The six second round might be one of the silliest things about Dungeons & Dragons
consider, if you will, the one-minute AD&D round
...and the ten-minute AD&D exploration turn, where you move at the same speed for some reason
(it's because it worked well in OD&D-as-psuedo-boardgame, but it becomes hilariously obvious how slow it is if you do like B2 Keep on the Borderlands did and use those dungeon speeds for wilderness exploration)
I don't like it in a fuck you for having ADHD sense, I just think it's neat and makes for interesting gameplay in terms of it going out unexpectedly
See, I have ADHD but I guess I have the kind that makes me hyperfocus on the game to the exclusion of everything else. No one else in my group has ADHD yet they're the ones occasionally on their phones or getting sidetracked by OOC conversation or getting food or using the restroom (not in a problematic way, mind you). I'm the one that will sit in the chair and focus solely on the game for as long as the game lasts, even the 12 hour sessions. Gotta force me to get up to eat or pee (much like when I get into a videogame)
Yeah I have massive ADHD and one of my players has ADHD and he's the only one who pays attention to the fucking game. When I get annoyed about people being on their phones and shit it's not the ADHD guy, he's the only one who isn't a problem (when his work isn't pestering the fuck out of him via SMS when he should be off the clock but that's a whole other convo).
It's extra work for sure, such that I only did it once as a player, but I can attest that keeping a journal/notes on a session will keep you engaged the whole time.
I had filled multiple journals by the end of it. One of these days I'm going to transcribe it all so that the entire group can peruse it.
6 seconds is whatever but my problem is everyone in my group is a rules lawyer except me so each round of combat takes half an hour while I just sit and play on my phone as they argue
+1
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
It's extra work for sure, such that I only did it once as a player, but I can attest that keeping a journal/notes on a session will keep you engaged the whole time.
I had filled multiple journals by the end of it. One of these days I'm going to transcribe it all so that the entire group can peruse it.
My current game has multiple people who keep in character session notes. Notes that only cover what parts of the adventure our character specifically is experiencing, and often include details being intentionally omitted or outright lies (especially on my part, but we all do it).
This produces a couple of interesting knock on effects. Whenever a player is missing from a session, it's supposed to be the job of the characters to catch them up, so whichever person they ask for a refresher might paint a specific picture of events. And also, we have an erratic at best play schedule, which means that half the time we might not realize that we're telling untruths about the previous session, or be trying to patch what actually happened together from multiple sets disjointed notes.
It's a lot of fun, I recommend it. All the better if you can find a character reason for it that lets you get real focused on certain aspects - a detective's case notes, a naturalist's observations, that sort of thing.
Hey y’all, what’s the best way to run Lancer online? Like how you track your battles?
Use compcon.app to build encounters, have other players share their pilot codes with you, etc.
Then either use roll20 or foundry for running the game. When I played, we used roll20 but we had constant issues with size 2 tokens on their hex grid. Lot of people recommend Foundry for LANCER but we never tried it.
But no matter what VTT you use, compcon will run encounters for you. You can track initiative, HP, heat, all of that.
So the new 5e Ranger has been copping a lot of heat (ref: the 20 pages of comments on the DnDBeyond article and literally every other discussion of it online). As a result every man and his dog has been homebrewing new Ranger designs.
Rather than rebuild the class from the ground up myself, I thought it would be an interesting challenge to see how much I could do by just adding a single new feature to the existing Ranger that fits in with what's already there.
So, here's "Hunter's Serif"
Hunter's Serif
Starting at fifth level, Hunter's Mark now grants you a deeper insight into your Marked target's intentions and defences. The size of your Hunter's Mark die increases to a d8, and each time you cast Hunter's Mark or apply it to a new target, you can add one of the following serifs to the Mark and apply its effects while Hunter's Mark is active. You cannot use more than one serif at a time.
Precise Serif
If you make an attack roll against the Marked target and miss, you can add your Hunter's Mark die to the result, potentially turning the miss into a hit. When you do so, you cannot add your Hunter's Mark die to the damage roll of that attack.
Wily Serif
You can add your Hunter's Mark die to one saving throw the Marked target causes you to make during their turn.
Fierce Serif
You can add your Hunter's Mark die to your result for any contested ability checks you make against the Marked target.
Potent Serif
You can subtract your Hunter's Mark die from one saving throw you cause the Marked target to make during your turn.
Agile Serif
Each time the Marked target makes an attack roll against you, roll your Hunter's Mark die. If the number on the Marked target's attack die is equal to or lower than the number on your Hunter's Mark die, the attack misses.
Deft Serif
When the Marked target dies, you can apply Hunter's Mark to a new target during your turn without using a bonus action.
Most of the effects of Hunter's Mark, good or bad, matter much less to me than the fact that it constantly eats up your bonus action and concentration.
My main problem with the Ranger class is it's supposed to let you be Aragorn but the Fighter class already lets you do that. The only other unique features are having a pet which is easy to house rule and Survivalism which no one ever uses
Chall on
+1
DepressperadoI just wanted to see you laughingin the pizza rainRegistered Userregular
I used to run a campaign, one of my players was a hunter kind of Ranger, and he came to me complaining because we'd spent the whole adventure in cities or farmland and I was like "oh man, I'm sorry, I totally get it."
next session, while escorting a group of nobles on a passenger airship heading for the capital, the Party was shot down by anti-monarchist terrorists and crashed in a primeval forest and the Party and surviving nobles and crew had to depend on the Ranger to get them back to civilization before they were eaten by giant ants or enslaved by the Ape-men
My issue with the 5E Ranger is that if you play an Archer you will fuck shit up and if you dual-wield melee weapons or use an animal companion, it's like, okay you're solely going for RP choices, I respect that, I guess. Was kinda hoping you'd just annihilate one or two enemies per turn but this is cool too, you do you!
I don't really want to play 5e again, but I do like the idea of a wide-eyed, innocent sounding gnome ranger who spends the first two levels talking about their imaginary friend who bad guys are really lucky isn't around, and then when level 3 hits and they take the Tasha's Beastmaster subclass, Mr. Snuffleupagus shows up and starts wrecking faces.
PF2 ranger does basically use the same hunter's mark concept as 5e ranger as a primary special ability for the class, but the devil's in the details
For one, it's non-magical, for two, it can be initiated by finding tracks, and for three, it isn't automatically a damage boost feature. It's primarily about making it really hard for the prey to hide.
PF2 ranger does basically use the same hunter's mark concept as 5e ranger as a primary special ability for the class, but the devil's in the details
For one, it's non-magical, for two, it can be initiated by finding tracks, and for three, it isn't automatically a damage boost feature. It's primarily about making it really hard for the prey to hide.
Also, the level 1 feats to attack twice for one action against your target help. (It's absolutely the class's main damage booster, either making multiple attacks more accurate or adding damage to your first hit each round)
4E Ranger and Rogue were both very heavy on damage because their Role was Striker and their sub-Role (power source) was Martial, which also leans Striker. So they were always going to dump out the most damage, because their classes were designed to dump out high numbers and do nothing else.
In later books, IIRC, they offered ways to make Ranger Primal, which offered Defender options, as the Primal power source leaned that way.
PF2 ranger does basically use the same hunter's mark concept as 5e ranger as a primary special ability for the class, but the devil's in the details
For one, it's non-magical, for two, it can be initiated by finding tracks, and for three, it isn't automatically a damage boost feature. It's primarily about making it really hard for the prey to hide.
Also, the level 1 feats to attack twice for one action against your target help. (It's absolutely the class's main damage booster, either making multiple attacks more accurate or adding damage to your first hit each round)
If that's your build, sure.
Personally I've been working on a build for a non-magical, non-flurry outwit ranger with a poisoner archetype who will put targets to sleep with a blowgun and then feed them to his pet crocodile, with a snare as a backup for anyone who manages to get through his stealth.
PF2 ranger does basically use the same hunter's mark concept as 5e ranger as a primary special ability for the class, but the devil's in the details
For one, it's non-magical, for two, it can be initiated by finding tracks, and for three, it isn't automatically a damage boost feature. It's primarily about making it really hard for the prey to hide.
Also, the level 1 feats to attack twice for one action against your target help. (It's absolutely the class's main damage booster, either making multiple attacks more accurate or adding damage to your first hit each round)
Also, and this has saved the Ranger in my game many times lately, resistance applies only to the total damage of the two attacks.
Unless you wanted a pet, in which case it was time to visit trash city once more.
+1
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
I liked the beast master ranger I played in 4E, but I've never been particularly concerned about playing a mechanically powerful character (also I played him for a very short time all told, that was the campaign where I had like a dozen character deaths).
Ranger and its various subclasses provide just enough of a slate for me to project my own flavor or characterization onto, which is all I really care about in any class. I had a blast playing a Gloomstalker a few years ago. Sometimes I remembered to cast Hunter's Mark and sometimes I didn't, and I don't think it really bothered me either way. One of my current players actually uses Hunter's Mark for its other use of tracking a fleeing enemy, and I really like that sort of thing as opposed to everyone worrying about whether or not the extra damage die is activated
A friend of mine really wanted to play beastmaster ranger, it's kinda his favorite archetype in any game, but it sucked so he switched to Shaman, and man, Shaman was quite good at doing what he wanted.
I think they should just rip off the band aid and make every class feature a spell
Funny you should say that! The paladin's divine smite has been moved from being a class feature to being a paladin only spell. So they're on the way!
0
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
Some of my very first impressions of 5e were essentially, "Oh so it's like 4e but instead of the power system they're switching it all back to Vancian magic, got it." Which turned out to not be strictly accurate, but hey, I was reading the book in a Barnes and Noble, I skimmed a few things.
I don't like it, because I do not like Vancian magic (which D&D also kind of isn't anymore, but not enough so that I come back around on it), but it seems like an overall okay move for the franchise. I think a lot can be said for RPGs having unified systems - you're always rolling the same dice to do something, you're always resisting damage in a similar way, that sort of thing. And if you just make everything a form of a spell, that is a unified system, even if it's one that I don't like.
Posts
The fact it would force people to not derp on phones or take long breaks or get distracted an enforced pay attention for an hour at a time mechanic.
consider, if you will, the one-minute AD&D round
...and the ten-minute AD&D exploration turn, where you move at the same speed for some reason
(it's because it worked well in OD&D-as-psuedo-boardgame, but it becomes hilariously obvious how slow it is if you do like B2 Keep on the Borderlands did and use those dungeon speeds for wilderness exploration)
See, I have ADHD but I guess I have the kind that makes me hyperfocus on the game to the exclusion of everything else. No one else in my group has ADHD yet they're the ones occasionally on their phones or getting sidetracked by OOC conversation or getting food or using the restroom (not in a problematic way, mind you). I'm the one that will sit in the chair and focus solely on the game for as long as the game lasts, even the 12 hour sessions. Gotta force me to get up to eat or pee (much like when I get into a videogame)
I had filled multiple journals by the end of it. One of these days I'm going to transcribe it all so that the entire group can peruse it.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
My current game has multiple people who keep in character session notes. Notes that only cover what parts of the adventure our character specifically is experiencing, and often include details being intentionally omitted or outright lies (especially on my part, but we all do it).
This produces a couple of interesting knock on effects. Whenever a player is missing from a session, it's supposed to be the job of the characters to catch them up, so whichever person they ask for a refresher might paint a specific picture of events. And also, we have an erratic at best play schedule, which means that half the time we might not realize that we're telling untruths about the previous session, or be trying to patch what actually happened together from multiple sets disjointed notes.
It's a lot of fun, I recommend it. All the better if you can find a character reason for it that lets you get real focused on certain aspects - a detective's case notes, a naturalist's observations, that sort of thing.
And then I recap the entire campaign, blowing right past the protests of, "No, Thawmus, just the last session, oh god you're actually doing this!"
Weirdly the GM doesn't let me do it that often!
I just increment the clock five or ten minutes after encounters based on how long they felt.
Planeswalker
Will of the Council - Starting with you, each player votes for death goblin.
https://compcon.app/#/
https://foundryvtt.com/packages/lancer
Did Delz ever make something for LANCER?
Use compcon.app to build encounters, have other players share their pilot codes with you, etc.
Then either use roll20 or foundry for running the game. When I played, we used roll20 but we had constant issues with size 2 tokens on their hex grid. Lot of people recommend Foundry for LANCER but we never tried it.
But no matter what VTT you use, compcon will run encounters for you. You can track initiative, HP, heat, all of that.
Rather than rebuild the class from the ground up myself, I thought it would be an interesting challenge to see how much I could do by just adding a single new feature to the existing Ranger that fits in with what's already there.
So, here's "Hunter's Serif"
Starting at fifth level, Hunter's Mark now grants you a deeper insight into your Marked target's intentions and defences. The size of your Hunter's Mark die increases to a d8, and each time you cast Hunter's Mark or apply it to a new target, you can add one of the following serifs to the Mark and apply its effects while Hunter's Mark is active. You cannot use more than one serif at a time.
Precise Serif
If you make an attack roll against the Marked target and miss, you can add your Hunter's Mark die to the result, potentially turning the miss into a hit. When you do so, you cannot add your Hunter's Mark die to the damage roll of that attack.
Wily Serif
You can add your Hunter's Mark die to one saving throw the Marked target causes you to make during their turn.
Fierce Serif
You can add your Hunter's Mark die to your result for any contested ability checks you make against the Marked target.
Potent Serif
You can subtract your Hunter's Mark die from one saving throw you cause the Marked target to make during your turn.
Agile Serif
Each time the Marked target makes an attack roll against you, roll your Hunter's Mark die. If the number on the Marked target's attack die is equal to or lower than the number on your Hunter's Mark die, the attack misses.
Deft Serif
When the Marked target dies, you can apply Hunter's Mark to a new target during your turn without using a bonus action.
If it's the foundation of your class, it shouldn't be a spell! That's a class feature, through and through!
Can't have that, then it'd be a power!
next session, while escorting a group of nobles on a passenger airship heading for the capital, the Party was shot down by anti-monarchist terrorists and crashed in a primeval forest and the Party and surviving nobles and crew had to depend on the Ranger to get them back to civilization before they were eaten by giant ants or enslaved by the Ape-men
For one, it's non-magical, for two, it can be initiated by finding tracks, and for three, it isn't automatically a damage boost feature. It's primarily about making it really hard for the prey to hide.
Hey, the 4E Ranger was good.
...A little too good, if I remember correctly.
Also, the level 1 feats to attack twice for one action against your target help. (It's absolutely the class's main damage booster, either making multiple attacks more accurate or adding damage to your first hit each round)
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In later books, IIRC, they offered ways to make Ranger Primal, which offered Defender options, as the Primal power source leaned that way.
If that's your build, sure.
Personally I've been working on a build for a non-magical, non-flurry outwit ranger with a poisoner archetype who will put targets to sleep with a blowgun and then feed them to his pet crocodile, with a snare as a backup for anyone who manages to get through his stealth.
Also, and this has saved the Ranger in my game many times lately, resistance applies only to the total damage of the two attacks.
Funny you should say that! The paladin's divine smite has been moved from being a class feature to being a paladin only spell. So they're on the way!
I don't like it, because I do not like Vancian magic (which D&D also kind of isn't anymore, but not enough so that I come back around on it), but it seems like an overall okay move for the franchise. I think a lot can be said for RPGs having unified systems - you're always rolling the same dice to do something, you're always resisting damage in a similar way, that sort of thing. And if you just make everything a form of a spell, that is a unified system, even if it's one that I don't like.