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Although it is mostly fluff, I wrote up a blog post on looking over various humanoid (not just the type) monsters in the 5th Edition MM/Volo's and imagining how they'd creatively map into the world of al-Qadim. I did this in part because of how one of the setting's unique ideas is having otherwise iconic "monstrous races" living peacefully among human society due to the unifying Law of the Loregiver. Another is that the Monstrous Races book (and its sequel) on the DM's Guild have playable race versions of just about all of them, which ties the mechanics in well with the setting fluff. And also because I like al-Qadim.
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Dec 25, 2018 07:14
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Libertad! posted:Although it is mostly fluff, I wrote up a blog post on looking over various humanoid (not just the type) monsters in the 5th Edition MM/Volo's and imagining how they'd creatively map into the world of al-Qadim. This is really cool and makes me want to read more about al-Qadim. I’ve only used FR, Eberron and homebrew settings.
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Dec 25, 2018 15:35
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Kaysette posted:This is really cool and makes me want to read more about al-Qadim. I’ve only used FR, Eberron and homebrew settings. For what its worth Al-Qadim was technically FR. (Along with Kara-Tur, Maztica, and the Hordelands stuff.)
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Dec 25, 2018 17:42
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Liquid Communism posted:I mean, it's not all that far off what a modern soldier carries, weight wise. A modern infantryman is often hauling 70-100lbs of poo poo into a fight. To be fair, modern infantry also aren’t expected to fight in melee combat on a regular basis.
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Dec 25, 2018 19:20
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Lucas Archer posted:To be fair, modern infantry also aren’t expected to fight in melee combat on a regular basis. Ye olde infantry had to carry a poo poo ton too
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Dec 26, 2018 01:40
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Encumbrance is dumb and boring. Only check it after the players get dumped into a deep body of water.
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Dec 26, 2018 02:30
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Thanks so much for the material maneuvers updates, those were a great addition to my current too railsy hotdq initial DM run. I also found some good "sane magic item price guides" you can probably Google (but I'll post if people want them) after I sold a potion of climbing for 1/10th cost, not knowing better. The CritRole people hosted a Christmas one shot called The Night Before Critmas that was really charming and especially fun at the end. I think I liked the last Crash Pandas better, but that's much less 5e-y and not in the holiday theme. Murray Crimmas, friends.
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Dec 26, 2018 03:16
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Glory to Italia!
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I wouldn't mind the exact link for that.
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Dec 26, 2018 07:20
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How does the thread feel about metal dice? I'm considering getting a set for my new players for Christmas (I won't see them until after New year's) but I've read a lot of people don't like them because they don't roll well. If the general consensus is "don't bother with them" then could I get some cool dive recommendations?
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Dec 26, 2018 07:43
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Instead of edition wars, can we have setting wars? Clearly, Eberron remains the greatest setting to ever grace these gygaxian pages.
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Dec 26, 2018 07:46
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Beast Pussy posted:How does the thread feel about metal dice? I'm considering getting a set for my new players for Christmas (I won't see them until after New year's) but I've read a lot of people don't like them because they don't roll well. If the general consensus is "don't bother with them" then could I get some cool dive recommendations? I have a couple pairs and I like them just fine. They roll okay, especially in a tray (like the foam bottomed case they came in) with a shallow angle of approach that isn't straight down. They are much heavier, though, which can help rolling sometimes, especially if you catch a d4 on an edge. That being said all dice are about personal preference and more is almost always better, imo. My only personal requirement is high contrast.
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Dec 26, 2018 07:51
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Beast Pussy posted:How does the thread feel about metal dice? They’re not great. They’re too heavy to get that bounce and roll you really want, and you absolutely must use a dice box when rolling them unless you want a hammered finish on your table. Even then, plan for a hammered finish as the dice inevitably bounce out of the box or are thrown badly and donk across the table anyways. If you want a nice dice set in a unique color for your players, Chessex is your go-to and everyone carries them. Most of the small companies like Easy Roller and Kinetic Gadgets seem to use the same supplier in China. If you want high precision stuff, the Gamescience dice are your go-to, but be warned that if you want a high contrast or metallic inked recess in the die number channels, it’s done with ink that reacts to your skin’s oils, so over time it will rub away. For my part, Craft Warehouse has some nested square wooden boxes that are a few bucks each. If you buy them and some cheap stain from the hardware store, fit it with a couple of stick-on or glue-on feet, a handle of some sort for the top half, and either cork or felt for the bottom, you can make dice trays for friends in about 1-2 hours each for about $15 if you spread the cost across 3-5 of them. I wish I had taken photos of the ones I did for some friends to share here, alas. However if you had questions, post here or PM me and I can get all sorts of specific with it.
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Dec 26, 2018 07:55
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Arthil posted:I wouldn't mind the exact link for that. Critmas: https://youtu.be/8zxeGydXY98 Crash Pandas: https://youtu.be/c9EP7jiVJnU Sane magic item prices: https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/3dzvsq/sane_magical_item_prices_now_in_convenient_pdf/ Prices are up for debate, obviously, but they seem fairly reasonable to my untrained eye. First comment says they're too cheap, though.
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Dec 26, 2018 07:56
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Beast Pussy posted:How does the thread feel about metal dice? I'm considering getting a set for my new players for Christmas (I won't see them until after New year's) but I've read a lot of people don't like them because they don't roll well. If the general consensus is "don't bother with them" then could I get some cool dive recommendations? I have no idea whatsoever how people roll dice such that they have trouble with metal dice. Metal dice roll fine and they look nice and they feel nice. You should buy them if you want functional dice that look and feel nice. Just don't roll them on a wood table that looks and feels nice if it's still supposed to be nice afterwards. Whatever else you end up with, definitely also get an extra large through fuckoff huge brass d20.
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Dec 26, 2018 10:45
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Yah metal dice are an excellent way to ding the gently caress out of your table. And IME tend to be super hard to read.
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Dec 26, 2018 12:03
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You can get metal dice that are easy to read. If I were home now I’d take a picture of some and try to remember where they’re from. I have a Dice Problem.
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Dec 26, 2018 13:15
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DJ Dizzy posted:Instead of edition wars, can we have setting wars? Clearly, Eberron remains the greatest setting to ever grace these gygaxian pages. ebberon's as bloated and heavy as the rest. i'll fight for points of light/nentir vale
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Dec 26, 2018 16:19
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DJ Dizzy posted:Instead of edition wars, can we have setting wars? Clearly, Eberron remains the greatest setting to ever grace these gygaxian pages. Al-Qadim
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Dec 26, 2018 16:25
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Dragonlance had playable dragonborn before it was cool, has a clear delineation of Good and Bad guys, was progressive enough to have strong women characters early into the genre, and most notably has a set-up that drives people towards Dungeons and Dragons as things to encounter and conquer.
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Dec 26, 2018 16:39
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Dragonlance is okay too.
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Dec 26, 2018 16:40
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Kender and Gully Dwarves, though.
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Dec 26, 2018 16:48
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Was there somewhere a link to a page (I think it was a Google doc) giving some consensus on house rules for 5e to improve standard issues? Like giving fighters champion+battlemaster, etc?
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Dec 26, 2018 17:59
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Giving Fighters both Champion+Battle Master archetypes combined does nothing to fix them, in a general sense.
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Dec 26, 2018 18:18
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Conspiratiorist posted:Giving Fighters both Champion+Battle Master archetypes combined does nothing to fix them, in a general sense. I wonder what a game with a "choose 3 archetypes in your class get all three benefits" game would play like.
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Dec 26, 2018 18:48
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DJ Dizzy posted:Instead of edition wars, can we have setting wars? Clearly, Eberron remains the greatest setting to ever grace these gygaxian pages. This is impossible to refute. I still never got Forgotten Realms. What's the allure? Metaplot? Most games I see in it don't use metaplot, and it can't be the map and nations, can it? edit: Planescape was amazing, but it never got a modern update. Still, Eberron was more fun. Planescape was always hard to have a game that justified the books that described it. Infinite Karma fucked around with this message at 18:57 on Dec 26, 2018 |
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Dec 26, 2018 18:55
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Toplowtech posted:What about giving them champion+battle master+Eldritch Knight archetypes? The problem with Fighters is, perhaps surprisingly, unrelated to how good they're at Fighting.
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Dec 26, 2018 18:56
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Toplowtech posted:What about giving them champion+battle master+Eldritch Knight archetypes? Fighter's problem isn't that he's not good enough at killing dudes (though making him better at killing dudes probably doesn't break anything)
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Dec 26, 2018 18:56
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Is there anything that could be done with the fighter to improve their narrative strength without implementing Battlemaster maneuvers or something similar? I like the idea of a simple class without huge ability or spell lists to sort through that would be a bit easier on new players who didn't want to dive into that kind of thing. I was thinking of picking out and modifying some of the Battlemaster abilities and giving them out at set levels, and in particular adding a couple of Hercules style "You can do impossible things" moves at mid-higher levels.
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Dec 26, 2018 18:56
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Enola Gay-For-Pay posted:Is there anything that could be done with the fighter to improve their narrative strength without implementing Battlemaster maneuvers or something similar? I like the idea of a simple class without huge ability or spell lists to sort through that would be a bit easier on new players who didn't want to dive into that kind of thing. I was thinking of picking out and modifying some of the Battlemaster abilities and giving them out at set levels, and in particular adding a couple of Hercules style "You can do impossible things" moves at mid-higher levels. Fighter Monster Hunter archetype (UA). Also, everyone should keep in mind that any buffs on Fighter totally poo poo on Barbarian/Ranger/Rogue. It's what I meant with "in general"; in a party with all casters you might need to shore up a poor Fighter player with items or abilities, but there isn't any kind of easy fix that works on most tables for this piece of poo poo system. Conspiratiorist fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Dec 26, 2018 |
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Dec 26, 2018 18:59
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Conspiratiorist posted:Fighter Monster Hunter archetype (UA). Yeah, improving Fighter requires that you begin with improvements to martial classes in general, which essentially means a complete reexamination of the system. Which is enough work that you might be better off finding a different system, as lame an answer as that is.
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Dec 26, 2018 19:48
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I'm finally getting by Bowbear Assassin together in AL and it feels so good. I gotta work my butt off to keep relevant sometimes, but getting to full RP taking 10 on a sniper shot to the boss to start the fight and having a 50+ damage alpha at level 5 is C H O I C E.
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Dec 26, 2018 19:54
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Enola Gay-For-Pay posted:Is there anything that could be done with the fighter to improve their narrative strength without implementing Battlemaster maneuvers or something similar? I like the idea of a simple class without huge ability or spell lists to sort through that would be a bit easier on new players who didn't want to dive into that kind of thing. I was thinking of picking out and modifying some of the Battlemaster abilities and giving them out at set levels, and in particular adding a couple of Hercules style "You can do impossible things" moves at mid-higher levels. I don't think D&D really needs these little brother classes if you make your newbies actually play levels 1-3. Even full casters are running with a limited suite, and the incremental nature of levelling up means you're not handed a 3 page spellbook without context. Rather than this obsession with simple classes I wish WotC would simply write their core books in a way that guides new players and DMs to learn the subtleties of the system by engaging with them. For instance the discussion on traps ITT wouldn't have happened if instead of assuming every table will have a 4 edition vet who knows how traps are ~*supposed*~ to work they had written the sections on traps for people who have never played.
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Dec 26, 2018 19:55
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Merge the fighter with the warlord that never was, which is to say, revive some of the AD&D perks fighters got. Give them something similar to the Rustic Hospitality feature that the folk hero background gets for free, and have that get stronger as they level up. Fighters are natural protagonists; they aren't magical weirdos like most classes, they aren't religious fanatics like paladins, they aren't dirty woodsmen like rangers, and aren't literal thieves like rogues, and so as you go up in level, more and more people trust and love you and are willing to help you. All a fighter has is their personal strength and their reputation, so give them that reputation. You could start it off pretty easy with an increasing boost to charisma skills (since fighters have no reason to have good charisma because of the mechanical dumbfuckery of ability scores (DTAS) this soothes over that) and add other perks to it as they hit higher levels. At lower levels fighters are just a bit better at connecting to others then most other classes are regardless of their actual charisma; after all, they're the one you could see yourself having a beer with. And if you're not playing a friendly fighter, people are just naturally gonna see you as the guy to absolutely not give poo poo to. By mid levels this is just something everyone knows. Think of it maybe as a sort of "passive diplomacy" or "passive intimidation" score, a natural threshold of "This man is your friend; he fights for FREEDOM" versus "Absolutely do not gently caress with that guy, are you kidding me?" And by higher levels, naturally, people are going to follow you to the gates of hell...or they're going to run away in terror at the grim sight of you entering the battlefield. And I need to be clear: this is not something the GM just vaguely keeps in mind, this is something you put into the actual mechanics.
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Dec 26, 2018 20:04
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Razorwired posted:I don't think D&D really needs these little brother classes if you make your newbies actually play levels 1-3. I'm currently working through a write-up on the Official Adventurer's League play through of Waterdeep Heist and the DM (who is one of the people writing the rules for AL) is absolutely infuriating with how he's handling new players. Not only does he get basic rules wrong (when the newbies have the right interpretation in the first place), but his choice to not guide players through how to play to the game is killing me. For instance, here's a bit from the first notable fight:
Overall, it was butts to watch and makes me mad, because it reinforces bad player and DM habits in what could have been a very good teaching session to start the program.
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Dec 26, 2018 20:11
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Toshimo posted:[List]
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Dec 26, 2018 20:47
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Infinite Karma posted:I still never got Forgotten Realms. What's the allure? Metaplot? Most games I see in it don't use metaplot, and it can't be the map and nations, can it? I think its Forgotten Realms working best as a toolbox. Deep lore coffers, accessible through various forms of media, but in a way that keeps players and DMs from feeling paralyzed by canon. Also, while other settings might be cooler, the traditional method of DMing means that the DM probably read all the cool lore and stylistic advice and his brain is dripping with all of the ingredients--he forgets that he has narrative assumptions the players don't have and fails to communicate all the cool things about the setting he loves. The DM pictures everything in cool fantasy pulp as he's running Eberron and inadvertently fails to describe any of that since he assumes the players share pulp-colored lenses. The more droll and basic Forgotten Realms (which btw has some end of the empire that provides a background for whatever class/race concept you have) lends to a greater collective understanding and everyone can participate at a deeper level easier. They associate those experiences with the setting and there you go; Forgotten Realms dominance continues. Basically, Forgotten Realms is the setting that works without homework and more likely for players to have had a resonant experience with.
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Dec 26, 2018 21:03
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Enola Gay-For-Pay posted:Is there anything that could be done with the fighter to improve their narrative strength without implementing Battlemaster maneuvers or something similar? I like the idea of a simple class without huge ability or spell lists to sort through that would be a bit easier on new players who didn't want to dive into that kind of thing. I was thinking of picking out and modifying some of the Battlemaster abilities and giving them out at set levels, and in particular adding a couple of Hercules style "You can do impossible things" moves at mid-higher levels. More dudes. You are more dudes. At level 1 you are one dude and at level 3 you are a 2 dudes and at level 20 you are a platoon of conans. You take up more space on the battlefield, and you can choose the shape of that space, and make your attacks from any part of that space. You get a bonus to do any in combat stuff that a bunch of dudes could do better than one dude, and also some rules about what makes sense in fiction that single characters can't do (eg, grapple 4 dudes at once and still get all your attacks). Out of combat, you solve a bunch of the "but but but my realism" type stuff because 5 brawny dudes working together can do way more than 5 times what one (irl) dude can do no matter how tough he is. I've worked up a couple of relatively complicated versions, but it could also be almost that simple.
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Dec 26, 2018 21:30
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Toshimo posted:I'm currently working through a write-up on the Official Adventurer's League play through of Waterdeep Heist and the DM (who is one of the people writing the rules for AL) is absolutely infuriating with how he's handling new players. Not only does he get basic rules wrong (when the newbies have the right interpretation in the first place), but his choice to not guide players through how to play to the game is killing me. God this sounds absolutely horrible. How is it someone in charge of writing rules for their Big Thing to make the game more accessible to people with time constraints etc be so incompetent at it? I've never DMed before, even though I'd like to, and I know I could handle all the stuff you described better.
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Dec 26, 2018 22:32
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Arthil posted:God this sounds absolutely horrible. Mike Mearls, in a session that was supposed to advertise the game, gated an adventure behind a check that nobody passed and then had them just keep on rolling until somone rolled high enough to be allowed to continue playing D&D. So yeah. The answer is that "...and a demonstrable fuckup was put in charge" has been fairly constant for long enough that it's tradition now.
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Dec 26, 2018 23:14
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piL posted:I think its Forgotten Realms working best as a toolbox. Deep lore coffers, accessible through various forms of media, but in a way that keeps players and DMs from feeling paralyzed by canon. Also, while other settings might be cooler, the traditional method of DMing means that the DM probably read all the cool lore and stylistic advice and his brain is dripping with all of the ingredients--he forgets that he has narrative assumptions the players don't have and fails to communicate all the cool things about the setting he loves. I guess I don't get this part. I end up reading the FR setting book, as both a player and a DM, and this hasn't been my experience. Everything being generic and basic seems to mean that only the things that come up at the table (not things you understand from the book) are worth mentioning, because people from the Sword Coast or the Shining South or the Dalelands or Waterdeep really aren't very different. If you aren't doing the homework, how is anything from the setting resonating with anyone? Eberron is cool because of the pulp feeling, but mainly because you can look at people from different nations, or different guilds, or different experiences from the Last War, and they do have significant differences. A halfling from the city is going to be very different from a halfling hunter-gatherer from the open plains. An elf ancestor-worshipper is very different from a mainland elf.
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Dec 26, 2018 23:19
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