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Thumbtacks posted:What are some good cantrips to load up on for a tome warlock? I want some utility and variety but I have no idea what I should take. I'd take vicious mockery and guidance then a whatever I think would be fun cantrip.
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Apr 18, 2018 01:59
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Firstborn posted:Yeah, I could give you some examples. There are like 90 pages of spells in the book - like almost a third of it is closed to some classes. All of their abilities are listed plainly, and when you compare something like "gets disguise kit" -> "gets better disguise kit" of an Assassin to something like reading the weird Pact stuff that Warlocks get, it's easier to see which one would be more "boring". Sure, I can understand these things as someone who's played lots of D&D and understands how the game works. But I find it unlikely that a new player who just got done picking a race, background, skills, a class (let's say Fighter), a fighting style, potentially a feat, and equipment is going to think "hmm, I don't have much stuff on my character sheet and I haven't used everything in the book, this must have been a boring choice." The idea that a new player would have to read the book in its entirety, understand how all the other classes work, and then choose their class for us to be able to say they were informed about how fun their class is to play just seems nuts to me. On the other hand, 13th Age has this:  Nickoten fucked around with this message at 02:22 on Apr 18, 2018 |
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Apr 18, 2018 02:16
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Thumbtacks posted:What are some good cantrips to load up on for a tome warlock? I want some utility and variety but I have no idea what I should take. Guidance, Spare The Dying, Shocking Grasp. Use your familiar to bounce around the battlefield doing all three as needed.
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Apr 18, 2018 02:20
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To clarify my dance encounter: The players encountered a demigod they've met before, a young female child. They did some stuff involving a ghost with her, she got bored and decided it was time to dance. They were all transported to the "dance dimension", a pocket dimension where descriptions of their dance moves combined with performance rolls enhanced their combat ability. If they made attacks without dancing, attack rolls had to hit on an AC increased by 10 and enemies had advantage on saves. The dance dimension was basically a disco and I played disco music for the entire encounter. Everyone figured out the rules immediately and had a good time working dance moves into combat against a troupe of dancing white suited lizardmen. At the end they were rewarded with Shoes of Smooth Moves, which grant advantage on performance checks to dance and allow you to cast Freedom of Movement once a day, though you only reap the benefits of the spell while dancing.
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Apr 18, 2018 02:22
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Blockhouse posted:It used to be that way back in the 2e and 3e days but now not so much AlphaDog posted:It really really is, but it's about 99% cool ideas rather than cool rules. Just get the 2nd ed setting and mine the hell out of it for your own game. So I am basically free to use pre-5e stuff in 5e? I could just get this book and use it? I'm not entirely sure what books like these bring to the table besides "here some planes and a city", since I assume the rules of the game are already in the Player's Handbook/DM Guide.
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Apr 18, 2018 02:56
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AlphaDog posted:Edit: I'm not really knocking FR here because I obviously don't know much about it, I'm knocking the way it was presented in the 1st ed campaign books, which I found dull and generic. I'm not even saying that nobody should have enjoyed those, just that I didn't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Forgotten_Realms_modules_and_sourcebooks#Sourcebooks Ill try to do more of an effort post later in an evening, but just to start with, the FR# supplements started getting setting seeds printed that went off the dominant "europe with magic" path in a coherent way for the first time (in DnD, that I remember). The other thing that FR did was make having politics/trade/religious schisms and other "world" things a normal part of the setting backdrop, and have them be connected across the massive world. This was pretty different than "island size" settings where nothing really had to make sense, because it didnt interact with anything else. Eh. Ill keep going a bit. At least about the stuff that came from there that I will keep using (in whatever setting) forever. There was the built in subclasses that made being a priest not just "spells and a mace". Different faiths had different combinations of clerics, priests, paladins, and crusaders, and each of those was different per-religion. A Specialty Priest of destruction was system-different from a Specialty Priest of the sun. Having paladins represent different ideas is now built into 5e, but this wasnt really a part of DnD until Greenwood and crew went crazy detailing gods, religions, granted powers, and various politics that they exerted on the world. The entire idea of "the underdark" as a developed ecosystem and network of secret civilizations was new with FR. Having material at hand to play a group of Drow running proxy wars across houses, or Duergar waging war-mining missions to collect resources/wealth wasnt really a thing at all before FR. FR was the first full setting that connected with Planescape and Spelljammer. This made it (with printed material) possible to start as farmers, get hooked into some FR adventuring/politics BS, dungeon dive, discover portals, end up in Sigil, plane hop, head home rich, and become space pirates, all "in setting". (And without having to write everything yourself.) I guess for me thats the biggest thing. Its connected. I can do crazy-wizard dungeon, religious politics, plane hopping, lost gods, underdark weirdness, culture clashes, whatever, and it all fits together already. Theres weird hooks all over the books too. Like a few years back I was reading up on the area around some no-name town I was starting the PCs in, and there was a mention of a weird "sometimes ghost gate" thing, and I went digging and it had some references that implied this was an old travel/trade gate (on what is now a major road for the area) to somewhere in or past the Hordelands. Its not a thing I would have thought of, because I was focused on something else, but it gave me some ideas for later (that game only ran for a few months, and didnt get to the point I would have used that, but thats not really the point). Someone playing a fighter asked me if they could "also move stuff with their mind" - to which I said "no you cant have telekinsis as a lv1 fighter, but lets go with the idea and see what happens". I dug around and found there was a "lost, almost dead?" god of mental powers (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Auppenser), and decided that could be the hook to start off that idea. I merged the idea of the few empowered survivors of that faith with the Planescape idea of "Proxies" and slowly leaked knowledge/dreams/ and the beginning of some bonus powers to that character. Again - the main point is that all this stuff is just sitting there in the massive body of FR material. Some of the problems are: 1) no one knows its there, 2) its all (mostly) out of print because WotC, 3) its a lot of loving words so if you try and digest it all at once (instead of as it came out) it feels like an impenetrable wall. With that said, heres some of the stones in that wall. Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark (with) Homeland Trilogy (Regardless of how it played out, this is where the non-trivial idea of the underdark really became a thing.) Lost Empires of Faerun (Old history that leaves a lot of hooks for doing things.) Power of Faerun (and if you want to push cults+politics: Cult of the Dragon (with) Ruins of Zhentil Keep (and) Cloak & Dagger) (I never used the "timeline world events" stuff unless it suited me. I mainly mined for groups/motivations/world connections) City of Splendors (with) Expedition To Undermountain (and) Skullport (there are also two boxed sets for UM and a trilogy of modules) (I mentioned before, I never did get a full end-to-end UM game going. Its on my 'someday' list) Serpent Kingdoms (with) House of Serpents Trilogy (If you want to make psionics "actually fit" into a game, this is a good way to do it. Also the only legitimate blending of Yuan Ti and related things into a functioning setting I know of.) Sea of Fallen Stars (with) The Sea Devils (Not actually FR, but you could leverage the old U series into a water-based campaign if you were doing that) There was also "Giantcraft" (and "The book of Humanoids"), but those have been mostly supplanted by the lore in the new Giants campaign I think. (The main reason I defend FR isnt that I think everyone should try to swallow that giant pill, its to point out that its not just the tiny boring sliver people think it is. "Its too big and I dont want to bother" is totally legit in my opinion. "Its all the same and boring" is wrong.) AlphaDog posted:It really really is, but it's about 99% cool ideas rather than cool rules. Just get the 2nd ed setting and mine the hell out of it for your own game. For Planescape the problem is the core boxes are very hard to get now unless something changed.
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Apr 18, 2018 03:02
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Nickoten posted:
I love that
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Apr 18, 2018 03:09
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Pollyanna posted:So I am basically free to use pre-5e stuff in 5e? I could just get this book and use it? I'm not entirely sure what books like these bring to the table besides "here some planes and a city", since I assume the rules of the game are already in the Player's Handbook/DM Guide. If players treat a trip to Sigil like a dungeon to fight through they will (or should) be dead/captured/enslaved/robbed in almost no time (whatever suits your adventure). There are literally "angels" and "devils" wandering the streets. (Lots of more normal "people" too, but you get the idea.) Outside of Sigil is a whole other thing, and ranges from delightful to extremely hostile territory (so youll need to find the right 5e stats as it comes up). If you somehow find them, these are things, in a rough order, that will kind of fill in the setting. (Depending on your game/players the astral/ethereal/inner books might be better before the great ring boxes, depends on what youre doing.) Planescape Campaign Setting The Planewalker's Handbook In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil The Factol’s Manifesto Uncaged: Faces of Sigil Planes of Chaos Planes of Law Planes of Conflict A Guide to the Astral Plane A Guide to the Ethereal Plane The Inner Planes Hellbound: The Blood War Adventures: The Great Modron March Dead Gods
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Apr 18, 2018 03:15
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It still blows my mind that Planescape , spelljammer, ravenloft and dark sun all came out within such a short period (unless I'm incredibly mistaken, the latter three are 89,90,91 and ps 94)
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Apr 18, 2018 03:22
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The campaigns that I'm most interested in are Planescape, Eberron, and Ravenloft - I'm most curious about Eberron, and Ravenloft is badass. If you can just grab books and lift stuff from them without worrying about matching editions, that's super cool and good.
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Apr 18, 2018 03:27
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Eberron should be piss-easy to convert from because it was built in 3e and thus still has a lot of mechanical commonalities with 5e.
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Apr 18, 2018 03:33
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Pollyanna posted:So I am basically free to use pre-5e stuff in 5e? I could just get this book and use it? I'm not entirely sure what books like these bring to the table besides "here some planes and a city", since I assume the rules of the game are already in the Player's Handbook/DM Guide. Yes, that box. I hope you can find it at a reasonable price. Like I said earlier, you'd want to use it as a guide for your game, not as a set of rules for your game, and that'd be nearly as true even if you were already playing 2nd ed. You won't be able to use the rules in that with 5th ed, but that's OK because 1) it's a setting guide, so most of the cool poo poo is fiction 2) a whole bunch of Planescape-specific rules are dumb to the point where absolutely nobody I know ever used them, and 3) as presented, most of the setting-specific cool stuff is a long way beyond something a low level party could even approach. FRINGE posted:Again - the main point is that all this stuff is just sitting there in the massive body of FR material. Some of the problems are: 1) no one knows its there, 2) its all (mostly) out of print because WotC, 3) its a lot of loving words so if you try and digest it all at once (instead of as it came out) it feels like an impenetrable wall. Ok, I'll check out some of the stuff you mentioned. I read the first 3 Drizzt books and didn't enjoy them more than any other trashy fantasy books, which I guess means I avoided looking at similar stuff in games but I'll give the underdark stuff a read first. And yeah, "search through all this stuff for the good bits" would always have been a barrier for me, but now it's an impenetrable wall - I just don't have the time to devote to reading pages and pages of fictional history so I can understand what's going on in this one thing that's supposed to be cool if you have the background. E: What's good about City Of Splendors (etc)? Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Apr 18, 2018 |
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Apr 18, 2018 03:49
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For a group of new players, is phandelver the best option for introducing the game?
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Apr 18, 2018 03:57
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kidkissinger posted:For a group of new players, is phandelver the best option for introducing the game? Yes. It gives you everything you need to run the game in a single box. If you ever crave for more character options, just allow people to remake their characters whenever anyone gets around to buying a PHB.
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Apr 18, 2018 04:11
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kidkissinger posted:For a group of new players, is phandelver the best option for introducing the game? 100% yes. It also happens to be one of the best published adventures on top.
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Apr 18, 2018 04:11
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I do own other campaign s I just hadn't run one for a group of newbs yet and never ran it before.
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Apr 18, 2018 04:15
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kidkissinger posted:I do own other campaign s I just hadn't run one for a group of newbs yet and never ran it before. Ah. If you already have other 5e material but are asking about the content in the LMOP campaign, it still holds up. The first part of the game is fairly straightforward with a direct combat followed by cave exploration, but then opens up and gives the players more options later on. Any rough parts are more a problem with the mechanics of playing level 1 by the book and not directly a fault of LMOP.
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Apr 18, 2018 04:20
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kidkissinger posted:I do own other campaign s I just hadn't run one for a group of newbs yet and never ran it before. It's good. You can mess around with it a bit and it's not going to require your players to do much other than learn. I'd say it's best to signpost the first combat encounter a little though. Given its all level 1 PCs there's a chance that a surprise round and a couple of hot goblin arrows will completely gently caress up their day. You'll potentially have them approaching two dead caravans worth of travellers if they have to start again.
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Apr 18, 2018 04:20
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Is there no other campaign that dovetails with it? Looks like they'll be 5th level when they finish?
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Apr 18, 2018 04:29
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I think Storm King's Thunder is one that is designed to pick up after LMOP very well. I haven't run it yet, though.
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Apr 18, 2018 04:34
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kidkissinger posted:Is there no other campaign that dovetails with it? Looks like they'll be 5th level when they finish? They'd be a little overleveled to start Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but that's okay, because the first chapter of HOTDQ is really rough anyway. I think they might also be in a similar position to do Princes of the Apocalypse. I'm not really up to date on the rest of the other adventure paths.
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Apr 18, 2018 04:40
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kidkissinger posted:Is there no other campaign that dovetails with it? Looks like they'll be 5th level when they finish? Storm Kings Thunder works the best I would say. That or Princes of the Apocalypse. Both have the party start in areas pretty close to the Phandalin area. Storm Kings Thunder even has a section on linking it to Lost times. Storm Kings Thunder Linked Adventures posted:Lost Mine of Phandelver
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Apr 18, 2018 04:52
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kidkissinger posted:Is there no other campaign that dovetails with it? Looks like they'll be 5th level when they finish? Nothing specifically, however there are plenty of hooks available. You can up-gun Forge of Fury for level 5 and tie it into Phandelver easily since the hooks are similar and you can sell it as a "sister forge" (I'm doing this right now). This is also good since it's not a lengthy campaign. There's also Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan which is a level 5 start, but I've never played that adventure before so can't comment on the quality personally. If they fought Venomfang you can use that to start them off on Tiamat with an adventure hook like having them return after the mines only to find there are dragon cults cropping up and Venomfang is looking for revenge on your party. There's a pretty strong point in Hoard of the Dragon Queen where you can slot them in at level 5 before moving into Rise of Tiamat. Storm King's Thunder and Princes of the Apocalypse start in the Phandalin area as well, but honestly you can always mess with locations and stuff to start an adventure and not stress greatly about the "canon" map locations since it's your game. SKT is a pretty well laid out adventure and I'd say of these two it's the superior one. You might have to think about how they get hooked in and choose a chapter to start them at (edit: no you don't for skt, thanks) , but then you're good to go. If you want to Go Hog Wild just drop a loving vampire on them while screaming HOLY poo poo VAMPIRES and send them after Strahd. This is a tough one to run since it's very freeform, but it's also my favourite published adventure and allows lots of space for RP with some well designed combat encounters. e: forgot that skt hook from mines JBP fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Apr 18, 2018 |
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Apr 18, 2018 04:57
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Nickoten posted:Sure, I can understand these things as someone who's played lots of D&D and understands how the game works. But I find it unlikely that a new player who just got done picking a race, background, skills, a class (let's say Fighter), a fighting style, potentially a feat, and equipment is going to think "hmm, I don't have much stuff on my character sheet and I haven't used everything in the book, this must have been a boring choice." or what if we made all classes start simple for new players and then they grew in complexity as well as power as players became more engaged with the game? also i'm prett sure that 13th age list is just fuckin wrong
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Apr 18, 2018 04:59
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Strahd's supposed to start at 3 and not 5, right? Does running it after Phandelver make it easier?
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Apr 18, 2018 05:19
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Blockhouse posted:Strahd's supposed to start at 3 and not 5, right? Does running it after Phandelver make it easier? It will make it easier at the start if you don't change anything, but the majority of the campaign takes place after level 5 for obvious reasons. Your party will hit level 4 a short way in and then 5 not all that long after if you play from level 3 and most of level 3 is concerned with investigation and world building. You can always explain that the first milestone is some way off and give them a level up to 6 when recommended if you want.
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Apr 18, 2018 05:43
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I'm about to restart a campaign that has been in limbo for a few years now and I want to use Roll20. I used it a few years ago for the campaign and while I liked it, there was a fair amount of work that I had to do for prep so I'm looking for advice on how to best use it today. I have a few questions: Looking at the options it looks like I have a few options for Campaign Types, specifically 5th edition OGL, 5th edition community and 5th edition shaped. Any advice on which of these I should start with? Additionally, I am considering going with the API access, are the community API scripts valuable? Saving me time both in terms of prep and in game (I was eyeing the 5E Battlemaster specifically) is worth $$$ to me so even a minor enhancement is worth it. Assuming the APIs add value, I would love to hear any recommendations on which scripts are best. Lastly, any general recommendations related to Roll20? I would love to get the general input of any experienced Roll20 DMs/players.
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Apr 18, 2018 06:08
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I love Roll20. Playing the official modules on the maps with dynamic lighting really adds to some encounters. There's a lot of pay-to-play games on it now, though. Some of these guys want $20+ USD per player. Some are charging per hour per player. There's a few people who just DM 4 games a day every day and you see their listings. Once it's up and running, a lot of stuff is automated. It's cool to just click your longsword, have it roll 2d20 (in case of advantage/dis), then if it hits, click the same little box that showed the roll to roll damage. When you go to fill in your sheet, your AC and bonuses and saves and skills and stuff all track automatically. It feels very video gamey when you can just slot stuff in, it's like making a character in a CRPG almost. You can drag and drop stuff directly from the compendium/PHB into your sheet (IE - drag "Rage" onto your barbarian's character sheet, then just click it to show everyone in the group the description) I'm in multiple campaigns on Roll20 right now, and they are all fun Firstborn fucked around with this message at 06:22 on Apr 18, 2018 |
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Apr 18, 2018 06:20
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I will happily dm for $20/player/hour as long as we're rocking the full 10.
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Apr 18, 2018 06:23
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It's free to get an account, but to really be able to charge for a game you need to be a decent dm and the players will probably expect you to have a plus account. Buying the official modules also gets you handouts, dynamic lighting, etc. It can be pretty slick. But... you are welcome to go sell your dm services? None of what I said was hyperbole? Post the link, if it's a module I haven't played, maybe I'll join.
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Apr 18, 2018 06:35
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I'm always surprised that it's so hard to get someone to DM a group. You get to play as many characters as you want and kill people who are just trying to have fun.
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Apr 18, 2018 07:20
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So I know the text of Divine Intervention says "a cleric spell would be appropriate" but like that's incredibly lame. Y'all got any neat poo poo that you've done with a successful Divine Intervention? One of my players rolled one tonight and poo poo got Real.
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Apr 18, 2018 07:25
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AlphaDog posted:E: What's good about City Of Splendors (etc)? As far as things to pick things out/from, probably Skullport (the book) is the best one in that sub-list to steal from.
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Apr 18, 2018 07:54
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Thumbtacks posted:What are some good cantrips to load up on for a tome warlock? I want some utility and variety but I have no idea what I should take. Everyone loves Guidance, though you should be aware that it requires concentration. This is especially a pain for Warlocks, as they typically want to hold their concentration on Hex through the day to conserve their precious spell slots. If the group lacks a Cleric or Druid, I'd still recommend picking it up to aid shenanigans you and your party might get up to in towns and whatnot before hitting the local dungeon. Mending is a solid corner-case pick if nobody in the group has access to it. It's especially useful in conjunction with Find Familiar. The spell normally has a range of touch, but you can channel it through the familiar at range. Good for fixing the occasional broken rope bridge, etc. Message can be useful for situations where you want to communicate something discreetly. It's rather redundant if your patron is a Great Old One, but I wouldn't knock it with any other flavor of Warlock. Eldritch Blast is your bread and butter for offense, but I'd recommend picking up a backup attack cantrip. My two favorites are Sacred Flame (servants of the Celestial patron get this for free) and Thorn Whip. The former targets the dex save (fairly reliable against bulky foes) and delivers a damage type almost as seldom resisted as EB's force. The latter counts as a melee spell attack (despite its 30' range), and it lets you pull enemies off ledges and whatnot. Both of these can be used without penalty if an enemy is in your face and the handful of other cases where ranged attacks are penalized.
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Apr 18, 2018 08:06
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JBP posted:I'm always surprised that it's so hard to get someone to DM a group. You get to play as many characters as you want and kill people who are just trying to have fun. but a you have to do work and b your characters can't have much spotlight
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Apr 18, 2018 08:23
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CubeTheory posted:Shoes of Smooth Moves, which grant advantage on performance checks to dance and allow you to cast Freedom of Movement once a day, though you only reap the benefits of the spell while dancing. I think the perceived problems with the FR setting are very real problems, they're just not really problems with Forgotten Realms. 13th century Europe with Magic is the base of forgotten realms, and of D&D, so FR has to have a lot of unique, cool setpieces to make it stand out. Which it did! But since then most of these cool things have been slowly integrated into the base concepts of D&D, so what was cool and innovative is now a cliche (or showing its age, like chult). The second thing FR has going for it is globe-spanning, interconnected political shenanigans, and for a setting book it does it great! ...while being married to a system completely unsuited to globe-spanning, interconnected political shenanigans. So it's not that FR is a bad setting, it's just 30 years old, suffering from pop culture osmosis, and shouldn't be anywhere near a system where you track hitpoints or "Wish" is a player option. Splicer fucked around with this message at 09:42 on Apr 18, 2018 |
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Apr 18, 2018 09:39
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Elfgames posted:or what if we made all classes start simple for new players and then they grew in complexity as well as power as players became more engaged with the game? This would be good. And that list may indeed be wrong, though at least it's trying! 
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Apr 18, 2018 11:37
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Malpais Legate posted:So I know the text of Divine Intervention says "a cleric spell would be appropriate" but like that's incredibly lame. Yeah, my Bahamut worshipper had Bahamut smash through the mountain they were in to ask what they were calling them for.
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Apr 18, 2018 14:48
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Would you give a monster with blindsight (a shambling mound) advantage when attacking a player effected by faerie fire?
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Apr 18, 2018 16:36
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Toebone posted:Would you give a monster with blindsight (a shambling mound) advantage when attacking a player effected by faerie fire? Doesn’t everything get advantage if the target is affected by Faerie Fire?
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Apr 18, 2018 16:50
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