Fey that believe that gardens should be perfect and orderly, against fey that believe that gardens should look as natural as possible, like Capability Brown
I just found out that my computer meets the minimum requirements for this game, I have a GTX1050 Ti, while the recommended one is a GTX1060.
YAYAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAY!!
+1
WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
So. Setting up a one-session one-shot for a group of newcomers. So far they're set up to be an Aarakocra Sun Soul, a Kenku Life Cleric, a Half-Orc Fighter, and a Tiefling Sorcerer. Half-Orc wants to be lucky, so I'm inclined to give her the Lucky feat. What are some good choices for the other three to give, to compensate? I was thinking Flames of Phlegethos for the Tiefling Sorc, but not sure about the other two.
In BG3 I found a flask with a Spectator in it and rogue'd my way into the lair of a phase spider queen and popped it off, dash -> wood elf mobile GO -> *bonus action hide*
So. Setting up a one-session one-shot for a group of newcomers. So far they're set up to be an Aarakocra Sun Soul, a Kenku Life Cleric, a Half-Orc Fighter, and a Tiefling Sorcerer. Half-Orc wants to be lucky, so I'm inclined to give her the Lucky feat. What are some good choices for the other three to give, to compensate? I was thinking Flames of Phlegethos for the Tiefling Sorc, but not sure about the other two.
Birdman can already fly, so any feat besides Mobile or Tavern Brawler is probably OK. Something that might encourage them to mix things up, like sentinel or mace slayer could be good.
War Caster is always great for a cleric since it can make them a lot stickier. But prodigy (XGE normally restricted against Kenku) could work well making them a lot more Kenku’y with the expertise.
Flames is... kinda weak for a sorcerer. The reroll is nice but sorcerers already get empower and empower is better. Elemental Adept (Fire) is probably a better fit as it ensures that the tieflings hellish rebuke has staying power/use in all fights. Alternately Magic Initiate is a really good option for any Mage since it lessens the cantrip pressure which is a big deal for a lot of characters.
My Curse of Strahd DM has finally seen the light and has done away with XP, moving us to milestone XP!! Which means he no longer feels the need to bog down every session with random encounters with the intention of getting us to our XP goals. Yay!
Also, our group has been madly chatting over our groupchat about how the Paladin got triggered (which, of course, its Ravenloft) and lead us on a fool crusade in Vallaki when we, especially him, were in DESPERATE need of a long rest. Face first into SIX! Vampire Spawn as spent 4th level characters. Only a desperate globe of Darkness from my hexblade and the urgings to run the fuck away saved us from a (totally deserved) TPK. We also burned down the coffin makers entire business and home with liberal uses of alchemists fire, dragonborn breath paired with oil flasks, and firebolts out the wazoo as we made a mad dash out the building, barring every door behind us in our haste to GTFO.
There have been a lot of in-character harsh words for our Paladin in the inn afterwards.
EDIT: Our DM also just let us know about all of the choice loot we missed out on with a mad cackle. The jerk.
In my Tyranny of Dragons campaign, we managed to talk our way through most of a chapter and avoid a lot of encounters by nipping round the back of one of the main buildings, so the entirety of Level 6 happened within the span of one session
One of my players both wants to start a mine and build a stronghold in my current campaign, and after seriously looking into the existing rules to support this as well as homebrew rules I've pretty much decided to change the entire trajectory of my campaign to be about the development and political intrigue in this developing Underdark settlement ruled over by a mysterious, reclusive wizard.
I went from being a little annoyed at having to figure out the rules for what the player wants to do to being interested in figuring out how much wealth the local establishment owners have, how many people have trafficked with devils for money, and what precautions the wealthy are taking against the possibility the wizard tries to exploit them through enchantment or force. I also went ahead and jacked all the prices up for lifestyle expenses and magic items, plus the mine is going to have to pay a tax to bring in product.
Finding a lucrative mining location is also going to be unexpectedly easy for the player, as supernatural forces are at work behind the scenes.
+2
webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
One of my players both wants to start a mine and build a stronghold in my current campaign, and after seriously looking into the existing rules to support this as well as homebrew rules I've pretty much decided to change the entire trajectory of my campaign to be about the development and political intrigue in this developing Underdark settlement ruled over by a mysterious, reclusive wizard.
I went from being a little annoyed at having to figure out the rules for what the player wants to do to being interested in figuring out how much wealth the local establishment owners have, how many people have trafficked with devils for money, and what precautions the wealthy are taking against the possibility the wizard tries to exploit them through enchantment or force. I also went ahead and jacked all the prices up for lifestyle expenses and magic items, plus the mine is going to have to pay a tax to bring in product.
Finding a lucrative mining location is also going to be unexpectedly easy for the player, as supernatural forces are at work behind the scenes.
might be worth checking out Strongholds and Followers by Matt Colville.
I have the Acquisitions Incorporated book and looked at it briefly, but the costs involved seemed extremely low.
The DMG says, for example, an outpost should cost 50 to per day, whereas AI puts the cost of an outpost at 250 per month. AI also assumes a very low number of employees whereas the DMG says you'll need 20 skilled hirelings and 40 untrained ones.
I have the Acquisitions Incorporated book and looked at it briefly, but the costs involved seemed extremely low.
The DMG says, for example, an outpost should cost 50 to per day, whereas AI puts the cost of an outpost at 250 per month. AI also assumes a very low number of employees whereas the DMG says you'll need 20 skilled hirelings and 40 untrained ones.
I can also recommend grain into gold. It covers all the bases in a d&d-esque world. Magic is always gonna ruin whatever you're doing.
I think I have something worked out. He's gonna get a loan from a shady dwarven mining operation that includes stipulations for repossession of the mine by the parent company and even the possibility of indentured servitude if he fails to make loan payments. Basically, they want him to fail so they can take the mine. He'll find this out and have to figure out how to deal with it.
Figuring this stuff out had the side benefit of making me think more about the economics and the business owners of the setting. For example, I've now decided there's a toll to even enter the central cavern where most of the businesses and nicer homes are. This means there are a lot of poor squatters in the ruins nearby who can't afford to get in. Perhaps there are other entrepreneurs in the surrounding areas looking to hire?
strongholds and followers is really good, the Acq Inq book doesn't require you to pay your hirelings either I don't think
Yea, Acq Inc really leans into shitty intern culture and it wants you to be a shitty boss. I've been running the pre-built adventure in it and its a lot of fun but I've stayed away a bit from the unpaid intern stuff. They've got employees but they are actually paid and provide services.
We didn't really have a problem with everyone playing as ultracapitalists, my players are all unemployed or work at like, factories and wal-mart, so as a result no matter how problematic a course that was seemingly charted they got literally one dialogue interaction into being shitty bosses before becoming good bosses and paying substantial wages
I thought that was explicitly the point of Acq Inc? That they're actually a horrible company with dangerous, predatory practices and it doesn't make any logical sense why someone would want to be a part of it? Like hasn't that been the joke the whole time?
I thought that was explicitly the point of Acq Inc? That they're actually a horrible company with dangerous, predatory practices and it doesn't make any logical sense why someone would want to be a part of it? Like hasn't that been the joke the whole time?
sorta, except it feels like wizards lets them be successful with it.
I mean they have a lich running weapons development, can't be all red ink.
So this is my first time using the downtime activities in a campaign, and I'm a little surprised at how much time at the table my group has spent on one week. By RAW you mostly just make skill checks for the week, but I've been having a short roleplay scenario for each of my three player characters each day.
The dragonborn sorcerer has gotten started on his mine. I had a bard NPC who the sorcerer had magically provided special effects for during a performance show up as one of the workers, eager to gain new experiences to help him create new stories. The player of the sorcerer gave a kind of impressive bullshit speech to the bard about how opening up the earth will open him up to life as a whole that I kind of wish I had recorded.
The dwarf bard/cleric participated in religious services alongside a pacifistic dwarf priestess. At one point they met a gnoll who wanted to learn how to be good and suppress his murderous impulses. The dwarf's player was very taken by the gnoll. A group of goblins looking to kidnap the dwarves and take them to a hobgoblin base to serve as healers arrived, and the priestess urged the PC dwarf not to kill the goblins just as they both had counseled the gnoll. They escaped with a combination of diplomacy to convince a few goblins to leave, the priestess casting calm emotions to pacify all but one of the remaining goblins, and the gnoll rushing up to the last hostile one to intimidate it into leaving. The priestess also at one point cast remove curse to cure a kobold of kleptomania.
The shadar-kai monk competed in two pit fighting events. First was against a hot-headed dwarf guard whose uncle was afraid her actions could bring antagonism against the company they both work for. The monk toyed with her by outspeeding the dwarf with hit and run tactics, inspiring the furious warrior to throw both her handaxe and her battle axe in vain attempts to strike him. The dwarf bard/cleric PC was in attendance and attempted to heckle the dwarf guard, but the dwarf warrior shot her a glare that made the PC's blood run cold (natural 20 on Intimidate). Luckily, the distraction let the monk get a single blow with advantage before finishing the fight with an unarmed strike. The gnoll the dwarf PC befriended had his own match against a lizardfolk and won, successfully resisting the urge to kill the downed enemy (the player of the dwarf was extremely invested in the Wisdom save I had the gnoll make to resist killing his opponent). Next was the monk's turn to fight the gnoll; he ended up defeating the gnoll without taking a single hit.
Towards the end the monk awoke to find a mysterious package in his room. It held 50 platinum pieces and a note to have his curse removed. He went to the temple where the dwarf PC was working and had a modify memory spell undone by the dwarf priestess, revealing details he had forgotten about how he arrived in this place.
The kobold the dwarf priestess had earlier cured of kleptomania arrived at the dragonborn sorcerer's mine looking for honest work. His backpack tore apart soon after arriving, causing a large number of rocks to fall out. The kobold sheepishly explained that he likes feeling the weight on his back, even if he isn't compelled to steal anymore.
So now I have a number of possible hooks to introduce or expand on when the party finishes their downtime events early next session:
The shadar-kai monk now remembers he was supposed to go a ruined minotaur palace and also has in his possession a holy symbol of the minor demon lord Doresain the Ghoul King. The priestess who removed his curse told him he should consult a nearby temple of the Raven Queen.
The shadar-kai monk is tipped-off that his last opponent in the fighting pit is a troll. He must find a means to nullify its regeneration ability.
The dragonborn sorcerer's mining operation is not far from a hostile deep gnome enclave with connections to the Feywild's Underdark, as well as the ominously named Pit of Living Webs.
I'm currently planning for a duergar NPC to show up on the last day of the dwarf bard\cleric's religious service period to claim she wants to put an end to the slavery practiced at the nearby duergar hold and wants help fulfilling this task by staging a coup against her grandfather, the stronghold's leader. This duergar NPC reveals the location of a secret goblinkin hideout nearby that will soon be under siege by grells and goblinkin led by a brainwashed hobgoblin warlord. She says she wants to help the goblinkin hideout repel the attackers while also wiping out the hobgoblin leaders so that the goblins and bugbears can be free from their tyranny and one day receive gainful employment in the duergar hold under her leadership.
The mediator who buys slaves captured by the goblinkin to sell to the duergar is a dwarf who is the nephew of the leader of the mining company the dragonborn sorcerer has made a deal with.
The gnoll the dwarf bard/cleric befriended comes under attack by members of the lizardfolk clan whose representative he defeated.
The dwarf warrior the shadar-kai monk defeated quits her job to become the leader of a rival adventuring party with the aim of becoming stronger.
Quick rules question: The text for the troll's regeneration trait states that "the troll dies only if it starts its turn with 0 Hit Points and doesn't Regenerate." Does this imply that knocking a troll to 0 hp with regeneration inactive always kills a troll and that they can't instead be knocked unconscious at 0 hp like other creatures if regeneration is inactive? I ask because this changes the monk's challenge from "find a way to nullify the troll's regeneration" to "find a way to nullify the troll's regeneration but make sure the knock-out blow is made while regeneration is active."
It doesn't matter if the troll's regeneration heals it after the knock-out blow. According to the rules of the fighting pit even if the troll is only down for six seconds it has lost.
To clarify, this also going to be a smarter than average, yet weaker than average troll who is mainly using the fight to promote his business as a food vendor. Until he gets down to less than thirty hit points he'll be using a club and a big fish as weapons rather than the normal claws and bite.
Hexmage-PA on
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
So now I have a number of possible hooks to introduce or expand on when the party finishes their downtime events early next session:
The shadar-kai monk now remembers he was supposed to go a ruined minotaur palace and also has in his possession a holy symbol of the minor demon lord Doresain the Ghoul King. The priestess who removed his curse told him he should consult a nearby temple of the Raven Queen.
The shadar-kai monk is tipped-off that his last opponent in the fighting pit is a troll. He must find a means to nullify its regeneration ability.
The dragonborn sorcerer's mining operation is not far from a hostile deep gnome enclave with connections to the Feywild's Underdark, as well as the ominously named Pit of Living Webs.
I'm currently planning for a duergar NPC to show up on the last day of the dwarf bard\cleric's religious service period to claim she wants to put an end to the slavery practiced at the nearby duergar hold and wants help fulfilling this task by staging a coup against her grandfather, the stronghold's leader. This duergar NPC reveals the location of a secret goblinkin hideout nearby that will soon be under siege by grells and goblinkin led by a brainwashed hobgoblin warlord. She says she wants to help the goblinkin hideout repel the attackers while also wiping out the hobgoblin leaders so that the goblins and bugbears can be free from their tyranny and one day receive gainful employment in the duergar hold under her leadership.
The gnoll the dwarf bard/cleric befriended comes under attack by members of the lizardfolk clan whose representative he defeated.
The dwarf warrior the shadar-kai monk defeated quits her job to become the leader of a rival adventuring party with the aim of becoming stronger.
Quick rules question: The text for the troll's regeneration trait states that "the troll dies only if it starts its turn with 0 Hit Points and doesn't Regenerate." Does this imply that knocking a troll to 0 hp with regeneration inactive always kills a troll and that they can't instead be knocked unconscious at 0 hp like other creatures if regeneration is inactive? I ask because this changes the monk's challenge from "find a way to nullify the troll's regeneration" to "find a way to nullify the troll's regeneration but make sure the knock-out blow is made while regeneration is active."
It doesn't matter if the troll's regeneration heals it after the knock-out blow. According to the rules of the fighting pit even if the troll is only down for six seconds it has lost.
To clarify, this also going to be a smarter than average, yet weaker than average troll who is mainly using the fight to promote his business as a food vendor. Until he gets down to less than thirty hit points he'll be using a club and a big fish as weapons rather than the normal claws and bite.
I'd rule it that if they are trying to just knock the troll out, if they knock it out with regeneration inactive, it stays knocked out until they heal it or 1d4 hours when it wakes up, just like subduing any other enemy without trying to kill it. If regeneration is active, it pops up on its turn.
So now I have a number of possible hooks to introduce or expand on when the party finishes their downtime events early next session:
The shadar-kai monk now remembers he was supposed to go a ruined minotaur palace and also has in his possession a holy symbol of the minor demon lord Doresain the Ghoul King. The priestess who removed his curse told him he should consult a nearby temple of the Raven Queen.
The shadar-kai monk is tipped-off that his last opponent in the fighting pit is a troll. He must find a means to nullify its regeneration ability.
The dragonborn sorcerer's mining operation is not far from a hostile deep gnome enclave with connections to the Feywild's Underdark, as well as the ominously named Pit of Living Webs.
I'm currently planning for a duergar NPC to show up on the last day of the dwarf bard\cleric's religious service period to claim she wants to put an end to the slavery practiced at the nearby duergar hold and wants help fulfilling this task by staging a coup against her grandfather, the stronghold's leader. This duergar NPC reveals the location of a secret goblinkin hideout nearby that will soon be under siege by grells and goblinkin led by a brainwashed hobgoblin warlord. She says she wants to help the goblinkin hideout repel the attackers while also wiping out the hobgoblin leaders so that the goblins and bugbears can be free from their tyranny and one day receive gainful employment in the duergar hold under her leadership.
The gnoll the dwarf bard/cleric befriended comes under attack by members of the lizardfolk clan whose representative he defeated.
The dwarf warrior the shadar-kai monk defeated quits her job to become the leader of a rival adventuring party with the aim of becoming stronger.
Quick rules question: The text for the troll's regeneration trait states that "the troll dies only if it starts its turn with 0 Hit Points and doesn't Regenerate." Does this imply that knocking a troll to 0 hp with regeneration inactive always kills a troll and that they can't instead be knocked unconscious at 0 hp like other creatures if regeneration is inactive? I ask because this changes the monk's challenge from "find a way to nullify the troll's regeneration" to "find a way to nullify the troll's regeneration but make sure the knock-out blow is made while regeneration is active."
It doesn't matter if the troll's regeneration heals it after the knock-out blow. According to the rules of the fighting pit even if the troll is only down for six seconds it has lost.
To clarify, this also going to be a smarter than average, yet weaker than average troll who is mainly using the fight to promote his business as a food vendor. Until he gets down to less than thirty hit points he'll be using a club and a big fish as weapons rather than the normal claws and bite.
I'd rule it that if they are trying to just knock the troll out, if they knock it out with regeneration inactive, it stays knocked out until they heal it or 1d4 hours when it wakes up, just like subduing any other enemy without trying to kill it. If regeneration is active, it pops up on its turn.
Okay, that would definitely be simplest.
On further reflection, I think I'm going to make this guy not a true troll at all, but a kind of weaker mutant. The temple of Torog nearby secretly has a series of caverns where they ritualistically torture captive trolls and attempt strange experiments on them, so maybe this guy is a mutant that is mechanically closer to an ogre, only has regeneration 5 instead of 10, and was taken from the torture chambers soon after birth and raised as a follower of Torog, completely unaware of the other trolls imprisoned close by.
BTW, did you guys know in LOTR "torog" is apparently one language's word for "troll"? Coincidence? It makes sense that a god of suffering and vitality would create creatures also capable of withstanding great suffering.
I'm thinking the cult of Torog also has a deal with a nearby ghoul and ghast population to occasionally hand over troll captives as food for the undead.
So I've been knocking around an idea for my Descent into Avernus campaign but I'm not sure if people would love it or hate it. My players are on the forums, so spoilers please. My players, do not read this! Everyone else, feedback/advice appreciated!
I've seen this idea on the internet before but I'd like to modify it a tad. I was thinking that when they first arrive in Avernus, instead of it being the blasted hellscape they're expecting, it looks like it originally looked. Green grass and verdant plains and a beautiful river, etc. And a very nice looking young man is standing there with a clipboard and he says "Hello! Welcome! May I have your name please?" If someone gives him their name, he goes down the line and asks each player in turn. Then, when they've either all given their names or refuse, he says "Very well! The deal is done. For your compensation, come see me at *place on the other side of Avernus they'll end up going to eventually.*" Then the illusion of the green grass fades away, revealing the blasted hellscape they were expecting and the nice young man is revealed to be a cambion, who, with a wicked smile, vanishes.
The players then realize they do not know their names anymore.
Should they head over to see the cambion, they can either demand a refund and get their name back, or they can exchange it for a magic item from the shop. The cambion is banking on the idea that there's no way they'll make it over to him, and a name is a little part of a soul he can use for power. Not enough to damn them or anything, but still, names are important.
Is this too fae like and not devilish enough? Are there any half-fey half devils I can use instead of a cambion? Is this just too mean? Seems like it might be a fun roleplaying thing and a good primer of "Do not trust anyone down here"
+1
gavindelThe reason all your softwareis brokenRegistered Userregular
edited October 2020
i think it is a bit abrupt without some foreshadowing. Typically we expect infernal pacts to be written. If merely giving a name is enough, you may be strongly disincentivizing any social interaction with demons at all.
I like the wordplay of it as a GM. As a player, honestly, I would be pretty annoyed.
So I've been knocking around an idea for my Descent into Avernus campaign but I'm not sure if people would love it or hate it. My players are on the forums, so spoilers please. My players, do not read this! Everyone else, feedback/advice appreciated!
I've seen this idea on the internet before but I'd like to modify it a tad. I was thinking that when they first arrive in Avernus, instead of it being the blasted hellscape they're expecting, it looks like it originally looked. Green grass and verdant plains and a beautiful river, etc. And a very nice looking young man is standing there with a clipboard and he says "Hello! Welcome! May I have your name please?" If someone gives him their name, he goes down the line and asks each player in turn. Then, when they've either all given their names or refuse, he says "Very well! The deal is done. For your compensation, come see me at *place on the other side of Avernus they'll end up going to eventually.*" Then the illusion of the green grass fades away, revealing the blasted hellscape they were expecting and the nice young man is revealed to be a cambion, who, with a wicked smile, vanishes.
The players then realize they do not know their names anymore.
Should they head over to see the cambion, they can either demand a refund and get their name back, or they can exchange it for a magic item from the shop. The cambion is banking on the idea that there's no way they'll make it over to him, and a name is a little part of a soul he can use for power. Not enough to damn them or anything, but still, names are important.
Is this too fae like and not devilish enough? Are there any half-fey half devils I can use instead of a cambion? Is this just too mean? Seems like it might be a fun roleplaying thing and a good primer of "Do not trust anyone down here"
I think that has the potential to be a quest in itself. That would be serious business problems that my players would immediately set out to rectify so I'd approach it in one of two ways:
1) if your players are gonna have to adventure for some time to get to the cambrion's place and recover their names, the stakes need to be higher and low pain should be involved. Adverse effects need to happen, like occasional disadvantage on rolls because the demon is harming them by using their name for his own shit. This ties into your concern about things being too fae - I think you're correct and this is more "tricksy" and less "evil". Going with the high-stakes approach, I'd make this a sort of 'fuck you, your shit is mine now, I dare you to come get it back lmao peace out" kind of thing. I'd have following consequences in the future, where their names were used as the key to a curse or something and they encounter the people who the cambrion harmed, people who have obviously negative reactions to hearing their names.
2) if they can resolve this in a session, make it higher, more specific pain. Disadvantage on all int- or wis-based checks for the duration. Give them some motivation beyond the RP to hightail it over to the place where you want them to be, then offer this deal to them: live with it, or take an item in exchange for a permanent -1 to some ability. Item oughta be fucking cursed as well, in some very obscure way they'll have to go on a quest to remove. Have the cambrion fashion their names into some brimstone tokens and that's what they get back, then have to figure out how to uncurse or break the token to relearn their names. Other resolution - kill the cambrion or steal back the name tokens or find some other deal.
I'd play the theme as less "everyone is untrustworthy" and more "everyone actively will lie and deceive to fuck you over for their own profit or maybe just for the sheer hell of it, and they literally do not give a fuck how it makes the victim feel at all".
The cruelty is the point. That'd be the catchphrase.
I think it is a bit abrupt without some foreshadowing. Typically we expect infernal pacts to be written. If merely giving a name is enough, you may be strongly disincentivizing any social interaction with demons at all.
I like the wordplay of it as a GM. As a player, honestly, I would be pretty annoyed.
So perhaps a
"Great, now if you could just sign here? It's all very standard, boilerplate, I'm sure you understand. Very standard." kind of thing. And then if the players actually stop to read it, they'll see the terms laid out fairly cleanly and they can decide if they want to do that or not. After all, they get to pick a magic item! And then if they do end up signing, hoping for that magic item, they may also have to deal with something like spool mentioned, very occasional minor issues. Maybe not strict disadvantage, but roleplaying little twinges of something going wrong, the feeling that somewhere, something is twisting in a way that it shouldn't.
+2
webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
I think it is a bit abrupt without some foreshadowing. Typically we expect infernal pacts to be written. If merely giving a name is enough, you may be strongly disincentivizing any social interaction with demons at all.
I like the wordplay of it as a GM. As a player, honestly, I would be pretty annoyed.
So perhaps a
"Great, now if you could just sign here? It's all very standard, boilerplate, I'm sure you understand. Very standard." kind of thing. And then if the players actually stop to read it, they'll see the terms laid out fairly cleanly and they can decide if they want to do that or not. After all, they get to pick a magic item! And then if they do end up signing, hoping for that magic item, they may also have to deal with something like spool mentioned, very occasional minor issues. Maybe not strict disadvantage, but roleplaying little twinges of something going wrong, the feeling that somewhere, something is twisting in a way that it shouldn't.
I would also write up the actual contract, as long as none of your players are hardcore rules lawyers/actual lawyers. It can be fun to give them something to actually read. They can still roll checks to catch any weird things their player would realize but they wouldn't.
I think it is a bit abrupt without some foreshadowing. Typically we expect infernal pacts to be written. If merely giving a name is enough, you may be strongly disincentivizing any social interaction with demons at all.
I like the wordplay of it as a GM. As a player, honestly, I would be pretty annoyed.
So perhaps a
"Great, now if you could just sign here? It's all very standard, boilerplate, I'm sure you understand. Very standard." kind of thing. And then if the players actually stop to read it, they'll see the terms laid out fairly cleanly and they can decide if they want to do that or not. After all, they get to pick a magic item! And then if they do end up signing, hoping for that magic item, they may also have to deal with something like spool mentioned, very occasional minor issues. Maybe not strict disadvantage, but roleplaying little twinges of something going wrong, the feeling that somewhere, something is twisting in a way that it shouldn't.
I would also write up the actual contract, as long as none of your players are hardcore rules lawyers/actual lawyers. It can be fun to give them something to actually read. They can still roll checks to catch any weird things their player would realize but they wouldn't.
That's a good idea! We do have one person who is playing a lawyer. They're a cleric of Tyr and also a barrister in Baldur's Gate!
If you give them the actual contact they’re less likely to sign. If you have the devil obscure the contract then they’re more likely to sign. Fundamentally you want to get the players to sign because it’s a hook. Or you need to make sure that the players are noticing a deception
A couple of notes
consider the rules of a demon contract. How does it have to be set up? Does it need blood? Can it be verbal only? Do terms need to be clearly explained? With mystical contracts like this these are sometimes good requirements.
Here is how I would handle it
1) the devil has cast major illusion but this can be broken if the players move enough to get outside of its influence. Don’t think the devil can cast the huge terrain illusion but they would if they could.
2) the devil lays out the terms explicitly. “Welcome to avernus. All visitors here may take a single magic item. But I must take your name and get your signature to ensure that you’ve not been a visitor here before. It’s a one time deal, all very boilerplate.
3) the quill, as it’s writing, would draw blood from the players. “The ink is a shining crimson. As you put the pen down you feel your fingers, they are wet. It is blood, the same crimson as the ink drying on the page”
@SniperGuy meant to at you for the above post. Sniper guys players do not read the spoiler
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Just did my biggest hit ever in D&D. Cone of cold for 36 damage, 12 creatures failed and two saved. 468 damage! Killed all the ones that failed. Fuck yea! Went from Oh shit encounter to ok we might have this. We're still fighting though, lets see what happens!
I'm reasonably happy with my totally overpowered list of minor feats, it's not finished because I only make things for classes that someone is playing but eh
Yeah yeah I make monsters have cool shit they can do too to compensate
edit: this has been so popular with my players they've been stealing it for the games they're in too
override367 on
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
edited October 2020
Hot damn we won. Between a spherical wall of force, the cone of cold and a well timed portend to cause a mega enemy to fail its attack, I think I was the MVP this battle. Feels good being a god wizard.
I'm reasonably happy with my totally overpowered list of minor feats, it's not finished because I only make things for classes that someone is playing but eh
I'm reasonably happy with my totally overpowered list of minor feats, it's not finished because I only make things for classes that someone is playing but eh
Yeah yeah I make monsters have cool shit they can do too to compensate
edit: this has been so popular with my players they've been stealing it for the games they're in too
Fuck these are good.
an important note is that a the descriptions aren't like, complete, if the feat is actually picked the player will get the full wording not just "-like the druid wildshape ability" or whatever
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I'm recruiting for one!
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YAYAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAY!!
then stand back and watch the pewpew
Birdman can already fly, so any feat besides Mobile or Tavern Brawler is probably OK. Something that might encourage them to mix things up, like sentinel or mace slayer could be good.
War Caster is always great for a cleric since it can make them a lot stickier. But prodigy (XGE normally restricted against Kenku) could work well making them a lot more Kenku’y with the expertise.
Flames is... kinda weak for a sorcerer. The reroll is nice but sorcerers already get empower and empower is better. Elemental Adept (Fire) is probably a better fit as it ensures that the tieflings hellish rebuke has staying power/use in all fights. Alternately Magic Initiate is a really good option for any Mage since it lessens the cantrip pressure which is a big deal for a lot of characters.
Also, our group has been madly chatting over our groupchat about how the Paladin got triggered (which, of course, its Ravenloft) and lead us on a fool crusade in Vallaki when we, especially him, were in DESPERATE need of a long rest. Face first into SIX! Vampire Spawn as spent 4th level characters. Only a desperate globe of Darkness from my hexblade and the urgings to run the fuck away saved us from a (totally deserved) TPK. We also burned down the coffin makers entire business and home with liberal uses of alchemists fire, dragonborn breath paired with oil flasks, and firebolts out the wazoo as we made a mad dash out the building, barring every door behind us in our haste to GTFO.
There have been a lot of in-character harsh words for our Paladin in the inn afterwards.
EDIT: Our DM also just let us know about all of the choice loot we missed out on with a mad cackle. The jerk.
In my Tyranny of Dragons campaign, we managed to talk our way through most of a chapter and avoid a lot of encounters by nipping round the back of one of the main buildings, so the entirety of Level 6 happened within the span of one session
I went from being a little annoyed at having to figure out the rules for what the player wants to do to being interested in figuring out how much wealth the local establishment owners have, how many people have trafficked with devils for money, and what precautions the wealthy are taking against the possibility the wizard tries to exploit them through enchantment or force. I also went ahead and jacked all the prices up for lifestyle expenses and magic items, plus the mine is going to have to pay a tax to bring in product.
Finding a lucrative mining location is also going to be unexpectedly easy for the player, as supernatural forces are at work behind the scenes.
might be worth checking out Strongholds and Followers by Matt Colville.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
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The DMG says, for example, an outpost should cost 50 to per day, whereas AI puts the cost of an outpost at 250 per month. AI also assumes a very low number of employees whereas the DMG says you'll need 20 skilled hirelings and 40 untrained ones.
I can also recommend grain into gold. It covers all the bases in a d&d-esque world. Magic is always gonna ruin whatever you're doing.
Figuring this stuff out had the side benefit of making me think more about the economics and the business owners of the setting. For example, I've now decided there's a toll to even enter the central cavern where most of the businesses and nicer homes are. This means there are a lot of poor squatters in the ruins nearby who can't afford to get in. Perhaps there are other entrepreneurs in the surrounding areas looking to hire?
Yea, Acq Inc really leans into shitty intern culture and it wants you to be a shitty boss. I've been running the pre-built adventure in it and its a lot of fun but I've stayed away a bit from the unpaid intern stuff. They've got employees but they are actually paid and provide services.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
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sorta, except it feels like wizards lets them be successful with it.
I mean they have a lich running weapons development, can't be all red ink.
The dragonborn sorcerer has gotten started on his mine. I had a bard NPC who the sorcerer had magically provided special effects for during a performance show up as one of the workers, eager to gain new experiences to help him create new stories. The player of the sorcerer gave a kind of impressive bullshit speech to the bard about how opening up the earth will open him up to life as a whole that I kind of wish I had recorded.
The dwarf bard/cleric participated in religious services alongside a pacifistic dwarf priestess. At one point they met a gnoll who wanted to learn how to be good and suppress his murderous impulses. The dwarf's player was very taken by the gnoll. A group of goblins looking to kidnap the dwarves and take them to a hobgoblin base to serve as healers arrived, and the priestess urged the PC dwarf not to kill the goblins just as they both had counseled the gnoll. They escaped with a combination of diplomacy to convince a few goblins to leave, the priestess casting calm emotions to pacify all but one of the remaining goblins, and the gnoll rushing up to the last hostile one to intimidate it into leaving. The priestess also at one point cast remove curse to cure a kobold of kleptomania.
The shadar-kai monk competed in two pit fighting events. First was against a hot-headed dwarf guard whose uncle was afraid her actions could bring antagonism against the company they both work for. The monk toyed with her by outspeeding the dwarf with hit and run tactics, inspiring the furious warrior to throw both her handaxe and her battle axe in vain attempts to strike him. The dwarf bard/cleric PC was in attendance and attempted to heckle the dwarf guard, but the dwarf warrior shot her a glare that made the PC's blood run cold (natural 20 on Intimidate). Luckily, the distraction let the monk get a single blow with advantage before finishing the fight with an unarmed strike. The gnoll the dwarf PC befriended had his own match against a lizardfolk and won, successfully resisting the urge to kill the downed enemy (the player of the dwarf was extremely invested in the Wisdom save I had the gnoll make to resist killing his opponent). Next was the monk's turn to fight the gnoll; he ended up defeating the gnoll without taking a single hit.
Towards the end the monk awoke to find a mysterious package in his room. It held 50 platinum pieces and a note to have his curse removed. He went to the temple where the dwarf PC was working and had a modify memory spell undone by the dwarf priestess, revealing details he had forgotten about how he arrived in this place.
The kobold the dwarf priestess had earlier cured of kleptomania arrived at the dragonborn sorcerer's mine looking for honest work. His backpack tore apart soon after arriving, causing a large number of rocks to fall out. The kobold sheepishly explained that he likes feeling the weight on his back, even if he isn't compelled to steal anymore.
Quick rules question: The text for the troll's regeneration trait states that "the troll dies only if it starts its turn with 0 Hit Points and doesn't Regenerate." Does this imply that knocking a troll to 0 hp with regeneration inactive always kills a troll and that they can't instead be knocked unconscious at 0 hp like other creatures if regeneration is inactive? I ask because this changes the monk's challenge from "find a way to nullify the troll's regeneration" to "find a way to nullify the troll's regeneration but make sure the knock-out blow is made while regeneration is active."
It doesn't matter if the troll's regeneration heals it after the knock-out blow. According to the rules of the fighting pit even if the troll is only down for six seconds it has lost.
To clarify, this also going to be a smarter than average, yet weaker than average troll who is mainly using the fight to promote his business as a food vendor. Until he gets down to less than thirty hit points he'll be using a club and a big fish as weapons rather than the normal claws and bite.
I'd rule it that if they are trying to just knock the troll out, if they knock it out with regeneration inactive, it stays knocked out until they heal it or 1d4 hours when it wakes up, just like subduing any other enemy without trying to kill it. If regeneration is active, it pops up on its turn.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
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Okay, that would definitely be simplest.
On further reflection, I think I'm going to make this guy not a true troll at all, but a kind of weaker mutant. The temple of Torog nearby secretly has a series of caverns where they ritualistically torture captive trolls and attempt strange experiments on them, so maybe this guy is a mutant that is mechanically closer to an ogre, only has regeneration 5 instead of 10, and was taken from the torture chambers soon after birth and raised as a follower of Torog, completely unaware of the other trolls imprisoned close by.
BTW, did you guys know in LOTR "torog" is apparently one language's word for "troll"? Coincidence? It makes sense that a god of suffering and vitality would create creatures also capable of withstanding great suffering.
I'm thinking the cult of Torog also has a deal with a nearby ghoul and ghast population to occasionally hand over troll captives as food for the undead.
The players then realize they do not know their names anymore.
Should they head over to see the cambion, they can either demand a refund and get their name back, or they can exchange it for a magic item from the shop. The cambion is banking on the idea that there's no way they'll make it over to him, and a name is a little part of a soul he can use for power. Not enough to damn them or anything, but still, names are important.
Is this too fae like and not devilish enough? Are there any half-fey half devils I can use instead of a cambion? Is this just too mean? Seems like it might be a fun roleplaying thing and a good primer of "Do not trust anyone down here"
I like the wordplay of it as a GM. As a player, honestly, I would be pretty annoyed.
1) if your players are gonna have to adventure for some time to get to the cambrion's place and recover their names, the stakes need to be higher and low pain should be involved. Adverse effects need to happen, like occasional disadvantage on rolls because the demon is harming them by using their name for his own shit. This ties into your concern about things being too fae - I think you're correct and this is more "tricksy" and less "evil". Going with the high-stakes approach, I'd make this a sort of 'fuck you, your shit is mine now, I dare you to come get it back lmao peace out" kind of thing. I'd have following consequences in the future, where their names were used as the key to a curse or something and they encounter the people who the cambrion harmed, people who have obviously negative reactions to hearing their names.
2) if they can resolve this in a session, make it higher, more specific pain. Disadvantage on all int- or wis-based checks for the duration. Give them some motivation beyond the RP to hightail it over to the place where you want them to be, then offer this deal to them: live with it, or take an item in exchange for a permanent -1 to some ability. Item oughta be fucking cursed as well, in some very obscure way they'll have to go on a quest to remove. Have the cambrion fashion their names into some brimstone tokens and that's what they get back, then have to figure out how to uncurse or break the token to relearn their names. Other resolution - kill the cambrion or steal back the name tokens or find some other deal.
I'd play the theme as less "everyone is untrustworthy" and more "everyone actively will lie and deceive to fuck you over for their own profit or maybe just for the sheer hell of it, and they literally do not give a fuck how it makes the victim feel at all".
The cruelty is the point. That'd be the catchphrase.
So perhaps a
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
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That's a good idea! We do have one person who is playing a lawyer. They're a cleric of Tyr and also a barrister in Baldur's Gate!
A couple of notes
Here is how I would handle it
1) the devil has cast major illusion but this can be broken if the players move enough to get outside of its influence. Don’t think the devil can cast the huge terrain illusion but they would if they could.
2) the devil lays out the terms explicitly. “Welcome to avernus. All visitors here may take a single magic item. But I must take your name and get your signature to ensure that you’ve not been a visitor here before. It’s a one time deal, all very boilerplate.
3) the quill, as it’s writing, would draw blood from the players. “The ink is a shining crimson. As you put the pen down you feel your fingers, they are wet. It is blood, the same crimson as the ink drying on the page”
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
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If anyone is interested
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KchHJqegWNB07NA0kOpxbjr-AqEFXHclCaDBuzniX1c/edit?usp=sharing
Yeah yeah I make monsters have cool shit they can do too to compensate
edit: this has been so popular with my players they've been stealing it for the games they're in too
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
an important note is that a the descriptions aren't like, complete, if the feat is actually picked the player will get the full wording not just "-like the druid wildshape ability" or whatever