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Turtlicious posted:Did you ever use the official Wizards character builder? It ran you through it bit by bit, with suggestions, and explained the pros and cons of every decision from level 1 to level 20. There is nothing like that for 5e. WoTC cease and desisted everyone who made character builders lol. I assume it was to protect their upcoming partnership with Morningstar making their big D&D app (which collapsed into burning rubble). There were some pretty solid character builders before the cleansing but its been a while so I cant remember exactly any more. kingcom fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Feb 14, 2017 |
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Feb 14, 2017 04:24
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Turtlicious posted:I mean agreed, I'm just cranky that my group is obsessed with it to the point where it devolves into references for an hour. It annoys the hell out of me, which entertains them, which annoys me further. I've said before in this thread that I wished I enjoyed Critical Role more. There is alot of genuine good about it and only a few bad things, but the few things I find bad are so offensive I have trouble enjoying it. 9 players is way too drat many for me to keep straight especially since every one of them has 2 voices. Rolling a 17 to hit is not that exciting, stop clapping. Kill me. But thats it, thats all I don't enjoy and they're such charming people other than that.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:27
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kingcom posted:WoTC cease and desisted everyone who made character builders lol. I assume it was to protect their upcoming partnership with Morningstar making their big D&D app (which collapsed into burning rubble). They also cancelled on people who had subscriptions to the 4e compendium, and then wouldn't let them re-subscribe. Luckily I had the :files: version of it, that you could just slot homebrew into. I'm extremely annoyed, and that's one of the like 15 reasons I dropped WotC. But there is only one DnD -_-
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Feb 14, 2017 04:28
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Turtlicious posted:I mean agreed, I'm just cranky that my group is obsessed with it to the point where it devolves into references for an hour. It annoys the hell out of me, which entertains them, which annoys me further. No I never used the character builder. I used an online thing. But I don't think it was the official one. I did hear the official one was pretty great however. Also no real need to gimp the casters. None of the classes are really weak enough to make it needed. A champion fighter for example is bland. But it's going to be fine at it's job of fighting. What are the planned classes anyway discounting the homebrew stuff.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:28
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Also don't gimp people, buff people. Thats a real simple way to make more people happy instead of making more people sad. Give the fighter some cool weapons when he falls behind the curve and let him attune to 5 magic items instead of 3. he's got less magic in his blood so it doesn't interefere with the magical items as much. That should be enough to level it out a bit.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:30
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Agent355 posted:I've said before in this thread that I wished I enjoyed Critical Role more. Well besides that whole drama with Orion, how much Mercer has to fudge the rules, and how much I hate everything involving "hahaha so wacky random" scanlan. I'm not a fun person admittedly. MonsterEnvy posted:No I never used the character builder. I used an online thing. But I don't think it was the official one. I did hear the official one was pretty great however. Level 15 necromancer Wizard /1 fighter Tasha's Hideous Laughter is a must Level 15 Paladin / Warlock / 1 fighter Level 15 Monk / Rogue / 1 fighter
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Feb 14, 2017 04:34
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Agent355 posted:I've said before in this thread that I wished I enjoyed Critical Role more. Turtlicious posted:I mean agreed, I'm just cranky that my group is obsessed with it to the point where it devolves into references for an hour. It annoys the hell out of me, which entertains them, which annoys me further. I've not watch it before but see it linked on social media almost constantly. Anyone able to sell me on whats appealing about it ? Just that description has me backing away from it pretty quickly. I suppose its good that its getting people to try something new out at least by making something look exciting. I wonder how peoples experience are versus seeing Critical Role and playing an rpg though. Is it just another 'group of people play an rpg but these people have above average charisma' or anything more to it?
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Feb 14, 2017 04:35
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I was thinking that, in my game, I'd have attuning magic items reserve a spell slot, of a level that I decide per-item. (Perhaps based on minor/major/whatever.) Non-casters and casters get the same theoretical number, it's just that non-casters don't have any spells so there's less opportunity cost.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:36
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Turtlicious posted:
Ahh min maxy stuff. You will be fine. Though the fighter level seems unneeded for the Monk.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:39
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kingcom posted:I've not watch it before but see it linked on social media almost constantly. Anyone able to sell me on whats appealing about it ? Just that description has me backing away from it pretty quickly. I suppose its good that its getting people to try something new out at least by making something look exciting. I wonder how peoples experience are versus seeing Critical Role and playing an rpg though. Is it just another 'group of people play an rpg but these people have above average charisma' or anything more to it? They're professional voice actors, and the GM talks with them a lot outside of the game so things go smoothly. It's always super smooth, because the game has become a livelihood, so they don't really say "Wow uhh That was a bad call dude-r" and so it's all of the fun, without any of the bullshit. Another bonus is about 4 hours of content every week, so you can throw them on your headset or whatever, and it's pretty good background noise for whatever you're doing. MonsterEnvy posted:Ahh min maxy stuff. You will be fine. Though the fighter level seems unneeded for the Monk. I am famous in my group for always having the strongest characters, so I was tasked with making the strongest characters for them.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:40
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Turtlicious posted:They're professional voice actors, and the GM talks with them a lot outside of the game so things go smoothly. It's always super smooth, because the game has become a livelihood, so they don't really say "Wow uhh That was a bad call dude-r" and so it's all of the fun, without any of the bullshit. Another bonus is about 4 hours of content every week, so you can throw them on your headset or whatever, and it's pretty good background noise for whatever you're doing. Ah right so its just charisma on tap like you're listening to an audio book or something rather than an rpg live play.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:41
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Edit:Beaten no point in repeating.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:41
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AlphaDog posted:For clarity, you don't need to change any rules to do this stuff, you can just start doing it. None, but with a lot of luck points or emergency expertise. I think that's how adventurers in Discworld operate. They're highly specialized operators who are bad at everything outside of their chosen role. But when they need to, when the chips are down, they can do anything.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:43
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kingcom posted:I've not watch it before but see it linked on social media almost constantly. Anyone able to sell me on whats appealing about it ? Just that description has me backing away from it pretty quickly. I suppose its good that its getting people to try something new out at least by making something look exciting. I wonder how peoples experience are versus seeing Critical Role and playing an rpg though. Is it just another 'group of people play an rpg but these people have above average charisma' or anything more to it? Ten people professional voice actors get together to play DnD. They are very familiar with dnd having played for their own non-stremaing benefit for some time before the stream/podcast/whatever even starts. Since they are professional voice actors every last one of them is a real strong roleplayer, their character voices are spot on, the DM has tons of voices that he brings out for various NPCs and they all stick to character and make cool choices. It is a great stream if you really appreciate the sort of narrative collective story telling aspects of DnD. However there are too many people and sometimes they are very clearly playing up their excitement for the stream and the superficiality shows through. In this sort of thing that look behind the curtain spoils alot of the rest of it because part of the fun is thinking these folks are really just enjoying the game for it's own merits.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:45
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Turtlicious posted:They also cancelled on people who had subscriptions to the 4e compendium, and then wouldn't let them re-subscribe. Luckily I had the :files: version of it, that you could just slot homebrew into. I am still subscribed to the 4e online stuff: http://ddi.wizards.com
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Feb 14, 2017 04:54
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Kibner posted:I am still subscribed to the 4e online stuff: http://ddi.wizards.com I had heard it was still up. So i was confused about the canceling thing.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:55
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:I was thinking that, in my game, I'd have attuning magic items reserve a spell slot, of a level that I decide per-item. (Perhaps based on minor/major/whatever.) Non-casters and casters get the same theoretical number, it's just that non-casters don't have any spells so there's less opportunity cost. This would make any limited spell slot caster (like Paladin and maybe Warlock) have to choose between having any magical gear or any magical spells.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:56
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MonsterEnvy posted:I had heard it was still up. So i was confused about the canceling thing. If you're still on it you can stay on it but if your sub lapses or you were not subbed at a specific time then you cant get back on. Someone confirm or deny that?
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Feb 14, 2017 04:57
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kingcom posted:If you're still on it you can stay on it but if your sub lapses or you were not subbed at a specific time then you cant get back on. Someone confirm or deny that? I can deny it. Through my account there. I was subbed before Next came out, cancelled it, then subscribed again a year later.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:58
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Kibner posted:I am still subscribed to the 4e online stuff: http://ddi.wizards.com That's so weird, they cancelled on me, and wouldn't let me pay when I tried to re-sign up.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:58
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Turtlicious posted:That's so weird, they cancelled on me, and wouldn't let me pay when I tried to re-sign up. I wonder if it was when they went through some account merger thing between their online systems? I had to merge some account that I had originally signed up with with some new Wizards account.
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Feb 14, 2017 05:00
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:I was thinking that, in my game, I'd have attuning magic items reserve a spell slot, of a level that I decide per-item. (Perhaps based on minor/major/whatever.) Non-casters and casters get the same theoretical number, it's just that non-casters don't have any spells so there's less opportunity cost. You got the right idea but buff martials, don't nerf casters. Nerfs cause hurt feelings, buffs don't. Same end result, better table attitudes.
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Feb 14, 2017 05:02
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I'm enjoying Critical Role a lot (started at the beginning and on episode 11 or 12). They definitely exaggerate for the show, but I really like seeing how Mercer has to improvise the checks since these players like to do crazy stuff. It's enjoyable but yeah no one should be endlessly referencing things as a replacement for conversation or jokes.
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Feb 14, 2017 05:05
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empathe posted:no one should be endlessly referencing things as a replacement for conversation or jokes. i wish the world would listen to you
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Feb 14, 2017 05:06
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Kibner posted:I wonder if it was when they went through some account merger thing between their online systems? I had to merge some account that I had originally signed up with with some new Wizards account. Oh right when they took down all their forums stuff maybe that locked some people out? empathe posted:I'm enjoying Critical Role a lot (started at the beginning and on episode 11 or 12). They definitely exaggerate for the show, but I really like seeing how Mercer has to improvise the checks since these players like to do crazy stuff. I almost would take endless monty python poo poo over referencing a tabletop podcast. Any good examples of improv I could skip to ?
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Feb 14, 2017 05:22
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Critical Role is good for new DMs as a way of seeing "here's what DMing will h a fun person looks like." Watching him take swipes at unconscious characters and rolling crits, then looking at the player and shrugging "that's what this creature would do!" is one of those relieving things so you can be better prepared for when you have to do it. MonsterEnvy posted:I think you misrememberd how Green Flame Blade worked. I did, and now I'm gonna spend the next hour trying to figure out what I was thinking of.
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Feb 14, 2017 05:27
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koreban posted:Critical Role is good for new DMs as a way of seeing "here's what DMing will h a fun person looks like." Uhhh does he really do this or?
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Feb 14, 2017 05:35
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Kibner posted:This would make any limited spell slot caster (like Paladin and maybe Warlock) have to choose between having any magical gear or any magical spells. Yeah I was thinking of just picking a class (say wizard) and going with it's progression of, uhh, "spell" slots for every character for the purposes of magical items. A magic item wouldn't count as one of your class spell-slots until you expended the ones you didn't have those for. I know that's super confusing and all but it seems like a pretty simple fix. No idea how this interacts with warlocks' higher level not-quite-slots, haven't thought it through that far and there isn't one in my party. It's certainly not strictly a nerf to casters since it actually lets you use (way) more magic items than the rules as written. It's just even more of a buff to non-casters.
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Feb 14, 2017 05:35
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kingcom posted:Uhhh does he really do this or? I said "fun person", not "rules savant." He keeps the game flowing well, is quick with calls for checks without spending too much time looking stuff up. Flows well when things don't go the way he planned. Improv is top notch. He also does the RP angle well with the voices and inflections for his characters (as one would expect). If he fudges dice or gets confounded, you'd be be pressed to find examples of it. In a 3 hour session he's moving the story along for all 3 hours. When things get bogged down he will introduce a time element or prompt his players to move on. For fun DMing, he's probably the best easily accessible example. If you want someone who's spot on with rules and always plays 100% to the dice, someone else will probably have to chime in with examples. E: his homebrew setting isn't half bad either. It's become fairly fleshed out and he's got a really good grasp of the places, cities and people he's working with.
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Feb 14, 2017 06:22
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kingcom posted:Uhhh does he really do this or? Yeah but like someone said. In episode 1 it's a campaign of 9 PCs at like level 9 or 10. The earliest example I can remember is when they did the split party episode with Felicia Day. The Gunslinger dude got pounced on by a Dragon. Since there were no other targets after he went down the Dragon ended its turn by tail slapping him into the ground. I've only seen to episode line 20 and I don't think there's been a PC death despite characters frequently reaching 2 failed Death Saving throws.
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Feb 14, 2017 06:24
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Razorwired posted:I've only seen to episode line 20 and I don't think there's been a PC death despite characters frequently reaching 2 failed Death Saving throws. That same character recently died, having been shot while unconscious. They cliffhangered on his death and spent most of the next session with a big overwrought resurrection ritual. It wasn't as simple as casting a spell and moving on. The same guy and the gnome died again a few weeks ago and the resurrection spell checks went up in DC difficulty. Mercer released his rules for resurrections on Dmsguild and it's basically a group spell check against a D.C. That's modified down by closeness of the characters/RPing begging the person's spirit back to them, and modified upwards by number of times they've died, how they died and their willingness to return. Spoiler for anyone actually interested in the show that isn't caught up, you may want to skip this. If you don't give a poo poo, read on: that gnome character retired last session after dying and being resurrected twice in the source of a single fight. The guy that played it was getting tired/bored of it and wanted to change it up, so he retired it. I think it hit the weirdo super fans harder than anyone else. He's got a charismatic new annoying character to play, so anyone who liked him before will still enjoy his participation.
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Feb 14, 2017 06:33
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lifg posted:None, but with a lot of luck points or emergency expertise. That's not a bad idea! Just have to figure out how to separate out "stuff within the chosen role" from "everything else". Like, I can't see an assassin needing to spend these resources to sneak up and shank someone because it's kinda their schtick. Agent355 posted:You got the right idea but buff martials, don't nerf casters. Nerfs cause hurt feelings, buffs don't. Same end result, better table attitudes. Uh... I've got some bad news for you.
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Feb 14, 2017 06:46
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koreban posted:I said "fun person", not "rules savant." I don't really care if he gets the rules wrong or anything thats probably the most human of errors to make. I was just more 'uhhhh' ing at the attacking a downed player thing being a bit of a weird thing to bring up as an example of fun but whatever, each to their own. If hes as popular as he seems and is keeping things running smoothly week in and week out then hes probably doing something right.
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Feb 14, 2017 06:55
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Sure, it's not fun for the guy getting whacked, however would you expect a nemesis-type villain to hold back or pull punches? His players aren't low level at these points. I'm all for pulling punches in the first 3-4 levels, but by level 17 or whatever his players are at, when they're fighting their nemesis and fall, they're going to get a hit to make sure they stay down. I think it's important for establishing credibility as a DM as well. That you're willing to play out the npc the way they would act, as well as presenting death as a possibility. Besides, there are high level spells that resurrect creatures requiring only a piece of their bodies that could have been dead for centuries, so it's not entirely unreasonable to give a character a good bloody death, because you don't need *all* of them to bring them back.
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Feb 14, 2017 07:04
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Someone up this page was talking about new subs to DDI, you can find it here still, I did it last week, can confirm it works. As to Critical Role, it was the thing that got me into DnD originally (like a year and a bit ago), and I enjoy it for precisely the reason people said earlier, it's great background noise/yarns that I listen to in morning traffic for an hour a day. It's also arguably one of the biggest contributors to DnD's recent explosion in popularity. Spiteski fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Feb 14, 2017 |
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Feb 14, 2017 07:13
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As far as skill checks go, I feel that one of the most important things is to have a conversation* between the DM and the player on A.) what the objective is, what the player wants out of the check, and B.) what the stakes are, or what the player is risking in the event of failure. A lot of the time A is very obvious, but it's B that tends to get overlooked or skipped in the flow of "now you roll the dice". If the player has an idea of how bad it could be or what could go wrong, then that helps into their decision making if they want to go through with it, want to take a different approach, or do some other preparatory action to try and mitigate the danger. At the same time, it reminds the DM to do things like "actually don't roll because there's nothing at stake", or "the only thing at stake here is time, and the passage of time does x", or "because you are trained in Athletics, the worst that could happen is y" * don't get me wrong, when I say "conversation", it need not be a long one. For lack of a better term, let's also say "an exchange", or "a mutual understanding", however many words or back-and-forths that may be. === The other thing I want to bring up is that failure does not always have to have anything to do with the character. Circumstance plays a part. We'd like to think that rolling a 2 means the character performed badly, especially since the player rolling the dice is a direct action, but it could also mean the rope snapping, or the rock-handhold breaking apart, or the King being particularly close-minded and not open to suggestion despite the Bard saying all the right things.
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Feb 14, 2017 07:44
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Spiteski posted:Someone up this page was talking about new subs to DDI, you can find it here still, I did it last week, can confirm it works. That link is dead to me, but the link you posted was actually a game key soooo.
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Feb 14, 2017 07:58
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Spiteski posted:Someone up this page was talking about new subs to DDI, you can find it here still, I did it last week, can confirm it works. More than Stranger Things? koreban posted:His players aren't low level at these points. I'm all for pulling punches in the first 3-4 levels, but by level 17 or whatever his players are at, when they're fighting their nemesis and fall, they're going to get a hit to make sure they stay down. I didn't know the context but yeah an end campaign villain doing it seems fine i guess. I read as 'this goblin just murdered your scrub hero' kind of phrasing.
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Feb 14, 2017 08:04
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Turtlicious posted:That link is dead to me, but the link you posted was actually a game key soooo. Whoops, enjoy Steamworld Heist Fixed it now though kingcom posted:More than Stranger Things? I actually forgot about that, completely anecdotal, but everyone I've played with mentions Critical Role as their introduction to DnD, and only one person has mentioned Stranger Things and that was asking about the real Demogorgon and how it compared. It's kinda impossible to tell without massive surveys I guess.
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Feb 14, 2017 08:09
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kingcom posted:I didn't know the context but yeah an end campaign villain doing it seems fine i guess. I read as 'this goblin just murdered your scrub hero' kind of phrasing. Nah, in that specific instance, endgame. That said, I have a lot more confidence in my abilities as a DM and how to handle that sort of situation now that my characters are level 8 than I had prior to watching that show. I started watching it as a study of how to DM the way a popular guy who is easy to find online does it. Knock on effect being that I watch it regularly now because I'm semi interested in how it's going. I'd hate to play in that game, but I can enjoy it and follow along while I'm painting miniatures or throw it on and entertain myself *and* the kids with something that doesn't break out into a musical number every 10 minutes.
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Feb 14, 2017 08:19
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