These are the sort of questions I don't dare bring up around my DM any more, because every time I make a bird/chicken joke while playing my Aarakocra he points and goes "that's canon now!".
Hopefully you're at least getting Inspiration for that.
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
Can you make a wolf turn into a sapient human by giving them lycanthropy like Bigby Wolf in Fables and is the true curse the doubt of man he feels now?
Can you make a wolf turn into a sapient human by giving them lycanthropy like Bigby Wolf in Fables and is the true curse the doubt of man he feels now?
Ok, I've been DMing this homebrew for about a year and a half now with a crew of, what was it, 7 people in it and I could sense that we were hitting a wall.
To be honest, I gave them too many suped up magic items and they were steam rolling everything which was boring us all to tears.
So I gave some alternatives:
1) reroll new toons and play our way through the published content...I DM.
2) reroll new toons and play our way through the published content...someone else DMs.
3) reroll new toons and play whatever and someone else DMs.
One of our more rules oriented players says he will do it after a wee bit of needling on my part because for fuck sake I just want to role play one of my characters I have been sitting on and I was getting burnt out on prepping for sessions.
So we got together for a session where we all decided on how to roll and pick classes and just figure shit out. We rolled new characters, talked about our new characters and drank and ate and then decided on a date for the next sessions.
That date got pushed back because a couple people weren't going to be able to show and the new DM wasn't prepared.
The next date the new DM said he still wasn't ready to begin the new adventure but we should all get together for a BBQ. He states it's not the DM transition that was talked about but he could make it work. I stated that my firbolg needed to meet his companions.
The new DM states quite emphatically that our next session will be him DMing but he is not prepared. The BBQ is still a go if people are still interested.
He then sends out a questionnaire:
1. Y/N to him being the DM
2. Session date choice.
3. Email him our characters backstories/origins.
4. Y/N to the BBQ.
My answer to #4 was: TBD
When I didn't show up (D&D is how I get out of doing bathroom remodeling and school shopping) I got a passive/aggressive joke from the new DM.
The day after the canceled D&D session/BBQ everyone in the text thread (not only our current D&D group but people who used to be in the campaign) got the following:
Bad news. We all get judged based on our actions and the BBQ yesterday had more riding on it than just food.
Everyone had a hole in their schedule Saturday and folks made other choices once D&D wasn't involved. Blowing people off has consequences.
Finding people to play D&D isn't a problem. Finding people you want to play with is another. It's clear only a few people want to interact socially. Personally I like playing games with people I want to be around.
I'm not going to be your DM. I'm not going to be a player either. I'll still play D&D and be a DM in other settings. Daryl, Daryl and the other brother Daryl, you guys can text me individually if you are interested in playing in other settings too.
If people want to play D&D devoid of social connections then I suggest they play at an Adventure League in a game store.
I hope everyone finds the fun they want, but for me this isn't it. I'm out.
@Shawnasee - me and you had set a timeline for transitioning being the DM. Period. Trying to get my wife to manipulate me, trying to use social pressure through texts to make things happen faster and not talking to me directly about any changes to the transitioning schedule is just...low. Come on man!
I was so blown away that I sat on a reply for almost a week. No one else replied to that text thread either but everyone I talked to in the group thought it was bizarre and very dramatic.
This couple had quit before (which I have talked about before) because the other players in the group weren't as committed as these two thought they should be. I roped them back into playing by discussing with them that people have vastly different reasons for playing and that they needed to accept that.
Anyway, I apologized to him for pushing him into being the DM. He was right in that there should have been more dialogue about it, if for no other reason than more clarity. I told him and his wife that I was sorry for not being at the BBQ because it obviously meant more to them than it did to me (and another couple who decided to go watch a movie instead of drive an hour for hot dogs and beer, which I completely understand). I made sure to let them know that I genuinely like them both. "love you guys and I'm sad you don't want to hang anymore."
And then I told him that although he made valid points, he was being childish and made things not only awkward but divisive.
I reached out to this dudes BIL who is awesome and told him I knew he was between a rock and a hard place but I understand if he kept the D&D portion of his life within the family.
One of my co-workers plays MAGIC with him and the BIL and he contacted me to say he was in an awkward difficult spot too. My co-worker reached out to him and told him he would be playing D&D with me and MAGIC with him if that was cool.
The rational part of me (my wife) says he was out of line and good riddance and I tend to agree but what do you all think?
I don't think handing over DM reigns is that big a deal, especially considering it was going to be a brand new campaign. There were no notes or files and such to be handed over...just, ok, it's your turn.
I mean I feel bad for not going to the BBQ but no one was told that more was riding on it than just food.
And that was way longer than I intended...I guess a tldr is warranted:
D&D group decides on new DM. New DM has a BBQ instead of a session. Not everyone goes to the BBQ. DM flips a table and says only the people who bothered to show up to the BBQ are the people he wants to play with. Calls me out for not being more clear about transition of DM duties. I think he's ridiculous but I still feel bad. Should I feel bad?
No, the "this BBQ was secretly a test of our friendship" is some high school level dramatic nonsense. Its a Riverdale C-plot.
Your wife is making some very, very solid points. Listen to your wife.
Yeah. I can see this guy's point about wanting to play with friends as opposed to just having a gaming group... but this BBQ-as-test nonsense is some next level bullshit.
With these identity-hiding Gaming Hoods, all your players are no more than their characters
Back my Kickstarter at the £50 level and you'll get the Deluxe model, with a dry-erase finish to allow character names and/or faces to be drawn on the front, and the voice-masking Anonomike
ALTHOUGH you should consider maybe this person feels pressured because you mentioned you needled him into taking the DM role
if it’s something at his heart he does not want to do he maybe built a little resentment towards you (maybe rightly?) and the BBQ thing made him feel shittier about that and perceive it as blowing him off
either way you probably need to have a Real Talk with them 1:1 and discuss all this before you guys fuck your group up and crack it in half
I did indeed consider his point of view and what might lead up to a proclamation of that nature which is why I sent a beautifully worded text to him and his wife. That was about 2 months ago, no reply.
He did want to be DM, though. He had made mention of it several times during previous sessions and to be quite honest, he would have been really good at it.
@Denada : [DnD 5e] I think we should see other meeples.
+4
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
So i watched hotel Transylvania 3 today, and while the movie itself was middling, it had some AMAZING set pieces, so I'm going to be stealing from that.
So i watched hotel Transylvania 3 today, and while the movie itself was middling, it had some AMAZING set pieces, so I'm going to be stealing from that.
Haha now this is the true spirit of roleplay games!
Hell, that's how both D&D and the Ultima series started! Never forget that the original Ultima game is a fantasy game with castles, time machines, the space shuttle and a Tie fighter battle.
So i watched hotel Transylvania 3 today, and while the movie itself was middling, it had some AMAZING set pieces, so I'm going to be stealing from that.
Haha now this is the true spirit of roleplay games!
I watched JoJo Part 3 and every stand battle was like, "That's an encounter I can steal."
Especially the D'arby card game. That's one where they can't just fight their way out of unless they just do not care for their friends.
In my D&D game the players figured out that they had accidentally kidnapped a half dozen children from weretigers and had... varying reactions. The tiefling took one of them and sold her to an arcanaloth in exchange for a hellfire coin, through some successful checks the rest of them think they only had 6 of them, but it was originally 7
She's saving up for an infernal war machine
the rest of them have absolutely wrecked the party's tavern, shifting between child and tiger, and being almost feral in terms of behavior, the rogue bemoaning "why am I alwaaaaaaaaaays the mooooooooooomm" (entirely in character, the player is enjoying it), as she is in charge of the tavern
once the antics become distracting im going to have the temple of the morning lord offer to take them in
Got a new player, and it's so refreshing to have someone who's humble and doesn't demand things, unlike the last new one who made it all of half a session before asking for massive, world changing shit. The new player is respectful and trying to take in the world and what's going on, asking lots of questions
edit: The rogue said she was going to get them cleaned up, clothed, and put in bed, and didn't even make it through the first one before being bitten and infected with lycanthrope. I gave them +0 to hit for their bite attacks and the DC is really low but the rogue's dice are cursed
Lycanthropy is still basically cursed with awesome, right? I remember in 3.x contemplating an all were-party, and tigers and cheetahs were both super awesome options for a rogue
Lycanthropy is still basically cursed with awesome, right? I remember in 3.x contemplating an all were-party, and tigers and cheetahs were both super awesome options for a rogue
The only viable player controlled one is werebear other than that if you're cursed with lycanthropy you basically hand your sheet over and become the villain when the full moon comes along.
Lycanthropy is still basically cursed with awesome, right? I remember in 3.x contemplating an all were-party, and tigers and cheetahs were both super awesome options for a rogue
The only viable player controlled one is werebear other than that if you're cursed with lycanthropy you basically hand your sheet over and become the villain when the full moon comes along.
Yeah these were natural-born. I forgot about the alignment thing. Which is dumb. But makes sense because otherwise its awesome
I have been thinking about it. You could do the trick in Ladyhawke {where he turns into a wolf at night and she into a falcon during the day] into something similar to see if the adventures can become uncursed
They just cannot talk to each other so that would be the fun part
My DM agreed to let me play a human Nature Cleric who had been infected with were-rat lycanthropy. We agreed that she wouldn't have any of the benefits (no increased Dex, no immunity to non-silvered weapons). Her quest was to find a cure for it.
I played up trying to hide on the Full Moon nights in the beginning, but in the end the rest of party would take me outside of town and chain me to a tree before my Ratosis attack was going to happen.
Since we didn't want a super easy "Oh I'm level 5, Remove Curse!" solution, I had to collect different items throughout those first five levels. Moonstone, wolfsbane, etc. Then when I hit level 5, we had this elaborate ritual designed with Con saves and Death Saves to cure her.
Sadly she died during the ritual, but she cleansed herself of the lycanthropy and died as a human.
Loved the character, loved her ending, it was super fun.
+18
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
I've been reading the Monster Manual recently, and it's made me appreciate 4th edition all the more, with its example encounters and lack of the need to check the PHB for spell descriptions
[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
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NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
They've added variant or enhanced features to every class.
-Lots more fighting styles for classes that get them, including a more protective one, a thrown weapon one, and an unarmed fighting one.
-Couple of interesting new maneuvers, as well as a fighter fighting style that gets you one maneuver even if you're not a battlemaster
-Every caster class can change their cantrips on a long rest
-All the non-prepared casters can change one spell on a long rest
-An eldritch invocation that lets Blade warlocks put on any one suit of armor, so Hexblade isn't as mandatory for melee blade pact Warlocks.
-Some cool stuff for Pact of the Tome Warlocks.
-A few good Sorcerer metamagics (change damage type!)
-More flexibility on what can be a Monk weapon
-A lot of stuff to the Ranger:
-A domain-style spell list (replaces Primeval Awareness)
-Bonus casts of Hunter's Mark without using spells or concentration (replaces Favored Enemy)
-A set of 3 abilities that replaces Natural Explorer. Choose one at 1st, 6th, and 10th level. (one give two skill proficiencies, one gives 5 feet of speed and climb/swim speed, one gives you a source of temporary HP)
-Rogues can use their cunning action to give themselves advantage on their next attack, if they don't move (seems very good for ranged rogues)
Just a lot of stuff to bring up some weak classes, provide options that people have been asking for forever (unarmed Fighter, non-Hexblade blade Warlock), and make everyone more flexible.
reposting from the SE thread
haven't looked through it too much but the Blind Fighting fighting style just looks like it was made to be cheesy and is kinda unfun because the only way that one works is if you cast some kind of obscuring spell (darkness, fog cloud maybe?) and then go fight in it
or technically I guess you could shoot into it? it doesn't say anything about needing to be adjacent so yeah
how 'not being able to see' and 'not hidden from you' works together is...strange and largely up to the DM I suppose
what a happy day it is
+1
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
I am making a replacement for my cleric in the winter game I play if she dies. I wanted to make a barbarian with a pseudo-Kratosesque backstory of being responsible for the deaths of her family because she asked for power from a greater power. Now she's more like nuKratos in being more contemplative about her current situation and the avarice that led to the prior one. She seeks to destroy that power and possibly rescue the souls of her husband and children if the thing took them but if they went to where they were supposed to then leave them alone. She's a 7-foot tall white tiger tabaxi named Symmet after the Tyger, Tyger poem from William Blake and the phrase "Thy Fearful (Symmet)ry".
The idea was the greater power gave her power to destroy hordes of tribesmen from her home but once it exacted its price it left her except for possibly a lingering strength. I am thinking of going Berserker since I generally like the subclasses that do the class's thing but more. Is there another one I should consider? I haven't thought a ton about her cultural background but I wanted to go with more of a generic celtic/germanic thing like Cimmerians in Conan.
ok i gotta say i like the idea of playing a paladin with the unarmed fighting style and smiting people with my fists
As awesome and powerful as doomybear was, no one ever took him seriously.
For he was also the party's healer and his grasp of the Amnian tongue was, to be polite, middling at best.
"He wasn't feeling good so I fisted him", he'd often remark after reinvigorating a comrade in arms..
Posts
Hopefully you're at least getting Inspiration for that.
Wofwares are a thing in D&D.
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
Wolfwares are wolves that transform into people in a new moon.
They hate each other.
Baldurs Gate 1 expansion had a plotline about this.
Lyrics from Beast of Burden, in reference to the discussion about how some animals aren't beasts and can't be wildshape forms or beast companions.
To be honest, I gave them too many suped up magic items and they were steam rolling everything which was boring us all to tears.
So I gave some alternatives:
1) reroll new toons and play our way through the published content...I DM.
2) reroll new toons and play our way through the published content...someone else DMs.
3) reroll new toons and play whatever and someone else DMs.
One of our more rules oriented players says he will do it after a wee bit of needling on my part because for fuck sake I just want to role play one of my characters I have been sitting on and I was getting burnt out on prepping for sessions.
So we got together for a session where we all decided on how to roll and pick classes and just figure shit out. We rolled new characters, talked about our new characters and drank and ate and then decided on a date for the next sessions.
That date got pushed back because a couple people weren't going to be able to show and the new DM wasn't prepared.
The next date the new DM said he still wasn't ready to begin the new adventure but we should all get together for a BBQ. He states it's not the DM transition that was talked about but he could make it work. I stated that my firbolg needed to meet his companions.
The new DM states quite emphatically that our next session will be him DMing but he is not prepared. The BBQ is still a go if people are still interested.
He then sends out a questionnaire:
1. Y/N to him being the DM
2. Session date choice.
3. Email him our characters backstories/origins.
4. Y/N to the BBQ.
My answer to #4 was: TBD
When I didn't show up (D&D is how I get out of doing bathroom remodeling and school shopping) I got a passive/aggressive joke from the new DM.
The day after the canceled D&D session/BBQ everyone in the text thread (not only our current D&D group but people who used to be in the campaign) got the following:
Everyone had a hole in their schedule Saturday and folks made other choices once D&D wasn't involved. Blowing people off has consequences.
Finding people to play D&D isn't a problem. Finding people you want to play with is another. It's clear only a few people want to interact socially. Personally I like playing games with people I want to be around.
I'm not going to be your DM. I'm not going to be a player either. I'll still play D&D and be a DM in other settings. Daryl, Daryl and the other brother Daryl, you guys can text me individually if you are interested in playing in other settings too.
If people want to play D&D devoid of social connections then I suggest they play at an Adventure League in a game store.
I hope everyone finds the fun they want, but for me this isn't it. I'm out.
@Shawnasee - me and you had set a timeline for transitioning being the DM. Period. Trying to get my wife to manipulate me, trying to use social pressure through texts to make things happen faster and not talking to me directly about any changes to the transitioning schedule is just...low. Come on man!
I was so blown away that I sat on a reply for almost a week. No one else replied to that text thread either but everyone I talked to in the group thought it was bizarre and very dramatic.
This couple had quit before (which I have talked about before) because the other players in the group weren't as committed as these two thought they should be. I roped them back into playing by discussing with them that people have vastly different reasons for playing and that they needed to accept that.
Anyway, I apologized to him for pushing him into being the DM. He was right in that there should have been more dialogue about it, if for no other reason than more clarity. I told him and his wife that I was sorry for not being at the BBQ because it obviously meant more to them than it did to me (and another couple who decided to go watch a movie instead of drive an hour for hot dogs and beer, which I completely understand). I made sure to let them know that I genuinely like them both. "love you guys and I'm sad you don't want to hang anymore."
And then I told him that although he made valid points, he was being childish and made things not only awkward but divisive.
I reached out to this dudes BIL who is awesome and told him I knew he was between a rock and a hard place but I understand if he kept the D&D portion of his life within the family.
One of my co-workers plays MAGIC with him and the BIL and he contacted me to say he was in an awkward difficult spot too. My co-worker reached out to him and told him he would be playing D&D with me and MAGIC with him if that was cool.
The rational part of me (my wife) says he was out of line and good riddance and I tend to agree but what do you all think?
I don't think handing over DM reigns is that big a deal, especially considering it was going to be a brand new campaign. There were no notes or files and such to be handed over...just, ok, it's your turn.
I mean I feel bad for not going to the BBQ but no one was told that more was riding on it than just food.
And that was way longer than I intended...I guess a tldr is warranted:
D&D group decides on new DM. New DM has a BBQ instead of a session. Not everyone goes to the BBQ. DM flips a table and says only the people who bothered to show up to the BBQ are the people he wants to play with. Calls me out for not being more clear about transition of DM duties. I think he's ridiculous but I still feel bad. Should I feel bad?
Your wife is making some very, very solid points. Listen to your wife.
Yeah. I can see this guy's point about wanting to play with friends as opposed to just having a gaming group... but this BBQ-as-test nonsense is some next level bullshit.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
There's got to be a better way
And now there is!
With these identity-hiding Gaming Hoods, all your players are no more than their characters
Back my Kickstarter at the £50 level and you'll get the Deluxe model, with a dry-erase finish to allow character names and/or faces to be drawn on the front, and the voice-masking Anonomike
ALTHOUGH you should consider maybe this person feels pressured because you mentioned you needled him into taking the DM role
if it’s something at his heart he does not want to do he maybe built a little resentment towards you (maybe rightly?) and the BBQ thing made him feel shittier about that and perceive it as blowing him off
either way you probably need to have a Real Talk with them 1:1 and discuss all this before you guys fuck your group up and crack it in half
I did indeed consider his point of view and what might lead up to a proclamation of that nature which is why I sent a beautifully worded text to him and his wife. That was about 2 months ago, no reply.
He did want to be DM, though. He had made mention of it several times during previous sessions and to be quite honest, he would have been really good at it.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Haha now this is the true spirit of roleplay games!
I watched JoJo Part 3 and every stand battle was like, "That's an encounter I can steal."
Especially the D'arby card game. That's one where they can't just fight their way out of unless they just do not care for their friends.
She's saving up for an infernal war machine
the rest of them have absolutely wrecked the party's tavern, shifting between child and tiger, and being almost feral in terms of behavior, the rogue bemoaning "why am I alwaaaaaaaaaays the mooooooooooomm" (entirely in character, the player is enjoying it), as she is in charge of the tavern
once the antics become distracting im going to have the temple of the morning lord offer to take them in
Got a new player, and it's so refreshing to have someone who's humble and doesn't demand things, unlike the last new one who made it all of half a session before asking for massive, world changing shit. The new player is respectful and trying to take in the world and what's going on, asking lots of questions
edit: The rogue said she was going to get them cleaned up, clothed, and put in bed, and didn't even make it through the first one before being bitten and infected with lycanthrope. I gave them +0 to hit for their bite attacks and the DC is really low but the rogue's dice are cursed
The only viable player controlled one is werebear other than that if you're cursed with lycanthropy you basically hand your sheet over and become the villain when the full moon comes along.
this is lycanthropy
Yeah these were natural-born. I forgot about the alignment thing. Which is dumb. But makes sense because otherwise its awesome
They just cannot talk to each other so that would be the fun part
I played up trying to hide on the Full Moon nights in the beginning, but in the end the rest of party would take me outside of town and chain me to a tree before my Ratosis attack was going to happen.
Since we didn't want a super easy "Oh I'm level 5, Remove Curse!" solution, I had to collect different items throughout those first five levels. Moonstone, wolfsbane, etc. Then when I hit level 5, we had this elaborate ritual designed with Con saves and Death Saves to cure her.
Sadly she died during the ritual, but she cleansed herself of the lycanthropy and died as a human.
Loved the character, loved her ending, it was super fun.
https://giffyglyph.com/monstermaker/
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
OMG did they bring the 4E system back to 5E? It's a Daylight Saving Time miracle!
5E monster design sucks so bad; I can't wait to try this.
Holy shit, this is so much my jam it hurts. Thank you for bringing it up!
*dives headfirst, Scrooge McDuck style*
I don't actually know how balanced they all are though
Well setting everything else aside... it makes me want to play a Ranger.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
reposting from the SE thread
haven't looked through it too much but the Blind Fighting fighting style just looks like it was made to be cheesy and is kinda unfun because the only way that one works is if you cast some kind of obscuring spell (darkness, fog cloud maybe?) and then go fight in it
or technically I guess you could shoot into it? it doesn't say anything about needing to be adjacent so yeah
how 'not being able to see' and 'not hidden from you' works together is...strange and largely up to the DM I suppose
The idea was the greater power gave her power to destroy hordes of tribesmen from her home but once it exacted its price it left her except for possibly a lingering strength. I am thinking of going Berserker since I generally like the subclasses that do the class's thing but more. Is there another one I should consider? I haven't thought a ton about her cultural background but I wanted to go with more of a generic celtic/germanic thing like Cimmerians in Conan.
As awesome and powerful as doomybear was, no one ever took him seriously.
For he was also the party's healer and his grasp of the Amnian tongue was, to be polite, middling at best.
"He wasn't feeling good so I fisted him", he'd often remark after reinvigorating a comrade in arms..