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Obviously talk it over with your players to find out what they'd want out of Curse of Strahd, but imo if you aren't playing an orchestral remix of Castlevania's Vampire Killer as they approach Strahd's castle and if you aren't voicing him like a halloween Dracula "I vant to suck your blood" type I think you're doing it wrongElector_Nerdlingen posted:Strahd showing up after every PC success and basically going "I'll get you next time, Gadget! Neeeeeeext tiiiiiiiiiiime!" was amazing and only fell apart because I moved 4 hours away. This is also really good
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Mar 11, 2019 04:11
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Yeah there's no need to necessarily go OTT cheesy but it's D&D. You're not getting Dracula no matter what you do, you're getting a vampire's castle themed dungeon to D&D in. Lean into it.
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Mar 11, 2019 04:50
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ritorix posted:People play CoS straight without constant castylvania/true blood/whatever references?? I want to run CoS as some point with Thriller, the Ghostbusters theme, classics like the Monster Mash, and hell, why not a Scooby Doo theme, too? And use the wealth of Castlevania music when I want to be atmospheric. Elector_Nerdlingen posted:Yeah there's no need to necessarily go OTT cheesy but it's D&D. You're not getting Dracula no matter what you do, you're getting a vampire's castle themed dungeon to D&D in. Lean into it.
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Mar 11, 2019 05:44
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monster mash is over doing it but tbh castlevania is the perfect mood for that section of ravenloft there's a bunch of bad dudes in the world, complete terrors of the night, unrepentant evils. go gently caress 'em up.
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Mar 11, 2019 05:46
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I'd legit play monster mash after the final session.
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Mar 11, 2019 09:38
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ritorix posted:People play CoS straight without constant castylvania/true blood/whatever references?? I'm running it fairly straight for my players and it's been a lot of fun. I do plan to use a lot more Castlevania music going forward though. I managed to creep them out pretty good in the Death House. Of course there's humor, you can't do all dour all the time, contrasts are what make any tone effective. Death House was creepy, but when the child ghosts possessed a couple of my players that ended up allowing for some natural humor in how the players acted it out. I'm not gonna monkey cheese it with the Monster Mash and "I vant to suck your blud!" poo poo but I'm not gonna run it all doom all the time.
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Mar 11, 2019 16:40
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Campaign idea: Barovia is infested with dozens of vampires, each one a different interpretation of vampires from popular culture, each one claiming to be the real Strahd. The adventures have to choose which one to install on the throne. Really, I just want an excuse for a D&D campaign where Edward Cullen fights The Count from Sesame Street
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Mar 11, 2019 17:14
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inthesto posted:Campaign idea: Barovia is infested with dozens of vampires, each one a different interpretation of vampires from popular culture, each one claiming to be the real Strahd. The adventures have to choose which one to install on the throne. I would play the poo poo out of this game.
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Mar 11, 2019 17:18
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My group played CoS more or less straight IC (or as close as it gets given the typical goofy characterization of the average D&D PC), but OOC it was all jokes.
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Mar 11, 2019 17:20
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Kung Food posted:Oooh kay, so I have a player that REALLY wants to craft potions because they want to play an alchemy spec artificer and potions is a big part of that. Me being a big softy pushover DM who wants my players happy I want to be able to let them. The RAW for crafting in the DMG is super sparse and only involves buying materials at stores, while my player wants to go out and roll nature for mats. So I am currently brainstorming a homebrew system for foraging mats and am wondering if anyone thinks this will totally be unbalanced: I dunno anything about it but this was on my youtube recommended a few days ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka_dPgJGzPw
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Mar 11, 2019 17:34
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My wife wanted to play CoS but more like Buffy so we just played Monster of the Week instead.
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Mar 11, 2019 17:43
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inthesto posted:Campaign idea: Barovia is infested with dozens of vampires, each one a different interpretation of vampires from popular culture, each one claiming to be the real Strahd. The adventures have to choose which one to install on the throne. One of the factions needs to the guys from What We do in the Shadows.
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Mar 11, 2019 18:03
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inthesto posted:Campaign idea: Barovia is infested with dozens of vampires, each one a different interpretation of vampires from popular culture, each one claiming to be the real Strahd. The adventures have to choose which one to install on the throne. A Barovia with five identical Strands, each one claiming to be the third strongest Strahd.
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Mar 11, 2019 19:00
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So I took over as DM for my group of level 10 players. The problem is that they're not using all their powers and abilities their fullest extent. How do I subtly remind them that they can do a lot of things that can make their life easier?
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Mar 11, 2019 19:22
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grittyreboot posted:So I took over as DM for my group of level 10 players. The problem is that they're not using all their powers and abilities their fullest extent. How do I subtly remind them that they can do a lot of things that can make their life easier? Run a mind swap adventure, hand the sheets one to the left for a session.
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Mar 11, 2019 19:26
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Piell posted:Run a mind swap adventure, hand the sheets one to the left for a session. Haha I actually had that idea. We're in the middle of CoS right now, though, so I guess I'm just gonna have to figure out a way to add that into one of the pre existing dungeons.
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Mar 11, 2019 19:32
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Infinitum posted:Hi I'm thinking of getting back into D&D as I had a lot of fun with 4E, but my small little group lost steam. I think there are a few different clubs around Sydney, but Exiles seems to be the most central and is pretty well organised. There's usually 6 or so different groups running DnD games each night, plus other tabletop systems. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExilesGamingClub/
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Mar 11, 2019 21:23
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CJ posted:I dunno anything about it but this was on my youtube recommended a few days ago. Thanks for this, although with her method it makes it seem like her players would be drowning in healing pots. I think I might keep the general theme of 'elements' but use her list for flavor.
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Mar 11, 2019 21:47
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I personally did not have Strahd communicate with the party at all until they reached his castle. The times he harassed the party he did so in bat and wolf form. Once they came to the Castle he revealed his intent to murder them, and more properly harassed them throughout the castle.
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Mar 11, 2019 22:07
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I think I'm going to roll up a level 3 ranger, what is the least lovely option?
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Mar 11, 2019 22:59
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RC Cola posted:I think I'm going to roll up a level 3 ranger, what is the least lovely option? Gloom Stalker or Horizon Walker. Also see if you can use Revised Ranger, but those two were designed as fixes for the Ranger before RR was even a thing.
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Mar 11, 2019 23:37
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RC Cola posted:I think I'm going to roll up a level 3 ranger, what is the least lovely option? Does your DM allow variant human and feats? Don't mind being a min-maxing piece of poo poo? If so pick variant human and take the crossbow expert feat. Use a one handed-crossbow and get an extra shot each turn with your bonus action. If you doubt that's how it works, from the rules designer himself: https://twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/524703008718721024 Then think about taking sharpshooter feat when you turn level 4.
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Mar 12, 2019 00:40
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CBE is extremely good on Fighters (Battle Master) but only so-so on Rangers since they get Hunter's Mark. I'd say the most fun Ranger gimmick is 17 DEX Wood Elf Gloom Stalker into Elven Accuracy (bump up to 18) then Sharpshooter on the next ASI, since ranged combat is normally boring but GS actually makes you care about positioning to maximize your offense (similar to how Polearm Master does). For fun it can also pick up 2~4 levels in Champion Fighter; Action Surge combos with Dread Ambusher so you can activate Hunter's Mark then pop AS and attack 6 times, two of which have 1d8 extra, all of which have 1d6 from HM, probably at 3d20 attack rolls from Umbral Sight + Elven Accuracy, crit on 19 from Champion and toss in an extra 10 damage on each hit if you pick up Sharpshooter. Was having a blast with it on SKT.
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Mar 12, 2019 03:43
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Conspiratiorist posted:CBE is extremely good on Fighters (Battle Master) but only so-so on Rangers since they get Hunter's Mark. And going by someone who went way farther down the math rabbit hole than I can, Ranger CBE+sharpshooter is going to be ahead of fighter CBE+sharpshooter until level 11, so if you are playing something that ends around there like SKT, ranger is the better crossbow quick draw gunslinger. 
Kung Food fucked around with this message at 04:32 on Mar 12, 2019 |
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Mar 12, 2019 04:13
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I read that CBE is good on rogue, but so far I'm just using my bonus action to hide and using sneak attacks to annihilate things. What would CBE add? Can I use the CBE bonus action to ready an attack for a second sneak attack?
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Mar 12, 2019 04:39
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Nasgate posted:I read that CBE is good on rogue, but so far I'm just using my bonus action to hide and using sneak attacks to annihilate things. What would CBE add? Can I use the CBE bonus action to ready an attack for a second sneak attack? Sadly no. Crossbow Expert generates a bonus action when you make an attack. You can't ready a bonus action and besides the trigger is clearly intended to be used immediately.
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Mar 12, 2019 04:47
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Kung Food posted:Assuming your fighting something that lives longer than 1 turn, why not use both? 1. You can! But I said so-so because the difference is marginal. Let's say our Human Ranger is level 5 and DEX 18, fighting an AC 16 baddie. Over 3 turns using Hunter's Mark + Longbow + Sharpshooter mean damage comes down to 61.8, while a guy that took CBE instead of SS, vs the same enemy is 64.40. So it's only slightly better in a situation where you're spending 3+ turns attacking the same enemy. On Fighter it makes sense because you don't have anything to do with your Bonus Action, but on Ranger you've got a strong damage adder that you're going to activate/move once or twice during an encoutner. 2. Oh, I've gone deep into the math. That analysis is awful and also it's using an EK Fighter. The top ranged Fighter is Battle Master, since it can Precision misses into hits.
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Mar 12, 2019 04:49
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Nasgate posted:I read that CBE is good on rogue, but so far I'm just using my bonus action to hide and using sneak attacks to annihilate things. What would CBE add? Can I use the CBE bonus action to ready an attack for a second sneak attack? quote:Sneak Attack
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Mar 12, 2019 04:56
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Conspiratiorist posted:1. You can! But I said so-so because the difference is marginal. Let's say our Human Ranger is level 5 and DEX 18, fighting an AC 16 baddie. Over 3 turns using Hunter's Mark + Longbow + Sharpshooter mean damage comes down to 61.8, while a guy that took CBE instead of SS, vs the same enemy is 64.40.
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Mar 12, 2019 04:59
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Mendrian posted:Sadly no. Crossbow Expert generates a bonus action when you make an attack. You can't ready a bonus action and besides the trigger is clearly intended to be used immediately. Basically, making two attacks is better than making one attack with advantage, assuming you're meeting Sneak Attack conditions either way. It isn't much of a difference, though. Kung Food posted:But if you are variant human you can be SS and CBE at the same time at level 5. We can do that, sure. vs AC16, 3 turns of combat DEX18, Longbow + HM + SS = 61.8 damage DEX18, CBE + HM = 64.4 damage DEX16, CBE + HM + SS = 66.8 damage 5 whole damage, or 8%, whichever sounds better. Conspiratiorist fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Mar 12, 2019 |
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Mar 12, 2019 05:02
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the inherent problem with CBE is having a DM that cares about ammo don't be that DM
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Mar 12, 2019 05:04
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Kung Food posted:Do you have any melee fighters in your party? Do they like to stand next to poo poo you are attacking? If so you don't need advantage and are able to get in free sneak attacks so you can use your bonus action to fire off another round instead. Meaning you can: attack + bonus attack + sneak attack every round, as long as what you are shooting at has one of your friends next to it. I don't have CBE yet since I prefer having 18 dex for now. But I'll keep it in mind. I do have 3 melee members, so it'll be a blast. Edit: looking at it, I can just throw a dagger and save a feat though if I just want some extra damage. Nasgate fucked around with this message at 06:18 on Mar 12, 2019 |
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Mar 12, 2019 05:55
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Kung Food posted:Assuming your fighting something that lives longer than 1 turn, why not use both? Under my proposed budget plan, crossbow damage will go up 11% for families of two living on less than 20 DPR
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Mar 12, 2019 06:55
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Conspiratiorist posted:My group played CoS more or less straight IC (or as close as it gets given the typical goofy characterization of the average D&D PC), but OOC it was all jokes. If you arent cracking jokes with friends OOC all the time whats the point of playing silly dungeon mans?? With Curse of Strahd I can definitely see it being kind of average with an average DM. Mine is drat good though and its been an absolute blast. I think the thing to remember is not to be quite so wary of Strahd. He is both toying with the party but at the same time is also limited in what he can do. Dont be surprised if Strahd was never actually facing you in person..
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Mar 12, 2019 15:10
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Dameius posted:One of the factions needs to the guys from What We do in the Shadows.
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Mar 12, 2019 15:43
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Nutsngum posted:If you arent cracking jokes with friends OOC all the time whats the point of playing silly dungeon mans?? With the right group, I think it'd be interesting to send an evil party into CoS with the objective of freeing Strahd and bringing a powerful ally back. Skip the haunted house, obviously, so they come in at L3 or 4. The opening town would be hilarious (there's a vampire trapped in your basement? Don't worry, we'll have a talk with him), and the NPC interactions would spin wildly different (Strahd wants your sister? We'll protect her...). Even better, there's several powerful evil NPCs in the setting who would not want Strahd to leave. Probably better with players who have some familiarity with the adventure already.
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Mar 12, 2019 16:04
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So, I’m DMing my first game on Friday night and feeling really unprepared. I don’t know the combat rules well enough and haven’t had time to do any world building but will run a single run-and-done dungeon in one night. What do I need to know? What are your top five quick tips that a DM needs to adhere to keep the game moving fast and fun?
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Mar 13, 2019 08:35
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Forum Joe posted:So, I’m DMing my first game on Friday night and feeling really unprepared. I don’t know the combat rules well enough and haven’t had time to do any world building but will run a single run-and-done dungeon in one night. What do I need to know? https://youtu.be/zTD2RZz6mlo
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Mar 13, 2019 09:31
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Forum Joe posted:So, I’m DMing my first game on Friday night and feeling really unprepared. I don’t know the combat rules well enough and haven’t had time to do any world building but will run a single run-and-done dungeon in one night. What do I need to know? I just DMed my first game on the 1st of this month and I was in almost your exact situation (except I am going with a module). These were a few things that helped me: 1) Cheat sheets. Try this one: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c2a76484611a0ff5d604514/t/5c4908e94d7a9ca6363c2699/1548290282088/5e+Player+Reference-v1-6.pdf 2) How new are your players? Pretty new? If so when you're faced with a rule you don't know or isn't a quick look up, just make something up that makes sense at the time. Keeping the game moving is more important then strict rules lawyering. 3) Quick rule of thumb: If a spell or ability has "attack" in the description, the attacker rolls against the target's AC. If it has "saving throw" in the description, the target rolls against the attacker's spell DC. In case of a tie the character rolling wins. 4) Describe the combat. Did a character miss? Describe how the target deftly dodges their attack or blocked it with their shield. A Hit? Describe the damage inflicted, be explicit about blood flying everywhere. I let my players describe killing blows they make and they loved it. 5) There is a ton of pre-made adventures out there. If you only have tell Friday don't stress yourself out making your own.Try this thread for some one-shots to try: https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/4rw3yy/best_oneshot_adventures_for_beginners/
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Mar 13, 2019 09:32
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Forum Joe posted:So, I’m DMing my first game on Friday night and feeling really unprepared. I don’t know the combat rules well enough and haven’t had time to do any world building but will run a single run-and-done dungeon in one night. What do I need to know? Eh don't worry to much..............if everything is statted out (monsters/traps what have you) then mechanically your golden. Just lean in on being a descriptive story teller dude, and let the players run the show. If you gently caress up...............eh play it off, your players don't know whats happening on your side of the screen, so its really easy to fix. Oh and never fudge dice rolls, for good or ill. They might not say they know you fudged the dice, but they will know, and if you fudge the dice to save one person, and not someone else, that leads to bad times. Never fudge the dice, even if it kills a PC.
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Mar 13, 2019 13:34
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