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Zonko_T.M. posted:If you're a sorc or a warlock, and you're just trying to be better with your ASIs, chariso all the way. You'll get a lot more mileage out of it since all your spellcasting uses it. That's what I assumed. And with crusher I can add +1 to CON which would round me out to 18 (I'm a loxodon as well so also would give me +1 AC) but I'll revisit that after I get my charisma maxed.
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Dec 22, 2020 15:19
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Dr. Krieger posted:That's what I assumed. And with crusher I can add +1 to CON which would round me out to 18 (I'm a loxodon as well so also would give me +1 AC) but I'll revisit that after I get my charisma maxed. Keep in mind that as a Loxodon you're legally required to have some kind of revenge substory so that you can quip, "an elephant never forgets!" as you confront your rival, HTH
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Dec 22, 2020 16:16
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Zonko_T.M. posted:Keep in mind that as a Loxodon you're legally required to have some kind of revenge substory so that you can quip, "an elephant never forgets!" as you confront your rival, HTH ...while strangling them to death with your trunk, since it can grapple
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Dec 22, 2020 16:19
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Zonko_T.M. posted:Keep in mind that as a Loxodon you're legally required to have some kind of revenge substory so that you can quip, "an elephant never forgets!" as you confront your rival, HTH It took me a shamefully long time realise that the joke about Lulu in Descent into Avernus is that she's literally an elephant who forgets.
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Dec 22, 2020 16:39
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I just took over DMing in my group after we finished several year-long published campaigns (Dragon Queen, Out of the Abyss, etc) and I've been having fun with a shorter less serious adventure that I cobbled together from a few different sources. They're playing sidekicks to several of the world-saving heroes from previous campaigns and are searching for their missing mentors in a wizard's tower. This is my first time DMing in over 10 years, so I'm a bit rusty. We've been having a good time with a lot of interesting combat and fun puzzles, and I think everyone is having a good time. The trouble is, I worry that the plot makes more sense to me than it does to the players. They've skipped over some (I thought) obvious clues and made some choices I didn't expect, like not going back to the inn for their long rests, so they haven't talked to any townspeople since stuff started getting weird. We're in the home stretch of the adventure now (1-2 sessions more) and I don't know if I should get heavy-handed with the exposition or just play it straight and let them ask questions OOC afterward if they're still confused. I'm not looking to suck my own dick over how clever my adventure is, but I also don't want the players to feel like they've just been running from one random encounter to another. I just don't want my group to dread the next adventure I run. Any advice?
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Dec 22, 2020 17:44
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Well I DM'd my first campaign last night (think it was a hit? feedback hasn't been very forthcoming but everyone seemed to be having a great time, were engaged, etc) so grain of salt I guess but I'd say change the story around what your players are honing in on. Or use what you have written/planned as a base and make adjustments to the game based on that. Or if they need to go to the inn to learn more things but they're not doing that then put an Exposition NPC in their path. If they don't ask the NPC questions the NPC may just feel inclined to share that information. Maybe they need to be baited? The NPC has some knowledge but he's not forthcoming, maybe some gold will change his mind? (you might be surprised how well this works) Or maybe he'll tell you if you kill some bugbears? Maybe they just don't like talking to NPCs? Put a book somewhere in a dungeon, they might feel inclined to read it and oh my God! It contains exposition! Wow, I can't believe the Cleric had a dream last night and it was full of Exposition! Etc.
Perry Mason Jar fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Dec 22, 2020 |
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Dec 22, 2020 17:53
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One trick I've liked is presenting players with brief session summaries between games that provide any critical plot points (particularly if you think the players missed something). Something along the lines of "The party fought their way through the Mines of Moria, encountering bands of orcs and a terrifying Balrog. Their ally Gandalf the Grey tackled the monster at the bridge and allowed the party to escape, crying 'Fly you fools!' as he disappeared into the abyss. How will the fellowship find their way to Lothlorien without his guidance?"
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Dec 22, 2020 18:01
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Kaal posted:One trick I've liked is presenting players with brief session summaries between games that provide any critical plot points (particularly if you think the players missed something). Something along the lines of "The party fought their way through the Mines of Moria, encountering bands of orcs and a terrifying Balrog. Their ally Gandalf the Grey tackled the monster at the bridge and allowed the party to escape, crying 'Fly you fools!' as he disappeared into the abyss. How will the fellowship find their way to Lothlorien without his guidance?" I do this too, and find it works quite well. I've been meaning to try a piece of advice I read elsewhere, which is to make this a player task, either the group collaboratively, or one player who enjoys it, or on a rotation. The logic went something like this: if the players have the wrong idea about what's going on, then even if your recap contradicts what the players think, they're likely to gloss over that because they don't understand the full story. But if a player gives the recap, it allows you to confirm that they get it, and if they don't, you have a much better chance of spotting it than they do. That doesn't mean you jump in immediately to say "that's wrong", but if none of the other players do, now you know that you have to recommunicate what you were trying to convey somehow.
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Dec 22, 2020 18:15
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Reveilled posted:I do this too, and find it works quite well. Giving a DM Inspiration to the player who recaps events is a great way to get the more mechanically focused players to maintain an interest in the campaign beyond the hack and slash, since paying attention means they ARE better at the hack and slash.
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Dec 22, 2020 18:39
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Can confirm that getting players to provide a session recap works really well. I've been making my current group roll a d20 at the start of each session, and whoever rolls lowest gets the task of note taking and writing a recap. It's nice because you don't have the whole table desperately scrabbling to write down notes during any exposition dumps, and you can get a good understanding of exactly what information your players are actually absorbing.
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Dec 22, 2020 20:19
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One of my GMs has been doing a news bulletin describing the previous week's fuckery. We play Tuesday and we get a "Breaking:" email after the game or the next day which is like a three line summary, and then a more detailed article Sunday/Monday. Not sure the format would translate to D&D, exactly, but it fits right in for a supers game.
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Dec 22, 2020 22:56
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Player recaps are a great idea. I’ve been doing high level recaps, but I don’t want to get too passive aggressive like “Last week you decided not to open the journal that you found on the bedside table in the missing person’s room” Maybe I’ll reward the recapper with a bonus inspiration that must be used during that session. That will also remind all my players that inspiration is a thing. Thanks y’all!
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Dec 22, 2020 23:32
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:One of my GMs has been doing a news bulletin describing the previous week's fuckery. We play Tuesday and we get a "Breaking:" email after the game or the next day which is like a three line summary, and then a more detailed article Sunday/Monday. Might work well in an Eberron or Ravnica campaign.
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Dec 22, 2020 23:32
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Paying players with inspiration for recaps is what I usually do, except my players all have "save everything for the boss" syndrome so eventually everyone has it already and no one wants to volunteer except the same 2 who would have done it anyways.
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Dec 22, 2020 23:48
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I thought inspiration couldn't be saved across sessions? Use it or lose it.
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Dec 23, 2020 00:40
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I thought inspiration couldn't be saved across sessions? Use it or lose it. That's a totally reasonable house rule, but it doesn't expire RAW.
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Dec 23, 2020 00:44
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Currently doing some massive homebrew to essentially make a 5e roguelike and CRPG inspired dungeon crawl campaign. Looking for some more inspiration in regards to encounter design and, more specifically, terrain layout. What are some of the most memorable combats you've had, on either side of the table, due to the terrain the combat took place in?
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Dec 23, 2020 01:14
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I recently read through the Lazy DM book before starting up my first big boy campaign, and I think that’s one of their suggestions, too. I always start each session by asking for a volunteer to recap. That way I know what my players think is important, which things are sticking with them, and I can correct any misunderstandings they have in their notes if I need to. I bribe them by giving the volunteer an inspiration, and I have inspiration expire at the end of each session so no one hoards them. It seems to be working out okay so far, and it’s been really helpful for me to see what they’re taking away from the campaign vs what I’m trying to show them.
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Dec 23, 2020 01:25
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change my name posted:Paying players with inspiration for recaps is what I usually do, except my players all have "save everything for the boss" syndrome so eventually everyone has it already and no one wants to volunteer except the same 2 who would have done it anyways. Split inspiration in two. "Quest Inspiration" that expires at the end of a story so they can save for a big fight or as TPK insurance, and "Session Inspiration" that expires at the end of the session if they don't use it. Give session inspiration for recaps, out of game things, or minor fun in-character things and save quest inspiration for them doing risky but impressive things that wind up paying off. Knowing that they have to spend it by the end of the session will encourage them to spend inspiration more, which could encourage them to use their quest inspiration more without making them feel like they're being punished for trying to save inspiration for a boss fight. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Dec 23, 2020 |
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Dec 23, 2020 02:00
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W.T. Fits posted:Might work well in an Eberron or Ravnica campaign. Waterdeep also has newspapers now, so when we did Dragon Heist I liked writing little articles for the players to read if they bought a paper, usually referencing events the PCs had experienced, but obviously wrong due to lacking knowledge of the players' involvement. 
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Dec 23, 2020 02:26
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Raenir Salazar posted:It was a UA thing we were using previously. Spend two sorcery points and for 10 minutes it makes a mundane weapon into a magic weapon. But... Catapult already does magical damage. It's a spell. Or does the DM ignore the Sage Advice Compendium?
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Dec 23, 2020 03:02
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Jon Joe posted:Currently doing some massive homebrew to essentially make a 5e roguelike and CRPG inspired dungeon crawl campaign. Looking for some more inspiration in regards to encounter design and, more specifically, terrain layout. you might enjoy flipping through out of the box encounters which is filled with a ton of unique encounters and scenarios i have a lot of success
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Dec 23, 2020 03:32
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To piggyback on the whole recap dealie, in a 1st ed game I was in, at first the DM had our exploits recapped in an email for the benefit of everyone (in case someone missed a session) flavoring this as traveling by word of mouth, through town criers and traveling bards. As the game went on over the years, we were still receiving the emails, but technology had progressed enough to have newspapers, handwritten by one mage and copied through a number of casts of the Copy spell (which was really a 2e spell another PC mage had researched). What I'm getting at is that not only is it neat for the PCs to hear about their exploits in a roundabout way through other bards, but that's also a nice way to hear about other plot hooks and news from far afield. For example, a civil war happening in an adjacent kingdom/duchy/whatever can give rise to increased banditry, fleeing refugees, ambassadors from either/both sides seeking aid (whether food, money or bodies), etc. if the PCs want to listen and decide on dealing with such. Additionally, stuff like that makes the world seem more alive, in that there are events going on in other places, whether the players and their characters are there to see it happen or not.
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Dec 23, 2020 03:46
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I thought inspiration couldn't be saved across sessions? Use it or lose it. I believe that’s how Edge of the Empire does it with their Destiny Points.
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Dec 23, 2020 04:18
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Aniodia posted:To piggyback on the whole recap dealie, in a 1st ed game I was in, at first the DM had our exploits recapped in an email for the benefit of everyone (in case someone missed a session) flavoring this as traveling by word of mouth, through town criers and traveling bards. As the game went on over the years, we were still receiving the emails, but technology had progressed enough to have newspapers, handwritten by one mage and copied through a number of casts of the Copy spell (which was really a 2e spell another PC mage had researched). There are newspapers throughout my current game and it's a great way of setting up stuff for players about the central plot that they couldn't know firsthand. And also puts the pressure on the one player who's secretly an assassin but has had her ring exposed...
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Dec 23, 2020 04:27
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Though usually as DM you know/remember/have notes on much more than the players, I have had the experience of a player recap reminding me of something I had totally forgotten about, so that’s another positive benefit when it happens.
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Dec 23, 2020 05:43
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TotalHell posted:Though usually as DM you know/remember/have notes on much more than the players, I have had the experience of a player recap reminding me of something I had totally forgotten about, so that’s another positive benefit when it happens. This happens to me almost every week, but it's part and parcel of being a DM that's as drunk as the players 
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Dec 23, 2020 11:49
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Madmarker posted:Good on you, it is super rewarding, especially when the players let you know they are having fun. it makes all the stress of adapting on the fly to player chaos worth it when after the fact they're like "hell yeah that was a great session, can't wait for the next!"
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Dec 23, 2020 13:28
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Staltran posted:But... Catapult already does magical damage. It's a spell. Or does the DM ignore the Sage Advice Compendium? RAW Doesn't it only say bludgeoning damage? I just googled and according to some reddit threads it seems subject to interpretation?
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Dec 23, 2020 15:10
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If a spell deals damage, that damage is magical. I'm not aware of any exceptions to that rule.
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Dec 23, 2020 15:16
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:If a spell deals damage, that damage is magical. I'm not aware of any exceptions to that rule. There are conceptual exceptions, of which Catapult is basically the only one. Specifically because while clearly the projectile is launched magically, that doesn't mean that the projectile itself retains any magical properties on collision. It is of course nonsense to argue that the damage of a spell effect is not magical, except in the particulars of whatever is going on in that campaign where they're getting poison effects from Catapult to which I say gently caress yeah, bend that natural language nonsense over your knee and show it who's boss. (because RAW or RAI there's no way to get poison damage via Catapult but hey, you do you or whatever you can get away with. hell, i'd allow it for rule of cool plus you're using already-poisoned weapons you're carrying and that's a limited resource) stringless fucked around with this message at 15:23 on Dec 23, 2020 |
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Dec 23, 2020 15:20
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Specifically, the wording used for resistance/immunity in monster statblocks is "piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning from nonmagical attacks". Monster Manual, page 8 posted:Some creatures have vulnerability, Resistance, or immunity to certain types of damage. Particular creatures are even resistant or immune to damage from nonmagical attacks (a magical Attack is an Attack delivered by a spell, a magic item, or another magical source). In addition, some creatures are immune to certain Conditions. Catapult is not even technically an attack, it's a spell with a dex saving throw. If it was an attack, it would still be a magical attack because it's being delivered by a spell.
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Dec 23, 2020 15:36
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:If a spell deals damage, that damage is magical. I'm not aware of any exceptions to that rule. Agreed. Raenir Salazar posted:RAW Doesn't it only say bludgeoning damage? Magical bludgeoning damage RAW. Just like a magical weapon would. I can understand why people would want to treat Catapult differently, but there's no rules to support an atypical interpretation. Kaal fucked around with this message at 15:43 on Dec 23, 2020 |
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Dec 23, 2020 15:37
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That's so far not how we've been using it, and considering the leeway the DM is giving me to make effective use out of it, I think I'm willing to accept the interpretation its non-magical because of the other things I've been allowed to get out of it which definitely aren't RAW/RAI. It also fits with conceptually with how I've been using it as a delivery mechanism for pre-prepared ammunition. If the damage is just by default magical it takes away from the "prep time" batman aspect of how I've been using the spell. I think it's a worthwhile trade off that adds to the fun of it. Currently this is what the DM has been allowing: -Added damage die based on the weapon used. (Longsword +1d8 slashing on top of the 3d8 bludgeoning) -If used at a higher spell level I get additional damage die from additional weapons thrown. (10 lbs as a 2nd level spell? Thats 5 longswords, +5d8's, granted this uses ALL of the swords I keep on my person, so I've only done this once, I actually flung a 10lbs crate at a spider last session) -Apply poisons, holy water, oil, etc for additional effects. -If fired such that a number of enemies are lined up, each enemy that fails its dex save gets hit. (I imagine this last one is simply out of convenience to roll a bunch of saves in a row and reduce bookkeeping) There was supposed to be an additional aspect of rolling a spell attack roll to see if I actually get the pointy end in the enemy for the added damage die but I think the DM forgot or decided that if I was going to play inoptimally on purpose for rule of cool might as way rule in my favour to make the build combat effective. Given the above I'm not pressing the point as to whether its supposed to be magic damage or not, I can just find and use magic swords if I want to deal magic damage, the spend 2 sorcery points to make a weapon magic was more of an issue at level 1. This has the added side effect of having me roll for magic weapons in loot rolls to make use as ammo if no other character would get an upgrade from the sword.
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Dec 23, 2020 15:50
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I don't think I've ever been more thankful to have a group of people who get along and generally just play with the rules in the book.
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Dec 23, 2020 16:05
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Reveilled posted:I don't think I've ever been more thankful to have a group of people who get along and generally just play with the rules in the book. The problem of course is, if I used Catapult as-is, my character would be useless. Because all I want to do is telekinetically shoot pointy things at people with my mind. So to respond to what was written yesterday: Bobby Deluxe posted:This kind of sounds like a cascade of failures to be honest. Are these people friends or members of a local club you need to stay in contact with? So we did have a pre-session-session and a session 0. The pre-session-session was us discussing the previous campaign and what we wanted out of the new campaign. My concerns about the previous campaign (that I joined late in), about the lack of consequences or push back for the PC's being dicks, that the party continuously ignored things that I cared about were ignored. Case in point this isn't the first time a werewolf has come up. In the last campaign we hired a wizard from a wizards guild to be our guild and operate teleportation circles for us. He got bit during a red moon and turned into a werewolf, despite my constant, stringent, and forceful objections the rest of the party immediately put him down. Despite the fact as explained by the DM he'd be back to normal when its no longer a full moon, the primary reason given was that he was a werewolf now and that was that. Could we have cured him? They didn't want to go through the effort of a big side quest to do so (Would have required a wish spell or similar), what about giving him to the mages guild to keep in their custody to find a cure on their own? Solid hard nope despite that my monk could have stunned him long enough to put in manacles. We voted for a more narrative focused campaign as the next campaign and the other players claimed they only really acted the way they did because it wasn't a "rp heavy" campaign, but now instead they use RP as an excuse instead. "Why are you attacking my character/trying to murder this werewolf?" -> "It's because its what my character would do!" We went from a lack of roleplaying/narrative to justify being murderhobos to roleplaying/narrative to justify being murder hobos/dicks. Like I would be fine with the chaos and character conflict if "Rob" and others weren't so 0 to 60 on reacting to incredibly minor "hints" because of out of character knowledge. I've taken to DM'ing the DM (heh) my actions in secret because of it, stopped last session and now I'm going to resume doing it that way again. Lets take the energy absorbing thing the DM gave me, I think its supposed to be a 10 minute meditation thing, most of the time I'm not near anyone when I use it, one time I use it by a statue that clearly has something going on with it and get hit with backlash that takes me down to 1 health, the next time I consider using it "Rob" stops me, and starts watching me from using it. How the gently caress do you know? Sorcerers are actually supposed to be rare in our setting, my ability is not in the PHP, you didn't roll any checks at all, "Well I've seen you use it" no you didn't. You saw me close my eyes and then suddenly hurled back like 10 feet. He did keep me from attempting to absorb the werewolf-accelerator gem, but like, I think as another poster remarked, it isn't really all that fair to give me an ability that can apparently instantly kill my character. It's been frankly, been bizarre the 180s they flip flop between. Like when we initially found the werewolf it was in a jail cell, and they stood back and let me attempt to tame it and then let it go, only to try to kill it after I called for it to help us in the boss fight (I was telepathically linked with it), all signs point to this being done out of spite because they had no desire to hunt down the werewolf after letting it go the first time, "Rob" was only going full "we need to hunt it down, its what my character would do, its a danger to people who apparently live in this middle of nowhere wilderness" after it helped us in the boss fight and after I cast invisibility on it so it could escape. Then after the end of 30 minutes of back and forth yelling was like, "Lets just pretend the werewolf thing never happened then" because apparently RP'ing that he'd have to hunt down the werewolf deep in the woods is this absolute thing he has to do now. I don't think its really a playstyle issue, because Rob did go through like a two session multipart quest investigating and rooting out a smuggling ring from the city were at that had infiltrated the city guard; i think it's a combination of pre-5e assumptions about alignment combined with personality issues.
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Dec 23, 2020 17:16
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Raenir Salazar posted:The problem of course is, if I used Catapult as-is, my character would be useless. Because all I want to do is telekinetically shoot pointy things at people with my mind. How so? Even a longsword is only 3 pounds
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Dec 23, 2020 17:20
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Reveilled posted:I don't think I've ever been more thankful to have a group of people who get along and generally just play with the rules in the book. I would quit d&d if I had to play with that guy’s group judging from the posts which end up itt
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Dec 23, 2020 17:40
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change my name posted:How so? Even a longsword is only 3 pounds I think what I meant was that RAW Catapult even if its magic bludgeoning damage, has enough downsides that limit its use that it'd cause even more complaints from certain others in the party to not be using like, lightning bolt instead at 3rd level vs upcasting catapult for 15 lbs of stuff.
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Dec 23, 2020 17:42
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Reveilled posted:I don't think I've ever been more thankful to have a group of people who get along and generally just play with the rules in the book. Same. The spell is simple to me. The spell deals spell (magical) damage on a failed saving throw. The object is essentially immaterial, as it is just a means to transport the spell effect. The spell targets one object. Not X number of pounds of objects as written. If it were the latter, oh boy, here comes a satchel of darts. A dart is like 1/4 pound and does d4 piercing damage each, so woopy-doo, the level 1 catapult would do 3d8 magical bludgeoning plus 20d4 nonmagical piercing using weight-logic instead of RAW. Even if you said the object(s) must be minimum one pound as written, using 5 pounds to allow multiple objects catapulted with one spell, you could still throw 5x 1 pound daggers per 1st level spell slot. So 3d8 magic bludgeoning plus 5d4 nonmagical piercing. “If the object would strike a creature, that creature must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the object strikes the target and stops moving. When the object strikes something, the object and what it strikes each take 3d8 bludgeoning damage.” Stops moving on contact. Not “continues with X newtons of force,” just stops. The naming of catapult is misleading to be sure! But it’s more like using an object as a physical vessel to transport around a magical DEX save bludgeon bomb that harms target and vessel alike.
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Dec 23, 2020 17:43
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