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Springfield Fatts posted:I'll confess I still don't fully understand triggered actions and usually half rear end it. Basically it's a combination of 4e's Minor and Immediate actions, if that helps.
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Apr 12, 2019 00:40
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UrbanLabyrinth posted:What do people think of giving PCs a flat bonus or a multiplier to health? I think it's unnecessary unless you intend to play from level 0. Characters at level 1 (mostly wizards) can still be one-shotted by an enemy that rolls 2d6 damage, but that's not really that much different from DnD, though I'd concede I wouldn't call PCs in Shadow of the Demon Lord robust until they enter their Expert Paths. Springfield Fatts posted:I'll confess I still don't fully understand triggered actions and usually half rear end it. You get to do one per turn and you can use it anytime the triggered condition is met.
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Apr 12, 2019 00:53
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Springfield Fatts posted:I'll confess I still don't fully understand triggered actions and usually half rear end it. there's less to understand than you seem to think: - everyone can do 1 triggered action a round (barring some spells/abilities that increase this limit) - they can take place at any point during the round when the specified trigger condition is met (i.e. they don't need to be during your turn/not your turn and can interrupt another creature's turn) that's pretty much it - some (like the free attack against someone moving out of your reach everyone can do, or the Mage's Counterspell ability that is triggered by being attacked by a spell) are pure reactions triggered by what others do/external circumstances, while other abilities have trigger conditions that are in response to things you yourself choose to do (i.e. the Fighter's Haft Attack and Swift Shot talents can trigger off of you making attacks with appropriate weapons) up to and including triggers that pretty much amount to "I felt like doing it" (the Rogue's Threats ability)
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Apr 12, 2019 01:08
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ZearothK posted:I think it's unnecessary unless you intend to play from level 0. Characters at level 1 (mostly wizards) can still be one-shotted by an enemy that rolls 2d6 damage, but that's not really that much different from DnD, though I'd concede I wouldn't call PCs in Shadow of the Demon Lord robust until they enter their Expert Paths. Not in 4e, the only good D&D (but maybe by something with a high crit ability).
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Apr 12, 2019 01:29
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UrbanLabyrinth posted:Yep, I had the Fortune and downplaying insanity/corruption in mind. I'd probably need new background tables, since they seem to have a lot of insanity/corruption in them. What do people think of giving PCs a flat bonus or a multiplier to health? Flat bonuses would probably result in some fights being very, very easy and the ones that are normally insanely lethal becoming average. The problem isn't that the whole game is too hard -- it's that there's a lot of variance among things that are presented as equal in challenge. In fact, I'd go so far as to say: the appeal of SotDL is really good player-facing material, for the most part. I love the way PCs are built, I love the core system mechanics, all of that stuff is great. Where it falls apart is in the GM mechanics and, even moreso, the GM-facing content, which are poorly explained, not very well-balanced, and where they aren't outright contradictory or incomplete, they still have this constant ethos of "eh, just figure it out yourself." It very much feels like the game made for people who have been GMing D&D for decades and will just "get" the assumptions that go with that, but the problem is that it doesn't borrow from just one version of D&D -- there's a lot of 5th, 4th, and 3rd edition in SotDL's DNA, with a touch of oldschool Basic / OSR flavor plus the Warhammer Fantasy wildcard (which I know nothing about). And all of those games have different assumptions, which makes it really hard to just intuit how you're meant to use the tools you're given, especially when those tools are themselves sometimes broken. Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Apr 12, 2019 |
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Apr 12, 2019 03:38
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I bit the bullet and finally bought Tales, Forbidden Rules, and Demon Lord's Companion. I won't be running it for my group anytime soon I imagine but I like having books.
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Apr 12, 2019 14:25
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hey im thinking about running godless for a group that already enjoys sotdl. is the vehicle combat good? it seems ok but the devil (demon) is in the details. are there any godless specific things that suck mechanically speaking?
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Apr 14, 2019 23:45
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How does extra damage work with spells that deal multiple hits like Unerring Missile or the Flying Blades one in Technomancy? Would Unerring missile be 1+Extra damage per missile or (1xNumber of missiles) + extra damage? And for blades, it says you make 5 attacks, would it be adding the extra damage per attack?
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Apr 16, 2019 16:28
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Mechayahiko posted:How does extra damage work with spells that deal multiple hits like Unerring Missile or the Flying Blades one in Technomancy? extra damage is to the entire attack as it is applied against each target so if you use the Sorcerer's Potent Spell talent with Unerring Darts against a single target you'd do 7+2d6 if you used it against the maximum of 3 targets you'd do (# of darts)+2d6 to each of them (for a total of 7+6d6)
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Apr 17, 2019 02:19
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Off the top of their head, does anyone know what changes were made to the fighter class in paths of battle? They've been folded into the core book and I'm not sure what the old one was
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Apr 27, 2019 22:11
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Jarvisi posted:Off the top of their head, does anyone know what changes were made to the fighter class in paths of battle? They've been folded into the core book and I'm not sure what the old one was I don't remember without looking it up, but I played a fighter in my group's game that concluded, and I remember being happy with the changes made.
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Apr 27, 2019 23:13
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Jarvisi posted:Off the top of their head, does anyone know what changes were made to the fighter class in paths of battle? They've been folded into the core book and I'm not sure what the old one was These are the changes as they were folded to core for future reprints: Level 3: Added the Fight with Anything talent functionality for free, and your Strength counts as 2 higher for meeting weapon/armor requirements. Level 6: Added a second Fighter Talent pick. Level 9: Added +1 Defense Added Fighter's Resolve: You make challenge rolls to resist attacks with 1 boon. Weapon Mastery changed to specify attack rolls *with a weapon*. Fighter Talents: Removed Fight with Anything (it's now part of level 3) Remove Defense Expertise (I guess it's technically part of level 9 now) Fight with Two Weapons: now reduces the number of banes from the attack by 2, rather than granting a boon. Powerful Attack: now deals 2d6 extra damage instead of 1d6. Shield Bash: now affects all attacks against the same target (until the end of the next round) instead of just the one next attack. Swift Reload: using the weapon in the same turn you applied this talent imposes 1 bane. Swift Shot: the penalty is now 2 banes instead of 1. New Talent - Haft Attack: When you attack with a polearm or a staff, you can use a triggered action to attack with the other end of the weapon. Make the attack roll with 1 bane and the attack deals 1d6 damage.
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Apr 27, 2019 23:23
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Conspiratiorist posted:These are the changes as they were folded to core for future reprints: Thanks! I'm reviewing the thri-keen race someone made and seeing if it's balanced with warrior.
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Apr 28, 2019 04:31
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Unless you've made something with better access to spellcasting than the Spellguard or better access to on-demand stuns than the Monk, it's extremely unlikely that your homebrew martial is too strong.
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Apr 28, 2019 05:16
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So I just ran my second (first was years ago) adventure for Shadow of the Demon Lord for 3 players. I did a level 0 starting adventure Dead by Dawn, and true to form it resulted in a TPK. One of the players was absent so one of the other players ran 2 PCs instead. From what we could tell so far level 0 is both very swingy and lethal, although I do not know to what extent this adventure is representative of the RPG and other Starting ones of its kind. Our group still wants to give the game a shot in spite of the deaths, albeit as proper level 1 characters next time. In hindsight I don't know if certain tactics could have made a difference. Particularly during PC fast turns, I feel like if PCs opened up with using slings during the fast action they could have gotten in more damage by the time their slow turns came into play instead. I also only told the players about Fortune Points halfway through the session instead of at the beginning as it slipped my mind at the time. For those unfamiliar, Dead by Dawn is a classic zombie horde survival where the PCs end up in an inn besieged by the walking dead, and must survive five waves of monsters before dawn comes. The PCs decided to retreat to the second floor and use the hallway as a bottleneck to attack the undead, but I also had it so that a few of them got around into rooms by climbing and ripping open boarded windows. Putting doors shut could give a round of respite while the animated corpses wailed on them, although the multi-pronged attacks on my part made it so that even a chokepoint was not a safe route, only a temporary reprieve.
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Apr 29, 2019 00:44
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Libertad! posted:So I just ran my second (first was years ago) adventure for Shadow of the Demon Lord for 3 players. I did a level 0 starting adventure Dead by Dawn, and true to form it resulted in a TPK. One of the players was absent so one of the other players ran 2 PCs instead. From what we could tell so far level 0 is both very swingy and lethal, although I do not know to what extent this adventure is representative of the RPG and other Starting ones of its kind. Our group still wants to give the game a shot in spite of the deaths, albeit as proper level 1 characters next time. In hindsight I don't know if certain tactics could have made a difference. Particularly during PC fast turns, I feel like if PCs opened up with using slings during the fast action they could have gotten in more damage by the time their slow turns came into play instead. I also only told the players about Fortune Points halfway through the session instead of at the beginning as it slipped my mind at the time. Haven't played Dead by Dawn, but a lot of the prewritten adventures are overtuned and likely to kill at least one or all characters, it's dumb.
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Apr 29, 2019 01:05
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For running that adventure, I talked to my players ahead of time and established that they didn't want to play a super high mortality game. I then statted out about 5 additional NPCs to be in the tavern and had them help out my players. It remained tense but I basically let them use the fodder NPCs as a buffer and a source of boons because a few bad rolls are going to be fatal. I'm pretty sure the module basically tells you to do that though, or maybe I read it here. It's intentional though - if you choose to start at 0 you have to intentionally work around it if that's not what you're going for.
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Apr 29, 2019 02:04
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True to its D&D roots, SotDL is highly lethal until level 2 or 3.
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Apr 29, 2019 03:24
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Found what is reported to be a Random Loot Generator for SotDL. I don't know if the loot table is based on the core book but it looks useful. SotDL Loot Generator by Z K Rucker: http://orteil.dashnet.org/randomgen/?gen=gZk5yUJH Generator Loot table: http://pastebin.com/raw/gZk5yUJH Edit: I made an Interesting Things generator. http://orteil.dashnet.org/randomgen/?gen=nmHMEQm8 Helical Nightmares fucked around with this message at 03:20 on May 2, 2019 |
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May 1, 2019 05:04
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How do people handle corruption for NPCs? A group of brigands with five successful waylays under their collective belts should be sitting at enough corruption to make children and animals uncomfortable and likely have a few marks of darkness between them. A high cultist who's overseen a monthly sacrifice for three years should be drenched in corruption and covered in marks of darkness. I want to keep the corruption rules as a whole, but don't see a way for there to be any good parallel between PCs and NPCs. I was thinking that while mechanically it would still work in numerical increments, engaging in a certain lifestyle would effectively set a rate of corruption gain. Killing one person in cold blood nets you one corruption, while being a brigand gains you one corruption per year. A particularly murderous brigand might gain two corruption per year. A cat burglar who never visits violence upon someone gets one corruption every two or three years. This also avoids the weirdness of one theft = one corruption by making it so repeated lightly-evil deeds gain corruption eventually.
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May 6, 2019 22:11
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It works however you want it to work, the rules are designed not to let the PCs act like complete murderhobos without massive consequences.
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May 6, 2019 22:24
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I know I can (and plan to) change the rules and just wanted to know how other people had handled that bit. There's a goofy disconnect if a PC filches two apples and starts bleeding from the eyes while an urchin that's been stealing bits and pieces for years is fine. As-is the rules have a massive disconnect between PCs and NPCs and I was wondering if anyone else had any particular ways they ruled it; I'm planning to go with my alternate version unless someone has something more interesting.
Elysiume fucked around with this message at 22:34 on May 6, 2019 |
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May 6, 2019 22:31
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Elysiume posted:I know I can (and plan to) change the rules and just wanted to know how other people had handled that bit. There's a goofy disconnect if a PC filches two apples and starts bleeding from the eyes while an urchin that's been stealing bits and pieces for years is fine. As-is the rules have a massive disconnect between PCs and NPCs and I was wondering if anyone else had any particular ways they ruled it; I'm planning to go with my alternate version unless someone has something more interesting. ...not really? Corebook, Page 200, GM advice section posted:Player characters gain Corruption when they commit truly heinous acts driven by selfishness, greed, hatred, or some other dark motive. Frequently, situations arise in which the characters might do questionable things, such as minor theft or killing someone who probably deserves to die. But only seriously dark acts are worthy of Corruption— things that make the world a little worse than it was before. Examples include torturing an innocent person, burning down a town, stealing from the poor and hungry, or committing cold-blooded murder. Such an act should earn 1 Corruption for the character responsible. the examples on page 36 are just examples, so characters shouldn't be gaining corruption for shoplifting or the odd bit of pickpocketing, but should if they're cheating an orphan out of their inheritance or taking everything of value from a poor hamlet before burning it down its pretty easy to just require/assume increasing levels of depravity to gain more corruption - i.e. once you've sacrificed a few people to the demon lord leaving an orphan homeless probably doesn't even register
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May 6, 2019 22:50
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I apparently only read the player section on corruption and forgot/overlooked that part.  Thanks!
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May 6, 2019 22:58
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BTW I realized I never gave y'all my Trauma rules for Dark Sun conversion to replace Insanity, so here you go. It's a bit loosey-goosey and I apologize for that, but it's basically a draft of a house rule that I wrote up for consumption. If you have suggestions I'll be listening. Thanks and have fun! https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/kJSi2wW3HgvkHC1PlTXzHHu0Je9S2yj1Qbv3RcUqb5B
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May 6, 2019 23:16
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The Kickstarter for the SotDL board game is live! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/432417423/against-the-shadow-the-board-game/description
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May 10, 2019 20:32
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Giodo! posted:The Kickstarter for the SotDL board game is live!
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May 11, 2019 05:28
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I backed for a dollar to get updates, but this doesn't especially wow me either.
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May 11, 2019 22:11
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I mean there's not even a board or piece mock-up, just card images. Hell, basically no component previews.
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May 11, 2019 22:24
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It's also a card game, which is confusing.
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May 11, 2019 22:53
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Triggered spells still require you to have your implement in hand, right? There's no prohibition on just making your sword/axe/whatever your implement so you can just take that route, so it's more of a question for someone who doesn't want to make their weapon/shield their implement.
Elysiume fucked around with this message at 05:10 on May 12, 2019 |
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May 12, 2019 05:03
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Triggered Action spells require the same "Wield the Implement" condition fulfilled as any other spell (that doesn't specify otherwise in its description). What "Wield the Implement" means is up to your DM.
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May 12, 2019 06:42
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The implement requirement is also how teleportation mages insta-win mage battles with a cantrip, iirc.
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May 12, 2019 14:45
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dwarf74 posted:The implement requirement is also how teleportation mages insta-win mage battles with a cantrip, iirc. Nah, this is a silly meme based on a misunderstanding of the targeting rules. SotDL Core, pg. 113 posted:Targeting Objects
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May 12, 2019 16:06
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:Nah, this is a silly meme based on a misunderstanding of the targeting rules. 
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May 12, 2019 19:28
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Rob posted:I want to thank everyone who has pledged and helped to spread the word about the Against the Shadow campaign. Your support and enthusiasm are what makes writing this update so difficult to write. Looks like a rework of the board (card) game is forthcoming. I think they could get the price down to $30 if they axe the scoreboard and tokens
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May 13, 2019 17:12
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My biggest problem is that I don't find the setting of SotDL particularly compelling. It's absolutely not bad or a detriment to the play experience but my best results with this system is when I bolt it onto other fantasy systems with great settings but lacking mechanics. Against the Shadow basically goes all in on the setting and it's just not good enough IMO.
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May 13, 2019 17:15
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moths posted:Looks like a rework of the board (card) game is forthcoming. I think they could get the price down to $30 if they axe the scoreboard and tokens If it's a board game, show it off. If it's a card game, make it clear.
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May 13, 2019 17:39
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I knew that changelings were made by faeries and goblins were exiled faeries stripped of their powers, but I didn't really expect them to straight up have faerie on their type line in the bestiary. They'd (mild Necessary Sacrifices spoiler) both be safe from the challenge roll to grab the Sword of the Betrayer, which I didn't consider when I first read through this adventure. What can even remove curses? From googling and looking through books all I've found is:
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May 14, 2019 03:12
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An adventure of some sort to remove it seems like a reasonable compromise. Otherwise pretty par for the SotDL course, though my book isn't handy to double check.
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May 14, 2019 05:03
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