kidkissinger posted:

Just finished up LMoP and realized that two thirds of the named magic items in the adventure we're useless for my players.

Should I be modifying these?

Subjunctive posted:

You mean that casters can’t use spells?

Splicer posted:

Nah they mean a wand of elemental fireballs can't be used by a wizard because their respective magical mojos create an interference pattern.

Noxin of Shame posted:

Tome of Foes trip report: Our DM in my home game busted out a Nightwalker...

Its main attack was (iirc) a con 21 save to avoid ~50 damage, and if hit another con save to resist losing those hit points from your max HP permanently....

BetterWeirdthanDead posted:

Of all the things from previous editions to resurrect, they brought back permanent ability drain? Ouch.

Firstborn posted:

E: Strahd is excellent. There's a lot of help in running it online. I've found huge forum topics, reddit posts, website columns, etc. about cool ideas to put in the game and ways to steer it, and almost everything I've seen has been universally good. I'm playing in a Strahd game right now, but we are very near the beginning. The tone can be kind of gloomy, but if your players don't mind this can be a lot of fun. You also get to play a villain that pops up and torments the PCs. It's pretty fun for the DM, too, I'd think.

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

Permanently draining stuff is cool and I kinda resent the "back to full like nothing" nature of 5e characters by default. That said, 50 max hp at a time is too much!!

Gharbad the Weak posted:

I don't think the problem is the difficulty in notekeeping, champ

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

Permanently draining stuff is cool and I kinda resent the "back to full like nothing" nature of 5e characters by default. That said, 50 max hp at a time is too much!!

golden bubble posted:

As part of a one-shot or very limited campaign, it's pretty cool. But if you assume the default mode of play expects characters to survive more than a few sessions, it's absolute madness. Anything that spans more than one or two levels should never have any permanent drain. Otherwise, the designer/GM is saying that every longstanding adventurer is a scared POS that is barely better than fresh level one character. What's the point of gauging power using levels if a level 10 character can be permanently drained to the power of a level 6 character?

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

To make that level 10 character scared to go in the really scary place instead of rightly feeling invincible like they are by default in 5e. The HP drain doesn't have to be particularly significant to be an effective deterrent. They still aren't the power of level 6 characters because they have access to higher level spells which make them roughly still unkillable gods, generally, so it's good to have ways to hurt them even if your monsters don't literally TPK them. As written, TPK is the only way to actually permanently negatively affect a level 10 party short of disintegration(or other things that leave you without a recoverable corpse), or not having enough money for raise dead.

I'm down for introducing new characters and letting old ones die if they gently caress up though. PCs gotta make good decisions to survive. The gloves should be fully off by level 5 imo.

Dragonatrix posted:

The "difficulty" is that it's a dumb, bullshit death spiral.

Relentless posted:

Permanent drain is super dumb as a regular feature in a campaign.

But it can be a fun GM tool for a high level party to do a Muppet Babies episode.

golden bubble posted:

As part of a one-shot or very limited campaign, it's pretty cool. But if you assume the default mode of play expects characters to survive more than a few sessions, it's absolute madness. Anything that spans more than one or two levels should never have any permanent drain. Otherwise, the designer/GM is saying that every longstanding adventurer is a scared POS that is barely better than fresh level one character. What's the point of gauging power using levels if a level 10 character can be permanently drained to the power of a level 6 character?

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

Yeah it's definitely part of what draws me to SotDL. I don't want my players to die every session but I want them to fear death during most of them.

MonsterEnvy posted:

5e Life Drain is not permanent from what i know. I can't think of any monsters were the Life Drain does not go away at the end of a long rest. It's a temporary debuff that reduces your max hp.

I just managed to look at a preview of the Nightwalker and even it's life drain only lasts until a long rest.

Noxin of Shame posted:

It was a rad as gently caress looking 25 foot tall slenderman which flew around Magneto style. Its main attack was (iirc) a con 21 save to avoid ~50 damage, and if hit another con save to resist losing those hit points from your max HP permanently. Oh, and if you are reduced to 0 hit points by any of the Nightwalkers attacks, you ded. Like disintegrate dead. I was reduced to 2.

Eggnogium posted:

Been reading material online about it and it sounds like it's known for being extremely difficult. That can be a good thing for matching the horror setting but I don't think my players are going to appreciate player death any time soon. On top of that I only have 3 players where it sounds like its balanced for 4. Should I just multiply monster HP and damage rolls by .75 and fudge where I have to or was this a bad pick for a first campaign for players who probably looking for a more even balance between strategy and goofing off? Are any of the other published campaigns good for new players and goofery? (two players tried LMoP a couple years ago so don't want to do that again).

Relentless posted:

There was a special bit about that.

Firstborn posted:

The way most WOTC adventures are written are like: 2 pages of backstory for a temple the PCs probably won't go to, and there's no NPCs around to relate this anecdotal history. 2 lines of a description for a major city with hundreds of people. Refer to chapter 5 (no page number) for what, chronologically should be on page 10 right after the synopsis.

MonsterEnvy posted:

I feel this symptom has at least started going away on the recent adventures. From what I recall it's only really a problem with Princes of the Apocalypse.

MonsterEnvy posted:

kingcom posted:

Man I came in here to say how your bugbears were good and better designed than the wotc official monsters.

Why do you do this

BUGBEAR SPECIAL FORCES posted:

Under any circumstances, bugbears are valued members of a goblinoid host. If some of them are specialized (or can be trained) in different aspects of warfare, their value increases, especially when they work in concert.

Thugs. Bugbears that serve as thugs have more of Hruggek than Grankhul in them. They leap in among massed foes and make wide, whirling swings with their weapons to create openings in enemy formations.

Bulwarks. The wild attack of a group of thugs is often followed by the charge of one or more bulwarks. A bugbear bulwark carries a spiked shield into battle that it uses like a plow, bashing aside whatever it encounters.

Murderers. Bugbears that are gifted in stealth are sent out to kill enemy sentries and thus clear the way for others to penetrate the foe’s defenses. Murderers carry many javelins with them, which they throw from hiding and wield in melee, and they also carry garrotes to cut off sounds of screaming.

Raar_Im_A_Dinosaur posted:

Where's that monster envy goalposts gif

Raar_Im_A_Dinosaur posted:

That sounds like a fun adventure. Tried a brief Google search but couldn't find it. Is it available online like on DMs guild or drivethrough RPG?

MonsterEnvy posted:

But I did not here?

MonsterEnvy posted:

But maybe one of the abilities I fully see does provide indefinite life drain. Which I am fine with, as the Night Walker is a Challenge 20 beast. That people would probably not be facing until they are at the level to have access to Greater Restoration. I am fine with permanent effects on high level monsters.

kingcom posted:

Sorry I just quoted your last post instead, I'm referring to this stuff bud:


You did one of those 'it doesnt do this' -> 'actually it might do this but that doesnt matter cause its good'. It's very aggravating when you swap stances like that. If you think its fine, don't argue if it does or does not have something people disagree with. Instead your first post should be 'actually I like these kinds of effects'. People can then agree or disagree with that rather than you changing what the argument is about mid way through. Thats what's called 'moving the goal posts' as you are moving what the argument is about because the original goal of the argument is no longer in reach of your argument.

I mean I can disagree with your argument that permanent effects are good but thats not the point to the goalpost moving.

MonsterEnvy posted:

Ok fair enough. But I was never saying I thought it was bad.

Anyway I got a better look and it does not have permanent drain. But I would not care much if it did is all I am saying as I think it's a good threatening ability on a high level monster.

Elephant Parade posted:

Permanent/actually-difficult-to-remove ability drain is potentially okay, but I don't think it's for every group. That said, losing fifty points of HP in one hit is beyond insane, even if you have to fail two saves for it to happen.

kingcom posted:

Permanent damage can be good but it's usually a bad idea to do permanent drain to health because that tends to happen to the character who most need health to do their jobs and results in a death spiral. That low health will cause that character who is up front to be more likely to die later because of that low health. It means they fundamentally lose the ability to fulfill their role and since D&D usually pigeonholes people it, removing a critical resources like health can be devastating to certain classes.

I suppose a good comparison would be, what if this monster permanently took away the highest level spell slots from a wizard every time they failed a con save. Would that be fun for the players to deal with after the fight is over?

MonsterEnvy posted:

Fun no scary and interesting yes. I think there actually is a monster in the new book that drains your highest level spell slots. (Temporarily.)

If damage is permanent I am fine with it if it's on High Level monsters. Stuff that you won't be facing until you have a reasonable chance of fixing it. Then it's scary and resource consuming rather then just a spiral towards death.

kingcom posted:

Okay so heres the second problem that is the classic dnd death problem. If it's not permanent and instead just 'you need to find a specific resource/ability to clear it' you run into a new problem. Either its easy to clear (either because you have or its a spell one of your players has and can just wave their hand or spend a minor resource to do so) OR its not easy to clear and the party has to decide whether they derail the adventure to go get this thing cleared and resolved before they continue. If they keep pressing on it can be interesting but you're basically setting up a big giant flag to derail the pacing of the plot. 2/3 different resolutions either don't matter or require you to carefully manage when things like this happen or you kill any momentum your game might have. This is usually a sign of bad design.

I call it the classic dnd death problem because its basically how mid->high level dnd death works. It's a weird speedbump that doesnt add tension but rather works to just derail your momentum.