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So, I'm about to run a Humblewood campaign for my group of 5, and this will only be my second campaign after running through the Starter Set adventure. I felt I struggled with NPC interactions and getting the players engaged in the story. Maybe that was just the story not being so compelling, or (likely) had to do with my inexperience. They all told me they enjoyed it, but I'm sure most DM's know the self-doubt that comes with running this game  . Any good input, tips, resources, etc. You fine folks have would be appreciated. Has anyone else ran this adventure? Any hiccups or weirdness I should know about to maybe rework a bit?
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Jul 26, 2021 15:17
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 05:10 |
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I'll take dire chicken-talk over etymology disputes any day of the week. 
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Jul 30, 2021 20:47
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Jack B Nimble posted:.If I'm honest, I never really wanted to run a game in the first place and, while I had a lot of fun with everything up to and including the dragon hatchery I've found the subsequent adventure an uneven slog filled with too many NPCs with too little narrative or description and the whole game has gotten badly off track and I'm really struggling to hold things together enough to finish the hoard adventure, let alone continue into the second half. I'll be honest, I know this feeling exactly. What I'd maybe recommend that you consider is talking with all of your players about how you're feeling, A. to see if anybody else is wanting to DM, or at least B. Ask them if they're okay with starting fresh in a new campaign, and putting this one on hold for a little while. You may find a new campaign written by yourself to be a lot more fun to run then one of the premade modules. Matt Colville, the guy from "How to be a Great GM", Matt Mercer, and all sorts of other content creators have some fantastic advice on building your own campaign that you can find on YouTube. The GM Advice thread here on SA is also really helpful. Lean into the aspects and structure from early on in the ToD adventure that you really enjoyed running, and have fun with it! DM'ing isn't a job, you're supposed to be having fun too. I'm sure your players will be understanding 
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Aug 5, 2021 17:35
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radlum posted:How do you roleplay a Warforged character? I was thinking of playing one in the next game my DM is starting but I was wondering how "robotic" should I play the character, so I could use some suggestions. Are you playing an Eberron Campaign? If not, there's a lot of interesting ways you can flavour it to make sense. Ie. Soul trapped in a suit of armour a la Fullmetal Alchemist, wizard's/arcanist's experiment that became self-aware and play it like Data, or even just like your character put on a cursed suit of armour that is now permanently fused to you or something, I dunno. So, to answer your question, with all those flavour choices, there's nothing saying it has to be robotic at all. Even in Eberron, they are depicted as having the full range of emotions, they're just not able to manipulate their faces to make expressions like the meat sacks can.
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Aug 10, 2021 17:54
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Kung Food posted:Here is something I do to actually print out the maps in a playable size. I already do this, but I use poster board from the dollar store instead. honestly, I like your approach better! I'll be converting to it for sure. And WHAT THE gently caress. I didn't know inktank printers existed. I am so done with this cartridge inkjet I have, and this was just the product I needed to know about to finally kick this machine's ink addiction. The costs are unreal. However, I have a solution that will *drastically* cut (  )down your trimming time...  It works awesome, and I got mine for only $7 at the thrift store. Also, you can use the "Render->grid" feature on GIMP to take any fantasy map and add a grid to it, if desired, set your canvas/image size appropriately in the program, and then convert through posterazor. There are a ton of maps for D&D, including lost mines of phandelver, that were designed for TTS that I converted through posterazor for my LMOP campaign.
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Aug 12, 2021 07:18
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jmzero posted:Yep - the book says to level up after each of the first missions (regardless of XP), so we'll process that to start. One last thing that I'd mention jmzero, as everyone else covered all the other important bits. It's not really stated anywhere that I can remember, but I would *highly* encourage reading/skimming through the entire campaign book yourself before you even run the first session, and then make sure to reread each "chapter" or whatever is about 2-4 sessions ahead of the characters every few sessions. There's typically a lot of hints, foreshadowing, and most importantly, ways for you as the GM to see where the best points would be to weave in your player's backstory and the party's earlier choices into the tale you're collectively weaving. I highly encourage you give each player at least a session each that has some heavy ties to their backstory, or at least a few meaningful challenges that play to their personality/backstory/etc. Here and there. I think the girl's would especially love that if they were really invested in creating their character's backstory.
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Aug 15, 2021 15:29
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Deteriorata posted:Yeah, we were really disappointed in SKT, as well. Three different questing towns written up in elaborate detail, of which you only use one. Six giant strongholds written out in elaborate detail, of which you only use one. Multiple modes of fast travel around the area, of which you only need one. Dozens of towns written up in detail, most of which you will never visit. It almost seems more useful as a source book for a DM to make their own campaign from, rather than a functional and enjoyable adventure itself. I definitely regret buying it without looking up reviews first.
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Aug 20, 2021 17:47
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Splicer posted:I see two options: The Dresden files book Fool Moon has a really cool distinction between the three. You might find it interesting to read to develop your own sense of how to flavor it. Also it's a super cool modern fantasy book series with a lot of D&D inspiration.
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Aug 23, 2021 17:25
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Devorum posted:Not rape, just weirdly graphic werewolf sex. Yeah... definitely was *not* a fan of that part, in fact I didn't even remember it. The other books are far better, especially the later ones. Anyways, the shapeshifter/loup garou/werewolf stuff in the book was pretty cool, but on second thought I'd recommend just checking this out and Skipping the book. https://dresdenfiles.fandom.com/wiki/Lupine_theriomorph
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Aug 23, 2021 20:35
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Arivia posted:At this point I would think of them less as old D&D games and more as "80s-early 90s CRPGs with manual mapping, journal entries in the manual that tell the story and those kinds of things." The mechanics and the playstyle and the games themselves are so removed from what D&D is nowadays that it's going to feel incredibly alien. That said, if you're into that era of CRPGs, the gold box games are pretty great! Planescape would like to have a word with you
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Sep 23, 2021 13:29
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Arivia posted:That’s on Steam. Oh, I don’t think IWD 2 is, which is…okay. It’s a pain to get to run and it has some really weird mechanics though. Just referring to the last part of your post about NW2 being the best D&D game, but didn't know that it was on Steam. I may have to take another crack at it.
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Sep 23, 2021 13:42
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Ash Rose posted:Speaking of Warlocks, if you are more of a caster warlock, what are some interesting dips? the obvious choices seem like Sorcerer, Bard, Paladin, but anything more specific with those? any other interesting choices from other classes? Hexblade with a dip into Fighter for action surge is pretty cool.
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Sep 27, 2021 00:12
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Pinterest, Reddit, and plain old Google search are your friend.
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Sep 27, 2021 20:33
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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
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Sep 30, 2021 23:32
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And this is why good DM's keep a small stash of NPC blocks handy for situations like that. It's not that hard to do, you can even find free ones online.
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Oct 2, 2021 19:44
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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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Oh ffs WOTC. They're making like over $100 mil in profit a year, they can pay for concept to finished product artwork generated by humans. This company is circling the drain
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Aug 5, 2023 17:03
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gurragadon posted:I can't really tell if this is WoTC running somebody's artwork through an AI generator or if it is the artist themselves drawing sketches and them running it through a generator. Pretty stupid choice by WoTC either way, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of stuff is AI generated and this is the art that was touched up poorly. From this article: https://gizmodo.com/dnd-ai-art-bigbys-giants-book-artist-generators-wotc-1850710496 article posted:A source at Wizards of the Coast has said that Shkipin’s use of AI art was not something that the team was aware of. Further, they state that no text in the book was AI generated. Wizards has said that they will update their guidelines to more explicitly prevent these sorts of incidents from happening in the future Well that's somewhat encouraging. Just seems like some cryptoNFT grifter who was contracted out to do some art work for WOTC, who uses AI generated art and AI editing/'upscaling' to enhance their work. Regardless, the depressing reality of the next few years is that excellent artists are going to be pushed out of their jobs by armies of middling artists using AI to dress up their work for a lot less money.
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Aug 5, 2023 17:17
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I'm just a sample size of one, but I really do buy campaign and source books because of the beautiful art, design, and the satisfaction of flipping through a nice printed book. If I was purely after the mechanics and what's physically written, I'd just use the SRD and other online sources to get the content. Like despite some of the shortcomings of the adventure in the Humblewood setting, the artwork is super charming and I like flipping through the book as I'm working through the campaign.
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Aug 5, 2023 21:50
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Rogue AI Goddess posted:Are there any kits or prestige classes for someone who wants to be a Sorceress + Wizard hybrid? I guess the question is, what's your reasoning for wanting a hybrid of those two classes?
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Aug 6, 2023 18:53
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Rogue AI Goddess posted:I want to explore the story of a character who seeks to reconcile her inborn magical abilities with the formal arcane tradition that she was inducted into. Sounds really interesting!  Hieronymous Alloy posted:Variant human, 1st level feat Metamagic Adept is probably your best angle I'd say this would probably suit your build more mechanically wise, perhaps with a Divine Soul or Wild magic 1-3 level sorcerer dip quote:Alternatively, ritual caster feat on a sorcerer And this one might suit the flavour of your idea a little bit more. As another alternative, maybe Bard with a sorcerer dip could satisfy it? Bard's follow formal magic traditions and training as well, but it depends on if you think that'd make sense for your character. Let us know what you settle on after you've played a few sessions with them!
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Aug 7, 2023 03:16
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Yeah it's kind of pointless to see those numbers unless they filter it out to only show character that have more than a few hours playtime
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Aug 12, 2023 20:29
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imagine dungeons posted:The most important part of the Undertaker is his ability to turn off all the lights in a room at once. So, access to the Darkness spell?
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Aug 17, 2023 16:06
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Lost mines of phandelver from the starter set and Dragon of Icespire peak from the essentials kit are both Adventurers league legal and highly recommended for new players. Have a stack of pre-rolled character sheets handy and you can get started in either, no problem
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Aug 17, 2023 16:21
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That raises a question for me, how do you folks handle when your PC's cast higher level spells that require expensive spell components? Do you make them search for those, too? Or just assume that the spell focus sucks up the gold when you cast it?
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Aug 19, 2023 18:28
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Froghammer posted:Unless the spell specifically requires a component that's either worth money or is time-sensitive (Summon Greater Demon, for example), assume that it is in a spell component pouch. Don't make your player track bat guano. No, I get that part. I'm talking about the spells that explicitly require expensive components
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Aug 19, 2023 18:36
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Zurreco posted:Think of it like this - a really nice and ornate breastplate would run about 500 GP at a high end smithy. A quick google search shows that this would run you ~$400 + shipping on etsy in the real world, so let's call that $600. A cut 0.5 carat blue nile diamond, something that looks like a low-end engagement ring, is worth around $600. Any factors regarding the scarcity of quality ingots in a medieval setting would also apply to the scarcity of quality diamonds. Thinking using modern day purchasing power as your lens skews the perceptions of what's going on in a typical D&D Renaissance/medieval setting, value/market wise. Quality steel, the man hours required to turn it into mail/plates/etc., or even just making a plain Jane metal tool like a hoe or whatever was really loving expensive for folks in a setting like that. Hell, even having a plow with a metal blade would have been a luxury reserved only for wealthier farms. Monthly income for the average person is somewhere between 10GP - 60GP per month, based on info in the DMG and PHB. Factor in whatever it would take for lodgings, food, etc. And they're probably only left with ~3gp - ~20 gp of savings left over each month. So a 500 GP piece of armor would either be the life savings of a poor person, or several years of saving by someone who's a wealthier craftsperson/merchant. That would put that piece of armor easily in the $75k-$125k sort of range in today's money. Mass production, industrial acquisition of natural resources, and widespread sharing of knowledge has made items incomprehensibly cheaper today compared to a world like that E: I did a little more research into real world comparisons of cost of armor compared to average income back then And found this really cool article. They actually landed on about the same price range for fine armor as I did using the D&D numbers. If this is interesting to you because you're a huge nerd, you should read it.  https://www.armstreet.com/news/the-cost-of-plate-armor-in-modern-moneyarmstreet posted:And the price difference between the regular men-at-arms’ plate armor and knight’s plate armor is huge! It can be compared with a difference between a regular modern business suit and a modern exclusive designer limited edition bespoke business suit. Such armor was made to order by renowned armorers, and, as a rule, had decals and decorations, even if we are talking about combat, not ceremonial armor, and its cost converted by the above mentioned method was in the range of $100,000 to $250,000 Mederlock fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Aug 21, 2023 |
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Aug 21, 2023 01:29
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The way I see it, the player character would know what abilities they have and what they're capable of, so for something like that I'll just straight up remind the players that they have an ability/spell.
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Aug 22, 2023 03:15
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 Am I doin it right? Projecting battlemaps onto the table is /such/ a game changer. Need to make several adjustments, and remove the paint on the angled mirror so I can use the rear side aka first-surface mirror and eliminate the ghosted double projection that the clear glass causes, but other than that my players loved it!
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Aug 26, 2023 06:28
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Hex blade with subclass dips are probably my favourite way to do it. Getting action surge on a fighter dip is great because you can sword and sorcery that poo poo up in a round, but going into like Paladin or whatever is really dope too
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Aug 29, 2023 18:15
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So, I'm running Humblewood for a group of 5, and I just ran into my first session where the 2 experienced players at my table started using Silvery Barbs a lot. I wasn't aware of this spell as I don't play as often as I'd like, but looking at it now I'm like  .. this spell is really, really broken as gently caress. I don't want to ban it retroactively(but probably will ban it in future campaigns), especially since it already influenced some important situations. But I really feel this needs to be reigned in. Am I out of line for imposing these changes on the spell going forward? Is there anything I missed or went too far on? Silvery Barbs changes:
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Aug 30, 2023 18:31
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sirtommygunn posted:Just make silvery barbs a level 2 spell. It's partially this. Also, the as-written wording means that it doesn't interact with the advantage system, so if you have silvery barbs cast on you and you had disadvantage before, you have it again on the SB re-roll. Also, it basically equates to doubling the amount of higher level spell slots that you use saves on. If a single creature like a big boss or monster makes their save on your big save-or-suck spell, You're effectively casting it twice for one slot when you use your reaction to SB. If you're a sorcerer and you use a sorcery point and a single spell slot on silent spell'ing it, then you can use it in every social encounter at a critical moment to basically guarantee a success without anyone being able to notice it. If you're a high level wizard, you have so many spell slots available that it basically means your higher level spells are almost guaranteed successes It basically replicates one of the really powerful effects of Wish as a 1st level spell. It's really, really poorly considered and never should have been added as-written into the game. Funnily enough, that same book has another /ridiculously/ powerful spell for its level, Vortex Warp.
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Aug 30, 2023 19:48
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I'm not saying SB is impossible to work around, it just warps everything about making encounters around it's power if your players actually use it to it's full potential. It changes every fight against difficult foes, changes the outcomes of every social interaction if used right, and makes every single contested roll between the PCs and NPC's an almost guaranteed success. To balance all of that in the game all because of a poorly thought out 1st level spell, seems pretty onerous. Once my players started using it, they used it in every single encounter and totally wiped the floor. Interrogation? SB on the charm person+advantage on the persuasion. Combat? SB on the boss's critical hit on a caster to a failure. Player walked up to an off-duty guard at a bar who slighted the party slightly and knocked them out? 3 casts of silent spell SB on a series of saves/persuasions/etc. Got them out of a tavern brawl with his buddies+being arrested(admittedly the series of spells/tricks they used was very clever here). I have a sorcerer and a wizard with it who knows exactly how to use it to it's full potential. I thought about it some more with all of your feedback, and going forward I think I'll stick with these changes. I was debating making it a second level spell on top of these other changes but the wizard player started making a big stink about that so I'll let it slide till this adventure wraps up. Going forward I'll not be letting the Strixhaven source book be used in my games unless we're in that setting. Mederlock posted:Silvery Barbs changes:
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Aug 30, 2023 21:03
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change my name posted:Don't forget that if a spell exists in the world, enemies should cast it on the party too Yeah, but what's more distinctly unfun to a player than having their clutch Nat 20 roll negated by a first level spell from a generic caster NPC?
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Aug 30, 2023 21:08
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I like XP leveling, but make sure to give XP for good roleplay, puzzle solving, etc. Too!
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Aug 31, 2023 17:19
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Arione posted:[Nightmare player story]  that sounds absolutely terrible. But, what sort of repercussions can some random on the HOA board really do to you if you tell them that they're ruining the table's fun and that's he's no longer welcome? His antics aren't just affecting you, they're negatively impacting your other player's enjoyment too. And if he lives near you and you start the next campaign without him, he's definitely going to notice that you have 4-5 vehicles showing up on Sunday between 1-4. He's going to be just as butthurt about it as if you give him one final chance to play nicely or hit da bricks.
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Aug 31, 2023 20:36
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Pussy Quipped posted:I know it’s extra work but you could’ve spent 500 bucks on a 3D printer and resin and got all the minis you ever could need.  This is one of my d&d endgame goals, resin printers are siiick
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Aug 31, 2023 21:27
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smarxist posted:also any tips for my first town sesh? (we're doing phandelvin) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fhNpsMA7x0 This video by Sly Flourish is a pretty good start. Here's a few things I had in mind when I ran it and adjusted.(spoilers for Phandelver lol) The town is currently under the oppression of the Redbrands, visualize how that'd look as you describe the vibe of the town as they're first walking in. How that takes shape is up to you, like what I did is think of them like mafia toughs swaggering sound town, bullying people when it suits their fancy. Businesses are being extorted for protection money, etc. And then think of the simmering resentment of the townsfolk at this treatment. When you look at each of the named NPC's make a little cheat sheet with their general personality traits (pick one or two) for each and what sort of voice or mannerisms you'd like to use for them, so it stays consistent. When the Redbrands are finally defeated, make sure that the vibe of the town makes a big shift for the better, once the people realize they're no longer under their boot anymore. For the Redbrands hideout, this is a great opportunity to add some things in. If you think the players would like a puzzle, throw one in here somewhere, perhaps to get past the first room with the fountain/pool thing. Make the traps in the trap hallways more interesting, make the first one basically a gimme success that they just safely dodge, but then have a small gauntlet they've got to run once they know it's a trapped hallway, and let them get creative and fudge things in their favour if it's cool. Play up how creepy and weird the Nothic is, think Gollum in the Hobbit but even weirder, but fudge the stat block a bit and let it speak telepathically with the players ( if a PC knows under common, give that PC. A chance to shine, but if no one has it just let them understand it anyway), but have them like, drop mad cackling and whispers into the back of their heads and such. On the quests, make sure you're regularly dropping in hints and hooks for the side quests in the area. If the characters aren't going to the one NPC that has clues for something, find a way to bring that NPC out to them instead in a way that's congruent and plausible. I'd avoid dropping hints about thundertree until they've levelled up some more, the green dragon can easily wipe them at level 2, so it's better to save it for until they're ready to face that(level 4, or if they're absolute combat monsters of a party maaaaybe level 3). Regardless, make sure to always be preparing an enticing menu of choices for the PC's to make by having the clues about them smack them in the face. Hope this helps. :
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Sep 1, 2023 15:24
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Halberd/Glaive wielding Paladin , using the Sentinel and polearm master feats, with a 3 level dip into Hexblade Warlock is a great combination for that sort of play. Take repelling blast for your invocation so you can push people around to manipulate the battlefield even betterer or agonizing blast for great consistent ranged damage. Start with a spear(and shield if you need the AC early), and then when you finally get your Pact of the blade weapon you go full out. Or, only do a one or two level dip and stick with the spear and shield (but you won't get Reach this way which limits your PAM/Sentinel feat synergy). Getting Hex Warrior lets you ignore putting a lot of stats into Strength, as it lets you add your CHA modifier to your weapon attacks but it's limited to weapons without the 2-Handed property(Spear is Versatile so it's still eligible but only 5' range). It also makes you crit on 19 and 20 with your hexblades curse, so your chance to do a Smite bomb after a crit lands doubles, which is great for nuking important single targets. Level 3 in warlock gets you the pact Weapon, that can be any weapon, including 2 handed weapons like Halberds with reach, meaning your Sentinel and PAM (you should Variant Human for a feat at 1 or if your DM lets you use Tasha's custom lineage rules to choose the race you want with a feat) will absolutely be a battlefield controlling menace when they both come online As the forever DM of my group... now *I* really want to play this build 
Mederlock fucked around with this message at 05:05 on Sep 2, 2023 |
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Sep 2, 2023 04:59
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 05:10 |
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My group had a pretty epic fight with Venomfang too, my party cleared most of the town before they approached the tower(the dead giant spiders near the tower on the map I found on Reddit spooked them), so they had already had a conversation with the druid in town and got some loot and xp, long rested at the druids house, and then went to the tower. They went in through the cottage, and the dragon was hanging out in the ceiling of the tower. When they entered the tower, I had the dragon call them out and taunt them a bit. Well, the barbarian didn't like that and called him something obscene in return, and thus a fight ensued  . They didn't have enough effective crowd control or ranged options to keep the dragon on the ground long enough, and I had to have the druid come running in and save them as the party hightailed it out of there. Now they've got a bone to pick with the dragon, and they owe the druid a favour that he's going to call in when we get back to that campaign after we finish Humblewood. Good times man
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Sep 4, 2023 04:02
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