I think it completely works if you're going for absurd sci-fantasy
it's definitely not the feel you get from most sci-fi action stories
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
edited December 2018
Last week at our D&D game we had a role-play session where we sailed into the port of our Orc's homeland.
Everyone got to go shopping and take care of some personal matters.
The Druid went shopping for herbs. The Wizard exchanged stories with the Orcish sages. The Ranger went shopping for swords. The Barbarian & our Fighter? We'll get back to them.
Zook though? Well he first went and established himself with all the Orc criminals, playing some cards with them. From the money earned through that he went and bought toys for the two children who joined us on our trip. He also bought them playing cards, poker chips, and other small items to teach them some grifts. He drifted over to an Orcish Shaman and asked him questions about magic (as Zook is on his way to begin studying the arcane ways). He finally settled in with the Orcish brewmasters, teaching them some tricks & exchanging his booze for theirs (including a cider that makes your face go numb).
That entire Orcish community loved him as a result.
Later on though we were all escorted to the Cages, the Orcish fighting pits. Our Barbarian & Fighter? They spent the day sparing with Orcish gladiators, till the big feast in the evening where they became enrolled in the Orcish fight-night.
Locked in a spiked cage, the rest of the party couldn't really assist them. Well... Except for Zook. See, you can't cast magic buffs or what-have-you during such an event as its effectively cheating. But Zook has the Mastermind sub-class ability to grant advantage to any teammate up to 30 feet away.
So Zook became their boxing coach. He even went and got them a bucket & rag to wash their faces between fights.
My entire work day is showing episodes of Blue Planet to high school students.
I am very bored.
Does anyone have a D&D 5E character they'd like me to make for them?
Make a build that is 5 level 1 halflings that will manage to not be useless in at lvl 5 christmas themed heist adventure.
So be it...
The Holiday Brigade
Peppermint Patty, the Rogue ‘Guild Artisan’ Lightfoot Halfling Rogue 1 AC: 14; HP: 8; Speed: 25 ft.; Saving Throws: Dexterity +5 & Intelligence +3
Str 8 (-1), Dex 16 (+3), Con 10 (+0), Int 12 (+1), Wis 13 (+1), Cha 16 (+3) Skills/Feats: Acrobatics +5, Brewer’s Supplies +2, Deception +5, Insight +3, Perception +3, Persuasion +7, Stealth +7; --- Senses: passive Perception 13; Languages: Common, Elven, & Halfling Special Abilities Racial Abilities: Brave, Halfling Nimbleness, Lucky, & Naturally Stealthy Background Abilities: Guild Membership Class Abilities: Expertise (Persuasion & Stealth), Sneak Attack (1d6), & Thieves’ Cant Actions Dagger. Melee weapon attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., range 20 ft/60 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) piercing damage; finesse, light, thrown (20/60) Equipment: a belt pouch (15 gp), brewer’s supplies, a burglar's pack (included within a backpack: a bag of 1,000 ball bearings, 10 feet of string, a bell, 5 candles, a crowbar, a hammer, 10 pitons, a hooded lantern, 2 flasks of oil, 5 days rations, a tinderbox, and a waterskin. The pack also has 50 feet of hempen rope strapped to the side of it.), two daggers, leather armor, thieves’ tools, & a set of traveler’s clothes.
Snickerdoodle, the Wildmage ‘Guild Artisan’ Lightfoot Halfling ‘Wild Magic’ Sorcerer 1 AC: 13; HP: 7; Speed: 25 ft.; Saving Throws: Constitution +3 & Charisma +5
Str 8 (-1), Dex 16 (+3), Con 13 (+1), Int 12 (+1), Wis 10 (+0), Cha 16 (+3) Skills/Feats: Arcana +3, Carpenter’s Tools +2, Deception +5, Insight +2, & Persuasion +5; --- Senses: passive Perception 10; Languages: Common, Elven, & Halfling Special Abilities Racial Abilities: Brave, Halfling Nimbleness, Lucky, & Naturally Stealthy Background Abilities: Guild Membership Class Abilities: Spellcasting (Sorcerer), Sorcerous Origin (Wild Magic), Wild Magic Surge, & Tides of Chaos (once/long rest) Actions Dagger. Melee weapon attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., range 20 ft/60 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) piercing damage; finesse, light, thrown (20/60) Sorcerer Spells -- Snickerdoodle’s spellcasting ability is Charisma-based (spell save DC 13) Cantrips Known (at will) -- Mage Hand, Mending, Prestidigitation, & Ray of Frost 1st-level Spells Prepared (3/long rest) --- Charm Person & Ice Knife Equipment: a belt pouch (15 gp), a component’s pouch, two daggers, an explorer’s pack (included within a backpack: a bedroll, a mess kit, a tinderbox, 10 torches, 10 days of rations, and a waterskin. The pack also has 50 feet of hempen rope strapped to the side of it.), & a set of traveler’s clothes.
Figgy Puddin’, the Sage ‘Guild Artisan’ Lightfoot Halfling ‘Knowledge’ Cleric 1 AC: 18; HP: 9; Speed: 25 ft.; Saving Throws: Wisdom +4 & Charisma +2
Str 8 (-1), Dex 14 (+2), Con 12 (+1), Int 15 (+2), Wis 14 (+2), Cha 11 (+0) Skills/Feats: History +6, Insight +4, Medicine +4, Nature +6, Persuasion +2, Religion +4, & Smith’s Tools +2; --- Senses: passive Perception 12; Languages: Common, Dwarven, Elven, Gnomish, & Halfling Special Abilities Racial Abilities: Brave, Halfling Nimbleness, Lucky, & Naturally Stealthy Background Abilities: Guild Membership Class Abilities: Spellcasting (Cleric), Ritual Casting (Cleric), Divine Domain (Knowledge), & Blessing of Knowledge (History & Nature) Actions Dagger. Melee weapon attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., range 20 ft/60 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) piercing damage; finesse, light, thrown (20/60) Sorcerer Spells -- Frederick’s spellcasting ability is Wisdom-based (spell save DC 12) Cantrips Known (at will) -- Guidance, Mending, & Sacred Flame 1st-level Spells Prepared (2/long rest) --- Command*, Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Guiding Bolt, & Identify* (*Domain Spells) Equipment: a belt pouch (15 gp), a holy symbol, a dagger, scalemail, a scholar’s pack (included within a backpack: a book of lore, a bottle of ink, an ink pen, 10 sheets of parchment, a little bag of sand, and a small knife.), a shield, smith’s tools, & a set of traveler’s clothes
Oggnog, the Barbarian ‘Guild Artisan’ Stout Halfling Barbarian 1 AC: 17; HP: 15; Speed: 25 ft.; Saving Throws: Strength +4 & Constitution +5
Str 14 (+2), Dex 15 (+2), Con 16 (+3), Int 8 (-1), Wis 12 (+1), Cha 10 (+0) Skills/Feats: Athletics +4, Insight +3, Mason’s Tools +2, Persuasion +2, & Survival +3; --- Senses: passive Perception 11; Languages: Common, Elven, & Halfling Special Abilities Racial Abilities: Brave, Halfling Nimbleness, Lucky, & Poison Resistance Background Abilities: Guild Membership Class Abilities: Rage (Twice/long rest; +2 dmg), & Unarmored Defense Actions Handaxe. Melee weapon attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., range 20 ft/60 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) slashing damage; light, thrown (20/60) Battleaxe. Melee weapon attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8+2) slashing damage; versatile (1d10) Equipment: a belt pouch (15 gp), battleaxe, an explorer’s pack (included within a backpack: a bedroll, a mess kit, a tinderbox, 10 torches, 10 days of rations, and a waterskin. The pack also has 50 feet of hempen rope strapped to the side of it.), two handaxes, mason tools, a shield, & a set of traveler’s clothes
Hambone the Wicked, the Warlock ‘Guild Artisan’ Lightfoot Halfling Warlock 1 AC: 14; HP: 9; Speed: 25 ft.; Saving Throws: Constitution +3 & Charisma +5
Str 8 (-1), Dex 16 (+3), Con 13 (+1), Int 12 (+1), Wis 10 (+0), Cha 16 (+3) Skills/Feats: Cooking Utensils +2, Deception +5, Insight +2, Intimidation +5, & Persuasion +5; --- Senses: passive Perception 10; Languages: Common, Elven, & Halfling Special Abilities Racial Abilities: Brave, Halfling Nimbleness, Lucky, & Naturally Stealthy Background Abilities: Guild Membership Class Abilities: Otherworldly Patron (The Fiend), Pact Magic, & Dark One’s Blessing (4 hp) Actions Dagger. Melee weapon attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., range 20 ft/60 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) piercing damage; finesse, light, thrown (20/60) Warlock Spells -- Hambone’s spellcasting ability is Charisma-based (spell save DC 13) Cantrips Known (at will) -- Eldritch Blast & Friends 1st-level Spells Prepared (1/rest) --- Arms of Hadar & Hex Equipment: a belt pouch (15 gp), a component’s pouch, cooking utensils, a dagger, a dungeoneer’s pack (included within a backpack: a crowbar, a hammer, 10 pitons, 10 torches, a tinderbox, 10 days of rations, and a waterskin. The pack also has 50 feet of hempen rope strapped to the side of it.), leather armor, & a set of traveler’s clothes.
for yutyrannus i am thinking "let's jsut take the allosaurus, and give it pack tactics instead of pounce. that shit can be devastating"
AC: 13
HP: 60 (7d10+21)
Speed: 50 feet
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
19 (+4) 13 (+1) 16 (+3) 3 (-4) 12 (+1) 6 (-2)
Pack Tactics. The yutyrannus has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the yutyrannus' allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Actions
Bite: Melee attack: +6 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 15 (2d10+4) piercing damage
claw. Melee Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. hit: 8 (1d8+4) slashing damage.
it is expected that the yutyrannus was a pack hunter, aiming to take down large creatures by working together, as many finds involve finding several together, so, a park focused allosaurus that is a little tougher fits that role. and pack tactics being what it is, i think it lets this be a harder monster.
Grappling Bite: Whenever Giganotosaurus hits with a bite the creature must succeed a DC 15 strength check or be grappled. If the creature grappled Giganotosaurus make make a racking teeth attack as a bonus action.
Actions:
Bite Melee Attack +9 to hit reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 25 (4d8+7) piercing damage
Racking Teeth: melee attack +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one grappled creature. Hit: 12 (1d10+7) slashing damage. At the start of the creatures turn they take 1d10 damage due to blood loss, until they regain hit points or spend an action to do a medical check (DC 10)
This one i am less sure on over all. the idea was that Giganotosaurus was a slightly weaker t rex but it's teeth seemed more for cutting with their quicker jaws. I like the idea of biting down on something and then pulling on it to make it bleed out to death.
balancing the damage of it all, is the tricky part. I figure since the ease of the chance of the bleed happening should be balanced against the odds of getting rid of it.
Please give me ideas on how my dog/animal based information broker should go about her business because the DM asked and I was like uuuuuhhjjj
obviously animals are great at surveillance and stuff but they could also do the heavy lifting for most of your network. the most basic low-tech spy tradecraft stuff is cut-outs, brush passes, and dead drops and animals you can talk to would be great at all three
like a dog is a great way to get a message or item to someone. even if the dog is intercepted, it's not like it can identify either you or the recipient. animals can bury stuff in prearranged places, or dig stuff up and bring it to you. even if someone's under heavy surveillance it's probably not likely that the watchers are keeping track of every pigeon that taps on the window or rat that crawls up the pipes. they can deliver prearranged signals; you can literally tell someone to listen for the rooster crowing or whatever.
for practical reasons you would probably still want a couple of actual people at the ends of your network to do stuff and go places that random stray pooches can't but there's basically no reason that anyone should ever have to see your face or have any idea who you are. you have access to a huge, ready-made, and basically untappable, unhackable, totally anonymous information network. even other vampires or mages or whatever who are aware of the existence of powers like Animalism would still find it a giant pain in the ass to actually try to get into your network
Thanks for this! I'm now spending billable hours looking up spycraft and thinking of how to apply it to dogs. One of the things I've realised is that being able to turn into a wolf/dog is going to be a big help from two angles. Firstly: keeping her face and identity hidden. Secondly: Informants will never be sure whether they're talking to a dog or a vampire. One play is to summon a pack and blend in with it, so they don't know who to talk to. It could be a pretty good intimidation tactic!
The other thing I'm thinking is that she focuses so heavily on dog espionage so that people stop looking for say, a raven, or a rat. Maybe the Beagle she send to spy on you is an absolute dumbass, but once you think you've gotten rid of it you're no longer taking notice of say, nearby pigeons.
Nights Black Agents might have a decent amount to say on this. Considering it's both deeply interested in field craft and in vampire powers.
Weirdly little, from what I recall offhand, but some. I can take a look back through my books later and see what turns up!
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
I haven't read my entire Night's Black Agents core rulebook yet but it kind of seems like it mainly gives a glossary-level overview of spy terminology rather than much in the way of detailed how-tos, which I get from a publishing perspective (there are dedicated sources for that stuff) and a systems perspective (NBA abstracts away a lot of the details anyway) but I still feel is kind of a shame. It's possible that some of the supplements have more, though.
I think the old Top Secret and Spycraft games from the 80s may have some good basic information, and if there's a GURPS book it definitely will since GURPS books are basically textbooks (I have a couple I refer to even though I have never and will never play GURPS) but a lot of that stuff is kind of dated. Idk.
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AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
I haven't read my entire Night's Black Agents core rulebook yet but it kind of seems like it mainly gives a glossary-level overview of spy terminology rather than much in the way of detailed how-tos, which I get from a publishing perspective (there are dedicated sources for that stuff) and a systems perspective (NBA abstracts away a lot of the details anyway) but I still feel is kind of a shame. It's possible that some of the supplements have more, though.
I think the old Top Secret and Spycraft games from the 80s may have some good basic information, and if there's a GURPS book it definitely will since GURPS books are basically textbooks (I have a couple I refer to even though I have never and will never play GURPS) but a lot of that stuff is kind of dated. Idk.
From what I remember there's a bit in Double Tap and some stuff in the Dracula Dossier Director's Handbook, but it's scattered around. I'll take a page-through at least.
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DepressperadoI just wanted to see you laughingin the pizza rainRegistered Userregular
edited December 2018
a thing I like to do when I DM is like, as a reward, or an armory hidden behind a secret door, let the Party pick any magic item they want up to a specified rarity
well it turns out the Helm of Teleportation is rare, so now I've got a Party that just teleport everywhere. They skipped at least two sessions worth of content because they managed to teleport right to the end of an adventure. 25% chance to succeed and they got a 98.
I kind of love it, and am waiting patiently for when the Helm doesn't work and explodes or strands them in the wilderness.
also I'm going full in on "this is a Final Fantasy game". They're about to enter a Water Temple built on the broad back of Longneck, the Altisaur Seer, and the boss is going to be Shiva and she'll drop a Materia that will let the Party summon her to do Diamond Dust (2d8 cold damage to every enemy in the room and they have to make a Con save DC 15 or they're frozen for 1d4-1 rounds) once a day
they're gonna have to fight 4 other summons (Ifrit, Garuda, Doomtrain, and to be determined) to get their Materia to unlock a certain magic door
I haven't read my entire Night's Black Agents core rulebook yet but it kind of seems like it mainly gives a glossary-level overview of spy terminology rather than much in the way of detailed how-tos, which I get from a publishing perspective (there are dedicated sources for that stuff) and a systems perspective (NBA abstracts away a lot of the details anyway) but I still feel is kind of a shame. It's possible that some of the supplements have more, though.
I think the old Top Secret and Spycraft games from the 80s may have some good basic information, and if there's a GURPS book it definitely will since GURPS books are basically textbooks (I have a couple I refer to even though I have never and will never play GURPS) but a lot of that stuff is kind of dated. Idk.
From what I remember there's a bit in Double Tap and some stuff in the Dracula Dossier Director's Handbook, but it's scattered around. I'll take a page-through at least.
IIRC, there's a decent coverage of basic tradecraft in the appendices of the latest version of Delta Green.
i ran out of good carnivore ideas for these levels. only other noteworthy carnivore i can think of is a spino, but that would be cr 7 or 8
You could check out The Isle for ideas. They have a ton of dinos already in a tier structure you could steal/tweak.
i will have to investigate thing. i have been using ark as a reference point, and. wait is there a feat to do magical beasts as a druid? there should be.
i ran out of good carnivore ideas for these levels. only other noteworthy carnivore i can think of is a spino, but that would be cr 7 or 8
You could check out The Isle for ideas. They have a ton of dinos already in a tier structure you could steal/tweak.
i will have to investigate thing. i have been using ark as a reference point, and. wait is there a feat to do magical beasts as a druid? there should be.
I don't believe that's a thing, unless it was in UA. That sort of transformation is covered by the Shapechange spell, which of course, is 9th level.
i remember 3.5 had a feat to let you wild shape into a dragon.
that wasn't a great idea, but it was also the best idea.
One time my 3/3.5 DM decided to try out the Epic Campaign rules, and told us all to roll level 30 characters. I wanted to experiment with the monster level adjustment shit, so I made an Adult Silver Dragon with a couple levels of Sorcerer because I think his adjustment was only +28.
One of the other players made a level 30 Druid, and the first thing he did when the game started was shapeshift into an even bigger Silver Dragon just to show me that I had wasted my fucking time.
So I rerolled as a 20 Rogue/10 Shadowdancer, stealthily (like, +70 each to Hide and Move Silently) placed a half-dozen Immovable Rods (our starting treasure values were insane) around his neck while he was asleep, and startled him into shapeshifting into the dragon again when he woke up, so that they caved in his suddenly much more enormous dragon neck.
In retrospect, I don't think the DM had any plans for a story other than letting us be assholes to each other until PvP happened.
Desert Leviathan on
Realizing lately that I don't really trust or respect basically any of the moderators here. So, good luck with life, friends! Hit me up on Twitter @DesertLeviathan
In 101 Dalmatians all the dogs have The Twilight Bark, where they share news and ask for help. Bram Stoker's Dracula says this about wolves howling:
Our ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things. Listen to them — children of the night. What music they make.
So maybe any time the character is around dogs, they bark, seemingly aggressively, but it's actually a briefing about what's been going on. Any time there is an atmospheric wolf howl, it's an alert of some new developments.
Unfortunately I can't get away from the dog equivalent of a dead drop being coded messages pissed onto a fire hydrant
My mom and I may have convinced her husband to make wooden dice towers on the side. I think I can help him sell them at local game conventions or craft fairs.
I gotta convince him that the best ones he can do are really well fitted ones with decent wood and a natural finish though as those will probably sell the best. The ones I know are popular especially in the area, are like really nice furniture and I know that plays too his streghts as a carpenter. Plus putting to many designs on it won't compete with people with cnc machines or laser cutters. Unless he hand carves stuff into it which he can totally do...
But if he gets a quality hardwood to make it from he can probably build a nice solid one for like 20 to 30 bucks and sell it for like 50.
Tallahasseeriel on
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MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
Level adjustment for "powerful" races in 3.5 never ever ever worked, even taking a 2 level hit was often disastrous because of the opportunity cost
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
How often do you as a player expect to get new gear and weird magical items?
How often do you as a GM hand these things out?
I like the magical item stuff in DW because I like adding the weird and macabre to the game with items that do cool shit but also are kinda gnarly, as opposed to a sword what does one more damage. But I'm never quite sure what feels better to players or GMs for what is a proper amount of loot to be given out.
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
Ballet so hard you become an insubstantial assassin
they originally billed to me as performers but, like, mysterious and quiet performers
Yeah, that's something I'd like to see more of. There's a performative aspect to them that I don't think gets emphasized enough - even disappearing can be a performance, that's the core concept of many a magic act.
With D&D as it is, I can see the logic of making them rogues or monks though. Bards are just junior sorcerers, so the magic of the shadowdancer hardly feels uncanny in their hands.
My dream version of the game involves non-magical bards that occasionally get so deep into esoteric or forbidden art that they gain some level of supernatural power (other reference points would be the Pied Piper, the King in Yellow, and Robert Johnson), but my dream version of D&D is almost wholly different from the game as it stands at this point.
How often do you as a player expect to get new gear and weird magical items?
How often do you as a GM hand these things out?
I like the magical item stuff in DW because I like adding the weird and macabre to the game with items that do cool shit but also are kinda gnarly, as opposed to a sword what does one more damage. But I'm never quite sure what feels better to players or GMs for what is a proper amount of loot to be given out.
There's no real set rate in the rules I don't think, but I will say from personal experience, be liberal with them. Players love them, and more magic items (especially the variety you are talking about) is more opportunity for more fiction and fictional positioning. I always end up regretting not giving out more items. Like you say though it can't just be things that give you better numbers. A rope that is alive and can learn tricks (knots) like a dog. A coin that comes up whatever you want when you flip it. A magical tattoo of a compass that always points north. An imp in a bottle that answers one question truthfully with all the knowledge of the Nine Hells and then disappears in a puff of sulfur. Sovereign Glue/Acid/Grease. Stuff like that just really helps take the fiction interesting and exciting places and lets the players be really engaged.
Scion 2.0 is quite possibly my favorite system ever made. That or Monsterhearts 2, it's a close call.
Today, I statted out the antagonist for the first act of my game, the first enemy that I made myself, in about twenty minutes.
Here's what that looks like:
Mouth of Lies(Segment 1)
Helpless Fascination: Truth
A Cage of Words
Flair: Dread Gaze(SO149)
Invulnerability: Weapons(unless Fascinated)
Mouth of Venom(Segment 2)
Vulnerability: Antivenom
Toxic(Ongoing Damage, +1 Complication per round, stacking, to all actions. Base difficulty 2 to remove, increases 1 per round)
Flair: Penetrator(SH290)
Invulnerability: Weapons
Body(Segment 3)
Apocalyptic Presence
Subterranean Movement
Unstoppable
Flair: Mass Concealment
So the game gives me a basic stat block with dice pools, health, etc. I know it's a twin-headed serpent/dragon monster so I split the health pool up, and assign primary/secondary action pools as needed.
Then, I assign Qualities and Flairs from the list as appropriate. The Mouth of Lies can confuse and entrap individuals, but it's stunned by the truth spoken plainly and can then be damaged easily.
The Mouth of Venom is extremely dangerous, and can blow through cover, or attack more than one person at a time with Penetrator. However, it also has a large vulnerability and can be taken out quickly if they prepare.
Finally, I statted out the body to simply be big, have a unique form of movement, and it can conceal its presence and allies for sudden dramatic appearances.
This should be a Very Cool thing for the heroes to face!
Has anyone tried Shadow of the Demon Lord? Been hearing good things and want to give it a try for a one-shot, but the last 4e-like I looked into, Strike, ended up being kind of a letdown
Has anyone tried Shadow of the Demon Lord? Been hearing good things and want to give it a try for a one-shot, but the last 4e-like I looked into, Strike, ended up being kind of a letdown
I like Shadow of the Demon Lord! I would not personally describe it as a 4E-like, though there are some similarities. It's definitely not as close to 4E as something like 13th Age is.
Good things about SoTDL:
-Interesting magic options
-Good character customization
-Plenty of actions to take in combat
-Combat resolves reasonably quickly (it's not as quick to resolve as an OSR game, but not as slow as 4E)
-Setting is fantastic
-Boons/banes mechanic allows for easy situational adjustments to things
Bad things about SoTDL:
-Target number of 10 for everything but attack rolls plus boons + scaling means that by mid-levels, most saving throws/skill checks are auto-success
-Too many triggered actions (combination of minor action + reaction) leads to some characters feeling like they can never use their whole kit
Those are pretty much the only significant complaints I had with it that I can remember off the top of my head. It's not perfect but it's definitely a system that I like, lots of good aspects to it.
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it's definitely not the feel you get from most sci-fi action stories
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Everyone got to go shopping and take care of some personal matters.
The Druid went shopping for herbs. The Wizard exchanged stories with the Orcish sages. The Ranger went shopping for swords. The Barbarian & our Fighter? We'll get back to them.
Zook though? Well he first went and established himself with all the Orc criminals, playing some cards with them. From the money earned through that he went and bought toys for the two children who joined us on our trip. He also bought them playing cards, poker chips, and other small items to teach them some grifts. He drifted over to an Orcish Shaman and asked him questions about magic (as Zook is on his way to begin studying the arcane ways). He finally settled in with the Orcish brewmasters, teaching them some tricks & exchanging his booze for theirs (including a cider that makes your face go numb).
That entire Orcish community loved him as a result.
Later on though we were all escorted to the Cages, the Orcish fighting pits. Our Barbarian & Fighter? They spent the day sparing with Orcish gladiators, till the big feast in the evening where they became enrolled in the Orcish fight-night.
Locked in a spiked cage, the rest of the party couldn't really assist them. Well... Except for Zook. See, you can't cast magic buffs or what-have-you during such an event as its effectively cheating. But Zook has the Mastermind sub-class ability to grant advantage to any teammate up to 30 feet away.
So Zook became their boxing coach. He even went and got them a bucket & rag to wash their faces between fights.
It looked a lot like this:
This is beautiful.
AC: 13
HP: 60 (7d10+21)
Speed: 50 feet
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
19 (+4) 13 (+1) 16 (+3) 3 (-4) 12 (+1) 6 (-2)
Pack Tactics. The yutyrannus has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the yutyrannus' allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Actions
Bite: Melee attack: +6 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 15 (2d10+4) piercing damage
claw. Melee Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. hit: 8 (1d8+4) slashing damage.
it is expected that the yutyrannus was a pack hunter, aiming to take down large creatures by working together, as many finds involve finding several together, so, a park focused allosaurus that is a little tougher fits that role. and pack tactics being what it is, i think it lets this be a harder monster.
http://images.dinosaurpictures.org/pinacosaurus-with-clubbed-tail_eca8.jpg
http://lexiconmegatherium.tumblr.com/
Huge beast
AC 14
HP: 105 (10d12+40)
Speed: 50
CR 6(?)
Grappling Bite: Whenever Giganotosaurus hits with a bite the creature must succeed a DC 15 strength check or be grappled. If the creature grappled Giganotosaurus make make a racking teeth attack as a bonus action.
Actions:
Bite Melee Attack +9 to hit reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 25 (4d8+7) piercing damage
Racking Teeth: melee attack +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one grappled creature. Hit: 12 (1d10+7) slashing damage. At the start of the creatures turn they take 1d10 damage due to blood loss, until they regain hit points or spend an action to do a medical check (DC 10)
This one i am less sure on over all. the idea was that Giganotosaurus was a slightly weaker t rex but it's teeth seemed more for cutting with their quicker jaws. I like the idea of biting down on something and then pulling on it to make it bleed out to death.
balancing the damage of it all, is the tricky part. I figure since the ease of the chance of the bleed happening should be balanced against the odds of getting rid of it.
Thanks for this! I'm now spending billable hours looking up spycraft and thinking of how to apply it to dogs. One of the things I've realised is that being able to turn into a wolf/dog is going to be a big help from two angles. Firstly: keeping her face and identity hidden. Secondly: Informants will never be sure whether they're talking to a dog or a vampire. One play is to summon a pack and blend in with it, so they don't know who to talk to. It could be a pretty good intimidation tactic!
The other thing I'm thinking is that she focuses so heavily on dog espionage so that people stop looking for say, a raven, or a rat. Maybe the Beagle she send to spy on you is an absolute dumbass, but once you think you've gotten rid of it you're no longer taking notice of say, nearby pigeons.
Weirdly little, from what I recall offhand, but some. I can take a look back through my books later and see what turns up!
I think the old Top Secret and Spycraft games from the 80s may have some good basic information, and if there's a GURPS book it definitely will since GURPS books are basically textbooks (I have a couple I refer to even though I have never and will never play GURPS) but a lot of that stuff is kind of dated. Idk.
From what I remember there's a bit in Double Tap and some stuff in the Dracula Dossier Director's Handbook, but it's scattered around. I'll take a page-through at least.
well it turns out the Helm of Teleportation is rare, so now I've got a Party that just teleport everywhere. They skipped at least two sessions worth of content because they managed to teleport right to the end of an adventure. 25% chance to succeed and they got a 98.
I kind of love it, and am waiting patiently for when the Helm doesn't work and explodes or strands them in the wilderness.
also I'm going full in on "this is a Final Fantasy game". They're about to enter a Water Temple built on the broad back of Longneck, the Altisaur Seer, and the boss is going to be Shiva and she'll drop a Materia that will let the Party summon her to do Diamond Dust (2d8 cold damage to every enemy in the room and they have to make a Con save DC 15 or they're frozen for 1d4-1 rounds) once a day
they're gonna have to fight 4 other summons (Ifrit, Garuda, Doomtrain, and to be determined) to get their Materia to unlock a certain magic door
IIRC, there's a decent coverage of basic tradecraft in the appendices of the latest version of Delta Green.
"The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I’d beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it." -- Jack Kirby
You could check out The Isle for ideas. They have a ton of dinos already in a tier structure you could steal/tweak.
What about the Indoraptor
that's not a real dinosaur.
also, what do you think of the ones i posted? since you're going to be the okaying force on them.
i will have to investigate thing. i have been using ark as a reference point, and. wait is there a feat to do magical beasts as a druid? there should be.
I don't believe that's a thing, unless it was in UA. That sort of transformation is covered by the Shapechange spell, which of course, is 9th level.
that's something
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that wasn't a great idea, but it was also the best idea.
There's also the long-snouted tyrannosaurids like Qianzhousaurus or Alioramus
One time my 3/3.5 DM decided to try out the Epic Campaign rules, and told us all to roll level 30 characters. I wanted to experiment with the monster level adjustment shit, so I made an Adult Silver Dragon with a couple levels of Sorcerer because I think his adjustment was only +28.
One of the other players made a level 30 Druid, and the first thing he did when the game started was shapeshift into an even bigger Silver Dragon just to show me that I had wasted my fucking time.
So I rerolled as a 20 Rogue/10 Shadowdancer, stealthily (like, +70 each to Hide and Move Silently) placed a half-dozen Immovable Rods (our starting treasure values were insane) around his neck while he was asleep, and startled him into shapeshifting into the dragon again when he woke up, so that they caved in his suddenly much more enormous dragon neck.
In retrospect, I don't think the DM had any plans for a story other than letting us be assholes to each other until PvP happened.
and, ugh, I don't like that they're monks this time
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In 101 Dalmatians all the dogs have The Twilight Bark, where they share news and ask for help. Bram Stoker's Dracula says this about wolves howling:
So maybe any time the character is around dogs, they bark, seemingly aggressively, but it's actually a briefing about what's been going on. Any time there is an atmospheric wolf howl, it's an alert of some new developments.
Unfortunately I can't get away from the dog equivalent of a dead drop being coded messages pissed onto a fire hydrant
I gotta convince him that the best ones he can do are really well fitted ones with decent wood and a natural finish though as those will probably sell the best. The ones I know are popular especially in the area, are like really nice furniture and I know that plays too his streghts as a carpenter. Plus putting to many designs on it won't compete with people with cnc machines or laser cutters. Unless he hand carves stuff into it which he can totally do...
But if he gets a quality hardwood to make it from he can probably build a nice solid one for like 20 to 30 bucks and sell it for like 50.
The only time I ever saw level adjustment for races work in 3.5 was through the E6 variant system.
But in the actual game? Ahahahahaha
Ballet so hard you become an insubstantial assassin
I built a vampire with like two levels of fighter that I had to stop using because too stronk
Utahraptor
Achillobator
Baryonyx (good candidate for a 'weenier' Spinosaurus)
Herrerasaurus
Not a dinosaur, but pterosaur Hatzegopteryx was a very large flying predator.
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they originally billed to me as performers but, like, mysterious and quiet performers
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How often do you as a player expect to get new gear and weird magical items?
How often do you as a GM hand these things out?
I like the magical item stuff in DW because I like adding the weird and macabre to the game with items that do cool shit but also are kinda gnarly, as opposed to a sword what does one more damage. But I'm never quite sure what feels better to players or GMs for what is a proper amount of loot to be given out.
Yeah, that's something I'd like to see more of. There's a performative aspect to them that I don't think gets emphasized enough - even disappearing can be a performance, that's the core concept of many a magic act.
With D&D as it is, I can see the logic of making them rogues or monks though. Bards are just junior sorcerers, so the magic of the shadowdancer hardly feels uncanny in their hands.
My dream version of the game involves non-magical bards that occasionally get so deep into esoteric or forbidden art that they gain some level of supernatural power (other reference points would be the Pied Piper, the King in Yellow, and Robert Johnson), but my dream version of D&D is almost wholly different from the game as it stands at this point.
There's no real set rate in the rules I don't think, but I will say from personal experience, be liberal with them. Players love them, and more magic items (especially the variety you are talking about) is more opportunity for more fiction and fictional positioning. I always end up regretting not giving out more items. Like you say though it can't just be things that give you better numbers. A rope that is alive and can learn tricks (knots) like a dog. A coin that comes up whatever you want when you flip it. A magical tattoo of a compass that always points north. An imp in a bottle that answers one question truthfully with all the knowledge of the Nine Hells and then disappears in a puff of sulfur. Sovereign Glue/Acid/Grease. Stuff like that just really helps take the fiction interesting and exciting places and lets the players be really engaged.
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Today, I statted out the antagonist for the first act of my game, the first enemy that I made myself, in about twenty minutes.
Here's what that looks like:
Primary(13): Envenomed Bites, Entrapping Words, Encompassing Size
Secondary(11): Surprising Movement, Intuitive Perception
Desperation (7)
Health: 4/4/2
Defense: 4
Initiative: 10
Mouth of Lies(Segment 1)
Helpless Fascination: Truth
A Cage of Words
Flair: Dread Gaze(SO149)
Invulnerability: Weapons(unless Fascinated)
Mouth of Venom(Segment 2)
Vulnerability: Antivenom
Toxic(Ongoing Damage, +1 Complication per round, stacking, to all actions. Base difficulty 2 to remove, increases 1 per round)
Flair: Penetrator(SH290)
Invulnerability: Weapons
Body(Segment 3)
Apocalyptic Presence
Subterranean Movement
Unstoppable
Flair: Mass Concealment
So the game gives me a basic stat block with dice pools, health, etc. I know it's a twin-headed serpent/dragon monster so I split the health pool up, and assign primary/secondary action pools as needed.
Then, I assign Qualities and Flairs from the list as appropriate. The Mouth of Lies can confuse and entrap individuals, but it's stunned by the truth spoken plainly and can then be damaged easily.
The Mouth of Venom is extremely dangerous, and can blow through cover, or attack more than one person at a time with Penetrator. However, it also has a large vulnerability and can be taken out quickly if they prepare.
Finally, I statted out the body to simply be big, have a unique form of movement, and it can conceal its presence and allies for sudden dramatic appearances.
This should be a Very Cool thing for the heroes to face!
And again, twenty minutes. Super easy.
but I'd only play it with certain sorts of people, which limits things a bit unfortunately
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Yeah it's extremely good but it kinda only works with the right group
I like Shadow of the Demon Lord! I would not personally describe it as a 4E-like, though there are some similarities. It's definitely not as close to 4E as something like 13th Age is.
Good things about SoTDL:
-Interesting magic options
-Good character customization
-Plenty of actions to take in combat
-Combat resolves reasonably quickly (it's not as quick to resolve as an OSR game, but not as slow as 4E)
-Setting is fantastic
-Boons/banes mechanic allows for easy situational adjustments to things
Bad things about SoTDL:
-Target number of 10 for everything but attack rolls plus boons + scaling means that by mid-levels, most saving throws/skill checks are auto-success
-Too many triggered actions (combination of minor action + reaction) leads to some characters feeling like they can never use their whole kit
Those are pretty much the only significant complaints I had with it that I can remember off the top of my head. It's not perfect but it's definitely a system that I like, lots of good aspects to it.
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Against the Fall of Night Playtest
Nasty, Brutish, and Short