The Dungeoneers And The Dragonslayers (A DND Thread)

[Voidus]

I almost TPK'd the party in my Mass Effect game recently because they decided to try to take a ship on with just their regular on-ground selves. Thankfully one of them had the Lucky feat to force an attack reroll.

[Tea Leaf]

On 4/19/2022 at 2:42 PM, Primeival Chaos said:

dnd is just a nice way to say mess with your friends

It really is

On 4/21/2022 at 1:55 PM, Primeival Chaos said:

I mean. . . 

I thought that the only reason one would play a bard was if they wanted to seduce literally everything

I play this very specific combo Changeling, College of Glamour, at level 4 take a feat (Eldritch initiate, to get unlimited disguise self) Which means I am anyone I want to be, a jack of all trades, using this I once gave an NPC an acute psychotic break, broke into a castle, almost perfectly mirrored an Ex Adventurer who was really annoyed and payed me to leave.

On 8/26/2022 at 0:20 PM, CosmicShard8002 said:

Lol, I just want to be the villain in all my campaigns, I just signed a contract with a devil and now I betray everybody!!! DMing is to much work for my little brain to handle. Every time i try the party gets WAY off track

Yes, villainy. Also I have the same problem with my DMing

On 8/26/2022 at 0:24 PM, Voidus said:

The trick is to see where the party is heading and then lay the tracks in that direction. I rarely run with a solid idea of what is 'supposed' to happen, because parties be chaotic. Also, just as part of general D&D concern I do hope that your party have all signed on for you to play a villainous character. Because that's never fun when one person in the party decides to just mess everything up for everyone else without communicating.

Parties are too chaotic, this strategy sometimes (almost always) fails when I try to lay out a rough idea.

On 9/26/2022 at 9:07 PM, NerdyAarakocra said:

My advice depends. Are you running a pre-prepared campaign, or making stuff up on the fly?

If the former, just read the campaign book a few times and you should be fine. Get to know the players, prioritize having fun, and don't be afraid to go off the rails a bit.

If you're expected to make your own campaign, it's a bit harder. If you want to build a really complex narrative, your players will derail it. Instead of fighting the derailing, just roll with it. It can even end up being more fun than what you had planned!

If you don't want to do a complex narrative, worldbuild a ton, make some quests, and give the party a patron (like a mining company, military organization, guild, aristocrat, etc.) so that they actually have a reason to do stuff. You should still make an overarching plot - it helps make this kind of campaign a bit less dry - but it won't be as central to the campaign.

Making in-depth NPCs that the players are emotionally attached to is a great trick; you can shape the narrative around the NPCs and the players will actually do what you want. This trick has worked both for and on me, and I can give it my seal of approval.

The mechanics of D&D 5e (I assume that's what you're playing) are pretty simple... kinda. Read the books, then ask questions about specific stuff if you need to. I don't think you will, though.

If all else fails, and you come into session 1 completely unprepared, here's one final ploy. Make sure you have this line memorized for use in extenuating circumstances:

"Hello! We'll be playing a campaign called Tomb of Annihilation. Everybody make a DEX save!"

Okay Tomb of Annihilation was fun, I had to hold back and fudge a bit so I didn't TPK, it is really tough to not kill players, I mean they are so squishy. Yeah deep characters are important to the campaign, even if they are met once. NPCs are tools to the DM but they must be disguised

On 9/27/2022 at 1:06 PM, Liahona said:

I am joining the DMing-with-no-experience club! Well, I have a little bit of experience with being a player in a campaign, but this'll be my first time being the DM. I have my campaign mostly ready, and there's a guy in my group who understand the mechanics of D&D better than I do, so I can ask him for help when I need it. This is gonna be fun.

I started TTRPGs with no experience of any kind, no clue what I was doing, then I started DMing

On 11/15/2022 at 6:32 PM, The Wandering Wizard said:

Yeah, it was stirges. They had four leathery wings, size of falcon, if that helps with variety.

Stirges are something I save for low level dungeons

On 11/27/2022 at 7:30 PM, Eluvianii said:

I feel constantly in danger with this game. Last session there were only three of us, master included, so it wasn't enough to actually start playing. Someone suggested we should do a bit of combat just to pass the time and see if a third player arrived while we were at it. Thing is he had to mention exp, so we were given an encounter with real stakes. 

Just three enemies half our level, nothing too extreme. But of course they were immune to fire (my main attack), piercing (my other main attack), slashing (the other player's main attack), and a bunch of other stuff. Only blunt damage was effective really.

Battle was long, I was knocked unconscious, other player remembered he actually had a blunt weapon like 4/5 into the fight, and we only survived because a third player did arrive. Fun stuff. 

Yeah DM tactics in small parties are hard to master in the gear shift between large and small. The Dice Gods are too powerful at those times.

On 11/30/2022 at 9:56 AM, The Wandering Wizard said:

My friend also abuses shape water.

There were piranahs in the water down with the rest of the party and he was on a cliff 30 feet above, so he hurled the piranahs 30 feet above him and made them fall 60 feet. He has even crazier plans for it, that was just a simple use of it.

I once walk on the seabed for several hours using shape water.

On 12/6/2022 at 7:30 AM, CalanoCorvus said:

...my gosh.

bro is powerful.

and a MONK too. gosh dang you are going to be UNSTOPPABLE.

Monks are really strong, as a DM I fear them, easily able to break puzzles, if they are nonconformist (Chaotic, like every monk I have had) they can kill easily and mercilessly, I know a Monk who is a knockout pit fighter, they are in many different campaigns as different characters, but if you pick a fight with them (Kill a monster they want to kill), you are asking to be knocked out for several hours.

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

2 minutes ago, The last Fae in the Woods said:

Monks are really strong, as a DM I fear them, easily able to break puzzles, if they are nonconformist (Chaotic, like every monk I have had) they can kill easily and mercilessly, I know a Monk who is a knockout pit fighter, they are in many different campaigns as different characters, but if you pick a fight with them (Kill a monster they want to kill), you are asking to be knocked out for several hours.

Heh, my monk is pure neutral but being pushed neutral evil by another party member

[Tea Leaf]

Just now, The Wandering Wizard said:

Heh, my monk is pure neutral but being pushed neutral evil by another party member

At least they are safe. Not murderer, I mean nice guy that likes to punch, I really wish the nonlethal damage in 5e was like 3.5e.

[Voidus]

8 hours ago, The last Fae in the Woods said:

Parties are too chaotic, this strategy sometimes (almost always) fails when I try to lay out a rough idea.

If all else fails just ask them what they're trying to do next or if they'd be interested in pursuing a certain thread. Unless you have someone who is deliberately trying to derail the campaign (Which is a whole separate issue) then you can usually garner enough of an idea to plan things. And if you've asked someone and they've committed to it out of character then it's usually likely in character they'll try to push for it too.

And sometimes it's important to just take the party firmly in hand and drag them along. If your party is too chaotic sometimes you need to impose a little order on them. I've had a few parties like that before, usually with a single player as the primary instigator. Jokes and wacky antics are all well and good but if it's causing anyone (Including you) to stress out or not have as much fun while the story gets ignored then it's time to have a last little chuckle with them and then get things moving in the right direction.

[Going_North_cal]

Monk here!!!

very gay, traumatized, and unpredictable, Evalyn likes to punch and stab, then talk later.

Except when it comes to Kit, the actual princess who is in the party. Evalyn is head over heels for the princess and would do literally anything for her do not test her she will murder you if you so much as look at kit wrong i swear she will *takes deep breath* anyways;

yes monk :]

fun to play

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

1 hour ago, CalanoCorvus said:

Monk here!!!

very gay, traumatized, and unpredictable, Evalyn likes to punch and stab, then talk later.

Except when it comes to Kit, the actual princess who is in the party. Evalyn is head over heels for the princess and would do literally anything for her do not test her she will murder you if you so much as look at kit wrong i swear she will *takes deep breath* anyways;

yes monk :]

fun to play

I have a lawful gay and traumatized monk. Fun times.

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

Heh, my Monk is trying to prove that everything and anyone can be killed, she's a fun character

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

...Y'all do realize that monks are supposed to have lawful alignments?

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

Just now, NerdyAarakocra said:

...Y'all do realize that monks are supposed to have lawful alignments?

They can be evil...our entire campaign is morally grey people and most are evil alligned. Mine has been slipping towards evil since the campaign started.

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

Just now, The Wandering Wizard said:

They can be evil...our entire campaign is morally grey people and most are evil alligned. Mine has been slipping towards evil since the campaign started.

Yeah, but murderhobo naturally precludes lawful.

[Telrao she/her]

Me with an Elf Ranger hermit who is a KEEPER OF THE SWARM with a cloud of squirrel spirits, who sniffs and/ or licks everything to use her skills.

Oh, and a hobbit Barbarian that I used in a one-shot. Twas extremely entertaining!

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

I homebrewed a PC race for harpies because I wanted to play one in my friend's campaign. The campaign never really took off, so now I'm trying to find a good place to reuse my character.

[Going_North_cal]

Doing a longform session with my party next monday

12-7:30. Seven and a half hours of gameplay!!!

And with my gay monk!! And her gay lover(?)!!!

Speaking of, the person who plays the gay lover (Princess Kit), and I made a playlist about the pair of them

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2gt2GGRvkmKq2LwPE40lcH?si=2aba63863a614f3d

Edited February 14, 2023 by CalanoCorvus

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

Ayy, D&D playlists! Our Tomb of Annihilation campaign has at least 20 playlists plus lists for each of the characters and NPCs. We're still not done with the campaign.

[Tea Leaf]

Okay I've been preparing a campaign and I am really tempted to rewrite a bit of the systems (Basically make a new TTRPG), does anyone have experience of doing this, or any advice? My goals are: 1. make damage more realistic, 2. Larger numbers, 3. More realism, 4. split second combat system that will give everyone headaches (actually not as painful as it sounds, hopefully).

Edited February 15, 2023 by The last Fae in the Woods

[SymphonianBookworm she/her]

My party beat an ancient red dragon so... we got a deck of many things. The real deal. 22 cards.

We took turns drawing every single card in the deck.

In case anyone is wondering, that's how my characters soul now inhabits an inanimate object in a lich's lair. 
And also now one of our party members is a level and a half higher than all of us. And made an enemy of Asmodeus. And he also got a sword of whale falling.
And then my brother got to cast wish three times, rewrite any event in history, and ask a question that must be answered truthfully by the DM.
And then the other party member is in a prison guarded by multiple powerful beings.

I love DND!

[Tea Leaf]

10 minutes ago, SymphonianBookworm said:

My party beat an ancient red dragon so... we got a deck of many things. The real deal. 22 cards.

We took turns drawing every single card in the deck.

In case anyone is wondering, that's how my characters soul now inhabits an inanimate object in a lich's lair. 
And also now one of our party members is a level and a half higher than all of us. And made an enemy of Asmodeus. And he also got a sword of whale falling.
And then my brother got to cast wish three times, rewrite any event in history, and ask a question that must be answered truthfully by the DM.
And then the other party member is in a prison guarded by multiple powerful beings.

I love DND!

It truly is amazing.

[Voidus]

8 hours ago, The last Fae in the Woods said:

Okay I've been preparing a campaign and I am really tempted to rewrite a bit of the systems (Basically make a new TTRPG), does anyone have experience of doing this, or any advice? My goals are: 1. make damage more realistic, 2. Larger numbers, 3. More realism, 4. split second combat system that will give everyone headaches (actually not as painful as it sounds, hopefully).

I would go system shopping rather than homebrewing that many big changes. Altering the numbers in 5e to be bigger starts to break down the maths.

Pathfinder 2e is great if you want big numbers that actually integrate into the system as intended.

There's also a system I found quite recently called Mutants and Madterminds which I adore. Default it's intended as a superhero and villai s type of deal but the whole draw of it is that it's generic so you could adapt it to anything easily enough.

[Quivil]

11 hours ago, The last Fae in the Woods said:

Okay I've been preparing a campaign and I am really tempted to rewrite a bit of the systems (Basically make a new TTRPG), does anyone have experience of doing this, or any advice? My goals are: 1. make damage more realistic, 2. Larger numbers, 3. More realism, 4. split second combat system that will give everyone headaches (actually not as painful as it sounds, hopefully).

3 hours ago, Voidus said:

I would go system shopping rather than homebrewing that many big changes.

For 1 and 4 (and maybe others idk it depends on what you mean and your point of view) you can look at GURPS. (there's this cool thing with GURPS damage where damage is multiplied if the weapon goes deep enough. Idk enough about other TTRPG systems to know if there's that thing in other systems too.)

Edited February 16, 2023 by Tani

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

9 hours ago, SymphonianBookworm said:

My party beat an ancient red dragon so... we got a deck of many things. The real deal. 22 cards.

We took turns drawing every single card in the deck.

In case anyone is wondering, that's how my characters soul now inhabits an inanimate object in a lich's lair. 
And also now one of our party members is a level and a half higher than all of us. And made an enemy of Asmodeus. And he also got a sword of whale falling.
And then my brother got to cast wish three times, rewrite any event in history, and ask a question that must be answered truthfully by the DM.
And then the other party member is in a prison guarded by multiple powerful beings.

I love DND!

Ah, yes, The Deck of Many Things. A 100% fair and balanced Magic card magic item.

[Eluvianii he/him]

The amount of things that can go beautifully wrong in a very short time is, well, beautiful.

We were just a normal run of the mill crew of mildly evil pirates. But after a bit of a boss fight, well, stuff happened.

My character had a run-in with an aboleth. She rolled a natural 1 on a Will save against it which means I now serve the entire aboleth race, no questions asked. So I continue my journey with the crew while secretly advancing the plans of a hive mind who wants to take over the world.

One of our crewmates fell into a coma that would kill him after three days if he failed a save, which he did. However, at our request the GM gave us a 10% chance he'd be revived by some deity. Which he also did. So he continues his journey with the crew while secretly trying to revive the evil cult of the god that brought him back to life.

Our captain also fell into a coma that would kill her after three days if she failed a save, which she did. But a certain cursed map she possessed revived her as an undead so she could continue to search for the treasure it leads to. Of course, maps don't usually revive you, so we're pretty sure there's yet another greater power pulling the strings here.

So a few hours ago we were a normal crew in the simplest of missions to fight a witch. Now we have a secret war between deities while also working together until the goals of our masters collide. And of course, there's also the rest of the crew who is still blissfully unaware that anything has changed, they're just happy that their friends opened their eyes after being declared dead.

I'm so storming excited for whatever happens next.

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

Tomb of Anihilation is so fun to break.

We have the characters: a gnome wizard (Alsphen) who's actually a two hundred year old ghost possessing a gnome. We then have her granddaughter, (Maya), who's a happy gnome druid but also is fueled by a drive for vengeance against a turtle. Our double-type dragonborn/human barbarian/paladin (Onyx) has Merrshaulk, the OG yuan-ti god stuck in his head. Fortunately, Merrshaulk can be bribed with rats. Onyx has a dragon therapist. There's the new player, a weretiger sorcerer named Pyro. There's me, a bi Githzeari monk (Nameless) who has like five attacks per round and who gets forced to invade everyone's mindscapes. This is the part where we get the puzzle cubes, so we all have gods just chillin' in our heads.

There are the DMCs: Soren, a cleric who can't do squat, Nary, a random devil bard who is in a relationship with Soren, Ash, Nary's twin brother, the prince of the eighth layer of the nine hells (with even more trauma than our characters), and Azaka, a weretiger blood hunter who does things and is also Pyro's sister. Ash and Azaka are on a sidequest.

Merrshaulk can't do evil god things while inside Onyx's head, so he's created a reality TV show to cover Ash's sidequest. This is called 'The Snake Channel' and we're trying to stop it from becoming a multinational media sensation. Also, Nary can sorta just see the future.

The session opened with us trying to find the Tomb of the Nine Gods. We then had a fight with some Yuan-ti.

One of them tried to attack me. As a monk, I have Deflect Missiles. My DM said that I was surprised and couldn't use it, but she forgot the fact that the magic item she gave me prevents me from being surprised. I used Deflect Missiles.

We then beat the yuan-ti with the power of setting fire to bushes. There were some normal snakes that wanted to kill us, but we bribed them with rats.

We found a yuan-ti settlement, and entered. Onyx got Merrshaulk to do the talking, and we got in. Merrshaulk tried to possess him, but I jumped into Onyx's head to stop it. Onyx tried to do diplomacy but failed, so we just bribed all of the guards with rats. This is a thing that worked. We then talked to Merrshaulk's daughter-in-law and tried to do diplomacy shenanigans, because the rats didn't work. It turns out that being the only people capable of stopping the entire planet from getting destroyed is pretty good leverage.

Next session promises to be fun. Also, turns out rats are good for bribery.

[Going_North_cal]

candyland campaign update:

member of the party has signed a non-soul, physical only deal with a god, we have a pet gingerbread dragon named PopTart (AKA P.T., AKA Papa Terrance (i'm the only one who calls him Papa Terrance)

We killed a cyclops, 2 bone devils, and many NPC knights on our side died. also there were many hints for future god encounters by many others of the party.

this iis big and cool :]

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

13 hours ago, CalanoCorvus said:

candyland campaign update:

member of the party has signed a non-soul, physical only deal with a god, we have a pet gingerbread dragon named PopTart (AKA P.T., AKA Papa Terrance (i'm the only one who calls him Papa Terrance)

We killed a cyclops, 2 bone devils, and many NPC knights on our side died. also there were many hints for future god encounters by many others of the party.

this iis big and cool :]

Why are you doing a candyland campaign and can you sell me the sourcebook.