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KingKalamari posted:I almost feel like the new Tenser's Transformation is specifically geared towards Eldritch Knights...Except they can't get any spells higher than fourth level without multiclassing...
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Apr 7, 2017 04:31
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My little pissant level 3 warlock resisted being dominated by a CR17 vampire that was (unbeknownst to us) under orders not to kill us. So my dude is feeling like King poo poo of gently caress Mountain instead of realizing he could have been put straight into the grave with a passing fart.
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Apr 7, 2017 08:56
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KingKalamari posted:I almost feel like the new Tenser's Transformation is specifically geared towards Eldritch Knights...Except they can't get any spells higher than fourth level without multiclassing... Tenser's Transformation was always supposed to be for Wizards to temporarily turn themselves into pseudo-Fighters for a short while. In 3e, for example, TT was a level 6 spell, which meant you'd learn it at Wizard level 11 at the earliest. Your BAB would be a +5 just then, and then TT would give you another +11, so it'd be +16/+11/+6/+1. In comparison, a level 11 Fighter would have a BAB of +11/+6/+1 However, a Fighter would probably have a +3 magic weapon by that time (and you wouldn't), so it's really more like +16 for the TT'd Wizard versus +14 for the Fighter. Further, a Fighter would probably have something like a 15 base STR (using the standard array), with another +6 from magical items and stat increases, so that's a +5 to attack from their Strength modifier. The Wizard, on the other hand, would maybe have a 12 base STR and no Strength-boosts. TT would bring that up to a 16, but that's still only a +3 attack from their Strength modifier. So you're looking at the Fighter swinging at +19, versus the TT'd Wizard swinging at ... +19, but the Fighter still has feats on top of that. The Wizard does have other buff spells on top of that, such as Bull's Strength, Heroism, Haste, Greater Magic Weapon, etc., but the fact that you can't cast spells AFTER casting TT, combined with the varying durations on the different buff spells (Haste lasts mere rounds, Heroism can last hours) can make it janky to all line-up correctly. All that said, I'm not at all defending Tenser's Transformation as a good spell, because like a lot of spells in 3e that end up never getting used, it's biggest problem is that it makes you "a Fighter" in a game where you should be tossing save-or-dies and outright disables so that you never have to "fight" the way Fighters do.
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Apr 7, 2017 09:28
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I tried out the new redemption paladin and made a half orc pacifist named moonbeam. I hugged a vampire spawn and didn't get bit because of my stupid naked 18 armor class. But in my hug I felt no love. There was nothing here to redeem. Sadly I must smite you, small childe. What should the in game description of why a redemption paladin's armor class, naked and with no shield, is 16+dex? Is he doing insane matrix bullet dodging moves as he advances, arms open, attempting to hug his bandit attackers? Or is he just so goddamn pure and shiny that it hurts to look at him and you just can't bring yourself to strike god's chosen?
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Apr 7, 2017 09:51
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Krinkle posted:Is he doing insane matrix bullet dodging moves as he advances, arms open, attempting to hug his bandit attackers? Yeah basically Donnie Yen's character in Rogue One.
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Apr 7, 2017 09:54
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I want to bring a lawful evil character among my options to the group starting on Saturday. Several people there are first-timers so I suspect there's going to be a lot of lawful good and chaotic good. I've got a couple chaotic neutral options and I feel like I do that pretty well rather than being RaNdOm or using it as a license to not give a gently caress. But I've never played a lawful evil. I get what it implies in terms of like.... you agree with laws/systems of conduct or at least a personal code of ethics either because you implicitly agree with them or at least because they provide a framework to be exploited. And I get that you inherently place your needs and desires over those of others. But classic examples always tend toward people who already have the power to act on this kind of personality, not the pissant nobodies that make up a party of level 1 adventurers. How do you anticipate LE would act in a typical adventurer's context? I imagine a lot of insistence that X or Y isn't our fight, things are done with the expectation of reward rather than out of altruism, etc. But that's honestly consistent with all of Neutral on the good/evil spectrum as well. How else might LE act when they're still in the "bring me 20 boar's asses" stage of their adventuring career? How "Arthas was right" can you be when the reach of your power is to the end of a shortsword? Nehru the Damaja fucked around with this message at 10:43 on Apr 7, 2017 |
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Apr 7, 2017 10:15
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gradenko_2000 posted:Tenser's Transformation Imagine if there was an 11th-level fighter ability that made you a wizard for an encounter
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Apr 7, 2017 10:18
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Gort posted:Imagine if there was an 11th-level fighter ability that made you a wizard for an encounter In my pre-coffee haze of this morning, I was thinking "If a Wizard has half the BAB of a Fighter, why doesn't the Fighter have half the spellcasting of a Wizard?"
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Apr 7, 2017 11:04
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It seems like Tenser's Transformation is in most ways worse than just casting Polymorph. Sure, there are some advantages to TT that Polymorph doesn't get -- namely higher AC and mental saves. But a mammoth or giant ape is always going to have more HP than twice a wizard's, better physical stats, and potentially other movement/vision modes. They will also do more damage, even if they're not quite as accurate.
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Apr 7, 2017 12:09
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Nehru the Damaja posted:I want to bring a lawful evil character among my options to the group starting on Saturday. Several people there are first-timers so I suspect there's going to be a lot of lawful good and chaotic good. I've got a couple chaotic neutral options and I feel like I do that pretty well rather than being RaNdOm or using it as a license to not give a gently caress. This is of course personal opinion but being a flavor of evil with a bunch of rookies is asking for trouble, since at the first sign of you doing anything vaguely construed as evil will at best lead to a lengthy argument. As for how to play it though, LE is pretty straightforward I think. You keep your promises and follow the letter of the law, but you look out for yourself and your interests only. You'll help this peasant because the king is paying you to, but that peasant is still a filthy lowlife only worthy of your scorn and as soon as the job is done you'll kick him to the curb. Serving an evil deity is another good example. You'll further their goals and follow their orders without question, and they'll very likely be of an evil flavor. At low level play, if your team is given any sort of power (say, you're on a mission from the king) you would leverage it at every opportunity that would benefit you. You could strongarm a militiaman into getting out of the way by threatening to report to his captain despite him only doing his job (maybe going as far as lying about it), but you wouldn't necessarily use your weight to convince a shady merchant to not overcharge the local halfling population, even though they are starving because of it.
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Apr 7, 2017 14:29
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Nehru the Damaja posted:But classic examples always tend toward people who already have the power to act on this kind of personality, not the pissant nobodies that make up a party of level 1 adventurers. How do you anticipate LE would act in a typical adventurer's context? See if the GM will let your PC wear a fedora.
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Apr 7, 2017 15:08
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Nehru the Damaja posted:How else might LE act when they're still in the "bring me 20 boar's asses" stage of their adventuring career? How "Arthas was right" can you be when the reach of your power is to the end of a shortsword? "I do this now because it amuses me, but I will remember this, peasant, when my empire is born. Pray your recompense for these swine buttocks is worth my time."
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Apr 7, 2017 15:11
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The whole point of believing in libertarianism (or any inherently unequal system, really) is the expectation that once that whole thing goes off, you're going to be at the top, or at least the middle, of the pyramid. That is difficult to reconcile this with a set-up where you're explicitly supposed to start at the bottom is ... a feature, not a bug. Lawful Evil would be kind of like acting like a Sovereign Citizen. Now, of course you're not going to have any authority worth a drat as a level 1 shitfarmer, but IRL SovCits tend to get tasered by the police too.
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Apr 7, 2017 15:17
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Nehru the Damaja posted:How else might LE act when they're still in the "bring me 20 boar's asses" stage of their adventuring career? How "Arthas was right" can you be when the reach of your power is to the end of a shortsword? Law and vow abiding while looking out for #1 and being generally more of a dick than Lawful Neutral. Remember, LN just does what seems fitting in the context of orderly behavior, while a LE is actively malicious and gets off on power tripping and being cruel when they can get away with it. But alignments are stupid anyway.
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Apr 7, 2017 15:56
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I usually try not to run straight Evil characters due to the dynamics with the party and the problems that can come when you get like, classic bro paladins in the party who are gonna smite evil (comedy of "detect evil and good" setting off every time aside). However, I mostly play kobolds, love me some little lizard dude characters, and they are naturally LE. So in play I often go with sort of LN(e). Lawful Neutral because I'm working with the party towards good ends and am not going out of my way to do the evil-est poo poo, but with a little flavor of evil that comes from being a racist little hate lizard. When I play LE the tendency is towards selfishness, greed, hatred, spite, but all within a structure of the world as it is. There are set laws and structures and hierarchies, there are moral imperatives and priorities and so on. That comes from lawful. It's not just about the actual laws and so on, those are manifestations out of a society, but it's that society, hierarchical organizations, and so on both do and should exist. For a kobold, for example, dragons are The Best, and people should be subjugated under them. Kobolds are little dragons, and therefore better than other races. A human lawful evil guy recognizes that society has a hierarchy. They just want to be on top of that hierarchy, or use it in a way that suits them. There is a natural order to things, and it should be upheld. It's okay when the rich poo poo on the little guy, because when I become rich, I'm gonna poo poo on the little guy too. That's how it should be. The evil side doesn't have to be this kind of cartoonish evil, but it often does end up that way. Evil characters prioritize themselves first, way before the party. Evil characters will dime the party out in an instant if it serves their own end. Consider why you're cruising around with these saps with their dumb altruistic morals. What's your character getting out of it? If at any time the party isn't furthering your own agenda, you have to consider how you can make them further your agenda. What do you need them for? Are you trying to get personally wealthy, and you're using these goofs to help you? Are you trying to hide your evil nature by blending in with some good guys for a while? Are you going to cartoonishly turn on them later? Evil characters don't take the front line to save others. They aren't gonna throw down to save a downed comrade. They might heal them or save them in order to hold it over them later. "Remember when I literally saved your life? Let me have this." They might heal them because they stand a better chance with them up than down. They will leverage that. They definitely aren't gonna lay down themselves to try to help someone else, that's just not in the evil playbook. If a party member goes down, you fuckin' hold that over them when it comes time to loot, or when you need someone to make a sacrifice. If you go down, and they try to do the same thing, you remind them about their dedication to good and how healing you was just the right thing to do and doing good things is its own reward. Basically, use the poo poo out of people. You don't have to be some kind of sneering murder and torture machine, you can just be a huge dick. Edit: murder and torture is fine though I mean as long as it gets you what you're looking for. The other thing about LE is that it's not the "lol murder everyone gently caress it helter skelter" that CE is (I straight up don't allow CE at my table unless it's very compelling). It's calculating evil. It's less Charles Manson and more venture capitalists. So you might murder someone, but whereas a CE will just murder a guy because he doesn't like him, a LE waits for it, makes sure he can get away with it. He considers consequences much further out than a CE tends to. He thinks about the fact that if he just murders this guy, Johnny Law will come lookin'. "Can I get away with this?" is a huge check that LEs do whenever they are gonna do something. A CE might burn down the orphanage because it's hilarious, an LE isn't gonna burn down the orphanage unless it furthers his goals and he can pin it on someone else. CE will just take a torch and set fire to that bitch, LE will plan to burn it down for months, making sure everything is in order. LE might not burn it down at all, they might buy it instead, then enslave the people there. CE reacts, LE remembers. Paramemetic fucked around with this message at 16:11 on Apr 7, 2017 |
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Apr 7, 2017 16:03
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I like the idea of LE from a lv.1 perspective as a "gently caress you got mine" libertarian peasant who thinks that by following the "law" that leads to prosperity in the land that he will someday wind up on top. Bonus points if he works against his own best interest because he doesn't realize what a bottom-rung bitch he is.
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Apr 7, 2017 16:14
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As a dm, I had a party member acting evil and the rest of the group hated it. Dumb conflicts arise in a game I feel is intended to be played cooperatively. If you wanna pvp I think non rp table tops are better for that. I'd the whole party is evil, I think that's ok, but still would have to cooperate to accomplish something.
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Apr 7, 2017 16:22
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Are there any easy as gently caress to dm and very short modules/one shots (free, paid, homebrew, whatever) out there for 5e? My wife wants to try running one but she's not the best on the rules and probably won't have time to read the dms guide much. Looking for something where you really just read ahead like one room at a time. Basic and cliche poo poo would be fine, they're all new anyway.
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Apr 7, 2017 16:49
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Sometimes, with the right kind of table, having some inter-PC intrigue is fun and cool. The problem mostly comes when the intrigue is escalated to the point where the obvious solution would be to shank someone. Like you don't want to be so obnoxious a character that you are putting the party in danger (see my no-CE policy above) because then the reasonable, in character thing to do is leave your rear end behind, or kill you, or both. If you're making an evil character, or even like a true-neutral, or anything like that, you have to think a lot further about the character's interaction with other characters before you bring them to the table, for example. There needs to be a reason everyone is traveling together. You don't want to put the party or yourself in a situation where the obvious solution would be to kick you out of the party, and so everyone has to be constantly compromising their own roleplay in order to maintain the convention of "we're a party of adventurers working together towards [goal]." Playing quirky odd characters is fun as heck and can add a lot of spice and fun to the roleplaying part of the game (if the table is into that, and not just using the roleplay adventure as a pretense for combat, or dice rolling, etc.) but you have to be careful when making those characters to come up with compelling reasons as to why the party is going to go with this. At lower levels it's even harder, I think, because you're a level 1 guy, not irreplaceable. At higher levels you can be like Baron von Necromancy, scion of the evil empire, but you're a fuckin' powerful wizard and maybe the rest of the party is letting you tag along despite knowing you're probably just trying to become a lich because Blight can do a fuckload of damage and they need that right now. Basically you have to think about what your pitch is if it ever comes up for why the party shouldn't just turf you. If you can't come up with a reasonable reason why the party shouldn't shank you, or leave your rear end out, then you need to redesign the character or do something else because the responsibility is on you not to bring a bad character that can't play with others, you shouldn't be obligating other players to work around your quirky unique evil character, and it's common courtesy to the DM to just screen this out yourself during the creation process instead of putting it all on the DM to tell you no.
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Apr 7, 2017 16:51
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The only time an evil character worked in a game I was playing in was a LE cleric who was given a direct order by his god to play nice with the party, since completing the quest was a common goal. Any time he would get out of line his god would smite him and deny him spells, which was hilarious every time. "As soon as this quest is over I am going to kill all of you" was a common phrase with him. Luckily we never actually finished that campaign so nothing really came of that.
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Apr 7, 2017 16:53
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A LE character honors the letter of an agreement but not its intent, and tries to get herself into a position where she is the one writing the agreement. That will usually summarize the best way to run a character like that, I think, since you can extrapolate that idea any number of ways.
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Apr 7, 2017 18:01
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Assuming the most generic bland, placeholder, 10.5 statted, level 0 peasant-infested settlement, the largest minority of the population is probably true neutral with roughly equal representation of all other alignments. Humans and a lot of other intelligent humanoids are like that. That doesn't mean that the 10-30% in the evil end will kill you as soon as shake your hand, it just means they tend towards some form of selfishness, antipathy, greed, or something else like that. They're still guards, bakers, farmers, fishers and blacksmiths like every other idiot in the world, just more evil. If they've survived to adulthood, they've probably figured out how to fit into society and not get lynched or exiled by their neighbours. So no, not everyone evil is a murderous dickhead, much like how chaotics aren't all whimsical flighty dickheads. Traits commonly assigned to one end of the spectrum can also appear in the other end for any reason. For example, you could have Sir Brightbeam the warrior of truth and justice, but they're virulently hateful and spiteful towards elves because his house was burned down by elves with his family inside. Likewise, Sir Murderblade works for a local despot, but absolutely hates slavery because of personal experiences with it, and they extend that empathy towards others. And a freedom loving nomad might have some iron hard obligations and codes to live by, because that's just the way the world works. The overall demographic trends would be skewed by prevailing conditions - if it's a tribe of independent raiders and agrarian herders in opposition to an encroaching empire, they're probably chaotic neutral because their society, gods and environmental pressure is leading them towards individualism, loose family units and a love of the open sky. Likewise the large, well-organised and enduring city that threatens them is probably lawful neutral because hierarchy, teamwork, stability and international banking are practically requirements for that sort of thing. Of course, a random miller trying to live their life is more or less indistinguishable based on alignment. They don't have much wealth or influence or free time, they're too busy just staying alive. Law or chaos, good or evil, the miller works 10 hours a day, gets thrashed with taxes, and dies age 37 from owlbear. It's the guys with power and opportunity who get to see the world and shape it to their liking, the nobles, politicians, adventurers, advisors and opportunists. So, given the ability to go hog wild on ideological action, the NG adventurer is more likely to donate to an orphanage and the NE is more likely to not. Or maybe the NE donates the most of all, because children are the future (of evil). So where does that put us with the player party? The characters are all presumably vaguely sane, competent adults of some sort, who are socialised enough to realise that other people have differing opinions and beliefs. The players might not be that worldly, but pretending to be mature adults is what roleplaying is for! They have also chosen to take up the profession of wandering around the countryside, alternating between killing terrifying eldritch monsters and wiping out whole tribes of intelligent humanoids, either in revenge or 'just in case'. Being a team player and tolerating the other idiots long enough to get to payday is such a basic skill, on par with walking and talking at the same time, that anyone who doesn't have it should be assumed to have starved to death long ago.
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Apr 7, 2017 18:14
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I've always thought of humans as being naturally lawful evil, only following laws due to fear of punishment and only caring about the self interest of themselves and those close to them. Go look at rush hour traffic to see what I mean
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Apr 7, 2017 18:17
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mastershakeman posted:I've always thought of humans as being naturally lawful evil, only following laws due to fear of punishment and only caring about the self interest of themselves and those close to them. The alignment of a man can only be changed by Grace, and Grace can not be earned. No, heroic feats are outward signs of being among the Player Elect but do not mean one is themselves a Player Elect.
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Apr 7, 2017 18:19
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Kaysette posted:Taking a second level for action surge is also pretty common from what I've seen. Tanky as gently caress wizard that can blow his wad better than a sorcerer? Don't mind if I do! I feel like I made a mistake when I created my sorcerer over a wizard. I was under the impression sorcerers kept their spell lists limited because they get to cast more spells per long rest than a wizard does. This doesn't appear to be the case any more, especially with Wizards getting Arcane Recovery so early. They even get spell mastery at 18 and Signature spells at 20, meaning if you compare that to Sorcerous Restoration, you can return 4 level 1 spells, 2 level 2 spells, or 1 third level spell and 1 first, whereas a wizard never really needs to return 1st or 2nd because of signature spells, and can return 2 third level spells, equivalent to 6 sorcerous points. So include that, plus an at-will 1st and 2nd level spell, equivalent to 3 points (but not, because they're infinite) and you get 4 versus 9 at minimum. What the gently caress? I get the whole metamagic side of things, but why the restriction on how often you cast? I mean, the Bard gets as many spell casts as a sorcerer does, and with a larger spell selection and no spellbook? Yeah, no metamagic abilities. They just get an entire class of bardic abilities instead. Am I taking crazy pills, or is a Bard a better Sorcerer than a Sorcerer? Anyways, bitching aside, there was an issue that came up in our last game and we're not sure how to handle it. To give a little look into the group dynamic, it consists of 3 veteran D&D players (me and two others, although I'm brand new to 5e), and three completely new players. The timeline goes like this. 1. We are back in town and go visit the local contact to finish up a mission (had to save his buddy held hostage by kobolds). We buy some poo poo and, ask about the town, do typical 'after dungeon crawling' activities. 2. While we were there, he suggested we ask around because there's all sorts of trouble going on in town, including some orcs up the road stealing more of his supplies. We agree to take a look at it, but we haggle for a reward. This has taken about an hour now between haggling and shopping. Me and the Paladin do most of it, due to our stunning good looks and witty personality. 3. I'm a poor idiot sorceress, so I negotiate a discount on goods and to up the reward. He offers up his cherished possession, a bag of holding, and the party is happy, but our barbarian player has started getting bored of this whole thing. They start playing on their phone (barbarian social skills and all). 4. Our paladin also starts to haggle with the merchant. 5. Our barbarian player eventually gets pissed and shouts, "Lets just loving get on with it instead of screwing around!" Mind you, we had just been dungeon crawling for 3 sessions and murdered piles of kobolds. This is literally the first time our party has had a chance for the face characters to use their social skills. Also, everyone else is having a great time (and the bag of holding sounds cool) 6. We eventually get on with it and they settle down, but after we wind up in a tavern and there's a potential tavern brawl ready to break out, they are completely checked out. A drunk, shirtless barbarian not interested in a tavern brawl? I gently remind them that their character would have some say in whats going on, which prompted the player, but still. This is the second time in three sessions they've essentially yelled at the party to stop doing what they're doing, and trying to take the parties reigns. Not in a leadership role, but in a "We're going to do this now" kind of way. I'm worried this is going to become a huge issue down the road, and totally alienate our other new players into basically hanging their heads and doing what they're told. The veteran players are more used to it and aren't cowed, but I feel like 1 player is going to end up costing us 3 (or more). Any advice on teaching a new player that D&D isn't all mechanics and murdering?
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Apr 7, 2017 18:19
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mastershakeman posted:I've always thought of humans as being naturally lawful evil, only following laws due to fear of punishment and only caring about the self interest of themselves and those close to them. That's actually very close to how True Neutral is described. Though it tends more towards 'breaking the law would be a lot of work  'A great thing to do for your fantasy elfgames brain is to stop thinking of evil as some exotic, mysterious, alien force. It is just as common and influential as any other alignment, it has its pluses and minuses, and the legions of skeletons are the only thing between you and those rear end in a top hat fey. For some in universe examples of the banality of evil, consider the evil temples found in most major cosmopolitan cities like Waterdeep. You can go worship Talos, Umberlee, Auril, Shar, whatever you want. They aren't trying to burn the city down, they're just doing priest things, collecting donations, casting spells for fees, just like the Temple of Lathander across the street. Now it goes unspoken that you're probably going to Umberlee because you're setting out on the water and don't want to be eaten by a giant shark, or you're going to Talos because you don't want your house to get struck by lightning. Some might call that blackmail or extortion, but isn't it really just good sense? Go pay Beshaba, or else you'll snap your ankle walking home and by complete coincidence one of her priests will be there pointing and laughing at you. It's not like paying tithes to the God of Suffering is going to help out.
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Apr 7, 2017 18:30
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User0015 posted:This is the second time in three sessions they've essentially yelled at the party to stop doing what they're doing, and trying to take the parties reigns. Not in a leadership role, but in a "We're going to do this now" kind of way. I'm worried this is going to become a huge issue down the road, and totally alienate our other new players into basically hanging their heads and doing what they're told. The veteran players are more used to it and aren't cowed, but I feel like 1 player is going to end up costing us 3 (or more). Any advice on teaching a new player that D&D isn't all mechanics and murdering? I guess my question is whether the barbarian was being encouraged to do anything during the facetime? I get that the Pally and Sorc have the better CHA stat and skills, but if a player doesn't get a chance to do anything for an hour or more, of course they're going to get bored. I mean sure, you had three sessions of dungeon crawling before this, but presumably your talky characters were also involved in the action? You got to fight, explore, toss dice, etc. If I were being patted on the head and told to just shut up and let the big kids do all the talking for an hour, I'd be pretty nonplussed too. In other words, I'd suggest that going out of your way to make sure everyone gets to do something during the talky bits is how you teach your player the game is more than murdering and mechanics. Because mechanically the barbarian may not be suited to doing the talking, but if you want him to start role-playing more and just wanting to dice roll less, you've got to not just give him the opportunity, but encourage him to do so. Granted, that's really the DM's job, so besides whatever you can do from a player's standpoint, you should also talk to your DM and make sure that the DM knows to give everyone a chance to talk during the talky parts or else your players get bored and you've seen what happens when this player gets bored. 
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Apr 7, 2017 19:07
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There's a pretty excellent piece of serial fiction called A Practical Guide To Evil that lines up very nicely with my ideas of what Lawful Evil looks like. A Lawful character likes and works within systems of power. An Evil character puts themselves over others. A Lawful Evil character thus works within the system in order to amass personal power for their own gain, and will use that power to further entrench themselves. There's a lot of room for variation within this archetype; a character could be bound by their sense of honor, they could be ruthlessly pragmatic, they could present a spotless public image while enacting their machinations behind closed doors, etc. A good LE character, in my mind, is smart and pragmatic. They work with adventurers because they get something out of it, whether it's wealth or reputation. They are willing to use methods that the rest of the party wouldn't consider, but won't overdo it to the point they'll lessen their standing amongst the group. They consider the ramifications of their actions and decide if what they stand to gain is greater than what they stand to lose. Above all, they are not antiheroes, who use evil methods to advance a common good, they are true villains.
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Apr 7, 2017 19:07
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I am nearing the date of my debut as first time DM and am happy to introduce D&D to my nephews as what will hopefully become a favorite pass time. I have all of the essentials ( players guide, dm guide, monster manual) in addition to the opening module to the Tyranny of Dragons series, Horde of the Dragon Queen. It's already a done deal, so I appreciate any criticism of said adventure series be held to a minimum. What I'd like to ask is what are some essential minis and playmats I should look to invest in to make this the best experience for my players as possible?
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Apr 7, 2017 19:40
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jng2058 posted:I guess my question is whether the barbarian was being encouraged to do anything during the facetime? I get that the Pally and Sorc have the better CHA stat and skills, but if a player doesn't get a chance to do anything for an hour or more, of course they're going to get bored. I mean sure, you had three sessions of dungeon crawling before this, but presumably your talky characters were also involved in the action? You got to fight, explore, toss dice, etc. If I were being patted on the head and told to just shut up and let the big kids do all the talking for an hour, I'd be pretty nonplussed too. So maybe going around the table and saying, "While these two idiots are haggling, what do the rest of you want to do?"
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Apr 7, 2017 19:48
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Making your own tokens is easy--there's a program (Token Tool) that makes it effortless. All you have to do is print out the tokens and glue them to metal or wooden washers. I prefer that instead of miniatures because of the inherent flexibility, boss monsters excepted (Tiamat is an obvious choice for a mini if you want to invest, she's A. definitely going to show up so it isn't a waste and B. is the boss of the campaign, so it adds some gravitas). I don't know if you have the physical or digital version of HotDQ, but there is a zip of high-quality maps that you can print out and use as playmats. It adds a lot to the experience.
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Apr 7, 2017 19:48
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To add, if you have 0 minis from the get-go you may just take your players to a shop that sells minis and have them pick out their own to represent them. This goes a long way into immersing oneself into the game.
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Apr 7, 2017 19:53
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Vengarr posted:Making your own tokens is easy--there's a program (Token Tool) that makes it effortless. All you have to do is print out the tokens and glue them to metal or wooden washers. I prefer that instead of miniatures because of the inherent flexibility, boss monsters excepted (Tiamat is an obvious choice for a mini if you want to invest, she's A. definitely going to show up so it isn't a waste and B. is the boss of the campaign, so it adds some gravitas). Thanks for the link/advice! I own the physical HotDQ, is it still possible to down load those maps? If so do you have a link?
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Apr 7, 2017 19:55
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I'd say you can't go wrong with the 1 inch grid wet erase battle maps. Even if you play with abstract theater of the mind stuff instead of a grid it's still super useful to have a defined "game area" where you can sketch stuff out and represent things like relative distances, basic layout, etc.
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Apr 7, 2017 19:57
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Gumdrop Larry posted:I'd say you can't go wrong with the 1 inch grid wet erase battle maps. Even if you play with abstract theater of the mind stuff instead of a grid it's still super useful to have a defined "game area" where you can sketch stuff out and represent things like relative distances, basic layout, etc. I couldn't agree with you more. I was wondering if there are maps that were developed specifically for this campaign out there?
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Apr 7, 2017 20:02
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Dick Bastardly posted:I am nearing the date of my debut as first time DM and am happy to introduce D&D to my nephews as what will hopefully become a favorite pass time. I have all of the essentials ( players guide, dm guide, monster manual) in addition to the opening module to the Tyranny of Dragons series, Horde of the Dragon Queen. It's already a done deal, so I appreciate any criticism of said adventure series be held to a minimum. What I'd like to ask is what are some essential minis and playmats I should look to invest in to make this the best experience for my players as possible? This is what you want for maps; combine it with some markers, and you wind up with great long-term maps. The problem with dry-erase stuff is that you've got no way of hanging on to it, and while you might not want to keep every map, some turn out to be pretty great mementos. http://www.staples.ca/en/Quartet-Graph-Bond-Flip-Chart-Easel-Pad-24-x-36-50-Sheets/product_975150_2-CA_1_20001 
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Apr 7, 2017 20:05
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blastron posted:A good LE character, in my mind, is smart and pragmatic. They work with adventurers because they get something out of it, whether it's wealth or reputation. They are willing to use methods that the rest of the party wouldn't consider, but won't overdo it to the point they'll lessen their standing amongst the group. They consider the ramifications of their actions and decide if what they stand to gain is greater than what they stand to lose. Above all, they are not antiheroes, who use evil methods to advance a common good, they are true villains. I'm having a hard time determining the difference between anything-neutral and anything-evil then because I thought what you're saying is neutral. I assumed Evil would be going out of your way to kick other people on your way up. I have a chaotic neutral pathfinder alchemist who plays fast and loose with the splash damage hitting her teammates and I didn't mean to play her evil. Yes, I downed two party members in my overzealous attempt to finish off a goblin, but I didn't say "nice, friendly fire bonus!" and fist pump or anything. Her attitude is you shouldn't have been standing there, things happen, not my fault. I got sheepish afterwards but not fully apologetic and I can't tell if I hosed up and wandered into evil territory or not.
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Apr 7, 2017 20:26
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I once listened to a podcast that described NE as the most evil alignment. You can always count on a LE person to exploit the rules but ultimately be bound by them, and you can always count on a CE person to sow destruction at every opportunity. But a NE person, nothing is off the table. As long as something is convenient for him he'll do it, and that makes him unpredictable.
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Apr 7, 2017 20:45
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Following up on the LE post, I feel like if I'm doing it right, I'd be saying "this isn't our fight" about as often as CN, being about as implacable a foe as your average bone-headed LG, but otherwise keeping the self-dealing subtle enough that it doesn't really ping as "evil" for a long time. Try to be as self-serving as one can justify within a framework of the prevailing morality. Do good acts if the rewards or reputation outweigh the cost. Be public about acts of charity. Show mercy not because it's good but because it's useful to have people in your debt. Less Donald Trump brand of self-evident evil and more Hillary Clinton brand of being presentable in polite society until you get your hands on the drones.
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Apr 7, 2017 21:23
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slap me and kiss me posted:This is what you want for maps; combine it with some markers, and you wind up with great long-term maps. The problem with dry-erase stuff is that you've got no way of hanging on to it, and while you might not want to keep every map, some turn out to be pretty great mementos. Get the best of both worlds by drawing a map like this, then get hold of some clear cellophane gift basket wrap from a dollar store (or craft store) of your choosing. Use painter's tape to stick the plastic to the table, slide the map underneath, and you are ready to go. One of those storage tubes architects and artists use make for handy carrying and storage of all your maps as well.
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Apr 7, 2017 21:32
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