We've all had it, we've thrown in a 'random aside' maybe to give a location a bit of flavor, maybe you mentioned something about an NPC that was meant to just add a touch of color. The players have laser focused on that detail blowing it way out of proportions or way more excited about it than you had any plans for.

Personal one, keeping it brief, was a 'local history museum', you know the kind that a lot of small towns have, it's probably in the town hall or an adjacent building. If the town is in the middle of nowhere it probably gets like 10 outside of town visitors a year total, often it's just used as a 'daytrip' for local school kids. I even informed the players that this town is not that interesting and they'd be getting a lore dump that went nowhere but they were hyped for it.

So they went in, got the tour, saw some basic artifacts of the villages past (a few paintings telling the story of the founding of the village, a shard of a sword from the only exciting thing to happen to the village, a battle between local adventurers and bandits) and a small section dedicate to one of the High Wizards since this was his home town.

This was pretty much just 'This town was once a starting adventure town in someone elses story' but the players thought it was really cool...I don't know why they thought it was cool but I decided not to question it.

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193

Posted by9 hours ago

Help me understand the balance of using mental stats to make weapon attacks

Question

As we all know, the normal rules for making weapon attacks is strength only for melee weapons (except finesse weapons allowing dex) and dexterity for ranged weapons. However, a number of exceptions to these rules exist. Notably, some subclasses grant you the option to make weapon attacks using Wisdom, Intellect or Charisma.

What are the criteria for these abilities? How did WOTC balance and decide which subclasses and classes should have the option to do this? Why did the pact of the blade not have the option to weapon attack with charisma, until a subclass (the hexblade) was created to do just that? Why does a subclass like the Battle Smith artificer allow you to weapon attack with Intelligence, while the Bladesinger does not have access to that option?

Would it be fine to give a Bladesinger a magic weapon that allows them to weapon attack using Intelligence? Would it be fine to make a druid subclass allowing unarmed attacks using Wisdom, or a warlock subclass that mimics Hexblade (or a melee-oriented warlock subclass that doesn't grant that option)?

What are the guidelines I should remember when adjusting choices like these?

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69

Posted by6 hours ago

Can we talk about playing into your players playstyles rather than trying to undermine them?

Discussion

[ This ended up being way longer than I expected, I hope at least some of you will take the time to read it as I do feel there's value in these sentiments that many could benefit from ]

DND is a game with rules, win conditions, and rewards.

Inevitably, there are going to be players that want to be good at achieving those win conditions, and getting rewards. This is core to the gaming experience, and has been since the invention of gaming (Probably, I wasn't there so I can't know for sure).

There's a large portion of the community that will jump at the chance to bemoan and deride players that take the time to put together characters that will be good at the things they want to accomplish. (Often referred to as min maxers, optimizers, munchkins, etc..)

BEING GOOD AT THINGS IS FINE. It is not a sin. It does not make them worthy of belittling, name calling, mocking, etc.. etc.. in and of itself.

Everyone should be worthy of acceptance until they've proven they're not. Making a character that kills things good isn't sufficient.

Some players try to build characters that are good at hitting things, they're telling the DM "I LIKE TO HIT THINGS HARD! GIVE ME THINGS TO HIT HARD!"

Some players try to make characters that are sneaky, They're telling the DM "GIVE ME OPPORTUNITIES TO SNEAK AROUND AND GET SURPRISE ON THINGS!" or "LET ME SNEAK BEHIND ENEMY LINES AND ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING THAT GREATLY HELPS THE PARTY WHILE THEY FIGHT!"

Some players like to make characters that are really good at talking, persuading, being social etc.. GIVE THEM OPPORTUNITIES TO MAKE THAT MATTER IN COMBAT ENOUGH THAT DOING THAT IS MORE VALUABLE THAN HITTING THINGS FOR THAT CHARACTER!

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992

Posted by22 hours ago

Essentials in a Dungeon

Question

Recently, I've been following the steps on this list all the time (and adding a few things), and boy, does it work as hell. What, in your opinion, can't be missing in a dungeon?

Always
- Something to steal.
- More than one entry.
- Something to kill.
- Something to kill you.
- Different and vertical paths.
- Someone to talk.
- Something to try.
- Something that probably won't be found.
- Environmental hazards.
- Puzzle or RP challenge.
- Something that doesn't make any sense.
- Foreshadow path choices.

Maybe
- Different factions, allies and enemies.
- Time restriction.

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25

Posted by2 hours ago

How to survive a paladin 1v1?

Question

My charcter(Druid, stars, lvl6) (and I) fucked up.

Long story short, My druid insulted a paladin noble(Lvl7). Next session is a fight to the death(24 ingame hours). He's gonna try and talk him out of it, but if all falls apart I need to think stratagy.

Best I got is Plant Growth and bombard him with spells and try to kite. Conjur animals. If anyone has more complex ideas, let me know!

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55 comments