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Can you have it be looking through specific smoky quartz lets you see reality, and then they can mine enough of it out and fashion it into badass shades?
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# ? Jan 5, 2021 23:21 |
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# ? Jun 6, 2024 02:36 |
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MrSargent posted:I don't think there is anything specific I am nervous about, I just really want the players to have a good time since for most of them this will be their first time playing a tabletop rpg. I think I have done a decent job of setting expectations so everyone understands the first few sessions might be a little slow as we are all learning. My biggest worry is probably the pacing of the session since I suspect that I will need to look up rules often. I'm coming up on my one-year anniversary of DMing my first campaign, and we just finished last week (well, technically this week but it's going to be more of an epilogue RP session). In my experience, especially if they're new, they'll just be happy someone was willing to take on the burden of running the drat game for them. Just let them explore and have fun and if you need to say "no" to something, explain why. My players never gave me grief for saying "I need a minute to account for those actions" or "I don't have anything prepared if you take that path". Slowness was my concern too, and I think the most useful thing (already suggested) was having some browser tabs or documents of common situations to reference. I still keep this reference open every single session because I'll be damned if I can remember exactly what each negative Condition entails. In some situations, I've just made up a rule on the fly with the caveat "I'll look it up before next session, so don't expect this ruling to stick". I'm also terrible at improv so I did a similar thing as your NPC list. I also had the name of a character from some other property next to it so I had a character to emulate. When it came to minor NPCs I just did a similar thing; I think 90% of my cast were Venture Brothers characters.
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# ? Jan 6, 2021 03:02 |
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Bobby Deluxe posted:My wife was recommended Foundry VTT, and has watched a few videos saying it's great, but they did seem a little bit promoted to me. I have moved both of my WotC hardcover campaigns to Foundry, leaving just my homebrew campaign on Roll20, which I will finish up and at that point I may not return to that platform because Foundry owns.
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# ? Jan 6, 2021 04:35 |
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Foundry can do animated backgrounds, which rules if you ever want to run a chase or traveling scene
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# ? Jan 6, 2021 05:53 |
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My ROTFM group just did a pirate themed one-shot our DM cobbled together from scratch in two days when a player got sick and playing in person was out of the question. Two naval battles with ships rocking in the waves, seagulls flying by overhead and sharks milling about in the water. A battle against zombies on a sandy beach with waves lapping the shore. A nighttime ambush in a ruin temple by a pool fed by a waterfall. Showdown with some yuan-ti at an overgrown temple with the trees swaying in the wind. I'm not sure how many of those maps he made himself, but all the maps were really impressive considering he only had two days to prep. Foundry is a really cool tool.
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# ? Jan 6, 2021 08:00 |
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Madmarker posted:Glasses were at least invented as early as the 1290's in Italy.....just having magical glasses makes perfect sense in a DND world. I did not know that. I guess my brain refused to accept glasses on a D&D character because Braking Gnus posted:Can you have it be looking through specific smoky quartz lets you see reality, and then they can mine enough of it out and fashion it into badass shades? Great inspo! If I ever formally write this up, I'll post a link to the adventure.
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# ? Jan 6, 2021 16:15 |
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Two of my last characters have worn glasses and it's a pretty common handwave for drow to have smoked quartz "sunglasses" to mitigate the sunlight sensitivity
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# ? Jan 6, 2021 16:23 |
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Most of the artificer artwork tends to have lenses or glasses as well, it's not out of character unless you're going for strict medieval, no crossbows no guns setting.
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# ? Jan 6, 2021 17:08 |
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# ? Jan 6, 2021 19:40 |
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I can’t wait for the follow-up “the Lost City of Piña Colada-burg”
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# ? Jan 6, 2021 21:03 |
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Can I visit Flavortown?
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# ? Jan 7, 2021 00:13 |
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Cthulu Carl posted:Can I visit Flavortown? it's called vallaki and yes you can visit it rictavio bouncing through the
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# ? Jan 7, 2021 01:19 |
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Government Handjob posted:Mild spoilers for LMoP and Hoard of the Dragon Queen, I guess: My group is also finishing up LMoP soon, but I've done some reading and decided to give Nezznar a second stage form a la video game boss battles. My group's encounter with the flameskull was wild. They killed it and the zombos after taking some pretty hefty damage; the cleric then decided to put it in his bag and take it back to the forge of spells for a short rest. I was giddy to say the least.
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# ? Jan 7, 2021 13:13 |
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Celebrity Ghost posted:I'm coming up on my one-year anniversary of DMing my first campaign, and we just finished last week (well, technically this week but it's going to be more of an epilogue RP session). In my experience, especially if they're new, they'll just be happy someone was willing to take on the burden of running the drat game for them. Just let them explore and have fun and if you need to say "no" to something, explain why. My players never gave me grief for saying "I need a minute to account for those actions" or "I don't have anything prepared if you take that path". Thanks again for the advice, this helps quite a bit. I was planning to start out using Roll20 since I didn't want to spend money until I know how engaged the group is. But if Foundry makes managing the game a lot easier, I would be willing to make the investment. I couldn't tell from reviewing the game I created in Roll20, but is there a way to import characters to Roll20 from DND Beyond? Everyone is creating their character using DNDB and it would be really nice to not have to enter this data in twice. I was also looking at using DungeonFog to build maps for encounters and wanted to see if it was easy to import maps to Roll20 and/or Foundry from there. If there is a better map tool, definitely let me know since that was just one I saw recommended. MrSargent fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Jan 7, 2021 |
# ? Jan 7, 2021 18:47 |
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New book being teased, will be revealed 12 JAN Please be Dragonlance or Planescape
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# ? Jan 7, 2021 18:53 |
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Syrinxx posted:New book being teased, will be revealed 12 JAN Considering the book deal settlement thing recently for Dragonlance and the teasing of there being "a well loved property that hasn't been introduced to 5e yet", it'll probably be AL QADIM
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# ? Jan 7, 2021 19:09 |
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D&D beyond is having a 20% off bundle sale now. They also have a new player’s bundle that only includes the four main player books: Player’s Handbook Xanathar’s Guide to Everything Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything And you get credit for owning books you already have. So not a bad time to get started or round out your collection.
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# ? Jan 7, 2021 19:10 |
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Syrinxx posted:New book being teased, will be revealed 12 JAN Would kill for Planescape, though Dark Sun and Spelljammer are runners up.
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# ? Jan 7, 2021 19:45 |
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GreenMetalSun posted:Would kill for Planescape, though Dark Sun and Spelljammer are runners up. It's gonna be Otiluke's Ponderance of Oddities and it'll have a bunch of new subclasses and spells.
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# ? Jan 7, 2021 20:44 |
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GreenMetalSun posted:Would kill for Planescape, though Dark Sun and Spelljammer are runners up. Dark Sun is my favorite setting but some Spelljammer stuff would be cool too. Planescape too. Please no Dragonlance!
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# ? Jan 7, 2021 21:07 |
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theironjef posted:It's gonna be Otiluke's Ponderance of Everything and it'll have a bunch of new subclasses and spells. fixed Give me Planescape!
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# ? Jan 7, 2021 21:38 |
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Something happened that I wsn't expecting last night in the silly home brew game I'm currently running, and I'm not 100% sure if I should do anything about it- input welcome. Backstory: The players have arrived at a Giant (literally) Cathedral dedicated to Memnor, the Giant God of Pride and Control. They're there on a mission from some goblins, trying to save some goblin villagers that have been kidnapped by the giants. The goblin who gave them the mission specifically asked them to look after his wife, and told them how to recognize her. Rescuing the goblins will net the players the macguffin, a key to a magical tower that they want to enter. After doing a little reconnaissance and finding the cathedral to have a small but still imposing selection of Ogres and Giants inside, the players decide to take the comical dipolomatic approach and use their Goliath Barbarian who is fluent in Giant to lead the party in, claiming to be a worshipper of Memnor, there on a pilgrimage, with the other three his loyal servants. After some surprisingly great roleplaying with the Giant who watches over the cathedral's alter, the barbarian is invited to make an "offering" at the altar, by asserting his giant dominance over a creature, and told that if he does so, he'll be blessed by Memnor himself. Naturally this creature is the specific goblin they've been asked to bring back. After a few minutes of thinking about it, the Barbarian's player surprises me by going for it, and he one hits the goblin and kills her. I wasn't expecting hit from him but I maybe should have been, the character has never been a murder hobo but there have been multiple times in the campaign where he's made a short term risk for power. But now I've got to figure out a boon- I went with allowing him to enlarge once a day as a bonus action. Now I'm wondering if there should be a mild negative consequence too? I'm thinking something like he gets visited by the god on his next long rest and gets asked to do more and more heinous things but I'm happy to hear anyone else's suggestions, mechanical or otherwise.
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# ? Jan 7, 2021 21:41 |
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Lazy like a Fox posted:Something happened that I wsn't expecting last night in the silly home brew game I'm currently running, and I'm not 100% sure if I should do anything about it- input welcome. Maybe when he un-enlarges he finds he is small sized, like a goblin - the wife's spirit imposed a final curse on him. He must make amends to break the curse. Or when he's enlarged his perception changes and he sees anything smaller than him - party included - as enemies. Or you can just add barriers to the macguffin key quest so there is a clear cost to his action in terms of time and effort.
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# ? Jan 7, 2021 22:56 |
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Apparently I have not been paying attention to D&D eyewear. I have been educated.
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# ? Jan 7, 2021 23:47 |
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Syrinxx posted:New book being teased, will be revealed 12 JAN I would strangle a man in front of his own momma for some new Planescape. Ok, not really, but I would absolutely love it if they revisited Planescape. It's my favorite campaign setting.
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# ? Jan 8, 2021 01:57 |
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If it ain't Dark Sun, I don't want it.
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# ? Jan 8, 2021 02:37 |
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I struggle with settings because any time there's a character option that doesn't make sense for a specific setting for some lore reason, one of the players in my group absolutely must play that type of character right now, so the setting is always "homebrew planet of all the things."
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# ? Jan 8, 2021 02:42 |
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Base Emitter posted:I struggle with settings because any time there's a character option that doesn't make sense for a specific setting for some lore reason, one of the players in my group absolutely must play that type of character right now, so the setting is always "homebrew planet of all the things." "hey man this character doesn't really fit with the tone of the campaign that we're doing; we can reskin and reflavor some stuff if you're dead set on these mechanics, but as written it really kinda clashes with what everyone else is doing"
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# ? Jan 8, 2021 02:46 |
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Base Emitter posted:I struggle with settings because any time there's a character option that doesn't make sense for a specific setting for some lore reason, one of the players in my group absolutely must play that type of character right now, so the setting is always "homebrew planet of all the things." basically theres two ways i get around this with my settings. the first is homebrew planet with all the things. the second is "lets put that on the backburner for a later campaign. this one is about X"
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# ? Jan 8, 2021 03:12 |
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Base Emitter posted:I struggle with settings because any time there's a character option that doesn't make sense for a specific setting for some lore reason, one of the players in my group absolutely must play that type of character right now, so the setting is always "homebrew planet of all the things." Just go with "kidnapped and dropped off by a mindflayer nautiloid" or "fell through a portal and everyone has no clue wtf you are" or, just say no??
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# ? Jan 8, 2021 03:57 |
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Lore should be malleable enough to allow players to play what they want, but tonality is a completely different thing. If 4 of 5 are playing brooding PCs whose families were brutally slaughtered by orcs and are out for revenge, Kevin McGimmickson the clumsy wizard who shouts "wahoo" like Mario every time he casts a spell probably isn't gonna fit in
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# ? Jan 8, 2021 04:26 |
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Bogan Krkic posted:Lore should be malleable enough to allow players to play what they want, but tonality is a completely different thing. If 4 of 5 are playing brooding PCs whose families were brutally slaughtered by orcs and are out for revenge, Kevin McGimmickson the clumsy wizard who shouts "wahoo" like Mario every time he casts a spell probably isn't gonna fit in Eh, sometimes a specific race really doesn't make sense for a PC in a campaign world, or a specific domain or class might be a bit off. Honestly, the solution to this problem is to have a session zero and set the expectations on the sort of thing you don't want to have from the get go. I've ran a campaign where I just outright banned elves as a playable race, but I set that expectation from the get go (they were wiped out in the history of the world I had created, and part of the game was saving them via time travel shenanigans) and everyone was fine with it. Its ok to ban things in your setting, just work with the players if they have their heart set on something.
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# ? Jan 8, 2021 04:49 |
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MrSargent posted:I was also looking at using DungeonFog to build maps for encounters and wanted to see if it was easy to import maps to Roll20 and/or Foundry from there. If there is a better map tool, definitely let me know since that was just one I saw recommended. Foundry has an importer for Dungeonfog that sets up all the walls and stuff for vision. I used it for a bit and it seemed fine. I like Dungeondraft as well, but manually adding in all the vision layer is more work than I'm interested in. Personally I gave up on making 'realistic' maps with lighting and vision, and use Dungeonscrawl to make quick 'old-school' battlemaps just for relative positioning. I quite like the Foundry drawing tools as well to dynamically add changing terrain.
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# ? Jan 8, 2021 10:12 |
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Hey everyone, asking for some ideas if anyone has any. My group is most likely going to finish LMoP on Sunday. As a segue to the next adventure, I want to have the group gather at the Stonehill Tavern as a town celebration for re-opening the mine and breathing life into the town once more, as well as a proper send off to those that died and a recap of the adventure as a whole (told to the NPCs who only know bits and pieces). The premise is to have the PCs drink, eat, and be merry with the locals before A BIG EVENT HAPPENS THAT VERY NIGHT and they're swept off to the next adventure (and also dynamically switch DMs). Does anyone have any fun interactions / skill checks / games that the PCs could play in the tavern with others? I thought of having my PCs take shots of beer as they do these skills to add to the fun, as well as make them intoxicated (poisoned) as they enter the next adventure. tl;dr I need in-game drinking games for NPCs and PCs to play.
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# ? Jan 8, 2021 17:49 |
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I am playing Zoom D&D with my old high school group for the first time in over a decade and I gotta say: game good
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# ? Jan 8, 2021 18:00 |
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Trivia posted:Hey everyone, asking for some ideas if anyone has any. three dragon ante, or red dragon inn, add beers in as needed. three dragon ante even had rules for if you wanted to 'cheat' in character! red dragon inn is very literally about heroes at the tavern trying to out-drink each other and may the last one standing need not pay their tab
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# ? Jan 8, 2021 19:39 |
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Trivia posted:Hey everyone, asking for some ideas if anyone has any. If you have XGTE, the complication tables for carousing might be useful for your night of celebration and debauchery. Drinking contests can be done with constitution save check contests. You can get more creative with variations like each person chooses the opponent's drink (I don't know the D&D equivalent of a cement mixer, I'm afraid), bartender's choice (enjoy that 100g glass of wine you just chugged). A roulette-style game in which 10 glasses are on the table and one has piss, or fish guts, or sleeping potion in it - Take turns selecting drinks blindly and hope you don't choose poorly. You can do card games - Poker, blackjack, 3-dragon ante. Gwent, if you don't mind some immersion-breaking. You can play those out for real or through a series of int/deception/perception/sleight of hand checks. You can do a couple checks for a whole game or draw it out with different checks per round of betting. "Roll insight to see if he's bluffing this round." "Roll Int to see if you can calculate the odds quickly enough this hand" etc. If you want it more exotic and dangerous have an irritated snake next to where players draw cards/deposit chips, or have them play with scorpions placed on their body. If you want it more weird, have them compete to catch a greased up pig or halfling, or play kibasen. Bonus points for greased up kibasen. There's rules for some gambling games used in Critical Role here: https://geekandsundry.com/run-the-gambling-games-of-marquet-in-your-own-campaign/ Darts, arm wrestling, and billiards could be fun and be completed with dex/strength/athletics/etc. checks. Going HAM on the billiard table or a particularly bad roll in darts could lead to broken objects, injuries, fines, bar fights, etc. Townspeople would probably be down for hearing exciting stories and boasts and toasts - that gives more RP opportunities, a chance to build renown, and some charisma/deception checks. Music and dancing could do performance, dex, charisma, etc. Even rolling well in the social stuff could be perilous as a pickpocket may become convinced the PCs have significant treasure worth stealing, or an NPC might become an infatuated pest. Maybe Carp sneaks in and steals a bit of wine, and the party needs to calm Qeline down when she finds out. Maybe someone tries to use the busy night to pass off some counterfeit currency - are they caught, and if so, what happens? If there are magic users, perhaps they get asked to do the equivalent of fireworks, or patch up folks after a brawl. Maybe some old foes return. If the nothic wasn't killed in the manor, perhaps its seen in the shadows of the town, watching the festivities. A shadow is seen over the moon that may or may not have been Venomfang. Orcs or Redbrands enter the tavern and everyone braces for trouble, only for them to want to have a drink and start over as an ally. Maybe an owlbear gets into a barrel of ale behind the tavern that hadn't been brought inside yet, and needs to be wrestled. Maybe have an NPC offering to read the bones/stars/entrails for the party, as is custom on such portentous evenings. If they take the NPC up on the offer you can seed hints and red herrings for later. Dienes fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Jan 9, 2021 |
# ? Jan 8, 2021 20:24 |
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Base Emitter posted:I struggle with settings because any time there's a character option that doesn't make sense for a specific setting for some lore reason, one of the players in my group absolutely must play that type of character right now, so the setting is always "homebrew planet of all the things." This player needs to just play Pathfinder, the default setting is "homebrew planet of all the things".
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# ? Jan 9, 2021 17:26 |
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Base Emitter posted:I struggle with settings because any time there's a character option that doesn't make sense for a specific setting for some lore reason, one of the players in my group absolutely must play that type of character right now, so the setting is always "homebrew planet of all the things." This is non-D&D specific but this sounds like said player gets the idea that they want to buck the trend and wants to integrate with the world by rebelling against its systems that you create, so if this is a pattern but you'd like to put some restriction to what races are available for specific reasons, try peeling that layer back and asking what the motivations are. Thanks to Tasha's you could "make the race" stat-wise but have the player otherwise be human, but that really just depends on your preference.
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# ? Jan 9, 2021 18:27 |
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# ? Jun 6, 2024 02:36 |
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I'm taking advantage of Tasha's Stat Bullshit as well. Made a tiefling fighter, +2 Str and +1 con to fit his farming background. He never really got any poo poo from people for being a tiefling, and grew up mucking in with the chores rather than stealing or swindling his way round. Really like the freedom, and it fits with the general relaxation on build restrictions in 5e. The other two players are new so I didn't want too big a backstory, so basically he's from a farming village and he's heading out on a rumspringe type deal to see the world, then come back with what he's learned.
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# ? Jan 9, 2021 18:51 |