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Ok. So I run a homebrew. I will make up cities, holy orders, institutions etc. to fit the players PCs. I though, well since its homebrew and it does not really have anything that is canon yet, how could I used that to my advantage and open up more interactive storytelling where the PCs or players actually decide something about the lore. An example is that one of my PCs is from a town of freaks and outcasts where they are forced to stay in it. So the rumor is that they are all branded and leaving their home will cause a mark to appear. So I thought, if that is a rumor, then the PC can deny or confirm this rumor, effectively letting them know they have some say in the story. Of course, the DM always has the final say and is the biggest source of information of this world, but plot and lore should not just be something to make the DM wet. But that usually is the case because unless the players can use it to expand or grow their character it's hard for them to care. I want to knit them a bit closer to the lore so any inspiration or advice would be good. I got a sorcerer basically looking for a blue cube (I just call it the Tessarect) that jump started his powers. A dutiful tempest cleric who is commited to his God and love of nature who doesn't drink. A semi-meta gamey paladin who loves loot and destroying evil (Maybe I can expand upon his oath). A dwarf barbarian who is a bit newer to DnD so honestly no real backstory, which makes this hard, but I am open to suggestions. The reason I am doing this is that I just got "the return of the lazy dungeon master" and honestly I recommend it to anyone who is not a complete novice at DMing. Less is more, the book. Just focuses on the essentials and I missed some of them... Midig fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Dec 10, 2019 |
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Dec 10, 2019 02:30
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Didn't the law vs chaos part originate from a book series where it was literally the cosmic forces of law and chaos it was you aligning yourself with one side in the conflict? Why did morality get added to it?
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Dec 10, 2019 02:31
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Midig posted:Ok. So I run a homebrew. I will make up cities, holy orders, institutions etc. to fit the players PCs. I though, well since its homebrew and it does not really have anything that is canon yet, how could I used that to my advantage and open up more interactive storytelling where the PCs or players actually decide something about the lore. An example is that one of my PCs is from a town of freaks and outcasts where they are forced to stay in it. So the rumor is that they are all branded and leaving their home will cause a mark to appear. So I thought, if that is a rumor, then the PC can deny or confirm this rumor, effectively letting them know they have some say in the story. Of course, the DM always has the final say and is the biggest source of information of this world, but plot and lore should not just be something to make the DM wet. But that usually is the case because unless the players can use it to expand or grow their character it's hard for them to care. I want to knit them a bit closer to the lore so any inspiration or advice would be good. The animated spellbook did an episode on a DM style that sounds similar to what you are looking for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKQv4GC0N9Q
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Dec 10, 2019 03:17
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xanthan posted:Didn't the law vs chaos part originate from a book series where it was literally the cosmic forces of law and chaos it was you aligning yourself with one side in the conflict? Yeah, Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber series I believe.
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Dec 10, 2019 03:22
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Kung Food posted:The animated spellbook did an episode on a DM style that sounds similar to what you are looking for. One thing that is good about it is that it doesn't feel very railroady, but there are ways to railroad the players without having some NPC talk at them until they accept a quest. Such as having someone whisper into the ear of a count or King and naturally a PC listens in or make them find a treasure map. If you remember that PCs want to do cool stuff you can always make them go wherever you want anyways. I sort of dislike his approach a bit, since if the DM basically just moves assets around the map with an improvisational style, they might rob the players out of a sense of genuine exploration. The players should feel like they found something they could have missed out on by their own actions. Such as a hidden room with treasure. It actually existed and therefor they found that treasure fair and square, not just because you threw it at their feet. Midig fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Dec 10, 2019 |
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Dec 10, 2019 03:30
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Yeah, Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber series I believe. I think it comes from Michael Moorcock's Elric novels. xanthan posted:Why did morality get added to it? The law-chaos axis was a thing since OD&D. The moral axis got added with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons to make it more advanced I guess. 
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Dec 10, 2019 03:48
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Open Marriage Night posted:I’m playing a level six Artificer Battle Smith. He’s a high elf with the feat making the double bladed scimitar a finesse weapon. It’s got me thinking about cross classing with Rogue. I could use my steel defender to help me flank enemies, and I could use one of my infusions for Boots of Elvenkind. Definitely lawful, but I can't tell here if he's good or evil.
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Dec 10, 2019 04:39
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Man, DND Beyond is such a great resource. I have bounced off dnd several times across various editions trying to get into it over the last decade, as approximately none of my attempts stuck until recently. My s/o found dnd beyond and gave it a spin for the latest 5e campaign her and I are playing in. Since the character creator I had used prior was decommissioned by Beyond being released, and I had a bunch of Google Survey money burning a hole in my account, I downloaded the android app and picked up the PHB and a couple other books for "free." I've always bummed  books off people for campaigns, and having one central, searchable resource is a godsend. I also like that you can buy out specific pieces of books you want access to, like races or spells. At this point I've spent more cash on acquiring stuff for my beyond account in bits and pieces over time than I had ever thought I'd spend on dnd.I was playing dnd with friends awhile back, and used to feel a little anxious until the session got under way. It was a good time socializing with friends, but I never felt like I had any idea what I was doing. Now I eagerly await the next session as soon as the current one ends. 
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Dec 10, 2019 09:20
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Beyond does in fact own hard.
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Dec 10, 2019 09:39
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The character creator is alright and good for sharing but 5etools is a much better resource database.
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Dec 10, 2019 10:19
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Conspiratiorist posted:The character creator is alright and good for sharing but 5etools is a much better resource database. yeah but 5etools occasionally just doesn't work for some reason, as in the bestiary just won't load for one reason or another.
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Dec 10, 2019 14:34
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PeterWeller posted:I think it comes from Michael Moorcock's Elric novels. I'd thought it stemmed from Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions. Just goes to show how different authors came up with similar used, though.
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Dec 10, 2019 15:34
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I bought Sophie's Dice for my last session; it's a program (also available on mobile) that does dice rolling. Now obviously there's lots of programs that do that, but this one actually simulates the motion and interactions of the dice, with enough physicality that I consider it an entirely adequate replacement for real dice. It's certainly cheaper than real dice.
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Dec 10, 2019 16:38
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Conspiratiorist posted:The character creator is alright and good for sharing but 5etools is a much better resource database. Not really it's just free and
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Dec 10, 2019 18:27
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MonsterEnvy posted:Not really it's just free and That's really just a bonus.
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Dec 10, 2019 18:37
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Just not a person fond of promoting pirating.
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Dec 10, 2019 18:40
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Huh, I'm surprised it's still up given they fairly aggressively axed almost everything publishing 5e content.
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Dec 10, 2019 18:45
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If the Beyond character creator could export a PDF with a spell sheet worth a poo poo it would be a 10/10. Still a nice service though.
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Dec 10, 2019 19:03
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Westy543 posted:Huh, I'm surprised it's still up given they fairly aggressively axed almost everything publishing 5e content. It's been taken down many times.
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Dec 10, 2019 19:06
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Orcpub2 has been great for spells. Have it print on front and back and it gives you spell cards.
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Dec 10, 2019 19:07
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Aniodia posted:I'd thought it stemmed from Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions. Just goes to show how different authors came up with similar used, though. Ive always heard Moorcocks Eternal Champions, who all skewed towards serving the gods of Law or Chaos, with the idea being if one side achieved total victory life would be hell. A 100% Chaotic world has no security or community. A 100% Law world has everything sorted into unbreakable hierarchies and there's no freedom. It fits well with Gygax's theme of "Neutrals are the most right" in Greyhawk. Its also worth a reminder that Gygax was a dopey nerd that read a few anthropology books and wasn't as smart as he thought. He once described massacres of Native Americans by the US cavalry as Lawful Good actions.
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Dec 10, 2019 19:07
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I've a feeling our campaign isn't going to last much longer...we just killed an evil wizard, and got an absolute trove of magic items, along with five spellbooks containing 57 spells. My wizard is going to be spending every spare moment transcribing for the rest of the campaign.
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Dec 10, 2019 19:18
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Ferrinus posted:I always took it as: Splicer fucked around with this message at 20:48 on Dec 10, 2019 |
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Dec 10, 2019 20:46
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I haven’t actually needed to GM a game with an alignment grid in years, but when I’ve played one-off characters for GMs who like alignment, I’ve thought of it in terms of compassionate/indifferent, consistent/inconsistent. It’s definitely not perfect, but it’s a framework that’s sufficient for the vast majority of characters I can think of, and for the characters I’ve actually made, it has mapped pretty well to other players’ expectations.
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Dec 11, 2019 00:22
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Gharbad the Weak posted:Definitely lawful, but I can't tell here if he's good or evil. He’s as good as anyone can be in our campaign, but I wasn’t asking about alignment. I was just trying to get thoughts on the cross classing.
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Dec 11, 2019 00:27
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Open Marriage Night posted:He’s as good as anyone can be in our campaign, but I wasn’t asking about alignment. I was just trying to get thoughts on the cross classing. Rogue is... not really that great at anything, I think; generally not as a dip, and barely even as a primary class. Usually the most important thing to consider when dipping is what you're getting upfront, in the first and second level. With rogue, you're getting Expertise and Sneak Attack at level 1, and a Cunning Action at level 2. Expertise is situationally kind of nice if you absolutely need to pump a specific skill, which usually means Athletics for grapple shenanigans, and Sneak Attack is something but also pretty marginal - that's 3.5 damage a turn, on average, which is not really that much. Cunning Action is has a few nifty uses, but the biggest thing to note is that it eats up your bonus action, which for most classes, artificer included, is already a fairly important resource - you're kind of expected to sic your robot buddy on someone every turn, so there's diminishing returns to having yet another at-will ability that competing for the same resource every single turn. I guess the better question is, what are you hoping to accomplish by multiclassing? If you just want to be a sneaky burgleperson, then you could go into wizard to accelerate your spell slot growth and have more slots for Invisibility and other larceny-related magic, because magic solves everything in this game. Or you can stick with Artificer and still advance your spellcasting, along with your other artificer abilities. With Battle Smith abilities you're guaranteed a flanker for consistent sneak attacks, but to what end? An extra 3.5 damage a turn? At that point, you might as well dip into Fighter and pick up a fighting style if your only goal is to add a little extra punch to your basic attacks, since either Archery or Dueling will be equal or better than Sneak Attack at that point, and that's not exactly something I'd recommend, either.
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Dec 11, 2019 00:53
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I had a player who rolled to see where they would land on a straight/gay alignment. The result? hella gay
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Dec 11, 2019 01:30
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If I was actually going to try and define alignments: Normal Evil - I do things to benefit myself, even if it harms others. There are probably still people I don't want to harm and there might be lines I wouldn't cross. Likewise, I don't do things unless I can get something out of it. If I'm smart or hard working, I might play the long game and do some things without an immediate reward because it might pay off later, but most other people are only as valuable to me as long as they're useful. Selfishness is the biggest motivator. Stupid Evil - Harming others is all I care about, it's worth taking risks to harm others even if there's nothing in it for me. Normal Neutral - I generally do things to benefit myself, but not if it harms others. I might help others even if it doesn't benefit me directly (especially if it doesn't seem particularly difficult or risky), because I believe that it'll lead to nonspecific outcomes in my favor. Harmony or the Golden Rule is the biggest motivator. Stupid Neutral - I hurt innocent people when I feel like it and I help innocent people when I feel like it, and they balance out to Neutral. Normal Good - I think of others before myself, but I do think of myself. I'll take risks to help others, with less thought of reward, but I will still accept rewards, if they're fair. I do weigh the risks I'm taking, and understand that I need to take care of myself if I'm going to be able to help anyone. Generosity or Responsibility are the biggest motivators. Stupid Good - I am a self-righteousness robot with not only absolute views on morality, but force everyone I encounter to do things according to my own personal code. Lawful - Rules might be arbitrary, but they're the best way to keep things running smoothly. Being predictable or at least orderly is the best way to gain and keep peoples' trust. Everyone has some level of obligation to each other and the society/environment they live in. It's important to keep your values even if nobody is watching. Chaotic - I believe the world works best when people decide for themselves what's best and how they want to act. Or at least, that's what's important to me. People should be free to do what they want (and that can be worth fighting for), but not free from the consequences. Nobody owes each other anything unless they choose to. You'd be an idiot to think trustworthiness doesn't matter, but being consistent about it when nobody knows isn't important. Neutral - Even if I don't like the rules, it's usually some amount of trouble to break them rather than follow them, so I tend to go with the flow and do what's most convenient. I don't have any particular attachment to freedom for freedom's sake, but I'm happy to bend or break the rules if it's worth the risk.
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Dec 11, 2019 01:36
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Good/Evil = Selfless/Sociopath Lawful/Chaotic = Supports and works within institutions and existing power structures/works outside of or seeks to undermine power structures
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Dec 11, 2019 01:47
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Yeah I think good/evil as adjudicated in D&D is actually pretty easy; on balance, are you selfless or selfish? Chaos/law is weird because it crosses up a bunch of things that aren't necessarily the same, i.e. your philosophy, politics, habits, and so on, all of which can be at odds in a person. Could be whether you're an authoritarian or libertarian, could be whether you're personally neat and predictable or messy and unreliable. I don't actually think the vagueness there is a problem in the way some TGD people do, but I also don't see anything useful lost in removing alignment at this point since it no longer serves its original purpose (giving us a slightly more objective metric than "nothing" to determine stuff like whether a holy sword whips your rear end or not) for what is probably the best.
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Dec 11, 2019 02:30
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Evil is practicality, and good is political expediency.
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Dec 11, 2019 02:31
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tanglewood1420 posted:Good/Evil = Selfless/Sociopath This is more or less how I've asked my players to view them and use them. I've largely used alignments as a way of a) forcing my players to work together as a team by disallowing evil alignments and b) drawing up 'teams' so they know who to talk to and who to roll initiative against (with some degree of freedom in the case of smarmy assholes)
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Dec 11, 2019 10:03
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Good: You kill people and take their stuff. It doesn't matter, they were bad people. Evil: You kill people and take their stuff. It doesn't matter, you're a bad person. Lawful: You kill people and take their stuff. It doesn't matter, you have a badge. Chaotic: You kill people and take their stuff. It doesn't matter, nothing matters. Neutral: You kill people and take their stuff. It doesn't matter, it isn't ideological.
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Dec 11, 2019 12:32
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Any other DMs have a list of fun random/one off encounters to throw into an adventure? Doesnt have to include battle stuff, but things to break from the "go to place, get quest, go to dungeon" style events.
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Dec 11, 2019 13:41
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Nutsngum posted:Any other DMs have a list of fun random/one off encounters to throw into an adventure? Doesnt have to include battle stuff, but things to break from the "go to place, get quest, go to dungeon" style events. I don't have a list to hand but I saw one on reddit recently. It was a random table I think. You should be able to find it by searching for "pig race" because one of the events listed was "town holds pig race" and the thread went into depth
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Dec 11, 2019 14:06
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I don't have a list to hand but I saw one on reddit recently. It was a random table I think. You should be able to find it by searching for "pig race" because one of the events listed was "town holds pig race" and the thread went into depth Well searching for things like "pig race" brings up a lot of homebrew pig related player races and not a lot else. Thanks anyway.
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Dec 11, 2019 15:03
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Nutsngum posted:Well searching for things like "pig race" brings up a lot of homebrew pig related player races and not a lot else. Thanks anyway. This was what I was thinking of: https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/amf4fi/help_me_collect_dnd_minigames/
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Dec 11, 2019 15:18
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:Good: You kill people and take their stuff. It doesn't matter, they were bad people. I'd say the two hard rules are 1. Your character must have an in-character motivation to bite the plot hooks the DM prepared. 2. Your character must have some amount of camaraderie (if not friendship) with the rest of the party. If you're going to betray the party it should be once at a dramatic moment discussed with the DM, not session after session of low-key dickstabbing. From there whether the PCs signed up for the saving the town or the socially sanctioned murder is an RP thing
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Dec 11, 2019 16:39
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lightrook posted:Rogue is... not really that great at anything, I think; generally not as a dip, and barely even as a primary class. Usually the most important thing to consider when dipping is what you're getting upfront, in the first and second level. With rogue, you're getting Expertise and Sneak Attack at level 1, and a Cunning Action at level 2. Expertise is situationally kind of nice if you absolutely need to pump a specific skill, which usually means Athletics for grapple shenanigans, and Sneak Attack is something but also pretty marginal - that's 3.5 damage a turn, on average, which is not really that much. Cunning Action is has a few nifty uses, but the biggest thing to note is that it eats up your bonus action, which for most classes, artificer included, is already a fairly important resource - you're kind of expected to sic your robot buddy on someone every turn, so there's diminishing returns to having yet another at-will ability that competing for the same resource every single turn. I appreciate the input. I like the rogue skills and stuff, but fighters great weapon fighting is tempting when I’m using a 2d4 weapon.
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Dec 11, 2019 20:24
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I wish rogues just got additional bonus actions already. Make it a freaking capstone, I don't care.
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Dec 11, 2019 20:33
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