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NeurosisHead posted:Have you guys run into a trend with newer players not thinking of their characters as characters, but more like an MMO character? Like, you ask about their character, and they just rattle off their "spec" - sharpshooter/crossbow expert/handcrossbow, or GWF/PAM, or whatever cookie cutter thing they googled up. Am I just a dinosaur who still likes characters and stories in my table top games? Is that not a thing anymore? This guy’s discussing the mechanics, the backstory is really not relevant to anything
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Nov 30, 2017 07:10
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Nickoten posted:Since literally every character needs Constitution, but the martials tend to have more ASIs to invest in it Only Fighters (2) and Rogues (1) get more ASIs, and unlike casters, martials need feats on top of maxing their main combat stat so no, they don't actually get more of a chance to invest more upgrade points in CON.
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Nov 30, 2017 07:11
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Aren’t feats for ASIs an optional rule? The table might not be doing it.
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Nov 30, 2017 09:00
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Honestly after several years as a player and GM I've learned that it's pointless to put a ton of effort into your new D&D character's personality or backstory because: A) New characters get one shot all the time. B) Until you start responding to the other characters there's rarely a way to tell which way it would be most fun to role play someone. My level one character profiles typically fit within a Tweet(pre character upgrade.)
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Nov 30, 2017 09:02
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A tweet is plenty for a brilliant evocative character - I could do it in a sending. 
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Nov 30, 2017 09:08
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Sage Genesis posted:Constitution is already a god-stat. Splicer fucked around with this message at 09:33 on Nov 30, 2017 |
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Nov 30, 2017 09:26
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:A tweet is plenty for a brilliant evocative character - I could do it in a sending. http://whothefuckismydndcharacter.com/ Here's my party. No rerolls. Excitable Halfling Fighter from a peaceful coastal town who lost their shadow in a bet Outgoing Dwarf Sorcerer from a town where orcs are bought and sold as slaves who has serious body image problems Surly Tiefling Paladin from a cursed village who wants everyone to like them Hot-headed Gnome Wizard from the wild wood who fights for species equality Cruel Half-elf Bard from the treeless forest who knows seven dangerous secrets Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 09:35 on Nov 30, 2017 |
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Nov 30, 2017 09:32
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Sage Genesis posted:Constitution is already a god-stat. It gives you extra/fewer hp per level, is a very common saving throw, handles spellcaster Concentration... yeah it really doesn't need another vital function. "Make sense" be damned, game balance needs to prevail at some point. On the contrary, it's a tax. It does nothing interesting, but everyone needs it so everyone takes it. Chargen might as well default you to 14 CON for how gimped a character with low Constitution is. rumble in the bunghole posted:Aren’t feats for ASIs an optional rule? The table might not be doing it. Pity the martial without feats.
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Nov 30, 2017 10:18
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AlphaDog posted:http://whothefuckismydndcharacter.com/ I got Bossy Halfling Ranger from a local Street Gang who believes in racial purity. Gruff Half-Elf Druid from the Dank Hollows who is dying of a plague and searching for a cure Soulless Human Monk from the worst Brothel in town who hates the written word Talented Dwarf Barbarian from a man made desert who is currently on probation for drunk and disorderly behavior (This character is actually fairly standard.) Level-headed Human Cleric from the Iron Mountain Range who has taken a vow of Silence (Also fairly standard. Only way it would be more if he was the monk.) MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 11:06 on Nov 30, 2017 |
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Nov 30, 2017 10:59
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AlphaDog posted:http://whothefuckismydndcharacter.com/ UNBALANCED HALF-ORC RANGER FROM THE QUALITY CONTROL FOR POTION BREWING ASSOCIATION WHO IS WRITING AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY INVENTIVE HALF-ORC RANGER FROM A SECRET ORDER OF MONKS WHO HAS HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH EVERYONE'S CRAP CYNICAL HALFLING WARLOCK FROM A ORPHANAGE WORKHOUSE WHO WAS BADLY BURNT BY A SORCERER MODEST GNOME WIZARD FROM A COMMUNE WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR SISTER'S DEATH EGOTISTICAL HALF-ORC SORCERER FROM THE ROYAL BANK WHO WAS KIDNAPPED BY CULTISTS I forgot how great this website is 
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Nov 30, 2017 11:13
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<Personality> <race> <class> from <origin> who <motivation>. Feel free to write more down as much backstory and character detail as you want, but if you can't explain the whole thing in a sentence in that format, get the gently caress out.
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Nov 30, 2017 11:29
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AlphaDog posted:<Personality> <race> <class> from <origin> who <motivation>. Numenera! 
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Nov 30, 2017 11:46
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hard-working Elf Ranger from The shattered mountain range who knows seven dangerous secrets outgoing Dwarf Sorcerer from the imperial army who wants to be famous, no matter what passive-aggressive Half-elf Rogue from an underwater city once dry by a magical force field who gets easily attached to people wary Tiefling Ranger from the sealed city who has a bad habit of making 'funny' quips after every kill cool-headed Dwarf Cleric from a town of Outlaws who has a bad gambling problem
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Nov 30, 2017 11:50
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I would like to point out that this is a mini holiday campaign as a break from our current campaign; yes, we do think of our characters as characters with motivations and personally. You can do that and also do 100 something damage in a round when you blow your fantasy load.
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Nov 30, 2017 13:04
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Razorwired posted:Honestly after several years as a player and GM I've learned that it's pointless to put a ton of effort into your new D&D character's personality or backstory because:  Setting aside the possibility of wasted effort if the character just croaks or the campaign falls apart in short order, I find it much more engaging to come up with a minimal functional concept to get the ball rolling, and then flesh it out as things move along.
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Nov 30, 2017 13:26
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Conspiratiorist posted:Only Fighters (2) and Rogues (1) get more ASIs, and unlike casters, martials need feats on top of maxing their main combat stat so no, they don't actually get more of a chance to invest more upgrade points in CON. Huh, I thought Barbarians and Monks did too for some reason. My bad!
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Nov 30, 2017 13:53
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Can a grappled character make attacks of opportunity? It feels like they shouldn’t be able to, and would make grappling more useful for helping squishies get out of trouble, but I can’t find anything in the book to support this obviously-correct position.
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Nov 30, 2017 14:16
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Subjunctive posted:Can a grappled character make attacks of opportunity? It feels like they shouldn’t be able to, and would make grappling more useful for helping squishies get out of trouble, but I can’t find anything in the book to support this obviously-correct position. They only thing grappling does, by itself, is reduce that creature's movement to 0.
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Nov 30, 2017 14:33
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Subjunctive posted:Can a grappled character make attacks of opportunity? It feels like they shouldn’t be able to, and would make grappling more useful for helping squishies get out of trouble, but I can’t find anything in the book to support this obviously-correct position. The grappled condition has one effect only: your speed is reduced to zero.
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Nov 30, 2017 14:33
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Weak.
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Nov 30, 2017 14:41
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AlphaDog posted:Since the Player's Option book for 2nd ed, honestly. Then 3rd ed's mix and match multiclassing made "build" a much bigger thing than it was before that. Even back in those days, people described their characters in mechanical terms all the time: "Hi, I'm playing Murdock, a neutral good human magic-user." No one wanted to hear your epic backstory.
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Nov 30, 2017 16:00
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Selachian posted:Even back in those days, people described their characters in mechanical terms all the time: "Hi, I'm playing Murdock, a neutral good human magic-user." No one wanted to hear your epic backstory. It's true. As a player I only really cared about my own backstory. As a DM, I cared about maybe the last sentence of your backstory, the one that brought you into the room the game starts in. In my most recent campaign I had a player send me what felt like an essay for his backstory. I told him to give me the highlights and he said, verbatim: "Then you wouldn't get the nuance of why I'm on this adventure." We're running Tomb of Annihilation. You character backstory means almost literally nothing. If your backstory doesn't fit in a tweet then it's too long, imo.
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Nov 30, 2017 16:18
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Conspiratiorist posted:The grappled condition has one effect only: your speed is reduced to zero. Can't you also move the grappled creature half your speed on your turn? I really hope so because my moon druid is about to turn level eight and I want to turn into a giant eagle to grapple, fly up high and drop enemies.
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Nov 30, 2017 16:22
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Selachian posted:Even back in those days, people described their characters in mechanical terms all the time: "Hi, I'm playing Murdock, a neutral good human magic-user." No one wanted to hear your epic backstory.
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Nov 30, 2017 16:24
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gradenko_2000 posted:you kinda want to be playing a different game if you don't want people to be interacting with the mechanics on that level. There's nothing wrong with making a character designed around the mechanics, and that's not the nature of my complaint. My complaint is that the idea of a "character" doesn't involve even a cursory thought about personality or motivation. It's just, dice, and nothing else. ProfessorCirno posted:People treat their characters precisely how they are mechanically incentivized to. D&D is a mechanics heavy dungeon crawler game where your ability to engage with the game is dependent on your mechanical capabilities. I agree, and acknowledge why. I just wish people still wanted to tell stories Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:A tweet is plenty for a brilliant evocative character - I could do it in a sending. Right, that's what I mean. There's not even that much put into it anymore. NeurosisHead fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Nov 30, 2017 |
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Nov 30, 2017 17:01
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FRINGE posted:This is not a true thing. It might be true for some groups, but it was untrue for others, and vice versa. Character and motivation is fine, but play it out. Epic backstories tend to be a sign of a player being dissatisfied by the stories told at the table.
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Nov 30, 2017 17:21
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hyphz posted:Character and motivation is fine, but play it out. Epic backstories tend to be a sign of a player being dissatisfied by the stories told at the table.
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Nov 30, 2017 17:25
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When it comes down to it nearly every characters motivation is to be a psychopathic homeless murderer which is really weird
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Nov 30, 2017 17:36
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FRINGE posted:I prefer to do that, including running one-on-one pre-games with new people to help them get going, but I have also met people that looove using their characters as novellas, and get a kick out of knowing the entire pre-gametime history of their character. The amount of time I actually get to play vs the free time I have to leaf through sourcebooks and poo poo means I spend a lot more time coming up with fun character builds + backstories than I do actually getting to use any of them. So on the off chance a new game opportunity comes up I look like a sperg for all the prep a character will have.
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Nov 30, 2017 17:49
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Raar_Im_A_Dinosaur posted:Can't you also move the grappled creature half your speed on your turn? I really hope so because my moon druid is about to turn level eight and I want to turn into a giant eagle to grapple, fly up high and drop enemies. That's if you're grappling, yeah, you can move them. This is actually a rule independent of the grappled condition because 5e.
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Nov 30, 2017 18:42
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Conspiratiorist posted:That's if you're grappling, yeah, you can move them. This is actually a rule independent of the grappled condition because 5e. It's a bit neat if you actually remember to do this kind of thing in combat; I was recently in a 5E game playing a Fighter (because that's the weird kinda thing I do), and we were up against an enemy spellcaster. Our cleric cast Silence on the enemy, which wisely moved out of the zone of silence. I grappled the caster, dragged it into the zone, and knocked it prone. That was pretty effective at keeping the caster pinned down until I could separate its head from its body with a battleaxe.
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Nov 30, 2017 19:44
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Magil Zeal posted:It's a bit neat if you actually remember to do this kind of thing in combat; I was recently in a 5E game playing a Fighter (because that's the weird kinda thing I do), and we were up against an enemy spellcaster. Our cleric cast Silence on the enemy, which wisely moved out of the zone of silence. I grappled the caster, dragged it into the zone, and knocked it prone. That was pretty effective at keeping the caster pinned down until I could separate its head from its body with a battleaxe. Yes. Grappling is niche but when it works boy does it work.
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Nov 30, 2017 19:53
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NeurosisHead posted:I agree, and acknowledge why. I just wish people still wanted to tell stories
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Nov 30, 2017 20:02
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I'm happy to tell stories but I think it takes so much background of how each character interacts with the world that it's like hearing someone talk about their fantasy football teams and have to tell you every single point system change they've ever made
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Nov 30, 2017 20:19
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NeurosisHead posted:Have you guys run into a trend with newer players not thinking of their characters as characters, but more like an MMO character? Like, you ask about their character, and they just rattle off their "spec" - sharpshooter/crossbow expert/handcrossbow, or GWF/PAM, or whatever cookie cutter thing they googled up. Am I just a dinosaur who still likes characters and stories in my table top games? Is that not a thing anymore? Character 'specs' have been a thing for a long time. New/younger players have new nouns to describe the same ideas but it isn't a new thing. Just remember that even if they're describing their mechanical framework ("crossbow spec!") that doesn't mean they don't have a solid character underneath there. Some players just enjoy interacting with the mechanical framework more than roleplaying, and always have.
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Nov 30, 2017 20:35
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I have ten pages of backstory but nine of those are about my crossbow, okay?
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Nov 30, 2017 20:46
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The Crotch posted:I have ten pages of backstory but nine of those are about my crossbow, okay? I'm of the belief that anyone that doesn't name the first magic weapon they get in a campaign doesn't have a soul.
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Nov 30, 2017 21:04
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Infinity Gaia posted:I'm of the belief that anyone that doesn't name the first magic weapon they get in a campaign doesn't have a soul. Why wait? I name the weapon I start with if I'm playing a martial type.
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Nov 30, 2017 21:06
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Splicer posted:Can I suggest not-D&D? It's a great game lacking many of the flaws of D&D, which incidentally allows people to focus on character -> mechanics rather than the mechanics -> character approach frequently required to build a functional character in D&D. I have been trying to get any of the groups I play with to try any other system, but no one wants to  . That's okay though, as long as they're having fun.
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Nov 30, 2017 21:06
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SettingSun posted:Why wait? I name the weapon I start with if I'm playing a martial type. When I DM'd for my philosophy professor who hadn't played D&D since the 80s, he named either his dwarf or his dwarf's axe "The Big Nasty". We never formally figured out what exactly he was referring to when he said things like "they're gonna get The Big Nasty" or "The Big Nasty is coming for you".
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