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Yeah you’re better off remaking characters as close as possible, which isn’t really hard.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 08:28 |
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# ? May 28, 2024 07:06 |
D&D NEXT: Have you considered Dungeon World
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 08:31 |
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inthesto posted:So my party is going to meet a silver dragon next session, and he's the step-dad of one of the PCs. I love the idea that he's a philanderer who sleeps around (and hence why he's the PC's step-dad), but I want to make this poo poo extra silly. What's a good idea for an extremely powerful being who doesn't give a gently caress, but will help the PCs because he just loves his step-son so much? When they start telling the story start off concerned or indulgent or whatever and slowly morph into someone's dad listening to their son recap a bunch of innocuous teen drama that the son obviously feels strongly about but you can see is trivial bullshit that everyone involved will have forgotten about by their next centennial. Forget which guy is which and keep interrupting for reminders. Treat important NPC groups as flash in the pan manufactured bands you don't recognize, ask what they do and compare them to better, classic kingdoms. Make dad jokes during important parts. When they get to the bit they need help with prompt them to keep going, and when you realise that's it poorly cover up your confusion/amusement with obvious "I know /you/ care about this and I care about you so I care about this"-style dad concern. Splicer fucked around with this message at 09:16 on Apr 23, 2018 |
# ? Apr 23, 2018 09:13 |
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Firstborn posted:Yeah, the consensus seems to be "i know nothing of d&d and you tell me what dice to roll and what happens, i dont care i just like the story and my character", and then when my rogue, bard, and even my druid get into combats they quickly grow bored. My paladin is happy swinging away, but my others players much prefer the narrative anyway. I just think, that if I could have that nice "bounded accuracy" where they generally know "i roll this, add this, and this number is the target" is more fun for them than me rolling stuff, different numbers are successes for everyone, and maybe they think I'm fudging it. Just make sure you ask the party if they would like to update the system. If they seem cool with it go ahead and covert their characters. I have a feeling they would enjoy 5e's simpler math. You seem to already be familiar with 5e as well. As for Dungeon World not a huge fan myself. So I don't recommend it. But if you want to try go ahead.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 11:44 |
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Splicer posted:First work out how he feels about son. If he tells him he needs his help will he take that seriously (until he hears their piffling trifle of a problem), assume it's something trivial but humour him, or assume it's something trivial and not even bother listening until he's good and ready? And when he takes an action to help, have it both resolve the specific issue, but also make their lives more difficult because he didn't realize they couldn't just apperate between material planes at will or whatever.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 12:17 |
Dadragon insists on taking the party out for icecream after, at that place they used to love. Keeps referring to long-dead bards. I love this whole thing.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 12:56 |
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Nehru the Damaja posted:If you need some really dramatic poo poo for palaces or wars, consider Philip Glass's opera about Akhenaten. This was already in my list, but for most D&D encounters it's a little heavy-handed.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 13:00 |
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lofi posted:Dadragon insists on taking the party out for icecream after, at that place they used to love. Keeps referring to long-dead bards. After a blank stare from the party while referring to said bards, "... Oh, that must have been with the other kid." In fact, constantly have Dadragon get trivial details slightly wrong like an overwhelmed parent with too many kids.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 13:55 |
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Have the party run into him giving an inspirational Dad-speech to an evil NPC, "I don't play favorites with you kids." Treat the entire cosmic struggle as two boys fighting over a bike.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 14:27 |
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They are all okay with it. And it sounds like a fun challenge for me. There's some more options for them to pick, but I think everything will convert fairly easily over. I'm mulling the idea of turning one of my players from a wizard -> warlock, though. She calls herself a "witch" as a feminine version of "wizard", but maybe warlock would cover more of the flavor? Meh.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 15:06 |
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Last one, if they have someone directly appeal to Dadragon unsuccessfully, have his voice come down from on high, "go ask your mother."
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 15:13 |
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MrMojok posted:I have decided to become this thread’s Crochety Old Man Fun thing I realized when building out a bard: a half-drow bard gets 1 more attribute point and 1 more language and no sunlight sensitivity than a drow bard whose claim to fame is seeing 120 feet into the dark and is otherwise identical and/or inferior in every respect. "But what about the Drow weapon proficiency?" Bards get the exact same thing. edit: Okay you get Trance which varies between useless ribbon to marginally useful depending on DM. Nehru the Damaja fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Apr 23, 2018 |
# ? Apr 23, 2018 17:44 |
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smh if you didn't play a sick guitar version of bloody tears for final phase strahd
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 18:01 |
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Nehru the Damaja posted:Fun thing I realized when building out a bard: a half-drow bard gets 1 more attribute point and 1 more language and no sunlight sensitivity than a drow bard whose claim to fame is seeing 120 feet into the dark and is otherwise identical and/or inferior in every respect. Where are the half-drow stats?
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 18:23 |
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new book is going to own:
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 18:37 |
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kidkissinger posted:Where are the half-drow stats? It's a half-elf variant in SCAG. Basically all the variants get one of the iconic things from the full elf race in exchange for the 2 skill proficiencies. So half wood elf gets 5 more feet of movement, high elf can get the weapon training or cantrip, and drow can get the innate magic. On bard it's extra busted because giving up 2 skill proficiencies doesn't mean as much when you get up to half that back (varying depending on the rounding for half your proficiency mod) via Jack of All Trades, and Lore Bard is already giving you six proficiencies on top of the 2 via your background. By that point, losing two from race really isn't a big deal. Nehru the Damaja fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Apr 23, 2018 |
# ? Apr 23, 2018 18:42 |
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Guess I should re-tool my Drow Bard build.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 18:53 |
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Kaysette posted:new book is going to own: Does it tell you how to make the imperialist hippo pancake?
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 19:06 |
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I'm looking to put together my own background using the custom bg rules in the PHB. The group is a bunch of nature hippie bullshit so the DM wants to stick us with the Emerald Enclave. I'm gonna propose an undercover person with either the Harpers or Zhentarim depending on what DM is cool with who lives his day to day as a two-bit con but is used to gather intel/blackmail/etc on certain folks. Like I figure it's a bit of Charlatan, the discredited academic angle on Sage, and Faction Agent. Go to town, identify the players, fleece them with horseshit TED talks and occasionally leave intel in dead drops.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 19:07 |
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MrMojok posted:I have decided to become this thread’s Crochety Old Man I'm not necessarily going to poo-poo any of the exotic races /tiefling /draconian guys, but in my mind I do have kind of an appreciation for the more normal guys. I tend to enjoy the juxtaposition of being a ho-hum normie in a group of "snowflake half celestial awakened soul sorcerer with a tiny teacup beholder pet and for whom whom is also royalty (both the player and the teacup beholder)". I had a 4e game with a bunch of people like that and I played Francis Steelworth, warlord and former captain of the guard for a minor nowhere town who solved his problems by shouting at them vigorously. I don't have a 5e game currently, but if I did I have a concept in mind for a human fighter specializing in heavy crossbows. The back story I had in mind was him being a peasant huntsman until he got drafted by a local noble into being an arbelist. Turns out said noble couldn't pay his bills and his soldiers turned in him when the wages stopped. My character turned to pretty banditry for a while before making it to a bigger city and seeking his services as a mercenary. Add some hooks for the character regarding his past catching up to him (either from the banditry or from the noble and/or his family swearing revenge) and he's of to the races. DeathSandwich fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Apr 23, 2018 |
# ? Apr 23, 2018 19:20 |
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It's the main reason I'm glad we have Variant Human, even if it can be a bit wildly powerful. Just having a strong reason to play something "normal" helps a lot in grounding a party and honestly having some "boring" races does a lot for characterization, because as a human you can't just go "I'm a human *does human things*" as a substitute for having a personality like you might with, say, Tabaxi.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 19:23 |
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Kaysette posted:new book is going to own: Never really read Spelljammer though I know a few things about it due to Osmosis. And I did not think the Giff would be quite that fun.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 19:47 |
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Firstborn posted:They are all okay with it. And it sounds like a fun challenge for me. There's some more options for them to pick, but I think everything will convert fairly easily over. I'm mulling the idea of turning one of my players from a wizard -> warlock, though. She calls herself a "witch" as a feminine version of "wizard", but maybe warlock would cover more of the flavor? Meh. Simply ask her which she would prefer.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 19:50 |
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Once again I wish 5e had made Warlock more like Pathfinder's Witch class.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 20:30 |
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I run a game with a party of 5, and one of the player's fiance just moved to town and wants to jump in. I'm trying to figure out the best way to run such a large party. Does anyone have any tips for keeping the action interesting when players have to wait through 6 people's turns? I'm sure this has been asked before, but it's a big thread, and I didn't see it anywhere.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 20:46 |
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6 is just about the breaking point. If your group won't or can't split into 2 parties consider getting an player to take on some of the responsibilities like initiative tracking or voicing a specific NPC. It gives that player something to do so they stay engaged and you're freed up to run the extra monsters or whatever you'll need to challenge a larger group.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 20:55 |
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My Pathfinder group has six players and it can get really slow. Especially combat, doubly especially combat if it’s against a lot of enemies and nobody packed heavy duty AoE. I don’t know if I’d really recommend a party of six—it’s not terrible, but it drags at times. You also end up with action economy issues. Legendary actions in 5e smooth that out better than PF does (to the degree that I’ve talked to my PF DM about adding some legendary actions to bosses), but it can still get rough.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 21:11 |
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Trust me. I don't WANT to have 6 players. 4 is my ideal number. Sadly, that's not really an option here.
SoldadoDeTone fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Apr 23, 2018 |
# ? Apr 23, 2018 21:24 |
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Absolutely you need one of your players keeping track of initiative - "Ragnar, your turn. Kloctus, you're on deck." And one of your players keeping track of buffs and status effects - "Remember, this is Ragnar's last turn under the effects of Crit Boost."
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 21:50 |
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it is time to introduce the shot clock to roleplaying games
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 21:52 |
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I just ran for 7 people the other weekend and it was really painless. One player tracked initiative for us and I gave my werewolf bosses 2 legendary actions that didn't do damage but moved people around as well as 1 legendary resistance that I didn't even end up using. If someone hasn't done anything in a couple minutes because the round is taking forever I use a legendary to have them make a save vs grapple or something to keep them in the fight.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 21:55 |
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Ignite Memories posted:Absolutely you need one of your players keeping track of initiative - Also this. Offloading some of the workload to someone who knows whats up is very helpful.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 21:56 |
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For normal characters, I have a player whose character is Dirk Berkely, average joe. He worked in an adventuring supply store so knows all about the adventuring life, in theory. One night his wife wanted out of their loveless marriage and he decided to hit the road. Turns out adventuring is actually hard and OH GOD ALL THE BLOOD.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 22:13 |
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I find that a visible initiative tracker helps. In our case, I wrote up slips of paper, folded in half, and the DM puts them on the DM screen in the order we go. A visual reminder of how close your turn is helps avoid people being surprised and unready when their turn arrives.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 23:11 |
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Elysiume posted:I find that a visible initiative tracker helps. In our case, I wrote up slips of paper, folded in half, and the DM puts them on the DM screen in the order we go. A visual reminder of how close your turn is helps avoid people being surprised and unready when their turn arrives. Agreed it's always nice to have some way to track initiative.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 23:33 |
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Elysiume posted:I find that a visible initiative tracker helps. In our case, I wrote up slips of paper, folded in half, and the DM puts them on the DM screen in the order we go. A visual reminder of how close your turn is helps avoid people being surprised and unready when their turn arrives. And GM can write armor and passive perception on the other side to make passive checks quick and attacks quick if there aren't any reactions that will interfere.
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 23:35 |
I'm now the proud player of a divination mage who's using a tarokka deck (the not-tarot from ravenloft). We found a deck in the forgotten realms which surely doesn't mean anything's going to happen. Me and the GM have agreed that my portent d20 rolls will all have disadvantage - so I'll mostly roll low, and constantly ruin everyone's day by prophecising DOOOOOOM. Then 'if' we end up in Ravenloft, I'll have been right all along!
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# ? Apr 23, 2018 23:48 |
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So I heard that they'll never ever make official playable Illithids because there's no real plausible reason why they'd not be evil or would cooperate with the party and not just conspire to eat their brain or something. Because the same could be said of Yuan-Ti Purebloods. What's their excuse for being nonevil and friends with a diverse party? Because after that thing someone brought up, I really want to be a bard who is basically Elvis but he's secretly a Yuan-ti. And why are purebloods the mostly-human ones and Abominations and Anathemas their highest and most revered members of society? Do thy have some sort of backwards title convention?
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# ? Apr 24, 2018 02:24 |
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Made a level 5 Circle of Moon Druid/ Hexblade Warlock. So, drat versatile. Totally unpredictable, unless you predict that I love using beast shape and biting people as a giant spider/tiger/dire wolf.
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# ? Apr 24, 2018 04:57 |
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# ? May 28, 2024 07:06 |
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Liquid Dinosaur posted:So I heard that they'll never ever make official playable Illithids because there's no real plausible reason why they'd not be evil or would cooperate with the party and not just conspire to eat their brain or something. Because the same could be said of Yuan-Ti Purebloods. What's their excuse for being nonevil and friends with a diverse party? There was a book featuring a Yuan Ti pureblood as the protagonist. But the best reason I can think is that Yuan Ti don't eat brains. And while they are cold and uncaring by nature, they are not innately evil by default. The Being evil by default was basically their reason for Gnolls not being playable. And I can understand the same thing with Mind Flayers.
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# ? Apr 24, 2018 06:10 |