|
I don't do it on the spot - I do it before the actual play session so that I can think about what comes up, try to make it fit if I can, throw it out if I can't. That Potion of Youth was the fourth potion to come up in a series of random loot rolls, and the party was assaulting a Goblin mine, so I decided that the Goblin boss they had to kill was an alchemist type of dude that was messing around with the smelted metal they were mining. Another encounter came up with a Cloak of Elvenkind (allows wearer to move silently) as a drop, so I thought of a situation where the party was being stalked by a dude and had to smoke him out or entrap him. Since they were heading for a dragon's lair, then their stalker was a Dragonborn and the Cloak was refluffed appropriately. Just rolling for things to pop out of the random tables is boring, yes; I consider it part of using the table to make them interesting as they yield results.
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2014 14:50
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 29, 2024 18:30 |
|
|
Boing posted:Rolling on loot tables seems like a really impassionate, robotic way to DM rather than picking things out or making stuff up that would be interesting for your characters and the situation they're in. If there was no tables, how could I write my Auto-DM script in Perl. This was the biggest problem with the last edition or two.
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2014 17:27
|
|
|
gradenko_2000 posted:I don't do it on the spot - I do it before the actual play session so that I can think about what comes up, try to make it fit if I can, throw it out if I can't. That Potion of Youth was the fourth potion to come up in a series of random loot rolls, and the party was assaulting a Goblin mine, so I decided that the Goblin boss they had to kill was an alchemist type of dude that was messing around with the smelted metal they were mining. Thing is, though, you could still have all of that without a table or at least without rolling on one. Just scan the treasure list for something that looks cool of an appropriate power level, and you're done. Like rolling stats, there's little point to actually rolling for treasure if you're going to throw out any result that's no use.
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2014 19:03
|
|
|
AlphaDog posted:I still can't understand why you'd bother writing up all these fun-sounding things that have a 1 percent chance of appearing on one of the many loot tables. When you say "cool sounding stuff" what specifically are you referring to? All I see is a bunch of stuff that has been around for ever. Unless you mean cool as in "cool they haven't got rid of X"? Going by those tables 80% of magic items are consumables?
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2014 02:11
|
|
|
Mr Beens posted:When you say "cool sounding stuff" what specifically are you referring to? All I see is a bunch of stuff that has been around for ever. Yes, I meant "cool, they haven't got rid of the more interesting items" (eg, portable holes) along with "it's poo poo that the more interesting items only have a tiny chance of appearing". I know it's been done like that before, I just wish it wasn't. Those tables don't include weapons and armour, so I'd assume consumables aren't as common as the preview makes them look. Unless +1 swords are super rare or something, which I can't see them being despite the whole "you don't need magic swords" thing. Gort posted:Thing is, though, you could still have all of that without a table or at least without rolling on one. Just scan the treasure list for something that looks cool of an appropriate power level, and you're done. A better presentation would probably be to lay out the tables by rough level-appropriateness, provide the random numbers anyway, and say "Pick cool stuff but if you're stuck for ideas*, roll the dice". *Sidebar: You can also randomly generate every single piece of treasure if you once heard someone who misread the AD&D DMG say that's the real way to do it. Modules! Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Nov 7, 2014 |
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2014 02:18
|
|
|
Mr Beens posted:When you say "cool sounding stuff" what specifically are you referring to? All I see is a bunch of stuff that has been around for ever. This is the thing that amazes me - the only item on that list that isn't in Unearthed Arcana or before is 'sending stones'. There's nostalgia, and then there's just reprinting stuff forever.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2014 02:27
|
|
|
I could literally just use the wondrous items/consumable lists from 2nd, 3rd, or 4th because all of that poo poo was in those as well. Can't they at least make up like, 5 new magic items or something.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2014 02:49
|
|
|
Mr Beens posted:When you say "cool sounding stuff" what specifically are you referring to? All I see is a bunch of stuff that has been around for ever. To be fair, consumables are loving amazing when used right. I used to not think about them at all, but after playing roguelikes, they let you punch well above your level, and if the DM gives them out as treasure, then it's a lot easier for players to consider using the things.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2014 03:25
|
|
|
I had way too much fun tonight playing 5E in our Thursday game set in Greyhawk, in Furyondy. I had just made a new level 3 War Domain cleric named "THE ULTIMATE HAMMER," a priest of an obscure sect of Kord, god of Athletics and Strength which leads worship from the center of a large church, with a square, roped off pulpit. The priests compete in ritualistic combat against one another. HAMMER wears an obscuring mask that he has never taken off in front of anyone. I kept using thaumaturgy to amplify my voice and cut promos, and in our first combat encounter I clotheslined the head off of a ghoul. Then in the second combat encounter we wandered into an area clearly inhabited by spiders so I amplified my voice and called them out. Then our monk set their web on fire. Then I suplexed an ettercap into my warhammer, then killed it with a single stroke while still grappling it. Then I held down a giant spider while my spiritual weapon (A spirit version of myself that drop kicked it in the mandibles). My group was cracking the gently caress up.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2014 06:22
|
|
|
I saw this and thought of 5E: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxHslUS5DvM
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2014 08:41
|
|
|
Victorkm posted:I had way too much fun tonight playing 5E Cool story, bro. Except if you use deities from Points of Light, you're playing 5e wrong. skip to like 53:40-55:25 and 57:25-58:05
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2014 08:42
|
|
|
xiw posted:This is the thing that amazes me - the only item on that list that isn't in Unearthed Arcana or before is 'sending stones'. There's nostalgia, and then there's just reprinting stuff forever. Sending stones were in 4th edition. Basically walkie talkies. I'm guessing weapons and armour are on the tables not shown, tables A and B?
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2014 11:12
|
|
|
Mr Beens posted:Sending stones were in 4th edition. Basically walkie talkies. Weapons and armour had better be the final tables as is traditional, or god drat it I will not buy this not-feeling-like-D&D parody of a "role" "playing" "game". In seriousness, I think A and/or B are likely to be the more minor potions / scrolls / misc items and there will be more tables after the ones shown. e: The way around 15-20% of treasure is apparently healing potions says things about how much thought went into the "you don't have to use magic items" thing. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 11:51 on Nov 7, 2014 |
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2014 11:46
|
|
|
P.d0t posted:Cool story, bro. Except if you use deities from Points of Light, you're playing 5e wrong. skip to like 53:40-55:25 and 57:25-58:05 Kord is a classic GH deity.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2014 15:22
|
|
|
Does it strike anyone else as weird that magic items are supposed to be rare and optional this edition, yet the DMG is 1/3 magic items and all its previews so far have just been about how cool magic items are?
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 00:36
|
|
|
The Malthusian posted:Does it strike anyone else as weird that magic items are supposed to be rare and optional this edition, yet the DMG is 1/3 magic items and all its previews so far have just been about how cool magic items are? Does it strike me as odd that Next claims to do one thing but actually does another? No, not at all.
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 00:49
|
|
|
The Malthusian posted:Does it strike anyone else as weird that magic items are supposed to be rare and optional this edition, yet the DMG is 1/3 magic items and all its previews so far have just been about how cool magic items are? Because as much as people claim to hate the Christmas tree effect, magic items have always been one of the most colorful and memorable parts of D&D. Bags of holding and helms of brilliance, rings of shooting stars and rods of lordly might ... they're all an iconic part of the game, and Next will always go for the iconic over any other consideration.
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 06:44
|
|
|
The Malthusian posted:Does it strike anyone else as weird that magic items are supposed to be rare and optional this edition, yet the DMG is 1/3 magic items and all its previews so far have just been about how cool magic items are? No because that line was clearly bullshit from the beginning. They always talk about the three pillars of D&D, but there is a fourth: sweet magic loot.
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 06:55
|
|
|
So if I wanted to make a goofy Ghostrider guy out of a Blade Pact warlock and have him summon a scythe, what kind of weapon would I class it as? Glaive? Halberd? Help me goons
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 07:40
|
|
|
TheIncredulousHulk posted:So if I wanted to make a goofy Ghostrider guy out of a Blade Pact warlock and have him summon a scythe, what kind of weapon would I class it as? Glaive? Halberd? Help me goons Seeing as, mechanically, a Glaive and a Halberd are identical in every way, it doesn't loving matter.
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 07:48
|
|
|
The Malthusian posted:Does it strike anyone else as weird that magic items are supposed to be rare and optional this edition, yet the DMG is 1/3 magic items and all its previews so far have just been about how cool magic items are? Does it strike anyone else as weird that pluggable rules to make the game your own was supposed to be a huge part of this edition and it's like half a chapter?
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 08:59
|
|
|
30.5 Days posted:Does it strike anyone else as weird that pluggable rules to make the game your own was supposed to be a huge part of this edition and it's like half a chapter? I don't know if you read the first thread, but a whole lot of it was people talking about the things you'd have to do to get that concept to actually work with D&D. I'm pretty sure that nothing that was discussed was evident in any of the playtests, and none of it has been in the books published so far. But wait for the DMG I'm sure it will be like 95% modules that will solve all y... hahahaha.
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 09:48
|
|
|
30.5 Days posted:Does it strike anyone else as weird that pluggable rules to make the game your own was supposed to be a huge part of this edition and it's like half a chapter? Rannos22 posted:Does it strike me as odd that Next claims to do one thing but actually does another? No, not at all. This will never not be the answer to any 'huh, didn't they say that they would do X' question.
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 10:14
|
|
|
PeterWeller posted:Actually, people have been pretty positive about Horde of the Dragon Queen. From what's been said around here, there are some rough encounters, but it has a pretty solid story with some interesting twists. From a few pages back but I've read through the first couple of "episodes" and I'm actually pretty drat impressed with the route they took with this. For the first two episodes at least it seems like there's quite a bit of variety in what the PCs end up doing and it's not just combat followed by more combat broken up with a little combat for a change of pace. As someone who really only read/ran KotS and PoS for 4th it's kind of a breath of fresh air. On a semi-related note, if I know gently caress-nothing about the Forgotten Realms but want a fun way to learn a little about the setting what would you guys suggest? I know it's a setting that gets poo poo on a lot around these parts but I want to know if there's anything decent in it. Frankly I am never a fan of published settings to begin with - sure, I'll scrape ideas from Eberron or Dark Sun but trying to use all the pre-established cities and politics and stuff cramps my style. But since FR is so intrinsically tied to Next I want to learn a little more. I have basically every D&D game on GoG (but haven't played most of them), and I'm kind of in the mood for a schlocky fantasy book if any of the novels aren't SUPER terrible....
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 16:56
|
|
|
Ryoshi posted:From a few pages back but I've read through the first couple of "episodes" and I'm actually pretty drat impressed with the route they took with this. For the first two episodes at least it seems like there's quite a bit of variety in what the PCs end up doing and it's not just combat followed by more combat broken up with a little combat for a change of pace. The Drizzt books are fun schlock, but they'll only show you part of the setting; this really is the problem with any FR novels from a learn the setting perspective. But the Drizzt books are pretty drat good for license schlock, and Salvatore actually knows how to write a fight that is exciting and easy to follow. If you can find the 2E boxed set for a good price, get that. It is the best organized and clearest introduction to the setting and comes with a pretty solid starter adventure. The 3E book comes in second and is probably easier to find at a decent price. It is dense, too much so, but you'll get a comprehensive survey of the setting. The 1E box is really neat, but terribly organized, printed in brown ink on fake parchment to be nearly illegible, and doesn't cover some key parts of the setting. They have reverted from the 4E version of the setting, and the 4E book is uninspiring to say the least, so sadly, it's not worth it. But Neverwinter is worth getting because it's possibly the best campaign book WotC has ever made. PeterWeller fucked around with this message at 17:57 on Nov 8, 2014 |
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 17:52
|
|
|
So I'm running 5e, it's only been a few sessions and I can already feel myself burning out. Like, actually running the game is fine and smooth and all that good stuff, but planning out each session ahead of time is a slog and a half. I'm fighting the system every step of the way in order to come up with interesting monsters that do more than cast spells X number of times per day or swing with shortswords over and over. My group loves it, but behind the scenes 5e's lack of structure means I'm having to fill the void myself and it's taking its toll.
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 18:11
|
|
|
Froghammer posted:So I'm running 5e, it's only been a few sessions and I can already feel myself burning out. Like, actually running the game is fine and smooth and all that good stuff, but planning out each session ahead of time is a slog and a half. I'm fighting the system every step of the way in order to come up with interesting monsters that do more than cast spells X number of times per day or swing with shortswords over and over. My group loves it, but behind the scenes 5e's lack of structure means I'm having to fill the void myself and it's taking its toll. Don't you like being EMPOWERED?
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 20:39
|
|
|
Nancy_Noxious posted:Don't you like being EMPOWERED? No one man should have all that power.
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2014 20:50
|
|
|
Adventurers league remains terrible, it's not that the modules are railroads, to be expected with the format, it's that there's no chance for the players to have any effect. In fact in one of the new ones, it's almost not worth the adventurers leaving their house, they have so little effect on what's going on. It's more likely they'll gently caress everything up through no fault of their own.
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2014 00:07
|
|
|
So I just played in an utterly masturbatory session where we played through the first part of Horde of the Dragon Queen as a party of 20th level characters with 10k gold worth of items, a legendary item of our choice each as well as a rare and 2 uncommons. We were a Moon Druid, an Oath of Ancients Paladin and a Fey Warlock. After casually annihilating an army of kobolds with a bunch of ice storms, we casually decimated the sorceress woman's honour guard and beat her into unconsciousness. An angry adult blue dragon showed up to kill us, so the Moon Druid countered by turning into an ancient white dragon. Three rounds of curbstomping later, the adult blue goes down in a hail of smites, claws and teeth and hexes. The Paladin and Warlock hop on the Druid and they fly after a retreating bunch of kobolds and a half dragon knight. The Paladin hops down, challenges the half-dragon to honourable combat, loses initiative, takes 4 damage from 4 greatsword attacks and a breath weapon then spends three rounds repeatedly dropping the half-dragon to 0 with subdual, Lay on Handsing him and batting him down again before finally mercy killing him. We then tied up the unconscious dragon priestess and smoked some fine Luskan kush with the governor and his castellan before walking off into the night, about ten minutes after we arrived in the town. Tl;dr we played Horde of the Wish Fulfilment and the adventure kinda falls apart if you're 19 levels higher than they intended with a load of stronk magic items.
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2014 00:35
|
|
|
Cassa posted:Adventurers league remains terrible, it's not that the modules are railroads, to be expected with the format, it's that there's no chance for the players to have any effect. In fact in one of the new ones, it's almost not worth the adventurers leaving their house, they have so little effect on what's going on. It's more likely they'll gently caress everything up through no fault of their own. Go on.
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2014 03:20
|
|
|
My group wrapped up Rise of the Runelords about month before 5E dropped and decided to give it a try and have so far been very impressed. We are now playing through Serpent's Skull that our DM converted over to use 5E and 5E is doing well on the high seas at least up to level 4. How is play at higher levels? Right now combat seems fast and fun which I hope stays consistent as we progress in level. I'm also thinking about running Horde of the Dragon Queen over Skype. Does anyone have any good recommendations or resources for running that module over the Internet?
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2014 05:20
|
|
|
SwitchbladeKult posted:How is play at higher levels? Right now combat seems fast and fun which I hope stays consistent as we progress in level. Level 11 is bad. It's basically wizard rocket-tag with fighters still going "I attack." And it takes forever.
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2014 09:15
|
|
|
kingcom posted:Go on. Well they're sent to make sure the local Fey honour a deal they made and have honoured before. You do this by breaking the human side of the deal and approaching the fey. This annoys the fey, who already murdered the last person who tried to make them break the deal. At no point is it said that the fey would break the deal without the PC's interfering, and all the PC's talking to her can do, is provide an opportunity for the fey to be insulted and change her mind. There is no climax to this story, they saved two bumpkins, did nothing to offend her, so I, the DM, said 'well you win'. So I had the Fey attack anyway to show them what would have happened. NOTHING. Green hags are weak as hell.
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2014 09:38
|
|
|
Chris Perkins has reportedly said that they're planning to have electronic versions of the Next books, and also that "It is our intention to bring back the OGL", but no timelines yet on either.
|
|
#
?
Nov 10, 2014 04:36
|
|
|
The OGL, just in time for Pathfinder 2.0? You don't say...
|
|
#
?
Nov 10, 2014 04:52
|
|
|
Why would you ever bring back the OGL? The thing that caused a huge supplement glut and allowed one of their supplement producers to literally file the numbers off 3.5 and compete with them when they put out 4e? Are they seriously that dumb?
|
|
#
?
Nov 10, 2014 05:24
|
|
|
Quiet, you- this could mean the 4e rules going OGL too...
|
|
#
?
Nov 10, 2014 05:42
|
|
|
P.d0t posted:Cool story, bro. Except if you use deities from Points of Light, you're playing 5e wrong. skip to like 53:40-55:25 and 57:25-58:05 40:00. He sure did destroy you with fire  Also, I like that "Dungeon World is the best PoL game now" Like they're trying to be witty by using back-handed compliments to both DW and PoL at the same time.
|
|
#
?
Nov 10, 2014 07:09
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 29, 2024 18:30 |
|
|
Maxwell Lord posted:Quiet, you- this could mean the 4e rules going OGL too... Yeah but would you play a 4E by Paizo?
|
|
#
?
Nov 10, 2014 08:06
|
|