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

[QUOTE=jackattack;53160756]This is the worst idea I've ever heard. Sounds like fun though.[/QUOTE] Surprisingly its working well so far, when we enter combat I just move myself between the enemies and the other party members then start slinging spells till whatever were fighting closes the gap to hit me. Then instead of casting spells he casts axe, 16 strength axe wizard. momma aint raised no bitch. [QUOTE=Ogopogo;53161353]You can actually do a reasonably decent tank-ish wizard (considering the ways there are to tank). What subrace and wizard type are you?[/quote] Just hit level 2 last session so will be going over the differing schools sometime this week, as for subrace, Mountain dorf stronk.

5e How come some weapons are (or almost) objectively worse than others in damage/price/weight/special properties? did they not double check? I actually appreciate that there are less bullshit weapons in 5e and it's simpler, but surely the simplicity'd make it much easier for them to iron out the problems. Also, what system do you all favour for stats? Point buy-agree 4d6-disagree 3d6-funny 6+2d6-winner Something else-zing.

For 5e if you aren't using array you're probably well over the power curve. For 2e and earlier, all stat rolling was used. 2e in particular favored 4d6 drop low, where basic used 3d6 in order.

4D6 DROP LOW REPRESENT i use buy points tho

It's real fucking annoying to think of campaigns that would be fun to do, but you're unable to do due inexperience with the system. In this case, a Witcher/Claymore style monster hunting campaign, maybe using the claymore thing of being able to power up with the chance of bypassing your limit and going berserk. [sp]Also I'm way too used to fantasygrounds and don't think I could ever run one on roll20 anymore outside of shadowrun[/sp]

[QUOTE=Crimor;53162167]It's real fucking annoying to think of campaigns that would be fun to do, but you're unable to do due inexperience with the system. In this case, a Witcher/Claymore style monster hunting campaign, maybe using the claymore thing of being able to power up with the chance of bypassing your limit and going berserk. [sp]Also I'm way too used to fantasygrounds and don't think I could ever run one on roll20 anymore outside of shadowrun[/sp][/QUOTE] FG bois represent. Makes it super easy to DM for my groups of new players.

Why does everyone seem to think Monks are absolute garbage in 3.5e? Like if you mainline grapple and trip you're going to be a melee asset to any fighter who's ready to coup de grace the fuck out of whatever enemy you give the business to, and at worst they generally have some sort of advantage against the opponent with you pinning them or something. Yeah you won't do DPS for days, but you aren't worthless. Outside of combat you're probably bad at a lot of shit due to the weird class skills, but if you multi-class into a wisdom caster class you'll be able to do better, or at least cast some useful spells. If you can convince the DM that weapon finesse applies to grapple for monks(since your unarmed attacks are considered light weapons) you're basically a god and can dump strength as a top stat, you'll be able to main wisdom and dex. Alternatively, ask if they'll let you bring the agile maneuvers feat from pathfinder into 3.5e, which is a kinda balance patch to saying that weapon finesse applies to grapple, as agile maneuvers does basically exactly that.

Because 2e monks were the OG quadratic Death Star. It took 15 levels of chicanery, playing smart, role playing your ass off, using every advantage but that slow climb from the token semi-healer kinda fighter to level 20 one man dragon exploding machine was worth the payoff. 3e monks are a hodge podge of other classes mashed together that basically are the equivalent of a bard or other "distraction"/glamour class with some generic as shit asian and druid stuff thrown on top. They're boring, and unsatisfying.

[QUOTE=27X;53163178]Because 2e monks were the OG quadratic Death Star. It took 15 levels of chicanery, playing smart, role playing your ass off, using every advantage but that slow climb from the token semi-healer kinda fighter to level 20 one man dragon exploding machine was worth the payoff. 3e monks are a hodge podge of other classes mashed together that basically are the equivalent of a bard or other "distraction"/glamour class with some generic as shit asian and druid stuff thrown on top. They're boring, and unsatisfying.[/QUOTE] Not to mention the Mystics from BECMI, who were able to do shit that epic level 3.pf monks couldn't pull off in their wildest dreams

[QUOTE=F.X Clampazzo;53162708]Why does everyone seem to think Monks are absolute garbage in 3.5e? Like if you mainline grapple and trip you're going to be a melee asset to any fighter who's ready to coup de grace the fuck out of whatever enemy you give the business to, and at worst they generally have some sort of advantage against the opponent with you pinning them or something. Yeah you won't do DPS for days, but you aren't worthless. Outside of combat you're probably bad at a lot of shit due to the weird class skills, but if you multi-class into a wisdom caster class you'll be able to do better, or at least cast some useful spells. If you can convince the DM that weapon finesse applies to grapple for monks(since your unarmed attacks are considered light weapons) you're basically a god and can dump strength as a top stat, you'll be able to main wisdom and dex. Alternatively, ask if they'll let you bring the agile maneuvers feat from pathfinder into 3.5e, which is a kinda balance patch to saying that weapon finesse applies to grapple, as agile maneuvers does basically exactly that.[/QUOTE] Monks suffer a lot from needing way too many ability scores to properly function. Grappling also becomes less useful the higher level you go since your grappling rolls rise at a slower rate than the enemy defense against it, especially because a lot of higher CR enemies have 4 or more legs which gives a pretty nasty penalty against grappling. Monks also have a problem in that they do their best damage by full attacking enemies but don't have the defenses to actually survive whatever punishment the enemy decides to throw back at them. Funnily enough, 3.5e monks aren't even proficient with unarmed strikes so there's also that. Add all this to the fact that non-casters are already gimped from the beginning in 3.5e and you have something that not a lot of people like playing.

Am I the only one who's really disappointed that the flavour of monks hasn't really developed beyond chinese kung fu with some ninja thrown in there? You could draw from a wealth of cultures that have doctrines regarding lightly armed fighters with flashy moves. The middle east, india, SE asia, africa and south america... And yet, 5e; Simple weapons and short swords, a scimitar'd be far too much for them. (also not sure why 5e doesn't count martial polarms or the long bow as monk weapons, it's not really a balance risk)

[QUOTE=The Jack;53163769]Am I the only one who's really disappointed that the flavour of monks hasn't really developed beyond chinese kung fu with some ninja thrown in there? You could draw from a wealth of cultures that have doctrines regarding lightly armed fighters with flashy moves. The middle east, india, SE asia, africa and south america... And yet, 5e; Simple weapons and short swords, a scimitar'd be far too much for them. (also not sure why 5e doesn't count martial polarms or the long bow as monk weapons, it's not really a balance risk)[/QUOTE] It's entirely up to player what culture he wants the monk fighting style to be of. The PHB doesn't say "when the monk uses his flurry of blows attack he's mimicking these exact Chinese Kung fu moves." I believe the only reason why they use Chinese Kung fu and karate as it's example is because it's the most widely recognised form of hand to hand combat that almost every country and person knows of. And you need to think in terms of someone who's never played DnD before, its far easier to get across the idea of a monk by using real world examples. As for the weapons While longbows I guess wouldn't go against "lore" it does go against the point of a monk which is CQC And polearms, they can use staffs and I think spears are in that class too.

[QUOTE=Mmrnmhrm;53163259]Monks suffer a lot from needing way too many ability scores to properly function. Grappling also becomes less useful the higher level you go since your grappling rolls rise at a slower rate than the enemy defense against it, especially because a lot of higher CR enemies have 4 or more legs which gives a pretty nasty penalty against grappling. Monks also have a problem in that they do their best damage by full attacking enemies but don't have the defenses to actually survive whatever punishment the enemy decides to throw back at them. Funnily enough, 3.5e monks aren't even proficient with unarmed strikes so there's also that. Add all this to the fact that non-casters are already gimped from the beginning in 3.5e and you have something that not a lot of people like playing.[/QUOTE] Ah, that's fair. I forgot about the whole multiple legs thing that ruined grapple and trip. I've had good luck multi-classing monk in 3.5e. But again yeah that means becoming a caster. I really wish I could get my group to play 5e instead, but 3.5e is what they all know and it's pulling teeth to get them to change.

[QUOTE=The Jack;53163769]Am I the only one who's really disappointed that the flavour of monks hasn't really developed beyond chinese kung fu with some ninja thrown in there? You could draw from a wealth of cultures that have doctrines regarding lightly armed fighters with flashy moves. The middle east, india, SE asia, africa and south america... And yet, 5e; Simple weapons and short swords, a scimitar'd be far too much for them. (also not sure why 5e doesn't count martial polarms or the long bow as monk weapons, it's not really a balance risk)[/QUOTE] oblivion monk represent [IMG]http://images.uesp.net//9/94/OB-class-Monk.jpg[/IMG] 95 theses of whoopass, cur friar lawrence gonna shove his sandal so far up ur ass it come out the other side

[QUOTE=cdr248;53165862]oblivion monk represent [IMG]http://images.uesp.net//9/94/OB-class-Monk.jpg[/IMG] 95 theses of whoopass, cur friar lawrence gonna shove his sandal so far up ur ass it come out the other side[/QUOTE] Wow, I never noticed the clubfoot he has goin' on there.

Looking for a player for my Mage the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition game, since one of the 4 I had kept missing sessions and finally decided to drop out. TL;DR is the group is a bunch of Tradition mages who met through all of them finding a Node and deciding to chip in for the lease and turn it into a psychic shop. The magick system is very heavily based around what your character believes, and magick can be anything from chalk circles that summon demons to typing out a string of code on your smartphone so you can hack a door open(or even a remote you can point at someone and hit a button to send them back 5 minutes or w/e). Game is on Saturdays, starting at 1pm GMT-7 and usually going until 5pm. Send me a PM or message me on Discord([sp]Rats#9479[/sp]) if you're interested.

I am going through an experience of a Dark Heresy game where our GM is not actively trying to outright murder us. It's a strange, yet enjoyable experience.

When you spend all week designing a ruined city filled with man-eating giants for your players to struggle through, and your party gets a magic carpet from a random loot table and flies right over it :suicide:

That's what you get for using random loot tables instead of vintage, hand picked, artisinal custom-tooled loot 'experiences'.

I did kill my first player character though. It was awesome/shocking/tragic. Not to toot my own horn too much, but the foreshadowing was perfect. They heard a church bell ringing in the city, and went to investigate. On the way, they killed a giant called a "Bile Mother." Basically just a mutant giant that vomits out acid. As they flew over her body, they saw a swarm of head-sized beetles with glowing green glands so thick it was described as a "carpet." The swarm went straight for the Bile Mother's body, completely enveloping it as the players fly over. They get to the church shortly thereafter, and see the recently-slain body of a giant outside its door. Suspecting that they're about to regroup with a friendly NPC, a Paladin of Conquest sworn to eradicate Giants from the world, they don't think twice about the body. They enter the church, and find their NPC pal eating a ration next to the body of a second giant. Our Druid casts "Detect Magic," and I tell her that she senses a fading aura of Transmutation magic rolling off the body of the giant like a stench. I take care to describe how potent the "odor" of this aura is, seeping out of the freshly killed giant. She doesn't investigate further, and so fails to learn that the Rot Beetles are attracted to the smell. The party decides to take a long rest in the church. Next to the body of the giant. One person stays awake to keep watch. An hour passes as the group drifts off to sleep, save for the Rogue keeping watch. I tell her to roll a perception check. She does well. I tell her she hears a quiet scuttling sound, and scratch my fingers on the table to demonstrate it. She wakes everybody up. I keep scratching the table intermittently. It's coming from the hallway leading outside. The door is open a crack. Our fighter moves to close the door, but stops when a single beetle walks through the crack. They all watch it, on alert, to see what it does. It looks around for a moment, antennae twitching, and starts moving towards the body of the giant. A second beetle crawls in through the cracked door. Our Rogue says she wants to go close the door before more beetles come in. She approaches the door. Another beetle comes in. She reaches for the knob, two more beetles come in. She touches the knob. The door blasts open -- a rolling, churning, wall of beetles so thick it fills the hallway beyond pours into the room, completely engulfing the poor Rogue. All six swarms, with multi-attack, move through her space, biting and tearing at her as they do, and covering her with the necrotic ooze they spit out to digest their victims. As the six swarms move over her, each attacking twice, she is bitten eight times, suffering 8d4+24d6 piercing/necrotic damage, hitting for 118. with only 40-somethin' total hitpoint, this is instant death. From her friends' perspective, she just disappears beneath they swarm. A wall of fire, a burning hands, and a firebomb eradicates the roiling mass of beetles. Even in that short time, most of the flesh has been torn or liquefied from her body. RIP, dude. :( She was a really good sport about it, at least! I'm never actually [I]trying[/I] to kill my players, but what happens, happens. If they had kept moving, the swarm wouldn't have caught up. If she hadn't been directly in front of the door, she wouldn't have been engulfed by all six of the swarm groups as they passed over her. If the swarms had missed more attacks, she might have only gone unconscious. But, you know, I'm not going to fudge things. What happens, happens. Plus, the rest of my players know the stakes are real now, and I think that's going to make it way more tense and interesting as we delve deeper into the ruined city! The player of the dearly departed Rogue is excited to make a new character, and will probably be more careful next time!

Honestly, you should have given her SOME sort of way out. Having them all burst out is kinda of a bitch that just happened and no way for her to deal with it. Also, man eating giants in a city, you say?

Would've gave her a dex saving throw for half damage since it seems like a line attack even if it's not.

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;53171126]When you spend all week designing a ruined city filled with man-eating giants for your players to struggle through, and your party gets a magic carpet from a random loot table and flies right over it :suicide:[/QUOTE] from now on, every city has a giant ballista atop a tall tower ready to fire a giant harpoon with spotting hawks flying the skies

I'm doing a D&D thing with friends, to help touch a couple of people how to play. We're swapping GMs each week and adding a little to the story. My part is this week, and i'm doing a little naval travel segment. Naturally pirates, Sahuagin and a glimpse at the Kraken. The cannons in the DMG look a little, ridiculous, are there stats for ship cannons anywhere or should i just say fuck it and use artillery.

Seige weapons in the DMG seem bad. The balista is large, does 3d10s single target but requires 3 actions to use, and aiming is a seperate action from firing. It adds something like +6 to the roll. I just think its an inherently flawed piece of equipment like this. There's no special properties for doing structure damage/cover piercing, you can hit tiny creatures just as easily as large ones, and it's best use is to have 3 1/8cr npcs using it. Also not sure why aiming has to be seperate to firing. Every other siege weapon is in the same sort of boat. Not well thought out. I think 5e Is too simple at times But pathfinder has some needlessly complicated bullshit that doesn't make good sense. So i dont think i'll switch

[QUOTE=gufu;53171265]Honestly, you should have given her SOME sort of way out. Having them all burst out is kinda of a bitch that just happened and no way for her to deal with it. Also, man eating giants in a city, you say?[/QUOTE] I mean, I don't [I]want[/I] my players' characters to be killed, but I'm not going to fudge things to save their bacon when they make decisions that lead to their deaths. I showed them the beetles converging on the giants' corpse as they flew over the city. I showed them the corpse outside the church, and the other one inside. I described the stench-like aura of magic rolling off the freshly-killed bodies of the dead giants. The party didn't investigate further to discover or realize that the beetles were attracted to the aura of the dead giants, they chose to set up camp for the night within the church directly next to the body of a dead giant, they didn't take any precautions while setting up camp other than having somebody staying awake to keep an eye out (inside the church), they didn't bar the door as they came in even though I had described it as standing open when they arrived, they didn't take up a defensive position when the first beetles started coming through the door, the Rogue didn't approach the door with caution or describe any effort to watch or listen for signs of more beetles, nor she did stop approaching the door as more and more beetles started crawling through. So, when the mass of the swarm reached the door, they burst through, and she was directly in front of them. On initiative, the swarm rolled higher, and as they poured into the church, she was the first thing in their path. My job as DM, in my opinion, is to create a tense and suspenseful experience with life or death consequences for the characters involved. I think throwing in a "hand of god" to save them when they're in trouble would ultimately be a disservice, because it'd lower the stakes and reduce the suspense. The player was awesome about it, too. She was probably a little bummed out, but was also cackling as I described the swarm's necrotic bites stripping the flesh from her characters' bones. She's excited to make a new character, and will (if she chooses) have an opportunity to have this character resurrected within the wizard's tower they've been travelling to -- though obviously she doesn't know that right now.

Fudging to save them on occasion, especially when they are new players, is a bit different than pulling them from the jaws of death in obvious ways. Nobody learns anything if they never suffer the consequences of being incautious, save that the GM will let them get away with anything. Even then, something like building the fire into a bigger bonfire might have done the job, or making it extra-smoky. Insects hate that shit, probably even weird magic beetles... though, of course, you have to live long enough for that to happen. I'm surprised someone died in 1 hit, though less so if you aren't playing 5e, but that's a pretty nasty way to go! Could be worse, could be green slime. That shit prevents even Resurrection. [QUOTE=The Jack;53171873]Seige weapons in the DMG seem bad. The balista is large, does 3d10s single target but requires 3 actions to use, and aiming is a seperate action from firing. It adds something like +6 to the roll. I just think its an inherently flawed piece of equipment like this. There's no special properties for doing structure damage/cover piercing, you can hit tiny creatures just as easily as large ones, and it's best use is to have 3 1/8cr npcs using it. Also not sure why aiming has to be seperate to firing. Every other siege weapon is in the same sort of boat. Not well thought out. I think 5e Is too simple at times But pathfinder has some needlessly complicated bullshit that doesn't make good sense. So i dont think i'll switch[/QUOTE] 3 actions is fine for a team, and a team is the only one that should be operating siege weapons. Aiming being separate is fine, since they are huge and bulky, not really the sort of thing you aim like a gun! Means that the ballista requires a team of 3 to operate and 1 more to command where to fire (aim), which is totally fine. You're not likely to use siege weapons very often... outside of sieges, and maybe ship combat. Or, maybe, to hunt big stuff like giants and dragons, but they're fixed positions and therefore VERY vulnerable to them just obliterating the weapon and crew in 1 shot. So, yes you can crew it entirely with peasants, but even barring the GM reasonably making it take 2 times as long if not longer for untrained morons to operate they are going to die if someone even so much as looks at them.

[QUOTE=Chronische;53171956]Fudging to save them on occasion, especially when they are new players, is a bit different than pulling them from the jaws of death in obvious ways. Nobody learns anything if they never suffer the consequences of being incautious, save that the GM will let them get away with anything. Even then, something like building the fire into a bigger bonfire might have done the job, or making it extra-smoky. Insects hate that shit, probably even weird magic beetles... though, of course, you have to live long enough for that to happen. I'm surprised someone died in 1 hit, though less so if you aren't playing 5e, but that's a pretty nasty way to go! Could be worse, could be green slime. That shit prevents even Resurrection. 3 actions is fine for a team, and a team is the only one that should be operating siege weapons. Aiming being separate is fine, since they are huge and bulky, not really the sort of thing you aim like a gun! Means that the ballista requires a team of 3 to operate and 1 more to command where to fire (aim), which is totally fine. You're not likely to use siege weapons very often... outside of sieges, and maybe ship combat. Or, maybe, to hunt big stuff like giants and dragons, but they're fixed positions and therefore VERY vulnerable to them just obliterating the weapon and crew in 1 shot. So, yes you can crew it entirely with peasants, but even barring the GM reasonably making it take 2 times as long if not longer for untrained morons to operate they are going to die if someone even so much as looks at them.[/QUOTE] She died in eight hits, technically :v:

My party is facing problems right now. We still have fun but they have explained on more than one occasion that my story is too hard to follow. One member has struggled to understand any of the story and and is "just here for combat" Another is is always on her phone because she has anxiety issues and another two members are not always present. Which means that the role of leadership is thrust upon one other person. The rest of the party [B]will not[/B] make decisions. At all. Even just simple stuff, like going to the shops. And as a perfect case in point: the "leader" went to the toilet and I asked them what they'd like to do, I offered suggestions about where they could go and they just sat there looking down until he came back. I've given them many characters thats sole purpose is to explain stuff. Not limited to: -a master scholar who communicates with them instantly from a library containing all every book and piece of information ever recorded -a talented crusader with knowledge of all enemies who travels with them (but has sworn never to take up the sword again) -a archwizard who can explain all magic and lore -they have a wand of wish And yet they still struggle to decide where to go and what to do. And it's not like the story is hard to follow I don't think It's a typical necromancer needs to be stopped story, something they have asked for, for a while. I don't know what else I can do to help them short of just introducing a DMPC.

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;53171990]She died in eight hits, technically :v:[/QUOTE] I would have haggled for a DEX save if I was this rogue.. I mean walking with caution, an apprentice of my trade, is implied as I'll never swagger up to a door flat-footed especially when I was the first in the room to perceive a threat! But I agree, too many would be quick to swoop down with the 'hand of god' as you put it.