steel wind strike
#D&D and other TTRPGs
novel eagle
New spells connected to named spellcasters in the D&D multiverse, named a couple wizards from the Circle of Eight I'm not familiar with
Jolarzi (sp?)
"She's a Celestial Warlock"
Tasha's bubbling cauldron lets you dip vials into it and get potions out of it
toll the dead
synaptic static
starry wisp
sorcerous burst
mind spike
mind sliver
ice knife
vitriolic sphere
word of radiance
Graduated to the PHB
Could talk "for hours" about spells that have had significant improvements
Healing spells have been upgraded, spending your Bonus Action or Action on healing will "feel better" now
guidance: choose a particular skill when you cast the spell, target gets bonus to ability check they make while you concentrate on the spell
blade ward "might see some use in play"
lone widget
*toll the dead*
*synaptic static*
*starry wisp*
*sorcerous burst*
*mind spike*
*...
Ngl, I thought a bunch of these were already part of PHB. I guess I never really checked. 
novel eagle
Talk about making sure low level spells were enticing enough to be used, especially spells that were almost always ignored. High level spells there was less concern, because fewer people get to those levels & are more choosy about which ones to use anyway, but a few improvements.
Talk about clarifying spell rules
shapechanging spells no longer give a second pool of hit points, now they give temp HP (same as the druid's WIld Shape)
Standardized wording of spells (hopefully they took some lessons from 4e on this)
Emanation AoE, much clearer on conditions, damage types, etc.
Class chapter is largest in PHB, spells is second biggest. Not just for players, it's the repository of spells for the whole game, DM needs them too. Parts of the chapter are for the DM.
Example: guards and wards, rarely useful to players, but DMs will use them
(Bastions called out as a potential use for players)
wish has been clarified. Examples given, ramifications explained, specific guidance on what happens if you try to use the spell to affect Sigil or the Lady of Pain
Some spells may not have much of a functional change but have a flavor change.
component changes, what happens if a spell fails, etc.
Similar approach to the magic item chapter of DMG
Two spells JC think stand out & he encourages people to look at:
chromatic orb & cloud of daggers
chromatic orb still lets you choose damage type, but now the orb can BOUNCE from one target to another
cloud of daggers now lets you move it
Talk about how some spells that were painful to cast due to restrictions are now revised
produce flame is easier to cast; it was not only painful in tabletop, but when JC was playing BG3, which inspired him to redesign the spell for 2024
Talk about art of the spells
fin
steep narwhal
Did they fix true strike or does it still suck
novel eagle
No idea yet
steep narwhal
Distant chanting we want masque, we want masque
novel eagle
bold sinew
novel eagle
Welp
lone widget
@prime nimbus
Time to make a new password, just in case (even though I don't think I've been breached by this, my passwords are ridiculously strong).
I also never used any of my cards to buy anything on Roll20, so I'm safe there.
novel eagle
Looks like passwords were not compromised
The following information from your account may have been exposed;
First Name
Last Name
Last four digits of your credit card (if you stored one)
Last known IP address
lone widget
I like to change passwords when a data breach happens anyway. Besides, my Roll20 password, despite being strong already, needed a little more oomph.
novel eagle
KIIIII-YAH!
Okay, here goes:
Monk satisfaction scores over the last decade were low, along with play numbers. "That told us this class needed attention."
Martial Arts (1st level): Selection of monk weapons broadened.
All Simple Melee weapons + Martial weapons with the Light property
Unarmed Strike can be a Bonus Action regardless of your other actions
Unarmed Strike rule has been redesigned for all characters, Monk can take most advantage of it.
Unarmed Strike has three options now:
- Deal damage
- Initiate grapple
- Attempt to shove target
"We've kinda Weapon Master-ied Unarmed Strikes."
This means any time Monk makes an Unarmed Strike, it can be any of those options, even as a Bonus Action.
Monk can use DEX instead of STR for the Grapple or Shove options.
Martial Arts Die has been improved: starts at d6 at level 1, all the way up to d12 at level 17
"Rare case of a class getting a flat-out damage buff."
Monk's Focus (level 2): Replacement for Ki.
So many changes, they felt the name needed to change.
Focus Points
Any monk material published prior to 2024 PHB: any reference to Ki Points should be read as "Focus Points"
Patient Defense: lets you take Disengage as a Bonus action without spending points
Step of the Wind: lets you take Dash as a Bonus action
Can spent Focus Points to enhance those
Patient Defense: spending a FP lets you Disengage & Dodge at the same time
Step of the Wind: spending a FP lets you Dash & Disengage at the same time, also doubles Jump distance the rest of the turn
Flurry of Blows: spend FP to make two Unarmed Strikes as a Bonus action. No "freebie" version, because that's your 1st Level ability.
"Even if you're out of Focus Points, you can do all the baseline Monk things."
Notes that monks previously felt too constrained by their Ki Focus Points.
Uncanny Metabolism (Level 2): When rolling Initiative, can choose regain all expended Focus Points. Refreshes on Long Rest.
<laughing about the fact they're just now getting to Level 3 features>
Deflect Attacks: Was too complicated before. Now only cares if it's Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing damage. Roll 1d10+DEX+Monk level: if that reduces the incoming damage to 0, you can spend 1 FP to redirect the attack to another target. Target makes a Saving Throw, if they fail, they take Force damage equal to your Martial Arts dice.
Deflect Energy (Level 13): Can use Deflect Attacks to deflect any damage type.
Talk about improving survivability in addition to damage.
Self-Restoration (level 10): Combines several previous abilities. If Charmed / Frightened / Poisoned, can choose to remove that effect at the end of their turn. Does not take an action or FP.
Heightened Focus (level 10): improves Patient Defense, Step of the Wind and Flurry of Blows. <no details given>
Stunning Strike (level ?? <mentioned it's between lvl 2 and lvl 10>): "One of the only places where a Monk feature got tuned down a bit."
Can only be used 1/turn. Target who fails Saving Throw is Stunned; Target who succeeds has their movement speed halved until start of your next turn, next Attack roll made against them has Advantage.
<finally getting to the subclasses>
Warrior of Mercy:
<talk about how they streamlined subclass names, called out Sorcerer as also having their subclasses renamed>
Most recent (from Tasha's), so the least changed.
Basically just revised into the new subclass leveling, some tweaks in wording, otherwise still the same subclass.
Warrior of the Elements:
Completely replaces Way of the Four Elements. Often the lowest-rated subclass in 2014 PHB.
Elemental Attunement (level 3): Able to increase reach of Unarmed Strikes using elements.
<description is very ATLA>
New cantrip: elementalism
Elemental Strikes: When dealing damage via the increased reach, can change damage type to an elemental type; target forced to make a saving throw, failure means you can move the target <described as your elemental attack pushing/throwing the target around>
?? (level 6): Using a Magic Action, spend FP to cause an elemental explosion up to 120 ft away; 20 ft radius explosion, deals damage equal to your Martial Arts dice
Notes you don't have to pick a specific element when taking the subclass. You are a master of all the elements, you can choose which one every time you use these abilities.
<So yes, you're the Avatar>
Notes that the elemental powers are not "always on", you have to choose to activate them & spend FP
?? (level 11): When activating Elemental Attunement, you gain a Fly speed and Swim speed.
Elemental Epitome (level 17): When activating Elemental Attunement, you gain a Damage Resistance; every turn you decide which element it is (Acid / Cold / Lightning / Thunder)
When using Step of the Wind during Elemental Attunement, your speed increases, can cause damage to foes you're moving past (!!)
1/turn can deal extra damage on an attack
Warrior of Shadow:
Can still cast darkness, the monk can see through it now
Shadowstep: improved at level 11, can spend an FP to teleport without starting or ending in dim light or darkness, gain a free Unarmed Strike after teleporting
Cloak of Shadows (level 17): Not only turn invisible, become partly incorporeal: can pass through occupied spaces as if they were difficult terrain, can use Flurry of Blows without spending FP while in CoS.
Warrior of Open Hand: "most Monk-ish of the Monks"
Wholeness of Body (level 6): Bonus Action to heal instead of a full action; can be used multiple times per day
Fleet Step: Whenever taking a Bonus Action to do anything other than Step of the Wind, can use Step of the Wind after that Bonus Action
<mentions that combos with Wholeness of Body>
Quivering Palm: Now deals a "truckload" of damage on failed save, and "smaller truckload" on success, rather than the old "you die when I decide sometime later"
fin
silk sequoia
fair enough changes, the Monk was really needing most of these
novel eagle
lone widget
Oh shit, I'm glad Sam's doing a lot better
novel eagle
Yeah, still recovering, but it sounds like he's past the worst of it.
lone widget
steep narwhal
Patient Defense: lets you take Disengage as a Bonus action *without spending poi...
Wait but Patient Defense is the Dodge action, no?
lone widget
From how it reads, it sounds to me like they changed it from using up the dodge action and a ki point to just using a bonus action.
novel eagle
Yup. They changed it to no FP cost & being a Bonus Action.
lone widget
The problem with this is that you can't then use that bonus action to do more damage with flurry of blows or something.
So you sacrifice damage for defense.
Both versions of Patient Defense have their uses. Perhaps a house rule could be allowing monks to choose which way they'd like to do it?
novel eagle
Yeah, it looks like they changed the 2014 version with Dodge, to the 2024 version with Disengage but you can spend an FP to also Dodge.
novel eagle
Livestream is up, should be starting soon.
https://youtu.be/NQaQwE86NKA?si=_pBxTD0X2-JglFA8
I probably won't be able to keep up with it, so I may just drop some of the big things and then come back when the stream is over for details.
Innate Sorcery (lvl 1): Spend a Bonus Action to empower yourself, spell save DC increases by one, gain Advantage for any attack with a Sorcerer spell, for the duration.
Can change out a cantrip when you level up
Font of Magic & Metamagic (level2):
Font gives you your Sorcery Points
"We have revisited every one of the Metamagic options"
Plus "new" options from Tasha's
Sorcerous Restoration (lvl 5): lets you recover Sorcery Points
Sorcery Incarnate (lvl 7): Spend SP to gain sources of Innate Sorcery back
While Innate Sorcery is active, can use 2 Metamagics when casting a spell (lvl 7)
Arcane Apotheosis (lvl 20): When Innate Sorcery is active, on each of your turns, use a Metamagic option without spending any SP
<talk about how Sorc and Warlock compare & contrast>
<Warlocks have more build versatility, but Sorcerers have more moment-to-moment versatility, while Wizard has the most versatility of spells known>
Subclasses:
Aberrant Sorcery (my favorite!):
Migrated in from Tasha's, along with Clockwork Sorcery
"Made the migration intact", made a few "clarification" tweaks <assuming a few changes for the switch to subclasses at 3rd level as well>
<talk about how Aberrant pairs with Draconic as having a monstrous base; Clockwork and Wild Magic are paired as Order/Chaos>
Draconic and Wild Magic have "significant" new elements
Draconic:
"The iconic sorcerer subclass"
"amped up the draconic angle of the subclass"
"still have what you expect" increased resilience, HP, armor class
Draconic Spells (lvl 3) <basically they get the additional spells that other subclasses got later>
- dragon's breath
- summon dragon 9th level
retooled version of the spell from Fizban's
Increased speed of Dragon Wings; not able to be on all the time, but faster when you have them
Dragon Companion (lvl 18): Cast summon dragon without its costly material component, without spending a spell slot 1/day, and without Concentration
Chaos Sorcery:
No DM permission needed, you just use it when you want; still an element of unpredictability, but you know it's going to happen.
"A question of when, not if."
?? (lvl 18): 1/day, trigger a Wild Magic surge at will, you can choose the effect (!!)
Limits:
- Cannot choose the final row in the table ("some really juicy options you only gain access to if the dice give it to you")
- You can choose the row, you still have to roll in the row
Updated effects in the table
"redesigned from top to bottom"
Still percentile dice roll
"decided to introduce even more chaos into the table... can roll something that tells you to roll something!"
Packaged the options, ie. all the effects that summon things are together
Chaos table is "essentially" their bonus spell list
There is an ability "somewhere" in the subclass progression that lets you roll twice and pick which result you want to happen
fin
novel eagle
Apparently there will be a video in the future about Sorcerer Metamagic and Warlock Invocations.
novel eagle
novel eagle
Can't go into details on this one, but an important bit:
Bards can no longer dip into any spell list they want for Magical Secrets. They are restricted to the Bard, Wizard, Cleric, and Druid spell lists. The reasoning is that the other classes have spell lists tailored to the unique themes of their class. Wizard (Arcane), Druid (Primal), and Cleric (Divine) are designed to be emblematic of their themes & generally available.
This also applies to the Magic Initiate feat: can only dip into those iconic spell lists.
final wedge
It covered most of them but nothing on gem dragons
novel eagle
Yeah, gem dragons are not core
final wedge
Black green and silver redesigns
pale wing
It looks like they go back in time with arts? To have vibe of old times fantasy?
novel eagle
Yeah, they said they were going back to AD&D for inspiration, while adding some new twists.
novel eagle
lone widget
Blizzard, eh? Hopefully it's a good thing and not, y'know, a bad thing.
silk sequoia
I mean, Wotc did do the whole pinkertons thing, so hopefully better than that at least.
steep narwhal
Blizzard, eh? Hopefully it's a good thing and not, y'know, a bad thing. <:ppenk:...
I mean Blizzard fucking sucks now so
lime tusk
ooooo a friend from another server ran into the creator of the original D&D Druid class at his library and invited him to a game: https://labyrinthsandlibrarians.substack.com/p/encountering-the-great-druid
novel eagle
Neat!
lone widget
Holy crap, that's a once in a lifetime chance! :D
steep narwhal
Interesting that they're going with "species" here.
prime nimbus
They know racists can't spell speciesist.
novel eagle
Interesting that they're going with "species" here.
Yeah, they decided that "race" didn't really reflect the wide variety of playable critters, and had some unfortunate real-world baggage, so this was a good time to switch it up.
I actually like most of those changes, though I'm disappointed Orcs are losing Powerful Build.
silk sequoia
ooh looks cool, take a picture when you open it?
novel eagle
steep narwhal
Does Betteridge's Law of Headlines apply here or
novel eagle
It's actually a decent video. She points out that she knows some of what he's saying is just PR, but he does give some useful answers, and she trusts that the designers actually know what they're doing.
Some more details on the whole "can I play 2014 characters in a 2024 campaign" stuff.
final wedge
I assume yes but some stuff will have to be updated
novel eagle
Right. This is about using older content in a newer game, like an old subclass or feat that hasn't been updated yet.
final wedge
Yeah a lot of the good fan material is gonna have to be updated once its out
novel eagle
Most of it should work fine, it'll just need some tweaking for things like subclasses coming at level 3 and such.
final wedge
Nice
steep narwhal
Ooooooooooooooo
novel eagle
My poor wallet
novel eagle
keen sedge
lone widget
novel eagle
Oh nice. That should make it easier to play without having to swap apps.
novel eagle
novel eagle
steep narwhal
siggle
lime tusk
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sigil even lets you listen to how it's pronounced (this is newfangled technology)
novel eagle
prime nimbus
The accepted answer is usually "Please don't think about it."
"Method 1: Don't do it."
I called it
novel eagle
If you missed all this drama recently... well, that's for the best.
https://youtu.be/qKxfxI7_zdk?si=MkYq3yQ5NggXg31J
prime nimbus
I'm not going to watch this video because then I wouldn't have missed all the drama
lime tusk
I'm not sure where "the truth behind" is. This is basically just a dramatic reading of the 44 rules, with no insight into what's going on there.
novel eagle
He had a couple good points, but yeah the reading is overly dramatic.
A few of the rules make sense, they're just worded aggressively. And it really sounds like the players and DM are all just jerks to each other.
novel eagle
The 2nd edition core book just came out, so this is a bundle of a bunch of 1st edition supplements. Should work with virtually no conversion.
(2e mainly got rid of the funky dice.)
steep narwhal
I don't believe you
lime tusk
"the same first order Taylor expansion" made me smile
novel eagle
Covers the changes to D&D Beyond when the new books drop.
You will not lose access to the Basic Rules or to your copies of the 2014 Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, or Monster Manual.
You’ll continue to be able to create characters in the Character Builder using the classes, subclasses, species, backgrounds, and feats found in the 2014 Player’s Handbook. All the monsters found in the 2014 Monster Manual will also still be available for use in the toolset. These materials will be marked with a Legacy badge if there are newer versions of them in the 2024 Core Rulebooks.
novel eagle
tl;dr Since Paizo moved to the ORC license, instead of OGL, they decided to revise their use policy for PF stuff... and it basically means you've got to scrub out their IP names from 1e content, and you're agreeing to allow Paizo and Roll20 to use your work.
prime nimbus
The new rule seems reasonable, but terminating the old policy is unreasonable
Especially for products that have already been published
novel eagle
Yup. A ton of VTT creators are screwed now, they have to scrub through everything they've made and hope they can "fix" it to comply, but that's also going to cause compatibility issues with other people making Paizo VTT products who might update with different terminology.
keen sedge
The new rule seems reasonable, but terminating the old policy is unreasonable
im not sure you can do that, can you?
novel eagle
The wording seems to be that you can still allow your old product to exist, but it CANNOT recieve any more updates under the old license.
Hence the incompatibility problem.
keen sedge
ah
lone widget
So it's like a big headache now, but less headaches overall in the future?
bold sinew
Game modules, board games, video games, roleplaying simulators, character generators, rules
compendiums, or other such products are not permitted under this license.
people are misreading this
this doesn't mean "Paizo doesn't allow this", it means "FCP doesn't cover this"
bold sinew
tl;dr Since Paizo moved to the ORC license, instead of OGL, they decided to revi...
also I don't see where the FCP makes this happen?
novel eagle
The Dragon Anthology is apparently going to be a collection of short adventures facing off against dragons.
lone widget
novel eagle
Oh, I didn't know there was already a season 2. I need to catch up.
lone widget
From what I recall, they're planning for 5.
Or maybe 4? I forget. But it was past 3.
novel eagle
novel eagle
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1804-start-playing-today-with-the-2024-d-d-free-...
The DMG and MM portions of the free rules will be released when those books come out.
novel eagle
novel eagle
"Unfortunately, I listened to Evanescence and shopped at Hot Topic as a teen, so that left me with a brain disease which causes me to think Warlocks are cool."
novel eagle
wispy nebula
In my DND game today, the ratfolk monk basically soloed two bugbears and adopted a goblin while the non binary tiefling rogue danced drunkenly dodging every attack targeting them. The dwarven druid and human cleric were tag teaming making heads explode with too much damage.
prime nimbus
That sounds great
silk sequoia
Hey Folks, I've heard enough good things that I want to get the new 2024 Players Handbook and try to run it with a monster book i got for 5e ages ago. In Australia it seems like it won't be coming out till October.
Does the 2024 PHB have all the rules for the game? or will i need the old PHB as well?
are there any short summaries on the changes between 5e and 2024 PHB?
novel eagle
The 2024 PHB will have everything you need from a player's perspective. You can get by with the old DMG and MM until the new one comes out.
The main difference right now is how races and classes work. Races are now Species, they no longer give you your Ability Score increases. Instead, you pick a Background which gives you a choice of three Ability Scores to put your +2/+1 into (or +1/+1/+1), and a starting Feat. Species give you specific abilities instead.
Classes work like they used to, but there's a different spread of subclasses now, and all classes get their subclass at level 3.
silk sequoia
ahh yeah, that works for me
thanks for the info
I might lean on other books for GM stuff rather than 5e's DMG
novel eagle
No problem. One controversial thing is that Species no longer have much lore, because WotC wants to make the PHB more setting-agnostic. You can also choose to make them Small or Medium, so you can have a Small Tiefling if you want.
There are also no more Half-Elves or Half-Orcs in the book. You make mixed-species characters by picking a Species and just flavoring it how you want instead.
There's also new Species included in the PHB, which is fun.
silk sequoia
thanks for the heads up
that's ok, I'll let my players work with me to figure out lore stuff
novel eagle
Mhm! That's the intention.
silk sequoia
I've got an idea for Fantasy Stargate that I'm keen to try out and see if it works
novel eagle
Ohh, that sounds fun! They've actually got several adventure books that would work with that theme, just need a little reskinning. They leaned into the whole Multiverse thing a for a while.
silk sequoia
Ah yeah, I'll have to have a look, it was Spelljammer right?
novel eagle
Spelljammer is one option, though folks weren't very happy with it. The ones I'm thinking of are Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel and Quests from the Infinite Staircase. Both give you a way to move between various planes, and the latter updates a bunch of OD&D and AD&D adventures for 5e.
novel eagle
If you want some more old adventures, Tales from the Yawning Portal is a good pick, though it's less focused on moving between completely different worlds. Most of its adventures are standard dungeon crawls, though some really good ones from older editions.
silk sequoia
nods makes sense. Admitedly I might have to do a fair bit of tweaking to the adventures to get them to work with the ideas I'm trying to incoperate.
OTOH, a multiverse full of medivial fantasy planets sounds like intreigue waiting to happen
Could do a space fairing Civilisation keeping things low tech deliberately.
novel eagle
Oh yeah, there's plenty to do with that (and one adventure that would tie into it from Quests).
steep narwhal
Spelljammer is one option, though folks weren't very happy with it. The ones I'm...
Eve of Ruin was a catastrophe though lol
Went through a bunch of different planes and did every single one of them dirty
silk sequoia
oh dear that's not good
vital flint
Omg dnd
wispy nebula
Yes.
wispy nebula
Well, this is just a discussion channel. I don't know if there are any active Manechat D&D games going on, currently.
novel eagle
I know Flitter is running one, but it's not open for new players at the moment.
I'd love to start one, but my schedule fluctuates too much to have a reliable playtime.
vital flint
Oh :(
vital flint
I'd love to start one, but my schedule fluctuates too much to have a reliable pl...
Well we could still do a one shot that we continue later on ?
novel eagle
I'll consider it.
vital flint
Alright, awesome :D
Also I can GM if nobody else wants to, I've never gmed or even played a session of dnd in english though :( only in french
vital flint
What's shadowdark ?
keen sedge
its hard to see
steep narwhal
Yes
honest skiff
oh, ok
steep narwhal
I believe I've described it before as "if you had to recreate D&D 3e in the style of AD&D but you actually learned lessons from the failings of 5e"
honest skiff
that actually sounds sick
prime nimbus
"Inside of development, we've already been using AI. It's mostly machine-learning-based AI or proprietary AI as opposed to a ChatGPT approach.
Do they not have a consultant who would tell them that ChatGPT is proprietary machine learning?
lone widget
This is a baaaaaad idea, and is also kinda the reason why I want to stick with the 2014 rules, even if some of the new class balances and buffs are pretty great.
I knew they'd pull something like this
novel eagle
They seem to be using this for "story ideas," which is still dumb as fuck.
prime nimbus
Done correctly, you can get a lot of interesting ideas, but given the manager doesn't know what he's saying I doubt he knows what he's doing.
novel eagle
Ideas are easy. It's writing them down in an interesting way that's hard.
novel eagle
prime nimbus
It's worth reading the first year
novel eagle
It's just so badly formatted it's a slog to get through.
prime nimbus
I have a digital copy that's text only and broken down by chapter and by section with hyperlinks to each
It's pretty fine
vital flint
A drawing I made of my DnD party (the pink text says "A big family")
silk sequoia
oh cool!
prime nimbus
Hell yeah
novel eagle
My PHB arrived early. Won't get to read it until tomorrow though.
It's also hilarious looking at Reddit threads "OMG X is so broken" and the comments are all "no it's not, you just didn't read the actual rule." 
novel eagle
"Spider's bite is a DEX attack, that means they can sneak attack!"
"... no, natural weapons are not Finesse weapons, GTFO."
prime nimbus
Can you not sneak attack with a natural weapon? I'd allow it for Tabaxi rogues
novel eagle
Nope, under the new rules, Sneak Attack requires a Finesse weapon or Ranged weapon.
novel eagle
I get it too, it's so you're not sneak attacking with a battleaxe. But it's going to lead to weirdness that requires house rules, like that Tabaxi example.
vital flint
I got a homebrew magical item that I find amazing
It's a sling that when you hit someone with it you exchange your position with the target
novel eagle
That's neat, but it would need some serious limitations.
vital flint
So you can do really fun tricks like jumping off a cliff backwards and shooting at someone
vital flint
That's neat, but it would need some serious limitations.
Well in the sheet I got it says you can only shoot with special magical pellets that refills each day and there's only 7 inside. Also you can't do it with something/one/pony that's more than double your size
And that really sucks because my character is a 1m30 child lmao
novel eagle
I would simplify it a bit. Instead of the refilling pellets, I'd go with a command word and limit it to 3-4 uses per day, which is still a lot. Because yeah, you can do some wild stuff with it.
Even one good use can one-shot a villain, so it's extremely strong in the right circumstances.
vital flint
Well that depends, most villains are more than double your size or can fly/teleport
What's a command word ?
novel eagle
Basically a specific word you have to say to activate the magic.
vital flint
I see
Well the name of the item is... complicated to translate. In french "sling" is either called "fronde" or "lance-pierre" and lance pierre literally translate to rock thrower. The name of the weapon is "le lance-rire d'erevan" so it would be "erevan's laughter thrower"
So maybe the command word would be to laugh ?
novel eagle
That could work
steep narwhal
So you can do really fun tricks like jumping off a cliff backwards and shooting ...
Well also keep in mind that, in 5e anyway, if you don't have a fly speed then you'd just drop instantly when moving off the ground without the chance to attack
lone widget
Unless of course the DM allows it for rule of cool (I would, though I'm no DM yet).
lone widget
Have fun!
vital flint
Thanks :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
silk sequoia
yooo have fun Flip Flop
vital flint
Not much it was after a huge session with the near death of a few characters so it was pretty chill
It was a full moon however and one member of our group was a werewolf
Sooo we had to calm him down
This is him
I drew him on paint
Also everyone got magical items yaaaaaay !!!!! The druid got a head flower, the necromancer got a magic blade arm (he lost an arm in the last session), the werewolf got a magic rapier (I forgot his class), the rogue owl got a magic monocle and I got a magic sling
silk sequoia
oh nice nice
lone widget
Saw this while in a Lego store today:
vital flint
omg
lone widget
It's HUGE in the flesh
vital flint
This scene I drew in one of my latest session made me laugh (translation, right to left : DO YOU KNOW HOW TO READ ?!/NOPE :D)
wispy nebula
YOO?
novel eagle
The 1e was really good, so I'm all in on this.
wispy nebula
I'm going to get the $25 tier on friday
novel eagle
I spent way too much money on this. 
Thankfully it'll be on next month's credit card bill, so I can be ready for it.
wispy nebula
Lol
I know what you mean, though. I spent over $100 on getting the physical hard cover book for Stargate SG-1 and and entire season 1 (17 scenario pdfs)
wispy nebula
Now that I got my 3D printer working, I'm going to print some floors and walls!
novel eagle
Now that I got my 3D printer working, I'm going to print some floors and walls!
Oh cool! There's a bunch of STL files available through DriveThruRPG as well.
2024 PHB is now live on D&D Beyond, if you have it purchased.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/phb-2024
wispy nebula
Oh man I'm going to make a shit ton of these
novel eagle
Nice!
wispy nebula
Here's the four different pieces
silk sequoia
Does it cost a lot to print each piece? I remember getting a small pony printed and the price quoted was higher than seemed worth it at the time.
wispy nebula
Technically speaking it didn't cost me anything besides the cost of the materials
silk sequoia
Fair enough, but I guess that doesn't count the cost of the printer etc.
wispy nebula
The printer itself I got at a second hand store for $25 and the giant spool on top of filament only cost about $12
wispy nebula
It took forever for me to figure out how to get it up and running, but I did make out like a bandit!
and if I can ever figure out how to 3D model sculpt, I would totally do some pony ocs lol.
novel eagle
My husband found some free pony STLs somewhere and printed a few for me.
novel eagle
silk sequoia
oh interesting
includes the core rule book too, but Idk if I'll be able to get a group for pathfinder or not
hmm
novel eagle
Note that it's PF 2e, not the newest Revised version.
novel eagle
isn't Revised 2E?
Nope. They did a second edition, then the whole OGL debacle happened, so they did a Revised version to scrub out all the OGL stuff.
silk sequoia
ahh ok
wispy nebula
I printed a dice holder last night
prime nimbus
Nice
silk sequoia
oooh nice
vital flint
I printed a dice holder last night
Epic
honest skiff
I printed a dice holder last night
sick
is there anyone here running anything online that's open to strangers? I've been actively DMing for a while, but I kinda miss playing
silk sequoia
What time zone are you in ? I'm not running anything atm, but if I do I can post about it here if it's got space for more players
novel eagle
honest skiff
What time zone are you in ? I'm not running anything atm, but if I do I can post...
PST
silk sequoia
ah ok! I'm in Australia so time zones wouldn't line up very well. still, I'll post here if I get an online game up incase it works
wooden swan
I'm looking for some rules lite RPGs, particularly ones that play well solo; any ideas? I did see Korg which looks good, but I'm not necessarily wanting a dungeon crawler; I'm wanting a story maker if that makes sense
I want to feel like I'm exploring a world and focus on more than just dungeon crawling
steep narwhal
Bard RPG
wooden swan
Bard RPG looks super cool, thanks
steep narwhal
The same company out out Dragon Dowser too, but I think that one's dependent on cards
wooden swan
Dragon Dowser actually looks really cool too - I guess part of what had me thinking of Korg is the dead simple ruleset, and how compact it is; I could fit the game + its expansions inside my wallet, or crammed inside my journal
and I just found cairn too
prime nimbus
Roll for shoes
wooden swan
honestly the problem now is it feels like there's a ton of games, too many to realistically try. I know a lot have compatible tables and supplements, but my criteria are:
- story focused, with some combat
- uses a D20 (sorry, D6 doesn't have enough flavor)
- easily printable
- comes in a pocket format like Korg or Burn2D6
bonus points if it's something easily reflavorable for different settings
novel eagle
D6 can definitely have flavor. I'm particularly enamored with the AGE system right now, really want to run a game with that.
prime nimbus
D20 has 3.3 times as much flavor though
novel eagle
wooden swan
💀 someone recommended Kismet and to get the link to buy a paper copy I have to buy the pdf first
wooden swan
I don't know how else to read this and it's confusing and frustrating. Like if I want to buy the print copy, I already have to have bought the game?
prime nimbus
No
The first option gives you the PDF game and the character sheet as well as the option to print it
It additionally makes one copy of the game available for anyone to take
wooden swan
I admit, I missed the “at cost” part - but I want to have it printed with profit for the creator of this game
prime nimbus
Just pay for another copy of the game and don't print the second then
novel eagle
I admit, I missed the “at cost” part - but I want to have it printed with profit...
At cost PoD is pretty common, they just use the PDF cost as the income.
wooden swan
That makes sense
wooden swan
I’m really happy with how these are all coming together so far
I wish I could do proper bookbinding, but I love that I’m putting together a little library of pocket RPGs to play and slip inside my journal
novel eagle
novel eagle
Things completely new to the book:
- 5 short sample adventures
- Complete campaign setting
- Lore glossary
- Bastions
More art for magic items
The Potion of Invisibility looks like an empty bottle.
wispy nebula
lmao
prime nimbus
Hell yeah, one page adventures are great
novel eagle
That's something I adore about Savage Worlds, there's shit tons of "one-sheets" available.
prime nimbus
I would never run them, but I do use some ideas from them in longer adventures
novel eagle
Tables of adventure hooks broken out by tier of play
Greyhawk campaign setting
Extended discussion of how this is an introduction to Greyhawk, meant for DMs to build the world into their own or expand with classic supplements.
Lore chapter so that you know who the hell Acererak is. 
Bastions are optional rules for campaigns that want characters to have a "home base."
Unlock at level 5, Bastions are player run and self-sustaining. Can take a Bastion Turn when the DM approves, have various effects.
Players can unify their Bastion: each player is responsible for their induvial piece, but they can pool certain things like Defenders.
prime nimbus
Strongholds and Followers rules are nice
novel eagle
I love the idea of combinging Bastions, basically making one big castle/mansion/village.
Biggest chapter: treasures
2014 DMG did not have a lot of Common magic items, so they fixed that
Added magic items from the old D&D cartoon (!!)
"No, not Uni's horn!"
Clarified prices on magic items & how that's derived
Crafting magic item rules
PHB has rules for low-level potions & scrolls, DMG has broader rules
Tracking sheets: in the book, will have downloadable versions.
Designed to keep track of important information in your game or campaign.
- NPCs
- Settlements/towns
- Bastions
- Magic items dispensed
- Character information (PC info for the DM)
- Major conflicts in the campain
- Session planner
Chapters 1-3:
- Ch 1 - The Basics
- Ch 2 - Running the Game
- Sample walkthrough of play
- Advice on creating "a fantastic experience" and customizing for your players
- "How to convince your players this was your plan all along"
- Sections on running Combat, Interaction, and Exploration (includes alternatives to handling overland travel)
- Ch 3 - The DM Toolbox
- "situational topics"
- traps, siege engines, poisons, NPC building
- Things that were scattered through the 2014 book, don't fit specific areas, but are very important to the game
"fireball fungus"
Unrelated news, Curseborn's Kickstarter launched, funded in less than an hour.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/curseborne-tabletop-roleplaying-game
This is an urban fantasy / horror RPG from Onyx Path, aka the people who did the New World of Darkness games.
wooden swan
I tried rolling up a few characters in Oracle and I’m still figuring out how to play, but it’s a surprisingly simple and fun game. You can put together a character in maybe 1-2 minutes, and they all come out with pretty distinct builds and attributes
silk sequoia
oh neat! what kind of system is Oracle?
wooden swan
the game is partially based on the black sword hack SRD and the oracle is from Chaocalypse https://perplexingruins.itch.io/oracle
silk sequoia
wild
silk sequoia
awww
novel eagle
wooden swan
Aside from things like miniatures, props, and figurines, is there anything useful to get for playing TTRPGs besides dice, pens, and paper?
silk sequoia
Some folks enjoy having a gridded/hex battle mat, either one you can draw on or just one that fits over printed terrain to make measureing easy
hmm, Character sheets are pretty good to have enough of for whatever system you want to run
Rules References in the same vein too
wooden swan
I plan on getting some old timey paper to draw character sheets and maps on, and I have some dice and playing cards (granted I want more dice haha). Plus I can print for free from the library, so unlimited character sheets and hex sheets
prime nimbus
You could also use a dice tower to guarantee your die rolls fairly without falling under the table
novel eagle
Aside from things like miniatures, props, and figurines, is there anything usefu...
I personally suggest this DM screen, because it's basically modular: you can put whatever notes you want on your side, and whatever art or reference material you want on the other. Use it to hide your DM-specific notes/maps, or any rolls you need to make in secret.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/129022/drivethrurpg-game-master-screen-landscape
wooden swan
I need a dice mat, tower, or bag for sure. And oooooh
lime tusk
we picked up a bunch of cheap poker chips from a thrift store and then used them as markers to denote things like status effects on characters. You can either write on them with a sharpie or just have a way of denoting like "red chip means negative status effect" and then you mark down what it is in some other way
wooden swan
I have a lot of B5 notebooks so I’m probably going to get a nice leather cover to fit one. I could keep my tables and little print out source books and oracles in it, and get an empty pill bottle or something to shake my mini dice in so I can roll without losing them haha
prime nimbus
A dry erase marker is good
novel eagle
we picked up a bunch of cheap poker chips from a thrift store and then used them...
Also useful for tokens, like Inspiration in D&D or Fate points in... well, Fate.
M&Ms make bad tokens
prime nimbus
You may also want an abacus to use for tracking resources physically instead of writing them down
lime tusk
I actually had a dry erase board that had grid dots at 1" intervals, and just took it off its backing and epoxied it to a folding table, and that was our playing grid
silk sequoia
You may also want an abacus to use for tracking resources physically instead of ...
Chips can make for good counters for this purpose as well.
novel eagle
I've seen people use plexiglass over a map so players can mark stuff on it with dry erase markers.
prime nimbus
I prefer an abacus because you can mark every five and every ten to immediately get a feel for how much you have
wooden swan
It looks like there’s plugins that make it easy to play TTRPGs and journaling games like thousand year old vampire in obsidian, and that seems interesting
lime tusk
oh, and if you're running a game, "initiative cards". Have each player write their character name at the top of an index card, and then key attributes (so if you have to roll something secretly for them or compare modifiers you don't have to ask). Make cards for monsters as well. Then any time there's an encounter you call out "roll for initiative" and then you ask "anyone above a 20" and go down until you've gotten all the cards, and you cycle through the cards for turn order
silk sequoia
A friend did something fun with that, I think they had their players in a trick room, and they used a pack of standard Playing cards for initiative. Then whenever the boss did something to mess with the room they'd shuffle the deck of 'intiative cards' to represent the changing conditions.
novel eagle
oh, and if you're running a game, "initiative cards". Have each player write th...
Savage Worlds has a neat way of doing initiative with playing cards, and the suit of the card having an impact on if you get special effects during your turn, but that can be a bit complicated.
Speaking of system neutral lists/tables:
https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Thingonomicon
novel eagle
I have not heard good things about the WoD 5e books by Renegade... but you can adjust the payment so basically everything goes to the charity instead.
wooden swan
coming up with hero names for a character is haaaaard
wait; I can just not give my character a hero name until later in the campaign!
steep narwhal
just call them Hero
lime tusk
Parson A. Gotti
wooden swan
I decided to hold off on naming him until later in the campaign
Also got Canadian dice by accident lol
I just wanted red and gold
silk sequoia
yo those look good
wooden swan
I need to play a Canadian character now who plays hockey, wears flannel, goes to Tim hortons, and eats nestle coffee bars now lol
lone widget
Nah, Nestle is hated up here. Mars Bars are pretty popular, though.
wooden swan
Yeah. That says coffee crunch bars are a candy not seen in the US, but they are in Canada
novel eagle
wooden swan
I got my new dice! They even threw in an extra set for free. I’m in love with the Elessia Moonstone Rumara set and those subtle bits of pink that show through
Next on the collection agenda is some chessex mini and megahedrals
novel eagle
wooden swan
ooooh
I ended up rolling a really funny character; a sage background human barbarian who has a strength of 8, intelligence of 6, and wisdom of 18
prime nimbus
Someone that wise surely realizes they have no business being a barbarian
steep narwhal
Got this the other day
lone widget
I ended up rolling a really funny character; a sage background human barbarian w...
This will be interesting.
steep narwhal
It connects to other things too, like I can send them to Discord with a webhook
prime nimbus
That's neat
wooden swan
This will be interesting. <:ppenk:681838745611141137>
I'm playing escape from the abyss right now and so far, they have:
- taken the gem instead of gold
- got their head stuck trying to crawl through the bars (it's worth noting they weigh 300 pounds)
- used their oil to crawl through the bars
- snuck past the drow guards
- rolled to determine if they still had oil, poured what was left on them
- used grapple on a drow guard in the barracks
- miss, slip and fall on the ground
- drow guard now slashes, eliminating 10 of Korgor's 11 HP. Korgor has now activated barbarian rage but has gotten confused. Korgor is in a pickle
the way I'm roleplaying it is they're uncannily perceptive, yet very dull and poorly skilled and have managed to go on a journey of spiritual discovery and strength that has now culminated in their misfortune.
Now that I think about it, Korgor makes more sense if Korgor speaks in third person. not because nonbinary people don't have first person pronouns. but because Korgor is Korgor
I just really like the flavor and roleplay potential of a character who's not very strong seeking wisdom to become strong. now that I think about it Korgor is basically just Po from Kung Fu Panda
coarse hare
This is a bit old but about a week ago I got some class-themed dice. Saw some people her posting their own sets so thought I'd share 🙂
prime nimbus
Neat
lone widget
A baker/cook character could absolutely work! Make them a fighter who uses a frying pan or rolling pin as a weapon, and give them the chef feat right off the bat.
wooden swan
They could trick a vampire into eating garlic bread because it’s really delicious bread and they should try it
Or imagine giving banana bread to the BBEG, causing them to have a nostalgic flashback to their early childhood before becoming a villain lol
novel eagle
I love it
honest skiff
A baker/cook character could absolutely work! Make them a fighter who uses a fry...
Hear me out: alchemist artificer
Their experimental elixir is like pastries and stir-fries
You cast healing spells with good foods
Ray of sickness is just salmonella
honest skiff
Or imagine giving banana bread to the BBEG, causing them to have a nostalgic fla...
Bro's gonna ratatouille their BBEG
steep narwhal
The chef feat exists for a reason
novel eagle
novel eagle
novel eagle
I'm a huge Shadowrun fan (fuck you, Catalyst), so I basically have to buy this.
novel eagle
silk sequoia
hey folks, has anyone had the chance to play/run LANCER? I was thinking to try it instead of DnD for my next campaign, but I don't know a whole lot about running mech combat apart from a test run i did in TTS.
Any advice/tip/videos you could recomend for it?
novel eagle
I've got the book, but never run it. Heard good things.
silk sequoia
yeah me too! I've had the digital copy for a while off a bundle.
I love the idea of the License Level, and being able to swap out mechs and parts as a player
Though the GM mechs look less interesting by necessity
though I suppose I could "run 1 solo boss mech" if I really wanted too for a climactic battle
the combinations of Hull, Heat and three or four types of damage make for interesting combat scenarios, and at least in my test run, even two mechs fighting can be made fun with terrain.
Maybe I should watch a Live Playthrough of it
that'd give me a general feel of the game
bold sinew
hey folks, has anyone had the chance to play/run LANCER? I was thinking to try i...
i've run a session of it, I think my takeaway from it is that Lancer really wants you to use it as set dressing for combat, the roleplaying is really not fleshed out well
wispy nebula
hey folks, has anyone had the chance to play/run LANCER? I was thinking to try i...
I sat in on a game that my friend was running. But I've never actually read the rules. It does look cool, though. If I were to play, I'd totally Megas XLR my character lol.
novel eagle
lime tusk
I recall 3.5e had a specific mechanic to give yourself in essence a "negative feat" (that was slightly worse than the positive feat that corresponded to it) in order to get a bonus feat. So for example I had a character who was "inattentive" (major penalty to spot/listen) but then had a combat feat of some sort that I forget what it was
his list of how to do it was pretty solid
silk sequoia
i've run a session of it, I think my takeaway from it is that Lancer really want...
yeah fair enough. It's mostly a game for mech combat, and any role playing is as supported as it is in DnD?
wooden swan
I'm trying to look for used/inexpensive copies of the 5E sourcebooks and it's a bit annoying that they're still so expensive, when they've been out for a decade and the revised edition just came out. I want to support smaller game stores when I can, but I'm on a tight budget
also it's astonishing that goodwill stores have amazon pages, but I don't want to spend $20+ on anything from goodwill, even a sourcebook or supplement
novel eagle
Try a used book store, like Half Price Books.
wooden swan
I’ll check there, thank you
Holy shit these are tiny (regular and mini dice for comparison)
silk sequoia
for when you need even smaller dice hahah
lone widget
When you're playing a gnome or halfling character:
wooden swan
They’re also sharp edge dice too. The D4 could genuinely cause a puncture wound
silk sequoia
isn't that kinda bad?
wooden swan
I guess, but D4s are already dangerous lol
steep narwhal
I'm trying to look for used/inexpensive copies of the 5E sourcebooks and it's a ...
Well they're in higher demand now since they're out of print
wooden swan
also with people disliking the changes with 5e 2024
novel eagle
unreal oracle
'24 seemed to have cleaned up a lot of the wording in the book, however it seems like the power level of players increased as well. Healing is pretty much doubled.
But I haven't seen anyone run the ruleset yet, seems people want to stay with 5e classic.
novel eagle
A lot of people are holding out for the DMG + MM, and won't even try to switch until those are out.
novel eagle
novel eagle
wispy nebula
One of my players in D&D said he's going to run a Star Trek Adventures campaign on our alternate Sundays!
silk sequoia
oh yo! that's awesome
wispy nebula
I'm going to be a Ferengi! I'm going to try to be as greedy as possible lmao
lone widget
Good luck! Better read up on the Rules of Acquisition!
keen sedge
remeber: the greatest treasure is the friends you made along the way
so sell them into slavery
novel eagle
One of my players in D&D said he's going to run a Star Trek Adventures campaign ...
Oooh, awesome! 2nd edition just came out, cleans up the rules a lot to make things run smoother.
Which time period are y'all gonna run in?
novel eagle
“The English language version of the 2024 Player’s Handbook alone achieved in just one month what took nearly two years for the 2014 edition across all language versions available in that timeframe,”
wispy nebula
I went ahead and bought the pdfs for Star Trek Adventures 2e core and the Lower Decks companion.
wispy nebula
So tonight, some of us came up with characters.
I'm a Ferengi with high skills in medical and engineering.
We have an off-brand Soong android that's specializing in security
A Trill without a symbiote that is a skilled pilot
And a commanding Romulan officer that's skilled at command and sciences.
We still have two more players to come up with characters.
novel eagle
Sounds fun!
silk sequoia
nice nice, the crew is coming together
novel eagle
Rules Aren’t Physics. The rules of the game are meant to provide a fun game experience, not to describe the laws of physics in the worlds of D&D, let alone the real world. Don’t let players argue that a bucket brigade of ordinary people can accelerate a spear to light speed by all using the Ready action to pass the spear to the next person in line. The Ready action facilitates heroic action; it doesn’t define the physical limitations of what can happen in a 6-second combat round.
novel eagle
Highly recommend this bundle. Night's Black Agents is a great TTRPG, blending spy thrillers and monster hunting. You can swap out the monsters to suit your game (or just make it a human conspiracy).
The rest of the books in the bundle are based on a vampire conspiracy where the novel Dracula was actually based on real events & the vampires didn't suppress it in time, but the average person still believes it to be fiction.
novel eagle
This is the Kickstarter for the post-apocalyptice version of Stars Without Number, Cities Without Number, etc.
- Genre-specific rules for supporting three different campaign genres: post-apocalyptic Mutant Wasteland games, zombie-infested Deadlands, and near-future societal collapse in After the Fall campaigns.
- Specific campaign creation guidelines for both exploration-focused games of post-apocalyptic ruin scavenging and crisis-based survival in the horrific chaos of an anarchic near-future collapse. The different rhythms and gameplay loops of these two styles are discussed and specific campaign play structures are provided.
silk sequoia
oh interesting
how did stars without number work exactly? was there much to work with?
novel eagle
There's a free version of each game, the paid ones have all the extra world-building advice and tables.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/230009/stars-without-number-revised-edition-free-version
silk sequoia
oh nice, thanks for the link
novel eagle
So far, the games are:
- Stars without Number (Sci-Fi space travel)
- Worlds without Number (fantasy adventure)
- Cities without Number (cyberpunk)
- Ashes without Number (post-apocalyptic)
He also has an older horror game on the same system, which will probably get a new edition Kickstarted next year if this pace keeps up.
silk sequoia
ooh nice! I'm checking out the free version of Cities without number over today
looks cool, although I don't know it enough to know what kind of games I can run with it, though I know it's sandbox focused right?
novel eagle
Yeah, the games are built around creating an interesting hook for your players and letting them go wild with it.
silk sequoia
right right, ugh, idk, I keep wanting to run a campaign or even a few one shots but I never put the time in to get prepared so I can go looking for players.
maybe I don't have the drive nowdays
novel eagle
The rules system is a little rough, as it was the first attempt at the AGE Engine, but lots of fun lore & compatible with the newer AGE games.
lone widget
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/500505/dragon-age-complete-collection-bu...
The manly urge to look like that dude in the cape and heavy pauldrons
Or, you know, could be a woman.
I don't mind either way 
karmic roost
Twitter
wispy nebula
The D R I P
fickle crow
Male toriel
steep narwhal
I got in on this when it was running. Can't wait
fickle crow
There really is 5e homebrew for everything huh
now make your own system and be free from the shackles of hasbro’s oppressive licensing
steep narwhal
D&D 5e is currently licensed as CC-BY
steep narwhal
Not really
Just NC
CC doesn't require that derivative works share the same license, unless they're SA, which the 5e SRD is not
fickle crow
wait 5e got a new update recently didn't it? I may be a few months behind
novel eagle
Yeah, the 2024 PHB and DMG are out. MM is early next year.
silk sequoia
oh yo, i'll have to check this oneout later
wispy nebula
novel eagle
Huh, neat. I never played those video games.
wispy nebula
I would highly recommend.
Unfortunately, a couple of them never saw themselves outside of Japan
Honestly, the only one you need to play is 4, it's the best.
novel eagle
I may look it up, thanks!
novel eagle
fickle crow
Ended up battling three astradaemons tonight before the encounter was crashed by a (weakened) camarach. Mind you the former were challenge enough, but the high DCs (over 40) and spells from the camarach just kinda melted us. We had a point where I was doomed 2/drained 2/slowed 1, our magus was unconscious, our cleric was at like 6 hp, and our bard was…relatively fine but she has basically zero combat capability beyond hoping for crits. And that was JUST with the camarach left. I managed to nat 20 my will save being shunted through its internal portal and teleported near a different portal that would let us leave astral space. Magus was slowed 2 when revived so couldn’t make it out that turn but the others could. I had to use rule of cool with Falcon Swoop - fly twice, make a strike at any point during, but rule of cool says I could grab since this was saving a party member - and I failed the check at base but succeeded only because of bard’s lingering buff and my inherent +2 to grapples from my tail graft. Got us out on minimal resources and almost dead from…just 4 PL+2 creatures. 3 of whom were relative pushovers to the fourth.
So uh yeah. Fun stuff lmao.
fickle crow
that's a heck of a battle
Lol oh yeah. Some highlights were me crit failing on its project image, using a hero point to reroll, and crit failing again. Then later, I get a save against the illusion, and crit succeed (nat 20)
The dice were kinda crazy
silk sequoia
whoa
silk sequoia
how do people like to start with character creation in TTRPGs?
I've been trying to make a character for a DnD game a friend is going to run, but looking through the options hoping to find something mechanically interesting hasn't really sparked something I want to play
novel eagle
Honestly? I tend to either find a subclass that interests me thematically, or a piece of art that inspires me around a character concept.
Or I just think "I want to hit things this time" and build around that.
prime nimbus
Yep, I start with a theme or class I want to play and then make a good character based on that
silk sequoia
nods ok thanks
keen sedge
personally i find what the rest of the party is making and use whatever skillset is missing and build with that in mind
its a team based game after all
not a hard rule for me or anything, but one that helps give a starting point to char gen
wooden swan
I randomly roll dice and pick whatever seems funny
fickle crow
Yeah I usually just hit stuff or pick something the party’s missing
…in my most recent case it was kinda both. Party was priest, bard, and magus, so I picked fighter to be our full-martial attention-drawer
prime nimbus
I typically find that I contribute better when I play something I enjoy
novel eagle
Yeah, that's why I tend to prefer magic users. But I find myself temped by fighters or clerics sometimes.
prime nimbus
Clerics are excellent magic users!
keen sedge
It helps give a starting point
Don't have to do it, you can balance out with items, npcs and talking with your dm if you're missing what could be considered a "key skill," but if you don't know what to play and the team is missing something, then starting there doesn't hurt
If you don't wanna, then don't so that
lime tusk
one thing I like to do is learn what makes other players tick. I don't just mean like what class they want to play, but to what degree they like being the "party face", to what degree they like to be the first to act versus being the sit-back-and-react type, and so on. And then I can do things that support what other players like, and cover for what they're less interested in
keen sedge
That's 4d plays tho and probably overkill
prime nimbus
That's generally what a DM does. It's good to do as a player if you know the party well
lime tusk
if it's meant to be a long campaign, it makes sense to me. Also fits my autistic brain well.
steep narwhal
I like Shadowdark because ability scores can range from 3 to 18 and you roll down the line
silk sequoia
roll down the line? as in roll for 1st stat, then 2nd?
fickle crow
I don’t think that’s specific to shadowdark
Lots of people play d&d that way too
Usually 3d6 drop lowest once, but still
novel eagle
Yeah, thats an old-school stat generation method.
lime tusk
3d6 flat down the line definitely makes for lower-powered characters on average. Might not even be able to be a spellcaster, for example (minimum ability score required to cast a 0 level spell that uses a given stat is 10.)
steep narwhal
It's the only way in the book for Shadowdark. Not an option if you're playing RAW.
lime tusk
a game that's designed around that can be really fun. I just think of core D&D as designed around high power characters where even 4d6 might seem like sometimes you're weaker than you should be.
prime nimbus
4d6 drop highest 3
silk sequoia
oof, low low stats. Could be fun for a campaign built around it. Maybe the party has been cursed or something.
fickle crow
It's the only way in the book for Shadowdark. Not an option if you're playing RA...
d&d players are infamous for not playing raw heh
steep narwhal
I mean there's a generator made that basically does all the rolls for you. If you roll shit you just... dump that character and get one with at least one ability score above 13
novel eagle
novel eagle
keen sedge
Lol
fickle crow
I’m in my 20s, can confirm that panel is accurate
novel eagle
silk sequoia
shiny dice
prime nimbus
It's a shame forwarding a message with at everyone doesn't ping everyone
lime tusk
it'd be really funny if it pinged everyone from the original server on the other server
fickle crow
Oh god no
prime nimbus
fickle crow
Ooh that’s gonna be a must watch, I always wonder why people hated grappling
In pf2e it’s just “athletics against reflex dc”
prime nimbus
In 5e it's an athletics contested by athletics or acrobatics
novel eagle
Ooh that’s gonna be a must watch, I always wonder why people hated grappling
It was needlessly complicated in 3e and kinda just became a meme after that.
novel eagle
prime nimbus
The problem with familiars is they are actually too good
novel eagle
Only if you remember them, and a lot of players completely forget.
prime nimbus
No, like
The reason they shouldn't be any better is that it's really hard to make them more prominent without either making other players feel like they're missing them or making it take a lot more work to run the game
novel eagle
Well, in this case it's more finding new ways to make them interesting, rather than more powerful.
steep narwhal
Daggerheart pre-orders have opened https://www.daggerheart.com/
steep narwhal
I like it quite a lot
The 1.5 playtest is pretty feature-complete, you can take a look
silk sequoia
ok thanks, i'll give it a look sometime
novel eagle
prime nimbus
fickle crow
i have a party member who always asks if they can roll stealth for initiative. gets us some great quotes
"can I use stealth?"
"you just ascended onto a moon in the form of a literal star. what do you think?"
"...-2 penalty?"
fickle crow
last night's holiday session with my group was fun. every party member got individual miniquests, and mine had cute pones we assisted
keen sedge
Lol awesome
silk sequoia
that's so cool
lone widget
last night's holiday session with my group was fun. every party member got indiv...
Ah, so playing a homebrew campaign? Nice! I'd love to play one myself someday.
fickle crow
It’s somewhat light on rp but the moments like this make it worth it
lone widget
So, I'm trying to understand the neutral evil alignment more, and now I'm curious: if a character is pretty self-centered and egotistical, is ruthlessly efficient and focused on a mission at hand even at the expense of others (such as completely ignoring a bandit attack on one village without even a second thought in order to stop a dragon that may attack another village), who feels no remorse over killing others they deem a threat and find it logical to do it again if given the choice, and who has no sympathy for those they deem unworthy or foolish, and yet does genuinely care for their companions and the world they live in, is more or less a nice and even friendly person when things aren't serious, and who is willing to help people (as long as they get compensation), would that character fall under the neutral evil alignment, or would they be more lawful evil, or even true neutral?
prime nimbus
Inaction is never evil, unless by previous action you created a pattern where inaction would be harmful even though it wasn't before
lone widget
Perhaps not inherently evil, but let's say this character had the chance and very possibly the time to stop those bandits and get out of it none the worse for wear, but simply chose not to because that would distract them from the dragon, and didn't even look back.
prime nimbus
Either way, this post is hard to address because it's like five questions at once
lone widget
Yeah, I guess I didn't really describe it very well. But it's getting late and I should sleep. I'll ask it again tomorrow, when I've properly gathered my thoughts.
prime nimbus
Personally, I have a fond spot for the "alignment" alignments instead of "philosophy" alignments
The majority of creatures that are good aligned do good things because they are inherently good, and so on. Exceptions can exist where alignment is philosophy (like for players and complex characters) but they don't have to be the norm
keen sedge
Alignments are dumb if you stick to them as a hard rule. Lawful people can break laws if the situation demands it, good people can be evil sometimes, chaotic people sometimes make sense
Individual exceptions makes characters interesting
prime nimbus
You're not looking at it the right way
The world is not meant to be infinitely complex. No DM can do that.
keen sedge
Of course
prime nimbus
And so a natural result should be to focus on what players like more and can interact with better
SOME characters should be completely predictable, and as long as the players don't know who's who, it's fine
keen sedge
That's dumb
The players will enjoy what I enjoy or else
prime nimbus
Simulating a world is all about thinking about the perspective of the players, what they care about, and what information they collect
keen sedge
SOME characters should be completely predictable, and as long as the players don...
I didn't mean every bandit needs to be a complex, mulit-layered, human with a 3 page backstory, but that there are times the lawful evil devil might act out of unexpected charity, or the lawful paladin let's a kid stealing a loaf of bread go
Stories like those can make the game more interesting, and sticking to the hard alignment charts for everything makes you go mad in edge cases
Obviously the BBEG can be a right bastard, and that's fun too
prime nimbus
Sure. What you said was basically what I said
Orcs can all be evil, but you might find an exception when it's interesting to have one
keen sedge
Yeah but that's why my first statement was about individual exceptions
steep narwhal
A devil acting with surprise charity is very likely setting up to get something they want (like recognition or fame, or infamy). It wouldn't be for a purely compassionate reason. That isn't in their nature.
prime nimbus
Certain creatures are always going to be a fixed inherent alignment that cannot change
Especially creatures that come from the outer planes
bold sinew
I like to run similar yeah
my general rule of thumb is that any creature of meat and material plane flesh is free of alignment, they have free will and can do as they please, as evil, chaotic, lawful or orange as they like to be
Celestial beings (this includes any devils, gods, or otherwise, but not fey) are locked into an alignment. A devil does not have pure free will, they are more restricted and have options inside those restrictions and can maybe bend the rules a little.
But a devil would never even get the idea to act for a charitable cause without an underhanded reason
Angels I like to think of as the strictest; they're the messengers of their deity, so their alignment always matches that of their deity and they obey their deity without question
they're no more complex than ChatGPT in terms of free will
(a fallen angel is simply an angel who's programming has been corrupted, to continue to analogy)
keen sedge
i disagree that angels are that restricted and limited, but the rest i broadly agree with
prime nimbus
In many mythologies angels are simply machines of divine will
They don't even have to qualify as creatures
keen sedge
true i suppose
prime nimbus
It does make sense for some angelic beings to have their own will, like how some Modrons with particularly complex purpose get to decide what to do on their own
keen sedge
its personal preference on what makes an interesting NPC and story i suppose. some angels could be machines, some could have limited awareness and decision making, some fully self aware
really depends on story and personal preference
prime nimbus
The key takeaway here is that complexity is as much a resource as it is a tool, so use the amount that you have where it achieves the best effect
bold sinew
having complex differences between creatures lets you build some fantastic fridge horror
that said, having restricted free will doesn't mean they get no choices, they're not unfeeling automatons, it's more that they can only do things that their deity has explicitly permitted and agrees to
an angel can't even conceive of thinking something their deity dislikes, they're not built like that
but within what their deity allows they can pick options
an angel of the deity of money would likely save a burning bank over the burning orphanage, because they can't think of anything more important than money
keen sedge
aaah ok, i get you
lone widget
Well, I was gonna come back to the question I asked last night, but I think y'all already sorta answered it for me. I think my initial prompt above was describing more of a lawful evil character, rather than neutral evil.
fickle crow
well...I have quite the story to tell tomorrow about today's session. let's just say... the deck of many things made its debut, and three cards were drawn. one by a random NPC, and two by party members. who got what? find out tomorrow...~
it's the pf2e version. afaik it works mostly the same but there may be small mechanical differences
Such as there being no “literally screw you roll a new character” card. There’s some crippling effects only undoable by 10th-level rituals, but only one card is permanent, and that’s just the one that loses you int
Even then, an apex item could bring you back up to +4/18 int at the cost of an investment slot anyway
fickle crow
Ok here’s the short version since I’m still wiped out.
NPC was offered a draw and got…donjon! Imprisoned by 10th-level imprisonment (prison option). Ouch…bad luck.
The deck’s owner opted for a card, and got…moon! 1d4 wishes. (They got 2.)
I opted for one and got…comet! If I alone defeated the next encounter I’d get a level. And that’s exactly what I did. Level 15 me against a level 17 Ice Linnorm. Completely solo, no party buffs at all.
My character was allowed to hit the books beforehand…she leveraged that well. Weaknesses to cold iron and fire were both exploited, the latter with an ashen rune for guaranteed persistent fire procs. Drank an antidote to get +4 to saves against its venom. Coated sword with oil (the keen one), drank a quickness potion for haste, numbness potion for 10 temp hp per turn, and grew to Huge with a partial-homebrew sizechange rune. Opening stance drops into disruptive stance for free and I get a free intimidation check cuz of a skill feat (but I crit failed).
Turn 1. It flies closer; I attack it twice with my reach and extra reactions. Only hit once but it’s meaty. Then it attacks with breath. I…crit fail the reflex save. And I used my hero point earlier so I can’t even reroll. Does fucking 100+ damage instantly. Thank god I had 246 to start.
From there it quickly devolved into tactics and damage blitz. I usually just used intimidating strike -> shield up -> shielded stride to leave its melee range (no reactions provoked with shielded stride). Then I’d use one reaction to hit as it got closer, and the other to shield block an attack.
The end result was me at 50 health, saved only by a potion I drank midfight that healed me for 51…without it I would have died. I didn’t land a single crit, but still I just outblitzed it enough to claim victory. I’m now a level ahead of the party, and they even let me have all the gold from the quest reward too since it was a quest encounter xD
Oh yeah, remember the two wishes? I only won because the recipient graciously offered me a wish to help me win. I procured a mercurial mantle (apex item). While I already had an apex item and so coildn’t boost my dex with it, the stat boosts and other abilities came in super handy.
All in all, a surprisingly positive experience! 
prime nimbus
Two wishes
I wish for a sandwich, I wish I could eat the sandwich without gaining weight
novel eagle
Ok here’s the short version since I’m still wiped out.
NPC was offered a draw a...
Damn that's some fun draws!
lone widget
Ok here’s the short version since I’m still wiped out.
NPC was offered a draw a...
This sounds like a fantastic session!
fickle crow
It was! The bonus level is extra sweet~
lone widget
So, before I go to bed, I just want to share a quick thing I've learned while on last night's shift: Mark Hulmes, the DM for the High Rollers D&D group from Yogscast, is apparently genderfluid. I did not know this, but I'm happy for him (as far as I know he's still fine with using he/him pronouns).
No wonder why he absolutely rocks feminine getup during Halloween.
novel eagle
Neat!
lone widget
What are everyone's thoughts on free first level feats (a single feat given during character creation)? I've seen a lot of examples of DMs who find it acceptable, and even make it balanced in some way by having prerequisites or exceptions.
For example, a character is allowed a free feat at the start, but that free feat must relate in some way to their backstory or background (if your character used to own a restaurant, they could take the chef feat, but not the metamagic adept feat, for example).
Another way I've seen is giving the player the option to choose a free feat (they don't have to), but also imposing a random flaw on the character in exchange (E.G.: you have the linguist feat, but are also naturally clumsy, leading to disadvantage on acrobatics, performance, or sleight of hand checks).
So what do people in here think?
silk sequoia
i think it just depends on what sort of start you and your players want to have. Feats can give pretty strong effects, or they can be Cook which is nice but doesn't seem like it would imbalance anything
They are very nice for adding extra mechanical depth to a character
which I know I like, for making certain things mechanically supported
The best way I've thought about it is influenced by someones description of LotR
"the party has a crazy OP magic item at level 1" and as long as your party is on board with that, and it's fun to play, then who cares if it's particularly "balanced" or not
lone widget
Personally, I like the "it has to match your background/backstory" balancing method. Still allows for feats, but it makes the player have to think about what kind of character they want.
And it allows for fun interactions too because now the characters can actually back up their claims that they are a skilled chef, or a skilled linguist, or a highly skilled sharpshooter, etc.
lime tusk
I generally like the idea of "every character gets one flavor bonus of some sort, relating to their backstory / background". It can be a feat, or some kind of proficiency, or some kind of unique item that grows with their character. If it's "OP", eh, the DM can always make encounters slightly harder. I find it's worth it for making characters more memorable.
"this is a dual-wielding halfling ranger" isn't all that memorable, but "this is a dual-wielding halfling ranger who grew up as the child of circus performers so he's also proficient in all kinds of dance/acrobatics/tumbling" lets you play around so much more with performance and dance-fighting and flirting with NPCs and so on.
lone widget
I'm currently building a sorcerer character with a noble background who, whenever I get to use her, I'm gonna request the DM to switch their game set proficiency with something equivalent and more fitting to their in-universe backstory, or maybe an extra language or something, because game sets in D&D are, by and large, very rarely used and almost never relevant unless you're in very specific, niche corners of the Sword Coast.
Hmmmm, maybe a forgery kit or disguise kit, either of those would fit her personality. And the forgery kit could be more of a "official documents" kit that is later converted into a forgery kit.
Although, the disguise kit takes more advantage of the high charisma score a sorcerer would have, and she would definitely be the type to use the makeup and cosmetics in a disguise kit to ensure she looks prim and proper. But it wouldn't really work well with her race when used for actual disguising, unless she used it to disguise someone else. Hmm...
fickle crow
What are everyone's thoughts on free first level feats (a single feat given duri...
Coming from pathfinder + playing free archetype, a single feat hardly seems gamebreaking…but then d&d hardly gives you any, so maybe it is x3
The game probably doesn’t expect you to have it, but nor will it break if you use it. The way I see it is if you’re especially concerned about balance, use it for a primarily flavor feat. If you aren’t, go nuts!
lone widget
I do love Pathfinder's system, where it just goes wild with feats and skills, unlike D&D's more conservative amount. That said, Pathfinder is also a lot more math-heavy, much like D&D 3.5e like it was based on. There's soooooo much more to keep track of.
fickle crow
Important to note that pathfinder and pathfinder 2e are entirely different beasts! For one, pf2e doesn’t know what a d3 even is, yet pf does and apparently uses it frequently x3
lone widget
I haven't tried 2e yet, and my only real experience with 1e is the Pathfinder games from Owlcat (which are awesome, btw).
prime nimbus
For 5e I don't like the idea of first level feats, but I do like the idea of starting at level 3 when players already know how to play
lone widget
That's fair too. Gives some credence to the idea that the characters are more skilled than your average commoner, and it could allow the players more levels in the campaign so they don't have to waste time with the first three.
That said, thematically and story-wise, my sorcerer character definitely feels more suited climbing up from level 1, noble background or not.
prime nimbus
Of course! The start of the campaign doesn't have to coincide with the start of the character's story
lone widget
Yeah, because level 3 is where her subclass would kick in, and I'm planning on making that subclass an intrinsic part of her story arc, and the kickstarting moment for it.
The first two levels would be her getting to know the party and learning how to be an adventurer
But that's for sometime in the future
novel eagle
I'm a fan of 5e2024's 1st level feat attached to a Backgroun.
steep narwhal
I'm a fan of 5e2024's 1st level feat attached to a Backgroun.
I was gonna say, clearly no one in this conversation has read the 5.24 rules lmao
prime nimbus
I have!
keen sedge
i dont know how to read
fickle crow
Pf2e already does this with its backgrounds 
prime nimbus
Pf2e feats are a different system, really
fickle crow
It’s almost like they’re literally part of a different system
prime nimbus
What I mean is they don't really try to achieve the same goals
fickle crow
Which feats are you discussing? Ancestry? Skill? Class? Archetype? General?
wispy nebula
I just preordered the Phantasy Star ttrpg. 
prime nimbus
That's the thing
The Feat system in Pathfinder consists of multiple subsystems, each with different rules, while the 5e one is just one
fickle crow
5e often suffers from not knowing whether it wants to be simple or crunchy, so ‘just one’ can be either good or bad. It seems like in this case, it’s bad
2e might be crunchy, but it knows it’s crunchy and uses that to full effect
prime nimbus
I think the 5e system is fine
fickle crow
I hear that a lot, but then I hear about the piles of homebrew rules people pile on top to make it work more like another system and I just think, “why don’t you just play that other system”
but that’s none of my business 
prime nimbus
I run it with no homebrew rules
lone widget
I was gonna say, clearly no one in this conversation has read the 5.24 rules lma...
I have not, no.
Didn't even know the first level feat was a thing in the 2024 rules
steep narwhal
You get it with your background
lone widget
Ah, so literally what I was describing above with that balancing method then.
I actually like that change
Not a fan of some things in the 2024 rules, but that one I like
fickle crow
Apocryphal story, but I still found it funny:
DM: You triggered a trap. Roll a save.
Player: Damn. Uh...nat 1. What happens?
DM: Hmm...roll 3d6.
Player: Okay...8.
DM: Hm. Roll again.
Player: (wincing) Okay...14?
DM: Another time.
Player: (picks up dice, freezes) Aw man, I'm rolling up a new character, aren't I?
(I think 4d6 drop lowest is more common nowadays, but that gets in the way of the joke)
steep narwhal
hehe failed save go squish
fickle crow
Crit fail, even x3
deft spire
From party I had a week ago
< cousin plays a kenku artificer
< rest of the party builds a snowman while the kenku artificer buys all of the toy soldiers in the store
< multiplies the toy soldiers by 500
< snowmen attack us
< kenku is busy getting his toy soldiers ready
< kenku is ready
< rolls a nat 20
< toy soldiers obliterate the one remaining snowman left on the field
< destoys everything in its path
and thats how the party went
deft spire
Anyways here's my Aarakocra bard I'm playing for a group I'm in
His name is Martlet
His origins is that he was born into a military family with two brothers, Morgan and Tilgarot. Martlet liked music better than being in the military. Which his father hated.
So as soon as he turned 13 he left on his own to preform for the world
That's his origins
prime nimbus
Neat
lone widget
Oh shit, you can make custom characters in Hero Forge? Cool!
I should see about getting some art made of one of my characters
deft spire
Always have
Some facts about Martlet. His father was a diplomat and Martlet had tons of pen pals
lone widget
Lol, I'm looking up D&D ranger pictures just so I have a few to choose from if I ever decide to use a ranger character, and this is one of the ones I found.
Just look at him.
fickle crow
I like to think the obvious ai art is intentional and he’s a horrible mutant
steep narwhal
"looking up" is a really weird way to describe perusing ML generations
prime nimbus
I think this one was funny enough that someone else took it and put it in a forum or something, which then got indexed by google
lone widget
"looking up" is a really weird way to describe perusing ML generations
Not sure what you mean by ML generations, but no, I wasn't looking for AI pictures, I just stumbled upon this one. I always look for actual art whenever I look for D&D character art.
prime nimbus
The crayon icon stands for Crayion, formerly known as Dall-E mini. It was popular at the time because it got really complex ideas but botched the execution every time
deft spire
characters in some campaings im in
Smolder- Heroes of the Multiverse campaign run by my cousin
Yona- Library campaign
Martlet- The Rising campaign.
novel eagle
Nice
deft spire
fun fact: Smolder was my first ever DND character
fickle crow
Upgraded my sword to its pinnacle point and...holy crap this is utterly terrifying. 
prime nimbus
Until the end of autumn's next turn = for the whole year
fickle crow
with one action I can deal triple digit damage. if I somehow crit 4 times in a turn that's like, enough to put down a tarrasque
EXACTLY
one crit makes it even easier to keep critting
even resistances don't work anymore, who has resistance 50+
lone widget
Upgraded my sword to its pinnacle point and...holy crap this is utterly terrifyi...
What the f*ck.
fickle crow
cuz let's see, it's 4d12 (fatal d12 upgrades its 4d8 to 4d12 on a crit) +14 (str + legendary proficiency), times 2, plus another 1d12 on top (fatal!)
I'm thinking of regearing into a dual-weapon fighter and abusing attacks of opportunity to get up to 3 reactions in a turn at 0 MAP, and 2 separate fatal d12 weapons with which to account for potential resistances
lone widget
fickle crow
and if a creature has too high ac to crit, I took overwhelming blow. at the cost of 3 actions, stunned 1 + flatfooted til next turn, any hit is a crit, and a rolled crit adds a deadly d12 on top 
god, I love big single hits. and this is a one handed sword
lone widget
I really should try playing a PF2e campaign at some point. I have some basic experience with 1e from the Owlcat Pathfinder games on Steam, but no 2e or tabletop Pathfinder experience.
fickle crow
It’s great fun! The 3 action economy it yoinked from earlier d&d is so worth it. And unlike 1e it’s a lot less crunchy. 1e had 18 types of bonuses to rolls. 2e has 3.
It’s still crunchier than d&d, but it knows this, and most cases make it pretty easy
lone widget
Basically, 1e is what D&D 3.5e should've been, and 2e is what D&D 5e wanted to be.
prime nimbus
I don't really agree
lone widget
(Even though PF2e came out after D&D 5e.)
lone widget
I don't really agree
I mean, I don't really know for sure, since I have no experience with tabletop PF1e or PF2e, so I'm just making a comparison that my smooth brain can sorta understand. 
fickle crow
It also knows its identity more than 5e. 5e’s kinda…confused
It wants to be beginner friendly, it’s marketed as such
But it kinda isn’t
Anyway I digress. It’s fun to try systems either way. The differences can make all the difference (pun intended)
lone widget
fickle crow
Some don’t like how many feats there are but I adore it. Planning a build around both self and team synergies is amazingly satisfying for me
lone widget
I love feats in Pathfinder, and how it allows you to have both feats and ability score increases at the same time. It makes fights so much more interesting and satisfying, imo.
fickle crow
Having +6str now thanks to an apex item and knowing I’ll get +7 at 20 is so gratifying
lone widget
What level are you at, and what level are you going to reach at the end of the campaign?
prime nimbus
16
prime nimbus
Current one
fickle crow
Lol no I started a while ago. Over a year
lone widget
Still, Flitter, Rom, and I are I think over two years into our Curse of Strahd game and are only at level 9. Then again, we've missed quite a few weeks, and a couple months had to be taken off for Flitter's studies.
Although Flitter did say that, if all goes well, we shouldn't have too many sessions left to play.
lone widget
Our campaign of it, or just in general?
prime nimbus
In general
I don't know how long our campaign will be. The fifty session estimate is for my style of DMing and assumes the party chooses to do almost everything but not quite everything
lone widget
Our group pretty much chose to open up every single side quest and then did almost none of it. 
Off the top of my head, we still have:
- the winery gems
- that kidnapped girl we need to rescue (who is probably dead by now)
- that guy trapped under the church in the first town
- whatever's going on in the windmill
- whatever's going on with Ireena
- the swamp hag
- everything in that town with all the parties
- the entire north-eastern side of the map
- whatever's up with that pond in that town with all the mutants
- the mutants themselves, maybe
- the roc, maybe
- the rogue druids (or did we kill all of them? I forget)
- the wailing woman in the first town
- the undead knight in the ruined mansion who wants a purpose
And probably a shitton more.
prime nimbus
Yeah you can scratch off the kidnapped girl
lone widget
Yeah, I figured. Our group was just waaaay too slow and indecisive for the first half of the campaign.
prime nimbus
It was written as a quest you had a night for. You took about a week to start investigating it.
lone widget
Welp, sorry girl
prime nimbus
A few of those lines you actually finished!
lime tusk
frequently the way I write things like that as a DM is that there are other adventuring groups, and some of them might finish some quests that you didn't get to, but this means you don't get the benefits (rewards, friendship, etc.) and they might not finish the quests the way you would have (so this generates new quests to fix things that another group did badly)
lone widget
Oh, that's clever
Especially that last bit about other groups failing so you need to clean up their messes
That gives the world and campaign a more dynamic, realistic feel
prime nimbus
In this setting other adventuring groups basically do not exist, and the consequences being permanent works very well to amplify the themes
lime tusk
or even succeeding but having different approaches, so that for example they trigger negative consequences from your perspective even though they liked those consequences
prime nimbus
(there are a few but none are in a position to save the girl)
lime tusk
she day-yead
lone widget
In this setting other adventuring groups basically do not exist, and the consequ...
The problem is I'm not really getting any of the themes. It's being presented as this dark gothic horror campaign that's super consequence-heavy but I don't really get that feeling that much.
I can't speak for Elppan or Rom though
lime tusk
or in a dark gothic horror campaign, might be, she unday-yead
prime nimbus
That might be my fault.
lone widget
I'm not trying to knock you, and I'm still having plenty of fun, don't get me wrong.
If anything, I think it was the group's indecisiveness and lack of urgency that made it feel that way, at least for me. The players are fine, but the characters we all chose were grumpy (Renagar), stoic (Gimbley), and grumpy (Granny). And the one character that wasn't really grumpy and kept the cohesion somewhat together (Lutharin) was the one I abandoned, so I think I hold a good chunk of the blame too.
steep narwhal
The two games I ran were in a shared world and each group affected the other in subtle ways
(not so much when one was on the other side of Oerth and the other was in Elysium but still, time kept progressing without them)
lone widget
Lol, listening to a High Rollers D&D episode right now, and the DM just rolled like 6 nat 20s in a row. It got so bad that they actually called in a Roll20 developer into the stream and he straight up said "yeah, don't do any more d20 rolls, there's something wrong there" (this was 4 years ago).
prime nimbus
Wow they get a direct line to the developers
Roll20 should not be rolling its own RNG anyway
Just buy a trillion random numbers from random.org
novel eagle
Handmade rolls are best, but store bought is fine too.
fickle crow
Talk about high rollers
lone widget
Wow they get a direct line to the developers
I mean, High Rollers is a Yogscast group, and they're sponsored by Wizards of the Coast and D&D Beyond, and their DM Mark Hulmes has been on Critical Role, which is the biggest D&D content creator group. It makes sense that they'd have some connections.
fickle crow
Just buy a trillion random numbers from random.org
this could backfire and you get 100 nat 20’s in a row…because that’s equally as likely as any other number combo
prime nimbus
this could backfire and you get 100 nat 20’s in a row…because that’s equally as ...
It cannot backfire if designed correctly
Regardless, I think a hundred nat 20s in a row is a desirable outcome if they came from a truly random source
prime nimbus
We have very good metrics for it actually
random.org allows you to make sure the instruments are functioning correctly and provides both real time and historical data
novel eagle
https://youtu.be/Nva6KVInuNA?si=SQoMpxiKCNsSfn43
Ancient dragons are now all spellcasters... except for the Ancient White Dragon (because white dragons ain't that bright ).
lone widget
Is Fireball a wizard-exclusive spell?
novel eagle
No, but some other classes cannot choose it unless it's added to their spell list via a subclass.
Sorcerers can all choose fireball, but only select Warlock subclasses can choose it.
prime nimbus
lone widget
Caltrops are nasty.
prime nimbus
This video investigates their history and actual use. Good for worldbuilding
lone widget
It is, actually. Not sure why. Also, strangely enough, if we humans don't clean it and shave off all the dirt and gunk that collects in it, the hoof can get infected. It's kinda similar to how if we don't shear a sheep, the wool will just keep growing and growing and getting more matted, and the sheep can't do anything to stop it.
novel eagle
Well, kept horses, yes. Horses in the wild clear it out by going over rough terrain.
lone widget
Ah, true
fickle crow
Not that strange even if it were all horses. So long as they survive long enough to routinely reproduce, natural selection won’t get rid of detrimental traits
lone widget
Fun fact, I actually have a horseshoe. I think I picked it up at a farm when I was super young, and have kept it ever since.
It's a lot bigger than you think.
steep narwhal
Horses are bigg