Thought I'd share this little puzzle/event my DM did recently, it was very cool.
My warlock patron, a solar in the service of Amaunator, god of the sun and laws as written, appeared, and instead of speaking, large strips of paper flew out of his mouth and settled on the ground. At this point the DM spread out a bunch of index cards with the following (or something pretty close) printed on them. Each card had two rows.
[REW
ARD]
[PRE
APP]
[ROVED
]
[CHOOSE
ONE]
[POW
ER]
[WEA
LTH]
[WIS
DOM]
[LONG
EVITY]
(there were a couple more rewards listed as well I don't remember, I think there were six or seven all told)
Once we had figured out the first part of the message, the papers rearranged themselves, and he told each party member to choose a reward. Surprisingly (or maybe not given the people involved) I was the only one who chose Power. We could either choose a magic item or a feat that corresponded to what we chose. He told me after the session that he was always planning to let people get a feat at character creation, but figured he'd put it later in the campaign as a cool event.
Onomancy is potentially off the chain bonkers. Devastation is really good, and Sympathy can be extremely useful if the DM is the type to strictly enforce targeting rules. Not to mention 5 free uses of Bless at 20 INT!
Onomancy is potentially off the chain bonkers. Devastation is really good, and Sympathy can be extremely useful if the DM is the type to strictly enforce targeting rules. Not to mention 5 free uses of Bless at 20 INT!
It's almost entirely up to the DM. Ostensibly in a world where onomancy is common giving away your real name would be uncommon, probably even viewed as unlucky. Everyone likely goes by a menagerie of nick names and aliases so as to subvert these benefits. Basically you can DM fiat this into being way less terrible. This in a setting where everyone's just giving away their true name like is insanity. Basically you're supposed to make it so they regularly bonus action, grab someone's true name (and have them charmed for a round btw) and then use their abilities on a stat limited number of people. It's a very DM attention heavy class.
There is a wall of anger and drama I'm putting here for no reason, spoilering it, its related to the druid I kicked out of my game for (and this will be funny if you read what he says here) driving me up a fucking wall trying to make my game all about him, and armchair DMing
So I went on a date with my salt marsh DM, we realized it wasn't going to work, but we enjoyed the evening. It got to the game and she started talking about her next campaign.
I broke it to her that I don't think we're going to play it, it doesn't sound up our alley. She wanted to know why and I raised some other player's concerns about her current game, one of which being, she is ignoring major quests in the book because she wants to do homebrew that isn't clicking with many of us.
Fast forward to 2 days ago, she's apparently been just furious - seething even, and I didn't know. I ask her for some critique on homebrew for my game, a game she's not in, she gives it, I listen, i change it, I thank her. She starts asking why my game isn't run close to the book (storm king's thunder), I said well we did a main quest on sunday but yeah, I'm not even running it in the forgotten realms, I'm running it in a different world and it has tons of homebrew. She tells me that I'm "dragging people to things they don't want to do" and I said "well I'm annoyed they didn't tell me about it, Ill have to talk to them". She says "yeah it's shit when people won't tell you how they feel and make someone tell you for them".
I replied "actually they planned to talk to you on saturday but you were sick, so they were going to the next session". Long story short this quickly devolved into a complete explosion of a billion grievances on her part. I definitely lost my temper because, what the fuck, and tried to end the argument by saying "hey lets just chill out and well talk about it in person, this isn't working over text, we're just circling the drain here". She posts how she doesn't want to run games with us anymore, or play in games hosted by any of us anymore in the group chat. Player who likes her game the least posts "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to metagame, I was just trying to help you, I didn't realize you were doing things different than the book. I thought you missed something and I was careful to not let the players know what i was talking about. Can we talk about this in person".
Other player posts, her life is basically exploding right now and she says "hey can everyone cut this the fuck out and just shut up and well meet up on saturday for lunch and talk this out". Cool. Nothing happens for 2 days
Tonight, the Problem Druid that I kicked out of my game shows up and starts posting about How One Should Never Question The Dungeon Master. He posts about how we're all ruining DM's life and we're shit players and we're slaves to the book, he posted it in nicer language, but that was the gist. I deleted his post, since im an admin, and said "Dan you don't know what you're talking about, you weren't there, you don't have context for the events you're describing, you aren't a part of that game and for that reason I'm deleting your post"
He comes back with:
"Players should play and DMs should run. Without the constraints of books to hinder having a good time. Or having to ask how to run a game. I had everything brought to my attention, so I do know what’s happening. Deleting what I posted just solidified what I’m saying. You are all so caught up on what a book says, that you are forgetting the point of playing the games in the first place."
I then get a text that he's actually over at their house (3 of the players in our group live together) and talking to DM.
I write a VERY angry post, I've had an 11 hour work day and I was done with his shit over a month ago, I then delete my own post and write :You know what it's not worth it.
Other player shows up, bans him from that channel and says "Hey dan you're not in this game so kindly go away, it's a tense situation and you're causing shit". He quickly posts in the General chat "see you later small minds, you banning me proves I'm right" and then he removes himself from the chat and blocks all of us. I see DM block all of us. I PM DM and she doesn't reply. I text her and ask if we're still on for Sat and she doesn't reply. Other players are like "Wtf m8"
Motherfucker isn't even in any of our games and he's still fucking sabotaging shit, I am so absolutely fucking livid
Good god, none of us even dislike her game! I said as much in my PM "Since this apparently can't wait until Saturday, none of us have your game, for christ's sake I've had 3 commissions of my character from the game, and I 3d printed and painted a mini of my character. I wouldn't do that if I wasn't having a blast. I don't appreciate you recruiting Dan, I'm going to put this entire chat on mute for my own sanity for a bit. If you don't hate me, we can talk on Saturday."
I hate this problem player. I'm trying to deescalate a situation and this guy seems to have made it his life's mission to annihilate our friend group
override367 on
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
The worst part is this is largely bad-sitcom levels of miscommunication, made increasingly bad by bad faith actors who consider themselves The Best Most Informed DM Ever To Grace D&D Because I Met Gygax You Guys who legitimately has no idea what he's talking about
To be clear: I'm talking about the 60 year old tattoo artist guy who keeps inserting himself into my life and not my friend, who I hope isn't hurt because I told her it wouldn't work between us romantically.
Actually shit I'd rather it be that, I can understand that. Her reaction to this tells me it's a good decision to not join her next game. She is taking it WAY too personally - although I'm 100% positive this guy is inflaming it as best as he can just like I'm POSITIVE he was behind the whole ingame rape misunderstanding
i actually ended up bringing my campaign to a close two weeks ago due to some unfortunate personal circumstances as well, having games implode due to other people _sucks_
i actually ended up bringing my campaign to a close two weeks ago due to some unfortunate personal circumstances as well, having games implode due to other people _sucks_
well I mean, I'm just going to run it, or one of the other guys will. That's the thing, I know from her ... long message... the other day, that she resents that we "made her run salt marsh"
Thing was, we said "hey lets vote on what we play next" and 4 out of 6 people said SALTMARSH!, and she said I WANT TO DM. We have no shortage of DMs! We've all been having fun, even the most disgruntled player isn't "quit the game" disgruntled. He didnt want to tell the DM any of his concerns because he was worried she'd get upset - apparently that's justified.
I would prefer her to just keep running it, we got 2 chapters left, now that we know how upset she is about certain things we'll keep our mouths shut on those things. I really hope when we show up saturday she is home.
override367 on
+1
WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
That's... that's rough, buddy. I really hope things work out for your group.
I really like the idea of the Twilight Domain, it is essentially Xoti from Pillars of Eternity 2. Just the mental image of using the sunset and sunrise for succour appeals to me.
Wildfire Druid would be great for my group's druid who has adopted a baby phoenix. It seems to be on the same level as the other circles, druids are just strong with either wildshapes (extra health bar) or summons (action economy +1).
Onomancy is pretty far out there. I guess they read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfus.
--
I'll read override's misadventures later, but you have my sympathy. Shit is super shitty
I was really hoping that Onomancy would involve manipulating someone's situation by altering their name, a la Oglaf's Appellomancers. I really want to call someone a hurtful name that winds up leading to their demise.
Nerdsamwich on
+1
AssuranIs swinging on the SpiralRegistered Userregular
edited October 2019
I've been playing with essentially the same core since '99, sometimes life happens and a member has to step out for a year or so due to life, but I I forgot how much it sucks to have your group fall apart.
I've been talking to the others and seemingly nobody is interested in leaving except this one person, the DM, and she *is* coming over tomorrow to my house so we can talk it out (thankfully). I just need to hopefully convey that this isn't personal, she isn't her D&D game (which we all like anyway), and not all dms are right for all players
I had to reiterate to everyone that, please, if my adventure is going in a direction you don't like, let me know after game and respectfully and I will be open to change. I won't always say YES, but I will listen to concerns. I wholeheartedly disagree with this guy's "my way or the highway" DM style and I didn't even know Saltmarsh DM felt that way. Honestly it's probably for the best she not DM for us, why the heck WOULD SHE WANT TO? We're obviously not the best players for that! The other 3 of us that DM in this social group are incredibly collaborative in our DM style, we share ideas with each other, we share DM videos, we get critique on homebrew before it goes "live"
I'm taking incredible exception with the notion that there is one correct DM style being put forth by ex-player druid dick
I've been playing with essentially the same core since '99, sometimes life happens and a member has to step out for a year or so due to life, but I I forgot how much it sucks to have your group fall apart.
And I am extremely thankful for my good fortune.
I'm in the same boat. I'm in my 40s Two people in my group I've known since middle school. Most of the others since high school. We get new comers here and there but most of those stick around after joining. We've been playing together for a long, long time.
I like the cleric theme, but it seems odd that the "Twilight Domain" would be a heavy armored smashy cleric.
It just feels like twilight is more a time for magical workings and spell casting than it is for divine smiting to me.
But then, I also thought that the Grave domain should have been a smashy cleric, the kind of big beefy tank who stands at the gate of the cemetery with a mace in one hand, a tower shield in the other, but is facing inside.
I like the cleric theme, but it seems odd that the "Twilight Domain" would be a heavy armored smashy cleric.
It just feels like twilight is more a time for magical workings and spell casting than it is for divine smiting to me.
But then, I also thought that the Grave domain should have been a smashy cleric, the kind of big beefy tank who stands at the gate of the cemetery with a mace in one hand, a tower shield in the other, but is facing inside.
At first glance, it seems a little odd, but reading it made it make more sense. The idea that twilight, being the time between day and night, is both a time of rest but also uncertainty, as who knows what the night will bring. So a Twilight Domain Cleric is one who faces the unknown terrors of the night so others can feel safe. There's probably a better term they could've used for the domain, but I think it was explained pretty well.
I think the Circle of Wildfire nailed its theme, though. It's not just about burning stuff with fire, it's also about encouraging new growth afterwards. So the mix of damage and healing abilities fit it well. It's not a pyromaniac Druid, though I don't doubt some might play it that way. It's about destroying something old and rotten and letting something new and full of life take its place.
I've been talking to the others and seemingly nobody is interested in leaving except this one person, the DM, and she *is* coming over tomorrow to my house so we can talk it out (thankfully). I just need to hopefully convey that this isn't personal, she isn't her D&D game (which we all like anyway), and not all dms are right for all players
I had to reiterate to everyone that, please, if my adventure is going in a direction you don't like, let me know after game and respectfully and I will be open to change. I won't always say YES, but I will listen to concerns. I wholeheartedly disagree with this guy's "my way or the highway" DM style and I didn't even know Saltmarsh DM felt that way. Honestly it's probably for the best she not DM for us, why the heck WOULD SHE WANT TO? We're obviously not the best players for that! The other 3 of us that DM in this social group are incredibly collaborative in our DM style, we share ideas with each other, we share DM videos, we get critique on homebrew before it goes "live"
I'm taking incredible exception with the notion that there is one correct DM style being put forth by ex-player druid dick
I sent you a PM about the other stuff, but I think you sound super reasonable here, so I guess the other players involved will see that there's no sense flipping out.
this other guy that inserted himself has been DMing since 1985, and is the most condescending old-white-guy-with-ponytail I've met (he has a degree in geography and a minor in english lit, he made sure to tell me, as evidence of why I should listen to him)
this other guy that inserted himself has been DMing since 1985, and is the most condescending old-white-guy-with-ponytail I've met (he has a degree in geography and a minor in english lit, he made sure to tell me, as evidence of why I should listen to him)
Oh shit, I have one of those. I suppose it isn't an instant indication that someone is amazingly awesome.
OK geez, my education is a huge inspiration for my ill-defined homebrew setting, but I would never ever use it as a badge of "hey, I know what's what", that's some grade A "don't you know who I am???" material.
Heck, now I want to make this guy into an annoying early-level antagonist in a future campaign.
He sideways suggested to me when he was playing in my campaign that I should probably not have taken a job that eats up so much of my week if I want to DM on the weekends, because it means im not committed
+14
KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
edited October 2019
I just had an intermittent private message roleplaying as my DnD character with another NPC from our campaign on hiatus for fun with my character telling her woes and past and asking this newer NPC follower for theirs. I really love this DM/regular player. Weirdly vicariously therapeutic along with the kind of busy week I've been having.
I also finally convinced an NPC to pet and scratch me as an animal person. Gave them a magic monk massage later. Might be working up an in-game romance I'm gonna take very slow.
Kadoken on
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Tynnanseldom correct, never unsureRegistered Userregular
Those new UA options rule. I love the fire Druid, and the twilight cleric feels very much like something out of NK Jemisin’s Inheritance books
Twilight Cleric seems like a real stacked level 1 dip. Standard level 1 cleric benefits, plus
-heavy armor proficiency
-darkvision with infinite range (which seems like a weird/off-model thing to add to a game where every other source of darkvision always has a range)
-the ability to grant OTHER people darkvision for reasonably-long periods of time
-a complicated way to have advantage on initiative checks (again, kind of a weird thing for a cleric to get?) which you can also hand out to other people instead if you want
Onomancer seems like it's basically an attempt to circle back and try Lore Master again, by way of stapling the sorcerer's metamagic stuff to the wizard chassis and gating it with Extract Name uses instead of sorcery points.
Which ultimately means its power level is gonna vary pretty greatly with the style of campaign - if you actually have to use Extract Name to put your metamagic online, it's probably about on-par with what a sorcerer could do. If you often already know your targets' names (and in an intrigue/social interaction heavy campaign, you likely will even without Extract Name because as written most creatures' true names are just the name they introduce themselves as - a 'you must know the target's true name' requirement is very often going to be 'you must briefly exchange pleasantries with the target before combat starts') then you basically get to be a sorcerer with infinite sorcery points, which seems...powerful.
Twilight Cleric gave me a neat idea. Based on the one off Nightlight comics they do on PA, one could make a Twilight Cleric who comes from an Order whose main mission is to safeguard the children of the world from the things that go bump in the night. Lots of monsters target the vulnerable in their sleep. Could even dip a few levels into Fighter or Paladin for some more physical combat ability.
He sideways suggested to me when he was playing in my campaign that I should probably not have taken a job that eats up so much of my week if I want to DM on the weekends, because it means im not committed
He sideways suggested to me when he was playing in my campaign that I should probably not have taken a job that eats up so much of my week if I want to DM on the weekends, because it means im not committed
Well unless Sparkle Motion here is going to start paying your rent, maybe he should slow his roll a bit.
I thought it was a truth universally understood that "Real Life" was always the thing a group had to contend with not because they didn't care about the game, but because they did not have the means to be able to ignore it.
Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
I devastated my group when I told them I would have to suspend my campaign at the end of the month due to me starting student teaching in November.
Player: "Alright, well I think we can handle you not DMing till December." Me: "You think student teaching only takes two weeks?" Player: "What?" Me: "I'm not going to be able to DM till late February." Player: "OH FUCK."
+7
webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
I'm doing the exact opposite and expanding my DMing. I'm going to start running quarterly one shots of the different game systems I've gathered over the years. Both groups I'm in play D&D right now so I want to spice it up a bit. A couple folks are interested already, so hopefully I can get a table full each time.
If your Onomancer lives in a setting where onomancy is a thing and people are giving out their True Names at cocktail parties, that pretty strongly implies that the people who know onomancy exists a) keep it a very closely held secret and b) probably use it to run all the things from the shadows. So, who exactly is your character? Are they working for the shadowy cabal of people who can secretly control the wills of queens and generals? Are those your character’s enemies? One way or another, using your powers too ...obviously... is going to create a lot of very powerful, very paranoid people really nervous, and that’s usually not good.
Spend the tons of nearly-free spell slots ...quickly, Mister Bond.
If your Onomancer lives in a setting where onomancy is a thing and people are giving out their True Names at cocktail parties, that pretty strongly implies that the people who know onomancy exists a) keep it a very closely held secret and b) probably use it to run all the things from the shadows. So, who exactly is your character? Are they working for the shadowy cabal of people who can secretly control the wills of queens and generals? Are those your character’s enemies? One way or another, using your powers too ...obviously... is going to create a lot of very powerful, very paranoid people really nervous, and that’s usually not good.
Spend the tons of nearly-free spell slots ...quickly, Mister Bond.
The flip side is that given the way true names are described, a world or culture where keeping your true name secret is a normal thing to do would have to be very weird.
It's specifically stated that your true name is however you, internally, end the sentence "My name is...". That's almost always just going to be how you introduce yourself to people, and is very often going to just be your given name. You can intentionally use a fake name to avoid giving your true name out, but it's also specifically stated that if you use the same false name for too long, you're likely to start to 'inhabit' the name enough that it becomes your new true name.
Which means that keeping your true name a secret is going to involve maintaining a string of fake names, from childhood, for your entire life, without ever keeping a single name for very long or liking or identifying with any particular name very much, all in service to the idea that you need to protect yourself from malevolent wizards at all times. That's just not gonna be a normal way for the average person to behave in any sort of familiar-seeming culture.
If your Onomancer lives in a setting where onomancy is a thing and people are giving out their True Names at cocktail parties, that pretty strongly implies that the people who know onomancy exists a) keep it a very closely held secret and b) probably use it to run all the things from the shadows. So, who exactly is your character? Are they working for the shadowy cabal of people who can secretly control the wills of queens and generals? Are those your character’s enemies? One way or another, using your powers too ...obviously... is going to create a lot of very powerful, very paranoid people really nervous, and that’s usually not good.
Spend the tons of nearly-free spell slots ...quickly, Mister Bond.
The flip side is that given the way true names are described, a world or culture where keeping your true name secret is a normal thing to do would have to be very weird.
It's specifically stated that your true name is however you, internally, end the sentence "My name is...". That's almost always just going to be how you introduce yourself to people, and is very often going to just be your given name. You can intentionally use a fake name to avoid giving your true name out, but it's also specifically stated that if you use the same false name for too long, you're likely to start to 'inhabit' the name enough that it becomes your new true name.
Which means that keeping your true name a secret is going to involve maintaining a string of fake names, from childhood, for your entire life, without ever keeping a single name for very long or liking or identifying with any particular name very much, all in service to the idea that you need to protect yourself from malevolent wizards at all times. That's just not gonna be a normal way for the average person to behave in any sort of familiar-seeming culture.
But it would make sense for anyone that does deal with onomancers on a regular occasion.
Like I go by at least 4 to 6 names in the real world, but only one of those is my full real name. It's also the one that no one calls me regularly. Really that name only got used by my parents when I was in trouble. If I knew people could like control my very existence by knowing that name I'd probably keep it to family and deeply connected friends but tell no one else.
Like I'd take onomancy and that bard from before for a crazy intrigue minimal combat game.
It would definitely need to be heavily contrived and limiting to the options available for characters, there'd have to be a heavy session 0 going into the game to agree on tone and expectation.
I didn't use my "real" name amongst my friends for a decade - I only used it at work and went by a shortened version everywhere else
Since I moved, and started making friends with people through work, I hear the shortened version less and less, to the point where my new friends reject the idea that the shortened version even suits me
When my mum hit 70, she straight-up declared that she would be going by her full name from now on
I like how the Dresden Files deals with Harry's true name. It's not enough to know what the literal words are, you have to hear the person invoke their own name to "acquire" it. And consequently why Harry doesn't go around saying his two middle names ever, except for when he's selling off bits of his own true name for power. Good tie in to D&D Warlockery, there.
Posts
My warlock patron, a solar in the service of Amaunator, god of the sun and laws as written, appeared, and instead of speaking, large strips of paper flew out of his mouth and settled on the ground. At this point the DM spread out a bunch of index cards with the following (or something pretty close) printed on them. Each card had two rows.
ARD]
[PRE
APP]
[ROVED
]
[CHOOSE
ONE]
[POW
ER]
[WEA
LTH]
[WIS
DOM]
[LONG
EVITY]
(there were a couple more rewards listed as well I don't remember, I think there were six or seven all told)
Once we had figured out the first part of the message, the papers rearranged themselves, and he told each party member to choose a reward. Surprisingly (or maybe not given the people involved) I was the only one who chose Power. We could either choose a magic item or a feat that corresponded to what we chose. He told me after the session that he was always planning to let people get a feat at character creation, but figured he'd put it later in the campaign as a cool event.
https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/cleric-druid-wizard
It's almost entirely up to the DM. Ostensibly in a world where onomancy is common giving away your real name would be uncommon, probably even viewed as unlucky. Everyone likely goes by a menagerie of nick names and aliases so as to subvert these benefits. Basically you can DM fiat this into being way less terrible. This in a setting where everyone's just giving away their true name like is insanity. Basically you're supposed to make it so they regularly bonus action, grab someone's true name (and have them charmed for a round btw) and then use their abilities on a stat limited number of people. It's a very DM attention heavy class.
I broke it to her that I don't think we're going to play it, it doesn't sound up our alley. She wanted to know why and I raised some other player's concerns about her current game, one of which being, she is ignoring major quests in the book because she wants to do homebrew that isn't clicking with many of us.
Fast forward to 2 days ago, she's apparently been just furious - seething even, and I didn't know. I ask her for some critique on homebrew for my game, a game she's not in, she gives it, I listen, i change it, I thank her. She starts asking why my game isn't run close to the book (storm king's thunder), I said well we did a main quest on sunday but yeah, I'm not even running it in the forgotten realms, I'm running it in a different world and it has tons of homebrew. She tells me that I'm "dragging people to things they don't want to do" and I said "well I'm annoyed they didn't tell me about it, Ill have to talk to them". She says "yeah it's shit when people won't tell you how they feel and make someone tell you for them".
I replied "actually they planned to talk to you on saturday but you were sick, so they were going to the next session". Long story short this quickly devolved into a complete explosion of a billion grievances on her part. I definitely lost my temper because, what the fuck, and tried to end the argument by saying "hey lets just chill out and well talk about it in person, this isn't working over text, we're just circling the drain here". She posts how she doesn't want to run games with us anymore, or play in games hosted by any of us anymore in the group chat. Player who likes her game the least posts "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to metagame, I was just trying to help you, I didn't realize you were doing things different than the book. I thought you missed something and I was careful to not let the players know what i was talking about. Can we talk about this in person".
Other player posts, her life is basically exploding right now and she says "hey can everyone cut this the fuck out and just shut up and well meet up on saturday for lunch and talk this out". Cool. Nothing happens for 2 days
Tonight, the Problem Druid that I kicked out of my game shows up and starts posting about How One Should Never Question The Dungeon Master. He posts about how we're all ruining DM's life and we're shit players and we're slaves to the book, he posted it in nicer language, but that was the gist. I deleted his post, since im an admin, and said "Dan you don't know what you're talking about, you weren't there, you don't have context for the events you're describing, you aren't a part of that game and for that reason I'm deleting your post"
He comes back with:
"Players should play and DMs should run. Without the constraints of books to hinder having a good time. Or having to ask how to run a game. I had everything brought to my attention, so I do know what’s happening. Deleting what I posted just solidified what I’m saying. You are all so caught up on what a book says, that you are forgetting the point of playing the games in the first place."
I then get a text that he's actually over at their house (3 of the players in our group live together) and talking to DM.
I write a VERY angry post, I've had an 11 hour work day and I was done with his shit over a month ago, I then delete my own post and write :You know what it's not worth it.
Other player shows up, bans him from that channel and says "Hey dan you're not in this game so kindly go away, it's a tense situation and you're causing shit". He quickly posts in the General chat "see you later small minds, you banning me proves I'm right" and then he removes himself from the chat and blocks all of us. I see DM block all of us. I PM DM and she doesn't reply. I text her and ask if we're still on for Sat and she doesn't reply. Other players are like "Wtf m8"
Motherfucker isn't even in any of our games and he's still fucking sabotaging shit, I am so absolutely fucking livid
Good god, none of us even dislike her game! I said as much in my PM "Since this apparently can't wait until Saturday, none of us have your game, for christ's sake I've had 3 commissions of my character from the game, and I 3d printed and painted a mini of my character. I wouldn't do that if I wasn't having a blast. I don't appreciate you recruiting Dan, I'm going to put this entire chat on mute for my own sanity for a bit. If you don't hate me, we can talk on Saturday."
I hate this problem player. I'm trying to deescalate a situation and this guy seems to have made it his life's mission to annihilate our friend group
that's what narcissists do, it sounds like this guy is one of those people
To be clear: I'm talking about the 60 year old tattoo artist guy who keeps inserting himself into my life and not my friend, who I hope isn't hurt because I told her it wouldn't work between us romantically.
Actually shit I'd rather it be that, I can understand that. Her reaction to this tells me it's a good decision to not join her next game. She is taking it WAY too personally - although I'm 100% positive this guy is inflaming it as best as he can just like I'm POSITIVE he was behind the whole ingame rape misunderstanding
well I mean, I'm just going to run it, or one of the other guys will. That's the thing, I know from her ... long message... the other day, that she resents that we "made her run salt marsh"
Thing was, we said "hey lets vote on what we play next" and 4 out of 6 people said SALTMARSH!, and she said I WANT TO DM. We have no shortage of DMs! We've all been having fun, even the most disgruntled player isn't "quit the game" disgruntled. He didnt want to tell the DM any of his concerns because he was worried she'd get upset - apparently that's justified.
I would prefer her to just keep running it, we got 2 chapters left, now that we know how upset she is about certain things we'll keep our mouths shut on those things. I really hope when we show up saturday she is home.
Wildfire Druid would be great for my group's druid who has adopted a baby phoenix. It seems to be on the same level as the other circles, druids are just strong with either wildshapes (extra health bar) or summons (action economy +1).
Onomancy is pretty far out there. I guess they read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfus.
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I'll read override's misadventures later, but you have my sympathy. Shit is super shitty
And I am extremely thankful for my good fortune.
I had to reiterate to everyone that, please, if my adventure is going in a direction you don't like, let me know after game and respectfully and I will be open to change. I won't always say YES, but I will listen to concerns. I wholeheartedly disagree with this guy's "my way or the highway" DM style and I didn't even know Saltmarsh DM felt that way. Honestly it's probably for the best she not DM for us, why the heck WOULD SHE WANT TO? We're obviously not the best players for that! The other 3 of us that DM in this social group are incredibly collaborative in our DM style, we share ideas with each other, we share DM videos, we get critique on homebrew before it goes "live"
I'm taking incredible exception with the notion that there is one correct DM style being put forth by ex-player druid dick
I'm in the same boat. I'm in my 40s Two people in my group I've known since middle school. Most of the others since high school. We get new comers here and there but most of those stick around after joining. We've been playing together for a long, long time.
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I like the cleric theme, but it seems odd that the "Twilight Domain" would be a heavy armored smashy cleric.
It just feels like twilight is more a time for magical workings and spell casting than it is for divine smiting to me.
But then, I also thought that the Grave domain should have been a smashy cleric, the kind of big beefy tank who stands at the gate of the cemetery with a mace in one hand, a tower shield in the other, but is facing inside.
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I just got mine, and i’m already thinking of how it could be used.
At first glance, it seems a little odd, but reading it made it make more sense. The idea that twilight, being the time between day and night, is both a time of rest but also uncertainty, as who knows what the night will bring. So a Twilight Domain Cleric is one who faces the unknown terrors of the night so others can feel safe. There's probably a better term they could've used for the domain, but I think it was explained pretty well.
I think the Circle of Wildfire nailed its theme, though. It's not just about burning stuff with fire, it's also about encouraging new growth afterwards. So the mix of damage and healing abilities fit it well. It's not a pyromaniac Druid, though I don't doubt some might play it that way. It's about destroying something old and rotten and letting something new and full of life take its place.
I sent you a PM about the other stuff, but I think you sound super reasonable here, so I guess the other players involved will see that there's no sense flipping out.
this other guy that inserted himself has been DMing since 1985, and is the most condescending old-white-guy-with-ponytail I've met (he has a degree in geography and a minor in english lit, he made sure to tell me, as evidence of why I should listen to him)
OK geez, my education is a huge inspiration for my ill-defined homebrew setting, but I would never ever use it as a badge of "hey, I know what's what", that's some grade A "don't you know who I am???" material.
Heck, now I want to make this guy into an annoying early-level antagonist in a future campaign.
I also finally convinced an NPC to pet and scratch me as an animal person. Gave them a magic monk massage later. Might be working up an in-game romance I'm gonna take very slow.
-heavy armor proficiency
-darkvision with infinite range (which seems like a weird/off-model thing to add to a game where every other source of darkvision always has a range)
-the ability to grant OTHER people darkvision for reasonably-long periods of time
-a complicated way to have advantage on initiative checks (again, kind of a weird thing for a cleric to get?) which you can also hand out to other people instead if you want
Onomancer seems like it's basically an attempt to circle back and try Lore Master again, by way of stapling the sorcerer's metamagic stuff to the wizard chassis and gating it with Extract Name uses instead of sorcery points.
Which ultimately means its power level is gonna vary pretty greatly with the style of campaign - if you actually have to use Extract Name to put your metamagic online, it's probably about on-par with what a sorcerer could do. If you often already know your targets' names (and in an intrigue/social interaction heavy campaign, you likely will even without Extract Name because as written most creatures' true names are just the name they introduce themselves as - a 'you must know the target's true name' requirement is very often going to be 'you must briefly exchange pleasantries with the target before combat starts') then you basically get to be a sorcerer with infinite sorcery points, which seems...powerful.
the fuck
Well unless Sparkle Motion here is going to start paying your rent, maybe he should slow his roll a bit.
I thought it was a truth universally understood that "Real Life" was always the thing a group had to contend with not because they didn't care about the game, but because they did not have the means to be able to ignore it.
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The flip side is that given the way true names are described, a world or culture where keeping your true name secret is a normal thing to do would have to be very weird.
It's specifically stated that your true name is however you, internally, end the sentence "My name is...". That's almost always just going to be how you introduce yourself to people, and is very often going to just be your given name. You can intentionally use a fake name to avoid giving your true name out, but it's also specifically stated that if you use the same false name for too long, you're likely to start to 'inhabit' the name enough that it becomes your new true name.
Which means that keeping your true name a secret is going to involve maintaining a string of fake names, from childhood, for your entire life, without ever keeping a single name for very long or liking or identifying with any particular name very much, all in service to the idea that you need to protect yourself from malevolent wizards at all times. That's just not gonna be a normal way for the average person to behave in any sort of familiar-seeming culture.
But it would make sense for anyone that does deal with onomancers on a regular occasion.
Like I go by at least 4 to 6 names in the real world, but only one of those is my full real name. It's also the one that no one calls me regularly. Really that name only got used by my parents when I was in trouble. If I knew people could like control my very existence by knowing that name I'd probably keep it to family and deeply connected friends but tell no one else.
It would definitely need to be heavily contrived and limiting to the options available for characters, there'd have to be a heavy session 0 going into the game to agree on tone and expectation.
Since I moved, and started making friends with people through work, I hear the shortened version less and less, to the point where my new friends reject the idea that the shortened version even suits me
When my mum hit 70, she straight-up declared that she would be going by her full name from now on
Names are weird, even without magic