Dungeons and Dragons

[proud osprey]

you can’t run an entire continent in a one shot

[obsidian jasper]

Maybe I’ll make it a 2 or 3 sess one shot

[obsidian jasper]

Ik

[proud osprey]

that’s just an adventure

[obsidian jasper]

But I can make a fitting start

Story begins with them making landfall on Vinland early noon

[proud osprey]

a one shot is a single session man ppl gotta start saying adventure again

[obsidian jasper]

Then they have time till dusk to do stuff

Then the fun begins

[frail hull]

Is this a one shot that the players are expecting to use thier pcs again in another adventure, or is it one and done?

[obsidian jasper]

If they made no preparations (palisades or pitfalls) they’ll get attacked, if they have very little stuff they’ll just have to stay awake till dawn if they built enough defences they’ll be able to sleep

[obsidian jasper]

One and done most likely

[frail hull]

Okay, what is the end goal? With a one shot you need a fairly firm idea of where it is going to end so you can fot everything into a 4ish hour window.

I'm guessing the dawn?

[obsidian jasper]

No, just surviving and making progress in exploring the land

Dawn is for the first time maybe I can fit more into that session most likely I can

I’ll make it like 1-3 sessions long

[obsidian jasper]

Not really

[frail hull]

So it's not a one shot. That changes things

[proud osprey]

you just have a kind of campaign/adventure premise

a one shot needs to be something actionable: a dungeon crawl, a heist, a battle, a heist, a lot of them are heists in my experience

[frail hull]

Yeah, using what you have. You could do a one shot starting en res during the hunt, they get attacked , have to escape to the high ground, then survive till dawn. That should be doable in a few hours.

[obsidian jasper]

Also ye mb, rat boy corrected me earlier. It’s an adventure

I mean if they don’t want more than one sess I’m fine

I think I’ll throw humanoid mimics at them

God my connection is so bad rn

All these messages were sent earlier

[frail hull]

For a 2 shot, yeah dawn is a good break point, then second session could be them trying to get back.

[obsidian jasper]

Idk there wouldn’t be much combat

It’s like maybe one wave

And then they just need to be on guard

But I won’t throw more at them

Maybe

Just make them be on edge

Again if they build defences they’ll just hear weird noises

[frail hull]

Sounds good

[obsidian jasper]

Also the stats from earlier were for a large bird of prey inhabiting Vinland

What are some enemies I should throw at them in your opinion guys?

Also I might add a hunger mechanic so if they don’t eat they’ll slowly loose hp

[frail hull]

Still going g to be lvl 5?

[obsidian jasper]

Idk

I want them to actually not be sure if they’ll make it

Like the last character I had at 5th could one shot most humanoids

[frail hull]

Well, it very much depends on the PC lvl as to what monsters will matter.

[obsidian jasper]

And like didn’t need much to kill most monsters either

Between 3 and idk 7?

[frail hull]

I mean a party of 4 or 5 5th lvl can actually beat an adult dragon if smart.

[obsidian jasper]

It’s 3 and Alr then no

I don’t want them to be able to pull off such moves

I mean they probably won’t bc one guy is knew

The other one is a role player

[frail hull]

Okay, so some magic but not much. So you want to avoid things immune to non magical damage.

[obsidian jasper]

And my friend doesn’t care much and would listen if I tell them not to powergame

What animals and creatures would inhabit and almost unknown continent in the northern hemisphere

Maybe I should incorporate temperature

I’ll def use roll 20

So I can train my skills on positioning

Btw I recently heard they’ll add dnd to discord

That true?

Like maps n stuff

[final phoenix]

I'm designing the multi story lair for a plutonium dragon and so fair pretty fun. I could use ideas though

[frail hull]

Radiation?

[proud osprey]

plutonium dragon is crazy

i like the trio of dragon types

chromatic, metallic, gemstone

[frail hull]

I feel like it should have a aura that causes sickness around it.

[proud osprey]

i like that

[frail hull]

As for a lair, could have areas where the radiation is strong enough that magic starts to not work, like natural anti magic fields in random spots

And I guess it's breath weapon could be a mix of fire and necrotic damage?

Hum, I feel like it requiring some sort of underground pool of water to help cool down would be in order, perhaps granting a lair action to cause a large steam cloud to fill the area its in.

[final phoenix]

I'm going to make it have a demon core breath and it will he like contagion

I've got top floor done. I'm going to have a huge shift to the surface that would be the cooling tower

I need stuff for little rooms and such. Enemy for the party too

[final phoenix]

I also planned out that the lower they go, closer to the dragon there will be trinitite crystals

I have just learned the term technogenic due to this and that is a great word

Ah ah! Idea idea. This dragon was a uranium dragon long ago but made to plutonium via some sort of magical meddleling but then things got out hand and the culture that was using the plutonium dragon and thus was sealed away

So uranium dragon lair originally, they some ancient elves got ahold of that dragon, used it for power. Wanted more power, transformation of dragon to plutonium, then things quickly got out of hand.

The uranium dragon was an altruistic metallic dragon, the transformation hurt it's sanity and made an evil metallic dragon

[frail hull]

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/meet-oklo-the-earths-two-billion-year-old-only-known-natural-nuclear-reactor

Might help

[proud osprey]

city player stuff:

• leonard: dwarf stuff in dóthtown
• innil and bradorez: wood elf stirrings in the western empire, hinting at a broader plotline
• anwir: he can pursue leads on his father and fraternise with fellow crusaders
• edgar: his old band mate makes an appearance

also:

• festival/tournament arc, party-wide fun
• courtly intrigue
• guilds and organisations
• hunt with phoenix

this stretch of content should take them from level 3 to about 5 i imagine

and while away some of the weeks of summer in this world

also how would folks handle gameplay-story integration for a paladin swearing his oath

[flat gull]

Are you using gods?

[final phoenix]

Do you have specifics of his oath?

[modest echo]

"When you come back from leveling up, we'll do your oath scene"

unless i'm misunderstanding the question

[cosmic geyser]

Well, if they're not going to be in combat for a little bit (and with the player's consent of course), you could have it be that they need someone who has sworn the same oath to perform a special ceremony (bonus points if they cast Ceremony)

[proud osprey]

not yet

gonna go do that. thanks for the heads up

[flat gull]

Which subclass did they pick

[proud osprey]

i’ll lyk

[proud osprey]

he’s going vengeance

[frail hull]

With blood and rage of crimson red, We fill men's' souls with darkest dread,And twist your minds to pain and hate.We'll burn you all—that is your fate!

[proud osprey]

• horned slug from old riguar

[proud osprey]

nice

my setting is so cool you guys

should totally run a game with me

[flat gull]

You shit is that the red lantern corps oath 😆

[frail hull]

Yes 😂

[final phoenix]

Developing out the dragon's lair old school style

[proud osprey]

nice

that’s the way to do it i find

with monsters lairs

[final phoenix]

The usual way I do it is make up all the shit on the spot from a seed of an idea

[flat gull]

"Shit what dysonlogos map can i steal"

[final phoenix]

Nope. Right off the dome

[sand hornet]

A game slot for the module I wanna play finally opened 👀

I applied immediatly

[flat gull]

Which module

[sand hornet]

Raiders of the Serpent Sea

[proud osprey]

sounds cool

[sand hornet]

It's from the same creators as Odyssey of the Dragonlords

[final phoenix]

A question. What level should a party of 4 be to take on an ancient dragon? I estimated 16 but should it be more if they know in advance and they get to build the characters at that level?

[craggy cloak]

What color ancient dragon?

Will you be abusing flight?

[final phoenix]

I have invented this dragon. It is technically a metallic dragon and no

It is a plutonium dragon and its breath weapon is going to be like the contagion spell (flavour wise it's the demon core)

[craggy cloak]

Assuming no other minions/enemies and no encounters to soften them up, level 14~16 is where they should be able to take it on while using their top-end resources, barring specific magic items and spells and such

https://www.challengerated.com/

this is really useful

[final phoenix]

There will be minions and enemies

Also the lair itself is going to have constitution checks because well, it's radioactive

Trinitite crystals, mutated cave things, big cooling tower hole in the ground

[frail hull]

Did you see the article about the natural reactor in Africa?

[final phoenix]

Yes

[dapper fulcrum]

ive heard my first Stories about Conjure Minor Elementals spam in higher tiers yesterday

[sand hornet]

Yeah apperantly Summon Elemental got buffed in 2024

[dapper fulcrum]

buffed is an understatement
150+ damage per turn but in the easiest way possible, its dumbbb

[sand hornet]

Yep

I may have to grab the spell honestly >_>

as a Wizard

[obsidian jasper]

Wizards aren’t good enough

Jk

[craggy cloak]

did our session zero for the spelljammer campaign, im very excited about the party dynamics

[sand hornet]

Nice

[flat gull]

gonna do light in 5e or something else

[craggy cloak]

we've got

• my character, a space samurai greaser (battlemaster 2024)
• astral elf wizard (space) tiktok influencer
• human sorc from dark sun's athas who got kidnapped by illithids
• ( robot ) changeling built as a spy bot that developed sentience and now wants to be a bounty hunter (artificer/rogue)
• The Stranger, whom we know nothing about ( player/dm secret stuff rn, which we're all cool with )

and we got to flesh out our space ship

which is a former space passenger train reconfigured for light combat shaped like a hammerhead shark powered by pixies (unionized)

so, you know, banger campaign so far

[flat gull]

The Stranger

[dapper fulcrum]

Mersault

[flat gull]

... hm. nah couldn't be.

[dapper fulcrum]

what do they think about swimming. Or the beach. Or religion.

[flat gull]

There's a character in a module i ran named the stranger

doubt it's the same guy

[craggy cloak]

no idea! ill find out the characters real deal in session but they want it to be a "surprise" and its someone i trust

normally this would raise concern from me but i'll let them cook

also on our free magic item roll i got a ring of jumping, so thats a fun shenanigans item

[flat gull]

Mind if i speculate behind a spoiler?

[craggy cloak]

feel free, wont mean anything to me

its a random internet stranger so whatever youre gunna guess is a shot in the dark yknow

[flat gull]

|| So in the Golden Vault adventure "Interplanar Express" there is a cowboy type named The Stranger, who was a wizard who among other things - was arrested by angels for sneaking into elysium and impersonating them. You bust him out in exchange for some names. ||

[proud osprey]

is this the stranger who is literally just a cowboy

no

80s adventure

maybe late 70s

fuck what’s his name

[proud osprey]

dargnar or smth

dargnar, an ancient dwarven king

[proud osprey]

about to play baldur’s gate… 1

[proud osprey]

did not

[obsidian jasper]

yo six levels in total

sorlock

hexblade and divine soul, what spread should I do?

and keep

[worthy plank]

hmmmm

[worthy plank]

Do you want invocations or higher level slots more?

[obsidian jasper]

idk

I just want to mix healing and high damage

[worthy plank]

hmmmmmm

I am inclined to recommend 2 Warlock and 4 Sorcerer?

since with Sorcerer you can know some good damage spells

and have higher level slots for heals

[obsidian jasper]

alr

and later on?

[pure elm]

just keep going Sorc

[obsidian jasper]

alr

which are some spells I should def pick up (I already am planning on getting spirit shroud)

[fossil raven]

Thunder Step

And Blur too

The ABCs of Hexblade Blade Pact:
Always
Be
Concentrating

Either on a defensive boost or an offensive boost

You'd better have War Caster

[obsidian jasper]

alr

I took fay touched as my starter thing

bc my sorcerer or the sorcerer part of the two characters is squishy af

[proud osprey]

hey. need a pirate crew

lucius lequaine and the ungovernable is the flagship of this pirate group

one of the characters from the bard’s backstory will show up in the city arc of our campaign with a number of these pirates

who is who, who have we got

so far i have

• jean chatineaux
• quincy legance

need some random scrappy buggers

[proud osprey]

sorted the pirate crew

i now need ideas for gnomish automatons

[arctic yew]

Im thinking of when my player's reach level 10, making it that the fire the flame druid uses turns blue from that point on.

Idk if that would be too intrusive on his character design or something

[proud osprey]

thinking about the hexarchy, the magical demonic evil bad guy club in my campaign setting

we’ve got:

• Poxus, the Rot King, in league with Baron Vlademyr Olgimsky
• Kaalesh, the Dragon Queen, Sir Godfrey / “Lord Vandorf”
• Relg, the Beast, Allandyr Bonetooth
• Nephilis the Vile, Lady Vonda Corvarian
• Viquil, the Serpent, Captain Lucius Laquaine
• Ominon, the Lost, Alsa Atur

thinking that there are fairly obvious openings for kaalesh/godfrey, relg, and viquil

tying in to the paladin, druid + monk, and bard respectively

ominon would be a cool angle to pursue with the dwarf character somehow, possibly with monk and druid help

poxus ties in to the wood elves plotline too

nephilis is kind of my setting’s version of vecna

and thus probably the furthest out for me to try and justify

definite things happening

• the order of poxus, including the plague knights, are causing trouble in deregost that is beginning to leak abroad

• baron olgimsky, having seized power as the marquis of smišia through military might and supposed dark sorceries, is playing a puppet war in the forests of deregost, spreading plague and bloodshed neighbouring the lush and fertile and essential imperial heartland of fordyn, causing panic and fear.

• the marquis will then helm an offensive against the united elves, sparing his ally in their numbers but fighting valiantly to slay the wood elven separatists and clear the plague, and securing greater power and influence

that’s the play

become emperor

honestly as well considering there’s gonna be a succession crisis and peasant revolt in game at some point depending how long the in-universe time takes for us to do this campaign

succession crisis + evil imperial vampire wants power = D:

[proud osprey]

succession crisis should be fun

an emperor dying would be as good an incentive as any for the players to skip town

[trail ferry]

[obsidian jasper]

Ask the Druid

[frail hull]

https://youtube.com/shorts/eOqjAuL9gPI?si=08AIUGMHB1MBT-_v

might help my DM friend get over his hangup on warlocks

[craggy cloak]

he has a problem with warlocks?

[final phoenix]

https://youtu.be/_O1zULBDWyo?si=OJPfYVphb6G_L0zL

[frail hull]

oh yeah, he hates them.

ussaly bans them in his games

[modest echo]

why's that?

[frail hull]

mostly roleplay reasons. He just really hates the whole idea.

[modest echo]

cuz they didn't have to work for magic, or because they get extra narrative weight compared to other classes, or...?

[frail hull]

all the above, plus the whole sell ones soul for so little power just rubs the wrong way. he has said a few other over the years, but those are the big ones

[modest echo]

wack

[proud osprey]

this is crazy

[frail hull]

our current game is because the only power that can grant that sort of power are the sorricer kings, and as we are fighting them, it just would cause the power to be taken away. We also don't have any sorricers or paladins in this world either for the same reason.

[proud osprey]

i guess that works

way i see it is if im gonna play d&d then everything in the PHB of the relevant edition is there

[frail hull]

Yeah, Athus is a very low magic setting

[proud osprey]

yea

[frail hull]

its fine, we just work around the restrictions. we do get psionists though

[final phoenix]

Yes. And my players always laugh when I off the cuff say big fat ugly bug eyed baby eating O'Brian

She's a warforged and sweetums is a bugbear

[faint tinsel]

So there was a discussion in #1161695831775248426 about high-level circus adventures and (credit due to the Polish Vampire, not pinging because I don't know if they're in this thread) this concept emerged and I feel it could be used in D&D as well:

Asmodeus earnestly loves the circus. He has forced all of the other archdevils to come to an interplanar circus performance with him, and they hate it (he knows this). They have hatched various schemes and plans to ruin the circus. Asmodeus knows this too, and expects the circus to foil their schemes and plans (perhaps with a few nudges from him) as part of the day's entertainments.

[modest echo]

amazing

[proud osprey]

that’s great

would it be reasonable of me to have it so that the players make it to the final round of this epic tournament, and secure their spot at the celebratory party afterwards in the presence of the emperor, and then to have it revealed the next day that the emperor has passed away in his sleep, peacefully, at the age of 117

and fling the empire into turmoil over successsion and sovereignty, and send the party packing out of the big city

[craggy cloak]

wait this fucking rules

[faint tinsel]

Yes, yes it does

Imagine it as a high-level section in a long-running circus campaign

[craggy cloak]

finally, the sequel to Witchlight

[faint tinsel]

Because clowns are in fact fuckin' badasses

[proud osprey]

succession crisis tiiiiime how many kids does this 117 year old emperor have

[faint tinsel]

Too many, and even more grandkids and great-grandkids

[proud osprey]

okay first layer: the old man’s sons and daughters

the emperor, Carles II Andrassyg

his sons:
Benedict
Darien
Branden
Carlen
Zoren
Anders
Hanz

his daughter:
Zofia
Zosia
Sonya
Carletta
Colette
Lusamine
Elsbeth
Clara

any illegitimate sons or daughters? any rowdy outside picks for throne contenders

[faint tinsel]

Not sure, but consider that as a dude he could have kept having kids into old age, so these might be of very different ages

Which adds another layer of weird to things

[proud osprey]

of course

i tbink benedict is himself like mid-90s

and young hanz, his fifteenth legitimate heir, is probably in his 20s or something

90s in half elf is like

human 60s

benedict isn’t looking too choppy

neither are any of the older siblings

i reckon most of these people have like. 2 or 3 kids

exceptions:

• Darien, military man
• Anders, at the imperial college of sorcery
• Colette, in service to the Cadric Church
• Lusamine, at the imperial college of sorcery

also absent rn, in the kazmi marches

• Benedict
• Zofia
• Zosia
• Branden
• Zoren
• Hanz

so present right now

• Darien
• Carlen
• Sonya
• Carletta
• Elsbeth
• Carla

and Zoraia, the Queen

[frail hull]

previous wifes?

[proud osprey]

possible. unsure

[frail hull]

siblings?

there is also the possibility that some parts of the empire were acquired through marrage and with the emps dead, those areas get split amoungst his hiers

[proud osprey]

i’m thinking that to some extent the kids are all intermingled amongst the upper nobility of the individual provinces

and carles has only one half-brother, younger, and he is currently in the capital city

their father was not a good man. and of the many illegitimate children and one legitimate child he had, many died after he fell in an attempt on the crown

[frail hull]

okay, so not going full crusader kings 3 then 🙂

[proud osprey]

carles’ own ascension to the imperial throne at seventeen was basically a miracle of political and military manoeuvring on behalf of those loyal to the crown, not to the tyrant who wore it

and was a labour of love to the nation from a now largely dissolved group of imperialists

[frail hull]

it might be too much, but I could see the Emperor offering a landed title to the winner of the tournament before the last fight, but dying before he could revel where that land is supposed to be...and which noble was to lose it to the "heroes"

[proud osprey]

that’s pretty juicy

i kinda like that

could see that taking them up to like level 7 ish as its own story arc

and that’s the sort of level i like players to get strongholds

and that’ll be fun

[arctic yew]

"i am making a paladin character that does nothing but murder the forces of evil like demons and undead"

"Well,I made a character that is both a demon and undead,what are you gonna do then?"

"I don't want to murder your character on the first time we meet,so I will ignore this aspect of your character completely because any way I would engage with it witouth going against everything my character does would end up with me trying to kill you and we don't allow PVP."

"Why are you ignoring the character I made specifically to undermine yours?"

[frail hull]

The worst part is that I think i played this barbarian in a game once: https://youtube.com/shorts/gHmIowfhBtk?si=FDHw_f_Al-mGpgiB

[craggy cloak]

nightmare scenario both players need to have a heart to heart

[arctic yew]

oh no,they are friends

i just choose to completely ignore the fiend part of their character so i dont have to anhilate then

[proud osprey]

almost bought the new PHB

[proud osprey]

got some good notes off my players at work today regarding character backstories

the druid is the youngest child of one of his tribe’s elders

the monk was raised by a tribe who send their young out into the woods an early age, only permitting their return once they have reached teenage. then, they become seen as an adult, and can challenge any other adult in combat. very martial wood elves culture, very stark and out of the box

[sage vector]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eEDCAToZqVU

[cosmic geyser]

He’s not wrong

[sage vector]

I do enjoy the idea of town crier with lair actions

[dapper fulcrum]

was worried it was another dndtok-level zany untouched-by reality bit

but its actually accurate

[sage vector]

I am critical of my dndtok intake. I provide only the best of cuts... or foulest of outflows

[dapper fulcrum]

• Incite Mob: A relentless, seemingly invincible mob of disgruntled townsfolk surge across the field. Put 3 20 foot radius zones of angry townsfolk, which are difficult terrain that disperses at the initative count 20 next turn. Any hostile creature that enters or starts its turn in the zone must make a DC 18 Strength saving throw or take 10d4 bludgeoning damage and be restrained.

• Harangue Outsider A chorus of jeers, threats, and demoralizing insults are hurled across the enemies of the town. Each hostile creature must make a DC 18 Charisma Saving Throw or have disadvantage on their next attack roll, skill check and saving throw. Additionally, the lose concentration on any spell they were concentrating on a failure.

• Bellman's Proclamation The Town Crier channels their authority in the form of a painful proclamation. Each hostile target within 30 feet of the Town Crier that can hear them must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or become deafened and lose their reactions until the end of their next turn. If they fail the save by 5 or more, they become stunned and prone as well.

[sage vector]

[trail ferry]

in what way a spell like move that is meant to stress you out could affect a player character?

i want to give anxiety to my players, i want to be unforgiving but without being unfair i wanna SCARE them

give me ideas of debuffs conditions mostly, i'm trying to think of things that could make you nervous but also make things interesting i wanna avoid being unfair

[tepid crane]

Blink, have them start randomly flickering between the material and astral realm

[obsidian jasper]

Invisible cloud kill

[trail ferry]

you mean like a gas leak?

[obsidian jasper]

||anthra-|| yes like a gas leak

Cw for a poison

Or mushroom spores

That make players feel funny

[trail ferry]

that could work

[frail hull]

Slow condition has seen many spellcasters quiver in thier boots. 2 turns to cast anything.

[obsidian jasper]

https://tenor.com/view/mort-crying-scared-gif-21887116

But it ain’t fun if the others now I’m gonna cast fireball into a 10 square foot room

On the other hand power word kill with this this is funny, you just have to accept your fate

[dapper fulcrum]

fog cloud

or darkness

cant see whats attacking you

[trail ferry]

they have dark vision

so fog's better

[cosmic geyser]

Darkvision doesn't help you against Darkness unless the feature says you can see through magical darkness

[trail ferry]

ooooh

nice

[cosmic geyser]

You could also do hallucinatory terrain in conjunction with things like illusory dragon and enemies abound

[trail ferry]

i'm doing a bunch of pig monsters

pig dragon hybrid

illusory dragon pig

[modest echo]

ooooooh

[sage vector]

I enjoy this guys content

https://youtube.com/shorts/1lGY-uTc7Z0?si=fp_qG_sUeA5bdJ1w

[proud osprey]

need to plan session 3

also wanna leave room when the party arrive in the big city for downtime adventuring, and the possibility of what i like to call “guest stars” (i.e. people who’ve heard about the cool shit in my game and wanna get involved)

[proud osprey]

what’s the worst thing that one of the six big baddies in the background of this campaign has ever done? he’s this setting’s version of dracula

our strahd

Baron Vladimyr Štepnov Olgimsky

Lord of Blackspire. Ruler of the Crimson March. Commander of the Smišian Forces.

Vampire Lord.

he has read the Book of the Dead. he has seen the eye of Ominon. he was flipping bricks for Des Ur Cadia before Cadris was even a type one civilisation

bro has a teleportation circle to the red moon Carn where he sends the peasants to rot after he feasts on them

i want this guy to be absolutely awful, and also have that creep up on the party a bit

like… maybe while they resolve their property dispute, he helps out? maybe he seems as though he’s on their side when troubled boil over in the west

[craggy cloak]

outside appearance he seems like a very fair and reasonable Baron

[proud osprey]

i’d love if he invited the party over as guests. get the whole “oh very ominous very transylvania oooo” and then he’s just chill if a lil domineering while they’re around. they leave. later on, maybe they revisit, their initial suspicions confirmed 10fold

[craggy cloak]

like to other politicians and such it should be like "Ah, Baron Olgimsky is a very fair moderate and reasonable to negotiate with" and it isnt until they're alone with a butler that the party gets hints of how bad it is

[proud osprey]

“make an insight check”
“25.”
“you see in this servants eyes a strained and quiet dread, palpable; drained of all that once brought him joy. were there blood left to bleed, he would surely spill it to see himself and his home free, if he had any home to return to.”

then again. we have a paladin

so he’d immediately fucking know lol nvm

[craggy cloak]

theres magic items and spells for that!

Nystul's Magic Aura is fun

[proud osprey]

tell me…

the hexarchy are some really fun NPCs

[craggy cloak]

It should be a 2nd level spell in the phb / wherever you access your spells, its neat

ive used it on an undead wizard before to also avoid the local clergy outing him

[proud osprey]

like the seven deadly sins from FMA, the godhand from berserk, etc

[proud osprey]

i’ll check it out in a second

[craggy cloak]

having an Evil Group is fun as a DM

[proud osprey]

yeah

clsssic league of ever present villains

call that writing

Baron Olgimsky
Sir Godfrey
Allandyr
Asur Adün
Captain Lucius Laquaine
Lady Vanda Corvarian

each following a different dark god in league with one another

Poxus. God of Decay.

Kaalesh. Goddess of Ambition and Dragons.

Relg. God of Wrath.

Ominon. God of Madness and Loss.

Viquil. God of Cunning and Luck.

Nephilis. God of Secrets and Lies.

Sir Godfrey is also literally the Paladin’s father

disgraced, excommunicated, hunted by the church, and now in self-imposed exile for his misuse of church resources. that’ll be the paladin’s personal storyline to develop. he said he’d look into it whenever he had any sort of city downtime and he did in his backstory, to limited results

i’d love to see him pursue that, from hunting down his mother to scouring the church records against the rules, to facing down his father on the eve of a dark ritual

Lucius Laquaine will likely come up very early.

good lil side questlet for the bard

his ex bandmate/friend/rival lutist/attempted murder victim has taken up with laquaine’s crew

so it’ll be fun to have him be there in eastwater during the party’s stay in mollebourg

get real freaky with it

[sage vector]

Were you still wanting suggestions for the worst thing he's ever done?

[proud osprey]

maybe! why not

[sage vector]

Are you wanting personal or wide scale?

[proud osprey]

yes

[obsidian jasper]

Yo guys, what would you make the objective of a one shot when I’m trying to make it harder than the average game

Also should I change the stat blocks of monsters a little for every encounter

?

[dapper fulcrum]

anything that isnt "kill all enemies"
as an objective

[obsidian jasper]

Alr

How can I make it scary, like is making their field of view very small a good thing?

Bc I’m planning to make it take place on a coast and in a forest and I won’t need more than like 5 maps

Also how do I make them feel powerless?

[dapper fulcrum]

its easy to make players feel powerless

the question is

how do you make them feel powerless without cultivating negative feelings?

[obsidian jasper]

I mean I want fear just not them being angry at me

The fear of the unknown for example

[cosmic geyser]

If you want fear, you’re probably going to want creatures that can ambush

[obsidian jasper]

I have planned something like mimics but on steroids

So they can take the exact form of humans

And if one of them splits off

It’ll be funny

[obsidian jasper]

What would some examples be?

[dapper fulcrum]

Meazels

they can kidnap people then strand them far away

[cosmic geyser]

If you can figure out why it’s located on the coast, there’s also the Oblex

[obsidian jasper]

Can I tell you the general idea of what’s gonna happen, maybe you have advice for someone that has almost never dmed like me

[dapper fulcrum]

yea sure

[proud osprey]

yes

[sage vector]

ah wonderful

mhmmm

censoring these, horrible acts
||there was someone he liked the taste of. Vampire lord gets a little addiction to this one blood source. Well the person isn't very pleased with that and keeps trying to fight or push them away. I mean dude is a vampire lord so he wins anyway but he's getting frustrated. So he has this person restrained and put into a... juicer. Of sorts. A crusher. Really gets the juice out properly. Limbs first of course, and he'd let them recover, but every time he got that urge, turn the handle and CRUNCH goes one of their limbs. Or all of them, once he decided to kick the habit and have one last good taste.||

[obsidian jasper]

So

Party will be part of an exploration to a newly discovered continent

West to the known world

Bc I’m uncreative I’ll name it Vinland

Anyway

They make landfall and have time to prepare till dusk

If they built defences all goes fine if not they will have a restless night

This place isn’t very nice

Harsh weather

Predators

Freaky monsters

They’ll have a couple of npcs with them

So that they won’t instantly fuck it all up

[obsidian jasper]

Why didn’t the person just put something funny into their bloodstream?

[dapper fulcrum]

so
objective i see here is tower defennse basially

keep the settlement safe during the night

[obsidian jasper]

Kinda he

Ye*

Go get food during the day

But at the same time Tower Defense is too predictable

So I need a twist

[sage vector]

anything that is "something funny" that can kill an elder vampire can kill them too. And even if they tried, well, that's why they got restrained.

[obsidian jasper]

Ah

[obsidian jasper]

Do you have an idea for a twist? (I keep forgetting to answer people mb)

[dapper fulcrum]

predicatable works

dontneedto reinvvent the wheel

[obsidian jasper]

Predictability makes it not scary

[dapper fulcrum]

nope

it works still

if the mobs keep coming and the defenses wear down

its still scary

don't chase novelty and twists to scare, use common stuff Well

[obsidian jasper]

Oh it’s like

I’m not trying to make that the uneasy stuff

Like wave after wave

If they build defences they get a long rest if not they’ll have to deal with some predators or something

Planning to make the whole thing stretch over like 2 or 3 days and 1 to 2 sessions

Also I’m planing to make this like a place where for example they find an abandoned village or fort || and they just see corpses or nothing at all|| maybe it was a disease or maybe there’s something hiding there

Also as said earlier skin snatchers

I made a custom animal which is a giant bird

Cw for death btw

[dapper fulcrum]

either way im not sure how a twist here can contribute to the vibe
i just see a mystery unraveling about the island

[obsidian jasper]

Alr

Also how could I make it so they get the whole cool feel (like temperature)

I want them wearing coats n such but idk how to implement that

[dapper fulcrum]

theres temperature rules in the DMG i think

effects and consequences of cold weather

[obsidian jasper]

Ooh

I’ll look into that

Also should I make them go hunt for food or say they took enough food with them?

[dapper fulcrum]

depends on how much stuff youre asking them to do

[obsidian jasper]

I think I should do some but not too much

[sage vector]

Wide scale rather than personal...
||Perpetuation of addictive crops that mean that at any point he can just deny them to people and it becomes incredibly difficult if not deadly to defy him. If he is the only one who has the seeds, and provides seedless plants, he is the only source of the addictive stuff.||

[proud osprey]

i like this bc it implies that the region is still flourishing agriculturally

[sage vector]

I mean, ew, sickly meals

Yummy, well cared for livestock

[proud osprey]

like things are mostly fine

but olgimsky is largely unperturbed by rumours of peasant revolt brewing across the empire

(revolution arc very possible)

starting in the west

let’s see

kreykrauchen and deregost: open rebellion

[frail hull]

I feel like the vampires lands should be very prosperous and his public persona very reasonable.. Not only does this cause his citizens to love him, but it helps to actively deflect blame if the party tries to get outside help. It also allows to be the one other regions turn to during crises as well as he always has surplus to give to those in need.

[sage vector]

If going with the plants idea, it actually leads to an interesting thing

because now the best way to get the fittest, strongest, and most well cared for people on your side is

go and steal a bunch of seeds

or plants that CAN seed

Which is not a usual heist

you must claim the means of production so those that were farmed like cattle can raise up against their oppressors.

[obsidian jasper]

This map looks great

[frail hull]

What if to seed the plant requires sacrifices?

[proud osprey]

think this is an outdated screencap of it

but thank you

[proud osprey]

extremely based d&d?

sounds cool

thanks for the ideas

lady corvarian is another powerful figure that i have less ideas for

[sage vector]

Do you have any deets about her?

Are they the one who follows the god of secrets and lies?

[proud osprey]

she is yes

to be clear nephilis is absolutely this setting’s answer to vecna

and i think lady corvarian will be looking for those respective classic d&d artefacts

so that she might let nephilis take form

she’s a widowed duchess but powerful enough to hold her own

not sure where she’s from exactly, but it’s either figary or espony or fordyn

but probably not fordyn

want her to feel remote enough that her weird arcane hobbies can go unperturbed by the order of exorcists or worse an official inquisition

[sage vector]

So with a name like Corvarian, she has something to do with corvids? Does she have spies in the dark, birds watching and reporting back to her isolated tower? A whole spy network of just herself and her birds?

[proud osprey]

house sigil is a crow

she absolutely has spies. she absolutely lives relatively sequestered away

maybe the crow spy network thing is cool

perceptive players might notice crows watching them

and if they ever rock up to ravenhold then they’ll maybe connect the dots

[sage vector]

crows watching them is a wonderful way to cause paranoia

they could whisper lies into people's ears while they sleep

fill their dreams with lies and hatred

[proud osprey]

yooo

i fw this heavily

[sage vector]

I wonder if you could try and trick the players to accept a friendly crow into the party. A happy little friendly crow that hops along and does tricks and totally isn't a spy

that way they wouldn't even need to have crows spying on them

Who needs to have a thousand spies if the people allow one in

[proud osprey]

YO

[sage vector]

the party pet being a spy is something I've wanted to play around with in the past

it alawys tends to happen

just have them bring the party something shiny

not even precious, just "I gave you a shiny" and then show itself off

[proud osprey]

corn. one kernel of corn

good horse feed

[proud osprey]

yeah this is a good vibe

can see the monk or druid going in for this

my bard is basically chaotic evil

[sage vector]

I mean... everyone loves a minion

give them a morally terrible little creature that will do their bidding

[proud osprey]

love a minion

name the crow

[sage vector]

Well, I'm sure they'll have a name as well, but my suggestion is "Peep"

Peep does not make peep noises though they Caw loudly

Peep is named Peep because when it's revealed they're a spy you can rub it in their face

[proud osprey]

that’s so good

they have speak with animals

i think two of them have access

[sage vector]

Ah lovely

[proud osprey]

incredible

so peep becomes this very lovable normal companion

for like

eleven levels

[sage vector]

Are the players local to the area?

[proud osprey]

in what sense?

which area

[sage vector]

Well, Peep could also act as a guide or aid or something should the players need it

if they haven't lived in this place their entire life

Have them trust peep

Even if they go somewhere Peep hasn't been before, Peep can go talk to the birds, and then go back and talk to them

you see, Peep is very good at gathering information

[proud osprey]

oh 100%. manoeuvre them

[sage vector]

I do enjoy giving the players dramatic irony that they can look back on

[proud osprey]

same! haven’t gotten to do it in a couple years tbh

save one thing in my west marches last year

[proud osprey]

applicable for the empire in 2/3 of the PC’s cases

give them a bird after the city arc on their way to their new plot of land?

belcroix

i think that’s the name of their plot of land

[sage vector]

Whenever you feel is best

I suspect you have a better feel for the group than any plot I could suggest

[proud osprey]

of course

still good idea

[proud osprey]

just had a mild epiphany

the harken crusaders could be in cahoots with lucius laquaine and co

and i could give the players a letter between elias and lucius

for villainous treasure hunt

[proud osprey]

thinking about dungeons

never actually get to deploy many of them because of how my game is structured

would be fun to run a side adventure from the city that leads the players to some sort of morrowind-inspired ancestral tomb

[proud osprey]

okay so

tomb:

• two entrances: a door carved into a hillside cavern to the east of mollebourg, and in the same area a crater with water leaking into it for the “back entrance”; here there will be some humanoid remains long past. for flavour. no rope no getting in
• owned by: dark elves, some ancient family within the mollebourg under city society of dark elves
• treasure: GOOD
• inhabitants: undead for the dry half, some kind of water creature for the wet half submerged by waterfall overflow

boss for the dry half: wraith

boss for the wet half: some sahuagin dude idk

[frail hull]

Do the wet and dry halves coexist or try to ignore each other?

[proud osprey]

begrudgingly and violently coexist

[frail hull]

So will they have to beat on half then the other?

[proud osprey]

if they like

trying to think which half has better loot

[frail hull]

So it is a drow owned tomb filled with the restless spirits of thier ancestors and the Sahuagin? Dry would have better made loot, while wet could have exotic goods from along the coast?

[proud osprey]

perhaps

[proud osprey]

okay so d&d plot coupons;

• elias harken is in touch with lucius laquaine by way of damara, whom i am setting up to survive
• players kill him find correspondences and then in the big city they can pursue it, or stumble into it because…
• one character from the bard’s backstory was left for dead by him and i’m gonna have him sign up with these laquaine pirates

so that can be their in

i would love to finally get to do another pirate storyline

thinking it’s a very there’s always a bigger fish type of thing. like for one of the six big bads, laquaine is vulnerable

because i’ll come up with some jabba the hutt style crazy monstrous race pirate lord

Captain ____

• ✨ quirky ✨ allies: an alhoon, one or two duergar, an ogre or half ogre, a gnome, a tortle, a githyanki, a loxodon. got that ship looking like jabba’s sail barge

and then lucius is mostly rough and tumble humanoids. eventually they fight and there’s a merger

and then epic pirate questing is available

[proud osprey]

captain ideas: giff

lucius is a half elf or a tiefling or smth

[proud osprey]

i want there to be seven pirate kings

each with one

of the seven pieces of eight

a marid, a nycaloth, a raavasta… what else

an automaton/warforged

[proud osprey]

mindwitness

harlequin pirate king

undead pirate king

seven pirate king d

one still-living standard humanoid

shit would be crazy

[proud osprey]

• Injaniros: Raavasta
• Castalagous Rex: Nycaloth
• Aranaleti'silen: Mindwitness
• Juruub: Marid
• Kilnborn: Warforged
• Ellard Quantanamie: Harlequin, Half Elf (Eladrin)
• Scaldaran Hóth: Undead Dwarf

[proud osprey]

trying to work out who the leading pirate king is

[dapper fulcrum]

Kraken

with a massive pirate hat made from the stitched up flags of countless privateers and pirates who fell before it

[proud osprey]

that’s actually cooler than i thought

[proud osprey]

the dwarven goblet artefact i want the players to end up retrieving:

• one time effect: any dwarven warrior (fighter, paladin, barbarian, etc) who sips from this goblet will gain a permanent +2 to their strength, dexterity, or constitution, at the expense of a -2 to their wisdom, intelligence, or charisma

• passive effect: any individual who drinks from the cup as part of a short rest may regain 1 extra HP for each HD spent during the rest

elves riding giant squirrels y/n

[proud osprey]

very keen for high level play with this group. got a good set of big bads set up, room for adventures that span mountains, seafaring adventures, underdark dungeon crawls, vampire castles, hellish tears in reality, and much more

[arctic yew]

wondering how should i put the consequences for my party

so,one of my party is a wereshark. they transformed in the middle of the street on the full moon and a-trained a couple before the party could restrain him. of course,the surviving girl ran away and screamed for the guards for help

they dragged him through the streets witouth making any effort to hide him to a nearby blacksmith and had him tied up in silver chains. at this point,a mob had formed outside hunting for the wereshark.

they are well known city heroes,and no one saw the guy actually transforming. but what they DID see was then trying to save a dangerous monster that bit the head off of a innocent man in front of his wife from the guard,to the point that they attacked the crowd with (non-lethal) magic,and had one of then literally fly away with him while the rest scattered.

[flat gull]

So you reckon they've earned benefit of the doubt?

[frail hull]

Did the player choose to attack the couple?

[arctic yew]

Nope

Werewolf transformation stuff

[frail hull]

Okay, if it wasn't a player decision, then might say that as he is restrained and a town hero, that the townsfolk not attack, but could demand that someone higher rank to come deal with them. And depending on how the party responds could cost them most of thier goodwill with the village.

[flat gull]

Mm. Have it be someone who's antagonistic begrudgingly

Like who leads the local religious element?

Spritual, practical, martial

You need a leader

[proud osprey]

this is good

good DMing to rally the players behind a bad guy

[flat gull]

Or to have a npc turn on them for understandable reason

[frail hull]

Yeah. Could see the wereshark being sent on a penitence from a local, cardinal equivalent. Also, sounds like the girl has just got her tragic backstory to start her revenge arc.

[arctic yew]

.... you're right,this IS a good chance to fully spring up the fanatics that have been kinda shadowing then for a while for having tieflings in the party

[flat gull]

Chaching.

[obsidian jasper]

yo guys for the oneshot I'm gonna make I want to make magic feel different, what woudl be a way where it doesn't take half a lifetime but still makes it feel unique?

[mellow rivet]

you could restrict all but a couple of caster types. A world with only clerics and warlocks is a lot different to one with only sorcerers and artificers

[faint tinsel]

I would draw a distinction between combat-usable magic and the truly big stuff

[obsidian jasper]

I want the spells to feel more like magic and not what they're feeling like rn

[frail hull]

Like, what about them now do you not like?

[obsidian jasper]

it doesn't feel impactful

and spellslots suck

[mellow rivet]

there's spell points you can use instead

[obsidian jasper]

how's that work

[mellow rivet]

see p288 of the DMG

but you just have a pool of points, each level of spell costs a few more

[faint tinsel]

Unfortunately spells being disposable and pedestrian isn’t really a problem you can solve within D&D’s scope

[pure elm]

not without changing the entire magic system and all caster classes anyway

[faint tinsel]

Which is a lot of work

Hence why I suggest having story magic/ritual magic/etc. being a meaningfully separate thing

There's Wizard Bullshit and then there's The Big Stuff

[mellow rivet]

I feel like that's how you're supposed to run it anyway. They pretend players can do anything with spells but then sometimes introduce Big Stuff anyway

[arctic yew]

yeah

dnd doesnt do "low fantasy" well

[frail hull]

I'm trying to figure out a resource that is used in spelljamer construction. That makes them, well, work. So far the two that come to mind are a sort of magical floating rock that lifts and lowers based on how much magical power is fed I to it , Think Vision of Edcoflowne. The other is the now petrified remains of great leviathan that used to swim between worlds, who have fallen to the ground and whose bones still have the power to fly. I know the books just have magical keels, but want something bit more.

[craggy cloak]

the spelljammer we just made in our campaign is powered by pixies, with the ship's magic core being made from an asteroid that passed through the feywild so it retains the ability to move through 'space'

[cosmic geyser]

Mithril could work maybe? It's already sought after due to how light it is a metal, why not have it also be sought after for spelljammers.

Though that would be more of an external material

Ooh. Living Teleport/Dimension Door/insert teleporting spell here spell

Like they create the living spell in a special engine for the spelljammer

[obsidian jasper]

should I add bolt action rifles to dnd?

[proud osprey]

real

[proud osprey]

i have added early gunpowder weapons with house rules to my game

bolt action weapons are a very different breed, and sorta fuck up the use of stuff like crossbows as relevant weapons. but if you’re going for a very specific aesthetic like weird west or something frontiersy then it can definitely work as long as everyone is on the same page

i tried adding them in my west marches game last year but it wasn’t terrific

[frail hull]

Why is my first thought Trigun? 😂

[craggy cloak]

no idea but i also dont know anything about trigun

[frail hull]

Oh. The colony ships in that show were powered by giant light bulbs that had fairys in them that powered the ship.

[faint tinsel]

To be clear, is this Spelljammers in the abstract, or Lore Accurate Spelljammers?

[proud osprey]

nice

i’ve got two !! sessions in the immediate future :)

let’s prep some orcs

[frail hull]

Abstract, the current lore is fairly lacking.

[faint tinsel]

May I suggest Spelljammer Classic

[frail hull]

Eh, I got that too. Want to come up with something origanal

[arctic yew]

that entire book is fairly lacking

[frail hull]

You know what, I'm adding in both. Add a bit of spice.

[flat gull]

there's a few things that power spelljammers

I like the dwarven forgeships the best in vanilla

yours are also delightful

May i suggest the classic "Wood that's magic and is carved from a forest that spawns around the Tree that is the heart of a planet"

[frail hull]

I might add in some of the classics as rarer variants from the connecting worlds.

[obsidian jasper]

how can I give players a warning if I'm planing to use the temperature mechanic (Cold 0º F to 32º F (-17º C to 0º C) Water freezes.Frostbite possible. Warm clothing required for prolonged periods. DC 10* Constitution saving throw at the end of each hour or gain one level of exhaustion ) this one specifically, should I tell them they should buy a coat before they leave for the adventure or

[flat gull]

You tell them

"You know it to be cold. As a player I'm telling you it's cold enough to be mechanical."

[obsidian jasper]

thx

[craggy cloak]

ye agreed, when it comes to game rules/mechanics its best to tell them OOC

[trail ferry]

I lowkey want to tell my newbie players i put an insta death trap in their dungeon crawl without actually including one

Just to scare them

[mellow rivet]

adventurers should always expect an instant death trap! Planning on triggering a trap and walking through it isn't a plan at all

[frail hull]

Or put one in, but have another party already trip it. Let thier still fresh corpses serve as a warning.

[craggy cloak]

matt colville pitched a neat dungeon idea once where all the trips are already sprung on the way in, but once they get to the final room and grab (reason they came inside) all the traps reset

[frail hull]

Didn't that turn into something with kobalds?

[craggy cloak]

probably! kobolds are good first enemies

they're creative and energetic and very funky personality wise so you can easily run surrenders and such early on or have them work for a bigger bad without having to come up with long explanations

[frail hull]

For some reason when I think about what kobalds would sound like in my head I get Skaven?

[proud osprey]

that was when his friend ran it and switched it WITH kobolds. it’s originally goblins

[proud osprey]

they did used to be dog goblins not dragon goblins

[obsidian jasper]

That should be lore

[proud osprey]

half tempted honestly to just make kobolds be doglike

or maybe just add that in and call those “gremlins”

got d&d sTurday

[craggy cloak]

ill reflavor statblocks to be whatever i need

[proud osprey]

true

by which i mean same

[proud osprey]

i’m gonna roll a character!

i wanna make a wizard nepobaby college dropout (kicked out, more likely) fuckup idiot

stupid piece of shit

[trail ferry]

need a suggestion

what's a debuff a disgusting pig monster could inflict by hitting people with the projectiles it pretty much vomits?

or rather spits

[lament geode]

disgust /s

[proud osprey]

frightened, stunned, poison

acid

[trail ferry]

i'm stealing a disgusting pig from darkest dungeon

[dapper fulcrum]

Poison is the easy answer unless you want a specific unique thing

Like "take -2 penalties to attacks" or "-2 to concentration"

[proud osprey]

Edward Milsche

wizard >:3

and i rolled 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16

not bad!

[craggy cloak]

Blinded, Poisoned, Prone come to mind

[proud osprey]

what kind of wizard should old milschey be

[dapper fulcrum]

Abjurer

Wait no transmuter

[proud osprey]

hmm

[proud osprey]

Edword is funnier

[proud osprey]

thinking about the peasants rebellion

[sand hornet]

Which one?

[obsidian jasper]

You can make a 20 for int if you use custom lineage

[obsidian jasper]

Enchantment

[proud osprey]

nah that's silly

enchantment or illusion seem possible

[obsidian jasper]

wdym?

[proud osprey]

why would he have optimal stats

he's a dropout not a prodigy

precious milsche family failson

[frail hull]

Illusionist. He faked his grades to get into wizard school but couldn't trick the actual professors so flunked out.

[proud osprey]

illusion appeals the most

familiar choice is another aspect of milsche man

of course with me in the mix there’s the age old option of ferret

but maybe some kind of bird

[obsidian jasper]

kinda funny

he got all that int but never uses it right

[proud osprey]

baugh

nahhh*

[prisma sluice]

Making a warlock with the 2024 rules, I'm debating if I want Lessons of the First Ones for the Tough feat or something else

On one hand, Tough would put me on par with a 16 constitution, level 3 fighter's HP pool, which is valuable for me since I'm making a Fiend Bladelock, but on the other, there's significantly more interesting options

Like Fiendish Vigor, which is just

Fucking stupid

Free 12 temp HP whenever I want

What do y'all think?

[prisma sluice]

...eh, Tough is a difference of 6 HP at this level, I'll take it at level 4

[arctic yew]

we are fighting a group of bandits that are all like

Cr 5 because of performance enhancing drugs

<Paladin

i just walked up to their leader and grabbed him by the arm

lay on hands:eliminate a poison effect

[proud osprey]

that’s good use

got session 3B prepped and started on 2A

fun DMing again

[prisma sluice]

Is there any way to buff familiars' base stats in 5e?

[arctic yew]

question
what you think is cooler for a super strong character's aoe ability
a thunderclap or a scream

like,the thunderclap is iconic yes but i keep getting that uvogin scene in my brain

[dapper fulcrum]

whats the character's vibe

[arctic yew]

insane conquest paladin fanatic that just happens to have the strength of a storm giant on fairly scrawny 5'7 frame.

[dapper fulcrum]

whats their personality like
depending on the answer, thatll determine the Vibe of the scream
is it rage? madness? affirmation of an ideology?

[flat gull]

Not by default iirc- not that there isn't homebrew solutions

What's the issue

[prisma sluice]

Low HP pool and AC

I'm wanting to take Investment of the Chain Master later so my familiar can attack with my bonus action, Sphinx of Wonder does bonkers fucking damage and it seems like an excellent way to bolster my own output

Only issue being, it has 24 HP and 13 AC, and its attack is melee

[obsidian jasper]

Is there any online stuff about guns n DnD like ww1 era stuff?

[frail hull]

I know there are rules bouncing around for flintlock Era guns now, but not sure about modern type weapons.

[obsidian jasper]

Alr

So there’s no stuff for like bolt action rifles or early machine guns?

[craggy cloak]

Not official rules

You'd have to find houserules

[arctic yew]

deranged,giggly,somewhat playful,somehow still extremely charismatic. like,someone that people would legitmately die for even if what they say is insane because of the raw confidence they exude. can switch from "sure old lady,i will help you carry your crops into your sheds :)" to "oh,youre a heretic cut to them pummeling the person's head for the next 7 hours" in a second.

[dapper fulcrum]

someone hopped up on Ncorp canned nailgoop got it

Scream followed by smashing the ground and/or a person adjacent to them for emphasis

[obsidian jasper]

thx

[arctic yew]

DND officially has three tiers of guns

Modern,renaissance and futuristic

[obsidian jasper]

laser guns lol

[arctic yew]

Yes

[dapper fulcrum]

Laser Guns deal a tonne of damage its funny

[obsidian jasper]

I think I should make a oneshot where a smart kobold made a laser gun

it's the only one in the setting

[arctic yew]

Oh,if you wanna go single in the world exotic weapon

Use a antimatter rifle

[obsidian jasper]

lmao, kobold tricked a celestial or fiend into a cramped space and now there's some deity used as the energy

[arctic yew]

A laser gun deals 3d8 radiant

A antimatter rifle deals 6d8 necrotic

[obsidian jasper]

oh damn

wouldn't anti matter be more like force?

[dapper fulcrum]

its "antimatter" so its gotta be a sinister element

[sand hornet]

I personally enjoy Valda's stuff with guns

but that's 3rd party so

[obsidian jasper]

what was necrotic damage again?

[obsidian jasper]

ah that's fine, I use homebrew all the time

[arctic yew]

It's negative energy. Anti-life. Rot and decay.

[obsidian jasper]

alr thx

[frail hull]

I could see antimatter being split between force and necrotic. To show the blast then radiation damage.

[obsidian jasper]

wait antimatter gives off radiation when it comes in contact with normal matter?

[frail hull]

Yes, gamma

[obsidian jasper]

ah

[arctic yew]

i am trying to make a map for a seaborne gourmet restaurant

this is what i got so far (inkarnate is fun :)

[arctic yew]

i gotta run but this is what i gots so far

Feel free to give suggestions

[trail ferry]

what's a good boss for a part of 5 lvl 3 characters? how hard should i go? they'll have potions of healing and stuff

[craggy cloak]

Are there encounters before this? Is this just one big encounter for the rest?

[trail ferry]

there are smaller encounters yes

mostly fodder, enemies how are meant to die without much resistance

[craggy cloak]

yeah

By itself something like a CR6~7 enemy with support would be a bloody / resource intensive battle*

*can't account for weird spells and potions and all

[trail ferry]

oh shit cr6 u sure?

[craggy cloak]

You can/should lower it, im used to doing some RAW stuff with players who push the system

usually my goal with a big encounter is to knock some folk down, use up a lot of spell slots/items, really push them

https://www.challengerated.com/ this helps me calc some of that

[trail ferry]

i'm looking at a couple monsters i could use as a mold for my evil pig creature

and something that i think i'll do is lower it's AC for example

[craggy cloak]

lower AC bigger HP can feel better for players, gives them an easy hit target

minions are always good as noted, and objectives on the map feel cool!

maybe some levers or smth to mess with Da Pig

[trail ferry]

i was going to base this around a darkest dungeon boss called "swine king"

he has a tiny friend called wilbur

[craggy cloak]

im familiar with that guy, he's a pain

[trail ferry]

what do u think of the idea?

[craggy cloak]

I like it so far!

[trail ferry]

i'm basically trying to find an enemy that would be a good frame for it

i was going to go minotaur but from what u said...that might be a lil weak for a party of 5 people

Oh maybe a cyclops?

[frail hull]

I feel like it needs a big pantry and somewhere to wash dishes

[frail hull]

Going g with the pig theme, perhaps have the entire area be a mud hole it wallows in. Making it difficult terrain for medium and smaller.

[trail ferry]

That would be very interesting yes

I just did a test run and yeah they could deal like 50 dmg in a round to this boss

So a cyclops is probably very reasonable!

a chimera pig would also be interesting i'll say...

[frail hull]

A mix of pig, goat, and cow?

[trail ferry]

that's a good take was also thinking about mixing 3 kinds of pig but i only know boar and regular farm pig

i think i'll go with a cyclops swine king tho

[proud osprey]

ooo

[trail ferry]

so i'm thinking of giving the swine king a free opportunity attack every time someone attacks wilbur

also thinking of having him hand over the treasure if they take the little bastard hostage

this is wilbur

[proud osprey]

not PRECIOUS wilbur!!

[trail ferry]

do ya think this free opportunity attack is too much?

[frail hull]

Could make it a reaction.

So when Willbur takes damage the main pig gets a free move toward the source, and if in range gets an attack.

Course, crafty players might notice this and use it to kite him away

[trail ferry]

fair, how much hp should i give wilbur? wilbur is mostly there to annoy u, not much of a dps, he's more of a support for the swine king

we dont want players killing him in one hit but we also dont want him to be a tank

[frail hull]

1/2 of SK?

But give him a good AC

[trail ferry]

swin king has like 138 if we use the base cyclops hp

69 hp

[frail hull]

Vs how many players?

[trail ferry]

5

[frail hull]

Yeah, might be a bit low if it's 5 vs 2

But, most attacks should go to the big one, so it should be fine.

Are you giving them lair/ villain actions?

[trail ferry]

havent thought of anything of the sort

[frail hull]

Ok

[trail ferry]

yeah i cannot forget to give them healing potions and other kinds of items

this guy deals 20 dmg on average

i lie it's a bit less

also it's a small room so i think i'll reduce his speed by a good amount

swine king doesnt have legs after all he drags himself around the place

[proud osprey]

GUYS

i’m doing a hard reboot on our A campaign (by one session, don’t worry) for tomorrow on short notice

[flat gull]

Okay

why?

[proud osprey]

scramble!!!!

just to get back on track

rly lock in

hot start n such

starting outside the dungeon

ORCS have kidnapped [blank], and intend to use them for [blank] in their lair, the heroes must slay the ORCS and may discover [blank]

drew a dungeon map in excel

[flat gull]

Baller.

[proud osprey]

what’ll we put everywhere

orcs are the primary enemy here

[flat gull]

What do they want

[proud osprey]

in thinking they’ve kidnapped some townies to use in some sort of ritual sacrifice to their god of war, that their clan might grow strong again and break their bad luck against the dwarven overlords who have pushed them from their territory

the orcs are sympathetic, but still villainous, and this dungeon ties in to the larger world and hints at broader adventure

they have treasure of their own, and there’s a secret inner sanctum in this tomb they’ve co-opted with more goodies, and possibly an undead

[tepid crane]

This sounds like a cool plot

[proud osprey]

it’s literally a basic level 1 dungeon

i’ve run this sorta structure before

[proud osprey]

with undead, orcs, goblins way back, kobolds (oops), bandits, etc

[proud osprey]

got it prepped

total of 9 orcs, with one as a shaman

[proud osprey]

home brewed some shit into the system by stealing from 4e. so we’ve got half-orcs being JACKED fighters or halflings being able to add their proficiency bonus to attacks of opportunity

gonna be good

let’s make some orcs

i’ll need 9

[obsidian jasper]

yo guys

third level divine soul sorcerer for damage/healing

what level 2 spell should I get?

[proud osprey]

scorcho

in the uber to my session, thinking about some orc banter

“fucking guard duty. again.”
“orgnar you say this every time.”
“but this time i’ll miss the sacrifice. and a shrine maiden. surely something. full of potential. full of magic.”
“aye, but if we go in there and the ceremony is interrupted, then we’re buggered anyway.”
“hrmph”

then they play i spy or some shit

[solemn totem]

Can't go wrong with scorching ray, good single or multi-target damage, can be quickened or empowered.

[obsidian jasper]

I took heightened and twinned

[solemn totem]

Heightened is good for save or suck spells, so Aganazzar's scorcher, dragon's breath, mind spike, Snilloc's snowball swarm and Tasha's mind whip, if you're using Tasha's, might be good picks. So would Wither and Bloom but it's from Strixhaven.

[arctic yew]

one of my favorite parts of dnd lore is

the weirdness betwen aboleths and mindflayers

Mindflayers are interdimensional monsters that eat brains who used t own a universe spanning empire before one of their countless slave races revolted and drove them deep into the dark to hide and reform

but aboleths,who have hereditary memory and have a uninterrupted recollection since the start of time remember mindflayers always being there as a shattered empire since always.

[frail hull]

Had the have the Empire for it to be shattered. Perhaps the flayers are even older? Or the Aboleths memory isn't perfect.

[arctic yew]

It's unlikely since they can give accurate recollections of the start of creation

[frail hull]

Then why can't they remember the mindflayer empire? 👀

[arctic yew]

Who knows

[solemn totem]

Perhaps the Illithid past is really the future, or perhaps the Illithid empire is so ancient none remember it except them.

[sand hornet]

Or maybe there's some anomalous fuckery going on

[dapper fulcrum]

2024 Arcane Lock prevents nonmagical means of unlocking it

If youre a rogue or any nonmagical class youre shit outta luck

[tepid crane]

https://tenor.com/view/husky-kicks-door-dabblez-gif-25285760

[dapper fulcrum]

all dogs are magical that doesnt count

[tepid crane]

Also a helpful way to test for mimics

[proud osprey]

thinking about different types of groups

the group last night was sort of a loose band of chucklefucks who are three of my closest friends

and i see that as more like “game night”

when we play d&d together, it feels like they’re tuning in to game night

when the other group and i play, it feels like we’re all tuning in to some sort of premium HBO show

not a bad thing

i like both styles

[craggy cloak]

its really important everyone shows up for the same kind of night, for sure

one of my session zero questions is always this one

[proud osprey]

yeah group A is 1, group B is 3, group C is shaping up to be 2, online group shaping up to be 4

[arctic yew]

This feels lacking in comparison

[proud osprey]

designing a new character class for one of my players

[arctic yew]

?

[frail hull]

Maybe have aura of frenzy have some sort of save. Or reduce the range.

[proud osprey]

he presented me with a kinda busted home brew class, so i am fixing it to make it better :)

the shinobi

[arctic yew]

Fair

I want him to just

Be complete and utter chaos to fight

[frail hull]

that's fair. Basicity giving everyone reckless assault within 60 feet could be shrunk to like 30, unless he is going to have lots of minions. Perhaps make it so those with-in 60 ft have to pass a save or attack a random adjacent creature?

[arctic yew]

That's what the AOO is for

[proud osprey]

thinkin about rules

and changing them

[modest echo]

oho?

[proud osprey]

just tweaking bits and bobs as they come up

i figure as far as d&d goes i’ll just be running 5e and mutating it and tacking stuff in from other games i like forever

because i don’t wanna buy a lot of new games that ultimately just Do D&D and have people rock up wanting to play in my “D&D game” anyway

like i’d happily play pf or OSE or shadowdark or whatever’s next in the 5e-killing department as a player, or even run them depending, but rn having a good grasp on my own world and setting and rules stuff seems more practical for the kind of generic fantasyland role playing i tend to actually get done

trying to figure out a good system for localised damage, like hitting body parts

got a monk player who rly goes for the eyes n shit a lot

[craggy cloak]

called shots are funky

[proud osprey]

yeah

[frail hull]

yeah, that's like a 1 time thing, once they figure it out the players will just stagger movements/disengage to avoid it. Which is fine if that's the idea you want. I was suggesting the random attacks to keep the battle more chaotic.

[frail hull]

i belive 4th edition had called shots players could take. could just bring those over?

[arctic yew]

something like this maybe?

[frail hull]

Looks awsome!

[arctic yew]

so thats

4 out of the six done

cain and judas left

[frail hull]

cain could potentially be hard. Judas had a few ideas posted about them already

[arctic yew]

ye

[frail hull]

so thinking about cain, as the 2 things he is known for are kinda taken by sampson and judas, maybe revolve it around his curse mark. Make him a really good warrior, with manuvers and such, but no noticeable supernatural powers. Instead, any who strike him in rage are cursed to bear his mark, becoming shunned by ALL who see it, including other gods, and he returns everyday at sunrise. Cain always knows where those who bear his mark are, and can control them. I'm thinking very similar to vampires.

[frail hull]

You know, drop the control part. Just having this persistence hunter who can always find you and will never stay down is terrifying enough.

[arctic yew]

yeah,but their poiwers are not supposed to be based on their characters,but on the sins that they have

also sorry for the late reply i was catching u

[obsidian jasper]

Do you guys have an idea how I could rework the school of necromancy wizard subclass?

I feel like some parts are cool while others not so much

[arctic yew]

what are your gripes

and what are your wishes

[obsidian jasper]

grim harvest

kinda sucks

[obsidian jasper]

make it darker and fit into a steampunk world

[arctic yew]

well,necromancy is already like

really dark

but making it fit a steampunk world is a bit harder

[obsidian jasper]

it's kinda meh bc most dms don't make it dark in my experince

[modest echo]

Is necromancer anti-steampunk?

[obsidian jasper]

one idea I had is

[modest echo]

i don't think they clash

[obsidian jasper]

cw for gore n blood

this

[arctic yew]

people tend to forget how morally abhorrent necromancy is

.....including wotc sometimes

[obsidian jasper]

it depends on how you do it

[arctic yew]

is not that it clashes,its that it doesnt really fit well

[obsidian jasper]

this would be more letting something into the dead body instead of reanimating it

[modest echo]

do you think this can be solved by talking to a GM about what you want?

[obsidian jasper]

I also genuinly don't feel like the high fantasy medieval typa necromancy fits the steampunk

[arctic yew]

people tend to forget that not only are you desecrating a corpse

you are also creating a murder machine

necromancy is anti-life

if they dont have instructions,undead will as a rule just

[obsidian jasper]

necromancy is creating biological weapons

[arctic yew]

kill everything they see

[obsidian jasper]

partially

also the setting is about 1868

[modest echo]

or, to put it another way, how would you expect a different class design to convince a GM to take a darker interpretation, instead of them just not allowing the class at all?

[obsidian jasper]

so

guns

[obsidian jasper]

instead of the dead people just standing up

they

||their bodies morph and twist, bones crackign maybe stuff like that if it's more making the dead bodies vessels instead of just making puppets, or if they're literally puppets that would also be haunting|| cw for violence

[spice hornet]

that's dnd's version of it, yeah. dnd is a primarily combat-focused game though, and has kinda built its world at least in some part around that

[obsidian jasper]

fair enough

[modest echo]

right, sure, but if the gm isn't interested in exploring the implications of necromancy they'll ignore that just as easily as they ignore it in the baseline class

[spice hornet]

there are a lot of implications in a lot of types of fiction. my favorite to point out is the juxtaposition of immunology and time travel

[obsidian jasper]

idk

[spice hornet]

people develop more resistance to more powerful diseases over time with the advent of medicines needing to combat the stronger, more mutated diseases. the average vaccinated human would be pretty inoculated to almost any disease of times prior, which can also have the knock-on effect of you inadvertently being a vector for sicknesses that even in their weakened form could make the average person of a few hundred years ago just Keel Over and Die

the inverse would be true if you travelled further forward in time instead

that's not an implication ppl think about, largely bc time travel is cool and introduces a lot of cool possibilities, and you'd also need at least a dozen different disciplines or degrees to even begin to wrap your head around what hypothetical time travel would do to you, let alone the mechanics of it

necromancy is smth that can be approached from many, many angles, so... what angle most interests you?

[obsidian jasper]

bringing back the dead

as soldiers

for a greater cause

[spice hornet]

so the warfare aspect of it, or the dehumanization of it

turning people into bodies, and bodies into tools, and allowing no rest even in death

that kinda thing?

[obsidian jasper]

I mean their souls rest

[obsidian jasper]

ye

but also actually make it feel that bad

and making the school of necromancy actually good

I mean maybe I should make it a sorcrer origin

[spice hornet]

there's homebrew for that-

i think, fundamentally, making necromancy evil is something that has to tie into like, burial rites, respect for the dead, etc. and you can portray that in ways that can be more or less gross depending on what tone you're angling for

[obsidian jasper]

I'm angling for dark not gross

[spice hornet]

well you said stuff like ||shambling around without needing functioning joints, cracking and wheezing and moving like marionettes on loose strings|| which is a degree of gross

[obsidian jasper]

oh those two weren't the same things