D&D NEXT: Infinite Posts of the Abyss

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Fair Bear Maiden: Jun 17, 2013

I'm gonna go ahead and say you should only introduce very nasty stuff like cannibalism if you think it's still within the boundaries of a good time for the players. Don't just add stuff to be edgy and "realistic" about your clockwork undead city.

# ? Nov 10, 2018 11:02

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# ? May 14, 2024 20:02

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Depending on your group, you go too dark, and the players will look for ways to undermine and make a joke out of it.

Anyone else get the Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica? I�m really liking it so far, and plan on attending an event at my LGS tomorrow.

# ? Nov 10, 2018 18:40

Darwinism: Jan 6, 2008

CeallaSo posted:

It's "pure" martial because all you ever do is swing your glaive at people. Just ignore the fact that your glaive is exploding with searing radiance for most of those attacks.

Yeah but in D&D terms martial has come to mean "not a caster" and not "a caster that uses their casting for exploding faces"

# ? Nov 10, 2018 19:39

Network42: Oct 23, 2002

Does the ravnica book have any player facing options or is it more DM/setting stuff?

# ? Nov 10, 2018 19:44

Trojan Kaiju: Feb 13, 2012

Network42 posted:

Does the ravnica book have any player facing options or is it more DM/setting stuff?

It should have races and subclasses like the Spore Druid.

# ? Nov 10, 2018 19:59

CubeTheory: Mar 26, 2010; Cube Reversal

I'm working on my character's backstory for OotA and I typed it up for my DM, but I'm thinking I made it too edgelordy. Wanted to bounce it off you guys before I get eyes rolled at me:

"Email to my DM" posted:

Allow me to recap Luciene's backstory as told to this point:
Luciene learned to sword fight at a young age and traveled around with a partner performing a swordsmanship/comedy act. This was eventually broken up when his partner left the group for a girl. Luciene bummed around for a while, eventually competing in a grand torunament and becoming friends with the King and Queen. He went to live with them until receiving a grand fate and leaving on his journey. This is all true and Luciene would tell it all to anyone who asked. It is not, however, the whole story.

To understand Luciene's story you must first understand the role of the King and the Queen. They're not rulers so much as they are overseers. Specifically they watch over the Grove of Futures. An ancient structure at the heart of the palace, the Grove is a large chamber consisting of myriad vines and branches twisting to form walls and the ceiling. Hanging from the ceiling, growing like fruits, are the crystal teardrops. It's said that there is one teardrop for every high elf, growing when they are born and falling when they die. Occasionally a teardrop will call out to an elf of particular note and descend while softly glowing, waiting for the one it has chosen to arrive and receive their fate.

It was a dark evening after a day of feasting when Luciene stumbled across the crystal. He had been feasting hard and was walking back to his chambers when he noticed the soft glow coming from the Grove. Curious and more than a little drunk he wandered over to the Grove and discovered a descended teardrop floating lightly in the room. He didn't feel the call the way others had described it, but the light felt warm and familiar and he was drawn to it. Reaching out his hand he made contact and was granted a tremendous vision. Acts of cunning, acts of heroism, and acts of sacrifice. A grand destiny to help save a world, and a noble sacrifice to save those that would.

Bladesinging is not a widespread tradition among high elves. It largely a taught as a tradition, passed down in certain families as a guarded secret, and so it was with Luciene. It was his older sister, Jeanne, that taught him, though she took a second student, Arthure, from outside the family as well. The two became friends and upon completing their training, partners in performance. They traveled the land together and had a fantastic time, and Luciene remembers it as the best time in his life. It did not last, however. During his training Arthure had developed feelings for Jeanne. He confessed, and she returned his love, and they were wed. Luciene did NOT approve. His carefree travelling life ended and he acted out. He disowned them both, said they had betrayed his trust and he left saying he never wanted to see them again. It was the immature act of a child and his biggest regret.

So when it came that Luciene saw this grand destiny in the crystal teardrop, he wept. As heroic as the vision was, he saw his sister dying, alone, in a dank cave on a foreign world, away from her friends and family. Her sacrifice to save her friends was noble, but to her brother, full of guilt, it was heartbreaking. Once he gatheres himself, he made a decision. Although the crystal was surely calling to his sister, it would be weeks before she arrived to claim it. This vision had to play out, fate demanded it and so did the future of another world. So he stole her fate. He collected the crystal and claimed it to be his own. He quickly gathered companions and left for the prime material plane, resolved to die in his sisters place.

Luciene's goal isn't to save the world or defeat a great demon invasion. It's to die so his sister doesn't have to.

# ? Nov 10, 2018 20:42

Kaysette: Jan 5, 2009; ~*Boston makes me*~
~*feel good*~

That�s cool and not edgelordy at all!

# ? Nov 10, 2018 20:45

Splicer: Oct 16, 2006; from hell's heart I cast at thee
🧙🐀🧹🌙🪄🐸

Pussy Quipped posted:

So one of my players is a BM Ranger with a giant poisonous snake companion. We are using the UA Revised Ranger rules, and it seems kinda lame that they will never get a second attack feature without multiclassing. I understand that the pet can attack as a reaction when you attack, but if the snake couldn't get in range or died the ranger becomes incredibly weak, especially as we progress to Levels 10+.
Would it be reasonable to let the Ranger have a second attack if they choose to not have the companion attack or if it is unable to make an attack action for whatever reason?

The revised BM ranger's player gets three attacks per round. One from themselves, one from the beast's attack on the beast's turn, and another for the beast at 5th level when the beast can consume their reaction to make an attack on the ranger's turn. These beast's attacks gain +prof to damage, and at level 11 the beast gains a 5 foot AOE. The downside is that the beast doesn't get the benefit of hunter's quarry, magic weapon effects etc. If it's a concern allow Hunter's Quarry to affect the beast's attacks and either have Quarry give the beast magical attacks or slip them some enchanted fang covers.

You're right that if the beast dies the player is sore out of luck until they can grab 8 hours to resurrect it. That's harder than it sounds though, their HP scales with the ranger's level, they gain proficiency and advantage on all saving throws, and adds proficiency to AC. You could give them a second attack if their pet is dead, call it "help from beyond" or something, with the condition that they lose it if they don't summon their beast at the first feasable opportunity. Or you're the GM, you could gentleman's agreement it to not outright kill the beast in a situation where it's not resummonable unless the player is real stupid about it.

e: Or give them a resummoning amulet that just needs a short rest.

Splicer fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Nov 10, 2018

# ? Nov 10, 2018 20:47

Elector_Nerdlingen: Sep 27, 2004

Kaysette posted:

That’s cool and not edgelordy at all!

This.

Its way way way more detailed than I like these things to be, but "I stole my sister's doom" is the kind of thing I wish more players would bring to the table.

# ? Nov 11, 2018 07:46

Open Marriage Night: Sep 18, 2009; "Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"

Played the Ravnica sample adventure at my LGS, and it was pretty fun. There was premade characters, and I got to be a Loxodon Paladin.

It was my first time playing with random people, but it wasn�t bad at all. Me and the Minotaur Fighter had fun as lumbering beast people.

# ? Nov 12, 2018 08:07

Flip Yr Wig: Feb 21, 2007; Oh please do go on; Fun Shoe

So any advice on handling the Vistari without just repeating a bunch of Romani stereotypes? They seem pretty thoroughly woven in CoS, so taking them out altogether doesn't look feasible.

# ? Nov 12, 2018 20:26

Conspiratiorist: Nov 12, 2015; 17th Separate Kryvyi Rih Tank Brigade named after Konstantin Pestushko
Look to my coming on the first light of the ~~fifth~~ ~~sixth~~ some day

Flip Yr Wig posted:

So any advice on handling the Vistari without just repeating a bunch of Romani stereotypes? They seem pretty thoroughly woven in CoS, so taking them out altogether doesn't look feasible.

Make them reluctant accomplices and/or remnants of a Barovian people Strahd made a compact with.

They could be survivors from Berez, for instance.

# ? Nov 12, 2018 20:43

Eggnogium: Jun 1, 2010; Never give an inch! Hnnnghhhhhh!

They seem cuttable to me:

1) If running the Plea For Help intro have it be Rahadin delivering the letter instead of a Vistani. If players describe his appearance to the Kolyanas, they can ID him as Strahd's right hand man; he comes by town to collect tributes and taxes.
2) Have Madam Eva be a regular Barovian in either Barovia or Vallaki depending on where you want to run the reading.
3) All other Vistani encounters/facts seem unnecessary but if there's anything you really like it can be grafted into one of the towns or onto the Dusk Elves.

# ? Nov 12, 2018 21:05

Nutsngum: Oct 9, 2004; I don't think it's nice, you laughing.

Conspiratiorist posted:

Make them reluctant accomplices and/or remnants of a Barovian people Strahd made a compact with.

They could be survivors from Berez, for instance.

They pretty much already are though. Most of the ones you encounter will be sympathetic at the very least

# ? Nov 12, 2018 21:29

PicklePants: May 8, 2007; Woo!

You can make them a collection of other people who have been pulled through the mists, don't find solace with Borovians, and band together for safety. Which would be easy to keep Strahd's spies lurking around. You could throw in a couple oddities, like the beardless dwarves from Darksun, or a Loxodon. A rag-tag band of people who don't fit in.

# ? Nov 12, 2018 22:50

Ryuujin: Sep 26, 2007; Dragon God

So the new UA is finally up, nothing that seems all that exciting to me, just Ship Rules

# ? Nov 12, 2018 23:38

Darwinism: Jan 6, 2008

Ryuujin posted:

So the new UA is finally up, nothing that seems all that exciting to me, just Ship Rules

Hahahaha ships are statted like creatures complete with str/dex/con/int/wis/cha statlines only with the last three always at 0. What the hell?

Is it just me or does ship combat look like it'd just be a super boring plinkfest, since the most heavily armed vessels' weapons average 16 and 26 damage and they have 20 DT reinforcing 500hp and other ships aren't even that far behind them for survivability?

# ? Nov 13, 2018 01:38

kingcom: Jun 23, 2012

Darwinism posted:

Hahahaha ships are statted like creatures complete with str/dex/con/int/wis/cha statlines only with the last three always at 0. What the hell?

Is it just me or does ship combat look like it'd just be a super boring plinkfest, since the most heavily armed vessels' weapons average 16 and 26 damage and they have 20 DT reinforcing 500hp and other ships aren't even that far behind them for survivability?

Yep its insanely terrible. No part of that is interesting and its going to be like two fighters just wailing on eachother.

# ? Nov 13, 2018 01:46

Amethyst: Mar 28, 2004; I CANNOT HELP BUT MAKE THE DCSS THREAD A FETID SWAMP OF UNFUN POSTING
plz notice me trunk-senpai

It kind of makes sense if you were jury rigging ships into a formal system like a video game or something but who the hell wants grafted together frankenstein rules like that for a tabletop game?

What kind of DM actually needs it spelled out that ships are immune to poison and blindness?

# ? Nov 13, 2018 01:51

Nehru the Damaja: May 20, 2005

We're doing a short campaign (probably 1-5) with a kobolds-only party. I want to play something that will make two new players feel like stars. Big on that list is something that can stay up in the poo poo and not die so I can keep Pack Tactics going for the crew.

An unfortunate light cleric who keeps frying his little cave-dwelling eyes seems like a lot of fun, but anyone got any other ideas that would fit?

# ? Nov 13, 2018 01:57

Infinite Karma: Oct 23, 2004; Good as dead

Nehru the Damaja posted:

We're doing a short campaign (probably 1-5) with a kobolds-only party. I want to play something that will make two new players feel like stars. Big on that list is something that can stay up in the poo poo and not die so I can keep Pack Tactics going for the crew.

An unfortunate light cleric who keeps frying his little cave-dwelling eyes seems like a lot of fun, but anyone got any other ideas that would fit?

Moon Druids end up being very tanky with their free HP from Wildshapes, and saving spells for healing and more defense.

# ? Nov 13, 2018 02:01

Conspiratiorist: Nov 12, 2015; 17th Separate Kryvyi Rih Tank Brigade named after Konstantin Pestushko
Look to my coming on the first light of the ~~fifth~~ ~~sixth~~ some day

Moon Druid has the opposite effect if you shift into a bear by outshining melee martials until 5.

# ? Nov 13, 2018 02:10

lightrook: Nov 7, 2016; Pin 188

Nehru the Damaja posted:

We're doing a short campaign (probably 1-5) with a kobolds-only party. I want to play something that will make two new players feel like stars. Big on that list is something that can stay up in the poo poo and not die so I can keep Pack Tactics going for the crew.

An unfortunate light cleric who keeps frying his little cave-dwelling eyes seems like a lot of fun, but anyone got any other ideas that would fit?

Any heavy-armored cleric is great at standing in front and supporting allies while impeding enemies; Boon/Bane are both great at low levels, and Warding Bond is a good insurance for making sure nobody else goes down. Order Domain in particular is kind of nifty; using your bonus action to cast Healing Word and give an ally an extra attack goes really well with Pack Tactics, and doubly so if there's a Rogue in your party, since attacking as a reaction gets you another Sneak Attack trigger by getting around the Once Per Turn clause.

Besides that, bard is good at making sure your allies make their rolls, and Lore means you can make sure enemies fail their saves, too. Bards also make good grapplers on account of Expertise in Athletics, which is another way of making sure enemies can't just dip out of reach. It's not as good at standing in front and taking hits, though.

# ? Nov 13, 2018 04:06

clusterfuck: Feb 6, 2004

Ryuujin posted:

So the new UA is finally up, nothing that seems all that exciting to me, just Ship Rules

I don't know where to start with how poo poo this is. Coincidentally I've just wrestled with the DMG's already mediocre boat rules to plan out some Darklake journeying and oh boy does this UA make the DMG look good. Why change all the speeds? Why use ability scores? wtf is happening? Absolutely none of this is worthwhile yet someone got paid to :homebrew:

this on us all.

I think Colville is about to release a bunch of naval warfare rules as part of his kickstarter - maybe WotC is trying to make Colville look good? :iiam:

# ? Nov 13, 2018 04:26

Kaysette: Jan 5, 2009; ~*Boston makes me*~
~*feel good*~

There�s a bunch of decent sounding naval warfare stuff in DMs Guild too. Many DMs can do this job better than the official designers. I adapted an old Tribality 5e ship rules article for my game and it makes way more sense than this UA.

# ? Nov 13, 2018 05:14

Tetracube: Feb 12, 2014; by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

it's just the lovely rules for ships in the DMG but with seige weapons plopped on and more complexity added

DM: it's your turn, what do you do? here are your options
>shoot cannon
>don't shoot cannon

# ? Nov 13, 2018 05:26

Elector_Nerdlingen: Sep 27, 2004

Could have copy/pasted the 2d ship rules from 2e spelljammer.

# ? Nov 13, 2018 06:06

lightrook: Nov 7, 2016; Pin 188

Ship rules in a game about Dudes Fighting Dudes, and literally no mention of any way to actually bring Group of Dudes A into contact with Group of Dudes B? Having rules for boarding actions would be a great way to bring ship-to-ship combat back into the players' control and normalize the whole experience, and yet there's no mention of tossing over grappling hooks and bringing their ship close, or swinging across on a rope, or anything remotely sensible.

It's funny how D&D had its origins in naval wargaming, and yet here we are more than forty years later making a complete mess of naval wargaming.

# ? Nov 13, 2018 06:08

Arivia: Mar 17, 2011

Patrick Stuart is doing some sort of seacrawl thing and it's probably gonna be better and more compatible with 5e than anything WotC themselves do.

# ? Nov 13, 2018 06:11

Infinite Karma: Oct 23, 2004; Good as dead

I've played a hundred tabletop game systems, and not one of them has good vehicle rules or mass battle rules. The best I ever saw was a mecha game with mechanics similar to the 5E rules - each ship/vehicle/whatever had stats like a normal living creature, and immunities were still rare special abilities (but only attacks designed for the right kind of target would inflict status effects). The main thing that makes it fun is having what are basically class abilities and spells, instead of just a sack of bigger numbers that come from the bigger ship.

Seriously, make a Galleon a level 10 Paladin and a Viking Longship a level 7 Monk and refluff the mechanics from there, and you'll have more fun. Make an Airship a level 8 Sorceror. Give the ships that threshold value, too, but only against attacks from normal characters.

# ? Nov 13, 2018 06:24

mormonpartyboat: Jan 14, 2015; by Reene

im the ships that have more autonomy than a beastmaster ranger pet

# ? Nov 13, 2018 06:27

Darwinism: Jan 6, 2008

Fun things from this UA!

Ships that "usually don't" have wis/int/cha scores, but nothing other than that because it's interesting
Subsystem targetting that makes your weapons as easy to take out as your hull!
Damage threshhold and huge HP totals to make sure that active naval battles are extended, boring engagements rather than brutal, quickly won or lost affairs.
Crew! They are needed! How can you gain or lose them? Well, uh, you see... we have lots of words for making them happy once you do have them!
Boarding! What is it? Who cares! Just slowly plink your enemies to death with plain attack roles, you disgusting philistine
Says you want Cha and Int for a Captain, only captain-only move.... uses dex. Also never recommends any of these roles should have dexterity.
Look! Random tables! Yes, of course the results are mostly unnecessarily punitive, what were you thinking
Someone was paid actual money for this and it has the official D&D stamp on it

It just feels like a last minute desperation attempt to fill the UA deadline with something, anything, oh god sure Bob boats or whatever fine

# ? Nov 13, 2018 07:23

xiw: Sep 25, 2011; i wake up at night
night action madness nightmares
maybe i am scum
Cpig Haiku contest 2020 winner

they've never actually seen a ship have they

# ? Nov 13, 2018 11:50

xiw: Sep 25, 2011; i wake up at night
night action madness nightmares
maybe i am scum
Cpig Haiku contest 2020 winner

The entire profit from a boat trading for a month is 5d20 gp. If you roll any 1s on those d20s (over a 20% chance) your trading is hosed and you roll on the table with a 50% chance of losing your ship.

# ? Nov 13, 2018 12:02

Master Twig: Oct 25, 2007; I want to branch out and I'm going to stick with it.

xiw posted:

The entire profit from a boat trading for a month is 5d20 gp. If you roll any 1s on those d20s (over a 20% chance) your trading is hosed and you roll on the table with a 50% chance of losing your ship.

It will never cease to amaze me how the D&D rules team is so consistently bad at math and probability.

# ? Nov 13, 2018 13:07

Nutsngum: Oct 9, 2004; I don't think it's nice, you laughing.

xiw posted:

The entire profit from a boat trading for a month is 5d20 gp. If you roll any 1s on those d20s (over a 20% chance) your trading is hosed and you roll on the table with a 50% chance of losing your ship.

You can pull more gold out of the rear end in a top hat's of a cave full of Goblins in about two hours.

Can they not even attempt at least a basic workable economy in this game to make treasure actually worthwhile?

# ? Nov 13, 2018 14:07

Dameius: Apr 3, 2006

This honestly looks like notes from a group brainstorming session that then was forgotten about until the night before the deadline. Then they just bolted everything together in a single document and hit save and sent it out. And never once did they read everything all in one document to see if all made sense in the new context and/or didn't contradict the other stuff they just slapped in there.

# ? Nov 13, 2018 14:08

Section Z: Oct 1, 2008; Wait, this is the Moon.
How did I even get here?; Pillbug

Even a friend of mine who is normally obsessed with the idea of airships (and trade profits for our party) thought the UA was fairly :effort:

# ? Nov 13, 2018 14:11

VaultAggie: Nov 18, 2010; Best out of 71?

Apparently the ships aren�t grapple proof? So you could supplex the airship if you wanted.

# ? Nov 13, 2018 16:00

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# ? May 14, 2024 20:02

Toshimo: Aug 23, 2012; He's outta line...

But he's right!

VaultAggie posted:

Apparently the ships aren�t grapple proof? So you could supplex the airship if you wanted.

So... it's secretly a real good UA?

# ? Nov 13, 2018 16:33

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