank]

Singing Jonna Quil, Servant of Our Fair Lady of Dawn and Dusk

A vulpin hexblade warlock, for whom I tried to get a 'gothpunk fae' aesthetic going

I feel like I semi-failed lol

[tepid crane]

I am inclined to agree, they don’t read as “I’m going to sack rome.”

[proud osprey]

i’ve had a great fuckin weekend

simply prepping dungeons and dragons

[worthy plank]

har har lol

[proud osprey]

holy shit guys i can literally do the darth vader twist in my campaign

paladin’s dad has been MIA for twenty years now. a few sightings but nothing since he was ousted by the church for heresy

but i’m gonna make a kind of dark knight character they recurrently fight during a storyline about a demonic organisation, and then have him unmask himself at a pivotal moment and use the paladin’s birth name, the one very few know

“Hello, Elric”

and after a whole session of buildup, call it there as a cliffhanger

of course this is miles away. and it’s just a moment

but how GOOD is that

[arctic yew]

All this made me start writting lore for stars

its
....very bare bones

stars are not big balls of gas. they are actual semi-sapient creatures. celestials,to be exact.

The sun is not a star. It's importance solidified it's full blown godhood.

deities own stars like pets.

they are still as hot as hell itself,so being within close proximity of one is gonna vaporize you instantly if you arent a fire elemental.

[indigo steppe]

hay fellers anyone here know 4e stuff

namely is there a good website for it like wikidot or something

[modest echo]

https://iws.mx/dnd/?list

[indigo steppe]

thankuuu

[worthy plank]

man

I wish Warlock was an Int class

[arctic yew]

i wish int was a better stat

[narrow solar]

I haven't done 5e in a long time but I don't think an int warlock would break anything, ask your GM

[frail hull]

isn't an int warlock just an artificer with extra end user agreements?

[timber sleet]

fun fact, dnd spelljammer actually had similar lore in earlier editions, there were monsters known as "constellates" which were literally living constellations

[craggy cloak]

have done this before; it works out great

[arctic yew]

Oh dang

[timber sleet]

they were also a perfect example of how early dnd made a bunch of monster statblocks with no thought as to how they would actually be used, https://mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/c/constell.html this is their statblock

"size: 1 - 100 million square miles" where are you even going to put this.

[dapper fulcrum]

what the fuck

[timber sleet]

in space i guess but even in spelljammer that is a stupidly massive space

[arctic yew]

The only valid way of designing creatures

[dapper fulcrum]

what the flying fuck

[timber sleet]

"If it wishes, the constellate can melee at up to its full size — often millions of square miles! The full-size constellate can crush with its enormous bulk, causing 2d20 points of damage per 1.000 square mites of area. The range of this attack is the constellate’s size. It can use this attack form once every other round."
assuming the smallest possible constellate of 1 million square miles, that is 2000d20 damage. guaranteed hit.

also a constellate’s attack lasts five rounds, so assuming im interpreting this correctly (im not too familiar with 2e) they just keep doing damage to anything caught in that area

[arctic yew]

"hit dice: N/A"

oh

[tepid crane]

I mean yeah it’s a constellation do you expect it to fit in a 4x4?

This is more something you avoid

[timber sleet]

yeah i just thought it was funny that they gave a statblock to something that was very clearly made for story purposes only, and not to be fought

it kinda reminds me of those bad homebrews of stupid overpowered gods you see on dndbeyond sometimes

[arctic yew]

......i have done this so many times

[timber sleet]

sometimes i do it just because making statblocks is fun but i dont really bother to use or show off the statblock when i do that

[dapper fulcrum]

i only ever make statblocks for things meant to be fought and challenged

like wholeass 3.5e class stat blocks for monsters with class levels

[arctic yew]

I currently have a cr 40 villain that

I am now tweaking the numbers for cr 8,12,16 and 18

Since there's a sukuna thing going on with it being shattered in pieces weaker than the whole

[frail hull]

Now I want to try to make a character that might be able to tank a hit from this.

[proud osprey]

sup gamers

[dapper fulcrum]

howdy

[arctic yew]

hello pikachu

[worthy plank]

oh I'm not in a game rn I just am expressing a design bugbear I have with 5e lmao

I will admit it makes the prospect of Hexblade/Bladesinger very attractive which is maaaaaybe a bit gamebreaking

[craggy cloak]

just remove hexblade ez

[dapper fulcrum]

bladesinger hexblade is already a big damage dealer from what ive seen
Eldritch Blast into Spirit Shroud is a beast

[craggy cloak]

hexblade is a blight on game design anyways

[dapper fulcrum]

on one hand, no hexblade in the new PHB

on the other hand, every bladelock is a hexblade (can use Cha or another ability score for attacks and damage) now

[craggy cloak]

im more okay with that

its the Entire Level 1 Package of hexblade that draws my ire

in positive news, if my schedule works out, i might finally be in a spelljammer game again

even getting to revive the same guy

[dapper fulcrum]

yayyy spelljammer

[dapper fulcrum]

Peace and Twilight cleric~

[craggy cloak]

D'arby, ace samurai revenant who has 0 memory except to Be Cool, Respect Women and Kids, and Keep Funky

[cosmic geyser]

Me, who is gearing up to eventually do a full rework of hexblade: 👀

[dapper fulcrum]

id be fine with going full hexblade if not for its level 6 feature

i dun like the level 6 feature

[worthy plank]

lol wtf

[cosmic geyser]

Yeah... Accursed Specter is... I don't even know

[worthy plank]

I am glad they carried over my favorite BG3 change to warlock tbh

[craggy cloak]

my issue with hexblade is that you get Everything You Want at level 1 so theres no need to go more than 3 into it

[cosmic geyser]

I feel that

[dapper fulcrum]

Hexblade crossbow expert paladin~

[craggy cloak]

you do hexblade 1/3 and then Literally Any Other Class You Cant Fuck This Up

[cosmic geyser]

I do think offloading the weapon stuff to Pact of the Blade in 2024 is a good base for the rework though

[dapper fulcrum]

warlock is fun

[worthy plank]

celestial warlock with pact of the blade here I come

[dapper fulcrum]

still taking an obligatory fighter salsa for the weapon arts at least

two weapon fighting sounds gnarly now

[cosmic geyser]

The hard part with the hexblade rework is figuring out what exactly to replace a lot of the class features with

[dapper fulcrum]

yeah

[cosmic geyser]

Like the only one past first level I'd keep is Armor of Hexes

The capstone is probably going to folded into Hexblade's Curse since all it is is "You can now redirect HC when you kill the target." And Accursed Specter is going right into the bin

Would it be too strong if I gave Hexblade an Extra Attack? Like I know warlocks in general get Thirsting Blade (not sure if it's in the 2024 PHB), but I feel like it makes sense since a Hexblade Warlock.

OR, it's just dawned on me: what if I change the name to something like Hexrune. That way, it's not forcing you to take Pact of the Blade like the original version does.

[worthy plank]

I think its level 6 should be Bladesinger's flavor of extra attack tbh

to differentiate from Thirsting Blade

[craggy cloak]

it gets funky with how EB works

[worthy plank]

Tru

But technically a Bladesinger can already do that if they rly wanna multiclass with warlock

[trail ferry]

You made me think of a sword who has a mouth and sings

[cosmic geyser]

It was probably gonna be the Bladesinger one if I did give it that. I already did that with Swords Bard since Valor Bard got that as well

[proud osprey]

me they say

[worthy plank]

wait, did Valor Bard get that in your rework or does it have it in the 2024 rulebook?

[cosmic geyser]

It has it in the 2024 rulebook

[worthy plank]

LMAO WTF

XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

[proud osprey]

went and bought some dice and the folks at the desk and i had a chat about PHB tomorrow

[worthy plank]

man

[proud osprey]

and how we all don’t care that much

[worthy plank]

this rulebook is such a mixed bag

[proud osprey]

but how we will be poaching from it

[worthy plank]

of the fucking dumbest and best changes

[cosmic geyser]

I know this thanks to RPGBot and my brother who got the 2024 PHB

[proud osprey]

handbook tomorrow! uwu

[worthy plank]

uwu

[cosmic geyser]

UwU

[worthy plank]

U W U

[cosmic geyser]

U W U
W
U

[proud osprey]

whoa

thinking about plot hooks for the big city

obviously there’s

• the tournament arc
• the druid’s plotline needs advancing
• room for the paladin to pursue leads about his father

what else? need some tasteful urban adventurettes

[worthy plank]

who else is in the party?

[proud osprey]

we have

[worthy plank]

you could do the classic 'pcs are the subject of a framejob and must work with the unsavory criminal faction to prove their innocence'

[proud osprey]

• bard, dragonborn
• monk, wood elf
• barbarian, dwarf

i think the party may end up staying in the dwarven district of the city

Dóthtown

[worthy plank]

is the barbarian considered a 'typical, upstanding dwarf'?

could do a framejob around them being framed for commiting some cultural taboo type crime

[trail ferry]

shaved someone else's beard 🔪

[worthy plank]

oh no college of dance looks fucking incredible

[proud osprey]

ehh let’s maybe pivot away from the frame job aspect for a moment

they’re meant to be entering a tournament idk if they can be under that much legal scrutiny

[worthy plank]

no problem

sorry lol

[proud osprey]

maybe someone steals something for a dwarven temple or shrine

it’s okay

from*

[sand hornet]

I'm playing a Bladesinger in my Odyssey of the Dragonlords game

[proud osprey]

and the party get roped into helping out

[sand hornet]

It's fun

We aren't using 2024 rules yet though

At least not entirely

[worthy plank]

and the final round of tournament has the opponent using the relic, but they didn't know it was stolen

[proud osprey]

the black dogs would never

they’re upstanding good fellas

[trail ferry]

candymen died early

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/449651567948464128/1269990275908894800/NotL.gif

[proud osprey]

rip

they don’t die early

they die in semi finals

[trail ferry]

good

[proud osprey]

well. they don’t die. they are all restored

[trail ferry]

well i imagine they are some bad folks either way

[proud osprey]

the Order of Vivis is lending a lot of manpower to the festivities

yes

okay idea: thing stolen, party have an opportunity to go do a city dungeon! i like those

S E W E R L E V E L

:3

[trail ferry]

beeg evil rats await them

[proud osprey]

Y E S rats

maybe something gnarlier

carrion crawlers, giant spiders, rot grubs

who/what stole the artefact

[worthy plank]

hmmm

do you want it to be more lighthearted or like, the relic is gonna be used for evil?

[proud osprey]

open to either, but leaning towards nefarious or some kind of broader political conflict - framing another demographic maybe

the relic being stolen was not an act of good intentions however it went down

also what then is the artefact

[arctic yew]

That is part of their behavior,not their attack

They will attack for five rounds like any other creature would and leave

[tepid crane]

Make sure to throw some tetnus in there for flavour

Or gangrene

[proud osprey]

maybe

maaaybe

[timber sleet]

oh, i didnt realize that 2e had creature behaviour like that

thats honestly cool, kinda wish they'd do more of that in later editions, having little guides as to how a creature may act in different circumstances would be cool

[arctic yew]

Yah Theres a bunch of things they don't tell yo

U

Did you know that the gelatinous cube works on a completely binary "if heat, follow and try eat",to the point they sometimes walk off volcanoes and die?

Because i didn't until i searched the previous editions

[timber sleet]

wtf thats such a cool detail that could allow for so many interesting counterplays against them, why did they remove that

[craggy cloak]

partly information bloat, partly changes in how things were run

[proud osprey]

okay. dwarf shrine trashed and an artefact stolen

what, why, how, who, where?

[craggy cloak]

who opposes the dwarves in your realm

artefact... could be cool if its like a Saint's item; like something like a goblet or shield from some ancient important dwarf religious figure

[frail hull]

What:An Ax and shield is always a classic.
Who: cult of rot hiding in the server.
How: tunneled below the temple and into the relic room.
Why: want to corrupt it.
Where: hidden in the lowest cistern of the city, where nothing but vermin and mold will grow. Perhaps an undiscovered entrance to the underdark. Slowly seeping corruption upwards.

[proud osprey]

goblet is SICK

that’s SO pulpy i fucking love it

maybe hired by a powerful organisation

to steal the goblet

of

Hammargar

[proud osprey]

maybe i he goblet in question has some really solid magic properties

who was hired to steal the goblet

[craggy cloak]

The Fang of Mystril

[proud osprey]

awesome

they are the dark elf group hired to put the frame on the local dark elves so that they can fulfil their contract with someone who is keen to fuck with race relations in the city

[proud osprey]

or someone who wants the goblet

[proud osprey]

hmm

the encounter

drow as primary antagonists

any specifics people can contribute

[frail hull]

A priestess, 3 warriors. And a leader riding a giant spider.

[craggy cloak]

one of them has a "grenade" that, on impact, just spawns swarms of spiders

[dapper fulcrum]

Like the new eldritch knight and valor bard
But uh,
Spirit shroud+extra attack cantrip+eldritch blast

At least hexsinger has to be MAD to do this

[cosmic geyser]

Yeah EB is going to be a big wrench in this Etra Attack feature. Not helping things is the change I had in mind for Hexblade's Curse which makes it an always prepared Hex with extra riders. There's also the fact that there is now a new Invocation that gives you a third attack as well

So the extra attack may not be it just because that could potentially turn into six attacks per round + all the extra damage from spirit shroud and what have you

[sand hornet]

Is Bladesinger in the 2024 book?

[dapper fulcrum]

Nope

Partially glad

The original version is already cracked

And its nice at least that swords bard and eldritch knight get to use its toys

[sand hornet]

Like I said earlier I'm playing one in an Odyssey of the Dragonlords game

So I was curious

[dapper fulcrum]

The 2014 is still viable

[cosmic geyser]

Yeah. I have a feeling nothing is going to change for the Wizard subclasses once I get everything ported over to the 2024 rules.

[sage vector]

Anyone know what the 2024 monk subclasses are?

[cosmic geyser]

Open Hand, Four Elements (completely reworked, so it's basically a new class), Shadow, and Mercy

[sage vector]

awww, no drunken monk...

What's four elements like now? Is it good?

And what's Mercy do?

[cosmic geyser]

I don't know about Four Elements now, but Mercy is the one that can heal allies and/or deal necrotic damage to enemies

Mercy was really strong when it first came out in Tasha's, and it's largely unchanged from what I've seen

Okay I just looked at the subclass since I wasn't 100% sure with my initial description: Mercy Monk is "I can heal people and also beat the shit out of them"

[sage vector]

A shame drunken monk isn't a thing

I love drunken monk

I'm playing some middle-ground, guarding the 2 back liners while we have a fighter

so I'm considering four elements so i can have some decent range and variety

[dapper fulcrum]

well, the 2014 options are still there if you wanna use em'

[sage vector]

Can you still use those subclasses?

[dapper fulcrum]

Yes WotC cant stop you

[sage vector]

I think they've proven they're willing to send the Pinkertons on petty shit so who knows

[pure elm]

2024 Monk is quite good now

All the subs are pretty viable too I think

[sage vector]

I shall see how it goes

I'm tempted to have drunken monk but I don't know how powerful it is compared to other ones really

I think shadow is meant to do great damage and it's like... hmmm

But also... drunken slapping

[craggy cloak]

https://tenor.com/view/jackie-chan-drunken-master-drunken-fist-gif-24609305

[cosmic geyser]

I think Drunken Master is fine from a cursory glance. Of the ones that weren’t added, Sun Soul and Four Elements were really the only ones that needed any amount of help iirc

I’m pretty confident in saying that Kensei is fine as is

Also even in Sun Soul’s case it doesn’t need that much changing. It just needed a little bit more tune ups than most classes, but the general features were fine (although I might change Sun Shield altogether)

[dapper cove]

Constructing a mega dungeon but realising I'm not sure I know of a good guide for one.

Tis always about figuring out what makes the wings relevant, and from there what may be of interest within those individual wings and so on. It's been a while since I made a proper dungeon crawl haha.

Other than that, where to pull monsters from to balance encounters continues to elude me. Think it's that a different system, probably 4e, would suit what I'm going for better, but I'm compromising on using 5e as I don't expect the group to have the time to learn a different system :).

[tepid crane]

My best megadungeons have always just been detail drawings of massive dwarf fortress forts

[dapper fulcrum]

the new dnd books have interesting monsters to use

also with regards to encounter balance you can make use of the environment and cover maybe
like if its a 20x20 room with an ogre its going to be easy compared to like, several 15x15 and 25x25 interconnected rooms with ranged kobolds sniping from behind cover

but yea 5e can be rough esp at higher levels with dungeon bypass seplls

*spells

wait forgot to turn off pings sorry

[dapper cove]

It's less the conceptual encounter design I find annoying, as you can probably guess from all I've written about it in relation to Lancer, and more the minutiae of finding NPCs with more depth to them than "Attack, maybe move"

The macro structure is largely in place, with needing to flesh out the dungeon gimmicks and their stages as well as individual rooms of the different wings. Just a case of me feeling other systems would be better suited for what I wish to attempt, but sticking with 5e largely due to social reasons.

[dapper fulcrum]

yea standard MM monster design is barebones
hence why i recommend uhh the stat blocks from the planescape book or the book of many things. They're kinda dynamic and can be just reflavored or reskinned to taste
like ex. the martial artist sigil faction guy stat block can be reflavored as a kobold pugilist

[flat gull]

I also liked stealing from forge of foes

[proud osprey]

i hate that

very good

[obsidian jasper]

Yall, how do I play defensively with a warlock?

Also what warlock can dish out the most damage combined with sorcerer

[flat gull]

Are you also the sorcerer

[dapper fulcrum]

Hexblade EZ

the damn thing is cracked

[obsidian jasper]

Yes

[obsidian jasper]

Alr

What’s the best sorcerer?

For damage I mean

[dapper fulcrum]

Divine Soul
so you can grab Spirit Shroud and be the cheesiest mozzerella serving on your table

[obsidian jasper]

What makes it so good and what’s the strategy?

[cosmic geyser]

Does sorcerer not get SS?

[obsidian jasper]

What’s ss?

[cosmic geyser]

Spirit Shroud. Turns out sorcerer's don't get it outside of Divine Soul

[cosmic geyser]

Yeah, this is probably your best bet

[obsidian jasper]

Alr

Wait I can get stuff like inflict wounds yippee

Should also fit the theme of the character

[dapper fulcrum]

Spirit Shroud is a 1d8 bonus to each hit with an attack against a target within 10 feet
+1d8 per two levels above 3rd
so its a cheesy way to stack up damage when paired with eldritch blast at higher levels

[sand hornet]

There's one dumb concept I really wanna play but I know it's dumb and I feel weird even suggesting it sometimes

Robot from an advanced plane/world, who for one reason or another ends up in the fantasy land

[dapper fulcrum]

sounds fun

[cosmic geyser]

Yeah. Robits are always cool

[sand hornet]

Admittedly Forever Winter reminded me of the idea

Imagine a (probably more humanoid and smaller) version of this in a Fantasy Land

And uh, less body horror y

I'd imagine their body would be shaped like this (but more techy, naturally)

But yeah

Silicon and Electricty Tech Robot in Fantasy Land is cool to me

Especially if they come from a non-magical place

[tepid crane]

How do you stop them from not just losing power/parts etc

[sand hornet]

Actually a question I've asked myself, and I haven't come up with a satisfying answer

I'm thinking they're nuclear powered, but beyond that idk

I imagine wear and tear would probably get to them over time

Admittedly I was thinking of a homebrew class for this but, obviously homebrew may be too much

If anyone has any ideas though I'm all ears

[frail hull]

A mechanight taking artificer that specializes in the armour subclass. Could flavor it that the armour is apart of the character instead of wearing it?

[modest echo]

probably

[proud osprey]

figured out where my setting lands on gunpowder weapons today, and cooked up some rules with a colleague

[proud osprey]

• nat 1: a misfire
• 2d12 damage for muskets / 2d8 damage for flintlocks
• either an action, bonus action, and movement to reload for muskets / an action and bonus action for pistols
• you can load additional bullets into the barrel, incurring a +1 to your misfire range for up to 5 total bullets and 25% chance of misfire on natural 1-5; each bullet adds 2d12/2d8 to the damage
• misfire table d6 roll, +1 for every bullet
• 1: nothing happens, shooting blanks
• 2-3: misfire, hits the wrong target (nearest creature or object)
• 4-5: gun breaks, needs to be repaired with tools
• 6: gun explodes, dealing the total damage for the amount of ammo used in a circle with a radius of 15”, dex save to half this

gonna be fun

[tepid crane]

This is beautiful

Reminds me of the very early handgonne shit people did in the 1500s

Where the smart ones put the actual tiny cannon on the end of a big stick

[proud osprey]

eeeyup that’s the point

at some point gnomes living in like dóth or kazmi or something cracked the code to making gunpowder

and since then they’ve veeeerry gradually been trickling out of different small production companies

[tepid crane]

Is it actual straight up chemical combustion or something more fantastical?

[proud osprey]

firearms were first deployed during the third cadric crusade

it’s powders going bang and sending a ball into things

[proud osprey]

albeit very few of them and almost entirely by mercenaries

[obsidian jasper]

So my told me for the monster part of my character I should take a separate sheet and take the stats of a monstrosity (he asked me what this thing is classified as and I said monstrosity bc iirc those are the unexplainable thingies)
Anyway I took yuan ti abomination
Starting class is hexblade
I’ll add divine soul later on
During combat I play the monster, any other time I play the human kid
Backstory is pretty simple
Only thing I haven’t figured out yet is what it could look like

What do y’all think

[proud osprey]

druid encounter
3 druids, one in coyote form, all wood elves, two gals and a guy
part of the circle of the triad, an ancient druid order spanning across the globe
friendly, bonds with the wood elves in the party and the dwarf, less keen on the bars and paladin

[trail ferry]

folks i need puzzles to steal

dungeon infested by evil pigs

they just moved in so the puzzle could be whatever

[dapper fulcrum]

symbol-based sudoku

4x4 grid, with four 2x2 segments
instead of numbers its Sticks, Bricks, Straws and Wolf Bones

[trail ferry]

i think i could make something like that work

[dapper fulcrum]

ayt ayt

[proud osprey]

i am about to commence operation hatchet

[proud osprey]

also

i have recruited internet strangers

and will be running a city game

or at least a game set in a city

BUT

it’s the city of kazmopolis, occupied as of the end of the third crusade

so immediately there’s a great tension there for political rp

[proud osprey]

worldbuilding concern: does the city of kazmopol, and by extension the kazmi empire, worship:

• a differing reselection of the other nation’s pantheon, descended from the original glorian empire from which both derive
• the immortal dragon

[arctic yew]

fellas,i may need some help

[modest echo]

wassup

[arctic yew]

i need to come up with concepts for

3 bosses for my campaign

there 5 minibosses are basically underlings of the main boss of this organization wich... i really hope you have some familiarity with wow,because they are honestly very similar to the scarlet crusade,a group of previously righteous holy men and women that helped the common people in times of crisis,now turned to a radical group that still helps but also is very very VERY trigger happy with burning people on stakes for perceived heresy.

Maria,the sword of light

Magdalene,the Obsessed. finger of lust

Solomon,the Omnipresent. finger of sloth

Samson,the Breaker. finger of wrath

Cain. finger of envy

Judas. finger of greed. (yes,i know,i am incredibly subtle in my naming conventions,thank you.)

i managed magdalene and solomon so far,but the rest is stumping me. specially because i dont want samson to be GRAAAH BARBARIAN SMASH since that would kinda copy maria's schtick (ignore the cr,i just use it to automatically make the attack and save caltulations)

[flat gull]

Samson's about the embodiement of wrath

So he can fixate on someone, should probably have aggro mananipulation or slashback mechanics where you're trying to manage how pissed he is

At you in particular

Maybe he can make other people mad

[frail hull]

I feel like Cain should have something that let's him copy player abilities or spells. Could even go full Shang Sun and just have them copy a character every turn as a lair action.

[cosmic geyser]

Judas, I feel, should have a grapple mechanic that restrains a player. If you want to be truly evil, also give him a counterspell mechanic that, on success, heals him for a certain amount of hit points

[flat gull]

Nah judas has bribery mechanics

How much HP Is this worth to you

[frail hull]

When Judas takes damage he can instead spend silver pieces equal to the damage done. If he does, that damage is redirected to a character of his choice. Judas starts with 30 pieces of silver. And regains all spent silver on a long rest.

Points the finger. Judas points at a character, then character must pass a charisma save or belive thier parry is trying to betray them and Judas is trying to save them and act accordingly. Last until end of judas next turn.

Greedy: Judas does not start hostile to players and is willing to negotiate to stand down or even switch sides at the beginning of combat, price isn't always in gold.

What's mine is mine is mine! Even from beyond the grave Judas wants what is his. Any items looted off the body are cursed to return to him.

[arctic yew]

The main problem with that is that I kinda already did that with maggie

[tepid crane]

Anyone have a good set of rules or ideas on how to let my players create their own noble house/dynasty

I guess I am looking for some way to balance out their domain for a sort of noble feuding game I had planned

[proud osprey]

AYO? 👀

real shit?

[tepid crane]

I might just file the serial numbers off of the game of thrones’s house builder

[proud osprey]

honestly i’d say start with the land. the stronghold. their base of operations, etc. then start bleeding that out: make allies within whatever political system

ooh maybe

[cosmic geyser]

Maybe mechanics-wise you could do something like the Factions stuff, but instead of gaining a new title every however many renown they get access to things like new buildings and, as rat boy says, allies

[tepid crane]

Could be, I think the major reward system will be in land. Like claiming a part of the kingdom that has a cool dungeon or something else in it.

[proud osprey]

my vibe is this

i want my parties to lock in and get strongholds or bases

so around 5th level - 10th later i want them to have somewhere to drop their shit off and that they can chill out between adventures. this might be a ruined keep used by a powerful storyline-ending boss as his base, reclaimed and restored

it might be lodgings provided by the crown or a guild or another notable power

it may be something built entirely from scratch, a restored temple, a wizard tower awarded in someone’s will

whatever it is, it starts there

at this point, the party know people, and their base may have a local settlement nearby or be within a local settlement

so have those people become relevant somehow, or retain further relevancy

if they got this land off someone higher up the social ladder than them, incorporate that; this person is their social better and rubbing shoulders can lead to better outcomes

[tepid crane]

It is pretty cool to give them their own spot yeah

[sand hornet]

I think one of the MCDM books helps with mechanics for this

[proud osprey]

strongholds and followers + kingdoms and warfare. i find them okay but limited, so have homebrewed my own rules for every game i’ve needed to run

[sand hornet]

Yeah those

[proud osprey]

like eventually, i’ll have the players roll every so often on a big table

and said table will include some obvious stuff

like a small group of dwarven stone workers, or 1d3 acolytes as pilgrims, or a man at arms looking to swear fealty

but also some really cool shit

like elvish cavalry aback elk or similar, or planar beings, or 1d3 ogres

and i’ll make each player have a unique table based on class race and background

and they’ll each get to roll

at the beginning of each “stronghold turn”

and then different events play out over the course of that

[tepid crane]

Kind of reminds me of some tables in tresspasser

[obsidian jasper]

A group my friend is in got a place, anyway they now gotta pay taxes

[proud osprey]

also that

[obsidian jasper]

He told me tax evasions wasn’t a possibility

So I told him to burn it all down

How would you solve this for example?

[proud osprey]

what do you mean solve?

you could tax evade all you like until they come and threaten you with coercion or force

[obsidian jasper]

A way to not go broke while paying taxes for a big castle or something like that cuz the dm we both play with rarely gives us more than pocket change

[obsidian jasper]

How did that wizard trick go where you made a robot army?

As a wizard

[proud osprey]

huh?

[tepid crane]

Offer whoever wants the taxes your service

“Hey we will go kill that necromancer and you wipe our debt”

[obsidian jasper]

Shield guardians they were called I think

I heard a long time ago that a wizard could make an army of those if he lives long enough

[proud osprey]

yeah in theory

so they say…

[sand hornet]

Sounds fun!

Also how many people here like homebrew?

[flat gull]

I like to homebrew monsters

[tepid crane]

Homebrew is cool

[cosmic geyser]

Same here

[proud osprey]

i run a fairly homebrew game

i figure if you’re playing pf, pf2, d&d of any edition, dcc, or any other osr shit, you’re effectively playing d&d. and should steal judiciously from each of these other properties and make your own stuff for it

[flat gull]

Depends what you mean by homebrew

[flat gull]

Whatcha wanna know

[sand hornet]

I'm just purely curious

I like homebrew more than a lot of 1st party stuff personally :v

[proud osprey]

the most osr thing you can do is take gygax’s point to heart about how they should never, from a business standpoint, let the players know they don’t need the official rulebooks to have fun playing “d&d”

[sand hornet]

I do wish there was like, a class that worked like the PF2e Thaumaturge but for 5e

But if there is one, I have yet to find it

[proud osprey]

hell the stronghold system i was just talking about was homebrew

[sand hornet]

Assuming it's even possible

[proud osprey]

make it

[sand hornet]

Problem is, idk how I'd make it work in 5e

Maybe select items you have that have certain effects (and can synergies with one another)

But idk

[flat gull]

So what does the thaumaturge do

[sand hornet]

Thaumaturge is a class that mechanically forces weaknesses onto characters, and exploits that

however, it also has a lot of other stuff it does depending on what Items you pick for the class

it's a pretty complex class

[cosmic geyser]

When you say Items, do you mean like regular items or like class features?

[sand hornet]

class features

they're symbolized by fluff items but they work as class features

[proud osprey]

i might go buy some rpg books this weekend

[sand hornet]

Not describing it the best admittedly but

[proud osprey]

dcc, 5e 2, and pf2

[flat gull]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder2e/comments/13hcc25/thaumaturge_has_to_be_my_favorite_class_in_any_rpg/

[sand hornet]

It's a great clkass

https://2e.aonprd.com/Classes.aspx?ID=22

[cosmic geyser]

I think you could build it similar to how Warlock is built, since what I'm picking up from this class is basically "It's a modular exorcist."

[proud osprey]

i might do some d&d prep tonight

[flat gull]

See I'd love to see the binder in 5e.

[arctic yew]

i dont remember the last time i used a vanilla monster

[proud osprey]

i don’t think i’ve ever NOT tweaked monsters heavily

[arctic yew]

....SHIT I GOT TOO CARRIED AWAY MAKING BOSSES FOR THE NEXT ARC AND FORGOT TO MAKE THE MANSION THEY'RE RAIDING IN A HOUR

[frail hull]

I think you could do a therumage by starting with the artifice frame, but make them a divine caster that gets less perminit infusions, but gets several that only last a day.

[proud osprey]

okay mansion

grand foyer

big room off to the sides left and right, hallways going around each

[cosmic geyser]

I don't think I've really modded a whole lot of creatures... except for that time I made Specter Knight by modifying a Death Knight statblock

[proud osprey]

old deep south plantation house kind of vibe

big staircase up the second storey

[flat gull]

Do you want me to dig up that map of the resi mansion

[proud osprey]

various chests, safes, what have you. desks with important documents on/in them

[tepid crane]

Steal the home alone floor plan

[frail hull]

Was going to say, got the plans to the resident evil mansion?

[proud osprey]

actually a good ideas

[arctic yew]

They're basically looking for magical invite that leads then to a restaurant that changes location every 5 hours

[arctic yew]

....shit good idea

[flat gull]

https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/z090z5/i_put_spencer_mansion_from_resident_evil_1_into/#lightbox

[mellow rivet]

https://2minutetabletop.com/product/haunted-mansion-furnished/ I recommend this for haunted houses

[proud osprey]

playin skyrim

got my brain thinkin n shit

[proud osprey]

i should start building the stronghold tables for my current players actually

[proud osprey]

might try and run a side game for my oldschool original gaming group from school

they said they’d be down

but i need to think

generate some exciting and enticing content

wonder what i’m thinking for them

i wanna incorporate some of the more esoteric aspects of the setting and mechanics

[frail hull]

Underdark wildlife safari!

[next canopy]

wait the new sea druid is just spore circle ?

[cosmic geyser]

Not really, since the similarities begin and end with the aura effect that can be moved from you to others

Spores Druid is a little bit more selfish and also helps with dealing damage

Now 2024 Elemental Monk vs Ascendant Dragon Monk? Those two are pretty identical to each other...

[craggy cloak]

been so long since ive gotten to play d&d that im excited to do so next saturday

[obsidian jasper]

I just made my first evil character

he's an undead elve

neutral evil

378 years old and immortal

he can regenerate from everything even a single nail

but he doesn't like this

as he is cursed with this

he's a silver tongued murderer

[narrow solar]

I have been glancing at the 24 rules did they roll back rolling the off hand attack into your attack action

[proud osprey]

gonna introduce some guilds to my game

is it reasonable to regulate magic and mercenaries legally in universe

[narrow solar]

Ye

[proud osprey]

because if you knew people could start a fire with a motion of their hand and a couple of words, or manipulate others with their mind, or set potent magical traps all over the place, then you’d probably want that on lock right

[worthy plank]

Yes, and it can be a source of very interesting conflict

[proud osprey]

okay good good

• the party arrives in mollebourg
• lady lissoria is able to handwave some of the paperwork expectations for them while they are in her company
• but they will need to secure licensure to carry their weapons and cast their spells legally

Guild of Mages, needs a name

unless it's just that

Mercenaries Guild

putting so much planning into Mollebourg compared to everything before hand

like these first three or so sessions are super easy to prep and go

but mollebourg is a city which needs some internal consistency

[obsidian jasper]

running around with a plus 8 to persuasion is genuinly fun

combined with the warlock thing that gives you many faces

[proud osprey]

yes

[craggy cloak]

i think you need a feat or weapon mastery for it from my skimming

[narrow solar]

Oof

[craggy cloak]

dont quote me on that

[proud osprey]

building: world

[flat gull]

Plot: Hooked

[proud osprey]

let’s gooo

france analog however 😠

[worthy plank]

Circle of Magecraft?

[proud osprey]

maybe

i don’t know yet

[flat gull]

Spellweaver's Compact

The Isolde

[frail hull]

circle of weavers. Runs a front as a high end boutique store.

[worthy plank]

I mean iirc this is like, a government sanctioned regulatory body lol

So it wouldn't have a front

[frail hull]

yeah, but they got to make money somehow. i thing front was the wrong word there

[proud osprey]

hm

maybe just the guild of mages

[proud osprey]

chat let’s make an encounter

[smoky notch]

fifty arasaka operatives with paintball guns, half of them containing acid and the other half containing sleeping drugs

[proud osprey]

holy shit

[final phoenix]

I just improv-ed most of a session, building, lore, set pieces, and puzzle. 90% of the thing i swear. I can never let the players know how much I BS and make things up

[tepid crane]

500 orcs

[sand hornet]

https://tenor.com/view/500-cigarettes-the-orville-gif-7999465420984481267

[solemn totem]

Corvo from Dishonored is a rogue who took a dip into warlock.

[narrow solar]

Corvo from Dishonored more than casually resembles more than one character I've made and I love that

[solemn totem]

I think the Outsider could ve pretty neat basis for a GOO warlock patron, a diatant, aloof god handing out magic purely to see what mortals do with it.

[proud osprey]

oh shit i got a session tomorrow!

gang i need some basic town prep in case the party wants to buy shit

[craggy cloak]

what do you like to have in your town

[final phoenix]

What's the setting?

[proud osprey]

its my own

[proud osprey]

this is a well to do town nearly the capital of this imperial province

so i need an alchemist, got that, want a blacksmith, bookseller, general store, clothier, magic shop, pawnshop, uhhh, maybe some other shit

[final phoenix]

I mean more tech level

If medieval, never forget the baker and brewer

[craggy cloak]

Duck's Deals general store and rival store Market Manic, run by dwarf brothers who are bickering always about each others store

Bisopro runs the alchemy shop, was once a cool mage but now retired and just wants to make medical potions, probably got a really cool injury from a dragon or something

[proud osprey]

oh naturally

[craggy cloak]

Old Karl is the oldest fucking gnome you've ever seen and he has the best organized bookstore this side of the river but he's so slow due to his age

those are some immediate ideas i got

[proud osprey]

already got the alchemist sorted but he can run the magic shop

old karl GOATED

[craggy cloak]

the pawnshop should also be a cool front for some guild shit

[proud osprey]

explain at once

this sounds coooool come baaaaack

[craggy cloak]

Pawn shop in the front, secret rat people / goblins / spies or whatever information network in the back

[proud osprey]

hmmmm

spies maybe

any more solid ideas?

actually it’s not likely to come up this session

request adjourned

thinking about the bandits tomorrow. some of them will need to be minions

quite a few

then two mini-bosses and the boss encounter

don’t wanna overwhelm nor underwhelm the party

gonna be a delicate balance

[proud osprey]

hmmm

loot!

i wrote some loot down

[frail hull]

Oh?

[proud osprey]

yeah

rolled some random loot

got decent numbers

on the dmg tables

i like random tables for loot because like

the players didn’t loot this shit. the bandits did. this is what’s here. use it, sell it, what have you

[frail hull]

Sounds reasonable.

[craggy cloak]

for tougher bandit boss stuff i really like doing any variation on Guy + Dog Sidekick

[proud osprey]

i’ve got guy + witch sidekick

[proud osprey]

planning out the druid’s plot

• intro / setille
• mollebourg - acquire intel on master alchemists/healers
• žem - stop on the way to find master alchemist
• ürjek durn - master alchemist
• the gostwoode - triumphant return, fight for liberation of the forest

link this with the monk, rival clans of wood elves in this forest afflicted by plague, must seek an alchemist to solve the problem

[lament geode]

Anyone know a place where one might... acquire a copy of the 2024 PHB PDF? I don't want to give them money for it.

[lament geode]

Created a landing page for my Odyssey of the Dragonlords game

Still in progress but I rather like it

[sand hornet]

Looks good

How are you enjoying Odyssey? I'm in a game of it myself atm (and also own a physical copy of the book)

[lament geode]

We haven't started it yet, I'm going to be running it in a bit

[sand hornet]

Fair fair

Was just curious, I love talking about Odyssey :v

[lament geode]

But it's the only piece of 5E content that I've looked at and said "I WANT to run this" and not "I would be okay playing this"

Well, one of the only ones.

[sand hornet]

Yeah it's great

It's very well done

[lament geode]

I'm also just

an absolute sucker for greek fantasy

swords and sandals galore

[sand hornet]

Ye it's fun

I'm currently playing a Lost One Bladesinger in Odyssey

[lament geode]

I'm setting a boundary though, because I'm not someone who's run 5E a bajillion times

In that I'm pretty much going to ask them to do core book and Odyssey specific stuff for like, 95% of things

[sand hornet]

Yeah that's fair

[lament geode]

So I don't have to go fishing through 300 PDFs to find every little trait and feat and spell that's come out

plus I want them to use the Odyssey stuff

[sand hornet]

My DM is using First Party + Valda's

For our game

Regardless yeah, Odyssey is unironically probably one of my favorite modules from any game ever

It's very well done

[lament geode]

yeah if I knew more stuff maybe I'd be more cool with it but I want to keep things fairly simple

Oh yeah I love it, I've had the PDF for ages

Just haven't really had a chance to run it

[sand hornet]

Fair

[lament geode]

My favorite module ever goes to Wallflower but this is a big one for me even still

[sand hornet]

I found it because I was at my local comic/game store, saw the cover, and went "wow that's a cool cover" and bought it

And the rest is history

[sand hornet]

And ye, admittedly I'd ask if you have any slots open but I both already am in a bunch of games, and I also.love homebrew a bit too much

Also my character concepts for Odyssey are weird :v

[lament geode]

lol

I'm currently combing through my friends in my LARP circles to see who wants in

It's gonna be on a weird schedule though

[sand hornet]

Like a Lost One who's a Robot from an Advanced Plane

Due to the weird planar shit going on in Thylea

[lament geode]

Yeah that'd be a bit off for me lol

[sand hornet]

Understandable!

I like weird "fish out of water" character concepts

[lament geode]

I'm setting the rule for my players that Thylea is the only world they know of, I don't want to play the "Heroes come from another realm" part, I wanna put some hard focus on Thylea itself

Oh I do too most of the time

[sand hornet]

Yeah fair

[sand hornet]

Lost One is kind of a weird Epic Path for this reason

[lament geode]

I once played an Oni in a Battle Century G game piloting a hot pink skull mecha coming to the human world as "An Expert"

[sand hornet]

Because they're fundamentally meant to be Fish out of Water

(Side comment but I really like Epic Paths)

(They're a cool thing)

[lament geode]

The Epic Paths are very cool

[sand hornet]

Currently my party is uhhhh

We just set sail on the Ultros and are on Fire Island

We're preparing to fight the Lizardfolk in the Volcano

My DM is using a modified version of Odyssey (which I don't mind given I'm very familiar with the base module), but it's very fun

If you're active on the Odyssey discord (which I saw you're a part of), my DM is OrpheusSnacks

[lament geode]

Nice! I'm not particularly active in there, but I browse now and again

[sand hornet]

Fair fair

Sorry if I'm rambling, I just really like Odyssey :v

[lament geode]

For sure! No worries. I like ramblings.

I've actually run it twice before, though not very far either time.

First time they got to the oracle and no further before scheduling issues killed the pace.

second time they got to Pythor and one of my players lost their damn mind so I had to boot him from the group because he was being fucking weird

and two others were friends with that guy so they dipped

That dude's behavior still fucks with me to this day

Mans tried to stab a goddess because she very poorly concealed her identity and was just goofing off, and then got further mad when I didn't ask for an attack roll and just said "you miss, she laughs and makes a little joke" and carried on

like bro why are you trying to stab someone who's helped you for zero reason

[fossil raven]

making my DM cry by being 21 AC with HAM at lvl 2

is funny

the DM started us at lvl 1 because of the module and new players, but gave us starter feats because of course

[flat gull]

Heat Metal

[tepid crane]

Expect to get stabbed in your sleep

[flat gull]

Rust Monster

oh and dex saves.

[fossil raven]

it's magical

cos we have a Forge Cleric

[tepid crane]

I would expect all the intelligent monsters to ambush me when taking a rest since you need to take your armour off

[proud osprey]

looking for a game like this gives me this vibe of like. remember when video games released map pack dlc? and they’d have dedicated matchmaking options to play with others who have those maps? like in halo? and it’s a couple years after the dlc release so it’s pretty niche now? yeah like that

d&d tonight!

[proud osprey]

thinkin about it

[craggy cloak]

honestly i dont even really look at a game's recruitment post if there isnt some level of restriction or explanation on what splats are allowed

[proud osprey]

real

[craggy cloak]

and i know as a DM im a big fan of restrictions

when i was running my last ravenloft game i think i restricted it to just phb folk (with the new goodies allowed to modify them, but still)

[sand hornet]

I generally enjoy homebrew but if someone allows it without at least checking it that's a red flag

[flat gull]

most people i know who restrict do PHB + 2

[sand hornet]

You should always check homebrew

Even the most well regarded stuff

[proud osprey]

i‘ve run a lot of games that are just PHB only, and went downhill once i eased up on that

[craggy cloak]

theres just only so much mental load i can handle as a DM

[proud osprey]

speaking of

an hour or so until session 2!!!!

AAAAAAAA

[flat gull]

All prepped?

[proud osprey]

think so

got my one sheet

and my notebook for scratch notes

got loot sorted

a general arc for these rising bandit troubles

[flat gull]

Got the strong kick in the pants for the opener?

[proud osprey]

well we pick up at the tavern from the start of last session since they’re apologising to the owner for getting in a fight

so i will speed things along by having Count Marius burst in demanding help, as he’s going across the different taverns and officials in the town to ensure that people will turn out to rescue his son

meaning the players can recruit help

[obsidian jasper]

Yo guys quick question for my upcoming character who’s as yall probably know a kid and its warden (dm wanted it to be two separate sheets lol) how do I play defensively yet not make the party feel like they’re doing all the heavy lifting

[modest echo]

Spirit Guardians

you have a big AoE that makes you hard to get close to and that's going to shape the entire encounter

[obsidian jasper]

Is it on the cleric or hexblade spell list or cleric?

[modest echo]

Cleric!

[obsidian jasper]

Good! So one character (the thing defending the kid) is for now a hexblade lvl 5
The kid is a lvl 1 divine soul

[obsidian jasper]

Also of course I took the haunted one background

[final phoenix]

Say, would anyone here know of an adventure zine one could subscribe to for just random dnd stuff? I'm looking for something monthly

[flat gull]

I used to but it closed

like for rpg hodge podge with a trad bent, i'd say Knights of the Dinner Table

[final phoenix]

It is a patreon or a printed zine?

[flat gull]

That is a periodical

It is not a zine, trying wrack my brain for anything you know

Not just like Warlock Magazine

[final phoenix]

I sadly don't think they print that anymore

[flat gull]

It is true

[final phoenix]

I think kobold press has a patreon thing but I was looking for like what exhalted funeral puts out but just random

[proud osprey]

party levelled up!

so now it’s a LEVEL 2 druid, bard, barbarian, monk and paladin with a dwarven career bounty hunter as help

gonna finetune the combat for next week

since they didn’t take the bandits on in groups, instead sneaking their way up town

so everyone is gonna be drawn out into the open

gonna have a little scribble

hoping to have our next session in person since our last two were on discord and combat is faster at the table, and this one will feature a big set piece combat encounter

which means i need terrain!

so i’ve got one farmhouse mostly sorted (unfinished but actually that works!!)

need some trees, several more buildings

some carts maybe

basic shit

[proud osprey]

need to plan next session’s encounter

• buildings for cover
• marshy terrain (difficult)
• water along the borders of the map

• horses
• rupert has bombs, a battleaxe, a heavy crossbow, a flintlock pistol, two daggers, and a hand crossbow

dude is armed to the GILLS

[solemn totem]

Cartoon badass told to put all his weapons in a basket level arsenal.

[proud osprey]

literally

he’s a friendly bounty hunter NPC i rolled up real quick on the spot to hurry things along (sort of)

like the NPC was in my notes but they didn’t recruit help so when the players were dragging their heels in the alchemist’s shoot, i used this character to break up the pacing and apply some gentle pressure, instead of introducing him as hireable help at a bar

and now he’s gonna fight alongside them

he has relatively low HP tho, looking at it “

so it’s the party, amos renault, and rupert

vs 16 bandits, 3 bandit leaders, and some swamp wildlife

[obsidian jasper]

I’m gonna run a one shot soon, what are some tricks I can use to fuck with people’s minds or make it kinda horror

[obsidian jasper]

And how could I make a limb based system?

[tepid crane]

What statblock are you using?

[proud osprey]

think i gave him the generic bandit block

[tepid crane]

Oh so yeah he’s really squishy

[proud osprey]

maybe i’ll boost him up to like

thug or smth

but regardless i don’t want him to be invincible

if he survives that’s cool and i can recycle old rupert into the campaign at a much later date

like if the party visit dóth, have them meet him there just hunting a deer or smth

[craggy cloak]

given what youve described, I think it could be fine to upgrade him to Bandit Captain

[arctic yew]

my old dm made a pirate lich villain for us to deal with

after the session,i dragged him to the side, we watched pirates of the caribean (his first time) and he started screaming midway through

[tepid crane]

I’m rooting for rupert

[proud osprey]

okay

[proud osprey]

me too, but there are gonna be 16 bandits, their 3 more capable leader types, and a good healthy handful of generic swamp thing critters as environmental challenge too

so we’ll see how the party does

rupert has potions though

[frail hull]

Plot twist, Rupert is there to collect the bounty on the bandits and is using the PCs to do the heavy work before he swoops in to nab the rewards.

[proud osprey]

he IS there to collect the bounty on the bandits

but they’ve made a deal that, since the players have personal beef with two of the lower stake bandits, they can have those

and the party are after the bounty on count marius’ son more than anything

so the players stand to gain 2200 crowns regardless, or 1600 if they bring the bandits in dead

[frail hull]

Ah

[proud osprey]

crowns are silvers btw

nothing to worry about in terms of money scaling

[obsidian jasper]

My friends are making a one shot thing where every one of us runs one shots anyway to e current dm said only rolling for stats and only one damaging spell per spell level. How can I make him regret his chose besides still getting a 20 in a stat

[craggy cloak]

Are you re-rolling for stats or is it just the one roll

[proud osprey]

maybe

hmmm

[frail hull]

Why would you want them to regret thier choice? Seems like an Interrsting limitation to play around.

Bandit captain would work. Maybe replace the sword with a mace to inflict non-leathal damage to bring marks in alive?

[proud osprey]

dude has an axe, two daggers, hand crossbow, flintlock pistol, heavy crossbow, and several bombs

he’s equipped for his line of work

he also has lots of rope

main targets: two bandit lieutenants, 200 each, milo and brask at 300 and 900 each respectively from the tavern brawl, and the big boss and his partner for 2000 and 3500

all of these are assumed alive

generic members of the gang are worth 50 each

there are 16 of those

no wait

13 of those

party stands to make a pretty fuckin penny

they head back to town with everyone dead OR alive

although if i can help it i’m gonna have the tiefling witch escape, for future potential

and they have to get young amos to safety for 1000 crowns

so the party could stand to gain a shit tonne of money

depending on what they’re okay carrying

[craggy cloak]

i always liked giving the party a good chunk of cash early

lets me see how they want to spend or invest

[frail hull]

Forgot he had so many, just peaked at the generic bandit caption. What types of bombs?

[tepid crane]

Retirement fund

[proud osprey]

agree

a good chunk of early resources, see what they do with those, and when they run dry see what they can do otherwise

[obsidian jasper]

Once

[obsidian jasper]

Bc he’s annoying and I don’t like when people give me limitations that hinder me in being more effective

Could I do some trolling by summoning stuff like demons and devils?

Idk only alignment not allowed is chaotic evil

The reason I’m not allowed to use point buy is bc

I shouldn’t be able to buy a 20

He doesn’t know how I got my 20 so that’s my advantage

[frail hull]

Or you could just skip that week? Purposely trying to be a jerk, amd hiding things about your character are gigantic red flags in a player. Unless this gm is super chill about these things, it would prob be better to wait till the next t
Gm gets a turn.

[craggy cloak]

yeah, i agree

out of character problems shouldnt be solved in character, so to speak

[obsidian jasper]

I’m not hiding stuff

I’m doing everything as he told me to

[obsidian jasper]

Its not really a problem we’re still friends it’s more like what’s it called

Another guy is making an aracokra that will just carry stuff into the stratosphere

I want something on the same level and the limitation of less damage spells just kinda makes it funny

Cuz I can experiment with summoning

[frail hull]

That's the definition of hiding stuff. Your gm should never not know where your stuff comes from.

[obsidian jasper]

Oh he isn’t interested

I could tell him and he’d forget it

Bc he doesn’t care

[obsidian jasper]

I’ve mentioned at least once I use species like variant human or custom lineage

And he knows the level up system and how stats work

He played dnd since forever

[tepid crane]

I don’t think that’s possible also you guys should really all talk about this together as a group or again just don’t play for this oneshot

Trying to legaleese your way through “winning” dnd isn’t that fun for anyone

[obsidian jasper]

It got allowed

I asked the dm for a list of all banned things too

I’m not trying to win

My ideas so far were things like a conjugation wirzard for summon lesser demon

Or what the spell is called

Can’t remember

Or a necromancer

Maybe I should go twilight cleric

[proud osprey]

i need to prep terrain for next sesh

so far i’ve got one little farmhouse

[dapper fulcrum]

This is not a good mindset.

[obsidian jasper]

Alr fair enough my fault

I probably phrased it wrong and should’ve just worded it differently

Also I’m not trying to be a jerk I’m trying to find a solution to the problem I’m faced with

By playing a class I usually don’t

[proud osprey]

bro watch out for those verbs

[obsidian jasper]

?

Oh

Lmao

[proud osprey]

gotem

i’d LOVE to play a conjuration wizard some day

find familiar, summon lesser demon, infernal calling and all that shit

go real faustian with it

[obsidian jasper]

Sounds fun for a one shot and would be a way to mitigate the only one damage spell rule

Same with the 3rd level necromancy spell

[proud osprey]

lego terrain creation going well btw! farmhouse almost done

hey gang i realise i’m gonna need a healthy handful of high society NPCs for the big city section of this campaign

a human empire’s second most notable city, in the throes of a heavy multifaceted celebration of an emperor’s reign’s centenary, the summer festival, and the afterglow of a successful crusade

so far i’ve got:

• emperor + family (wife, one son, two daughters)
• duke + family (wife, daughter)
• priestess from these early sessions + holy company (a few similarly notable religious figures)
• commander phoenix (back from campaign)
• ???

phoenix is an interesting character. i think he’ll crop up a bit later on, maybe

kind of like griffith from berserk, without the ultimate evil of it all. got that pretty boy leader of a successful mercenary company and hated by the nobles he finds himself surrounded by, though aspiring to be one himself

[tepid crane]

All of the duke’s friends. Even the minor lords like “Master of the Kennel” or “Warden of lesser waterfowl”

[proud osprey]

agreeable enough

[frail hull]

Offspring of rival empires held as " honored guests".

[proud osprey]

i

don’t hate that

[frail hull]

Or just dignitaries from other nations trying to curry favor

[proud osprey]

the sole surviving heir of the kazmi empire

[frail hull]

Heads of major guilds

[proud osprey]

also like this. some sort of dóthlander lordling

[proud osprey]

oh that’s GREAT

i can imagine the party sat at a table with phoenix, some guildmasters, and some podunk lordling

and phoenix is just there. seething

“i bled in the field of battle for these people for three years, almost died countless times, risked my own life and those of countless good men, and i’m stuck at a table with some sellswords and money men.”

[tepid crane]

If you care for actual historical influences most nobles hated rich peasants like guilders/artisans who they saw as trying to steal their position in society. So that could be fun to play into.

[proud osprey]

oh i do

phoenix is interesting because he basically only trusts like ten people, all his lieutenants, and they’re currently posted up on an island in the kazmi gulf plotting the next stage in the cadric invasion

so he’s a cornered animal rn, with a small retinue of his company

[tepid crane]

Like they had laws in medieval england that only nobility could wear all red. So it became a thing to wear as much as you could as long as you can pay the toll.

Could be a neat thing with some nobles being outraged at the weaver’s guild rep wearing something “too fancy”

[frail hull]

Oh lord, there are entire books based on the pettiness at court. Especially if new styles got introduced.

[proud osprey]

i also wanna drip feed one aspect of the empire’s somewhat… crumbling grasp during this point in the campaign

i wanna have the tribes from which the two wood elf players originate be in a state of struggle, with an elven warlord trying to form a mighty host from within the gostwoode

[frail hull]

This is a warhammer reference, but I was told it was based on real life, bassicly this merc unit was allowed to wear puffed sleeves due to bravery. Normally this was a noble only thing, so this unit had it written into thier contracts that they are always allowed puffy sleeves, drove the nobles nuts.

[tepid crane]

A swiss warband I believe

[frail hull]

All these base commoners showing up to battle covered in dirt, but with immaculate sleves

[tepid crane]

A lot of things in medieval times were about spending money on pointless shit

Nobles were not allowed to work but if you didn’t throw enough banquets and flex being rich enough you could get kicked out of the cool club

[frail hull]

Something about white soup being super important

Rat, you said the party was all non human right? How would that affect things at the dinner?

[proud osprey]

sleeve game goes crazy

[proud osprey]

actually one of them is a human paladin

and he fought in the same exact war as several people here

[frail hull]

Ah. I was just thinking about the bar fight and how it could be so much worse here. Lots of subtle, bur cutting remarks.

Accidently end up.in a dual.with a noble that way.

[proud osprey]

i do wanna feature some dragonborn soldiers in town to show the bard that they’re not that unusual

[frail hull]

I also imagine several people there might see the party as usfull, but disposable assets

[proud osprey]

oh 100%

so we’ve got

• imperial house andrassyg
• the duke’s people
• maybe one or two other province leaders and their people
• religious leaders
• guild leaders
• local officials
• the party

and during that session i’ll leak some intel to a perceptive player character about there being a dramatic development in the elven region of deregost, and further discontent among the peasantry in the west

there’s gonna be a peasant uprising at some point in this empire

and the empire can’t fight a war on a lot of fronts, especially if two or maybe more in the future of those fronts are from within the empire

i definitely want there to be big tribal beef among the elves to create some fun tensions between the druid and monk

so now… an elven warlord

chat i need ideas for a wood elven warlord

possibly part eladrin

[sand hornet]

Ecofascist?

[proud osprey]

yeah maybe a lil something along those lines

elves strong together type vibe too

forcible assimilation of local tribes and reduction to the kind of idealised agrarian wood elven existence

or maybe just outright anti imperial rebellion

probably both, and a little in the middle

wood elf politics will be a fun realm to tap into

different tribes of varying magical ability and cultural differentiation

city stuff!

• dóthtown plotline: stolen holy relic, drow thieves hired by mysterious demonic cult (hexarchy)
• tournament arc!
• lots of different guilds and organisations
• post-tournament dinner and party at the palace
• phoenix will probably want to stretch his legs and, seeing something in the party as capable sellswords, will invite them on a hunt
• wanna do something at the harbour. any ideas?

[frail hull]

Tying into the elf rebelian plot, what if the elf warlord ruled over a set of islands to the south? Of the empire and is trying to use thier knowledge of the shallow seas to break away. They cant attack directly, but launch raids along the coast. Party runs into one while hunting dire crabs ( just coconut crabs honestly) with Phoenix.

[proud osprey]

nah i want the hunt to be like. cartoonishly beautiful countryside

like gorgeous saturated colours

boat could be something to do with the mages? but i don’t wanna double up on them too hard

[tepid crane]

Harbour gives you the opportunity for the weirdest shit in your setting to show up. Go crazy.

[proud osprey]

yeah that’s why i’m struggling

hunt wise

i’m thinking they get something like an elk

[frail hull]

Oh, I thought you meant a hunt at the Harbour.

In that case, yeah elk works for a hunt, might run Into some boars.

Harbour could be where they see some of the more fantastic creatures being brought in for the games.

[proud osprey]

idea

[proud osprey]

oh 100%

maybe a chance to scope out the “competition”

[proud osprey]

they go on a regular old hunt then run into a farmer who speaks of a white peryton, and its flock, and then it becomes the hunt for the white peryton

[proud osprey]

loxodon just made the cut in my world

list is currently
CONVENTIONAL (in gloria)

• human
• halfling
• half elf
• dwarf (mountain, hill, dune, glacier, deep)
• elf (wood, high, sea, snow, eladrin, dark, scape)
• gnome (rock, forest, deep)

UNCONVENTIONAL (considered othered)

• goliath
• firbolg
• orc
• half orc
• hobgoblin
• dragonborn
• tiefling
• aasimar
• loxodon
• aarakocra
• fairy

UNCONVENTIONAL (considered monstrous)

• kenku
• goblin
• bugbear
• lizardfolk
• kobold
• plasm(oid) (why not)
• grung
• bullywug

[worthy plank]

slams the kenku button

I don't care if I'm a monster I get to make ~ f r o g n o i s e s ~

[proud osprey]

you fucker

[proud osprey]

kenku what though 👀

[worthy plank]

m o n k

[proud osprey]

https://tenor.com/view/tmnt-cowabunga-it-is-michaelangelo-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-gif-15971163

THE CARRION CRAWLER SCUTTLES ACROSS THE DUNGEON CEILING, THEN WALL, THEN FLOOR AND THRASHES AT YOU.

DOES A 14 HIT

[worthy plank]

Nah

lol

[proud osprey]

god damn you. with that, it’s your turn

rly got the itch to run some carrion crawlers. they’re a fun time. very pulp dungeon fantasy

[worthy plank]

Okay I need to know two things; what level are we, and is monastic weaponry allowed?

cuz I actually know level 1 monk stats by heart <XD

[proud osprey]

lmaoo

you’re level 1

[worthy plank]

rolls

does a 20 after bonuses hit?

XD

[proud osprey]

it hits. roll damage

[worthy plank]

(gonna not clog the chat lol gimme a sec)

[proud osprey]

@frail hull you getting in on this?

[frail hull]

sorry no, was just going to put out an idea for my own. It can wait if you guys need chat clear

[proud osprey]

what no

you clog chat :) go ahead

keen for idea

[frail hull]

okay 🙂

[proud osprey]

shame you won’t join the kenku on its magnificent journey tho 😔

[frail hull]

Finally think I have my campaign idea....is this the same Kenku that can reach orbit?

[proud osprey]

e x c u s e m e

[worthy plank]

lolwut

[frail hull]

Anyway idea: PCs are part of a central kingdom's adventure guild/ special forces ( haven't decided yet) The main goal of the group is that they are sent via spell jammer type ship to the outer kingdoms to help foil the plans of those planning to disrupt the peace. The current outer kingdoms are ruled by the following. ( names are just place holders, will get changed later) Northern kingdom ruled by the ice queen sorcerer Elsa, Southeren kingdom that is under the iron fist of the Pirate queen Moana, who has a shapeshifting demi god under her control, the eastern kingdom ruled by Snow white and her dwarveren slave masters, masters of steam tech, the western kingdom where deep in the swamp an ancient hag rules with her alligators and pacts with dark powers, and finally the underkingdoms, truly cursed places were the undead rule from their dark tower.

[frail hull]

sorry, that was a referance to the conversation from earlier today

[worthy plank]

have you considered the ultimate combination of adventurer's guild and special forces; a fantasy version of the varangian guard?

[frail hull]

perhaps

i think the idea is that the special squads are pulled from adventure groups who reach higher rank in the guild

[worthy plank]

based

[proud osprey]

i’ve decided to play dnd with chatgpt because i am a hack with no values

[worthy plank]

https://tenor.com/view/the-simpson-people-power-gif-8939538

(I'm assuming this is a joke)

[proud osprey]

the robot doesnt hit the same

[frail hull]

it needs better stats obviously

[obsidian jasper]

Yo guys for my own one shot , how do I homebrew creatures, how should I make it so the players objective is mostly to survive and its dark fantasy so do yous thinks it’s Alr if I ban bards cuz they would kinda not fit in

I might also make my group use roll20 instead of DnD beyond

So I can use maps

[dapper fulcrum]

Bards fit with dark fantasy
Ban concepts that dont fit with dark fantasy, like meme characters who make everything a joke

And no bards=/= funny meme characters that is a poisonous line of thought that gets peddled and enacted often

[lament geode]

Bards can absolutely work with Dark Fantasy.

Keeping light alive in a dark world is super important.

Carrying on stories of the fallen, teaching lessons of how the world became quite so dark, extolling legends of terrors past

And of course, lifting spirits to make the day in a world trying to kill you just a little bit brighter.

[obsidian jasper]

Mb it’s just the only person that would play a bard would make a meme character

Idea so far is that the players are on an expedition on a new continent

So idk why a bard would go on an expedition in scarcely charted land

[lament geode]

A chance to write songs about places nobody's ever seen?
To chronicle the coming of this new age?
To keep the spirit of the old world alive in the hearts of those on the voyage?

If you feel like someone's going to make a meme character, don't ban the class, just say "Hey bro, don't fuck around"

[obsidian jasper]

Alr thx

Now, what’s a good level if this is one of my first one shots?

Ooh I have an idea

After they arrive I’ll tell them that they can do what they want and that camp is near the beach. If they prepare walls n such they’ll be fine if not they’ll have their first encounter

[tepid crane]

Level 3 is what most people prefer

[obsidian jasper]

So my friend did a lvl 8 one and the other guy will make a lvl 5 one. So if level 3 is normal I need to not make it too hard

Can I throw something with stats like this at them?
Str:18
Dex:16
Con:20
Wis: 14
Int: 12
Char:10

If they’re level 3

[proud osprey]

yes but you’re thinking about it wrong

[proud osprey]

how many PCs are there?

[obsidian jasper]

3

Btw would you be interested in helping me as it seems to me you’re a great dm

[obsidian jasper]

Wdym?

[proud osprey]

i very much appreciate you saying as much

well think less off stats when designing monsters, NPCs, and encounters. that might’ve gotten you far in other editions or other games but the meat of 5e’s combat design is the action economy and what can be done within it

so let’s say since there are only 3 players and the other two one-shots are level 5 and above let’s bring it up to 5 too

[obsidian jasper]

Alr

[proud osprey]

this way players will have most of their flagship class abilities locked in, have third level spells, have extra attack, etc

they’ll also be stronger and better equipped to cope with enemies this way

[obsidian jasper]

I want to make them feel like their fighting an uphill battle

At least at the start

They should feel like every encounter is a close call

Except maybe hunting

Bc they’re on a whole me continent that is nigh unexplored

[proud osprey]

why are they going hunting in a one shot

[obsidian jasper]

Hunger

I’m gonna make at least one long rest