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Give them high risk, high reward opportunities here and there to get "on par" with baseline money if they really want to
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Apr 7, 2021 18:57
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SkySteak posted:Hello there! For a level three party, have you typically gone for merely giving them the starting equipment (mostly the gold value I am thinking of) or have you generally been more generous toward them? I admit the starting equipment feels a little on the low side going by my gut feeling, but I am not sure what would be a balanced/solid amount above it to give. Level 3 is almost to the point where each character can be expecting their first notable permanent magic item. It's also the point where gp income should have gotten them over the first hurdles of starting equipment: backup weapons, studded leather, etc. I'd say you want to start them a bit under Breastplate-level gold, so 250-300gp each, and probably each member should get an appropriate common magic item. In addition, any character with a spellbook-like feature (Wizards, Ritual Masters, etc.) should get 2 level 1 spells added to their book for free.
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Apr 7, 2021 19:05
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SkySteak posted:Hello there! For a level three party, have you typically gone for merely giving them the starting equipment (mostly the gold value I am thinking of) or have you generally been more generous toward them? I admit the starting equipment feels a little on the low side going by my gut feeling, but I am not sure what would be a balanced/solid amount above it to give. ask yourself what you want to do with the game first, and that should guide your answer. i will say this: if you want to have fun and dont care about the consequences, giving a party a one time use item well beyond their means early is extremely fun
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Apr 7, 2021 19:13
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SkySteak posted:Hello there! For a level three party, have you typically gone for merely giving them the starting equipment (mostly the gold value I am thinking of) or have you generally been more generous toward them? I admit the starting equipment feels a little on the low side going by my gut feeling, but I am not sure what would be a balanced/solid amount above it to give. I think you're fine to give them starting equipment, but by the time that they're at level 5, they should be in the best nonmagic gear or at least a step below, if not getting their first magic item upgrades (+1 weapons and the like). If your players are unhappy about not getting a bonus, maybe give them all the next level up in armor so they all get +1 AC to what they would have had at level 1. I don't think I'd give out anything magic that affects actual power levels at level 3 though unless there was a compelling reason.
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Apr 7, 2021 19:20
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For anyone who's run (or played in) one of the Candlekeep Mysteries, uhhhh how does starting equipment work? I can't seem to find any suggestions for what players should start with, even though they go up to level 16...
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Apr 7, 2021 19:21
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pog boyfriend posted:ask yourself what you want to do with the game first, and that should guide your answer. i will say this: if you want to have fun and dont care about the consequences, giving a party a one time use item well beyond their means early is extremely fun one 8th level spell scroll of their choosing 
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Apr 7, 2021 19:34
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Rutibex posted:one 8th level spell scroll of their choosing They sell it for a huge pile of gold and buy the services of a mercenary armada to solve all their problems
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Apr 7, 2021 19:41
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Mr. Lobe posted:They sell it for a huge pile of gold and buy the services of a mercenary armada to solve all their problems Perfect, thats like 5 adventures right there
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Apr 7, 2021 19:46
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change my name posted:For anyone who's run (or played in) one of the Candlekeep Mysteries, uhhhh how does starting equipment work? I can't seem to find any suggestions for what players should start with, even though they go up to level 16... The DM's Guide and Xanathar's both have tables for equipment for characters above 1st level and they are both rubbish and don't match up in any way to normal play, or even the distribution in 1st-party books. The big go-tos are:
Beyond that, just use your judgement. Gold is effectively pointless except as a relief valve on expensive spells, which is a dumb mechanic, but I've never liked D&D as an economic simulator, so I'm not crying for currency being pointless. Attunement keeps the number of truly ridiculous magic item combos down (even if singularly broken items exist anyway), so don't worry too much about tossing them some extra attunement uncommon items to pick from.
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Apr 7, 2021 19:47
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Rutibex posted:Perfect, thats like 5 adventures right there I only got 4 adventures out of it: 1. Find a buyer 2. Secure the gold somehow(huge liability to just cart it around) 3. Seek out mercenary companies to evaluate as prospective hires 4. Look into best targets for mercenaries to get a good ROI 5. ???
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Apr 7, 2021 19:49
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Mr. Lobe posted:I only got 4 adventures out of it: 5. Deal with the consequences of selling an 8th level scroll to a mysterious forest hag
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Apr 7, 2021 20:01
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Bobby Deluxe posted:https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/964-an-ode-to-heat-metal-the-greatest-d-d-spell-of-all I just want to mention that the 5-10 minutes it takes to take off platemail should really only be used as a hard rule if you want to keep the platemail intact, imo. Even full platemail was held together by lots of leather straps and a knight should be able to cut himself free/be cut free by his companions very quickly, albeit at the cost of his armor's usefulness. That's how I'd rule it at least. Whoever designed that spell in 5e also didn't give it a maximum range to maintain the spell, by the way.
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Apr 7, 2021 20:05
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at the end of the day if your party wants to sell this random consumable item and start domain play thats on them
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Apr 7, 2021 20:16
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Alright thank you for this. I should note this is a game starting at level three and the group are a range of complete newbies to quite experienced players. Speaking of newbies, I was going to mention that I recently had my Session 0, and naturally with this being some peoples first or second tabletop, getting the ball rolling on character concepts and ideas was rough, though it happened. I am at a situation wherein people are learning both character creation and the mechanics, but I do feel that some extra help, particularly in terms of learning combat, will be needed for Session 1. I am thinking some excuse for an engaging but low stakes combat at the start, just to bring familiarity. Beyond that is, there any other good little points or tips to help get newbies into the swing of things?
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Apr 7, 2021 20:23
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SkySteak posted:Speaking of newbies, I was going to mention that I recently had my Session 0, and naturally with this being some peoples first or second tabletop, getting the ball rolling on character concepts and ideas was rough, though it happened. I am at a situation wherein people are learning both character creation and the mechanics, but I do feel that some extra help, particularly in terms of learning combat, will be needed for Session 1. I am thinking some excuse for an engaging but low stakes combat at the start, just to bring familiarity. Beyond that is, there any other good little points or tips to help get newbies into the swing of things? one of the best ways to get newbies into things is just have experienced players do stuff. as a dm, i constantly espouse in this thread that you should be giving players information their characters would know and this goes triple for new players. a level three wizard is going to know how spell slots work - if you see a new wizard player trying to use scorching ray to murk a rabbit let them know cantrips would probably be the better option here
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Apr 7, 2021 20:31
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Toshimo posted:The DM's Guide and Xanathar's both have tables for equipment for characters above 1st level and they are both rubbish and don't match up in any way to normal play, or even the distribution in 1st-party books. Oh I don't care about gold at all, it's a one-session one-off and they'll be stuck somewhere. I'm running the level 5 module and was just going to give everyone any basic equipment + an uncommon item of their choosing
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Apr 7, 2021 20:34
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SkySteak posted:Alright thank you for this. I should note this is a game starting at level three and the group are a range of complete newbies to quite experienced players. Keep the newbies in the simplest races and classes you can. Option paralysis can be a real problem. It also helps to clarify that there are roles to fill in a party, and not every character needs to be good at everything. Give them essentially one job to do - "You're a fighter. Hit things." or "You're a healer. Cure people when they get hurt," "You're an archer. Shoot arrows at stuff." Let the veterans show off the weird races and subclasses and such to show the newbies what's available and pique their curiosity.
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Apr 7, 2021 20:39
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Rutibex posted:5. Deal with the consequences of selling an 8th level scroll to a mysterious forest hag That sounds like what savvy businessfolk call "an externality" But yes, that's not a bad suggestion
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Apr 7, 2021 20:40
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Rutibex posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io4v_-agq-Y That page actually has their origin. quote:They were the result of an experiment by an accomplished wizard whose name has been lost to time. The wizard had wanted to find a good replacement for doppelgangers, one that could be controlled easily. His experiment succeeded, and the mongrelfolk infiltrators were born, able to take the shape of any being they ate, only the wizard didn't think far enough ahead for his experiments. The mongrelfolk infiltrators were unable to reproduce with their natural genes, and instead their children were born with pieces of creatures they had shifted to throughout their services, but were unable to change shape themselves. Also checking despite their appearances they were never actually evil by default. Yusin fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Apr 7, 2021 |
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Apr 7, 2021 20:54
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Deteriorata posted:Keep the newbies in the simplest races and classes you can. Option paralysis can be a real problem. It also helps to clarify that there are roles to fill in a party, and not every character needs to be good at everything. Give them essentially one job to do - "You're a fighter. Hit things." or "You're a healer. Cure people when they get hurt," "You're an archer. Shoot arrows at stuff." Agreed wholeheartedly on this. I'd go so far as to say that for each new player, you might go so far as to make a quick cheat sheet of their "default" moves. Like, for a fighter, you might say "In combat, your default move is going to be swinging your greataxe and when you want to do more damage, you can use Second Wind to make a whole other attack right then, just know that you won't be able to do it again until after a long rest" and then maybe explain what rests are. For a spellcaster, you might say "In combat, your default move is going to be to cast Fire Bolt, since it's a cantrip, you can cast it anytime you want. Think of it like a fighter swinging an axe. When you want to do more damage, you can cast Magic Missile, but remember that you can only cast it so many times before a long rest" and then maybe explain what rests are. Definitely let them pick their own spells, but also toss out the advice to have at least one damage spell at cantrip and level 1, and point out ones for their class that are solid.
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Apr 7, 2021 21:04
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Azathoth posted:"when you want to do more damage, you can use Second Wind to make a whole other attack right then, just know that you won't be able to do it again until after a long rest" Existential Screaming
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Apr 7, 2021 21:11
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ahahaha whoops, meant Action Surge. That's what I get for trying to post while half listening to the zoom meeting
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Apr 7, 2021 21:13
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Azathoth posted:ahahaha whoops, meant Action Surge. That's what I get for trying to post while half listening to the zoom meeting and short rest right Action Surge AND Short Rest right?
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Apr 7, 2021 21:14
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Yusin posted:That page actually has their origin. Yeah, portrayals of mongrelfolk are, in my experience, universally sympathetic with good people shunned by others due to the ugliness of their bodies at birth.
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Apr 7, 2021 21:16
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Madmarker posted:and short rest right Yeah my bad on that again. What I get for going from memory.
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Apr 7, 2021 21:28
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did they add any cool new races or subclasses in the past year or has it just been more overwritten elves and elf subclasses
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Apr 7, 2021 22:58
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one of my players is having great fun as a bee-shooting swarmkeeper ranger
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Apr 7, 2021 23:02
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Lucas Archer posted:I've been reading through Tomb of Annihilation, and while I love the general idea of the campaign/sandbox, I can't get past the regressive nature of the setting. Is there any way to run ToA without including those problematic elements? It takes a bit of work but it's certainly possible. Myself and another poster did a couple of effort posts itt a while back discussing the issues with the campaign and setting, which talks a little about how we removed some of the more problematic stuff juggalo baby coffin posted:did they add any cool new races or subclasses in the past year or has it just been more overwritten elves and elf subclasses The eloquence bard is funny as hell, I'm a horrible goblin boi and at level 4 I can't roll under an 18 on Persuasion or Deception Bogan Krkic fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Apr 7, 2021 |
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Apr 7, 2021 23:04
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juggalo baby coffin posted:did they add any cool new races or subclasses in the past year or has it just been more overwritten elves and elf subclasses
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Apr 7, 2021 23:07
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juggalo baby coffin posted:did they add any cool new races or subclasses in the past year or has it just been more overwritten elves and elf subclasses All of the gothic lineages rule imo, plus most of the new Tasha’s subclasses are good (or at least interesting)
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Apr 7, 2021 23:08
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Rabbitfolk are strong, fairies are fun
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Apr 8, 2021 01:34
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change my name posted:All of the gothic lineages rule imo, plus most of the new Tasha’s subclasses are good (or at least interesting) I am having a blast playing as a Hexblood Artificer. I took Alchemist and I am really playing up the "weird potion brewing hag" angle. Its good fun
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Apr 8, 2021 02:23
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In a one-shot I played a Reborn Bard (Spirits) with a red scarf and a voice like if Christian Bale's Batman had laryngitis. It was great!
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Apr 8, 2021 02:28
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please knock Mom! posted:Rabbitfolk are strong, fairies are fun Definitely want to play a Fairie Monk, probably Sun Soul to shoot my glittering light. Also a Rabbitfolk Swashbuckler Rogue.
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Apr 8, 2021 03:44
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please knock Mom! posted:I just want to mention that the 5-10 minutes it takes to take off platemail should really only be used as a hard rule if you want to keep the platemail intact, imo. Love the discussion of it here, gotta admit I'm shocked I hadn't heard the tactic named "cook and book" before that, seems like something that would spread like wildfire (no pun intended) through most of the people I've played with before now.
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Apr 8, 2021 16:01
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MadDogMike posted:Love the discussion of it here, gotta admit I'm shocked I hadn't heard the tactic named "cook and book" before that, seems like something that would spread like wildfire (no pun intended) through most of the people I've played with before now. The party almost always has at least someone wearing the biggest, most metal-iest armor they can find...so it's all too easy to imagine the DM pulling this trick on the players if they somehow grew over-reliant on it. Having said that, my D&D experience may be atypical, but my group rarely ends up fighting enemies wearing heavy metal armor. It's mostly abominations, demons, undead, and such.
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Apr 8, 2021 16:15
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:The party almost always has at least someone wearing the biggest, most metal-iest armor they can find...so it's all too easy to imagine the DM pulling this trick on the players if they somehow grew over-reliant on it. Having said that, my D&D experience may be atypical, but my group rarely ends up fighting enemies wearing heavy metal armor. It's mostly abominations, demons, undead, and such. I can't believe this is the first time I've considered having an enemy cast heat metal on our paladin. It's so obvious
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Apr 8, 2021 16:19
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Bogan Krkic posted:It takes a bit of work but it's certainly possible. Myself and another poster did a couple of effort posts itt a while back discussing the issues with the campaign and setting, which talks a little about how we removed some of the more problematic stuff I looked back on those and saw them - that's all really cool and good information! I especially liked your 8-bit Tomb of Horrors idea, although I doubt I could pull that off - did you actually use the old OD&D ruleset or did you use the Yawning Portal 5e update for that?
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Apr 8, 2021 17:15
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Thank you for the replies given! I am trying to do all that I can to break down character creation and combat into something comprehensible -- the whole affair of teaching newbies being a learning experience in of itself. In that same group there is a Warlock whose keeping his patron and their dealings a secret to the rest of the group. As such I am wondering how the patron could contact/talk to them without myself pulling them into a different voice channel or making everyone wait for a 'private' word. I'm thinking of potentially having their patron contact them in non obvious ways -- things that only the patron would understand. Stuff like notes, certain object combos and the like. Of course also whispers in the character's head.
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Apr 8, 2021 23:58
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SkySteak posted:Thank you for the replies given! I am trying to do all that I can to break down character creation and combat into something comprehensible -- the whole affair of teaching newbies being a learning experience in of itself. For one-way or two-way communication? Two-way would be difficult without a pre-arranged system. Two-way would be something like the patron using Sending or sending dreams to the Warlock. For one-way, I'd probably flavor that based on the type of patron or pact. - An Archfey might have notes in the patterns on leaves, which the Warlock could burn or tear up to hide them. - A fiend might leave logs that when burned reveal letters of fire. - Someone with the Pact of the Blade might have writing on their weapon which looks decorative without close inspection, but changes to send messages. - Pact of the Tome could have messages written on the cover of the book of shadows. - Pact of the Chain could have the pact speak through the familiar, whispering into the warlock's ear. That sort of thing. **** I'm actually thinking of also making a Warlock who wants to keep his patron and dealings as secret from their group, and as such tries to pretend that they're pretty non-magical, and they would play off their casting and invocations as stuff he got from an (fictitious) Artificer buddy. For instance, casting Misty Step would be dropping a "smoke stone" like real-life stage magic. Using the Eldritch Sight invocation would be putting on "special glasses". Using Eldritch Blast would be cast through his special weapon. This character would also be trying to avoid a lot of the most obviously magical stuff like alter self/polymorph. I'm not really sure what the best Invocations for that kind of character would be (Obviously, Agonizing Blast). I'm thinking their pact might be Pact of the Talisman. Their patron would be the Archfey for story reasons and because the spell slot list fits the idea best. Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Apr 9, 2021 |
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Apr 9, 2021 01:42
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