TRPG General Chat

kviiri

3:00 PM

@NautArch Enjoyable battles rock :)

NautArch

@kviiri before i got there i guess there was supposed to be some roleplaying, but they just firebomed the dude's house.

kviiri

I personally prefer my DnD as a tactical combat game with RPG elements, saving the more narrative stuff for other systems

NautArch

@kviiri that's our table. we definitely enjoy it. Gotta have the right monsters and environments to make it work.

kviiri

OTOH, encounters also need to have some variance - it's not fun if every combat is just a "bash it to death".

Environmental leverage or such.

Positioning...

4e had some rather cool positioning-based powers. Eg. Warlord class had a highish-level power that allowed each ally adjacent to the target to make an attack against it.

And rangers had attacks that did more damage against monsters that were closer to them than the ranger's allies.

NautArch

ours are basically bash it to death, but the DMs have been doing more with regard to environments to make it interesting. he did have some dudes run away (only one actually got away)

and we never have run aways :)

kviiri

3:12 PM

If I were to implement my own version of 4e, I'd up the importance of position

I wonder how I haven't really thought of this before but maybe my recent forays into abstract strategy have done their thing :P

(I started playing Arimaa actively again, in another attempt to start up a scene at our Univ. I still suck at the game, but others suck harder)

NautArch

what do you mean by positioning?

eimyr

@doppelgreener @BESW is it advisable that Fate NPCs who have a specific albeit not very interesting core concept (e.g. friendly tour guide) to have that as one of the aspects?

doppelgreener

@eimyr If that NPC is going to be around a lot being a friendly tour guide, it might be worth just taking note of that 'cause you might as well. If they're only going to be around for half an hour, it's fine just mentioning it in narration. We can have facts that aren't aspects, and just magically say they're aspects once we need them to be.

eimyr

@doppelgreener So the NPC is likely to be around (proposed by the players!) but probably not for being a tour guide

doppelgreener

@eimyr Generally the extent to which we mechanise something is the extent to which its mechanics matter at all. So if it's a really important character or they have really important details, we give them more mechanics. If/when they become important mechanically, we can add mechanics. For example once they enter a skill challenge I'll add some +2/-2 stuff.

eimyr

3:23 PM

@doppelgreener makes sense. I'm just prepping some copypaste characters that I'm likely to see this week

kviiri

I'm really itching to play some Fate but I have so many things to do otherwise :S

hello!

Hi!

@DForck42 hello!

howdy @DForck42!

you were right, Changes was a great book :) helluva cliffhanger, too.

DForck42

3:37 PM

@NautArch lol

@NautArch fair warning, a lot of people didn't like ghost story. i thought it was good though

NautArch

@DForck42 i started it and can see why. I figure it's going to be a very different book.

DForck42

@NautArch it is

a lot of people also didnt' like that a different actor read the audio book, lol

NautArch

haha. i'm generally not an audio book guy.

DForck42

@NautArch i think they're nice, but i don't have a long commute or anything to listen to them currently

NautArch

@DForck42 yeah, i know i listened to one of the harry potter books a long time ago and loved it. but i like to read, and i read quickly. SO the extra time for audio doesn't usually pay out.

kviiri

3:42 PM

My SO likes listening to audiobooks when driving. I'm not a huge fan personally, but then again I can fiddle with my phone while she drives so I don't really have the same need for entertainment....

Erics

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatara

A three-eyed lizard

> They are even more unusual in having a pronounced photoreceptive eye, the third eye, which is thought to be involved in setting circadian and seasonal cycles.

nitsua60

@NautArch Ooh. Sorry/glad to hear that. Just a cold, hard rain for us. But not quite enough to flood my backyard and create the natural rink I'm always crossing fingers for =\

NautArch

@nitsua60 hahahaha. Yeah, i'm realizing the car i'm leasing just sucks in the snow. WHich it should't, but it does. And since it's a lease, i'm not buying snow tires for it.

but it's up in july, i'll pay the damages for the scrape and move on to another type of car.

nitsua60

@NautArch Did I tell you about a funny encounter-snipe like that one a few weeks back? The hags frightened almost the entire party, save for the paladin who turned the faithless on all the hags? Everyone's running for the hills....

NautArch

@nitsua60 I think you briefly did, but that's fantastic. Paladins, especialyl as they get higher level, or awesome. I've shifted the play of mine to a bit more support than just heavy hitting and I"m becoming a terror to the DM.

That, and our clerics don't often heal, so I've been picking up slack there, too.

but between heals, lesser restoration, cleansing touch, and dispel magic I can undo a lot of bad stuff. and then i can step up and smite.

nitsua60

4:01 PM

@NautArch Yeah, a paladin is impressive in their ability to flip a switch from striker to support.

NautArch

@nitsua60 and our 26 AC barbarian does a great job tanking so I can do that :)

Adam

How'd they end up with 26 AC?

NautArch

trying to remember it all, but it's basically high dex/con (con i think is 22), and a +3 shield.

Adam

Welp, I'm never giving my players anything that can increase their armor class with a flat bonus ever again.

NautArch

@Adam it basically sucks for all of us. DM now chooses monsters that have crazy to hit modifiers and I don't worry about castinga nything to boost AC and focus on support and damage only and just hope I can stay up.

but my pegasus/polearm combo is giving me some options around that now so I don't have to stay in range.

Adam

4:08 PM

I had a suspicion that items that give flat bonuses to AC were bad for the game. At this point, it's pretty much confirmed for me.

kviiri

5e is supposed to be rather stingy with them.

I think +3 shield is legendary.

NautArch

@Adam yeah, i'm kinda surprised by all the magic items were getting in this campaign now. I've got a +3 polearm, a +2 maul, and a +3 trident.

Adam

@kviiri dndbeyond.com/magic-items/shield-3

very rare

NautArch

and that's from getting to level 14 with basically just a +1 maul and +1 plate. The trident i've had for a bit, but it's pretty situational.

kviiri

@Adam Huh. Peculiar...

Adam

4:11 PM

+X items that don't do anything else are never legendary. But it seems that if you let them do anything else besides that, it bumps them up to at least very rare.

+X items that don't do anything else are also super boring if you ask me, so I'm cool with that.

SPavel

+X is an item that you forget you have

Passive abilities aren't bad but they at least have to be interesting

NautArch

my maul can drop an extra d8 of damage once/encounter (weird homebrew) if an ally within 10' of me is bloodied. And drops an extra d10 on a crit.

kviiri

@Adam Yeah, they're super boring especially/even if OP :)

Adam

I gave my player's a +1 sword that always knows how far underground they are and can lead them in the direction of the nearest staircase, ramp, or other passage leading upwards.

kviiri

I gave our party's barbarian an axe that had no passive bonuses apart from dealing magical damage, but would trigger spells upon "last-hitting" enemies.

NautArch

4:23 PM

last hitting?

SPavel

@Adam Claustrophobic sword that wants the party to get back outside?

This is why I love intelligent weapons, you can troll the party so much with them

kviiri

@NautArch I would say "killing", but many of the things they fought hadn't really been alive in the first place.

Adam

@SPavel Nope. Not really. It doesn't have any consciousness. It's just there to be helpful

One of my players has taken to talking to the sword as if the senses it gives him were from some intelligent being though, which is pretty fun.

The best part for me is when they go down a staircase, and the sword immediately gives the wielder a feeling that the closest ramp leading up is right behind them.

kviiri

That somehow reminds me of Angband stairway feelings :)

Even though it's completely different (in Angband, one gets a "feeling" about each level when entering them)

and the feeling indicates whether the level is loot-poor and boring, or filed with danger and wealth, or something in between.

Yuuki

@Adam Can I use this to find the Stairway to Heaven?

guitar riff

Adam

4:28 PM

@Yuuki Only if the stairway is underground :p

SPavel

@Adam It's so underground, you probably haven't heard of it

Erics

4:42 PM

I'm looking at making some homebew magic items for 2e which are battle standards. Think roman legions, or feudal japan, etc. Do other editions have anything like that already?

The twist is that they'd offer mild passive bonuses in an aura, so tactical placement would be key.

SPavel

@Erics Check the Magic Item Compendium for 3.5, there are a bunch of items that boost Bard and Knight auras

which are literally fluffed as battle standards

nitsua60

@Erics Also look at Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, wherein he describes how influential Caesar's raising the standard was in defeating Vercingetorix at the Battle of Alesia.

(Caesar was never one to downplay Caesar's importance.)

Erics

@SPavel cool, thanks.

Banner of the Storm’s Eye, Noble Pennon, Standard of Valor.

NautArch

5:01 PM

i'm pretty sure my DMs don't want to give my bard any further power :)

Erics

and zillion pages containing the word "aura"

I'll probably start off by having some goblins rally under a banner, and when Identify Magic is used on it have it be shown to grant some bonus to poison use or some other thing that the PCs won't want (assuming they're good aligned)

NautArch

@Erics did you reach out to the DM on the non-story driven story-driven game?

SPavel

@Erics You can also lock the effects behind racial or patron deity checks

Erics

game is on tonite. will press for more leads, provide the feedback that everything seems disjointed / monster of the week / unconnected

SPavel

"This banner bears the symbol of the foul Goblin goddess Kurtulmak. Her followers are empowered by the foul magic woven into the threads."

Erics

5:07 PM

Hmm .. typical thing would be a boost to morale, and a penalty if it were to fall ... but PCs don't do that. Some other effect needed.

SPavel

Just carrying that kind of thing around will make your local Pelor clerics suspicious

Erics

@SPavel Heh, yep

Maybe a -2 on to hit / save / AC while the banner lies fallen?

GreySage

@SPavel How open is Kurtulmak to human converts?

SPavel

@GreySage I think by RAW, racial deities don't ban worshipers of other races, but the examples given are always "human raised by elves" and not "adventurers who murdered a bunch of goblins, took their artifact, and now wish to gain power"

Transcript for