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I agree but ability scores also seem like a sacred cow that will never get changed.
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Nov 1, 2022 16:11
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| # ? Jun 6, 2024 00:06 |
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If you change the six scores it's not d&d any more. It's something else. Maybe something better but definitely something different.
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Nov 1, 2022 17:04
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There's surely design space to change how ability scores interact with other attributes and mechanics, and the WotC editions have shown that the classic 3-18 scale isn't so sacred. But like levels and hit points and maybe even armor class and saving throws, the six classic ability scores are core to the game's mechanical identity.
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Nov 1, 2022 17:11
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Everything in D&D is subject to change. The only thing that isn't is grown men crying when it happens. That's the game's actual core identity
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Nov 1, 2022 17:38
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The easy change for ability scores which still keeps them as they are is to allow you to designate one as a primary and one as a secondary, attacks use your primary, other poo poo can use your secondary etc. You want to be a CHA fighter? cool, you are like the guy in the princess bride. You want to be a INT fighter? cool, you can be like the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes. Etc.
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Nov 1, 2022 17:43
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Also get rid of STR. It doesn't do enough on its own, and good answers to other problems (e.g. letting people swordfight with CHA) have the downside of making STR even less useful. Combine STR and CHA and now the weepy grognards have their five saves back! My big takeaway from playing 5e this past weekend is that the 5e experience is much, much better if you give out more ability score points. Nobody actually wants to play a character with less than an 18 in their primary ability score, but being hyperspecialized isn't good either. Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Nov 1, 2022 |
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Nov 1, 2022 17:51
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Dump CON as a stat. Make it a STR-based skill instead. Split DEX into Dexterity and Agility. Watch half the players applaud and the other half explode. Split WIS into Sagacity and Mysticality, so that the cleric can stop being the best survivalist and animal handler in the party.
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Nov 1, 2022 18:11
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i have long thought strength and dexterity should just be one skill, as should wisdom and intelligence. the distinction between those are weak and can extremely easily be flavour descriptions. but this will never happen
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Nov 1, 2022 18:14
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The correct number of ability scores for D&D is somewhere between 0 and 5.
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Nov 1, 2022 18:34
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Halloween Jack posted:Everything in D&D is subject to change. The only thing that isn't is grown men crying when it happens. That's the game's actual core identity No one's gonna cry if WotC decides to dumpster D&D. There are a million clones of old editions and OSR alternatives now.
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Nov 1, 2022 18:38
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Elendil004 posted:The easy change for ability scores which still keeps them as they are is to allow you to designate one as a primary and one as a secondary, attacks use your primary, other poo poo can use your secondary etc. You want to be a CHA fighter? cool, you are like the guy in the princess bride. You want to be a INT fighter? cool, you can be like the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes. Yeah that makes almost too much sense.
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Nov 1, 2022 19:18
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Rutibex posted:No one's gonna cry if WotC decides to dumpster D&D. There are a million clones of old editions and OSR alternatives now. This is a really bad take. There's a lot of unique IP attached to D&D that isn't covered by the OGL that would be missed greatly. Splitting D&D apart/returning it to longtime fans would be wonderful, but Hasbro's "D&D as a geek lifestyle brand" approach has no room for any of that.
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Nov 1, 2022 19:25
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Arivia posted:This is a really bad take. There's a lot of unique IP attached to D&D that isn't covered by the OGL that would be missed greatly. Splitting D&D apart/returning it to longtime fans would be wonderful, but Hasbro's "D&D as a geek lifestyle brand" approach has no room for any of that. Not really, unless you are counting specific campaign settings. The only thing WotC owns is the words Mindflayer and Beholder, but you can just call them "evil eyes" and "Psycho Squids" and your good to go. The majority of D&D lore is stolen from folk tales and religion. WotC doesnt own the concept of hell or the 7 heavens or anything interesting about the outer planes.
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Nov 1, 2022 19:29
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Rutibex posted:Not really, unless you are counting specific campaign settings. The only thing WotC owns is the words Mindflayer and Beholder, but you can just call them "evil eyes" and "Psycho Squids" and your good to go. Yes, the stories, characters, and creatures of D&D are collectively what a lot of people care a ton about. Your idiocy is astounding.
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Nov 1, 2022 19:33
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Arivia posted:Yes, the stories, characters, and creatures of D&D are collectively what a lot of people care a ton about. Your idiocy is astounding. WotC can't actually stop you from using Elminster in your Pathfinder game
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Nov 1, 2022 19:41
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Rutibex posted:No one's gonna cry if WotC decides to dumpster D&D. There are a million clones of old editions and OSR alternatives now. I mean... obviously they're not going to dumpster D&D. But, to be clear, lots of the value (to Wizards) doesn't have anything to do with rules or settings or stories; it's just the name/brand. When my kids wanted to do a tabletop RPG, I wanted to consider a few options - but they wanted to do D&D. Because it's the "real", brand-name one. Whether you could run an effectively similar game without Wizards licensed content or something - that's the cart before the horse. If people were starting fully fresh, picking an RPG system based on an objective comparison of their rules' merits, I don't think D&D would have the market share it does.
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Nov 1, 2022 19:43
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Rutibex posted:WotC can't actually stop you from using Elminster in your Pathfinder game The thing is, lots of people like using the settings supported by the game and seeing updates to them. Many TTRPGs have settings as part of them, and some people would be sad if that setting will never be brought up again.
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Nov 1, 2022 19:45
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The most valuable thing about D&D is the genre that it created. That was immediately appropriated by makers of board and video games, and no longer belongs to anyone. It's an irony that TSR richly deserved, at least.
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Nov 1, 2022 19:50
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Halloween Jack posted:The most valuable thing about D&D is the genre that it created. That was immediately appropriated by makers of board and video games, and no longer belongs to anyone. It's an irony that TSR richly deserved, at least. Rutibex was saying that no one would cry if D&D died, which is a far different statement than what you're suggesting.
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Nov 1, 2022 19:53
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Arivia posted:Rutibex was saying that no one would cry if D&D died No I was saying no one would cry if WotC mucked up their version of D&D to the point that everyone abandoned them. D&D lives in the heart of every gamer and it can't be killed by some company
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Nov 1, 2022 20:42
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The thing is, the brand is a really big thing. Like I was trying to get my family into Gloomhaven a few years ago and it was impenetrable. So we started with Descent which has very d&d esque branding: you're a fighter or a dwarf or a wizard, etc. Much more accessible and approachable. At this point the Kids these Days grew up with Jackson's lotr films as cultural juggernauts. "Oh its a game where you play the fellowship, sortof." That basic tolkienesque ur-fantasy has immense power as a gateway and d&d has managed to plop itself athwart that stream in a permanent way. Now amazon is renewing Legend of Vox Machina for a third season. And that's 👍 D&d is like the alignment system: a dumb and bad system for gameplay but a *great* system for teaching people the absolute basic fundamentals of how to do a roleplay. "Oh I should have a character who has motivations, and can fight about them"
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Nov 1, 2022 21:14
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Elendil004 posted:The easy change for ability scores which still keeps them as they are is to allow you to designate one as a primary and one as a secondary, attacks use your primary, other poo poo can use your secondary etc. You want to be a CHA fighter? cool, you are like the guy in the princess bride. You want to be a INT fighter? cool, you can be like the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes. Semi-tangentially, one of the things I like best about the Artificer class is how it encourages the player to explain spellcasting in mechanical terms. I may be casting your standard grease spell, but it's applied by a retracting nozzle popping out of my backpack. Yes, it's fire bolt, but I'm shooting flaming pellets out of a wrist-mounted slingshot. I'm saying your idea is fantastic and the game needs more stuff like this. If you have a concept and can make it work, do it.
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Nov 1, 2022 21:30
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Mirage posted:Semi-tangentially, one of the things I like best about the Artificer class is how it encourages the player to explain spellcasting in mechanical terms. I may be casting your standard grease spell, but it's applied by a retracting nozzle popping out of my backpack. Yes, it's fire bolt, but I'm shooting flaming pellets out of a wrist-mounted slingshot. "I slap this old man to death with a joy buzzer" is always a great one
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Nov 1, 2022 21:31
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My DM made me explain how exactly I was using my Flash of Genius to help friends save against spells and traps. That played out in a lot of funny ways.
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Nov 1, 2022 22:27
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Flash of Genius has been officially renamed "Um, Actually..." in our campaigns. I loved reflavoring all of the Artificer spells but after a bit of time, you become self aware of how much time your taking just to announce that you're casting Shocking Grasp.
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Nov 2, 2022 00:45
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Slowly getting the hang of foundry. The 3D dice module I got annoyingly seem to be made of uranium as they seem to come to a immediately halt when rolled instead of "rolling"*; I want the feeling of holding my breath to see what number I got! One idea I got that might be a neat spin compared to what the other DMs in my circle do is to use Background images as scene transitions; instead of posting them to discord. Give that sort of Visual Novel energy to things. *They roll a little, but often isn't consistent how much they roll. I've adjusted dice size, rolling area, and rolling strength but doesn't completely solve my problem. Zurreco posted:Flash of Genius has been officially renamed "Um, Actually..." in our campaigns. That's brilliant.
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Nov 2, 2022 01:03
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Zurreco posted:Flash of Genius has been officially renamed "Um, Actually..." in our campaigns. There are also times when it becomes an exercise in backsolving descriptions for specific rules. I appreciate the intent but D&D isn't very good at supporting it.
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Nov 2, 2022 01:08
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where are people getting the lore and the settings and whatnot for 5e from? the phb has about gently caress all fluff, and iirc tasha's and xanathar's don't have much more
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Nov 2, 2022 01:45
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redleader posted:where are people getting the lore and the settings and whatnot for 5e from? the phb has about gently caress all fluff, and iirc tasha's and xanathar's don't have much more Presumably from the hundreds of fantasy novels across the main settings; I think its basically assumed the pipeline goes from "Read the Crystal Shard" to "Wants to play D&D", at least for DMs and some players. Otherwise the modules might have a specific setting in mind even if the adventure can be entirely lifted from the setting and put somewhere else. I.e Strahd, Strixhaven, etc. I think some large number of DMs start creating their own lore and settings though at some point.
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Nov 2, 2022 01:52
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redleader posted:where are people getting the lore and the settings and whatnot for 5e from? the phb has about gently caress all fluff, and iirc tasha's and xanathar's don't have much more yeah, probably your best source is gonna be various wikis if you don't read the novels. the current stuff doesn't do a good job of conveying setting in a large or coherent way but the wikis generally do a reasonable job of laying it out, it's just gonna be pretty dry reading
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Nov 2, 2022 01:56
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Azathoth posted:yeah, probably your best source is gonna be various wikis if you don't read the novels. the current stuff doesn't do a good job of conveying setting in a large or coherent way but the wikis generally do a reasonable job of laying it out, it's just gonna be pretty dry reading Wait did you guys not make a homebrew setting based on your novel, I thought everyone did that
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Nov 2, 2022 02:00
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change my name posted:Wait did you guys not make a homebrew setting based on your novel, I thought everyone did that I've done that before, but not with my more recent forays into 5e. I'm working with a lot of new players, and them being able to look up the setting online and read about it in their spare time has been helpful in acclimating them to the game overall. I'll do a homebrew at some point I'm sure, but for now, nah my table likes the FR so I stick with it.
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Nov 2, 2022 02:03
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Arivia posted:Your idiocy is astounding. No need for this poo poo. redleader posted:where are people getting the lore and the settings and whatnot for 5e from? the phb has about gently caress all fluff, and iirc tasha's and xanathar's don't have much more If you want official lore sources, a lot of the great older material is available as PDFs and sometimes print-on-demand at DM's guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/
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Nov 2, 2022 02:18
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change my name posted:Wait did you guys not make a homebrew setting based on your novel, I thought everyone did that yeah, the novel that you've been working on for at least the last 30 years, a thing that all of us forever DM's seem to have
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Nov 2, 2022 02:29
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Halloween Jack posted:Also get rid of STR. It doesn't do enough on its own, and good answers to other problems (e.g. letting people swordfight with CHA) have the downside of making STR even less useful. Combine STR and CHA and now the weepy grognards have their five saves back. Merge Str and Con into physique. Con is a sufficiently powerful stat but it's (a) something everyone wants and (b) not something you actively use, which combines to make it the most boring stat in the game. And thematically they tie together pretty well. Also there should be dex-free bulky medium and light armours. If Mage Armour was a flat AC 14, Padded a flat AC 12, Brigandine a flat AC 15, and Brigandine over Chain a flat AC 16 with Stealth disadvantage we'd stop seeing almost every non-dex based character having Dex 14
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Nov 2, 2022 03:13
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I liked the idea someone I was talking to had where whenever they rolled they rolled the entire stat; so if you had 18 Strength you rolled 1d20+18. This made the difference between a Wizard with 8 strength and a fighter with nearly 20 more pronounced while before a wizard had a fairly decent chance at beating a fighter at a strength check.neonchameleon posted:Merge Str and Con into physique. Con is a sufficiently powerful stat but it's (a) something everyone wants and (b) not something you actively use, which combines to make it the most boring stat in the game. And thematically they tie together pretty well. Con being separate presents possibilities like glass canon brawlers though, people who can punch good but tire out easily. Merging Con and Strength makes it more likely all strong people are also people with high stamina. For a Martial Arts focused campaign that's like all Monk party this isn't desirable I think.
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Nov 2, 2022 03:22
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Honestly I think the Adeventures and setting books do a decent job getting the various setting info out. Dragon Heist and Descent into Avernus provide gazetteers to Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate for example, and I enjoyed the Eberron, and Ravenloft setting books quite a lot.
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Nov 2, 2022 04:00
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change my name posted:Wait did you guys not make a homebrew setting based on your novel, I thought everyone did that Everyone I know has made a homebrew setting based on their (completely and totally unwritten except in their head) novel while using Forgotten Realms gods, cosmology, monsters, and races.
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Nov 2, 2022 04:27
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I did the homebrew setting completely original (except stuff I almost certainly subconsciously cribbed), and got around the "characters know way more about the setting than the players" knowledge gap by setting it right toward the start of civilization in the area. Everyone came from some isolated poo poo hole town - you may have heard about a big city somewhere, and maybe even the name, but you don't have a concept for it. Your entire world consists of your eight family village and whatever news local traders bring through, and they don't come often. The only things I really set in stone were the cosmology and geography, so we had fun learning about the setting together.
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Nov 2, 2022 05:27
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Raenir Salazar posted:For a Martial Arts focused campaign that's like all Monk party this isn't desirable I think.
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Nov 2, 2022 05:37
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