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So I'm starting a new campaign with my group, and the basic premise is that the PCs are students at a lousy adventuring school and they're trying to avoid getting expelled or killed. One idea I'm playing with (but haven't fully formulated or pitched yet) is poaching the Ravnica guilds as school houses and using that as PC backgrounds. That said, what are some high school tropes that fit Dimir, Golgari, and Orzhov? So far I've got student government (Azorius, Boros), science nerds (Selesnya, Izzet, Simic), and athletes (Gruul, Rakdos).
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Feb 14, 2019 19:54
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inthesto posted:So I'm starting a new campaign with my group, and the basic premise is that the PCs are students at a lousy adventuring school and they're trying to avoid getting expelled or killed. Uhhhh, Rakdos is clearly Glee Club
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Feb 14, 2019 20:00
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inthesto posted:So I'm starting a new campaign with my group, and the basic premise is that the PCs are students at a lousy adventuring school and they're trying to avoid getting expelled or killed. Goglari are pothead weed dealers, Dimir sell homework and exam solutions, and Orzhov is either the uncomfortable clique of fundies or lends people lunch money at exorbitant interest rates.
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Feb 14, 2019 20:05
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inthesto posted:So I'm starting a new campaign with my group, and the basic premise is that the PCs are students at a lousy adventuring school and they're trying to avoid getting expelled or killed. If you want to play this up without the Harry Potter angle, you could look up an old 90’s era Sierra game called Quest for Glory: So You Want To Be An Adventurer. It’s the origin of one of my favorite quotes that I’ve dropped regularly into my D&D games “[NPC] thinks better of this and falls back on his well-honed sense of self preservation.” It hits all of the D&D tropes while being lighthearted and slapstick at times. It also followed up with 3 sequels that got increasingly dark. Hell of a thing to remind me of. Now I’m going to spend all day pulling ideas out of it for my game.
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Feb 14, 2019 20:14
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Uhhhh Rakdos are clearly theater nerds.
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Feb 14, 2019 20:40
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Selesnya aren’t science nerds, they’re granola hippie communitarians. They might share duties or compete with the Sonic for tending the school gardens.
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Feb 14, 2019 20:47
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I can see Selesnya being the Lisa Simpson type, environmentally conscious with the reasoning to back it. Selesnya's shock land is a garden, because they're about harmoniously ordered nature where every piece has its place, so there's a preachy element to them too. I was going to say that premed kids are most likely to perform cruel animal experiments like the Simic, but they don't enjoy science enough for its own sake to really embody Simic. I dunno how the characterize them better, though; UG has always been marked by a lack of a strong thematic unity.
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Feb 14, 2019 21:16
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My reasoning for organizing Rakdos under student athletes was because the guild is pretty much built on violence as entertainment, so I figured they'd be the students who join a contact sport solely so they can hurt people while getting cheered for it
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Feb 14, 2019 22:08
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Rakdoller Derby makes way too much sense, also I am stealing that idea for a future character.
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Feb 14, 2019 22:31
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Remora posted:Rakdoller Derby makes way too much sense, also I am stealing that idea for a future character. holy poo poo we got a loving winner right here
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Feb 14, 2019 22:32
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Boros are totally the preppy jocks.
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Feb 14, 2019 22:53
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Infinite Karma posted:Boros are totally the preppy jocks. Need the whole prep-goth vs jock-nerd plot.
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Feb 14, 2019 22:59
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Rakdos: bullies, mostly hit puberty early and like to pick on people smaller than them. gather to do a secret fight club every week after one of the teachers showed the film in class. try to pull off MMA moves that they've never practiced before. some of them have hearts of gold but lovely family lives. problematic opinions. Simic: really into "alternative" lifestyles, ranges from vaping posthumanism types to hippie humans who are really into like, elfish and gnome spirituality. friends with selesnya or izzet kids who try to keep them from hooking up with someone from golgari again. Izzet: STEM kids. always signed up for some kind of engineering contest. ranges from shut-in nerds to augmented reality types who are really into escape rooms and fitbit. has gotten really close to going to jail for their impulsiveness Golgari: drug dealers. may have conspired with orzhov to plant drugs on an azorius before. in a band. will give you burnt CD of music they torrented without you asking, asks if you've listened to it yet. goes to improv nights at coffee shops but not very good at it
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Feb 14, 2019 23:23
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Kaysette posted:Need the whole prep-goth vs jock-nerd plot. 
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Feb 14, 2019 23:26
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This is idiot poo poo. Orzhov on the opposite end from Goth? Who the gently caress made this trash?
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Feb 14, 2019 23:30
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Not Goth: 
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Feb 14, 2019 23:35
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Toshimo posted:This is idiot poo poo. Orzhov on the opposite end from Goth? Who the gently caress made this trash? The counterpoint is that Goth has the subtext of rebelling against the system, while Orzhov is all about being the system that people can't rebel against, no matter how much they want to. The goth aesthetic exists because it's a rejection of the mainstream, but once distressed black clothing and eyeliner are mainstream, are they really still goth?
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Feb 14, 2019 23:57
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Listen, all I remembered about Orzhov was Extort, and ain't no goths running an extortion racket.
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Feb 15, 2019 00:02
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Feb 15, 2019 00:05
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 ROLL20 USERS BE ADVISED OF A REPORTED DATA BREACH!! https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/14/hacker-strikes-again/ Change your passwords, check your credit cards, etc.
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Feb 15, 2019 00:59
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Does anyone ever actually run campaigns, using the rolled starting coin instead of equipment packs? I feel like this might be the only reason anyone would ever use padded/hide/ring mail armor (other than maybe a Druid using hide because every other medium armor contains some amount of metal) As a side-question, do people who use this method typically roll, average, or max the dice? Is there any consensus on which method is the best practice?
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Feb 15, 2019 08:42
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JustJeff88 posted:Thing is, something like a regular, healthy man of about 30 would have 1d8 hit points while a level 1 fighter would have 1d10 edit - (Unless that was B/X or BECMI and I scrambled them.)
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Feb 15, 2019 11:45
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P.d0t posted:Does anyone ever actually run campaigns, using the rolled starting coin instead of equipment packs? No, because like rolled hp and attributes, it sucks.
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Feb 15, 2019 13:32
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Toshimo posted:No, because like rolled hp and attributes, it sucks. Woe is me the lowly destitute wizard who's only possession's are the robes on my back, walking stick, magical ferret, and book that allows me to rewrite reality. Also here's my fighter friend who can't afford armour or a weapon.
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Feb 15, 2019 19:18
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So, I'm planning on running a campaign in the near future. Thing is, I'm trying to find a decent-to-good way to integrate guns into the system without like, half-assing it myself, or giving myself or my players too big a headache. Nothing modern firearms- wise, just general powder weapons up to around the year 1800. Is there anything already published or floating around that anybody can recommend?
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Feb 15, 2019 22:00
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Matt Mercer took the Pathfinder Gunslinger class and converted it to a 5e homebrew with some additional tweaks and put it on the DMGuild. The general consensus is that the class isn't terrible, but has structural issues that keep it from being on par with the official classes. You could grab it (it is free) to use as a baseline reference to build out your own version if you are just looking for some inspiration.
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Feb 15, 2019 23:11
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Dameius posted:Matt Mercer took the Pathfinder Gunslinger class and converted it to a 5e homebrew with some additional tweaks and put it on the DMGuild. The general consensus is that the class isn't terrible, but has structural issues that keep it from being on par with the official classes. The actual pathfinder gunslinger class is absolute garbage, is a big part of the problem. Garbage in, garbage out. The actual easiest answer is to not try to be overly fancy about it, and just convert crossbows into guns. Hand crossbows are now pistols, non-hand crossbows are now arquebuses or muskets.
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Feb 15, 2019 23:17
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ProfessorCirno posted:The actual pathfinder gunslinger class is absolute garbage, is a big part of the problem. Garbage in, garbage out. Seconding this. It keeps firearms reasonable both when used by and against the party, and it doesn't invalidate conventional bows either. They're both equally lethal against a level 1 human commoner anyways, so as an abstraction it's honestly good enough.
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Feb 15, 2019 23:24
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I actually agree with that overall. For whatever reason I read the op as saying they wanted to introduce a gun using class rather than just sprinkle guns into the setting. For what was actually asked for, reskinning bows/crossbows will do the trick just fine.
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Feb 15, 2019 23:29
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ProfessorCirno posted:The actual easiest answer is to not try to be overly fancy about it, and just convert crossbows into guns. Hand crossbows are now pistols, non-hand crossbows are now arquebuses or muskets. The other one that works is reskin a warlock with a gun as a focus, Eldritch Blast as shooting, and careful spell selection. Possibly a few tweaks or a new pact to get the spell list nailed. Warlocks work for a lot of things people try to homebrew classes for.
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Feb 16, 2019 03:27
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I messed around with it and made base damage as 2d4 for pistols and 2d6 for rifles. Depending on how useful you want them to be, adjust the reload rate to an action or whatever. You could reduce to 1d6 and 1d10 vs people wearing armor (or come up with something like different bullet types, the 2d4 is soft lead shot that expands on impact while the lower damage option is a hard steel shot that punches through armor) etc. Maybe up the damage but drop the range.
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Feb 16, 2019 17:21
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Give Rogues Lemon Squeezers as a finesse weapon so they can bullet punch people. In fact if you really want to have fun look at lots of abandoned designs like rocketball pistols as d4 ranged weapons with a large capacity, Duckfoot guns that have a minimum Strength requirement but fire a cone. Hand Mortars for big explosions. Play with stuff that's not the standard flintlock and fulfill some niches.
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Feb 17, 2019 02:05
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Forgotten Realms Adventures and Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue are the sources for crazy firearms in the Forgotten Realms, if you want some weird ideas to update from 2e for your game.
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Feb 17, 2019 02:58
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So, for backstory reasons, my cleric has a level in fighter. I'm just wondering if there is a reason to level fighter more or if I should just stick with Cleric. Action surge seems cool, but that's 1/4 level for spells. And speaking of Cleric spells, there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why some are ritual and some aren't. Is this something that gets houseruled often?
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Feb 18, 2019 08:38
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Nasgate posted:So, for backstory reasons, my cleric has a level in fighter. I'm just wondering if there is a reason to level fighter more or if I should just stick with Cleric. Action surge seems cool, but that's 1/4 level for spells. Ritual Spells are pretty much useful utility spells that someone would not want to actually spend a slot on most of the time and or are spells that provide services or convenience because of being able to be used freely.
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Feb 18, 2019 09:10
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Nasgate posted:So, for backstory reasons, my cleric has a level in fighter. I'm just wondering if there is a reason to level fighter more or if I should just stick with Cleric. Action surge seems cool, but that's 1/4 level for spells. Action Surge for two spells a turn is nice, yeah, although at early levels you're still pretty limited by spells per day to get huge value from doublecasting. It's good for a second swing of Spiritual Weapon, though, and you can set up Bless or Spirit Guardians and still get a hit in. If you're starting in fighter like I'm assuming, then your choice of domain actually opens up a lot, since heavy armor and martial weapon proficiency are all redundant for you. You could even do something cheeky like take Arcane domain to pick up Blade cantrips, since you're already set on weapon/armor proficiency; Potent Spellcasting is about equal to Divine Strike and maybe better if your DM rules that it applies to both the primary and secondary damage.
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Feb 18, 2019 09:12
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MonsterEnvy posted:Ritual Spells are pretty much useful utility spells that someone would not want to actually spend a slot on most of the time and or are spells that provide services or convenience because of being able to be used freely. But then locate object and create/destroy water are not ritual tagged. Which seems kind of odd to me, since they are purely utility. lightrook posted:Action Surge for two spells a turn is nice, yeah, although at early levels you're still pretty limited by spells per day to get huge value from doublecasting. It's good for a second swing of Spiritual Weapon, though, and you can set up Bless or Spirit Guardians and still get a hit in. If you're starting in fighter like I'm assuming, then your choice of domain actually opens up a lot, since heavy armor and martial weapon proficiency are all redundant for you. You could even do something cheeky like take Arcane domain to pick up Blade cantrips, since you're already set on weapon/armor proficiency; Potent Spellcasting is about equal to Divine Strike and maybe better if your DM rules that it applies to both the primary and secondary damage. I'm already Life, I know it's kind of redundant. But I'm going for "was a lieutenant, sent guys to their death and now vows to protect others to make amends". So I should maybe hold off on fighter 2 until I get 2nd level spells it sounds like? And I'm assuming the lvl 3 isn't really worth it?
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Feb 18, 2019 09:34
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Nasgate posted:But then locate object and create/destroy water are not ritual tagged. Which seems kind of odd to me, since they are purely utility. Yeah but those are too convenient to be used for free. Nasgate posted:So I should maybe hold off on fighter 2 until I get 2nd level spells it sounds like? And I'm assuming the lvl 3 isn't really worth it? Yeah no need to go for level 3 fighter. While it has some pretty good stuff, you probably don't want to put your casting
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Feb 18, 2019 09:36
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Nasgate posted:So, for backstory reasons, my cleric has a level in fighter. I'm just wondering if there is a reason to level fighter more or if I should just stick with Cleric. Action surge seems cool, but that's 1/4 level for spells. What's your backstory reason for being a Fighter? As in, are there any 1st level Fighter mechanical features that would have any impact on the roleplay? Because a single level isn't going to make you meaningfully better at fighting than a Cleric, and Life already gets proficiency in Heavy Armor which is the big Fighter thing.
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Feb 18, 2019 09:42
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Conspiratiorist posted:What's your backstory reason for being a Fighter? As in, are there any 1st level Fighter mechanical features that would have any impact on the roleplay? Because a single level isn't going to make you meaningfully better at fighting than a Cleric, and Life already gets proficiency in Heavy Armor which is the big Fighter thing. I'd guess the biggest barrier to roleplay is justifying a soldiering background without martial weapon proficiency to match, but there's a few other ways to pick up martial weapon proficiency, and a trusty spear is a perfectly good and honest soldiering weapon, anyways.
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Feb 18, 2019 10:30
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