My tuesday night campaign was a resounding success. We permanently lost one player, but we also gained a new player, so we're sitting comfortably at 4 (rogue/paladin/bard/cleric). Due to time constraints, I didn't have time to make my dungeon tiles all the interlocking ones I posted a picture of. But when it came right down to it, I actually prefer just having a core of 10x10 non-interlocking squares that I can lay out as the party's visibility progresses through the dungeon. The chipboard is heavy enough that casual interactions aren't enough to jostle it out of place, and my conference room has two tables, so once the party cleared 1F and went down into the basement we just moved to the other table and I started laying out the tiles for B1.
They actually finished off the enemies on 1F at around 10:30pm, and we usually go until 11 so I was tempted to call it there, but since nobody had to work on Wednesday due to the holiday, we kept going, and they cleared B1 quite quickly.
I think the only real issue was that in the last round of the fight, I used one of my telegraphed attacks to have this slime sweep an eye-laser across the room, and even though I provided cover, it may not have been clear they could avoid it. Then I rolled max damage, blasting pretty much everyone for 25 damage. Which is pulled from the "deadly" column for damaged values on a level 1-4 party. I assumed they had a bit higher HP, but it KO'd the bard and the cleric. The rogue killed it in the next turn so nobody was killed.
So I'm soliciting feedback from them on whether the mechanic is even interesting enough to stick with.
Though it’s not home ground for me I’ve been asked to run D&D 5E for a few months as chance has put me and some old pals together with work from December onwards.
It struck me that it might be cool to give every race “racial paragon feats”, that can be taken instead of a regular feat whenever a class gives taking a feat as an option. Does that sound neat?
So maybe you wanna be a dwarf fighter, or maybe you wanna be a DWARF fighter.
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joshgotroDeviled EggThe Land of REAL CHILIRegistered Userregular
Though it’s not home ground for me I’ve been asked to run D&D 5E for a few months as chance has put me and some old pals together with work from December onwards.
It struck me that it might be cool to give every race “racial paragon feats”, that can be taken instead of a regular feat whenever a class gives taking a feat as an option. Does that sound neat?
So maybe you wanna be a dwarf fighter, or maybe you wanna be a DWARF fighter.
Though it’s not home ground for me I’ve been asked to run D&D 5E for a few months as chance has put me and some old pals together with work from December onwards.
It struck me that it might be cool to give every race “racial paragon feats”, that can be taken instead of a regular feat whenever a class gives taking a feat as an option. Does that sound neat?
So maybe you wanna be a dwarf fighter, or maybe you wanna be a DWARF fighter.
They actually have a few of those in one of the newer guides, either Xanathar or Mordenkainen, i don't remember which.
For folks that play online with roll20 or whatever, what do you do for maps? I'm really trying my hardest to not get stuck drawing stuff (drawing is my day job and my second job, and dnd is my break) but also not drop a ton on things like tile packs on roll20. Is there a good program where I can just slap in some tiles and assets and not get stuck learning autocad for dungeonographer
Though it’s not home ground for me I’ve been asked to run D&D 5E for a few months as chance has put me and some old pals together with work from December onwards.
It struck me that it might be cool to give every race “racial paragon feats”, that can be taken instead of a regular feat whenever a class gives taking a feat as an option. Does that sound neat?
So maybe you wanna be a dwarf fighter, or maybe you wanna be a DWARF fighter.
They actually have a few of those in one of the newer guides, either Xanathar or Mordenkainen, i don't remember which.
Roger. I don’t have access to much extra stuff, though I think one of the guys has Mordy’s.
My players had some insights on the telegraphed attacks thing, and here's what I've come up with. In hindsight there were a number of failures with the eye laser, and I'm glad my players understand that I've definitely learned from it. It was mainly a failure to stick with conventions that exist for good reason.
1) "All targets the creature can see" is too broad
2) AOEs should use Reflex saves, not an attack roll
3) The "deadly" value in the DM guide for of levels 0-4 (4d10) is almost certainly fatal to a level 3 character
4) Using that value on an AOE is asking for a TPK
5) Providing cover that might be interpreted as a trap is a bad idea
When you look at all those things together, it's not just bad, it's staggeringly bad, and I'm pretty sure the only reason I didn't notice was that I put all my prep time into making the dungeon tiles and not enough into the encounter.
If I had to do it over again:
1) Use a standard cone for the AOE
2) DC 13 reflex save
3) Lower the damage to 1d10+5
4) Cover and/or safe zones should be unambiguous
5) Just tell them what the attack will do
That last one is the key, I think. If they're facing down a AOE, let them decide to take cover, eat the hit, or trust in their reflexes. This isn't a video game where the same attack will come up over and over again and they can trial-and-error it.
My players had some insights on the telegraphed attacks thing, and here's what I've come up with. In hindsight there were a number of failures with the eye laser, and I'm glad my players understand that I've definitely learned from it. It was mainly a failure to stick with conventions that exist for good reason.
1) "All targets the creature can see" is too broad
2) AOEs should use Reflex saves, not an attack roll
3) The "deadly" value in the DM guide for of levels 0-4 (4d10) is almost certainly fatal to a level 3 character
4) Using that value on an AOE is asking for a TPK
5) Providing cover that might be interpreted as a trap is a bad idea
When you look at all those things together, it's not just bad, it's staggeringly bad, and I'm pretty sure the only reason I didn't notice was that I put all my prep time into making the dungeon tiles and not enough into the encounter.
If I had to do it over again:
1) Use a standard cone for the AOE
2) DC 13 reflex save
3) Lower the damage to 1d10+5
4) Cover and/or safe zones should be unambiguous
5) Just tell them what the attack will do
That last one is the key, I think. If they're facing down a AOE, let them decide to take cover, eat the hit, or trust in their reflexes. This isn't a video game where the same attack will come up over and over again and they can trial-and-error it.
You can also solve that last one by using the same monster or monster type more than once - basically stealing a trick from video game design. Even in the space of a single dungeon, having a couple fights with guards or lieutenants or whatever who have a special telegraphed attack, letting the players see how it works a few times, and then giving the boss a powered-up version of the same attack with the same telegraph cue can clue them into how it works so they know how to react appropriately in the big fight, with the bonus that they feel like they figured it out themselves and 'solved a puzzle' instead of being told. It also helps give some purpose and structure to what might otherwise feel like 'filler' encounters in the middle of the dungeon crawl.
I experimented with something similar in an old campaign I ran and had a lot of success with it.
I sent that second list of 5 things to my players as a generic set of behaviors for future encounters, and surprisingly, they actually said they'd be okay striking the last one, as long as the first four were followed.
I like Abbalah's idea, too - if I can teach the players ahead of time what certain tells mean in a greatly reduced threat context, that gives me more latitude to put out some pain in boss fights - basically this, in action:
1) "All targets the creature can see" is too broad
2) AOEs should use Reflex saves, not an attack roll
3) The "deadly" value in the DM guide for of levels 0-4 (4d10) is almost certainly fatal to a level 3 character
4) Using that value on an AOE is asking for a TPK
5) Providing cover that might be interpreted as a trap is a bad idea
To elaborate. The value for traps are more or less not intended to be used in combats. Its supposed to be a setback/penalty for failing a skill check in a dangerous location. Putting a trap into combat should be done by adding the damage of the trap as an attack to the creature and +4d10 to an attack is not appropriate for that level range(I say +4d10 because its on top of whatever the creature is doing already likely)
Aside: i think number 1 isn't too bad an idea. If its a cone then you're really limiting the number of players who have to respond to an attack. The "cone" idea is good if you want "avoiding the cone" to be the thing that they should do to not get hit with the attack
+1
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited July 2018
Hey thread. I'm looking for some input.
I run a home game that originally started in 4e/Nentir Vale, that has (long) since blossomed into a 5e/custom world. I'm still using the Dawn War pantheon, but I'd like to expand out the assigned domains from what the DMG proscribes. I also want to incorporate some of domains from other "official" sources, a la Unearthed Arcana, and that led me to discover the four domains in the Plane Shift: Amonkhet guide. I like them, and want to add them into the mix.
The four domains are Solidarity, Strength, Ambition, and Zeal. The names are pretty close to how the domains are themed, but for reference here's a quick overview of the bonus powers they give as you level up:
Solidarity: Proficiency with Heavy Armor; Help Action gives a bonus action attack; Channel Divinity provides healing; Channel Divinity to provide a reaction +10 bonus to an ally's attack roll; Divine Strike; Maximized heals on spells
Strength: Druid Cantrip and proficiency in one of Animal Handling/Athletics/Nature/Survival; Proficiency with Heavy Armor; Channel Divinity to provide a +10 on any Strength-related roll; Channel Divinity to provide a reaction +10 bonus to an ally's Strength-related roll; Divine Strike; Resistance to nonmagical BPS damage
Ambition: Reaction to blind and impose Disadvantage on an attacker; Channel Divinity to create an illusion of yourself; Channel Divinity to turn invisible; Add Wisdom modifier to damage from cleric cantrips; The Channel Divinity for illusions makes four duplicates instead of one
Zeal: Proficiency with martial weapons and heavy armor; On an Attack action, can take a bonus action weapon attack; Channel Divinity to deal maximum damage with fire or thunder attacks; Push creatures when dealing thunder damage; Divine Strike; When you're reduced to zero hit points, use your reaction to move and make one weapon attack with advantage and add additional 5d10 fire and 5d10 weapon-type damage
I want to give each god in the pantheon access to one of these domains, in a way that reflects their personalities or natures, or otherwise reflects how they prefer their followers to behave. Here's where I'm at:
The ones in bold I'm a little iffy on. Bahamut-Zeal is close, because in my homebrew world holy crusaders tend to come from his flock. Corellon I think maybe should be Strength, but I'm not sure, and I kinda want at least one Good god to have access to Ambition. Ioun I'm totally lost on; I can't find enough background on her to make it clear. Torog and Tharizdun in Zeal...my problem with Zeal is it's a very "fight fight fight" domain and I don't know if it makes sense for them. Which makes them Ambition (probably), but then most of the Evil deities have Ambition....
I'll happily take any thoughts or input, even on the ones that look pretty straightforward.
I'll happily take any thoughts or input, even on the ones that look pretty straightforward.
Honestly, looks pretty good to me.
Edit because I don't really want to post again quite so soon: Given the mechanics, I'd give Zeal to Pelor. Strength seems like a little strange of a fit. Zeal seems very good on Tharizdun, who'd love to destroy all creation, and the irritable Torog. Also, why is Sehanine not Ambition? The mechanics seem great for a goddess of illusions.
(I don't know much about the Dawn War deities, so I looked some up.)
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I run a home game that originally started in 4e/Nentir Vale, that has (long) since blossomed into a 5e/custom world. I'm still using the Dawn War pantheon, but I'd like to expand out the assigned domains from what the DMG proscribes. I also want to incorporate some of domains from other "official" sources, a la Unearthed Arcana, and that led me to discover the four domains in the Plane Shift: Amonkhet guide. I like them, and want to add them into the mix.
The four domains are Solidarity, Strength, Ambition, and Zeal. The names are pretty close to how the domains are themed, but for reference here's a quick overview of the bonus powers they give as you level up:
Solidarity: Proficiency with Heavy Armor; Help Action gives a bonus action attack; Channel Divinity provides healing; Channel Divinity to provide a reaction +10 bonus to an ally's attack roll; Divine Strike; Maximized heals on spells
Strength: Druid Cantrip and proficiency in one of Animal Handling/Athletics/Nature/Survival; Proficiency with Heavy Armor; Channel Divinity to provide a +10 on any Strength-related roll; Channel Divinity to provide a reaction +10 bonus to an ally's Strength-related roll; Divine Strike; Resistance to nonmagical BPS damage
Ambition: Reaction to blind and impose Disadvantage on an attacker; Channel Divinity to create an illusion of yourself; Channel Divinity to turn invisible; Add Wisdom modifier to damage from cleric cantrips; The Channel Divinity for illusions makes four duplicates instead of one
Zeal: Proficiency with martial weapons and heavy armor; On an Attack action, can take a bonus action weapon attack; Channel Divinity to deal maximum damage with fire or thunder attacks; Push creatures when dealing thunder damage; Divine Strike; When you're reduced to zero hit points, use your reaction to move and make one weapon attack with advantage and add additional 5d10 fire and 5d10 weapon-type damage
I want to give each god in the pantheon access to one of these domains, in a way that reflects their personalities or natures, or otherwise reflects how they prefer their followers to behave. Here's where I'm at:
The ones in bold I'm a little iffy on. Bahamut-Zeal is close, because in my homebrew world holy crusaders tend to come from his flock. Corellon I think maybe should be Strength, but I'm not sure, and I kinda want at least one Good god to have access to Ambition. Ioun I'm totally lost on; I can't find enough background on her to make it clear. Torog and Tharizdun in Zeal...my problem with Zeal is it's a very "fight fight fight" domain and I don't know if it makes sense for them. Which makes them Ambition (probably), but then most of the Evil deities have Ambition....
I'll happily take any thoughts or input, even on the ones that look pretty straightforward.
With the restrictions you've given, I'd probably put Bahamut in Solidarity rather than Zeal (he's big on protecting the weak, etc - he's a pretty mono-white god who lines up reasonably closely with the mono-white MTG god that the Solidarity domain comes from).
Ambition's mechanics are a decent fit for a tricksy fey deity like Corellon, but thematically speaking, if I was going to put Ambition into the portfolio of one of the listed good dieties, it'd probably be Avandra, who is generally big on individual freedom and has a big 'fortune favors the bold' angle to her religion.
We had a long DnD session yesterday, so we got to explore most of Wave Echo Cave properly. We stopped at the final boss, which kinda irks me. We spent quite a few resources surviving everything else, so now I'm worried that the final boss will kill us dead.
One thing about that boss (spoilers):
Our DM complained that Black Spider is so ignorable, we met her before in Craigmaw Hideout and she told us some bullshit about being part of a good secret organization, but she didn't tie in to any of the other threads we were following. So now we enter a big ass room filled with gross spiders and there she is attacking on sight. I don't even know what she's up to. We were looking for Yarno and the brother of Grundren, now we're fighting crazy spider lady? Did we miss any obvious hints that she is behind everything?
We had a long DnD session yesterday, so we got to explore most of Wave Echo Cave properly. We stopped at the final boss, which kinda irks me. We spent quite a few resources surviving everything else, so now I'm worried that the final boss will kill us dead.
One thing about that boss (spoilers):
Our DM complained that Black Spider is so ignorable, we met her before in Craigmaw Hideout and she told us some bullshit about being part of a good secret organization, but she didn't tie in to any of the other threads we were following. So now we enter a big ass room filled with gross spiders and there she is attacking on sight. I don't even know what she's up to. We were looking for Yarno and the brother of Grundren, now we're fighting crazy spider lady? Did we miss any obvious hints that she is behind everything?
Maybe?
Your DM is doing things a bit differently since you met the Black Spider already in the Cragmaw Hideout? I don't know what's up with that, but every game of D&D is different!
But you should been given hints along the way, in the Redbrand Hideout and in Cragmaw Castle specifically, that the Black Spider is pulling the strings behind both of those groups and is the real big bad in this adventure.
Wait I thought the hideout was the castle? It was in the castle, at least.
She was there and there was a letter at Yarno's room in the Redbrand mansion. So like, we kinda deduced she was lying about being a spy and that she is the boss of Yarno. But if someone would walk up to my character and ask whohe is fighting or why.... He wouldn't be sure at all.
I'm starting up a new plot line in my game this week so we will be assembling a new party of adventurers and heading into the nearby tropical deciduous/rain forest on the way towards the northern desert/desolation this is what I've got for their first adventure encounter wise so far
I'm making a giant 4 headed frog monster based on this wild fuckin painting my friend did.
Gonna be legendary. Possibly with a lair
Probably gonna build up from the froghemoth as a base.
I'm going to kind of combine the tentacle and tongue attack in that it doesn't have tentacles so the tongue attacks will carry some damage on a failed save (possibly poison damage at that) and the target will be both restrained and pulled adjacent. The multiattack will be the two tongue attacks one from each of the outermost heads which will also prompt bite attacks by one of the central heads if saves are failed (I might make it so only one bite can happen per multiattack)
The bite has the swallow hole effect and can be used as an action on its own outside the tongue attack and multattack of course.
There will also be a Gaze attack action that is a straight up charm/dominate effect (one of the central heads is a straight up hypno toad) might put this on a 5 6 recharge.
Legendary actions can be used for:
-extra attacks with tongue or bite
-the swallow whole head to croak for a stun effect (only if his mouth is empty)
-for hypno toad to call in reinforcements like a d4 grungs or bullywugs.
I may switch that last legendary action to a lair action instead because they will be dropping out of the tree canopy or coming up out of the cloudy and turbulent waters they are fighting next to. I just can't think of any other lair actions besides it dropping trash mobs to remind the back line they are never safe. Possibly just attack's from the darkness? If I do this I'll have the third legendary action be a regular charm attempt by the hypno toad head, or like non provoking jump movement so this guy doesn't get tied down anywhere.
I'm thinking of starting the encounter with the thing jumping between giant stones in the middle of a large pond (probably at the base of a waterfall or something that's hiding the entranceto a cave that holds the cause of this abomination) and then coming to rest either on one of those stones or on the shore closest to the party. Shore closest to the party seems like it invites the boot party, but I may need to increase the range of the tongue attack so the party doesn't just get a round to rail on it from range till the first round of ads comes in, but that's also a good round to maybe charm someone up(possibly with the instruction of get into eating range) and/or to use the stun effect. Either way I'll be giving it the standing leap ability that grungs have so it can be hoppy.
A big thing about the ads is that they are strictly mind controlled and the party will have the goal of not killing them which is literally just player option on melee attacks, so spell bombing them should be a last resort (screw the existing fluff i want moderately mello frogs for his adventure, maybe some groups of grungs work like the ones in volvos guide but this particular group are usually pretty chill if you don't mess with them or violate their boundaries, might even give one of the characters, the local druid, some deep history with these guys, like helped solve a territory dispute between them and the bullywugs or something).
I'll probably cool off the proficiency bonus and damage dice from the froghemoth base so I'm not unquestioningly 1 shotting anyone on the field, and so taking careof the ads is still a viable option for something you need to do on your turn. Probably minus 2 proficiency and 1 die off of all the froghemoth attacks save DVs and damage pools. I'll probably up its wisdom and int a bit as it has 4 heads and is ostensibly controlling all the frog folk in this region of this weird rainforest.
I'll probably max the froghemoth hit points (after a short adventure of not being able to really use their big hits and spells on any enemies the party's going to unleash hell on this thing no questions).
On the way to this fight the party will run into a few groups of grungs and bullywugs and giant frogs maybe some flying snakes for funsies. Along with a host of tropical deciduous/rain forest skill challenges (there will be vine swinging is what I'm saying).
I need to figure out how to make some plant identification based skill challenges both on finding valuable first aid supplies (they are headed to a desert... having aloe seems on point) and avoiding plants they shouldn't touch for fear of getting poisoning (or to collect in the interest of brewing poison!) Maybe just lace it in as part of one of the rewards for a crushing success or failure on the navigational skill challenges between combats?
oohh might throw in some forest diplomacy with some lizardfolk that the bullywugs have encroached on in their mind controlled state to further expand on that territorial dispute.
Damn that party isn't actually in this week two of my players have product planning this week at work and won't be able to make Wednesday so the party for that adventure won't assemble for 2 more sessions. Instead we will have two weeks with aristocratic dragonborn and the two shady guys they've met on the road.
They are currently chasing down a nightmare so the tiefling sorcerer can bind it back to the infernal tack the party stripped off the Narzugon they took down last session. They will still fight another monster entry or two from mordenkainen's, before they catch up to the nightmare and take it down.
Wait I thought the hideout was the castle? It was in the castle, at least.
She was there and there was a letter at Yarno's room in the Redbrand mansion. So like, we kinda deduced she was lying about being a spy and that she is the boss of Yarno. But if someone would walk up to my character and ask whohe is fighting or why.... He wouldn't be sure at all.
There's not a whole lot of guidance for the DM in the guide, so your DM is playing things differently (as he/she probably should).
The letters and hints in the book are pretty subtle and easily missed by players. There's also a whole other character that "technically" you "could" have gotten information on the black spider about. Your DM may have just changed their mind about how much of an important character they wanted the black spider, or they could have forgotten that bit when they went to run that room by the book. Unclear.
Also I'm happy that the DM has introduced "Yarno" as Yarno. The book spells it Iarno, and they consistently confused my players to the point that I had to type it the first time I said it, every session. =/
Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
Oh he didn't spell it, but spelled with a Y it is a regular boys' name. Kind of a trashy one in this region, so we chuckle every time the name is mentioned.
My beleaguered beholder lasered party recovered themselves. The dead fighter had an item called a ghost lantern that was empty, and asked if he could grab onto that with his spirit, and I said sure why not. The party beelined to the dead village of Mbala hearing an old woman there could raise the dead despite the death curse. turns out she's super evil, oh well, but she'd do what he wanted. She had a few bodies, westworld style, just standing in a cellar, and offered any of them for a price.
The fighter ended up settling on an eladrin, the neutral evil warlock who works for Vecna questioned the morality of all this, because the old woman wanted a living victim to complete the ritual. The party had a magically created tabaxi woman from some earlier nonsense and the bard helped the hag restrain and ritually murder her. The, again, evil vecna cultist said "guys, wait a minute can we ... ok you killed her, got it, this is fucked up", I had all the guides with them express an extreme amount of consternation about murder
The fighter is now back but groused a great deal about not getting his old body back and insisting the hag make him male, she told him that was impossible but she'd be happy to do it again if he found a suitable victim. He remembered that an NPC had a ring that could change your sex so he promptly stole it from the NPC under threat of violence, who is understandably upset as that's putting her into a bad state, since she's worn that thing for decades
Next time: The party's guides abandon them in the night and take the boats
The monk, warlock, and sorceress are going to have A Talk with the fighter and the bard first. To the bard's credit, she wasn't being strictly evil mcevilpants, she rolled wisdom to determine if this tabaxi was even a real person or some kind of simulacrum and got a very low roll, and the hag tried to run with that notion and made a good case - but the party's relationships are fraying which is exactly where they should be in the heart of Chult. As the situation grows desperate and they get further from civilization, they are willing to compromise more and more
Acererak is sitting in his big ol magical control room with a fit of the lich giggles
(to be clear this was all in character fighting, everyone was having a blast with lots of "are we really doing this?", the one exception is the fighter who seemed to be under the impression if he asked to be an elf he'd get his old character back EXACTLY, but he picked a different kind of elf who is female, and got upset when I said he couldn't just be a male half elf again, at least not here and now in the middle of the jungle, I reminded him people don't usually come back in this campaign and he was free to reroll... which I worry was too confrontational, but everyone ended up having a great time all told)
Your players sound incredibly corruptible.
Have you heard about vecna's head..
The vecna cultist cut the heart out of a favored NPC, took control of her with foul magic. All's well for Vecna's girl, until the NPC got wrecked by a beholder. The warlock took off and caught up with the npc's clone (the party knew there was a huge risk bringing a teenager into chult so they got cloud backups... didn't think to do so for themselves, despite having 9000 gold left) before she could tell the party what was done, and then convinced her why it was necessary and used the disastrous battle against the beholder as evidence of why Vecna should be running this operation against Acererak, and then spilled the beans about the planned betrayal, and got a modded 28 on persuasion
I had the girl reply that as long as Vecna agreed that *none of them* would be killed, she would help him. But she wants to be a dragon again, she *needs* to be a dragon again. Vecna agreed and the deal was struck, she will help the warlock betray the party to the Yuan-Ti, and they will be turned into purebloods (herself included) - in exchange for Vecna's help to become a dragon again. Once this is done they have an unspecified task to complete for Ras Nsi, the completion of which will result in him assisting them enter and conquer the temple of the nine gods.
the rest of the party is little better with the monk being the only one who hasn't betrayed his principles (those being: punch all the things, and don't murder people), they're on course to work for bad guys to kill other bad guys at the behest of other bad guys
edit: technically the vecna warlock hasn't betrayed her principles, the party knew she was evil when they let her join
they used to have a lawful good redemption paladin. He died the day they arrived in Port Nyanzaru
So I've had some issues with my wife and her happiness with her Tempest Cleric.
Basically, she's playing a character who is a bubbly mermaid who happens to be able to control and shape water and some weather, along with being an oracle and an outcast to her own people. Cleric seemed right but ... I admit the water side felt weak and it was mostly just "lightning!"
The mermaid thing was easy as I just reskinned Triton. In water, she can morph into the tail but above land, she can turn back. Easy peasy, no issues. The rest of it just ... I could tell it wasn't gelling with her as much. On top of that, she doesn't wear armor and prefers lighter garb and doesn't use a weapon. So I started looking over sorcerer options and saw sea sorcerer and thought maybe but it just runs into the same issue ...
And then I found something that totally worked that I would have never thought about; The Mystic.
The name was perfect but when I learned it was just Psionics I kind of grew more iffy. Then I read over what it did and that the disicplines she could learn were Water, Weather, Ice, Joy, Precognition, and Aura. Basically she got to control all the elements she wanted to, with each of them actually DOING something instead of just relying on Lightning. She was able to get all of her Oracle/Mind reading stuff ... knowing how people were feeling ... just all of it. It was just the name "psionics" that had turned me away from ever looking at it before. I explained the same to her and while she too was originally turned off at the idea of psionics, when she looked over everything it did and how it checked every box off for her, she was sold.
So we just ignore the "Psionic" name and keep it a Mystic (she's a Wu Jen but we're just sticking to Mystic). I had did some online research for a few days and found initial worries that it might be too good but others saying not so much. Having had a play session with it on Saturday, I don't really feel it's any better than a wizard? So far so good but she's in love with it now and she's finally happy with her class completely which is awesome. She was the last hold over for that after the druid swapped to her class over cleric.
Anyone else have their own experiences with the Mystic and any pitfalls I'm not seeing?
I played an Awakened Mystic, which is sort of like playing Professor Xavier or Jean Gray.
We thought it was on the stronger side (ok my whole table thought it was OP), but that was mostly because all my abilities were INT saves and we were fighting idiot monsters.
I forgot what Wu Jin abilities are, bit if they are DEX/CON/WIS saves or attack rolls, it will probably play way more like a wizard/ sorcerer.
Keep in mind that after first level you are not technically restricted to the specific path you picked, so at higher levels she could take non Wu Jin things if she chose to. And for to how you can spend different amount of Psi for different variants of any given discipline, as you level up (increasing your spend maximum) you become very very versatile.
I played an Awakened Mystic, which is sort of like playing Professor Xavier or Jean Gray.
We thought it was on the stronger side (ok my whole table thought it was OP), but that was mostly because all my abilities were INT saves and we were fighting idiot monsters.
I forgot what Wu Jin abilities are, bit if they are DEX/CON/WIS saves or attack rolls, it will probably play way more like a wizard/ sorcerer.
Keep in mind that after first level you are not technically restricted to the specific path you picked, so at higher levels she could take non Wu Jin things if she chose to. And for to how you can spend different amount of Psi for different variants of any given discipline, as you level up (increasing your spend maximum) you become very very versatile.
Yeah she's choosing things that go with her theme. Currently she has 3 Wu Jen Disciplines and 3 Awakened Avatar or whatever it's called. The emotional based one, heh. But yeah, it was a lot of Dex saves and the like, not many if any based on INT. She was spending up to 6 a round since thats her cap at level 7. Maybe it's just SOME of the disciplines that are problem childs but the ones she has don't feel anymore powerful than a wizard (maybe even less so). It has some self healing but it's hardly a big deal and it fits the theme.
Our group of 10 had a little break. A long enough break in which I should have been able to finish out the dungeon crawl they were in and then set up anything they could have done afterwards.
But I didn't. I just had an outline in my head and I went with it.
Which caused me no end of anxiety!
Ugh, I didn't have any rewards laid out(and I make treasure cards--pics and all!), no monster tables or even if they were going to fight any, just complete chaos for me and my need to have thought of all the things.
They had to complete a puzzle, based on some information I seeded to one of them about 4 sessions back and then fight opposite aligned versions of themselves and if they were neutral they had to fight the good and evil versions (yes, totally ripped this off the nets)in their own pockets of reality. No help from their party. I told them to roleplay the encounter and then let them have at it. I monitored what they were doing and they basically fought the fight with the help of other players or I would step in when asked. They were really confused at first and then got into it. "A neutral version of myself would hang back and see what happens with the good/evil...but I'll assist the good for a bit."
One player had to fight two versions of himself and his original neutral version didn't make it. In actual fact, a horned devil was summoned in that fight and that's what ended up surviving the encounter. I let him roll a percentage dice to see which of the 4 combatants he would be playing from now on. He rolled the Lawful Good but was one percentage point from having to be RP a horned devil. We were all disappointed (and I was somewhat relieved!).
Another fight had two versions summoning water elementals and both characters getting whelmed. There was a lot of rule booking about holding breath and suffocating.
Btw, for the newbies at the table, this helped them tremendously get into the rules instead of relying on the vets at the table.
After this test, the divine being they have been hearing rumors of, appeared and gave them their long term quest and offered them something to aid in their upcoming struggles: information, items, etc
It was fun watching the players hash out what they should ask of her. A tiefling ranger simply asked of this god "a way to help"...which the goddess was thoroughly pleased to hear.
After their requests were initiated, they decided what quest threads they should run down first and decided to check on a Goblin King and tribe they had freed from being trapped under the earth. The Kings tribe had repaired some dilapidated ships the party had found in a Goonies style cavern, and sailed to an island nearby, leaving one ship behind for the party if they needed to escape.
They found the king, and were asked to act as envoys to the local towns, who have never seen goblins, tiefling, elves or anything else other than humans and at the first town they got to visit their first tavern! They cleaned up some undead bodies out of a spring flowing from an unearthed mausoleum and oh hey, found an item(a 1000 pound magical anvil) they were searching for. They did a magical display of burning off the poisoned water and the small village cheered.
Took the anvil back to the goblin king, left him with instructions to build a smithy with accommodations for the party upon their return which the king was happy to do as long as the party acted as envoy/emissaries for the new sprouting goblin community.
I was throwing up random dungeons and overland maps on our VTT and pulling down names from generators for NPC's they were dealing with. One whose name was Carlton who wore red thigh high boots and had a fishing pole as a spear. The conversation in the tavern with the various patrons and barman and piano player was sooooo much fun! The stuff I have been craving.
They now have two sisters, and a dad to rescue, find 6 magical books, travel to a demon queens castle, locate a tiefling thief with valued info, find a portal at the bottom of Firedrake Bay, locate a mysterious pirate looking for a red dragon (the dragon which might be in the rolled up painting they are carrying around in their bag of holding) and find the secret book to work the magical anvil.
For those more aquainted with Waterdeep than I, a question. My group is soon to have to help cheer up the ghost of a certain mad mage that they will encounter in Waterdeep. Any waterdeep specific things for them to keep in mind would be awesome to know, any tips?
If you're my players, don't read this! (not very long)
I want to give them the goal of cheering him up to pass on to the next thing, but was curious about what sorts of Waterdavian activities they might engage in. For one, he wants a Masked Lord to acknowledge his death, either in a celebratory or mourning fashion, either is fine. This one will likely be tricky, though the party may be able to leverage some family member nobility or other guilds into assistance, still need to flesh this out. What sorts of things would a Masked Lord actually take seriously? Second, some sort of cake to celebrate his birthday that they will need to track down or acquire in some manner. And then I'm not sure what else. I'm thinking that as soon as they hit the streets they'll get asked by guards for their travelling papers or something like that (Just a grift from the guards and then we'll see how that goes). Perhaps a very brief foray into the upper levels of undermountain to retrieve his favorite stuffed animal? So many options.
Knowing that I had one player out, 1 player late, and 1 player leaving early, I designed a session that didn't really on stats or rp too much - a series of puzzle rooms of increasing complexity, but built on the same set of rules. They were so engaged with trying to learn the rules that when 1 guy had to leave, I told him I'd run the puzzle for him individually so he didn't miss out. After a few more failed attempts, the two remaining players decided they wanted to hold off on progressing until everyone was present. They didn't make it out of the first room, but I think that something just clicked with them about one of the rules.
The whole thing is set up more or less like a Zelda puzzle. It's not a block pushing puzzle, but there are statues that mimic the party's movements, with paralysis and "conveyor belt" mechanics.
What version of the Forgotten Realms are you using?
The most current 5e stuff as far as I know. For my game I'm going with
The spellplague happened and the undermountain sort of exploded, and Halaster died. But when he died his ritual and the magical energies scattered him about faerun in various pieces, some more lucid than others, some representing various aspects of his personality. This "ghost" is mostly sad instead of insane and evil, but that's in there too. When they finish and release him, he'll be able to return to undermountain where I believe WOTC has him ressurecting, like a lich's phylactery.
Having arrived in Waterdeep via portal (long story) into a small house, the party met Halaster Blackcloak there. Mostly in tact, but sporting a ghostly arm and translucent staff. Halaster seemed miffed that he died but the city didn't seem to really notice, and demanded the party give him three things to complete the challenge and continue with their adventure/race, while also pointing out that some rainbow clothed individuals had already come through (Competitors in the race they've run into before.)
First, Halaster demanded a day of remembrance. It doesn't need to be a day of celebration, it can be a day of dread, either is fine. He also demanded the party retrieve one of his favorite toys from his spare bedroom in the Undermountain, a stuffed goldfish that he claims used to belong to Xanathar. And finally, he wants Durnan at the Yawning Portal to name an item on the menu after him. Unfortunately they don't know any Masked Lords, and they've heard Durnan has sealed the well to the Undermountain under orders of a Masked Lord.
As soon as they exited onto the streets of Waterdeep, they ran into a group of guards handing out flyers advertising that one of the Masked Lords would be hearing petitions from the townsfolk in the South Ward today. They took a flyer and fended off an attempt at extortion from the guards thanks to the warlock's fey presence ability.
The party first went to visit the minor noble family of Varsh, the party's monk. His family is a family of wizards and Varsh found himself more attracted to the magic of punching, so they aren't particularly impressed by his skills, but still told him he could use his signet ring to skip the peasants at the Masked Lord's petition. They stopped by to see a friend of Ferrodin's who runs a wizard shop in the trade district and got a letter from him, giving them the same line skipping powers and using his spare bedroom to rest.
When they arrived at the home where the Masked Lord was hearing petitioners, they skipped a huge line of peasants (earning boos and a thrown tomato) and spoke with the Masked Lord's attendant who had them fill out some paperwork with their story. On their way out, a page stopped them and said that the Masked Lord wanted to see them, having read their petitions.
They went upstairs to see the Masked Lord, wearing a simple mask, full plate armor, and sitting behind a desk covered in paperwork with a huge two handed warhammer leaning against it. They explained what was going on and the Masked Lord asked them to sign some contracts confirming that they would not share the details of this meeting with others, and work towards helping the city, rather than against it. They agreed and signed the paperwork and the Masked Lord retrieved an orb from his desk, asking them to place their hands upon it.
He explained that if they put their hands on the orb their names would be revealed (not true names) and they would be unable to tell a lie. In addition, agreements made during this would be unbreakable as if under a geas, and they would not be able to share the information with others outside the circle of influence. They agreed and placed their hands on the orb, after which the masked lord removed a gauntlet and placed his hand on as well, his mask turning translucent to reveal OMIN DRAN, CEO of Acquisitions Incorporated and Masked Lord of Waterdeep. He explained that he has been researching various magical maladies occurring in town, partially due to the rainbow clad racers that had come through already, and partially due to Halaster's increasing influence in the town.
Omin agreed to help them declare a Halaster Day and give them passage into undermountain, if they agreed to help stop these calamities and also retrieve him a special ring said to help expedite paperwork that was lost in the undermountain. The party agreed and he handed them the sigil of Acquisitions Incorporated and sent them over to Durnan in the Yawning Portal. Durnan opened the well for them, of course still charging them the customary gold piece each, and the party descended into the undermountain, hunting a magic ring and a stuffed goldfish.
Next time, they'll dungeon delve in an attempt to find Halaster's spare bedroom and retrieve those items!
I gifted my DM the Tome of Foes a few weeks ago. He dropped a poison troll into a random encounter and it was hysterical. It took two rounds before the melee focused characters were close enough to attack. Our monk decided to open up on the troll and using his Ki abilities hit it 5 times for a huge chunk of damage. What we didn't know is that every time the troll is hit it splashes 2D8 poison in a 5 foot radius. So 2D8 x5. Our Paladin dropped. The monk was resistant to poison but was still hurt.
We quickly healed the paladin and took out the troll. New monsters can be so much fun.
Posts
Pugmire, a game about being a good dog and barking at invisible demons
I decided to see how it worked by making the Redbrand Hideout from the Lost Mines.
Illwinter
Overall I like it, and think it is going to be a lot of fun.
They actually finished off the enemies on 1F at around 10:30pm, and we usually go until 11 so I was tempted to call it there, but since nobody had to work on Wednesday due to the holiday, we kept going, and they cleared B1 quite quickly.
I think the only real issue was that in the last round of the fight, I used one of my telegraphed attacks to have this slime sweep an eye-laser across the room, and even though I provided cover, it may not have been clear they could avoid it. Then I rolled max damage, blasting pretty much everyone for 25 damage. Which is pulled from the "deadly" column for damaged values on a level 1-4 party. I assumed they had a bit higher HP, but it KO'd the bard and the cleric. The rogue killed it in the next turn so nobody was killed.
So I'm soliciting feedback from them on whether the mechanic is even interesting enough to stick with.
It struck me that it might be cool to give every race “racial paragon feats”, that can be taken instead of a regular feat whenever a class gives taking a feat as an option. Does that sound neat?
So maybe you wanna be a dwarf fighter, or maybe you wanna be a DWARF fighter.
+10 feet to being thrown.
They actually have a few of those in one of the newer guides, either Xanathar or Mordenkainen, i don't remember which.
Roger. I don’t have access to much extra stuff, though I think one of the guys has Mordy’s.
1) "All targets the creature can see" is too broad
2) AOEs should use Reflex saves, not an attack roll
3) The "deadly" value in the DM guide for of levels 0-4 (4d10) is almost certainly fatal to a level 3 character
4) Using that value on an AOE is asking for a TPK
5) Providing cover that might be interpreted as a trap is a bad idea
When you look at all those things together, it's not just bad, it's staggeringly bad, and I'm pretty sure the only reason I didn't notice was that I put all my prep time into making the dungeon tiles and not enough into the encounter.
If I had to do it over again:
1) Use a standard cone for the AOE
2) DC 13 reflex save
3) Lower the damage to 1d10+5
4) Cover and/or safe zones should be unambiguous
5) Just tell them what the attack will do
That last one is the key, I think. If they're facing down a AOE, let them decide to take cover, eat the hit, or trust in their reflexes. This isn't a video game where the same attack will come up over and over again and they can trial-and-error it.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
You can also solve that last one by using the same monster or monster type more than once - basically stealing a trick from video game design. Even in the space of a single dungeon, having a couple fights with guards or lieutenants or whatever who have a special telegraphed attack, letting the players see how it works a few times, and then giving the boss a powered-up version of the same attack with the same telegraph cue can clue them into how it works so they know how to react appropriately in the big fight, with the bonus that they feel like they figured it out themselves and 'solved a puzzle' instead of being told. It also helps give some purpose and structure to what might otherwise feel like 'filler' encounters in the middle of the dungeon crawl.
I experimented with something similar in an old campaign I ran and had a lot of success with it.
I like Abbalah's idea, too - if I can teach the players ahead of time what certain tells mean in a greatly reduced threat context, that gives me more latitude to put out some pain in boss fights - basically this, in action:
To elaborate. The value for traps are more or less not intended to be used in combats. Its supposed to be a setback/penalty for failing a skill check in a dangerous location. Putting a trap into combat should be done by adding the damage of the trap as an attack to the creature and +4d10 to an attack is not appropriate for that level range(I say +4d10 because its on top of whatever the creature is doing already likely)
Aside: i think number 1 isn't too bad an idea. If its a cone then you're really limiting the number of players who have to respond to an attack. The "cone" idea is good if you want "avoiding the cone" to be the thing that they should do to not get hit with the attack
I run a home game that originally started in 4e/Nentir Vale, that has (long) since blossomed into a 5e/custom world. I'm still using the Dawn War pantheon, but I'd like to expand out the assigned domains from what the DMG proscribes. I also want to incorporate some of domains from other "official" sources, a la Unearthed Arcana, and that led me to discover the four domains in the Plane Shift: Amonkhet guide. I like them, and want to add them into the mix.
The four domains are Solidarity, Strength, Ambition, and Zeal. The names are pretty close to how the domains are themed, but for reference here's a quick overview of the bonus powers they give as you level up:
Strength: Druid Cantrip and proficiency in one of Animal Handling/Athletics/Nature/Survival; Proficiency with Heavy Armor; Channel Divinity to provide a +10 on any Strength-related roll; Channel Divinity to provide a reaction +10 bonus to an ally's Strength-related roll; Divine Strike; Resistance to nonmagical BPS damage
Ambition: Reaction to blind and impose Disadvantage on an attacker; Channel Divinity to create an illusion of yourself; Channel Divinity to turn invisible; Add Wisdom modifier to damage from cleric cantrips; The Channel Divinity for illusions makes four duplicates instead of one
Zeal: Proficiency with martial weapons and heavy armor; On an Attack action, can take a bonus action weapon attack; Channel Divinity to deal maximum damage with fire or thunder attacks; Push creatures when dealing thunder damage; Divine Strike; When you're reduced to zero hit points, use your reaction to move and make one weapon attack with advantage and add additional 5d10 fire and 5d10 weapon-type damage
I want to give each god in the pantheon access to one of these domains, in a way that reflects their personalities or natures, or otherwise reflects how they prefer their followers to behave. Here's where I'm at:
**Good deities**
Bahamut - Zeal
Moradin - Solidarity
Pelor - Strength
Avandra - Solidarity
Corellon - Ambition
Kord - Strength
Sehanine - Solidarity
**Neutral deities**
Erathis - Solidarity
Ioun - Ambition
Raven Queen - Ambition
Melora - Strength
**Evil deities**
Asmodeus - Ambition
Bane - Strength
Tiamat - Solidarity
Torog - Zeal
Vecna - Ambition
Zehir - Ambition
Gruumsh - Strength
Lolth/Eilistree - Ambition/Solidarity
Tharizdun - Zeal
The ones in bold I'm a little iffy on. Bahamut-Zeal is close, because in my homebrew world holy crusaders tend to come from his flock. Corellon I think maybe should be Strength, but I'm not sure, and I kinda want at least one Good god to have access to Ambition. Ioun I'm totally lost on; I can't find enough background on her to make it clear. Torog and Tharizdun in Zeal...my problem with Zeal is it's a very "fight fight fight" domain and I don't know if it makes sense for them. Which makes them Ambition (probably), but then most of the Evil deities have Ambition....
I'll happily take any thoughts or input, even on the ones that look pretty straightforward.
Honestly, looks pretty good to me.
Edit because I don't really want to post again quite so soon: Given the mechanics, I'd give Zeal to Pelor. Strength seems like a little strange of a fit. Zeal seems very good on Tharizdun, who'd love to destroy all creation, and the irritable Torog. Also, why is Sehanine not Ambition? The mechanics seem great for a goddess of illusions.
(I don't know much about the Dawn War deities, so I looked some up.)
Steam, various fora: Ivellius
League of Legends: Doctor Ivellius
Twitch, probably another place or two I forget: LPIvellius
With the restrictions you've given, I'd probably put Bahamut in Solidarity rather than Zeal (he's big on protecting the weak, etc - he's a pretty mono-white god who lines up reasonably closely with the mono-white MTG god that the Solidarity domain comes from).
Ambition's mechanics are a decent fit for a tricksy fey deity like Corellon, but thematically speaking, if I was going to put Ambition into the portfolio of one of the listed good dieties, it'd probably be Avandra, who is generally big on individual freedom and has a big 'fortune favors the bold' angle to her religion.
One thing about that boss (spoilers):
Maybe?
But you should been given hints along the way, in the Redbrand Hideout and in Cragmaw Castle specifically, that the Black Spider is pulling the strings behind both of those groups and is the real big bad in this adventure.
Gonna be legendary. Possibly with a lair
Probably gonna build up from the froghemoth as a base.
I'm going to kind of combine the tentacle and tongue attack in that it doesn't have tentacles so the tongue attacks will carry some damage on a failed save (possibly poison damage at that) and the target will be both restrained and pulled adjacent. The multiattack will be the two tongue attacks one from each of the outermost heads which will also prompt bite attacks by one of the central heads if saves are failed (I might make it so only one bite can happen per multiattack)
The bite has the swallow hole effect and can be used as an action on its own outside the tongue attack and multattack of course.
There will also be a Gaze attack action that is a straight up charm/dominate effect (one of the central heads is a straight up hypno toad) might put this on a 5 6 recharge.
Legendary actions can be used for:
-extra attacks with tongue or bite
-the swallow whole head to croak for a stun effect (only if his mouth is empty)
-for hypno toad to call in reinforcements like a d4 grungs or bullywugs.
I may switch that last legendary action to a lair action instead because they will be dropping out of the tree canopy or coming up out of the cloudy and turbulent waters they are fighting next to. I just can't think of any other lair actions besides it dropping trash mobs to remind the back line they are never safe. Possibly just attack's from the darkness? If I do this I'll have the third legendary action be a regular charm attempt by the hypno toad head, or like non provoking jump movement so this guy doesn't get tied down anywhere.
I'm thinking of starting the encounter with the thing jumping between giant stones in the middle of a large pond (probably at the base of a waterfall or something that's hiding the entranceto a cave that holds the cause of this abomination) and then coming to rest either on one of those stones or on the shore closest to the party. Shore closest to the party seems like it invites the boot party, but I may need to increase the range of the tongue attack so the party doesn't just get a round to rail on it from range till the first round of ads comes in, but that's also a good round to maybe charm someone up(possibly with the instruction of get into eating range) and/or to use the stun effect. Either way I'll be giving it the standing leap ability that grungs have so it can be hoppy.
A big thing about the ads is that they are strictly mind controlled and the party will have the goal of not killing them which is literally just player option on melee attacks, so spell bombing them should be a last resort (screw the existing fluff i want moderately mello frogs for his adventure, maybe some groups of grungs work like the ones in volvos guide but this particular group are usually pretty chill if you don't mess with them or violate their boundaries, might even give one of the characters, the local druid, some deep history with these guys, like helped solve a territory dispute between them and the bullywugs or something).
I'll probably cool off the proficiency bonus and damage dice from the froghemoth base so I'm not unquestioningly 1 shotting anyone on the field, and so taking careof the ads is still a viable option for something you need to do on your turn. Probably minus 2 proficiency and 1 die off of all the froghemoth attacks save DVs and damage pools. I'll probably up its wisdom and int a bit as it has 4 heads and is ostensibly controlling all the frog folk in this region of this weird rainforest.
I'll probably max the froghemoth hit points (after a short adventure of not being able to really use their big hits and spells on any enemies the party's going to unleash hell on this thing no questions).
On the way to this fight the party will run into a few groups of grungs and bullywugs and giant frogs maybe some flying snakes for funsies. Along with a host of tropical deciduous/rain forest skill challenges (there will be vine swinging is what I'm saying).
I need to figure out how to make some plant identification based skill challenges both on finding valuable first aid supplies (they are headed to a desert... having aloe seems on point) and avoiding plants they shouldn't touch for fear of getting poisoning (or to collect in the interest of brewing poison!) Maybe just lace it in as part of one of the rewards for a crushing success or failure on the navigational skill challenges between combats?
They are currently chasing down a nightmare so the tiefling sorcerer can bind it back to the infernal tack the party stripped off the Narzugon they took down last session. They will still fight another monster entry or two from mordenkainen's, before they catch up to the nightmare and take it down.
There's not a whole lot of guidance for the DM in the guide, so your DM is playing things differently (as he/she probably should).
Also I'm happy that the DM has introduced "Yarno" as Yarno. The book spells it Iarno, and they consistently confused my players to the point that I had to type it the first time I said it, every session. =/
The fighter ended up settling on an eladrin, the neutral evil warlock who works for Vecna questioned the morality of all this, because the old woman wanted a living victim to complete the ritual. The party had a magically created tabaxi woman from some earlier nonsense and the bard helped the hag restrain and ritually murder her. The, again, evil vecna cultist said "guys, wait a minute can we ... ok you killed her, got it, this is fucked up", I had all the guides with them express an extreme amount of consternation about murder
The fighter is now back but groused a great deal about not getting his old body back and insisting the hag make him male, she told him that was impossible but she'd be happy to do it again if he found a suitable victim. He remembered that an NPC had a ring that could change your sex so he promptly stole it from the NPC under threat of violence, who is understandably upset as that's putting her into a bad state, since she's worn that thing for decades
Next time: The party's guides abandon them in the night and take the boats
The monk, warlock, and sorceress are going to have A Talk with the fighter and the bard first. To the bard's credit, she wasn't being strictly evil mcevilpants, she rolled wisdom to determine if this tabaxi was even a real person or some kind of simulacrum and got a very low roll, and the hag tried to run with that notion and made a good case - but the party's relationships are fraying which is exactly where they should be in the heart of Chult. As the situation grows desperate and they get further from civilization, they are willing to compromise more and more
Acererak is sitting in his big ol magical control room with a fit of the lich giggles
(to be clear this was all in character fighting, everyone was having a blast with lots of "are we really doing this?", the one exception is the fighter who seemed to be under the impression if he asked to be an elf he'd get his old character back EXACTLY, but he picked a different kind of elf who is female, and got upset when I said he couldn't just be a male half elf again, at least not here and now in the middle of the jungle, I reminded him people don't usually come back in this campaign and he was free to reroll... which I worry was too confrontational, but everyone ended up having a great time all told)
Have you heard about vecna's head..
...no, no absolutely not.
I mean... no. It's just... it's too powerful. It's too much power, they wouldn't be able to handle it.
The vecna cultist cut the heart out of a favored NPC, took control of her with foul magic. All's well for Vecna's girl, until the NPC got wrecked by a beholder. The warlock took off and caught up with the npc's clone (the party knew there was a huge risk bringing a teenager into chult so they got cloud backups... didn't think to do so for themselves, despite having 9000 gold left) before she could tell the party what was done, and then convinced her why it was necessary and used the disastrous battle against the beholder as evidence of why Vecna should be running this operation against Acererak, and then spilled the beans about the planned betrayal, and got a modded 28 on persuasion
I had the girl reply that as long as Vecna agreed that *none of them* would be killed, she would help him. But she wants to be a dragon again, she *needs* to be a dragon again. Vecna agreed and the deal was struck, she will help the warlock betray the party to the Yuan-Ti, and they will be turned into purebloods (herself included) - in exchange for Vecna's help to become a dragon again. Once this is done they have an unspecified task to complete for Ras Nsi, the completion of which will result in him assisting them enter and conquer the temple of the nine gods.
the rest of the party is little better with the monk being the only one who hasn't betrayed his principles (those being: punch all the things, and don't murder people), they're on course to work for bad guys to kill other bad guys at the behest of other bad guys
edit: technically the vecna warlock hasn't betrayed her principles, the party knew she was evil when they let her join
they used to have a lawful good redemption paladin. He died the day they arrived in Port Nyanzaru
Basically, she's playing a character who is a bubbly mermaid who happens to be able to control and shape water and some weather, along with being an oracle and an outcast to her own people. Cleric seemed right but ... I admit the water side felt weak and it was mostly just "lightning!"
The mermaid thing was easy as I just reskinned Triton. In water, she can morph into the tail but above land, she can turn back. Easy peasy, no issues. The rest of it just ... I could tell it wasn't gelling with her as much. On top of that, she doesn't wear armor and prefers lighter garb and doesn't use a weapon. So I started looking over sorcerer options and saw sea sorcerer and thought maybe but it just runs into the same issue ...
And then I found something that totally worked that I would have never thought about; The Mystic.
The name was perfect but when I learned it was just Psionics I kind of grew more iffy. Then I read over what it did and that the disicplines she could learn were Water, Weather, Ice, Joy, Precognition, and Aura. Basically she got to control all the elements she wanted to, with each of them actually DOING something instead of just relying on Lightning. She was able to get all of her Oracle/Mind reading stuff ... knowing how people were feeling ... just all of it. It was just the name "psionics" that had turned me away from ever looking at it before. I explained the same to her and while she too was originally turned off at the idea of psionics, when she looked over everything it did and how it checked every box off for her, she was sold.
So we just ignore the "Psionic" name and keep it a Mystic (she's a Wu Jen but we're just sticking to Mystic). I had did some online research for a few days and found initial worries that it might be too good but others saying not so much. Having had a play session with it on Saturday, I don't really feel it's any better than a wizard? So far so good but she's in love with it now and she's finally happy with her class completely which is awesome. She was the last hold over for that after the druid swapped to her class over cleric.
Anyone else have their own experiences with the Mystic and any pitfalls I'm not seeing?
We thought it was on the stronger side (ok my whole table thought it was OP), but that was mostly because all my abilities were INT saves and we were fighting idiot monsters.
I forgot what Wu Jin abilities are, bit if they are DEX/CON/WIS saves or attack rolls, it will probably play way more like a wizard/ sorcerer.
Keep in mind that after first level you are not technically restricted to the specific path you picked, so at higher levels she could take non Wu Jin things if she chose to. And for to how you can spend different amount of Psi for different variants of any given discipline, as you level up (increasing your spend maximum) you become very very versatile.
Yeah she's choosing things that go with her theme. Currently she has 3 Wu Jen Disciplines and 3 Awakened Avatar or whatever it's called. The emotional based one, heh. But yeah, it was a lot of Dex saves and the like, not many if any based on INT. She was spending up to 6 a round since thats her cap at level 7. Maybe it's just SOME of the disciplines that are problem childs but the ones she has don't feel anymore powerful than a wizard (maybe even less so). It has some self healing but it's hardly a big deal and it fits the theme.
But I didn't. I just had an outline in my head and I went with it.
Which caused me no end of anxiety!
They had to complete a puzzle, based on some information I seeded to one of them about 4 sessions back and then fight opposite aligned versions of themselves and if they were neutral they had to fight the good and evil versions (yes, totally ripped this off the nets)in their own pockets of reality. No help from their party. I told them to roleplay the encounter and then let them have at it. I monitored what they were doing and they basically fought the fight with the help of other players or I would step in when asked. They were really confused at first and then got into it. "A neutral version of myself would hang back and see what happens with the good/evil...but I'll assist the good for a bit."
One player had to fight two versions of himself and his original neutral version didn't make it. In actual fact, a horned devil was summoned in that fight and that's what ended up surviving the encounter. I let him roll a percentage dice to see which of the 4 combatants he would be playing from now on. He rolled the Lawful Good but was one percentage point from having to be RP a horned devil. We were all disappointed (and I was somewhat relieved!).
Another fight had two versions summoning water elementals and both characters getting whelmed. There was a lot of rule booking about holding breath and suffocating.
Btw, for the newbies at the table, this helped them tremendously get into the rules instead of relying on the vets at the table.
After this test, the divine being they have been hearing rumors of, appeared and gave them their long term quest and offered them something to aid in their upcoming struggles: information, items, etc
It was fun watching the players hash out what they should ask of her. A tiefling ranger simply asked of this god "a way to help"...which the goddess was thoroughly pleased to hear.
After their requests were initiated, they decided what quest threads they should run down first and decided to check on a Goblin King and tribe they had freed from being trapped under the earth. The Kings tribe had repaired some dilapidated ships the party had found in a Goonies style cavern, and sailed to an island nearby, leaving one ship behind for the party if they needed to escape.
They found the king, and were asked to act as envoys to the local towns, who have never seen goblins, tiefling, elves or anything else other than humans and at the first town they got to visit their first tavern! They cleaned up some undead bodies out of a spring flowing from an unearthed mausoleum and oh hey, found an item(a 1000 pound magical anvil) they were searching for. They did a magical display of burning off the poisoned water and the small village cheered.
Took the anvil back to the goblin king, left him with instructions to build a smithy with accommodations for the party upon their return which the king was happy to do as long as the party acted as envoy/emissaries for the new sprouting goblin community.
I was throwing up random dungeons and overland maps on our VTT and pulling down names from generators for NPC's they were dealing with. One whose name was Carlton who wore red thigh high boots and had a fishing pole as a spear. The conversation in the tavern with the various patrons and barman and piano player was sooooo much fun! The stuff I have been craving.
They now have two sisters, and a dad to rescue, find 6 magical books, travel to a demon queens castle, locate a tiefling thief with valued info, find a portal at the bottom of Firedrake Bay, locate a mysterious pirate looking for a red dragon (the dragon which might be in the rolled up painting they are carrying around in their bag of holding) and find the secret book to work the magical anvil.
They have a year.
If you're my players, don't read this! (not very long)
The whole thing is set up more or less like a Zelda puzzle. It's not a block pushing puzzle, but there are statues that mimic the party's movements, with paralysis and "conveyor belt" mechanics.
What version of the Forgotten Realms are you using?
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
The most current 5e stuff as far as I know. For my game I'm going with
Having arrived in Waterdeep via portal (long story) into a small house, the party met Halaster Blackcloak there. Mostly in tact, but sporting a ghostly arm and translucent staff. Halaster seemed miffed that he died but the city didn't seem to really notice, and demanded the party give him three things to complete the challenge and continue with their adventure/race, while also pointing out that some rainbow clothed individuals had already come through (Competitors in the race they've run into before.)
First, Halaster demanded a day of remembrance. It doesn't need to be a day of celebration, it can be a day of dread, either is fine. He also demanded the party retrieve one of his favorite toys from his spare bedroom in the Undermountain, a stuffed goldfish that he claims used to belong to Xanathar. And finally, he wants Durnan at the Yawning Portal to name an item on the menu after him. Unfortunately they don't know any Masked Lords, and they've heard Durnan has sealed the well to the Undermountain under orders of a Masked Lord.
As soon as they exited onto the streets of Waterdeep, they ran into a group of guards handing out flyers advertising that one of the Masked Lords would be hearing petitions from the townsfolk in the South Ward today. They took a flyer and fended off an attempt at extortion from the guards thanks to the warlock's fey presence ability.
The party first went to visit the minor noble family of Varsh, the party's monk. His family is a family of wizards and Varsh found himself more attracted to the magic of punching, so they aren't particularly impressed by his skills, but still told him he could use his signet ring to skip the peasants at the Masked Lord's petition. They stopped by to see a friend of Ferrodin's who runs a wizard shop in the trade district and got a letter from him, giving them the same line skipping powers and using his spare bedroom to rest.
When they arrived at the home where the Masked Lord was hearing petitioners, they skipped a huge line of peasants (earning boos and a thrown tomato) and spoke with the Masked Lord's attendant who had them fill out some paperwork with their story. On their way out, a page stopped them and said that the Masked Lord wanted to see them, having read their petitions.
They went upstairs to see the Masked Lord, wearing a simple mask, full plate armor, and sitting behind a desk covered in paperwork with a huge two handed warhammer leaning against it. They explained what was going on and the Masked Lord asked them to sign some contracts confirming that they would not share the details of this meeting with others, and work towards helping the city, rather than against it. They agreed and signed the paperwork and the Masked Lord retrieved an orb from his desk, asking them to place their hands upon it.
He explained that if they put their hands on the orb their names would be revealed (not true names) and they would be unable to tell a lie. In addition, agreements made during this would be unbreakable as if under a geas, and they would not be able to share the information with others outside the circle of influence. They agreed and placed their hands on the orb, after which the masked lord removed a gauntlet and placed his hand on as well, his mask turning translucent to reveal OMIN DRAN, CEO of Acquisitions Incorporated and Masked Lord of Waterdeep. He explained that he has been researching various magical maladies occurring in town, partially due to the rainbow clad racers that had come through already, and partially due to Halaster's increasing influence in the town.
Omin agreed to help them declare a Halaster Day and give them passage into undermountain, if they agreed to help stop these calamities and also retrieve him a special ring said to help expedite paperwork that was lost in the undermountain. The party agreed and he handed them the sigil of Acquisitions Incorporated and sent them over to Durnan in the Yawning Portal. Durnan opened the well for them, of course still charging them the customary gold piece each, and the party descended into the undermountain, hunting a magic ring and a stuffed goldfish.
Next time, they'll dungeon delve in an attempt to find Halaster's spare bedroom and retrieve those items!
We quickly healed the paladin and took out the troll. New monsters can be so much fun.
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Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar