I am starting to scrape together the skeleton of my next game
Curse of strahd:
- Players start at level 1 in Barovia, a land devoted to the Morning Lord, ruled over by King Barov. Everyone is either Barovian or is in Barovia for the wedding of Sergei and Tatyana
-The prologue will be the inevitable fall of Strahd von Zarovich in his pursuit of Tatyana. Based off of the session Chris Perkins did in pre-domain of dread Barovia
-The possibility will exist for players to cause significant changes to the events prior to the campaign, which might require an additional week of prep on my part afterwards, but for the most part things will be incredibly stacked against them. Just this once, I want things to feel a little bit bullshit, after all the dark powers want this to happen.
-Near certainty that everyone either dies in combat or is beheaded by Strahd at the end, only to awaken a century later, beneficiaries of the dark gift of resurrection by a strange individual who leaves them coughing and exhausted (5 levels in fact) in their graves without a word, just a single Tarokka card: "The Diviner" with an unmistakable picture of Madam Eva on it as their only clue as to what the hell has happened
-Characters plagued with nightmares and visions of past lives, each of them having had at least one as their souls were reborn into Barovians only for their lives to be cut brutally short
-One character will be a Vistani (going to pick a player who won't just say "oh I can leave well fuck all of you)
Already checked and my players are cool with the opening bit being railroady and everyone adores curse of strahd despite all of us having run it to completion at least once already, so this should be pretty fun
At this point I've played it, and listened to enough streams, I can do it in my sleep, it will honestly be a bit relaxing compared to my normal games which have three hundred plates in the air, most of them made out of bullshit. I might even run it online to give my wallet a break from having to provide snacks every week.
override367 on
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Tynnanseldom correct, never unsureRegistered Userregular
Another thing for ToA replacement PCs: you can ratchet up the creepiness of the Night Hags by having the replaced player wake up as an amnesiac version of themselves (being a clone/marionette created by the Hags from a piece of hair they nicked a while ago). Narrate their own description to them and see how long it takes for them to realize what's happened. Leave a few details blurry or uncanny-valley to add creep factor.
Another thing for ToA replacement PCs: you can ratchet up the creepiness of the Night Hags by having the replaced player wake up as an amnesiac version of themselves (being a clone/marionette created by the Hags from a piece of hair they nicked a while ago). Narrate their own description to them and see how long it takes for them to realize what's happened. Leave a few details blurry or uncanny-valley to add creep factor.
Oh shit I forgot about this, yeah just have them break out of a cage and run jibbering into the party. Playing a mad clone of the old character always sounds fun
also i dunno if anyone is looking for unique magic items to drag and drop into their campaign; i've been tinkering around, and figured if people want some goodies to throw into their bag to make their players feel Extra Special i'd be happy to post them
with the caveat that some of the stuff i've come up with says "fuck you, what's balance? lol" (just so no one goes WTF THIS IS OP???)
also i dunno if anyone is looking for unique magic items to drag and drop into their campaign; i've been tinkering around, and figured if people want some goodies to throw into their bag to make their players feel Extra Special i'd be happy to post them
with the caveat that some of the stuff i've come up with says "fuck you, what's balance? lol" (just so no one goes WTF THIS IS OP???)
just reposting in case there was interest
sure I'd be interested
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
I am starting to scrape together the skeleton of my next game
Curse of strahd:
- Players start at level 1 in Barovia, a land devoted to the Morning Lord, ruled over by King Barov. Everyone is either Barovian or is in Barovia for the wedding of Sergei and Tatyana
-The prologue will be the inevitable fall of Strahd von Zarovich in his pursuit of Tatyana. Based off of the session Chris Perkins did in pre-domain of dread Barovia
-The possibility will exist for players to cause significant changes to the events prior to the campaign, which might require an additional week of prep on my part afterwards, but for the most part things will be incredibly stacked against them. Just this once, I want things to feel a little bit bullshit, after all the dark powers want this to happen.
-Near certainty that everyone either dies in combat or is beheaded by Strahd at the end, only to awaken a century later, beneficiaries of the dark gift of resurrection by a strange individual who leaves them coughing and exhausted (5 levels in fact) in their graves without a word, just a single Tarokka card: "The Diviner" with an unmistakable picture of Madam Eva on it as their only clue as to what the hell has happened
-Characters plagued with nightmares and visions of past lives, each of them having had at least one as their souls were reborn into Barovians only for their lives to be cut brutally short
-One character will be a Vistani (going to pick a player who won't just say "oh I can leave well fuck all of you)
Already checked and my players are cool with the opening bit being railroady and everyone adores curse of strahd despite all of us having run it to completion at least once already, so this should be pretty fun
At this point I've played it, and listened to enough streams, I can do it in my sleep, it will honestly be a bit relaxing compared to my normal games which have three hundred plates in the air, most of them made out of bullshit. I might even run it online to give my wallet a break from having to provide snacks every week.
Just pointing out the DM should never have to buy snacks or drinks in my opinion. The Players get the honor to share snacks and drinks with the DM.
The DM can of course bring stuff too, but it should never be required of them.
also i dunno if anyone is looking for unique magic items to drag and drop into their campaign; i've been tinkering around, and figured if people want some goodies to throw into their bag to make their players feel Extra Special i'd be happy to post them
with the caveat that some of the stuff i've come up with says "fuck you, what's balance? lol" (just so no one goes WTF THIS IS OP???)
I am starting to scrape together the skeleton of my next game
Curse of strahd:
- Players start at level 1 in Barovia, a land devoted to the Morning Lord, ruled over by King Barov. Everyone is either Barovian or is in Barovia for the wedding of Sergei and Tatyana
-The prologue will be the inevitable fall of Strahd von Zarovich in his pursuit of Tatyana. Based off of the session Chris Perkins did in pre-domain of dread Barovia
-The possibility will exist for players to cause significant changes to the events prior to the campaign, which might require an additional week of prep on my part afterwards, but for the most part things will be incredibly stacked against them. Just this once, I want things to feel a little bit bullshit, after all the dark powers want this to happen.
-Near certainty that everyone either dies in combat or is beheaded by Strahd at the end, only to awaken a century later, beneficiaries of the dark gift of resurrection by a strange individual who leaves them coughing and exhausted (5 levels in fact) in their graves without a word, just a single Tarokka card: "The Diviner" with an unmistakable picture of Madam Eva on it as their only clue as to what the hell has happened
-Characters plagued with nightmares and visions of past lives, each of them having had at least one as their souls were reborn into Barovians only for their lives to be cut brutally short
-One character will be a Vistani (going to pick a player who won't just say "oh I can leave well fuck all of you)
Already checked and my players are cool with the opening bit being railroady and everyone adores curse of strahd despite all of us having run it to completion at least once already, so this should be pretty fun
At this point I've played it, and listened to enough streams, I can do it in my sleep, it will honestly be a bit relaxing compared to my normal games which have three hundred plates in the air, most of them made out of bullshit. I might even run it online to give my wallet a break from having to provide snacks every week.
Just pointing out the DM should never have to buy snacks or drinks in my opinion. The Players get the honor to share snacks and drinks with the DM.
The DM can of course bring stuff too, but it should never be required of them.
I bring sodie pop to my friends’ games. Also when a new DM that’s a bit of a nervous guy brought in pizza for the first session we assured him that he didn’t have to do that for us to come and play. I don’t want to cause that kind of anxiety in others.
like, one is disabled but can't find a doctor that isn't a sexist prick to actually get disability despite absolutely not faking it and being unable to walk, one is a transwoman who works at a fast food place and is still trying to transition, one is on disability from a car accident, one works at a factory for just above minimum wage(and he covers his own food), and my roommate and I both work in IT and we more or less split the hosting cost for food each week
we don't HAVE TO, but ... I've been there. I can afford to spring for food so I do. It's not like I'm spending a bunch of money partying or anything
they always pitch in when they have money, that's not to say it wasn't cheaper for me when we played online, but I cant eat snacks in front of them without sharing
I usually cook dinner or make dessert, and our friends will do the one of those that I didn't do. It's a good system except for me slowly getting fatter as the campaign goes on.
yeah my group cooks something every week and we kinda spread the cost around
anyway: magic items
these are the paired swords for my ranger; they are ridiculously powerful. he got one by clearing out his elfy Stronghold and the other he basically sacrificed his character to get (by agreeing to a blood pact with his fey mum to rule the elf land so she can retire in a year and a day)
they're basically meant to represent Sehanine and Corellon in my setting
Caethrung, the Shadow Cast by Moonlight
[Weapon][Legendary][Requires attunement by an elf of good alignment][Awakened]
Melee weapon (sword, martial)
Damage: 1d8
Damage type: Slashing
Properties: Finesse, versatile (1d10 if used two-handed)
This silver inlaid sword is curved with a slight basket hilt and seems to glint in the darkness, its blade casting an ever-so-faint glow reminiscent of moonlight. As the blade tapers the steel fades to darkness, save for the edge, like a sliver of a crescent moon.
While attuned:
* You gain +2 to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. When you hit a target with this blade it deals 2d12 radiant damage.
* You may cast the following spells once per day at their minimum level: blur, invisibility, darkness. If you possess spell slots you may expend one of them to cast these spells as if they belonged to your class.
* If you are attuned to its sister blade, Ael'thyr, you gain +2 to your Charisma, Dexterity and Intelligence.
Ael'thyr, First Light of Morning
[Weapon][Legendary][Requires attunement by an elf of good alignment][Awakened]
Melee weapon (sword, martial)
Damage: 1d8
Damage type: Slashing
Properties: Finesse, versatile (1d10 if used two-handed)
This electrum inlaid sword is curved with a slight basket hilt and seems to bend light around it, its blade drawing the eye like a gold piece in a riverbed. As the blade tapers the air around it ripples with heat.
While attuned:
* You gain +2 to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. When you hit a target with this blade it deals 1d12 fire damage. If the target is undead or orc-kin it deals an additional 1d12 fire damage.
* You may cast the following spells once each per day at their minimum level: heroism, beacon of hope, dawn. If you possess spell slots you may expend one of them to cast these spells as if they belonged to your class.
* If you are attuned to its sister blade, Caethrung, you also may cast sunbeam once per day at minimum level. If you possess spell slots you may expend one of them to cast this spell as if it belonged to your class. You also gain +2 to your Strength, Wisdom and Constitution.
the next one is a set of three items for my monk, since the Monk really doesn't get any cool gear in 5e, i wanted to experiment with a group of items that would expand and make his monk abilities more versatile/powerful (with some cheeky inspiration besides)
The Wraps of Shenlong
[Historical Artifact][Hands][Requires attunement by a monk]
"Don't fight for victory--fight to improve yourself. Victory will come."
Crafted in the First Era by the legendary monk Shenlong, the Wraps of Shenlong were used to defeat his greatest student, Gouki, after falling under the sway of a dark power whose name is lost to time.
When attuned your ki pool is increased by 1 and you gain the Spirit Fist ability.
Spirit Fist
You thrust your palm forward, manifesting your channeled ki as a blast of azure fire to strike your foe.
This special attack is a ranged spell attack with a range of 30 feet. You are proficient with it, and you add both your Dexterity and Wisdom modifiers to its attack and damage rolls. Its damage is Radiant and the damage die is d4, changing as you gain monk levels as shown in the Martial Arts column of the Monk table.
When you gain the extra attack feature, this special attack can be used for any of the attacks you make as part of the attack action.
If you are attuned to Sahasrara you gain the following benefit:
Your martial arts die increases by one step (up to a maximum of 1d12).
If you are attuned to the Five Dragon Sash you gain the following benefit:
Step of the Wind becomes Form of the Zephyr Dragon.
Form of the Zephyr Dragon
In addition to all of the benefits of Step of the Wind you may spend 2 ki points to also gain a flight speed equal to your movement speed as long as you begin and end your movement on a solid surface. This benefit lasts until the beginning of your next turn.
Sahasrara
[Historical Artifact][Head][Requires Attunement by a monk]
A silver string of beads with an amethyst at its center positioned at the bridge of the nose between the eyes.
Crafted in the First Era by the legendary monk Shenlong, Sahasrara was used to identify the evil in his student that was hidden from his mortal eyes.
While attuned you gain the ability to activate true seeing on yourself and interact with objects and creatures on the Ethereal Plane. This places a great deal of strain on the body; once the spell ends, you take two points of exhaustion.
While attuned to the Wraps of Shenlong you gain the following benefit:
You gain the ability Specter-Banishment Prana.
Specter-Banishment Prana
Spend a ki point to emit a 15 foot cone that deals 3d10 Force damage, half on a failed save. The save is Constitution-based and the DC is equal to your Ki save DC (8 + prof bonus + Wis mod). Incorporeal creatures have vulnerability against this damage.
While attuned to the Five Dragon Sash you gain the following benefit:
Wholeness of Body becomes the ability Blood of the Jade Dragon.
Blood of the Jade Dragon
As an action you can channel your inner reserves directly into restorative energy. For each ki point you spend you regain hit points equal to half your monk level, rounded up.
The Five Dragon Sash
[Historical Artifact][Belt][Requires Attunement by a Monk]
Created as a means to protect himself from the poisonous power his disciple now wielded, Shenlong was said to be all but invincible while wearing the Five Dragon Sash.
While attuned to the Five Dragon Sash you gain the following benefits:
* You are immune to critical hits.
* Stillness of Mind now costs a bonus action instead of an action.
While attuned to Sahasrara you gain the following benefit:
Attacks against you from incorporeal entities have disadvantage as long as you can see them.
While attuned to the Wraps of Shenlong you gain the following benefit:
You gain resistance to necrotic and radiant damage.
an item my players don't know what do yet, and might never (since it was the Quest Item for the tomb they were just in and the npc spellcaster called dibs):
The Eye of Uhai Qatyr
[Unique][Amulet][Requires attunement by a spellcaster]
The amulet is a simple golden torc in the shape of a stylized eye with a multifaceted gem in the center that seems to subtly shift hues in the light.
While attuned and when you have unused spell slots or mana (spell points) you gain the following benefits:
* You have resistance to Cold, Fire, and Lightning damage.
* When you cast a spell of 1st level or higher that deals Cold, Fire, or Lightning damage you grant all allies within 20 feet resistance to Cold, Fire and Lightning damage until the beginning of your next turn.
While attuned and when you have no unused spell slots you gain the following benefits:
* You regain a 1st level spell slot (or equivalent mana points) on a short rest.
* When you are targeted by a spell by an enemy you regain a number of spell levels (or spell points) equivalent to the level of spell cast. (For example, if you were hit by a 3rd level fireball you could regain 3 1st level spell slots, a 2nd and a 1st, or a 3rd.) You cannot regain slots you do not possess naturally. If you use spell points you gain the value of the spell regardless of level.
my wizard's staff, based loosely around the fire staff
The Staff of Embers
[Staff / Arcane Focus][Requires Attunement by a Wizard][Rare]
A long wooden staff with a slightly crooked angle. Cracks run up and down its length and it smells faintly of wood smoke.
If you are not attuned to this weapon, you take 1d6 fire damage upon touching it. If you continue the attunement, it confers the following benefits:
* You have resistance to fire damage.
* If you do not already know the Fire Bolt cantrip you are able to cast it from this staff.
If you already know it, replace it with the cantrip Fire Blast:
Fire Blast
Evocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
You splash a gout of flame at a creature or object within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 fire damage. A flammable object hit by this spell ignites if it isn’t being worn or carried. On a miss the target takes damage equal to your Intelligence modifier. This spell’s damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).
In addition, the weapon contains 5 charges. You may spend a number of charges to cast the following spells using your spell save DC:
The weapon regains 1d4+1 charges at dawn and can hold a maximum of 5 charges total. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1 the staff blackens and crumbles into cinders, destroyed.
the shield i gave my cleric before he departed the group:
Succor
[Armor / Shield][Very Rare]
The shield's surface features a golden starburst, polished to a burnished mirror shine that seems to take in the light around it and reflect it, gladdening the spirit and lightening your burdens.
If you are a good creature you gain a +2 bonus to AC while holding it. This bonus is in addition to the shield's normal bonus to AC. Nongood creatures take a -2 penalty to AC.
If you are subject to a critical hit while holding the shield every ally (including yourself) within 60 feet may spend 1 hit die immediately.
Once per day you may cast daylight.
my party are Big Wigs now so they're getting items that sort of define them and have some kind of importance to them; i also tell my folks that i may nerf or change these custom items at any time, but so far the only one i've had to nerf is the monk's wraps; i used to allow it to be used as a part of flurry and it was just a leeeeeetle too much
For my core group, everyone brings assorted munchies and beer and weed as desired for the weekend and we usually have a pretty epic two day meal planned. One of my group is a sous-chef who gets good stuff at cost from the restaurant, another one is a former cook, I'm a pretty decent home cook. We do pretty good. This past bender we had pork belly confied in duck fat, sliced into thick bacon slabs. We also had those small potatoes, sliced in half and baked with the trimmed cuttings from the pork belly, sauteed onions and garlic and just a titch too much salt. It was fucking epic.
My Dungeon Dads group also has munchies about and we have a rotating schedule of who's buying dinner that day. 90% of the time its pizza. I think this week we're doing samosa and pakora. Which is great and tasty, but I am South Asian by heritage and I don't have the heart to tell these well-meaning white dudes that samosa and pakora are appetizers and not an actual meal.
mariliths should be able to fly around like helicopters
That would teach a lesson to those smartass PCs that think they can just cast Fly to stay out of reach of an ostensibly melee-only enemy, that's for sure.
mariliths should be able to fly around like helicopters
That would teach a lesson to those smartass PCs that think they can just cast Fly to stay out of reach of an ostensibly melee-only enemy, that's for sure.
queue up a chipper shredder sound effect
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MrVyngaardLive From New EtoileStraight Outta SosariaRegistered Userregular
It's a good system except for me slowly getting fatter as the campaign goes on.
Working as intended. The tradition of players bringing food for the DM is another way of saying "captive narrator".
Occasionally my players might let me out of my cage or walk around a bit, but we all know who's in control here.
I'm fine with this.
MrVyngaard on
"now I've got this mental image of caucuses as cafeteria tables in prison, and new congressmen having to beat someone up on inauguration day." - Raiden333
So when our CoS game wrapped we took a break but knew we wanted to return to the characters. When we came back to it the characters exited the mists to find themselves in a kickstarter/home brew setting and not Faerun.
After a few sessions in this setting our DM had us create a new party of 3rd level characters. Both groups are adventuring in this world at the same time. The joke is he new group (lvl 4) are actively avoiding the old group (lvl 14) because the old group are a bunch of jerks.
So when our CoS game wrapped we took a break but knew we wanted to return to the characters. When we came back to it the characters exited the mists to find themselves in a kickstarter/home brew setting and not Faerun.
After a few sessions in this setting our DM had us create a new party of 3rd level characters. Both groups are adventuring in this world at the same time. The joke is he new group (lvl 4) are actively avoiding the old group (lvl 14) because the old group are a bunch of jerks.
It is a running joke for me that whenever I create a new character in the same universe as another one, if they know each other, they always actively dislike each other. It started as wanting a reason why I wouldn't call up the higher level one for help, but it's become tradition.
The game Solasta: crown of the magister has a free demo on steam
It's "pre alpha" and this shocks me because of how polished it is, it's got a few bugs (eg: the bless spell doesn't work), some jankiness in places, and it doesn't call itself D&D anywhere but
Edit: REALLY REALLY LIKE THE UI. The dialog UI is great. When its your turn to talk it drops you out to a view of your party with each persons proposed dialogue(unfortunately not as perfect as i would like) in front of them so you can see who says what and when
I could have sworn the SRD specifically did NOT allow video games. It's questionable how much of that (as a rule system) really enjoys IP protections though. Either way I hope they have a deal in place or a budget line for "Lawyer".
I could have sworn the SRD specifically did NOT allow video games. It's questionable how much of that (as a rule system) really enjoys IP protections though. Either way I hope they have a deal in place or a budget line for "Lawyer".
Doesn't appear to have anything specific with regards to video games. Just that you cannot use any of the wizards copyrighted stuff, non SRD stuff etc.
Is anyone here familiar with Dishonored? How would one go about making a teleporting melee combatant in 5E?
Eladrin get to fey step, shadow monks get to teleport in the dark, warlocks have access to teleportation spells...
I absolutely absorbed Dishonored 1 (and got to some mild Tumblr-fame by posting screenshots of all 2D artwork found in the game). If you want to allow for that kind of combatant in a regular DnD setting you are probably looking at an arcane trickster rogue as you could do the magic tricks the Outsider teaches you in a way:
If you want them to sneak around cities, I'd advice to swap out one spell slot for 2nd Story Work from the thief-archetype as that would fit in nicely with the way you navigate the city in Dishonored.
Looking over the tables of how many spells and spellslots the Arcane Trickster gets I feel disappointed, as the charm of Dishonored was that you could blast spell after spell after spell with little downtime. That doesn't work in DnD, where spells are a lot rarer than that.
Instead: become Rogue-Thief, and bestow upon them an item that lets them teleport over very small distances and that recharges often enough for it to become a big part of the way they treat combat and stealth encounters. It will be a bit jank and if everyone else is just going for suboptimal builds you risk creating a Viari in a ballroom full of chandeliers. The item should obviously come from a DnD version of The Outsider, so you could combine it with some themes usually tied to the Warlock class.
I dunno, I treat DnD very differently from you, so I'm not going to tell you my idea is a great one for your table.
I actually meant how would I build a character like that myself. I know Shadow Monks get a short range teleport in dim light or darkness, Warlocks have access to teleportation spells, Eladrin get Fey Step. A Warlock/Monk doesn't sound like it would synergize well, though.
I actually meant how would I build a character like that myself. I know Shadow Monks get a short range teleport in dim light or darkness, Warlocks have access to teleportation spells, Eladrin get Fey Step. A Warlock/Monk doesn't sound like it would synergize well, though.
Pact of the Blade and Hexblade. Can't be an unarmed monk (except for kicks) but monk wespkbs are a thing.
Warlock does get the fewest spell slots of any caster though.
Posts
"It was a thinky shark, I could tell by the taste."
Curse of strahd:
- Players start at level 1 in Barovia, a land devoted to the Morning Lord, ruled over by King Barov. Everyone is either Barovian or is in Barovia for the wedding of Sergei and Tatyana
-The prologue will be the inevitable fall of Strahd von Zarovich in his pursuit of Tatyana. Based off of the session Chris Perkins did in pre-domain of dread Barovia
-The possibility will exist for players to cause significant changes to the events prior to the campaign, which might require an additional week of prep on my part afterwards, but for the most part things will be incredibly stacked against them. Just this once, I want things to feel a little bit bullshit, after all the dark powers want this to happen.
-Near certainty that everyone either dies in combat or is beheaded by Strahd at the end, only to awaken a century later, beneficiaries of the dark gift of resurrection by a strange individual who leaves them coughing and exhausted (5 levels in fact) in their graves without a word, just a single Tarokka card: "The Diviner" with an unmistakable picture of Madam Eva on it as their only clue as to what the hell has happened
-Characters plagued with nightmares and visions of past lives, each of them having had at least one as their souls were reborn into Barovians only for their lives to be cut brutally short
-One character will be a Vistani (going to pick a player who won't just say "oh I can leave well fuck all of you)
Already checked and my players are cool with the opening bit being railroady and everyone adores curse of strahd despite all of us having run it to completion at least once already, so this should be pretty fun
At this point I've played it, and listened to enough streams, I can do it in my sleep, it will honestly be a bit relaxing compared to my normal games which have three hundred plates in the air, most of them made out of bullshit. I might even run it online to give my wallet a break from having to provide snacks every week.
Oh shit I forgot about this, yeah just have them break out of a cage and run jibbering into the party. Playing a mad clone of the old character always sounds fun
just reposting in case there was interest
sure I'd be interested
Just pointing out the DM should never have to buy snacks or drinks in my opinion. The Players get the honor to share snacks and drinks with the DM.
The DM can of course bring stuff too, but it should never be required of them.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
I am interested!
I bring sodie pop to my friends’ games. Also when a new DM that’s a bit of a nervous guy brought in pizza for the first session we assured him that he didn’t have to do that for us to come and play. I don’t want to cause that kind of anxiety in others.
like, one is disabled but can't find a doctor that isn't a sexist prick to actually get disability despite absolutely not faking it and being unable to walk, one is a transwoman who works at a fast food place and is still trying to transition, one is on disability from a car accident, one works at a factory for just above minimum wage(and he covers his own food), and my roommate and I both work in IT and we more or less split the hosting cost for food each week
we don't HAVE TO, but ... I've been there. I can afford to spring for food so I do. It's not like I'm spending a bunch of money partying or anything
they always pitch in when they have money, that's not to say it wasn't cheaper for me when we played online, but I cant eat snacks in front of them without sharing
anyway: magic items
these are the paired swords for my ranger; they are ridiculously powerful. he got one by clearing out his elfy Stronghold and the other he basically sacrificed his character to get (by agreeing to a blood pact with his fey mum to rule the elf land so she can retire in a year and a day)
they're basically meant to represent Sehanine and Corellon in my setting
[Weapon][Legendary][Requires attunement by an elf of good alignment][Awakened]
Melee weapon (sword, martial)
Damage: 1d8
Damage type: Slashing
Properties: Finesse, versatile (1d10 if used two-handed)
This silver inlaid sword is curved with a slight basket hilt and seems to glint in the darkness, its blade casting an ever-so-faint glow reminiscent of moonlight. As the blade tapers the steel fades to darkness, save for the edge, like a sliver of a crescent moon.
While attuned:
* You gain +2 to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. When you hit a target with this blade it deals 2d12 radiant damage.
* You may cast the following spells once per day at their minimum level: blur, invisibility, darkness. If you possess spell slots you may expend one of them to cast these spells as if they belonged to your class.
* If you are attuned to its sister blade, Ael'thyr, you gain +2 to your Charisma, Dexterity and Intelligence.
Ael'thyr, First Light of Morning
[Weapon][Legendary][Requires attunement by an elf of good alignment][Awakened]
Melee weapon (sword, martial)
Damage: 1d8
Damage type: Slashing
Properties: Finesse, versatile (1d10 if used two-handed)
This electrum inlaid sword is curved with a slight basket hilt and seems to bend light around it, its blade drawing the eye like a gold piece in a riverbed. As the blade tapers the air around it ripples with heat.
While attuned:
* You gain +2 to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. When you hit a target with this blade it deals 1d12 fire damage. If the target is undead or orc-kin it deals an additional 1d12 fire damage.
* You may cast the following spells once each per day at their minimum level: heroism, beacon of hope, dawn. If you possess spell slots you may expend one of them to cast these spells as if they belonged to your class.
* If you are attuned to its sister blade, Caethrung, you also may cast sunbeam once per day at minimum level. If you possess spell slots you may expend one of them to cast this spell as if it belonged to your class. You also gain +2 to your Strength, Wisdom and Constitution.
the next one is a set of three items for my monk, since the Monk really doesn't get any cool gear in 5e, i wanted to experiment with a group of items that would expand and make his monk abilities more versatile/powerful (with some cheeky inspiration besides)
[Historical Artifact][Hands][Requires attunement by a monk]
"Don't fight for victory--fight to improve yourself. Victory will come."
Crafted in the First Era by the legendary monk Shenlong, the Wraps of Shenlong were used to defeat his greatest student, Gouki, after falling under the sway of a dark power whose name is lost to time.
When attuned your ki pool is increased by 1 and you gain the Spirit Fist ability.
Spirit Fist
You thrust your palm forward, manifesting your channeled ki as a blast of azure fire to strike your foe.
This special attack is a ranged spell attack with a range of 30 feet. You are proficient with it, and you add both your Dexterity and Wisdom modifiers to its attack and damage rolls. Its damage is Radiant and the damage die is d4, changing as you gain monk levels as shown in the Martial Arts column of the Monk table.
When you gain the extra attack feature, this special attack can be used for any of the attacks you make as part of the attack action.
If you are attuned to Sahasrara you gain the following benefit:
Your martial arts die increases by one step (up to a maximum of 1d12).
If you are attuned to the Five Dragon Sash you gain the following benefit:
Step of the Wind becomes Form of the Zephyr Dragon.
Form of the Zephyr Dragon
In addition to all of the benefits of Step of the Wind you may spend 2 ki points to also gain a flight speed equal to your movement speed as long as you begin and end your movement on a solid surface. This benefit lasts until the beginning of your next turn.
[Historical Artifact][Head][Requires Attunement by a monk]
A silver string of beads with an amethyst at its center positioned at the bridge of the nose between the eyes.
Crafted in the First Era by the legendary monk Shenlong, Sahasrara was used to identify the evil in his student that was hidden from his mortal eyes.
While attuned you gain the ability to activate true seeing on yourself and interact with objects and creatures on the Ethereal Plane. This places a great deal of strain on the body; once the spell ends, you take two points of exhaustion.
While attuned to the Wraps of Shenlong you gain the following benefit:
You gain the ability Specter-Banishment Prana.
Specter-Banishment Prana
Spend a ki point to emit a 15 foot cone that deals 3d10 Force damage, half on a failed save. The save is Constitution-based and the DC is equal to your Ki save DC (8 + prof bonus + Wis mod). Incorporeal creatures have vulnerability against this damage.
While attuned to the Five Dragon Sash you gain the following benefit:
Wholeness of Body becomes the ability Blood of the Jade Dragon.
Blood of the Jade Dragon
As an action you can channel your inner reserves directly into restorative energy. For each ki point you spend you regain hit points equal to half your monk level, rounded up.
[Historical Artifact][Belt][Requires Attunement by a Monk]
Created as a means to protect himself from the poisonous power his disciple now wielded, Shenlong was said to be all but invincible while wearing the Five Dragon Sash.
While attuned to the Five Dragon Sash you gain the following benefits:
* You are immune to critical hits.
* Stillness of Mind now costs a bonus action instead of an action.
While attuned to Sahasrara you gain the following benefit:
Attacks against you from incorporeal entities have disadvantage as long as you can see them.
While attuned to the Wraps of Shenlong you gain the following benefit:
You gain resistance to necrotic and radiant damage.
an item my players don't know what do yet, and might never (since it was the Quest Item for the tomb they were just in and the npc spellcaster called dibs):
[Unique][Amulet][Requires attunement by a spellcaster]
The amulet is a simple golden torc in the shape of a stylized eye with a multifaceted gem in the center that seems to subtly shift hues in the light.
While attuned and when you have unused spell slots or mana (spell points) you gain the following benefits:
* You have resistance to Cold, Fire, and Lightning damage.
* When you cast a spell of 1st level or higher that deals Cold, Fire, or Lightning damage you grant all allies within 20 feet resistance to Cold, Fire and Lightning damage until the beginning of your next turn.
While attuned and when you have no unused spell slots you gain the following benefits:
* You regain a 1st level spell slot (or equivalent mana points) on a short rest.
* When you are targeted by a spell by an enemy you regain a number of spell levels (or spell points) equivalent to the level of spell cast. (For example, if you were hit by a 3rd level fireball you could regain 3 1st level spell slots, a 2nd and a 1st, or a 3rd.) You cannot regain slots you do not possess naturally. If you use spell points you gain the value of the spell regardless of level.
my wizard's staff, based loosely around the fire staff
[Staff / Arcane Focus][Requires Attunement by a Wizard][Rare]
A long wooden staff with a slightly crooked angle. Cracks run up and down its length and it smells faintly of wood smoke.
If you are not attuned to this weapon, you take 1d6 fire damage upon touching it. If you continue the attunement, it confers the following benefits:
* You have resistance to fire damage.
* If you do not already know the Fire Bolt cantrip you are able to cast it from this staff.
If you already know it, replace it with the cantrip Fire Blast:
Fire Blast
Evocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
You splash a gout of flame at a creature or object within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 fire damage. A flammable object hit by this spell ignites if it isn’t being worn or carried. On a miss the target takes damage equal to your Intelligence modifier. This spell’s damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).
In addition, the weapon contains 5 charges. You may spend a number of charges to cast the following spells using your spell save DC:
1 charge: burning hands
2 charges: hellish rebuke
3 charges: scorching ray
The weapon regains 1d4+1 charges at dawn and can hold a maximum of 5 charges total. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1 the staff blackens and crumbles into cinders, destroyed.
the shield i gave my cleric before he departed the group:
[Armor / Shield][Very Rare]
The shield's surface features a golden starburst, polished to a burnished mirror shine that seems to take in the light around it and reflect it, gladdening the spirit and lightening your burdens.
If you are a good creature you gain a +2 bonus to AC while holding it. This bonus is in addition to the shield's normal bonus to AC. Nongood creatures take a -2 penalty to AC.
If you are subject to a critical hit while holding the shield every ally (including yourself) within 60 feet may spend 1 hit die immediately.
Once per day you may cast daylight.
my party are Big Wigs now so they're getting items that sort of define them and have some kind of importance to them; i also tell my folks that i may nerf or change these custom items at any time, but so far the only one i've had to nerf is the monk's wraps; i used to allow it to be used as a part of flurry and it was just a leeeeeetle too much
My Dungeon Dads group also has munchies about and we have a rotating schedule of who's buying dinner that day. 90% of the time its pizza. I think this week we're doing samosa and pakora. Which is great and tasty, but I am South Asian by heritage and I don't have the heart to tell these well-meaning white dudes that samosa and pakora are appetizers and not an actual meal.
A giant marilith that wields 6 mariliths
Standing on four elephants, all riding on the back of a great turtle
That would teach a lesson to those smartass PCs that think they can just cast Fly to stay out of reach of an ostensibly melee-only enemy, that's for sure.
queue up a chipper shredder sound effect
Working as intended. The tradition of players bringing food for the DM is another way of saying "captive narrator".
Occasionally my players might let me out of my cage or walk around a bit, but we all know who's in control here.
I'm fine with this.
After a few sessions in this setting our DM had us create a new party of 3rd level characters. Both groups are adventuring in this world at the same time. The joke is he new group (lvl 4) are actively avoiding the old group (lvl 14) because the old group are a bunch of jerks.
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It is a running joke for me that whenever I create a new character in the same universe as another one, if they know each other, they always actively dislike each other. It started as wanting a reason why I wouldn't call up the higher level one for help, but it's become tradition.
It's "pre alpha" and this shocks me because of how polished it is, it's got a few bugs (eg: the bless spell doesn't work), some jankiness in places, and it doesn't call itself D&D anywhere but
I mean
I did a little video rq
it might be D&D?
Yep, it's D&D
*throws money at kickstarter*
First impressions is i REALLY like the UI
Edit: REALLY REALLY LIKE THE UI. The dialog UI is great. When its your turn to talk it drops you out to a view of your party with each persons proposed dialogue(unfortunately not as perfect as i would like) in front of them so you can see who says what and when
Eladrin get to fey step, shadow monks get to teleport in the dark, warlocks have access to teleportation spells...
Doesn't appear to have anything specific with regards to video games. Just that you cannot use any of the wizards copyrighted stuff, non SRD stuff etc.
edit: https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/DND/SRD-OGL_V5.1.pdf
OGL stuff is at the top
I absolutely absorbed Dishonored 1 (and got to some mild Tumblr-fame by posting screenshots of all 2D artwork found in the game). If you want to allow for that kind of combatant in a regular DnD setting you are probably looking at an arcane trickster rogue as you could do the magic tricks the Outsider teaches you in a way:
If you want them to sneak around cities, I'd advice to swap out one spell slot for 2nd Story Work from the thief-archetype as that would fit in nicely with the way you navigate the city in Dishonored.
Looking over the tables of how many spells and spellslots the Arcane Trickster gets I feel disappointed, as the charm of Dishonored was that you could blast spell after spell after spell with little downtime. That doesn't work in DnD, where spells are a lot rarer than that.
Instead: become Rogue-Thief, and bestow upon them an item that lets them teleport over very small distances and that recharges often enough for it to become a big part of the way they treat combat and stealth encounters. It will be a bit jank and if everyone else is just going for suboptimal builds you risk creating a Viari in a ballroom full of chandeliers. The item should obviously come from a DnD version of The Outsider, so you could combine it with some themes usually tied to the Warlock class.
I dunno, I treat DnD very differently from you, so I'm not going to tell you my idea is a great one for your table.
Pact of the Blade and Hexblade. Can't be an unarmed monk (except for kicks) but monk wespkbs are a thing.
Warlock does get the fewest spell slots of any caster though.
On the other hand Eldritch Blast.
hex and flurry have a weird synergy. The character is weird but effective.
Don't fuck me and make it real time Larian, we got this kickstarter game showing that turn based works just fine
I have a 4th level Shadow Monk right now and I'm considering a Warlock dip just to get the ability to see in magical darkness.
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Get 5th level monk and 2 attacks first
Hex is valuable in the build after that cause it paired with flurry means you're aiming to get 4d6 out of hex on your turn regularly.
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Yeah mixing in the hexblade warlock after that is oddly workable. Pass without trace is also a dope shadow ninja move.
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