Recent content by rmcoen

Perhaps Humans are a "polluted" kind of undine... Water spirits, but mixed with a little earth and a little air. And the ones mized with Fire? Well, we call them Mages... (or "Heroes", depending on your milieu)

I, too, liked the 3e directive/support that there were essentially "NPC versions" of the PC classes. PCs are Fighters; NPCs are warriors. PCs are clerics; NPCs are priests. I've brought that concept with me through multiple campaigns and editions. In the current campaign, CONGREGATIONS can...

I specifically went with the playtest OneDD version of Exhaustion to keep things "simple" (as simple as I can, anyway). 10 levels, each level is -1 to actions (attacks, ability checks, skills), and -1 to spell DCs. I added "every 2 levels, -5' speed (min 5' final speed)", to incorporate that...

Most of my games, the encounters are once/day while traveling, maybe 2 or 3 at a given location, and rarely a true dungeon crawl with a half-dozen encounters. Last fight, where a life drain event happened, was two days of investigation in town, followed by a 5-hour hike, and then a 34-round...

We do "more than 50%" quorum. Right now, with 5 players, that means we play if 3 players are available. (I'm the DM.) Absent player PCs are still present if the game paused in the middle of action, or are busy doing something else (usually "nearby") if not. As a great "grey area" example...

I just meant that "magic is magic", not "duplicate Dragon Age". :-) My hypothetical "Caster" class can draw its power from wherever - gods, elemental attunement, fiendish patrons, arcane tomes. And select powers as they level up, with more powerful options opening at gateways... or choosing...

Maybe I missed it, but isn't the right solution "skill-based, not class-based"? Or, shoehorning that into a "5e-like" structure, take the setup of the warlock and run wild with it. Like Dragon Age, you really only have three archetypes: Martial, Caster, Skill "Caster" would all be a "pick...

Lodestar's powers, from the Villain's Code series, include bending reality to protect her identity. You literally cannot learn who she is unless she specifically and voluntarily tells you - no matter how meta-brilliant you might be. And if she tells you, you can't successfully tell anyone else...

I tend to make "real" places. Actual locations that people would actually build - complete with bathrooms/latrines, and kitchens and eating areas - or natural locations that might exist (cave systems with the water that created them, for example). This lets the PCs intuit some of the "design"...

I have to echo others' posts: Start with a Bang! Start with something that gets the blood pumping, and start the Action rather than hope they pull on the Hook. Additionally... give the PCs a reason to know each other and care about staying together. It doesn't have to be "all of them" to...

Given that my gaming group has been together (mostly) for 30 years, we don't generally have too much difficulty in this regard. As the "forever DM", I will generally give the players an idea of what restrictions (or lack thereof) the next campaign will have. And since our campaigns tend to...

In COMBAT, nat20 always hits - but if you needed a 20 or more to hit, then the nat20 isn't a "crit", it's just a hit. A nat1 always misses, even if you're +10 and attacking an AC 8 zombie. In either case, you (player) or I (DM) can and should describe why you succeeded or failed despite all...

From a "defend my place" perspective, traps are meant to discourage or kill intruders when you aren't there, or supplement your defense when you are there. Traps should never be about mildly inconveniencing the intruders... that's just a waste of the defender's time and resources. [This goes...

To the OP, most D&D worlds exist in a post-apocalypse setting. Otherwise, why are there so many ruins and monsters, versus (usually) widely scattered low-tech population? With that in mind... why would all the previous civilizations necessarily be low-tech/medieval? My current campaign is...

I'd say my prep time averages about 1 hour for a 3.5 hour session, but what tends to actually happen to make that average is several hours of thinking about things while mowing or doing other chores, anywhere from 1-4 hours writing up notes from the vague thoughts, then 30-60 minutes making sure...