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Dragons are just attracted to all those Gold and treasure-laden adventurers
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Mar 18, 2022 23:49
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Random encounters involving dragons don't have to be hostile, they can be friendly or not interested in you unless you pick a fight. A dragon could be interested in looking for a deal, like it wants to trade for something shiny the players have, asking for help because it wants a peaceful resolution to some angry villagers who are about to storm its lair and get themselves killed because they think it's responsible for some bad stuff, or even just witnessed carrying something valuable back to its lair nearby that the players could try to sneak in and steal. Straight "here is something to fight" encounters are boring imo
BattleMaster fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Mar 18, 2022 |
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Mar 18, 2022 23:53
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Mr. Lobe posted:Am I correct in understanding there is a 1/8 chance to encounter a dragon most places? 12.5% of all creatures are dragons. The other half are dungeons.
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Mar 18, 2022 23:55
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PeterWeller posted:When you add minion monsters and a Warlord class. Booooooooooooo  I take it at this point there's zero chance of a warlord like class in 5e, officially, right?
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Mar 19, 2022 00:44
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Obviously. Everyone knows shouting at people to heal them is stupid and doesn't make sense. Anyway, let me just cast Healing Word real quick
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Mar 19, 2022 00:48
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"You can't just shout someone's arm back on! Also, by the way, my new 5th edition of the world's greatest roleplaying game has a box in the combat chapter explaining that HP is actually stamina and fighting spirit and only the blow that takes you to 0 is in any way serious"
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Mar 19, 2022 00:51
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BattleMaster posted:"You can't just shout someone's arm back on! Also, by the way, my new 5th edition of the world's greatest roleplaying game has a box in the combat chapter explaining that HP is actually stamina and fighting spirit and only the blow that takes you to 0 is in any way serious" Once again, Martials get the short end of the stick. I wanna stand up next to a mountain, and chop it down with the edge of my hand.
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Mar 19, 2022 01:00
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I just levelled up and picked up Telekinesis for my sunday game, we have 1v1 battles coming up this session as part of our TOURNAMENT ARC and I'm really hype for it as that gives me a pretty strong trump card for winning them (my character can also fly, so telekinetic grasp -> lift them up ->fly up -> lift them up -> repeat until they saved and they fall and go splat). I have alternative uses though if it seems like they might save before I can get far up, like just making them restrained and then forcing them to make dex saves at disadvantage, via Catapult (which for me does 5d8 base), or Aganazar's Scorcher, etc. Tournament so far is structured like this (round 1): Big Hulking Bruiser Monk (the BBEG of the tourny) vs our Archer Ranger (new to the group, RIP!). Monster Hunter Paladin NPC vs Monster Hunter Paladin NPC Thief-Monk vs Kensei Monk NPC Our Cleric vs some NPC Armor Artificer NPC vs I think a Warforged Artificer? Fighter NPC vs a Cleric NPC NPC Samurai vs another NPC NPC Radiant Monk with a food name vs Pirate NPC whose trying to find some kind of treasure. Artillerist Artificer/Assassin vs our Gunnery Bard Gunnery Assassin against a Gunnery Scholar Our Fighter-Wizard gish vs a Summoner A npc Monk-Wizard gish against another Summoner? Me (Psionic Soul/Aberrent Mind Sorcerer) vs a Evocation Wizard with blue robes a big hat and a knife whose face is obscured. Some NPC character with a ghost who punches people against a Samurai NPC Some NPC Necromancer who kills people by writing their names in a book against another NPC pirate/mercenary Our Warlock who took up a level of Warlord against a giant loud turtle with minion smaller turtles. Radiant Monk and the Big Bruiser Monk are setup as the Big Opponents for the tournament; prize is a Wish spell. The DM is also introducing special one off rules for the tournament; basically heavy RP focused skill challenges; where spells and abilities can do more than indicated according to your imagination in order to compensate for the fact that 1v1's isn't a well balanced format for D&D combat. Playing it out in my head I think I beat my opponent because I just don't think there's a way for my build to lose in a 1v1 against another spellcaster, they can't counterspell me because I cast everything silently; I target their strength and I get to add a 1d8 to contested checks; I can fly, and my staff gives me lucky-esque reroll; and with Shield I have 25 AC. My main problem in most encounters I have a LOT of options but since so many of my abilities are more "social" or face oriented its hard to really know what would be effective or clever; but for a series of 1v1's my only constraint is "Don't bore the Judge(DM) cheesing things." I face potentially 2 PC's before facing one of two of the Big Bosses; our Melee focused Warlock with a really nasty Eldritch Blast (I think their to Hit is +6 and they do like 15 damage) and the Gish with 31 AC and a Haste gimmick. I think I have the spellslot advantage against both; and while both have counterspell neither can use it against me, so my spells will almost always go through and their's probably can't against me; which shuts down key aspects of their builds. The gish isn't a strength build so telekinesis should be a hard counter against him; the Warlock has Strength Gloves but middling dex but he can move twice his speed in a turn through his racial ability. The Warlock has probably the most options against my build; they have Spell Sniper so they can hit me from anywhere, have a good to Hit for it, so I can't reliably stay out of harms way just by staying at range; they have heavy armor so my few spell attacks aren't the best. I think that fight is going to be the closest as my only option I think is to just keep throwing dex save spells at them and hope I do more damage faster and get lucky. My main early issue is my second round is likely against the Monk with the Punch Ghost who has been established as powerful and unflappable so they're basically like a mini-boss. I think they're basically a heavily flavoured Monk, and probably a strength based one? I'll have to keep at range and test them from afar. It's possible instead of the Gish I face our Bard but I think that's not likely and their build while useful isn't optimized for single targets and I can shutdown their bigger spells. There's two PCs in the other bracket, our Ranger and our Cleric and we're trying as a group very hard to try to workshop and theorized ways for them to even the odds but there's a lot of unknowns; the Big Bruiser has some kind of Anti-Magic field for instance. The hilarious irony is if I end up facing them I probably get my face smashed into the dirt but can beat every other player character; but some of the player characters I can more easily beat are better suited for facing the BBEG! It'd be great if our Ranger can pull off some kind of upset victory though because that means I'd actually have a solid chance at winning the whole thing if I can beat our Warlock.  PeterWeller posted:When you add minion monsters and a Warlord class. *Looks at the campaign I'm in*  Deteriorata posted:12.5% of all creatures are dragons. The other half are dungeons. It's funny because its true. Genus Loci/"Wall" Monsters etc.
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Mar 19, 2022 01:27
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BattleMaster posted:Random encounters involving dragons don't have to be hostile, they can be friendly or not interested in you unless you pick a fight. A dragon could be interested in looking for a deal, like it wants to trade for something shiny the players have, asking for help because it wants a peaceful resolution to some angry villagers who are about to storm its lair and get themselves killed because they think it's responsible for some bad stuff, or even just witnessed carrying something valuable back to its lair nearby that the players could try to sneak in and steal. Straight "here is something to fight" encounters are boring imo For dragons even just seeing one flying by could be an encounter. Maybe it turns and swoops by to get a closer look at you, but unless you shoot at it or do something to attract more attention that's all that happens. You aren't a threat to it. If you aren't near it's lair or threating its eggs/children/horde then you are no more interesting than a stray cat. I imagine dragons are mostly concerned with other dragons and important dragon business. The ones who get involved with a bunch of humanoid scale minions are the crazy cat ladies of the dragon world.
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Mar 19, 2022 03:59
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I like having a dragon poach an animal for its next meal from in front of the players as they travel by a farm. "Like" as in I use it once per group at some point, not repeatedly for the same group, of course. Also, given that metallic dragons are good aligned, I imagine them wanting to work with "lesser" beings more, especially when they're younger nad less powerful.
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Mar 19, 2022 05:05
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BattleMaster posted:I like having a dragon poach an animal for its next meal from in front of the players as they travel by a farm. "As you walk through the streets of the city at night, you hear a tremendous crash! Down the alleyway you see a dragon rooting through a dumpster before taking off hurriedly, a single slice of pizza clutched in its massive jaws."
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Mar 19, 2022 05:09
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I never thought about it before but seeing a dragon in D&D is like seeing a rat in New York City
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Mar 19, 2022 05:10
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Cthulu Carl posted:"As you walk through the streets of the city at night, you hear a tremendous crash! Down the alleyway you see a dragon rooting through a dumpster before taking off hurriedly, a single slice of pizza clutched in its massive jaws." I really want to meet this dragon hobo and hear his story now.
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Mar 19, 2022 05:47
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I’m for the Dumpster Dragon Dungeons and dragons stops being D&D as soon as you enter reddit, the online embodiment of RAW prescriptivists.
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Mar 19, 2022 11:07
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Suppose I wanted to play some battered old fanatic of Ilmater for a level 3 one-shot, and I absolutely do not want to play a Life cleric. What would you have me be? Something approximating "wild-eyed true believer and extremely minor saint." I've been tossing around variant human and Necrotic Shroud Aasimar, and maybe Celestial Warlock, Peace Cleric, Mercy Monk, or Redemption Paladin (probably not). Maybe Reborn?
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Mar 19, 2022 22:08
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What's the proportion of metallic to chromatic dragons in, say, the forgotten realms anyway? It seems like there's a lot more chromatic ones in stories and campaigns.
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Mar 19, 2022 22:08
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Nehru the Damaja posted:Suppose I wanted to play some battered old fanatic of Ilmater for a level 3 one-shot, and I absolutely do not want to play a Life cleric. What would you have me be? Something approximating "wild-eyed true believer and extremely minor saint." Nothing says the fanatic of a god has to have magic powers. You could be a fighter. Probably want training in medicine, and the "faction agent" background (here, the faction being the Church of Ilmater) would get you that. Zealot barbarian would probably be the most flavorfully zealous, though. But, so could Berserker barbarian... if you can negotiate with your dm to make frenzy's downside suck less. As a minor basis of comparison, i play a Berserker half orc devotee of Gond. He is a shipwright with anger issues. Mr. Lobe fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Mar 19, 2022 |
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Mar 19, 2022 22:11
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Mr. Lobe posted:What's the proportion of metallic to chromatic dragons in, say, the forgotten realms anyway? It seems like there's a lot more chromatic ones in stories and campaigns. Their numbers are supposed to be fairly equal, but they with a few exceptions don’t tend to share biomes or territory. Chromatics are far more likely to cause trouble, while Metallics tend to keep to themselves which is why Chromatics are more visible.
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Mar 19, 2022 22:46
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Why are chromatics all evil again?
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Mar 19, 2022 22:56
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Mendrian posted:Why are chromatics all evil again? Because the Great God Zagyg decreed it to be so at the creation of the universe. As it has always been, so must it always be.
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Mar 19, 2022 22:59
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Nehru the Damaja posted:Suppose I wanted to play some battered old fanatic of Ilmater for a level 3 one-shot, and I absolutely do not want to play a Life cleric. What would you have me be? Something approximating "wild-eyed true believer and extremely minor saint." Peace Cleric and Redemption Paladin would make a lot of sense. Ilmater is known for being big on redemption and also absolute pacifism.
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Mar 19, 2022 23:20
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Going from Fizban’s, Bahamut (Fizban) and Tiamat both had a hand in creating each dragon to some degree but the chromatics are “evil” because they’re primarily Tiamat’s creation and reflected her traits more. Going off memory here though. edit: Oh yeah, that's the lore reason. The real reason is just being arbitrary. Or very possibly that Smaug was red and Chinese dragons (which are often gold) are viewed as positive symbols. imagine dungeons fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Mar 19, 2022 |
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Mar 19, 2022 23:22
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Mendrian posted:Why are chromatics all evil again? When 4ed changed it people had a bitch fit.
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Mar 19, 2022 23:30
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Dragons are extinct in my homebrew campaign's setting, but I definitely want to mess around with them in the next game I run. For high magic/low technology settings they seem fine, but having giant engines of destruction constantly flying around and machinating seems kind of counterproductive towards advancing humanoid society
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Mar 19, 2022 23:33
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change my name posted:Dragons are extinct in my homebrew campaign's setting, but I definitely want to mess around with them in the next game I run. For high magic/low technology settings they seem fine, but having giant engines of destruction constantly flying around and machinating seems kind of counterproductive towards advancing humanoid society In the Forgotten Realms prehistory, humanoid civilization was only able to really get started when the elves cursed dragons to go insane every 20 years or so using a transient star/comet/planet. Otherwise it was just dragons and giants (and the Creator Races before them), and yeah, dragons were just too much for anything to topple.
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Mar 19, 2022 23:38
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Facebook Aunt posted:If you aren't near it's lair or threating its eggs/children/horde then you are no more interesting than a stray cat. Making a mental note to have an encounter where a low level party is out traveling and an ancient dragon lands near them and basically goes 'pss pss pss, oh look at your cute little fingats aren't you just delightful who wants their tumtums rubbed?' E: their lair is a small village of humanoids that smells like an outhouse. Government Handjob fucked around with this message at 13:13 on Mar 20, 2022 |
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Mar 20, 2022 13:11
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Government Handjob posted:Making a mental note to have an encounter where a low level party is out traveling and an ancient dragon lands near them and basically goes 'pss pss pss, oh look at your cute little fingats aren't you just delightful who wants their tumtums rubbed?' That would be fantastic. If someone in the low level party has a curse, disease, or has been dead longer than 1 minute the ancient dragon definitely knows someone who can help you out with that. They'll just take you home where they keep their stash of home remedies and veterinary scrolls and fix you right up. Very helpful and extremely uncomfortable the whole time. Accepting their help comes with the low level background threat that if they get too attached to you they might decide it is too dangerous for you to be free range and you should stay and live with them forever.  I bet you'd have the cutest little babies!
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Mar 21, 2022 02:51
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This week in Rime of the Frostmaiden: We fixed the summer star, and came back to life! Lathander gave our undead skeleton wizard his body back, and our artificer (who was a doppelganger) decided to stay dead. We also received a boon that grants 10 temp HP every morning, and pledged to Lathander that we will defeat Auril. We took the summer star to Bryn Shander, and the researchers are going to figure out how to build a bigger, better one. Auril is pissed. My harengone bladesinger now has a daily base of 90hp, at level 7, between the amulet of health and his Tough feat and should hit around 130 at level 12. AC of 21 when bladesinging. Basically has proficiency in Con, Dex, Wis, and Int saves. Unkillable...until we find the ancient white dragon we are still contracted to hunt down. SchrodingersCat fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Mar 21, 2022 |
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Mar 21, 2022 03:12
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SchrodingersCat posted:This week in Rime of the Frostmaiden: I was in another room when our ranger fiddled with the prototype and the rest of the party got past-tensed. It led to a memorable moment where our forge cleric reached out beyond the veil to help my hexblade fix the star - like the pottery scene in Ghost. We were all singing Unchained Melody around the table. We later lost Lethander's blessing because our ranger is an agent of chaos. Don't be murderhobos.
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Mar 21, 2022 10:43
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Anyone have some thoughts on how the outcomes of a battle between a Beholder and an Adult Red Dragon would play out? For background, my party is punching well above its weight at level two as we are in the service of some sort of good-aligned Beholder. He sets us out with a mission to investigate why some farm animals have been disappearing from the town that he administrates in some capacity. That turned into an Adult Red Dragon using some sort of magical locator gemstones to track us to that town which is overtop of the Beholder's lair. So, regular stuff, yeah? The lair can only be visited by way of teleporting in via what amounts to a Star Trek-style communicator pin affixed to a creature. Our plan is to have my archer fire an arrow into the dragon with the communicator pin tied to it, then the party "beams" ourselves and the dragon into the Beholder's lair. Assuming that works, there will be a clash of titans with my party of gnats also buzzing about. Side A: Beholder in Lair, level 2 Fighter (ranged, a.k.a. me), level 2 Cleric (Life domain), level 2 Rogue (halfling), level 2 Warlock (eldritch blast specialist in the making), level 2 Sorcerer (has magic missile). Side B: Adult Red Dragon. It should be noted that the Beholder has agreed to this plan and hopefully is on the up and up with his intentions. Assuming the dragon gets there, the lair is rather large, but should still limit the dragon's ability to fly. The lair has a magic exit of sorts through which is big enough to allow the party passage, but neither the beholder nor dragon would fit. As a fun twist, the party will get to "control" the Beholder. Which basically means rolling dice for it since the eye stalks it uses are randomly selected and it has only a single target, so not much deciding to be done. Lair actions, I guess, but even then, not many to pick from. My guess is that the beholder + party should be able to defeat the dragon. I suspect the party members will peace out pretty quick once the teleportation happens, but in that hasty retreat might manage to pop off a couple of attacks, for whatever that will be worth. We hope that the dragon will focus entirely on the beholder since it is a far, far greater threat. But even if the beholder dies, the dragon is still stuck is some exit-less cave deep underground, so that seems a win as far as some still wet-behind-the-ears level two characters should be concerned. Thoughts on who wins?
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Mar 21, 2022 16:13
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What's the plan if your archer misses? Also, dragon fire can probably outright kill most level 2 characters. Don't get in probable line of fire.
Mr. Lobe fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Mar 21, 2022 |
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Mar 21, 2022 16:22
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Antifreeze Head posted:Anyone have some thoughts on how the outcomes of a battle between a Beholder and an Adult Red Dragon would play out? the struggle with this battle is sides aside and the arrow potentially missing aside (dragons are hard to hit!!) is that the dragon can instantly wipe the party on accident. the characters are not likely going to be able to be effective. as a set piece battle though none of this matters because the idea is cool as poo poo -- here is how i would run the encounter as a DM(as for the result i have no idea. beholders are the rng enemy of dnd) 1: the party would have access to siege weapons throughout this circular chamber the party can use to take shots at the dragon 2: the dragon would loudly announce it knew the beholder was here and made a gamble on finally taking out its enemy - it somehow gained access to these teleporter arrows. while the party is assisting with siege weapons, on round 2 or 3 i would have a bunch of kobolds appear in the fight so the lower level party members have an objective they can deal with - stop the kobolds from using your siege weapons on your beholder
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Mar 21, 2022 16:29
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How do you all successfully pace dungeons? I've noticed that when my players enter a dungeon the game changes pretty dramatically. My players start playing very methodically once they enter a dungeon, which is great, but it also slows down the game considerably. A normal, non-dungeon session can have 4-6 scenes, but in a dungeon this seems to slow down to around 2-3. My players seem to enjoy dungeons, but they take a considerable amount of time for my players to get through, especially in a lot of pre-written modules. A single dungeon can take anywhere from 4-5 sessions to complete, and I've definitely had experiences before where my players have gotten fatigued with continuing to push through a dungeon to the end, especially since it takes them out of certain areas that their characters might be more attuned towards, like constant social situations or other skill-based encounters. How do you all get around this, particularly in pre-written dungeons that can be quite big? Do you cut content? Do you skip through to the more interesting parts? Do you run it as is?
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Mar 21, 2022 16:45
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Personally, I read the dungeon before and pare it down. Pre-written dungeons have tons of chaff. If your players care about where the goblins are sleeping, you can keep the barracks in, otherwise just move the handful of copper and the rusty daggers to the big boss' treasure chest. Every room should have a task, imo, not just be set dressing.
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Mar 21, 2022 17:03
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Verisimilidude posted:How do you all get around this, particularly in pre-written dungeons that can be quite big? Do you cut content? Do you skip through to the more interesting parts? Do you run it as is? depends on the dungeon and character levels. an important facet of dungeon design is providing different types of encounters to the players to break up the monotony - this does not necessarily have to be setpiece battles. i recommend looking into highly rated OSR third party dungeons for inspiration to see how they create interesting dungeons -- and once the dungeons are sufficiently interesting, the pace will naturally improve. to unnaturally improve the pace (do not do this until you know the dungeon is great) introduce some sort of time pressure on the players to keep moving
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Mar 21, 2022 17:19
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Antifreeze Head posted:Anyone have some thoughts on how the outcomes of a battle between a Beholder and an Adult Red Dragon would play out? There is no such thing as a good aligned Beholder. You are in danger
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Mar 21, 2022 17:20
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Antifreeze Head posted:Anyone have some thoughts on how the outcomes of a battle between a Beholder and an Adult Red Dragon would play out? Any one of an Adult Red Dragon's melee attacks (of which it can potentially make up to six per round) will put a 2nd-level PC at 0hp or close to it, and its fire breath will insta-kill any PC caught in it, even if they're at full health, possibly even if the PC succeeds on their Dexterity saving throw. If the dragon doesn't focus ENTIRELY on the Beholder, any PC it targets is probably dead. If it just mindlessly 1v1's the Beholder while the party retreats, you have less than 30 seconds before the Beholder is dead and the Dragon is coming for you now, so you better hope you can make it to that exit portal by then. This is all assuming the Beholder is being completely benevolent and altruistic and is totally 100% okay with almost certainly giving its life to save the townsfolk's sheep. This is unlikely.
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Mar 21, 2022 18:08
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Rutibex posted:There is no such thing as a good aligned Beholder. You are in danger actually i just took the beholder statblock and renamed it "beholder (good)" and crossed out lawful evil and wrote neutral good and now theres a good aligned beholder
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Mar 21, 2022 18:38
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The only good aligned beholder is Large Luigi. This is #FACTS.
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Mar 21, 2022 18:42
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Arivia posted:The only good aligned beholder is Large Luigi. This is #FACTS. More like lawful neutral
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Mar 21, 2022 18:58
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