I just glanced at the hexblade in my game and I think I've figured out that she plans on trivializing the upcoming dragon boss fight by just eldritch smiting the dragon out of the sky twice with a longbow, since I see she's changed her hex weapon to her longbow +1
and the fighter has potion of speed + flying boots and is going to just stand next to the dragon and sentinel it so it cant move
eh fuck it, they prepared, they can have the trivial fight, retool it so it isn't a session planned around a boss fight, more around being a lootbox
So RAW (your game is your game obv.) your Hex weapon cannot have the Two-Handed property - which longbows do.
I just glanced at the hexblade in my game and I think I've figured out that she plans on trivializing the upcoming dragon boss fight by just eldritch smiting the dragon out of the sky twice with a longbow, since I see she's changed her hex weapon to her longbow +1
and the fighter has potion of speed + flying boots and is going to just stand next to the dragon and sentinel it so it cant move
eh fuck it, they prepared, they can have the trivial fight, retool it so it isn't a session planned around a boss fight, more around being a lootbox
So RAW (your game is your game obv.) your Hex weapon cannot have the Two-Handed property - which longbows do.
Assuming they're also Pact of the Blade, if they have Improved Pact Weapon, they can basically use any weapon as their Pact Blade and it becomes their Hexblade (basically)
Ah, I'd missed Improved Pact Weapon. I'd also 'misread' the Pact of the Blade feature. In the text it suggests that you can only summon melee weapons, but a sage advice clarifies that whilst you can only create and summon melee weapons from whole cloth, you can make any existing magic weapon (including ranged) your Pact Weapon. So ranged Eldritch Smites are go - yeesh, nasty combo. Yet still no ranged smites for paladins
My DM agreed to allow me to use Polearm Mastery with a reskinned whip (whenever I get the feat). Whip's a 1h reach weapon with a d4 if you don't want to look it up.
This doesn't seem unreasonable to me but I wonder if perhaps I have bamboozled him.
My DM agreed to allow me to use Polearm Mastery with a reskinned whip (whenever I get the feat). Whip's a 1h reach weapon with a d4 if you don't want to look it up.
This doesn't seem unreasonable to me but I wonder if perhaps I have bamboozled him.
I don't think so. I feel like, for better or worse, 5th ed still has some of the old relic of 3.5 by way of trap options. Normally, the whip, while flavorful, is really just mechanically inferior to most other weapons.
The same problem existed in 4e, where certain options, while flavorful and interesting seeming, were ultimately too niche to really be worth taking.
My SKT party had another session last night where we tackled another Uthgardt shrine in search of relics (mcguffins) needed to open portals to get the conch (keys) needed to get to endgame. I turned Shining White into a barbarians riding griffons encounter vs a straight griffon encounter and did significant damage to the dragon cultist balloon airship the party has been using as an uber. They stopped off in Yartar at the end of the session to give the cult time to repair the balloon and be walking distance to Flint Rock. Since the wizard is a devotee of Oghma they ended up at a table in the library/temple discussing where to go next. The head librarian/priest is willing to cast Commune for the party and we left the session brainstorming which questions to ask. I reminded them that while they asked a lot of who and what questions of the Oracle, they did not ask about any why questions. However, and maybe this is my fault as much as it is they did not ask the right questions to the oracle, they have no inkling that Iymrith the ancient Blue dragon has any part of this plot and have instead focused on Klauth, the ancient Red dragon as potentially being the one who upset the whole apple cart in the first place. And while I appreciate players pulling at the wrong strings, this misdirection can potentially send them very far off the track and into certain doom if they decide to confront Klauth. So when the players narrowed questions down to the "are the dragons involved" I got a little excited to put them back on the right path. But it will depend on how they word the questions.
Sigh. SKT is not a "pick up and go" kind of module. It really is more of a sandbox/campaign book rather than a direct module. Which isn't so bad.... except the players don't get direct knowledge of the main plot, as written, until one is more than halfway through the module and that is only if they ask the Oracle the right questions. I'm not saying its bad, I'm just saying I would have preferred a module requiring less work on the DM's part for my B-Game. (Homebrew campaign world for one group. Running offical modules for the other).
I just glanced at the hexblade in my game and I think I've figured out that she plans on trivializing the upcoming dragon boss fight by just eldritch smiting the dragon out of the sky twice with a longbow, since I see she's changed her hex weapon to her longbow +1
and the fighter has potion of speed + flying boots and is going to just stand next to the dragon and sentinel it so it cant move
eh fuck it, they prepared, they can have the trivial fight, retool it so it isn't a session planned around a boss fight, more around being a lootbox
So RAW (your game is your game obv.) your Hex weapon cannot have the Two-Handed property - which longbows do.
Assuming they're also Pact of the Blade, if they have Improved Pact Weapon, they can basically use any weapon as their Pact Blade and it becomes their Hexblade (basically)
Point of Order: Well Actually: Regular ol' Pact Weapon lets you use a two handed weapon as your hex weapon. Improved Pact Weapon lets you use ranged weapons as a Hex weapon.
Ugn, now that my DM's allowing point buy I can't think of a reason other than "I'd have to fix my character sheet" not to switch from
13 14 14 8 10 17 starting stats half-drow 1/x warlock/paladin that will wear medium armor
to
15 10 16 8 8 17 x/1 paladin warlock that will wear heavy armor
Has 1 more AC and 10 more HP at 8/1 and the losses don't seem significant unless dex is even more valuable than I realize
Depends on what you're being thrown at. With a 14 dex you'll be on average going higher in the initiative count and passing more often on a pretty common save. Saves are not as large a concern for you, being a pally though, so the increased AC is what might be the tipping point.
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
I just glanced at the hexblade in my game and I think I've figured out that she plans on trivializing the upcoming dragon boss fight by just eldritch smiting the dragon out of the sky twice with a longbow, since I see she's changed her hex weapon to her longbow +1
and the fighter has potion of speed + flying boots and is going to just stand next to the dragon and sentinel it so it cant move
eh fuck it, they prepared, they can have the trivial fight, retool it so it isn't a session planned around a boss fight, more around being a lootbox
Make it a pair of dragons, let them kick the tar out of the first one but have the other figure out a countermeasure? That way they get to feel cool but still have a tough fight
hrmm, white dragon, ill give it 2 scoops of Yetis
when it hits 50% hp it will roar and a bunch of white wyrmlings will burrow out of the ice
what I don't want to do is tool the fight around countering what they've done, Ill let them ground the dragon, ill let them keep it from getting away, and it will turn into a desperate fight for the dragon's life
Dragon friend has a couple of special abilites, the players get a bunch of free minor feats, so do monsters:
here's the ones I picked for him:
Give the dragon a throw ability if it's big enough. Lets you get rid of folks who like to stick next to you. I give all my big enemies ways to push away players. On hit, do X damage and move 10-15-20 feet, dex/strength save for falling prone.
Oh man random thought but a hydra where each head has a different Battlemaster maneuver it can apply, maybe with a recharge on the use of the maneuver?
Here's the ones this supplement has for hydras
It's called DM Options Monster Talents by Dragonix on DMsguild and I recommend it
Or a few geysers, that it can then use to make walls of ice - splitting itself off from a primary threat, who then either need to bash it down/melt it or go around.
Perhaps give them a little warning that these are important, by having them go off initially as fire damage attacks that then turn into clouds of steam for partial cover. I'd also roll randomly initially to see which geysers go off in what order, so at the start it seems random, but then in a pattern the PCs might be able to work out and then move into position to limit the effectiveness of the new walls.
Anyone here with experience running mysteries in 5e?
I'm DMing a one-shot after a long time this weekend and it's the first time I'm running a murder mystery
I'm well-prepared in terms of the content, but just not sure how to run some of the NPCs
E.g. the killer is someone who would likely try and befriend the PCs to try and keep them of their trail.
But, I'm a bit worried this could leave my players feeling angry/betrayed at the end...
Making the killer cold/unlikable would ensure players just feel victorious and awesome when they catch them (but also possibly make the game less compelling/interesting)
What do you guys think?
Any advice from more experienced GMs or players is greatly appreciated!
My DM agreed to allow me to use Polearm Mastery with a reskinned whip (whenever I get the feat). Whip's a 1h reach weapon with a d4 if you don't want to look it up.
This doesn't seem unreasonable to me but I wonder if perhaps I have bamboozled him.
I don't think so. I feel like, for better or worse, 5th ed still has some of the old relic of 3.5 by way of trap options. Normally, the whip, while flavorful, is really just mechanically inferior to most other weapons.
The same problem existed in 4e, where certain options, while flavorful and interesting seeming, were ultimately too niche to really be worth taking.
Get the Lash of Shadows from Wildemount. It generates multiple poisons, including one that induces petrification.
My DM agreed to allow me to use Polearm Mastery with a reskinned whip (whenever I get the feat). Whip's a 1h reach weapon with a d4 if you don't want to look it up.
This doesn't seem unreasonable to me but I wonder if perhaps I have bamboozled him.
I don't think so. I feel like, for better or worse, 5th ed still has some of the old relic of 3.5 by way of trap options. Normally, the whip, while flavorful, is really just mechanically inferior to most other weapons.
The same problem existed in 4e, where certain options, while flavorful and interesting seeming, were ultimately too niche to really be worth taking.
Yeah, i'm pretty much on board refluffing in my games - you want a 1d8 finesse weapon that's not a rapier? That's sweet. It's still a rapier mechanically, it just looks like <thing> now. As far as i can tell, that's not really going to break anything.
My DM agreed to allow me to use Polearm Mastery with a reskinned whip (whenever I get the feat). Whip's a 1h reach weapon with a d4 if you don't want to look it up.
This doesn't seem unreasonable to me but I wonder if perhaps I have bamboozled him.
I don't think so. I feel like, for better or worse, 5th ed still has some of the old relic of 3.5 by way of trap options. Normally, the whip, while flavorful, is really just mechanically inferior to most other weapons.
The same problem existed in 4e, where certain options, while flavorful and interesting seeming, were ultimately too niche to really be worth taking.
Yeah, i'm pretty much on board refluffing in my games - you want a 1d8 finesse weapon that's not a rapier? That's sweet. It's still a rapier mechanically, it just looks like <thing> now. As far as i can tell, that's not really going to break anything.
Reskinning/reflavoring is something that really blew my mind during the heyday of 4e. The one thing I've always wanted to experiment with is refluffing the Barbarian Rage into something more like a battle-focus. Instead of frothing at the mouth savage murder everything rage, just a "I have turned my conscious mind off and am operating purely on warrior training and instinct" because, based on my experience studying military training and the like, that's very much a thing.
My DM agreed to allow me to use Polearm Mastery with a reskinned whip (whenever I get the feat). Whip's a 1h reach weapon with a d4 if you don't want to look it up.
This doesn't seem unreasonable to me but I wonder if perhaps I have bamboozled him.
I don't think so. I feel like, for better or worse, 5th ed still has some of the old relic of 3.5 by way of trap options. Normally, the whip, while flavorful, is really just mechanically inferior to most other weapons.
The same problem existed in 4e, where certain options, while flavorful and interesting seeming, were ultimately too niche to really be worth taking.
Yeah, i'm pretty much on board refluffing in my games - you want a 1d8 finesse weapon that's not a rapier? That's sweet. It's still a rapier mechanically, it just looks like <thing> now. As far as i can tell, that's not really going to break anything.
Reskinning/reflavoring is something that really blew my mind during the heyday of 4e. The one thing I've always wanted to experiment with is refluffing the Barbarian Rage into something more like a battle-focus. Instead of frothing at the mouth savage murder everything rage, just a "I have turned my conscious mind off and am operating purely on warrior training and instinct" because, based on my experience studying military training and the like, that's very much a thing.
It's one of the reasons i really like 5e as a system. Like, i'm not even going to argue the system dosent have big honking issues - plenty of people have done better jobs of that than i!
But it's so damn simple in most cases that refluffing stuff is pretty easy, and even tweaking things isnt too hard, and it really lends itself to such quick improv switching up of stuff. You can look at the weapons, and easily go okay here's the upper and lower limits. So sweet, you dont have a rapier - you've got a good ol' heavy Katar. Or maybe your player wants to dual wield them - okay, it's a regular one, it's got a d6 instead of a d8, and has the Finesses and light properties. They want a better whip? you can probably justify a spiked whip as being a d6 - that seems in line with the other fineese + another feature weapons. Maybe make it 1d6 piercing instead of slashing!
As someone who coudlnt get into pathfinder because it's So. Damn. Crunchy (no shame if you like that! It just literally gives me a bad headache to read, and it sucks, even though i really dig some of it's art and class concepts), 5e's pick up and play nature and ease of editing is very appealing.
Also, that barbarian rage concept sounds killer, and you should totally do it.
That's pretty much how FFXIV handles raging warriors: it's a whole thing how warriors flip out and just swing their axe at anything and only through further training can they tame their Inner Beast. I think if you want to incorporate that in your Barb concept it'd be the difference between just mindlessly swinging your weapon around Recklessly at whatever your character is looking at and using your Rage to actually turn a battle around tactically. Like: you the player are still in charge, so a Barbarian isn't going into a WILD rage, they're still 'there'.
That's pretty much how FFXIV handles raging warriors: it's a whole thing how warriors flip out and just swing their axe at anything and only through further training can they tame their Inner Beast. I think if you want to incorporate that in your Barb concept it'd be the difference between just mindlessly swinging your weapon around Recklessly at whatever your character is looking at and using your Rage to actually turn a battle around tactically. Like: you the player are still in charge, so a Barbarian isn't going into a WILD rage, they're still 'there'.
FF14 warriors are my jam. It's also worth pointing out they have a whole thing about their rage being pointless when just used for anger - It's in the service of protecting their friends/compatriots etc they really shine (and historically, Warriors in the setting worked together with Scholars, forming a front line that was then bolstered by Scholar magic).
In practice, FF14 Warriors are best described as "Be Fat, Be Angry, Hit things with a CHAINSAW axe" and it's pretty great. They're a really fun take on the whole "Beserker" class. (Also the be fat thing is pretty literal - other tanks specialize or have fancy tricks to make them more defense. Warriors are just like i have layers of blubber for days, COME AT ME AND MY ABBS)
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Also crossposting from TTRPG thread, but bit's i'm working out for my setting...
One thing in setting is that The whole effect that dumps people onto the continent/makes intercontinental travel impossible has a weird habit of stealing memories from people in the process. These wash up as pearls or other gemstones, or even weirder objects, or accumulate in places forming strange masses. It could be total amnesia, it could be partial, it could leave a person untouched - there's no rhyme or reason that anyone's been able to figure out. It certainly adds to the trauma of "...where the hell are we" that gets inflcited upon people though!
Anyway, beyond that, i've been working out some of how this effects the setting further, and i've come up with two things:
One, it's lead to the creation of an entirely new species - The Mer (provisional name for now, but hey)
These are sea-serpent mermaid mammalpeople. They have great hair. They're something new in the setting - The first mer popped up what, 50 years ago, more have spawned since (although it turns out they can naturally reproduce too). They're still finding their footing (Slithering?) in setting, given they're so young as a species - Figuring out what "mer" culture is is something they're all still wrestling with. What is known is that they're all pretty sure they didn't come from another plane or continent (Every other culture has retained enough to confirm they're either from somewhere else on the world that Terror Incongita is on, such as the Aeternum elves & oldblood humans, or they're from another plane of existence entirely - the orcs, ogres, satyrs, newblood humans both, etc). They all also have strange memories, flashes of stuff they've no way to know - even naturally born mer have this. Probably represent this as they get a free proficiency in a skill of their choice + some other neat benefit!
I do imagine that they're generally pretty gregarious and outgoing, to play off the being new - things are exciting and vivid to them, they're amphibious meaning there's very few limits on where they can go (this is actually why i made em snek people, other than the fact i freaking love snek people - easy to imagine a mer clambering around and doing PC things when the lowerhalf is snek vs your classic mermaid). Also because actual sea snakes like having big ol' swarms, and imaging them as inclined towards being super social and outgoing is fun.
Also they can spit venom in peoples faces if they get annoyed, so that's pretty baller. These need more work as a whole, it's not quite up to my usual standards of creating an all new species yet, but i feel the core is decently solid.
Why now instead of earlier for the mer spawning? This i dont have a good answer for - and honestly, this is the part that's most likely to change (particularity if i get a better idea for what they look could look like culturally. I'm really not sold on the they're new idea, though i do want to keep the gregarious and outgoing with GREAT HAIR parts).
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Two is the idea of Dungeons.
I mean, Dungeons are a classic, and I've always been a fan of the idea of Dungeons as living, breathing things. So here the idea is that sometimes these memory masses end up so big that they start warping the local landscape - burrowing in and changing things, becoming a carbuncle on the skin of reality. This i really like because it means you get cool things like a mansion in the japanse style growing on a desolate beach - or a typhoon rolls in and now somewhere in the wilds, an old school european castle is growing. Or some fisherman drags something up in their catch, and next thing he knows his cellar has way too many levels, a truly disturbing amount of traps in it, and a really annoying mimic infestation.
And because these are built out of weird and strange memory crystal carbuncle things, there's all sorts of valuable knowledge to be gleaned from them + the public good of getting riud of one when it turns up in a bad place.
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Unrelatedly, but I've decided that i'm having Mimics as a pest species in setting. I love mimics, especially ones that are really bad at being mimics - so the idea it's a known thing that sometimes you're in your stock room and there's an extra (tiny) crate which visibly has a bunch of teeth, and you roll your eyes and go get your broom because dammit not again.
I might steal some of dungeon Meshi's Mimics-as-hermit crabs here, so when disturb they unfold legs and crab pincers or scorpion tails and other htings and scuttle around because that's cooler, and it leads to the hilarious mental image of Mimic traps, just like crawfish/crayfish traps.
@valhalla130 not sure if it's too late for the games you're playing with your Daugter (rescuing the halfling chef from the wizard tower) but my wife just found this 5E cooking and baking themed supplement on Kickstarter whilst looking for Character portraits.
Dragon Stew is a Fifth Edition Supplemental that gives both players and GMs the tools to bring the magic of cooking into their games.
All content included in the book has been designed to be extremely easy to learn and use, whether you use it as a fun addition to your long-running game or start a new short adventure. The book has been illustrated with care, filled with custom art that brings the world to life.
There are several different rulesets included in the book, like Cooking Classes, Dessert Familiars, and Cooking Rules. Feel free to mix and match in order to create the experience you want at your table.
The book also includes an entire adventure, designed from the ground up to showcase all different aspects of these additional rules. It makes for an excellent introduction to the different systems, and can even act as the perfect starting point for a whole cooking-themed campaign. It’s ready to run as soon as you get the book, with everything you’ll need to start cooking up your own tale of swords, sorcery, and frying pans.
It's got rules for cooking and baking arcane recipes, a set of themed archetypes for each class and an adventure for a party of adventuring chefs.
- First cast scrying on someone to see them and where they are.
- Next cast scrying on the location where you saw this person at. This is rules legal because you can cast scrying on a location you've seen before; it doesn't have to be "familiar" to you.
If the scryer studied the location closely, would it count as "familiar" to them for the purposes of spells like Find the Path? Would scrying on the person and location multiple times, possibly getting more glimpses of the area, increase likelihood of "familiarity"?
The Teleport spell includes this in its description:
"Very Familiar" is a place you have been very often, a place you have carefully studied, or a place you can see when you cast the spell. "Seen Casually" is some place you have seen more than once but with which you aren't very familiar. "Viewed Once" is a place you have seen once, possibly using magic.
I'd think repeating the process I described multiple times would count as "seen casually" and therefore at least somewhat familiar and eligible for Find the Path.
Teleport says: "Very Familiar" is a place you have been very often, a place you have carefully studied, or a place you can see when you cast the spell.
Teleport is also not a concentration spell.
Scrying is a concentration spell that lets you see a location.
So, if I understand correctly, a wizard could scry on a person or a location and cast teleport during the scrying. However, teleport states you can only bring people with you that you can see, and if you're using scrying to see somewhere else I assume that you can't teleport anyone but yourself.
How familiar are you with sets from a TV show - can you picture the bridge the Enterprise, despite having never been there?
"Carefully studied" makes me think that you'd even be able to do it from books - if you've seen the floor plan, read various accounts of what it looked like and maybe even seen a bit of art depicting what a place used to look like - even if it doesn't look like that now - you might end up teleporting into the ruins, initially unsure if the spell worked correctly - but on seeing a few familar curves in the stone, a shape of a mountain in the distance, and a hollow in the wall that was where the metal hinges of the great door used to be, you know you've teleported successfully.
I think it all comes down to how clear a picture you can form in your mind of the place you want to be. If you can close your eyes and just see it - then that's very familiar. If you can picture it roughly, but if someone asked you how many ships there were in the portrait on the wall you'd be taken back and have to think specifically if there was a picture there and was it of a ship? Then that's seen casually.
Tastyfish on
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
My DM agreed to allow me to use Polearm Mastery with a reskinned whip (whenever I get the feat). Whip's a 1h reach weapon with a d4 if you don't want to look it up.
This doesn't seem unreasonable to me but I wonder if perhaps I have bamboozled him.
I don't think so. I feel like, for better or worse, 5th ed still has some of the old relic of 3.5 by way of trap options. Normally, the whip, while flavorful, is really just mechanically inferior to most other weapons.
The same problem existed in 4e, where certain options, while flavorful and interesting seeming, were ultimately too niche to really be worth taking.
Yeah, i'm pretty much on board refluffing in my games - you want a 1d8 finesse weapon that's not a rapier? That's sweet. It's still a rapier mechanically, it just looks like <thing> now. As far as i can tell, that's not really going to break anything.
Reskinning/reflavoring is something that really blew my mind during the heyday of 4e. The one thing I've always wanted to experiment with is refluffing the Barbarian Rage into something more like a battle-focus. Instead of frothing at the mouth savage murder everything rage, just a "I have turned my conscious mind off and am operating purely on warrior training and instinct" because, based on my experience studying military training and the like, that's very much a thing.
I never got the chance while I had a group that was engaged with 4E, but I wanted to do a one shot Space Hulk type game using 4E rules and just tell everyone to pick 4E stuff and refluff it.
I've been working through what the intended BBEG for next campaign, a yuan-ti cleric of Zehir named Seghulerak, would need to do to accomplish her goals. I'm doing this partially to familiarize myself more with the rules and partially to increase her backstory and figure out who throughout the setting she and her minions have had contact with.
Here's the scenario I've worked out for Seghulerak obtaining a copy of the Book of Vile Darkness:
- Vecna knows Seghulerak wants a copy of the Book of Vile Darkness and had long ago designed a copy that would suit someone like her. It also includes within it a kind of geas for Seghulerak that would aid Vecna's own goals. Vecna instructs his followers to obscure other copies of the Book of Vile Darkness from divination, leaving only the intended copy being capable of being found by her.
- Seghulerak has her minions abduct a diviner who knows Contact Other Plane. The enslaved diviner is physically mutilated and thoroughly subjected to memory modification until he only knows and is capable of casting Contact Other Plane.
- The diviner's first attempt at casting Contact Other Plane is a failure as the forces he attempted to contact assault his mind, leaving him insane for a day. The next day's attempt is a success; his questions reveal the presence of a Book of Vile Darkness in the Shadowfell.
- Seghulerak, now certain there is a copy of the Book in the Shadowfell, casts Legend Lore. The spell reveals that a marilith named Baltoi was entombed within a mountain range in the plane for her failure in the Blood War, but before her imprisonment she stole away a copy of the Book.
- Seghulerak and eight allies Plane Shift to the Shadowfell, establishing a camp. She attempts to scry on Baltoi every day, but the marilith resists the spell for thirteen days straight. Seghulerak's persistence pays off, and on the fourteenth day she establishes a scrying sensor in the marilith's underground prison. Now that she has seen the vault Seghulerak is easily able to scry on the vault when she wishes and become more familar with it. Baltoi's truesight allows her to see the sensor each time it manifests; she rants and screams at the unknown observer.
- Now familiar with the prison, Seghulerak casts Find the Path to discern the direction of and distance to her target, consulting maps of the Shadowfell as she does so. She determines that Baltoi and the Book are within the Darkreach Mountains.
- With her destination identified, Seghulerak and her minions return to the natural world and make preparations.
- Seghulerak uses multiple castings of Plane Shift to transport underlings to the Darkreach Mountains and establish a base camp. As she does so her forces find and enslave a small number of duergar whose ancestral stronghold in the mountains had been destroyed.
- Seghulerak uses Find the Path to direct her forces to where the closest point to Baltoi's prison is before commanding the enslaved duergar to dig in its direction. As the slaves toil Seghulerak and her underlings begin to plan their strategy against Baltoi to ensure the marilith cannot escape their assault.
I plan to play this battle out myself later to see exactly how things go. Baltoi has certainly attuned herself to the Book of Vile Darkness and has access to unexpected abilities.
As for the diviner mentioned earlier, he's only one of many spellcasters the evil Seghulerak has imprisoned and forced into servitude. Freeing and magically restoring them will be one of the biggest events of the campaign's final act.
How familiar are you with sets from a TV show - can you picture the bridge the Enterprise, despite having never been there?
I'm 90% confident I could navigate Monica Geller's Greenwich Village apartment blind-folded.
However when you teleported there, you might be surprised to find that it wasn't even in New York, and that you were actually on the other side of the country.
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
Just came to me while I was walking home with a bag of rice, is this fair as a boss trait?
"No-Sells Unskilled Attacks (cooler name pending)" - rolling a 20 in an attack roll against this boss is not an automatic success unless the attacker has at least a +2 bonus in the ability score used for the attack.
From a DM side that feels annoying and fiddly. From a player side it feels like punishment. It also seems like an ability that shouldn't function if the players are actually building characters correctly.
I don't know if it was this thread or the SE++ tabletop thread, but someone on this forum had suggested throwing players into a Pac-Man maze and have them pursued by gelatinous cubes.
I wish I could find that post so I could thank the person directly, but I haven't had any luck in the past 20 minutes.
So, if that was you, thank you. It worked better than I had hoped. Reduced the cubes to 40 hp each so they weren't such damage sinks, throw on a 2 round timer for fear and a two round regen timer once the cubes made it back to the center.
Good times had all around my digital table.
Need to work with Roll20 more so I could have gotten the grid to line up with the walls.
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valhalla13013 Dark Shield Perceives the GodsRegistered Userregular
@valhalla130 not sure if it's too late for the games you're playing with your Daugter (rescuing the halfling chef from the wizard tower) but my wife just found this 5E cooking and baking themed supplement on Kickstarter whilst looking for Character portraits.
Dragon Stew is a Fifth Edition Supplemental that gives both players and GMs the tools to bring the magic of cooking into their games.
All content included in the book has been designed to be extremely easy to learn and use, whether you use it as a fun addition to your long-running game or start a new short adventure. The book has been illustrated with care, filled with custom art that brings the world to life.
There are several different rulesets included in the book, like Cooking Classes, Dessert Familiars, and Cooking Rules. Feel free to mix and match in order to create the experience you want at your table.
The book also includes an entire adventure, designed from the ground up to showcase all different aspects of these additional rules. It makes for an excellent introduction to the different systems, and can even act as the perfect starting point for a whole cooking-themed campaign. It’s ready to run as soon as you get the book, with everything you’ll need to start cooking up your own tale of swords, sorcery, and frying pans.
It's got rules for cooking and baking arcane recipes, a set of themed archetypes for each class and an adventure for a party of adventuring chefs.
That is awesome. Thank you! Since we're still running both characters, that will come in handy, when I can get it.
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valhalla13013 Dark Shield Perceives the GodsRegistered Userregular
Mmmkay, it looks as if that Kickstarter was fully funded in minutes, but I'm not sure how to get it now. Wait on them to actually publish it, I guess.
Since she is still interested in the cooking part, I think Inwill def pick this up
I don't know if it was this thread or the SE++ tabletop thread, but someone on this forum had suggested throwing players into a Pac-Man maze and have them pursued by gelatinous cubes.
I wish I could find that post so I could thank the person directly, but I haven't had any luck in the past 20 minutes.
So, if that was you, thank you. It worked better than I had hoped. Reduced the cubes to 40 hp each so they weren't such damage sinks, throw on a 2 round timer for fear and a two round regen timer once the cubes made it back to the center.
Good times had all around my digital table.
Need to work with Roll20 more so I could have gotten the grid to line up with the walls.
Anyone here with experience running mysteries in 5e?
I'm DMing a one-shot after a long time this weekend and it's the first time I'm running a murder mystery
I'm well-prepared in terms of the content, but just not sure how to run some of the NPCs
E.g. the killer is someone who would likely try and befriend the PCs to try and keep them of their trail.
But, I'm a bit worried this could leave my players feeling angry/betrayed at the end...
Making the killer cold/unlikable would ensure players just feel victorious and awesome when they catch them (but also possibly make the game less compelling/interesting)
What do you guys think?
Any advice from more experienced GMs or players is greatly appreciated!
The killer should not get too involved, they have their own things they need to do (getting away with it!) and should really just give incriminating clues pointing the PCs towards the other suspects.
Those suspects then give answers and more clues that incriminate someone else - and by putting these clues together you then have something to confront the killer about.
For a one shot you need to keep things a lot more focused than you think, think of it almost as a dungeon with 5 trap encounters and a boss.
Cold and unlikeably would work if they were doing more of a detective thing, and tracking a serial killer to their lair - but in a murder mystery where you've got all the suspects in the same place you don't want the killer to be too antagonistic at first. There's a chance it'll just backfire and the PCs will lock him up or be constantly suspicious, it's not a mystery if you've caught the killer and are just looking for the evidence to confirm it.
I'd go not too helpful, and initially seeming to be hiding something else (a minor theft or something) so that they meet them close to the start before being given other clues to track down. Then if they promise to not turn them in or threaten them they become more helpful - but not friendly.
But really, a lot depends on the motive for the murder too. Is this a hit, or an act of desperation?
Mmmkay, it looks as if that Kickstarter was fully funded in minutes, but I'm not sure how to get it now. Wait on them to actually publish it, I guess.
Since she is still interested in the cooking part, I think Inwill def pick this up
Yeah, it looks like it's still being worked on. Their last update was in June talking about the various things they had finished and what they were working on next.
I plan to have my next campaign heavily feature yuan-ti, and so far the hardest thing about it is trying to figure out ways their suggestion power should work.
Here's a bit of the text for Suggestion:
You suggest a course of activity (limited to a sentence or two) and magically influence a creature you can see within range that can hear and understand you. The suggestion must be worded in such a manner as to make the course of action sound reasonable.
The suggested course of action can continue for the entire Duration. If the suggested activity can be completed in a shorter time, the spell ends when the subject finishes what it was asked to do.
You can also specify Conditions that will trigger a Special activity during the Duration. For example, you might suggest that a Knight give her Warhorse to the first Beggar she meets.
Say for example some yuan-ti purebloods want to get some magic items from a shop. How could the purebloods' use of Suggestion affect things?
- Could they use Suggestion to say "You should give us a discount on this item. We'll be more likely to be repeat customers and recommend your business to others"?
- Could they use Suggestion to say "You should give us a discount on all the items we buy. We'll be more likely to be repeat customers and recommend your business to others"?
- Could they use Suggestion to say "You should hand these items over to us. They're cursed, and we don't want a good person like you to come under their evil influence"?
- Could they use Suggestion to say "You should help us load all your wares into our wagon to be relocated to a safe location. We know thieves are planning to ransack your business tonight and don't want your business to be ruined"?
I guess perhaps the yuan-ti would have better chances at a Suggestion seeming reasonable if they had an established positive reputation or had spread rumors about cursed items or a planned robbery.
Further, what defenses would a magic shop or individual seller have against magical manipulation?
I'd go not too helpful, and initially seeming to be hiding something else (a minor theft or something) so that they meet them close to the start before being given other clues to track down. Then if they promise to not turn them in or threaten them they become more helpful - but not friendly.
That is awesome & fits so well in the campaign - you've just solved all my problems!
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So RAW (your game is your game obv.) your Hex weapon cannot have the Two-Handed property - which longbows do.
EDIT: Not quite true - see below.
Assuming they're also Pact of the Blade, if they have Improved Pact Weapon, they can basically use any weapon as their Pact Blade and it becomes their Hexblade (basically)
This doesn't seem unreasonable to me but I wonder if perhaps I have bamboozled him.
I don't think so. I feel like, for better or worse, 5th ed still has some of the old relic of 3.5 by way of trap options. Normally, the whip, while flavorful, is really just mechanically inferior to most other weapons.
The same problem existed in 4e, where certain options, while flavorful and interesting seeming, were ultimately too niche to really be worth taking.
Sigh. SKT is not a "pick up and go" kind of module. It really is more of a sandbox/campaign book rather than a direct module. Which isn't so bad.... except the players don't get direct knowledge of the main plot, as written, until one is more than halfway through the module and that is only if they ask the Oracle the right questions. I'm not saying its bad, I'm just saying I would have preferred a module requiring less work on the DM's part for my B-Game. (Homebrew campaign world for one group. Running offical modules for the other).
Point of Order: Well Actually: Regular ol' Pact Weapon lets you use a two handed weapon as your hex weapon. Improved Pact Weapon lets you use ranged weapons as a Hex weapon.
13 14 14 8 10 17 starting stats half-drow 1/x warlock/paladin that will wear medium armor
to
15 10 16 8 8 17 x/1 paladin warlock that will wear heavy armor
Has 1 more AC and 10 more HP at 8/1 and the losses don't seem significant unless dex is even more valuable than I realize
Give the dragon a throw ability if it's big enough. Lets you get rid of folks who like to stick next to you. I give all my big enemies ways to push away players. On hit, do X damage and move 10-15-20 feet, dex/strength save for falling prone.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Here's the ones this supplement has for hydras
It's called DM Options Monster Talents by Dragonix on DMsguild and I recommend it
Perhaps give them a little warning that these are important, by having them go off initially as fire damage attacks that then turn into clouds of steam for partial cover. I'd also roll randomly initially to see which geysers go off in what order, so at the start it seems random, but then in a pattern the PCs might be able to work out and then move into position to limit the effectiveness of the new walls.
I'm DMing a one-shot after a long time this weekend and it's the first time I'm running a murder mystery
I'm well-prepared in terms of the content, but just not sure how to run some of the NPCs
E.g. the killer is someone who would likely try and befriend the PCs to try and keep them of their trail.
But, I'm a bit worried this could leave my players feeling angry/betrayed at the end...
Making the killer cold/unlikable would ensure players just feel victorious and awesome when they catch them (but also possibly make the game less compelling/interesting)
What do you guys think?
Any advice from more experienced GMs or players is greatly appreciated!
Get the Lash of Shadows from Wildemount. It generates multiple poisons, including one that induces petrification.
Yeah, i'm pretty much on board refluffing in my games - you want a 1d8 finesse weapon that's not a rapier? That's sweet. It's still a rapier mechanically, it just looks like <thing> now. As far as i can tell, that's not really going to break anything.
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Reskinning/reflavoring is something that really blew my mind during the heyday of 4e. The one thing I've always wanted to experiment with is refluffing the Barbarian Rage into something more like a battle-focus. Instead of frothing at the mouth savage murder everything rage, just a "I have turned my conscious mind off and am operating purely on warrior training and instinct" because, based on my experience studying military training and the like, that's very much a thing.
It's one of the reasons i really like 5e as a system. Like, i'm not even going to argue the system dosent have big honking issues - plenty of people have done better jobs of that than i!
But it's so damn simple in most cases that refluffing stuff is pretty easy, and even tweaking things isnt too hard, and it really lends itself to such quick improv switching up of stuff. You can look at the weapons, and easily go okay here's the upper and lower limits. So sweet, you dont have a rapier - you've got a good ol' heavy Katar. Or maybe your player wants to dual wield them - okay, it's a regular one, it's got a d6 instead of a d8, and has the Finesses and light properties. They want a better whip? you can probably justify a spiked whip as being a d6 - that seems in line with the other fineese + another feature weapons. Maybe make it 1d6 piercing instead of slashing!
As someone who coudlnt get into pathfinder because it's So. Damn. Crunchy (no shame if you like that! It just literally gives me a bad headache to read, and it sucks, even though i really dig some of it's art and class concepts), 5e's pick up and play nature and ease of editing is very appealing.
Also, that barbarian rage concept sounds killer, and you should totally do it.
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FF14 warriors are my jam. It's also worth pointing out they have a whole thing about their rage being pointless when just used for anger - It's in the service of protecting their friends/compatriots etc they really shine (and historically, Warriors in the setting worked together with Scholars, forming a front line that was then bolstered by Scholar magic).
In practice, FF14 Warriors are best described as "Be Fat, Be Angry, Hit things with a CHAINSAW axe" and it's pretty great. They're a really fun take on the whole "Beserker" class. (Also the be fat thing is pretty literal - other tanks specialize or have fancy tricks to make them more defense. Warriors are just like i have layers of blubber for days, COME AT ME AND MY ABBS)
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Also crossposting from TTRPG thread, but bit's i'm working out for my setting...
One thing in setting is that The whole effect that dumps people onto the continent/makes intercontinental travel impossible has a weird habit of stealing memories from people in the process. These wash up as pearls or other gemstones, or even weirder objects, or accumulate in places forming strange masses. It could be total amnesia, it could be partial, it could leave a person untouched - there's no rhyme or reason that anyone's been able to figure out. It certainly adds to the trauma of "...where the hell are we" that gets inflcited upon people though!
Anyway, beyond that, i've been working out some of how this effects the setting further, and i've come up with two things:
One, it's lead to the creation of an entirely new species - The Mer (provisional name for now, but hey)
These are sea-serpent mermaid mammalpeople. They have great hair. They're something new in the setting - The first mer popped up what, 50 years ago, more have spawned since (although it turns out they can naturally reproduce too). They're still finding their footing (Slithering?) in setting, given they're so young as a species - Figuring out what "mer" culture is is something they're all still wrestling with. What is known is that they're all pretty sure they didn't come from another plane or continent (Every other culture has retained enough to confirm they're either from somewhere else on the world that Terror Incongita is on, such as the Aeternum elves & oldblood humans, or they're from another plane of existence entirely - the orcs, ogres, satyrs, newblood humans both, etc). They all also have strange memories, flashes of stuff they've no way to know - even naturally born mer have this. Probably represent this as they get a free proficiency in a skill of their choice + some other neat benefit!
I do imagine that they're generally pretty gregarious and outgoing, to play off the being new - things are exciting and vivid to them, they're amphibious meaning there's very few limits on where they can go (this is actually why i made em snek people, other than the fact i freaking love snek people - easy to imagine a mer clambering around and doing PC things when the lowerhalf is snek vs your classic mermaid). Also because actual sea snakes like having big ol' swarms, and imaging them as inclined towards being super social and outgoing is fun.
Also they can spit venom in peoples faces if they get annoyed, so that's pretty baller. These need more work as a whole, it's not quite up to my usual standards of creating an all new species yet, but i feel the core is decently solid.
Why now instead of earlier for the mer spawning? This i dont have a good answer for - and honestly, this is the part that's most likely to change (particularity if i get a better idea for what they look could look like culturally. I'm really not sold on the they're new idea, though i do want to keep the gregarious and outgoing with GREAT HAIR parts).
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Two is the idea of Dungeons.
I mean, Dungeons are a classic, and I've always been a fan of the idea of Dungeons as living, breathing things. So here the idea is that sometimes these memory masses end up so big that they start warping the local landscape - burrowing in and changing things, becoming a carbuncle on the skin of reality. This i really like because it means you get cool things like a mansion in the japanse style growing on a desolate beach - or a typhoon rolls in and now somewhere in the wilds, an old school european castle is growing. Or some fisherman drags something up in their catch, and next thing he knows his cellar has way too many levels, a truly disturbing amount of traps in it, and a really annoying mimic infestation.
And because these are built out of weird and strange memory crystal carbuncle things, there's all sorts of valuable knowledge to be gleaned from them + the public good of getting riud of one when it turns up in a bad place.
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Unrelatedly, but I've decided that i'm having Mimics as a pest species in setting. I love mimics, especially ones that are really bad at being mimics - so the idea it's a known thing that sometimes you're in your stock room and there's an extra (tiny) crate which visibly has a bunch of teeth, and you roll your eyes and go get your broom because dammit not again.
I might steal some of dungeon Meshi's Mimics-as-hermit crabs here, so when disturb they unfold legs and crab pincers or scorpion tails and other htings and scuttle around because that's cooler, and it leads to the hilarious mental image of Mimic traps, just like crawfish/crayfish traps.
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It's got rules for cooking and baking arcane recipes, a set of themed archetypes for each class and an adventure for a party of adventuring chefs.
So as is my wont, i was updating my Terror Incongita dump. Then i checked the word count.
It's past 24.6k words. This offically makes it a novella worth of Wurds. That's a lot of words. Oh dear.
...Well, at least it means i've got a lot to say about the setting!
(Also, anyone who wants to do a deep dive into my madness, here's the link. It's all got headings and things, so it's at least semi readable for a raw text dump)
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- First cast scrying on someone to see them and where they are.
- Next cast scrying on the location where you saw this person at. This is rules legal because you can cast scrying on a location you've seen before; it doesn't have to be "familiar" to you.
If the scryer studied the location closely, would it count as "familiar" to them for the purposes of spells like Find the Path? Would scrying on the person and location multiple times, possibly getting more glimpses of the area, increase likelihood of "familiarity"?
The Teleport spell includes this in its description:
I'd think repeating the process I described multiple times would count as "seen casually" and therefore at least somewhat familiar and eligible for Find the Path.
Teleport says: "Very Familiar" is a place you have been very often, a place you have carefully studied, or a place you can see when you cast the spell.
Teleport is also not a concentration spell.
Scrying is a concentration spell that lets you see a location.
So, if I understand correctly, a wizard could scry on a person or a location and cast teleport during the scrying. However, teleport states you can only bring people with you that you can see, and if you're using scrying to see somewhere else I assume that you can't teleport anyone but yourself.
"Carefully studied" makes me think that you'd even be able to do it from books - if you've seen the floor plan, read various accounts of what it looked like and maybe even seen a bit of art depicting what a place used to look like - even if it doesn't look like that now - you might end up teleporting into the ruins, initially unsure if the spell worked correctly - but on seeing a few familar curves in the stone, a shape of a mountain in the distance, and a hollow in the wall that was where the metal hinges of the great door used to be, you know you've teleported successfully.
I think it all comes down to how clear a picture you can form in your mind of the place you want to be. If you can close your eyes and just see it - then that's very familiar. If you can picture it roughly, but if someone asked you how many ships there were in the portrait on the wall you'd be taken back and have to think specifically if there was a picture there and was it of a ship? Then that's seen casually.
I'm 90% confident I could navigate Monica Geller's Greenwich Village apartment blind-folded.
I never got the chance while I had a group that was engaged with 4E, but I wanted to do a one shot Space Hulk type game using 4E rules and just tell everyone to pick 4E stuff and refluff it.
Here's the scenario I've worked out for Seghulerak obtaining a copy of the Book of Vile Darkness:
- Vecna knows Seghulerak wants a copy of the Book of Vile Darkness and had long ago designed a copy that would suit someone like her. It also includes within it a kind of geas for Seghulerak that would aid Vecna's own goals. Vecna instructs his followers to obscure other copies of the Book of Vile Darkness from divination, leaving only the intended copy being capable of being found by her.
- Seghulerak has her minions abduct a diviner who knows Contact Other Plane. The enslaved diviner is physically mutilated and thoroughly subjected to memory modification until he only knows and is capable of casting Contact Other Plane.
- The diviner's first attempt at casting Contact Other Plane is a failure as the forces he attempted to contact assault his mind, leaving him insane for a day. The next day's attempt is a success; his questions reveal the presence of a Book of Vile Darkness in the Shadowfell.
- Seghulerak, now certain there is a copy of the Book in the Shadowfell, casts Legend Lore. The spell reveals that a marilith named Baltoi was entombed within a mountain range in the plane for her failure in the Blood War, but before her imprisonment she stole away a copy of the Book.
- Seghulerak and eight allies Plane Shift to the Shadowfell, establishing a camp. She attempts to scry on Baltoi every day, but the marilith resists the spell for thirteen days straight. Seghulerak's persistence pays off, and on the fourteenth day she establishes a scrying sensor in the marilith's underground prison. Now that she has seen the vault Seghulerak is easily able to scry on the vault when she wishes and become more familar with it. Baltoi's truesight allows her to see the sensor each time it manifests; she rants and screams at the unknown observer.
- Now familiar with the prison, Seghulerak casts Find the Path to discern the direction of and distance to her target, consulting maps of the Shadowfell as she does so. She determines that Baltoi and the Book are within the Darkreach Mountains.
- With her destination identified, Seghulerak and her minions return to the natural world and make preparations.
- Seghulerak uses multiple castings of Plane Shift to transport underlings to the Darkreach Mountains and establish a base camp. As she does so her forces find and enslave a small number of duergar whose ancestral stronghold in the mountains had been destroyed.
- Seghulerak uses Find the Path to direct her forces to where the closest point to Baltoi's prison is before commanding the enslaved duergar to dig in its direction. As the slaves toil Seghulerak and her underlings begin to plan their strategy against Baltoi to ensure the marilith cannot escape their assault.
I plan to play this battle out myself later to see exactly how things go. Baltoi has certainly attuned herself to the Book of Vile Darkness and has access to unexpected abilities.
As for the diviner mentioned earlier, he's only one of many spellcasters the evil Seghulerak has imprisoned and forced into servitude. Freeing and magically restoring them will be one of the biggest events of the campaign's final act.
However when you teleported there, you might be surprised to find that it wasn't even in New York, and that you were actually on the other side of the country.
"No-Sells Unskilled Attacks (cooler name pending)" - rolling a 20 in an attack roll against this boss is not an automatic success unless the attacker has at least a +2 bonus in the ability score used for the attack.
I wish I could find that post so I could thank the person directly, but I haven't had any luck in the past 20 minutes.
So, if that was you, thank you. It worked better than I had hoped. Reduced the cubes to 40 hp each so they weren't such damage sinks, throw on a 2 round timer for fear and a two round regen timer once the cubes made it back to the center.
Good times had all around my digital table.
Need to work with Roll20 more so I could have gotten the grid to line up with the walls.
That is awesome. Thank you! Since we're still running both characters, that will come in handy, when I can get it.
Since she is still interested in the cooking part, I think Inwill def pick this up
That was me! I'm glad it worked
The killer should not get too involved, they have their own things they need to do (getting away with it!) and should really just give incriminating clues pointing the PCs towards the other suspects.
Those suspects then give answers and more clues that incriminate someone else - and by putting these clues together you then have something to confront the killer about.
For a one shot you need to keep things a lot more focused than you think, think of it almost as a dungeon with 5 trap encounters and a boss.
Cold and unlikeably would work if they were doing more of a detective thing, and tracking a serial killer to their lair - but in a murder mystery where you've got all the suspects in the same place you don't want the killer to be too antagonistic at first. There's a chance it'll just backfire and the PCs will lock him up or be constantly suspicious, it's not a mystery if you've caught the killer and are just looking for the evidence to confirm it.
I'd go not too helpful, and initially seeming to be hiding something else (a minor theft or something) so that they meet them close to the start before being given other clues to track down. Then if they promise to not turn them in or threaten them they become more helpful - but not friendly.
But really, a lot depends on the motive for the murder too. Is this a hit, or an act of desperation?
Yeah, it looks like it's still being worked on. Their last update was in June talking about the various things they had finished and what they were working on next.
Here's a bit of the text for Suggestion:
Say for example some yuan-ti purebloods want to get some magic items from a shop. How could the purebloods' use of Suggestion affect things?
- Could they use Suggestion to say "You should give us a discount on this item. We'll be more likely to be repeat customers and recommend your business to others"?
- Could they use Suggestion to say "You should give us a discount on all the items we buy. We'll be more likely to be repeat customers and recommend your business to others"?
- Could they use Suggestion to say "You should hand these items over to us. They're cursed, and we don't want a good person like you to come under their evil influence"?
- Could they use Suggestion to say "You should help us load all your wares into our wagon to be relocated to a safe location. We know thieves are planning to ransack your business tonight and don't want your business to be ruined"?
I guess perhaps the yuan-ti would have better chances at a Suggestion seeming reasonable if they had an established positive reputation or had spread rumors about cursed items or a planned robbery.
Further, what defenses would a magic shop or individual seller have against magical manipulation?
That is awesome & fits so well in the campaign - you've just solved all my problems!
**goes to cut 6 red herrings out of the campaign notes**
The victim figured out the murderer's true identity (a famed war criminal now in hiding), so they had to silence them ASAP & messily
(hopefully, making enough mistakes to get caught by the PCs)
I'll make sure to listen to your advice and not make them too friendly or too hostile at the start