|
Another way to do it is kind of reversing things a bit. The more (appropriately challenging) encounters you do without sleep the more powerful abilities you unlock. This would encourage not stopping to sleep until the characters were either low on hitpoints (and hitdice) or facing exhaustion from not sleeping. The possible downside is the characters would likely go out of their way to find fights just to get more powerful. But it does allow more “special” abilities than what you’d likely be limited to if you got a full reset every fight.
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 18:02
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 06:58 |
|
|
nelson posted:Another way to do it is kind of reversing things a bit. The more (appropriately challenging) encounters you do without sleep the more powerful abilities you unlock. This would encourage not stopping to sleep until the characters were either low on hitpoints (and hitdice) or facing exhaustion from not sleeping. The possible downside is the characters would likely go out of their way to find fights just to get more powerful. But it does allow more “special” abilities than what you’d likely be limited to if you got a full reset every fight. That could actually be an interesting design space for the system to try working in: Sort of something along the lines of the "Danger Mario" builds from the first two Paper Mario games where characters gain access to high risk/high reward special abilities when they're low on HP/spell slots/some other consumable resource.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 18:19
|
|
|
KingKalamari posted:That could actually be an interesting design space for the system to try working in: Sort of something along the lines of the "Danger Mario" builds from the first two Paper Mario games where characters gain access to high risk/high reward special abilities when they're low on HP/spell slots/some other consumable resource. Reminds me a bit of the Escalation die from 13th age.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 18:34
|
|
|
So how broken is staff of the woodlands? My DM gave it to my on my 10th level druid who was retiring. Now he's running me through a 1 man + player controlled npcs in Chult. I'm hex crawling through a jungle and getting another awakened tree every day. I am constantly at a +10 stealth from pass without a trace. Its nonsense.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 18:40
|
|
|
Kumo posted:Finally got a pandemic, post-hurricane Saltmarsh game off the ground & I’m playing a warlock.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 20:24
|
|
|
nelson posted:HP are still a limited resource. Of course getting fresh healing spells every encounter might defeat that. I suppose if they consumed hit dice it would be okay. I can't tell if a lot of you are being serious or not. That is how 4th edition did it, and all the other stuff about encounter level powers is also 4th edition
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 20:28
|
|
|
Moving powers to a per-encounter system would be nice. It'd make balancing a bit easier and discourage people from saving stuff for an encounter that may never come, which makes fights take longer.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 20:38
|
|
|
Jade Mage posted:I think you're looking for something like the Strike tactical combat rules. I've played it a bunch and it's made by our forum's own Jimbozig! Less nitty gritty than DnD but still has some tactical depth. Aye, Strike is great. Been playing it for years.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 21:10
|
|
|
I always thought it was odd that dnd, a system where in daily rests are the regular way to restore powers, does not use a straightforward fatigue mechanic. Like the fiction already assumes you are limited by some internal oomph. Give characters a stamina bar. It's so simple but dnd is built around being obtuse.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 21:27
|
|
|
Mendrian posted:I always thought it was odd that dnd, a system where in daily rests are the regular way to restore powers, does not use a straightforward fatigue mechanic. Like the fiction already assumes you are limited by some internal oomph. Give characters a stamina bar. It's so simple but dnd is built around being obtuse.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 21:36
|
|
|
Just thought I'd try hitting up the thread for some advice concerning the new Wild Beyond The Witchlight book. It looks great and I'll be running it for a group soon, but they're a pre-existing group who'll be using their level 7 adventurers. This is less of an issue than it'd be for the other published adventure modules, since having read through the book I can say it does a good job coming up with puzzles and interactions that don't hinge on the characters' power-levels so much. The players themselves are definitely interested in the roleplaying and exploration opportunities, so even if they could stomp through an encounters like the Harengon brigands, they'll probably try to figure out the trick to it instead. Still, I would like to try and up-scale some of the enemies in the game to pose a mechanical threat, especially the Hourglass Coven, the Jabberwocky, and the League of Malevolence. Essentially those encounters where a party of heroes confident they've got the edge over definite evil-doers probably would just try stomping them, unless the evil-doers present a credible threat that makes them think twice. Is there any good advice for pumping up the mechanical threat of a module? Should I give flat increases to some stats (higher hp, AC, and saves), try substituting statblocks for stronger variants (subbing out Darklings for Darkling elders, for example), or is there a more structured way to go about it?
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 21:38
|
|
|
Mr Beens posted:I can't tell if a lot of you are being serious or not. Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're doing a bit.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 21:39
|
|
|
I feel like, you having lasting, distinct injuries or consequences is more interesting narrative space then "being low on juice" personally. Like other things, I'm sure its a taste thing.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 21:50
|
|
|
Azathoth posted:Moving powers to a per-encounter system would be nice. It'd make balancing a bit easier and discourage people from saving stuff for an encounter that may never come, which makes fights take longer. OTOH it is cool and thematic that in a real pinch a guy reaches deep down and pulls out a power he doesn't use every day. Mechanically that means he usually saves some of his best stuff just in case he needs it later. That chips are down power doesn't have to be reality bending, even something like Action Surge is loving miraculous and not something you want to waste on the first goblin you find. If people are having fun I'm not sure why it would matter if combat takes 3 rounds or 5. Combat is included in the game because most people playing this game like combat, right?
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 21:56
|
|
|
Facebook Aunt posted:OTOH it is cool and thematic that in a real pinch a guy reaches deep down and pulls out a power he doesn't use every day. Mechanically that means he usually saves some of his best stuff just in case he needs it later. That chips are down power doesn't have to be reality bending, even something like Action Surge is loving miraculous and not something you want to waste on the first goblin you find. if a guy can do a special sword art in a pinch why can he only do it once per day and not two or three times per day /s
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 21:58
|
|
|
Dolash posted:Just thought I'd try hitting up the thread for some advice concerning the new Wild Beyond The Witchlight book. It looks great and I'll be running it for a group soon, but they're a pre-existing group who'll be using their level 7 adventurers. I wanted to talk more about this with others. Sadly I am at work and can’t elaborate as much as I would like to. Later I can go more in-depth. But for some simple Ideas to ensure the later stuff in the adventure is the proper level, an unpopular idea may be to not have the party level up until they reach the point they would level to 8. An easy way to beef up monsters is to maximize their HP, as they all use the averages of their hit dice. But they are still there in case you want to roll HP, and it’s not to hard to find the maximum from that.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 23:20
|
|
|
Yusin posted:An easy way to beef up monsters is to maximize their HP, as they all use the averages of their hit dice. But they are still there in case you want to roll HP, and it’s not to hard to find the maximum from that. I find myself doing this all the time with my party, they just absolutely slaughter anything close to their recommended CR at the average HP they list, often before the monster gets 1 round in
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 23:32
|
|
|
I am also a fan of rolling HP for monsters as I like them having that variance. Though I have not been doing it lately as I have not found an easy way of doing it on Roll20 where I play most of my games.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 23:48
|
|
|
Yusin posted:I am also a fan of rolling HP for monsters as I like them having that variance. Though I have not been doing it lately as I have not found an easy way of doing it on Roll20 where I play most of my games.  If you click there you will roll hp
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2021 23:56
|
|
|
neonchameleon posted:Warlocking 101 Thank you very much for offering your advice. There are too many good options to choose from, invocations are limited in number you can have and a lot of the choices seem situational. Will talk it over with the DM & other players once we get to that stage.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 00:28
|
|
|
Not related to anything but Roll20 sent me a promotional email about their new animated weather pack yesterday and that poo poo slaps. I put a heavy snowfall layer over that big mountainside battle I posted about a few weeks ago and it looks great.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 00:37
|
|
|
Dexo posted:
Yes, but it does not auto apply that as the new HP for the creature I selected. I was too used to my old system on a different VTT were I had a Macro that would automatically roll hp for all selected creatures.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 00:40
|
|
|
Yusin posted:Yes, but it does not auto apply that as the new HP for the creature I selected. I was too used to my old system on a different VTT were I had a Macro that would automatically roll hp for all selected creatures. There's probably some API thing or macro you could make to do it. Like one of those mass rollers who's name I forget. I don't remember specifics as I haven't used R20 in a minute.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 00:59
|
|
|
Infinite Karma posted:On the other hand "absolute victory" and "absolute loss" isn't actually a real dichotomy, because the game is set up where the in PCs need to win every time for the fiction to move forward, and if they lose, it needs to be because they chose to in the fiction. In fact, if players are able to cleverly build characters and strategize to punch above their weight class, win when they should lose, or not suffer enough attrition, people consider it a bug in the system and say it's badly balanced. We must tell (and read) very different stories. The most story-vital fights are ones where both sides lose, or the PCs lose in a mitigated way. In LotR, both Weathertop and the sundering of the Fellowship are defeats, and Frodo v Shelob is a defeat that sets up Samwise the Brave wonderfully. And the Balrog is a perfect example of a “both sides lose” combat. Almost every PC defeat in a game I’ve run is immensely significant and massively changes the direction of the campaign in exciting and wonderful ways. My favorite example involved the PCs and some NPCs splitting into a sneak attack force and a distraction force. I ran out the sneak attack first. One of the NPCs (players played NPCs on the split where their PCs weren’t) deliberately stalled and got away with it, leaving the distraction force stuck having to be a distraction for 20 combat rounds. They succeeded only in that getting wiped out meant the big bad took some time doing bad things. Like sending the paladin’s artifact holy weapon off into the hands of the evil Death god, along with the soul of the NPC high priest of that PC’s God of Law. They were able to recover bodies and revive everyone else, because the sneak attack ultimately beat the big bad, but the aftermath of that defeat as part of a victory led to a massive crusade against the Death god, the invasion of his inner sanctum to recover what was lost, and eventually, the seizing of his Death portfolio, which ended up in the hands of a PC who became the new God of Death. Not only would I not trade that unexpected plot line for anything, I wouldn’t even trade individual fall-out sessions after the disaster. My favorite is split between the arrival of the wife of the high priest who lost his soul, who was the high priestess of the Justice goddess and in a sour mood, and the extended side discussions later between NPCs and PCs about who they needed to transfer the Death portfolio to. The PC who ended up with it was an unlikely, but ultimately perfect, choice, and it made for one of the most satisfying character arcs I’ve ever seen, especially as he got to play in his new role and prove himself to be right for the job. Dolash posted:Just thought I'd try hitting up the thread for some advice concerning the new Wild Beyond The Witchlight book. It looks great and I'll be running it for a group soon, but they're a pre-existing group who'll be using their level 7 adventurers. Statblock swaps are OK. I would be cautious about flat increases. Your best bet is to add more minions: many potential encounters are going to see foes with action-economy problems. But with the spoiled groups you mention, I’d do a few things: For the hags, more minions or better coordination might work. They’re pretty dangerous to begin with, and more minions might complicate the non-combat approaches, so you could instead make all three Legendary, giving them both resistance and actions. Handing each a magic item of use in combat makes sense. And give them all Lair Actions appropriate to their themes. For the Jabberwocky, it’s already pretty tough. And if you slow PC advancement, they’ll be close to the expected level at that point. Maximizing its hp and giving it a +1 bonus on pretty much everything is an option. But again, I think Lair actions are your best bet, and either give it a way to heal or increase the hp. Minion-summoning would be helpful to it, also. For the League, you’re probably going to need to boost their package of abilities, but also (as discussed upthread) allow them to get the drop on the PCs with preps in place. If you want to hand out more magic loot because of the higher PC levels, give them more equipment, too. Lastly, you could add another member or two to their group. I think there’s other improvements to be made to the adventure. One big one, for the very beginning: Once the PCs have their tickets, as they enter the carnival, have a group of children run past the ticket booth into the place. Maybe PCs catch several, and have one or two caught by the employees, but several escape. Finding them will thus become a PC plot thread, and you can have the agents of the hags go after them. That drives at least one more plot thread, regardless of which adventure motivation you’re using, as the PCs might arrive too late to protect one of these children.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 01:41
|
|
|
We are having a dumb but ongoing rules question. Prestidigitation says that you can use it to clean or soil an object. What does the object become soiled with? A player has been wanting it to put poo poo in other people's pants - to use magic to poo poo someone else's pants. This can't possibly work, right? But the spell doesn't specify what is soiling the object.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 03:33
|
|
|
Propane C3H8 posted:We are having a dumb but ongoing rules question. Yay! It's been a while!
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 03:35
|
|
|
Propane C3H8 posted:We are having a dumb but ongoing rules question. Maybe it could make the object attract a supernatural amount of dirt from ordinary use, so rather than someone making GBS threads themselves, their clothes begin to smell of stale sweat as if they haven't changed for a few days
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 03:48
|
|
|
Put poo poo in a NPC's pants? Absolutely. NPC eventually finds out and now pants-shitterer has a rival a la Pie Guy from Batman the Animated Series. Put poo poo in a PC's pants? Only with PC consent; retaliation guaranteed and encouraged.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 03:49
|
|
|
Anyone know of a good set of guidelines for either creating a hexcrawl or otherwise having entertaining overland travel? I wanna run a feywild adventure where a pretty substantial part of it is traveling between far-flung towns and fey courts across a large world.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 04:05
|
|
|
Yusin posted:Yes, but it does not auto apply that as the new HP for the creature I selected. I was too used to my old system on a different VTT were I had a Macro that would automatically roll hp for all selected creatures. R20 requires API access to set values on tokens/sheets. If you have that, you can leverage the existing Tokenmod and/or ChatSetAttr scripts to do what you want. If not, you can speed things up a bit by dropping the relevant bits in a macro:  If you are doing very large combats, I could see it being an issue, but just tapping the button for each token and dropping it in the bar should be pretty quick for most things.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 04:18
|
|
|
I am glad we talked about this. It made me decide to look around Roll20 and I found a Script called Monster Hit Dice that does it automatically.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 05:57
|
|
|
Nehru the Damaja posted:Anyone know of a good set of guidelines for either creating a hexcrawl or otherwise having entertaining overland travel? I wanna run a feywild adventure where a pretty substantial part of it is traveling between far-flung towns and fey courts across a large world. There are encounter tables online you could find. Re-flavor for the setting and environment. The tables aren't always battle-related. It could be something as mundane as your horse throwing a shoe, or a wagon wheel falling off axle. DMs Guild has pdfs of encounters given a specific environment. I don't think they're that expensive either.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 06:32
|
|
|
Enjoy posted:Maybe it could make the object attract a supernatural amount of dirt from ordinary use, so rather than someone making GBS threads themselves, their clothes begin to smell of stale sweat as if they haven't changed for a few days Yeah I'd rule that it was soiled with soil, i.e., dirt. It's oy a cantrip after all.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 12:44
|
|
|
Propane C3H8 posted:We are having a dumb but ongoing rules question. Mage Hand would let you apply whatever substance you wanted to someone's pants at range, if you're sneaky enough. If you're not worried about stealth, the Catapult spell would do the same, but with more gusto. In either case, you would also need to supply the specific filth to be applied. Of course, you could just throw a handful of poop at them manually, if you already have some around. If you want to do the job properly, there's always the Command or Dominate spells, to make the soiling an inside job. Suggestion might work too, if you're extremely persuasive. Maybe the most awful option is the Geas spell, which could keep them filling their drawers for a month or more. Alternately, you could see if anyone has a poisoner's kit and proficiency with it, as you may be able to create a poison that causes digestive distress. Sure, those do all have saving throws of some sort, but it'll have to do until someone invents Power Word poo poo or Otto's Irresistible Dump. Robot Hobo fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Oct 1, 2021 |
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 17:14
|
|
|
I don't think "poo poo" would be likely to work for Command. And the DM likely wouldn't appreciate it if he had to decide if the target managed to go in six seconds.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 18:01
|
|
|
whenever someone cleans something with prestidigitation the dirt is transported into the grime realm and when you soil something with prestidigitation it uses dirt randomly taken from the grime realm
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 18:06
|
|
|
It's not the "grime realm"; it's the Quasielemental Plane of Dust.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 18:27
|
|
|
I've always ruled that it's soiled with whatever's available. If the area was in a void with nothing around it, there would be nothing to soil it with and it would fail.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 18:30
|
|
|
PeterWeller posted:It's not the "grime realm"; it's the Quasielemental Plane of Dust. grime elemental spotted
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 18:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 06:58 |
|
|
Alternatively, you could make a color appear that looks just like a poo poo stain. You can have up to three things active at once, so you could add a bad odor. Or perhaps add dirt + color + odor to make a convincing illusion.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 18:40
|
|
