D&D V6 - Edition jokes don't really make sense anymore - Games

[QUOTE=RearAdmiral;51984596]That's only beccause cat pun names weren't available[/QUOTE] Setzer is a subtle cat joke, though: [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Setzer"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Setzer [/URL]But if there's one thing I expected weebs to vote for, it'd be the one that's actually a Sailor Moon reference.

[QUOTE=GLH;51983817]I need a name for my cat familiar, please help me choose. [url]http://www.strawpoll.me/12566135[/url][/QUOTE] Chairman Meow or bust man.

how can you poll names for a cat familiar and not include Salem

[QUOTE=Rats808;51984949]Yesterday in my Unknown Armies game, I sent the whole group to [t]http://i.imgur.com/P836cZ7.png[/t] [editline]19th March 2017[/editline] :dead:[/QUOTE] Holy fuck its even bigger than last time

Our group of players in the multi-DM game have become fairly wealthy and started spending their gold on strongholds and businesses. So much so that what was originally a small hamlet with walls is starting to resemble a fief or barony. Our Rogue for example wanted to make a smuggling ring or thieves guild, but realized the town had no port despite being located about 3 hours away from the ocean. So he spent the gold to acquire the land and start construction of a Trading Post + Dock using the remains of a previously destroyed harbor which will now serve as both a dock and a base of operations for his smuggling ring.

Second session of Dark Heresy came to an abrupt end on Sunday. Low level party facing off against a cultist and a couple of servitors. Should have been an easy mid game fight. Then the psyker rolls badly and turns into a daemonhost which proceeds to TPK. Never even made it to the cool stuff I had planned

[QUOTE=Ferrous;51990683]Second session of Dark Heresy came to an abrupt end on Sunday. Low level party facing off against a cultist and a couple of servitors. Should have been an easy mid game fight. Then the psyker rolls badly and turns into a daemonhost which proceeds to TPK. Never even made it to the cool stuff I had planned[/QUOTE] "Never even made it to the cool stuff i had planned" high lethality systems in a nutshell

[QUOTE=Ferrous;51990683]Second session of Dark Heresy came to an abrupt end on Sunday. Low level party facing off against a cultist and a couple of servitors. Should have been an easy mid game fight. Then the psyker rolls badly and turns into a daemonhost which proceeds to TPK. Never even made it to the cool stuff I had planned[/QUOTE] My character almost did something similar (nearly summoned a plaguebearer), but the GM ruled the person next to me could try and knock me out before I could cast, forgoing their action and reactions the following turn. Thankfully they succeeded, though in our next session I'm gonna get stung with some corruption.

[QUOTE=Ferrous;51990683]Second session of Dark Heresy came to an abrupt end on Sunday. Low level party facing off against a cultist and a couple of servitors. Should have been an easy mid game fight. Then the psyker rolls badly and turns into a daemonhost which proceeds to TPK. Never even made it to the cool stuff I had planned[/QUOTE] Literally the poster example of every Dark Heresy game.

Good news for non-English DnD players. [url]http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/localization[/url] [quote]The first translations will be French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Polish, and Portuguese, with more to follow.[/quote]

So I'm working on a five room dungeon and need some help nailing the formula and what will be in it. The central gimmick as a private dwarven vault, long abandoned and mostly run on automation. Here are the rooms. 5e ofc. R1: Guardian; A Stone Golem oversees the doorway and will allow entrance if the players make it clear they're making a deposit or withdrawing an item. R2: Roleplay; A Spectator and Several Helmed Horrors are working in a central lobby constantly reviewing clerical information. The Spectator is stir crazy and is frantically willing to believe the players are new arrivals just to assure itself it hasn't been forgotten. It will attack if the players don't oblige its fantasy. R3: Red Herring; A long hallway with several locked doors containing private treasure vault. There are no keys, but attempting to pick them is viable. Picking them however raises the DC for failure on the other doors, and two failures to pick cause the entire dungeon to collapse. R4: Big Climax/Boss Fight; Need help. Was thinking of some kind of powerful creature. The implication being that THIS was what was being housed here. R5: The Twist; After slaying the beast the dungeon a programmed illusion of the dwarven owner appears and notes that since they've managed to best his failsafe then they've proven themselves more worthy of his treasure than him. This leads to either a high level treasure room or, as I've been considering, 3 draws out of the deck of many things.

I am admittedly an observer, rather than an actual player of D&D, but it seems like kind of a kick in the teeth to go through a whole (and very cool) dungeon to get draws from That Fucker Deck That Kills You.

Today in my LotFP game, the party met: [highlight][B][I]THE GOD THAT CRAWLS[/I][/B][/highlight] [t]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5e9Tn7Rwp0I/VkVdSVhR-zI/AAAAAAAABIU/0p8FBlEtR_Q/s1600/GodThatCrawlsPoster2.jpg[/t] (It's a slime monster that lives in the catacombs beneath a church.) And then after it chased them for a couple of rounds, one of the players had to leave to deal with family shit, so we stopped with them trying to decide whether to stand and fight or just run from the god.

[QUOTE=Ogopogo;51992331]Good news for non-English DnD players. [url]http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/localization[/url][/QUOTE] i hope they make the pdfs available for purchase. i know this probably isn't gonna happen because piracy, but man... do you know how expensive these books are going to be for us brazilians? they're gonna be at least 3-4 times the original US value.

[QUOTE=Vitisus;51992701]I am admittedly an observer, rather than an actual player of D&D, but it seems like kind of a kick in the teeth to go through a whole (and very cool) dungeon to get draws from That Fucker Deck That Kills You.[/QUOTE] Your observation is mostly spot on, however The Deck of Getting Dicked is just one of those things that's sort of iconic enough that some people are willing to draw a card from and risk a character for just so that they can say they did it. The game we run as a group also has the luxury of having a fairly loose narrative so the bigger dangerous of the deck are slightly mitigated. It won't crush the campaign if Zaltair the Asshole Cleric gets sent to the shadow realm or Ulf the Dwarven Barbarian has to fight the Avatar of Death.

That whole "you are more worthy of my treasure than me" shit seems really dumb honestly. The spectator idea seems cool though.

[QUOTE=Glent;51993211]That whole "you are more worthy of my treasure than me" shit seems really dumb honestly. The spectator idea seems cool though.[/QUOTE] Fair point, it is pretty lame at face value. I wanted to play with the idea of the Dwarf intentionally mentioning he'd try to "find" whoever took his treasure, sort of as if he was some insane old billionaire who had a very warped sense of honor and viewed the whole death trap vault he'd made as some kind of elaborate test or game. Something akin to the antagonist from 'The Most Dangerous Game'. Mostly though I couldn't justify the idea of the treasure vault unlocking or becoming visible once the guardian was defeated and I felt a clearly marked door that said "TREASURE ROOM HERE" felt too in line with what I normally do. Also, I've been sitting on the idea of turning one of the Merchant characters we have into a Rakshasa. I may just have the final room be a Shield Guardian whose amulet is possessed by the Rakshasa, who asked the party to escort him to this old fabled vault.

Y'know the longer I play games, the more convinced I become that dungeons just suck ass. Like, in general. I don't think I've ever honestly enjoyed doing a dungeon even half as much as just doing stuff in a plain ol' town or city or somesuch. Whether it's Pen and Paper or a video game or whatever. Which really sucks, because the vast majority of actual adventuring feels like it's always in a dungeon or an area designed like a dungeon. Like I get that it makes sense from the perspective of a GM or a game designer because it's a super easy way to make sure that the players encounter everything you want them to in exactly the order you want them to if you just set up the area as one long corridor that goes from treasure chest to treasure chest, combat to combat, puzzle to puzzle, but from the perspective of the player it feels really restrictive and boring to be linearly strung along from one encounter to the next until you get the shiny at the end and just fuck off somewhere else to do it all over again. I really appreciate the (in my experience) rare DM that can break away from this shit and let the bulk of adventuring be done in environments that are cool and open to interaction beyond just the gimmick of the current room, I wish I got that kind of DM more often. [editline]21st March 2017[/editline] Just after actually reading the latest posts I realized that this might have been poorly timed and come off as an attack on the guy asking for advice, I totally didn't mean it to, it's just an honest coincidence I swear :v:

So, in my 3.5 campaign, I've established that there exist elemental crystals that pack enough energy into a fist sized crystal that it would destroy a couple of blocks if it were not handled properly (also wear gloves when handling). Today, my players encountered a cave that was a giant geode of the things and a person that was threatening to recreate a world wrecking event was in there. Instead of talking to the man, they instead took a crystal that was lying around, summoned a skeleton and commanded it to throw it into the cave at other crystals after they ran away. Exactly as I expected. The resulting energy blast got channeled into a beam by the walls of the cave and cut a city in half. The inside of the cave was scoured clean and there was no trace of the man (because he is turbo dead). Magical nukes are not a toy.

[quote]Fuck dungeons[/quote] See, my gripe with dungeons is that, if you were competent, you'd have them more advantageous for your side than a castle. -Hobgoblins are inaccessible and are shooting out of arrow slits from multiple angles. You need to get through the locked and fortified gate while being shot at. Exta defenses like burning oil is at the gate. -The room full of poison gas or evil mold or whatever also holds a lot of undead in, who aren't bothered by the Toxin or the cold. -Here's an underwater section you weren't expecting. -The path to the BBEG/Treasure room is not obvious, and you might miss it entirely. -The BBEG doesn't throw away his goons so that he can be a boss fight, he consolidates his forces when he recognizes the attack. -Beholders are ok, but dragon lairs need to take more advantage of how they can fly (or burrow/swim/climb) -you'll probably have more than one way in (not just to escape, but for suplies, since you could siege a dungeon just like you could a castle), and fill each way with many things. If the BBEG is in trouble, they should just be able to start moving through the second/third path, which you have to fight through and will almost never get to them before they escape. And that... might not be fun. I mean, I'd enjoy getting creatively evil in making one, and I rather like stuff like castle defences and whatnot. But from the player's perspective? Unsatisfying unless they get really clever.

[QUOTE=The Jack;51995072] But from the player's perspective? Unsatisfying unless they get really clever.[/QUOTE] in my case my players are so clever i have to hire an actual dragon to build my dungeons.

[QUOTE=Rats808;51992766]Today in my LotFP game, the party met: [highlight][B][I]THE GOD THAT CRAWLS[/I][/B][/highlight] [t]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5e9Tn7Rwp0I/VkVdSVhR-zI/AAAAAAAABIU/0p8FBlEtR_Q/s1600/GodThatCrawlsPoster2.jpg[/t] (It's a slime monster that lives in the catacombs beneath a church.) And then after it chased them for a couple of rounds, one of the players had to leave to deal with family shit, so we stopped with them trying to decide whether to stand and fight or just run from the god.[/QUOTE] oh shit thats what it looks like? wish I hadn't had to leave

[QUOTE=Geikkamir;51994255]Y'know the longer I play games, the more convinced I become that dungeons just suck ass. Like, in general. I don't think I've ever honestly enjoyed doing a dungeon even half as much as just doing stuff in a plain ol' town or city or somesuch. Whether it's Pen and Paper or a video game or whatever. Which really sucks, because the vast majority of actual adventuring feels like it's always in a dungeon or an area designed like a dungeon. Like I get that it makes sense from the perspective of a GM or a game designer because it's a super easy way to make sure that the players encounter everything you want them to in exactly the order you want them to if you just set up the area as one long corridor that goes from treasure chest to treasure chest, combat to combat, puzzle to puzzle, but from the perspective of the player it feels really restrictive and boring to be linearly strung along from one encounter to the next until you get the shiny at the end and just fuck off somewhere else to do it all over again. I really appreciate the (in my experience) rare DM that can break away from this shit and let the bulk of adventuring be done in environments that are cool and open to interaction beyond just the gimmick of the current room, I wish I got that kind of DM more often. [editline]21st March 2017[/editline] Just after actually reading the latest posts I realized that this might have been poorly timed and come off as an attack on the guy asking for advice, I totally didn't mean it to, it's just an honest coincidence I swear :v:[/QUOTE] Is it rare? Dunno I mean, to be fair I mostly play other tabletops than D&D but even when I do play D&D or Pathfinder it's not too often that we end up digging into a proper dungeon.

I like dungeons in concept, but in practice... it's very much a gameplay heavy concept, and I get VERY fatigued by that when there's no breaks or real roleplay fuckery between encounters. I love them as an exploring experience but when just used for efficient encounter spacing it's... less than ideal

I just hate this taking breaks to sleep or camp in dungeons. That just seems so unreasonable, but 5e is even more geared toward it than previous versions.

[QUOTE=Jrose14;51995640]oh shit thats what it looks like? wish I hadn't had to leave[/QUOTE] It isn't actually [I]quite[/I] that grotesque, but you would be able to see face-like shapes sliding around on its surface in the flickering light of your torch. :dog: That is the official art for what the god looks like though. :ok:

I like dungeons a lot but I think they require a a degree of pacing to be made interesting. Most people just design them as combat slogs which can get boring very quickly if the entire group isin't on the same page. IMO a dungeon crawl works well if its built like this (with examples): 1. Combat. - Kobolds at the entrance. 2. Puzzel. - An idiom converted into a simple visual puzzle. 3. Combat. - More Kobolds, this time using the environment to their advantage with some tougher variants bolstering them. 4. Roleplay. - A Spectator, Ghost, or pack of Myconids are guarding the door but are willing to talk. 5. Climax. - A pair of Minotaur Skeletons are still guarding the Shrine to Orcus, they regenerate HP unless the gem on the wall is broken. You can sprinkle in other small encounters along the way in other rooms, like Nothics and Water Weirds, but this core formula should provide each player with enough individual input where they won't step on each others toes. Combat players won't try to murder hobo everything if they've gotten their rocks off and roleplay characters will feel satisfied they got to charm their way past some monsters. [QUOTE=Pax;51995984]I just hate this taking breaks to sleep or camp in dungeons. That just seems so unreasonable, but 5e is even more geared toward it than previous versions.[/QUOTE] For sure send some low level monsters to ambush them. If they're just resting for the sake of the wizards spellslots you could deny them the long rest and give them only a short rest by the time the Goblins show up, or have the monsters arrive at the tail end of the 8 hours just to kick off half the hp they healed in a surprise round. Even sleeping outside a dungeon risks them getting ambushed. The only real safe time you could sleep down there is if it was some sort of ultra dungeon where they could feasibly find an patrolled nook and rest.

[QUOTE=Pax;51995984]I just hate this taking breaks to sleep or camp in dungeons. That just seems so unreasonable, but 5e is even more geared toward it than previous versions.[/QUOTE] I gave up on trying to make clever rest systems after years of experimenting. Decided to jack the [URL="http://ddowiki.com/page/Shrine"]Rest Shrine[/URL] mechanic from DDO with a few tweaks. Thus far my players like it and only getting to use them once per dungeon has given them another important choice to make (when to use it).

I'm DMing my first campaign at the moment. The Ranger looted up a mysterious knife in the first game. I wanted it to be something with variable and randomized effects when used - today I took the time to properly set these out for the sake of consistency. I could've set it up using % dice, but they always feel clumsy to use. [B]Black Knife[/B] Whenever a creature is killed by the Black Knife, roll a d10. Use the result to determine the effect from the chart below. The killed creature is referred to as 'dead victim'. [B]1:[/B] Dead victim gains immense mass before collapsing on itself, creating a temporary portal to the Astral Plane. Creatures within 10ft must make a DC 10 DEX or STR saving throw or are sucked in to the portal. Portal closes after 6 seconds. [B]2:[/B] Dead victim pulses with energy before exploding into flames that spread across the floor . [I]Creatures within a 20ft radius must make a DC 15 Dexterity save or suffer 1d8 burning damage. [/I] [B]3:[/B] The life-force of the dead victim is used to launch the dead victim's body into the air before smashing it down into the ground below, shooting debris outwards in a 20ft radius. Any living creatures within this radius may be hit. [I] Debris - To Hit: 1d20 + 6 Debris - Damage: 1d8 + killed target level [/I] [B]4:[/B] The dead victim falls to the ground, dead. After 30 seconds, it raises up as a willing servant of the bearer of the knife. After 30 seconds of reanimation, the killed flesh of the dead victim boils and explodes outwards. The bones of the dead victim crumble to dust. [I] Creatures within a 5ft radius must make a DC 15 DEX saving throw or suffer 1d8 acid damage. [/I] [B]5:[/B] The Black Knife drains 1d8 HP from the bearer and transfers this to the dead victim as temporary HP. The dead victim goes on a mindless rampage, attacking targets within 10ft at random using the melee attack below. After 30 seconds, the dead victim breaks it's own neck and is properly dead. The reanimated dead victim can be killed by reducing it to 0 HP. [I] Reanimated Dead Victim attack to hit: 1d20 + 8 Reanimated Dead Victim attack damage: 1d8 + 3 bludgeoning [/I] [B]6:[/B] The dead victim lets out an incredibly loud shriek that lasts 20 seconds and can be heard up to 6000 feet away. [I]Creatures within 100ft must make a DC 15 CON saving throw or suffer 1d8 damage and be deafened for 1 hour. [/I] [B]7:[/B] The spirit of the bearer of the Black Knife is transferred, through the blade, into the body of the dead victim, inheriting the stats, status and hit points that the dead victim had immediately prior to the killing blow. The spirit of the dead victim is transferred to the body of the bearer of the Black Knife, where they may act however they are capable. After 1 hour, the dead victim's body explodes into chunks of flesh and bone. [I] Creatures within 10 feet must make a DC 20 DEX saving throw or suffer 1d8 bludgeoning damage. [/I] The spirit of the bearer of the Black Knife then returns to their own body, where the spirit of the dead victim also resides. Once per hour, a contest may be made for control of the body. [I]Intelligence contest between the two spirits. 1d20 + INT [/I] The winner of the contest has control of the body for the next hour. If the dead victim's contest roll is beaten by a roll of more than double, the dead victim's spirit is expelled forever. [B]8:[/B] The dead victim's skin glows pure white for 30 seconds. The dead victim then crumbles to ash. [I]All creatures within 100 feet and not within cover must make a DC 10 CON saving throw or are blinded for 15 minutes. Creatures with Darkvision who fail the saving throw are blinded for 20 minutes. [/I] [B]9:[/B] The blade of the knife seems to drain, turning a pale, transluscent colour. The essense of the knife's demon is transferred into the dead victim. The demon speaks with the bearer of the Knife, and offers to make a deal. [I]If the bearer chooses to host the demon's essence within their mind, the demon will heal all friendly targets within 3000 feet to full health, as well as granting the bearer the use of Healing Hands as a cantrip. If the bearer chooses to reject the offer, the demon will cast an explosive spell, dealing 4d8 burning damage to all friendly targets within 3000 feet. [/I] [B]10[/B]: Roll again. If result is 1-9, use that result. If result is a second 10, use the result below. The Black Knife is locked in space, vibrating, unable to be moved by any physical or magical force. Whispers can be heard, louder and louder. Over the course of 5 minutes, the blade and handle grow warmer and warmer. After 5 minutes, the blade explodes causing significant environmental damage, as well as damage to all living/undead creatures: [I] Creatures within 2000 feet take 2d10 fire damage. Creatures within 100 feet take 6d10 fire damage. Creatures within 300 feet take 4d10 fire damage. [/I] During the 5-minute build-up period, a creature can use the Identify spell to try to determine what is happening. [I]DC 15 vs 1d20 + prof + spellcasting ability. [/I]

I have to ask, what level are you playing at and what sort of items are going to be available.