#makes them all default barbarian class as a bit

[apersonwholikeslotus]

i'm not going to write out entire character sheets for if the hws germanics played dnd. i'm not going to write out entire character sheets for if the hws germanics played dnd. i'm not going to write out entire character sheets for if the hws germanics played dnd. i'm not going to write out entire character sheets for if the hws germanics played dnd. i'm not going to write out entire character sheets for if the hws germanics played dnd.

#i'm gonna do it #makes them all default barbarian class as a bit #i wouldn't #but also it would be funny

[dailyadventureprompts]

I've got a new d&d group and they're almost all new players, with some of them having played with me before in oneshots/ gotten a couple sessions into campaigns that fizzled.

There's the usual learning pains: No one's quite got a handle on the rules yet and is relying on me for which dice to roll ( it's a D20 friends, it's always going to be a D20 unless it's damage I don't know how many times I have to say that). Person A is nervous and over-talkative , person B is nervous and withdraws from conversation, Person C is always running a little late...

But what really surprises me is the difference between them and the group I've had going for 2 years now:

Newgroup THEORIZES in a way that I don't think I've ever seen despite playing this game for two decades. I'll ask them what they're doing and they'll have a multi-minute chat weighing the value of different options. They don't turn to ME, or ask me if things are possible ( which is what new players tend to do), they turn to eachother and ask if they think it's a good idea that they do X or Y and then what could happen from there. I'm trying to be a good DM and let them learn the ropes but it's FASCINATING response. For example; the barbarian says "I'll use my shield to pin the monster in place so we can question them about the villain" and before I can even get into my response another player will say "but what if I used my rope instead to tie them up?", meanwhile none of them have confirmed if the monster is in any way related to the villain or is capable of speech (it wasn't, it was a mimic fyi)

Newgroup is LASER targeted on their goal, which was a surprise as someone who was DMing for a party that purposefully jumped ship on the A plot ASAP and is actively resentful of anything resembling a main quest. Newgroup passes through a mining village that's been deserted after a recent attack by monsters which drove people up into the hills, a Classic rescue mission with a bit of a dungeon delve on top, intended to give the party some XP and magic items before they leave the early game and I stop pulling my punches. Newgroup stays just long enough to confirm that the monsters have nothing to do with the A plot and unanimously decide to leave the village post haste. Meanwhile I have to be careful about what information I drop to oldgroup, as if they catch a single whiff of villanious wrongdoing they'll drop what they're doing and divert their attention to wiping that threat off the map. I've now had to have multiple villains make peace treaties in all but name with this party because of their habit of knocking out rivals/threats/governments.

Because oldgroup know the game really well they're less experimental with what they want to accomplish. They know that things can be solved through class features/dice rolls/damage, and so those are their default solutions to most problems. Meanwhile newgroup has no IDEA what the limits of the game system are so they're trying clever stuff left and right. " Can I hit it in the eye with my arrow? Can I use this spell to find out if _____, Can we use the flying boots to _____?" They're asking genuinely good questions so often that it's made me want to play around with the d20 resolution system to get something more closed to the " drawback/mixed success" sorts of results you get in apocalypse world style games. ( I think I found a neat fix, more on that to come)

#dapper digresses

[elkenbulwark]

hc(ish) // character vs game dynamics

The barbarian class in dnd is?? I always feel so confused by it since I have it as Birvor's main class. Mainly because as soon as you load in and the default character is barbarian wearing nomadic looking barbarian furs (like up the Skyrim wilds feel) it gives off the impression that barbarian as a class is actually more like a way of life? Like if you pick it, then your character has to be this wild character living out in the wildness- either in some tribe or maybe they're just a hermit, or a widower that's no longer dealing with society and just kind of lives off the land like a wild animal. (Granted, we have Karlach as a differing sort of barbarian, though her sub class is berserker so it's not quite the same as the 'wild heart' standard variant of the barbarian.)

As far as Birvor goes, I felt compelled to add this in to his backstory in the form of him being born into a nomadic tribe of humans that fit that standard 'barbarian' feel to them, but ever since I got the idea for the character, I always thought of him wearing the fighter-class gear since that's what sort of armor and weapons he'd have been brought up in house Cragdew learning to use. He'd also have a much more polished fighter look (since elves and their fancy equipment) than what the barbarian class offers (at least starting out). So I was very inclined to just have the 'fighter' class for him, with the overall issue being that he needs to rage. Barbarian rages I'm sure have all sorts of different ways to explain what they are and why they happen, and in Birvor's case- he did not have that ability until he was 'seen' by Gruumsh after the orcs that attacked him and the others spilled elf blood. That's of course me going off my own personal spin of rages can happen to orcs/half-orcs in that way regardless of their class.

In which case, having him as a fighter class and still being able to rage thanks to the intervention of Gruumsh makes most sense to me RP wise. Of course in game, I can't do that so- he has his barbarian class on. And another issue would be that his rage with the elk heart angle allows him to stampede/knock things over, which I consider a very canon manner for Birvor's typical fighting style. All in all, I find it a bit strange to refer to him as a 'barbarian' class since even though he was born into a tribe, he was raised within the 'noble' confines of a background, and would have learned the fighting tactics of a fighter class. The only exception to this being that because of his over exerting strength, him using certain 'swordplay' moves would look more barbarous, and he has absolutely bent cheap swords before with how he uses them to basically beat the hell into something.

Bard being attached to him as multi-class is also something odd to me since I can't just refer to him as 'the bard' in passing role-play even though he has the sub class. This is because he's not the standard bard class in that he can't write or compose his own music/tales, he just knows the ones from his education/upbringing because he might have low int/wis, but higher cha and the ability to parrot stuff back as opposed to learn it himself. So yes, he can play 'the power' like any other bard, but it's less of a place of he could hear someone playing it and follow along, but more of a - he's learned it before and had to do it over and over again to make sure he gets the music lesson correct or get whapped over the knuckles with a flute and told to try again. If anything, the most canon part of the bard class for him is not the music, but the fact that he can carry an extra 'weapon' (aka use the lute/whatever instrument he finds as an extra thing to SWING at someone if he drops his main weapon), and of course cutting words/vicious mockery which he would be petty enough to use while badly strumming a lute to make his intended target more annoyed (like a bull fighter waving a red tarp essentially) and eager to target him over his teammates.

#//don't mind me just havin' a brain worm #long post #hc ; // roll history check #//no but the class thing confuses me in terms of rp...but game mechanics-

[the-peak-of-despair]

Asahina, Akane, Kaede, and Tsumugi with a Male S/O teaching them to play DND

megatron720 said: Alright, can i get the Male S/O of Hina, Akane, Kaede, Tsumugi (separately) teaching the girls how to play Dungeons & Dragons.

Me when I saw this request: Oh, this is easy, I have some experience with DND! Me when I realized 3 hours ago that I have never played once and am asking my half awake friend and using old notes from a oneshot I didn’t ever do for references: fuck

I loved writing this, though!! I’ve never played DND before and I’ve missed a couple chances, so I hope I did it justice, but it’s super interesting to me!! I hope you enjoy! -Mod Akane

-Aoi Asahina 

”Dungeons & Dragons..? Sounds cool! What’s it about?” 

-She’s excited to get into it, and loves listening to your explanations!

-She gets really confused though, since it gets so complicated sometimes. She’ll just enjoy joining your group for short one-shots.

-Given the chance, she’ll play either a ranger or a fighter. 

-Literally has no idea how to roleplay, so everything she does is just a natural reaction. Also gets very attached to her characters and basically the entire party. If she fucks up a death save she’s going to get emotional. Will demand cuddles later.   

-She doesn’t have the best luck with the dice. You might wanna fudge a couple rolls for her or she’s gonna die by your second session.

“These are cursed, I swear!”

-She cares more about the emotional moments than the combat and the fighting. Guaranteed both your characters are usually in some sort of romantic relationship almost every time.

“(Y/N), can we play some more? This is really fun!”

He chuckles. “Well, the next time we all get together..”

-Akane Owari

”Dungeons and huh? Is this sexual?” She laughs. “I’m just playing! What’s up with it?” 

-She doesn’t really understand a lot of things and you’ll be repeating yourself a couple of times until she gets it. 

“Akane, you can’t just kill it automatically, you have to roll the dice..” “OOOH, hahah, my bad!” 

-100% always plays a barbarian. You should not be surprised. This was to be expected of Akane. It’s Akane.

-She gets roped into it because of the fighting and battles, and her urge to play and overly strong character. She isn’t too good with the emotional moments, so she tends to just sit back and watch. But she certainly gets invested watching the others interact. 

-She gets super passionate during battles and bosses. She will accidentally throw her dice with full force. Yes, they will rocket across the room. Sometimes, they are not always obtainable again. Keep spare dice on hand.

-Ruthless. Absolutely ruthless. Will be grinning wide every time she defeats an enemy, and sometimes the party has to stop her from fighting every NPC you encounter. 

“Come on, man, make these bosses harder! I want a challenge!”

“Akane, choose your words carefully..”

-Kaede Akamatsu

“Dungeons & Dragons? Ooh, I think I’ve heard about it before.. What’s it about?” 

-She’s really attentive, and listening to all your explanations really closely. Also probably taking notes. She’s super invested and interested! 

-She plays a bard. No hesitation. All you had to say was “music.” She’s hooked. 

-She’s in love with the atmosphere, the worlds you create, the creativity of it all! Kaede’s one of the girls who’s more likely to really look at and appreciate all of these things. She especially loves when the group stops at taverns, and meeting the NPCs the DM creates.

“Come on, Kaede, we need to go..”

“But (Y/N)! The music here is so niiiice! And I haven’t finished talking to this guy!”

“We have quests to do, sweetheart…”

-She gets really absorbed in everything, and super into the roleplaying! Though it’ll take her a little while to get adjusted towards combat. But she’s powerful as shit once she gets adjusted. The dice are on her fucking side. Throw those fuckers in the freezer. Something. 

-A general group leader. It’s just a natural role for her, and she’ll be holding back some people from charging into things blindly. 

-Tsumugi Shirogane

“Oooh, Dungeons & Dragons!? I actually know a bit about it!” 

-Bold to assume Tsumugi, Queen of Really Specific And Niche References, wouldn’t know about DND. 

-She hasn’t played in a long time, so she’s happy to have your help to get back into it, and to have any new advice! 

-She’s able to play just about any class, but she defaults to rouge. It’s just what comes naturally. Y’know, sneaking around, mastery in trickery, doing whatever’s necessary…

-She’s into the whole thing. Dedicated player. Master role-player. Will walk into that DND session both perfectly dressed up as her character while also carrying tonight’s snacks. It’s expected of her.

-She’s super into all the characters and will make costumes for everyone in the group. She loves dressing up with all of you. It makes her super happy! 

-Her character tends to stay in the background when she plays a rouge, but in this game she’s really a jack of all trades. She’s at least got experience in most classes and characters.

“Come on, (Y/N)! Cosplay with me! Our characters look so good together!”

“Well, I don’t know if I’d do well...” “You’ll do amazing! You’ve got me with you, it’s just plain to see!”

#danganronpa #danganronpa 2 #danganronpa v3 #aoi asahina #aoi asahina x reader #akane owari #akane owari x reader #kaede akamatsu #kaede akamatsu x reader #tsumugi shirogane #tsumugi shirogane x reader #male reader #DND #danganronpa x reader

[the-big-nope]

While I’m certainly nowhere near ready for the story of the Mighty Nein to come to an end, I am also a D&D nerd and there’s a new sourcebook coming out soon with a bunch of new subclasses in it. By the time Campaign 3 of Critical Role gets underway, that book will be published, leaving a wealth of new options for the cast members to choose from, so why not entertain myself by making barely justified predictions of what the cast is most likely to pick for their next characters! (Disclaimer: Some of the new subclasses have been confirmed and some haven’t, so for a few of these picks I’m just going off of what I think is going to be in the book).

Travis

Cleric (Tempest Domain): Travis has been playing lowkey EMT since campaign one, and Laura’s already confirmed that Travis almost went cleric for campaign two. Between Grog with his barb-boosted movement speed to get around the battlefield so he could shove healing potions into his squishier teammates, and Fjord multiclassing into paladin and lovingly tapping his friends with single hit points to get them back up, it would be delightful to see him fully jump in and embrace the classical healer role. Of course, this is Travis, so I don’t see him picking a cleric domain that doesn’t allow for at least some whoop-ass, and Tempest Domain brings plenty of it. You get proficiency with all armor and weapons, Divine Strike at level 8 for boosted melee damage, you can use a reaction to inflict lightning or thunder damage against any enemy within melee range that’s hit you. And if you climb up high enough in levels, you gain a flying speed equal to your walking one whenever you’re outdoors. Pretty nifty, and makes for a fitting subclass for a guy that’s voiced Thor on multiple occasions.

Blood Hunter (Order of the Lycan): I mean, come on. The only reason it isn’t number one is that it was already widely assumed this would be Travis’s pick for campaign two, and I wouldn’t put it past him to surprise us again. But still, we saw him get a taste in Liam’s one shot and he was clearly having the time of his life. Besides, we lost Molly far too early to really see the blood hunter’s potential come to life; it would be damn cool to see someone else take a crack at it, and Travis is enough of a D&D gambler to not shy away from the class’s riskier features.

Artificer (Armorer): Speaking of Marvel connections, if Travis doesn’t lean toward fantasy Thor, then fantasy Iron Man might catch his attention instead. Artificer is an official class now, and since it’ll be reprinted in TCoE by the time campaign 3 gets underway, it’ll be a lot more visible as an option. The Armorer sits in almost a perfect middle ground of what Travis has done before: tanky and a frontliner, but also still has spells and tricks to help the party. Plus, you get a badass suit of power armor out of it. What’s not to like?

Marisha

Bard (College of Creation): After Hazel Copperpot, we all saw the pure magic that was Marisha Ray playing a bard. I know she implied that Hazel was supposed to be her campaign two backup character, but I hope this doesn’t discourage her from making another one. There are quite a few bard subclasses, a number of which I could see her being drawn to (Lore, Glamour, maybe even Swords), but I really vibe with the idea of Creation. I can’t exactly say why; maybe the idea of the ‘dancing object’ feature in Marisha’s hands is very funny to me (remember Keyleth’s adorable “Be Our Guest” moment? That, but this time it’s a walking wardrobe beating the shit out of the enemy).

Paladin (Oath of Vengeance/Conquest): As of yet, no one on Critical Role has ever played a paladin from the start, only multiclassed later down the line. I think this would be a cool departure for Marisha. Both campaigns she’s played characters that were either suspicious or at least indifferent to faith and the gods. Paladins are typically associated with deities, but they’re not tied quite so closely to them as clerics are. It would be fascinating to see what she did with it. As for the subclass, I just think Marisha’s earned her turn on the Goth Character Carousel, and while I know Conquest paladin is very unlikely given its moral grayness by default which might cause undue conflict and that Vengeance is a much more likely and acceptable pick, I just think it would be a sexy character choice. 

Wizard (Bladesinger/Graviturgist): This is a much more pie-in-the-sky, wishful thinking pick on my end, but not impossible imo. Marisha has experience with heavy spellcasting already, so she probably wouldn’t shy away from a wizard, but like Travis I suspect she likes a bit of oomph to her characters, and probably wouldn’t play as support heavy as Caleb does. To that end, Bladesingers get a bit more survivability and some modicum of physical prowess alongside their spells, while Graviturgists are definitely on the more aggressive side of the spectrum for wizard subclasses, with unique dunamancy spells to boot. I’m not sure how restrictive Matt would be about Xhorhassian characters in the next campaign if it takes place on another continent, but hey, you never know. Plus, she picked one of Matt’s homebrew subclasses for the current campaign; it would be cute if it happened again.

Liam

Druid (Circle of the Shepherd): At some point before Critical Role comes to end (hopefully far in the future), I know Liam’s gonna play a druid, I can feel it in my bones. He's too big of a Kiki fan not to. However, while Circle of the Moon might feel obvious given the potential for homage and how much he likes turning into animals, I feel like he might regard it as getting too close to old territory (also, I don’t know if Circle of the Moon is like an exclusive thing to the Ashari tribes, and if it is that would be rather restrictive for building a backstory). If that’s the case, Circle of the Shepherd feels like the next best bet. It has some great support options via the totems you can put down, and rather than becoming badass animals, you instead just get really good at summoning a fuck ton of them. It’s like Frumpkin, but ten of him. And they’re bears. (Honorable mention: If Circle of the Moon would feel like treading old territory then I’m certain Circle of Wildfire would too, but I’d bet my dice collection it would at least be tempting). 

Cleric (Unity Domain): Listen. The pure sap potential that would be at Mr. O’Brien’s fingertips with this subclass is incredible. The domain all about strengthening and protecting the bonds between friends and loved ones?? The domain with the Channel Divinity that can spread damage taken by one creature across the party however the cleric chooses to distribute it to lessen the blow to the individual??? The domain that used to be called the Love Domain???? I’m practically gagging on the soft moments and unspoken devotion conveyed through spellcasting already.

Fighter (Rune Knight/Psi Knight): Liam has yet to play a tank in a long-term campaign, and while I’m more enamored with the potential of the above classes, it would be novel to see him play a character with an actually respectable amount of hit points. However, I feel like if he was gonna commit to a straight frontliner, he’d probably want something a little more unique than a Champion or Battle Master (especially since he’s played those already for one-shots). Rune Knight has some fun options and built-in flavor, and with Psi Knight you can basically be a Jedi. Not bad options at all if you ask me.

Taliesin

Warlock (Fiend): Yeah, it might be expected, or Percy might have been too close to warlock anyway to feel like there’s new ground to cover, but hear me out. Both Percy (who, let’s face it, was a warlock multiclass in all but the actual mechanics) and Fjord were the classic reluctants. They got in over their heads without really knowing what was going on, and once they did they wanted out, cutting ties with their patrons and getting clear with only the scars remaining. I want to see Taliesin commit to a warlock in a way I imagine only he could manage to pull off. How fun would that balancing act be, to have a character that has no intentions of breaking their pact, who’s here for the powers, and is willing to work that delicate balancing act between keeping what he’s got and not letting his contract holder get the better of him? Give it to meeeeee.

Sorcerer (Psionic Soul): Psionic Soul has a bit of that eldritch flavor that vibes with Taliesin so much, with the added interest of introducing a brand new feature to 5E, the Psi Die (with this subclass, using them can do things like letting a sorcerer learn a spell they don’t already know for a few hours, allow you to cast spells without needing verbal, somatic, or material components, and can give you telepathy). Taking both Percy and Molly into account, it seems Tal likes to lean into those unique additional mechanics, and while Psi Die aren’t as risk-heavy as Gunslinger or Bloodhunter, they do add a layer of variability and unpredictability that seems to match his style.

Rogue (Swashbuckler): We only got a little bit of time with Molly, and so missed out on the opportunity to see Tal play a more cavalier character this time around. If he feels like leaning away from spells next time and back toward martial, I think a high-charisma, high-swinging swashbuckler from Tal would be a delight to watch.

Laura

Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian): Laura deserves to hit things, okay? Yes, spellcasting is great and comes in clutch frequently and Jester’s amazing, but you can tell Laura misses doing fat stacks of damage to the enemy in a single round. I personally think it would be amazing to watch her just cut loose and go full rage machine. As for the subclass, I’m not glued to the idea, but Ancestral Guardians are pretty kickass, have decent support capabilities for a barb without detracting from their DPS at all, and it doesn’t tread on any previous characters’ toes or their aesthetics.

Rogue (Scout/Soulknife): Laura deserves to play her favorite class at last, okay? She’s been class poached two campaigns in a row, and though that resulted in both Vex and Jester and I wouldn’t trade them for the world, Laura has earned first pick. Seeing as she already dipped into Assassin as Vex and Sam took Arcane Trickster, I could see Scout being a viable subclass choice. It’s in the classic sneaky vein, relatively simple in concept, but comes with features that grant easy-to-understand benefits that you can never turn your nose up at (boosts to movement, advantage on initiative, giving advantage against a target to everyone else in the party, etc.). If she’s looking for something a bit flashier, Soulknife has the benefit of retroactively dunking on Vax by taking the basic knife-rogue and making it better, with psionic knives that you can manifest with a thought, that can teleport you around Whisper style, and cranking up that stealth to ridiculous levels by just being able to turn invisible for ten minutes, no concentration or spell needed. The psionic die mechanics are a little funky of course, but I don’t imagine it’s any trickier than learning to manage all those cleric spells.

Monk (Way of the Open Hand): Between Beau just being super cool and her brief stint as Farriwen Breeze, monk wouldn’t be a surprising pick from Laura. An Open Hand monk might be the definitive version everyone knows, but you can’t deny it’s a solid subclass, and between previous overlap and the concepts of the other subclasses just not seeming to fit, I could see the classic being what she went with. But hey, it’s Laura Bailey. She could surprise us with Way of the Drunken Master or something.

Sam

Ranger (Monster Slayer): Let’s be real, I don’t think this would be his actual first pick for a Campaign 3 character, but the amount of shit-stirring he could achieve by making a character with the aim of pissing off Laura Bailey specifically would be hilarious (and since Matt isn’t completely opposed to UA and acknowledges that PHB ranger has a lot of issues, I wouldn’t be surprised if they went Revised Ranger this time).

Warlock (Genie): Actual first pick here, Pact of the Genie Warlock is confirmed by now, and the potential of a warlock in the hands of Sam Riegel is pretty vast (for some reason I’m imagining he would go the ‘spoiled sugar baby’ route). The subclass doesn’t matter as much, but the Genie one is nice in that, depending on the type of genie patron you pick, you can get a wide variety of extra spells, you get a container like a classic lamp or lantern that you can bamf into for short rests, and you get a limited Wish ability for your capstone, all features I feel like would especially appeal to Sam.

Barbarian (Path of the Wild Soul): I want to see Sam play a fairy barbarian. ‘Nough said.

Ashley

Fighter (Eldritch/Echo Knight): Ashley really seems to vibe with the crushing power of martial classes (she does love her brutal kill descriptions), so I could see her sticking with it rather than going back to full caster. However, I do see her picking one of the magical subclasses for some variety after Yasha. Eldritch Knight is a classic and reasonably easy to manage, but tbh I’d LOVE for it to be Echo Knight. And think, if my wishful thinking came true, with Ashley picking an Echo Knight and Marisha playing a Graviturgist wizard, they could link up their backstories and be a traveling Kryn battle duo that left their homeland behind to explore the world!

Sorcerer (Draconic): If she does want to go back to full-time casting, Sorcerer doesn’t require near as much bookkeeping as a cleric, druid, or wizard while still having decent variety, and the Draconic subclass is a bit beefier than the other subclasses. Also, it would be the third campaign in a row where Ashley Johnson’s character eventually got wings, soooo...

And tbh I have no idea what a third pick might be for Ashley, so I’m just gonna throw a dart or two at the board and say either College of Whispers Bard or Way of Mercy Monk *Shrug* We can only wait and see!

#critical role #if anyone else has thoughts i'd love to hear your guesses!

[theworldbrewery]

multiclassing your...  PALADIN!!

Mid- to high-level paladins have a decent pool of Lay on Hands, two Attacks, Divine Smites, and Auras that give buffs to your party members, plus additional skillsets. They’ve got a little bit of everything, which makes them flexible for multiclassing...to a point. Because of the restrictions on multiclasses (you must have certain Ability Scores be higher than 13 in order to take levels in a given class), and the fact that paladins are spread thinner (Strength and Charisma by default, and usually you’ll try for a strong Constitution as well), you’re much more limited in your multiclass options than you might realize. 

Rough Choices

The worst options for you to choose are monk and ranger, because then you need a strength and charisma score of 13 at minimum for your paladin to multiclass at all, then a dex and wisdom score of minimum 13, and your constitution score is probably decent if not excellent...which means you would need 4 or 5 of the 6 ability scores to be good with those multiclasses. If your stats are so good you can pull that off, more power to you, but it would be rough. 

Reasonable Choices

Paladin + Cleric

This looks like it has potential on the surface. The features from a Divine Domain, depending on what you choose, can give you some boosts, but most of the paladin’s spells are cleric spells too, so you aren’t gaining much in the way of casting. If you pushed it to second level, your main boon is Channel Divinity, which can also be cool, but you don’t get another use of Channel Divinity, just another option. If you’ve got a paladin with an acceptable wisdom score, it’s a workable option, but not your best.

Paladin + Druid

There’s nothing functionally wrong with this multiclass. If you’ve got a high enough Wisdom for the multiclass, you’re mostly fine; you can make melee weapon attacks in beast form, so your divine smite will still work just fine (it’s an ability, not a spell). However, druids won’t wear metal armor. Which means your paladin has to opt for leather or hide, and without a decent Dex score (in addition to decent Wis, Cha, and Str) you’re going to take more hits than you may be prepared for. Maybe wild-shaping is worth your while, maybe it’s not, but it loses points for the armor thing.

Paladin + Rogue

Taking a level or two in rogue is mostly worth it for the sneak attack potential and the Cunning Actions. Normally, paladins wear heavy armor to keep their AC high--but since you need a decent Dex score to take levels in Rogue, you might decide to use medium armor instead, with the benefit of not imposing disadvantage on your stealth rolls. In this case, it’s a question of whether or not the stealth (hiding for sneak attack’s sake, perhaps) is worth sacrificing an obscenely high AC.

Paladin + Sorcerer

Despite sorcerers relying on an ability score you’re already good at, this class doesn’t have much to offer you aside from spell slots--which can be great for you, and makes it preferable to the Wizard option, but in and of itself doesn’t do too much. Use your sorcery points to create extra spell slots for yourself and use that divine smite or other smite-y abilities. In general, I suggest you favor sorcerer over wizard, since if nothing else you get a sorcerous origin that offers some benefits and you’re using a stat you’re already definitely prioritizing.

Paladin + Wizard

If you find yourself running out of Divine Smite slots, maybe a level or two in Wizard will benefit you. It requires a decent Intelligence score, but at first level you get two new first-level spell slots and three cantrips. Nothing about the wizard aside from extra slots and cantrips is particularly useful to you, though, so this multiclass is best done if you have a good role-play reason to take it.

Righteous Choices

Paladin + Barbarian

Your stats align perfectly on this bad boy, so no need to worry about the prerequisites. Don’t worry about Unarmored Defense unless it exceeds your AC in armor--wearing armor won’t stop rage effects. You can attack recklessly at 2nd level, which translates to increased odds of a crit, and when you crit you can use a Divine Smite, doubled...it’s a pretty sweet deal.

Paladin + Bard

You have very few bonus actions to spend as a paladin (the best are your smite spells, but you won’t use smite on every turn), so when you take a level in bard, make the most of that Bardic Inspiration. You’ll also snag additional spell slots for smiting, and the Song of Rest and Jack of All Trades features give you utility outside combat. It’s a nice way to stay well-rounded.

Paladin + Fighter

It’s all about that Second Wind and Action Surge. Since by now you have two attacks per action, that’s four attacks total! You also gain an extra fighting style; use it to fill a gap in your existing repertoire or to amp up something you’re good at already (remember you can only take each style once). With Second Wind, you can save your Lay on Hands for your fellow party members.

Paladin + Warlock

The warlock is a decent multiclass option at minimum because the spellcasting ability is the same as the paladin’s--however, it’s all in what your Otherworldly Patron can do for you. Personally I recommend Hexblade (you can curse an enemy so that against them you crit on a 19, increase your damage, /and/ regain HP if they die) or the Undying (spare the dying could be clutch in a near-TPK situation). Plus, Eldritch Invocations at second level can grant you additional abilities.

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#dnd #d&d #dungeons and dragons #critical role #taz #paladin #multiclassing

[dafukdidiwatch]

Fantasy High Rant (and why you should watch it)

Ok I got suggested this and I cant believe I've been sleeping on this series in the last two years. This series is freaking fantastic! I’m screaming.

Overview is this is a modern d&d fantasy land a la Onward Style, where we follow fantasy Scooby Doo gang as they try to solve the mystery of missing students while interacting with the fantastical citizens of Spyre.

I hella love it, because while it has such a great mystery of whats going on in the town, who is doing what and why, etc etc, and it just GROWS the more you watch it. You think it was something simple, but the conspiracy rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper. But to me the main pull is just seeing how our Party just interacts with everyone and each other. This is a very character driven series, which makes sense this is a d&d party, you have to get attached to the party if you want them to work together.

Fabian Seacaster: God he’s fun to watch. The rich kid high class type of character but is just has so much gusto. I love his relationship with his family, it’s adorable. He just adores his parents and his parents adore him back. Like Addams style adoration. He is a bit full of himself and arrogant and has a thing of living up to his father's legacy as well as his family name, but I think his arc is him learning that he doesn't have to define himself through his dad and can be his own person. Plus my favorite moments are him screaming “WHAT IS HAPPENING” because out of everyone he mostly the straight man dealing with people.

Gorgug: I just love him. He is just so sweet. He is just a gentle giant and confused all the time. I feel so bad that he keeps getting the shit end of the stick to save the rest of the party. Like the whole "stealing backpack" shit to basically set him up as the outcasts of outcasts. Granted I’m laughing my ass off when it happens, but he is just so anxious it’s cute. He is just very sweet and genuine, even if he is a little awkward. I also love him just asking if people are his dad lol he just wants to know. But when he rages he’s basically God-Tier Shaggy. 

Fig: lol her angsty teenage years finding out she isn't who she thought she was. Tbf her dad basically said she was the reason for her parents divorce soooo take that as you will. Her being the "bad girl" but also very helpful when she can is great. Her flirtatious punk attitude, the winking, and rocking bard stuff. I low key like the idea of her being with Gorgug because of the moments in Barbarian class and giving him drumsticks. And I also like her with Fabian as just a wild cool kid power couple. Also her fucking with Goldenhoarde is the best with her being sexual,with him. Its super funny.

Riz: I freaking love him. Kid detective on the case. The business cards for friendship which I mean, makes sense. His goal from day one was to find the missing girls and babysitter. I'm sorry he has a poor house to use water cereal, but his mom just loves him and I think that’s sweet. His family is the coolest and he isn’t afraid to admit how cool his family is. But he has direction, he has a mission, and he does it with determination. Plus I love how he is The Ball and everyone is just going with it and now supports it. Him fucking with Fabian is great. And I'm glad he is reconsidering his life choices after meeting the AV kids.

Adaine: She needs help. The panicking one. I mean, her family,obviously looks down on her and she is literally jealous of all the other kids parents (love the gnomes). She is learning to find her own magic her own way and trying to shatter the expectation forced on her. God I support her just fucking people up, especially with Pixie Boy.She is just trying to deal with things which honestly this adventure is getting her to open up and not take shit. Character Arc: Don’t Take Shit.

Kristen: I’m just watching a train wreck here. Like she was 100% Helios all the way. But now it is just watching her questioning everything about religion after dying. Its amazing from looking into other religion herself and just how it ALL escalates from there as she is pulled further and further away from her religion and old life. Learning that how she was raised was just so fucked. Like I'm just seeing how far this goes and if she will pick another god instead or just not be a cleric anymore.

Also I'm like never going to post a completed version of this post because I’m way too fucking obsessed. I went from ep 8 yelling about Kristen’s religious life to episode 13 plot-twist end. I basically am physically restraining myself from watching episode 15 before I type this or else this will never be typed. I can literally go off about all the characters there is just so many good moments.

Basically, check out the show yourself. It’s on Youtube, it’s hilarious. Watching the reactions and faces is just so much fun to see. 100% recommend.

Now excuse me while I scream spoilers for episode 8/13/14 underneath:

Midway through Ep 8:

Ok it was fucking Kristen! Like not her obviously, but she was the hellmouth! She was the initial sacrifice! Demon-Dad Garthox said that the Hellmouth can be opened inside a person, and Goth Kid Blane was working for the Harvestmen Helios to get that page. And lo and behold the page was in the corn vat that Kristen's book was pushed into! Coincidence? I think not!

They thought that it was somehow Adaine's magic that caused it, or the very least it was the bully,guy who chucked Kristen's book in. But no, the page was already inside her book and fell into the corn! If bully ass McGee didn't hit the book out of her hands, then she might have been the victim! Which makes sense, why not have a follower of Helios bring the end times in His name.

Which means that it could be Daybreak or her parents that gave her the page in her bible for this.

God,is this what Helios meant when it "wasn't her time?" Because she is needed as the Hellmouth Sacrifice?

And this makes the whole "sneaking into heaven" part make sense now. If Aguefort was trying to be assassinated by Helios, he could sneak into Helios Heaven and spy on them from the afterlife. He's a weird ass man I'm sure he can pull it off.

Also Fig's Dad is hella cool and I totally love him for,trying to be a parent and mature about this. Fig is totally supportive of him and I love it.

Ok I'm going back to finish episode 8 I just REALLY needed to rant about that.

Screaming about Episode 13:

The oracle was going to return,if the country was in danger. It was but she was,kidnapped/killed on an illusion ship to stop,her. Rix dad is a spy and he was 100%,super dope about it and him just finding his family secrets I was just crying like, he found his legacy, his entire family was,badasses he was so happy and took up his dad's gun for justice. Like how cool is it for a goblin spy,being small and already default evil to infiltrate that is so clever. That is what gets me on this show,is that they take these cool setting and ideas and how they are twisted to fit the fantasy. Cops? Fantasy cops. Skateboarders? Fantasy skateboarders.

Which lets be real, I think the best battle where they really,worked together was during the skateboarders.

This mystery is building and building and I,guess Penelope is,trying to,be queen,via homecoming queen which is,weird and has a Sarah berry vibe to,it. Which is fucking nuts.

Now I’m wondering if nice guy,pixie actually was in on it day 1, or if he was turned over after he was "beaten" like the bad guys offered him a way to make his dream girls his 2D pets. Which, gross. But Biz part doesn't necessarily fit with the main plot. He obv isn't behind this.

Kalvaxus is a demon with money. His money needs to be destroyed. So they are funneling his money through the banks. They used his ship in disguise to kidnap/capture/kill the oracle to prevent her from returning, which she said she would if the country was in danger. Yes the religious Harvestmen wanted to start the apocalypse via Kristen, but ass-elf diplomat said it wouldn't really work, but it would break the treaty and start war. Kalvaxus. Coach Daybreak had control,on Zane, who had control over Johnny Spells to kidnap girls, and since Alwin had a spell to find "maidens/virgins" they need the girls, either as a sacrifice or as conduits to power the arcane source. Was all of this to raise Kalvaxus from hell to the mortal world? That would explain the power source at the arcade with the trapped girls, to keep the connection going. The only,thing I can think,as to why Penelope would be as high up as she is in this conspiracy is if Kalvaxus is her dad. Which I guess,everyone has dad issues in,this group.

Side note, I appreciate how Gorgug thinks himself as,dumb but gets really smart ideas and the whole party agreed they are smart. Like,he was the first to,put 2 and 2 together about Kalvaxus== KVX bank, even if he didn't outright say it.

All,the adults are really,enjoyable,to see. I fucking love Rix’s mom shes so cool. And Gilear is actually really,pitifully funny. I wouldn't think I would like,him as much after that first episode, but he is actually hilarious being the lunch lad and just trying his best.

Live Screaming Episode 14 (lots of incoherent):

fucking He'll Riz got the drop on Biz but he fumbled the attack with a nat1.

Ah shit! This is their shit! The prizes are the girls shit as trophies. Zelda headphones. Skateboard girl. You need to give the items back!!!

Fig's German Shepard patrol finally works out

And Riz is now in Penny's game, oh this hurts because this is the girl that he wants to help.

Biz is like a terrible chucky cheese mascot.

I love it when Fabian says "whats happening" because for all his rich person elegance his bafflement amuses me.

It's so sad to see these girls just be this, shadow of themselves. Like no personality at all.

Adaine does will with the divination rolls, I don't think I,could be able to,do this that well.

Damn they are taking the girls,into the power source, they need girl power. Literally.

Gorgug is just so sweet to call his parents for help. Too bad it didn't work. Its a gnome game, sweet.

damn this is a lot more dangerous than before. This is why we don't split the party.

Make Gorgug fly again that would be awesome. But Adaine flying is good too.

Riz using his gremlin powers to fuck up the parascepts from the inside is fucking amazing, why the hell is it funneling to the school.

Sucks that Fabian just kept running all the way out the building. But lets say Fabian having that motorcycle is just so op. Plus it called him Daddy let's not forget that.

Gorgug using the headphones with Zelda’s music is just so sweet and clever. See hes a simple man but very smart. Practical I think.

Lol only the guys got sucked into the game. No girls in video game.

The Bebe raises Gorgug’s rage. Riz is right: hot topic vs av nerds.

Where is devil dad, like he wasn't kidnapped or kidnapped figs mom or whatever right??? Like i get suspicious when people don't respond immediately.

OMG Gorgug is God Tier Shaggy.

Biz is doing the Fantasy Truffle Shuffle.

Cut his wings Gorgug!

Riz!!! Keep her here!!! FUCK!!! HE DIDN'T!!! Biz is soooo creepy.

Yes! Keep the ghosts so sad I would love the bag of holding but too bad it didn't work.

Gorgug’s parents are just so freaking sweet and supportive.

Hold shit Gorgug’s honesty got him double crit. That sucks but I lowkey hope he keeps the white hair.

That motorcycle is so op. But hes in a racing game with the hangman, at least he has an advantage.

Kristen's philosophers are just so op. I love how her religion is just searching for eternal knowledge.

NAT 20 THE NAT 20 FUCKING YES LETS GO RIZ JUST FLIPPING IT OFF AND SCREAMING FUCK YOU holy,shit that was funny. Too bad it was wasted on such a dumbass moment.

Just smashed the palimpsest that's how the owlbear popped out. Wow it was hilarious how biz popped out. But holy,shit Riz not even giving biz a chance as he starts shooting off fingers that’s amazing

I love them fucking with him because hes an ass. Oh, Alwin modify memory to make him think it was his evil plan. You know still fuck him tho. Ugh are those pictures. No. They know it was the group and photos of their house. Ughhhhh and now things are getting more dangerous,

#dafukblog #fantasy high #fantasy high episode 8 #fantasy high episode 13 #fantasy high episode 14

[goose-books]

okay i don't know if you like dnd at all but the concept of the darkling characters playing dnd popped into my head and it is the single funniest thing i have ever thought of in my LIFE. pls share if you have any thoughts about that would go

IVE HAD THIS SIMMERING IN THE BACK OF MY MIND ALL DAY WHWHFBWFBS... the thing is that i actually have a TMR-as-a-dnd-game AU so it’s not like i’m NEW to the concept but i’ll admit the darkling characters are giving me a bit more trouble because they do not... know how to have fun. that said i did sit down to put down like two ideas and then more just kept spawning

rory is old hat at this, like, they definitely play dnd online with people and they know all the rules and have the handbook half-memorized so they’re the dm by default. this robs them of their desire to have a character with an incredibly elaborate novel-length backstory. they cope with this by giving all the NPCs elaborate novel-length backstories instead

vee starts cataloguing all the NPCs and drawing out their family trees because he knows he’s not gonna remember them otherwise

no one else is either but they don’t care

EXCEPT cressida who has an unnervingly impeccable memory for this sort of thing

vee also draws everyone’s character during the game but the downside of this is that they’re never paying attention and keep getting lost in their sketchbook and then looking up and going “wait where are we”

im not sure about ALL the character races but gracen’s a tiefling, ruby’s an elf, and jasper is -

“a half-elf?” gracen and ruby both guess at once

“what the fuck is that supposed to mean,” jasper says

“nothing,” ruby says

"it’s rude of you to assume -”

“well what are you then,” gracen says

jasper:

jasper: well. now i don’t want to say </3

cressida’s and jasper’s characters are both high int low wis but like. in very different ways

cressida in the “takes everyone flatly at their word and walks into traps” way

jasper in the “literally not a single ounce of critical thinking before acting” way

cressida gets really into the mechanical aspects of it all (like, the XP... the HP... the leveling up... the Moves... i don’t know very much about dnd DFHKDSFBSFBSFS)

similarly, gracen is very much into the Strategy of it all... she’s a chess player she’s not as good with self-made stories

ruby plays a barbarian but also boosts her stealth stats as much as she can she has a very specific secret-agent-esque skillset in her mind and she’s determined to make it come true at all costs also she’s the one focused on collecting in-game money

dany also plays a barbarian but she keeps putting herself in Situations and fucking dying and if rory has to revive her one more time they’re just gonna obliterate her character through some kind of unfair word of god move

jasper cheats.

WELL. he either cheats or he is actually rolling nat20s, like, every other turn. no one believes this but they haven’t caught him yet

his character is. god i don’t know things about dnd classes. one of the ones that does magic. he just casts charm spells on everyone they meet

and it always works!

one of these days rory’s gonna figure out how he’s cheating.

they swear to god. watch them.

#max.txt #LITERALLY I SAT DOWN WITH ONE IDEA AND THEN ALL OF THIS CAME OUT... SFDKHKFSDFJBSDFJBSFBSDSD #TYSM AVI SDFHSDFSDB #darkling tag #asks #avi-burton-writing

[paperanddice]

Tears of the Crocodile God Part 1

Tears of the Crocodile God is a 4th Edition adventure from Dungeon Magazine issue 209. It’s a paragon tier adventure for 15th-17th level characters, right about in the middle of the system, and is meant to be a relatively dangerous adventure, pushing a party to their limits with few risk-free ways to recover. It contains 10 combat encounters and 4 major puzzles, though two of those puzzles can be used to avoid an encounter and a few of the encounters could be considered optional, depending on how clever players are in avoiding them or choosing which to engage with. Theoretically, an incredibly fast and picky party could avoid nearly every encounter, though doing so would be nearly impossible without foreknowledge or exceptional luck, and would likely result in one of the poor endings for the adventure. These encounters are not trivial ones either, ranging from level 15-20. Normal 4th Edition encounter building isn’t designed for this many fights in a single day, and so the adventure has a mechanism for how to get around it that I’ll discuss as part of the conversion factor.

For the conversions, I’ll put them right around the mid point of the systems as it is in 4E. That means around 10th level for 5e, and 5th level for 13th Age. Both of these are fairly advanced and powerful heroes, and so the threat against them can be similarly advanced and fit within the original story and design. This does require some discussion on the length of the adventure and the number of encounters included within it. 5th Edition is technically meant to have 6-8 encounters per long rest, and so the adventure only slightly exceeds that expectation, though many of the games I’ve run rarely hit such numbers. 13th Age on the other hand is very specifically intended to do 4 regular encounters per full heal-up, so pushing it to more than double that number is far beyond the capacity of the characters.

One aspect I’d like to discuss at the front here as well is the way Icons could interact with the adventure in a 13th Age game. Nephalot and the Crocodile God are not Icons in and of themselves, and they don’t necessarily line up too much with the default Icons in the setting. The closest alignments as I see them are the Crusader (power at all costs, a ritual to sacrifice a few weaker lives to create one more powerful immortal creature could be useful), the High Druid (the Crocodile God itself represents a powerful animal spirit that could be useful to her) or maybe the Three (lean more into the reptile imagery, or give the Crocodile God some draconic features as it absorbs the energy). Standing against the actions of Nephalot and the Crocodile God could be the Archmage (perhaps the evil ritual Nephalot has been using is something an earlier Archmage came up with and the current one wishes to see its use stopped), the Emperor (the Crocodile Cult represents a potential threat to the stability of the Empire), the Great Gold Wyrm (evil must be vanquished), or the Priestess (the Crocodile is not a god, and even if it were it’s a threat to the people with its constant human sacrifices).

Crocodile Fonts

Now we must discuss the mechanism the adventure uses to extend the characters’ capacity. Drinking from the crocodile fonts scattered around the dungeon can refresh characters, healing them, giving back healing surges, and recharging one expended daily power. Each font has 2 free uses and 3 more gated behind a dangerous trap and a skill check. Converting the intention of these fonts into the other systems requires a decision on the best way to do so.

For 5th Edition, my method was to allow each font to grant a short rest (as short rests are far longer in this system than either of the others and some classes rely on them quite a bit), as well as replenishing two spent Hit Dice. They could recharge some spell slots or other features as well, but the mechanism for that was complicated and upon more review not entirely necessary. The resources characters have are intended to be able to last many encounters, so merely granting access to short rests and additional hit dice should theoretically give enough endurance to push through. In a spellcaster heavy party or one that’s less experienced or equipped with little magical gear, allowing a use of the font to recharge half the character’s level in expended spell slots (as the wizard’s arcane recovery feature), or one third for partial casters like paladins and rangers, or a choice of recharging half the maximum amount of another per day limited feature such as Lay on Hands or Sorcery Points. This is more powerful with once per long rest features, so take that into consideration.

13th Age has a few other options however. Full heal-ups aren’t exactly tied to taking a specific long rest the way they would be in D&D. Depending on the story, full heal-ups could be scattered days apart, or could happen in the middle of a dungeon as characters push forward. They are simply intended to come every 4 standard encounters, regardless of the in story time between those encounters. That gives us a choice of simply allowing a full heal-up once the party finishes roughly half the combats, allowing the party a full heal-up at one point during the adventure of their choice, allowing drinking from a font to grant a full heal-up but limiting the fonts so that the total uses available in the dungeon are 1/character, or letting each font allow a similar refreshment as the 4E version of the adventure and disallowing a proper full heal-up while within the dungeon.

My personal preference would probably be to the last of those, as part of the tone of the adventure is pushing through where recovery isn’t really easy. In this case, I’d probably keep the fonts to 5 maximum uses and allow drinking from one to have effectively the exact same effect as 4E. Return to full hp, regain 2 expended recoveries, and recharge one daily use power. Granting recharge rolls for all or even a single expended ability or spell could be good as well, especially for classes like the barbarian who might want more than a single rage use across 10 potential fights. As I have far less experience with 13th Age I can’t be 100% certain on the best option for this, so I’ll leave some of the specifics to your own discretion. If you feel that simply granting a full heal-up fits better with your group’s capabilities and the story, go for that, though I’d still tie it to the crocodile fonts in some capacity. Having them be a key resource and forcing the players to make tough decisions as to when to make use of them is a major point.

As traps, the crocodile fonts are mostly out of combat mechanics and force players to take a risk if they want to push their recovery beyond the freely granted uses.

5th Edition:

Crocodile Font Trap Mechanical and magic trap This trap uses a magical sensor to recognize when to slam the jaws of the statue shut, trying to catch a creature within them. Attempting to drink from the crocodile font after the first two uses forces the character to succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 22 (4d10) piercing damage and become restrained. While restrained, the creature takes 11 (2d10) piercing damage at the end of each of its turns and its face is held underwater, forcing it to hold its breath if it can’t breath water. The target or a creature that can reach the font can take a standard action to attempt a DC 15 Strength check, freeing the creature on a success. The font can be jammed open by making a Dexterity check using thieves’ tools or a Strength (Athletics) check against DC 18, allowing the additional drinks without danger. The font can also be destroyed (AC 15; 30 hp; immune to cold, necrotic, poison, and psychic damage). Destroying the font releases a restrained creature, but also neutralizes the font’s magic.

13th Age: These kinds of traps may go a little against some of the themes of the system, but they aren’t a hidden surprise that screws a character over with no warning. They’re clearly signposted, and a character that triggers it has done so having accepted the risks.

Champion-tier crocodile font trap: DC 20 skill check using Dexterity or Strength to hold open so a creature can take a drink from a font after the first two uses without risking getting hit by it; +10 vs. PD (the creature drinking from the font) - 4d6 damage, 5 ongoing damage, and the target is stuck and hampered and the target must start making last gasp saves. Making a last gasp save ends all effects. On a fourth failure, the target’s head or upper body is severed by the font. Multiple use. Make the skill check as the character drinks, rather than ahead of time.

River Crocodiles

The smaller crocodiles that occupy all running water within the labyrinth are generally pretty calm, though characters that bother the crocodiles or get into a combat close to the water may have to contend with them acting up and a few attacking. Given their relative weakness in comparison to the characters, they’ll quickly flee if confronted.

5th Edition River Crocodile Medium beast, unaligned Armor Class 13 (natural armor) Hit Points 16 (3d8 + 3) Speed 20 ft., swim 40 ft. Str 13 (+1) Dex 14 (+1) Con 13 (+1) Int 2 (-4) Wis 10 (+0) Cha 5 (-3) Skills Stealth +4 Senses passive Perception 10 Languages - Challenge 1/4 (50 XP) Hold Breath. The crocodile can hold its breath for 15 minutes. Actions Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d8+1) piercing damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 11). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the crocodile can't bite another target.

13th Age:

River Crocodile 3rd level mook [beast] Initiative: +5

Bite +8 vs. AC - 4 damage Natural even hit: The target is stuck and takes 2 ongoing damage (save ends both). The crocodile can’t use its bite on another creature until the target saves.

AC 19 PD 17 MD 13 HP 11 (mook) Mook: Kill one river crocodile for every 11 damage you deal to the mob.

Secret Doors

Finding the secret doors in the labyrinth should be moderately difficult. A DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check to notice them works for 5th Edition, and a DC 25 Wisdom based skill check should work for 13th Age.

The other common features of the labyrinth, such as the biting insects, runewheels, and the dreams of the crocodile god aren’t as concerning to me. The biting insects are the only one with a real mechanical effect, and it’s not one that I particularly care to keep track of. The first 5th Edition conversion I made included it, and it was just something people regularly forgot and didn’t care too much for and the long rest penalties really shouldn’t come up. I consider taking a long rest within the Labyrinth an automatic fail state for the adventure, as the trial lasts far too long for those outside to wait and the labyrinth will be invaded with dozens of crocodile cult warriors and priests if the time extends that long. Characters are forced to either flee or rush through as fast as possible if they try to take a long rest.

Next update I’ll start exploring the specific encounter and puzzle areas of the dungeon, as well as discuss the four sacrifices that the party may encounter and what could be done with them.

#D&D #DnD #Dungeons and Dragons #5th Edition #13th Age #Adventure #Tears of the Crocodile God #my homebrew #long post

[utilitycaster]

Your fav character from each class in all the actual plays you’ve watched?

THE BEST QUESTION (if hard). I’m only counting regular PCs here; see the end for some guest/NPC/one-shot mentions. As you can see I love basically all characters but I do have my favorites.

Barbarian: there is a high potential, now that Ashley is back for good, that Yasha will win this next year but for now Gorgug and his sweet awkwardness and confused attempts to find his dad wins. (some other good barbarians: Grog, Beryl from Relics and Rarities who was a. kind of a stoner and b. an absolute delight and c. a cool depiction of path of the ancestral guardian, and Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, sweet crepe loving failure)

Bard: I love Fig, but I have to go Scanlan. You know that art piece of the Vecna battle that’s overlaid with the All Work No Play “what would the worst character be” line? Yeah. From “I’m snoring after having sex” to “I was saving it for Vax”. You just can’t beat that. (some other good bards: Annabella from Relics and Rarities, Misty from Dimension 20)

Cleric: this is probably the hardest category (shout out to a lot of clerics. Jester, Kingston, and Kristen are tied for second place) but I think I have to go with Caduceus. I love how much he sees of everyone else and how little we know of him. I love how not-so-secretly judgemental he is. I love his bone flute. I love that he’s quietly trying to save his dying home, and perhaps find family that might be dead. Someone hug him for me. (I would like to recognize Pike and Merle of course, as well as Efink Murderdeath here, and while I’m only 7 episodes in I think Zolf is already my favorite of RQG. )

Druid: Keyleth. I feel like TAZ is at a disadvantage because they’re so early on in Graduation, but also I love the Firbolg but I am not sure a druid will ever surpass Keyleth, with all her messy awkwardness and genuine desire to do good at any cost. (shout out to Ricky Huckster for being a really unique take on the druid, Lillith from Escape from the Bloodkeep for being a great wine mom, and to Kugrash who is currently ripping my heart out)

Fighter: I’m surprising myself here but the recent developments with Fabian Seacaster have put him in the forefront, I think because his story is still ongoing and because I’m a sucker for an arrogant jock suddenly confronting mortality and failure. I do still love Percival De Rolo a lot though. (shout out to Magnus Burnsides who is good at everything, and Veros the O.G. Himbo from Relics and Rarities)

Monk: Beau. This is another case of like, I love Sofia Bicicleta too, but Marisha Ray has some kind of genius for playing female characters that really tap into like, things that many women I think feel but don’t know how to express (at least, I, a woman, feel these things and don’t know how to express them). Beau is such a complicated abrasive character who feels things deeply, and who has genuinely tried and succeeded in changing. She’s so dynamic and wonderful and I love her to bits.

Paladin: Vax. I wrote a whole piece about my experience of listening to CR campaign 1 episode 57 that I never published or posted. I think there’s something deeply profound and beautiful about sticking to an oath that you didn’t ever think you’d choose, and to a promise you fell into. (also, spoilers but Fjord’s going to be my choice for Warlock so I cover that there even though one of my favorite things about him is his switch to Paladin). (shout out, of course, to Ricky Matsui)

Ranger: Vex. Due to some valid and some invalid complaints about the ranger class few people play it, which is a shame because the revised ranger options are pretty great (Horizon Walker is amazing, I say as an admitted fan of weird planar shit) and because like, Aragorn was my favorite LOTR character. But yeah, everything I’ve said about Keyleth and Beau applies to Vex, the D&D character I think I relate most to despite my irl stats not matching hers at all (I do not have 17 Charisma). The imposter syndrome, the need to appear that everything is under control, the sibling loyalty, the stubbornness, the quiet leadership - it’s all so perfect and so unique and I love her very much. (Sokhbarr was a fun take though)

Rogue: put Vax as Paladin so I could nominate Riz as my favorite rogue (and again, I love Nott and enjoy what I’ve seen of Argo, and to be fair, Sasha seems very good as well) but I think the inquisitive subclass is so cool and Riz has such a wonderful arc. Also, goblin with gun is great but goblin high schooler with gun is straight up genius.

Sorcerer: a very rare class, tbh, with Pete getting it by default. He is indeed a fascinating character though, and tying his sorcery into the mythology of the world is a pretty brilliant DM move. (I also am very into Hamid thus far, not in the least because I love halflings)

Warlock: Fjord. I liked Fjord from the start, and even when he was being an ass during the pirate arc found him relatable. I think it might be my background as a bard player that makes me love this disaster who survived for years on just a high constitution and being really good at talking and playing roles; I also love someone who isn’t the greatest leader but falls into it, and someone with control issues working through it (see also: Vex, Percy) And finally, I don’t know if Travis was telling the truth about him being lawful good but he genuinely does want to make things better for people and he takes responsibility very seriously. (obviously, I also really liked Leland, and while I think of both Fig and Sofia as primarily of their main classes of bard and monk, they are cool as warlocks. I get why Emily Axford keeps gunning for Hexblade).

Wizard: Caleb. Given all the other sources of magic it’s always fascinating to see why someone becomes a wizard specifically, and I also like how complex Caleb is - not just the trauma, though that’s part, but the humor and the versatility. (Adaine was a close runner-up though, and Taako was my favorite of THB but is a little too goofy to be a favorite).

Artificer: I mean, obviously Tary.

NPCs and guests, with less commentary:

Barbarian: gonna go with Lionel the True Polymorphed Duck here.

Bard: Hazel Copperpot, she of the 1930s radio accent

Cleric: again very difficult, but then again, not so difficult. Lieve’tel was great.

Druid: Nila, the sweet and calming presence in our hour of need.

Fighter: oh god I don’t know if I can choose between Keg, bisexual dwarven disaster, and Brian David Gilbert’s Hargis, awkward goliath theater kid.

Monk: Ferriwen Breeze, who I do hope shows up again because she was my favorite Darrington Brigade character and I really love Genasi; also Expositor Dairon, natch.

Paladin: few people play paladins as guests which is weird. I do like Kerrek, and I do like Arkhan, but like, Kima, clearly.

Ranger: Sandralynn Faeth, hands down. A wonderful NPC.

Rogue:  I do love Cathilda, and I do love Twiggy, but I laughed about the Owlbear for the entire Darrington Brigade one shot.

Sorcerer: I mean...it has to be Gilmore, right? Calianna is great but no one can beat Gilmore.

Warlock: Zahra, who also, incidentally, is the only non-Hexblade Warlock who’s shown up. I mean hexblade is objectively amazing but Zahra is too.

Wizard: there have been many wizard NPCs across games and it was a very difficult choice but who else is graceful, unendingly kind and patient, and reliable in all situations? Allura Vyesoren is the wizard you wish your wizard could be. Yussa and Essek and Lup and Arthur Aguefort and Barry and Lyra and Ranier and far more wizard NPCs and guests are all wonderful in their own ways but like, did you think you could come for Matt Mercer’s self insert? you could not.

.

#d&d #critical role #relics and rarities #dimension 20 #TAZ #Anonymous

[that-mom-friend-talks]

Inspiration hit me hard so more headcanons!

The Sides as DND Classes (based off my limited but passionate knowledge of DND)

Everyone has at least a little bit of hard, because this is Thomas were talking about it'd be a crime if they didn't sing.

Virgil: Rogue. He just goes ghost at any time he pleases. Awkward conversation? Rolled a 7, that's 16 for stealth he's out. Said "you too" at any point ever? 24 he's outta there. Epitome of fight or flight, when he wants to be he's a nightmare. He'll outrun you after he stabs you in the gut. Also, super edgy, fits his aesthetic, and generally just makes sense.

Patton: Cleric. Healing! He wants to make sure his kiddos are doing a-okay, so he knows quite a bit about healing. Don't be fooled, though, he's got some tricks up his sleeve that hit hard. He may be the default healer but he is by no means weak. Surprisingly strong, and has moments of great wisom but also cries over baby birds. A sweetheart that doesn't want to hurt anyone but if you hurt his famILY first you're dead.

Logan: Wizard. He studied so damn hard to come this far, you bet his nerd butt is learning magic. Very practical spells, more buffs and defense than offense, but his methods are unusual. Fight on a beach? Control water to give the enemy a bubble that they drown in. Fight near on a cliff? Aims at their feet to knock them off. Epitome of "work smarter not harder, he does a little that goes a long damn way. He chooses very simplistic spells that most would scoff at, but uses them in ways never thought of before. Always a slut for bookshops and libraries, and may or may not be creating (discovering?) a whole new type of magic because he can.

King Creativity: the Bardiest Bard to ever Bard. Incredible voice, can heal you with his song, or can make his voice crack so bad the enemy takes damage. Charisma is high, and he abuses that fact by trying to sleep with anything and everything (man shaped). Once successfully fucked a dragon to let the party escape. No shame, and he's got game. A truly killer combo.

Roman: Paladin. The closest to a knight you can get. He's royalty, and had to learn the hard way that you shouldn't flaunt it everywhere. Got mugged by a guy he hit on in a shady bar. Swore to never do it again (he still does sometimes, but he's more wary of it). Heart of gold and sword of steel, he can and will cut a bitch. Talk shit get hit describes him kinda well. Could be dying and still look hot. It's honestly infuriating. Leans more heavily into the Bard than the others, and constantly singing in exchange for things. Has a crush on a guard in every place he goes.

Remus: Warlock or Druid. On one hand, warlock would be very chaotic of him, he'd have a pact with a demon to get neat spells that can kill people faster. But on the other hand, druids can turn into animals and I know no one more feral than the rat man. Either way, he looks like a noodle but is actually pretty strong, constantly getting into fights and glad about it, would start a bar fight because he's bored. Has died several times, and his party is so used to it they have a bag full of med stuff and diamonds just labeled "Remus did it again". He thinks it's hilarious. Probably has a bag of holding filled with limbs or severed penises.

Deceit: Monk. Follows a strict code, but that code is personal. Tries to root out corruption in governments and businesses, relatively successful. Ignores the irony of being part of an organization that polices other organizations. Knows a lot about healing because he befriended Remus. Is a slippery snek, very wily and good at getting out of situations. Master bullshitter, has a stupid good persuasion and deception (duh). Has an ear on everything, finds out dirt on anyone he possibly can. Prefers not to fight if he can help it, but can hold his own just fine.

Remy: Mage. Not a Cleric or Warlock bc no one can tie him down. Favorite spell is sleep, does it as often as he can at the most inconvenient times possible. Has gotten out of situations by knocking people out and leaving. Really good charisma, and uses that to his advantage. He hates getting into fights, so he will do as much as he can to either knock you out or make you fight for him. Charm person and sleep, he loves them. Also pretty good at alchemy and potions, makes himself ones all the time so he's gotten pretty good.

Emile: Ranger. Has a really good relationship with nature, and does his best to protect it and those he cares about. Loves animals, can be found talking to any creature around him at any time. Disney princess vibes, because all animals just adore him. Because of this he knows a lot, and the creatures tell him all sorts of stuff. Good perception, good wisdom. He usually likes to heal, but will fight if it comes to it. He usually doesn't want to but he also doesn't want to die so he does what he must. More defense than offense, and helps with the aftermath. He's met and helped a lot of people, so he knows what he's doing.

Orange: Barbarian. This guy just wants to burn every place he can to the ground, and his first reaction to anything is violence. Ally? Stabbed. Key NPC? Decapitated. Hotel? Trivago.

Thomas: the poor, poor DM. Joan also helps out with a lot of it, because they're awesome like that.

I hope this all makes relative sense and is at least kinda accurate! I have many many thoughts about this, and will probably be sharing more.

#ts patton #ts roman #ts remus #ts logan sanders #ts logan #roman sanders #remus sanders #logan sanders #sanders sides #logic sanders #sanders sides logan #thomas sanders #deceit sanders #ts headcanon #dnd tag

[thegreatelisamousy]

Choose Your Character

The Host shuffled through the character sheets he’d made nervously. Having had much of his homework done in advance, and two of his classes cancelled, he’d had more than enough time to put them together.

A lot of them. Maybe twenty was a bit much...

He was just spreading them out on the coffee table when he heard Bing approach.

“Holy shit!” the android said. “Are those all character sheets?”

The Host nodded. “The Host thought he would make a variety, so that whoever ends up picking last isn’t stuck with the last one by default. But he... may have gone a bit overboard.

“You think?”

“Does Bing know if everyone has dice yet?” the Host asked. If his plan to choose the order of who picked a character fairly was going to work, everyone needed a set of dice.

“Yeah, Dr. Iplier took us all to get dice the other day,” he replied. “There’s a gaming store in town, huge variety.” He pulled out the small, plastic box D&D dice usually came in, housing seven semi-transparent, orange dice. The almost looked like candy.

It didn’t take long for everyone else to show up, all making some kind of comment on his sheer number of character sheets. Yes, he overdid it, he knew that. But it was just... way too much fun. And Dr. Iplier buying him Volo’s Guide to Monsters didn’t exactly help much, giving him even more races to play with.

When everyone was situated, the Host spoke. “First, everyone needs to take out their d20. They’re going to roll for initiative.”

“Roll for what?” Dr. Iplier asked.

“Initiative,” he repeated. “It determines the turn order in battle, the higher the number, the earlier the turn. In this case, each person’s initiative determines the order they choose.”

“You just... made us characters?” CJ asked.

“We don’t get to make our own?” RJ didn’t sound at all upset or disappointed, just curious, but the Host shrunk in on himself slightly all the same.

“The Host... didn’t want to throw everything about the game at everyone all at once,” he explained. “Creating a character can be complicated, and the first campaign is going to be a oneshot, so everyone can make their own characters next time. But... he just thought it would be easier...” He motioned to the papers strewn about on the table. “But he made a wide variety, so... he hopes everyone finds something they’ll like...”

“That was a good idea,” Illinois commented, and the Host relaxed a little. He reached for one of the sheets to read it, but his hand was batted away.

“Roll for initiative,” the Host told him again.

Everyone rolled, and Silver rolled the highest, and 18, while Bing rolled a 15, Illinois a 12, CJ a 10, RJ a 5, and Dr. Iplier rolled a nat 1, earning a snort from the Host.

He motioned to the sheets he’d provided. “As Silver rolled the highest, he gets first pick.”

Silver rifled through the sheets for a bit, glancing up and asking, “How much detail did you go into with making these?”

“The Host chose the name, sex, race, class, background, some of their background traits, their stats, skills, and equipment.”

“I’m not complaining,” Illinois began, “but is there anywhere we can go with making the character from there?”

“The Host said he chose a background and background traits. He did not, however, write their entire history. That is up to the player--they just need to clear it with the Host to make sure it fits into the world he’s creating.”

Silver finally produced a sheet, making his decision. “I think I like... Beiric?” He guessed on the pronunciation, but when he wasn’t corrected, he continued. “A high elf monk that was a soldier.”

The Host grinned, and no one was sure they liked the possible implications of that. “Bing’s turn.”

Bing was already looking through them, so he quickly picked up one of them. His eyes were rapidly flashing orange, indicating he was doing some kind of internet search. “I think I like this Zudronn guy.” He looked at the others. “He’s a bugbear paladin gladiator.”

“What the fuck is a bugbear?” Dr. Iplier blurted.

Bing laughed. “That’s what I was just looking up. I guess it’s some kind of creature distantly related to goblins? But he seems like a lot of fun to play.”

“My turn, then,” Illinois said, looking through them. He read each sheet carefully, flipping them over to read more of what the Host had for the character bio. “Hey Host?” he asked, continuing to read. “What’s a tabaxi?”

“Tabaxis are cat people,” he explained. “Not like... humans with cat ears and a tail. Actual cat people.”

“Huh. I think I like this Smoke character, then. A rogue hero sounds fun.” He grinned. “Especially an assassin hero.”

Dr. Iplier raised a brow. He looked at the Host. “You made an assassin hero?”

“The Host rolled the characters,” he explained. “Each race, class, and background got a number, the Host rolled for it. So... tabaxi assassin folk hero.”

Dr. Iplier just shook his head with a fond smile, watching as CJ rifled through the sheets before picking a seemingly random one. “Zerissa, tiefling warlock pirate.” He looked at the Host. “Tieflings are those one that have demon heritage, right?”

The Host actually seemed surprise. “Yes, how did--?”

“We did some digging,” CJ replied.

“We wanted to know what might be coming so... we looked some stuff up,” RJ added, already picking his own character. “Mog the Barren, orc barbarian outlander.” He laughed. “This is gonna be fun. I am so the tank!”

Remembering the sheer number of axes he’d given Mog, the Host was inclined to agree.

Finally, it came time for Dr. Iplier to pick, and it didn’t take him long to find the one cleric the Host had rolled.

“The Host kind of figured Dr. Iplier would choose Iarra,” he replied. “Even though she is a criminal.”

“Hey, she’s also a wood elf and a cleric, so shut up,” he replied. “Besides, I kind of wanna see how much of an asshole I can turn her into.”

“Dr. Iplier, no!”

“Dr. Iplier, yes.”

#d&d #Markiplier Egos #The Host #Silver Shepherd #Illinois #The Jim Twins #Dr. Iplier #character picking #I will post more about each character soon-ish

[majingojira]

The Best of D&D Comics Characters

There have been a lot of comics made or inspired by Dungeons & Dragons.  A lot of them are crap, as most things are, but there are some real gems among them to wet any fantasy pallet.  

For this list, I will go through each major class and choose one character for each to represent the ‘best’ of that class.  There will be some honorable mentions, but this is my list, so I’ll do what I want. Sadly, newer classes like Artificer don’t have enough characters in comics to really work.  

Barbarian - When I think of Barbarians, I think big. So for this slot, I’ll go with Grog Strongjaw, a Goliath Barbarian from the first campaign of Critical Role. There wasn’t much competition in the field.  Yasha from the second run of Critical Role and Lux from the made for TV-Movie and not TV-Pilot Dungeons and Dragons: Curse of the Dragon God are about the only real competition he had.  

What about Bobby from the Animated Show?

What ABOUT Bobby from the animated show? 

Bard - Bards are a strange bunch by design. They have to be charismatic, but they are also among the goofiest in play.  To go with that feel, the only logical choice was Elan from Order of the Stick.  No one else even came close. It’s the most meta choice. 

Cleric - Cleric is a hard choice because it is often seen as the blandest of classes. Goody-good healer, or stick in the mud morality police in narratives.  And this is despite their versatility and being probably the most broken class in the game.  So I went with Nerys Kathon from Jim Zub’s Baldur’s Gate comics.  She’s a priestess of Kelemvor, which makes her goth look all the more appropriate. And who can say no to a badass goth girl?

Druid - Druids are rare in multimedia about D&D as far as I’ve been able to find.  I haven’t read many of the books, but I’ve read a lot of comics. And I mean a LOT.  Still, the field wasn’t completely empty.  Keyleth from Critical Role Campaign 1 easily stood out. 

Fighter - The most common thing in D&D, according to statistics, is Human Fighter, so it should be no surprise that this one ended in a tie among human fighters.  Adric Fell from John Roger’s D&D Comic and leader of “Fells FIve,” and Vajra Valmejar from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons from DC comics back in the day.  Adric Fell has wit, charm, cunning. and one weird implied history (uses a cavalry saber, writes contracts using pirate slang).  Vajra is a survivor. And also a black woman who is in effect the lead character of the entire run.  From the 1980s.  In a D&D comic.  

That’s impressive all by itself. 

Monk - There are even fewer monks than druids in D&D comics.  In the end, it was either Beau from Critical Role Campaign 2 or the Pathfinder Iconic Monk who I can’t recall the name of and am not bothering to look up because Beau is an easy win.  Her backstory alone makes her more interesting than an Iconic. 

Paladin - Paladin was a bit thicker despite being the best ‘newb’ class, but not by much, but again, it was no contest.  Khal Khalundurrin, Dwarven Paladin, former “Rebel Rockstar Bard” turned Holyman from John Rogers comic and member of Fell’s Five.  I mean, look at that! That’s the kind of backstory that I can get behind! 

Ranger - This was probably the hardest.  I mean, Dritz.  He’s ... Everywhere.  But I couldn’t really get behind him.  So, I went with Minsc.  He has a miniature Giant Space Hamster as an animal companion.  Need I say more? 

Rogue - Rogues in D&D media tend to be halflings. In modern times, most halflings tend to be stabby.  So, to buck the trend, I went with Chilchuck from Delicious in Dungeon, which is probably the best unofficial D&D manga on the market.  And it’s about cooking. 

Sorcerer - Sorcerers are another rare class in D&D media. Wizards getting a favorable bias in representing arcane magic in D&D.   

...

ESPECIALLY THE WIZARD

...

Sorry, I had to. 

Anyway, I went with Delina from Jim Zub’s D&D comic.  Because as a wild mage, her abilities become “Wild Magic Narrative Convenience 1/Story” which is just perfect, IMO. 

Warlock - Warlocks are a relatively new class, but they have been around long enough to gain a few good characters to work with.  Though, again, I find myself almost defaulting to John Roger’s D&D comic and Fell’s Five: Tisha Swornheart.  A Starpact Warlock Tiefling out for revenge against her own sister. 

Wizard - There were a lot of wizards to go through, but most were in the Gandalf/Dumbledore mold and who needs that derivative stuff.  So I went with Marcille from Delicious in Dungeon for being nothing like those archetypes, and for a touch of darkness to her.  Plus, she knows how to make soap!  Does your wizard know how to make soap?  I didn’t think so! 

Not bad.  A nice mix.  We’ve got 2 characters from Delicious in Dungeon. 3 from Critical Role.  3 From Jim Zub’s D&D comic Legends of Baldur’s Gate. 3 From John Rogers D&D comic.

Not a bad spread.  

But who do you think is the best/most interesting representative of each class? 

#dungeons & dragons #Dungeons and Dragons #Dnd #D&d #Critical Role #Baldur's Gate

[rpgsandbox]

5e + OSR

Layout designed for utility

Streamlined gameplay

Highly compatible

Five Torches Deep (FTD) is a streamlined adventure game combining the best mechanics and principles of 5e, the OSR, and modern game design. The core of the game is familiar to anyone who has played 5e or previous editions of the game, but every mechanic has been pared down, modified, or expanded upon to create a coherently gritty, resource-focused, roguelike, old-school experience.

The game’s about tough choices, risk vs reward, and using as much out of character smarts as in-character mechanics. It’s just about everything we (Ben and Jess) have come to expect from an OSR adventure game: brutal, challenging, streamlined, and accessible.

Introduce 5e players to OSR

Modular design and layout

FTD is meant to ease the introduction of OSR mechanics and principles to those already familiar with 5e. The core is largely compatible with the current edition, but the more FTD mechanics and subsystems you add, the more “OSR” it feels. As such, you can plug and play to hack up your own amalgam of FTD and other systems.

5e skeleton, OSR meat

Succinct but complete

Modern layout for ease of reference

FTD is a blend of old and new, digital and tabletop. It loots the corpses of four decades of gaming in just 48 packed pages. It’s able to comprehensively recreate an authentic OSR experience while bringing plenty of new subsystems to the table. Heavier than Knave or Into the Odd, more concrete than the Black Hack, less epic than 5e, more familiar than the White Hack, and less “edgy” than LotFP. It hits the sweet spot between post-clone ultra-light rules and burdensome mechanics.

Familiar but fresh

Comprehensive adventure play

Favors cleverness over crunch

FTD strips 5e down to its skeleton and fleshes it out with mechanics focused on resource management, clever problem solving, and streamlined OSR gameplay. Combat is a last resort, magic is dangerous and wild, and every ability matters.

Character Creation: there’s only four classic races, each with a distinct method for generating ability scores and class restrictions.

Character Classes: warrior, thief, mage, or zealot. Classes follow the design structure of 5e (scaling proficiency bonus, class features at set levels, etc) with more specialized “archetypes” unlockable at level 3. These archetypes bring in classics like the Barbarian, Warlock, and Druid without completely reconfiguring the class itself. And with only four starting classes, it’s easy to roll up a random character at level 1.

                                    The Zealot class, all on one page

Level 9 Cap: PC play beyond level 9 is a different type of game. FTD focuses on dungeons and adventure, not domains, strongholds, and cataclysms. This makes a tighter gameplay loop: delve into dungeons, fight monsters, learn spells, acquire loot, repeat.

Ability Scores: the classic six abilities return, but special attention has been paid to ensure that ability scores and modifiers have a mechanical impact. Your STR score defines how much Load you can carry; your CON how many hours you can go without rest; your CHA the number of retainers you can command, and so forth.

Default DC: the assumption is that (almost) all tasks and checks are DC 11. This expedites gameplay and helps make it more predictable and transparent for the players.

Advantage / Disadvantage: easily the most elegant bit of tech from 5e (and the games that they took it from). Enough said.

Inventory and Resource Management: a system to track carried load and supplies. Should you bring heavy weapons and armor or leave enough room to abscond with more loot? Equipment can be used, damaged, foraged, crafted, and repaired. The system adheres to quick but logical gameplay (no dice, no bean counting, but very light abstraction).

                 The rules on "Supply" and replenishing consumed items

Retainers and Hench: in proper old-school style, PCs are expected to travel with a retinue of retainers and loyal followers, called “hench.” There’re rules for specific types of retainers and the commands you can give them in battle.

Wilderness Travel: distances traveled and resources consumed depending on terrain, light, and weather. The interplay between Travel Turns, supply, and resilience makes for difficult choices.

Travel Turns: a simple system in which the GM regularly rolls on a table every hour in a dungeon or day in the wilderness. Travel Turns create a cyclical ritual: mark spent torches, reduce supply, note hours traveled (make a Resilience check as necessary), and track if monsters spring an ambush or stumble into the party.

Volatile Spellcasting: all spells can be cast quickly - demanding a spellcasting check with potentially calamitous results - or over the course of hours, which necessitates no such check. Casters then must decide if they are willing to risk wandering monsters or a potentially high DC that could result in loss of limb or sight.

                                      Spellcasting is simple but harsh

Rest and Healing: rests have been broken into “safe” and “unsafe,” which have different mechanical effects on healing and exhaustion. There are few quick ways to restore HP, encouraging the need for consumables and cautious rest. High-level characters need days to rest sufficiently and heal back to full.  

Debilitating Injuries: any time a PC is reduced to 0 HP, they will die unless an ally resuscitates them. After being stabilized, the incapacitated adventurer must roll on an injury table; many of which have consequences that result in permanent Ability Score damage. Parties beyond level 1 usually comprise of mangled adventurers that bear the scars of their past mistakes.

Monster Generation: Quick monster generation: refer to monster category, HD, add any relevant techniques, and done! Techniques and tactics allow for enormous flexibility in only a few pages. FTD makes monster creation or conversion a cinch, and can be done on the fly.

Tools and Principles: guidelines on how to get into the mindset for OSR play, an adventure framework, and even generators for charged situations and dungeon layouts (including a novel technique leveraging a classic six-color puzzle cube).

Written, designed, and laid out by Ben and Jessica Dutter

Game design consulting by Ben Milton

Art by Sebastian Rodriguez and Per Folmer

Graphic design consultation by Jean Adaser

Graphic and logo design by Sam Mameli

Every page and spread has been meticulously edited and organized to make reference at the table as easy as possible. Information has been contained to a single column or page or spread, and every sentence is concise and without fluff. The double-wide layout makes it ideal for planting on the table and being able to quickly reference the right section.

Careful consideration was paid to the legibility of the fonts, tables, and flow of information on the page. There are as few "widows" and "orphans" as possible, no paragraphs flow across two pages, and everything is internally hyperlinked and referenced.

Since the format is US letter paper (11” x 8.5”) it prints easily enough at home; perfect for group handouts. While we're going with a glued binding, the book still lays pretty flat due to its extra wide format and softcover. The book is being printed on the heaviest paper and highest quality color available from DriveThru, making it both beautiful and sturdy.

Kickstarter campaign ends: Thu, June 6 2019 6:00 PM BST

Website: Sigil Stone Publishing

#RPG #kickstarter #Five Torches Deep #Sigil Stone Publishing

[jakey-beefed-it]

31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race?

D&D Ask Meme:

My favorite class has historically been Paladin- there’s a lot to be said for a class that can literally do it all in terms of tank, damage, and some healing. It’s one of, if not the most self-sufficient class(es). Plus as a strong agnostic/weak atheist whatever you want to call it, there’s something fascinating to me about someone who KNOWS that there is a divine power guiding them toward righteousness, and not just, you know, the pangs of conscience derived from evolutionarily beneficial eusocial behavior instilling a certain baseline of common values. 

Lately though I’ve been really happy with barbarian, particularly barBEARian (bear totem tank)- it lacks the healing of Paladin, lacks the opportunities to really crank up the burst damage with smites (especially against fiends/undead), but it’s nigh unkillable by anything but psychic damage and with the opportunity to reckless strike all day every day its base accuracy and consistently higher (if not AS high as a Paladin can spike; it still averages better than non-smite damage) damage makes it extremely solid. Plus, that increased accuracy from getting advantage on all your attacks ALSO means you crit more often. And while it’s no Smite in terms of reliability, Brutal Critical is, well,

I’ve also always liked wizard for the sheer toolbox factor- sure, you might be a squishy poindexter who has to actually WORK for their spells and can’t just swap them on the fly like a sorcerer, but with a day’s prep time you can solve damn near any problem. 

Warlock also allows for a LOT of really cool out-of-combat functionality between eldritch invocations and other class features, is a bit more durable than wizard/sorcerer, and while it’s not going to out-dps the magic missile gatling gun sorcerers anytime soon, it’s extremely respectable in combat with that there eldritch blast being your default attack. Seriously, doing as much damage as a two-handed longsword at level 1, and only getting better from there? At range? Potentially extreme range? And it’s magic damage (specifically force, which like, nothing resists)? Fuckin’ aces. After all that the class’s REAL selling point of built-in drama/backstory shenanigans/potential villain and/or big bad almost seems like the cherry on top of the eldritch sundae.

My favorite d&d races have historically been half-elves (you gotta love half-elves), humans (you don’t gotta love ‘em but at least you already know how to be one), and elves (the mechanical benefits are sick and the ability to play the smarmiest jackass is not to be sneezed at). But lately I have been on a tiefling kick. Because everything about the implied ‘you look evil and people assume bad shit about you- do you give them what they expect out of bitterness or rise above it?’ is compelling as fuck to me. Literally every time. For the same reason I am a big fan of orcs and half-orcs. I just want to be huge and have huge muscles and look scary but be nice and use my muscles for hugging my friends, and also slaying the occasional tyrant.

#lesabear

[ishipitsomuch]

***this is gonna be long oops*** ugh this is dumb, even i admit it but the thought came to me and ought to be expressed I think. *super ultra brotherly mega interest combining powers activate* South Park characters and what I think their sun signs are. they all have birthdays but i doubt matt and trey give a shit about astrology of took that into account at least so im ignoring it and going solely on their portrayal in the show. Later may do just the main squads natal chart (just for fun i guess)

Stan: (Scorpio) - No not eric fuck you guys scorpios are good people. The reason I chose this is because Stan is a very emotionally complex character, who also shows deep compassion for others. Stan is ride or die and very loyal to his friends (unless he feels they have wronged him in someway) in relationships he can be a bit obsessive and possessive, easily prone to jealousy and frustration. Stan is a voice of sound logic in the show, but is able to remain true to his core emotions. Like a true scorpio that can sometimes take advantage of you and cause you to become self destructive and scorpios are the sign most likely to become addicts (next to aries) fueling of the mars energy. I could go on but i think i'll save it for his natal reading tbh (rising-Gemini, moon-Cancer)

Kyle: (Leo) - First of look at that hair guys /the hair/ Kyle is feircly independent and passionate, always sticking to his core principles. Kyle values his image (even if he doesn't admit it) proven to be a germaphobe, uses styling gel, and got so upset he contemplated arson and possible murder at the idea that his peers may not view him as conventionally attractive. not to say all leos are vain because they're not and neither is Kyle. Kyle is wicked intelligent which is also a common trait for leos. He is a born leader and always has an opinion on what's going on around him. Also like a true leo he loves giving advise to people around him and is fairly good at it even if he is terrible at taking his own advise. (rising-Virgo, moon-Capricorn)

Eric: (Taurus) - This isn't a diss on taurus, you guys are great, Cartman is seriously fucked up in the head, ignoring that im just looking at habits and core traits. Materialistic and a little vain, Eric is known for preferring to be home relaxing and enjoying his life trademarking the infamous phrase "Screw you guys i'm going home" he is the embodiment of indulgence. He is incredibly stubborn and at times can come off as arrogant or unintelligent. However the opposite is true just like for most tauruan people, Eric is quiet smart when it comes to life knowledge and understanding people. Taurus is the sign that will always try to make you feel special and important but never at the cost of their own comfort and happiness. (rising-Gemini, moon-Aries)

Kenny: (Aquarius) - The first clue is his alter ego whom is appropriately named "Mysterion" Kenny is an enigma, we know the least about his true feelings because he seldom talks. Which is true for an aquarius as well, often preferring to observe or keep to themselves, not one to discuss their true feelings or intentions. Aquarians are joksters and get a lot of joy from making people laugh or being the funny guy in the room. aquarius is the humanitarian sign, the sign to represent a deep care for the healing of man kind, due to his rough family situation we are able to see this side of him quiet clearly. He cares deeply for his friends and his family (especially his younger sister Karen), despite this he is often forgotten about of left alone. Most aquarians feel alone inside, like no one understands them and it means no one can get very close. (rising-Leo, moon- Sagittarius)

Butters: (Gemini) - yall remember when there was a whole episode where they kept misdiagnosing him a multiple personality disorder? yeah Talkative and curious, gemini's love to have fun, as kids they are deeply imaginative and creative. there is a flip though, Gemini's need a good amount of time in solitude in order to sort out their thoughts and decompress. We see that when butters is bothered by something it effects him deeply and he can come off as moody and a bit bitchy. that being said in a social setting his default mood is to be light hearted and unserious. an advocate for just having a good time fellas. (rising- cancer, moon- Leo)

Craig: (Libra) - Balance! craig doesn't like to talk about his feelings very often, i think this has a lot to do with the environment he is raised in honestly, but from an astrologers view point he is with holding. Libras often struggling in relationships and tend to be the kind of person that "can do no wrong" or always blames the other for the issues. this being said they try to be fair and open minded to all possibilities. Libras are social butterflies and have friends in all walks of life and tend to be popular in school or work, even if they're infamous. They are quick-witted and like to cause a bit of uneasiness despite being huge dorks. (rising- Aquarius, moon- Scorpio)

Token: (Virgo) - I think Token is the rawest form of a Virgo tbh. Organized and practical. Virgos seldom do anything without thinking it through and will get very annoyed if things dont go according to their plan or how they perceive that things should be. A good example is in faith +1 when Token realizes Cartman never cared about the plan he had set out and old wanted to win his selfish bet, token snapped and beat the shit out of him. This is very rare for his character who is shown to be mostly passive. He speaks intelligently and is the voice of reason in his friend group. (rising- Virgo, moon- Taurus)

Clyde: (Cancer) - Sensitive and emotional, I think just using an off hand count Clyde has cried more than anyone else in the show when taking into account of screen time. Cancers aren't necessarily crybabys, but they do feel things deeper and more quickly than most any other sign. They also care deeply for the people close to them and can tend to mother them at times. Cancers are true memers and are online often. also very romantic in nature, clyde at such an early age is crazy into girls and spends a good amount of time and money hanging out at raisins. (rising- Aries, moon- Gemini)

Jimmy: (Capricorn) Capricorns are very funny naturally. They tend to be ambitious and stubborn, they will do what it takes to get their point across and get offended if they feel like they are being looked down upon. Jimmy fights hard for the things in his life and strives to reach even higher goals, putting his whole self in all of his tasks. (using steroids to win the special Olympics, delivering the school paper door to door when he was threatened with censorship, and trying to get the news crew to stick to the integrity of journalism despite his peers complaints) Jimmy is a climber and has a lot of Earth energy. (rising-Pisces, moon- Leo)

Tweek: (Aries) Impulsive and volatile. Tweek is reactive to the things around him. (In general Aries should avoid caffeine) Tweek's anxiety is elevated by the fact that he is impulsive and has a lot of energy. We know Tweek is kind of a bad ass which is an energy arians give. He can fight and handle a weapon. In "The Stick of Truth" his warrior class was the barbarian in which he covered him self in war paint and didn't wear a shirt which is a pretty aries thing to do tbfh. Aries are also quiet emotional (even if they don't always show it) and tend to be good at whatever they put their mind too, Tweek just needs some motivation from time to time. (rising- Sagittarius, moon- Gemini)

#south park #astrology